The Urry "Chaucer" (1721) and the London Uprising of 1384: A Phase in Chaucerian Biography.

Description: Explains errors in the biography of Chaucer that is included in John Urry's edition of 1721, particularly those associated with the poet's spurious flight to the Continent in 1384 in the face of an accusation of treason. Attributes these errors to the belief that Chaucer wrote Thomas Usk's "Testament of Love" and to the 1717-18 political imbroglios of Thomas Hearne and members of his Oxford circle that produced or influenced the biography, originally composed by John Dart and "corrected" by William Thomas.