194 Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



If Chaucer was in straits, and desired to approach Henry, 

 he would have found every encouragement in the earl's affability. 

 *He made himself a name for friendliness among all with whom 

 he had to do [on his travels]. To the Scots he was half-Scot, 

 and to the Prussians he was a child of Spruce.'^ 'In Paris 

 [1398-9] ... he was sweet, gracious, courteous, neighborly, and 

 well-liked by all who knew him/^ 'The Greek Emperor Manuel 

 [1401] . . . was fascinated with his politeness.'^ 'With win- 

 ning ways and good looks, inherited from his mother and grand- 

 mother, of whom Froissart says that two more delightful women 

 he never met, it is no marvel that Henry captured all hearts.'* 



If Chaucer paid court to Henry on his return from abroad 

 in 1393, he was not the only poet to do so. The new prologue 

 to the Confessio Amantis was written in 1392-3, not later than 

 June, 1393^ — that is, just before Henry's arrival. Thus Gower 



dedicates the new edition to Henry^ : 



This bok, upon amendment 

 To stonde at his commandement, 

 With whom myn herte is of accord, 

 I sende unto myn oghne lord, 

 Which of Lancastre is Henri named: 

 The hyhe God him hath proclamed 

 Ful of knyhthode and alle grace. 



^ Wylie 4. 126. 



"" Wylie 4. 128. 



'Wylie 4. 129-130. 



* Wylie 4. 130-1. For the Londoners' attachment to him in 1397-8, 

 and for his general popularity in England, see Froissart (tr. Johnes, 

 Bk. 4, chaps. 94, 96, 102, 103, 104, 106, no). Forty thousand Londoners 

 thronged the streets on October 13, 1398, bitterly lamenting his departure 

 from England (op. cit. 4. 96) ; the Mayor of London, with several 

 prominent citizens, convoyed him to Dartford, and others even to Dover, 

 where they saw him on the vessel that was to convey him to Calais 

 (ib.). In fact, he left 'with the tears and regrets of half England' 

 (Armitage-Smith, p. 404). Such affection is not the growth of a day, 

 nor based on a single act; in part he was a sharer in the popularity of 

 the House of Lancaster as the traditional guardian of the national 

 liberties (Ramsay 2. 346), and his father has been described as for a 

 dozen years the uncrowned king of England (Armitage-Smith, p. xxii; 

 cf. p. xxviii). 



^ Gower 2. xxiii ; cf . 2. 280, and marginal note to ProL 24. 



" Conf. Am., Prol. 83-89. With 89 cf. Praise of Peace 155. 



