She fighe the fwete floures fprynge,
She herde glad fowles fynge;

She figh beaftes in her kynde,

The buck, the doo, the hert, the hynde,
The males go with the femele:

And fo began there a quarele
Betwene love and her owne herte
Fro whiche fhe couthe not afterte.
And as she caft hir eie aboute,
She figh, clad in one fuit, a route
Of ladies where thei comen ride
Alonge under the wooddè fide;

On fayre ambulende hors thei fet,
That were al whyte, fayre, and gret;
And everichone ride on fide'.

The fadels were of fuch a pride,
So riche fighe she never none;
With perles and golde fo wel begone,
In kirtels and in copes riche
Thei were clothed all aliche,
Departed even of white and blewe,
With all luftes" that fhe knewe
Thei wer embroudred over all:
Her bodies weren longe and small,

The beautee of hir fayre face,

There mai none erthly thing deface:

Corownes on their heades thei bare,

As eche of hem a quene were.

That all the golde of Crefus hall

The leaft coronall of all

Might not have boughte, after the worth,

Thus comen thei ridend forthe.

The kynges doughter, whiche this figh,
For pure abafshe drewe hir adrigh,
And helde hir clofe undir the bough.

At length she fees riding in the rear of this fplendid troop, on a horse lean, galled, and lame, a beautiful lady in a tattered garment, her faddle mean and much worn, but her bridle richly ftudded with gold and jewels: and round her waist were more than an hundred halters. The princess asks the meaning of this strange proceffion; and is answered by the lady on the lean horse, that these are spectres of ladies, who, when living, were obedient and faithful votaries of love. "As to myself, fhe adds, I am now receiving my " annual penance for being a rebel to love."

For I whilom no love had;

My horfe is now feble and badde,
And al to torn is myn araie;
And everie year this freshe Maic
These luftie ladies ride aboute,

And I must nedes few her route,

In this manner as ye nowe fee,

And truffe her hallters forth with mee,
And am but her horse knave'.

The princess then asks her, why she wore the rich bridle, fo inconfiftent with the reft of her furniture, her drefs, and horse? The lady answers, that it was a badge and reward for having loved a knight faithfully for the last fortnight of her life.

"Now have ye herde all mine answere;

"To god, madam, I you betake,

"And warneth all, for my fake,

Follow.

1 Their

groom,

"Of

"Of love, that thei be not idell,

"And bid hem thinke of my bridell."
And with that worde, all fodenly

She paffeth, as it were a skie",

All clean out of the ladies fight".

My readers will eafily conjecture the change which this spectacle must naturally produce in the obdurate heart of the princess of Armenia. There is a farther proof that the FLOURE AND LEAFE preceded the CONFESSIO AMANTIS. In the eighth book, our author's lovers are crowned with the Flower and Leaf.

Myn eie I caste all aboutes,

To knowe amonge hem who was who:
I figh where luftie YouтH tho,
As he which was a capitayne
Before all others on the playne,
Stode with his route wel begon:
Her heades kempt, and thereupon
Garlondes not of one colour,

Some of the lefe, fome of the floure,

And some of grete perles were :

The new guife of Beme was there, &c.

I believe on the whole, that Chaucer had published most of his poems before this piece of Gower appeared. Chaucer had not however at this time written his TESTAMENT OF Love for Gower, in a fort of Epilogue to the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, is addressed by Venus, who commands him to greet Chaucer as her favourite poet and difciple, as one who had employed his youth in compofing fongs and ditties to her honour. She adds at the close,

A fhadow, Exɩa, umbra. a Lib. iv. f. 70. feq. P Lib. viii. f. 188. a. col. 1. See fupr. vol. i. p. 466.

• Boeme. Bohemia.

For thy,

For thy, now in his daies olde,
Thou shalt hym tell this message,
That he upon his later age

To fette an ende of all his werke
As he, which is myne owne clerke,
Do make his TESTAMENT OF LOVE,
As thou haft done thy SHRIFTE above:
So that my court it maie recorde1.

Chaucer at this time was fixty-five years of age. The Court of Love, one of the pedantries of French gallantry, occurs often. In an address to Venus, " Madame, I am a "man of thyne, that in thy COURTE hath ferved long '." The lover obferves, that for want of patience, a man ought "amonge the women alle, in LOVES COURTE, by judgement "the name beare of paciant"." The confeffor declares, that many perfons are condemned for difclofing fecrets, "LOVES COURTE, as it is faid, that lette their tonges gone "untide"." By Thy SHRIFTE, the author means his own poem now before us, the Lover's CONFESSION.

"In

There are also many manifest evidences which lead us to conclude, that this poem preceded Chaucer's CANTERBURY'S TALES, undoubtedly fome of that poet's latest compofitions, and probably not begun till after the year 1382. The MAN of Lawes Tale is circumftantially borrowed from Gower's CONSTANTIA: and Chaucer, in that TALE, apparently cenfures Gower, for his manner of relating the ftories of Canace and Apollonius in the third and eighth books of the CONFESSIO AMANTIS". The WIFE OF BATHES TALE is founded

• Lib. viii. f. 190. b. col. 1.,

Lib. i. f. 8. b. col. 1.

• Lib. iii. f. 51. a. col. 1.

Lib. iii. f. 52. a. col. 1. See fupr. vol. i. p. 460. In the fame ftrain, we have Cupid's pariement. Lib. viii, f. 187. b. col. 2.

"Conf. Amant. Lib. i f. 30. b. col. 2. See particularly, ibid. f. 35. b. col. 2. a. col. . And compare Ch. MAN OF L.T. v. 5595. "Some men wold fayn, &c." That is, GowER.

* See Chaucer, ibid. v. 4500. And Conf. Amant. Lib. iii. f. 48. a. col. 1. feq.

on Gower's Florent, a knight of Rome, who delivers the king of Sicily's daughter from the incantations of her stepmother*. Although the GESTA ROMANORUM might have furnished both poets with this narrative. Chaucer, however, among other great improvements, has judiciously departed from the fable, in converting Sicily into the more popular court of king Arthur.

Perhaps, in estimating Gower's merit, I have pushed the notion too far, that because he fhews fo much learning he had no great share of natural abilities. But it should be confidered, that when books began to grow fashionable, and the reputation of learning conferred the highest honour, poets became ambitious of being thought fcholars; and facrificed their native powers of invention to the oftentation of displaying an extensive course of reading, and to the pride of profound erudition. On this account, the minstrels of these times, who were totally uneducated, and poured forth spontaneous rhymes in obedience to the workings of nature, often exhibit more genuine ftrokes of paffion and imagination, than the profeffed poets. Chaucer is an exception to this observation: whofe original feelings were too strong to be fuppreffed by books, and whofe learning was overbalanced by genius.

This affectation of appearing learned, which yet was natural at the revival of literature, in our old poets, even in those who were altogether destitute of talents, has lost to posterity many a curious picture of manners, and many a romantic image. Some of our antient bards, however, aimed at no other merit, than that of being able to verfify; and attempted nothing more, than to cloath in rhyme those sentiments, which would have appeared with equal propriety in prose.