with his notes and directions, as also with considerable materials for the writing Chaucer's Life." Francis Thynne was the officer in the College of Arms, distinguished by the title of Lancaster Herald. He died in 1611. His time appears to have been usefully employed in several departments of literature. Of his compositions Hearne has largely availed himself in his "Collection of curious discourses, written by eminent Antiquaries on several heads in our English Antiquities, and now *first published chiefly for the use and service of the young Nobility and Gentry of England," in 1720. I may not omit mentioning, that, in the same Library, which now preserves his remarks on Chaucer, is a manuscript volume, in quarto, of Thynne's unpublished Epigrams and Emblems; dedicated also to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. *These are the discourses of Francis Thynne, viz. No. 2. Of sterling money. No. 8. Of what antiquity shires were in England. No. 25. Of the antiquity of the Houses of Law. Armes. II. This division of the Illustrations contains two documents; the first of which is the Will of Gower, and is of importance in respect to the history of his life. We have hitherto been told, that we possess no materials for the biography of this distinguished character; that probably he was well born; that obscurity, however, hangs over his origin; and that an indirect proof of his wealth may indeed be drawn from the munificence of his conduct to the monastery of St. Mary Overies. To these specimens of cautious recital may be added the pretended date of Gower's death in 1402 or 1403. The Will, which we are now considering, is dated in 1408! If the knowledge of this curious document had never passed from the Registry, in which it is recorded; to impute blame to those, who have faithfully followed the authority of preceding writers, in whom confidence may rarely be misplaced, might seem fastidious. But since it appears that *Ellis's Specimens of the Early English Poets, vol. i. ch. vii. Godwin's Life of Chaucer, ch. xvii. Tanner, Bib. Brit. Hib. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet. Edmondson, Baronagium Genealogicum, &c. the Will of Gower was published in a * work, anteriour to Specimens of the Early English Poets by Ellis, to the Bibliographia Poetica by Ritson, and to the Life of Chaucer by Godwin; in a work, I may add, which is an honour to the individual who composed it, and which, in matters of antiquarian research, more particularly in those respecting biography, ought to be overpassed by no one: since this, I say, is the case, the continuation of mistake can no longer be defended, and ingenuity must be somewhat puzzled to excuse the neglect of Mr. Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. The Will is recorded in the Register of Archbishop Arundel; which is preserved, among other archiepiscopal records, in the Library at Lambeth Palace. The copy of it, printed by Mr. Gough, is correct; but wants part of the grant of administration to Agnes, the wife of Gower; which is now added. Before I offer, from this document, direct proof of Gower's wealth; I think it right to notice the remark that he was well * The Sepulchral. Monuments of Great Britain, by Ri chard Gough, Esq. Centur. xv. born, in order more fully to illustrate the opinion, stated by Mr. Ellis, that Gower, Chaucer, and Hoccleve, all of whom received their education at the Inns of Court, were of noble origin. This opinion derives weight from Sir John Fortescue's Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, where, in the fortyninth chapter, he says, "Quo fit, ut vix doctus in legibus illis reperiatur in regno qui non sit nobilis, et de nobilium genere egressus. In his reverà hospitiis, ultrà studium legum, est quasi gymnasium omnium morum qui nobiles decent. Ibi cantare ipsi addiscunt, similitèr et se exercent in omni genere harmonia: ibi etiam tripudiare, ac jocos singulos nobilibus convenientes, qualiter in domo regiâ exercere solent, enutriti. Ita ut milites, barones, alii quoque magnates et nobiles regni, in hospitiis illis ponunt filios suos."---An old commentator on Fortescue says, that in Sir John's time “* none were admitted of the Inns of Court, but men as of bloud so of fortune; since to live and study there was so chargeable, that a thrifty liver * Fortescutus Illustratus, or a Commentary on that nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Anglia, written by Sir John Fortescue, &c. By Edw. Waterhous, Esq. fol. Lond. 1663– p. 527. there could not come off for less than 80 escues, which I take not to be as Mr. Mulcaster makes it to amount to, twenty marks; but, casting the escues into those that are escue vieil, worth 7s. 6d. sterling a piece, comes to near 30l. a year, which in that time was a good allowance, &c." The preceding remark may be considered as a correction of what the author had elsewhere said, respecting the necessary expenses incurred by the students at those seminaries. "*Anciently no man was capable of an entry there but a gentleman of arms and blood; and Mr. Fern sayes, he has seen an alphabet about the end of Henry the fifth's time, in which were the names and arms of the house and family of all those who were members of an Inn of Court, who exceeded not the number of 60, all gentlemen of perfect descents; and Fortescue tells us, that in H. 6ths time, the Inns of Court had in them 200 or near; and because the expense of living there was at least to every man 20 marks a year, ipsi nobilium filii tantùm in hospitiis illis leges addiscunt." *Discourse of Arms and Armory, by Edw. Waterhous, Esq. 8vo. Lond. 1660. p. 131. |