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He was consequently a few years older than Chaucer, whom he survived eight years. Gower was a member of a knightly family, an esquire of Kent, and possessed of estates in several counties. In 1368 the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Gower of Multon, in Suffolk, conveyed to the poet the manor of Kentwell. In 1399 Gower had, as he himself states, become old and blind. He made his will in August 1408, and must have died shortly afterwards, as his widow administered to his effects in October of that year. From his will it appears that the poet possessed the manors of Southwell in Nottinghamshire, and Multon in Suffolk. He also left his widow a sum of £100, and made various bequests to churches and hospitals. He was interred in the church of St. Mary Overiesnow St. Saviour's-in Southwark, where he had founded a chantry. His monument, containing a full-length figure of the poet, is still preserved, and was repaired in 1832 by the Duke of Sutherland, head of the ancient family of Gower, settled in Yorkshire so early as the twelfth century.* The principal works of Gower were the 'Speculum Meditantis,' the 'Vox Clamantis,' and the Confessio Amantis,' 1393. The first of these was in French, but is now lost; the second is in Latin, and the third in English. This English poem was printed by Caxton in 1483, and was again printed in 1532 and 1554. It was chiefly taken from a metrical version in the 'Fantheon,' or 'Universal Chronicle of Godfrey of Viterbo,' as admitted by Gower. In this work is the story of Appolinus, the Prince of Tyre, from which Shakspeare took part of the story of his ' Pericles,' if we assume that Shakspeare was the original or sole author of that drama. The 'Confessio Amantis' is a dialogue between a lover and his confessor -a grave discussion of the morals and metaphysics of love. Dr. Pauli, the able editor of the poem (1857), describes it as 'a mixture of classical notions, principally borrowed from Ovid, and of the purely medieval idea, that, as a good Catholic, the unfortunate lover must state his distress to a father confessor.' In the poem Venus is enjoined to 'greet well' Chaucer,

As my disciple and my poete;

and the greater poet inscribed his 'Troilus and Cressida' to his friend as 'moral Gower,' a designation which has ever since been applied to him. The general style of the 'Confessio Amantis' is grave and sententious, and its enormous length (above thirty thousand lines) renders it tedious; but it is occasionally relieved by stories and episodes drawn from medieval history and romance, and from the col lection of novels known as the 'Gesta Romanorum.' He says:

*It was supposed that there was some relationship between the poet and this noble family, and stress was laid upon the possession of a MS, of the Confessio Amautis,' which was believed to have been presented to an ancestor of the Yorkshire Gowers by the poet. The genealogists, however, find no branch to which this alleged alliance can be traced, and the MS. turns out to be the very copy of the work which the author presented to Henry IV. while Duke of Lancaster a rare and precious volume.

Full oft time it falleth so
My ear with a good pittance
Is fed, with reading of romance
Of Isodyne and Amadas,

That whilom were in my case;
And eke of other many a score,
That loved long ere I was bore:

Story of the Caskets.-From
In a cronique this I rede:
Aboute a king, as moste nede
Ther was of knyghtes and squiers
Great route, and eke of officers:
Some of long time him had hadden served,
And thoughten that they have deserved
Avancément, and gon withoute:
And some also ben of the route,
That comen but awhile agon
And they advanced were anon.
These old men, upon this thing,
So as they durst, agein the king,
Among hemself (1) compleignen ofte:
But there is nothing said so softe,.
That it ne comith out at laste:
The king it wiste, and als so faste,
As he which was of high prudénce:
He shope therfore an evidence

Of hem (2) that pleignen in the cas,
To knowe in whose defalte it was;
And all within his owne entent,
That non ma wisté what it ment.
Anon he let two cofres make

Of one semblance, and of one make,
So lich, (3) tha no lif thilke throwe,
That one may fro that other knowe:
They were into his chamber brought,
But no man wot why they be wrought,
And natheles the king hath bede
That they be set in privy stede,
As he that was of wisdom slih;
Whan he therto his tine sih, (4)
All prively, that none it wiste,
His owné hondes that one chiste
Of fin gold, and of fin perie, (5)
The which out of his tresorie
Was take, anon he fild full;

That other cofre of straw and mull (6)
With stones meynd (7) he fild also:
Thus be they full bothé two.

So that erliche (8) upon a day
He had within, where he lay,
Ther should be tofore his bed
A bord up set and fairé spred:
And than he let the cofres fette (9)
Upon the bord, and did hem sette.
He knewe the names well of tho, (10)

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To stoppé with your evil word,
Lo! here two cofres on the board;
Chese (11) which you list of bothé two;
And witeth well that one of tho
Is with tresor so full begon,
That if ye happé theruron
Ye shall be riché men for ever:
Now chese, and take which you is lover,
But be well ware ere that ye take,
For of that one I undertake
Ther is no maner good therein,
Wherof ye mighton profit winne.
Now goth (12) together of one assent,
And taketh your avisement;
For, but I you this day avance,
It stant upon your owné chance,
Al only in defalte of grace;
So shall be shewed in this place
Upou you all well afyn, (13)
That no defalté shall be 1.yn.

They knelen all, and with one vois
The king they thonken of this chois:
And after that they up arise,

And gon aside, and hem avise,
And at laste, they accorde
(Wherof her (14) talé to recorde
To what issue they be falle)

A kuyght shall spcké for hem alle:
He kneleth doun unto the king,
And seith that they upon this thing,
Or for to winne, or for to lese, (15)
Ben all avised for to chese.

Tho (16) toke this knyght a yerd (17) on honde,

And goth there as the cofres stonde,
And with assent of everychone (18)

5 Jewels, or precious stones.

4 Saw.

10 Those.

14 Their.

18 Every one.

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He leith his yerde upon one,
And seith (1) the king how thilke same
They chese in reguerdon (2) by name,
And preith him that they might it have.
The king, which wolde his honor save,
When he had heard the common vois,
Hath granted hem her owne chois,
And toke hem therupon the keie;
But for he woldé it were seie (3)
What good they have as they suppose,
He bade anon the cofre unclose,
Which was fulfild with straw and stones:
Thus be they served all at ones.

This king than, in the same stedé,
Anon that other cofre undede,
Wher as they sihen gret richesse,
Wel more than they couthen gesse.

Lo! seith the king, now may ye se
That ther is no defalte in me;
Forthy (4) my self I wol aquite,
And bereth ye your owné-wite (5)
Of that (6) fortune hath you refused.
Thus was this wise king excused:
And they lefte off her evil speche,
And mercy of her king beseche.

SCOTTISH POETS.

The language of the Lowland districts of Scotland was based, like that of England, on the Teutonic, and it had, like the contemporary English, a Norman admixture. The names of places, however, and the permanent features of the country-the mountains, lakes, and rivers are mostly Celtic. Some were modified; Strathclyde became Clydesdale, and Strathnith and Strathannan became Nithsdale and Annandale. In some instances, the Celtic kil, a cell or chapel, was supplanted by the Saxon kirk, as Kirkpatrick for Kilpatrick; but kil is still the most common prefix-as Kilmarnock, signifying the chapel of Marnoch, a famous Scottish saint. The oldest Scotch writing extant is a charter by Duncan II. in 1095. A few years before this, a new era began with Malcom Canmore. What is called the ScotoSaxon period of Scottish history commences. New races appear; Northumbrian nobles and their vassals, Norman knights and Flemish artisans, enter Scotland; not rapidly at first, but by a continued steady migration. The Saxon policy of Malcolm Canmore was carried out by his sons; and after half a century or more of continued colonisation, we find the Norman nobles-the Bruces, Baliols, tewarts, Cummings, Douglases, Murrays, and Dunbars--seated in Scotland, and the Saxon language, laws, and ecclesiastical government naturalised, as it were, in the North. As the English or Teutonic portion of the language did not fall out of court favour in Scotland as in England, it long continued in the north with little change. The oldest fragment of Scottish poetry has been preserved by Wyntoun, and is of a plaintive cast:

Quhen Alysander oure kyng was dede
That Scotland led in luwe and le, (7)
Away wes sons (8) of ale and brede,
Of wyne and wax, of gaymn and gle;

Oure golde wes changyd into lede
Cryst borne into virgynyte,
Succor Scotland and remede,
That stad (9) is in perplexyte.

After the battle of Bannockburn (June 24, 1314), the Scots, 'inflamed with pride and derision of the English,' as Fabian the chronicier states, made this rhyme, which was after many days sung in the dances and carols of the maidens and minstrels of Scotland:'

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Maydens of Englande, sore may ye morne
For your lemans ye have loste at Bannockysborne
With heave alow!

What, weneth the kynge of Englande
So soone to have Scotlande?

With rumbylow!

JOHN BARBOUR.

Contemporary with Chaucer and Gower was the northern minstrel, JOHN BARBOUR. The date of his birth is unknown, but he is found exercising the duties of archdeacon of Aberdeen in 1357. That he was a man of talent and learning may be assumed from his having been chosen by the bishop of Aberdeen to act as his commissioner at Edinburgh when the ransom of David II. was debated; and also from the circumstance that he twice visited England with scholars, for the purpose of studying at Oxford (1357 and 1364); that in 1365 he obtained a passport to travel through England with six companions on horseback towards St. Denis and other sacred places;' and that in 1368 he again received permission to travel through England with two servants. At home, Barbour enjoyed royal favour. In 1373, he was clerk of audit of the household of King Robert II, and one of the auditors of exchequer. In 1375, his epic poem, The Bruce,' was in progress. In 1377, a sum of ten pounds was paid to Barbour by the king's command, as the first reward, it would seem, for the composition of the poem. This gift was followed, at the interval of a few months, by a grant to Barbour from the king of a perpetual annuity of twenty shillings. Barbour wrote another poem, now lost, called The Brut,' relating the descent and history of the Stuarts from the fabulous King Brut, or Brutus. His reward for this second work seems to have been a pension for life of ten pounds a year The pension was payable in two moieties-one at Whitsunday, the other at Martinmas. The last payment which Barbour received was at Martinmas 1394--so that he must have died between that date and Whitsunday 1395. The precise day of his death was probably the 13th of March, on which day Barbour's anniversary continued to be celebrated in the cathedral church of St. Machar, at Aberdeen, until the Reformation-the expenses of the service being defrayed from the perpetual annuity granted to the father of Scottish poetry by the first of the Stuart kings, in 1378, 'pro compilacione Libri de Gestis illustrissimi principis quondam Domini Regis Roberti de Brus.' Barbour's poem of The Bruce' is valuable as a monument of our early language, and as a storehouse of historical incidents. But th ugh he set himself to write a 'soothfast story,' the poet begins by departing widely from history. He confounds Bruce the grandfather with Bruce the grandson, and makes him reject the crown said to have been offered to him by Edward I.! Of course, he also conceals the fact, that the grandson had sworn fealty to Edward, and done homage to Baliol. He desired to present in Bruce

·

a true hero and patriot trampling down oppression and vindicating the sacred rights of his country, and all that could militate against this design was excluded. Almost all the personal traits and adventures of Bruce-whatever gives individuality, life, and color to his history-will be found in the pages of Barbour. The old poet's narrative of the wanderings, trials, sufferings, and fortitude of the monarch; the homely touches of tenderness and domestic feeling interspersed, as well as the knightly courtesy and royal intrepid bearing, which he paints in lively colors, have tended greatly to endear and perpetuate the name of the Scottish sovereign. The characters and exploits of Bruce's brave associates, Randolph and Douglas, are also finely drawn; and the poem contains many vividly descriptive passages, and abounds in dignified and pathetic sentiment. Humour it has none. The language is fully as intelligible as that of Chaucer. It does not appear that the Scottish poet had seen the works of his southern contemporary. One would have wished that the bards had met, each the representative of his country's literature, and each enjoying the favour and bounty of his sovereign. Barbour's poem, we may add, is in the octo-syllabic verse, and consists of about 14,000 lines. It has been well edited by Dr. Jamieson (1820) and by Professor Cosmo Innes (1856).

Apostrophe to Freedom.

A fredome is a nobill thing!
Fredome mayse man to haiff liking!
Fredome all solace to man giffis;
He levys at ese that frely livys!
A noble hart may haiff nane ese,
Na ellys nocht that may him plese,
Gyff fredome failythe: for fre liking
Is yearnyt our all othir thing

Na he, thut ay hase levyt fre,
May nocht knaw weill the propryte, (1)
The angyr, na the wrechyt dome,
That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome. (2)
Bot gyff he had assayt it,

Than all perquer (3) he suld it wyt;
And suld think fredome mar to pryse
And all the gold in warld that is.

Barbour makes no mention of Wallace. So ardent a worshipper of freedom might have been expected to strike a note in honour of one who sacrificed life itself in pure devotion to that cause. But to recall Wallace would have jarred with his unqualified eulogy of Bruce, and was not necessary towards the unity of his design. His poem begins with the story of the Bruce, and ends with the burial of his heart at Melrose.

In the subsequent extracts from Barbour and Wyntoun, the cumbrous spelling is reduced, without interference with the rhythm or obsolete words.

Bruce's Address to his Army at Bannockburn.

On Sunday then, in the morning,
Weil soon after the son rising,
They heard their mass commonaly;
And mony them shrave (4) full devoutly,
That thocht to die in that melée,

1 Quality or nature.

3 Exactly (Fr. par cœur, by heart,)

Or then to make their country free!
To God for their right prayed they:
Their dined nane of them that day;
But, for the vigil of Sanct Jhane,
They fasted, water and bread ilk ane.

2 Thraldom,
4 Made confession

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