Chamber's Cyclopædia of English literature; a history, critical and biographical, of authors in the English tongue from the earliest times till the present day, with specimens of their writings . intended for the priest-h(jod, when he was nine-teen or twenty he entered >• ^ |i^~ ?, the Privy Seal Office as a clerk (c. 1387), and, as no ecclesiastical prefermentwas offered him, stayed there all his working life—some five-and-lhirty years—till in 1424, by wayof a retiring allowance, he was quartered on thePriory of Southwick, Hants. In November 1399Hcnr> IV., within six weeks of his access
Chamber's Cyclopædia of English literature; a history, critical and biographical, of authors in the English tongue from the earliest times till the present day, with specimens of their writings . intended for the priest-h(jod, when he was nine-teen or twenty he entered >• ^ |i^~ ?, the Privy Seal Office as a clerk (c. 1387), and, as no ecclesiastical prefermentwas offered him, stayed there all his working life—some five-and-lhirty years—till in 1424, by wayof a retiring allowance, he was quartered on thePriory of Southwick, Hants. In November 1399Hcnr> IV., within six weeks of his accession (hiseven speedier benevolence to Chaucer will be re-meml)ered), had granted Hoccleve an annuity of^io 1 The following is a transcript of the stanza of text shown in thefacsimile : Hyc nohle and my.^tty Prince excellentMy lord the Prince . o . my lord graciousI humble seruant and obedient until some such provision could be made for him ;and in 1409 this had been increased to ^13, 6s. earnings over and above this annuity, accord-ing to his own account, were no more than £i,a year, so that lack of pence pursued him all hislife, and he may have sadly envied the comparative. ^^ : wealth with which a discriminating age rewardedChaucer. But, as he justly remarks himself, He but little hath may do excessIn his degree, as well as may the rich; and in his youth Hoccleve was a spendthrift, andin middle age, when he had given up hopes of abenefice, took more tow on his distaff (his own Vnto .ioiir estate hyc and gloriousOf whyche I am ful tendrc and ful gelousMe recomniaundc vnto 3our worthynesseWyth hcrte enter and spirit of meeknesse. 78 Chaucers Successors phrase) by marrying a wife. When he writes ofhis follies and troubles Hoccleve becomes interest-ing. He was a weak creature, who tried to winpopularity by spending more than he could afford,sinned and repented with much facility, and wasalways complaining. But he shows us himselfjust as he was, and writ
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectenglishliterature
