"I wol yow telle a tale which that I Highte this clerk whos rethorike sweete It is natural and probable that an interview should have taken place between the rising poet of England and the aged Petrarch, then near the end of his life, who was at the time at Arqua, two miles from Padua, but actual proof of it is still wanting, after the most careful search. It is evident that Chaucer's commission on this occasion was performed to his sovereign's satisfaction, for he was made the recipient of several royal grants. In April, 1374, probably on the occasion of the celebration of the Feast of St. George at Windsor, a pitcher of wine was assigned him to be received daily in the port of London from the hands of the king's butler. In May the Corporation of London gave him a lease for life of the dwelling above the gate at Aldgate, with the rooms built ove and the cellar beneath; and in June he was appointed Comptroller of the customs and sub sidies of wools, skins, and tanned hides, in the port of London, with the usual fees; it being expressly stipulated that he was to write the rolls with his own hands, be continually present, and perform the duties personally, and not by deputy, as a poet might well like to perform them.1 The first mention of Chaucer's wife occurs in connection with a pension of ten pounds, given her for life by John of Gaunt, before August, 1372, in consideration of the good service which Geoffrey and Philippa had rendered to the duke, his wife, and the queen his mother. It is possible that this is the same Philippa Chaucer who had been in waiting on Queen Philippa in 1366, and was then granted a pension of ten marks yearly for life, for she apparently received it subsequently by the hand of her husband, Geoffrey Chaucer. She may 1 In his Prologue to The Earthly Paradise, William Morris thut poetically refers to this period in our poet's life: "Dream of London small and white and clean, The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green; Cut from the yew wood on the burnt-up hill, And cloth of Bruges, and hogsheads of Guienne; Moves over bills of lading, -'mid such times however, have been a relative, whom the poet married, say in 1374in 1374. Chaucer had now been an Esquire for some years. His income was now constantly increasing. In 1375 it was augmented by his appointment as custodian of the estate of a minor, Edward Staplegate, of Kent, from which he had received one hundred and four pounds two years later; and by a grant of the custody of certain lands belonging to another minor, also in Kent. In July, 1376, he received seventy-one pounds, four shillings, and six pence, for wool, forfeited for non-payment of duties. The same year he was sent on some secret service with Sir John Burley, and early in the next year he was employed on a similar service in Flanders with Sir Thomas Percy, afterwards Earl of Worcester; and in the spring of 1377 he was again absent from the country in the performance of confidential duties. It is probable that he was not in England in June, when King Edward died, for his wages for the last commission were not paid until August 30th of that year. Under the new sovereign Chaucer was stil favored, and in January, 1378, he appears to have been associated with the Earl of Hunting THE POET'S LIFE. xliii don and others in a mission to France, to negotiate for a marriage between Richard II. and a daughter of the French king. he was paid for going to France that At least, year with that object. In the following March, Chaucer was sent to Lombardy with Sir Edward Berkeley, to treat with Bernardo Visconti, lord of Milan ("of Melan, grete Barnabo Viscounte"). Before leaving England on this occasion, he appointed John Gower to be one of his representatives in court, in case any legal business should need attention during his absence. It is presumed that this was the poet of the name, and if that be so, the circumstance indicates an intimate friendship between Gower and his greater contemporary, which is also supported by the fact that Chaucer dedicated his "Troylus and Cryseyde" to Gower; and that, in his "Confessio Amantis," Gower inserted verses complimentary to Chaucer. It is hardly worth while to discuss the duration of this friendship, which, it seems probable, lasted until death closed it, though Tyrwhitt thought it was broken off earlier. Returning from Italy in the early part of 1379, Chaucer received moneys on account of 1 See Canterbury Tales, 1. 8011 his old grants, and of a new one lately made by Richard II., in February, May, and December, though he may have been abroad again during a portion of the time, for the payment in May was not made to him in person. Other sums were paid to him in July and November, 1380, and March, 1381, the last being twentytwo pounds, on account of his mission to France in 1377. In May, 1382, he was given the additional office of Comptroller of Petty Customs in the port of London, with permission to perform the duties by a deputy, a permanent officer of this kind being allowed him in February, 1385. He was thus placed in easy circumstances, and had ample leisure to engage in the occupation which has made him. known; and thus ends the second period in his life. In 1386 Chaucer was elected one of the knights of the shire for Kent, to sit in the parliament holden at Westminster from October 1st to November 1st, of that year. Its proceedings were all directed against the ministers of the party at the head of which was John of Gaunt, Chaucer's patron, at the time absent from the country, asserting his claim to the crown of Castile, the Duke of Gloucester being |