of the insurrection of the commons, in the reign of Richard II. This also exists only in manuscript. The CONFESSIO AMANTIS, which was printed by Caxton, in 1483, and afterwards by Berthelette, in 1532, and 1554, folio, appears to have been composed at the command of Richard II. who in the account of the French, than of the Latin, and English poem), the text of MS. Fairf. is first given, and then the different readings, futile as they may be, from MS. Fletew. and King. 2 Quia unusquisque prout a Deo accepit aliis impertiri tene tur, Johannes Gower, super his quæ Deus sibi sensualiter 1 donavit villicationis suæ rationem, dum tempus instat, secundum aliquid alleviare cupiens, inter labores et otia ad aliorum notitiam tres 3 libros doctrinæ causâ formá subsequenti propterea composuit. 5. Primus liber, Gallico sermone editus, in decem dividitur partes, et tractans de vitiis et virtutibus, necnon et de variis hujus sæculi gradibus, 6 viam 7 quâ peccator transgressus ad sui Creatoris agnitionem redire debet recto tramite docere conatur." Titulusque libelli istius Speculum Meditantis 9 nuncupatus est. • Intellectualiter. King. ⚫ These three words wanting in Fletew. Tres præcipue libros. Fletew. Per ipsum dum vixit doctr. Fletew. Instead of these words, Fletew. has compositos ad aliorum notitiam in lucem seriose produxit. 6 These words are not in Fletew. 7 Viam præcipue quâ. Fletew. has instead, in penitendo Christi misericordiam assequi poterit totá mentis devotione finaliter contemplatur. Mediantis. Fletew. Hominis. King. having met our poet rowing on the Thames near London, invited him into the royal barge, and after much conversation requested him to "book some new thing." 66 It is rather extraordinary that Mr. Warton, who repeats this anecdote, should have passed it over without a comment; because, having previously told us that Gower, " by a critical cultivation of "his native language, laboured to reform its irre gularities, and to establish an English style," he might naturally have been tempted to inquire, why this style was never employed till the poet was past fifty years of age. Perhaps the circumstance may be partly explained by a remark of Mr. Tyrwhitt, who observes that Edward III. was insensible even to the poetical merits of Chaucer himself, or at "least had no mind to encourage him in the cul"tivation or exercise of them." He adds, "It "should seem that Edward, though adorned with many Royal and Heroic virtues, had not the gift "of discerning and patronizing a great Poet; a gift, "which, like that of genuine poetry-is only be"stowed on the chosen few by the peculiar favour "of heaven." It is very certain that the gift of discerning the merits of a great English poet might have been bestowed on Edward by the the peculiar favour of heaven, but it may be doubted whether he could reasonably be expected to possess it without such a special interposition. It is to be remembered, that French had hitherto been the only language that was studied, though English was certainly not quite unknown at court; that Isabella, the mother of Edward, was a French woman; that he was sent to Paris at the very early age of thirteen, to assist her in her negotiations with her brother the king of France; that he was married by her means to Philippa a princess of Hainault; that he was only fifteen years old when he mounted the throne; and that, after this period, the active scenes in which he was incessantly engaged were not likely to allow him much leisure for the purpose of completing his education. He began his reign two years before the birth of Chaucer, and could then have seen no specimens of English poetry superior to the dry chronicles of Robert of Gloucester. It may be presumed, therefore, that if he read any poetry it would be that of the French minstrels; and that his preference of their compositions to those of his countrymen was no great disparagement to his taste may be inferred from the testimony of Chaucer himself, who says in the envoi to his Complaint of Venus, "And eke to me it is a great penance, "Of Graunson, flower of hem that make in France." What was worth the penance of translating, certainly deserved to be consulted in the original. But political motives induced Edward to discourage the cultivation of French, the language of his enemies. Our native poetry received considerable improvements in the course of his long reign; and his grandson, who found it in this cultivated state, and who was perhaps acquainted with Gower's poetical talents by means of his French sonnets already mentioned, may have naturally been solicitous that he should employ them in some English composition. To return to the Confessio Amantis. This poem is a long dialogue between a lover and his confessor, who is a priest of Venus, and is called Genius. As every vice is in its nature unamiable, it ought to follow that immorality is unavoidably punished by the indignation of the fair sex; and that every fortunate lover must, of necessity, be a good man and a good Christian; and upon this presumption, which, perhaps, is not strictly warranted by experience, the confessor passes in review all the defects of the human character, and carefully scrutinizes the heart of his penitent with respect to each, before he will consent to give him absolution. Because example is more impressive than precept, he illustrates his injunctions by a series of apposite tales, with the morality of which our lover professes to be highly edified; and, being of a more inquisitive turn than lovers usually are, or perhaps hoping to subdue his mistress by directing against her the whole artillery of science, he gives his confessor an opportunity of incidentally instructing him in chemistry and in the Aristotelian philosophy. At length, all the interest that he has endeavoured to excite, by the long and minute details of his sufferings, and by manifold proofs of his patience, is rather abruptly and unexpectedly extinguished: for he tells us, not that his mistress is inflexible or faithless, but, that he is arrived at such a good old age that the submission of his fair enemy would not have been sufficient for ensuring his triumph. Through this elaborate work Gower appears to have distributed all the contents of his commonplace book, and Mr. Warton has traced back many of these fragments to the obscure sources from whence they were derived. These are (besides Colonna's romantic history of Troy, and the Gesta Romanorum, already mentioned, which, with the |