mone editus in decem dividitur partes et tractans de viciis et virtutibus necnon de variis huius feculi gradibus viam, qua peccator tranfgreffus ad fui creatoris agnicionem redire debet, recto tramite docere conatur. Titulus libelli iftius Speculum hominis nuncupatus eft. Secundus enim liber fermone Latino verfibus exametri compofitus tractat fuper illo mirabili eventu, qui in Anglia tempore Regis Ricardi Secundi anno regni fui quarto contigit, quando ferviles ruftici impetuofe contra nobiles et ingenuos regni infurrexerunt, innocenciam tamen dicti Domini Regis tunc junioris etatis caufam inde excufabilem pronuncians culpas aliunde, et quibus et non a fortuna talia inter homines contingunt enormia, evidencius declarat. Titulufque voluminis huius, cuius ordo feptem continet pagas, Vox Clamantis nominatur. Tercius ifte liber Anglico fermone in octo partes divifus, qui ad inftanciam mone editus in decem dividitur partes et tractans de viciis et virtutibus necnon de variis huius feculi gradibus viam, qua peccator tranfgreffus ad fui creatoris agnicionem redire debet, recto tramite docere conatur. Titulufque libelli iftius Speculum Meditantis nuncupatus est. Secundus enim liber fermone Latino metrice compofitus tractat de variis infortuniis tempore Regis Ricardi Secundi in Anglia contingentibus, unde non folum regni proceres et communes tormenta paffi funt, fet et ipfe crudeliffimus Rex fuis ex demeritis ab alto corruens in foveam quam fecit finaliter proiectus eft. Nomenque voluminis huius Vox Clamantis intitulatur. Tercius ifte liber qui ob reverenciam ftrenuiffimi domini fui Domini Henrici fereniffimi Principis dicti necnon de Lancastria tunc Derbie Comitis Anglico fermone conficitur fecundum Danielis propheciam fuper huius mundi regnorum mutacione a tempore Regis Nabugodonofor ufque nunc tempora diftinguit. Tractat eciam fecundum Aristotelem fuper hiis, quibus Rex Alexander tam in fui regimine quam aliter eius difcipline edoctus fuit. Principale tamen huius operis materia fuper amorem et infatuatas amantum paffiones fundamentum habet. Nomenque fibi appropriatum Confeffio Amantis fpecialiter fortitus eft.* The French poem is placed firft in order, and there is fufficient reafon to believe, that Gower in the earlier part of his career chiefly made use of this language. No copy of the Speculum Meditantis has yet been discovered; what Warton and his copyifts erroneously describe as fuch, is another fhort French poem under the title, "Un Traitee felonc les aucteurs pour enfamplier les amants marietz au fin qils la foy de lour feints espousailles pourront pur fine loyalte guarder et al honeur de Dieu * MS. Harl. 3869, fol. 366, and Caxton, fol. 210". salvement tener.” This work is occafionally met with in manuscript, and has been partially printed.* The contents, examples from mythology, and history, correspond with the title. But there are fifty French Ballads, found only in a very valuable MS. in the poffeffion of the duke of Sutherland, and printed in 1818 for the Roxburghe Club, which are undoubtedly the productions of the poet's younger years. They are tender in fentiment and not unrefined with regard to language and form, especially if we confider that they are the work of a foreigner. They treat of love in the manner introduced by the Provençal poets, which was afterwards generally adopted by thofe in the north of France. A few fpecimens cannot fail to give a favourable idea of Gower's fkill and expreffion. Balade xv. "Com lefperver qe vole par creance "Soubtz vo conftreignte et foubtz vo governance • Balades and other Poems by John Gower; Roxburghe Club, 1818. "Si come le Mois de May lefprees avance, "A voftre ymage est tout ceo qe jeo proie, "Sicom la nief, quant le fort vent tempefte, Ma dame, enfi mon coer manit en tempefte, "Rois Ulyxes, ficom nos dift la geste, Plufque la mort meftoie celle oie Qeft en danger falt qil mera supplie, "Vers vous, ma bone dame, horpris cella, Qeft en danger falt qil mera fupplie." A few lines are preserved in the same manuscript, in which asks the reader's indulgence for his French: the poet "Al Univerfite de tout le monde There are no indications of the dates of his French productions, but that the poet in later days ftill used this language appears from fome French verfes addressed to king Henry IV. after his acceflion, and preserved in the fame volume. Soon after the rebellion of the Commons in 1381, an event which made a great impreffion on his mind, he wrote that fingular work in Latin distichs, called Vox Clamantis, of which we poffefs an excellent edition by the Rev. H. O. Coxe, printed for the Roxburghe Club, in 1850. The name, with an allufion to St. John the Baptist, seems to have been adopted from the general clamour and cry then abroad in the country. The greater bulk of the work, the date of which its editor is inclined to fix between 1382 and 1384 is rather a moral than an historical effay; but the first book describes the infurrection of Wat Tyler in an allegorical difguife; the poet having a dream on the |