vexations from the clergy, seeing their animosity against Wickliff, took him under his protection, and treated him with a kindness proportioned to the enmity which he bore his adversaries.

The grievances of the country from the papal domination had reached such a height, that it was resolved to send an embassy to the pope to treat for the liberties of the church of England. At the head of this mission, which proceeded to Bruges, were the bishop of Bangor and Dr. Wickliff. On the part of the see of Rome they were met by men in whom it could wholly confide. The negociation was carried on with great ability on both sides; and after its sittings had been protracted for two years, the English agents prevailed so far as to gain a stipulation that his holiness should no longer dispose of any benefices in England. This treaty, however, was eluded in a flagrant degree; but in consequence of the talents which Wickliff had displayed in it, he was presented by the king to the living of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, and soon after obtained a prebendal stall in the church of Westbury in the county of Gloucester.

During his residence at Bruges, the views of the church of Rome had been gradually developed to the inquisitive and penetrating Wickliff; and he discovered it to be as corrupt in principle, as he had long known it to be depraved in practice. He now threw off the mask which he had worn so long, and thought it unworthy of his character to temporize. The pretended successor of St. Peter himself did not escape his invectives; the papal infallibility, usurpations, pride, avarice, and tyranny, were the frequent topics of his declamation; and the appropriate epithet of Antichrist seems to have been first conferred on him by this great English reformer,

Having sown the seed which he had reason to believe

would ripen into a full harvest of shame to the church of Rome, he retired to his living in Leicestershire, in order to avoid the gathering storm. But his privacy, and his distance from Oxford, the scene of his honourable labours, gave his enemies fresh spirits. A papal bull was forwarded to Sudbury archbishop of Canterbury, and Courtney bishop of London, to secure this arch-heretic; and at the same time the king and the university were importuned to favour the prosecution.

Wickliff, being cited to appear before the bishop of London at St. Paul's church on a certain day, found himself obliged to notice the unexpected summons. In this situation he applied to his patron the duke of Lancaster who, though he wished to screen him wholly, judged it expedient to sacrifice something to appearances; and only promised to attend him in person to his trial, accompanied by Percy earl-marshal of England. When they reached St. Paul's, the court was already convened, and they had some difficulty in procuring admission. The bishop, vexed to see Wickliff so honourably attended, let fall some peevish expressions; which the high-spirited and indignant Lancaster being unable to brook, he retorted them with great warmth, and even began to threaten. "Sooner," said the duke, in a kind of half-whisper, "than bear such usage from a bishop, I will pull him by the hair of the head out of the church." The populace, however, hearing this menace, the whole assembly was instantly in a ferment. The general cry was, that they would stand by their bishop to the last breath; and the confusion rose to such a height, that the court broke up in disorder, and its proceedings were never resumed.

The

The tumult, however, did not end so soon. duke, in the agitation of his passions, immediately proceeded to the house of peers, where he preferred a bill to deprive the city of London of its privileges, and to

alter its jurisdiction. In consequence of this, all was uproar and riot; and he was obliged to quit the city in precipitation, till the rage of the populace had subsided.

Wickliff again sought the retirement of Lutterworth; and proceeded in his great work, a translation of the scriptures into English. He appears to have met with no more molestation after this, till the death of Edward the Third; when Richard the Second, son of Edward the Black Prince, only eleven years of age, ascended. the throne of his grandfather.

On this occasion the duke of Lancaster, uncle to the young king, aspired to be sole regent; but parliament put the office into commission, and allowed him only a single voice in the executive council. The clergy, who perceived his diminished influence, began their prosecution against Wickliff anew. Articles of accusation were drawn up; and the pope, by several bulls, ordered his imprisonment, or at least cited him to make his personal appearance at Rome within the space of three months, unless he should retract his heretical opinions.

The bulls were treated with neglect in general, and by parliament with contempt. The bishop of London alone entered into the spirit of the pope's mandate; but scarcely had he taken the preliminary steps in this business, when he received a peremptory order from the duke of Lancaster, not to enforce imprisonment for the sake of opinion only, as that was a measure contrary to the laws of England.

The bishop, being intimidated at this interference, contented himself with citing Wickliff to a provincial synod at Lambeth; where being questioned as to the articles of his faith, he gave an ambiguous explanation of them. He was therefore dismissed, with an injunction not to preach any more those doctrines which had

the brightest and most original geniuses that any age or country has produced.

Though Chaucer was extolled in the highest terms of panegyric by his contemporaries, and has deservedly maintained his reputation with posterity, from some strange fatality we know nothing certain of his parentage, though it probably was genteel; and even the place of his birth is not perfectly ascertained. In his "Testament of Love," he calls himself a Londoner but Woodstock, his future residence, puts in its claim to the honour also of being his native place; and he certainly has rendered it classic ground, by his natural but poetical description of some of its most delightful

scenes.

The same uncertainty that attends the history of his birth, attends that of his education. Whether he studied at Oxford or Cambridge, or at both universities successively, is a point much disputed by his biographers; nor can any new light be thrown, at this day, on the subject. That his education was excellent for that age, can scarcely be doubted, from the learning displayed in his works; but that his genius rose still superior to all the advantages of scholastic or academic institution, will admit of no dispute.

Having left the university, he is supposed to have improved himself by travelling into France and the Lowcountries; and on his return, it is partly ascertained that he entered himself a member of the Inner Temple, and for some time prosecuted the study of the law. In a record of this society, published by Speght, the following fact appears: "Geoffrey Chaucer was fined two shillings, for beating a friar in Fleet-street."

But though he might probably pay some attention to law-learning as an accomplishment, there is no reason to think that he ever practised it as a profession.

The sprightliness of his genius, the elegance of his form and manners, and the fertility of his endowments, seem early to have attracted the notice of the court: and he particularly devoted himself to the service of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, son of Edward the Third by whose favour he obtained in marriage Philippa, daughter of sir Pagan Rouet, and sister of the famous lady Catharine Swynford, first governess to the duke's children, and afterwards his wife.

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Chaucer was then in the flower of his age, admired for the elegance of his person, and distinguished for every other talent and accomplishment that could render him acceptable in the gay and splendid court of Edward the Third. As that monarch frequently resided at Woodstock, Chaucer had a house near the park-gate; which still retains his name, though it has been entirely rebuilt and modernised: and here it is probable that he penned some of his happiest compositions.

After serving for some time as the king's page, he was appointed a commissioner to treat with the repub lic of Genoa for the hire of some ships; and on his return, he obtained, among other marks of royal favour, the grant of a pitcher of wine daily. Next year he was made comptroller of the customs of London, for wool, and hides; with a singular proviso, that he should execute that office personally, and not by deputy, and keep the accounts in his own hand-writing. This is a proof that Edward did not promote him for his poetical talents, for in that case he would certainly have given him a different employment.

Soon after this, Chaucer was appointed to act as guardian to one of the king's wards, an office of both honour and profit; and it appears that his income at that period, was not less than a thousand pounds a year; a sum which in those days enabled him to support a splendid ́