He cried so thick there indeed But he that lacked money might not speed. To the Common Pleas I yode1 tho, And told my case as well as I could; How my goods were defrauded me by falsehood; I gat not a mum of his mouth for my meed ;—2 Unto the Rolls I gat me from thence, .3 In Westminster Hall I found out one "I wot not what thou mean'st," gan he say; For lack of money I could not speed. Within this Hall, neither rich nor yet poor Fine felt hats, or spectacles to read? Lay down your silver, and here you may speed." To Westminster Gate I presently went, When the sun was at high prime; Cooks to me they took good entent And proffered me bread, with ale and wine, A fair cloth they 'gan for to spread ; But, wanting money, I might not then speed. 1 I went then. 2 Reward. 3 Gown of office. 6 Notice. 4 A part of Westminster Hall, near to the Law-Courts, was formerly taken up with little shops and stalls. 5 Exchange. Then unto London1 I did me hie; Of all the land it beareth the prize; Strawberries ripe!" and "Cherries in the rise ! " Then to the Cheap3 I gan me drawn,1 "Here is Paris thread, the finest in the land;" Drapers much cloth me offered anon; Then comes me one cried, "Hot sheep's feet!" One cried," Mackerel !" "Rushes green !"7 another gan greet; One bade me buy a hood to cover my head ; But, for want of money, I might not be sped Then I hied me into East Cheap : One cries, "Ribs of beef, and many a pie !" There was harp, pipe, and minstrelsy: "Yea, by cock!" "Nay, by cock!" some began cry; Then into Corn-hill8 anon I yode,9 But, for lack of money, I could not speed. 1 London was formerly a distinct city, encompassed by a wall, which had seven gates. 2 On the branch. 3 Or Cheapside; a busy thoroughfare between St. Paul's and the Poultry, originally a market-place. 4 To draw. 5 An ancient stone, still standing in Cannon St. City; supposed by Camden to have been the central milestone from which the British highroads radiated and the distances on them were reckoned. 6 Candlewick or Cannon Street. 7 To lay on the floor. 8 A crowded street between the Poultry and Leadenhall Street. It was originally a corn-market, and was inhabited in Lydgate's time by clothiers and drapers. 9 Went 66 The Taverner took me by the sleeve; Yet sore a-hungered from thence I yede ;- Then hied I me to Billings-gate ;1 "Thou 'scap'st not here," quoth he, “under two-pence ; I list not yet bestow any alms-deed." Thus, lacking money, I could not speed.. Then I conveyed me into Kent ; For of the law would I meddle no more. Now Jesus, that in Bethlem was bore,3 4 Save London, and send true lawyers their meed ! FROM LYDGATE'S TESTAMENT. A MEDIEVAL SCHOOL-BOY. Void of reason; given to wilfulness; Save play or mirthè; strange to spell or read ; For little wroth, to strive with my fellow Made my friendès their good to spend in idle. . . . 1 A quay or water-gate on the Thames; now a fish-market. 4 Payment. 2 Set. 6 Whipt. 7 Uselessly To my betters I did no reverence; ... Loth to rise; lother to bed at eve; FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY." SUNRISE. When that the rowès 8 and the rayès red 9 The lusty goddess of the morrow gray- Is wont to chase the blackè skyès dun, A GOTHIC CASTLE. Through many a hall, and many a rich tower, 1 Governors. 4 Men's. 2 Force, heed. 5 Rebuked. 7 The two following passages are taken from Warton's Poetry. 8 Streaks of light. 9 According to its habit. 11 Stair. 12 Windowed. 3 Stole. 6 Faults (Fr. tache). 10 Open, display. That shone full sheen with gold and with azure, Duly in honour of them that were strangers, THOMAS OCCLEVE. (1370 ?-1454.) ANOTHER young contemporary and disciple of Chaucer was Thomas Occleve, a lawyer in London, and, for twenty years of his life, a writer to the Privy Seal. His works, produced chiefly in the reign of Henry V. (1413-1422), included La Male Regle (the Mis-rule) de T. Hoccleve, some devotional and occasional verses, and an English version of a Latin treatise of Egidius, a Roman writer of 1250, called De Regimine Principum (on the Art of Governing). In the Prologue to this poem occur some pathetic verses upon the death of Chaucer, written probably soon after the event, and incorporated some years later in the poem. Upon the margin of one of the MSS. of the De Regimine, now in the British Museum, Occleve painted his famous little coloured portrait of Chaucer. Few of Occleve's works have found their way into print. Even the De Regimine, the most important of them, exists only in manuscript; but its author will always hold a place among our early poets on account of his graceful and reverent homage to Chaucer, his "dear master and father." FROM DE REGIMINE PRINCIPUM. OCCLEVE'S LAMENT FOR CHAUCER. My dearè master-God his soul acquit !— And father, Chaucer, fain would have me taught; |