considerable merit, especially when it is considered how barren and
unpolite the age was in which he flourished. In the prologue to this
he makes an apology for his youth, and it appears that the whole was
finished Anno Dom.-1508, which was about the close of the reign of
Henry VII. In elegancy of manners he has the advantage of all his
predecessors, as is particularly remarkable in his address to Sir
Giles Alington, his patron. The poet was now grown old, and the knight
desiring him to abridge and improve Gower's Confessio Amantis, he
declines it in the politest manner, on account of his age, profession,
and infirmities; 'but tho' love is an improper subject, 'says he, I
am still an admirer of the sex, and shall 'introduce to the honour of
your acquaintance, 'four of the finest ladies that nature ever framed,
'Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Magnanimity;' the whole of the
address is exceeding courtly, and from this I shall quote a few lines,
which will both illustrate his politeness and versification

To you these accorde; these unto you are due,
Of you late proceeding as of their head fountayne;
Your life as example in writing I ensue,
For, more then my writing within it can contayne:
Your manners performeth and doth there attayne:
So touching these vertues, ye have in your living
More than this my meter conteyneth in writing.
My dities indited may counsell many one,
But not you, your maners surmounteth my
doctrine
Wherefore, I regard you, and your maners all
one,
After whose living my processes, I combine:
So other men instrusting, I must to you encline