Ah! laudis quantum præclara Britannia perdis,
Dum rapuit tantum mors odiofa virum.
Crudeles Parcæ, crudelia fila fororum;
Non tamen extincto corpore fama perit;
Vivet in æternum, vivent dum fcripta poetæ,
Vivant æterno tot monumenta die,

20

Si qua bonos tangit pietas, fi carmine dignus,
Carmina qui cecinit tot cumulata modis;
Hæc fibi marmoreo fcribantur verba fepulchro,
Hæc maneat laudis farcina fumma fuæ :

25

Galfridus Chaucer vates, & fama poefis

Materna, bac facra fum tumulatus bumo.

30

Poft obitum Caxton voluit te vivere cura

Guilhelmi, Chaucer, clare poeta, tui:

Nam tua non folum compreffit opufcula formis,
Has quoque fed laudes juffit hic effe tuas.

34

Camden in his Britannia, in Dobunis,

OPPIDUM ipfum [Woodstock] cum nil habeat quod oftentet, Homerum noftrum Anglicum Galfredum Chaucerum alumnum fuum fuiffe gloriatur. De quo & noftris poetis Anglicis illud vere afferam quod de Homero & Græcis eruditus ille Italus dixit;

-Hic ille eft, cujus de gurgite facro

Combibit arcanos vatum oninis turba furores.

Ille enim extra omnem ingeniialeam pofitus, & poetaros noftros longo pofl fe intervallo relinquens.

-Jam monte potitus

Ridet anhelantem dura ad faftigia turbam.

Idem, in Trinobantibus.

QUIQUE minime tacendus poetarum Anglorum princeps Galfredus Chaucer.

Edmund Spenfer in his Fairy Queen, lib. iv. canto 2, A. 31, &c.

COURAGEOUS Cambel and ftout Triamond

With Canace and Cambine link'd in lovely bond. 2 XXXI.

Whilom, as antique ftories tellen us,

Those two were foes the felloneft on ground,
And battle made, the draddeft dangerous

That ever fhrilling trumpet did refound,
Though now their acts be no where to be found
As that renowned poet them compil'd,
With warlike numbers and heroick found,
Dan Chaucer, (well of English undefil'd)

On Fame's eternal bead-roll worthy to be fil'd. II
XXXII.

But wicked Time, that all good thoughts doth wafte,
And works of noblest wits to nought out-wear,
That famous monument hath quite defac'd,
And robb'd the world of treasure endless dear,
The which might have enriched all us here.

O curfed eld! the canker-worm of wits,

How may these rhymes (fo rudè as doth appear)
Hope to endure, fith works of heavenly wits

Are quite devour'd, and brought to nought by little

bits?

XXXIII.

Then pardon, O most facred happy fpirit!
That I thy labours loft may thus revive,

And steal from thee the meed of thy due merit,
That none durft ever while thou waft alive,

And being dead in vain yet many strive;
Ne dare I like, but through infufion fweet
Of thine own spirit (which doth in me survive)
I follow here the footing of thy feet,

20

That with thy meaning fo I may the rather meet. 29

Ibid, 1. vii. canto 7,

So hard it is for any living wight

ft.

9.

All her array and veftiments to tell,

That old Dan Geffrey (in whofe gentle spright
The pure well-head of poetry did dwell)
In his Fowles Parley durft not with it mell,
But it transfer'd to Alane, who he thought
Had in his Plaint of Kinds defcrib'd it well,
Which who will read, fet forth fo as it ought,
Go feck he out that Alane where he may be fought. 9

The fame author, in The Shepherd's Calendar, in Feb.

THENOT

BUT fhall I tell thee a tale of truth,

Which I con'd of Tityrus (a) in my youth
Keeping his fheep on the hills of Kent?

3

CUD. To nought more, Thenot, my mind is bent, Than to hear novels of his devife,

They been fo well thewed, and fo wife,

Whatever that good old man befpake.

THEN. Many meet tales of youth did he make, And fome of love, and fome of chivalry,

But none fitter than this to apply;

Now liften a while, and hearken the end.

7

There grew an aged tree on the green (†), &c.

12

Ibid. in June.

THE god of fhepherds, Tityrus, is dead,
Who taught me homely as I can to make;
He whilst he lived was the foveraigne head
Of fhepheards all that bene with love ytake;

4

(2) Chaucer is meant by Tityrus, and by Colin the poet means himfelf.

(p) In this eclogue Spenfer feems to imitate Chaucer's ftyle and numbers, which are often unequal.

Well couth he waile his woes, and lightly flake The flames which love within his heart had bredde, And tell us mery tales to keep us wake,

The while our sheepe about us safely fedde.

Ibid. in December.

8

THAT Colin hight, which well could pipe and fing, For he of Tityrus his songs did lere.

The fame, in the poem called Colin Clout's come home agen. THE Shepherd's boy (best knowen by that name) That after Tityrus first sung his lay,

Lays of fweet love, without rebuke or blame.

2

3

Verftegan's Reflitution of decayed Intelligence, chap. vii. SOME few ages after came the poet Geffery Chaucer, who writing his poefies in English is of fome called the first illuminator of the English tongue: of their opinion I am not, though I reverence Chaucer as an excellent poet for his time. He was indeed a great mingler of English with French, unto which language (by like for that he was defcended of French or rather Wallon race) he carried a great affection.