Mr._Ascham_ and Mr. _Spenser_ have
delivered most worthy Testimonies of their approving of him.
Mr._Ascham_, in one place calleth him _English Homer_, and makes no
doubt to say, that he valueth his Authority of as high estimation as he
did either _Sophocles_ or _Euripides_ in _Greek_. And in another place,
where he declareth his Opinion of _English_ Versifying, he useth these
Words; Chaucer _and_ Petrark _those two worthy Wits, deserve just
praise_. And last of all, in his Discourse of _Germany_, he putteth him
nothing behind either _Thucydides_ or _Homer_, for his lively
Descriptions of Site of Places, and Nature of Persons, both in outward
Shape of Body, and inward Disposition of Mind; adding this withal, That
not the proudest that hath written in any Tongue whatsoever, for his
time hath outstript him.

Mr. _Spenser_ in his first Eglogue of his _Shepherds Kalendar_, calleth
him _Tityrus_, the God of Shepherds, comparing him to the worthiness of
the _Roman Tityrus, Virgil_. In his _Fairy Queen_, in his Discourse of
Friendship, as thinking himself most worthy to be _Chaucer_'s friend,
for his like natural disposition that _Chaucer_ had; he writes, That
none that lived with him, nor none that came after him, durst presume
to revive _Chaucer_'s lost labours in that imperfect Tale of the
Squire, but only himself: which he had not done, had he not felt (as he
saith) the infusion of _Chaucer_'s own sweet Spirit surviving within
him. And a little before, he calls him the most Renowned and Heroical
Poet, and his Writings the Works of Heavenly Wit; concluding his
commendation in this manner:

_Dan Chaucer_ well of _English_ undefiled,
On Fames eternal Bead-roll worthy to be filed;
I follow here the footing of thy feet,
That with thy meaning so I may the rather meet.

Mr. _Cambden_, reaching one hand to Mr. _Ascham_, and the other to Mr.
_Spenser_, and so drawing them together, uttereth of him these words,
_De_ Homero _nostro_ Anglico _illud vere asseram, quod de_ Homero
_eruditus ille_ Italus _dixit_.

----_Hic ille est, cujus de gurgite sacro,
Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores._

The deservingly honoured Sir _Philip Sidney_, in his _Defence of
Poesie_, thus writeth of him, Chaucer _undoubtedly did excellently in
his_ Troylus _and_ Crescid, _of whom truly I know not whether to marvel
more, either that he in that misty time could see so clearly or we in
this clear age walk so stumblingly after him._