suit "to express themselves in any language generally understood."* At length, in 1352, a statute ordains that henceforward all pleas shall be made in English, and enrolled in Latin, and that in English law courts "the French language, which is too unknown in the said realm, shall be discontinued." The rising power of the third estate, the Commons, in Parliament, signally manifested when they formally joined in the deposition of Richard II and the placing of Henry IV upon the throne, gave official recognition to English as the language of the common people until, "in 1363, the Chancellor opened the session of Parliament by a speech in English, the first ever heard in Westminster."† Scholars find in the latter part of the thirteenth and the opening of the fourteenth century many interesting productions and fragments showing the general progress of the language, but otherwise of little importance. The "Chronicle of England,” by Robert of Gloucester, who flourished about the year 1300, begins-like that of Layamon-with the siege of Troy, and extends to the death of Henry III, in 1372, but has not Layamon's poetical merit. Its opening lines prove Robert to have had the sturdy patriotism of the typical Englishman: "Engelond ys a wel god lond, ich wene of eche lond best, Y set in the ende of the world, as al in the West. The see goth hym al a boute, he stont as an yle.”‡ *Jusserand, "Literary History of the English People,” vol. i, p. 239. tIbid., p. 242. It is interesting to observe that this poet refers to "Engelond," or the "lond" by he or him, where we should use "it," or in personification, "she" or "her." In his writings nearly two hundred and fifty years after the Norman Conquest, the proportion of Norman-French words does not exceed four or five per cent, though some of these appear for the first time in his works. Despite the scholarly interest in these and other works and fragments, it may almost be said that there is no English literature from the time of Layamon and Orm (about 1200 A. D.) to the time of Chaucer-a period of one hundred and fifty years. Writing there was— enough of it, such as it was-sufficing to keep the English pen in play, though not especially to exalt the mind. That is, the language was progressing, though literature was not. There was matter for the people to read, to keep the popular intellect awake, and to record the insensible changes of the language. In his article "English Literature" in the "Encyclopedia Britannica," Dr. Henry Bradley says: "The extent and character of the literature produced during the first half of the 14th century (1300-1350) indicate that the literary use of the native tongue was no longer, as in the preceding age, a mere condescension to the needs of the common people. The rapid disuse of French as the ordinary medium of intercourse among the middle and higher ranks of society, and the consequent substitution of English for French as the vehicle of school instruction, created a widespread demand for vernacular reading. The literature which arose in answer to this demand, though it consisted mainly of translations or adaptations of foreign words, yet served to develop the appreciation of poetic beauty, and to prepare an audience in the near future for a poetry in which the genuine thought and feeling of the nation were to find expression." V CHAUCERIAN ENGLISH Contemporaries of Chaucer ENGLAND had been engaged in conflict at home and wars abroad. Especially had the French wars of the reign of Edward III brought glory to the English arms and had united Norman noble and Saxon yeoman as never before. A historian remarks of the English victory over the French at Crecy : "It was a victory of foot soldiers over horse soldiersof a nation in which all ranks stood heartily together over one in which all ranks except that of the gentry were despised." -GARDINER, "A Student's History of England," vol. I, ch. 15, p. 242. But these wars, however gratifying to the national pride, had sadly wasted the lives of Englishmen. The Great Plague, known as the "Black Death," had swept away half the population of the British Isles. With the scarcity of laborers, prices of labor had risen, which oppressive enactments strove in vain to stay. All this had produced that wide industrial unrest soon to culminate in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Such conditions stimulate popular thought and inquiry as to the foundations of right |