Chaucer and Henry 195 



Possibly it was the sense of rivalry with Chaucer for the favor 

 of Henry at this time which led Gower to omit the tribute to 

 Chaucer which was contained in the first version of his epi- 

 logue.^ Henry's recognition of Gower's assiduity is probably 

 shown by his gift of a collar to the poet in the autumn of 1393/ 

 and his grant of two annual pipes of wine on Nov. 21, 1399.^ 

 But Gower's dedication quoted above was not his first compli- 

 ment to Henry. Already in 1390 he had concluded the Confessio 

 with this couplet: 



Derbeie comiti, recolunt quern laude periti, 

 Vade, liber purus, sub eo requiesce futurus * 



The later dedication, however, is more flattering, and may, as 

 Macaulay suggests, indicate 'that Gower had some discrimina- 

 tion in selecting a possible saviour of society.'^ Whether Gower 

 had been influenced by the prophecy, mentioned by Froissart,^ 

 that the descendants of the Duke of Lancaster should be kings 

 of England, must of course be doubtful; but it is at least not 

 impossible that Chaucer, who appears to have known FroissaCrt,^ 

 should have laid it to heart. When Henry had become king, 

 Gower dedicated to him his Praise of Peace.^ 



As we have seen, the circumstances were propitious for an 

 interview between Henry and Chaucer. The poet had every 

 reason to pay his homage to the prince, and the prince, as the 

 sequel showed, was well aff^ected toward the poet. On what 

 various topics they may have conversed we can only offer con- 

 jectures, but they can hardly have failed to include Henry's 

 visit to the tombs of Boethius and Augustine at Pavia,^ and 

 to that of his uncle Lionel,^^ now dead twenty-five years, in the 



^Cf. Lounsbury i. 44 ff. 



' Gower 4. xvi, note 7. The collar seems to have been valued at 

 about $100. 



'Wylie 4. 200. 



* Gower 2. xxiii. 



' Gower 2. xxiv. 



"Kervyn 16. 235. 



^ See above, p. 184, 



*Skeat 7. 205-216; Gower 3. 481-492. 



" Chaucer himself may have seen these ; cf . pp. 184-6, above. 



"D. A., pp. cxi; cf. Beitz, p. 131. Note that Henry's second son, 

 Thomas (b. 1387), became the second Duke of Clarence in 1412. 



