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ftances, (by what means is unknown) that the king, in order to fcreen him from his creditors, took him under his protection, and allowed him till to enjoy his former grants.

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The duke of Lancafter, whofe reftlefs ambition ever excited him to disturb the ftate, engaged now, with all the intereft of which he was mafter, to raife himself to the crown; the opinions of Wickliff gained ground, and fo great a commotion prevailed amongst the clergy, that the king perceiving the ftate in danger, and being willing to fupport the clerical intereft, fuffered the archbishop of Canterbury to fummon Wickliff to appear before him, whofe intereft after this arraignment very much decayed. The king, who was devoted to his pleafures, refigned himfelf to fome young courtiers, who hated the duke of Lancaster, and caufed a fryar to accufe him of an attempt to kill the king; but before he had opportunity of making out the charge against him, the fryar was put to death (fome fay in a cruel and barbarous manner) by lord John Holland, to whofe care he had been committed. This lord Holland, call'd lord Huntington, and duke of Exeter was half-brother to the king, and had married a daughter of the duke of Lancaster: He was a great patron of Chaucer, and much refpected by him.

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With the Duke of Lancaster's intereft Chaucer's alfo funk. His patron being unable to fupport him, he could no longer ftruggle against oppofite parties, or maintain his pofts of honour. The duke palling over fea, his friends felt all the malice of an enraged court, which induced them to call in

* Some fiy, that Pope Gregory IX gave orders to the archbishop of Canterbury to fummon him, and that when a fynod was convened at St. Paul's, a quarrel happened between the bishop of London and the duke of Lancaster, concerning Wickliff's fitting down in their prefence.

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a number of the populace to affift them, of which fcheme our poet was a zealous promoter. One John of Northampton, a late lord mayor of London, was at the head of these disturbances; which did not long continue; for upon beheading one of the rioters, and Northampton's being taken into cuftody, the commotion fubfided. Strict fearch was made after Chaucer, who efcaped into Hainault; afterwards he went to France, and finding the king refolute to get him into his hands he fled from thence to Zealand. Several accomplices in this affair were with him, whom he helped to fupport in their exile, while the ring-leaders, (except Northampton who was condemned) procured their own pardon by acknowledging their crime. Mean while Chaucer expended his fortune in removing from place to place, and in fupporting his fellow exites; and fo far was he from receiving any affiftance from England, his apartments were lett, and the money received for rent was never accounted for to him; nor could he recover any debts from thofe who were indebted to him, they being of opinion it was impoffible for him ever to return to his own country.

The government ftill purfuing their refentment against him and his friends, they were obliged to leave Zealand; and Chaucer being unable to bear longer the calamities of poverty and exile, and finding no fecurity wherever he fled, chofe rather to throw himfelf upon the laws of his country, than perish abroad. He had not long returned ere he was arrefted by order of the king, and confined in the tower of London. The court fometimes flattered him with the return of the royal favour, if he would impeach his accomplices, and fometimes threatened him with deftruction; their threats and promifes he a long while equally dif regarded, but recollecting the ingratitude of his

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old friends, and the miferies he had already fuffered he at last made a confeffion, and, according to the custom of trials at that time, offered to prove the truth of it by combat. What the confequence of this discovery was to his accomplices, is uncertain it no doubt expofed him to their resentment; but the king, who regarded him as one beloved by his grandfather, was pleafed to pardon him.

Thus fallen from his height of greatnefs, our poet retired to bemoan the fickleness of fortune, and now wrote his Teftament of Love, in which are many pathetic exclamations concerning the viciffitude of human things, which he then bitterly experienced. As he had formerly been the favourite of fortune, when benefits were multiplied thick upon him, fo his miferies now fucceeded with an equal hafte; he was not only discarded by his majefty, unpenfioned, and abandoned, but he loft the favour of the duke of Lancafter, as the influence of his wife's fifter with that prince was now much leffened. The duke being dejected with the troubles in which he was involved, began to reflect on his vicious courfe of life, and particularly his keeping that lady as his concubine; which produced a refolution of putting her out of his houfe, and he made a vow to that purpofe. Chaucer, thus reduced, and weary of the perpetual turmoils at court, retired to Woodstock, to enjoy a ftudious quiet; where he wrote his excellent treatife of the Aftrolabe; but notwithstanding the fevere treatment of the government, he ftill retained his loyalty, and ftrictly enjoined his fon to pray for the king,

As the pious refolutions of fome people are of'ten the confequence of a prefent evil, fo at the return of profperity they are foon diffipated. This proved the cafe with the duke of Lancafter: His party again gathering ftrength; his intereft began B5

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to revive: upon which he retook his miftrefs to his bofom, and not content with heaping favours, honours, and titles upon her, he made her his wife, and procured an act of parliament to legitimate her children: which gave great offence to the dutchess of Gloucester, and the counteffes of Derby and Arundel, as fhe was then entitled to take place of them. With her intereft, Chaucer's alfo returned, and after a long and bitter ftorm, the fun began to fhine upon him with an evening ray; for at the fixty fifth year of his age, the king granted to him, by the title of Delectus Armiger Nofter, an annuity of twenty marks per annum during his life, as a compenfation for the former penfion his needy circumftances obliged him to part with; but however fufficient that might be for prefent fupport, yet as he was encumbered with debts, he durft not appear publickly till his majefty again granted him his royal protection, to fcreen him from his creditors; he also restored to him his grant of a pitcher of wine daily, and a pipe annually, to be delivered to him by his fon Thomas, who that year poffeffed the office of chief butler to the king.

Having mentioned his fon, it will not be improper to take a view of our author's domeftic affairs, at leaf as far as we are enabled, by materials that have defcended to our times.

Thomas his eldeft fon, was married to one of the greateft fortunes in England, Maud, daughter and heir of Sir John Burghurfhe, knight of the garter, and of Dr. Henry Burghurfhe bishop of Lincoln, chancellor and treasurer of England. Speight fays, this lady was given him in marriage by Edward III. in return of his fervices performed in his embaffies in France. Chaucer's fecond fon, Lewis, was born in 1381, he ftudied in Merton college in Oxford, and was pupil to Nicholas

Strade,

Strade, but there is no farther account of him. Thomas, who now enjoyed the office of chief butler to his majesty, had the fame place confirm'd to him for life, by letters patent, under king Henry IV, and continued by Henry VI. In the fecond year of Henry IV, we find him Speaker of the Houfe of Commons, Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and Constable of Wallingford and Knaresborough caftles during life. In the 6th year of the fame prince, he was fent ambaffador to France. In the ninth of the fame reign the Commons chofe him their Speaker; as they did likewife in the 11th year. Queen Jane granted to him, for his good fervice, the manor of Woodstock, Hannerborough and Wotten during life; and in the 13th year, he was again uhofen Speaker, as he was in the 2d of Henry V, and much about that time he was fent by the king to treat of a marriage with Catherine, daughter to the duke of Burgundy; he was fent again ambaffador to France, and paffed thro' a great many public ftations. Mr. Stebbing fays, that he was knighted, but we find no fuch title given him in any record. He died at

Ewelm, the chief place of his refidence, in the year 1434. By his wife Maud he had one daughter named Alice, who was thrice married, first to Sir John Philips, and afterwards to Thomas Montacute carl of Salisbury: her third Husband was the famous William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, who loft his head by the fury of the Yorkists, who dreaded his influence in the oppofite party, tho' he ftood profcribed by the parliament of Henry VI. for mifguiding that eafy prince. Their fon John had three fons, the fecond of whom, Edmund, forfeited his life to the crown for treafon against Henry VII, by which means the eftates which Chaucer's family poffeffed, came to the crown. But to return

to our poet:

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