ELLIS’s SPECIMENS OF THE EARLY ENGLISH POETS. 
been obliterated by the changes that have 
taken place in the mode of accenting our 
language. But Chaucer's reputation as an 
improver of our versification principally rests 
on the invention (or at least on the first adop-- 
tion) of the ten-syllable or heroic verse, of 
that verse which has been employed by every 
poet of eminence from Spenser to Dr. John- 
son, and in which its original inventer has 
left many specimens, both ‘in the Knight's 
Tale-and ig the Flower and the Leaf, which 
Dryden despaired of improving. 
<6 With respect to Chaucer's language, it 
is impossil:le not to feel sore disappointment 
at tlie cautions and doubtful opinion delivers 
ed by the «gthor of opr national dictionary, 
ad delivered in the introduction to that.truly 
noble monuments of bis genius. That Chau- 
eer § might probably make some innova- 
tions,” and that ¢ his diction was in general 
like that of his contemporaries,’ we should 
have conjectured withoat Dr. Johnson’s as- 
sistance ; because a wriler of genius and 
learning will be likely to make some innova- 
tions tv a barbarous language, but, in so 
doing, will not choose to become quite unin- 
telligible. From a critic so intimately acs 
quainted with the mechanism of language 
we should have expected to learn, whether 
Chaucer had in any degree added to the pre- 
cision of our English idiom by improvements 
of its syntax, or to jts harmony by the introz 
duction of more sonorous words ; or whether 
he was solely indebted for the beauty and 
perspicuity of his style to that happy selec- 
tion of appropriate expressions which distin- 
guishes every writer of original thinking and 
real genius. 
~«§ All Chaucer's immediate successors, 
those who studied him as their model, Hoc- 
cleye, Lydgate, King James I, &c. speak 
with rapture of the elegance and splendour 
of his diction. Tle is ‘the flower of clo- 
quence ;’ * superlitive in eloquence ;’ his 
words are ‘ the gold dew-drops of speech.” 
Such exaggerated praises certainly imply an 
enthusiastic though, perhaps, absurd adinira- 
tion} and, as these pacts would prabably at- 
tempt to imitate what they considered as 
eminently beautiful, it seems likely that an 
examination of their style must enable us ta 
discover what they considered as the im- 
provements introduced by Chaucer. 
« Now the characteristics of our poetry 
during the fifteenth and sixteenth cenvuries 
are an exuberance of ornament, and an affec- 
tation of Latinity, neither of which peculiari- 
ties are to be found in Robert of Gloucester, 
Robert de Brunne, Minot, Langland, or in- 
deed in any of the poets anterior to Chaucer. 
This, therefore, may be supposed to be what 
Chaucer himself and his suceessors meant b 
what they called an ornate style, of which the 
following stanza, extracted from the Court 
of Love, is a curious specimen : 
“« Honour to thee, celestial and clear, 
Godd:ss af love, and to thy celsitude, 
549) 
That giv’st us lightsofardown from thy sphere, 
Piercing our heartes withthy pulehritude 
Comparison none of similitude 
May to thy grace be made in no degree, 
That hast us set with love in unity. 
[St. 88. fol. 330. ed. 1002.} 
«¢ It is not meant that this is an example 
of Chaucer's usual style ; indeed no poet is, 
in general, more free from pedantry = but the 
attentive reader will find that in the use of 
words of Latin derivation, most of which 
are common to the French and Italian lan- 
guages, he very generally prefers the inflec- 
tions of the latter, either as thinking them 
more sonorous, or becayse they are nearer 
to the original; and that in Iys descriptive 
poetry he is very fond of multiplying his epi- 
thets, and of copying all the other peculiari« 
ties of the Italian poetry (fram which his fa- 
vourite metre is unquestionably derived), with 
the view of ‘refining our numbers, and im- 
proving our language, by words borrowed 
from the more polished languages of the 
Continent.” 
It is well said of the Canterbury Tales 
that they contain more information re- 
specting the manners and customs of the 
fourteenth century, than could be glean- 
ed from the whole mass of contemporary 
writers, English or foreign. 
The section upon the private life of 
our ancestors contains more than is to 
be found in any single writer upon the 
subject. It is not possible to make any 
abstract of this part, in which every sen- 
tence is of essential import. 
tephen Hawes, whom Warton prais- 
ed in some unaccountable humour, an 
who in consequence has since been prais- 
ed abundantly at second-hand, is treated 
by the present writer with just severity, 
The specimens which he has extracted 
are thoroughly worthless; and we, who 
have read the poem, know that they fair- 
ly represent the baldness and affectation 
of this miserable writer. We will insert 
here a curious specimen of metre from 
this poem, which has not been selected 
by Mr. Ellis. 
«< Cace doubtfull, may yet a whyle abyde; 
Grace may in space a remedy provyde. 
Countenaunce causeth the promotion, 
Nought avayleth service without atter= 
daunce, 
Repentewnce is after all abysion, 
Thought afore wolde have had persee 
veraunce, 
Wroughte how should be by dede the 
mischqaunce, 
Abyde nothing till thon do the dede, 
Provyde in minde how thou mayst havemede. 
Promocion groweth after good sovernaunee, 
Attendeunce doth attayne good favour. 
