rally upon fignal victories rewarded with military ho nours. Neither were these all the inftances he received of the King's attention to and confidence in him, for in the very fame year, and by the fame title, we find him commiffioned, in conjunction with other perfons, to treat with the republick of Genoa; and accordingly thither he went, and actually managed a negotiation, concerning the fubject of which thofe who have written our Author's life make not the leaft mention, but feem to treat it as a matter, at this diftance of time, altogether inexplicable. But it may from the hiftory of that prince's reign be very probably inferred that Chaucer was sent to Genoa to hire fhips for the King's navy; for in those times though we frequently made great naval armaments, yet we had but very few ships of our own, and this defect was supplied by hiring them from the free ftates either in Gerniany or Italy. In this negotiation our Author fucceeded fo well that upon his return home he received new marks of his royal master's favour, for by letters patents dated at Windfor the 23d of April in the 48th year of his reign, his Majesty granted him a pitcher of wine daily in the Port of London, to be delivered by the Butler of England; and very foon after he was made Comptroller of the Customs in the Port of London for wool, wool-fells, and hides, with a provifo that he should perfonally execute that office, and keep the accounts of it with his own hand. As this was a

very lucrative fo it was a very reputable employment likewife, and as Chaucer was enriched by the profits of his post, so his reputation was very much increas fed by that diligence and integrity with which he dif charged it. He values himself, as he had reason to do, very much upon his conduct in this office, which he affirms was never liable to any kind of imputation. And indeed it is highly probable that what he has dee livered upon this fubject is strictly, true, for in the lat ter end of King Edward's reign there were great frauds and embezzlements committed in the Customs, which by profecutions were brought to publick view, but we do not find that in these Chaucer's name was fo much as mentioned. About a year after he was in poffeffion of this office the King made him a grant of the lands and body of Sir Edmund Staplegate, fon of Sir Edmund Staplegate of Kent, in ward, for which he received one hundred and four pounds; and other pecuniary advantages he had, which enabled him to raife altogether an income of one thousand pounds per annum, which was in thofe days a prodigious fum, and might well enable him to livé, as he says he did, with dignity in office, and with goodwill amongst his neighbours. Biit as all these benefits arofe chiefly from the favour in which he stood with the potent and ambitious Duke of Lançafter, fo he became daily more and more involved in the political intrigues of that active and ambițious prince. It is fuggefted by many of our

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he

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tha

the

long before he found himfelf obliged to turn his thoughts to graver fubjects, for his patron the Duke

prefented under the character of the Black Knight. The House of Fame is alfo a moft admirable performance, as well in the conftruction of the fable as in the eafe and happinefs of its execution, of which there cannot be a higher teftimony than Mr. Pope's borrowing from thence the model of his Temple of Fame, which will probably be efteemed as long as there is either tafte or poetry in this nation. The Aembly of Fowls was written while he was at court, and before the death of King. Edward's queen Philippa; and fo was his tale of The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, in which, as was obferved in the preceding note, the fcene is vifibly laid in Woodfock-Park. He like wife wrote abundance of elegies, poems, or ballads, in honour of Margaret Countess of Pembroke, and other ladies of the court; and as it is natural to fuppofe that he was not the only perfon who wrote things of this kind, fo by an accident common enough to great men, all of thofe pieces which have furvived the injuries of time are come down to us under the name of Chaucer, though it might be very easily proved that they are none of his. The poem of Troilus and Crefeide was written in the former part of his life, and tranflated, as he says,

from Lollius, an

hiftoriographer of Urbano in Italy. He did not

however content himself with making a clofe translation of his author, but, on the contrary, added many things of his own, and borrowed alfo from others, more especially his friend Petrarch, whatever he judged might render it acceptable to his reader. That difcourfe of Predeftination which he has inferted in the fourth book is entirely his own; and from it, and from what he has 'delivered upon the fame fubje& in The Nur's Priet's Tale, the very learned Sir Henry Savile thought that he Aranger to Archbishop Bradwardine's learned book des By Dei publifhed at that time. Sir Francis Kinafton, who tranfated this poem into Latin rhymes, in his manuscript notes upon zays, that it was not improbably conjectured that Chaucer, in wing The Lives and Loves of Troilus and Créseide, glanced zime private perfons in the court of King Edward III. and

was no

of lancaster having efpoufed the cause of Wickliffe, whom the clergy confidered as a heretick, Chaucer inclined the fame way, and turned the edge of his fatire againft lazy monks, ignorant priests, and the infolence of fuch as belonged to ecclefiaftical courts, with extraordinary fuccefs. Yet it does not at all appear that he was an enemy to religion, or even to that of the church of Rome, but rather the contrary, for he fpeaks very fubmiffively of her doctrines, and beows high characters upon fuch of the clergy as acted fitably to their calling; fo that it was the ill men, who brought religion into contempt, and profituted their own function in the vileft manner, that felt the feverity of Chaucer's Mufe, and not priests in general, or the Christian faith, for the former he highly revered, and the latter he firmly believed, as his writings plainly fhew. But how much foever Wickliffe's

did not follow Homer, Dares, Dictys, or any hiftorian of those times. However, fays he, Chaucer has taken the liberty of his wn inventions; he hath made an admirable and inimitable epick poem, defcribing in Troilus a complete knight in arms and courtship, and a faithful and conftant lover, and in Creeide a moft beautiful and coy lady, which being once overcome fields to the frailty of her fex. We thall have occafion hereafter to peak more largely of this worthy perfon's performance, and the pains he took to illuftrate Chaucer, in which he equalled leaft, if not exceeded, all who have spent their time in doing fice to this great poet.

A bis writings plainly few. The true defign of our Author was not to expofe or abufe the clergy from a diflike to their order, but, quite the contrary, to amend and to reform

Volume I.

long before he found himself obliged to turn his thoughts to graver fubjects, for his patron the Duke

prefented under the character of the Black Knight. The Houfe of Fame is also a moft admirable performance, as well in the conftruction of the fable as in the cafe and happiness of its execution, of which there cannot be a higher teftimony than Mr., Pope's borrowing from thence the model of his Temple of Fame, which will probably be esteemed as long as there is either tafte or poetry in this nation. The Aembly of Fowls was written while he was at court, and before the death of King Edward's queen Philippa; and fo was his tale of The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, in which, as was observed in the preceding note, the fcene is vifibly laid in Woodfock-Park. He likewife wrote abundance of elegies, poems, or ballads, in honour of Margaret Countess of Pembroke, and other ladies of the court; and as it is natural to fuppofe that he was not the only perfon who wrote things of this kind, fo by an accident common enough to great men, all of thofe pieces which have furvived the injuries of time are come down to us under the name of Chaucer, though it might be very easily proved that they afe none of his. The poem of Troilus and Crefeide was written in the former part of his life, and tranflated, as he says, from Lollius, an hiftoriographer of Urbano in Italy. He did not however content himself with making a close translation of his author, but, on the contrary, added many things of his own, and borrowed alfo from others, more especially his friend Petrarch, whatever he judged might render it acceptable to his reader. That difcourfe of Predeftination which he has inferted in the fourth book is entirely his own; and from it, and from what he has delivered upon the fame subject in The Nun's Prieft's Tale, the very learned Sir Henry Savile thought that he was no ftranger to Archbishop Bradwardine's learned book de Caufa Dei publifhed at that time. Sir Francis Kinafton, who tranflated this poem into Latin rhymes, in his manuscript notes upon it fays, that it was not improbably conjectured that Chaucer, in writing The Lives and Loves of Troilus and Créfeide, glanced at fome private perfons in the court of King Edward III. and