JOHN GOWER. LITTLE is known of Gower's personal history. "The proud tradition in the Marquis of Stafford's family," says Mr. Todd', " has been, and still is, that he was of Stitenham; and who would not consider the dignity of his genealogy augmented, by enrolling among its worthies the moral Gower?" His effigies in the church of St. Mary Overies is often inaccurately described, as having a garland of ivy and roses on the head. It is, in fact, a chaplet of roses, such, as Thynne says, was anciently worn by knights; a circumstance which is favourable to the suspicion, that has been suggested, of his having been of the rank of knighthood. If Thynne's assertion, respecting the time of the lawyers first entering the Temple, be correct, it will be difficult to reconcile it with the tradition of Gower's having been a student there in his youth. By Chaucer's manner of addressing Gower, the latter appears to have been the elder. He was attached to Thomas of Woodstock, as Chaucer was to John of Gaunt. The two poets appear to have been at one time cordial friends, but ultimately to ' In Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer by the Rev. H. Todd. have quarrelled. Gower tells us himself that he was blind in his old age. From his will, it appears that he was living in 1408. His bequests to several churches and hospitals, and his legacy to his wife of 100l., of all his valuable goods, and of the rents arising from his manors of Southwell in the county of Nottingham, and of Multon in the county of Suffolk, undeniably prove that he was rich. One of his three great works, the Speculum Meditantis, a poem in French, is erroneously described by Mr. Godwin and others as treating of conjugal fidelity. In an account of its contents, in a MS. in Trinity College Cambridge, we are told that its principal subject is the repentance of a sinner The Vox Clamantis, in Latin, relates to the insurrection of the commons, in the reign of Richard II. The Confessio Amantis, in English, is a dialogue between a lover and his confessor, who is a priest of Venus, and who explains, by apposite stories and philosophical illustrations, all the evil affections of the heart, which impede, or counteract the progress and success of the tender passion. His writings exhibit all the crude erudition and science of his age; a knowledge sufficient to have been the fuel of genius, if Gower had possessed its fire. THE TALE OF THE COFFERS OR CASKETS, &c. IN THE FIFTH BOOK OF THE CONFESSIO AMANTIS. In a Cronique thus I rede: And some also ben of the route, These oldè men upon this thing, 'Themselves. As he which was of high prudènce: He shope therfore an evidence Of hem1 that pleignen in the cas, Was take, anon he fild full; That other cofre of straw and mull5 So that erliche upon a day I Them. 2 Like. 5 Rubbish. 3 Saw. 4 Jewels, or precious stones, Mi ugled. 7 Early. And than he let the cofres fette' There shall no man his hap despise : Of that ye unavanced be, Ye shall be richè men for ever: Now chese3, and take which you is lever, Wherof ye mighten profit winne. 4 Now goth together of one assent, 1 Fetched. 2 Those. 3 Choose. Go. |