That general applause with which his writings were received in his lifetime, and the high honours that were paid him by such as took a pride in ftyling themselves his difciples after his death, stamped such a mark of authority upon his Works as faved at least the greatest part of them from that oblivion which has covered the performances even of the most celebrated authors of his time. In fpite of that spirit of envy which his free and fevere fatires excited in the clergy, in spite of his own Retraction, (whether genuine or fictitious is uncertain) in fpite of that authority which the church afterwards acquired, not of cenfuring only but of condemning and prohibiting what books they pleafed, his writings have efcaped, and not barely escaped, but have been held in the greatest honour, and tranfmitted to pofterity with fuch care and circumfpeétion, and by the united la

famous John Lydgate, a monk of Bury, who celebrates our Author's memory and writings in many of his pieces, and who outlived him forty years. Schogan alfo, who diftinguished himfelf by his farcaftical wit, was a profeffed admirer and imitator of Chaucer; but, as Leland obferves, if Chaucer,who fometimes ftyles Gower his mafter, excelled him in the spirit and ele gance of his verfes, Schogan, who acknowledged Chaucer for his mafter, was fo far from doing the like that he fell much be low him. Yet fuch in all ages has been the proneness of mankind to encourage even the coarfeft kind of fatire, that Schogan wanted not his admirers, how little foever he resembled Chaucer. It is believed that he was perfonally acquainted with the celebrated Petrarch, but that he was perfectly mafter of his writings and thofe of Eoccace is inconteftable.

bours of fo many eminent perfons, as will do lasting honour to his memory, and plainly prove that true genius, extenfive learning, and a free spirit, are capable of commanding reverence through all ages, and preferving that transcendent esteem which is and ought to be the peculiar reward of fuperiour merit *.

*And ought to be the peculiar reward of fuperiour merit.] It must be allowed by all who are proper judges that the excellence attributed to Chaucer's writings by fuch poets as came neareft his own times did not arife in any degree either from cuftom or complaifance, but, on the contrary, was equally well founded in reafon and on matter of fact; fo that if we examine the fentiments we fhall find them more noble, thall difcover a greater compafs in his learning, and above all an harmonious (weetnefs in his verfe, far beyond any thing that is to be met with in any poetical compositions for a whole century after his time. This is very candidly acknowledged by a ftranger, who had as good a right as any to difpute it, I mean that excellent old poet of Scotland, Gawin Douglas Bishop of Dunkeld. Indeed Chaucer's reputation was as well established in Scotland as in England, and I will take upon me to fay that he was as much the Father of Poetry in that country as in this. It would render this note tedious to attempt giving a detail of the feveral printed editions of our Author'sWorks; it will be fufficient to refer the reader to the contents of this vol. where this may be found. Caxton, the Father of English Printers, first printed many of Chaucer's Works, and printed them feveral times. In the reign of Hen. VIII. William Botteville, alias Thynne, Efq. was the editor of a new edition of Chaucer, which in a very elegant difcourfe he addrefied to King Hen. VIII. In the fame reign the induftrious and learned Leland was a ftudious reader and a moft zealous admirer of the Works of Chaucer, in whofe honour he wrote not one only but three copies of commenda tory verfes. The fame tribute of praife was beftowed upon our Author by that excellent writer and great judge of ele

Wearenothowever to supposethat with all thesegreat qualifications Chaucer could entirely escapethc fury of falfecriticks, neither would it have been very much per hapsto his honour if he had, inafmuch as all great poets ancient and modern have been fo generally infested by thefe cavillers that they feem to be the neceffary atgance in all kind of writing, Roger Afcham, to whom we may add Sir Philip Sidney, who very judiciously observes, that it was equally ftrange to him that Chaucer thould fee fo clearly in fo mifty a time, and that in brighter ages men should go fo ftuniblingly after him. About this time Mr. Speght, by the affiftance of the industrious John Stowe, published a new edition of our Author's Works, which were dedicated to Sir Robert Cecil, afterwards Earl of Salisbury; and another fill more complete edition was promifed by Mr. Francis Thynne, which never appeared. We itave mentioned the commendations given him by the laborious John Fox and the moft learned Camden: we muft add to thefe the numerous teftimonies of the immortal Spenfer, and the judicious apology of the fuppofed levities in Chaucer's Works by Mr. Francis Beaumont. The celebrated Sir Henry Savile mentions him with the higheft refpect; and the great Mr. Selden has given us a noble specimen of that profound learning of which he was mafter, in juftifying an epithet of our Author's. Sir Francis Kynafton of Otoly in Shropshire publifhed the firft and fecond books of a Latin version of Troilus and Crefeide, and completed his tranflation of and notes upon the other three; and from fome fpecimens that are extant in the Gloffary at the end of Mr. Urry's edition the world may well perceive how valuable a performance we are deprived of by the lofs or concealment of his manufcript. It would be needless to fwell this note with other particulars, but if fome able hand would refume the defign of the late ingenious Mr. Ogle, and give us his Canterbury Tales in modern English, with a proper body of notes, there is no doubt that it would meet with a favourable reception.

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tendants of an exalted reputation, and, like the flaves in a Roman triumph, make unwillingly an addition to that glory they meant to fhade. Thofe who have attacked Chaucer have not prefumed to question his wit, for of this perhaps no writer of our nation ever had more; neither have they difputed his poetical abilities, which certainly fet his on a level with the greatest names in antiquity; nor have they dared to throw any afperfion on his learning, the extent of which is not greater than the masterly degree of propriety with which it is every where applied: but the point to which they object is his changing, debafing, or corrupting, our language, by introducing foreign words, as if the worth of all languages did not arife from their being thus enlarged and compounded, or as if Chancer could have hurt the jargon of his time, which was not either Saxon, Norman, or French, but a mixture of all, by introducing words derived from thefweeteftandfmootheft language then usedthroughout Europe, I mean the Provencal. It is however juft to obferve that this reflection never made any great impreffion, and that with the best and most elegant writers in our tongue Chaucer paffes not only for a great improver, but for the very Father and Founder of it; and it is not a little to his honour that amongst those who are of this opinion we may reckon one of the foundest of our criticks, and one of the correcteft writers in our language. So wide the difference is LeVolume I.

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tween the narrow notions of falfe wits and the fair and candid judgments that are given by the true * !

We cannot clofe this life better than by giving a fuccinct detail of our Author's family, or, to fpeak with greater propriety, of his eldest fon; for as to his fecond fon Lewis we have no account in what station he lived, or where he died: but asto Thomas Chaucer, the office of Chief Butler to the King, granted to him in the last year of Richard II. was afterwards given him for life by letters patents from King Henry IV. and confirmed by Henry VI. In the 2d year of Henry IV. we find him Speaker of the House of Commons, Sheriff of Oxfordshire and of Berkshire, and Constable

And the fair and candid judgments that are given by the truc.] The first writer that ventured to fall upon our Author was himself more than half a foreigner, and very far from being correct with refpect to fentiment or ftyle. His very charge in the prefent cafe will prove what I have advanced: "The poet, "Geoffrey Chaucer," fays he, "writing his poefies in Englith, is of fome called the firft illuminator of the Englith 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 Englith with French, unto which language (belike for "that he was defcended of French or rather Waloon race) he "carried a great affection." But Dr. Skinner, in a very elegant Latin ftyle, has attacked our Author with much more spirit and force; I thall give his words in English: “The poet Chaucer fet the "worth example,who by bringing whole thoals of French words "into our language, which was but too much adulterated be"fore through the effects of the Norman conqueft, deprived "it almoft wholly of its native grace and splendour, laying on "paint over its pure complexion, and for a beautiful face fub. ituted a downright matk."