Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 1.djvu/22

 where he had acted ſo conſiderable a part with varied ſucceſs, and retired to Bunnlgton caſtle near Newbury, to reflect at leiſure upon paſt tranſlations in the ſtill retreats of contemplation. In this retirement did he ſpend his few remaining years, univerſally loved and honoured; he was familiar with all men of learning in his time, and contraded friendſhip with perſons of the greateſt eminence as well in literature as politics; Gower, Occleve, Lidgate, Wickliife were great admirers,, and particular friends of Chaucer; beſides he was well acquainted with foreign poets, particularly Francis Petrarch the famous Italian poet, and reiiner of the language. A Revolution in England ſoon after this happened, in which we find Chaucer but little concerned; he made no mean compliments to Henry IV, but Gower his contemporary, though then very old, flattered the reigning prince, and inſulted the memory of his murdered Sovereign. All ads of parliament and grants in the laſt: reign being annulled, Chaucer again repaired to Court to get freſh grants, but bending with age and weakneſs, tho' he was ſucceſsful in his requeſt, the fatigue of attendance ſo overcame him, that death prevented his enjoying his new poſſeſſions. He died the 25th of October in the year 1400, in the ſecond of Henry IV, in the 72d of his age, and bore the ſhock of death with the ſame fortitude and reſignation with which he had undergone a variety of preſſures, and vicinitudes of fortune.

Dryden ſays, he was poet laureat to three kings, but Urry is of opinion that Dryden muft be miſtaken, as among all his works not one court poem is to be found, and Selden obſerves, that he could find no poet honoured with that title in England before the reign of Edward IV, to whom one John Kaye dedicated the Siege of Rhodes in profle by the title of his Humble Poet Laureat.