It is clear to me that Lydgate is, _at first_, simply repeating the information which we have already had upon Chaucer's own authority; he begins by merely following Chaucer's own language in the extracts above cited. Possibly he knew no more than we do of 'Orygene vpon the Maudelayn,' and of the 'boke of the Lyon.' At any rate, he tells us no more about them. Naturally, in speaking of the Minor Poems, we should expect to find him following, as regards the three chief poems, the order of length; that is, we should expect to find here a notice of (1) the House of Fame; (2) the Book of the Duchesse; and (3) the Parliament of Foules. We are naturally disposed to exclaim with Ten Brink (_Studien_, p. 152)--'Why did he leave out the House of Fame?' But we need not say with him, that 'to this question I know of no answer.' For it is perfectly clear to me, though I cannot find that any one else seems to have thought of it, that 'Dant in English' and 'The House of Fame' are one and the same poem, described in the same position and connexion. If anything about the House of Fame is clear at all, it is that (as Ten Brink so clearly points out, in his _Studien_, p. 89) the influence of Dante is more obvious in this poem than in any other. I would even go further and say that it is the _only_ poem which owes its chief inspiration to Dante in the whole of English literature during, at least, the Middle-English period. There is absolutely nothing else to which such a name as 'Dante in English' can with any fitness be applied. The phrase 'himselfe doth so expresse' is rather dubious; but I take it to mean: '(I give it that name, for) he, i. e. Chaucer, expresses himself like Dante (therein).' In any case, I refuse to take any other view until some competent critic will undertake to tell me, what poem of Chaucer's, other than the House of Fame, can possibly be intended. To which argument I have to add a second, viz. that Lydgate mentions the House of Fame in yet another way; for he refers to it at least three times, in clear terms, in other passages of the same poem, i. e. of the Fall of Princes. 'Fame in her palice hath tru_m_pes mo than one, Some of golde, that geueth a freshe soun'; &c.--Book I. cap. 14. 'Within my house called the house of Fame The golden trumpet w_i_t_h_ blastes of good name Enhaunceth on to ful hie parties, Wher Iupiter sytteth amo_n_g the heue_n_ly skies. 'Another tru_m_pet of sownes ful vengeable Which bloweth vp at feastes funerall, Nothinge bright, but of colour sable'; &c.--Prol. to Book VI. 'The golden trumpe of the house of Fame[201] Through the world blew abrode his name.'--Book VI. cap. 15.