CHAUCER. 209 



Nicolas is for having disproved the story that Chaucer, 

 imprisoned for complicity in the insurrection of John of 

 Northampton, had set himself free by betraying his accom 

 plices. That a poet, one of whose leading qualities is his 

 good sense and moderation, and who should seem to have 

 practised his own rule, to 



&quot; Fly from the press and dwell with soothfastness ; 

 Suffice thee thy good though it be small.&quot; 



should have been concerned in any such political excesses, 

 was improbable enough ; but that he should add to this the 

 baseness of broken faith was incredible except to such as in 

 a doubtful story 



&quot; Demen gladly to the badder end.&quot; 



Sir Harris Nicolas has proved by the records that the fabric 

 is baseless, and we may now read the poet s fine verse, 



&quot; Truth is the highest thing a man may keep,&quot; 



without a pang. We are thankful that Chaucer s shoulders 

 are finally discharged of that weary load, &quot; The Testament 

 of Love.&quot;* The later biographers seem inclined to make 

 Chaucer a younger man at his death in 1400 than has hitherto 

 been supposed. Herr Hertzberg even puts his birth so late 

 as 1340. But, till more conclusive evidence is produced, 

 we shall adhere to the received dates as on the whole more 

 consonant with the probabilities of the case. The monu 

 ment is clearly right as to the year of his death, and the 

 chances are at least even that both this and the date of 

 birth were copied from an older inscription. The only 

 counter-argument that has much force is the manifestly 

 unfinished condition of the &quot; Canterbury Tales.&quot; That a 



* Tyrwhitt doubted the authenticity of &quot; The Flower and the Leaf&quot; 

 and &quot;The Cuckoo and the Nightingale.&quot; To these Mr. Bradshaw 

 (and there can be no higher authority) would add &quot;The Court of 

 Love,&quot; &quot;The Dream,&quot; &quot;The Praise of Woman,&quot; and &quot;The Romaunt 

 of the Rose,&quot; and several of the shorter poems. To these doubtful 

 productions there is strong ground, both moral and aesthetic, for adding 

 The Parson s Tale.&quot; 



342 



