and arrayed in a vest of green, with her tresses braided with silk and gold. She treats him at first with disdain, and the Poet swoons away at her feet: satisfied by this convincing proof of his sincerity, she is induced to accept his homage, and becomes his "liege ladye," and the sovereign of his thoughts. In this poem, which is extremely wild, and has come down to us in an imperfect state, Chaucer quaintly admonishes all lovers, that an absolute faith in the perfection of their mistresses, and obedience to her slightest caprice, are among the first of duties; that they must in all cases believe their ladye faultless; that, In every thing she doth but as she should. Construe the best, believe no tales new, For many a lie is told that seem'th full true; But think that she, so bounteous and so fair, Could not be false; imagine this alway. ....*....*....*....* And tho' thou seest a fault right at thine eye, Excuse it quick, and glose it prettily.[47] Nor are they to presume on their own worthiness, nor to imagine it possible they can earn By right, her mercie, nor of equity, But of her grace and womanly pitye.[47] There is, however, no authority for supposing that at the time this poem was written, Chaucer really aspired to the hand of any lady of superior birth, or was very seriously in love; he was then about nineteen, and had probably selected some fair one, according to the custom of his age, to be his "fancy's queen," and in the same spirit of poetical gallantry, he writes to do her honour; he says himself, My intent and all my busie care Is for to write this treatise as I can, Unto my ladye, stable, true, and sure; Faithful and kind sith firste that she began Me to accept in service as her man; To her be all the pleasures of this book, That, when her like, she may it rede and look.[48] Mixed up with all this gallantry and refinement are some passages inconceivably absurd and gross; but such were those times,--at once rude and magnificent--an odd mixture of cloth of frieze and cloth of gold! The "Parliament of Birds," entitled in many editions, the "_Assembly of Fowls_," celebrates allegorically the courtship of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. Blanche, as the greatest heiress of England, with a duchy for her portion, could not fail to be surrounded by pretenders to her hand; but, after a year of probation, she decided in favour of John of Gaunt, who thus became Duke of Lancaster in right of his bride. This youthful and princely pair were then about nineteen. The "Parliament of Birds" being written in 1358, when Blanche had postponed her choice for a year, has fixed the date of Chaucer's attachment to the lady he afterwards married; for, here he describes himself as one who had not yet felt the full power of love--