[869] In the "Political Poems," ed. Th. Wright, Rolls, vol. ii. p. 157. Probable date, 1436. Cf. the "Débat des hérauts de France et d'Angleterre," (written about 1456), ed. P. Meyer, Société des Anciens Textes, 1877, 8vo; on the navy, p. 9.
[870] "De Dominio regali et politico." In it he treats of (chap. i.) "the difference between Dominium regale and Dominium politicum et regale," a difference that consists principally in this, that in the second case the king "may not rule hys people by other lawys than such as they assenten unto." Fortescue was born about 1395, and died after 1476. He wrote in Latin a treatise, "De natura Legis Naturæ," and another, "De laudibus Legum Angliæ."—"Works of Sir John Fortescue ... now first collected," by Thomas [Fortescue] Lord Clermont, London, 1869, 2 vols. 4to.
[871] Chaps. xii. and xiii., vol. i. pp. 465 ff.
[872] In his principal work, the "Repressor of over much blaming of the Clergy," ed. Babington, Rolls, 1860, 2 vols. 8vo. Pecock was born about 1395; he was a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, bishop of St. Asaph, then bishop of Chichester. He wrote, besides the "Repressor," a quantity of works ("Donet"; "Book of Faith"; "Follower of Donet," &c., unpublished), also in English prose. The Church found that he went too far, and allotted too great a part to reason; his writings were condemned and burnt; he was relegated to the abbey of Thorney in 1459, and died there a short time after.
[873] "Repressor," i, ch. xix.
[874] "The Boke of St. Albans, by Dame Juliana Berners, containing treatises on hawking, hunting and cote armour, printed at St. Albans, by the Schoolmaster printer in 1486, reproduced in fac simile," by W. Blades, London, 1881, 4to (partly in verse and partly in prose; adapted from the French).—"A Chronicle of England" (from the creation to 1417), by Capgrave, born in 1394, died in 1464, ed. Hingeston, Rolls, 1858. (Of the same, a "Liber de illustribus Henricis," in Latin, ed. Hingeston, Rolls, 1858, and other works; see above, p. [496].) "A Book of the noble Historyes of Kynge Arthur and of certen of his Knyghtes," printed by Caxton in 1485; reprinted with notes ("Le Morte Darthur," by Sir Thomas Malory) by O. Sommer and Andrew Lang, London, 1889, 2 vols. 8vo. Malory and Caxton will be mentioned again in connection with the Renaissance.
[875] The "Testament of Love," in English prose. It has been attributed to Chaucer. Mr. Skeat has shown, by deciphering an anagram, that the author's name was Kitsun: "Margaret of Virtw have mercy on Kitsun" (Academy, March 11, 1893).
[876] He has not observed, he admits, "the strict laws of time," and he has introduced no chorus; but it is not his fault. "Nor is it needful, or almost possible in these our times, and to such auditors as commonly things are presented, to observe the old state and splendor of dramatic poems, with preservation of any popular delight."—To the readers.
[877] H. Vast, "Le Cardinal Bessarion," Paris, 1878, 8vo, p. 14.