In the fourteenth century politics seems to have been, for honest men, a very uncertain business.  Chaucer naturally adhered to the party of John of Gaunt, and his fortunes rose or fell with those of his leader.  From this time until his death he is up and down on the political ladder; to-day with money and good prospects, to-morrow in poverty and neglect, writing his “Complaint to His Empty Purs,” which he humorously calls his “saveour doun in this werlde here.”  This poem called the king’s attention to the poet’s need and increased his pension; but he had but few months to enjoy the effect of this unusual “Complaint.”  For he died the next year, 1400, and was buried with honor in Westminster Abbey.  The last period of his life, though outwardly most troubled, was the most fruitful of all.  His “Truth,” or “Good Counsel,” reveals the quiet, beautiful spirit of his life, unspoiled either by the greed of trade or the trickery of politics: 

    Flee fro the prees, and dwelle with sothfastnesse,
    Suffyce unto thy good, though hit be smal;
    For hord[73] hath hate, and climbing tikelnesse,
    Prees[74] hath envye, and wele[75] blent[76] overal;
    Savour no more than thee bihove shal;
    Werk[77] wel thyself, that other folk canst rede;
    And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. 
    Tempest[78] thee noght al croked to redresse,
    In trust of hir[79] that turneth as a bal: 
    Gret reste stant in litel besinesse;
    And eek be war to sporne[80] ageyn an al[81];
    Stryve noght, as doth the crokke with the wal. 
    Daunte[82] thyself, that dauntest otheres dede;
    And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. 
    That thee is sent, receyve in buxumnesse,
    The wrastling for this worlde axeth a fal. 
    Her nis non hoom, her nis but wildernesse: 
    Forth, pilgrim, forth!  Forth, beste, out of thy stall,
    Know thy contree, look up, thank God of al;
    Hold the hye wey, and lat thy gost thee lede: 
    And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede.

WORKS OF CHAUCER, FIRST PERIOD.  The works of Chaucer are roughly divided into three classes, corresponding to the three periods of his life.  It should be remembered, however, that it is impossible to fix exact dates for most of his works.  Some of his Canterbury Tales were written earlier than the English period, and were only grouped with the others in his final arrangement.

The best known, though not the best, poem of the first period is the Romaunt of the Rose,[83] a translation from the French Roman de la Rose, the most popular poem of the Middle Ages,—­a graceful but exceedingly tiresome allegory of the whole course of love.  The Rose growing in its mystic garden is typical of the lady Beauty.  Gathering the Rose represents the lover’s attempt to win his lady’s favor; and the different feelings aroused—­Love, Hate, Envy, Jealousy, Idleness, Sweet Looks—­are the allegorical persons of the poet’s drama.  Chaucer translated this universal favorite, putting in some original English touches; but of the present Romaunt only the first seventeen hundred lines are believed to be Chaucer’s own work.