I praie unto the heuen kynge,
Froe such tonges he me shilde,
And nethelesse this worlde is wilde,
Of such ianglinge and what befall,
My kinges heste shall not faile,
That I in hope to deserue
His thonke, ne shall his will observe,
And els were I nought excused.
He was before Chaucer, as born and flourishing before him, (yea, by some accounted his Master) yet was he after Chaucer, as surviving him two years, living to be stark blind, and so more properly termed our English Homer. His death happened Anno 1402. and was buried at St. Mary Overies in Southwark, on the North side of the said Church, in the Chappel of St. John, where he founded a Chauntry, and left Means for a Mass, (such was the Religion of those times) to be daily sung for him, as also an Obit within the same Church to be kept on Friday after the Feast of St. Gregory. He lieth under a Tomb of stone, with his Image also of stone over him, the hair of his head auburn long to his shoulders, but curling up, and a small forked beard; on his head a Chaplet, like a Coronet of four Roses; an habit of purple, damasked down to his feet, a Collar of Esses of Gold about his neck, which being proper to places of Judicature, makes some think he was a Judge in his old age. Under his feet the likeness of three Books, which he compiled, the first named Speculum Meditantis, written in French: the second, Vox Clamantis, penned in Latine: the third, Confessio Amantis, written in English, which was Printed by Thomas Berthelette, and by him dedicated to King Henry the Eighth, of which I have one by me at this present. His Vox Clamantis with his Cronica Tripartita, and other Works both in Latine and French, Stow saith he had in his possession, but his Speculum Meditantis he never saw, but heard thereof to be in Kent.
Besides, on the Wall where he lieth, there was painted three Virgins crowned, one of which was named Charity, holding this device,