§ 50. It now becomes easy to explain the reference to the queen at Woodstock, which has never yet been accounted for. The poem begins with the words--'_The God of Love!_ Ah benedicite,' quoted from Chaucer, the title of the poem being 'The Book of Cupid, _God of Love_,' as has been said; and this title was imitated from Hoccleve's poem of 1402. But there was no queen of England after Henry's accession till Feb. 7, 1403, when the king married Joan of Navarre; and it was she who held as a part of her dower the manor and park of Woodstock; see Wylie, as above, ii. 284. Hence the following hypothesis will suit the facts--namely, that the poem, imitating Chaucer's manner, and having a title imitated from Hoccleve's poem of 1402, was written by Sir Thomas Clanvowe, who held Lollard opinions[22] and was a friend (at one time) of Henry of Monmouth. And it was addressed to Joan of Navarre, Henry's stepmother, queen of England from 1403 to 1413, who held as a part of her dower the manor of Woodstock. If so, we should expect it to have been written before April, 1410, when Thomas Badby, the Lollard, was executed in the presence of the prince of Wales. Further, as it was probably written early rather than late in this period, I should be inclined to date it in 1403; possibly in May, as it relates so much to the time of spring. I may add that the Clanvowes were a Herefordshire family, from the neighbourhood of Wigmore. The only remarkable non-Chaucerian word in the poem is the verb _greden_, to cry out (A.S. _gr[=æ]dan_); a word found in many dialects, and used by Layamon, Robert of Gloucester, Langland, and Hoccleve. The poem is written in a light and pleasing style, which Wordsworth has fairly reproduced. The final _-e_ is suppressed in _assay-e_ (l. 52). The non-Chaucerian rimes are few, viz. _gren-e_ and _sen-e_ as riming with _been_ (61-5), shewing that Clanvowe cut down those dissyllables to _green_ and _seen_. And further, the forms _ron_ and _mon_ are employed, in order to rime with _upon_ (81-5); whereas Chaucer only has the form _man_; whilst of _ran_ I remember no example at the end of a line[23].