The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland | Page 9

revolution under Henry IV happened in
England. He was under the highest obligations to Richard II; he had
been preferred, patronized and honoured by him, yet no sooner did that
unhappy prince (who owed his misfortunes in a great measure to his
generosity and easiness of nature) fall a sacrifice to the policy of Henry
and the rage of rebellion, but he worshiped the Rising Sun, he joined
his interest with the new king, and tho' he was then stone-blind, and, as
might naturally be imagined, too old to desire either riches or power,
yet he was capable of the grossest flattery to the reigning prince, and
like an ungrateful monster insulted the memory of his murdered
sovereign and generous patron. He survived Chaucer two years;
Winstanly says, that in his old age he was made a judge, possibly in
consequence of his adulation to Henry IV. His death happened in the
year 1402, and as he is said to have been born some years before

Chaucer, so he must have been near fourscore years of age: He was
buried in St. Mary Overy's in Southwark, in the chapel of St. John,
where he founded a chauntry, and left money for a mass to be daily
sung for him, as also an obit within the church to be kept on Friday
after the feast of St. Gregory. He lies under a tomb of stone, with his
image also of stone over him, the hair of his head auburn, long to his
shoulders, but curling up, and a small forked beard; on his head a
chaplet like a coronet of roses; an habit of purple, damasked down to
his feet, and a collar of gold about his neck. Under his feet the likeness
of three books which he compiled; the first named Speculum
Meditantis, written in French; the second Vox Clamantis, in latin; the
third Confessio Amantis, in English; this last piece was printed by one
Thomas Berthalette, and by him dedicated to King Henry VIII. His
Vox clamantis, with his Chronica Tripartita, and other works, both in
Latin and French, Stow says he had in his possession, but his Speculum
Meditantis he never saw. Besides on the wall where he lies, there were
painted three virgins crowned, one of which was named Charity,
holding this device,
En toy quies fitz de Dieu le pere,
Sauve soit, qui gist fours cest pierre.
The second writing MERCY, with this device;
O bene Jesu fait ta mercy,
A'lame, dont la corps gisticy.
The third writing PITY, with this decree;
Pour ta pitie Jesu regarde,
Et met cest a me, en sauve garde.
His arms were in a Field Argent, on a Chevron Azure, three Leopards
heads or, their tongues Gules, two Angels supporters, and the crest a
Talbot.
His EPITAPH.
Armigeri soltum nihil a modo fert sibi tutum,
Reddidit immolutum
morti generale tributum,
Spiritus exutum se gaudeat esse solutum


Est ubi virtutum regnum sine labe est statum.
I shall take a quotation from a small piece of his called the Envious
Man and the Miser; by which it will appear, that he was not, as
Winstanley says, a refiner of our language, but on the other hand, that
poetry owes him few or no obligations.
Of the Envious MAN and the MISER.
Of Jupiter thus I find ywrite,
How, whilom, that he woulde wite,

Upon the plaintes, which he herde
Among the men, how that it farde,

As of her wronge condition
To do justificacion.
And, for that
cause, downe he sent
An angel, which aboute went,
That he the
sooth knowe maie.
Besides the works already mentioned our poet wrote the following:
De Compunctione Cordi, in one book.
Chronicon Ricardi secundi.
Ad Henricum Quartum, in one book.
Ad eundem de Laude Pacis, in one book.
De Rege Henrico, quarto, in one book.
De Peste Vitiorum, in one book.
Scrutinium Lucis, in one book.
De Regimine Principum.
De Conjugii Dignitate.
De Amoris Varietate.

JOHN LYDGATE,
Commonly called the monk of Bury, because a native of that place. He
was another disciple and admirer of Chaucer, and it must be owned far
excelled his master, in the article of versification. After sometime spent
in our English universities, he travelled thro' France and Italy,
improving his time to the accomplishment of learning the languages
and arts. Pitseus says, he was not only an elegant poet, and an eloquent
rhetorician, but also an expert mathematician, an acute philosopher, and
no mean divine. His verses were so very smooth, and indeed to a
modern ear they appear so, that it was said of him by his
contemporaries, that his wit was framed and fashioned by the Muses
themselves. After his return from France and Italy, he became tutor to
many noblemen's sons, and for his excellent endowments was much
esteemed and reverenced by them. He writ a poem called the Life and
Death