Much of my work has been done in the Bodleian Library and with Bodleian manuscripts, and I should like to acknowledge the courtesy which I have always received there from the Librarian. My thanks are also due to the Librarians of those Colleges, both at Oxford and Cambridge, which possess Gower manuscripts, and to Dr. Young of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, for the trouble which they have taken in giving me facilities for the use of their books, and especially to the Cambridge University Librarian, Mr. Jenkinson, for assistance of various kinds in connexion with the manuscript of the _Mirour de l’Omme_. I am obliged to the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, for the loan of their manuscript of the _Vox Clamantis_, and to several private owners, the Duke of Sutherland, the Marquess of Salisbury, the Marquess of Bute, the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord Middleton, and J. H. Gurney, Esq., for having allowed me to make use of their manuscripts. Finally, my thanks are due to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press for having undertaken the publication of a book which can hardly be very profitable, and for the consideration which they have shown for me in the course of my work. OXFORD, 1899. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION xi MIROUR DE L’OMME 1 CINKANTE BALADES 335 TRAITIÉ POUR ESSAMPLER LES AMANTZ MARIETZ 379 NOTES 393 GLOSSARY AND INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 475 INDEX TO THE NOTES 563 INTRODUCTION From a statement in Latin which is found in many of the Gower manuscripts, and undoubtedly proceeds from the author himself, we learn that the poet desired to rest his fame upon three principal works, the first in French, the second in Latin, and the third in English. These are the three volumes which, lying one upon another, form a pillow for the poet’s effigy in the church of Saint Saviour, Southwark, where he was buried. They are known by the Latin names, _Speculum Meditantis_, _Vox Clamantis_, _Confessio Amantis_, but the first of the three has until recently been looked upon as lost. In addition there are minor poems in each of the three languages, among which are two series of French balades. It will be my duty afterwards to prove the identity of the _Mirour de l’Omme_ printed in this volume with our author’s earliest principal work, commonly known as _Speculum Meditantis_, but named originally _Speculum Hominis_; in the mean time I shall ask leave to assume this as proved, in order that a general view may be taken of Gower’s French writings before we proceed to the examination of each particular work.