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it must then have been far advanced, as Gower mentions it by its title, Canf. Am. 190, b.

The foregoing I confider as the genuine Works of Chaucer; of thofe which have been improperly intermixed with his in the editions the following are known to be the works of other authors.

1. The Teftament and Complaint of Crefeide appears, from ver. 41, not to have been written by Chaucer; and Mr. Urry was informed by Sir James Ereskin, late Earl of Kelly, and diverfe aged fcholars of the Scottish nation, that the true author was Mr. Robert Henderfon, chief schoolmaster of Dumferlin, a little time before Chaucer was first printed, and dedicated to King Henry VIII. by Mr. Thynne. I suppose the fame perfon is meant that is called Robert Henryfone in Ancient Scottish Poems, where feveral of his compofitions may be feen, from p. 98 to p. 138.

2. The Floure of Courtefie is faid in the title to have been made by John Lydgate.

3. La belle Dame fans Mercie, a tranflation from Alain Chartier, is attributed, in mf. Har!, 372, to Sir Richard Ros.See App.tothe Pref. (C.)n. (2.) Upon looking further into Alain's works I find a balade upon the taking of Fougieres by the English in 1448, [Oeuvres d'Al. Chartier, p. 717,] fo that he was certainly living near fifty years after Chaucer's death, which makes it quite incredible that the latter fhould have tranflated any thing of his.

4. The Letter of Cupide is dated in 1402, two years after Chaucer's death. It was written by Thomas Occleve, who mentions it himself as one of his own compofitions in a Dialogue which follows his Complaint, mf. Bodl. 1504.;

Yes, Thomas, yes, in The Epiftle of Cupide
Thou haft of hem fo largelich feid.

5. John Gower unto the noble King Henry the IV. with fome Latin verses of the fame author.

6. Sayings of Dan John [Lydgate.]

7. Scogan unto the lordes and gentlemen ofthekynges house. -So the title of this poem is expreffed in the old editt. but, according to Mr.Speght, in the written copies it is thus; "Here followeth a moral balade to the Prince, "the DukeofClarence, the Duke of Bedford, the Duke "of Glocefter, the King's fonnes, by Henry Scogan, at 66 a fupper among the marchants in the vintry at Lon"don in the houfe of Lewis John." This cannot be quite accurate, as neither of the two younger fons of H. IV. had the title of Duke while their eldest brother was prince; but I find that there was about that time a Lewis John, a Welfhman, who was naturalized by act of parl. 2 H. V. and who was concerned with Tho:nas Chaucer in the executioh of the office of Chief Butler, Rot. Parl. 2 H. V. n. 18. The fame perfon, probably, was appointed remitter of all monies that should be fent to Rome for three years, ap. Rymer, an. eodem. The article concerning Skogan in Tanner's Bibl. Brit. is a heap of confufion. He is there called John, is faid to have been a Master of Arts of Oxford, and Jefter to K. Edward VI. (perhaps a misprint for IV.) to have been contemporary with Chaucer, and famous in the year 1480. In a collection of foolish flories which is fuppofed to have been first published by Dr. Andrew Borde in the time of Henry VIII. under the title of Scogan's Jefts, he is called Thomas, and there too he is reprefented as a graduate, I think of Oxford, and as jefter to fome king, but without any circumftances fufficient to determine what king is meant.-I am inclined to believe that the Scogan who wrote this poem is rightly named Heary in Mr. Speght's mí. As to the

two circumstances of his having been a Master of Arts of Oxford and jefter to a king, I can find no older authority for either than Dr. Borde's book: that he was contemporary with Chaucer, but fo as to furvive him for feveral years, perhaps till the reign of Henry V. is fufficiently clear from this poem.-Shakespeare feems to have followedthe jeft-book in confidering Scoganas a mere buffoon, when he mentions as one of Falstaff's boyish exploits that he broke Scogan's head at the court-gate, [2d Part of Henry IV. act iii.] But Jonfon has given a more dignified and probably a juster account of his fituation and character, Mafque of the Fortunate Ifles, vol. vi. p. 192. ;

Mere-fool. Skogan! what was he?

Jobphiel. O! a fine gentleman, and Mafter of Arts,
Of Henry the Fourth's time, that made disguises
For the king's fons, and writ in ballad-royal

Daintily well.

Mere-fool. But wrote he like a gentleman?

[verfe,

Jobpbiel. In rhime, fine tinkling rhime, and flowand With now and then fome sense; and he was paid for't, Regarded and rewarded, which few poets

Are now-a-days.

This defcription of Skogan correfponds very well with the ideas which would naturally be fuggefted by the perufal of the poem before us, and of that addressed to him by Chaucer. See above, p. 15.; and indeed I queftion whether Jonson had any other good foundation for what he has faid of him.

8. Abalade of woode counfeil, tranflated out of Latin verfes into Englife, by Dan John Lydgate.

9. A balade made in the preife or rather difpreife of women for their doubleness, by Lydgate, according to mf, Afomol. 6943.

10. A balade warning men to beware of deceitful women, by Lydgate, according to mf. Harl. 2251.

To thefe, which are known to be the works of other authors, we should perhaps add an 11th, viz. Balade in commendation of our Ladie, as a poem with the fame beginning is afcribed to Lydgate under the title of Invocation to our Lady. Tanner, in v. Lydgate.

The anonymous compofitions which have been from time to time added to Chaucer's in the feveral editt. feem to have been received, for the most part, without any external evidence whatever, and in direct contradiction to the strongest internal evidence: of this fort are The Plorvman's Tale, first printed in 1542; [See the Difcourfe,&c. § 40. n. 32. ;] The Story of Gamelyn, and The Continuation of The Canterbury Tales, first printed in Mr. Urry's edition; Jack Upland, first produced by Mr. Speght in 1602. I have declared my fufpicion [in the Gloff. v. Origenes,] that The Lamentation of Marie Magdalene was not written by Chaucer; and I am ftill clearer that The Affemblee of Ladies, A praife of Women, and The Remedie of Love, ought not to be imputed to him. It would be a waste of time to fift accurately the heap of rubbish which was added by John Stowe to the ed. of 1561: though we might perhaps be able to pick out two or three genuine fragments of Chaucer, we should probably find them fo foiled † and

As a fpecimen of the care and difcernment with which Mr. Stowe's collections were made, I would refer the curious reader to what is called A balade, fol. 324, b. ed. Sp. beginn.

O merciful and o merciable!

The four firft ftanzas are found in different parts of an imperfect poem upon the fall of man, mi. Harl. 2251, n. 138; the 11th ftanza makes part of an envoy, which in the fame mf. n. 37, is annexed to the poem entitled The Craft of Lovers, [among the additions to Chaucer's Works by J. Stowe,] which

mangled, that he would not thank us for asserting his claim to them.

poem (by the way) though printed with a date of 1347, and afcribed to Chaucer, has in the mf. a much more probable date of 1459, near fixty years after Chaucer's death.There is one little piece perhaps by Chaucer, [fol. 224,ed. Sp.] beginn.

Alone walking, in thought plaining, Sc.

which comes nearer to the description of a virelay than any thing else of his that has been preserved. See the book quoted in the Gloff. v. Virelaye.

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