But Chaucer's activity was not confined to foreign missions or to diplomacy; he was as constantly employed in the civil service. In 1374 he was made controller of the great customs--that is, of wool, skins, and leather--of the port of London. In 1382 he received also the post in the same port of controller of the petty customs--that is, of wines, candles, and other articles. The regulations of the office required him to write the records with his own hand; and it is this to which Chaucer is supposed to refer in the statement he makes about his official duties in the 'House of Fame.' In that poem the messenger of Jupiter tells him that though he has done so much in the service of the God of Love, yet he has never received for it any compensation. He then goes on to add the following lines, which give a graphic picture of the poet and of his studious life:-- "Wherfore, as I said ywis,[2] Jupiter considereth this, And also, beau sir, other things; That is, that thou hast no tidings Of Loves folk, if they be glad, Ne of nought elles, that God made; And nought only from far countree That there no tiding cometh to thee, But of the very neighebours, That dwellen almost at thy doors, Thou hearest neither that nor this; But when thy labor all done is, And hast made all thy reckonings, Instead of rest and newe things, Thou goest home to thine house anon, And also[3] dumb as any stone, Thou sittest at another book, Till fully dazed is thy look. And livest thus as an eremite, Although thine abstinence is lyte.[4]" [2] Certainly. [3] As. [4] Little.