Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/624

* CHATTERTON. 544 CHAUCER. Chatterton, dying before lie was eighteen years old. was certainly a marvelous Ixiy. Wliile u jpcculiar interest is attaolied to all that he wrote, he is liest rtMuenibcred as the author of the so-ealled "Rowley Poems.' Of them only one — "Eiinour and .Tuga'' — appeared during his life. The rest were collected and jjuhlished by T. Tyr- whitt, in 1777. Some of tl'vm possess that rare beauty of imagination which we associate with Coleridge and Keals. Indeed, these latter piH'ts owed iiHich to Chatterton. So. too. did Rossetti and William .Morris. We may cite especially: "The Hallade of Charity:" the lirst and third "Kelogues:" the "Tragedy of .Klla:" the "Trag- edy of Godwin;" "The Tournament;"' and the "Parliament of Sprites." Consult ; Masson. Chatterton: A Biography (New York, 1899); The Poetical Worhx of Chatterton, edited by Hkeat (London. IST")) : Watts-Dunton's essay in Ward, KiiijUsh Ports, III. (London and Xew York. 18801 : and Beers, English Romanticism (New York, 1898). CHAUCER. cha'.ser. Geoffrey (e.1.3401400). The lirst great English poet. The son of .Tohn Chaucer, a London vintner, he was born in Lon- don about l;UO. or possibly a few years earlier. Of the poet's life few trustworthy details have come down to us : the usual biography is a fab- rication. Hut certain facts are contained in the oHicial documents of the time. and. besides this, Chaucer sometimes speaks 'of himself. In 1357 he was in the service of the Countess of Ulster, wife of Lionel, the son of Kdward III. His po- sition was most likely tluit of a page. He was in the army of his King, who invaded France in IS.'jntjO. He was taken prisoner, but was ransomed on March 1 of the latter year. Chau- cer is not mentioned again until 13G7. when he received from the King a pension of "20 marks under the title of 'valet.' From this time on Chaucer may be followed more closely, his name occurring frequently in public do<'uuients. From valet he rose to the rank of squire in the King's household. Chaucer was soon sent on several important foreign missions to Flanders, France, and ItjUy. His first Italian journey was in 1. '572-73, when he went to Genoa and Florence, and, as many believe, to Padua, where he learned from Petrarch the story of the Patient Griselda, the tale told by the Clerk of Oxford, one of the Canterbury pilgrims. In 1.378 be again went to Italy, returning I'arly the next year. In 1374 he was appointed comptroller of the customs for wool, .skins, etc., at the port of London, and in 1382 comptroller of petty customs — of wine, can- dles, and other snnill articles. Both the.se posi- tions he lost in 1380. but in that year, he was elected to Parliament from Kent. Three years later he was appointed clerk of the King's works at Westminster, the Tower of London, and va- rious royal manors, and in 1390 clerk of the works for Saint George's Chapel, indsor, Pur- ing 1391 he lost these positions, |)roliably be- cause the repairs were completed. .t about this time he became forester of North Pctherton Park. Somersetshire. This appointment he held until his death. .After 13Sfi Chaucer wa.s at various times in financial trouble, Tt is not to be supposed that he was inefficient as an execu- tive officer; he was rather a sufTerer from the lips and downs of polities. During the reign of Richaril II. (1377-991 there were (wo parties, one led by John of Gaunt and the other bv the Uuke of Gloucester. Chaucer belonged to the lirst and shared in its reverses. When Henry Bolinghroke gained the throne as Henry 1'. (1399), Chaucer was placed in better circum- stances, but be did not live to enjoy his good fortune. He died on October 25, 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer was married some time before 1374, probably as early as 13G0. The surname of his wife is un- certain, but her Christian name was I'hilippa. .She seems to have died in 1387. The lifth cen- tenaiy of Chaucer's death was observed on Oc- tober 25. 1900. when the Poet Laureate unveiled a memorial window to him in Saint Saviour's Church, Southwark. Chaucer was thus a man of all'airs as well as a poet. The exact date of coniixisition cannot be lixed for his various ])oems. In grouping them, it has been customary to assign those that show a knowledge of Italian literature to a period fol- lowing the lirst visit to Italy. But this |>roce- dure is not quite convincing. In the |)rologue to the "Legende of Good Women," written about 1385. Chaucer mentions his most important poems down to that date — "Troylus and Cry- seyde," ""the House of Fame," "Boke of the Duch- esse," the "Assembly of Foules," "Palamon and Arcite," "Life of Saint Cecile" (the last two were incorporated into the Canterbury Tales) ami nuiny ballades, roundels, and virelays. All these poems just mentioned by name are very beautiful. Of them. "Troylus and Crj'seyde," founded on the niediaval Troy legend, is by far the longest. It was a favorite with Oantc Ros- setti; and Chancer is indeed nu)st subtle' here in his psycliologj". In much of the work cited above. Chaucer was to some extent a translator. He did not. however, follow Boccaccio and his other originals slavishly, but rather made use of them in a broad and free way. Hi^ greatest work is the Canlrrbury Tales. Here Chaucer brings together at the Tabard Inn men and women of every degree, from the knight to the cook, and plans to have each tell stories on the way to Canterbury and on the return. Of this vast scheme he lived to carry out only a part. The stories were intended to iTjiresent the types current in his day, such as the romance of chiv- aln', the legend, and the fabliau, or fable, and they were to be in harmony with the characters sketched so delightfully in the prologue. Of this prologue. Pryden wrote the famous passage; ■"'Tis sutlicicnt to say, according to the proverb, that here is God's plenty. We have our forefa- thers and great -grandamcs all before us, as they were in Chaucer's day; their general characters are still remaining in mankind, and even in England, though they are called by other names than those of monks, and friars, and canons, and lady abbesses, and nuns; for mankind is ever the same, and nothing lost out of nature, though everything is altered." Chaucer wrote several minor poems, among which are the "Complaint to Pity" and the "Complaint to His Purse." While it is agreed that Chaucer translated '"The Romance of the Rose," there is disagreement as to whether the extant version is wholly his. Indeed, it has been argued, though not very successfully, that it is throughout the work of another hand. "Tlie Court of Love," "The Flower and the Leaf." and certain other poems that have been attributed to him crilics no longer accept as his. Chaucer