in Scotland and France, and would hardly be mentioned here, were it not for the interest that belongs to English poems of this early date. I quote briefly from some lines which tell how Edward the king came to Brabant and took homage of all the land :—

God, that shaped both sea and sand
Save Edward, King of England,—
Save him, both body, soul and life,
And grant him joy withouten strife.

For he defendeth fast his right,
And thereto Jesu grant him might,
And so to do both night and day

That it may be to Goddes pay (good pleasure).1

In Chaucer's poems, written in the last quarter of the fourteenth century, we do not look for much poetry of a distinctively religious sort. But wherever his song, in its bright course, does touch upon any such topic, we are sure to find it pure and genuine. Such is his picture, in the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, of the poor Parson 'rich of holy thought and work.' So also at the end of his Troilus and Cressida, where he closes his story of tender love by imploring his younger readers never to let earthly love so fill their minds as to lose sight of that supreme example of divine and heavenly love :

O young and freshé folkés, he or she,

In whom that love upgroweth with your age,
Repair ye home from worldly vanity,
And of your hearts upcast ye the viságe
To the great God, that after His imáge
Made you, and think ye all is but a fair,
This world that passeth soon, as flowers fair.

And love ye Him, the which that right for love
Upon a cross, our soulés for to bey [buy],
First died and rose, and sits in heaven above.
For He will falsen no man, dare I say

That will his heart all wholly on Him lay;
And since He best to love is, and most meek,
What needeth feigned lovés for to seek?

1 L. Minot's Poems, ed. by Ritson, 1825:

God that schope both se and sand
Save Edward, King of Ingland.

And to the soothfast Christ, that died on rood
With all my heart for mercy do I pray,

And to the Lord right thus I speak and say :-
'Thou One and Two and Three, eterne in life,
That reignest aye in Two and Three and One,
Uncircumscribed, and all must circumscribe,
From visible and invisible foe'n

Defend us in Thy mercy every one.1

From the Romaunt of the Rose, though it is not quite certain that it is by Chaucer, I give the following

extract:

With muckle pain they win richesse,
And dread them holdeth in distress
To keepen that they gather fast :
With sorrow they leave it at last :
With sorrow they both die and live
That unto riches their hearts give.
And in default of love it is ;-
As showeth it full well, I wis--
For if these greedy, sooth to say,
Both loved and were loved again,
And good love reigned over all,

Such wickedness should ne'er befall;
But he should give that most good had
To him that were in need bestad,
And live withouten false usure

In charity full clean and pure.2

John Gower, Chaucer's learned friend, published his Confessio Amantis about 1393. King Richard the Second is said to have suggested the subject of it, when one day he met him accidentally on the Thames. It is a vast collection of stories taken indifferently from sacred and secular history, and arranged so as to illustrate the evil affections which stand in the way of a true and pure love. He meant to amuse, but he meant also to edify. In his own words, he

'Undertook

In English for to make a book

To stand between earnest and game.''

1 Chaucer, Troilus and Creseide, end of book v. : 'O yonge fresshe folkes, he or she.'

2 Romaunt of the Rose: 'With mochil pain thei winne richesse.'

Thus it is a work that lies near the borderland of religious poetry, and must not be entirely passed over in this review. Gower was a man not without decided opinions on religious and ecclesiastical matters, and, though he detested the Lollards, he was keenly alive to many of the corruptions prevalent in the Church in his time. He did not spare to censure these, as he passes under survey the various forms of human sin. When he touches directly upon religion, it is mainly to insist upon good works resting on a true faith:

And this belief is so certaín,

So full of grace and of virtúe
That he who calleth to Jesú

In clean life furthered with good deed,

He may not fail of heaven's meed.

First did Christ work, and after taught,

So that His deeds the word araught [explained];

He gave examples in persón.

But they that have the words alone
Are like the tree with leavés green,
Upon the which no fruit is seen.1

Gower was strongly impressed with the unchristian nature of war, and frequently reverts to it. The continual warfare he saw around him seemed to him wholly inconsistent with the rule of the Gospel and with the law of Christ :

And now to look on every side,

A man may see the world divide,

And war become so general

Among the Christians over-all [everywhere],

That every man now seeketh wreche [vengeance];

And yet these clerks for ever preach

And say that good deeds may not be

Which stand not upon charity.

I not [know not] how charity should stand
Where deadly wars are taken in hand.2

And so again :

When that the Son of God was bore,
He sent His angel down therefore ;

1 Gower, Confessio Amantis, bk. v., § de Fide: is so certayne.'

2 Id. Prologue: 'And now to loke on every side.' F

'And this beleve

That night the shepherds heard him sing
Peace to the men of well-willing

In earth among us here.

And eke natúre war hath defended [prohibited]
And in her law hath peace commended,
Which is the chief of all man's wealth,
And of man's life, and of man's health.

But deadly war hath his covíne [hatching]
Of pestilence and of famíne,

Of

poverty and of all woe

Whereof this world we blamen so.

Till God Himself thereof do boot,

For everything which God hath wrought
In earth, war bringeth it to nought.'I

The collection of poems on the Cross, edited by Mr. Morris, are for the most part mere legends. But I may quote the following from The Symbols of the Passion, dating from the latter half of the fourteenth century: Lord, what may I for that yield Thee? Thou askest nought but love of me. Lord, give Thou to me grace and might With all my heart to love Thee right.

In life and death, in weal and woe

Let my heart never turn Thee fro [from].

Ere it so be for thing unwrest [wicked],

Lord, let my heart for Thy love brest [burst].2

From a dialogue between Mary and the Cross, of about the same date:

And many a prophet gan make moan

And said, 'Lord, send thy Lamb, in ruth,

Out of the wilderness'es stone,

And save me from the lion's tooth.'3

Some slight mention is due to some verses written at the end of the fourteenth century entitled an A B C

1 Confessio Amantis, bk. iii., § Contra motores guerre : 'When Goddes sonne.'

2 The Symbols of the Cross in Legends of the Holy Rood, etc., ed. by R. Morris for E. E.T.S. 46:

Lord, what may i for that gylde the?
Thou desirdust nogt but loue of me.

3 Dispute between Mary and the Cross in id. :
And mony a prophete gan make mon.

Each stanza begins

Poem on the Passion of Christ. with a fresh letter, and the red and blue colours of the capitals may serve, it is said, as reminders of the 'rede wondis and strokis blue' when the Lord was scourged. It was doubtless specially meant for the instruction of the young. The K stanza begins:

KING

ING CHRIST was clad in poor weed.

All the sin of human deed

He hath bought full dear.

The L stanza continues:

Love made Christ from heaven to comyn;
Love made Him with man to wonyn [dwell],
As clerks in gospel read,

Love made His heart to bleed,

With His blood our souls to feed
To bring us to our meed.1

'Quia amore langueo' is the refrain of a canticle of Christ's Love for the Soul of Man dating from about the end of the fourteenth century. The author is unknown. I quote some of the verses. The scanning is frequently much more by accent than by number of syllables. In a valley of this restless mind

I sought in mountain and in mead,
Trusting a true love for to find.

Upon an hill then took I heed;

A voice I heard-and near I yede [went]—
In great dolour complaining tho [then] :
See, dear soul, how my sidés bleed,

Quia amore langueo.

Upon this hill I found a tree,

Under the tree a man sitting;

From head to foot wounded was he,
His hearté blood I saw bleeding.
A seemly man to be a King,

A gracious face to look unto ;
I asked why he had painíng:
He said,Quia amore langueo.'

1 An A B C Poem, E.E.T.S. 15-19. p. 245: 'Kyng Crist was klad in pour wede.'