his unwritten concordate, after all matters but little now. He is no dim
shadow to us, even in his outward presence; for we possess sufficient
materials from which to picture to ourselves with good assurance what
manner of man he was. Occleve painted from memory, on the margin of one
of his own works, a portrait of his "worthy master," over against a
passage in which, after praying the Blessed Virgin to intercede for the
eternal happiness of one who had written so much in her honour, he
proceeds as follows:--

Although his life be quenched, the resemblance
Of him hath in me so fresh liveliness,
That to put other men in remembrance
Of his person I have here his likeness
Made, to this end in very soothfastness,
That they that have of him lost thought and mind
May by the painting here again him find.

In this portrait, in which the experienced eye of Sir Harris Nicolas sees
"incomparably the best portrait of Chaucer yet discovered," he appears as
an elderly rather than aged man, clad in dark gown and hood--the latter
of the fashion so familiar to us from this very picture, and from the well
known one of Chaucer's last patron, King Henry IV. His attitude in this
likeness is that of a quiet talker, with downcast eyes, but sufficiently
erect bearing of body. One arm is extended, and seems to be gently
pointing some observation which has just issued from the poet's lips. The
other holds a rosary, which may be significant of the piety attributed to
Chaucer by Occleve, or may be a mere ordinary accompaniment of
conversation, as it is in parts of Greece to the present day. The
features are mild but expressive, with just a suspicion--certainly no
more--of saturnine or sarcastic humour. The lips are full, and the nose