LENVOY.
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oete hault, loenge destruye,En ton jardin ne seroye qu'ortie:Consideré ce que j'ay dit premierTon noble plant, ta douce mélodie,Mais pour sçavoir, de rescripre te prie,Grant translateur, noble Geffroy Chaucier.' Gower alludes to Chaucer in the first edition of the Confessio Amantis; seethe passage discussed in vol. iii. p. 414. Henry Scogan wrote 'a moral balade' in twenty-one 8-line stanzas, in whichhe not only refers to Chaucer's poetical skill, but quotes the whole of hisBalade on Gentilesse; see vol. i. p. 83. Hoccleve frequently refers to Chaucer as his 'maister,' i. e. his teacher,with great affection; and, if he learnt but little more, he certainlylearnt the true method of scansion of his master's lines, and imitates hismetres and rimes with great exactness. The passages relating to Chaucer areas follows[179]. (1) From the Governail of Princes, or De Regimine Principum (ed. Wright, p.67, st. 267):-- 'Thou were acqueynted with Chaucer, pardee--God save his soule--best of any wight.' (2) From the same, p. 75, stanzas 280, 281-283, 297-299, 301:-- 'But weylawey! so is myn herte woThat the honour of English tonge is deed,Of which I wont was han conseil and reed. O maister dere and fader reverent,My maister Chaucer, flour of eloquence,Mirour of fructuous entendement,O universel fader in science,Allas! that thou thyn excellent prudenceIn thy bed mortel mightest not bequethe!What eyled Deeth? Allas! why wolde he slee thee? O Deeth! thou didest not harm singulerIn slaghtre of him, but al this land it smerteth!But nathelees, yit hast thou no powèrHis name slee; his hy vertu astertethUnslayn fro thee, which ay us lyfly hertethWith bokes of his ornat endyting,That is to al this land enlumining....
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