[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.