. ~ '.TIT >ii ' T^r - ' |-^* ^*t^-'--** '~'^^»--^ — ^ -:^.. /*3ar-t_-'.-*iiAj«lB».' 
 
 :i 
 
 ■r:sa0tmmm wm m* ^ , y\i ' )iM ' n^^'^ ^0iil^
 
 
 ^.<^y^^' Jf^J^r/r/. 
 
 I>)a99, 
 
 ^JU 
 
 T. D. WEBSTER. 
 
 ANTIQUARIAN a EXPORT BOOK StLLLER.
 
 Clarcubon |)rc5S ^nm. 
 
 CHAUCER 
 THE MINOR POEMS 
 
 ski: AT
 
 HENRY FROWDE 
 
 
 Oxford University Press Warehouse 
 Amen Corner, K.C.
 
 Clar^nbon; ^uss .Series 
 
 C HAUCER 
 
 THE MINOR POEMS 
 
 EDITED BY THE 
 
 Rev. WALTER W. SKEAT, Litt.D. 
 
 LL.D. EDIN., M.A. OXON. 
 
 Elringion and Bosworth Professor of A nglo-Saxon 
 in the University of Cambridge 
 
 ' He made the book that hight the Hous of Fame, 
 And eek the Deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse, 
 And the Parlament of Foules, as I gesse, . . . 
 And many an ympne for your halydayes, 
 That highten Balades, Roundels, Virelayes.' 
 
 Legend of Good Women, 417-423 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 MDCCCLXXXVIIl 
 
 [ All rights reserved ]
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 IINIVER?n V OF CAfJFORIvnM 
 SAINTA iiAiliiAiU 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Testimony of Chaucer regarding his works 
 
 Lydgate's list of Chaucer's Poems . 
 
 Testimony of John Shirley 
 
 Testimony of Scribes of the MSS. . 
 
 Testimony of Caxton .... 
 
 Early Editions of Chaucer's Works 
 
 Table of Contents of Stowe's Edition (1561) 
 
 Discussion of the Poems in Part I. of the Edition of 
 
 1561 
 
 Discussion of the Poems in Part II. of the Edition of 
 
 1561 
 
 Poems added in Speght's Editions . 
 Pieces added in Morris's Edition, 1866 . 
 Description of the Manuscripts 
 List of the Manuscripts .... 
 Remarks on some of the Manuscripts — 
 Manuscripts at Oxford . 
 Manuscripts at Cambridge 
 Manuscripts in London . 
 Remarks on Poems i-xxiii .... 
 
 I. An A. B. C 
 
 II. The Compleynte unto Pite . 
 
 III. The Book of the Duchesse . 
 
 IV. The Compleynt of Mars 
 V. The Parlement of Foules 
 
 VI. Merciles Beaute: a triple Roundel 
 
 VII. Anelida and Arcite 
 
 VIII. Chaucer's Wordes unto Adam 
 
 IX. The House of Fame : in three books 
 
 X. The Former Age .... 
 
 XI. Fortune 
 
 PAGE 
 
 vii 
 
 xm 
 xiv 
 
 XV 
 
 XV 
 
 XXX 
 
 xxxii 
 
 XXXV 
 
 xxxvii 
 xxxvii 
 
 xl 
 
 xlii 
 
 xlv 
 
 xlvii 
 
 1.^ 
 61 
 
 73 
 100 
 102 
 117 
 118 
 186 
 189
 
 VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XII. Truth 
 
 XIII. Gentii.es.se 
 
 XIV. Lak of Stedfastnesse 
 XV. Agai.nst Women Unconstaunt 
 
 XVI. Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan 
 
 XVII. Lenvov de Chaucer a Bukton 
 
 xviii. The Complevnt of Venus 
 
 XIX. The Complevnt to his Empty Purse 
 
 XX. Proverbs 
 
 Appendix — 
 
 XXI. A Compleint to his Lady 
 xxii. An amorous Compleint 
 xxiii. Balade of Compleint 
 
 Notes to the Minor Poems 
 
 Glossarial Index .... 
 
 Index of Proper Names 
 
 Index of Subjects explained in the Notes 
 
 PAGE 
 
 197 
 199 
 201 
 204 
 206 
 210 
 212 
 
 213 
 21S 
 
 222 
 
 223 
 
 457
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Now that the fifth century since the death of Chaucer is 
 ahnost completed, it seems high time that a serious attempt 
 should be made to present to readers an edition of his Minor 
 Poems in something like a reasonable spelling and with a suf- 
 ficient quantity of illustration in the form of notes. Mr. Sweet 
 has given us a few extracts from these, in his Second Middle- 
 English Primer, but confesses that he has ' not attempted to fore- 
 stall the inevitable German, who, it is to be hoped, will some day 
 give us a critical edition of Chaucer.' Though I am perhaps to 
 some extent disqualified, as being merely a native of London, 
 in which city Chaucer himself was born, I hope I may be pardoned 
 the temerity of attempting something in this direction. At the 
 same time, it is only right to say that we owe something to 
 Dr. John Koch, who produced 'A Critical Edition of some (^f 
 Chaucer's Minor Poems,' published at Berlin in 1883. The 
 only fault of this edition is that it contains so very little ; the 
 number of short poems in it is only ten, extending in all to 
 483 lines. It docs not seem to be at all well known in England, 
 and perhaps I should never have heard of it, but for the kind- 
 ness of Dr. Koch himself, to whom I beg leave to return my 
 best thanks, at the same time acknowledging my indebtedness 
 to his researches. The present edition is of a fuller character, 
 as it includes all of Chaucer's genuine poetical works with the 
 exception of the three of most importance, that is to say, the 
 Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Cressida, and the Legend of 
 Good Women. 
 
 Just half an hour after writing the above sentences I received 
 from Dr. Willert his edition of ' The House of Fame,' too late, 
 unfortunately, to be of much assistance to me. See further 
 below, with respect to that poem. 
 
 The first question that arises is, naturally, which of the Minor 
 Poems are genuine ? The list here given partly coincides with 
 that adopted by Dr. Fumivall in the publications of the
 
 VIU CHAUCER S OWN TESTIMONY. 
 
 Chaucer Society. I have, however, added five, here numbered 
 vi, XV, xxi, xxii, and xxiii ; my reasons for doing so are given 
 below, where each poem is discussed separately. At the same 
 time, I have omitted the poem entitled ' The Mother of God,' 
 by the advice of Dr. Furnivall himself ; for although he once 
 told us that ' no one can suppose that poor Hoccleve had the 
 power of writing his Master's Mother of God,' there is clear 
 evidence that it was written by the pupil, and not by the 
 master. The only known copy of it is in a MS. now in the 
 library of the late Sir Thomas Phillipps,- which contains sixteen 
 poems, all of which are by the same hand, viz. that of Hoc- 
 cleve. After all, it is only a translation ; still, it is well and 
 carefully written, and the imitation of Chaucer's style is good. 
 It was printed, together with five other poems from the same 
 MS., in the edition of some of ' Occleve's Poems ' by G. Mason, 
 in 1796. Among the un printed poems, according to the editor's 
 preface, is a similar hymn to the Virgin, beginning ' Modir of 
 l>f'.' 
 
 First, we must consider the external evidence generally. 
 
 Testimony of Chaucer regarding his works. 
 
 The most important evidence is that afforded by the poet 
 himself. In an Introduction prefixed to the Man of Law's 
 Prologue (printed in my edition of the Prioresses Talc, at p. 3), 
 he says — 
 
 ' In youth he made of Ccys and Alcioiin ' — 
 
 a story which is preserved at the beginning of the Book of the 
 Duchesse. 
 
 In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, he refers to 
 his translation of the Romaunce of the Rose, and to his Troilus; 
 and, according to MS. Fairfax 16, 11. 417-423, he says — 
 
 ' He made the book that hight the Hons of Fame, 
 And eke the deeth of Blaiinche the Duchesse, 
 And the Parlcniciit of Foules, as I gcsse, 
 
 ' I note by the way that, in one of these poems, addressed to Sir 
 J. Oldcastle, occurs the line — ' Right as a spectacle helpeth feeble 
 sighte' ; an early reference to the use of spectacles. A ' Ballad ' begins 
 with — ' Go litil pa7nfilct, and streight thee dresse ' ; giving an early 
 spelling of pamphlet.
 
 CHAUCER'S OWN TESTIMONY. ix 
 
 And al the love of Palainon and Arcite 
 Of Thebes, thogh the story ys knowen lyte, 
 And many an ympne for your halydayes 
 That highten Balades, Roundels, Virelayes,' &c. 
 
 The rest of the passage docs not immediately concern us, ex- 
 cepting 11. 427, 428, where we find — 
 
 ' He made also, goon ys a grete while, 
 Origcncs vpon the JMaudclcync' 
 
 In the copy of the same Prologue, as extant in MS. Gg. 4. 27, 
 in the Cambridge University Library, there are two additional 
 lines, doubtless genuine, to this effect — 
 
 ' And of the 7vrcchede engcndryngc of mankynde. 
 As man may in pope Innocent I-fynde.* 
 
 There is also a remarkable passage at the end of his Persones 
 Tale, the genuineness of which has been doubted by some, but 
 it appears in the MSS., and I do not know of any sound reason 
 for rejecting it. According to the EUesmere MS., he here 
 mentions — 'the book of Troilus, the book also of Fame, the 
 book of the xxv. Ladies^, the book of the Duchesse, the book of 
 seint Valentynes day of the parlement of briddes . . . the book 
 of the Leoun . . . and many a song,' &c. 
 
 Besides this, in the House of Fame, I. 729, he mentions his 
 own name, viz. ' Geffrey.' We thus may be quite certain as to 
 the genuineness of this poem, the longest and most important 
 of all the Minor Poems, and we may at once add to the list the 
 Book of the Duchesse, the next in order of length, and the 
 Parliament of Foules, which is the third in the same order. 
 
 We also learn that he composed some poems which have 
 not come down to us, concerning which a few words may be 
 useful. 
 
 I. ' Origenes vpon the Maudeleyne' must have been a trans- 
 lation from a piece attributed to Origen. In consequence, 
 probably, of this remark of the poet, the old editions insert a 
 piece called the ' Lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine,' which has 
 no pretence to be considered Chaucer's, and may be summarily 
 
 ' The Legend of Good Women is here meant ; and ' xxv.' is certainly 
 an error for ' xix.'
 
 X L YD gate's list. 
 
 dismissed. It is sufficient to notice that it contains a consider- 
 able number of rimes such as are never found in his genuine 
 works, as, for example, the dissyllabic dy-e^ riming with iv/iy (st. 
 13) ; the plural adjective kcji-e riming vi'ith. y-i-tt, i.e. eyes, which 
 would, with this Chaucerian pronunciation, be no rime at all 
 (st. 19) ; and thirdly, disgised riming with rived, which is a mere 
 assonance, and saves us from the trouble of further investi- 
 gation (st. 25). See below, p. xxvi. 
 
 2. 'The wrechede engendrynge of mankynde ' is obviously 
 meant to describe a translation or imitation of the treatise by 
 Pope Innocent III, entitled De Miseria Conditionis Humanae. 
 The same treatise is referred to by Richard Rolle de Hampole, 
 in his Pricke of Conscience, 1. 498. 
 
 3. ' The book of the Leoun,' i. e. of the lion, was probably a 
 translation of the poem called Le Dit du Lion by Machault ; 
 see the note to 1. 1024 of the Book of the Duchesse in the 
 present volume. 
 
 Lydgate's list of Chaucer's Poems. 
 
 The next piece of evidence is that given in what is known as 
 * Lydgate's list.' This is contained in a long passage in the 
 prologue to his poem known as the ' Fall of Princes,' translated 
 from the French version (by Laurens de Prcmierfait) of the 
 Latin book by Boccaccio, entitled ' De Casibus Virorum Illus- 
 triumV In this Lydgate commends his ' maister Chaucer,' 
 and mentions many of his works, as, e. g. Troilus and Creseide, 
 the translation of Boethius' De Co7isolatione P/nlosophiae, the 
 treatise on the Astrolabe addressed to his ' sonne that called 
 was Lowys,' the Legend of Good Women, and the Canterbury' 
 Tales. The whole passage is given in Morris's edition of 
 Chaucer, vol. i. pp. 79-81 ; but I shall only cite so much of it as 
 refers to the Minor Poems, and I take the opportunity of doing 
 so directly, from an undated black-letter edition published by 
 John Wayland. 
 
 ' Of course I mean that dy-c is the Chaucerian form ; the author of 
 the Lamentation pronounced it differently, viz. as dy. 
 
 ^ See the excellent treatise by Dr. E. Koppel entitled ' Laurcnts de 
 Prcmierfait und John Lydgates Bearbeitungen von Boccaccios De Ca- 
 sibus Virorum lUustrium ' ; Miinchen, 18S5.
 
 Z YD GA TE S LIST. Xt 
 
 ' He wrote also full many a day agone 
 Dant in English, him-selfe doth so expresse, 
 The piteous story of Ccix and Alcion : 
 And the death also of Blannche the ditches : 
 And notably [he] did his businesse 
 By great auise his wittes to dispose. 
 To translate the Romaynt of the Rose. 
 
 * Thus in vertne he set all his entent, 
 Idelnes and vyces for to fle : 
 Oi foiulcs also he wrote the parliament. 
 Therein remembring of royall Eagles thre, 
 Howe in their choyse they felt aduersitye, 
 To-fore nature profered the battayle, 
 Eche for his partye, if it woulde auayle. 
 
 ' He did also his diligence and payne 
 In our vulgare to translate and endite 
 Orygene vpon the Jllaudclayn : 
 And of the Lyon a boke he did write. 
 Of Annelida and of false Arcite 
 He made a complaynt doleful! and piteous ; 
 And of the broche which that Uulcatitis 
 
 'At Thebes wrought, ful diuers of naturoi 
 Guide ^ writeth : who-so thereof had a syght, 
 For high desire, he shoulde not endure 
 But he it had, neuer be glad ne light : 
 And if ha had it once in his myght, 
 Like as my master sayth & writeth in dede. 
 It to conserue he shoulde euer line in dred.' 
 
 It is clear to me that Lydgate is, at first, simply repeating 
 the information which we have already had upon Chaucer's 
 own authority ; he begins by merely following Chaucer's own 
 language in the extracts above cited. Possibly he knew no 
 more than we do of ' Orygene vpon the Maudelayn,' and of the 
 *boke of the Lyon.' At any rate, he tells us no more about 
 them. Naturally, in speaking of the Minor Poems, we should 
 e'xpect to find him following, as regards the three chief poems, 
 the order of length ; that is, we should expect to find here 
 a notice of (i) the House of Fame ; (2) the Book of the 
 Duchesse; and (3) the Parliament of Foules. We are natu- 
 
 ' Not Ovid, but Statins; Lydgate makes a slip here; see note to IV. 
 245. P- 279-
 
 Xll LYDGATE S LIST. 
 
 rally disposed to exclaim with Ten Brink [Sfudien, p. 152) — 
 'Why did he leave out the House of Fame ?' But we need not 
 say with him, that ' to this question I know of no answer.' For 
 it is perfectly clear to me, though I cannot find that any one 
 else seems to have thought of it, that ' Dant in English ' and 
 ' The House of Fame ' are one and the same poem, described 
 in the same position and connexion. If anything about the 
 House of Fame is clear at all, it is that (as Ten Brink so clearly 
 points out, in his Sti(dic7i, p. 89) the influence of Dante is 
 more obvious in this poem than in any other. I would even go 
 further and say that it is the otily poem which owes its chief 
 inspiration to Dante in the whole of English literature during, 
 at least, the Middle-English period. There is absolutely 
 nothing else to which such a name as ' Dante in English ' can 
 with any fitness be applied. The only thing at all odd about 
 it, is that Lydgate should say — ' himselfe doth so expresse ' ; 
 which seems somewhat too explicit. Perhaps he refers to the 
 lines which really relate only to the description of hell, viz. — 
 
 ' Which who-so willeth for to knowe, 
 He moste rede many a rowe 
 On Virgile or on Claudian, 
 Or Datmic, that hit telle can''; 11. 447-450. 
 
 Or I should be quite willing to believe that Chaucer did, on 
 some occasion, allude to his poem by the somewhat humorous 
 title of ' Dante in English,' as confessing his indebtedness ; and 
 that Lydgate has preserved for us a record of the remark. This, 
 however, would require us to read did rather than doth in the 
 phrase 'him-selfe doth so expresse.' In any case, I refuse to 
 take any other view until some competent critic will undertake 
 to tell me, what poem of Chaucer's, other than the House of 
 Fame, can possibly be intended. 
 
 To which argument I have to add a second, viz. that Lydgate 
 mentions the House of Fame in yet another way ; for he refers 
 to it at least three times, in clear terms, in other passages of 
 the same poem, i.e. of the Fall of Princes. 
 
 ' Fame in her palice hath trawpes mo than one, 
 Some of golde, that geueth a freshe soun ' ; &c. 
 
 Book I. cap. 14. 
 
 ' Within my house called the house of Fame 
 The golden trumpet \iMi blastes of good name
 
 SHIRLEY S TESTIMONY. Xlll 
 
 Enhaunccth on to ful hie parties, 
 
 Wher lupiter sytteth amowg the heue«ly skies. 
 
 ' Another truwpet of sownes full vengeaLle 
 \Vhich blowclh vp at feastes funerall, 
 Nothinge bright, but of colour sable ' ; &c. 
 
 Prol. to Book \'I. 
 
 ' The golden trumpe of the house of Fame ^ 
 Through the world blew abrode his name.' 
 
 Book VI. cap. 15. 
 
 Lydgate describes the Parliament of Foules in terms which 
 clearly shew that he had read it. He also enables us to add to 
 our list the Complaint of Anelida and the Complaint of Mars ; 
 for it is the latter poem which contains the story of the broche of 
 Thebes ; see p. 70. We have, accordingly, complete authority 
 for the genuineness of the five longest of the Minor Poems, which, 
 as arranged in order of length, are these : The House of Fame 
 (2158 lines); Book of the Duchesse (1334 lines); Parliament 
 of Foules (699 lines) ; Anelida and Arcite (357 lines) ; and 
 Complaint of Mars (298 lines). This gives us a total of 4846 
 lines, furnishing a very fair standard of comparison whereby to 
 consider the claims to genuineness of other poems. Lydgate 
 further tells us that Chaucer 
 
 'Made and compiled many a freshe dittie, 
 Compla}Tits, ballades, roundels, vyrelaies.' 
 
 Testimony of John Shirley. 
 
 The next best evidence is that afforded by notes in the exist- 
 ing MSS. ; and here, in particular, we should first consider the 
 remarks by Chaucer's great admirer, John Shirley, who took 
 considerable pains to copy out and preserve his poems, and is 
 said by Stowe to have died Oct. 21, 1456, at the great age of 
 ninety, so that he was born more than 30 years before Chaucer 
 died. On his authority, we may attribute to Chaucer the 
 A. B. C. ; the Complaint to Pity (see p. 229) ; the Complaint of 
 Mars (according to a heading in MS. T.) ; the Complaint of 
 
 * In Lydgate's Lyfe of St. Albon, ed. Horstmann, 1. 15, this line 
 appears in the more melodious form — ' The golden trumpet of the 
 House of Fame.'
 
 XIV TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIBES. 
 
 Anelida (according to a heading in MS. Addit. 16165) 5 the 
 Lines to Adam, called in MS. T. ' Chauciers Wordes a. Geffrey 
 vn-to Adam his owen scryveyne' (seep. 117); Fortune (see 
 p. 374) ; Truth (see p. 380) ; Gentilesse (see p. 383) ; Lak of 
 Stedfastnesse (see p. 386) ; the Compleint of Venus (see p. 392); 
 and the Compleint to his Empty Purse (see p. 396). The MSS. 
 due to Shirley are the Sion College MS., Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 
 3. 20, Addit. 16165, Ashmole 59, Harl. 78, Harl. 2251, and Harl. 
 7333- 
 
 Testimony of Scribes of the Mss. 
 
 The Fairfax MS. 16, a very fair MS. of the fifteenth century, 
 contains several of the Minor Poems ; and in this the name of 
 Chaucer is written at the end of the poem on Truth (see p. 194) 
 and of the Compleint to his Purse (see p. 211) ; it also appears 
 in the title of Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan (see p. 201) ; in 
 that of Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton (see p. 204) ; in that of the 
 Compleint oi Chaucer to his empty Purse (p. 210), and in that 
 of ' Proverbe of Chaucer' (p. 398). 
 
 Again, the Pepys MS. no. 2006 attributes to Chaucer the 
 A. B. C, the title there given being ' Pryer a nostre Dame, per 
 Chaucer'; as well as the Compleint to his Purse, the title 
 being ' La Compleint de Chaucer a sa Bourse Voide ' (see 
 p. 210). It also has the title ' Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan.' 
 
 The ' Former Age * is entitled ' Chawcer vp-on this fyfte 
 mctur of the second book' in the Cambridge MS. li. 3. 21 ; and 
 at the end of the same poem is written ' Finit etas prima. 
 Chaucers ' in the Cambridge MS. Hh. 4. 12 (see p. 188). The 
 poem on Fortune is also marked ' Causer ' in the former of 
 these MSS. ; and in fact these two poems practically belong to 
 Chaucer's translation of Boethius, though probably written at a 
 somewhat later period. 
 
 The Cambridge MS. Gg. 4. 27, which contains an excellent 
 copy of the Canterbury Tales, attributes to Chaucer the Parlia- 
 ment of Foules (see p. 99) ; and gives us the title ' Litera 
 dirccta de Scogon per G. C (see p. 201). Of course ' G. C is 
 Geoffrey Chaucer. 
 
 From Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 13, we learn that there 
 is a verse translation of De Deguilevillc's Pelh-inagc de la Vie 
 Jlniruiijic, attributed to Lydgate, in MS. Cotton, Vitcllius C.
 
 TESTIMONY OF CAXTON. xv 
 
 XIII. (leaf 256), in which the *A. B. C is distinctly attributed 
 to Chaucer'. 
 
 Testimony of Caxton. 
 
 At p. 116 of the same Trial Forewords is a description by 
 Mr, Bradshaw of a very rare edition by Caxton of some of 
 Chaucer's Minor Poems. It contains: (i) Parliament of Foules ; 
 (2) a treatise by Scogan, in which Chaucer's ' Gentilesse ' is 
 introduced ; (3) a single stanza of 7 lines, beginning — ' Wyth 
 empty honde men may no hawkes lure ' ; (4) Chaucer's ' Truth,' 
 entitled — 'The good counceyl of Chawcer'; (5) the poem on 
 ' Fortune ' ; and (6) part of Lenvoy to Scogan, viz. the first 
 three stanzas. The volume is imperfect at the end. As to the 
 article No. 3, it was probably included because the first line of 
 it is quoted from 1. 415 of the Wyf of Bathes Prologue (Cant. 
 Ta. 5997). 
 
 At p. 118 of the same is another description, also by Mr. 
 Bradshaw, of a small quarto volume printed by Caxton, con- 
 sisting of only ten leaves. It contains: (i) Anelida and Arcite, 
 11. 1-210; (2) The Compleint of Anelida, being the continuation 
 of the fornier, II. 211-350, where the poem ends ; (3) The Com- 
 pleint of Chaucer vnto his empty purse, with an Envoy headed 
 — ' Thenuoye of Chaucer vnto the kynge ' ; (4) Three ^ couplets, 
 beginning — ' Whan feyth failleth in prestes sawes,' and ending — 
 ' Be brought to gretc confusiozm ' ; (5) Two couplets, beginning 
 — ' Hit falleth for euery gentilman,' and ending — ' And the soth 
 in his presence' ; (6) Two couplets, beginning — ' Hit cometh by 
 kynde of gentil blode,' and ending — ' The werk of wisedom 
 berith witncs'; followed by — 'Et sic est finis.' The last three 
 articles only make fourteen lines in all, and are of little im- 
 portance ^ 
 
 Early Editions of Chaucer's Works. 
 
 The first collected edition of Chaucer's Works is that edited 
 by W. Thynne in 1532, but there were earlier editions of his 
 separate poems. The best account of these is that which I 
 
 * Hoccleve's poem entitled ' Moder of God' is erroneously attributed 
 to Chaucer in two Scottish copies (Arch. Seld. B 24, and Edinb. 
 18. 2. 8). 
 
 * Printed ' Six couplets ' ; clearly a slip of the pen. 
 ^ They are printed in full below, on p. xxxiv.
 
 xvi EARLY EDITIONS OF CHAUCER. 
 
 here copy from a note on p. 70 of Furnivall's edition of F. 
 Thynnc's ' Animaducrsions vpon the Annotacions and Correc- 
 tions of some imperfections of impressiones of Chaucer's 
 Workes' ; published for the Chaucer Society in 1875. 
 
 Only one edition of Chaucer's Works had been published 
 before the date of Thynne's, 1532, and that was Pynson's in 
 1526, without a general title, but containing three parts, with 
 separate signatures, and seemingly intended to sell separately ; 
 1. the boke of Caunterbury tales ; 2. the boke of Fame . . . with 
 dyuers other of his workes [i. e. Assemble of Foules ^, La Belle 
 Dame'^, Morall Prouerbes] ; 3. the boke of Troylus and Cry- 
 seyde. But of separate works of Chaucer before 1532, the 
 following had been published : — 
 
 Canterbury Tales. 1. Caxton, about 1477-8, from a poor MS. ; 
 
 2. Caxton, ab. 1483, from a better MS.; 3. Pynson, ab. 
 1493; 4. Wynkyn de Worde, 1498; 5. Pynson, 1526. 
 
 Book of Fame. 1. Caxton, ab. 1483; 2. Pynson, 1526. 
 Troylus. 1. Caxton, ab. 1483; 2. Wynkyn de Worde, 1 5 17; 
 
 3. Pynson, 1526. 
 
 Parliament of Foules^. 1. Caxton, ab. 1477-8; 2. Pynson, 
 
 1526 ; 3. Wynkyn de Worde, 1530. 
 Gejitihiesse^ (in Scogan's poem). 1. Caxton, ab. 1477-8. 
 Triitli^. (The good counceyl of chawcer). 1. Caxton, ab. 
 
 1477-8. 
 Forttme'^. (Balade of the vilage {sic) without pcyntyng), 
 
 1. Caxton, ab. 1477-8. 
 Envoy to Skogan"^. 1. Caxton, ab. 1477-8 (all lost, after the 
 
 third stanza). 
 Anelida and Arcyte*. 1. Caxton, ab. 1477-8. 
 Purse*. (The compleynt of chancer vnto his empty purse). 
 
 1. Caxton, ab. 1477-8. 
 Mars ; Venus ; Marriage (Lcnvoy to Bukton). 1. Julian Notary, 
 
 1499-1502. 
 
 ^ i. e. the Parliament of Foules. 
 
 - La Belle Dame sans Merci, a poem translated from the French ori- 
 ginally written by ' Maister Aleyn,' chief secretary to the King of 1' ranee. 
 Certainly not by Chaucer ; for Alain Chartier, the author of tiie original 
 French poem, was only about yi;«;- years old when Chaucer died. 
 
 ^ All in Caxton's edition of the Minor Poems, described above, p. xv. 
 
 * Both in the small quarto volume described above, p. xv.
 
 EARLY EDITIONS OF CHAUCER. XVU 
 
 After Thynne's first edition of the Works in 1532 (printed by 
 Thomas Godfray), came his second in 1542 (for John Rtyncs 
 and Wyllyam Bonham), to which he added ' The Plowman's 
 Tale ' after the Parson's Tale. 
 
 Then came a reprint for the booksellers (Wm. Bonham, R. 
 Kele, T. Petit, Robert Toye), about 1550, which put the Plow- 
 man's Tale before the Parson's. This was followed by an 
 edition in 1561 for the booksellers (Ihon Kyngston, Henry 
 Bradsha, citizen and grocer of London, &c.), to which, when 
 more than half printed, Stowe contributed some fresh pieces, 
 the spurious Court of Love, Lydgate's Sege of Thebes, and other 
 poems. Next came Speght's edition of 1598— on which William 
 Thynne comments in his Aniviadversions — which added the 
 spurious ' Dreme,' and ' Flower and Leaf.' This was followed 
 by Speght's second edition, in 1602, in which Francis Thynne 
 helped him, and to which were added Chaucer's 'A. B. C, and 
 the spurious 'Jack Upland ^' Jack Upland had been before 
 printed, with Chaucer's name on the title-page, about 1536-40 
 (London, J. Gough, no date, 8vo.) 
 
 In an Appendix to the Preface to Tyrwhitt's edition of the 
 Canterbury Tales, there is a similar account of the early editions 
 of Chaucer, to which the reader may refer. He quotes the 
 whole of Caxton's preface to his second edition of the Canter- 
 bury Tales, shewing how Caxton reprinted the book because he 
 had meanwhile come upon a more correct MS. than that which 
 he had first followed. 
 
 If we now briefly consider all the earlier editions, we find that 
 they may be thus tabulated. 
 
 Separate Works. Various editions before 1532; see the 
 list above, on p. xvi. 
 
 Collected Works. Pynson's edition of 1526, containing 
 only a portion, as above ; La Belle Dame being spurious. Also 
 the following : — 
 
 1. Ed. by Wm. Thynne ; London, 1532. Folio. Pr. by 
 Godfray. 
 
 2. Reprinted, with additional matter ; London, 1542. Folio. 
 The chief addition is the spurious Plowman's Tale. 
 
 3. Reprinted, with the matter rearranged ; London, no date, 
 about 1550. Folio. 
 
 * Speght added tlu-ee more pieces ; see below, p. xxxiii. 
 b
 
 xviil EARLY EDITIONS OF CHAUCER. 
 
 Here the Plowman's Tale is put before the Parson's. 
 
 4. Reprinted, with large additions by John Stowe. London, 
 1561. Folio. (See further below.) 
 
 5. Reprinted, with additions and alterations by Thomas 
 Speght ; London, 1598. Folio. 
 
 Here, for the first time, appear ' Chaucer's Dream ' and ' The 
 Flower and the Leaf ; both are spurious. 
 
 6. Reprinted, with further additions and alterations by 
 Thomas Speght ; London, 1602. Folio. 
 
 Here, for the first time, appear the spurious Jack Upland \ 
 and the genuine A. B. C. 
 
 7. Reprinted, with slight additions ; London, 1687. Folio. 
 
 8. Reprinted, with additions and great alterations in spelling, 
 by John Urry ; London, 1721. Folio. 
 
 This edition is the worst that has appeared. It is not neces- 
 sary for our purpose to enumerate the numerous later editions. 
 An entirely new edition of the Canterbury Tales was produced 
 by Thomas Tyrwhitt in 1775-8, in 5 vols., 8vo. ; to which all 
 later editions have been much indebted ^. 
 
 The manner in which these editions were copied one from 
 the other renders it no very difficult task to describe the whole 
 contents of them accurately. The only important addition in 
 the editions of 1542 and 1550 is the spurious Plowman's Tale, 
 which in no way concerns us. Again, the only important addi- 
 tional poems after 1 561 are the spurious Chaucer's Dream, The 
 Flower and the Leaf, and the genuine A. B. C. The two repre- 
 sentative editions are really those of 1532 and 1561. Now the 
 edition of 1561 consists of two parts; the former consists of 
 a reprint from former editions, and so differs but little from the 
 
 * Jack Upland is in /rose, and in the form of a succession of questions 
 directed against the friars. 
 
 ^ I have often made use of a handy edition with the following title- 
 page : ' The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, with an Essay on his 
 Language and Versification and an Introductory Discourse, together with 
 Notes and a Glossary. By Thomas Tyrwhitt. London, Edward Moxon, 
 Dover Street, 1S55.' I cannot but think that this title-page may 
 have misled others, as it for a long time misled myself. As a 
 fact, Tyrwhitt never edited anything beyond the Canterbury Tales, 
 though he has left us some useful notes upon the Minor Poems, 
 and his Glossary covers the whole ground. The Minor Poems 
 iu this edition arc merely reprinted from the black-letter editions.
 
 EDITION BY JOHN STOIVE. xix 
 
 edition of 1532 ; whilst the latter part consists of additional 
 matter furnished by John Stowe, Hence a careful examination 
 of the edition of 1561 is, practically, sufficient to give us all the 
 information which we need. I shall therefore give a complete 
 table of the contents of this edition. 
 
 Table of Contents of Stowe's Edition (1561)'. 
 Part I. Reprinted Matter. 
 
 1. Caunterburie Tales. (The Prologue begins on a page with 
 the signature A 2, the first quire of six leaves not being num- 
 bered ; the Knightes Tale begins on a page with the signature 
 B ii.. and marked Fol. i. The spurious Plowman's Tale pre- 
 cedes the Parson's Tale). 
 
 2. The Romaunt of the Rose"^. Fol. cxvi. 
 
 3. Troilus and Creseide. Fol. cli., back. 
 
 4. The testament of Creseide. [By Robert Henryson.] Yo\. 
 cxciiii. Followed by its continuation, called TJie Cotnplaint oj 
 Creseide ; by the same. 
 
 5. The Legende of Good Women. Fol. cxcvij. 
 
 6. A goodlie balade of Chancer ; beginning — ' Mother ol 
 norture, best beloued of all.' Fol. ccx. 
 
 7. Boecius de Consolatione Philosophic. Fol. ccx., back. 
 
 8. The dreame of Chaucer. [The Book of the Duchesse.] 
 Fol. ccxhiij. 
 
 9. Begins — ' My master. (S:c. Whew of Christ our kyng. 
 [Lenvoy to Buckton.] Fol. ccxliiii. 
 
 10. The assemble of Foules. [Parlement of Foules.] Fol. 
 ccxliiii., back. 
 
 11. The Floiire of Ciirtesie, made by Ilion lidgatc. Fol. 
 ccxlviij. Followed by a Balade, which fomis part of it. 
 
 12. How pyte is deed, etc. [Complaint vnto Pite.] Fol. 
 ccxlix,, back. 
 
 * Probably copies slightly differ. The book described by me is a 
 copy in my own possession, somewhat torn at the beginning, and im- 
 perfect at the end. But the three missing leaves only refer to Lydgate's 
 Storie of Thebes. 
 
 ^ I print in italics the names of the pieces which I reject as spurious. 
 b2
 
 XX EDITION BY JOHN STOWE. 
 
 13. La belle Dame sans Mercy. [By Sir R. Ros.] Fol. ccl. 
 
 14. Of Quene Annelida and false Arcite. Fol. cclv. 
 
 15. The assemble of ladies. Fol. ccxlvij. 
 
 16. The conclucions of the Astrolabie. Fol. cclxi. 
 
 17. The complaint of the blacke Knight. [By Lydgate ; see 
 p. xlv.] Fol. cclxx. 
 
 \%. A praise of Women. Begins — ' Al tho the lyste of women 
 euill to spake.' Fol. cclxxiii.^, back. 
 
 19. The House of Fame. Fol. cclxxiiij., back. 
 
 20. 77/1? Testament of Loice (in prose). Fol. cclxxxiiij., back. 
 
 21. The lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine. Fol. cccxviij. 
 
 22. The remedie of Loue. Fol. cccxxj., back. 
 
 23. 24. The complaint of Mars and Venus. Fol. cccxxiiij., 
 back. (Printed as otie poem ; but there is a new title — The 
 complaint of Venus — at the beginning of the latter). 
 
 25. The letter of Cupide. [By Hoccleve ; dated 1402.] Fol. 
 cccxxvj., back. 
 
 26. A Ballade in cojnmefidacion of our Ladie. Fol. cccxxix. 
 
 27. Ihon Gower vnto the noble King Henry the .iiij. Fol. 
 cccxxx, back. 
 
 28. A saiyng of dan Ihon. [By Lydgate.] Fol. cccxxxii., 
 back. 
 
 29. Yet of the same. [By Lydgate.] On the same page. 
 
 30. Balade de bon consail. Begins — If it be falle that God the 
 list visite. (Only 7 lines.) On the same page. 
 
 31. Of the Cuckoive and the Nightingale. Fol. cccxxxiij. 
 
 32. Balade with E7ivoy (no title). Begins — ' O leude booke 
 wixli thyfoule rudenesse.' Fol. cccxxxiiij., back. 
 
 33. Scogan^ vnto the Lordes and Gentilmen of the Kinges 
 house. (This poem, by H. Scogan, quotes Chaucer's * Genti- 
 lesse ' in full). Fol. cccxxxiiij., back. 
 
 34. Begins — ' Somtyme the worlde so stedfast was and 
 stable.' [Lak of Stedfastnesse]. Fol. cccxxxv., back. 
 
 35. Good counsail of Chaucer. [Truth.] Same page. 
 
 36. Balade of the village {sic) without paintyng. [Fortune.] 
 Fol. cccxxxvj. 
 
 37. Begins — ' Tobroken been the statutes hie in heauen ' ; 
 headed Lefiuoye. [Lenvoy to Scogan.] Fol. cccxxxvj., back. 
 
 ' Marked Fol. cclxxvj. by mistake.
 
 EDITION BY JOHN STOWE. xxi 
 
 38. Poem in two stanzas of seven lines each. Begins — ' Go 
 foorthe kyng, rule thee by Sapience.' Same page. 
 
 39. Chaucer to his emptie purse. Same page. 
 
 40. A balade of good counseile translated out of Latin verses 
 in-to Englishe, by Dan Ihon lidgat cleped the monke of Buri. 
 Begins — ' COnsyder well euery circumstaunce.' Fol. cccxxxvij. 
 
 41. A balade in the Praise and commendacion of master 
 Geffray Chan ser for his golden eloquence. (Only 7 lines.) Same 
 leaf, back. [See p. xliv.] 
 
 Part II. Additions by John Stowe. 
 
 At the top of fol. cccxl. is the following remark : — 
 
 % Here foloweth certaine woorkes of Geffray Chauser, whiche 
 
 hath not heretofore been printed, and are gathered and added 
 
 to this booke by Ihon Stowe. 
 
 42. A balade made by Chaucer, teching what is gentilnes'. 
 [Gentilesse.] Fol. cccxl. 
 
 43. A Prouerbe \read Prouerbs] agaynst couitise and negli- 
 gence. [Proverbs.] Same page. 
 
 44. A balade which Chaucer made agaynst women vncon- 
 staunt. Same page. 
 
 45. A balade which Chaucer made in the p^'aise or rather 
 dispraise, of women for ther doublenes. [By Lydgate.] Begins 
 — ' This world is full of variaunce.' Same page. 
 
 46. This werke folowinge was compiled by Chaucer^ and is 
 caled the craft of loiters. Fol. cccxli. 
 
 47. A Balade. Begins— 'Of their nature they greatly the;/z 
 delite.' Fol. cccxH., back. 
 
 48. The .X. Commaiindementes of Loue. Fol. cccxlij. 
 
 49. The dx. Ladies worthie. Fol. cccxlij., back. 
 
 50. [ Virelai ; no tiile.'\ Begins — ' Alone walkyng.' Fol. 
 cccxliij. 
 
 ^\. A Ballade. Begins — 'In the season of Feuerere when 
 it was full colde.' Same page. 
 
 52. A Ballade. Begins—' O Mercifull and o merciable.' 
 Fol. cccxliij., back. [See p. xlvi.] 
 
 53. Here foloweth how Mercurie with Pallas, Venus and 
 
 ' Stowe did not observe that this occurs already, in the midst of poem 
 no. 33.
 
 xxii STOWE'S EDITION: PART I. 
 
 Minarna, appcrcd to Paris of Troie, he slcpyng by a fountain. 
 Fol. cccxliiij. 
 
 54. A balade plcasaimte. Begins — ' I haue a Ladie where so 
 she bee.' Same page. At the end — 'Explicit the discriuyng 
 of a faire Ladie.' 
 
 55. An other Balade. Begins — ' O Mossie Quince, hangyng 
 by your stalke.' Fol. cccxliiij., back. 
 
 56. A balade, warnyng men tobeware ofdeceitptfullwoineii (sic). 
 Begins — ' LOke well aboute ye that louers bee.' Same page. 
 
 57. These verses next folowing were compiled by Geffray 
 Chauser, and in the writen copies foloweth at the ende of the 
 complainte of petee. Begins — ' THe long nyghtes when euery 
 [cjreature.' [See p. 213.] Fol. cccxlv^ 
 
 ^8. A balade declaring that wemens chastite Doeth mochc 
 excel all treasure worldly. Begins — 'IN womanhede as auc- 
 tours al write.' Back of same leaf. 
 
 59. Tlie Court of Lone. Begins — 'With temerous herte, and 
 trewbling hand of drede.' Fol. cccxlviij. 
 
 60. Chancers woordes vnto his owne Scriuener-. (See p. 
 117.) Fol. ccclv., back. At the end — Thus endeth the workes 
 of Geffray Chaucer. (This is followed by 34 Latin verses, 
 entitled Epiiaphiiini Galfridi Chaucer, &c.) 
 
 61. The Storie of Thebes. [By Lydgate.] Fol. ccclvj. 
 
 Discussion of the Poems in Part I. of ed. 1561. 
 
 Of the 41 pieces in Part I. of the above, we must of course 
 accept as Chaucer's the three poems entitled Canterbury Tales, 
 Troilus, and the Legend of Good Women ; also the prose trans- 
 lation of Boethius, and the prose treatise on the Astrolabie. 
 The remaining number of Minor Poems (including the Romaunt 
 of the Rose) is 36 ; out of which number I accept the 14 num- 
 bered above with the numbers 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 23, 24, 33 (so 
 far as it quotes Chaucer), 34, 35, 36, 2)7i and 39. Every one of 
 these has already been shewn to be genuine on sufficient ex- 
 ternal evidence, and it is not likely that their genuineness will 
 
 ' Miscalled Fol. cccxxxix. Also, the next folio is called cccxlviij, 
 after which follows cccxlix, and so on. 
 
 ^ In the Preface to Morris's Chaucer, p. x, we are told that the editor 
 took his copy of this poem from Thynnc's edition of 1532. This is an 
 oversight ; for it does not occur there ; Stowe's edition is meant.
 
 stou'e's editiox: part I. xxiii 
 
 be doubted. In the present volume they appear, respectively, 
 as nos. Ill, XVII, V, II, VII, IX, IV, XVIII, XIII, XIV, XII, 
 XI, XVI, and XIX. Of the remaining 22, several may be dis- 
 missed in a few words. No. 4 is well known to have been 
 written by Robert Henryson. Nos. 11, 28, 29, and 40 are dis- 
 tinctly claimed for Lydgate in all the editions ; and no. 27 is 
 similarly claimed for Gower. No. 25 was written by Hoccleve^; 
 and the last line gives the date — ' A thousande, foure hundred 
 and seconde,' i.e. 1402, or two years after Chaucer's death. 
 No. 13 is translated from Alain Chartier, who was only four 
 years old when Chaucer died ; see p. xvi., note 2. Tyrwhitt 
 remarks that, in MS. Harl. 372, this poem is expressly attributed 
 to a Sir Richard Ros '^. No one can suppose that no. 41 is by 
 Chaucer, seeing that the first line is — ' Maister Gefifray Chauser, 
 that now lithe in graue.' Mr. Bradshaw once assured me that 
 no. 17 is ascribed, on MS. authority, to Lydgate ; and no one 
 who reads it with care can doubt that this is correct ^. It is, in 
 a measure, an imitation of the Book of the Duchesse ; and it 
 contains some interesting references to Chaucer, as in the lines 
 — ' Of Arcite, or of him Palemoun,' and ' Of Thebes eke the 
 false Arcite.' No. 20, i. e. the Testament of Love, is itt prose, 
 and does not concern us ; still it is worth pointing out that it 
 contains a passage (near the end) such as we cannot suppose 
 that Chaucer would have written concerning himself*. 
 
 ' ' Thomas Occleve mentions it himself, as one of his own compo- 
 sitions, in a Dialogue which follows his Complaint , MS. Bodley 1504.' — 
 Tyrwhitt. 
 
 ^ See Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 52. Cf. 
 Englische Studicn, x. 206. 
 
 ^ I have found the reference. It is Shirley who says so, in a poetical 
 ' introduction' ; see MS. Addit. 16165, fol. 3. 
 
 * It runs thus : — ' Quod loue, I shall tel thee, this lesson to leame, 
 myne owne true seruaunte, the noble Philosophical! Poete in Englishc, 
 which euermore hym» busieth & trauaileth right sore, my name to 
 encrease, wherefore all that willen me good, owe to doe him worship 
 and reuerence both ; truly his better ne his pere, in schole of my rules, 
 coud I neuer finde : He, quod she, in a treatise that he made of my 
 seruaunt Troilus, hath this matter touched, & at the full this question 
 \of predestination'] assoiled. Certainly his noble saiyngs can I not 
 ame«d ; in goodness of gewtil mawlich spech, without any maner of 
 nicitie of starieres {sic') imaginacion, in wit and in good reason of 
 sentence, he passeth al other makers.' (Read storicres, story-writer's).
 
 XXIV STOWE S EDITION: PARTI. 
 
 After thus removing from consideration nos. 4, il, 13, 17, 20, 
 25, 27, 28, 29, 40, and 41, half of the remaining 22 pieces have 
 been considered. The only ones left over for consideration are 
 nos. 2, 6, 15, 18, 21, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 38. As to nos. 2 and 6, 
 there is some external evidence in their favour, which will be 
 considered separately; but as to the rest, there is absolutely 
 nothing to connect them with Chaucer beyond their almost 
 accidental appearance in an edition by Wm, Thynne, published 
 in 1532, i.e. one hundred and thirty -two years after Chaucer's 
 death ; and it has just been demonstrated that Thynne is 
 obviously wrong in at least eleven instances, and that he wit- 
 tingly and purposely chose to throw into his edition poems 
 which he k/ieisj to have been written by Lydgate or by Gower ! 
 It is ridiculous to attach much importance to such testimony as 
 this. And now let me discuss, as briefly as I can, the above- 
 named poems separately. 
 
 2. 77^1? Roiiiaiint of the Rose. Chaucer himself tells us that 
 he translated the Romaunt of the Rose from the original French, 
 but there is nothing to prove that the two fragments of the 
 existing English translation form any part of Chaucer's work. 
 The first fragment, which I shall call A, consists of 5813 lines, 
 and the second fragment B, of 1885 lines (see note on p. 245) ; 
 the two fragments being separated by a gap of more than 5000 
 lines. Even if this were really all Chaucer's work, it would 
 be excluded from this volume as not being one of the minor, 
 but of the major, poems ; but there is a great deal to be said 
 against its genuineness, which I need not here repeat, having 
 already printed a long note on this subject at the end of the 
 preface to my edition of the Prioresses Tale. I will, however, 
 take the opportunity of remarking that, in a painstaking article 
 which appeared in Englische Studien, xi. 163, Lindner has made 
 it appear to be highly probable that the fragments A and B 
 are by different hands ; so that those who support the claims 
 of Chaucer to this work will have, in future, to elect which 
 fragment it will please them to assign to him. Lindner leaves 
 this an open question for the present, but hints pretty clearly 
 that he is inclined to associate Chaucer with fragment A, 
 apparently on the ground that it is the more correctly trans- 
 lated. Unfortunately, it is precisely from fragment A that 
 all the most damaging arguments against Chaucer's association
 
 STOWE S EDITION: PARTI. XXV 
 
 with the work can be drawn. It is there that we meet with 
 the riming of -y with yc, with the use of assonant rimes, with 
 the use of such strange rimes as joynt and qtieynt, doiin and 
 tourne, lic, with such a use of the final -e as is inconsistent 
 with Chaucer's practice, and with the Northumbrian present 
 participles sittand and doand at the end of lines ! Neither 
 'is it at all a sound argument to rely upon, that Chaucer's 
 translation was necessarily correct ; in his A. B. C, 1. loo, he 
 translates tirelire by ' melodye ' when it means a money-box, 
 and in his Boethius he translates the Latin clavus by keye, 
 and coinpendium (gain) by abreggyng\ see Morris's preface, 
 p. XV. I will only add here my own conviction, that if any 
 part of the English translation of this poem is by Chaucer, 
 it is fragment B ; and even against this I believe that something 
 (yet much less) can be urged. 
 
 6. A goodlie balade of Chaucer ; begins — ' Mother of norture, 
 best beloued of all ' ; printed in Morris's editicwi, vi. 275 ; and 
 in Bell's edition, iii. 413. I have little to say against this poem ; 
 yet the rime of supposeth with riseth (st. 8) is somewhat startling. 
 It is clearly addressed to a lady named Margaret'^, as appears 
 from her being likened to the daisy, and called the sun's 
 daughter. I suspect it was merely attributed to Chaucer by 
 association with the opening lines of the Legend of Good 
 Women. The suggestion, in Bell's Chaucer,, that it possibly 
 refers to the Countess of Pembroke, is one of those bad guesses 
 which are discreditable. Tyrwhitt shews, in note n to his 
 ' Appendix to the Preface,' that she must have died not later 
 than 1370, whereas this Balade must be much later than that 
 date ; and I agree with him in supposing that le Dit de la fleur 
 de lis et de la Marguerite, by Guillaume de Machault (printed 
 in Tarbe's edition, 1849, p. 123), and the Dittid de la flojcr de la 
 Margherile, by Froissart, may furnish us with the true key 
 to those mystical compliments which Chaucer and others 
 were accustomed to pay to the daisy. 
 
 I wish to add that I am convinced that one stanza, probably 
 the sixth, is missing. It ought to form a triple Balade, i. e. 
 three Balades of 21 lines each, each with its own refrain ; but the 
 second is imperfect. There seems to be some affectation about 
 
 * Hoccleve appeals to St. Margaret, in his Letter of Cupid, st. 6 from 
 the end.
 
 XXVI STOWE S EDITIOX: PARTT. 
 
 the letters beginning the stanzas which I cannot solve ; these 
 are M, M, M (probably for Margaret) in the first Balade ; 
 D, D in the second ; andy, C, Q in the third. The poet goes 
 out of his way to bring in these letters. The result looks like 
 Margaret de Jacques. 
 
 15. The assemble of Ladies. This poem Tyrwhitt decisively 
 rejects. There is absolutely fiotJung to connect it with Chaucer. 
 It purports to have been written by 'a gentlewoman'; and 
 perhaps it was. It ends with the rime of done, pp., with sone 
 (soon) ; which in Chaucer are spelt doon and so7t-e respectively, 
 and never rime. Most of the later editions omit this poem. 
 It is conveniently printed in Chalmers' English Poets, vol. i. 
 p. 526 ; and consists of 108 7-line stanzas. 
 
 18. A praise of Women. In no way connected with Chaucer. 
 Rejected by Tyrwhitt. Printed in Bell's edition, iv. 416, and 
 in Chalmers' English Poets, vol. i. p. 344. In 25 7-line stanzas. 
 The rime of lie (to tell a lie) with sie (I saw), in st. 20, is 
 suspicious ; Chaucer has ly-e, sy. The rime oiqueen-e (dissyllabic 
 in Chaucer) with beetle (miswritten for been, they be, st. 23) is 
 more than suspicious. It contains the adjective sere, i.e. various 
 (st. 11), which Chaucer never uses. 
 
 21. The lame7itacio?i of Marie Magdaleifie. Printed in Bell's 
 Chaucer, iv. 395 ; and in Chalmers, i. 532. Tyrwhitt's remarks 
 are admirable. He says, in his Glossary, s.v. Origeties: — 'In 
 the list of Chaucer's Works, in Legend of Good Women, 1. 427, 
 he says of himself: — 
 
 " He made also, gon is a grete while, 
 
 Origencs upon the A/aitdclcine" — 
 
 meaning, I suppose, a translation, into prose or verse, of the 
 Homily de Maria Magdalena, which has been commonly, 
 though falsely, attributed to Origcn ; v. 0pp. Origenis, T. ii. p. 
 291, ed. Paris, 1604. I cannot believe that the poem entitled 
 The Lamctitatio7i of Marie Magdaleine, which is in all the 
 folder] editions of Chaucer, is really that work of his. It can 
 hardly be considered as a translation, or even as an imitation, 
 of the Homily ; and the composition, in every respect, is in- 
 finitely meaner than the worst of his genuine pieces.' To those 
 who are interested in Chaucer's rimes I will merely point out 
 the following: die, why (Ch. dy-e, why); kene, iyen (Ch. ken-e, 
 y-'en); disguised, io-rived, a mere assonance; crie, ittcessaunily
 
 STOWE S EDITIOX: PARTI. xxvii 
 
 (Ch. cry-e, incessaimtly) j slaine, paine (Ch. slein, peifi-e) ; y-/et, 
 id {Qh. y-fet, let-tc) ; accept, bcwept, (Ch. accept-e^bcwept) j die, 
 nii/ii (Ch. dy-e, nii/ii). To those interested in Chaucer's lan- 
 guage, let me point out ' dogges rabiate' — ^'embesile his pre- 
 sence' — 'my soveraine and very gentilman.' See st. 34, 39, 99. 
 
 22. The remedie of Loue. Printed in Chalmers' British Poets, 
 i. 539. In 62 7-line stanzas. Rejected by Tyrwhitt. The lan- 
 guage is extremely late ; it seems to have been written in the 
 l6th century. It contains such words as inco7rgriiitie, deduction, 
 allective, ca/it (for cannot), scribalde (fit for writing on), olibane, 
 pa?it, babe (baby), cokold (which Chaucer spells cokewold), orto- 
 graphie, ethintologie, ethimologise (verb). The provincial word 
 lait, to search for, is well known to belong to the Northern 
 dialect. Dr. Murray, s.v. allective, dates this piece about A.D. 
 1560; but it must be somewhat earlier than this, as it was 
 printed in 1532. I should date it about 1530. 
 
 26. A Ballade in cont7nendacio7i of our Ladie. T)Twhitt 
 remarks that ' a poem with the same beginning is ascribed to 
 Lydgate, under the title of Invocation to our Lady ; see Tanner, 
 s. V. Lydgate.' The poem consists of 35 7-line stanzas. It has 
 all the marks of Lydgate's style, and imitates Chaucer's language. 
 Thus the line — ' I have none English conuenient and digne ' is 
 an echo of the Man of Law's Tale, 1. 778 — ' O Donegild, I ne 
 haue noon English digne.' Some of the lines imitate Chaucer's 
 A. B.C. But the most remarkable thing is his quotation of the 
 first line of Chaucer's Merciless Beauty (see p. 100), which he 
 applies to the Virgin Mary ! See note on p. 209. 
 
 30. Balade dc boft consail. Printed in Chalmers, i. 552. Only 
 7 lines, and here they are, duly edited: — 
 
 ' If it befall that God thee list visite 
 With any tourment or adversitee, 
 Thank first the Lord, and [fond] thy-self to quite ; 
 Upon suffraunce and humilitee 
 Found thou thy quarel, what ever that it be; 
 Mak thy defence, and thou shalt have no losse. 
 The remembraunce of Christ and of his crosse.' 
 
 In 1. I, ed. 1 56 1 has the; 2. adiiersite ; 3, TJianke ; lorde ; I 
 supplyy&«(^/, i.e. endeavour; thy-sclfc j 4. (scans ill) ; i. Founde ; 
 6. Make.
 
 XX VI 11 STOJVE S EDITION: PART I. 
 
 31. Of the Ciickowe and the Nightingale. Printed in Bell's 
 Chaucer, iv. 334 ; and in Morris's Chaucer, iv. 75. Not un- 
 common in MSS. ; there is a copy in MS. Ff. i. 6 in the Cam- 
 bridge University Library ; another in MS. Fairfax 16; another 
 in MS. Bodley 638 ; another in MS. Tanner 346; and a fifth 
 (imperfect) in MS. Arch. Selden B. 24, in the Bodleian Library. 
 A sixth is in MS. Harl. 7333, in the British Museum. From 
 some of these, Morris's better text was constructed ; see his 
 edition, pref. p. ix. 
 
 That the first two lines are by Chaucer, we cannot doubt, for 
 they are quoted from the Knightes Tale, 11. 927, 928. Chaucer 
 often quotes his own lines, but it is not likely that he would take 
 them as the subject of a new poem. On the other hand, this is 
 just what we should expect one of his imitators to do. The 
 present poem is a very fair imitation of Chaucer's style, and 
 follows his peculiarities of metre far more closely than is usually 
 the case with Lydgate. The notion, near the end, of holding 
 a parliament of birds, with the Eagle for lord, is evidently 
 borrowed from Chaucer's Parliament of Foules. I can see but 
 one author to whom this poem can well be attiibuted, viz. 
 Hoccleve. I believe that it was written at much about the 
 same period as his Letter of Cupid (no. 25 above), i.e. about 
 1402 ; and I think it is connected with that poem in a way 
 not hitherto observed. In MS. Bodley 638, the Cuckoo and 
 Nightingale is not called by this name, but is headed 'The 
 boke of Cupide god of loue,' fol. 11, back ; whilst the Letter of 
 Ci(pid is called ' The lettre of Cupide god of loue,' fol. -^^Z, back. 
 The copy in the Fairfax MS. ends with the colophon — Explicit 
 liber Cupidinis. There is at least a presumption that the Book 
 of Cupid and the Letter of Cupid are by the same author. Whilst 
 admitting that the present poem is much more worthy of Chaucer 
 than most of the others with which it has been proposed to 
 burden his reputation, I can see no sufficient reason for con- 
 necting him with it. There is no external evidence bearing in 
 that direction. The rimes are mostly Chaucerian ; but the rime 
 of day with the gerund to assay-e in st. 1 1 is suspicious ; so also 
 is that of now with the gerund to rcscow-e in st. 45. 
 
 One point about this poem is its very peculiar metre ; the 
 5-line stanza, riming aabba, is certainly rare. If the question 
 arises, whence is it copied, the answer is clear, viz. from
 
 STOWE S EDITION: PART I. XXIX 
 
 Chaucer's Envoy to his Compleint to his Purse (see p. 211). 
 This is a further reason for dating it later than 1399. 
 
 32. Balade with envoy j ' O leude book,' &c. A Balade in 
 the usual form, viz. 3 7-line stanzas, with a refrain ; the refrain 
 is — ' For of all good she is the best liuyng.' The envoy consists 
 of only 6 lines, instead of 7, rimed ababcc, and that for a suf- 
 ficient reason, which has not been hitherto observed. The 
 initial letters of the lines form, in fact, an anagram on the 
 name ALISON ; which is therefore the name of the lady to whom 
 the Balade is addressed. There is a copy of this poem in MS. 
 Fairfax 16, and another in MS. Tanner 346. It is therefore as 
 old as the 15th century. But to attribute to Chaucer the fourth 
 line of the Envoy would be too much. It runs thus — ' Suspires 
 whiche I efifund in silence.' Perhaps it is Hoccleve's. 
 
 38. Poem in two 7-line stanzas. There is nothing to connect 
 this with Chaucer ; and it is utterly unworthy of him. I now 
 quote the whole poem, just as it stands in the edition of 1561 : — 
 
 ' Go foorthe king, rule thee by Sapience, 
 Bishoppe, be able to minister doctrine, 
 Lorde, to true counsale yeue audience, 
 Womanhode, to chastitie euer encline ; 
 Knight, let thy deedes worship determine; 
 Be righteous, ludge, in sauyng thy name ; 
 Rich, do almose, lest thou lese blisse w/t/i shame. 
 
 * People, obeie your kyng and the lawe ; 
 Age, be ruled by good religion ; 
 True seruaunt, be dredfuU & kepe the vnder awe; 
 And, thou poore, fie on presumpcion ; 
 Inobedience to youth is vtter destruccion ; 
 Remembre you, how God hath set you, lo ! 
 And doe your parte, as ye be ordained to.' 
 
 Surely it must be Lydgate's. 
 
 I have now gone through all the poems published in 1532 and 
 copied into the later editions ; and I see no way of augmenting 
 the list of Chaucer's Minor Poems any further from this source.
 
 XXX STOWE S EDITION: PART II. 
 
 Discussion of the Poems in Part II. of ed. 1561. 
 
 It is hardly worth while to discuss at length all the poems 
 which it pleased John Stowe to fling together into the edition 
 of 1 561. But a few remarks may be useful. 
 
 Nos. 42, 43, and 60 are admittedly genuine ; and are printed 
 below, nos. XIII., XX., and VIII. I believe nos. 44 and 57 to 
 be so also ; they are discussed below, and are printed as nos. 
 XV. and XXI. No. 61 is, of course, Lydgate's. Besides this, 
 no. 45 is correctly ascribed to Lydgate in the MSS. ; there are 
 copies of it in MS. Fairfax 16 and in MS. Ashmole 59. No. 56 
 is also Lydgate's, and is so marked in MS. Harl. 2251. As to 
 no. 46, called the Craft of Lovers, it is dated by help of two 
 lines in the last stanza, which are thus printed by Stowe : — 
 
 ' In the yere of our lorde a .M. by rekeninge 
 CCCXL. .&. UIII. yere folowing.' 
 
 This seems to give the date as 1348; whereas the language is 
 palpably that of the fifteenth century. Whether Stowe or his 
 printer thought fit to alter the date intentionally, I cannot say. 
 Still, the fact is, that in the MS. marked R. 3. 19 in Trinity 
 College Library, at fol. 156, the reading is 'CCCCXL&VIII 
 yere,' so that the true date is rather 1448, or nearly half a cen- 
 tury after Chaucer's deaths The same MS., which I suppose 
 belonged to Stowe, contains several other of these pieces, viz. 
 nos. 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, and perhaps others. The 
 language and, in some cases, the ruggedness of the metre, forbid 
 us to suppose that Chaucer can have had anything to do with 
 them, and some are palpably of a much later date ; one or more 
 of these considerations at once exclude all the rest of Stowe's 
 additions. It may, however, be noted that no. 47 quotes the 
 line ' Beware alwaye, the blind eats many a fly,' which occurs as 
 a refrain in no. 56, and it is therefore later than the time of 
 Lydgate. The author of no. 48 says he is ' a man vnknowne.' 
 Many lines in no. 49 are of abnormal length ; it begins with — 
 ' Profulgent in preciousnes, O Sinope the queen.' The same is 
 true of no. 51, which is addressed to a Margaret, and begins 
 
 ' There is another copy of The Craft of Lovers in MS. Harl. 2251. 
 It is there dated 1459.
 
 STOW E S EDITION: PART II. XXXI 
 
 with — ' In the season of Feuerere when it was full colde.' Of 
 no. 52, Tyrwhitt says that the four first stanzas are found in 
 different parts of an imperfect poem upon the Fall of Alan, in 
 MS. Harl. 2251 ; whilst the llth stanza makes part of an Envoy, 
 which in the same MS. is annexed to the poem entitled the 
 Cra/i 0/ Lovers. No. 53 is a poor affair. No. 54, called a 
 Balade Pleasaiinte, is very unpleasant and scurrilous, and 
 alludes to the wedding of ' queene lane ' as a circumstance 
 that happened many years ago. No. 55 is scurrilous, odious, 
 and stupid. I doubt if no. 58 is good enough for Lydgate. No. 
 59 belongs to the sixteenth century. 
 
 All the poems here rejected were rejected by Tyrwhitt, with 
 two strange exceptions, viz. nos. 50 and 59, the Virelai and the 
 Court of Love. Of both of these, the language is quite late. 
 The Virelai is interesting from a metrical point of view, because 
 such poems are scarce ; the only similar poem that I can call to 
 mind is the Balet (or rather Virelai) composed by Lord Rivers 
 during his imprisonment in 1483, and printed by Percy in his 
 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. Percy says that Lord 
 Rivers copies the Virelai mentioned above, which he assumes 
 to be Chaucer's ; but it is quite as likely that the copying was 
 in the other direction, and that Lord Rivers copied some 
 genuine Virelai (either Chaucer's or in French) that is now 
 lost ^ The final rime of end with find is bad enough ; but the 
 supposition that the language is of the 14th century is ridiculous. 
 Still the Virelai is good in its way, though it can hardly be older 
 than 1 500, and may be still later. 
 
 Of all poems that have been falsely ascribed to Chaucer, I 
 know of none more amazing than The Court of Love. The 
 language is palpably that of the i6th century, and there are 
 absolutely no examples of the occurrence in it of a final -e that is 
 fully pronounced, and forms a syllable ! Yet there are critics 
 who lose their heads over it, and will not give it up. Tyrwhitt 
 says — ' I am induced by the internal evidence (!) to consider it 
 as one of Chaucer's genuine productions.' As if the ' internal 
 evidence ' of a poem containing no sonant final -e is not enough 
 to condemn it at once. The original MS. copy exists in MS. 
 R. 3. 19 in Trinity College, and the writing is later than 1500. 
 
 ' A good French Virelai is one by Eustace Deschamps, cd. Tarbe, 
 1849; i- 25.
 
 XXX 11 EDITIONS BY SPEGIIT. 
 
 The poem itself has all the smoothness of the Tudor period ^ ; 
 it excels the style of Hawes, and would do credit to Sackville. 
 One reference is too interesting to be passed over. In the 
 second stanza, the poet regrets that he has neither the eloquence 
 of TuUy, the power of Virgil, nor the ' craft of Gal/ride.^ 
 Tyrwhitt explains Gal/ride as ' Geofifrey of Monmouth,' though 
 it is difficult to understand on what ground he could have been 
 here thought of. Bell's ' Chaucer ' explains Gal/ride as ' Geoffrey 
 of Vinsauf,' which is still more curious ; for Geofifrey of Vinsauf 
 is the very Gaufride whom Chaucer holds up to eternal ridicule 
 in the Nonne Prestes Tale (1. 526). The Geoffrey really intended 
 is, I suspect, no other than our own immortal poet, whose sur- 
 name was Chaucer. 
 
 Poems added in Speght's Editions of 1598 and 1602. 
 
 We have now to consider the additions made by Speght in 
 1598. These were only two, viz. Chancers Dream and The 
 Floiuer aiid the Leaf. 
 
 62. Chaucer's Dream. A long poem of 2206 short lines, in 
 metre similar to that of The House of Fame ; accepted by 
 Tyrwhitt, and in all the editions. But there is no early trace 
 of it ; and we are not bound to accept as Chaucer's a poem first 
 ascribed to him in 1598, and of which the MS. (at Longleat) was 
 written about 1550. The language is of late date, and the 
 sonant final -e is decidedly scarce. The poem is badly named, 
 and may have been so named by Speght ; the proper title is * The 
 Isle of Ladies.' We find such rimes as be, companie (Ch. be, 
 coftipany-e) J know, low, i.e. law (Ch. know-e, law-e) j grene^ 
 yene, i.e. eyes (Ch. gren-e, y-eti)j plesaunce, fesaunce (Ch. 
 plesaunc-e, fesaunts) ; ywis, kisse {Ch.. ywis, kis-se)j and when 
 we come to destroied riming with conclude, it is time to stop. 
 The tediousness of this poem is appalling ''■. 
 
 63. The Flower and the Leaf. This is rather a pretty poem, 
 in 7-line stanzas. The language is that of the fifteenth century. 
 
 ^ See remarks on this poem in The New English, by T. L. Kington 
 Oliphant, i. 402. 
 
 - A great peculiarity of this poem is the astonishing length of the 
 sentences. Many of them run to fifty lines or more. As to the MS., see 
 Thynnts Animadvcrsiotis, ed. Furnivall, iS75,p. 30.
 
 EDITIONS BY SPEGIIT. xxxiii 
 
 It professes to be written by a gentlewoman, like the Assemble 
 of Ladies ; and perhaps it was. Very likely, the same ' gentle- 
 woman ' wrote both these poems. If so, the Flower and the 
 Leaf is the better finished, and probably the later of the two. It 
 contains the word henchman, for which the earliest dated quo- 
 tation which I have yet found is 1415 (Royal Wills, ed. Nichols, 
 p. 220). An interesting reference is given in the lines — 
 
 ' Eke there be knighles old of the garter 
 That in hir time did right worthily.' 
 
 The order of the Garter was established in 1349; and we 
 should expect that more than half a century would elapse before 
 it would be natural to refer to the Knights as old knights, wKo 
 did worthily ifi their time. Of course the poem cannot be 
 Chaucer's, and it is hardly necessary to look for rimes such as 
 he never uses ; yet such may easily be found, such as gr-ew, pt. 
 t. sing., riming with the dissyllabic hew-e, neiv-e; sid-e with 
 espide, pp. (Ch. espy-ed) ; eie, eye (Ch. y-e) with sie, saw (Ch. 
 sy) ; zxidi plesure'^ with desire; after which we may stop. 
 
 In 1602, Speght issued another edition, in which, according 
 to Bohn's edition of Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual, two more 
 pieces were added, viz. the prose treatise against Friars called 
 Jack Uplatid, and the genuine poem entitled 'A. B. C But this 
 is not all ; for I find, in a still later edition, that of 1687, which 
 is said to be a ' reimpression of Speght's edition of 1602,' that, 
 at the very end of all the prefatory matter, on what was probably 
 a spare blank leaf, three more poems appear, which might as 
 well have been consigned to oblivion. But the editors of Chaucer 
 evidently thought that a thing once added must be added for 
 ever, and so these three productions are retained in Bell's 
 Chaucer, and must therefore be noticed with the rest. 
 
 64. Jack Upland. An invective against friars, in prose, worth 
 printing, but obviously not Chaucer's. 
 
 65. Chaucer's A. B. C. Genuine ; here printed as poem no. I. 
 
 66. Eight goodly questions with their answc?-s; printed in 
 Bell's Chaucer, vol. iv. p. 421 ; 9 7-line stanzas. In st. 3, t7-ee 
 rimes with projerj but tree is an obvious misprint for cojer ! 
 In St. 5, the gerund to lie (Ch. ly-e) rimes with honestie (Ch. 
 
 * Plesir may be meant, but Chaucer does not use it ; he says pie- 
 saitnce. 
 
 C
 
 XXXIV EDITIONS BY SPEGIIT. 
 
 honcsfcc). This is quite enough to condemn it. But it may be 
 Lydgate's. 
 
 67. To the Kings most noble Grace, and to the Lords and 
 Knights of the Garter j pr. as above, p. 424 ; 8 8-hne stanzas. 
 In MS. Phillipps 8151, and written by Hoccleve ; it much 
 resembles his poem printed in Afig/ia, v. 23. The date may 
 be 1416. 
 
 68. Sayings. Really three separate pieces. They are all 
 derived from the fly-leaf of the small quarto edition of Caxton, 
 described above, p. xv. When Caxton printed Chaucer's Anelida 
 and Purse on a quire of ten leaves, it so happened that he only 
 filled up nine of them. But, after adding explicit at the bottom of 
 the ninth leaf, to shew that he had come to the end of his 
 Chaucer, he thought it a pity to waste space, and so added 
 three popular sayings on the front of leaf 10, leaving the back 
 of it still blank. Here is what he printed : — 
 
 ' Whan feyth failleth in prestes sawes 
 
 And lordes hestes ar holden for lasves 
 
 And robbery is holden purchas 
 
 And lechery is holden solas 
 
 Than shal the lond of albyon 
 
 Be brought to grele confusiown. 
 ' Hit falleth for euery gentilman 
 
 To saye the best that he can 
 
 In mannes absence 
 
 And the soth in his presence. 
 
 ' Hit Cometh by kynde of gentil Mode 
 To cast away al heuynes 
 And gadre to-gidre wordes good 
 The werk of wisedom berith witnes 
 Et sic est finis ^ * ^ *.' 
 
 The first of these sayings was probably a bit of popular rime, 
 of the character quoted in Shakespeare's King Lear, iii. 2. Si. 
 Shakespeare calls his lines Merlin's prophecy ; and it has 
 pleased the editors of Chaucer to call the first six lines Chaiccers 
 Prophecy'. They appear in Bell's Chaucer, vol. iii. p. 427, in 
 an 'improved ' form, not worth discussing ; and the last eight lines 
 are also printed in the same, vol. iv. p. 426. Why they are sepa- 
 
 ' It is so termed in a table of contents in MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. 
 R. 3. 15. This MS. contains all three of the pieces here numbered 66, 
 67, and 68.
 
 EDITION B Y MORRIS. XXXV 
 
 rated, is mysterious. Those who think them genuine may thank 
 me for giving them Caxton's spelling instead of Speght's. 
 
 Pieces added in Morris's Edition, 1866. 
 
 In Morris's edition are some pieces which either do not appear 
 in previous editions, or were first printed later than 1700. 
 
 69. Roundel ; pr. in vol. vi. p. 304. The same as Merciless 
 Beaute ; here printed as no. VI. It first appeared, however, 
 in Percy's Reliques of English Poetry. See p. Ixvii. below. 
 
 70. The Former Age ; pr. in vol. vi. p. 300, for the first time. 
 Here printed as no. X. See p. Ixxiii. 
 
 71. Prosperity J pr. in vol. vi. p. 296, for the first time. This 
 is taken from MS. Arch. Selden B. 24, fol. 119, where it follows 
 Chaucer's Poem on 'Truth.' It has but one stanza of eight lines, 
 and I here giv'e it precisely as it stands in this Scottish MS. : — 
 
 ' Richt as pou^rt causith sobimes, 
 And febilnes enforcith contenence, 
 Rjr/it so prosperitee and grete riches 
 The moder is of vice and negligence ; 
 And powere also causith Insolence ; 
 And honoz^r oftsiss changith gude thewis ; 
 Thare is no more pfrilouss pestilence 
 Than hie estate geven vnto schrewis. 
 
 Q«(?d Chaucere.' 
 
 I have no belief in the genuineness of this piece, though it is 
 not ill written. In general, the ascription of a piece to Chaucer 
 in a MS. is valuable. But the scribe of this particular MS. was 
 reckless. It is he who made the mistake of marking Hoccleve's 
 ' Mother of God ' with the misleading remark — ' Explicit oxacio 
 Galfridi Chaucere.' At fol. 119, back, he gives us a poem be- 
 ginning 'Deuise prowes and eke humylitee' in 7 7-line stanzas, 
 and here again at the end is the absurd remark — ' Qz^f d Chaucer 
 quhen he was xych\. auisit.' But he was himself quite ' wrongly 
 advised'; for it is plainly not Chaucer's at all. His next feat 
 is to mark Lydgate's Complaynt of the Black Knight by saying — 
 ' Here endith the Maying and disporte of Chaucere' ; which 
 shews how the editors were misled as to this poem. Nor is 
 this all ; for he gives us, at fol. 137, back, another poem in 
 6 8-line stanzas, beginning ' O hie Emperice and quenc celes- 
 
 c 2
 
 XXXvi EDITION B V MORRIS. 
 
 tial' ; and here again at the end is his stupid — ' Oiiodi Chaucere.' 
 The date of this MS. appears to be 1472 ; so it is of no high 
 authority ; and, unless we make some verbal alteration, we shall 
 have to explain how Chaucer came to write ofisiss in two syllables 
 instead of ofie siihe in four ; see his Can. Yem. Tale, Group G, 
 1. 1031. 
 
 72, Leaulte vault Richesse ; pr. in vol. vi. p. 302, for the first 
 time. This is from the same MS., fol. 138, and is as follows : — 
 
 ' This warldly loy is onely fantasy, 
 Of quhich non erdly wicht ca« be coiiiexA ; 
 Quho most has wit, leste suld In It affy, 
 Quho taistzj It most, most sail him repent ; 
 Quhat valis all this richess and this rent, 
 Sen no maw wate quho sail his tresour haue? 
 Presume nof/zt gevin that god has done but lent. 
 Within schort tyme the quhiche he think?> to craue. 
 Leaulte vault richess^ 
 
 On this poem, I have three remarks to make. The first is that 
 not even the reckless Scottish scribe attributes it to Chaucer. 
 The second is that Chaucer's forms are cotitent and lent without 
 a final e, and repent-e and rent-e with a final -e, so that the 
 poem cannot be his ; although cojtlent, repent, rent, and lent 
 rime well enough in the Northern dialect. The third is that if 
 I could be sure that the above lines were by a well-known 
 •author, I should at once ascribe them to King James I., who 
 might very well have written these and the lines called Pros- 
 perity above. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the very 
 MS. here discussed is that in which the unique copy of the 
 Ki7tgzs Quair is preserved. 
 
 73. Proverbs of Chaucer j printed in vol. vi. p. 303. The 
 first eight lines are genuine. But two 7-line stanzas are added, 
 which are spurious. In MS. Addit. 16165, Shirley tells us 
 that they were ' made by Halsham Esquyer' ; but they seem 
 to be Lydgate's, unless he added to them. See Lydgate's Minor 
 Poems (Percy Soc. 1840), pp. 193 and 74. And see pp. xli., xlv. 
 
 It thus appears that, of the J2> pieces formerly attributed to 
 Chaucer, not more than 26 can be genuine. These are : Canter- 
 bury Tales, Troilus, Legend of Good Women, the first 21 Minor 
 Poems printed in the present volume, and two pieces in prose.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE MSS. XXXvii 
 
 Description of the MSS. 
 
 After the preceding somewhat tedious, but necessary dis- 
 cussion of the contents of the black-letter and other editions 
 (in many of which poems were as recklessly attributed to 
 Chaucer as medieval proverbs used to be to King Solomon), 
 it is some relief to turn to the manuscripts, which usually afford 
 much better texts, and are altogether more trustworthy. 
 
 The following is a list of the MSS. which have been followed. 
 I must here acknowledge my great debt to Dr. Furnivall, whose 
 excellent, careful, and exact reproduction in print of the various 
 MSS. leaves nothing to be desired, and is a great boon to all 
 Chaucer scholars. They are nearly all ' printed among the 
 Chaucer Society's publications. At the same time, I desire 
 to say that I have myself consulted most of the MSS., and 
 have thus gleaned a few hints which could hardly have been 
 otherwise acquired ; it was by this process that I became ac- 
 quainted with the poems numbered XXII. and XXIII., which 
 are probably genuine. An editor should always look at the 
 MSS. for himself, if he can possibly contrive to do so. 
 
 List of the I\ISS. ; with abbreviations, 
 
 N.B. The roman numbers following the name of each MS. 
 denote the numbers of the poems in the present edition. 
 
 A. — Ashmole 59, Bodleian Library (Shirley's). — XI. XIII. 
 XVIII. 
 
 Ad.— Addit. 16165, British Museum.— VII. XX. XXIII. 
 
 Add.— Addit. 22139, British Museum.— XII. XIII. XIV. XIX. 
 
 Ar.— Arch. Selden B. 24, Bodleian Library.— IV. V. XII. 
 XVIII. 
 
 At. — Addit. 10340, British Museum. — XII. 
 
 B.— Bodley 638 (Oxford).— I. II. III. V. VII. IX. XL XXII. 
 
 Bannatyne MS. 1568, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. — XIV. 
 
 Bedford MS. (Bedford Library).— I. 
 
 C. — Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. 5. 30. — I. 
 
 Corpus. — Corpus Chr. Coll., Oxford, 203. — XII. 
 
 * The copy of no. XV in MS. Fairfax 16 has not been printed. I 
 made a transcript of it myself. There is another unprinted copy in 
 MS. Harl. 7578.
 
 XXXVlll DESCRIPTION OF THE MSS. 
 
 Ct.— Cotton, Cleopatra D. 7; Brit. Mus.— XII. XIII. XIV. XV. 
 
 Cx. — Caxton's editions; see above (p. xv). — V, VII. IX. XL 
 XII. XIII. XVI. (part) ; XIX. 
 
 D.— Digby 181, Bodleian Library.— V. VI I. 
 
 E. — Ellesmere MS. (also has the Cant. Tales). — XII. 
 
 ed. 1561.— Stowe's edition, 1561.— VIII. XV. XX. XXL, &c. 
 
 F.— Fairfax 16, Bodleian Library.— I. 11. III. IV. V. VIL IX. 
 XL XII. (two copies) ; XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. 
 XXII. 
 
 Ff.— Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. I. 6.— 11. V. VII (part); 
 XVIII. XIX. 
 
 Gg. ^—Cambridge Univ. Library, Gg. 4. 27.— I. V. XII. XVI. 
 
 Gl. — Glasgow, Hunterian Museum, O. 2. 25. — I. 
 
 H.— Harleian 2251, Brit. Mus.— I. XL XIII. XIX. 
 
 Ha.— Harleian 7578, Brit. Mas.- 1. 11. XIII. XIV. XV. XX. 
 
 Harl.— Harleian 7333, Brit. Mus.— IV. V. VII. XII. XIII. 
 XIV. XIX. XXII. 
 
 Harleian 78, Brit. Mus. (Shirley's). See Sh. below. 
 
 Harleian 372, Brit. Mus. — VII. 
 
 Hh. — Cambridge Univ. Library, Hh. 4. 12. — V (part) ; X. 
 
 I. — Cambridge Univ. Library, li. 3. 21. — X. XL 
 
 Jo. — St. John's College, Cambridge, G. 21. — I. 
 
 Ju.— Julian Notary's edition (see p. xvi,).— IV. XVIL XVIII. 
 
 Kk.— Cambridge Univ. Library, Kk. I. 5.— XII. 
 
 L. — Laud 740, Bodleian Library. — I. 
 
 Lansdowne 699, Brit. Mus. — XI. XII. 
 
 Laud. — Laud 416, Bodleian Library.— V (part). 
 
 Lt.— Longleat MS. 258 (Marquis of Bath).— II. IV. V. VII. 
 
 O. — St. John's College, Oxford (no. Ivii.). — V, 
 
 P. — Pepys 2006, Magd. Coll., Cambridge.— I. (two copies) ; IV. 
 V. VI. VII (part) ; IX. XL XVI. XVIII. (two copies) ; XIX. 
 
 Sh.— Shirley's MS. Harl. 78, Brit. Mus.— II. XXL 
 
 Sion College MS. (Shirley's). — I. 
 
 T.— Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 20.— IV. VII (part); 
 VIII. XL XII. (two copies) ; XIII. XIV. XVIII. 
 ' Th.— W. Thynne's edition, 1532.— III. IX. XIV. XVIL, &c. 
 
 Tn.— Tanner 346, Bodleian Library.— 11. HI. IV. V. VIL 
 XVIII. 
 
 ' Called ' Cm.' in my editions of parts of the Canterbury Tales.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE MSS. xxxix 
 
 Trin. — Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 19. — II. V. 
 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 14, 51.— XIII. XIV. 
 
 Conversely, I here give a list of the Poems in the present 
 volume, shewing from which MSS. each one is derived. I 
 mention first the MSS. of most importance. I also note the 
 number of lines in each piece. 
 
 I. A. B. C. (184 lines). — C. Jo. Gl. L. Gg. F. ; oi/ier copies m 
 H. P.' Bedford. Ha. Sion. B." 
 
 II. Pite (119).— Tn. F. B. Sh. Ff. Trin. ; also Ha. Lt. 
 
 III. Duchess (1334).— F. Tn. B. Th. 
 
 IV. Mars (298).— F. Tn. Ju. Harl. T. Ar. ; also P.' Lt. 
 
 V. Pari. Follies (699).— F. Gg. Trin. Cx. Harl. O. Ff. Tn. D. ; 
 also Ar. B. Lt. P. ; Hh. (365 hnes) ; Laud (142 lines). 
 
 VI. Merciless Bcaute (39). — P. 
 
 VII. Anelida (357).— Harl. F. Tn. D. Cx. ; also B. Lt. Ad. ; 
 Harl. 372 ; partly in T. Ff. P. 
 
 VIII. Lines to Adam (7). — T. ; ed. 1561. 
 
 IX. Fame (2158).— F. B. P. Cx. Th. 
 
 X. Former Age (64). — I. Hh. 
 
 XL Fortune (79).— I. A. T. F. B. H. ; also P. Cx. ; Lansd. 699. 
 XIL Truth (28).— At. Gg. E. Ct. T.^ ; also Harl. F.* Add. 
 Cx ; Ar. Kk. Corpus ; Lansd. 699. 
 
 XIII. Gentilesse (21).— A. T. Harl. Ct. Ha. Add. Cx ; also H. 
 and Trinity. 
 
 XIV. Lak of Stcdfastnesse (28).— Harl. T. Ct. F. Add.; also 
 Th. Ha. ; Trinity, and Bannatyne. 
 
 XV. Agai7tst Women Uncottstaunt {21). — Ct. F. Ha. ; ed. 1561. 
 
 XVI. To Scogan (49).- — Gg. F. P. ; also Cx. (21 lines). 
 
 XVII. To Bukton (32).— F. Th. ; also Ju. 
 
 XVI I I. Venus (82).— T. A. Tn. F. Ff. ; also Ar. Ju. P.'^ 
 
 XIX. Piirse {26).— F. Harl. Ff. P. Add. ; also H. Cx. 
 
 XX. Proverbs (8).— F. Ha. Ad. ; ed. 1561. 
 
 XXI. Co7nplai7it to his Lady (123). — Harleian 78 ; ed. 1561. 
 
 XXII. An Afuorous Complaint (91). — Harl. F. B. 
 
 XXIII. Baladc of Complaint (21). — Ad. 
 
 ' There are two copies in MS. P. ; they may be called Pi and P 2. 
 - I make but little use of the copies in the second group. 
 ' Two copies; may be called Ti and T2. 
 
 * Two copies; Fi and F2. 
 
 * Two copies; Pi and P2.
 
 Xl MSS. AT OXFORD. 
 
 Remarks on some of the MSS. 
 
 Some of these MSS. deserve a few special remarks. 
 Shirley's MSS. are — A. Ad. H. Harl. Sh. Sion, a?idT. 
 MSS. in Scottish spelling are — Ar. Bannatyne. Kk. ; L. shews 
 Northern tendencies. 
 
 MSS. AT Oxford. 
 
 F. (Fairfax i6) is a valuable MS. ; not only does it contain 
 as many as seventeen of these Minor Poems, but it is a fairly 
 written MS. of the fifteenth century. The spelling does not very 
 materially differ from that of such an excellent MS. as the Ellcs- 
 mere MS. of the Canterbury Tales, excepting in the fact that 
 a great number of final ^'s are added in wrong places, and are 
 dropped where they are required. This is a matter that can 
 be to a large extent rectified, and I have endeavoured to do so, 
 taking it in many instances as the standard text. Next to this 
 misuse of final ^-'s, which is merely due to the fact that it was 
 written out at a time when the true use of them was already lost, 
 its most remarkable characteristic is the scrilDe's excessive love 
 of the letter jj/ in place of z ; he writes hyt ys instead of hit z's, 
 and the like. In a great number of instances I have restored z, 
 where the vowel is short. When the text of the Fairfax MS. is 
 thus restored, it is by no means a bad one. It also contains fair 
 copies of many poems by Hoccleve and Lydgate, such as the 
 former's Letter of Cupide ^, and the latter's Complaint of the 
 Black Knight, Temple of Glass, and Balade against Women^s 
 Doitbleness, being the very piece which is introduced into Stowe's 
 edition, and is numbered 45 above (see p. xxi). We are also 
 enabled, by comparing this MS. with MS. Harl. 7578, to solve 
 another riddle, viz. why it is that Chaucer's Proverbs, as printed 
 in Morris's and Bell's editions, are followed by two 7-line stanzas 
 which have nothing whatever to do with them. In MS. Harl. 
 7578 these two stanzas immediately follow, and MS. F. im- 
 mediately /rr^^^/^ Chaucer's Proverbs, and therefore were near 
 enough to them to give an excuse for throwing them in together. 
 However, both these stanzas arc by Lydgate, and are mere frag- 
 
 ' Also a Balade, beginning * Victorious kyng,' printed in G. Mason's 
 edition of Occleve, 1 796 ; as well as The Book of Cupid, which is 
 another name for the Cuckoo and Niirhtincale.
 
 AfSS. AT OXFORD. xli 
 
 ments '. The former of them, beginning * The worlde so wide, 
 thaire so remuable,' really belongs to a poem of i8 stanzas, 
 printed in Halliwell's edition of Lydgate's Minor Poems (Percy 
 Soc), p. 193. The latter of them, beginning ' The more I goo, 
 the ferthcr I am behinde,' belongs to a poem of 11 stanzas, 
 printed in the same, p. 74. Perhaps this will serve as a hint to 
 future editors of Chaucer, from whose works it is high time to 
 exclude poems knozun to be by some other hand. 
 
 In this MS. there is also a curious and rather long poem upon 
 the game of chess ; the board is called the cheker, and the pieces 
 are the kyng, the quetie or tlie fers (described on fol. 294), the 
 rokys {duo Rod), the knyghtys, the Aivfyns {duo alfini), and the 
 iovnys {pedim). This is interesting in connection with the Book 
 of the Duchess ; see note to 1. 654, on p. 255. The author tells 
 us how ' he plaid at the chesse,' and ' was mated of a Ferse.' 
 
 B. (Bodley 638) is very closely related to MS. F. ; in the case 
 of some of the poems, both must have been drawn from a com- 
 mon source. MS. B. is not a mere copy of F., for it sometimes 
 has the correct reading where F. is wrong ; as, e. g. in the case 
 of the reading Bret in the House of Fame ^ 1. 1208, on p. 156. 
 It contains seven of these Minor Poems, as well as The boke of 
 Cupide god of hue {Cuckoo and Nightmgale\ Hoccleve's Lettre 
 of Cupide god of loue, Lydgate's Temple of Glass (oddly called 
 Temple of Bras (!), a mistake which occurs in MS. F. also), his 
 Ordre of Folys, printed in Halliwell's Minor Poems of Lydgate, 
 p. 164, and his Complaint of the Black K flight. 
 
 A. (Shirley's MS. Ashmole 59) is remarkable for containing 
 a large number of pieces by Lydgate, most of which are marked 
 as his. It corroborates the statement in MS. F. that he wrote 
 the Balade against Women's Doubleness. It contains the whole 
 of Scogan's poem in which Chaucer's Gentilesse is quoted : see 
 the complete print of it, from this MS., in the Chaucer Society's 
 publications. 
 
 Another poem in this MS. requires a few words. At the 
 back of leaf 38 is a poem entitled 'The Cronycle made by 
 Chaucier,' with a second title to this effect : — ' Here nowe 
 folowe the names of the nyene worshipfullest Ladyes that in alle 
 cronycles and storyal bokes haue beo founden of trouthe of con- 
 
 ' Unless they were composed, as Shirley says, by one Halsham, and 
 adopted by Lydgate as subjects for new poems; sec pp. xx.wi., xlv.
 
 xlii MSS. AT OXFORD. 
 
 staunce and vertuous or reproched isic) womanhode by Chan- 
 cier.' The poem consists of nine stanzas of eight Hnes (in the 
 ordinary heroic metre), and is printed in Furnivall's Odd Text 
 of Chaucer's Minor Poems, Part I. It would be a gross libel to 
 ascribe this poem to Chaucer, as it is very poor, and contains 
 execrable rimes (such as prysoiin, by come \ apply-e, pyie:, thee, 
 dy-e). But we may easily see that the title is likely to give rise 
 to a misconception. It does not really mean that the poein 
 itself is by Chaucer, but that it gives a brief epitome of the 
 ' Cronicle made by Chancier' of 'the nyene worshipfullest 
 Ladyes.' And, in fact, it does this. Each stanza briefly de- 
 scribes one of the nine women celebrated in Chaucer's Legend 
 of Good Women. It is sufficient to add that the author makes 
 a ludicrous mistake, which is quite enough to acquit Chaucer 
 of having had any hand in this wholly valueless produc- 
 tion ; for he actually addresses ' quene Alceste ' as sorrowing 
 for ' Seyse her husbande.' Seyse is Chaucer's Ccyx, and Alceste 
 is the author's comic substitution for Alcyone ; see Book of the 
 Duchess, 1. 220, on p. 20. This is not a fault of the scribe; for 
 Alceste rimes with bylicste, whereas Alcione does not. I much 
 suspect that Shirley wrote this poem himself. His verses, in 
 MS. Addit. 16165, are very poor. 
 
 Tn. (Tanner 346) is a fair MS. of the 15th century, and con- 
 tains, besides six of the Minor Poems, the Legend of Good 
 PVopnen, Hoccleve's Letter of Cupid (called litcra Cupidinis dei 
 Amoris directa subditis suis Amatonbus), the Cuckoo and 
 Nightingale (called the god of loue), Lydgate's Temple of Glas 
 and Black Knight, &c. One of them is the Ballad no. 32 dis- 
 cussed above (p. xxix.). At fol. T^ is a poem in 13 8-line stanzas, 
 beginning ' As ofte as syghes ben in herte trewe.' One stanza 
 begins with these lines : — 
 
 ' As ofte tymcs as Penelapye 
 Renewed her werk in the radiiore^ &c. 
 
 I quote this for the sake of the extremely rare Chaucerian word 
 spelt radcvore in the Legend of Good Women, 2341 (or 2352 in 
 Furnivall's prints of the MSB.). The same line occurs in 
 another copy of the same poem in MS. Ff., fol. 12, back. 
 
 Ar. (Arch. Seld. B. 24) is a Scottish MS., apparently written 
 in 1472, and contains, amongst other things, the unique copy of
 
 3fSS. AT CAMBRIDGE. xHil 
 
 the Kmgis Quair, by James I. of Scotland. This is the MS. 
 wherein the scribe attributes pieces to Chaucer quite recklessly : 
 see p. XXXV. It is also the authority for the pieces called Pros- 
 perity and Leaulte vault Richesse. Here, once more, we find 
 the Letter of Cupid and the Cuckoo and Nightingale ; it is 
 remarkable how often these poems occur in the same MS. It 
 also contains Troilus and the Legend of Good Womeji. 
 
 D. (Digby i8i) contains, besides two of the Minor Poems, 
 an imperfect copy of Troilus ; also the Letter of Cupid and 
 Covplaint of the Black Knight. At fol. 52 is a piece entitled 
 ' Here Bochas reprd?uyth hem that yeue hasti credence to eu^r>' 
 reporte or tale' ; and it begins — * Ail-though so be in eui??y 
 maner age'; in 19 7-hne stanzas. This is doubtless a part 
 of chapter 13 of Book I. of Lydgate's Fall of Princes. 
 
 Cambridge MSS. 
 
 Ff. (Ff. I. 6) contains, besides five of the Minor Poems, many 
 other pieces. One is a copy of Pyramus and Thisbe, being 
 part of the Legend of Good Women. There are four extracts 
 from various parts of Gower's Confessio Aniantis ; the Cuckoo 
 and Nightingale and Letter of Cupid ; the Romance of Sir 
 Degrevaunt ; La Belle Dame sans Merci. Some pieces from 
 this MS. are printed in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 23, 169, 202 ; and 
 two more, called The Parliament of Love TiXiA The Seven Deadly 
 Sins, are printed in Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. 
 Furnivall (E. E. T. S.), pp. 48, 215. We also find here a copy of 
 Lydgate's Ballad of Good Counsail, printed in the old editions 
 of Chaucer (piece no. 40 ; see above, p. xxi.). 
 
 Gg. (Gg. 4. 27) is the MS. which contains so excellent a copy 
 of the Canterbury Tales, printed as the ' Cambridge MS.' in the 
 Chaucer Society's publications. Four leaves are lost at the 
 beginning. On leaf 5 is Chaucer's A. B. C. ; on leaf 7, back, the 
 Envoy to Scogan ; and on leaf 8, back, Chaucer's Truth, en- 
 titled Balade de bone conseyl. This is followed by a rather 
 pretty poem, in 15 8-line stanzas, which is interesting as quoting 
 from Chaucer's Parliament of Foules. Examples are : ' Qui 
 bien ayme tard oublye'' (1. 32; cf. P. F. 679): 'The fesaunt, 
 scornere of the cok Be nihter-tyme in frostis colde ' (11. 49, 50 ; 
 cf. P. F. 357) ; 'Than spak the frosty feldefare' (1. 89; cf. P. F. 
 364). Line 41 runs — 'Robert redbrest and the wr'enne'; which
 
 xliv MSS. AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 throws some light on the etymology of robhi. This valuable 
 MS. also contains Troiliis and the Legend of Good Women, 
 with the unique earlier form of the Prologue ; and Lydgate's 
 Temple of Glas. At fol. 467 is a Siipplicacio amajiits, a long 
 piece of no great value, but the first four lines give pretty clear 
 evidence that the author was well acquainted with Chaucer's 
 Anelida, and aspired to imitate it. 
 
 ' Redresse of sorweful, O Cytherea, 
 That w;'t/; the stremys of thy plesauwt hete 
 Gladist the cuntreis of al Cirrea, 
 Wher thou hast chosyn thy paleys and thy sete.' 
 
 It seems to be a continuation of the Temple of Glas, and is 
 probably Lydgate's own. 
 
 Hh. (Camb. Univ. Lib. Hh. 4. 12) contains much of Lydgate, 
 and is fully described in the Catalogue. 
 
 Trin. (Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 3. 19) not only contains two of the 
 Minor Poems, but a large number of other pieces, including the 
 Legend of Good Women and many of Lydgate's Poems. In 
 particular, it is the source of most of Stowe's additions to 
 Chaucer: I may mention The Craft of Lovers, dated 1448 in 
 the MS. (fol. 156), but 1348 in Stowe ; the Ten Commandments 
 of Love, Nine Ladies worthy, Virelai (fol. 160), Balade begin- 
 ning In the seson of Feiierer (fol. 160), Goddesses and Paris 
 (fol. 161, back), A balade plesaunte (fol. 205), O Mossie Quince 
 (fol. 205), Balade beginning Loke well aboute (fol. 207) ; and 
 The Court of Love ; see the pieces numbered 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 
 S3) 54) 55) 56, 59 (p.xxi). The piece numbered 41 also occurs 
 here, at the end of the Parliament of Foiiles, and is headed 
 ' Verba translatoris.' One poem, by G. Ashby, is dated 1463, 
 and I suppose most of the pieces are in a handwriting of a later 
 date, not far from 1500. It is clear that Stowe had no better 
 reason for inserting pieces in his edition of Chaucer than their 
 occurrence in this MS. to which he had access. If he had had 
 access to any other MS. of the same character, the additions in 
 his book would have been different. This is the sort of evi- 
 dence which some people accept as being quite sufficient to 
 prove that Chaucer learnt the language of a century after his 
 own date in order to qualify himself for writing The Court of 
 Love /
 
 MSS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. xlv 
 
 London MSS. 
 
 Ad. (MS. Addit. 16165). One of Shirley's MSS., marked 
 with his name in large letters. It contains a copy of Chaucer's 
 Boethius ; Trevisa's translation of the gospel of Nichodcmus ; 
 the Maistre of the game (on hunting) ; the Compleint of the 
 Black Knight and the Dreme of a Lover, both by Lydgate. 
 The latter is the same poem, I suppose, as The Temple of G las. 
 It is here we learn from Shirley that the Complaint of the Black 
 Knight is Lydgate's. Not only is it headed, on some pages, as 
 'The complaynte of a knight made by Lidegate,' but on fol. 3 he 
 refers to the same poem, speaking of it as being a complaint — 
 
 ' al in balade *, 
 That daun lohan of Bury made, 
 Lydgate the Munk clothed in blakke.' 
 
 Here also we find two separate fragments of Anelida ^ ; the 
 two stanzas mentioned above (p. xli, 1. i), called by Shirley 'two 
 verses made in wyse of balade by Halsham, Esquyer'; Chaucer's 
 Proverbs ; the poem no. 45 above (p. xxi), attributed in this 
 MS. to Lydgate ; &c. At fol. 256, back, is the Balade of com- 
 pley7ite printed in this volume as poem no. XXIIL 
 
 Add. (MS. Addit. 22139). This is a fine folio MS., contain- 
 ing Gower's Confessio Amantis. At fol. 138 are Chaucer's 
 Purse, Gentilesse, Lak of Stedfastnesse, and Truth. 
 
 At. (MS. Addit. 10340). Contains Chaucer's Boethius (foil. 
 1-40) ; also Truth, with the unique eniwy, and the description 
 of the ' Persone,' from the Canterbury Tales, on fol. 41, recto ^ 
 
 Ct. (MS. Cotton, Cleopatra, D. 7.) The Chaucer poems are all 
 on leaves 188, 189. They are all ballads, viz. Gentilesse, Lak of 
 Stedfastness, Truth, and Against Women Unconstaunt. All 
 four are in the same hand ; and we may remark that the last of 
 the four is thus, in a manner, linked with the rest ; see p. xlvi. 
 
 H. (MS. Had. 2251.) Shirley's MS. contains a large number 
 of pieces, chiefly by Lydgate. Also Chaucer's Prioresses Tale, 
 
 * i. e. in the ballad-measnre, or 7-line stanzas. 
 
 * One page of this, in Shiiley's writing, has been reproduced in 
 facsimile for the Chaucer Society. 
 
 •' This page has been reproduced, in facsimile, for the Chaucer Society.
 
 xlvi MSS. I.V THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 
 
 Fortune (fol. 46), Geniilesse (fol. 48, back), A. B. C. (fol. 49), and 
 Purse (fol. 271). The Craft of Lovers also occurs, and is dated 
 1459 in this copy. Poem no. 56 (p. xxii.) also occurs here, and is 
 marked as Lydgate's. We also see from this MS. that the first 
 four stanzas of no. 52 (p. xxi.) form part of a poem on the Fall of 
 Maji, in which Truth, JSIcrcy, Righteousness, and Peace are in- 
 troduced as allegorical personages. The four stanzas form part 
 of Mercy's plea, and this is why the word mercy occurs ten 
 times. At fol. 153, back (formerly 158, back), we actually find 
 a copy of Henry Scogan's poem in which Chaucer's Gentilesse 
 is not quoted, the requisite stanzas being entirely omitted. At 
 fol. 249, back, Lydgate quotes the line ' this world is a thurghfare 
 ful of woo,' and says it is from Chaucer's ' tragedyes.' It is 
 from the Knightes Tale, 1. 1989. 
 
 Ha. (Harl. 7578.) Contains Lydgate's Proverbs ; Chaucer's 
 Pile (fol. 13, Ijack), Gentilesse and Lak of Stedfastnesse (fol. 17), 
 immediately followed by the Balade against Women uncon- 
 staunt, precisely in the place where we should expect to find it ; 
 also Chaucer's Proverbs, immediately followed by the wholly 
 unconnected stanzas discussed above; p. xli, 1. i. At fol. .20, 
 back, are six stanzas of Chaucer's A. B. C. 
 
 Harl. (MS. Harl. 7333.) This is a fine folio MS., and con- 
 tains numerous pieces. At fol. 2)7'> recto, begins a copy of the 
 Canterbury Tales, with a short prose Proem by Shirley ; this 
 page has been reproduced in facsimile for the Chaucer Society. 
 At fol. 129, back, begins the Parliament of Foulcs, at the end 
 of which is the stanza which appears as poem no. 41 in Stowe's 
 edition (see p. xxi). Then follow the Broche of Thebes, i.e. the 
 Complaint of Mars, and Anelida. It also contains some of the 
 Gesta Romanorum and of Hoccleve's De Regimine Principum. 
 But the most remarkable thing in this MS. is the occurrence, at 
 fol. 136, of a poem hitherto (as I believe) unprinted, yet ob- 
 viously (in my opinion) written by Chaucer ; see no. XXII. in 
 the present volume. Other copies occur in F. and B. 
 
 Sh. (MS. Ilarl. 78 ; one of Shirley's MSS.). At fol. 80 begins 
 the Complaint to Pity ; on fol. 82 the last stanza of this poem is 
 immediately followed by the poem here printed as no, XXI ; 
 the only mark of separation is a star-like mark placed upon the 
 line which is drawn to separate one stanza from another. At 
 the end of fol. £3, back, the last line of the poem occurs at the
 
 /. y}. n. C. xlvii 
 
 bottom of the page, and fol. 84 is gone. Hence we cannot tell 
 whether the poem really ended there, or whether there was 
 once some more of it. 
 
 MS. Harl. 372. This MS. contains many poems by Lydga.te. 
 Also a copy of Aticlida ; followed by La Belle Dame satis 
 mercy ^ ' translated out of Frenche by Sir Richard Ros,' &c. 
 
 MS. Lansdowne 699. This MS. contains numerous poems by 
 Lydgate, such as Guy of Warwick, the Dance of Macabre, the 
 Horse, Sheep, and Goose, &c. ; and copies of Chaucer's 
 Fortune and Tridh. , 
 
 I. A. B. C. 
 
 This piece was first printed in Speght's edition of 1602, with 
 this title : ' Chaucer's A. B. C. called La Pricre de Nostra Dame : 
 made, as some say, at the request of Blanch, Duchesse of Lan- 
 caster, as a praier for her priuat vse, being a woman in her 
 religion very deuout.' This is probably a mere guess, founded 
 on the fact that Chaucer wrote the Book of the Duchess. It 
 cannot be literally true, because it is not strictly ' made,' or com- 
 posed, but only translated. Still, it is just possible that it was 
 translated for her pleasure (rather than use) ; and if so, must 
 have been written between 1359 and 1369. A probable date 
 is about 1366. In any case, it may well stand first in chro- 
 nological order, being a translation just of that unambitious 
 character which requires no great experience. Indeed, the 
 translation shews one mark of want of skill ; each stanza begins 
 by following the original for a line or two, after which the stanza 
 is completed rather according to the requirements of rime than 
 with an endeavour to render the original at all closely. There 
 are no less than thirteen MS. copies of it ; and its genuineness 
 is attested both by Lydgate and Shirley \ The latter marks it 
 with Chaucer's name in the Sion College MS. Lydgate's testi- 
 mony is curious, and requires a few words of explanation. 
 
 Guillaume De Deguileville, a Cistercian monk in the royal 
 abbey of Chalis '^, in the year 1330 or 1331 ■^, wrote a prose piece 
 entitled Pdlerinage de la Vie humaine. Of this there are two 
 
 ' It is also twice attributed to Chaucer in MS. P. 
 
 * I follow the account in Morley's English Writers, 1867, ii 204 ; the 
 name is there given as de Guilevile ; but M. Paul Jileyer writes ] )e 
 Deguileville. 
 
 ' Morley says 1330; a note in the Camb. MS. Ff. 6. 30 says 1331.
 
 xlviii /. A. B. C. 
 
 extant English translations, one in prose and one in verse, the 
 latter being attributed to Lydgate. Of the prose translation ', 
 four copies exist, viz. in the MSS. which I call C, Gl., Jo., and 
 L. In all of these, Chaucer's A. B. C. is inserted, in order to 
 give a verse rendering of a similar prayer in verse in tlie 
 original. Of Lydgate's verse translation there is a copy in MS. 
 Cotton, Vitell. C. xiii. (see foil. 255, 256) ; and when he comes to 
 the place where the verse prayer occurs in his original, he 
 says that, instead of translating the prayer himself, he will 
 quote Chaucer's translation, observing — 
 
 'My mayster Chaucer, in hys tyme, 
 Affter the Frenchs he dyde yt ryme.' 
 
 Curiously enough, he does not do so; a blank space was left in 
 the MS. for the scribe to copy it out, but it was never filled in '^. 
 However, it places the genuineness of the poem beyond doubt ; 
 and the internal evidence confirms it ; though it was probably, 
 as was said, quite an early work. 
 
 In order to illustrate the poem fully, it is necessary to give 
 the French original, which I copy from the print of it in Fumi- 
 vall's One-text Print of Chaucer'' s Minor Poems, Part I. p. 84. 
 
 From Guillaume De Deguileville's Peleri7iage de VAme, 
 Part I, Le Pelerinage de la Vie humaine. Edited from the 
 MS. 1645, Fonds Frangais, in the National Library, Paris (A), 
 and collated with the MSS. 1649 (B), 376 (C), and yj^ (D), in 
 the same collection, by Paul Meyer ^ : — - 
 
 'A toy du monde le refui, 
 Vierge glorieuse, m'en fui 
 Tout confus, ne puis miex faire ; 
 A toy me tien a toy m'apuy. 
 Relieve moy, abatu suy : 
 Vaincu m'a mon adversaire. 
 Puis qu'en toy out tous repaire 
 Bien me doy vers toy retraire 
 Avant que j'aie plus d'annuy. 
 
 ' Edited by Mr. W. Aldis \\'right for the Roxburghe Club in 1S69; 
 see p. 164 of that edition. 
 
 ''■ See Furnivall's Trial Forewords, pp. 13-15, and p. 100, for further 
 information. 
 
 ^ I omit the collations ; the reader only wants a good text.
 
 /. A. B. C. xlix 
 
 N'est pas luite neccessaire lo 
 
 A moy, se tu, debonnayre, 
 
 Ne me sequeurs comme a autnii. 
 
 ' Bien voy que par toy confortes 
 Sera mes cuers desconfortes, 
 Quer tu es de salu porte. 
 Se je me suis mal tresportez 
 Par .vij. larrons, pechies mortez, 
 Et erre par voie torte, 
 Esperance me conforte 
 
 Qui a toy hui me raporte 20 
 
 A ce que soie deportez. 
 Ma povre arme je t'aporte: 
 Sauve la : ne vaut que morte ; 
 En li sont tous biens avortez. 
 
 ' Centre moy font une accion 
 Ma vergoigne et confusion, 
 Que devant toy ne doy venir 
 Pour ma tres grant transgression. 
 Rayson et desperacion 
 
 Centre moy veulent maintenir ; 30 
 
 Mes pour ce que veil plait fenir, 
 Devant toy les fes convenir 
 En faisant replicacion. 
 C'est que je di appartenir 
 A toy du tout et convenir 
 Pitie et miseracion. 
 
 ' Dame es de misericorde 
 Par qui Diex bien se recorde 
 A sa gent estre racorde. 
 
 Par toy vint pes et Concorde, 40 
 
 Et fu pour oster discorde 
 L'arc de justice descorde ; 
 Et pour ce me sui acorde, 
 Toi mercier et Concorde, 
 Pour ce que ostas la corde ; 
 Quar, ainsi com j'ay recorde, 
 S'encore fust l'arc encorde 
 Compare I'eust ma vie orde. 
 
 *En toy ay m'esperance eii 
 Quant a merci m'as receii 50 
 
 Autre foys en mainte guise 
 d
 
 /. J. B. C. 
 
 Du bicn qui ou ciel fu creii 
 
 As ravive et repeii 
 
 M'ame qui estoit occise. 
 
 Las ! mes quant la grant assise 
 
 Sera, se n'y es assise 
 
 Pour moy mal y seray veil. 
 
 De bien n'ay nulle reprise, 
 
 Las m'en clain quant bien m'avise, 
 
 Souvent en doy dire heii ! 60 
 
 ' Fuiant m'en viens a ta tente 
 Moy mucier pour la tormente 
 Qui ou monde me tempeste. 
 Lour mon pechie ne t'absente, 
 A moy garder met t' entente, 
 A mon besoing soiez preste. 
 Se lone temps j'ay este beste 
 A ce, Vierge, je m'arreste 
 Que de ta grace me sente. 
 
 Si te fais aussi requeste 7P 
 
 Que ta pitie nu me veste. 
 Car je n'ay nulle autre rente. 
 
 * Glorieuse vierge mere 
 Qui a nul onques amere 
 Ne fus en terre ne en mer, 
 Ta douceur ores m'apere 
 
 Et ne sueffres que mon pere 
 
 De devant li me jecte puer. 
 
 Se devant li tout vuit j'apper, 
 
 Et par moy ne puis eschapper 80 
 
 Que ma faute ne compere. 
 
 Tu devant li pour moy te per 
 
 En li moustrant que, s'a li per 
 
 Ne sui, si est il mon frere. 
 
 * Homme voult par sa plaisance 
 Devenir, pour aliance 
 
 Avoir a humain lignage. 
 
 Avec li crut des enfance 
 
 Pitie dont j'ai esperance 
 
 Avoir eu en mon usage. 9** 
 
 EUe fu mise a forage 
 
 Quant au cuer lui vint mesngc 
 
 Du cruel fer de la lance. 
 
 Ne puet estre, se sui sage,
 
 /. A. B. C. ll 
 
 Que je n'en aie avantage, 
 Se tu veus et abondance. 
 
 ' le ne truis par nulle voie 
 Ou mon salut si bien voie 
 Gom, apres Dieu, en toy le voy ; 
 Quar quant aucun se desvoie, loo 
 
 A ce que tost se ravoie, 
 De ta pitie li fais convoy. 
 Tu li fes lessier son desroy 
 Et li refaiz sa pais au roy, 
 Et remez en droite voie. 
 Moult est done cil en bon arroy, 
 En bon atour, en bon conroy 
 Que ta grace si conroie. 
 
 ' Kalendier sont enlumine 
 
 Et autre livre enterine no 
 
 Quant ton non les enlumine. 
 A tout meschief ont resine 
 Ceus qui se sont achemine 
 A toy pour leur medicine. 
 A moy done, virge, t'encliae, 
 Car a toy je m'achemine 
 Pour estre bien medicine ; 
 Ne suefifre que de gainne 
 Isse justice devine 
 Par quoy je soye extermine. I20 
 
 * La douceur de toy pourtraire 
 Je ne puis, a qui retraire 
 Doit ton filz de ton sane estrait ; 
 Pour ce a toy m'ay volu traire 
 Afin que contre moy traire 
 Ne le sueuffres nul cruel trait. 
 Je recongnois bien mon mesfait 
 Et qu'au colier j'ai souvent trait 
 Dont I'en me devroit detraire ; 
 
 Mez se tu veus tu as I'entrait 130 
 
 Par quoy tantost sera retrait 
 Le mehain qui m'est contraire. 
 
 ' Moyses vit en figure 
 Que tu, vierge nete et pure, 
 Jesu le filz Dieu conceiis : 
 Un bysson contre nature 
 Vit qui ardoit sans arsure. 
 
 d2
 
 /. A. B. C. 
 
 C'es tn, n'en suis point deceiis, 
 
 Dex est li feus qu'en toy eiis; 
 
 Et tu, buisson des recreiiz 140 
 
 Es, pour tremper leur ardure. 
 
 A ce veoir, vierge, veils 
 
 Soie par toy et receiis, 
 
 Oste chaussement d'ordure. 
 
 'Noble princesse du monde 
 Qui n'as ne per ne seconde 
 En royaume n'en enpire, 
 De toy vient, de toy redonde 
 Tout le bien qui nous abonde, 
 
 N'avons autre tirelire. 150 
 
 En toy tout povre homme espire 
 Et de toy son salu tire, 
 Et en toy seule se fonde. 
 Ne puet nul penser ne dire, 
 Nul pourtraire ne escrire 
 Ta bonte comme est parfonde. 
 
 ' O Lumiere des non voians 
 Et vrai repos des recreans 
 Et de tout bien tresoriere, 
 
 A toy sont toutez gens beans 160 
 
 Qui en la foy sont bien creans 
 Et en toy ont foy entiere; 
 A nul onques ne fus fiere, 
 Ains toy dels chamberiere 
 Quant en toy vint li grans geans. 
 Or es de Dieu chanceliere 
 Et de graces aumosniere 
 Et confort a tous recreans. 
 
 * Pris m'est volente d'enquerre 
 Pour savoir que Diex vint querre 170 
 
 Quant en toy se vint enserrer; 
 En toy devint vers de terre ; 
 Ne cuit pas que fust pour guerre 
 Ne pour moy jus aterrer. 
 Vierge, se ne me sens errer, 
 D'armes ne me faut point ferrer 
 Eors sans plus de li requerre. 
 Quant pour moy se vint enterrer, 
 Se il ne se veut desterrer 
 Encor puis s'amour acquerre. 180
 
 /. A. B. C. liii 
 
 ' Quant pourpense apres me sui 
 Qu'ay offendu et toy et lui, 
 Et qu'a mal est in'ame duite, 
 Que, fors pechie, en moi n'estui, 
 Et que mal hyer et pis m'est huj, 
 Tost apres si me ranvite, 
 Vierge douce, se pren fuite, 
 Se je fui a la poursuite, 
 Ou fuiray, qu'a mon refui? 
 
 S'a nul bien je ne m'affruite 190 
 
 Et mas sui avant que luite. 
 Plus grief encore en est I'anuy. 
 
 ' Reprens moy, mere, et chastie 
 Quar mon pere n'ose mie 
 Attendre a mon chastiement. 
 Son chastoy si fiert a hie; 
 Rien n'ataint que tout n'esmie 
 Quant il veut prendre vengemenL 
 Mere, bien doi tel batement 
 
 Douter, quar en enipirement 20c 
 
 A tons jours este ma vie. 
 A toy dont soit le jugement, 
 Car de pi tie as I'oingnement, 
 Mes que merci Ten te prie. 
 
 ' Sans toy nul bien ne foysonne 
 Et sans toy Diex riens ne donne, 
 Quar de tout t'a fet maistresse. 
 Quant tu veus trestout pardonne; 
 Et par toy est mise bonne 
 
 A justice la mairesse; 21c 
 
 N'est royne ne princesse 
 Pour qui nul ainsi se cesse 
 Et de droit se dessaisonne. 
 Du monde es gouverneresse, 
 Et du ciel ordeneresse ; 
 Sans reson n'as pas couronne. 
 
 ' Temple saint ou Dieu habite 
 Dont prive sont li herite 
 Et a tons jours desherite, 
 
 A toy vieng de toy me herite, 220 
 
 Re9oif moy par ta merite 
 Quar de toy n'ay point hesite. 
 Et se je me sui herite
 
 ItV /. A. B. C. 
 
 Des espines d'iniquite 
 Ponr quoy terre fu maudlte, 
 Las m'en clain en verite, 
 Car a ce fait m'a excite 
 L'ame qui n'en est pas quite. 
 
 ' Vierge de noble et haut atour, 
 Qui au chastel et a la tour 230 
 
 De paradis nous atournes, 
 Atourne moy ens et entour 
 De tel atour que au retour 
 De ta grace me retoumes, 
 Se vil sui, si me raoumes. 
 A toy vieng, ne te destournes, 
 Quer au besoing es men destonr. 
 Sequeur moy, point ne sejoumes, 
 Ou tu a la court m'ajoumes, 
 Ou ta pitie fait son sejour. 240 
 
 ' Xpc ' ton filz, qui descend! 
 En terre et en la crois pendi, 
 Ot pour moy le coste fendu. 
 Sa grant rigour il destendi 
 Quant pour moy I'esperit rendi. 
 Son corps pendant et estendu ; 
 Pour moy son sane fu espandu. 
 Se ceci j'ai bien entendu 
 A mon salut bien entendi, 
 
 Et pour ce, se I'ay offendu 250 
 
 Et il ne le m'a pas rendu, 
 Merci t'en rens, graces Ten di. 
 
 * Ysaac le prefigura 
 Qui de sa mort rien ne cura 
 En obeisant au pere. 
 Comme .j. aignel tout endnra; 
 En endurant tout espura 
 Par crueuse mort amere. 
 O tres douce vierge mere, 
 
 Par ce fait fai que se pere 260 
 
 Par plour l'ame qui cuer dur a ; 
 Fai que grace si m'apere ; 
 El n'en soiez pas avere 
 Quar largement la mcsura. 
 
 ' Xpc is the contraction for Christus; see p. 228.
 
 /. A. B. C. Iv 
 
 ' Zacharie de mon somme 
 Me exite, et si me somme 
 D'en toy ma merci atendre ; 
 Fontaine patent te nomme 
 Pour laver pecheiir homme : 
 
 C'est le9on bonne a aprendre. 2yo 
 
 Se tu done as le cuer tendre 
 Et m'offense n'est pas mendre 
 De oil qui menga la pomme, 
 Moy laver veillez entendre, 
 Moy garder et moy deffendre, 
 Que justice ne m'asomme. 
 
 ' Ethiques * s'avoie leii, 
 Tout recorde et tout sceii, 
 Et apres riens n'en ouvrasse 
 
 Du tout seroie deceii. 280 
 
 Aussi con cil qui est cheu. 
 En sa rois et en sa nasse. 
 Vierge, m'ame je claim lasse, 
 Quar en toy priant se lasse 
 Et si ne fait point son deii. 
 Pou vault chose que je amasse ; 
 Ma priere n'est que quasse 
 S'a bien je ne sui esmeii. 
 
 ' Contre * moy doubt que ne prie 
 Ou que en vain merci ne crie. 290 
 
 Je te promet amandement ; 
 Et pour ce que je ne nie 
 Ma promesse, je t'en lie 
 L'ame de moy en gaigement; 
 Puis si te pri finablement 
 Que quant sera mon finement 
 Tu ne me defailles mie : 
 Pour moy soies au jugement 
 Afin que hereditablement 
 J'aie pardurable vie. Amen.' 300 
 
 It will be observed that Chaucer did not translate the last two 
 stanzas. 
 
 MS. C. affords, on the whole, the best text, and is therefore 
 
 ' The initial E stands for et. 
 
 ^ The initial C stands for cetera. It was usual to place ^S^T. {^et 
 cetera) at the end of the alphabet.
 
 Ivi //. COMPLEYNT UNTO PITE. 
 
 followed, all variations from it being duly noted in the foot- 
 notes, except (occasionally) when i is put for j, or^ for i. The 
 scribes are very capricious in the use of these letters, using 
 them indifferently ; but it is best to use i when the vowel is 
 short (as a general rule), and y when it is long. Thus, // is is 
 better than j/jj, and wyse than wise, in order to shew that the 
 vowel is long in the latter case. I also use y at the end of a 
 word, as usual ; as in lady, my. When the spelling of the MS. 
 is thus slightly amended, it gives a fair text, which can easily 
 be read w^ith the old and true pronunciation. See my edition 
 of the Man of Law's Tale, pref. p. ix. 
 
 II. The Compleynt unto Pite. 
 
 The word cotnpleynt answers to the O. F. complaint, sb. 
 masc, as distinguished from O. F. cotiiplaittte, sb. fem., and was 
 the technical name, as it were, for a love-poem of a mournful 
 tone, usually addressed to the unpitying loved one. See Gode- 
 froy's Old French Dictionary \ Dr. Fumivall's account of 
 this poem begins as follows : ' In seventeen y-line stanzas : I of 
 Proem, 7 of Story, and '9 of Complaint, arranged in three Terns 
 [sets of three] of stanzas ; first printed by Thynne in 1532 . . . 
 The poem looks not easy to construe ; but it is clearly a Com- 
 plaint to Pity, as 5 MSS. read, and not ^Pity, as Shirley reads 
 in MS. Harl. 78. This Pity once lived in the heart of the 
 loved-one of the poet . . . But in his mistress's heart dwells also 
 Pity's rival, Cruelty ; and when the poet, after waiting many 
 years ^, seeks to declare his love, even before he can do so, 
 he finds that Pity for him is dead in his mistress's heart, 
 Cruelty has prevailed, and deprived him of her.' His theory is, 
 that this poem is Chaucer's earliest original work, and relates to 
 his own feelings of hopeless love ; also, that Chaucer was not 
 married till 1374, when he married his namesake Philippa 
 Chaucer ^ If this be so, a probable conjectural date for this 
 poem is about 1367. I have remarked, in a note to I. 14 
 (p. 230), that the allegory of the poem is somewhat confused ; 
 
 ' Chaucer speaks of writing fOw//t'?;;to ; Cant. Ta. 11260. 
 ^ Cf. ' this eight yere' ; Book of the Duchesse 37. 
 ■'' ' Philippa Chaucer was a lady of the bedchamber, and therefore 
 married, in 1366'; N. and Q. 7 S. v. 289.
 
 ///. BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. Ivii 
 
 and this implies a certain want of skill and clearness, which 
 makes the supposition of its being an early work the more 
 probable ^ It is extremely difficult to determine to what ex- 
 tent the sentiments are artificial. If a French poem of a 
 similar character should one day be found, it would not be very 
 surprising. Meanwhile, it is worth observing that the notion 
 of personifying Pity is taken from Chaucer's favorite author 
 Statius ; see the Thebaid, bk. xi. 458-496, and compare the 
 context, 11. 1-457. It is this which enables us to explain the 
 word Herenus in 1. 92, which is an error for Herines, the form 
 used by Chaucer to denote the Erhwyes or Furies ^ The 
 Erinnyes are mentioned in Statius, Thcb. xi. 345 (cf. 11. 58, 60, 
 383) ; and Statius leads up to the point of the story where it is 
 an even chance whether there will be peace or war. The 
 Furies urge on the combatants to war ; and at this crisis, the 
 only power who can overrule them is Pietas, personified by 
 Statius for this express purpose (11. 458, 465, 466). The struggle 
 between Pity and Cruelty in Chaucer's poem is parallel to the 
 struggle between Pietas and the fury Tisiphone as told in Statius. 
 Pity is called Heriries gue?te, or queen of the Furies, because she 
 alone is supposed to be able to control them. See my notes 
 to II. 57, 64, and 92 (pp. 231, 232). 
 
 The poem is extant in eight MSS. It is attributed to Chaucer 
 by Shirley (see p. 229), and the internal evidence confirms this. 
 There is a fairly good copy in MS. F, on which my edition of 
 it is based. There is, further, an excellent critical edition of 
 this poem by Prof. Ten Brink, in Essays on Chaucer, Part II, 
 p. 170 (Chaucer Soc.) ; this I carefully consulted after making 
 my own copy, and I found that the differences were very 
 slight. 
 
 III. The Book of the Duchesse. 
 
 Here we are on firm ground. The genuineness of this poem 
 has never been doubted. It is agreed that the word Whyte in 
 1. 948, which is given as the name of the lady lately dead, is a 
 translation oi Blajtche,a.n<l that the reference is to the wife of the 
 
 ' But Ten Brink {Sfrache mid Versktmst, p. 174) dates it about 
 
 1370-1372- 
 
 * 'O ye Herjjics, nightes doughters thre' ; Troilus, last stanza of the 
 invocation in bk. iv.
 
 Iviii ///, BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt), who died Sept. 12, 1 369, at 
 the age of twenty-nine, her husband being then of the same age. 
 As the poem would naturally be written soon after this event, 
 the date must be near the end of 1369. In fact, John of Gaunt 
 married again in 1372, whereas he is represented in the poem as 
 being inconsolable. Chaucer's own testimony, in the Legend of 
 Good Women, 1. 418, is that he made 'the deeth of Blaunche 
 the Duchesse' ; and again, in the Introduction to the Man of 
 Law's Prologue, 1. 57, that ' In youthe he made of Ceys and 
 Alcioun.' In 1369, Chaucer was already twenty-nine years of 
 age (taking the year of his birth to be 1340, not 1328), which is 
 rather past the period of youth ; and the fact that he thus 
 mentions ' Ceys and Alcioun ' as if it were the name of an in- 
 dependent poem, renders it almost certain that such was once 
 the case. He clearly thought it too good to be lost, and so 
 took the opportunity of inserting it in a more ambitious effort. 
 The original ' Ceys and Alcioun ' evidently ended at 1. 220 ; 
 where it began, we cannot say, for the poem was doubtless 
 revised and somewhat altered. LI. 215, 216 hint that a part of 
 it was suppressed. The two subjects were easily connected, 
 the sorrow of Alcyone for the sudden and unexpected loss of 
 her husband being the counterpart of the sorrow of the duke 
 for the loss of his wife. The poem of ' Ceys and Alcioun ' 
 shews Chaucer under the influence of Ovid, just as part of his 
 Complaint to Pity was suggested by Statius ; but in the later 
 part of the poem of the Book of the Duchesse we see him strongly 
 influenced by French authors, chiefly Guillaume de Machault and 
 the authors of Le Roman de la Rose. His familiarity with the 
 latter poem (as pointed out in the notes) is such as to prove 
 that he had already been previously employed in making his 
 translation of that extremely lengthy work, and possibly quotes 
 lines from his own translation '. 
 
 The relationship between the MSS. and Thynne's edition 
 has been investigated by Koch, in Anglia, vol. iv. Anzeiger, 
 p. 95, and by Max Lange, in his excellent dissertation entitled 
 UntersucJiungen iiber Chaucer's Boke 0/ the Dtichcssc, Halle, 
 
 ' Most of the passages which he quotes are not extant in the English 
 version of the Romaunt. Where we can institute a comparison between 
 that version and the Book of the Duchess, the passages are differently 
 worded. Cf. 13. Duch. 420, with K. Rose, 1393.
 
 /r. COMPLEVNT OF MARS. llx 
 
 1883. They both agree in representing the scheme of relation- 
 ship SQ as to give the following result : 
 
 /3 Thynnc. 
 
 7 ( Tanner MS. 
 
 I I Fairfax MS. 
 
 ( ^ I Bodley MS. 
 
 Here a represents the lost original MS., and /3 and y are lost 
 MSS. derived from it. Thynne follows ^ ; whilst 7 is followed 
 by the Tanner MS. and a lost MS. S. The Fairfax and Bodley 
 MSS., which are much alike, are copies of S. The MS. y had 
 lost a leaf, containing 11. 31-96; hence the same omission 
 occurs in the three MSS. derived from it. However, a much 
 later hand has filled in the gap in MS. F, though it remains 
 blank in the other two MSS. On the whole, the authorities for 
 this poem are not very good; I have, in general, followed MS. 
 F, but have carefully amended it where the other copies seemed 
 to give a better result. Lange gives a useful set of ' Konjec- 
 turen,' many of which I have adopted. 
 
 IV. The Compleynt of Mars. 
 
 Lydgate tells us that this poem is Chaucer's, referring to it 
 as containing the story of ' the broche which that Vulcanus At 
 Thebes wrought,' &c. Internal evidence clearly shews that it 
 was written by the author of the Treatise on the Astrolabie. 
 In MS. Harl. 7333, Shirley gives it the title 'The broche of 
 Thebes, as of the love of Mars and Venus.' Bale oddly refers 
 to this poem as De Vulcani veric, but broche is here an orna- 
 ment, not a spit. With the exception of two lines and a half 
 (11. 13-15), the whole poem is supposed to be sung by a bird, 
 and upon St. Valentine's day. It begins in the ordinary 7-line 
 stanza, rimed ababbcc; but the Complaint itself is in 9-line 
 stanzas, rimed aabaabbcc. 
 
 At the end of the copy of this poem in MS. T, Shirley 
 appends the following note : — ' Thus eondethe here this com- 
 plaint, whiche some men sayne was made by [i. e. with respect 
 to] my lady of York, doughter to the kyng of Spaygne, and 
 my lord huntingdon, some tyme Due of Excestre.' This tradi- 
 tion may be correct, but the intrigue between them was dis- 
 creditable enough, and would have been better passed over in
 
 Ix IF. COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 silence than celebrated in a poem, in which Mars and Venus 
 fitly represent them. In the heading to the poem in the same 
 MS., Shirley tells us further, that it was written to please John 
 of Gaunt. The heading is : — ' Loo, yea louers, gladethe and 
 comfortethe you of thallyance etrayted * bytwene the hardy and 
 fuiyous Mars the god of armes and Venus the double [i.e. 
 fickle] goddesse of loue ; made by Geffrey Chaucier, at the 
 comandement of the renowmed and excellent Pr)'nce my lord 
 the Due lohn of Lancastre.' The lady was John of Gaunt's 
 sister-in-law. John of Gaunt married, as his second wife, in 
 1372, Constance, elder daughter of Pedro, king of Castile ; 
 whilst his brother Edmund, afterwards duke of York, married 
 Isabel, her sister. In Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 154, we read that 
 this Isabel, ' having been somewhat wanton in her younger 
 years, at length became a hearty penitent ; and departing this 
 life in 1394, was buried in the Friers Preachers at Langele,' i.e. 
 King's Langley in Hertfordshire ; cf. Chauncy's Hertfordshire, 
 p. 455 ; Camden's A?igHca, p. 350. It is highly probable that 
 Chaucer addressed his Envoy to the Complaint of Venus to the 
 same lady, as he calls her ' Princess ' ; see p. 209, 1. 73, and the 
 Notes to that Poem. 
 
 Mars is, accordingly, intended to represent John Holande, 
 half-brother to Richard II, Earl of Huntingdon, and afterwards 
 Duke of Exeter. He actually married John of Gaunt's daughter 
 Elizabeth, whose mother was the Blaunche celebrated in the 
 Book of the Duchess. 
 
 If this tradition be true, the date of the poem must be not 
 very many years after 1372, when the Princess Isabel came to 
 England. We may date it, conjecturally, about 1374. See 
 further in Furnivall's Trial Forewords, pp. 78-90. 
 
 The poem is remarkable for its astronomical allusions, which 
 are fully explained in the notes. The story of Mars and Venus 
 was doubtless taken from Ovid, Metain. iv. 170-189. The 
 story of the brooch of Thebes is from Statius, ii. 265, (S:c. ; see 
 note to 1. 245, on p. 283. 
 
 I shall here add a guess of mine which possibly throws some 
 light on Chaucer's reason for referring to the brooch of 
 Thebes. It is somewhat curious that the Princess Isabel, in a 
 will made twelve years before her death, and dated Dec. 6, 
 
 - 'i.e. y-trctcd, treated.
 
 V. PARLEMENT OF FOULES. Ixi 
 
 1382, left, amongst other legacies, * to the Duke of Lancaster, a 
 Tablet of Jasper which the King of Armoitie gave her'; see 
 Fumivall's Trial Forewords, p. 82. Here Arino7iie means, of 
 course, Armenia ; but it is also suggestive of Harmoftia, the 
 name of the first owner of the brooch of Thebes. It seems just 
 possible that the brooch of Thebes was intended to refer to this 
 tablet of jasper, which was doubtless of considerable value and 
 may have been talked about as being a curiosity. 
 
 V. The Parlement of Foules. 
 
 This poem is undoubtedly genuine ; both Chaucer and Lydgate 
 mention it. It is remarkable as being the first of the Minor 
 Poems which exhibits the influence upon Chaucer of Italian 
 literature, and was therefore probably written somewhat later 
 than the Complaint of Mars. It is also the first of the Minor 
 Poems in which touches of true humour occur; see 11. 498-500, 
 508, 514-6, 563-575, 589-616. Dr. Furnivall {Trial Forewords, 
 p. 53) notes that the MSS. fall into two principal groups ; in the 
 first he places Gg., Trin., Cx., Harl., O., the former part of Ff., 
 (part of) Ar., and the fragments in Hh. and Laud 416; in the 
 second he places F., Tn., D., and the latter part of Ff. Lt. also 
 belongs to the second group. See further in Anglia, vol. iv. 
 Anzeiger, p. 97. The whole poem, except the Roundel in 
 II. 680-692, is in Chaucer's favourite 7-line stanza, often called 
 the ballad-stanza, or simply balade in the MSS. 
 
 The poem itself may be roughly divided into four parts. The 
 first part, 11. 1-84, is mainly occupied with an epitome of the 
 general contents of Cicero's Somnium Scipionis. The second 
 part, 11. 85-175, shews several instances of the influence of Dante. 
 The third part, 11. 176-294, is almost wholly translated or 
 imitated from Boccaccio's Teseide. And the fourth part, 11. 295 
 to the end, is occupied with the real subject of the poem, the 
 main idea being taken, as Chaucer himself tells us, from Alanus 
 de Insulis. The passages relating to the Soiimium Scipionis 
 are duly pointed out in the notes ; and so are the references to 
 Dante. The history of the third and fourth parts requires further 
 explanation. 
 
 We have already seen that Chaucer himself tells us, in the 
 Prol. to the Legend, that he made — ' al the love of Palamon and
 
 Ixli V. PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 
 
 Arcite Of Thebes, thogh the story ys knowen lyte ^' Now, in 
 the note on Anclida and Arcite, p. 310, it is explained how this 
 story of Palamon and Arcite was necessarily translated, more or 
 less closely, from Boccaccio's Teseide, and was doubtless written 
 in the 7-line stanza ; also that fragments of it are preserved to 
 us (i) in sixteen stanzas of the Parliament of Foules, (2) in the 
 first ten stanzas of Anelida, and (3) in three stanzas of Troilus. 
 At a later period, the whole poem was re-written in a different 
 metre, and now forms the Knightes Tale. The sixteen stanzas 
 here referred to begin at 1. 183 (the previous stanza being also 
 imitated from a different part of the Teseide, bk. xi. st. 24), and 
 end at 1. 294. Chaucer has somewhat altered the order ; see 
 note to 1. 183, on p. 293. I here quote, from Furnivall's Trial 
 Forewords, pp. 60-66, a translation by Mr. W. M. Rossetti, of 
 Boccaccio's Teseide, bk. vii. stanzas 51-66. This passage can be 
 compared with Chaucer's imitation of it at the reader's leisure. 
 
 Tes. vii. stanzas 51-60 ; cf. Pari. Foules, 11. 183-259. 
 
 ' With whom^ going forward, she^ saw that [i. e. Mount Cithaeron] 
 In every view suave and charming ; 
 In guise of a garden bosky and beautiful, 
 And greenest, full of plants. 
 Of fresh grass, and every new flower ; 
 And therein rose fountains living and clear; 
 And, among the other plants it abounded in, 
 Myrtle seemed to her more than other. 
 
 ' Here she heard amid the branches sweetly P. F. 190. 
 
 Eirds singing of almost all kinds : 
 Upon which [branches] also in like wise 
 She saw them with delight making their nests. 
 Next among the fresh shadows quickly 
 She saw rabbits go hither and thither, 
 And timid deer and fawns, 
 And many other dearest little beasts. 
 
 * In like wise here every instrument P. F. 197. 
 
 She seemed to hear, and delightful chaunl : 
 
 ' This does not mean that Chaucer s version of the story was ' little 
 known,' but that Boccaccio speaks of the story as being little known — 
 * che Latino autor non par ne dica' ; see note to Anelida, 1. 8, p. 31 1. 
 
 ''■ IVhon refers to Vaghezza, i. e. Grace, Allurement \ she is the prayer 
 of Palcmo, personified.
 
 V. rARLEMENT OF FOULES. 1x111 
 
 Wherefore passing with pace not slow, 
 
 And looking about, somewhat within herself suspended 
 
 At the lofty place and beautiful adornment, 
 
 She saw it replete in almost every corner 
 
 With spiritlings which, flying here and there, 
 
 Went to their bourne. Which she looking at, 
 
 'Among the bushes beside a fountain P. F. 211. 
 
 Saw Cupid forging arrows — 
 He having the bow set down by his feet ; 
 Which [arrows when] selected his daughter Voluptas 
 Tempered in the waves. And settled down 
 With them was Ease \_Ozio, Otium] ; whom she saw 
 That he, with Memory, steeled his darts 
 With the steel that she [Voluptas] first tempered. 
 
 'And then she saw in that pass Grace [Z^^'giWr/a], P. F. 218. 
 With Adorning \Adornezza\ and Affability, 
 And the wholly estrayed Courtesy; 
 And she saw the Arts that have power 
 To make others perforce do folly, 
 In their aspect much disfigured. 
 The Vain Delight of our form 
 She saw standing alone with Gentilesse. 
 
 'Then she saw Beauty pass her by, P. F. 225. 
 
 Without any ornament, gazing on herself; 
 And with her she saw Attraction \^Piacevolezzd\ go, — 
 She [the prayer] commending to herself both one and other. 
 With them she saw standing Youth, 
 Lively and adorned, making great feast : 
 And on tlie other side she saw madcap Audacity 
 Going along with Glozings and Pimps. 
 
 *In mid the place, on lofty columns, P. F. 232. 
 
 She saw a temple of copper ; round which 
 She saw youths dancing and women — 
 This one of them beautiful, and that one in fine raiment, 
 Ungirdled, barefoot, only in their hair and gowns, 
 W'ho spent the day in this alone. 
 Then over the temple she saw doves hover 
 And settle and coo. 
 
 ' And near to the entry of the temple P. F. 239. 
 
 She saw that there sat quietly 
 My lady Peace, who a curtain 
 Moved lightly before the door.
 
 Ixiv F. PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Next hor, very subdued in aspect, 
 Sat Patience discreetly. 
 Pallid in look ; and on all sides 
 Around her she saw artful Promises. 
 
 * Then, entering the temple, of Sighs P. F. 246. 
 She felt there an earthquake, which whirled 
 
 All fiery with hot desires. 
 
 This lit up all the altars 
 
 With new flames bom of pangs ; 
 
 Each of which dripped with tears 
 
 Produced by a woman cruel and fell 
 
 WTiom she there saw, called Jealousy. 
 
 ' And in that [temple] she saw Priapus hold P. F. 253. 
 
 The highest place — in habit just such as 
 Whoever would at night see him 
 Could [do] when, braying, the animal 
 Dullest of all awoke Vesta, who to his mind 
 Was not a little — towards whom he in like guise 
 Went : and likewise throughout the great temple 
 She saw many garlands of diverse flowers.' 
 
 Tes. vii. 61, 62 ; cf. P. F. 281-294. 
 
 * Plere many bows of the Chorus of Diana P. F. 281. 
 She saw hung up and broken ; among which was 
 
 That of Callisto, become the Arctic 
 Bear. The apples were there of haughty 
 Atalanta, who was sovereign in racing ; 
 And also the arms of that other proud one 
 Who brought forth Parthenopaeus, 
 Grandson to the Calydonian King Oeneus. 
 
 * She saw there histories painted all- about ; P. F. 288. 
 Among which with finer work 
 
 Of the spouse of Ninus she there 
 
 Saw all the doings distinguished ; and at foot of the mul- 
 berry-tree 
 ^ Pyramus and Thisbe, and the mulberries already distained ; 
 
 And she saw among these the great Hercules 
 In the lap of lole, and wotful Biblis 
 Going piteous, soliciting Caunus.' 
 
 Tes. vii. 63-66 ; cf. P. F. 260- 2S0. 
 ' But, as she saw not Venus, it was told her P. F. 260. 
 
 (Nor knew she by whom) — '' In secreter 
 Part of the tenii)le stays she delighting.
 
 V. PARLEMENT OE EOULES. Ixv 
 
 If thou wantest her, through that door quietly 
 Enter." Wherefore she, without further demur. 
 Meek of manner as she was. 
 Approached thither to enter within. 
 And do the embassy to her committed. 
 
 'But there she, at her first coming, V. F. 261. 
 
 Found Riches guarding the portal — 
 Who seemed to her much to be reverenced : 
 And, being by her allowed to enter there. 
 The place was dark to her at first going. 
 But afterwards, by staying, a little light 
 She gained there ; and saw her lying naked 
 On a great bed very fair to see. 
 
 * But she had hair of gold, and shining P. F. 2C7. 
 
 Round her head without any tress. 
 Her face was such that most people 
 Have in comparison no beauty at all. 
 The arms, breast, and outstanding apples. 
 Were all seen ; and every other part with a 
 Texture so thin was covered 
 That it shewed forth almost as [if] naked. 
 
 ' The neck was fragrant with full a thousand odours. P. F. 2J'4. 
 At one of her sides Bacchus was seated, 
 At the other Ceres with her savours. 
 And she in her hands held the apple. 
 Delighting herself, which, to her sisters 
 Preferred, she won in the Idean vale. 
 
 And, having seen all this, she [the prayer] made her request. 
 Which was conceded without denial.' 
 
 At 1. 298 we are introduced to a queen, who in 1. 303 is said 
 to be the noble goddess Nature. The general idea is taken from 
 Aleyn's Pleynt of Kyjide (1. 316), i. e. from the Plandus Naturae 
 of Alanus de Insulis ; see note to 1. 298, on p. 297. I here quote 
 the most essential passage from the Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, 
 ed. T. Wright, ii. 437. It describes the garment worn by the 
 goddess Nature, on which various birds were represented. The 
 phrase anvnaliiun concilitini probably suggested the name 
 given by Chaucer to our poem. 
 
 ' Haec autem [vestis] nimis subtilizata, subterfugiens oculorum in- 
 daginem, ad tantam materiae tenuitatem advenerat, ut ejus aerisque 
 eandem croderes esse naturam, in qua, prout oculis pictura imagina- 
 batur, animaliiim celebratur concilium. Illic aqiiila, primo juvenera, 
 
 e
 
 Ixvi F. PARLEMENT OF FOVLES. 
 
 secundo senem, induens, tertio iterum reciprocata priorem, in Adonidem 
 revertebatur a Nestore. lllic ancipiter {sic), civitatis praefcctus aeriae, 
 violenta tyrannide a subditis redditus cxposcebat. lllic milvus, vena- 
 toris induens personam, venatione furtiva lanam gerebat ancipitris. 
 lllic falco in ardcavi bellum excitabat civile, non tamen aequali lance 
 divisum. Non enim illud pugnae debet appellatione censeri, ubi tu 
 pulsas, ego vapulo lantum. lllic struthio, vita seculari postposita, 
 vitam solitariam agens, quasi heremita factus, desertarum solitudines 
 incolebat. lllic olor, sui funeris praeco, mellitae cithcrizalionis organo 
 vitae prophetabat apocopam. lllic in pavone tantum pulcritudinis 
 compluit Natura thesaunim, ut earn postea crederes mendicasse. lllic 
 phoenix, in se mortuus, redivivus in alio, quodam Naturae miraculo, se 
 sua morte a mortuis suscitabat. lllic avis concorJiae {ciconia) pro- 
 lem decimando Naturae persolvebat tributum. WWz passcres in atomum 
 pygmeae humilitatis relegati degebant, gms ex opposite in giganteae 
 quantitatis evadebat excessum. 
 
 ' Vi\\cpliasiamis, natalis insulae perpessus angustias, principum futurus 
 deliciae, nostros evolabat in orbes. lllic gallus, tanquara vulgaris 
 astrologus, suae vocis horologio horarum loquebatur discrimina. lllic 
 gallus silvcstris, privatioris galli deridens desidiam, peregre pro- 
 fisciscens, nemorales peragrabat provincias. lllic bubo, propheta 
 miseriae, psalmodias funereae lamentationis praecinebat. lllic tzocftta 
 tantae deformitatis sterquilinio sordescebat, ut in ejus formatione 
 Naturam crederes fuisse somnolentam. lllic comix, ventura prognosti- 
 cans, nugatorio concitabatur garritu. \\\\c pica, dubio picturata colore, 
 curam logices perennebat insomnem. lllic vioncdtila, latrocinio lauda- 
 bili reculas thesaurizans, innatae avaritiae argumenta moiistrabat. 
 lllic coluinba, dulci malo inebriata Diones, laborabat Cypridis in 
 palaestra. lllic corvus, zelolypiae abhorrens dedecus, suos foetus non 
 sua esse pignora fatebatur, usque dum comperto nigri argumento 
 coloris, hoc quasi secum disputans comprobat. VX\c perdix nunc aeriae 
 potestatis insultus, nunc venatorum sophismata, nunc canum latratus 
 propheticos abhorrebat. lllic anas cum ansere, sub eodem jure vivendi, 
 hiemabat in patria fluviali. lilic turtur, suo viduata consorte, amorem 
 cpilogare dedignans, in altero bigamiae refutabat solatia, lllic psitta- 
 cus cum sui gutturis incude vocis monetam fabricabat humanae. lllic 
 coturniccni, figurae draconis ignorantem fallaciam, imaginariae vocis 
 decipiebant sophismata. lllic picus, propriae architectus domunculae, 
 sui rostri dolabro clausulam fabricabat in ilice. lllic curruca, novcr- 
 cam exucns, matemo pietatis ubere alienam cuculi prolem adoptabat in 
 filium ; quae tamen capitali praemiata stipendio, privignum agnoscens, 
 filium ignorabat. lllic hirundo, a sua percgrinatione reversa, sub trabe 
 nidi lutabat hospitium. lllic philoincna, deflorationis querelam 
 reintegrans, harmoniaca tympanizans dulcedine, puritatis dedecus 
 excusabat. lllic alauda, quasi r.obilis citharista, non studii artificio, sed
 
 VI. MERCILES BEAUTE. Ixvii 
 
 Naturae magisterio, mnsicae praedocta scientiam, citharam praescntabat 
 ill ore .... Haec animalia, quamvis illic quasi allegorice viverent, ibi 
 tamen esse videbantur ad litteram.' 
 
 As to the date of this poem, Ten Brink {Studicn, p. 127) shews 
 that it must have been written later than 1373; and further, 
 that it was probably written earlier than Troilus, which seems to 
 have been finished in 1383. It may therefore have been written 
 in 1 38 1, in which case it may very well refer to the betrothal of 
 King Richard II. to Queen Anne of Bohemia. Prof. Ward, in 
 his Life of Chaucer, p. 86, says: — 'Anne of Bohemia, daughter 
 of the great Emperor Charles IV., and sister of King Wenceslas, 
 had been successively betrothed to a Bavarian prince and to a 
 Margrave of Meissen, before — after negotiations which, accord- 
 ing to Froissart, lasted a year ^— her hand was given to young 
 King Richard II. of England. This sufficiently explains the 
 general scope of the Assembly of Foiuls, an allegorical poem 
 written on or about St. Valentine's Day, 1381 — eleven months or 
 nearly a year after which date the marriage took place '^.' 
 
 I here note that Lydgate's Flour of Curtesie is a palpable 
 imitation of the Parliatnent of Foules. 
 
 VI. Merciles Beaute. 
 
 The unique copy of this poem is in MS. P ^. It is the last 
 poem in the MS., and is in excellent company, as it immediately 
 follows several other of Chaucer's genuine poems. This is 
 probably why Bp. Percy attributed it to Chaucer, who himself 
 tells us that he wrote ' balades, roundels, virelayes.' It is sig- 
 nificant that Matzner, in his Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 347, 
 chose this poem alone as a specimen of the Minor Poems. It is, 
 in fact, most happily expressed, and the internal evidence places 
 its authenticity beyond question. The three roundels express 
 
 * See 1. 647. The royal tercel eagle is, then, Richard II. ; and thr 
 formel eagle is Queen Anne ; the other two tercel eagles were her other 
 two suitors. See Froissart, bk. ii. c. 86. 
 
 ''■ It is quite impossible that the poem can refer, as some say, to the 
 marriage of John of Gaunt in 1359, o^ s'^'en to that of de Coucy in 1364 ; 
 see Furnivall's Trial F"orewords, p. 70. It is plainly much later than the 
 Book of the Duchess, as the internal evidence incontestably shews. 
 
 " Todd gives the contents of this MS. in his Illustrations of Chaucer, 
 p. 116. 
 
 e2
 
 Ixviii Vir. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 
 
 three ' movements,' in the poet's usual manner ; and his mastery 
 of metre is shewn in the use of the same rime in -C7i-e in the 
 first and third roundels, requiring no less than ten different 
 words for the purpose ; whilst in the second roundel the corre- 
 sponding lines end in -cyn-c, producing much the same effect, if 
 (as is probable) the old sounds of e and ey were not very 
 different. We at once recognise the Chaucerian phrases / do 
 no/ors (see Cant. Ta. 6816, 7094), and / coimte ]ii)ii not a bene 
 (see Troil. v. 363). 
 
 Very characteristic is the use of the dissyllabic word se7i-e 
 (1. 10), which is an adjective, and means ' manifest,' from the 
 K.S. gese'fte {gesyne), and not the past participle, which \sy-seen. 
 Chaucer rimes it with clen-e (Prol. to C.T. 134), and v^\\}l\. gren-e 
 (Kn. Tale, 1440). The phrase though he sterve for the peyne 
 (1. 23) reminds us oifor to deyen iti the peyne (Kn. Ta. 275). 
 
 But the most curious thing about this poem is the incidental 
 testimony of Lj'dgatc, in his Ballade in commendacion of our 
 Ladie ; see poem no. 26 above, discussed at p. xxvii. I here 
 quote St. 22 in full, from ed. 1561, fol. 330 : — 
 
 ' Where might I loue euer better beset 
 Then in this Lilie, likyng to beholde? 
 That lace of Joue, the bonde so well thou knit, 
 That I male see thee, or myne harte colde, 
 And or I passe out of my daies olde, 
 Tofore [thee] syngyng euermore vtterly — 
 Your iyen twoo ivoll ska tne sodaiiily.' 
 
 VII. Anelida and Arcite. 
 
 The genuineness of this poem is obvious enough, and is 
 vouched for both by Lydgate and Shirley, as shewn above. It 
 is discussed in the Notes, p. 310. I may add that Lydgate 
 incidentally refers to it in his Complaint of the Black Knight, 
 1. 379 : — ' Of Thebes eke the false Arcite.' Much later allusions 
 are the following : — 
 
 ' There was also Annelida the queene, 
 Upon Arcite how sore she did complainc ' ; 
 
 Assembly of Ladies, 1. 465, 
 
 ' and the weimenting 
 
 Of her Annelida, true as turtle-dove 
 To Arcite fals.' 
 
 Court of Love, 1. 233.
 
 VII. ANELIDA AXD A R CITE. Ixix 
 
 The first three stanzas are from Boccaccio's Teseide, as shewn 
 in the Notes ; so also are stanzas 8, 9, and 10. Stanzas 4-7 are 
 partly from Statins. The origin of 11. 71-210 is at present 
 unknown. It is difficult to date this poem, but it must be 
 placed after 1373, because of its quotations from the Teseide, or 
 rather from Chaucer's own Palamon attd Arcite. The mention 
 of 'the quene of Ermony' in 1. 71 suggests that Chaucer's 
 thoughts may have been turned towards Armenia by the curious 
 fact that, in 1384, the King of Armenia came to England about 
 Christmas time, stayed two months, and was hospitably enter- 
 tained by King Richard at Eltham ; see Fabyan's Chronicles, ed. 
 Ellis, p. 532. At an earlier time, viz. in 1362, Walsingham says 
 that some knights of Armenia appeared at a tournament in 
 Smithfield. In the Transactions of the Cambridge Philological 
 Society, May 13, 18S6, there is a short paper by Prof. Cowell, 
 from which we learn that Mr. Bradshaw believed the name of 
 Anelida to be identical ' with Andhita ('AvatVis), the ancient 
 goddess of Persia and Armenia. . . He supposed that Chaucer 
 got the name Anelida from a misreading of the name Atiaetidem 
 or Anaeiida in some Latin MS., the / being mistaken for /.' We 
 must remember that Creseide represents a Greek accusative 
 form Xpvcn]i8a, of which the gen. XpvarjiSos occurs in Homer, 
 //. i. Ill; also that the curious Chaucerian form Dalida (for 
 Dalilah) is probably due to association with Greek accusatives 
 in -i5n. The genitive Anaetidos occurs in Plhiy, xxxiii. 4 ; in 
 Holland's translation of Pliny, ii. 470, she appears as 'the 
 goddesse Diana syrnamed Anaitis^ It may be as well to ex- 
 plain to those who are unaccustomed to MSS. of the fourteenth 
 century, that it was then usual to write e in place of ae or (2', so 
 that the name would usually be written, in the accusative case, 
 Anetida. This suggests that Anelida should be spelt with but 
 one n ; and such is the practice of all the better MSS. 
 
 It remains to be added that one source of the part of the 
 poem called the Complaint (II. 211-350) is the poem printed in 
 this volume as no. XXL, at p. 213. That poem is, in fact, a kind 
 of exercise in metrical experiments, and exhibits specimens of 
 the ten-line stanza, in which the main part of the Complaint is 
 written. Chaucer seems to have elaborated this into a longer 
 Complaint, with additional varieties in the metre ; and then to 
 have written the preceding story by way of introduction. One
 
 Ixx IX. THE nous OF FAME. 
 
 line (xxi. 50) is repeated without alteration fvii. 237) ; another 
 (xxi. 35) is only altered in the first and last words (vii. 222). 
 Other resemblances are pointed out in the Notes. 
 
 It is also worth while to notice how the character of the 
 speaking falcon in the second part of the Squire's Tale is pre- 
 cisely that of Anelida. The parallel lines are pointed out in the 
 Notes. 
 
 VIII. Chaucer's Wordes unto Adam. 
 
 This is evidently a genuine poem, written by the author of 
 the translation of Boethius and of the story of Troilus. 
 
 IX. The Hous of Fame. 
 
 It is needless to say that this poem is genuine, as Chaucer 
 himself claims it twice over; once in his Prologue to the Legend 
 of Good Women, 1. 417, and again by the insertion in the poem 
 itself of the name Geffrey (1. 729). The influence of Dante is 
 here v&ry marked ; hence Lydgate refers to it by the name of 
 ' Dante in English.' This influence is thoroughly discussed by 
 Rambeau in EngUsche Sttidien, iii. 209, in an article which is 
 far too important to be neglected. I can only say here that the 
 author points out both general and particular likenesses between 
 the two poems. . In general, both are visions ; both are in three 
 books ; in both the authors seek abstraction from surrounding 
 troubles by venturing into the realm of imagination ; as Dante 
 is led by Vergil, so Chaucer is upborne by the eagle. Dante 
 begins his third book, 11 Paradiso, with an invocation to Apollo, 
 and Chaucer likewise begins his third book with the same ; 
 moreover, Chaucer's invocation is little more than a translation 
 of Dante's. 
 
 Among the particular resemblances, we may notice the method 
 of commencing each division of the poem with an invocation \ 
 Again, both poets mark the exact date of commencing their 
 poems : Dante descended into the Inferno on Good Friday, 1300 
 {Inf. xxi. 112) ; Chaucer began his work on the 12th of December, 
 the year being, probably, 1383 (note to 1. iii). 
 
 ' In Dante's Inferno, this invocation comes at the beginning of Canto 
 II. ; for Canto I. is a general introduction to the whole.
 
 /A'. THE nous OF J'AME. Ixxi 
 
 Chaucer sees the desert of Libya (1. 4SS), corresponding to 
 similar waste spaces mentioned by Dante ; see note to 1. 4S2. 
 Chaucer's eagle is also Dante's eagle ; see note to 1. 500. Chaucer 
 gives an account of Phaeton (1. 942) and of Icarus (1. 920) much 
 like those given by Dante (Inf. xvii. 107, 109) ; both accounts, 
 however, may have been taken from Ovid '. Chaucer's account 
 of the eagle's lecture to him (1. 729) is copied from Parad. i. 109- 
 117. Chaucer's steep rock of ice (1. 1 130) corresponds to Dante's 
 steep rock (Purg. iii. 47). If Chaucer cannot describe all the 
 beauty of the House of Fame (1. 116S), Dante is equally unable 
 to describe Paradise (Par. i. 6). Chaucer cop'es from Dante his 
 description of Statins, and follows his mistake in saying that he 
 was born at Toulouse; see note to 1. 1460. The description of 
 the House of Rumour is also imitated from Dante ; see note to 
 1. 2034. Chaucer's error of making Marsyas a female arose from 
 his not understanding the Italian form IMarsia ; see note to 
 1. 1229. 
 
 These are but a few of the points discussed in Rambeau's 
 remarkable article ; it is impossible to give, in a summary, a just 
 idea of the careful way in which the resemblances between these 
 two great poets are pointed out. It is no longer possible to 
 question Chaucer's knowledge of Italian, and it is useless to 
 search for the original of this poem in Provengal literature, as 
 W'arton vaguely suggests that we should do. 1 can see no help 
 to be obtained from a perusal of Petrarch's Trzon/o del/a Fatna, 
 to which some refer us ; it is quite clear that the general notion 
 of a House of Fame was adopted from Ovid, Metam. xii. 39 63. 
 The proof of this is seen in the care with which Chaucer works in 
 all the details in that passage. He also keeps an eye on the 
 celebrated description of Fame in Vergil, Aen. iv. 173-189 ; even 
 to the unlucky rendering oi pernicibus alis by ' partriches winges ' 
 (1. 1392). 
 
 By way of further assistance, 1 here quote the whole of 
 Golding's translation of the above-mentioned passage from 
 Ovid :— 
 
 ' I do not feel sure that the resemblances quite prove that Chaucer 
 followed Dante rather than Ovid. Thus, if Chaucer says lat the rcyncs 
 goon (,1. 951) where Dante says abbandonb li freni (Inf. xvii. 107), we 
 have in Ovid eqiii . . colla itigo eripiunt, abriiplaqiic lora rclinqttitnt 
 (Met. ii. 315). Still, Chaucer's words are closer to Dante than to the 
 original.
 
 Ixxii IX. THE nous OF FAME. 
 
 ' Amid ihe woHd twcene heaucn and earth, and sea, there is a place, 
 Set from the bounds of each of them indifferently in space. 
 From whence is seene what-euer thing is practizde any-where, 
 Although the Realme be neere so farre : and roundly to the eare 
 Commes whatsoeuer spoken is ; Fame hath his dwelling there, 
 Who in the top of all the house is lodged in a towre. 
 A thousand entries, glades, and holes are framed in this bowie. 
 There are no doores to shut. The doores stand open night and 
 
 day. 
 The house is all of sounding brasse, and roreth eucry way. 
 Reporting double euery word it heareth people say. 
 There is no rest within, there is no silence any-where. 
 Yet is there not a yelling out : but humming, as it were 
 The sound of surges being heard farre off, or like the sound 
 That at the end of thunderclaps long after doth redound 
 AVhen loue doth make the clouds to crack. Within the courts is 
 
 preace 
 Of common people, wliich to come and go do neuer ceace. 
 And millions both of troths and lies nm gadding euery-where, 
 And wordes confusclie file in heapes, of which some fill the eare 
 That heard not of them erst, and some cole-cariers part do play, 
 To spread abroade the things they heard, and euer by the way 
 The thing that was inuented growes much greater than before, 
 And euery one that gets it by the end addes somewhat more. 
 Light credit dwelleth there, there dwells rash error, there doth dwell 
 Yaine ioy : there dwelleth hartlesse feare, and brute that loues to 
 
 tell 
 Uncertaine newes vpon report, whereof he doth not knowe 
 The author, and sedition who fresh rumors loues to sowe. 
 This Fame beholdeth what is done in heauen, on sea, and land, 
 And what is wrought in all the world he layes to vnderstand.' 
 
 Compare with this H. F., II. 711-724, 672-699, 1025-1041, 
 1951-1976, 2034-2077. 
 
 The chief imitations of Chaucer's poem are TIic Palice of 
 Honour, by Gawain Douglas, T/ie Garland of Laurcll, by 
 Skelton, and The Temple of Fatne, by Pope. Pope's poem 
 should not be compared with Chaucer's ; it is very different in 
 character, and is best appreciated by forgetting its origin. 
 
 The authorities for the text are few and poor. There are but 
 three iMSS., viz. F., B., and P. (the last being a fragment) ; and 
 two early printed editions, viz. Cx. and Th. F. and B. form a 
 first group, and P. and Cx. a second ; TIi. partly follows Cx., 
 and partly F, I have been much assisted by an excellent dis-
 
 X THE FORMER AGE. Ixxiii 
 
 sertation on The House of Fame by Hans Willert of Berlin, 
 printed at 13erlin in 1S83. Since then, whilst engaged in writing 
 this preface, I have received the edition of The House of Famre 
 by the same author, with collation and notes, printed at Berlin 
 in 1 888. I am sorry it has reached me too late to help me, 
 as it appears to be well and carefully done. 
 
 X. The Former Age. 
 
 First printed in 1866, in Morris's Chaucer, from a transcript 
 made by Mr. Bradshaw, who pointed out its genuineness. It is 
 ascribed to Chaucer in both MSS., and belongs, in fact, to his 
 translation of Boethius, though probably written at a later date. 
 In MS. I., the poem is head.ed : — ' Chawc^r vp-on this fyfte 
 met?^r of the second book.' In MS. Hh., the colophon is : 
 Finit Etas prima : Chancers.' Dr. Koch thinks that the five 
 poems here numbered X — XIV 'form a cyclus, as it were, being 
 free transcriptions of different passages in Boethius' Co7isolatio 
 PJiilosopliiae' There is, in fact, a probability that these were all 
 written at about the same period, and that rather a late one, 
 some years after the prose translation of Boethius had been 
 completed ; and a probable date for this completion is some- 
 where about 1380. 
 
 Both MSS. copies are from the same source, as both of them 
 omit the same line, viz. 1. 56 ; which I have had to supply by con- 
 jecture. Neither of the MSS. are well spelt, nor are they very 
 satisfactory. The mistake in riming 1. 47 with 1. 43 instead of 
 1. 45 may very well have been due to an oversight on the part of 
 the poet himself. But the poem is a beautiful one, and admirably 
 expressed ; and its inclusion among the Minor Poems is a con- 
 siderable gain. 
 
 Dr. Furnivall has printed the Latin text of Boethius, lib. ii. 
 met. 5, from MS. I., as well as Chaucer's prose version of the 
 same, for the sake of comparison with the text of the poem. 
 The likeness hardly extends beyond the first four stanzas. I 
 here transcribe, from Dr. Morris's edition, that part of the prose 
 version which is parallel to the poem, omitting a few sentences 
 which do not appear there at all : — 
 
 ' Blysful was the first age of men. Thei helden hem apaied 
 with the metes that the trewe erthes brou3tcn furthe. Thei nc 
 destroyede ne desceyvede not hem-self with outerage. They
 
 Ixxiv XII. TRUTH. 
 
 weren wont lyjtly to slakcn her hunger at eucne with acornes of 
 okes- \^Sta7tsa 2.] Thei ne couthe nat medle ' the 5ift of Bacus 
 to the clere hony ; that is to scyn, thei couthe make no piment 
 of clarre. YSta7tza 3.] ... thei couthe nat dien white flies " 
 of Sirien contre withe the blode of a manar shelfysshc that 
 men fynden in Tyrie, with whiche blode men deien purpur. 
 \Stanza 6.] Thei slepen holesum slepes vpon the gras, and 
 dronken of the rynnyng watres \cf. 1. 8] ; and laien vndir the 
 shadowe of the hey3e pyne-trees. \Stanza 3, continued^ Ne 
 no gest ne no straunger ne karf yit the heye see with oores or 
 with shippes ; ne thei ne hadden seyne yitte none newe strondes, 
 to leden merchaundyse in-to dyuerse contres. Tho weren the 
 cruel clariouns ful whist ^ and ful stille. . . \Stan2a 4.] For 
 wherto or whiche woodenesse of enmys wolde first moeven armes, 
 whan thei seien cruel woundes, ne none medes * ben of blood 
 yshad '' ? . . Alias ! what was he that first dalf '"' up the gobets " or 
 the wey5tys of gold covered undir erthe, and the precious stones 
 that wolden han ben hid ? He dalf up precious perils ; ... for the 
 preciousnesse of swyche hath many man ben in peril.' 
 
 XI. Fortune. 
 
 Attributed to Chaucer by Shirley in MSS. A. and T. ; also 
 marked as Chaucer's in MSS. F. and I. In MS. I., this poem 
 and the preceding are actually introduced into Chaucer's 
 translation of Boethius, between the fifth metre and the sixth 
 prose of the second book. For further remarks, see the Notes. 
 
 XII. Truth. 
 
 This famous poem is attributed to Chaucer in MS. F., also 
 (thrice) by Shirley, who in one of the copies in MS. T. (in which 
 it occurs twice) calls it a ' Balade that Chancier made on his 
 decth-bedde ' ; which is probably a mere bad guess ^ The 
 MSS. may be divided into two groups ; the four best are in the 
 first group, viz. At., E., Gg., Ct., and the rest (mostly) in the 
 
 ' mix. ' fleece. ' hushed, silent. 
 
 * rewards. '^ shed. ^ dug. ' lumps. 
 
 * A similar note was made in MS. Cotton, Otho. A. xviii., now 
 destroyed. Todd printed the poem from this MS. in his Illustrations of 
 Chaucer, p. 131 ; it belongs to the ' first grouj).'
 
 Xiri. GEXTILESSE. Jxxv 
 
 second group. Those of the first group have the readings 
 Tempest (8), Know thy contree (19), and Hold ilic hye wey (20) ; 
 whilst the rest have, in the same places, Peync (S), Look tip 0/1 
 hy (19), and Weyxfc thy lust (20). It is remarkable that the 
 Envoy occurs in MS. At. on/y. It may have been suppressed 
 owing to a misunderstanding of the word vache (cow), the true 
 sense of which is a little obscure. The reference is to Boethius, 
 bk. V. met. 5, where it is explained that quadrupeds look doivti 
 upon the earth, whilst man alone looks up towards heaven ; cf. 
 lok up in 1. 19 of the poem. The sense is therefore, that we are 
 to cease to look down, and to learn to look up like true men ; 
 ' onlyche the lynage of man,' says Chaucer, in his translation of 
 Boethius, ' heveth heyest his heyje heved ^ . . this figure amone- 
 steth '^ the, that axest the hevene with thi ryjte visage, and hast 
 areised thi forhede to bercn up on heye thi corage, so that thi 
 thou5t ne be nat y-hevied "' ne put lowe undir foot.' 
 
 XIII. Gentilesse. 
 
 It is curious that this Balade not only occurs as an indepen- 
 dent poem, as in MSS. T., Harl., Ct., and others, but is also 
 quoted bodily in a poem by Henry Scogan in MS. A. It is 
 attributed to Chaucer by Shirley in MSS. T. and Harl. ; and 
 still more satisfactory is the account given of it by Scogan. 
 The title of Scogan's poem is : — ' A moral balade made by 
 Henry Scogan squyer. Here folowethe nexst a moral balade 
 to my lorde the Prince, to my lord of Clarence, to my lord of 
 Bedford, and to my lorde of Gloucestre ; by Henry Scogan, at 
 a souper of feorthe merchande {sic) in the vyntre in London, 
 at the hous of Lowys lohan.' It is printed in all the old editions 
 of Chaucer ; see poem no. 1"^,, p. xx. Scogan tells us that he 
 v/as 'fader' i.e. tutor, to the four sons of Henry IV. above- 
 mentioned*. His ballad is in 21 8-line stanzas, and he inserts 
 Chaucer's Gentilesse, distinguished by being in 7-line stanzas, 
 
 ^ high head. ''■ admonishes. ' weighed down. 
 
 * The poem must have been written not many years before 1413, the 
 date of the accession of Henry V. In 1^05, the ages of the princes 
 were 17, 16, 15, and 14 respectively. Shirley's title to the poem was 
 evidently written after 141 5, as John was not created Duke of 
 Clarence until that year.
 
 Ixxvi XI IT. GENTILESSE. 
 
 between the 13th and 14th stanzas of his own work. He 
 refers to Chaucer in the 9th stanza thus : — 
 
 'My maistre Chancier, God his soule have, 
 That in his langage was so curyous, 
 He saide that the fader, nowe dede and grave, 
 Beqwathe no-lhing his vertiie with his hous 
 Un-to his sone.' 
 
 This is a reference to 11. 16, 17 of Chaucer's poem. Again, in 
 his 13th stanza, he says : — 
 
 ' By auncetrye thus may ye fio-thing clayme. 
 As that my maistre Chancier dothe expresse, 
 But temporell thing, that man may hurte and mayme ; 
 Thane is gode stocke of vertuous noblesse ; 
 And, sithe that be is lord of blessednesse 
 That made us alle, and for mankynde that dyed, 
 P'olowe his vertue with full besynesse ; 
 And of this thinge herke howe my maistre seyde.' 
 
 He here refers to lines 15-17, and lines 1-4 of Chaucer's poem ; 
 and then proceeds to cjuote it in full. Having done so, he 
 adds : — 
 
 'Loo, here this noble poete of Brettayne 
 Howe hyely he, m vertuouse sentence. 
 The lesse in youthe, of vertue can compleyne.' 
 
 Scogan's advice is all good, and, though he accuses himself of 
 having misspent his youth, this may very well mean no more 
 than such an expression means in the mouth of a good man. 
 He is doubtless the very person to whom Chaucer's ' Lenvoy 
 a Scogan' was addressed, and Chaucer (1. 21) there gives him 
 an excellent character for wisdom of speech. Accordingly, he 
 is not to be confused with the Thomas Scogan or Scogin to 
 whom is attributed an idle book called ' Scoggins lests,' which 
 were said to have been ' gathered ' by Andrew Boord or Borde, 
 author of the Introduction of Knowledge \ When Shakespeare, 
 in 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 33, says that Sir John Falstaff broke 
 Scogan's head, he was no doubt thinking of the supposed 
 
 ' See Furnivall's edition of Bordc's Introduction of Knowledge, E. E. 
 T.S., 1870. At p. 31 of the Forewords, the editor says there is no 
 evidence for atliibuling ' .Scoggins lests ' to Borde.
 
 XF. AGAINST WOMEN UNCO NST AUNT. Ixxvii 
 
 author of the jest-book, and may have been led, by observa- 
 tion of the name in a black-letter edition of Chaucer, to suppose 
 that he lived in the time of Henry IV. This was quite enough 
 for his purpose, though it is probable that the jester lived in the 
 time of Edward IV.; see Tyrwhitt's note on the Envoy to 
 Scogan. On the other hand, we find Ben jonson taking 
 his ideas about Scogan solely from Henry Scogan's poem and 
 Chaucer's Envoy, without any reference to the jester. See his 
 Masque of the Fortunate Isles, in which Scogan is first described 
 and afterwards introduced. The description tells us nothing 
 more than we know already. 
 
 As for Lewis John (p. Ixxv.), Tyrwhitt says he was a Welsh- 
 man, ' who was naturalised by Act of Parliament, 2 Hen. V., 
 and who was concerned with Thomas Chaucer in the execution 
 of the office of chief butler ; Rot. Pari. 2 Hen. V. n. 18.' 
 
 Caxton's printed edition of this poem seems to follow a better 
 source than any of the MSS. 
 
 XIV. Lak of Stedfastnesse. 
 
 Attributed to Chaucer by Shirley in MSS. Harl. and T., 
 and sent to King Richard at Windsor, according to the same 
 authority. The general idea of it is from Boethius ; see the 
 Notes. Shirley refers it to the last years of Richard II., say 
 1397-9. We find something very like it in Piers Plowman, C. 
 iv. 203 — 210, where Richard is told that bribery and wicked 
 connivance at extortion have almost brought it about — 
 
 * That no lond loveth the, and yut leest thyn owene.' 
 
 In any case, the date can hardly vary between wider limits than 
 between 1393 and 1399. Richard held a tournament at Windsor 
 in 1399', which was but thinly attended ; ' the greater part of the 
 knights and squires of England were disgusted with the king.' 
 
 Of this poem, MS. Ct. seems to give the best text. 
 
 XV. Against Women Unconstaunt. 
 
 For the genuineness of this Balade, we have chiefly the in- 
 ternal evidence to trust to ; but this seems to me to be suffi- 
 
 * Froissart, bk. iv. c. 105 (Johnes' translation).
 
 Ixxviii XVII. LENVOY A BUKTON. 
 
 cicntly strong. The Bahide is perfect in construction, having 
 but three rimes {-essc^ -ace, -ene), and a refrain. The 'mood' 
 of it strongly resembles that of the preceding Balade ; the lines 
 run with perfect smoothness, and the rimes are all Chaucerian. 
 It is difficult to suppose that Lydgate, or even Hoccleve, who 
 was a better metrician, could have produced so good an imitation 
 of Chaucer's style. But we are not altogether without external 
 evidence ; for the general idea of the poem, and what is more 
 important, the whole of the refrain, are taken from Chaucer's 
 favourite author Machault (ed. Tarbe, p. 56) ; whose refrain is — 
 ' En lieu de bleu. Dame, vous vestez vert.' Again, the poem is 
 only found in company with other poems by Chaucer. I have 
 said, at p. 199, that it occurs in MSS. F. and Ct. Now in MS. 
 Ct. we find, on the back of fol. 188 and on fol. 189, just four 
 poems in the same hand. These are (1) Gentilesse ; (2) Lak 
 of Stedfastnesse ; (3) Truth ; and (4) Against Women Uncon- 
 staunt. As three of these are admittedly genuine, there is 
 a chance that the fourth is the same. We may also notice 
 that, in this MS., the poems on Lak of Stedfastnesse and 
 Against Women Unconstaunt are not far apart. But, on lately 
 searching MS. Ha. (Harl. 7578), I again found three of these 
 poems in company, viz. (i) Gentilesse; (2) Lak of Stedfast- 
 nesse ; and (3) Against Women Unconstaunt ; the last being, 
 in my view, precisely in its right place. This copy of the poem 
 was previously unknown to me, and is not mentioned on p. 199. 
 On collation, I find that it affords no variation of any impor- 
 tance, and suggests no improvement. In 1. 4, it wrongly has 
 / for ycj in 1. 6, it agrees with Ct. in the inferior reading 
 /hinges; in 1. 12, it wrongly omits the word a\ and, in the 
 same line, we find the spelling iiietliirkoc. 
 
 XVL Lenvoy a Scogan. 
 
 This piece is attributed to Chaucer in all three MSS., viz. F., 
 P., and Gg. ; and is obviously genuine. The probable date of 
 it is towards the end of 1393 ; see the Notes. 
 
 For some account of Scogan, see above. 
 
 XVI L Lenvoy a Bukton. 
 
 This piece is certainly genuine. In MS. F., the title is — 
 ' Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton.' In Julian Notary's edition it
 
 XVIII. THE COMPLEYXT OF VENUS. Ixxix 
 
 is — ' Here foloweth the counceyll of Chaucer touching Maryag, 
 &c. whiche was sente te (sic) Buckcton, «S:c.' In all the other 
 early printed editions it is inserted luithout any title immediately 
 after the Book of the Duchess. 
 
 The poem is one of Chaucer's latest productions, and may 
 safely be dated about the end of the year 1396. This appears 
 from the reference, in 1. 23, to the great misfortune it would be 
 to any Englishmen 'to be take in Fryse,' i.e. to be taken prisoner 
 in Friesland. There is but one occasion on which this reference 
 could have had any point, viz. during or just after the expedition 
 of William of Hainault to Friesland, as narrated by Froissart in 
 his Chronicles, bk. iv. capp. "jZ, 79. He tells that William of 
 Hainault applied to Richard H. for assistance, who sent him 
 * some men-at-arms and two hundred archers, under the com- 
 mand of three English lords \' The expedition set out in 
 August, 1396, and stayed in Friesland about five weeks, till the 
 beginning of October, when ' the weather began to be very cold 
 and to rain almost daily.' The great danger of being taken 
 prisoner in Friesland was because the Frieslanders fought so 
 desperately that they were seldom taken prisoners themselves. 
 Then ' the Frieslanders offered their prisoners in exchange, man 
 for man ; but, when their enemies had none to give in return, 
 they put them to death.' Besides this, the prisoners had to 
 endure all the miseries of a bad and cold season, in an inclement 
 climate. Hence the propriety of Chaucer's allusion fully appears. 
 From 1. 8, we learn that Chaucer was now a widower ; for the 
 word eft means 'again.' His wife is presumed to have died 
 in the latter part of 1387. We should also observe the allusion 
 to the Wife of Bath's Tale in 1. 29. 
 
 XVni. The Compleynt of Venus. 
 
 This poem is usually printed as if it formed part of the Com- 
 plaint of Mars ; but it is really distinct. It is attributed to 
 Chaucer by Shirley both in MS. T. and in MS. A. It is not 
 original, but translated from the French, as appears from 1. 82. 
 Shirley tells us that the author of the French poem was Sir Otes 
 de Graunson, a worthy knight of Savoy. He is mentioned as 
 receiving from King Richard the grant of an annuity of 126/. 
 
 ' See Johnes' translation of Froissart, 1839; ^'- 612-7.
 
 Ixxx XXI. A COMPLEIXT TO HIS lADY. 
 
 \y. Atd. on 17 Nov. 1393; see Furnivall's Trial Forcwoi-ds, 
 p. 123. The association of this poem with the Complaint of 
 ]\Iars renders it probable that the Venus of this poem is the 
 same as the Venus of the other, i.e. the Princess Isabel of 
 .Spain, and" Duchess of York. This fits well with the word 
 Princess at the beginning of the Envoy ; and as she died in 
 1394, whilst Chaucer, on the other hand, complains of his 
 advancing years, we must date the poem about 1393, i.e. just 
 about the time when Graunson received his annuity. Chaucer, 
 if born about 1340, was not really more than 53, but w-e must 
 remember that, in those days, men often aged quickly. John 
 of Gaunt, who is represented by Shakespeare as a very old 
 man, only lived to the age of 59 ; and the Black Prince died 
 quite worn out, at the age of 46. Compare the notes to 11. T^, 
 j6, 79, and 82. 
 
 XIX. The Compleint to his Purse; 
 
 Attributed to Chaucer by Shirley, in MS. Harl. 7333 ; by 
 Caxton; by the scribes of MSS. F., P., and Ff. ; and by early 
 editors. I do not know on what grounds Speght removed 
 Chaucer's name, and substituted that of T. Occleve ; there 
 seems to be no authority for this change. I think it highly 
 probable that the poem itself is older than the Envoy ; see 
 note to 1. 17. In any case, the Envoy is almost certainly 
 Chaucer's latest extant composition. 
 
 XX. Proverbs. 
 
 Attributed to Chaucer in MSS. F. and Ha. ; see further in 
 the Notes. From the nature of the case, we cannot assign 
 any probable date to this composition. Yet it was, perhaps, 
 written after, rather than before, the Tale of Mclibeus. 
 
 XXI. A Compleint to his Lady. 
 
 We may fairly say that this poem is attributed to Chaucer 
 by Shirley, since in MS, Harl. j^, it is copied out by him as 
 if it were a continuation of the Complaint to Pity, and the 
 pages are, throughout, headed with the words — ' The Balade 
 of Pytee. By Chauciers.' Stowe implies that he had seen more 
 than one MS. copy of this poem, and says that 'these verses
 
 XXn. AN AMOROUS COMPLAIXT. Ixxxi 
 
 were compiled by Geffray Chauser,' for which he may have 
 found authority in the MSS. However, the internal evidence 
 settles the matter. It is evident that we have here a succes- 
 sion of metrical experiments, the last of which exhibits the 
 ten-line stanza afterwards employed in his Complaint of Ane- 
 lida ; and, in fact, we here have that Complaint in a crude 
 form, which was afterwards elaborated ; see the references, in 
 the Notes, to the corresponding passages in that poem. But 
 a very great and unique interest is attached to lines i6 to 42. 
 For here we have the sole example, in English literature of 
 that period, of the use of terza rtnta, obviously copied from 
 Dante ; and Chaucer was the only writer who then had a real 
 acquaintance with that author. I know of no other example 
 of the use of tTiis metre before the time of Lord Surrey and 
 Sir Thomas Wiat, when Englishmen once more sought ac- 
 quaintance with Italian poetry. Consequently, we have here 
 the pleasure of seeing how Chaucer handled Dante's metre ; 
 and the two fragments here preserved shew that he might have 
 handled it quite successfully if he had persevered in doing so. 
 
 It is to be regretted that Shirley's spelling is so indifferent ; 
 he was rather an amateur than a professional scribe. Some 
 of his peculiarities may be noticed, as they occur not only here, 
 but also in the two following pieces, nos. XXII. and XXIII. 
 He constantly adds a final e in the wrong place, producing such 
 forms 3.sfa/lcthe, howe, frame, and the like, and drops it where 
 it is necessary, as in hert (for herte). He is fond of eo for ee 
 or long e, as in beo, neodethe. He writes el/as for alias; also 
 e in place of the prefix y-, as in eknytte for y-htit. This last 
 peculiarity is extremely uncommon. I have removed the odd 
 effect which these vagaries produce, and adopt the ordinary 
 spelling of MSS. that resemble in type the Ellesmere MS. of 
 the Canterbury Talfes. 
 
 XXII. An Amorous Complaint. 
 
 Whilst searching through the various MSS. containing Minor 
 Poems by Chaucer in the British Museum, my attention was 
 arrested by this piece, which, as far as I know, has never before 
 been printed. It is in Shirley's handwriting, but he does not 
 claim it for Chaucer. However, the internal evidence seems 
 to me irresistible ; if he did not write it, we may well ask, who 
 
 f
 
 Ixxxii XXn. AX AMOROUS COMPLAINT. 
 
 did ? It is far above the level of Gower, Hoccleve, or Lydgate ; 
 and Chaucer's peculiar touches appear in it over and over 
 again. There is, moreover, in the last stanza, a direct reference 
 to the Parliament of Foulest 
 
 I cannot explain the oracular notice of time in the heading ; 
 even if we alter May to day, it contradicts 1. 85, which mentions 
 ' seint Valentines day.' The heading is — ' And next folowyng 
 begynnith an amerowse compleynte made at wyndesore in the 
 laste May tofore Nouembre ' {sic). The date is inexplicable ; 
 but the mention of locality is interesting. Chaucer became a 
 ' valet of the king's chamber' in 1367, and must frequently have 
 been at Windsor, where the institution of the Order of the 
 Garter was annually celebrated on St. George's Day (April 23), 
 Some of the parallelisms in expression between the present 
 poem and other passages in Chaucer's Works are pointed out 
 in the Notes. 
 
 This Complaint should be compared with the complaint 
 uttered by Dorigen in the Cant. Tales, 11623-11637, which is 
 little else than the same thing in a compressed form. There is 
 also much resemblance to the ' complaints ' in Troilus ; see th'e 
 references in the Notes. 
 
 Since printing the text at p. 218, I have found that it is 
 precisely the same poem as one extant in MSS. F. and B., 
 with the title ' Complaynt Damours.' I had noticed the latter 
 some time ago, and had made a note that it ought to be closely 
 examined ; but unfortunately I forgot to do so, or I should have 
 seen at once that it had sti^ong claims to being considered 
 genuine. These claims are considerably strengthened by the 
 fact of the appearance of the poem in these two Chaucerian 
 MSS., the former of which contains no less than seventeen^ and 
 the latter eight of the Minor Poems. 
 
 It is of some importance to give here the results of a collation 
 of the text with these MSS. In most places, their readings are 
 inferior to those in the text ; but in other places they suggest 
 corrections. 
 
 In MS. F. the fourth stanza is mutilated ; the latter half of 
 lines 24-28 is missing. 
 
 Results o/collatio?t of Harl. with F. andB. 2. F. lyvinge (i.e. 
 
 ' Unless, which is more probable, the ParliaiiieiU of Fouhs repro- 
 duces, nearly, Iwo lines from the present poem.
 
 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLAIXT. Ixxxiii 
 
 livitig). 3. F. lest ; B. leste {both written with tJtc long s). B. 
 rekeuercr. 4. Like Harl., F. 7iccdlcssly inserts ryght (B. right). 
 8. F. Kan I noght doon to scyn that ; B. Kan I nought don to 
 seyn that. 9. F. B. Ne (/ike Harl.). 12. F. B. han (/;r haue). 
 F. B. thilke spitouse {for that despitous). 13. F. B. om. ne. 
 14. F. B. ofn. best. 16. F. B. If that yt were a thing possible to 
 do. 17. F. B. Tacompte youre. 20. F. neuer; B. euyr. 22. F. 
 myshefe ; B. myschef [for my lyf). 24. F. sing ; B. singe {for 
 say). 25. B. that songe ys my confusyou«. 26. B. my salua- 
 cyou« {for deep afifeccioun). 27, 28. B. I sey for me I haue 
 nou« (? nener) felte KWc thes diden me in despeire to melte {false 
 rime). 29. F. B. supply in before dispayre. 30. F. B. om. 7.nd 
 nay. 31. F. thanne ; B. then {for thus). F. B. om. to yow. 
 36. F. And sithen ; B. And sith. F. B, sorwe. yj. F. B. sithen 
 {for %\\h. that). 41. F. B. om. been. 43. F. B. So that algates 
 she is verray roote. 44. F. B. 07n. of. 45. F. B. a {for oon). 
 47. F. B. om. why. 48. F. B. insert to after wonQ {wrongly). 49. B. 
 seruaunte. 52. F. lyvyng; B. lyuynge. 54. F. B. ins. that. 
 55. F. alle ; B. all {for so). 57. F. B. om. al. 58. F. B. hem 
 {for sore). 62. F. B. ins. hir. 64. F. Yet ; B. Yit {for Ye). 
 65. F. B. meke. 66. F. B. om. now. F. sorwes ; B. sorwys {for 
 shoures). 67. F. B. that {for and). 68. F. compleynt ; B. com- 
 playnt ; (Harl. compleynte). F. B. om. the. F. B. ins. I before 
 drede. 69. F. B. om. here and myn. F. vnku;mynge ; B. vnkon- 
 nynge. 72. F. B. as {f>r als). 75. F. shul; B. shalk {for 
 shulde). 76. F. B. on yow haue pleyned here. 81. F. ouer ; 
 B. ouyr (for of). F. B. om. and clere. 82. F. B. Alwey in oon. 
 8;^. F. B. ins. this before is. 86. F. B. om. ther. 87. F. B. 
 whos {miswritten was in Harl.) ; F. B. om. hool. 90. F. B. om. 
 for. 92. F. B. add Explicit. 
 
 In B., below the word Explicit, another and later hand has 
 scrawled ' be me Humfrey Flemy;7g.' Perhaps be (i. e. by) is to 
 be taken in the (common) sense of ' with reference to ' ; so that 
 Humfrey thought the poem applicable to his own case^; see 
 p. lix. 1. 5 from the bottom. It cannot mean that he either wrote 
 out or composed the poem. 
 
 These readings do not help us much ; for the text, on the 
 whole, is better. They confirm my insertion of in (29) ; of that 
 
 ' Or perhaps it merely means — ' this signature is mine.' It is a mere 
 scribble, and does not neccssnrilv relate to the poem at .tH. 
 
 f 2
 
 Ixxxiv XXIII. BALADE OF COMFLEYNT. 
 
 (54) ; of hir (62) ; but they leave many lines imperfect. They 
 suggest the suppression of 7ie (13) ; of best (14J; and of the 
 second 7iay (30) ; these words are not needed. 
 
 Lines 8, 16, 17, 31 are hardly any better. The best sugges- 
 tions are these; in 1. 43 read— ' So that algates, she is verray 
 rote' ; in 1. 64 read ' Yet wolde I '; in 1. 65 read ' meke ' ; in 1. 
 76 read ' on ' for 'unto.' In 1. 87, I have already put ' whos ' for 
 ' was ' in Harl. 
 
 In. 1. 25, song must be kept. I now think 11. 24 and 25 should 
 run thus : — 
 
 I may wel singe, ' in sory tyme I spende 
 My lyf; that song is my confusioun. 
 
 There is probably a reference to some popular refrain, like 
 that in XI. 7. 
 
 It is not at all improbable that a better copy of this poem 
 may yet be found. 
 
 XXIII. Balade of Compleynt. 
 
 This poem, which has not been printed before, as far as I 
 am aware, occurs in Shirley's MS. Addit. 16165, at fol. 256, 
 back. It is merely headed ' Balade of compleynte,' without 
 any note of its being Chaucer's. But I had not read more than 
 four lines of it before I at once recognised the well-known 
 melodious flow which Chaucer's imitators (except sometimes 
 Hoccleve) so seldom succeed in reproducing. And when I had 
 only finished reading the first stanza, I decided at once to copy 
 it out, not doubting that it would fulfil all the usual tests of 
 metre, rime, and language ; which it certainly does. It is far 
 more correct in wording than the preceding poem, and does 
 not require that we should either omit or supply a single word. 
 But in 1. 20 the last word should surely be dej-e rather than 
 he7-e ; and the last word in 1. 1 1 is indistinct. I read it as 
 reewe, afterwards altered to tiezue ; and iiciue makes very good 
 sense. I may notice that Shirley's ;/'s are very peculiar : the 
 first upstroke is very long, commencing below the line ; and 
 this peculiarity renders the reading tolerably certain. Some 
 lines resemble lines in no. XXL, as is pointed out in the Notes. 
 Altogether, it is a beautiful poem, and its recovery is a clear 
 gain.
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. Ixxxv 
 
 Concluding Remarks. 
 
 I regret that this Introduction has run to so great a length ; 
 but it was incumbent on me to shew reasons for the rejection 
 or acceptance of the very large number of pieces which have 
 hitherto been inckided in editions of Chaucer's Works. I have 
 now only to add that I have, of course, been greatly indebted 
 to the works of others ; so much so indeed that I can hardly 
 particularise them. I must, however, mention very gratefully 
 the names of Dr. Furnivall, Professor Ten Brink, Dr. Koch, 
 Dr. Willert, Max Lange, Rambeau, and various contributors 
 to the publications of the Chaucer Society ; and though I have 
 consulted for myself such books as Le Roman de la Rose, the 
 Teseide, the Thebaid of Statius, the poems of Machault, and 
 a great many more, and have inserted in the Notes a large 
 number of references which I discovered for myself, I beg leave 
 distinctly to disclaim any merit, not doubting that most of what 
 I have said may very likely have been said by others, and said 
 better. Want of leisure renders it impossible for me to give to 
 others their due meed of recognition in many instances ; for 
 I have often found it less troublesome to consult original au- 
 thorities for myself than to hunt up what others have said 
 relative to the passage under consideration. 
 
 I have a special object in making this explanation ; for I have 
 learnt, to my great regret, that, if I should lay claim to 
 originality of research, I may easily seem to borrow from others 
 without acknowledgment ^ I therefore wish to say that I beg 
 
 ' I find, in Ten Brink's Chancers Sprache unci Verskunst (1884), 
 p. 206, a reference to my edition of Chaucer's Prioresses Tale (first 
 published in 1874), p. xvi., with the following remaik — ' Beilaufig sei es 
 mir gestattet, mit Beziehung auf die so-eben citirte Publication von 
 Skeat meiner Verwunderung darliber Ausdruck zu geben, dass dieser 
 Gelehrte a.a.O.S. XVI ff. eine Reihe von Dingen, die ich in meine 
 Siudien gesagt und ausfiihrlich begriindet hatte, nicht etwa als be- 
 kannte Thatsachen, sondern als neue von ihm ausgehende Entdeckung- 
 en vortragt.' It is quite true that Prof Ten Brink's Shtdicn appeared 
 in 1870, but I never saw a copy of it till 18S7, when my attention was 
 drawn to it by observing the above remark. Hence my results were 
 obtained independently, being conclusions obtained from honest work 
 at the subject. I admit that I ought to have consulted a book so 
 important as the Studicit, but 1 did not do so; and the loss was mine.
 
 Ixxxvi CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 leave to assign the credit of anything that seems to be new in the 
 present volume to any one who cares to claim it ; and I hope it 
 may be clearly understood that, wherever I differ from any 
 eminent critic, I am willing that he shall consider me to be in 
 the wrong (unless I can completely prove the contrary) ; and 
 wherever I agree with him, let him assume that the discovery 
 was his own. It is not always easy to ascertain what are the 
 most valuable things that each critic has ever said, though I 
 admit that each of us ought to do so as far as his limited 
 opportunities will allow him. On the other hand, I greatly fear 
 that 1 have missed some remarks of value, and have failed to 
 reproduce some solutions of difficulties that have already been 
 given. To use the master's own words, in the introduction to 
 his Treatise on the Astfolabte—'' I nam but a lewd compilatour 
 of the labour of [othere men] ; and with this swerd shal I slen 
 envie.' 
 
 The Glossary is almost wholly the work of Mr, C. Sapsworth, 
 Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge ; and I am much 
 indebted to him for his help. In the matter of transcription, I 
 have also received help from my daughters, and from Miss F. 
 Whitehead.
 
 I. AN A. B. C. 
 
 ■ Incipit canncfi secundum ordincm liter aruvi Alphaheli. 
 
 Almighty and al mcrciable quene, 
 
 To whom that al this world fleeth for socour, 
 
 To have relees of sinne, sorvve and tene, 
 
 Glorious virgine, of alle floures flour, 
 
 To thee I flee, confounded in errour ! 5 
 
 Help and releve, thou mighty debonaire, 
 
 Have mercy on my perilous langour ! 
 
 Venquisht me hath my cruel adversaire. 
 
 Bountee so fix hath in thyn herte his tente, 
 
 That wel I wot thou wolt my socour be, lo 
 
 Thou canst not warne him that, with good entente, 
 
 Axeth thyn help. Thyn herte is ay so free, 
 
 Thou art largesse of pleyn felicitee, 
 
 Haven of refut, of quiete and of reste. 
 
 Lo, how that theves seven chasen me! 15 
 
 Help, lady bright, er that my ship to-breste ! 
 
 Comfort is noon, but in yow, lady dere, 
 
 For lo, my sinne and my confusioun, 
 
 Which oughten not in thy presence appere, 
 
 Han take on me a grevous accioun 20 
 
 Tltc MSS. tised to form this text arc: C. = MS. Ff. 5. .^o in the Camb. 
 Univ. Library ; Jo. = MS. G. 21. in St. John's College, Cambridge ; Gl. 
 = Glasgow MS. Q. 2. 25; L. = MS. Laud 740, in the IJodleian Library; 
 Gg. = MS. Gg. 4. 27 in the Camb. Univ. Library; F.=MS. Fairfax 16, 
 in the Bodleian Library. The text closely follows tJie first of these ; and 
 all variations from it are recorded (^except sometimes \ for y, and y for i ;. 
 
 I. C. Almihty ; queene. 3. L. sorwe ; Jo. sorowe ; the rest 
 
 insert of before sorwe. 4. C. Gloriowse. 6. C. releeue ; mihti. 
 
 8. C. Venquisshed ; Jo. Venquist ; ;rfl^^ Venquisht. C. cruelle. 10. 
 
 C. bee. II. F. weme. 12. C. helpe. 14. C. Hauene ; refute. 
 
 15. C. Loo; theeves sevene ; mee. 16. C. briht. 17. C. ladi deere. 
 18. C. loo. 19. C. ouhten ; thi ; appeere. 20. C. greevous.
 
 2 /. AN A. B. C. 
 
 Of verrey right and desperacioun ; 
 And, as by right, they mighien wel sustene 
 That I were worthy my dampnacioun, 
 Nere mercy of you, blisful hevene quene. 
 
 Doute is ther noon, thou queen of misericorde, 25 
 That thou nart cause of grace and mercy here ; 
 God vouched sauf thurgh thee with us tacorde. 
 For certes, Cristes bhsful moder dere. 
 Were now the bowe bent in swich manere, 
 As it was first, of lustice and of yre, 30 
 
 The rightful God nolde of no mercy here ; 
 But thurgh thee han we grace, as we desyre. 
 
 Evere hath myn hope of refut been in thee. 
 
 For heer-biforn ful ofte, in many a wyse, 
 
 Hast thou to misericorde receyved me. 35 
 
 But mercy, lady, at the grete assyse, 
 
 Whan we shul come bifore the hye lustyse ! 
 
 So litel fruit shal thanne in me be founde. 
 
 That, but thou er that day me wel chastyse, 
 
 Of verrey right my werk me wol confounde. 40 
 
 Fleeing, I flee for socour to thy tente 
 
 Me for to hyde from tempest ful of drede, 
 
 Biseching you that ye you not absente, 
 
 Though I be wikke. O help yit at this nede ! 
 
 Al have I been a beste in wille and dede, 45 
 
 Yit, lady, thou me clothe with thy grace. 
 
 21. C. riht. 22. C. riht ])ei mihtcn ; susteene. 23. C. wurthi. 
 
 24. C. queene. 25. C. Dowte. 26. C. merci heere. 27. C. Gl. 
 Gg. saf ; Jo. saff; L. F. saufe. C. thoruh ; L. F. |"urgh. Gl. F. tacorde; 
 C. L. to accorde. 28. C. crystes ; mooder deere. 29. C. maneere. 
 31. C. rihtful ; heere. 32. C. thoruh ; Jo. L. F. thurgh. 33. C. refuit ; 
 Gl. refuyt ; Gg. refut ; the rest refute. 35. C. rescejired. 36. C. 
 
 merci ladi. 37. C. shule. 39. wel is supplied from the Sion MS.; 
 
 neatly all the copies give this line corruptly ; sec note. 40. C. riht ; 
 
 wole. 41. C. Fleeinge ; thi. 42. C. tempeste; dreede. 43. C. 
 Hiseeching yow. 44. C. Thouh; neede. 45. C. ben. Jo. wille ; 
 
 C. wil. 46. C. thi.
 
 /. AN A. B. C. 3 
 
 Thyn enemy and myn — lady, tak hede, 
 Un-to my deth in poynt is me to chace. 
 
 Glorious mayde and moder, which that never 
 
 Were bitter, neither in erthe nor in see, 50 
 
 But ful of swetncsse and of mercy ever, 
 
 Help that my fader be not wroth with me ! 
 
 Spek thou, for I ne dar not him y-see. 
 
 So have I doon in erthe, alias ther-whyle ! 
 
 That certes, but if thou my socour be, 55 
 
 To stink eterne he wol my gost exyle. 
 
 He vouched sauf, tel him, as was his wille, 
 
 Bicome a man, to have our alliaunce. 
 
 And with his precious blood he wrot the bille 
 
 Up-on the crois, as general acquitaunce, 60 
 
 To every penitent in ful creaunce; 
 
 And therfore, lady bright, thou for us praye. 
 
 Than shalt thou bothe stinte al his grevaunce, 
 
 And make our foo to fallen of his praye. 
 
 I wot it wel, thou wolt ben our socour, 65 
 
 Thou art so ful of bountee, in certeyn. 
 
 For, whan a soule falleth in errour, 
 
 Thy pitee goth and haleth him ayeyn. 
 
 Than makest thou his pees with his sovereyn. 
 
 And bringest him out of the crooked strete. 70 
 
 Who-so thee loveth he shal not love in veyn, 
 
 That shal he fynde, as he the lyf shal lete. 
 
 Kalenderes enlumined ben they 
 
 That in this world ben lighted with thy name, 
 
 And who so goth to you the righte wey, 75 
 
 Him thar not drede in soule to be lame. 
 
 47. C. Thin ; ladi ; heede. 49. C. Gloriows ; moodcr ; neiiere. 
 
 50. C. eerthe. 51. C. euere. 54. C. eerthe. 55. C. bee. 56. C. 
 wole. 57. C. saaf; F. sauf ; L. saufe ; Jo. saffe; Gl. Gg. saf. 58. 
 C. Bicomen ; oure. 61. C. criaunce; Gg. cryaunce ; tJie rest creaunce. 
 62. C. ladi brilit. 63. C. Thanne. 64, 65. C. oure. 66. C. bowntee. 
 69. C. Thanne. 73. C. Kalendeeres enlumjTied. 74. C. thi. 75. 
 C. yow; rihte.
 
 4 /. AN A. B. C. 
 
 Now, queen of comfort, sith thou art that same 
 
 To whom I seche for my medicine, 
 
 Lat not my foo no more my wounde entame, 
 
 Myn hele in-to thyn hand al I resigne. 80 
 
 Lady, thy sorwe can I not portreye 
 
 Under the cros, ne his grevous penaunce. 
 
 But, for your bothes peynes, I you preye, 
 
 Lat not oure alder foo make his bobaunce, 
 
 That he hath in his listes of mischaunce 85 
 
 Convict that ye have bothe bought so dere. 
 
 As I seide erst, thou ground of our substaunce. 
 
 Continue on us thy pitous eyen clere ! 
 
 Moises, that saugh the bush with flaumes rede 
 Brenninge, of which ther never a stikke brende, 90 
 Was signe of thyn unwemmed maidenhede. 
 Thou art the bush on which ther gan descende 
 The Holy Gost, the which that Moises wende 
 Had ben a-fyr ; and this was in figure. 
 Now lady, from the fyr thou us defende 95 
 
 Which that in helle eternally shal dure. 
 
 Noble princesse, that never haddest pere, 
 
 Cartes, if any comfort in us be, 
 
 That cometh of thee, thou Cristes moder dere, 
 
 We han noon other melodye or glee 100 
 
 Us to reioyse in our adversitee, 
 
 Ne advocat noon that wol and dar so preye 
 
 For us, and that for litel hyre as ye, 
 
 That helpen for an Ave Marie or tweye. 
 
 77. C. sithe. 78. C. seeche; medicjTie. 79. C. vntame 
 
 {'lurongly) ; rest entame. 80. C. resyne ; Gl. resigne. 81. C. kan. 
 82. C. greevous. 85. C. lystes. 86. All bothe have. C. bouht. 
 
 87. C. oure. 88. C. thi ; cleere. 89. C. sanh ; J", saugh. C. 
 
 flawmes. 93. C. holigost. 94. C. a fyir. 95. C. fyir. C. deu- 
 fende {sic). 96. C. etemalli. 97. C. neuere ; peere. 98. C. 
 
 bee. 99. C. mooder deere. loo. C. coper, loi. C. oure. 
 
 102. C. wole. 103. C. yec.
 
 /. AN A. B. C. 5 
 
 O verrey light of eyen that ben blynde, 105 
 
 O verrey lust of labour and distresse, 
 
 O tresorere of bountee to mankynde, 
 
 Thee whom God chees to moder for humblesse ! 
 
 From his ancille he made thee maistresse 
 
 Of hevene and erthe, our bille up for to bede. no 
 
 This world awaiteth evere on thy goodnesse, 
 
 For thou ne failest never wight at nede. 
 
 Purpos I have sum tyme for tenquere, 
 
 Wherfore and why the Holy Gost thee soughte, 
 
 Whan Gabrielles vois cam to thyn ere. 115 
 
 He not to werre us swich a wonder wroughte, 
 
 But for to save us that he sithen boughte. 
 
 Than nedeth us no wepen us for to save, 
 
 But only ther we did not, as us oughte. 
 
 Do penitence, and mercy axe and have. 120 
 
 Queen of comfort, yit whan I me bithinke 
 
 That I agilt have bothe, him and thee. 
 
 And that my soule is worthy for to sinke. 
 
 Alias, I, caitif, whider may I flee? 
 
 Who shal un-to thy sone my mene be? 125 
 
 Who, but thy-self, that art of pitee welle? 
 
 Thou hast more reuthe on our adversite 
 
 Than in this world mighte any tunge telle. 
 
 Redresse me, moder, and me chastyse, 
 
 For, certeynly, my fadres chastisinge 130 
 
 That dar I nought abyden in no wyse : 
 
 So hidous is his rightful rekeninge. 
 
 107. C. tresoreere. loS. F. chees ; C. ches. C. mooder. log. 
 C. the. no. C. eerthe; cure; beede. in. C. thi. 112. C. 
 
 neuere; neede. 113. Gg. F. tenquere ; C. to enquere. 114. C. whi ; 
 holi; souhte. 115. C. vn-to ; the rest io. 116. C. wunder wrouhte. 
 117. C. bouhte. 118. C. Thanne needeth; vvepene. 119. C. oonly. 
 Jo. F. did; C. diden. C. ouhte. 120. C. Doo ; merci. 123. C. 
 
 wurthi. 125. C. thi ; bee. 126. C. thi-. 128. C. miht. 129. 
 C. mooder. 130. F. Fadres; C. faderes ; Jo. fader. 131. C. nouht. 
 132. Gg. F. is his ; the rest it is {wrongly). C. rihful {sicj.
 
 6 I. AN A. B. C. 
 
 IVIoder, of whom our mercy gan to springe, 
 
 Beth ye my luge and eek my soules leche ; 
 
 For evere in you is pitee haboundinge 135 
 
 To ech that wol of pitee you biseche. 
 
 Soth is, that God ne graunteth no pitee 
 
 With-oute thee ; for God, of his goodnesse, 
 
 Foryiveth noon, but it lyke un-to thee. 
 
 He hath thee maked vicaire and maistresse 140 
 
 Of al the world, and eek governeresse 
 
 Of hevene, and he represseth his lustyse 
 
 After thy wille, and therfore in witnesse 
 
 He hath thee crouned in so rial wyse. 
 
 Temple devout, ther god hath his woninge 14-; 
 
 Fro which these misbileved pryved been, 
 
 To you my soule penitent I bringe. 
 
 Receyve me ! I can no ferther fleen ! 
 
 With thornes venimous, O hevene queen, 
 
 For which the erthe acursed was ful yore, 150 
 
 I am so wounded, as ye may wel seen, 
 
 That I am lost almost; — it smert so sore. 
 
 Virgine, that art so noble of apparaile, 
 
 And ledest us in-to the hye tour 
 
 Of Paradys, thou me wisse and counsaile, 155 
 
 How I may have thy grace and thy socour; 
 
 Al have I been in filthe and in errour. 
 
 Lady, un-to that court thou me aiourne 
 
 That cleped is thy bench, O fresshe flour! 
 
 Ther as that mercy ever shal soiourne. 160 
 
 133. C. Moodcr ; merci. 136. C. eche; wole ; biseeche. 137. 
 
 C. granteth ; F. graunteth. 140. C. vicair ; Gg. F. vicaire. 141. C. 
 goii^;-nowresse ; Gl. Gg. goneriieresse. 143. C. thi wil. 144. L. 
 
 crowned; Gg. crou;;nyd ; C. Jo. corowned. 146. C. misbileeued. 
 
 Jo. L. pryued ; the rest dcpriued. 148. C. ferjjere. 149. C. venym- 
 ous. 150. C. eerthe. 151. C. {alone) om. so. 156. C. thi 
 
 {twice). 157. Gg. Al; C. All. Chen. 158. C. Ladi. 159. 
 
 Sion MS. fresshe ; Gg. frosche {sic) ; the rest wrongly omit the final e. 
 160. C. merci ; euere.
 
 /. AjV a. b. c. 7 
 
 Xristus, thy sone, that in this world alightc, 
 
 Up-on the cros to sufTre his passioun, 
 
 And eek, that Longius his herte pighte, 
 
 And made his herte blood to renne adoun ; 
 
 And al was this for my salvacioun ; 165 
 
 And I to him am fals and eek unkynde, 
 
 And yit he wol not my dampnacioun — 
 
 This thanke I you, socour of al mankynde. 
 
 Ysaac was figure of his deth, certeyn, 
 
 That so fer-forth his fader wolde obeye 170 
 
 That him ne roughte no-thing to be slayn ; 
 
 Right so thy sone list, as a lamb, to deye. 
 
 Now lady, ful of mercy, I you preye, 
 
 Sith he his mercy mesured so large, 
 
 Be ye not skant ; for alle we singe and seye 175 
 
 That ye ben from vengeaunce ay our targe. 
 
 Zacharie you clepeth the open welle 
 
 To wasshe sinful soule out of his gilt. 
 
 Therfore this lessoun oughte I wel to telle 
 
 That, nere thy tender herte, we weren spilt. iSo 
 
 Now lady, sith thou bothe canst and wilt 
 
 Ben to the seed of Adam merciable. 
 
 So bring us to that palais that is bilt 
 
 To penitents that ben to mercy able. Amen. 1S4 
 
 Explicit carmen. 
 
 161. C. Xpc ( = Gk. xps). 163. All the MSS. insert suffred after 
 
 eek, caugJit from the line above ; see T\oie. 167. C. wole. 171. C. 
 rouhte. 172. C. Riht soo thi. C. lust; 7'est list, liste. 173. C. 
 
 ladi ; merci ; yow. 174. C. Sithe ; mercl. 177. C. opene. 179. 
 C. ouht. 180. C. thi. 181. C. ladi. C. Gg. sithe ; F. sith. 
 
 Hail. 2251 alone supplies bothe. 183. Sion MS. alone supplies So. 
 
 MS. Harl. 2251 has un-to ; tlie rest to. 184. Gl. penytentz ; C. peni- 
 tcntes ; Jo. Penitence {Jor penitents). C. merci.
 
 II. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 
 
 PiTE, that I have sought so yore ago, 
 
 With herte sore, and ful of besy peyne, 
 
 Thai in this world was never wight so wo 
 
 With-oute dethe ; and, if I shal not feyne, 
 
 My purpos was, to Pite to compleyne 5 
 
 Upon the crueltee and tirannye 
 
 Of Love, that for my trouthe doth me dye. 
 
 And when that I, by lengthe of certeyn yeres. 
 
 Had ever in oon a tyme sought to speke, 
 
 To Pite ran I, al bespreynt with teres, 10 
 
 To preyen hir on Cruelte me awreke. 
 
 But, er I might with any worde out-breke. 
 
 Or tellen any of my peynes smerte, 
 
 I fond hir deed, and buried in an herte. 
 
 Adoun I fel, when that I saugh the herse, 15 
 
 Deed as stoon, whyl that the swogh me laste ; 
 
 But up I roos, with colour ful diverse, 
 
 And pitously on hir myn yen caste. 
 
 And ner the corps I gan to pressen faste, 
 
 And for the soule I shoop me for to preye ; 20 
 
 I nas but lorn ; ther nas no more to seye. 
 
 The MSS. are : Tn. (Tanner 346) ; F. (Fairfax 16) ; B. (Bodley 638). 
 Sh. (Shirley's MS., Harl. 78); Ff. (Ff. i. 6. in Camb. Univ. Library); 
 Trin. (Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 3. 19); also Harl. 7578. I follow F. 
 Diainly, not in t^ all variations of importance. 
 
 Title; in B. i. F. agoo. 2. F. hert. 3. F. worlde; woo. 
 5. Y. purpose. 8. F. be ; B. Sh. Trin. by. F. certeyne. 9. Sh. 
 
 Harl. 7.-7'^ '^ tyme souj^ht ; the rest sought a tyme {hadly). 10. F. 
 
 bespreynte. Ji. F. prayen. Sh. wreke ; the ;vj/ awreke. 14. F. 
 
 fonde ; dede. 15. F. Adovne. Harl. 7578 «/i3//^ «<///?Vj that. 16. 
 F. Dede ; while. 17. F. roose ; coloure. 18. B. yen ; F. eyen ; 
 
 after which all but Sh. and Harl. 7578 insert I. 19. Sh. to ; 'which 
 
 the rest omit. 20. Sh. shoope; the rest s\\o\)ii. F. prey. 21. For 
 nas, the MSS. wrongly have was; in both places. F. lorne; scy.
 
 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 9 
 
 Thus am I slayn, sith that Pite is deed; 
 
 Alias ! that day ! that ever hit shulde falle ! 
 
 What maner man dar now holde up his heed ? 
 
 To whom shal any sorwful herte calle ? 25 
 
 Now Ciuelte hath cast to sleen us alle, 
 
 In ydel hope, folk redelees of peyne — 
 
 Sith she is deed — to whom shul we compleyne ? 
 
 But yet encreseth me this wonder newe, 
 
 That no wight woot that she is deed, but I ; 30 
 
 So many men as in her tyme hir knewe, 
 
 And yet she dyed not so sodeynly ; 
 
 For I have sought hir ever ful besily 
 
 Sith first I hadde wit, or mannes mynde ; 
 
 But she was deed, er that I coude hir fynde. 35 
 
 Aboute hir herse ther stoden lustely, 
 
 Withouten any wo, as thoughte me, 
 
 Bountee parfit, wel armed and richely, 
 
 And fresshe Beautee, Lust, and lolitee, 
 
 Assured Maner, Youthe, and Honestee, 40 
 
 Wisdom, Estaat, [and] Drede, and Governaunce, 
 
 Confedred both by bonde and alliaunce. 
 
 A compleynt hadde I, writen, in my hond. 
 
 For to have put to Pite as a bille, 
 
 But whan I al this companye ther fond 45 
 
 That rather wolden al my cause spille 
 
 Than do me help, I held my pleynte stille ; 
 
 22. F. slayne ; dede. 23. Tn. shulde ; F. shuld. 24. F. hede. 
 
 25. All but Sh. and Harl. 7578 ins. now bef. any. F. eny. 26. F. 
 
 caste. Sh. sleen; F. slee. 27. F. folke ledelesse. 30. F. dede. 
 
 31. F. mony. 32. F. B. omit she ; the rest have it. Only'&\\. a7idT. 
 retain so. 33. F. besely. For ever Ten Brink reads ay. 34. Only 
 .Sh. gives this line correctly ; so Harl. 7578 \but tuith any y^r mannes). 
 F. Sith I hadde firste witte or mynde. 35. F. dede. Sh. Harl. 7578 
 that ; which the rest omit. 37. F. woo. 38. F. Bounte. 39. F. 
 beaute ; iolyte. 40. F. honeste. 41. F. Wisdome. F.B. estaat; 
 
 the rest estate ; Ten Brink rightly supplies and after Estat {sic~). 43. 
 
 Harl. 7578 hadde; Sh. hade; the rest had. F. myn honde. 44. Sh. 
 Harl. 7578 For ; rest omit. F. pittee. 45. F. when. F. fonde. 
 
 46. Sh. wolden; F. wolde. 47. F. helpe. Sh. aW Harl. 7578 
 
 complc}7it; the rest pleynte, except T. zuhich has cause.
 
 lO //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE, 
 
 For to that folk, withoutcn any faile, 
 Withoute Pite may no bille availe. 
 
 Then leve I alle thees virtues, sauf Pite, 50 
 
 Keping the corps, as ye have herd me seyn, 
 
 Confedred alle by bonde of Crueltee, 
 
 And ben assented that I shal be sleyn. 
 
 And I have put my compleynt up ageyn ; 
 
 For to my foos my bille I dar not shewe, 55 
 
 Theffect of which seith thus, in wordes fewe : — 
 
 The Bille. 
 ^ 'Humblest of herte, hyest of reverence, 
 Benigne flour, coroune of vertues alle, 
 Sheweth unto your rial excellence 
 Your servaunt, if I durste me so calle, 60 
 
 His mortal harm, in which he is [y]-falle, 
 And noght al only for his evel fare. 
 But for your renoun, as he shal declare. 
 
 ' Hit stondeth thus : your contrair, Crueltee, 
 
 Allyed is ageynst your regalye G5 
 
 Under colour of womanly Beautee, 
 
 For men [ne] shuld not knowe hir tirannye. 
 
 With Bountee, Gentilesse, and Curtesye, 
 
 And hath depryved you now of your place 
 
 That hight "Beautee, aperlenant to Grace." 70 
 
 48. F. folke. F. withoute ; B. without ; the rest withouten. 49. 
 
 F. pitee. Harl. 7578 may ; Sh. ne may ; ;ri-^ ther may. 50. .Sh. 
 
 panne leve I alle )^ees vertues sauf pitee ; F. B. Then leve we al vertues 
 saue oonly pite ; Tn. Ff. T. Then leue all vertues saue onely pite. 
 51. F. Kep)'nge ; herde. 52. F. Cofedered (j/c). Sh. alle by bonde 
 
 of {correctly) ; F. Tn. B. Ff. by bonde and by ; T. by bound and. 53. 
 Sh. that ; the rest vfh&n. 54. F. complaynt. 55. F. Foes ; Tn. foos. 
 57. F. highest. 59. F. youre rialle. 60. F. Youre ; durst. 61. 
 Sh. which he is Inne falle ; the rest in which he is falie {hadly) ; read 
 y-falle. 62. F. oonly. 64. 'The MSS. insert that after thus, except 
 ^\\. and Harl. 'j^'jS, which omit it. Sh. contraire ; the i-est contrary. 
 65. Sh. ageynst; F. ayenst. 66. F. beaute. 67. The MSS. omit 
 
 ne. F. shulde. 68. F. bounte. 69. Sh. nowe ; 7vhich the rest omit. 
 70. .Sh. heghte {for highte) ; Harl. 7578 hight ; Tn. is hye; F. B. Trin. 
 is hygh. F. beaute apertenent. The MSS. {except Sh. and Harl. 
 
 7578) insert your after to.
 
 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 11 
 
 ' For kyndly, by your heritage right, 
 
 Ye been annexed ever unto Bountee ; 
 
 And verrayly ye oughte do your might 
 
 To helpe Trouthe in his adversitee. 
 
 Ye been also the coroune of Beautee ; 75 
 
 And certes, if ye vvanten in thees tweyne, 
 
 The world is lore; ther nis no more to seyne. 
 
 ' H Eek what availeth Maner and Gentilesse 
 
 Withoute you, benigne creature ? 
 
 Shal Cruelte be your governeresse ? 80 
 
 Alias ! what herte may hit longe endure ? 
 
 Wherfor, but ye the rather take cure 
 
 To breke that perilous alliaunce, 
 
 Ye sleen hem that ben in your obeisaunce. 
 
 ' And further over, if ye suffre this, 85 
 
 Your renoun is fordo than in a throwe ; 
 
 Ther shal no man wite wel what Pile is. 
 
 Alias ! that your renoun shuld be so lowe ! 
 
 Ye be than fro your heritage y-throwe 
 
 By Cruelte, that occupieth your place ; 90 
 
 And we despeired, that seken to your grace. 
 
 ' Have mercy on me, thou Herenus quene, 
 That you have sought so tendrely and yore ; 
 Let som streem of your Hght on me be sene 
 
 71. F. kyndely. 72. TJ/i?^/ MSS. be; Harl. 7578 been; readh&ftw 
 (andinX.'jt^^. 73. F. verrely; youre. 75. F. beaute. 76. Tn. 
 Ff. wante ; the rest want ; read wanten. F. these twe>ii. 77. F. 
 
 worlde. For nis, the MSS. have is. F. seyn. 78. F. Eke. 79. F. 
 yow. 82. F. Wherfore. 86. F. fordoo. Sh. than, which the rest 
 oviit. 87. F. wete well ; the rest 07?iitvre\\; Tn. wyte. 88. F. Tn. 
 B. Ff. T. insert euer after that, which Sh. rightly omits. Sh. shoulde 
 be ; the rest is falle. 89. Sh. thanne ; the rest also {perhaps read als ■. 
 90. V. youre. 91. Sh. sechen to ; B. sekyn to ; Tn. Ff. T. seken ; F. 
 speken to {for seken to). 92. Tn. F. 15. Ff. herenus ; T. heremwj- ; 
 
 Sh. vertuouse. 93. F. yow ; tendirly. 94. B. som ; F. somwe. 
 
 F. streme. Sh. Harl. 7578 youre; ivhicJi the rest omit.
 
 13 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 
 
 That love and drede you. ay lenger the more. 95 
 For, sothly for to seyne, I bere the sore, 
 And, though I be not cunning for to pleyne, 
 For goddes love, have mercy on my peyne ! 
 
 ' II My peyne is this, that what so I desire 
 
 That have I not, ne no-thing lyk therto; 100 
 
 And ever set Desire my herte on fire ; 
 
 Eek on that other syde, wher-so I go. 
 
 What maner thing that may encrese wo 
 
 That have I redy, unsoght, everywhere ; 
 
 I\Ie [ne] lakketh but my deth, and than my bere. 105 
 
 ' What nedeth to shewe parcel of my peyne ? 
 
 Sith every wo that herte may bethinke 
 
 I suflfre, and yet I dar not to you pleyne; 
 
 For wel I woot, al-though I wake or winke. 
 
 Ye rekke not whether I flete or sinke. no 
 
 But natheles, my trouthe I shal sustene 
 
 Unto my deth, and that shal wel be sene. 
 
 ' This is to seyne, I wol be youres ever ; 
 
 Though ye me slee by Crueltee, your fo, 
 
 Algate my spirit shal never dissever i i 5 
 
 Fro your servyse, for any peyne or wo. 
 
 Sith ye be deed — alias ! that hit is so ! — 
 
 Thus for your deth I may wel wepe and pleyne 
 
 With herte sore and ful of besy peyne.' ny 
 
 Here etideth the excla7nacion of the Deth of Pyte. 
 
 95. Sh. ay ; rest eucr. Sh. ont. the. 96. F. sothely. Sh. the hevy 
 sore; Harleian 75 /S the sore; rest so sore {which gives no se/tse). 
 97. F. kunnynge. 98. F. goddis. 100. F. lyke. 101. F. Sh. 
 
 setteth; Harl. 7578 set ; the rest stttith; see note. F. myii hert. 102. 
 F. Eke. F. sydes; M^ r^rj/ side, syde. F. where-so; goo. 103. Sh. 
 Harl. wo ; the rest insert my de/ore vfo. 104. F. vnsoghte. 105. 
 Jll oviii nt; j^^ note. 107. F. woo. 109. F. wote. Sh. al-]).aiighe ; 
 the rest though, thogh. no. F. B. where ; the rest whether. in. 
 All but Sh. and Harl. needlessly insert yet before my. 114. F. soo ; 
 
 the rest too, fo. 115. F. spirile. 116. F. youre; eny. 1x7. B. 
 
 yet {sic) be ded ; F. Tn. Ff. T. ye be yet ded {which zvill not scan) ; Sh. 
 has a different line — Now pitee J)at I haue sought so yoore agoo.
 
 III. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 The Proem. 
 
 I HAVE gret wonder, by this lighte, 
 
 How that I live, for day ne nighte 
 
 I may nat slepe wel nigh noght ; 
 
 I have so many an ydel thoght 
 
 Purely for defaute of slepe, 5 
 
 That, by my trouthe, I take kepe 
 
 Of no-thing, how hit cometh or goth, 
 
 Ne me nis no-thing leef nor loth. 
 
 Al is yliche good to me — 
 
 loye or sorowe, wherso hit be — lo 
 
 For I have feling in no-thing, 
 
 But, as it were, a mased thing, 
 
 Alway in point to falle a-doun ; 
 
 For [swich] imaginacioun 
 
 Is alway hoolly in my mynde. 15 
 
 And wel ye wite, agaynes kynde 
 Hit were to liven in this wyse ; 
 For nature wolde nat suffyse 
 To noon erthely creature 
 
 Not longe tyme to endure 20 
 
 Withoute slepe, and been in sorwe ; 
 And I ne may, ne night ne morwe 
 
 The MSS. are : F. (Fairfax 16^ ; Tn. (Tanner 346) ; B. (Bodley 638) ; 
 the fotirth authority is Th. (Thjoine's edition of 1532). I follow F. 
 mainly, and note all but very trifling variations from it. 
 
 Title: in F. i. Tn. gret; F. grete. Th. by; F. Tn. be. 5. Tn. 
 Th. defaute ; F. defaulte. 6. All take no kepe. 8. Tn. Th. lefc 
 
 {readXzti); F. leve. 9. Tn. Th. good; F. goode. 10. Tn. loye ; 
 F. loy. II, 12. F. no thynge, thynge. 14. ^// sorweful {badly) ; 
 
 7-ead swich. 15. F. hooly. 16. F. woote; Th. B. wote ; Tn. wotte ; 
 ;vat/wite. 19. For ^o perhaps read \]v\o. F. exthtT\y {misicfritten). 
 21. All he. 22. Th. Tn. ne {2nd time] ; F. no.
 
 14 ///• THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Slepe ; and thus melancolye, 
 
 And dreed I have for to dye, 
 
 Defaute of slepe, and hevinesse 25 
 
 Hath sleyn my spirit of quiknesse, 
 
 That I have lost al lustihcde. 
 
 Suche fantasies ben in m}n hede 
 
 So I not what is best to do. 
 
 But men might axe me, why so 30 
 
 I may not slepe, and what me is ? 
 But natheles, who aske this 
 Leseth his asking trewely. 
 My-selven can not telle why 
 
 The soth ; but trewely, as I gesse, 35 
 
 I holde hit [moot] be a siknesse 
 That I have suffred this eight yere. 
 And yet my bote is never the nere; 
 Ther is phisicien but oon. 
 
 That may me hele; but that is doon. 40 
 
 Passe we over until eft ; 
 That wil not be, moot nede be left ; 
 Our first matere is good to kepe. 
 
 So whan I saw I might not slepe, 
 Til now late, this other night, 45 
 
 Upon my bedde I sat upright. 
 And bad oon reche me a book, 
 ' A romaunce, and hit me took 
 
 To rede and dryve the night away ; 
 
 For me thoghte it better play 50 
 
 23. v4// this. 24. ^//drcde. 25. Th. Tn. Defaute; F. Defaulte. 
 26. Th. slaync ; Tn. slain ; F. omits. 27. F. loste. Tn. omits 11. 31-96 ; 
 F. has i/iem in a later hand {the spelling of which I amend . 32. F. 
 nathles whoe. 33. F. trewly. 34. F. tell. 35 Th. sothe ; F. 
 
 southe(!) F. trewly. 36. F. hold it ; sicknes. I insert moo\.\ it 
 
 seems to be required; cf. 1. 42. 38. F. boote. 39. All For ther. 
 
 F. one. 40. F. heale ; done. 41. F. vntill efte. 42. F. mote. 
 Th. nede ; F. nedes. F. lefte. 43. F. mater. 44. Th. So whan ; 
 V . See when. F. sawe. 45. Th. Tyl nowe late ; F. Til now late ; 
 
 but probably corrupt. 46. F. sate. 47. F. bade one. P'. booke. 
 48. Y. it ; Th. he it. F. toke. 50. F. thought ; beter.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS E. 15 
 
 Then playe either at chesse or tables. 
 And in this boke were writen fables 
 That clerkcs hadde, in olde tyme, 
 And other poets, put in ryme 
 
 To rede, and for to be in mynde 55 
 
 Whyl men loved the lawe of kynde. 
 This book ne spak but of such thinges, 
 Of queues lyves, and of kinges, 
 And many other thinges smale. 
 
 Amonge al this I fond a tale 6q 
 
 That me thoghte a wonder thing. 
 
 This was the tale: Ther was a king 
 That highte Seys, and hadde a wyf, 
 The beste that might bere lyf; 
 
 And this queue highte Alcyone. 65 
 
 So hit befel, therafter sone, 
 This king wol wenden over see. 
 To tellen shortly, whan that he 
 Was in the see, thus in this wyse, 
 Soche a tempest gan to ryse 70 
 
 That brak her mast, and made it falle, 
 And clefte her ship, and dreinte hem alle. 
 That never was founden, as it telles, 
 Bord ne man, ne nothing elles. 
 Right thus this king Seys loste his lyf. 75 
 
 To speke of Alcyone his wyf: — 
 This lady, that was left at home, 
 Hath wonder^ that the king ne come 
 
 51. F. play. 52. F. written. 53. F. had. 56. F. While. 
 
 Th. of; F. in {copied from line above). 57. F. boke. Th. spake; F. 
 speake {read spak). 58. F. kings. 59. Th. smale ; F. smalle. 
 
 60. Th. al ; F. all. F. fonde. 61. F. thought. 62. F. There. 
 
 63. F. hight. Th. Seys ; F. Seyes. F. had. F. wife. 64. Th. 
 
 beste ; F. best. F. beare lyfe. 65. F. hight. 66. F. Soe it befill 
 
 thereafter soone. 67. F. woll. "jo. Ferhaps read ga.n 3.ryse. "ji. 
 F. brake. (\itr = their). P". maste ; fal. 72. Th. her; ¥.t\\&x{see 
 
 line above^. F. dreint ; all. 73. Th. F. founde \^error for founden \ 
 
 74. Y. Borde. 75. Th. Seys; F. Seyes. F. life. 76. Th. F. Now 
 for to speke {i.uhich makes the line too long). F. wife.
 
 1 6 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS E. 
 
 Hoom, for hit was a long termc. 
 
 Anon her herte gan to [erme], 80 
 
 And for that her thoghte evermo 
 
 Hit was not wel, her thoghte so, 
 
 She longed so after the king 
 
 That certes, hit were a pitous thing 
 
 To telle her hertely sorwful lyf 85 
 
 That she hadde [ay], this noble wyf; 
 
 For him she loved alderbest. 
 
 Anon she sente bothe eest and west 
 
 To seke him, but they founde nought. 
 
 ' Alas ! ' quoth she, ' that I was wrought ! 90 
 
 And wher my lord, my love, be deed ? 
 Certes, I nil never ete breed, 
 I make a-vowe to my god here, 
 But I mowe of my lorde here ! ' 
 Such sorwe this lady to her took 93 
 
 That trewly I, which made this book. 
 Had swich pite and swich rowthe 
 To rede her sorwe, that, by my trowthe, 
 I ferde the worse al the morwe 
 After, to thenken on her sorwe. 100 
 
 So whan [she] coude here no word 
 
 That no man mighte fynde her lord, 
 
 Ful ofte she swouned, and seide ' alas ! ' 
 
 For sorwe ful nigh wood she was, 
 
 Ne she coude no reed but oon ; 105 
 
 But doun on knees she sat anoon, 
 
 79. Th. F. Home; it. So. Th. Anon; F. Anone. Th. F. be- 
 
 gan '^crror for ^z.n). Th. Y. yerne (error /or erme '; sec note. Sr. F. 
 
 thought. 82. F. It; wele; thought see. 83. F. soe. 84. F. it. 
 
 85. F. tell. Th. hertely ; F. hartcly. F. life. 86. Th. F. had. / 
 
 supply ay. F. wife. 87. Both Th. atid F. 'wrojigly insert alas after 
 
 him. 88. F'. Anone; sent. 91. F. where. 92. Th. nyl; F\ will. 
 Y. eate breede. 94. Th. lorde ; F. Lord. 95. F. toke. 96. Y. 
 booke. 97. Here the older hand recommences in F. F. Had ; Tn. 
 
 I had. F. suche (/7otV(?). F. pittce. 100. F. Andaftir; hit Th. 
 
 Tn. omit And. 101. yf// this lady (/^r she ; badly). 102. F. 
 
 myght ; lorde. 103. F". sayed. 104. F. woode. 105. F. rede. 
 
 106. F. doune; sate.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 1 7 
 
 And weep, that pite was to here. 
 
 ' A ! mercy ! swete lady dere ! ' 
 
 Quod she to luno, her goddesse ; 
 
 'Help me out of this distresse, no 
 
 And yeve me grace my lord to se 
 
 Sone, or wite wher-so he be, 
 
 Or how he fareth, or in what wyse, 
 
 And I shal make you sacrifyse, 
 
 And hoolly youres become I shal 1 1 5 
 
 With wille, body, herte, and al; 
 
 And but thou wilt this, lady swete, 
 
 Send me grace to slepe, and mete 
 
 In my slepe som certeyn sweven, 
 
 Wher-through that I may knowen even 120 
 
 Whether my lord be quik or deed.' 
 
 With that word she heng doun the heed, 
 
 And fil a-swown as cold as ston ; 
 
 Her women caughte her up anon, 
 
 And broghten her in bed al naked, 125 
 
 And she, forweped and forwaked, 
 
 Was wery, and thus the deed slepe 
 
 Fil on her, or she took kepe. 
 
 Through luno, that had herd her bone. 
 
 That made her [for] to slepe sone ; 130 
 
 For as she prayde, so was don, 
 
 In dede ; for luno, right anon, 
 
 Called thus her messagere 
 
 To do her erande, and he com nere. 
 
 107. F. Th. Tn. wepte (^?<^ rm(/ weep). F. pittee. 109. Th. to ; 
 
 which F. Tn. omit. no. F. Helpe. 112. F. Scone. Tn. B. wite; 
 F. Th. wete. 114. F. yowe. 116. Th. Tn. B. good will; F- good 
 wille {but I regard good as interpolated^. 117. F. wilte. 118. Tn. 
 Send; Th. F. Sende. 119. Tn. som; F. som»ze. 120. Th. 
 
 through; F. thorgh. F. knowe. 121. F. lorde; qnyke; ded. 
 
 122. F. worde ; henge; hed. 123. Th. Tn. fel ; F. felle {see 1. 128). 
 F. A swowne ; Tn. a swowe {for a-swowen = a-swown) ; Th. in a 
 swowne. F. colde; Tn. cold. 124. F. kaught; nnoon. 127. Th. 
 
 deed; F. ded. 128. F. tooke. 129. Th. Through; F. Throgh. F. 
 herde. 130. I supply for. 131. Th. Tn. prayde; F. praycde ; 
 
 after which all wrongly insert right {see next line). 134. F. come.
 
 l8 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 Whan he was come, she bad him thus. 135 
 
 ' Go bet,' quod [she], ' to IMorpheus, 
 
 Thou knowest him wel, the god of slepe; 
 
 Now understond wel, and tak kepe. 
 
 Sey thus on my halfe, that he 
 
 Go faste into the grete see, 140 
 
 And bid him that, on alle thing, 
 
 He take up Seys body the king. 
 
 That lyth ful pale and no-thing rody. 
 
 Bid him crepe into the body, 
 
 And do it goon to Alcyone 145 
 
 The quene, ther she lyth alone, 
 
 And shewe her shortly, hit is no nay, 
 
 How hit was dreynt this other day ; 
 
 And do the body speke so 
 
 Right as hit woned was to do, 150 
 
 The whyles that hit was on lyve. 
 
 Go now faste, and hy thee blyve ! ' 
 
 This messager took leve and wente 
 Upon his wey, and never stente 
 
 Til he com to the derke valeye 155 
 
 That stant bytwene roches tweye, 
 Ther never yet grew corn ne gras, 
 Ne tree, ne nothing that ought was, 
 Beste, ne man, ne nothing elles, 
 Save ther were a fewe welles 160 
 
 Came renning fro the cliffes adoun, 
 That made a dedly sleping soun, 
 And ronnen doun right by a cave 
 That was under a rokke y-grave 
 
 136. Alll\mo (/or she). 13S. F. vnderstonde ; take. 141. Tn. B. 
 alk'; F. al. 142. Th. He; F. Tn. That he. F. kynge. 144. Tn. 
 ]5. Bid; F. Bud. 145. Th. Alcyone; F. Tn. Alchione. 146. Th. 
 alone ; F. allone. 149. After speke all insert right {see next line). 
 
 150. .^// was woned. 151. Tn. on; F. a. 152. F. hye the. 
 
 153. F. toke ; went. 154. All insert ne after never. F. stent. 
 
 155. Tn.com; F. come. F. valey. 156. Th. bytwene ; F. betwex ; 
 Tn. betwix. F. twey. 157. F. come. 158, 159. All noi^hi {for 
 
 nothing). F. oughte. 162. F. dedely; Tn. dcdli.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS E. 1 9 
 
 Amid the valey, wonder depe. 165 
 
 Ther thise goddcs layc and slepe, 
 
 Morpheus, and Eclympasteyre, 
 
 That was the god of slepes heyre, 
 
 That slepe and did non other werk. ' 
 
 This cave was also as derk 170 
 
 As helle pit over-al aboute ; 
 They had good Icyser for to route 
 To envye, who might slepe beste ; 
 Some henge her chin upon her breste 
 And slepe upright, her hed y-hed, 175 
 
 And some laye naked in her bed, 
 And slepe whyles the dayes laste. 
 
 This messager com flying faste, 
 And cryed, ' O ho ! awak anon ! ' 
 Hit was for noght; ther herde him non. i8o 
 
 ' Awak ! ' quod he, ' who is lyth there ? ' 
 And blew his horn right in her ere, 
 And cryed ' awaketh ! ' wonder hye. 
 This god of slepe, with his oon ye 
 Cast up, axed, 'who clepeth there?' 185 
 
 ' Hit am I,' quod this messagere ; 
 ' luno bad thou shuldest goon ' — 
 And tolde him what he shulde doon 
 As I have told yow here-tofore; 
 
 Hit is no nede reherse hit more ; 190 
 
 And wente his wey, whan he had sayd. 
 
 Anon this god of slepe a-brayd 
 
 1 66. F. There tbese ; lay. 167. Th. F. B. Eclympasteyre {as in tcxl) ; 
 Tn. Etlympasteyr*? {zvith ifor c). 168. Tn. heiiv ; F. eyre. 169. 
 
 170. F. werke, derke. 171. Tn. pit ; F. pitte. 173. F. To envye; 
 Tn. Th. vie. 175. Tn. slepte; F. slept. B. Tn. I-hid; Th. yhed ; 
 
 F. yhedde. i'j6. All \a.y {ii is plural). F. Tn. bedde. 177- F. 
 
 slepe; Th. Tn. slepte. 178. F. com. Tn. flyyng; F. fleynge ; Th. 
 
 rcnnyng. 179. F. Tn. O how; Th. ho ho. F. awake. iSo. F. 
 there. iSi. F. Awake ; lythe. 182. F. home. Tn. B. ere ; F. here. 
 184. Tn. oon ; F. on. F. ye; Th. eye; Tn. ei5e. 185. Th. Tn. 
 
 Cast; F. Caste. All ijis. and a/ler up. 191. Th. wente; F. went. 
 
 F. sayede ; Tn. seide. 192. F. a-braycde ; Tn. abraied. 
 
 C 2
 
 20 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 Out of his slepe, and gan to goon, 
 
 And did as he had bcde him doon ; 
 
 Took up the dre}'nt body sone 195 
 
 And bar hit forth to Alcione, 
 
 His wyf the quene, ther as she lay, 
 
 Right even a quarter before day, 
 
 And stood right at her beddes feet, 
 
 And called her, right as she heet, 200 
 
 By name, and seyde, ' my swete wyf, 
 
 Awak ! let be your sorwful lyf ! 
 
 For in your sorwe ther lyth no reed ; 
 
 For certes, swete, I nam but deed ; 
 
 Ye shul me never on lyve y-se. 205 
 
 But good swete herte, [look] that ye 
 
 Bury my body, swiche a tyde 
 
 Ye mowe hit fynde the see besyde; 
 
 And far-wel, swete, my worldes blisse! 
 
 I praye god your sorwe lisse ; 210 
 
 To litel whyl our blisse lasteth ! ' 
 
 With that her eyen up she casteth, 
 And saw noght ; ' [A] ! ' quod she for sorwe, 
 And deyed within the thridde morwe. 
 But what she sayde more in that swow 215 
 
 I may not telle yow as now, 
 Hit wer to longe for to dwclle ; 
 My first matcre I wil yow telle, 
 Wherfor I have told this thing 
 Of Alcione and Scys the king. 220 
 
 195. F. Tooke. Read ^xtivA. 196. F. bare. Th. Alcione ; F. 
 
 Tn. Alchione. 197. F. wife. 199. Th. her; F. Tn. hys. F. fete. 
 200. A//hele. 201. F. sayede ; wyfe. 202. F. Awake ; lyfc. 
 
 203. F. there ; rede. 204. //?</ nam ; a// have am. F. dede. 
 
 206. I snpplyXooV, fo7- the sake of sense and metre; read — But good 
 swet' hert-e, look that ye. 207. All ins. for after body. 210. 
 
 F. pray ; youre. 2ir. F. while oure. 213. All alia.?, {for A). 
 
 214. F. deyede ; Tn. deid. 215. F. sayede. Tn. swow; Th. B. 
 
 swowe ; F. sorowe (0. 216. F. nowe. 219. Tn. told ; F. tolde. 
 
 F. thynge. 220. Th. Alcione; F. Tn. Alchione. F. kyngc.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 21 
 
 For thus moche dar I save wel, 
 I had be dolven everydel, 
 And deed, right through defaute of slepe, 
 If I nad red and taken kepe 
 
 Of this tale next before : 225 
 
 And I wol telle yow wherfore ; 
 For I ne might, for bote ne bale, 
 Slepe, or I had red this tale 
 Of this dreynt Seys the king, 
 
 And of the goddes of sleping. 230 
 
 Whan I had red this tale wel. 
 And over-loked hit everydel, 
 Me thoghte wonder if hit were so; 
 For I had never herd speke, or tho, 
 Of no goddes that coude make 235 
 
 Men [for] to slepe, ne for to wake ; 
 For I knew never god but oon. 
 And in my game I sayde anoon — 
 And yet me list right evel to pleye — 
 ' Rather then that I shulde deye 240 
 
 Through defaute of sleping thus, 
 I wolde yive thilke Morpheus, 
 Or his goddesse, dame luno, 
 Or som wight elles, I ne roghte who — 
 To make me slepe and have som reste — 245 
 
 I wil yive him the alder-beste 
 Yift that ever he abood his lyve, 
 And here on warde, right now, as blyve; 
 
 221. All say. Tn. wel; F. welle. 222. Tn. eueridel ; F. 
 
 euerydelle. 223. F. thorgh. Tn. defante; F. defaulte. 224. Th. 
 F. ne had {read nad) ; Tn. hade. Tn. red ; F. redde. All have take ; 
 r^ffrt' taken. 226. Y. omits 1 {by mistake). 228. F. redde. 229. 
 F. dreynte. 230. Th. goddes; F. Tn. goddis. 231. Tn. red; F. 
 
 redde. 233. F. thoght. 234. Tn. herd ; F. herde. 235. F. 
 
 goddis. 2^6. I supply the former ioY. 237. y^// I ne knew. 23S. 
 F. sayede. 239. F. pley. 240. F. dey. 241. F. Thorgh defaulte. 
 Tn. sleping ; F. slepjTige. 244. Tn. sum ; F. somwe. F. ellis. F. 
 
 roght ; Th. Tn. rought. 245. Tn. som ; F. some. 247. F. Yifte. 
 
 F. abode. 248. B. on warde ; rest onwarde.
 
 32 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 If he wol make me slepe a lyte, 
 
 Of downe of pure dowves whyte . 250 
 
 I wil yive him a fether-bed, 
 
 Rayed with golde, and right wel cled 
 
 In fyn blak satin doutremere, 
 
 And many a pilow, and every here 
 
 Of clothe of Reynes, to slepe softe ; 255 
 
 Him thar not nede to turnen ofte. 
 
 And I wol yive him al that falles 
 
 To a chambre ; and al his halles 
 
 I wol do pe}nte with pure golde, 
 
 And tapile hem ful many folde 260 
 
 Of 00 sute ; this shal he have. 
 
 If I wistfc wher were his cave, 
 
 If he can make me slepe sone, 
 
 As did the goddesse Alcione. 
 
 And thus this ilke god, INIorpheus, 265 
 
 May winne of me mo fees thus 
 
 Than ever he wan ; and to luno, 
 
 That is his goddesse, I shal so do, 
 
 I trow that she shal holde her payd.' 
 
 I hadde unneth that word y-sa}d 270 
 
 Right thus as I have told hit yow. 
 
 That sodeynly, I niste how, 
 
 Swich a lust anoon me took 
 
 To slepe, that right upon my book 
 
 I fil aslepe, and therwith even 275 
 
 Me mette so inly swete a sweven, 
 
 So wonderful, that never yit 
 
 I trowe no man hadde the wit 
 
 251. F. yif (5^^ 1. 246). Tu. fethirbed; F. feder bedde. 252. 
 
 Tn. cled ; F. cledde. 253. Tn. fyn ; F. fyne. Th. doutremere ; 
 
 Tn. douttvinere ; F. de owter mere. 254. Tn. pilow ; F. pelowe. 
 
 257, 8. F. faliys, hallys. 264. All ins. quene after goddesse. Th. 
 
 Alcione; F. Tn. Alchione. 267. ^// wanne(!). 269. F. payede. 
 
 270. Tn. woord; F. worde. F. y-sayede. 271. Th. Tn. B. as ; 
 
 ■which Y. omits. Tn. told; F. tolde. 273. Tn. lust; F. luste. F. 
 
 tooke. 274. F. booke. 275. F. evene. 276. F. swevcne. 277. 
 Tn. 5ir; F. yitte. 278. Th. trowe; F. trow; Tn. trov.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 23 
 
 To connc wel my sweven rede ; 
 
 No, not Joseph, M'ithoute drede, 280 
 
 Of Egipte, he that redde so 
 
 The kinges meting Pharao, 
 
 No more than coude the leste of us; 
 
 Ne nat scarsly Macrobeus, 
 
 He that wrot al thavision 285 
 
 That he mette, king Scipion, 
 
 The noble man, the Affrican — 
 
 Swiche mervayles fortuned than — 
 
 1 trowe, a-rede my dremes even. 
 
 Lo, thus it was, this was my sweven. 290 
 
 The Dream. 
 
 ME thoghte thus : — that hit was May, 
 And in the dawning ther I lay, 
 ]\Ie mette thus, in my bed al naked : — 
 [I] loked forth, for I was waked 
 With smale foules a gret hepe, 295 
 
 That had affrayed me out of slepe, 
 Through noyse and swetnesse of her song, 
 And, as me mette, they sate among, 
 Upon my chambre-roof withoute. 
 Upon the tyles, al a-boute, 300 
 
 And songen, everich in his wyse, 
 The moste solempne servyse 
 By note, that ever man, I trowe. 
 Had herd ; for som of hem song lowe, 
 
 281. Th. Tn. B. he ; F. ho. F. red ; Th. Tn. rad {but read redde or 
 radde). 282. F. metynge. 283. F. leste. 285. Tn. wrot; F. 
 
 wrote. 286. F. kynge. 288. Th. Suche meruayles fortuned than ; 
 
 F. Tn. B. omit this line. 291. F. thoght. 292. F. dawnynge. 
 
 Th. ther ; rest om. 294. All And {for I). 295. Tn. gret ; F. 
 
 grete. 296. All insert my before slepe; it is not wanted. 297. 
 
 F. Thorgh ; svvettenesse ; songe. 298. Th. as ; F. Tn. B. al {badlj''":. 
 F. amonge. 299. F. roofe. 300. All ouer al ; bnt omit ouer. 
 
 301. ^// songe, song. 304. F. herde. Tn. B. som; F. sowme. 
 
 Tn. song ; F. songe \ft can be singular).
 
 24 JIJ- THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 
 
 Som hye, and al of oon acorde. 305 
 
 To telle shortly, at 00 worde, 
 
 Was never herd so swete a Steven, 
 
 But hit had be a thmg of heven; — 
 
 So mery a soun, so swete entunes, 
 
 That certes, for the toune of Tewnes, 310 
 
 I nolde but I had herd hem singe, 
 
 For al my chambre gan to ringe 
 
 Through singing of her armonye. 
 
 For instrument nor melodye 
 
 Was nowher herd yet half so swete, 315, 
 
 Nor of acorde half so mete; 
 
 For ther was noon of hem that feyned 
 
 To singe, for ech of hem him peyned 
 
 To fynde out mery crafty notes ; 
 
 They ne spared not her throtes. 320 
 
 And, soth to seyn, my chambre was 
 
 Ful wel depeynted, and with glas 
 
 Were al the windowes wel y-glased, 
 ' Ful clcre, and nat an hole y-crased 
 
 That to beholde hit was grete loye. 325 
 
 For hoolly al the storie of Troye 
 
 Was in the glasing y-wroght thus, 
 
 Of Ector and king Priamus, 
 
 Of Achilles and Lamedon, 
 
 Of Medea and of lason, 330 
 
 Of Paris, Eleyne, and Lavyne. 
 
 And alle the walles with colours fyne 
 
 305. Tn. Som ; F. Somwe. F. high. 306. F. att. 307. F. harde. 
 308. F. thynge. 309. F. soune. Th. Th. entunes ; F. enlewnes. 
 
 310. F. tewnes ; Th. Tewnes ; Tn. twnes. 311. F. herde. 313. 
 
 F. Thorgh syngynge. 315. F. nowhere herde ; halfe. 316. F. 
 
 halfe. 319. F. 7urongly inserts oi after out. F. notys. 320. F. 
 
 throtys. 321. F. soothe. 323. F. y-glasyd. 324. F. hoole 
 
 y-crasyd. 326. Tn. hoolly ; F. holy. Tn. storie ; F. story. 327. 
 
 F. glasynge. 328. ^// and of king. ■^2(). All repeat olVxnghcfore 
 Lamedon ; the 'words were caught fro??i 1. 328. 330. All insert And 
 
 eke Z;^/-^ Of Medea. 331. ^//and of (/<7r and). 332. Tn. 
 
 colours; F. colouris.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 35 
 
 Were pc)nted, bothc text and glose, 
 
 [Of] al the Romaunce of the Rose. 
 
 My windowes weren shet echon, 335 
 
 And through the glas the sunne shon 
 
 Uj^on m}' bed with brighte bemes, 
 
 With many glade gilden stremes; 
 
 And eek the welken was so fair, 
 
 Blew, bright, clere was the air, 340 
 
 And ful atempre, for sothe, hit was ; 
 
 For nother cold nor hoot hit nas, 
 
 Ne in al the welken was a cloude. 
 
 And as I lay thus, wonder loude 
 Me thoghte I herde an hunte blowe 345 
 
 Tassaye his horn, and for to knowe 
 Whether hit were clere or hors of soune. 
 
 I herde [gon], bothe up and doune, 
 Men, hors, houndes, and other thing; 
 And al men speken of hunting, 350 
 
 How they wolde slee the hert with strengthe. 
 And how the hert had, upon lengthe. 
 So moche embosed, I not now what. 
 Anon-right, whan I herde that. 
 
 How that they wolde on hunting goon, 355 
 
 I was right glad, and up anoon; 
 [I] took my hors, and forth I wente 
 Out of my chambre ; I never stente 
 Til I com to the feld withoute. 
 Ther overtook I a gret route 360 
 
 334. All And ; read Of. 335. Th. weren ; F. were. Tn. shet ; 
 
 K. shette. 336. F. throgh. 337. F. bryght. 338. F. gikle ; 
 
 Th. B. gyldy; Tn. gilti ; r^ao' gilden. 339. F. eke. F. welken; Th. 
 Tn. welkjTi. ^// faire. 340. F. ayre. 341. Th. atempre ; F. Tn. 
 
 attempre. -^^2. All hisAo bcf.coi^. F. colde; hoote. Th. nas ; F. 
 Tn. was. 343. F. welkene ; Th. welkyn ; Tn. walkyn. 345. F. 
 
 thoght. 346. F. Tassay ; home. 347. Tn. B. hors ; Th. F. 
 
 horse. 34S. All insert And at the beginning of the line ; btit read I 
 
 herd-e. F. Th. goynge ; Tn. goyng ; but read gon {for grammar and 
 metre). 350. F. Th. speke; Tn. spake ; but read %^^Ga.. 355- 
 
 F. huntynge. 357. I supply \. F. Tooke; forthe ; went. 358. 
 
 F. stent. 359. F. come ; felde. 360. F. ouertoke ; grete.
 
 26 III. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 Of huntes and eek of foresteres, 
 
 With many relayes and ]}meres, 
 
 And hyed hem to the forest faste, 
 
 And I wiih hem ; — so at the laste 
 
 I asked oon, ladde a lymere : — 365 
 
 ' Say, felow, who shal hunten liere ? ' 
 
 Quod I; and he answered ageyn, 
 
 ' Sir, thcmperour Octovien,' 
 
 Quod he, ' and is heer faste by.' 
 
 'A goddes halfe, in good tyme,' quod I, 370 
 
 ' Go we faste ! ' and gan to ryde. 
 
 Whan we came to the forest-syde, 
 
 Every man dide, right anoon, 
 
 As to hunting fil to doon. 
 
 The mayster-hunte anoon, fot-hool, 375 
 
 With a gret home blew thre moot 
 
 At the uncouphng of his houndes. 
 
 Within a wh}-l the hert [y]-founde is, 
 
 I-halowed, and rechased faste 
 
 Long tyme ; and so, at the laste, 380 
 
 This hert rused and stal away 
 
 Fro alle the houndes a prevy way. 
 
 The houndes had overshote hem alle. 
 
 And were on a defaute y-falle ; 
 
 Therwith the hunte wonder faste 385 
 
 Blew a forloyn at the laste. 
 
 I was go walked fro my tree, 
 And as 1 wente, ther cam by me 
 
 361. F. eke ; foresterys. 362. F. lymerys. 364. Th. I ; -a>hic/i 
 
 F. Tn. oniii. For at the perhaps read atle. 366. F. fclowe whoo. 
 
 ^4// hunte (;rai/ hiinten). 369. F. here fast. 370. A'tW goddes 
 
 as god's. 373. F. didde. 374. F. huntynge fille. 375. F. 
 
 fote hote. 376. F. blevve; mote. 377. F. vncoupylynge ; Th. 
 
 vncouplynge. 378. F. Withynne ; while; herte. Th. F. founde ; 
 
 Tn. found ; read y-founde {for hert has one syllabled. 381. F. Tn. 
 
 B. rused ; Th. roused. F. staale. 383. Th. ouer-shot ; F. ouer- 
 
 shette ; Tn. ouershet. Tn. hem ; F. hym {wrongly). 3S4. Tn. on ; 
 
 F. vpon. Tn. defaute ; F. defaulte. 386. F. Blewe. Th. 'In. forloyn ; 
 F. forleygne. Perhaps read atte for at the. , 3S8. F. went ; came.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 27 
 
 A whelp, that fauneci me as I stood, 
 Thai hadde y-folo\ved, and coude no good. 390 
 
 Hit com and creep to me as lowe, 
 Right as hit hadde me y-knowe, 
 Hild doun his heed and Io}-ned his eres, 
 And leyde al smothe doun his heres. 
 I woldc han caught hit, and anoon 395 
 
 Hit fledde, and was fro me goon ; 
 And I him folwed, and hit forth wente 
 Doun by a floury grene wente 
 Ful thikke of gras, ful softe and sweet, 
 With floures fele, faire under feet, 400 
 
 And lite! used, hit semed thus ; 
 For bothe Flora and Zephirus, 
 They two that make floures growe, 
 Had mad her dwelling ther, I trowe; 
 For hit was, on to beholde, 405 
 
 As thogh the erthe envye wolde 
 To be gayer than the heven, 
 To have mo floures, swiche seven 
 As in the welken sterres be. 
 
 Hit had forgete the pdvertee 410 
 
 That winter, through his colde morwes, 
 Had mad hit suff"ren, and his sorwes ; 
 Al was forgeten, and that was sene. 
 For al the wode was waxen grene, 
 Swetnesse of dewe had mad it waxe. 415 
 
 Hit is no need eek for to axe 
 
 389. F. whelpe. Th. fawned ; F. Favned. F. stoode. 390. F. 
 
 goode. 391. F. come. All have crepte {wi-otigly) ; 7-ead creep. 
 
 392. Tn. hade ; F. had. 393. B. Hild ; F. Hylde ; Tn. Held ; Th. 
 heed ; Tn. hed ; F. hede. F. erys. 394. F. herys. 395. All 
 
 haue ; read han. 396. Tn. fledde ; F. fled. 397. F. forthe went. 
 
 398. F. went. 399. All swete {but note the 7-ime'). 400. All fete ; 
 r^ao' feet. 402. Tn. bothe ; F. both. 404. ^//made; readxn2iA 
 
 or maad. F. dwellynge. 406. F. therthe; Th. the erthe. 408. F. 
 moo ; swche {sic). 409. Th. welken ; Y. walkene. F. sterris. 
 
 411. F. thorgh. 412. ^//suffre. 414. F. woode. 415. All 
 
 made. 416. ^// nede eke.
 
 28 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Whcr ther were many grene greves, 
 Or ihikke of trees, so ful of leves; 
 And every tree stood by him-selve 
 Fro other wel ten foot or twelve. 420 
 
 So grete trees, so huge of strengthe, 
 Of fourty or fifty fadme lengthe, 
 Clene withoule bough or stikke, 
 With croppes brode, and eek as thikke — 
 They were nat an inche a-sonder — 425 
 
 That hit was shadwe over-al under; 
 And many an hert and many an hynde 
 Was both before me and behynde. 
 Of founes, soures, bukkes, does 
 . Was ful the wode, and many roes, 430 
 
 And many squirelles, that sete 
 Ful hye upon the trees, and ete, 
 And in her maner made festes. 
 Shortly, hit was so ful of bestes. 
 That thogh Argus, the noble countour, 435 
 
 Sete to rekene in his countour. 
 And rekened with his figures ten — 
 For by tho figures mowe al ken. 
 If they be crafty, rekene and noumbre. 
 And telle of every thing the noumbre — ^40 
 
 Yet shulde he fayle to rekene even 
 The wondres, me mette in my sweven. 
 
 417. F. Where there. 419. F. stoode. 420. Tn. ten ; F. tene. 
 
 Th. footc; F. fete; Tn. oni. Th. or; F. Tn. fro other {repeated). 
 422. Th. Tn. Of; F. Or. Th. or ; rest ofn. F. fedme; Th. fedome ; 
 Tn. fedim ; read fadme. 424. Th. brode ; F. Tn. bothe {7urongl}'). 
 
 F. eke. 426. Tn. B. shadwe ; F. shadewe. 427. Tn. hert ; F. 
 
 herte. 429. Th. fawncs ; F. Tn. fovnes. F. Tn. sowres ; Tli. 
 
 sowers. 430. Tn. wode ; F. woode. 429, 430. B. doys, roys; 
 
 431. Th. squyrrels; F. sqwirels ; Tn. squirels ; B. squyrellys {three 
 syllables). 432. F. high. 433. F. festys. 434. F. bestys. 435. 
 Th. Tn. countour; F. counter [and so in 1. 436). 437. F. Tn. rekene; 
 Th. rekeh {caught from above) ; read rekened. F. figuris. 438. F. 
 
 figuris. F. mowe ; B. mow ; Th. Tn. newe {reading doubtful). All 
 have al ken ; see note. 440. B. tell;; ; 7-esi tel. F. thinge. 441. 
 
 F. evene. 442. F. swevene.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DVCHESSE. 29 
 
 But forth they romed wonder faste 
 Doun the wode ; so at the laste 
 I was war of a man in blak, 445 
 
 That sat and had y-turned his bak 
 To an oke, an huge tree. 
 ' Lord,' thoghte I, ' who may that be ? 
 What ayleth him to sitten here ? ' 
 Anoon-right I wente nere ; 450 
 
 Than fond I sitte even upright 
 A wonder wel-faringe knight- 
 By the maner me thoghte so — 
 Of good mochel, and yong therto, 
 Of the age of four and twenty yeer. 455 
 
 Upon his berde but htel heer, 
 And he was clothed al in blakke. 
 I stalked even unto his bakke, 
 And ther I stood as stille as ought, 
 That, soth to saye, he saw me nought, 460 
 
 For-why he heng his heed adoune. 
 And with a dedly sorwful soune 
 He made of ryme ten vers or twelve, 
 Of a compleynt to him-selve. 
 
 The moste pite, the moste rowthe, 465 
 
 That ever I herde ; for, by my trowthe, 
 Hit was gret wonder that nature 
 Might suffren any creature 
 To have swich sorwe, and be not deed. 
 Ful pitous, pale, and nothing reed, 470 
 
 443. All ins. light hef. wonder. 444. F. Doune ; woode. 446 
 
 Th. sate ; F. Tn. sete. Tn. Ituraed ; F. turned. 447. F. ooke. 44S 
 Th. Tn. thought; F. thogh (^!). 450. Y. went. 451. Tn. fond ; F 
 founde. 452. F. farynge. 454. All but H. insert ry^i before yong. 
 Tn. 5ung; F. Th. yonge. 455. All yere ; read yeer. 456. All 
 
 heere, here; read hetr. 457. Th. blacke ; F. blake. 458. Tn 
 
 bakke; F. bake. 459. F. stoode. 460. F. sawe. 461. Tn. heng 
 F. henge. Th. heed; Tn. hed; F. hede. 462. Tn. dedly; F. dedely 
 463. Th. Tn. twelue ; F. twelfe. 464. Th. Tn. selue ; F. selfe. 465 
 Tn. pite ; F. pitee. 468. All suffre ; read suffren. 469. F. snche 
 Th. deed ; F. Tn. ded. 470. Tn. pitous ; B. pitouse ; F. petuose 
 
 Tn. nothing ; F. no thynge. Th. reed ; F. Tn. red.
 
 30 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 He sayde a lay, a maner song, 
 
 Withoute note, withoute song, 
 
 And hit was this; for wel I can 
 
 Reherse it ; right thus it began. — 
 
 ^ ' I have of sorwe so grete woon, 475 
 
 That loye gete I never noon, 
 
 Now that I see my lady bright, 
 
 Which I have loved with al my might, 
 Is fro me deed, and is a-goon. 479 
 
 UAllas, [the] dcth ! what ayleth the, 481 
 
 That thou noldest have taken me, 
 
 Whan that thou toke my lady swete? 
 That was so fayr, so fresh, so fre. 
 So good, that men may wel [y]-se 485 
 
 Of al goodnesse she had no mete ! ' — 
 
 Whan he had mad thus his complaynte. 
 
 His sorowful herte gan faste faynte, 
 
 And his spirites wexen dede ; 
 
 The blood was fled, for pure drede, 490 
 
 Doun to his herte, to make him warm — 
 
 For wel hit feled the herte had harm — 
 
 To wite eek why hit was a-drad 
 
 By kynde, and for to make hit glad ; 
 
 For hit is membre principal 495 
 
 Of the body ; and that made al 
 
 His hewe chaunge and wexe grene 
 
 And pale, for no blood [was] sene 
 
 471. F. saved ; Tn. said. 471, 2. Tn. song; F. songe. 473. 
 
 B. alone supplies it ( = hit) ; all insert ful before wel. 475- All wone ; 
 r^«r/ woon ( = quantity). 476. F. Icy ; none. 477, 8. AVa^ brighte, 
 mightc ? 479. Th. deed ; F. ded. After 1. 479 Thj'nne inserts 
 
 And thus in sorowe lefte me alone; it is spurious ; see note. [Hence 
 there is no 1. 480.] 481. I supply the. Tn. delh; Y. dethe. 483. 
 Th. that ; tuliich F. Tn. omit. 484. F. faire. F. freshe ; Tn. fressh. 
 485. All se ; but read y-se. 486. F. goodenesse. 487. All 
 
 made. Th. B. complaynte; F. complaynt. 4S8. F. sorwful. Th. 
 herte ; F. hert. Th. B. faynte ; F. faynt. 489. F. spiritis. 490. 
 
 Tn. blood; F. bloode. 491. Th. herte ; F. hert. ^4// warme. 492. 
 'J"h. herte ; F. hert. y/// harme. 493. B. wite ; F. welc. All eke. 
 
 498. All insert thcr before no. F. noo bloode. All is ; but read was.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 31 
 
 In no maner limme of his. 
 
 Anoon thenvith whan I saw this, 500 
 
 He ferde thus evcl ther he sect, 
 I wcnte and stood right at his feet, 
 And grette him, but he spak noght. 
 But argued with his owne thoght, 
 And in his witte disputed faste 505 
 
 Why and how his lyf might laste ; 
 Him thoughte his sorwes wer so smerte 
 And lay so colde upon his herte; 
 So, through his sorwe and hevy thoght, 
 Made him that he ne herde me noght; 510 
 
 For he had wel nigh lost his mynde, 
 Thogh Pan, that men clepe god of kynde, 
 Were for his sorwes never so wroth. 
 
 But at the laste, to sayn right soth, 
 He was war of me, how I stood 515 
 
 Before him, and dide of myn hood. 
 And had ygret him, as I coude. 
 Debonairly, and no-thing loude, 
 He sayde, ' I prey thee, be not wroth, 
 I herde thee not, to sayn the soth, 520 
 
 Ne I saw thee not, sir, trewely.' 
 
 ' A ! goode sir, no fors,' quod I, 
 ' I am right sory if I have oughte 
 Destroubled yow out of your thoughte ; 
 For-yive me if I have mis-take,' 525 
 
 'Yis, thamendes is light to make,' 
 
 499. Th. lymme ; B. Tn. lyme ; F. hym (!). 500. B. saw ; F. sangh. 
 501. F. Th. there ; Tn. for. All stie {but note the rime). 502. F. 
 
 went; stoode; fete. 503. ^// spake {wro7tgly). 504. Th. Tn. 
 
 owne ; F. ovne. 506. F. Th. lyfe ; Tn. life. 507. F. thought. 
 
 509. F. throgh. B. sorwe ; Tn. sorov ; F. sorwes. 511. Tn. lost; 
 
 V. lostc. 512. F. inserts the before god ; Th. Tn. omit. 513. F. 
 
 wrothe. " SM- Th. laste ; F. last. F. sothe. 515. F. stoode. 
 
 516. y^// did. F. hoode. 517. All insert hzsi after \. 519. F. 
 
 wrothe. 520. F. sothe. 521. B. saw; F. sawgh. F. trewly. 
 
 522. Tn. goode ; F. good. 526. F. thamendys ; Th. thamendes.
 
 32 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Quod he, ' for ther lyth noon ther-to ; 
 Ther is no-thing missayd nor do.' 
 
 Lo ! how goodly spak this knight, 
 As it had ben another wight ; 530 
 
 He made it nouther tough ne queynte. 
 And I saw that, and gan me aqueynte 
 With him, and fond him so tretable, 
 Right wonder skilful and resonable, 
 As me thoghte, for al his bale. 535 
 
 Anoon-right I gan fynde a tale 
 To him, to loke wher I might oughte 
 Have more knowing of his thoughte. 
 
 ' Sir,' quod I, ' this game is doon ; 
 I holde that this hert be goon; 540 
 
 These huntes conne him nowher see.' 
 
 ' I do no fors therof,' quod he, 
 ' My thought is ther-on never a del.' 
 
 ' By our lord,' quod I, ' I trow yow wel, 
 Right so me thinketh by your chere. 545 
 
 But, sir, 00 thing wol ye here? 
 Me thinketh, in gret sorwe I yow see ; 
 But certes, sir, [and] if that ye 
 Wolde ought discure me your wo, 
 I wolde, as wis god helpe me so, 550 
 
 Amende hit, if I can or may ; 
 Ye mowe preve hit by assay. 
 For, by my trouthe, to make yow hool 
 I wol do al my power hool ; 
 
 And tellcth me of your sorwes smerte, 555 
 
 Paraventure hit may ese your herte, 
 
 527. F. lyeth; Th. lythe ; Tn. lith. 528. F. There. ^// myssayde 
 529. Th. goodly ; F. goodely. ^// spake (!). Th. knyght ; F. knyghte 
 <;30. B. Lien; rest he. 531. F. towgh. 532. F. sawe; aqueynt 
 
 533. F. fonde. 535. F. thoght. 538. F. knowynge. 541. F 
 
 huntys konne. 543. F. there on ; dele (Tn. del). 544. Tn. Bi 
 
 Th. By ; F. Be. F. oure lorde ; wele (Tn. wel). 545. B. thinketh 
 
 F. thcnketh. 547. F. grcte. 548. / supply and. Th. Tn. if 
 
 F. yif. 549. Th. Tn. your; F. youre. 550. F. wys; Th. wyse ; 
 
 Tn. wisse. 554. Th. al ; F. alle; Hw.otii. 556. B. ese; F. ease.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. o^o^ 
 
 That scmeth ful seke under your syde.' 
 
 Willi that he loked on me asyde, 
 
 As who sayth, ' nay, that wol not be.' 
 
 ' Graunt mercy, goode frend,' quod he, 560 
 
 ' I thanke thee that thou woldest so, 
 
 But hit may never the rather be do. 
 
 No man may my sorwe glade. 
 
 That maketh my hewe to falle and fade, 
 
 And hath myn understonding lorn, 565 
 
 That me is wo that I was born ! 
 
 May noght make my sorwes slyde, 
 
 Nought the remedies of Ovyde ; 
 
 Ne Orpheus, god of melodye, 
 
 Ne Dedalus, with playes slye ; 570 
 
 Ne hele me may phisicien, 
 
 Noght Ypocras, ne Gahen ; 
 
 Me is wo that I live houres twelve ; 
 
 But who so wol assaye him-selve 
 
 Whether his herte can have pite 755 
 
 Of any sorwe, lat him see me. 
 
 I wrecche, that deth hath mad al naked 
 
 Of alle blisse that was ever maked, 
 
 Y-worthe worste of alle wightes, 
 
 That hate my dayes and my nightes ; 580 
 
 My lyf, my lustes be me lothe. 
 
 For al welfare and I be wrothe. 
 
 The pure deth is so my fo, 
 
 [Thogh] I wolde deye, hit wolde not so ; 
 
 For whan I folwe hit, hit wol flee ; 585 
 
 I wolde have [hit], hit nil not me. 
 
 560. Tn. frend ; F. frende. 564. All fal. 565. F. vnderstondynge 
 lorne. 566. F. borne. 568. F. Th. ins. al (Tn. of) before the. 
 
 570. All ins. \\\'!, after vi'wh. 571. All ins. no after mzy. 573. Th. 
 Tn. houres ; F. oures. 574. ^// assay. 575. Th. herte; F. Tn. hert. 
 
 577. F. wrechch ; Tn. wrecch ; Th. wretche (y^r wrecche). yi// made. 
 
 578. F. al ; Th. Tn. al the ; B. alk {7'ead al-le). 579. B. allif ; irst al. 
 581. ^//lyfe. F. loothe. 582. F. wroothe (?V" w //z^ra/)- 58.^. 
 All ins. ful after so. F. foo. 584. All That ; read Thogh. F. 
 SOD. 586. For the fortner hit, all have \\\XQ.\ but see line above. 
 
 D
 
 34 ^11- THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 This is my peyne withoute reed, 
 
 Alway dying, and be not deed, 
 
 That Sesiphus, that lyth in hclle, 
 
 May not of more sorwe telle. 590 
 
 And who so wiste al, by my trouthe, 
 
 My sorwe, but he hadde routhe 
 
 And pite of my sorwes smerte, 
 
 That man halh a feendly herte. 
 
 For who so seeth me first on morwe 595 
 
 May seyn, he hath [y]-met with sorwe, 
 
 For I am sorwe and sorwe is I. 
 
 ' Alias ! and I wol telle the why ; 
 
 My [song] is turned to pleyning, 
 
 And al my laughter to weping, 600 
 
 My glade thoghtes to hevynesse, 
 
 In travaile is myn ydelnesse 
 
 And eek my reste ; my wele is wo. 
 
 My good is harm, and ever-mo 
 
 In wrathe is turned my pleying 605 
 
 And my delyt in-to sorwing. 
 
 Myn hele is turned into seeknesse, 
 
 In drede is al my sikernesse. 
 
 To derke is turned al my light, 
 
 My wit is foly, my day is night, 610 
 
 My love is hate, my sleep waking. 
 
 My mirthe and meles is fasting, 
 
 587. Th. reed ; F. rede. 5S8. F. deyngc. Th. dede ; F. deed. 
 
 589. F. B. Thesiphus ; Tn. Tesiphus; Th. Tesyphus. ( The two latter are 
 wmw-?V/£«yii;- Cesiphus = Sesiphus). Tn. lithe ; F. Th. lyeth. 591. 
 Th. Tn. al ; F. alle. Th. by ; F. Tn. be. 592. Tn. hade ; F. had. 
 
 594. Tn. feenli {sic^< ; Th F. fendely. 596. Tn. met ; Th. F. mette (!) ; 
 ;rafl' y-met. 598. B. tell^ ; rest \.A. 599. For %or\g, Y.'Y\\. have 
 
 sorowe, and Tn. has sorov, ■which are absurd ; the reading is obviously 
 song, the ng being altered to rowe by injltience of 1. 597, which the 
 scribes glanced at. Tn. pleyny^^g ; F. pleynynge. 600. Tn. laughter ; 
 F. lawghtre. Tn. weping ; t. wepynge. 601. F. thoghtys. 603. 
 j-lll tke. 604. Th.Tn. good; F. goode. y^//harme. 605. Th. 
 
 playeng ; F. pleyiige. 606. F. sorwynge. 607. Tn. sckenes ; F. 
 
 sekeenesse {sic). 609. Tn. li;t ; F. lyghte; Th. syght. 610. Tn. 
 
 wit; F. wytte. Th. Tn. nyght ; F. nyghte. 611. .All slepe. Tn. 
 waking; ¥. wakynge. 612. Tn. fasting ; F. fastynge.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 35 
 
 My countenaunce is n}xete, 
 
 And al abaved wher-so I be, 
 
 My pees, in pleding and in werre ; 615 
 
 Alias ! how might I fare werre ? 
 
 ' ]My boldnesse is turned to shame, 
 
 For fals Fortune hath pleyd a game 
 
 Atte ches with me, alias ! the whyle 1 
 
 The trayteresse fals and ful of gyle, 620 
 
 That al behoteth and no-thing halt, 
 
 She goth upryght and yet she halt, 
 
 That baggeth foule and loketh faire, 
 
 The dispitouse debonaire, 
 
 That scorneth many a creature ! 625 
 
 An ydole of fals portraiture 
 
 Is she, for she wil sone wryen; 
 
 She is the monstres heed y-wryen, 
 
 As filth over y-strawed with floures ; 
 
 Her moste worship and her [flour is] 630 
 
 To lyen, for that is her nature ; 
 
 Withoute feyth, lawe, or mesure 
 
 She is fals ; and ever laughing 
 
 With oon eye, and that other weping. 
 
 That is broght up, she set al doun. 635 
 
 I lykne her to the scorpioun, 
 
 That is a fals fiatering beste ; 
 
 For with his hede he maketh feste, 
 
 But al amid his flateringe 
 
 With his tayle he wol stinge, 640 
 
 614. Tn. abaved (j?V) ; Th. F. abawed. y?// where so. 617. Tn. 
 
 boldnes ; Th. F. boldenesse. {^Perhaps read y-turned.) 618. F. 
 
 pleyde ; Th. played; Tn. pleied. 619. F. Atte the (7wo;;^/;/) ; Th. 
 
 Tn. At the. Tn. ches; Th. F. chesse. 621. Tn. halt; F. Th. halte (!) 
 622. Tn. goth : Th. gothe ; F. gethe (!). Th. halte ; Tn. is halt ; F. is 
 halte. 627. Th. wrien ; rest varien (!\ 628. Th. Tn. monstres; F 
 Mowstres. Th. heed ; F. Tn. hed. 629. V>. filth ; rest fylthe. Th 
 Tn. ystrowed. 630. F. worshippe. Th. Tn. floures; F. B. flourys 
 
 read flour is. 632. Tn. feith ; F. feythe. 633. F. lawghynge, 
 
 634. Tn. oon ; Th. F. one. Th. eye ; Tn. eij ; F. yghe. F. wepynge 
 
 635. Th. set ; F. sette. 637. F. flateyrynge ; Tn. flateryng. 639 
 Th. Tn. amyd ; F. amydde. 640. Th. he; F. hyt ; Tn. it. 
 
 D 2
 
 ^6 HI, THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 And envenyme ; and so wol she. 
 
 She is thenvyous charite 
 
 That is ay fals, and semeth wele, 
 
 So turncth she her false whele 
 
 Aboute, for it is no-thing stable, 645 
 
 Now by the fyre, now at table ; 
 
 Ful many oon hath she yblent. 
 
 She is pley of enchauntement, 
 
 That semeth oon and is nat so, 
 
 The false theef! what hath she do, 650 
 
 Trowest thou ? by our lord, I wol the seye. 
 
 Atte dies with me she gan to pleye ; 
 
 With her false draughtes divers 
 
 She stal on me, and took my fers. 
 
 And whan I saw my fers aweye, 655 
 
 Alas ! I couthe no lenger pleye, 
 
 But seyde, " farwel, swete, y-wis, 
 
 And farwel al that ever ther is ! " 
 
 Therwith Fortune seyde " chek here ! " 
 
 And " mate ! " in mid pointe of the chekkere 660 
 
 With a poune erraunt, alias ! 
 
 Ful craftier to pley she was 
 
 Than Athalus, that made the game 
 
 First of the ches : so was his name. 
 
 But god wolde I had ones or twyes 665 
 
 Y-koud and knowe the leupardyes 
 
 That coude the Grek Pithagores I 
 
 I shulde have pleyd the bet at ches, 
 
 642. F. thenvyouse ; Tn. thenvious ; Th. the enuyous. 644. Th. 
 false ; F. Tn. fals. 645. F. no thjTige. 647. Th. Ful ; rest For. 
 
 All ins. thus after she. 649. Th. nat ; Y. Tn. not. 650. Th. false ; 
 F. Tn. fals. Th. F. thefe; Tn. knaue. 6?i. F. oure lorde ; sey. 
 
 652. All At the; Atte is better. Tn. ches; Th. F. chesse. F. pley. 
 
 653. Th. Tn. false; F. fals. 654. F. staale; toke. F. Tn. fers; Th. 
 feers. 655. F. sawgh. B. a-waye ; rest away. 656. B. pleye ; 
 Th. F. play; Tn. pley. 657. ^// farewel (farewell); and in 1. 6fiS. 
 660. All insert the after in {badly). 661. F. povne ; Tn. pou« ; Th. 
 paune. Tn. erraunt ; F. errante. 66.^. Tn. Athalaus. 664. Tn. ches; 
 Th. F. chesse. ()GG. B. I-koude ; Th. Tn. Ikonde (!) ; F. y-konde (!) ; 
 sec 1. 667. 667. Tn. Grek ; F. Grtke. Th. Fithagores ; F. Tn. Pic- 
 tagoras. 668. Tn. pleyd ; F. pleyde.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 37 
 
 And kept my fers the bet therby ; 
 
 And thogh wlierto ? for trewcly 670 
 
 I hold that wish nal worth a stree ! 
 
 Hit had be never the bet for me. 
 
 For Fortune can so many a wyle, 
 
 Ther be but fewe can her begyle, 
 
 And eek she is the has to blame ; 675 
 
 I\ly-self I wolde have do the same 
 
 Ikfore god, had I ben as she ; 
 
 She oghte the more excused be. 
 
 For this I say yet more therto, 
 
 Had I be god and mighte have do 680 
 
 INIy wille, whan she my fers caughte, 
 
 I wolde have drawe the same draughte. 
 
 For, also wis god yive me reste, 
 
 I dar wel sw^ere she took the beste ! 
 
 ' But through that draughte I have lorn 6S5 
 
 My blisse ; alias ! that I was born ! 
 
 For evermore, I trow trewly, 
 
 For al my wille, my lust hoolly 
 
 Is turned ; but yet, what to done ? 
 
 By our lord, hit is to deye sone ; 690 
 
 For no-thing I [ne] leve it noght. 
 
 But live and deye right in this thoght. 
 
 Ther nis planete in firmament, 
 
 Ne in air, ne in erthe, noon element, 
 
 That they ne yive me a yift echoon 695 
 
 Of weping, whan I am aloon. 
 
 For whan that I avyse me wel, 
 
 And bethenke me every-del, 
 
 670. Tn. thogh; Th. thoughe ; F. thoght («V). F. trewly. 671. F. 
 holde; wysshe. 675. y?// eke. B. las ; F. lasse ; Tn. lesse. 676. F. 
 -selfe. 677. Th. had I ben ; F. as I be {wrongly). 678. F. oght. 
 
 681. All kaught, caught ; but read caughte ; and draughte in 11. 682, 685. 
 683. Tn. wis; F. wys. 6S4. Th. she; F. Tn. B. he. F. tooke. 
 685. F. throgh ; draught ; lorne. 686. F. borne. 689. F. doone. 
 690. F. Be oure lorde; soone. 691. P\ -thynge. / supply ne. 
 
 693. All For there (ther) ; hut omit For. 694. F. ayre. 695. F. 
 
 yilte. 696. F. wepynge.
 
 38 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 
 
 How that ther lyth in rekening, 
 
 In my sorwe, for no-thing ; 700 
 
 And how ther leveth no gladnesse 
 
 INIay gladde me of my distresse, 
 
 And how I have lost sufFisance, 
 
 And therto I have no plesance, 
 
 Than may I say, I have right noght. 705 
 
 And whan al this falleth in my ihoght, 
 
 Alias ! than am I overcome ! 
 
 For that is doon is not to come ! 
 
 I have more sorowe than Tantale.' 
 
 And whan I herde him telle this tale 710 
 
 Thus pitously, as I yow telle, 
 Unnethe mighte I lenger dwelle. 
 Hit dide myn herte so moche wo. 
 
 ' A ! good sir ! ' quod I, ' say not so ! 
 Have som pile on your nature 715 
 
 That formed yow to creature. 
 Remembre yow of Socrates, 
 For he ne counted nat thre strees 
 Of noght that Fortune coude do.' 
 
 ' No,' quod he, ' I can not so.' 720 
 
 ' Why so ? good sir ! parde ! ' quod I ; 
 ' Ne say noght so, for trewely, 
 Thogh ye had lost the ferses twelve, 
 And ye for sorwe mordred your-selve, 
 Ye sholde be dampned in this cas 725 
 
 By as good ryght as INIedea was, 
 That slow her children for lason ; 
 And Phyllis als for Dcmophon 
 
 699. Tn. lyth ; F. lyeth. F. rekenynge. 700. Th. Tn. In ; F. Inne. 
 701. F. levyth noe. 702. B. Tn. ijlade ; F. glad; ;Ta(/ gladde. 703. 
 Th. lost; F. loste. 710. Tn. telle ; F. tel. 71 1. Th. Tn. Thus ; 
 F. This. 712. F. iTiyght ; duelle. 713. Tn. dide ; F. dyd. 714. 
 Th. good ; F. goodc. 715. Tn. som ; F. sowme. 721. All insert 
 yis {or yes) before parde ; 'ivhich spoils both sense and metre. 722. 
 
 Th. say; rest oin. F. trewly. 723. Th. lost ; F. loste. 726. Th. 
 good ; F. goode. 727. Tn. slowe ; F. slovvgh. 728. All a\so ; >-caJ als.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 39 
 
 Hcng her-self, so weylaway ! 
 
 For he had broke his terme-day 730 
 
 To come to her. Another rage 
 
 Had Dydo, quene eek of Cartage, 
 
 That slow her-self, for Eneas 
 
 Was fals ; [a !] whiche a fool she was ! 
 
 And Ecquo dyed for Narcisus 735 
 
 Nolde nat love her; and right thus 
 
 Hath many another foly don. 
 
 And for Dalida dyed Sampson, 
 
 That slow him- self with a pilere. 
 
 But ther is [noon] a-lyve here 740 
 
 Wolde for a fers make this wo ! ' 
 
 ' Why so ? ' quod he ; ' hit is nat so ; 
 Thou wost ful litel what thou menest ; 
 I have lost more than thou wenest. 
 ' Lo, [sir,] how may that be ? ' quod I ; 745 
 
 ' Good sir, [telleth] me al hoolly 
 In what wyse, how, why, and wherfore 
 That ye have thus your blisse lore.' 
 
 ' Blythly,' quod he, ' com sit adoun ; 
 I telle thee up condicioun 750 
 
 That thou shalt hoolly, with al thy wit, 
 Do thyn entent to herkene hit.' 
 ' Yis, sir.' ' Swere thy trouthe ther-to.' 
 ' Gladly.' ' Do than holde here, lo ! ' 
 * I shal right blythly, so god me save, 755 
 
 729. F. Henge. 732. ^// the quene ; oviit 'CaQ. J// eke. 733. Tn. 
 slow; F. slough. F. selfe. ",1,4,. I supply former z.. F. fbole. 735. 
 .-^// Ecquo. 739. Tn. slow ; F. slough. F. hym-sclfe. 740. All 
 
 no man ; but read noon. 741. Perhaps read maken. 743. F. woste ; 
 menyst. 744. Th. lost ; F. loste. F. thow wenyst. 745. F. Tn. 
 Loo she that may be ; Th. Howe that may be ; clearly she is an error 
 for ^u,and Howe that may be^brhow may that be; {ed. 1561 has 
 Howe may that be). 746. F. Tn. telle ; Th. tel ; biit read telleih 
 
 {^plural) ; see 1. 748. F. hooly. 749. F. come. Tn. sit; F. sytte. 
 
 750. F. inserts hyt after telle ; which Th. Tn. omit. Th. Tn. vpon a ; 
 F. vpa; but \^ is right. 751. F. hooly. Tn. wit ; Th. wvt ; F. 
 
 wytte. 752. Tn. hit; F. h'itte (!). 754. F. Tn. lo ; th. to. 
 
 755. Perhaps right should be omitted.
 
 40 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 
 
 Hoolly, with al the witte I have, 
 Here yow, as wel as I can.' 
 
 ' A goddes half ! ' quod he, and began : — 
 ' Sir,' quod he, ' sith first I couthe 
 Have any maner wit fro youthe, 760 
 
 Or kyndely understonding 
 To comprehende, in any thing, 
 What love was, in myn owne wit, 
 Dredeles, I have ever yit 
 
 Be tributary, and yiven rente 765 
 
 To love hoolly with goode entente, 
 And through plesaunce become his thralle, 
 With wille, body, herte, and alle. 
 Al this I putte in his servage, 
 
 As to my lorde, and dide homage ; 770 
 
 And ful devoutly prayde him to. 
 He shulde besette myn herte so. 
 That it plesaunce to him were, 
 And worship to my lady dere. 
 
 ' And this was longe, and many a yere 775 
 
 Or that myn herte was set owhere, 
 That I did thus, and niste why ; 
 I trowe hit cam me kyndely. 
 Paraunter I was therto able 
 
 As a whyt wal or a table ; 780 
 
 For hit is redy to cacche and take 
 Al that men wil therin make, 
 Wher-so men wol portreye or peynte. 
 Be the werkes never so queynte. 
 
 756. P". Hooly. 758. B. half ; F. halfe. 760. Tn. wit ; F. wj-tte. 761. 
 F. vnderstondynge. 763. Tn. wit ; F. wytte. 764. Tn. yit ; F. yitte. 
 765. Tn. youen ; F. yive. 766. F. hooly. 768. All insert good before 
 wille; but \v\\\q lias iivo syllables. 771. ^// deuoutely. All needlessly 
 insert I be/ore prayde. Th. prayde ; F. prayed. 772. Th. Tn. herte ; 
 F. hert. 773. F. plesance ; but see 1. 767. 774. F. worshippe. 
 
 778. Tn. cam ; F. came. 779. F. Perauenture; see 1. 788. All insert 
 moste be/ore able. 780. F. white walle. 781. F. cachche. 783. 
 F. Tn. Whethir; Th. Whether; read W'hci {contracted form). F. 
 portrcy or peynt ; Tn. jjurtrcy or pcynle. 7S4. Tn. queynte ; F. queynt.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 4 1 
 
 ' And thilke tyme I fcrde so 785 
 
 I was able to have lerned iho, 
 And to have coud as wel or better, 
 Paraunter, other art or letter. 
 But for love cam first in my thought, 
 Therfore I forgat it nought. 790 
 
 1 chees love to my firste craft, 
 Therfor hit is with me [y]-laft. 
 For I took hit of so yong age, 
 That malyce had my corage 
 
 Nat that tyme turned to no-thing 795 
 
 Through to mochel knowleching. 
 For that tyme youthe, my maistresse, 
 Governed me in ydelnesse ; 
 For hit was in my firste youthe, 
 
 And tho ful litel good I couthe ; Soo 
 
 For al my werkes were flitting, 
 And al my thoghtes varying ; 
 Al were to me yliche good, 
 That I knew tho; but thus hit stood. 
 
 ' Hit happed that I cam on a day 805 
 
 Into a place, ther I say, 
 
 Trewly, the fayrest companye 
 
 Of ladies, that ever man with ye 
 
 Had seen togedres in 00 place. 
 
 Shal I clepe hit hap other grace 810 
 
 That broghte me ther? nay, but Fortune, 
 
 That is to lyen ful comune, 
 
 785. All insert ryght be/ore so. 787. Th. Tn. conde {for coude) ; 
 
 F. kende {ivhich may pass). 788. All arte. 789. Tn. kam ; F. came. 
 790. All forgSLte. 791. Th. chees; Tn. chese ; F. ches. Tn. fyrste ; 
 F. first. All crafte {hel it will not rime). 792. All lafte (ivrongly) ; 
 read y-laft. 793. All For-why ; read For. All toke. All yonge. 
 
 795. F. no thynge. 796. F. Thorgh. Tn. knowlechjTige ; F. 
 
 knowlachynge. 799. Tn. firste ; F. first. 800. F. goode ; Th. 
 
 good. 801. F. flyttynge. 802. All ins. That tyme {see 1. 797) 
 
 ^bef. And. Tn. thoughtew ; rest thoght. F. varyinge. 804. F. knewe ; 
 stoode. 805. F. came. Perhaps on {or a) should be omitted. 806. 
 All ther that I ; om. that. 808. F. euere. F. Tn. ye ; Th. eye. 
 
 810. Tn. hap ; F. happe. 811. F. broght ; Tn. broghte. All there.
 
 43 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 The false trayteresse, pervers, 
 
 God wolde I coude clepc her wers ! 
 
 For now she worchelh me iul wo, 815 
 
 And I wol telle sone why so. 
 
 ' Among thise ladies thus echoon, 
 Soth to seyn, I saw [thcr] 0011 
 That was lyk noon of [al] the route, 
 For I dar swere, withoute doule, 820 
 
 That as the someres sonne bright 
 Is fairer, clerer, and hath more light 
 Than any planete, [is] in heven, 
 The mone, or the sterres seven, 
 
 For al the worlde, so had she 825 
 
 Surmounted hem alle of beaute, 
 Of maner and of comlinesse, 
 Of stature and wel set gladnesse, 
 Of goodlihede so wel beseye — 
 
 Shortly, what shal I more seye ? 830 
 
 By god, and by his halwes twelve, 
 It was my swete, right as her-selve ! 
 She had so stedfast countenaunce. 
 So noble port and meyntenaunce ; 
 And Love, that had herd my bone, 835 
 
 Had espyed me thus sone, 
 That she ful sone, in my thoght, 
 As helpe me god, so was y-caught 
 So sodenly, that I ne took 
 No maner counseyl but at her look 840 
 
 813. Tn. false; F. fals. 816. Tn. telU' ; F. tcl. 817. F. Amont; 
 these. ?>!'&. I supply X\\.tr. 819. ^// lyke (like). I supply ^\. 
 
 821. Tn. bryght; F. biyghte. 822. Th. lyght ; F. lyghte. 823. 
 
 All any other planete in ; sec note. F. hevene. S24. F. sevene. 
 
 826. Th. Tn. Surmounted; F. Surmountede. Tn. alL' ; F. al. 828. 
 
 All ins. of aftei- and. F. ins. so before wel ; which Th. Tn. omit. Th. 
 Tn. set ; F. sette. 829. Th. goodlyhede ; F. godlyhede. All ins. 
 
 and before so, probably caught from the line above. B. beseye ; rest 
 besey. 830. 'Y\\.. stipplics moxtt; ¥.Tn. omit. All sey. 831. Th. 
 Tn. his ; F. omits. 832. Tn. as ; Th. F. al. 833. Th. stedfast ; F. 
 stedfaste. 835. F. Tn. had wel herd; ow. wel. 838. F.^ 
 
 y-kaught ; Th. I cought ; Tn. I caughtc. 839. All \.okc. 840. yi//loke.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 43 
 
 And at myn herte; for her eyen 
 So gladly, I trow, myn herte seyen, 
 That purely tho m\n owne thoght 
 Seyde hit were [bet] serve her for noght 
 Than with another to be wel. 845 
 
 And hit was soth, for, everydel, 
 I wil anoon-right telle thee why. 
 ' I saw her daunce so comlily, 
 Carole and singe so swetly, 
 
 Laughe and pleye so womanly, 850 
 
 And loke so debonairly, 
 So goodly speke and so frendly, 
 That certes, I trow, that evermore 
 Nas seyn so blisful a tresore. 
 
 For every heer [up]on her hede, 855 
 
 Soth to seyn, hit was not rede, 
 Ne nouther yelow, ne broun it nas ; 
 Me thoghte, most lyk gold it was. 
 And whiche eyen my lady hadde ! 
 Debonair, goode, glade, and sadde, 860 
 
 Simple, of good mochel, noght to wyde ; 
 Therto her look nas not a-syde, 
 Ne overthwert, but beset so wel. 
 Hit drew and took up, everydel, 
 Alle that on her gan beholde. 865 
 
 Her eyen semed anoon she wolde 
 Have mercy ; fooles wenden so ; 
 
 841. Th. And ; F. Tn. But {caught from 1. 840). Th. Tn. herte; F. 
 hest {wrongly). All iox why; r-eadiox. 842. F. hert ; Th. Tn. herte. 
 843. F. ovne ; read owne. 844. F. beter ; Th. better ; Tn. bettyr ; 
 
 read bet. 848. Tn. saw ; F. sawgh. F. comlely ; Th. comely ; Tn. 
 
 comly. 850. F. Lawghe ; pley. 852. Th. goodly; F. goodely. 
 
 854. Tn. seyn ; F. seyne. 855. All on; read upon. 856. Tn. seyn ; 
 F. seyne. (Eor was J>rol'a/>lj/ read nas.) 857. F. yelowe ; broune. 
 
 S58. F. Tn. thoght. Th. F. lyk ; Tn. likely. Th. golde ; wlile/i F. 
 Tn. absttrdl}' oinll. 861. F. goode. 862. F. looke. 863. F. 
 
 ouertwert ; Tn. ouyithwerte ; Th. ouertwhart {sic). Th. beset ; Tn. 
 biset ; F. besette. 864. F. Tn. drewh. F. tooke. y:///euerydele. 
 
 865. Tn. B. Alk; F. Th. Al. 867. F. foolys ; B. folys.
 
 44 III- THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 But hit was never the rather do. 
 
 Hit nas no countrefeted thing, 
 
 It was her owne pure loking, 870 
 
 That the goddesse, dame Nature, 
 
 Had made hem opene by mesure, 
 
 And close ; for, were she never so glad, 
 
 Her loking was not foly sprad, 
 
 Ne wildely, thogh that she pleyde ; 87.S 
 
 But ever, me thoghte, her eyen seyde, 
 
 " By god, my wrathe is al for-yive ! " 
 
 ' Therwith her liste so wel to live, 
 That dulnesse was of her a-drad. 
 She nas to sobre ne to glad ; 880 
 
 In alle thinges more mesure 
 Had never, I trowe, creature. 
 But many oon with her loke she herte, 
 And that sat her ful lyte at herte, 
 For she knew no-thing of her thoght; 885 
 
 But whether she knew, or knew hit noght, 
 Algate she ne roghte of hem a stree ! 
 To gete her love no ner nas he 
 That woned at home, than he in Inde ; 
 The formest was alway behynde. 890 
 
 But goode folk, over al other, 
 She loved as man may do his brother ; 
 Of whiche love she was wonder large, 
 In skilful places that bere charge. 
 
 ' Which a visage had she ther-to ! , S95 
 
 Alias ! myn herte is wonder wo 
 
 869. F. thynge. S70. F. lokynge. 873. Th. close ; Tn. clos 
 
 F. cloos. 874. F. lokjTige. 876. Tn. thoghte ; F. thoght. 877 
 Th. By ; F. Tn. Be. 882. Th. trowe ; F. Tn. trow. 883. Th 
 
 herte; Tn. hyrte ; F. hert. 884. All sate. B. lyte; Tn. lite; F 
 
 litel. Th. Tn. herte ; F. hert. 885. Tn. knew ; F. knowe \sic) 
 
 F. no thynge. 886. This lute is in Th. only; Th. has knewe {t^vice) 
 887. Tn. roghte ; Th. F. rought. 888. Tn. ner ; F. nerre. 889 
 
 Th. than ; Tn. tlien ; F. that isic). 891. Tn. gode ; Th. F. good 
 
 All folke. 893. F. wounder ; see 1. 896. 894. F. placis. 895 
 
 All Jjut which ; omit But.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 45 
 
 That I ne can discryvcn hit ! 
 
 Me lakketh bothe English and wit 
 
 For to undo hit at the lulle ; 
 
 And eek my spirits be so dulle 900 
 
 So gret a thing for to devyse. 
 
 I have no wit that can suffyse 
 
 To comprehenden her beaute ; 
 
 But thus moche dar I seyn, that she 
 
 Was rody, fresh, and lyvely hewed; 905 
 
 And every day her beaute newed. 
 
 And negh her face was alder-best, 
 
 For certes, Nature had swich lest 
 
 To make that fair, that trewly she 
 
 Was her cheef patron of beaute, 910 
 
 And cheef ensample of al her werke. 
 
 And moustre ; for, be hit never so derke, 
 
 Me thinketh I se her ever-mo. 
 
 And yet more-over, thogh alle the 
 
 That ever lived were now a-lyve, 915 
 
 [They] ne sholde have founde to discryve 
 
 In al her face a wikked signe; 
 
 For hit was sad, simple, and benigne. 
 
 'And which a goodly softe speche 
 Had that swete, my lyves leche ! 920 
 
 So frendly, and so wel y-grounded, 
 Up al resoun so wel y-founded. 
 And so tretable to alle gode, 
 
 898. Th. bothe ; F. both. 900. All eke. B. spiritz ; F. spirites. 
 
 901. All grete. All thynge. 902. Th. wyt ; Tn. F. witte. 903. 
 
 Th. F. comprehende ; Tn. comprehend ; 7-ead comprehenden. 904. 
 
 Tn. seyn ; F. sayn. 905. All insert white after Was, which spoils 
 
 ?netre and story ; see 1. 948. F. fressh. 908. Th. Tn. certes ; F. 
 
 certys. 909. ^// faire or fayre. 910,911. B. chief; rfj'/ chefe. Th. 
 Tn. patron; F. patrone. 913. F. thynkyth. 914. Tn. B. alk ; 
 
 Th. F. al {it is plural). 916. I supply They; Th. Ne wolde 
 
 haue ; Tn. Ne sholde haue ; F. Ne sholde ha. The right reading is 
 They ne sholde have (They ne being read as They n'). 919. Th. 
 goodly; F. goodely. 921. Th. frendly; F. frendely. 922. F. B. 
 
 Vp ; Th. Tn. Vpon ; see 1. 750. 923, Tn. B. alk'; F. al. Tn. gode ; 
 F. goode.
 
 46 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 That I dar swere by the rode, 
 
 Of eloquence was never founde 925 
 
 So swete a sowninge facounde, 
 
 Ne trewer tonged, ne scorned lasse, 
 
 Ne bet coude hele ; that, by the masse 
 
 I durste swere, thogh the pope hit songe. 
 
 That ther was never through her tonge 930 
 
 Man ne woman gretly harmed ; 
 
 As for her, [ther] was al harm hid ; 
 
 Ne lasse flatering in her worde, 
 
 That purely, her simple recorde 
 
 Was founde as trewe as any bonde, 935 
 
 Or trouthe of any mannes honde. 
 
 Ne chyde she coude never a del. 
 
 That knoweth al the world ful wel. 
 
 ' But swich a fairnesse of a nekke 
 Had that swete, that boon nor brekke 940 
 
 Nas ther non sene, that mis-sat. 
 Hit was whyt, smothe, streght, and flat, 
 Withouten hole; [and] canel-boon, 
 As by seming, had she noon. 
 
 Her throte, as I have now memoire, 945 
 
 Semed a round tour of yvoire. 
 Of good gretnesse, and noght to greet. 
 
 ' And gode faire Whyte she heet. 
 That was my lady name right. 
 She was bothe fair and bright, 950 
 
 924. After swere all insai wel {needlessly). Tn. rode ; F. mode. 
 929. Th. Tn. pope ; F. Pape. 930. All ins. ye\. af/er never. Th. 
 
 ihrougli ; F. thnjgh. 931. F. gretely. 932. Th. Tn. her ; F. hit 
 
 '.sie). I supply ther {cf. 1. 930) ; perhaps omitted, because her also 
 ended in her. All h&rme. 933. F. flater}'nge ; word. 937. All 
 
 dele. 938. All worlde ; wele. 939. All fairenesse (fayrenes). 
 
 941. Th. Tn. B. sene; F. seen. Th. F. myssalte ; Tn. missate. 942. 
 All badly insert pure {dissyllabic) before flat ; but smotlie Jias tivo 
 syllables. Tn. flat ; Th. F. flatte. 943. All or ; / read and. 944. 
 Th. by; rest be. 946. ^// rounde. Th. tour; F. Tn. toure. 947. 
 Th. good ; F. goode. F. gretenesse ; grete. 948. B. het ; rest hete. 
 949. Th. right ; F. ryghte. 950. All faire. Th. bright ; F. bryghte.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 47 
 
 She haddc not her name wrong. 
 
 Riglit fairc shuldres, and body long 
 
 She hadde, and armes, every lith 
 
 Fattish. flesshy, not greet therwith ; 
 
 Right whyte handes, and nayles rede, 955 , 
 
 Rounde brestes ; and of good brede 
 
 Her hippes were, a streight flat bak. 
 
 I knew on her [no maner] lak 
 
 That al her limmes nere sewing, 
 
 In as fer as I had knowing. 960 
 
 ' Therto she coude so wel pleye, 
 Whan that her liste, that I dar seye, 
 That she was lyk to torche bright, 
 That every man may take of light 
 Ynogh, and hit hath never the lesse. 965 
 
 ' Of maner and of comlinesse 
 Right so ferde my lady dere ; 
 For every wight of her manere 
 Might cacche ynogh, if that he wolde, 
 If he had eyen her to beholde. 970 
 
 For I dar sweren, if that she 
 Had among ten thousand be, 
 She wolde have be, at the leste, 
 A cheef mirour of al the feste, 
 
 Thogh they had stonden in a rowe, 975 
 
 To mennes eyen that coude have knowe. 
 For wher-so men had pleyd or waked, 
 
 951. All \i7id^ 'ybut it is emphatic). .^// wronge. 952. >f // longe. 
 
 953. ^//had. 954. Th. great ; F. Tn. grete. 957. Tn. bak ; F. 
 bakke. 958. B. knyw ; rest knewe. / read no maner ; all have noon 
 other (!V Tn. lak ; F. lakke. 959. All insert pure {dissyllabic) after 
 nere ; but limmes is dissyllabic. 960. Tn. fer ; F. ferre. F. know- 
 
 ynge. 961. Th. playe ; F. pley. 962. Tn. liste ; F. list. Th. 
 
 save ; F. sey. 963. All lyke. 965. F. hathe. 969. Tn. cacche ; 
 F. cachche. Th. Tn. if; F. yif {and in 1. 970). 971. All swere wel ; 
 read sviQXQn {omitting the expletive vicl). 972. y?// thousande. 973. 
 F. lest. 974. B. chieff ; rest chefe. Th. Tn. myrrour ; F. meroure. 
 
 Th. Tn. feste; F. fest. 975. Th. F. stonde; rm^/ stonden. 976. 
 
 Th. that; ivhich Tn. F. omit. 977. Tn. B. pleyd; F. pleycd.
 
 4H ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 Me thoghte the felawship as naked 
 
 Withouten her, that saw I ones, 
 
 As a coroune withoute stones. 980 
 
 Trewely she was, to m}'n ye, 
 
 The soleyn fenix of Arabye, 
 
 For ther hveth never but oon ; 
 
 Ne swich as she ne knew I noon. 
 
 ' To speke of goodnesse ; trewly she 985 
 
 Had as moche debonairte 
 As ever had Hester in the bible, 
 And more, if more were possible. 
 And, soth to seyne, therwith-al 
 
 She had a wit so general, 990 
 
 So hool enclyned to alle gode. 
 That al her wit was set, by the rode, 
 Withoute malyce, upon gladnesse ; 
 Therto I saw never yet a lesse 
 
 Harmful, than she was in doing. 995 
 
 I sey nat that she ne had knowing 
 What was harm, or elles she 
 Had coud no good, so thinketh me. 
 
 'And trewly, for to speke of trouthe, 
 But she had had, hit had be routhe. 1000 
 
 Therof she had so moche her del — 
 And I dar seyn and swere hit wel — 
 That Trouthe him-self, over al and al, 
 Had chose his maner principal 
 
 978. F. thoght. Th. felaushyp ; Tn. feliship ; F. felysshyppe. 979. 
 Tn. saw; F. sawgh. 981. 'J"h. F. Trewly; Tn. Truly. B. ye; Th. 
 
 F. eye <ynotc the rime). 982. Th. Tn. soleyn ; F. soleyne. 983. Th. 
 lyueth ; F. levyth. 984. Tn. knew ; rest knowe. 985. Th. good- 
 nesse ; F. godenesse. 988. Th. Tn. if; F. yif. 989. Tn. F. seyn ; 
 Th. saync. F. alle. 990. Tn. wit ; F. wytte. Th. general ; F. 
 gencrailc. 991. F. hoole. 992. ^// wytte. 994. .^// And thereto ; 
 but And is needless. F. sawgh. 995. Th. Harmful ; F. Ilanneful. 
 996. For ne \vsA perhaps read xvz.^. 997. I transpose ; all have What 
 harrae was {but harm is vionosyllabic, and the line is then bad). 998. 
 Tn. F. coudc. Th. thynkelh ; F. thenketh. 1000. F. had hadde hyt 
 hadde. 1001. y^// dele. 1002. All \vc\c. 1003. F. al and alle. 
 1004. Th. principal ; F. principalle.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 49 
 
 In her, that was his resting-place. 1005 
 
 Ther-to she hadde the mosle grace, 
 
 To have stedfast perseveraunce, 
 
 And esy, atempre governaunce, 
 
 That ever I knew or wiste yit; 
 
 So pure suffraunt was her wit. loio 
 
 And reson gladly she understood, 
 
 Hit folowed wel she coude good. 
 
 She used gladly to do wel; 
 
 These were her maners every-del. 
 
 ' Thervvith she loved so wel right, 1015 
 
 She wrong do wolde to no wight ; 
 No wight might do her no shame, 
 She loved so wel her owne name. 
 Her luste to holde no wight in honde, 
 Ne, be thou siker, she wolde not fonde 1020 
 
 To holde no wight in balaunce. 
 By half word ne by countenaunce, 
 But-if men wolde upon her lye ; 
 Ne sende men in-to Walakye, 
 
 To Pruyse and in-to Tartarye, 1025 
 
 To Alisaundre, ne in-to Turkye, 
 And bidde him faste, anoon that he 
 Go hoodies to the drye se, 
 And come hoom by the Carrenare ; 
 And seye, " Sir, be now right ware 1030 
 
 That I may of yow here seyn 
 Worship, or that ye come ageyn ! " 
 She ne used no suche knakkes smale. 
 
 ' But wherfor that I telle my tale ? 
 
 1007. F. stedefaste. 1008. Th. Tn. B. attempre ; F. atempry. 1009. 
 Tn. knew ; F. knewe. Tn. yit ; F. yitte. loio. Tn. wit ; F. wytte. 
 loii. F. vnderstoode. 1012. F. goode. 1016. All vrtonge. 
 
 1019. Tn. luste; F. lust. 1022. .^//halfe worde. 1025. Th. F. 
 
 pruyse; Tn. pruse ; B. sprewse. 1027. Th. bydde ; F. bid. 1028. 
 Th. hoodlesse ; F. hodeles. All in-to; read \.o. 1029. B.'hom ; 
 
 rest home. Tn. Carrynare. 1030. F. Tn. sey ; Th. omits. 1032. F. 
 Worshyppe. 1034. F. wherefore. Tn. telle ; F. tel. 
 
 E
 
 50 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 Right on this same, as I have seyd, 1035 
 
 Was hooUy al my love leyd; 
 
 For certes, she was, that swete wyf, 
 
 My suffisaunce, my lust, my lyf, 
 
 Myn hap, myn hele, and al my blisse, 
 
 My worldes welfare and my [lisse], 1040 
 
 And I hers hoolly, everydel.' 
 
 ' By our lord,' quod I, ' I trowe yow wel ! 
 Hardely, your love was wel beset, 
 I not how ye mighte have do bet.' 
 'Bet? ne no wight so well' quod he. 1045 
 
 ' I trowe hit, sir,' quod I, ' parde ! ' 
 ' Nay, leve hit wel ! ' ' Sir, so do I ; 
 I leve yow wel, that trewely 
 Yow thoghte, that she was the beste, 
 And to beholde the alderfaireste, 1050 
 
 Who so had loked with your eyen.' 
 
 'With myn? nay, alle that her seyen 
 Seyde, and sworen hit was so. 
 And thogh they ne hadde, I wolde tho 
 Have loved best my lady fre, 1055 
 
 Thogh I had had al the beaute . 
 That ever had Alcipyades, 
 And al the strengthe of Ercules, 
 And therto had the worthinesse 
 
 Of Alisaundre, and al the richesse 1060 
 
 That ever was in Babiloyne, 
 In Cartage, or in Macedoyne, 
 
 1035. All seyde (sayde). 1036. F. hooly. All leyde (layde). 
 
 1037. All wyfe (;wife). 1038. F. luste. All lyfe (life). 1039. Tn. F. 
 liappe ; Th. hope. 1040. F. worldys. / stihstitide lissc y^f god- 
 
 dcsse ; see r\o\.<i. 1041. F. hooly hires and; Th. Tn. holy hers and; 
 V>. hooly hyres. 1042. F. oure. 1043. Th. beset; F. besette ; Tn. yset. 
 JO44. F. myght haue doo bette. 1045. Th. Tn. Bet ; F. Bette. F. 
 wele. 1046. F. hit wel sir ; Th. Tn. om. hit wel. I047- ^ ■ sire. 
 
 1048. >i//trewly. 1049. Th. Tn. beste ; F. best. 1050. Tn. fayreste ; 
 F. fayrest. 1051. All ins.\iGx afterXoVtA. 1052. Tn. alk- ; F. al. 
 
 1053. All swore ; read svioitn. 1054. Ter/iaps f-eatl naddc. 1056. 
 F. had hadde ybetter hadde had). i057- All Alcipyades. 1060. 
 
 Th. Tn. Alisaundre ; F. Alisaunder. ? omit al.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCTlESSE. 5 1 
 
 Or in Rome, or in Ninive; 
 
 And therto al-so hardy be 
 
 As was Ector, so have I loye, 1065 
 
 That Achilles slow at Troye — 
 
 And therfor was he slayn also 
 
 In a temple, for bothe two 
 
 Were slayn, he and Antilegius, 
 
 And so seyth Dares Frigius, 1070 
 
 For love of [her] Polixena — 
 
 Or ben as wys as Minerva, 
 
 I wolde ever, withoute drede, 
 
 Have loved her, for I moste nede ! 
 
 "Nede!" nay, I gabbe now, 1075 
 
 Noght " nede," and I wol telle how. 
 
 For of good wille myn herte hit wolde, 
 
 And eek to love her I was holde 
 
 As for the fairest and the beste. 
 
 ' She was as good, so have I reste, loSo 
 
 As ever Penelope of Grece, 
 Or as the noble wyf Lucrece, 
 That was the beste — he telleth thus, 
 The Romain Tytus Livius — 
 
 She was as good, and no-thing lyke, 1085 
 
 Thogh her stories be autentyke ; 
 Algate she was as trewe as she.- 
 
 But wherfor that I telle thee 
 Whan I first my lady sey? 
 
 I was right yong, [the] soth to sey, 1090 
 
 And ful gret need I hadde to lerne; 
 
 1064. Th. therto: F. Tn. to {see 1059"). Th. Tn, al so ; F. also as. 
 1066. Tn. slow; F. slough. 1067. Tn. therfor; F. therfore. 1069. 
 Tn. slayn; F. slayne. Th. Tn. Antilegius; F. Antylcgyus. 1071. / 
 supply h&r. 1074. Tn. moste ; F. most. I075- All insert Ucw\y 
 
 a/ternay ; we must omit it. 1075, 6. F. nowe, howe. 1077. Th. 
 
 good; F. goode. F. hert. 1078. All eVe. 1081. All i/is. was 
 
 after ever. Th. Penelope; F. Penclopee; Tn. penelapie. 1082. All 
 wyfe (wife). 1083. Th. beste ; F. best. 1084. Tn. romayn ; F. 
 
 Komayne. 1088. ^// wherfore. 1089. F. firsle. Th. sey; F. say. 
 1090. All yongc. I supply the. 1091. F. grete nede. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Whan my herte woldc yerne 
 
 To love, it was a gret empryse. 
 
 But as my wit coude best suffyse, 
 
 After my yonge childly wit, 1095 
 
 Withoute drede, I besette hit 
 
 To love her in my beste wyse, 
 
 To do her worship and servyse 
 
 That I tho coude, by my trouthe, 
 
 Withoute feyning outher slouthe ; 1 100 
 
 For wonder fayn I wolde her se. 
 
 So mochel hit amended me. 
 
 That, whan I saw her first a-morwe, 
 
 I was warished of al my sorwe 
 
 Of al day after, til hit were eve ; 1105 
 
 Me thoghte no-thing mighte me greve. 
 
 Were my sorwes never so smerte. 
 
 And yit she sit so in myn herte, 
 
 That, by my trouthe, I nolde noght, 
 
 For al this worlde, out of my thoght 11 10 
 
 Leve my lady ; no, trewly ! ' 
 
 'Now, by my trouthe, sir,' quod I, 
 ' Me thinketh ye have such a chaunce 
 As shrift withoute repentaunce.' 
 
 ' Repentaunce ! nay fy,' quod he; 1115 
 
 Shulde I now repente me 
 To love ? nay, certes, than were I wel 
 Wers than was Achitofel, 
 Or Anthenor, so have I loye, 
 The traytour that betraysed Troye, 1120 
 
 1093. F. grete. 1094. ^//wytte. Tn. best; F. beste. 10^^. All 
 yonge. F. childely wytte. i097- B. beste ; ;r.f/ best. 1098. F. 
 
 worshippe. Th. F. insert the lief ore servyse; but Tn. omits. 1099- 
 
 ^// coxide tho ; rt?ar/ tho coude. Tn. by ; F. be. iioo. F. Feynynge. 
 iioi. Tn. fayn; F. feyne. 1103. Tn. saw; F. sawgh. 1104. Th. 
 
 warysshed; F. Tn. warshed. 1106. F. thoght. 1108. Tn. sit; 
 
 Th. syt ; F. sytte. Th. Tn. in ; F. om. mo. Th. out ; Tn. F. oute. 
 mi. .(4// trewly. 1114. ^:/// shrifte (shryfte). 1117. Tn. certes ; 
 
 F. certis. 1118. Tn. Achitofell ; F. Achetofel. 1120. Tn. traytour ; 
 F. traytor^. Tn. F. B. belrayscd ; Th. betrayed.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 53 
 
 Or the false Genelon, 
 
 He that purchased the treson 
 
 Of Rowland and of Olivere. 
 
 Nay, why] I am a-lyve here 
 
 I nil foryete her nevcr-mo.' 1125 
 
 ' Now, goode sir,' quod I [right] tho, 
 'Ye ban wel told me her-before. 
 It is no need reherse hit more 
 How ye sawe her first, and where ; 
 But wolde ye telle me the manere, 1130 
 
 To her which w^as your firste speche — 
 Therof I wolde yow be-seche — 
 And how she knewe first your thoght, 
 Whether ye loved her or noght, 
 And telleth me eek what ye have lore ; 1 1 35 
 
 I herde yow telle her-before.' 
 
 ' Ye,' seyde he, ' thou nost what thou menest ; 
 I have lost more than thou wenest.' 
 
 ' What los is that, [sir] ? ' quod I tho ; 
 'Nil she not love yow? is hit so? 1140 
 
 Or have ye oght doon amis, 
 That she hath left yow ? is hit this ? 
 For goddes love, tel me al,' 
 
 ' Before god,' quod he, ' and I shal. 
 I saye right as I have seyd, 1145 
 
 On her was al my love leyd ; 
 And yet she niste hit never a del 
 
 1 121. Th. false; F. fals. ^// Genellon. 1123. Tn. rowland ; F. 
 
 Rowlande. 11 24. ^// while (whyle). 11 26. F. good ; Tn. gode. 
 I supply Ti^i. 1127. ^//tolde. B. her- ; F. here-. 1128. All 
 
 nede. F. Th. Tn. insert to after need ; B. omits it. Tn. hit ; Th. it ; 
 Y.om. 1 1 29. Tn. sawe; F. sawgh. Th. first ; F. firste. 1130. 
 
 Tn. telle ; F. tel. 1131- Tn. her ; F. hire. B. firste ; rest first. 
 
 1 1 33. All 'knevie {stibjunctive). ii35- All eke. 1136. Tn. her- ; 
 
 F. here-. ii37- Tn. seyde he ; F. he seyde. F. menyst. 1138. 
 
 F. wenyst. 1139- Tn. los; F. losse. / supply sir. 1142. F. 
 hathe lefte. 1 143. Th. tel ; F. telle. Th. al ; F. alle. 1144. Th. 
 shal; F. shalle. 1145- All say. Tn. seyd; F. seyde. 1146. Tn. 
 leyd ; F. leyde. ii47- All needlessly insert not {or nat) after hit.
 
 54 III- THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 
 
 Noght longe tyme, leve hit wel. 
 
 For be right siker, I durste noght 
 
 For al this worlde telle her my thoght, 1150 
 
 Ne I wolde have wrathed her, trewly. 
 
 For wostow why ? she was lady 
 
 Of the body ; she had the herte, 
 
 And who hath that, may not asterte. 
 
 'But, for to kepe me fro ydelnesse, 1155 
 
 Trewly I did my besinesse 
 To make songes, as I best coude, 
 And ofte tyme I song hem loude ; 
 And made songes a gret del, 
 
 Al-thogh I coude not make so wel 1160 
 
 Songes, to knowe the art al, 
 As coude Lamekes sone Tubal, 
 That fond out first the art of songe; 
 For, as his brothers hamers ronge 
 Upon his anvelt up and doun, 1165 
 
 Therof he took the firste soun ; 
 But Grekes seyn, Pictagoras, 
 That he the firste fynder was 
 Of the art; Aurora telleth so, 
 
 But therof no fors, of hem two. 11 70 
 
 Algates songes thus I made 
 Of my feling, myn herte to glade; 
 And lo ! this was [the] alther-firste, 
 I not wher hit were the werste. — 
 
 1150. F. tel. II63- Tn. herte; F. hert. 1154- Tn. astarte ; F. 
 astcrt. 1155- F. mserts so before fro; luhich Tn. Th. ivell omit. 
 
 1158. All songQ. 1159- F. Th. Tn. ins. this (B. thus) before a. F. 
 grete dele. 1160. All wele. 1161. B. to ; F. the (!) ; Th. Tn. ne. 
 F. knowe (gerund); Tn. know; T\i.\incvfc {wrongly). All the arte; 
 peril aps read thai ^.ri. 1162. Th. Lamekes; F. lamekys. Th. Tubal; 
 F. Tuballe; Tn. B. Tubalk. 1163. B. fonde ; rest founde. Th. 
 first; F. firste. All songe. 1164. Tn. brothers ; F. brothres. 1165. 
 Tn. anuelte; F. Anuclet (wrongly). Tn. doun ; F. doon. 1166. F. 
 looke. B. fyrste ; ?rj/ first. Tn. soune; F. soon. 1167. Th. of 
 
 Pithagoras. 1168. Tn. fyrste; F. first. 1169. All axle. 11 71. 
 F. Algatis. 1172. F. felynge ; hert. Ii73- Th. this; F. Tn. thus. 
 / supply the. 'J'n. firste ; F. first. 1 1 74. Th. werst ; Tn. F. repeat 
 first {from 1. 1173).
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. ^^ 
 
 H " Lord, hit makcth myn hcrtc light, 1175 
 
 Whan I thenke on that swcte wight 
 
 That is so semely on to se ; 
 
 And wisshc to god hit might so be, 
 That she wolde holde mc for her knight, 
 I\Iy lady, that is so fair and bright!" — nSo 
 
 ' Now have I told thee, soth to saye, 
 My firste song. Upon a daye 
 I bcthoghte me what wo 
 And sorwe that I suffred tho 
 
 For her, and yet she wiste hit noght, 11 85 
 
 Ne telle her durste I nat my thoght. 
 " Alias ! " thoghte I, " I can no reed ; 
 And, but I telle her, I nam but deed ; 
 And if I telle her, to seye soth, 
 
 I am a-dred she wol be wroth ; " 1 190 
 
 Alias! what shal I thanne do?" 
 
 ' In this debat I was so wo, 
 Me thoghte myn herte brast a-tweyn I 
 So atte laste, soth to seyn, 
 
 I me belhoghte that nature 1195 
 
 Ne formed never in creature 
 So moche beaute, trewely, 
 And bounte, withouten mercy. 
 
 ' In hope of that, my tale I tolde 
 With sorwe, as that I never sholde, 1200 
 
 For nedes ; and, maugre my heed, 
 
 1175. ^//Lorde. Tn. herte ; F. hert. 1 178. ^// myght (might). 
 
 1 180. y^// faire (fayreV 1181. yf// tolde. Tn. soth; F. sothe. All 
 say. 1 1 82. Tn. firste; F. first. All songe; all day. 1183. Tn. 
 bcthoghte ; F. bethoght. 1185. F. wyst. 1186. Tn. telk ; F. tel. 
 y^// durst. 1 1 87. Tn. thoghte; F. thoght. F. rede. 1188..^// 
 
 3.m ; gram7nar requires Ti2im. F. dede. 11 89. Tn. if ; F. yif. All 
 
 sey (say), after which ryght is needlessly inserted ; I omit if. Tn. 
 soth; F. sothe. 1190. Tn. wroth ; F. wrothe. 1192. ^//debate. 
 1 193. Tn. thoghte; F. thoght. Tn. a tweyn; F. a twe}Tie. 1194- 
 All at the; read atte. Tn. seyn; V. sayne. 1195- All bethoght 
 
 (bethought) me. ii97- ^// trewly or truly. 1198. F. wyth oute ; 
 ;ra(/ withouten. 1201. F. nedys ; Mawgree. Th. heed; F. hede.
 
 ^6 II L THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 I moste have told her or be deed. 
 
 I not wel how that I began, 
 
 Ful evel rehersen hit I can; 
 
 And eek, as helpe me god ■\vith-alle, 1205 
 
 I trowe hit was in the dismalle, 
 
 That was the ten woundes of Egipte ; 
 
 For many a word I over-skipte 
 
 In my tale, for pure fere 
 
 Lest my wordes mis-set were. 1210. 
 
 With sorweful herte, and woundes dede, 
 
 Softe and quaking for pure drede 
 
 And shame, and stinting in my tale 
 
 For ferde, and myn hewe al pale, 
 
 Ful ofte I wex bothe pale and reed; 12 15 
 
 Bowing to her, I heng the heed ; 
 
 I durste nat ones loke her on, 
 
 For wit, manere, and al was gon. 
 
 I seyde " mercy ! " and no more ; 
 
 Hit nas no game, hit sat me sore. 1220 
 
 ' So atte laste, soth to seyn. 
 Whan that myn herte was come ageyn, 
 To telle shortly al my speche. 
 With hool herte I gan her beseche 
 That she wolde be my lady swete; 1225 
 
 And swor, and gan her hertely hete 
 Ever to be stedfast and trewe. 
 And love her alwey freshly newe. 
 And never other lady have. 
 And al her worship for to save 1230 
 
 1202. Tn. moste; F. most. All tolde. Th. deed; F. dede. 1203. 
 Th. began; F. beganne (!). 1204. ^// reherse ^r reherce ; Init read 
 
 rehersen. 1205. AH eke. 1208. ^/// worde. 1210. F. wordys. 
 
 Tn. mysset ; F. mys sette. 121 2. F. quakynge. 1213. F. styntynge. 
 1 215. Tn. wex ; F. wexe. Th. reed ; P\ rede. 1216. F. Bowynge. 
 Th. heed ; F. hede. 12 18. Tn. wit ; F. witte. ^// maner. 1220. 
 Ail sate \). 1221. A// at the; read atte. Tn. soth ; F. sothe. Tn. 
 seyn; F. scyne. 1222. Tn. herte ; F. hert. Tn. agayn ; F. ageyne. 
 1223. Th. shortly ; F. shortcly. Th. al ; Tn. B. alk ; F. at (^!). 1226. 
 ^// swore (!). 1228. F. fresshly. 1230. F. worshippe.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 57 
 
 As I best coude ; I swor her this — 
 
 " For youres is al that ever ther is 
 
 For evermore, myn herte swete ! 
 
 And never false yow, but I mete, 
 
 I nil, as wis god helpe me so!" 1235 
 
 ' And whan I had my tale y-do, 
 God wot, she acounted nat a stree 
 Of al my tale, so thoghte me. 
 To telle shortly as hit is, 
 
 Trewly her answere, hit was this; 1240 
 
 I can not now well counterfete 
 Her wordes, but this was the grete 
 Of her answere ; she sayde, ' nay ' 
 Al-outerly. Alias ! that day 
 
 The sorwe I suffred, and the wo ! 1245 
 
 That trewly Cassandra, that so 
 Bewayled the destruccioun 
 Of Troye and of Ilioun, 
 Had never swich sorwe as I tho. 
 I durste no more say therto 1250 
 
 For pure fere, but stal away ; 
 And thus I lived ful many a day : 
 That trewely, I hadde no need 
 Ferther than my beddes heed 
 
 Never a day to seche sorwe ; 1255 
 
 I fond hit redy every morwe, 
 For-why I loved her in no gere. 
 
 ' So hit befel, another yere, 
 I thoughte ones I wolde fonde 
 
 To do her knowe and understonde 1260 
 
 My wo; and she wel understood 
 
 1231. ^// swore or swere (!). 1232. Th. al ; F. alle. 1234. All 
 ins. to before false. 1235. Tn. wisse ; F. wysse ; B. wys. 1237. 
 .-/// wote (!). 1238. Tn. thoghte; F. thoght. 1239. ^// wi-. ryght 
 before 2,%. 1242. F. wordys. 1244. Th. A) ; F. Alle. 1248. Th. 
 Troye; F.Troy. 1250. Tn. durste ; F. durst. 1251. F. stale. 
 
 1253. .^//trewly. ^//nede. 1254. ^// hede. J 256. All fonde 
 
 or foxxnde. 1261. F. vnderstode.
 
 58 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 That I ne wilned thing but good, 
 
 And worship, and to kepe her name 
 
 Over al thing, and drede her shame, 
 
 And was so besy her to serve; — 1265 
 
 And pita were I shulde sterve, 
 
 Sith that I wilned noon harm, y-wis. 
 
 So whan my lady knew al this, 
 
 My lady yaf me al hoolly 
 
 The noble yift of her mercy, 1270 
 
 Saving her worship, by al weyes ; 
 
 Dredles, I mene noon other weyes. 
 
 And therwith she yaf me a ring; 
 
 I trowe hit was the firste thing ; 
 
 But if myn herte was y-waxe 1275 
 
 Glad, that is no need to axe ! 
 
 As helpe me god, I was as blyve, 
 
 Reysed, as fro dethe to lyve, 
 
 Of alle happes the alder-beste, 
 
 The gladdest and the moste at reste. 1280 
 
 For trewely, that swete wight. 
 
 Whan I had wrong and she the right, 
 
 She wolde alwey so goodely 
 
 For-yeve me so debonairly. 
 
 In alle my youthe, in alle chaunce, 1285 
 
 She took me in her governaunce. 
 
 ' Therwith she was alway so trewc, 
 Our loye was ever y-liche newe ; 
 Our hertes wern so even a payre, 
 
 1262. Th. thyng ; F. Tn. B. no thynge ; but no is not teqjiired by 
 idiom or metre. All gooAt, goAe. 1263. F. worshippe. 1264. 
 
 All al {or alle) thynges ; but al thing is the right idiom. Th. drede ; 
 Tn. to drede ; F. dred. 1267. ^// hamie. 1268. Tn. knew ; F. 
 
 knewe. 1269. F. hooly. 1270. F. yifte. 1271. F. Savyngehir 
 worshippe. 1273. All rynge. (f) 1274. Tn. firste; F. first. Th. 
 thyng ; F. thynge. 1275. Tn. if ; F. yif. Tn. herte ; F. hert. 1276. 
 Tn. Glad ; F. Gladde. ^// nede. 1279. Tn. alk; F. al. 1281. 
 
 All ire\\\y (treuly). 1282. Th. Tn. B. the; which F. omits. 1284. 
 Th. debonairly ; F. debonairely. 1285. Tn. B. all*; {first time); the 
 rest al. B. z.\\e {second time) ; rest al. 1286. F. tooke. 1289. 
 F. Oure. Th. F. werne ; Tn. weren. Th. euen ; F. cvene.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 59 
 
 That never nas that oon contrayre 1290 
 
 To that other, for no wo. 
 
 For sothe, y-Hche they suffred tho 
 
 00 blisse and eek 00 sorwc bothe ; 
 Y-liche they were bothe gladde and wrothe ; 
 
 Al was us oon, withoute were. 1295 
 
 And thus we lived ful many a yere 
 So wel, I can nat telle how.' 
 
 ' Sir/ quod I, ' wher is she now ? ' 
 ' Now 1 ' quod he, and stinte anoon. 
 
 Therwith he wex as deed as stoon, 1300 
 
 And seyde, ' alias ! that I was bore ! 
 That was the los, that her-before 
 
 1 tolde thee, that I had lorn. 
 Bethenk how I seyde her-beforn, 
 
 " Thou wost ful litel what thou menest ; 1305 
 
 I have lost more than thou wenest " — 
 God wot, alias ! right that was she ! ' 
 
 ' Alias I sir, how 1 what may that be ? ' 
 ' She is deed ! ' ' Nay ! ' * Yis, by my trouthe ! ' 
 'Is that your los.? by god, hit is routhe ! ' 1310 
 
 And with that worde, right anoon, 
 They gan to strake forth ; al was doon, 
 For that tyme, the hert-hunting. 
 
 With that, me thoghte, that this king 
 Gan [quikly] hoomward for to ryde 1315 
 
 Unto a place ther besyde. 
 Which was from us but a lyte, 
 A long castel with walles whyte, 
 
 1290. Th. Tn. contrayre ; F. contrarye. 1293. ^//eke. 1294.^// 
 glad. 1300. Tn. B. wex; F. waxe ; Th. woxe. Th. deed; F. dede. 
 1302. Tn. los; F. losse. 1303. F. hadde ; r^rj/ had. All lorne J . 
 1304. F. Bethenke. F. herebefome. 1305. F. menyst. 1306. F. 
 wenyst. 1307. F. wote. 1309. Th. deed ; F.ded. Tn. bi ; F. be. 
 1 310. F. youre. Tn. los; F. losse. Th. by; F. be. 131 2. Read 
 
 raM(?r They gonne forth straken {<7r striken). 1313- Th. hart ; F. Tn. 
 
 herte (!). 1314- F. thoght ; kynge. 1315. I supply o^pSkly; the 
 
 line is too short. 1316. All insert was after place. I3i<i. All 
 longe. F. wallys.
 
 6o ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 By seynt lohan ! on a riche hil, 
 
 As me mette ; but thus it fil. 1320 
 
 Right thus me mette, as I yow telle, 
 That in the castel was a belle, 
 As hit had smiten houres twelve. — 
 
 Therwith I awook my-selve, 
 And fond me lying in my bed; 1325 
 
 And the book that I had red. 
 Of Alcyone and Seys the king, 
 And of the goddes of sleping, 
 I fond it in myn honde ful even. 
 
 Thoghte I, 'this is so queynt a sweven, 1330 
 
 That I wol, by processe of tyme, 
 Fonde to putte this sweven in ryme 
 As I can best ' ; and that anoon, — 
 This was my sweven; now hit is doon. 1334 
 
 Explicit the Boke of the Duchesse. 
 
 1319. Th. Tn. By ; F. Be. Th. hyl ; F. Tn. hille. 1320. Th. fyl 
 F. Tn. fille (!). 1322. F. castell. All ins. \}a£x before vi2&. 1323, 
 Th. smytte ; F. Tn. smyte; read smiten {pp.). Th. houres; F. oures 
 1324. F. awooke. 1325. ^// fonde cr founde. F. lyinge. Tn. bed 
 F. bedde. 1326. F. booke. Tn. had red ; F. hadde redde. 1327 
 Th. Alcyone ; F. Alchione. F. kynge. 1328. F. goddys of slepynge 
 1329. Tn. eujTi ; F. evene. 1330- Tn. Thoghte; F. Thoght. Tn 
 sweuyn ; Y. sweuene. I33i- Th. by; F. be. 1332. All put 
 Tn. sweuyn; F. sweuene. 1334- Tn. sweuyn; F. sweuene. Colo 
 PHON ; so in F. B.
 
 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 The Proem. 
 
 ' Gladeth, ye foules, of the morow gray, 
 
 Lo ! Venus risen among the rowes rede ! 
 
 And floures fresshe, honouren ye this day ; 
 
 For when the sonne uprist, then wol ye sprede. 
 
 But ye lovers, that lye in any drede, 5 
 
 Fleeth, lest wikked tonges yow espye ; 
 
 Lo ! yond the sonne, the candel of lelosye ! 
 
 With teres blewe, and with a wounded herte 
 Taketh your leva ; and, with seynt lohn to borow, 
 Apeseth somwhat of your sorowes smerte, lo 
 
 Tyme cometh eft, that cese shal your sorow ; 
 The glade night is worth an hevy morow 1 ' — 
 (Seynt Valentyne ! a foul thus herde I singe 
 Upon thy day, er sonne gan up-springe). — 
 
 Yet sang this foul — ' I rede yow al a- wake, 15 
 
 And ye, that han not chosen in humble wyse, 
 Without repenting cheseth yow your make. 
 And ye, that han ful chosen as I devyse, 
 Yet at the leste renoveleth your servyse; 
 
 T/ie authorities here used are: F. (Fairfax 16) ; Tn. (Tanner 346) ; 
 Ju. (Julian Notary's edition' ; Harl. (Harleian 7333^ ; T. (Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, R. 3. 20) ; Ar. (Arch. Seld. B. 24, in the Bodleian 
 Library \ I follow F. mainly ; and note variations from it. 
 
 I. Ar. foTiles; Jn. fowles ; T. fooles (!) ; Harl. floures [see\. 3); F. 
 Tn. lovers \voro7igly]. F. Harl. on ; Tn. in ; rest of. 2. Ar. the ; 
 F. Harl. yow; Tn. Ju. you; T. your {wrongly; ed. 162 1 ttcrns you 
 into yon). 3. F. the (!) ; 7'est ye. F. Tn. T. day ; Ju. Harl. Ar. 
 may ,!) 4. F. Harl. sunne ; rest sonne. Ar. vp risith. Ju. T. 
 
 Ar. ye ; F. they (!) ; Tn. the (!) ; Harl. he (!!). 5. Ar. any ; F. eny. 
 7. F. Loo yonde ; sunne ; lalosye. 8. F. blew ; hert. 9. F. sent ; 
 Ar. seynt. 10. F. sum-; smert. 11. Ar. eft; T. efft ; F. ofte. 12. 
 Tn. glade ; F. glad. 13. F. foule ; herd. 14. F. your ; Ar. the ; 
 
 rest \hy. F. sunne. 15. F. sange; foule. 17-19- in wrong order 
 in F. Tn. 17. T. you ; Ar. 3ow; Ju. ye; 7-est om. 19. F. this 
 
 fest ; rest the leste (lest, leest).
 
 62 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 Confermeth it perpetuely to dure, 20 
 
 And paciently taketh your aveniure. 
 
 And for the worship of this hye feste, 
 
 Yet wol I, in my briddes wyse, singe 
 
 The sentence of the compleynt, at the leste, 
 
 That woful Mars made atte departing 25 
 
 Fro fresshe Venus in a morwening, 
 
 Whan Phebus, with his fyry torches rede, 
 
 Ransaked hath every lover in his drede. 
 
 The Story. 
 
 liWhylom the thridde hevenes lord above, 
 
 As wel by hevenish revolucioun 30 
 
 As by desert, hath wonne Venus his love. 
 
 And she hath take him in subieccioun, 
 
 And as a maistresse taught him his lessoun, 
 
 Comaunding him that never, in her servyse, 
 
 He nere so bold no lover to despyse. 35 
 
 For she forbad him lelosye at alle, 
 
 And cruelte, and bost, and tirannye ; 
 
 She made him at her lust so humble and talle, 
 
 That when her deyned caste on him her ye. 
 
 He tok in pacience to live or dye; 40 
 
 And thus she brydeleth him in her manere, 
 
 With no-thing but with scourging of her chere. 
 
 Who regneth now in blisse but Venus, 
 That hath this worthy knight in governaunce ? 
 Who singeth now but Mars, that serveth thus 45 
 
 The faire Venus, causer of plesaunce ? 
 
 22. F. high^; Tn. high; rest\iy^l. F. fest. 24. F. lest. 26. F. 
 morwnyng {^scc Kn. Tale, 204). 29. T. thridde ; F. thrid. 35. Ju. 
 Ar. nere : F. T. ner. F. bolde ; dispise. 38. F. {only) oin. him. F. 
 calle {for talle'i ; Hail, talle ; Ju. Ar. tall ; T. tal. 39. F. to cast ; 
 Jn. T. rightly omit to. 40. F. toke. 41. F. maner. 42. Ju. 
 
 scourgyng; T. skowrgingis ; Ar. scurgeing ; Tn. schouryng (.??>) ; F. 
 stering; ed. 1561 scomiwg {probably a substitution). F. cher. 46. F. fair.
 
 TV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 63 
 
 He bynt him to perpetual obeisaunce, 
 And she bynt her to loven him for ever, 
 But so be that his trespas hit dissever. 
 
 Thus be they knit, and regnen as in heven 50 
 
 By loking most ; til hit fil, on a tyde, 
 
 That by her bothe assent was set a steven, 
 
 That Mars shal entre, as faste as he may glyde, 
 
 Into her nexte paleys, to abyde, 
 
 Walking his cours till she had him a-take, 55 
 
 And he preyde her to haste her for his sake. 
 
 Then seyde he thus — ' myn hertes lady swete, 
 
 Ye knowe wel my mischef in that place ; 
 
 For sikerly, til that I with yow mete, 
 
 INIy lyf stant ther in aventure and grace; 60 
 
 But when I see the beaute of your face, 
 
 Ther is no dred of deth may do me smerte, 
 
 For al your lust is ese to myn herte.' 
 
 She hath so gret compassion of her knight, 
 
 That dwelleth in solitude til she come, 65 
 
 For hit stood so, that ilke tyme, no wight 
 
 Counseyled him, ne seyde to him welcome, 
 
 That nigh her wit for wo was overcome; 
 
 Wherfore she spedde her als faste in her weye, 
 
 Almost in oon day, as he dide in tweye. . 70 
 
 The grete loye that was betwix hem two, 
 Whan they be met, ther may no tunge telle, 
 [Now be they broght in gladnesse out of wo,] 
 
 48. T. Ar. loven ; rest loue. 49. Tn. trespas ; F. trespace. T. 
 
 Ar. disseuer; F. deseuer. 51. T. Ju. Tn. By; F. Be. 53. F. 
 
 fast. 54. Tn. nexte ; F. next. 55. Ar. ourir-take. 56. T. preyde ; 
 F. preiede. F. faste (!) ; Harl. hasten ; rest haste. 57. F. hertis ; 
 suete. 58. F. myschefe. 59. F. sikirly. 60. F. lyfe. 62. F. smert. 
 63. F. alle ; hert. 64. F. grete. F. on ; rest of. 66. F. stode. 68. 
 F. nyghe ; witte. F. sorowe ; Tn. sorow ; rest wo, woo. 69. T. 
 
 spedde ; F. sped. T. Ar. als ; rest as. F. fast ; wey. 70. F. did ; 
 
 twey. 71. Ar. betuix ; F. betwex ; r^j-/ bytwene. 72. F. When ; 
 
 mette; tel. 73. This line is altered.
 
 64 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 And thus in loye and blisse I let hem dwelle ; 
 This worthy Mars, that is of knighthod welle, 75 
 
 The flour of fairnes lappeth in his armes, 
 And Venus kisseth Mars, the god of armes, 
 
 Soiourned hath this Mars, of which I rede, 
 
 In chambre amid the paleys prively 
 
 A certeyn tyme, til him fel a drede, 80 
 
 Through Phebus, that was comen hastely 
 
 Within the paleys-yates sturdely, 
 
 With torche in honde, of which the stremes brighte 
 
 On Venus chambre knokkeden ful hghte. 
 
 The chambre, ther as lay this fresshe queue, 85 
 
 Depeynted was with whyte boles grete, 
 And by the light she knew, that shoon so shene, 
 That Phebus cam to brenne hem with his hete ; 
 This sely Venus, nigh dreynt in teres wete, 
 Enbraceth Mars, and seyde, ' alas ! I dye 1 90 
 
 The torch is come, that al this world wol wrye.' 
 
 Up sterte Mars, him liste not to slepe. 
 
 Whan he his lady herde so compleyne ; 
 
 But, for his nature was not for to wepe. 
 
 In stede of teres, fro his eyen tweyne 95 
 
 The fyry sparkes brosten out for peyne; 
 
 And hente his hauberk, that lay him besyde ; 
 
 Fie wolde he not, no mighte him-selven hyde. 
 
 He throweth on his helm of huge wightc. 
 
 And girt him with his swerde; and in his honde 100 
 
 74. F. duel. 75. F. knyghthode wcl. 76. F. feyrenesse. 81. 
 F. Throgh. 82. F. {alone) inserts ful before sturdely. 83. F. bryght. 
 84. Ju. knockeden ; Harl. knokkidf ; Tn. knokked ; F. knokken 
 [wrongly ; a copy in MS. Pepys 2006 rightly has knokkeden). 87. 
 
 F. shone. 88. Tn. T. brenne ; F. bren. 89. F. cely {for sely) ; 
 
 Tn. Ju. sely. ? am. nigh. 92. Tn. sterte ; F. stert. Tn. liste ; 
 
 F. lust. 95. Tn. stede ; F. stid. F. twyne. 97. F. hent ; hau- 
 
 berke ; ley. 98. F. wold ; myght. 99. Tn. Ju. T. throweth ; F. 
 thrwe {badly'). F. helme ; wyght.
 
 /r. Tli^ COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 6^ 
 
 His myghty spere, as he was wont to fighte. 
 
 He shaketh so that almost it to-wonde ; 
 
 Ful hevy was he to walken over londe ; 
 
 He may not holde with Venus companye, 
 
 But bad her fleen, lest Phebus her espye. lo,:; 
 
 O woful IMars ! alas ! what maist thou seyn, 
 
 That in the paleys of thy disturbaunce 
 
 Art left behynde, in peril to be sleyn ? 
 
 And yet ther-to is double thy penaunce, 
 
 For she, that hath thyn herte in governaunce, i to 
 
 Is passed halfe the stremes of thyn yen ; 
 
 That thou nere swift, wel maist thou wepe and cryen. 
 
 Now fleeth Venus in-to Cylenius tour, 
 
 With voide cours, for fere of Phebus light. 
 
 Alas! and ther so hath she no socour, 115 
 
 For she ne fond ne saw no maner wight ; 
 
 And eek as ther she had but litil might ; 
 
 Wher-for, her-selven for to hyde and save, 
 
 Within the gate she fledde into a cave. 
 
 Derk was this cave, and smolcing as the helle, 120 
 
 Not but two pas within the gate hit stood ; 
 
 A naturel day in derk I let her dwelle. 
 
 Now wol I speke of Mars, furious and wood ; 
 
 For sorow he wold have seen his herte blood ; 
 
 Sith that he mighte her don no companye, 125 
 
 He ne roghte not a myte for to dye. 
 
 loi. F. fyght. 102. Ar. to-wound; Harl. to-wond; r^j/ to-wonde. 
 108. F. (alone) inserts thou a/Wr Art. no. F. hert. 112. Tn. 
 
 Ju. nere ; F. ner. 113. Ju. Cylenius ; Harl. Cylenyus ; Ar. Cilenius ; 
 T. Celenius ; Tn. cilinius ; F. cilinios. F. toure. 115. Ar. so ; 
 
 Harl. T. ne; rest 07n. 116. F. founde; saugh. 117. F. eke. 119. 
 Harl. T. fledde; Tn. Ju. Ar. fled ; F. fel. 120. F. Derke; hel. 
 
 121. F. pales; 7-est pas (paceV F. stode. 122. F. duel. 123. So all. 
 F. wode. 124. F. sene ; hert blode. 125. F. myght. Harl. done 
 
 hir ; Ju. doo her; T. Ar. do hir ; F. Tn. haue done her; read her don. 
 1 26. Tn. roghte ; Ju. Harl. Ar. rought ; F. thoght ^!).
 
 66 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 So feble he wex, for hete and for his wo, 
 
 That nigh he swelt, he mighte unnethe endure ; 
 
 He passeth but oo steyre in dayes two, 
 
 But ner the les, for al his hevy armure, 130 
 
 He foloweth her that is his lyves cure ; 
 
 For whos departing he took gretter yre 
 
 Thanne for al his brenning in the fyre. 
 
 After he walketh softely a pas, 
 
 Compleyning, that hit pite was to here. 135 
 
 He seyde, ' O lady, bright Venus ! alas ! 
 
 That ever so wyde a compas is my spere 1 
 
 Alas ! whan shal I mete yow, herte dere, 
 
 This twelfte day of April I endure, 
 
 Through lelous Phebus, this misaventure.' 140 
 
 Now god helpe sely Venus allone I 
 
 But, as god wolde, hit happed for to be, 
 
 That, whyl that Venus weping made her mone, 
 
 Cylenius, ryding in his chevauche. 
 
 Fro Venus valance mighte his paleys se, 145 
 
 And Venus he salueth, and maketh chere, 
 
 And her receyveth as his frend ful dere. 
 
 Mars dwelleth forth in his adversite, 
 
 Compleyning ever on her departinge ; 
 
 And what his compleynt was, remembreth me; 150 
 
 And therfore, in this lusty morweninge, 
 
 As I best can, I wol hit seyn and singe. 
 
 And after that I wol my leve take ; 
 
 And God yeve every wight loye of his make ! 
 
 128. V. myght. 129. Harl. o; T. oon; Ju. one; rest a. Tn. Jii. 
 Harl. steyre; T. stayre ; F. sterre (!). 130. F. lesse. 132. F. toke. 
 133. Harl. T. Thanne; F. Then. 134. F. paas. 135. F. heree. 
 137. F. S])eree. 138. F. hcrt. 139. T. twelfft (/'«/" rm^/ twelfte) ; 
 
 Ju. twelfth ; Harl. Ar. ivitU {^ivrongly) ; F. Tn. xij. F. dayes ; Tn. clays; 
 rest day {rightly). 140. F. Throgh lelouse. 143. F. while. 
 
 144. Ju. Cylenius ; F. Cilinius. Tn. Lt. cheuauclie ; F. cheuache. 
 
 145. F. Ju Fro; Ar. From; Tn. Harl. T. For. Ar. valance; Tn. 
 valauns ; F. Valaunses; ed. 1561 Valanus (yi)^ Valauns?) ; Ju. balance; 
 Harl. T. balannce. 147. F. frende. 151. F. niorwnynge. 154. 
 Ju. yeue; F. yil". F. loy.
 
 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 67 
 
 The compleynt of Mars. 
 
 The Proem of the CompJeyni. 
 
 HThe ordre of compleynt rcquireth skilfully, )55 
 
 That if a wight shal pleyne pitousl}', 
 
 There mot be cause wherfor that men pleyne ; 
 
 Or men may deme he pleyneth folily 
 
 And causeles ; alas ! that am not 1 ! 
 
 Wherfor the ground and cause of al my peyne, 160 
 So as my troubled wit may hit ateyne, 
 
 I wol reherse ; not for to have redresse, 
 
 But to declare my ground of hevinesse. 
 
 Devotion. 
 
 ^The firste tyme, alas! that I was wroght, 
 And for certeyn effectes hider broght 165 
 
 By him that lordeth ech intelligence, 
 I yaf my trewe servise and my thoght, 
 For evermore — how dere I have hit boght ! — 
 To her, that is of so gret excellence, 
 That what wight that first sheweth his presence, 1 70 
 When she is wroth and taketh of him no cure, 
 He may not longe in loye of love endure. 
 
 This is no feyned mater that I telle ; 
 
 My lady is the verrey sours and welle 
 
 Of beaute, lust, fredom, and gentilnesse, 175 
 
 Of riche aray — how dere men hit selle ! — 
 
 Of al disport in which men frendly dwelle. 
 Of love and pley, and of benigne humblesse, 
 Of soune of instruments of al swetnesse; 
 
 Title. In F. Ar. Ju. ; T. Complaint of mars. 156. F. pleyn. 157. 
 F. wherfoie; pleyn. 158. F. Other; rest Or. Ju- Ar. folily; F. folely. 
 160. F. groimde : peyn. 161. F. wilte ; ateyn. 163. F. grounde. 
 
 164. F. first. 166. Tn. By; F. Be. 167. F. trwe; Tn. trewe. 
 
 169. F. That {by mistake); rest To. F. excelence. 171. F. wrothe. 
 175. F. fredam. 1 79. F. Instrumentes. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 And thcrto so wel fortuned and thewed, i8o 
 
 That through the world her goodnesse is yshewed. 
 
 What wonder is then, thogh that I besette 
 INIy servise on suchc oon, that may me knette 
 
 To ■wele or wo, sith hit lyth in her might ? 
 Therfor my herte for ever I to her hette ; 185 
 
 Ne trewly, for my dethe, I shal not lette 
 
 To ben her trewest servaunt and her knight. 
 
 I flater noght, that may wite every wight ; 
 For this day in her servise shal I dye ; 
 But grace be, I se her never with ye. 190 
 
 A Lady in fear and woe. 
 
 UTo whom shal I than pleyne of my distresse ? 
 Who may me helpe, who may my harm redresse .? 
 
 Shal I compleyne unto my lady fre ? 
 Nay, certes 1 for she hath such hevinesse, 
 For fere and eek for wo, that, as I gesse, 195 
 
 In litil tyme hit wol her bane be. 
 
 But were she sauf, hit wer no fors of me. 
 Alas ! that ever lovers mote endure, 
 For love, so many a perilous aventure ! 
 
 For thogh so be that lovers be as trewe 200 
 
 As any metal that is forged newe, 
 
 In many a cas hem tydeth ofte sorowe. 
 Somtymc her ladies will not on hem rewe, 
 Somtyme, yif that lelosye hit knewe, 
 
 181. F. thorow. 182. All but Tn. om. that. T. besette; F. beset. 
 183. T. oone ; Tn. Ar. one ; F. on (twice). F. knet; Ar. knett; rest 
 knette. 184. F. lythe. 185. F. Therfore. F. hert. Ju. hette ; Ar. 
 het ; F. T. hight ; Tn. set ; (Longleal MS. has hetteV 1S6. F. truly : 
 let. 187. F. truest; Tn. Ar. trewest. 188. Tn. wite ; F. wete ; 
 
 T. wit; Ju. knowe. 191. T. thane (y^r than) ; rest omit. 192. F. 
 Iiarme. 193. F. compleyn. 195. F. eke. 197. Ju. Ar. sauf; T. 
 sauff; F. Tn. safe. 200. Tn. thogh; F. tho. 201. Tn. any; F. eny. 
 202. Tn. many ; F. mony. T. Ar. cas; F. case. 203. F. Somme ; 
 /ri'/' Somtyme. 204. Ar. gif; i-cst\i,yi; read y\L
 
 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 69 
 
 They mighten lightly leye her heed to borowe ; 205 
 Somtyme cnvyous folke with tunges horowe 
 
 Departen hem ; alas ! whom may they plese ? 
 
 But he be fals, no lover hath his ese. 
 
 But what availeth suche a long sermoun 
 
 Of aventures of love up and doun ? 210 
 
 I wol returne and speken of my peyne ; 
 The point is this of my destruccioun, 
 My righte lady, my salvacioun, 
 
 Is in affray, and not to whom to pleyne. 
 
 O herte swete, O lady sovereyne 1 215 
 
 For your disese, wel oghte I swoune and swelte, 
 Thogh I noon other harm ne drede felte. 
 
 Instability of Happiness. 
 
 UTo what fyn made the god that sit so hye, 
 Benethen him, love other companye, 
 
 And streyneth folk to love, malgre her hede ? 220 
 And then her loye, for oght I can espye, 
 Ne lasteth not the twinkeling of an ye, 
 
 And somme han never loye til they be dede. 
 
 What meneth this ? what is this mistihede ? 
 Wherto constreyneth he his folk so faste 225 
 
 Thing to desyre, but hit shulde laste? 
 
 And thogh he made a lover love a thing, 
 And maketh hit seme stedfast and during. 
 Yet putteth he in hit such misaventure, 
 
 229. Ju. put ;
 
 70 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 That reste nis ther noon in his yeving. 230 
 
 And that is wonder, that so lust a king 
 
 Doth such hardnesse to his creature. 
 
 Thus, whether love breke or elles dure, 
 Algates he that hath with love to done 
 Hath ofter wo then changed is the mono. 235 
 
 It semeth he hath to lovers enmite. 
 And lyk a fissher, as men alday may se, 
 
 Baiteth his angle-hook with som plesaunce, 
 Til mony a fish is wood to that he be 
 Sesed ther-with; and then at erst hath he 240 
 
 Al his desyre, and ther-with al mischaunce ; 
 
 And thogh the lyne breke, he hath penaunce ; 
 For with the hoke he wounded is so sore, 
 That he his wages hath for ever-more. 
 
 The Brooch of Thebes. 
 
 lIThe broche of Thebes was of suche a kynde, 245 
 So ful of rubies and of stones of Ynde, 
 
 That every wight, that sette on hit an ye, 
 He wende anon to worthe out of his mynde; 
 So sore the beaute wolde his herte bynde, 
 
 Til he hit hadde, him thoghte he moste dye ; 250 
 And whan that hit was his, than shulde he drye 
 Such wo for drede, ay whyl that he hit hadde, 
 That welnigh for the fere he shulde madde. 
 
 And whan hit was fro his possessioun. 
 
 Than had he double wo and passioun 255 
 
 230. Tn. T. reste ; F. rest. T. noon; Ar. non ; Ju. none ; F. ofu. 
 231. F. luste. 236. Tn. enmyte; F. eneniyte. 237. F. lyke. 
 
 238. Tn. Ju. Bayteth ; F. Batcth. Ju. hook ; F. hoke. Tn. som ; 
 F. summe. 239. F. fissch ; wode. 244. F. hathe. 245. F. 
 
 such. 247. T. sette; Ar. sett ; rest set. 248. Tn. wende ; F. 
 
 wend. 249. F. wold; hert. 250. T. hade ; ;yj'/ had. F. thoghl. 
 Tn. moste; F. must. 251. F. (on/j/) o/u. his. F. shuld. 252. 
 
 Ju. T. hadde ; F. had. 253. Ju. sholde madde ; F. shuld mad.
 
 /r. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 7 1 
 
 For he so fair a tresor had forgo ; 
 
 But yet this broche, as in conclusioun, 
 
 Was not the cause of this confusioun ; 
 
 But he that wroghte hit enfortuned hit so, 
 
 That every wight that had hit shuld have wo; 260 
 
 And therfor in the worcher was the vyce, 
 
 And in the covetour that was so nyce. 
 
 So fareth hit by lovers and by me ; 
 For thogh my lady have so gret beaute, 
 
 That I was mad til I had gete her grace, J65 
 
 She was not cause of myn adversite, 
 But he that wroghte her, also mot I thee, 
 That putte suche a beaute in her face, 
 That made me to covete and purchace 
 Myn owne deth ; him wyte I that I dye, 270 
 
 And myn unwit, that ever I clomb so hye. 
 
 All Appeal for Sympathy. 
 
 HBut to yow, hardy knightes of renoun, 
 Sin that ye be of my divisioun, 
 
 Al be I not worthy to so grete a name, 
 Yet, seyn these clerkes, I am your patroun; 275 
 
 Ther-for ye oghte have som compassioun 
 Of my disese, and take it noght agame. 
 The proudest of yow may be mad ful tame; 
 Wherfor I prey yow, of your gentilesse. 
 That ye compleyne for myn hevinesse. 280 
 
 256. F. feir. 259. F. wroght. Tn. enfortuned; T. enfortund ; F. 
 cnfortune {by mistake). 261. F. therfore. 267. F. wroght. Ju. 
 
 Ar. also ; T. als ; F. Tn. as. 268. F. Tn. Ju. Ar. put {for putte) ; 
 
 T. list to putte.' Tn. Ju. a; F. T. Ar. om. 269. T. Ar. to; 
 
 rest om. F. coueten ; Tn. Ju. coueyten ; {bttt to covete is better]. 
 2-jo. F. ovne; Ju. T. Ar. owen. F. dethe. 271. F. ovnewitte; Tn. 
 and rest vnwit. F. clombe. 273. F. deuisioun. 274. Perhaps 
 
 omit to {as T.). 276. F. Therefore; oght ; somnie. 278. Tn. 
 
 proudest; F. pruddest. Ar. maid; rest made {for mad, //.I. 279. F. 
 Wherfore. 2S0. F. Tn. compleyn ; Ju. Ar. compleyne ; T. compleynen.
 
 72 IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS. 
 
 And ye, my ladies, that ben trewe and stable. 
 By way of kynde, ye oghten to be able 
 
 To have pite of folk that be in peyne ; 
 Now have ye cause to clothe yow in sable; 
 Sith that your emperice, the honorable, 285 
 
 Is desolat, wel oghte ye to pleyne ; 
 
 Now shuld your holy teres falle and reyne. 
 Alas ! your honour and your emperice. 
 Nigh ded for drede, ne can her not chevise. 
 
 Compleyneth eek, ye lovers, al in-fere, 290 
 
 For her that, with unfeyned humble chere, 
 Was ever redy to do yow socour; 
 
 Compleyneth her that ever hath had yow dere ; 
 
 Compleyneth beaute, fredom, and manere ; 
 
 Compleyneth her that endeth your labour; 295 
 
 Compleyneth thilke ensample of al honour, 
 
 That never dide but al gentilesse; 
 
 Kylheth therfor on her som kyndenesse.' 29S 
 
 281. Ar. trewe; F. true. 282. Ar. By; F. Be. 283. F. folke ; 
 
 pejm. 285. Tn. emperice ; F. emperise 1 a««' /w 1. 288). 286. Tn. 
 oghte ; F. oght ; Ar. aughten. 289. F. Negh. 290. F. eke. 
 
 293. Tn. Compleyneth ; F. Complew {by mistake) ; see next line. 
 297. Tn. dide; Ju. dyde ; rest did. T. al; Ju. all; Ar. alway ; F. 
 Tn. oni. 298. Ar. sum ; F. summe.
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 The Proem. 
 
 The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne, 
 
 Thassay so hard, so sharp the conquering, 
 
 The dredful loy, that alwey slit so yerne, 
 
 Al this mene I by love, that my feling 
 
 Astonyeth with his wonderful worching 5 
 
 So sore ywis, that whan I on him thinke, 
 
 Nat wot I wel wher that I wake or winke. 
 
 For al be that I knowe not love in dede, 
 
 Ne wot how that he quyteth folk her hyre, 
 
 Yet happeth me ful ofte in bokes rede lo 
 
 Of his miracles, and his cruel yre ; 
 
 Ther rede I wel he wol be lord and syre, 
 
 I dar not seyn, his strokes ben so sore. 
 
 But God save swich a lord 1 I can no more. 
 
 Of usage, what for luste what for lore, 15 
 
 On bokes rede I ofte, as I yow tolde. 
 But wherfor that I speke al this ? not yore 
 Agon, hit happed me for to beholde 
 Upon a boke, was write with lettres olde. 
 
 The authorities are: F. (Fairfax 16); Gg. (Gg. 4. 27, Cambridge 
 Univ. Library); Trin. (Trinity Coll. Camb. R. 3. 19) ; Cx. (Caxton's 
 edition) ; Harl. (Harleian 7333) ; O. (St. John's Coll. Oxford' ; Ff. 
 (Ff. I. 6, Cambridge Univ. Library) ; occasionally Tn. (Tanner 346) ; D. 
 (Digby 181); and others. I follow F. fnainly, corrected by Gg. {and 
 others) ; atid note all variations from F. of any conseqtience. 
 
 Title ; Gg. has — Here begynyth the paHement of Foulys ; D. The 
 paHement of Fowlis. 2. So F. Harl. Tn. ; some transpose hard and 
 sharp. 3. Gg. and others dredful ; F. slyder. Gg. O. slit ; Cx. flit 
 
 {for slit) ; Ff. slydeth {om. so) ; F. slyd ; Trin. fleeth. 5. Gg. {and 
 
 others"} with his wondyrful ; Y . soo with a dredeful. 9. Gg. Trin. 
 
 Harl. that ; which the rest omit. 10. Gg. Trin. Cx. Harl. Ff. ful 
 
 ofte in bokis; F. in bookes ofte to. 11. F. ins. of after and; 
 
 Gg. om. 13. F. Dar I; Gg. and others I dar. 14. F. siiche ; Gg. 
 swich. 1 7. F, Tn. D. why ; rest wherfore (wherfor) .
 
 74 ^. THE PARLEMEMT OF FOULES. 
 
 And ther-upon a certeyn thing to lerne; 20 
 
 The longe day ful faste I radde and yerne. 
 
 For out of olde feldes, as men seith, 
 
 Cometh al this newe corn fro yeer to yere ; 
 
 And out of olde bokes, in good feith, 
 
 Cometh al this newe science that men lere. 25 
 
 But now to purpos as of this matere — 
 
 To rede forth hit gan me so delyte, 
 
 That al the day me thoughte but a lyte. 
 
 This book of which I make mencioun. 
 
 Entitled was al thus, as I shal telle, 30 
 
 * Tullius of the dreme of Scipioun'; 
 
 Chapitres seven hit hadde, of hevene and helle^ 
 
 And erthe, and soules that therinne dwelle, 
 
 Of whiche, as shortly as I can hit trete, 
 
 Of his sentence I wol you seyn the gretc. ' 35 
 
 First telleth hit, whan Scipioun was come 
 
 In Afrik, how he mette Massinisse, 
 
 That him for loye in armes hath y-nome. 
 
 Than telleth [hit] her speche and al the blisse 
 
 That was betwix hem, til the day gan misse; 40 
 
 And how his auncestre, African so dere, 
 
 Gan in his slepe that night to him appere. 
 
 Than tellith hit that, fro a sterry place, 
 How African hath him Cartage shewed, 
 
 21. Gg. faste; F. fast. Harl. radde; F. rad ; Gg. redde. 22, 
 
 F. seyth ; Gg. sey. 24. F. feythe ; Gg. fey. 26. Gg. O. as of this 
 
 Trin. Cx. Harl. Ff. of this; F. of my firste. 28. Gg. Ff. me thoujte 
 
 Trin. Cx. Harl. me thought hit; F. thought me. 30. Gg. Cx. thus 
 F. Trin. Harl. there. Gg. and rest as I schal ; F. I shal yow. 31 
 
 F. inserts the after dreme of; the rest otnit. Trin. Harl. O. Scipio?^n ; 
 F. Cipio//n ; Gg. sothion (!). 32. F. hyt had vij ; Gg. ajid the rest 
 seuene It hadde. 33. Ff. therinne ; F. ami the rest theryn {lurongly }. 
 34. Gg. it ; G. of; the rest omit. 35. Gg. seyn ; F. tel ; the 
 
 rest sey (say). 37. F. In-to ; rest In. F. Aufryke; Gg. Affrik. 
 
 39. For hit all wrongly have he ; see 11. 36, 43. 40. Harl. betwix ; 
 
 F. betwixt. 41. Gg. Affrican ; F. Aufrikan. 42. F. on; rest in. 
 
 43. F. tolde he hym ; Gg. Trin. Cx. Harl. tellith it ; O. Ff tcUithe he. 
 
 44. Gg. Affrican ; F. Aufrikan. F. y-shewed ; rest schcwid, shewyd, &c.
 
 F. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 75 
 
 And warned him before of al his grace, 45 
 
 And seyde him, what man, lered other lowed. 
 That loveth comun profit, wel y-thewed. 
 He shal unto a blisful ])lace wende, 
 Ther as loye is that last withouten ende. 
 
 Than asked he, if folk that heer be dede 5° 
 
 Have lyf and dwelling in another place ; 
 
 And African seyde, ' ye, wilhoute drede/ 
 
 And that our present worldes lyves space 
 
 Nis but a maner deth, what wey we trace. 
 
 And rightful folk shal go, after they dye, 55 
 
 To heven; and shewed him the galaxye. 
 
 Than shewed he him the litel erthe, that heer is. 
 
 At regard of the hevenes quantite; 
 
 And after shewed he him the nyne speres. 
 
 And after that the melodye herde he 60 
 
 That Cometh of thilke speres thryes three, 
 
 That welle is of musyke and melodye 
 
 In this world heer, and cause of armonye. 
 
 Than bad he him, sin erthe was so lyte, 
 
 And ful of torment and of harde grace, 65 
 
 That he ne shulde him in the world delyte. 
 
 Than tolde he him, in certeyn yeres space, 
 
 That every sterre shulde come into his place 
 
 Ther hit was first ; and al shulde out of mynde 
 
 That in this worlde is don of al mankynde. 70 
 
 46. Gg. other ; rest or. 49. Gg. There as loye is that last with 
 outyw ende ; F. There loy is that lasteth with-out ende. 50. F. 
 
 inserts the after if; rest omit. 52. Gg. Affrican ; F. Aufiikan. 
 
 53- Gg. Ff. that ; Trin. Cx. Harl. how ; F. om. 54. Cx. 
 
 Nis ; Gg. Nys ; F. Trin. Harl. Ff. Meneth. 55. Gg. and rest 
 
 after; F. whan. 56. Cx. galaxye ; F. Ff. galoxye ; O. galoxie. i. 
 
 watlynstrete ; Harl. galorye ; Trin. galry (!) ; Gg. galylye ! }. 58. 
 
 (ig. and rest the ; Harl. tho ; F. om. 64. Gg, Ff. Tha« bad he hyw 
 syn erthe was so lyte ; F. Than bad he hym see the erthe that is so lite 
 {■wrongly). 65. Cx. Trin. Harl. O. ful of torment and ; F. was somedel 
 fulle; Gg. was suwdel disseyuable and fnl (!), 69. Gg. and rest 
 
 schulde (schuld, shuld) ; F. shal. 70. F. was ; rest is.
 
 76 F. THE PA ELEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Than prayed him Scipioun to telle him al 
 
 The wey to come un-to that hevene blisse; 
 
 And he seyde, ' know thy-self first immortal, 
 
 And loke ay besily thou werke and wisse 
 
 To commi profit, and thou shalt nat misse 75 
 
 To comen swiftly to that place dere, 
 
 That ful of blisse is and of soules clere. 
 
 But brekers of the lawe, soth to seyne, 
 
 And lecherous folk, after that they be dede, 
 
 Shul alwey whirle aboute therthe in peyne, 80 
 
 Til many a world be passed, out of drede, 
 
 And than, for-yeven alle her wikked dede, 
 
 Than shul they come unto that blisful place, 
 
 To which to comen god thee sende his grace ! ' — 
 
 The day gan fallen, and the derke night, 85 
 
 That reveth bestes from her besinesse, 
 
 Berafte me my book for lakke of light, 
 
 And to my bedde I gan me for to dresse, 
 
 Fulfild of thought and besy hevinesse ; 
 
 For bothe I hadde thing which that I nolde, 90 
 
 And eek I ne hadde that thing that I wolde. 
 
 But fynally my spirit, at the lasle, 
 For-wery of my labour al the day, 
 Took rest, that made me to slepe faste, 
 
 71. F. O. he; r^^^ him. Qg. and rest io ; Y.om. 72. Gg. Trin. 
 
 llarl. O. into that; Cx. Ff. unto that; F. to {otn. that). 73. Gg. 
 inmortal ; O. immortalk ; F. ««</ ;rj/ morlalle (!) 75- Gg. and rest not 
 (nat, noght) ; F. never. 76. Gg. comyn ; Cx. comen; F. come. Gg. 
 O. to ; rest into, vnto. 77. Trin. Cx. Harl. Ff. retain of after and; 
 
 F. Gg. O. omit. 78. F. ins. for de/ore to {but lawe is dissyllabic) ; 
 
 rest om. 80. Gg. wrongly puts there for therthe ; the rest are bad. 
 82. F. ins. hem before alle. Gg. And that for-3euy;z is his wckcd dede 
 {but dede is plural). 84. Gg. comy« ; rest come, com. Cx. Harl. 
 
 the sende his ; O. sende the his ; Gg. synde us ; Ff. send vs ; 
 F. sende cch lover (1). 85. Harl. faylen ; Cx. fayllcn; F. faile; 
 
 Gg. folwy« (!). 87. F. Berefte ; rest Ifcrafte, Beraft. 90. F. had ; 
 (\g. hadde. 91. Harl. O. give 1st that; Trin. Cx. the; F. Ff. 
 
 Gg. om.
 
 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 77 
 
 And in my slepe I mette, as I lay, 95 
 
 How African, right in that selfe aray 
 
 That Scipioun him saw before that tyde, 
 
 Was comen, and stood right at my bcddes syde. 
 
 The wery hunter, sleping in his bed, 
 
 To wode ayein his mynde goth anoon; 100 
 
 The luge dremelh how his plees ben sped ; 
 
 The carter dremeth how his cartes goon ; 
 
 The riche, of gold ; the knight fight with his 
 
 foon, 
 The seke met he drinketh of the tonne ; 
 The lover met he hath his lady wonne. 105 
 
 Can not I seyn if that the cause were 
 
 For I had red of African beforn. 
 
 That made me to mete that he stood there ; 
 
 But thus seyde he, ' thou hast the so wel born 
 
 In loking of myn old book al to-torn, no 
 
 Of which Macrobie roghte nat a lyte, 
 
 That somdel of thy labour wolde I quyte ! ' — 
 
 Citherea ! thou blisful lady swete, 
 
 That with thy fyr-brand dauntest whom thee lest, 
 
 And madest me this sweven for to mete, 115 
 
 Be thou my help in this, for thou mayst best ; 
 
 As wisly as I saw thee north-north-west, 
 
 When I began my sweven for to wryte, 
 
 So yif me might to ryme and to endyte ! 
 
 95. After as Gg. Trin. Harl. O. insert that ; it is hardly needed. 
 96. Gg. Affrican; F. Aufrikan. 102. Gg. Ff. carte is; O. cart is; rest 
 cartes o;- cartis. 104, 5. Gg. Harl. O. met; F. Trin. Cx. meteth. 107. 
 F. reticle had ; Gg. hadde red ; /-«/ had red (radV Gg. affrican; F. 
 Aufrikan. loS. F. o;«zVj- made ; the rest have it. in. F. roght 
 
 noght ; Gg. roughte nat ; Cx. roght not. 112. F. Cx. ins. the after 
 
 I ; rest omit. 1 14. Trin. Cx. fyrebronde ; Gg. ferbrond ; F. firy 
 
 bronde. 119. Gg. jif; F. yeve.
 
 78 F. THE PARLE MENT OF FOULES. 
 
 The Stoiy. 
 
 This forseid African me hente anoon, 120 
 
 And forth with him unto a gate broghte 
 
 Right of a parke, walled with grene stoon ; 
 
 And over the gate, with lettres large y-wroghte, 
 
 Ther weren vers y-writen, as me thoghte, 
 
 On eylher halfe, of ful gret difference, 125 
 
 Of which I shal yow sey the pleyn sentence. 
 
 ' Thorgh me men goon in-to that blisful place 
 
 Of hertes hele and dedly woundes cure ; 
 
 Thorgh me men goon unto the welle of Grace, 
 
 Ther grene and lusty May shal ever endure ; 1 30 
 
 This is the wey to al good aventure ; 
 
 Be glad, thou reder, and thy sorwe of-caste, 
 
 Al open am I ; passe in, and hy the faste ! ' 
 
 'Thorgh me men goon,' than spak that other syde, 
 
 'Unto the mortal strokes of the spere, 135 
 
 Of which Disdayn and Daunger is the gyde, 
 
 Ther tree shal never fruyt ne leves here. 
 
 This streme you ledeth to the sorwful were, 
 
 Ther as the fish in prison is al drye ; 
 
 Theschewing is only the remedye.' 140 
 
 Thise vers of gold and blak y-writen were, 
 
 The whiche I gan a stounde to beholde, 
 
 For with that oon encresed ay my fere, 
 
 And with that other gan myn herte bolde; 
 
 That oon me hette, that other did me colde, 145 
 
 120. Gg. Affrican ; F. Aufrikan. 122. Y. and rest vi'x'Ca.; Gg. of. 
 
 124. A'ead vferen ; a// were (weer). Gg. I-wrete ; F. writen. 133. 
 
 K. Ff. hye; / /i e resi spede {s-ped). 135. F. stroke; r^'j/" strokes (strokis). 
 137. Cx. Harl. O. Ff. neuer tree shal. Cx. fruyt; Harl. O. fruyte; 
 Trin. F. frute. 138. F. unto ; rest to. 139. ////is(ysl. 140. O. 
 
 'I'heschewing ; Cx. Thcschewyng ; Harl. The eschuyiig ; F. Thcscwynge 
 ,sic). 142. 'JVin. Cx. Harl. O. The; F. Gg. Of; Ff. On. F. 
 
 Cx. a stounde {ivhich I think is correct) ; Ff. astonde ; {alt. to) Gg. 
 a-stonyd ; Trin. astonyed ; Harl. O. astoned. F. Cx. O. Ff. insert to 
 before bolde {wrongly) ; Gg. Trin. I larl. om.
 
 r. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOUI.ES. 79 
 
 No wit had I, for errour, for to chese, 
 To entre or flee, or me to save or lese. 
 
 Right as, betwixen adamauntes two 
 
 Of even might, a pece of iren y-set, 
 
 That hath no might to meve to ne fro — 150 
 
 For what that on may hale, that other let — 
 
 Ferde I, that niste whether me was bet, 
 
 To entre or leve, til African my gyde 
 
 Me hente, and shoof in at the gates wyde, 
 
 And seyde, 'hit stondeth writen in thy face, 155 
 
 Thyn errour, though thou telle it not to me ; 
 
 But dred thee nat to come in-to this place, 
 
 For this wryting is no-thing ment by thee, 
 
 Ne by noon, but he Loves servant be; 
 
 For thou of love hast lost thy tast, I gesse, 160 
 
 As seek man hath of swete and bitternesse. 
 
 But natheles, al-though that thou be duUe, 
 
 Yit that thou canst not do, thou mayst hit se ; 
 
 For many a man that may not stonde a puUe, 
 
 Yit lyketh him at the wrastling for to be, 165 
 
 And demeth yit wher he do bet or he ; 
 
 And if thou haddest cunning for tendyte, 
 
 I shal thee shewen mater of to wryte.' 
 
 With that my bond in his he took anoon, 
 
 Of which I comfort caughte, and wente in faste : 1 70 
 
 But lord ! so I was glad and wel begoon ! 
 
 For over-al, wher that I myn eyen caste, 
 
 148. Gg. be-twixsyn ; F. betwix. 149. F. y-sette ; Gg. set. 150. 
 F. That ; Ff. oin. ; rcsi Ne (%vhich luoiild he elided^. F. nor ; rest ne 
 {better). 152. Gg. and rest nyste ; F. I ne wiste. Gg. ajid rest 
 
 whether; F. wher that {perhaps rightly). 153. F. Affrikan. 156. 
 Gg. Cx. O. to ; rest omit. 158. Trin. Cx. by; Gg. bi ; F. be. I59- Gg. 
 Trill. Cx. by; F. be. 160. Gg. stat 0' ; /^^ tast (taste). 162. 1*. 
 
 Ff. om. that. 163. Gg. Hail. O. supply Yit ; Cx. Yf ; rest om. F. 
 
 yet thou maist hyt ; O. mayst thowe ; rest yit mayst (may) thou. 
 165. F. ow. for. 166. Gg. wher ; ;y5/ whether. 167. Gg. Cx. tenditc : 
 F. (). to enditc. 169. F. And with ; rest om. And. 170. Gg. confort. 
 (!g. that as; rest went in. 172. F. om. that \but over-al = ov'r-al\
 
 8o F. THE PA ELEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Were trees clad with leves that ay shal laste, 
 
 Eche in his kynde, of coloure fresh and grene 
 
 As emeraude, that loye was to sene. 175 
 
 The bilder 00k, and eek the hardy asshe ; 
 
 The piler elm, the cofre unto careyne ; 
 
 The boxtre piper ; holm to whippes lasshe ; 
 
 The sayling firr ; the cipres, deth to pleync ; 
 
 The sheter ew, the asp for shaftes pleyne; 180 
 
 The olive of pees, and eek the drunken vyne, 
 
 The victor palm, the laurer to devyne. 
 
 A garden saw I, ful of blosmy bowes, 
 
 Upon a river, in a grene mede, 
 
 Ther as that swetnesse evermore y-now is, 185 
 
 With floures white, blewe, yelowe, and rede ; 
 
 And colde welle-stremes, no-thing dede, 
 
 That swommen ful of smale fisshes lighte. 
 
 With finnes rede and scales silver-brighte. 
 
 On every bough the briddes herde I singe, 190 
 
 With voys of aungel in her armonye, 
 
 Som besyed hem her briddes forth to bringe ; 
 
 The litel conyes to her pley gunne hye, 
 
 And further al aboute I gan espye 
 
 The dredful roo, the buk, the hert and hynde, 195 
 
 Squerels, and bestes smale of gentil kynde. 
 
 173. F. Weren; rest Were. 174. Gg. O. F. of; F. Cx. with {from 
 line above). I75- F. Emerawde. Gg. sothe {for loyc, iV7-ongly^. 
 
 177. Cx. O. piler ; Gg. pilere; Trin. pylor; F. Harl. peler. 17S. F. 
 box pipe tre ; Gg. atul rest box tre pipere [or piper). Trin. holyn ; 
 Cx. holin; Ff. holye ; Gg. O. liolm ; F. Harl. holme. 180. Gg. 
 
 Ew ; rest ewe. 183. Harl. O. blosmy; Gg. blospemy (y^r blossemy) ; 
 Cx. blossome; Trin. blossom; F. Ff. blossomed. 185. O. that; Gg. 
 ther; rest omit. Gg. Ff. I-now ; O. I-nowe; F. ynowh. 188. Ff. 
 
 That swommen ; Harl. That swommyn ; Gg. That swemyn ; Trin. That 
 swymen ; Cx. O. That swymmen; F. And swymmynge. 192. F. 
 
 That ; Gg. Ff So {error for Som) ; rest Som, Some, Som/«e. 193. 
 Gg. gunne; P\ gunnen ; 7-est gan, cane. 196. Cx. Squerels ; F. 
 
 Squerel ; rest Squyrelis (SquyrelhV, Squcrellis).
 
 F. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 8l 
 
 Of instruments of strenges in acorde 
 
 Herde I so pleye a ravisshing swetnesse, 
 
 That god, that maker is of al and lord, 
 
 Ne herde never better, as I gesse ; 200 
 
 Therwith a wind, unnethe hit might be lesse, 
 
 Made in the leves grene a noise softe 
 
 Acordant to the foules songe on-lofte. 
 
 The air of that place so attempre was 
 
 That never was grevaunce of hoot ne cold ; 205 
 
 Ther wex eek every holsom spyce and gras, 
 
 Ne no man may ther vvexe seek ne old ; 
 
 Yet was ther loye more a thousand fold 
 
 Then man can telle; ne never wolde it nighte, 
 
 But ay cleer day to any mannes sighte. 210 
 
 Under a tree, besyde a welle, I say 
 
 Cupyde our lord his arwes forge and fyle; 
 
 And at his feet his bowe al redy lay, 
 
 And wel his doghter tempred al the whyle 
 
 The hedes in the welle, and with hir wyle 215 
 
 She couched hem after as they shuld serve, 
 
 Som for to slee, and som to wounde and kerve, 
 
 Tho was I war of Plesaunce anon-right. 
 
 And of Aray, and Lust, and Curtesye; 
 
 And of the Craft that can and hath the might 220 
 
 To doon by force a wight to do folye — 
 
 Disfigurat was she, I nil not lye ; 
 
 197. F. Cx. On ; 7-est Of. Gg. Cx. O. strengis ; Trin. stryngys ; F. 
 strynge 'wrongly'). 198. F. 07n. so ; rest have it. F. and {^for a. 
 
 wrongly) ; Ff. otn. ; 7-est a. 201. F. otn. be ; rest have it. 203. 
 
 Gg. bryddis; ?r5/ foules. 205. F. ther of ; rest oi. 206. Gg. wex ; 
 Ff. waxed ; F. growen ; rest was 'error for wex). 207. Trin. Cx. Harl. 
 Ne ; rest omit. 208. F. more loye ; 7-est loye more . 209. F. No ; 
 7-est Then [or Than". F. 07/1. ne ; rest (except Ff.) 7-etain it. Trin. was 
 (yjjr wolde I. 214. Gg. wel ; F. O. wille; Cx. Trin. wylle; Harl. 
 
 whill^; Ff. whiele. 215. Gg. a/td rest hire [hir, hyr); F. harde. F. 
 
 fyle; Trin. vyle (yi^r fyle) ; Harl. wyel ; rest vrWe. 216. F. shul ; rest 
 shuld, shulde. 217. Y. otn. {or. 221. O. doon by force ; Trin. Cx. 
 
 do by force ; Harl. done be force; Gg. don be fore [sic) ; F. goo before. 
 222. F. Disfigured. Gg. Harl. nyl; Cx. Trin. Ff. wil ; O. wolL- ; F. shal.
 
 82 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 
 
 And by him-self, under an oke, I gesse, 
 Sawe I Delyt, that stood with Gentilnesse. 
 
 I saw Beaute, withouten any atyre, 225 
 
 And Youthe, ful of game and lolyte, 
 
 Fool-hardinesse, Flatery, and Desyre, 
 
 Messagerye, and IMede, and other three — 
 
 Her names shul noght here be told for me — 
 
 And upon pilers grete of lasper longe 230 
 
 I saw a temple of bras y-founded slronge. 
 
 Aboute the temple daunceden ahvay 
 Wommen y-now, of whiche somme ther were 
 Faire of hem-self, and somme of hem were gay; 
 In kirtels, al disshevele, wente they there — 235 
 
 That was her office alwey, yeer by yere — 
 And on the temple, of doves whyte and faire 
 Saw I sittinge many a hundred paire. 
 
 Before the temple-dore ful soberly 
 
 Dame Pees sat, with a curteyn in her bond ; 240 
 
 And her besyde, wonder discretly, 
 
 Dame Pacience sitting ther I fond 
 
 With face pale, upon an hille of sond; 
 
 And alder-next, within and eek with-oute, 
 
 Behest and Art, and of her folke a route. 245 
 
 Within the temple, of syghes bote as fyre 
 I herde a swogh that gan aboute renne ; 
 Which syghes were engendred with desyre, 
 
 225. Gg. saw; F. sawgh. Gg. with oiityn ; Cx. Ff. with outen ; F. 
 with oute. 228. F. Ff. Trin. oviit \st and. 229. F. Ff. Trin. oniif 
 
 here. 230. F. pelers ; r^j'/ pilers (pileris, pylors). 231. F. sawgh. 
 
 F. glas ; rest {except Ff.) bras or brassc. Gg. Ilarl. O. I-foundet ; 
 Trin. enfoundyd ; F. founded. 232. Gg. daunsedyw ; F. daunced. 
 
 233. F. O. o»i. ther. 234. F. o»i. were; rest retain. 236. Cig. jer 
 
 be 5eere; Trin. Cx. Harl. yere by yere; F. fro yere to yere. 237. Trin. 
 O. ofdouys; Gg. ofdowis; Cx. of dimes; Harl. of dofes ; Ff. of dowfs ; 
 F. saugh I {sic). 238. F. Of dowves white {sic" ; Ff. Saw I sitte ; rest 
 Saw I syttynge. Trin. Cx. Harl. (). thousand {for hundred'. 240. F. 
 om. with. 241. Gg. and rest by hire syde {J'or her besyde). 244. 
 
 F. om. eek ; rest retain. 246. Gg. sykys. 248. Gg. sikis.
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 83 
 
 That maden every auter for to brenne 
 
 Of newe flaume ; and wel aspyed I thenne 250 
 
 That al the cause of sorwes that they drye 
 
 Com of the bitter goddesse lalousye. 
 
 The god Priapus saw I, as I wente, 
 
 Within the temple, in soverayn place stonde, 
 
 In swich aray as whan the asse him shente 255 
 
 With crye by night, and with his ceptre in honde ; 
 
 Ful besily men gunne assaye and fonde 
 
 Upon his hede to sette, of sondry hewe, 
 
 Garlondes ful of fresshe floures newe. 
 
 And in a prive corner, in disporte, 260 
 
 Fond I Venus and her porter Richesse, 
 
 That was ful noble and hauteyn of her porte ; 
 
 Derk was that place, but afterward lightnesse 
 
 I saw a lyte, unnethe hit might be lesse, 
 
 And on a bed of golde she lay to reste, 265 
 
 Til that the bote sonne gan to weste. 
 
 Her gilte heres with a golden threde 
 
 Y-bounden were, untressed as she lay. 
 
 And naked fro the breste unto the hede 
 
 Men might her see ; and, sothly for to say, 270 
 
 The remenant wel kevered to my pay 
 
 Right with a subtil kerchef of Valence, 
 
 There was no thikker cloth of no defence. 
 
 250. Trin. Cx. flame. F. om. wel ; rest retain it. 252. Gg. Cam 
 O. Com ; F. Come ; Cx. Comen ; Trin. Harl. Ff. Cometh. Gg. Trin 
 Cx. goddesse; Harl. goddes \\.g. goddess); F. O. goddys. 253 
 
 F. sawgh. 255. Gg. swich ; F. suche. 256. Trin. Cx. by 
 
 rest be. 260. Gg. priue ; F. prevy. 264. F. saugh. 267 
 
 Gg. goldene ; Ff. golden ; F. and rest golde or gold. 271. Cx. wel 
 couerd ; Harl. wel couered ; Gg. was wel kenerede ; Trin. was walk 
 coueryd ; F. keuered wel. 272. Harl. Trin. Ff. sotil. Trin. 
 
 (). kerchyff; F. keuerchefe ; Gg. couerchief; Cx. conerchef. 273. 
 (ig. nas i^for was). Gg. Harl. alone insert 2nd no {hut it is wanted). 
 
 G 2
 
 84 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 The place yaf a thousand savours swote, 
 
 And Bachus, god of wyn, sat her besyde, 275 
 
 And Ceres next, that doth of hunger bote ; 
 
 And, as I seide, amiddes lay Cipryde, 
 
 To whom on knees two yonge folkes cryde 
 
 To ben her help ; but thus I lete her lye, 
 
 And ferther in the temple I gan espye 280 
 
 That, in dispyte of Diane the chaste, 
 
 Ful many a bowe y-broke heng on the wal 
 
 Of maydens, suche as gunne her tymes waste 
 
 In her servyse ; and peynted over al 
 
 Of many a story, of which I touche shal 285 
 
 A fewe, as of Calixte and Athalaunte, 
 
 And many a mayde, of which the name I wante ; 
 
 Semyramus, Candace, and Ercules, 
 
 Biblis, Dido, Tisbe and Piramus, 
 
 Tristram, Isoude, Paris, and Achilles, 290 
 
 Eleyne, Cleopatre, and Troilus, 
 
 Silla, and eek the moder of Romulus — 
 
 Alle these were peynted on that other syde. 
 
 And al her love, and in what plyte they dyde. 
 
 Whan I was come ayen into the place 295 
 
 That 1 of spak, that was so swote and grenc, 
 
 Forth welk I tho, my-selven to solace. 
 
 Tho was I war wher that ther sat a quene 
 
 That, as of light the somer-sonne shene 
 
 Passeth the sterre, right so ouer mesure 300 
 
 She fairer was than any creature. 
 
 275. Trin. Cx. Bachus; ixst Bacus. Gg. wyn; F. wyne. 277. F. 
 (jg. Ilarl. Cipride (rightly) ; the rest Cu]:>ide 1,!); sec 1. 279. 278. 
 
 Gg. Cx. O. two ; Ff. to ; F. the ; Trin. Harl. otn. Gg. O. Ff. folk ther 
 \for folkes). 283. Gg. Harl. gunne; F. gonne; rest gan, can. 
 
 285. Gg. Cx. Ful {for Of). 288. Cx. O. Semiramis ; Ff. Semiriamis ; 
 rest Semiramus [as in Leg. Good Women, Tisbe, 1. 2 . Gg. Hercules. 
 2S9. Trin. Harl. Tysbe; F. Cx. Tesbe; Gg. Thisbc. 295. F. Cx., 
 comen ; 7'est come. F. Ff. that ; rest the. 298. Gg. that ; which rest 
 omit {though 'van ted).
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 85 
 
 And in a launde, upon an hille of floures, 
 
 Was set this noble goddesse Nature ; 
 
 Of braunches were her halles and her boures, 
 
 Y-wrought after her craft and her mesure ; 305 
 
 Ne thcr nas foul that cometh of engendrurc, 
 
 That they ne were i)rest in her presence, 
 
 To take her dome and yeve her audience. 
 
 For this was on seynt Valentynes day, 
 
 Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make, 310 
 
 Of every kynde, that men thenke may; 
 
 And that so huge a noyse gan they make, 
 
 That erthe and see, and tree, and every lake 
 
 So ful was, that unnethe was ther space 
 
 For me to stonde, so ful was al the place. 315 
 
 And right as Aleyn, in the Pleynt of Kynde, 
 
 Devyseth Nature of aray and face, 
 
 In swich aray men mighten her ther fynde. 
 
 This noble emperesse, ful of grace. 
 
 Bad every foul to take his owne place, 320 
 
 As they were wont alwey fro yeer to yere, 
 
 Seynt Valentynes day, to stonden there. 
 
 That is to sey, the foules of ravyne 
 
 Were hyest set ; and than the foules smale, 
 
 That eten as hem nature wolde enclyne, 325 
 
 As worm, or thing of \vhiche I telle no tale ; 
 
 But water-foul sat lowest in the dale; 
 
 303. F. O. wrongly insert of before Nature. 307. Gg. Trin. Cx. Ff. 
 they ; F. Harl. O. there. After were {dissyllabic) Gg. inserts al ; need- 
 lessly. 310. Gg. bryd (/or foul) ; Cx. birde. 311. F. On ; restOi. 
 Ff. thenke; rest thynke {not so zoell). 313. Gg. Ff. eyr {for see\ 
 316. F. Alayne; Trin. Alen; r.rj-/ Aleyn. 317. Gg. in (y^r of). All 
 
 but Gg. Ff. needlessly insert suche before aray {caught fro ni^ line below). 
 318. Gg. swich ; F. suche. MSS. myghte, myght; but read mighten. 
 320. Gg. Ff. his; rest her, hir .w)-ongly). Cx. owen ; Gg. owene ; rest 
 owne. 325. Gg. Cx. hem; Ff. them; rest that. 327. Trin. vale 
 
 {for dale).
 
 86 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 And foul that liveth by seed sat on the grene, 
 And that so fele, that wonder was to sene. 
 
 Ther mighte men the royal egle fynde, 330 
 
 That with his sharpe look perceth the sonne ; 
 
 And other egles of a lower kynde, 
 
 Of which that clerkes wel devysen conne. 
 
 There was the tyraunt with his fethres donne 
 
 And greye, I mene the goshauk that doth pyne 335 
 
 To briddes for his outrageous ravyne. 
 
 The gentil faucon, that with his feet distreyneth 
 The kinges bond ; the hardy sperhauk eke, 
 The quayles foo ; the merlion that peyneth 
 Hira-self ful ofte, the larke for to seke ; 340 
 
 Ther was the douve, with her eyen meke; 
 The lalous swan, ayens his deth that singeth ; 
 The oule eek, that of dethe the bode bringeth; 
 
 The crane the geaunt, with his trompes soune; 
 
 The theef, the chogh ; and eek the langling pye ; 345 
 
 The scorning lay ; the eles foo, the heroune ; 
 
 The false lapwing, ful of trecherye ; 
 
 The stare, that the counseyl can bewrye ; 
 
 The tame ruddok ; and the coward kyte ; 
 
 The cok, that orloge is of thorpes lyte; 350 
 
 The sparow, Venus sone; the nightingale, 
 That clepeth forth the fresshe leves newe; 
 The swalow, mordrer of the bees smale 
 
 330- Gg. ryal ; Cx. Haii. O. rial. 338. F. otn. hardy. All eke 
 
 (/^r eek) ; exceptionally. 343. Triii. bood; Cx. bodword ; resfhoA^ 
 (dissyllabic'^). 344. Gg. Y{. o»i. ihe. 345. Trin. chowgh ; F. 
 
 choghe ; Cx. choughe ; Harl. chowhe ; Gg. O. Ff. crow {wrongly . 
 346. Harl. Ff. elcs ; Gg. O. elis; Trin. elys; F. Cx. egles (!). Trin. 
 Harl. O. insert the before heroun ; 7-est omit. 347. Gg. false; F. 
 
 fals. Trin. Cx. lapwynk ; O. lappewynk. 348. Gg. starlyng ; rest 
 
 stare. Gg. bewreye \,but note the rinu . 349. Gg. rodok. 350. 
 
 Gg. orloge ; F. orlogge. Gg. thorpis; F. thropes. 352. Gg. Cx. 
 
 Ff. grene [for fresshe . 353. bees must be right ; bui there is tto 
 
 authority for it except that of the liack-letler editions ; thus ed. 1561 
 has Bees. Most MSS. have foulcs; Trin. flycsj Ff. bryddis.
 
 F. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 87 
 
 That maken hony of flourcs fresshe of hewe ; 
 The wedded turtel, wiih her herte trevve ; 355 
 
 The pecok, with his aungels fethers bright ; 
 The fesaunt, scorner of the cok by night; 
 
 The waker goos ; the cukkow ever unkynde ; 
 
 The popiniay, ful of deUcasye ; 
 
 The drake, stroyer of his owne kynde ; 360 
 
 The stork, the wreker of avouterye; 
 
 The bote cormeraunt of glotonye; 
 
 The raven wys, the crow with voice of care; 
 
 The throstel olde ; the frosty feldefare. 
 
 What shulde I seyn ? of foules every kynde 365 
 
 That in this worlde ban fethers and stature, 
 
 Men mighten in that place assembled fynde 
 
 Before the noble goddesse Nature. 
 
 And everich of hem did his besy cure 
 
 Benygnely to chese or for to take, 370 
 
 By her acorde, his formel or his make. 
 
 But to the poynt — Nature held on her honde 
 
 A formel egle, of shap the gentileste 
 
 That ever she among her werkes fonde. 
 
 The most benigne and the goodlieste ; 375 
 
 In her was every vertu at his reste, 
 
 So ferforth, that Nature her-self had blisse 
 
 To loke on her, and ofte her bek to kisse. 
 
 Nature, the vicaire of thalmyghty lorde. 
 
 That hoot, cold, bevy, light, [and] moist and dreye 380 
 
 355. F. his; O. oin. ; rest hire, hir, her. 356. Gg. clothis {for 
 
 fethers\ 357. F. be (/cr by). 359. F. papiay; Gg. popyniay. 
 
 361. F. Cx. Ff. om. the. 363. Gg. The rauen wys, the crowe wit 
 
 voice of care; Ff. same [omittiug vrys) ; F. and rest The rauenes and 
 the Crowes with her voys of care {badly). 367. Gg. myghtyn; F. 
 
 myghte. 36S. F. that ; Ff this ; Harl. om. ; rest the. All but Gg. 
 
 Ff. ins. oi bef. Nature. 369. Gg. eueriche; F. eche {badly). 370. 
 Gg. Benygnely ; F. Benyngly ;j-/t ;. 374. io^oA^ is pt. t. subjunctive. 
 
 375- ^S- Cx. the {after and) ; Ff. moste ; rest om. 37S. Gg. bek; F. 
 bekc. 379. Ff vicairt'; F. vyker. 380. / /w.;^;-/ and a/?^r light. 
 
 Gg. Cx. dreye ; rest drye.
 
 88 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Hath knit by even noumbre of acorde, 
 
 In esy vois began to speke and seye, 
 
 ' Foules, tak hede of my sentence, I preye, 
 
 And, for your ese, in furthering of your nede. 
 
 As faste as I may speke, I wol me spede. 385 
 
 Ye know wel how, seynt Valentynes day. 
 
 By my statute and through my gouernaunce, 
 
 Ye come for to chese — and flee your way — 
 
 Your makes, as I prik yow with plesaunce. 
 
 But natheles, my rightful ordenaunce 390 
 
 May I not lete, for al this world to winne, 
 
 That he that most is worthy shal beginne. 
 
 The tercel egle, as that ye knowen wel, 
 
 The foul royal above yow in degree, 
 
 The wyse and worthy, secre, trewe as stel, 395 
 
 The which I formed have, as ye may see. 
 
 In every part as hit best lyketh me. 
 
 Hit nedeth noght his shap yow to devyse. 
 
 He shal first chese and speken in his gyse. 
 
 And after him, by order shul ye chese, 400 
 
 After your kynde, everich as yow lyketh. 
 And, as your hap is, shul ye winne or lese; 
 But which of yow that love most entryketh, 
 God sende him her that sorest for him syketh.' 
 And therewith-al the tercel gan she calle, 405 
 
 And seyde, 'my sone, the choys is to the falle. 
 
 But natheles, in this condicioun 
 
 Mot be the choys of everich that is here, 
 
 That she agree to his eleccioun, 
 
 381. Trin. Cx. by; F. be; Gg. with. 383. Cx. Ff. kepe {for 
 
 hede). 384. Gg. ese ; F. ease. 385. Gg. Ff. 50W; Cx. you \for 
 
 me). 386. F. Cx. Harl. insert that after how. 387. Gg. By ; F. 
 
 Be. 389. F. Trin. Cx. Harl. O. insert With before Your; Gg. Ff. 
 rightly omit. 390. Gg. Cx. Ff. ordenaunce ; rest gouernaunce [see 1. 
 
 387). 391. F. Trin. Harl. O. let 1 i. e. let go); Gg. Lreke ; Ff. suflre ; 
 
 Cx. lette. 393. Gg. lerslet {for tercel). Gg. wel ; F. wele. 394. 
 Gg. ryal. 395. Gg. stel; F. stele. 396. ^// have formed.
 
 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OE FOULES. 89 
 
 Who-so he be that shulde ben her fere; 410 
 
 This is our usage ahvey, fro yeer to yere; 
 And who so may at this time have his grace, 
 In blisful tyme he com in-lo this place/ 
 
 With hed enclyned and with ful humble chere 
 
 This royal tercel spak and taried nought; 415 
 
 ' Unto my sovereyn lady, and noght my fere, 
 
 I chese, and chese with wille and herte and thought, 
 
 The Ibrmel on your bond so wel y-wrought, 
 
 Whos I am al and ever wol her serve, 
 
 Do what her list, to do me live or sterve. 420 
 
 Beseching her of mercy and of grace, 
 
 As she that is my lady sovereyne ; 
 
 Or let me dye present in this place. 
 
 For certes, long may I not live in peyne; 
 
 For in myn herte is corven every veyne; 425 
 
 Having reward only to my trouthe, 
 
 My dere herte, have on my wo som routhe. 
 
 And if that I to her be founde untrewe, 
 
 Disobeysaunt, or wilful negligent, 
 
 Avaunlour, or in proces love a newe, 430 
 
 I pray to you this be my lugement. 
 
 That with these foules I be al to-rent, 
 
 That ilke day that ever she me fynde 
 
 To her untrewe, or in my gilte unkynde. 
 
 And sin that noon loveth her so wel as I, 435 
 
 Al be she never of love me behette. 
 
 Than oghte she be myn thourgh her mercy. 
 
 For other bond can I noon on her knette. 
 
 For never, for no wo, ne shal I lette 
 
 411. Cx. yere by yere {for fro yeer to yere). 413. Gg. cam. 414. 
 (jg. O. Ff. ovi. ful; rest retain. 415. Trin. Royally; F. real; Gg. 
 ryal. 424. Gg. I may. 426. /iVa^/ al-only ? 428. Gg. And if 
 
 that I to hyre be founde ; F. And yf I be founde to hir. 436. F. 
 
 As though ; rest Al be. 438. F. knette ; Gg. areete ; rest knytte, 
 
 knyt. 439. Gg. Cx. O. Ne {for For).
 
 90 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 
 
 To serven her, how fer so that she wende ; 440 
 
 Sey what yow hst, my tale is at an ende.' 
 
 Right as the fresshe, rede rose newe 
 
 Ayen the somer-sonne coloured is, 
 
 Right so for shame al wexen gan the hewe 
 
 Of this formel, whan she herde al this ; 445 
 
 She neyther answerde ' wel,' ne seyde amis, 
 
 So sore abasshed was she, til that Nature 
 
 Seyde, ' doghter, drede yow noght, I yow assure.' 
 
 Another tercel egle spak anoon 
 
 Of lower kynde, and seyde, ' that shal not be ; 450 
 
 I love her bet than ye do, by seynt lohn. 
 
 Or atte leste I love her as wel as ye ; 
 
 And lenger have served her, in my degre. 
 
 And if she shulde have loved for long loving, 
 
 To me allone had ben the guerdoning. 455 
 
 I dar eek seye, if she me fynde fals, 
 
 Unkynde, Tangier, or rebel any wyse, 
 
 Or lalous, do me hongen by the hals ! 
 
 And but I bere me in her servyse 
 
 As wel as that my wit can me suffyse, 460 
 
 Fro poynt to poynt, her honour for to save, 
 
 Tak she my lyf, and al the good I have.' 
 
 The thridde tercel egle answerde tho, 
 
 ' Now, sirs, ye seen the litel leyser here ; 
 
 For every foul cryeth out to ben a-go 465 
 
 Forth with his make, or with his lady dere ; 
 
 And eek Nature her-self ne wol nought here, 
 
 For larying here, noght half that I wolde scye ; 
 
 And but I speke, I mot for sorwe deye. 
 
 445. So all. Read whan that she ? 446. Gg. She neythir ; Cx. O. 
 Ff. She neyther; V. Trin. Neyther she. 450. Gg. O. Kf. shal; rest 
 
 shulde, shuld. 460. Gg. that ; rest omit. 462. (jg. the; Trin. 
 
 Harl. ye ; rest she. 463. Gg. tlaredde ; Trin. 1' f. thryd ; F. thirdde.
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 9 1 
 
 Of long servyse avaunte I me no-thing, 470 
 
 But as possible is me to dye to-day 
 
 For wo, as he that hath ben languisshing 
 
 Thise twenty winter, and wel happen may 
 
 A man may serven bet and more to pay 
 
 In half a yere, al-though it were no more, 475 
 
 Than som man doth that hatli served ful yore. 
 
 I ne say not this by me, for I ne can 
 
 Do no servyse that may my lady plese; 
 
 But I dar seyn, I am her trewest man 
 
 As to my dome, and faynest wolde her plese ; 4S0 
 
 At shorte wordes, til that deth me sese, 
 
 I wol ben hires, whether I wake or winke. 
 
 And trewe in al that herte may bethinke.' 
 
 Of al my lyf, sin that day I was born. 
 
 So gentil plee in love or other thing 485 
 
 Ne herde never no man me beforn, 
 
 Who-so that hadde leyser and cunning 
 
 For to reherse her chere and her speking; 
 
 And from the morwe gan this speche lasie 
 
 Til dounward drow the sonne wonder faste. 490 
 
 The noyse of foules for to ben delivered 
 
 So loude rong, ' have doon and let us wende ! ' 
 
 That wel wende I the wode had al to-shivered. 
 
 'Come of!' they cryde, 'alias! ye wil us shende ! 
 
 Whan shal your cursed pleding have an ende? 495 
 
 How shulde a luge eyther party leve. 
 
 For yee or nay, with-outen any preve?' 
 
 473. Gg. yeer and as '^for winter and). 479. Gg. seyn ; F. say. 
 
 4bi. Gg. shorte; F. short. 482. Ff. hyres ; Gg. heris ; Cx. heeris ; 
 
 llarl. hirres; F. hirse (!); Trin. hyrs ; O. hirs. 4S7. Gg. hadde ; 
 
 F. had. 4S8. F. rehersen ; rcj-/ reherse (reherce). 490. Gg. drow ; 
 Cx. wente; rest witnt {badly). 494. Cx. Harl. wil; F. wol. 495. 
 (jg. pletynge ; Trin. Cx. Ilarl. pletyng.
 
 92 V. THE PARLEMENT OE EOULES. 
 
 The goos, the cokkow, and the doke also 
 
 So cryden ' kek, kek ! ' ' kukkow ! ' ' quek, quek ! " hye, 
 
 That thorgh myn ercs the noyse wente tho. 500 
 
 The goos seyde, ' al this nis not worth a flye ! 
 
 But I can shap hereof a remedye, 
 
 And I wol sey my verdit faire and swythe 
 
 For water-foul, who-so be wroth or blythe.' 
 
 ' And I for worm-foul,' seyde the fool cukkow, 505 
 
 ' For I wol, of myn own auctorite, 
 
 For comune spede, take the charge now, 
 
 For to delivere us is gret charite.' 
 
 ' Ye may abyde a whyle yet, parde ! ' 
 
 Seide the turtel, ' if it be your wille 510 
 
 A wight may speke,- him were as good be stille. 
 
 I am a seed-foul, oon the unworthieste, 
 
 That wot I wel, and litel of kunninge, 
 
 But bet is that a wightes longe resle 
 
 Than entremeten him of such doinge 515 
 
 Of which he neyther rede can nor singe. 
 
 And who-so doth, ful foule himself acloyeth. 
 
 For office uncommitted ofte anoyeth.' 
 
 Nature, which that alway had an ere 
 
 To murmour of the lewednesse behynde, 520 
 
 With facound voys seide, ' hold your tonges there ! 
 
 And I shal sone, I hope, a counseyl fynde 
 
 You to delivere, and fro this noyse unb}'nde ; 
 
 498. So Gg. ; 7-est The goos, the duk, and the cukkowe also \W}'ongly ; 
 see next line). 501. 1*'. seyde tho ; rest omit tho. Gg. Ff. nys not ; 
 
 Trin. O. ys nat; Cx. is not; ¥. omits not. 503. Gg. Cx. I; )-est om. 
 507. Gg. O. profit ; rest spede. Trin. For comon spcde, take the 
 charge now. F. Cx. Harl. O. ins. on me bcf. the ; Ff. ins. vpon me. 
 Gg. tak on no (!)y^r take the. 510. Trin. Seyde; Cx. Said; rest 
 Quod. 511. F. good ; Cx. better (y^r as good) ; rest iayr. 514. 
 
 (jg. bet; rest heUer. 515. Gg. entirmetyw ; F. entremele. 517. 
 
 All btit Gg. Cx. ins. hyt (it, yt) bcf. doth. 518. Ff. vncowmaundet ; 
 O. vnconveyid ; Gg. onquit (!) ; rest vncommytted. 520. Gg. otn. 
 
 behynde; Trin. liarl. blynde ; Cx. by kyndc ; >t'.r/ byhynde. 523. 
 
 Y. O. Ff. for to {^for to). F. delyueren ; rest delyuere (deliver). F. 
 Gg. Harl. from ; rest fro.
 
 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 93 
 
 I luge, of every folk men shal oon calle 
 
 To seyn the verdit for you foules alio.' 525 
 
 Assented were to this conclusion 
 
 The briddes alle; and foules of ravyne 
 
 Han chosen first, by pleyn eleccion, 
 
 The tercelet of the faucon, to diffyne 
 
 Al her sentence, and as him list termyne ; 530 
 
 And to Nature him gonnen to presente, 
 
 And she accepteth him with glad entente. 
 
 The tercelet seide than in this manere : 
 
 'Ful harde were it to preve hit by resoun 
 
 Who loveth best this gentil formel here ; 535 
 
 For everich hath swich replicacioun, 
 
 That noon by skilles may be broght a-doun; 
 
 I can not seen that arguments avayle; 
 
 Than semeth it tlier moste be batayle.' 
 
 'Al redy!' quod these egles tercels tho. 540 
 
 ' Nay, sirs ! ' quod he, ' if that I dorste it seye, 
 
 Ye doon me wrong, my tale is not y-do ! 
 
 For sirs, ne taketh noght a-gref, I preye, 
 
 It ma}'' noght gon as ye wolde in this weye ; 
 
 Our is the voys that han the charge in honde, 545 
 
 And to the luges dome ye moten stonde ; 
 
 And therfor pees ! I seye, as to my wit, 
 
 Me wolde ihinke how that the worthieste 
 
 Of knighthode, and lengest hath used it, 
 
 Moste of estat, of blode the gentileste, 550 
 
 Were sittingest for her, if that her leste ; 
 
 524. Cx. charge {for luge). 527. l^Iost MSS. insert the beforr 
 
 foules ; which Gg. ajid the Longleat MS. omit. 530. All but Cx. Ff. 
 ins. \.o after \\i^. 534. Trin. preue; Gg. proue ; F. preven. 536. 
 
 Gg. swich ; F. suche. 537. Gg. non by skillis ; F. and rest by 
 
 skilles may non {badly). 540. Cx. terselis egles. 543. Gg. ne ; 
 
 rest omit. 544. F. om. gon. 545. Gg. Cx. Cure ; rest Ourcs, Ours. 
 549. Gg. O. hath ; rest had. 551. Gg. sittyngest ; rest sittynge.
 
 94 ^- THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 
 
 And of these three she wot her-self, I trowe, 
 ^^'hich that he be, for hit is light to knowe.' 
 
 The water-foules han her hedes leyd 
 
 Togeder, and of short avysement, 555 
 
 Whan everich had his large golee seyde, 
 
 They seyden sothly, al by oon assent, 
 
 How that ' the goos, with her facounde gent, 
 
 That so desyreth to pronounce our nede, 
 
 Shal telle our tale,' and preyde 'god her spede.' 560 
 
 And for these water-foules tho began 
 
 The goos to speke, and in her cakelinge 
 
 She seyde, ' pees ! now tak kepe every man, 
 
 And herkeneth which a reson I shal bringe; 
 
 My wit is sharp, I love no taryinge; 565 
 
 I seye, I rede him, though he were my brother, 
 
 But she wol love him, lat him love another ! ' 
 
 'Lo here! a parfit reson of a goos I' 
 
 Quod the sperhauk ; ' never mot she thee ! 
 
 Lo, swich it is to have a tonge loos! 570 
 
 Now parde, fool, yet were it bet for the 
 
 Have holde thy pees, than shewed thy nycete I 
 
 It lyth not in his wit nor in his wille, 
 
 But soth is seyd, "a fool can noght be stille."" 
 
 The laughter aroos of gentil foules alle, 575 
 
 And right anoon the seed-foul chosen hadde 
 The turtel trewe, and gan her to hem calle, 
 And preyden her to seye the sothe sadde 
 Of this matere, and asked what she radde; 
 
 .;53. Cx. Hnrl. ethe (/or light). 556. Gg. O. gole ; F. goler; Cx. 
 golye ; Ff. golee ; Trin. Harl. wylk. 558. Gg. facounde so ; Ff. 
 
 facounde ; Cx. faconde ; F. faucond. 560. F. Cx. Ff needlessly insert 
 to after preyd-e. 564. All but Cig. insert forth before bringe. 569. 
 /'br Quod read Seyde? 570. Gg. sich i^for swich); F. suche. 
 
 571;. F. laughtre. 576. Y. Harl. Ff foules; 'I'rin. fowlc; Cx. fowl; 
 b.'foule; Gg. ful (I). '
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 95 
 
 And she answcrdc, that pleynly her entente 5S0 
 
 She wolde shewe, and sothl}' what she mente. 
 
 ' Nay, god forbede a lover shulde chaunge ! ' 
 
 The turtel seyde, and wex for shame al reed ; 
 
 'Thogh that his lady ever-more be straunge, 
 
 Yet let him serve her ever, til he be deed ; 5S5 
 
 For sothe, I preyse noght the gooses reed ; 
 
 For thogh she deyed, I wolde noon other make. 
 
 I wol ben hires, til that the deth me take. 
 
 ' Wei bourded ! ' quod the doke, ' by my hat ! 
 
 That men shulde alwey loven, causeles, 590 
 
 Who can a reson fynde or wit in that? 
 
 Daunceth he mury that is myrtheles ? 
 
 Who shulde recche of that is reccheles ? 
 
 Ye, quek ! ' yit quod the doke, ful wel and faire, 
 
 ' There ben mo sterres, god wot, than a paire ! ' 595 
 
 ' Now fy, cherl ! ' quod the gentil tercelet, 
 
 ' Out of the dunghill com that word ful right, 
 
 Thou canst noght see which thing is wel be-set ; 
 
 Thou farest by love as oules doon by light, 
 
 The day hem blent, ful wel they see by night ; 600 
 
 Thy kynd is of so lowe a wrechednesse, 
 
 That what love is, thou canst nat see ne gesse.' 
 
 Tho gan the cukkow putte him forth in prees 
 
 For foul that eteth worm, and seide blyve, 
 
 ' So I,' quod he, ' may have my make in pees, 605 
 
 I recche not how longe that ye stryve; 
 
 Lat ech of hem be soleyn al her lyve, 
 
 This is my reed, sin they may not acorde ; 
 
 This shorte lesson nedeth noght recorde.' 
 
 58S. Harl. hires ; Gg. hire ; Cx. hers ; rest hirs. Trin. Harl. om. 
 that (^perhaps rightly). 589. Gg. Cx. Ff. doke; F. duk. 590. V. 
 
 Ff. shulden. 592. F. Gg. murye ; rest mery. 594. Gg. O. yit ; 
 
 Ff. yet ; rest om. 599. Gg. by ; ¥. be i^isf time). 602. Gg. nat ; 
 
 F. neyther. 603. F. put; Gg. putte. 606. Cx. FT. recche; F. Gg. 
 Harl. reche; Trin. O. rek.
 
 9<5 V. THE PARLEAIEiVT OF FOULES. 
 
 'Ye! have the glotoun fild ynogh his paunche, 6io 
 
 Than are ^ve wel ! ' seyde the merlioun ; 
 
 ' Thou mordrer of the heysugge on the braunche 
 
 That broghte the forth, thou rewthelees glotoun ! 
 
 Live thou soleyn, woimes corrupcioun ! 
 
 For no fors is of lakke of thy nature; 615 
 
 Go, lewed be thou, whyl the world may dure ! ' 
 
 ' Now pees,' quod Nature, ' I comaunde here ; 
 
 For I have herd al youre opinioun. 
 
 And in effect yet be we never the nere ; 
 
 But fynally, this is my conclusioun, 620 
 
 That she her-self shal han the eleccioun 
 
 Of whom her list, who-so be wroth or blythe, 
 
 Him that she cheest, he shal her have as swythe. 
 
 For sith hit may not here discussed be 
 
 Who loveth her best, as seide the tercelet, 625 
 
 Than wol I doon her this favour, that she 
 
 Shal have right him on whom her herte is set, 
 
 And he her that his herte hath on her knet. 
 
 This luge I, Nature, for I may not lye; 
 
 To noon estat I have noon other ye. 630 
 
 But as for counseyl for to chese a make, 
 
 If hit were reson, certes, than wolde I 
 
 Counseyle yow the royal tercel take, 
 
 As seide the tercelet ful skilfully. 
 
 As for the gentilest and most worthy, 635 
 
 Which I have wroght so wel to my plesaunce ; 
 
 That to yow oghte to ben a suffisaunce.' 
 
 6ii. (Ig. Merlioun; Trin. (). Merlyon ; Cx. mcrlion ; F. Ff. Emer- 
 lyon. 612. F. ^^//z. i.f/ the. Harl. ht;ysugi;;e ; O. heysugg; Cx. heysiig; 
 Ff. haysugge; F. haysogge; Gg. heysoge ; Trin. heysoke. 613. Gg. 
 
 reufulles (!), (T^TfJ'-yi?;- rewtheles ; ?rj/ rewful (!). 621. Gg. lian ; rest 
 hauc. Gg. Cx. the; rest hir, hyr. 623. F. cheest; Gg. chcsith ; 
 
 Trin. chcseth ; Harl. chesithe. F. han hir; Gg. hire han ; Trin. hyr 
 hafe; Cx. Harl. Ff. her haue. 626. Gg. hire this fauour ; Trin. Harl. 
 io hyr thys fauour; Y. and rest thys fauour to hir. 630. Ff. ye; 
 Harl. yee; Trin. ey ; rest eye. 632. F. Gg. I (y<7r hit). Gg. certis ; 
 rest omit. 637. All hit Gg. Cx. insc?-t hit {or it) after That or yow.
 
 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 97 
 
 With dredful vois the formel her answerde, 
 
 ' My rightful lady, goddesse of Nature, 
 
 Soth is that I am ever under your yerde, 640 
 
 Lyk as is everiche other creature, 
 
 And moot be youres whyl my lyf may dure ; 
 
 And therfor graunteth me my firste bone, 
 
 And myn entente I wol yow sey right sone.' 
 
 ' I graunte it you,' quod she ; and right anoon 645 
 
 This formel egle spak in this degre, 
 
 * Almighty queue, unto this yeer be doon 
 
 I aske respit for to avysen me. 
 
 And after that to have my choys al fre; 
 
 This al and som, that I wolde speke and seye ; 650 
 
 Ye gete no more, al-though ye do me deye. 
 
 I wol noght serven Venus ne Cupyde 
 
 For sothe as yet, by no manere wey.' 
 
 ' Now sin it may non other wyse betyde,' 
 
 Quod tho Nature, 'here is no more to sey; 655 
 
 Than wolde I that these foules were a-wey 
 
 Ech Nvith his make, for tarying lehger here' — 
 
 And seyde hem thus, as ye shul after here. 
 
 ' To you speke I, ye tercelets,' quod Nature. 
 
 ' Beth of good herte and serveth, alle thre ; 660 
 
 A yeer is not so longe to endure, 
 
 And ech of yow peyne him, in his degre, 
 
 For to do wel; for, God wot, quit is she 
 
 Fro yow this yeer ; what after so befalle. 
 
 This entremes is dressed for you alle.' 665 
 
 641. Gg. As is a-nothir lyuis creature. O. alone ins. Like bef. As. 
 642. Gg. mot; rest moste (mnste). 643. Gg. grau«tyth; rest. 
 
 graunte, graunt {badly). 644. Trin. Cx. Harl. I wyll yow ; O. 1 
 
 woU 3ewe; F. Ff. yow wol I. 652. F. Cipride ; Harl. Cypride ; 
 
 Ff. Sypryde; rest Cupide ((/. 11. 212, 277). 654. F. other weyes ; 
 
 Cx. other waves; O. othir wey {perhaps best); Gg. otherwise; Ff. 
 other- wyse; trin. Harl. other (sic). 655. Gg. Harl. tho; rest om. 
 
 659. F. terceletys ; read tercelets. 660. F. al ; Gg. alle. 665. F. 
 O. entremesse ; Ff. entremecse ; Gg. entyrmes ; Harl. entermes.
 
 9^ V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 And whan this werk al broght was to an ende, 
 
 To every foule Nature yaf his make 
 
 By even acorde, and on her wey they wende. 
 
 A ! lord ! the blisse and loye that they make ! 
 
 For eche of hem gan other in winges take, 670 
 
 And with her nekkes ech gan other wynde, 
 
 Thanking alwey the noble goddesse of kynde. 
 
 But first were chosen foules for to singe, 
 
 As yeer by yere was alwey her usaunce 
 
 To singe a roundel at her departinge, 675 
 
 To do Nature honour and plesaunce. 
 
 The note, I trowe, maked was in Fraunce ; 
 
 The wordes wer swich as ye may heer fynde, 
 
 The nexte vers, as I now have in mynde. 
 
 Qui bum ainie a iard oublie. 
 ' Now welcom somer, with thy sonne softe, 6S0 
 
 That hast this wintres weders over-shake, 
 And driven awey the longe nightes blake 1 
 
 Seynt Valentyn, that art ful hy on-lofte ; — 
 Thus singen smale foules for thy sake — 
 
 Now welcom somer, ivith thy sonne softe, 685 
 
 That hast this wintres weders over-shake. 
 
 Wei han they cause for to gladen ofte, 
 Sith ech of hem recovered hath his make ; 
 Ful blisful may they singen whan they wake : 
 
 666. F. wroght ; rest brought, broght, browte. 669. F. A ; (jg. 
 
 But; rest And. Gg. loye; F. loy. 672. Gg.- Thankynge ; F. 
 
 Thonkyng. Gg. queen ; rest goddesse, goddes. 678. Gg. sweche 
 
 (,for swiche") ; F. suche. Qui; miswritten Que in F. Cx. ; Qe in Trin. ; 
 the rest omit it. ainie: F. ayme. ta^-d; V. tarde. Lines 680-692 only 
 occur 171 Gg. and Digby iSi ; also lines 683, 6S4, 687-9 in O. I follow 
 Digby 181 mainly. 680. Digb. Nowe welcome. 68 1. Gg. wintres 
 weclres ; Digb. wynter wedirs. 682. Gg. And ; Digb. Hast. Digb. 
 drevyn ; Gg. drcuyne. Digb. nyghtis ; Gg. nyghtes. 684. Digb. 
 
 syngcn ; Fowlis. 6S7. Gg. O. Wele. 688. Gg. O. hem ; Digb. 
 them. 6S9. Digb. Fulh- blisfully they synge and endles ioy thei make 
 wrongly) ; Cjg. Ful blisseful mowe they ben when they wake ; O. Ful 
 l)lesfull may lliey synge when they wake {rigtilly).
 
 F. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 99 
 
 Now welcom somer, with thy soti7ie so/ie, 690 
 
 Thai hast this wintres iveders over-shake, 
 And driven aiuey the longe nightes blake! 
 
 And with tlie showting, whan her song was do, 
 
 That foules maden at her (light a-way, 
 
 I wook, and other bokes took me to 695 
 
 To rede upon, and yet I rede alway ; 
 
 I hope, y-W'is, to rede so som day 
 
 That I shal mete som thyng for to fare 
 
 The bet; and thus to rede I nil not spare. 699 
 
 Explicit tractatus de eongregacione Volucrum 
 die sancti Valentini. 
 
 693. F. showtynge ; hir. 694. Gg. madyw ; Ff. maden ; F. made. 
 698. Trin. fynde {for mete). 699. Ff. nyl ; Gg. nele ; F. O. wol ; 
 
 Trin. wylk ; Cx. wil. 
 
 Colophon. So in F; Gg. has — Explicit parliamentum Auium in 
 die sancti Valentini tentum, secundum Galfridum Chaucer ; Ff. has - 
 Explicit Parliamentum Auium ; MS. Arch. Seld. B. 24 has — Here 
 endis the parliament of foulis ; Quod Galfride Chaucere ; tlic Longleat 
 MS. has — Here endith the Parlement of foules.
 
 VI. MERCILES BEAUTE : A TRIPLE ROUNDEL. 
 
 I. Captivity. 
 
 Your yen two wol sic me sodenly, 
 
 I may the beaute of hem not sustene, 
 
 So woundeth hit through-out my herte kene. 
 
 And but your word wol helen hastily 
 
 My hertes wounde, whyl that hit is grene, 5 
 
 Your yen two ivol sle me sodenly ; 
 
 / may the beaute of hem not sustene. 
 
 Upon my trouthe I sey yow feithfully, 
 That ye ben of my lyf and deth the quene ; 
 For with my deth the trouthe shal be sene. 10 
 
 Your yen two wol sle me sodenly, 
 I ?tiay the beaute of hem not sustene, 
 So woundeth hit through-out my herte ke?ie. 
 
 II. Rejection. 
 
 So hath your beaute fro your herte chaced 
 
 Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne; 15 
 
 For Daunger halt your mercy in his cheyne. 
 
 Giltles my delh thus han ye me purchaced ; 
 I sey yow soth, me nedeth not to feyne ; 
 
 T/iis excellent text is front P. (Pepys 2006, p. 390). / note all va- 
 riations from tJie MS. 
 
 I. P. Yowr^ two yen; but read Your yen two ; for in 11. 6, 11, the 
 MS. has Your yen, &c. P. wolU-. 2. P. them ; read hem. 3. P. 
 wondeth it thorowout (out written in the margin^. 4. P. wilk. 
 
 5. P. Mi hertis wound while; it. 6, 7. P. Your yen &c. 8. P. 
 
 trouth. 9. P. liffe. 10. P. trouth. 11-13. P. Vo«r yen, &c. 
 
 14. P. yowr^. 15. P. nauailleth; pleyn. 16. P. danger. iS. 
 
 !'. fayn.
 
 VL MERCTLES BEAUTE. lOI 
 
 So hath your beauie fro your herie chaced 
 Pitee, that 7)ie ne availeth 7iot io phytte. 20 
 
 Alias ! that nature hath in yow compassed 
 So gret beaute, that no man may atteyne 
 To mercy, though he sterve for the peyne. 
 So hath your beaute fro your herte chaced 
 Pitee, that me ne availeth not to pleyne ; 25 
 
 For daunger halt your mercy iti his cheyne. 
 
 III. Escape. 
 
 Sin I fro love escaped am so fat, 
 
 I never thenk to ben in his prison lene ; 
 
 Sin I am fre, I counte him not a bene. 
 
 He may answere, and seye this or that ; 30 
 
 I do no fors, I speke right as I mene. 
 Sin I fro love escaped am so fat, 
 I never thenk to ben in his prison lene. 
 
 Love hath my name y-strike out of his sclat, 
 And he is strike out of my bokes clene 35 
 
 For ever-mo ; [ther] is non other mene. 
 Sin I fro love escaped am so fat, 
 I never thenk to ben in his prison lene ; 
 Sin I am fre, I counte him not a bene. 39 
 
 Explicit. 
 
 19, 20. P. So hath yo?/r, &c. 21. P. compased. 22. P. 
 
 grete ; atteyn. 23. P. peyn. 24-26. P. So hath yo?<r beaute, &c. 
 
 28. P. neu^re. 30. P. answers? & sey. 32, 33. P. .S}ti I fro lone, 
 
 &c. 34. P. Istrike. 36. P. this is [Init read ther is). 37-39- P- 
 Syn I fro loue, &c.
 
 VII. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 
 
 The compleynt of feire Anelida and fals Arcite. 
 
 Proem. 
 
 Thou ferse god of arnies, Mars the rede, 
 
 That in the frosty country called Trace, 
 
 Within thy grisly temple ful of drede 
 
 Honoured art, as patroun of that place ! 
 
 With thy Bellona, Pallas, ful of grace, 5 
 
 Be present, and my song continue and gye ; 
 
 At my beginning thus to thee I crye. 
 
 For hit ful depe is sonken in my mynde. 
 
 With pitous herte in English for tendytc 
 
 This olde storie, in Latin which I fynde, 10 
 
 Of quene Anelida and fals Arcite, 
 
 That elde, which that al can frete and byte, 
 
 As hit hath freten mony a noble storie, 
 
 Hath nigh devoured out of our memorie. 
 
 Be favorable eek, thou Polymia, 15 
 
 On Parnaso that, with thy sustres glade, 
 
 By Elicon, not fer from Cirrea, 
 
 Singest with vols memorial in the shade, 
 
 Under the laurer which that may not fade, 
 
 The citief authorities arc: Harl. (Had. 7333"); F. (Fairfax 16); Tn. 
 (Tanner 346); D. (Digby 181); Cx. (Caxton's edition 1 ; B. (Bodley 
 638) ; Lt. (Longleat MS.)- I follow V. viaiitly, correcting the spelling ; 
 and £ive selecied variations. Title from Y.\ W. has h(^G. for compleynt. 
 
 I. Tn. ferse; F. fers. 3. Harl. D. Cx. temple; rcj/ temples. 
 
 6. F. songe. F. contynew; D. contynue. F. guye ; Tn. gye. 7. 
 
 F. I to the; Harl. Tn. D. to the I. 9. Cx. for tendyte ; Harl. for 
 
 to endyte ; ;yj/ to endyte. 11. F. Analida; Cx. Anelida; Tn. D. 
 
 Annelida. 12. Harl. that; rest om. 15. ¥. eke. Harl. Polymea ; 
 
 r^.f/ I'olymya, Polymia. 16. Harl. Cx. with ; rest \\?i\.\\ (!). 17. 
 
 V. B. Cx. Cirrea; D. Cirea ; Tn. Circa {wrongly).
 
 V/I. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 103 
 
 And do that I my ship to haven winne ; 20 
 
 First folow I Stace, and after him Corinne. 
 
 The Story, 
 larnque do?nos patn'as, &•€.; Statii Thebais, xii. 519. 
 
 Whan Theseus, with werres longe and grete, 
 
 The aspre folke of Cithe had over-come, 
 
 With laurer crouned, in his char gold-bete, 
 
 Hoom to his contre-houses is y-come ; — 35 
 
 For which the peple blisful, al and somme. 
 
 So cryden, that unto the sterres hit wente, 
 
 And him to honouren dide al her entente ; — 
 
 Before this duk, in signe of hy victorie, 
 
 The trompes come, and in his baner large 30 
 
 The image of Mars ; and, in token of glorie. 
 
 Men mighten seen of tresor many a charge, 
 
 Many a bright helm, and many a spere and targe. 
 
 Many a fresh knight, and many a blisful route, 
 
 On hors. on fote, in al the felde aboute. 35 
 
 Ipolita his wyf, the hardy queue 
 
 Of Cithia, that he conquered hadde, 
 
 With Emelye, her yonge suster shene, 
 
 Faire in a char of golde he with him ladde, . 
 
 That al the ground aboute her char she spradde 40 
 
 With brightnesse of the beaute in her face, 
 
 Fulfild of largesse and of alle grace. 
 
 20. Tn. ship; F. shippe. After 1. 21, 3 Latin lines are quoted from 
 Statius (see note). 23. C.x. Cithye. 24. Harl. U. Cx. Lt. With ; 
 
 F. The {caught from 1. 23). D. crowned ; F. corovned. 25. All 
 
 Home. Tn. ycome ; F. he come. 27. Cx. cryeden ; hut rest cryden, 
 criden. Harl. unto ; rest to. Tn. wente ; F. went. 28. Tn. entente ; F. 
 entent. 29. F. Btfurne; Tn. D. B. Lt. Before. Harl. duk; F. duke. 
 Harl. inserts hie ( =hyj ; zvhich the rest wrongly omit ; accent o in vic- 
 torie. 32. F. sene ; Harl. seen. 33. Tn. many ; F. mony (5 times'). 
 36. Tn. Ypolita. F. wife. 37. Harl. D. Cilhea. D. hadde; Lt. 
 
 hade ; rest had. 39. F. chare. D. ladde ; Lt. lade ; rest lad. 
 
 40. Harl. ground ; F. grounde. D. spradde; r^j-/ sprad. 41. Harl. 
 Cx. the ; rest omit. 42. F. Fulfilled ; al.
 
 104 Vn. AN ELI DA AND A R CITE. 
 
 With his Iriumphe and laurer-crouncd thus, 
 
 In al the floure of fortunes yevinge, 
 
 Lete I this noble prince Theseus 45 
 
 Toward Athenes in his wey rydinge, 
 
 And founde I wol in shortly for to bringe 
 
 The slye wey of that I gan to wryte, 
 
 Of queue AneHda and fals Arcite. 
 
 Mars, which that through his furious course of yre, 
 "■ The olde wrath of luno to fulfille, 51 
 
 Hath set the peples hertes bothe on fyre 
 Of Thebes and Grece, and everich other to kille 
 With blody speres, ne rested never stille, 
 But throng now her, now ther, among hem bothe, 55 
 That everich other slough, so wer they wrothe. 
 
 For whan Amphiorax and Tydeus, 
 
 Ipomedon, Parthonopee also 
 
 Were dede, and slayn [was] proud Campaneus, 
 
 And whan the wrecches Thebans, bretheren two, 60 
 
 Were slayn, and king Adrastus hoom a-go, 
 
 So desolat stood Thebes and so bare, 
 
 That no wight coude remedie of his care. 
 
 And whan the olde Creon gan espye 
 
 How that the blood roial was broght adoun, 65 
 
 He held the cite by his tirannye. 
 
 And did the gentils of that regioun 
 
 To ben his frendes, and dwellen in the toun. 
 
 43. D. Cx. T.t. crowned ; rest corouned. 44. F. yevjug ; Tii. 
 
 gifeynge. 45. F. B. Let; r^rj/ Lete. 46. F. lyding; Tn. ridinge. 
 47. F. bring ; Tn. brynge. 48. D. slye (rightly) ; Tn. sly ; F. sley. 
 50. F. thro. Harl. Tn. D. furious; Y. furiousc. 51. Harl. Tn. 
 
 wrath; F. wreth. 52. F. hertis. 53. F. eueriche. 55. D. 
 
 among ; F. amonge. D. bothe ; F. both (but wrothe in 1. 56). 56. 
 K. eueriche. 58. Ilarl. Parthonopee; Cx. Parthonope ; D. Par- 
 
 tonope; Tn. Partinope; Y. B. Prothonolope (!). 59. Harl. Tn. 
 
 dede ; F. ded. / supply was, luhich both sense and metre require. ¥. 
 proude. 60. So ¥. Tn. B. Lt. ; Harl. 1). put wrechid (wrecchid) yi?;- 
 wrecches. 61. Cx. hom ; resthome. 62. F. slode. 66. F. helde.
 
 VII. ANEIIDA AND A R CITE. 105 
 
 So what for love of him, and what for awe, 
 
 The noble folk wer to the toune ydrawe. 70 
 
 Among al these, Anclida the quene 
 Of Ermony was in that toun dwellinge. 
 That fairer was then is the sonne shene; 
 Through-out the world so gan her name springe, 
 That her to seen had every wight lykinge ; 75 
 
 For, as of trouthe, is ther noon her liche, 
 Of al the women in this worlde riche. 
 
 Yong was this quene, of twenty yeer of elde, 
 
 Of midel stature, and of swich fairnesse. 
 
 That nature had a loye her to behelde; 80 
 
 And for to speken of her stedfastnesse, 
 
 She passed hath Penelope and Lucresse, 
 
 And shortly, if she shal be comprehended. 
 
 In her ne mighte no-thing been amended. 
 
 This Theban knight [Arcite] eek, soth to seyn, 85 
 
 Was yong, and ther-with-al a lusty knight, 
 
 But he was double in love and no-thing pleyn, 
 
 And subtil in that crafte over any wight. 
 
 And with his cunning wan this lady bright; 
 
 For so ferforth he gan her trouthe assure, 90 
 
 That she him trusted over any creature. 
 
 What shuld I seyn ? she loved Arcite so. 
 That, whan that he was absent any throwe, 
 
 70. F. folke. 72. Tn. dwellynge ; F. duellyng. 73. F. snnne ; 
 
 Harl. Tn. D. Cx. sonne. 74. D. Through ; F. Thorogh. Tn. 
 
 sprynge; F. spring. 75. Tn. likynge ; F. likyng. 77. Harl. Tn. 
 
 D. Cx. the ; F. thes. 78. twenty is written xxti in the MS.S. D. yeer 
 olde ; Cx. yere olde ; Lt. of olde ; rest of elde. 79. Tn. mydelk ; F. 
 mydil. F. suche. So. Y. loy. 81. 1). stedfastnesse; Y. stidfast- 
 
 nesse. 82. F. B. both; rest \ya.'Ca.. Harl. penelope; F. and others 
 
 penolope. 84. Harl. ne; rest om. Tn. myghte; F. myght. 85. / 
 supply Arcite, which all the MSS. omit, leaving the line too short. 
 Y . seyne. 86. Harl. yong ; F. yonge. Harl. there with all^ (^so D. 
 Cx. Lt.); F. therto with al. 87. F. pleyne. 88. Harl. any ; 
 
 F. eny. 89. D. Lt. Cx. wan ; F. whan (!). 90. F. ferfurthe. F. 
 
 can; rest ^-xxx. 91. D. any; F. eny. 93. F. eny throw.
 
 106 VII. ANELIDA AND A K CITE. 
 
 Anon her thoghte her herte brast a-two; 
 
 For in her sight to her he bar him lowe, 95 
 
 So that she wende have al his herte y-knowe ; 
 
 But he was fals; it nas but feyned chare, 
 
 As nedeth not to men such craft to lere. 
 
 But never-the-les ful mikel besynesse 
 
 Had he, er that he mighte his lady winne, 100 
 
 And swoor he wolde dyen for distresse, 
 
 Or from his wit he seyde he wolde twinne. 
 
 Alas, the whyle ! for hit was routhe and sinnc, 
 
 That she upon his sorowes wolde rewe, 
 
 But no-thing thenketh the fals as doth the trewe. 105 
 
 Her fredom fond Arcite in swich manere, 
 
 That al was his that she hath, moche or lyte, 
 
 Ne to no creature made she chere 
 
 Ferther than that it lyked to Arcite ; 
 
 Ther was no lak with which he mighte her wyte, no 
 
 She was so ferforth yeven him to plese, 
 
 That al that lyked him, hit did her ese. 
 
 Ther nas to her no maner lettre ysent 
 
 That touched love, from any maner wight, 
 
 That she ne shewed hit him, er it was brent; 115 
 
 So pleyn she was, and did her fuUe might, 
 
 That she nil hyden nothing from her knight, 
 
 Lest he of any untrouthe her upbreyde ; 
 
 Withouten bode his heste she obeyde. 
 
 And eek he made him lelous over here 120 
 
 That, what that any man had to her seyd, 
 
 94. F. thoght; hert. 95. F. bare. 96. F. hert. loi. Harl. 
 Tn. U. B. swore (yor swoor) ; Cx. sware ; F. sworiic. 105. Tn. 
 
 thenketh ; F. thinketh. 106. F. fonde. 107. F. B. ivivngly insert 
 both l>cfo)-c moche ; 7-est omit. F. B. and ; rest or. 109. Marl. C.x. that ; 
 rest omit. no. F. wiche; myght. 11 [. Tn. yeuen ; F. yevin. 
 
 112. F. dyd her hert an ese; Harl. Cx. omit hert an; others vary. 
 114, 118. D. any; F. eny. 1 16. Tn. D. B. fulk ; rest ivX. 119. 
 
 Harl. Cx. hesle ((//j-jy/ZaZi/c) ; rest \\e.x\G., hert. 120. F. eke. Tn. 
 
 lelous; F. lelouse. U. Cx. here {^for the rime); F. her. I2i- 
 
 Harl. any ; F. eny. F. seyde.
 
 Vir. ANELIDA AMD A R CITE. I07 
 
 Anoon he wolde preyen her to swere 
 
 What was that word, or make him evel apayd ; 
 
 Then wande she out of her wit have brayd ; 
 
 But al this nas but sleight and flaterye, 125 
 
 Withouten love he feyned Iclosye. 
 
 And al this took she so debonerly, 
 
 That al his wille her thoghte hit skilful thing, 
 
 And ever the lenger she loved him tenderly, 
 
 And did him honour as he wer a king. 130 
 
 Her herte was wedded to him with a ring ; 
 
 So ferforth upon trouthe is her entente, 
 
 That wher he goth, her herte with him wente. 
 
 Whan she shal ete, on him is so her thoght, 
 
 That wel unnethe of mete took she keep; 135 
 
 And whan that she was to her reste broght. 
 
 On him she thoghte alwey til that she sleep ; 
 
 Whan he was absent, prevely she weep ; 
 
 Thus liveth fair Anelida the queue 
 
 For fals Arcite, that did her al this tene. 140 
 
 This fals Arcite, of his new-fangelnesse. 
 
 For she to him so lowly was and trewe, 
 
 Took lesse deynte for her stedfastnesse, 
 
 And saw another lady, proud and newe, 
 
 And right anon he cladde him in her hewe — 145 
 
 Wot I not whether in whyte, rede, or grene — 
 
 And falsed fair Anelida the queue. 
 
 123. F. worde. Hail. Tn. apayde; F. apaied; read apayd. 124. 
 F. wend. Cx. brayd; Tn. breyde; F. breyed. 125. Harl. Cx. 
 
 nas; resi was. D. sleight; Cx. sleyght; F. sleght. 126. Harl. 
 
 Withoulen; F. With out. 127. F. toke. F. B. as ; r^j/ so. 12S. 
 Harl. Tn. wille ; F. wil. F. thoght. 131. F. ringe. 132. Harl. 
 
 Cx. So; ;■«/ For so. Harl. Tn. entente; F. entent. 133. Tn. herte; 
 F. hert. Harl. Tn. wente ; F. went. 135. F. toke ; kepe. 136. 
 
 Harl. Cx. that; ;rj/ omit. Harl. D. Cx. reste; F. rest. 137. 
 
 Tn. thoghte ; F. thoght. Harl. Tn. Cx. alwey ; F. ay. F. slepe. 
 138. F. wepe. 139. Cx. fayr; F. feire. 141. D. newfangilnesse ; 
 
 Tn. newfangulnes ; F. new fanglesse. 143. F. Toke. D. sted-; F. 
 slid-. 144. F. proude. 145. Harl. D. cladde ; F. clad. 146. 
 
 F. whethir.
 
 Io8 Vn. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. 
 
 But never-the-lcs, gret wonder was hit noon 
 
 Thogh he wer fals, for it is kynd of man, 
 
 Sith Lamek was, that is so longe agoon, 150 
 
 To ben in love as fals as ever he can ; 
 
 He was the firste fader that began 
 
 To loven two, and was in bigamye ; 
 
 And he found tentes first, but if men lye. 
 
 This fals Arcite sumwhat moste he feyne, 155 
 
 Whan he wex fals, to cover his traitorye, 
 
 Right as an hors, that can both byte and pleyne; 
 
 For he bar her on honde of trecherye, 
 
 And swoor he coude her doublenesse espye, 
 
 And al was falsnes that she to him mente ; 160 
 
 Thus swoor this theef, and forth his way he wente. 
 
 Alas ! what herte might enduren hit, 
 
 For routhe or wo, her sorow for to telle ? 
 
 Or what man hath the cunning or the wit? 
 
 Or what man might with-in the chambre dwelle, 165 
 
 If I to him rehersen shal the helle, 
 
 That suffreth fair Anelida the quene 
 
 For fals Arcite, that did her al this tcne ? 
 
 She wepeth, waileth, swowneth pitously. 
 
 To grounde deed she falleth as a sloon ; \ 70 
 
 Al crampissheth here limes crokedly, 
 
 She speketh as her wit were al agoon ; 
 
 Other colour then asshen hath she noon, 
 
 148. F. lesse grete. 149. Harl. Cx. omit the, which F. and others 
 insert aftei- is. 152. Ilarl. firste; F. first. 154. F. fonnde. ii;6. 
 Harl. Tn. D. couer ; F. coueren. 157. Harl. pleyne; F. pleyn. 
 
 159, 161. All swore. 160. Harl. Tn. mcnte ; F. inent. 161. 
 
 3J. Cx. theef; F. thefe. Harl. Tn. wente; F. went. 162. Tn. 
 
 herte; F. hert. Cx. enduren; r^^/ endure. 167. F. feir. 169. 
 
 Cx. swowneth; D. sowneth ; F. swoneth. 170. Harl. Tn. D. 
 
 grounde; F. ground. F. dede; ston. 171. Harl. Al ; rest om. Cx. 
 Crampissheth ; Lt. Crampuissheth ; Tn. Cranipicheth ; F. cravmpyssh^. 
 172. F. agon.
 
 VII. ANELIDA AND A K CITE. IO9 
 
 Noon other word she speketh moche or lyte, 
 
 But, ' mercy, cruel herte myn, Arcite ! ' 1 75 
 
 And thus endureth, til that she was so mate 
 
 That she ne hath foot on which she may sustene ; 
 
 But forth languisshing ever in this estate, 
 
 Of which Arcite hath nother routhe ne tene ; 
 
 His herte was elles-where, newe and grene, 180 
 
 That on her wo ne deyneth him not to thinke, 
 
 Him rekketh never wher she flete or sinke. 
 
 His newe lady holdeth him so narowe 
 
 Up by the brydel, at the staves ende, 
 
 That every word, he dred hit as an arowe; 185 
 
 Her daunger made him bothe bowe and bende. 
 
 And as her liste, made him turne or wende ; 
 
 For she ne graunted him in her livinge 
 
 No grace, why that he hath lust to singe ; 
 
 But drof him forth, unnethe liste her knowe 190 
 
 That he was servaunt [to] her ladyshippe, 
 
 But lest that he wer proude, she held him lowe ; 
 
 Thus serveth he, withouten mete or sippe, 
 
 She sent him now to londe, now to shippe; 
 
 And for she yaf him daunger al his fille, 195 
 
 Therfor she had him at her owne wille. 
 
 Ensample of this, ye thrifty wimmen alle. 
 Take here Anelida and fals Arcite, 
 
 174. Harl. Noon; Cx. None; the rest insert Ne before Noon. For 
 she speketh. all the MSS. /^az't' speketh she. 175. F. mercie; hert. 
 
 178. F. B. for ; rest iovih.. 179. Tn. D. nothir ; F. nouther. 180. 
 F. wher : rest where. 183. All but Harl. insert up before so ; but see 
 
 next line. 184. F. bridil. 185. F. worde. Harl. Cx. drad. 187. 
 Tn.Cx. liste; Harl. lyste; F. lust. 190. Harl. Cx. vnnethe ; F. 
 
 vnneth. F. list. 191. .^4// un-to ; readio. 192. Cx. proud; Y. 
 
 proude. Harl. Cx. held ; F. helde. 193. Harl. withouten ; F. with 
 
 out. Harl. Cx. mele ; rest fee {^vrongly). Cx. sype {for sippe) ; ed. 
 162 1 sip; F. B. Lt. shippe {caught from 1. 194); D. shipt*; Harl. 
 shepe(!); Tn. shep(!"). 195. U. yaf; F. yafe. 196. Harl. owne; 
 F. ovne. 197. Harl, Tn. D. thrifty; F. thrifte. 198. B. here; 
 
 F. her (i. e. here) ; Tn. D. here of; Cx. Lt. hede of.
 
 no VII. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. 
 
 That for her Hste him ' dere herte ' calle, 
 
 And was so meek, therfor he loved her lyte ; 200 
 
 The kynd of marines herte is to delyte 
 
 In thing that straunge is, also god me save ! 
 
 For what he may not gete, that wolde he have. 
 
 Now turnc we to Anelida ageyn, 
 
 That pyncth day by day in languisshing ; 205 
 
 But whan she saw that her ne gat no geyn, 
 
 Upon a day, ful sorowfully weping, 
 
 She caste her for to make a compleyning, 
 
 And with her owne honde she gan hit wryte ; 
 
 And sente hit to her Theban knyght Arcite. 210 
 
 The compleynt of Anelida the quene upon fals Arcite. 
 
 Proem. 
 
 So thirleth with the poynt of remembraunce, 
 The swerd of sorowe, y-whet with fals plesaunce, 
 
 IVlyn herte, bare of blis and blak of hewe, 
 That turned is to quaking al my daunce. 
 My surete in a-whaped countenaunce ; .ii^ 
 
 Sith hit availelh not for to ben trewe ; 
 
 For who-so trewest is, hit shal her rewe, 
 That serveth love and doth her observaunce 
 
 Alwey to oon, and chaungeth for no newe. 
 
 199. Tn. Cx. liste (//. i.) ; F. list. Harl. Cx. dere herte ; F. her dcr 
 hert. 200. A// mcke. 201. ////kynde (kinde). F. hert. 203. 
 1 larl. Cx. he {(zvicc) ; F. and otficrs wrongly have they the 2nd time. 
 206. F. sawe. 208. Harl. Tn. caste; F. cast. 209. Harl. owne; 
 F. ovne. 210. F. sent. F. B. omit hit ; 7-est retain. 
 
 Title. So in F. {but misspelt Analida); B. The complaynt of fey re 
 .\iielida on fals Arcyte ; D. Litera Annelide Rcgine. 211. Ilarl. 
 
 thirllcthe ; Cx. ihirleth ; F. D. thirled ^.i). 212. B. swerd; F. siierde. 
 
 K. y-whct; B. l-whel; rc^/ whet. 213. Tn. herte; F. hert. Ilarl. 
 
 Tn. 1). blak; F. hlake. 215. Tn. B. Lt. surete; F. siierte. F. B. in 
 \o ; rest in. D. Cx. a wliaped ; Harl. a whaaped ; F. a waped. 216. 
 Marl, for; rest om. 217. Harl. trewest ; F. truest. Harl. hir ; Cx. 
 
 her; F. and others \i\\x\ (Init see 1. 2iS\ 218. F. dothe.
 
 VI I. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. I I r 
 
 {Strophe) 
 
 1. I wot my-self as wel as any wight ; 230 
 For I loved oon with al my herte and might 
 
 More then my-self, an hundred thousand sythe, 
 And cleped him my hertes lyf^. my knight, 
 And was al his, as fer as it was right; 
 
 And whan that he was glad, than was I blythe, n^ 
 
 And his disese was my deeth as swythe ; 
 And he ayein his trouthe me had plight 
 
 For ever-more, his lady me to kythe. 
 
 2. Alas ! now hath he left me, causeles. 
 
 And of my wo he is so routheles, 230 
 
 That with a worde him list not ones deyne 
 
 To bring ayen my sorowful herte in pees, 
 
 For he is caught up in a-nother lees. 
 
 Right as him list, he laugheth at my peyne, 
 
 And I ne can myn herte not restreyne, 2. -^5 
 
 That I ne love him alwey, never-the-les ; 
 And of al this I not to whom me pleyne. 
 
 3. And shal I pleyne — alas ! the harde stounde — 
 Un-to my foo that yaf my herte a wounde. 
 
 And yet desyreth that myn harm be more ? 240 
 Nay, certes ! ferther wol I never founde 
 Non other help, my sores for to sounde. 
 
 My desteny hath shapen it ful yore ; 
 
 I wil non other medecyne ne lore ; 
 I wil ben ay ther I was ones bounde, 245 
 
 That I have seid, be seid for ever-more ! 
 
 220. Harl. any ; F. eny. 221. F. hert. 223. F. hertis life. 227 
 Harl. D. Cx. plight; F. I-plyght. 229. So F. B. ; Tn. Harl. Cx. I) 
 Now is he fals alas and causeles. 232. Tn. herte, pees ; F. hert, pes 
 
 233. Tn. caughte ; F. caght. Tn. lees; F. les. 234. F. B. nie (_!) 
 7-est him. 235. F. hert. 238. ¥. pleyn. Harl. Tn. harde ; F 
 
 hard. 239. F. yafe ; hert. 24O. F. harme. 241. F. certis 
 
 All be founde ; but be is copied in from the line above ; see 1. 47. 242 
 F. helpe. 243. Tn. desteny ; F. destany. F. B. om. ful. 246. F 
 seide {twice).
 
 112 VII. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 
 
 4. Alas ! M'her is become your gentilesse ? 
 Your wordes ful of plcsaunce and humblesse ? 
 
 Your observaunces in so low manere, 
 And your awayting and your besinesse 250 
 
 Upon me, that ye calden your maistresse, 
 
 Your sovereyn lady in this worlde here ? 
 
 Alas ! and is ther nother word ne chere 
 Ye vouchesauf upon myn hevinesse ? 
 
 Alas ! your love, I bye hit al to derc. 255 
 
 5. Now certes, swete, thogh that ye 
 Thus causeles the cause be 
 
 Of my dedly adversite, 
 Your manly reson oghte it to respyte 
 
 To slee your frend, and namely me, 260 
 
 That never yet in no degre 
 
 Offended yow, as wisly he. 
 That al wot, out of wo my soule quyte ! 
 
 llBut for I shewed yow, Arcite, 
 
 Al that men wolde to me wryte, 265 
 
 And was so besy, yow to delyte — 
 My honour save — meke, kynd, and fre, 
 
 Therfor ye putte on me the wyte. 
 
 And of me recche not a myte, 
 
 Thogh that the swerd of sorow byte 270 
 
 My woful hcrte through your cruelte. 
 
 6. My swete foo, why do ye so, for shame ? 
 And thenke ye that furthered be your name, 
 
 To love a newe, and be untrewc ? nay ! 
 
 252. F. souereigne. 253. I supply a.-n(lf7'om C\. ; Harl. /;aj And 
 
 is there nowe neyther. 254. Lt. vouchesauf; Cx. vouchen sauf ; F. 
 
 vouchesafe. 256. F. certis. 257. F. B. causer {for caus-e') ; rest 
 
 cause. 258. F. dedely. 259. F. oght. 260. Harl. slee; Tn. D. 
 
 Cx. sle ; F. sleue. F. frende. 263. Harl. wot ; F. vvote. 264, 
 
 265. Harl. Cx. But for I was so pleyne. Arcite, In alk my werkes, 
 much and lyle ; a7zii omit was in 1. 266. 267. F. honor. Tn. 
 
 saue ; F. D. safe. ¥. kynde. 268. F. put. 269. Harl. Tn. 
 
 recche; F. rek. 270. F. ]i. om. that. F. suerde. 271. Tn. herle ; 
 F. hert. F. thro. 272. F. suele. 274. Ilarl. Tn. vntrewc F. vntrew.
 
 VII. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. II3 
 
 And putte yow in sclaunder now and blame, 275 
 And do to me adversite and grame, 
 
 That love yow most, God, wel thou wost ! 
 
 alway ? 
 
 Yet turn ayeyn, and be al plcyn som day, 
 
 And than shal this that now is mis be game, 
 
 And al for-yive, whyl that I live may. 280 
 
 i^AnfisiropIii'.) 
 
 1. Lo ! herte myn, al this is for to seyne, 
 As whether shal I preye or elles pleyne ? 
 
 Whiche is the wey to doon yow to be trewe ? 
 For either mot I have yow in my cheyne, 
 Or with the dethe ye mot departe us tweyne ; 285 
 
 Ther ben non other mene weyes newe ; 
 
 For god so wisly on my soule rewe, 
 As verily ye sleen me with the peyne ; 
 
 That may ye se unfeyned of myn hewe. 
 
 2. For thus ferforth have I my deth [y]-soght, 290 
 My-self I mordre with my prevy thoght ; 
 
 For sorowe and routhe of your unkyndenesse 
 I wepe, I wake, I faste ; al helpeth noght ; 
 I weyve loy that is to speke of oght, 
 
 I voyde companye, I fle gladnesse ; 295 
 
 Who may avaunte her bet of hevinesse 
 Then I ? and to this plyte have ye me broght, 
 
 Withoute gilt ; me nedeth no witnesse. 
 
 275. Harl. putte ; F. put. 27S. Tn. D. Ff. Lt. turne ; rest come 
 
 279. Tn. Harl. Cx. D. Lt. And then shall this that now is mis ben 
 (be) ; F. B. And turne al this that hath be mys to. 280. F. foryeve 
 Tn. foryife; Harl. 372 foryiue \rightly). 281. F. hert. Harl 
 
 seyne (gerund) ; F. seyn. 282. F. wheder; prey ; pleyn. 284, 5, 8 
 F. cheyn, tweyn, peyn. 287. D. Cx. on; Harl. of; F. Tn. vpon 
 
 288. D. verily ; F. verrely. 290. Harl. Cx. o?Ttit this stanza. F. dethe 
 {wrongly); rest Atih. y?// soght, sought ; read y-so^t. 291.0.6 
 
 mordre; F. mo?/;dre. 292. F. vnkyndnesse. 293. Tn. D. faste; 
 
 F. fast. 296. F. avaunt. Tn. B. Lt. bet ; F. bet^;-. 298. Tn. Lt. 
 With oute ; F. With out. 
 
 I 
 
 I
 
 1 14 VII. AN ELI DA AND ARCITE. 
 
 3. And shal I preye, and weyve womanhede? 
 
 Nay ! rather dcth then do so foul a dede, 300 
 
 And axe mercy gilteles ! what nede ? 
 And if I pleyne what lyf that I lede, 
 Yow rekketh not ; that know I, out of drede ; 
 
 And if I unto yow myn othes bede 
 
 For myn excuse, a scorn shal be my mede ; 305 
 Your chore floureth, but hit wol not sede ; 
 
 Ful longe agoon I oghte have take hcde. 
 
 4. For thogh I hadde yow to-morovv ageyn, 
 I might as wel holde Averill fro reyn, 
 
 As holde yow, to make yow be stedfast. 310 
 
 Almighty God, of trouthe sovereyn, 
 Whcr is the trouthe of man ? who hath hit sleyn ? 
 
 Who that hem loveth shal hem fynde as fast 
 
 As in a tempest is a roten mast. 
 Is that a tame best that is ay feyn 315 
 
 To renne away, when he is least agast? 
 
 5. Now mercy, swete, if I misseye, 
 Have I seyd oght amis, I preye ? 
 I not ; my wit is al aweye. 
 
 I fare as doth the song of Chaunle-pleure. 320 
 
 For now I pleyne, and now I pleye, 
 I am so mased that I deye, 
 Arcite hath born awey the keye 
 
 Of al my worlde, and my good aventure ! 
 
 299. Sonic of the final rimes in this stanza arc forced ones. F. prey. 
 300. F. dethe; foule. 301. F. mcrcie. Tn. gilteles ; F. giltles. 
 
 302. Harl. pleyne ; F. pleyn. F. lyfe. Harl. Cx. ins. that ; F. and 
 others omit. 304. Tn. D. unto ; F. to. 305. F. skorne. 306. 
 
 F. om. hit. 307. F. and others insc7-t to before have ; Tn. D. C.x. 
 
 omit. 308. D. hadde; F. had. 309. F. Aj^prile ; Harl. Aueryll. 
 
 310. F. stidfast. 311. F. souereigne. 312. F. slayn. 313. F. B. 
 insert she before shal; rest ofti. 316. F. lest. 317. F. mercie. 
 
 ¥. missey {omitting e in -eye throughout, wrongly^ ; Harl. myssaye, 
 &c. 318. F. seyde. 320. F. dothe ; songe. F. channt pluie ; Harl. 
 Chaunte pleure. 321. F. pleyn. 323. F. borne.
 
 VH. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. II5 
 
 llFor in this worlde nis creature 325 
 
 Wakinge, in more discomfiture 
 
 Then I, ne more sorow endure ; 
 And if I slepe a furlong wey or tweye, 
 
 Than thinketh me, that your figure 
 
 Before me stant, clad in asure, 330 
 
 To swere yet eft a newe assure 
 For to be trewe, and mercy me to preye. 
 
 6. The longe night this wonder sight I drye, 
 And on the day for this afray I dye, 334 
 
 And of al this right noght, y-wis, ye recche. 
 Ne never mo myn yen two be drye, 
 And to your routhe and to your trouthe I crye. 
 
 But welawey ! to fer be they to fecche ; 
 
 Thus holdeth me my destine a wrecche. 
 But me to rede out of this drede or gye 340 
 
 Ne may my wit, so weyk is hit, not strecche. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Than ende I thus, sith I may do no more, 
 I yeve hit up for now and ever-more ; 
 
 For I shal never eft putten in balaunce 
 My sekernes, ne lerne of love the lore. 345 
 
 But as the swan, I have herd seyd ful yore, 
 
 Ayeins his deth shal singe in his penaunce, ■ 
 
 So singe I here my destiny or chaunce, 
 How that Arcite Anelida so sore 
 
 Hath thirled with the poynt of remembraunce ! 350 
 
 325. Harl. Cx. nys ; F. B. ther is no ; Tn. D. ther nis no ( too many 
 syllables). 328. F. furlonge. F. B. other (yor or) ; rest or. 329. F. 
 thenketh; Tn. thynketh. 330. Tn. stant; F. stont. 331. Tn. D. C.x. 
 Lt. assure ; F. asure. 332. F. trew ; mercie. 335. F. reche ; Tn. D. 
 recche; and so zvil/i feche, Szc. 339. F. destany ; Tn. destyne (y^>- 
 
 the ritne). 341. F. weyke. 343. Harl. D. Cx. yeve ; F. yf; Tn. 
 
 gife. 344. F. efte. Tn. Cx. putten ; F. put. 347. Tn. deth; F. 
 
 dethe. Tn. D. Lt. Ff. insert in ; rest oni. 34S. Harl. Tn. destenye ; 
 
 D. destjTiye ; F. destany. 349. F. Analida. F. B. to ; rest so.
 
 Il6 VII. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. 
 
 The story continued. 
 
 Whan that Anelida this woful quene 
 
 Hath of her hande writen in this wyse, 
 
 With face deed, betwixe pale and grene, 
 
 She fel a-swowe ; and sith she gan to ryse, 
 
 And unto Mars avo\vet"h sacrifyse 355 
 
 With-in the temple, with a sorowful chere, 
 
 That shapen was as ye shal after here. 357 
 
 (^Unfinished.) 
 
 351. Ttiis stanza only occurs in Tn. D. Lt. Ff. I follow Tn. mainly. 
 Tn. Annelida; wofuU. 352. Tn. Lt. Ff. of; D. with. 353. D. 
 
 deed ; rest dede. D. betwixe ; Ff. bitwixte ; Tn. Lt. betwix. 354. 
 
 Tn. felle. Ff. a swowe ; Tn. a swow. 355. Lt. avoweth ; D. 
 
 avovvith ; Tn. avoyth. 356. Tn. With-Inne : rest With-in. Tn. 
 
 sorofullt". 357. Tn. shapyn ; aftyr.
 
 VIII. CHAUCERS WORDES UNTO ADAM, HIS 
 OWNE SCRIVEYN. 
 
 Adam scriveyn, if ever il thee bifalle 
 
 Boece or Troilus to wryten newe, 
 
 Under thy lokkes thou most have the scalle, 
 
 But after my making thou wryte trewe. 
 
 So ofte a daye I mot thy werk renewe, 5 
 
 Hit to correcte and eek to rubbe and scrape ; 
 
 And al is through thy negligence and rape. 
 
 From T. ( = MS. R. 3. 20 in Trin. Coll. Library, Cambridge). // 
 also occurs in Stowe's edition (1561). 
 
 Title ; T. has — Chauciers wordes .a. Geffrey vn-to Adame his oweii 
 scryveyne ; Stowe has — Chaucers woordes vnto his ovvne Scriuener. 
 
 I. T. scryveyne; byfalle. 2. T. Troylus for to ; nuwe. 3. T. thy 
 long lokkes \^sce note) ; thowe. 4. T. affler ; makyng thowe wryte 
 mure truwe {see note). 5. T. offt ; renuwe. 6. T. It ; corect ; 
 
 Stowe has correcte. T. eke. 7. T. thorugh ; neclygence.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. 
 
 Book I. 
 
 God turne us every drcem to gode ! 
 
 For hit is wonder, by the rode, 
 
 To my wit, what causeth swevenes 
 
 Either on morwes, or on evenes ; 
 
 And why theffect folweth of somme, 5 
 
 And of somme hit shal never come ; 
 
 Why that is an avisioun, 
 
 Why this, a revelacioun, 
 
 Why this a dreem, why that a sweven, 
 
 And nat to every man liche even; jo 
 
 Why this a fantome, these oracles, 
 
 I noot : but who-so of these miracles 
 
 The causes knoweth bet than I, 
 
 Devyne he; for I certeynly 
 
 Ne can hem noght, ne never thinke 15 
 
 To besily my wit to swinke. 
 
 To knowe of her signifiaunce 
 
 The gendres, neither the distaunce 
 
 Of tymes of hem, ne the causes 
 
 For-why this more then that cause is ; 20 
 
 As if folkcs complexiouns 
 
 IMake hem dreme of reflexiouns ; 
 
 Or elles thus, as others sayn, 
 
 The authorities are F. (Fairfax 16) ; B. (Bodley 638) ; P. (Pepys 
 2006); Cx. (Caxton's ed.) ; Th. (Thynne's ed. 1532). I follow F. 
 mainly, correcting the spelling. 
 
 I. P. drem ; rest dremc. 8. All the copies have And why, to the 
 
 injury of the tnetre. 9, 10. F. swevene, evene ; Cx. Th. sweuen, 
 
 euen. 11. Th. B. a fantome ; Cx. a fanton ; F. affaintome ; after 
 
 which all needlessly insert w^H'j. 12. F.Th.B.not; Cx. note (= noot). 
 ■omit so. 20. All wrongly insert is before more.
 
 IX. THE IIOUS OF FAME. BOOK I. II9 
 
 For to great feblesse of her brayn, 
 
 By abstinence, or by seknesse, 25 
 
 Prison, stewe, or gret distresse ; 
 
 Or elles by disordinaunce 
 
 Of naturel acustomaunce, 
 
 That som man is to curious 
 
 In studie, or melancolious, 30 
 
 Or thus, so inly ful of drede 
 
 That no man may him bote bede; 
 
 Or elles, that devocioun 
 
 Of somme, and contemplacioun 
 
 Causeth swiche dremes ofte ; 35 
 
 Or that the cruel lyf unsofte 
 
 Which these ilke lovers leden 
 
 That hopen over muche or dreden, 
 
 That purely her impressiouns 
 
 Causeth hem avisiouns ; 40 
 
 Or if that spirits have the might 
 
 To make folk to dreme anight; 
 
 Or if the soule, of propre kynde. 
 
 Be so parfit, as men fynde. 
 
 That hit forwot that is to come, 45 
 
 And that hit warneth alle and somme 
 
 Of everiche of her aventures 
 
 By avisiouns, or by figures, 
 
 But that our flesch ne hath no might 
 
 To understonden hit aright, 50 
 
 For hit is warned to derkly ; 
 
 But why the cause is, noght wot I. 
 
 Wei worthe, of this thing, grete clerkes, 
 
 That trete of this and other werkes; 
 
 For I of noon opinioun 55 
 
 Nil as now make mencioun, 
 
 24. All feblenesse or feblenes. 26. F. B. stewe ; P. stoe ; Cx. 
 
 stryi ; Th. stryfe. 35. P. sweche ; rest suche, such. 45. F. B. 
 
 forwote ; rest wote. 50. F. vnderstonde, following by a metrical 
 
 mark, indicating a pause ; but add n.
 
 120 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK L 
 
 But only that the holy rode 
 
 Turne us every drcem to gode ! 
 
 For never, sith that I was born, 
 
 Ne no man elles, me byforn, 60 
 
 Mette, I tiowe stedfastly, 
 
 So wonderful a dreem as I, 
 
 The tenthe day dide of Decembre, 
 
 The which, as I can now remembre, 
 
 I wol yow tellen every del. 65 
 
 The Invocation. 
 
 But at my ginning, trusteth wel, 
 
 I wol make invocacioun, 
 
 With special devocioun, 
 
 Unto the god of slepe anoon, 
 
 That dwelleth in a cave of stoon 70 
 
 Upon a streem that comth fro Lete, 
 
 That is a flood of helle unswete; 
 
 Besyde a folk men clepe Cimerie, 
 
 Ther slepeth ay this god unmerie 
 
 With his slepy thousand sones 75 
 
 That alway for to slepe her wone is — 
 
 And to this god, that I of rede, 
 
 Preye I that he wolde me spede 
 
 My sweven for to telle aright, 
 
 If every dreem stonde in his might. 80 
 
 And he, that mover is of al 
 
 That is and was, and ever shal. 
 
 So yive hem loye that hit here 
 
 Of alle that they dreme to-yere. 
 
 And for to stonden alle in grace 85 
 
 58, 62. MS.S. dreme ( = dreem). 63. See note. 64. B. P. now ; 
 F. yow; rest om. "ji. P. strem ; rfj-/^ streme ( = streem ) ; so ¥. diem 
 {rest dreme) in 1. 80. MSS. cometh (=com'th\ 73. Cx. Th. clepe; 
 F. clepeth. 77. F. That; rest And. 8,-. F. B. stonde; Cx. Th. 
 
 stande ; P. stond. Cx. alle ; F. Th. al {-wrongly).
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK I. 121 
 
 Of her loves, or in what place 
 
 That hem wer levest for to stonde, 
 
 And shelde hem fro poverte and shonde, 
 
 And fro unhappe and eche disese, 
 
 And sende hem al that may hem plese, 90 
 
 That take hit wel, and scorne hit noght, 
 
 Ne hit misdeme in her thoght 
 
 Through malicious entencioun. 
 
 And who-so, through presumpcioun, 
 
 Or hate or scorne, or through envye 95 
 
 Dispile, or lape, or vilanye, 
 
 Misdeme hit, preye I lesus god 
 
 That (dreme he barefoot, dreme he shod), 
 
 That every harm that any man 
 
 Hath had, sith [that] the world began, 100 
 
 Befalle him therof, or he sterve, 
 
 And graunte he mote hit ful deserve, 
 
 Lo ! with swich conclusioun 
 
 As had of his avisioun 
 
 Cresus, that was king of Lyde, 105 
 
 That high upon a gebet dyde ! 
 
 This prayer shal he have of me ; 
 
 I am no bet in charite I 
 
 Now herkneth, as I have you seyd, 
 What that I mette, or I abreyd. 110 
 
 The Dream. 
 
 Of Decembre the tenthe day, 
 
 Whan hit was night, to slepe I lay 
 
 Right ther as I was wont to done. 
 
 And fil on slepe wonder sone, 
 
 As he that wery was for-go 115 
 
 On pilgrimage myles two 
 
 100. I supply that. 103. P. suche ; F. Cx. Th. B. suche a. 109, 
 no. Cx. seyd, abreyd; the rest seyde (sayde), abreyde (abrayde,. 
 Grammar requires seyd, abreyde ; the rime is false.
 
 122 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK 1. 
 
 To the corseynt Leonard, 
 
 To make lylhe of that was hard. 
 
 But as I sleep, me mette I was 
 Within a temple y-mad of glas; 120 
 
 In whiche ther were mo images 
 Of gold, stondinge in sondry stages, 
 And mo riche tabernacles, 
 And with perre mo pinacles, 
 
 And mo curious portreytures, 125 
 
 And queynte maner of figures 
 Of olde werke, then I saw ever. 
 For certeynly I niste never 
 Wher that I was, but wel wiste I, 
 Hit was of Venus redely, 130 
 
 This temple; for, in portreyture, 
 I saw anoon-right hir figure 
 Naked fletinge in a see. 
 And also on hir heed, parde, 
 
 Hir rose-garlond whyte and reed, 135 
 
 And hir comb to kembe hir heed, 
 Hir dowves, and dan Cupido, 
 Hir bhnde sone, and Vulcano, 
 That in his face was ful broun. 
 
 But as I romed up and doun, 140 
 
 I fond that on a wal ther was 
 Thus writen, on a table of bras : 
 ' I wol now singe, if that I can, 
 The armes, and al-so the man, 
 
 That first cam, through his destinee, 145 
 
 Fugitif of Troy contree, 
 
 117, 118. Cx. P. leonard, hard; F. Th. B. leonardc, harde. 119 
 
 MSS. slept, slepte ; rm(/ sleep. 122. F. Th. golde ; Cx. P. gold 
 
 B. goold. 126. ^:/// queynt. 127, 132. F. sawgh. 134. Th 
 
 heed; B. hed ; F. Cx. hede. Cx. Th. parde ; F. partee (!). 135. B 
 red; F. Th. rede; Cx. Rose garlondes smellynge as a mede. 137 
 
 MSS. combe. B. hed; rest hede. 139. Cx. P. brown; F. broune 
 
 140. Cx. down; F. dovne. 141. P. fond; F. Cx. B. fonde ; Th 
 
 founde. Cx. Th. wal; B. wall; F. walle. 143. F. B. say; rest 
 
 synge. F. B. om. that.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK I. 1 23 
 
 In Itaile, with ful moche pyne, 
 
 Unto the strondes of Lavyne.' 
 
 And tho began the story anoon, 
 
 As I shal telle yow echoon. 150 
 
 First saw I the destruccioun 
 Of Troye, through the Grek Synoun, 
 With his false forsweringe, 
 And his chere and his lesinge 
 
 Made the hors broght into Troye, 155 
 
 Thorgh which Troyens loste al her loye. 
 
 And after this was grave, alias ! 
 How Ilioun assailed was 
 And wonne, and king Priam y-slayn, 
 And PoHtes his sone, certayn, 160 
 
 Dispitously of dan Pirrus. 
 
 And next that saw I how Venus, 
 Whan that she saw the castel brende, 
 Doun fro the heven gan descende. 
 And bad hir sone Eneas flee ; 165 
 
 And how he fled, and how that he 
 Escaped was from al the pres. 
 And took his fader, Anchises, 
 And bar him on his bakke away, 
 Cryinge, ' Alias, and welaway ! ' 1 70 
 
 The whiche Anchises in his honde 
 Bar the goddes of the londe, 
 Thilke that unbrenned were. 
 
 And I saw next, in alle his fere, 
 How Creusa, dan Eneas wyf, 175 
 
 Which that he loved as his lyf, 
 And hir yonge sone lulo 
 And eek Ascanius also, 
 
 148. Cx. Th. P. Lauyne ; F. B. Labyne. 152. Cx. Th. P. Troye ; 
 
 F. B. Troy ; see 1. 155. 153. F. B. P. fals ; Cx. fals vntrewe ; Th. 
 
 false vntrewe. 159. Cx. Th. kyng ; F. B. kynge. F. Th. y-slayne ; 
 
 Cx. slayn. 160. Th. Polytes ; F. B. Polite. Fro7n this point I make 
 no further note of obvious corrections in spelling. 172. Cx. P. Th. 
 
 goddes ; F. B. goddesse \wrongly). 173. F. B. -brende; rest -brenned.
 
 124 ^-^'- THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK I. 
 
 Fledden eek with drery chere, 
 
 That hit was pitee for to here; 180 
 
 And in a forest, as they wente, 
 
 At a turninge of a wente, 
 
 How Creusa was y-lost, alias ! 
 
 That deed, [but] not I how, she was; 
 
 How he hir sough te, and how hir gost 185 
 
 Bad him to flee the Grekes ost, 
 
 And seyde, he moste unto Itaile, 
 
 As was his destiny, sauns faille ; 
 
 That hit was pitee for to here. 
 
 Whan hir spirit gan appere, 190 
 
 The wordes that she to him seyde, 
 
 And for to kepe hir sone him preyde. 
 
 Ther saw I graven eek how he, 
 
 His fader eek, and his meynee. 
 
 With his shippes gan to sayle 195 
 
 Towardes the contree of Itaile, 
 
 As streight as that they mighte go. 
 
 Ther saw I thee, cruel luno, 
 That art dan lupiteres wyf, 
 
 That hast y-hated, al thy lyf, 300 
 
 Al the Troyanisshe blood, 
 Renne and crye, as thou were wood. 
 On Eolus, the god of wyndes, 
 To blowen out, of alle kyndes, 
 
 So loude, that he shulde drenche 205 
 
 Lord and lady, grome and wenche 
 Of al the Troyan nacioun, 
 Wiihoute any savacioun. 
 
 Ther saw I swich tempeste aryse, 
 That every hertc mighte agryse, 210 
 
 184. F. P. That dede not I how she was ; B. That dcd not I how she 
 was ; Cx. That rede note 1 how it was ; Th. That rede nat 1 howe that it 
 was. Read Aiifidi, and insert h\x\.. 193. Cx. Th. grauen ; P. graven ; 
 
 F. grave ; B. graue. 199. P. lubiter ; rw/ lupiters ; pra^/ lupiteres. 
 
 204. F. blowej P. Cx. Th. blowen. 210. Th. herte ; rest hert.
 
 IX. THE HO US OF FAME. BOOK I. 1 25 
 
 To see hit peynted on the walle. 
 
 Ther saw I graven eek withalle, 
 Venus, how ye, my lady dere, 
 Wepinge with ful woful chcre, 
 
 Prayen lupiter an hye 215 
 
 To save and kepe that navye 
 Of the Troyan Eneas, 
 Sith that he hir sone was. 
 
 Ther saw I loves Venus kisse, 
 And graunted of the tempest Usse. 220 
 
 Ther saw I how the tempest stente, 
 And how with alle pyne he wente, 
 And prevely took arrivage 
 In the contree of Cartage ; 
 
 And on the morwe, how that he 225 
 
 And a knight, hight Achate, 
 Metten with Venus that day, 
 Goinge in a queynt array, 
 As she had ben an hunteresse, 
 
 With wynd blowinge upon hir tresse ; 230 
 
 How Eneas gan him to pleyne. 
 Whan that he knew hir, of his peyne ; 
 And how his shippes dreynte were, 
 Or elles lost, he niste where ; 
 
 How she gan him corriforte tho, 235 
 
 And bad him to Cartage go. 
 And ther he shulde his folk fynde, 
 That in the see were left behynde. 
 
 And, shortly of this thing to pace, 
 She made Eneas so in grace 240 
 
 Of Dido, queue of that contree, 
 That, shortly for to tellen, she 
 
 220. F. omits from lisse to tempest in next line ; the rest are right. 
 221, 222. F. stent, went; Cx. Th. stente, wente. 227. P. C.x. Th. 
 Metten; F. B. Mette. 235. F. P. comfort ; r^j/ comforte. 237. 
 
 P. folk ; restioWe.; but %\x\x\Ae. is he7-e dissyllalnc. 242. F. tel ; B. 
 
 telk ; P. C.x. Th. tellen.
 
 126 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK I, 
 
 Becam his love, and leet him do 
 
 That that wedding longeth to. ' 
 
 What shulde I speke more queynte, 245 
 
 Or peyne me my wordes peynte, 
 
 To speke of love ? hit wol not be ; 
 
 I can not of that faculte. 
 
 And eek to telle the manere 
 
 How they aqueynteden in fere, 250 
 
 Hit were a long processe to telle, 
 
 And over long for yow to dwelle. 
 
 Ther saw I grave, how Eneas 
 Tolde Dido every cas, 
 That him was tid upon the see. 255 
 
 And after grave was, how she 
 ]\Iade of him, shortly, at 00 word, 
 Hir lyf, hir love, hir lust, hir lord; 
 And did him al the reverence. 
 
 And leyde on him al the dispence, 260 
 
 That any woman mighte do, 
 Weninge hit had al be so, 
 As he hir swoor ; and her-by denied 
 That he was good, for he swich semed. 
 Alias ! what harm doth apparence, 265 
 
 Whan hit is fals in existence ! 
 For he to hir a traitour was ; 
 Wherfor she slow hir-self, alias ! 
 
 Lo, how a woman doth amis, 
 To love him that unknowen is! 2-0 
 
 For, by Crist, lo! thus hit fareth ; 
 ' Hit is not al gold, that glareth.' 
 For, al-so brouke I wel myn heed, 
 Ther may be under goodliheed 
 
 Kcvcrcd many a shrewed vyce ; 275 
 
 Therfor be no wight so nyce, 
 To take a love oonly for chere, 
 
 257,8. y^// worde, lorde. 260. Th. the ; rest omit. 270. F. 
 
 vnknowe; rest vnknowen.
 
 IX. THE HO US OF FAME. BOOK I. J 27 
 
 For speche, or for frendly manere ; 
 
 [For this shal every woman fynde 
 
 That som man, of his pure kynde, 280 
 
 Wol shewen outward the faireste, 
 
 Til he have caught that what him leste ; 
 
 And thanne wol he causes fynde,] 
 
 And swere how that she is unkynde, 
 
 Or fals, or prevy, or double was. 285 
 
 Al this seye I by Eneas 
 
 And Dido, and her nyce lest. 
 
 That lovede al to sone a gest ; 
 
 Therfor I wol seye a proverbe, 
 
 That ' he that fully knoweth therbe 290 
 
 May saufly leye hit to his ye'; 
 
 Withoute dreed, this is no lye. 
 
 But let us speke of Eneas, 
 How he betrayed hir, alias ! 
 
 And lefte hir ful unkyndely. 295 
 
 So whan she saw al-utterly, 
 That he wolde hir of trouthe faile, 
 And wende fro hir to Itaile, 
 She gan to wringe hir hondes two. 
 
 ' Alias ! ' quod she, ' what me is wo ! 300 
 
 Alias ! is every man thus trewe, 
 That every yere wolde have a newe. 
 If hit so longe tyme dure. 
 Or elles three, peraventure ? 
 
 As thus : of oon he wolde have fame 305 
 
 In magnifying of his name; 
 Another for frendship, seith he ; 
 And yet ther shal the thridde be. 
 That shal be taken for delyte, 
 Lo, or for singular profyte.' 310 
 
 278. Th. Or speche; rest Or (F. Of!) for speche; read For speche. 
 Lines 280-2S3 are in Th. only, lu/iich reads some; fayrest ; lest; than. 
 285. Cx. Th. \2,rd) or; F. B. P. o»i. 290. F. B. therbe ( = the herbe) ; 
 P. Cx. Th. the herbe. 305. Cx. Th. one ; P. on ; F. B. love.
 
 128 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK I. 
 
 In swiche wordes gan to pleyne 
 Dido of hir grete peyne, 
 As me mette redely ; 
 Non other auctour alegge L 
 
 'Alias!' quod she, 'my swete herte, 315 
 
 Have pitee on my sorwes smcrte, 
 And slee me not ! go noght away ! 
 O woful Dido, wel away ! ' 
 Quod she to hir-selve tho. 
 
 'O Eneas! what wil ye do? 320 
 
 O, that your love, ne your bonde, 
 That ye han sworn with your right honde, 
 Ne my cruel deth,' quod she, 
 May holde yow still heer with me ! 
 O, haveth of my deth pitee ! 325 
 
 Ywis, my dere herte, ye 
 Knowen ful wel that never yit, 
 As fer-forth as I hadde wit, 
 Agilte [I] yow in thoght ne deed. 
 O, have ye men swich goodliheed 330 
 
 In speche, and never a deel of trouthe ? 
 Alias, that ever hadde routhe 
 Any woman on any man ! 
 Now see I wel, and telle can, 
 
 We wrecched wimmen conne non art ; 335 
 
 For certeyn, for the more part. 
 Thus we be served everichone. 
 How sore that ye men conne grone, 
 Anoon as we have yow receyved ! 
 Certeinly we ben deceyved ; 340 
 
 For, though your love laste a sesoun, 
 Wayte upon the conclusioun, 
 
 313. /Y>r mette, Cx. Th. //az'<? mettc dremyng ;!) 314. F. auttour 
 
 = auctour. 315. F. he ; the rest she. 320. F. Th. wol ; P. wilk ; 
 Cx. wyl. 322. F. ha ; P. B. haue; rest om. 328. ^// had. 329. 
 I insert \; wliicli all omit. 332. P. harldc ; rest\\z.A.. 334. Cx. 
 
 telle; P. tellen ; F. tel. 341. F. omits this line ; the rest have it.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK I. 1 29 
 
 And eek how that ye determynen, 
 And for the more part diffynen. 
 
 ' O, welawey that I was born ! 345 
 
 For through yow is my name lorn, 
 And alle myn actes red and songe 
 Over al this lond, on every tonge. 
 O wikke Fame ! for ther nis 
 
 Nothing so swift, lo, as she is ! 350 
 
 O, soth is, every thing is wist, 
 Though hit be kevered with the mist. 
 Eek, thogh I mighte duren ever, 
 That I have doon, rekever I never, 
 That I ne shal be seyd, alias, 355 
 
 Y-shamed be through Eneas, 
 And that I shal thus luged be — 
 "Lo, right as she hath doon, now she 
 Wol do eftsones, hardily ; " 
 
 Thus seyth the peple prevely.' — 360 
 
 But that is doon, nis not to done ; 
 Al hir compleynt ne al hir mone, 
 Certeyn, availeth hir not a stre. 
 
 And whan she wiste sothly he 
 Was forth unto his shippes goon, 365 
 
 She in hir chambre wente anoon. 
 And called on hir suster Anne, 
 And gan her to compleyne thanne ; 
 And seyde, that she cause was 
 
 That she first lovede [Eneas], 370 
 
 And thus counseilled hir therto. 
 But what ! when this was seyd and do, ■ 
 She roof hir-selve to the herte. 
 And deyde through the wounde smerte. 
 
 347. F. B. al youre ; Cx. Th. P. myn {om. al). 352. F. B. ovi. be. 
 353. Th. duren ; F. dure. 358. Th. done; rest omit. 362. Allinsert 
 But before Al. 363. Cx. Th. P. CertejTi ; F. B. Certeynly. 365. 
 
 Cx. goon ; P. gon ; F. agoon ; B. agon. 366. All in to (for in). 
 370. All Alias (alas) ; ?va5 Eneas. 371. F. B. As ; the rest And. 
 
 E
 
 130 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK I. 
 
 But al the maner how she deyde, 375 
 
 And al the wordes that she seyde, 
 
 Who-so to knowe hit hath purpos, 
 
 Reed Virgile in Eneidos 
 
 Or the Epistle of Ovyde, 
 
 What that she wroot or that she dyde ; 380 
 
 And nere hit to long to endyte, 
 
 By God, I wolde hit here wryte. 
 
 But, welaway! the harm, the routhe, 
 That hath betid for swich untrouthe, 
 As men may ofte in bokes rede, 385 
 
 And al day seen hit yet in dede, 
 That for to thinken hit, a tene is. 
 
 Lo, Demophon, duk of Athenis, 
 How he forswor him ful falsly, 
 
 And trayed Phillis wikkedly, 390 
 
 That kinges doghter was of Trace, 
 And falsly gan his terme pace ; 
 And when she wiste that he was fals, 
 She heng hir-self right by the hals, 
 For he had do hir swich untrouthe; 395 
 
 Lo ! was not this a wo and routhe ? 
 
 Eek lo ! how fals and reccheles 
 Was to Briseida Achilles, 
 And Paris to Enone ; 
 
 And lason to Isiphile ; 400 
 
 And eft lason to Medea ; 
 And Ercules to Dyanira ; 
 For he lefte hir for lole, 
 That made him cacche his deeth, parde. 
 
 How fals eek was he, Theseus; 405 
 
 That, as the story telleth us, 
 
 375. Cx. Th. P. But; F. B. And. 381. F. And nor hyt were lo : 
 
 C'x. And nere it were lo ; Th. And iicre it to ; B. P. And ncr it were lo. 
 ■|"h. B. to endyte; F. Cx. tcndyte. 387. F. B. thynke; Cx. Th. 
 
 thynken. 391. F. B. om. was. 402. Cx. Th. P. And ; F. B. oniit.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. JWOK I. 131 
 
 How he betrayed Adriane ; 
 
 The devel be his soules bane ! 
 
 For had he laughed, had he loured, 
 
 He nioste have be al devoured, 410 
 
 If Adriane ne had y-be ! 
 
 And, for she had of him pite. 
 
 She made him fro the dethe escape, 
 
 And he made hir a ful fals lape ; 
 
 For after this, within a whyle 4if 
 
 He lefte hir slepinge in an yle, 
 
 Deserte alone, right in the se, 
 
 And stal away, and leet hir be ; 
 
 And took hir suster Phedra tho 
 
 With him, and gan to shippe go. 4^0 
 
 And yet he had y-sworn to here, 
 
 On al that ever he mighte swere. 
 
 That, so she saved him his lyf, 
 
 He wolde have take hir to his wyf; 
 
 For she desired nothing elles, 425 
 
 In certeyn, as the book us telles. 
 
 But to excusen Eneas 
 Fulliche of al his greet trespas, 
 The book se}'th [how] Mercure, sauns faile, 
 Bad him go into Itaile, 430 
 
 And leve Auffrykes regioun, 
 And Dido and hir faire toun. 
 
 Tho saw I grave, how to Itaile 
 Dan Eneas is go to saile ; 
 
 And how the tempest al began, 435 
 
 And how he loste his steresman. 
 Which that the stere, or he took keep, 
 Smot over-bord, lo ! as he sleep. 
 
 And also saw I how Sibyle 
 
 410. Th. al ; Cx. all ; P. alle ; F. ?•. oni. 426. F. B. 0111. as and us. 
 428. F. B. om. greet. 429. I sttpply liow. 433. F. B. how that ; rest 
 how. 434. Cx. P. to saylle ; Th. for to sayle ; F. B. for to assayle. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK I. 
 
 And Eneas, besyde an yle, 44° 
 
 To helle wente, for to see 
 
 His fader, Anchises the free. 
 
 How he ther fond Palinurus, 
 
 And Dido, and eek Deiphebus ; 
 
 And every tourment eek in helle 445 
 
 Saw he, which long is for to telle. 
 
 Which who-so willeih for to knowe, 
 
 He moste rede many a rowe 
 
 On Virgile or on Claudian, 
 
 Or Daunte, that hit telle can. 450 
 
 Tho saw I grave al tharivaile 
 That Eneas had in Itaile; 
 And with king Latine his tretee, 
 And alle the batailles that he 
 
 Was at him-self, and eek his knightes, 455 
 
 Or he had al y-wonne his rightes ; 
 And how he Turnus refle his lyf, 
 And wan Lavyna to his wyf ; 
 And al the mervelous signals 
 
 Of the goddes celestials ; 460 
 
 How, maugre luno, Eneas, 
 For al hir sleight and hir compas, 
 Acheved al his aventure; 
 For lupiter took of him cure 
 
 At the prayer of Venus ; 465 
 
 The whiche I preye alway save us, 
 And us ay of our sorwes lighte ! 
 
 Whan I had seen al this sighte 
 In this noble temple thus, 
 
 'A, Lord!' ihoughLe I, 'that madest us, 470 
 
 Yet saw I never swich noblesse 
 Of ymages, ne swich richessc, 
 
 446. Th. longe is for ; F. B. is long;e. Cx. P. wliychc no tonge can 
 telle. 451. For tharivaile, F. B. Th. have the aryvaylc ; Cx. the ai- 
 
 ryuaylle ; V. the arevaille. 458. F. labina ; rest Lauyna.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK I. 133 
 
 As I saw graven in this chirche ; 
 
 But not woot I who dide hem wirche, 
 
 Ne wher I am, ne in what contree. 475 
 
 But now wol I go out and see, 
 
 Right at the wiket, if I can 
 
 See o-wher stering any man, 
 
 That may me telle wher I am.' 
 
 When I out at the dores cam, 480 
 
 I faste aboute me beheld. 
 Then saw I but a large feld, 
 As fer as that I mighte see, 
 Withouten toun, or hous, or tree, 
 Or bush, or gras, or ered lond; 485 
 
 For al the feld nas but of sond 
 As smal as man may se yet lye 
 In the desert of Libye ; 
 Ne I no maner creature, 
 
 That is y-formed by nature, 490 
 
 Ne saw, me [for] to rede or wisse. 
 ' O Crist,' thoughte I, ' that art in blisse. 
 Fro fantom and illusioun 
 ]Me save ! ' and with devocioun 
 Myn yen to the heven I caste. 495 
 
 Tho was I war, lo ! at the laste, 
 That faste by the sonne, as hye 
 As kenne might I with myn ye, 
 Me thoughte I saw an egle sore, 
 But that hit semed moche more 500 
 
 Then I had any egle seyn. ^ 
 
 But this, as soth as deth, certeyn. 
 Hit was of golde, and shoon so bright, 
 That never saw men such a sight, 
 
 475. F. B. omit in. 478. Th. sterynge any; the rest any stirj'ng 
 (sterynge). 486. Cx. Th. P. was but of sonde (sande) ; F. B. nas 
 but sonde. 491. / insert for. Cx. Th. insert I after saw ; but it is 
 
 in 1. 489. 496. F. P omit lo. 504. F. B. omit lines 504-507.
 
 134 ^'\'- '^^I^' nous OF FAME. BOOK I. 
 
 But-if the heven hadde ywonne 505 
 
 Al newe of golde another sonne; 
 
 So shoon the egles fethres brighte, 
 
 x\nd somwhat dounward gan hit Hghte. 508 
 
 Explicit liber primus.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 
 
 Incipit liber secundus. 
 
 Proem. 
 
 Now herkneth, every maner man 
 That English understonde can, 510 
 
 And listeth of my dreem to lere ; 
 For now at erste shul ye here 
 So sely an avisioun, 
 That Isaye, ne Scipioun, 
 
 Ne king Nabugodonosor, 515 
 
 Pharo, Turnus, ne Eleanor, 
 Ne mette swich a dreem as this ! 
 Now faire blisful, O Cipris, (10) 
 
 So be my favour at this tyme ! 
 
 And ye, me to endyte and ryme 520 
 
 Helpeth, that on Parnaso dwelle 
 By Elicon the clere welle. 
 
 O Thought, that wroot al that I mette. 
 And in the tresorie hit shette 
 
 Of my brayn ! now shal men se 525 
 
 If any vertu in thee be, 
 To tellen al my dreem aright ; 
 Now kythe thyn engyne and might ! (20) 
 
 The Dream. 
 
 This egle, of which I have yow told, 
 That shoon with fethres as of gold, 530 
 
 Which that so hye gan to sore, 
 I gan beholde more and more, 
 
 Title. So in Cx. ; the rest omit it. 
 
 511. P. listeth; Th. lysteth ; F. Cx. listeneth ; B. lystneth. 514. 
 Cx. Th. Scipion; F. P. Cipion; B. Cypyon. 516. Th. Alcanore.
 
 136 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK II. 
 
 To se her beaute and the wonder; 
 
 But never was ther dint of thonder, 
 
 Ne that thing that men calle foudre, 535 
 
 That smit somtyme a tour to poudre, 
 
 And in his swifte coming brende, 
 
 That so swythe gan descende, (30) 
 
 As this foul, whan hit behelde 
 
 That I a-roume was in the felde ; 540 
 
 And with his grimme pawes stronge, 
 
 Within his sharpe nayles longe, 
 
 Me, fleinge, at a swappe he hente. 
 
 And with his sours agayn up wente. 
 
 Me caryinge in his clawes starke 545 
 
 As Hghily as I were a larke, 
 
 How high, I can not telle yow, 
 
 For I cam up, I niste how, (40) 
 
 For so astonied and a-sweved 
 
 Was every vertu in my heved, 550 
 
 What with his sours and with my drede, 
 
 That al my feling gan to dede ; 
 
 For-why hit was to greet affray. 
 
 Thus I longe in his clawes lay, 
 Til at the laste he to me spak 555 
 
 In mannes vols, and seyde, ' Awak ! 
 And be not so a-gast, for shame ! ' 
 And called me tho by my name. (50) 
 
 And, for I sholde the bet abreyde — 
 Me mette — ' Awak,' to me he seyde, 560 
 
 Right in the same vois and stevene 
 That useth oon I coude ncvene ; 
 And with that vois, soth for to sayn, 
 
 533. Cx. Th. P. her ; F. B. the. 535. F. B. kynge {by mistake for 
 thing). 536. Cx. Th. P. smyte ; F. B. smole. Cx. Th. P. to; F. 
 
 I^- of. 537. Cx. Th. P. brende ; F. beende ; B. bende. 543. Cx. 
 
 Th. P. at; F. B. in. 545. F. cryinge (!). 548. Cx. P. cam; F. 
 
 came. 552. P. Cx. Th. That ; F. B. And. F. felynge. 557. Cx. Th. 
 P. agast so {l)u( read so agast) ; F. B. omii so. 558. Cx. Th. tho ; 
 
 which F. B. P. omit.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK II. 1 37 
 
 jNIy mynde cam to me agayn ; 
 
 For hit was goodly seyd to me, 565 
 
 So nas hit never wont to be. 
 
 And herwithal I gan to stere, 
 And he me in his feet to here, (60) 
 
 Til that he felte that I had hete, 
 And felte eek tho myn herte bete. 570 
 
 And tho gan he me to disporte, 
 And with wordes to comforte, 
 And sayde twyes, ' Seynte Marie ! 
 Thou art noyous for to carie, 
 
 And nothing nedith hit, parde ! 575 
 
 For al-so wis God helpe me 
 As thou noon harm shalt have of this ; 
 And this cas, that betid thee is, (70) 
 
 Is for thy lore and for thy prow ; — 
 Let see ! darst thou yet loke now ? 580 
 
 Be ful assured, boldely, 
 I am thy frend.' And therwith I 
 Gan for to wondren in my mynde. 
 ' O God,' thoughte I, ' that madest kynde, 
 Shal I noon other weyes dye ? 585 
 
 Wher loves wol me stellifye, 
 Or what thing may this signifye.'' 
 I neither am Enok, ne Elye, (80) 
 
 Ne Romulus, ne Ganymede 
 
 That was y-bore up, as men rede, 590 
 
 To heven with dan lupiter. 
 And mad the goddes boteler.' 
 
 Lo I this was tho my fantasye ! 
 But he that bar me gan espye 
 
 That I so thoghte, and seyde this : — 595 
 
 ' Thou demest of thy-self amis ; 
 For loves is not ther-aboute — 
 
 566. B. nas; F. was. 570. F. that ; the rest •Ctno. 573. MSS. 
 
 seynt. 575. F. B. omit hit. 592. MSS. made.
 
 J 38 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 
 
 I dar wel put thee out of doute — (90) 
 
 To make of thee as yet a sterre. 
 
 But er I here thee moche ferre, 600 
 
 I wol thee telle what I aro, 
 
 And whider thou shalt, and why I cam 
 
 [For] to do this, so that thou take 
 
 Good herte, and not for fere quake.' 
 
 ' Gladly,' quod I. ' Now wel,' quod he : — 605 
 
 ' First I, that in my feet have thee, 
 
 Of which thou hast a fere and wonder, 
 
 Am dwelling with the god of thonder, (10°) 
 
 Which that men callen lupiter, 
 
 That doth me flee ful ofte fer 610 
 
 To do al his comaundement. 
 
 And for this cause he hath me sent 
 
 To thee : now herke, by thy trouthe ! 
 
 Certeyn, he hath of thee routhe, 
 
 That thou so longe trewely 615 
 
 Hast served so ententifly 
 
 His blynde nevew Cupido, 
 
 And fair Venus [goddesse] also, (11°) 
 
 Withoute guerdoun ever yit. 
 
 And nevertheles hast set thy wit — 620 
 
 Although that in thy hede ful lyte is — 
 
 To make bokes, songes, dytees. 
 
 In ryme, or elles in cadence, 
 
 As thou best canst, in reverence 
 
 Of Love, and of his servants eke, 625 
 
 That have his servise soght, and seke ; 
 
 And peynest thee to preyse his art, 
 
 Allhogh thou haddest never part; (120) 
 
 Wherfor, al-so God me blesse, 
 
 loves halt hit greet humblesse 630 
 
 603. I supply For. 618. goddesse is not hi the MSS. The line is 
 obviotisly too short. 621. Y. Th. lytel ; Cx. lytyl ; Jl litell ; P. litil 
 
 {^all w7-07!g); read\yie. 622. Cx. P. bookcs songes or dilees ; Th. 
 
 (jokes songes and ditees ; F. B. songes dytees bookys.
 
 IX. THE IIOUS OF FAME. BOOK 11. 1 39 
 
 And vertu eek, that thou wolt make 
 
 A-night ful ofte thyn heed to ake, 
 
 In thy studie so thou wrytest, 
 
 And ever-mo of love endytest, 
 
 In honour of him and in preysinges, 635 
 
 And in his folkes furtheringes, 
 
 And in hir matere al devysest, 
 
 And noght him nor his folk despysest, (13°) 
 
 Although thou mayst go in the daunce 
 
 Of hem that him list not avaunce. 640 
 
 Wherfor, as I seyde, y-wis, 
 lupiter considereth this, 
 And also, beau sir, other thinges ; 
 That is, that thou hast no tydinges 
 Of Loves folk, if they be glade, 645 
 
 Ne of noght elles that God made ; 
 And noght only fro fer contree 
 That ther no tyding comth to thee, (140) 
 
 But of thy verray neyghebores, 
 
 That dwellen almost at thy dores, 650 
 
 Thou herest neither that ne this ; 
 For whan thy labour don al is, 
 And hast mad al thy rekeninges, 
 In stede of reste and newe thinges, 
 Thou gost hoom to thy hous anoon; 655 
 
 And, also domb as any stoon. 
 Thou sittest at another boke. 
 
 Til fully daswed is thy loke, (150) 
 
 And livest thus as an hermyte, 
 Although thyn abstinence is lyte. 660 
 
 'And therfor loves, through his grace, 
 Wol that I here thee to a place, 
 Which that hight the House of Fame, 
 
 647. F. frerre {by mistake). 651. F. ner ; B. nor; Cx. Th. P. ne. 
 
 653. Cx. made alle thy; Th. made al thy; P. I-made alle thy; F. 
 ymade ; B. I-made. 658. Cx. P. daswed ; F. B. dasewyd ; Th. dased.
 
 I40 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 
 
 To do the som disport and game, 
 
 In som recompensacioun , 665 
 
 Of labour and devocioun 
 
 That thou hast had, lo ! causeles, 
 
 To Cupido, the reccheles ! (160) 
 
 And thus this god, thorgh his meryte, 
 
 Wol with som maner thing thee quyte, 670 
 
 So that thou wolt be of good chere. 
 
 For truste wel, that thou shalt here. 
 
 When we be comen ther I seye. 
 
 Mo wonder thinges, dar I leye. 
 
 Of Loves folke mo tydinges, 675 
 
 Both sothe sawes and lesinges ; 
 
 And mo loves new begonne. 
 
 And longe y-served loves wonne, (170) 
 
 And mo loves casuelly 
 
 That ben betid, no man woot why, 680 
 
 But as a blind man stert an hare; 
 
 And more lolytee and fare, 
 
 Whyl that they fynde love of stele. 
 
 As thinketh hem, and overal wele ; 
 
 Mo discords, and mo lelousyes, 685 
 
 Mo murmurs, and mo novelryes, 
 
 And mo dissimulaciouns, 
 
 And feyned reparaciouns ; (180) 
 
 And mo berdes in two houres 
 
 Withoute rasour or sisoures 690 
 
 Y-mad, then greynes be of sondes ; 
 
 And eke mo holdinge in hondes, 
 
 And also mo renovelaunccs 
 
 Of olde forleten aqueyntaunces ; 
 
 Mo love-dayes and acordes, 695 
 
 Then on instruments ben cordcs ; 
 
 And eke of loves mo eschaunges 
 
 673. Cx. Th. comen ; Y. come. 680. Cx. Th. ben ; P. been ; F. 
 
 B. otnit. 6S2. Cx, Th. V. welfare. 696. F. B. acordes (!)
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 141 
 
 Than ever cornes were in graunges; (190) 
 
 Unethe maistow trowen this ? ' — 
 
 Quod he. ' No, helpe me God so wis ! ' — 700 
 
 Quod I. ' No ? why ? ' quod he. • For hit 
 
 Were impossible, to my wit. 
 
 Though that Fame hadde al the pyes 
 
 In al a realme, and al the spyes, 
 
 How that yet he shulde here al this, 705 
 
 Or they espye hit.' ' O yis, yis ! ' 
 
 Quod he to me, ' that can I preve 
 
 By resoun, worthy for to leve, (200) 
 
 So that thou yeve thyn advertence 
 
 To understonde my sentence. 710 
 
 * First shalt thou heren wher she dwelleth, 
 And so thyn owne book hit telleth ; 
 
 Hir paleys stant, as I shal seye, 
 
 Right even in middes of the weye 
 
 Betwixen hevene, erthe, and see; 715 
 
 That, what-so-ever in al these three 
 
 Is spoken, in prive or aperte, 
 
 The air therto is so overte, (210) 
 
 And stant eek in so luste a place, 
 
 That every soun mot to hit pace, 720 
 
 Or what so comth fro any tonge, 
 
 Be hit rouned, red, or songe, 
 
 Or spoke in surete or in drede, 
 
 Certein, hit moste thider nede. 
 
 ' Now herkne wel ; for-why I wille 725 
 
 Tellen thee a propre skille, 
 And worthy demonstracioun 
 In myn imagynacioun. (220) 
 
 * Geffrey, thou wost right wel this, 
 
 That every kyndly thing that is, 730 
 
 711. P. heren ; r(?.r/ here. 715. F. and erthe; rest omit ^nA. 717. 
 Cx. Th. P. in ; F. B. either. 718. F. B. aire ; P. wey; Cx. Th. way. 
 727. Cx. Th. a worthy ; P. a wurthy ; F. worthe a ; B. worth a ; but a 
 seems needless.
 
 142 TX. THE nous OF FAME. /WOK II. 
 
 Hath a kyndly sted ther he 
 
 May best in hit conserved be ; 
 
 Unto which place every thing, 
 
 Through his kyndly cnclyning, 
 
 Moveth for to come to, 735 
 
 Whan that hit is awey therfro ; 
 
 As thus ; lo, thou mayst al day se 
 
 That any thing that hevy be, (•'30) 
 
 As stoon or leed, or thing of wight. 
 
 And ber hit never so hye on hight, 740 
 
 Lat go thyn hand, hit falleth doun. 
 
 ' Right so sey I by fyre or soun, 
 Or smoke, or other thinges lighte, 
 Alwey they seke upward on highte ; 
 Whyl ech of hem is at his large, 745 
 
 Light thing up, and dounward charge. 
 
 ' And for this cause mayst thou see. 
 That every river to the see (^4°) 
 
 Enclyned is to go, by kynde. 
 
 And by these skilles, as I fynde, 7.50 
 
 Hath fish dwelling in floode and see. 
 And trees eek in erthe be. 
 Thus every thing by this resoun 
 Hath his propre mansioun. 
 
 To which hit seketh to repaire, 755 
 
 As ther hit shulde not apaire. 
 Lo, this sentence is knowen couthe 
 Of every philosophres mouthe, (^.^o) 
 
 As Aristotile and dan Platon, 
 
 And other clerkes many oon ; 760 
 
 And to confirme my resoun, 
 Thou wost wel this, that speche is soun. 
 Or elles no man mighle hit here ; 
 Now herknc what I wol thee lere. 
 
 746. Cx. Th. vp; F. B. P. vpwarde. Cx. Th. P. transpose 745, 746. 
 755. B. it ; F. oiH. ; Cx. Th. P. he. 764. All herke ; see 1. 725.
 
 IX. THE flO us OF FAME. BOOK 11. 143 
 
 ' Soun is noght but air y-broken, 765 
 
 And every speche that is spoken, 
 Loud or prive, foul or fair, 
 
 In his substaunce is but air ; (260) 
 
 For as flaumbe is but lighted smoke, 
 Right so soun is air y-broke. 770 
 
 But this may be in many wyse, 
 Of which I wil thee two devyse, 
 As soun that comth of pype or harpe. 
 For whan a pype is blowen sharpe, 
 The air is twist with violence, 775 
 
 And rent ; lo, this is my sentence ; 
 Eek, whan men harpe-stringes smyte. 
 Whether hit be moche or lyte, (270) 
 
 Lo, with the strook the air to-breketh ; 
 Right so hit breketh whan men speketh. 780 
 
 Thus wost thou wel what thing is speche. 
 
 ' Now hennesforth I wol thee teche, 
 How every speche, or noise, or soun, 
 Through his multiplicacioun, 
 
 Thogh hit were pyped of a mouse, 785 
 
 Moot nede come to Fames House. 
 I preve hit thus — tak hede now — 
 By experience ; for if that thou {280) 
 
 Throwe on water now a stoon, 
 
 Wel wost thou, hit wol make anoon 790 
 
 A litel roundel as a cercle, 
 Paraventure brood as a covercle ; 
 And right anoon thou shalt see weel, 
 That wheel wol cause another wheel, 
 And that the thridde, and so forth, brother, 795 
 
 Every cercle causing other, 
 
 766. Cx. Th. spoken ; P. poken (!) ; F. B. yspoken. 773. Cx. Th. P. 
 As; F. B. Of (copied from 1. 772). 780. Cx. Th. P. And ryght so 
 brck>'th it ; F. B. omit this line. 7S9. F. Thonve ; B. P. Throw; 
 
 Cx. Th. Threwe. 794. F. Th. B. whele sercle {for 1st wheel); Cx. 
 P. omit the line. (Sercle is a gloss upon wheel).
 
 144 IX- THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 
 
 Wj'der than himselve was; 
 
 And this fro roundel to compas, (290) 
 
 Ech aboute other goinge, 
 
 Caused of othres steringe, 800 
 
 And multiplying ever-nio, 
 
 Til that hit be so fer y-go 
 
 That hit at bothe brinkes be. 
 
 Al-thogh thou mowe hit not y-see 
 
 Above, hit goth yet alway under, 805 
 
 Although thou thenke hit a gret wonder. 
 
 And who-so seith of trouthe I varie, 
 
 Bid him proven the contrarie. (30°) 
 
 And right thus every word, ywis, 
 
 That loude or prive y-spoken is, 810 
 
 Moveth first an air aboute, 
 
 And of this moving, out of doute, 
 
 Another air anoon is meved, 
 
 As I have of the water preved, 
 
 That every cercle causeth other. 815 
 
 Right so of air, my leve brother; 
 
 Everich air in other stereth 
 
 More and more, and speche up bereth, (310) 
 
 Or vois, or noise, or word, or soun, 
 
 Ay through multiplicacioun, 820 
 
 Til hit be atte House of Fame ; — 
 
 Take hit in ernest or in game. 
 
 ' Now have I told, if thou have mynde, 
 How speche or soun, of pure kynde, 
 Enclyned is upward to meve ; 82.^ 
 
 This mayst thou fele wel, I preve. 
 And that [the mansioun], y-wis, 
 That every thing enclyned to is, (320) 
 
 798. F. B. om. to. 803. F. Tyl ; rest That. 804. F. om. thogh. 
 S05. F. B. ovi. alway. 817. F. B. om. in. 821. Cx. Th. P. at the. 
 823. Cx. Th. P. thou haue; F. B. ye hane in. 827. F. And that 
 sum place slide; B. And that som styde ; Th. And that some stede; 
 Cx. P. 07iiit the lifie ; read And that the mansioun [^see 11. 754, 831).
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 1 45 
 
 Hath his kyndeHchc stede : 
 
 That sheweth hit, wilhouten drede, 830 
 
 That kyndely the mansioun 
 
 Of every speche, of every soun, 
 
 Be hit either foul or fair, 
 
 Hath his kynde place in air. 
 
 And sin that every thing, that is 835 
 
 Out of his kynde place, y-wis, 
 
 Moveth thider for to go, 
 
 If hit a-weye be therfro, (330) 
 
 As I before have preved thee, 
 
 Hit seweth, every soun, parde, 840 
 
 Moveth kyndely to pace 
 
 Al up into his kyndely place. 
 
 And this place of which I telle, 
 
 Ther as Fame list to dwelle, 
 
 Is set amiddes of these three, 845 
 
 Heven, erthe, and eek the see, 
 
 As most conservatif the soun. 
 
 Than is this the conclusioun, (34°) 
 
 That every speche of every man, 
 
 As 1 thee telle first began, 850 
 
 Moveth up on high to pace 
 
 Kyndely to Fames place. 
 
 ' Telle me this feithfully. 
 Have I not preved thus simply, 
 
 Wilhouten any subtilte 855 
 
 Of speche, or gret prolixite 
 Of termes of philosophye. 
 
 Of figures of poetrye, (350) 
 
 Or coloures, or rethoryke.-' 
 
 Parde, hit oghte thee to lyke ; 860 
 
 For hard langage and hard matere 
 Is encombrous for to here 
 At ones ; wost thou not wel this ? 
 838. MSS. a wey, away. 839. F. Th. B. haue before; Cx. P. omit 
 the line. 853. Th. B. this ; F. thus. 860. All onght. 
 
 L
 
 146 IX. THE HO us OF FAME. BOOK If. 
 
 And I answerde, and seyde, 'Yis.' 
 
 'A ha ! ' quod he, ' lo, so I can, 865 
 
 Lewedly to a lewcd man 
 Speke, and shewe him swiche skilles, 
 That he may shake hem by the billes, (360) 
 
 So palpable they shulden be. 
 
 But telle me this, now pray I thee, 870 
 
 How thinkth thee my conclusioun ? ' 
 [Quod he]. ' A good persuasioun,' 
 Quod I, ' hit is ; and lyk to be 
 Right so as thou hast preved me.' 
 ' By God,' quod he, ' and as I leve, 875 
 
 Thou shalt have yit, or hit be eve, 
 Of every word of this sentence 
 
 A preve, by experience ; (.^7°) 
 
 And with thyn eras heren wel 
 
 Top and tail, and everydel, 880 
 
 That every word that spoken is 
 Comth into Fames Hous, y-wis. 
 As I have seyd ; what wilt thou more .? ' 
 And with this word upper to sore 
 He gan, and seyde, ' By Seynt lame ! 885 
 
 Now wil we speken al of game.' — 
 
 ' How farest thou ? ' quod he to me. 
 ' Wel,' quod I. ' Now see,' quod he, (380) 
 
 ' By thy trouthe, yond adoun, 
 
 Wher that thou knowest any toun, 890 
 
 Or hous, or any other thing. 
 And whan thou hast of ought knowing, 
 Loke that thou warne me, 
 And I anoon shal telle thee 
 How fer that thou art now thcrfro.' 895 
 
 And T adoun gan loken tho, 
 And beheld fcldcs and plaines, 
 
 866. r. to a lewde; Cx. Th. vnto a Icwde ; F. tr(:alwed (!) ; li. 
 talwyd (!\ 872. ^?// ow?V Quod he ; cf. 11. 700, 701. 873. 1'. Cx. 
 ■I'h. 1 ; ¥. B. he. F. li. me {for be). 896. Cx. Th. gan to ; rest to (!\
 
 IX. THE I/O US OF FAME. BOOK II. l^'J 
 
 And now hillcs, and now mounlaines, (39°) 
 
 Now valeys, and now forestes, 
 
 And now, unclhes, grete bestes ; 900 
 
 Now riveres, now citees, 
 
 Now tounes, and now grete trees, 
 
 Now shippes sailinge in the see. 
 
 But thus sone in a whyle he 
 Was flowen fro the grounde so hye, 905 
 
 That al the world, as to myn ye, 
 No more semed than a prikke; 
 
 Or elles was the air so thikke (400) 
 
 That I ne mighte not discerne. 
 
 With that he spak to me as yerne, 910 
 
 And seyde : ' Seestow any [toun] 
 Or ought thou knowest yonder doun ? ' 
 
 I seyde, ' Nay.' ' No wonder nis/ 
 Quod he, ' for half so high as this 
 Nas Alexander Macedo ; 915 
 
 Ne the king, dan Scipio, 
 That saw in dreme, at point devys,. 
 Helle and erthe, and paradys ;. (4^0) 
 
 Ne eek the wrecche Dedalus, 
 
 Ne his child, nice Icarus, 930 
 
 That fleigh so highe that the hete 
 His winges malt, and he fel wete 
 In-mid the see, and ther he dreynte, 
 For whom was maked moch compleynte. 
 
 'Now turn upward,' quod he, 'thy face. 925 
 
 And behold this large place, 
 This air ; but loke thou ne be 
 
 Adrad of hem that thou shalt se; (420) 
 
 For in this regioun, certein, 
 
 899. F. B. P. out. and. 911. F. B. ojiiit this Hue; for Seestow Cx. 
 Th. P. have Seest thou. For tonn, all have token; see 1. 890. 912. 
 From P. ; F. B. omit this Hue. C.\. Or ought that in the world is of 
 spoken ; Th. Or aught that in this worlde is of spoken ; see 1. 8S9. 
 913. F. B. o»t. I seyde. 
 
 L 2
 
 14^ IX. THE HO US OF FAME. BOOK If. 
 
 Dwelleth many a citezein, 930 
 
 Of which that speketh dan Plato. 
 
 These ben eyrisshe bestes, lo ! ' 
 
 And so saw I al that meynee 
 
 Bothe goon and also flee. 
 
 ' Now,' quod he tho, ' cast up thyn ye ; 935 
 
 Se yonder, lo, the Galaxye, 
 
 Which men clepeth the INIilky Wey, 
 
 For hit is whyt : and somme, parfey, (43°) 
 
 Callen hit Watlinge Strete : 
 
 That ones was y-brent with hete, 940 
 
 Whan the sonnes sone, the rede, 
 
 That highte Pheton, wolde lede 
 
 Algate his fader cart, and gye. 
 
 The cart-hors gonne wel espye 
 
 That he ne coude no governaunce, 945 
 
 And gonne for to lepe and launce, 
 
 And beren him now up, now doun. 
 
 Til that he saw the Scorpioun, (440) 
 
 Which that in heven a signe is yit. 
 
 And he, for ferde, lost his wit, 950 
 
 Of that, and lat the reynes goon 
 
 Of his hors ; and they anoon 
 
 Gonne up to mounte, and doun descende 
 
 Til bothe the air and erthe brende ; 
 
 Til lupiter, lo, atte laste, 955 
 
 Him slow, and fro the carte caste. 
 
 Lo, is it not a greet mischaunce, 
 
 To lete a fole han governaunce (450) 
 
 Of thing that he can not demeine ? ' 
 
 And with this word, soth for to seyne. 960 
 
 He gan alway upper to sore, 
 And gladded me ay more and more, 
 
 956. F. B. fer fro ; P. Cx. Th. oin. fer. 957. Cx. P. grete ; Th. great ; 
 F. mochil ; B. mochill. 961. Cx. Th. P. alway vpper; F. B. vpper 
 
 alway for. Cf. 1. 8S4.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK II. 149 
 
 So feithfully to me spak he. 
 
 Tho gan I loken under me, 
 And beheld the eyrisshe bestes, 965 
 
 Cloudes, mistes, and tempestes, 
 Snowes, hailes, reines, windes, 
 
 And thengendring in her kyndes, {460) 
 
 Al the wey through whiche I cam; 
 'O God,' quod I, 'that made Adam, 970 
 
 Moche is thy might and thy noblesse ! ' 
 
 And tho thoughte I upon Boece, 
 That writ, 'a thought may flee so hye, 
 With fetheres of Philosophye, 
 
 To passen everich element; 975 
 
 And whan he hath so fer ywent, 
 Than may be seen, behynd his bak, 
 Cloud, and al that I of spak,' (470) 
 
 Tho gan I wexen in a were, 
 And seyde, ' I woot wel I am here ; 980 
 
 But wher in body or in gost 
 I noot, y-wis ; but God, thou wost ! ' 
 For more clere entendement 
 Nadde he me never yit y-sent. 
 
 And than thoughte I on Marcian, 985 
 
 And eek on Anteclaudian, 
 That sooth was her descripcioun 
 Of al the hevenes regioun, (480) 
 
 As fer as that I saw the preve ; 
 Therfor I can hem now beleve. 990 
 
 With that this egle gan to crye : 
 ' Lat be,' quod he, ' thy fantasye ; 
 Wilt thou lere of sterres aught ? ' 
 ' Nay, certeinly,' quod I, ' right naught ; 
 And why? for I am now to old.' 995 
 
 ' Elles I wolde thee have told,' 
 
 964. F. Th. B. ins. to hef. loken. 973. Cx. Th. wryteth ; F. writ. 
 F. B. of {for a). 978. So P. Cx. ; rest ins. and erthe bef. and. 
 
 984. F. B. Nas {pm. he me) ; Th. Nas me ; Cx. P. Nadde he me.
 
 150 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK II. 
 
 Quod he, ' the sterres names, lo, 
 
 And al the hevenes signes ther-to, (490) 
 
 And which they ben.' ' No fors,' quod I. 
 
 'Yis, parde,' quod he; ' wostow why? 1000 
 
 For whan thou redest poetrye, 
 
 How goddes gonne stellifye 
 
 Brid, fish, beste, or him or here. 
 
 As the Raven, or either Bere, 
 
 Or Ariones harpe fyne, 1005 
 
 Castor, Polux, or Delphyne, 
 
 Or Athalantes doughtres sevene. 
 
 How alle these arn set in hevene ; (5°°) 
 
 For though thou have hem ofte on honde, 
 
 Yet nostow not wher that they stonde.' 10 10 
 
 'No fors,' quod I, 'hit is no nede ; 
 
 I leve as wel, so God me spede, 
 
 Hem that wryte of this matere. 
 
 As though I knew her places here ; 
 
 And eek they shynen here so brighte, * 1015 
 
 Hit shulde shenden al my sighte, 
 
 To loke on hem.' ' That may wel be,' 
 
 Quod he. And so forth bar he me (5^°) 
 
 A whyl, and than he gan to crye, 
 
 That never herde I thing so hye, 1020 
 
 ' Now up the heed ; for al is wel ; 
 
 Seynt lulyan, lo, bon hostel ! 
 
 Se here the House of Fame, lo ! 
 
 Maistovv not heren that I do ? ' 
 
 ' What ? ' quod I. ' The grete soun,' 1025 
 
 Quod he, ' that rumbleth up and doun 
 
 In Fames Hous, ful of tydinges, 
 
 Bothe of fair speche and chydinges, (520) 
 
 And of fals and soth compouned. 
 
 999. F. B. insert and before No. 100^. F. B. Briddes ; P. Brid; Cx. 
 Byrd; Th. Byrde. 1014. Cx. Th. P. As ; F. Alle; B. Al. 1015. 
 
 Cx. P. they shynen ; F. Th. B. thy seliien (J). 1029. F. hiseris that 
 
 before soth.
 
 IX. THE HO US OF FAME, BOOK II. 151 
 
 Herkne wel ; hit is not rouned. 1030 
 
 1 leiestow not the grete swogh ? ' 
 
 ' Yis, parde,' quod I, ' wel ynogh.' 
 
 ' And what soun is it lyk ? ' quod he. 
 
 ' Peter ! lyk beting of the see,' 
 
 Quod I, ' again the roches holowe, 1035 
 
 Whan tempest doth the shippes swalowe ; 
 
 And lat a man stonde, out of doute, 
 
 A myle thens, and here hit route ; (53°) 
 
 Or elles lyk the last humblinge 
 
 After a clappe of 00 ihundringe, 1040 
 
 When loves hath the air y-bete ; 
 
 But hit doth me for fere swete.' 
 
 ' Nay, dred thee not therof,' quod he, 
 
 * Hit is nothing wil beten thee ; 
 
 Thou shalt non harm have trewely.' 1045 
 
 And wiih this word bothe he and I 
 As nigh the place arryved were 
 
 As men may casten with a spere. (540) 
 
 I niste how, but in a street 
 
 He sette me faire on my feet, 1050 
 
 And seyde, 'Walke forth a pas. 
 And tak thyn. aventure or cas, 
 That thou shalt fynde in Fames place.' 
 
 ' Now,' quod I, ' whyl we han space 
 
 To speke, or that I go fro thee, 1055 
 
 For the love of God, [now] telle me, 
 
 In sooth, that I wol of the lere. 
 
 If this noise that I here (55°) 
 
 Be, as I have herd thee tellen, 
 
 Of folk that doun in erthe dwellen, 1060 
 
 And comth here in the same wyse 
 
 As I thee herde or this devyse ; 
 
 And that ther lyves body nis 
 
 1030. Cx. Herkne ; P. B. Herken ; F. Herke. 1034. i'- ^- ^- "'"■ 
 lyk. 1044. F. P. beten ; Th. B. byten ; Cx. greue. 1056. / suHly now. 
 1057. Cx. Th. P. I wyl ; F. B. wil I. 1063. F. B. om. And.
 
 152 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK H. 
 
 In al that hous that yonder is, 
 
 That maketh al this loude fare ? ' 1065 
 
 ' No,' quod he, ' by Seynte Clare, 
 
 And also wis God rede me ! 
 
 But o thinge I wil warne thee (56°) 
 
 Of the which thou wolt have wonder. 
 
 Lo, to the House of Fame yonder 1070 
 
 Thou wost how cometh every speche, 
 
 Hit nedeth noght thee eft to teche. 
 
 But understond now right wel this ; 
 
 Whan any speche y-comen is 
 
 Up to the paleys, anon-right 1075 
 
 Hit wexeth lyk the same w-ight, 
 
 Which that the word in erthe spak, 
 
 Be hit clothed reed or blak; (570) 
 
 And hath so verray his lyknesse 
 
 That spak the word, that thou wilt gesse 1080 
 
 That hit the same body be, 
 
 Man or woman, he or she. 
 
 And is not this a wonder thing?' 
 
 ' Yis,' quod I tho, ' by hevene king ! ' 
 
 And with this worde, ' Farwel,' quod he, 1085 
 
 ' And here I wol abyden thee ; 
 
 And God of hevene sende thee grace, 
 
 Som good to lernen in this place.' (580) 
 
 And I of him tok leve anoon. 
 
 And gan forth to the paleys goon. 1090 
 
 Explicit liber secundus. 
 
 1071. F. B. 171^. now bef. how. 1072. Th. the efte; Cx. the more ; 
 P. B. eft the. 1079. Cx. Th. hath so very; P. hath so verrey ; F. 
 
 B. so were (!). 1080. Cx. P. That ; F. B. Th. And (!). 1088. F. 
 
 Cx. Th. Icme ; read lernen. 
 
 CoLoi'HON. — From Cx. Th.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 Incipit liber tercius. 
 
 Invocatioti. 
 
 God of science and of light, 
 Apollo, through thy grete might, 
 This litel laste book thou gye ! 
 Nat that I wilne, for maistrye, 
 
 Here art poetical be shewed ; 1095 
 
 But, for the rym is light and lewed, 
 
 Yit make hit sumwhat agreable. 
 
 Though som vers faile in a Billable ; 
 
 And that I do no diligence 
 
 To shewe craft, but o sentence. (10) 11 00 
 
 And if, divyne vertu, thou 
 
 Wilt helpe me to shewe now 
 
 That in myn hede y-marked is — 
 
 Lo, that is for to menen this. 
 
 The Hous of Fame for to descryve — iioj 
 
 Thou shalt se me go, as blyve, 
 
 Unto the nexte laure I see. 
 
 And kisse hit, for hit is thy tree; 
 
 Now entreth in my breste anoon ! — 
 
 The Dream. 
 
 Whan I was fro this egle goon, (20) mo 
 
 1 gan beholde upon this place. 
 And certein, or I ferther pace, 
 I wol yow al the shap devyse 
 
 Of hous and citee ; and al the wyse 
 
 1 1 01. Cx. Th. tliou ; p. thow; F. nowe; B. now. 1102. Cx. P. 
 
 now; Th. nowe; F. yowe; B. yow. 1106. F. B. men ; rest me. 
 
 II 13. F. B this; rest the.
 
 154 I^- THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK TH. 
 
 How I gan to this place aproche 1115 
 
 That stood upon so high a roche, 
 
 Hyer stant ther noon in Spaine. 
 
 But up I clomb with alle paine, 
 
 And though to clymbe hit graved me, 
 
 Yit I ententif was to see, (30) 11 20 
 
 And for to pouren wonder lowe, 
 
 If I coude any weyes knowe 
 
 What maner stoon this roche was ; 
 
 For hit was lyk a thing of glas, 
 
 But that hit shoon ful more clere; 11 25 
 
 But of what congeled matere 
 
 Hit was, I niste redely. 
 
 But at the laste espied I, 
 And found that hit was, every del, 
 A roche of yse, and not of steel. (40) 11 30 
 
 Thoughte I, ' By Seynt Thomas of Kent I 
 
 This were a feble foundement 
 
 To bilden on a place hye ; 
 
 He oughle him litel glorifye 
 
 That her-on bilt, God so me save!' 1135 
 
 Tho saw I al the half y-grave 
 
 With famous folkes names fele. 
 
 That had y-ben in mochel wele. 
 
 And her fames wyde y-blowe. 
 
 But wel unelhes coude I knowe (50) 1140 
 
 Any lettres for to rede 
 
 Her names by; for, out of drede, 
 
 They were almost of-thowed so, 
 
 That of the lettres oon or two 
 
 Were molte away of every name, 1145 
 
 So unfamous was wexe hir fame ; 
 
 But men seyn, ' What may ever laste .'' ' 
 
 Tho gan I in myn herte caste, 
 
 1115. F. hys (/^r lhis\ 1119. Cx. P. it ; B.yt; F. Th. ow. 1127. 
 Th. I iiyste ; Cx. I ne wyst ; P. I nust ; F. B. nyste I neuer. 1132. 
 F. B. fundament; rest foundement. 1136. F. B. om. al; cf. 1. 1151.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 1 55 
 
 That they were molte awey with hete, 
 
 And not awey with stormes bete. (60) 1150 
 
 For on that other syde I sey 
 
 Of this hille, that northward lay, 
 
 How hit was writen ful of names 
 
 Of folk that hadden grete fames 
 
 Of olde tyme, and yit they were 1155 
 
 As fresshe as men had writen hem there 
 
 The selve day right, or that houre 
 
 That I upon hem gan to poure. 
 
 But wel I wiste what hit made ; 
 
 Hit was conserved with the shade. (70) 1160 
 
 Al this wryting that I sy 
 
 Of a castel stood on hy; 
 
 And stood eek on so colde a place, 
 
 That hete mighte hit not deface. 
 
 Tho gan I up the hille to goon, 1165 
 
 And fond upon the coppe a woon, 
 That alle the men that ben on lyve 
 Ne han the cunning to descryve 
 The beaute of that ilke place, 
 
 Ne coude casten no compace (80) 11 70 
 
 Swich another for to make, 
 That mighte of beaute be his make, 
 Ne [be] so wonderliche y-wrought ; 
 That hit astonieth yit my thought. 
 And maketh al my wit to swinke 11 75 
 
 On this castel to bethinke. 
 So that the grete beaute, 
 The cast, the curiosite 
 Ne can I not to yow devyse. 
 My wit ne may me not suffyse. (90) 11 80 
 
 But natheles al the substance 
 I have yit in my remembrance; 
 
 1 1 54. F. B. folkes; rest folk. ii.S5. F. tymes; rest tyme. Y. 
 there; r^j^ they. 1156. Cx. Th. P. there ; F. B. here. ii73- f 
 
 supply ht. 1178. F. To; the rest T\\.q..
 
 156 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 For-why me thoughte, by Seynt Gyle ! 
 
 Al was of stone of beryle, 
 
 Bothe the castel and the tour, 11S5 
 
 And eek the halle, and every hour, 
 
 Withouten peces or loininges. 
 
 But many subtil compassinges, 
 
 Babewinnes and pinacles, 
 
 Ymageries and tabernacles, (i°o) "9° 
 
 I saw ; and ful eek of windowes, 
 
 As flakes falle in grete snowes. 
 
 And eek in ech of the pinacles 
 
 Weren sondry habitacles. 
 
 In whiche stoden, al withoute, 1195 
 
 (Ful the castel, al aboute), 
 
 Of alle maner of minstrales, 
 
 And gestiours, that tellen tales 
 
 Bothe of weping and of game, 
 
 Of al that longeth unto Fame. (uo) \ioo 
 
 Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe 
 That souned bothe wel and sharpe, 
 Orpheus ful craftely. 
 And on the syde faste by 
 
 Sat the harper Orion, 1205 
 
 And Eacides Chiron, 
 And other harpers many oon, 
 And the Bret Glascurion ; 
 And smale harpers with her glees 
 Saten under hem in sees, (120) 1210 
 
 And gonne on hem upward to gape. 
 And countrefete hem as an ape. 
 Or as craft countrefeteth kynde. 
 
 Tho saugh I stonden hem behynde, 
 
 1185. F. B. om. the before castel. 1189. F. Rabewyurcs or Rabc- 
 
 wynres ; B. Rabewynnes; Cx. As babeuwryes; Th. As babeuries ; P. 
 Babeweuries. ii95- P". B. ow. stoden. 1^97- ^-om. of. 1201. 
 F. B. vpon ; rest on. 1202. F. B. sowneth ; rest sowned. 1206. 
 
 F. P. Kaycidis ; Cx. Th. Gacides. 1208. B. bret ; Th. Briton ; 
 
 Cx. Bryton ; P. Bret?/r ; F. gret. 1210, 1, 2, 4. F. hym '^for hem). 
 
 121 1. Cx. Th. P. gape; F. iape ; B. yape.
 
 IX. THE HO US OF FAME. BOOK HE l^y 
 
 A-fer fro hem, al by hemselve, 1215 
 
 Many thousand tymes twelve, 
 
 That maden loude menstralcyes 
 
 In cornemuse, and shalmyes, 
 
 And many other maner pype, 
 
 That craftely begunne pype (130) 1220 
 
 Bothe in doucet and in rede, 
 
 That ben at festes with the brede ; 
 
 And many floute and Hlting-horne, 
 
 And pypes made of grene corne. 
 
 As han thise htel herde-gromes, 1325 
 
 That kepen bestes in the bromes. 
 
 Ther saugh I than Atiteris, 
 And of Athenes dan Pseustis, 
 And Marcia that lost her skin, 
 
 Bothe in face, body, and chin, (14°) 123° 
 
 For that she wolde envyen, lo 1 
 To pypen bet then Apollo. 
 Ther saugh I fames, olde and yonge, 
 Pypers of al the Duche tonge. 
 
 To lerne love-daunces, springes, 1235 
 
 Reyes, and these straunge thinges. 
 
 Tho saugh I in another place 
 Stonden in a large space, 
 Of hem that maken blody soun 
 
 In trumpe, heme, and clarioun ; (150) 1240 
 
 For in fight and blode-sheding 
 Is used gladly clarioning. 
 
 Ther herde I trumpen Messenus, 
 Of whom that speketh Virgilius. 
 Ther herde I trumpe loab also, 1245 
 
 1220. F. Cx. Th. B. to pipe ; P. ow. to. 1221. F. B. riede ; rest 
 
 rede. 1222. Cx. Th. P. brede; B. Bryede ; F. bride. 1227. F. 
 
 Atiteris ; B. Atjterys ; Cx. Th. dan Cytherus ; P. an Citherus. F. B. 
 transpose lines 1227 and 1228. 122S. F. Pseustis; B. Pseustys ; Cx. 
 
 Th. Procerus; P. presenilis. 1234. F. ow. the. 1236. Cx. Th. 
 
 Reyes; P. ReyJ)s; F. B. Kens. 1241. F. seight(!) ;/c7r fight.
 
 15^ IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 Theodomas, and other mo ; 
 
 And al that used clarion 
 
 In Cataloigne and Aragon, 
 
 That in her tyme famous were 
 
 To lernc, saugh I trumpe there. ■ (160) 1250 
 
 Ther saugh I sitte in other sees, 
 Pleyinge upon sondry glees, 
 Whiche that I cannot nevene, 
 Mo then sterres ben in hevene, 
 
 Of whiche I nil as now not ryme, 1255 
 
 For ese of yow, and losse of tyme : 
 For tyme y-lost, this knowen ye, 
 By no way may recovered be. 
 
 Ther saugh I pleyen logelours, 
 Magiciens, and tregetours, (170) ^260 
 
 And phitonesses, charmeresses, 
 Olde wicches, sorceresses, 
 That use exorsisaciouns, 
 And eek thise fumigaciouns ; 
 
 And clerkes eek, which conne wel 1265 
 
 Al this magyke naturel, 
 That craftely don her ententes, 
 To make, in certeyn ascendentes, 
 Images, lo, through which magyke, 
 To make a man ben hool or syke. ('So) 1270 
 
 Ther saugh I the queen Medea, 
 And Circes eke, and Calipsa; 
 Ther saugh I Hermes Ballenus, 
 Lymote, and eek Simon INIagus, 
 
 Ther saugh I, and knew hem by name, 1275 
 
 That by such art don men han fame. 
 Ther saugh I Colle tregetour 
 
 1 255. Cx. Th. r. as now not ; F. B. not now. i 259. Th. pleyeng ; 
 ^('j/'pley; rtW pleyen. 1262. F. wrecches (tww/j/j') ; /or wicches. 
 
 1372. Cx. Th. P. Circes; F. Artes ; B. Artys. 1273. So in all. 
 
 1274. Cx. Th. Lymole; F. Limete ; B. Lumete ; P. Llymote. 1275,6. 
 I rom B. ; F. om. both lino:. P. hem ; B. cm.
 
 IX. 771 E HOVS OF FAME. BOOK III. 159 
 
 Upon a table of sicamour 
 
 Pleye an uncouthe thing to telle ; 
 
 I saugh him carien a wind-mclle (19°) 1280 
 
 Under a walshe-note shale. 
 
 What shuld I make lenger tale 
 Of al the peple that I say, 
 Fro hennes in-to domesday? 
 
 Whan I had al this folk beholde, 1285 
 
 And fond me lous, and noght y-holde, 
 And eft y-mused longe whyle 
 Upon these walles of beryle, 
 That shoon ful lighter than a glas, 
 And made wel more than hit was (200) 1290 
 
 To semen, every thing, y-wis, 
 As kynde thing of fames is; 
 I gan forth romen til I fond 
 The castel-yate on my right hond, 
 Which that so wel corven was 1395 
 
 That never swich another nas ; 
 And yit hit was by aventure 
 Y-wrought, as often as by cure. 
 
 Hit nedeth noght yow for to tellen, 
 To make yow to longe dwellen, (210) 1300 
 
 Of these yates florisshinges, 
 Ne of compasses, ne of kervinges, 
 Ne [of] the hacking in masoneries, 
 As corbettes and ymageries. 
 
 But, Lord! so fair hit was to shewe, 1305 
 
 For hit was al with gold bchewe. 
 But in I wente, and that anon ; 
 
 1278. Th. Sycamour; F. B. Sygamour; Cx. Sycomour; P. Cicomour. 
 1283. F. B. y ther; rest that I. 1285. F. B. folkys. 1286. B. 
 
 I-holde ; Cx. Th. P. holde ; F. y-colde. 1287. Cx. P. eft ; F. oft ; 
 
 B. all : Th. om. F. B. P. I mused. 1293. F. B. to ; rest forth. 
 
 1299. Cx. P. for; rest more. 1303. F. how they hat ; B. how they 
 
 hate ; Cx. how the hackyng ; P. Th. how the hackynge. But we mitst 
 read oi for how. 1304. So in Cx. Th. ]'. ; B. As corbettz, full of 
 
 ■ymager)-es ; F. As corbetz, folloived by a blank space.
 
 l6o IX. THE ROUS OF FAME. BOOK HI. 
 
 Ther mette I crying many on, — 
 
 ' A larges, larges, hold up wel ! 
 
 God save the lady of this pel, (220) 1310 
 
 Our owne gentil lady Fame, 
 
 And hem that wilnen to have name 
 
 Of us ! ' Thus herde I cryen alle, 
 
 And faste comen out of halle. 
 
 And shoken nobles and sterlinges. 1315 
 
 And somme crouned were as kinges, 
 
 With crounes wroght ful of losinges ; 
 
 And many riban, and many fringes 
 
 Were on her clothes trewely. 
 
 Tho atte laste aspyed I (230) 1320 
 
 That pursevauntes and heraudes, 
 
 That cryen riche folkes laudes, 
 
 Hit weren alle ; and every man 
 
 Of hem, as I yow tellen can, 
 
 Had on him throwen a vesture, 1325 
 
 Which that men clepe a cote-armure, 
 
 Enbrowded wonderliche riche, 
 
 Al-though they nere nought yliche. 
 
 But noght nil I, so mote I thryve, 
 
 Ben aboute to discryve (240) 1330 
 
 Al these armes that ther weren, 
 
 That they thus on her cotes beren. 
 
 For hit to me were impossible ; 
 
 Men mighte make of hem a bible 
 
 Twenty foot thikke, as I trowe. 1335 
 
 For ccrteyn, who-so coude y-knowe 
 
 Mighte ther alle the armes seen, 
 
 Of famous folk that han y-been 
 
 In Auffrike, Europe, and Asye, 
 
 Sith first began the chevalrye. (250) 1340 
 
 1309. F. bald; ;Ti-/ hold (holde\ 1315- Cx. Th. P. shoke ; F. 
 
 shoon ; B. shone. 1316. F. B. As (/(7r And 1. 1321. F. herauldes. 
 1326. F. crcpcn(!\ 1327. P. wonderliche ; ihc rest \\ondex\y. 1328. 
 C'.x. r. Alle though ; F.Th. B. As though. 1332. Cx. Th. P. cotes ; 
 
 F. 15. cote. 1335- F. B. om. as.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. l6l 
 
 Lo ! how shulde I now telle al this ? 
 Ne of the halle eek what nede is 
 To tellen yow, that every wal 
 Of hit, and floor, and roof and al 
 Was plated half a fote thikke 1345 
 
 Of gold, and that nas no-thing wikke, 
 But, for to prove in alle wysc. 
 As fyn as ducat in Venyse, 
 Of whiche to lyte al in my pouche is ? 
 And they wer set as thik of nouchis (260) 1350 
 
 Fulle of the fynest stones faire. 
 That men rede in the Lapidaire, 
 As greses growen in a mede ; 
 But hit were al to longe to rede 
 The names; and therfore I pace. 1355 
 
 But in this riche lusty place, 
 That Fames halle called was, 
 Ful moche prees of folk ther nas, 
 Ne crouding, for to mochil prees. 
 But al on hye, above a dees, (270) 1360 
 
 Sitte in a see imperial. 
 That maad was of a rubee al. 
 Which that a carbuncle is y- called, 
 I saugh, perpetually y-stalled, 
 
 A feminyne creature ; 1365 
 
 That never formed by nature 
 Nas swich another thing y-seye. 
 For altherfirst, soth for to seye. 
 Me thoughte that she was so lyte, 
 That the lengthe of a cubyte (280) 1370 
 
 Was lenger than she semed be ; 
 But thus sone, in a whyle, she 
 
 1349. F- B. litel; rest lyte. I35i- P- Cx. Full; rest Fyne. 
 
 1353. P. As ; Cx. Th. Or as ; F. B. Of. 1356. P. Cx. riche lusty ; 
 
 rest lusty and riche. 1361. F. Sit; B. Syt; Cx. Sat; Th. Satte ; 
 
 ;vfl^/ Sitte. 1369. F. B om. that. i37i- ^ • B- omit semed be. 
 
 1372. So Cx. Th. P. ; F. B. 7-ead — This was gret niarvaylle to me. 
 
 M
 
 l62 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 Hir tho so wonderliche streighte, 
 
 That with hir feet she erthe reighte, 
 
 And with hir heed she touched hevene, 1375 
 
 Ther as shynen sterres sevcne. 
 
 And therto eek, as to my wit, 
 
 I saugh a gretter wonder yit, 
 
 Upon her eyen to beholde ; 
 
 But certeyn I hem never tolde; (-9°) >3^° 
 
 For as fele eyen hadde she 
 
 As fetheres upon foules be, 
 
 Or weren on the bestes foure, 
 
 That Goddes trone gunne honoure, 
 
 As lohn writ in thapocaHps, 13S5 
 
 Hir here, tlmt oundy was and crips, 
 
 As burned gold hit shoon to see. 
 
 And soth to tellen, also she 
 
 Had also fele up-stondyng eres 
 
 And tonges, as on bestes heres; (30°) ^39° 
 
 And on hir feet wexen, saugh I, 
 
 Partriches winges redely. 
 
 But, Lord ! the perrie and the richesse 
 I saugh sitting on this goddesse ! 
 And, Lord ! the hevenish melodye 1 395 
 
 Of songes, ful of armonye, 
 I herde aboute her trone y-songe, 
 That al the paleys-walles ronge ! 
 So song the mighty Muse, she 
 
 That clepcd is Caliope, (310) J400 
 
 And hir cighte sustren eke, 
 That in her face semen meke; 
 And evermo, eternally, 
 They songe of P"ame, as tlio herd I : — 
 ' Heried be thou and thy name, 1405 
 
 Goddesse of renoun or of fame ! ' 
 
 Tho was I war, lo, atte laste, 
 
 1373. ^//wonderly; cf. 1. 1327. 1377- F- I^- o»i. to. M04- 
 
 Y . synge ; rest songc.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 163 
 
 As I myn even gan up caste, 
 
 That this ilke noble quene 
 
 On her shuldres gan sustene (320) 14 10 
 
 Bothe tharmes, and the name 
 
 Of tho that hadde large fame ; 
 
 Alexander, and Hercules 
 
 That with a sherte his lyf lees ! 
 
 Thus fond I sitting this goddesse, 1415 
 
 In nobley, honour, and richesse ; 
 
 Of which I stinte a whyle now, 
 
 Other thing to tellen yow. 
 
 Tho saugh I stonde on either syde, 
 Streight doun to the dores wyde, (33°) M^o 
 
 Fro the dees, many a pilere 
 Of metal, that shoon not ful clere, 
 But though they nere of no richesse. 
 Yet they were mad for greet noblesse, 
 And in hem greet [and hy] sentence. 1425 
 
 And folk of digne reverence, 
 Of whiche I wol yow telle fonde, 
 Upon the piler saugh I stonde. 
 
 Alderfirst, lo, ther I sigh, 
 Upon a piler stonde on high, (340) 1430 
 
 That was of lede and yren fyne. 
 Him of secte Saturnyne, 
 The Ebrayk losephus, the olde. 
 That of lewes gestes tolde ; 
 
 And bar upon his shuldres hye 1435 
 
 The fame up of the lewerye. 
 And by him stoden other sevene, 
 Wyse and worthy for to nevene, 
 To helpen him bere up the charge, 
 
 1411. Th. the armes; rest armes ; read tharmes (i.e. th' armes). 
 1415. All And thus. 1416. Cx. P. nobley; F. Th. B. noble 
 
 (=noblee). 1421. F. peler; B. pylere. 1425. I supply s^nA hy. 
 
 1432. Cx. Hym that wrote thactes dyuyne ; P. oin. i435- Cx. P. 
 
 bare vpon ; F. Th. B. he bare on. 1436. F. B. o/n. up. I437- 
 
 F. stonden ; rest stoden. 
 
 H 2
 
 104 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 Hit was so hevy and so large. * (350) 1440 
 
 And for they writen of batailes, 
 
 As wel as other olde mervailes, 
 
 Therfor was, lo, this pilere, 
 
 Of which that I yow telle here, 
 
 Of lede and yren bothe, y-wis. 1445 
 
 For yren Martes metal is, 
 
 Which that god is of bataile. 
 
 And the leed, withouten faile, 
 
 Is, lo, the metal of Saturne, 
 
 That hath a ful large wheel to turne. (360) 1450 
 
 Tho stoden forth, on every rowe, 
 
 Of hem which that I coude knowe, 
 
 Thogh I hem noght by ordre telle, 
 
 To make yow to long to dwelle. 
 
 These, of whiche I ginne rede, 1455 
 
 Ther saugh I stonden, out of drede ; 
 Upon an yren piler strong. 
 That peynted was, al endelong, 
 With tygres blode in every place. 
 The Tholosan that highte Stace, (37°) 14^'° 
 
 That bar of Thebes up the fame 
 Upon his shuldres, and the name 
 Also of cruel Achilles. 
 And by him stood, withouten lees, 
 Ful wonder hye on a pilere 1465 
 
 Of yren, he, the gret Omere ; 
 And with him Dares and Tytus 
 Before, and eek he, Lollius, 
 And Guido eek de Columpnis, 
 
 And English Gaufride eek, y-wis. (380) 1470 
 
 And ech of these, as have I loye, 
 Was besy for to here up Troye. 
 So hevy ther-of was the fame. 
 That for to here hit was no game. 
 1460. F. B. Tholausan ; Th. Tholason ; P. Tolofan ; Cx. tholophaii.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 165 
 
 But yit I gan ful wel espye, 1475 
 
 Betwix hem was a litel envye. 
 
 Oon seydc that Omere made lyes, 
 
 Feyninge in his poetryes, 
 
 And was to Grekes favorable ; 
 
 Therfor held he hit but fable. (39°) 148° 
 
 Tho saugh I stonde on a pilere, 
 That was of tinned yren clere, 
 That Latin poete [dan] Virgyle, 
 That bore hath up a longe whyle 
 The fame of Pius Eneas. 1485 
 
 And next him on a piler was, 
 Of coper, Venus clerk, Ovyde, 
 That hath y-sowen wonder wyde 
 The grete god of loves name. 
 
 And ther he bar up wel his fame, (400) 1490 
 
 Upon this piler, also hye 
 As I hit mighte see with ye: 
 For-why this halle, of whiche I rede 
 Was woxe on high, the lengthe and brede, 
 Wel more, by a thousand del, 1495 
 
 Than hit was erst, that saugh I wel. 
 
 Tho saugh I, on a piler by, 
 Of yren wroght ful sternely. 
 The grete poete, dan Lucan, 
 
 And on his shuldres bar up than, (4^°) ^5°° 
 
 As high as that I mighte see. 
 The fame of lulius and Pompe. 
 And by him stoden alle these clerkes. 
 That writen of Romes mighty werkes, 
 That, if 1 wolde her names telle, 1505 
 
 Al to longe moste I dwelle. 
 
 And next him on a piler stood, 
 
 1477. So Cx. Th. P. ; F. B. seyde Omere was. 14S3. I supply 
 
 dan ; see 1. 1499. 1484. F. B. omit a. 1492. F. And ; rest As. 
 
 All with myn {for with) ; not the usual idiom. 1498. F. sturmely. 
 
 1 507. F. oin. a.
 
 l66 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK HI. 
 
 Of soulfie, lyk as he were wood, 
 
 Dan Claudian, the soth to telle, 
 
 That bar up al the fame of helle, (420) 1510 
 
 Of Pluto, and of Proserpyne, 
 
 That queue is of the derke j^yne. 
 
 What shulde I more telle of this? 
 The halle was al ful, y-wis. 
 
 Of hem that writen olde gestes, 1515 
 
 As ben on trees rokes nestes ; 
 But hit a ful confus matere 
 Were al the gestes for to here, 
 That they of write, and how they highte. 
 But whyl that I beheld this sighte, (43°) 1520 
 
 I herde a noise aprochen blyve, 
 That ferde as been don in an hyve, 
 Agen her tyme of outfleyinge ; 
 Right swiche a maner murmuringe. 
 For al the world, hit semed me. 1525 
 
 Tho gan I loke aboute and see, 
 
 That ther com entring in the halle, 
 
 A right gret company withalle. 
 
 And that of sondry regiouns, 
 
 Of alles kinnes condiciouns, (44°) 153° 
 
 That dwelle in erthe under the mone. 
 
 Pore and ryche. And also sone 
 
 As they were come into the halle, 
 
 They gonne doun on knees falle 
 
 Before this ilke noble quene, 1535 
 
 And seyde, ' Graunt us, lady shene, 
 
 Ech of us, of thy grace, a bone ! ' 
 
 And somme of hem she graunted sone, 
 
 And somme she werned wel and fixire ; 
 
 And somme she graunted the contraire (450) 1540 
 
 Of her axing utterly. 
 
 1 5 10. F. B. 0711. al. 1515- F. inserts al of the before olde; B. w- 
 
 serts oi \}cit. 152;. Air\\\-\.o{for\n). 1530. F. alle skynnes ; 
 
 Cx. alle kyns.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 1 67 
 
 Rut thus I sey yow trewely, 
 
 What her cause was, I niste. 
 
 For this folk, ful wel I wiste, 
 
 They hadde good Rime ech deserved, 1545 
 
 Althogh they were diversly served ; 
 
 Right as her suster, dame Fortune, 
 
 Is wont to serven in comune. 
 
 Now herkne how she gan to paye 
 That gonne her of her grace praye ; (460) 1550 
 
 And yit, lo, al this companye 
 Seyden sooth, and noght a lye. 
 
 ' Madame,' seyden they, ' we be 
 Folk that here besechen thee, 
 
 That thou graunte us now good fame, 1555 
 
 And let our werkes han that name ; 
 In ful recompensacioun 
 Of good werk, give us good renoun; 
 
 ' I werne yow hit,' quod she anon, 
 'Ye gete of me good fame non, (470) 1560 
 
 By God ! and therfor go your wey.' 
 
 ' Alas,' quod they, ' and welaway ! 
 Telle us what may your cause be ? ' 
 
 ' For me list hit noght,' quod she ; 
 'No wight shal speke of yow, y-wis, 1565 
 
 Good ne harm, ne that ne this.' 
 And with that word she gan to calle 
 Her messanger, that was in halle, 
 And bad that he shulde faste gon, 
 Up peyne to be blynd anon, (480) 1570 
 
 For Eolus, the god of winde ; — 
 ' In Trace ther ye shul him finde, 
 And bid him bringe his clarioun. 
 That is ful dyvers of his soun, 
 
 1543. Cx. Th. grace {foj- cause). 1546. F. B. ot)i. this line. 
 
 1549. F. B. herke. 1551. Cx. Th. P. yet ; F. B. right. 1553. 
 
 Cx. Th. P. sayd; F. quod ; B. quoth. 1570. F. B. Vpon the peyn to 
 be h\ynde, o?tntting\. 1572; Cx. Th. <?/«. the. Read\-p,the usual idiom.
 
 1 68 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 And hit is cleped Clere Laude, 1575 
 
 With which he wont is to heraude 
 
 Hem that me list y-preised be : 
 
 And also bid him how that he 
 
 Bringe his other clarioun, 
 
 That highte Sclaundre in every toun, (490) 1580 
 
 With which he wont is to diffame 
 
 Hem that me list, and do hem shame.' 
 
 This messanger gan faste goon, 
 And found wher, in a cave of stoon, 
 In a contree that highte Trace, 1585 
 
 This Eolus, with harde grace, 
 
 Held the windes in distresse, 
 
 And gan hem under him to presse, 
 
 That they gonne as beres rore, 
 
 He bond and pressed hem so sore. (5°°) 159° 
 
 This messanger gan faste crye, 
 
 ' Rys up,' quod he, ' and faste hye, 
 
 Til that thou at my lady be ; 
 
 And tak thy clarions eek with thee 
 
 And speed thee forth.' And he anon 1595 
 
 Tok to a man, that hight Triton, 
 
 His clarions to bere tho, 
 
 And leet a certeyn wind to go. 
 
 That blew so hidously and hye, 
 
 That hit ne lefte not a skye (510) 1600 
 
 In al the welken longe and brood. 
 This Eolus no-wher abood 
 
 Til he was come at Fames feet, 
 
 And eek the man that Triton heet ; 
 
 And ther he stood, as still as stoon. 1605 
 
 And her-withal ther com anoon 
 
 Another huge companye 
 
 Of gode folk, and gunne crye, 
 
 1585. F. B. om. that. i'^94. F- B. clarioun ; see 1. 1597. I599- 
 F. B, And {for That). 1603. Cx. P. at ; rest to.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 1 69 
 
 ' Lady, graunte us now good fame, 
 
 And lat our werkes han that name (520) 1610 
 
 Now, in honour of gentilesse, 
 
 And also God your soule blesse ! 
 
 For we han wel deserved hit, 
 
 Therfor is right that we be quit.' 
 
 'As thryve I,' quod she, 'ye shal faile, 1615 
 
 Good werkes shal yow noght availe 
 To have of me good fame as now. 
 But wite ye what ? I graunte yow, 
 That ye shal have a shrewed fame 
 And wikked loos, and worse name, (53°) 1620 
 
 Though ye good loos have wel deserved. 
 Now go }'0ur wey, for ye be served ; 
 And thou, dan Eolus, let see ! 
 Tak forth thy trumpe anon,' quod she, 
 ' That is y-cleped Sclaunder light, 1625 
 
 And blow her loos, that every wight 
 Speke of hem harm and shrewednesse. 
 In stede of good and worthinesse. 
 For thou shalt trumpe al the contraire 
 Of that they han don wel or faire.' (540) 1630 
 
 ' Alas,' thoughte I, ' what aventures 
 Han these sory creatures ! 
 For they, amonges al the pres, 
 Shul thus be shamed gilteles ! 
 But what ! hit moste nedes be.' 1635 
 
 What did this Eolus, but he 
 Tok out his blakke trumpe of bras. 
 That fouler than the devil was. 
 And gan this trumpe for to blowe, 
 As al the world shuld overthrowe; (550) 1640 
 
 That throughout every regioun 
 
 1609. F. B. 0711. now. 1614. r. B. insert wel after be. 1618. 
 
 F. B. wete ; rwi' wote ; read \i\\.&. 162 1. F. B. o;«. wel. 1623. 
 
 Cx. Th. P. And thou dan; F. B. Haue doon.
 
 17© IX. THE irO us OF FAME. BOOK 117. 
 
 Wente this foule trumpes soun, 
 
 As swift as pelet out of gonne, 
 
 Whan fyr is in the poudre ronne. 
 
 And swiche a smoke gan out-wende 1645 
 
 Out of his foule trumpes ende, 
 
 Blak, bio, grenissh, swartish reed, 
 
 As doth wher that men melte leed, 
 
 Lo, al on high fro the tuel ! 
 
 And therto 00 thing saugh I wel (560) 1650 
 
 That, the ferther that hit ran, 
 
 The gretter wexen hit began, 
 
 As doth the river from a welle, 
 
 And hit stank as the pit of helle. 
 
 Alas, thus was her shame y-ronge, 1655 
 
 And gilteles, on every tonge. 
 
 Tho com the thridde companye, 
 And gan up to the dees to hye, 
 And doun on knees they fille anon, 
 And seyde, ' We ben everichon (57°) '660 
 
 Folk that han ful trewely 
 Deserved fame rightfully. 
 And praye yow, hit mot be knowe, 
 Right as hit is, and forth y-blowe.' 
 * I graunte,' quod she, ' for me list 1665 
 
 That now your gode werkes be wist ; 
 And yit ye shul han better loos, 
 Right in dispyte of alle your foos. 
 Than worthy is ; and that anon : 
 Lat now,' quod she, ' thy trumpe gon, (580) 1670 
 
 Thou Eolus, that is so blak ; 
 And out thyn other trumpe tak 
 'J'hat highle Laude, and blow hit so 
 That through the world her fame 2:0 
 
 1647. Cx. Th. P. swartysh ; F. 15. swart, swarte. 166 1. F. hen ; 
 
 rest han. 1666. Th. That your good workes shal he wyst {perhaps 
 
 better). 1668. F. B. om. Right.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 171 
 
 Al esely, and not to faste, 1675 
 
 That hit be knowen atte laste.' 
 
 ' Ful gladly, lady myn,' he seyde ; 
 And out his trumpe of golde he brayde 
 Anon, and sette hit to his mouthe. 
 And blew hit est, and west, and southe, (590) 1680 
 And north, as loude as any thunder. 
 That every wight hath of hit wonder, 
 So brode hit ran, or than hit stente. 
 And, certes, al the breth that wente 
 Out of his irumpes mouthe smelde 1685 
 
 As men a pot-ful of bawme helde 
 Among a basket ful of roses ; 
 This favour dide he til her loses. 
 
 And right with this I gan aspye, 
 Ther com the ferthe companye — (600) 1690 
 
 But certeyn they were wonder fewe — 
 And gonne stonden in a rewe, 
 And seyden, ' Certes, lady brighte, 
 We han don wel with al our mighte ; 
 But we ne kepen have no fame. 1695 
 
 Hyd our werkes and our name, 
 For Goddys love ! for certes we 
 Han certeyn don hit for bounte, 
 And for no maner other thing.' 
 
 'I graunte yovv al your asking,' (610) 1700 
 
 Quod she ; ' let your werkes be deed.' 
 
 With that aboute I clew myn heed, 
 And saugh anon the fifte route 
 That to this lady gonne loute. 
 
 And doun on knees anon to falle ; 1705 
 
 And to hir tho besoughten alle. 
 To hyde her gode werkes eek, 
 And seyde, they yeven noght a leek 
 
 1675. F. B. om. Al. 1702. B. clew ; F. clywe; Cx. Th. P. tomed, 
 turned. 1707. Cx. P. To hyde; Th. To hyden; F. B. And hidden.
 
 172 TX. THE ROUS OF FAME, BOOK III. 
 
 For no fame, ne swich renoun ; 
 
 For they, for contemplacioun (620) 1710 
 
 And Goddes love, hadde y-wrought ; 
 
 Ne of fame wolde they nought. 
 
 ' What ? ' quod she, ' and be ye wood ? 
 And wene ye for to do good. 
 
 And for to have of that no fame? 1715 
 
 Have ye dispite to have my name ? 
 Nay, ye shul [Hven] everichon ! 
 Blow thy trumpe and that anon,' 
 Quod she, 'thou Eolus, I hote, 
 
 And ring this folkes werkes by note, (630) 1720 
 
 That al the world may of hit here.' 
 And he gan blowe hir loos so clere 
 In his golden clarioun, 
 That through the world wente the soun. 
 So kenely, and eek so softe, J735 
 
 But atte laste hit was on lofte. 
 
 Thoo com the sexte companye, 
 And gonne faste on Fame crye. 
 Right verraly, in this manere 
 
 They seyden : 'Mercy, lady dere ! (640)1730 
 
 To telle certein as hit is, 
 We han don neither that ne this, 
 But ydel al our lyf y-be. 
 But, natheles, yit preye we, 
 
 That we mowe han so good a fame, 1735 
 
 And greet renoun and knowcn name, 
 As they that han don noble gestes. 
 And acheved alle her lestes, 
 As wel of love as other thing ; 
 
 Al was us never broche ne ring, (650) 1740 
 
 Ne elles nought, from wimmen sent, 
 
 1709. Cx. Th, P. ne ; F. B. for. 1717- F. B. Th. lyen (for lyuen") ; 
 P. Be; Cx. cm. 17^5- F. B. Al so ; ;vj-/ And so; read 'io. 1726. 
 So V. B. ; Cx. Th. That theyr fame was blowc a lofte. 1735. Cx. P. 
 
 so good a ; Th. as good a ; F. B. as good.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 1 73 
 
 Ne ones in her herte y-mcnt 
 
 To make us only frendly chere, 
 
 But mighte temen us on here ; 
 
 Yit lat us to the peple seme 1745 
 
 Swiche as the world may of us deme, 
 
 That wimmen loven us for wood. 
 
 Hit shal don us as moche good, 
 
 And to our herte as moche availe 
 
 To countrepeise ese and travaile, (660) 1750 
 
 As we had wonne hit with labour; 
 
 For that is dere boght honour 
 
 At regard of our grete ese. 
 
 And yit thou most us more plese ; 
 
 Let us be holden eek, therto, 1755 
 
 Worthy, wyse, and gode also, 
 
 And riche, and happy unto love. 
 
 For Goddes love, that sit above, 
 
 Though we may not the body have 
 
 Of wimmen, yet, so God yow save! (670) 1760 
 
 Let men glewe on us the name ; 
 
 Suffyceth that we han the fame.' 
 
 ' I graunte/ quod she, ' by my trouthe ! 
 Now, Eolus, with-outen slouthe, 
 
 Tak out thy trumpe of gold,' quod she, 1765 
 
 'And blow as they han axed me, 
 That every man wene hem at ese. 
 Though they gon in ful badde lese.' 
 This Eolus gan hit so blowe. 
 That through the world hit was y-knowe. (680) 1770 
 
 Tho com the seventh route anon, 
 
 And fel on knees everichon, 
 
 And seyde, ' Lady, graunte us sone 
 
 The same thing, the same bone. 
 
 That this nexte folk han don.' 1775 
 
 I 742. Th. Cx. P. in her herte ; F. in hem ; B. in her. 1744- Th. 
 
 on; r«/ upon. i74.=;. F. B. (?;«. the. 1748, 1749- F. a ; rest z.%. 
 
 1750. P. Cx. To ; rest The.
 
 174 I^- THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 ' Fy on yow,' quod she, ' everichon ! 
 
 Ye masty swyn, ye ydel wrecches, 
 
 Ful of roten slowe tecches ! 
 
 What ? false theves ! wher ye wolde 
 
 Be famous good, and nothing nolde (''^9°) 1780 
 
 Deserve why, ne never ne roughte ? 
 
 Men rather yow to-hangen oughte ! 
 
 For ye be lyk the swe\-nt cat, 
 
 That wolde have fish ; but wostow what ? 
 
 He wolde no-thing wete his clowes. 1785 
 
 Yvel thrift come on your lowes. 
 
 And eek on myn, if I hit graunte. 
 
 Or do yow favour, yow to avaunte ! 
 
 Thou Eolus, thou king of Trace ! 
 
 Go, blow this folk a sory grace,' (700) 1790 
 
 Quod she, ' anoon ; and wostow how ? 
 
 As I shal telle thee right now ; 
 
 Sey, " These ben they that wolde honour 
 
 Have, and do noskinnes labour, 
 
 Ne do no good, and yit han laude ; j 795 
 
 And that men wende that bele Isaude 
 
 Ne coude hem noght of love werne ; 
 
 And yit she that grint at a querne 
 
 Is al to good to ese her herte." ' 
 
 This Eolus anon up sterte, (710) 1800 
 
 And with his blakke clarioun 
 He gan to blasen out a soun. 
 As loude as belweth wind in helle. 
 And eek therwith, [the] soth to telle, 
 This soun was [al] so ful of lapes, 1805 
 
 As ever mowes were in apes. 
 And that wente al the world aboute, 
 
 1779. P. wher ; Cx. Th. where; F. li or. 1782. F. B. om. to-. 
 
 1783. F. swynt ; B. sweynte ; Cx. Th. P. slepy. 1786. Cx. P. on ; 
 
 //le rest to. 17S7. Cx. Th. P. on ; F. B. to. 1792. F. B. <?;//. thee. 
 
 J 793- -F- ^'- oni. they. 1804. I supply the. 1805. al is not in the 
 MSS. ; but P. has as ( = al-so).
 
 IX. rilE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 175 
 
 That every wight gan on hem shoute, 
 
 And for to laugh as they were wode ; 
 
 Such game fonde they in her hode. (720) 1810 
 
 Tho com another companye, 
 That had y-don the traiterye, 
 The harm, the grete wikkednesse, 
 That any herte couthe gesse; 
 
 And preyed her to han good fame, 1815 
 
 And that she nolde hem don no shame, 
 But yeve hem loos and good renoun, 
 And do hit blowe in clarioun. 
 ' Nay, wis ! ' quod she, ' hit were a vice ; 
 AI be ther in me no Justice, (730) 1820 
 
 Me liste not to do hit now, 
 Ne this nil I not graunte you.' 
 
 Tho come ther lepinge in a route. 
 And gonne choppen al aboute 
 
 Every man upon the croune, 1825 
 
 That al the halle gan to soune. 
 And seyden, ' Lady, lefe and dere, 
 We ben swiche folkes as ye mowe here. 
 To tellen al the tale aright, 
 
 We ben shrewes, every wight, (74°) 1830 
 
 And han delyte in wikkednes, 
 As gode folk had in goodnes ; 
 And loye to be knowen shrewes, 
 And fuUe of vice and wikked thewes ; 
 Wherfor we preyen yow, a-rowe, 1835 
 
 That our fame be swiche y-knowe 
 In alle thing right as hit is.' 
 
 * I graunte hit yow,' quod she, ' y-wis. 
 But what art thou that seyst this tale, 
 
 1816. MSS. doon (don, do> hem. 1818. F. B. in a ; P.Cx. Th.in. 
 1821. F. B. P. om. to ; Cx. Th. insert it. 1822. P. not; which F. B. 
 Cx. Th. omit. 1824. F. choppen ; B. choppyn ; Th. clappen ; Cx. 
 
 P. clappe. 1834. P- vice; Cx. Th. vyce; F. k vices. 1836. F. B. 
 miche be ; Cx. Th. P. be suche.
 
 176 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 That merest on thy hose a pale, (75°) 1^4° 
 
 And on thy tipet suche a belle ? ' 
 
 * Madame,' quod he, ' soth to telle, 
 
 I am that ilke shrewe, y-wis, 
 
 That brende the temple of Isidis 
 
 In Athenes, lo, that citee.' 1845 
 
 ' And wherfor didest thou so ? ' quod she. 
 
 ' By my thrift,' quod he, ' madame, 
 
 I wolde fayn han had a fame, 
 
 As other folk hadde in the toune, 
 
 Al-thogh they were of greet renoune (760) 1850 
 
 For her vertu and for her thewes ; 
 
 Thoughte I, as greet a fame han shrevves, 
 
 Thogh hit be for shrewednesse. 
 
 As gode folk han for goodnesse ; 
 
 And sith I may not have that on, 1855 
 
 That other nil I noght for-gon. 
 
 And for to gette of fames hyre. 
 
 The temple sette I al a-fyre. 
 
 Now do our loos be blowen swythe. 
 
 As wisly be thou ever blythe.' (77°) 1S60 
 
 ' Gladly,' quod she ; ' thou Eolus, 
 
 Herestow not what they preyen us ? ' 
 
 ' Madame, yis, ful wel,' quod he, 
 
 ' And I will trumpen hit, parde ! ' 
 
 And tok his blakke trumpe faste, 1865 
 
 And gan to puffen and to blaste. 
 
 Til hit was at the worldes ende. 
 
 With that I gan aboute wende ; 
 For oon that stood right at my bak, 
 Me thoughte, goodly to me spak, (780) 1870 
 
 And seyde, ' Frend, what is thy name ? 
 Artow come hider to han fame ? ' 
 ' Nay, forsothe, frend ! ' quod I ; 
 ' I cam noght hider, graunt mercy ! 
 
 1843. Here P. ends. 1853. F. Th. be noght for. 1862. Cx. Th. 
 they ; F. B. this folke.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK [11. 1 77 
 
 For no swich cause, by my heed ! 1875 
 
 SuiTyceth me, as I were deed, 
 
 That no wight have my name in honde. 
 
 I woot my-self best how I stonde ; 
 
 For what I drye or what I thinke, 
 
 I wol my-selven al hit drinke, (790) 1880 
 
 Certeyn, for the more part, 
 
 As ferforth as I can myn art.' 
 
 ' But what dost thou here than ? ' quod he. 
 
 Quod I, ' that wol I tellen thee, 
 
 The cause why I stonde here : — 1885 
 
 Som newe tydings for to lere : — 
 
 Som newe thinges, I not what, 
 
 Tydings, other this or that, 
 
 Of love, or swiche thinges glade. 
 
 For certeynly, he that me made (Soo) 1890 
 
 To comen hider, seyde me, 
 
 I shulde bothe here and see. 
 
 In this place, wonder thinges ; 
 
 But these be no swiche tydinges 
 
 As I mene of *No.?' quod he. 1895 
 
 And I answerde, ' No, parde ! 
 
 For wel I wiste, ever yit, 
 
 Sith that first I hadde wit. 
 
 That som folk han desyred fame 
 
 Dyversly, and loos, and name; (Sio) 1900 
 
 But certeynly, I niste how 
 
 Ne wher that Fame dwelte, er now ; 
 
 And eek of her descripcioun, 
 
 Ne also her condicioun, 
 
 Ne the ordre of her dome, 1905 
 
 Unto the tyme I hider come.' 
 
 1880. F. selfe; ;ra(/selven. 1S83. Th. than ; Cx. thennc; F. B. 
 om. 1887. y^// thing, thinge ; rt^a^/ thinges. Cf. 1. 1889. 1S91. 
 
 Ail come. 1897. A// wote C/or wiaie); seel.icjoi. 1898. A// had. 
 1902. ^^// dwelled 0/- dwellyth. 1906. B. the ; Y.oin. B. hidyr ; 
 
 Th. hyder; Cx. hcther ; F. thidder. 
 
 N
 
 jyH /X. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK IN. 
 
 ' Why than be, lo, these tydinges, 
 
 That thou now [thus] hider bringes, 
 
 That thou hast herd ? ' quod he to me ; 
 
 'But now, no fors; for wel I se (8^°) 191° 
 
 What thou dcsyrest for to lere. 
 
 Com forth, and stond no lenger here, 
 
 And I wol thee, with-outen drede, 
 
 In swich another place lede, 
 
 Ther thou shalt here many oon.' 1915 
 
 Tho gan I forth with him to goon 
 Out of the castel, soth to seye. 
 Tho saugh I stonde in a valeye, 
 Under the castel, faste by, 
 
 An hous, that domus Dcdali, (830) 1920 
 
 That Lahorintus cleped is, 
 Nas maad so wonderliche, y-wis, 
 Ne half so queynteliche y-wrought. 
 And evermo, so swift as thought, 
 This queynte hous aboute wente, 1925 
 
 That never-mo stille hit [ne] stente. 
 And ther-out com so greet a noise, 
 That, had hit stonden upon Oise, 
 Men mighte hit ban herd esely 
 
 To Rome, I trowe sikerly. (840) 1930 
 
 And the noyse which that I herde, 
 For al the world right so hit ferde, 
 As doth the routing of the stoon. 
 That from thengyne is leten goon. 
 
 And al this hous of whiche I rede 1935 
 
 Was made of twiggcs, falwe-rede 
 
 And grene eek, and som weren whyte, 
 
 Swiche as men to these cages thwyte, 
 
 Or makcn of these paniers, 
 
 Or elles hottes or dossers ; (S50) 1940 
 
 1908. I sufply ihws. 1926. I supply wc. i03i- Th. B. that 
 
 T ; F. I haue ; Cx. 1 had. 1938. F, B. Whiche ; "Cx. Th. Suche. 
 
 1 940. F. Cx. E. hattes ; Th. hutches. Read hottes.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 1']^ 
 
 That, for the swough and for the twiggcs, 
 
 This hous was also ful of giggcs, 
 
 And also ful eek of chirkinges, 
 
 And of many other werkinges, 
 
 And eek this hous hath of entrees 1945 
 
 As fele as leves ben on trees 
 
 In somer, whan they grene been, 
 
 And on the rove men may yit seen 
 
 A thousand holes, and wel mo, 
 
 To leten wel the soun out go. (860) 1950 
 
 And b}' day, in every tyde, 
 Ben al the dores open wyde, 
 And by night, echon, unshette ; 
 Ne porter ther is non to lette 
 
 No maner tydings in to pace; 1955 
 
 Ne never rest is in that place, 
 That hit nis fild ful of tydinges, 
 Other loude, or of whispringes ; 
 And, over alle the houses angles. 
 Is ful of rouninges and of langles, (^7°) ^9^° 
 
 Of werres, of pees, of mariages, 
 Of restes, of labour of viages, 
 Of abood, of deetli, of lyfe, 
 Of love, of hate, acorde, of stryfe, 
 Of loos, of lore, and of winninges, 1965 
 
 Of hele, of sekenesse, of bildinges, 
 Of faire windes, of tempestes, 
 Of qualme of folk, and eek of bcstes ; 
 Of dyvers transmutaciouns 
 
 Of estates, and eek of regiouns ; (S8o) 1970 
 
 Of trust, of drede, of lelousye, 
 Of wit, of winninge, of folye ; 
 
 1941. F. twynges f !) ; B. twigys. 1944. /;w« Cx. Th. ; B. omi/s 
 the line ; F. has only As ful this lo. 1946. Cx. Th. as ; F. of; B. 
 
 as of. Th. on ; F. B. in; Cx. of. 1952. Cx. Th. open ; F. opened ; 
 B. I-opened. 1955. Cx. out {form). 1957. F. silde ; B. fylde ; 
 
 Cx. Th. fylled. 1962. Cx. of labour ; F. Th. B. and of labour. 1967. 
 All insert and eek before of; see 1. 196S. 
 
 N 2
 
 1 80 IX. THE ROUS OF FAME. BOOK I If. 
 
 Of plente, and of greet famyne, 
 
 Of chepe, of deith, and of ruyne ; 
 
 Of good or mis governement, 1975 
 
 Of fyr, of dyvers accident. 
 
 And lo, this hous, of whiche I wryte, 
 Siker be ye, hit nas not lyte ; 
 For hit was sixty myle of lengthe, 
 Al was the timber of no strengthe; (890) 1980 
 
 Yet hit is founded to endure 
 Whyl that hit list to Aventure, 
 That is the moder of tydinges, 
 As the see of welles and springes, — 
 And hit was shapen lyk a cage. 1985 
 
 ' Certes,' quod I, ' in al myn age, 
 Ne saugh I swich a hous as this.' 
 And as I wondred me, y-wis, 
 Upon this hous, tho war was I 
 
 How that myn egle, faste by, _ (900) 199° 
 
 Was perched hye upon a stoon ; 
 And I gan streghte to him goon, 
 And seyde thus : ' I preye thee 
 That thou a whyl abyde me 
 
 For goddes love, and let me seen 1995 
 
 What wondres in this place been ; 
 For yit paraventure, I may lere 
 Som good theron, or sumwhat here 
 That Icef me were, or that I wente.' 
 
 'Peter! that is myn entente,' (91°) 2000 
 
 Quod he to me ; ' therfor I dwelle ; 
 But ccrtein, oon thing I thee telle, 
 That, but I bringe thee ther-inne, 
 Ne shalt thou never cunne ginne 
 To come in-to hit, out of doute, 2005 
 
 So fasle hit whirlelh, lo, aboutc. 
 
 1975. .'/// write mis governement as one 7voni. I97''- ^^^ ^"fl of; 
 
 ^w?/ and. 1984. F. B. andof; Cx. Th £7;«. of. i997- Th. paraunter.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. l<Sl 
 
 But sith that loves, of his grace, 
 
 As I have seyd, wol thee solace 
 
 Fynall}' with [swichc] thinges, 
 
 Uncouthe sightes and tydinges, (920) joio 
 
 To passe with thyn hcvinesse, 
 
 Suche routhe hath he of thy distresse, 
 
 That thou suffrest debonairly, 
 
 And wost thy-selven utterly 
 
 Disesperat of alle bhs, 2015 
 
 Sith that Fortune hath maad a-mis 
 
 [Theifect] of al thyn hertes reste 
 
 Languisshe and eek in point to breste — 
 
 That he, through his mighty meryte, 
 
 Wol do thee ese, al be hit lyte, (93°) 2020 
 
 And yaf expres commaundement. 
 
 To whiche I am obedient, 
 
 To further thee with al my might, 
 
 And wisse and teche thee aright 
 
 Wher thou maist most tydings here ; 2025 
 
 Shaltow here many oon lere.' 
 
 With this worde he, right anoon, 
 Hente me up bitwene his toon. 
 And at a windowe in me broghte, 
 That in this hous was, as me thoghte — (94°) 2030 
 And ther-withal, me thoghte hit stente, 
 And no-thing hit aboute wente — 
 And me sette in the flore adoun. 
 But which a congregacioun 
 
 Of folk, as I saugh rome aboute, 2035 
 
 Some within and some withoute, 
 Nas never seen, ne shal ben eft, 
 
 2009. I siibstihite sW\c)\e: for i\iesQ. 2010. Th. syglites ; r^j/ syj,'ht. 
 
 2017. F. The frot ; B. The foot ; Cx. Th. The swote. Kead Theftect. 
 
 2018. Cx. Th. Languysshe ; F. B. Laugh. 2020. Th. B. the {for 
 thee) ; Cx. the an ; F. than {perhaps = 'i\\& an). 2021. All insert in 
 after y2ii. 2026. F. B. insert axioon i^anon) after here. Perhaps read 
 — Shaltow many oon now lere. 2028. F. B. omit this line. 2036. 
 F. B. omit this line.
 
 lcS2 IX, THE nous OF FAME. BOOK Iff. 
 
 That, certes, in the world nis left 
 
 So many formed by Nature, 
 
 Ne deed so many a creature, (95°) 2040 
 
 That wel unethe, in that place, 
 
 Hadde I oon foot-brede of space ; 
 
 And every wight that I saugh there 
 
 Rouned ech in otheres ere 
 
 A newe tyding prevel}-, • 2045 
 
 Or elles tolde al openly 
 
 Right thus, and seyde, ' Nost not thou 
 
 That is betid, lo, late or now ? ' 
 
 ' No,' quod he, ' telle me what ; ' — 
 And than he tolde him this and that, (960) 2050 
 
 And swor iherto that hit was soth — 
 ' Thus hath he seyd ' — and ' Thus he doth ' — 
 ' Thus shal hit be ' — ' Thus herde I seye ' — 
 ' That shal be found ' — ' That dar I leye : ' — 
 That al the folk that is a-lyve 2055 
 
 Ne han the cunning to discryve 
 The thinges that I herde there. 
 What aloude, and what in ere. 
 But al the wonder-most was this : — 
 Whan oon had herd a thing, y-wis, {970) 2060 
 
 He com forth-right to another wight, 
 And gan him tellen, anoon-right. 
 The same [thing] that him was told, 
 Or hit a furlong-way was old, 
 
 But gan somwhat for to eche 2065 
 
 To this tyding in this speche 
 More than hit ever was. 
 And nat so sone departed nas 
 
 2042. Cx. one; F. Th. B. a. 2044. F. Rovned in ; B. Rownyd 
 
 in ; Cx. Th. Rowned everych in. 204S. F. has only — Tliat ys betydde ; 
 B. That is bctyd late or now ; Cx. Th. That ys betyd lo ryght now. 
 2053. All insert And {twice) before thus ; l>iit compare the next line. 
 2059, .,4// wonder most (mostc;. 2063. I supply \.\\m^. 2066. F. 
 Tho ; rest To.
 
 IX. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 1 83 
 
 That he fro him, tho he ne mette 
 
 With the thridde ; and, or he lette (980) 2070 
 
 Any stound, he tolde him als ; 
 
 Were the tyding soth or fals, 
 
 Yit wolde he telle hit nathelees, 
 
 And evermo with more encrees 
 
 Than hit was erst. Thus north and southe 2075 
 
 Went every [wordj fro mouthe to mouthe, 
 
 And that encresing evermo, 
 
 As fyr is wont to quikke and go 
 
 From a sparke spronge amis, 
 
 Til al a citee brent up is. {990) 2080 
 
 And, whan that was ful y-spronge, 
 And woxen more on every tonge 
 Than ever hit was, [hit] wente anoon 
 Up to a window^e, out to goon ; 
 Or, but hit mighte out ther pace, 3085 
 
 Hit gan out crepe at som crevace, 
 And fleigh forth faste for the nones. 
 
 And somtyme saugh I tho, at ones, 
 A lesing and a sad soth sawe, 
 
 That gonne of aventure drawe (1000) 2090 
 
 Out at a windowe for to pace; 
 And, when they metten in that place. 
 They were a-chekked bothe two. 
 And neither of hem moste out go ; 
 For other so they gonne croude, 2095 
 
 Til eche of hem gan cryen loude, 
 ' Lat me go first ! ' ' Nay, but lat me ! 
 And here I wol ensuren thee 
 With the nones that thou wolt do so, 
 That I shal never fro thee go, (loio) 2100 
 
 2076. F. B. Went every mouthe {of course -wrongly) ; Cx. Th. Wente 
 euervtydyng; read wmii. 2081. Cx. Th. vp spronge. 2083. W// and 
 i^for 2nd hit). 2087. F. flygh ; B. fligh ; Cx. Th. flewe. 2088. F. 
 cm. I. 2090. C-K. Th. drawe; F. B. thrawe. 2091. Cx. Th. at; 
 
 F. B. to. 2093. F. B. a cheked ; Cx. Th. a chekked.
 
 184 /-V. THE nous OF FAME. BOOK III. 
 
 But be thyn owne sworen brother! 
 
 We wil media us ech with other, 
 
 That no man, be he never so wrothe, 
 
 Shal han that oon [of] two, but bothe 
 
 At ones, al beside his leve, 2105 
 
 Come we a-morwe or on eve, 
 
 Be we cryed or stille y-rouned.' 
 
 Thus saugh I fals and soth compouned 
 
 Togeder flee for 00 tydinge. 
 
 Thus out at holes gonne v/ringe (1020) 2110 
 
 Every tyding streght to Fame; 
 And she gan yeven eche his name. 
 After hir disposicioun, 
 And yaf hem eek duracioun, 
 
 Some to wexe and wane sone, 2115 
 
 As doth the faire whyte mone, 
 And leet hem gon. Ther mighte I seen 
 Wenged wondres faste fleen. 
 Twenty thousand in a route, 
 As Eolus hem blew aboute. (1030) 2120 
 
 And, Lord ! this hous, in alle tymes, 
 Was ful of shipmen and pilgrymes. 
 With scrippes bret-ful of lesinges, 
 Entremedled with tydinges, 
 
 And eek alone by hem-selve. 2125 
 
 O, many a thousand tymes twelve 
 Saugh I eek of these pardoneres, 
 Currours, and eek messangeres. 
 With boistes crammed ful of lyes 
 As ever vessel was with lyes. ■ (1040) 2130 
 
 And as I alther-fastest wentc 
 
 2103. Th. he; F. B. they; Cx. omits lines 2095-215S. 2104. F. 
 
 han on two («V) ; B. haue that oon {om. of two) ; Th. haue one two. 
 I supply Wi^ifrom B. ; and also of. 2106. Th. amorowc ; F. B. 
 
 morwe. 2112. Allyene. 2115. Th. wane ; F". B. wynne(!). 
 
 2123. Th. scrippes; F. B. shrippcs. 2129. F. boystes ; Th. boxes; 
 
 B. bowgys.
 
 IX. THE HOUS OF FAME. BOOK III. 1 S^ 
 
 Aboute, and dide al myn entente 
 
 Me for to pleyen and for to lerc, 
 
 And eek a tyding for to here, 
 
 That I had herd of som contree 2135 
 
 That shal not now be told for me ; — 
 
 For hit no nede is, redely ; 
 
 Folk can singe hit bet than I ; 
 
 For al mote out, other late or rathe, 
 
 Alle the sheves in the lathe: — (1050)2140 
 
 I herde a gret noise withalle 
 
 In a corner of the halle, 
 
 Ther men of love tydings tolde, 
 
 And I gan thiderward beholde ; 
 
 For I saugh renninge every wight, 2145 
 
 As faste as that they hadden might ; 
 
 And everich cryed, ' What thing is that ? ' 
 
 And som seyde, ' I not never what.' 
 
 And whan they were alle on an hepe, 
 
 Tho behynde gonne up lepe, (1060) 2150 
 
 And clamben up on other faste, 
 
 And up the nose and eyen caste, 
 
 And troden faste on otheres heles. 
 
 And stampe, as men don after eles. 
 
 Atte laste I saugh a man, 2155 
 
 Whiche that I [nevene] noght ne kan ; 
 But he semed for to be 
 A man of greet auctorite (1068) 2158 
 
 {Unfinished.) 
 
 2150. Th. gonne; B. bigonne ; F. begunne. 2152. F. noyse an 
 
 highcn (!i ; Th. noyse on hyghen (!) ; B. nose and yen. 2153. F. B. 
 
 other; Th. others. 2154. F. B. stampen ; Th. stampe. 2156. / 
 
 «////j' nevene. Th. naught ; F. B. nat. 2158. Here Y . and V>. end, 
 
 incomplete. \_IIere tlie original poem ceases ; tlie rest, as in Cx. and 
 
 Th., is spurious.']
 
 X. THE FORMER AGE. 
 
 A BLiSFUL lyf, a paisible and a swete 
 
 Ledden the peples in the former age ; 
 
 They helde hem payed of fruites, that they ete, 
 
 Which that the feldes yave hem by usage ; 
 
 They ne were nat forpampred with outrage ; 5 
 
 Unknowen was the quern and eek the melle ; 
 
 They eten mast, hawes, and swich pounage, 
 
 And dronken water of the colde welle. 
 
 Yit nas the ground nat wounded with the plough, 
 But corn up-sprong, unsowe of mannes bond, 10 
 
 The which they gnodded, and eete nat half y-nough. 
 No man yit knew the forwes of his lond ; 
 No man the fyr out of the flint yit fond ; 
 Un-korven and un-grobbed lay the v}'ne ; 
 No man yit in the morter spyces grond 15 
 
 To clarre, ne to sause of galant}ne. 
 
 No mader, welde, or wood no litestere 
 
 Ne knew ; the flees was of his former hewe ; 
 
 No flesh ne wiste offence of egge or spere ; 
 
 No coyn ne knew man which was fals or trewe ; 20 
 
 From MS. I ( = Ii. 3. 21, Camb. Univ. Library^. ; a/so in llh ( = Hh. 
 4. 12, Camb. Univ. Library.) I note every variation froni I. 
 
 I. I. Blysful ; paysyblc. 2. I. poeples ; Hh. peplis. 3. I. paied 
 of the; Ilh. paied with the {but omit thel. I. fructes ; Hh. frutes. 
 4. I. Whichc. 5. I. vvecre ; Hh. were. I. Hh. owtrage. 6. I. 
 
 Onknowyn. I. quyeme ; Hh. qwerne. 1. ek. 7. I. swych povvnage. 
 
 9. I. grovvnd ; wownded ; plowh. 11. I. gnodded ; Hh. knoddyd. 
 
 I. I nowh. 12. I. knewe ; Hh. knew. 13. I. owt ; flyut ; fondc. 
 
 15. I. spices. 16. I. sawse ; Hh. sause. I. galentyne; Hh. galantine. 
 
 17. I. raadyr ; Hh. madder. Hh. vvellyd {'vrongly). I. vvod; Hh. woode. 
 
 18. I. knewh. I. fles; Hh. flese {/or flees). I. is (for his) ; Hh. hys. 
 
 19. I. flessh ; wyste. 20. I. knewh. Hh. was; I. is.
 
 X THE FORMER AGE. 187 
 
 No ship yit karf the wawes grene and blewe ; 
 No marchaunt yit ne fetle outlandish ware ; 
 No trompes for the werres folk ne knewe, 
 No toures heye, and walles rounde or square. 
 
 What sholde it han avayled to werreye ? 25 
 
 Ther lay no profit, ther was no richesse. 
 
 But cursed was the tyme, I dar wel seye, 
 
 That men first dide hir swety b}sinesse 
 
 To grobbe up metal, lurkinge in derknesse, 
 
 And in the riveres first gemmes soghte. 30 
 
 Alias ! than sprong up al the cursednesse 
 
 Of covetyse, that first our sorwe broghte ! 
 
 Thise tyraunts put hem gladly nat in pres, 
 
 No wildnesse, ne no busshes for to winne 
 
 Ther poverte is, as seith Diogenes, 35 
 
 Ther as vitaile is eek so skars and thinne 
 
 That noght but mast or apples is ther-inne. 
 
 But, ther as bagges ben and fat vitaile, 
 
 Ther wol they gon, and spare for no sinne 
 
 With al hir ost the cite for tassaile. 40 
 
 Yit were no paleis-chaumbres, ne non halles ; 
 
 In caves and [in] wodes softe and swete 
 
 Slepten this blissed folk with-oute walles, 
 
 On gras or leves in parfit quiete. 
 
 No doun of fetheres, ne no bleched shete 45 
 
 Was kid to hem, but in seurtee they slepte ; 
 
 22. I. owt-. 23. I. /wj-^r/j- batails (Hh. batayllys) fl/?t.'r Xo. 24. I. 
 towres ; rownde. 26. I. profyt; rychesse. 27. I. corsed ; Hh. 
 
 cursyd. 28. I. fjTst ; Hh. first. I. bysynesse. 29. I. lurkynge. 
 
 Hh. derknesse ; I. dirkenesse. 30. I. Ryuerjs fyrst gemmys sowhte. 
 31. I. cursydnesse. 32. Hh. couetyse ; I. coueytyse. I. fyrst owr ; 
 
 browhte. 33. I. Thyse tyrau«tz. 34. I. inserts places (Hh. place 
 of) aflcr No. I. wynne. 36. I. vitayle ; ek. 37. I. nat [for 
 
 noght) ; Hh. nowt. 39. I. synne. 40. I. Cyte. I. forto asayle ; 
 
 Hh. for to asayle. 41. Hh. were ; I. was. 42. I. kaues. I. Hh. om. 
 2nd in ; uiJiich 1 supply. 43. I. Sleptin ; blvased ; with owte. 
 
 44. I. parfyt loye reste and quiete (!) ; Hh. parfite loy and quiete (!). 
 
 45. I. down. 46. I. kyd. I. surte ; Hh. surt.
 
 1 88 X. THE FORMER AGE. 
 
 Hir hertes were al oon, with-oiite galles, 
 Everich of hem his feilh to other kepte. 
 
 Unforged was the hauberk and the plate ; 
 
 The lambish peple, voyd of alle v}xe, 50 
 
 Hadden no fantasye to debate, 
 
 But ech of hem wolde other wel cheryce; 
 
 No pryde, non envye, non avaryce, 
 
 No lord, no taylage by no tyrannye. 
 
 Humblesse and pees, good feith, the emperice, 55 
 
 [Fulfilled erthe of olde curtesye.] 
 
 Yit was not lupiter the likerous. 
 That first was fader of delicacye. 
 Come in this world ; ne Nembrot, desirous 
 To reynen, had nat maad his toures hye. 60 
 
 • Alias, alias ! now may men wepe and crye ! 
 For in our dayes nis but covetyse 
 [And] doublenesse, and tresoun and envye, 
 Poysoun, manslauhtre, and mordre in sondry wyse. 64 
 
 Finit Etas prima. Chaucers. 
 
 47. I. weere ; on ; -o\vte. 4S. I. Euerych ; oother. 49. I. hawberke. 
 50. I. lambyssh. I. j)oeple ; Hh. pepyl. Hh. voyd ; I. voyded. Hh. 
 vice; I. vyse. 51. I. fantesye. 52. I. eche; oother. 53. I. pride. 
 54. I. tyranye. 55. Hh. Humblesse ; I. Vmblesse. I. pes. 56. 
 
 Not ill the MSS. ; / supply it. Koch stiggcsts — Yit hadden in this 
 worlde the maistrye. 57. I. luppiter ; Hh. lupiter. I. lykerous. 
 58. I. fyrst ; fadyr ; delicasie. 59. I. desyrous. 60. I. regne ; towres. 
 61. Hh. men; which I. omits. 62. I. owre. 63. I. Hh. omit first 
 And, 'which I supply. I. Hh. Dowblcnesse. 64. I. Poyson and man- 
 slawtre ; Hh. Poysonne manslawtyr. Finit, ^c. \ in Hh. only.
 
 XI. FORTUNE. 
 
 Baladcs de visage sanz pdnture. 
 
 I. Le Pleintif oountre Fortune. 
 
 This wrecched worldes transmutacioun, 
 
 As wele or wo, now povre and now honour, 
 
 With-outen ordre or wys discrecioun 
 
 Governed is by Fortunes errour. 
 
 But natheles, the lak of hir favour 5 
 
 Ne may nat don me singen, though I dye, 
 
 ' lay tout perdu mo7i te??ips et mon labour : ' 
 
 For fynally, Fortune, I thee defye ! 
 
 Yit is me left the hght of my resoun, 
 
 To knowen frend fro fo in thy mirour. lo 
 
 So muche hath yit thy whirHng up and doun 
 
 Y-taught me for to knowen in an hour. 
 
 But trewely, no force of thy reddour 
 
 To him that over him-self hath the maystrye ! 
 
 My suffisaunce shal be my socour : 15 
 
 For fynally, Fortune, I thee defye ! 
 
 O Socrates, thou stedfast champioun. 
 
 She never mighte be thy tormentour; 
 
 Thou never dreddest hir oppressioun, 
 
 Ne in hir chere founde thou no savour. 20 
 
 The spelling is conformed to that of the preceding poems ; the 
 alterations though numerous are slight ; as y for /, an for aiv, &c. The 
 text mainly follows MS. I. (=Ii. 3. 21, Camb. Univ. Library). Other 
 MSS. are A. (Ashmole 59); T. (trin. Coll. Camb.); F. (Fairfax 16); 
 B. (Bodley 638); H. (Harl. 2251). 2. F. pouerte ; rest poure 
 
 (poore, pore, poeere\ 8, 16. I. fynaly; deffye. 11. I. mochel ; 
 
 the rest muche, moche. 13. T. fors ; thi reddowr. 17. I. stidfast 
 
 chaumpyoun. 18. I. myht ; thi tormentowr. 20. I. fownde ihow.
 
 T 90 Xr. FOR TUNE. 
 
 Thou knewe wcl the deceit of hir colour, 
 And that hir moste worshipc is to lye. 
 I kiiowe hir eck a fals dissimulour : 
 For fynally, Fortune, I tlice defye ! 
 
 II. La respounse de Fortune au Pleintif. 
 
 No man is wrecched, but him-sclf hit wcne, 35 
 
 And he that hath him-self hath suffisaunce. 
 
 Why seystou thanne I am to the so kene, 
 
 That hast thy-self out of my governaunce ? 
 
 Sey thus : ' Graunt mercy of thyn haboundaunce 
 
 That thou hast lent or this.' Why wolt thou stryve } 30 
 
 What wostou yit, how I thee wol avaunce ? 
 
 And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve ! 
 
 I have thee taught divisioun bi-twene 
 
 Frend of effect, and frend of countenaunce ; 
 
 Thee nedeth nat the galle of noon hyene, 35 
 
 That cureth even derked for penaunce ; 
 
 Now sestou cler, that were in ignoraunce. 
 
 Yit halt thyn ancre, and yit thou mayst arryve 
 
 Ther bountee berth the keye of my substaunce : 
 
 And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve. 40 
 
 How many have I refused to sustene, 
 
 Sin I thee fostred have in thy plesaunce ! 
 
 Woltou than make a statut on thy quene 
 
 That I shal been ay at thyn ordinaunce .-* 
 
 Thou born art in my regne of variaunce, 45 
 
 Aboute the wheel with other most thou dryve. 
 
 My lore is bet than wikkc is thy grevaunce, 
 
 And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve. 
 
 21. I. descylc. 22. I. most. 23. I. knew; ?v?5/ kiiowe. I. ek. 
 24. I. fynaly ; the deffye. 27. I. on. lo ; the rest have it. 31. I. 
 
 VNoost thow ; B. wostow ; A. T. wostovve. 37. A. T. seestowe ; I. 
 
 partly erased. 43. 1. Wolthow ; B. Woltow. 46. I. most thow ; 
 
 II. thow must ; the rest maystow, maisthow, maistow.
 
 XI. FORTUNE. 191 
 
 III. La rcspounse du Plcintif countre Fortune. 
 
 Thy lore I dampnc, hit is adversitce. 
 
 My frend maystou nat rcven, blind goddcsse ! .:;o 
 
 That I thy frendcs knowe, I ihanke hit thee. 
 
 Tak hem agayn, lat hem go lye on presse ! 
 
 The nigardye in keping hir richesse 
 
 Prenostik is thou wolt hir tour assayle ; 
 
 Wikke appetyt comth ay before seknesse : 55 
 
 In general, this reule may nat fayle. 
 
 La respounse de Fortune countre le Pleintif. 
 
 Thou pinchest at my mutabilitee, 
 
 P^or I thee lente a drope of my richesse, 
 
 And now me lyketh to with-drawe me. 
 
 Why sholdestou my realtee oppresse? 60 
 
 The see may ebbe and flowen more or lesse ; 
 
 The welkne hath might to shyne, reyne, or hayle : 
 
 Right so mot I kylhen my brotelnesse. 
 
 In general, this reule may nat fayle. 
 
 Lo, thexccucion of the magestee 65 
 
 That al purveyeth of his rightwisnesse, 
 
 That same thing 'Fortune' clepen ye, 
 
 Ye blinde bcstes, ful of lewednesse ! 
 
 The hevene hath proprete of sikernesse, 
 
 This world hath ever resteles travayle ; 70 
 
 Thy laste day is ende of myn intresse : 
 
 In general, this reule may nat fayle. 
 
 49. I. dempne ; F. B H. dampne. 50. I. maysthow ; B. maistou ; 
 H. maystow. 51. I. thanke to ; F. thanke yt ; B. thanke it ; H. 
 
 thank it nat ; (Lansdowne and Pepys also have thank it). 62. I. 
 
 welkne ; A. B. H. welkin ; F. welkene ; T. sky. 63. I. brutelnesse ; 
 
 T. brutilnesse ; F. B. H. brotelnesse ; A. brittelnesse. 65. A. F. 
 
 ))cxecucion ; B. thcxecucyon ; I. cxcussyoun. I. maieste ; ;r-r/ magestee 
 (mageste). 71. I. intersse {sic); (Lansd. a;;^/ I'epys intresse); T. F. 
 B. intercsse ; A. H. encresse.
 
 192 XI. FORTUNE. 
 
 Lenvoy de Fortune. 
 
 Princes, I prey you of your gentilesse, 
 
 Lat nat this man on me thus crye and pleync, 
 
 And I shal quyte you your bysinesse 75 
 
 At my requeste, as thre of you or tweyne ; 
 
 And, but you list releve him of his peyne, 
 
 Preyeth his beste frend, of his noblesse, 
 
 That to som beter estat he may atteyne. 79 
 
 Explicit. 
 
 73. I. gentilesses ; the rest gentilesse. 76. /;/ I. only ; the rest omit 
 this line. 77. A. F. B. H. And ; I. T. That. I. lest ; rest list 
 (liste'. At en^—B. Explicit.
 
 XII. TRUTH. 
 
 Balade de bon conseyl. 
 
 Fle fro the prces, and dwelle with sothfastnesse, 
 
 SufFyce unto thy good, though hit be smal; 
 
 For hord hath hate, and clymbing tikelnesse, 
 
 Frees hath envye, and wele blent overal ; 
 
 Savour no more than thee bihove shal ; 5 
 
 Werk wel thy-self, that other folk canst rede; 
 
 And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. 
 
 Tempest thee noght al croked to redresse, 
 
 In trust of hir that turneth as a bal : 
 
 Gret reste stant in litel besinesse. lo 
 
 And eek be war to sporne ageyn an al ; 
 
 Strive noght, as doth the crokke with the wal. 
 
 Daunte thy-self, that dauntest otheres dede; 
 
 And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. 
 
 That thee is sent, receyve in buxumnesse, 15 
 
 The wrasding for this worlde axeth a fal. 
 
 Title. Gg. //as — Balade de bone conseyl ; F. /las — Balade. 
 
 T/ie MSS. are At. (Addit. 10340, Brit. Museum); Gg. (Camb. Univ. 
 Library, Gg. 4. 27) ; E. (Ellesmere MS.) ; Ct. (Cotton, Cleop. D. 7) ; 
 T. (Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 3. 20) ; and othej-s. The text is founded oji E. 
 
 2. E. Suffise. E. good ; T. goode ; At. Ct. thing ; Gg. ])yng. 4. 
 
 At. blent ; T. blentej^c ; Gg. blj-ndy]) ; E. blyndcth ; Ct. blindeth ; see 
 note. 5. E. the. 7. T. inserts thee before shal. 9. E. trist ; 
 
 the rest trust. lo. Gg. Gret reste ; T. Gret rest ; E. For gret reste ; 
 
 Ct. For greet rest ; At. Alych wele. E. bisynesse ; rest besynesse. 
 
 II. E. ek ; agayn. 13. E. Ct. Daunt; the rest Daunte. 14. T. 
 
 inserts thee before shal. 15. E. the; bo.xomnesse.
 
 194 ^I^- TRUTH. 
 
 Her nis non hom, her nis but wildernesse : 
 
 Forth, pilgrim, forth ! Forth, beste, out of thy stal ! 
 
 Know thy contree, lok up, thank God of al ; 
 
 Hold the hye wey, and lat thy gost thee lede : 20 
 
 And trouthe shal deUvere, hit is no drede. 
 
 Envoy. 
 
 Therfore, thou vache, leve thyn old wrecchednesse 
 
 Unto the worlde ; leve now to be thral ; 
 
 Crye him mercy, that of his hy goodnesse 
 
 Made thee of noght, and in especial 25 
 
 Draw unto him, and pray in general 
 
 For thee, and eek for other, hevenlich mede ; 
 
 And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede. 28 
 
 Explicit Le bon counseill de G. Chaucer. 
 
 19. E. lok; the rest loke, looke. 20. E. the (/or thee). For Hold 
 the hye wey, Harl. F. and others have Weyve thy lust. 21. T. in- 
 
 serts thee before shal. 22-28. This stanza is in At. only. 22. At. 
 J)ine olde wrechedenesse. 23. At. world. 24. At. Crie hym ; hys 
 
 hie. 25. At. \q ; nou5t. 26. At. Drawe ; hym. 27. At. \t\ eke; 
 heuenelyche. 28. At. schal delyuere. Colophon ; so in F.
 
 XIII. GENTILESSE. 
 
 Moral Balade of Chaucer. 
 
 The firste stok, fader of gentilesse — 
 
 What man that claymeth gentil for to be, 
 
 Must folowe his trace, and alle his wittes dresse 
 
 Vertu to sewe, and vyces for to fie. 
 
 For unto vertu longeth dignitee, 5 
 
 And noght the revers, saufly dar I deme, 
 
 Al were he mytre, croune, or diademe. 
 
 This firste stok was ful of rightwisnesse, 
 
 Trewe of his word, sobre, pitous, and free, 
 
 Clene of his goste, and loved besinesse, lo 
 
 Ageinst the vyce of slouthe, in honestee ; 
 
 And, but his heir love vertu, as did he. 
 
 He is noght gentil, thogh he riche seme, 
 
 Al were he mytre, croune, or diademe. 
 
 Vyce may wel be heir to old richesse ; 1 5 
 
 But ther may no man, as men may wel se. 
 
 Title : so in Harl., but spelt Chaucier ; T. has — Balade by Chaucier. 
 
 The MSS. are A. (Ashmole 59) ; T. (Trin. Coll. R. 3. 20) ; Harl. 
 (Harl. 7333); Ct. (Cotton, Cleopatra D. 7); Ha. (Harl. 7578); Add. 
 (Additional 22139, Brit. Museum). Also Cx. (Caxton's printed edition i 
 I follow chiejly the last of these, and note variations. 
 
 I. Cx. first; Harl. ffirste ; Ct. firste. 3. Cx. ovi. alle; the rest have 
 it. 4. A. T. snwe ; Harl. shew (for sewe) ; Cx. folowe (by mistake). 
 
 5. Cx. vertue ; dignyte. 6. Cx. not ; the rest nou5t, nought, nojte. 
 
 7. Cx. mytor ; A. T. Harl. Add. mytre. Cx. crowne ; dyademe. 8. 
 
 Cx. rightwisnes. 9, A. Ct. Ha. pitous ; Cx. pyetous. 10. Cx. 
 
 besynes. 11. A. Ageinst ; T. Ageynst ; Cx. Agayn. Cx. ow. the ; 
 
 the rest have it. Cx. honeste. 12. Cx. eyer ; M^ r^j'/ heire, heyre. 
 
 13. Cx. not; Ct. H. nought. Cx. though; Add. thogh. 14. Cx. 
 
 mytor; crowne. 15. Cx. owZ/j' heir. Cx. holde; the rest fA^^; but 
 
 read old. 16. Cx. al ; the rest as. 
 
 O 2
 
 J 96 XIII. GENTIIESSE. 
 
 Bequethe his heir his vcrtuous noblesse ; 
 
 That is appropred unto no degree, 
 
 But to the firste fader in magestee, 
 
 That maketh him his heir, that wol him qucme. 20 
 
 Al were he mytre, croune, or dvademe. 
 
 17. Cx. eyer. 18. Cx. degre. 19. Cx. first; magcste. 20. Ct. 
 That maketh his heires hem that hym queme [omitting vvol) ; A. 
 That ma|)e his he}Te him that wol him qweme ; T. That make}"e heos 
 hejTCs hem J)at wol him qweeme ; Add. That maketh his eires hem 
 that can him queme ; Cx. That makes hem eyres that can hem queme : 
 with other variations. I follow A., but put maketh ^r ma})e, atui 
 place him after it; sec note. 21. Cx. crowne mytor.
 
 XIV. LAK OF STEDFASTNESSK. 
 
 Balade. 
 
 SoM tyme this world was so stedfast and stable, 
 
 That mannes word was obligacioun, 
 
 And now hit is so fals and deceivable, 
 
 That word and deed, as in conclusioun, 
 
 Ben no-thing lyk, for turned up so doun 
 
 Is al this world for niede and wilfulnesse, 
 
 That al is lost for lak of stedfastnesse. 
 
 What maketh this world to be so variable, 
 But lust that folk have in dissensioun ? 
 Among us now a man is holde unable, 
 But-if he can, by som conclusioun, 
 Don his neighbour wrong or oppressioun. 
 What causeth this, but wilful wrecchednesse, 
 That al is lost, for lak of stedfastnesse? 
 
 Trouthe is put doun, resoun is holden fable : 
 
 Vertu hath now no dominacioun, 
 
 Pitee exyled, no man is merciable. 
 
 Through covetyse is blent discrecioun ; 
 
 The world hath mad a permutacioun 
 
 Fro right to wrong, fro trouthe to fikelnesse, 
 
 That al is lost, for lak of stedfastnesse. 
 
 The MSS. arc : Harl. (Harl. 7333) ; T. (Tiin. Coll. R. 3. 20) ; Ct. 
 i^Cotton, Cleop. D. 7); F. (Fairfax 16); Add. (Addit. 22139); a//c/ 
 others. I follow Ct. chiefly. The title Balade is in F. 
 
 I. Ct. Sumtyme. Ct. F. the; the rest \.\\\'i. Ct. worlde. 2. Ct. 
 
 worde. 3. Ct. nowe it ; false ; deseiuable. 4. Ct. worde ; dedc. ^. 
 H. T. Beon ; Ad. Ar ; Ct. Is; F. Ys. Ct. lyke. 6. Ct. all ; worlde. 
 S. Ct. worlde ; veriable. 9. Ct. folke ; discension. 10. 77/f MSS. 
 have For among vs now, or For nowe a dayes ; only the Bannatyne MS. 
 omits Yox, which is not wanted. 12. Ct. Do ; neyghburgh. 15. 
 
 Ct. putte. 17. Ct. Pite. 18. Ct. Thorugh. 19. Ct. worlde. 
 
 Ct. am. a, which occtirs in T. F. Add. 20. Ct. trought ; F. trouthe.
 
 198 XIV. LAK OF STEDFASTNESSE. 
 
 Lenvoy to King Richard. 
 
 O prince, desyre to be honourable, 
 
 Cherish thy folk and hate extorcioun ! 
 
 Suffre no thing, that may be reprevable 
 
 To thyn cstat, don in thy regioun. 25 
 
 Shew forth thy swerd of castigacioun, 
 
 Dred God, do law, love trouthe and worthinesse. 
 
 And wed thy folk agein to stedfastnesse. 28 
 
 22. Ct. honurable. 23. Ct. Cherice thi. 25. Ct. thine estaat 
 
 doen ; thi. 26. Ct. Shewe ; swerde. 27. Ct. Drede; trnthe. 
 
 28. Ct. thi; ayen.
 
 XV. AGAINST WOMEN UNCONSTANT. 
 
 Balade. 
 
 Madame, for your newe-fangelnesse, 
 
 Many a servaunt have ye put out of grace, 
 
 1 take my leve of your unstedfastnesse, 
 
 For wel I wot, whyl ye have lyves space, 
 
 Ye can not love ful half yeer in a place ; 5 
 
 To newe thing your lust is euer kene; 
 
 In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene. 
 
 Right as a mirour nothing may enpresse, 
 
 But, lightly as it cometh, so mot it pace, 
 
 So fareth your love, your werkes bereth witnesse. 10 
 
 Ther is no feith that may your herte enbrace; 
 
 But, as a wedercok, that turneth his face 
 
 With every wind, ye fare, and that is sene ; 
 
 In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene. 
 
 Ye might be shryned, for your brotelnesse, 15 
 
 Bet than Dalyda, Creseide or Candace ; 
 For ever in chaunging stant your sikernesse, 
 
 Title. N'o^tc in Ct. ; Balade in F. ; ed. 1561 has — A balade which 
 Chaucer made agaynst woman unconstaunt. 
 
 The text is f7-om Ct. (Cotton, Cleopatra D. 7); that in ed. 1561 is 
 much the same, except in spelling. Another copy in F. 
 
 2. Ct. Manie ; F. Many. Ct. F. of youre ; omit youre. 4. Ct. wote 
 while. F. have lyves ; Ct. to lyve haue. 5. Ct. kunnought ; F. kan 
 
 not. 6. F. thing; Ct. thinges. Ct. inserts ^o befoj-e'kQnQ; ed. (1561) 
 ofnits so ; F. has ay so. 7. Ct. sted ; F. stede. Ct. Blue ; F. blew. 
 8. Ct. 'htlirrour ; ed. mirour. Ct. ed. ins. that bef. nothing ; F. om. 
 II. Ct. F. hert; ed. herte. 14. Ct. om. al ; F. retains it. 15. 
 
 Ct. om. your; F. ed. retain it. 16. Ct. Bettir; F. ed. Better; read 
 
 Bet. F. Dalyda; Ct. Dalidc. Ct. Cresside ; F. Creseyde. 17. Ct. 
 Changeng; F. chaungyng. Ct. F. ed. stondeth ; read staxiX.
 
 200 AT. AGAIXST WOMEN UNCONSTANT. 
 
 That taclie may no wight fro your herte arace ; 
 If ye lese oon, ye can wel tweyn purchace ; 
 Al Hght for somer, }'e wile wel what I mene, .>o 
 
 In Steele of blew, thus may ye were al grene. 
 
 ExpUcil. 
 
 i8. F. tache; Ct. tacche ; ed. tatche. F. herte ; Ct. ed. hert. 19. 
 Ct. lese ; F. ed. lose. Ct. kunne ; Y . kan ; ed. can. Cl. ed. tweine ; 
 F. tweyn. 20. Ct. All ; ed. Al. Ct. F. wote ; ed. wot ; read wite. 
 
 21. Ct. oin. al ; F. ed. retain it. Ct. adds Explicit.
 
 XVI. LENVOY DE CHAUCER A SCOGAN. 
 
 To-broken been the statuts hye in hevene 
 
 That creat were eternally to dure, 
 
 Sith that I see the brighte goddes sevene 
 
 Mow wepe and wayle, and passioun endure, 
 
 As may in erthe a mortal creature. 5 
 
 Alias, fro whennes may this thing procede ? 
 
 Of whiche errour I deye almost for drede. 
 
 By worde eterne whylom was hit shape 
 
 That fro the fifte cercle, in no manere, 
 
 Ne mighte a drope of teres doun escape. lo 
 
 But now so wepeth Venus in hir spare, 
 
 That with hir teres she wol drenche us here. 
 
 Alias, Scogan ! this is for thyn offence ! 
 
 Thou causest this deluge of pestilence. 
 
 Hast thou not seyd, in blaspheme of this goddes, 15 
 Through pryde, or through thy grete rakelnesse, 
 Swich thing as in the lawe of love forbode is ? 
 That, for thy lady saw nat thy distresse, 
 Therfor thou yave hir up at Michelmesse 1 
 
 Title : so in F. ami P. ; Gg. has — Litera diiecta de Scogon per G. C. 
 
 The MSS. are: Gg. (Camb. Univ. Library, Gg. 4. 27); F. (Fairfax 
 16) ; P. (Pepys 2006). I foliow F. mainiy. 
 
 1. F. statutez. 2. F. weren eternaly. 3. F. bryght goddis. 4. 
 F. Mowe. 5. F. mortalc. 6. F. thys thinge. 8. F. whilome. F. 
 yshape ; Gg. it schape; P. it shape. 9. F. fyfte sercle; maner. 10. F. 
 myght; teeres ; eschape. 11. F. wepith. 12. F. teeres. 14. F. 
 cawsest ; diluge. 15. Gg. Hast ])u ; F. Hauesthow. F. this goddis ; 
 Gg. the goddis; P. the goddes. 16. F. Thurgh; thrugh. F. they 
 {"ivrongly) ; Gg. J)yn ; P. thi. F. rekelnesse ; P. reklesnesse ; Gg. 
 rechelesnesse ; j^^ note. 17. F. forbede ; Gg. forbodeii. 18. Gg. 
 
 saw; F. sawgh. 19. F. Therfore thow. Gg. Mychel- , F. Mighel-.
 
 202 XVI. LENVOY A S COG AN. 
 
 Alias, Scogan ! of olde folk ne yonge 20 
 
 Was nevere erst Scogan blamed for his tonge ! 
 
 Thou drowe in scorn Cupyde eek to record 
 
 Of thilke rebel word that thou hast spoken, 
 
 For which he wol no lenger be thy lord. 
 
 And, Scogan, thogh his bowe be nat broken, 25 
 
 He wol nat with his arwes been y-wroken 
 
 On thee, ne me, ne noon of our figure, 
 
 We shul of him have neyther hurt ne cure. 
 
 Now certes, frend, I drede of thyn unhappe, 
 
 Lest for thy gilt the wreche of Love procede 30 
 
 On alle hem that ben hore and rounde of shape, 
 
 That ben so l}kly folk in love to spede. 
 
 Than shul we for our labour han no mede; 
 
 But wel I wot, thou wilt answere and seye : 
 
 'Lo! olde Grisel list to ryme and pleye 1' 35 
 
 Nay, Scogan, sey not so, for I mexcuse, 
 
 God help me so ! in no rym, doutelees, 
 
 Ne thinke I never of sleep to wak my muse. 
 
 That rusteth in my shethe stille in pees. 
 
 Whyl I was yong, I putte hir forth in prees, 40 
 
 But al shal passe that men prose or ryme; 
 
 Take every man 'his turn, as for his t}me. 
 
 Envoy. 
 
 Scogan, that knelcst at the stremes heed 
 Of grace, of alle honour and worthinesse, 
 
 20. F. folkc. 22. F. scorne ; eke; recorde. 23. F. worde ; 
 
 thow. 24. F. lorde. 25. F. thow {for thogh). F. thy {for his, 
 
 w7-ongIy)\ Gg. P. his. 27. F. the. Gg. onre ; P. owrc; F. youre. 
 
 28. F. hurtc. Gg. P. ne ; F. nor. 29. F. dreed. 30. F. gilte. 
 
 31. Gg. P. hore; F. hoor. F. shappe; P. shape; Gg. schap. 32. 
 
 F. folke. 33. P. shull ; F. Gg. shal. Gg. P. han ; F. haue. F. noo. 
 34. F. thow. F. wolt ; Gg. wilt. 35. Gg. P. Lo olde ; F. Loo 
 
 tholde. F. lyste. 36. F. say ; Gg. P. sey. 1* . soo. 37. P. help ; 
 Gg. F. helpe. F. soo. F. ryme dowteles. 38. F. thynke ; slepe ; 
 
 wake. 40. F. While ; yonge. Gg. putte ; F. put. P. her ; F. hyt ; 
 Gg.it. 41. F. alle. 42. F. hys turne. 43. F. hede; Gg. hcd.
 
 XVI. LENVOY A SCO G AN. 203 
 
 In thende of which streme I am dul as deed, 45 
 
 Forgete in solitarie wildernesse ; 
 
 Yet, Scogan, thenke on Tullius kyndenesse, 
 
 Minne thy frend, ther it may fructifye ! 
 
 Far-wel, and lok thou never eft Love defye ! 49 
 
 45. F. dede; Gg. P. ded. 48. F. Mynne ; there. 49. F. lokc 
 thow ; dyffye. 
 
 Note : AH contain the folloivins;; notes, viz. — .i. a Windesore 
 opposite 1. 43 ; and — .i. a Grcnewich opposite 1. 45.
 
 XVII. LENVOY DE CHAUCER A BUKTON. 
 
 The counseil of Chaucer touching Mariage, which 
 was sent to Bukton. 
 
 My maister Bukton, whan of Criste our kinge 
 
 Was axed, what is trouthe or sothfastnesse. 
 
 He nat a word answerde to that axinge, 
 
 As who saith : ' no man is al trew,' I gesse. 
 
 And therfor, thogh I highte to expresse 5 
 
 7'he sorwe and wo that is in mariage, 
 
 1 dar not wryte of hit no wikkednesse, 
 
 Eest I my-self falle eft in swich dotage. 
 
 I wol nat seyn, how that hit is the cheyne 
 
 Of Sathanas, on which he gnaweth ever, 10 
 
 But I dar seyn, were he out of his peyne, 
 
 As by his wille, he wolde be bounde never. 
 
 But thilke doted fool that eft hath lever 
 
 Y-cheyned be than out of prisoun crepe, 
 
 God lete him never fro his wo dissever, 15 
 
 Ne no man him bewayle, though he wepe. 
 
 But yit, lest thou do worse, tak a wyf; 
 
 Bet is to wedde, than brenne in worse wyse. 
 
 But thou shalt have sorwe on thy flesh, thy lyf, 
 
 And been thy wyves thral, as seyn these w}'se, 20 
 
 TiTi.K : so in MS. Fairfax 16. Second 'WiXe.fro^i Ju. 
 
 The aitthorilics are: Y. (Fairfax 16); Th. (Thynnc's edition, i532); 
 and a printed copy by Julian Notary (Ju.). I folloio F. mainly. 
 
 2. F. ys ; sothefastnesse. 3. F. vvorde. 4. F. noo. 5. F. ther- 
 fore though ; hight. 6. F. woo. 7. F. writen ; hyt. 8. Ju. 
 
 Lest; F. Leste. 9. F. hyt. 10. F. euere. 11. P". oute. 12. 
 V . neuere. 1 3. F. foole. Th. efte ; F. ofte ; Ju. oft. F. leuere. 
 
 15. F. woo disseuere. 16. F. noo. 17. F. thow doo ; take; wyfe. 
 19. F. thow ; flcssh; lyfc. 20. F. wifes ; Ju. Th. wyues.
 
 XV 11. LENVOY A BUKTON. 305 
 
 And if that holy writ may nat suffyse, 
 Experience shal thee teche, so may happe, 
 That thee were lever to be take in Fryse 
 Than eft to falle of wedding in the trappe. 
 
 Envoy. 
 
 This litel writ, proverbes, or figure 25 
 
 I sende you, tak kepe of hit, I rede: 
 
 Unwys is he that can no wele endure. 
 
 If thou be siker, put thee nat in drede. 
 
 The wyf of Bathe I pray you that ye rede 
 
 Of this matere that we have on honde. 30 
 
 God graunte you your lyf frely to lede 
 
 In fredom ; for ful hard is to be bonde. 32 
 
 Explicit. 
 
 21. F. yf ; hooly writte. 22. F. the. 23. F. the. 24. F. Ju. 
 om. to; ivhich Th. inserts. 25. F. writte; Th. writ; Ju. wryt. 
 
 26. F. yow take ; hyt. 27. F. Vnwise; kan noo. 28. F. thow ; 
 
 the. 29. F. wyfe; yow. 31. F. yow; lyfe. 32. F. fredam. 
 
 F. harde it is ; Ju. hard is ; Th. foule is. All add Explicit.
 
 XVIII. THE COMPLEYNT OF VENUS. 
 
 I. {The Lovcr^s worthiness^ 
 
 Ther nis so hy comfort to my plesaunce, 
 
 Whan that I am in any hevinesse, 
 
 As for to have leyser of remembraunce 
 
 Upon the manhod and the worthinesse, 
 
 Upon the trouthe, and on the stedfastnesse 5 
 
 Of him whos I am al, whyl I may dure; 
 
 Ther oghte blame me no creature, 
 
 For every wight preiseth his gentilesse. 
 
 In him is bountee, wisdom, gouernaunce 
 
 Wei more then any mannes wit can gesse; 10 
 
 For grace hath wold so ferforth him avaunce 
 
 That of knighthode he is parfit richesse. 
 
 Honour honoureth him for his noblesse ; 
 
 Therto so wel hath formed him Nature, 
 
 That I am his for ever, I him assure, 15 
 
 For every wight preiseth his gentilesse. 
 
 And not-withstanding al his suffisaunce, 
 
 His geiitil herte is of so greet humblesse 
 
 To me in worde, in werke, in contenaunce, 
 
 And me to serve is al his besinesse, 20 
 
 That I am set in verrey sikernesse. 
 
 Title : so in F. Ff. Ar. ; see Notes. 
 
 The MSS. are: T. (Trin. Coll. Cambridge, R. 3. 20'^ ; A. (Ashmole 
 59); Tn. (MS. Tanner 346); F. (Fairfax 16); Ff. (MS. Ff. i. 6, Camb. 
 Univ. Library) ; P. (Pepys 2006") ; etc. I follow F. maiu/y. 
 
 I. F. high; T. A. hye (hy is better). 2. F. When ; cny. 4. F. 
 raanhod ; i/ie rest liave final e. 5. F. stidfastnesse. 6. F. whiles ; 
 A. whilest ; rest while. 7. F. oght ; Tn. oghte to. 9. F. ys bonnte. 
 F. T. A. insert and after wisdom ; Imt the rest omit it. 10. F. cny 
 
 manes witte. 11. F. wolde (zvrongly) ; ¥i. wold. F. ferforthe. 
 
 12. F. parfitc. 14. F. well. 16. F. preysith. 18. F. heit ; 
 
 grete. 19. F. werk. 21. F. sikimesse.
 
 XVIII. THE COMPLEYNT OF VENUS. 207 
 
 Thus oghte I blesse wel myn aventure, 
 Sith that him list me serven and honoure ; 
 For every wight preiseth his gentilesse. 
 
 II. {Disquietude caused by Jealousy^ 
 
 Now certes, Love, hit is right covenable 25 
 
 That men ful dere bye the noble thing, 
 As wake a-bedde, and fasten at the table, 
 Weping to laughe, and singe in compleyning, 
 And doun to caste visage and loking, 
 Often to chaungen hewe and contenaunce, 30 
 
 Pleye in sleping, and dremen at the daunce, 
 Al the revers of any glad feling. 
 
 Thogh lelosye wer hanged by a cable, 
 
 She wolde al knowe through her espying; 
 
 Ther doth no wight no-thing so resonable, 35 
 
 That al nis harm in her imagening. 
 
 Thus dere abought is love in yeving, 
 
 Which ofte he yiveth with-outen ordinaunce, 
 
 As sorow ynogh, and litel of plesaunce, 
 
 Al the revers of any glad feling. 40 
 
 A litel tyme his yift is agreable. 
 
 But ful encomberous is the using; 
 
 For sotel lelosye, the deceyvable, 
 
 Ful often-tyme causeth destourbing. 
 
 Thus be we ever in drede and suffering, 45 
 
 22. F. oght. 25. F. certis. 27. F. a-bed ; T. A. a-bedde. 
 
 28. F. Wepinge ; laugh ; sing ; compleynjTige. 29. F. cast ; the rest 
 caste. F. lokynge. 30. F. chaunge visage {wrongly) ; change 
 
 hewe in MS. Arch. Selden, B. 24 ; T. A. chaunge huwe. 31. F. 
 
 Pley. F. dreme ; T. Tn. Ff. dremen. 32. F. reuerse ; eny. 33. 
 
 T. })anghe lalousye wer ; the rest zvrongly omit Thaughe (Thogh), and 
 turn wer into be. T. Tn. by ; F. be ; Ff. with. 34. F. wold ; thro ; 
 espyinge. 35. F. dothe. 36. F. nys harme ; yinagenynge. 37. 
 F. yevynge. 38. F. yifeth. Ff. withouten ; the rest withoute. 40. 
 F. reuerse. 42. T. Ff. encomberous ; F. encombrouse. F. vsynge. 
 
 43. Tn. sotell ; F. subtil. 44. T. destourbing ; A. dcstourbinge ; F. 
 derturbynge {sic'). 45. F. suffrynge ; P. sufferyng; T. souffering.
 
 20 8 XVTIL THE COMPLEYNT OF VENUS. 
 
 In nouncerteyn we languishe in penauncc, 
 And han ful often many an hard meschaunce. 
 Al the revers of any glad feling. 
 
 III. {Salis/acfioti in Constancy}^ 
 
 But certes, Love, I sey nat in such wyse 
 
 That for tescape out of your lace I mente ; 50 
 
 For I so longe have been in your servyse 
 
 That for to lete of wol I never assente; 
 
 No force thogh lelosye me tormente ; 
 
 Suffyceth me to see him whan I may, 
 
 And therfore certes, to myn ending-day 55 
 
 To love him best ne shal I never repente. 
 
 And certes, Love, whan I me wel avyse 
 
 On any estat that man may represente, 
 
 Than have ye maked me, through your franchyse, 
 
 Chese the best that ever on erthe wente. 60 
 
 Now love wel, herte, and lok thou never stente; 
 
 And let the lelous putte hit in assay 
 
 That, for no peyne wol I nat sey nay ; 
 
 To love him best ne shal I never repente. 
 
 Herte, to thee hit oghte y-nogh suffyse 65 
 
 That Love so hy a grace to thee sente, 
 To chese the worthiest in alle wyse 
 
 46. F. P'f. noun-certeyn ; T. noun-certaine ; A. nouncerteine, F. lan- 
 jTvisshen. 47. F. harde. F. wi-ongly repeals penaunce ; T. A. 
 
 meschaunce. 48. F. reucrse ; ony ; felynge. 49. F. certys ; not. 
 
 50. F. youre ; ment. 51. F. be; the rest ben or been. 52. F. wil ; 
 T. A. Ff. wol. F. assent. 53. F. fors; turment. 55. F. certys. 
 
 .f6. F. oin. ne, which T. A. P. insert; Ar. has that. Tn. inserts me 
 before r\Q.\'<tT. 57. F. certis ; when. 58. F. cny estate ; represent. 
 
 59. F. Tn. Then ; rest Than, Thanne, Thane. T. Ff. P. maked ; 
 rcj-/ made. F. thro. 60. F. went. 61. F. hert ; loke ; stent. 
 
 62. P. lelous; A. lalous ; T. lalousc ; F. lelousie. A. putte; F. put. 
 
 63. F. peyn wille I not. 64. F. yow {for him) ; T. A. Tn. Ar. him 
 >^i?l. 56). 65. F. Ilert; the; ought ynogh. 66. F. highe ; T. A. 
 hye. T. A. Ff. Ar. thee ; F. yow ; Tn. you. F. sent. 67. F. al.
 
 XVIII. THE COMPIEYiVT OF VENUS. 209 
 
 And most agreable unto myn entente. 
 
 Seche no ferther, neyther wey ne wcnte, 
 
 Sith I have suffisaunce unto my pay. 70 
 
 Thus \\o\ I ende this compleynt or lay ; 
 
 To love him best ne shal I never repente. 
 
 Lenvoy. 
 
 Princess, receyvelh this compleynt in gre, 
 Unto your excellent benignitee 
 
 Direct after my litel suffisaunce. 75 
 
 For eld, that in my spirit dulleth me, 
 Hath of endyting al the soteltee 
 
 Wei ny bereft out of my remembraunce ; 
 
 And eek to me hit is a greet penaunce, 
 Sith rym in English hath swich scarsitee, 80 
 
 To folowe word by word the curiositee 
 
 Of Graunson, flour of hem that make in Fraunce. 
 
 68. F. entent. 69. F. went. 70. F. Sithe. F. Tn. ye {for I) ; 
 
 rest I. 71. All but Ju. (Julian Notary's edition) repeat this before 
 
 lay. 72. See 1. 56. 73. T. A. Pryncesse ; rest Princes. 
 
 F. resseyueth. 74. F. excelent benignite. 75. F. Directe aftir. 
 76. F. elde. 77. Tn. soteltee; F. subtilite. 78. F. nyghe. 
 
 79. F. eke; grete. 80. F. ryme; englissh hat {sic) such skarsete. 
 
 81. F. worde by worde ; curiosite. 82. F. floure; maken.
 
 XIX. THE COMPLEINT OF CHAUCER TO HIS 
 EMPTY PURSE. 
 
 To yon, my purse, and to non other wight 
 
 Compleyne I, for ye be my lady dere ! 
 
 I am so sory, now that ye be light; 
 
 For certes, but ye make me hevy chere, 
 
 I\Ie were as leef be leyd up-on my bere ; 5 
 
 For whiche un-to your mercy thus I crye : 
 
 Beth hevy ageyn, or elles mot I dye ! 
 
 Now voucheth sauf this day, or hit be night, 
 
 That I of you the bHsful soun may here. 
 
 Or see your colour lyk the sonne bright, 10 
 
 That [as] of yelownesse hadde never pere. 
 
 Ye be my lyf, ye be myn hertes stere, 
 
 Quene of comfort and of good companye : 
 
 Beth hevy ageyn, or elles mot I dye ! 
 
 Now purs, that be to me my lyves light, 15 
 
 And saveour, as doun in this worlde here, 
 
 Out of this toune help me through your might, 
 
 Sin that ye wole nat ben my tresorere ; 
 
 For I am shave as nye as any frere. 
 
 But yit I pray un-to your curtesye : 20 
 
 Beth hevy ageyn, or elles mot I dye ! 
 
 The MSS. are: F. (Fairfax 16); Harl. (Harl. 7333); Ff. (Camb. 
 Univ. Library, Ff. i. 6) ; P. (Pepys 2006); Add. (Addit. 22139); "■i^o 
 Cx. (Caxton's edition). I follow F. viainly. 
 
 Title. So in Cx. (Init with Un-to for to) ; F. o»i. empty ; P. La 
 compleint de Chaucer a sa IJoiirsc Voide. 
 
 I. F. yow. 2. F. Complayn ; Harl. P. ComplejTie. 3. Flarl. 
 
 be ; F. been. 4. Add. That ; P. But ; rest For. P. Add. but ye ; 
 
 F. H. but yf ye ; Ff butyifye; Cx. ye now. 5. Add. leyd; F. 
 
 layde. 7. F. Beeth ; ageyne ; mote. 8. F. liyt ; nyght. 9. F. 
 yow; sovne. 10. F. lyivC ; bryght. 11. I supply tl's,. 12. F. 
 
 lyfe ; hertys. 14. F. ageyne; moote. 15. P. Cx. purs; F. Add. 
 
 purse. F. ben. 17. F. Oute ; helpe ; thurgli. t8. F. bene. 
 
 19. Harl. P. any; Add. cny ; Cx. ony; Y. is a. 21. F. Bethe; ayen; 
 moote.
 
 XIX. COMPLEINT TO HIS PURSE. 211 
 
 Lenvoy de Chaucer. 
 
 O conquerour of Brutes Albioun ! 
 
 Which that by lyne and free cleccioun 
 
 Ben verray king, this song to you I sende; 
 
 And ye, that mowen al myn harm amende, 25 
 
 Have mynde up-on my suppHcacioun ! 
 
 F. Lenvoy de Chaucer ; Harl. P. Lenvoye ; Cx. Thenuoye of Chaucer 
 vnto the kynge. 23. F. Whiche. F. lygne ; Harl. Cx. Ff. P. lyne. 
 
 24. F. Been ; kynge ; yow. 25. F. alle myn harme ; Ff. alk oure 
 
 harmes ; Harl. all oure harmous ; P. Cx. alk harmes.
 
 XX. PRO\^RBS. 
 
 I. 
 
 What shul thecs clothes many-folc 
 Lo ! this' hote somers day ? — 
 
 After greet heet cometh cold; 
 No man caste his pilche away. 
 
 II. 
 
 Of al this world the wyde compas 
 Hit wol not in myn armes tweyne. — 
 
 Who-so mochel wol embrace 
 
 Litel therof he shal distreyne. 8 
 
 The MSS. arc : F. (Fairfax i6) ; Ha. (Had. 7578) ; Ad. (Addit. 
 16165). I follow ¥. mainly. 
 
 I. Ad. J)ees ; F. Ha. these. All needlessly insert thus after clothes. 
 F. many-folde. 1. F. Loo ; hoote. 3. F. grete hete ; Ha. greet hete ; 
 Ad. heet. F. colde. 4. Ha. pilche ; F. pilch. 5. F. all ; worlde. 
 Ad. wyde ; F. Ha. large. Ad. Ha. compas ; F. compace. 6. Ad. 
 Hit ; F. Yt. Ad. wol ; F. Ha. wil. Ad. myn ; F. Ha. my. 
 7. F. Whoo-so.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 XXI. A COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 
 
 I. (/« seven-line stanzas.) 
 
 The longe night, whan every creature 
 
 Shulde have hir rest in somwhat, as by kynde, 
 
 Or elles ne may hir lyf nat long endure, 
 Hit falleth most in-to my woful mynde 
 How I so fer have broght my-self behynde, 
 
 That, sauf the deeth, ther may no-thing me lisse. 
 
 So desespaired I am from alle blisse. 
 
 This same thoght me lasteth til the morwe, 
 And from the morwe forth til hit be eve ; 
 
 Ther nedeth me no care for to borwe, 
 
 For bothe I have good leyser and good leva ; 
 Ther is no wight that wol me wo bereve 
 
 To wepe y-nogh and wailen al my fille; 
 
 The sore spark of peyne doth me spille. 
 
 II. {In Terza Rima ; imperfect^ 
 
 [The sore spark of peyne doth me spille;] 15 
 
 This Love hath [eek] me set in swich a place 
 
 Of these fragments there is hut one MS. copy, in MS. Harl. 78, in 
 which (as in ed. 1 561') it is written in continuation of the Complaint 
 unto Pity. The spellitjg is bad, and I alter it throughout. 
 
 I. MS. nyghtes ; seel.S. 2, 3. hir; MS. they re. 7. ed. (1561) 
 
 dispaired. 12. MS. me; ed. my. 14. Both insert now before doth. 
 15. It seems necessary to repeat this line in order to start the scries of 
 rimes. 16. MS. This louc that hathe me set ; / ojnit that, and supply 
 eek.
 
 214 ^^I' COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 
 
 That my desyr [he] never wol fulfille ; 
 
 For neither pitee, mercy, neither grace 
 
 Can I nat fynde; yit [from] my sorwful herte, 
 
 For to be deed, I can hit nat arace. 
 
 The more I love, the more she doth me smerte ; 
 
 Through which I see, with-oute remedye. 
 
 That from the deeth I may no wyse asterte; 
 
 [For this day in her servise shal I dye]. 
 
 III. (/« Terza Rima ; imperfect.) 
 
 [Thus am I slain, with sorwes ful dyverse ; 25 
 
 Ful long agoon I mighte have taken hede]. 
 
 Now sothly, what she hight I wol reherse ; 
 
 Her name is Bountee, set in womanhede, 
 
 Sadnesse in youthe, and beautee prydelees, 
 
 And plesaunce, under governaunce and drede ; 30 
 
 Her surname eek is Faire Rewthelees, 
 
 The Wyse, y-knit un-to good Aventure, 
 
 That, for I love her, sleeth me giltelees. 
 
 Her love I best, and shal whyl I may dure, 
 
 Bet than my-self an hundred thousand deel, 35 
 
 Than al this worldes richesse or creature. 
 
 Now hath nat Love me bestowed weel 
 
 To love, ther I never shal have part.? 
 
 Alias ! right thus is turned me the wheel, 
 
 Thus am I slayn with loves fyry dart. 40 
 
 I can but love her best, my swete fo; 
 
 Love hath me taught no more of his art 
 
 But serve alwey, and stinte for no wo. 
 
 17. I supply he (i.e. Love). 19. MS. and yit my ; I oviit and, 
 
 and supply from. 24. Supplied to complete the rime from Compl. 
 
 Mars, 189. 25. Supplied from Compl. Pite, 22, 17. 26. 
 
 Supplied from Annelida, 307. 31. MS. is eek. 32. MS. The 
 
 vfyseeknyiie {eo}-}-upt ?). 33. MS. hirshe; / omit she. 36. 
 
 Corrupt .<' Perhaps read riche creature. 40. MS. fury. 42. Read 
 of alle his ?
 
 XXI. COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 21 5 
 
 IV. {In icn-linc stanzas?) 
 
 [With-in] my trewe careful hcrte thcr is 
 
 So moche wo, and [eek] so litel blis, 45 
 
 That wo is me that ever I was bore ; 
 For al that thing which I desyre I mis, 
 And al that ever I wolde nat, I-wis, 
 
 That fynde I redy to me evermore ; 
 And of al this I not to whom me pleyne, 50 
 
 For she that mighte me out of this bringe 
 
 Ne reccheth nat whether I wepe or singe ; 
 So litel rewthe hath she upon my peyne. 
 
 Alias ! whan sleping-tyme is, than I wake. 
 
 Whan I shulde daunce, for fere than I quake, 55 
 
 This hevy lyf I lede for your sake, 
 Thogh ye ther-of in no wyse hede take. 
 
 My hertes lady, and hool my lyves quene ! 60 
 
 For trewly dorste I seye, as that I fele, 
 Me semeth that your swete herte of stele 
 Is whetted now ageynes me to kene. 
 
 My dere herte, and best beloved fo, 
 
 Why lyketh yow to do me al this wo, 65 
 
 What have I doon that greveth yow, or sayd. 
 But for I serve and love yow and no mo ? 
 And whylst I live, I wol do ever so; 
 
 And therfor, swete, ne beth nat evil apayd. 
 For so good and so fair as [that] ye be, 70 
 
 Hit wer [a] right gret wonder but ye hadde 
 
 Of alle servants, bothe goode and badde ; 
 And, leest worthy of alle hem, I am he. 
 
 44. MS. In; / rea^ With-in. 45. I supply eek. 50. So in 
 
 Annelida, 237. 54. MS. ins. lo aficr is. 55. MS. ins. lo after 
 
 fere. 56,59. Missing. 57. M'i. ins. \o after \eie. 68. MS. euer do. 
 70. I supply ih^i. 71. I sztpply sl. 72. MS. ewj. of «/to- bothe.
 
 2l6 XXI, COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 
 
 But never-the-les, my righte' lady swete, 
 
 Thogh that I be unconning and unmete 75 
 
 To serve as I best coude ay your hynesse, 
 Yit is ther fayner noon, that wolde I hete, 
 Than I to do yow ese, or elles bete 
 
 What-so I wiste were to [yow distresse]. 
 And had I might as good as I have wille, So 
 
 Than shulde ye fele wher it wer so or noon ; 
 
 For in this worlde living is ther noon 
 That fayner wolde your hertes [wish] fulfille. 
 
 For bothe I love, and eek dreed yow so sore, 
 
 And algates moot, and have doon yow, ful yore, S5 
 
 That bet loved is noon, ne never shal ; 
 And yit I wolde beseche yow of no more 
 But leveth wel, and be nat wroth ther-fore. 
 
 And lat me serve yow forth ; lo ! this is al. 
 For I am nat so hardy ne so W'ood 90 
 
 For to desyre that ye shulde love me ; 
 
 For wel I wot, alias ! that may nat be ; 
 I am so litel worthy, and ye so good. 
 
 For ye be oon the worthiest on-lyve. 
 
 And I the most unlykly for to thryve; 95 
 
 Yit, for al this, [now] witeth ye right wele, 
 That ye ne shul me fro your service dryve 
 That I nil ay, with alle my wittes fyve, 
 
 Serve yow trewly, what wo so that I fele. 
 For I am set on yow in swich manere 100 
 
 That, thogh ye never wil upon me rewe, 
 
 I moste yow love, and ever been as trewe 
 As any can or may on-lyve [here]. 
 
 76. MS. koude best. 77. MS. noon fayner. 7R. MS. youre ; 
 
 read yo-w. 79. MS. wist that were ; ow. that. MS. your hycnesse 
 
 {repeated from\. '](> ; ■wrongly'); r^ao' yow distresse. 82. M.S. /«^. 
 
 J)ane before is. 83. MS. wille {badly) ; read wish. 86. MS. better. 
 96. I supply novf. 98. MS. ne wil (/or nil) 100. ed. (\ ^61) has 
 
 set so hy vpon your whele. 102. M.S. been euer. 103. MS. man 
 
 can ; / omit man. / ntpply here ; the line is imperfect.
 
 XXI. COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 21 7 
 
 The more that I love yow, goodly fre, 
 
 The lasse fynde I that ye loven me ; 105 
 
 Alias ! whan shal that harde wit amende ? 
 Wher is now al your wommanly pitee, 
 Your gentilesse and your debonairtee, 
 
 Wil ye no-thing ther-of upon me spende? 
 And so hool, swete, as I am youres al, no 
 
 And so gret wille as I have yow to serve, 
 
 Now, certes, and ye lete me thus sterve, 
 Yit have ye wonne ther-on but a smal. 
 
 For, at my knowing, I do no- thing why, 
 
 And this I wol beseche yow hertely, 115 
 
 That, ther ever ye fynde, whyl ye live, 
 A trewer servant to yow than am I, 
 Leveth [me] thanne, and sleeth me hardely, 
 
 And I my deeth to you wol al forgive. 
 And if ye fynde no trewer [man than me], 120 
 
 [Why] will ye suffre than that I thus spille, 
 
 And for no maner gilt but my good wille ? 
 As good wer thanne untrewe as trewe to be. 
 
 104. MS. But the ; \ omit '^M.t. 114. MS. nought ; r^a^ no-thing. 
 
 T16. MS. whyles. 118. I supply me. 120. MS. no trewer so 
 
 verrayly ; ed. no trewer vcrely \^ false rime). 121. I supply Why.
 
 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT. 
 
 An amorous Compleint, made at Windesor. 
 
 I, WHICH that am the sorwefuUeste man 
 
 That in this world was ever yit levinge, 
 
 And leest recoverer of him-selven can, 
 
 Beginne thus my deadly compleyninge 
 
 On hir, that may to lyf and deeth me bringe, 5 
 
 Which hath on me no mercy ne no rewthe 
 
 That love hir best, but sleeth me for my trewthe. 
 
 [Ne] can I seyen nought that may yow lyke, 
 
 [For] certes, now, alias ! alias ! the whyle ! 
 
 Your plesaunce is to laughen whan I syke, 10 
 
 And thus ye me from al my blisse exyle. 
 
 Ye have me cast in that despitous yle 
 
 Ther never man on lyve ne might asterte; 
 
 This have I for I love yow best, swete herte ! 
 
 Soth is, that wel I wot, by lyklinesse, 15 
 
 If it wer thing possible [for] to do 
 
 For to acounte your beutee and goodnesse, 
 
 I have no wonder though ye do me wo; 
 
 Sith I, thunworthiest that may ryde or go, 
 
 Durste ever thinken in so hy a place, 20 
 
 What wonder is, though ye do me no grace? 
 
 In MS. Harl. 7333, fol. 133 b and 134. The title is — And next 
 folowyng bcgynnith an amerowse compleynte made at wyndesore in 
 the laste May tofore Noueinbre {sic^. 
 
 I. Harl. sorowfuUest. 2. worlde; Icving. 3. leste recouuerer. 
 
 4. Bc-gynne right tlius. 5. lyff; dethe. 6. Whiche hathc; rought 
 \sic). 7. beste ; sleethe. 8. Harl. ow. Ne, /-■«/ inserts it at be- 
 
 ginning of \. 9; Cane I nought ne saye {badly). 9. Ne {for For) ; 
 
 nowe ellas ellas. 10. Youre. 11. frome. 12. Yee; caste; 
 
 spitouse (7^;- despitous). 14. beste. 15. Soothe; weele ; woot. 
 
 16. thinge ; cm. for; duo. t8. noo wondre ; yee; woo. 19. Sithe; 
 goo. 20. hie. 21. vvondir; doo ; noo.
 
 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPIEINT. 219 
 
 Alias ! thus is my lyf brought to an ende, 
 
 My deelh, I see, is my conclusioun; 
 
 I may wel say, in sory tyme I spende 
 
 My lyf, that so may have confusioun 25. 
 
 For mercy, pitee, and deep alTeccioun. 
 
 I sey for me, for al my deedly chere, 
 
 AUe thise diden, in that, me love yow dere. 
 
 And in this wyse and [in] dispayre I live 
 
 In love ; nay, nay, but in dispayre I dye ! 30 
 
 But shal I thus [to] yow my deeth for-give, 
 
 That causeles doth me this sorow drye? 
 
 Ye, certes, I ! For she of my folye 
 
 Hath nought to done, although she do me sterve; 
 
 Hit is nat with hir wille that I hir serve ! 35 
 
 Than sith I am of my sorowe the cause 
 
 And sith that I have this, withoute hir reed. 
 
 Than may I seyn, right shortly in a clause, 
 
 It is no blame unto hir womanheed 
 
 Though swich a wrecche as I be for hir deed ; 40 
 
 Yet alwey [been] two thinges, doon me dye, 
 
 That is to seyn, hir beutee and myn ye. 
 
 So algates, she is [than] the verray rote 
 
 Of my disese, and of my dethe also ; 
 
 For with oon word she mighte be my bote, 45 
 
 If that she vouched sauf for to do so. 
 
 But [why] than is hir gladnesse at my wo .-* 
 
 22. Ellas; Eonde. 23. dethe; concluciou«. 24. wele; sorye, 
 
 25. song (!yor so) ; Confuciouw. 27. fo(!y^rfor\ 28. Allethis: 
 deere. 29. I supply in. 31. I supply io; yowe ; dethe lor-geve 
 
 32. dothe. 33. certe(!); sheo. 34. Hathe ; Al-thoughe sheo 
 
 35. nought (y^rnat). .^6. Thane sithe. 37 sitthe; rede. 38 
 seyne. 39. noo ; womanhede. 40. Thaugh suche ; dede 
 
 41. Yelte; I supply hcen ; twoo; doone. 42. seyne; beaute ; eye 
 
 43. sheo; I supply \h3.n\ verraye Roote. 44. diseese; alsoo. 45 
 worde sheo myght ; boote. 46. sheo wovched saufe ; soo. 47 
 
 / supply why ; woo.
 
 220 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT. 
 
 It is hir wone plesaunce for to take, 
 To seen hir servaunts dyen for hir sake! 
 
 But certes, than is al my wonderinge, 50 
 
 Sithen she is the fayrest creature 
 
 As to my dome, that ever was levinge. 
 
 The benignest and beste eek that nature 
 
 Hath wrought or shal, whyl [that] the world may dure, 
 
 Why that she lefte pite so bihynde ? (^5 
 
 It was, y-wis, a greet defaute in kynde. 
 
 Yit is al this no lak to hir, pardee. 
 
 But God or nature sore wolde I blame ; 
 
 For, though she shewe no pite unto me, 
 
 Sithen that she doth othere men the same, 60 
 
 I ne oughte to despyse my ladies game ; 
 
 It is [hir] pley to laughen whan men syketh, 
 
 And I assente, al that hir list and lyketh ! 
 
 Ye ! wolde I, as I dar, with sorweful herte 
 
 Biseche un-to your mekly womanhede 65 
 
 That I now dorste my sharpe shoures smerte 
 
 Shewe by worde, and ye wolde ones rede 
 
 The pleynte of me, the which ful sore drede 
 
 That I have seid here, through myn unknowinge. 
 
 In any worde to your displesinge. 70 
 
 Lothest of anything that ever was loth 
 
 Were me, als wisly god my soule save ! 
 
 To seyn a thing through which ye might be wroth ; 
 
 48. wonne ; Ilarl. ^v/j-. to rt/Z^:;' wonne, 49. scon; sarvauntes. 
 
 50. thanne; allt* ; wondering. 51. sheo. 53. eke. 54. Ilathe; 
 shalk ; / j?<///)' that ; vvorUle. 55. Whi ; shoo Icfe pitte ; byhinde. 
 
 56. ewisse; grete. 57. Yitte; noo. 58. Harl. z;w. hem /'^;-£ 
 
 score {sic). 59. thowe {for though) ; sheo ; pctte. 60. sheo doothe. 
 61. ought. 62. I supply hir ; pleye ; lawhe when that men sikith. 
 
 63. liste ; likethe. 64. Yeo ; dare ; sorowfuU. 67. yce ; onys. 
 
 68. compleynte {foi-^; pleynte) ; which I Full^. 69. saide ; thorowe. 
 
 70. yowre. 71. Loothest ; loothe. 72. sowle safe. 73. seyne ; 
 ihorughe ; yee ; wrothc.
 
 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT. 221 
 
 And, to that day that I be leyd in grave, 
 A trewer servaunt shulde ye never have ; 75 
 
 And, though that I have pleyned unto yow here, 
 Forgiveth it me, myn owne lady dere ! 
 
 Ever have I been, and shal, how-so I wende, 
 
 Outher to live or dye, your humble trewe ; 
 
 Ye been to me my ginning and myn ende, 80 
 
 Sonne of the sterre bright and clere of hev^re, 
 
 And I ay oon ; to love yow freshly nevve, 
 
 By God and by my trouthe, is myn entente, 
 
 To live or dye ; I wol it never repente ! 
 
 This compleynt on seint Valentynes day, 85 
 
 Whan every foul [ther] chesen shal his make, 
 
 To hir, whos I am hool, and shal alwey, 
 
 This Avoful song and this compleynt I make, 
 
 That never yit wolde me to mercy take ; 
 
 And yit wol I [for] evermore her serve 90 
 
 And love hir best, although she do me sterve. 
 
 74. leyde. 75. sarvaunt ne shulde yee. 76. thaughe ; playned. 
 77. For-gyvethe yt me, mrae oune lady so dere. 78. howe. 79. 
 
 youre. 80. Yee ben ; gynnynge. 81. Sterre so bright ; huwe. 82. 
 fresshely. 83. wolle. 85. Conpleynte ; valantines. 86. foughel 
 cheesen shall; I supply \\it\ from Pari. Foules, 310. 87. was i^.for 
 
 whos) ; hole ; shall. 88. wofulk songe ; conplaynte. 90. wolle ; 
 
 I supply iox. 91. alk-thowhe sheo.
 
 XXIII. A BALADE OF COIMPLEYNT. 
 
 CoMPLEYNE ne coude, ne might myn herte never 
 
 ]\Iy peynes halve, ne what torment I have, 
 
 Though that I sholde in your presence ben ever, 
 
 j\Iy hertes lady, as wisly he me save 
 
 That bountee made, and beutee list to grave 5 
 
 In your persone, and bad hem bothe in-fere 
 
 Ever tawayte, and ay be wher ye were. 
 
 As wisly he gye alle my loyes here 
 
 As I am youres, and to yow sad and trewe, 
 
 And ye, my lyf and cause of my good chere, 10 
 
 And deeth also, whan ye my peynes newe. 
 
 My worldes loye, whom I wol serve and sewe, 
 
 My heven hool, and al my suffisaunce, 
 
 Whom for to serve is set al my plesaunce. 
 
 Beseching yow in my most humble wyse 15 
 
 Taccepte in worth this litel povre dyte. 
 
 And for my trouthe my service nat despyse, 
 
 Myn observaunce eek have nat in despyte, 
 
 Ne yit to long to suffre in this plyte, 
 
 I yow beseche, myn hertes lady dere, 20 
 
 Sith I yow serve, and so wil yeer by yere. 
 
 In MS. Addit. 16 165, fol. 256, back; headed V>?\'a.Ae of compleynte. 
 
 I. koude ; \veri. 2. turment. 3. Thaughe ; shoulde ; youre. 
 
 4. wissely. 5. beaute liste. 6. youre; bade; in-feere. 7. beo. 
 
 8. ■wissely. 9. yowe sadde ; truwe. 10. lyff; gode. 11. 
 
 dethe; whane ; Kcwe, altered by the scribe to ncv/e. 12. whome; 
 
 suwe. 13. hole; souffisaunce. 14. sctte. 15. yowe; moste. 
 
 16. Taccept; worthe ; pore. 17. not despice. 18. eke; not. 
 
 19. longe. 20. here [^errorfor Ci.<:XQ; see 'S.X.W. 77). 21. yowe. 
 
 yere by yere.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 I. An A B C. 
 
 This poem is a rather free translation of a similar poem by 
 Guillaume de Deguileville, as pointed out in the Preface, where 
 the whole of the original is quoted in full. 
 
 Explanations of the harder words should, in general, be sought 
 for in the Glossarial Index, though a few are discussed in the 
 Notes. 
 
 The language of this translation is, for the most part, so 
 simple, that but few passages call for remark. I notice, however, 
 a few points. 
 
 Chaucer has not adhered to the complex metre of the original, 
 but uses a stanza of eight lines of five accents in place of de 
 Deguileville's stanza of twelve lines of four accents. 
 
 3. Dr. Koch calls attention to the insertion of a second of, in 
 most of the MSS., before sorwe. Many little words are often 
 thus wrongly inserted into the texts of nearly all the Minor 
 Poems, simply because, when the final c ceased to be sounded, 
 the scribes regarded some lines as imperfect. Here, for exam- 
 ple, if sinne be regarded as monosyllabic, a word seems required 
 after it ; but when we know that Chaucer regarded it as a 
 dissyllabic word, we at once see that MSS. Gg. and Jo. (which 
 omit this second of) are quite correct. We know that sitine is 
 properly a dissyllabic word in Chaucer, because he rimes it with 
 the infinitives biginne (Cant. Ta. C. 941) and winne (same, D. 
 1421), and never with such monosyllables as kin or tin. This is 
 easily tested by consulting Mr. Cromie's very useful Rime-index 
 to the Canterbury Tales. The above remark is important, on 
 account of its wide application. The needless insertions of little 
 words in many of the 15th-century MSS. are easily detected. 
 
 4. Scan the line by reading — Gl6rious virgin ', 6f all ' fl6ur-es 
 fl6ur. Cf. 1. 49. 
 
 6. Debonaire, gracious lady ; used as a sb. Compare the 
 original, 1. 11. 
 
 8. Answers to 1. 6 of the original — ' Vaincu m'a mon aversaire.' 
 The word Venquisht is here the right form ; similarly, in the
 
 224 I- ^^^' ABC. 
 
 Squieres Tale, 1. 342, the word vanisshed is to be read as 
 vanisJCd, with the accent on the second syllable, and with 
 elision of <?. See Ten Brink, Chancers Sprache, § 257. 
 
 11. Warne, reject, refuse to hear. So in P. Plowman, 
 C. xxiii. 12, ' whanne men hym wcrncth'' means 'when men 
 refuse to give him what he asks for.' 
 
 12. Free, liberal, bounteous. So in Shak. Troilus, iv. 5. 100 — 
 ' His heart and hand both open and both free.' It may be 
 remarked, once for all, that readers frequently entirely mis- 
 understand passages in our older authors, merely because they 
 forget what great changes may take place in the sense of words 
 in the course of centuries. 
 
 13. Largesse, i.e. the personification of liberality; ' thou be- 
 stowest perfect happiness.' 
 
 14. Cf. original, 1. 15 — ' Ouer [for^ tu es de salu porte.' Scan 
 by reading — Hav'n of refut. But in I. 32, we have r^fut. 
 
 15. Theves seven, seven robbers, viz. the seven deadly sins. 
 We could easily guess that this is the meaning, but it is 
 needless ; for the original has — ' Par sept larrons, pechies 
 mortez,' 1. 17 ; and a note in the Sion Coll. MS. has — 'i. seven 
 dedly synnes.' The theme of the Seven Deadly Sins is one of 
 the commonest in our old authors ; it is treated of at great 
 length in Chaucer's Persones Tale, and in Piers Plowman. 
 
 16. 'Ere my ship go to pieces ;' this graphic touch is not in 
 the original, 
 
 17. Yotu, you. In addressing a superior, it was customary to 
 use the words _y^ and you, as a mark of respect ; but, in prayer, 
 the words thou and thee were usual. Hence, Chaucer has 
 mixed the two usages in a very remarkable way, and alternates 
 them suddenly. Thus, we have thee in I. 5, thou in 1. 6, &c., 
 hxxi yozu in 1. 17, thy in 1. 19, you in 1. 24; and so on. We 
 even find the plural verbs hclpen, 1. 104; JJeth, 1. 134; and 
 Ben, 1. 176. 
 
 20. jiccioun, action, is here used in the legal sense ; 'my sin 
 and confusion have brought an action (i. e. plead) against me.' 
 It is too close a copy of the original, 1. 25 — ' Contre moy font 
 une accion.' 
 
 21. I.e. 'founded upon rigid justice and a sense of the 
 desperate nature of my condition.' Cf. 'Rayson ct desperacion 
 Contre moy veulent maintenir ; ' orig. 1. 29. Maintetiir, to 
 maintain an action, is a legal term. So, in 1. 22, sustene means 
 ' sustain the plea.' 
 
 24. ' If it were not for the mercy (to be obtained) from you.'
 
 /. ^.'V ABC. 325 
 
 25. Literally — * There is no doubt that thou art not the cause ; 
 meaning, ' Without doubt, thou art the cause.' Misericorde is 
 adopted from the original. According to the usual rule, viz. 
 that the syllable cr is usually slurred over in Chaucer when a 
 vowel follows, the word is to be read as jins''rzcord-e. So also 
 soz'^reyn, 1. 69. 
 
 27. Vouched sattf, vouchsafed. Tacorde, to accord ; cf. 
 talyghte, taiiiefidc, &c. in Gloss, to Ch. II. (i.e. Chaucer's 
 Prioresses Tale, &c., in the Clarendon Press Series) 
 
 29. Cf. ' S'encore fust Tare encorde ; ' orig. 1. 47 ; and ' Tare 
 de justice,' 1. 42. The French expression is probably borrowed 
 (as suggested in Bell's Chaucer) from Ps. vii. 13 — 'arcum suum 
 tetendit.' Hence the phrase of Justice and of yre refers to the 
 bowe. 
 
 30. First, at first, before the Incarnation. 
 
 36. For examples of the use of great assize, or last assise, to 
 signify the Last Judgment, see Murray's Diet., s. v. Assise. 
 
 39. Most MSS. read here — 'That but thou er [or or] that 
 day correcte me ; ' this cannot be right, because it destroys the 
 rime. However, the Bedford MS., instead of correcte vie, has 
 Me chastice ; and in MS." C. me chastysc is written over an 
 erasure (doubtless of the words correcte me). Even thus, the 
 line is imperfect, but is completed by help of the Sion MS., 
 which reads me wcel chastyce. 
 
 40. Of verrey right, in strict justice ; not quite as in 1. 21. 
 
 41. Rather close to the original — ' Fuiant m'en viens a ta 
 tente Moy mucier pour la tormente Qui ou monde me tempeste,' 
 «S:c. Mucier means ' to hide,' and ou means ' in the,' F. au. 
 
 45. Al have I, although I have. So in 1. 157. 
 
 49. MS. Gg. has Gracyoitse; but the French has Glorieuse. 
 
 50. Bitter ; Fr. text ' amere.' The allusion is to the name 
 Maria, Gk. Map/a, Mapid/^t, the same as Miriam, which is 
 explained to mean ' bitterness,' as being connected with Marah, 
 i. e. bitterness ; see Exod. xv. 23 (Gesenius). Scan the line by 
 reading : neith''r in crth-'e nor. 
 
 55. But if, except, unless (common). 
 
 56. Stink is oddly altered to sinke in some editions. 
 
 57. 58. Closely copied from the French, 11. 85-S7. But the 
 rest of the stanza is nearly all Chaucer's own. Cf. Col. ii. 14. 
 
 67. The French means, literally — ' For, when any one goes 
 out of his way, thou, out of pity, becomest his guide, in order 
 that he may soon regain his way.' 
 
 "JO. The French means — ' And thou bringest him back into
 
 226 /. A.V ABC. 
 
 the right road.' This Chaucer turns into — ' bringest him out of the 
 wrong road ; ' which is all that is meant by i/ie crooked strete. 
 
 71. In the ending -eth of the third pers. sing, present, the e is 
 commonly suppressed. Read lov'th. So also coin'th in 1, 99. 
 
 "j"^. The French means — ' Calendars are illumined, and other 
 books are confirmed (or authenticated), when thy name illumines 
 them.' Chaucer has ' Illuminated calendars, in this world, are 
 those that are brightened by thy name.' ' An allusion to the 
 custom of writing the high festivals of the Church in the Calendar 
 with red, or illuminated, letters ; ' note in Bell's Chaucer. The 
 name of Mary appears several times in old calendars ; thus the 
 Purification of Mary is on Feb. 2 ; the Annunciation, on Mar. 
 25 ; the Visitation, on July 2 ; the Assumption, on Aug. 15 ; the 
 Nativity, on Sept. 8 ; the Presentation, on Nov. 21 ; the Concep- 
 tion, on Dec. 8. Our books of Common Prayer retain all of 
 these except the Assumption and the Presentation. Kalcnderes 
 has four syllables ; and so has enlumined. 
 
 76. Hint ihar, i. e. it needs not for him to dread, he need not 
 dread. It occurs again in the Cant. Tales (ed. Tyrwhitt), 11. 
 4318, 5911, 5918, 6947, 17301. 
 
 80. Resigjie goes back to 1. 1 1 2 of the original, where resinc 
 {—resigJte) occurs. 
 
 81. Here the French (1. 121) has douceur ; Koch says it is 
 clear that Chaucer's copy had douleur. It refers to the Mater 
 dolorosa. 
 
 86. This line runs badly in the MSS., but is the same in 
 nearly all. I have ventured to change boiJie have into have 
 bothe, where bothe is dissyllabic; see 11. d"^, 122. It then flows 
 evenly. The sense of 11. 84-6 seems to be^-'Let not the foe 
 of us all boast that he has, by his wiles [listes), unluckily convicted 
 (of guilt) that (soul) which ye both,' Sec. 
 
 88. Slur over the last syllable of Continue, and accent tis. 
 
 89. The French text refers to Exod. iii. 2. Cf. The Prioresses 
 Tale, C. T. Group B, 1. 1658 ; in Ch. II. 
 
 97. Koch points out that per-e is here dissyllabic ; as in the 
 Complcint to His Purse, 1. 11. The French has /tv, 1. 146. 
 Read — N6ble princcsse, &c. 
 
 100. Melodye or glee ; here Koch remarks that Chaucer 
 ' evidently mistook tirelire for tiirelure? The Fr. tirelire means 
 a money-box, and the sense of 1. 150 of the original is — ' We have 
 no other place in which to secure what we possess.' See 1. 107 
 of Chaucer's translation, below. But Chaucer's mistake was 
 easily made ; he was thinking, not of the mod. Fr. turelure
 
 /. AN ABC. 227 
 
 (which, after all, docs not mean a ' melody,' but the refrain of a 
 song, like the Eng. tooral looral), but of the O. ¥. tirelire. This 
 word (as Cotgrave explains) not only meant 'a box having a cleft 
 on the lid for mony to enter it,' but 'also the warble, or song of 
 a lark.' Hence Shakespeare speaks of ' the lark, that tirra-lyra 
 chants,' Wint. Tale, iv. 3. 9. 
 
 102. Read N'advocat noon. That the M. E. advocat was 
 sometimes accented on the ^, is proved by the fact that it 
 was sometimes cut down to vocat ; see P. Plowman, B. ii. 60 ; 
 C. iii. 61. 
 
 109. Cf. Luke i. 38 — ' Ecce anciU'a Domini.' 
 
 1 10. Otire bille, &c., i. e, ' to bring forward (or offer) a petition 
 on our behalf.' For the old expression 'to put up (or forth) 
 a bill,' see my note to P. Plowman, C. v. 45. Compare also 
 Compleynte unto Pite, 1. 44. 
 
 113. Read {ym-e. Tenqucre,ior to enquere ; cf. note to 1. 27. 
 Cf. the French d'enquerre, I. 169. 
 
 1 16. To 7uerrc ; F. V ■; -^nierre,' 1. 173 ; i. e. 'by way of attack.' 
 Us maybe taken with '-j.r-oughtc, i.e. 'wrought for us such a 
 wonder.' Werre is not a vc;b ; the verb is tverreyen, as in Squi. 
 Ta. 1. 10. 
 
 119. Thcr, where, L asr;:-ach as. 'We had no salvation, inas- 
 much as we did not repent ; if we repent, we shall receive it.'" 
 But the sentence is awkward. Cf. Mark i. 4 ; Matt. vii. 7. 
 
 122. Pause after both-e\ the e is not elided. 
 
 125. yJ/i?//<?, mediator ; lit. mean (intermediate) person. So in 
 P. Plowman, B. vii. 196 — ' And Marie his moder be owre mene 
 bitwene.' 
 
 132. Koch thinks that the false reading it in some MSS. 
 arose from a reading hit ( = hitteth) as a translation of Y.Jiert, 
 1. 196. Anyway, the reading is seems best. 
 
 136. Ofpitec, for pity ; the usual idiom. 
 
 140. Vicairc, deputed ruler ; not in the original. See note to 
 Parliament of Foules, I. 379. 
 
 141. Governeresse ; copied from the French text, 1. 214. 
 This rare word occurs, as the last word, in a poem beginning 
 ' Mother of norture,' printed in the Aldine Edition of Chaucer's 
 I'oems, vi. 275. Chaucer himself uses it again in the Complaint 
 to Pity, 1. So. 
 
 144. Compare the expressions Regina Ccli, Vent coronaberis^ 
 ' Heil crowned queene,' and the like ; Polit. Religious, and Love 
 Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 147; Hymns to the Virgin, ed. Furnivall, 
 pp. I, 4. Suggested by Rev. xii. i. 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 /. AN ABC. 
 
 150. The reference is, obviously, to Gen. iii. 18; but thorns 
 here mean sins. Cf. ' Des espines d'iniquite ; ' F. text, 1. 224. 
 
 158. Copied from the French, 1. 239 — ' Ou tu a la court 
 m'ajournes.' It means ' fix a day for me to appear at thy 
 court,' cite me to thy court. 
 
 159. Not in the original. Chaucer was thinking of the courts 
 of the Common Bench and King's Bench, as mentioned, for 
 example, in Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 215. 
 
 161. The word Xristiis, i. e. Christ us, is written Xpc (with 
 a mark of contraction) in MSS. C, Gl., Gg., and Xpus in F. 
 Xpc is copied from the French ; but it is very common, being the 
 usual contracted form of the Gk. Xpiaros, or, in capital letters, 
 X P i CTOC, obtained by taking the two first and the last letters. 
 The old Greek sigma was written C ; as above. De Deguile- 
 ville could think of no French word beginning with X ; so he 
 substituted for it the Greek chi, which resembled it in form. 
 
 163, 164. These lines answer to 11. 243, 247 of the French ; 
 ' For me He had his side pierced ; for me His blood was shed.' 
 Observe that the word Chris/us has no verb following it ; it is 
 practically an objective case, governed by tha/ike in 1. 168. 'I 
 thank thee because of Christ and for what He has done for me.* 
 In 1. 163, the word stiffre is understood from the line above, and 
 need not be repeated. Unfortunately, all the scribes have 
 repeated it, to the ruin of the metre ; for the line then contains 
 two syllables too many. However, it is better omitted. Longius 
 is trisyllabic, and he7-te (as in the next line) is dissyllabic. The 
 sense is — 'to suffer His passion on the cross, and also (to 
 suffer) that Longius should pierce His heart, and make,' &c. 
 Pightc, made, are in the subjunctive. The difficulty really 
 resides in the word that in 1. 161. If Chaucer had written cck 
 instead of it, the whole could be parsed. 
 
 The story of Longius is very common ; hence Chaucer readily 
 introduced an allusion to it, though his original has no hint of 
 it. The name is spelt Longeiis in Piers Plowman, C. xxi. 82 
 (and is also spelt Longiniis). My note on that passage says — 
 ' This story is from the Legenda Aurea, cap. xlvii. Longinus 
 was a blind centurion, who pierced the side of Christ ; when 
 drops of the Sacred Blood cured his infirmity. The day of 
 St. Longinus is Mar. 15; see Chambers, Book of Days. The 
 name Longinus is most likely derived from ^oyx'7) ^ lance, the 
 word used in John xix. 34 ; and the legend was easily developed 
 from St. John's narrative. The name Longinus first appears in 
 the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodcmus.' See also the Chester
 
 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 229 
 
 Plays, ed. Wright ; Cursor Mundi, p. 962 ; Coventry Mysteries, 
 ed. Halliwell, p. 334 ; York Mystery Plays, p. 368 ; Lamentation 
 of Mar}' Magdalen, st. 26 ; &c. 
 
 164. Ilcrte is the true M.E. genitive, from the A.S. gen.heortan. 
 Hcr/e blood occurs again in the Pardoneres Tale, 1. 902. 
 
 169-171. Close to the French, 11. 253-5 ; and 1. 174 is close to 
 1. 264 of the same. Cf. Heb. xi. 19 ; Jo. i. 29; Isaiah, liii. 7. 
 
 176. This line can best be scanned by taking That as standing 
 alone, in the first foot. See note to Compl. to Pite, 1. 16. 
 
 177. The words of Zechariah (xiii. 1) are usually applied to 
 the blood of Christ, as in Rev. i. 5. 
 
 180. 'That, were it not (for) thy tender heart, we should be 
 destroyed.' 
 
 1 84. To mercy able, fit to obtain mercy ; cf. Cant. Ta. Prol. 167. 
 
 11. The Compleynte unto Pite. 
 
 Title. In MS. B., the poem is entitled, 'The Complaynte 
 vnto Pyte,' which is right. In MS. Trin., there is a colophon — 
 ' Here endeth the exclamacioun of the Deth of Pyte ; ' see p. 12. 
 In MS. Sh. (in Shirley's handwriting) the poem is introduced 
 with the following words — 'And nowe here filowing {following] 
 begynnethe a complaint of Pitee. made by Geffray Chaucier 
 the aureat Poete that euer was fonde in oure vulgare to-fore hees 
 [for thees ?] dayes.' The first stanza may be considered as 
 forming a Proem ; stanzas 2-7, the Story ; and the rest, the Bill 
 of Complaint. The title ' A complaint of Pitee ' is not neces- 
 sarily incorrect ; for of ma.y he taken in the sense of ' concerning,' 
 precisely as in the case of ' the Vision of Piers the Plowman.' 
 As to the connection of this poem with the Thebaid of Statius, 
 see notes to 11. 57 and 92, 
 
 I. I do not follow Ten Brink in putting a comma after so. 
 He says — ' That so refers to the verb [sought'] and not to yore 
 ago, is evident from 1. 3. Compare the somewhat different 1. 93.' 
 I hope it shews no disrespect to a great critic if I say that I am 
 not at all confident that the above criticism is correct; 1. 93 
 rather tells against it. Observe the reading of 1. 117 in MS. Sh. 
 (in the footnotes). 
 
 4. With-oufe dethe, i. e. without actually dying. 
 Shal 7iot, am not to. 
 
 7. Doth me dye, makes me die. 
 
 9. Eiier in oon, continually, constantly, always in the same 
 way; cf. Cant. Tales, E. 602,677, F. 417 (Glos. to Prioresses 
 Tale, s. V. Oon).
 
 230 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 
 
 II. Me awreke. 'The e of vie is elided; 'Ten Brink. He 
 compares also Cant. Ta. Prol. 148; (the correct reading of 
 which is, probably — 
 
 ' But sore weep sche if oon of liem were deed ; ' 
 
 the c oi sche being slurred over before i in if). He also refers 
 to the Prioresses Tale (B 1660), where thalji^hh' = the alyghtc ; 
 and to the Second Nonnes Tale (G 32) where do me e7idyte is 
 to be read as do mendyte. 
 
 14. The notion of Pit)' being '■ Imricd in a heart' is awkward, 
 and introduces an element of confusion. If Pity could have 
 been buried otit of the heart, and thus separated from it, the 
 whole would have been a great deal clearer. This caution is 
 worth paying heed to ; for it will really be found, further on, 
 that the language becomes confused in consequence of this very 
 thing. In the very next line, for example, the hearse of Pity 
 appears, and in 1. 19 the corpse of Pity ; in fact, Pity is never 
 fairly buried out of sight throughout the poem. 
 
 15. Herse, hearse; cf. 1. 36 below. It should be remembered 
 that the old hcrse was a very different thing from the modern 
 hearse. What Chaucer refers to is what we should now call ' a 
 lying in state ; ' with especial reference to the array of lighted 
 torches which illuminated the bier. See the whole of Way's 
 note in Prompt. Parvulorum, pp. 236, 237, part of which is 
 quoted in my Etym. Diet., s. v. hearse. The word hearse 
 (F. herce) originally denoted a harrow; next, a frame with 
 spikes for holding lights in a church service; thirdly, a frame 
 for lights at a funeral pageant or ' lying in state ; ' fourthly, the 
 funeral pageant itself; fifthly, a frame on which a body was 
 laid ; and so on. ' Chaucer,' says Way, ' appears to use the 
 term herse to denote the decorated bier, or funeral pageant, and 
 not exclusively the illumination, which was a part thereof ; and, 
 towards the sixteenth century, it had such a general signification 
 alone.' In 11. 36-42, Chaucer describes a company of persons 
 who stood round about the hearse. Cf. Brand's Popular Anti- 
 quities, ed. Ellis, ii. 236-7. 
 
 16. Here Deed stands alone in the first foot. Scan — Deed | 
 as stoon | whyl that | the swogh | me laste. Cf. A B C, 1. 
 176, and the note. See remarks in the Preface as to this 
 peculiarity. 
 
 27. Cf. Deth of Bhmuche, 1. 587 — ' This is my pcyne with- 
 outc reed ;' Ten lirink. 
 
 33. Ten Brink reads ay for cvcr^ on the ground that ever and
 
 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 23 1 
 
 never, when followed by a consonant, are dissyllabic in Chaucer. 
 But see Book of the Duchesse, 1. 73. 
 
 34. Haddc, dissyllabic ; it occasionally is so ; mostly when it 
 is used by itself, as here. Cf. Sect. iii. 1. 951. 
 
 yj. ' Without displaying any sorrow.' He now practically 
 identifies Pity with the fair one in whose heart it was said (in 1. 
 14) to be buried. This fair one was attended by Bounty, Beauty, 
 and all the rest ; they are called a. folk in 1. 48. 
 
 41. Insert attd after Estaat or Estat, for this word has no 
 final -^ in Chaucer; see Prol. 522 ; Squi. Tale, 26 ; &c. 
 
 44. ' To have offered to Pity, as a petition ; ' see note to 
 ABC, no. 
 
 47. ' I kept my complaint quiet,' i. e. withheld it ; see 1. 54. 
 
 50. MS. Sh. is right. The scribe of the original of MSS. 
 Tn. Ff. T. left out / and these, and then put in only ; then 
 another scribe, seeing that a pronoun was wanted, put in we, as 
 shewn by iVISS. F. B. (Ten Brink). Here, and in 1. 52, the e of 
 alle is either very lightly sounded after the caesural pause, or 
 (more likely) is dropped altogether, as elsewhere. 
 
 53. And been assented, and (who) are all agreed. 
 
 54. Put up, put by. Cf. 'to put up that letter ;' K. Lear, i. 2. 
 28 ; &c. 
 
 57. He here addresses his fair one's Pity, whom he personifies, 
 and addresses as a mistress. 
 
 By comparison of this passage with I. 92, it becomes clear 
 that Chaucer took his notion of personifying Pity from Statius, 
 who personifies Pietas in his Thebaid, xi. 457-496. I explained 
 this at length in a letter to The Academy, Jan. 7, 1888, p. 9. In 
 the present line, we find a hint of the original ; for Statius 
 describes Pietas in the words 'pudibundaque longe Ora 
 reducentem ' (1. 493), which expresses her humility ; whilst the 
 reverence due to her is expressed by reuerentia (1. 467). 
 
 59. Sheweth . . . Your seruaunt. Your servant sheweth. 
 Sheweth is the word used in petitions, and servant commonly 
 means ' lover.' 
 
 63. Accented renoun, as in the Ho. of Fame, 1406. Cf. 1. ^d. 
 
 64. Crueltee, Cruelty, here corresponds to the Fury Tisiphone, 
 who is introduced by Statius ( Theh. xi. 483) to suppress the peace- 
 ful feelings excited by Pietas, who had been created by Jupiter 
 to control the passions even of the gods (1. 465). At the siege 
 of Thebes, Pietas was for once overruled by Tisiphone ; and 
 Chaucer complains here that she is again being controlled ; see 
 11. 80, 89-91. Very similar is the character of Damigere or
 
 232 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 
 
 Danger (F. Dangier) in the Romaunt of the Rose ; in 1. 3549 
 of the EngHsh version (I. 3301 of the original), we find Pity 
 saying— 
 
 'Wherefore I pray you, Sir Daungere, 
 
 For to mayntene no lenger heere 
 
 Such cruel werre agayn youre man.' 
 
 We may also compare Machault's poem entitled Le Dit du 
 Vergier, where we find such lines as — 
 
 ' Einssi encontre Cruaute 
 Deffent I'amant douce Pitc.' 
 
 66. Uftdey colour, beneath the outward appearance. 
 
 67. * In order that people should not observe her tyranny.' 
 
 70. Hight, is (rightly) named. The final -e, though required 
 by grammar, is suppressed ; the word being conformed to other 
 examples of the third person singular of the present tense, whilst 
 hight-e is commonly used as the past tense. Pity's right name 
 is here said to be 'Beauty, such as belongs to Favour.' The 
 poet is really thinking of his mistress rather than his per- 
 sonified Pity. It is very difficult to keep up the allegory. 
 
 71. '■Heritage, of course, stands in the gen. case;' Ten 
 Brink. 
 
 76. IVaiiten, are lacking, are missing, are not found in, fall 
 short. 'If you, Pity, are missing from Bounty and Beauty.' 
 There are several similar examples of this use of want in 
 Shakespeare ; e.g. 'there luants no junkets at the feast ;' Tam. 
 Shrew, iii. 2. 250. 
 
 78. This Bille, or Petition, may be divided into three sets of 
 'terns,' or groups of three stanzas. I mark this by inserting a 
 paragraph-mark (IF) at the beginning of each tern. They are 
 marked off by the rimes ; the first tern ends with seyne, 1. 'j'j ; 
 the next with the riming word peyne, 1. 98 ; and again w'wh peyne, 
 1. 119. 
 
 83. Perilous is here accented on the i. 
 
 87. Ten Brink omits wel, with most of the MSS. ; but the e 
 in wite seems to be suppressed. It will hardly bear a strong 
 accent. Mr. Sweet retains wel, as I do. 
 
 91. Pronounce the third word as despeir'd. 'Compare i Kings 
 X. 24 : And all the earth sought to Solomon ;' Ten Brink. 
 
 92. Herenus has not hitherto been explained. It occurs in four 
 MSS., Tn. F. B. Ff.; a fifth (T.) has 'heremwj;' the Longleat 
 MS. has 'heremus' or 'herenius;' Sh. substitutes 'vertuouse,' 
 and MS. Hark 7578 has ' Vertoues ;' but it is highly improbable
 
 //. THE COMPLEYNTE UNTO PITE. 233 
 
 that 7'eriuoi/se is original, for no one would ever have altered it 
 so unintelligibly. Ten Brink and Mr. Sweet adopt this reading 
 veriuousi', which they make four syllables, as being a vocative 
 case ; and of course this is an easy way of evading the diffi- 
 culty. Dr. Furnivall once suggested hevenus, which I presume 
 is meant for 'heaven's;' but this word could not possibly be 
 accented as hevenus. The strange forms which proper names 
 assume in Chaucer are notorious ; and the fact is, that Heremcs 
 is a mere error for Hermes or Hcryjies. Herynes (accented 
 on_>'), occurs in St. 4 of Bk. iv of Troilus and Criseide, and is used 
 as the plural of Erinnys, being applied to the three F"uries : — 
 ' O ye Herynes, nightes doughtren thre.' Pity may be said to be 
 the queen of the Furies, in the sense that pity (or mercy) can alone 
 control the vindictiveness of vengeance. Shakespeare tells us 
 that mercy 'is mightiest in the mightiest,' and is 'above this 
 sceptred sway ;' Merch. Ven. iv. 1. 188. 
 
 Chaucer found this name precisely where he found his 
 personification of Pity, viz. in Statius, who has the sing. 
 Erinnys (Theb. xi. 383), and the pi. Erini^yas (345). 
 
 In a poem called The Remedy of Love, in Chaucer's Works, 
 ed. 1 561, fol. 322, back, the twelfth stanza begins with — 'Come 
 hither, thou Hermes, and ye furies all,' &c., where it is plain 
 that ' thou Hermes,' is a substitution for ' Herines.' 
 
 95. The sense is — ' the longer I love and dread you, the more 
 I do so.' If we read ever instead of ay, then the e in the must be 
 suppressed. ' In ever lenger the vioore, never the vioore, never 
 the lesse, Chaucer not unfrequently drops the e in the, pronoun- 
 cing lengerth, neverth ;' cf. Clerkes Tale, E. 6S7 ; Man of Lawes 
 Tale, B. 982 ; Ten Brink. 
 
 96. Most MSS. read so sore, giving no sense. Ten Brink has 
 — 'For sooth to seyne, I here the hevy score ;' following MS. 
 Sh. It is simpler to correct so to the, as suggested by Harl. 
 7578, which has — 'For soith [.^rr^rycrsothly] for to saye I here 
 the sore.' 
 
 loi. Set, short for setteth, like bit for biddeth, Cant. Tales, 
 Prol. 187, (S:c. Ten Brink quotes from the Sompnoures Tale 
 (C. T. 7564) — ' With which the devel set your hcrte on fire,' 
 where set = sets, present tense. 
 
 105. Ten Brink inserts ne, though it is not in the MSS. His 
 note is: *• Ne is a necessary complement to (5/^/= "only," as but 
 properly means "except"; and a collation of the best MSS. of 
 the Cant. Tales shows that Chaucer never omitted the negative in 
 this case. (The same observation was made already by Prof.
 
 234 m- THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 
 
 Child in his excellent paper on the language of Chaucer and 
 Gower; see Ellis, Early Eng. Pronunciation^ p. 374). Me ne 
 forms but one syllable, pronounced mcen [i.e. as mod. E. niain\. 
 In the same manner / fic=iin [pron. as mod. E. een^ occurs, 
 Cant. Tales, Prol. 764 (from MS. Had. 7334)— 
 
 " / ve saugh this yeer so mery a companye ; " 
 and in the Man of Lawes Tale (Group B, 1139) — 
 
 " / ne sey but for this ende this sentence." 
 
 Compare Middle High German ifi { = ich tie), e.g. ift kati dir 
 nichf, Walter v. d. Vogelvveide, ed. Lachmann, loi, 33. In 
 early French and Provengal mc, te, se, &c., when preceded by 
 a vowel, often became m, /, s, &c. ; in Italian we have cen for 
 ce ne, &c.' Cf. T//iy n' wer-e in Sect. x. 1. 5 ; and Sect. iii. 244 
 (note). 
 
 119. Observe that this last line is a repetition of 1. 2. 
 
 III. The Book of the Duchesse. 
 
 I may remark here that the metre is sometimes difficult to 
 follow ; chiefly owing to the fact that the line sometimes begins 
 with an accented syllable, just as, in Milton's L'Allegro, we meet 
 with lines like 'Zephyr, with Aurora playing.' The accented 
 syllables are sometimes indistinctly marked, and hence arises a 
 difficulty in immediately detecting the right flow of a hne. A 
 clear instance of a line beginning with an accented syllable is 
 seen in 1. 23 — ' Slep', and thus melancolye.' 
 
 I. The opening lines of this poem were subsequently copied 
 in 1384) by Froissart, in his Paradis d'Amour — 
 
 'Je sui de moi en grant merveille 
 Comment je vifs, quant tant je veille, 
 Et on ne porrait en veillant 
 Trouver de moi plus travaillant : 
 Car bien sacies que pour veillcr 
 Me viennent souvent travailler 
 Pensees et melancolies,' etc. 
 
 Furnivall ; Trial Formwrds, p. 51. 
 
 Chaucer frequently makes words like have (1. 1), live (1. 2), 
 especially in the present indicative, mere monosyllables. As 
 examples of the fully sounded final e, we may notice the dative 
 light-e (1. l), the dative (or adverbial) night-c (1. 2), the infinitive 
 slep-e (3), the adverb ylidi-e (9), the dative mynd-e (15), &c.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIJESSE. 235 
 
 On the other hand, hav-e is dissyllabic in 1. 24. The e is elided 
 before a following vowel in defauie (5), trouthe (b), falle (13), 
 wile (16), &c. \\'e may also notice that cojii'ih is a monosyllable 
 (7), whereas trewely (33) has three syllables, though in 1. 35 it 
 makes but two. It is clear that Chaucer chose to make some 
 words of variable length ; and he does this to a much greater 
 extent in the present poem and in the House of Fame than in 
 more finished productions, such as the Canterbury Tales. But 
 it must be observed, on the other hand, that the number of these 
 variable words is limited; in a far larger number of words, the 
 number of syllables never varies at all, except by regular elision 
 before a vowel. 
 
 14. The reading For sortufit/ ymagifiacioini (in F., Tn., Th.) 
 cannot be right. Lange proposes to omit For, which hardly 
 helps us. It is clearly the word sorwful that is wrong. I 
 propose to read simply sivicli, i. e. such. 
 
 15. Observe how frequently, in this poem and in the House 
 of Fame, Chaucer concludes a sentence with the former of two 
 lines of a couplet. Other examples occur at II. 29, 43, 51, 59, 
 67> 75) 79, 87, 89 ; i, e. at least ten times in the course of the first 
 hundred lines. The same arrangement occasionally occurs in 
 the existing translation of the Romaunt of the Rose, but with 
 such less frequency as, in itself, to form a presumption against 
 Chaucer's having written it. 
 
 Similar examples in Milton, though he was an admirer of 
 Chaucer, are remarkably rare ; compare, however, Comus, 97, 
 loi, 127, 133, 137. The metrical effect of this pause is very 
 good. 
 
 23. The texts read this. Ten Brink suggests lltus (Ch. 
 Sprache, § 320) ; which 1 adopt. 
 
 31. What me is, what is the matter with me. Me is here in 
 the dative case. This throws some light on the common use of 
 7ne in Shakespeare in such cases as ' Heat jue these irons hot,' 
 K. John iv. i. i ; &.c. 
 
 31-96. These lines are omitted in the Tanner MS. 346 ; also 
 in MS. Bodley 638 (which even omits 11. 24-30). In the Fairfax 
 MS. they are added in a much later hand. Consequently, 
 Thynne's edition is here our only satisfactory authority ; 
 though the late copy in the Fairfax MS. is worth consulting. 
 
 32. Aske, may ask ; subjunctive mood. 
 
 33. Tretue/y is here three syllables, which is the normal 
 forni ; cf. Prologue, 761 ; Kn. Tale, 409. In I. 35, the second e 
 is hardly sounded.
 
 236 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 
 
 36. I insert moot, to complete the sense and metre. 
 
 37. ' The most obvious interpretation of these lines seems to 
 be that they contain the confession of a hopeless passion, which 
 has lasted for eight years — a confession which certainly seems to 
 come more appropriately and more naturally from an unmarried 
 than a married man. 'For eight years,' — he says — ^' I have 
 loved, and loved in vain — and yet my cure is never the nearer. 
 There is but one physician that can heal me — but all that is 
 ended and done with. Let us pass on into fresh fields ; what 
 cannot be obtained must needs be left ; ' Ward, Life of Chaucer, 
 p. 53. Dr. Fumivall supposes that the relentless fair one was 
 the one to whom his Complaint unto Pite was addressed ; and 
 chronology would require that Chaucer fell in love with her in 
 1 361. There is no proof that Chaucer was married before 1374, 
 though he may have been married not long after his first passion 
 was 'done.' 
 
 43. ' It is good to regard our first subject ; ' and therefore to 
 return to it. This first subject was his sleeplessness. 
 
 45. Til now late follows / sat upryght, as regards construction. 
 .The reading Now of late, in some printed editions, is no better. 
 
 48. This ' Romaunce' turns out to have been a copy of Ovid's 
 Metamorphoses, a book of which Chaucer was so fond that he 
 calls it his 'own book ; ' Ho. of Fame, 712. Probably he really 
 had a copy of his own, as he constantly quotes it. Private 
 libraries were very small indeed. 
 
 49. Dryve away, pass away ; the usual phrase. Cf. ' And 
 dryuen forth the longe day ; ' P. Plowman, B. prol. 224. 
 
 56. ' As long as men should love the law of nature,' i.e. should 
 continue to be swayed by the natural promptings of passion ; in 
 other words, for ever. Certainly, Ovid's book has lasted well. 
 In 1. 57, such t hinges means ' such love-stories.' 
 
 62. 'Alcyone, or Halcyone : A daughter of .4Zolus and 
 Enarete or ^giale. She was married to Ceyx, and lived so 
 happy with him, that they were presumptuous enough to call 
 each other Zeus and Hera, for which Zeus metamorphosed them 
 into birds, alkiion (a king-fisher) and kcftks (a greedy sea-bird, 
 Liddell and Scott ; a kind of sea-gull ; Appollod. i. 7. § 3, &c. ; 
 Hygin. Fab. 65). Hyginus relates that Ceyx perished in a ship- 
 wreck, that Alcyone for grief threw herself into the sea, and that 
 the gods, out of compassion, changed the two into birds. It was 
 fabled that, during the seven days before, and as many after the 
 shortest day of the year, while the bird alkuon was breeding, 
 there always prevailed calms at sea. An embellished form of
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. a^y 
 
 the story is given by Ovid, Metavi. xi. 410, &c.; compare 
 Virgil, Georg. i. 399.' — Smith's Dictionary. Hence the ex- 
 pression ' halcyon days ; ' see Holland's Pliny, b. x. c. 32, 
 quoted in my Etym. Diet. s. v. Halcyon. 
 
 M. Sandras asserts that the history of Ceyx and Alcyone is 
 borrowed from the Dit de la Fontaine Ainouretcse, by Machault, 
 whereas it is evident that Chaucer took care to consult his 
 favourite Ovid, though he also copied several expressions from 
 Machault's poem. Consult Max Lange, as well as Furnivall's 
 Trial Forewords to Chaucei-'s Minor Poems, p. 43. Surely, 
 Chaucer himself may be permitted to know ; his description of the 
 book, viz. in 11. 57-59, applies to Ovid, rather than to Machault's 
 Poems. ]?ut the fact is that we have further evidence ; Chaucer 
 himself, elsewhere, plainly names Ovid as his authority. See 
 Cant. Tales, Group B, 1. 53 (in my edition of the Prioresses 
 Tale, p. 3), where he says — 
 
 ' For he [Chaucer] hath told of louercs vp and duon 
 Moo than Ovide made of mencioun 
 In his Epistolis, that ben ful olde. 
 What sholde I tellen hem sin Ihey ben tolde. 
 In youthe he made of Ccys and Alcioun ; ' etc. 
 
 It is true that Chaucer here mentions Ovid's Heroides rather 
 than the Metamorphoses ; but that is only because he goes on 
 to speak of other stories, which he took from the Heroides ; see 
 the whole context. It is plain that he wishes us to know that he 
 took the present story chiefly from Ovid ; yet there are some 
 expressions which he owes to Machault, as will be shown 
 below. It is worth notice, that the whole story is also in 
 Gower's Confessio Amantis, bk. iv. (ed. Pauli, ii. 100) ; where it 
 is plainly copied from Ovid throughout. 
 
 Ten Brink [StHdien, p. 10) points out one very clear indi- 
 cation of Chaucer's having consulted Ovid. In 1. 68, he uses 
 the expression to tellen shortly, and then proceeds to aliude to 
 the shipwreck of Ceyx, which is told in Ovid at great length 
 {Met. xi. 472-572). Of this shipwreck Machault says never a 
 word ; he merely says that Ceyx died in the sea. 
 
 There is a chapter De Alcionc in Vincent of Beauvais, 
 Speculum Naturale, bk. xvi. c. 26 ; made up from Ambrosius, 
 Aristotle, Pliny (bk. 10), and the Liber de Natura Rerum. 
 
 66. Instead of quoting Ovid, I shall quote from Golding's 
 translation of his Metamorphoses, as being more interesting to 
 the English reader. The whole story is also told by Dryden,
 
 238 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 whose version is easily accessible. As the ■sXoxy is told at great 
 length, I quote only a few of the lines that most closely correspond 
 to Chaucer. Compare — 
 
 ' But fully bent 
 lie \Ceyx\ seemed, neither for to leaue the iourney which he mcnt 
 To take by sea, nor yet to giue Alcyone leaue as tho 
 Companion of his perlous course by water for to go ... . 
 When toward night the wallowing wanes began to waxen white, 
 And eke the heady eastern wind did blow with greater might . . . 
 And. all the heauen with clouds as blacke as pitch was ouercast. 
 That neuer night was halfe so darke. There came a flaw {^gust^ 
 
 at last, 
 That with his violence brake the Maste, and strake the Sterne 
 
 away .... 
 Behold, euen full upon the wane a flake of water blacke 
 Did breake, and vnderneathe the sea the head of Ceyx stracke.' 
 
 fol. 137-9. 
 
 See further in the note to 1. 136. 
 
 78. Come is probably in the subjunctive mood, and may 
 therefore be dissyllabic. 
 
 80. Of the restoration of this line, I should have had some 
 reason to be proud ; but I find that Ten Brink (who seems to 
 miss nothing) has anticipated me ; see his Chancers Sprache, 
 §§ 48, 329. We have here, as our guides, only the edition of 
 Thynne (1532), and the late insertion in MS. Fairfax 16. Both 
 of these read — ' Anon her herte began to yerne ; ' whereas it of 
 course ought to be — 'Anon her herte gan to erme.' The 
 substitution of began for ga7t arose from forgetting that hcrfe 
 (A.S. Jieortc) is dissyllabic in Chaucer, in countless places. The 
 substitution o{ ycrfie for erme arose from the fact that the old 
 word er/iieti, to grieve, was turned into earn in the sixteenth 
 century, and was afterwards again changed Inio year7t. All this 
 I have already shewn at such length in my note to the Pardoner's 
 Prologue (Cant. Ta. C. 312), in my edition of the Man of Lawes 
 Tale, pp. 39, 142, and yet again in my Etym. Diet., s.v. Yearn 
 (2), that it is needless to repeat it all over again. Chaucer was 
 quite incapable of such a hideously false rime as that of tcrme 
 with yer7ie ; in fact, it is precisely the word tcrme that is rimed 
 with erme in his Pardoner's Prologue. Mr. Cromie's index 
 shews that, in the Cant. Tales, the rime erme, terine, occurs only 
 once, and there is no third word riming with either. There is, 
 however, a rime of affcrmcd with confcrmed, so that he might 
 ha\e rimed crnu\ tcrme, with affcrme, confcrme. There is, in
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 239 
 
 Chaucer, noyf/?// riming word in -crnic at all, and none in cither 
 -i}-)nc or -yrme. 
 
 Both in the present passage and in the Pardoner's Prologue 
 the verb to erme is used with the same sb., viz. hertc; which 
 clinches the matter. By way of example, compare : — ' The 
 bysschop weop for erniyttg; ' King Alisaundcr, ed. Weber, 
 1. 1525. 
 
 86, iij. In 1. 86 I supply ay (which seems wanted) ; and in 
 1. 87 I delete alas after him, which makes the line a whole foot 
 too long, and is not required. 
 
 91. Wher, short for whether (very common). 
 
 93. Avowe is all one word, though its component parts were 
 often written apart. Thus, in P. Plowman, B. v. 457, we find 
 A?id made avozuc, where the other texts have a-vou, a-vowe ; 
 see Avow in Murray's Diet. I have already explained this 
 fully in my note to C. T. Group C, 695 (Man of Lawes Tale, 
 &c., p. 161). 
 
 97. Here the gap in the MSS. ceases, and we again have their 
 authority for the text. For Had we should, perhaps, read 
 Hadde. 
 
 106. This phrase is not uncommon. 'And on knes she sat 
 adoun;' Lay le Freine, 1. 159; in Weber's Met. Romances, 
 i. 363. Cf. ' This Troylus ful soone on knowes hym sctte ; ' 
 Troilus, iii. 904 (ed, Morris, iv. 264). 
 
 107. Weep (not wepte) is Chaucer's word ; see Glossaries to 
 Prior. Tale and Man of Lawes Tale. 
 
 120. For knoiue (as in F. Tn. Th.) read knozven, to avoid 
 hiatus. 
 
 126. 'And she, exhausted with weeping and watching.' 
 Gower (Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, i. 160) speaks of a ship that is 
 forstormed and forblo%ve, i. e. excessively driven about by storm 
 and wind. 
 
 136. Go bet, go quickly, hasten, lit. go better, i.e. faster. See 
 note to Group C, 667 (Man of Lawes Tale, &c. ; p. 161). Cf. 
 Go now faste, 1. 152. 
 
 I here add another illustration from Golding's Ovid, fol. 139. 
 
 ' Alcyone of so great mischaunce not knowing ought as yit, 
 Did keepe a reckoning of the nights that in the wliile did flit, 
 And basted garments both for him and for her sell; likewise 
 To weare at his homecomming Avhich she vainely die! '■urmize. 
 To all the Gods deuoutly she did offer frankincense : 
 But most aboue them all the Church of luno she di' .q. 
 
 And for her husband (who as then was none) she ki ■. 'jefore
 
 240 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 
 
 The Altar, wishing health and soone arriuall at the shore. 
 And that none other woman miglit before her be preferd, 
 Of all her prayers this one peece effectually was herd. 
 For luno could not finde in heart entreated for to bee 
 For him tliat was already dead. But to th'iutent that shee 
 From Dame Alcyons deadly hands might keepe her Altars free 
 She sayd : most faithfull messenger of my commandements, O 
 Thou Rainebow to the sluggish house of slumber swiftly go. 
 And bid him send a dreame in shape of Ceyx to his wife 
 Alcyone, for to shew her plaine the loosing of his life. 
 Dame Iris takes her pall wherein a thousand colours were 
 And bowing like a stringed bow vpon the cloudie sphere, 
 Immediately descended to the drowzye house of Sleepe, 
 Whose court the cloudes continually do closely ouerdreepe. 
 
 Among the darke Cimmerians is a holow mountaine found 
 And in the hill a Caue that farre doth run within the ground, 
 The C[h]amber and the dwelling place where slouthfuU sleepe doth 
 
 couch. 
 The light of Phoebus golden beames this place can never touch . . . 
 No boughs are stird with blasts of winde, no noise of tatling toong 
 Of man or woman euer yet within that bower roong. 
 Dumbe quiet dwelleth there. Yet from the rockes foote doth go 
 The riuer of forgetfulnesse, which runneth trickling so 
 Upon the litle peeble stones which in the channell ly. 
 That vnto sleepe a great deale more it doth prouoke thereby . . . 
 Amid the Caue of Ebonye a bedsted standeth hie, 
 And on the same a bed of downe with couering blacke doth lie : 
 In which the drowzie God of sleepe his lither limbes doth rest. 
 About him forging sundry shapes as many dreames lie prest 
 As eares of come do stand in fields in haruest time, or leaues 
 Doe grow on trees, or sea to shoore of sandie cinder heaues. 
 Assoone as Iris came within this house, and with her hand 
 Had put aside the dazeling dreames that in her way did stand. 
 The brightnesse of her robe through all the sacred house did 
 
 shine. 
 The God of sleepe scarce able for to raise his heauie eine, 
 A three or foure times at the least did fall againe to rest, 
 And with his nodding head did knock his chinne against his brest. 
 At length he waking of himselfe, vpon his elbowe leande. 
 And though he knew for what she came : he askt her what she 
 
 meand : ' etc. 
 
 139. The first accent falls on Scy\ the c in Jialfc seems to be 
 suppressed. 
 
 154. His wey. Chaucer substitutes a male messenger for 
 Iris; see 11. 134, 155, 180-2.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 24 1 
 
 155. Imitated from Machault's Dit de la Fontaine : — 
 
 ' Qzie venue est en une grafit valee, 
 De deiis grans mons entour environncc, 
 Et d'un russel qui par my la contree,' etc. 
 
 See Ten Brink, Studiefi, p. 200 ; Furnivall, Trial Forewords, 
 p. 44. 
 
 It is worth notice that the visit of Iris to Somnus is also fully 
 described by Statius, Theb. x. 81-136 ; but Chaucer does not 
 seem to have copied him. 
 
 159,160. TvvobadHnes in the MSS. Both can be mended by 
 changing notiglit into nothing, as suggested by Ten Brink, 
 Chancers Sprache, § 299. 
 
 160. See a very similar passage in Spenser, F. Q. i. i. 39, 40, 
 41, 42, 43. And cf. Ho. of Fame, 70. 
 
 167. Eclyinpasteyre. 'I hold this to be a name of Chaucer's 
 own invention. In Ovid occurs a son of Morpheus who has two 
 different names : " Hunc Icelon superi, mortale Phobetora valgus 
 Nominat \ " Met. xi. 640. Phobetora may have been altered 
 into Pastora : Icelon-pastora (the two names linked together) 
 would give Eclyinpasteyre.^ — Ten Brink, Sttidien, p. 11, as 
 quoted in Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 1 16. At any rate, we 
 may feel sure that Ecly/n- is precisely Ovid's Icelon. And 
 perhaps /'//t'/^d'/*'^;'^ comes nearer to -pasteyre\h.-as\. doesPhantasos, 
 the name of another son of Morpheus, whom Ovid mentions 
 immediately below. Gower (ed. Pauli, ii. 103) calls them Ithecus 
 and Pa7ithasas ; and the fact that he here actually turns Icelon into 
 Ithecus is a striking example of the strange corruption of proper 
 names in medieval times. Prof. Hales suggests that Eclym- 
 pasteyre represents Icelo7t plastora, where plastora is the ace. of 
 Gk. TrAao-rcop, i.e. moulder or modeller, a suitable epithet for a 
 god of dreams ; compare the expressions used by Ovid in 11. 626 
 and 634 of this passage. Icelon is the ace. of Gk. iKeXoy, or 
 ctKeXoj, like, resembling. For my own part, I would rather take 
 the form plastera, ace. of TrXna-Ti];), a form actually given by 
 Liddell and Scott, and also nearer to the form in Chaucer. 
 Perhaps Chaucer had seen a MS. of Ovid in which Icelon was 
 explained by plastora or plastera, written beside or over it as a 
 gloss, or by way of explanation. This would explain the whole 
 matter. Mr. Fleay thinks the original reading was Morpheus, 
 Ecelon, Phaniastere ; but this is impossible, because Morpheus 
 had but one heir (see next line). 
 
 Froissart has the word E?iclimpostair as the name of a son 
 
 R
 
 242 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 of the god of sleep, in his poem called Paradis d' Amour. But 
 as he is merely copying this precise passage, it does not at all 
 help us. 
 
 For the remarks by Prof. Hales, see the Athcncrum, 18S2, 
 i. 444 ; for those by Mr. Fleay, see the same, p. 568. Other 
 suggestions have been made, but are not worth recording. 
 
 173. To envye; to be read as Tefivy-e. The phrase is 
 merely an adaptation of the F. a Venvi, or of the vb. cnvier. 
 Cotgrave gives : ' a Ferny IWm de Pautre, one to despight the 
 other, or in emulation one of the other ; ' also * envier (au ieu), 
 to vie.' Hence E. vie ; see Vie in my Etym. Diet. It is 
 etymologically connected with Lat. itmi/are, not with Lat. 
 inuidia. See 1. 406, below. 
 
 175. Read slepe, as in 11. 169, 177; A.S. shrpon, pt. t. pi. 
 
 181. Who is, i. e. who is it that. 
 
 183. Awaketh is here repeated in the plural form. 
 
 184. Oon ye, one eye. This is from Machault, who has : 
 'ouvri I'lvn de ses yeux.' Ovid has the pi. oculos. 
 
 185. Cast is the pp., as pointed out by Ten Brink, who 
 corrects the line ; Chancers Sprache, § 320. 
 
 192. Abrayd, and not abrayde, is the right form; for it is a 
 strong verb (A.S. dbregdan, pt. t. dbra^gd). So also in the Ho. of 
 Fame, no. 
 
 195. Dre-iiit is made dissyllabic, like sc-int, which seems to be 
 the correct reading in Chaucer's Prologue, 11. 509, 697. See 
 remarks in Ellis, Early Eng. Pronunciation, p. 686 (note). Cf. 
 also Ho. of Fame, 1783. 
 
 206. The word look must be supplied. MS. B. even omits 
 herte ; which would give — 'But good-e swet-e, [look] that ye ;' 
 where good-e and swet-e are vocatives. 
 
 213. I adopt Ten Brink's suggestion (Chancers Sprache, § 300), 
 viz. to change alias into A. 
 
 218. My first inatere, my first subject; i.e. sleeplessness; 
 just as in 1. 43. 
 
 219. Wherfor seems to be accented on the former syllable. 
 MS. B. inserts /(9z^ after told \ perhaps it is not wanted. If it is, 
 it had better come before /^/^ rather than after it. 
 
 222. / had be, I should have been. Deed and dolven, dead 
 and buried ; as in Cursor Mundi, 5494. Chaucer's dolven and 
 deed is odd. 
 
 244. / ne roghie who, to be read In ' roght-e who ; i. e. I 
 should not care who ; see note to Compl. to Pite, 105. Roghte is 
 subjunctive.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 243 
 
 247. His lyve, during his life. 
 
 248. The readings are here onwardc, Th. F. ; here 07iward^ 
 Tn. ; here on warde, B. I do not think Jiere onward can be 
 meant, nor yet hercon-ivard ; I know of no examples of such 
 meaningless expressions. I read here on warde, and explain it : 
 ' I will give him the very best gift that he ever expected (to get) 
 in his life ; and (I will give it) here, in his custody, even now, 
 as soon as possible,' &c. War'd = custody, occurs in the dat. 
 warde in William of Palerne, 376 — ' How that child from here 
 warde was went for evermore.' 
 
 250. Here Chaucer again takes a hint from Machault's Dit 
 de la Fontaine, where we find the poet promising the god a hat 
 and a soft bed of gerfalcon's feathers. See Ten Brink, Siudien, 
 p. 204. 
 
 'Et por ce au dieu qui moult sout (?) et moult vault 
 Per mielx dormir un chapeau de pavaut 
 Et un mol lit de plume de gerfaut 
 Promes et doing.' 
 
 255. Reynes, i.e. Rennes, in Brittany; spelt Rayncs in the 
 Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, iii. 358. Linen is still made there ; 
 and by 'clothe of Reynes' some kind of linen, rather than of 
 woollen cloth, is meant. It is here to be used for pillow-cases. 
 It was also used for sheets. 'Your shetes shall be of clothe 
 of Rayne;' Squyr of Lowe Degre, 1. 842 (in Ritson, Met. 
 Rom. iii. 180). 'A peyre schetes of Reynes, with the heued 
 shete [head-sheet] of the same ;' Earliest Eng. Wills, ed. 
 Furnivall, p. 4, 1. 16. 'A towaile of Raynes ;' Babees Book, 
 p. 130, 1. 213 ; and see note on p. 208 of the same. 'It [the 
 head-sheet] was more frequently made of the fine white linen 
 of Reynes;' Our Eng. Home, p. 109. ' Hede-shetes of Rennes' 
 are noticed among the effects of Hen. V ; see Rot. Pari., iv. p. 
 228 ; footnote on the same page. The mention of this feather- 
 bed may have been suggested to Machault by Ovid's line about 
 the couch of Morpheus (Metam. xi. 611) — ' Plumeus, unicolor, 
 pullo velamine tectus.' 
 
 264. We must delete qucne. 
 
 279. ' To be well able to interpret my dream.' 
 
 282. The modern construction is — ' The dream of King 
 Pharaoh.* See this idiom explained in the Prioresses Tale, note 
 to Group F, 1. 209 ; p. 213. Cf. Gen. xli. 25. 
 
 284. As to Macrobius, see note to the Pari, of Foules, 29. 
 And cf. Ho. of Fame, 513-7. We must never forget how 
 
 R 2
 
 244 I^^' THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 frequent are Chaucer's imitations of Le Roman de la Rose. 
 Here, for example, he is thinking of 11. 7-10 of that poem : — 
 ' Ung acteur qui ot non Macrobes .... 
 Ancois escrist la vision 
 Qui avint au roi Cipion.' 
 
 After Macrobcus understand coiidc (from 1. 283), which governs 
 the infin. arcdc in 1. 289. 
 
 2S6. Mett-e occupies the second foot in the line. In 1. 288 
 Tfa.^ forti'ined. 
 
 288. This line, found in Thynne only, is perhaps not genuine, 
 but interpolated. 
 
 292. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 45-47 : — 
 
 'Avis m'iere qu'il estoit mains .... 
 En Mai estoie, ce songoie.' 
 
 And again, cf. 11. 295, &c. with the same, 11. 67-74. 
 
 301. Read songcn, not songc, to avoid the hiatus. 
 
 304. Chaucer uses soin as a singular in such cases as the 
 present. A clear case occurs in : ' Som in Ms bed ; ' Kn. Tale, 
 2173. Hence sotig is the sing. verb. 
 
 309. Entuftes, tunes. Cf. en/tmed, pp.; C. T. Prol, 123. 
 
 310. Tewnes, Tunis ; vaguely put for some distant and wealthy 
 town ; see 11. 106 1-4, below. Its name was probably suggested 
 by the preceding word etitunes, which required a rime. Gower 
 mentions Kaire (Cairo) just as vaguely : — 
 
 'That me were lever her love winne 
 
 Than Kaire and al that is therinne;' Conf. Amant., ed. Pauli, 
 ii- 57- 
 The sense is — 'that certainly, even to gain Tunis, I would not 
 have (done other) than heard them sing.' Lange thinks these 
 lines corrupt ; but I believe the idiom is correct. 
 
 323. As stained glass windows were then rare and expensive, 
 it is worth while observing that these gorgeous windows were 
 not real ones, but only seen in a dream. This passage is 
 imitated in .the late poem called the Court of Love, st. 33, where 
 we are told that ' The temple shone with windows al of glasse,' 
 and that in the glass were portrayed the stories of Dido and 
 Annelida. These windows, it may be observed, were equally 
 imaginary. 
 
 328. The caesural pause comes after Ector ^ which might allow 
 the intrusion of the word of before king. But Mr. Sweet omits 
 off and I follow him. The words of king are again inserted 
 before Lamcdon in 1. 329, being caught from 1. 328 above.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 245 
 
 La7nedo7t is Laomedon, father of King Priam of Troy. Ector 
 is Chaucer's spelling of Hector; Man of Lavves Tale, 198. 
 He here cites the usual examples of love-stories, such as those 
 of Medea and Jason, and Paris and Helen. Lavyne is Lavinia, 
 the second wife of yEneas ; Vergil, M.n. bk. vii ; cf. Ho. of Fame, 
 458. Observe his pronunciation of MMea, as in the Ho. of 
 Fame, 401 ; Cant. Ta., B. 72 (see Prioresses Tale, &c. p. 3). 
 
 332. ' There is reason to believe that Chaucer copied these 
 imageries from the romance of Guigemar, one of the Lays of 
 Marie de France ; in which the walls of a chamber are painted 
 with Venus and the Art of Love from Ovid. Perhaps Chaucer 
 might not look further than the temples of Boccaccio's Theseid 
 for these ornaments;' Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, 1871, iii. 63. 
 Cf. Rom. of the Rose (E. version), 11. 139-146. 
 
 333. Bothe text a7id glose, i. e. both in the principal panels 
 and in the margin. He likens the walls to the page of a book, 
 in which the glose, or commentary, was often written in the 
 margin. Mr. Sweet inserts ivith before text, and changes And 
 into Of in the next line ; I do not think the former change is 
 necessary, but I adopt the latter. 
 
 334. It had all sorts of scenes from the Romance of the Rose 
 on it. Chaucer again mentions this Romance by name in his 
 Merchant's Tale ; C. T. 9906 ; and he tells us that he himself 
 translated it ; Prol. to Legend, 329. The celebrated Roman de 
 la Rose was begun by Guillaume de Lorris, who wrote 11. 1-4070, 
 and died in 1260 or 1262, and completed (in a very different and 
 much more satirical style) by Jean de Meung (or Meun), sur- 
 named Clopinel, from a defect in one of his legs, who wrote 
 11. 4071-22074 ; it was finished about the year 1305. The story 
 is that of a young man who succeeded in plucking a rose in 
 a walled garden, after overcoming extraordinary difficulties ; 
 allegorically, it means that he succeeded in obtaining the object 
 of his love. 
 
 The existing English translation is imperfect, and bears 
 internal evidence of not being the one which was made by 
 Chaucer. Lines 1-4432 answer to 11. 1-4070 of the French text, 
 by G. de Lorris. Lines 4433-5813 answer to 11. 4071-5170 of 
 the original, by J. de Meun ; after which there is a great gap. 
 Lines 5814-7698 answer to 11. 10717-12564 of the original, and 
 break off nearly 10,000 lines from the end. 
 
 The E. version is invariably called the Romaunt of the Rose, 
 and we find the title Rommant de la Rose in the original, 
 1. 20082 ; cf. our romant-ic. But Burguy explains that romant
 
 A 
 
 246 ///. TI/E BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 is a false form, due to confusion with words rightly ending in 
 -afit. The right O. F. form is romatts, originally an adverb ; 
 from the phrase parlcr roinans, i. e. loqui Romanice. In the 
 Six-text edition of the Cant. Tales, E. 2032, four MSS. have 
 romafice, one has romans, and one roinatens. 
 
 For examples of walls or ceilings being painted with various 
 subjects, see Warton's Hist, of E. Poetry, ed. Hazhtt, ii. 131, 
 275 ; iii. 63. 
 
 340. The first accent is on Blew, not on bright. Cf. Rom. 
 de la Rose, 124, 125 : — 
 
 ' Clere et serie et bele estoit 
 La matinee, et atrempee.' 
 
 343. Ne in is to be read as Nin ; we find it written nin in the 
 Squieres Tale, 35. See 1. 694. 
 
 347. Whether is to be read as JVher; it is often so spelt. 
 
 348. The line, as it stands in the authorities, viz. 'And I 
 herde goyng, bothe vp and doune ' — cannot be right. Mr. Sweet 
 omits bothe. I prefer to omit A?td, while altering ^^//i"^ \.o gon. 
 Perhaps even speke {^t.\X^x speken) is an infinitive in 1. 350. The 
 line, as I give it, is idiomatic and metrical. However, speken 
 may also be the pt. t. plural (A.S. sprcecon) ; and it is more 
 convenient to take it so. 
 
 352. Upon lengthe, after a great length of course, after a long 
 run. 
 
 M. Sandras points out some very slight resemblances between 
 this passage and some lines in a French poem in the Collection 
 Mouchet, vol. ii. fol. 106 ; see the passage cited in Furnivall's 
 Trial Forewords to the Minor Poems, p. 51. Most likely 
 Chaucer wrote independently of this French poem, as even 
 M. Sandras seems inchned to admit. 
 
 353. Embosed, embossed. This is a technical term, famous 
 for its use by Shakespeare, Tam. Shrew, Induct, i. 17 ; Ant. 
 and Cleop. iv. 13. 3. It properly means, covered with foam at 
 the mouth in consequence of hard hunting, or covered with 
 foam generally. (Quite a distinct word from embossed in All's 
 Well, iii. 6. 107.) 
 
 In the play of Albumazar, Act v. sc. 2, Cricca says — 
 
 ' I am emboss' d 
 With trotting all the streets to find Pandolfo.' 
 
 Hazlitt's note is — ' Gascoigne, in his book of hunting, 1575, p. 
 242, enumerates e7nbossed among " other generall termes of the 
 hart and his properties. When he [the hart] is foamy at the mouth
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 247 
 
 we saye that he is cmbost." So in The Shoemaker's Holiday, 
 or The Gentle Craft, 1610, sig. C 3 — 
 
 ' Besides, the miller's boy told me even now 
 He saw him take soile, and he hallowed him, 
 Affirming him so cmbost 
 That long he could not hold.' 
 
 See also the Book of St. Alban's, fol. f i, back, about the 
 hart dropping white foam when sore pressed. 
 
 362. A relay was a fresh set of dogs ; see Relay in my Etym. 
 Diet. 
 
 ' When the howndys are set an hert for to mete, 
 And other hym chasen and folowyn to take, 
 Then all the Relais thow may vppon hem make.' 
 
 Book of St. Alban's, fol. e 8, back. 
 
 A lyinere was a dog held in a leash, to be let loose when 
 required. In the Book of St. Alban's, fol. e 4, we are told that 
 the beasts which should be ' reride with the lymer^ i. e. roused 
 and pursued by the dog so called, are ' the hert and the bucke 
 and the boore.' 
 
 365. Oon, ladde, i. e. one who led. This omission of the 
 relative is common. 
 
 368. ' The emperor Octovien ' is the emperor seen by Chaucer 
 in his dream. In 1. 1314, he is called this ki7ig, by whom 
 Edward III. is plainly intended. He was 'a favourite character 
 of Carolingian legend, and pleasantly revived under this aspect 
 by the modern romanticist Ludwig Tieck — probably [here] a 
 flattering allegory for the King ; ' Ward's Life of Chaucer, p. 69. 
 The English romance of Octouian Imperator is to be found in 
 Weber's Metrical Romances, iii. 157 ; it extends to 1962 lines. 
 He was an emperor of Rome, and married Floraunce, daughter 
 of Dagabers [Dagobert], king of France. The adventures of 
 Floraunce somewhat resemble those of Constance in the Man 
 of Lawes Tale. 
 
 370. The exclamation ' A goddes halfe ' was pronounced like 
 'A god's half; ' see 1. 758. See note to 1. 544. 
 
 374. Fil to doon, fell to do, i. e. was fitting to do. 
 
 375. Fot-hoot, foot-hot, immediately ; see my note to Man of 
 Lawes Tale, 438. 
 
 376. Moot, notes upon a horn, here used as a plural. See 
 Glossary. 'How shall we blowe whan ye han sen the hert? 
 I shal blowe after one mote, ij motes [i. e. 3 motes in all] ; 
 and if myn howndes come not hastily to me as I vyolde, I shall
 
 248 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 blowe iiij. motes ;' Venery de Twety, in Reliquia; Antiquas, 
 i. 152. 
 
 Cf. a passage in the Chace du Ccrf, quoted from the Collection 
 Mouchet, i. 166, in Furnivall's Trial P'orewords, p. 51 (though 
 Chaucer probably wrote his account quite independently of 
 
 ' Et puis si corneras apel 
 .iij. Ions mots, pour les chiens avoir.' 
 
 379. Rcchascd, headed back. Men were posted at certain 
 places, to keep the hart within certain bounds. See next note. 
 
 386. A forloyn, a recall (as I suppose ; for it was blown when 
 the hounds were all a long way off their object of pursuit). It 
 is thus explained in the Book of St. Alban's, fol. f i : — 
 
 ' Yit mayster, wolde I fayn thus at yow leere, 
 What is a forloyiig, for that is goode to here. 
 That shall I say the, quod he, the soth at lest. 
 When thy houndes in the wode sechyn any beest, 
 And the beest is stoU away owt of the fryth, 
 Or the houndes that thou hast meten therwith, 
 And any other houndes before than may with hem mete 
 Thees oder houndes are then forloyncd, I the hete. 
 For the beste and the houndes am so fer before, 
 And the houndes behynde be weer[i]e and soore. 
 So that they may not at the best cum at ther will, 
 The houndes before fo)-Ioync [distance] hem, and that is 
 
 the skyll. 
 They be ay so fere before, to me iff thou will trust; 
 And thys is the forloyne ; lere hit, iff thou lust.' 
 
 The ' chace of the forloyne ' is explained (very obscurely) in the 
 Venery de Twety; see Reliquiae Antiqute, i. 152. But the 
 following passage from the same gives some light upon rechased : 
 ' Another chace ther is whan a man hath set up archerys and 
 grcyhoundes, and the best be founde, and passe out the boundys, 
 and mync houndes after ; then shall y blowe on this maner a 
 mote, and aftirvvard the 7'cchace upon my houndys that be past 
 the boundys.' 
 
 387. Go, gone. The sense is — ' I had gone (away having) 
 walked from my tree.' The idiom is curious. My tree, the 
 tree at which I had been posted. Chaucer dreamt that he was 
 one of the men posted to watch which way the hart went, and 
 to keep the bounds. 
 
 396. The final e \njled-dc is not elided, owing to the pause 
 after it. See note to 1. 685.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 249 
 
 398. IFefi/c, path. Chaucer often rimes words that are pro- 
 nounced alike, if their meanings be different. See 11. 439, 440; 
 and of. 11. 627-630. The very same pair of rimes occurs again 
 in the Ho, of Fame, 181, 182 ; and in Troil. iii. 788. 
 
 402, Read — /^9r both-e Flor-a, &c. The -a in Flora comes at 
 the cKsural pause; cf. 11. 413, 414. Once more, this is f'-om Le 
 Roman de la Rose, 11. S449-51 : — 
 
 ' Zephirus et Flora, sa fame, 
 Qui des flors est deesse et dame, 
 Cil dui font les floretes iiestre.' 
 
 Cf. also 11. 5962-S : — 
 
 ' Les floretes i fait parair, 
 
 E cum estoiles flamboier, 
 
 Et les herbetes verdoier 
 
 Zcphirtcs, quant sur mer chevauche.' 
 405. The first accent is on For ; not happily. 
 408. ' To have more flowers than the heaven (has stars, so as 
 even to rival) seven such planets as there are in the sky.' 
 Rather involved, and probably all suggested by the necessity for 
 a rime to heven. See 1. 824. Moreover, it is copied from Le 
 Roman de la Rose, 8465-8 : — 
 
 'Qu'il vous fust avis que la terre 
 
 Vosist emprendre estrif et guerre 
 
 Au ciel d'estre miex estelee, 
 
 Tant iert par ses flors revelee.' 
 
 410-412. From Le Roman de la Rose, 55-58 : — 
 
 ' La terre .... 
 Et oblie la poverte 
 Ou ele a tot I'yver este.' 
 
 419. Imitated from Le Roman de la Rose, 1 373-1391 ; in 
 particular : — 
 
 ' Li ung \a)-hre'\ fu loing de I'autre assis 
 Plus de cinq toises, ou de sis,' etc. 
 
 Chaucer has treated a toise as if it were equal to two feet ; it 
 was really about six. 
 
 429. According to the Book of St. Albans, fol. e 4, the buck 
 was called a fawne in his first year, a preket in the second, 
 a sowrell in the third, a sowre in the fourth, a bucks of the fyrst 
 hede in the fifth, and a biicke (simply) in the sixth year. Also 
 a roo is the female of the roobiicke. 
 
 435. Argus is put for Algus, the old French name for the 
 inventor of the Arabic numerals ; it occurs in 1. 16373 of the
 
 250 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Roman de la Rose, which mentions him in company with EucHd 
 and Ptolemy — 
 
 * Algus, Euclides, Tholomees.' 
 
 This name was obviously confused with that of the hundred- 
 eyed Argus. 
 
 This name Algiis was evolved out of the O. F. algorisvie, 
 which, as Dr. Murray says, is a French adaptation 'from the Arab. 
 al-Khoivay-aznn, the native of Khwdrazm {K/iiva), surname of 
 the Arab mathematician Abu Ja'far Mohammed Ben Musa, who 
 flourished early in the 9th century, and through the translation 
 of whose work on Algebra, the Arabic numerals became gener- 
 ally known in Europe. Cf. EucHd = plane geometry.' He was 
 truly * a noble countour,' to whom we all owe a debt of gratitude. 
 That Algus was sometimes called Argus, also appears from the 
 Roman de la Rose, 11. 12994, iS:c., which is clearly the very 
 passage which Chaucer here copies : — 
 
 'Se mestre Argiis 11 bien contens 
 I vosist bien metre ses cures, 
 E venist ses dix figures, 
 Par quoi tout certefie et nombre, 
 Si ne peust-il pas le nombre 
 Des grans contens certefier, 
 Tant seust bien mouteplier.' ' 
 
 Here means 'with;' so that Chaucer has copied the very 
 phrase ' with his figures ten.' But still more curiously, Jean de 
 Meun here rimes tzombre, pres. sing, indie, with nofiibre, sb. ; 
 and Chaucer rimes noiunbre, infin., with nouinbre, sb. likewise. 
 Coimtour in 1. 435 means 'arithmetician;' in the next line it 
 means an abacus or counting-board, for assisting arithmetical 
 operations. 
 
 437. His figures icii ; the ten Arabic numerals, i. e. from i to 9, 
 and the cipher o. 
 
 438. Al ken, all kin, i.e. mankind, all men. This substitution 
 of ke7i for kin (A. S. cyft) seems to have been due to the 
 exigencies of rime, as Chaucer uses kin elsewhere. However, 
 Gower has the same form — 'And of what ken that she was 
 come ;' Conf. Am. b. viii ; ed. Pauli, iii. 332. So also in Will, 
 of Palerne, 722 — 'Miself knowe ich noujt mi keti ; ' and five times 
 at least in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, as it is a Kentish form. 
 
 442. The strong accent on }ne is very forced. 
 
 ' M. Mcon prints mo7itcplicr. It is clearly mouteplier, to multiply.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 25 1 
 
 445. A man in blak ; John of Gaunt, in mourning for the loss 
 of his wife Blaunche. Imitated by Lydgate, in his Complaint 
 of the Black Knight, 1. 130, and by Spenser, in his Daph- 
 naida : — 
 
 ' I did espie 
 Where towards me a sory wight did cost 
 Clad all in black, that mourning did bewray.' 
 
 452. Wel-faring-e J four syllables. 
 
 455. John of Gaunt, born in June, 1340, was 29 years old in 
 1369. I do not know why a poet is never to make a mistake ; 
 nor why critics should lay down such a singular law. But 
 if we are to lay the error on the scribes, Mr. Brock's sugges- 
 tion is excellent. He remarks that nine and twenty was 
 usually written .xxviiij. ; and if the v were omitted, it would 
 appear as .xxiiij., i. e. four and twenty. The existing MSS. 
 write ' foure and twenty ' at length ; but such is not the usual 
 practice of earHer scribes. It may also be added that .xxiiij. 
 was at that time always read as four and t%uenty, never as 
 twenty four ; so that no ambiguity could arise as to its meaning. 
 See Richard the Redeless, iii. 260. 
 
 There is a precisely similar confusion in Cant. Ta. Group 
 B, I. 5 (see my Prioresses Tale, p. i, footnote 2) ; where 
 eightetethe is denoted by 'xviijthe' in the Hengwrt MS., whilst 
 the Harl. MS. omits the v, and reads threttenthe, and again the 
 Ellesmere MS. inserts an .v, and gives us eighte attd twentithe. 
 The presumption is, that Chaucer knew his patron's age, and 
 that we ought to read m?ie iox four; but even if he inadvertently 
 wrote four, there is no crime in it. 
 
 475. The knight's lay falls into two stanzas, one of five, and 
 one of six lines, as marked. In order to make them more alike, 
 Thynne inserted an additional line — And thus in sorowe lefte me 
 alone — after 1. 479. This additional line is numbered 480 in the 
 editions ; so I omit 1. 480 in the numbering. The line is 
 probably spurious. It is not grammatical ; grammar would 
 require that has (not is, as in 1. 479) should be understood before 
 the pp. left; or if we take left-e as a past tense, then the line 
 will not scan. But it is also unmetrical, as the arrangement of 
 lines should be the same as in 11. 481-6, if the two stanzas are 
 to be made alike. Chaucer says the lay consisted of ' ten 
 verses or twelve ' in 1. 463, which is a sufficiently close descrip- 
 tion of a lay of eleven lines. Had he said twelve without any 
 mention of ten, the case would have been diflferent. 
 
 481. If we must needs complete the line, we must read
 
 252 I^I- THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 * Alias! o deth!' inserting oj or 'Alias! the deth/ inserting 
 the. The latter is proposed by Ten Brink, Sprache, &c. § 346. 
 
 490. Pure, very; cf. 'pure fettres,' Kn. Tale, 421. And see 
 1. 583, below. 
 
 491, Cf. 'Why does my blood thus muster to my heart?' 
 Meas. for Meas. ii. 4. 20. 
 
 501. Seel, sat; a false form for sat (A. S. sect); due to the 
 plural form scet-e or set-e (A. S. scet-oii). The very same error 
 recurs in Kn. Tale, 1217 ; cf. same, 2035. 
 
 510. Made, i.e. they made ; idiomatic. 
 
 521. Ne I, nor I ; to be read NU ; cf. note to 1. 343. 
 
 526. 'Yes; the amends is (are) easily made.' 
 
 532. Me acqueynte = ni'acqiieynt-e, acquaint myself. 
 
 544. By our lord, to be read as by V lord. Cf. by 'r lakm. 
 Temp. iii. 3. I. So again, in 11. 651, 690, 1042. 
 
 547. Me thinketh { = me think' th), it seems to me. 
 
 550. Wis, certainly: 'As certainly (as I hope that) God may 
 help me.' So in Nonne Prestes Tale, 587 ; and cf. Kn. Tale, 
 1928. So also : 'As wisly helpe me gret god ;' Squ. Ta. 469, 
 &c. And see 1. 683, below. 
 
 556. Paraventiire, pronounced as Paraunter', Thynne so 
 has it. 
 
 Compare this passage with the long dialogue between 
 Troilus and Pandarus in the latter part of the first book 
 of Troilus. 
 
 568. Alluding to Ovid's Reinedia Ainoris. Accent reJiic'dies 
 on the second syllable. 
 
 569. The story of Orpheus is in Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. x. 
 The allusion is to the harp of Orpheus, at the sound of which 
 the tortured had rest. Cf. Ho. of Fame, 1202. 
 
 ' To tyre on Titius growing hart the gredy Grype forbeares : 
 The shunning water Tantalus endeuereth not to drink ; 
 And Danaus daughters ceast to fill their tubs that haue no brink. 
 Ixions wheel stood still : and downe sate Sisyphus vpon 
 His rolling stone.' — Golding's Ovid, fol. 120. 
 
 570. Cf. Ho. of Fame, 919. Dtedalus represents the mecha- 
 nician. No mechanical contrivances can help the mourner. 
 
 572. Cf. 
 
 'Par Hipocras, ne Galien, 
 Tant fussent bon phisicien.' 
 
 Roman de la Rose, 16161. 
 Hippocrates and Galen are meant ; see note to C. T. Group C, 
 306, in my Man of Lawes Talc, p. 141.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 253 
 
 579. Y-ivortJie, (who am) become ; pp. of ivori/ieft. 
 
 582. 'For all good fortune and I are foes,' lit. angry (with 
 each other). 
 
 589. S and C were so constantly interchanged before e that 
 Sesiphiis could be written Ccsiphus ; and C and T were so often 
 mistaken that CesipJuis easily became Testpkus, the form in the 
 Tanner MS. Further, initial 7" was sometimes replaced by Th; 
 and this would give the Thesiphus of MS. F. 
 
 Sesiphus, i. e. Sisyphus, is of course intended ; it was in the 
 author's mind in connection with the story of Orpheus just 
 above ; see note to 1. 569. In the Roman de la Rose, we have 
 the usual allusions to Yxion (1. 19479), Tenfali/s, i.e. Tantalus 
 (1. 19482), Ticius, i.e. Tityus (1. 19506), and Sisifiis (1. 19499). 
 
 But whilst I thus hold that Chaucer probably wrote Sesiphus, 
 I have no doubt that he really meant Tityus, as is shewn by the 
 expression lyth, i.e. lies extended. See Troil. i. 786, where 
 Bell's edition has Siciphus, but the Campsall MS. has Ticyus ; 
 whilst in ed. 1561 we find Tesiphus. 
 
 599. With this string of contrarieties compare the Eng. version 
 of the Roman de la Rose, 4706-4753. 
 
 614. Abaved, confounded, disconcerted. See Glossary. 
 
 618. Imitated from the Roman de la Rose, from 1. 6644. 
 
 onwards. 
 
 ' Vez cnm fortune le ser\i .... 
 N'est ce done chose bien provable 
 Que sa roe n'est pas tenable ?'.... 
 
 Jean de Meun goes on to say that Charles of Anjou killed Man- 
 fred, king of Sicily, in the first battle with him [a.d. 1266] — 
 
 'En la premeraine bataille 
 L'assailli por li desconfire, 
 Eschec et mat li ala dire 
 Desus son destrier aufenant 
 Du trait d'un paonnet errant 
 Ou milieu de son eschiquier.' 
 
 He next speaks of Conradin, whose death was likewise caused 
 by Charles in 1268, so that these two (Manfred and Conradin) 
 lost all their pieces at chess — 
 
 'Gil dui, comme folz gar9onnes, 
 Roz et fierges et paonnes, 
 . Et chevaliers as gieus perdirent, 
 
 Et hots de I'eschiquier saillirent.' 
 
 And further, of the inventor of chess (1. 6715) —
 
 254 m- THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 ' Car ainsi le dist Athalus 
 Qui des eschez controva I'us, 
 Quant il traitoit d'arismetique.' 
 
 He talks of the queen being taken (at chess), 1. 6735 — 
 
 ' Car la fierche avoit este prise 
 Au gieu de la premiere assise.' 
 
 He cannot recount all Fortune's tricks (1. 6879) — 
 
 ' De fortune la semilleuse 
 Et de sa roe perilleuse 
 Tous les tors center ne porroie.' 
 
 629. Cf. ' whited sepulchres ;' Matt, xxiii. 27. 
 
 630. The MSS. and Thynne have flotires, floiirys. This 
 gives no sense ; we must therefore rea.^Jlour is. For a similar 
 rime see that of nones, 710011 is, in the Prologue, 523, 524. 
 Strictly, grammar requires hen rather than is ; but when two 
 nominatives express much the same sense, the singular verb 
 may be used, as in Lenvoy to Bukton, 6. The sense is — ' her 
 chief glory and her prime vigour is (i. e. consists in) lying.' 
 
 634. The parallel passage is one in the Remede de Fortune, 
 by G. de Machault : — 
 
 ' D'un ceil rit, de V autre Icrme ; 
 C'est I'orgueilleuse humilite, 
 C'est fenvicuse charite [1. 642]. . . 
 La peinture d'une vipere 
 
 Qu'est mortable ; 
 En riens a li ne se compere.' 
 
 See Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 47 ; and compare the 
 remarkable and elaborate description of Fortune in the Anti- 
 claudian of Alanus de Insulis (Distinctio 8, cap. 1), in Wright's 
 Anglo-Latin Satirists, vol. ii. pp. 399, 400. 
 
 636. Chaucer seems to have rewritten the whole passage at 
 a later period : — 
 
 ' O soden hap, o thou fortune unstable, 
 Like to the scorpioun so deceivable, 
 That flatrest with thy bed whan thou woll sting ; 
 Thy tail is deth, thurgh thyn enveniming. 
 O brotel loye, o swete poyson queinte, 
 O monstre, that so sotilly canst peinte. 
 Thy giftes under hue of stedfastnesse 
 That thou deceivest bothe more and lesse,' etc. 
 
 Cant. Talcs, 9931 iMerch. Tale^..
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 1^^ 
 
 Compare also Man of Lawes Tale, 361, 404. * The scorpiun 
 is ones cunnes wurm thet haueth neb, ase me seith, sumdel 
 iliche ase wummon, and is neddre bihinden ; makcth feir 
 semblaunt and fiketh mit te hcaued, and stingcth mid te teile ; ' 
 Ancren Riwle, p. 206. Vincent of Beauvais, in his Speculum 
 Naturale, bk. xx. c. 160, quotes from the Liber de Naturis 
 Rerum — ' Scorpio blandum et quasi virgineum dicitur vultum 
 habere, sed habet in cauda nodosa venenatum aculeum, quo 
 pungit et inficit proximantem.' 
 
 642. A translated line ; see note to 1. 634. 
 
 651. Read — Trow' st thou? by r lord; see note to I. 544. 
 
 653. Drmight is a move at chess ; see 11. 682, 685. Thus in 
 Caxton's Game of the Chesse — 'the alphyn [bishop] goeth in vj. 
 draughtes al the tablier [board] rounde about.' So in The Talc 
 of Beryn, 1779, 1S12. It translates the F. trait \ see note to 
 1. 618 (second quotation). 
 
 654. '■ Fers, the piece at chess next to the king, which we and 
 other European nations call the qticen ; though very improperly, 
 as Hyde has observed. Pherz, or Phe7'za7i, which is the Persian 
 name for the same piece, signifies the King's Chief Cotnisellor, 
 or Gc7icral. — Hist. ^\i'aS\\\\xdi.\shaJii-hidii, chess-play], pp. 88, 
 89.' — Tyrwhitt's Glossary. Chaucer follows Rom. Rose, where 
 the word appears ^^fierge, 1. 6688, dindjierche, 1. 6735 \ see note 
 to 1. 618 above. (For another use of firs, see note to 1. 723 
 below.) Godefroy gives the O. F. s^ptWmgs fierce, Jierche, Jierge, 
 
 firge, and quotes two lines which give the O. F. names of all 
 the pieces at chess : — 
 
 ' Roy, roc, chevalier, et alphin, 
 Fierge, et peon.' — 
 
 Caxton calls them hyng, quene, alphyn, knyght, rook, paiv?!. 
 Richardson's Pers. Diet, p. 1080, gives the Pers. name of the 
 queen as firzi or fiarzin, and explains fiarzin by ' the queen at 
 chess, a learned man ; ' compare Tyrwhitt's remark above. In 
 fact, the orig. Skt. name for this piece was mantri, i.e. the 
 adviser or counsellor. He also gives the Pers. farz, learned ; 
 farz ox fir z, the queen at chess. I suppose it is a mere chance 
 that the somewhat similar Arab, fiiras means ' a horse, and the 
 knight at chess ; ' Richardson (as above). Oddly enough, the 
 latter word has also some connection with Chaucer, as it is the 
 Arabic name of the ' wedge ' of an astrolabe ; see Chaucer's 
 Astrolabe, ed. Skeat, Part i. § 14 (footnote). 
 
 655. When a chess-player, by an oversight, loses his queen
 
 2^6 HI. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 for nothing, he may, in general, as well give up the game, 
 Beryn was ' in hevy plyjte, ' when he only lost a rook for 
 nothing; Tale of Beryn, 1812. 
 
 660. The word the before 7nid must of course be omitted. 
 The lines are to be scanned thus : — 
 
 ' Therwith | fortiin | e seid | e chck [ here 
 And mate | in mid | pointe of | the chek | kere.' 
 
 The rime is a feminine one. Lines 660 and 661 are copied from 
 the Rom. Rose ; see note to 1. 618, above. To be checkmated 
 by an ' errant ' pawn in the very middle of the board is a most 
 ignominious way of losing the game. Cf. check-inate in Troil. 
 ii. 754. 
 
 663. Athahis ; see note to 1. 618, above. Jean de Meun 
 follows John of Salisbury (bishop of Chartres, died 1180) in 
 attributing the invention of chess to Attalus. ' Attains Asiaticus, 
 si Gentilium creditur historiis, banc ludendi lasciuiam dicitur 
 inuenisse ab exercitio numerorum, paululum deflexa materia ; ' 
 Joan. Saresburiensis Policraticiis, lib. i. c. 5. Warton (Hist. 
 E. Poet. i87i,iii.9i)says the person meant is Attalus Philometor, 
 king of Pergamus; who is mentioned by Pliny, Nat. Hist, xviii. 
 3, xxviii. 2. It is needless to explain here how chess was 
 developed out of the old Indian game for four persons called 
 chaliir-aiiga, i. e. consisting of four members or parts (Benfey's 
 Skt. Diet. p. 6). I must refer the reader to Forbes's History 
 of Chess, or the article on Chess in the English Cyclopaedia. 
 See also the E. version of the Gesta Romanorum, ed. Herrtage, 
 -p. 70; A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, ed. Wright, p. 324; and 
 Sir F. Madden's article in the Archaologia, xxiv. 203. 
 
 666. leupardies, hazards, critical positions, problems ; see 
 note on C. T. Group G, 743, in my Man of Lawes Tale, p. 187. 
 
 667. Pithagores, put for Pythagoras ; for the rime. Pythagoras 
 of Samos, born about B.C. 570, considered that all things were 
 founded upon numerical relations ; various discoveries in 
 mathematics, music, and astronomy, were attributed to him. 
 
 682. ' I would have made the same move ; ' i.e. had I had 
 the power, I would have taken her fcrs from her, just as she 
 took mine. 
 
 684. She, i.e. Fortune ; so in Thynne. The MSS. have He, 
 i. e. God, which can hardly be meant. 
 
 685. The caisural pause preserves e in draiightc from elision. 
 It rimes with caughte (1. 682). Similar examples of 'hiatus' are 
 not common : Ten Brink {Sprache, § 270) instances C. T. 
 Group C, 599, 772, (Pard. Tale).
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 257 
 
 694. Ne in is to be read as 7tin (twice) ; see 1. 343. 
 
 700. 'There lies in reckoning (i.e. is debited to me in the 
 account), as regards sorrow, for no amount at all.' In his 
 account with Sorrow, he is owed nothing, having received pay- 
 ment in full. There is no real difficulty here. 
 
 705. ' I have nothing ;' for (i) Sorrow has paid in full, and so 
 owes me nothing ; (2) I have no gladness left ; (3) I have lost 
 my true wealth ; (4) and I have no pleasure. 
 
 708. ' What is past is not yet to come.' 
 
 709. Tatilale, Tantalus. He has already referred to Sisyphus', 
 see note to 1. 589. In the Roman de la Rose, we find Yxio?i, 
 1. T9479 ; Tc7italus, 1. 19482; and Sisifus, 1. 19499; as I have 
 already remarked. 
 
 717. Again from the Rom. de la Rose, 1. 5869 — 
 
 *Et ne priseras une prune 
 Toute la roe de fortune. 
 A Socrates seras semblables. 
 Qui tant fu fers et tant estables, 
 Qu'il n'ert lies en prosperites, 
 Ne tristes en aversites.' 
 
 Chaucer's thre str'ees is Jean de Meun's pru7ie. 
 
 723. By the ferses twelve I understand all the pieces except 
 the king, which could not be taken. The guess in Bell's 
 Chaucer says ' all the pieces except the pawns ; ' but as a player 
 only has seve7i pieces at most beside the pawns and king, I fail to 
 see how sevc7i can be called twelve. My own reckoning is thus : 
 "^Tv^ViS, eight \ queen, bishop, rook, knight, yit/^r ; \.o\?\, twelve. 
 The fact that each player has two of three of these, viz. of the 
 bishop, rook, and k7iight, arose from the conversion of chatiir- 
 aiiga, in which each of four persons had a king, bishop, knight, 
 rook [to keep to modern names] and four pawns, into chess, in 
 which each of two persons had two kings (afterwards king and 
 queen), two bishops, knights, and rooks, and eight pawns. 
 The bishop, knight, and rook, were thus duplicated, and so 
 count but once apiece. The case of the pawns was different, 
 for each pawn had an individuality of its own, no two being 
 made alike (except in inferior sets). Caxton's Game of the 
 Chesse shews this clearly ; he describes each of the eight pawns 
 sepai'ately, and gives a different figure to each. According to 
 him, the pawns were (beginning from the King's Rook's Pawn) 
 the Labourer, Smyth, Clerke (or Notary), Marchaunt, Physicien, 
 Tauerner, Garde, and Ribauld. They denoted 'all sorts and 
 
 S
 
 258 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 conditions of men ; ' and this is why our common saying of 
 ' tinker, tailor, solaier, sailor, gentleman, apothecary, ploughboy, 
 thief enumerates eight conditions ^ 
 
 As the word fers originally meant counsellor or monitor of 
 the king, it could be applied to any of the pieces. There was 
 a special reason for its application to each of the pawns ; for 
 a pawn, on arriving at its last square, could not be exchanged 
 (as now; for any piece at pleasure, but only for a queen, i. e. the 
 fers par excellence. For, as Caxton says again, ' he [the pawn] 
 may not goo on neyther side till he hath been in the fardest 
 ligne of theschequer, & that he hath taken the nature of the 
 draughtes of the quene, & than he is a fie7-s.i and than may he 
 goo on al sides cornerwyse fro poynt to poynt onely as the 
 quene ; ' &c. 
 
 726. These stock examples all come together in the Rom. de 
 la Rose; viz. Jaso)i and Mcdce, at 1. 13433; Philis and 
 Demophon, at 1. 13415 ; ''Dido, roine de Cartage,' at I. 13379. 
 The story of Echo and Narcissus is told fully, in an earlier 
 passage, at 1. 1447: see 11. 1469-1545 of the English version ; 
 also that of ' Dalida ' and ' Sanson ' in a later passage, at 
 1. 16879. See also the Legends of Dido, Medea, and Phillis in 
 the Legend of Good Women ; and the story of Sampson in the 
 IMonkes Tale, C. T. Group B, 3205, in my edition of the 
 Prioresses Tale. Cf. also — 
 
 'Ne Narcissus, the fayre," &c. ; Kn. Tale, 10S3. 
 ' And deye he moste, he sayde, as did Ecco 
 For Narcissus;' C. T. 11263 (Frank. Tale). 
 
 779. M. Sandras points out the resemblance to a passage in 
 G. de Machault's Remcde de Fortune : — 
 
 ' Car le droit estat d'innocence 
 Ressemblent (?) propremcnt la table 
 Blanche, polie, qui est able 
 A recevoir, sans nul contrairc, 
 Ce qu'on y veut peindre ou porlraire.' 
 
 The rime of table and able settles the point. Mr. Brock points 
 out a parallel passage in Boethius, which Chaucer thus trans- 
 lates : — 'the soule hadde be naked of it-self, as a mirour or a 
 clene parchemyn . . . Ry5t as we ben wont some time by a swift 
 poyntel to ficchen lettres emprented in the smothenesse or in the 
 
 ' The thief is the Ribauld ; the ploughboy, the Labourer; tlie 
 apothecary, the Physicien ; the soldier, the Garde ; the tailor, the 
 Marchaunt ; the tinker, the .Smyth. Only two arc changed.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 259 
 
 plainesse of the table of wex, or in parchemyn that ne hath no 
 figure ne note in it ; ' ed. Morris, p. 166 (bk. v. met. 4). But I 
 doubt if Chaucer knew much of Boethius in 1369; and in the 
 present passage he clearly refers to a prepared white surface, 
 not to a tablet of wax. ' Youth and white paper take any 
 impression ; ' Ray's Proverbs. 
 
 791. An allusion to the old proverb which is given in Hending 
 in the form — ' Whose yong lerneth, olt [old] he ne leseth ; ' 
 H ending's Prov. 1. 45. Kemble gives the medieval Latin — ' Quod 
 puer adsuescit, leviter dimittere nescit ;' Gartner, Dicteria, p. 24 
 b. Cf. Horace, Epist. i. 2. 69 ; also Rom. de la Rose, 13094. 
 799. John of Gaunt married Blaunche at the age of nineteen. 
 S05. Imitated from IMachault's Uit du Vergier and Fontaine 
 Amoureuse. 
 
 ' Car il m'est vis que je veoie, 
 Au joli prael ou j'estoie, 
 La plus tres belle coinpaignie 
 Qu'oncques fust veue ne oie : ' 
 
 Dit du Vergier, ed. Tarbe, p. 14. 
 ' Tant qu'il avint, qu'en une compagnie 
 Oil il avait mainte dame jolie 
 Juene, gentil, joieuse et envoisie 
 
 Vis, par Fortune, 
 (Qui de mentir a tous est trop commune), 
 
 Entre les aiifres ttinc 
 Qui, tout aussi com li solaus la lune 
 
 Veint de clarte, 
 Avait-elle les autres sormonte 
 De pris, d^ontieur, de grace, de biaute ;' &^c. 
 
 Fontaine Amotireuse (in Trial Forewords, p. 47). 
 These are, no doubt, the lines to which Tyrwhitt refers in his 
 remarks on the present passage in a note to the last paragraph 
 of the Persones Tale. Observe also how closely the fifth line of 
 the latter passage answers to 1. 812. 
 
 823. Is, which is ; as usual. I propose this reading. That of 
 the MSS. is very bad, viz. 'Than any other planete in heven.' 
 
 824. ' The seven stars ' generally mean the planets ; but, as 
 the sun and moon and planets have just been mentioned, the 
 reference may be to the well-known seven stars in Ursa Major 
 commonly called Charles's Wain. In later English, the seven 
 stars sometimes mean the Pleiades ; see Pleiade in Cotgrave's 
 French Dictionary, and G. Douglas, ed. Small, iii. 147. 15. The 
 phrase is, in fact, ambiguous ; see note to P. Plowman, C. 
 xviii. 98. 
 
 s a
 
 26o ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 S31. Referring to Christ and His twelve apostles. 
 S35-7. Resembles Le Roman de la Rose, 1689-gi — 
 
 * Li Diex d' Amors, qui. Tare tendu, 
 Avoit toute jor atendu 
 
 A moi porsivre et espier.' 
 
 849. Carole, dance round, accompanying the dance with a 
 song. The word occurs in the Rom. de la Rose several times ; 
 thus at 1. 747, we have : — 
 
 'Lors veissies carolc aler, 
 Et gens mignotement baler' — 
 
 where the E. version has (1. 759) — 
 
 'Tho mightist thou karolcs sene. 
 And folkt' daunce and mery bene.' 
 
 So in the same, 1. 810 — 
 
 'I wolde have karoled right fayn, 
 As man that was to daimce right blithe.' 
 
 Dante uses the pi. carole (Parad. xxiv. 16) to express swift 
 circular movements ; and Cary quotes a comment upon it to the 
 effect that ^carolic dicuntur tripudium quoddam quod fit saliendo, 
 ut Napolitani faciunt et dicunt.' He also quotes the expression 
 'grans danses et grans karolles" from Froissart, ed. 1559, vol. i. 
 cap. 219. That it meant singing as well as dancing appears from 
 the Rom. de la Rose, 1. 731, where we have : — 
 
 * Ceste gent dent je vous parole 
 S'estoient pris a la carole, 
 
 Et une dame lor chantoit;^ 
 
 where the Eng. version has (1. 743) : — 
 
 ' This folk, of which I telle you soo, 
 Upon a karole wenten thoo. 
 A lady karolcde hem ; ' &c. 
 
 858. Chaucer gives Virginia golden hair; Doct. Tale, C. T. 
 11971. Compare the whole description of the maiden in the E. 
 version of the Rom. of the Rose, 11. 539-561, 
 
 861. Of good iHochcl, of an excellent size; inochcl — %\z&, 
 occurs in P. Plowman, B. xvi. 182. Scan the line — 
 
 ' Simpl' of I good mocli | cl noght | to wyde.' 
 
 894. ' In reasonable cases, that involve responsibility.' 
 908. Somewhat similar are 11. 9-18 of the Doctoures Tale. 
 916. Scan by reading — They n' shold' hav' found-e, &;c.
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE. 26 1 
 
 917. A ivikked sigJte, a sign, or mark, of wickedness. 
 919. Imitated from Machault's Reijicdc de Foriiitie (see Trial 
 Forewords, p. 48) : — 
 
 ' Et sa gracieusc pa7-ole, 
 Qui n'estoit diverse ne folle, 
 Etrange, ne mal ordenee, 
 Hautaine, mes bien affrenee, 
 Cueillie a point et de saison, 
 Foiidee siir toute raison, 
 Tant jDlaisant et douce a o'ir, 
 Que chascun faisoit resjoir ; ' &c. 
 
 Line 922 is taken from this word for word. 
 
 927. ' Nor that scorned less, nor that could better heal,' &c. 
 
 948. Here Whytc, representing the lady's name, is plainly a 
 translation of Blaunche. The insertion of whyte in 1. 905, in 
 the existing authorities, is surely a blunder, and I therefore 
 have omitted it. It anticipates the climax of the description, 
 besides ruining the scansion of the line. 
 
 950. There is here some resemblance to some lines in G. 
 Machault's Re)?iede de Fortune (see Trial Forewords, p. 49) : — 
 
 — ' ma Dame, qui est clamee 
 
 De tous, sur toutcs belle et bonne, 
 
 Chascun por droit ce nottt li donned 
 
 957. For hippes^ Bell prints lippes ; a comic reading. 
 
 958. The old reading means — ' I knew in her no other defect ;' 
 which, as no defect has been mentioned, is absurd. Read no 
 maner hik, i. e. no ' sort of defect in her (to cause) that all her 
 limbs should not be proportionate.' 
 
 964. A common illustration. See Rom. de la Rose, 7448 ; 
 Alexander and Dindimus, 11. 233-5. Duke Francesco Maria had, 
 for one of his badges, a lighted candle by which others are 
 lighted ; with the motto Non degener addani, i. e. I will give 
 without loss; see Mrs. Palliser's Historic Devices, p. 263. 
 
 973. The accents seem to fall on She and have, the e in wold-e 
 being elided. 
 
 982. Liddell and Scott explain Gk. (j>oipi^ as ' the fabulous 
 P2g^'ptian bird phoenix, first in Hesiod, Fragment 50. 4 ; then in 
 Herodotus, ii. 73.' Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, 
 bk. 16. c. 74, refers us to Isidore, Ambrosius (lib. 5), Solinus, 
 ■Pliny (lib. 10), and Liber de Naturis Rerum ; see Solinus, Poly- 
 histor. c. 33. II ; A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, c. 34. Philip 
 de Thaun describes it in his Bestiaire, 1. 1089 ; see Popular
 
 262 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Treatises on Science, ed. Wright, p. 1 13. ' The Phoenix of Arabia 
 passes all others. Howbeit, I cannot tell what to make of him ; 
 and first of all, whether it be a tale or no, that there is neuer 
 but one of them in all the world, and the same not commonly 
 seen ; ' Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. 10. c. 2. 
 
 ' Tons jors cst-il ung seul Fcnis ; ' &c. 
 
 Kom. de la Rose, 16 179. 
 ' Una est, qure reparet, seque ipsa reseminet, ales-; 
 Assyrii phcenica uocant.' — Ovid, I\Ict. xv. 392. 
 
 987. Chaucer refers to Esther again ; e.g. in his Merchant's 
 Tale (C. T. 9245, 9618) ; Leg. of G. Women, prol. 250; and in 
 the Tale of Melibee. 
 
 997. Cf. Vergil, yEn. i. 630 : ' Haud ignara mali.' 
 
 1021. In balaunce, i. e. in a state of suspense. F. eii balattce ; 
 Rom. de la Rose, 1387 1, 16770. 
 
 1024. This sending of lovers on expeditions, by way of proving 
 them, was in accordance with the manners of the time. Gower 
 explains the whole matter, in his Conf. Amant. lib. 4 (ed. Pauli, 
 
 ii. 56) :- 
 
 ' Forthy who secheth loves grace, 
 Where that these worthy women are, 
 He may nought than him-selve spare 
 Upon his travail for to serve, 
 Wherof that he may thank deserve, . . . 
 
 ^ . So that by londe and ek by ship 
 
 He mot travaile for worship 
 And make many hastif rodes, 
 Somtimc in Pnise, somtime in Rodes, 
 And somtime into Tartaric, 
 So that these heralds on him crie 
 " Vailant ! vailant ! lo, where he goth ! " ' &c. 
 
 Chaucer's Knight (in the Prologue) sought for renown in Prtice, 
 Altsauftdre, and Turkyc. 
 
 There is a similar passage in Le Rom. de la Rose, 18499- 
 18526. The first part of Machault's Dit du Lto?i (doubtless the 
 Book of the Lion of which Chaucer's translation is now lost) is 
 likewise taken up with the account of lovers who undertook 
 feats, in order that the news of their deeds might reach their 
 ladies. Among the places to which they used to go are men- 
 tioned Alexandres, Alcmaigne, Ostcriche, Behaigne, Honguerie, 
 Danemarche, /^;7/i.yf, Pouiainc, Cracoe, Tartarie, (S:c. Some even 
 went 'jusqu'a. TArbre sec, Ou Ii oisel pendent au bee' This
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. 263 
 
 alludes to the fomous Arbrc sec or Dry Tree, to reach which 
 was a feat indeed; sec Yule's edition of Marco Polo, i. 119; 
 Maundevillc, ed. Halliwell, p. 68 ; Matzner, Sprachprobcn, ii. 
 185. 
 
 As a specimen of the modes of expression then prevalent, 
 Warton draws attention to a passage in Froissart, c. 81, where 
 Sir Walter Manny prefaces a gallant charge upon the enemy 
 with the words — ' May I never be embraced by my mistress 
 and dear friend, if I enter castle or fortress before I have 
 unhorsed one of these gallopers.' 
 
 1028. Go hoodies, travel without even the protection of a 
 hood ; by way of bravado. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet. § 18 (ed. 
 Hazlitt, iii. 4), says of a society called the Fraternity of the 
 Penitents of Love — ' Their object was to prove the excess of 
 their love, by shewing with an invincible fortitude and con- 
 sistency of conduct . . . that they could bear extremes of heat 
 and cold . . It was a crime to wear fur on a day of the most 
 piercing cold ; or to appear tuith a hood, cloak, gloves 
 or muff.' 
 
 What is meant by the drye se (dry sea) is disputed ; but it 
 matters little, for the general idea is clear. Mr. Brae, in the 
 Appendix to his edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe (p. loi), has a 
 long note on the present passage. Relying on the above 
 quotation from Warton, he supposes hoodless to have reference 
 to a practice of going unprotected in winter, and says that ' drj' 
 sea' may refer to any fiozen sea. But it may equally refer 
 to going unprotected in summer, in which case he offers us 
 an alternative suggestion, that ' any arid sandy desert might 
 be metaphorically called a dry sea.' The latter is almost 
 a sufficient explanation ; but if we must be particular, Mr. Brae 
 has yet more to tell us. He says that, at p. 1044 (Basle edition) 
 of Sebastian Munster's Cosmographie, there is a description of 
 a large lake which was dry in summer. ' It is said that there is 
 a lake near the city of Labac, adjoining the plain of Zircknitz 
 [Czirknitz], which in winter-time becomes of great extent. . . But 
 in summer the water drains away, the fish expire, the bed of the 
 lake is ploughed up, corn grows to maturity, and, after the 
 harvest is over, the waters return, &c. The Augspourg mer- 
 chants have assured me of this, and it has been since confirmed 
 to me by Vergier, the bishop of Cappodistria' [Capo d' Istria]. 
 The lake still exists, and is no fable. It is the variable lake of 
 Czirknitz, which sometimes covers sixty-three square miles, 
 and is sometimes dry. It is situate in the province of Krain, or
 
 264 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 Carniola ; Labac is the modern Laybach or Laibach, N.E. of 
 
 Trieste. See the articles Krain., Czirknitz in the Engl. 
 
 Cyclopaedia, and the account of the lake in The Student, 
 
 Sept. 1869. 
 
 That Chaucer really referred to this very lake becomes almost 
 
 certain, if we are to accept Mr. Brae's explanation of the next 
 
 line. See the next note. 
 
 1029. Car7-enare. Mr. Brae suggests that the reference is to 
 
 the ' gulf of the Carnaro or Quarnaro in the Adriatic,' to which 
 
 Dante alludes in the Inferno, ix. 113, as being noted for its 
 
 perils. Cary's translation runs thus : — 
 
 ' As where Rhone stagnates on the plains of Aries, 
 Or as at Pola, near Quaniard s gulf, 
 That closes Italy and laves her bounds, 
 The place is all thick spread with sepulchres' 
 
 It is called in Black's Atlas the Channel of Ouarnerolo, and is 
 the gulf which separates I stria from Croatia. The head of the 
 gulf runs up towards the province of Carniola, and approaches 
 within forty miles (at the outside) of t.he lake of Czirknitz (see 
 note above). I suppose that Quarnaro may be connected with 
 Carn-iola and the Carn-ic Alps, but popular etymology inter- 
 preted it to mean ' charnel-house,' from its evil reputation. This 
 appears from the quotations cited by Mr. Brae ; he says that 
 the Abbe P'ortis quotes a Paduan writer, Palladio Negro, as 
 saying — ' E regione Istrias, sinu Palatico, quem nautce carnarium 
 vocitant ; ' and again, Sebastian Munster, in his Cosmographie, 
 p. 1044 (Basle edition) quotes a description by Vergier, Bishop 
 of Capo d' Istria — ' par deqa le gouffre enrage lequel on appelle 
 vulgairement Carnaric, d'autantque le plus souvent on le voit 
 agite de tempestcs horribles ; et la s'engloutissent beaucoup de 
 navires et sc perdent plusieurs hommes.' In other words, the 
 true name (Quarnaro or Carnaro was turned by the sailors into 
 Carnario, which means in Italian 'the shambles ;' see Florio's 
 Diet., ed. 1598. This Carnario might become Careynaire or 
 Carenare in Chaucer's English, by association with the M. E. 
 careyne or caroigne, carrion. This word is used by Chaucer in 
 the Kn. Tale, 11 55 (Six-text, A. 2013), where the Ellesmere 
 MS. has careyne, and the Cambridge and Petworth MSS. 
 have careyn. 
 
 P'or myself, 1 am well satisfied with the above explanation. It 
 is probable, and it suffices ; and stories about this dry sea may 
 easily have been spread by Venetian sailors. I may add that 
 Maundcville mentions 'a gravely see' in the land of Prcstrc
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG 11 ESSE. 265 
 
 John, ' that is allc gravele and sonde, with-outen any dropc 
 of watre ; and it ebbethe and flowethe in gretc wawes, as other 
 sees don : ' ed. Halliwell, p. 272. This curious passage was 
 pointed out by Prof. Hales, in a letter in the Academy, Jan. 28, 
 1882, p. 65. 
 
 We certainly ought to reject the explanation given with great 
 assurance in the Saturday Review, July, 1870, p. 143, col. i, that 
 the allusion is to the chain of mountains called the Carena or 
 Charenal, a continuation of the Atlas Mountains in Africa. 
 The writer says — ' Leonardo Dati (A. D. 1470), speaking of 
 Africa, mentions a chain of mountains in continuation of the 
 Atlas, 300 miles long, " commonly called Charenal." In the fine 
 chart of Africa by Juan de la Coxa (1500J, this chain is made to 
 stretch as far as Egypt, and bears the name of Carena. La 
 Salle, who was born in 1398, lays down the same chain, which 
 corresponds, says Santarem {Histoire de la Cosmogiaphie, iii. 
 456), to the Kapr)vr] of Ptolemy. These allusions place it beyond 
 doubt [?] that the drie see of Chaucer was the Great Sahara, the 
 return from whence [j^/V] homewards would be by the chain of 
 the Atlas or {stc\ Carena.' On the writer's own shewing, the 
 Carena was 7iot the Atlas, but a chain stretching thence towards 
 Egypt ; not an obvious way of returning home ! Whereas, if 
 the 'dry sea' were the lake of Czirknitz, the obvious way of 
 getting away from it would be to take ship in the neighbouring 
 gulf of Ouarnaro. And how could Chaucer come to hear of this 
 remote chain of mountains .'' 
 
 1034. 'But why do I tell you my story?' I.e. let me go on 
 with it, and tell you the result. 
 
 1037. Again imitated from JNIachauIt's Remede de Fortune : — 
 ' Car c est mes cucrs, c'est ma creance, 
 C'est mes dcsirs, c'est vicsperauncc, 
 C'est ma sante .... 
 C'est toiite ma bonne eiirte, 
 C'est ce qui me soustient en vie,' &c. 
 Line 1039 is closely translated. See Furnivairs Trial Fore- 
 words, p. 48. 
 
 1040. I here substitute lisse iov goddcsse, as in the authorities. 
 The blunder is obvious ; goddessc clogs the line with an extra 
 syllable, and gives a false rime such as Chaucer never makes. 
 He rimes blisse with kisse, lisse, niisse, and ivisse. Thus in the 
 Frankelein's Tale (Group F, 1. 1237) — 
 
 ' What for his labour and his hope of blisse, 
 His woful herte of penaunce had a lisse.'
 
 266 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG HESSE. 
 
 Lisse is alleviation, solace, comfort ; and 1. 1040, as emended, 
 fairly corresponds to Machault's ' C'est ce qui me soustient 
 en vie,' i. e. it is she who sustains my life. The word goddessc 
 was probably substituted for lisse, because the latter was ob- 
 solescent. 
 
 1041. I change lioolly Iicis into /icjs hooUy, and omit the 
 following and. In the next line we have — By'r lord ; as before 
 (11. 544, 651, 690). 
 
 1047. Leve (i.e. believe) is here much stronger than trotue, 
 which merely expresses general assent. 
 
 1050. Read — 'And to | behold ] e th'alder | fayrest ! e.' After 
 heholdc comes the ctesural pause, so that the final c in bcholdc 
 does not count. 
 
 1057. The spelling Aldpiades occurs in the Roman de la Rose, 
 8981, where he is mentioned as a type of beauty — 'qui de biaute 
 avoit ades' — on the authority of ' Boece.' The ultimate reference 
 is to Boethius, Cons. Phil. b. iii. pr. 8 ; ed. Morris, 1. 2237 — 'the 
 body of Alcibiades that was ful fayr.' 
 
 1058. Hercules is also mentioned in Le Rom. de la Rose, 
 9223, 9240. See also Ho. Fame, 141 3. 
 
 1061. See note to 1. 310. 
 
 1067. He, i. e. Achilles himself ; see next note. 
 
 1069. Aniilegius, a corruption of Aniilochus ; and again, 
 Antilochus is a mistake for Archilochus, owing to the usual 
 medieval confusion of proper names. For the story, see next 
 note. 
 
 1070. Dares Frigius, i. e. Dares Phrygius, or Dares of 
 Phrygia. Chaucer again refers to him near the end of Troilus, 
 and in Ho. Fame, 1467 (on which see the note). The works 
 of Dares and Dictys are probably spurious. The reference 
 is really to the very singular, yet popular, medieval version of the 
 stoiy of the Trojan war which was written by Guido of Colonna, 
 and is entitled ' Historia destructionis Troie, per iudicem Guid- 
 onem de Columpna Messaniensem.' Guido's work was derived 
 from the Roman de Troie, written by Benoit de Sainte-Maure ; 
 of which romance there is a late edition by M. Joly. In Mr. 
 Panton's introduction to his edition of the Gest Historiale of the 
 Destruction of Troy (Early Eng. Text Society), p. ix., we read — 
 ' From the exhaustive reasonings and proofs of Mons. Joly as to 
 the person and age and country of his author, it is sufllciently 
 manifest that the Roman de Troie appeared between the years 
 1 1 75 and 1 185. The translation, or version, of the Rojnan by 
 ( iuido de Colonna was finished, as he tells us at the end of his
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 267 
 
 Hisioria Troiana^ in 1287. From one or other, or both, of these 
 works, the various Histories, Chronicles, Romances, Gestes, and 
 Plays of The Destruction of Troy, The Prowess and Death of 
 Hector, The Treason of the Greeks, &c., were translated, adapted, 
 or amplified, in almost every language of Europe.' 
 
 The fact is, that the western nations of Europe claimed con- 
 nexion, through yEneas and his followers, with the Trojans, and 
 repudiated Homer as favouring the Greeks. They therefore re- 
 wrote the story of the Trojan war after a manner of their own ; 
 and, in order to give it authority, pretended that it was derived 
 from two authors named Dares Phrygius (or Dares of Phrygia) 
 and Dictys Cretensis (or Dictys of Crete). Dares and Dictys 
 were real names, as they were cited in the time of yElian (a.d. 
 230) ; and it was said that Dares was a Trojan who was killed 
 by Ulysses. See further in Mr. Panton's introduction, as above ; 
 Morley's English Writers, ii. 432 ; and Warton, Hist. Eng. 
 Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 127 (sect. 3). But Warton does not seem 
 to have known that Guido mainly followed Benoit de Sainte- 
 Maure. 
 
 The stoiy about the death of Achilles is taken, accordingly, not 
 from Homer but from Guido de Colonna and his predecessor 
 Benoit. It may be found in the alHterative Geste Hystoriale, 
 above referred to (ed. Panton and Donaldson, p. 342). Hecuba 
 invites Achilles and Archilochus to meet her in the temple of 
 Apollo. When they arrive, they are attacked by Paris and a 
 band of men and soon killed, though Achilles first slays seven 
 of his foes with his own hand. 
 
 ' There kyld was the tcyng, and the knight bothe. 
 And by treason in tJie temple tirnyt to delhe.' 
 
 Here 'the kyng' is Achilles, and 'the knyght ' is Archilochus. 
 It may be added that Achilles was lured to the temple by the 
 expectation that he would there meet Polyxena, and be wedded 
 to her ; as Chaucer says in the next line. Polyxena was a 
 daughter of Priam and Hecuba ; she is alluded to in Shake- 
 speare's Troilus, iii. 3. 208. According to Ovid, Metam. xiii. 
 44S, she was sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles. 
 
 1075. Trewely is properly (though not always) trisyllabic. It 
 was inserted after nay, because nede and gabbe were thought to 
 be monosyllables. Even so, the 'amended' line is bad. It is all 
 right if treiuly be omitted ; and I omit it accordingly. 
 
 1081. Penelope is accented on the first e and on 0, as in French. 
 Chaucer copies this form from the Roman de la Rose, 1. 8694,
 
 268 ///. rilE BOOK OF THE DUG II ESSE. 
 
 as appears from his coupling it with Ltia-cce, whilst at the same 
 time he borrows a pair of rimes. The French has : — 
 
 'Si n'est-il mes nule Lucrece, 
 Ne Penelope nule en Grecc^ 
 
 In the same passage, the story of Lucretia is told in full, on the 
 authority of Livy, as here. The French has : 'ce dit Titus 
 Livius ;' 1. 8654. In the prologue to the Legend of Good 
 Women, Chaucer alludes again to Penelope (1. 252), Lucrece of 
 Rome (1. 257), and Polixene (1. 258) ; and he gives the Legend 
 of Lucrece in full. He again alludes to Lucrece and Penelope 
 in the lines preceding the Man of Lawes Prologue (Group B. 63, 
 75) ; and in the Frankelein's Tale (Cant. Tales, 11717, 11755). 
 
 1085. This seems to mean — 'she (Blaunche) was as good (as 
 they), and (there was) nothing like (her), though their stories are 
 authentic (enough).' But the expression ' nothing lyV:e' is 
 extremely awkward, and seems wrong. Nothmg also means 
 'not at all ;' but this does not help us. In 1. 1086, stories should 
 perhaps be storie ; then her storie would be the story of 
 Lucrece ; cf. 1. 1087. 
 
 1087. 'Any way, she (Blaunche) was as true as she (Lucrece).' 
 
 1090. Yong is properly monosyllabic. We should therefore 
 read — ' I was right yong, the soth to sey.' In 1. 1095 yong-e is 
 the definite form. 
 
 1096. Accent besette (= besett') on the prefix. 
 
 1 108. Yit, still. Sit, sitteth ; pres. tense. 
 
 1 1 13. I.e. you are like one who confesses, but does not repent. 
 
 1 118. Achitofel, Ahitophel ; see 2 Sam. xvii. 
 
 1 1 19. According to the Historia Troiana of Guido (see note 
 to 1. 1070) it was Antenor (also written Anthenor) who took 
 away the Palladium and sent it to Ulysses, thus betraying Troy. 
 See the Gcste Hystorialc, p. 379 ; or see the extract from Caxton 
 in my Specimens of English from 1394 to 1579, p. 89. Or see 
 Chaucer's Troilus, bk. iv ; not far from the beginning. 
 
 1 121. Gcjielon ; also Getty Ion, as in The Alonkes Tale, Group 
 1^1-) 3579 (see my Prioresses Tale, p. 45). He is mentioned 
 again in the Nonne Preestes TalelC. T. 15233) and in the 
 Shipmannes Tale (C. T. 13124), where he is called ' Genelon 
 of France.' Tyrwhitt's note on Getielott in his Glossary 
 is as follows : ' One of Charlemaigne's officers, who, by his 
 treachery, was the cause of the defeat at Roncevaux, the 
 death of Roland, &c., for which he was torn to pieces by horses. 
 This at least is the account of the author who calls himself
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. l6c) 
 
 Archbishop Turpin, and of the Romancers who followed him ; 
 upon whose credit the name of Ceficlon or Canclon was for 
 several centuries a synonymous expression for the worst of 
 traitors' See the Chanson de Roland, ed. Gautier ; Dante, Inf. 
 xxxii. 122, where he is called Canellone ; and Wheelers Noted 
 Names of Fiction. Cf. also the Roman de la Rose, 1. 7902-4 : — 
 
 ' Qu'onques Karles n'ot por Rolant, 
 Quant en Ronceval mort re9ut 
 Par Gncnelon qui les de9ut.' 
 
 1 123. Rowland and Olivere^ the two most celebrated of 
 Charlemagne's Twelve Peers of France ; see Rolajtd in 
 Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction, and Ellis's Specimens 
 of Early Eng. Metrical Romances, especially the account of 
 the Romance of Sir Otuel. 
 
 1126. I supply right. W^e find right tho in C. T. 6398, 
 8420. 
 
 1 133. Knew-e (dissyllabic), might know ; subjunctive mood. 
 
 1 137. Accent thou. This and the next line are I'cpeated, 
 nearly, from 11. 743, 744. See also 11. 1305-6. 
 
 1 1 39. I here insert the word sir, as in all the other places 
 where the poet addresses the stranger. 
 
 1152-3. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 2006-7 : — 
 
 ' II est asses sires dii cars 
 Qui a Ic ciier en sa commande.' 
 
 1 1 59. For this, B. has thus. Neither this nor thus seems 
 wanted ; I therefore pay no regard to them. 
 
 The squire Dorigen, in the Frankelein's Tale, consoled him- 
 self in the same way (C. T. 11259) : — 
 
 ' Of swicli matere made he many layes, 
 Songes, compleintes, roundels, virelayes.' 
 
 1 162. Tubal; an error iox Jubal; see Gen. iv. 21. But the 
 error is Chaucer's own, and is common. See Higden's Poly- 
 chronicon, lib. iii. c. 11, ed. Lumby, iii. 202; Higden cites the 
 following from Isidorus, lib. ii. c. 24 : — ' Ouamvis Tubal de 
 stirpe Cayn ante diluvium legatur fuisse musical inventor, . . 
 tamen apud Griecos PytJiagoras legitur ex malleorum sonitu et 
 chordarum extensione musicam reperisse.' In Genesis, it is 
 Jubal who ' was the father of all such as handle the harp and 
 organ ; ' and Tubal-cain who was 'an instructor of every artificer 
 in brass and iron.' The notion of the discovery of music by the 
 former from the observation of the sounds struck upon the anvil
 
 2;o ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUG 11 ESSE. 
 
 of the latter is borrowed from the usual fable about Pythagoras. 
 This fable is also given by Higden, who copies it from Macrobius. 
 It will be found in the Commentary by INIacrobius on the Som- 
 nium Scipionis, lib. ii. c. i ; and is to the effect that Pythagoras, 
 observing some smiths at work, found that the tones struck 
 upon their anvils varied according to the weights of the hammers 
 used by them ; and, by weighing these hammers, he discovered 
 the relations to each other of the various notes in the gamut. 
 The story is open to the objection that the facts are not so ; 
 the sound varies according to variations in the anvil or the thing 
 struck, not according to the variation in the striking implement. 
 However, Pythagoras is further said to have made experiments 
 with stretched strings of varying length ; which would have 
 given him right results. See Mrs. Somerville's Connection of 
 the Physical Sciences, sect. i6 and 17. 
 
 1 169. Aurora. The note in Tyrwhitt's Glossary, s. v. Aurora, 
 runs thus : — ' The title of a Latin metrical version of several 
 parts of the Bible by Petrus de Riga, Canon of Rheims, in the 
 twelfth century. Leyser, in his Hist. Poet. Med. JEvi, pp. 
 692-736, has given large extracts from this work, and among 
 others the passage which Chaucer seems to have had in his eye 
 (p. 72S) :- 
 
 ' Ante Jubal varios ftrramenti notat ictus. 
 
 Pondera librat in his. Consona quceque facit. 
 Hoc inventa modo prius est ars musica, quaravis 
 Pythagoram dicant banc docuisse prius.' 
 
 Warton speaks of ' Petrus de Riga, canon of Rheims, whose 
 Aurora, or the History of the Bible allegorised, in Latin verses 
 . . was never printed entire.' — Hist. E. Poet. 1871, iii. 136. 
 
 1 175. A song in six lines ; compare the eleven-line song above, 
 at 1. 475. Lines 1 175-6 rime with lines 1179-80. 
 
 1200. 'With (tones of) sorrow and by compulsion, yet as 
 though I never ought to have done so.' 
 
 1206. Dismalle. See the article on Dismal in my Etym. 
 Diet., and in the Supplement to it. Whatever be the etymology 
 of this difficult word, it is tolerably certain that in this particular 
 passage the phrase in the dismalle means ' on an unlucky day,' 
 with reference to an etymology which connected dismal with 
 the Latin dies malus. It has precisely the same sense in the 
 Pystyll of Swcte Susan, ed. Laing, 1. 305. I still hold that we 
 cannot derive dismal immediately from the Lat. dies malus, but 
 it is possible that there may have been an O. F. phrase dis mal 
 (= Lat. dies viali, plural), though I cannot find it. The usual
 
 ///. THE BOOK OF THE DUCIIESSE. I^il 
 
 O. F. form for 'day'— is di {= Lat. diem), still preserved in 
 F. Mar-diy O. F. di-mars (Godefroy) ; the form dis is scarce 
 (except in the plural), but we find 'fu clers li dis,' i.e. the day 
 was clear ; see Di in Godefroy, and dis in Bartsch, Chrestomathie 
 Franqaise. 
 
 We can now see the connection with the next line. The 
 whole sentence means : ' I think it must have been in the evil 
 days (i.e. on an unlucky day), such as were the days of the ten 
 plagues of Egypt ; ' and the allusion is clearly to the so-called 
 dies ALgyptiaci, or unlucky days ; and ivaitndes is merely a 
 rather too literal translation of Lat. plaga, which we generally 
 translate hy plague. In Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, 
 lib. XV. c. 83, we find : — ' In quolibet mense sunt duo dies, qui 
 dicuntur ^Egyptiaci, quorum unus est a principio mensis, alter 
 a fine.' He goes on to shew how they are calculated, and says 
 that, in January, the Egyptian days are the 1st, and the 7th 
 from the end, i.e. the 25th; and he expressly refers the name 
 ^'Egyptiaci to the plagues of Egypt, which (as some said) took 
 place on Egj^ptian days ; for it was asserted that there were 
 minor plagues besides the ten. See also Brand's Pop. Anti- 
 quities, ed. Ellis, from which I extract the following. Bamabe 
 Googe thus translates the remarks of Naogeorgus on this subject 
 [of days] : — 
 
 ' But some of them Egjptian are, and full of jeopardee, 
 And some again, beside the rest, both good and luckie bee.' 
 
 Brand (as above), ii. 45. 
 
 ' The Christian faith is violated when, so like a pagan and 
 apostate, any man doth observe those days which are called 
 jEgyptiaci^ &c. — Melton's Astrologaster, p. 56 ; in Brand, 
 ii. 47. ' If his Journey began unawares 07t the dismal day, he 
 feares a mischiefe ; ' Bp. Hall, Characters of Virtues and Vices ; 
 in Brand, ii. 48. ' Alle that take hede to dysmal dayes, or use 
 nyce observaunces in the newe moone,' Sec. ; Dialogue of Dives 
 and Pauper (1493); in Brand, i. 9. Compare also the following: — 
 ' Her diseinale dates, and her fatal houres ; ' 
 
 Lydgate, Storie of Thebes, pt. iii (ed. 1561, fol. 570). 
 
 In the Pistil of Swete Susan (Laing's Anc. Pop. Poetry of 
 Scotland), 1. 305, Daniel reproves one of the elders in these 
 terms : — 
 
 ' Thou hast i-be presedent, the people to stcere, 
 Thou dotest now on thin olde tos, in the disniale? 
 
 In Langtoft's Chronicle, 1. 477 (in Wright's Polit. Songs, p. 303J,
 
 272 11 T. THE BOOK OF THE DUC HESSE. 
 
 John Baliol is attacked in some derisive verses, which conclude 
 with : — ' Rede him at ride hi the dismale ; ' i. e. advise him to 
 ride on an unlucky day. Many more illustrations might be 
 given. 
 
 The consequence of 'proposing' on an unlucky day was a 
 refusal; see 1. 1243. 
 
 1208. A priest who missed words in chanting a service was 
 called an ovcrskipper, ovcrleper, forskippcr, or 07tcrhipper ; see 
 my note to P. Plowman, C. xiv. 123. 
 
 1219. Similarly, Troilus was reduced to saying — 
 
 ' Mercy, mercy, O my swete herte ! ' — Troll, iii. 98. 
 
 1234. ' Unless I am dreaming,' i. e. unintentionally. 
 
 1246. Cassandra. The prophetic lamentation of Cassandra 
 over the impending fate of Troy is given in the alliterative Geste 
 Hystoriale (E. E. T. S.), p. 88 ; from Guido de Colonna ; cf. 
 Vergil, ALjt. ii. 246. 
 
 1248. Chaucer treats Ilio7i as if it were different from Troye; 
 cf. Nonne Prestes Tale, 535 (C. T. 15360). He merely follows 
 Guido de Colonna and others, who made Ilion the name of the 
 citadel of Troy ; see further in note to Ho. of Fame, 1. 158. 
 
 1305-6. Repeated from 11. 743, 744. Cf. 11. 1 137-8. 
 
 1309. Imitated in Spenser's Daphnaida, 184. The Duchess 
 Blaunche died Sept. 12, 1369. The third great pestilence lasted 
 from July to September in that year. 
 
 1314. King, i. e. Edward HI ; see note to 1. 368. 
 
 13 1 8. Possibly the lo?tg castel here meant is Windsor Castle ; 
 this seems likely when we remember that it was in Windsor 
 Castle that Edward III. instituted the order of the Garter, April 
 23, 1349; and that he often resided there. A riche Jiil in the 
 next line appears to have no special significance. The sugges- 
 tion, in Bell's Chaucer, that it refers to Richmond (which, after 
 all, is not Windsor) is quite out of the question, because that 
 town was then called Sheen, and did not receive the name of 
 Richmond till the reign of Henry VII., who re-named it after 
 Richmond in Yorkshire, whence his own title of Earl of Richmond 
 had been derived. 
 
 1322. Belle, \.c. bell of a clock, which rang out the hour. 
 This bell, half heard in the dream, seems to be meant to be real. 
 If so, it struck midnight ; and Chaucer's chamber must have 
 been within reach of its sound.
 
 IV. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS. 273 
 
 IV. The Complaint of ]Mars. 
 
 For general remarks on this poem, see the Preface. 
 
 By consulting 11. 13 and 14, we see that the whole of this 
 poem is supposed to be uttered by a bird on the 14th of 
 February, before sunrise. Lines 1-28 form the poem ; the rest 
 give the story of Mars and Venus, followed by the Complaint of 
 Mars at I. 155. The first 22 stanzas are in the ordinary 
 7-line stanza. The Complaint is very artificial, consisting of an 
 Introductory Stanza, and five Terns, or sets of three stanzas, 
 making sixteen stanzas of nine lines each, or 144 lines. Thus 
 the whole poem has 298 lines. 
 
 Each tern is occupied with a distinct subject, which I indicate 
 by headings, viz. Devotion to his Love ; Description of a Lady 
 in an anxiety of fear and woe ; the Instability of Happiness ; 
 the story of the Brooch of Thebes ; and An Appeal for Sympathy. 
 A correct appreciation of these various ' movements ' of the 
 Complaint makes the poem much more intelligible. 
 
 1. Foules. The false reading lovers was caught from 1. 5 
 below. But the poem opens with a call from a bird to all other 
 birds, bidding them rejoice at the return of Saint Valentine's 
 day. There is an obvious allusion in this line to the common 
 proverb — 'As fain as fowl of a fair morrow,' which is quoted in 
 the Kn. Tale, 1579, in P. Plowman, B. x. 153, and is again 
 alluded to in the Can. Yeom. Tale, Group G, I. 1342 ; see notes 
 to my edition of the Man of Lawes Tale, p. 199. In 1. 3, the 
 bird addresses \hft flowers, and finally, in 1. 5, the lovers. 
 
 2. Venus, the planet, supposed to appear as a morning-star, 
 as it sometimes does. 
 
 Reives, streaks or rays of light, lit. rows. In the Complaint 
 of the Black Knight, 1. 596, Lydgate uses the word of the streaks 
 of light at eventide — 'And while the twilight and the rowes 
 rede Of Phebus light', &c. Also in Lydgate's Troy-Book, 
 quoted by Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, 1871, iii. 84 : — 'Whan that 
 the rowes and the rayes rede Estward to us full early gonnen 
 sprede.' Hence the verb rowen, to dawn ; P. Plowm. C. ii. 114, 
 xxi. 28 ; see my Notes to P. Plowman. Tyrwhitt's Glossary 
 ignores the word. 
 
 3. For day, Bell's edition has May ! The month is February. 
 
 4. Uprist, upriseth. But in Kn. Tale, 193, tiprist-e (with 
 final e) is the dat. case of a sb. 
 
 7. The final e in sonn-e occurs at the caDsural pause ; ca?idle 
 is pronounced nearly as catidl'. The sun is here called the 
 
 T
 
 274 ^^'- ^-^^^ COMPLAINT OF MA US. 
 
 candle of Iclosye, i. e. torch or light that discloses cause for 
 jealousy, in allusion to the famous tale which is the foundation 
 of the whole poem, viz. how PhcEbus (the Sun) discovered the 
 amour between Mars and Venus, and informed Vulcan of it, 
 rousing him to jealousy ; which Chaucer doubtless obtained 
 from his favourite author Ovid (Metam. bk. iv). See the 
 description of ' Phebus,' with his ' torche in honde ' in 11. 27, 
 81-84 below. Gower also, who quotes Ovid expressly, has the 
 whole story; Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, ii. 149. The stor>' first 
 occurs in Homer, Odys. viii. And cf. Statius, Thcb. iii. 
 263-316; Chaucer's Kn. Tale, 1525, &c. 
 
 8. Blewe ; ' there seems no propriety in this epithet ; it is 
 probably a corruption ; ' Bell. But it is quite right ; in M. E., 
 the word is often applied to the colour of a wale or stripe caused 
 by a blow, as in the phrase ' beat black and blue ; ' also to the 
 gra.y colour of burnt out ashes, as in P. Plowman, B. iii. 97 ; 
 also to the colour of lead ; ' as bio as led,' Miracle-Plays, ed. 
 Marriott, p. 148. ' Ashen-gray ' or * lead-coloured ' is not a very 
 bad epithet for tears : — 
 
 ' And round about her tear-distained eye 
 Blue circles streamed.' Shak. Lucrece, 1586. 
 
 9. Taketh, take ye. With seynt John, with St. John for a 
 surety ; borive being in the dat. case ; see note to Squi. Tale, 
 596, in my edition of the Prioresses Tale, p. 222. It occurs 
 also in the Kingis Quair, st. 23 ; Blind Harry's Wallace, p. 224 ; 
 &c. 
 
 13. Seynt Valentyne ; Feb. 14. See note to Sect. V. 1. 309. 
 
 21. Cf. 'And everiche of us take his aventure ; ' Kn. Tale, 
 328. 
 
 25. See note to line 7 above ; and cf. Troilus, iii. 1450-70: — 
 * O cruel day,' &c. 
 
 29. In the Proem to Troilus, bk. iii, st. i, Chaucer places 
 Venus in the third heaven ; that is, he begins to reckon from the 
 earth outwards, the spheres being, successively, those of the 
 Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn ; see 
 the description of the planets in Gower's Confessio Amantis, bk. 
 vii. So also, in Troilus, v. 1821, by the scventJi sphere he 
 means the outermost sphere of Saturn. But in other poems he 
 adopts the more common ancient mode, of reckoning the spheres 
 in the reverse order, taking Saturn first ; in which case Mars 
 comes third. In this he follows Macrobius, who, in his Com- 
 mentary on the Somnium Scipionis, lib. i. c. 19, has: — 'A
 
 IV. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS. 275 
 
 sphaera Saturni, quae t.%\ prima de septem,' «S:c. ; see further on 
 this borrowing from Macrobius in the note to 1. 69. The same 
 mode of reckoning places Venus in Xho. fifth sphere, as in Lenvoy 
 to Scogan, 1. 9. In the curious manual of astronomy called The 
 Shepheards Kalendar (pr. in 1604) we find, in the account of 
 Mars, the following : ' The planet of l\lars is called the God of 
 battel and of war, and he is the third planet, for he raigneth 
 next vnder the gentle planet of Jupiter . . . And Mars gocth 
 about the twelue signes iti two yeare.' The account of Venus 
 has : — ' Next after the Sun raigneth the gentle planet Venus, . . 
 and she is lady ouer all louers : . . and her two signes is Taurus 
 and Libra . . . This planet Venus runneth in twelue months 
 ouer the xii. signes.' Also : — ' Next under Venus is the faire 
 planet Mercury . . and his principall signes be these : Getnini is 
 the first . . and the other signe is Virgo^ &c. See Furnivall's 
 Trial Forewords, p. 121. 
 
 Hence the ' third heaven's lord ' is Mars ; and Chaucer tells us, 
 that by virtue of his motion in his orbit (as well as by desert) he 
 had won Venus. That is, Venus and Mars were seen in the sky 
 very near each other. We may explain wottne by ' approached.' 
 
 36. At alle, in any and every case. There is a parallel 
 passage to this stanza in Troilus, bk. iii. st. 4 of the Proem. 
 
 38. Talle, obedient, docile, obsequious. See the account of 
 this difficult word in my Etym. Dictionary, s. v. tall. 
 
 42. Scourging, correction. Compare the phr. under your 
 yerde ; Pari. Foules, 640, and the note. I see no reason for 
 suspecting the reading. 
 
 49. ' Unless it should be that his fault should sever their 
 love.' 
 
 51. Loking, aspect; a translation of the Latin astrological 
 term aspectus. They regard each other with a favourable 
 aspect. 
 
 54. Her ncxte paleys, the next palace (or mansion), which 
 belonged to Venus. In astrology, each planet was said to have 
 two mansions, except the sun and moon, which had but one 
 apiece. A mansion, or house, or palace, is that Zodiacal sign in 
 which, for some imaginary reason, a planet was supposed to be 
 peculiarly at home. (The whole system is fanciful and arbitrary.) 
 The mansions of Venus were said to be Taurus and Libra ; 
 those of Mars, Aries and Scorpio ; and those of Mercury, 
 Gemini and Virgo. See the whole scheme in my edition of 
 Chaucer's Astrolabe, p. Ixvi. The sign here meant is Taurus 
 (cf. 1. 86) ; and the arrangement was that Mars should 'glide' 
 
 T 2
 
 276 IV. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS. 
 
 or pass out of the sign of Aries into that of Taurus, which came 
 next, and belonged specially to Venus. 
 
 55. A-fakc, overtaken ; because the apparent motion of Venus 
 is swifter than that of Mars. This shews that Mars was, at first, 
 further advanced than Venus along the Zodiac. 
 
 61. Actually repeated in the Nonne Prestes Tale, 1. 340 : — 
 ' For whan I see the beaute of your face.' Compare also 1. 62 
 with the same, 1. 342 ; and 1. 63 with the same, 1. 350. 
 
 69. That is, the apparent motion of Venus was twice as great 
 as that of Mars. Chaucer here follows Macrobius, Comment, in 
 Somnium Scipionis, lib. i. ch. 19, who says : — ' Rursus tantum a 
 love sphaera Martis recedit, ut eundem cursum lucnnio peragat. 
 Venus autem tanto est regione Martis inferior, ut ei annus satis 
 sit ad zodiacum peragrandum ;' that is. Mars performs his orbit 
 in two years, but Venus in one ; accordingly, she moves as much 
 in one day as Mars does iti two days. Mars really performs his 
 orbit in rather less than two years (about 687 days), and Venus 
 in less than one (about 225 days), but Chaucer's statement is 
 sufficiently near to facts, the apparent motion of the planets 
 being variable. 
 
 71. This line resembles one in the Man of Lawes Tale, Group 
 B, 1075 : — 'And swich a blisse is ther bitwix hem two ;' and 11. 
 71, 72 also resemble the same, 11. 1114, 1115 : — 
 ' Who can the pitons loye tellen al 
 Bitwix hem thre, sin they ben thus ymette?' 
 
 73. I here substitute a line, made up out of half-lines from 
 Troilus. 
 
 81. Phebus here passes the palace-gates ; in other words, the 
 sun enters the sign of Taurus, and so comes into Venus' 
 chamber, within her palace. Cf. note to 1. 54. 
 
 In Chaucer's time, the sun entered Taurus on the twelfth of 
 April ; see Fig. I in my edition of Chaucer's Astrolabe. This is 
 actually mentioned below, in 1. 139. 
 
 84. K7ioklccden, knocked at the door, i. e. demanded ad- 
 mission. 
 
 86. That is, both Mars and Venus are now in Taurus. The 
 entry of Venus is noticed in I. 72. 
 
 89. The latter syllable of Ve?ius comes at the ciusural pause. 
 But the scansion would be mended by omitting m't^h. 
 
 96. In the Shepheards Kalendar, Mars is said to be 'hot and 
 dry;' and Venus to be 'moist and colde.' Thus Mars was supposed 
 to cause heat, and Venus to bring rain. The power of Venus in 
 causing rain is fully alluded to in Lenvoy to Scogan, st. 2.
 
 IF. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS. 277 
 
 100. Girt, short iox girdeth ; not girie^ pt. t. 
 
 104. Nearly repeated in Kn. Tale, 1091 : — 'Ne may with 
 Venus holde champartye.' 
 
 105. Bad her fleen, bade her flee ; because her motion in her 
 orbit was faster than his. Cf. 1. 112. 
 
 107. * In the palace (Taurus) in which thou wast disturbed.' 
 111. Stremes, beams, rays; for the eyes of Mars emitted 
 streams of fire (1. 95). Venus is already half past the distance 
 to which Mars's beams extend. Obscure and fanciful. 
 
 113. Cylenius, Cyllenius, i.e. Mercury, who w^as born on 
 Mount Cyllene in Arcadia; Vergil, ^iE'w.viii. 139. Toiir,\o\s&x\ 
 another word for mansion. The tower of Cyllenius, or mansion 
 of Mercury, is the sign Gemini ; see note to 1. 29. Venus passes 
 out of Taurus into the next sign Gemini, 'The sign Gemini is 
 2^%odom^lS JMercurii, so that when Venus fled into "the tour "of 
 Cyllenius, she simply slipped into the next door to her own house 
 of Taurus, leaving poor Mars behind to halt after her as he best 
 might; ' A. E. Brae, in Notes and Queries, ist Series, iii. 235. 
 
 114. Voide, solitary ; Mars is left behind in Taurus. Besides 
 (according to 1. 116) there was no other planet in Gemini at 
 that time. 
 
 117. But litil myght. A planet was supposed to exercise its 
 greatest influence in the sign which was called its exaltation ; 
 and its least influence in that which was called its depression. 
 The exaltation of Venus was in Pisces ; her depression, in Virgo. 
 She was now in Gemini, and therefore halfway from her exalta- 
 tion to her depression. So her influence was slight, and waning. 
 
 119. A cave. In 1. 122 we are told that it stood only two 
 paces within the gate, viz. of Gemini. The gate or entrance into 
 Gemini is the point where the sign begins. "Qy paces we must 
 understand degrees ; for the F. word pas evidently repre- 
 sents the Lat. gradus. Venus had therefore advanced to a 
 point which stood only two degrees within (or from the be- 
 ginning of) the sign. In plain words, she was now in the 
 second degree of Gemini, and there fell into a cave, in which 
 she remained for a natural day, that is (taking her year to be 
 of nearly the same length as the earth's year) for the term during 
 which she remained within that second degree. Venus remained 
 in the cave as long as she was in that second degree of the sign ; 
 from the moment of entering it to the moment of leaving it. 
 
 A nattiral day means a period of twenty-four hours, as dis- 
 tinguished from the artificial day, which was the old technical 
 name for the time from sunrise to sunset. This Chaucer says
 
 2-8 IV. THE COM TLA I XT OF MARS. 
 
 plainly, in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 7, 1. 12 — 'the 
 day natural, that is to seyn 24 houris.' 
 
 We thus see that the cave here meAtioned is a name for the 
 second degree of the sign Gemini. 
 
 This being so, I have no doubt at all, that cave is here merely 
 a translation of the Latin technical astrological Xcxva. puteus. In 
 Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, lib. xv. c. 42, I find : — 
 ' Et 171 signis sunt quidam gradus, qui dicuntur pidei ; cum 
 fuerit planeta in aliquo istorum, dicitur esse 27t puteo, vt 6 
 gradus Arietis, et 1 1, etc' There are certain degrees in the 
 signs called ptttei ; and when a planet is in one of these, it is 
 said to be in puteo ; such degrees, in Aries, are the 6th, 
 nth, &c. Here, unfortunately, Vincent's information ceases; 
 he refers us, however, to Alcabitius. 
 
 Alcabitius (usually Alcbabitius), who should rather be called 
 Abd-el-Aziz, was an Arabian astrologer who lived towards the 
 middle of the loth century. His treatise on judicial astrology' 
 was translated into Latin by Johannes Hispalensis in the thir- 
 teenth century. This translation was printed at Venice, in 
 quarto, in 1481, 1482, and 1502; see Didot, Nouv. Biograph. 
 Universelle. 
 
 I found a copy of the edition of 1482 in the Cambridge 
 University Library, entitled Libellus ysagogic//^ addilazi .i. 
 scrui gloriosi dci. qz«" dicitur alchabiti?/^' ad magisteriuw iudici- 
 orum astror;//;; : i;nerpretat?/j- a ioa;me hispale^si. At sign, a 7, 
 back, I found the passage quoted above from Vincent, and ^full 
 list of the putei. Th&putei in the sign of Gemini are the degrees 
 numbered 2, 12, 17, 26, 30. After this striking confirmation of 
 my conjecture, I think no more need be said. 
 
 But I may add, that Chaucer expressly mentions ' Alkabucius ' 
 by name, and refers to him ; Treat, on Astrolabe, i. 8. 9. 
 The passage which he there quotes occurs in the same treatise, 
 sign, a I, back '. 
 
 120. Der/c, dark. I think it is sufficient to suppose that this 
 word is used, in a purely astrological sense, to mean inau- 
 spicious ; and the same is true of 1. 122, where Venus remains 
 under this sinister influence as long as she remained in the ill- 
 omened second degree of Gemini. There is no need to suppose 
 that the planet's light was rea"ly obscured. 
 
 ^ The words arc: ' unumquodque istorum signonim diiiiditur in 30 
 ])artes equales, que gradus uocantur. Et gradus diuiditur in 60 minut.a ; 
 et minutum in 60 sccunda ; et secundum in 60 tertia. Similiteique 
 sequuntur quarta, scilicet et quinta, asccndendo usque ad infmita.'
 
 IV. THE COMPLAINT OF MAKS. 279 
 
 129. The Fairfax MS. and some editions have the false 
 reading sterre. As Mars was supposed to complete his orbit 
 (360 degrees) in imo years (see note to 1. 69), he would pass 
 over one degree of it in about iivo days. Hence Mr. Brae's 
 note upon this line, as printed in Furnivall's Trial Forewords, 
 p. 121 : — ' The mention of dayes tivo is so specific that it cannot 
 but have a special meaning. Wherefore, either stn-re is a meto- 
 nym for degree ; or which is more probable, Chaucer's word 
 was originally steppe {gradtes), and was miscopied sterre by early 
 scribes.' Here Mr. Brae was exceedingly near the right 
 solution ; we now see that sterre was miswritten (not for 
 steppe, but) for steyre, by the mere alteration of one letter. 
 If the scribe was writing from dictation, the mistake was still 
 more easily made, since steyre and sterre would sound very 
 nearly alike, with the old pronunciation. As to steyre, it is the 
 exact literal translation of Lat. gradus, which meant a degree 
 or stair. Thus Minsheu's Diet, has : — 'a Staire, 'LsX. gradzts.' 
 This difficulty, in fact, is entirely cleared up by accepting the 
 reading of the majority of the MSS. 
 
 131. He folowcth her, i.e. the motions of Mars and Venus 
 were in the same direction ; neither of them had a ' retrograde ' 
 motion, but. advanced along the signs in the direction of the 
 sun's apparent motion. 
 
 133. Brewtyng, burning in the fire of the sun's heat. 
 
 137. 'Alas ; that my orbit has so wide a compass; ' because 
 the orbit of Mars is so very much larger than that of Venus. 
 Still larger was the orbit of Saturn; Kn. Tale, 1596. Spere is 
 sphere, orbit. 
 
 139. Tivelfte, twelfth. The false reading twelve arose from 
 misreading the symbol ' .xij.,' which was used as an abbreviation 
 both for twelftc and for twelve. See Furnivall, Trial Forewords, 
 p. 88. As a fact, it was on the \7.th day of April that the sun 
 entered Taurus ; see note to 1. 81. 
 
 144. Cylenius, Mercury; as in 1. 113. Chevauche, equestrian 
 journey, ride. Used ludicrously to mean a feat of horsemanship 
 in 1. 50 of the Manciple's Prologue. The closely related word 
 chivachic, in Prologue to C. T. 85, means a military (equestrian) 
 expedition. In the present case it simply means ' swift course,' 
 with reference to the rapid movement of Mercury, which com- 
 pletes its orbit in about 88 days. Thus the line means — ' Mer- 
 cury, advancing in his swift course.' 
 
 145. Fro Venus valance. This is the most difficult expression 
 in the poem, but I explain it by reading fallance, which of
 
 28o IV. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS. 
 
 course is only a guess. I must now give my reasons, as every 
 preceding commentator has given up the passage as hopeless. 
 
 The readings of the MSS. all point back to a form valance 
 (as in Ar.) or valauns (as in Tn.) ; whence the other readings, 
 such as Vaiaunses, valanus (for valatins), bala?ice, balaufice, are 
 all deduced, by easy corruptions. But, as no assignable sense 
 has been found for valance, I can only suppose that it is an error 
 for falance or fallance. I know of no instance of its use in 
 English, but Godefroy gives examples oi fallance cind faience 
 in O. French, though the usual spelling is faillance. The 
 change from faillance or fallance to vallance or valance would 
 easily be made by scribes, from the alliterative influence of the 
 initial letter of the preceding word Venus. Moreover, we have 
 7J for f in E. vixen (for fxen), and in Southern English 
 generally. Even in a Chaucer MS., the curious spelling vigour 
 or vigur for figure occurs over and over again ; see my edition 
 of Chaucer's Astrolabe, pp. viii, 62. 
 
 The sense oifalla?ice or failhmce is failure, defection. Cotgrave 
 gives us : ' Faillance, f. a defection, failing, decaying.' The 
 numerous examples in Godefroy shew that it was once a common 
 word. It represents a Lat. fem. * falleniia. 
 
 I hold it to be the exact literal translation into French of the 
 Lat. technical (astrological) term detrinientum. In my edition 
 of Chaucer's Astrolabe, p. Ixvii., I have already explained that 
 every planet had either one or two viansioiis, and one or two 
 detriinenta. The dciriineniuiii is the sign of the Zodiac opposite 
 to the planet's mansion. The mansions of Venus were Taurus 
 and Libra (see note to 1. 54) ; and her detriinenta were Scorpio 
 and Aries. The latter is here intended ; so that, after all, this 
 apparently mysterious term ' Venus valance ' is nothing but 
 another name for t/ie sign Aries, which, frotn other cofisiderations, 
 must necessarily be here intended. 
 
 If the correction oi ^uilaiice io fallance be disallowed, I should 
 still plead that valance might be short for avalance (mod. E. 
 avalanche, literally descent), just as every reader of our old 
 literature knows that vale is a common form instead of av(de, to 
 descend or lower, being the verb from which avalance is derived. 
 This valance { = avalance) is a fair translation of the Lat. occasus, 
 which was an alternative name for the sign called detrijiientumj 
 see my edition of the Astrolabe, as above. The result would 
 then be just the same as before, and would bring us back to the 
 sign of Aries again. 
 
 But wc know that Aries is meant, from purely astronomical
 
 IV. THE COMPLAIjVT OF MARS. 28 1 
 
 considerations. For the planet Mercury is always so near the 
 sun that it can never have a greater elongation, or angular 
 distance, from it than 29°, which is just a little less than the 
 length of a sign, which was 30°. But, the sun being (as said) in 
 the 1st degree of Taurus on the 12th of April, it is quite certain 
 that Mercury was either in Taurus or in Aries. Again, as there 
 was no mention of Mercury being in Taurus when Mars and 
 Venus were there and were undisturbed (see note to 1. 114), we 
 can only infer that Mercury was then in Aries. 
 
 Moreover, he continued his swift course, always approaching 
 and tending to overtake the slower bodies that preceded him, 
 viz. the Sun, Mars, and Venus. At last, he got so near that he 
 was able to ' see ' or get a glimpse of his mansion Gemini, which 
 was not so very far ahead of him. This I take to mean that he 
 was swiftly approaching the end of Aries. 
 
 We can now tell the exact position of all the bodies on the 
 14th of April, two days after the sun had burst into Taurus, 
 where he had found Mars and Venus at no great distance apart. 
 By that time, Venus was in the second degree of Gemini, Mars 
 was left behind in Taurus, the sun was in the third degree 
 of Taurus, and Mercury near the end of Aries, sufficiently near 
 to Venus to salute and cheer her with a kindly and favourable 
 aspect. 
 
 I will add that whilst the whole of the sign of Aries was called 
 the occasus or detrime7ituni of Venus, it is somewhat curious 
 that the last ten degrees of Aries (degrees 20 to 30) were called 
 the face of Venus. Chaucer uses this astrological term face 
 elsewhere with reference to Xh& first ten degrees of Aries, which 
 was ' the face of Mars ' (see my note to Squieres Tale, 1. 47). 
 Hence another possible reading is Fro Venus face mighte, &c. 
 
 In any case, I think we are quite sufficiently near to Chaucer's 
 meaning ; especially as he is, after all, only speaking in allegory, 
 and there is no need to strain his words to suit rigid astronomical 
 calculations. 
 
 I only give this as a guess, for what it is worth ; I should not 
 care to defend it. 
 
 150. Remembreth me, comes to my memory; the nom. case 
 being the preceding part of the sentence. Me, by the way, 
 refers to the extraordinary bird who is made responsible for the 
 whole poem, with the sole exception of lines 13 and 14, and half 
 of 1. 15. The bird tells us he will say and sing the Complaint 
 of Mars, and afterwards take his leave. 
 
 155. We now come to the part of the poem which exhibits
 
 282 IV. THE COM TLA I NT OF MARS. 
 
 great metrical skill. In order to shew the riming more clearly, 
 I have ' set back ' the 3rd, 6th, and 7th lines of each stanza. 
 Each stanza exhibits the order of rimes aabaabbcc\ i.e. the 
 first rime belongs to lines i, 2, 4, 5 ; the second rime to lines 3, 
 6, 7 ; and the last rime to lines 8 and 9. The first stanza forms 
 an Introduction or Proem. The rest form five Terns, or sets of 
 three stanzas, as has been already said. Each Tern has its 
 own subject, quite separate from the rest. 
 
 The first line can only be scanned by reading 77ft' oi'ih'c as 
 TICordr' (monosyllable). 
 
 164. The first Tern expresses his Devotion to his love's 
 service. I gave my love, he says, to her for ever ; She is the 
 very source of aU beauty ; and now I will never leave her, but 
 will die in her service. 
 
 170. That is — who ever approaches her, but obtains from her 
 no favour, loses all joy in love, and only feels its bitterness. 
 
 176. Me}i, people; men hit selle — it is sold. This paren- 
 thetical ejaculation is an echo to that in 1. 168. 
 
 185. Hetfe, promised (incorrectly). The M. E. haten, to 
 promise, is a complicated verb ; see the excellent examples in 
 Matzner's Dictionary, and in Grein's A. S. Diet., s. v. hdtaii. 
 It had two past tenses ; the first hcet, a strong form, meaning 
 'promised, commanded,' answering to A. S. heht and Goth. 
 haihait ; and the second hette, haite, a weak form, meaning ' I 
 was named,' answering to A. S. hdiie (used both as a present 
 and a past tense without change of form) and to the Goth, 
 present passive haitada. Chaucer has here used the intransitive 
 weak past tense with the sense of the transitive strong one ; 
 just as he uses lernen with the sense of ' teach.' The confusion 
 was easy and common. 
 
 190. But gTace he, unless favour be shewn me. Se, shall see ; 
 present as future. 
 
 191. Tern 2. Shall I complain to my lady ? Not so; for she 
 is in distress herself. Lovers may be as true as new metal, and 
 yet suffer. To return : my lady is in distress, and I ought to 
 mourn for her, even though I knew no other sorrow. 
 
 197. ' But \l she were safe, it would not matter about vie^ 
 
 205. 'They might readily leave their head as a pledge,' i.e. 
 might devote themselves to death. • 
 
 206. Horowe, foul, unclean, filthy, scandalous ; pi. of horow, 
 an adj. formed from the A. S. sb. horu (gen. horwes), filth ; 
 cf. A. S. horweht, filthy, from the same stem horw-. The M. E. 
 adj. also takes the form hori, hory, from A. S. horig, an adj.
 
 IV. THE COMPLAINT OF MARS. 2 S3 
 
 formed from the closely related A. S. sb. hor/i, horg, filth. 
 As the M. E. adj. is not common, I give some examples (from 
 Miitzner), 'Hit nis bote a hori felle,' 'it is only a dirty skin;' 
 Early Eng. Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 19, 1. 13. 'Thy saulc . . 
 thonigh fulthe of synne Sone is mad wel hory wythinne,' thy 
 soul, by filth of sin, is soon made very foul within ; Reliquiae 
 Antiquas, ii. 243. ' Eny uncleene, whos touchynge is Jwory^ 
 any unclean person, whose touch is defiling; Wyclif, Levit. 
 xxii. 5. ' Still used in Devon, pronounced horry/ Halliwell. 
 
 218. Tern 3. Why did the Creator institute love? The 
 bliss of lovers is so unstable, that in every case lovers have 
 more woes than the moon has changes. Many a fish is mad 
 after the bait ; but when he is hooked, he finds his penance, 
 even though the line should break. 
 
 219. Love other comfianye, love or companionship. 
 229. Read putftJi ; as a miOnosyllable. 
 
 245. Tern 4. The brooch of Thebes had this property, that 
 everj'- one who saw it desired to possess it ; when he possessed 
 it, he was haunted with constant dread ; and when he lost it, he 
 had a double sorrow in thinking that it was gone. This was 
 due, however, not to the brooch itself, but to the cunning of the 
 maker, who had contrived that all who possessed it should 
 suffer. In the same way, my lady was as the brooch ; yet it 
 was not she who caused me wo, but it was He who endowed 
 her with beauty. 
 
 The story referred to occurs in the account of the war 
 between Eteocles and Polynices for the possession of Thebes, 
 as related in the Thebaid of Statius. 
 
 In the second book of that poem, the story relates the marriage 
 of Polynices and Tydeus to the two daughters of Adrastus, king 
 of Argos. The marriage ceremony was marred by inauspicious 
 omens, which was attributed to the fact that Argia, who was 
 wedded to Polynices, wore at the wedding a magic bracelet 
 (here called a brooch) which had belonged to Harmonia, a 
 daughter of Mars atid Venus, and wife of Cadmus. This 
 ornament had been made by Vulcan, in order to bring an evil 
 fate upon Harmonia, to whom it was first given, and upon all 
 women who coveted it or wore it. See the whole story in 
 Statius, Thebais, ii. 265 ; or in Lewis's translation of Statius, ii. 
 
 313- 
 
 246. It must be remembered that great and magical virtues 
 were attributed to precious stones and gems. See further in 
 the note to Ho. of Fame, 1. 1352.
 
 284 y. THE rARLEMENT OF EOULES. 
 
 259. Enfortuncd hit so, endued it with such virtues. ' He 
 that wrought it ' was Vulcan ; see note to 1. 245. 
 
 262. Covetoiir, the one who coveted it. Nyce, foolish. 
 
 270. 'For my death I blame Him, and my own folly for 
 being so ambitious.' 
 
 272. Tern 5. I appeal for sympathy, first to the knights who 
 say that I, Mars, am their patron; secondly, to the ladies who 
 should compassionate Venus their empress ; lastly, to all lovers 
 who should sympathise with Venus, who was always so ready 
 to aid them. 
 
 273. Of my dh'isioioi, bom under my influence. The same 
 word is used in the same way in Kn. Tale, 1166. Of course 
 Mars was the special patron of martial knights. 
 
 280. ' That ye lament for my sorrow.' 
 293. Coinphyneth /ler, lament for her. 
 
 298. 'Therefore display, on her behalf, some kindly feeling.' 
 The Complaint of Venus, which formerly used to be printed 
 as a part of this poem, is really a distinct piece. See Sect. 
 
 xvin. 
 
 V. The Parlement of Foules. 
 
 Title. Gg. has Here beg^^nyth the pf^rlement of Foulys ; 
 Harl. has The Parlament of Foules ; Tn. has The Parlement 
 of Briddis ; Trin. has Here foloweth the parlement of Byrdes 
 reducyd to loue, Sec. We also find, at the end of the poem, 
 such notes as these : Gg. Explicit parliamentum Auium in die 
 sancti Valentini tentum secundum Galfridum Chaucer ; Ff. 
 Explicit parliamentum Auium ; Tn. Explicit tractatus de Con- 
 gregacione volucrum die Sancti Valentini; and in MS. Arch. 
 Seld. B. 24 — Here endis the parliament of foulis Quod Galfride 
 Chaucere. 
 
 1. Part of the first aphorism of Hippocrates is — 'O (Hog IBpaxvs, 
 r) 8e Te^vr) fxaKpi). This is often quoted in the Latin form — Ars 
 longa, uita brevis. Longfellow, in his Psalm of Life, well 
 renders it by — ' Art is long, but life is fleeting.' 
 
 2. Several MSS. transpose hard and sha7-p ; it is of small 
 consequence. 
 
 3. Slit, the contracted form of slidcth, i. e. passes away ; cf. 
 ' it slit awey so faste,' Can. Yeom. Tale ; C. T., Group G, 1. 682. 
 The false readingy?// arose from mistaking a long jt {qx f. 
 
 4. liy, with respect to. In 1. 7, wher = whether. 
 
 8. Evidently this disclaimer is a pretended one ; the preceding
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 285 
 
 Stanza and II. 13, 14 contradict it. So does 1. 160. In this 
 stanza we have an early example of Chaucer's humour, of which 
 there are several instances below, as e. g. in 11. 567-570, 589, 599, 
 610, «S:c. Cf. Troilus, i. 15, where Chaucer again says he is no 
 lover himself, but only serves Love's servants. 
 
 15. Cf. Prol. to Legend of Good Women, 29-39. 
 
 22. Men is here a weakened form of Jiiaii, and is used as 
 a singular sb., with the same force as the F. on or the G. ma7i. 
 Hence the vb. seith is in the singular. This construction is 
 extremely common in Middle English. In 11. 23 and 25 coni'th 
 is monosyllabic. 
 
 31. Tullius, i. e. M. Tullius Cicero, who wrote a piece 
 entitled Somnium Scipionis, which originally formed part of 
 the sixth book of the De Republica. Warton (Hist. Eng. 
 Poetry, ed. Hazlitt. iii. 65) remarks : — ' Had this composition 
 descended to posterity among Tully's six books De Republican 
 to the last of which it originally belonged, perhaps it would 
 have been overlooked and neglected. But being preserved 
 and illustrated with a prolix commentary by Macrobius, it 
 quickly attracted the attention of readers who were fond of the 
 marvellous, and with whom Macrobius was a more admired 
 classic than Tully. It was printed [at Venice] subjoined to 
 Tully's Offices, in [1470]. It was translated into Greek by 
 Maximus Planudes, and is frequently [i.e. four times] quoted 
 by Chaucer . . . Nor is it improbable that not only the form, 
 but the first idea, of Dante's Infertio was suggested by this 
 apologue.' The other allusions to it in Chaucer are in the 
 Nonnes Prestes Tale, 1. 303 ; Book of the Duchesse, 284 ; Ho. 
 of Fame, 514. See also I. 11 1 below, where Macrobie is 
 expressly mentioned. In the E. version of the Romance of 
 the Rose, I. 7, he is called Alacrobes. 
 
 Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius, about A. D. 400, not only 
 preserved for us Cicero's Somnium Scipionis, but wrote a long 
 commentary on it in two books, and a work called Saturnalia 
 in seven books. The commentary is not very helpful, and 
 discusst ; collateral questions rather than the dream itself. 
 
 32. Chaucer's MS. copy was, it appears, divided into seven 
 chapters. A printed copy now before me is divided into nine 
 chapters. As given in an edition of Macrobius printed in 1670, 
 it is undivided. The treatise speaks, as Chaucer says, of heaven, 
 hell, and earth, and men's souls. 
 
 35. The grete, the substance. Accordingly, in the next seven 
 stanzas, we have a fair summary of the general contents of the
 
 286 v. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Somnium Scipionis. I quote below such passages as approach 
 most closely to Chaucer's text. 
 
 36. Scipioiin, i.e. P. Cornelius Scipio yEmilianus Africanus 
 Minor, the hero of the third Punic War, He went to Africa in 
 B.C. 150 to meet Masinissa, King of Numidia, who had received 
 many favours from Scipio Africanus Major in return for his 
 fidelity to the Romans. Hence Masinissa received the younger 
 Africanus joyfully, and so much was said about the elder 
 Africanus that the younger one dreamt about him after the 
 protracted conversation was over, and all had retired to rest. 
 The younger Africanus was the grandson, by adoption, of the 
 elder. 
 
 ' Cum in African! venissem, . . nihil mihi potius fuit, quam ut 
 Masinissam convenirem . . Ad quem ut veni, complexus me 
 senex collacrymavit. . . multisque verbis . . habitis, ille nobis 
 consumptus est dies . . . me . . somnus complexus est . . mihi . . 
 Africanus se ostendit ; ' <S:c. 
 
 43. ' Ostendebat autem Carthaginem de excelso, et pleno 
 stellarum . . loco . . . tu eris unus, in quo nitatur civitatis salus, 
 &c. . . Omnibus qui patriam conservarint, adjuverint, auxerint, 
 certum esse in ca;lo definitum locum, ubi beati ievo sempiterno 
 fruantur.' 
 
 50. ' Ousesivi tamen, viveretne ipse et PauUus pater et alii, 
 quos nos exstinctos arbitraremur. Immo vero, inquit, ii vivunt 
 
 . . . vestra vero, quee dicitur vita, mors est corpore laxati 
 
 ilium incolunt locum, quem vides. Erat autem is splendissimo 
 candore inter flammas circus elucens, quem vos, ut a Graiis 
 accepistis, 07-bem lacieuin nuncupatis.' 
 
 56. Galaxy c, milky way ; see note to Ho. Fame, 936. 
 
 57. ' Stellarum autem globi terras magnitudinem facile vince- 
 bant. Jam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa est, &c. . . Novem 
 tibi orbibus, vel potius globis, connexa sunt omnia . . . Hie, 
 inquam, quis est, qui complet aures meas, tantus et tam dulcis 
 sonus ? . . . impulsu et motu ipsorum orbium conficitur.' 
 
 59. The 'nine spheres' are the spheres of the seven planets 
 (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Satum), that of the 
 fixed stars, and the priinian mobile ; see Chaucer's Astrolabe, 
 ed. Skeat, Plate V, fig. 10. 
 
 61. This is an allusion to the so-called 'harmony of the 
 spheres.' Chaucer makes a mistake iji attributing this harmony 
 to all of the nine spheres. Cicero plainly excludes \h^ priminn 
 mobile, and says that, of the remaining eight spheres, two sound 
 alike, so that there arc but seven tones made by their revolution.
 
 F. THE rARLEMENT OF FOULES. 287 
 
 * Ule autem ccto cursus, in quibus cadem vis est dteornvi, sepicvi 
 efficiunt distinctos intervalHs sonos.' He proceeds to notice 
 the peculiar excellence of the number seven. By the two that 
 sounded alike, the spheres of Saturn and the fixed stars must 
 be meant ; in fact, it is usual to ignore the sphere of fixed stars, 
 and consider only those of the seven planets. Macrobius, in 
 his Commentary, lib. ii. c. 4, quite misses this point, and clumsily 
 gives the same note to Venus and Mercury. Each planetary 
 sphere, in its revolution, gives out a different note of the 
 gamut, so that all the notes of the gamut are sounded ; and the 
 result is, that the ' music of the spheres ' cannot be heard at 
 all, just as the dwellers by the cataract on the Nile fail to hear 
 the sound of its fall. ' Hoc sonitu oppleta; aures hominum 
 obsurduerunt ; nee est uUus hebetior sonus in vobis ; sicut 
 ubi Nilus ad ilia, quae Catadupa [K«ruSov7roi] nominantur, 
 praecipitat ex altissimis montibus, ea gens, quee ilium 
 locum accolit, propter iiiagnitudineni soniius^ sensu audiendi 
 caret.' Macrobius tries to explain it all in his Commentary, lib. 
 ii. c. 1-4. The fable arose from a supposed necessary con- 
 nection between the number of the planets and the number of 
 musical notes in the scale. It breaks down when we know that 
 the number of the planets is more^ than seven. Moreover, 
 modern astronomy has exploded the singular notion of revolving 
 hollow concentric spheres, to the surface of which each planet 
 was immoveably nailed. These ' spheres ' have disappeared, 
 and their music with them, except in poetry. 
 
 Shakespeare so extends the old fable as to give a voice to 
 every star. See Merch. of Venice, v. 60 : — 
 
 ' There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st, 
 Kut in his motion like an angel sings,' &c. 
 
 The notion of the music of the spheres was attributed to Pytha- 
 goras. It is denied by Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, 
 lib. XV. c. 32 — Falsa opinio de concentu cash. Vincent puts the old 
 idea clearly — 'Feruntur septem planets, et hi septem orbes (vt 
 dicitur) cum dulcissima harmonia mouentur, ac suauissimi con- 
 centus eorum circumitione efificiuntur. Qui sonus ad aures 
 nostras ideo non peruenit, quia vltra aerem fit : ' — a sufficient 
 reason. He attributes the notion to the Pythagoreans and the 
 Jews, and notes the use of the phrase 'concentum casii' in Job 
 xxxviii. 37, where our version has ' the bottles of heaven,' which 
 the Revised Version retains. Cf. also — ' Cum me laudarent 
 simul astra matutina ; ' Job xxxviii. 7.
 
 288 V. THE PA ELEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Near the end of Chaucer's Troilus, we have the singular 
 passage : — 
 
 ' And ther he saw with ful avisement 
 The erratick sterres, herkening armonie 
 With sounes fulle of hevenes melodie ; ' &c. 
 
 This passage, by the way, is a translation from Boccaccio, 
 Tesetdc, xi. i. 
 
 See also Longfellow's poem on the Occultation of Orion, where 
 the poet (heretically but sensibly) gives the lowest note to Saturn, 
 and the highest to the Moon ; whereas Macrobius says the 
 contrary ; lib. ii. c. 4. 
 
 A. Neckam (De Naturis Rerum, lib. i. c. 15) seems to say that 
 the sound of an eighth sphere is required to make up the octave. 
 
 64. ' Sentio, inquit, te sedem etiam nunc hominum ac domum 
 contemplari : qu£e si tibi parva, ut est, ita videtur, hjec ca^lestia 
 semper spectato ; ilia humana contemnito . . . Cum autem ad 
 idem, unde semel profecta sunt, cuncta astra redierint, ean- 
 demque totius anni descriptionem longis intervallis retulerint, 
 turn ille vere vertens annus appellari potest . . . Sermo autem 
 omnis ille . . obruitur hominum interitu, et oblivione posteritatis 
 exstinguitur.' 
 
 The great or mundane year, according to Macrooius, Com- 
 ment, lib. 2. c. II, contained 15000 common years. In the 
 Roman de la Rose, 1. 17018, Jeun de Meun makes it 36,000 years 
 long ; and in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 33, it is 
 said, on the authority of Socrates, to extend to 37;000 years. It 
 is not worth discussion. 
 
 71. ' Ego vero, inquam, o Africane, siquidem bene meritis de 
 patria quasi limes ad cseli aditum patet,' &c. ' Et ille, Tu vero 
 enitere, et sic habeto, non esse te mortalem, sed corpus hoc . . . 
 Hanc [naturam] tu exerce in optimis rebus ; sunt autem optima^ 
 cune de salute patric^ : quibus agitatus et exercitatus animus 
 velocius in hanc sedem et domum suam pervolabit.' 
 
 78. ' Nam eorum animi, qui se corporis voluptatibus dedide- 
 runt, . . . corporibus elapsi circum terram ipsam volutantur ; 
 nee hunc in locum, nisi multis exagitati saeculis, rcvertentur.' 
 We have here the idea of purgatory ; compare Vergil, /En. vi. 
 
 80. Whirle aboute, copied from volutantur in Cicero ; see 
 last note. It is remarkable that Dante has copied the same 
 passage, and has the word Toltando ; Inf. v. 31-8. Cf. 'blown 
 with restless violence round about The pendent world ; ' Meas. 
 for Meas. iii. i. 125 ; and 'The sport of winds;' Milton, P. L. 
 iii. 493.
 
 K THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 289 
 
 85. Imitated from Dante, Inf. ii. 1-3. Gary's translation has — 
 ' Now was the day departing, and the air, 
 Imbrowned with shadows, from their toils released 
 All animals on earth.' 
 
 90. ' I had what I did not want,' i. e. care and heaviness. 
 * And I had not what I wanted,' i. e. my desires. I do not think 
 there is any particular personal reference, of which anything can 
 be made. At the same time, the same idea is repeated, but in 
 clearer language, in the 'Complaint to his Lady' (see Appendix, 
 p. 215, II. 47-49) ; and again, in the Complaint to Pity, II. 
 99-104. 
 
 99. Chaucer discusses dreams elsewhere ; see Ho. of Fame, 
 1-52 ; Nonne Prestes Tale, 76-336 ; Troil. v. 358. Macrobius, 
 Comment, in Somn. Scipionis, lib. i. c. 3, distinguishes five kinds 
 of dreams, giving the name ivvuviov to the kind of which Chaucer 
 here speaks. ' Est enim Ivv-nviov quotiens oppressi animi 
 corporisve sive fortuna?, qualis vigilantem fatigaverat, talem se 
 ingerit dormicnti : animi, si aniator deliciis siiis aiit frice7itein se 
 videat aut carentem : . . corporis, si . . esuriens cibum aut potiitii 
 sitiens desiderare, quaerere, vel etiam invenisse videat ur: 
 fortunas, cum se quis sestimat vel potentia vel magistratu aut 
 augeri pro desiderio, aut exui pro timore.' This seems to be the 
 passage of which Chaucer was thinking ; if so, he has greatly 
 improved upon it. Cf. Vincent of Beauvais, lib. xxvi. c. 62 and 
 c. 63. And see the famous passage in Romeo and Juliet, i. 4. 53 ; 
 especially 11. 70-8S. The Roman de la Rose begins with remarks 
 concerning dreams; and again, at 1. 1S564, there is a second 
 passage on the same subject, with a reference to Scipio, and a 
 remark about dr-eaming of things that occupy the mind (I. 18601). 
 Similarly we find : — ' Praeterea dicit Auicenna quod magis som- 
 niat homo de his circa quas sollicitus et attentus est magis ; ' 
 Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. lib. xxvi. c. 46. And again :— 
 'The fearfull dream, that they flye daunger ; the couetous, 
 that they imbrace riches ; . . . . the wrathfull, that they are 
 fighting, killing, robbing and brauling ; the carelcsse, that they 
 are piping, singing, whisteling, hawking, hunting, dauncing 
 and such like.' — Batman upon Bartholome, ed. 1582, fol. 84. 
 109. Compare Dante, Inf. i. 83 ; which Cary translates — 
 ' ]\Iay it avail me, that I long with zeal 
 Have sought thy volume, and with love immense 
 Have conn'd it o'er. My master thou, and guide ! ' 
 III. 'Of which Macrobius recked (thought) not a little.' In 
 fact, Macrobius concludes his commentary with the words — 
 
 U
 
 290 r. THE PARLEMENl^ OF EOULES. 
 
 'Vere igitur pronunciandum est nihil hoc opere pcrfectius, quo 
 universa philosophic continetur integritas.' 
 
 113. Czihe'rea, Cytherea, i. e. Venus ; see Kn. Tale, 1357, S. 
 
 114. In the Roman de la Rose, 15980, Venus speaks of her 
 bow (F. arc) and her firebrand or torch (brandon). 
 
 117. 'As surely as I saw thee in the north-north-west.' He 
 here refers to the planet Venus. As this planet is never more 
 than 47° from the sun, the sun must have been visible to the 
 north of the west point at sunset ; i. e. the poem must have been 
 written in the summer-time. The same seems to be indicated 
 by 1. 21 {the longe day), and still more clearly by 11. 85-S8 ; 
 Chaucer would hardly have gone to bed at sunset in the winter- 
 time. It is true that he dreams about saint Valentine's day, but 
 that is quite another matter. Curiously enough, the landscape 
 seen in his dream is quite a summer landscape ; see 11. 172^ 
 184-210. 
 
 120. African, Air\c3.n\is ; as above. 
 
 122. Gr^"?/^ j/f??^, mossy or moss-covered stone ; an expression 
 copied by Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, 1. 42. 
 
 Prof. Hales, in the Gent. Magazine, April, 1882, has an 
 interesting article on ' Chaucer at Woodstock.' He shews that 
 there was a park there, surrounded by a stone wall ; and that 
 Edward III. often resided at Woodstock, where the Black Prince 
 was born. It is possible that Chaucer was thinking of Wood- 
 stock when writing the present passage. See the account of 
 Woodstock Palace in Abbeys, Castles, &c. by J. Timbs ; vol. ii. 
 But I suspect that, after 1. 120, we are introduced to sights that 
 existed only in dreamland ; just as in the Roman de la Rose, 
 where we find, near the beginning, an allusion to Scipio's dream, 
 and the following lines (129-131) : — 
 ' Quant j'oi ung poi avant ale 
 Si vi ung vergier grant et le, 
 Tot clos d'lrng hant mur bataillie ; ' &c. 
 
 125. On eyther halfe, on either side ; to right and left. 
 
 127. Imitated from Dante, Inf. iii. I ; Gary's translation 
 has — 
 
 ' Through me you pass into the city of woe : . . . 
 
 Such characters, in colour dim, I mark'd 
 Over a portal's lofty arch inscribed.' 
 See also 1. 134. The gate is the entrance into Love, which is 
 to some a blessing, and to some a curse ; see 11. 158, 159. Thus 
 men i^oji is, practically, equivalent to 'some men go ;' and so in 
 1. 134. The idea is utterly different from that of the two gates
 
 V. THE PA RLE M EXT OF FOULES. 291 
 
 in Vergil, M.n. vi. 893. The successful lover finds ' the well of 
 Favour,' 1. 129. The unsuccessful one encounters the deadly 
 wounds caused by the spear (or dart) guided to his heart by 
 Disdain and Power-to-harm (Daungcr) ; for him, the opened 
 garden bears no fruit, and the alluring stream leads him only 
 to a fatal weir, wherein imprisoned fish are left lying dry. 
 Cf. ' As why this fish, and nat that comth to were ; ' 
 
 Troil. iii. 35. 
 
 140. ' Avoiding it is the only remedy.' This is only another 
 form of a proverb which also occurs as ' Well fights he who well 
 flies.' See Proverbs of Hending (in Spec, of English), 1. "]"] ; 
 Owl and Nightingale, 1. 176. Sir T. Wiat has— 'The first 
 eschue is remedy alone ; ' Spec, of Eng. Part III. p. 235. It is 
 probable that Chaucer took it from the Roman de la Rose, 
 1. 16818, where it appears in the form — 'Sol foir en est medicine.' 
 (O. Y.foir = 'LaX. fiigere). 
 
 141. All the MSS. have blak or Make; ed. 1561 has 
 Asiire. The capitals were of gold ; the rest of the letters were 
 black. 
 
 142. A stounde, for a while (rightly) ; the reading astonied is 
 to be rejected. The attitude is one of deliberation. 
 
 143. That oon, the one, the latter. But, in 1. 145, that ooti 
 means the former. 
 
 148. An adamant was, originally, a diamond ; then the name 
 was transferred to the loadstone ; lastly, the diamond was 
 credited with the properties of the loadstone. Hence we find, 
 at the end of ch. 14 of Mandeville's Travels, this remarkable 
 experiment :— ' Men taken the Ademand, that is the Schip- 
 niannes Ston, that drawethe the Nedle to him, and men leyn 
 the Dyamand upon the Ademand, and leyn the Nedle before 
 the Ademand ; and yif the Dyamand be good and vertuous, 
 the Ademand drawethe not the Nedle to him, whils the Dyamand 
 is there present.' Cf. A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, lib. ii. 
 c. 98, where the story is told of an iron statue of Mahomet, which, 
 being surrounded by adamants {lapides adamantini), hangs 
 suspended in the air. The modern simile is that of a donkey 
 between two bundles of hay. 
 
 156. Errour, doubt ; see 1. 146 above. 
 
 158. ' This writing is not at all meant to apply to thee.' 
 
 159. Scrvaftt was, so to speak, the old technical term for a 
 lover ; cf. serveth, Kn. Tale, 2220, 2228 ; and servant in Two 
 Gent, of Verona, ii. i. 106, 114, 140, (ic. 
 
 163. I.e. * at any rate you can come and look on.' 
 u 2
 
 392 ^. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 169. Imitated from Dante, Inf. iii. 19. Gary has — 
 ' And when his hand he had stretch'd forth 
 To mine, with pleasant looks, whence I was cheer 'd, 
 Into that secret place he led me on.' 
 
 176. Imitated by Spenser, F. O. i. i. 8, 9. Chaucer's list of 
 trees was suggested by a passage in the Teseide, xi. 22-24 j but 
 he extended his list by help of one in the Roman de la Rose, 
 1338-1368; especially 11. 136 1-8, as follows — 
 
 ' Et SoUvicrs et de cipres, 
 Dont il n'a gaires ici pres ; 
 Ormes y ot branch us et gros, 
 Et avec ce charmes et fos, 
 Codres droites, trembles et chesncs, 
 Erables hai;s, sapius et fresnes.^ 
 
 Here ormes are elms ; charmes, honi-beams ; fos, beeches ; 
 codres, hasels ; ii-e7iibles, aspens ; chesnes, oaks ; erables, maples ; 
 sapins, firs ; fresnes, ashes. Hence this list contains seven 
 kinds of trees out of Chaucer's thirteen. See also the list of 21 
 trees in Kn. Tale, 2063-5. Spenser has — 
 
 ' The builder oake, sole king of forrests all.' 
 
 This tree-list is, in fact, a great curiosity. It was started by 
 Statins, Thebaid, vi. 98 ; who was followed by Boccaccio, Tes. xi. 
 22-24; Rom. de la Rose, 1361 ; Chaucer (twice); Tasso, Gier. 
 Lib. iii. 75 ; and Spenser. Cf. Vergil, JEn. vi. 179. 
 
 I here quote several notes from Bell's Chaucer, marked 
 ' Bell.'— 
 
 ' The reader will observe the life and spirit which the per- 
 sonification of the several trees gives to this catalogue. It is 
 common in French, even in prose ; as, for instance, the weeping 
 willow is le saule pieureiir, the weeper willow. The oak is 
 called builder, because no other wood was used in building in 
 this country in the middle ages, as may be seen in our old 
 churches and farm-houses, in which the stairs are often made 
 of solid blocks of the finest oak.' — Bell. 
 
 177. 'The elm is called piler, perhaps because it is planted 
 as a pillar or support to the vine [cf. Spenser's ' vine-prop 
 elme '] ; and cofre unto careyne, because cofiins for carrion or 
 corpses were [and arc] usually made of elm.' — Bell. In fact, 
 Boccaccio has — ' E /' obno, che di viti s' innamora ;' Tes. xi. 24. 
 
 178. Piper, suitable for pipes or horns. 'The box, being a 
 hard, fine-grained wood, was used for making pipes or horns, 
 as in the Nonne Prestes Talc, 1. 577 — " Of bras they broughten
 
 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 293 
 
 hemes [trumpets] and of box." ' — Bell. Boxwood is still used 
 for flutes and flageolets. 
 
 Holm to whippes lasshe ; ' the holm used for making handles 
 for whip-lashes.' — Bell. Spenser calls it ' The carver holm,' 
 i. e. the holm suitable for carving. 
 
 179. The sayling firrj this 'alludes to the ship's masts and 
 spars being made of fir.' — Bell. Spenser substitutes for it ' The 
 sailing pine.' He also has ' the cypress funeral!.' 
 
 180. TJie sheter ew. ' The material of our [ancient] national 
 weapon, the bow, was yew. It is said that the old yews which 
 are found in country churchyards were planted in order to 
 supply the yeomanry with bows.' — Bell. Spenser has — ' The 
 eugh, obedient to the benders will.' 
 
 ' The asp is the aspen, or black poplar, of which shafts or 
 arrows were made.' — Bell. Spenser has — ' The aspine good for 
 staves ; ' and ' The birch for shaftes.' 
 
 181. The olive is the emblem of peace ; and the palm, of 
 victory. Boccaccio has — ' e d' ogni vincitore Premio la palma ; ' 
 Tes. xi. 24. 
 
 182. 'The laurel (used) for divination,' or *to divine with.' 
 It was ' sacred to Apollo ; and its branches were the decorations 
 of poets, and of the flamens. The leaves, when eaten, were 
 said to impart the power of prophesying ; Tibull. 2. 5. 63 ; 
 Juvenal, 7. 19.' — Lewis and Short's Lat. Diet., s. v. laicrus. 
 
 183. In a note to Cant. Tales, 1. 1920, Tyrwhitt says — 
 * Chaucer has [here] taken very little from Boccace, as he had 
 already inserted a very close imitation of this part of the 
 Teseide in his Assemblee of Foules, from verse 183 to verse 
 287.' In fact, eleven stanzas (183-259) correspond to Boc- 
 caccio's Teseide, Canto vii. st. 51-60; the next three stanzas 
 (260-280) to the same, st. 63-66 ; and the next two (281-294) to 
 the same, st. 61, 62. See the whole extract from Boccaccio, as 
 translated in the Preface. 
 
 On the other hand, this passage in Chaucer is imitated in the 
 Kingis Ouair, st. 31-33, 152, 153 ; and 11. 6S0-9 are imitated in 
 the same, st. 34. 
 
 The phrase ' blosmy bowes ' occurs again in Troilus, ii. 821. 
 
 185. ' There where is always sufficient sweetness.' 
 
 214. According to Boccaccio, the name of Cupid's daughter 
 was Voluttade (Pleasure). In the Roman de la Rose, 11. 913, 927 
 (Eng. version, 923, 939), Cupid has two bows and ten arrows. 
 
 218. This company answer to Boccaccio's Grace, Adornment, 
 Affability, Courtesy, Arts (plural), Vain Delight, and Gentleness.
 
 294 ^^- THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 Instead of Craft, Boccaccio speaks of 'the Arts that have power 
 to make others perforce do folly, in their aspect much disfigured. 
 Hypocritical Cajolerj' seems to be intended. Cf. ' Charmes and 
 Force ; ' Kn. Tale, 1069. 
 
 225. Ed. 1 561 has luith a nice aiire, but wTongly ; for com- 
 pare Boccaccio. Cf. Kn. Tale, 1067-9. 
 
 226. Cf. 'Jest and youthful Jollity ; ' L'AlIegro, 26. 
 
 228. Messagerye and Mede represent the sending of messages 
 and giving of bribes. For this sense of Mede, see P. Plowman, 
 C. iv. (or B. iii.). The other three are Audacity (too forward 
 Boldness), Glozings (Flatteries), and Pimps ; all of bad repu- 
 tation, and therefore not named. Boccaccio's words are — ' il 
 foUe Ardire Con Lusinghe e Rufifiani.' 
 
 231. Bras, brass. Boccaccio has ratne, i. e. copper, the metal 
 which symbolised Venus ; see Can. Yeom. Tale, 829. In fact, 
 this temple is the very temple of Venus which Chaucer again 
 describes in the Knightes Tale, 11. 1060-1108 ; which see. 
 
 234. Faire, beautiful by nature ; gay, adorned by art. 
 
 236. Office, duty ; viz. to dance round. 
 
 237. These are the dowves fiikering in Kn. Tale, 11 04. 
 
 243. Sonde, sand. ' Her [Patience's] chief virtue is quiet 
 endurance in the most insecure and unhopeful circumstances ; ' 
 Bell. 
 
 245, Answering to Boccaccio's ' Promesse ad arte,' i.e. 'artful 
 Promises.' 
 
 246. Cf Kn. Tale, 1062- 1066 ; 1070. 
 
 255. 'The allusion is to the adventure of Priapus, related by 
 Ovid in the Fasti, lib. i. 415 ;' Bell. The ass, by braying, put 
 Priapus to confusion. 
 
 261. But in Kn. Tale, 1082, the porter of Venus is Idleness, 
 as in the Rom. de la Rose, 636 (E. version, 643). 
 
 272. Valence, explained by Urry as Valentia in Spain. But 
 perhaps it may refer to Valence, near Lyons, in P>ance ; as 
 Lyons is especially famous for the manufacture of silks, and 
 there is a considerable trade in silks at Valence also. Probably 
 'thin silk' is here meant. Boccaccio merely speaks of 'texture 
 so thin,' or, in the original ' Testa, tanto sottzt,' which accounts for 
 Chaucer's 'subtil.' Coles's Diet. (1684) gives: ' Valence, -tia,^Xoyin 
 in Spain, France, and Milan.' In the Unton Inventories, for the 
 years 1596 and 1620, ed. J. G. Nichols, I find : 'one covering 
 for a fielde bedde of green and valens^ P- 4 ; ' one standinge 
 bedsteed with black velvett testern, black vallance fringed and 
 laced,' p. 21 ; 'one standinge bed with yellow damaske testern
 
 r. THE PA RLE ME XT OF FOULES. 295 
 
 and vallcticc^ P- 21 ; ^7'a/laf7cc frindgcd and laced,' p. 22 ; 'one 
 bedsteed and testem, and Talatice of black velvett,' p. 22 ; ' one 
 bedsteed . . with vallancc imbroydered with ash couler,' p. 23 ; 
 ' one bedsteed, with . . vallance of silke,' p. 29. It is the mod. E. 
 valance, and became a general term for part of the hangings of 
 a bed ; Shakespeare has ' Valance of Venice gold,' spelt Vallens 
 in old editions, Tarn. Shrew, ii. i. 356. Spenser imitates this 
 passage, F. O. ii. 12. 'j'j. 
 
 275. Compare the well-known proverb — ' sine Cerere et 
 Libero friget Venus ; ' Terence, Eun, 2. 3. 4. 
 
 277. Read Cipryde, not Cupide; for in 1. 279 we have her 
 twice, once in the sense of 'their,' but secondly in the sense of 
 * her.' Boccaccio also here speaks of Venus, and refers to the 
 apple which she won from Paris. Cipride is regularly formed 
 from the accus. of Cypris (gen. Cypridis), an epithet of Venus due 
 to her worship in Cyprus. Chaucer found the genitive Cypridis 
 inAlanusde Planctu Naturae (ed. Wright, p. 438); see note to 1. 298. 
 Cf. ' He curseth Bacus, Ceres, and Cipride ; ' Troilus, v. 208. 
 
 281. The best way of scansion is perhaps to read despyi-e 
 with final r, preserved by caesura, and to pronounce Diane as 
 Did7i\ So in Kn. Tale, 1193, which runs parallel with it. 
 
 282. ' Trophies of the conquest of Venus ; ' Bell. 
 
 283. Maydens; of these Callisto was one (so says Boccaccio) ; 
 and this is Chaucer's Calixte (1. 286), and his Calystope in the 
 Kn. Tale (1. 1197). She was the daughter of the Arcadian 
 king Lycaon, and mother of Areas by Jupiter ; changed by Juno, 
 on account of jealousy, into a she-bear, and then raised to the 
 heavens by Jupiter in the form of the constellation Helice or 
 Ursa Major; see Ovid, Fasti, ii. 156; Metamorph. ii. 401 ; &c. 
 (Lewis and Short). 
 
 286. Athalaiinte, Atalanta. There were two of this name ; 
 the one here meant (see Boccaccio) was the one who was 
 conquered in a footrace by the lover who married her ; see 
 Ovid, Metam. x. 565. The other, who was beloved by Meleager, 
 and hunted the Calydonian boar, is the one mentioned in the 
 Kn. Tale, 1212 ; see Ovid, Metam. viii. 318. It is clear that 
 Chaucer thought they were one and the same. 
 
 287. I ivante, I lack; i. e. I do not know. Boccaccio here 
 mentions the mother of Parthenopa^us, whose name Chaucer did 
 not know. She was the other Atalanta, the wife of Meleager; 
 and Boccaccio did not name her, because he says ' that other 
 proud one,' meaning the other proud one of the same name. See 
 the story in Dryden ; tr. of Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. viii.
 
 296 r. rilE PA ELEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 288. Pioccaccio only mentions ' the spouse of Ninus,' i. e. 
 Semiramis, the great queen of Assyria, Thisbe and Pyramus, 
 ' Hercules in the lap of lole,' and Byblis. The rest Chaucer has 
 added. Compare his lists in Prol. to Leg. of Good Women, 250, 
 and in C. T., Group B, 63 ; see the note in my edition of the 
 Prioresses Tale, p. 135. See the Legend for the stories of Dido, 
 Thisbe and Pyramus, and Cleopatra. Paris, Achilles, Troilus, 
 and Helen are all mentioned in his Troilus. 
 
 Candace is mentioned again in the Legend of Good Women, 
 Prol. 1. 265, and in the Ballade on Newefangelnesse, 1. 16. 
 There was a Candace, queen of Meroe, mentioned by Pliny, vi. 
 29 ; and there is the Candace in the Acts of the Apostles, viii. 27. 
 I think it obvious that Chaucer (or else the scribe) has confused 
 the familiar name in the Acts with that of Canacee, and really 
 intends the latter. In writing the Cant. Tales (Group B, 78) he 
 corrected this mistake. The lady meant is the Canace of Ovid's 
 Heroides, epist. xi., wholly translated by Dryden. In fact, we 
 have sufficient proof of this confusion ; for one MS. actually 
 reads Candace in the Legend of Good Women, where five other 
 MSS. have Cajuice or Canacee. Biblis is Byblis, who fell in 
 love with Caunus, and, being repulsed, was changed into a 
 fountain ; Ovid, Metam. ix. 452. 
 
 Tristram and Isoude are the Tristran (or Tristan) and Ysolde 
 (or Ysolt) of French medieval romance ; cf. Ho. Fame, 1796. 
 GiOwer, in his Conf. Amantis, bk. 8 (ed. Pauli, iii. 359) 
 includes Tristram and Bele Isolde in his long list of lovers, and 
 gives an outline of the story in the same, bk. 6 (iii. 17). Ysolde 
 was the wife of King Mark of Cornwall, and the mistress of her 
 nephew Sir Tristram, of whom she became passionately 
 enamoured from having drunk a philter by mistake ; see 
 Wheeler, Noted Names of Fiction, s. v. Isolde. The Romance 
 of Sir Tristram was edited by Sir W. Scott, and has been 
 re-edited by Kolbing, and by G. P. McNeill (for the Scottish 
 Text Society). The name Ysoiide is constantly misprinted 
 Ysofide, even by the editors. Chaucer mentions her again ; see 
 Leg. G. Women, 254 ; Ho. of Fame, 1796. 
 
 292. Si/la, Scylla; daughter of Nisus, of Megara, who, for 
 love of Minos, cut off her father's hair, upon which his life 
 depended, and was transformed in consequence into the bird 
 Ciris ; see Ovid, Metam. viii. 8. Another Scylla was changed 
 by Circe into a sea-monster ; Ovid, Metam. xiv. 52. Their 
 stories shew that the former is meant. 
 
 Moder of Romulus, Ilia (also called Rha^a Silvia), daughter of
 
 V. THE rARLEMENT OF FOULES. 297 
 
 Numitor, dedicated to Vesta, and buried alive for breaking her 
 vows ; see Livy, bk. i ; Verg. yEn. i. 274. 
 
 The quotation from Boccaccio ends here. 
 
 296. Of spak, spake of; sec 1. 174. 
 
 298. This guefte is the goddess Nature (I. 303). We now 
 come to a part of the poem where Chaucer makes considerable 
 use of the work which he mentions in 1. 316, viz. the Planctus 
 Naturae (Complaint of Nature) by Alanus de Insulis, or Alein 
 Delille, a poet and divine of the 12th century. This work 
 is printed in vol. ii. of T. Wright's edition of the Anglo-Latin 
 Satirical Poets (Record Series), which also contains the poem 
 called Anticlaudianus by the same author. The description of 
 the goddess is given at great length (pp. 431-456), and at last 
 she declares her name to be Natura (p. 456). This long 
 description of Nature and of her vesture is a very singular one ; 
 indeed, all the fowls of the air are supposed to be depicted upon 
 her wonderful garments (p. 437). Chaucer substitutes a brief 
 description of his own, and represents the birds as real live ones, 
 gathering around her ; which is much more sensible. As 
 Prof. Morley says (Eng. Writers, ii. 200) — 'Alain describes 
 Nature's changing robe as being in one of its forms so ethereal 
 that it is like air, and the pictures on it seem to the eye a 
 Council of Animals {Animaliiim Concilium). Upon which, 
 beginning, as Chaucer does, with the Eagle and the Falcon, 
 Alain proceeds with a long list of the birds painted on her 
 transparent robe that surround Nature as in a council, and 
 attaches to each bird the most remarkable point in its character.' 
 Professor Hales, in the Academy, Nov. 19, 1881, quoted the 
 passages from Alanus which are here more or less imitated, and 
 drew attention to the remarkable passage in Spenser's F. O. 
 bk. vii.c. 7. St. 5-10, where that poet quotes and copies Chaucer. 
 Dunbar imitates Chaucer in his Thrissill and Rois, and de- 
 scribes Dame Nature as surrounded by beasts, birds, and 
 flowers; see stanzas 10, 11, 18, 26, 27 of that poem. 
 
 The phrase ' Nature la deesse ' occurs in Le Roman de la 
 Rose, 1. 16480. 
 
 309. Birds were supposed to choose their mates on St. 
 Valentine's day (Feb. 14) ; and lovers thought they must follow 
 their example, and then 'choose their loves.' Mr. Douce thinks 
 the custom of choosing valentines was a survival from the 
 Roman feast of the Lupercalia. See the articles in ]]rand, 
 Pop. Antiq. i. 53 ; Chambers, Book of Days, i. 255 ; Alban 
 Butler, Lives of Saints, Feb. 14 ; &:c. The custom is alluded to
 
 298 V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 hy Lydgate, Shakespeare, Herrick, Pepys, and Gay ; and in the 
 Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, iii. 169, is a letter written in Feb. 
 1477, where we find: 'And, cosyn, uppon Fryday is Sent 
 Volentynes Day, and every brydde chesyth hym a make.' See 
 also the Cuckoo and Nyghtingale, I. 80. 
 
 316. Aleyn, Alanus de Insulis ; Pleyfit of Kynde, Complaint 
 of Nature, Lat. Planctus Natural ; see note to 1. 298. Chaucer 
 refers us to Aleyn's description on account of its unmerciful 
 length ; it was hopeless to attempt even an epitome of it. 
 
 323. Foules of ravytte, birds of prey. Chaucer's division of 
 birds into birds of prey, birds that eat worms and insects, water- 
 fowl, and birds that eat seeds, can hardly be his own. In Vincent 
 of Beauvais, lib. xvi. c. 14, Aristotle is cited as to the food of 
 birds: — 'quaedam comedunt caj-ncin, quEedam ^;-(;^;7r7, quaedam 
 utrumque ; . . . qutedam vero comedunt vermes, vt passer. . . . 
 Vivunt et ex fnictii quasdam aues, vt palumbi, et turtures. 
 ()usedam viuunt in ripis aqiim^uin laciiuni, et cibantur ex eis.' 
 
 330. Royal ; because he is often called the king of birds, as in 
 Dunbar's Thrissill and Rois, st. 18. Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. 
 Nat., Hb. xvi. c. 32, quotes from lorath {sic) : — ' Aquila est auis 
 magna regalis.^ And Philip de Thaun, Bestiary, 991 (in Wright's 
 Pop. Treatises, p. 109) says : — ' Egle est rei de oisel. . . En 
 Latine raisun cler-veant le apellum, Ke le solail verat quant il 
 plus cler serat.' 
 
 331. See the last note, where we learn that the eagle is called 
 in Latin ' clear-seeing,' because ' he will look at the sun when it 
 will be brightest.' This is explained at once by the remarkable 
 etymology given by Isidore (cited by Vincent, as above), viz. : — 
 ' Agu-Wa. ab ac-umine oculorum vocata est.' 
 
 332. Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. x. c. 3, enumerates six kinds of 
 eagles, which Chaucer leaves us to find out ; viz. Mel^enaetos, 
 Pygargus, Morphnos, which Homer (II. xxiv. 316) ca.Us />erhtos, 
 Percnopterus, Cinesios (the true or royal eagle), and Haliasetos 
 (osprey). This explains the allusion in 1. 233- 
 
 334. Tyratint. This epithet was probably suggested by the 
 original text in Alanus, viz. — ' Illic ancipiter [accipiter], civitatis 
 prasfectus aerire, violenta iyranmde a subditis redditus expo- 
 scebat.' Sir Thopas had a ' grey goshauk ; ' C. T. Group B, 
 1928. 
 
 337. See note on \.\\cfai(con peregrin, Squi. Tale, 428, in my 
 edition of the Prioresses Tale, p. 220. ' Beautifully described as 
 " distreining" the king's hand with its foot, because carried by 
 persons of the highest rank ; ' Bell.
 
 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 299 
 
 339. Merlioji, merlin. ' The merlin is the smallest of the 
 long-winged hawks, and was generally carried by ladies ; ' 
 Bell. 
 
 342. From Alanus, as above: — 'Illic olor, sui funeris prasco, 
 mellita; citherizationis organo vita; prophetabat apocopam.' 
 The same idea is mentioned by Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. 
 lib. xvi. c. 50; Pliny says he believes the story to be false, Nat. 
 Hist. lib. X. c. 23. See Compl. of Anelida, 1. 346. 'The wild 
 swan's death-hymn ; ' Tennyson, The Dying Swan. Cf. Ovid, 
 Heroid. vii. 2. 
 
 343. From Alanus : — ' Illic bubo, propheta miseria;, psalmo- 
 dias funerete lamentationis pritcinebat.' So in the Rom. de la 
 
 Rose, 5999 : — 
 
 'Li chahuan . . . 
 Piophetes de male aventnre, 
 Hideus messagier de dolor.' 
 
 Cf. Vergil, J£.x\.. iv. 462 ; Ovid, Metam. v. 550 ; Shakespeare, 
 Mid. Nt. D. V. 385. And see Chaucer's Troilus, v. 319. 
 
 344. Geau}tt, giant. Alanus has : — 'grus ... in giganfece 
 quantitatis evadebat excessum.' Vincent (lib. xvi. c. 91) quotes 
 from Isidore : — ' Grues nomen de propria voce sumpserunt, tali 
 enim sono susurrant.' 
 
 345. ' The chough, who is a thief From Alanus, who has : — 
 ' Illic monedula, lairocinio laudabili reculas thesaurizans, innatas 
 avaritiae argumenta monstrabat.' ' It was an old belief in Corn- 
 wall, according to Camden (Britannia, tr. by Holland, 1610, p. 
 189J that the chough was an incendiary, "and thievish besides ; 
 for oftentimes it secretly conveieth fire-sticks, setting their 
 houses a-fire, and as closely filcheth and hideth little pieces of 
 money." ' — Prov. Names of Brit. Birds, by C. Swainson, p. 75. 
 So also in Pliny, lib. x. c. 29, choughs are called thieves. Vincent 
 of Beauvais quotes one of Isidore's delicious etymologies : — - 
 ' Monedula dicitur quasi mofie-tula, quK cum aurum inuenit 
 aufert et occultat ; ' i. e. from nionetavt tollere. ' The Jackdaw 
 tribe is notoriously given to pilfering ; ' Stanley, Hist, of Birds, 
 ed. 1880, p. 203. 
 
 langling, talkative ; so Alanus : — ' Illic pica . . curam logices 
 perennabat insomnem.' So in Vincent — 'pica loquax' — 'pica 
 garrula,' &c. ; and in Pliny, lib. x. c. 42. 
 
 346. Scornifig, ' applied to the jay, probably, because it follows 
 and seems to mock at the owl, whenever the latter is so unfortu- 
 nate as to be caught abroad in the daylight ; for this reason, 
 a trap for jays is always baited with a live owl ; ' Bell.
 
 3CO I'. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 ' The Jicyo/i will stand for hours in the shallow water watching 
 for eels ; ' Bell. Vincent quotes from Isidore : — ' Ciconeas . . . 
 serpentium hostes.' So also A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum, 
 lib. i. c. 64 : — ' Ranarum et locustarum et serpentum hostis est.' 
 
 347. Tfccheryt% trickery, deceit. ' During the season of 
 incubation, the cock-bird tries to draw pursuers from the nest 
 by wheeling round them, crying and screaming, to divert their 
 attention . . . while the female sits close on the nest till disturbed, 
 when she runs off, feigning lameness, or flaps about near the 
 ground, as if she had a broken wing ; cf. Com. Errors, iv. 2. 27 ; 
 Much Ado, iii. i. 24 ; ' Prov. Names of Brit. Birds, by C. 
 Swainson, p. 185. And cf. 'to seem the lapwing and to jest, 
 Tongue far from heart;' Meas. for Meas. i. 4. 32. 
 
 348. Stare, starling. As the starling can speak, there is 
 probably *an allusion to some popular story like the Manciple's 
 Tale, in which a talking starling betrays a secret ; ' Bell. The 
 same stor}' is in Ovid, Metam. bk. ii. 535 ; and in Gower, Conf. 
 Amant. bk. iii. ' Germanicus and Drusus had one stare, and 
 sundry nightingales, taught to parle Greeke and Latine ; ' 
 Holland's Phny, bk. x. c. 42. In the Seven Sages, ed. Weber, 
 p. 86, the bird who 'bewrays counsel ' is a magpie. 
 
 349. Coward kyte. See Squi. Tale, 624 ; and note. ' Miluus 
 . . fugatur a niso, quamuis in tripio sit maior illo ; ' Vincent of 
 Beauvais, lib. xvi. c. 108. 
 
 350. Alanus has:— 'Illic gallus, tanquam vulgaris astrologus, 
 sujE vocis horolflgio horarum loquebatur discrimina.' Cf. Nonne 
 l^restes Tale, 1. 33. We also see whence Chaucer derived his 
 epithet of the cock — 'common astrologer' — in Troilus, iii. 1415. 
 Tusser, in his Husbandry, ed. Payne, § 74, says the cock crows — 
 'At midnight, at three, and an hower ere day.' Hence the 
 expressions 'first cock' in K. Lear, iii. 4. 121, and 'second 
 cock' in Macbeth, ii. 3. 27. 
 
 351. The sparrow was sacred to Venus, from its amatory 
 disposition (Meas. for Meas. iii. 2. 185). In the well-known 
 song from Lyly's Alex-ander and Campaspe, Cupid 'stakes his 
 quiver, bow, and arrows, His Mother's doves, and team of 
 sparrows ; ' Songs from the Dramatists, ed. R. Bell, p. 50. 
 
 352. Cf. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. c. 29 — 'The nightingale . . . 
 chaunteth continually, namely, at that time as the trees begin to 
 ])ut out their leaues thicke.' 
 
 353. ' Nocct autem apibus sola inter animalia carnem habentia 
 et carnem comedentia;' Vincent of 15cauvais, De Jiyrundine ; 
 Spec. Nat. lib. xvi. c. 17. ' Culicum et muscarum et apecularum
 
 F. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 301 
 
 infestatrix ;' A. Neckam, De Naturis Rerum (De Hirundinc), 
 lib. i. c. 52, Cf. Vergil, Georg. iv. 15. 
 
 ' The swallow stopt as he hunted the bee ; ' 
 
 Tennyson, The Poet's Song. 
 
 355. Alanus has : — ' Illic turtiir, suo viduata consorte, amorcm 
 epilogare dedignans, in altero bigamiiu rcfutabat solatia.' ' l-'tiam 
 vulgo est notum turturem et amoris vcri pra^rogativa nobilitari 
 et castitatis titulis donari ; ' A. Neckam, i. 59. Cf. An Old 
 Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 22. 
 
 356. ' In many medieval paintings, the feathers of angels' 
 wings are represented as those of peacocks ; ' Bell. 
 
 357. Perhaps Chaucer mixed up the description of the 
 pheasant in Alanus with that of the 'gallus silvestris, pri- 
 vatioris galli deridcns desidiam,' which occurs almost imme- 
 diately below. Vincent (lib. xvi. c. 72) says : — ' Fasianus est 
 gallus syluaticus.' Or he may allude to the fact, vouched for 
 in Stanley's Hist, of Birds, ed. 1880, p. 279, that the Pheasant 
 will breed with the common Hen. 
 
 358. ' The Goose likewise is very vigilant and watchfull : 
 witnesse the Capitoll of Rome, which by the means of Geese 
 was defended and saued ; ' Holland's Pliny, bk. x. c. 22. 
 
 'There is no noise at all 
 Of waking clog, nor gaggling goose more waker tlien the hound.' 
 Golding, tr. of Ovid's Metam. bk. xi. fol. 139, back. 
 
 Unkynde, unnatural ; because of its behaviour to the hedge- 
 sparrow ; K. Lear, i. 4. 235. 
 
 359. Dclicasye, wantonness. 'Auis est luxuriosa nimium, 
 bibitque vinum ; ' Vincent (quoting from Liber de Naturis 
 Rerum), lib. xvi. c. 135, De Psittaco\ and again (quoting 
 from Physiologus) — ' cum vino incbriatur.' So in Holland's 
 Pliny, bk. x. c. 42 — 'She loueth wine well, and when shee 
 hath drunk freely, is very pleasant, plaifull, and wanton.' 
 
 360. ' The farmers' wives find the drake or mallard the 
 greatest enemy of their young ducks, whole broods of which 
 he will destroy unless removed.' Chaucer perhaps follows the 
 Liber de Naturis Rerum, as quoted in Vincent, lib. xvi. c. 27 
 {De Anate) : — ' Mares aliquando cum plures fuerint simul, tanta 
 libidinis insania feruntur, vt foeminam solam . . occidant.' 
 
 361. From A. Neckam, Liber de Naturis Rerum (ed. Wright, 
 lib. i. c. 64) ; cited in Vincent, lib. xvi. c. 48. The story is, that 
 a male stork, having discovered that the female was unfaithful 
 to him, went away ; and presently returning with a great many
 
 302 r'. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 other storks, the avengers tore the criminal to pieces. Another 
 very different story may also be cited. ' The stork is the 
 Embleme of a grateful Man. In which respect yElian writcth 
 of a storke, which bred on the house of one who had a veiy 
 beautiful wife, which in her husband's absence used to commit 
 adultry with one of her base servants : which the storke 
 observing, in gratitude to him who freely gave him house- 
 roome, flying in the villaines face, strucke out both his eyes.' 
 Guillim ; Display of He7'aldry, sect, iii. c. 19. 
 
 In Thynne's Animadversions on Speght's Chaucer, ed. Fur- 
 nivall, p. 68 (Chau. Soc), we find : — ' for Aristotle sayethe, and 
 Bartholomeus de proprietatibus rerum, li. 12. c. 8, with manye 
 other auctors, that yf the storke by any meanes perceve that 
 his female hath brooked spousehedde, he will no moore dwell 
 with her, but strykethe and so cruelly beateth her, that he will 
 not surcease vntill he hathe killed her yf he maye, to wreake 
 and reuenge that adulterye.' Cf. Batman vppon Bartholome, 
 ed. 1582, leaf 181, col. 2 ; Stanley, Hist, of Birds, 6th ed. p. 322 ; 
 and story no. 82 in Swan's translation of the Gesta Romanorum. 
 
 362. ' The voracity of the cormorant has become so proverbial, 
 that a greedy and voracious eater is often compared to this 
 bird ; ' Swainson, Prov. Names of British Birds, p. 143. See 
 Rich. II. ii. I. 38. 
 
 363. Wys ; because it could predict ; it was therefore con- 
 secrated to Apollo ; see Lewis and Short, s. v. corvus. Care, 
 anxiety ; hence, ill luck. ' In folk-lore the crow always appears 
 as a bird of the worst and most sinister character, representing 
 either death, or night, or winter ; ' Prov. Names of British Birds, 
 by C. Swainson, p. 84 ; which see. 
 
 364. Olde. I do not understand this epithet ; it is usually 
 the crow who is credited with a long life. Frosty ; i. e. that is 
 seen in England in the winter-time ; called in Shropshire the 
 snow-bird ; Swainson's Prov. Naines of Brit. Birds, p. 6. The 
 explanation of the phrase ' farewell feldefare,' occurring in Troil. 
 iii. 863 and in Rom. Rose, 5510, and marked by Tyrwhitt as 
 not understood, is easy enough. It simply means — 'good bye, 
 and we are well rid of you ; ' when the fieldfare goes, the warm 
 weather comes. 
 
 371. Formel, perhaps 'regular' or 'suitable' companion; as 
 F. fonnel answers to Lat. for/nalis. Tyrwhitt's Gloss, says : 
 'formel is put for ihe fe>na/e of any fowl, more especially for a 
 female eagle (11. 445, 535 below).' It has, however, no connection 
 with fc'/naie (as he seems to suppose), but answers rather, in
 
 V. THE PARLEMEXT OP POULES. 303 
 
 sense, to make, i.e. match, fit companion. Godcfroy cites the 
 expression ' faucon /^r/x/f/ ' from UAviculaire dcs Oiscaux de 
 proie (MS. Lyon 697, fol. 221 a). He explains it by 'qui a 
 d'amples formes,' meaning (as I suppose) simply ' large ; ' which 
 does not seem to be right ; though the tercel or male hawk was 
 so called because he was a third less than the female. We want 
 more quotations from Old French texts to settle this. 
 
 379. Vicaire, deputy. This term is taken from Alanus, De 
 Planctu Naturae, as above, where it occurs at least thrice. Thus, 
 at p. 469 of Wright's edition. Nature says :• — ' Me igitur tanquam 
 sui [Dei] vicariam;'' at p. 511 — ' Natura, Dei gratia mundaniu 
 civitatis vica7-ia procicratrix ; ' and at p. 5 16, Nature is addressed 
 as — ' O supracaelestis Principis fidelis vicaria ! ' M. Sandras 
 supposes that Chaucer took the term from the Rom. de la Rose, 
 but it is more likely that Chaucer and Jean de Meun alike took 
 it from Alanus. 
 
 ' Cis Diex meismes, par sa grace, . . . 
 Tfint m'ennoia, tant me tint chiere, 
 Qu'il m'establi sa chamberiere . . . 
 Por chamberiere ! certes vaire, 
 Por connestable, et por vicaire^ &c. 
 
 Rom. de la Rose, 16970, &c. 
 
 Here Nature is supposed to be the speaker. Chaucer again 
 uses vicairc of Nature, Doct. Tale, 1. 20, which see; and he 
 applies it to the Virgin Mary in his A B C, 1. 140. See also 
 Lydgate, Compl. of Black Knight, 1. 491. 
 
 380. That 1. 379 is copied from Alanus is clear from the fact 
 that 11. 380-1 are from the same source. At p. 451 of Wright's 
 edition, we find Nature speaking of the concordant discord of 
 the four elements — ' quatuor elementorum concors discordia ' — 
 which unites the buildings of the palace of this world — ' mun- 
 dialis regia; structuras conciHat.* Similarly, she says, the four 
 humours are united in the human body : — ' quae qualitates inter 
 elementa mediatrices conveniunt, ha; eaedem inter quatuor 
 humores pacis sanciunt firmitatem ; ' &c. 
 
 Compare also Boethius, bk. iii. met. 9, in Chaucer's translation 
 (ed. Morris, p. 87). ' Thou byndest the elementz by noumbres 
 proporcionabies, that the colde thinges mowen acorde with the 
 bote thinges, and the drye thinges with the moist thinges ; that 
 the fire that is purest ne fleye nat ouer heye, ne that the heuy- 
 nesse ne drawe nat adoun ouer lowe the erthes that ben plounged 
 in the watres. Thou knyttest togidre the mene soulc of treble 
 kynde moeuyng a'.le thinges ; ' (S:c.
 
 304 r. THE PA ELEMENT OF FOULES. 
 
 ' Et froit, et chaut, et sec, ct moiste ; ' 
 
 Rom. Rose, 17163. 
 'For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, 
 Strive here for mastery.' Milton, P. L. ii. 898. 
 
 386. Seynt, &c. ; i.e. on St. Valentine's day. 
 
 388. ' Ye come to choose your mates, and (then) to flee (on) 
 your way.' 
 
 411. I believe it will be found that Chaucer sometimes actually 
 crushes the two words this is into the time of one word only 
 (something like the modern ifs for it is). Hence I scan the line 
 thus : — 
 
 This 's our | usag' ] alvvey, | &c. 
 So again, in the Knight's Tale, 233 :— 
 
 We mot' I endur' | it this 's ] the short ] and pleyn. 
 
 And again, in the same, 885 : — 
 
 And seid | e this 's ] a short | conclii | sioun. 
 And frequently elsewhere. In the present case, both this and 
 is are unaccented, which is much harsher than when this bears 
 an accent. 
 
 I find that Ten Brink has also noted this peculiarity, in his 
 Chancers Sprache, § 271. He observes that, in C. T. Group 
 E, 56, the Ellesmere and Hengwrt MSS. actually substitute this 
 for this is; see my Prioresses Tale, &c., p. 61, footnote; and 
 hence note that the correct reading is — ' But this is his tale, 
 which,' &c. See this in Schmidt, Shak. Lexicon. 
 
 413. CofH, came. The o is long ; A. S. com = Goth. kwam. 
 
 417. 'I choose the formel to be my sovereign lady, not my 
 mate.' 
 
 421. ' Beseeching \vqx for mercy,' &c. 
 
 435. Read lovth ; monosyllabic, as frequently. 
 
 464. ' Ye see what little leisure we have here.' 
 
 471. ^(t?i'l possibP ^ just as in French. 
 
 476. Soin ; quite indefinite. ' Than (z;zo///t'r man.' 
 
 482. Nir-i's, hers ; dissyllabic. Whether^-whe'r. 
 
 485. 'The dispute is here called a. plee, or pica, or pleading; 
 and in the next stanza the terms of law, adopted into the Courts 
 of Love, are still more pointedly applied ;' Bell. 
 
 499. Hye, loudly. Kek kek represents the goose's cackle ; and 
 quek is mod. E. quack. 
 
 504. For, on behalf of; see next line. 
 
 507. For coniu7te spedc, for the common benefit. 
 
 508. ' For it is a great charity to set us free.'
 
 V. THE PARLE ME NT OF EOULES. 305 
 
 511. ' If it be your wish for any one to speak, it would be as 
 good for him to be silent ; it were better to be silent than to 
 talk as you do.' That is, the cuckoo only want to listen to those 
 who will talk nonsense. A mild rebuke. He explains (1. 514) 
 that it is better to be silent than to meddle with things which one 
 does not understand. 
 
 518. Lit. 'A duty assumed without direction often gives offence.' 
 A proverb which appears in other forms. In the Canon's 
 Yeoman's Tale, 1. 1066, it takes the form — ' Profred seruyse 
 stinketh ;' see note on the line, in my edition of the Man of 
 Lawes Tale. Unco7nmitted is not delegated, not entrusted to 
 one. Cotgrave has : ' Coniinis, assigned, appointed, delegated.' 
 
 524. / luge, I decide, my judgment is. Folk, kind of birds; 
 see note to 1. 323. 
 
 545. Our, ours ; it is the business of us who are the chosen 
 spokesmen. The luge is Nature. 
 
 556. Goler'm the Fairfax MS. is doubtless merely miswritten 
 for golee, as in Ff. ; Caxton turns it into golye, to keep it 
 dissyllabic ; the reading gole (in O. and Gg.) aXso=golee. 
 Godefroy has : ' Golee, goulee, goullee, gulee, geulee, s. f. cri, 
 parole ; ' and gives several examples. Cotgrave has : ' Goulee, 
 f. a throatfuU, or mouthful of, &c.' One of the Godefroy's ex- 
 amples gives the phrase — ' Et si dirai ge ma goulee,^ and so I 
 shall say my say. Chaucer uses the word sarcastically : his lafge 
 golee=h\s tedious gabble. Allied to E. gullett, gully. 
 
 564. Which a reson, what sort of a reason. 
 
 568. Cf. Cant. Tales, 5851, 5852. 
 
 572. ' To have held thy peace, than (to have) shewed.' 
 
 574. A common proverb. In the Rom. de la Rose, 1. 4750 
 (E. version, 1. 5268), it appears as : ' Nus fox ne scet sa langue 
 taire,' i.e. No fool knows how to hold his tongue. In the Pro- 
 verbs of Hendyng, it is : ' Sottes bolt is sone shote,' 1. 85. In 
 later English, ' A fool's bolt is soon shot ; ' cf. Henry V. iii. 7. 
 132, and As You Like It, v. 4. 67. Kemble quotes from MS. 
 Harl. fol. 4 — ' Ut dicunt multi, cito transit lancea stulti.' 
 
 578. The sothe sadde, the sober truth. 
 
 595. Another proverb. We now say — 'There's as good fish 
 in the sea as ever came out of it ; ' or, ' as ever was caught.' 
 
 603. 'Pushed himself forward in the crowd.' 
 
 610. Said sarcastically — 'Yes! when the glutton has filled his 
 paunch sufficiently, the rest of us are sure to be satisfied ! ' 
 
 Compare the following. ' Certain persones . . . saiyng that 
 Demades had now given over to bee suche an haine [niggardly 
 
 X
 
 3o6 F. rilE PARLEMEKT OF FOULES. 
 
 wretch] as he had been in tymes past — "Yea, marie, quoth 
 Demosthenes, for now ye see him full paunched, as lyons are." 
 For Demades was covetous and gredie of money, and indeed 
 the lyons are more gentle when their bealyes are well filled.' — 
 Udall, tr. of Apothcgmcs of Erasmus ; Anecdotes of De- 
 mosthenes. The merlin then addresses the cuckoo directly. 
 612. Heysugge, hedge-sparrow ; see note to 1. 358. 
 
 614. 'Live thou unmatcd, thou destruction (i.e. destroyer) of 
 worms.' 
 
 615. 'For it is no matter as to the lack of thy kind,' i.e. it 
 would not matter, even if the result was the loss of your entire 
 race. 
 
 616. ' Go ! and remain ignorant for ever.' 
 621. Read t]i'cleccioi(}i ; i.e. the choice. 
 
 623. Cheest, chooseth ; spelt cJiyest, Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 126 ; 
 spelt chest (with long e) in Shoreham's Poems, ed. Wright, 
 p. 109, where it rimes with lesi=leset/t, i.e. loseth ; A. S. cist, 
 Deut. xxviii. 9. 
 
 626. Accent fa7' our on the second syllable ; as in C. T., Croup 
 B, 3881 (Monkes Tale). 
 
 630. ' I have no other (i.e. no wrongful) regard to any rank,' I 
 am no respecter of persons. 
 
 633. ' I would counsel you to take ; ' two infinitives. 
 
 640. ' Under your rod,' subject to your correction. So in the 
 Schipmannes Tale, C. T. 13028. 
 
 641. The first accent is on As. 
 653. Maner-e is trisyllabic. 
 
 657. For ta?yifig, to prevent tarrying ; see note to C. T. Group 
 B, 2052 ; in my edition of the Prioresse Tale, p. 165. 
 
 664, 5. 'Whatever may happen afterwards, this intervening 
 course is ready prepared for all of you.* 
 
 670. They embraced each other with their wings and by inter- 
 twining their necks. 
 
 675. Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. i. (ed. Pauli, i. 134) speaks of 
 'Roundel, balade, and virelay.' Johnson, following the Dict.de 
 Trevoux, gives a fair definition of the roundel ; but I prefer to 
 translate that given by Littre, s. v. roiidcau. ' i. A short poem, 
 also called triolet, in which the first line or lines recur in the 
 middle and at the end of the piece. Such poems, by Froissart 
 and Charles d'Orleans, are still extant. 2. Another short poem 
 peculiar to French poetry, composed of thirteen lines broken 
 by a pause after the fifth and eighth lines, eight having one 
 rime and five another. The first word or words are repeated
 
 V. THE PA RLE ME NT OF FOULES. 307 
 
 after the eighth line and after the last, without forming part of 
 the verse ; it will readily be seen that this 7-ondcau is a modi- 
 fication of the foregoing ; instead of repeating the whole line, 
 only the first words are repeated, often with a different sense.' 
 The word is here used in the former sense ; and the remark 
 in Morley's Eng. Writers (ii. 283), that the Roundel consists 
 of thirteen lines, eight having one rime, and five another, is 
 not to the point here, as it relates to the later French 7-ondeau 
 only. An examination of Old French roundels shews us 
 that Littre's definition of the triolet is quite correct, and is 
 purposely left somewhat indefinite ; but we can apply a some- 
 what more exact description to the form of the roundel as used 
 by Machault, Deschamps, and Chaucer. 
 
 The form adopted by these authors is the following. First 
 come three lines, rimed abd ; next two more, rimed ab, and then 
 the first refrain ; then three more lines, rimed abb, followed by 
 the second refrain. Now the first refrain consists of either one, 
 or two, or three lines, being the first line of the poem, or the first 
 two, or the first three ; and the second refrain likewise consists 
 of either one, or two, or three lines, being the same lines as 
 before, but not necessarily the same number of them. Thus the 
 whole poem consists of eight unlike lines, three on one rime, 
 and five on another, with refrains of from two to six lines. 
 Sometimes one of the refrains is actually omitted, but this may 
 be the scribe's fault. However, the least possible number of lines 
 is thus reduced to nine ; and the greatest number is fourteen. 
 For example, Deschamps (ed. Tarbe) has roundels of nine lines 
 • — second refrain omitted — (p. 125) ; of ten lines (p. 36) ; of 
 eleven lines (p. 38) ; of twelve lines (p. 3) ; and of fourteen lines 
 (pp. 39, 43). But the prettiest example is that by Machault (ed. 
 Tarbe, p. 52), which has thirteen lines, the first refrain being of 
 iwo, and the second of three lines. And, as thirteen lines came 
 to be considered as the normal length, I here follow this as a 
 model ; merely warning the reader that he may make either of 
 his refrains of a different length, if he pleases. 
 
 There is a slight art in writing a roundel, viz. in distributing 
 the pauses. There must be a full stop at the end of the third 
 and fifth lines ; but the skilful poet takes care that complete 
 sense can be made by the first line taken alone, and also by the 
 first two lines taken alone. Chaucer has done this. 
 
 Todd, in his Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 372, gives a capital 
 example of a roundel by Occleve ; this is oi full length, both 
 refrains being of three lines, so that the whole poem is of 
 
 X 2
 
 3C8 VI. MERCILESS BEAUTY. 
 
 fourteen lines. This is quite sufficient to shew that the defini- 
 tion of a roundel in Johnson's Dictionary (which is copied from 
 the Uict. de Trevoux, and relates to the later rondeau of 
 i/iirteen lines) is quite useless as applied to roundels written in 
 Middle Englisli, 
 
 677. The note, i. e. the tune. Chaucer adapts his words to a 
 known French tune. The words Qui bien atme, a iard^ oublie 
 (he who loves well is slow to forget) probably refer to this tune ; 
 though it is not quite clear to me how lines of five accents 
 (normally) go to a tune beginning with a line of four accents. 
 In Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 55, we find: — 'Of the 
 rondeau of which the first line is cited in the Fairfax MS., &;c., 
 M. Sandras found the music and the words in a MS. of 
 Machault in the National Library, no. 7612, leaf 187. The 
 verses form the opening lines of one of two pieces entitled Le 
 Lay de plour : — 
 
 ' Qui bieu aime, a tart oublie, 
 
 Et cuers, qui oublie a tart, 
 
 Ressemble le feu qui art,' &c. 
 M. Sandras also says (j^/ude, p. 72) that Eustache Deschamps 
 composed, on this burden slightly modified, a pretty ballad, 
 inedited till M. Sandras printed it at p. 2S7 of his Etude ; and 
 that, a long time before Machault, Moniot de Paris began, by 
 this same line, a hymn to the Virgin that one can read in the 
 Arsenal Library at Paris, in the copy of a Vatican MS., B. L. 
 
 no. 63, fol. 283 : — 
 
 ' Ki bien aiine a tart oublie ; 
 Mais ne le puis oublier, 
 La douce vierge Marie.' 
 683. See note above, to 1. 309. 
 
 693. This last stanza is imitated at the end of the Court of 
 Love, and of Dunbar's Thrissill and Rois. 
 
 VL Merciless Beauty. 
 
 The title ' Mercilesse Beaute' is given in the Index to the 
 Pepys MS. As it is a fitting title, and no other has been 
 suggested, it is as well to use it. 
 
 I think this Roundel was suggested by one written in French, 
 in the thirteenth century, by Willamme d'Amiens, and printed 
 in Bartsch, Chrestomathie de I'ancien Fran^ais. It begins — 
 
 ' In old French, a tard mea.ns 'slowly, late;' later French drops a, 
 and uses /ard only.
 
 VI. MERCILESS BEAUTY. 309 
 
 ' Jamais ne serai saous 
 
 D'esguarder les vairs ieus dous 
 
 Qui m'ont ocis'; — 
 1. e. I shall never be sated with gazing on the gray soft eyes 
 which have slain me. 
 
 I. The MS. has Yowr two yen ; but the scribe lets us see 
 that this ill-sounding arrangement of the words is not the 
 author's own ; for in writing the refrain he writes ' Your yen, 
 &c.' But we have further evidence : for the whole line is 
 quoted in Lydgate's Ballade of our Ladie, printed in Chaucer's 
 Works, ed. 1561, fol. 330, in the form — 'Your iyen twoo woll 
 slea me sodainly.' The same Ballad contains other imitations 
 of Chaucei''s language. Cf. also Kn. Tale, 260. 
 
 3. So woiiiidcih hit . . . ke7ie, so keenly it (your beauty) 
 wounds (me). The MS. has wojideth, which is another M. E. 
 spelling of woiindeth. Percy miscopied it wendeth, which gives 
 but poor sense ; besides, Chaucer would probably have used 
 the contracted form wefit, as his manner is. In 1. 5, the scribe 
 writes wound (better wounde). 
 
 4. And but, and unless. For word Percy printed words, 
 quite forgetting that the M. E. plural is dissyllabic (word-es). 
 The final d has a sort of curl to it, but a comparison with other 
 words shews that it means nothing ; it occurs, for instance, at 
 the end oiwotcnd (1. 5), and escaped (1. 27). 
 
 Wounde (MS. wou7id) is dissyllabic in Mid. English, like 
 mod. G. Wunde. See wunde in Stratmann. 
 
 6. I give two lines to the first refrain, and three to the second. 
 The reader may give three lines to both, if he pleases ; see note 
 to sect. V, 1. 675. We cannot confine the first refrain to one 
 line only, as there is no stop at the end of 1. 14. 
 
 8. Trouth-e is dissyllabic ; see treouthe in Stratmann. 
 
 15. Ne availeth ; with elided c. MS. nauailleth ; Percy 
 prints rHavaileth. 
 
 16. Halt, i. e. holdeth ; see Book of Duch. 621. 
 
 17. MS. han ye me, correctly ; Percy omits me, and so spoils 
 both sense and metre. 
 
 28. MS. neu^re ; Percy prints ne7-e ; but the syllables in his 
 occupy the time of one syllable. I suspect that the correct 
 reading is thenke ben ; to is not wanted, and thenke is better 
 with a final e, though it is sometimes dropped in the pres. 
 indicative. Percy prints thinke, but the MS. has thenk ; cf. 
 A.S. \et2can. With 1. 29 cf. Troil. v. 363. 
 
 31. I do no for s, I don't care; as in Cant. Ta. 6816.
 
 3IO VII. ,ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 
 
 VII. Anelida and Arcite. 
 
 This Poem consists of several distinct portions. It begins 
 with a Proem, of three stanzas, followed by a part of the story, 
 in twenty-seven stanzas, all in seven-line stanzas. Next follows 
 the Complaint of Anelida, skilfully and artificially constructed ; 
 it consists of a Proem in a single stanza of nine lines ; next, 
 what may be called a Strophe, in six stanzas, of which the first 
 four consist of nine lines, the fifth consists of sixteen lines (with 
 only two rimes)., and the sixth, of nine lines (with internal 
 rimes). Next follows what may be called an Anti strophe, in six 
 stanzas arranged precisely as before ; wound up by a single 
 concluding stanza corresponding to the Proem at the beginning 
 of the Complaint. After this, the story begins again ; but the 
 poet had only written otie stanza when he suddenly broke off, 
 and left the poem unfinished ; see note to 1. 357. 
 
 The name of Arcite naturally reminds us of the Knightes 
 Tale; but the 'false Arcite' of the present poem has nothing 
 beyond the name in common with the ' true Arcite' of the Tale. 
 However, there are other connecting links, to be pointed out in 
 their due places, which tend to shew that this p>oem was written 
 befo7'e the Knightes Tale, and was never finished ; it is also 
 probable that Chaucer actually wrote an earlier draught of the 
 Knightes Tale, with the title of Palamon and Arcite, which he 
 afterwards partially rejected ; for he mentions ' The Love of 
 Palamon and Arcite ' in the prologue to the Legend of Good 
 Women as if it were an independent work. However this may 
 be, it is clear that, in constructing or rewriting the Knightes 
 Tale, he did not lose sight of ' Anelida,' for he has used some of 
 the lines over again ; moreover, it is not a little remarkable that 
 the very lines from Statins which are quoted at the beginning of 
 the fourth stanza of Anelida are also quoted, in some of the 
 MSS., at the beginning of the Knightes Tale. 
 
 But this is not all. For Dr. Koch has pointed out the close 
 agreement between the opening stanzas of this poem, and those 
 of Boccaccio's Teseide, Avhich is the very work from which 
 Palamoti mid Arcite was, of course, derived, as it is the chief 
 source of the Knightes Tale also. Besides this, there are 
 several stanzas from the Teseide in the Parliament of Foules ; 
 and even three near the end of Troilus, viz. the seventh, eighth, 
 and ninth from the end of the last book. Hence we should be 
 inclined to suppose that Chaucer originally translated the Teseide
 
 VIT. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 31I 
 
 rather closely, substituting a seven-line stanza for the ottava 
 ritna of the original ; this formed the original Palamon atid 
 Arcite, a poem which he probably never finished (as his manner 
 was). Not wishing, however, to abandon it altogether, he 
 probably used some of the lines in this present poem, and 
 introduced others into his Parliament of Foules. At a later 
 period, he rewrote, in a complete form, the whole story in his 
 own fashion, which has come down to us as The Knightes 
 Tale. Whatever the right explanation may be, we are at any 
 rate certain that the Tcseide is the source of (i) sixteen stanzas 
 in the Parliament of Foules ; (2) of part of the first ten stanzas 
 in the present poem ; (3) of the original Palamon and Arcite; 
 (4) of the Knightes Tale ; and (5) of three stanzas near the end 
 of Troilus {Tcs. xi. 1-3). 
 
 1. In comparing the first three stanzas with the Teseide, we 
 must reverse the order of the stanzas in the latter poem. Stanza 
 I of Annelida answers to st. 3 of the Italian ; stanza 2, to st. 2; 
 and stanza 3 to st. i. The first two lines of lib. I. st. 3 (of the 
 Italian) are : — 
 
 ' Siate prcsenti, O Marte riibicondo, 
 Nelle tue arme rigido e feroce.^ 
 
 I, e. Be preseftt, O Mars the red, strong and Jie7'ce in thy ai'ins 
 (battle-array). For the words Be present, see 1. 6. 
 
 2. Trace, Thrace. Cf. Kn. Tale, 11 14-6. Chaucer was here 
 thinking of Statius, Theb. lib. vii. 40, where there is a description 
 of the temple of Mars on Mount Hcemus, in Thrace, described 
 as having a frosty climate. In bk. ii, 1. 719, Pallas is invoked 
 as being superior to Bellona. 
 
 6, 7. Partly imitated from Tcs. i. 3 : — 
 
 'E sostenete la mano e la voce 
 Di me, che intendo i vostri effect! dire.' 
 
 8-10. Imitated from Tcs. i. 2 :— 
 
 ' Che m' e venuta voglia con pictosa 
 Rima di scriver una storia antica, 
 Tanto negli anni riposta e nascosa, 
 Che latino autor non par ne dica, 
 Per quel ch' io senta, in libro alcuna cosa.' 
 
 Thus it appears that, when speaking of his finding an old story 
 in Latin, he is actually translating from an Italian poem which 
 treats of something else ! That is, his words give no indication 
 whatever of the source of his poem ; but are merely used in
 
 312 VII. AXE LI DA AND A R CITE. 
 
 a purely conventional manner. The 'old story' is really that 
 of the siege of Thebes ; and the Latiti is the Thcbais of Statius. 
 And neither of them speak of Anelida ! 
 
 15. Kea.d /dvounidr. Imitated from Tes. i. i : — 
 
 ' O sorelle Castalie, che nel monte 
 Elicona contejite dimorate 
 D' intorno al sacro gorgoneo fonte, 
 Sottesso r o>?tbra delle frondi amate 
 Da Felio, delle quali ancor la fronte 
 I' spero ornarmi sol che '1 concediate 
 Gli santi orecchi a' miei prieghi porgete, 
 E qucgli udite come voi volete.' 
 
 Polymia, Polyhymnia, also spelt Polymnia, Gk. Ilokvuvia ; one 
 of the nine Muses. Chaucer invokes the muse Clio in Troil. 
 bk. ii, and Calliope in bk. iii. Cf. Ho. of Fame, 520-2. Parttaso, 
 Parnassus, a mountain in Phocis sacred to Apollo and the Muses, 
 at whose foot was Delphi and the Castalian spring. Elicon, mount 
 Helicon in Boeotia ; Chaucer seems to have been thinking 
 rather of the Castalian spring, as he uses the prep, by, and 
 supposes Elicon to be n&a.r Parnaso. See the Italian, as quoted 
 above ; and note that, in the Ho. of Fame, 522, he says that 
 Helicon is a well. 
 A similar confusion occurs in Troilus, iii. 1809 : — • 
 ' Ye sustren nine eek, that by Helicone 
 In hill Pernaso, listen for tabide.' 
 
 17. Cirrea, Cirra. Chaucer was thinking of the adj. Cirrcri/s. 
 Cirra was an ancient town near Delphi, under Parnassus. 
 Dante mentions Cirra, Parad. i. 36 ; and Partiaso just above, 
 1. 16. Perhaps Chaucer took it from him. 
 
 20. A common simile. So Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. i, 42; and at 
 the end of the Thebaid and the Teseide both. 
 
 21. Stace, Statius; i.e. the Thebaid; whence some of the 
 next stanzas are more or less borrowed. Chaucer epitomises the 
 general contents of the Thebaid in his Troilus ; v. 1478, &c. 
 
 Corijute, not Corinna (as some have thought, for she has 
 nothing to do with the matter), but Corinnus. Corinnus was a 
 disciple of Palamedes, and is said to have written an account of 
 the Trojan War, and of the war of the Trojan king Dardanus 
 against the Paphlagonians, in the Dorian dialect. Suidas asserts 
 that Homer made some use of his writings. See Zedler, Uni- 
 versal Lexicon ; and Biog. Univcrselle. How Chaucer met 
 with this name, is not known. Possibly, however, Chaucer was
 
 VII. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. 313 
 
 thinking of Cfllonnn, i. e. Guido di Colonna, author of the 
 medieval Bellum Trojanum. But this does not help us, and it 
 is at least as likely that the name Corinne was merely intro- 
 duced by way of flourish ; for no source has been discovered for 
 the latter part of the poem, which may have been entirely of his 
 own invention. Cf. note to 1. 8 above. 
 
 22. The verses from Statins, preserved in the MSS., are the 
 three lines following ; from Thebais, xii. 519 : — 
 
 'Jamqne domos patrias Scythicae post aspera gentis 
 PrjElia laurigero subeiintem Thesea curru, 
 Lxtifici plausus missusque ad sidera vulgi,' &c. 
 The first line and half the second appear also in the MSS. of 
 the Canterbury Tales, at the head of the Knightes Tale, which 
 commences, so to speak, at the same point (1. 765 in Lewis's 
 translation of the Thebaid). Comparing these hnes of Statins 
 with the lines in Chaucer, we at once see how he came by the 
 word aspre and the expression With laurer croiined. The 
 whole of this stanza (11. 22-28) is expanded from the three lines 
 here quoted. 
 
 23. Cilhe, Scythia ; see last note. See Kn. Tale, 9. 
 
 24. Cf. Kn. Tale, 169, 121. 
 
 25. Contre-lioiises, houses of his country, homes (used of 
 Theseus and his army). It exactly reproduces the Lat. domos 
 patrias. See Kn. Tale, 11. 
 
 29-35. Chaucer merely takes the general idea from Statius, 
 and expands it in his own way. Lewis's translation of Statius 
 has :■ — 
 
 'To swell the pomp, before the chief are borne 
 The spoils and trophies from the vanquish'd torn ; ' 
 but the Lat. text has — 
 
 'Ante ducem spolia et duri Mauoi-tis imago, 
 Uirginei currus, cumulataque fercula cristis.' 
 
 And, just below, is a brief mention of Hippolyta, who had been 
 wedded to Theseus. 
 
 30, 31. Cf. Kn. Tale, ii7» 118. See note above. 
 
 36, 37. Cf. Kn. Tale, 23, 24 ; observe the order of words. 
 
 38. Repeated in Kn. Tale, 114 ; changing With to And. 
 
 Emelye is not mentioned in Statius. She is the Emilia of the 
 Teseide ; see lib. ii. st. 22 of that poem. 
 
 43-46. Cf. Kn. Tale, 14, 15, 169. 
 
 47. Here we are told that the story is really to begin. 
 Chaucer now returns from Statius (whom he has nearly done
 
 314 ^'^^- ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 
 
 with) to the Teseide, and the next three stanzas, 11. 50-70, are 
 more or less imitated from that poem, lib. ii. st. 10-12. 
 
 50-56. Boccaccio is giving a sort of summary of the result of 
 the war described in the Thebaid. His words are : 
 'Fra tanto Marte i popoli lernei 
 
 Con furioso corso avie commossi 
 
 Sopro i Tebani, e miseri trofei 
 
 Donati avea de' Principi percossi 
 
 Piu volte gia, e de' greci plebei 
 
 Ritenuti tal volta, e tal riscossi 
 
 Con asta sanguinosa fieramente, 
 
 Tiista avea fatta 1' xina e 1' altra gente.' 
 
 57-63. Imitated from Tcs. ii. 11 : — ■ 
 
 ' Percio che dopo Anfiarao, Tideo 
 Stato era ucciso, e '1 buon Ippomedone, 
 E similmeiite il bel Partenopeo, 
 E piu Teban, de' qua' non fo menzione, 
 Dinanzi e dopo al fiero Capaneo, 
 E dietro a tutti in doloroso agone, 
 Eteocle e Polinice, ed ispedito 
 II solo Adrastro ad Argo era fuggito.' 
 See also Troilus, v. 151 1-7. 
 
 57. Amphiorax \ so in Troilus, ii. 105, v. 1512 ; Cant. Tales, 
 6323 ; and in Lydgate's Siege of Thebes. Amphioraus is meant ; 
 he accompanied Polynices, and was swallowed up by the earth 
 during the siege of Thebes ; Statius, Thebais, lib. vii. (at the 
 end) ; Dante, Itif. xx. 34. Tydeus and Polynices married the 
 two daughters of Adrastus. The heroic acts of Tydeus are 
 recorded in the Thebaid. See Lydgate, Siege of Thebes ; or 
 the extract from it in my Specimens of English. 
 
 58. Ipomedon, Hippomedon ; one of the seven chiefs who 
 engaged in the war against Thebes. Parthoiwpee, Partheno- 
 pasus, son of Meleager and Atalanta ; another of the seven 
 chiefs. For the account of their deaths, see the Thebaid, lib. ix. 
 
 59. Cmnpancits ; spelt Cuppaneus, Capancus in Kn. Talc, 74 ; 
 Troil. V. 1 5 16. Thynnc, in his Animadversions on Spcght's 
 Chaucer (ed. Furnivall, p. 43), defends the spelling Campafieus 
 on the ground that it was the usual medieval spelling ; and 
 refers us to Gower and Lydgate. In Pauli's edition of Gower, i. 
 108, it is Capaneus. Lydgate has Cavipanens ; Siege of Thebes, 
 pt. iii. near the beginning. Capaneus is the right Latin form ; 
 he was one of the seven chiefs, and was struck with lightning 
 by Jupiter whilst scaling the walls of Thebes ; Statius, Theb.
 
 Vn. ANRUDA AND ARCITE. 3T5 
 
 lib. X (at the end). Cf. Dante, Inf. xiv. 63. As to the form 
 Cainpancics, cf. Ital. Cainpidoglio with Lat. Capitoliiwi. 
 
 60. ' The Theban wretches, the two brothers ; ' i. e. Eteocles 
 and Polynices, who caused the war. Cf. Troil. v. 15 18. 
 
 61. Adrastus, king of Argos, who assisted his son-in-law 
 Polynices, and survived the war; Theb. lib. xi. 441. 
 
 63. ' That no man knew of any remedy for his (own) misery.' 
 Care, anxiety, misery. At this line Chaucer begins upon st. 12 
 of the second book of the Teseide, which runs thus : — 
 ' Onde il misero gente era rimaso 
 
 Voto ' di gente, e pien d' ogni dolore ; 
 
 Ma a picciol tempo da Creonte invaso 
 
 Fu, che di quello si fe' re e signore, 
 
 Con tristo augurio, in doloroso caso 
 
 Rec6 insieme il regno suo e 1' onore, 
 
 Per fiera crudelta da lui usata, 
 
 Mai da null' altro davanti pensata.' 
 
 Cf. Knightes Tale, 80-4. 
 
 71. From this point onward, Chaucer's work is, as far as we 
 know at present, original. He seems to be intending to draw a 
 portrait of a queen of Armenia who is neglected by her lover, 
 in distinct contrast to Emilia, sister of the queen of Scythia, 
 who had a pair of lovers devoted to her service. 
 
 72. Ennoiiy, Armenia ; the usual M. E. form. 
 
 78. 0/ twetity yeer of elde, of twenty years of age ; so in 
 MSS. F., Tn., and Harl. 372. See note to 1. 80. 
 
 80. Behelde; so in MSS. Harl., F. ; and Harl. 372 has 
 beheelde. I should hesitate to accept this form instead of the 
 usual beholde, but for its occurrence in Gower, Conf. Amant., ed. 
 Pauli, iii. 147 : — 
 
 ' The wine can make a creple sterte 
 And a deliver man unwelde ; 
 It maketh a blind man to bchelde^ 
 
 So also in the Moral Ode, 1. 288, the Trinity MS. has the infin. 
 behealde, and the Lambeth MS. has hihclde. It appears to be 
 a Southern form, adopted here for the rime, like ke7i for kin in 
 Book of the Duch. 438. 
 
 There is further authority ; for we actually find hclde for Jiolde 
 in five MSS. out of six, riming with welde (wolde) ; C. T., Group 
 D, 1. 272. 
 
 82. Penelope and Lucretia are favourite examples of con- 
 
 * Voto, 'hollow, voide, empty'; Florio.
 
 3l6 VII. AXELIDA AND A K CITE. 
 
 stancy ; see C. T., Group B, 63, 75 (in my edit, of Prioresses 
 Tale) ; Book Duch. 1081-2; Leg. Good Women, 252, 257. 
 
 84. Amended. Compare what is said of Zenobia ; C. T., B. 
 
 3444- 
 
 85. I have supplied Arciie, which the MSS. strangely omit. 
 It is necessary to 7ia7ne him here, to introduce him ; and the 
 line is else too short. Chaucer frequently shifts the accent 
 upon this name, so that there is nothing wrong about either 
 Arcite here, or Arcite in 1. 92. See Kn. Tale, 173, 344, 361, &c. 
 on the one hand ; and hnes 1297, 1885 on the other. And see 
 1. 140 below. 
 
 98. 'As, indeed, it is needless for men to learn such craftiness.' 
 
 105. A proverbial expression ; see Squi. Tale, 537. The 
 character of Arcite is precisely that of the false tercelet in 
 Part II. of the Squieres Tale ; and Anelida is like the falcon in 
 the same. Both here and in the Squieres Tale we find the 
 allusions to Lamech, and to blue as the colour of constancy; see 
 notes to 11. 146, 150, 161-9 below. 
 
 119. Cf. Squi. Tale, 569. 
 
 141. New-fMigelnesse \ see p. 199, 1. I, and Squi. Tale, 610. 
 
 145. In her liewe, in her colours : he wore the colours which 
 she affected. This was a common method of shewing devotion 
 to a lady's service. 
 
 146. Observe the satire in this line. Arcite is supposed to 
 have worn white, red, or green ; but he did not wear blue, for 
 that was the colour of constancy. Cf. Squi. Tale, 644, and the 
 note ; and see 1. 330 below ; also p. 199, 1. 7. 
 
 150. Cf. Squi. Tale, 550. I have already drawn attention to 
 the resemblance between this poem and the Squieres Tale, in 
 my note to 1. 548 of that Tale. Cf. also Cant. Tales, 5636. 
 The reference is to Gen. iv. 19 — 'And Lamech took unto him 
 two wives.' In 1. 154, Chaucer curiously confounds him with 
 Jabal, Lamech's son, who was 'the father of such as dwell in 
 tents ' ; Gen. iv. 20. 
 
 155. Arcit-e ; trisyllabic, as frequently in Kn. Talc. 
 
 157. 'Like a wicked horse, which generally shrieks when it 
 bites ; ' Bell. This explanation is clearly wrong. The line is 
 repeated, with the slight change of pteytie to whine, in C. T. 
 5968. To picyne or to wJiine means to utter a plaintive cry, or 
 to whinny ; and the sense is—' Like a horse, (of doubtful temper), 
 which can either bite or whinny (as if wanting a caress). 
 
 161. Theef, false wretch ; cf. Squi. Tale, 537. 
 
 162. Cf. Squi. Tale, 462, 632,
 
 Vn. ANELIDA AND ARCITE. 317 
 
 166. Cf. Squi. Tale, 448. 
 169. Cf. Squi. Tale, 412, 417, 430, 631. 
 
 171. Al crainpissheth^ she draws all together, contracts con- 
 vulsively ; formed from craiup. I know of but four other 
 examples of the use of this word. 
 
 In Lydgate's Flour of Curtesie, st. 7. printed in Chaucer's 
 Works, ed. 1561, fol. 248, we have the lines : — 
 
 'I gan complayne min inwarde deadly smert 
 That aye so sore craiiipeshe at min herte.' 
 
 As this gives no sense, it is clear that crainpeshe at is an error 
 for cranipisheih, which Lydgate probably adopted from the 
 present passage. 
 
 Again, I have a note that, in Lydgate's Life of St. Edmund, 
 in MS. Harl. 2278, fol. loi, are the lines : — 
 
 *By pouert spoiled, which made hem sore smerte, 
 Which, as they thouhte, cratupysshed at her herte.' 
 
 Skelton has encrainnpysshed, Garland of Laurell, 16 ; and Dyce's 
 note gives an example of craumpishing from Lydgate's Wars of 
 Troy, bk. iv. sig. Xv. ed. 1555. 
 
 Once more, Lydgate, in his Fall of Princes, bk. i. c. 9 (pr. by 
 Wayland, leaf 18, col. 2), has the line — 
 
 ' Deth crampishing into their hert gan crepe.' 
 
 175. In Kn. Tale, 1950, it is Arcite who says ' mercy f^ 
 
 176. Read endur'th. Mate, exhausted. 
 
 177. Read 71' hath. Sitstene, support herself; cf. C. T. 1 1 173. 
 
 178. Forth is here equivalent to 'continues'; is or divelleth 
 is understood. Read languisshing. 
 
 1 80. Grejte, fresh ; probably with a reference to green as 
 being the colour of inconstancy. 
 
 182. Nearly repeated in Kn. Tale, 1539. 
 
 183. If up is to be retained before so, change holdeth into 
 halt. ' His new lady reins him in by the bridle so tightly 
 (harnessed as he is) at the end of the shaft (of her car), that 
 he fears every word like an arrow.' The image is that of a 
 horse, tightly fastened to the ends of the shafts of a car, and 
 then so hardly reined in that he fears every word of the driver ; 
 he expects a cut with the whip, and he cannot get away. 
 
 193. Mete or sippe, meat or drink ; we now say ' bite or sup.' 
 This is decidedly the correct reading. The MSS. mostly have 
 fee or shippe, or fee or shepe, which are absurd. In the Harl. 
 MS. 372, which has fee or sheep, a (late) marginal note has 
 meate or siipp.
 
 31 8 VI T. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. 
 
 194. SejU, short for scndciJi ; cf. scrvetli above. Cf. Book of 
 Duch. 1024. 
 
 202. Also, as ; 'as may God save me.' 
 
 206. Her ne gat no gcyn, she obtained for herself no ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 211. The metre now becomes extremely artificial. The first 
 stanza is introductory. Its nine lines are rimed aabaabbab, 
 with only two rimes. I set back lines 3, 6, 7, 9, to shew the 
 arrangement more clearly. The next four stanzas are in the 
 same metre. The construction is obscure, but is cleared up by 
 I. 350, which is its echo, and again by 11. 270-1. Siuerd is the 
 nom. case, and tJiit-leth is its verb ; ' the sword of sorrow, 
 whetted with false complaisance, so pierces my heart, (now) 
 bare of bliss and black in hue, with the (keen) point of (tender) 
 recollection.' Chaucer's ' with . . . remembrance ' is precisely 
 Dante's ' Per la puntura della rimembranza ' ; Purg. xii. 20. 
 
 214. Cf. p. 215,1. 55. 
 
 215. Aivhapcd, amazed, stupified. To the examples in 
 Murray's Diet, add — 'Sole by himself, aiuliapcd and amate'; 
 Compl. of the Black Knight, 168. See the Glossary. 
 
 216. Cf. p. 217, 1. 123. 
 
 2 1 8. Tliat, who : relative to her above. 
 
 220. Observe how the stanza, which 1 here number as i, is 
 echoed by the stanza below, 11. 281-289 ; and so of the rest. 
 
 222. Nearly repeated below, p. 214, 1. 35. 
 
 241. Founde, seek after ; A. S. fundiaft. Por founde, all the 
 IMSS. have be foimde, but the be is merely copied in from be 
 ■more in 1. 240. If we retain be, then bcfounde must be a com- 
 pound verb, with the same sense as before ; but there is no 
 known example of this verb, though the related strong verb 
 befinden is not uncommon. But see 1. 47 above. 
 
 247. Cf. p. 217, 11. 107, 108. 
 
 256-271. This stanza is in the same metre as that marked 5 
 below, 11. 317-332. It is very complex, consisting of 16 lines of 
 varying length. The lines which I have set back have but 
 four accents ; the rest have five. The rimes in the first eight 
 lines are arranged in the order aaabaaab; in the last eight 
 lines this order is precisely reversed, giving bbbabbb a. There 
 are but two rimes throughout. The difficulty of it is considerable. 
 
 260. Namely, especially, in particular. 
 
 262. 'Offended you, as surely as (1 hope that) He who knows 
 everything may free my soul from woe.' 
 
 265. This refers to 11. 113-5 above.
 
 VII. ANELIDA AND A R CITE. 319 
 
 267. Read sav-c, inek-e ; or the line will be too short. 
 
 270. Refers to 11. 21 1-3 above. 
 
 272. This stanza answers to that marked 6 below, 11. 333-341. 
 It is the most complex of all, as the lines contain internal rimes. 
 The lines are of the normal length, and arranged with the end- 
 rimes a ab a abb a b, as in the stanzas marked I to 4 above. 
 Every line has an internal rime, viz. at the second and fourth 
 accents. In 11. 274, 280, this internal rime is a feminine one, 
 which leaves but one syllable (viz. Jiay, may) to complete these 
 lines. 
 
 The expression 'swete fo' occurs again at p. 214, 1. 41 ; also 
 in Troil. v. 228. And cf. p. 215, 11. 64, 65. 
 
 279. 'And then shall this, which is now wrong, (turn) into a 
 jest ; and all (shall be) forgiven, whilst I may live.' 
 
 281. The stanza here marked i answers to the stanza so 
 marked above ; and so of the rest. The metre has already 
 been explained. 
 
 286. ' There are no other fresh intermediate ways.' 
 
 299. ' And must I pray (to you), and so cast aside woman- 
 hood .'" It is not for the woman to sue to the man. Compare 
 
 1- 332. 
 
 302. ' And if I lament as to what life 1 lead.' 
 
 306. ' Your demeanour may be said to flower, but it bears no 
 seed.' There is much promise, but no performance. 
 
 309. Holde, keep back. The spelling Avery II (or Auerill) 
 occurs in MS. Harl. 7333, MS. Addit. 16165, and MSS. T. and 
 P. It is much better than the Aprill or Aptille in the rest. I 
 would also read Averill in Troil. i. 1 56. 
 
 313. Wlio tliat, whosoever. Fast, trustworthy. 
 
 315. If an animal is easily startled, it shews that it has not 
 been properly tamed. 
 
 320. Chatintc-pleure. Godefroy says that there was a cele- 
 brated poem of the 13th century named Chaittepleure or Pleure- 
 chante ; and that it was addressed to those who sing in this 
 world and will weep in the next. Hence also the word was 
 particularly used to signify any complaint or lament, or a chant 
 at the burial-ser\dce. One of his quotations is : — ' Heu brevis 
 honor qui vix duravit per diem, sed longus dolor qui usque ad 
 mortem, gallice la chantepleiirc'' ; J. de Aluet, Serni., Richel. 
 1. 14961, fol. 195, verso. And again : — 
 'Car le juge de verite 
 I'ugnira nostre iniquite 
 Par la balance d'equite
 
 320 Vn. ANELIDA AXD A R CITE. 
 
 Qui ou val de la chantepleure 
 Nous boute en grant adversite 
 Sanz fin a perpetuite, 
 Et y parsevere et demeure.' 
 
 J. de Meung, Le Tresor, 1, 1350 ; ed. Meon. 
 
 Tynvhitt says : — * A sort of proverbial expression for singing 
 and weeping successively [rather, little singing followed by 
 much weeping]. See Lydgate, Trag. [i. e. Fall of Princes] 
 St. the last ; where he says that his book is ' Lyke Chantepleure, 
 now singing now weping.' In MS. Harl. 4333 is a Ballad which 
 turns upon this expression. It begins : ' Moult vaut mieux 
 plctire-cliante que ne fait cliante-pleure. ' Clearly the last ex- 
 pression means, that short grief followed by long joy is better 
 than brief joy followed by long grief. The fitness of the appli- 
 cation in the present instance is obvious. 
 
 Another example occurs in Lydgate's Fall of Princes, bk. i. 
 c. 7, lenvoy : — 
 
 * It is like to the chatmtc-plairc. 
 Beginning with ioy, ending in wretchednes.' 
 
 328. A furlofig-iaey meant the time during which one can 
 walk a furlong, at three miles an hour. A mile-way is twenty 
 minutes; z. ftirlong-wey is two minutes and a half; and the 
 double of it is five minutes. Such is the strict sense ; which is, 
 of course, not to be insisted on here. 
 
 330. Asure, true blue ; the colour oi constancy ; see 1. 332. 
 
 * Her habyte was of manyfolde colours, 
 Watchet-^^/d-'TW of fayned stedfastiiessc, 
 
 Her golde allayed like son in watry showres, 
 Meynt with grcnc, for chatinge and doublcjicssc.^ 
 
 Lydgate's Fall of Princes, bk. vi. c. i. si. 7. 
 
 So in Troil. iii. 885 — ' bcrc to him this blcivc ring.' And see 
 p. 199, 1. 7, and the note. 
 
 332. ' And to pray to me for mercy.' Cf. 11. 299, 300. 
 338. They, i. e. your ruth and your truth. 
 
 341. ' My wit cannot reach, it is so weak.' 
 
 342. Here follows the concluding stanza of the Complaint. 
 344. Read — For I shal ne'er (or 7iev'r) eft put ten. 
 
 346. See note to ParL of Foules, 342. 
 
 350. This hne re-echoes 1. 211. 
 
 357. The reason why the Poem ends here is sufficiently 
 obvious. Here must have followed the description of the temple 
 of Mars, written in seven-litic stanzas. But it was all rewrittefi
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME : BOOK I. 32 1 
 
 in a new metre, and is preserved to us, for all time, in the 
 famous passage in the Knightes Tale; 11. 1109-1192. We have 
 nothing to regret. 
 
 VIII. Chaucers Wordes unto Adam. 
 
 Only extant in MS. T., written by Shirley, and in Stowe's 
 edition of 1561. Dr. Koch says — 'It seems that Stowe has 
 taken his text from Shirley, with a few modifications in spelling, 
 and altered Shirley's Scrivcyti into scrivener, apparently because 
 that \\-ord was out of use in his time. Scrivcyn is O. Fr. 
 escrivaiti, F. e'criiJain. Lines 3 and 4 are too long [in MS. T. 
 and Stowe], but long and 7fiore are unnecessary for the sense, 
 vvherfore I have omitted them.' Mr. Sweet omits long, but 
 retains more, though it sadly clogs the line. Again, in 1. 2, we 
 find for to, where y&r is superfluous. 
 
 2. Boece, Chaucer's translation of Boethius, an excellent 
 edition of which has been published by Dr. Morris ; it also 
 occurs in the old editions of Chaucer's works. The treatise by 
 Boethius is entitled De Consolatione Philosophia:. Trollies, 
 Chaucer's poem of Troilus and Creseyde ; in 5 books, all in 
 seven-line stanzas. It is partly taken from an Italian poem in 
 eight-line stanzas called Filostrato, written by Boccaccio ; but 
 with many v'ariations and large additions. 
 
 3. ' Thou oughtest to have an attack of the scab under thy 
 locks, unless thou write exactly in accordance with my com- 
 position.' 
 
 IX. House of Fame : Book I. 
 
 Written in three Books ; but I number the lines consecutively 
 throughout, for convenience ; at the same time giving the separate 
 numbering within marks of parenthesis. The title of the poem 
 is expressly given at 1. 663. The author gives his name as 
 Geffrey, 1. 729. 
 
 Lydgate's Tejnple of Glass is partly imitated from the House 
 of Fame ; Warton, Hist. E. Poet, 1871, iii. 61. 
 
 For further remarks see the Preface. 
 
 Argument : Book I. A discussion on dreams. I will tell 
 you my dream on the loth of December. But let me first invoke 
 Morpheus. May those who gladly hear me have joy ; but may 
 those who dislike my words have as evil a fate as Croesus, king 
 of Lydia ! (i-iio). 
 
 Y
 
 323 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK I. 
 
 I slept, and dreamt I was in a temple of glass, dedicated to 
 Venus. On a tablet of brass 1 found the opening words of 
 Vergil's yKncid, after which I saw the destruction of Troy, the 
 death of Priam, the flight of ^^neas, the loss of Creusa, the 
 \oyage of ^Eneas to Italy, the storm at sea sent by Juno, 
 the arrival of yEneas at Carthage, how kindly Dido received 
 him, how ^4£neas betrayed and left her, causing Dido's lament and 
 suicide. Similar falsehood was seen in Demophon, Achilles, 
 Paris, Jason, Hercules, and Theseus. Next vEneas sailed to 
 Italy, and lost Palinurus ; he visited the lower regions, and there 
 saw Anchises, Palinurus, Dido, and Deiphobus. Afterwards 
 he warred in Italy, slew Turnus, and won Lavinia (i 11-467). 
 
 After this I went out of the temple, and found a large plain. 
 Looking up, I saw an eagle above me, of enormous size and 
 with golden feathers (46S-508). 
 
 Book II. Such a strange vision as mine was never seen by 
 Scipio, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, or Turnus. O Venus and 
 Muses, help me to tell it ! The great eagle swooped down upon 
 me, seized me, and bore me aloft, and told me (in a man's voice) 
 not to be afraid. I thought I was being borne up to the stars, 
 like Enoch or Ganymede. The eagle then addressed me, and 
 told me some events of my own life, and said that he would bear 
 me to the House of Fame, where I should hear many wonderful 
 things (509-710). 
 
 The House stood in the midst, between heaven, earth, and sea, 
 and all sounds travelled thither. ' Geoffrey,' said he, ' you 
 know how all things tend to seek their own proper place ; a 
 stone sinks down, whilst smokes flies up. Sound is merely 
 broken air, and if you would know how all sounds come to 
 Fame's House, observe how, when a stone is thrown into water, 
 the rings made by the ripples extend from the spot where it fell 
 till they reach the shore. Just so all earthly sounds travel till 
 they reach Fame's House.' He then bade me look downwards, 
 and asked me what I saw. I saw fields, hills, rivers, towns, and 
 sea ; but soon, he had soared so high that the whole earth 
 dwindled to a point. I told him I was higher up than ever was 
 Alexander, Scipio, Daedalus, or Icarus. He then bade me look 
 upward ; and I saw the zodiac and the milky way, and clouds, 
 mist, snows, rains, and winds gathered beneath me. Then I 
 thought of Boethius and Marcian, and their descriptions of 
 heaven. The eagle would have taught me the names of the 
 stars, but 1 cared not to learn. He then asked me if I could 
 now hear the sounds that murmured in the House of Fame. I
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK /. 323 
 
 said they sounded like the beating of the sea on rocks 
 (711-1045). 
 
 Then he set me down upon my feet in a way that led to the 
 House, and bade me go forward ; observing that I should find 
 that the words that flew about in Fame's House assumed the out- 
 ward forms of the mett upon earth who uttered them (1046-90). 
 
 Book HI. Apollo, aid me to write this last book ! My rime is 
 artless; I aim at expressing my thoughts only (1091-1109). 
 
 The House of Fame stood high upon a lofty rock, which I 
 climbed laboriously. The rock was formed of ice. On the 
 southern side it was covered with names, many of the letters 
 of which were melted away. On the northern side, it was 
 likewise covered with names, which remained unmelted and 
 legible. On the top of the mountain I found a beautiful House, 
 which I cannot describe though I remember it. It was all of 
 beryl, and full of windows. In niches round about were harpers 
 and minstrels, such as Orpheus, Arion, Chiron, and Glasgerion. 
 Far from these, by themselves, was a vast crowd of musicians. 
 There were Marsyas, Misenus, Joab, and others. In other 
 seats were jugglers, sorcerers, and magicians ; Medea, Circe, 
 Hermes, and Coll Tregetour. I next beheld the golden gates. 
 Then I heard the cries of those that were heralds to the goddess 
 Fame. How shall I describe the great hall, that was plated 
 v/ith gold, and set with gems ?" High on a throne of ruby sat 
 the goddess, who at first seemed but a dwarf, but presently 
 grew so that she reached from earth to heaven. Her hair was 
 golden, and she was covered with innumerable ears and tongues. 
 Her shoulders sustained the names of famous men, such as Alex- 
 ander and Hercules. On either side of the hall were huge pillars 
 of metal. On the first of these, composed of lead and iron, was 
 the Jew Josephus ; the iron was the metal of Mercury, and the 
 lead, of Saturn. Next, on an iron pillar, was Statins ; and on 
 other iron pillars were Homer, Dares, Dictys, Guido, and the 
 English Geoffrey, who upbore the fame of Troy. On a pillar 
 of iron, but covered over with tin, was Vergil ; and beside him 
 Ovid and Lucan. On a pillar of sulphur stood Claudian 
 (1110-1512). 
 
 Next I saw a vast company, all worshipping Fame. These 
 she rejected, but would say of them neither good nor bad. She 
 then sent a messenger to fetch ^^lolus, the god of wind, who 
 should bring with him two trumpets, namely of Praise and 
 Slander. .^Eolus, with his man Triton, came to Fame. Then, 
 as many undeserving suppliants approached her, she bade 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 /A'. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK T. 
 
 yEolus blow his black trump of Slander. He did so, and from 
 it there issued a stinking smoke ; and so this second company 
 got reno^\'n, but it was evil. A third company sued to her, and 
 she bade /Eolus blow his golden trump of Praise. Straightway 
 he did so, and the blast had a perfume like that of balm and 
 roses. A fourth company, a very small one, asked for no fame 
 at all, and their request was granted. A fifth company modestly 
 asked for no fame, though they had done great things ; but 
 Fame bade yEolus blow his golden trumpet, till their praise 
 resounded everywhere. A sixth company of idle men, who had 
 done no good, asked for fame ; and their request was granted. 
 A seventh company made the same request ; but Fame reviled 
 them ; ^2olus blew his black trump, and all men laughed at 
 them. An eighth company, of wicked men, prayed for good 
 fame ; but their request was refused. A ninth company, also of 
 wicked men, prayed for a famous but evil name, and their 
 request was granted. Among them was the wretch who set on 
 fire the temple at Athens (15 13-1867). 
 
 Then some man perceived me, and began to question me. 
 I explained that I had come to learn strange things, and 
 not to gain fame. He led me out of the castle and into a 
 valley, where stood the house of Daedalus (i. e. the house of 
 Rumour). This strange house was made of basket-work, and 
 was full of holes, and all the doors stood wide open. All sorts 
 of rumours entered there, and it was sixty miles long. On a 
 rock beside it I saw my eagle perched, who again seized me, and 
 bore me into it through a window. It swarmed with people, all 
 of whom were engaged in telling news ; and often their stories 
 would fly out of a window. Sometimes a truth and a lie would 
 try to fly out together, and became commingled before they 
 could get away. Every piece of news then flew to Fame, 
 who did as she pleased with each. The house of Daedalus was 
 thronged with pilgrims, pardoners, couriers, and messengers, 
 and I heard strange things. In one corner men were telling 
 stories about love, and there was a crush of men running to hear 
 them. At last I saw a man whom I knew not ; but he seemed 
 to be one who had great authority — {Jierc the poem ends, being 
 hicompleie) ; 11. 1 868-2 1 5 8) . 
 
 The general idea of the poem was plainly suggested by the 
 description of Fame in Vergil, the house of Fame as described 
 near the beginning of the twelfth book of Ovid's Metamorphosis, 
 and various hints in Dante's Divina Commedia. For a close 
 and searching comparison between the House of Fame and
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK T. 335 
 
 Dante's great poem, see the article by A. Rambeau in Engl. 
 Studicn, iii. 209. 
 
 I. For this method of commencing a poem with a dream, 
 compare The Book of the Duchesse, Pari, of Foules, and The 
 Romance of the Rose. 
 
 For discourses on dreams, compare the Nonne Preestes Tale, 
 and the remarks of Pandarus in the fifth book of Troiius. 
 Chaucer here propounds several problems ; first, what causes 
 dreams (a question answered at some length in the Nonrre 
 Preestes Tale, 103-118) ; why some come true and some do not 
 (discussed in the same, 151-336); and what are the various 
 sorts of dreams (see note to 1. 7 below). 
 
 There is another passage in Le Roman de la Rose, which 
 bears some resemblance to the present passage. It begins at 
 1. 18699 :— 
 
 ' Ne ne revoil dire des songes, 
 
 S'il sunt voirs, ou s'il sunt men9onges; 
 
 Se Ten les doit du tout eslire, 
 
 Ou s'il sunt du tout a despire: 
 
 Porquoi li uns sunt plus orribles, 
 
 Plus bel li autre et plus paisible, 
 
 Selonc lor apparicions 
 
 En diverses complexions, 
 
 Et selonc lors divers corages 
 
 Des meurs divers et des aages: 
 
 Ou se Diex par tex visions 
 
 Envoie revelacions, 
 
 Ou li malignes esperiz, 
 
 Por naetre les gens en periz ; 
 
 De tout ce ne m'entremetrai.' 
 
 2. This long sentence ends at line 52. 
 
 7. This opens up the question as to the divers sorts of dreams. 
 Chaucer here evidently follows Macrobius, who, in his Com- 
 mentary on the Somnium Scipionis, Hb. i. c. 3, distinguishes 
 Jive kinds of dreams, viz. soninuan, visio, oraailum, tnsoinniuin, 
 and visum. The fourth kind, insomnium, was also called 
 fantasma ; and this provided Chaucer with the word fantome 
 in 1. II. In the same line, oracles answers to the Lat. oracula. 
 Cf. Ten Brink, Stiidien, p. loi. 
 
 18. The gendres, the (various kinds). This again refers to 
 Macrobius, who subdivides the kind of dream which he calls 
 so7nnium into five species, viz. propriutn, alicnuin, commune, 
 J)ublicwn, and gcnerale, according to the things to which they
 
 326 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK L 
 
 relate. Disiaunce of iymcs, i. e. whether the thing dreamt of 
 will happen soon, or a long time afterwards. 
 
 20. ' Why this is a greater (more efficient) cause than that.' 
 
 21. This alludes to the four chief complexions of men; of. 
 Nonne Prestes Tale, 104. The four complexions were the 
 sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholy, and choleric ; and each com- 
 plexion was likely to have certain sorts of dreams. Thus, in 
 the Nonne Preestes Tale, 108, the choleric man is said to dream 
 of arrows, fire, fierce carnivorous beasts, strife, and dogs ; 
 whilst the mclancJwly man will dream of bulls and bears and 
 black devils. 
 
 22. Refiexiouns, the reflections or thoughts to which each 
 man is most addicted ; see Pari, of Foules, 99-105. 
 
 24. ' Because of too great feebleness of their brain (caused) by 
 abstinence,' &c. 
 
 43. Ofpropre kyfidc, owing to its own nature. 
 
 48. The^ in By is run on to the a into avisiouns. 
 
 53. 'As respects this matter, may good befal the great clerks 
 that treat of it.' Of these great clerks, Macrobius was one, and 
 Jean de Meun another. Vincent of Beauvais has plenty to say 
 about dreams in his Speculum Naturale, lib. xxvi. ; and he 
 refers us to Aristotle, Gregory (Moralia, lib. viii.), Johannes de 
 Rupella, Priscianus (ad Cosdroe regem Persarum), Augustinus 
 (in Libro de diuinatione diemonum), Hieronimus (super Ma- 
 theum, lib. ii.), Thomas de Aquino, Albertus, &c. 
 
 58. Repeated (nearly) from 1. i. 
 
 63. I here give the text as restored by Willert, who shows how 
 the corruptions in 11. 62 and 63 arose. First of all dide was 
 shifted into 1. 62, giving as dide I; as in Caxton's print. Next, 
 an additional now was put in place of dide in 1. 63 ; as in P., B., 
 F., and Th., and dide was dropped altogether. After this, F. 
 turned the 7iow of 1. 64 into yow, and Cx. omitted it. See also 
 note to 1. III. 
 
 64. ' Which, as I can (best) now remember.' 
 
 68. Pronounced fully : — With spe-ci-al de-v6-ci-(3un. 
 
 69. Morpheus; see Book of Duch. 137. From Ovid, Met. 
 xi. 592 — 612 ; esp. 11. 602, 3: — 
 
 ' Saxo tamen exit ab imo 
 Rivus aquae Lethes.' 
 
 73. ' Est prope Cimmerios,' &c, ; Met. xi. 592. 
 
 75. See Ovid, Met. xi. 613-5 ; 6'}^'})' 
 
 76. That . . her is equivalent to whose ; cf. Kn. Tale, 1852.
 
 IX. no USE OF FAME: BOOK T. 327 
 
 81. Cf. ' Colui, che tutto move,' i. e. He who moves all ; Parad. 
 i. I. 
 
 S8. Read/^7v;-/'; cf. Clerkes Tale, 816. 
 
 92. Read tiiisdcin-e ; final e not elided. 
 
 93. Read nidlicious. 
 
 98. * That, whether he dream when bare-footed or when shod ' ; 
 whether in bed by night or in a chair by day ; i. e. in every case. 
 The tliat is idiomatically repeated in 1. 99. 
 
 105. The dream of Croesus, king of Lydia, and his death vpon 
 a gallows, form the subject of the last story in the Monkes Tale. 
 Chaucer got it from the Rom. de la Rose, which accounts for 
 the form Lyde. The passage occurs at 1. 6513 : — 
 ' Cresus . . . 
 Qui refu roi de toute Lyde, . . . 
 Qu'el vous vuet faire au gibct pendre.' 
 
 109, 1 10. The rime is correct, because abreyd is a strong 
 verb. Chaucer does not rime a pp. with a iveak pt. tense, 
 which should have a final e. It is a point as to which he is very 
 particular. According to Mr. Cromie's Rime- Index, there is just 
 07te exception, viz. in the Kn. Tale, 525, 526, where the pt. t. 
 seyde is rimed with the 'pp. leyde.' But Mr. Cromie happens 
 to have overlooked the fact that leyde is here not the pp., 
 but the past teiise ! In other words, there is really no excep- 
 tion to Chaucer's usual practice in the whole of the Cant. Tales. 
 Cf. Book of the Duchess, 192. In 1. 109, he refers to 1. 65. 
 
 III. Here again, as in I. 63, is a mention of Dec. 10. Ten 
 Brink (Studien, p. 151) suggests that it may have been a Thurs- 
 day; cf. the mention of Jupiter in 11. 608, 642, 661. If so, the 
 year was 1383. 
 
 115. 'Like one that was weary with having overwalked 
 himself by going two miles on pilgrimage.' The difficulty was 
 not in the walking two miles, but in doing so under difficulties, 
 such as going barefoot for penance. 
 
 117. Corseynt; O.F. cors seint, lit. holy body ; hence a saint 
 or sainted person, or the shrine where a saint was laid. See 
 Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 8739 : — 
 
 ' And hys ymage ful feyre depeynte, 
 Ry3t as he were a cors scynt^ 
 
 See also P. Plowman, B. v. 539; Morte Arthure, 1164; and 
 (the spurious) Chaucer's Dream, 942. 
 
 118. 'To make that soft (or easy) which was formerly hard.' 
 The allusion is humorous enough ; viz. to the bonds of
 
 328 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK I. 
 
 matrimony. Here again Chaucer follows Jean de Meun, Rom. 
 de la Rose, S871 : — 
 
 ' Manages est maus liens, 
 
 Ainsinc m'aist saint Juliens 
 
 Qui pelerins errans herberge, 
 
 Et saint Lienart qui defiferge 
 
 Lcs prisonniers bien repentans. 
 
 Quant les voit a soi dementans ; ' 
 
 i.e. ' Maniage is an evil bond — so may St. Julian aid me, who 
 harbours wandering pilgrims ; and St. Leonard, who frees from 
 their fetters (lit. un-irons) such prisoners as are very repentant, 
 when he sees them giving themselves the lie (or recalling their 
 word).' The 'prisoners ' are married people, who have repented, 
 and would rccal their plighted vow. 
 
 St. Leonard was the patron-saint of captives, and it was 
 charitably hoped that he would extend his protection to the 
 wretched people who had unadvisedly entered into wedlock, 
 and soon prayed to get out of it again. They would thus ex- 
 change the hard bond for the soft condition of freedom. * St. 
 Julian is the patron of pilgrims ; St. Leonard and St. Barbara 
 protect captives'; Brand, Pop. Antiquities, i. 359. And, at 
 p. 363 of the same. Brand quotes from Barnabee Googe : — 
 
 ' But Leonerd of the prisoners doth the bandes asunder pull, 
 And breaks the prison-doores and chaines, wherewith his church is 
 full.' 
 
 St. Leonard's day is Nov. 6. 
 
 119. The MSS. have slept-e, which is dissyllabic. Read 
 sleep, as in C. T. Prol. 397. 
 
 120. Hence the title of one of Lydgate's poems, the Temple of 
 Glass, which is an imitation of the present poem. 
 
 130. Cf. the description of Venus' temple (Kn. Tale, 1060), 
 which is imitated from that in Boccaccio's Teseide. 
 
 133. Cf. 'naked fletyng in the large see . . . And on hire heed, 
 ful semely for to see, A rose garland fresh and wel smellyng ' ; 
 Kn. Tale, 1098. 
 
 137. 'Hirdowves'; Kn. Tale, 1 104. ' Cupido ' ; id. 1105. 
 
 138. Vtdcafio, Vulcan ; note the Italian forms of these names. 
 Boccaccio's Teseide has Cupido (vii. 54), and Vukatio (vii. 43). 
 His face was brown with working at the forge. 
 
 143. A large portion of the rest of this First Book is taken up 
 with a summary of the earlier part of Vergil's Aeneid. We have 
 here a translation of the well-known opening lines : —
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK I. 329 
 
 ' Anna uirumquc cano, Troia; qui primus ab oris 
 Italian!, fato profugus, Lauinia uenit 
 Littora.' 
 
 152. Synoun, Sinon ; Aen. ii. 195. 
 
 153. With, i.e. who with ; ivho is understood. 
 
 155. Made the hors broght, caused the horse to be brought. 
 On this idiom, see my note to Man of Lawes Tale, 171. 
 
 158. Ilioun, Ilium. Ilium is only a poetical name for Troy ; 
 but the medieval writers often use it in the restricted sense of 
 the citadel of Troy, where was the temple of Apollo and the 
 palace of Priam. Thus, in the alliterative Troy-book, 11958, 
 ylion certainly has this sense ; and Caxton speaks of ' the 
 palays of ylyon ' ; see Spec, of English, ed. Skeat, p. 94. See 
 also the parallel passage in the Nonne Preestes Tale, 535. Still 
 more clearly, in the Leg. Good Women (Dido, 13), Chaucer 
 says, of 'the tour Ilioun,' that it 'of the citee was the cheef 
 dungeoun.' 
 
 160. Polite^ Polites ; Aen. ii. 526. Also spelt Polite in Troil. 
 iv. 53- 
 
 163. Brende, was on fire ; used intransitively, as in 1. 537. 
 
 164-173. See Aen. ii. 589-733. 
 
 174. His refers to Aeneas ; Aen. ii. 736. 
 
 177. lulus and Ascanius were one and the same person ; see 
 JEn. i. 267. On the other hand, Brutus was notiho. same person 
 as Cassius ; see Monkes Tale, B. 3887. 
 
 182. Wente, foot-path ; Aen. ii. 737. Cf. Book Duch. 398. 
 
 184. 'So that she was dead, but I know not how.' Vergil 
 does not say how she died. 
 
 185. Gost, ghost ; see Aen. ii. 772. 
 
 198. Here Chaucer returns to the first book of the .(^neid, 
 which he follows down to 1. 256. 
 
 204. ' To blow forth, (with winds) of all kinds ' ; cf. ^n. i. 85. 
 
 219. loves, Jove, Jupiter. This curious form occurs again, 
 11. 586, 597, 630; see note to 1. 586. It is an O. F. nominative, 
 with the usual suffixed s which marks that case. Boccaccio has 
 Giove. 
 
 226. Achate (trisyllabic). Achates, vEn. i. 312; where the 
 abl. form Achate occurs. 
 
 239. The story of Dido is told at length in Le Rom. de la 
 Rose, 13378; in The Legend of Good Women; and in Gower, 
 Conf. Amantis, bk. iv., ed. Pauli, ii. 4. Chaucer now passes on 
 to the fourth book of the ^Eneid, till he comes to 1. 268 below. 
 
 272. ' It is not all gold that glistens.' A proverb which
 
 330 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK /. 
 
 Chaucer took from Alanus dc Insulis; see my note to Can. 
 Yeoman's Tale, 962. 
 
 273. ' For, as sure as I hope to have good use of my head.' 
 Brouke is, practically, in the optative mood. Cf. ' So mot I 
 brouke wel myn eye tweye ' ; Nonne Freest. Tale, 479. The 
 phrase occurs several times in the Tale of Gamelyn ; see note to 
 1. 334 of that poem in my edition. 
 
 280-283. These four lines occur in Thynne's edition only, but 
 are probably quite genuine. It is easy to see why they dropped 
 out ; viz. owing to the repetition of the wox^ fy7ide at the end 
 of 11. 279 and 283. This is a very common cause of such 
 omissions. See note to 1. 504. 
 
 286. By^ with reference to. 
 
 288. Gest., guest ; Lat. adtiena, /?jn. iv. 591. 
 
 290. ' He that fully knows the herb may safely lay it to his 
 eye.' So in Cotgrave's Diet., s. v. Hcrbc, we find; ^ Lherbc 
 qu'on cognoist, 07t la doit Her a son doigt ; Prov. Those, or 
 that, which a man knowes best, he must use most.' 
 
 305. In the margin of MSS. F. and B. is here written : — 
 ' Cauete uos, innocentes mulieres.' 
 
 315. Swete herte ; hence E. sweetheart \ cf. 1. 326. 
 
 329. I have no hesitation in inserting / after Agilte, as it is 
 absolutely required to complete the sense. Read — AgiW I yoiv, 
 &c. 
 
 343. Pronounce dctcrmijien (i as ec in beet). 
 
 350. ' Fama, malum quo non aliud tielociiis ullum,' ^n. iv. 
 174; quoted in the margin of MSS. F. and B. 
 
 351. ' Nichil occultum quod non reueletur'; Matt. x. 26: 
 quoted in the margin of MSS. F. and B. 
 
 355. Seyd y-shained be, said to be put to shame. 
 
 359. Eft-sones, hereafter again. In the margin of MSS. F. 
 and B. we here find: — 'Cras poterunt turpia fieri sicut heri.' 
 By reading Jicri turpia, this becomes a pentameter ; but it is 
 not in Ovid, nor (I suppose) in classical Latin. 
 
 361. Doon, already done. To doue, yet to be done. 
 
 366. I read /;/ for into (as in the MSS.). For similar instances, 
 where the scribes write ittto for in, see Einenkel, Streifziige 
 durch die Mittelengl. Syntax, p. 145. 
 
 367. In the margin of MSS. F. and B. is an incorrect 
 quotation of JEn. iv. 548-9 : — ' tu prima furentem His, germana, 
 mails oneras.' 
 
 378. Eneidos; because the books arc headed .^Eneidos liber 
 primus, &.C.
 
 rx. HOUSE of fame: book r. 331 
 
 379. Sec Ovid, Heroidcs, Epist. vii — Dido yEneas. 
 
 380. Or that, ere that, before. 
 
 381. Only Th. has the right reading, viz. And nere it to longe 
 to endytc (where longe is an error for long). The expressions 
 And nor hyt were and And ncrc it were are both ungram- 
 matical. Nere = ne were, were it not. 
 
 388. In the margin of F. and B. we find : — ' Nota : of many 
 vntrewe louers. Hospita, Demaphoon, tua te R[h]odopeia Phyllis 
 Vltra promissum tempus abesse queror.' These are the first two 
 lines of Epistola ii. in Ovid's Heroides, addressed by Phyllis to 
 Demophoon. All the examples here given are taken from the 
 same work. Epist. iii. is headed Briseis, Achilli; Epist. v., 
 Oenone Paridi; Epist. vi., Hypsipyle lasoni \ Epist. xii., Medea 
 lasoni; Epist. ix., Deiattira Hcrculi; Epist. x., Ariadne 
 Theseo. These were evidently suggested by the reference above 
 to the same work, 1. 379. See the long note to Group B, 1. 61, 
 in my edition of the Prioresses Tale. 
 
 Demophoon, son of Theseus, was the lover of Phyllis, 
 daughter of king Sithon in Thrace ; she was changed, into an 
 almond-tree. 
 
 392. His terme pace, pass beyond or stay behind his 
 appointed time. He said he would return in a month, but did 
 not do so. See the story in The Legend of Good Women. 
 Gower (ed. Pauli, iii. 361) alludes to her story, in a passage 
 much like the present one. 
 
 397. In the margin of F. and B. — ' Ouidius. Quam legis a rapta 
 Briseide litera venit ' ; Heroid. Ep. iii. I. 
 
 401. In the same: — ' Ut \miswritten Vbi] tibi Colc[h]orum 
 memini regina uacaui ' ; Heroid. Ep. xii. I. 
 
 402. In the margin of F. and B. : — * Gratulor Oechaliam ' ; 
 Heroid. Ep. ix. i ; but Oechaliam is miswritten/^/Z/^/za. 
 
 405. Gower also tells this story ; ed. Pauli, ii. 306. 
 
 407. In F. and B. is quoted the first line of Ovid, Heroid. x. i. 
 Adriane, Ariadne ; just as in C. T., Group B, 1. 67. Gower has 
 Adriagtte. 
 
 409. ' For, whether he had laughed, or whether he had 
 frowned ' ; i. e. in any case. Cf. 1. 98. 
 
 411. ' If it had not been for Ariadne.' We have altered the 
 form of this idiom. 
 
 416. Yle, isle of Naxos ; see note to C. T. Group B, 1. 68, in 
 my edition of the Prioresses Tale. 
 
 429. The book, i.e. Vergil ; ^En. iv. 252. 
 
 434. Go, gone, set out ; correctly used. Chaucer passes on to
 
 332 /-^' HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK I. 
 
 yEneid, bk. v. The tempest is that mentioned in /En. v. lo ; the 
 steersman is Palinurus, who fell overboard ; ^n. v. 860. 
 
 439. See vEn. bk. vi. The isle intended is Crete, /En. vi. 
 14, 23; which was not at all near (or 'besyde') Cumas, but a 
 long w^ay from it. -^neas then descends to hell ; sees Anchises 
 (vi. 679) ; Palinurus (337) ; Dido (450 ;) Deiphobus, son of 
 Priam (495) ; and the tormented souls (580). 
 
 447. Which refers to the various sights in hell. 
 
 449. Clatidian, Claudius Claudianus, who wrote De raptu 
 Proserpinae about A.D. 400. Daunte is Dante, with reference to 
 his In/emo. 
 
 451. Chaucer goes on to /En. vii-xii, of which he says but 
 little. 
 
 458. Lavyna is Lavinia; the form Lavina occurs in Dante, 
 Purg. xvii. 37. 
 
 468. Accent Whan ; compare the next line. 
 
 474. ' But I do not know who caused them to be made.' 
 
 475. Read ne in as nin ; as in Squi. Tale, 35. 
 
 482. This waste space corresponds to Dante's * gran diserto,' 
 Inf. i. 64 ; or, still better, to his 'landa-" (Inf. xiv. 8), which was 
 too sterile to support plants. So again, 1. 486 corresponds to 
 Dante's 'arena arida e spessa,' which has reference to the 
 desert of Libya ; Inf. xiv. 13. 
 
 487. ' As fine [said of the sand] as one may see still lying.' 
 Jephson says_>'6'/ must be a mistake, and would read yt. But it 
 makes perfect sense. Cx. Th. read at eye (put for at ye) instead 
 of yet lye, which is perhaps better. At ye means ' as presented 
 to the sight.' 
 
 498. Kentie, discern. The offing at sea has been called the 
 kenning; and see Kenning in H alii well. 
 
 500. More, greater. Imitated from Dante, Pufgat. ix. 19, 
 which Cary translates thus : — 
 
 'Then, in a vision, did I seem to view 
 A golden- feathcr'd eagle in the sky, 
 \Vith open wings, and hovering for descent.' 
 
 Cf. also the descent of the angel in Pttrg. ii. 1 7-24. 
 
 504-7. The omission of these lines in F. and B. is simply due 
 to the scribe slipping from bright in 1. 503 to brighte in 1. 507. 
 Cf note to 1. 280.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK II. o^y^ 
 
 House of Fame: Book II. 
 
 511, Listeth, pleases, is pleased ; the alteration (in MS. F.) to 
 listeneih is clearly wrong, and due to confusion with ]ic7-kjiet}i 
 above. 
 
 514. Isaye, Isaiah; actually altered, in various editions, to 
 I saye, as if I meant ' I say.' The reference is to * the vision of 
 Isaiah'; Isa. i. i; vi. i. Scipiotin, Scipio; see note to Pari. 
 Foules, 31, and cf. Book of the Duch. 284. 
 
 515. Nabicgodonosor, Nebuchadnezzar. The same spelling 
 occurs in the Monkes Tale (Group B, 3335), and is a mere 
 variant of the form Nabuchodoirosor in the Vulgate version, 
 Dan. i-iv. Gower has the same spelling ; Conf. Amant. bk. i., 
 near the end. 
 
 516. Pharo'y spelt Pharao in the Vulgate, Gen. xli. 1-7. See 
 Book of the Duchesse, 280-3. 
 
 Turfius ; alluding to his vision of Iris, the messenger of Juno ; 
 ^neid ix. 6. Elca7tor ; this somewhat resembles ElkanaJi (in 
 the Vulgate, Elcajia), i Sam. i. i ; but I do not know where to 
 find any account of his vision, nor do I at all understand who is 
 meant. 
 
 518. Cipris, Venus, goddess of Cyprus; called Cipryde in 
 Pari. Foules, 277. Dante has Ciprigna ; Par. viii. 2. 
 
 519. Favour., favourer, helper, aid ; not used in the ordinary 
 sense of Lat. fauor, but as if it were formed from O. F. faver, 
 La.t. /anere, to be favourable to. Godefroy gives an example of 
 the O. F. verb /ar/er in this sense. 
 
 521. Parnaso ; the spelling is imitated from the \X.2L[.Pamaso, 
 \. e. Parnassus, in Dante, Par. i. 16. So also Elicon is Dante's 
 Elico7ia, i. e. Helicon, Purg. xxix. 40, But the passage in 
 Dante, which Chaucer here especially imitates is that in Inf. ii. 
 
 7-9 :— 
 
 * O Muse, o alto ingegno, or m' aiutate ; 
 O mente, che scrivesti cio ch' io vidi, 
 Qui si parra la tua nobilitate.' 
 
 This Cary thus translates : — 
 
 * O Muses ! O high genius, now vouchsafe 
 Your aid. O mind, that all I saw hast kept 
 Safe in a written record, here thy worth 
 And eminent endowments come to proof.' 
 
 Hence yc in 1. 520 answers to Dante's Mtise, the Muses ; and
 
 334 ^-^'- HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK 11. 
 
 Thought in 1. 523 answers to Dante's vietite. Cf also Parad. 
 xviii. 82-87. And see the parallel passage in Anelida, 15-19. 
 
 The reason why Chaucer took Heliam to be a well rather than 
 a mountain is because Dante's allusion to it is dubiously worded ; 
 see Purg. xxix. 40. 
 
 528. Engync is accented on the latter syllable, as in Troil. ii. 
 565, iii. 274. 
 
 529. Eglc, the eagle in 1. 499 ; cf. 11. 503-7. 
 
 534. Partly imitated from Dante, Purg. ix. 28-30 : — 
 
 'Poi mi parea che, piu rotata im poco, 
 Terribil come fulgor discendesse, 
 E me rapisse suso infino al foco.' 
 
 Gary's translation is : — 
 
 ' A little wheeling in his aery tour, 
 Terrible as the lightning, rushed he down, 
 And snatch'd me upward even to the fire.' 
 
 But Chaucer follows still more closely, and verbally, a passage 
 in Machault's Jugement du Roi de Navarre, ed. Tarbe, 1849, 
 p. 72, which has the words — 
 
 ' la foudre 
 Que mainte ville mist en poudre ' ; 
 
 i.e. literally, ^\h& foudre (thunder-boll) which reduces many 
 a town to powder.' 
 
 Curiously enough, almost the same words occur in Boethius, 
 bk. i. met. 4, where Chaucer's translation has : — ' ne ])e wey of 
 ]30nder-ly5t, |)at is wont to smyte hey3e toures.' It hence 
 appears that Chaucer copies Machault, and Machault translates 
 Boethius. There are some curious M. E. verses on the effects 
 of thunder in Popular Treatises on Science, ed. Wright, p. 
 136. 
 
 Foudre represents the Lat. fulgur. One of the queer ety- 
 mologies of medieval times is, XhdX fulgur is derived afcrieitdo; 
 Vincent of Bcauvais, Spec. Nat. iv. 59. It was held to be 
 quite sufficient, that both y«/^'"//;' ?ir\dfcrtre begin withyC 
 
 537. Brciidc, burnt, was set on fire. The idea is that of 
 a falling thunderbolt, which seems to have been conceived of as 
 being a material mass, set on fire by the rapidity of its passage 
 through the air ; thus confusing the flash of lightning with the 
 fall of a meteoric stone. See Mr. Aldis W'right's note on 
 i/iunder-sto7ie, Jul. Ca;s. i. 3. 49. 
 
 543. Ilcnic, caught. We find a similar use of the word in an
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK II. '3,^,^ 
 
 old translation of Map's Apocalypsis GoHic, printed in Morley's 
 Shorter Eng. Poems, p. 13 : — 
 
 ' And by and by I fell into a sudden trance, 
 And all along the air was marvellously hent? 
 
 544. Solas, sudden ascent, a springing aloft. It is well 
 illustrated by a passage in the Somp. Tale (C. T. 7520) : — 
 ' Therfor right as an hauk upon a sours 
 Up springeth into the aire, right so praieres 
 Of charitable and chast besy freres 
 ^laken hir sotus to Goddes eres two.' 
 
 It is precisely the same word as M. E. sours, mod. E. source, i. e. 
 rise, spring (of a river). Etymologically, it is the feminine of 
 O. F. sors, pp. oisordre, to rise (Lat. surgere). At a later period, 
 the r was dropped, and the word was strangely confused in 
 sound with the verb souse, to pickle. Moreover, the original 
 sense of ' sudden ascent ' was confused with that of ' sudden 
 descent,' for which the correct term was (I suppose) swoop. 
 Hence the old verb to souse, in the sense ' to swoop down,' or 
 ' to pounce upon,' or 'to strike,' as in Shak. K. John, v. 2. 150; 
 Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 8 ; iii. 4. 16 ; iv. 3. 19, 25 ; iv. 4. 30 ; iv. 5. 
 36 ; iv. 7. 9. The sense of ' downward swoop ' is particularly 
 clear in Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 36 : — 
 
 ' Eft fierce retourning, as a faulcon fayre, 
 That once hath failed of her souse full neare, 
 Remounts againe into the open ayre, 
 And unto better fortune doth her-selfe prepayre.' 
 
 Such is the simple solution of the etymology of mod. E. souse, as 
 used by Pope (Epilogue to Satires, Dial. ii. 15) — 'Spread thy 
 broad wing, and souse on all the kind.' 
 
 557. Cf. Dante, Inf. ii. 122: — 'Perche tanta vilta nel core 
 allette ? ' Also Purg. ix. 46 : — ' Non aver tema.' 
 
 562. ' One that I could name.' This personal allusion can 
 hardly refer to any one but Chaucer's wife. The familiar tone 
 recalls him to himself; yet the eagle's voice sounded kindly, 
 whereas the poet sadly tells us that his wife's voice sounded 
 far otherwise : ' So was it never wont to be.' See Ward's 
 Chaucer, pp. 84, 85 ; and cf. 1. 2015 below. 
 
 573. It would appear that, in Chaucer, s'eynt is sometimes 
 dissyllabic ; but it may be better here to use the feminine form 
 scynt-e, as in 1. 1066. Observe the rime oi Marie with cdrie. 
 
 576. ' For so certainly may God help me, as thou shalt have 
 no hann.'
 
 33<5 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK IT. 
 
 586. loves, Jove, Jupiter; cf. 1. 597. This remarkable form 
 occurs again in Troil. ii. 1607, where we find the expression 
 ' loves let him never thrive ' ; and again in Troil. iii. 3 — * O loves 
 doghter dere'; and in Troil. iii. 15, where loves is in the 
 vocative case. The form is that of an O.F. nominative ; cf 
 Charles, Jacques, Jules. 
 
 Stellijyc, make into a constellation ; 'whether will Jupiter turn 
 me into a constellation.' This alludes, of course, to the numer- 
 ous cases in which it was supposed that such heroes as Hercules 
 and Perseus, or such heroines as Andromeda and Callisto were 
 changed into constellations; see Kn. Tale, 1198. Cf. 'No 
 wonder is thogh love hir stellifie ' ; Leg. Good Women, prol. 
 525. 
 
 588. Perhaps imitated from Dante, Inf. ii. 32, where Dante 
 says that he is neither yEneas nor Paul. Chaucer here refers to 
 various men who were borne up to heaven, viz. Enoch (Gen. v. 
 24), Elijah (2 Kings ii. 11), Romulus, and Ganymede. Romulus 
 was carried up to heaven by Mars ; Ovid, Metam. xiv. 824. 
 Ganymede was carried up to heaven by Jupiter in the form of an 
 eagle ; see Ovid, Metam, x. 160, where Ovid adds : — 
 
 ' qui nunc quoque pocula miscet, 
 invitaque lovi nectar lunone ministrat.' 
 
 In the passage in Dante (Purg. ix. 19-30) already alluded 
 to above (note to 1. 534), there is a reference to Ganymede 
 (1. 23). 
 
 592. Boteler, butler. No burlesque is here intended. 'The 
 idea of Ganymede being butler to the gods appears ludicrous to 
 us, who are accustomed to see the office performed by menial 
 servants. But it was not so in the middle ages. Young 
 gentlemen of high rank carved the dishes and poured out the 
 wine at the tables of the nobility, and grace in the performance 
 of these duties was highly prized. One of the oldest of our noble 
 families derives its surname from the fact that its founder was 
 butler to the king ' ; Bell. So also, the royal name of Siuart is 
 merely steward. 
 
 597. Therabojd, busy about, having it in intention. 
 
 600-4. Imitated from Vergil's words of reassurance to Dante ; 
 Inf. ii. 49. 
 
 608. The eagle says he is Jupiter's eagle ; ' louis ales,' 
 ^n. i. 394. 
 
 614-640. A long sentence of 27 lines. 
 
 618. I sw^'^V)' goddesse, to complete the line. Cf. ' In worship
 
 rX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK 11. 337 
 
 of Vcnt'is, goddesse of love'; Kn. Tale, 1046; and again, 
 'goddesse,' id. 243, 299. 
 
 621. The necessity for correcting lytel to lyic is obvious from 
 the rime, since lyte is rimes with dytces. Chaucer seems to 
 make lyte dissyllabic ; it rimes with Arcite, Kn. Ta. 476, 1769, 
 18 16 ; and with heimyte in I. 659 below. In the present case, 
 the e is elided — lyfis. For similar rimes, cf. nones, 7ioti is, 
 C. T. Prol. 523 ; beryis, niery is, Non. Pr. Ta. 145 ; swevetiis, 
 swevene is, id. loi. 
 
 623. In a note to Cant. Ta. 17354, Tyrwhitt says that perhaps 
 cadence means ' a species of poetical composition distinct from 
 riming verses.' But it is difficult to shew that Chaucer ever 
 composed anything of the kind, unless it can be said that his 
 translation of Boethius or his Tale of Melibeus is in a sort of 
 rhythmical prose. It seems to me just possible that by ri7ne 
 may here be meant the ordinary riming of two lines together, as 
 in the Book of the Duchess and the House of Fame, whilst by 
 cadence may be meant lines disposed in stanzas, as in the 
 Parliament of Foules. There is nothing to shew that Chaucer 
 had, at this period, employed the ' heroic verse ' of the Legend 
 of Good Women. Flowever, we find the following quotation 
 from Jullien in Littre's Dictionary, s. v. Cade7ice. ' Dans la 
 prose, dans les vers, la cadence n'est pas autre chose que le 
 rhythme on le nombre : seulement on y joint ordinairement I'idde 
 d'une certaine douceur dans le style, d'un certain art dans 
 I'arrangement des phrases ou dans le choix des mots que le 
 rhythme proprement dit ne suppose pas du tout.' This is 
 somewhat oracular, as it is difficult to see why rJiytJun should not 
 mean much the same thing. 
 
 639, 640. Cf. Troilus, i. 517, 518. 
 
 652. In a note upon the concluding passage of the Cant. Tales, 
 Tyrwhitt says of the House of Fame : — ' Chaucer inentions this 
 among his works in the Leg. Good Women, verse 417. He 
 wrote it while he was Comptroller of the Custom of Wools, &c. (see 
 Bk. ii. 1. 144-8 [the present passage]), and consequently after the 
 year 1374.' See Ward's Chaucer, pp. 76, ']'], with its happy 
 reference to Charles Lamb and his ' works ' ; and compare a 
 similar passage in the Prol. to Legend of Good Women, 30-6. 
 
 662. Cf. Dante, htf. i. 113, which Cary thus translates : — 
 
 —'and I, thy guide, 
 Will lead thee hence through an eternal space.' 
 
 678. Lojig y-served, faithfully served for a long time, i.e. after 
 
 z
 
 338 /X. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK If. 
 
 a long period of devotion ; alluding to the word servant in the 
 sense of lover, 
 
 681. Alluding to sudden fallings in love, especially 'at first 
 sight.' Such take place at hap-hazard ; as if a blind man 
 should accidentally frighten a hare, without in the least in- 
 tending it. We find in Hazlitt's collection of Proverbs — ' The 
 hare starts when a man least expects it ' ; p. 373. 
 
 682. lolytee and fare, happiness and good speed. The very 
 same words are employed, but ironically, by Theseus in the 
 Knight's Tale ; 11. 949, 951. The hare also accompanies them ; 
 id. 952. 
 
 683. ' As long as they find love to be as true as steel.' Cf. 
 Troilus, iv. 325 : — ' God leve that ye fynde ay love of stele.' 
 
 689. ' And more beards made in two hours,' &c. ' Yet can a 
 miller make a clerkes berd ' ; (Reves Tale), C. T. 4094. ' Yet 
 coude I make his berd ' : C. T. 5943. Tyrwhitt's note on the 
 former passage is : ' make a clerkes derd,' i. e. cheat him. Faire 
 la barbe is to shave, or trit/t the beard ; but Chaucer translates 
 the phrase literally, at least when he uses it in its metaphorical 
 sense. Boccace has the same metaphor, Decamerone, viii. 10. 
 Speaking of some exorbitant cheats, he says that they applied 
 themselves ' non a radere, ma a scorticare huomini ' [not to 
 shave men, but to scarify them] ; and a little lower — ' si a 
 soavemente la barbiera saputo menare il rasoio ' [so agreeably 
 did the she-barber know how to handle the razor]. Barbiera 
 has a second and a bad sense ; see Florio's Dictionary. 
 
 ' Myght I thaym have spyde, 
 I had made thaym a bcrd^ 
 
 Towneley Mysteries, p. 1 44. 
 
 692. Holding in hond means keeping in hand, attaching to 
 oneself by feigned favours ; just as to bear in hand used to 
 mean to make one believe a thing ; see my note to INlan of 
 Lawes Tale, 620. 
 
 695. Lovedayes, appointed days of reconciliation ; see IMorris's 
 note to Chaucer's Prol. 258, and my note to P. Plowman, B. iii. 
 157. 'What, quod she, maked I not a louedaie, bitwene God 
 and mankind, and chese a maide to be nompere [umpire], to 
 put the quarell at ende.'" Test, of Love, bk. i. ed. 1561, fol. 
 287. 
 
 698. Comes, grains of corn ; see note to Menkes Tale (Group 
 B, 3225), in my edition of the Prioresses Tale, &:c. 
 
 700. Wis, certainly ; cf. i-tuis. The i is short.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOR' II. 339 
 
 702. Impossible (accent on /) ; of. Clcrkes Tale, 713. 
 
 703. Pycs, mag-pies, clattering birds ; Squi. Ta. 649. 
 
 708. IVorthy for to leve, worthy to believe, worthy of belief. 
 
 712. Thyn owite book, i.e. the book you are so fond of, viz. 
 Ovid's Metamorphoses, which Chaucer quotes so continually. 
 Libraries in those days were very small (Cant. Ta. Prol. 294) ; 
 but we may be almost certain that Chaucer had a copy of the 
 Lletamorphoses of his own. The reference here is to Ovid's 
 description of the House of Fame, Metam. xii. 39-63. See 
 Golding's translation of this passage in the Preface. 
 
 730. Cf. Dante, Par. i. 109, which Cary thus translates : — 
 'AH natures lean, 
 In this their order, diversely,' &c. 
 
 738. That practically goes with //// falleth doun, in 1. 741. 
 The sentence is ill-constructed, and not consistent with grammar, 
 but we see what is meant. 
 
 742. By, with reference to (as usual in M. E.). Cf. Dante, 
 Purg. xviii. 28, which Cary thus translates : — 
 
 ' Then, as the fire points up, and mounting seeks 
 His birth-place and his lasting seat,' &c. 
 
 745. At his large, unrestrained, free to move. 
 
 746. Charge, a heavy weight, opposed to light thing. The 
 verb seke is understood from 1. 744. ' A light thing (seeks to go) 
 up, and a weight (tends) downwards.' In Tyrwhitt's glossary, 
 the word charge, in this passage, is described as being a verb, 
 with the sense ' to weigh, to incline on account of weight.' 
 How this can be made to suit the context, I cannot understand. 
 Charge occurs as a sb. several times in Chaucer, but chiefly 
 with the secondary' sense of ' importance ' ; see Kn. Tale, 426, 
 1429, and the Glossaries to the Prioresses Tale and Man of 
 Lawes Tale. In the Clerkes Tale, 163, it means 'weight,' 
 nearly as here. 
 
 750. Skilles, reasons. The above ' reasons ' prove nothing 
 whatever as regards the fish in the sea, or the trees in the earth ; 
 but the eagle's mode of reasoning must not be too closely en- 
 quired into. The fault is not Chaucer's, but arises from the 
 extremely imperfect state of science in the middle ages. Chaucer 
 had to accept the usual account of the four elements, disposed, 
 according to their weight, in four layers ; earth being at the 
 bottom, then water, then air, and lastly fire above the air. See 
 the whole scheme in Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. vii. ; ed. Pauli, 
 ii. 104 : or Popular Treatises on Science, ed. Wright, p. 134. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 /A'. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK IF. 
 
 765. So also in Cant. Tales, 7814 : — 
 
 'every soxm 
 Nis but of eir reverberacioun, 
 And ever it wasteth lite and lite aweye.' 
 
 The theorjr of sound is treated of in Vincent of Beauvais, 
 Speculum Naturale, lib. iv. c. 14. The ancients seem to have 
 understood that sound is due to the vibration of the air ; see 
 11- 775j 779- Thus, in the treatise by Boethius, De Musica (to 
 which Chaucer expressly refers in Non. Prest. Tale, 1. 472), 
 lib. i. c. 3, I find : — ' Sonus vero praster quendam pulsum per- 
 cussionemque non redditur . . . Idcirco definitur sonus, aeris 
 percussio indissoluta usque ad auditum.' 
 
 788. Experience, i. e. experiment. The illustration is a good 
 one ; I have no doubt that it is obtained, directly or at second- 
 hand, from Boethius. Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. hb. xxv. 
 c. 58, says: — 'Ad quod demonstrandum inducit idem Boetius 
 tale exemplum : Lapis proiectus in medio stagni facit breuissi- 
 mum circulum, et ille alium, et hoc fit donee vel ad ripas 
 peruenerit vel impetus defecerit.' This merely gives the sub- 
 stance of what he says ; it will be of interest to quote the 
 original passage, from the treatise De Mttsica, lib. i. c. 14, 
 which chapter I quote in full : — 
 
 'Nunc quis modus sit audiendi disseramus. Tale enim 
 quiddam fieri consuevit in uocibus, quale cum paludibus uel 
 quietis aquis iactum eminus mergitur saxum. Prius enim in 
 paruissimum orbem undam colligit, deinde maioribus orbibus, 
 undarum globos spargit, atque eo usque dum fatigatus motus 
 ab eliciendis fluctibus concjuiescat. Semperque posterior et 
 maior undula pulsu debiliori diffunditur. Ouod si quid sit, 
 quod crescentes undulas possit offendere, statim motus ille 
 reuertitur, et quasi ad centrum, unde profcctus fuerat, eisdem 
 undulis rotundatur. Ita igitur cum aer pulsus fecerit sonum, 
 pellit alium proximum, et quodammodo rotundum fluctum aeris 
 ciet. Itaque diffunditur et omnium circunstantium (sic) simul 
 ferit auditum, atque illi est obscurior uox, qui longius steterit, 
 quoniam ad eum debilior puisi aeris unda peruenit.' 
 
 792. Covercle, a pot-lid. Cotgrave cites the proverb — ' 7t'/ 
 poi iel couvercle. Such pot, such potlid, like master, like man.' 
 
 794. Wheel must have been glossed by cercle (circle) in an 
 early copy; hence MSS. F. and B. have the reading — 'That 
 whele sercle wol cause another whele,' where the gloss has crept 
 into the text.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK IT. 341 
 
 798. Rotoidcl, a very small circle ; coiiipas, a very large circle. 
 Roundel is still a general term for a small circular charge in 
 heraldry; if or (golden), it is called a bezant ; if argent (white), 
 it is called a plate j and so on. In the Sec. Non. Tale, 45, 
 compos includes the whole world. 
 
 801. Multiplying, increasing in size. 
 
 805, 'Where you do not observe the motion above, it is still 
 going on underneath.' This seems to allude to the depression 
 between each undulation. 
 
 808. This is an easy way of getting over a difficulty. It is no 
 easy task to prove the contrary of every false theory ! 
 
 811. An air aboute, i. e. a surrounding layer, or hollow 
 sphere, of air. 
 
 822. I would rather ' take it in game ' ; and so I accept it. 
 
 826. Fele, experience, understand by experiment. 
 
 827. I here take the considerable liberty of reading the 
 fnansiotai, by comparison with 1. 831. Those who prefer to read 
 sum place slide, or S07n styde, or some siede, can do so ! The 
 sense intended is, obviously — 'And that the dwelling-place, to 
 which each thing is inclined to resort, has its own natural stead,' 
 i. e. position. F^ishes, for example, naturally exist in water; the 
 trees, upon the earth j and sounds, in the air; water, earth, air, 
 and fire being the four ' elements.' Cf. the phrase — ' to be in 
 his element^ 
 
 836. Out of, i. e. not in ; answering to 1. 838. 
 
 846. Referring to Ovid's description, Met. xii. 39. 40. 
 
 ' Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque 
 Coelestesque plagas, triplicis confinia mundi.' 
 
 I suspect that Ovid's triplicis co7ifinia imindi is the origin of 
 Chaucer's phrase tryiie compas, in Sec. Non. Tale, 45. 
 
 857. The ' terms of philosophy ' are all fully and remorselessly 
 given by Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. vii. 
 
 861. It is remarkable that Chaucer, some years later, repeated 
 almost the same thing in the introduction to his treatise on the 
 Astrolabe, in somewhat different words, viz. 'curious enditing 
 and hard sentence is full heuy atones for swich a child to 
 leme ' ; 1. 32. 
 
 866. Lewedly, in unlearned fashion ; in his Astrolabe, 1. 42, 
 Chaucer says he is ' but a lewd compilatour of the labour of olde 
 Astrologiens.' 
 
 868. The eagle characteristically says that his reasons are so 
 ' palpable,' that they can be shaken by the bills, as men shake
 
 ■^42 /A'. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK //. 
 
 others by the hand. It is perhaps worth adding tliat the word 
 i)i/l was too vulgar and familiar to be applied to a hawk, which 
 had only a beulc (the French term, whereas bill is the A. S. bile). 
 ' Ye shall say, this hauke has a large beke, or a shortt beke ; and 
 call it not bille ; ' Book of St. Alban's, fol. a 6, back. The eagle 
 purposely employs the more familiar term. 
 
 873. Chaucer meekly allows that the eagle's explanation is a 
 likely one. He was not in a comfortable position for con- 
 tradiction in argument, and so took a wiser course. The eagle 
 resents this mild admission, and says he will soon find out the 
 truth, 'top, and tail, and every bit.' He then eases his mind by 
 soaring ' upper,' resumes his good temper, and proposes to 
 speak 'all of game.' 
 
 888. Cf. Dante, Par. xxii. 128, which Gary thus translates : 
 
 ' Look downward, and contemplate, what a world 
 Already strctch'd zrnder our feet there lies.' 
 
 900. Uiteihes, with difficulty ; because large animals could 
 only just be discerned. The graphic touches here are ex- 
 cellent. 
 
 901. Rivc'r-es, with accent on the fomier e (pronounced as a 
 in bare). Cf. Ital. riviera. 
 
 907. Prikke, a point. ' Al J)e envyronynge of })c er|)e aboute 
 ne halt but ))e resoun of a prykke at regard of the gretnesse of 
 heuene ' ; tr. of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 7. 
 
 ' And doun fro thennes faste he gan a^yse 
 This litel spot of erthe, that with the see 
 Enbraced is ; ' Troilus, bk. v. near the end, 
 
 * Vidi questo globo 
 Tal, ch' io sorriso del suo vil sembiante.' 
 
 Dante, Farad, xxii. 134. 
 
 See also Pari. Foules, 57, 58 ; and note that the above passage 
 from Troilus is copied from the Teseide (xi. 2). 
 
 915. The note in Oilman's Chaucer as to Alexander's dreams., 
 is entirely beside the mark. The word drone (1. 917) refers to 
 Scipio only. The reference is to the wonderful mode in which 
 Alexander contrived to soar in the air in a car upborne by four 
 gigantic griffins. 
 
 ' Now is he won ))ur5e J)ar wingis vp to the wale cloudis ; 
 So hije to heuen ])ai him hale in a haiid-qiiile, 
 Midil-erth bot as a mylnestane, na mare, to him semed.' 
 
 Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat (E. E. T. S.), 5523. 
 
 Maccdo, the Macedonian.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK IT. 343 
 
 916. King, king-ly hero ; not king in the strict sense. Dan 
 Scipto, lord Scipio. See notes to Pari. Foules, 29 ; Hook of the 
 Duch. 284; Ho. F^ame, 514. 
 
 919. Dcdalus (i. e. Dtedalus) and Yearns (Icarus) are men- 
 tioned in the Rom. de la Rose, 5242 ; and cf. Gower, Conf. 
 Amant. bk. iv., ed. Pauli, ii. 36 ; and Dante, Inf. xvii. 109. All 
 take the story from Ovid, Mctam. viii. 183. Daedalus con- 
 structed wings for himself and his son Icarus, and flew away 
 from Crete. The latter flew too high, and the sun melted the 
 wax with which some of the feathers were fastened, so that he 
 fell into the sea and was drowned. Hence Daedalus is here 
 called wrecche, i. e. miserable, because he lost his son ; and 
 Icarus nice, \. e. foolish, because he disobeyed his father's advice, 
 not to fly too high. 
 
 922. Malt, melted. Gower has the same word in the same 
 story ; ed. Pauli, ii. 2)7 • 
 
 925. Cf. Dante, Par. xxii. 19, which Cary thus translates : 
 ' But elsewhere now I bid thee turn thy view.' 
 
 930. See note to 1. 986 below, where the original passage is 
 given. 
 
 931. This line seems to have been suggested by (and to refer 
 solely to) the word citizeifi in 1. 930. The note in Bell's Chaucer 
 says : ' This appears to be an allusion to Plato's Republic' If 
 this be not right, I know of no better explanation. 
 
 932. Eyrisshe bestes, aerial animals ; alluding to the signs of 
 the zodiac, such as the Ram, Bull, Lion, Goat, Crab, Scorpion, 
 &c. ; and to other constellations, such as the Great Bear, Eagle, 
 Swan, Pegasus, tS:c. Chaucer himself explains that the ' zodiak 
 is cleped the cercle of the signes, or the cercle of the testes ; 
 for zodia in langage of Grek sownylh testes in Latyn tonge ' ; 
 Astrolabe, part i, § 21, 1. 35. Cf. 'beasts' in Rev. iv. 6. The 
 phrase recurs in 1. 965 below ; see also 11. 1003-7. 
 
 934. Gooti, march along, walk on, like the Ram or Bull ; fee, 
 fly, like the Eagle or Swan. He alludes to the apparent revo- 
 lution of the heavens round the earth. 
 
 936. Galaxye, galaxy, or milky way, formed b}' streaks of 
 closely crowded stars ; already mentioned in the Pari, of Foules, 
 56. Cary, in a note to Dante, Parad. xxv. 18, says that 
 Dante, in the Convito, p. 74, speaks of la galassia — ' the galaxy, 
 that is, the white circle which the common people call the way 
 of St. James ' ; on which Biscioni remarks : — ' The common 
 people formerly considered the milky way as a sign by night to
 
 344 ^'^'- 1 TO USE OF FAME: BOOK II. 
 
 pilgrims, who were going to St. James of Galacia ; and this 
 perhaps arose from the resemblance of the word galaxy to 
 Galicia ; [which may be doubted]. I have often,' he adds, 
 ' heard women and peasants call it the Roman road, la strada 
 di Rofna.' 
 
 The fact is simply, that the Milky Way looks like a sort of road 
 or street ; hence the Lat. name tna laciea, as in Ovid, Metam. i. 
 168. Hence also the Roman peasants called it strada di Roma ; 
 the pilgrims to Spain called it iJie road to Santiago (Quarterly 
 Review, Oct. 1873, p. 464) ; and the English called it the Wal- 
 sifighani luay, owing to this being a route much frequented by pil- 
 grims, or else Wat li?ig- street, which was a famous old road, and 
 probably ran (not as usually said, from Kent to Cardigan Bay, 
 but) from Kent to the Frith of Forth, see Annals of England, p. 
 6. The name of Vatlant Streit (Watling Street) is given to the 
 milky way in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 58 ; and 
 G. Douglas calls it Watli7ig Streit in his translation of Vergil, 
 yE?t. iii. 516, though there is no mention of it in the original ; see 
 Small's edition of the Works of G. Douglas, vol. ii. p. 151. 
 And again, it is called IVadlyjtg Strete in Henrysoun's Traitie 
 of Orpheus', see Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary. See my note 
 to P. Plowman, C. i. 52 ; Florence of Worcester, sub an7io 1013 ; 
 and Laws of Edward the Confessor, cap. 12. 
 
 942. Gower also relates this story (Conf. Amant. ii. 34), calling 
 the sun Phebus, and his son Pheton, and nsmg carte in the sense 
 of ' chariot,' as Chaucer does. Both copy from Ovid, Metam. ii. 
 32-328. 
 
 944. Cart-hors, chariot-horses (plural). There were four 
 horses, named PyroeTs, Eous, Aethon, and Phlegon ; Met. ii. 
 153. Hence gon7ie and bcren are in the plural form ; cf. 1. 952. 
 
 948. Scorpioiat, the well-known zodiacal constellation and 
 sign ; called Scorpius in Ovid, Met. ii. 196. 
 
 972. Boece, Boethius. He refers to the passage which he himself 
 thus translates : ' I have for sothe swifte fctheres that surmounten 
 the heyght of the heuene ; whan the swifte thought hath clothed 
 it-self in tho fetheres, it dispiseth the hateful erthes, and sur- 
 mounteth the heyghenesse of the greet eyir ; and it siiith the 
 cloudes by-hynde hir bak' ; bk. iv. met. i. 
 
 985. Marcian. Cf. C. T. 9606 (March. Tale) :— 
 ' Hold thou thy pees, thou poet Marcian, 
 That wnlest us that ilke wedding murie 
 Of hir, Philologie, and him, Mcrcurie.' 
 Martianus Minneus Felix Capella was a satirist of the fifth
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK II. 345 
 
 century, and wrote the Nuptials of Philology and Mercury, De 
 Nuptiis PhilologicB et Merctcrii, above referred to. It consists 
 of two books, followed by seven books on the Seven Sciences ; 
 see Warton's Hist. E. Poetry, ed. 1871, iii. 'JT. 'Book viii 
 ('• 857) gives a hint of the true system of astronomy. It is 
 quoted by Copernicus ; ' Gilman. 
 
 9S6. AnieclaitdiMi. The Aiilidatidianus is a Latin poem by 
 Alanus de Insulis, who also wrote the De Plandu NaUtrcc, 
 alluded to in the Pari, of Foules, 316 (see note). This poem is 
 printed in Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, ed. Wright, pp. 268-428 ; 
 see, in particular, Distinctio Ouarta, capp. 5-8, and Distinctio 
 Ouinta, cap. i ; pp. 338-347. It is from this poem that Chaucer 
 probably borrowed the curious word citizei7i (1. 930) as applied 
 to the eyrisshe bestes (1. 932). Thus, at p. 338 of Wright's 
 edition, we find — 
 
 ' Aeris occultos aditus, secreta, latebras 
 
 Altius inquirit Phronesis, sensuque profundo 
 
 Vcstigans, videt intuitu meliore vagantcs 
 
 Aerios cives? 
 
 So again, 11. 966-969 above may well have been suggested by 
 these lines (on p. 340), and other similar lines : — 
 * Aeris excurso spatio, quo nubila coeli 
 Nocte sua texunt tenebras, quo pendula nubes 
 In se cogit aquas, quo grandinis ingruit imber, 
 Quo certant venti, quo fulminis ira tumescit, 
 .I'Ethera transgreditur Phronesis.' 
 
 1003. Or Jiim or here, or him or her, hero or heroine ; c. g. 
 Hercules, Perseus, Cepheus, Orion ; Andromeda, Callisto (the 
 Great Bear), Cassiopeia. Cf. Man of Lawes Tale, 460. 
 
 1004. Raven, the constellation Corvus ; see Ovid, Fasti, ii. 
 243-266. Either here ; Ursa Maior and Ursa Minor. 
 
 1005. Ariones harpe, Arion's harp, the constellation Lyra ; 
 Ovid's Fasti, i. 316 ; ii. 76. 
 
 1006. Castor, Polux ; Castor and Pollux ; the consteHation 
 Gemini. Delphyne, Lat. Delphin ; the constellation Delphin 
 (Ovid, Fasti, i. 457) or Delphinus, the Dolphin. 
 
 ' Astris Delphina recepit 
 lupitcr, el stellas iussit habere nouem.' 
 
 Ovid's Fasti, ii. 1 1^- 
 
 1007. Athalante does not mean Atalanta, but represents 
 Ailante, the ablative case of Atlas. Chaucer has mistaken the
 
 34*^ /-V. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK IT. 
 
 form, having taken the story of the Pleiades (the seven daughters 
 of Atlas and Plcione) from Ovid's Fasti, v. 83 : — 
 ' Hinc sata Pleione cum coelifero Atlatite 
 iungitur, ut fama est; Ple'iaJas(\\xe: parit.' 
 
 102 1. Up the heed, up with your head ; look about you. 
 
 1022. 'St. Julian (to our speed) ; lo I (here is) a good hostelry.' 
 The eagle invokes or praises St. Julian, because they have come 
 to their journey's end, and the poet may hope for a good re- 
 ception in the House of Fame. St. Julian was the patron saint 
 of hospitality ; see Chaucer's Prologue, 340. In Le Roman de 
 la Rose, 8872, I find : — 
 
 * Ainsinc m'aist saint Juliens, 
 Qui pelerins errans herberge.' 
 In Bell's Chaucer, i. 92, is the following: '"Ce fut celluy Julien 
 qui est requis de ceux qui cheminent pour avoir bon hosteV ; 
 Legende Doree. Having by mischance slain his father and 
 mother, as a penance," he established a hospital near a dangerous 
 ford, where he lodged and fed travellers gratuitously.' 
 
 See Tale xviii. in the Gesta Romanorum, in Swan's Trans- 
 lation ; Caxton's Golden Legende ; and the Metrical Lives of 
 Saints in MS. Bodley, 1596, fol. 4. ' I pray God and St. Julian 
 to send me a good lodging at night ' ; translation of Boccaccio, 
 Decam. Second Day, nov. 2 ; quoted in Swan's tr. of Gesta 
 Romanorum, p. 372. See Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet., ed. Hazlitt, 
 i. 247 ; ii. 58. 
 
 1024. ' Canst thou not hear that which I hear .' ' 
 
 1034. Peter \ By St. Peter; a common exclamation, which 
 Warton amazingly misunderstood, asserting that Chaucer is 
 here addressed by the name of Peter (Hist. E. P., ed. Hazlitt, ii. 
 331, note 6) ; whereas it is Chaucer himself \;\iO uses the ex- 
 clamation. The Wyf of Bathe uses it also, C. T. 6028 ; so does 
 the Sumpnour, C. T. 6914 ; and the wife in the Shipman's Tale, 
 C.T. 13144 ; and see 1. 2000 below. See also my note to 1. 665 
 of the Canon's Yeoman's Tale. But Warton well compares the 
 present passage with Ovid, Met. xii. 49--52 : — 
 
 ' Nee tamen est clamor, sed parua: murmura uocis ; 
 qualia de pelagi, si quis procul audiat, undis 
 esse Solent : qualemvc sonum, quum Jupiter atras 
 increpuit nubes, extrema tonitrua reddunt.' 
 
 1044. Beteti, beat. But the other reading hytoi (bite) seems 
 better. Cf. Troil. iii. ^yj, and the common saying — ' It won't 
 bite you.' 
 
 1048. Cf. Dante, Piirg. iii. 67-69. So also Inf. xxxi. 83.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME : BOOK I If. 347 
 
 1063. Lyvcs body, a person alive ; lyi'cs is properly an adverb. 
 
 1066. Seynte ; see note to 1. 573. Scytite Clare, Saint Clara, 
 usually Saint Clare, whose day is Aug. 12. She was an abbess, 
 a disciple of St. Francis, and died A.D. 1253. 
 
 House of Fame: Book III. 
 
 1091-1109. Imitated from Dante, Parad. i. 13-27. Compare 
 11. 1 106, 1 107, with Cary's translation — • 
 
 ' If thou to me of thine impart so much, . . . 
 Thou shalt behold me of thy favour'd tree 
 Come to the foot, and crown myself with leaves.' 
 
 And compare 1. 1109 with — 'Entra nel petto mio.' 
 
 1098. This shews that Chaucer occasionally, and intentionally, 
 gives a syllable too little to the verse. In fiict, he does so just 
 below, in 1. 1106; where Tlioic forms the first foot of the verse, 
 instead of So thou, or And thoii. This failure of the first 
 syllable is common throughout the poem. 
 
 1 109. EntrctJi is the imperative plural ; see note to A. B. C. 17. 
 
 1 1 16. ' Fama tenet, summaque domum sibi legit in arce ' ; 
 Ovid, Met. xii. 43. Cf. Dante, Purg. iii. 46-4S ; also Ovid, 
 Met. ii. 1-5. 
 
 1 131. 'And swoor hir ooth by Seint Thomas of Kent' ; C. T. 
 3291. It alludes to the celebrated shrine of Beket at Canter- 
 bury. 
 
 1 136. Half, side ; al the half, all the side of the hill which he 
 was ascending, which we find was the soittJi side (1. 1 152). 
 
 1 152. This suggests that Chaucer, in his travels, had observed 
 a snow-clad mountain ; the snow lies much lower on the north 
 side than on the south side; see 11. 1160, 1163, 1164. 
 
 1159. What hit made, what caused it, what was the cause of it. 
 
 1167-80. This passage somewhat resembles one in Dante, 
 Par. i. 4-12. 
 
 1 177. Accent So, and slightly accent tJic ; grct-e is dissyllabic. 
 The line is not very pleasing. 
 
 1183. (7y/(?, Giles ; St. ^gidius. His day is Sept. i ; see note 
 to Can. Yem. Tale, 1185, where the phrase by seint Gyle recurs. 
 
 1 189. Babewi7i7ies is certainly meant ; it is the pi. of babeivin 
 (O. Fr, babuin, Low Lat. babeivynus, F. baboiii)t^,, now spelt 
 baboon. It was particularly used of a grotesque figure employed
 
 34^ /-V. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 
 
 in architectural decoration, as in Early Eng. AUit. Poems, ed. 
 Morris, B. 141 1, where the pi. form is spelt baboynes, and in 
 Lydgate, Chron. Troy, II. xi ; both passages are given in 
 j\Iurray"s Diet., s.v. Baboon. ' Babewyn, or babewen, detippus, 
 zpos, figmentiim, chimera ' ; Prompt. Parv. * Babwyne, beest, 
 baboyn'' ; Palsgrave. In Shak. Macb. iv. i. 37 — ' Coole it with 
 a baboones blood ' — the accent on the a is preserved. The other 
 spellings are inferior or false. 
 
 1 192. Fallc, pres. pi., fall ; (or perhaps fallen, the past par- 
 ticiple). 
 
 1 194. Habitadcs, niches; such as those which hold images 
 of saints on the buttresses and pinnacles of our cathedrals. They 
 are described as being al tvUJioute, all on the outside. 
 
 1 196. Fill the castel, the castle (being) full, on all sides. 
 This line is parenthetical. 
 
 1 197. Understand Soinmc^ some, as nom. to stodcn. ' In 
 which stood . . (some) of every kind of minstrels.' So in 1. 
 1239. As to minstrels, &c., see my note to Sir Topas (B. 2035). 
 
 1203. Orpheus, the celebrated minstrel, whose story is in 
 Ovid, Alet. x, 1-85 ; xi. 1-66. Chaucer again mentions him in 
 C. T. 9590 ; and in Troil. iv. 791. 
 
 1205. Orion ; so in all the copies ; put for Arion. His stoiy 
 is in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 79-118. 
 
 Spelt Arioiie in Gower, Conf. Amant. (end of prologue), cd. 
 Pauli, i. 39. We might read Arion here ; see 1. 1005. 
 
 1206. Chiron; called Chiro in Gower, C. A. ii. 67 (bk. iv). 
 Chiron, the centaur, was the tutor of Achilles ; and Achilles, 
 being the grandson of vEacus, was called /Eacides ; Ovid, Met. 
 xii. 82 ; Fasti, v. 390. Hence Eacidcs is here in the genitive 
 case ; and Eacides Chiro)i means ' Achilles' Chiron,' i.e. Chiron, 
 tutor of Achilles. In fact, the phrase is copied from Ovid's 
 yEacidcc Cliiron, Art of Love, i. 17. Another name for 
 Chiron is Phillyrides ; Ovid, Art of Love, i. 1 1 ; or PJiilyrides ; 
 Verg. Gcorg. iii. 550; cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 391. In a similar way, 
 Chaucer calls the paladin Oliver, friend of Charles the Great, 
 by the name of Charles Olyiicr ; Monkes Tale, B. 3577. 
 
 1208. Bret, Briton, one of the British. This form is quite 
 correct, being the A.S. Bret, a Briton (see A.S. Chronicle, an. 
 491), commonly used in the pi. Brettas. This correct spelling 
 occurs in MS. B. only ; MS. P. turns it into Bretur, Th. and Cx. 
 read Briton, whilst MS. F. turns Bret into grei, by altering the 
 first letter. The forms gret and Bretur arc clearly corruptions, 
 whilst Briton spoils the scansion.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 349 
 
 Glascurtoji ; the same as Glasgerion, concerning whom see 
 the Ballad in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, 
 i. 246. Of this ' a traditional version, under the name of 
 Glenkindte, a various form of Glasgerion, is given in Jamieson's 
 Popular Songs and Ballads, and in Alex. Laing's Thistle of 
 Scotland (1823).' G. Douglas associates ' Glaskeriane ' with 
 Orpheus in his Palice of Honour, bk. i (ed. Small, i. 21); this 
 poem is a palpable imitation of Chaucer's House of Fame. The 
 name is Celtic, as the epithet Bret implies. Cf. Irish and 
 Welsh glas, pale. 
 
 1 2 13. 'Or as art imitates nature.' Imitated from Le Rom. de 
 la Rose, where Art asks Nature to teach her ; 1. 16233 is — 
 * E la contrcfait comi/te singes.^ 
 1218. There is a similar list of musical instruments in Le Rom. 
 de la Rose, 2 128 5-2 1308 : — 
 
 ' Puis chalemiaus, et chalemele 
 Et tabor, et Jleutc, et timbre . . . 
 Puis prent sa muse, et se travaille 
 As estives de Comoaille.* 
 
 And in Le Remede de Fortune, by G. de Machault, 1849, 
 p. ^'}, is a similar long list : — 
 
 ' Corncmuscs, flaios, chevrettes, 
 
 Dousainnes, cimbales, clochettes, 
 
 Timbre, la flahiite brehaigne, 
 
 Et le grant cornet d'Alemaigne, 
 
 Flaiot de saus, fistula, pipe ' ; &c. 
 
 And a few lines below there is mention of the »mse de blez (see 
 note to I. 1224). Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed.' Flazlitt, iii. 177, 
 quotes a similar passage from Lydgate's poem entitled Reason 
 and Sensualite, ending with — 
 
 ' There were trumpes, and trumpettes, 
 Lowde shallys [shalmys ?] and douccttes.^ 
 
 Corneinuse is a bagpipe ; shalmye is a shawm, which was 
 a wind-instrument, being derived from Lat. calatnus, a reed ; 
 Chaucer classes both instruments under pipe. Willert (on 
 the House of Fame, p. 36) suggests (and, I think, correctly) 
 that doucet and rede are both adjectival. Thus doiicet would 
 refer to pipe ; cf. ' Doiccct, dulcet, pretty and sweet, or, a little 
 sweet ' ; Cotgrave. Rede would also refer to pipe, and would 
 mean ' made with a reed.' A reed-instrument is one ' in which 
 the sound was produced by the vibration of a reed, as in the 
 clarionet or hautboys ' ; note in Bell's Chaucer. There is no
 
 <^^0 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 
 
 instrument properly called a doucd in Old French, but only 
 dousainnc (see above) and doiicine (Godefroy). 
 
 1222. Brede, roast meat ; A. S. h-cedc, glossed by ' assura, vel 
 assatura' in yElfric's Glossary, ed. Wulcker, col. 127, 1. 17. 
 Cf. G. Braten. Not elsewhere in Chaucer, but found in other 
 authors. 
 
 ' To meit was grcithed beef and motoiin, 
 Bredcs, briddes, and venysoun.' 
 
 Kyng Alisaundcr, ed. Weber, 5248. 
 
 In the allit. Morte Arthure, it occurs no less than five times. 
 Also in Havelok, 1. 98, where the interpretation ' bread ' is 
 wrong. Also in Altenglischer Dichtungen, ed. Boddeker, p. 
 146, 1. 47 — ' Cud as Cradoc in court that carf the brede ^ i. e. 
 carved the roast meat ; but the glossary does not explain it. 
 The scribe of MS. F. turns brede into bride, regardless of the 
 rime. 
 
 1224. Alluding to the simple pipes fashioned by rustics. The 
 glossai-y to Machault's Works (1849) has : 'Muse de blez, chalu- 
 meau fait avec des brins de paille.' The O. F. eslive, in the 
 quotation in the note to 1. 12 18, has a like sense. Godefroy has : 
 *■ eslive, espsce de flute, de flageolet ou pipeau rustique, qui 
 venait, ce semble, de Cornouaille.' Cf. the term corne-pipe, in 
 the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 65, 1. 22. 
 
 1227, 1228. Nothing is known as to Atiteris (or Cytherus) ; nor 
 as to Pseustis (or Proserus). The forms are doubtless corrupt ; 
 famous musicians or poets seem to have been intended. I shall 
 venture, however, to record my guess, that Aiileris represents 
 Ty?-taeiis, and that Pseustis is meant for Thespis. Both are 
 mentioned by Horace [Ais Poet. 276, 402) ; and Thespis was a 
 native of Attica, whose plays were acted at Athens. 
 
 1229. This is a curious example of how names are corrupted. 
 Marcia is Dante's Marsia, mentioned in the very passage 
 which Chaucer partly imitates in 11. 1091-1109 above. Dante 
 addresses Apollo in the words — 
 
 ' Entra nel petto mio, e spira tue 
 Si come quando Marsia traesti 
 Delia vagina delle membra sue.* 
 
 As Chaucer had here nothing to guide him to the gender of 
 Marsia, he guessed the name to be feminine, from its termina- 
 tion ; and Dante actually has Marsia (Inf. iv. 128), with 
 reference to Marcia, wife of Cato. But Dante's Marsia 
 represents the accus. case of Marsyas, or else the Lat. nom.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK IIL 35 1 
 
 Marsya, which also occurs. Ovid. Met. vi. 400, has : ' Marsyii 
 nomen habet,' and tells the story. Apollo defeated the satyr 
 Marsyas in a trial of musical skill, and afterwards flayed him 
 alive ; so that he ' lost his skin.' 
 
 1 23 1. Envy'cn (accent on jj, vie with, challenge (at a sport). 
 So strong is the accent on the y, that the word has been reduced 
 in E. to the clipped form ^vie ; see Vie in my Etym. Diet. It 
 represents Lat. imdtare, to challenge ; and has nothing to do 
 with E. envy. F"lorio's Ital. Diet, has : ' Itiiiito, a vie at play, a 
 vie at any game ; also an inuiting.' 
 
 1234. 'Pipers of every Dutch (German) tongue.' 
 1236. Reyes, round dances, dances in a ring. The term is 
 Dutch. Hexham's Du. Diet. (1658), has : een Rey, or een Reye, 
 a Daunce, or a round Daunce ' ; and ' reyen, to Daunce, or to 
 lead a Daunce.' Cf. G. Reihen, a dance, Reihentanz, a circular 
 dance ; M. H. G. rcie, reige ; which does not seem to be con- 
 nected, as might be thought, with G. Reihe, a row ; see Kluge 
 and Weigand. Perhaps the Du. word was borrowed from O. F. 
 rei, rot, order, whence also the syllable -ray in E. ar-ray ; and 
 the G. word may have been borrowed from the Dutch. ' I can 
 daunce the raye'; Barclay's First Egloge, sig. A ii. ed. 1570; 
 quoted in Dyce's Skelton, ii. 194. 
 
 1239. Understand Soinme, some; see note to 1. 1197. The 
 expression blody soiai recurs in Kn. Tale, 1653, in connection 
 with trianpe and clarioun. Our author explains his meaning 
 here ; 11. 1 241-2. 
 
 1243. Missemis, Misenus, son of ^olus, trumpeter to Hector, 
 and subsequently to /Eneas ; Verg. ^rEn. iii. 239; vi. 162-170. 
 
 1245. Joab and Theodoiiias are again mentioned together in 
 a hke passage in the Merch. Tale (C. T. 9593). 'Joab blew 
 a trumpet'; 2 Sam. ii. 28; xviii. 16; xx. 22. Theodomas is 
 said by Chaucer (Merch. Tale) to have blown a trumpet ' At 
 Thebes, when the cite was in doute.' He was therefore a 
 trumpeter mentioned in some legendary history of Thebes. 
 With this hint, it is easy to identify him with Thiodamas, 
 mentioned in books viii. and x. of the Thebaid of Statius. He 
 succeeded Amphiaraus as augur, and furiously excited the 
 besiegers to attack Thebes. His invocation was succeeded 
 by a great sound of trumpets {Theb. viii. 343), to which Chaucer 
 here refers. But Statius does not expressly say that Thiodamas 
 blew a trumpet himself. 
 
 1248. Cataloigne and Arago?i, Catalonia and Arragon, in 
 Spain, immediately to the S. of the Pyrenees. Warton remarks:
 
 352 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 
 
 ' The martial musicians of English tournaments, so celebrated 
 in story, were a more natural and obvious allusion for an 
 English poet'; Hist. E. P. ii. 331. The remark is, I think, 
 entiixly out of place. Chaucer is purposely taking a wide range ; 
 and, after mentioning even the pipers of the Dutch tongue, as 
 well as Joab of Judtea and Thiodamas of Thebes, is quite 
 consistent in mentioning the musicians of Spain. 
 
 1257. Repeated, at greater length, in C. T., Group 15, 11. 
 19-28 ; see my edition of the Prioresses Tale, p. 2. 
 
 1259. /o^''e/oiirs, jugglers. See Squi. Tale, 219. 
 
 1260. Tregetours\ see C. T. 11453, on which Tyrwhitt has 
 a long note. A jogclotir was one who amused people, either by 
 playing, singing, dancing, or tricks requiring sleight of hand ; 
 a trcgctour was one who brought about elaborate illusions, by 
 the help of machinery or mechanical contrivance. Thus Chaucer 
 tells us (in the Frank. Tale, as above) that tregetoures even caused 
 to appear, in a dining-hall, a barge floating in water, or what 
 seemed like a lion, or a vine with grapes upon it, or a castle 
 built of lime and stone ; which vanished at their pleasure. Sir 
 John Maundeville, in his Travels, ch. 22, declares that the ' en- 
 chanters' of the Grand Khan could turn day into night, or cause 
 visions of damsels dancing or carrying cups of gold, or of 
 knights justing ; ' and many other thinges thei don, be craft 
 of hire Enchauntementes ; that it is marveyle for to see.' See 
 note to 1. 1277 below. Gawain Douglas imitates this passage 
 in his Palice of Honour ; see his Works, ed. Small, i. 65. 
 
 1261. Phitonesses, pythonesses. The witch of Endor is 
 called a phitonesse in the Freres Tale, C. T. 7092 ; and in 
 Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iv, ed. Pauli, ii. 66 ; and in Barbour's 
 Bruce, ed. Skeat, iv. 753. The Vulgate version has Jiiulier 
 •bytlioneni habejis, i Sam. xxviii. 7 (cf. Acts xvi. 16) ; but also the 
 very word pytlumissani in 1 Chron. x. 13, where the witch of 
 Endor is again referred to. Ducange notices phitonissa as 
 another spelling o{ pythonissa. 
 
 1266. Cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 417-420. There is a parallel 
 passage in Dante, Inf. xx. 1 16-123, where the word imago 
 occurs in the sense of ' waxen image.' This of course refers to 
 the practice of sticking needles into a waxen image, with the 
 supposed effect of injuring the person represented. See Ovid, 
 Heroid. vi. 91, and Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens (3^^/ Chartn). 
 But this is only a particular case of a much more general 
 principle. Images of men or animals (or even of the things 
 representing the zodiacal signs) could be made of various
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. '^:;i'>, 
 
 substances, according to the effect intended ; and by proper 
 treatment were supposed to cause good or evil to the patient, as 
 required. Much could be done, it was supposed, by choosing 
 the right time for making them, or for subjecting them to 
 celestial influences. To know the right time, it was necessary 
 to observe the ascendent (see note to 1. 1268). See much jargon 
 on this subject in Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, 
 lib. ii. capp. 35-47. 
 
 1268. The ascendent is that point of the zodiacal circle which 
 is seen to be just ascending above the horizon at a given 
 moment. Chaucer defines it in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, 
 and adds that astrologers, in calculating horoscopes, were in 
 the habit of giving it a wider meaning ; they further reckoned 
 in 5 degrees of the zodiac above the horizon, and 25 degrees 
 below the ascending point, so as to make the whole ascendent 
 occupy 30 degrees, which was the length of a 'sign.' In calcu- 
 lating nativities, great importance was attached to this ascendent, 
 the astrologiail concomitants of which determined the horoscope. 
 The phrase to be ' in the ascendant ' is still in use. Thus t'ft 
 certey7i ascendentes is equivalent to ' in certain positions of the 
 heavens, at a given time,' such as the time of one's birth, or the 
 time for making an image (see last note). 
 
 1271. Medea, the famous wife of Jason, who restored her 
 father /Eson to youth by her magical art ; Ovid, Met. vii. 162. 
 Gower tells the whole story, C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 259. 
 
 1272. Circes, Circe, the enchantress ; Homer's Odyssey, bk. 
 x; Ovid, Met. xiv. Ovid frequently has the form Circes, in the 
 gen. case ; Met. xiv. 10, 69, 71, 247, 294. 
 
 Calipsa, Calypso, the nymph who detained Ulysses in an 
 island, Odyssey, bk. i ; Ovid, ex Ponto, iv. 10. 13. 
 
 1273. Hermes is mentioned in the Can. Yeom. Tale, C. T., 
 Group G, 1434, where the reference is to Hermes Trismegistus, 
 fabled to have been the founder of alchemy, though none of the 
 works ascribed to him are really his. He is here called 
 Hermes Ballenus, for no apparent reason ; unless Hermes 
 and Ballenus are two different persons. The name Balemts 
 occurs, in company with the names of Medea and Circe, in the 
 following passage of the Rom. de la Rose, 1. 14599 : — 
 
 ' Que ja riens d'enchantement croie, 
 Ne sorcerie, ne charroie, 
 Ne Balcnus, ne sa science, 
 Ne magique, ne nigromance, . . . 
 Onques ne pot tenir Aledee 
 
 A a
 
 354 ^-^'- HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 
 
 Jason por nul enchnntement, 
 N'onc Circe ne tint ensement 
 Ulixes qu'il nc s'enfoist,' &c. 
 
 {Charroic is the dance of witches on their sabbath). Some 
 suggest that Balemis stands for Heletms (^n. iii. 295, 329). 
 
 1274. Lyjiio/e, according to Warton, is Limotheus ; but he 
 omits to tell us where he found such a name ; and the suggestion 
 seems no better than his mistake of supposing Calipsa (1. 1272) 
 to mean the muse Calliope ! Considering that he is mentioned in 
 company with Simon Magus, or Simon the magician (Acts viii, 
 9), the suggestion of Prof. Hales seems probable, viz. that 
 Lymote means Elymas the sorcerer (Acts xiii. 8j. The change 
 from Elymas to Lymote is not impossible. 
 
 1277, (7t>//^ /r(?^^/^z^r, Colle the juggler ; see 1. 1260. Colle \?, 
 here a proper name, and distinct from the prefix col- in col-fox^ 
 Non. Pr. Tale, 394. Colle is the name of a dog ; Non. Pr. Tale, 
 563. Colyn and Colle are names of grooms ; Polit. Songs, p. 
 237. Tyrwhitt quotes a passage from The Testament of 
 Love, bk. ii : — ' Buserus [Busiris] slew his gestes, and he was 
 slayne of Hercules his gest. Hugest betraished many menne, 
 and of Collo was he betraied'; ed. 1561, fol. 301, col. 2. With 
 regard to tregetour, see the account of the performances of 
 Eastern jugglers in Yule's edition of Marco Polo ; vol. i. p. 342, 
 and note 9 to Bk. i. c. 61. Col. Yule cites the O. F. forms 
 tregiieor and eiiiregetour ; also Ital. if-agcUatore, a juggler, and 
 Prov. trasjita}-, irajiiar, to juggle. Bartsch, in his Chresto- 
 mathie Frani^aise, has examples of trasgclcr, to mould, form, 
 tresge/ei's, a work of mechanical art ; and, in his Chrestomathie 
 Provengale, col. 82, has the lines — 
 
 ' Non saps balar ni iras-i^itar 
 a guiza de juglar guascon ' ; 
 
 i. e. thou know'st not how to dance, nor how to juggle, after the 
 manner of a Gascon juggler. A comparison of the forms leaves 
 no doubt as to the etymology. The Prov. tfasgiiar answers to 
 a Low Lat. form trafts-icciare = ira-icctare, frequentative of 
 Lat. ircms-uerc, tra-iccrc, to throw across, transfer, cause to 
 pass. Thus, the orig. sense of tregciotir was one who causes 
 rapid changes, by help of some mechanical contrivance. The 
 F. trajecier, to ferry, transport, in Cotgrave, is the same word 
 as the Prov. trasgitar, in a different (but allied) sense. 
 
 1292. *As is the usual way with reports.' 
 
 1295. Accent Which and so.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. '>^^e^ 
 
 1297. 'And yet it was wrought by hap-hazard quite as often 
 as by heed.' 
 
 1300. To longe^ too long ; not ' to dwell long.' The barbarous 
 practice of inserting an adverb between to and an infinitive, as 
 in 'to ungrammatically talk,' is very modem. Cf. 1. 1354. 
 
 1302. Elide the former Ne ; read ISP of. 
 
 1303. Read — Ne of th'hackfng' in mdsoneries ; i.e. nor about 
 the cutting out in the masonry, as, for example, into corbets, 
 full of carved work. The line, though easy, was somehow mis- 
 understood, and how was substituted for the of which the 
 parallel phrases require. Then the phrase was turned into how 
 they hat, i. e. how they are called (though hat is hardly correct 
 as a plural form, and no sense is thus obtained). 
 
 1304. CorbetfeSy corheXs. Florio's Ital. Diet, has : '' Corbella 
 Cordcita, a little basket ' ; shewing the equivalence of the forms. 
 The E. corbel is the same word as O. F. corbel (F. corbean), 
 which is the masc. form corresponding to Ital. corbella ; all 
 from the Lat. corbis. The spelling with z { = ts) in MSS. F. 
 and B. shews that the form is really corbettes, not corbelles. 
 Spenser has the simple form corb ; F. Q. iv. 10. 6 : — 
 
 ' It was a bridge ybuilt in goodly wise 
 With curious corbes and pendants graven faire.' 
 
 ' A Corbel, Corbet, or Corbill in masonrie, is a iutting out like a 
 bragget [bracket] as carpenters call it, or shouldering-peece in 
 timber- work ' ; Minsheu's Diet. ed. 1627. Tyrwhitt wrongly 
 explains corbettes by ' niches for statues ' ; probably because 
 he followed the reading in M S. 'Q—fiill of yinageries. But 
 ' imageries ' are not statues or linages, but only specimens ot 
 carved work. Scan the line — As corbettes and imageries. 
 
 1309. 'A bounty! a bounty! hold up (your hands) well (to 
 catch it).' Sir W. Scott explains largesse as 'the cry with 
 which heralds and pursuivants were wont to acknowledge the 
 bounty received from the knights ' ; note to Marmion, canto i. 
 St. II. The word is still in use amongst gleaners in East 
 Anglia ; see my note to P. Plowman, C. viii. 109. 
 
 1316,1317. Kinges, i.e. kings-at-arms ; losinges, lozenges 
 (with^o- asy). 
 
 1326. Cote-annure, surcoat ; see Gloss, to Knight's Tale, ed. 
 Morris. 
 
 1330. Ben aboute, used like the old phrase ^o about. 
 
 1346. Wikke, poor, much alloyed. 
 
 1352. Laj)idaire, 'a treatise on precious stones, so entitled; 
 A a 2
 
 ^^6 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK TIL 
 
 probably a French translation of the Latin poem of Marbodus 
 De Gcmviis, which is frequently cited by the name of Lapi- 
 dariiis\ Fabricius, Bibl. Med. ^t., in v. Marbodus''', Tyrwhitt's 
 Glossary, The Lapidarium of Abbot Marbodus (Marboeuf), 
 composed about 1070-80, is chiefly taken from Pliny and 
 Solinus. A translation in English verse is given in King's 
 Antique Gems. See note to 1. 1363 below. There is some 
 account of several precious stones in Philip de Thaun's Bes- 
 tiary, printed in Wright's Popular Treatises on Science ; at 
 p. 127 he refers to the Lapidaire. Vincent of Beauvais refers 
 to it repeatedly, in book viii. of his Speculum Naturale. There 
 is a note about this in Warton, Hist. E. P. ed. 1871, ii. 324. 
 
 1360. Dees, dais ; see Morris's note to Prol. 370. 
 
 1361. The reading Sit would mean 'sitteth' or 'sits'; the 
 reading Sat would mean * sat.' Both are wrong ; the con- 
 struction is siite I saicgh — I saugh sitte, I saw sit ; so that 
 sitie is the infin. mood. 
 
 1363. Carbuncle. Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat. bk. viii. 
 c. 51, has: ^ Carbunculus, qui et Graecfe a?ithrax dicitur, vul- 
 gariter rubith.' An account of the Carbimculus is given in 
 King's Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems. He 
 remarks that the ruby 'must also be included among the 
 numerous species of the carbunculus described by Pliny, al- 
 though he gives the first rank to the CarbuJiculi a.inethystizontes, 
 our Almandines or Garnets of Siam.' Sec also his Antique 
 Gems, where he translates sect. 23 of the Lapidarium of 
 Marbodus thus : — 
 
 ■ 'The Carbuncle eclipses by its blaze 
 
 All shining gems, and casts its fiery rays 
 
 Like to the burning coal ; whence comes its name, 
 
 Among the Greeks as Anthrax known to fame. 
 
 Not e'en by darkness quenched, its Nngour tires ; 
 
 Still at the gazer's eye it darts its fires ; 
 
 A numerous race ; within the Lybian ground 
 
 Twelve kinds by mining Troglydytes are found.' 
 
 1376. Sterres sevetie, the seven planets. 
 
 1380. Tolde, counted ; observe this sense. 
 
 1383. Bestes foure,{o\xx beasts; Rev. iv. 6. Cf. Dante, Purg. 
 xxix. 92. 
 
 1386. Thynne remarks that oundy, i. e. wavy, is a term in 
 heraldry ; cf. E. ab-ound, red-ound, surr-ound (for sur-ound) ; 
 all from Lat. ufida. 
 
 1390. 'And tongues, as (there arc) hairs on animals.' 'Her
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 357 
 
 feet are furnished with partridge-wings to denote swiftness, 
 as the partridge is remarkable for running with great swiftness 
 with outstretched wings. This description is taken almost 
 literally from the description of Fame in the yEneid [iv. 176-183], 
 except the allusion to the Apocalypse and the partridge-wings ' ; 
 note in Bell's Chaucer. But it is to be feared that Chaucer 
 simply blundered, and mistook Y crgiV s perfiidbus as having the 
 sense oi perdicibiis \ cf. '■ pedibtts celerem ei per^iictbus alts'; 
 Aen. iv. 180. 
 
 1400. Caliope, Calliope the muse ; her eight sisters are the 
 other Muses. With 11. 1395-1405 cf. Dante, Par. xxiii. 97-1 11. 
 
 141 1. Read — B6th-e th'drmes. Arines, \. e. coats of arms. 
 
 1413. Alexaizder ; see Monkes Tale, in my edition of Prior- 
 esses Tale, p. 51. Hercules ; see the same, p. 35 ; the story of 
 the shirt is on p. 36 (C. T., Group B, 3309-3324). In Le Roman 
 de la Rose, 1. 9238, it is called ' la venimeuse chemise.' Cf. 
 Dante, Inf. xii. 68. 
 
 1 43 1. Lede, lead, the metal of Saturn ; yren, iron, the metal 
 of Mars. See note to 1. 820 of Can. Yeom. Tale (in my edition 
 of the Man of Lawes Tale) ; and 11. 827, 828 of the same ; also 
 II. 1446, 1448 below. 
 
 1433. Read — Th'Ebrayk Josephus. In a note on Gower's 
 Conf. Amantis, Warton remarks — 'Josephus, on account of his 
 subject, had long been placed almost on a level with the Bible. 
 He is seated on the first pillar in Chaucer's House of Fame. 
 His Jewish History, translated into Latin by Rufinus in the 
 fourth century, had given rise to many old poems and romances ; 
 and his Maccabaics, or History of the seven Maccabees, 
 martyred with their father Eleazar under the persecution of 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, a separate work translated also by 
 Rufinus, produced the ficdas Maccabee of Belleperche in the 
 year 1240, and at length enrolled the Maccabees among the 
 most illustrious heroes of romance ' — ed. Hazlitt, iii. 26. 
 
 1436. lewerye, kingdom of the Jews ; cf. Prior. Tale, B. 1679. 
 
 1437. Who the other seven are, we can but guess ; the 
 reference seems to be to Jewish historians. Perhaps we may 
 include Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Daniel, Nehemiah ; 
 and, in any case, Ezra. The number seven was probably taken 
 at random. With 1. 1447 cf. Troil. ii. 630. 
 
 1450. Wheels orbit. The orbit of Saturn is the largest of the 
 (old) seven planets; see Kn. Tale, 1596. The reason why 
 Josephus is placed upon Saturn's metal, is because history 
 records so many unhappy casualties, such as Saturn's influence
 
 ■^^S IX. HOUSE OF FAME : BOOK Iff. 
 
 was supposed to cause. All this is fully explained in the Kn. 
 Tale, 1 597-161 1. 
 
 1457. Yren, the metal of Mars ; see note to 1. 1431. 
 
 1459. This allusion to ' tiger's blood ' is curious ; but is fully 
 accounted for by the account of the two tigers in bk. vii. of the 
 Thebaid. A peace had nearly been made up between the 
 Thebans and the other Greeks, when two tigers, sacred to 
 Bacchus, broke loose, and killed three men. They are then 
 wounded by Aconteus, whereupon ' They fly, and flying, draw 
 upon the plain A bloody line' ; according to Lewis's translation. 
 They fall and die, but are avenged ; and so the whole war was 
 renewed. Lydgate reduces the two tigers to one; see his 
 chapter ' Of a tame Tigre dwelling in Thebes ' ; in part 3 of his 
 Sege of Thebes. 
 
 1460. Since (as in Troil. bk. v, near the end, and Kn. Tale, 
 1436) is Publius Papinius Statius, who died A.D. 96, author of the 
 Tliebais and Achilleis (see 1. 1463), the latter being left incom- 
 plete. Tholosan means Toulousan, or inhabitant of Tholouse ; 
 and he is here so called because by some (including Dante, 
 whom Chaucer follows) he was incorrectly supposed to have 
 been a native of Toulouse. He was bom at Naples, A.D. 6r. 
 Dante calls him Tolosano m Purg. xxi. 89, on which Cary 
 remarks : — ' Dante, as many others have done, confounds 
 Statius the poet, who was a Neapolitan, with a rhetorician of 
 the same name, who was of Tolosa or Thoulouse. Thus 
 Chaucer ; and Boccaccio, as cited by Lombardi : " E Stazio di 
 Tolosa ancora cora " ; Amoros. Vis. cant. 5.' 
 
 1463. 'Cantai di Tebe, e poi del grande Archille'; Dante, 
 Purg. xxi. 92. 
 
 1466. Omcre, Homer; see 11. 1477- 1480 below. 
 
 1467. In Chaucer's Troil. i. 146, is the line — 'In Omere, or 
 in Dares, or in Dyte.' Dares means Dares Phrygius ; and Tyttis 
 is doubtless intended for the same person as Dyte, i. e. Dictys 
 Cretensis. See the account in Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. 
 Hazlitt, ii. 127, beginning: — 'But the Trojan story was still 
 kept alive in two Latin pieces, which passed under the names 
 of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis,' &c. ; and further in 
 vol. iii. p. 81. The chief source of the romantic histories of 
 Troy in the middle ages is the Roman de Troie by Benoit de 
 Sainte-Maure, which appeared between 1175 and 1185, and has 
 lately been edited by M. Joly. This was copied by (luido de 
 Colonna (see note to 1. 1469 below), who pretended, nevertheless, 
 to follow Dares and Dictys.
 
 fX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 359 
 
 1468. Lolliiis ; evidently supposed by Chaucer to be a writer 
 on the Trojan war. See Tyrwhitt's note on the words the bake 
 of Troilus, as occurring at the end of the Persones Tale. 
 Chaucer twice quotes Lollius in Troilus, viz. in bk. i. 394 and 
 bk. V. 1652. At the beginning of sect, xiv of his Hist, of Eng. 
 Poetry, Warton shews that there was a Lollius Urbicus among 
 the Historici Lati7ii profatti of the third century ; ' but this 
 could not be Chaucer's Lollius ; . . . none of his works remain.' 
 The difficulty has never been cleared up ; we know, however, 
 that the Troilus is chiefly taken from Boccaccio's Ftlostrafo, 
 just as his Knight's Tale is chiefly taken from Boccaccio's 
 Teseide. My idea of the matter is that, in the usual mode of 
 appealing to old authorities, Chaucer refers us (not to Boccaccio, 
 whom he does not mention, but) to the authorities whom he 
 supposed Boccaccio must have followed. Accordingly, in his 
 Troilus, he mentions Homer, Dares, Dictys, and Lollius, though 
 he probably knew next to nothing of miy one of these authors. 
 Accordingly, the suggestion made by Dr. Latham [Athoiccuiu, 
 Oct. 3, 1868, p. 433) seems quite reasonable, viz. that he {or 
 some one else) got the idea that Lollius wrote on the Trojan war 
 by misunderstanding the lines of Horace, Epist. i. 2 ; — 
 
 ' Troiani belli scriptorem, maxime Lolli, 
 Dum tu declamas Romce, Prteneste relegi.' 
 
 See Ten Brink, Stiidien, p. 87. 
 
 1469. Guido de Colonna, or Guido delle Colonne, or Guido 
 de Columnis, finished his translation or version of Benoit de 
 Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie in the year 1287. His work is 
 called Historia Troiana. The ' Geste Hystoriale ' of the Destruc- 
 tion of Troy, edited by Panton and Donaldson for the Early 
 English Text Society, is a translation of Guido's Historia into 
 Middle English alliterative verse. See Warton, Hist. E. P., ed. 
 Hazlitt, iii. 81. 
 
 1470. Gaufride, Geoffrey, viz. Geoffi-ey of Monmouth, who 
 died A.D. 1 1 54, and wrote a History of the Britons in Latin, full 
 of extravagant but lively fictions, which was completed in 1147 ; 
 see Morley's Hist. E. Writers, i. 496. He is rightly mentioned 
 among the writers who ' bore up Troy,' because he makes the 
 Britons the descendants of ^neas. See note below. 
 
 1477. Oo7i seyde, one (of them) said. Guido was one of those 
 who said this ; this appears from the Gest Hystoriale above 
 mentioned, which was translated from Guido ; see 11. 41-47, and 
 10312-10329 of Panton and Donaldson's edition. Guido asserts,
 
 360 IX. HOUSE OF FAME : BOOK III. 
 
 for example, that Achilles slew Hector by treachery, and not, as 
 Homer says, in fair fight ; and Chaucer asserts the same, Troil. 
 V. 1570. The fact is, that the Latin races declined to accept an 
 account which did not sufficiently praise the Trojans, whom 
 they regarded as their ancestors. Geoffrey of Monmouth 
 ingeniously followed up this notion, by making the Trojans also 
 the ancestors of the ancient Britons. Hence English writers 
 followed on the same side ; Lydgate, as well as Chaucer, exclaims 
 against Homer. See Warton, ed. Hazlitt, iii. 82. But Dante 
 exalts Homer above Horace, Ovid, and Lucan : Inf. iv. 88. 
 
 1482. 'Homer's iron is admirably represented as having been 
 by Virgil covered over with tin ' ; note in Bell's Chaucer. 
 
 1487. Ovide, Ovid ; from whom perhaps Chaucer borrows 
 more than from any other Latin writer. He stands on a pillar 
 of copper, the metal sacred to Venus. See note to 1. 820 of Can. 
 Yeom. Tale, in my edition of the Man of Lawes Tale. 
 
 1494. High tJie (as in F.) is an error for high/he, height ; Cx. 
 Th. have hcyght. 
 
 1499. Lucan \ alluding to Lucan's Pharsalia, which narrates 
 the war between Cassar and Pompey. See Man of Lawes Tale, 
 401 ; Monkes Tale, C. T., Group B, 3909 (and note), and a 
 fourth mention of him near the end of Troilus. There is an 
 English translation by Rowe. 
 
 1509. Claudius Claudianus, in the fourth century, wrote 
 a poem De Raptii Proserpina", alluded to here and in the 
 ^Merchant's Tale (C. T. 10106), and several other pieces. 
 
 1512. Imitated from Dante, Inf. ix. 44 — 'Delia regina dell' 
 eterno pianto.' 
 
 1 519. Write, wrote ; pt. t. pi. Highte, were named. 
 
 1521. Again from Dante, Inf. xvi. i, which Cary translates ; — 
 
 ' Now came I where the water's din was heard, . . . 
 Resounding like the hum of swarining bees, 
 AVhcn forth together issued from a troop,' &c. 
 
 1527. Cf. Ovid, lilct. xii. 53 — 'Atria turba tenent ; ucniunt 
 leue uulgus, euntque.' 
 
 1530. AIlcs kinncs is in the gen. sing., and Of governs 
 condicioicns ; thus the line is equivalent to — ' Of conditions of 
 every kind ' ; whereas modern English uses — ' Of every kind of 
 condition.' This peculiar idiom was formerly common ; and 
 precisely similar to it is the phrase noskinnes, for which see note 
 to 1. 1794. Observe that the phrase is oddly written allc 
 skynncs in MS. F., by a misdivision of the words. So in Piers
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 361 
 
 Plowman. A. ii. 175, we have the phrase _/&r e7ty kunnes yfflus, 
 for gifts of any kind, where one MS. has any skyjtcs. In my note 
 to P. Plowman, C. xi. 128, I give numerous examples, with 
 references, of phrases such as nojie kynties riche, mafty kynncs 
 manc7-es, sionmes kunnes wise, ivhat kyns schape, &.c. 
 
 1 550. ' Those that did pray her for her favour.' 
 
 1564. ' Because it does not please me.' 
 
 1570. I here alter Vpofi peyne to Vp pcyne, as the former will 
 not scan, and the latter is the usual idiom. See tip peyne in Kn. 
 Tale, 849, 1685 ; Man of Lawes Tale, 795, 884. Cf. vp the toft, 
 upon the toft, P. Plowman, B. i. 12; vp erihe, upon earth, id. 
 B. ix. 99. 
 
 1571. Cf. Rom. Rose, 18206 — 'Car Eolus, li diex des vens.' 
 From Vergil, zEn. i. 52 ; cf. Ovid, Met. xiv. 223, where ^olus is 
 said to reign over the Tuscan sea. The connection of vEolus 
 with Thrace is not obvious; cf. 1. 1585. But it may have been 
 suggested by Ovid's 'Threicio Borea' ; Art. Am. ii. 431. 
 
 1596. Tok to, delivered to. TritoJi, Triton; imitated from 
 Ovid, Met. i. 333, where Neptune calls Triton, and bids him 
 sound his ' shell,' the sound of which resounded everywhere. 
 
 1618. Wite is badly spelt ivete or wote in the MS. copies ; 
 but the very phrase wite ye what occurs in C. T., Group E, 2431, 
 in my edition of the Prioresses Tale, p. 102. 
 
 1643. ^ pclet was a stone ball, such as used to be fired from 
 the earliest kind of cannon, of which this is a very early mention. 
 See my glossary to P. Plowman (Clar. Press). 
 
 1670. Lat gon, let go, lay aside. 
 
 1702. The word turned, which is dissyllabic, has evidently 
 been substituted here in the printed editions and in MS. P. for 
 the older and rare word clew, which does not occur elsewhere in 
 Chaucer. The line means — 'With that (therupon) I rubbed 
 my head all round ' ; which is a rustic way of expressing 
 perplexity. The verb clawen, to scratch, stroke, is not uncom- 
 mon, but the usual pt. t. is clawed. We find, however, at least 
 one other example of the strong form of the past tense in the 
 Seven Sages, ed. Weber, 1. 925 — ' He clew the bor on the rigge,' 
 he stroked the boar on the back, and made him go to sleep ; cf. 
 ' thi maister the clawes,' i. e. your master strokes you, to flatter 
 you, in 1. 937 of the same. Chaucer has : ' to clawe [rub] him 
 on his hele ' [heel], Troil. iv. 728 ; ' he clawed him on the bak,' 
 he stroked him on the back, to encourage him. Cook's Prol. 
 2 (where clew would serve equally well). See claw in Jamieson's 
 Scot. Diet.
 
 362 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 
 
 1708. ' They would not give a leek.' Cf. 'dere ynough a leke'; 
 Can. Yeom. Tale, Group G, 795. 
 
 1740. 'Although no brooch or ring was ever sent us.' 
 
 1742-4. ' Nor was it once intended in their heart to make us 
 even friendly cheer, but they might (i. e. were ready to) 
 bring us to our bier ' ; i.e. so far from caring to please us, they 
 would be satisfied to see us dead. 
 
 The M.E. iemefi, to produce, to bring, is the same word as mod. 
 E. teem, to produce. To temcn on here is parallel to the old 
 phrase to britigen on here ; cf. Gaw. Douglas, tr. of yEneid, bk. x. 
 ch. 10, 1. 138, (ed. Small, iii. 326), where brocht on beyr means 
 ' brought to their grave.' See Bier in Murray's Dictionary. 
 
 1747. For laood, as (if) mad, 'like mad.' The same phrase 
 recurs in Leg. Good Women, Phyllis, 1. 27 ; cf. as it were wood, 
 Kn. Tale, 2092. 
 
 1761. The name, the name of it, the credit of it. 
 
 1777. Masiy (miswritten maisty in F., but masty in the rest) 
 means fat, fattened up, and hence unwieldy, sluggish. Bell 
 alters it to maisly, and Moxon's edition to nasiie ; both being 
 wTong. Palsgrave has : ' Masty, fatte, as swyne be, gras.' 
 The Promp. Parv. has : ' Mast-hog or swyne, [or] mastid swyne, 
 Maialis' ; and: ' Mastyn beestys. sagino, impinguo^ Way 
 rightly explains masty as ' glutted with acorns or berries ' ; cf. 
 ' Acome, mast for swyne, gland,' in Palsgrave. See The Former 
 Age, 1. 37. 
 
 1779. IVher, whether, ' is it the case that ?' 
 
 1782. As the word oiighte is never followed by to with a 
 following gerund, it is certain that to-hangen is all one word, the 
 prefix to- being intensive. MSS. F. and B. omit to, but the rest 
 have it, and the syllable is wanted. I know of no other example 
 of to-hangen, to hang thoroughly, but this is of little moment. 
 The prefix to- was freely added to all sorts of verbs expressing 
 strong action ; Stratmann gives more than a hundred examples. 
 
 1783. We must read s^aeynt, the form preserved in MS. B, 
 though an idle final e is added to it. The reading S7cynt is false, 
 being an error for sweynt. The reading slepy is a mere gloss 
 upon this rare word, but fairly expresses the meaning. Bell's 
 Chaucer has siuynt, which the editor supposes to be put for 
 swinkt = swinkcd, pp. of swinken, to toil, as in Milton's ' swinkd 
 hedger'; Comus, 293. He is, however, entirely wrong, for 
 INIilton's sit'ink'd is quite a late form ; in Chaucer's time the verb 
 swinken was strong, and the pp. was swunken ! Chaucer has 
 queynt as the pp. of qucnchcn, Kn. Tale, 1463 ; and drcynt as
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 2)^2> 
 
 the pp. o{ drenchoi, Non. Prest. Tale, 262. Similarly siveynt is 
 the pp. of swenchett, to cause to toil, to fatigue, tire out, the 
 causal verb formed from the aforesaid strong intransitive verb 
 swinken, to toil. For examples, see swenchen in Stratmann ; I 
 may instance : ' Euwer feond ecu ne seal . . swenchen,^ your 
 enemies shall not harass you, Old Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 
 13 ; and ' hi swencten swi¥e heom-seolfe,' they sore afflicted 
 themselves, id. loi. Moreover, swtynt is here treated as if it 
 were dissyllabic, as s'eynt (saint) is in some passages. Hence, 
 ' the sweynt cat ' means the over-toiled or tired out cat ; or, 
 secondarily, a cat that will take no trouble, a slothful or sleepy 
 cat, as the gloss says. Compare Gower, Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, 
 ii- 39> where the same cat is brought forward as an example 
 of the deadly sin of Sloth : — 
 
 ' For he [a knight] ne wol no travail take 
 
 To ride for his ladies sake, 
 
 But liveth al upon his wisshes, 
 
 And — as a cat wolde ete fisshes 
 
 Withoute weting of his clees — 
 
 So wolde he do, but netheles 
 
 He faileth ofte of that he wolde.' 
 
 The ' adage ' is referred to in Macbeth, i. 7. 45. It occurs in MS. 
 Had. 2321, fol. 146, printed in Reliq. Antiquce, i. 207, in the 
 form : ' The cat doth love the fishe, but she will not wett her 
 foote.' In Heywood's Proverbs, 1562 (p. 28, ed. Spenser Soc.) : 
 ' The cat would eate fyshe, and would not wet her feete.' So 
 also in Camden's /Remains, 1614, p. 312. Hazlitt gives a rimed 
 version : — 
 
 'Fain would the cat fish eat. 
 But she's loth to wet her feet.' 
 
 In Piers the Plowman's Crede, 405, is the allusion : — 
 
 'Thou woldest not weten thy fote, and woldest fich cacchen.' 
 
 In a medieval Latin verse, it appears as : ' Catus amat piscem, 
 sed non vult tingere plantam'; see Proverbialia Dicteria . . per 
 A. Gartnerum, 1574, 8vo. Ray quotes the French : ' Le chat 
 aime le poisson, mais il n'aime pas h. mouiller la patte.' The 
 German form is — ' Die Katze hatt' der Fische gem ; aber sie 
 will die Fiisse nit nass machen'; N. and O. 4 S. ix. 266. 
 
 1794. Noskinnes\ miswritten no skynties in MSS. F. and B. ; 
 Th. and Cx. 710 kyns. Nos-klmtes is short for 7i07ieskin7ies^ of no 
 kind ; 7ioski/i7ies labour is ' work of no kind' ; in mod. E. ' no 
 kind of work.' It also occurs without the former s\ as in 7to kyne
 
 364 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 
 
 catcl, property of no kind, P. Plowm. C. xi. 250 ; none kynncs 
 riche, rich men of no kind, id. B. xi. 185. Cf. also offotirc kunne 
 thinges, of things of four kinds, of four kinds of things, where 
 one MS. has offoure skynfies thinges ; P. Plowm. A. x. 2. And 
 see note to 1. 1530 above. 
 
 1796. Bele Isaiaie, Isaude (or Isoude, or Isolde) the fair ; here 
 a type of a high form of female beauty. See Pari. Foules, 290 ; 
 and the note. 
 
 1798. * She that grinds at a hand-mill ' ; a poor slave. 
 
 1810. Her (their) refers to the 'seventh company.' 'Such 
 amusement they found in their hoods ' ; a phrase meaning ' so 
 much did they laugh at them'; see Troil. ii. 11 10. Cf. the 
 phrase ' to put an ape in a man's hood,' i. e. to make him look 
 like an ape, or look foolish ; see note to C. T., Group B, 1630, in 
 my edition of the Prioresses Tale. 
 
 1823. 'Then a company came running in.' 
 
 1824. C/2^//£'«, strike downwards. They began hitting people 
 on the head, regardless of consequences. The same expression 
 occurs in Richard the Redeless, iii. 230 — 'And ich man 
 i-charchid to schoppe at his croune'; where i-cJiarchid = 
 i-charged, i. e. was charged, was commanded, and sckoppc = 
 choppe. 
 
 1840. Pale, a perpendicular stripe ; chiefly used as an heraldic 
 term. The object of the conspicuous stripe upon the hose was to 
 draw men's attention to him; for the same reason, he wore a 
 bell on his tippet, and, in fact, his dress resembled that of the 
 professional fool. Paled or striped hose were sometimes worn 
 by one in the height of the fashion. 
 
 ' Buskins he wore of costliest cordwayne, 
 Pinckt upon gold, and paled part per part, 
 As then the guize was for each gentle swayne.' 
 
 Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 5. 
 
 I. e. his buskins were adorned with golden dots or eyelets, and 
 regularly intersected with stripes arranged perpendicularly. 
 
 1S44. Isidis, Isis ; Isidis being a form of the genitive case. 
 Chaucer doubtless refers to Herostratus, the wretch who set fire 
 to the temple of Diana at Ephesus, in order to immortalise his 
 name. Why Diana here appears as Isis, and Ephesus as 
 Athens, I cannot explain. Perhaps it was due to a defect of 
 memory ; we are apt to forget how very largely medieval authors 
 had to trust to their memories for names and facts. It is almost 
 impossible for us moderns, with our facilities for reference, to
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 365 
 
 imagine what were the difificulties of learned men in the olden 
 time. Perhaps Chaucer was thinking of Ovid's line (ex Ponto, 
 j. I. 51) — ' Uidi ego linigerae numen uiolasse fatentem Isidis.' 
 ' See, Erostratus the second 
 Fires again Diana's fane.' 
 
 Rejected Addresses; Dmry's Dirge, st. 5. 
 
 1853. Thynne prints — '(Though it be naught) for shreudness' ; 
 but this is very forced. MS. B. and Caxton both omit noght, 
 rightly. 
 
 1857. 'And, in order to get (some) of the meed of fame. 
 
 1880. An allusion to the old proverb — ' As I brew, so must 
 I needs drink ' ; in Camden's Rc7nains. Gower has it, Conf. 
 Amant. bk. iii, ed. Pauli, ii. 334 : — 
 
 'And who so wicked ale breweth, 
 Ful ofte he mot the werse drinke.' 
 
 1920. The description of 'the house of Daedalus' is in Ovid, 
 Met. viii. 159 ; and the word labyrintJms, used with reference to 
 it, is in Vergil, y^;z. v. 588. Chaucer again refers to it in the 
 Leg. of Good Women (Ariadne), 2010 ; and it is mentioned in 
 his translation of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 12; ed. Morris, p. 105. 
 And see Gower, Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, ii. 304. 
 
 1926. This somewhat resembles Dante,/'?/; iii. 53, which Gary 
 
 translates : — 
 
 ' Which whirling ran about so rapidly 
 
 That it no pause obtain'd.' 
 1928. Oise, a river which flows into the Seine, from the north, 
 not far below Paris. Chaucer says the sound might have been 
 heard from there to Rome. From this vague statement, Warton 
 would wish us to infer that the whole poem was founded on 
 some foreign production now (and probably always) unknown. 
 There is no need to draw any such conclusion. The EngHsh 
 were fairly familiar with the north of France in days when a 
 good deal of French soil belonged more or less to the king ot 
 England. The Oise, being a northern affluent of the Seine, 
 must have been a well-known river. I think the allusion proves 
 just nothing at all. 
 
 1933. This is an excellent and picturesque allusion, but in 
 these days can no longer be appreciated. Compare Barbour's 
 Bruce, xvii. 681 : — 
 
 ' The engynour than deliuerly 
 
 Gert bend the gyne in full gret hy, 
 
 And the stane smertly swappit out. 
 
 It flaw out, quhedirand, with a rout^
 
 ^66 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK ITT. 
 
 1940. Though the authorities read haitcs (Th. hutches), I 
 alter this word to Jiottcs without hesitation. \\q. do not make hats 
 with twigs or osiers. Chaucer says that some of the twigs were 
 white, such as men use to make cages with, or panniers (i. e. 
 baskets), or hottes, or dossers. Now Cotgrave explains F. 
 P atit'er hy *a Pannier, or Dosser; also, a Pedlers Pack; also, 
 a fashion of trunke made of wicker ' ; and he explains F. Hotte 
 by *a Scuttle, Dosser, Basket to carr)' on the back; the right 
 hotte is wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom.' Dr. Murray 
 kindly refers me to Cursor Mundi, 1. 5524 : — 
 
 ' Apon per ncckes sal J)ai here 
 Hott wit Stan and wit morter.' 
 
 He also tells me that in Caxton's Golden Legend (1483), fol. 
 cix. col. 2, is the sentence — ' And bare on his sholdres vij. hottis 
 or baskettis fuUe of erthe.' In a Glossary of North of England 
 Words, printed as Gloss. B. i, by the Eng. Dial. Society, I 
 find : ' Hots, s. pi. a sort of panniers to carrj^ turf or slate in ' ; 
 and Halliwell gives it as a Cumberland word. Dickinson's 
 Cumberland Glossary has : *■ Muck-hots, panniers for conveying 
 manure on horseback.' Brockett's Gloss, of Northern Words 
 has : ' Hot, a sort of square basket, formerly used for taking 
 manure into fields of steep ascent ; the bottom opened by two 
 wooden pins to let out the contents.' Thus the existence of 
 the word in English is fully proved; and the fitness of it is 
 evident. 
 
 1943. 'Al ful of chirking was that sory place'; Kn. Tale, 
 1146. 
 
 1946. Again from Ovid, Met. xii. 44-47. 
 
 1970. Perhaps cck should be omitted ; we should then read— 
 ' Of estat-es and of regions.' Or read — ' estdts.' 
 
 1975. Mis is here an adjective, meaning 'bad' or 'wrong'; 
 cf. — ' But to correcten that is mis I mente ' ; Can. Yeom. Tale, 
 G. 999. 
 
 1980. 'Although the timber,' &c. 
 
 1982. 'As long as it pleases Chance, who is the mother of 
 news, just as the sea (is mother) of wells and springs.' 
 
 1997. Pardvcnttire ; also spelt fiaraunter, shewing how 
 rapidly the third syllable could be slurred over. 
 
 2000. Peter \ by St. Peter; see note to 1. 1034. 
 
 2009. I substitute the dissyllabic swich-e for the monosyllabic 
 these, to preserve the melody. 
 
 2011. 'To drive away thy heaviness with.'
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 367 
 
 2017. MS. F. has y)'^/, which has no meaning, but may be 
 a misspeHing oifrotf, which is another form oi fruit. I propose 
 to read Thcffect, i. e. the result (which is clearly intended) ; 
 otherwise we must read Tlie fruit, which will also serve, if 
 we remember that Chaucer uses fruit in the peculiar sense ot 
 ' upshot' or 'result.' 
 
 'And for it is no fruit but los of tyme'; Squi. Ta. 74. 
 
 'Thefniyt of this matere is that I telle'; Man of Lawes Ta. 41 1. 
 
 In the present case, it would be used in a double sense ; (i) of 
 result, (2) of a fruit that withers and is ready to burst open. 
 As to the spelling froit, we find froyte in the Petworth MS. 
 in the latter of the above quotations, where other MSS. have 
 fruyt or fruite. The siuotc (Cx. Th.) means * the sweetness.' 
 
 2021. I suppress /« after j/a/j because it is not wanted for the 
 sense, and spoils the metre. 
 
 2034-2040. Suggested by Dante, Inf. iii. 55-57, just as 11. 
 1924-6 above are by the two preceding lines in Dante; see 
 note to 1. 1926. Cary has : — 
 
 'and following came 
 Such a long train of spirits, I should ne'er 
 Have thought that death so many had despoil'd.' 
 
 2044. I substitute ech for euerych (in Caxton). The two 
 MSS. (F. and B.) have merely Roimcd i?i others ere, which 
 is of course defective. 
 
 2048. I here follow B. (except that it wrongly omits lo). 
 
 2059. Wondermost ; superl. of wonder, which is very common 
 as an adjective. 
 
 2076. As the reading of the MSS. is obviously wrong (tJie 
 word mouth being repeated three times), whilst the reading of 
 the printed editions ( Went every tydyng) cannot be right on 
 account of the scansion, I put word for the first of the three 
 inoutKs. This gives the right sense, and probably Chaucer 
 actually wrote it. 
 
 2089. Again from Ovid, Met. xii. 54, 55. 
 
 2101. See Kn. Tale, 273, 274. 
 
 2105. Beside, without ; without asking his leave. 
 
 21 19. Cf. Cant. Tales, 7277 (Group D, 1695)— 'Twenty 
 thousand freres on a route,' where Tyrwhitt prints A twenty. 
 But the MSS. (at least the seven best ones) all omit the A. Just 
 as the present line wants its first syllable, and is to be scanned 
 — ' Twdnty thousand in a route ' ; so the line in the Cant. Tales 
 wants its first syllable, and is to be scanned— Twenty thousand
 
 368 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK I IT. 
 
 freres on a route. For having called attention to this fact, my 
 name (misspelt) has been once mentioned in \^ow€iX ■& My Study 
 IVtJidows, in his article on Chaucer. ' His (Chaucer's) ear 
 would never have tolerated the verses of nine ^ syllables with a 
 strong accent on the first, attributed to him by Mr. Skeate and 
 Mr. Morris. Such verses seem to me simply impossible in the 
 pentameter iambic as Chaucer wrote it.' Surely this is as- 
 sumption, not proof. I have only to say that the examples are 
 rather numerous, and nine-syllable lines are not impossible to a 
 poet with a good ear ; for there are twelve consecutive lines of 
 this character in Tennyson's Vision of Sin. It may suffice to 
 quote one of them : — 
 
 ' Panted hand in hand with faces pale.' 
 
 I will merely add here, that similar lines abound in Lydgate's 
 ' Sege of Thebes.' 
 
 2123. Cf. P. Plowman ; B. prol. 46-52. Brctful, brim-ful, 
 occurs in P. PI. C. i. 42 ; also in Chaucer, Prol. 687 ; Kn. 
 Tale, 1306. 
 
 2130. Lyes; Y .Ucs,Y..lccs. ' Zz>, f. the lees, dregs, grounds ' ; 
 Cotgrave. 
 
 2140. Sooner or later, every sheaf in the bam has to come 
 out to be thrashed. 
 
 2152. 'And cast up their noses and eyes.' This is very 
 graphic ; each man is trying to peer beyond the rest. The 
 right reading is retained in MS. B. only ; the other two 
 authorities turn 7iose and eye?t into 7ioise on Jiyghen ; but the 
 form hyghen was obsolete at this date, and the sense thus 
 obtained is poor. 
 
 2154. 'And stamp, as a man would stamp on a live eel, to try 
 to secure it.' Already in Plautus, Pseudolus, 2. 4. 56, we have 
 the proverb angidlla est, elalntur, he is an eel, he slips away 
 from you ; said of a sly or slippery fellow. In the Rora. de la 
 Rose, 9941, we are told that it is as hard to be sure of a woman's 
 constancy as it is to hold a live eel by the tail. 'To have an 
 eel by the tail' was an old English proverb; see Ecl'va Nares' 
 Glossary, ed. Halliwell and Wright. 
 
 2158. The poem ends here, in the middle of a sentence. It 
 seems as if Chaucer did not quite know how to conclude, and 
 put off finishing the poem till that more 'convenient season' 
 which never comes. Practically, nothing is lost. 
 
 The copy printed by Caxton broke off still earlier, viz. at 
 
 * Really tot ; for 7out-e is dissyllabic.
 
 IX. HOUSE OF FAME: BOOK III. 369 
 
 1. 2094. In order to make a sort of ending to it, Caxton added 
 twelve lines of his own, with his name — Caxton — at the side of 
 the first of them ; and subjoined a note in prose ; as follows : — 
 
 And wyth the noyse of them [t]wo^ 
 
 I Sodeynly awoke anon tho^ 
 
 And remembryd what I had seen 
 
 And how hye and ferre I had been 
 
 In my ghoost | and had grete wonder 
 
 Of that the god of thonder 
 
 Had lete me knowen | and began to wryte* 
 
 Lyke as ye haue herd me endyte 
 
 Wherfor to studye and rede alway * 
 
 I purpose to doo day by day 
 
 Thus in dremyng and in game 
 
 Endeth thys lytyl book of Fame. 
 
 I fynde nomore of this werke to-fore sayd. For as fer as I can 
 vnderstonde | This noble man Gefferey Chaucer fynysshed at 
 the sayd conclusion of the metyng of lesyng and sothsawe | 
 where as yet they ben chekked and maye not departe | whyche 
 werke as me semeth is craftyly made ; ' &c. (Thq rest is in 
 praise of Chaucer.) 
 
 But, although Caxton's copy ended at 1. 2094, lines 2095-2158 
 appear in the two MSS., and are obviously genuine. Thynne 
 also printed them, and must have found them in the MS. which 
 he followed. After 1. 2158, Thynne subjoins Caxton's ending, 
 with an alteration in the first three lines, because they were not 
 quite suitable to follow 1. 2158, having been adapted by Caxton 
 to follow 1. 2094. Hence Thynne prints them as follows : — 
 
 And therwithal I abrayde 
 
 Out of my slepe halfe a frayde 
 
 Remembri[n]g wel what I had sene ; &c. 
 
 We thus see that it was never pretended that the lines succeed* 
 ing 1. 2158 were Chaucer's. They are admittedly Caxton's or 
 Thynne's. If we had not been told this, we could easily have 
 detected it by the immediate and obvious inferiority in the style. 
 Caxton's second line will not scan at all comfortably ; neither 
 will the third, nor the fourth ; and Thynne's lines are scarcely 
 better. 
 
 * Misprinted wo ; but it refers to the word two in 1. 2093. 
 
 " Imitated from Pari, of Foules, 693. "- Cf. Book Duch. 1332. 
 
 * From Pari, of Foules, 696. 
 
 B b
 
 37© X. THE FORMER AGE. 
 
 X. The Former Age. 
 
 ' The former Age ' is a title taken from 1. 2 of the poem. In 
 MS. Hh., at the end, are the words — ' Finit Etas prima : 
 Chaucers.' 
 
 Both MSS. are poor, and omit a whole line (1. 56), which has 
 to be supplied by conjecture ; as we have no other authority. 
 The spelling requires more emendation than usual. 
 
 The poem is partly a verse translation of Boethius, De Con- 
 solatione Philosophia^, lib. ii. met. 5. We possess a prose trans- 
 lation by Chaucer of the entire work, edited by Dr. Morris in 
 J 858. This therefore contains the same passage in prose ; and 
 the prose translation is, of course, a much closer rendering of the 
 original. Indeed there is nothing in the original which corres- 
 ponds to the last four stanzas of the present poem, excepting a 
 hint for 1. 62. 
 
 The work of Boethius, in Latin, consists of five books. Each 
 book contains several sections, written in prose and verse 
 alternately. Hence we may find references to bk. ii. prose 5 
 (liber ii. prosa 5) ; bk. ii. metre 5 (liber ii. metrum 5) ; and the 
 like. These divisions are very useful in finding one's place. 
 
 Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boetius (or Boethius) 
 was a Roman senator, who was born about the year 470, and 
 was put to death by Theodoric, A. D. 525. See the masterly 
 account of him in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire, c. 39. 'While Boethius,' says Gibbon, 'oppressed with 
 fetters, expected each moment the sentence or the stroke of 
 death, he composed, in the tower of Pavia, the ' Consolation of 
 Philosophy;' a golden volume, not unworthy of the leisure of 
 Plato or Tully, but which claims incomparable merit from the 
 barbarism of the times and the situation of the author.' This 
 great work was translated, before Chaucer, by King Alfred ; and, 
 after Chaucer, at least eight times. Lowndes recommends a 
 translation by the Rev. P. Ridpath, printed at London in 1785. 
 
 Chaucer was also indebted to Ovid, Metam. i. 89-112, for part 
 of this description of the Golden Age ; of which see Dryden's 
 fine translation. See also Le Roman de la Rose, 11. 8395- 
 8492; and compare the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 
 144. For further remarks, see the Prefoce. 
 
 2. The former age ; Lat. prior etas. 
 
 3. Payed of, satisfied with ; Lat. contenta. 
 
 5. Forpampred, exceedingly pampered ; Lat. perdita.
 
 X. THE FORMER AGE. 37 1 
 
 6, Quern, a hand-mill for grinding corn. Melle, mill. 
 
 7. Mr. Sweet reads haives, mast instead of mast, haivcs. This 
 sounds better, but is not necessary. Haw-es is dissyllabic. 
 PoKiiage, mod. E. pannage, mast, or food given to swine in the 
 woods ; see the Glossary. Better spelt pannage or paiotage 
 (Man wood has pawtiage, as cited in Blount's Nomolexicon. 
 Koch wrongly refers us to O. F. poiitt, pom, a sickle (Burguy), 
 but mast and haws were never reaped. Cf. Dante, Putg. xxii. 
 148. 
 
 II. ' Which they rubbed in their hands, and ate of sparingly.' 
 Gnodded is the pt. t. oi gnoddcn or gnuddcn, to rub, examples of 
 which are scarce. See Ancren Riwle, pp. 238, 260 (footnotes), 
 and gnide in Halliwell's Dictionary. But the right reading is 
 obviously ^;/fl^/i?, the pt. t. pi. of the strong verb gnidefi, to rub, 
 as Koch well suggests. This restores the melody of the line. 
 The Northern form gnade occurs in the O. E. Psalter, Ps. Ixviii. 
 45. Mr. Sweet reads gnodde, but the pt. t. of gnodden was 
 gnodded. 
 
 16. ' No one as yet ground spices in a mortar, to put into 
 clarre or galantine-sauce.' As to clarrc, see Glos. to Knigbtes 
 Tale ; and the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 204, and Index. 
 
 In the Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 30, is the following 
 recipe for Galentyne : — 
 
 'Take crust of brede and grynde hit smalle, 
 Take powder of galingale, and temper with-alle ; 
 Powder of gyngere and salt also; 
 Tempre hit with venegur er j^ou more do ; 
 Drawje hit J)urughe a streynour J)enne, 
 And messe hit forth before good menne.' 
 
 ' Galendyne is a sauce for any kind of roast Fowl, made of 
 Grated Bread, beaten Cinnamon and Ginger, Sugar, Claret-wine, 
 and Vinegar, made as thick as Grewell;' Randell Holme, bk. iii. 
 ch. iii. p. 82, col. 2 (quoted in Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, 
 p. 216). Roquefort gives O. F. galatine, galafititie, galentine, 
 explained by ' gelee, daube, sauce, ragout fort dpice ; en bas . 
 Latin, galatma^ Beyond doubt, Chaucer found the word in the 
 Roman de la Rose, 1. 21823 — ' En friture et en galentine.^ See 
 Galatttine in Littre. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 8418 :— 
 
 ' Et de I'iaue simple bevoient 
 Sans querre piment ne clare,' &c. 
 
 17. * No dyer knew anything about madder, weld, or woad.' 
 All three are plants used in dyeing. Madder is Rubia tinctoria, 
 
 B b 2
 
 373 X. THE FORMER AGE. 
 
 the roots of which yield a dye. I once fancied weld was an 
 error for welled (i. e. flowed out) ; and Mr. Sweet explains welde 
 by ' strong.' Both of these fancies are erroneous. Weld is the 
 Reseda Lnieola of Linnicus, and grows wild in waste places ; I 
 have seen it growing near Beachey Head. It is better known as 
 Dyer's Rocket. In Johns' Flowers of the Field, we duly 
 find — '•Reseda Luteola, Dyer's Rocket, Yellow-weed, or Weld.' 
 Also called Ash of Jerusalem, Dyer's Weed, &c. ; see Eng. 
 Plant names, by Britten and Holland. It appears in mod. G. as 
 IVau (Du. wouw), older spelling IVaude. Its antiquity as a 
 Teut. word is vouched for by the derivatives in the Romance 
 languages, such as Span, gualda, Port, gitalde, F. gaude ; see 
 Giialda in Diez. Weld is a totally distinct word from woad, but 
 most dictionaries confound them. Florio, most impartially, 
 coins a new form by mixing the two words together (after the 
 fashion adopted in Alice through the Looking-glass). He gives 
 us Ital. gualdo, 'a weede to die yellow with, called woald^ 
 The true woad is the Isatis tiiictoria, used for dyeing blue 
 before indigo was known ; the name is sometimes given to 
 Gefizsfa tinctoria, but the dye from this is of a yellow colour. 
 Pliny mentions the dye from madder (Nat. Hist. xix. 3) ; and 
 says the British women used glas/um, i.e. woad (xxii. i). 
 
 18. Flees, fleece ; Lat. tiellera. Dr. Koch prints flex, with 
 a reference to C. T. Prol. 676 ; \y\x\.flex means flax. 
 
 27-29. Cf. Ovid, Metam. i. 138-140. 
 
 30. Ri-ver-es ; three syllables. Mr. Sweet suggests putting 
 after in place oi first. 
 
 33. ' These tyrants did not gladly venture into battle to win 
 a wilderness or a few bushes where poverty (alone) dwells — as 
 Diogenes says — or where victuals are so scarce and poor that 
 only mast or apples are found there ; but, wherever there are 
 money-bags,' &c. I do not quite follow this reference to 
 Diogenes, though his praises of poverty are well known. 
 Higden, in his Polychronicon, lib. iii. c. 20, gives several of the 
 usual anecdotes about him, and remarks, with regard to him 
 and Alexander — ' tunc victus est Alexander quando invenit 
 hominem cui nil potuit dare nee aufcrre.' Gower relates how 
 Diogenes reproved Alexander for his lust of conquest ; Conf. 
 Amantis, ed. Pauli, i. 322. 
 
 41. This stanza seems more or less imitated from Le Rom. 
 de la Rose, 8437 :-- 
 
 ' Et quant par nuit dormir voloient, 
 En leu de coites \(iuilts\ aportoient
 
 X. THE FORMER AGE. 373 
 
 En lor casiaus monceaus de gerbes, 
 
 De foilles, ou de mousse, ou d'erbes ; . . . 
 
 Sor tex couches cum ge devise, 
 
 Sans rapine et sans convoitise, 
 
 S'entr'acoloient et baisoient . . . 
 
 Les simples gens asseurees, 
 
 De toutes cures escurees.' 
 
 47. ' Their hearts were all united, without the gall (of envy).' 
 Curiously enough, Chaucer has here made an oversight. He 
 ends the line with galles, riming with halles and walks \ 
 whereas the line should end with a word riming to shete. 
 
 49. Here again cf. Rom. de la Rose, 8483 : — 
 
 'N'encor n'avoit fet roi ne prince 
 Meffais qui Tautrui tolt et pince. 
 Trestuit pareil estre soloient, 
 Ne riens propre avoir ne voloient.' 
 
 55, 56. ' Humility and peace, (and) good faith (who is) the 
 empress (of all), filled the earth full of ancient courtesy.' Line 
 56 I have supplied ; Dr. Koch supplies the line — ' Yit hadden 
 in this worlde the maistrie.' Either of these suggestions fills up 
 the sense intended. 
 
 57. Jupiter is mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses imme- 
 diately after the description of the golden, silver, brazen, and 
 iron ages. At 1. 568 of the same book begins the story of the 
 love of Jupiter for lo. 
 
 59. Nembrot, Nimrod; so that his toures hye refers to the 
 tower of Babel. In Gen. x, xi, the sole connection of Nimrod 
 with Babel is in ch. x. 10 — ' And the beginning of his king- 
 dom was Babel.' But the usual medieval account is that he 
 built the tower. Thus, in the Cursor Mundi, 1. 2223 : — 
 ' Nembrot than said on this wise, . . . 
 " I rede we bigin a laboure, 
 And do we wel and make a toure," ' &c. 
 
 So also in Sir D. Lyndsay, Buke of the Monarch^, bk. ii. 
 1. 1625. 
 
 62-64. These last lines are partly imitated from Boethius ; 
 lines 33-61 are independent of him.
 
 374 ^I- FORT UNE. 
 
 XI. Fortune. 
 
 This poem consists of three Ballads and an Envoy. Each 
 Ballad contains three stanzas of eight lines, with the rimes 
 ababbcbc, and the rimes of the second and third stanzas are 
 precisely the same as those of the first. Thus the rime a recurs 
 six times, the rime b twelve times, and the rime c likewise six 
 times. Moreover, each stanza ends with the same line, re- 
 curring as a refrain. Hence the metrical difficulties are very 
 great, and afford a convincing proof of Chaucer's skill. The 
 Envoy is of seven lines, rimed ababbab. 
 
 The three ballads are called, collectively, Balades de visage 
 sanz peinture, a title which is correctly given in MS. I., with 
 the unlucky exception that visage has been turned into vilage. 
 This curious blunder occurs in all the MSS. and old editions, 
 and evidently arose from mistaking a long s (f) for an /. 
 Vilage, of course, makes no sense ; and we are enabled to 
 correct it by help of Chaucer's translation of Boethius, ed. 
 Morris, bk. ii. pr. i ; 1. 773. ' Ryjt swyche was she [Fortune] 
 whan she flatered |)e and desseiued |)e wi|) vnleueful lykynges 
 of false welefulnesse ; \o\x hast now knowen and ataynt J)e 
 doutous or double visage of Jjilke blynde goddesse fortic7ie. 
 She J)at jit coHere\ hir and ivy))iple\ hir to o]5er folk, ha}> 
 shewed her euerydel to |)e.' Or the Ballads may refer to the 
 unmasking of false friends : ' Fortune hath departyd and vn- 
 coueryd to the bothe the certey7i visages and ek the dowtos 
 visages of thy felawes;' id. bk. ii. pr. 8 ; 1. 1668. The whole 
 poem is more or less founded on the descriptions of Fortune in 
 Boethius ; and we thus see that the visage meant is the face of 
 Fortune, or else the face of a supposed frioid, which is clearly 
 revealed to the man of experience, in the day of adversity, 
 without any covering or wimpling, and even without any 
 painting or false colouring. 
 
 In MS. T. we are told that ' here filoweJ)c [folhivcih'] a balade 
 made by Chaucier of J)e louer and of Dame Fortune.' In MS. A. 
 we are told that ' here folowejje nowe a compleynte of J)e Pleintyff 
 agenst fortune translated oute of Frenshe into Englisshe by J)at 
 famous Rethorissyen Geffrey Chaucier.' This hint, that it is 
 translated out of French, can scarcely be right, unless Shirley 
 (whose note this is) means that it partially resembles pas- 
 sages in Le Roman de la Rose ; for Chaucer's work seems to 
 contain some reminiscences of that poem as well as of the
 
 XT. FORTUNE. 375 
 
 treatise of Boethius, though of course Le Roman is indebted to 
 Boethius also. 
 
 Le Plciniif is the complainant, the man who brings a charge 
 against Fortune, or rather, who exclaims against her as false, 
 and defies her power. The first Ballad, then, consists of this 
 complaint and defiance. 
 
 The close connection between this poem and Boethius is 
 shewn by the fact that (like the preceding poem called The 
 Former Age) it occurs in an excellent MS. of Chaucer's trans- 
 lation of Boethius, viz. MS. I. (li. 3. 21, in the Cambridge 
 University Library). I may also remark here, that there is a 
 somewhat similar dialogue between Nobilitas and Fortuna in 
 the Aniiclmidianus of Alanus de Insulis, lib. viii. c. 2 ; see 
 Anglo- Latin Satirists, ed. T. Wright, ii. 401. 
 
 In Morley's English Writers, ii. 283, is the following descrip- 
 tion. ' The argument of the first part [or Ballad] is : I have 
 learnt by adversity to know who are my true friends; and he 
 can defy Fortune who is master of himself. The argument of 
 the next part [second Ballad], that Fortune speaks, is : Man 
 makes his own wretchedness. What may come you know not ; 
 you were born under my rule of change ; your anchor holds. 
 Of the third part of the poem [third Ballad], in which the Poet 
 and Fortune each speak, the sum of the argument is, that what 
 blind men call fortune is the righteous will of God. Heaven is 
 firm, this world is mutable. The piece closes with Fortune's 
 call upon the Princes to relieve this man of his pain or pray his 
 best friend "of his noblesse" that he may attain to some better 
 estate.' 
 
 The real foundation of these three Ballads is (i) Boethius, 
 bk. ii. proses i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and met. i ; and (2) a long passage 
 in Le Roman de la Rose, 11. 4853-4994 (Eng. version, 5406-5587). 
 More particular references are given below. 
 
 1. The beginning somewhat resembles Boethius, bk. ii. met. 
 I : — ' She, cruel Fortune, kasteth adoune kynges that somtyme 
 weren ydred ; and she, deceiuable, enhaunseth vp the humble 
 chere of hym that is discomfited.' Cf. Rom. Rose (E. version), 
 11. 5482-6. 
 
 2. The latter part of this line is badly given in the MSS. The 
 readings are : F. now pouerte and now riche honour {iniich too 
 long) ; L now poeer^ and now honour ; A. T. nowe poure and 
 nowe honour ; H. now poore and now honour. But the reading 
 poure, poer, pore, i. e. poor, hardly serves, as a sb. is required. 
 Pouerte seems to be the right word, but this requires us to omit
 
 376 XL FORTUNE. 
 
 the former no7i<. Poiicrte can be pronounced /^7wY' ; accented 
 on the second syllable, and with the final e elided. For this 
 pronunciation, see Prol. to Man of Lawes Tale, Group B, 1. 99, 
 in my edition of Prioresses Tale, p. 4. Precisely because this 
 pronunciation was not understood, the scribes did not know 
 what to do. They inserted noiv before poiterie (which they 
 thought \\a.s poverie) ; and then, as the line was too long, cut it 
 down to poure, poorc, to the detriment of the sense. I would 
 therefore rather read— As wele or wo, poverte and now honour. 
 7. In the Introduction to the Persones Tale, we find: ' wel 
 may that man, that no good werk ne doth, singe thilke newe 
 Frenshe song, lay tout perdu mo7i temps et moti labour^ In like 
 manner, in the present case, this line of ' a new French song ' is 
 governed by the verb stngen in 1. 6. The sense is — ' the lack of 
 Fortune's favour shall never (though I die) make me sing — " I 
 have wholly lost my time and my labour." ' In other words, ' I 
 will not own myself defeated.' 
 
 9. With this stanza cf. Rom. de la Rose (E. version), 55545, 
 5675-81,5582-5:— 
 
 ' For infortune makith anoon 
 
 To knowe thi frendis fro thy foon . . . 
 
 A wise man seide, as we may seen, 
 * Is no man wrecched, but he it wene, . . 
 
 For he suffrith in pacience . . . 
 
 Richesse riche ne makith nought 
 
 Hym that on tresour set his thought ; 
 
 For richesse stont in siiffisance ; ' &c. 
 
 13. No forxe of, it does not matter for ; i.e.' thy rigour is of no 
 consequence to him who has the mastery over himself.' From 
 Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4 (ed. Morris, 1. 11 14), which Chaucer 
 translates: 'Than, if it so be ]>at ))ou art my^ty ouer |)i-self, J)at 
 is to seyn, by tranquillitee of ))i soule, ))an hast \o\x J)ing in ^i 
 power |>at Jiou noldest neuer lesen, ne Fortune may nat by-nyme 
 it J)e.' 
 
 17. Socrates is mentioned in Bocth. bk. i. pr. 3, but 11. 17-20 
 are from Le Rom. de la Rose, 11. 5S71-4 : — 
 ' A Socrates seras semblables, 
 Qui tant fu fers et tant establcs, 
 Qu'il n'crt lies en prosperites, 
 Ne tristes en aversites.' 
 
 20. Chere, look. Savour, pleasantness, attraction ; cf. Squi. 
 Tale, 404. All the MSS. have this reading ; Caxton alters it to 
 favour.
 
 XI. FORTUNE. 377 
 
 25. This Second Ballad gives us Fortune's response to the 
 defiance of the complainant. It should be compared with 
 Boethius, bk. 2, prose 2, where Philosophy says — ' Certis, I 
 wolde. plele \\\\> J)ee a fewe j^inges, vsynge \>e wordcs of Fortune.^ 
 Also with Rom. Rose (E. version, 5470-5567). 
 
 28. * Who possessest thy (true) self (as being quite) beyond my 
 control.' A fine sentiment. Out of, beyond, independent of. 
 
 29. Cf. ' thou hast had grace as he f>at ha]> vsed of foreyne 
 goodes ; pou hast no ryjt to pleyne )je ; ' Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2 ; 
 1. 850. 
 
 31. Cf. 'what eke, yif my mutabilitee 5iueJ> ])e ry5tful cause of 
 hope to han 5it better |)inges ;' id. 1. 895. 
 
 32. Thy teste frend; possibly John of Gaunt, who died in 
 1399 ; but see note to 1. T"}) below. There is a curious re- 
 semblance here to Le Rom. de la Rose, 8056-60 : — 
 
 ' Et sachies, compains, que sitost 
 
 Comme Fortune m'ot 9a mis, 
 fe pcTcii trestous mes amis, 
 
 Fors ting, ce croi ge vraiement. 
 
 Qui m'est remes tant solement.' 
 
 34. Cf. ' for- why this ilke Fortune hath departyd and vn- 
 coueryd to the bothe the certeyn vysages and ek the dowtos 
 visages of thy felawes . . . thow hast fowndyn the moste presyos 
 kynde of Rychesses, })at is to seyn, thy verray frendes ; ' id. 
 bk. ii. pr. 8, 1. 1668. 
 
 Cf. Rom. Rose (E. version), 1. 5489, and 11. 5550-3. The 
 French version has (11. 4967, &c.) : — 
 
 * Si lor fait par son mescheoir 
 Tretout si clerement veoir, 
 Que lor fait lor amis trover, 
 Et par experiment prover 
 Qu'il valent miex que nul avoir 
 Qu'il poissent oil monde avoir.' 
 
 35. Vincent de Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, bk. 19, c. 62, 
 headed De niedicinis ex Jiyana, cites the following from Hiero- 
 nymus, contra louinianiiTn : — ' Hyaenas fel oculorum claritatem 
 restituit,' the gall of a hyena restores the clearness of one's eyes. 
 This exactly explains the allusion. Compare the extract from 
 Boethius (ed. Morris, 1. 773) already quoted above. 
 
 38. ' Still thine anchor holds.' From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4, 
 1. 1050: — 'whan Jiat ))in ancres cliue faste, |)at nei))er wole sufifre 
 \q comfort of ])is tyme present, ne J)e hope of tyme comynge to 
 passen ne to fallen.'
 
 378 AY. FORTUNE. 
 
 39. ' Where Liberality carries the key of my riches.' 
 43. 071, referring to, or, that is binding on. 
 
 46. Fortune says : — ' I tourne |)e whirlyng whelc wij) J)e 
 tournyng ccrcle ; ' Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, 1. 871. 
 
 47. ' My teaching is better, in a higher degree, than your 
 affliction is, in its degree, evil ; ' i. e. my teaching betters you 
 more than your affliction makes you suffer. 
 
 49. In this third Ballad, the stanzas are distributed between the 
 Complainant and Fortune, one being assigned to the former, 
 and two to the latter. The former says : — ' I condemn thy 
 teaching ; it is (mere) adversity.' 
 
 50. My /rc7id, i. e. my true friend. In I. 52, /Ity frendes 
 means 'the friends I owed to thee,' my false friends. From 
 Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 8, 1. 1667 : — 'this aspre and horrible Fortune 
 hath discoueryd to the the thowhtes of thy trewe frendes ; . . . whan 
 she departyd awey fro the, she took awey hyr frendes and lafte 
 the thyiie frendes.' 
 
 51. I thanke hit thee, I owe thanks to thee for it. But very 
 likely hit has been inserted to fill up, and the right reading is, 
 probably, I thank-e thee; as Koch suggests. 
 
 52. On p7'esse, in a throng, in company, all together. 
 
 53. ' Their niggardliness, in keeping their riches to themselves, 
 foreshews that thou wilt attack their stronghold ; just as an 
 unnatural appetite precedes illness.' 
 
 56. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 19 179 : — 
 
 ' Ceste riiile est si generaus, 
 Qu'el ne puet defaillier vers aus.' 
 
 57. Here Fortune replies. This stanza is nearly made up of 
 extracts from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, 11. 845-869, transposed and 
 rearranged. For the sake of comparison, I give the nearest 
 equivalents, transposing them to suit the order here adopted. 
 
 ' pat make)) J)e now inpacient a^eins me. . . I norysshed \q. wi)) 
 my rychcssc. . . Now it lykej) me to wi|j-drawe myne hande . . . 
 shal 1 J)an only be defended to vse my ry^t ? . . . pe see haj) eke 
 hys ryjt to be somtyme calme . . . and somtyme to be horrible 
 wi}) wawes. . . Certis it is leueful to \& heuene to make clere 
 dayes. . . pe erjie ha]) eke leue ... to confounde hem \ihc 
 flowers] somtyme wi]) raynes . . . shal it {^iiien^s covetoKsness] 
 bynde me to be stedfast ? ' 
 
 Compare also the defence of Fortune by Pandarus, in Troilus, 
 bk. i. 841-854. 
 
 65. Above this stanza (11. 65 72) all the MSS. insert a new
 
 XT. FORTUNE. 379 
 
 heading, such as ' Le pleintif,' or ' Le pleintif encountre Fortune,' 
 or ' The pleyntyff ageinst Fortune.' But they are all wrong, for 
 it is quite certain that this stanza belongs to Fortune. Other- 
 wise, it makes no sense. Secondly, we know this by the original 
 (in Boethius). And thirdly, Fortune cannot well have the ' envoy ' 
 unless she has the stanza preceding it. Dr. Morris, in his 
 edition, rightly omits the heading ; and so in Bell's edition. 
 
 66. Compare : — ' For purueaunce is J)ilke deuyne resoun \a.i 
 is establissed in \& souereyne prince of })inges ; \e. whiche 
 purueaunce disponi}) alle j^ingcs ;' Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6; 1. 
 3868. 
 
 68. Ye blinde bestcs, addressed to men ; evidently by Fortune, 
 not by the Pleintif. Compare the words foi-th, teste, in Truth, 
 p. 194, 1. 18. 
 
 71. Here we have formal proof that the speaker is Fortune; 
 for this is copied from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 3, 1. 984 — ' naj)eles \^ 
 laste day of a mannis lijf is a manere dee]) to fortune.' Hence 
 thy refers to man, and 7nytt refers to Foritme ; and the sense 
 is — ' Thy last day (O man) is the end of my interest (in thee) ; ' 
 or ' dealings (with thee).' The word interesse, though scarce, is 
 right. It is used in Spenser, F. O. vii. 6. 33 : — 
 
 ' That not the worth of any living wight 
 May challenge ought in Heaven's interesse^ 
 
 And in Todd's Johnson : — ' I thought, says his majesty [K; 
 Charles I.] I might happily have satisfied all interesses ;'' Lord 
 Halifax's Miscell. p. 144. The sb. also occurs as \\.2\.'interesse ', 
 thus Florio's Ital. Diet. (1598) has: — '■Interesse, Interesso, the 
 interest or profite of money for lone. Also, what toucheth or 
 concemeth a mans state or reputation.' And Minsheu's Spanish 
 Diet. (1623) has : — ' Interes, ox Interesse, interest, profite, auaile.' 
 The E. vb. to interess was once common, and occurs in K. 
 Lear, i. i. 87 (unless Dr. Schmidt is right in condemning the 
 reading of that line). 
 
 73. Princes. Who these princes were, it is hard to say ; 
 according to 1. 76, there were three of them. If the reference is 
 to the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, then the ' beste 
 frend' must be the king himself. Cf. 1. 33. 
 
 75, 76. 'And I (Fortune) will requite you for your trouble 
 (undertaken) at my request, whether there be three of you, or two 
 of you (that heed my words).' Line 76 occurs in MS. I, only, yet 
 it is difficult to reject it, as it is not a likely sort of line to be 
 thrust in, unless this were done, in revision, by the author
 
 380 Xll. TRUTH. 
 
 himself. Moreover, we should expect the Envoy to form a 
 stanza with the usual seven lines, so common in Chaucer. 
 
 77. 'And, unless it pleases you to relieve him of his pain 
 (yourselves), pray his best friend, for the honour of his nobility, 
 that he may attain to some better estate.' 
 
 The assigning of this petition to Fortu7ie is a happy expedient. 
 The poet thus escapes making a direct appeal in his own 
 person. 
 
 XII. Truth. 
 
 The Titles are : Gg. Balade de bone conseyl ; Lansd. 699, La 
 bon Counsel] de le Auttour ; Caxton, The good counceyl of 
 Chawcer ; Harl. Moral balade of Chaucyre. Shirley calls it — 
 Balade that Chaucier made on his deeth-bedde ; a note that has 
 been frequently repeated, and is probably no better than a bad 
 guess. 
 
 1. Koch considers that the source of the poem is a passage in 
 Boethius, lib. iii. met. 11, at the beginning, but the resemblance 
 is very slight. It contains no more than a mere hint for it. 
 However, part of st. 3 is certainly from the same, bk. i. pr. 5, as 
 will appear ; see note to 1. 17. 
 
 The former passage in Boethius is thus translated by Chaucer : 
 'Who-so that sekith soth by a deep thoght and coveyteth nat 
 to ben deseyued by no mys-weyes, lat hym rollen and trenden 
 \revolve\ with-inne hymself the lyht of his inward syhte. And 
 lat hym gadere ayein, enclynynge in-to a compas, the longe 
 moeuynges of hys thowhtes ; and lat hym techen his corage that 
 he hath enclosed and hyd in his tresors al that he compaseth or 
 sekith fro with-oute.' See also bk. ii. pr. 5 of the same, which 
 seems to me more like the present poem than is the above 
 passage. 
 
 2. Koch reads thing icix good, as in some MSS. He explains 
 the line : — ' Devote thyself entirely to one thing, even if it is not 
 very important in itself (instead of hunting after a phantom).' 
 This I cannot accept ; it certainly means nothing of the kind. 
 Mr. Sweet has the reading : Suffi.se thin owene thing, &c., which 
 is the reading of one MS. only, but it gives the right idea. The 
 line would then mean : ' let your own property, though small, 
 suffice for your wants.' I think we are bound to follow the MSS. 
 generally ; of these, two have Suffice unto thi thing ; /ive have 
 Suffice unto thy good; one has Suffice tmto thi lyuynge (where 
 lyuynge is a gloss upon good) ; and F. has the capital reading
 
 XII. TRUTH. 381 
 
 Suffice the thy good. It seems best to follow the majority, 
 especially as they allow suffice to be followed by a vowel, thus 
 eliding the final e. The sense is simply : ' Be content with thy 
 property, though rt be small ; ' and the next line gives the 
 reason why — 'for hoarding only causes hatred, and ambition 
 creates insecurity ; the crowd is full of envy, and wealth blinds 
 one in every respect.' Siffice unto thi good is much the same 
 as the proverb — 'cut your coat according to your cloth.' 
 Chaucer elsewhere has worldly suffisance for ' wealth ; ' Cler. 
 Tale, 759. Of course this use of suffice unto (be content with) 
 is peculiar; but I do not see why it is not legitimate. The use 
 of Savour in 1. 5 below is at least as extraordinary. 
 
 Cf. Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 5, 1. 1231 : — 'And if 
 thou wilt fulfille thi nede after that it sufifiseth to nature, than is 
 it no nede that thou seke after the superfluite of fortune.' 
 
 3. Cf. 'for auarice maketh alwey mokeres \Jioarders'\ to be 
 hated; ' Boeth. ii. pr. 5, 1. 1182. 
 
 5. Savour, taste with relish, have an appetite for. ' Have a 
 relish for no more than it may behove you (to taste).' 
 
 6. Most MSS. read Werk or Do ; only two have Reule, 
 which Mr. Sweet adopts. Any one of these three readings 
 makes sense. ' Thou who canst advise others, work well thyself,' 
 or ' act well thyself,' or ' rule thyself.' To quote from Hamlet, 
 »• 3- 47 :— 
 
 ' Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, 
 Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; 
 Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, 
 > Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 
 And recks not his own rede.' 
 
 It is like the Jewish proverb — ' Physician, heal thyself.' 
 
 7. Trouthe shal delivere, truth shall give deliverance. 'The 
 truth shall make you free,' Lat. ' ueritas liberabit uos ; ' John 
 viii. 32. This is a general truth, and there is no need for the 
 insertion oithee after shal, as in the inferior MSS., in consequence 
 of the gradual loss of the final e in trouthe, which in Chaucer is 
 properly dissyllabic. The scribes who turned trouthe into 
 trouthe thee forgot that this makes up trou-the thee. 
 
 8. Tempest thee ?toght, do not violently trouble or harass thy- 
 self, do not be in a state of agitation. Agitation will not redress 
 everything that is crooked. So also : — ' Tempest nat the thus with 
 al the fortune ; ' Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4, 1. 1060. Chaucer (as Koch 
 says) obtained this curious verb from the third line of section F
 
 3^3 XII. TRUTH. 
 
 (1. 63 of the whole poem) of the French poem from which he 
 translated his ABC. This section begins : — 
 
 ' Fuiant m'cn viens a ta tente 
 I^Ioy mucier pour la tormente 
 Qui ou monde me tcinpcste ; ' 
 
 i. e. I come fleeing to thy tent, to hide myself from the storm 
 which harasses me in the world. 
 
 9. ' Trusting to the vicissitudes of fortune.' There are 
 several references to the wheel of Fortune in Boethius. Thus in 
 bk. ii. pr. 2 (ed. Morris, 1. 871) of Chaucer's translation: — 'I 
 tourne the whirling whele with the tournyng cercle.' 
 
 10. ' Much repose consists in abstinence from fussiness.' 
 
 11. 'To spurn against an awl,' i.e. against a prick, is the 
 English equivalent of the Gk. phrase which our bibles render by 
 ' to kick against the pricks,' Acts ix. 5. Wyclif renders it by ' to 
 kike ayens the pricke.' 
 
 In MS. Cotton, Otho A. xviii, we find the reading a nail, the 
 11 being transferred from an to the sb. Tusser has nail for ' awl ' 
 in his Husbandry, § 17, st. 4, 1. 3. This MS., by the way, has 
 been burnt, but a copy of it (too much corrected) is given in 
 Todd's Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 131. 
 
 12. An allusion to the fable in ^sop about the earthen and 
 brazen pots being dashed together. An earthen pot would have 
 still less chance of escape if dashed against a wall. In MS. T., 
 the word crocke is glossed by ' water-potte.' 
 
 13. ' Thou that subduest the deeds of another, subdue thyself.' 
 
 15. Cf. ' it behoueth the to sufifren with euene wille in patience 
 al that is don . . in this worlde ; ' Boeth. bk. ii. pr. i ; 1. 799. 
 
 16. Axeth, requires ; i.e. will surely cause. 
 
 17. When Boethius complains of being exiled, Philosophy 
 directs him to a heavenly home. ' Yif thou remembre of what 
 contre thou art born, it nis not gouerned by emperoures . . . but 
 o lorde and o king, and that is god ; ' bk. i. pr. 5 ; 1. 561. This 
 is copied (as being taken from ' Bocce ') in Le Roman de la 
 Rose, 1. 5049 (Eng. version, 1. 5660). 
 
 18. The word bcste probably refers to the passage in Boethius 
 where wicked men are likened to various animals, as when the 
 extortioner is a wolf, a noisy abusive man is a hound, a treach- 
 erous man is a fox, <S:c. ; bk. iv. pr. 3. The story of Ulysses and 
 Circe follows ; bk. iv. met. 3. 
 
 19. ' Recognise heaven as thy true country.' Lok up, gaze up- 
 wards to heaven. Cf. the expression ' thi contre ' at the end of
 
 XIII. GENTILESSE. 383 
 
 bk. iv. pr. I of his translation of Boethius. There is also a 
 special reference here to Boeth. bk. v. met. 5, where it is said 
 that quadrupeds look down, but man is upright; 'this figure 
 amonesteth the, that axest the heucne with thi ryghte visage.' 
 
 Thank god of al, thank God for all things. In like manner, 
 in the Lamentation of Mary Magdalen, st. 53, we find: ' I thanke 
 God 0/ al, ii I nowe dye.' Matzner (Gram. ii. 2. 307) quotes 
 from the Towneley Mysteries, p. 128 : — ' Mekyll thanke o/yome 
 good wille ; ' and again (Gram. ii. i. 238) from King Alisaunder, 
 1. 7576 : — 'And thankid him ^his socour.' Henrysoun, in his 
 Abbay Walk, 1. 8, has : — ' Obey, and thank thy God of al ; ' but 
 he is probably copying this very passage. Cf. also — 'of help I 
 him praye ; ' Lydgate, London Lyckpetiy, st. 6 ; ' beseech you 
 of your pardon ;' 0th. iii. 3, 212. In Lydgate's Minor Poems, 
 ed. Halliwell, p. 225, is a poem in which every stanza ends with 
 ' thonk God of alle.' 
 
 20. Hold the hye wey, keep to the high road. Instead of 
 Hold the hye wey, some MSS. have Weyve thy lust, i.e. put 
 aside thy desire, give up thine own will. 
 
 22. This last stanza forms an Envoy. It exists in 07ie copy only 
 (MS. Addit. 10340) ; but there is no reason at all for considering 
 it spurious. Vache, cow ; with reference to the ' beast in the 
 stair in 1. 18. This animal was probably chosen as being less 
 offensive than those mentioned by Boethius, viz. the wolf, hound, 
 fox, lion, hart, ass, and sow. Possibly, also, there is a reference 
 to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, as related by Chaucer in the 
 Menkes Tale; Group B, 3361. 
 
 XIII. GENTILESSE. 
 
 For remarks upon Scogan's quotation of this Ballad in full, 
 see the Preface. 
 
 The titles are : Harl. Moral balade of Chaucier, T. Balade 
 by Chaucier. 
 
 Caxton's text is unusually good, and is often superior to that 
 in the existing MSS. 
 
 The general idea of the poem is that Christ was the true 
 pattern of 'gentleness' or gentility, i.e. of noble behaviour. 
 Cf. Dekker's noble line, in which he speaks of Christ as ' The 
 first true gentleman that ever breathed.' 
 
 But the finest poetical essay upon this subject is that by 
 Chaucer himself, in the Wife of Bath's Tale ; C. T. 6691-6758 ; 
 which see.
 
 384 XIII. GENTILESSE. 
 
 In the tale of Melibeus we read : * And certes, he shulde not 
 be called a Gentleman, that after God and good conscience, alle 
 thinges left, ne doth his diligence and besinesse to kepen his 
 good name. And Cassiodore sayth, that it is a signe of a gentil 
 herte, whan a man loveth and desireth to have a good name.' 
 
 Another passage on this subject occurs in the Eng. version of 
 the Romance of the Rose, 11. 2188-2202, which, curiously enough, 
 is not in Meon's edition of the French poem (in which 1. 2184 
 of the E. version is immediately succeeded by 1. 2203 of the 
 same). Again, in Le Roman de la Rose, 11. 6603-6616, there is 
 a definition of Gentillesce ; but this passage is not in the Eng. 
 version. 
 
 The original passage, to which both Chaucer and Jean de 
 Meun were indebted, is one in Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 6 ; which 
 Chaucer thus translates : — ' For if the name of gentilesse be 
 referred to renoun and clemesse of linage, than is gentil name 
 but a foreine thing, })at is to sein, to hem that glorifien hem of 
 hir linage. For it semeth that gentilesse be a maner preysynge 
 that Cometh of decert of auncestres . . . yif thou ne haue no 
 gentilesse of thi-self — that is to sein, pris that cometh of thi 
 deserte — foreine gentilesse ne maketh the nat gentil.' And 
 again, just below, in metre 6 : — ' On alone is fadir of thinges . . . 
 thanne comen alle mortal folk of noble seed ; whi noysen ye or 
 bosten of youre eldris ? ' But we must not overlook a long 
 passage near the end of Le Roman de la Rose, 11. 1 8807-1 9096, 
 which Chaucer certainly also consulted. I quote some of these 
 lines below. 
 
 I. With this first stanza compare R. Rose, 18881 : — 
 ' Quiconques tent a gentillece 
 
 D'orguel se gart et de parece ; 
 
 Aille as armes, ou a I'estuide, 
 
 Et de vilenie se vuide ; 
 
 Humble cuer ait, cortois et gent 
 
 En tretous leus, vers toute gent.' 
 
 Two MSS., both written out by Shirley, and MS. Harl. 7333, 
 all read : — ' The first fader, and foundour {or fynder) of gen- 
 tylesse.' This is wrong, and probably due to the dropping of 
 the final e in the definite adjective Jirste. We must keep the 
 phraseyfrj/^ stok, because it is expressly repeated in 1. 8. 
 
 The first line means -'With regard to, <?r As to the first stock 
 (or source), who was the father of i^entilessc^ The substantives 
 stok and fader have no verb to them, but are mentioned as 
 being the subject of the sentence.
 
 Xin. GENTILESSE. 385 
 
 3. The former his refers io fader, but the latter to vian. 
 
 4. Sccvc, follow. In a Ballad by Kiny James the First of 
 Scotland, printed at p. 54 of my edition of the Kingis Quair, 
 the first five lines are a fairly close imitation of the opening 
 lines of the present poem, and prove that King James followed 
 a MS. which had the reading sew. His poem begins : — 
 
 ' Sen throu vertew encressis dignite, 
 And vertew flour and rut \j-oot^ is of noblay, 
 Of ony Weill or quhat estat thou be, 
 His steppis sezu, and dreid thee non effray : 
 Exil al vice, and folow trewth alway.' 
 
 (Observe how his first, third, and fourth lines answer to Chaucer's 
 fifth, second, and fourth lines respectively. 
 
 7. Al were he, albeit he may wear; i.e. although he may be 
 a bishop, king, or emperor. 
 
 8. Tills Jirste stok, i.e. Christ. In 1. 12, his lieir means 
 mankind in general. 
 
 Compare Le Rom. de la Rose, 188 19 : — 
 ' Noblece vient de bon corage, 
 Car gentillece de lignage 
 N'est pas gentillece qui vaille, 
 Por quoi bonte de cuer i faille, 
 For quoi doit estre en li parans \_apparcnt\ 
 La proece de ses parens 
 Qui la gentillece conquistrent 
 Par les travaux que grans i mistrent. 
 Et quant du siecle trespasserent, « 
 
 Toutes lor vertus emporterent, 
 Et lessierent as hoirs I'avoir; 
 Que plus ne porent d'aus avoir. 
 L'avoir ont, plus riens n'i a lor, 
 Ne gentillece, ne valor, 
 Se tant ne font que gentil soient 
 Par sens ou par vertu qu'il aient.' 
 
 15. Vyc-e is dissyllabic; hence two MSS. turn it into Vices, 
 and one even has Vicesse! 
 
 With this stanza compare part of the French quotation above, 
 and compare Rom. Rose, 19064, tSic. : — 
 
 ' Mes il sunt mauvais, vilain nastre, 
 Et d'autrui noblece se vantent ; 
 II ne dient pas voir, ains mentent, 
 Et le non \}mme\ de gentillece emblent. 
 Quant lor bons parens ne resemblent;' &c. 
 
 c c
 
 386 XIV. LAK OF STEDFASTNESSE. 
 
 16. In MS. A. is this side-note, in a later hand : — 
 
 ' Nam genus et proauos et qiix non fecimus ipsi 
 Vix ea nostra voce' 
 
 20. This is a difficult line to obtain from the MSS. It is 
 necessary to keep heir in the singular, because of he in I. 21. 
 In MS. A., 7na\e clearly stands for niake\e^ i.e. maketJi, as in 
 nearly all the MSS. This gives us — That maketh his heir him 
 that wol him queme. The change from ]its heir hifii to the 
 more natural order hivi his heir is such a gain to the metre 
 that it is worth while to make it. 
 
 XIV. LaK of STEDFASTNESSE. 
 
 In MS. Harl. 7333, is the following note, probably correct : — 
 ' This balade made Geffrey Chauuciers the Laureall Poete of 
 Albion, and sent it to his souerain lorde kynge Rycharde the 
 secounde, thane being in his Castell of Windesore.' In MS. T. 
 is the heading : — ' Balade Royal made by oure laureal poete of 
 Albyon in hees laste yeeres ; ' and above 1. 22 is : — ' Lenvoye to 
 Kyng Richard.' In MS. F. it is simply headed 'Balade.' For 
 another allusion to king Richard at Windsor, see note to Lenvoy 
 to Scogan, 1. 43. 
 
 The general idea is taken from Boethius, bk. ii. met. 8, which 
 Chaucer thus translates : — ' That the world with stable feith 
 varieth acordable chaungynges, that the contraryos qualite of 
 elementz holden among hem-self aliaunce perdurable, . . . Al 
 this acordaunce of thinges is bownden with loue, that gouerneth 
 erthe and see, and hath also commaundementz to the heuenes ; 
 and yif this loue slakede the brydelis, alle thinges that now 
 loucn hem to-gederes wolden maken a batayle contynuely, and 
 stryuen to fordoon the fasoun of this worlde, the which they now 
 leden in acordable feith by fayre moeuynges . . . O weleful wecre 
 mankynde, yif thilke loue that gouerneth heuene gouernede 
 yowre corages.' 
 
 4. Word aftd deed ; or read IVord and werk, as in Harl. 
 7333 and T. 
 
 5. Lyk, alike ; or read oon, one, as in Harl. and T. Up 
 so doun is the old phrase, and common. Modem English 
 has 'improved' it into itpside down, where side has to mean 
 ' top.' 
 
 ID. Unable, not able, wanting in ability or strength.
 
 A'F. BALADE AGAINST WOMEN UNCONSTANT. 387 
 
 21. Here the Bannatyne MS. inserts a spurious y^;/rM stanza. 
 It runs thus : — 
 
 * Falsheid, that sowld bene abhominable, 
 Now is regeing, but refbrmatioun, 
 Quha now gifts lergly ar maist dissavable, 
 For vycis ar the grund of sustentatioun ; 
 All wit is turnit to cavillatioun, 
 Lawtie expellit, and all gentilnes, 
 That all is loist for laik of steidfastnes.' 
 This is very poor stuff. 
 
 24, 25. Suffrc . . . don, suffer (to be) done ; correct as being an 
 old idiom. See my note to the Clerkes Tale, 1. 1098. 
 
 28. For 7ved, two MSS. have drive; a reading which one is 
 glad to reject. 
 
 XV. Balade against Women unconstant. 
 
 5. In a place, in one place. In Murray's Dictionaiy, the 
 following is quoted from Caxton's print of Geoffroi de la Tour, 
 leaf 4, back : — ' They satte att dyner in a hall and the quene in 
 another.' 
 
 7. From Machault, ed. Tarbe, p. 56 (see Preface) : — ' Qu'en 
 lieu de bleu, Dame, vous vestez vert ; ' on which M. Tarb^ has 
 the following note. — ' Bleic. Couleur exprimant la sincerity, la 
 puret^, la Constance ; le vert, au contraire, exprimait les 
 nouvelles amours, le changement, I'infidelite ; au lieu de bleu se 
 vetir de vert, c'etait avouer que Ton changeait d'ami.' Blue was 
 the colour of constancy, and green of inconstancy ; see Notes 
 to Anelida, 1. 330 ; and my note to the Squire's Tale, 1. 644. 
 
 In a poem called Le Reincde de Fortune, Machault explains 
 that pers, i. e. blue, means loyalty ; red, ardent love ; black, 
 grief ; white, joy ; green, fickleness ; yellow, falsehood. 
 
 8. Cf. James i. 23, 24. 
 
 9. //, i.e. the transient image ; relative to the word thing, 
 which is implied in 7to-thing in 1. 8. 
 
 10. Read far^th, berth ; as usual in Chaucer. So turtith in 
 1. 12. 
 
 12. Cf ' chaunging as a vane ; ' Clerkes Tale, 996. 
 
 13. Sene, evident; A. S. ge-scne, ge-syne, adj., evident, quite 
 distinct from the pp. of the verb, which appears in Chaucer as 
 seen or yseen. Other examples of the use of this adjective 
 occur in ysene, C. T. Prol. 592 ; C. T. 1 1308 (Frank. Tale) ; 
 sene, Compl. of Pite, 112; Roundels, 10. 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 XVI. LENVOY TO SCO G AN. 
 
 15. Brotelnessc, fickleness. Cf. ' On ^r^A-/ ground they bilde, 
 and brotebiesse They finden, whan they wenen sikcrnesse,' with 
 precisely the same rime, Merch. Tale, 35. 
 
 16. Dalyda, Delilah. It is Ddlida in the Monkes Tale, Group 
 B, 3253 ; but see Book of the Duchesse, 738. 
 
 Creseide, the heroine of Chaucer's Troihcs. 
 
 Candace, perhaps for Catiace ; see note to Pari, of Foules, 288. 
 Or else it is the queen Candace who tricked Alexander ; see 
 Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat, p. 264. 
 
 18. Tache, defect ; cf. P. Plowman, B. ix. 146. This is the 
 word which best expresses the sense of touch (which Schmidt 
 explains by trait) in the famous passage — ' One toitch of nature 
 makes the whole world kin ; ' Shak. Troil. iii. 3. 175. I do not 
 assert that touch is an error for tache, though even that is likely ; 
 but I say that the context shews that it is used in just the sense 
 of tache. The same context also entirely condemns the forced 
 sense of the passage, as commonly misapplied. It is somewhat 
 curious that touchwood is corrupted from a different tache, 
 which had the sense of dried fuel or tinder. 
 
 19. According to the modern proverb — 'She has two strings 
 to her bow.' 
 
 20. Al light for sonier ; this phrase begins 1. 15 of the Canon's 
 Yeoman's Prologue, Group G, 568 ; and the phrase wot what I 
 mene occurs again in C. T., Group B, 93. This allusion to the 
 wearing of light summer garments seems here to imply wanton- 
 ness or fickleness. Canacee in the Squi. Tale was arrayed 
 lightly (11. 389, 390) ; but she was taking a walk in her own 
 park, attended by her ladies. Skelton has : ' he wente so all 
 for somer lyghte ; ' Bowge of Courte, 355; and again, in 
 Philip Sparowe, 719, he tells us that Pandarus won nothing by 
 his help of Troilus but ' lyght-for-somer grene.' It would seem 
 that green was a favorite colour for summer garments. 
 
 XVI. Lenvoy to Scogan. 
 
 There are but three MSS., all much alike. For remarks upon 
 Scogan, see the Preface. MSS. F. and P. have the heading 
 ' Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan ; ' Gg. has : — •' Litera directa de 
 Scogon per G. C 
 
 I, 2. These first two lines are quite Dantcsque. Cf. Purg. i. 
 46, 76 ; Inf. iii. 8. — ' Son le Icggi . . . cosi rotte ; ' * gli editti 
 etcrni . . . guasti ; ' ' io eterno duro.'
 
 XVI. LENVOY TO SCO G AN. 389 
 
 3. The ' seven bright gods ' are the seven planets. The 
 allusion is to some great floods of rain that had fallen. Chaucer 
 says it is because the heavenly influences are no longer con- 
 trolled ; the seven planets are allowed to weep upon the earth. 
 The year was probably 1393, with respect to which we find in 
 Stowe's Afinales, ed. 1605, p. 495:— 'In September, lightnings 
 and thunders, in many places of England did much hurt, but 
 esp[e]cially in Cambridge-shire the same brent houses and come 
 near to Tolleworke, and in the Towne it brent terribly. Such 
 abundance of water fell in October, that at Bury in Suffolke the 
 church was full of water, and at Newmarket it bare downe 
 walles of houses, so that men and women hardly escaped 
 drowning.' Note the mention of Michaelmas in 1. 19, shewing 
 that the poem was written towards the close of the year. 
 
 7. Errour\ among the senses given by Cotgrave for F. 
 erreur we find ' ignorance, false opinion.' Owing to his ignor- 
 ance, Chaucer is almost dead for fear ; i. e. he wants to know 
 the reason for it all. 
 
 9. Fifte cercle, fifth circle or sphere of the planets, reckoning 
 from without ; see note to Mars, 1. 29. This fifth sphere is that 
 of Venus. 
 
 14. This deluge of pestilence, this late pestilential flood. 
 There were several great pestilences in the fourteenth century, 
 notably in 1348-9, 136 1-2, 1369, and 1375-6. Chaucer seems 
 to imply that the bad weather may cause another plague of this 
 character. 
 
 15. Goddes, goddess, Venus ; here spoken of as the goddess 
 of love. 
 
 16. Rakelnesse, rashness. The MSS. have rekelnesse, rekles- 
 nesse, rechclesnesse ; the first is nearly right. Rakelnesse is 
 Chaucer's word, Cant. Tales, 17232 ; five lines above, Phoebus 
 blames his rakel hond, because he had slain his wife. 
 
 17. Forbade is; rather a forced rime \.o goddes. 
 
 21. Erst, before. I accept Chaucer's clear evidence that his 
 friend Scogan (probably Henry Scogan) was not the same 
 person as the John (or Thomas) Scogan to whom various silly 
 jests were afterwards attributed. 
 
 22. To record, by way of record. Record, as Koch remarks, 
 is here a sb., riming with lord ; not the gerund record-e. 
 
 27. Of our figure, of our (portly) shape ; see 1. 31. 
 
 28. Him, i. e. Cupid. The Pepys MS. has hem, them, i. e. the 
 arrows. Koch reads hem, and remarks that it makes the 
 best sense. But it comes to much the same thing. Cf. Pari.
 
 390 AT//. LENVOY A BUKTON, 
 
 of Foules, 217, where some of Cupid's arrows are said to 
 slay, and some to wound. It was the spear of Achilles that 
 could both wound and cure ; see Squi. Tale, 240, and the note. 
 Perhaps, in some cases, the arrow of Cupid may be supposed 
 to cure likewise ; but it is simpler to ascribe the cure to Cupid 
 himself. Observe the use of he in 11. 24 and 26, and of his in 
 11. 25 and 26. 
 
 29. / drede of, I fear for thy misfortune. 
 
 30. Wreche, vengeance ; distinct from ivrccche. 
 
 31. * Gray-headed and round of shape;' i.e. like ourselves. 
 Cf. what Chaucer says of his own shape; C.T. Group B, 1890. 
 See my edition of the Prioress's Tale, p. 17. 
 
 35. ' See, the old gray-haired man is pleased to rime and 
 amuse himself.' For ryinc (as in the 3 MSS.), ed. 1561 (fol. 336, 
 back) has renne. This would mean, ' See, the old gray horse is 
 pleased to run about and play.' And possibly this is right ; for 
 the O. F. grisel properly means a gray horse, as shewn in 
 Godefroy's O. F. Diet. 
 
 36. Mexcuse, for me excuse, excuse myself. Cf. viawreke, 
 Compleint to Pite, 11. 
 
 43. For streines, Gg. has wellis ; but the whole expression 
 stremes heed is equivalent to well, and we have luJiich sireme in 
 1. 45 (Koch). 
 
 In the MSS., the words stremes heed are explained by Winde- 
 sore (Windsor), and ende ofwhiche sireme in 1. 45 by Grenewich 
 (Greenwich) ; explanations which are probably correct. Thus 
 the stream is the Thames ; Chaucer was living, in a solitary 
 way, at Greenwich, whilst Scogan was with the court at Windsor, 
 much nearer to the source of favour. 
 
 47. Tullius. Perhaps, says Koch, there is an allusion to 
 Cicero's Epist. vi ad Cuicinam. 
 
 XVII. Lenvov a Bukton. 
 
 I. Buxton. Most old editions have the queer reading : — ' INIy 
 mayster. &c. whan of Christ our kyng.' Tyrwhitt was the 
 first to correct this, and added : — ' It has always been printed at 
 the end of the Book of the Duchesse, with an (Sic. in the first 
 line instead of the name of Bukton ; and in Mr. Urry's edition 
 the following most unaccountable note is prefixed to it — " This 
 seems an Envoy to the Duke of La?icaster after his loss of 
 BlanchP From the reference to the Wife of Bathe, 1. 29, I
 
 XVII. LENVOY A BUKTON. 39 1 
 
 should suppose this to have been one of our author's later 
 compositions, and I find that there was a Peter de Buketon, the 
 King's Escheator for the County of York, in 1397 (Pat. 20 R. 
 II. p. 2, m. 3, ap. Rymer) to whom this poem, from the familiar 
 style of it, is much more likely to have been addressed than to 
 the Duke of Lancaster.' Julian Notary's edition is the only one 
 that retains Bukton's name. 
 
 My viaistcr Biiklon is in the vocative case. 
 
 2. ' What is truth ? ' See John xviii. 38. 
 
 5. Highte, promised ; by confusion with hcet (A.S. heht). 
 
 8. Eft, again, a second time. This seems to assert that 
 Chaucer was at this time a widower. Cf. C. T. 9103. 
 
 9. ' Mariage est maus liens,' marriage is an evil tie ; Rom. de 
 la Rose, 8871. And again, with respect to marriage — 'Quel 
 forsenerie \iuitlessness\ te maine A cest torment, a ceste paine ? ' 
 R. Rose, 8783 ; with much more to the same effect. Cf. Cant. 
 Tales, Marchauntes Prologue (throughout). 
 
 18. Cf. I Cor. vii. 9, 28. 
 
 23. ' That it would be more pleasant for you to be taken 
 prisoner in Friesland.' This seems to point to a period when 
 such a mishap was not uncommon. In fact, some Englishmen 
 were present in an expedition against Friesland which took 
 place in the autumn of 1396. See the whole account in Frois- 
 sart, Chron. bk. iv. cc. 'j'j, 78. He tells us that the Frieslanders 
 would not ransom the prisoners taken by their enemies ; conse- 
 quently, they could not exchange prisoners, and at last they put 
 their prisoners to death. Thus the peculiar peril of being taken 
 prisoner in Friesland is fully explained. 
 
 25. Proverbes, set of proverbs. Koch remarks — ' Provcrbcs is 
 rather curious, referring to a singular, but seems to be right, as 
 provcrbe would lose its last syllable, standing before a vowel.' 
 Perhaps we should read or proverbe. 
 
 27. This answers to the modern proverb — ' Let well alone.' 
 
 28. I.e. leam to know when you are well off. ' Half a loaf is 
 better than no bread.' 'Better sit still than rise and fall' 
 ( Hey wood). ' Better some of a pudding than none of pie ' (Ray). 
 In the Fairfax MS., the following rimed proverb is quoted at the 
 end of the poem : — 
 
 * Eetter is to suffre, and fortune abyde, 
 Than^ hasteiy to clymbe, and sodeynly to slyde.' 
 
 The same occurs (says Hazlitt) at the end of Caxton's edition of 
 * The MS. has And for Than (wrongly).
 
 392 XVin. COMPLEYNT TO VENUS. 
 
 Lydgate's Stans Puer ad ISIensam ; but docs not belong to that 
 poem. 
 
 29. The reference is to the Wife of Bathes Prologue, which 
 curiously enough, is again referred to by Chaucer in the Mar- 
 chauntes Tale, C. T. 9559. This reference shews that the present 
 poem was written quite late in life, as the whole tone of it shews ; 
 and the same remark applies to the Marchauntes Tale also. 
 We may suspect that Chaucer was rather proud of his Prologue 
 to the Wife of Bathes Tale. Unquestionably, he took a great 
 deal of pains about it. 
 
 XVIII. COMPLEYNT TO VeNUS. 
 
 This poem has frequently been printed as if it formed a part 
 of The Compleynt of Mars ; but it is a separate poem, and 
 belongs to a later period. 
 
 The Compleynt of Mars is an original poem ; but the present 
 poem is a translation, being translated, as we are told, with 
 considerable fidelity from a French poem by one Graunson 
 (1. 82). Unfortunately, the original is not now known ; perhaps 
 it may one day be recovered. 
 
 It consists of three Ballads and an Envoy, and bears a strong 
 resemblance, in metrical form, to the poem on Fortune, each 
 Ballad having three stanzas of eight lines each, with a refrain. It 
 differs from ' Fortune ' only in the arrangement of the rimes, 
 which occur in the order ababb ccb, instead of (as in Fortune) in 
 the order ababb cbc. One rime (in -aiince) occurs in the second 
 Ballad as well as in the first ; but this is quite an accidental 
 detail, of no importance. It must be remembered that the 
 metre was not chosen by Chaucer, but by Graunson. The 
 Envoy, which alone is original, consists of ten lines, rimed 
 aabaabbaab. This arrangement is very unusual. See further 
 in the note to 1. 82. 
 
 In the MSS. T. and A. we have notes of some importance, 
 written by Shirley. T. has : — ' The Compleynt of Venus. And 
 filowing begynnethe a balade translated out of frenshe in-to 
 englisshe by Chaucier, Geffrey ; the frenshe made sir Otes de 
 Grauntsome, knight Savosyen.' A. has : — ' Here begynnethe a 
 balade made by that worthy Knight of Savoye in frenshe, calde 
 sir Otes Graunson ; translated by Chauciers.' At the end of the 
 copy in T. is : — ' Hit is sayde that Graunsome made this last 
 balade for Venus, resembled to my lady of york ; aunswering the
 
 XVIII. COMPLEYNT TO VENUS. 393 
 
 complaynt of Mars.' If so, Graunson must have read Chaucer's 
 Compleynt of Mars, and attempted a reply to it, which Chaucer 
 was asked to turn into English. Cf. note to 1. 73. 
 
 I. We must suppose Venus to be the speaker. Hence the 
 subject of the first Ballad is the worthiness of the lover of 
 Venus, in another word, of Mars ; indeed, in Julian Notary's 
 edition, the poem is headed 'The Compleint of Venus for Mars.' 
 But Mars may be taken as a general type of true knighthood. 
 
 I have written the general subject of each Ballad at the head 
 of each, merely for convenience. The subjects are: — (i) The 
 Lover's worthiness ; (2) Disquietude caused by Jealousy ; (3) 
 Satisfaction in Constancy. We thus have three movements, 
 expressive of Admiration, Passing Doubt, and Reassurance. 
 
 Venus here expresses, when in a -pensive mood, the comfort 
 she finds in the feeling that her lover is worthy ; for every one 
 praises his excellence. 
 
 9. This portrait of a worthy knight should be placed side by 
 side with that of a worthy lady, viz. Constance. See Man of 
 Law's Tale, 162-8. 
 
 II. Wold, willed. The later E. would is dead, as a past 
 participle, and only survives as a past tense. It is scarce even 
 in Middle English, but occurs in P. Plowman, B. xv. 258 — 'if 
 God hadde woldc [better wold'] hym-selue.' 
 
 22. Aveiiture, luck ; in this case, good luck. 
 
 23. Here is certainly a false rime ; Chaucer nowhere else 
 rimes -oicre with -ure. But the conditions under which the 
 poem was written were quite exceptional (see note to 1. 79) ; so 
 that this is no proof that the poem is spurious. There is a 
 false rime in Sir Topas, Group B, 1. 2092 (see my note). 
 
 25. In this second Ballad or Movement, an element of 
 disturbance is introduced ; jealous suspicions arise, but are put 
 aside. Like the third Ballad, it is addressed to Love, which 
 occurs, in the vocative case, in 11. 25, 49, and 57. 
 
 Venus says it is but suitable that lovers should have to pay 
 dearly for ' the noble thing,' i. e. for the valuable treasure of 
 having a worthy lover. They pay for it by various feelings and 
 expressions of disquietude. 
 
 26. Men, one ; the impersonal pronoun ; quite as applicable 
 to a woman as to a man. Cf. F. on. 
 
 33. ' Were Jealousy hanged, she would come to life again, and 
 be as inquisitive as ever. She suspects everything, however 
 innocent.' Such is the general sense. 
 
 yj. The final e in lov-e is sounded, being preserved froni
 
 394 XVin. COMPLEYNT TO VENUS. 
 
 elision by the ciesura. The sense is^'so dearly is love purchased 
 in (return for) his giving ; he often gives inordinately, but 
 bestows more sorrow than pleasure.' 
 
 46. Notincerteyn, uncertainty. A parallel formation to notcn- 
 poioer, importance, which occurs in Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, 
 bk. iii. pr. 5, 1. 2074. 
 
 49. In this third Ballad, Venus says she is glad to continue in 
 her love, and contemns jealousy. She is thankful for her good 
 fortune, and will never repent her choice. 
 
 50. Lace, snare, entanglement. Chaucer speaks of the lace oj 
 love, and the lace of Venus ; Kn. Tale, 959, 1093. 
 
 52. To lete of, to leave off, desist. 
 
 56. All the MSS. read never; yet I believe it should be nat 
 (not). 
 
 62. ' Let the jealous (i. e. Jealousy) put it to the test, (and so 
 prove) that I will never, for any woe, change my mind.' 
 
 69. Wey, highroad. Winte, footpath. 
 
 70. The reading /t', for /, is out of the question ; for hcrte is 
 addressed as ilioit. So in 1. 66, we must needs read ihcc, not 
 you. 
 
 73. Princess. As the MSS. vary between Princcsse and 
 Princes, it is difficult to know whether the Envoy is addressed 
 to 2i princess or to princes. It is true that Fortune seems to be 
 addressed to three princes collectively, but this is unusual, and 
 due to the peculiar form of that Envoy, which is supposed to be 
 spoken by Fortuite, not by the author. Moreover, the MSS. of 
 Fortune have only the readings Princes and Princis ; none of 
 them has Princesse. 
 
 The present case seems different. Chaucer would naturally 
 address his Envoy, in the usual manner, to a single person. 
 The use oi your and ye is merely the complimentary way of 
 addressing a person of rank. The singular number seems 
 implied by the use of the word be?tigfiiiee ; ' receive this 
 complaint, addressed to your benignity in accordance with my 
 small skill.' Your benigniiy seems to be used here much as we 
 s:\.y your grace, your highness, your majesty. The plural would 
 (if this be so) hQ yotir benigniiees. There is no hint at all of the 
 plural number. 
 
 But if the right reading \)& princess, this goes far to prove that 
 Shirley's statement is correct, viz. that Graunson wrote this 
 poem for 'my lady of York,' for whose benefit also Chaucer 
 translated it, by request. Princesses are always somewhat 
 scarce, but ' my lady of York ' had the best of claims to the title,
 
 XVIII. COMPLEYNT TO VENUS. 395 
 
 as she was daughter to no less a person than Pedro, king of 
 Spain. She died in 1394 (Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 154; Stowe's 
 Annalcs, 1605, p. 496) ; and this Envoy may have been written 
 
 in 1393- 
 
 76. Eld, old age. See a similar allusion in Lenvoy to Scogan, 
 
 35, 38. 
 
 79. Penaunce, great trouble. The great trouble was caused, 
 not by Chaucer's having any difficulty in finding rimes (witness 
 his other Ballads), but in having to find rimes and translate word 
 by word at the same time. Had he been writing an original 
 poem, he would have enjoyed it ; but it is quite another matter 
 when it has to be done on a given pattern, and with a limited 
 choice of words. This is the simple explanation of the whole 
 matter. 
 
 Chaucer's translation of the ABC goes far to prove this ; for, 
 in every stanza, he begins by translating rather closely, but ends 
 by deviating widely from the original in many instances, merely 
 because he wanted to find rimes to words which he had already 
 selected. 
 
 Moreover, the difficulty was much increased by the great 
 number of lines ending with the same rime. There are but 8 
 different endings in the 72 lines of the poem, viz. 6 lines ending 
 in -ure, -able, -yse, and -ay, and 12 in -aunce, -esse, -ing, and 
 -ente. In the Envoy, Chaucer purposely limits himself to 2 
 endings, viz. -ee and -atince, as a proof of his skill. 
 
 81. Curiositee, i.e. intricacy of metre. 
 
 82. Graunson. He is here called the flower of the poets of 
 France. He was, accordingly, not an Englishman. According 
 to Shirley, he was a knight of Savoy. This exactly agrees with 
 the fact that Sir Oto de Graunson received an annuity of 
 ;^I26 13^. i,d. from Richard H, in November, 1393, for services 
 rendered ; see the mention of him in the Patent Rolls, 17 Rich, 
 n, p. I, no. 339, sixth skin; printed in Furnivall's Trial 
 Forewords, p. 123. It is there expressly said that his sovereign 
 seigneur was the Count of Savoy, but he had taken an oath of 
 allegiance to the king of England. The same Graunson 
 received a payment from Richard in 1372, and at other times. 
 
 Perhaps Graunson wrote the Complaint of Venus long after 
 Chaucer's Complaint of Mars, from which it differs in tone so 
 widely, and Chaucer Englished it, by request, soon afterwards.
 
 39<5 XIX. THE COMPLEINT TO HIS EMPTY PURSE, 
 
 XIX. The Compleint to his empty Purse. 
 
 The date of the Envoy to this Poem can be determined 
 almost to a day. Henry IV was received as king by the 
 parliament, Sept. 30, 1399. Chaucer received his answer, in 
 the shape of an additional grant of forty marks yearly, on Oct. 
 3 of the same year. Consequently, the date of the Envoy is 
 Sept. 30 or Oct. i or 2 in that year. It is obvious that the poem 
 itself had been written beforehand ; see note to 1. 17. We may 
 date it 1399. As far as we know, it is Chaucer's last work. 
 
 A somewhat similar complaint was addressed to the French 
 king John II by G. de Machault in 1351-6; but it is in short 
 rimed lines ; see his works, ed. Tarbf^, p. 78. But the real 
 model which Chaucer had in view was, in my opinion, the 
 Ballade by Eustache Deschamps, written in 1 381, and printed 
 in Tarbe's edition, at p. 55. 
 
 This Ballade is of a similar character, having three stanzas 
 of eight lines each, with a somewhat similar refrain, viz. — 
 * Mais de paier n'y sgay voie ne tour,' i.e. but how to pay I know 
 therein no way nor method. It was written on a similar occasion, 
 viz. after the death of Charles V of France, and the accession of 
 Charles VI, who had promised Deschamps a pension, but had 
 not paid it. Hence the opening lines : — 
 
 ' Dieux absoille le bon Roy trespasse ! 
 
 Et Dieux consault cellui qui est en vie ! 
 
 II me donna rente le temps passe 
 
 A mon vivant ; laquelle je n'ay mie.' 
 
 The Envoy has but six lines, though the stanzas have eight ; 
 similarly, Chaucer's Envoy has but five lines (rimed aabba), 
 though the stanzas have seven. Chaucer's Envoy is in a very 
 unusual metre, which was copied by the author of the Cuckoo 
 and the Nightingale. 
 
 The Title, in MS. F. is — 'The Complaynt of Chaucer to his 
 Purse.' In Caxton's print, it is — ' The compleint of Chaucer 
 vnto his empty purse.' In MS. P. — 'La Compleint de Chaucer 
 a sa Bourse voide.' MS. Harl. has — 'A supplicacion to Kyng 
 Richard by chaucier.' The last of these, written by Shirley, is 
 curious. If not a mere mistake, it seems to imply that the 
 Complaint was first prepared before king Richard was deposed, 
 though, by means of the Envoy, it was addressed to his 
 successor. However, this copy of Shirley's gives the Envoy ; so
 
 XIX. THE COMPLEINT TO HIS EMPTY PURSE. 397 
 
 it may have been a mere mistake. Line 23 is decisive ; see note 
 below. 
 
 4. Koch remarks, that the Additional MS. 22139, which alone 
 has Tliat.) is here superior to the rest ; and he may be right. 
 Still, the reading For is quite intelligible. 
 
 8. This day. This hints at impatience ; the poet did not 
 contemplate having long to wait. But we must take it in 
 connection with 1. 17 ; see note to that line. 
 
 10. Colour \ with reference to golden coins. So also in the 
 Doctours Tale (C. T. 11 971) the golden colour of Virginia's 
 hair is expressed by — 
 
 ' And Phebus dyed hath her tresses grete 
 Lyk to the stremes of his burned hete.' 
 
 11. Four MSS., as well as the printed copies, read That of 
 yeloivnesse^ &c. ; and this may very well be right. If so, the word 
 
 That stands alone in the first foot ; and as need not be supplied. 
 MS. Harl. 2251 has That of yowre lelownesse, but the yowre is 
 merely copied in from 1. 10. 
 
 12. Stere, rudder ; see Man of Lawes Tale, 448, 833. 
 
 17. Out of this toune. This seems to mean — 'help me to 
 retire from London to some cheaper place.' At any rate, tonne 
 seems to refer to some large town, where prices were high. 
 From the tone of this line, and that of 1. 8, I should conclude 
 that the poem was wTitten on some occasion of special temporary 
 difficulty, irrespectively of general poverty ; and that the Envoy 
 was hastily added afterwards, without revision of the poem 
 itself. 
 
 19. 'That is, I am as bare of money as the tonsure of a friar 
 is of hair ; ' Bell. 
 
 22. Brutes Albioun, the Albion of Brutus. Albion is the old 
 name for England or Britain in the histories which follow 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth and profess to give the ancient history 
 of Britain before the coming of the Romans. See Layamon's 
 Brut, 1. 1243; Higden's Polychronicon, bk. i. c. 39; Fabyan's 
 Chronicle, ed. Ellis, pp. i, 2, 7. According to the same 
 accounts, Albion was first reigned over by Brutus, in English 
 spelling Brute, a descendant of ^neas of Troy, who arrived in 
 Albion (says Fabyan) in the eighteenth year of Eli, judge of 
 Israel. Layamon's poem is a translation from a poem by Wace, 
 entitled Brut ; and Wace borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth. 
 The Welsh word brut simply means ' a chronicle ; ' and it is 
 not unlikely that the name Brutus was evolved from it.
 
 398 A"A'. PROVERBS. 
 
 23. This line makes it certain that the king meant is Henry 
 IV; and indeed, the title conqueroiir in 1. 21 proves the same 
 thing sufficiently. * In Henry IV's proclamation to the people 
 of England he founds his title on conquest, hereditary right, and 
 clectioji ; and from this inconsistent and absurd document 
 Chaucer no doubt took his cue ; ' Bell. 
 
 XX, Proverbs. 
 
 The titles in the MSS. are : Ad. Prouerbe ; F. Proverbe of 
 Chaucer ; Ha. Prouerbe of Chancers. 
 
 Each proverb takes the form of a question or objection, in two 
 lines, followed by an answer in two lines more. 
 
 There is a fair copy of them (but not well spelt) in the 
 black-letter edition of 1561, fol. cccxl. They there appear with- 
 out the addition of fourteen unconnected lines (not by Chaucer) 
 which have been recklessly appended to them in modern 
 editions. The title in ed. 1561 is — 'A Prouerbe agaynst 
 couitise and negligence.' 
 
 For the metre, compare the Envoy to a Ballad by Deschamps, 
 ed. Tarbe, pp. 23, 24. 
 
 7. At the head of a Ballad by Deschamps, ed. Tarbe, i. 132, 
 is the French proverb — ' Qui trop embrasse, mal etreint.' Cot- 
 grave, s. V. enibrasser, has : ' Trop cinbrasser, et pen estraigner, 
 to meddle with more business then he can wield ; to have too 
 many irons in the fire ; to lose all by coveting all.' 
 
 But the most interesting point is the use of this proverb by 
 Chaucer elsewhere, viz, in the Tale of Melibeus, Group B, I. 
 2405 — ' For the prouerbe seith, he that to muche embraceth, 
 distreyneth litel.' See the context. 
 
 It is also quoted by Lydgate, in his description of the 
 Merchant in the Dance of Machabre, 
 
 XXI. A COMPLKINT TO HIS Lady. 
 
 1 HAVE already said, at p. 213 (footnote), that I only know of 
 one MS. copy of this poem, viz. that in MS. Had. 78, in Shirley's 
 hand-writing, where it is written as a continuation of the Com- 
 plaint to Pity. It was printed by Dr. Furnivall in his Odd-texts 
 of Chaucer's Poems, Part I,, p. ii., and the lines are numbered in 
 continuation of those in the Complaint to Pity. In Chaucer's 
 Works, ed. 1561, it is printed as a separate poem, with the
 
 X.W. yl COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 399 
 
 heading — ' Tliese verses next folowing were compiled by Geffniy 
 Chauser, and in the writen copies folovveth at the endc of the 
 complainte of petec.' This imphes that Stowe had seen more 
 than one MS. containing these Hnes. 
 
 However, the poem has nothing to do with the Complaint 
 of Pity ; for which reason the Hnes are here numbered 
 separately, and the title 'A Compleint to his Lady' is supplied, 
 for want of a better. 
 
 The poem is so badly spelt in Shirley's MS. as quite to 
 obscure its diction, which is that of the fourteenth centur}'. 
 I have therefore re-speit it throughout, so as to shew the right 
 pronunciation. 
 
 The printed copy resembles Shirley's MS. so closely, that 
 both seem to have been derived from a common source. But 
 there is a strange and unaccountable variation in 1. 100. The 
 MS. here has — ' For I am sette on yowe in suche manere ; ' 
 whilst ed. 1561 has — 'For I am set so hy vpon your whele.' 
 The latter reading does not suit the right order of the rimes. 
 
 The poem evidently consists of several fragments, all upon the 
 same subject, of hopeless, but true love. 
 
 It should be compared with the Complaint of Pity, the first 
 forty lines of the Book of the Duchess, the Parliament of Foules 
 (11. 416-441), and the Complaint of Anelida. Indeed, the last 
 of these is more or less founded upon it, and some of the 
 expressions (including one complete line) occur there again. 
 
 I. MS. nightes. This will not scan, nor does it make good 
 sense. Read night \ cf. 1. 8, and Book of the Duchess, 1. 22. 
 
 3. Cf. Compl. Pite, 81 — 'Alias! what herte may hit longe 
 endure ? ' 
 
 7. Desespdrcd, full of despair. This, and not dispaircd (as in 
 ed. 1561), is the right form. Cf. desesperaunce, in Troil, ii. 530, 
 1307 (ed. Morris). 
 
 8, 9. Cf. Anelida, 333, 334. 
 
 14, 15. I repeat this line, because we require a rime to 
 fiilfille, 1. 17 ; whilst at the same time 1. 14 evidently ends a 
 stanza. 
 
 16. I omit that, and insert eck, in order to make sense. 
 
 17. I supply lie, meaning Love. Love is masculine in 1. 42, 
 precisely as in the Pari, of Foules, 1. 5. 
 
 19. I alter and yit io ytt from, to make sense; the verb to 
 arace absolutely requires _/>"o;;z ox fro ; see Clerkes Tale, 1103, 
 and particularly 1. 18 of sect. XV. (p. 200), where we find the 
 very phrase ' fro your herte arace.'
 
 4CO XXI. A COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY. 
 
 24. I supply this line from Compl. INIars. 189, to rime with 
 1. 22. 
 
 If Fragments II and III were ever joined together, we must 
 suppose that at least 7??'^ lines have been lost, as I have already 
 shewn in the note to Dr. Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 96. 
 
 Thus, after, 1. 23, ending in astcrte, we should require lines 
 ending in -ye, -erse, -ye, -erse, and -ede respectively, to fill the 
 gap. However, I have kept fragments II and III apart, and it 
 is then sufficient to supply three lines. Lines 25 and 26 are 
 from the Compl. of Pite, 22, 17, and from Anelida, 307. 
 
 32. I suspect some corruption ; the MS. has The wyse 
 eknytte, and ed. 1561 has The Wise, eknit. As it stands, it 
 means — ' Her surname moreover is the Fair Ruthless one, (or) 
 the Wise one, united with Good Fortune.' Fair Ruthless is a 
 translation of the French phrase La Belle Dame sans Merci, 
 which occurs as the title of a poem once attributed to Chaucer. 
 The Wise one, &c., means that she is wise and fortunate, and 
 will not impair her good fortune by bestowing any thought upon 
 her lover. Shirley often writes e for initial/-. 
 
 35. Almost identical with Anelida, 222 — ' More then myself, 
 an hundred thousand sythe.' 
 
 36. Obviously corrupt ; neither sound nor sense is right. 
 Read : — ' Than al this worldes richest {07' riche) creature.' 
 Creature may mean ' created thing.' 
 
 39. Cf. Kn. Tale, 1. 380 — ' Wei hath Fortune y-turned thee 
 the dys.' 
 
 41. My swete fo. So in Anelida, 1. 272 ; and cf. 1. 64 below. 
 
 42, 43. Cf. Pari, of Foules, 11. 439, 440. 
 
 44. Ed. 1561 also reads In. Moreover, it omits cck in 1. 45, 
 which I supply. 
 
 47-49. This remarkable statement re-appears twice else- 
 where; see Pari. Foules, 90, 91 ; and Compl. of Pite, 11. 99-104. 
 
 50. Repeated in Anelida, 237. 
 
 51,52. Cf. Anelida, 181, 182; Compl. Pite, no; Pari. 
 Foules, 7. 
 
 55. Cf. Anelida, 214 — 'That turned is to quaking al my 
 daunce.' 
 
 56. Here a line is missing, as again at 1. 59. This appears 
 from the form of the stanza, in which the rimes are arranged in 
 the order aab aab c dd c. 
 
 63. Cf. the use oi y-whet in Anelida, 212. 
 
 64, 65. Cf. Anehda, 272 — ' My swete fo, why do ye so for 
 shame .' '
 
 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT. 40I 
 
 73. For lecst, ed. 1 561 has best ! 
 
 79. The MS. has — 'What so I wist that were to youre 
 hyenesse' ; \\\\gx& youre hyenesse is absurdly repeated from I. 76. 
 Ed. 1561 has the same error. It is obvious that the right final 
 word is distresses to be preceded by yoiv or your ; of which 
 I prefer ^'^w. 
 
 83. The MS. ends the line with wille fuljille. As wille is 
 dissyllabic, this is impossible, and the repetition of -il-le is 
 distressing. I therefore substitute wish. 
 
 86. Shal, i.e. shall be. Cf. s]ial=s\i?iS\. (do so), in Gloss, to 
 Prioresses Tale. See also p. 221, 11. 78, 87 ; and note on p. 404, 
 1. 87. 
 
 88. Leveth ivel, believe me wholly. Ed. 1561 wrongly has 
 loueth. 
 
 98. I read nil, as being simpler. The MS. has tie ivil, which 
 would be read — * That I n' wil ay ' ; which comes to much the 
 same thing. 
 
 100. Set, fixed, bound. Ed. 1561 has — 'For I am set so hy 
 vpon your whele,' which disturbs the rimes. 
 
 102. MS. bean eiier als iruTve; ed. 1561 has — bene euer as 
 trewe. 
 
 103. MS. ' As any man can er may on lyue ; ' ed. 1561 Jias — As 
 any man can or maye on hue. It is clear that some final word 
 (almost certainly here) has been dropped, because the scribe 
 thought the line ought to rime with _/y7/^ above. After this, man 
 was inserted to fill up. Here rimes with matiere in the Miller's 
 Prologue, and elsewhere. Moreover, Chaucer employs here at 
 the end of a line more than thirty times ; cf. Kn. Tale, 402, 812, 
 S53, 961, &c. 
 
 107, 108. Cf. Anelida, 247, 248. 
 
 123. Cf. Anelida, 216. Ed. 1561 subjoins the word Explicit. 
 
 XXII. An Amorous Compleint. 
 
 There are two other MS. copies of this poem, viz. in MSS. F. 
 and B. See remarks upon these in the Preface, at p. Ixxxii. 
 
 I. In Troil. iv. 516, the parallel line is : — ' Of me, that am the 
 wofulleste wight ' ; where ivofullest-e has four syllables. Chaucer 
 constantly employs sorive or soriu so as to occupy the time of a 
 monosyllable ; hence the right reading in this case is sorwful- 
 lest-e, with final -e. See also Troil. ii. 450 — ' So as she was the 
 ferfulleste wight.' 
 
 Dd
 
 403 XXII . AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT. 
 
 3. Rccovcrcr, recovery, cure ; answering to O. F. recovrier, 
 sb. succour, aid, cure, recovery ; see examples in La Langue et 
 la Litterature Frangaise, by Bartsch and Horning, 1887. Gower 
 uses recovcrir in a like sense ; ed. Pauli, i. 265. In Specimens 
 of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, pt. ii., p. 156, 1. 394, recouerer 
 may likewise mean 'succour'; and the whole line may mean, 
 ' they each of them cried for succour (to be obtained) from the 
 Creator.' 
 
 6. Cf. p. 215, 1. 53 :— ' So litel rewthe hath she upon my 
 peyne.' 
 
 7. Cf. p. 214, 1. 33: — 'That, for I love her, sleeth me giltelees.' 
 
 12. Despiious, hateful. The word is common in Chaucer ; 
 see Proh 516, Kn. Ta. 738, C. T. 6343, Troil. ii. 435, v. 199. 
 Trevisa translates igtiominiosa seruitute by 'in a dispitous 
 bondage'; Higden's Polychron. v. 87. The sense is— 'You 
 have banished me to that hateful island whence no man may 
 escape alive.' The allusion is to the isle of Naxos, here used 
 as a synonym for a state of hopeless despair. It was the island 
 in which Ariadne was left, when deserted by Theseus ; and 
 Chaucer alludes to it at least thrice in a similar way : see 
 C. T. Group B. 68, Ho. of Fame, 416, Legend of Good Women, 
 2159. Another reading is — ' Ye han me cast in thilke spitous 
 yle ' ; see p. Ixxxii. 
 
 13. Perhaps we should drop nc, as in MSS. F. and B. (see p. 
 Ixxxii.), and read lyv-e as a dissyllable. This is certainly better. 
 
 14. This have I, such is my reward. For, because. Perhaps 
 we should drop best, as in F. and B. (see p. Ixxxii.), and read 
 lov-e as a dissyllable. 
 
 16. Another reading is — ' If that it were a thing possible to 
 do ' ; see p. Ixxxii. In that case, we must rca.d possibT , with the 
 accent on z. 
 
 17. Cf. p. 216, 1. 94 : — ' For ye be oon the worthiest on-lyve.' 
 19. Cf. p. 216, 1. 93 : — ' I am so litel worthy.' 
 
 24, 25. Perhaps (see p. Ixxxii.) we should read — 
 I may wel singe, ' in sory tyme I spende 
 My lyf ' ; that song is my confusioun. 
 
 Cf. XI. 7, and the note (p. 376). 
 
 28. Perhaps corrupt ; it seems to mean — ' All these things 
 caused mc, in that (very state of despair), to love you 
 dearly.' 
 
 31. The insertion of /<? is justified by the parallel line — 'And 
 I my dccth to yow wol al forgive'; XXI. 119 (p. 217).
 
 XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLETNT. 403 
 
 36, 37. Perhaps read — ' And sithen I am of my sorwc the 
 cause, And sithen I have this ' ; &c. See p. Ixxxii. 
 
 43. Perhaps read — ' So that, algates, she is verray rote.' 
 
 45. Cf. C. T. 1 1 287 : — 'For with o word ye may me sleen or 
 save.' 
 
 52. As to my dome, in my judgment; as in V. 480, and in 
 Troil. iv. 387. 
 
 54. Cf. ' vvhyl the world may dure ' ; V. 616. 
 
 55. Bihyndc, in the rear, far away ; cf. XXI. 5. 
 
 57. The idea is the same as in the Compl. of Mars, 11. 264- 
 270. 
 62. See 1. 10 above. 
 
 64. For_y^ readj/^/; see p. Ixxxii. 
 
 65. For jnekly read vieke ; see p. Ixxxii, 
 
 70, 71. Cf. C. T. 1 1625 — 'And lothest wer of al this world dis- 
 plese.' 
 
 72. Compare the description of Dorigen, C. T. 11255-66. 
 We have similar expressions in Troil. iii. 1501 : — 'As wisly 
 verray God my soule save ' ; and in Legend of Good Women, 
 1802 : — 'As wisly lupiter my soule save.' And see XXIII. 4. 
 
 75. For shulde, perhaps a better reading is shtil; see p. Ixxxii. 
 
 76. For tmto, perhaps a better reading is on ; see p. Ixxxii. 
 Chaucer has both pleyjte unto and pleyne on ; see C. T., Cler. 
 Tale (Group E), 97 ; and Pard. Tale (Group C), 512. 
 
 TJ. Cf. Troil. iii. 1 183, and v. 1344: — 'Forgive it me, myn 
 owne swete herte.' 
 
 79. Cf. Troil. iii. 141 — 'And I to ben your very humble trewe.' 
 
 81. ' Sun of the bright and clear star' ; i. e. source of light to 
 the planet Venus. The ' star ' can hardly be other than this 
 bright planet, which was supposed to be auspicious to lovers. 
 Cf. Troil. v. 638 : — ' O sterre, of which I lost have al the light' 
 Observe that MSS. F. and B. read overiox of\ this will not scan, 
 but it suggests the sense intended. 
 
 82. Oon, one and the same, ever constant ; as in III. 649. Cf. 
 also Troil. iii. 143: — 'And ever to desiren freshly nezve To 
 serven.' Another reading is — ' Alwey in oon.' This refers to 
 Sonne, i. e. to the constancy and endurance of the sun as the 
 source of light. 
 
 Z-^. So in Troil. v. 15 12 : — 'For I am thyn, by God and by 
 my trouthe' ; and in Troil. iii. 120. 
 
 85. See Pari, of Foules, 309, 310, whence I supply the word 
 ther. These lines in the Pari, of Foules may have been borrowed 
 
 D d 2
 
 404 XXni. A B A LADE OF COMPLEYNT. 
 
 from the present passage, i. e. if the 'Amorous Compleint ' is the 
 older poem of the two, as is probable. In any case, the con- 
 nection is obvious. Cf. also Pari. Foules, 386. 
 
 87. Cf. Pari. Foules, 419 : — 'Whos I am al, and ever wol her 
 serve.' The correction of was (Harl.) to whos is confirmed by 
 MSS. F. and B. ; see p. Ixxxii. 
 
 Shal, shall be ; as in Tioil. iii. 103 ; cf. Kn. Tale, 286, and 
 note to 1. 86, on p. 401. 
 
 91. Cf. Kn. Tale, 285, 286; Pari. Foules, 419, 420. All three 
 passages are much alike. 
 
 XXIII. A Balade of Compleynt. 
 
 I. Cf. Troil. iii. 104: — 'And thogh I dar ne can unto yow 
 pleyne.' 
 
 4. See note to XXII. 72, and 1. 8 below. 
 
 13, 14. Cf. XXI. Ill, 112 (p. 217). 
 
 16. Dyt-e, ditty (dissyllabic) ; see IX. 622. It here rimes 
 ^iXh despyte ^Xi^ plyte. The two latter rime together in Troil. 
 iii. 1037, though in the Cant. Tales the usual forms are despyt 
 and plyt-e respectively. 
 . 20. ^rtes lady; see XXI. 60 (p. 215).
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 The following are the principal contractions used : — 
 
 A.S. = Anglo-Saxon. Lat. — Latin. 
 
 F. = French. M.E. = Middle English. 
 
 Icel. = Icelandic. O.F. = Old French. 
 
 Also the following: — v. = verb in the infinitive mood ; pr. s. (and pt. s.) 
 mean the third person singular of the present (and past) tense, except when i 
 or 2 (first person or second person) is prefixed; pr. pi. (and pt. pi.) mean, 
 likewise, the third person plural of the present (and past) tense; i?np. s.= 
 iecotid person singular of the imperative mood ; and imp. pi. = second person 
 plural of the same. Other contractions, such as s.= substantive, and//). = 
 past participle, will be readily understood. 
 
 Further information as to the etymologies of the words is given in 
 Mayhew and Skeat's Middle-English Dictionary, and in Skeat's Concise 
 Etymological Dictionary. 
 
 The references are to the number of the piece and to the line. Thus 
 ' 3. 213 ' means Poem No. 3 (Book of the Duchesse), line 213. 
 
 Accioun, s. action, i. e. accusation, 
 ^- I. 20. 
 
 A-ehekked, pp. checked, hindered, 
 
 9. 2093. 
 Acloyeth, pr. s. overburdens, 5. 
 
 517. See A ccloy in Murray, N.E. 
 
 Diet. 
 Acordant to, in harmony with, 
 
 5- 203. 
 Acorde, s. harmony, agreement, 
 
 concord, 5. 381, 668 ; in acorde, 
 
 in tune, 5. 192 ; alofoon accords, 
 
 in tune, 3. 305. 
 Acounte, ger. to reckon up, 22. 
 
 18 ; Acounted, /)/. s. valued, cared, 
 
 3- 1237. 
 Acquitaunce, 5. acquittance, re- 
 lease, I. 60. 
 Acursed, pp. accursed, i. 150. 
 AGUstoinaunce,s. system of habits, 
 
 h;ibitual method of life, 9. 28. 
 Adamauntes,/i/. loadstones, 5. 148. 
 Adoun, adv. adown, down, 2. 15 ; 
 
 down below, 9. 889. 
 A-dred, pp. afraid, frightened, 3. 
 
 1 190; A-drad, 3. 493, 879; 9. 
 
 928. 
 Adversaire, s. adversary, i. 8. 
 Advocat, y. advocate, i. io3. 
 
 A ! int. Ah! 3. 213. 
 A, prep, on, for, 3. 370, 758. 
 A, adj. one and the same, 15. 5. 
 Abasshed, pp. abashed, confused, 
 
 5- 447- 
 
 Abaved, pp. confounded, discon- 
 certed, 3. 614. Answering to an 
 O.F. * abavir, due to O.F. es- 
 bahir, to astonish ; with v in place 
 of lost h ; see Brachet's Etym. F. 
 Diet. s. v. corvee. 
 
 Able, adj. capable of receiving, fit 
 for, 3. 779 ; prepared, deemed 
 deserving, I. 184. 
 
 Abood, pt. s. abode, stopped, 9. 
 1602 ; expected, 3. 247. 
 
 Abought, pp. purchased, 18. 37. 
 
 Aboute, adv. around, here and there, 
 
 5- 247- 
 Abreyde, v. awake, come to my 
 
 senses, 9. 559 ; Abreyd, I pt. s. 
 
 started from sleep, 9. 1 10; Abrayd, 
 
 pt. s. started up, 3. 192. A. S. 
 
 dbregdan, strong verb ; pt. t. 
 
 dbrcegd. 
 Abyden, v. wait for, 9. 1086 ; 
 
 await, I. 131.
 
 4o6 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 A-fer, adv. afar, 9. 1215. 
 Affray, 5. affright, fright, 4. 214; 
 
 9- 553 ; Afray, dread, 7. 334. 
 A-Srayed, pp. frightened, roused, 3. 
 
 296. 
 After, prep, according to, i. 143 ; 
 
 3- 1095 ; 5- 305 ; 18. 75 ; in 
 
 accordance with, 8. 4 ; After as, 
 
 according as, 5. 216. 
 A-fyr, on fire, I. 94; A-fvre, 9. 
 
 1858. 
 Agame, adv. in play, in jest, in 
 
 mockery, 4. 277. 
 Agast, pp. terrified, 7. 316 ; 9. 
 
 557- 
 
 Aga,ynes, prep, against, 3. 16. 
 
 Agilte, I pt. s. did wrong to, 
 wronged, 9. 329 ; Agilt, pp. 
 offended, i. 122. 
 
 A-go, pp. gone away, "J. 61 ; to ben 
 ago, to be off, 5. 465 ; Agoon, 
 past away, dead, 3. 479; 7- 150. 
 
 A-gref, adv. grievously, amiss, 5. 
 543. Lit. 'in grief.' 
 
 Agryse, v. feel terror, 9. 210. A.S. 
 dgrisan. 
 
 Aiourne, itnp. s. adjourn, summon 
 on another day, I. 158. 
 
 Ake, ger. to ache, 9. 632. 
 
 Al, adv. quite, 5. iio, 540; al- 
 though, I. 45, 157; for all that, 
 4. 274; albeit, 12. 7; Al and 
 somme, each and all, all, the 
 whole, 7. 26 ; Al and som, 5. 
 650; Al be, although, 5. 436; 
 Al be that, 5.8; Al by oon assent, 
 quite with one accord, 5. 557 ; 
 Al day, all the day, 3. 1105 ; Al 
 thus, exactly thus, 5. 30. 
 
 Al, s. awl, 12. II. 
 
 Alday, every day, at any time, 4. 
 
 2 37- 
 Alder, gen. pi. of all ; onre alder, 
 
 of us all, I. 84. A.S. ea/ra, of all. 
 Alderbest, adv. best of all, 3. 87, 
 
 907. 
 Alder-beste, adj. best of all, very 
 
 best, 3. 246, 1279. 
 Alderfaireste, adj. fern, fairest of 
 
 all, 3. 1050. 
 Alderfirst, adv. first of all, 9. 1429. 
 Alder-next, nearest of all, ne,\t, 5. 
 
 244. 
 
 Alegge, I pr. .<;. allege, adduce, 9. 
 
 314- 
 Algate, adv. any way, at any rate, 
 
 3. 887, 1087 ; nevertheless, 2. 
 115 ; at all hazards, 9. 943. 
 
 Algates, adv. at any rate, 3. 1 1 7 1 ; 
 
 4. 234; 21. 85; 22.43. 
 Alighte, /)/. 5. descended, i. 161. 
 Alle, dat. ; at alle, in any and every 
 
 case, 4. 37 ; on alle thing, in any 
 case, 3. 141. 
 Alliaunce, s. alliance, kindred, i. 
 
 AUone, alone, 4. 141 ; 5. 455. 
 Al-outerly, adv. quite utterly ,quite 
 
 absolutely, 3. 1 244. See Al- 
 
 utterly. 
 Als, adv. as, 4. 69 ; also, 3. 728 ; 9. 
 
 2071 ; Al-so, as, 3. 1064 ; 4. 267 ; 
 
 (in expressing a wish), 7. 302 ; 22. 
 
 72 ; as sure as, 9. 273. 
 Alther-fastest, adv. sup. as fast as 
 
 possible, 9. 2131. 
 Altherfirst, adv. first of all, at 
 
 first, 9. 1368. 
 Alther-flrste, adj. first of all, 3. 
 
 1173- 
 Al-utterly, adv. quite absolutely, 
 
 beyond all doubt, 9. 296. See 
 
 Al-outerly. 
 A-lyve, adv. alive, 3. 915. 
 Amended, pt. s. improved, did 
 
 good, 3. 1 102. 
 Amiddes, ntfj/.in the midst, 5, 277. 
 Amis, adv. amiss, 3. 1141 ; seyde 
 
 amis, gave an unwelcome answer, 
 
 5. 446. 
 
 A-morwe, in the morning, 3. 1 104 ; 
 
 9. 2106. 
 An hye, on high, 9. 215. 
 Ancille, s. handmaiden, i. 109. 
 Ancre, s. anchor, 11. 38. 
 And, conj. if, 21. 112; and if, if, 
 
 3- 548- 
 Angle-hook, x. fish-hook, 4. 238. 
 Anoon, adv. immediately, 3. 1 299, 
 
 1333 ; 5- 169; 9. 339. 
 Anon-right, adv. immediately, 3. 
 
 354, 450, S47 ; 5. 218; Anoon- 
 
 right, 9. 132. 
 Anoyeth, pr. s. gives offence, 5. 
 
 51S. 
 Anvelt, s. anvil, 3. 1165.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 407 
 
 Apaire, v. deteriorate, grow wor«e, 
 9. 7=,6. See Apeyren in M.E.D. 
 
 Apayd, pp. pleased ; eve! apayJ, 
 ill-pleased, 7. 123; 21. 69. 
 
 Ape, s. g. 1212 ; Apes, pi. 9. 1806. 
 
 Aperte, adv. openly, 9. 717- 
 
 Apertenant, adj. belonging to, 
 such as belongs to, 2. 70. 
 
 Apeseth, imp. pi. appease, miti- 
 gate, 4. 10. 
 
 Apparaile, s. apparel, attire, i . 153. 
 (The F. text has atour.) 
 
 Apparence,s. appearance, seeming, 
 9. 265. 
 
 Appropred,//). appropriated, made 
 the property of, 13. 18. 
 
 Aqueynte, v. ; me aqtieynte, make 
 myself acquainted, 3. 532 ; Aqiieyn- 
 teden, pt. pi. became acquainted, 
 9. 250. 
 
 Arace, v. eradicate, tear away, 15. 
 18 ; 21. 20. 
 
 Aray, s. array, dress, 4. 176 ; 5. 
 318 ; Dress, 5. 219. 
 
 A-rede, v. read, interpret, 3. 2S9. 
 
 Armonye, s. harmony, 3. 313 ; 5. 
 
 63. 191 ; 9- 1396- 
 
 Armure, s. armour, 4. 130. 
 
 Am, pr. pi. are, 9. 1008. 
 
 A-rowe, adv. in a row, 9. 1S35. 
 
 A-roume, adv. at large, in an open 
 space, 9. 540. 
 
 Arrivage, s. coming to shore, 9. 
 223. 
 
 Art, 5. cunning, 5. 245. 
 
 Artow, /or art thow, art thou, 9. 
 1872. 
 
 Arwes, pi. arrows, 5. 212. 
 
 As, as if, 3. 1323 ; As, in assevera- 
 tions, 3. 838, 1235 ; As of, as 
 concerning, 5. 26 ; As swythe, at 
 once, 7. 226 ; As that, as though, 
 3. I 200 : As ther, in that place, 
 there, 4. 117; As to my wit, ac- 
 cording to my understanding, 5. 
 
 547- 
 
 Ascendentes, pi. 9. 1268. The 
 ascendent is (properly) that point 
 of the zodiacal circle which is seen 
 to be just ascending above the 
 horizon at a given moment. See 
 note. 
 
 Aske, /T. s. siibj. may ask, 3. 32. 
 
 Asp, s. aspen, 5. iSo. 
 Aspre, adj. fierce, hardy, 7. 23. 
 Assay, «. trial, 3. 552. 
 Assaye, v. try, 3. 574. 
 Asse, s. ass, 5. 255. 
 Assented, pp. agreed, 2. 53. 
 Asshe, s. ash-tree, 5. 176. 
 Asshen, /)/. ashes, 7. 173. 
 Assure, s. assurance, protestation, 
 
 7-33I- 
 Assure, i pr. s. comfort, give con- 
 fidence to, 5. 448. 
 Assured, adj. settled, self-reliant, 2. 
 
 40. 
 Assyse, s. judgment, i. 36. 
 Asterte, v. start away, get away, 
 
 withdraw, 3. 1154; escape, 21. 
 
 23; 22. 13. 
 Astonyeth, pr. s. astonishes, 5. 5. 
 Asure, adj. a^ s. blue, 7. 330. 
 A-sweved, pp. dazed, put to sleep, 
 
 9. 549. A.S. dswebban ( = dswe- 
 Jian), to put to sleep. 
 A-swown, pp. as adv. in a swoon, 
 
 3. 123; A-swowe, 7. 354. Cf. 
 
 A.S. ge-swogen; see Swoon in my 
 
 Etym. Diet. 
 At, prep, as to, 21. 1 14; At erste, 
 
 offv. first of all, 9. 512 ; At shorte 
 
 wordes, briefly, in a word, 5. 481. 
 A-take, pp. overtaken, 4. 55. 
 Atempre, adj. temperate, mild, 3. 
 
 341, 1008 ; Attempre, 5. 204. 
 Ateyne, v. attain, succeed in, 4. 
 
 161. 
 Atte, for at the, 3. 619, 652 ; 4. 
 
 25 ; Atte leste, at least, 5. 452. 
 A-tweyn, adv. in two, 3. 1193. 
 Atyre, s. attire, dress, 5. 225. 
 Auctorite, s. authority, 5. 506 ; 9. 
 
 2158. 
 Auctour, s. author, 9. 314. 
 Audience, s. audience, attention, 
 
 hearing, 5. 308. 
 Auncestre, s. ancestor, 5. 41. 
 Aungel, s. angel, 5. 191 ; Aungels, 
 
 gen. angel's, 5. 356. 
 Autentyke, adj. authentic, 3. 10S6. 
 Auter, ,>:. altar, 5, 249. 
 Availeth, pr. s. impers. it avails, 6. 
 
 15- 
 Avaunee, v. aid, cause to prosper, 
 9. 640; help, II. 31.
 
 4o8 
 
 GLOSS A RIAL INDEX. 
 
 Avaunte, ger. to cxto!, 9. 178S ; i 
 pr. s. boast, 5. 470 ; Avaunte her, 
 V. boast herself, 7. 296. 
 
 Avauntour, s. boaster, 5, 430. 
 
 A venture, s. hick, chance, 4. 21 ; 
 Chance, 9. 1982; hard hap, 4. 
 199; good aventtire, good for- 
 tune, 5. 131 ; 7. 324; inaventnre 
 and grace, on hick and favour, 4. 
 60; of aventiire, by chance, 9. 
 2090. 
 
 Avisioun, s. vision, 9. 7, 104, 513 ; 
 Avisiouns, pi. 9. 40. 
 
 Avouterye, s. aduhery, 5. 361. 
 
 A-vowe, ii. vow, avowal, 3. 93. 
 
 Avyse, i pr. s. ; avy^e me, reflect, 
 3. 697 ; Avyseii me, ger. to re- 
 flect, consider, 5. 648. 
 
 Avysement, s. deliberation ; 0/ 
 sJiort avysement, after a brief de- 
 hberation, 5. 555. 
 
 Awak, imp. s. awake ! 3. 1 79 ; 
 Awaketh, irnp. pi. awake ye, 3. 
 183; Awook, I pt. s. awoke, 
 arou?ed, 3. 1324. 
 
 Awayting, s. attending, 7. 250. 
 
 Aweye, adv. away, gone, 7. 319; 
 A-wey, 5. 656. 
 
 A-whaped, pp. amazed, stupefied, 
 7. 215. Cf. Goth, af-hwapjan, 
 to choke. 
 
 Avyreke, v. avenge, 2. 11. 
 
 Axe, z'. ask, i. 120; ger. 3. 416, 
 1276; Axeth, pr. s. i. 12 ; re- 
 (juires, 12. 16; Axed, pt. s. 3. 
 1 85 ; Axed, pp. 9. 17G6. 
 
 Axing, s. asking, request, 9. 1 54 1 ; 
 Axinge, questioning, I7.3. 
 
 Ay, adv. ever, always, 2. 95 ; 5. 
 210; Ay whil that, all the time 
 that, 4. 252. 
 
 Ayein, adv. again, back, 5. loo; 
 Ayeyn, I. 68 ; Ayen, 5. 295. 
 
 Ayeins, prep, towards, at the ap- 
 proach of, 5. 342 ; 7. 347. 
 
 Ayen, prep, against, when meeting, 
 S- 447>- 
 
 B. 
 
 Babewinnes, pi. (lit. baboons), 
 grotesque figures in architecture, 
 9. 1189. See note. 
 
 Baggeth, pr. s. looks askant, 3. 
 
 623. 
 Balaunce, s. balance, i.e. suspense ; 
 
 in balaunce, in suspense, 3. 102 1 ; 
 
 in uncertainty, ']. 344. 
 Bale, s. bale, sorrow, 3. 535 ; for 
 
 bote ne bale, for good nor for ill, 
 
 3. 227. 
 
 Bane, s. destruction, ruin, death, 9. 
 
 408 ; cause of death, 4. 196. 
 Bar, pt. s. bore, carried, 3. 196 ; 
 
 Bar her on honde, brought against 
 
 her a charge which he feigned to 
 
 believe, 7. 158. 
 Barefoot, adj. with nothing on his 
 
 feet, 9. 98. 
 Basket, i-. basket, 9. 1687. 
 Batayle, s. battle, 5. 539. 
 Bawme, s. balm, 9. 1686. 
 Beau, adj. fair ; beau sir, fair sir, 
 
 9. 643. 
 Beautee, s. Beauty, 2. 39. 
 Be, I pr. s. am, 3. 588; i pr.pl. 
 
 are, 3. 582; pr. pi. 3. 5S1 ; 4. 
 
 50; Be, subj. pr. s. it should be, 
 
 4. 49; pp. 3. 972 ; / had be, I 
 should have been, 3. 222. 
 
 Beddes, gen. bed's, 3. 12.^4- 
 Bede, v. offer, 9. 32 ; ger. to pre- 
 sent, I. no; I />r. s. proffer, 7. 
 
 .^04- 
 "Bede, pp. bidden, 3. 194. 
 Bees, pi. bees, 5. 353; Been, 9. 
 
 1522. 
 Beforn, adv. before, previously, 5. 
 
 107, 4S6. 
 Begoon, pp. ; wel hegoon, joyous, 
 
 .s- 171- 
 
 Begyle, v. beg'.iile, deceive, 3. 674. 
 Behelde, v. behold, 7. 80. See 
 
 note. 
 Behest, s. Promise, 5. 245. 
 Behewe, pp. hewn, carved, 9. 1306. 
 Behoteth, pr. s. promises, 3. 621 ; 
 
 Behette,/)/. s. 5. 436. 
 Bek, .s. beak, 5. 378. 
 Bele, adj. fern, fair, 9. 1796. 
 Belle, .■>. bell (of a clock), 3. 1322. 
 Belweth, pr. s. belloweth, roars, 9. 
 
 1S03. 
 Berne, s. trumpet, 9. 1 240. O. Merc. 
 
 bhne. 
 Ben, I/, be, I. 182 ; 2 pr.pl. arc,
 
 GLOSS A RIAL IXDEX. 
 
 409 
 
 19. 24 ; fr. pi. are, 5. loi ; pp. 
 
 t>een, 3. 530. 
 Bench, s. bench (law-court), i. 
 
 159. See note. 
 Bene, s. bean, 6. 29. 
 Benethen, /re/), below. 4. 219. 
 Berafte,/"/. s. robbed of, 5. 87, See 
 
 Bereve. 
 Berde, s. dal. beard, 3. 456 ; 
 
 Berdes, pi. 9. 689. 
 Bere, a-, the constellations Ursa 
 
 Major and Ursa Minor, 9. 1004 ; 
 
 Beres, />/. bears, 9. 1589, 
 Bere, s. bier, 2. 105 ; 9. 1744; 19. 
 
 5- 
 
 Bare, 5. head-sheet, pillow-case, 3. 
 254. Cf. pilwebere in Ch. Pro- 
 logue. 
 
 Bere, pr. pi. bear, 3. 894. 
 
 Bereve, v. rob of; me wo bereve, 
 rob me of woe, 21. 12. See Be- 
 rafte. 
 
 Beryle, s. beryl, 9. 1 184. 
 
 Beseehe, v. beseech, ask, 3. 1 132. 
 
 Besette, v. bestow, 3. 772; i pr. 
 s. bestow, 4. 182 ; i pt. s. em- 
 ployed, 3. ioq6; Beset, pp. be- 
 stowed, 3. 863, 1043 ; set, em- 
 ployed, 5. 598. 
 
 Beseye, pp. beseen ; wel beseye, 
 well beseen, well provided, 3. 829. 
 
 Besily, adv. busily, industriously, 
 well, 5. 74. 
 
 Besinesse, s. business, task, work, 
 3. 1 156 ; labour, 5. 86. 
 
 Bespreynt, /)/). sprinkled, bedewed, 
 2. 10. 
 
 Beste, s. animal, 3. 637 ; beast, i. 
 45 ; Bestes, pi. animals, 5. 86. 
 
 Beste, adj. best, 3. 6S'4. 
 
 Bestowed me weel, given me 
 good fortune, 21. 37. 
 
 Besy, adj. anxious, 5. 89. 
 
 Besyde, beside ; /A«r bef.yde, beside 
 that place, 3. 1 31 6. 
 
 Besyed hem, pt. p>l. busied, occu- 
 pied themselves, 5. 192. 
 
 Bet, adj. comp. better, 9. 108 ; 11. 
 
 47- 
 
 Bet, adv. better, 3. 668, 669, 672, 
 92S, 1044; 5. 152, 166, 451, 
 474. 514. 699; quickly, 3. 136. 
 
 Bete, V. amend, 21. 78. A.S. hetan. 
 
 Beten, v. beat, strike, 9. 1044 ; 
 
 Bete, pp. 9. 1 1 50. 
 Beth, imp.pl. be, i. 134; 5. 660; 
 
 19. 7. 
 Bethenke, 1 pr. s. ; hethenke me, 
 
 bethink myself, consider, 3. 698 ; 
 
 Bethinke, v. think of, imagine, 5. 
 
 483 ; Bethenk, imp. s. reflect, 3. 
 
 1304 ; Bethoghte me, i pt. s. refl. 
 
 bethought me, 3. I183, 1195. 
 Betid, pp. happened, 9. 384, 578. 
 Betraysed, pt. s. betrayed, 3. 1 1 20. 
 
 From traiss-, trahiss-, lengthened 
 
 stem of F. trahir, to betray. 
 'Betwvs.en, prep, between, 5. 148 ; 
 
 Betwix, 5. 40. 
 Beutee, s. beauty, 22. 17 ; 23. 5. 
 Bewrye, v. betray, 5. 348. A 
 
 variant form of bewreye. 
 Bible, s. book, 9. 1334. 
 Bifalle, pr. s. snbj. impers. shall 
 
 befall, 8. I. 
 Bigamye, s. bigamy, 7. 153. 
 Bilden, ger. to build, 9. 11 33; 
 
 Bilt, pt. s. built, 9. 1135; pp. 
 
 buih, I. 183. 
 Bilder, s. as adj. builder, used for 
 
 building, 5. 176. 
 Bille, s. bill, petition, T. 59, no; 
 
 2.44. 
 BiUes, pi. bills (of birds), 9. 868. 
 Bithinke, l pr. s. bethink, I. 121. 
 Blake, adj. pi. black, 5. 682. 
 Blasen, v. blow, 9. 1802. 
 Blaspheme, s. blasphemy, 16. 15. 
 Blaste, V. blow a trumpet, 9. 1866. 
 Bleched, //). bleached, 10. 45. 
 Blent, pr. s. blinds, 5. 600 ; 12.4; 
 
 pp. blinded, 14. 18. 
 Blew, adj. blue, 3. 340; Blewe, 
 
 adj. pi. blue, livid, pale; with 
 
 teres blewe, blue (see note) with 
 
 weeping, 4. 8 ; Blew, adj. as s. 
 
 blue, blue clothing, 15. 7. See 
 
 note. And see Bio. 
 Blisful, adv. joyously, 5. 689. 
 Bio, adj. blue, ash-coloured, smoke- 
 coloured, 9. 1647. Icel. blur. 
 
 See Blew. 
 Blosmy, adj. blossomy, covered 
 
 with blossoms, 5. 183. 
 Blyve, adv. quickly, 3. 152 ; 5. 
 
 604 ; as blyve, as quickly as may
 
 410 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 be, as soon as possible, 3. 24S, 
 
 1277 ; 9. 1106. 
 Bobaunce, s. boast, i. 84. O. F. 
 
 hohance, arrogance. See Diez. 
 Bode, s. foreboding, token, omen, 
 
 5. 343. A. S. hod, gebod. 
 Bode, s. abiding, delay, 7. iig. 
 
 Short for abode. 
 BogM, pp. bought, 4. 168. 
 Boistes, pi. boxes, 9. 2129. O. F. 
 
 boisle (F. boite). 
 Bolde, V. grow bold, 5. 144. 
 Boles, pi. bulls, 4. 86. 
 Bon, adj. good, 9. 1022. 
 Bond, pt. s. bound, 9. 1 590 ; Bonde, 
 
 pp. bound, in slavery, 17. 32. 
 Bonde, s. dat. bond, 9. 321. 
 Bone, s. prayer, request, 3. 129, 
 
 835; 5- 643; 9- 1537- 
 Boon, s. bone, 3. 940. 
 Bord, s. board, plank, 3. 74- 
 Bore, pp. born, 3. 1301 ; 21. 46; 
 
 born the, behaved thyself, 5. 
 
 109. 
 Borowe, s. dat. pledge ; to boroive, 
 
 in pledge, for surety, 4. 205 ; to 
 
 borow, 4. 9. 
 Borwe, ger. to borrow, 21. 10. 
 Bost, s. boasting, 4. 37. 
 Bote, 5. remedy, 3. 38 ; 9. 32 ; 
 
 cure, 22. 45 ; dolh bole, gives the 
 
 remedy for, 5. 276; for bote tie 
 
 bale, for good, nor for ill, 3. 227. 
 
 A. S. bot. 
 Boteler, s. butler, 9. 592. 
 Bothe, adj. pi. both, 3. 1068 ; your 
 
 bolhes, of both of you, i. 83. 
 Bounte, s. bounty, 2. 38; 9. 
 
 169S ; goodness, 23. 5. 
 Bourded, /^.jested, 5. 589. O.F. 
 
 bourder. 
 Boures, s. pi. bowers, 5. 304. 
 Bowe, A-. bow, I. 29 ; 5. 213. 
 Bowes, pi. boughs, 5. 183. 
 Boxtre, s. box-tree, 5. 178. 
 Brak, pt. s. broke, 3. 71. Pt. t. of 
 
 hreken. 
 Brast, /)/. s. burst, broke, 3. 1 193. 
 
 Pt. t. of hr eaten. 
 Brayde, pt. s. took hastily, 9. 1678 
 
 (better brayd, A.S. br<Egd, strong 
 
 verb) ; Brayd, pp. started, gone 
 
 suddenly, 7. 124. 
 
 Brede, -f. roast meat, 9. 1222. See 
 note. 
 
 Brede, s. breadth, 3. 956. A.S. 
 brcedu. 
 
 Breke, pr. s. s,7ihj. break, 4. 242 ; 
 pt. s. Brak, 3. 71. 
 
 Brokers, s. pi. breakers, trans- 
 gressors, 5. 78. 
 
 Brekke, s. break, flaw, defect, 3. 
 940. 
 
 Brenne, v. burn, 5. 249; 17. 18 ; 
 ger. 4. 88 ; Brende,/)^ s. burnt, I. 
 90 ; 9. 1844 ; was burnt, 9. 163 ; 
 was set on fire, 9. 537; Brende, 
 pt. pi. caught fire, 9. 954; Brent, 
 pp. burnt, 7. 115; 9. 2080; 
 '^xenmnge , pres. pt. burning, I. 90. 
 
 Brenning, s. burning, 4. 133. 
 
 Breste, ger. to burst, 9. 2018; 
 pt. s. Brast, broke, 3. 1193. 
 
 Bret-ful, adj. brimful, 9. 2123- 
 Cf. Swed. brdddful, full to the 
 brim ; Swed. brddd, A.S. brerd, 
 the brim. 
 
 Briddes, gen. of a bird, 4. 23; 
 Briddes, /)/. birds, 5. 190; young 
 of birds, 5. 192. 
 
 Brinkes, pi. sides, banks, 9. S03. 
 
 Broehe, s. any precious small orna- 
 ment, here used of a bracelet, 4. 
 
 245- 
 Erode, adv. far and wide, 9. 1683. 
 Broght, /)/). brought, 9. 15-;. 
 Bromes, pi. broom (bushes so 
 
 called), 9. 1226. 
 Brosten, pt. pi. burst, 4. 96. See 
 
 Breste, Brast. 
 Brotelnesse, s. fickleness, 11. 63; 
 
 15. 15. From base of A.S. brot- 
 
 en, pp. of breotan, to break. 
 Brouke, 1 pr. s. subj. {optative), 
 
 may I have the use of, 9. 263. 
 
 A.S. brucan. 
 Brydel, .s. bridle, 7. 184. 
 Brydeleth, pr. s. bridles, 4. 41. 
 Buk, s. buck, 5. 195; Bukkes, /)/. 
 
 3- 429- 
 Burned, pp. burnished, polished, 9. 
 
 1387- 
 
 But, conj. unless, 2. 82 ; 3. 117, 
 592, 1000, 1188, 1234; 4. 49, 
 208,490; 5. 159,459, 567; 6.4. 
 
 But-if, C071J. unless, 3. 1023 ; 14.11.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 411 
 
 Buxumnesse, s. yielding, submis- 
 sion, 12. 15. 
 
 By, prep, in the case of, with refer- 
 ence to, 4. 263 ; with reference to, 
 5. 4, 158, 477; 9. 286; con- 
 cerning, 9. 742. 
 
 'Bye, pr. pi. suhj. buy, 18. 26. 
 
 Byforn, prep, before, 9. 60. 
 
 Bynde, v. bind, enthral, 4. 24';; 
 Bynt him, pr. s. bindeth himself, 
 
 4. 47 ; Bynt her, 4. 48. 
 
 C. 
 
 Cable, s. cord, 18. 33. 
 Cacche, ger. to catch, 3. 78 1. 
 Cadence, s. 9. 623. See note. 
 Caitif, s. wretch, i. 124. 
 Cakelinge, s. cackling, 5. 562. 
 Calden, 2 //. pi. called, 7. 251, 
 Can, I pr. s. know, am able to say, 
 
 5. 14; know, 9. 248; pr. s. 
 knows, 3. 673. 
 
 Candel, s. torch, light, 4. 7. 
 
 Canel-boon, 5. collar-bone (lit. 
 channel-bone, with reference to 
 the depression in the neck behind 
 the collar-bone), 3. 943. 
 
 Carbuncle, s. carbuncle-stone, 9. 
 
 Care, s. care, ill-luck, 5. 363. 
 Careful, adj. full of care, full of 
 
 trouble, 21. 44. 
 Careyne, «. carrion, dead body, 
 
 5. 177. Cf. O.F. caroigjie. 
 Carole, v. dance round singing, 3. 
 
 S49. 
 Cart, s. chariot, 9. 943. 
 Carter, s. carter, 5. 102. 
 Cart-hors, pi. chariot-horses, 9. 944. 
 Cas, s. chance, 9. 1052. 
 Cast, s. plan, 9. 11 78. 
 Caste, I pt. s. cast, 5. 172; pr. s. 
 
 suhj. let (him) cast, 20. 4; Cast, 
 
 pp. cunningly devised, 2. 26. 
 Castel, i. castle, 3. 1318, 1322. 
 Casuelly, adv. by chance, 9. 679. 
 Causeles, adv. without reason, 22. 
 
 32. 
 Cave, s. used to translate astrological 
 
 term ' puteus,' 4, 119. See note. 
 Celestials, adj. pi. of heaven, 
 
 heavenly, 9. 460. 
 Ceptre, s. sceptre, 5. 256. 
 
 Cercle, s. circle, 9. 791; sphere, 
 
 16. 9. 
 Certes, adv. certainly, i 28, 55 ; 
 
 3- 853, 1117; 22. '33. 
 Certeyn, adv. certainly, i. 169. 
 Cese, V. put an end to, 4. 11. 
 Chaced, pp. chased, driven away, 
 
 6. 14. 
 Chapitres, pi. chapters, 5. 32. 
 Char, 5. car, chariot, 7. 24, 39, 40. 
 Charge, s. load, burden, 7. 32 ; 9. 
 
 1439 ; a heavy thing, 9. 746 ; 
 
 importance, 3. 894; responsibility, 
 
 5- 507- 
 Charite, s. charity, 3. 642. 
 Charmeresses, feiti. pi. workers 
 
 with charms, 9. I 261. 
 Chastisinge, s. chastening, 1. 129. 
 Chastyse, v. chasten, 1.39; imp. s. 
 
 I. 129. 
 Chaunce, s. chance, incident, 3. 
 
 12S5 ; hap, destiny, 3. II 13. 
 Chaunte-pleure, title of a song 
 
 upon grief following joy, 7. 320. 
 
 See note. Cf. ' It is like to the 
 
 chante-pleiire Beginning with icy, 
 
 ending in wretchedness;' Lyd- 
 
 gate, Fall of Princes, bk. i. c. 7- 
 Cheef, adj. chief, 3. 910, 911. 
 Chees, i pt. s. chose, 3. 791 ; pt.s. 
 
 I. 108; Cheest, pr. s. chooseth, 
 
 5. 623. See Chese. 
 Chek, s. as int. check (at chess), 3. 
 
 659. 
 Chekkere, s. chess-board, 3. 660. 
 Chepe, s. a time of cheapness, 9. 
 
 1974. 
 Chere, s. cheer, look, manner, 3. 
 
 545; 4. 42; 5. 488; 7. 253; 9. 
 
 277; kindly greeting, 4. 146. 
 Cheryee, v. cherish, 10. 52. 
 Ches, s. chess, 3. 619, 652, 664; 
 
 Chesse, 3. 51. 
 Chese, v. choose, 5. 399, 400 ; iS. 
 
 60, 67; ger. 5. 146, 310, 388; 
 
 i/r. s. 5. 417 ; Chesen,v. 22. 86 ; 
 
 Cheseth, imp.pl. 4. 17. 
 Chevalrye, s. chivalry, knighthood, 
 
 9. 1340. 
 Chevauche, s. swift course (lit. a 
 
 ride), 4. 144. 
 Chevise, v. refl. accomplish her 
 
 desire, 4. 289.
 
 412 
 
 GLOSSARIAL IXDEX. 
 
 Cheyne, s. chain, 6. t6. 
 Chirkinges, pi. shriekings, cries, 9. 
 
 1943. See note. 
 Chogh, s. chough, 5. 345. 
 Choppen, v. strike downwards, 
 
 knock, 9. 1824. 
 Chose, pp. chosen, 3. 1004. 
 Choys, -s. choice, 5. 406, 408. 
 Cipres, s. cypress, 5. 179. 
 Citezein, s. citizen, 9. 930. 
 Clamben, pi. pi. climbed, 9. 2 151. 
 Clappe, s. thunderclap, 9. 1040. 
 Clarioning, s. the music of the 
 
 clarion, 9. 1242. 
 Clarioun, s. clarion, 9. 1240. 
 Clarre, s. wine mixed with honey 
 
 and spices, and afterwards strained 
 
 till it was clear, 10. 16. 
 Cled, /)/>. clad, furnished, 3. 252. 
 Clene, adv. entirely, 3. 423. 
 Clepe, V. call, name, 3. 810, 814; 
 
 Clepeth, />>-. s. I. 177; 3. 185 ; 
 
 5. 352; Cleped, pp. I. 159; 9. 
 
 1400. 
 Clere, adj. clear, noble, pure, 9. 
 
 1575 ; /•'• noble, 5. 77. 
 Clerkes, 5. pi. learned men, 4. 275. 
 Clew, I pt. s. rubbed, 9. 1702. Pt. 
 
 t. of cla-weri. Cf. Low. Sc. clow, 
 
 to rub, scratch. 
 Cliffes, s. pi. cliffs, rocks, 3. 161. 
 Clomb, I pt. s. climbed, 4. 271 ; 9. 
 
 1 1 18; Clamben, /I/. /)Z. 9. 2 15 1. 
 Close, V. close, 3. 873. 
 Clowes, pi. claws, 9. 1785. 
 Cofre, s, coffer, coffin, 5. 177. 
 Cok, s. cock, 5. 350. 
 Cokkow, s. cuckoo, 5. 498. 
 Colde, V. grow cold, 5. 145. 
 Colour, s. colour, outward appear- 
 ance, 2. 66. 
 Comen, ger. to come, 5. 76; Com, 
 
 pt. s. came, 3. 134; 5. 252,413; 
 
 Cometh, pr. s. asfut. shall come, 
 
 4. 1 1 ; Come, pr. s. S7ibj. 3. 78 > 
 
 4. 65 ; Come, 1 pt. s. subj. might 
 
 come, came, 9. 1906 ; Comcn, pp. 
 
 come, 5. 98 ; Come, pp. 3. 135 ; 
 
 .v 36. 
 Commaunderaeiit, s. command, 
 
 9. 2021. 
 Comlir.esse, s. comeliness, beauty, 
 
 Companye, 5. companionship, 4. 
 
 219. 
 Compas, -s. compass, circuit, 4. 
 
 137 ; a very large circle, 9. 798 ; 
 
 craft, contriving, 9. 462 ; Corn- 
 pace, plan, 9. 1 1 70. 
 Compassed, pp. enclosed, 6. 21. 
 Complexiouns, pi. the (four) tem- 
 peraments, 9. 21. See note. 
 Compleyne, v. complain, lament, 
 
 4- 93 ' 2 pr. pi. snbj. 4. 280 ; 
 
 Compleyneth, itnp. pi. lament ye, 
 
 4. 290. 
 Compleynt, s. complaint, a poem 
 
 so called, 2. 43 ; 3. 464 ; 4. 24, 
 
 150. 
 Compouned, pp. compounded, 
 
 composed, 9. 1029 ; mingled, 9. 
 
 2108. 
 Comprehended, pp. expressed in 
 
 a brief saying, summed up, 7- 83. 
 Comiine, adj. accustomed to, 3. 
 
 812 ; Comun profit, the good of 
 
 the country, 5. 47, 75. 
 Conclusioun, 5. plan, 14. 11 ; as 
 
 in concliidoun, after all, 4. 257. 
 Condicioun, .s. condition, stipula- 
 tion ; in this condiciouti, upon this 
 
 condition, 5. 407. 
 Confedred, pp. rendered confede- 
 rates, conjoined, 2. 42, 52. 
 Confermeth, imp. pi. confirm, 
 
 strengthen, 4. 20. 
 Confounde, v. destroy, i. 40. 
 Confus, adj. confused, 9. 1517- 
 Congeled, pp. congealed, frozen, 9. 
 
 1126. 
 Conne, ger. to be able, 3. 279 ; 
 
 pr. pi. are able, 5. 333 ; can, 3. 
 
 541 ; know, 9. 1265 ; I pr. pi. 
 
 know, 9. 335 ; Conne, pr. pi. 
 
 subj. may be able to, 9. 335. 
 Conservatif, adj. preserving ; Con- 
 
 servatif the soun, preserving the 
 
 sound, 9. 847. 
 Conserved,/)/', preserved, 9. 732, 
 
 1 160. 
 Contraire, s. the contrary, 9. 1540 ; 
 
 Contrair, adversary, 2. 64. 
 Contrayre, adj. contrary, 3. 1 290. 
 Contre-houses, pi. houses of his 
 
 country, homes, 7- 25. Lat. 
 
 domos patrias ; see note.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 413 
 
 Convict, />/). convicted (of evil), 
 overcome, I. 86. 
 
 Conyes, //. rabbits, conies, 5. 193. 
 
 Coper, s. copper, 9. 14S7. 
 
 Coppe, .<. hill-top, 9. 1 166. 
 
 Corage, s. mind, 3. 794. 
 
 Corbettes, pi. corbels, 9. 1304. 
 
 Cormeraunt, s. cormorant, 5. 362. 
 
 Cornemuse, s. bagpipe, 9. 12 18. 
 F. cornemuse. 
 
 Comes, pi. grains of corn, 9. 698. 
 
 Coroiine, s. crown, 2. 58, 75 ; 3. 
 9S0. 
 
 Corps, s. dead body, 2. 19, 51. 
 
 Corseynt, s. a saint {lit. holy body) ; 
 esp. a shrine, 9. 117. O.F. cars 
 seirit. 
 
 Corven, pp. cut, 5. 425 ; carved, 
 9. 1295. 
 
 Cote-armure, s. surcoat, 9. 1326. 
 
 Couched, pt. s. laid down, laid in 
 order, 5. 216. F. coucher, from 
 Lat. collocare. 
 
 Coude, pt. s. knew, 3. 667, 1012 ; 
 7. 63 ; coude no good, knew 
 nothing that was good, was un- 
 trained, 3. 390 ; pt. pi. knew, 3. 
 235 ; Coud, pp. known, 3. 787, 
 998. See Couthe. 
 
 Counsaile, imp. s. counsel, i. 155. 
 
 Counseyl, s. secret, 5. 348. 
 
 Countenaunce, 5. appearance, 
 show, II. 34; looks, appearance, 
 3. 613 ; shewing favour, 3. 1022. 
 
 Counterfete, v. render exactly, 
 repeat, 3. 1241. See Countre- 
 fete. 
 
 Countour, s. arithmetician, 3. 435. 
 
 Coimtour, s. abacus, counting- 
 board, 3. 436. 
 
 Countrefete, v. counterfeit, copy, 
 9. 1 2 1 2 ; Countrefeted,^/!. feigned, 
 3. S69. See Counterfete. 
 
 Countrepeise, v. cause to balance 
 each other, render equivalent, 9. 
 
 "750- 
 Cours, s. course, 4. 55, 114. 
 Couthe, 1 pt. s. knew, 3. 800; 
 
 could, 3. 759. See Coude. 
 Couthe, adv. in a known way, 
 
 manifestly, 9. 757. 
 Covenable, adj. fit, proper, 18. 
 
 Covercle, s. pot-lid, 9. 792. See 
 note. 
 
 Covetour, s. one who covets, 4. 
 262. 
 
 Covetyse, s. covetousness, 10. 32 ; 
 14. 18. 
 
 Coyn, s. coin, 10. 20. 
 
 Craft, s. art, 5. i. 
 
 Crafty, s. skilful, sensible, 3. 439. 
 
 Crampissheth, pr. s. draws con- 
 vulsively together, 7. 171. See 
 note. Cf. ' Deth crampishing 
 in-to their hert gan crepe ; ' Lyd- 
 gate. Fall of Princes, bk. i. c. 9. 
 
 Crane, s. crane, 5. 344. 
 
 Creat, adj. created, 16. 2. 
 
 Creature, s. creature, 3. 625. 
 
 Creaunce, s. credence, belief, i. 61. 
 
 Creep, pt. s. crept, 3. 391. 
 
 Crevace, s. crevice, crack, 9. 2086. 
 
 Crips, adj. crisp, curly, 9. 1386. 
 
 Crois, s. cross, i. 60. See Cros. 
 
 Crokke, s. earthenware pot, 12. 12. 
 
 Croppes, s. pi. tops, 3. 424. A.S. 
 crop. 
 
 Cros, s. cross, 1.82. See Crois. 
 
 Croude, v. crowd, push, 9. 2095. 
 
 Croune, s. crown, head, 9. 1825. 
 
 Crouned, pp. crowned, i. 144. 
 
 Crow, 5. crow, 5. 363. 
 
 Cubyte, s. cubit, 9. 1370. 
 
 Cukkow, s. cuckoo, 5. 358, 603. 
 
 Cunne, v. be able, 9. 2004. 
 
 Cunning, s. skill, 5. 167, 487. 
 
 Cure, s. heed, care, 2. 82 ; 4. 171 ; 
 9. 464, 1298; remedy, cure, 5. 
 128 ; did his besy cure, was busily 
 employed, 5. 369 ; his lyves cure, 
 the object of his thoughts always, 
 4. 131. 
 
 Curiositee, s. intricacy, 18. 81. 
 
 Currours, pi. runners, couriers, 9. 
 2128. 
 
 Curtesye, s. Courtesy, 2. 68. 
 
 Curteyn, s. curtain, 5. 240. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dale, s. the dale, 5. 327. 
 Dampnacioun,.s. damnation, i. 23. 
 Dampne, i pr. s. condemn, 11. 
 49; Dampntd, pp. condemned, 3. 
 
 725-
 
 414 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Dan, s. as epithet of persons. Sir, 9. 
 
 137, 161, 175. 
 Dar, I pr. s. I dare, i. 53 ; 3. 
 
 904. 
 Daswed, pp. dazed, confused, 9. 
 
 658. Cf. E. daze. 
 Daunce, 5. dance, set, 9. 639. 
 Daunceden, /j^ /)/. danced, 5. 232. 
 Daunger, s. Danger, Power to 
 
 Harm (personified), 5. 136; 6. 
 
 16. 
 Daunte thyself, imp. s. subdue 
 
 thyself, 12. 13 ; Dauntest, 2 pr. s. 
 
 tamest, 5. 1 14. 
 Debat, s. struggle, mental conflict, 
 
 3. 1192. 
 Debonaire, adj. gracious, i. 6; 
 
 Debonair, 3. S60 ; Debonaire, as 
 
 s. kind person, 3. 624. 
 Debonairly,a(ii/. graciously, kindly, 
 
 3. 851, 1284; courteously, 3. 
 
 518; Debonerly, with kindness, 
 
 7. 127. 
 Debonairtee, s. graciousness, 21. 
 
 108 ; Debonairte, 3. 986. 
 Deceivable, adj. capable of de- 
 ceiving, full of deceit, 14. 3; De- 
 
 ceyvable, 18. 43. 
 Dede, s. dat. deed, i. 45 ; pi. deeds, 
 
 5.82. 
 Dede, ger. s. to grow dead, become 
 
 stupefied, 9. 552. 
 Deed, adj. dead, 2. 14; 3. 469, 
 
 588, 1 188, 1300 ; 6- 585 ; 9. 
 
 1S4; 16. 45; Dede, sluggish, 5. 
 
 187; Dede, pi. 4. 223; 5. 50; 
 
 ivith woundes dede, 3. 1 21 1. 
 Deel, s. share, part, bit, 9. 331 ; /'/. 
 
 times, 21. 35. See Del. 
 Dees, s. dais, 9. 1360, 1658. 
 Defaute, s. lack, want, 3. 5, 25, 
 
 223 ; defect, 22. 56 ; fault (hunt- 
 ing term), were on a defaute 
 
 y-falle, had a check, 3. 384. 
 Defence, s. concealment, covering, 
 
 5- 273- 
 
 Del, s. part, bit, whit, 3. 937 ; share, 
 3. 1001 ; /;/. times, 9, 1495 ; a 
 gret del, a great deal, very often, 
 3. 1159 ; never a del, not a whit, 
 3. 543. See Deel. 
 
 Delicacye, s. luxury, wantonness, 
 10. 58 ; Delicasye, 5. 359. 
 
 Delivere, ger. to let go away, set 
 
 free (after a legal decision has been 
 
 passed), 5. 508 ; Delivered, pp. ; 
 
 to ben delivered, to be let go (after 
 
 the sentence has been passed), 5. 
 
 491. 
 Delphyne, s. the constellation Del- 
 
 phin, or the Dolphin, 9. 1006. 
 Delyt, s. delight, 3. 606 ; Delight, 
 
 5. 224. 
 Delyte, v. delight, please, 5. 27; 
 
 rejl. take pleasure, 5. 66 ; Delyte, 
 
 ger. to please, 7. 266. 
 Deme, v. judge, 13. 6; Demath, 
 
 pr. s. passes an opinion, 5. 166. 
 Demeine, v. manage, 9. 959. O.F. 
 
 demener, to carry on, make. 
 Departe, v. part, separate, 7. 285 ; 
 
 Departen, /)r. /)/. sever, 4. 207. 
 Departinge, s. parting, separation, 
 
 departure, 5. 675. 
 Depeynted, pp. covered with paiiit- 
 
 i'lgs, 3-322; 4. 86. 
 Dere, adj. dear, 4. 147, 293; adv. 
 
 dearly, I. 86. 
 Derk, adj. dark, 3. 170 ; Derke, 3. 
 
 155 ; 5. 85 ; Derk, inauspicious, 
 
 4. 120; as sb. inauspicious posi- 
 tion, 4. 122. See note. 
 Derke, s. darkness, gloom, 3. 609. 
 Derked, /)/>. grown dim, 11. 36. 
 Descryve, v. describe, 9. I105. 
 Deserte, arf;'. desert, lonely, 9. 417. 
 Desespaired, pp. out of hope, in 
 
 despair, 21. 7. 
 Desolat, adj. desolate, 4. 286. 
 Despeired, pp. put in despair, 2. 
 
 91. 
 Desperacioun, s. despair, i. 21. 
 Despitous, adj. hateful, 22. 12. 
 Despyte, s. disdain, 23. 18. 
 Destourbing,s.disturbance,troubIe, 
 
 iS. 44. 
 Destroubled, /)/). disturbed, 3. 524. 
 Determynen, 2 pr. pi. end, 9. 
 
 347- 
 Devyne, ger. to divine, to prophesy 
 
 (by), 5. 182 ; pr. s. suhj. let (him) 
 
 guess, 9. 14. 
 Devys, adj. exact ; at point devys, 
 
 with great exactitude, 9. 917. 
 Devyse, ger. to tell, describe, 5. 
 
 398 ; Devyse, v. tell, 3. 901 ;
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 Devysen, 5. 333 ; Devj'se, i fr. s. 
 
 say, 4. 18; Devyseth, /)r. s. tells, 
 
 describes, 5. 317. 
 Deye, v. die, 5. 469, 5S4, 651; 
 
 ^er. I. 172 ; 3. 690. 
 Deyneth, impers. pr. s. ; ne deyneth 
 
 him, he deigns not, troubles not, 
 
 7. 181; her deyned, pt. s. she 
 
 deigned, 4. 39. 
 Deynte, s. value ; took lesse deynte 
 
 for, set less value on, 7. 143. 
 Diademe, s. diadem, crown of an 
 
 emperor, 13. 7. 
 Did, pt. s. made, caused, 5. I45 ; 7- 
 
 67 ; Dide, did, 3. 373 ; Dide of, 
 
 took off, 3. 516. 
 Diflfame, ger. to defame, rob of 
 
 fame, 9. 1 58 1. 
 Diffyne, ger. define, state clearly, 
 
 5. 529; Diffynen, 2 pr. pi. con- 
 clude, 9. 344. 
 Direct, adj. directed, addressed, 18. 
 
 75- 
 Discomfiture, s. discomfort, grief, 
 
 7. 326. 
 Discryve, ger. to describe, 3. 916 ; 
 
 Discryven, v. 3. 897. 
 Discure, v. reveal, discover, 3. 
 
 549- 
 Disese, s. discomfort, misery, ^. 
 
 216, 277. 
 Disesperat, adj. hopeless, without 
 
 hope, 9. 2015. 
 Disfl-gurat, adj. disguised, 5. 222. 
 Dismalle, s. unlucky day, 3. 1206. 
 
 See note. 
 Disobeysaunt, adj. disobedient, 5. 
 
 429. 
 Disordinaunce, s. irregularity, vio- 
 lation of rules, 9. 27. 
 Dispence, s. favour, 9. 260. 
 Dispitouse, adj. fern, despiteful, 
 
 cruel, 3. 624. See Despitous. 
 Dispitously, adv. despitefully, 
 
 cruelly, 9. 161. 
 Disport, s. amusement, pastime, 
 
 sport, 4. 177; Disporte, 5. 260. 
 Disports, ger. to cheer, amuse, 9. 
 
 571- 
 Dissever, pr. s. suhj. sever, 4. 
 
 49. 
 Disshevele, 'adj. pi. with liair 
 
 flowing down, 5. 235. 
 
 Dissimtilacions,/)/. dissimulations, 
 
 9. 6S7, 
 Dissimulour, s. dissembler, 11. 23. 
 Distreyne, v. get into his grasp, 
 
 clutch, 20. 8 ; Distreyneth, pr. s. 
 
 grasps, clutches, 5. 337. 
 Disturbaunce, s. disturbance ; thy 
 
 dhturbatmce, the disturbance thou 
 
 hadst to endure, 4. 107. 
 Divers, adj. diverse, various, 3. 
 
 653- 
 Divisiovm, s. ; of my dividoim, 
 
 under my influence, 4. 273. 
 Do, V. make, 3. 145, 149 ; ger. 3. 
 
 1260; 5.420; 2 /)>-./)/. cause, 5. 
 
 651 ; i7np. s. 5. 458 ; pp. done, 
 
 3. 528, 562, '676, 680, 868; 
 
 ended, 5. C93. See Don. 
 Does, s. pi. does, 3. 429. 
 Doke, s. duck, 5. 498, 589. 
 Dolven, /)/>. buried, 3. 222. 
 Domb, adj. dumb, 9. 656. 
 Dome, s. sentence, decision ; her 
 
 dome, the decision passed on them, 
 
 5. 308 ; fionde to the dome, abide 
 
 by the decision, 5. 546 ; opinion, 
 
 5. 480 ; 22. 52. 
 Domus Dedali, the labyrinth of 
 
 Daedalus, 9. 1920. 
 Don, V. do ; don her compnnye, 
 
 accompany her, 4. 1 25 ; pp. done, 
 
 5. 70 ; Done, ger. to do, to have 
 
 business with, 4. 234; what to 
 
 done, what is to be done, 3. 689. 
 
 See Do, Doon. 
 Donne, adj. dun-coloured, 5. 334. 
 Doon, ger. to make, cause, 7. 283 ; 
 
 to do, 3. 374; to force, 5. 221 ; 
 
 V. do, 3. 194 ; Doon, 2 pr. pi. do, 
 
 5. 542; Doth, pr. s. causes, 21. 
 
 21; makes, 2. 7; Doon, pp. 
 
 done, I. 54; past, ended, 3. 40, 
 
 708. See Do, Don. 
 Dorste, i pt. s. durst, might venture 
 
 to, 5. 541. 
 Dossers, pi. baskets to carry on the 
 
 back, 9. 1940. See note. From 
 
 F. dos, back. 
 Dotage, s. folly, 17. 8. 
 Doted, pp. as adj. doating, stupid, 
 
 17. 13. See Gloss, to P. PI. 
 Double, adj. two-faced, deceitful, 7. 
 
 87; 9.285.
 
 4i6 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Doucet, ad}, dulcet, i. e. dulcet 
 
 (pipe), sweet-sounding (pipe), 9. 
 
 1 22 1. See note. 
 Doun, s. down, soft feathers, 10. 
 
 45 ; dat. Downe, 3. 250. 
 Doute, -s. doubt, I. 25. 
 Doutremere, adj. from beyond the 
 
 seas, foreign, imported, 3. 253. 
 Douve, s. dove, 5. 341 ; Dowves, 
 
 /)/. 3. 250; 9. 137 ; Doves, 5. 237. 
 Drake, 5. drake, mallard, 5. 360. 
 Drauglite, 5. move at chess, 3. 
 
 682, 6S5 ; Draughtes, />/. 3. 653. 
 Dra^we, pp. drawn, moved, 3. 682. 
 Drede, 5. dread, terror, fear, i. 42 ; 
 
 4. 28; fear of wrong-doing, 21. 
 30; uncertainty, 17. 28; doubt, 
 5- 52; 7- 303; 12. 7; withoute 
 drede, without doubt, 3. 1 07 3, 
 1096; Dreed, doubt, 9. 292. 
 
 Drede, v. dread, fear, 1. 76 ; 3. 
 
 1264; Dred, pr. s. fears, 7. 185 ; 
 
 Dred thee, imp. s. fear, 5. 157. 
 Dredful, adj. full of dread, timid, 
 
 5. 195, 638. 
 
 Dredles, adv. of course, without 
 doubt, 3. 1272; Dredeles, 3. 764. 
 
 Drenche, v. drown, 9. 205 ; 16. 
 12 ; Dreinte, pt. s. drowned, 3. 
 72 ; Dreynte, was drowned, 9. 
 923 ; Dreynt, pp. drowned, 3. 
 148 ; 4- 89 ; (pronounced dre-ynt, 
 in two syllables), 3. 195 ; Dreynte, 
 pp. pi. drowned, 9. 233. 
 
 Dress lae, ger. address myself, 
 prepare, 5. 89 ; Dressed, pp. pre- 
 pared, 5. 665. 
 
 Dreye, adj. as s. dry, 5. 380. 
 
 Drof, pt. s. drove, 7- 190- 
 
 Drow, pt. s. drew, moved (of the 
 sun), 5. 490 ; Drowe, 2 pt. s. 
 drewest ; drowe to record, didst 
 bring to witness, 16. 22. 
 
 Drunken, adj. causing drunkenness, 
 5. 181. 
 
 Drye, v. suffer, endure, 4. 251 ; 22. 
 32; I pr. s. 7. 333; 9. 1879; 
 pr.pl. 5. 251. A.S. dreogan. 
 
 Drye, adj. dry, 3. 102S ; pi. dry, 
 without water (of the fish caught 
 at the mouths of rivers in weirs 
 which are covered with water from 
 half-flood to half-ebb, and are left 
 
 dry as the tide ebbs further), ;. 
 
 139- 
 Dryve, v. drive ; dryve away, pass 
 
 away, 3. 49. See Drof. 
 Ducat, s. ducat, 9. 1348. 
 Dulle, adj. dull, without emotion, 
 
 5. 162 ; pi. dull, 3. 900. 
 Dure, V. last, 1.96; 5.616; 22. 
 
 54; ger. 4.20. 
 During, adj. enduring, lasting, 4. 
 
 228. 
 Durste, i pt. s. durst, 3. 929. 
 Dwelle, ger. to tarry, delay, 9. 252 ; 
 
 V. remain, 4. 74- 
 Dye, V. die, 2. 7 ; Dyde, />/. s. died, 
 
 9. 106, 380 ; pt. pi. 5. 294. 
 Dyte, s. ditty, 23. 16 ; Dytees, pi. 
 
 9. 622. 
 
 E. 
 
 Ebbe, V. ebb, 11, 61. 
 
 Ecli, adj. each, i. 136, 
 
 Eche, ger. to eke out, enlarge, add 
 
 to, 9. 2065. 
 Echoon, each one, 3. 695, 817 ; 
 
 Echon, 3. 335. 
 Eek, adv. eke, also, 2. 102. 
 Eest, adv. east, eastward, 3. 88. 
 Eete, 3 pl.pt. eat, 10. il. See Ete. 
 Effect, 5. deed, reality, il. 34; 
 
 Effectes, results to be brought 
 
 about, 4. 165. 
 Eft, adv. again, 4. 1 1 ; 7. 331 ; 9. 
 
 2037; 17. 8, 13; another time, 
 
 3-4I- 
 Eftsones, adv. hereafter again, 9. 
 
 359- 
 Egge, s. edge, sword, 10. 19. 
 Egle, s. eagle, 5. 330 ; 9. 499. 
 Elde, s. old age, long lapse of time, 
 
 7. 12; Eld, old age, 18. 76. 
 Eleccioun, s. choice, 5. 409,621. 
 Element, s. element, 3. 694. 
 Eles, pi. eels, 9. 2154; gen. pi. 
 
 eels', 5. 346. 
 EUes, adv. else, otherwise, 3. 997 ; 
 
 9. 23, 996. 
 Elm, s. elm, 5. 177. 
 Embosed, pp. become covered with 
 
 foam at the mouth, 3. 353. See 
 
 note. 
 Emeraude, s. emerald, 5. 175.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 417 
 
 Emperesse, s. empress, 5. 319; 
 
 Einpericf, 4. 2S5 ; 10. 55. 
 Empryse, s. enterprise, undertaking, 
 
 3- 1093. 
 Enbrace, v. embrace, hold firmly, 
 
 15. II ; Enbraceth, /r. s. 4. 90. 
 Enbrowded, pp. embroidered, 9. 
 
 1327- 
 Enchaiintement, s. enchantment, 
 
 witchcraft, 3. 648. 
 Enclyne, v. induce to do, 5. 325. 
 Encomberous, adj. cumbersome, 
 
 oppressive, burdensome, 18. 42 ; 
 
 Eiicumbrous, 9. 862. 
 Encrese, v. increase, 2. 103 ; En- 
 
 cresed, pt. s. 5. I43. 
 Endeloug, adv. along, 9. 1458. 
 Ending-day, s. death-day, 18. z.^,. 
 Endyte, ger. to compose, relate, 5. 
 
 119. 
 Endyting, y. composing, iS. 7y. 
 Enfortuned, pt. s. endowed with 
 
 powers, 4. 259. 
 Engendrure, s. engendering, be- 
 getting, 5. 306. 
 Engyne, j. skill, craft, 9. 528. 
 Enlumiued. pp. illuminated, I. 73. 
 Enmite, .<. enmity, 4. 236. 
 Enpresse, v. make an impression 
 
 on, 15. 8. 
 Eusample, s. example, pattern, 3. 
 
 911; 4. 296. 
 Entame, v. re-open (lit. cut into), 
 
 I. 79. O.F. entamer. 
 Entendement, s. perception, 9. 
 
 983- 
 
 Entente, s. intent, intention, i. 11 ; 
 feeling, 5. 532, 580; do thyn in- 
 tent, give heed, 3. 75,2 ; Ententes, 
 pi. intended spells, 9. 1267. 
 
 Ententif, adj. intent upon, eager 
 to, 9. 1 120. 
 
 Ententifly, adv. attentively, zeal- 
 ously, 9. 616. 
 
 Entitled, pp. named, 5. 30. 
 
 Entre, v. enter, 4. 53 ; ger. 5. I47 ; 
 Entreth, imp.pl. 9. 1109. 
 
 Entrees, pi. entrances, 9. 1945. 
 
 Entremedled, pp. intermingled, 9. 
 2124. 
 
 Entremes, s. intervening course, 5. 
 665. ■" Entremets, ccrtaine choice 
 dishes served in between the course 
 
 of a feast;' Cotgrave. And see 
 Mess in my Etyni. Diet. 
 
 Entremeten him, v. rejl. interfere 
 in, meddle with, 5. 515. '■ S'en- 
 tremettre de, to meddle, or deal 
 with ' ; Cotgrave. 
 
 Entryketh, pr. s: holds fast in its 
 subtle grasp, ensnares, ,s. 403. 
 ' Inirupier, to intricate, perplex, 
 pester, insnare, involve ' ; Cot- 
 grave. 
 
 Entnnes, s. //. tunes, 3. 309. 
 
 Envenyme, v. poison, 3. 641. 
 
 Envye, v. vie, strive, 3. 406 ; En- 
 vyen, vie (with), 9. 1231. 
 
 Envye, «. ; to envye, in rivalry, 3. 
 173. See note. 
 
 Er, -prep, before, I. 39; conj. ere, 
 before, I. 16; 4. 14; Er that, 
 before, 2. 35. 
 
 Erande, 5. errand, message, busi- 
 ness, 3. 134. 
 
 Ere, s. ear, i. 115; Eres, //. 5. 
 500; 9. 13S9. 
 
 Ered, p>p. ploughed, 9. 485. A.S. 
 erian. 
 
 Erme, v. feel sad, grieve, 3. 80. 
 A. S. earmian. 
 
 Erraunt, adj. errant, stray (because 
 near the middle of the chess- 
 board), 3. 661. 
 
 ErrouT, s. doubt, uncertainty, 5, 
 146, 156; perplexity, 16. 7. 
 
 Erst, adv., first, at first, I. 87 ; be- 
 fore, 9. 1496; At erst, for the 
 first time, 4. 240. 
 
 Erthe, s. earth, i. 50; 5. 57. 
 
 Eschaunges, pi. exchanges, inter- 
 changings, 9. ''197. 
 
 Ese, s. ease, solace, delight, 4. 63 ; do 
 you ese, give you pleasure, 21. 
 78. 
 
 Espye, V. espy, note, 7. 64 ; pr. s. 
 subj. see, 4. 105. 
 
 Estat, s. estate, position, rank, 5. 
 550; 18.58; Estaar, stateliness, 
 state, 2. 41 ; Estates, pi. ranks, 
 9. 1970. 
 
 Esy, adj. easy, 3. 1008 ; pleasant, 
 gentle, 5. 3S2. 
 
 Eten, pr. pi. eat, 5. 325 ; Ete, pt. 
 pi. ate, 3. 432; 10. 3; Eete, 10. 
 II ; Eten, 10. 7. 
 
 E e
 
 4t8 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Eterne, adj. eternal, i. 56 ; 16. 8. 
 
 Evel, adv. ill, 3. 501. 
 
 Even, adv. evenly, aright, exactly, 
 
 3. 441, 451 ; /;// even, actually, 3. 
 
 1329. 
 Ever in oon, constantly, con- 
 tinually, 2. 9. 
 Everich, each one, 5. 401. 
 Everichone, each one, 9. 337. 
 Evermo, adv. evermore, always, 
 
 continually, 3. 81, 604; 6. 36. 
 Everydel, adv. entirely, wholly, 
 
 every bit, 3. 222, 232, 698, 864, 
 
 880; exactly, 3. 1014. 
 Ew, s. yew, 5. 180. 
 Existence, s. reality, 9. 266. 
 Exorsisaciouns, pi. exorcisms, 
 
 spells to raise spirits, 9. I 263. 
 Experience, s. experiment, 9. 788. 
 Extorcioun, s. extortion, 14. 23. 
 Eyen, />/. eyes, i. 88; 3. 841. 
 Eyrisshe, adj. of the air, aerial, 9. 
 
 932, 965- 
 Eyther, adj. either, 5. 125. 
 
 F. 
 
 Facound, adj. eloquent, fluent, 5. 
 
 521- 
 Pacounde, s. eloquence, fluency, 
 
 3-9^6; 5. 558. 
 Faculte, 5. faculty, branch of stud}', 
 
 9. 248. 
 Fader, s. father, i. 52 ; Fadres, ^e«. 
 
 1. 130. 
 Fadme, s. fd. fathom(s), 3. 422. 
 
 A.S. /.sJm; the gen. pi. /cefl'/na 
 
 was used in expressing length. 
 Failen, v. fail, grow dim, 5. 85. 
 Faille, s. fail ; &aun& faille, without 
 
 fail, 9. 188. 
 Faire Rewthelees, Fair Unpity- 
 
 ing One, La Belle Dame sans 
 
 Merci, 21. 31. 
 Faire, adv. fairly, well, 5. 503. 
 Fairnes, s. fairness, beauty, 4. 76. 
 Fal, s. fall in wrestling, 12. 16. 
 Falie, V. happen, 2. 23; Falles, /)r. 
 
 s. belongs, 3. 257; Falle, pp. 
 
 fallen, 5. 406. 
 False, V. deceive, be untrue to, 3. 
 
 1234; Falsed, />/. s. betrayed, 7. 
 
 147. 
 
 Falwe-rede, adj. pi. yellowish 
 red, 9. 1936. A.S. /ealo, pale 
 yellow. 
 
 Fames, pi. famous people, 9. i 233. 
 
 Fantasye, s. imagining, 9. 992 ; 
 fancy, 9. 593 ; Fantasies, pi. fan- 
 cies, 3. 28. 
 
 Fantonie, s. phantasm, kind of 
 dream, illusion, 9. 1 1 ; Fantom, 
 
 9- 493- 
 
 Fare, s. good speed, 9. 682; pro- 
 ceeding, stir, 9. 1065; evel fare, 
 ill hap, 2. 62. 
 
 Fare, ger. to fare, prosper, 5. 698 ; 
 I pr. s. I fare, it is with me (thus), 
 7. 320; Fareth, /r.s. happens, 9. 
 271 ; fares, is, 4. 263. See 
 Ferde. 
 
 Faste, adv. fast, 2. 19; close, near, 
 3. 369; 9. 497; hard, soundly, 
 
 S- 94- 
 Fat, adj. fat, 6. 27. 
 Fattish, adj. plump, 3. 954. 
 Faucon, s. falcon, 5. 337. 
 Fanned, pi. x. fawned on, 3. 389. 
 Fayn, adv. gladly, 3. iioi. 
 Peblesse, s. feebleness, 9. 24. 
 Feendly, adj. fiendly, of a fiend, 3. 
 
 594- 
 
 Fees, s. pi. fees, contributions, pay- 
 ments, 3. 266. 
 
 Felawship, s. company, 3. 978. 
 
 Feld, s. field, 3. 3:9. 
 
 Feldefare, s. fieldfare, 5. 364. 
 
 Pele, adj. many, 3. 400 ; 5. 329 ; 
 
 9- "37. 13S1', 1946- 
 Fele, v. understand by experiment, 
 
 9. 826; Felte, 1 /)/. s. felt, 4. 
 
 217; Feled, /)^ s. 3. 492. 
 Felicitee, s. happiness, i. 13. 
 Feling, s. sentiiiient, }ie?ice love, 
 
 3.1172. 
 Fenix, s. phoenix, 3. 982. 
 Fer, adv. far, 7. 33S ; hoiv jer sn, 
 
 however far, 5. 440. 
 Ferde, s. dai. (after/or) fear, terror, 
 
 3. 1 214; 9. 950. 
 Ferde, ft. s. fared, was, seemed, 3. 
 
 501, 967 ; 9. 1932 ; went on, 9. 
 
 1521 ; 1 pt. s. fared, felt, 3. 99, 
 
 785; was placed, 5. 152. See 
 
 Fare. 
 Fere, s. fear, 3. 1209 ; 5. 143.
 
 GLOSSARIAL IXDEX. 
 
 419 
 
 Pere, s. companion, mate, 5. 410, 
 416. 
 
 Fei'forth, adv. far, 7. 90, ill, 1 3 J , 
 290; 9. 328, 18S2; 18. II; so 
 ferforth, to such an extent, i. 
 
 170; 5- 377- 
 Ferre, adv. comp. further, 9. 600. 
 
 See Per. 
 Fers, s. queen (at chess), 3. 654, 
 
 655, 669, 68 1, 741 ; Ferses, pi. 
 
 the pieces at chess, 3. 723. See 
 
 notes to 3. 654, 723. 
 Ferse, adj. voc. tierce, 7. i. 
 Ferthe, ord. fourth, 9. 1690. 
 Ferther, adv. further, 5. 280. 
 Fesaunt, s. pheasant, 5. 357. 
 Feste, s. feast, festival, 3. 974; 
 
 Maketh feste, pays court, flatters, 
 
 3. 638 ; Festes, pi. feasts, 3. 
 
 433- 
 
 Fether-bed, s. feather-bed, bed ot 
 feathers, 3. 251. 
 
 Fethres. //. feathers, 5. 334. 
 
 Feyn, adj. glad, 7. 315. 
 
 Feyne, v. feign, speak falsely, 2. 4. 
 
 Feyned, adj. feigned, 4. 173. 
 
 Feyth, s. faith, 3. 632. 
 
 Fifte, ord. fifth, 16. 9. 
 
 Fight, pr. s. fighteth, 5. 103. 
 
 Figure, s. shape, 16. 27. 
 
 Fikelnesse, s. fickleness, 14. 20. 
 
 Fil, pt. s. fell, 3. 1 23 ; pt. s. impers. 
 befell, 3. 13:0; 4. 51; was fit- 
 ting. 3- 374; 'Pille.pt.pl. fell, 9. 
 1659. 
 
 Fild, pp. filled, 5. 610. 
 
 Fille, s. fill, 21. 13. 
 
 Finnes, //. fins, 5. 189, 
 
 Firr, s. fir, 5. 179. 
 
 Fix, pp. fixed, i. 9. 
 
 Flakes, //. flakes, 9. 1192. 
 
 Flater, l pr. s. flatter, 4. 188. 
 
 Flatering, adj. flattering, 3. 637. 
 
 Flateringe, s. flattery, 3. 639. 
 
 Flaume, s. flame, 5. 250 ; Flaumbe, 
 9. 769; Flaumes, //. I. 89. 
 
 Fie, V. flee, 4. 98 ; Fleen, i. 14S ; 
 
 4. 105 ; Fledc'e, pt. s. fled, 4. 
 119; Fleeth, imp. pi. flee, 4. 6. 
 
 Flees, s. fleece, 10. 18. 
 
 Fleigh, pt. s. flew, 9. 921, 2087; 
 
 Fleinge, pres. pt. flying, 9. 543. 
 Flete, I pr. s. float, 2. no; pr. s. 
 
 subj. 7. 1 82; Fletinge, /»res. />. 9. 
 
 133- 
 Flitting, adj. fleeting, unimportant, 
 
 3.801. 
 Flour, s. flower; of alle jloures 
 flour, flower of all flowers, 1,4; 
 
 flower, prime vigour, 3. 630. 
 Floureth, pr. s. comes forth into 
 
 flower, 7. 306. 
 Floute, s. flule, 9. 1223. 
 Floweu, pp. flown, 9. 905. 
 Flye, s. fly, 5. 501. 
 Folily, adv. foolishly, 4. 15S. 
 Folk, s. sort, company,- 5. 524; 
 
 Folkes, pi. companies of people, 5. 
 
 27s. 
 Folwe, I pr. s. follow, 3. 585 ; 
 
 Folowed wcl, followed as a matter 
 
 of course, 3. 1012. 
 Foly, s. folly, 3. 610, 737. 
 Foly, adv. foolishly, 3. 874. 
 Fond, pt. s. found, 2. 14, 45; 3. 
 
 1163 ; 4. 116 ; 7. 106; I pt. s. 
 
 3.451, 1325; 5. 242; Fonde./i/. 
 
 .«. i^iih']. could find, 5. 374- 
 Fonde, v. try, endeavour, 3. 1020, 
 
 1257. 133-2; 5- 257- A.S.>«<f- 
 
 ian, confr.sed with A. ^. fandian. 
 
 More correctly founde ; see 
 
 Founde. 
 Foo, s. foe, 5. 339; Fogs, pi. 2. 
 
 55 ; Foon, //. 5. 103. 
 Fool, adj. foolish, 5. 505. 
 Fool - hardinesse, s. Foolish 
 
 daring, z,. 227. 
 Foot-brede, s. foot-breadth, 9. 
 
 2042. 
 For, prep, in respect of, 5. 336 ; in 
 
 spite of, notwithstanding, 3. 535, 
 
 688 ; For fear of, to prevent, 5. 
 
 468, 657 : For my dethe, were I 
 
 to die for it, for fear of my death, 
 
 4. 186 ; For to, with infln. to, 4. 
 94, et passim. 
 
 For, conj. because, 3. 735, 789 ; 4. 
 
 93; II. 58 ; 22. 14. 
 Forbede, pr. s. subj. may forbid, 
 
 5. 582 ; Forbode, pp. forbidden, 
 16. 17. 
 
 Fores ; 710 force, no matter, 18. 53. 
 
 See FoTS. 
 Fordo, pp. destroyed, 2. 86. 
 Foresteres, s. pi. foresters, 3. 361.
 
 420 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Forge, V. forge, fabricate, 5. 212. 
 
 Forgete,//). forgotten, 3. 410; 16. 
 46; Forgeten, 3. 413. 
 
 For-go, pp. overwalked, exhausted 
 with walking, 9. iiJ;; lost, 4. 
 2.^6. 
 
 Forloyn, s. note on a horn for 
 recall (see note), 3. 386. 
 
 Formel, 5. companion (said of 
 birds), 5. 371, 373, 418, 445, 
 638. See note on 5. 371. 
 
 Formest, adj. sup. foremost, 3. 
 890. 
 
 Forparapred,/)/). exceedingly pam- 
 pered, spoilt by pampering, 10. 5. 
 
 Fors, s. matter, consequence, 5. 
 615; 710 fors, no matter, never 
 mind, 3. 522 ; 9. 999 ; no fors of 
 me, no matter about me, 4. 197 ; 
 therof 710 fors, no matter for that, 
 never mind that, 3. 1 1 70 ; / do 
 no fors, I don't care, 6. 31 ; I do 
 no fors therof, it is no matter to 
 me, 3. 542. And see Force. 
 
 Forsweringe, s. forswearing, 
 swearing falsely, 9. 153. 
 
 Forswor him, pt. s. forswore him- 
 self, was forsworn, 9. 389. 
 
 Forth, adv. on, 5. 27 ; out, 5. 
 352- 
 
 Forth-right, rtcfv. straight, directly, 
 9. 2061. 
 
 Fortuned, pt. pi. happened, 
 chanced, 3. 288 ; pp. endowed 
 by tortune, 4. 180. 
 
 For-waked, pp. weary through 
 w. Itching, exhausted for want of 
 sleep, 3. I 26. 
 
 Forweped, pp. weary, exhausted 
 through weeping, 3. 126. 
 
 For-wery, adj. worn out with 
 weariness, very tired, 5. 93. 
 
 Forwes, />/. furrows, 10. 12. 
 
 Forwhy, cotij. because, 3. 461, 
 
 1257; 9- 553- 
 Forwot, pr. s. hath foreknowledge 
 
 of, 9. 45. 
 Foryete, v. forget, 3. 11 25. 
 For-yeve, v. forgive, 3. 1284; 
 
 Forgiveth, /))-. s. forgives, I. 139; 
 
 For-yive, imp. s. forgive, 3. 525 ; 
 
 For-yive, pp. forgiven, 7. 280 ; 
 
 given up, 3. 877; Foi-yeven, pp. 
 
 used absolutely, being forgiven, 5. 
 82. 
 Fot-hoot, arfv. hastily, immediately, 
 
 3- 375- 
 
 Foudre, s. thunderbolt, 9. 535. 
 '■ Fojidre, a.\so fouldre, a thunder- 
 bolt' ; Cotgrave. From Lat. 
 fulgjir. 
 
 Foul, s. bird, 4. 13; 5. 306; 
 Foules, pi. 4. I ; 5. 323 ; gen. pi. 
 of birds, 3. 295. 
 
 Foule, adv. toully, 3. 623 ; 5. 
 
 517- 
 Founde, v. seek after, 7. 241 ; i 
 
 pr. s. try, endeavour, 7. 47. A.S. 
 fimdia/i. See Fonde. 
 Foundement, 8. foundation, 9. 
 
 1132. 
 Founden, pp. found, 3. 73. 
 Founes, s. pi. fawns, 3. 429. See 
 
 note. 
 Franchyse, s. liberality, 18. 59. 
 
 O, F. franchise. 
 Fre, adj. noble, good, bounteous, 
 
 liberal, 3. 484; 4. 193 ; gracious, 
 
 3. 1055 ; as sb. noble one, 21. 
 104 ; Free, bountiful, I. 12. 
 
 Fredom, s. liberality, 4. 175, 294. 
 
 Frere, s. friar, 19. 19. 
 
 Frete, v. devour, swallow up, 7. 
 
 12 ; Freten, /)/>. devoured, 7. 13. 
 Fringes, pi. fringes, borderings, 9. 
 
 1318. 
 Fro, prep, from, 2. 116; 3.420; 
 
 4. 26 ; out of, 4. 254. 
 Frosty, adj. which accompanies 
 
 frost, 5. 364. 
 
 Fructifye, v. produce fruit, 16. 48 
 
 Fugitif, adj. fleeing from, 9. 146. 
 
 Ful, adv. very, quite, I. 150; 2 
 33; 4. 18; 5. 125. 
 
 Fvilfild, pp. filled full, quite full, 5 
 89 ; 7. 42. 
 
 FuUe ; at the fiille, completely, 3 
 899. 
 
 Fumigaciouns, pi. fumigations, 9 
 1264. 
 
 Furlong, s. furlong, he7ice time of 
 walking a furlong, one-eighth 
 part of twenty minutes, two 
 minutes and a half, 7. 328; Fur- 
 long-way, 9. 2064. 
 
 Further, v. help, 9. 2023.
 
 GLOSSARIAL T.VDEX. 
 
 421 
 
 Furthering, s. helping, 5. 3S4 ; 
 
 Furtheriiigcs, pi. help, 9. 636. 
 Fy ! interj. fie ! 3. 11 15. 
 Fyle, V. file, smoothe by filing, 5. 
 
 212. 
 Fyn, s. end, 4. 218. 
 Fynde, pr. s. snhj. can find, 5. 
 
 456. 
 Fyr-brand, s. firebrand, torch, 5. 
 
 114. 
 Fyre, s. tire, 3. 646. 
 Fyry, adj. fiery, 4. 27. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gabbe, i pr. s. speak idly, lie, 3. 
 
 1075. 
 Galantyne, s. a kind of sauce, 10. 
 
 16. 
 Galaxye, s. the galaxy, milky 
 
 way, 5. 56 ; 9. 936. 
 Galle, s. gall, 11. 35 ; Galles, pi. 
 
 feelings of envy, 10. 47. 
 Game, s. a jest, mere sport, "]. 
 
 279 ; sport, 22. 61. 
 Gan, pt. s. began, i. 133; 2. 19; 
 
 3. 70; 5. 144; but commonly 
 used as a mere auxiliary, did, 1. 
 92 ; 3. 865 ; 5. 247, &c. See 
 Gonnen, Gunne. 
 
 Garlondes, pi. garlands, 5. 259. 
 
 Gat, pt. s. got, obtained, 7. 206. 
 
 Geaunt, s. giant, 5. 344. 
 
 Gebet, s. gibbet, gallows, 9. 106. 
 
 Gendres, //, kinds, 9. 18. 
 
 General, adj. with wide sympathies, 
 liberal, 3. 990. 
 
 Gent, adj. refined, exquisite, noble, 
 5. 558. Short for gentil. 
 
 Gentil, adj. gentle, 5. 196; Gen- 
 tils, pi. s. people of gentle birth, 
 'the noble folk,' 7. 67. 
 
 Gentilesse, s. nobility of nature 
 and behaviour, courtesy, 2. 68 ; 
 
 4. 279 ; 18. 8. 
 
 Gentileste, adj. sup. most beau- 
 tiful, most delicate, 5. 373. 
 
 Gere, «. changeable manner, 3. 
 1257. Cf. gery, ger/ul, in the 
 Knightes Tale. 
 
 Gesse, i pr. s. suppose, 4. 195; 5. 
 160, 223. 
 
 Gest (g hard), s. guest, 9. 288. 
 
 Gestes (g as j), pi. doings, deeds, 
 
 9- 1434, 1515- 
 
 Gestiours {g asj),pl. story-tellers, 
 9. 1 1 98. Mod. E. jester. 
 
 Gete, 2 pr. pi. as fut. will get, 5. 
 651 ; Gete, pp. obtained, 4. 265. 
 A. S. gitan, pp. geten. 
 
 Gigges {g as j), pi. rapid move- 
 nunts, 9. 1942. Cf. Mod.E. ;7^. 
 
 Gilden, adj. of gold, golden, 3. 
 338. A. S. gylden, gilden. 
 
 Gilt, 5. guilt, I. 178. 
 
 Gilte, adj. pi. of gold, 5. 267. 
 
 Ginne, v. begin, attempt, 9. 2004. 
 
 Ginning, s. beginning 22. 80. 
 
 Girt, pr. s. girdeth, 4. 100. Short 
 for girdeih. 
 
 Glade, adj.pl. glad, 3. 601. 
 
 Glade, r. gladden, cheer, 3. 563 ; 
 ger. 3. I172 ; Gladen, ger. to re- 
 joice, 5. 687 ; Gladde, v. cheer, 
 relieve, 3. 702 ; Gladeth, imp. 
 pi. rejoice, 4. 1. 
 
 Glareth, /)r. s. glistens, 9. 272. 
 
 Glasing, s. glazing, 3. 327. 
 
 Glee, s. glee, singing, joy, i. 100. 
 
 Glewe, V. fasten, glue, 9. 1761. 
 
 Glorifye him, v. boast himself, 9. 
 
 1134- 
 Glose, s. commentary ; arid then 
 
 margin (see notel, 3. 333. 
 Glotonye, s. gluttony, 5. 362. 
 Glotoun, s. glutton, 5. 610, 613. 
 Glyde, v. glide, 4. 53. 
 Gnodded, pt. pi. rubbed, 10. 11. 
 
 See note. 
 Go, pp. gone, 3. 387. See Goon. 
 Goddes, /)/. gods, 3. 1328. 
 Gode, adj. fern. s. good, 3. 948. 
 Gold-bete, adorned with beaten 
 
 gold, gih, 7. 24. 
 Golee, s. gabble, lit. mouthful, 5. 
 
 556. See note. 
 Gonne, 5. gun, cannon, 9. 1643. 
 Gonnen, pt. pi. began, 5. 531 ; as 
 
 ai/x. did, 9. 944, 21 10. See Gan. 
 Goodely, adv. kindly, 3. 12S3. 
 Goodlihede, s. goodliness, 3. S29; 
 
 Goodliheed, goodly seeming, 9. 
 
 330; a goodly outside, 9. 274- 
 Goon^ V. go, 3. 145 ; pr.pl. 5. 102. 
 Goos, s. goose, 5. 358 ; Gooses, 
 
 gen. goose's, 5. 586.
 
 423 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Goshauk. s. goshawk, 5. 335. 
 
 Gost, s. spirit, soul, I. 56 ; I 2. 20 ; 
 Spirit, I. 93 ; dat. Goste, 13. 10. 
 
 Goth,/)r. s. goes, i. 68. 
 
 Governaunce, s. control, 4. 44, 
 no; 5. 387; care, 3. 1286; 
 self-control, 2, 41 ; 3. 1008 ; 18. 
 9 ; 21. 30. 
 
 Governeresse, 5. fern, governor, 
 ruler, mistress, I. 141 ; 2. 80. 
 
 Grace, y. grace, honour, distinction, 
 5. 45 ; horde grace, hard favour, 
 displeasure, severity, 5. 65 ; 9. 
 1586. 
 
 Grame, s. grief, sorrow, 7. 276. 
 h.'i. grama, anger. 
 
 Graunges, pi. granges, barns, gra- 
 naries, 9. 698. 
 
 Graunt mercy, many thanks, 3. 
 560; 9. 1874. E. gramercy. 
 
 Graunteth, imp. pi. grant, 5. 643. 
 
 Grave, ger. to engrave, 23. 5 ; 
 Graven, pp. engraved, gaven, 9. 
 193; Grave, 9. 157, 253, 256. 
 
 Gre, s. good will, 18. 73. F. gre. 
 
 Greet, adj. great, 3. 947, 954. See 
 Grete. 
 
 Grene, adj. green, fresh, 6. 5 ; 
 moss-covered, 5.122; as s. gretn 
 clothing (the colour of incon- 
 stancy), 15. 7. 
 
 Greses, pi. grasses, 9. 1353. 
 
 Grete, adj. as s. ; The grete, the 
 cliief part, essential part, sub- 
 stance, 3. 1242; 5. 35. See 
 Greet. 
 
 Grette, i pt. s. greeted, 3. 503. 
 
 Grevaunce, s. grievance, complaint 
 (against us), I. 63; discomfort, 
 5. 205; affliction, 11. 47. 
 
 Graves, s. pi. groves, 3. 417. 
 
 Grevous, adj. grievous, i. 20. 
 
 Grint, pr. s. grindcth, 9. 1 798. 
 Short for grindetk. 
 
 Grisel, x. name given to an old 
 man, whose hair is gray (lit. old 
 horse), 16. 35. O.V. gris, gray. 
 Godefroy gives O. F. gritel, gray; 
 also, a gray horse. 
 
 Grisly, adj. terrible, awful, 7. 3. 
 
 Grobbe, v. dig, grub up, 10. 29. 
 
 Grome, s. man ; grome atidvienche, 
 man and woman, 9. 206. 
 
 Grond, pt. s. ground, 10. 15. 
 
 Guerdoning, s. reward-giving, re- 
 ward, 5. 455. 
 
 Guerdoun, s. reward, 9. 619. 
 
 Gunne, />/./)/. aux. did, 5. 193, 257, 
 2S3. See Gan. 
 
 Gyde, s. guide, wiclder, 5. 136. 
 
 Gye, V. guide, 7. 340 ; imp. s. 7.6; 
 9. 1092. O. F. guier. 
 
 Gyle, s. guile, 3. 620. 
 
 Gyse, s. guise, manner, 5. 339. 
 
 Habitacles, /i/. niches, 9. 1194. 
 Haboundance, s. plenty, 11. 29. 
 Haboundinge,/>r«./i/. abounding, 
 
 1-135- 
 Hacking, s. cutting out, 9. 1304. 
 Hale, V. drav/, attract, 5. 151 ; 
 
 Haleth,/'r. 5. draws back, I. 68. 
 Half, s. side, 9. 1 1 36; Halfe, dat. 
 
 5. 125 ; on my halfe. from me, 3. 
 
 139; a goddes halfe, for God's 
 
 sake, 3. 370, 758. 
 Hals, .«. neck, 5. 45 8 ; 9.394. A. S. 
 
 heals. 
 Halt, pr. s. holdeth, holds, 6. 16; 
 
 performs, 3. 621 ; considers, 9. 
 
 630 ; remains firm, 11. 38. 
 Halt./r. s. halts, goes lame, 3. 622, 
 Halve, adj. pi. half, 23. 2. 
 Halwes, s. //. saints (apostles), 3. 
 
 S31. 
 Hamers, /)/. hammers, 3. 1164. 
 Han, V. have, 3. 395 ; 1 pr.pl. i. 
 
 32; 2 pr. pi. 3. 1 1 27 J 4. 16; 
 
 pr. pi. I. 20; 4. 223. 
 Hap, s. chance, luck, 5. 402 ; for- 
 tune, good fortune, 3. 1 039 ; hap 
 
 other grace, a mere chance or a 
 
 special favour, 3. 810 ; Happes, 
 
 pi. occurrences, 3. 1 279. 
 Happeth me, impers. pr. s. it 
 
 happens to me, 5. lo; Happed, 
 
 pt. s. chanced, befell, 4. 142. 
 Hardily, adv. surely, certaiidy, 9. 
 
 359; Hardelv.mihesitatingly, 21. 
 
 118; certainly, 3. 1043. 
 Harpe, s. harp, 9. 773. 
 Harpe-stringes, pi. harp-strings, 
 
 9- 777- 
 Haste her, ger. hasten, 4. 56.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 423 
 
 Hat, X. hat, 5. 589. 
 
 Hauberk, s. coat of mail, 4. pj" ; 
 
 10. 49. 
 Hauteyn, adj. proud, stately, 5. 
 
 262. Hence E. haughty. 
 Haven, s. haven, 7. 20. 
 Haveth, imp. pi. have, 9. 325 ; 
 
 Have (Joon, make an end, 5. 492. 
 Hawes, />/. hips and haws, 10. y. 
 He — he, this one — that one, 5. 
 
 1 66. 
 Heed, s. head, 2. 24; 3. 628; 4. 
 
 205; 9. 1021 ; source, 16. 43; 
 
 Hade, head, 4. 220; Hedes, />/. 5. 
 
 215. See Heved. 
 Heer, s. hair, 3. 456, 855. 
 Heer, adv. here, 5. 57, 63. 
 Heer-biforn, adv. herebefore, be- 
 fore now, 1. 34. 
 Heet, pi. s. was named, 3. 200, 
 
 948 ; 9. 1604. See notes to 4. 
 
 185; 17- 5- 
 Hele, s. health, healing, recovery, 
 
 well-being, I. 80; 3.1039; 5. 128. 
 Helen, I', heal, 6. 4; Hele, 3. 571. 
 Helle, s. gen. of hell, 3. 171. 
 Helpe, pr. s. subj. may help, 3. 
 
 550; 4. 141. 
 Hem, pron. them, 3. 11 70; 4. 
 
 202; Hem-self, themselves, 5.234. 
 Hang, pt. s. hung, 3. 122, 461, 
 
 729; 5. 282; 9. 394; ipt.s. 3. 
 
 1216; Benge, pt. pi. 3. 174. 
 Hennesforth, adv. henceforth, 9. 
 
 782. 
 Hente, />/. 5. caught, took, 4. 97; 
 
 5. 120, 154 ; 9. 2028. 
 Hepe, s. heap, number, 3. 295. 
 Her, her, 5. 304, 305, 371 ; dat. 
 
 to her, 3. 1226 ; 4. 39 ; for her, 
 
 4. 293. See Here. 
 Her, prou. poss. their, 3. 174, 175, 
 
 176, 404, 1086; 4. 205, 220, 
 
 221; 5. 9, 82, 191, 294, 308, 
 
 48S, 530, 668. 
 Her bothe, gen. pi. of both of 
 
 them, 4. 52. 
 Heraude, ger. to herald, proclaim 
 
 as a herald does, 9. 1576. 
 Heraudes, /)/. heralds, g. 1321. 
 Her-before, adv. previously, 3. 
 
 1302; a while ago, 3. 1 136; Her- 
 
 beforn, 3. 1304. 
 
 Her-by, adv. hence, 9. 263. 
 Herde,/'/. .s. heard, 3. 180; 5. 200; 
 
 Herd, pp. 3. 129. 
 Herde-groraes, pi. servants who 
 
 look after the herds, herdsmen, 9. 
 
 1225. 
 Here, v. hear, i. 31; 3. 94; 5. 
 
 467; 9. 1S28; Herestow, for 
 
 Herest thow, hearest thou, 9. 1031, 
 
 1862. 
 Here, adv. here, in this place, on 
 
 this spot, 3. 93. See Heer. 
 Here, pron. her, 7. 120. See Her. 
 Heres, pi. hairs, hair, 3. 394 ; 5. 
 
 267; 9. 1390. See Heer. 
 Herkene. v. hearken, 3. 752. 
 Heried, /'/>. praised, 9. I40,S- A.S. 
 
 herian. 
 Heritage, s. inheritance, 2. 89 ; 
 
 gen. of (3'our) inheritance, 2. 71. 
 Herkneth, i?iip. pi. hearken, hear, 
 
 5. 564; 9. 109. 
 Hermyte, s. hermit, 9. 659. 
 Heroune, s. heron, 5. 346. 
 Herse, s. hearse, 2. 15, 36. See 
 
 note. 
 Herselven, ace. herself, 4. 118. 
 Hert, s. hart, 3. 351 ; 5. 195. 
 Herte, s. heart, i. 12 ; courage, 3. 
 
 1222 ; ^e«. I. 164 ; 4.124; tnyn 
 
 hertes, of my heart, 4. 57. A.S. 
 
 heorta, gen. heorlan. 
 Herte, pt. s. hurt, 3. 883 . 
 Hertely, adv. heartily, earnestly, 
 
 3. 1226 ; truly, 3. 85. 
 Heste, s. behest, command, 7. 119. 
 Hete, s. heat, 4. 88 ; passion, 4. 127. 
 Hete, V. promise, vow, 3. 1226; 
 
 21. 77; Hette, />/. s. promised, 4. 
 
 185 (see note). 
 Hette, pt. s. heated, inflamed, 5. 
 
 145. 
 Heved, s. head, 9. 550. See Heed. 
 Hevene, s.gen. heaven's, of heaven, 
 
 I. 24, 5. 72 ; Hevenes, 4. 29. 
 Hevenish, adj. of the heavens, of 
 
 the spheres, 4. 30 ; heavenly, 9. 
 
 1395- 
 Hevinesse, s. sadness, 3. 601 ; 4. 
 
 163. 
 Hevy, adj. sad, 4. 12. 
 Hewe, s. hue, colour, complexion, 
 
 3- 497 ; 5- 258 ; 7. 145-
 
 424 
 
 GLOSS A RIAL LXDEX. 
 
 Hewed, pp. coloured, of hue, 3. 
 
 90? • 
 Heyre, s. heir, 3. 168. 
 Heysugge, s. hedge-sparrow, 5. 
 
 612. k.S. heges-iugze {yoc). 
 Hider, adv. hither, 4. 165. 
 Hidous, adj. dreadful, I. 132. 
 Hight, pr. s. is called, is named, 2. 
 
 70 (see note), Q. 663; 21. 27; 
 
 Highte, pt. s. was called, 3. 63, 
 
 65 ; Hight, />/). 9. 226. 
 Highte, 1 pt. s. promised, 17. 5. 
 Hild, pi. s. bent, inclined, 3. 393. 
 
 A. S. heldan, to incline ; pt. t. 
 
 kelde. Apparentlj' confused with 
 
 A. S. healdan, to hold, pt. t. heold. 
 Him-selven, ace. himself, 4. 98. 
 Hires, hers, 5. 482, 588. 
 His, its, I. 178. 
 
 Hit, proH. it, 2. 117; 3. 308, &c. 
 Hode.'s. dat. hood, 9. 1810. 
 Hoke, s. hook, 4. 243. 
 Holde, V. keep to ; do than holde 
 
 here, keep to it then, 3. 754 ; 
 
 Holde, /)/>. held, esteemed, 14. 10; 
 
 forced, 3. 1078; het for the have 
 
 Ao/c?f, better for thee to have held. 
 
 Hole, s. hole, 3. 943. 
 
 Holm, 4. holm, evergreen oak, 5. 
 
 17S. 
 Holsom, adj. wholesome, healing, 
 
 5. 206. 
 Honde, s. dat. hand ; to holde in 
 
 hande, delude with false hopes, t,. 
 
 1019 ; oath (Ht. hand), 936 ; 
 
 Honde, s. dat. hand, 3. 936. ' The 
 
 Americans are still among the 
 
 " savage nations" who " imply a 
 
 solemn assent to an oath " by 
 
 holdir.g up the hand ' ; Lowell's 
 
 My Study Windows (Library of 
 
 Old Authors). 
 Hongen, v. hang, be hung, 5. 458. 
 
 See Heng. 
 Honour, s. one who is an honour 
 
 to others, 4. 288. 
 Honoure, v. honour, 18. 23; 
 
 Honouren, imp.pl. 4. 3. 
 Hoodless, adj. without a hood, 3. 
 
 102S. 
 Hool, af(/. whole, restored to health, 
 
 3- 553; whole, all, entire, 3. 
 
 554. 1224; 23. 13; adv. wholly, 
 
 3. 991 ; 21. 60 ; 22. 87. 
 HooUy.flfff. wholly, 3. 15, 115,688. 
 Hoom, adv. home, 3. 1029. 
 Hoot, adj. as s. hot, 5. 380. A.S. 
 
 hat. See Hote. 
 Hord, s, hoarding, 12. 3. 
 Hore, adj. hoary, gray-headed, 16. 
 
 31- 
 Horowe, adj. pi. foul, scandalous, 
 
 4. 206. See note. 
 
 Hors. .">•. /)/. horses, 3. 349 ; 9. 952. 
 
 A. S. hors, pi. 
 Hors, adj. hoarse, 3. 347. 
 Hostel, s. hostelry, 9. 1022. 
 Hote, adj. def. voracious (lit. hot), 
 
 5. 362 ; pi. hot, 5. 246. See 
 Hoot. 
 
 Hote, I pr. f. command, 9. 1719. 
 
 A. S. hdtan. 
 Hottes, pi. baskets carried on the 
 
 back, 9. 1940. See note. 
 Humblesse, s. humility, meekness, 
 
 I. loS ; 4. 178; 7. 248. 
 Humbling, s. low growl (lit. slight 
 
 humming), 9. 1039. 
 Hunte, s. hunter, 3. 345 ; Huntes, 
 
 P'- 3- 361, 54'- 
 Hunteresse, s. fern, huntress, 9. 
 
 229. 
 Hye, ger. to hasten, 9. 1658; 
 
 Hyed hem, rejl.pi.pl. hastened, 
 
 3. 363 ; Hy thee, imp. s. hasten, 
 
 3- 152; 5- 133- 
 Hye. adj. high, 1. 37 ; 4. 22 ; 
 
 Hyer, camp. 9. 1 1 1 7 ; Hyest, 
 
 siiperl. 5. 324. 
 Hye, adv. high, 4. 218; loudly, 3. 
 
 183; 5.499. 
 Hyene, s. liy.Tna, 11. 35. 
 Hynde, s. hind, 3. 427 ; 5. 195. 
 Hynesse, s. Highness (as a title), 
 
 21. 76. 
 Hyre, .<. hire, reward, i. 103; 5. 9. 
 HyT.'e, s. hive, 9. 1522. 
 
 I. 
 
 lalous, adj. jealous, 5. 342, 45S. 
 
 See lelous. 
 lalousye, s. Jealousy, 5. 252. See 
 
 lelosye. 
 langler, s. prater, babbler, 5. 457.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 langles,/)/. pratings, babblings, 9. 
 
 i960, 
 langling, adj. jangling, prating, 5. 
 
 345- 
 
 lape, s. jest, mock, or laughing- 
 stock, 9. 414; lapes,/"/. jests, 9. 
 1S05. 
 
 lasper, s. jasper, 5. 230. 
 
 lay, s. jay, 5. 346. 
 
 lelosye, .«. jealousy, 4. 7. See 
 lalousye. 
 
 lelous, adj. jealous, suspicious, 4. 
 140. See lalous. 
 
 leupardies. s. pi. problems (at 
 chess), 3. 666. Lit. 'jeopardies.' 
 
 I-halowed, />/>. view-hallooed, (of 
 the hart), 3. 379. 
 
 like, adj. same, 4. 66 ; 5. 433. 
 
 In, prep, into, 20. 6. 
 
 In-fere, adv. together, 4. 290 ; 9. 
 250; 23. 6. 
 
 Inly, adv. inwardly, greatly, 9. 31 ; 
 wholly, exquisitely, 3. 276. 
 
 In-mid, /'r«/>. into, amid, 9. 923. 
 
 Intresse, s. interest, 11. 71- See 
 note. Cf. ' The soyle enbrouded 
 ful of somer-floures There wedes 
 wycke had none interesse ' ; Lyd- 
 gate. Fall of Princes, bk. i. c. 1. 
 
 Invocacioun, 5. invocation, 9. 67. 
 
 logelonrs, pi. jugglers, 9. 1 259. 
 
 lolytee, s. jollity, merriment, hap- 
 piness, 9. 6S2; lolyte, 5. 226; 
 lolitee, Joviality, 2. 39. 
 
 lowes, pi. cheeks, hence heads, 9. 
 17S6. 'lone, the cheek, the 
 jowle ' ; Cotgrave. 
 
 loye, s. joy, 4. 223. 
 
 loyued, />/. s. joined, let (his ears) 
 touch one another, 3. 393. 
 
 luge, s. judge, I. 134; 5. 101. 
 
 luge, I pr. s. judge, decide, 5. 524 ; 
 \nged, pp. 9. 357. 
 
 lustyse, 5. justice, judge, 1. 37 ; 
 judgment, condemnation, I. 142. 
 
 I-wis, adv. certainly, truly, 21. 48. 
 A.S. gewisy adv. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kalenderes, «. pi. calendars, i. 
 
 73- 
 Karf, /l^s. cut, 10. 21. A.S. cearf, 
 pt. t. of ceorfan. See Kerve. 
 
 Keep, s. heed, care, 7- 135. 
 
 Kek ! int. (represents the cackle of 
 
 a goose), 5. 499. 
 Kembe.jg'er. to comb, 9. 136. A. S. 
 
 cemhan. 
 Ken, s. kin, kindred, men, 3. 43S. 
 
 See note. 
 Kene, ad), keen, eager, 15. 6. 
 Kene, adv. keenly, 6. 3 ; 21. 63. 
 Kenne, v. perceive, discern, 9. 498. 
 Kepe, s. heed, care, note, 3. 6, 128. 
 
 See Keep. 
 Kepen, i pr. pi. care, 9. 1695. 
 Kerchief, s. kerchief, finely woven 
 
 loose covering to throw over one, 
 
 5. 272. 
 Kerve, ger. to cut, 5. 217 ; Karf, 
 
 pt. s. 10. 21. A.S. ceorfan. 
 'KeTvings, pi. carvings, 9. 1302. 
 Kevered, />/). covered, 5. 271; 9. 
 
 27.S, 3 = 2. 
 Keye, 5. key, 7. 323. 
 Kid, pp. known, 10. 46. Pp. of 
 
 kythen, A. S. cySaJi. 
 Kinges, s. gen. of the king, 3,. 
 
 282. 
 Kinnes, s. gen. kind's ; alles kinnes, 
 
 of every kind, 9. 1530. 
 Kirtels, pi. kirtles, 5. 235. Kirtle, 
 
 'jacket with petticoat attached to 
 
 it ' ; Schmidt, Shakspeare Lexicon, 
 Knakkes, s^. pi. knick knacks, con- 
 temptible trifles, 3. 1033. 
 Knelest, 2 pr. s. kneelest, 16. 43. 
 Knette, v. knit, join, 4. 183 ; 5. 
 
 43S ; Knet, pp. knitted, fixed, 5. 
 
 628; Knit, joined in love, 4. 50. 
 Knokkeden, pt. pi. beat, knocked 
 
 for admission, 4. 84. 
 Knowen, v. know, 3. 120 ; Knewe, 
 
 pt. s. subj. niig'it know, 3. 1 133; 
 
 were to know it, 4. 204 ; //. may 
 
 have known, 2. 31 ; Knovve, pp. 
 
 known, discerned, 3. 666, 976; 
 
 Knowen, 9. i7,-,6. 
 Kno'wing, .<;. knowledge, 3. 960. 
 Knowleching, s. knowing, know- 
 ledge, 3. 796. 
 Kukkow ! int. cuckoo ! 5. 499. 
 Kunninge, s. skill, 5. 513. 
 Kynd,s. nature, natural disposition, 
 
 7. 149 ; Kynde, nature, 3. 16 ; the 
 
 natural world, 9. 5S4; Kynde,
 
 426 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 dal. nature, 4. 282 ; 5. 672 ; 21. 
 
 2; kind, species, 5. 174, 311, 
 
 360; 5.450; natural disposition, 
 
 y. 43 ; natural ordinance, 3. 494, 
 
 512; Kyndes, /)/. sorts, 9. 204. 
 Kyndly, adj. natural, 9. 730; 
 
 Kyndely, 3. 761 ; Kyndelichc, 9. 
 
 829. 
 Kyndly, adv. in accordance with 
 
 what is natural, naturally, 2. 'ji; 
 
 Kyndely, by nature, 3. 778. 
 Kyte, s. kite (bird), 5. 349. 
 Kythe, v. make known, declare to 
 
 be, 7. 228; Kythen, shew, II. 63 ; 
 
 Kythe, imp. s. display, make 
 
 known, 9. 528; Kytheth, ?'/?!/)./)/. 
 
 display, 4. 298. A. S. cySan. 
 
 Lace, 5. snare, entanglement, 18. 
 50. Cf. ' Ge qui estoie pris ou 
 laz Oh Amors les amans enlace ' ; 
 Rom. de la Rose, 153 10. 
 
 Ladde, pt, s. led, 3. 365 ; brought, 
 
 7- 39- 
 Lady, .>:. gen. of (niy^ lady, 3. 949. 
 Lak, s. lack, defect, 3. 958 ; 7. no; 
 
 blame, 22. 57; Lakke, dat. 5. 
 
 87, 615. 
 Lakketh, pr. s. impera. lacks ; me 
 
 lahketh, I lack, 3. 898. 
 Lambish, adj. gentle as lambs, 10. 
 
 50. 
 Lapidaire, a treatise on precious 
 
 stones, 9. 1352. See note. 
 Lappeth, pr. s. enfolds, embraces, 
 
 4. 76. (For ivlappelh\ 
 Lapwing, s. lapwing, pee wit, 5. 347. 
 Large, (k//., liberal, free, 3. 893 ; at 
 
 his large, free to move, 9. 745- 
 Large, adv. liberally, i. 174. 
 Largesse, .s. liberality, generosity 
 
 of heart, 7. 42 ; liberal bestower, 
 
 1.13; Larges, largesse, 9. 1 309. 
 Lasse, adv. less, 3. 927 ; 21. 105; 
 
 Las, 3. 675. 
 Lasshe, s. lash, 5. 178. 
 Lasts, V. endure, 4. 226; Last, pr. 
 
 s. lasteth, 5. 49 ; Laste, pt. s. 
 
 lasted {the swogh me laUe = my 
 
 swoon lasted), 2. 16; pt. pi. 3. 
 
 177. 
 
 Laste ; at the laste, at last, 3. 
 
 364- 
 Lat, i77ip. s. let, i. 79, 84; lat be, 
 
 give up, 9. 992. 
 Lathe, s. barn, 9. 2 1 40. Icel. 
 
 hlada. 
 Laude, 5. praise, 9. 1575, 1673; 
 
 Laudes, pi. 9. 1322. 
 Launce, v. fling themselves about, 
 
 rear, 9. 946. 
 Launde, s. a grassy clearing (called 
 
 dale in 1. 327), 5. 302. 
 Laure, s. laurel, 9. 1107. Lat. 
 
 laiirus. 
 Laurer, s. laurel, 5. 182 ; 7. 19, 24. 
 
 O. F. laurier, lorier, as if from 
 
 Lat. * laurarii/m. 
 Laurer-crouned,/>/). crowned with 
 
 laurel, 7. 43. 
 Lay, s. song, lay, 3. 471 ; 18. 71. 
 Leche, s. leech, healer, i. 134; 
 
 physician, 3. 920. 
 Lecherous folk, carnal sinners, 
 
 answering to Dante's ' i peccator 
 
 carnali,' 5. 79. 
 Leed, s. lead (metal), 9. 739, 1448, 
 
 164S ; dat. Lede, 9. 1431. 
 Leef, adj. dear, 3. 8 ; pleasant ; 
 
 that leef me were, which I should 
 
 like, 9. 1999. 
 Leek, s. leek, 9. 1708. 
 Lees, pi. lies, 9. 1464. 
 Lees, s. leash, snare, 7. 233. O. F. 
 
 laisse, Lat. laxa, a loose rope. 
 Lees, pt. s. lost, 9. 1414. A. S 
 
 leas, pt. t. of leosati. 
 Leet, pt. s. let, allowed, 9. 243. 
 
 A. S. let, pt. t. of Icktan. 
 Lefe, adj. fern. voc. dear, 9. 1827. 
 Lene, adj. lean, 6. 28. 
 Lenger, adv. comp. longer, 2. 95 
 
 (see note); 5. 453,657. 
 Lengest, adv. sup. longest, 5. 
 
 549- 
 Leugthe, s. length ; upon lengthe, 
 
 after a long run, 3. 352. 
 Leping, pres. p. running, 9. 1823. 
 Lere, v. (i) teach, 9. 764; pr, pi. 
 
 teach. 5. 25; (2) learn, 9. 1997, 
 
 2026 ; ger. 9. 51 1. A. S. Ideran, 
 
 to teach. 
 Lered, adj. learned, 5. 46. A. S. 
 
 Idred.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 427 
 
 Iiese, V. lose, 5. 402 ; les.e me, lose 
 
 myself, be lost, 5. 147; Leseth, 
 
 pr. s. losts, 3. 33 ; 2 pr. pi. lose, 
 
 15. 19. See Lees. 
 Iiese, s. pasture, 9. 176S. See 
 
 Specimens of English, Part II. 
 
 (Glossary). A. S. Icbsu. 
 Lesing, s. lie, 9. 20S9 ; Lesinge, 
 
 lying, 9. 1 54 ; Lesinges, pi. lies, 
 
 9. 676; lying reports, 9. 2123. 
 
 A. S. l( ailing. 
 Lessoim, s. lesson, 4. 33. 
 Lest, s. pleasure, 3. 908 ; inclina- 
 tion, 9. 2S7. 
 Lest, pr. s. itnpers. ; Thee lest, it 
 
 pleases thee, 5. 1 14 ; Lesie, pt. s. 
 
 suhj. might please, 9. 282 ; Her 
 
 leste, it should please her, 5. 551. 
 Leste, adj. superl. as s. least, the 
 
 least one, 3. 2S3 ; At the Itsie, at 
 
 least, 4. 19, 24. 
 Lete, V. leave, quit, i. 72 ; omit, 
 
 depart from, 5. 391 ; Lete of, 
 
 ger. to leave ofT, 18. 52 ; Lete, 
 
 I pr. s. leave, 5. 279; 7. 45; 
 
 Lei, pr. .■;. lets go, repels, 5. 151 ; 
 
 Leten (goon), pp. let (go), 9. 
 
 1934. A.S. IcElan. 
 Lette, ger. to hinder, 9. 1954 ; v. 
 
 cease, 4. 186; 5.439; Lette.//. 
 
 s. stopped, waited, 9. 2070. A. S. 
 
 let tan. 
 Letter, s. letter, reading, 3. 7S8. 
 Leve, V. believe, 5. 496 ; ger. to be 
 
 believed, 9. 70S ; I pr. s. 3. 691 ; 
 
 imp. s. 3. 1047, 1148J Leveth, 
 
 imp.pl. believe, 21. 88. 
 Leve, V. leave, let go, 3, 1 1 1 1 ; go 
 
 *way, 5. I 53 ; I pr. s. leave, 2. 
 
 50; Leveth, i7)ip. pi. leave, 21. 
 
 118. 
 Leve, s. leave, 4. 9, 153. 
 Leve, adj. voc. dear, 9. 816. 
 Lever, adv. comp. rather, 17. 13. 
 Leves, pi. leaves, 5. 202. 
 Levest, sup. dearest, most desirable, 
 
 9.87. 
 Leveth, pr. s. remains, 3. 701. 
 Levinge, pr. jjt. living, 22.2. 
 Lewed, adj. ignorant, 5. 46, 616. 
 Lewednesse, s. ignorance, ignorant 
 
 behaviour, 5. 520; II. 68. 
 Leye, v. lay, 4. 205 ; Leyde, //. s. 
 
 laid, 3. 394; 9. 260; Leyd, pp. 
 
 fixed, 3. 1146 ; set, 3. 1036. 
 Leyser, s. leisure, 3. 172 ; 5. 464, 
 
 4S7. 
 Liche, adj. like, similar, 7. 76. 
 Light, adj. easy, 5. 554. 
 Lighte, V. descend, 9. 508. 
 Lighted, pp. lighted up, brightened, 
 
 1.74. 
 Lightly, adv. readily, 4. 205. 
 Likerous, adj. lecherous, 10. 57. 
 Lilting-horne,s. horn to be played 
 
 for a lilt, 9. 1223. 
 Limme, s. dat. limb, 3. 499. 
 Lisse, V. soothe, 21.6; pr. s. suhj. 
 
 may alleviate, 3. 210. 
 Lisse, s. cessation, assuaging, 9. 
 
 220; alleviation, solace, 3. 1040. 
 
 A. S. liss. 
 List, pr. s. it pleases, i. 172; 5. 
 
 441 ; 7- 231 ; is pleased, likes to, 
 
 16. 35 ; me list right evel, I was 
 
 in no mind to, 3. 239 ; you list, it 
 
 pleases you, II. 77 ; Listeth,/)r. s. 
 
 pleases, is pleased, 9. 51 1 ; her 
 
 lisle, it pleased her, she cared, 3. 
 
 878, 962 ; 7. 190; him liste, he 
 
 wanted, 4. 92. 
 Listes, pi. wiles ; in his listes, by 
 
 means of his wiles, r. 85. 
 Litel of, small in, deficient in, 5. 
 
 Litestere, s. dyer, 10. 17. From 
 
 Icel. litr, colour, dye. 
 Lith, s. limb, 3. 953. A. S. lid. 
 Lofte, s. dat. air; on lofte, in the 
 
 air, 9. 1727, 
 Loking, s. manner of looking, gaze, 
 
 3. 870; examining, 5. no; 
 
 aspect (astrological), 4. 51. 
 Longe, adv. long, 4. 172. 
 Longe, //. adj. long, high, 5. 230. 
 Longeth, />r. 5. belongs. 13. 5. 
 Loos, .s. praise, 9. 1621, 1626, 
 
 1722, 1S17, 1900. 
 Loos, adj. loose, 5. 570. 
 Lordeth, pr. s. rules over, 4. 166. 
 Lore, s. dat. lore, learning, profit, 
 
 5. 15. 
 IjOTe,pp. lost, 2. 77 ; 3. 74S, 1135 ; 
 
 Lorn, 2. 21 ; 3. 565, 6S5. A.S. 
 
 I'jren, pp. of Ico-an. 
 Los, s. loss, 3. 1302.
 
 428 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Loses, pi. praises ; til her loses, for 
 
 their praises, in praise of them, 9. 
 
 i68S. See Loos. 
 Losiuges, pi. lozenges, 9. 131 7. 
 Loth, adj. loath, 3. 8 ; loathsome, 
 
 22. 71 ; Lothe, pi. 3. 5S1. 
 Loude, adv. loudly, 3. 344. 
 Loured, pp. frowned, 9. 409. 
 Lous, adj. loose, free, 9. 1286. 
 
 See Loos. 
 Loute, V. bow, bend, 9. 1704. A. S. 
 
 liUau. 
 Love-dayes, pi. appointed days of 
 
 reconciHation, 9. 695. See Ch. 
 
 Prologue. 
 Loven, ger. to love, 4. 48. 
 Lust, s. pleasure, joy, delight, i. 
 
 106 ; 2. 39 ; 3. 688, 103S ; 4. 
 
 38; 14. 9 ; desire, 3. 273 ; 15. 
 
 6 ; will, 4. 63 ; Luste, dat. 
 
 pleasure, 5. 15; Lustes, pi. j)lea- 
 
 sures, things wliich ordinarily give 
 
 me pleasure, 3. 581. 
 Luste, impers. pt. s. it pleased (her), 
 
 3. 1019. 
 
 Lustely, adv. cheerfully, merrily, 
 
 2. 36. 
 Lustihede, s. cheerfulness, 3. 27. 
 Lusty, adj. chterful, glad, pleasant, 
 
 4. 151; 5. 130. 
 
 Lye, 2 pr. pi. lie, recline, 4. 5. 
 
 Lye, s. lie, 9. 292 ; Lyes, pi. 9. 
 2129. 
 
 Lyen, v. tell lies, 3. 631 ; ger. 3. 
 812. 
 
 Lyes, pi. lies, 9. 1477. 
 
 Lyes,/)/, lees, dreg-, 9. 2130. F. 
 lie, ' the lees, dregs' ; Cotgrave. 
 
 Lyf, s. life, i. 72. 
 
 Lyk, adj. like, 4. 237. 
 
 Lyke, ger. to please, 9. 860 ; pr. s. 
 subj. may please, may be pleas- 
 ing, I. 139; Lyked, impers. pt. 
 .s. it liked, pleased, 7. 109, II2; 
 Lyketh yow, pr. s. impers. it 
 pleases you, 5. 401 (cf. 22. 63). 
 
 Lykinge, s. a liking, wish, delight, 
 
 7- 75- 
 Lyklinesse, s. probability, 22. 15. 
 Lykne, i pr. s. liken, compare, 
 
 3- ''.^S. 
 Lymere, hound held in leash, 3. 
 
 3O5 ; Lymeres, pi. 3. 362. 
 
 Lyte, adj. little, 5. 64 ; 7. 107 ; as 
 
 s. a little, 3. 249 ; 5. 28 ; 9. 621 ; 
 
 pi. 5. 350. A. S. iyt. 
 Lyte, adv. little, 3. 8S4 ; 7. 200. 
 Lyth, pr. s. lieth, lies, 3. 181, 5S9 ; 
 
 4. 1 84; 5. 573; lyeth ther-to, 
 
 belongs here, is needed, 3. 527. 
 Lythe, adj. easy, soft, 9. 118. 
 
 A. S. lit-^e. 
 Ly~ve, dnt. life, 3. 1278; his lyve, 
 
 during his life. 3. 247 ; 011 lyve, 
 
 alive, 3. 151, 205. 
 Xiyves, s. gen. of my life, 3. 920; 
 
 oi/r present worldes lyves space, 
 
 the space of our life in the present 
 
 world, 5. 53. 
 Lyves, adv. living, alive, 9. 1063. 
 
 M. 
 
 Madde, v. go mad, 4. 253.. 
 Made,//, pi. made, 3. 510; pt. s. 
 
 subj. may have made, 4. 227 ; 
 
 Mad, pp. made, 3. 415; 4. 278. 
 
 See Make. 
 Mader, s. madder, 10. 17. 
 Magestee, s. majesty, 13. 19. 
 Magiciens, //. magicians, 9. 1260. 
 Magyke, s. magic, 9. 1266. 
 Maidenhede, s. maidenhood, vir- 
 ginity, I. 91. 
 Maist, 2 pr. s. mayest, 4. 106. 
 Maistow, for Maist thow, mayst 
 
 thou, 9. 699. 
 Maistresse, s. mistress, i. 109, 
 
 140; 3. 797; 4. 33. 
 Maistrye, .-■. spL-cimeii of skill, 9. 
 
 1094. See Miaystrye. 
 Make, .s. companion, love, mate. 4. 
 
 17, 1.54; 5- 310, 371. 466, 5^7' 
 
 631, 657 ; 22. 86 ; match, equal, 
 
 9. 1172; Makes,/)/. 5. 389. A.S. 
 
 gemaca. 
 Make, pr. pi. compose poetry, 18. 
 
 82; Maked, pp. made, 3. 578; 
 
 composed, 5. 677. See Made. 
 Malgre, prep, in spite of, 4. 220. 
 Malt, pt. s. melted, 9. 922. A. S. 
 
 mealt. See Molte. 
 Malyce, s. malice, spite, 3. 794- 
 Maner, s. manor, place to dwell in, 
 
 3. 1004.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 429 
 
 Manere, s. manner, 1. 29 ; ease 
 of behaviour, 3. 1218; goodly 
 courtesy of manner, 4. 294 ; 
 Maner, kind (of), 3. 471, S40; 
 4. 116; 7- 114; vhat Dinner 
 man, what kind of man, wliatever 
 man, 2. 24 ; what maner thing, 
 whatever thing, 2. 103. 
 
 Manhod, ». manhood, iS. 4. 
 
 Manslauhtre, s. manslaughter, 10. 
 64. 
 
 Mased, adj. bewildered, 3. 12; 
 stunned with grief, 7. 322. 
 
 Masoneries, pi. masonry, 9. 1303. 
 
 Masse, s. mass, 3. 928. 
 
 Mast, s. mast, 7. 314. 
 
 Mast, s. mast, i. e. the fruit of forest- 
 trees, acorns, and beech-nuts, lo. 
 
 7.37- 
 Masty, adj. fattened, sluggish, 9. 
 
 1777. Lit. 'fattened on mast'; 
 
 see above. 
 Mate, interj. checkmate ! 3. 660 ; 
 
 adj. exhausted, 7. 176. O. F. 
 
 7nat, Arab, mat, dead (in chess). 
 Matere, s. matter, subject, 3. 43 ; 
 
 theme, 5. 26. 
 Maugre, prep, in spite of ; maiigre 
 
 vty heed, in spite of my head, not- 
 withstanding all I could do, 3. 
 
 1201. 
 Maysterhunte, s. chief huntsman, 
 
 the huntsman, 3. 375. 
 Maystrye, s. mastery, 11. 14. See 
 
 Maistrye. 
 Mede, s. dat. mead, meadow, 5. 
 
 184; 9. 1353. 
 Mede, s. reward, 12. 27; bribery, 
 
 5. 22S; 14. 6. 
 Medicine, s. remedy, healing, 1. 78. 
 Medle, v. mingle, 9. 2102. 
 Meke, adj. pi. meek, 5. 341. 
 Melancolious, adj. melancholy, 9. 
 
 30. 
 Melancolye, s. melancholy, 3. 23. 
 Meles, s. pi. meals, 3. 612. 
 Melle, s. mill, 10. 6. 
 Melodye, s. melody, 5. 60, 62. 
 Memoire, 5. recollection, 3. 945 ; 
 
 Meniorie, memory, 7. 14. 
 Memorial, adj. which serves to 
 
 record events, 7. 18. 
 Men, iiiig. one, people, 5. 22 (see 
 
 note) ; 18. 26; Menneis, gen. pi. 
 of men, 3. 9; 6. 
 
 Mencioun, s. mention, 5. 29. 
 
 Mene, adj.pl. intermediate, 7. 286. 
 
 Mene, s. mean, way of settling a 
 difficulty, 6. 36 ; mediator, i. 125 
 (see note'!. 
 
 Menstralcies, //. minstrelsies, 9. 
 1217. 
 
 Mente, pt. s. thought, 5. 581 ; de- 
 clared, 7. 160; Meiit, pp. in- 
 tended, 5. 158. 
 
 Merciable, adj. merciful, i. i, 
 182 ; 19. 17. 
 
 Mercy, s. thanks ; grannt mercy, 
 many thanks, to. 29. 
 
 Merlion, s. merlin, small hawk, 5. 
 339.611. 
 
 Mervayles, s. pi. marvels, 3. 288. 
 
 Meschavmce, s. mischance, mis- 
 fortune, 18. 47. 
 
 Messagere, s. messenger, 3. 133; 
 Messanger, 9. 1568. 
 
 Messagerye, the Sending of mes- 
 sages (personified), 5. 228. 
 
 Mesure, s. measure, plan, 5. 305 ; 
 moderation, 3. 881 ; hy mesure, 
 not too much, 3. 872; over 
 mesure, immeasurably, 5. 300; 
 withoute mesure, beyond measure, 
 3- 632. 
 
 Mete, adj. meet, befitting, 3. 316. 
 
 Mete, s. equal, 3. 486. 
 
 Mete, V. meet, find, 5. 698 ; i pr. s, 
 meet, 4. 59 ; Mette, pt. s. met, 5 
 37 ; 9. 2069 ; Metten, pt. pi. 9 
 227. 
 
 Mete, ger. to dream; 3. 118 ; 5 
 108; I pr. s. am dreaming, 3 
 1234 ; Met, pr. s. dreams, 5. 104, 
 107 ; Mette, pt. s. dreamt, 3 
 286 ; 9. 61 ; I pt. s. 5. 95 ; 9 
 no; impers. pt. s. 3. 276, 442 
 1320. A. S. matan. 
 
 Meting, s. dream, 3. 282. 
 
 Meve, ger. to move, 5. 150; 
 Meved,/!/!. 9. 813. 
 
 Mexcuse, for Me excuse, excuse 
 myself, 16. 36. 
 
 Meynee, s. following, retinue, 9. 
 194 ; assembly, 9. 933. 
 
 Meyntenaunce, s. demeanour, 3. 
 834-
 
 43° 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Mid, adj. middle, 3. 660. 
 Mighten, pt. fl. niigiit, 5. 31S. 
 Minne, imp. .s. reiiicniber, mention, 
 
 16. 48. A. S. gemynnan. 
 Mirour, s. mirror, 3. 974; U. 
 
 10; 15. 8. 
 Mis, adj. bad, 9. 1975. 
 Mis, I pr. s. lack, have not, 21. 
 
 47. See Misse. 
 Misaventure, s. misfortune, un- 
 
 happines?, 4. 229. 
 Misbileved, pp. misbelieving ones, 
 
 infidels, I. I46. 
 Mischaunce, 5. mishap, ill luck, i. 
 
 85. See note. 
 MischefjS. misfortune, danger,4. 58. 
 Misdeme, v. misjudge, despise, 9. 
 
 92 ; pr. s. suhj. 9. 97. 
 Misericorde, s. pity, i. 25, 35. 
 Missat, pt. s. was not where it 
 
 should be, 3. 941. 
 Missayd, pp. said amiss ; missayd 
 
 or do. Said or done wrong, 3. 
 
 52S. 
 Misse, V. fail, 5. 75 ; draw to an 
 
 end, 5. 40. See Mis. 
 Mis-set, pp. ill-timed, misplaced, 
 
 3. I 2 10. 
 Mis-take, pp. mistaken, made a 
 
 mistake, committed an error, 3. 
 
 52.= . 
 Mistihede, 5. mystery, 4. 224. 
 
 M. ¥.. mkly, mystical, from F. 
 
 mystique, 'mysticall'; Cotgrave. 
 'M.o, adj. pi. comp. more (in number), 
 
 3. 266, 408 ; 5. 595. A. S. md. 
 Moche, arf/'. great, 3. 904; 9. 971. 
 Mochel, adv. much, 3. 1102. 
 Mochel, 5. size, 3. 454, 861. 
 Moder, x. mother, i. 28; 5. 292. 
 Molte, pp. melted, 9. 1 145, 1149. 
 
 A. S. molten. See Malt. 
 Mone, s. moon, 3. 824 ; 4. 235 ; 9. 
 
 2116. 
 Mone, s. moan, 4. 143. 
 Monstres, s. gen. of a monster, 3. 
 
 628. 
 Moot, I pr. s. must, shall, 5. 642 ; 
 
 21.85. 
 Moot, s. pi. notes on a horn, 3. 
 
 376. See note. 
 Mordre, $. murder, to. 64. 
 Mordre, i/r.s. murder, kill, 7. 291 ; 
 
 Mordred, 2 pt. pi. suhj. were to 
 
 murder, 3. 724. 
 Mordrer, s. murderer, 5. 353. 
 More, adj. comp. greater, 7. 240 ; 
 
 9. 1495, 2067. 
 Morow, s. morning, 4. I ; Morwe, 
 
 3. 22: dai. 3. 595; Morwes, pi. 
 
 morning*, 3. 41 1 ; 9. 4. 
 Mortal, adj. deadly, 5. 135. 
 Mortar, .<;. mortar, 10. 15. 
 Mor'weninge, .s. morning, 4. 151 ; 
 
 Morwening, dawning, 4. 26. 
 Moste, adj. si/p. greatest, 3. 1006; 
 
 5. 550; chief, 3. 630. 
 Mot, pr. s. must, 4. 157 ; i pr. s. 
 
 may, 4. 267 ; must, 5. 469 ; 
 
 Moten, 2 pr. pi. must, 5. 546 ; 
 
 Mote, pr. pi. must, 4. 198 ; s. 
 
 subj. may, 9. 102 ; Moste, pt. s. 
 
 must, 4. 250 : must (go), 9. 187. 
 Moustre, s. pattern, 3. 912. 
 Mow, pr. pi. ma)', can, 16. 4; 
 
 Mowe, are able, 3. 438 ; Mowe, 
 
 2 pr. pi. may, 3. 208 ; can, 3. 
 
 ^^2 ; I pr. s. si/bj. niay, 3. 94. 
 Mowes, pi. grimacts, 9. 1806. 
 Murmour, 5. nmrniur, 5. 520. 
 Muse, s. Muse, 9. 139Q. 
 Myn, poss. mine, 5. 437. 
 Mynde, s. mind, recollection, 5. 
 
 69; reason, 3. £ii; have viy tide 
 
 vpon, remember, 19. 26. 
 Myrtheles, adj. witliout mirth, sad, 
 
 5- 592. 
 My-selven, pron. I myself, 3. 34. 
 Myte, .<;. mite, 4. 126. 
 Mytre, s. mitre, 12. 7. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nad, /or Ne had, had not, 3. 224. 
 
 Naked, adj. bare, 3. 978. 
 
 Nam, for Ne am ; nnt7i hut deed, 
 
 I am only a dead man, 3. 204. 
 Namely, adv. especially, 7. 260. 
 Nart, /or Ne art, art not, I. 26. 
 Nas,/jr Ne was, was not, 3. 854, 
 
 880,888; 7.97; I nas but, I wj.s 
 
 s'mply, 2. 21. 
 Nat. adv. not, 3. 425, I186 ; 5. 7. 
 Nathelees, adv. nevertheless, 9. 
 
 2073; Natheks, 2. 111 ; 5. 390, 
 
 407.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 431 
 
 Nature, .';. kind, race, 5. 615. 
 Naturel, adj. natural, 4. 122. See 
 
 note. 
 Navye, 5. fleet, 9, 216. 
 Nay, adv. nay, no, 3. 1 243 ; surely 
 
 not ! 3. 1309 ; (JS s. nay, untruth, 
 
 3- 147- 
 Ne, adv. not, I. 53; 5. 91; conj. 
 
 nor, 3. 2, 74; Ne — thing, nothing, 
 
 3. 1262; Ne — never, never, 3. 
 
 1 196 {et passim). 
 Nede, s. daf. need, i. 44; as adv. 
 
 of necessity, 3. 1074; 9. 724; 
 
 Nedes, gen. as adv. of necessity, 
 
 3. 1201, 1635. 
 
 Negh, adv. near, almost, 3. 907. 
 
 Nekkes, /'/. necks, 5. 671. 
 
 Ner, adv. com/^. nearer, 2. 19; 3. 
 888; Ncre, 3.38, 134,450; Net 
 the les, nevertheless, 4. 130. 
 
 Nere, /or Ne were, 2 pf. s. wast not, 
 
 4. 112 ; pt. s. were not, 3. 956 ; 
 pt. s. subj. should not be, 4. 35 ; 
 were it not (for), I. 24, 180. 
 
 Nestes, pi. nests, 9. 15 16. 
 Nevene, v. name, 9. 562, 1253; 
 
 ger. 9. T438. Icel. nefna. 
 Never dide but, never did any- 
 thing that was not, 4. 297. 
 Never-mo, adv. never mere, never, 
 
 3. 1125. 
 Never-the-les, adv. nevertheless, 
 
 21. 74. 
 Nevew, 5. grandson, 9. 617. 
 
 Anglo-F. nevu. 
 Newe, adj. fern, at s. ; a newe, a 
 
 new (love), 9. 302. 
 Newe, 2 pr. pi. renew, 23. 11 ; 
 
 Newed, pt. s. became new, had 
 
 something new in it, 3. 906. 
 New-fangelnesse, s. fondness for 
 
 novelty, 7. 141 ; New-fangelnesse, 
 
 15. I.' 
 Nexte, adj. comp. nearest, next 
 
 preceding, last, 9. 1 775 ; nearest, 
 
 3- 54- 
 Neyghebores, pi. neighbours, 9. 
 
 649. 
 Nice, adj. foolish, 9. 920. See 
 
 Nyce. 
 Nigardye, .«. niggardliness, li. 53. 
 Nighte, 1'. become night, 5. 209. 
 Nightingale, s. nightingale, 5. 351. 
 
 Nil, for Ne wil, I will not, 3. 92, 
 1125, 1235 ; 5. 222, 699 ; pr. s. 
 will not (have), 3. 5S6 ; will (she) 
 not, 3. 1 1 40. 
 
 Nis, /or Ne is, is not, 2. 77 ; 3. 8 ; 
 
 5- 54- 
 Niste, for Ne wiste, i pt. s. (I) 
 
 knew not, 5. 152 ; 9. 1901 ; pt. s. 
 
 3. 272 ; 9. 128. 
 Nobles, pi. nobles (the coin), 9. 
 
 1315- 
 
 Nobley, s. nobility, splendour, 9. 
 1 41 6. Anglo-F. noblei. 
 
 Noght, 5. nothing, 3. 566 ; adv. 
 "ot, 3. 572; 4. 277. 
 
 Nolde, /or Ne wolde, (I) would not, 
 3. 311, 1109; did not want, 5. 
 90; pt. s. would not, I. 31 ; 
 Noldest, for Ne woldest, wouldst 
 not, 3. 482. 
 
 Nones ; with the nones, on the con- 
 dition, 9. 2099. For with then 
 ones ; where then = A.S. bam, 
 dat. of def. article, and ones = 
 once. 
 
 Noon, adj. none, i. 25; 5. 129; 
 Non, 3. 941 ; 9. 335. 
 
 Noskinnes, for Nones kinnes, of 
 no kind, 9. 1794. 
 
 Nost, /or Ne wost, knowest not, 3. 
 1 1 37; 9. 2047; Nostow, for 
 Ne wost thou, 9. loio. 
 
 Not, not; not but, only, 4. 121. 
 
 Not, /or Ne wot, know not, 3. 29, 
 1044; 7- 237; 21. 50; '(she) 
 knows not, 4. 214. 
 
 Note, s. musical note, peal, 9. 1720; 
 tune, 5. 677. 
 
 No-thing, adv. not at all, in no 
 way, I. 171 ; 5. 158; 7. 105; 9. 
 2032. 
 
 Nouchis, pi. ornaments (containing 
 jewels), settings (for jewels), 9. 
 1 350. O.F. nouche, noscke, O. H. G. 
 7iuscha, a jewelled clasp, buckle, 
 &c. ; E. ouch. 
 
 Nought, adv. not, 3. 566. 
 
 Noumbre, s. number, 5. 3S1. 
 
 Nourabre, v. number, 3. 439. 
 
 Nouncerteyn, s. uncertainty, 18. 
 46. Similarly we have noun- 
 power =^3.nl of power (P. Plow- 
 man).
 
 433 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Novelryes, f>l. novelties, 9. 686. 
 Noyous, adj. troublesome, hard, 9. 
 
 574. Cf. M.E. noyen, to grieve, 
 
 annoy. 
 Ny, adv. nigh, nearly, 18. 78. 
 Nyce, adj. foolish, 4. 262 ; 9. 276. 
 
 See Nice. 
 Nycete, s. foolishness, 3. 613 ; 
 
 folly, 5.572. 
 
 O, adj. one, one continuous and uni- 
 form, 9, 1 100. See Oo. 
 
 Obeisaunce, s. obedience, 4. 47 ; 
 in yuttr o., in obedience to you, 2. 
 84. 
 
 Observaunce, s. reverential atten- 
 tion, homage, 7- 218 ; 23. 18 ; 
 Observaunces, /i/. respectful atten- 
 tions, 7. 249. 
 
 Of, prep, as to, in respect of, 5. 31 7 ; 
 for, I, 136; 5. 421; 10. 29; 
 from, 3. 964; with reference to, 
 in, 5. 299; as to, 3. 966 ; as the 
 result of, upon, 5. 555 ; of al my 
 lif, in all my life, 5. 4S4 ; fulfild 
 of, filled with, 7. 42. 
 
 Of, adv. off, away, 5. 494. 
 
 Of-caste, imp. s. cast oft', 5. 132. 
 
 OflB.ce, s. duty, 15. 236; a duty, t;. 
 51S. 
 
 Ofte tyme, often, 3. 11 58. 
 
 Of-thowed, pp. thawed awa}', 9. 
 
 1143- 
 Oght, adv. ought, in any way, at 
 
 all, 3. 1141 ; 7. 294. 
 Oghte, I pt.s. ought, 4. 216; pt.s. 
 
 3. 678; Oghten, 2 pt. pi. 4. 282. 
 Oke, s. oak, 5. 223 ; dat. 3. 447. 
 
 See Ook. 
 Olde, adj. pi. old, 5. 19, 22, 24. 
 Olive, s. olive-tree, 5. iSl. 
 On. prep, in behalf of, 4. 298 ; bind- 
 ing on, II. 43 ; her on, upon her, 
 
 3. 1217. 
 Ones, adv. once, 3. 665, 979. 
 On-lofte, adv. aloft, up in the air, 
 
 in the sky, 5. 202, 683. 
 On-lyve, adv. alive, 21.94. 
 Oo, num. one, 3. 261, 546. Sec 
 
 O, Oon. 
 Ook, s. oak, 5. 176. See Oke. 
 
 Oon, num. one, 3. 39; 5. 512; 
 always the same, 3. 649 ; 22. 82 ; 
 the same, i.e. of small consequence, 
 3. 1295. See O, Oo. 
 
 Oppresse, ;-. interfere with, sup- 
 press, II. 60. 
 
 Or, conj. before, 3. 128, 228, 1032 ; 
 9. loi ; prep. 3. 2.^4. 
 
 Ordenaunce, s. ordinance, regula- 
 tion, 5. 390; Ordinaunce, com- 
 mand, 1 1. 44. 
 
 Ordre, s. order, law, 4. 155. 
 
 Orloge, s, clock, 5. 350. F. kor- 
 Inge. 
 
 Ost, 5. host, army, 9. 186 ; 10. 40. 
 
 Other, pi. others, 3. 891 ; 5. 228. 
 
 Other, couj. or, 3. 810; 4. 219. 
 
 Ought,s. anythnig, 3. 459 ; Oughte, 
 adv. at all, 3. 537. 
 
 Oughte, pt. s. impers. it behoved 
 (us), I. 119. 
 
 Oule, s. owl, 5. 343 ; Gules, pi. 5. 
 
 599- 
 Oundy, adj. wavy, 9. 1386, F. 
 
 ondi', ' waved ' ; Cotgrave. 
 Our. ours, 5. 545. A. S. lire. 
 Out-breke, v. break out, break 
 
 silence, 2. 12. 
 Outfleyinge, s. flying out, 9. 1523. 
 Outher, co?ij. or, 3. iioo. 
 Outlandish, adj. foreign, 10. 22. 
 Outrage, s. excess, 10. 5. 
 Outrageous, nr/;'. excessive, 5.336. 
 Over, prep, beyond, above, 3. 891. 
 Over-al, adv. everywhere, 3. 171, 
 
 426 ; 5. 172, 2S4; 12. 4 ; Over 
 
 al and al, beyond every other, 3. 
 
 1003. 
 Over-bord, adv. overboard, 9. 438. 
 Over-loked, //>. looked over, pe- 
 rused, 3. 232. 
 Over-shake, pp. caused to pass 
 
 awav, sliaken oil", 5.681. 
 Overshote, //>. ; had overshote hem, 
 
 had civcr-run the line, 3. 383. 
 Over-skipte, i pt. s. skipped over, 
 
 omitted, 3. 1 208. 
 Overte, adj. open, yielding easy 
 
 passage, 9. 718. 
 Overthrowe, v. be overturned, be 
 
 ruined, 9. 1 640. 
 Overthwert, adv. across, 3. 863. 
 
 See Kn. Tale.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 43: 
 
 Owhere, adv. anywhere, 3. 776. 
 A. S. u}iu'<£r. 
 
 P. 
 
 Pace, V. pass beyond, overstep, 9. 
 392; go away, 15. 9 ; ger. to 
 pass, 9. 841 ; of this thing to pace, 
 to pass over this in review, 9. 
 
 239- 
 
 Pacience, s. ; toTt in patience, was 
 perfectly wiiHag, 4. 40. 
 
 Paisible, adj. peaceable, 10. i. 
 
 Palais, s. palace, i. 183. 
 
 Pale, s. perpendicular stripe, 9. 
 1840. Still used in heraldry. See 
 note. 
 
 Paleys, s. palace, mansion (in as- 
 trology), 4. 54, 145. 
 
 Paleys -yates, pi. gates ot the 
 palace, 4. 82. 
 
 Palm, s. palm-iree, 5. 1 8 2. 
 
 Paniers, pi. panniers, baskets for 
 bread, 9. 1939. 
 
 Paradys, s, paradise, heaven, 9. 
 918. 
 
 Paraimter, adv. peradventure, per- 
 haps, 3. 779, 788 ; Paraventure, 
 
 3- ?56- 
 
 Parcel, s. (smalH part, 2. 106. 
 
 Parde ! interj. answering to F. par 
 dieu, 3. 721; 5. 509, 571. 
 
 Parfey, adv. in faith, 9. 938. 
 
 Parfit, adj. perfect, 2. 38 ; 5. 568 ; 
 9. 44. 
 
 Pai'triches, pi. gen. partridges', 9. • 
 1392. 
 
 Pas, s. grade, degree, 4. 134; pi- 
 degrees, 4. 121. 
 
 Passioun, s. suffering, 4. 255. 
 
 Patroun, s. patron, 4. 275 ; pro- 
 tector, 7. 4; Patron, pattern, 3. 
 910. F. patron, ' a patron, . . . 
 also a pattern ' ; Cotgrave. 
 
 Paunche, s. paunch, belly, 5. 610. 
 
 Pay, s. pleasure, 5. 271; 18. 70; 
 more to pay, so as to give more 
 satisfaction, 5. 474. 
 
 Payed, pp. pleased, satisfied, 10. 3 ; 
 holde her payd, think herself satis- 
 fied, 3. 269. 
 
 Payre, s. pair, 3. 1289. 
 
 Pecok, 4. peacock, 5. 356. 
 
 F 
 
 Pees, s. peace, I. 69; 3. 615. 
 Pel, 5. peel, small castle, 9. 1 310. 
 
 Lowland Sc. peil ; from Lat. p'da. 
 Pelet, s. pellet, stone cannon-ba.l, 9. 
 
 1643. See Gloss, to P, Plowman. 
 Penaunce, s. suffering, torment, 1. 
 
 82 ; trouble, 18. 79. 
 Paraventure, adv. perhaps, 9. 304. 
 Perceth., pr. s. pierces with his 
 
 gaze, 5. 331. 
 Perched,/'/;, perched, 9. 1991. 
 Pere, s. peer, equal, I. 97 ; 19. II 
 Permutaeioun, s. change, 14. 19 
 Perpetuely, adv. perpetually, 4 
 
 20. 
 Perre, s. jewelry, precious stones 
 
 9. 124; Pcrrie, 9. 1393. O. F 
 
 pierrerie. 
 Pervers, utlj. perverse, self-willed 
 
 ?,■ 813- 
 
 Peyne, s. pain, grief, distress, tor- 
 ment, 3. 587 ; 4. 96 ; 6. 23. 
 
 Peyne me, v. put myself to trouble 
 9. 246 ; Pe\ neth himself, 5. 339 
 
 Peynte, v. paint, 3. 783 ; colour 
 highly, 9. 246; do peynte, cause 
 to be painted, 3. 259; Peynted, 
 pp. 5. 2S4. 
 
 Phisicien, s. physician, doctor, 3. 
 
 Phitonesses, pi. pythonesses, 
 witches, 9. 1261. See note. 
 
 Pighte, //. s. sidij. should pierce, 
 should stab, I. 163. Pt. t. of 
 pice hen. 
 
 Pilche, s. a warm furred outer gar- 
 ment, 20. 4. A. S. pylce; from 
 Lat. pellicea, made of fur. 
 
 Pilere, s. pillar, 3. 739; 9. 1421 ; 
 Pik-r, as adj. serving as a prop, 5. 
 177; Filers, //. 5. 230. 
 
 Pilow, s. pillow, 3. 254. 
 
 Pinacles, //. pinnacles, 9. 124, 
 11S9. 
 
 Piper, s. as adj. suitable for pipes 
 or horns, 5. 178. 
 
 Pite, s. pity ; Pite were, it would be 
 a pity if, 3. 1266. 
 
 Pitous, adj. piteous, sad, 3. 84, 
 470; pitiful, I. 88; sorrowl'ul, 7. 
 
 9- 
 Pitously, adv. piteously, 3. 711 ; 
 full of pity, 2. 18. 
 
 f
 
 434 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Planete, s. planet, 3. 693, S23. 
 Plate, s. plate-armour, 10. 49. 
 Plated, pp. plated, covered with 
 
 metal in plates, Q. 1 345. 
 Play, s. play, amusement, 3. 50 ; 
 
 Playes,/;/. contrivances (see note), 
 
 3. 570. See Pley. 
 Pleding, 5. pleading, 3. 615; 5. 
 
 495- 
 
 Plee, s. plea, pleading, 5. 485 ; 
 Plees, pi. suits, 5. loi. 
 
 Plesance, s. pleasure, delight, 3. 
 704; Piesaunce, 3. 7*^7! 4- 4^ » 
 5. 676: 21. 30; 23. 14; com- 
 plaisance, 7. 212; Pleasure (per- 
 sonified), 5. 218; pleasant thing, 
 3- 773; 4-238. 
 
 Plese, V. please, 5. 4S0. 
 
 Pley, s. pl^y, dalliance, 4. 178 ; de- 
 lusion, 3. 648. See Play. 
 
 Pleye, v. play, 5. I93 ; Plcyen me, 
 amuse myself, 9. 2132; Pleyde, 
 pt. .«. played, was in pla)', 3. 875. 
 
 Pleyn, adj. full, j. 13; 5. 126. F. 
 plein. 
 
 Pleyn, adj. open, honest, 5. 528 ; 
 7. 87; Pleyne, smooth, 5. iSo. 
 F. plain. 
 
 Pleyne, v. complain, lament, 2. 
 108 ; 4. 156 ; 6. 15; refl. 7. 
 237 ; ger. 4. 286 ; 5. 179 ," v. to 
 utter a plaintive cry, to whinny 
 (said of a horse), 7. 157 ; Pleyned, 
 pp. 22. 76. Cf. ' For as a hors, I 
 coude byte and whytie' ; Cant. Ta. 
 5968. 
 
 Pleyning, s. complaining, lament- 
 
 i"g. 3- 599- 
 Pleynte, s. plaint, complaint, 2. 
 
 47 ; 22. 68. 
 Plight, pp. plighted, 7. 227. 
 Plyte, .s. plight, wretched situation, 
 
 7. 297 ; 23. 19 ; mishap, 5. 294. 
 
 See plighi in Supplement to my 
 
 Etym. Diet. 
 Poetryes, pi. poetical works, 
 
 poems, 9. 1478. 
 Point, s. point ; Pointe, dat. point, 
 
 place, 3. 660 ; in point, on the 
 
 point of, about to, 3. .13; 9. 
 
 2018; at point devys, with great 
 
 exactitude, very clearly, 9. 917. 
 Popiniay, s. parrot, 5. 359. 
 
 Port, s. bearing, carriage, 3. 834; 
 
 Porte, 5. 262. 
 Portraiture, i. portraiture, 3. 626; 
 
 Portreyture, drawing, picturing, 
 
 9. 131 ; Portrcytures, />/. pictures, 
 
 Portreye, v. pourtray, I. 81 ; 
 
 draw, sketch, 3. 783. 
 Possible, adj. possible ; possible is 
 
 me, is possible for me, 5. 471. 
 Pot-ful, s. pot-ful, 9. 1686. 
 Pouehe, s. pocket, pouch, 9. 1349. 
 Poudre, s. gunpowder, 9. 1644. 
 Pounage, s. pannage, swine's food, 
 
 10. 7- Cf. F. panage, ' pawnage, 
 mastage for swyne' ; Cotgrave. 
 
 Potme, s. pawn at chess, 3. 661. 
 O. F. peoti (Burguy) ; Late Lat. 
 pedonein, foot-soldier. 
 
 Pouren, ger. to pore, 9. 11 21, 
 1 158. 
 
 Poverte,s. poverty, 9. 88; Povertee, 
 3. 410. 
 
 Povre, adj. poor, 23. 16; as s. 
 poor, 7(e«ce poverty,! I. 2. Seenote. 
 
 Poynt, s. point ; in poynt is, is on 
 the point, is ready, I. 48 ; //-o 
 poynt to poynt, in every point, 5. 
 461. See Point. 
 
 Praye, s. prey, i. 64. 
 
 Prees, s. press, thronging, 9. 1358 ; 
 the throng of courtiers, 12. 4; 
 crowd, 16. 40 ; Pres, press ot 
 battle, lo. 33 ; Presse, dat. throng, 
 company, 1 1. 52. 
 
 Prenostik, s. prognostic, prog- 
 nostication, II. 54. 
 
 Prssent, adv. immediately, 5. 424 
 
 Pressen, v. to press, hasten, 2 
 19. 
 
 Prest, adj. ready, prepared, 5. 307 
 O. F. prest. 
 
 Preve, v. prove, 3. 552 ; 9. 707 
 I pr. s. 9. S26; Preved, pp. 9 
 S14. 
 
 Preve, s. proof, 5. 497 ; 9. S78, 
 989. 
 
 Prevy, adj. privy, secret, un- 
 observed, 3. 381 ; close, not con- 
 fidential, 9. 285. 
 
 Prik, I pr. s. spur, rouse, 5. 389. 
 
 Prikke, s. point, 9. 907. 
 
 Processe, s. process, 3. 1331 ; story.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 435 
 
 9. 251 ; Proces, process of time, 5, 
 
 Prolixite, s. prolixity, 9. 856. 
 Proprete, s. property, peculiarity 
 
 II. 69. 
 Prow, s. profit, advantage, 9. 579 
 
 O. F. proii, pni (Barlsch). 
 Prydelees, adj. without pride, 21 
 
 29. 
 Pryved, pp. deprived, exiled, I 
 
 146. 
 Puffen, V. puff, blow hard, 9 
 
 1S66. 
 Pulle, s. a bout at wrestling, a 
 
 throw, 5. 164. 
 Purchace, v. get, obtain, win, 15. 
 
 19 ; Purchased, pt. s. compassed, 
 
 contrived, procured, 3. I122; 
 
 Purchaced, //i. procured, brought 
 
 about, 6. 17. 
 Pure, adj. simple, mere, 9. 280 ; 
 
 very, 3. 490 ; utter, 3. 1209; the 
 
 pure deth, death itself, 3. 583 ; 
 
 adv. purely, 3. loio. 
 Purely, adv. actually, simply, only, 
 
 3- 5, S43, 934. 
 Purpos, s. purpose ; to piirpos, to 
 
 the subject, 5. 26. 
 Pursevauntes, pi. pursuivants, 9. 
 
 1321. 
 Purveyeth, pr. s. provides, fore- 
 sees, fore-ordains, 11. 66. 
 Putte, ger. to put, 3. 1332 ; pt. s. 
 
 3. 769 ; 4. 268. 
 Pye, s. magpie, 5. 345 ; Pyes, pi. 
 
 9- 703- 
 Pyne, s. pain, hurt, 5. 335 ; place 
 
 of torment, 9. 1512. 
 Pype, s. pipe, a musical instrument, 
 
 9- 773. 1219. 
 Pype, V. to pipe, to play nmsic, 9. 
 
 1220; Pyped, //>. faintly uttered, 
 
 9- 785- 
 
 Qualme, 5. pestilence, 9. 196S. 
 
 A. S. civeahn. 
 Quantite, s. quantity, vastness, 5. 
 
 58. 
 Quayles, gen. pi. quails', 5. 339. 
 Quek ! int. quack ! 5. 499, 594. 
 
 Queme, v. please, 13 20. A. S. 
 cwi'man. 
 
 Queue, i. queen, i. i. 
 
 Quern, .s-. hand-mill, 10. 6 ; Queme, 
 daf. 9. 179S. A. S. cweorn. 
 
 Queynt, adj. curious, well devised, 
 3. 1330: 9. 228; Queynte, skil- 
 fully contrived, 9. 126; curious, 
 hard to understand, 3. 531 ; 
 Queynte, pi. curious, skilfully 
 strange, 3. 784; adv. artfully, 9. 
 
 245- 
 
 Queynteliche, adv. curiously, cun- 
 ningly, 9. 1923. 
 
 Quik, adj. alive, 3. 1 21. 
 
 Quikke, v. quicken, take life, burst 
 forth, 9. 2078. 
 
 Quiknesse, «. liveliness, life, 3. 
 26. 
 
 Quit, /)/>. rewarded, 9. 1614; adj. 
 free, quit, 5. 663. 
 
 Quod, I pt. s. quoth, said, 3. 370, 
 1 1 1 2 ; pr. s. or pt. s. quoth, says, 
 said, 3. 109; Quoth, 3. 90. 
 
 Quyte, V. requite, recompense, 5. 
 112; 9. 670; II. 75; ger. to 
 remove, free, 7- 263 ; Quyteth, 
 pr. s. TLquiteth, payeth, 5. 9. 
 
 B. 
 
 Radde, pt. s. advised, 5. 579; i. 
 
 pt. s. read, 5. 21. Pt. t. of 
 
 reden ; see Rede. 
 Kakelnesse, s. rashness, 16. 16. 
 
 Icel. reikitll, wandering. 
 Kansaked, pp. ransacked, come 
 
 searching out, 4. 28. 
 Rape, s. haste, 8. 7. Icel. hrap, a 
 
 falling down. 
 Rasour, s. razor, 9. 690. 
 Rathe, adv. early, soon, 9. 2139; 
 
 Rather, cotnp. sooner, 3. 868 ; 4. 
 
 562. 
 Raven, s. raven, 5. 363; the con- 
 stellation Corvus, 9. 1004. 
 Ravisshing, adj. enchanting, 5. 
 
 203. 
 Ravyne, s. ravine, prey, 5. 323 ; 
 
 preying, ravening, 5. 336. Anglo- 
 
 F. ravine, Lat. rapina. 
 Bayed, pp. arrayed, adorned, 3. 
 
 252. Short for arrayed. 
 
 f 2
 
 43^ 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Bealte, s. royalty, sovereign power, 
 II. 60. 
 
 Rebel, ad], rebellious, 5. 457. 
 
 Recche, v. care, reck, 5. 593 ; 
 I pr. s. 5. 606; 1 pr. pi. 7. 269 ; 
 Reccheth, pr. s. 21. 52. See 
 Kekke. 
 
 Keccheles, adj. reckless, careless, 
 indiiferent, 5. 593 ; 9. 397 ; re- 
 gardless, 9. 66S. 
 
 Rechased, pp. headed back, 3. 
 
 379- 
 Reche, v. reach, give, 3. 47. 
 Recompensacioun, s. recompense, 
 
 9. 665. 
 Reeorde, s. testimony, 3. 934. 
 Recorde, v. [\.o) record, recording, 
 
 5. 609. 
 Recovered, pp. gained, won, got, 
 
 5. 6SS. 
 Recoverer, s. succour, 22. 3 (see 
 
 note). 
 Reddour, .«. rigour, 11. 13. O. F. 
 
 rador, later roideiir. 
 Rede, ger. to read, 3. 98 ; 5. 696 
 
 V. interpret, 3. 279; advise, 12 
 
 6; Rede, i pr. s. counsel, advise 
 
 4. 15; 5.566; Redde, ^/. s. read 
 interpreted, 3. 281 ; Red, pp. 
 read, 3. 224, 1326; 5. 107 ; 9 
 
 347- 
 
 Rede, adj. pi. red. See Reed. 
 
 Rede, adj. made of reed ; referring 
 to a musical instrument in whicli 
 the sound was produced by the 
 vibration of a reed, 9. 1 221. 
 
 Redelees, adj. without reed or 
 counsel ; not knowing which way 
 to turn, 2. 27. 
 
 Redely, adv. soon, 9. 1392. 
 
 Reder, .1;. reader, 5. 132. 
 
 Redresse, imp. s. direct anew, re- 
 form, X. 129. 
 
 Reed, ^. advice, counsel, plan, 3. 105 ; 
 
 5. 586, 60S ; 22. 37 ; profit, help, 
 3. 203; withojite reed, for which 
 nothing can be done, 3. 587 ; ! 
 can no reed, I know not what to 
 do, 3. 1 1 87. 
 
 Reed, adj. red, 5. 583 ; (of the 
 complexion), 3. 470; Rede, def. 
 5.4^2; 7. I ; Rede,/-/. 1.89; 3. 
 955; 4- 2, 27. 
 
 Reflexiouns, pi. ideas due to 
 previous impressions, 9. 22. 
 
 Refte, pt. s. took violently ; how he 
 Tiirniis refte his lyf, how he robbed 
 Turnus of his life, 9. 457- 
 
 Refut, s. refuge, i. 14 ; safety, 1. 33. 
 
 Regalye, s. rule, authority, 2. 65. 
 
 Regard, .v. relation ; at regard of, 
 in comparison with, 5. 58. 
 
 Regioun, s. rule, dominion, realm, 
 14. 25. 
 
 Regneth, pr. s. reigns, 4. 43 ; 
 Regnen, pr. pi. 4. 50. 
 
 Reherse, v. rehearse, repeat, tell, 3. 
 474; Rehersen, 3. 1204. 
 
 Reighte, /)<. .?. reached, touched, 9. 
 1374. Pt. t. ol rcchen. 
 
 Reioyse, v. rejoice, make to re- 
 joice, I. loi. 
 
 Rekening, s. reckoning, account, 
 3. 699; Rekeninge, judgment, I. 
 132; Rekeninges, /)/. accounts, 9. 
 
 653- 
 Rekever, i pr. s. (for futiire), 
 (I) shall retrieve, do away, 9. 
 
 3.S4- 
 Eekke, 2 pr. pi. care, reck, 2. 1 10 ; 
 
 Rekketh, impers. pr. s. it recks 
 
 (him\ he cares, 7. 182. See 
 
 Recche, Roghts, Roughte. 
 Relayes, s. //. fresh sets of hounds, 
 
 reserve packs, 3. 362. 
 Relees, s. release, i. 3. 
 Remedies, s. pi. Ovid's Remedia 
 
 Amoris, 3. 568. 
 Remembreth, pr. s. recurs to the 
 
 mind, 4. 150; Remenibre yow, 
 
 imp.pl. ren)ember, 3. 717. 
 Remenant, s. remainder, 5. 271. 
 Renne, ger. to run, i. 164; v. 5. 
 
 247 ; 9. 202 ; Renninge, pres. pt. 
 
 9. 2145 ; Renning, flowing, 3. 
 
 161. 
 Renoun, s. renown, 2. 63 ; 9. 
 
 1406. 
 Renovelauncss, pi. renewals, 9. 
 
 f'93- 
 
 Renoveleth, imp. pi. renew, 4. 19. 
 F. renouveler, to renew (Cot- 
 grave). 
 
 Rente, s. rent, 3. 765. 
 
 Reparaciouns, //. reparations, 
 making up, 9. 688.
 
 GLOSSARIAL TKDEX. 
 
 437 
 
 Hepenting, s. ; without repenting, 
 so as to exclude any after-repent- 
 ance, any after-regret, 4. 17- 
 
 Replicacioun, s. answer, ready 
 reply, repartee, 5. 536. 
 
 Keprevable (to), adj. likely to 
 cast a slur on, 14. 24. 
 
 Resonable, adj. talkative, 3. 534. 
 
 Respit, s. respite, 5. 648. 
 
 Respyte, ger. to refuse to do, turn 
 away from, despise, 7- 259. 
 
 Reste, s.; at his reste, as in its 
 home, 5. S/'). 
 
 Rethoryke, s. rhetoric, 9. 859. 
 
 Reule, s. rule, 11. 56. 
 
 Reuthe, s. ruth, i. 127. See 
 Routhe, Rowthe. 
 
 Reven, v. take away, 11. 50; 
 Reveth, pr. s. forces away, 5. 86. 
 
 Revers, s. reverse, 18. 32. 
 
 Revolucioun, s. revolution, revolv- 
 ing course, 4. 30. 
 
 Reward, s. regard ; having reward 
 to, considering, 5. 426. 
 
 Rewe, V. have pity, 4. 203; 21. 
 101. 
 
 Rewe, s. row, line, 9. 1692. See 
 Rowe. 
 
 Rewthelees, adj. ruthless, unpity- 
 
 i"g' 5-6i3- 
 Reyes, pi. round dance?, 9. 1236. 
 
 See note. 
 Reyne, v. rain, 4. 287- 
 Reynes, /)/. reins, 9. 951. 
 Reysed, />/>. raised, 3. 1278. 
 Rial, adj. royal, I. 144; 2. .^9. 
 Riban, s. ribbon, used as pi. ribbons, 
 
 9. 1318. 
 Richesse, s. riches, wealth ; of 
 
 knighlhode he is parjit richesse, 
 
 18. 12 ; Wealth (personified), 5. 
 
 261. 
 Right that, that very thing, 3. 
 
 Rightful, adj. righteous, well-doing, 
 
 5- 55- 
 Roche, s. rock, 9. in6; Roches, 
 
 pi. 3. 156. See Rokke. 
 Rode, s. dat. rood, cross ; by the 
 
 rode, 3. 924, 992 ; 9. 2. 
 Rody, adj. ruddy, red, 3. 143, 905. 
 Roes, s. pL roes, 3. 430. See Roo. 
 Roghte, pt. s. cared, recked, 4. 
 
 126 ; 5. Ill ; I pt. s. subj. should 
 
 (not) care, 3. 244. See Rekke. 
 Rokes, gen. pi. rooks', 9. 1516. 
 Rokke, s. rock, 3. 164. 
 Roraaunce, s. romance, 3. 48. 
 
 See note. 
 Rome, V. roam, 9. 2035. 
 Rong, pt. s. rang, 5. 492 ; Ronge, 
 
 pt. pi. rung, 3, 1 164. 
 Ronnen, pt. pi. ran, 3. 163. See 
 
 Renne. 
 Roo, s. roe, 5. 195. See Roes. 
 
 A. S. rii. 
 Roof, pt. s. rived, pierced, 9. 373. 
 
 Pt. t. of ryven. 
 Rose-garlond, s. garland of roses, 
 
 9- 135- 
 Roten, adj. rotten, 7. 314. 
 Roughte, pt. s. intpsrs. it recked 
 
 (him\ i.e. he recked, I. l^l. 
 
 See Roghte. 
 Roundel, s. roundel (poem), 5 
 
 675 (see note) ; a small circle, 9, 
 
 791, 798. 
 Rouned, pt. s. whispered, 9. 2044 
 
 pp. 9. 722. A.S. runian. 
 Rouninges, pi. whisperings, 9 
 
 i960. See above. 
 Route, s. rout, crowd, company 
 
 band, 3. 360; 5. 245; 7. 34'; 9 
 
 2119. 
 Route, V. rumble, roar, murmur, 9 
 
 1038; gcr. to snore, 3. 172 
 
 A. S. hrdtan, to snore. 
 Routhe, s. ruth, compassion, pity 
 
 3- 592 ; 7- 337 ; a P'ty, 3- 1000 
 
 1310. See Reuthe. 
 Routheles, adj. unpitying, 7 
 
 230. 
 Routing, s. whizzing noise, 9. 1933 
 
 See Route, v. 
 Rove, s. dat. roof, 9. 1948. Dat 
 
 of roof. 
 Rowe, .s. line, 9. 44S ; Rovves, // 
 
 rays or beams of light, 4. 2. See 
 
 Rewe. 
 Rowthe, s. ruth, pity, 3. 465. See 
 
 Reuthe, Rewthe. 
 Rubbe, V. rub out, 8. 6. 
 Rubee, s. ruby, 9. 1362. 
 Ruddok, -s. redbreast, robin, 5, 
 
 349- 
 Rumbleth, pr. s. moves to and fro
 
 438 
 
 GLOSSARIAL IXDEX. 
 
 with an indistinct murmuring noise, 
 
 9. 1026. 
 Eused, pt. s. roused herself, rushed 
 
 away. 3. 381. See Rouse in my 
 
 Etym. Diet. 
 Eym, «. rhyme (belter rime), 16. 
 
 37; 18. 80; Ryme, dat. 3. 54, 
 
 463. 1332. A. S. rim. 
 Hyme, ^er. to make verses, 9. 1255; 
 
 16.35- 
 
 S. 
 
 Sable, s. sable, black, 4. 284. 
 Sad, adj. serious, grave, 3. 918; 
 
 Sadde, 5. 578; Sadde, />/. serious, 
 
 sober, staid, steady, 3. 860 ; stead- 
 fast, constant, 23. 9. 
 Sadnesse, s. soberness, staidness, 
 
 21. 29. 
 Salueth, pr. s. saluteth, 4. 146. 
 Salvaeioun, .v. salvation, 4. 213. 
 Sat, pt. s. sat ; sal on knees, knelt, 
 
 3. 106 ; hit sat me sore, it was 
 
 very painful forme, 3. 1220. 
 Satin, 5. satin, 3. 253. 
 Sauf, adj. safe, in safety, 4. 107; 
 
 safe, I. 27, 57 (see Vouched) ; 
 
 prep, save, except, 2. 50. 
 Saufly, adv. safely, with safety, 9. 
 
 291 ; 13. 6. 
 Saugh, pt. s. saw, 1. 89 ; Sawe, 2. 
 
 pt. pi. 3. 1 1 29. 
 Sauns, prep, without, 9. 1S8 ; 
 
 satins faile, without fail, certainly, 
 
 9. 429. 
 Savacioun, .«. saving from death ; 
 
 U'ithoute any savacioun, without 
 
 saving any, 9. 208. 
 Save, prep, excepting, 7. 267. See 
 
 Sauf. 
 Saveour, s. saviour, 19. 16. 
 Savour, 5. pleasant taste, liking, 
 
 pleasure, II. 20; Savours, pi. 
 
 odours, 5. 274. 
 Savour, imp. s. have relish for, 1 2. 5. 
 Sawe, s. saying, 9. 2089 ; Sawes, 
 
 pi. tales, 9. 676. 
 Say, I pi. s. saw, 3. 806 ; k. 211. 
 Scales, pp. scales offish, 5. 189. 
 Scalle, s. scab, 8. 3. 
 Sclat, .'J. slate, 6. 34. 
 Sclaundre, s. slander, 9. 1580; 
 
 ill fame, 7. 275. 
 
 Scorneth, pr. s. scorns, 3. 625 ; 
 
 Scorned,/^, s. 3. 927. 
 Scorpioun, s. scorpion, 3. 636; 
 
 sign of the Scorpion, 9. 9^8. 
 Scourging, s. correction, 4. 42. 
 Scrape, v. scrape, 8. 6. 
 Scriveyn, s. scribe, 8. i. 
 Se, s. sea, 3. 1028. See See. 
 Se, ger. to see, look on ; oti to se, 
 
 to look upon, 3. 1 177; I pr. s. 
 
 3. 913 ; as/ut. shall see, 4. 190. 
 Seche, ger. to seek, 3. 1255. 
 Secre, adj. secret, trusty, 5. 395. 
 Secte, s. sect, company, 9. 1432. 
 Sede, V. bear seed, 7. 306. 
 See, s. sea, i. 50; Se, 3. 1028. 
 Seed-foul, s. birds living on seeds, 
 
 5- 512- 
 Seek, adj. fick, 5. 161, 207 ; Seke, 
 
 3. 557 ; <i^f- (is s. sick man, man 
 in a fever, 5. 104. 
 
 Seen, v. see, 5. 538 ; Seestow, 
 
 seest thou, 9. 911. 
 Sees, pi. srats, 9. 1210, 1251. 
 Seet, pt. s. sat (a false form), 3. 
 
 501. Cf. A. S. scEt-on, pi., they 
 
 sat. See Sete. 
 Seith, pr. s. says, 5. 23. 
 Seke, adj. sick. See Seek. 
 Seken to, i pr. pi. come seeking 
 
 for, press towards, 2. 91. 
 Sekernes, s. security, 7. 345. 
 Selfe, adj. self, same, 5. 96 ; Selve, 
 
 very, 9. 11 57. 
 Sely, adj. blessed, delightful, 9. 
 
 513 ; kind, 4. 89 ; poor, innocent, 
 
 4. 141. A. S. sdlig. 
 Seme, /))•. s. snhj. seem, 13. 13. 
 Semely, adj. seemly, comely, 3. 
 
 1177. 
 Seming, .'^. appearance, 3. 944. 
 Sene, ger. to see, 5. 329. A. S. 
 
 sionne. 
 Sene, adj. visible, evident, manifest, 
 
 2. 94, 112 ; 3. 413, 498; 6. 10; 
 
 15. 13. h.'S>. gesyne, gesvne,zA]. 
 Sentence, .^. opinion, decision, 5. 
 
 530; sense, meaning, tenour, 
 
 theme, 4. 24; 5. 126; 9. Iioo; 
 
 decision, speech, 5. 383. 
 Servage, s. service, 3. 769. 
 Servants, pi. lovers, 21. 72. 
 Servcth, imp.pl. serve, 5. 660.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INLfEX. 
 
 4.39 
 
 Servyse, s. service, musical per- 
 formance, 3. 302. 
 
 Sese, fr. s. sttbj. seize, 5. 481 ; 
 Sesed,/>/). caught, 4. 24O. 
 
 Sestou, /or Seest thou, seest thou, 
 
 "• 37- 
 
 Set, pr. s. setteth, 2. loi ; putteth, 
 3. 6.^5 ; pp. appointed, 4. 52 ; wel 
 set, seeml}', 3. 82S. 
 
 Sete, pt. pi. sat, 3. 431 ; p(. s. .'i/bj. 
 were to sit, 3. 436. A. S. sckton, 
 pt. pi. ; s(Bte. pt. s. subj. 
 
 Seurtee, s. securit}', 10. 46. 
 
 SeTve, ger. to follow, 13. 4; v. 23. 
 12 ; Sevveth, pr. s. follows as a 
 consequence, 9. 840. 
 
 Sewing, adj. conformable, in pro- 
 portion, similar, 3. 959. Lit. 
 ' following ' ; cf. Prov. E. suafit, 
 sewant. 
 
 Seyn, v. say, 2. 51 ; 3. 1031 ; 5. 
 35; Sey, V. tell, 5. 126 : ger. to 
 say, 3. 1090 ; 5. 323 ; To seye, 
 to be saiil, 2. 21 ; To seyne, 2. 
 77 > 5- 7^ i Seystou, for Seyst 
 thou, sayest thou, 11. 27; Sey, 
 1 pr. s. 3. 996 ; Seyn, pr. pi. 3. 
 1167; 4. 275. 
 
 Sey, I />/*. s. sa w, 3. 1089:9. 1 1 ." i ; 
 Seven, pt.pl. 3. 842, 1052 ; Seyn, 
 
 PP- 3- 854- 
 Seyiit, 5, saint, 3. 1319. 
 Shad-we, *. shadow, shade, 3. 426. 
 Shaftes, //. shafts, arrows, 5. 180. 
 Shal, I pr. s. must, am to be, 2. 
 
 53 ; /"■• s- is to be, 9. 82 ; Shal- 
 
 tow, thou shalt, 9. 1026. See 
 
 Shul. 
 Shale, s. shell, 9. T281. 
 Shalmyes, pi. shawms, 9. 121S. 
 
 O. F". cha/emie, ' a little pipe made 
 
 of a reel ' ; Cotgrave. 
 Shap, s. shape, form, 5. 373, 39S. 
 Shap, v. make, devise, 5. 502 ; 
 
 Shapen, pj>. built, 7. 357; Shape, 
 
 ordained, 16. 8. 
 Shave, pp. shaven, bare of money, 
 
 19. 19. 
 Shelde, pr. s. subj. may he shield, 
 
 9. 88. 
 Shende, v. ruin, 5. 494 ; destroy, 
 
 9. 1016; Shente, pt. s. put to 
 
 confusion, 5. 255. A. S. scendan. 
 
 Shene, adj. bright, beautiful, 5. 
 
 299; 7- 3^, 73; adv.hxvj)x\\y,\. 
 
 87. A. S. scene. 
 Sherte, s. shirt, 9. 1414. 
 Sieter, .s. as adj. shooter, useful for 
 
 shooting, 5. 180. 
 Shethe, s. sheath, 16. 39. 
 Shette, pt. s. shut, 9. 524 ; Shet, 
 
 PP- 3- 335- 
 Sheves, //. sheaves, 9. 2 1 40. 
 Shewen, v. shew, 5. 168 ; Shewed, 
 
 pp. (have) shewed, 5. 572. 
 Shod, pp. with something on his 
 
 feet, 9. 98. 
 Sholde, I pt. s. ought (to have 
 
 done so\ 3. 1200; Sholdcstow, 
 
 shonldst thou. II. 60. 
 Shonde, .>■•. shame, disgrace, 9. 88. 
 
 A. S. scoiid, scand. 
 Shoof, pf. s. pushed, 5. 154. Pt. t. 
 
 of shoveit. 
 Shoon, p'. s. shone, 4. 87. Pt. t. 
 
 of s/iynen. 
 Shoop, pt. s. shaped ; shoop vif, 
 
 shaped, addressed myself, 2. 20. 
 
 Pt. t. of shapen : see Shap. 
 Shortly, adv. to be brief, in short, 
 
 3- 830. 
 Shoures, //. storms, hardships, 22. 
 
 66. 
 Sho'wting, s. shouting, 5. 693. 
 Shrewed, adv. evil, wicked, 9. 
 
 275, 1619. 
 Shrewednesse, s. wickedness, 9. 
 
 1853- 
 Shrewes,/>Z wicked people, 9. 1 830. 
 Shrift, s. confession, 3. 11 14. 
 Shryned, pp. enshrined, canonised 
 
 {ironically^, 15. 15. 
 Shul, pr. pi. shall, 5. 658 ; must, 5. 
 
 80 ; Shulde, pt. s. had to, 4. 25 1 , 
 
 253. See Shal. 
 Shuldres, s. pi. shoulders, 3. 952. 
 Sicamour, s. sycamore, 9. 1278. 
 Siker, adj. in security, 17. 28; 
 
 sure, 3. 1020, 1 149; 9. 1978. 
 Sikerly, adv. surely, truly, 4. 59 ; 
 
 certainly, 9. 1 930. 
 Sikernesse, s. security, confidence, 
 
 3. 608 ; II. 69. 
 Sillable, s. syllable, 9. 1098. 
 Sin, conj. since, 4. 273; 5. 64, 
 
 435> 654. Short for si:hen.
 
 440 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Singular, adj. ; for singular pro- 
 
 fyte, for special advantage, 9. 310. 
 Sippe, s. drink, sup, 7. 193. 
 Sisoures, pi. scissors, 9. 690. 
 Sith. conj. since, I. 77 ; 2. 34; 3. 
 
 759 ; 4; 184 ; 7-342 ; because, 4. 
 
 125 ; s,ith that, since, 2. 22 ; adv. 
 
 afterwards, then, 7. 354. 
 Sithen, adv. afterwards, i. 117; 
 
 since, 22, 51, 60. 
 Sitts, V. to sit, 3. 451 ; Sitten, ger. 
 
 3. 449 ; Sit. pr. s. sitteth, sits, 3. 
 
 1108 ; 4. 218. 
 Sittingest, sup. adj. most fitting, 
 
 5- .=i.5i- 
 
 Skant, adj. scanty, sparing, nig- 
 gardly, I. 175. 
 
 Skars, adj. scarce, 10. 36. 
 
 Skilful, adj. reasonable, 3. S94 ; 7. 
 128. 
 
 Skilfully, adv. carefully, particu- 
 larly, 4. 155. 
 
 Skilles, p>l. reasons, arguments, 5. 
 
 537 ; 9- 75°- 
 Skye, -s. cloud. 9. 1600. 
 Slee, V. slay, 3. 351 ; Sle, 6. i; 
 
 Slee, ger. 2. 26; 5. 217 ; Sleeth, 
 
 pr. s. slays, 21. 33 ; Sice, 2 pr.pl. 
 
 slay, 2. 114; Sleen, 2. 84; Slee, 
 
 imp. s. slay, 9. 317 ; Sleeth, imp. 
 
 />/. slay, 21.118; Sleyn,/"/). 4. loS. 
 Slepe, ger. to sleep, 5. 94 ; Sleep, 
 
 pt. s. slept, went to sleep, 7. 137 ; 
 
 1 pt. s. 9. 119; Slepe, pt. pi. 3. 
 
 166, 177. 
 Slit, pr. s. slidetb, passes away, 5. 
 
 3. Short for .s//c?e//!. See Slyde. 
 Slow, pt. s. slew, 3. 727, 733; 9. 
 
 26s, 956; Slough, 7. 56. See 
 
 Slee. 
 Slyde, V. pass, go away, 3. 567. 
 
 See Slit. 
 Slye, adj. cunning, crafty, 7. 48 ; 
 
 pi. skilful, 3. 570. 
 Smal, adj. small ; a smal, a little, 
 
 21. 113. 
 Smelde, /)^ s. smelt, 9 i6''5. 
 S inert, /T. s. smarts, pains (me), i. 
 
 152. Short for smerieih. 
 Smerte, .s. smart, pain, pang, 2. 13; 
 
 3. 593; 4. 10 ; 9. 316, 374. 
 Smerte, adj. pi. hard, b.tter, pain- 
 ful; 3- 5°7. HO?" 
 
 Sniit,/)r. s.smiteth, 9. 536 ; Smiten, 
 
 pp. struck, 3. 1323. 
 Smothe, adj. smooth, 3. 942. 
 So as, as far as, as well as, 4. 161 ; 
 
 .vo have I loye, as I hope to have 
 
 bliss, 3. 1065, II 19. 
 Sobre, adj. soher, staid, 13. 9. 
 Socour, s. succour, 1.2, 10, 41,55 ; 
 
 do y>w s., help you, 4. 292. 
 Sodeynly, adv. suddenly, 2. 32 ; 
 
 3. 272. 
 Softe, adv. timidly, 3. 1212. 
 Soiourne, v. sojourn, dwell, I. 160; 
 
 Soiourned, //). remained, 4. 78. 
 Solace, V. comfort, cheer, amuse, 
 
 5- 297. 
 Solempne, adj. festive, 3. 302. 
 
 ' So\(jmpne, fe^iivus' ; Pr. Parv. 
 Soleyn, adj. sole, so-litary, 3. 982 ; 
 
 unmated, 5. 607, 614. Mod. E. 
 
 £7dleu. 
 Som, iadef. pron. s. one, 3. 305 ; 
 
 another, 5. 476. 
 Somdel, adv. somewhat, a little, 5. 
 
 112. 
 Someres, s. gen. summer's, 3. 821. 
 Somer-sonne, s. the summer sun, 
 
 5. 299. 
 Sond, s. sand, 5. 243. 
 Sone, s. son, 3. 1162. 
 Sone, adv. soon, 3. 112, 627. 
 Song, I J)t. s. sang, 3. 115,8; 
 
 Songen, pt. pi. sang, 3. 301 ; 
 
 Songe, pt. s. subj. were to sing, 
 
 3. 929 ; Songe, pp. sung, 9. 347. 
 Sonken, pp. sunk, 7. 8. 
 Sonne, «. sun, 3. 821 ; 4. 4. 
 Sorceresses,/)/, sorceresses, 9. 1 26 1 . 
 Sore, V. soar, 9. 499 ; ger. 9. 531. 
 Sorwe, .<;. sorrow, i. 81; Sorwes, 
 
 pi. 3. 412. 
 Sorwful, adj. sorrowful, 2. 25. 
 Sorwing, a. sorrowing, sorrow, 3. 
 
 606. 
 Sotel, adj. subtle, cunning, 18. 43. 
 Soteltee, s. subtlety, skill, iS. 77. 
 Soth, adj. true, i. 137 ; 5. 640. 
 Soth, -s. truth, 3. 35, 1090 ; Sothe, 
 
 ;<■ .^7S. 
 
 Soulfre, s. sulphur, 9. 1508. 
 Soun, s. sound, musical sound, 3. 
 
 1O2, 1166 ; 9. 720; Soiine, dat. 
 
 4-179; 5- 344-
 
 GLOSS A RIAL INDEX. 
 
 441 
 
 Sounde, ^er. to heal, make sound, 
 
 7. 24.'. 
 Souned, /■/. .«. jonnded, 9. 1202. 
 Soures, .?./>/. sorrels, bucks of the 
 
 third yiar, 3. 429. See note. 
 
 The O. F. ^ore, golden, 3'ellow, 
 
 blonde, was applied to denote the 
 
 colour of hair. Cf. ' ses traces 
 
 sores' his (or her) yellow tresses ; 
 
 Rom. de la Rose, 11. 1093, 14074. 
 Sours, s. source, 4. 174; sudden 
 
 ascent, a sprin 'ing aloft, 9. 544, 
 
 551. See note to 9. 544. 
 Soverayn, adj. chief, 5. 254 ; 
 
 Sovereyn, s. sovereign lord, 1. 69. 
 Sowninge, pres. p. sounding, 3. 
 
 926. 
 Spak, pt. s. spoke, 3. 503. 
 Sparow, s. s; arrow, 5. 351. 
 Spede me, hasten, be quick, 5. 
 
 3S5 ; Sped, pp. terminated, turned 
 
 out, 5. loi. 
 Spede, s. advantage ; for coimine 
 
 specie, for the good of all, 5. 507. 
 Speke, V. speak, 3. 852 ; Speken, 
 
 pt. pi. spoke, 3. 350. 
 Speking, s. speech-making, oratory, 
 
 5. 48S. 
 Spere, s. spear, 5. 135 ; as niii^h as 
 
 men may casteii with a spere, a 
 
 spear's cast, 9. 1048. 
 Spere, .';. sphere, orbit, 4. 137 ; 
 
 sphere, 16. Ii ; Speres,//. spheres, 
 
 5- .';')• 
 Sperliauk,s. sparrow-hawk, 5. 3 38, 
 
 Spille, V. destroy, ruin, 2. 46 ; 
 
 perish, 21. 121 ; doth me spille, 
 
 causes me to die, 21. 16; Spilt, 
 
 pp. lost, I. 180. 
 Sporne, v. spurn, kick, 12. 11. 
 Sprede, v. spread, open, 4. 4 ; 
 
 Spradde, pt. s. covered, 7. 40 ; 
 
 Sprad, />/>. spread, opened, 3 874. 
 Springes, pi. springs, merry dances, 
 
 9. 1235. 
 Spronge, />/>. sprung; spronge amis, 
 
 alighted in a wrong place, 9. 2079. 
 Squirelles, .t. />/. squirrels, 3. 431 ; 
 
 Squerels, 5. 1 96. 
 Stable, adj. firm, motionless, 3. 
 
 645- 
 Stal, pt. s. stole, came cunningly, 3. 
 
 654; 9.418; I />/. s. went softly, 
 
 3- 1251. 
 Stalked, i pt. s. stalked, crept 
 
 quietly, 3. 45S. 
 Stant, pr. s. standeth, 3. 156 ; 4. 
 
 60; 7- 330; 9. 713; consists, 
 
 12.8. 
 Stare, s. starling, 5. 348. 
 Starke, adj.pl. strong, 9. 545. 
 Stature, 5. being, existence, 5. 366. 
 Statut, s. statute, ordinance, 1 1. 43. 
 Staves, gen. of the shaft of a car, 
 
 7. 1S4. 
 St3d, s. place, 9. 73 r ; in stede of, 
 
 instead of, 4. 95. 
 Stel, s. steel, 5. 395 ; Stele, dat. 9. 
 
 6S3. 
 Stellifye, v. make into a constella- 
 tion, 9. 5'-6. 
 Stente, pt. s. stinted, stopped, 3. 
 
 154; I pt. s. 3. 358 ; pi. s. 9. 
 
 221, 1683, 1926. 2031. Pt. t. of 
 
 itimeii. See Stinte. 
 Sterejf. stir, move, 9.567; Stereth, 
 
 /»-.s. stirs, 9.817; Stering,/^./)/. 
 
 moving, 9. 478. 
 Stere, s. rudder, guide, 9. 437 ; 19. 
 
 12. 
 Steresman, ,<;. steersman, 9. 436. 
 Steringe, 5. stirring, motion, 9. 
 
 800. 
 Sterlinges, pi. sterling coins, 9. 
 
 1315- 
 Sterre, s. star, 5. 68, 300 ; Sterres, 
 
 /)/. 3. 824; 5. 595. 
 Sterry, adj. starry, full of stars, 5. 
 
 43- 
 Stert, pr. s. starteth, rouses, 9. 
 
 6S1 ; Sterte, /)^ s. started, 4. 92. 
 Starve, v. die, 3. 1266; 5. 420; 
 
 21. 112 ; 22. 91 ; pr. s. siibj. 6. 
 
 23 ; 9. 101. 
 Steven, s. voice, sound, 3. 307 ; 
 
 appointment, meeting by appoint- 
 ment. 4. 52 ; Stevene, dat. voice, 
 
 9. 561. A. S. str/n. 
 Stewe, s. brothel, 9. 26. 
 Steyre, s. degree (translation of 
 
 gradjts), 4. 129. See note. 
 Stikke, s. stick, twig, i. 90. 
 Stinte, V. stay, stop, cause to cfase, 
 
 I. 63 ; leave otT, 21. 43 ; I pr. s. 
 
 leave off telling, 9. 1417 ! Stinte,
 
 442 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 pt. s. stopped, was silent, 3. 1 299 ; 
 
 Stinting, pres. pt. stopping, 3. 
 
 1213. See Stente. 
 Stok, s. stock, source, 13. i. 
 Stonde, v. stand, 5. 254 ; Stondeth, 
 
 pr. .s. 2. 64 ; Stonde, pr. s. snbj. 
 
 9. 80 ; Stoden, pt. pi. stood, 2. 
 
 36 ; Stonden, pp. stood, 3. 975 ; 
 
 9. 1928. 
 Stoon, s. stone, 2. 16; 3. 1300; 
 
 Stone?, />/. precious stones, 3. 9S0. 
 Stork, s. stork, 5. 361. 
 Stound, s. space of time, 9. 2071 ; 
 
 a short time, 5. 142 ; time, hour, 
 
 7. 238. A. S. itimd. 
 Strake, J/, move, proceed, 3. 1312. 
 
 Cf. 'they over lend straketh,' they 
 
 run over the land ; P. Plowm. 
 
 Crede, 1. 82. 
 Straunge, adj. distant, unbtrnding, 
 
 Strecche, v. reach, 7. 341. See 
 
 Streighte. 
 Stree, s. straw, 3. 671, S87, 1237 ; 
 
 Stre, 9. 3(^3 ; Strees, pi. 3. 718. 
 Streglite, adv. straight, 9. 1992. 
 Streighte, pt.s. stretched, 9. 1373. 
 
 Pt. t. of itrecchen. 
 Stremes, pi. streams, rays, beams, 
 
 3. 338; 4. 83, III. 
 Strenges, s. pi. strings, 5. 192. 
 Strete, s. street, road, way, I. 70. 
 
 See note. 
 Streyneth, pr. s. constrains, 4. 220. 
 Strike, pp. struck, 6. 35. 
 Strondes, /)/. shores, 9. 148. 
 Stroyer, s. destroyer, 5. 360. 
 Subieccioun, s. subjection, service, 
 
 submi>sion, 4. 32. 
 Subtil, ad], lintly woven, 5. 272. 
 Subtilte, s. subtlety, specious reason- 
 ing, 9. 855. 
 Suffisaunce, s. sufficiency, what is 
 
 sufficient, enough, a comi^etence, 
 
 3. 1038; 6- 637; II. 15, 26; 
 
 treasure, 23. 13 ; Suffisance, 
 
 wealth, 3. 703. 
 Suffraunt, adj. patient, tolerant, 3. 
 
 101 o. 
 Suffren, v. suffer, 3. 412. 
 Sutfyse, V. suffice, 3. 1094. 
 Surete, i. careless coiilidence, *J. 
 
 21.1. 
 
 Surmounted, pp. surpassed ; mr- 
 
 mtitnted of, surpassed in, 3. 
 
 826. 
 Siistene, v. sustain, maintain, i. 
 
 22 ; endure, 6. 2. 
 Suster, s. sister, 7. 38; 9. 1547; 
 
 Snstren, pi. 9. 1401 ; Sustres, 7. 
 
 16. 
 Sute, s. suit, set. 3. 261. 
 Swalow, s. swallow, =.. 353. 
 Swan, s. swan, 5. 342. 
 Swappe, s. a swoop, the striking of 
 
 a bird of prey, 9. 543. 
 Swartish, adj. as adv. darkish, 
 
 d;irk, 9. 1647. 
 Swelte, V. die, 4. 216 ; Swe\t,pr. s. 
 
 dies, 4. 128. A. S. sweltan. 
 Swerde, s. dat. sword, 4. 100. 
 Swety, adj. sweaty, 10. 28. 
 S^weven, s. dreani, 3. 119, 276, 
 
 279)133°; 5-115; Swevenes,^/. 
 
 9. 3. A. S. sivefen. 
 Sweynt, pp. tired out, sbthful, 9. 
 
 17S3. Seeno;e. 'P\^. oii.iveiiche>i. 
 Swicii, adj . such, I. 116 ; 3. 1249; 
 
 5. 14; such a thing, 5. 570; pi. 
 
 3. 40S. 
 Swinke, ^er. to labour, 9. 11 75. 
 
 A. S. sivincan. 
 Swogh, s. soughing noise, murnmr, 
 
 5. 247 ; 9. 1031 ; swoon, 2. 16; 
 
 Swough, whizzing noise, 9. 1941 ; 
 
 Swow, swoon, hence deep sorrow, 
 
 3- 215. 
 Sis^oninien, /'.'. pi. swam, were 
 
 filled with swimming things, 5. 
 
 188. 
 Swoor, /)/. s. swore, 7. loi. 
 Swote, adj. sweet, 5. 296 ; pi. 5. 
 
 2 74- 
 
 Swoune, r. swoon, faint, 4. 2x6; 
 Swovvncth, /))-. s. 7. 169. 
 
 Swough, Swow. See Swogh. 
 
 Swythe, adv. quickly, 5. 503 ; 9. 
 538 ; as suyike, as quickly as pos- 
 sible, 5. 623. 
 
 Syde, .■;. side, 3. 557. 
 
 Syghes, pi. sighs. 5. 246. 
 
 Syke, I pr. s. sigh, 22. 10; Syketh, 
 pr. s. 5. 404; pr. pi. 22. 62. 
 
 Syre, s. sire, master, 5. 12. 
 
 Sythe, pi. times, 7. 2:2. A. S. 
 sid.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 443 
 
 T. 
 
 Tabernacles, pi. tabernacles, 
 
 shrines, 9. 123, iigo. 
 Tables, s. //. draughts, 3. 51. 
 Taccepte, i. e. to accept, 23. 16. 
 Tache, s. defect, 15. 18. O. F. 
 
 tache, teche. See Tecches. 
 Tacorde, for To acorde, to agree, 
 
 I. 27. 
 Tak, imp. s. take ; tak kepe, take 
 
 heed,5. 5f)3; 17.26; Tak (she), 
 
 let (her) take, 5. 462 ; Taketh, 
 
 imp. pi. take, 4. 9, 21 ; 5. 543; 
 
 Take,//!, taken, 4.32; 17. 23; 
 
 brought, I. 20. 
 Tale, s. tale ; I gan fynde a tale to 
 
 him, I thought of something to 
 
 say to him, 3. 536. 
 Talle, adj. docile, obsequious, 4. 
 
 38. See note. 
 Tapite, v. cover with tapestry, 3. 
 
 260. 
 Targe, s. target, shield, defence, i. 
 
 176; shield, 7. 33. 
 Tassaile, for To assaile, ger. to 
 
 assail, 10. 40. 
 Tassaye, Jor To assay e, to try, 3. 
 
 346. 
 Tast, s. taste, relish for, 5. 160. 
 Tawajrte, i. e. to wait, 23. 7. 
 Taylage, s. taxation, Jo. 54. Lit. 
 
 ' taking by tally.' 
 Tecches, pi. characteristics, 9. 
 
 1 7 78. See Tache. 
 Telle, V. tell, compute, 3. 440 ; i 
 
 pr. s. Telle (no tale), account 
 
 (nothing), reckon (of no import- 
 ance), 5. 326 ; Telleth, imp. pi. 
 
 tell, 3- 555. 1135- 
 Temen, v. bring ; lemen ns on here, 
 
 bring us on our bier, let us die, y. 
 
 1744- A. S. tcman, tyman, to 
 
 bring forward (Schmid). 
 Tempest thee, imp. s. violently 
 
 distress thyself, I 2. 8. 
 Tempred, />/■. s. tempered, 5. 214. 
 Tendyte, /or To endyte, to com- 
 pose, write, 5. 167; 7. 9. 
 Tene, s. sorrow, grief, 7. 140, 168; 
 
 9- 3^7! vexation, I. 3. 
 Tenquere, /or To enquere, to ask, 
 
 I. 113. 
 
 Tente, s. tent, i. 9, 41. 
 
 Tercel, adj. male (of an eagle), 
 
 5- 393' 449 >' "s s. male eaele, 5. 
 
 405, 415 ; Tercels, pi. male, 5. 
 
 .540. See note to 5. 371. 
 Tercelet, 5. male f;ilcon, 5. 520, 
 
 533; Tercelets, /)/. male birds of 
 
 prey, 5. 659. 
 Teres,/)/, tears, 2. 10 ; 4. 8. 
 Terme, s. period, space of time, 
 
 3. 79 ; appointed time, 9. .^92. 
 Ternie-day, s. appointed day, 3. 
 
 730- 
 Termyne, v. express in ' good set 
 
 terms,' 5. 530. 
 Tescape, /or To escape, iS. .50. 
 Thalmighty, for The Almighty, 
 
 5- 379- 
 Thamendes, /or The amendes, the 
 
 amends, 3. 526. 
 Thanne, adv. then, 3. T191 ; Than, 
 
 I. 118 ; 2. 86; 3. 754; 5. 82 ; 
 
 next, 5. 324. 
 Thapocalips, for The Apocalypse, 
 
 9- 1385- 
 Thar, pr. s. impers. need ; him thar, 
 
 it is needful for him, I. 76; 3. 256. 
 
 A.S. />vrfaH ; pt. t. (as Y>T.)fe(irf. 
 Tharivaile, for The arivaile, the 
 
 arrival, the landing, 9. 451. 
 Tharmes,/or The armes, the arms, 
 
 armorial bearings, 9. 1411. 
 Thassay, for The assay, the en- 
 deavour, 5. 2. 
 That, rel. that which, 3. 635, 708 ; 
 
 which, 3. 979 ; conj. so that, 3. 
 
 566; 4. 135; as that, 3. 9.59; 
 
 That other, the other, 3. 634 ; 
 
 Thatoon, — that o//zer, the one, the 
 
 other, 3. 1290; 5. 143. 
 Thavision, for The avision, the 
 
 vision, 3. 285. 
 The, as in The bet, by so much the 
 
 better, 3. f.68 ; The las, by so 
 
 much the less, 3. 675. 
 The, pron. thee, 3. 598, 651. 
 Thee. v. prosper, thrive, 4. 267 ; 5. 
 
 569. A.S. />eo7i. 
 Theef, s. false wretch, 7. 161 ; 
 
 Theves, /)/. robbers, I. 15. 
 ThefFect, for The effect, the con- 
 sequence, result, 9. 5, 2017; the 
 
 matter, contents, 2. 56.
 
 444 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Themperour, for The emperour, 
 
 the emperor, 3. 368. 
 Then, cwv. than, 4. 235 ; 7. 297. 
 Thends, /or The ende, the end, 16. 
 
 45- 
 Thangendring, for The engen- 
 
 drhig, the process of production, 
 
 9. 96S. 
 Thengyne, for The engyne, the 
 
 (warlike) engine, 9. 1 934. 
 Thenken, ger. to think, 3. 100; 
 
 Thenketh, pr. s. 7. 105. A. S. 
 
 pencan. 
 Thenvyous, /or The envyous, the 
 
 spiteful, ninlicious, 3. 642. 
 Ther, adv. where, i. 145 ; 3. 501 ; 
 
 whereas, I. I19 ; Ther as, where, 
 
 3. 197; 4. 85; Ther so, even 
 
 there, 4. 1 15. 
 Ther-aboute, adv. concerned with 
 
 that matter, 9. 597. 
 Thsrbe, /or The erbe, the herb, 9. 
 
 2 no. 
 Therof, concerning that, 3. 1 132 ; 
 
 from that, 3. 1 166. 
 Therthe. /or The erthe, the earth, 
 
 5. 80. 
 Therto, adv. besides, moreover, 3. 
 
 704, 1006 ; 9. 998. 
 Ther-whyls, adv. for that time, i. 
 
 54- 
 Therwith, adv. withal, for all that, 
 
 3- 954- 
 
 Therwith-al, adv. at that, there- 
 with. 5. 405. 
 
 Theschewing, /or The eschewing, 
 the avoiding (of anything), 5. 
 140. 
 
 Theves, s.pl. robbers (lit. thieves), 
 I. 15. See Theef. 
 
 Thexecucion, for The execucion, 
 the execution, 11. 65. 
 
 Thewed. pp. ; wel tkewed, of good 
 thews, or habits, of good dis- 
 position, 4. 180. 
 
 Thewes,/i/. habits, morals ; 9. 1834. 
 A. S./>eaw. 
 
 Thilke, adj. that, 3. 785 ; 16. 23. 
 
 Thing, .s. /)/. things, 3. 349. 
 
 Thinketh, pr. s. impers. ; w;e 
 thinketh, it seems to me, 3. 547, 
 998. A.S. />yncan. 
 
 Thirleth, pr. s. pierces, 7. 211 ; 
 
 Thirled, pp. 7. 350. A. S'./yrlian, 
 
 pirlia?!. 
 This, /or this is, 5. 650; Thise,/)/. 
 
 these, 3. 817. 
 Tho, adv. then, 3. 234; 5. 29S ; 
 
 still, 3. 1054. A. S./«. 
 Tho, pi. those. 3. 914. A. S./a. 
 Thogh, adv. though, 4. 200 ; yet, 
 
 3. 670. 
 Thoghte, I p'. s. thought, 3. 448. 
 Thorgh./'re/). through, 5. 127, 129. 
 Thorpes,/)/, villages, 5. 350. 
 Thoughts, pt. s. impers. seemed, 2. 
 
 37 ; Thoghte, 3. 535, 1049. A. S. 
 puhte. 
 Threde, s. thread, 5. 267. 
 Thridde, orJ. third, 3. 214 ; 9.308. 
 Throng, pt. &. pressed, forced his 
 
 way, 7. 55. Pt. t. o( ihringen. 
 Throstel, s. throstle, song-thrush, 
 
 5- 364- 
 Throte, s. throat, 3. 945; Throtes, 
 
 /'/. 3. 320. 
 Throwe, s. a short space of time, a 
 
 little while, 2. 86; 7.93. A.S. 
 
 prng. 
 Thryes, thrice, 5. 61. 
 Thundringe, 5. thundering, thun- 
 der, 9. 1040. 
 Thuu'worthiest, the un worthiest, 
 
 22. 19. 
 1!h.nTgh.. prep, through, 1. 27, 32. 
 Thwyte, pr.pl. whittle, cut up for, 
 
 9. 193S. A.S. /u'itan. 
 Tid, pp. happened, 9. 255. Pp. of 
 
 fyden ; see Tydeth. 
 Tikelnesse, s. lack of steadiness, 
 
 instability. 12. 3. 
 Til, co'ij. until, till, 4. 59, 
 Tinned, pp. covered with tin, 9. 
 
 14S2. 
 Tipet, s. tippet, 9. 1841. 
 Tirannye, s. tyranny, 7. 66. 
 To, prep, for, 1. 184; hitn to, for 
 
 him, 3. 771 ; adv. too, 3. 796, 
 
 861 ; To that, until, 4. 239. 
 To-breketh, pr. s. is violently 
 
 broken, 9. 770 > To-broken, pp. 
 
 broken through, destroyed, 16. I. 
 To-breste, pr. s. snbj. may be 
 
 broken in twain, 1. 16. 
 Togedres, adv. together, 3. 809. 
 To-haugen, v. hung thoroughly,
 
 GLOSS A RIAL INDEX. 
 
 445 
 
 put to death by hanging, 9. 17S2. 
 
 See note. 
 Tok, pt. s. took, 4. 40 ; Toke, 2 pt. 
 
 ,v. tookest, 3. 483. 
 Tolde, I pt. s. counted, 9. 1380. 
 
 Pt. t. of tellen. 
 Tonge, s. tongue, 3. 930 ; Tonges, 
 
 pi. 4. 6. See Tunge. 
 Tonged, pp. tongued, 3. 927. 
 Tonne, s. tun, cask, wine-cask, 5. 
 
 104. 
 Took, pt. s. handed over, gave, 3. 
 
 48. See Tok. 
 Toon, pi. toes, claws, 9. 202S. 
 Top and tail, beginning and end, 
 
 9. 8 So. 
 Torche, s. torch, 3. 963. 
 To-rent, pp. torn in pieces, 5. 
 
 432. 
 To-shivered, pp. broken to pieces, 
 
 been destroyed, 5. 493. 
 To-torn, pp. torn to pieces, 5. 
 
 no. 
 Touche, I pr. s. touch on, sliglitly 
 
 indicate, 5. 285. 
 Tough, adj. hard, harsh, 3. 531. 
 Tour, s. tower, I. 154; 3. 946; 
 
 mansion (in astrology), 4. 113. 
 To-wonde, pt. s. gave way, became 
 
 broken, 4. 182. ' Hit al lo-wonde 
 
 to scifren,' it all went to shivers ; 
 
 Layamon, 1. 4537' Cf. A. S. ivan- 
 
 dian, to blench. 
 To-yere, adv. this year, 9. 84. 
 Trace, i pr. s. trace out, follow, 
 
 go. .^. 54- 
 
 Traiterie, .s. treachery, 9. 1812. 
 
 Traitour, s. traitor, 9. 267 ; Tray- 
 tour, 3. 1 120. 
 
 Transmutacioun, s. change, 11. 
 I ; Transmutaciouns, pi. 9. 1969. 
 
 Trappe, s. trap, snare, 17. 24. 
 
 Travaile, s. ' labour and sorrow,' 
 3. 602 ; work, motion, 11. 70. 
 
 Trayed, pt. s. betrayed, 9. 390. 
 
 Trayteresse, s. fein. traitress, 3. 
 620, 813. 
 
 Trecherye, s. treachery, trickery, 
 
 5- 347- 
 Tregetour, s. a juggler who used 
 mechanical contrivances. 9. 1277 ; 
 Tregetours, pi. 9. 1260. See 
 note to 9. 12G0. 
 
 Treson, s. treason, betrayal, 3. 
 
 1 122. 
 Tresor, .<;. treasure, wealth, 4. 256, 
 
 732 ; Tresore, 3. S54. 
 Tresorere, s. treasurer, r. 107 ; 
 
 19. 18. 
 Tresorie, s. treasury, 9. 524. 
 Trespas, s. trespass, fault, 4. 49. 
 Tretable, adj. tractable, inclinable, 
 
 3. 923 ; inclined to talk, 3. 533. 
 Trete, v. treat of, tell, 5. 34. 
 Tretee, s. treaty, 9. 453. 
 Trewe, adj. true, 3. 1287. 
 Trewely, adv. truly, certainly, 3. 
 
 33. 35- 
 Tributary, adj. tributary, subject, 
 
 3- 765- 
 Trompes, ge?i. s. trumpet's, 5. 
 
 344 
 Trompes, pi. trumpeters, 7. 30. 
 Trone, s. throne, 9. 1384, 1397. 
 Trouthe, s. truth, 2. 74. 
 Trow, I jr. s. believe, think, sup- 
 pose, 3. 269, 544 ; Trowe, 3. 
 
 1042 ; 5. 677 ; Trowest, 2 pr. s, 
 
 3- 651. 
 Trumpen, v. blow the trumpet, 9 
 
 1243 ; Trumpe, 9. 1629. 
 Trusteth, imp. pi. trust, believe, 9 
 
 66. 
 Tuel, s. pipe, slender chimney, 9 
 
 1649. O. F. tiiel ; Cotgrave ha; 
 
 tityari, a pipe. Of Teut. origin 
 
 cf. Dan. tjid, a spout. 
 Tunge, s. tongue, i. 128; 4. 72 
 
 Tunges, //. 4. 206. See Tonge 
 
 A. S. tii/ige. 
 Turned, pp. turned, at an end, 3 
 
 6S9. 
 Turtel, s. turtle-dove, 5. 355, 510, 
 Twelfte, adj. twelfth, 4. 1 39. A. S 
 
 twelfta. 
 Tweye, ntnn. two, i. 104 ; 3. 156 
 
 4. 70 ; Tweyjie, dal. 2. 76 ; 4, 
 95. A. S. twe-^en. 
 
 Twigges, //. twigs, 9. 1936, 1941 
 Twinkeling, s. twinkling, opening 
 
 and shutting (of the eye), 4. 222 
 Twinne, v. \ art ; twinne from his 
 
 wit. lose his mind, 7. 102. 
 Twist, j^T^. twis'.ed, 9. 775. 
 Tyde, s. time, 5. 97 ; on a tyde, 
 
 upon a time, 4. 51.
 
 446 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Tydeth, pr. s. betides, happens, 4. 
 
 202. 
 Tygres, />i. gen. tigers', 9. 1459. 
 Tyles, s. //. tiles, 3. 300. 
 Tymes, />/. times, 5. 283. 
 Tyraunt, s. tyrant, 5. 334. 
 
 U. 
 
 Unable, adj. wanting in ability, 14. 
 
 10. 
 Unbrenned, /!/). unburnt, 9. 173. 
 Uncomraitted, */>. not entrusted to 
 
 one, 5. 51S. 
 Unconning, adj. unskilful, 21. 
 
 75- 
 
 Undo, ger. unfold, reveal, 3. 899. 
 
 Unetlie, adv. scarcely ; wel nnethe, 
 scarcely at all, 9. 2041 ; Unethes, 
 with difficulty, 9. 900. A. S. nn-, 
 not ; vaS, easy. See Unnethe. 
 
 Unfamous, adj. lost to fame, for- 
 gotten by fame, 9. II46. 
 
 Uu-grobbed,/)/). not digged round, 
 10. 14. 
 
 Uuliappe, s. misfortune, 9. 89 ; 16. 
 29. 
 
 Un-korven, /)/:. uncut, untrimmed, 
 10. 14. 
 
 Unkynde, adj. unnatural, 5. 35S, 
 
 457- 
 Unkyndely, adv. unkindly, 9. 295. 
 Unkyndeuesse, s. unkindness, 7. 
 
 292. 
 Unmerie, adj. sad, 9. 74. 
 Unmete, adj. unfit, 21. 75. 
 Unnethe, adv. scarcely, 3. 712 ; 4. 
 
 128 ; 5. 201, 264, 314 ; 7. 135 ; 
 
 Unneth, 3. 270. Better imethe ; 
 
 see Unethe. 
 Unshette, /i/). not shut, 9. 1953. 
 Unswete, adj. bitter, dreadful, 9. 
 
 72. 
 Unto, con'], until, 5. 647. 
 Untressed, pp. with hair not done 
 
 up into tresses, 5. 2C)S. 
 Un"weiTinied, pp. u'lspotted, spot- 
 less, I. 91. A. S. ivciiiinan, to 
 
 stain. 
 Unwit, s. folly, 4. 271. 
 
 Unwys, adj. unwise, foolish, 17- 
 
 27- 
 Up. prep, upon, 3. 750. 922 ; 9. 
 
 1570 ; up with, 9. '1021 ; Up and 
 
 down, here and there, 4. 210 ; Up 
 
 so down, topsy-turvy, 14. 5. 
 Upbreyde, v. upbraid, reproach, 7. 
 
 118. 
 Upon, prep, concerning ; upon her 
 
 lye, tell lies about her, 3. 1023. 
 Upper, adv. cornp. higher, 9. 884, 
 
 961. 
 Uprist, pr. s. upriseth, 4. 4. 
 Upryght, adv. upright, 3. 622. 
 Usage, s. custom, habit, 5. 15. 
 Usaunce, s. custom, 5. 674. 
 
 Vache, s. cow, beast, 12. 22. The 
 
 reference is to a quadruped who 
 
 looks down to the earth ; see note 
 
 to 12. 19. 
 Valance, s. {possibly) sign of the 
 
 zodiac opposite the mansion of a 
 
 planet, 4. 145. See note. 
 Valey, s. valley, 3. 165 ; Valeye, 
 
 dat. 3. 155 ; 9. 1918 ; Videys,pl. 
 
 9. 899. ' 
 Venimous, adj. poisonous, I. 
 
 149. 
 Venquisht, pp. vanquished, i. 8. 
 Verdit, s. verdict, 5. 503, 525. 
 
 O. V. verdit. 
 Verrayly, adv. verily, truly, 2. 73. 
 Verray,ac(/. exact, 9. 1079 ! Verrey, 
 
 very, true, I. 21, 40, 105, 106. 
 Vers, s. verse, line, 5. 679 ; 9. 
 
 109S; pi. lines, 3. 463; 5. 124. 
 Vertu, s. mental faculty, 9. 550. 
 Veyn, adj. vain, i. 71. 
 Viages. /)/. travels, 9. 1962. 
 Vicaire, s. deputy, deputed ruler, 1. 
 
 '40; 5- 379- 
 Victor, s. as adj. of victory, 5. 
 
 1S2. 
 Vilanye, s. vileness, 9. 96. 
 Visage, .s. face, 3. 895. 
 Vitaile, s. victuals, 10. 38. 
 Voide, adj. solitary, 4. 114. 
 Vols, s. voice, I. 115. 
 Vouched, pi. s. vouthed ; vouched
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 447 
 
 &avf, vouched (as") safe, vouch- 
 safed, 1. 27, 57 ; 22. 47 ; Vouche- 
 sauf, 2/)r. />/. deign to give, 7. 254 ; 
 Voucheth sauf, imp. pi. vouch- 
 safe, 19. 8. 
 
 Vyce, s. vice, fault, 4. 261. 
 
 Vyne, s. vine, 5. 181. 
 
 W. 
 
 "Wages, pi. pay, recompense, 4. 
 
 244. 
 Wake, V. be awake, lie awake, 18. 
 
 27 ; Wake,/)r./)/. 5.689 ; Waked, 
 
 pp. kept wake, caroused, 3. 977- 
 Waker, adj. vigilant, 5. 358. See 
 
 note. 
 AATaking, s. watching, being awake, 
 
 3. 611. 
 Wal, ,^. wall, 9. 1343 ; 12. 12. 
 Walked, pp. having walked, 3. 
 
 3S7. See note. 
 Walshe-note, gen. walnut's, 9. 
 
 1 281. (Or perhaps a compound 
 
 sb., viz. ■wahheriole-shale.) 
 Wan, pt. s. won, 3. 267. 
 Wante, i pr. s. lack, have not, 5. 
 
 287; Wanten, 2pr.pl. are lack- 
 ing, 2. 76. 
 War, adj. aware ; was I lunr. I 
 
 noticed, saw, 5. 218, 29S ; I was 
 
 war, 3. 445. 
 Warde, .s. dat. ; on zuarde, into his 
 
 keeping, 3. 24S. 
 Warished, pp. cured, 3. 1104. 
 
 O. F. zvarir (V. guerir). 
 Warne, i'. reject, i. 11; 2 pr. s. 
 
 sitbj. give notice to, 9. 893. 
 Water-foul, s. pi. water-fowl, 5. 
 
 327, 504 ; Water-foules, 5. 554. 
 Waxe, V. grow, 3. 415 ; Waxen, 
 
 pp. become, 3. 414. 
 Wa^wes, pi. waves, 10. 21. 
 Wayte, imp. s. look out for, await, 
 
 Wedercok. .<;. weathercock, 15. 12. 
 "W eders, pi. storms, 5. 681. 
 Weep, pt. s. wept, 3. 107 ; 7. 
 
 138. 
 Wei, adv. certainly, 3. TI17 ; to be 
 
 wel, to be well off, 3. 845. 
 Welawey ! int. wellaway ! alas ! 7. 
 
 33S; 9- 318. 
 
 Welde, s. weld, the name of a 
 
 plant, 10. 17. See note. 
 Wele, s. weal, good, well-being, 3. 
 
 603 ; 4. 184. 
 Wele, adv. well, 3. 643. 
 Wel-faringe, pres. pt. good -look- 
 ing, 3- 452- 
 Welk, I jpt. s. walked, 5. 297. 
 Welken, s. heaven, sky, 3. 339, 
 
 343, 409 ; 9. i6oi ; Welkne, 11. 
 
 62. 
 Welle,.';, well, source, i. 126; 4. 
 
 75; 5-62. 
 Welle-stremes, pi. fountain - 
 
 streams, well-springs, 5. 187. 
 Welnigh, adv. well nigh, 4. 253. 
 Wenche, s. wench, woman, 9. 
 
 206. 
 Wende, v. go, 3. 67 ; 5. 48, 492 ; 
 
 pt. s. was going, 9. 298 ; pr. s. 
 
 siibj. may go, 5. 440. 
 Wenest, 2 pr. s. ihinkest, sup- 
 
 posest, 3. 744, 1138, 1306; 
 
 Wende, I pt. s. I thought, 5. 493 ; 
 
 Wende, pt. .v. weened, supposed, i. 
 
 93 ; 4. 248 ; 7. 96 ; Wenden, pt. 
 
 pi. 3. 867 ; Weninge, pres. pt. 9. 
 
 262. 
 Wenged. adj. winged, 9. 21 18. 
 Wente, pf. s. went, 3. 397. See 
 
 Wende. 
 Wente, s. footpath, 18. 69; dat. 
 
 3. 398 ; 9. 182. 
 Wepen, s. weapon, 1. 118. 
 Weping, s. weeping, 3. 600. 
 Were, 2 pt. s. wast, 1.50; li. 37 
 
 pt. s. S2ibj. would be, should be, 1 
 
 180; 5. 511 ; Wer, 21. 81 
 
 Wern, pt. pi. were, 3. 1 289 
 
 Weren, I pi.pl. subj. should be, 1. 
 
 I So. 
 Were. pr. s. subj. he may wear, 
 
 12. 7. 
 Were, s. doubt, 3. 1293; 9. 979. 
 
 Lowl. Sc. weir. 
 Were, s. weir, 5. 138. 
 Werkes, s. pi. deeds, actions, 3. 
 
 801. 
 Werne, v. deny, refuse, 9. 1 797 ; i 
 
 pr. s. 9. 1559 ' Werned, pi. s. 9. 
 
 1539. A. S. wyrnnn (Grein). 
 Werre, s. war, 3. 615 ; to werre, 
 
 in enmitv, I. 116. See note.
 
 448 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 "Werre, adv. worse, 3. 616. Icel. 
 
 verri. 
 Werreye, v. carry on war, fight, 
 
 10. 25. O. F. uerreier. 
 Wers, adj. comp. worse, 3. 1 1 18; 
 
 adv. 3. 814 ; Werste, superl. 
 
 worst, 3. 1 1 74. 
 "Wery, adj. weary, 3. 127. 
 Weste, ger. to draw near the west, 
 
 5. 266. 
 "Wete, adj. pi. wet, 4. 89. 
 "Wexe, V. grow, btcome, 3. 497 ; 5. 
 
 207,444; §'"0^,9.1391 ; Wexetli, 
 
 pr. s. 9. 1076 ; Wex, pt. s. 3. 
 
 1300; 4. 127; 5. 206; Wexeu, 
 
 ft. pi. grew, became, 3. 489. 
 "Wey, s. way, i. 75 ; Weyes, /■/. 3. 
 
 1272 ; by al weyes, in all things, 
 
 3. 1271. 
 Weyk, adj. weak, 7. 341. IceL 
 
 veikr. 
 "Weylaway ! inlerj. wellaway ! 3. 
 
 729- 
 "Weyve, v. reHnquish, waive, cast 
 
 aside, 7. 299 ; I pt: s. 7. 294. 
 Whan, conj. when, 3. 1236. 
 "What, whatever, 4. 170; 5. 6^4; 
 
 What . . . what, partly . . . partly, 
 
 5. 15; 9. 2058; What so, what- 
 ever, 2. 09. 
 "Wheel, s. orbit, 9. 1450 ; circle, 9. 
 
 794 ; Whele, wheel, 3. 644. 
 "Whelp, s. wlielp, 3. 389. 
 "Whennes, adv. wience, 16. 6. 
 "Wher, co'ij. whether, 3. 91, 417, 
 
 1 1 74 ; 5. 7, 166 ; 7. 1S2 ; y. 
 
 586; 21. Si. 
 Wherfor that, wherefore is it tliat, 
 
 why, 3, 10.^4, 1088; 5. 17. 
 "Wher-EO, adv. wliere-soever, 3. 10, 
 
 1 1 2, 783 ; whithersoever, 2. 102 ; 
 
 Wher that, wherever, 5, 172. 
 "Wher-through, adv. by means of 
 
 which, 3. I 20. 
 "Wherto, adv. for what purpose ? 3. 
 
 670. 
 Which a, what kind of a, what a, 
 
 3- 7.'.4> S95. 919; 9- 2034; 
 
 Wliiche, what sort of, what line, 
 
 3- 859. 
 Whider, adv. whitlier, i. 124. 
 Whippes, gen. whip's, 5. 178. 
 Whirle, v. turn, spin round, 5. 80. 
 
 "Who, proa, indef. one who, 3. 
 
 559; Whos, gen. whose, 4. 132. 
 "Whyl, conj. wliilst, 3. 11 24. 
 "Whyles, geu. s. as adv. while, 
 
 time; /he tvhyles, whilst, 3. 151. 
 "Whylom, adv. formerly, once, 4. 
 
 29. 
 "Whyte, adj.pl. white, 3. 1318. 
 Wight, s. man, person, I. 112 ; 2. 
 
 3; 3- 530; 4- "6; 5. 511 ; 7. 
 
 88 ; Wightes, p>l. beings, people, 
 
 men, 3. 579. 
 "Wight, s. weight, 9. 739 ; Wighte, 
 
 dat. 4. 99. 
 Wiket, s. wicket-gate, 9. 477. 
 "Wikke, adj. wicked, bad, 1. 44 ; 9. 
 
 349 ; 1 1. 47 ; poor, much alloyed, 
 
 9. 1346. 
 "Wil, I p)r. s. desire, wish for, 7. 
 
 244. 
 "Wildnesse, s. wilderness, 10. 34. 
 "Wille, s. will, I. 45, 57. 
 "Wilne, I pr. s. desire, 9. 1094 1 
 
 Wilnen, pr. /;/. 9. 1312 ; Wilned, 
 
 1 pt. s. 3. 1262. A.S. wilnian. 
 Wind-melle, .s. wind-mill, 9. 12S0. 
 Winges, //. wings, 5. 670. 
 "Winke, v. shut the eyes and so 
 
 sleep, fall asleep, 2. 109 ; I pr. s. 
 
 skep, 5. 48 2. 
 "Winter,//, years, 5. 473. 
 "Wirche, v. inf. in passive sem-e, to 
 
 be made, 9. 474. 
 "Wis, adv. surely, certaiiily, 3. 550, 
 
 683; 9. 576, 1067, 1819. A.S. 
 
 geiuis. 
 "Wisly, adv. surely, 5. 117 ; 7. 262, 
 
 287 ; 9. i860 ; 22. 72 ; 23. 4, 8. 
 "Wisse, ger. to teach, instruct, 9. 
 
 491, 2024 ; imp. s. direct, guide, 
 
 I. 155 ; 2 pr. s.subj. teach, 5. 74. 
 
 A. S. wi.^sian. 
 "Wiste, /.'. ,s-. knew, 3. 501 ; Wist, 
 
 pp. known, 9. 351, 1666. 
 "Wit, s. wisdom, 3. 898 ; mind, 3. 
 
 990, 992 ; feeling, 21. 106; 
 
 Wittes, pi. senses, 21. 98. 
 Wite, ger. to know, 2. 87 ; 3. 
 
 493; 2 pr. pi. 3. 16; 15. 20; 
 
 Witeth, ii}ip. pi. 21. 96. 
 "With, prep, by, 5. 248, 432. 
 "With-alle, adv. withal, 3. 1205. 
 "Withouten, prep, without, 3. 943.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 449 
 
 Wo, s. woe, sorrow ; vie is wo, I am 
 sorry, 3. 566, 573. 
 
 Wo, adj. sad, grieved, 3. 896, 1 192 ; 
 wretched, 2. 3. 
 
 Wode, s. wood, 3. 414 ; 5. 100. 
 
 Wode, adj. pi. mad, 9. 1809. See 
 Wood. 
 
 Wol, pr. s. desires, will?, I. 167 ; 
 will, 3. 559 ; Wolt, 2 pr. s. wilt, 
 I. 10 ; Wold, pt. s. would gladly, 
 wished to, 4. 124; god wolde, 
 would God ! 3. 665 ; Woidest, 2 
 pt. s. wouldst, 3. 561 ; Wold, pp. 
 willed, 18. II. 
 
 Womanhede, s. womanhood, 7. 
 299; 22. 65. 
 
 Wonder, s. as adj. a wonder, 
 strange, 3. 233 ; wonderful, won- 
 drous, 3. 61; 9. 674; as adv. 
 wondrously, 3. 344; 5. 241. 
 
 Wonder -most, adj. sup. most 
 wonderful, 9. 2059. 
 
 Wone, s. habit, custom, 9. 76 ; 22. 
 48. See Woon. 
 
 Woned, pt. s. dwelt, 3. 889 ; pp. 
 accustomed, 3. 150. 
 
 Woninge,s. dwelhng, abode, 1. 145. 
 
 Wonne, pp. won, 5. 105 ; gained, 
 i. e. approacl ed, 4. 31. 
 
 Wood, adj. mad, 3. 104 ; 4. 123; 
 9. 202; 21. 90. A. S. wdd. 
 
 Wood, s. woad, 10. 17. A. S. wad. 
 
 Wook, I pt. s. awoke, 5. 695. 
 
 Woon, s. dwelling, house, 9. 1166. 
 Cf. woanes, dwellings, Ancren 
 Riwle, p. 416 ; Woon, a.building, 
 P. PI. Crede, 1 7 2. [Read goone, 
 woone ?] 
 
 Woon, s. quantity, abundance, 3, 
 475. See Concise M.E. Diet. 
 
 Woot, pr. s. knows, 2, 30. See 
 W^ost. 
 
 Worcher, s. worker, maker, 4. 261. 
 
 Worcheth, />r. s. works, 3. 815. 
 
 Worching, s, working, influence, 
 
 Worde, dat. word, saying, 3. 1311. 
 Worldes, gen. of the world, 5. 53. 
 Worm-foul, s. birds which eat 
 
 worms, 5. 505. 
 Worship, s. praise, honour, 3. 
 
 1032, 1230, 1263 ; 4. 22 ; glory, 
 
 3- 630. 
 
 Worthe, ger. to become, 4. 248 ; 
 wel worthe, may good befall, 9. 53. 
 
 Wost, 2 pr. s. knowest, 3. 743 ; 9. 
 7.19 ; Wostow, for West thou, 
 knowest thou, 3. 11 52 ; 9. looo ; 
 Wot, I pr. s. know, I. 10. 
 
 Wounde, s. wound, i. 79; gen. 
 wound's, 9. 374 ; Woundes of 
 Egipte, pi. plagues of Egypt ; un- 
 lucky days so-called, 3. 1207. See 
 note. 
 
 Woundeth, pr. s. wounds, 6. 3. 
 
 Woxen, pp. grown, 9. 2082 ; 
 Woxe, become, 9. 1494. 
 
 Wrastling, s. wrestling, 5. 165. 
 
 Wrathed,/)/). made angry, 3.1 151. 
 
 Wrecche, s. unhappy being, 3. 
 577 ; Wrecches,/>/. wretches, 7.60. 
 
 W"reche, s. venge.ince, 16. 30. 
 
 Wreker, s. avenger, 5. 361. 
 
 Wringe, v. squeeze, force a way, 
 9. 21 10. 
 
 "Writ, pr. s. writeth, writes, 9. 973, 
 1385 ; Wrot, pt. s. wrote, I. 59 ; 
 Wiittn. pt.pl. 9. 1504 ; pp. written, 
 
 2. 43 ; Write, 5. 19. 
 Wroghte, pf. s. wrought, fashioned, 
 
 4. 259 ; Wrought, pp. made, born, 
 
 3- 90. 
 Wrong, s. ; had wrong, was wrong, 
 
 3. 1282. 
 
 Wrot, pt. s. wrote, I. 59. 
 Wroth, ocf/. angry, 5. 504; Wrothe, 
 
 pi. at variance, 3. 582. 
 Wrye, v. {better Wreye), betray, 4. 
 
 91. [Read deye, wreye, as in Ar. 
 
 and Ju.] 
 Wryen, v. turn aside, 3. 627. 
 Wyde, adj. pi. wide, 5. 154. 
 Wyf, s. woman, 3. 1037 ; ^^'f^' 3- 
 
 1082. 
 Wyle, s. wile, guile, 5. 215. 
 Wynde, v. wind, intertwine, 5. 
 
 671. 
 Wyse, s. wise, way, 1. 34; 3. 301, 
 
 1097. 
 Wyse, adj. wise, 21. 32 ; pi. as s. 
 
 wise people, 17. 20. 
 Wyte, V. blame, reproach, 7. no; 
 
 I pr. s. blame, 4. 270. A. S. 
 
 witan. 
 Wyte, s. blame, reproach, 7. 268. 
 
 A.S. wite. 
 
 Gg
 
 450 
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 Yaf, /./. s. gave, 3. 1269, 1273; 5. 
 
 274; 7- 195; I pi- s- 4- 167; 
 
 Yave, 2 pt. s. gavest, 16. 19. 
 Yates, pi. gen. gates', 9. 1301. 
 Y-he, pp. been, 9. 411, 1733. 
 Y-bete, pp. beaten, 9. 1041. 
 Y-blent, pp. blinded, deceived, 3. 
 
 647. 
 Y-blowe, pp. blown, 9. 1664; 
 
 bruited by fame, 9. 1 139. 
 Y-bore, pp. borne, 9. 590. 
 Y-bounden, pp. bound, 5. 268. 
 Y-brent, pp. burned, 9. 940. 
 Y-broke, pp. broken, 5. 282 ; 9. 
 
 770; Y-broken, 9. 765. 
 Y-caught, pp. caught ; she was 
 
 y-caugkt, the contagion of her 
 
 charms made itself felt (in me), 3. 
 
 838. 
 Y-cheyned, //i. chained, 17. 14. 
 Y-come, //. come, 7. 25 ; Y-comen, 
 
 9. 1074. 
 Y-crased, pp. cracked, broken, 3. 
 
 324- 
 Ydelnesse, s. idleness, 3. 602. 
 Y-do, pp. done, 3. 1236; finished, 5. 
 
 542- 
 Ydole, s. idol, 3. 626. 
 Ydrawe, pp. drawn, 7. 70. 
 Ye, 4. eye, 3. 184, 808, 981 ; 4. 
 
 39; 9. 291 ; regard, 5. 630; 
 
 Yen, ^/. 2. 18 ; 4. Ill ; 6. I. 
 Ye, adv. yea, 5. 52. 
 Yelowe, adj. yellow, 5. 186 ; 
 
 Yelow, 3. 857. 
 Yelownesse, s. yellowness, 19. 11. 
 Yerde, 5. rod, hence correction, 5. 
 
 640. 
 Yere, dat. year, 5. 23 ; Yeres, pi. 
 
 gen. years', 5. 67. 
 Yerne, v. yearn, 3. 1092. 
 Yerne, adv. eagerly, with interest, 
 
 5. 21 ; quickly, 5. 3 ; as y., very 
 
 eagerly, 9. 910. 
 Yeve, V. give, 5. 308 ; Yeven, 9. 
 
 1 1 1 2 ; Yeve, pr. s. subj. may give, 
 
 4. 154; Yeven, /i^ /)/. «/6;. would 
 
 give, 9. 1708; Yeve, imp. s. 3. 
 
 Ill ; Yeven, pp. devoted, 7. 111. 
 Yeving, s, giving, what one gives, 
 
 4. 230 ; Yevinge, bounty, 7. 44. 
 
 Y-falle, //). fallen, 2. 61 ; 3. 384. 
 Y-folowed, pp. followed, 3. 390. 
 Y-formed, pp. formed, created, 9. 
 
 490. 
 Y-founde, pp. found, 3. 378. 
 Y-founded, pp. founded, set on a 
 
 foundation, 5. 231 ; based, 3. 
 
 922. 
 Y-glased, pp. glazed, 3. 333. 
 Y-grave, pp. dug, dug out, 3. 164 ; 
 
 graven, 9. 1136. 
 Y-gret, pp. greeted, 3. 517. 
 Y-grounded, />/). grounded, 3. 921. 
 Y-hated, pp. hated, 9. 200. 
 Y-holde, pp. held, restrained, 9. 
 
 1286. 
 Yif, imp. s. give, 5. 1 19. 
 Yift, s. gift, 3. 247, 695. 
 Yis, adv. yes, 3. 526 ; 9. 706; (in 
 
 answer to a negative), 3. 1309. 
 Yit, adv. yet, notwithstanding, I. 
 
 46 ; 5. 165, 166. 
 Yive, V. give, 3. 242 ; pr. pi. 3. 
 
 695 ; Yive, pr. s. sabj. may (he) 
 
 give, 3. 683 ; 9. 83 ; Yiven, pp. 
 
 3. 765. See Yeve. 
 Y-knit, pp. joined, 21. 32. 
 Y-knowe, v. know, recognise, 9. 
 
 1336; PP- known, 3. 392 ; 7. 
 
 96. 
 Y-koud, pp. been able to know, 
 
 known well, 3. 666. 
 Y-laft, pp. left, 3. 792. 
 Yle, s. island, 9. 416, 440 ; 22. 12. 
 Yliche, adj. like, similar, 9. 1328. 
 Yliche,. nrfv. alike, equally, 3. 9, 
 
 803, 1288. 
 Y-lost, pp. lost, 9. 183. 
 Y-mad, pp. made, 9. 120. 
 Ymageries, pi. carved work, 9. 
 
 1 190, 1.304. 
 Y-marked, pp. set down, marked 
 
 out, planned, 9. 1103. 
 Y-ment, pp. intended, 9. 1742. 
 Y-met, pp. met, 3. 596. 
 Y-mused, pp. mused, reflected, 9. 
 
 12S7. 
 Y-nogh, adj. enough, sufficient, 3. 
 
 965 ; 5. 185 ; adv. enough, sufli- 
 
 ciently, 18. 65; 21. 13; Y-now, 
 
 adj. pi. 5. 233. 
 Y-nome, pp. taken, 5. 38. Pp. of 
 
 nimen.
 
 GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 451 
 
 Yond, adv. yonder, 4. 7 ; 9. 889. 
 Yore, adv. long ago, long, i. 150 ; 
 
 2. I ; 5. 476 ; yore agon, long 
 
 ago, 5- 17- 
 Youres, pron. poss. yours, 2. 113 ; 
 
 3. 1232. 
 
 Yow, dat. to you, 3. 1321 ; for 
 
 yourselves, 4. 17. 
 Y-preised, />/). praised, 9. 1577- 
 Yre, s. ire, anger, vexation, I. 30 ; 
 
 4. 132; 5. II ; 7. 50. 
 Y-ronge, pp. rung, told loudly, 9. 
 
 165=,. 
 
 Y-rouned, pp. whispered, 9. 2107. 
 
 Y-sayd, /)/). said, 3. 270. 
 
 Yse, 5. ice, 9. 11 30. 
 
 Y-see, V. see, i. 53 ; 9. 804 ; Y-se, 
 3. 205, 485 ; Y-seye, pp. 9. 1367. 
 
 Y-sent, pp. sent, 7. 113 ; 9. 984. 
 
 Y-served, pp. served, 9. 678. 
 
 Y-set, pp. set, placed, 5. 149. 
 
 Y-shewed, pp. shewn, made mani- 
 fest, 4. 181. 
 
 Y-songe, pp. sung, 9. 1397. 
 
 Y-sowen, /)/). sown, 9. 1488. 
 
 Y-spronge, />/>. sprung, divulged, 
 9. 2081. 
 
 Y-stalled, pp. set in a seat, in- 
 stalled, 9. 1364. 
 
 Y-strawed, /)/>. strewn, bestrewn, 3. 
 
 629. 
 Y-strike, pp. struck, 6. 34. 
 Y-taught, /)/). taught, 11. 12. 
 Y-thewed, pp. ; wel y-thewed, of 
 
 good thews or customs, 5. 47. 
 Y-throwe, pp. thrown, cast out, 2. 
 
 89. 
 Y-turned, pp. turned, 3. 446. 
 Yvoire, 5. ivory, 3. 946. 
 Y-waxe, pp. grown, become, 3. 
 
 1275- 
 Y-went, pp. gone, 9. 976. 
 Y-whet, /!/>. whetted, 7. 212. 
 Ywis, adv. certainly, truly, 3. 657 ; 
 
 5.6; 9. 326. 
 Y-wonne, pp. won, 9. 456, 505. 
 Y-worthe, pp. become, 3. 579. 
 Y-writen, pp. written, 5. 1 24. 
 Y-wroken, pp. avenged, 16. 26. 
 
 Pp. of vjreken. 
 Y-wrought, pp. made, constructed, 
 
 5. 305 ; shaped, 5. 418; wrought, 
 
 9. I2q8; Y-wroght, depicted, 3. 
 
 327; Y-wroghte, /)/)./)/. fashioned, 
 
 5- 123- 
 Y^-wryen, pp. covered over, 3. 628. 
 A. S. wrihan. 
 
 G cr 2
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES, &c. 
 
 N.B. — Some of the names are commented on in the Notes. 
 
 Achate, Achates, 9. 226. 
 Achilles, 3. 329, 1066; 5. 290; 
 
 9. 398, 1463. 
 Achitofel, Ahitophel, 3. 11 18. 
 Adam, 9. 970. 
 
 Adrastus, king of Argos, 7. 61. 
 Adriane, Ariadne, 9. 407. 
 African, Scipio Africanus Major, 5. 
 
 41. 44. 52, 96, 107, 120, 153; 
 
 Affrican, 3. 287. 
 Afrik, Africa, 5. 37. 
 Albioun, Albion, 19. 22. 
 Alcipyades, Alcibiades, 3. 1057. 
 Alcyone, Alcyone (or, in a worse 
 
 form, Halcyone), 3. 65, 76, 145, 
 
 1327; Alcione, 3. 196, 220, 264. 
 Alexander, 9. 915, 1413 ; Ali- 
 
 saunilre, 3. 1060. 
 Aleyn, Alanus de Insulis, Alein 
 
 Ueliile, 5. 316. 
 Alisaundre, Alexandria, 3. 1026. 
 Amphiorax, Amphiaraus, 7. 57. 
 Anchises, 9. 168, 171, 442. 
 Anelida, 7. 11, 49, 198, 204, 
 
 349- 
 Anteclaudian, the ' Anticlaudi- 
 
 anu-,' a Latin poem of Alanus de 
 
 Iiisulis. 9. yS6. 
 Anthenoi', Antcnor, 3. 1 1 19. 
 Antilegius, Antilochus iniitahen 
 
 for Archilochus, 3. 1069. 
 April, 4. 139. See Averill. 
 Arabye, Arabia, 3. 982. 
 Aragon, Arragon, 9. 1248. 
 Arcite, 7. 11, 49, 349. 
 Argus, Algiis 3. 435. See note. 
 Ariones harpe, the constellation 
 
 Lyra, 9. 1005. Sec Orion. 
 Aristotile, Aristotle, 9. 759. 
 
 Ascanius, 9. 178. 
 Asye, Asia, 9. 1339. 
 Athalantes doughtres, the con- 
 stellation of the Pleiades, 9. IO07. 
 
 See note. 
 Athalaunte, Atalanta, 5. 286. 
 Athalus, Attains, fabled inventor 
 
 of chess, 3. 663. See note. 
 Athenes, Athens, 9. 1845; Athenis, 
 
 9. 388. 
 Atiteris (^possibly Tyrtaeus), 9. 
 
 1227. 
 Auflfrike, Africa, 9. 1339; Auf- 
 
 frykes, gen. 9. 431. 
 Aurora, name of an 'allegorised 
 
 History of the Bibl,e,' by Petrus 
 
 de Riga, of Rhcinis, 3. 1169. See 
 
 note. 
 Ave Marie, Ave Maria, short 
 
 prayer to the Virgin, I. 104. 
 Averill, April, 7. 309. See April. 
 
 Babiloyne, Babylonia, Babylon, 3. 
 
 1061. 
 Bachus, Bacchus, 5. 275. 
 Ballenus, 9. 1273. See note. 
 Bathe, wyf of, wife of Bath, i.e. 
 
 Chaucer's Prologue to the Wife of 
 
 Bath's Tale, 17. 29. 
 Bellona, 7. 5. 
 Biblis, Bybl'is, 5. 2S9. 
 Boece, Boethius, 8. 2 ; 9. 972. 
 Bret, Briton, Welshman, 9. 1208. 
 
 See note. 
 Briseida, Briseis, 9. 398. 
 Brutes, gen. of Brut, of Brutus, 19. 
 
 22. See note. 
 Bukton, 17. 1.
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 453 
 
 Caliope, Calliope, 9. 1400. 
 Calipsa, Calypso, 9. 1272. 
 Calixte, C.illisto, 5. 2S6. 
 Campaneus, Capaneus, 7. 59. 
 Candace, Canace (of Ovid, He- 
 
 roides 11.), or else queen Candace, 
 
 5. 288 ; 15. 16. See notes. 
 Carrenare, gulf of the Carnaro, or 
 
 Quarnaro, in the Adriatic, 3. 
 
 1029. 
 Cartage, Carthage, 3. 732, 1062 ; 
 
 5. 44; 9. 224, 236. 
 Cassandra, 3. 1246. 
 Castor, Polux, the constellation 
 
 Gemini, 9. 1006. 
 Cataloigne, Catalonia, 9. 1248. 
 Ceres, 5. 276. 
 Chiron, 9. 1206. 
 Cimerie, Cimmerii, 9. 73. 
 Cipris, Cypris, Venus, 9. 518 ; 
 
 Cipryde, 5. 277. 
 Circes, Circe, 9. 1272. 
 Cirrea, Cirra, near Delphi, 7. 17. 
 Cithe, Scythia, 7. 23; Cithia, 7. 
 
 37- 
 Citherea, Cytherea, 5. 113. 
 Clare, St. Clara or Clare, 9. 1066. 
 Claudian, Claudius Claudianus, 9. 
 
 449- 1509- 
 Cleopatra, Cleopatra, 5. 291. 
 Colle, proper name of a juggler, 9. 
 
 1277. 
 Corinne, Corinnus, 7. 21. See 
 
 note. 
 Creon, Creon, 7. 64. 
 Creseide, Cressida, 15. 16. 
 Cresus, Croesus, 9. 105. 
 Creusa, 9. 175, 183. 
 Crist, Christ, 9. 271, 492. 
 Cupido, Cupid, 9. 137, 618, 668 ; 
 
 Cupyde, 5. 652 ; 16. 22. 
 Cylenius, Cyllenius, Mercury, 4. 
 
 144; get- 4- "3- 
 
 Dalida, Delilah, 3. 738; 15. 16. 
 Dares Frigius, Dares Phrygius, 
 
 3. 1070; Dares, 9. 1467. 
 Daunte, Dante, 9. 450. 
 Decembre, December, 9. 63, ill. 
 Dedalus, Daedalus, 3. 570 ; 9. 919; 
 
 Dedali, gen. 9. 1920. 
 
 Deiphebus, Deiphobus, 9. 444. 
 Demophon, Demophoon, 3. 728 ; 
 
 9. 38S. 
 Diane, Diana, 5. 281. 
 Dido, 5. 289; 9. 241, 254, 287, 
 
 444. See Dydo. 
 Diogenes, 10. 35. 
 Duche, adj. German, 9. 1234. 
 Dyanira, Deianira, 9. 402. 
 Dydo, Dido, 3. 732. See Dido. 
 
 Eacides, gen. of Aeacides, Achilles 
 
 (grandson of Aeacus), 9. 1206. 
 Ebrayk, Hebrew, 9. 1433. 
 Eclympastere, 3. 167. See note. 
 Ecquo, Echo, 3. 735. 
 Ector, Hector, 3. 328, 1165. 
 Egipte, Egypt, 3, 2S1, 1207. 
 Eleanor, 9. 516. See note. 
 Eleyne, Helen, 3. 331 ; 5. 291. 
 Elicon, Helicon, 7. 17 ; 9. 522. 
 Elye, Elijah, 9. 588. 
 Emelye, Emily, 7. 38. 
 Eneas, Aeneas, 3. 733; 9.165, 175, 
 
 217, 286, 293, 427, 434, 440, 
 
 452, 461. 
 Eneidos (i.e. Aeneidos liber), 
 
 Aeneid, 9. 378. 
 English, the English tongue, 7. 9 ; 
 
 18.80; hence command of words, 
 
 3. 898. 
 Enok, Enoch, 9. 588. 
 Enone, Oeiione, 9. 399. 
 Eolus, Aeolus, 9. 203, 1571, 1586, 
 
 1602, 1719, 1764, 1769, 1789, 
 
 1800, 2120. 
 Ercules, Hercules, 3. 1058 ; 5. 
 
 288 ; 9. 402. See Hercules. 
 Ermony, Armenia, 7. 72. 
 Europe, 9. 1339. 
 
 Flora, 3. 402. 
 
 Fraunce, France, 5. 677; 18. 82. 
 
 Fryse, Friesland, 17. 23. 
 
 Gabrielles, gen. Gabriel's, i. 115. 
 Galien, Galen, 3. 572. 
 Ganymede, 9. 589. 
 Gaufride, Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 9. 1470.
 
 454 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Geffrey, Geoffrey, the poet's name, 
 
 9- 729- 
 Geuelon, Ganelnn, 3. 11 21. 
 Glascurion, G'.afgerion, 9. 1208. 
 Graunson, 18. 82. See note. 
 Grace, Greece, 3. 1081 ; 7. 53. 
 Grek, Greek, 3. 667 ; 9. 152 ; 
 
 Grekes, pi. 3. I167; 9. 1479 ; 
 
 gen. pi. 9. 186. 
 Guido de Columpnis, Guido 
 
 delle Colonne, 9. 1469. 
 Gyle, St. Aegidius, Giles, 9. 1183. 
 
 Hercules, 9. 141 3. See Ercules. 
 Herenus, gen. pi. of the Furies, 2. 
 
 92. See note. 
 Hermes, Hermes Trismegistus, 9. 
 
 1273- 
 Hester, Esther, 3. 987. 
 
 lame, St. Jamef, 9. 885. 
 
 lason, Jason, 3. 330, 727; 9.400, 
 
 401. 
 Icarus, 9. 920. 
 lewerye, kingdom of the Jews, 9. 
 
 1436. 
 lewes, /)/. gen. Jews', 9. 1434. 
 Ilioun, Ilioa (citadel of Troy), 3. 
 
 124819.158. See note 109. 158. 
 Inde, India, 3. 889. 
 loab, Joab, 9. 1245. 
 lohan, St. John, 3. 1319 ; John, 5. 
 
 451 ; 9- 1385- 
 
 lole, lolc, 9. 403. 
 loseph, Joseph, 3. 280. 
 losephus, Josephus, 9. 1433. 
 loves, Jove, Jupiter, 9. 219, 586, 
 
 597) 630, 661, 1041, 2007. 
 Ipolita, Hippolyta, 7. 36. 
 Ipomedon, Hippomedon, 7. 58. 
 Isaye, Isaiah, 9. 514. 
 Isidis, Isis, 9. 1S44. 
 Isiphile, Hypsipyle, 9. 400. 
 Isoude, Isolt, Ysolt, 5. 290 ; Isaude, 
 
 9. 1796. See note to 5. 288. 
 Itaile, Italy, 9. 147, 187, 196, 298, 
 
 430, 433, 452. 
 lulius, Julius Caesar, 9. 1502. 
 Tulo, (Ascanius) lulus, 9. 177. See 
 
 note. 
 lulyan, St. Julian, 9. 1022. 
 
 luno, Juno, 3. 109, 129, 132, 187, 
 
 243; 7- 51 ; 9- 198,461- 
 
 lupiter, Jupiter, 9. 215, 464, 591, 
 609, 642, 955 ; lo. 57 ; lupiteres, 
 gen. 9. 199. 
 
 Kent, 9. 1 131. 
 
 Laborintus, the labyrinth of Dae- 
 dalus, 9. 192 1. 
 
 Lamedon, Laomedon, 3. 329. 
 
 Lamek, Lamech, 7. 150; La- 
 mekes, gen. 3. 1162. 
 
 Latin, ad]. Latin, 9. 1483 ; the 
 Latin tongue, 7. 10. 
 
 Latine, Latinus, 9. 453. 
 
 Lavyne, Lavinia, 3. 331 ; Lavyna, 
 9- 45S. 
 
 Lavyne, Lavinium, 9. 148. 
 
 Leonard, St. Leonard, 9. 117. 
 
 Lete, Lethe, 9. 71. 
 
 Libye, Libya, 9. 488. 
 
 Lollius, 9. 146S. See note. 
 
 Longius, I. 163, See note. 
 
 Lucan, 9. 1499. 
 
 Lucresse, Lucretia, 7. 82 ; Lucrece, 
 3. 1082. 
 
 Lyde, Lydia, 9. 105. 
 
 Lymote, Elymas (?), 9. 1274. See 
 note. 
 
 Maeedo, the Macedonian, 9. 915. 
 
 Macedoyne, Macedonia, 3. 1062. 
 
 Macrobeus, Macrobius, 3. 284; 
 Macrobie, 5. 11 1. 
 
 Marcia {ivrongly made fern.), Mar- 
 syas, 9. 1 229. 
 
 Marcian, Martianus Minneus Felix 
 Capella, satirist of the fifth cen- 
 tury, 9. 985. 
 
 Marie, Mary, the Virgin, 9. 573. 
 
 Mars, 4. 25, 75, 77, 78, 90, 92, 
 123, 148;" 7. I, 31,355 ; Martes, 
 gen. 9. 1446. 
 
 Massinisse, Masinissa, 5. 37. 
 
 May, May, 3. 29T. 
 
 Medea, 3. 330, 726 ; 9. 401, 1271. 
 
 Mercure, Meicury, 9. 429. 
 
 Messenus, Mismus, 9. 1243. 
 
 Michelnesse, Michaelmas, 16. 19.
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 455 
 
 Minerva, 3. 1072. 
 Moises, Moses, i. 89, 93. 
 Morpheus, Morpheus, 3. 136, 167, 
 242, 265. 
 
 Nabugodonosor,Nebuchadnezzar, 
 
 9. 515- 
 Narcisus, Narcissus, 3. 735. 
 Nembrot, Ninirod, 10. 59. 
 Ninive, Nineveh, 3. 1063. 
 
 Octovien, Octavian, 3. 368. See 
 
 note. 
 Oise, the river Oise, 9. 1928. 
 Olivere, Oliver, 3. 1123. 
 Omere, Homer, 9. 1466, 1477. 
 Orion, Arion, 9. 1205. 
 Orpheus, 3. 569; 9. 1203. 
 Ovyde, Ovid, 3. 56S ; 9. 379, 
 
 1487 ; his Epistle {Her. vii.), 9. 
 
 379- 
 
 Palinurus, 9. 443. 
 
 Fallas, 7. 5. 
 
 Pan, the silvan deit}', 3. 512. 
 
 Paris, son of Priam, 3. 331 ; 5. 
 
 290 ; 9- 399- 
 Parnaso, Parnassus, 7. 16 ; 9. 521. 
 Parthonopee.Parthenopaeus, 7. 58. 
 Penelope, 3. 1081 ; 7. 82. 
 Peter, by saint Peter ! 9. 1034, 
 
 2000. 
 Pharo, Pharaoh, 9. 516 ; gen. 3. 
 
 282. 
 Phebus, Phoebus, 4. 27, 81, 88, 
 
 140 ; gen. 4. 114. 
 Phedra, Phae^lra, 9. 419. 
 Pheton, Phaethou, 9. 942. 
 Phillis, Phyllis, 9. 390 ; Phyllis, 3. 
 
 728. 
 Pictagoras, Pythagoras, 3. 1 167; 
 
 Pithagores, 3. 667. 
 Piramus, Pyramus, 5. 289. 
 Pirrus, Pyrrhus, 9. 161. 
 Pius Eneas, pius Aeneas, 9. 1485. 
 Platon, Plato, 9. 759 ; Plato, 9. 
 
 931- 
 Pleynt of Kynde, Alanus de In- 
 sulis' book, ' Planctus Naturae,' 5. 
 316. 
 
 Pluto, 9. 15 1 1. 
 Politea, son of Priam, 9. 160. 
 Polixena, Polyxena, 3. 1071. 
 Poljrmia, Polyhymnia, 7. 15. 
 Pompe, Ponipey, 9. 1502. 
 Priamus, Priam, 3. 328 ; Priam, 
 
 9- 159- 
 Priapus, 5. 253. 
 Proserp3rne, Proserpine, 9. 15 11. 
 Pruyse, Prussia, 3. 1025. 
 Pseustis, {possibly) Thespis, 9. 
 
 1228. 
 
 Reynes, Rermes in Brittany, 3. 255. 
 Eomain, s. Roman, 3. 10S4. 
 Eomaunce of the Rose, Romance 
 
 of the Rose, 3. 334. 
 Rome, 3. 1063 ; 9. 1930. 
 Romulus, 5. 292 ; 9. 589. 
 Rowland, Roland, 3. 1123. 
 
 Sampson, Samson, 3. 738. 
 Sathanas, Satan, 17. 10. 
 Saturne, Saturn, 9. 1449. 
 Sattirnyne, adj. belonging to Sa- 
 turn, 9. 1432. 
 Scipioun, Scipio Africanus Minor 
 
 5- 31, 36, 71, 97; 9- 514; 
 
 Scipioii, 3. 286 ; Scipio, 9. 916. 
 Scogan, 16. 13, 20, 25, 36, 43, 47. 
 Semyramus, Semiramis, 5. 288. 
 Sesiphus, Sisyphus (but meant for 
 
 Tityus), 3. 5S9. See note. 
 Seys, Ceyx, 3. 63, 75, 220, 229, 
 
 1327 ; ge>^- 3- 142- 
 
 Sibyle, (the Cumaean) Sibyl, 9. 
 
 439- 
 Silla, Scylla, 5. 292. See note. 
 Simon Magus, 9. 1274. 
 Socrates, 3. 717 ; 11. 17. 
 Spaine, Spain, 9. 11 17. 
 Stace, Statins, 7. 21 ; 9. 1460. 
 Synoun, Sinon, 9. 152. 
 
 Tantale, Tantalus, 3. 709. 
 Tartarye, Tartary, 3. 1025. 
 Tewnes, Tunis, 3. 210. 
 Theban, adj. s. Theban, 7. 85. 
 
 Thebans, adj. pi. 7. 60. 
 Thebes, 4. 245 ; 7. 53 ; 9. 1461.
 
 456 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Theodomas, Thiodomas {Statins, 
 
 bk. viii.), 9. 1245. 
 Theseus, 7. 22, 45; 9. 405. 
 Tholosan, of Toulouse (applied 
 
 wrongly to Statius), 9. 1460. 
 Thomas, St. Thomas a Beket, 9. 
 
 1131. 
 Tisbe, Thisbe, 5. 289. 
 Trace, Thrace, 7. 2 ; 9. 391, 1572, 
 
 1585, 1789. 
 Tristram, Tristan, 5. 290. 
 Triton, 9. 1596, 1604. 
 Troilus, 5. 291 ; 8. 2. 
 Troyan, adj. Trojan, 9. 207. 
 Troyanisshe, adj. Trojan, 9. 201. 
 Troye, Troy, 3. 1066, 11 20, 1248; 
 
 9- 152. 155, 326, 1472 ; Troy, 9. 
 
 1 46. 
 Troyens, pi. Trojans, 9. 156. 
 Tubal, Tubal (Chaucer's error for 
 
 Jubai), 3. 1 162. 
 Tullius, TuUy, M. Tullius Cicero, 
 
 5. 31 ; gen. 16. 47. 
 Turkye, Turkey, 3. 1026. 
 Turnus, 9. 457, 516. 
 Tydeus, 7. 57. 
 Tytus Livius, Titus Livius, Livy, 
 
 3. 1084. 
 Tytus, for Dite, i. e. Dictys Cre- 
 
 tensis, 9. 1467. 
 
 Valence, probably Valence, near 
 Lyons, France, 5, 272. 
 
 Valentyn, St. Valentine, 5. 683 ; 
 
 Valentyne, 4. 13 ; Valentynes, g'CM. 
 
 5-309. 322, 386. 
 Venus, 4. 26, 31, 43, 46, 77, 89, 
 
 113, 136, 141,143, 146; 6- 261 ; 
 
 9. 162, 219, 465, 618; gen. 4. 
 
 84. 145; 5- 351; 9- 1487; the 
 
 planet, 4. 2. 
 Venyse, Venice, 9. 1348. 
 Virgile, Vergil. 9. 378, 449, 1483; 
 
 Virgilius, 9. I 244. 
 Vulcano, Vulcan, 9. 138. 
 
 "Walakye, Wallachia, 3. 1024. 
 Watlinge Strete, name of the 
 
 Milky Way, 9. 939. See note. 
 "Whyte, White, i. e. Blauiiche, 3. 
 
 948. 
 
 Xristus, for Christus, Christ, i. 
 161. 
 
 Ynde, India, 4. 246. 
 Ypocras, Hippocrates, 3. 572. 
 Ysaac, Isaac, i. 169. 
 
 Zacharie, Zechariah, i. 177. 
 Zephirus, Zephyrus, Zephyr, 3. 
 402.
 
 INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS 
 EXPLAINED IN THE NOTES. 
 
 The more difficult words are explained in the Glossary; but some are 
 further commented on in the Notes. Such words are entered in the 
 following Index, and are printed in italics. The Index to the Proper 
 Names should also be consulted. In the present Index the numbers refer 
 to the pages. 
 
 a (one), 387. 
 
 able, 229. 
 
 abrayd, 242 ; abreyd, 327. 
 
 accioun, 224. 
 
 Adamant, 291. 
 
 advocat, 227. 
 
 Alanus de Insulis, 254, 297, 298, 
 
 299, 300, 301, 303, 345, 375. 
 Albion, 397. 
 Alcabitius, 278. 
 Alcyone, 236, 237. 
 Alexander's flight, 342. 
 Anticlaudinnus, 345, 375. 
 Archilochus, 266. 
 Argus, Algus, 249, 250. 
 Arion, 348. 
 ascendent, 353. 
 assyse, grete, 225. 
 Astrolabe, Chaucer's, 278, 280, 
 
 341- 
 atake, 276. 
 Atalanta, 295. 
 Athalus, 256. 
 Atlas, 345. 
 Aurora, 270. 
 avowe, 239. 
 awhaped, 318. 
 axeth, 382. 
 
 babewinnes, 347. 
 Ballenus, 353. 
 Barbour, 365. 
 Beard, to make a, 338. 
 behelde, infin., 315. 
 belle, 272 
 
 beste, 382. 
 
 bet, go, 239. 
 
 hihytide, 403. 
 
 biles, 341, 342. 
 
 bille, 227, 232. 
 
 Blaunche, 259, 261, 272. 
 
 blewe, 274. 
 
 Blue (for constancy), 316, 387. 
 
 Boccaccio, 292, 293, 294, 296, 
 
 310, 311, 312, 314, 315, 321, 
 
 328, 338, 346. 
 Boethius, 25S, 259, 266, 303, 321, 
 
 334. 340. 342, 344. 365, 370. 
 
 373. 374. 375. 376, 377. 378, 
 
 379. 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 
 
 3b6. 
 borwe, to, 274. 
 boteler, 336. 
 brede, 350. 
 Bret, 348. 
 brotelnesie, 388. 
 brouke, 330. 
 Brutus, 397. 
 Buck, names of the, 249. 
 Bukton, 391. 
 but if, 225. 
 
 h, 339- 
 
 byW {by our), 252, 255. 
 
 cadence, 337. 
 Calendars, 226. 
 Callisto, 295. 
 Candace, 296, 388. 
 carbuncle, 356. 
 Carole, 260.
 
 45« 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS EXPLAINED. 
 
 Carrenare, 264. 
 
 castel, long, 272. 
 
 cave, 277, 278. 
 
 Caxton, 369. 
 
 Ceyx, 236, 239. 
 
 charge, sb., 339. 
 
 Chaucer, his early passion, 236 ; his 
 
 occupations, 337 ; his wife, 335. 
 Chatinte-pleiire , 319. 
 cheest, 306. 
 
 Chess, 254, 255, 256, 257. 
 chevaiiche, 279. 
 Chiron, 34S. 
 choppen, 364. 
 Chough, 299. 
 Ckristiis, written ' Xpc,' 22S. 
 Cicero, 2S:, 390. 
 Cipris, 333 ; Cipride, 295. 
 citizeiu, 343, 345. 
 Clare, St., 347. 
 clarre, 371- 
 Claudian, 332, 360. 
 clow, 361. 
 Cock, 300. 
 Colle, 354. 
 colour, taider, 232. 
 Colours, meaning of, 387. 
 com, 304 ; come, subj., 238. 
 compos, 341. 
 
 Complexions, four, 326. 
 Constellations, 345. 
 corbeltes, 355. 
 Corinne, 312. 
 comes, 338. 
 corseynt, 327. 
 cover cle, 340. 
 crampisske/h, 317- 
 areature, 400. 
 crocke, 382. 
 
 Croesus, dream of, 327. 
 Cro'w, 302. 
 Cyllenius, 277, 279. 
 
 Dalida, 388. 
 
 Dante, 260, 28S, 289, 290, 292, 
 312, 318, 324, 327, 332-336, 
 337, 339, 342, 343, 34^, 347- 
 350, 352, 357. 35S, 360, 365, 
 367, 388. 
 
 Dares, 266, 358, 359. 
 
 day, natural, 277. 
 
 Deadly Sins, Seven, 224. 
 
 debonaire, 223. 
 
 deed and dolven, 242. 
 Deguileville, De, 223. 
 Depression, 277. 
 derk, 278. 
 
 Deschamps, 396, 398. 
 desespeired, 399. 
 despitous, 402. 
 Dictys. 358, 359. 
 dismal, 270. 
 divisionn, 284. 
 dome, as to my, 403. 
 doth me dye, 229. 
 doucet, 349. 
 Drake, 301. 
 draught, 255. 
 Dreams, 289, 325. 
 dreint, 242. 
 Dryden, 237. 
 drye se, 263. 
 dryve away, 236. 
 dyte, 404. 
 
 Eagle, 29S. 
 Eclympasleyre, 241. 
 Egyptian days, 271. 
 Eleanor, 333. 
 eld, 395- 
 
 Elements, four, 339. 
 Elijah, 336. 
 embosed, 246. 
 Enoch, 336. 
 envye, to, 242. 
 envyen, 351. 
 Erinnyes, 233. 
 erme, 238, 239. 
 errojir, 291, 3S9. 
 estaat, 231. 
 ever in oon, 229. 
 Exaltation, 277. 
 eyrisske, 343. 
 
 Fable ; crock and the wall, 382. 
 
 face, 281. 
 
 fare, sb., 338. 
 
 faucon, 298. 
 
 favour, 333. 
 
 fers, 255, 257, 258. 
 
 Fieldfare, 302. 
 
 Jiees, 372. 
 
 for, 306. 
 
 forloyn, 248. 
 
 formel, 302. 
 
 forpampred, 370.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS EXPLAINED. 
 
 459 
 
 fors, no, 309, 376. 
 fot-hool, 247. 
 foudre, 334. 
 founde, 318. 
 free, 224. 
 
 French song, 37$. 
 
 Friesland, 391. 
 
 Froissart, 234, 241. 
 froit, 367. 
 
 galantine, 371. 
 
 galaxy e, 343. 
 
 Ganymede, 336. 
 
 Gaunt, John of, 251, 259. 
 
 geaunt, 299. 
 
 Gemini, 277, 278. 
 
 gendres, 325. 
 
 Genelon, 268. 
 
 gentilesse, 384. 
 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth, 359. 
 
 Giles, St., 347. 
 
 girt, 277. 
 
 Glasgerion, 349. 
 
 gnodded, 371. 
 
 0-0 walked, 248. 
 
 Golding's Ovid, 237, 238, 239, 
 
 240, 252, 
 golee, 305. 
 Goose, 301. 
 governeresse, 227. 
 Gower, 237, 239, 241, 244, 250, 
 
 262, 274, 306, 314, 315, 329, 
 
 331, 341,343, 344, 3'53, 365- 
 Graunson, 395. 
 Green (for inconstancy), 317. 
 grete, the, 285. 
 Grisel, 390. 
 Guido de Colonna, 266, 358, 
 
 359, 360. 
 
 hahitacles, 348. 
 
 hadde, 231. 
 
 half, 347. 
 
 halt (holdeth), 309. , 
 
 hand, to hold in, 338. 
 
 Harmonia, 283. 
 
 Helicon, 333, 334. 
 
 hente, 334, 335. 
 
 Herenus, Herines, 232, 233. 
 
 heritage, 232. 
 
 Hermes, 353. 
 
 Heron, 300. 
 
 Herostratus, 364. 
 
 herse, 230. 
 
 herte, 229 ; hertes, 404. 
 hette, 282. 
 Higden, 269, 270. 
 hight, 232. 
 Hippocrates, 284. 
 Homer, 358-360. 
 hoodies, 263. 
 
 'hoods, game in their,' 364. 
 horowe, 282. 
 holies, 366. 
 
 Hous of Fame, argument of, 
 321-4- 
 
 langling, 299. 
 Jay, 299. 
 ietipardies, 256. 
 Ilioun, 329. 
 in (into), 330. 
 interesse, 379. 
 Joab, 351. 
 logelours, 352. 
 lolytee, 338. 
 Josephus, 357. 
 loves, 329, 336. 
 Isis, temple of, 364. 
 Isolde, 296, 364. 
 Julian, St., 346. 
 
 Iten, 250. 
 
 Kingis Quair, 293. 
 kinnes, alles, 360. 
 Kite, 300. 
 
 lace, 394. 
 
 Lamech, 316. 
 
 Lapidaire, 355, 356. 
 
 Lapwing, 300. 
 
 largesse, 224, 355. 
 
 Legend of Good Women, 268, 
 
 285, 296, 329. 331, 336, 365- 
 Leonard, St., 32S. 
 light for somer, 388. 
 lisse, 265. 
 listerh, 333. 
 loki?ig, 275. 
 Lollius, 359. 
 Longius or Longinus, story of, 
 
 22S. 
 lovedayes, 338. 
 Lucan, 360. 
 Lydgate, 251, 271, 273,317,318, 
 
 320, 321, 328, 349, 360, 398.
 
 460 INDEX OF SUBJECTS EXPLAINED. 
 
 lyes, 368. 
 lymere, 247. 
 Lymote, 354. 
 ¥e, 337. 
 
 VI (for me), 230, 252, 390. 
 Machault, 232, 237, 241, 242, 
 243> 254, 25<S, 259, 261, 262, 
 
 265, 334. 349. 387. 396- 
 Macrobius. 241, 244, 274, 275, 
 
 285, 2S7, 2S8, 289, 325, 326. 
 Mandeville, 291. 
 manere, 306. 
 
 Mansions (in astrology), 275. 
 Maria, meaning of, 225. 
 Marie de France, 245. 
 Mars (planet^ 274-277, 279, 358. 
 Marsyas, 350. 
 Martianus, 344. 
 Mary crowned, 227 ; days sacred 
 
 to, 226. 
 mnsty, 362. 
 7ne (dative), 235. 
 
 melodye, 226. 
 
 men, 282, 2S5, 393. 
 
 7>iene, sb., 227. 
 
 Mercury (planet), 277, 279, 281. 
 
 merlion, 299. 
 
 mete or sippe, 317. 
 
 Meun, Jean de, 326. 
 
 Minstrels, 348. 
 
 mis, 366. 
 
 Misenus, 351. 
 
 misericorde, 225. 
 
 mochel, 260. 
 
 moot, 247. 
 
 Nabugodonosor, 333. 
 
 nc (pronounced «'), 233, 234, 242, 
 
 260. 
 Neckam, 288, 291, 300, 301. 
 Nembrot, 373. 
 ttew/angelnesse, 316. 
 nin (= tie in), 246, 257. 
 n'l (= ne I), 252. 
 nosktnnes, 363. 
 nouncerfeyn, 394. 
 
 Octovien, 247. 
 
 Oise, river, 365. 
 
 oon, 403. 
 
 oundv, 356. 
 
 Ovid, 236, 237, 241, 252, 274, 
 
 295, 296, 299, 324, 326, 331, 
 
 336, 339. 341. 343-347; 351. 
 
 352. 360, 361, 3'J5. 3('6, 367. 
 370. 372. 373- 
 
 pale, 364. 
 pnraventiire, 366. 
 
 Parnassus. 333. 
 
 payed of, 370. 
 
 Peacock, 301. 
 
 pelet, 361. 
 
 penaunce, 395- 
 
 Penelope, 267. 
 
 pere (dissyllabic), 226. 
 
 perilous, 232. 
 
 Pestilences, 389. 
 
 Peter ! 346, 366. 
 
 peyne, up, 36 1. 
 
 Pheasant, 301. 
 
 phitonesses, 352. 
 
 Phoenix, 261. 
 
 Pity personified, 231. 
 
 plee, 304. 
 
 Pleiades, 346. 
 
 pleyne, 316. 
 
 Pliny, 298, 300, 301. 
 
 pounage, 37 1. 
 
 poverte, 376. 
 
 prikke, 342. 
 
 Princes, the, 379. 
 
 Princess, 394. 
 
 Proverb, 'a fool's bolt is soon shot,' 
 305 ; ' as a blind man starts a hare,' 
 338; 'as fain as fowl of a fair day,* 
 273; 'as good fish," etc., 305 ; 'as 
 I brew,' etc. 365 ; ' avoid.mce the 
 only remedy,' 291 ; 'eel by the tail,' 
 368 ; ' he that knows the herb,' 
 etc., 330 ; ' it is not all gold,' etc., 
 329 ; ' let well alone,' 391 ; 
 • proffered service stinks,' 305 ; 
 'the cat loves fish,' 363; 'the 
 false thinks not like the true,' 
 316 (1. 105); 'to spurn against 
 an awl,' 382 ; other proverbs, 
 
 259. 398- 
 pure, 252. 
 put up, 231. 
 Pythagoras, 269, 270. 
 
 quern, 37 1. 
 
 qui bien aime, 308.
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS EXPLAINED. 
 
 461 
 
 rakelnesse, 3S9. 
 
 reckoned, 248. 
 
 record, 389. 
 
 recover er, 402. 
 
 rede, 3+9. 
 
 re/ut, 224. 
 
 relay, 247. 
 
 Rennes, 243. 
 
 reiioun, 231. 
 
 reiigne, 226. 
 
 r^yw, 351. 
 
 Hime, exceptional, 393 ; feminine 
 rimes, 337 ; remarks on rime, 
 249, 254. 
 
 Roland and Oliver, 269. 
 
 Romaunt of the Rose, 232, 244, 
 245, 249, 250, 252, 253, 256- 
 258, 260-262, 266, 267, 269, 
 289, 290, 292, 297, 303, 304, 
 325. 327-329. 349. 353. 357. 
 361, 370-372. 374-378, 384. 
 
 385- 391- ^ 
 Romulus, 336. 
 Roundel, 306, 307, 308. 
 roundel, 341. 
 rowes, 273. 
 
 Saturn, 357. 
 
 savour, s., 376; v., 381. 
 
 Scansion, remarks on, 234, 235. 
 
 Scipio, 343; his dream, 286, 2S7. 
 
 Scogan, 3^9. 
 
 scorning, 299. 
 
 scourging, 275. 
 
 scriveyn, 321. 
 
 Scylla, 296. 
 
 Sea, the Dry, 263. 
 
 seek to, 232. 
 
 seet (for sat), 252. 
 
 sene, 387. 
 
 sent, 318. 
 
 servaunt, 231, 291. 
 
 set ( = scUc-ih), 233. 
 
 Seven stars, 259. 
 
 sewe, 385. 
 
 seynt (dissyllabic), 335. 
 
 shal, 401, 404 ; shal not, 229, 
 
 sheweth, 231. 
 
 Sisyphus, 253. 
 
 sit { = sitteth), 268. 
 
 sitten on Ines, 239. 
 
 slit {slideik), 284. 
 
 som, 244. 
 
 Sound, theory of, 340. 
 
 sours, 335. 
 
 sowse, to (etymology of), 335. 
 
 Sparrow, 300. 
 
 Spenser, 272, 292, 293, 295,312, 
 
 335. 364- 
 Spheres, seven, 274, 389 ; nine, 
 
 286; harmony of the, 286. 
 Starling, 300. 
 Statius, 231, 241, 274, 283, 292, 
 
 311-314. 351, 358- 
 stellifye, 336. 
 stere, 397. 
 steyre, 279. 
 Stork, 302. 
 stremci, 2'J'J. 
 suffice, 381. 
 sustene, 224, 3 1 7. 
 swete/o, 400. 
 sweynt, 362. 
 Syllable, first, lacking, 367. 
 
 tache, 388. 
 
 tacorde {to acorde), 225. 
 taile, 275. 
 Tasso, 292. 
 
 Taurus (sign), 276, 277. 
 tejnen upon here, 362. 
 tempest, v., 381. 
 tenquere {to enqiiere), 227. 
 thar (verb), 226. 
 thou (use of), 224. 
 Thebes, brooch of, 283. 
 thee/, 316 ; theves, 224. 
 ther, 227. 
 thing, 380. 
 Thiodamas, 351. 
 this {this is), 304. 
 Thomas, St., 347. 
 Thsmne's lines, 369. 
 tirelire {French), 226. 
 Tisiphone, 231. 
 Tityus, 253. 
 to-hangen, 362. 
 Trees, list of, 292. 
 tregetours, 352, 354. 
 trewely, 235, 267. 
 Tristram, 296. 
 Triton, 361. 
 Troilus, 321. 
 trouthe, 309, 38 1. 
 
 Troy, Romance of, 266, 268, 272, 
 329» 358,359. 360.
 
 462 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS EXPLAINED. 
 
 Tubal, 269, 270. 
 Tunis, 244. 
 Turnus, 333. 
 twelfte, 279. 
 tyraunt, 298. 
 
 vprist, 273. 
 
 vache, 383. 
 
 valance, 279, 280. 
 
 Valence, 294. 
 
 Valentine's day, 297. 
 
 venquisht, 223. 
 
 Venus (planet), 273, 274, 275, 
 
 276, 277, 279, 290. 
 Vergil, 237, 262, 291, 292, 297, 
 
 299. 301, 324. 328-332, 336, 
 
 357- 
 vicaire, 227, 303. 
 Vincent of Beauvais, 237, 287, 
 
 289, 298-301, 326, 340, 356, 
 
 377- 
 
 vouched safe, 2 2g. 
 
 want en, 232. 
 
 warde, on, 243. 
 
 7varne, 224. 
 
 Watling Street, 344. 
 
 weep, pt. t., 239. 
 
 weld, 372. 
 
 wente, 249. 
 
 werre, to, 227. 
 
 wheel, 340, 357. 
 
 wAer (whether), 239, 246. 
 
 WUlamme d' Amiens, 308. 
 
 "Windows, stained glass, 244. 
 
 wis, adv., 338. 
 
 wisly, 403. 
 
 wold. 393. 
 
 wood, for, 362. 
 
 tvreche, 390. 
 
 yow (use of), 224. 
 y-worthe, 253. 
 
 THE END.
 
 V^ORKS 
 
 REV. W. W. SKEAT, LiTT.D., 
 
 ELRINGTON AND BOSWORTH PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON IN THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 
 
 arranged on an Historical Basis. Second Edition. 4to. cloth, 
 2I. 4 J. 
 A Supplement to the First Edition of the above. 4to. 2s. dd. 
 
 A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English 
 
 Language. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. cloth, ^s. 6d. 
 
 A List of English Words the Etymology of -which is 
 
 illustrated by comparison with Icelandic. 410. sewn, 2s. 
 
 The Principles of English Etymology. First Series. 
 
 The Amative Element. Crown 8vo. gj-. 
 
 Specimens of Early English. Part II. From Robert 
 of Gloucester to Gower (a.d. 1298 to A.D. 1393). By R. Morris, 
 LL.D., and W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Third Edition. Extra fcap. 
 8vo. cloth, "js. 6d. 
 
 Specimens of English Literature, from the 'Ploughmans 
 
 Crede ' to the ' Shepheardes Calender' (a.d. 1394 to a.d. 1579). 
 With Introduction, Notes, and Glossarial Index. Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 cloth, "s. 6d. 
 
 The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, 
 
 in Three Parallel Texts ; together with Richard the Redeless. 
 By William Langland (about 1 362-1 399 a.d.). Edited from 
 numerous Manuscripts, with Preface, Notes, and a Glossary. 2 vols. 
 8vo. cloth, ^is. 6d. 
 
 [p. T. o.
 
 Works by the Rev. W. W. Skeat. 
 
 The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, 
 
 by William Langland. With Notes, &;c. Fourth Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, /^s. 6 J. 
 
 Chaucer. The Prioresses Tale ; Sir Thopas ; The Menkes 
 Tale ; The Clerkes Tale ; The Squieres Tale, &c. Third Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 45. 6d. 
 
 Chaucer. The Tale of the Man of Lawe ; The Pardoneres 
 Tale ; The Second Nonnes Tale ; The Chanouns Yemannes Tale. 
 New F.dition. Extra fcap. Svo. cloth, i,s. 6d. 
 
 The Tale of Gamelyn. Edited with Notes, Glossary, etc. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. stiff covers, is. dd. 
 
 The Ne-w Testament in English, according to the 
 Version by John Wycliffe, about a.d. 1380, and Revised by 
 John Purvey, about a.d. 1388. With Glossary, &c. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. cloth, ds. 
 
 The Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
 and the Song of Solomon: according to the Wycliffite 
 Version made by NicHOLA.s DE Hereford, about A.D. 1381, and 
 Revised by John Purvey, about a.d. 1388. With Glossary, &c. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. cloth, 3X. dd. 
 
 The Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 
 cloth, 4J. 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 LONDON : HENRY FROWDE 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AMEN CORNER, E.C.
 
 A SELECTION OF 
 
 BOOKS 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE UNIVERSITY BY 
 
 HENRY PROWDE, 
 
 AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 AMEN CORNER, LONDON. 
 
 ALSO TO BE HAD AT THE 
 
 CLARENDON PRESS DEPOSITORY, OXFORD. 
 
 \^Every book is bound in cloth, unless otherivise described. '\ 
 
 LEXICONS, GRAMMARS, ORIENTAL WORKS, &e. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon. — An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, based on the 
 
 MS. Collections of the late Joseph Bosworth, D.D., Professor of Anglo-Saxon, 
 Oxford. Edited and enlarged by Prof. T. N. Toller, M.A. (To be completed 
 in four parts.) Parts I-III. A — SAR. 4to. 15^. each. 
 
 Arabic. — A Practical Arabic Grammar. Part I. Compiled 
 
 by A. O. Green, Brigade Major. Royal Engineers, Author of ' Modern Arabic 
 Stories ' Second Edition, Enlarged and Revised. Crown 8vo. 7^. (yd. 
 
 Chinese. — A Handbook of the Chinese Langtiage. By James 
 
 Summers. 1863. Svo. halfbound, i/. Ss. 
 
 A Record of Buddhistic Kingdo7ns, by the Chinese Monk 
 
 Fa-hien'. Translated and annotated by James Legge, M.A., LL.D. Crown 
 4to. cloth back, 10s. 6d. 
 
 English. — A New English Dictio7iary, 07i Historical Prifi- 
 
 ciples : founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society. 
 Edited by James A. H. Murray, LL.D., with the assistance of many Scholars 
 and men of Science. Vol. I. A and B. Imperial 4to. half Morocco, 
 2/. I2J". dd. 
 
 Part IV, Section II, C— CASS. Beginning of Vol. II, 5.r. 
 
 B
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 English. — Aji Etymological Dictionary of the English Lan- 
 guage. By W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Second Edition. 1884. 410. 2/. 4^. 
 
 Supplement to the First Edition of the above. 4to. is. (>d. 
 
 A Concise Etymological Dictionajy of the English Lan- 
 guage. By W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Tliird Edition. 1S87. Crown 8vo. 5^.6^/. 
 
 Greek. — A Greek-English Lexicon, by Henry George 
 
 Liddell, D.D., and Robert Scott, D.D. Seventh Edition, Revised and Aug- 
 mented throughout. 1883. 4to. \l.\6s. 
 
 A Greek-English Lexicon, abridged from Liddell and 
 
 Scott's 4to. edition, chiefly for the use of Schools. Twenty-first Edition. 
 1884. Square 1 2rao. "js.^d. 
 
 A copious Greek-English Vocahdary, compiled from 
 
 the best authorities. 1850. 241110. 3J. 
 
 A Practical Lntroduction to Greek Accentuation., by H. 
 
 W. Chandler, M.A. Second Edition. 18S1. Svo. 10s. f^d. 
 
 Hebrew. — The Book of Hebrew Roots, by Abu '1-Walid 
 
 Marwan ibn Janah, otherwise called Rabbi Yonah. Now first edited, with an 
 Appendix, by Ad. Neubauer. 1875. 4to. 2l.'js.6d. 
 
 A Treatise on the use of the Tenses ifi Hebrew. By 
 
 S. R. Driver, D.D. Second Edition. 1 881. Extra fcap. Svo. 7.?. 6^. 
 
 Hebrew Acce7ttnatio7i of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job. 
 
 By William Wickes, D.D. 1881. Demy Svo. 5^. 
 
 A Treatise on the Accentnation of the twenty-one so-called 
 
 Prose Books of the Old Testatnent. By William Wickes, D.D. 18S7. Demy 
 Svo. \os.(yd. 
 
 Icelandic. — Aft Icelandic- English Dictionary , based on the 
 
 MS. collections of the late Richard Cleasby. Enlarged and completed by 
 G. Vigfiisson, M.A. With an Introduction, and Life of Richard Cleasby, by 
 G. Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. 1874. 4to. 3/. Is. 
 
 A List of English Words the Etymology of whicli is 
 
 illustrated by comparison zvith Icelandic. Prepared in the form of an 
 Appendix to the above. By W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. 1876. stitched, 2s. 
 
 An Icelandic Primer, with Grammar, Notes, and 
 
 Glossary. By Henry Sweet, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 3.;. dd. 
 
 An Icelandic Prose Reader, with Notes, Grammar and 
 
 Glossary, by Dr. Gudbrand Vigfiisson and F. York Powell, M.A. 1S79. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 10*. 6(f. 
 
 Latin. — A Latin Dictionary, founded on Andrews' edition 
 
 of Frcund's Latin Dictionary, revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten 
 by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D., and Charles Short, LL.D. 1879. 4to. i/. 5J.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Melanesian. — The Mdanesian Languages. By R. H. 
 
 Codrington, D.D., of the Melanesian Mission. Svo. i8j. 
 
 Sanskrit. — A Practical Grammar of the Sanskrit Language, 
 
 arranged with reference to the Classical Languages of Europe, for the use of 
 English Students, by Sir M. Monier-Williams, M.A. Fourth Edition. Svo. 
 
 A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Etymologically and 
 
 Philologically arranged, with special reference to Greek, Latin, German, Anglo- 
 Saxon, English, and other cognate Indo-European Languages. By Sir M. 
 Monier-Williams, M.A. 1888. 4to. 4/. 14J. 6d. 
 
 — Nalopdkhydnam. Story of Nala, an Episode of 
 
 the Maha-Bharata : the Sanskrit text, with a copious Vocabulary, and an 
 improved version of Dean Milman's Translation, by Sir M. Monier-Williams, 
 M.A. Second Edition, Revised and Improved. 1879. Svo. 15J. 
 
 — Sahintald. A Sanskrit Drama, in Seven Acts. Edited 
 
 by Sir M. Monier-Williams, M.A. Second Edition, 1S76. Svo. 2\s. 
 
 SVRIAC. — Thesaurtis Syriacus : collegerunt Quatremere, Bern- 
 stein, Lorsbach, Arnoldi, Agrell, Field, Roediger: edidit R. Payne Smith, 
 S.T.P. Fasc. I-VI. 1868-83. sm. fol. each, iZ. is. Ease. VII. U.ws.M. 
 Vol. I, containing Fasc. I-V, sm. fol. 5/. gj. 
 
 The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah. Translated from Arabic 
 
 into Syriac. Edited by W. Wright, LL.D. 1884. Svo. lis. 
 
 GREEK CLASSICS, &c. 
 
 Aristophanes: A Complete Concordance to the Comedies 
 
 and Fragments. By Henry Dunbar, M.D. 4to. \l. \s. 
 
 Aristotle: The Politics, with Introductions, Notes, etc., by 
 
 W. L. Newman, M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. Vols, I. and II. 
 Medium Svo. 28^. 
 
 Aristotle : The Politics, translated into English, with Intro- 
 duction, Marginal Analysis, Notes, and Indices, by B. Jowett, M.A. Medium 
 Svo. 2 vols. 2\S. 
 
 Catalogus Codicum Graecoruni Sinaiticorum. Scripsit V. 
 
 Gardthausen Lipsiensis. With six pages of Facsimiles. Svo. linen, 2^s. 
 
 Heracliti Ephesii Reliquiae. Recensuit I. By water, M.A. 
 
 Appendicis loco additae sunt Diogenis Laertii Vita Heracliti, Particulae Hip- 
 pocratei De Diaeta Libri Primi, Epistolae Heracliteae. 1877. Svo. 6j. 
 
 Herculanensium Voluminum Partes II. 1824. Svo. 10s. 
 
 B 2
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Fragnicnta Hcrciilanensia. A Descriptive Catalogue of the 
 
 Oxford copies of the Herculaneaii Rolls, together with the texts of several 
 papyri, accompanied by facsimiles. Edited by Walter Scott, M.A., Fellow 
 of Merton College, Oxford. Royal Svo. cloth, 21s. 
 
 Homer: A Complete Concordance to the Odyssey and 
 
 Hymns of Homer ; to which is added a Concordance to the Parallel Passages 
 in the Iliad, Odyssey, and Hymns. I'-y Henry Dunbar, M.D. iSSo. 410. \l.\s. 
 
 Scholia Gi'acca in Iliadcm. Edited by Professor W. 
 
 Dindorf, after a new collation of the Venetian MSS. by D. B. Monro, M.A., 
 Provost of Oriel College. 4 vols. Svo. 2/. \qs. Vols.V and VI. In the Press. 
 
 Scholia Graeca in Odysscani. Edidit Guil. Dindorfius. 
 
 Tomi II. 1855. Svo. I5.f. C(/. 
 
 Plato : Apology, with a revised Text and English Notes, and 
 
 a Digest of Platonic Idioms, by James Riddell, M.A. 1878. Svo. Sj-. dd. 
 
 Philcbtis, with a revised Text and English Notes, by 
 
 Edward Poste, M.A. i860. Svo. 7.;. Ctd. 
 
 Sophistes and Politicns, with a revised Text and English 
 
 Notes, by L. Campbell, M.A, 1S67. Svo. i8.f. 
 
 Theaetetus, with a revised Text and English Notes, 
 
 by L. Campbell, M.A. Second Edition. Svo. iQs.6d. 
 
 — The Dialogues, translated into English, with Analyses 
 
 and Introductions, by B. Jowelt, M.A. A new Edition in 5 volumes, medium 
 Svo. 1875. 3/. 10s. 
 
 The Republic, translated into English, with an Analysis 
 
 and Introduction, by B. Jowett, M.A. Medium Svo. 12s. dd. 
 
 TJincydides : Translated into English, with Introduction, 
 
 Marginal Analysis, Notes, and Indices. By B. Jowett, M.A. 2 vols. iSSi. 
 Medium Svo. il. \is. 
 
 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, &c. 
 
 Studia Biblica. — Essays in Biblical Archaeology and Criti- 
 cism, and kindred subjects. By Members of the University of Oxford. Svo. 
 
 10.f. (id. 
 
 English. — The Holy Bible in the earliest English Versions, 
 
 made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers: edited by 
 the Rev. J. Forshall and Sir F. Madden. 4 vols. 1850. Royal 4to. 3/. 3.?.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD, 
 
 [Also reprinted from the above, with Introduction and Glossary 
 by "W. "W. Skeat, Litt. D. 
 
 English. — TJie Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
 
 and the Song of Solomon: according to the Wycliffite Version made by Nicholas 
 de Hereford, about A.D. 1381, and Revised by John Purvey, about A.D. 1388. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 The Nczu Testameiit in English, according to the Version 
 
 by John Wycliffe, about A.D. 1380, and Revised by John Purvey, about A.D. 
 13S8. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6x.] 
 
 The Holy Bible: an exact reprint, page for page, 
 
 of the Authorised Version published in the year 161 1. Demy 4to. half bound, 
 i/. \s. 
 
 The Psalter, or Psalms of David, and certain Canticles, 
 
 with a Translation and Exposition in English, by Richard Rolle of Ilampole. 
 Edited by H. R. Bramley, M.A., Fellow of S. M. Magdalen College, Oxford. 
 With an Introduction and Glossary. Demy 8vo. \l. \s. 
 
 Lectures on the Book of Job. Delivered in Westminster 
 
 Abbey by the Very Rev. George Granville Bradley, D.D., Dean of West- 
 minster. Crown 8vo. 'js. 6d. 
 
 Lectures on Ecclesiastes. By the same Author. Crown 
 
 Svo. 45. (^d. 
 
 Gothic. — TJie Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic, according to 
 
 the translation made by Wulfila in the Fourth Century. Edited with a 
 Grammatical Introduction and Glossarial Index by W. W. Skeat, Litt. D. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 4J-. 
 
 Greek. — Vetns TestamentJim ex Versione Septuaginta Inter- 
 
 pretum secundum exemplar Vaticanum Romae editum. Accedit potiorvarietas 
 Codicis Alexandrini. Tomi III. Editio Altera. i8mo. iSj-. The volumes 
 may be had separately, price ds. each. 
 
 Origenis Hexaplornm quae supersunt ; sive, Veterum 
 
 Interpretum Graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum Fragmenta. Edidit 
 Fridericus Field, A.M. 2 vols. 1875. 410. 5/. 5^. 
 
 TJie Book of Wisdom : the Greek Text, the Latin 
 
 Vulgate, and the Authorised English Version; with an Introduction, Critical 
 Apparatus, and a Commentary. By William J. Deane.M.A. Small 4to. \2s.6d. 
 
 Novum Testamentum Graece. Antiquissimorum Codicum 
 
 Textus in ordine parallelo dispositi. Accedit coUatio Codicis Sinaitici. Edidit 
 E. II. Hansen, S.T.B. Tomi HI. 1864. Svo. 245. 
 
 Novum Testamentum Graece. Accedunt parallela S. 
 
 Scripturae loca, etc. Edidit Carolus Lloyd, S.T. P. R. i8mo. is. 
 On writing paper, with wide margin, loj.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Greek. — Novum Testamentiim Graces juxta ExemplarMillia- 
 
 num. i8mo. 2s.6d. On writing paper, with wide margin, 9^. 
 
 Evangelia Sacra Graece. Fcap. 8vo. limp, \s. 6d. 
 
 The Greek Testament, with the Readings adopted by 
 
 tlie Revisers of the Authorised Version: — 
 
 (i) Pica type, with Marginal Reference?. Demy 8vo. \os. 6d. 
 
 (2) Long Primer type. Fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6c?. 
 
 (3) The same, on writing paper, with wide margin, 15s. 
 
 The Parallel New Testament, Greek and English ; being 
 
 the Authorised Version, 161 1 ; the Revised Version, 1881 ; and the Greek 
 Text followed in the Revised Version. Svo. 1 2s. 6d. 
 
 The Revised Version is the joint property of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 
 
 Canon Muratorianns : the earliest Catalogue of the 
 
 Books of the New Testament. Edited with Notes and a Facsimile of the 
 MS. in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, by S. P. Tregelles, LL.D. 1867. 
 4to. loj. dd. 
 
 Outlines of Textual Criticism applied to the New Testa- 
 
 mejit. By C. E. Hammond, M.A. Fourth Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Hebrew, etc. — Notes on the Hebrezv Text of the Book of 
 
 Genesis. With Two Appendices. By G. J. Spurrell, M.A. Crown 8vo. 
 
 \QS. ()d. 
 
 The Psalms in Hcbreiv tvithout points. 1879. Crown 
 
 8vo. Price reduced to 2s., in stiff cover. 
 
 A Commentary on the Book of Proverbs. Attributed 
 
 to Abraham Ilm Ezra. Edited from a MS. in tlie Bodleian Library by 
 S. R. Driver, M.A. Crown 8vo. paper covers, 3^. dd. 
 
 The Book of Tobit. A Chaldce Text, from a unique 
 
 MS. in the l>odleian Library ; with other Rabbinical Texts, English Transla- 
 tions, and the Itala. Edited by Ad. Neubauer, M.A. 1878. Crown 8vo. ds. 
 
 Horae Hebraicae et Talmudzcae, a J. Lightfoot. A new 
 
 Edition, by R. Gandell, M.A. 4 vols. 1859. Svo. \l. is. 
 
 Latin. — Libri Psalmorum Versio antiqua Latina, cum Para- 
 
 phrasi Anglo-Saxonica. Edidit B. Thorpe, F.A.S. 1835. Svo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Old-Latin Biblical Texts: No. I. The Gospel according 
 
 to St. Matthew from the St. Germain MS.(g,). Edited with Introduction 
 and Appendices by John Wordsworth, D.D. Small 4to., stiff covers, 6.f. 
 
 Old-Latin Biblical Texts: No. LL. Portions of the Gospels 
 
 according to St. Mark and .St. Matthew, from the I'.obbio MS. (k), &c. 
 Edited by John Wordsworth, D.D., W. Sanday, M.A., D.D., and H. J. White, 
 M.A. Small 410., stiff covers, 21s.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Latin — Old-Latin Biblical Texts: No. ILL. The Four 
 
 Gospels, from the Munich MS. (q), now numbered Lat. 6224 in the Royal 
 Library at Munich. With a Fragment from St. John in the Hof-Bibliothek at 
 Vienna (Cod. Lat. 502V Edited, with the aid of Tischendorfs transcript 
 (under the direction of the Bishop of Salisbury), by H. J.White, M.A. Small 
 4to. stiff covers, 1 2s. dd. 
 
 Old-French. — Libri Psalmonwi Versio antiqua Gallica e 
 
 Cod. MS. in Bibl. Bodleiana adservato, una cum Versione Metrica aliisque 
 Monumentispervetustis. Nunc primum descripsit et edidit Franciscus Michel, 
 Phil. Doc. i860. Svo. icy. 6c/. 
 
 FATHERS OP THE CHURCH, &c. 
 
 St. AtJianasius : Historical Writings, according to the Bene- 
 dictine Te.xt. With an Introduction by William Bright, D.D. 1881. Crown 
 Svo. io.f. 6J. 
 
 Orations against the Arians, With an Account of his 
 
 Life by William Bright, D.D. 1873. Crown Svo. 9.f. 
 
 St. Augustine : Select Anti-Pelagian Treatises, and the Acts 
 
 of the Second Council of Orange. With an Introduction by William Bright, 
 D.D. Crown Svo. ^s. 
 
 Canons of the First Four General Councils of Nicaea, Con- 
 stantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. 1877. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Notes on the Canons of the First Foiir General Councils. 
 
 By William Bright, D.D. 1882. Crown Svo. 5.^. 60^. 
 
 Cyrilli Archiepiscopi Alexandrini in XII PropJietas. Edidit 
 
 P. E, Pusey, A.M. Tomi II. 1868. Svo. cloth, 2/. 2s. 
 
 in D. Joannis Evangelium. Accedunt Fragmenta varia 
 
 necnon Tractatus ad Tiberium Diaconum duo. Edidit post Aubertum 
 P. E. Pusey, A.M. Tomi IIL 1872. Svo. 2/. 5j-. 
 
 Cojnvientarii in Lucae Evangelium quae supersunt 
 
 Syriace. E MSS. apud Mus. Britan. edidit R. Payne Smith, A.M. 1858. 
 4to. l/, 2S. 
 
 Translated by R. Payne Smith, M.A. 2 vols. 1859. 
 
 Svo. 14J. 
 
 Ephraemi Syri, Rabulae Episcopi Edesseni, Balaei, aliorum- 
 
 que Opera Selecta. E Codd. Syriacis MSS. in Museo Britannico et Bibliotheca 
 Bodleiana asservatis '^rimus edidit J. J. Overbeck, 1865, Svo. i/. \s.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Euschhis' Ecclesiastical History, according to the text of 
 
 Burton, with an Introduction by William Bright, D.D. i8Si. Crown 8vo. 
 Sj. dd. 
 
 Jrenaeiis : The Third Book of St.Irenacns, Bishop of Lyons, 
 
 against Heresies. With short Notes and a Glossary by li. Deane, B.D. 
 1S74. Crown 8vo. ^s.6d. 
 
 Patrum Apostolicorum, S. Clementis Romani, S. Ignatii, 
 
 S. Polycarpi, quae supersunt. Edidit Guil. Jacobson, S.T.P.R. Tonii H. 
 Fourth Edition, 1863. 8vo. 1/. \s. 
 
 Socrates' Ecclesiastical History, according to the Text of 
 Hussey, with an Introduction by William Bright, D.D. 1S78. Crown 8vo. 
 1$. 6d. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, &c. 
 
 Aftcient Liturgy of the ChurcJi of Eiigland, according to the 
 
 uses of Sarum, York, Hereford, and Bangor, and the Roman Liturgy arranged 
 in parallel columns, with preface and notes. By William Maskell, M.A. 
 Third Edition. 1882. Svo. 15^. 
 
 Baedae Historia Ecclcsiastica. Edited, with English Notes, 
 
 by G. H. Moberly.M.A. 18S1. Crown 8vo. \os. dd. 
 
 Bright ( W.). Chapters of Early English CJmrch History. 
 
 1878. 8vo. \2S. 
 
 Burnet's History of the Reformation of the CJinrch of England. 
 
 A new Edition. Carefully revised, and the Records collated with the originals, 
 by N. Pocock, M.A. 7 vols. 1865. S\o. Price reduced to il. los. 
 
 Councils and Ecclesiastical Docjiments relating to Great Britain 
 
 and Ireland. Edited, after Spelman and Wilkins, by A. W. Haddan, B.D., 
 and W. Stubbs, M.A. Vols. I. and III. 1869-71. MediumSvo. each 1/. \s. 
 Vol. II. Part I. 1873. Medium Svo. \os. 6d. 
 
 Vol. II. Part II. 1878. Church of Ireland ; Memorials of St. Patrick. 
 Stiff covers, 3^. 6d. 
 
 Hamilton {JoJm, ArchbisJiop of St. Andrews^, The Catechism 
 
 of. Edited, with Introduction and Glossary, by Thomas Graves Law. With 
 a Preface by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. 8vo. 1 2s. dd. 
 
 Hammond {C. E^. Litnr-gies, Eastern and Western. Edited, 
 
 with Introduction, Notes, and Liturgical Glossary. 1878. Crown Svo. \os.bd. 
 An Appendix to the above. 1879. Crown Svo. paper covers, \s. (id. 
 
 John, Bishop of Ephesns. The Third Part of his Eccle- 
 siastical History. [In Syriac] Now first edited by William Cureton, M.A. 
 1S53. 4to. \l. lis. 
 
 Translated by R. Payne Smith, M.A. i860. Svo. \os.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Leofric Missal, The, as used in the Cathedral of Exeter 
 
 during the Episcopate of its first Bishop, a.d. 1050-1072; together with some 
 Account of the Red Book of Derby, the Missal of Robert of Jumieges, and a 
 few other early MS. Service Books of the English Church. Edited, with In- 
 troduction and Notes, by F. E. Warren, B.D. 4to. half morocco, 35J. 
 
 Momivieiita Ritiialia Ecclcsiae Anglicanae. The occasional 
 
 Offices of the Church of England according to the old use of Salisbury, the 
 Prymer in English, and other prayers and forms, with dissertations and notes. 
 By William Maskell, M. A. Second Edition. 1S82. 3 vols. 8vo. 2I. \os. 
 
 Records of the Reformation. The Divorce, 1527-1533. Mostly 
 
 now for the first time printed from MSS. in the British Museum and other 
 libraries. Collected and arranged by N. Pocock, M.A. 1870. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 1/. i6j. 
 
 Shirley ( W . JF.). Some Account of the CJinrch in the Apostolic 
 
 Age. Second Edition, 1S74. Fcap. Svo. 3s. dd. 
 
 Stubbs ( W.). Registrtnn Sacriim Anglicanum. An attempt 
 
 to exhibit the course of Episcopal Succession in England. 185S. Small 410. 
 8j. dd. 
 
 Warren (F. E.). Litiirgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church. 
 1 88 1. Svo. 14J. 
 
 ENGLISH THEOLOGY. 
 
 Bampton Lectures, 1886, TJie Christian Platonists of Alex- 
 andria. By Charles Bigg, D.D. 8vo. \os. dd. 
 
 Butler's Works, with an Index to the Analogy. 2 vols. 1874. 
 
 8vo. IIS. 
 
 Also separately. 
 
 Sermons, ^s. 6d. Analogy of Religion, ^s.6d. 
 
 Gresivells Harmonia Evangelica. Fifth Edition. 8vo. 9^-. 6^/. 
 Heurtley^s Harmonia Symbolica: Creeds of the Western 
 
 Church. 1858. Svo. 6s. 6d. 
 
 Homilies appointed to be read in Churches. Edited by 
 
 J. Griffiths, M.A. 1859. Svo. 7j. 6d. 
 
 Hooker s Works, with his life by Walton, arranged by John 
 
 Keble, M.A. Seventh Edition. Revised by R. W. Chu>rh,M.A., D.C.L., 
 Dean of St. PauVs, and F. Paget, D.D. 3 vols, medium Svo. i^s. 
 
 Hooker s Works, the text as arranged by John Keble, M.A. 
 
 2 vols. 1875. Svo. \\s. 
 
 JeweVs Works. Edited by R. W. Jclf, D.D. 8 vols. 1848. 
 
 8vo. i/. \os.
 
 lo CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Pearsot^s Exposition of the Creed. Revised and corrected by 
 
 E. Burton, D.D. Sixth Edition, 1877. 8vo. \os. Cid. 
 
 Waterland's Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, with 
 
 a Preface by the late Bishop of London. Crown 8vo. ds. dd. 
 
 Works, with Life, by Bp. Van Mildert. A new Edition, 
 
 with copious Indexes. 6 vols. 1S56. 8vo. 2/. iij. 
 
 Wheatly's Illustration of the Book of Coviinon Prayer. A new 
 
 Edition, 1846. 8vo. jj. 
 
 Wyclif. A Catalogiie of the Original Works of John Wyclif, 
 
 by W. W. Shirley, D.D. 1865. 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Select English Works. By T. Arnold, M.A, 3 vols. 
 
 1869-1871. 8vo. i/. IS. 
 
 Trialogus. With the Supplement now first edited. 
 
 By Gotthard Lechler, 1869. 8vo. 1$. 
 
 HISTORICAL AND DOCUMENTARY WORKS. 
 
 British Barrozvs, a Record of the Examination of Sepulchral 
 
 Mounds in various parts of England. By William Greenwell, M.A., F.S.A. 
 Together with Description of Figures of Skulls, General Remarks on Pre- 
 historic Crania, and an Appendix by George Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S. 1877. 
 Medium 8vo. 25^. 
 
 Clarendon s History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in 
 
 England. Re-edited from a fresh Collation of the Original MS. in the 
 Bodleian Library, with Marginal Dates, and Occasional Notes, by \V. Dunn 
 Macray, M.A., F.S.A. In six volumes, crown Svo. clotli, il. =,s. 
 
 Clarendons History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in 
 
 England. Also his Life, written by himself, in which is included a Con- 
 tinuation of his History of the Grand Rebellion. With copious Indexes. 
 In one volume, royal 8vo. 1842. \l.is. 
 
 Clinton s Epitome of the Fasti Hellenici. 1 85 1 . Svo. 6s. 6d. 
 
 Epitome of tJie Fasti Romani. 1S54, Svo. ^s. 
 
 Corpvs Poeticvm Boreale. The Poetry of the Old Northern 
 
 Tongue, from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century. Edited, clas- 
 sified, and translated, with Intrnduction, Excursus, and Notes, by Gudbrand 
 Vigfusson, M.A., and F. York Powell, M.A. 2 vols. 1S83. Svo. 42J. 
 
 Earlc {J., M.A.). A Handbook to the Land- Charters, and 
 
 other Saxonic Documents. Crown Svo. clotli. \(is.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. ii 
 
 Freeman (E. A.). History of the Norman Conquest of Eng- 
 land; its Causes and Results. In Six Volumes. 8vo. 5/. <^s. 6d. 
 
 The Reign of William Ritfns and the Accession of 
 
 Henry the First. 2 vols. 8vo. i/. i6j. 
 Gascoigne's Theological Dictionary ("Liber Veritatum"): 
 
 Selected Passages, illustrating the condition of Church and State, I403-I4?8. 
 With an Introduction by James E. Thorold Rogers, M.A. Small 4to. 
 loj. 6^. 
 
 Johnson [Samnel, LL.D.), Boswelts Life of; including 
 
 Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of a 
 Journey into North Wales. Edited by G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. In six 
 volumes, medium 8vo. With Portraits and Facsimiles of Handwriting. 
 Half bound, 3/. 3^. (See p. 21.) 
 
 Magna Carta, a careful Reprint. Edited by W. Stubbs, D.D. 
 
 1879. 4^0- stitched, IJ. 
 
 Passio et Miracnla Beati Olani. Edited from a Twelfth- 
 Century MS. in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by 
 Frederick Metcalfe, M.A. Small 4to. stiff covers, 6s. 
 
 Protests of the Lords, including those which have been ex- 
 punged, from 1624 to 1874; with Historical Introductions. Edited by James 
 E. Thorold Rogers, M.A. 1875. 3vols. 8vo. 2/. 2J. 
 
 Rogers {jf. E. T.). History of Agriculture and Prices in 
 
 England, A.D. 1 259-1 793. 
 
 Vols. I — VI (i 259-1 702). 8vo. 1I.-2.S. 
 
 The First Nine Years of the Bank of England. 8vo. 8i-. 6d. 
 
 Stubbs (IV., D.D.). Sevefiteen Lectures on the Study of 
 
 Medieval a}id Modern History, Sec, ditViM&rt^ at Oxford 1867-1884. Crown 
 8vo. Ss. 6d. 
 
 Sturlunga Saga, including the Islcndinga Saga of Lawman 
 
 Sturla Thordsson and other works. Edited by Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson. 
 In 2 vols. 1S78. 8vo. 2/. 2s. 
 
 York Plays. The Plays performed by the Crafts or Mysteries 
 
 of York on the day of Corpus Christi in the 14th, 15th, and i6th centuries. 
 Now first printed from the unique MS. in the Library of Lord Ashburnham. 
 Edited with Introduction and Glossary by LucyToulmin Smith. 8vo. 21s. 
 
 Manuscript Materials relating to the History of Oxford. 
 
 Arranged by F. Madan, M.A. 8vo. 7^. (>d. 
 
 Statutes of the University of Oxford, codified in the year 1636 
 
 under the authority of Archbishop Laud. Edited by the late J. Clriffiths, 
 D.D., with an Introduction on the History of the Laudian Code, by C. L. 
 Shadwell, M.A., B.C.L. 4to. il. is.
 
 12 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Statutes made for the University of Oxford, and for the Colleges 
 
 and Hails therein, by tlie University of Oxford Commissioners. 18S2. bvo. 
 12s. ()d. 
 
 Statutes snpplcmentaj-y to the above, approved by the Queen in 
 
 Council, 1 882-1 SS8. 8vo. 2s. dd. 
 
 Statuta Univcrsitatis Oxoniensis. 1888. 8vo. $s. 
 
 The Oxford University Calendar for the year 1888. Crown 
 
 Bvo. 4J. 6</. 
 
 The present Edition includes all Class Lists and other University distinctions 
 for the eight years ending with 1887. 
 
 Also, supplementary to the above, price 5s. (pp. 606), 
 
 The Honours Register of the University of Oxford. A complete 
 
 Record of University Honours, Officers, Distinctions, and Class Lists; of the 
 Heads of Colleges, &c., &c., from the Thirteenth Century to 18S3. 
 
 T]ic Examination Statutes for the Degrees of B.A., B. Mus., 
 
 B.C.L., and B.Af. Revised to the end of Michaelmas Term, 1887. Svo. 
 sewed, is. 
 
 The Studenfs Handbook to the University and Colleges of 
 
 Oxford. Ninth Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 MATHEMATICS, PHYSICAL SCIENCE, &c. 
 
 Acland{H. W., M.D., F.R.S.). Synopsis of the Pathological 
 
 Scries in the Oxford ]\hiseum. 1867. 8vo. 2s.C)d. 
 
 Annals of Botany. Edited by Isaac Bayley l^alfour, M.A.. 
 
 M.D., E.R.S., Sydney H. Vines, D.Sc, F.R.S., and William Gilson Farlow, 
 M.D., Professor of Cryptogamic Botany in Harvard University, Cambridge, 
 Mass., U.S.A., and other Botanists. Royal Svo. Vol. I., half morocco, i/. ids. 
 Vol. II. No. I. Just Published. 
 
 Burdon-Sanderson (f., M.D., F.R.SS. L. and E.). Transla- 
 tions of Foreign Biological Memoirs. I. Memoirs on thel'hysiology of Nerve, 
 of Muscle, and of the Electrical Organ. Medium 8vo. 21s. 
 
 De Bary {Dr. A.). Comparative Anatomy of the Vegetative 
 
 Organs of the Phancrogavis and Ferns. Translated and Annotated by F. O. 
 Bo'wer, M.A., F.L.S., and D. H. Scott, M.A., Ph.D., F.L.S. With 241 
 woodcuts and an Index. Royal 8vo., half morocco, il. 2s. 6d.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 13 
 
 De Bary [Dr. A.) Comparative Morphology and Biology of the 
 
 Fungi Mycctozoa and Bacteria. Authorised En_<:;lish Translation by Henry 
 E. F. Garnsey, M.A. Revised by Isaac Bayley iialfour, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. 
 With 19S Woodcuts. Royal 8vo., half morocco, i/. 2s. GJ. 
 
 • Lectures on Baeteria. Second improved edition. Au- 
 thorised translation by H. E. F. Garnsey, M.A. Revised by Isaac Bayley 
 Ballour, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. With 20 Woodcuts. Crown Svo. Gs. 
 
 Goebel {Dr. K.). Outlines of Classification and Special Mor- 
 phology of Plants. A New Edition of Sachs' Text Book of Botany, Book II. 
 English Translation by H. E. F. Garnsey, M.A. Revised by I. Bayley Balfour, 
 M.A., M.D., F.R.S. With 407 Woodcuts. Royal Svo. half morocco, 21^. 
 
 Mailer (y.). On certain Variations in the Vocal Organs of 
 
 the Passeres that have hitherto escaped notice. Translated by F. J. Bell, B.A., 
 and edited, with an Appendix, by A, H. Garrod, M.A., F.R.S. With Plates. 
 1878. 4to. paper covers, 7^. 6d. 
 
 Price [Bartholomeiv, M.A., F.R.S.). Treatise on Infitiitesimal 
 
 Calculus. 
 
 Vol.1. Differential Calculus. Second Edition. Svo. 14^.6^^. 
 
 Vol. II. Integral Calculus, Calculus of Variations, and Differential Equations. 
 Second Edition, 1865. Svo. i8j. 
 
 Vol. III. Statics, including Attractions; Dynamics of a Material Particle. 
 Second Edition, 1S68. Svo. i6.f. 
 
 Vol. IV. Dynamics of Material Systems; together with a chapter on Theo- 
 retical Dynamics, by W. F. Donkin, M.A., F.R.S. 1S62. Svo. i6s. 
 
 Pritchard [C, D.D., F.R.S.). Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis. 
 
 A Photometric determination of the magnitudes of all Stars visible to the naked 
 eye, from the Pole to ten degrees south of the Equator. 1885. Royal Svo. 
 ■i,s.Gd. 
 
 Astronomical Observations made at the University 
 
 Observatory, Oxford, under the direction of C. Pritchard, D.D. No. i. 
 1878. Royal Svo. paper covers, 3^. Gd. 
 
 Rigaud's Correspondence of Scientific Men of the J'jth Century, 
 with Tatjle of Contents by A. de Morgan, and Index by the Rev. J. Rigaud, 
 M.A. 2 vols. 1841-1S62. Svo. iS.r. 6^. 
 
 Rolleston [George, M.D., F.R.S.). Forms of Animal Life. 
 
 A Manual of Comparative Anatomy, with descriptions of selected types. 
 Second Edition. Revised and enlarged by W. llatchett Jackson, M.A. 
 Medium, Svo. cloth extra, i/. i6.r. 
 
 Scientific Papers and Addresses. Arranged and Edited 
 
 by William Turner, M.B., F.R.S. With a Biographical Sketch by Edwartl 
 Tylor, F.R.S. With Portrait, Plates, and Woodcuts. 2 vols. Svo. i/. 4^. 
 
 Sachs [Julius von). Lectures on the Physiology of Plants. 
 
 Translated by H. Marshall Ward, M.A. With 445 Woodcuts. Royal Svo. 
 half morocco, il. lis, 6d.
 
 T4 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Westtvood (y. O., M.A., F.R.S.). Thesmiriis Entomologicus 
 
 Hopciamis, or a Description of the rarest Insects in the Collection given to 
 the University by the Rev. William Hope. With 40 Plates. 1S74. Small 
 folio, half morocco, 7/. \os. 
 
 ^fte ^amtr iSoofes of tj^e lEast. 
 
 Translated by various Oriental Scholars, and edited by 
 F. Max Muller. 
 
 [Demy 8vo. cloth.] 
 
 Vol. I. The Upanishacls. Translated by F. Max Muller. 
 
 Part I. The A7iandogya-iipanishad, The Talavakara-upanishad, The Aitareya- 
 ara«yaka, The Kaushitaki-brahma«a-npanishad, and The Vai,>asaneyi-sawhita- 
 upanishad. \os.(id. 
 
 Vol. II. The Sacred Laws of the Aryas, as taught in the 
 
 Schools of Apastamba. Gautama, VasishMa, and Baudh;lyana. Translated by 
 Prof. Georg Biihler. Part I. Apastamba and Gautama. 105. dd. 
 
 Vol. III. The Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Con- 
 fucianism. Translated by James Lesj^e. Part I. The Shii King, The Reli- 
 gious portions of the Shih King, and The Hsiao King, i 2s. 6d. 
 
 Vol. IV. The Zend-Ave.sta. Translated by James Darme- 
 
 steter. Parti. The Vendidad. ioj.6^. 
 
 Vol. V. The Pahlavi Texts. Translated by E. W, West. 
 
 Part I. The Bundahi^-, Bahman Yajt, and Shayast la-shayast. 12^. 6d. 
 
 Vols. VI and IX. The Qur'an. Parts I and II. Translated 
 
 by E. II. Palmer. 2\s. 
 
 Vol. VII. The In.stitutcs of Vish/m. Translated by Julius 
 
 Jolly. TOJ-. Old. 
 
 Vol. VIII. The Bhagavadgita, with The Sanatsu^atiya, and 
 
 The Anugita. Translated by Kashinath Trimbak Telang. loj. 6d. 
 
 Vol. X. The Dhammapada, translated from Pali by F. Max 
 
 Miiller; and The Sutta-Nipata, translated from Pali by V. Fausboll; being 
 Canonical Books of the Buddhists, los. ()d.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 15 
 
 Vol. XL Buddhist Suttas. Translated from Pali by T. W. 
 
 Rhys Davids, i. The Mahaparinibbiina Sultanla : 2. The Dhamma-Z-akka- 
 ppavattana Sutta ; ?,. The Tevifya Suttanta; 4. The Akankheyya Sutta; 
 5. TheAetokhila Sutta; 6. The Maha-sudassana Suttanta ; 7. TheSabbasava 
 Sutta. \os.f>d. 
 
 Vol. XII. The vSatapatha-Brahma;/a, according to the Text 
 
 of the Madhyandina School. Translated by Julius Eggeling. Part I. 
 Books I and II. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XIII. Vinaya Texts. Translated from the Pali by 
 
 T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg. Part I. The Patimokkha. 
 The Mahavagga, I-IV. lOs. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XIV. The Sacred Laws of the Aryas, as taught in the 
 
 Schools of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasish///a and Baudhayana. Translated 
 by Georg Biihler. Part II. VasishMa and Baudhayana. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XV. The Upanishads. Translated by F. Max Muller. 
 
 Part II. The Ka///a-upanishad, The Mu«r/aka-upanishad, The Taittiriyaka- 
 upanishad, The B;7hadara«yaka-upanishad, The 6'vetaj'vatara-upanishad, The 
 Prajwa-upanishad, and The Maitraya?;a-Brahma«a-upanishad. loj. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XVI. The Sacred Books of China. The Texts of 
 
 Confucianism. Translated by James Legge. Part II. The Yi King, 
 loj'. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XVII. Vinaya Texts. Translated from the Pali by 
 
 T. W. Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg. Part II. The Mahavagga, 
 V-X. The AuUavagga, I-III. ios.6d. 
 
 Vol. XVIII. Pahlavi Texts. Translated by E. W. West. 
 
 Part II. The Daa'istan-i Dinik and The Epistles of ManiuZ'ihar. 1 2s. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XIX. The Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, A Life of Buddha 
 
 by Ajvaghosha Bodhisattva, translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by 
 Dharmaraksha, a.d. 420, and from Chinese into English by Samuel Beal. 
 los. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XX. Vinaya Texts. Translated from the Pali by T. W. 
 
 Rhys Davids and Hermann Oldenberg. Part III. The AuUavagga, IV-XII. 
 icr. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XXI. The Saddharma-pu;/^arika ; or, the Lotus of the 
 
 True Law. Translated by H. Kern. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Vol. XXII. G^aina-Sutras. Translated from Prakrit by Her- 
 mann Jacobi. Parti. The AHranga-Siitra. The Kalpa-Siitra. 10s. 6d.
 
 1 6 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Vol. XXIII. The Zend-Avesta. Translated by James Dar- 
 
 mesteler. Part 11. The Sirozahs, Yai-ts, and Nyayu. lo^. dd. 
 
 Vol. XXIV. Pahlavi Texts. Translated by E. W. West. 
 
 Part III. Dina-i Maiiiog-i Khirad, .S"ikand-gumaiiik, and Sad-Dar. 
 \os.(id. 
 
 Second Series. 
 
 Vol. XXV. Manu. Translated by Georg Biihler. 2\s. 
 Vol. XXVI. The vSatapatha-Brahmawa. Translated by 
 
 Julius Eggeling. Part II. i2j. 6(/. 
 
 Vols. XXVII and XXVIII. The Sacred Books of China. 
 
 The Texts of Confucianism. Translated by James Legge. Parts III and IV. 
 The Li K\, or Collection of Treatises on the Rules of Propriety, or Ceremonial 
 Usages. 25J-. 
 
 Vols. XXIX and XXX. The Grzliya-Sutras, Rules of Vedic 
 
 Domestic Ceremonies. Translated by Hermann Oldenberg. 
 
 Part I (Vol. XXIX), \2s. 6d. Just Published. 
 Part II (Vol. XXX). /« the Press. 
 
 Vol. XXXI. The Zend-Avesta. Part III. The Yasna, 
 
 Visparad, Afrinagan, and Gahs. Translated by L. H. Mills. 12s. 6d. 
 
 The following Volumes are in the Press: — 
 
 Vol. XXXII. Vedic Hymns. Translated by F. Max Muller. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Vol. XXXIII. Narada, and some Minor Law-books. 
 
 Translated by Julius Jolly. ^Preparing.'] 
 
 Vol. XXXIV. The Vedanta-Sutras, with 5arikara's Com- 
 mentary. Translated by G. Thibaut. [Preparing.'] 
 
 *i* The Second Series will consist of Twenty-Four Volumes.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 17 
 
 arcnbniT Uits^ Btxm. 
 
 I. ENGLISH, &c. 
 
 A?i Elementary English Grammar and Exercise Book. By 
 
 O. W. Tancock, M.A. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. is. dd. 
 
 An English Grammar and Reading Book, for Lower Forms 
 
 in Classical Schools. By O. W. Tancock, M.A. Fourth Edition. Extra 
 fcap. Svo. 3^. 6t/. 
 
 Typical Selections from the best English Writers, with Intro- 
 ductory Notices. Second Edition. In 2 vols. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^-. 6c/. each. 
 Vol. I. Latimer to Berkeley. Vol. II. Pope to Macaulay. 
 
 Shairp [J. C., LL.D.). Aspects of Poetry ; being Lectures 
 
 delivered at Oxford. Crown Svo. 10s. dd. 
 
 A Book for the Beginner in Anglo-Saxon. By John Earle, 
 
 M.A. Third Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 An Anglo-Saxon Reader. In Prose and Verse. With Gram- 
 matical Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. By Henry Sweet, M.A. Fourth 
 Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Extra fcap. Svo. %s, 6d. 
 
 A Second Anglo-Saxon Reader. By the same Author. Extra 
 
 fcap. Svo. 45. (>d. 
 
 An Aiiglo- Saxon Primer, with Grammar, Notes, and Glossary. 
 
 By the same Author. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Old English Reading Primers ; edited by Henry Sweet, M.A. 
 
 I. Selected Homilies of JSAinc. Extra fcap. Svo., stiff covers, is. dd. 
 
 II. Extracts from Alfred's Orosius. Extra fcap. Svo., stiff covers, is. 6d. 
 
 First Middle English Primer, zvith Grammar and Glossary. 
 
 By the same Author. Extra fcap. Svo. zs. 
 
 Secotid Middle English Primer. Extracts from Chaucer, 
 
 with Grammar and Glossary. By the same Author. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 A Concise Dictionary of Middle English, from A.D. 11 50 to 
 
 1580. By A. L. Mayhew, M.A., and W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Crovvn Svo. 
 half roan, ^s. 6d. 
 
 A Handbook of PJionetics, including a Popular Exposition of 
 
 the Principles of Spelling Reform. By H. Sweet, M.A. Ext. fcap. Svo. 4.^. kd. 
 
 C
 
 1 8 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Elemcntarbuch dcs Gesprochencn Ens^lisch. Grammatik, 
 
 Texte und Glossar. Von Henry Sweet. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo., 
 stiff covers, 2s. 6d, 
 
 History of English So7inds from the earliest Period. With 
 full Word-Lists. By Henry Sweet, M.A. Demy 8vo. 14J. 
 
 Principles of English Etymology. First Series. The Native 
 
 Element. By W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Crown 8vo. 9^. 
 
 The Philology of the English Tongue. By J. Earle, M.A. 
 
 Fourth Edition. Extra fcap 8vo. 1$. dd. 
 
 An Icclandie Primer, with Grammar, Notes, and Glossary. 
 
 By Henry Sweet, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3J. f)d. 
 
 An leelandic Prose Reader, with Notes, Grammar, and Glossary. 
 
 By G. Vigfusson, M.A., and F. York Powell, M.A. Ext. fcap. 8vo. io.s. 6(/. 
 
 TJie Ormulum ; with the Notes and Glossary of Dr. R. M. 
 
 White. Edited by R. Holt, M.A. 1878. 2 vols. Extra fcap. 8vo. 21 j. 
 
 Specimens of Early English. A New and Revised Edition. 
 
 With Introduction, Notes, and Glossarial Index. 
 
 Part I. By R. Morris, LL.D. From Old English Homilies to King Horn 
 (A.D. 1150 to A.D 1300). Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 9^. 
 
 Part II. By R. Morris, LL D., and W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. From Robert 
 of Gloucester to Gower (A.D. 1298 to A.D. 1393). Third Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 7^. dd. 
 
 Specimens of EjiglisJi Literature, from the ' Ploughmans 
 
 Crede' to the ' Shepheardes Calender' (a.d. 1394 to A.D. 1579). ^^^ Intro- 
 duction, Notes, and Glossarial Index. By W\ W. Skeat, Litt.D. Fourtli 
 Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. '■,s.6d. 
 
 The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plozvman, in three 
 
 Parallel Texts ; together with Riihaj-d the Rcdelcss. By William Langland 
 (about 1 362-1 399 ..\.n.). Edited from numerous Manuscripts, with Preface, 
 Notes, and a Glossary, by W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. 2 vols. Svo. 3U. dd. 
 
 The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, by 
 
 William Langland. Edited, with Notes, by W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Fourl'h 
 Edition Extra fcap. 8vo 4^.6^/. 
 
 Chaucer. I. The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; tlie 
 
 Knightes Tale; The Nonne Prestes Tale. Edited by R. Morris, LL.D. 
 Sixty-sixth thousand. Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. hd. 
 
 ■ II. TJie Prioresses Tale; Sir Thopas ; The Monkes 
 
 Talc ; The Clerkes Tale ; The Sqiiieres Tale, &c. Edited by W. W. Skeat, 
 Litt.D. Third Edition. Extra icaji. 8vo. 4J. dd.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 19 
 
 Chaucer. III. TJieTalc of the Man of Lazve ; The Pardoneres 
 Tale ; The Second Nonnes Tale ; The Chanouns Yemannes Tale. By the 
 same Editor. Ne'cv Edition, Revised. Extra fcap. 8vo. ^s. 6d. 
 
 IV. Minor Poems. By the same Editor. Extra fcap. 
 
 8vo. Just ready. 
 
 Gainclyn, The Tale of. Edited with Notes, Glossary, &c., by 
 
 W. W. Skeat, Litt.D. Extra fcap. Svo. Stiff covers, \s. 6d. 
 
 Minot {Laurence^. Poems. Edited, with Introduction and 
 Notes, by Joseph Hall, M.A., Head Master of the Hulme Grammar School, 
 Manchester. Extra fcap. Svo. 45. dd. 
 
 Speiiscr's Faery Qneene. Books I and II. Designed chiefly 
 
 for the use of Schools. With Introduction and Notes by G. \V. Kitchin, D.D., 
 and Glossary by A. L. Mayhew, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2^. td. each. 
 
 Hooker. Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I. Edited by R. W. 
 
 Church, M.A. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 OLD ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 The Pilgrimage to Parnassus with TJie Two Parts of the 
 
 Return from Parnassus. Three Comedies performed in St. John's College, 
 Cambridge, A.D. MDXCVII-mdci. Edited from MSS. by the Rev. W. D. 
 Macray, M.A., F.S.A. Medium Svo. Bevelled Boards, Gilt top, 8.f. Gd. 
 
 Marlowe and Greene. Marlozve's Tragical History of Dr. 
 
 Faustus. and Greene'' s Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay- 
 Edited by A. W. Ward, M.A. Neiv and Enlarged Edition. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. ()s. dd. 
 
 Marlowe. Ediuard II. With Introduction, Notes, &c. By 
 
 O. W. Tancock, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. Paper covers, 2J. Cloth 35. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 Shakespeare. Select Plays. Edited by W. G. Clark, M.A., 
 
 and W. Aldis Wright, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. stiff covers. 
 The Merchant of Venice, is. Macbeth. is.6d. 
 
 Richard the Second, is. 6d. Hamlet. 2j. 
 
 Edited by W. Aldis Wright, M.A. 
 
 The Tempest, is. 6d. INIidsummer Night's Dream. is.Sd. 
 
 As You Like It. is. 6d. Coriolanus. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Julius Caesar. 2s. Henry the Fifth. 2s. 
 
 Richard the Third. 2s. 6d. Twelfth Night, is. 6d. 
 
 King Lear. is. 6d. King John. is. 6d. 
 
 Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist ; a popular Illustration of 
 
 the Principles of Scientific Criticism. By R. G. Moulton, M.A. Crown Svo. ^s . 
 
 C 2
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Bacon. I. Advancement of Learning. Edited by W. Aldis 
 
 Wright, M.A. Third Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4J. dd. 
 
 II. The Essays. With Introduction and Notes. By 
 
 S. H. Re}aiolds, M.A., late Fellow of Brasenose College. In Preparation. 
 
 Milton. I. Areopagittca. With Introduction and Notes. By 
 
 John W. Hales, M.A. Third Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^-. 
 
 II. Poems. Edited by R. C. Browne, M.A. 2 vols. 
 
 Fifth Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6j. dd. Sold separately, Vol. I. j^s. ; Vol. II. 3.f. 
 
 In paper covers : — 
 Lycidas, 3^. L'Allegro, 3^. II Penseroso, 4^/. Comiis,6<^. 
 III. Paradise Lost. Book I. Edited by H. C. Beeching. 
 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff cover, \s. i)d. ; in white Parchment, 3^. dd. 
 
 IV. Samson Agonistes. Edited with Introckiction and 
 
 Notes by John Churton Collins. Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff covers, \s. 
 
 Biinyan. I. The Pilgrim's Progress^ Grace Abounding, Rela- 
 tion of the ImprisonmcJit of Rlr.Jolin Biinyan. Edited, with Biographical 
 Introduction and Notes, by E. Venables, M.A. 1S79. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5^. 
 In ornamental Parchment, 6^. 
 
 II. Holy War, &^c. Edited by E. Venables, M.A. 
 
 In the Press. 
 
 Clarendon. History of the Rebellion. Book VL. Edited 
 
 by T. Arnold, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 4^. Gd. 
 
 Dryden. Select Poems. Stanzas on the Death of Ohver 
 
 Cromwell; Astraea Redux; Annus Mirabilis ; Alisalom and Achitojjhel ; 
 Rcligio Laici; The Hind and the Panther. Edited by W. D. Christie, M.A. 
 Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 3J-. 6(/. 
 
 Locke's Conduct of the Understanding. Edited, with Intro- 
 duction, Notes, &c., by T. Fowler, D.D. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Addison. Selections from Papers in the Spectator. With Notes. 
 By T. Arnold, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. ^s. 6d. In ornamental Parchment, 6.f. 
 
 Steele. Selections from the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian. 
 
 Edited by Austin Dobson. Extra fcap. Svo. 4j-. 6d. In white Parcliment, 7^-. Gd. 
 
 Pope. With Introduction and Notes. By Mark Pattison, B.D. 
 
 I. Essay on Man. Extra fcap. 8vo. \s. 6d. 
 
 II. Satires and Epistles. Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. 
 
 Parnell. The Hermit. Paper covers, id. 
 
 Gray. Selected Poems. Edited by Edmund Gosse. Extra 
 
 fcap. 8vo. Stiff covers, I J. 6^. In white Parcliment, 3^. 
 
 Elegy and Ode on Eton College. Paper covers, id.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 21 
 
 Goldsmith. Selected Poems. Edited, with Introduction and 
 
 Notes, by Austin Dobson. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6d. In white Parcliment, 
 4^. 6a'. 
 
 The Traveller. With Notes by G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. 
 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. Paper covers, is. 
 
 The Deserted Village. Paper covers, id. 
 
 jfohuson. I. Rasselas. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, 
 
 by G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. Extra fcap. Svo. Bevelled boards, 3J-. Gd. In 
 white Parchment, 4^^. 6d. 
 
 II. Rasselas ; Lives of Dryden and Pope. Edited by 
 
 Alfred Milnes, M.A. (London). Extra fcap. Svo. 4^. dd. 
 
 Lives of Dryden and Pope. Stiff covers, 2s. 6d. 
 
 III. Life of Milton. Edited, with Notes, etc., by C. H. 
 
 Firth, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. cloth, 2S. 6d. Stiff cover, \s. Gd. 
 
 IV. Vanity of Htiman Wishes. With Notes, by E. J. 
 
 Payne, M.A. Paper covers, j^d. 
 
 V. Wit and Wisdom of Sauutcl Johnson. Edited by 
 
 G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L. Crown Svo. 7^-. 6d. 
 
 VI. BosivelTs Life of Johnson. With the Journal of a 
 
 Tour to the Hebrides. Edited, with copious Notes, Appendices, and Index, by 
 G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L., Pembroke College. With Portraits and Facsimiles. 
 6 vols. Medium Svo. Half bound, 3/. 3J. 
 
 Coivpcr. Edited, with Life, Introductions, and Notes, by 
 
 H. T. Griffith, B.A. 
 
 I. TJie Didactic Poems of 1782, with Selections from the 
 
 Minor Pieces, A.D. 1779-1783. Extra fcap. Svo. y. 
 
 II. The Task, with Tirocinium, and Selections from the 
 
 Minor Poems. A.D. 1 784-1 799. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. is. 
 
 Bnrke. Select Works. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, 
 
 by E. J. Payne, M.A. 
 
 • I. Thoughts on the Present Discontents ; the tivo Speeches 
 
 on America. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 4^-. Gd. 
 
 11. Reflections on the FrcncJi Revolution. Second Edition. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 5^. 
 
 III. Four Letters on the Proposals for Peace with the 
 
 Regicide Directory of France. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 5^. 
 
 Keats. Hyperion, Book I. With Notes by W. T.Arnold, B.A. 
 
 Paper covers, i\d. 
 
 Byron. Childe Harold. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, 
 
 by H. F, Tozer, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. dd. In white Parchment, 55.
 
 2 2 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Scott. Lay of the Last Minstrel. Edited with Preface and 
 
 Notes by \V. Minto, M.A. With Map. Extra fcap. Svo. Stiff covers, 2s. 
 Ornamental Parchment, 3^. 6d. 
 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel. Introduction and Canto I, 
 
 with Preface and Notes, by the same Editor. 6(/. 
 
 II. LATIN. 
 
 Rudimcuta Latina. Comprising Accidence, and Exercises of 
 
 a very Elementary Character, for the use of Beginners. By John Barrow 
 Allen, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2S. 
 
 An Elementary Latin Grammar. By the same Author. 
 
 Fifty- Seventh Thousand. Extra fcap. Svo. 2S.6d. 
 
 A First Latin Exereise Book. By the same Author. Fourth 
 
 Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 A Seeond Latin Exereise Book. By the same Author. Extra 
 
 fcap. Svo. 3J'. (>d. 
 
 A Key to First and Second Latin Exercise Books, in one volume, price ^s. 
 Supplied to Teachers only on application to the Secretary of the Clarendon Press. 
 
 Reddcnda Minora, or Easy Passages, Latin and Greek, for 
 
 Unseen Translation. For the use of Lower Forms. Composed and selected 
 by C. S. Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. \s. (>d. 
 
 Ajigliee Reddenda, or Extracts, Latin and Greek, for 
 
 Unseen Translation. By C. S. Jerram, M.A. Third Edition, Revised and 
 Enlarged. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. (id, 
 
 Anglice Reddcnda. Second Series. By the same Author. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 35. 
 
 Passages for Translation into Latin. For the use of Passmen 
 
 and others. Selected by J. Y. Sargent, 1\LA. Seventh Edition. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. 2S. dd. 
 
 Exereises in Latin Prose Composition ; with Litroduction, 
 
 Notes, and Passages of Graduated Difficulty for Translation into Latin. By 
 G. G. Ramsay, M.A., LL.D. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 4J. 6d. 
 
 Hints and Helps for Latin Elcgiaes. By H. Lee-Warner, M.A. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. dd. 
 
 First Latin Reader. By T. J. Nunns, M.A. Third Edition. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Caesar. The Commentaries (for Schools). With Notes and 
 
 Maps, By Charles E. Moberly, M.A. 
 
 The Gallic War. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 4J. 6t/. 
 
 77/6' Gallic War. Books I, II. Extra fcap. Svo. 2^. 
 
 'J'he Civil War, Extra fcap. Svo. 3s. dd. 
 
 The Civil War, Book I. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s,
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 23 
 
 Cicero. Speeches against Catilina. By E. A. Upcott, M.A., 
 
 Assistant Master in Wellington College. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. 
 8vo. 2s. 6(/. 
 
 Selection of interesting and descriptive passages. With 
 
 Notes. l)y Henry Walford, JNl.A. In three Parts. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4J. 6d?. 
 
 Each Part separately, limp, is. 6d. 
 Part I. Anecdotes from Grecian and Roman History. Third Edition. 
 Part II. Omens and Dreams: Beauties of Nature. Third Edition. 
 Part III. Rome's Rule of her Provinces. Third Edition. 
 
 De Senectnte. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, 
 
 by L. Huxley, M.A. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 ■ Selected Letters (for Schools). With Notes. By the 
 
 late C. E. Prichard, M.A., and E. R. Bernard, M.A. Second Edition. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Select Orations (for Schools). In Verrem I. De 
 
 Imperio Gn. Pompeii. Pro Archia. Philippica IX. With Introduction and 
 Notes by J. R. Kipg, M.A. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. is. dd. 
 
 I?i Q. Caeeiliuni Divinatio, and In C. Verre^n Actio 
 
 Prima. With Introduction and Notes, by J. R. King, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 limp, \s. 6d. 
 
 Speeches agai)ist Catilina. With Introduction and 
 
 Notes, by E. A. Upcott, M.A. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 2s. bd. 
 
 Corneli7is Nepos. With English Notes. By Oscar Browning, 
 
 M.A. Thiid Edition. Revised by W. R. Inge, M.A. (In one or two Parts.) 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Horace. Selected Odes. With Notes for the use of a Fifth 
 
 Form. By E. C. Wickham, M.A. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 cloth, 2S. 
 
 Livy. Selections (for Schools). With Notes and Maps. By 
 
 H. Lee-Warner, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. In Parts, limp, each \s. hd. 
 Part I. The Caudine Disaster. Part II. Hannibal's Campaign 
 in Italy. Part HI. The Macedonian War. 
 
 Books V-VII. With Introduction and Notes. By 
 
 A. R. Cluer, B.A. Second Edition. Revised by P. E. Matheson, M.A. 
 (In one or two Parts.) Extra fcap. Svo. ^s, 
 
 Books XXI, XXII, and XXIII. With Introduction 
 
 and Notes. By M. T. Tatham, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 4?. dd. 
 
 Book XXII. By the same Editor. Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 
 2s. dd. 
 
 Ovid. Selections for the use of Schools. With Introductions 
 
 and Notes, and an Appendix on the Roman Calendar. By W. Ramsay, M.A. 
 Edited by G. G. Ramsay, M.A. Third Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. ^s. 6d.
 
 24 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Ovid. Tristia. Book I. The Text revised, with an Intro- 
 duction and Notes. By S. G. Owen, B.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. 35-. dd. 
 
 Plautus. Captivi. Edited by W. M. Lindsay, M.A. Extra 
 
 fcap. 8vo. (In one or two Parts.) 2s. 6d. 
 
 The Triminiimis. With Notes and Introductions. (In- 
 tended for the Higher Forms of Public Schools.) By C. E. Ereeman, M.A., 
 and A. Sloman, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3^. 
 
 Pliny. Selected Letters {{ox Schools). With Notes. By the 
 
 late C. E. Prichard, M.A., and E. R. Bernard, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3J-. 
 
 Salhisi. With Introduction and Notes. By W. W. Capes, 
 
 M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 4^. 6d. 
 
 Tacitus. The Annals. Books I-IV. Edited, with Introduc- 
 tion and Notes (for the use of Schools and Junior Students), by H. Fumeaux, 
 M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. ^s. 
 
 The Annals. Book I. With Introduction and Notes, 
 
 by the same Editor. Extra fcap. Svo. limp, 2j. 
 
 Terence. Andria. With Notes and Introductions. By C. 
 
 E. Freeman, M.A., and A. Sloman, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Adelphi. With Notes and Introductions. (Intended for 
 
 the Higher Forms of Public Schools.) By A. Sloman, M.A. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. 3^. 
 
 Phormio. With Notes and Introductions. By A. 
 
 Sloman, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 31. 
 Tihnllus and Propertius. Selections. Edited by G. G. Ramsay, 
 
 M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. (In one or two vols.) ds. 
 
 Virgil. With Introduction and Notes. By T. L. Papillon, 
 
 M.A. Two vols. Crown Svo. \os. Gd. The Text separately, ^s. dd. 
 
 ■ Bncolics. Edited by C. S. Jerram, M.A. In one or 
 
 two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. dd. 
 
 Aeneid I. With Introduction and Notes, by C. S. 
 
 Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. limp, \s Gd. 
 Aeneid IX. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by 
 
 A. E. Haigh, M.A., late Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. limp, i.f. 6(/. In two Parts, 2s. 
 
 Aviaiu/s, The Fables of. Edited, with Prolegomena, Critical 
 
 Apparatus, Commentary, etc. By Robinson Ellis, M.A., LL.D. Demy Svo. 
 8.f. 6</. 
 
 Catnlli Veronensis Liber. Iterum rccognovit, apparatum cri- 
 ticum prolegomena appendices addidit, Robinson Ellis, A.M. 1S78. Demy 
 Svo. i6s. 
 
 A Covivicntary on Catullns. By Robinson Ellis, M.A. 
 
 1876. Demy Svo. i6j.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 25 
 
 Catulli Veroncnsis Carmina Selccta, secundum recognitionem 
 
 Robinson Ellis, A.M. E.\tra fcap. 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 Cicero de Oratore. With Introduction and Notes. By A. S. 
 
 Wilkins, Litt. D. 
 
 Bookl. Second Edition. iSSS. 8vo. ^s-dd. Book II. i8Si. 8vo. jj. 
 
 Philippic Oralions. With Notes. By J. R. King, M.A. 
 
 Second Edition. 1S79. 8vo. \os. 6d. 
 
 Select Letters. With English Introductions, Notes, and 
 
 Appendices. By Albert Watson, M.A. Third Edition. Demy 8vo. i8s. 
 
 Select Letters. Text. By the same Editor. Second 
 
 Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4J. 
 pro Clitentio. With Introduction and Notes. By W. 
 
 Ramsay, M.A. Edited by G. G. Ramsay, M.A. 2nd Ed. Ext. fcap. 8VO.3J. 6^. 
 
 Horace. With a Commentary. Volume I. The Odes, Carmen 
 
 Seculare, and Epodes. By Edward C. Wickham, M.A. Second Edition. 
 1877. Demy 8vo. \2s. 
 
 A reprint of the above, in a size suitable for the use 
 
 of Schools. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 6j-. 
 
 Livy., Book I. With Introduction, Historical Examination, 
 
 and Notes. By J. R. Seeley, M.A. Second Edition. 1S81. Svo. 6^-. 
 
 Ovid. p. Ovidii Nasonis Ibis. Ex Novis Codicibus edidit, 
 
 Scholia Vetera Commentarium cum Prolegomenis Appendice Indice addidit, 
 R. Ellis, A.M. Svo. \os. 6d. 
 
 Persiiis. The Satires. With a Translation and Commentary. 
 
 By John Conington, M.A. Edited by Henry Nettleship, M.A. Second 
 Edition. 1S74. Svo. "js. Gd. 
 
 Juvenal. XIII Satires. Edited, with Introduction and 
 
 Notes, byC. H. Pearson, M.A., and Herbert A. Strong, M.A., LL.D., Professor 
 of Latin in Liverpool University College, Victoria University. In two Parts. 
 Crown Svo. Complete, 6.f. 
 Also separately. Part I. Introduction, Text, etc., 35. Part II. Notes, y. 6d. 
 
 Tacitus. The Annals. Books I- VI. Edited, with Intro- 
 duction and Notes, by H. Furneaux, M.A. Svo. iSj. 
 
 King- {y. E., M.A.) and C. Cookson, M.A. The Principles of 
 .Sound and Inflexion, as illustrated in the Greek and Latin Languages. 1888. 
 Svo. iSj. 
 
 Nettleship (//., JII.A.). Lectures and Essays on Subjects con- 
 nected with Latin Scholarship and Literature. Crown Svo. 7.^. dd. 
 
 The Roman Saiura. 8vo. sewed, \s. 
 
 Ancient Lives of Vergil. 8vo. sewed, 2^-.
 
 26 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Pap! lion {T. L., M.A.). A Mmmal of Comparative Philology. 
 
 Third Edition, Revised and Corrected. 1S82. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Pinder [North, M.A.). Selections from the less known Latin 
 
 Poets. i86(). 8vo. 15J. 
 
 Sellar ( W. V., M.A.). Roman Poets of the Augustan Age. 
 
 Virgil, New Edition. 1883. Crown Svo. 9.?. 
 
 Roman Poets of the Rep2iblie. New Edition, Revised 
 
 and Enlarged. 18S1. 8vo. \i,s. 
 
 Wordsivorth (y., M.A.). Fragments and Speeimens of Early 
 
 Latin. With Introductions and Notes. 1874. 8vo. i8.f. 
 
 III. GREEK. 
 
 A Greek Primer., for the use of beginners in that Language. 
 
 By Charles Wordsworth, D.C.L. Seventh Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. is.dd. 
 
 A Greek Testament Primer. An Easy Grammar and Read- 
 
 in<^ Book for the use of Students beginning Greek. By the Rev. E. Miller, 
 M.A. E.Ktra fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6,/. 
 
 Easy Greek Reader. By Evelyn Abbott, IM.A. In one or 
 
 two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Graecae Grammaiicae Rndimenta in usum Scholarum. Auc- 
 
 tore Carolo Wordsworth, D.C.L. Nineteenth Edition, 1882. i2mo. 4f. 
 
 A Greek-EnglisJi Lexieon, abridged from Liddell and Scott's 
 
 4to. edition, chiefly for the use of Schools. Twenty-first Edition. 1886. 
 Square i2mo. 1$. 6d. 
 
 Greek Verbs, Irjrgular and Defeetive. By W. Veitch. Fourth 
 
 Edition. Crown Svo. \os.6d. 
 
 The Elements of Greek Aecentuation (for Schools) : abridged 
 
 from his larger work by IL W. Chandler, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. ^s. dd. 
 
 A Series of Graduated Greek Readers: — 
 
 First Greek Reader. By W. G. Rushbrooke, M.L. Second 
 
 Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2^. 6</. 
 
 Seeond Greek Reader. By A. M. Bell, M.A. Extra fcap. 
 
 Svo. 3.r. dd. 
 
 Fourth Greek Reader ; being Speeimens of Greek Dialects. 
 
 With Introductions, etc. By W. W. Merry, D.D. Extra fcap. Svo. 4^-. (>d. 
 
 Fifth Greek Reader. Selections from Greek Epic and 
 
 Dramatic Poetry, with Introductions and Notes. By Evelyn Abbott, M.A. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 4J. (>d. 
 
 The Golden Treasury of Ancieiit Greek Poetry: being a Col- 
 lection of the finest passages in the Greek Classic Poets, with Introductory 
 Notices and Notes. By R. S. Wright, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. %s. dd.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 27 
 
 A Golden Treasury of Greek Prose, being a Collection of the 
 
 finest passages in the principal Greek Prose Writers, with Introiluctory Notices 
 and Notes. Uy R. S. Wright, M.A., and J. E. L. Shadwell, M.A. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. \s. 6d. 
 
 Aeschylus. Prometheus Bound (for Schools). With Introduc- 
 tion and Notes, by A. O. Prickard, M.A. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Agamemnon. With Introduction and Notes, by Arthur 
 
 Sidgvvick, M.A. Third Edition. In one or two parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 3J. 
 
 Choephoroi. With Introduction and Notes by the same 
 
 Editor. Extra fcap. Svo. 3J. 
 
 Eumenides. With Introduction and Notes., by the same 
 
 Editor. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 
 Aristophanes. In Single Plays. Edited, with English Notes, 
 
 Introductions, &c., by W. W. Merry. D.D. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 I. The Clouds, Second Edition, 2.s. 
 II. The Acharnians, Third Edition. In one or two parts, y. 
 
 III. The Frogs, Second Edition. In one or two parts, 3J. 
 
 IV. The Knights. In one or two parts, 3^. 
 
 Cehes. Tabula. With Introduction and Notes. By C. S. 
 
 Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. zs. 6d. 
 
 Demosthenes. Orations against Philip. With Introduction 
 
 and Notes, by Evelyn Abbott, M.A., and P. E. Matheson, M.A. Vol I. 
 Philippic I. Olynihiacs I-III. In one or two Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Euripides. Alcestis (for Schools). By C. S. Jerram, M.A, 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. dd. 
 
 Hecuba. With Notes by C. H. Russell. In the Press. 
 
 Helena. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, etc., for 
 
 Upper and Middle Forms. By C. S. Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Heraclcidae. Edited with Introduction and Notes by 
 
 C. S. Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. 
 
 Iphigenia in Tauris. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, 
 
 etc., for Upper and Middle Forms. By C. S. Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 
 cloth, 35. 
 
 Medea. By C. B. Heberden, M.A. In one or two Parts. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Herodot2is, Book IX. Edited, with Notes, by Evelyn Abbott, 
 
 M.A. In one or t« o Parts. Extra fcap. Svo. 35. 
 
 Herodottis, Selections from. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, 
 
 and a Map, by W^ W. Merry, D.D. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. dd.
 
 2 8 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Homer. Odyssey, Books I-XII (for Schools). By W. W. 
 
 Merry, D.D. Fortieth Thousand. (^ In one or two Parts.) Extra fcap. Svo. f,^. 
 Books I, and II, separately, each is. 6d. 
 
 Odyssey, Books XIII-XXIV (for Schools). By the 
 
 same Editor. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5^. 
 
 Iliad, Book I (for Schools). By D. B. Monro, M.A. 
 
 Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. 
 
 Iliad, Books I-XII (for Schools). With an Introduction, 
 
 a brief Homeric Grammar, and Notes. By D. B. Monro, M.A. Second 
 Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6^-. 
 
 Iliad, Books VI and XXI. With Introduction and 
 
 Notes. By Herbert Hailstone, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. is. 6d. each. 
 
 Lucian. Vera Historia (for Schools). By C. S. Jerram, 
 
 M.A. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. is.()d. 
 
 Lysias. EpitapJiios. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, 
 
 by F. J. Snell, B.A. (In one or two Parts.) Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. 
 
 Plato. Meno. With Introduction and Notes. By St. George 
 
 Stock, M.A., Pembroke College. (In one or two Parts.) Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 2s. dd. 
 
 Plato. The Apology. With Introduction and Notes. By 
 
 St. George Stock, M.A. (In one or two Parts.) Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. (>d. 
 
 SopJioeles. For the use of Schools. Edited with Intro- 
 ductions and English Notes By Lewis Campbell, M.A., and Evelyn Abbott, 
 M.A. New and Revised Edition. 2 Vols. Extra fcap. 8vo. los. 6d. 
 Sold separately, Vol. I, Text, 45'. 6d. ; Vol. II, Explanatory Notes, 6s. 
 
 Sophocles. In Single Plays, with English Notes, &c. By 
 Lewis Campbell, M.A., and Evelyn Abbott. M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. limp. 
 Oedipus Tyrannus, Philoctetes. New and Revised Edition, 2j. each. 
 Oedipus Coloneus, Antigone, is. gd. each. 
 
 Ajax, Electra, Trachiniae, 2s. each. 
 
 Oedipus Rex: Dindorfs Text, with Notes by the 
 
 present Bishop of St. David's. Extra fcap. Svo. limp, is. dd. 
 
 Thcoeritus (for Schools). With Notes. By H. Kynaston, 
 
 D.D. (late Snow). Third Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 4.?. 6^/. 
 
 XenopJion. Easy Selections (for Junior Classes). With a 
 
 Vocabulary, Notes, and Map. By J. S. Phillpolts, B.C.L.,and C.S. Jerram, 
 M.A. Third Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 3J. 6r/. 
 
 Selections (for Schools). With Notes and Maps. By 
 
 J. S. Phillpolts. BC.L. Fourth Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. is. Gd. 
 
 Anabasis, Book I. Edited for the use of Junior Classes 
 
 and Private Students. With Introduction, Notes, etc. By J. Marshall, M.A., 
 Rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. dd.
 
 CLARENDON PRLSS, OXFORD. 29 
 
 XenopJion. Anabasis, Book II. With Notes and Map. By 
 
 " C. S. Jerram, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2j. 
 
 Anabasis, Book III. Edited with Introduction, Analysis, 
 
 Notes, etc., by J. Marshall, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Cyropaedia, Book I. With Introduction and Notes by 
 
 C. Bi<jg, D.D. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Cyropaedia, Books IV and V. With Introduction and 
 
 Notes by C. Bigg, D.D. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. Gd. 
 
 Hellenica, Books I, II. With Introductions and Notes 
 
 by G. E. Underhill, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Magdalen College. Extra 
 fcap. Svo. cloth, y. 
 
 Aristotle s Politics. With an Introduction, Essays, and Notes. 
 
 By W. L. Newman, M.A., Fellow of Balliol College. Vols. I and II. 
 Medium Svo. 28^. 
 
 Aristotle. On the History of the Process by which the Aristo- 
 telian Writings arrived at their present form. An Essay by Richard Shute, 
 M.A., late Student of Christ Church; with a Brief Memoir of the Author. 
 Svo. 'js. fid. 
 
 Aristotelian Studies. I. On the Structure of the Seventh 
 
 Book of the Nicomachean Ethics. By J.C. Wilson, M.A. Svo. stiff, 5^^. 
 
 Aristotelis EtJiica Niconiachea, ex recensione Immanuelis 
 
 Bekkeri. Crown Svo. 55. 
 
 DemostJienes and Acschines. The Orations of Demosthenes 
 
 and .^schines on the Crown. With Introductory Essays and Notes. By 
 G. A.SimcGx,M.A.,and W. H.Simcox, M.A. 1S72. Svo. I2j. 
 
 Head {Barclay V.). Historia Numorum : A Mamtal of Greek 
 
 Ntirnismatics. Royal Svo. half-bound. 2/. 2s. 
 
 Hicks [E. L.,M.A.). A Manual of Greek Historical Inscrip- 
 tions. Demy Svo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Homer. Odyssey, Books I-XII. Edited with EngHsh Notes, 
 
 Appendices, etc. By W. W. Merry, D.D., and the late James Riddell, M.A. 
 18S6. Second Edition. Demy Svo. i6j. 
 
 Homer. A Grammar of the Homeric Dialect. By D. B. Monro, 
 
 M.A. Demy Svo. loj. dd. 
 Polybius. Selections from Polybius. Edited by J. L. Strachan- 
 
 Davidson, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College. With three Maps. 
 Medium Svo. buckram, 2\s. 
 
 Sophocles. The Plays and Fragments. With English Notes 
 
 and Introductions, by Lewis Campbell, M.A. 2 vols. 
 
 Vol. I. Oedipus Tyrannus. Oedipus Coloneus. Antigone. Svo. i6j. 
 Vol. II. Ajax, Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes. Fragments. Svo. i6j.
 
 30 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 IV. FRENCH AND ITALIAN. 
 
 BracJicfs Etymological Dictionary of the French Language. 
 
 Translated by G. W. Kitchin, D.D. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 7^. (id. 
 
 Historical Grammar of the French Language. Trans- 
 lated by G. W. Kitchin. D.D. fourth Edition. E.\trafcap. 8vo. 3^. dd. 
 
 Works by GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A. 
 
 Primer of FrcncJi Literature. Extra fcap. 8vo. is. 
 
 Short History of French Literature. Crown 8 vo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Specimens of French Literature, from Villon to Hugo. Crown 
 8vo. 9^. 
 
 MASTERPIECES OF THE FRENCH DRAMA. 
 Corneille's Horace. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by 
 
 George -Saintsbury, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Moliere^s Les Precieuses Ridicules. Edited, with Introduction 
 
 and Notes, by Andrew Lang, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. \s. 6d. 
 
 Racine^s Esther. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by 
 
 George Saintsbury, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Beaumarcliais' Le Barbier de Seville. Edited, with Introduction 
 
 and Notes, by Austin Dobson. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Voltaire'' s Mcrope. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by 
 
 George Saintsbury. Extra fcap. Svo. cloth, 2s. 
 
 Mussefs On ne badine pas avec l^ Amour, and Fantasio. Edited, 
 with Prolegomena, Notes, etc., by Walter Herries Pollock. Extra fcap. 
 Svo. 2S. 
 
 The above six Plays may be had in ornamental case, and bound 
 in Imitation Parchment, price \2s. 6d. 
 
 Perraulf s Popular Tales. Edited from the Original Editions, 
 with Introduction, etc., by Andrew Lang, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo., paper 
 boards, 5J. Cv/. 
 
 Sainte-Beuve. Selections from the Causeries du Ltindi. Edited 
 
 by George Saintsbury, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 Quinet's Lettres a sa Mhe. Selected and edited by George 
 
 Saintsbury, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 25. 
 
 Gautier, TJieopJiile. Scenes of Travel. Selected and Edited 
 
 by George Saintsbury, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 
 
 V P loqtience de la Chaire et de la Tribune Frangaises. Edited 
 by Paul Blouet, B.A. Vol. I. Sacred Oratory. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. tJ.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 31 
 
 Edited by GUSTAVE MASSON, B.A. 
 
 Corneille's Cinna. With Notes, Glossary^ etc. Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 
 cloth, zs. Stiff covers, \s. dd. 
 Lotiis XIV and his Contemporaries ; as described in Extracts 
 
 from the best Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century. With English Notes, 
 Genealogical Tables, &c. Extra fcajj. 8vo. zs. dd. 
 
 Maistre, Xavier de. Voyage auionr dc ma Chamhre. Ourika, 
 
 by Madame de Duras; Le Vieux Tailleur, by MM. Erckniaiiu-CJiatrian ; 
 La Veillee de Vincennes, by A/fred de F/\'nj/ ;^ Les Jumeaux dt I'Hotel 
 ComeiWe. hy £dmo/id A^oui ; Mesaventures d'un Ecolier, by Rodolphe Topffer. 
 Third Edition, Revised and Corrected. Extra fcap. !Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Voyage autonr de ma Chambre. Limp, is. 6d. 
 
 Moli^re's Les Fonrb erics de Scapin, and Racijie s Athalie. 
 
 With Voltaire's Life of Moliere. Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s.6d. 
 
 Molih'e's Les Fonrberies de Scapin. With Voltaire's Life of 
 
 Moliere. Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff covers, is. 6d. 
 
 Moliere'' s Les Feinnics Savantes. With Notes, Glossary, etc. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. cloth, 2s. Stiff covers, i^. (td. 
 
 Racine^s Andromaque, and Corneilles Le Mentenr. With 
 
 Louis Racine's Life of his Father. Extra fcap. Svo, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Regnard's Le Jonenr, and Briieys and Palaprats Lc Grondeiir. 
 
 Extra fcap Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 Sevign^, Madame dc, and her chief Contemporaries, Selections 
 
 frotJi the Correspondence of. Intended more especially for Girls' Schools. 
 Extra fcap. Svo. y. 
 
 Dante. Selections from the Inferno. With Introduction and 
 
 Notes. By H. B. Cotterill, B.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 4^. dd. 
 
 Tasso. La Gernsalemme Liberata. Cantos i, ii. With In- 
 troduction and Notes. By the same Editor. Extra fcap. Svo. 2^-. dd. 
 
 V. GERMAN. 
 
 Scherer ( W.). A History of German Literature. Translated 
 from the Third German Edition by Mrs. F. Conybeare. Edited by F. Max 
 MUUer. 2 vols. Svo. 2\s. 
 
 Max Midler. The German Classics, from the Fourth to the 
 
 Nineteenth Century. With Biographical Notices, Translations into Modern 
 German, and Notes. By F. Max Mtiller, M.A. A New Edition, Revised, 
 Enlarged, and Adapted to Wilhelm Scherer's ' History of German Literature,' 
 by F. Lichtenstein. 2 vols, crown Svo. 2\s.
 
 32 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 GERMAN COURSE. By HERMANN LANGE. 
 
 The Germans at Home ; a Practical Introduction to German 
 
 Conversation, with an Appendix containing the Essentials of German Grammar. 
 Third Edition. Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 The German Manual ; a German Grammar, Reading Book, 
 
 and a Handbook of German Conversation. Svo. 1$. 6</. 
 
 Grammar of the German Language. Svo. 3^'. 6d. 
 
 German Composition ; A Theoretical and Practical Guide to 
 
 the Art of Translating English Prose into German. Ed. 2. Svo. 4?. dd. 
 
 German Spelling ; A Synopsis of the Changes which it has 
 undergone through the Government Regulations of 1S80. Paper covers, 6(/. 
 
 Lessing''s Laokoon. With Introduction, English Notes, etc. 
 
 By A. Hamann. Phil. Doc, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. 4i-. 6d. 
 
 Schiller s Wilhelm Tell. Translated into English Verse by 
 
 E. Massie, M.A. Extra fcap. Svo. ^s. 
 
 GERMAN CLASSICS. 
 
 With Biographical, Historical, attd Critical Introductions, Arguments 
 (to the Dramas), and Complete Commentaries. 
 
 Edited by C. A. BUCHHEIM, Phil. Doc. Professor in King's 
 College, London. 
 
 Lessing : 
 
 (a) Nathan der Wcise. A Dramatic Poem. 4s. 6d. 
 {l?) Minna von Barnhelni. A Comedy, y. 6d. 
 
 Goethe : 
 
 [a) Egmont. A Tragedy. 3^. 
 
 {b) Iphige7iie aiif Tauris. A Drama. 3^-. 
 
 Schiller : 
 
 (a) Wilhehn Tell. A Drama. Large Edition. With a Map. 35. Cd. 
 Xh) Wilhelm Tell. School Edition. With a Map. 2s. 
 (c) Historische Skizzen. With a Map. is. 6d. 
 
 Heijie : 
 
 (a) Prosa : being Selections from his Prose Writings. 4^-. dd. 
 {!)) Harzreise. Cloth, is. 6d. ; paper covers, \s. 6d. 
 
 Modern German Reader. A Graduated Collection of Ex- 
 tracts from Modern German Authors : — 
 Part I. Prose Extracts. Willi English Notes, a Grammatical Appendix, and 
 
 a Complete Vocabulary. Fourth Edition. 2s. 6d. 
 Part II. Extracts in Prose and Poetry. With English Notes and an Index. 
 Second Edition. 2s. 6d.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 33 
 
 Becker (the Historian) : 
 
 FHcdrich der Grosse. Edited, with Notes, an Historical Introduc- 
 tion, and a Map. 3^. dd. 
 
 Niebuhr : 
 
 Griechische Heroe7i-Geschichtcn (Tales of Greek Heroes). Edited, 
 with English Notes and a Vocabulary, by Emma S. Buchheim. Second, 
 Revised Edition, cloth, 2s. 
 
 An Old High German Primer. With Grammar, Notes, and 
 
 Glossary. By Joseph Wright, Ph.D. Extra fcap. Svo. 3.?. Gd. 
 
 A Middle High Germa7i Primer. With Grammar, Notes, 
 
 and Glossary. By Joseph Wright, Ph.D. Extra fcap. Svo. y.6d. 
 
 VI. MATHEMATICS, PHYSICAL SCIENCE, &c. 
 
 By LEWIS HENSLEY, M.A. 
 
 Fig2ires made Easy : a first Arithmetic Book. Crown Svo. 6d. 
 Answers to the Examples in Figures i7tade Easy, together 
 
 with two thousand additional Examples, with Answers. Crown Svo. i.f. 
 
 The Scholar's Arithmetic. Crown Svo. is. 6d. 
 
 Answers to the Examples in the Scholar s Arithmetic, is. 6d. 
 
 The Scholar s Algebra. Crown Svo. is. 6d. 
 
 A Idis ( IV. S., M.A .). A Text-Book of A Igebra : with A nswers 
 
 to the Examples. Crown Svo. 7^. Qd. 
 
 Ba)'7ies [R. E., M.A.). Lessons on TJiermodynamics. 1S78. 
 
 Crown Svo. 7.?. 6^. 
 
 Chambers {G. F., F.R.A.S.). A Handbook of Descriptive 
 
 Astronomy. Third Edition. 1877. Demy Svo. 28^-. 
 
 Clarke [Col. A. R.,C.B.,R.E.). Geodesy. 18S0. Svo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Cremona [Luigi). Elements of Projective Geometry. Trans- 
 lated by C. Leudesdorf, M.A. Svo. \2s.6d. 
 
 Donkin. Acoustics. Second Edition. Crown Svo. 7^-. 6d. 
 
 Etheridge (R.)- Fossils of the British Islands, StratigrapJii- 
 
 cally arranged. Part I. PALAEOZOIC. 4to. i/. 10s. Just ready. 
 
 Euclid Revised. Containing the Essentials of the Elements 
 
 of Plane Geometry as given by Euclid in his first Six Books. Edited by 
 R. C. J. Nixon, M.A. Crown Svo. 
 
 Sold separately as follows, 
 Book I. \s. Books I, H. \s. 6d. 
 
 Books I-IV. IS. U. Books V, VI. 3^. 
 
 D
 
 34 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Euclid. — Geometry in Space. Containing parts of Euclid's 
 Eleventh and Twelfth Books. By the same Editor. Crown 8vo. 35. 6(/. 
 
 Galton {Douglas, C.B., F.R.S.). TJic Construction of Healthy 
 
 Dwellings. Demy 8vo. los. 6c/. 
 
 Hamilton {Sir R. G. C), and J. Ball. Book-keeping. New 
 
 and enlarged Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. limp cloth, 2s. 
 
 Ruled Exercise books adapted to the above may be had, price 2s. 
 
 Harcourt {A. G. Vernon, M.A.), and H G. Madan, M.A. 
 
 Exercises in Practical Chemistry. Vol. I. Elementary Exercises. Fourth 
 Edition. Crown Svo. 10s. 6(1. 
 
 Maclarcn [Archibald). A System of Physical Education : 
 
 Theoretical and Practical. Extra fcap. Svo. 7^. 6d. 
 
 Madan [H. G., M.A.). Tables of Qualitative Analysis. 
 
 Large 4to. paper, 4^. 6d. 
 
 Maxivell{y. Clerk, M.A., F.R.S.). A Treatise on Electricity 
 
 and Magnetism. Second Edition. 2 vols. Demy Svo. i/. \is. 6d. 
 
 An Elementary Treatise on Electricity. Edited by 
 
 William Garnett, M.A. Demy Svo. 7j. 6d. 
 
 Mincliin [G. M., M.A.). A Treatise on Statics with Applica- 
 tions to Physics. Third Edition, Corrected and Enlarged. Vol. I. Equili- 
 brium of Coplanar Forces. Svo. pj. Vol. II. Statics. Svo. i6j-. 
 
 Uniplanar Kinematics of -Solids and Fluids. Crown 
 
 Svo. 7j. 6d. 
 
 Phillips [John, M.A., F.R.S.). Geology of Oxford and the 
 
 Valley 0/ the Thames. 1S71. Svo. 21s. 
 
 Vesuz'ius. 1869. Crown Svo. los. 6d. 
 
 Prestwich {Joseph, M.A., F.R.S.). Geology, Chemical, Physical, 
 
 and Stratigraphical. In two Volumes. 
 Vol. I. Chemical and Physical. Royal Svo. 2^5. 
 
 Vol. II. Stratigraphical and Physical. With a .lew Geographical Map of 
 Europe. Royal Svo. 36^. 
 
 Rolleston {George, M.D., F.R.S.). Forms of Animal Life. 
 
 A Manual of Comparative Anatomy, with descriptions of selected types. 
 Second Edition. Revised and enlarged by W. Hatchett Jackson, M.A. 
 Medium, Svo. cloth extra, 1/. i6j-. 
 
 Smyth. A Cycle of Celestial Objects. Observed, Reduced, 
 
 and Discussed by Admiral W. H. Smyth, R.N. Revised, condensed, and 
 greatly enlarged by G. F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. 18S1. Svo. 12s. 
 
 Stewart {Balfour, LL.D., F.R.S.). An Elementajy Treatise 
 
 on Heat, with numerous Woodcuts and Diagrams. Fifth Edition. Extra 
 fcap. Svo. "]!. 6d.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 35 
 
 Vernon- Har court {L. F., M.A.). A Treatise on Rivers and 
 
 Canals, relating to the Control and Improvement of Rivers, and the Design, 
 Construction, and DeveloiDment of Canals. 2 vols. (Vol. I, Text. Vol. II, 
 Plates.) Svo. 21J. 
 
 Harbours and Docks ; their Physical Features, History, 
 
 Construction, Equipment, and Maintenance ; with Statistics as to their Com- 
 mercial Development. 2 vols. Svo. 25J. 
 
 Walker {Janics, M.A.). T/ie Theory of a Physical Balance. 
 
 Svo. stiff cover, y. dd. 
 
 Watson {H. W., M.A.). A Treatise on the Kinetic Theory 
 
 of Cases. i5y76. Svo. "^s.Gd. 
 
 Watson {H. W., D. Sc, F.R.S.), and S. H. Burbury, M.A. 
 
 I. A Treatise oti the Application of Generalised Coordinates to the Kinetics of 
 
 a Material System. 1S79. Svo. ds. 
 
 II. The Mathe?)iatical Theory of Electricity and Jl/agnetisni. Vol. I. Electro- 
 statics. Svo. los. 6d. 
 
 Williamson (A. W., Phil. Doc, F.R.S.). Chemistry for 
 
 Students. A new Edition, with Solutions. 1873. Extra fcap. Svo. 8j, 61/. 
 
 VII. HISTORY. 
 
 BlnntscJili {J. K.). The Theory of the State. By J. K. 
 
 Bluntschli, late Professor of Political Sciences in the University of Pleidel- 
 berg. Authorised English Translation from the Sixth German Edition. 
 Demy Svo. half bound, 1 2s. 6d. 
 
 Finlay {^George, LL.D.). A History of Greece from its Con- 
 quest by the Romans to the present time, B.C. 146 to a.d. 1S64. A new 
 Edition, revised throughout, and in part re-written, with considerable ad- 
 ditions, by the Author, and edited by H. F. Tozer, M.A. 7 vols. Svo. 3/. \os. 
 
 Fortescne {Sir John, Ki.). The Governance of England: 
 
 otherwise called The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Mon- 
 archy. A Revised Text. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, and Appendices, 
 by Charles Plummer, M.A. Svo. half bound, \2s. 6d. 
 
 Freeman {E.A., D.C.L.). A Short History of the Norman 
 
 Conqtiest of England. Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. dd. 
 
 George [H. B.,M.A .). Genealogical Tables illustrative of Modern 
 
 History. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Small 4to. i 2^. 
 
 Hodgkin ( 7".). Italy and Jier Invaders. Ilkistrated with 
 
 Plates and Maps. Vols. I— IV, A.D. .^76-553. Svo. 3/. %s. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 HiigJics {Alfred). Geography for Schools. With Diagrams. 
 
 Part I. Practical Geography. Crown Svo. 2s. dd. 
 
 Part II. General Geography. In preparation. 
 
 Kitchin {G. IV.,D.D.). A History of France. With numerous 
 
 Maps, Plans, and Tables. In Three Volumes. Second Edition. Crown Svo. 
 each \os. 6d. 
 
 Vol. I. Down to the Year 1453. 
 Vol.11. From 1453-1624. Vol. III. From 1624-1793. 
 
 Lucas [C. P.). Ijitroductiou to a Historical Geography of the 
 British Colonies. With Eight Maps. Crown Svo. 4^-. dd. 
 
 Payne {E. J., M.A.). A History of the United States of 
 
 America. In the Press. 
 
 Ranke [L. von). A History of England, principally in the 
 
 Seventeenth Century. Translated by Resident Members of the University of 
 Oxford, under the superintendence of G. W. Kitcliin, D.D., and C. W. Boase, 
 M.A. 1875. 6 vols. Svo. 3/. Si'. 
 
 Raivlinson [George, M.A.}. A Manual of Ancient History. 
 
 Second Edition. Demy Svo. i^^s. 
 
 Ricardo. Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus 
 
 (1S10-1823). Edited by James Bonar, M.A. Demy iSvo. los. 6d. 
 
 Rogers [J. E. Thorold, M.A.). The First Nine Years of the 
 
 Bank of England. Svo. 8^. dd. 
 
 Select Charters and otJier Ulustrations of EnglisJi Constitutional 
 
 History, from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward I. Arranged and 
 edited by W. Stubbs, D.D. Fifth Edition. '1883. Crown Svo. Sj. W. 
 
 Stuhhs ( W., D.D.). The Constitutional History of England, 
 
 in its Origin and Development. Library Edition. 3 vols, demy Svo. 2/. Sj. 
 Also in 3 vols, crown Svo. price I2J. each. 
 
 Seventeen Lecttires on the Study of Medieval and 
 
 Modern History, Sec, delivered at O.Kford 1S67-1S84. Crown Svo. Sj. 6d. 
 
 Wellesley. A Selection front the Despatches, Treaties, and 
 
 other Papers of the Marquess Wellesley, K.G., during his Government 
 of India. Edited by S. J. Owen, M.A. 1877. ?,\o.\l.\s. 
 
 Wellington. A Selection from the Despatches, Treaties, and 
 
 other Papers relating to India of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, K.G. 
 Edited by S. J. Owen, M.A. iSSo. Svo. 24^-. 
 
 A Llistory of Ih-itish India. By S. J. Owen, M.A., Reader 
 
 in Indian llistory in the University of Oxford. In preparation.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 37 
 
 VIII. LAW. 
 
 Alberici Gentilis, LCD., I.C, Dc lure Belli Libri Tres. 
 
 EdiditT. E. Holland, LCD. 1877. Small 410. half morocco, 21s. 
 
 Anson {Si7' Williavi R., Bart., D.C.L.). Principles of the 
 
 English Law of Contract, and of Agency in its Relation to Contract. Fifth 
 Edition. Demy 8vo. \os. 6</. 
 
 Law and Custom of the Constitution. Part I. Parlia- 
 
 ment. Demy 8vo, ios. 6d. 
 Bent ham {Jeirmy). An Lntroduction to the Principles of 
 
 Morals and Legislation. Crown 8vo. 6s. 6d. 
 
 Digby [Kenelvi E., M.A.). An Introduction to the History of 
 
 the L^aw of Real Property . Third Edition. Demy 8vo. los.dd. 
 
 Gaii Institittionnm Juris Civilis Commentarii Qtiattuor ; or, 
 Elements of Roman Law by Gains. With a Translation and Commentary 
 by Edward Poste, ALA. Second Edition. 1S75, 8vo. iSj. 
 
 Hall ( W. E., M.A.). International Lazv. Second Ed. 8vo. 2i.y. 
 Holland [T. E., D.C.L.). The Elements of Jurispi'udence. 
 
 Fourth Edition. Demy 8vo. \os. 6d. 
 
 The European Concert in the Eastern Question, a Col- 
 lection of Treaties and other Public Acts. Edited, with Introductions and 
 Notes, by Thomas Erskine Holland, D.C.L. 8vo. \2s. 6d. 
 
 Imperatoris lustiniani Institutionum Libri Quattuor ; with 
 
 Introductions, Commentary, Excursus and Translation. By J.E. Moyle, B.C.L., 
 M.A. 2 vols. Demy Svo. 2\s. 
 
 Justinian, The Institutes of, edited as a recension of the 
 
 Institutes of Gains, by Thomas Erskine Holland, D.C.L. Second Edition, 
 1S81. E.xtra fcap. Svo. 5^. 
 
 Justinian, Select Titles from the Digest of. By T. E. Holland, 
 
 D.C.L., and C. L. .Shadwell, B.C.L. Svo. 14J. 
 
 ALso sold iu Parts, in paper cover.?, as follows : — 
 
 Part I. Introductory Titles. 2s. 6d. Part II. Family Law. is. 
 
 Part HI. Property Law. 2s. 6d. Part IV. Law of Obligations (No. 1). 3s. 6rf. 
 
 Part IV. Law of Obligations (No. 2). 4s. 6d. 
 
 Lex Aquilia. The Roman Law of Damage to Property : 
 
 being a Commentary on the Title of the Digest ' Ad Legem Aquiliam ' (ix. 2). 
 With an Introduction to the Study of the Corpus luris Civilis. By Erwin 
 Grueber, Dr. Jur., M.A. Demy Svo. \os. dd.
 
 38 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Markby ( W., D.C.L.). Elements of Lazo considered with refer- 
 ence to Principlesof General Jurisprudence. Third Edition. Demy 8vo. i2s.()d. 
 
 Stokes ( WJiitley, D.C.L.). The Anglo-Indian Codes. 
 
 Vol. I. Substantive Lazv. Svo. 30J. 
 Vol. II. Adjective Law. In the Press. 
 
 Twiss {Sir Travers, D.C.L.). The Law of Nations considered 
 
 as Independent Political Communities. 
 
 Part I. On the Rights and Duties of Nations in time of Peace. A new 
 
 Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 1884. Demy 8vo. 15J. 
 Part II. On the Rights and Duties of Nations in Time of War. Second 
 
 Edition, Revised. 1875. Demy 8vo. 21s. 
 
 IX. MENTAL AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY, &c. 
 
 Bacon s Novum Oi'gannm. Edited, with English Notes, by 
 
 G. W. Kitchin, D.D. 1855. 8vo.9j-.fW. 
 
 Translated by G. W. Kitchin, D.D. 1855. cSvo. 9^-. 6^. 
 
 Berkeley. The Works of George Berkeley, D.D., formerly 
 
 Bishop of Clojiie ; including many of his writings hitherto unpublished. 
 
 With Prefaces. Annotations, and an Account of his Life and Philosophy, 
 
 by Alexander Cami^bell Eraser, M.A. 4 vols. 1S71. 8vo. 2/. i8.f. 
 The Life, Letters, &c. i vol. i6.f. 
 
 Selections from. With an Introduction and Notes. 
 
 For the use of Students in the Universities. By Alexander Campbell Phaser, 
 LL.D. Third Edition. Crown Svo. 7^. 6d. 
 
 Foivler ( T.,D.D.). The Elements of Deductive Logic, designed 
 
 mainly for the use of Junior Students in the Universities. Ninth Edition, 
 with a Collection of Examples. Extra fcap. Svo, 3J. (yd. 
 
 The Elements of Lndiictive Logic, designed mainly for 
 
 the use of Students in the Universities. Fourth Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. ds. 
 
 and Wilson [J. M., B.D.). The Principles of Morals 
 
 (Introductory Chapters). Svo. boards, ^s. Gd. 
 
 The Principles of Morals. Part II. (Being the Body 
 
 of the Work.) Svo. \os. 6d. 
 
 Edited by T. FO^WLEK, D.D. 
 
 Bacon. Nov7im Orgamini. With Introduction, Notes, &c. 
 
 1S78. Svo. 14J. 
 
 Locke's Conduct of the Understanding. Second Edition. 
 
 Extra fcap. Svo. 2s.
 
 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 39 
 
 Danson {J. T.). The Wealth of Households. Crown 8vo. 5^. 
 Grec7t [T. H., M.A.). Prolegomena to Ethics. Edited by 
 
 A. C. Bradley, M.A. Demy 8vo. i 2s. 6ii. 
 
 Hegel. The Logie of Hegel ; translated from the Encj^clo- 
 
 paedia of the Philosophical Sciences. With Prolegomena by William 
 Wallace, M.A. 1S74. 8vo. 14J. 
 
 Hume's Treatise of Human Nature ; reprinted from the 
 
 Original Edition, and edited by I.. A. Selby-Bigge, jM.A., Pellow and 
 Lecturer of University College. Crown 8vo. 9^-. 
 
 Lotze's Logie, in Three Books; of Thought, of Investigation, 
 
 and of Knowledge. English Translation; Edited by B. Bosanqnet, M.A., 
 Fellow of University College, Oxford. Second Edition. 2 vols. Crown 
 8vo. 12s. 
 
 Metaphysie, in Three Books; Ontology, Cosmology, 
 
 and Psychology. English Translation ; Edited by B. Bosanquet, M.A. 
 Second Edition. 2 vols. Crown Svo. 1 2s. 
 
 Martincau [James, D.D.). Types of EtJiical TJicory. Second 
 
 Edition. 2 vols. Crown Svo. 15^-. 
 
 A Study of Religion : its Sotirees and Contents. 2 vols. 
 
 Svo. 245. 
 
 Rogers{J. E. Thorold, M.A.). A Manual of Political Ecojiomy^ 
 
 for the use of Schools. Third Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. 4J. (>d. 
 
 Smith's Wealth of Nations. A new Edition, with Notes, by 
 J. E. Thorold Rogers. M.A. 2 vols. Svo. 1S80. 2\s. 
 
 X. FINE ART. 
 
 Butler {A. J., M.A., F.S.A.) The Ancient Coptic Churches of 
 
 Egypt. 2 vols. Svo. 3o.f. 
 
 Head [Barclay V.). Historia Numorum. A Manual of Greek 
 
 Numismatics. Royal Svo. half morocco, 42^-. 
 
 HullaJi [John). The Cultivation of the Speaking Voice. 
 
 Second Edition. Extra fcap. Svo. zs.Gd. 
 
 Jackson [T. G., M.A.). Dalmatia, the Quarnero and I stria ; 
 
 with Cettigne in Montenegro and the Island of Grado. By T. G. Jackson, 
 M.A., Author of ' Modem Gothic Architecture.' In 3 vols. Svo. W'ith many 
 Plates and Illustrations. Half bound, i,2s.
 
 40 CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. 
 
 Ousclcy {Sir F. A. Go7-c, Bart.). A Treatise on Harmony. 
 
 Third Edition. 410. \os. 
 
 A Treatise on Counterpoint^ Canon ^ and Fugne, based 
 
 upon that of Clierubini. Second Edition. 410. \()s. 
 
 A Treatise on Musical Form and General Composition. 
 
 Second Edition. 4to. \os. 
 
 Robinson [J. C., F.S.A.). A Critical Aceount of the Drawings 
 
 by Michel Atii^elo and Kaffadlo in the University- Galleries, Oxford. 1S70. 
 Crown 8vo. 4J. 
 
 Tronthcek ( J. , M. A . ) and R . F. Dale, M.A. A Music Primer 
 
 (for Schools). Second Edition. Crown 8vo. i^. 6(/. 
 
 Tyrw/iitt{R. St. J., M.A.). A Handbook of Pictorial Art. 
 
 With coloured Illustrations, Photographs, and a chapter on Perspective by 
 A. Macdonald. Second Edition. 1875. 8vo. half morocco, 18^. 
 
 Upcott [L. E., M.A.). An Introduction to Greek Sculpture. 
 
 Crown Svo. 4J. dd. 
 
 Vaux [W. S. IV., M.A.). Catalog?ie of the Castellani Collec- 
 
 tio)i of Antiquities in the University Galleries, Oxford. Crown 8vo. \s. 
 
 The Oxford Bible for Teachers, containing Supplementary 
 
 Helps to the Study of the Bible, includinsT Summaries of the several 
 liooks, with copious Explanatory Notes and Tables illustrative of Scripture 
 History and the characteristics of Bible Lands ; with a complete Index of 
 Subjects, a Concordance, a Dictionary of Proper Names, and a series of Maps. 
 Prices in various sizes and bindings from 3^. to 2/. 5^. 
 
 Helps to the Study of the Bible, taken from the OXFORD 
 BiiiLE FOR Teachers, comprising Summaries of the several Books, with 
 copious Explanatory Notes and Tables illustrative of Scripture History and 
 the Characteristics of Bible Lands ; with a complete Index of Subjects, a Con- 
 cordance, a Dictionary of Proper Names, and a series of Maps. Crown 8vo. 
 cloth, y. 6d. ; lOmo. cloth, is. 
 
 LONDON: HENRY FROWDE, 
 Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, 
 
 OXFORD: CLARENDON PRESS DEPOSITORY, 
 116 High Street. 
 
 gST The Delegates of the Press invite suggest ioiis and advice from all persons 
 interested in education; and will be thankful for hints, ^c. addressed to the 
 Secretary to the Delegates, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
 
 3 1205 01236 0440 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 001 386 986 2
 
 
 
 i i