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Home  »  The English Poets  »  Extracts from the De Regimine Principum

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. I. Early Poetry: Chaucer to Donne

Thomas Hoccleve (c. 1368–c. 1426)

Extracts from the De Regimine Principum

From the Proem

BUT wele awaye, so is myn hertë wo,

That the honour of English tounge is deed,

Of which I was wonte have counseil and rede.

O maister dere and fader reverent,

My maister Chaucer! floure of eloquence,

Mirrour of fructuous entendement,

O universal fadir in science,

Allas! that thou thyne excellent prudence

In thy bedde mortel myghtest not bequethë;

What eyled Dethe? allas, why wold he sle the?

O Dethe, that didest not harmë singulere

In slaughtre of hym, but alle this lond it smerteth;

But natheles yit hast thow no powere

His name to slee; his hye vertu asterteth

Unslayne fro the, whiche ay us lyfly herteth

With bookës of his ornat endityng,

That is to alle this londe enlumynyng.

Hastow nat eek my maistre Gower slayne?

Whos vertu I am insufficient

For to descreyve, I wote wel in certeyne:

For to sleen alle this world thow hast y-ment,

But syn oure Lord Christ was obedient

To thee, in feyth I can no better seye,

His creaturës musten thee obeye.

From the ‘De Regimine Principum’

Symple is my goste and scars my letterure,

Unto youre excellencë for to write

Myne inward love, and yit in aventure

Wol I me put, thogh I can but lyte;

My derë maister,—God his soulë quyte,—

And fader, Chaucer, fayne wold have me taught,

But I was dulle, and lerned lyte or naught.

Allas! my worthy maister honorable,

This londes verray tresour and richesse,

Dethe by thy dethe hath harme irreperable

Unto us done: hir vengeable duresse

Dispoiled hath this londe of the swetnesse

Of rethoryk, for unto Tullius

Was never man so like amongës us.

Also, who was hyër in phylosofye

To Aristotle in our tunge but thow?

The steppës of Virgile in poysye

Thou folwedest eke: men wotë well ynow.

That combre-worlde, that the my maister slowe,

(Wolde I slayne werë!) dethe was to hastyf

To renne on the, and revë the thy lyf.

*****

She myght han taryed hir vengeaunce a whyle,

Tyl sum man hadde egal to the be;

Nay, let be that; she wel knew that this yle

May never man forth bringë lik to the,

And hir officë nedys do must she;

God bad hire soo, I truste as for the beste,

O maystir, maystir, God thy soulë reste!