His termes were not darke, --SKELTON, JOHN, 1508?, PHILLYP SPAR- Sometimes he turned into the speech of his native land works composed carefully, ornately and eloquently in the French tongue. Sometimes he translated Latin verse into English, but with learning, with skill, with harmony. Sometimes he committed to writings destined to survive many original things which equalled the happiest success of the Latins. Sometimes he strove with all his power to instruct the reader, and again took pains as sedulously to give him pleasure. Nor did he cease from his labors until he had carried our language to that height of purity, of eloquence, of conciseness and beauty, that it can justly be reckoned among the thoroughly polished languages of the world.-LELAND, JOHN, 1545? Itinerary. Diligence also must be used in keeping truly the order of time; and describing lively, both the site of places and nature of persons, not only for the outward shape of the body, but also for the inward disposition of the mind, as Thucydides doth in many places very trimly, and Homer every where, and that always most excellently, which observation is. chiefly to be marked in him; and our Chaucer doth the same, very praiseworthily mark him well and confer him with any other that writeth in our time in their proudest tongue whosoever list. -ASCHAM, ROGER, 1552, A Report and Discourse of the Affaires and State of Germany, ed. Giles, vol. III, p. 6. Wittie Chaucer satte in a chaire of gold couered with roses, writying prose and risme, accompanied with the spirites of many kynges, knightes, and faire ladies, whom he pleasauntly besprinkeled with the sweete water of the welle, consecrated vnto the muses, ecleped Aganippe, and, as the heauenly spirite, commended his deare Brigham for the worthy entōbynging of his bones, worthie of memorie, in the long slepyng chamber of moste famous kinges. Euen so in tragedie he bewailed the sodaine resurrection of many a noble man before their time, in spoilyng of epitaphes, wherby many haue loste their inheritaunce.-BULLEIN, WILLIAM, 156473? A Dialogue Both Pleasaunt and Pietifull wherin is a Godlie Regiment against the Fever Pestilence, etc., Reliquiæ Hearniana, vol. II, p. 118. Our father Chaucer hath vsed the same libertie in feete and measures that the Latinists do vse: and who so euer do peruse and well consider his workes, he shall finde that although his lines are not alwayes of one selfe same number of Syllables, yet beyng redde by one that hath vnderstanding, the longest verse and that which hath most Syllables in it, will fall (to the eare) correspondent vnto that whiche hath fewest sillables in it: and like wise that whiche hath in it fewest syllables, shalbe founde yet to consist of woordes that haue suche naturall sounde, as may seeme equall in length to a verse which hath many moe sillables of lighter accentes. GASCOIGNE, GEORGE, 1575, Certayne notes of Instruction Concerning the Making of Verse or Ryme in English, ed. Arber, p. 34. Chawcer, who for that excellent fame. which hee obtayned in his Poetry, was alwayes accounted the God of English Poets (such a tytle for honours sake hath beene giuen him) was next after, if not equall in time to Gower, and hath left many workes, both for delight and profitable knowledge, farre exceeding any other that as yet euer since hys time directed theyr studies that way. Though the manner of hys stile may seeme blunte and course to many fine English eares at these dayes, yet in trueth, if it be equally pondered, and with good iudgment aduised, and confirmed with the time wherein he wrote, a man shall perceiue thereby euen a true picture or perfect shape of a right Poet. He by his delightsome vayne, so gulled the eares of men with his deuises, that, although corruption bare such sway in most matters, that learning and truth might skant bee admitted to shewe it selfe, yet without controllment, myght hee gyrde at the vices and abuses of all states, and gawle with very sharpe and eger inuentions, which he did so learnedly and pleasantly, that none therefore would call him into question. For such was his bolde spyrit, that what enormities he saw in any, he would not spare to pay them home, eyther in playne words, or els in some prety and pleasant couert, that the simplest might espy him-.WEBBE, WILLIAM, 1586, A Discourse of English Poetrie, ed. Arber, p.32. But of them all particularly this is myne opinion, that Chaucer with Gower, Lidgat, and Harding for their antiquitie ought to haue the first place and Chaucer as the most renowmed of them all, for the much learming appeareth to be in him aboue any of the rest. And though many of his bookes be but bare translations out of the Latin and French, yet are they wel handled, as his bookes of "Troilus" and "Creffeid," and the Romant of the Rose, whereof he translated but one halfe, the deuice was Iohn de Mehunes a French Poet. -PUTTENHAM, GEORGE, 1589, The Arte of English Poesie, ed. Arber, p. 75. Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled, On Fames eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled. -SPENSER, EDMUND, 1590, The Faerie Queene, bk. iv, c. ii, s. 32. Art, like yong grasse in the spring of Chaucers florishing, was glad to peepe vp through any slime of corruption, to be beholding to she car'd not whome for apparaile, trauailing in those colde countries.-NASHE, THOMAS, 1593, Strange Newes, etc., ed. Grosart. According to Chawcers English, there can be little adling, without much gabbing, that is, small getting, without great lying, and cogging.-HARVEY, GABRIEL, 1593, Pierces Supererogation, Harvey's Works, ed. Grosart. vol. II, p. 311. O, that I could old Gefferies Muse awake. The God of English poets.-MERES, FRANCIS, 1597, Palladis Tamia. You must be contented to gyve me leave in discharge of the duetye and love whiche I beare to Chaucer, (whome I suppose I have as great intereste to adorne withe my smale skyll as anye other hath, in regarde that the laborious care of my father made hym most acceptable to the worlde in correctinge and augmentinge his woorkes.)-THYNNE, FRANCIS, 1598, Animaduersions uppon Chaucer's Workes, Early English Text Society, vol. IX, p. 4. Yet what a time hath he wrested from Time, And wonne vpon the mighty waste of dayes Vnto th' immortale honour of our clime! * Impute. + Haste. 1 Not in edition of 15'8. That by his meanes came first adorn'd with Vnto the sacred Relickes of whose rime, For his verses, although, in divers places, they seem to us to stand of unequal measures, yet a skilful reader, who can scan them in their nature, shall find it otherwise. And if a verse, here and there, fall out a syllable shorter or longer than another, I rather aret* it to the negligence and rape† of Adam Scrivener, (that I may speake as Chaucer doth,) than to any unconning or oversight in the author. SPEGHT, THOMAS, 16021, Preface to Chaucer's Works. Some few ages after§ came Geoffrey Chaucer, who writing his poesies in English, is of some 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, belike for that he was descended of French, or rather Walloon, race, he carried a great affection.-VERSTEGAN, RICHARD, 1605, Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities concerning the Most Noble and Renowned English Nation. Although the style for the antiquity may distaste you, yet as under a bitter and rough rind there lieth a delicate kernel of conceit and sweet invention. PEACHAM, HENRY, 1622, The Compleat Gentleman. That noble Chaucer in those former times The first enriched our English with his rimes, And was the first of ours that ever brake Into the Muses' treasure, and first spake In weighty numbers, delving in the mine Of perfect knowledge, which he could refine And coin for current; and as much as then The English language could express to men He made it do, and by his wondrous skill Gave us much light from his abundant quill. -DRAYTON, MICHAEL, c. 1627, Of Poets and Poesie. So wise as our Chaucer is esteemed.MILTON, JOHN, 1641, Of Reformation in England, Prose Works, vol. II, p. 396. He was the prince of English poets. He was a great refiner and illuminer of our English tongue; and, if he left it so bad, how much worse did he find it! FULLER, THOMAS, 1655, The Church History of Britain, bk. iv, sec. i, par. 47-48. The Conquest. Chaucer his sense can only boast; WALLER, EDMUND, c 1660, Of English Verse. A Comment upon the Two Tales of our ancient, renowned, and. ever-living poet, Sir Jeffray Chaucer, Knight, who for his rich fancy, pregnant invention, and present composure deserved the countenance of a prince and his laureat honor.-BRAITHWAITE, RICHARD, 1665, Comment, Title-Page. Old Chaucer, like the morning star, To us discovers day from far; His light those mists and clouds dissolved, The poet Chaucer set the worst example, who by bringing whole shoals of French words into our language, which was but too much adulterated before, through the effects of the Norman Conquest, deprived it almost wholly of its native grace and splendour, laying on paint over its pure complexion, and, for a beautiful face, substituted a downright mask. SKINNER, STEPHEN, 1667-71?, Etymological Dictionary. They who attempted verse in English down to Chaucer's time made an heavy pudder, and are always miserably put to it for a word to clink; which commonly falls so awkward and unexpectedly, as dropping from the clouds by some machine or miracle. Chaucer found an Herculean labour on his hands, and did perform to admiration. He seized all Provencal, French, or Latin that came in his way, gives them a new garb and livery, and mingles them amongst our English: turns out English gouty or superannuated, to place in their room the foreigners fit for service, trained and accustomed to poetical discipline. RYMER, THOMAS, 1693, A Short View of the Tragedy of the Last Age. Long had our dull forefathers slept supine, Nor felt the raptures of the tuneful Nine; Till Chaucer first, a merry bard, arose, And many a story told in rhyme and prose. But age has rusted what the poet writ, Worn out his language and obscured his wit; In vain he jests in his unpolish'd strain And tries to make his readers laugh in vain. ADDISON, JOSEPH, 1694, An Account of the greatest English Poets. *Thomas Speght. As he is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Virgil. He is a perpetual fountain of good sense; learned in all sciences; and, therefore, speaks properly on all subjects. As he knew what to say, so he knows also when to leave off; a continence which is practised by few writers, and scarcely by any of the ancients, excepting Virgil and Horace. Chaucer followed nature every where, but was yond her. . never so bold to go be. The verse of Chaucer, I confess, is not harmonious to us; but it is like the eloquence of one whom Tacitus commends, it was auribus istius temporis accommodata. They who lived with him, and some time after him, thought it musical; and it continues so, even in our judgment, if compared with the numbers of Lidgate and Gower, his contemporaries: -there is the rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect. It is true, I cannot go so far as he* who published the last edition of him; for he would make us believe the faultis in our ears, and that there were really ten syllables in a verse where we find but nine: but this opinion is not worth confuting; it is so gross and obvious an error, that common sense (which is a rule in everything but matters of faith and revelation) must convince the reader, that equality of numbers, in every verse which we call heroic, was either not known, or not always practised, in Chaucer's age. It were an easy matter to produce some thousands of his verses, which are lame for want of half a foot, and sometimes a whole one, and which no pronunciation can make otherwise. We can only say, that he lived in the infancy of our poetry, and that nothing is brought to perfection at the first. . Chaucer, I confess, is a rough diamond, and must first be polished, ere he shines. I deny not likewise, that, living in our early days of poetry, he writes not always of a piece; but sometimes mingles trivial things with those of greater moment. Sometimes also, though not often, he runs riot, like Ovid, and knows not when he has said enough.DRYDEN, JOHN, 1700, Preface to the Fable, Works ed. Scott and Saintsbury, vol. XI, pp. 223, 224, 233. Cadence and sound which we so prize and use HARRISON, WILLIAM, 1706, Woodstock Park. Chaucer had all that beauty could inspire, And Surrey's numbers glowed with warm desire: Both now are prized by few, unknown to most, Because the thoughts are in the numbers -FENTON, ELIJAH, 1711, An Epistle to Not Chaucer's beauties could survive the rage Laughing sage, verse, Well moralized, shines through the Gothic Of time and language o'er thy genius thrown. I read Chaucer still with as much pleasure as almost any of our poets. He is a master of manners, of description, and the first tale-teller in the true enlivened natural way.-POPE, ALEXANDER, 1728- It is the rust we value, not the gold. I might now write to you in the language of Chaucer or Spenser, and assert that I wrote English, because it was English in their days; but I should be a most affected puppy if I did so, and you would not understand three words of my letter.-CHESTERFIELD, LORD, 1748, Letters to his Son, O. S. Sept. 27. Chaucer is regarded rather as an old, than a good poet. We look upon his poems as venerable relics, not as beautiful compositions; as pieces better calculated to gratify the antiquarian than the critic. He abounds not only in strokes of humour, which is commonly supposed to be his sole talent, but of pathos, and sublimity, not unworthy a more refined age. His old manners, his romantic arguments, his wildness of painting, his simplicity and antiquity of expression, transport us into some fairy region, and are all highly pleasing to the imagination. It is true that his uncouth and unfamiliar language disgusts and deters many readers; but the principal reason of his being so little. known, and so seldom taken in hand, is the convenient opportunity of reading him with pleasure and facility in modern imitations. WARTON, THOMAS, 1754, Observations on the Fairy Queen of Spenser, sec. v. The first of our versifiers who wrote poetically. He does not, however, appear to have deserved all the praise he has received, or all the censure he has suffered. Dryden, who, mistaking genius. for learning, in confidence of his abilities, ventured to write of what he had not ex amined, ascribes to Chaucer the first refinement of our numbers, the first production of easy and natural rhymes, and the improvement of our language, by words borrowed from the more polished languages of the continent. Skinner contrarily blames him in harsh terms for having vitiated his native speech by whole cartloads of foreign words. But he that reads the works of Gower will find smooth numbers and easy rhymes, of which Chaucer is supposed to be the inventor, and the French words, whether good or bad, of which Chaucer is charged as the importer. Some innovations he might probably make, like others, in the infancy of our poetry, which the paucity of books does allow us to discover with particular exactness; but the works of Gower and Lydgate sufficiently evince that his diction was in general like that of his contemporaries; and some improvements he undoubtedly made by the various dispositions of the rhymes, and by the mixture of different numbers, in which he seems to have been happy and judicious.— LLOYD, ROBERT, 1751, The Progress of JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1755, Dictionary of the Not far from these, Dan Chaucer, ancient A lofty seat on Mount Parnassus held. Grave was his visage and his habit plain; Envy. English Language. In elevation and elegance, in harmony and perspicuity of versification, he surpasses his predecessors in an infinite proportion that his genius was universal, and adapted to themes of unbounded variety that his merit was not less in painting familiar manners with humour and propriety, than in moving the passions, and in representing the beautiful or the grand objects of nature with grace and sublimity. In a word, that he appeared with all the lustre and dignity of a true poet, in an age which compelled him to struggle with a barbarous language, and a national want of taste; and when to write verses at all, was regarded as a singular qualifiI consider Chaucer as cation. a genial day in an English spring.—WARTON, THOMAS, 1778-81, The History of English Poetry, sec, xviii, xxi. thora. old Chaucer's merry page. I am, too, though a Goth, so modern a Goth that I hate the black letter, and I love Chaucer better in Dryden and Baskerville, than in his own language and dress.-WALPOLE, HORACE, 1781, Letter to Rev. William Mason, Letters, ed. Cunningham, vol. viii, p. 108. From what has been said I think we may fairly conclude, that the English-COWPER, WILLIAM, 1781, Anti-Thelyphlanguage must have imbibed a strong tincture of the French, long before the age of Chaucer, and consequently that he ought not to be charged as the importer of words and phrases, which he only used after the example of his predecessors and in common with his contemporaries. This was the real fact, and is capable of being demonstrated to any one, who will take the trouble of comparing the writings of Chaucer with those of Robert of Gloucester and Robert of Brunne, who both lived before him, and with those of Sir John Mandeville and Wicliff, who lived at the same time with him. . The great number of verses, sounding complete even to our ears, which is to be found in all the least corrected copies of his works, authorises us to conclude, that he was not ignorant of the laws of metre. Upon this conclusion it is impossible not to ground a strong presumption, that he intended to observe the same laws in the many other verses which seem to us irregular; and if this was really his intention, what reason can be assigned sufficient to account for his having failed so grossly and repeatedly, as is generally supposed, in an operation, which every Balladmonger in our days, man, woman, or child, is known to perform with the most unerring exactness, and without any extraordinary fatigue? TYRWHITT, THOMAS, 1775-78, Essay on the Language and Versification of Chaucer, par. viii, xii. See, on a party-colour'd steed of fire, Chaucer's versification, wherever his genuine text is preserved, was uniformly correct; although the harmony of his lines. has in many instances been obliterated by the changes that have taken place in the mode of accenting our language.-ELLIS, GEORGE, 1790-1845, Specimens of the Early English Poets, vol. 1, p. 167. The venerable father of English poetry had in his time penned "many a song and many a lecherous lay," of which we have infinitely more reason to regret the loss, than he had in his old age to repent the composition.-RITSON, JOSEPH, 1790, Dissertation on Ancient Songs and Music, Ancient Songs and Ballads. Chaucer, notwithstanding the praises bestowed on him, I think obscene and |