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And so our lives here for to lead,

That we may have his bliss to meed,

Ever, withouten end.

Amen.

The praise of Sir Penny appears to have been a favourite subject with the northern minstrels; for a poem with the same title, is to be found in Lord Haile's Collection, p. 153; and another in Mr. Ritson's "Ancient Songs," p. 76.

CHAPTER XI.

Reign of Henry V.-Life of Lydgate-Character of his Writings-Specimens of his "Troye Booke."

AMONG the immediate successors of Chaucer, in England, John Lydgate, the celebrated monk of Bury, is confessedly the most tolerable. The time of his birth is not exactly known; but the documents extracted by Mr. Warton, from a register of the church of Bury, in the Cotton library, will ascertain it, with sufficient precision. It appears that he was ordained a subdeacon A. D. 1389; a deacon in 1393; and a priest in 1397: so that, even if we suppose him to have received the first ordination at fourteen years of age, he cannot have been born later than 1375; that is to say, twentyfive years before the death of Chaucer. This date naturally assigns him to the reign of Henry V. at whose command, he undertook his metrical history of the siege of Troy, the best and most popular of his almost innumerable productions.

Few writers have been more admired by their VOL. I.

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cotemporaries; yet none have been treated with more severity by modern critics. The learned Editor of the "Reliques of Ancient Poetry," mentions him with compassionate contempt; Mr. Ritson ridicules his "cart-loads" of poetical rubbish; and Mr. Pinkerton considers him as positively stupid. Mr. Warton alone has thought it worth while to study him with much attention, or to attempt a general discussion of his literary character; and his opinion is well worth transcribing.

"He was a monk of the Benedictine abbey of "Bury, in Suffolk. After a short education at "Oxford, he travelled into France and Italy; and "returned a complete master of the language and "literature of both countries. He chiefly studied "the Italian and French poets, particularly Dante, "Boccacio, and Alain Chartier; and became so

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distinguished a proficient in polite learning, that " he opened a school in his monastery, for teach❝ing the sons of the nobility the arts of versifica"tion, and the elegancies of composition. Yet "although philology was his object, he was not "unfamiliar with the fashionable philosophy; he "was not only a poet and a rhetorician, but a "geometrician, an astronomer, a theologist, and a "disputant.

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"On the whole, I am of opinion, that Lydgate

"made considerable additions to those amplifica❝tions of our language, in which Chaucer, Gower, "and Occleve led the way: and that he is the "first of our writers whose style is clothed with "that perspicuity in which the English phraseology 66 appears at this day, to an English reader.

"To enumerate Lydgate's pieces, would be to "write the catalogue of a little library. No poet "seems to have possessed greater versatility of "talents. He moves with equal ease in every "mode of composition. His hymns, and his bal"lads, have the same degree of merit: and whether "his subject be the life of a hermit or a hero; of "St. Austin, or Guy earl of Warwick; ludicrous "or legendary; religious or romantic; a history "or an allegory; he writes with facility. His "transitions were rapid, from works of the most "serious and laborious kind, to sallies of levity, "and pieces of popular entertainment. His muse 16 was of universal access; and he was not only "the poet of his monastery, but of the world in "general. If a disguising was intended by the

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company of goldsmiths, a mask before his majesty

at Eltham, a may-game for the sheriffs and alder<< men of London, a mumming before the lord mayor, a procession of pageants from the crea"tion for the festival of Corpus Christi, or a carol

" for the coronation, Lydgate was consulted, and (( gave the poetry.

"His manner is naturally verbose and diffuse. "This circumstance contributed in no small de66 gree to give a clearness and a fluency to his " phraseology. For the same reason he is often ❝tedious and languid. His chief excellence is in "description, especially when the subject admits "a flowery diction. He is seldom pathetic or "animated.

Lydgate's most esteemed works are, his "History of Thebes," his "Falls of Princes," and his "History of the Siege of Troy."

The "History of Thebes," which Speght has printed in his edition of Chaucer, and which was intended as a continuation of the Canterbury Tales, contains some poetical passages, which Mr. Warton has extracted. But Lydgate's style, though natural, and sometimes rich, does not possess that strength and conciseness which is observable in the works of his master. It is dangerous for a mere versifier to attempt the completion of a plan, which has been begun by a poet. Lydgate's poem is not long; but it is possible to be tedious in a very small compass.

The "Falls of Princes" are a translation from Boccace, or rather from a French paraphrase

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