GEOFFREY O'HMpER.
IAX he,„is. termed By'lbme of our older
the earlier
^^#Wd<offfi^wi®poetFy ; ,ihdopdi he may bp. conthe
English
S ^ i t d T M p ’the antiquated charac-
iatfptffiHSpL1 an rer biirv Tales will
I Yet, as has
H B ^ n r a R H R S witm^^^gifCT&er. great literary
. wh(*iiffam^!SSg\f.nva.I)ift-. runmM m in spite of his- great
WM the, most
parts (ffjhis life‘Are covered w ituHRgMR^{^9Smi\ «ƒ no memorials’
birtlT'^^^ his tjie\laMeiy'lnis
gMHfflPpr a c t almost as much disputed « tuKniferiomof the |)irth-
'ijllffoJPlHomer. hi the year
1328; We have, -his own anthtfiml^yrr^ ^ a^ljficwKMropkvidace in London.
The { ^ » f his education ba&ic||^bcjh’ a matter W ^ S itfoversv; but from
sijnie^exphessidhs.in his works
It is ^m ^ i'a t’^ S afterwards«(jEroaltat-the < T t o h L d ) i o g ? u j ) h e y
andveCTM)iN^^'peftht,"'informs ils. that there ''4K$jSCfcv record of his having
b?ph/“ fined »tT^|hiliing|wfpr beating a In:
of'thfe, reigns' of Edward IIR^aiid* llif^brcf II., we find evplena’s |
'oi-TpLisf having held •’entries of
many payments to Him "from* tlie^ o^chequeT^l’i-ln the flort\^ightl) } cur ot-the
reign of-the firstrof_ these monarehs, he-d||jlM grant bfii pm^^c^yine'dailyj
during his lifigi Two years ..before this he had^Ik .tlie king as envoy;
?to Genoa.- '*He 1-returned to England. Im ^ ro lwith atfaanlMr the'heauties of
j-.he’TfH.lifl.ri poets-aafer poetry Aen^BM m ^ fe^L Italy. II 'led cim'j Im lionty-
fifth of October, ^l^TO.' %
" We are informed by Speght that thl||§>itaph originally jn^ribed on Chaucer’s
Ttionnme.nt. at Westminster,’ was as follows-:—IH
“ Galfridus Cliaucpr, vutes et fama-poesis", J
Maternse hac sacra' sum tumulatusshj^^®^®
- Although the poet was certainly wrong who^eMCed Geoffrey Chaucer a
“ welld^.' English undgfiled,” for he wrote at a period when our language
was most -corrupted bydhe introduction ^sgwGallicisnts-, yet-he was certainly the
first writer, since ’ tht?®%reaking up)’of t he ^Anglo-Saxon language,' who gave
absolute elegance and*amAotlmess to the EAglish tpqguMV His ear and taste
had, indeed, been improved by)-An acquaintance with the- poetry of a softer