FOOTNOTES:
[1] 2nd Series, vol. ii. pp. 103-117.
[2] Script. Brit. i. 414.
[3] Itin. vi. 55. From Foss, Tabulae Curiales, it would seem that there was no judge named Gower in the 14th century.
[4] Script. Brit. i. 414. This statement also appears as a later addition in the manuscript.
[5] ‘Gower’ appears in Tottil’s publication of the Year-books (1585) both in 29 and 30 Ed. III, e.g. 29 Ed. III, Easter term, ff. 20, 27, 33, 46, and 30 Ed. III, Michaelmas term, ff. 16, 18, 20 vo. He appears usually as counsel, but on some occasions he speaks apparently as a judge. The Year-books of the succeeding years, 31-36 Ed. III, have not been published.
[6] These arms appear also in the Glasgow MS. of the Vox Clamantis.
[7] Worthies, ed. 1662, pt. 3, p. 207.
[8] e.g. Winstanley, Jacob, Cibber and others.
[9] Ancient Funeral Monuments, p. 270. This Sir Rob. Gower had property in Suffolk, as we shall see, but the fact that his tomb was at Brabourne shows that he resided in Kent. The arms which were upon his tomb are pictured (without colours) in MS. Harl. 3917, f. 77.
[10] Rot. Pat. dated Nov. 27, 1377.
[11] Rot. Claus. 4 Ric. II. m. 15 d.
[12] Rot. Pat. dated Dec. 23, 1385.
[13] Rot. Pat. dated Aug. 12, Dec. 23, 1386.
[14] It may here be noted that the poet apparently pronounced his name ‘Gowér,’ in two syllables with accent on the second, as in the Dedication to the Balades, i. 3, ‘Vostre Gower, q’est trestout vos soubgitz.’ The final syllable bears the rhyme in two passages of the Confessio Amantis (viii. 2320, 2908), rhyming with the latter syllables of ‘pouer’ and ‘reposer’. (The rhyme in viii. 2320, ‘Gower: pouer,’ is not a dissyllabic one, as is assumed in the Dict. of Nat. Biogr. and elsewhere, but of the final syllables only.) In the Praise of Peace, 373, ‘I, Gower, which am al the liege man,’ an almost literal translation of the French above quoted, the accent is thrown rather on the first syllable.
[15] See Retrospective Review, 2nd Series, vol. ii, pp. 103-117 (1828). Sir H. Nicolas cites the Close Rolls always at second hand and the Inquisitiones Post Mortem only from the Calendar. Hence the purport of the documents is sometimes incorrectly or insufficiently given by him. In the statement here following every document is cited from the original, and the inaccuracies of previous writers are corrected, but for the most part silently.
[16] Inquis. Post Mortem, &c. 39 Ed. III. 36 (2nd number). This is in fact an ‘Inquisitio ad quod damnum.’ The two classes of Inquisitions are given without distinction in the Calendar, and the fact leads to such statements as that ‘John Gower died seized of half the manor of Aldyngton, 39 Ed. III,’ or ‘John Gower died seized of the manor of Kentwell, 42 Ed. III.’
[17] Rot. Orig. 39 Ed. III. 27.
[18] Rot. Claus. 39 Ed. III. m. 21 d.
[19] Rot. Claus. 39 Ed. III. m. 21 d.
[20] Harl. Charters, 56 G. 42. See also Rot. Orig. 42 Ed. III. 33 and Harl. Charters, 56 G. 41.
[21] Harl. Charters, 50 I. 13.
[22] See Rot. Orig. 23 Ed. III. 22, 40 Ed. III. 10, 20, Inquis. Post Mortem, 40 Ed. III. 13, Rot. Claus. 40 Ed. III. m. 21.
[23] Harl. Charters, 50 I. 14. The deed is given in full by Nicolas in the Retrospective Review.
[24] Rot. Orig. 48 Ed. III. 31.
[25] The tinctures are not indicated either upon the drawing of Sir R. Gower’s coat of arms in MS. Harl. 3917 or on the seal, but the coat seems to be the same, three leopards’ faces upon a chevron. The seal has a diaper pattern on the shield that bears the chevron, but this is probably only ornamental.
[26] ‘Et dicunt quod post predictum feoffamentum, factum predicto Iohanni Gower, dictus Willelmus filius Willelmi continue morabatur in comitiva Ricardi de Hurst et eiusdem Iohannis Gower apud Cantuar, et alibi usque ad festum Sancti Michaelis ultimo preteritum, et per totum tempus predictum idem Willelmus fil. Will. ibidem per ipsos deductus fuit et consiliatus ad alienationem de terris et tenementis suis faciendam.’ Rot. Parl. ii. 292.
[27] Rot. Claus. 43 Ed. III. m. 30.
[28] Rot. Claus. 42 Ed. III. m. 13 d.
[29] English Writers, vol. iv. pp. 150 ff.
[30] See Calendar of Post Mortem Inquisitions, vol. ii. pp. 300, 302.
[31] So also the deeds of 1 Ric. II releasing lands to Sir J. Frebody and John Gower (Hasted’s History of Kent, iii. 425), and of 4 Ric. II in which Isabella daughter of Walter de Huntyngfeld gives up to John Gower and John Bowland all her rights in the parishes of Throwley and Stalesfield, Kent (Rot. Claus. 4 Ric. II. m. 15 d), and again another in which the same lady remits to John Gower all actions, plaints, &c., which may have arisen between them (Rot. Claus. 8 Ric. II. m. 5 d).
[32] Rot. Franc. 1 Ric. II. pt. 2, m. 6.
[33] See also Sir N. Harris Nicolas, Life of Chaucer, pp. 27, 125.
[34] Rot. Claus. 6 Ric. II. m. 27 d, and 24 d.
[35] Rot. Claus. 6 Ric. II. pt. 1, m. 23 d.
[36] Rot. Claus. 7 Ric. II. m. 17 d.
[37] Duchy of Lancaster, Miscellanea, Bundle X, No. 43 (now in the Record Office).
[38] ‘Liverez a Richard Dancastre pour un Coler a luy doné par monseigneur le Conte de Derby par cause d’une autre Coler doné par monditseigneur a un Esquier John Gower, vynt et sys soldz oyt deniers.’
[39] Duchy of Lancaster, Household Accounts, 17 Ric. II (July to Feb.).
[40] Register of William of Wykeham, ii. f. 299b. The record was kindly verified for me by the Registrar of the diocese of Winchester. The expression used about the place is ‘in Oratorio ipsius Iohannis Gower infra hospicium suum’ (not ‘cum’ as previously printed) ‘in Prioratu Beate Marie de Overee in Southwerke predicta situatum.’ It should be noted that ‘infra’ in these documents means not ‘below,’ as translated by Prof. Morley, but ‘within.’ So also in Gower’s will.
[41] Lambeth Library, Register of Abp. Arundel, ff. 256-7.
[42] The remark of Nicolas about the omission of Kentwell from the will is hardly appropriate. Even if Gower the poet were identical with the John Gower who possessed Kentwell, this manor could not have been mentioned in his will, because it was disposed of absolutely to Sir J. Cobham in the year 1373. Hence there is no reason to conclude from this that there was other landed property besides that which is dealt with by the will.
[43] I am indebted for some of the facts to Canon Thompson of St. Saviour’s, Southwark, who has been kind enough to answer several questions which I addressed to him.
[44] The features are quite different, it seems to me, from those represented in the Cotton and Glasgow MSS., and I think it more likely that the latter give us a true contemporary portrait. Gower certainly died in advanced age, yet the effigy on his tomb shows us a man in the flower of life. This then is either an ideal representation or must have been executed from rather distant memory, whereas the miniatures in the MSS., which closely resemble each other, were probably from life, and also preserve their original colouring. The miniatures in MSS. of the Confessio Amantis, which represent the Confession, show the penitent usually as a conventional young lover. The picture in the Fairfax MS. is too much damaged to give us much guidance, but it does not seem to be a portrait, in spite of the collar of SS added later. The miniature in MS. Bodley 902, however, represents an aged man, while that of the Cambridge MS. Mm. 2. 21 rather recalls the effigy on the tomb and may have been suggested by it.
[45] We may note that the effigy of Sir Robert Gower in brass above his tomb in Brabourne church is represented as having a similar chaplet round his helmet. See the drawing in MS. Harl. 3917, f. 77.
[46] So I read them. They are given by Gough and others as ‘merci ihi.’
[47] Perhaps rather 1207 or 1208.
[48] Script. Brit. i. 415: so also Ant. Coll. iv. 79, where the three books are mentioned. The statement that the chaplet was partly of ivy must be a mistake, as is pointed out by Stow and others.
[49] Read rather ‘En toy qu’es fitz de dieu le pere.’
[50] Read ‘O bon Jesu, fai ta mercy’ and in the second line ‘dont le corps gist cy.’
[51] Survey of London, p. 450 (ed. 1633). In the margin there is the note, ‘John Gower no knight, neither had he any garland of ivy and roses, but a chaplet of four roses only,’ referring to Bale, who repeats Leland’s description.
[52] p. 326 (ed. 1615). Stow does not say that the inscription ‘Armigeri scutum,’ &c.; was defaced in his time.
[53] vol. ii. p. 542.
[54] vol. v. pp. 202-4. The description is no doubt from Aubrey.
[55] On this subject the reader may be referred to Selden, Titles of Honour, p. 835 f. (ed. 1631).
[56] Antiquities of St. Saviour’s, Southwark, 1765.
[57] vol. ii. p. 24.
[58] Priory Church of St. Mary Overie, 1881.
[59] Canon Thompson writes to me, ‘The old sexton used to show visitors a bone, which he said was taken from the tomb in 1832. I tried to have this buried in the tomb on the occasion of the last removal, but I was told it had disappeared.’
[60] vol. ii. p. 91.
[61] Bp. Braybrooke’s Register, f. 84.
[62] Braybrooke Register, f. 151.
[63] The date of the resignation by John Gower of the rectory of Great Braxted is nearly a year earlier than the marriage of Gower the poet.
[64] I do not know on what authority Rendle states that ‘His apartment seems to have been in what was afterwards known as Montague Close, between the church of St. Mary Overey and the river,’ Old Southwark, p. 182.
[65] At the same time I am disposed to attach some weight to the expression in Mir. 21774, where the author says that some may blame him for handling sacred subjects, because he is no ‘clerk,’
‘Ainz ai vestu la raye manche.’
This may possibly mean only to indicate the dress of a layman, but on the other hand it seems clear that some lawyers, perhaps especially the ‘apprenticii ad legem,’ were distinguished by stripes upon their sleeves; see for example the painting reproduced in Pulling’s Order of the Coif (ed. 1897); and serjeants-at-law are referred to in Piers Plowman, A text, Pass. iii. 277, as wearing a ‘ray robe with rich pelure.’ We must admit, therefore, the possibility that Gower was bred to the law, though he may not have practised it for a living.
[66] The Lincoln MS. has the same feature, but it is evidently copied from Laud 719.
[67] There seems also to have been an alternative numbering, which proceeded on the principle of making five books, beginning with the third, the second being treated as a general prologue to the whole poem. In connexion with this we may take the special invocation of divine assistance in the prologue of the third book, which ends with the couplet,
‘His tibi libatis nouus intro nauta profundum,
Sacrum pneuma rogans vt mea vela regas.’
[68] Fuller’s spirited translation of these lines is well known, but may here be quoted again:
‘Tom comes thereat, when called by Wat, and Simm as forward we find,
Bet calls as quick to Gibb and to Hykk, that neither would tarry behind.
Gibb, a good whelp of that litter, doth help mad Coll more mischief to do,
And Will he does vow, the time is come now, he’ll join in their company too.
Davie complains, whiles Grigg gets the gains, and Hobb with them does partake,
Lorkin aloud in the midst of the crowd conceiveth as deep is his stake.
Hudde doth spoil whom Judde doth foil, and Tebb lends his helping hand,
But Jack the mad patch men and houses does snatch, and kills all at his command.’
Church History, Book iv. (p. 139).
[69] In the first version, ‘Complaints are heard now of the injustice of the high court: flatterers have power over it, and those who speak the truth are not permitted to come near to the king’s side. The boy himself is blameless, but his councillors are in fault. If the king were of mature age, he would redress the balance of justice, but he is too young as yet to be held responsible for choice of advisers: it is not from the boy but from his elders that the evil springs which overruns the world.’
[70] In the first version as follows, ‘O king of heaven, who didst create all things, I pray thee 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. May he who gave thee the power confirm it to thee in the future.
For the glory of thy rule I have written these lines with humble heart. O flower of boyhood, according to thy worthiness I wish thee prosperity.’
[71] In the first version, ‘I am myself the worst of sinners, but may God grant me relief by his Spirit.’
[72] Communicated to me by Miss Bateson.
[73] It is even the case in one instance (i. 846) that a blank is left in the line for a word omitted in D which might have been supplied by reference to any other MS. which contained the passage. So difficult was communication between Oxford and London in those days.
[74] e.g. i. 209 Regem 219 Qui est ii. 9 sociatus 114 de pondere 266 Pontifice.
[75] A few errors may be noted in the poem De Lucis Scrutinio, viz. l. 15 manifestus 36 oculis 66 similatam 89 Ominis (for O nimis): also in ‘O deus immense,’ l. 28 se (for te) 104 sub (for sue).
[76] Trifling differences of spelling are as a rule not recorded. Examples of such variations are the following in C: i. 1 ut 11 uidet 23 choruschat 120 talamum 137 sydera 139 themone 141 &c. sed (for set) 196 &c. amodo 234 prohdolor 311 Immundos 586 Egiptus 1056 Symonis 1219 Ocupat 1295 suppremis 1505 loquturus 1514 Obstetit 1755 opprobrium 1832 littora 1947 litora 2094 patiens ii. Prol. 11 etiam ii. 57 fatie 261 Moise 494 synagoga iii. 291 redditus, &c. Variation in the use of capital letters or in regard to the separation of ‘que,’ ‘ve,’ &c. from the words which they follow is usually not recorded. The spelling of H and G is almost identical with that of S.
EPISTOLA[77]
Hanc Epistolam subscriptam corde deuoto misit senex et cecus Iohannes Gower Reuerendissimo in Cristo Patri ac domino suo precipuo, domino Thome de Arundell, Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo, tocius Anglie Primati et apostolice sedis legato. Cuius statum ad ecclesie sue regimen dirigat et feliciter conseruet filius virginis gloriose, dominus noster Ihesus Cristus, qui cum deo patre et spiritu sancto viuit et regnat deus per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.
Successor Thome, Thomas, humilem tibi do me,
Hunc et presentem librum tibi scribo sequentem:
Quod tibi presento scriptum[78] retinere memento,
Vt contempletur super hoc quo mens stimuletur.
Curia diuisa que Rome stat modo visa,
Dum se peruertit, in luctum gaudia vertit:
Et quia lex Cristi dolet isto tempore tristi,
Hoc ad plangendum librum tibi mitto legendum.
Set tu, diuine qui lumen habes medicine,
Gaudeat vt tristis, confer medicamen in istis:10
Dummodo lux cessit, alibique fides tenebrescit,
Tu noster Phebus nostris da lumina rebus,
Et quod splendescas, virtute tuaque calescas,
Hoc magis ad lumen tibi scriptum dono volumen.
In speculo tali de pectore iudiciali
Si videas plane, puto non erit illud inane.
Cecus ego mere, nequio licet acta videre,
Te tamen in mente memorabor corde vidente.
Corpore defectus, quamuis michi curua senectus
Torquet, adhuc mentem studio sinit esse manentem,20
Et sic cum Cristo persto studiosus in isto,
Quo mundi gesta tibi scribam iam manifesta.
Hinc, pater, exoro, scripturis dumque laboro,
Ad requiem mentis animam dispone studentis;
Semper speraui, que patrem te semper amaui,
Quo michi finalis tua gracia sit specialis.
Nunc quia diuisus meus est a corpore visus,
Lux tua que lucet anime vestigia ducet,
Corpus et egrotum, vetus et miserabile totum,
Ne conturbetur, te defensore iuuetur;30
Et sic viuentem custos simul et morientem
Suscipe me cecum tua per suffragia tecum.
Lux tua morosa de stirpe micans generosa
Condita sub cinere non debet in orbe latere.
Claret Arundella quasi Sol de luce nouella,
Que te produxit, que te prius vbere succit.
Es quia totus Mas vocitaris origine Thomas,
Vnde deo totus sis ab omni labe remotus;
Et sic prelatus nunc Cristi lege sacratus
Legem conseruas, qua te sine labe reseruas.40
Stat modo secura tua lux, sine crimine pura,
Claraque lucescit, quod eam nil turpe repressit:
Anglia letetur, lumen quia tale meretur,
Quo bene viuentes tua sint exempla sequentes.
Per te succedet amor omnis, et ira recedet,
Subque tua cura sunt prospera cuncta futura:
Et quia sic creuit tua lux, terramque repleuit,
Det deus vt talis tibi lux sit perpetualis.
Hec Gower querit, qui tuus est et erit.