XVII. of their inattention and positiveness occurs CHAP. under the article of Chaucer, where both Bale and Pits mention the duchess of Suffolk, wife to William de la Pole lord of Ewelm, who will hereafter appear to be the grand-daughter of Chaucer, by the appellation of Chaucer's sister. Yet these compilers, such as they are, are the only authorities we possess respecting the lives of the majority of the literary characters of ancient times in England. Leland, having occasion to speak of Chau- by Leland; cer's dedication of the poem of Troilus and Creseide, observes, "Who this Strode was I have not hitherto been able to discover in any author. But I remember to have read considerable commendations of one Strodé, a student of Merton college in Oxford, a man very learned in poetry, and who in the catalogue of the members of this college is referred to the last years of Edward III. All that appears from the verses of Chaucer is that he had given considerable attention to the topics of philosophy *." a Leland, Scriptores Britannici, cap. dv. CHAP. XVII. by Bale. The person thus doubtfully referred to by Leland under the article Chaucer, is honoured with a separate chapter, in another part of his work. The contents of the "Ralph Strode was one of the most illustrious ornaments of Merton college. He attached himself with singular devotion to eloquence and the muses; by whom he was so beloved in return, as to be enriched by them with a copious supply of grace, elegance and wit. This man, gifted with so many endowments, presented the public with a composition in elegiac verse, written with great neatness, sweetness and power of versification, and called from its subject Phantasma; as appears from the catalogue of learned men educated at Merton college in Oxford "." To these particulars Bale has added that "he was pronounced by the sophists of Italy and France a most admirable dialectician. Leland, cap. ccccxxi. This catalogue is quoted by Wood, Antiq. Oxon. Tom. II, Collegium Mertonense. XVII. When young, he was smitten with an ardent CHA P. passion for eloquence and poetry, and cultivated the principles of these arts with such success, as to be deservedly entitled to the laurel. On his return from Italy, &c." Pits is more confident and particular in his by Pits. language on the subject. He calls him "a laureated poet of this island, member of Merton college, where he became acquainted with all the nicer and more delicate shades of the Latin speech, and eminently excelled in poetical composition. He afterward travelled through France and Italy, and lived in much familiarity and friendship with the most learned men of both countries. His manners were highly polished; his turn of mind. was at once gay and acute; and he possessed the talent of adorning the most familiar topics of conversation with poignant and agreeable sallies, in the exercise of which talent he willingly indulged." [This is definitive and Bale, Scriptorum Britannia Catalogus, Cent, vi, cap. 44. XVIL CHAP precise; Boswell could not be more direct in describing the tone of conversation of Johnson or Burke; it is exactly what we would wish to believe of the familiar and confidential friend of Chaucer; but where, we are naturally led to ask, did the learned Johannes Pitseus collect this minute information con cerning a man, of whom we can scarcely be said to know any thing with certainty, except that he existed four hundred and fifty years ago?]. When Strode returned from Italy, he engaged in the controversy, then depending, respecting the dogmas of Wicliffe. His proceedings in this business are delineated with a very different feeling by the Protestant and the Popish historian. Bale thus describes his measures and their success. "When he returned from Italy, he began to ruffle his feathers against Wicliffe, placing his confidence in certain sophisms and tricks of logic. the glory of God confounded his pride, and caused him to fall into the pit which himself had digged. Insomuch that his boasted sophisms and elenchs were found unable to But XVII.. support either the fabled donation of Con- CHAP. stantine, or the papal supremacy, or the obscene law of celibacy, or those masses of the devil, hours of superstitious laziness, and exhibitions of apish mummery. He vomited forth however, for the plague of posterity," certain works which the good bishop enumerates. It might be imagined that the above censures were fully adequate to the blackness of the poet's crime. The prelate however thought otherwise; and in the close of his little article goes out of his way to renew the invective. "He flourished," adds Bale, "under Edward III; and had the impudence to say, frontless hypocrite that he was! that the permission granted to priests to enter into wedlock with Christian women, was a shred of pagan idolatry." The friendship of Chaucer could not save the "philosophical Strode" from this rude abuse. Pits however, the competitor of Bale, saw the matter in a different light. Strode," says he, “like another David, rose against this blaspheming Goliah, and would not endure that Wicliffe, uncircumcised in heart, |