The complete works of John Gower, volume 4 : $b The Latin works — John Shaqi
The complete works of John Gower, volume 4 : $b The Latin worksGower, John
General
The complete works of John Gower, volume 4 : $b The Latin works
Gower, John
Poetry
The one remaining record is the tomb in St. Saviour’s church. This
originally stood in the chapel of St. John the Baptist, on the north
side of the church, but in 1832, the nave and north aisle being in
ruins, the monument was removed to the south transept and restored at
the expense of Earl Gower. After the restoration of the church this
tomb was moved back to the north aisle in October 1894, and was placed
on the supposed site of the chapel of St. John the Baptist, where it
now stands[43].
In the course of nearly five centuries the tomb has undergone many
changes, and the present colouring and inscription are not original.
What we have now is a canopy of three arches over an altar tomb, on
which lies an effigy of the poet, habited in a long dark-coloured gown,
with a standing cape and buttoned down to his feet, wearing a gold
collar of SS, fastened in front with a device of a chained swan between
two portcullises. His head rests on a pile of three folio volumes
marked with the names of his three principal works, _Vox Clamantis_,
_Speculum Meditantis_, _Confessio Amantis_. He has a rather round face
with high cheek-bones, a moustache and a slightly forked beard, hair
long and curling upwards[44], and round his head a chaplet of four red
roses at intervals upon a band[45], with the words ‘merci ihs[46]’
(repeated) in the intervals between the roses: the hands are put
together and raised in prayer: at the feet there is a lion or mastiff
lying. The upper ledge of the tomb has this inscription, ‘Hic iacet I.
Gower Arm. Angl. poeta celeberrimus ac huic sacro edificio benefac.
insignis. Vixit temporibus Edw. III et Ric. II et Henr. IV.’ In front
of the tomb there are seven arched niches. Against the wall at the end
of the recess, above the feet of the figure, a shield is suspended
bearing arms, argent, on a chevron azure three leopards’ faces or,
crest a talbot (or lion) upon a chapeau. The wall behind the tomb under
the canopy is at present blank; the original painting of female figures
with scrolls has disappeared and has not been renewed, nor has the
inscription ‘Armigeri scutum,’ &c., been replaced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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