Tradition  has  assigned  to  him  a  lodge,  near  the
royal  abode  of  Woodstock,  by  the  park  gate,
where  it  is  probable  that  he  composed  some  of
his  early  works  ;  and  there  are  passages  in  these
which  strikingly  coincide  with  the  scenery  of  his
supposed  habitation.  There  is  also  reason  to  pre-
sume that  he  accompanied  his  warlike  monarch  to
France  in  the  year  1359;  and  from  the  record  of
his  evidence  in  a  military  court,  which  has  been
lately  discovered,  we  find  that  he  gave  testimony
to  a  fact  which  he  witnessed  in  that  kingdom  In
the  capacity  of  a  soldier*.  But  the  expedition  of
that  year,  wliich  ended  in  the  peace  of  Bretign^,
gave  little  opportunity  of  seeing  military  service  ;
and  he  certainly  never  resumed  the  profession  of
arms.
In  the  year  1367  he  received  from  Edward  III.
a  pension  of  twenty  marks  per  annum,  a  sum
which  in  those  times  might  probably  be  equiva-
lent to  two  or  Uiree  hundred  pounds  at  the
present  day.  In  the  patent  for  this  annuity  he  is
styled  by  the  king  valettus  noster.  The  name
valettns  was  given  to  young  men  of  the  highest
quality  before  they  were  knighted,  though  not  as
a  badge  of  service.  Chaucer,  however,  at  the  date
of  this  pension,  was  not  a  young  man,  being  then
in  his  thirty-ninth  year.  He  did  not  acquire  the
title  of  scutifer,  or  esquire,  till  five  years  after,
when  he  wasappointed  joint  envoy  to  Genoa  with
Sir  James  Pronan  and  Sir  John  de  Mari.  It
has  been  conjectured,  that  after  finishing  the
business  of  this  mission  he  paid  a  reverential
visit  to  Peti*arch,  who  was  that  year  at  Padua f.
