No More Learning

>


## p. 122 (#140) ############################################

I 22
The Earliest Scottish Literature
Of Clerk (or, it may be, the clerk) of Tranent we know nothing
but what Dunbar tells us, so that we are not aware whether it was
one of the existing poems or a lost poem of which he was the
author. It is equally possible to contend that the poem referred
to by Wyntoun is lost. There is no certain criterion; but, on the
whole, the probability is greater that the Awntyrs of Arthure is
the older of the two works and may, therefore, be more reasonably
assigned to the poet who was, presumably, the elder.
Arthur and his court go from Carlisle to Tarn Wadling to
hunt. Queen Gaynour (Guinevere) is entrusted to Gawain ; and,
while they are in shelter from a storm, a ghost appears to them.
Gawain goes forth with drawn sword to meet the phantom, which de-
sires to speak with the queen, and, being permitted, tells her to take
warning, for this is the lost soul of her own mother, who in life had
broken a vow known only to herself and Guinevere. If masses are
said for her soul she may yet be saved. In reply to Gawain, the spirit
forecasts that, after a victory over the Romans, his doom will fall
upon Arthur—the story of Morte Arthure. The figure disappears,
the storm is over and all return and are told of the portent. They
go to Randolf's Hall to supper, and there, during supper, a lady
richly arrayed brings in a knight riding on horseback. It is
Galeron of Galloway, who claims to fight for his lands, which have
been given to Gawain. Arthur says they have no weapons now;
but, on the morrow, Galeron shall have his claim to fight allowed.
There is a long combat, in which both are wounded; but, ultimately,
Galeron is defeated. The king interferes, Galeron receives back
his lands and Gawain receives lands in Wales instead. When they
have gone back to Carlisle and the combatants have been cured of
their wounds, Galeron is made a knight of the Round Table and
marries the lady who brought him into the Hall. Obviously,
the adventures much more properly belong to Gawain than to
Arthur. The story is in two scenes, which are connected in order
of time, but not otherwise. It is told in fifty-five stanzas of thirteen
lines each, constructed on a complicated system of rime, as the
following example will show, and retaining the old alliterative
form.
There are three manuscripts which differ very widely in their
forms. The best is the Thornton MS at Lincoln. The Ireland
MS, preserved at Hale in Lancashire, is in a very uncouth dialect,
probably that of northern Lancashire. The Douce MS in the
Bodleian Library is, clearly, the work of an Englishman of the
Midlands copying northern forms. Neilson, the champion of


## p. 123 (#141) ############################################

Golagros and Gawane
123
Huchoun, has not been slow to observe that the lands of Galeron
(418 ff. ) are situated where Sir Hew of Eglintoun had his estates.
The story of the Morte Arthure is summed up in the following
stanza (XXIII):
A knyghte salle kenly closene the crowne,
And at Carelyone be crownede for kynge;
That sege salle be sesedel at a sesone,
That mekille bak and barete tille Ynglande sall brynge.
Ther salle in Tuskayne be tallde of that tresone,
Ane3 torne home d-3ayne for that tydynge;
And ther salle the Rownde Tabille losse the renowne,
Be-syde Ramessaye fulle ryghte at a rydynge;
And at Dorsett salle dy the doghetyeste of alle.
Gette the, sir Gawayne,
The baldeste of Bretayne;
For in a slake* thou salle be slayne,
Swylke ferly5 salle fallo 6.
The history of Golagros and Gawane is more obscure, for it is
known only from a pamphlet printed in 1508 by Chepman and
Myllar, the pioneers of printing in Scotland. Like the Awntyrs of
Arthure, there are two parts or scenes in the story. Arthur, once
upon a time, went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land accompanied by
all the knights of the Round Table. After a long march through
desolate hills and marshes, where their food gives out, they spy a
city in the distance. Kay is sent to ask permission to enter and
buy provisions ; but, finding the gate open, enters a mansion and
seizes some birds which a dwarf is roasting on a spit. At the
outcry of the dwarf a knight enters, who, finding reproaches met
with temper, knocks Kay down. Kay, returning to the king,
advises him to go elsewhere. Gawain, however, suggests that
a better-tempered messenger might be more successful, and is
himself sent and kindly received. After feasting there four days,
they go on their way, and—though the poet forgets to mention the
fact-apparently their late host was Sir Spinagros, who now acts
as guide. By and by, they see a castle built by the side of the
Rhone; and king Arthur is surprised to hear from Spinagros that
the knight of the castle pays homage to no man. Arthur vows to
change all that on his return from Palestine. When he returns, he
proceeds to besiege the castle. On four successive days champions
are chosen, who fight with little success to either side. On the
fifth day, Golagros, the knight of the castle, takes the field himself,
And.
1 seat shall be seized.
9 strife.
hollow place.
8 Such marvel
6 Text according to Thornton MS, S. T. 8. ed.


## p. 124 (#142) ############################################

124
The Earliest Scottish Literature
but is defeated by Arthur's champion Gawain. As Golagros de-
clines to own defeat, preferring death to shame, Gawain is about
to kill him, when Golagros asks Gawain to come into the castle as
if he had been defeated; he will take care that Gawain's honour is
not scathed by his action. Golagros asks his knights whether they
would prefer that their chief, if vanquished, should still rule over
them, or whether they would allow him to perish. As they say that
they wish him to be chief in either case, he tells them what Gawain
has done, and they set out to Arthur's camp, where Spinagros explains
the situation. Golagros becomes liege man to Arthur; but, after nine
days' feasting, Arthur releases him from homage before he departs.
The origin of the story is known. It is a free paraphrase of the
French prose romance Perceval le Gallois by Chrétien de Troyes,
or, rather, of a continuation of it.
The writer is best in his fighting scenes, of which the combat of
Gaudifer and Galiot, the first champions of Arthur and Golagros, is
a fair specimen (stanza XLIV).
Gaudifeir and Galiot, in glemand steil wedis,
As glauis glowand on gleid, grymly thai ride;
Wondir sternly thai steir on thair stent stedis
Athir berne fra his blonk 2 borne wes that tide.
Thai ruschit up rudly, quha sa right redis;
Out with suerdis thai swang fra thair schalk 3 side;
Thair-with wraithly 4 thai wirk, thai wourthy in vedis,
Hewit on the hard steill, and hurt thame in the hide.
Sa wondir freschly thai frekis fruschit5 in feir,
Throw all the harnes thai hade,
Baith birny6 and breist-plade,
Thairin wappynis couth wade,
Wit ye but weir7.
The poem is nearly twice as long as the Awntyrs of Arthure,
containing a hundred and five stanzas. Of its date, nothing can be
said definitely; for, without several manuscripts, we can know
nothing of the tradition of the text. Its forms are more archaic
than those of Wallace; but there is so large a proportion of
traditional tags (necessitated by the alliteration) in the romances
that this argument is not very conclusive; nor is there satisfactory
proof that the Awntyrs of Arthure and Golagros and Gawane,
though their vocabulary is often similar, are by the same hand.
One Scottish romance on the rival story survives. The Charle-
magne cycle is represented by the quaint and amusing tale of
I swords glowing on coals.
• angrily.
7 without doubt.
9 horse.
men crashed together.
8 schalk is probably corrupt.
6 coat of mail.
5


## p. 125 (#143) ############################################

Rauf Coilzear
125
Rauf Coitzear. The plot turns upon Charles finding a night's
lodging incognito in the house of Ralph, the charcoal-burner. The
king has lost his way and his suite in a storm. The scene is laid in
the neighbourhood of Paris; but the whole story savours far more of
Scotland than of France. The 'wickit wedderis amang thay myrk
Montanis' ill agree with the surroundings of Paris. Rauf is a
plain-spoken man and has his own views on many things, including
good manners. He finds the king in the snow and gives him a
hearty invitation to spend the night, but tells him that thanks
are as yet unnecessary (stanza VII):
Na, thank me not ouir airlie, for dreid that we threip1,
For I hade seruit the zit of lytill thing to rusea;
For nouther hes thow had of me fyre, drink, nor meit,
Nor nane vther eismentis for trauellouris behuse 3;
Bot, micht we bring this barberie this nicht weill to heip
That we micht with ressoun baith thus excuse;
To-morne on the morning, quhen thow sall on leip,
Pryse at the parting, how that thow dois;
For first to lofe and syne to lak, Peter! it is schame. '
The king said: 'In gude fay,
Schir, it is suith that 3e say. '
Into sio talk fell thay
Quhill thay war neir hame.
When they arrive at the hut, Rauf would have his guest enter
before him. The guest wishes to give Rauf precedence, but Rauf
said: "Thow art vncourtes, that sall I warrand. '
He tyt the King be the nek, twa part in tenet;
"Gif thow at bidding suld be boun or obeysand,
And gif thow of Courtasie couth, thow hes forzet it clene. ' 122 ff.
Rauf asks the king to take his wife Gyliane in to supper, and
the king would again yield him precedence, but Rauf regards his
ill manners as requiring stronger measures and hits him a blow
under the ear that brings him to the ground. With true politeness,
Rauf waits till his guest has finished his meal before he asks who
he is. 'One of the queen's attendants, Wymond of the wardrobe,'
says Charles, and offers to help to dispose of Rauf's charcoal at
court. Rauf does not know where the court lies and does not
like going where he is unknown, but is told that the king and
queen are keeping Yule at Paris and Rauf need only ask for
Wymond. The king spends a comfortable night, and, next day,
offers to pay for his good cheer, but is told that even were he
of Charlis cumpany, Chief king of Cheualry' payment would
be refused. The following day, Rauf, taking Wymond at his
.
6
1 quarrel.
* Plural of behoot' for sake of rime.
anger.
• praise.
4


## p. 126 (#144) ############################################

126
The Earliest Scottish Literature
word, carries his charcoal in panniers to the court. The king
had remembered his promise and had sent Roland out to fetch to
the king whoever came that way. Roland orders Rauf to 'cast
the creillis fra the Capill, and gang to the king'; but Rauf is not to
break his promise to bring charcoal and offers to fight the knight
in all his panoply, though he has but ‘ane auld buklair and ane
roustie brand,' and, as they are both busy to-day, challenges him to
combat on the morrow. The king asks Roland whether he has
done his command, and, finding that he has not brought Rauf, is
annoyed. Rauf leaves his horse with the porter and passes into
the court to look for Wymond, and, when he sees the king,
recognises him as Wymond, though his clothes are different. Rauf
is much disconcerted to think how he had treated the king; but
Charles dubs him a knight, and appoints him Marshal of France.
The sole authority for the tale is a unique copy, printed by
Lekpreuik at St Andrews in 1572 and now in the Advocates' Library,
Edinburgh. But, as Gavin Douglas and Dunbar both refer to the
story, it must have been well known by the end of the fifteenth
century. Amours points out that its vocabulary is closely similar
to that of Golagros and Gawane. It is almost a parody on the
old romances; but the tale has plenty of movement and, what is
lacking in the other romances, plenty of humour.
Along with it, Gavin Douglas mentions two other popular tales :
I saw Raf Coilzear with his thrawin brow,
Craibit Jobne the Reif and auld Cowkeywis sow.
Palice of Honour, p. 65 (Small).
John the Reeve, who is also mentioned by Dunbar, is printed in
Laing's Select Remains of the Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland,
but is clearly an English work. The tale of Colkelbie's sow, also
printed in the same work, is as clearly Scottish. The authority for
it is the Bannatyne manuscript which was written in 1568.
Colkelbie is in Stewarton in Ayrshire. Colkelbie (in Scotland the
farmer or laird is, usually, called by the name of his estate)
sells a sow for three pence. The first penny fell into a lake but
was found by a woman who bought a pig wherewith to make a
feast. But the pig escaped, and became a mighty boar. Near
Paris, Colkelbie meets an old blind man who is being led by a
beautiful damsel called Adria, finds a substitute, and carries off the
damsel after giving the blind man the second penny. Adria grows
up under the care of Colkelbie's wife and is ultimately married to
his son Flannislie. This son is made a squire of the body-guard by
the king of France and receives a grant of land which is called
a


## p. 127 (#145) ############################################

Lives of the Saints and the Chronicles 127
Flandria (Flanders), from the names of Flannislie and Adria. With
the third penny, Colkelbie, in Scotland apparently, buys twenty-
four eggs to give at the baptism of the son of his neighbour
Blerblowan. The mother of the child rejects the eggs, and
Colkelbie gives them to one of his domestics, who raises from them
such a stock of poultry that, in fifteen years, he is able to give a
thousand pounds to his godson, who, ultimately, becomes immensely
rich
The story is divided into three parts, the metre of the first
differing from that of the two others. From the numerous
references to it, the story was obviously very popular, but it makes
a sorry end to the old romances.
Of the other literature of this period, the Lives of the Saints
and the Chronicles, there is not much to be said. The Lives of the
Saints, which are contained in a single MS in the Cambridge
University Library, extend to over 33,500 lines of the short
couplet used by Barbour, to whom they have, no doubt incorrectly,
been attributed. The MS is not the original and it would be
difficult to locate their origin definitely by the language alone.
But it is, I think, clear that they were intended for an Aberdeen
I
andience. The lives, as a whole, are derived from the Golden
Legend or the Lives of the Fathers, though, occasionally, other
sources were employed; but two local saints Machar (Mauricius)
and Ninian are included. Ninian, whose shrine was at Whithorn
in Galloway, was a well known saint, but St Machar's reputation
was purely local. His life was obviously compiled from local
tradition and was inserted where it stands in the MS for local
reasons. St Nicholas, a saint whose cult is very widely spread, is
the patron saint of the great church of New Aberdeen, the city on
the Dee; and it would only have occurred to a person with local
knowledge to insert after the life of Nicholas the life of Machar,
the patron saint of Old Aberdeen on the Don.
Bot befor vthyr I wald fayne
& I had cunnyng set my mayne
sume thing to say of Sanct Moryse,
that in his tym was ware and wis
& in the erd of sio renown
& als in hewine sa hye patron,
of Aberden in the cite
thru haly life was wont to be. 7 ff.
It is not clear whether all the lives are by the same author,
though most authorities regard them as being so. The writer
professes to be an old man, no longer equal to the duties of the
.


## p. 128 (#146) ############################################

128
The Earliest Scottish Literature
church. The date for the life of Ninian, at any rate, is clearly fixed
by a tale of how St Ninian saved a knight who had been betrayed
to the English, 'a ferly that in my tyme befel' (816); while, later,
he says (941):
This wes done but lessinge
Quhene Sir Davi Bruys ves kinge.
Besides the Aberdeen saints, knowledge of the north is postulated
by the story of John Balormy, born ‘in Elgyn of Murrefe,' who,
having the worm in his shank' and knee, travelled on horseback
all the way to Whithorn, 'twa hundre mylis of Milavay,' and was
cured by St Ninian.
But the Scots of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries did not
spend all their leisure in hearing and reading romances or the
lives of saints. They had an equal, or, if we may judge from the
number of extant manuscripts, a greater, interest in the chroniclers
of the past. With the earliest of these and, in some respects, the
most important of them we have but little to do, for they do
not write in the Scottish tongue. Scalacronica was compiled in
Norman-French by Sir Thomas Gray, of Heton in Northumberland,
while a prisoner in the hands of the Scots at Edinburgh, in 1355.
The valiant knight, ancestor of families still distinguished on the
Border, finding time hang heavy on his hands, put together from
the best sources at his disposal a chronicle from the beginning of
the world to his own time. For the period of the wars of inde-
pendence it is a first-hand authority and, as the work of a man of
affairs, whose 'hands had often kept his head, it has a value
distinct from that of the monkish chronicles. The next in order
of these records is Scotichronicon, the joint work of John of
Fordun and his continuator Walter Bower or Bowmaker, abbot of
Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth. Except for occasional quotations,
the work in fourteen books) is entirely in Latin. The first five
books and some part of the sixth were completed by John of
Fordun, between 1384 and 1387, for he mentions that he had lately
received a genealogy from bishop Wardlaw, cardinal and legate,
and we know that bishop Wardlaw held those titles only during
those years. Fordun is generally said to have died in 1385, the
year in which his continuator tells us he himself was born. Of
Fordun, we know nothing save what is told us in various manu-
scripts of his works. He probably was born at Fordoun, in Kincar-
dineshire, whence he derives his name; and the statement in the
Black Book of Paisley, now in the British Museum, that he was
capellanus ecclesiae Aberdonensis, which is generally interpreted
a
>


## p. 129 (#147) ############################################

Andrew of Wyntoun 129
'a chantry priest in the cathedral of Aberdeen,' is probable enough.
If so, he was not only a contemporary but also a fellow citizen of
Barbour. Fordun, undoubtedly, took great pains in collecting his
materials by visiting monasteries in England and even in Ireland
where chronicles were to be found. Unfortunately, he was able to
complete his work only as far as the death of David I in 1153.
The material with which his continuator worked was largely
collected by Fordun. But Bower was a much less competent
person than his predecessor. He was engaged upon the chronicle
between 1441 and 1449, and brought down the history to the
death of James I in 1437. He is garrulous, irrelevant and in-
accurate. He interpolates passages into the part completed by
Fordun, and he makes every important occurrence an excuse for
a long winded moral discourse. When he has occasion to relate
the unfortunate matrimonial experiences of David II, he feels it
necessary to discuss the proper method of choosing a wife and to
illustrate the problem with at least six passages from the Bible,
and several more from Aristotle and the Christian fathers. He is
able to fill the next chapter with rules for the proper management
of a wife, illustrated by quotations from Solomon, St Paul, Varro
and Valerius Maximus. Nearly two folio pages are required to
state the unpleasant things to which a wicked woman is compared.
Among these is the serpent, and this leads to an excursus on the
serpent and two more chapters on the wicked woman:
Till horsis fote thou never traist,
Till hondis tooth, no womans faith. XIV. 32 f.
A single shorter chapter exhausts the good qualities of the
female sex, and Bower is then able to return to Margaret Logie
and the death of king David II. Even that patient age found the
taediosa prolixitas of the abbot of Inchcolm more than it could
endure, and he and others spent their time in making shorter
manuals out of this vast and undigested mass.
Andrew of Wyntoun, who wrote his chronicle in Barbour's
couplet and in the Scottish tongue, was an older contemporary of
Walter Bower. He died an old man soon after 1420. Of him, as
of the other contemporary chroniclers, we know little except that
he was the head of St Serf's priory in Lochleven, and a canon
regular of St Andrews, which, in 1413, became the site of the
first university founded in Scotland. The name of his work,
The Orygynale Cronykil, only means that he went back to
the beginning of things, as do the others. Wyntoun surpasses
them only in beginning with a book on the history of angels.
9
D. L. II.
CH. V.


## p. 130 (#148) ############################################

130
The Earliest Scottish Literature
Naturally, the early part is derived mostly from the Bible,
and The Cronykil has no historical value except for Scotland,
and for Scotland only from Malcolm Canmore onwards, its value
increasing as the author approaches his own time. For Robert
the Bruce, he not only refers to Barbour but quotes nearly three
hundred lines of The Bruce verbatim-thus being the earliest,
and a very valuable, authority for Barbour's text. In the last
two books, he also incorporates a long chronicle, the author of
which he says he did not know. From the historical point of
view, these chroniclers altogether perverted the early chronology
of Scottish affairs. The iron of Edward I had sunk deep into
the Scottish soul, and it was necessary, at all costs, to show that
Scotland had a list of kings extending backwards far beyond any-
thing that England could boast. This it was easy to achieve by
making the Scottish and Pictish dynasties successive instead of
contemporary, and patching awkward flaws by creating a few
more kings when necessary. That the Scots might not be charged
with being usurpers, it was necessary to allege that they were in
Scotland before the Picts. History was thus turned upside down.
Apart from the national interests which were involved, the con-
troversy was exactly like that which raged between Oxford and
Cambridge in the sixteenth century as to the date of their
foundations, and it led to the same tampering with evidence.
Wyntoun has no claims to the name of poet. He is a chronicler,
and would himself have been surprised to be found in the company
of the 'makaris. '
It was at the instance of 'Schir Iohne of Wemys' that he com-
piled his chronicle. The original scheme was for seven books, but
the work was, later, extended to nine.
Wyntoun would not have been the child of his age and train-
ing did not the early part of his history contain many marvels.
We hear how Gedell-Glaiss, the son of Sir Newill, came out of
Scythia and married Scota, Pharaoh's daughter. Being, naturally,
unpopular with the Egyptian nobility, he then emigrated to Spain
and founded the race which, in later days, appeared in Ireland
and Scotland. It is interesting to learn that Wyntoun identified
Gaelic and Basque, part of the Scottish stock remaining behind in
Spain,
And Scottis thai spek hallely,
And ar callyt Nawarry. II, 853 f.
And Simon Brek it was that first brought the Coronation Stone
from Spain to Ireland. The exact date before the Christian era is
given for all these important events.


## p. 131 (#149) ############################################

Andrew of Wyntoun 131
a
When Wyntoun arrives at the Christian dispensation and the
era of the saints, it is only natural that he should dwell with
satisfaction on the achievements of St Serf, to whom his own
priory was dedicated. St Serf was the ‘kyngis sone off Kanaan,'
who, leaving the kingdom to his younger brother, passed through
Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome. Hence, after he had been
seven years pope, his guiding angel conducted him through France.
He then took ship, arrived in the Firth of Forth and was advised
by St Adamnan to pass into Fife. Ultimately, after difficulties with
the Pictish king, he founded a church at Culross, and then passed
to the ‘Inche of Lowchlewyn. ' That he should raise the dead and
cast out devils was to be expected. A thief stole his pet lamb
and ate it. Taxed with the crime by the saint he denied it, but
was speedily convicted, for 'the schype thar bletyt in hys wayme? '
Wyntoun tells, not without sympathy, the story of that 'Duk of
Frissis,' who, with one foot already in the baptismal font, halted to
enquire whether more of his kindred were in hell or heaven. The
bishop of those days could have but one answer, whereupon the
duke said
Withe thai he cheyssit? bym to duel,
And said he dowtyt for to be
Reprewit wnkynde gif that he
Sulde withedraw hym in to deide 8
Fra his kyn til ane wncouthe leide“,
Til strangeris fra his awyn kytht,
Qwhar he was nwrist and bred wp withe,
Qwhar neuir nane was of his kyn,
Aulde na zonge, mare na myn,
That neuir was blenkyt withe that blayme.
'[Abrenuncio] for thi that schayme,'
He said, and of the fant he tuk
His fute, and hail he thar forsnyk
Cristyndome euir for to tas,
For til his freyndis he walde ga
Withe thaim stedfastly to duell
Euirmare in the pyne of hel 6.
Good churchman as Wyntoun is, he is not slow to tell of
wickedness in high places and duly relates the story of pope
Joan, with the curious addition
Scho was Inglis of nacion
Bicht willy of condicion
A burges douchtyr and his ayre
Prewe, pleyssande and richt fayr;
Thai callit bir fadyr Hob of Lyne7.
V, 6230, Cotton M8, S. T. S.
chose.
s in death.
a strange people.
• v, 5780 ff. , Cotton MS, S. T. S.
7 vi, 465, Cotton MS, S. T. S.
1
s take.
942


## p. 132 (#150) ############################################

132
The Earliest Scottish Literature
In this book (chap. 18) he also tells the most famous of all his
stories—Macbeth and the weird sisters, and the interview between
Malcolm and Macduff. But Wyntoun renders Macbeth more
justice than other writers,
zit in his tyme thar wes plente
Off gold and siluer, catall and feel.
He wes in iustice rycht lauchfull,
And till his liegis rycht awfulla.
Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane, and Macbeth, fleeing across
the Mounth, is slain ‘in to the wod of Lumfanane 3. '
With all his credulity, Wyntoun, in the later part of his
chronicle, is a most valuable source for the history of his country.
To him and to Fordun we are indebted for most of our knowledge
of early Scotland, since little documentary evidence of that
period survived the wreck that was wrought by Edward I.
1 sheep.
• Wemyss MS, 1929 ff. , S. T. S.
* Ibid. 2310.


## p. 133 (#151) ############################################

CHAPTER VI
JOHN GOWER
In spite of the progress which had been made in English
literature by the middle of the fourteenth century, it still
remained uncertain how far the cultured classes were prepared
to accept English as an instrument of expression for the higher
kinds of literature. With this uncertainty was bound up the
question whether, out of all the provincial varieties which had
existed during the Middle English period, a generally accepted
literary form of English could arise-something which would stand
towards the English dialects generally in the same relation that
Dante's volgare illustre, cardinale e cortigiano held towards the
dialects of Italy. Writers such as Robert of Gloucester and Robert
of Brunne had addressed themselves distinctly to those who were
unable to read French easily, and to whom even the new English
of the day was difficult, because so much interlarded with French.
They made occasional protests against the abnormal condition
of things under which English, instead of being the speech of the
whole nation, was degraded to the position of a language for the
unlearned, but they hardly seem to have conceived that their
labours should aim at removing this anomaly. It is true that a
considerable amount of English verse had been produced which
aimed at representing in the vulgar tongue the contents of the
continental romances, and, consequently, may be supposed to have
made an appeal to a more or less aristocratic audience. But we
.
find little that suggests court influence in those English translations
of French romances which abounded in the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries. Their tendency is towards a popular rather
than a genuinely artistic verse form; and, when finally a school
arose which worked to some extent on artistic principles, it was
characterised more or less by a reversion to the old rule of allitera-
tion. This carried with it a good deal of archaism of language; so
that, notwithstanding the high poetical merit of such works as Pearl
and Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, it was not possible that


## p. 134 (#152) ############################################

134
John Gower
they should form the basis of a poetical development which should
reconcile English and French tastes in literature. To accomplish
this reconciliation was pre-eminently the task of Chaucer, who,
however, in genius and in culture was so far in advance of his
generation that he can hardly be regarded as, in any sense, typical.
The mere fact that he alone of the poets of his time was capable
of being vitally influenced by Italian literature, by Dante and
Boccaccio, is enough to remove him from the common level.
If we desire to set before ourselves a picture of what we may,
perhaps, call the normal development of English literature in its
progress towards general acceptance, we ought rather, perhaps, to
direct our attention to the work of one who, in a certain sense,
stands by the side of Chaucer, though he is a man of talent only,
not of genius—the author of Confessio Amantis.
John Gower was a man of considerable literary accomplishments,
and, though not very deeply read, he was possessed of most of the
information which passed current as learning. He was master of
three languages for the purpose of literary expression, and he
continued to use French and Latin side by side with English even
in the last years of the century. As a man of culture, his attitude
towards English was at first one of suspicion, and, indeed, of rejection.
There is no evidence that he wrote his French ballades in the
earlier period of his career; but, unquestionably, his first work of
considerable extent was in French, the recently recovered Speculum
Meditantis or Mirour de l'Omme. His next venture was in Latin
elegiacs; and it was not till nearly the last decade of the century
that, encouraged, perhaps, by the example of Chaucer, he adopted
English as his vehicle of literary expression. To the end, he was
probably doubtful whether a poet ought to trust to his English
works for a permanent reputation.
Gower was undoubtedly of a Kentish family : the arms on
his tomb are the same as those of Sir Robert Gower of Brabourne.
Some documents which have been cited to prove that John Gower
was a landowner in Kent probably refer to another person; but one
instrument, which undoubtedly has reference to the poet, describes
him as 'Esquier de Kent,' and it may be affirmed with certainty
that he was a layman. There is no evidence to prove that he led
the life of a country gentleman, but he was certainly a man of
some wealth, and was the owner of at least two manors, one in
Norfolk and the other in Suffolk, which, however, he leased to
others. It seems probable that, for the most part, he resided in
London, and he was personally known both to Richard II and to


## p. 135 (#153) ############################################

Life
135
the family of John of Gaunt. For some years in the latter part of
his life he resided in lodgings assigned to him within the Priory
of St Mary Overes, Southwark, of which house he was a liberal
benefactor. He died at an advanced age in the year 1408, having
lost his eyesight some years before this, and was buried in a
magnificent tomb with a recumbent effigy, in the church of the
Priory, now St Saviour's, Southwark, where the tomb is still to be
seen, though not in its original state nor quite in its original
position. He had been married in 1998, while living in the Priory,
to one Agnes Groundolf, who survived him, but there are some
indications in his early French work that the author had had a
wife before this. That he was acquainted with Chaucer we know
on good evidence. In May 1378, Chaucer, on leaving England for
Italy, appointed Gower and another to act for him under a general
power of attorney during his absence. A few years later, Chaucer
addressed his Troilus and Criseyde to Gower and Strode, to be
criticised and corrected where need was,
O moral Gower, this book I directe
To thee, and to thee, philosophical Strode,
To vouchen sauf, ther nede is, to correcte,
Of your benignetes and zeles gode.
Finally, Gower, in Confessio Amantis, pays a tribute to Chaucer
as a poet of love in the lines which he puts into the mouth of
Venus,
And gret wel Chaucer, whan ye mete,
As mi disciple and mi poete:
For in the foures of his youthe
In sondri wise, as he wel couthe,
Of ditees and of songes glade,
The whiche be for mi sake made,
The lond fulfild is overal:
Wherof to him in special
Above alle othre I am most holde, eto.
Conf. Am. VIII, 2941* 11.
These lines were omitted in the later forms of the text, and
upon this fact, combined with a supposed reference to Gower
in the Canterbury Tales, as the author of immoral stories,
has been founded the notion of a bitter quarrel between the
two poets. But of this there is no sufficient evidence. The
omission of the greeting to Chaucer may be plausibly explained on
grounds connected with the mechanical circumstances of the revision
of Confessio Amantis; and Chaucer's reference is, apparently,
of a humorous character, the author of the not very decent tales
of the miller, the reeve and the merchant taking advantage of his


## p. 136 (#154) ############################################

136
John Gower
1
opportunity to reprove the ‘moral Gower' for selecting improper
subjects.
The development of Gower's political opinions may be traced
in his writings, and especially in the successive alterations
which he made in the text of Vox Clamantis and Confessio
Amantis, as years went on and the situation changed. When
Vox Clamantis was first written, no blame whatever was attached
to the youthful king, who, at the time of the Peasants' rising,
was only in his fifteenth year. In the earlier version of the poem,
as now recovered from the Dublin and Hatfield MSS, we have,
The boy himself is blameless, but his councillors are not without
fault. . . . If the king were of mature age, he would redress the
balance of justice' (v1, 555* ff. ), and again, 'I pray God to preserve
my young king, and let him live long and see good days. . . . O king,
mayest thou ever hold thy sceptre with honour and triumph, as
Augustus did at Rome. . . . 0 flower of boyhood, according to thy
worthiness I wish thee prosperity' (vi, 1167* ff. ). In the later
version of the first passage we have, written over erasure in the
author's own copies, 'The king, an undisciplined youth, neglects
the moral acts, by which he might grow from a boy to a man. . . .
What he desires is desired also by his youthful companions ; he
enters upon the road, and they follow him. . . . Older men too give
way to him for gain, and pervert the justice of the king's court'
(VI, 555 ff. ). And the second passage runs as follows (in effect):
*The king is honoured above all, so long as his acts are good, but
if the king is avaricious and proud, the people is grieved. Not all
that a king desires is expedient for him : he has a charge laid
upon him, and must maintain law and do justice. O king, do
away with the evils of thy reign, restore the laws and banish
crime: let thy people be subject to thee for love and not for
fear' (v1, 1159 ff. ). These alterations were evidently made while
the king was still young, but at a time when he was regarded as
fully responsible for the government. In 1390, when Confessio
Amantis was first completed, and when the author's summary of
his three principal works, which was appended to it, may be supposed
to have been first written, the innocence of the king as regards the
events of the year 1381 is still carefully asserted, and, from the
manner in which the king is spoken of in the first edition of Con-
fessio Amantis itself, both at the beginning and at the end of the
poem, we know that the author had not yet abandoned his hope that
the king, who even then was hardly more than three and twenty,
might prove to be endowed with those qualities of justice and mercy
1


## p. 137 (#155) ############################################

Political Opinions
137
>
which were necessary for a successful reign (VIII, 2970* ff. ). Very
soon, however, he saw reason to abandon these hopes; within a
year, he composed an alternative version of his epilogue, in which his
prayers for the king were changed into prayers for the good govern-
ment of the land; and, finally, in 1392 or 1393, instead of the lines in
the prologue in which reference was made to the king's suggestion
of the work, he inserted others in which the book was said to have
been written for England's sake, and was presented not to the king,
but to his cousin Henry of Lancaster, to whose person the author
had already transferred some of the hopes and aspirations which
had previously centred in the king. It is probable that these
changes were made in a few copies only, which either remained in
the hands of the author, like the Fairfax MS, in which we can trace
the actual process of the change, made by erasure and substitution
of leaves, or were written for presentation to Henry himself, as is
probably the case with the Stafford MS. By far the larger number
of existing copies are of the earlier form. Gradually, Gower's spirit
became more and more embittered, as the king's self-indulgence
and arbitrary rule more and more belied his hopes of reformation;
and in the final edition of his note upon his works, written after
the fall of Richard, he omits all mention of the early events of the
reign and of the king's youth and innocence, and represents Vox
Clamantis as dealing generally with the evils of the time, for
which the king is held primarily responsible by reason of his in-
justice and cruelty. Finally, in Cronica Tripertita the misfortunes
which have overtaken Richard II are shown to be the natural
consequences of a course of evil government and treachery, and in
the English stanzas addressed to Henry IV the author's ideal of a
king, as one who above all things should promote peace at home
and abroad, is set forth with the enthusiasm of one who, after long
waiting, at length sees his hopes for his country fulfilled.
The literary work of Gower is represented chiefly by those
three books upon which the head of his effigy rests in St Saviour's
Church, the French Speculum Meditantis (or Speculum Hominis,
as it was originally called), the Latin Vox clamantis, and the
English Confessio Amantis. Let us first observe what he tells
us himself of these works, in the Latin note already referred to,
which is found, with variations, in most of the manuscripts :
Since every man is bound to impart to others in proportion as he has
himself received from God, John Gower, desiring in some measure to lighten
the account of his stewardship, while yet there was time, with regard to those
mental gifts which God had given him, amid his labours and in his leisure


## p. 138 (#156) ############################################

138
John Gower
composed three books for the information and instruction of others, in the
form which follows.
The first book, written in the French language, is divided into ten parts,
and, treating of vices and of virtues, as also of the various conditions of men
in the world, endeavours rightly to teach the way by which the sinner who
has trespassed onght to return to the knowledge of his Creator. And the
title of this book is Speculum Meditantis1.
The second book, metrically composed in the Latin language, treats of
the various misfortunes which happened in England in the time of king
Richard II, whence not only the nobles and commons of the realm suffered
great evils, but the cruel king himself, falling from on high by his own evil
doings, was at length hurled into the pit which he dug himself. And the
name of this volume is Vox Clamantis.
The third book, which was written in the English language in honour of
his most valorous lord Henry of Lancaster, then earl of Derby, marks out the
times from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar until now, in accordance with the
prophecy of Daniel on the changes of the kingdoms of this world. It treats,
also, in accordance with Aristotle, of the matters in which king Alexander
was instructed by his discipline, both for the governance of himself and for
other ends. But the chief matter of the book is founded upon love, and the
infatuated passions of lovers. And the name appropriated to this work is
Confessio Amantis,
The author conceives, then, of his literary work as essentially
didactic in character, and of himself as fulfilling a mission in
making use, for the benefit of his own generation, of the gifts
which he has received. This, of course, was a quite usual stand-
point. It was a didactic age, and Gower was fully in sympathy
with the prevailing tendency to edification; but his books, on the
whole, have a somewhat higher literary quality than might be
supposed from his description of them.
The French work is placed first of these three books by the
author, and, no doubt, it came first in the order of time. It contains
evidence, however, that this was not his first literary essay, for he
speaks in it of earlier poems of a light and amorous kind, the
composition of which he now regrets. It is not necessary to
suppose that these fols ditz d'amours are identical with the
Cinkante Balades which, near the close of his life, he dedicated
to Henry IV. The passage referred to seems to speak of some-
thing lighter and in a more lyrical vein.
1 In the first edition of this statement, the title is Speculum Hominis, corresponding
to the French form Mirour de l'Omme.
In the earlier form of the statement (1890), the author speaks of the insurrection
made by the serfs against the nobles and gentry of the kingdom, and takes occasion
to free the king from all blame by reason of his tender age. The form which is
given above is, in fact, a reference to the later politios of the reign, rather than to the
period dealt with in Vox Clamantis.
8 In the earlier form 'at the instance of hi lord. . . King Richard the second. '
4 Mirour de l'Omme, 27,337 ff.


## p. 139 (#157) ############################################

Literary Productions
139
Speculum Meditantis has come down to us in a single
copy, under the French title Mirour de l'Omme. For several
centuries it disappeared from view and was supposed to have
perished. “Of the Speculum Meditantis. . . no trace remains,'
wrote Courthope in the year 1895'. But in that very year
a copy, slightly imperfect, was discovered in the Cambridge
University Library, to which it had lately come by the sale of a
private library; and, though it bears no author's name, it has
been identified with certainty by its correspondence with the
author's description of his work, and by comparison of the style
and substance with those of Gower's other works'.
In this, the first of the three principal works, we have in its
most systematic, and, consequently, its least attractive, form, the
material which forms the groundwork also of the others. It is, in
fact, a combination in one scheme of all the principal kinds of
moral composition which were current in that age, the Somme
des Vices et des Vertus, the États des hommes, and the
metrical summary of Scripture history and legend. The scheme
is of a very ambitious character. It is intended to cover the
whole field of man's religious and moral nature, to set forth
the purposes of Providence in dealing with him, to describe
the various degrees of society and the faults specially charge-
able to each class of men and, finally, to explain the method
which should be followed by man in order to reconcile himself
to the God whom he has offended by his sin. The author shows
a certain amount of ingenuity in combining all this in a single
scheme: he does not merely reproduce the current form of treat-
ment, but aspires to a certain degree of literary unity, which
distinguishes his work from that of writers like the author of the
Manuel des Pechiez. Such works as this last were intended for
practical purposes : Gower's poem aspires to be a work of literary
art, however little we may be disposed to allow it that title. The
following is the account which William of Wadington gives of his
design at the beginning of the Manuel des Pechiez (the original of
Robert of Brunne's Handlyng Synne), which, it must be remem-
bered, has the form of a poem.
May the power of the Holy Spirit aid us to set forth the matters with
regard to which a man should make his confession, and also in what manner
1 Hist. of English Poetry, 1, p. 308.
· See Macaulay's edition of Gower, Vol. 1, pp. XXV—zli, and lxviii-lxxi.
Previous enquirers had been misled by the expectation that the book, if found, would
bear the title Speculum Meditantis, not sufficiently observing that this title was adopted
long after its first production.


## p. 140 (#158) ############################################

140
John Gower
it should be made. . . . First we will tell of the true faith, which is the foundation
of our law. . . . Then we will set down the commandments which all ought to
keep; then the seven mortal sins, whence so many evils arise. . . . Then you will
find, if you please, the seven sacraments of holy Church. . . . Then you will find
a sermon on fear and how you ought to feel fear and love. You will then find
a book on Confession which will be proper for everyone.
All this is strictly practical, and there is no attempt at artistic
structure. Gower's work more nearly resembles such composi-
tions as those of the Reclus de Moiliens, written at the end of the
twelfth century in the same twelve-line stanza as he uses; but the
Mirour de l'Omme is far more comprehensive, as well as more sys-
tematic, than the Charité or the Miserere of the Reclus. In his
review of the estates of men, however, and especially in his manner
of addressing the representatives of the various classes, when
accusing them of their faults, Gower's work often strikingly re-
sembles these well-known French compositions, with which, as well
as with the Vers de la Mort of Hélinand de Froidmont, written in
the same metre, he must, of course, have been acquainted. We may
reasonably assume that the Miserere of the Reclus de Moiliens was
one of Gower's principal models both of style and versification.
The general scheme of the Mirour de l'Omme is as follows.
Sin, the cause of all evils, is a daughter of the Devil, who, upon
her, has engendered Death. Death and Sin, then intermarrying,
have produced the seven deadly Vices; and the Devil sends Sin
and her seven daughters into the world to defeat the designs of
Providence for the salvation of Man. Temptation is sent as a
messenger to Man, who is invited to meet the Devil and his council.
He comes; and the Devil, Sin and the World successively address
him with promises. The Flesh of Man consents to be ruled by
them, but the Soul expostulates with the Flesh, who is thus
resolved upon a course which will ruin them both. The Flesh
wavers, but is unable to give up the promised delights, until the
Soul informs her of Death, who has been concealed from her view,
and calls in Reason and Fear to convince her.