168 



CHAUCER CHAUDET. 



after a few duys, declared that he liad discovered a 

 treasure. He then procured glossaries of the old 

 dialects of the country, and, in 1768, when the new 

 bridge at Bristol was completed, he inserted a paper 

 in the Bristol Journal, entitled A Description of the 

 Friars' first Passing over the Old Bridge, taken from 

 an ancient Manuscript. He was then but sixteen 

 \r;ir> old. I' pon being questioned as to the manner 

 in which he had obtained it, he finally asserted, that 

 In- was in the possession of several valuable old 

 manuscripts, taken (as those above mentioned really 

 \\cre) from an old chest in the church. He had 

 been engaged for a year in the composition of sev- 

 eral poems, which he attributed to different ancient 

 writers, particularly to one Rowley. In 17G9, he 

 ventured to write to Horace Walpole, giving him 

 an account of his literary discoveries, and enclosing 

 a specimen. Having received a polite answer, he 

 wrote a second letter, informing Walpole of his 

 situation, and requesting assistance to enable him 

 to follow his inclination for poetry. Walpole, how- 

 ever, who in the mean time had discovered the 

 poems to be spurious, returned them to Chatterton 

 without taking any further notice of him. Dis- 

 contented witli his situation, he obtained a release 

 from his apprenticeship by threatening to put an end 

 to his life, and went to London. The favourable re- 

 ception, with which he there met from the booksel- 

 lers, inspired him with new hopes. He wrote for 

 several journals, on the side of the opposition. He 

 indulged the hope of effecting a revolution, and used 

 to boast that he was destined to restore the rights of 

 the nation. Failing to procure the rewards which 

 he had expected for his exertions in favour of this 

 party, he observed, that " he must be a poor author 

 who could not write on both sides." On this princi- 

 ple he acted ; but prosperity did not attend his de- 

 reliction from principle. His situation daily became 

 worse. Although extremely temperate, and often 

 voluntarily confining himself to bread and water, he 

 was frequently destitute even of these necessaries. 

 What he gained by his labours he spent, partly in 

 presents fur his mother and sisters, to whom he al- 

 ways held out the most splendid expectations, partly 

 in public places of amusement, which he continued 

 to visit under the appearance of easy circumstances. 

 At last, after having been several days without 

 food, he poisoned himself, in 1770, when not yet 

 eighteen years old. His works were more exten- 

 sively read as the public became acquainted with the 

 history of his misfortunes. The most remarkable 

 are the poems published under the name of Rowley, 

 which he composed at the age of fifteen years. They 

 display a vigorous and brilliant imagination, fertility 

 of invention, and often a deep sensibility. Among 

 the poems which he published under his own name, his 

 satires deserve the preference. His prose writings 

 are spirited. His works have been several times 

 published. The best edition is that of 1803, in three 

 volumes. 



CHAUCER, GEOFFREY, born in London, in 1328, 

 was the son of a merchant, or, according to some 

 writers, of noble extraction. He studied at Cam- 

 bridge and Oxford. At the former place, he dis- 

 tinguished himself, at the age of eighteen, by his 

 Court of Love, the oldest poem in English now ex- 

 tant. Having improved himself by travelling, he 

 studied law for some time ; but, becoming disgusted 

 with this study, he repaired to court, where ne be- 

 came yeoman to Edward III. He was in high fa- 

 vour with the king, and particularly with his son, 

 John of Gaunt, the celebrated duke of Lancaster. 

 He was the confidant of the prince's love to his cousin, 

 the duchess Blanche, and made their love, their mar- 

 riage, the charms and virtues of the duchess, the 



themes of his songs. The duchess, however, soon 

 found a rival in lady Catharine Swynford, whose sis- 

 ter Chaucer married. This alliance established him 

 more firmly in the favour of the duke, by whose in- 

 fluence he was appointed to the most honourable of- 

 fices. He was sent ambassador to Genoa ; on which 

 occasion he visited Petrarch. He was also sent as 

 envoy to Charles V. of France, to negotiate the re- 

 newal of the truce, and a marriage between Uichard, 

 prince of Wales, and the king's daughter, in which 

 mission, however, he was unsuccessful. As an ad- 

 herent of the duke of Lancaster, he embraced the 

 opinions of Wickliffe, and formed a close connexion 

 with him ; but neither business, nor the intrigues of 

 the court, nor the theological controversies of the 

 time, interrupted his poetical labours. His first poem 

 was soon followed by Troilus and Cressida, the 

 House of Fame, and other works, which were imita- 

 tions of Boccaccio and other less celebrated authors. 

 He seems particularly to have borrowed from the 

 works of the Troubadours. These works bear the 

 stamp of the corrupt taste, which, at that time, pre- 

 vailed throughout Europe ; but they are remarkable 

 for correct delineation of character. He is consid- 

 ered as the inventor of English heroic verse. In 

 138;!, the Wickliffites attempted, in spite of the op- 

 position of the clergy, to elect a lord mayor of Lon- 

 don of their own party. The disturbances, to which 

 this dispute gave rise, occasioned a severe persecu- 

 tion of that sect on the part of the court, and Cliau- 

 cer, who was liated by the people as the personal 

 friend of Wickliffe, fled to Hainault, where he con- 

 tinued to receive his salary. The faithlessness of his 

 agents, who discontinued their remittances, having 

 obliged him to make a secret journey to England, he 

 wasrtiscovered,arrested, and deprived of his post of 

 comptroller of the customs, the duties of which had 

 been discharged, in his name, by Ms deputy. He 

 finally obtained his liberty by disclosing the designs 

 of the party with which he had been connected. 

 This conduct drew upon him a load of obloquy, while, 

 at the same time, he was suffering from poverty. 

 During his distresses, he wrote his Testament of 

 Love, a sort of imitation of Boethius's De Consola- 

 tione, which he had translated in his youth. Chau- 

 cer's situation was once more changed with that of 

 the duke of Lancaster, who, in the hope of ascending 

 the Spanish throne, had entered into a second mar 

 riage with the daughter of Peter the Cruel ; and 

 though he had returned from Spain, in 1389, without 

 having gained this object, yet he brought back con- 

 siderable sums, which he employed in reviving his 

 party at court. Four years later, on the death of 

 his second wife, the duke married Catharine Swyn- 

 ford. Chaucer, now nearly connected with the royal 

 family, regained the favour of the court, and was re- 

 stored to his office. After the duke's death, he 

 seems to have lived in retirement at Donnington 

 castle, where the oak, in the shade of which it was 

 said he loved to muse, long bore his name. There 

 he wrote his most celebrated work, the Canterbury 

 Tales, hi verse. They are distinguished for variety 

 of character and liveliness of description. Chaucer 

 is the first writer who introduced the spirit and fic- 

 tions of chivalry into poetry. His Sir Topaz, how- 

 ever, is written in ridicule of these fictions. He died 

 in the year 1400. His works have been often printed. 



CHAUCI ; an ancient Teutonic tribe, dwelling 

 east of the Frisians, between the Ems and Elbe, on 

 the shore of the German ocean. They are also called, 

 by different authors, Cauchi, Catici, Cayci, Chad. 

 They are first mentioned in the wars of Drusus, who 

 subjected them (Dio Cass. iv). Tacitus mentions 

 them often. 



CHAUDET, ANTOINE DENIS, deserves, perhaps, 



