d
the neck is encircled with a collar, from which a chain held a small
swan, the badge of Henry IV. "Besyde on the wall where as he lyeth,"
continues Berthelet, "there be peynted three virgins, with crownes on
theyr heades; one of the which is written _Charitie_, and she holdeth
this devise in her hande:--

'En toy qui fitz de Dieu le Pere
Sauve soit que gist souz cest piere.'

(In thee, who art Son of God the Father,
Be he saved who lieth under this stone.)

"The second is wrytten _Mercye_, which holdeth in her hande this
devise:--

'O bone Jesu fait ta mercy
Al alme dont le corps gist icy.'

(O good Jesus, grant thy mercy
To the soul whose body lies here.)

"The thyrde of them is wrytten _Pity_, which holdeth in her hand this
devise:--

'Pur ta pite, Jesu regarde,
Et met cest alme en sauve garde.'"

(For thy pity, Jesus, see;
And take this soul in thy safe guard.)

The monument was repaired in 1615, 1764, and 1830.

The three works which pillow the head of the effigy indicate Gower's
'Speculum Meditantis' (The Looking-Glass of One Meditating), which the
poet wrote in French; the 'Vox Clamantis' (The Voice of One Crying), in
Latin; and the 'Confessio Amantis,' in English. It should be remembered
in noting this mixture of tongues, that in Gower's early life the
English had no national speech. The court, Parliament, nobles, and the
courts of law used French; the Church held its service in Latin; while
the inhabitants of Anglo-Saxon blood clung to the language of their
fathers, which they had modified by additions from the Norman tongue. It
was not until 1362 that Parliament was opened by a speech in English.
"There is," says Dr. Pauli, "no better illustration of the singular
transition to the English language than a short enumeration and
description of Gower's writings." Of the 'Speculum Meditantis,' a
treatise in ten books on the duties of married life, no copy is known to
exist. The 'Vox Clamantis' was the voice of the poet, singing in Latin
elegiac of the terrible evils which led to the rise of the commons and
their march to London under Wat Tyler and Jack Straw in 1381. It is
doubtless a true picture of the excesses and miseries of the day. The
remedy, the poet says, is in reform--right living and love of England.
Simony in the prelates, avarice and drunkenness in the libidinous
priests, wealth and luxury in the mendicant orders, miscarrying of
justice in the courts, enrichmen