Piers Ploughman. This is the name of the first really important poem in our language. It is allegorical, which means that qualities such as virtue, truth, &c., are spoken of as if they were real people. Thus, Mercy and Truth are represented as "comely maidens;" Covetousness, as a "bettle-browed, blear-eyed, babber-lipped" old wretch; and Envy, as a pale, thin man, dressed as a friar, whose words were poison, and whose chief employment was in speaking ill of his neighbours. The poem is usually called the Vision of Piers Ploughman, and was written by ROBERT LANGLAND, about the year 1362. The principal object of its author seems to have been to chastise the priests of the time for the wicked way in which they lived. The following lines exhibit this:

"In many places there, they be parsons by hemself at ease Of the poor have they no pity: and that is their charity!

Ac there shall come a king, and confess you, Religious,
And beat you, as the Bible telleth, for breaking of your rule,
And amend monials, monks, and canons,

And put them to her penance.'

This means-There are parsons who live selfishly, and who are so uncharitable that they cannot give so much as their pity to the poor. But there is a king coming who will make you confess your sins, O dwellers in convents and monasteries! He will punish you, as the Bible has said, for breaking your holy vows. He will mend your ways, and cause nuns, monks, and higher dignitaries of the church to do penance for their wickedness.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER (b. 1328, d. 1400).—This is the first great poet of England; and he is, therefore, called the Father of English Poetry. He was born in London about 1328. His parents seem to have been wealthy people, and to have occupied a high place in society; because we find Chaucer receiving an excellent education at Oxford and Cambridge, and afterwards becoming attached to the court of Edward III. At this time the King was

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fighting for the French crown, and on one occasion Chaucer followed him to France, where the poet fought bravely, as a good knight should; but, unfortunately, he was captured by the French, and kept in prison for several months. On his return to London, we find him once more at the court, where he daily grows in the favour of the King and his son the Duke of Lancaster. Pensions, royal gifts of land and houses, and rich offices were now heaped upon the lucky poet; and, ere long, he becomes not only the friend but the kinsman of a Prince, for the Duke married the sister of the poet's wife. In the year 1372, Chaucer is sent on some royal business to the Duke of Genoa, and this visit to Italy is of great use to him, because he reads the beautiful sonnets of Petrarch, and the famous stories in Boccaccio's book. When he returns to England, he will remember how soft and musical was the language of Italy, and he will try to make the rough English tongue more pleasant to listen to. He will also tell once again the amusing Italian stories, but dressed up in such excellent language that they are as good as new, and often much better than the originals. Chaucer was sent once or twice afterwards to the continent, and, indeed, until the death of Edward III. he seems to have had frequent marks of royal confidence. But, when Richard II. became king, the times changed. Richard and his uncle Lancaster did not agree, and Chaucer espoused his friend's cause. After this the poet got into trouble, and was imprisoned in the Tower. When he was set at liberty, he seems to have been restored to royal favour, and when Lancaster's son, Henry IV., became king in 1399, the old man's pension was doubled. He did not long live to enjoy his good fortune, for he died in 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where most of the very great English authors have also found a tomb.

The Canterbury Tales.-Chaucer wrote many poems, but the greatest of them all is the one now named. The first part is called the Prologue, which tells us that over thirty people of all sorts and conditions gathered together

B

at the Tabard Inn, Southwark. Some were on horseback, and some afoot. They were going to make a day's journey to Canterbury, to say their prayers at the tomb. of Thomas à Becket; but the road was bad, and there were thieves besides, which made it desirable that they should all keep together. To make the long road seem lightsome, it is agreed that everybody is to tell two stories going, and two in returning, and the one who tells the best is to get his supper for nothing when they come back to the inn. Now, it is in describing the pilgrims that Chaucer shows us how well he observed persons and things. What do we care about Mr. Envy or Miss Mercy, so long as we have real persons who have lived and moved like ourselves? When we read this Prologue, we are carried away back to Chaucer's time, and see what the knights, squires, merchants, &c., were like. We see the jolly Monk, snapping his fingers at religion, and going a-hunting with bells on his bridle loud jingling in the wind; we see the hearty Franklin, so hospitable that "it snewed in his house of meat and drink;" the Clerk of Oxford, "glad to learn, and glad to teach;" the deaf Wife of Bath, going to church on Sunday with a valuable kerchief on her head, red stockings on her legs, and new shoes on her feet; and, in short, we have a set of portraits of the important characters of the time, from the " very perfect gentleman" down to the drunken Sompnour, who was so ugly that the children were sore afraid of him, and ran away when they saw him. The Tales themselves are, with two exceptions, written in verse. Chaucer did not live to complete the set. We should have had 128 stories, whereas we have only twenty-five. One of the most touching and beautiful of them all is the Knight's Tale. The story tells us that two close friends have been taken prisoners by Duke Theseus of Athens. Looking forth from their prison window one day, they behold the lovely Emily, sister of the Duke's wife, walking in the garden. Both princes are immediately smitten with her beauty; and the friends, now rivals for the hand of the same lady, become hateful

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to each other. In the course of time the one prince (Arcite) is released, and afterwards the other (Palamon) contrives to escape. They meet by accident in a grove, and are fighting like wild beasts, when Duke Theseus comes suddenly upon them. The duke at first feels inclined to put the princes to death; but, finding out the cause of the quarrel, he commands that the two shall meet and fight together at a tournament, to be held a year thereafter, and the one who shall gain is to win Emily as his prize. The day of trial at length arrives, and Arcite is proclaimed the victor. Unfortunately, however, while he is riding proudly along the lists, he is thrown from his horse, and soon lies dying at the feet of his beloved Emily. In describing the death of Arcite the poet's power of pathos is conspicuously to be seen. The suffering prince exclaims, in an agony of sorrow—

"Alas, the woe! alas, the painés strong
That I for you have suffered, and so long!
Alas, the death! alas, mine Emilie!

Alas, departing* of our company!

What is this world? What asken men to have?
Now with his love, now in his coldé grave.

Alone, withouten any company!

Farewell, my sweet! farewell, mine Emilie!
And softé take me in your armés twey,

For love of God, and hearkeneth† what I say."

He has to tell her to take Palamon as her husband; and he speaks his old friend's praises with the kindness and lealheartedness of a true knight. But death creeps up his limbs; his heart beats more faintly; his eye becomes dim; and his breath fails him—

"But on his lady yet he cast his eye,

His lasté word was, 'Mercy, Emilie!""

The characteristics of Chaucer's style are a wonderful power of portraying character, great shrewdness and wisdom, a strong imagination, rich humour, deep pathos, and a passionate, loving fondness for the beauties of

nature. Of this last characteristic the following well known lines will afford an example:

"The busy larké, messenger of day,

Saluteth, in her song, the morrow gray;
And fiery Phoebus riseth up so bright,
That all the orient laugheth of the light.
And with his streamés in dryeth in the greves
The silver dropés hanging on the leaves."

JOHN GOWER (b. ab. 1325, d. 1408) was the friend of Chaucer, and, like him, wrote poetry. He belonged to a wealthy family, and, having received the best education which the country could afford, was introduced at the court of Edward III. He now became the intimate friend of Chaucer, and we find the two poets complimenting each other in their poetry. Gower wrote three great works -the first, in French; the second, in Latin; and the third and greatest work, in English. This last is called the Confessio Amantis (the Confession of a Lover), in which the poet tells the story of his love to a priest named Genius, whom Venus (the Goddess of Love) has sent to his assistance. After a very long and very tiresome conversation between the two, the lover is told by Venus that he is far too old to think of love, and that he should at once leave off his follies. Gower's poetry is not nearly so good as Chaucer's, but it is interesting because it shows the changes which were taking place in the language of his time. He died in 1408, and his effigy has its head pillowed on three volumes, representing the three great works of the poet.

JOHN BARBOUR was the first great Scottish poet. The time of his birth is not very well known; but it is certain that he was Archdeacon of Aberdeen, and that oftener than once he visited England, and attended the University of Oxford-on one occasion as the guardian of three students. He had something to do with the ransom of David II., the stupid son of that Bruce about whom Barbour was then writing. Afterwards he received two

* Groves,