The Romance of Biography (Vol 1 of 2)

a great and prevailing genius in poetry, a master-spirit, whom no change of customs, manners, or language, can render wholly obsolete; a

et at Padua in 1373; this meeting between the two great poets was memorable in itself, and yet more interesting for h

self, and so honourable to the sex whom he had poetically deified in the person of one lovely woman. He amused his leisure hours in translating it into Latin, and having finished his version, he placed it in the hands of a citizen of Padua, and desired him to read it aloud. His friend accordingly began; but as he proceeded, the overpowering pathos of the s

la cui fama ang

re tried on his Paduan friend. The impression which the Griselda produced upon the vivid, susceptible imagination of Chaucer, may be judged from his own beautiful version of it in the Canterbury Tales; where the barbarity and improbability of the incidents are so redeemed by the pervadin

Padua of a

his wordes

rark, the L

proved by inte

et of love and sentiment; and yet no writer, Shakspeare always excepted, (and perhaps Spenser) contains so many beautiful and tender passages relating to, or inspired by, women. He lived, it is true, in rude times, times strangely deficient in good taste and decorum; but when all the institutions of chivalry, under the most chivalrous of our kings and princes,[45] were at their height in England. As a poet, Chaucer was enlisted into the service of three of the most illustrious, most beautiful, and most accomplished women of that age-Philippa, the high-hearted and generous Queen of Edward the Third; the Lady Blanche of Lancaster, first wife of John of Gaunt; and the lovely Anne of Bohemia, the Queen of Richard the Second;[46] for whom, and at whose command,

whom in the style of the time, he calls Rosial, and himself Philogenet: the lady is described as "sprung of nob

ad unto the foot al

is induced to accept his homage, and becomes his "liege ladye," and the sovereign of his thoughts. In this poem, which is extremely wild, and has come down to us in an imperfect state, Chaucer quaintly admonish

she doth but

best, believe

is told that se

she, so bounteo

false; imagin

...*..

eest a fault ri

k, and glose i

eir own worthiness, nor to im

r mercie, no

ace and woman

superior birth, or was very seriously in love; he was then about nineteen, and had probably selected some fair one, according to the c

and all my

te this treat

e, stable, t

ind sith first

t in servic

the pleasure

ike, she may it

conceivably absurd and gross; but such were those times,-at once rud

the "Assembly of Fowls," celebrates allegorically th

by pretenders to her hand; but, after a year of probation, she decided in favour of John of Gaunt, who th

for a year, has fixed the date of Chaucer's attachment to the lady he afterwards marr

at I know not

he quitteth fo

e full oft in

mirac

estined to feel, that a strong attachment for a deserving object-for one

row, and grea

Picard de Rouet, the daughter of a knight of Hainault, and a favourite attendant of Queen Philippa. Her elder sister Catherine, was at the same time maid of honour to the Duchess Blanche. Both these sisters were distinguished at

ith the Lady Blanche, which took place at Reading, May 19, 1359. It is a wild, fanciful vision of fairy-land and enchantments, of which I cannot attempt to give an an

hour as l

er their la

and all her sweetness, and marvelling ho

so lite

body and s

auty, and s

be in othe

ed as the beloved friend and companion of the bride. She is sent to grace the marriage ceremony with her presence; and Chaucer seizes the occasion to plead his suit for love and mercy. Then t

ill and yo

in me sha

the ladies and the

t's pl

health co

the midst of these joyous and triumphant sounds, and in the troubl

ave been at

marriage-feast, and instead of the throng of knights and ladies gay

lls old p

, of hawks

er all full

rn, some hur

eam was, tha

his visionary joys, and prays to sleep again, and drea

bliss!-lo, h

my ladye

nd mercy of

woe and al

ept for he

dream, th

, once, to c

that nothing can be more delicate and ingenious than the manner in which Chaucer has complimented his mistress, and ventured to shadow forth his own hopes and desires; confessing, at the s

ched, and whose noble qualities deserved all her affection. It appears, from a comparison of dates, that Chaucer endured a suspense of more than nine years, during which he was a constant and fervent suitor for his ladye's grace. In this interval he translated the Romaunt of the Rose, the most famous poetical work of the middl

g poem, entitled the "Booke of the Duchesse." The truth of the story, the virtues, the charms, and the youth of the Princess, the grief o

uch. It is a very lively and animated picture. Her golden hair and laughing eyes; her skill in dancing, and her sweet carolling; her "goodly and friendly speech;" her debonair looks; her gaiety, t

ight might

so well he

coquetterie which ho

rd or by c

the Poet, with a nice discrimination of female virtue, distinguishes from mere

hat she had

was; for

o good-so t

rms so appropriate to woman, as woman, that no change

nes there with

of the women of that chivalrous period. She was not, sa

alac

a, and to

ndria, n

errands, by way of d

o such kna

superior to such

and awe, he then "right young," approached the lovely heiress of Lancaster: but bethinking him that Heaven could never have formed in any creatur

well how

rehearse

...*..

a word I

my tale-for

words misco

quaking fo

sh

wax'd both

ot once l

nner, and a

cie, sweet!"

ejection, and his rapture when,

gift of

d such pictures as these, Chaucer will still be read, triumphant as the poet of nature, over the rust and dust of ages, and all the diffic

of the Duchesse," he describes himself as wasted with his "eight y

t wonder, b

live!-for d

leepen well

many an id

the defau

troth, I t

how it com'

hing liefe o

qual goo

rrow-wher

feeling i

twere, a maz

point to

ful imagin

nd Philippa Picard being thus sadly released from her attendance on her mist

attachment for her; for she accompanied Chaucer when he was exiled, about fifteen years after his marriage, though every motive of prudence and selfishness, on both sides, would then have induced a separation.[53] Neither was the poet likely to be

once nay, wh

he, "all ready,

Chaucer by Edward the Third; afterwards they resided principally at Donnington Castle, that fine and striking ruin, which must be remembered by all who have travelled the Newberry road. In the domain attached to this castle were three oaks o

njou. The grandson of Alice Chaucer, by the Duke of Suffolk, John Earl of Lincoln, was declared heir to the crown by Richard the Third;[54] and had the issue o

of Chaucer's wife, was still more remarkable,-sh

ond wife, Constance of Castile, married Catherine, and his children by her were solemnly legitimatized. The conduct of Catherine, except in one instance, had been irreproachable: her humility, her prudence, and her various accomplishments, not only reconci

ming at once the inspiration and the love of a great poet, the queen of an accomplished monar

and love. As he was the best poet and musician of his time, he composed songs in her praise, set them to music, and sang them to his lute. He also wrote the history of his love, with all its circumstances, in a long poem[57] still extant; and though the language be now obsolete, it is described, by those who have studied it, as not only full of beauties both of sentiment and expression, but unpolluted by a single thought or allusion which the most refined age, or the most fastidious delicacy, could reject;-a singular distinction, when we consider that James's only models must have been Gower and Chaucer, to whom no such praise is due: we must rather suppose that he was no imitator, but that he owed his inspiration to modest and queenly beaut

th, beauty, an

esse, and wom

ows than my p

58] estate,[59] an

nt so guided

ed, in shape,

uld no more he

appears from his charmed gaze,-his lingeri

ll to every le

y issue of his love,-are all conceived in the most lively manner. It is judged from internal evidence, that this poem must have been finished after

the woman he had adored in secret. The marriage was solemnized in 1423, and he c

at his heart, nor could they complete their purpose till they had dragged her by force from his arms. She deserved to be a poet's queen and love! These are the souls, the deeds which inspire poetry,-or rather which are themselves poetry, its principle and its essence. It was on this occasion tha

TNO

III. and the

domestic affections with which Shakspeare has so finely pourtrayed him, was passionately devoted to his amiable wife. She died young, at the Palace of Sheen; and when Richard afterwards vis

of Love,

t of Love

like my dream, was a repr

, who was so well liked and loved of the Lady Blanche and her Lord (as Chaucer himself also was

ing dear or hateful, eve

zed,-di

Life of Chauce

r, Elizabeth Plantagenet,

erwards Henry IV. Philippa, Queen of Po

t,) was grandfather to Henry the Seventh, and consequently ancestor to the whole race of Tudor: thus from the sister of Chaucer's wife

Quhair," (i.e.

Liber

Dig

edge and d