THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 47 



CHAUCER: HIS TIMES, LIFE, AND WORK. 



flead befo7'e the Haitiilton Associatioji, /ufie rjtk, i8g8. 

 BY H. B. WITTON, SR. 



Speght in his short Hfe of Chaucer written in 159S says : 

 " Goeffrey Chaucer departed out of this world the 25th day of 

 October, in the year of our Lord 1400, after he had lived about 

 seventy-two years." The date given by Speght of Chaucer's 

 death, is accepted as correct, but over the time of his birth there 

 has been controversy, and the final word may be yet unspoken. 

 Early biographers, accepting Speght's reckoning, took 1328 

 to be the year when Chaucer was born ; but later Chaucerian 

 writers fairly agree that evidence forthcoming in recent years, 

 shows 1340 to be a niore correct date than that in Speght's 

 memorial. After this lapse of time, proof of Chaucer's exact 

 birth-date may not be found ; still should nothing more be 

 learned, it is now certain that his birth was not before 1328, or 

 much later than 1340. 



The life of Chaucer fell almost entirely within the limits- 

 of the XIV century, an eventful period of history. It would 

 baffie human ingenuity to trace minutely the doings of those 

 days, though a glance at the chronicles and records of that time 

 calls up at once historical pictures of profound interest. It was. 

 in that century the Tartar hosts under Tamerlane swept with 

 the suddenness of a meteor through Central Asia, and Persia 

 into India ; and it was then that the Turk first turned his steps 

 towards Europe. Disruption of the Roman Empire was nearly 

 complete, and Christendom, torn with internal dissension, was 

 unable to present serried ranks to the enemy. The last ray of 

 hope for union between the Greek and Latin churches had 

 faded away, and in the Western church there was bitter strife 

 for nearly seventy years, to determine whether Rome or Avig- 

 non should be the seat of the papal court. The Percy Douglas 



