“The Monkes Tale,”—Geoffrey Chaucer.
Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry, was born in London (?), 1328 or 1340, and died there October 25, 1400. He wrote: “Troilus and Cressida,” “The Parliament of Fowles,” “Boke of the Duchesse,” “The House of Fame,” “The Legend of Good Women,” and his most famous work, “Canterbury Tales.”
Man proposes, but God disposes.
“Imitation of Christ,” Book I, Chap. 19,—Thomas à Kempis.
Thomas à Kempis, a renowned German mystic, was born at Kempen, near Cologne in 1380, and died in 1471. He was the author of the “Imitation of Christ,” which is said to be the most popular book in the world, with the exception of the Bible.
“The one certain thing about Sir Thomas Malory is, that he wrote the first and finest romance of chivalry in our common-tongue,—the ‘Morte d’Arthur.’”
Sir Thomas Malory, the British author of the renowned “Morte d’Arthur,” was born about 1430, and died after 1470.
“If Froissart, by his picturesque descriptions, and fertility of historical invention, may be reckoned the Livy of France, she had her Tacitus in Philippe de Comines.”
Philippe de Comines, a celebrated French chronicler, was born at Comines, about 1445, and died at the Château of Argenton, October 17, 1510. His famous “Memoirs” won for him great fame.
I know everything except myself.