of fortune, and then wrote his Testament of Love, in which are many
pathetic exclamations concerning the vicissitude of human things,
which he then bitterly experienced. But as he had formerly been the
favourite of fortune, when dignities were multiplied thick upon him,
so his miseries now succeeded with an equal swiftness; he was not only
discarded by his majesty, unpensioned, and abandoned, but he lost the
favour of the duke of Lancaster, as the influence of his wife's sister
with that prince was now much lessened. The duke being dejected with
the troubles in which he was involved, began to reflect on his
vicious course of life, and particularly his keeping that lady as
his concubine; which produced a resolution of putting her out of his
house, and he made a vow to that purpose. Chaucer, thus reduced, and
weary of the perpetual turmoils at court, retired to Woodstock, to
enjoy a studious quiet; where he wrote his excellent treatise of the
Astrolabe; but notwithstanding the severe treatment of the government,
he still retained his loyalty, and strictly enjoined his son to pray
for the king. As the pious resolutions of some people are often the
consequence of a present evil, so at the return of prosperity they are
soon dissipated. This proved the case with the duke of Lancaster: his
party again gathered strength, his interest began to rise; upon which
he took again his mistress to his bosom, and not content with heaping
favours, honours, and titles upon her, he made her his wife, procured
an act of parliament to legitimate her children, which gave great
offence to the duchess of Gloucester, the countess of Derby, and
Arundel, as she then was entitled to take place of them. With her
interest, Chaucer's also returned, and after a long and bitter storm,
the sun began to shine upon him with an evening ray; for at the
sixty-fifth year of his age, the king granted to him, by the title of
Delectus Armiger Noster, an annuity of twenty marks per annum
during his life, as a compensation for the former pension his needy