his “ Mj^S4a^M1’'v'W'hich, 'giving top Kis expres-iön a proper jtmJtdfleJjK/iil.'
'agree vëry/well with t|te. age jreprcsented in thifwortrait made-iif 142tK$pyenty
years. before.‘ The date commonly'given as tKatrJpf his d^athj .1432, i^ouiti
i n a d m i s s ib l e * j.
It is very remarkable that so little 'shojild bó .known of a man who ome^e.l!
||||much ;celèbKtyfin .his o'wn' time, particularly when we consider that he ®as
Sne of that order who’ were the chief recorders of historical events.1? and it is
not lé& angular .‘ that: one who. wrote- such an^immense q uantitT^ a vferse «pml rl
have left so ' fewi^Q^ces. of his 'oWttilifbii -He had many pafiFbhs,’.^ik^^Bse
command most of his larger works werè written,' and who- Appear 'nót'k ^ h ave
'been backward in remunerating his "labours^Jn the collection p ff^ ^ g a te ’s
Minor Poems, published by Mr, Halliweil, there is a^yery- amusing mpimn t"
the .Duke .of Gloucester for money “ on.account^ofv-they^ahslat®|^®^^pasc
whieh|pi| was then writing for that - nobleman, .by ^tfbicb, p.
poet was poor:—
“ My purswand 5h? callid to the lu r$ '■
■ Of indigence, dura! stuff leyd&’inSno^agejpJ ^
But my lorde may al my.sQTgw^^^BaS?|
With a receyte of plate and. of eoyn^^^^^Sgi;
And in one of the concluding^ stanzas of the ’^m^^?e(^h^'(^plainsnbfi®e
two evils, age and poverty; which-then oppressed
“ O sely fiille, why artow nat ashamed,
- 'So maleapert to shew out thy pótfstrayïit'?
But povert hath so nygh thy t0,uhe’,ataini dr *
ThatniAiZ hotel is cause of thy’cpmpl&vnt*
jLdrye tysiE makitEoH'nnen fttCxojnt ;
Bediest way to renews theyr corage- -'
Is a fressh dragge, of ho spices rfeynf;“ ;/
But of bright plate enprynted rth coj ngntuc ” ( ,
" In a poem, in the same collection, wher AhVtprbfessesyto - speak of himself,
instead of giving us any definite information/ h ^ f ells his idleness in SSis
schoolboy days; that he used to rob gardens—-7^
“ Ban into gardyns, applys ther I stal ;
To gadre ftutys sparyd kegg nor wal ;
To plukke.grapys 5h othir mennys yynés,
Wasjnoor reedy than for to seyn matynes jT ,
and that he used" to idle his time in playing with cherry-stoneB—
“ Bediere chirstoonys for to telle,
Then gon to chirche or heere the sacry belle.’