That  office  was  on  the  site  of  the  present  Somerset
House,  a  site  haunted  in  our  own  day  also  by
Government  clerks,  but  by  clerks  whose  salaries  are
paid.  We  might  have  known  little  of  Hoccieve  as  a
poet,  if  he  had  not  found  in  song  a  courteous  way  of
diuining  his  employers.  His  longest  work  was  a
metrical  version  of  a  book  ascribed  to  Aristotle  on
the  Duty  of  Princes,  with  an  ingenious  introduction,
written  avowedly  for  presentation  to  Henry  V.,  as  a
way  of  commending  to  royal  attention  his  own  hard
case,  as  a  married  man  in  the  Government  service
\vith  arrears  of  unpaid  salary.  Here  again  is  a
short  poem  of  his,  wi'itten  in  the  name  of  himself
and  his  fellow-clerks,  Bailly,  Oftbrd,  and  Heath,  who
had  a  cold  Christmas  in  view  for  want  of  their
money.  It  was  addi-essed,  with  graceful  play  njwn
his  name,  to  Henry  Somer,  when  he  was  Under-
Treasiu-er;  that  is  to  say,  before  November,  1408,
when  Somer  became  a  Baron  of  the  Exchequer.
POEM  AND  ROUNDEL.
"TO    MY    M.AISTER,    H.    SOMER."

The  Sonne  with  his  beames  of  biightness
To  man  so  kindly  is  and  nourisliing.
That  lacking  it  day  nere "  but  darkness  ;
To-day  he  giveth  his  enlumining,
And  causeth  all  fruit  for  to  wax'  and  spring

Now  syn  that  sonne  may  so  much  avail,
And  most  with  Somer  is  his  sojourning.
That  season  boimteou.s  we  will  assail.
