of the clause, as in Conf. Am. Prol. 155,

[Pg xli]

[Pg xli]

and similarly in the Balades, e.g. xx. i,

Examples of this are common in the Mirour, as l. 100,

cp. 415, 4523, 7739, 7860, &c.

In other cases too there is a tendency to disarrangement of words or clauses for the sake of metre or rhyme, as Mir. 15941, 17996, compared with Conf. Am. ii. 2642, iv. 3520, v. 6807, &c.

Again, the author of the Confessio Amantis is fond of repeating the same form of expression in successive lines, e.g. Prol. 96 ff.,

Cp. Prol. 937, v. 2469, &c.

This also is found often in the Mirour, e.g. 4864-9:

and 8294-8304,

The habit of breaking off the sentence and resuming it in a different form appears markedly in both the French and the English, as Mir. 89, 17743, Conf. Am. iv. 2226, 3201; and in several passages obscure forms of expression in the Confessio Amantis are elucidated by parallel constructions in the Mirour.

Finally, the trick of filling up lines with such tags as en son degré, de sa partie, &c. (e.g. Mir. 373, 865), vividly recalls the similar use of ‘in his degree,’ ‘for his partie,’ by the author of the Confessio Amantis (e.g. Prol. 123, 930).

The evidence of which I have given an outline, which may be filled up by those who care to look out the references set down above and in the Notes, amounts, I believe, to complete demonstration that this French book called Mirour de l’omme is identical with the Speculum Hominis (or Speculum Meditantis) which has been long supposed to be lost; and, that being so, I consider myself at liberty to use it in every way as Gower’s admitted work, together with the other books of which he claims the authorship, for the illustration both of his life and his literary characteristics.

[Pg xlii]

[Pg xlii]

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