of serious interest and attention to the courtier and to the man of the world. In order to illustrate this point more clearly, and to show how completely Chaucer stands aloof, not only from preceding poets, but even from those of his own day, in the choice of these subjects, as well as in his manner of treating them, it will be necessary to offer some slight notice of two of the most remarkable productions of his age; by one of which the early poems of our author were immediately preceded, as they were immediately followed, by the other. The two works to which I allude, are, the Vision of William, usually, though erroneously, called the Vision of Pierce Ploughman, and the Confessio Amantis of Gower.

These two works, widely different from each other, in plan, subject, and execution, cannot, in any of these* respects, be classed with the earlier poems of Chaucer. The "Vision" is usually, William, though on no very certain grounds, attributed to

The

Vision of

Robert Langlande, a secular priest, and a Fellow

*This is not strictly true of the "Confessio Amantis," since that poem turns upon the subject of love. The grand distinction between this work and all the poetry of Chaucer is, as will be more distinctly pointed out in the sequel, that the object of Gower's only English poem is moral.

of Oriel College in Oxford. But whoever may have been the author, the work is altogether, as well from its alliterative metre*, and the homeliness of its diction, as from the choice of its principal subjects, a popular work, and designed for the unlearned and uncourtly part of the nation. It is an allegorical satire, directed chiefly against Catholic vices and superstitions; but also generally against the vices and follies of the age. The subject is introduced under the form of a vision, or dream; a very common mode of composition with the English poets of this, and with the Scotch poets of the succeeding, age.

The origin of this plan may, with great probability, be attributed to the frequent study of the Somnium Scipionis of Cicero, with its accompanying Commentary and Dissertation on Dreams, by Macrobius. This work was constantly in the hands of Chaucer: it is often alluded to by him in the introductory lines of his poems; and in the Parliament of Fowles a short analysis of it is given. The Roman de la Rose, trans

*It appears from a passage in what is usually called Chaucer's Retractation, appended to the Persoune's Tale, that alliterative metre was peculiar to the northern part of the kingdom.-See Tyrwhitt's note on the passage.

lated by Chaucer, is a vision, introduced by an allusion to the Somnium Scipionis and to Macrobius; and it is possible that the attention of our poet may have been first directed to the Latin work from this circumstance; at least the allusion to it in the introductions to his poems, is in imitation of the Roman de la Rose, the influence of which production upon literature, however extravagant this poem may now appear to us, was very great in the age preceding that of Chaucer. It is worthy of remark, that the translation of this long poem, which engaged Chaucer's youthful days, seems to have given a direction to his later compositions. Allegorical description, devotion to love, satire on women, and satire on the clergy, form at once the leading topics of the " Rose," and of Chaucer's original poetical works. As regards the prevalence of the form of the vision in poetry, the popularity of the French poem may be considered as amongst the leading causes of this general practice. Dante, who was born shortly after* the composition of the earlier portion of the "Rose," is one of the

* Dante was born in 1260. This, according to Warton, is the date of William de Lorris's death; but Godwin (Life of Chaucer, vol. ii. 239, oct. edit.) argues, with great probability, that Lorris's death took place before 1235.

first to follow in the track. In Italy, the "Rose" continued a favourite work till the days of Petrarch, who professed to despise it *.

The object of the plan of a vision seems to be to give probability to supernatural scenes and characters, which could not reasonably have been supposed to appear to the poet while in a waking state. Thus, in the poem before us, numerous allegorical characters are introduced as actors and speakers, the names of some of which+ will remind the reader of the popular allegorical vision of John Bunyan.

Of a satire on the Catholic clergy, the Vision of William will, unless we give credence to the alleged antiquity of the Land of Cockayne‡, afford the earliest specimen in the English language: though in French, the continuation of the Roman de la Rose, by John of Meun, precedes §

* Warton, vol. ii. 219.

† Dowell, Dobet, and Dobest.

Mr. Campbell (Essay on English Poetry, p. 13) removes this composition, as well on account of the character of its language, as from its allusion to pinnacles not introduced into architecture till the reign of Henry the Third, to a much later date than that assigned to it by Hickes or Warton, i. e. about the time of the Conquest. "The total astonishment in which," Mr. Campbell says, "we are left at this opinion, will be felt by all those who have any knowledge of the history of our language, and at the same time any veneration for Hickes or Warton."

§ John of Meun was preceded, as a satirist on the clergy, by the Troubadours.-Sismondi, Lit. du Midi, vol. i. p. 185.

it by about a century. It was written, as has been observed by Tyrwhitt, after the year 1362, since it mentions the "south-westerne winde on Saturday at even," a remarkable hurricane of that year. It may, therefore, be reckoned about twenty years older than the Canterbury Tales.

Should the reader desire to obtain some insight into the contents of this extraordinary work, without perusing the entire poem in the accurate edition of Whittaker, selections from it may be found in Warton's History of English Poetry*. But perhaps the following passage, extracted from Mr. Campbell's Essay on English Poetry, prefixed to his Specimens, will afford a more complete insight into the character of this work, than can easily be given in the same number of words.

"The general object of this work is to expose, in allegory, the existing abuses of society, and to inculcate the public and private duties, both of the laity and clergy. An imaginary seer, afterwards described by the name of William, wandering among the bushes of the Malvern Hills, is overtaken by sleep, and dreams, that he beholds a magnificent tower, which turns out to be the tower * Vol. i. p. 65, Park's edit.

the reader take Wright and exche