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When Gower first put forth his "Confessio Amantis," we may assume that Chaucer's poetical labours, of the fame of which his brother-poet declared the land to be full, had not yet been crowned by his last and greatest work.
As he was not sure that English would become the language of his cultivated countrymen, he tried each of the three languages used in England. His first important work, the Speculum Meditantis, was written in French; his second, the Vox Clamantis, in Latin; his third, the Confessio Amantis, in English.
Chaucer bitterly reflects on his friend for the indelicacy of some of his tales: "Of all such cursed stories I say fy!" and GOWER, evidently in return, erased those verses in praise of his friend which he had inserted in the first copy of his "Confessio Amantis." Why did CORNEILLE, tottering to the grave, when RACINE consulted him on his first tragedy, advise the author never to write another?
He could not, like Chaucer, transfuse old things into new, but there is enough in his character as a poet to explain the friendship between the pair, of which we hear at the very time when Gower was probably preparing his "Confessio Amantis" for publication.
But my mind was quickened: I read Morley's History of English Literature ... Chaucer all through ... Spenser ... even Gower's Confessio Amantis and Lydgate's ballads ... my recent discovery of Chatterton having made me Old English-mad. As I read the life of young Chatterton I envied him, his fame and his early death and more than ever, I too desired to die young.
At Beddington in Surrey he had many chronicles and romances, and "a greate boke of parchment written and lymned with gold of graver's work De Confessione Amantis, which may be identified as the MS., now marked 18 C 22, in the Royal library. At Richmond was a small collection made by his father, consisting chiefly of missals and romances. At St.
If both these Methods fail, the best way will be to let him see you are much cast down and afflicted for the ill Opinion he entertains of you, and the Disquietudes he himself suffers for your Sake. 'Ardeat ipsa licet tormentis gaudet amantis'. Juv.
"What was it?" asked Lestrange carelessly. "It was a wonderful copy unique as to condition of Gower's Confessio Amantis; not a very interesting book, though I do not doubt Shakespeare was fond of it. You see Shakespeare could hear the stones preaching!" "By Jove, a man may hear the sticks do that any Sunday!" "True enough, sir, ha-ha!" "Have you read Gower, then?" "A good deal of him."
'I like to know what books my friends read. 'Sir, it is old master John Gower's book of verses, entitled Confessio Amantis, answered his lordship. 'It is a book I have never seen before, said the king, glancing at its pages. 'Oh! returned the marquis, 'it is a book of books, which if your majesty had been well versed in, it would have made you a king of kings.
Mechanically he took his Confessio Amantis, and sat down, but never opened it; rose again and took his Shakespere, opened it, but could not read; rose once more, took his Vulgate, and read: 'Quid turbamini, et ploratis? puella non est mortua, sed dormit. He laid that book also down, fell on his knees, and prayed for her who was not dead but sleeping.
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