O say nothing of the interest of the question as it relates

To say of

T° to Gower himself, the date of the Confessio Amantis

has a special importance for Chaucerian students. As there are several stories that are told by both poets, the settlement of this date may decide, if there seem to be obligations, which is the obliged person. And as the following lines in Gower are often quoted in connexion with the controversy as to the time of Chaucer's birth, it is obviously of some moment to ascertain the date of the work containing them :

Gower represents Venus speaking to him in this wise:

And grete wel Chaucer, when ye mete,

As my disciple and my poete;

For in the floures of his youthe

In sondry wise, as he wel couthe,

Of dytees and of songes glade
The whiche he for my sake made,
The land fulfilled is over al,
Whereof to him in special

Above alle other I am most holde.

Forthy now in his dayes olde

Thou shalt him telle this message:
That he upon his latter age,

To sette an end of al his werke,

ate.

As he whiche is myn owne clerke
Do make his Testament of Love,
As thou hast doon thy shrift above,
So that my court it may recorde.

And yet the statements current in most books dealing with the subject are for the most part careless and inaccurOften it is said that the second version or edition of the Confessio-it is well known there were two editions was not presented to Henry of Lancaster till he became king—that is, was not presented before 1399. It is generally taken for granted in discussing Chaucer's birth-year that the above-quoted lines of Gower belong to the year 1393, whereas, as I hope to show, they were probably written nine or ten years earlier. The omission of those lines in the second edition is sometimes explained, by those who are unwilling to allow that the friendship of the two poets was ever disturbed, as due to the fact that Chaucer was in extreme old age, beyond the power of dictating any Testament' for Venus, or any testament but his own, if, indeed, he was equal to that, when the revised version appeared. But the revised version was certainly finished, in 1393.

These and other like errors are still widely prevalent, although years ago-nearly a quarter of a century ago— Dr. Pauli pointed out that 1392-3 is the date of the second version, and that the first must have been written some years earlier. This view of Dr. Pauli's, to be found in the introduction to his edition of the Confessio Amantis, published in 1857, I propose now not only to call attention to, but to enforce and support with fresh illustrations.

Let it, then, be carefully observed that Gower himself tells us that the version dedicated to Henry of Lancaster

was completed in the sixteenth year of Richard II., and that the lines containing Venus's message to Chaucer, as well as the passages that express loyalty to the reigning sovereign, are not found in it. These lines are found only in the other version, which the very slightest consideration of the facts of the case will show to be the earlier-the earlier by several years: six or seven as Dr. Pauli thinks, but perhaps, as I incline to think, by nine or ten.

(1.) Let us, then, first consider the date of the first version of the Confessio Amantis. This is Gower's account of its suggestion and origin :—

In our Englishe I thenke make
A boke for King Richardes sake,
To whom belongeth my legeaunce
With all min hertes obeisaunce
In all that ever a lege man
Unto his king may done or can;
So ferforth and me recommaunde
To him which all me may commaunde
Preiend unto the highe regne,

Which causeth every king to regne,
That his corone longe stonde.

And he goes on to describe how one day, as he was rowing, or being rowed, along the Thames, 'under the town of New Troy' that is, by London--his liege lord met him and called him into his barge, and, amongst other things then said, bade him 'book some new thing to his high worthiness'-i.e., compose some new writing and dedicate it to his Majesty. Gower was eager to act on the royal bidding. He had 'sickness on hand,' and long had had, he tells us ; but, fervent royalist as he was, he determined to 'travail' in the king's service, and so he set to work

To make a boke after his heste
And write in such a maner wise,

Which may be wisdom to the wise
And play to hem that list to play.

The result was the Confessio Amantis.

This interview with the king is often enough referred to, but quite wrongly it is ordinarily assigned to the regnal year 1392-3. In 1392-3, as we shall see, Gower had utterly ceased to believe in Richard II. or expect anything good from him, and had turned to one who seemed better to justify his hope and trust.

If the prologue of the Confessio gives us nothing more definite in the way of date than that it was written when its author was a devoted adherent of King Richard, we may, I think, gather more precise information from the epilogue ; and this is a point not yet noticed, so far as I know.

The poem concludes by telling us how Venus, after sending her famous message to Chaucer, all suddenly passed up into heaven, and the poet betook himself home, resolved, his beads in hand, ever to pray for all true lovers. And so his work is done; the poem his Majesty ordered is written. And he epilogizes in these Latin lines, followed by some English octo syllabics :

Ad laudem Christi, quem tu virgo peperisti,

Sit laus Ricardi, quem sceptra colunt leopardi.
Ad sua precepta complevi carmine cepta,

Que Bruti nata legat Anglia perpetuata.

The English lines that follow are filled with the same spirit that inspired the prologue. Gower is not yet disillusioned. Upon his bare knees he prays God to 'convey'—ever to escort, so to speak-'my worthy king'

Richard by name the Secounde

In whom hath ever yet be founde
Justice medled with pite,
Largesse forth with charite.

In his persone it may be shewed
What is a king to be well thewed,
Touching of pite namely,
For he yet never unpetously

Ayein the leges of his londe,

For no defaute which he fonde

Through cruelte vengeance sought.

And he continues to chant at length his praises.

Now, Dr. Pauli has remarked that this enthusiastic language towards King Richard must precede 1386. 'The date,' he says, 'when Gower began to write the Confessio Amantis, would fall before the year 1386, and before the young king, who had just become of age, developed those dangerous qualities which estranged from him amongst others the poet, who, as he states himself, composed his work in English [better "his English work "] in consequence of an invitation from his sovereign.' The soundness of this view will be doubted by no one who studies Gower's political writings or understands his political temper. He was of a thoroughly loyal nature and habit, but he had a keen sense of a king's duties as well as of his prerogatives. He expected a king to act like a king. For a mere reckless pleasure-lover-for a royal profligate who wasted his substance in riotous living -he felt no respect or reverence. What he wanted in the State was government and order, and of these things there presently seemed a plentiful lack. Possibly enough he may have been even harsh in his judgment of the king. Certainly what was generous and lovable in the king's personal character-such elements were undoubtedly thereseemed to him of trifling value as compared with a firm, strong will and a firm, strong hand to execute it, such as the convulsed and quaking condition of English society at that time made peculiarly needful. Probably what in the first instance fanned, I do not say kindled, the flame of his