But the particular story about the 'yonge children' to which Gower here

alludes is given at length in the Conf. Amantis, bk. ii. vol. i. pp.

266-77. Very briefly, it comes to this. Constantine, while still a heathen,

was afflicted with leprosy. The physicians said he could only be healed by

bathing in the blood of young children. On due reflection, he preferred to

retain his leprosy; whereupon, he was directed in a vision to apply to pope

Silvester, who converted him and baptised him; and he was cured of his

leprosy when immersed in the baptismal font. The whole city followed the

emperor's example, and was converted to Christianity. This explains ll.

354-5:--'so that the dear ones, (converted) from being the hateful ones who

had formerly been at enmity with Christ,' &c.

363. For _debated_, MS. T. has _deleated_, for _delated_, i.e. deferred;

see _Dilate_ in the New E. Dict.

380. 'these other Christian princes'; viz. in particular, Charles VI, king

of France, and Robert III, king of Scotland.

393. These interesting lines tell us that blindness befell the poet in the

first year of Henry IV (Sept. 30, 1399--Sept. 29, 1400); and we gather that

the present poem was meant to be his last. As a matter of fact, he wrote a

still later couplet in the following words:--

'Henrici regis annus fuit ille secundus

Scribere dum cesso, sum quia cecus ego.'

These lines occur in MSS. of his Vox Clamantis; see Morley, Eng. Writers,

iv. 157. Notwithstanding his infirmity, Gower survived till the autumn of

1408; and was interred, as is well known, in the church of St. Mary

Overies--now St. Saviour's--in Southwark, towards the rebuilding of which

he had liberally contributed.

It appears that negotiations for peace, both with Scotland and France, were

being prosecuted in the latter part of 1399; see Wylie, History of Henry

IV, i. 82, 86. It is also probable that Gower must have written the 'Praise

of Peace' before the death of Richard II in Feb. 1400, as he makes no

allusion to that event, nor to the dangerous conspiracy against Henry's

life in the early part of January. For these reasons, we may safely date

the poem in the end of the year 1399.

§ V. THOMAS HOCCLEVE: THE LETTER OF CUPID.

This poem is imitated, rather than translated, from the French poem

entitled L'Epistre au Dieu d'Amours, written by Christine de Pisan in May,

1399; printed in Oeuvres Poétiques de Christine de Pisan, publiées par

Maurice Roy, ii. 1-27; Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1891. Hoccleve

even rearranges some of the material; and Dr. Furnivall has printed all the

lines of the original of which the English poet has made use, in the Notes

to his edition of Hoccleve's Works, published for the Early English Text

Society, in 1892. It thus appears that the lines of Christine's poem are to

be taken in the following order: 1-116, 537-54, 126-30, 531-4, 131-96,

721-5, 259-520, 321-5, 271-4, 387-460, 643-77, 608-23, 559-75, 759-800. The

following stanzas, on the other hand, are wholly Hoccleve's own: 71-7,

92-8, 127-33, 141-7, 162-8, 176-89, 267-73, 316-29, 379-434. The last set

extends to 56 lines.

Cupid, god of Love, is supposed to write a letter to all lovers, who are

his subjects, reproving men for their slander and ill-treatment of women,

and defending women against all that is alleged against them. In fact, it

is a reply, by Christine de Pisan, to the numerous severe things that Jean

de Meun had said about women in the famous Roman de la Rose. He is

expressly mentioned by name in l. 281.

I here quote, as a specimen, the first 7 lines of the original, answering

to Hoccleve's first stanza--

'Cupido, roy par la grace de lui,

Dieu des amans, sans aide de nullui,

Regnant en l'air du ciel tres reluisant,

Filz de Venus la deesse poissant,

Sire d'amours et de tous ses obgiez,

A tous vos vrais loiaulx servans subgiez,

Salut, Amour, Familiarite!'

5. 'Son of the goddess Cithera,' i.e. Venus. Cithera is an alternative

spelling of Citherea, occurring in the Cambridge and Petworth MSS. of the

Cant. Tales, A 2215. For the construction, see note to Ch. C. T., F 209.

16. _Albion_. Of course Hoccleve has adapted the poem for English readers.

The original has:--'Sur tous païs se complaignent de _France_.'

28. I read _mot_ for the sake of the grammar and scansion; the MSS. have

_most_, bad spelling for _most-e_, the past tense. But _moot_ occurs,

correctly, as the emphatic form of _mot_, in l. 35. Cf. l. 410.

30. _As doth_, pray, do; a common idiom; see note to C. T., E 7.

37. _man_, i.e. 'human being'; used generally, and including women.

38. 'When no word can proceed out of his mouth but such as may reasonably

please any one, it apparently comes from the heart.'

50. 'Has the pot by the handle'; i.e. holds it securely.

54. Note the accentuation: 'Aný womán.' This accentuation of words on the

latter syllable in rather unlikely cases, is a marked peculiarity of

Hoccleve's verse. Cf. _womán_ in l. 79, _journéy_ in l. 106; _axíng_ in l.

122, _purpós_ in l. 130. Cf. _wommán_ in l. 170 with _wómman_ in l. 174.

71. _To here?_ to her? Dr. Furnivall notes that Hoccleve frequently makes

_here_ dissyllabic, when it represents the personal pronoun. Cf. l. 70; and

see his Preface, p. xli. The reading 'To hir name yet was yt no reprefe,'

given in Dr. Furnivall's edition from one MS. only, affords no sense, and

will not scan, as _name_ is properly dissyllabic.

90. _souneth in-to_, tends to; cf. note to C. T., B 3157.

95. 'They procure such assistants as have a double face.' The accentuation

of _prócuren_ on the _o_ was at this time common; we even find the form

_proker_ (see Stratmann).

120-2. _wolde ... Men wiste_, would like men to know.

131. 'Unless he be so far advanced in madness as to spoil all with open

coarseness; for _that_, as I suppose, women do not like.'

145. 'Reason follows it so slowly and leisurely.'

184. _dishonest_, unworthy of honour, blameworthy. Ray gives the

proverb--'it's an ill bird that bewrays its own nest'; and compares the

Greek--[Greek: ton oikoi thêsauron diaballein].

192. _lakken_, blame, find fault with; as in Chaucer.

196. _bilowen_, lied against; pp. of _bil[=e]o[gh]en_, A.S. _bil[=e]ogan_.

204. Alluding to Ovid's _Remedium Amoris_. Cf. Ch. C. T., D 688-710.

215. 'They say, it is profitable to consider peril.'

225. Rather close to the original French:--

'Et aucuns sont qui iadis en mes las

Furent tenus, mais il sont d'amer las,

Ou par vieillece ou deffaulte de cuer,

Si ne veulent plus amer a nul fuer,

Et convenant m'ont de tous poins nyé,

Moy et mon fait guerpy et renié,

Comme mauvais serviteurs et rebelles.'

257. _hente_, caught; _in hir daunger_, under their control, within their

power.

258. It was thought that one poison would expel another; see P. Plowman, C.

xxi. 156-8, and the notes.

272. 'It cannot long abide upon one object.'

281. Jean de Meun, author of the latter and more satirical part of the

famous Roman de la Rose; see vol. i.

298. 'They are not so void of constancy.' Read _cónstauncè_.

302. See Ch. Legend of Good Women, 1580.

305. _wold_, desired; pp. of _willen_; see note to C. T., B 2615.

309. See Ch. Legend of Good Women, 924.

316-29. These two stanzas are wholly original. Hoccleve, remembering that

the examples of Medea and Dido both occur in Chaucer's Legend of Good

Women, here takes occasion to make an express reference to that work, which

he here calls 'my Legende of Martres.' _My_ refers to Cupid; _Legend_, to

Chaucer's title; and _Martres_, to the Latin titles to some of the Legends.

Thus the Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea is entitled--'Incipit Legenda

Ysiphile et Medee, _Martirum_.' Instead of _Martres_, Thynne has the

ridiculous reading _Natures_, which the editions carefully retain.

357. 'And, had it not been for the devil,' &c.

360. _her_, the serpent. There was a legend that the serpent had the face

of a beautiful virgin. See Ch. C. T., B 360, and note; P. Plowman, B.

xviii. 335, and note.

379-434. These eight stanzas are all Hoccleve's own.

393. _happy to_, fortunate for; because it brought about Christ's

incarnation. The allusion is to the oft-quoted sentence--'O _felix culpa_,

O necessarium peccatum Ade,' from the Sarum missal. See note to P. Plowman,

C. viii. 126. Cf. l. 396.

421. The day of St. Margaret, Virgin and Martyr, was July 20, in the Latin

Church. See the edition of Seinte Marherete, by O. Cockayne, E. E. T. S.,

1866.

428. _I_, i.e. Cupid. This stanza is spoken by Cupid, in his own character;

cf. l. 431. In l. 464, he assumes the royal style of _we_. It is, moreover,

obvious that this stanza would hardly have been approved of by Christine.

473-6. Imitated from the closing lines of Christine's poem:--

'Donné en l'air, en nostre grant palais,

Le jour de May la solempnée feste

Ou les amans nous font mainte requeste,

L'An de grace Mil trois cens quate vins

Et dix et neuf, present dieux et divins,' &c.

It thus appears that 'the lusty month of May,' in l. 472, is merely copied

from the French; but, to the fortunate circumstance that Christine gives

the exact date of her poem as 1399, we owe the fact that Hoccleve likewise

gives the exact date of his poem as being 1402.

§ VI. THOMAS HOCCLEVE: TO THE KING; AND TO THE KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER.

These two Balades, each of 32 lines, are written in a highly artificial

metre; for, in each case, the four stanzas of which each consists shew the

same rimes throughout. The riming syllables in Balade 1 are _-esse_,

_-our_, and _-alle_; and in Balade 2, are _-ame_, _-aunce_, and _-ee_. A

similar example of metrical arrangement occurs in Chaucer's Balade to

Rosemounde.

2. _king_, Henry V, as we see from the French title.

3. _Justinian_; emperor of Constantinople, A.D. 527-65, whose fame rests

upon the justly celebrated Justinian Code of laws. The reference,

fortunately, is explained by Hoccleve himself, in a longer Balade

concerning Sir John Oldcastel, printed in _Anglia_, v. 23; and again in

Hoccleve's Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 8. Hoccleve is praising Justinian's

orthodoxy, to which (as he tells us) Henry V was heir; and the exact

reference is to the following clause in one of Justinian's laws, which is

quoted in full in the margin of the Balade above mentioned; see _Anglia_,

v. 28; or Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 14. 'Nemo clericus vel militaris, vel

cuiuslibet alterius conditionis _de fide Christiana_ publice turbis

coadunatis et audientibus tractare conetur,' &c. So that Justinian's

'devout tenderness in the faith' was exhibited by repressing religious

discussion; cf. l. 27. See Gibbon's Roman Empire, ch. 44.

5. _the Garter_. The noble Order of the Garter was founded by Edward III on

St. George's day, Apr. 23, 1349; cf. l. 54.

10. _Constantyn_. He now proceeds to liken Henry V to Constantine the

Great, who was a great supporter of the church; see note above, to Poem no.

IV, l. 339. Cf. _Anglia_, v. 29; or Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 15; st. 28.

15. _do forth_, proceed, continue to do as you have done in the past. Not a

common expression; see _forth_ in Mätzner.

18. Very characteristic of Hoccleve; the accents required by the verse are

thrown upon the weak words _your_ and _the_. But perhaps _your_ is

emphatic. Cf. _fullý_ in l. 20, _á sharp_, 21.

30. Hoccleve is clearly urging the King to repress Lollardry.

37. 'God would have it so; and your allegiance would also have it so.' This

is explained in a sidenote in the margin: 'quia Rex illam iustissimam

partem tenet.' That is, the lords ought to put down heresy, because their

master the king was against it.

41. _Your style_, your motto; the famous 'Honi soit qui mal y pense.' Hence

_shame_ here means scandal; but _foos to shame_ is an awkward expression in

this connexion.

47. _nuisaunce_, annoyance; referring to heresy; cf. l. 50.

52. _Slepë nat this_, be not sleepy about this; a rare construction.

58. _norice of distaunce_, nurse of debate or strife.

60. 'Variation from the faith would be a damnable thing.'

64. The remark--_Cest tout_--instead of the usual word _explicit_, occurs

at the end of several poems by Hoccleve; see his Poems, ed. Furnivall, pp.

8, 24, 47, 51, 57, 58, 61, 62, 64, &c.

§ VII. HENRY SCOGAN: A MORAL BALADE.

For remarks upon the heading of this poem, see the Introduction.

3. _Sende_; that is, he did not come and recite the poem himself.

8. This reminds us of the Knight's appeal: 'Now late us ryde, _and herkneth

what I seye_'; C. T., A 855.

30. _to queme_, according to your pleasure. _Queme_ is here a substantive;

see Stratmann. Cf. _to pay_ in Chaucer.

49. _Tak'th_ is monosyllabic, as in l. 57. So also _Think'th_, in l. 59.

51. From James, ii. 17.

56. 'To the honour of your life and the benefit of your soul.'

65. The exclamation shews that Chaucer was then dead.

67. The quotation is inexact; cf. ll. 120, 121 below. The reference is to

the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 1121:--

'Yet may they [our eldres] nat biquethe us, for no-thing,

To noon of us hir virtuous living.'

81. Read _Think'th_; so also _Dryv'th_ in l. 86; _Tak'th_ in l. 89.

97. Here the quotation, again from the Wyf of Bathes Tale (D 1131), is very

close:--

'For of our eldres may we no-thing clayme

But temporel thing, that man may hurte and mayme.'

100. 'Therefore God is the source of virtuous nobleness.' This depends on a

passage in Boethius, bk. iii. met. 6. l. 2; see notes to poem XIV, in vol.

i. pp. 553-5.

105. See this poem of Chaucer's in vol. i. p. 392.

143. _ful rage_, very fierce. But I know of no other example of _rage_ as

an adjective.

146. _kalends_, the beginning; as in Troil. v. 1634.

150. The passage in Boethius is in Book i. met. 6. 11-15. Cf. Ch. vol. ii.

p. 19.

'Nec quaeras auida manu Vernos stringere palmites,

Vuis si libeat frui: Autumno potius sua

Bacchus munera contulit.'

166. From Chaucer, Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 1165:--

'Thenketh how noble, as seith Valerius,

Was thilke Tullius Hostilius,

That out of povert roos to heigh noblesse.'

And Chaucer found it in Valerius Maximus, iii. 4; see vol. v. p. 320.

168. From Chaucer, Monkes Tale, B 3862. But it may be doubted if Caesar's

alleged poverty is an historical fact. Cf. p. 24, l. 128 (above).

174. Read the story of Nero in the Monkes Tale, B 3653; that of Balthasar

(Belshazzar) in the same, B 3373; and that of Antiochus in the same, B

3765. Compare the lines in B 3800-1:--

'For he so sore fil out of his char

That it his limes and his skin to-tar.'

187. 'I should be sorry, if ye choose amiss.'

§ VIII. JOHN LYDGATE; COMPLAINT OF THE BLACK KNIGHT.

There are some excellent notes relative to this poem in Schick's edition of

Lydgate's _Temple of Glas_ (E. E. T. S.); I refer to them below as 'Schick,

T. G.'

4. _Bole_, Bull. The sun entered Taurus, in the fifteenth century, just

before the middle of April. Hence the phrase _Amid the Bole_ refers, not to

the first degree of the sign, but (literally) to the _middle_ of it. The

reference must be to May 1, when the sun had just passed a little beyond

the middle (or 15th degree) of Taurus.

Even here we trace the influence of Chaucer's translation of the Romaunt of

the Rose; for which see notes to ll. 36, 74 below. Chaucer reiterates the

mention of _May_, R. R. 49, 51, 55, 74, 86; and ll. 1 and 2 of the present

poem answer to R. R. 53-56:--

'For ther is neither busk ne hay

_In May_, that it nil shrouded been,

And it with newe leves wreen.'

12. _with seint Johan_, with St. John for their security or protection;

probably suggested by The Compleynt of Mars, l. 9, which opens in a similar

strain; cf. note to C. T., F 596; vol. v. p. 385.

15, 16. Compare Rom. Rose (Chaucer's version), ll. 94-5.

21. _halt_, holds, constrains; the present tense.

22, 23. Compare Rom. Rose (Chaucer's version), ll. 100-1.

28. Lydgate is fond of calling the sun _Tytan_; Chaucer has the name only

once; in Troil. iii. 1464. Lydgate is here thinking of the passage in the

Knightes Tale, A 1493-6, about _fyry Phebus_. Note that he is fond of the

word _persaunt_; see ll. 358, 591, 613; cf. Schick, note to T. G. 328.

33. It is odd that no MS. has the form _splayen_; yet the final _n_ is

required for the metre, or, at any rate, to save an hiatus.

36. Lydgate here copies l. 134 of the English Romaunt of the Rose--'The

river-syde costeying'--and is a witness to the genuineness of Fragment A of

that poem; as appears more clearly below; see note to l. 75. The whole

passage seems founded upon the Romaunt; for this walk by the river brings

him to a _park_ (a _garden_ in the Romaunt) enclosed by a wall that had a

small gate in it. It is further obvious that l. 42 is borrowed from l. 122

of the Parliament of Foules--'Right of a park walled with grene stoon.' I

may remark here that I have seen a wall constructed of red sandstone so

entirely covered with a very minute kind of vegetable growth as to present

to the eye a bright green surface.

40. _gate smal_; usually called a _wiket_ in similar poems; see Rom. Rose,

528, and Schick, note to T. G. 39.

43-49. This stanza answers to Rom. Rose, ll. 105-8, 78-9.

52. _celúred_, canopied, over-arched (New E. Dict.).

53-6. Cf. Rom. Rose, 1398-1400.

57. _attempre_, temperate; observe that this word occurs in the Rom. Rose,

l. 131 (only three lines above the line quoted in the note to l. 36), where

the F. text has _atrempee_.

62. _take_, take effect, take hold, become set; an early example of this

curious intransitive use of the verb.

63. 'Ready for (men) to shake off the fruit.'

64. _Daphne_. Cf. Troil. iii. 726:--'O Phebus, thenk whan Dane hirselven

shette _Under the bark, and laurer wex_ for drede.' And cf. C. T., A 2062;

and Schick, note to T. G. 115.

66. _myrre_; see Troil. iv. 1138-9.

67. Cf. the mention of laurel, pine, and cedar in Rom. Rose, 1313-4.

68. The resemblance of _philbert_ (Philibert's nut) to Phyllis is

accidental, but it was then believed that the connexion was real; merely

because Vergil has 'Phyllis amat corylos'; Ecl. vii. 63. Thus Gower has

(Conf. Amant. ii. 30):--

'And, after Phillis, _philiberd_

This tree was called in the yerd'--

and he gives the story of Phyllis and Demophon, saying that Phyllis hanged

herself on a nut-tree. See the Legend of Good Women, 2557. Pliny alludes to

'the almond-tree whereon ladie Phyllis hanged herselfe'; Nat. Hist. xvi. 26

(in Holland's translation). See further in Schick, note to T. G. 86.

71. _hawethorn_; often mentioned in poems of this period; see Schick, note

to T. G. 505. Cf. XX. 272, p. 369; XXIV. 1433, p. 447.

74, 75. The list of trees was evidently suggested by the Rom. Rose; see

Chaucer's translation, 1379-86. Hence the next thing mentioned is a _well_;

see the same, ll. 1409-11, 109-30. Note that the water was _cold_, as in R.

R. 116; _under a hill_, as in R. R. 114; and ran over _gravel_, as in R. R.

127, 1556. And then note the same, 1417-20:--

'About the _brinkes_ of thise welles,

And by the stremes over-al elles

_Sprang up the gras_, as thikke y-set

_And softe as any veluët_.'

It is remarkable that the French original merely has 'Poignoit l'erbe

freschete et drue,' without any mention of _softe_ or of _veluët_. It thus

becomes clear that Lydgate is actually quoting _Chaucer's version_.

81. The reading seems to be _lustily cam springing_; it would be a great

improvement to transpose the words, and read _cam lustily springing_. Cf.

'Abouten it is gras springing'; R. R. 1563.

82. Cf. 'That shadwed was with braunches grene'; R. R. 1511.

87. _Narcisus_, Narcissus; introduced as a matter of course, because he is

here mentioned in the Romaunt; see R. R. 1468--'Here starf the faire

Narcisus.'

88. _Cupyde_; cf. R. R. 1523--'Wel couthe Love him wreke tho.' And see the

same, 1601-29.

89. Cf. R. R. 1617--'Hath sowen there of love the seed.'

92. _pitte_, i.e. well of Helicon, most likely; which Chaucer mixed up with

the Castalian spring on Parnassus; see note to Anelida, 15. And cf. _the

Pegasee_ in C. T., F 207; and 'I sleep never on the mount of Pernaso,' F

721.

95. _Dyane_, Diana; see C. T., A 2065-6.

97. _his houndes_, his _own_ dogs; not _her_, as in several MSS. For see C.

T., A 2067--'his houndes have him caught.'

102. _pensifheed_, pensiveness; common in Lydgate; see Schick, note to T.

G. 2.

103. Cf. 'To drinke and fresshe him wel withalle'; R. R. 1513.

107-12. Suggested by R. R. 1507-16; especially 1515-6.

127. 'Of gras and _floures, inde_ and pers'; R. R. 67. And compare l. 126

with R. R. 68.

129. _hulfere_, holly; Icel. _hulfr_, dogwood. Spelt _hulwur_, _huluyr_ in

the Prompt. Parv. 'The holly is still called in Norfolk _hulver_, and in

Suffolk _hulva_'; Way. Cotgrave has:--'_Houx_, the holly, holme, or

hulver-tree.' Also '_Petit houx_, kneehulver, butchers broom.'

131. MS. P. has _of colour_; which suggests the reading--'In blakke and

whyte, of colour pale and wan'; but this, though a better line, cannot

stand, as it makes the words _also of his hewe_ in l. 132 superfluous;

indeed l. 132 then becomes unmeaning.

136. _accesse_, feverish attack; see Schick, note to T. G. 358.

151. _ure_, destiny; O.F. _eur_, Lat. _augurium_; cf. F. _mal-heur._ See l.

302 below, and Barbour's Bruce, i. 312.

154. _among_; so in all the copies; _among as_, whilst.

161. _ado_, to do; put for _at do_; a Northern idiom.

168. _awhaped_, stupefied: see Gloss. in vol. vi. _amat_, dismayed. Cf.

Schick, note to T. G. 401.

169. _sitting_, suitable; cf. R. R. 986.

172. _grounde_ (dissyllabic) improves the line; but _ground_ is the correct

form.

176. Here the Ashmole MS. inserts 'La compleynt du Chiualier'; but wrongly.

For see l. 218.

178. _Niobe_; mentioned in Troil. i. 699. So _woful Myrre_, Troil. iv.

1139.

227. _cheste_, receptacle; '_cheste_ of every care'; Troil. v. 1368.

229. Cf. Troil. i. 420; also Rom. Rose, 4746-50.

233. _fro_, from being, after being.

250. _Daunger_; see Schick, note to T. G. 156.

253. Cf. 'his arwes ... fyle'; Parl. Foules, 212.

260. _Male-Bouche_, Evil Tongue; cf. R. R. 7357, &c.; where Fragment C has

'Wikkid-Tonge,' the F. original has _Male Bouche_. Cf. IX. 84 (p. 269). See

Schick, note to T. G. 153.

274-6. _forjuged_ and _excused_ only give an assonance, not a rime.

291. _through-girt ... wounde_; from C. T., A 1010.

303. _purveyaunce_, providence; a reminiscence of the argument in Troil.

iv. 961, &c.

304. _god_; for _the god_; but the article is unnecessary; see Schick, note

to T. G. 132.

305. 'And true men have fallen off the wheel'; i.e. the wheel of Fortune;

cf. Troil. iv. 6.

330. _Palamides_, Palamedes. There were two different heroes of this name.

One was the son of Nauplius, king of Euboea, who lost his life before Troy,

by the artifices of Ulysses. It is said that Ulysses, envious of his fame,

forged a letter to him purporting to come from Priam, and then accused him

of treachery; whereupon he was condemned to be stoned to death. But the

reference is rather to a much later hero, the unsuccessful lover of La bele

Isoude. He was defeated by the celebrated knight Sir Tristram, who made him

promise to resign his pretensions to the lady; a promise which he did not

keep. See Sir T. Malory, Morte Arthure, bk. viii. c. 10, &c.

344. _Hercules_. See the Monkes Tale, B 3285.

349. _Gades_, Cadiz; where, according to Guido, Hercules set up some

columns or pillars, to shew that he had come to the end of the world. There

is an extraordinary confusion as to the locality and maker of these

pillars. Lydgate here follows the account in the Alexander romances, viz.

that Alexander set up a pillar of marble in the furthest end of India (l.

351); on which was inscribed--'Ego Alexander Philippi Macedonis post obitum

Darii usque ad hunc locum expugnando viriliter militaui'; see Alexander and

Dindimus, ed. Skeat, p. 42. Lydgate has confused the two accounts.

354. Copied from Troil. i. 518:--'Of hem that Love list febly for to

avaunce'; which is preceded by 'he may goon in the daunce'; see the next

line.

358. _Phebus_. Cf. 'Whan Phebus dwelled here in this erthe adoun'; C. T., H

1. Lydgate is not, however, referring to the story in the Manciples Tale,

but rather to the hopeless love of Phoebus for the daughter of Admetus; for

which see Troil. i. 659-65. Cf. Schick, note to T. G. 112.

365. _Piramus_. See Legend of Good Women, 724; and Schick, note to T. G.

80.

366. _Tristram_. See notes to Parl. Foules, 288, and to Rosamounde, 20; and

to Temple of Glas, ed. Schick, l. 77.

367. Achilles fell in love with Polyxena, a daughter of Priam, according to

Guido; see note to Book of the Duch. 1070; and Schick, note to T. G. 94.

_Antonius_, Antony; see Legend of Good Women, 588.

368. See the Knightes Tale; but it is a little extraordinary that Lydgate

should instance Palamon here.

372. _Jason_; see Legend of Good Women, 1580. For _Theseus_, see the same,

1945; and for _Enee_ (Aeneas), the same, 924.

379. An interesting allusion, as the story of the false Arcite was of

Chaucer's invention; see his Anelida.

380. _Demophon_; already mentioned above, l. 70.

386. _Adon_, Adonis; see Troil. iii. 721; C. T., A 2224.

390. _chorl_, churl; Vulcan; cf. C. T., A 2222, and Compl. of Mars.

393. _Ipomenes_, Hippomenes, the conqueror of Atalanta in the foot-race;

and therefore _not_ 'guerdonles.' He is thinking of Meleager, the

unsuccessful lover of the _other_ Atalanta, her of Calydon. Chaucer seems

likewise to have confused these stories; see note to Parl. Foules, 286; and

cf. C. T., A 2070-2.

412. Cf. Book Duch. 1024, and my note; and Schick, note to T. G. 169.

419. The correction is obvious. The scribes read _iupartyng_ as _inpartyng_

and then made it into two words. Cf. l. 475. Chaucer has _juparten_, Troil.

iv. 1566.

458. 'So variable is thy chance'; cf. C. T., B 125, and the note.

461. _blent_, blinded. Evidently the right reading, for which MS. S. has

_blend_. This was turned into _blynde_, destroying the rime.

462. _went_, weeneth, weens, supposes, guesses; he shoots by guess.

Evidently the right word, for which MS. S. has _wend_. But it was easily

misunderstood, and most MSS. have _by wenynge_, which preserves the sense,

but destroys the rime. Cf. _let_ = lets, in l. 464.

480. This line resembles l. 229 of the Temple of Glas.

484. For references to similar lines, see Schick, note to T. G. 60.

488. _Parcas_, Parcae, the Fates; the form is copied from Troil. v. 3.

Lines 486-9 are reminiscences of Troil. iii. 734 and C. T., A 1566.

491. Nature is the deputy of God; see P. F. 379, and note; C. T., C 20.

512. With the following stanzas compare Chaucer's Complaint to his Lady,

and An Amorous Complaint.

525. 'Out of your mercy and womanliness, charm my sharp wounds.'

554. A stock line of Lydgate's; it occurs twice in the Temple of Glas, ll.

424, 879.

574. Here the Knight's Complaint ends.

590. 'Parfourned hath the sonne his ark diurne'; C. T., E 1795.

596. Cf. 'among yon rowes rede'; Compl. Mars, 2.

597. _deaurat_, gilded, of a golden colour; see _Deaurate_ in the New E.

Dict.

612. _Esperus_, Hesperus, the evening-star, the planet Venus. See note to

Boeth. bk. i. m. 5. 9.

621. Cf. C. T., A 2383, 2389; and Temple of Glas, 126-8.

627. 'Venus I mene, the _wel-willy_ planete'; Troil. iii. 1257. Cf.

_gude-willy_ in Burns.

644. 'For thilke love thou haddest to Adoun'; C. T., A 2224.

647. MS. B. has _for very wery_, meaning 'because I was very weary,' which

is a possible expression; see Schick, note to T. G. 632; but _verily_ seems

better, as otherwise the line is cumbersome.

663. _Jelousye_; cf. Parl. Foules, 252.

§ IX. JOHN LYDGATE: THE FLOUR OF CURTESYE.

I know of no MS. copy of this piece.

4. Valentine's day is Feb. 14; cf. Parl. Foules, 309-11.

8. _larke_; cf. the song of the bird in Compl. Mars, 13-21.

20. _Cipryde_, really the same as Venus, but here distinguished; see Parl.

Foules, 277.

38. Apparently accented as 'Aúrorà'; Ch. has Auróra, L. G. W. 774.

49. _crampessh at_ must be _crampisshed_, i.e. constrained painfully,

tortured; see note to Anelida, 171 (vol. i. p. 535).

62. Imitated from Parl. Foules, 379-89.

75. _sursanure_; a wound healed outwardly only; cf. note to C. T., F 1113.

84. _Male-bouche_, Evil Tongue, Slander; from the Roman de la Rose. See

VIII. 260 above.

96. _Boreas_, only mentioned by Ch. in his Boethius, bk. i. m. 5. 17, m. 3.

8.

113. _somer-sonne_; imitated from the Book of the Duch. 821-4.

125. 'To speke of bountè or of gentilles,' &c.; T. G. 287.

140. 'To alle hir werkes virtu is hir gyde'; C. T., B 164.

158. Alluding to the proverb--'He that hews above his head, the chips fall

in his eye'; which is a warning to men who attack their betters. See I. i.

9. 20, and the note (p. 462).

190-3. _Policene_, Polyxena; cf. note to VIII. 367. _Helayne_, Helen.

_Dorigene_; see Frankleyns Tale, F 815.

195. _Cleopatre_; see the first legend in the Legend of Good Women.

_secree_, secret, able to keep secrets; a praiseworthy attribute; cf. Parl.

of Foules, 395; and Lydgate's Temple of Glas, 294-5:--

'and mirrour eke was she

Of _secrenes_, of trouth, of faythfulnes.'

It is obvious that the extraordinary word _setrone_ (see the footnote)

arose from a desire on the part of the scribe to secure a rime for the name

in the next line, which he must have imagined to be _An-ti-góne_, in

_three_ syllables, with a mute final _e_! This turned _secree_ into

_secrone_, which Thynne probably misread as _setrone_, since _c_ and _t_

are alike in many MSS. But there are no such words as _secrone_ or

_setrone_; and _secree_ must be restored, because _An-ti-go-ne_ is a word

of four syllables. We know whence Lydgate obtained his 'white Antigone'; it

was from Troilus, ii. 887, where we find 'fresshe Antigone the whyte.'

Antigone was Criseyde's niece, and was so 'secree' that Pandarus considered

her to be the most fitting person to accompany Criseyde when she visited

Troilus (Troil. ii. 1563), and again when she came to visit Pandarus

himself (iii. 597).

197. _Hester_, Esther; see Book Duch. 987; but especially Legend of Good

Women, 250: 'Ester, lay thou thy _mekenesse_ al adoun.' _Judith_; cf. Cant.

Tales, B 939, 2289, 3761, E 1366.

198. _Alceste_, Alcestis; see L. G. W. 432, 511, 518. _Marcia Catoun_,

Martia, daughter of Cato of Utica; see note to L. G. W. 252 (vol. iii. p.

298).

199. _Grisilde_; the Griselda of the Clerkes Tale. Again mentioned by

Lydgate in the Temple of Glas, 75, 405, and elsewhere; see Schick's note to

T.G. l. 75.

200, 201. _Ariadne_; see L. G. W. 268, 2078, &c. _Lucrece_, Lucretia; see

the same, 1680; especially l. 1691:--'this Lucresse, that starf _at Rome

toun_.'

203. _Penelope_; see note to L. G. W. 252.

204. _Phyllis_, _Hipsiphilee_; both in L. G. W.; 2394, 1368.

206. _Canacee_; may be either the Canace mentioned in L. G. W. 265, or the

heroine of the Squieres Tale; probably the latter. See Schick, note to l.

137 of the Temple of Glas.

209. _naught_, not. _falle_, stoop, droop; hence, fail.

211-3. Dido slew herself; see L. G. W. 1351.

214. _Medee_, Medea; see L. G. W. 1580. But Chaucer does not there relate

how Medea committed any 'outrage.' However, he refers to her murder of her

children in the Cant. Tales, B 72.

216. 'That, while goodness and beauty are both under her dominion, she

makes goodness have always the upper hand.' See l. 218.

221. Read _n'offende_, offend not. Probably the MS. had _nofende_, which

Thynne turned into _ne fende_.

229. It is remarkable how often Lydgate describes his hand as 'quaking';

see Schick's note to the Temple of Glas, 947. Chaucer's hand quaked but

once; Troil. iv. 14. Cf. note to XXII. 57 (p. 539).

232. _suppryse_, undertake, endeavour to do. _Suppryse_ is from O.F.

_sousprendre_, for which Godefroy gives the occasional sense

'entreprendre.'

234. _lose_, praise; _out of lose_, out of praise, discreditable.

236. Perhaps this means that Chaucer's decease was a very recent event.

Schick proposes to date this piece between 1400 and 1402.

242. Chaucer invokes Clio at the beginning of Troilus, bk. ii. (l. 8); and

Calliope at the beginning of bk. iii. (l. 45).

251. Cf. Compl. Mars, 13, 14. The metre almost seems to require an accent

on the second syllable of _Valentyn_, with suppressed final _e_; but a much

more pleasing line, though less regular, can be made by distributing the

pauses artificially thus: Upón . the dáy of . saint Válen . týne . sínge.

The word _saint_ is altogether unemphatic; cf. ll. 4, 100.

257. _fetheres ynde_, blue feathers; possibly with a reference to blue as

being the colour of constancy. Cf. _floures inde_; VIII. 127.

261. The woodbine is an emblem of constancy, as it clings to its support;

cf. XX. 485-7.

§ X. IN COMMENDATION OF OUR LADY.

4, 5. In l. 4, _fere_ is the Kentish form of 'fire.' In l. 5, Thynne again

prints _fere_, but MS. A. has _hyre_ (not a rime), and MS. Sl. has _were_,

which means 'doubt,' and is the right word.

7. For _her_, we must read _his_, as in l. 4. The reference is to Love or

Cupid; see VIII. 354, and the note.

12. Cf. 'O wind, O wind, the weder ginneth clere,' &c.; Troil. ii. 2.

Observe that Chaucer invokes _Cleo_ (Clio) in his next stanza.

22. We may compare this invocation with Chaucer's ABC, and his introduction

to the Second Nonnes Tale; but there is not much resemblance. Observe the

free use of alliteration throughout ll. 22-141.

24. 'O pleasant ever-living one' seems to be meant; but it is very obscure.

Notice that the excellent Sloane MS. has _O lusty lemand_ (= _leming_), O

pleasant shining one. Perhaps we should read _leming_ for _living_; cf. l.

25.

27. Cf. 'Haven of refut'; ABC, 14. _up to ryve_, to arrive at; see _rive_

in Halliwell.

28. The five joys of the Virgin are occasionally alluded to. See the poem

on this subject in An Old Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 87. The five joys

were (1) at the Annunciation; (2) when she bore Christ; (3) when Christ

rose from the dead; (4) when she saw Him ascend into heaven; (5) at her own

Assumption into heaven.

30. 'And cheering course, for one to complain to for pity.' Very obscure.

52. _propyne_, give to drink; a usage found in the Vulgate version of Jer.

xxv. 15: 'Sume calicem ... et _propinabis_ de illo cunctis gentibus.'

56. Cf. _magnificence_ in Ch. Sec. Nonnes Tale, G 50.

58. _put in prescripcioun_, i.e. prescribed, recommended.

60. Cf. 'I flee for socour to thy tente'; ABC, 41.

64. _itinerárie_, a description of the way.

65. _bravie_, prize, especially in an athletic contest; Lat. _brauium_, Gk.

[Greek: brabeion], in 1 Cor. ix. 24. See note to C. T., D 75.

66. _diourn denárie_, daily pay, as of a penny a day; referring to Matt.

xx. 2: 'Conventione autem facta cum operariis ex _denario diurno_.'

68. _Laureat crowne_, crown of laurel.

69. _palestre_, a wrestling-match; cf. Troil. v. 304.

70. _lake_, fine white linen cloth; as in C. T., B 2048.

71. _citole_, harp; as in C. T., A 1959.

78. 'The wedded turtel, with her herte trewe'; Parl. Foules, 355.

83. _Phebus_; here used, in an extraordinary manner, of the Holy Spirit, as

being the spirit of wisdom; perhaps suggested by the mention of the

_columbe_ (or dove) in l. 79.

87. Here Thynne prints _dyametre_, but the Sloane MS. corrects him.

88. _Fewe feres_, few companions; i.e. few equals.

92, 93. _loupe_; cf. F. _loupe_, an excrescence, fleshy kernel, knot in

wood, lens, knob. It was also a term in jewellery. Littré has: 'pierre

précieuse que la nature n'a pas achevée. Loupe de saphir, loupe de rubis,

certaines parties imparfaites et grossières qui se trouvent quelquefois

dans ces pierres.' Hence it is not a very happy epithet, but Lydgate must

have meant it in a good sense, as expressing the densest portion of a

jewel; hence his 'stable (i.e. firm) as the loupe.' Similarly he explains

_ewage_ as being 'fresshest of visage,' i.e. clearest in appearance.

_Ewage_ was a term applied to a jacinth of the colour of sea-water; see New

E. Dict. and P. Plowman, B. ii. 14; but it is here described as _blue_, and

must therefore refer to a stone of the colour of water in a lake.

98. Read _hértè_ for the scansion; but it is a bad line. It runs:--And hém

. recéyvest . wíth . hértè . ful tréwe.

99. _gladded_, gladdened; referring to the Annunciation.

102. _obumbred_, spread like a shadow; 'uirtus Altissimi _obumbrabit_

tibi'; Luke, i. 35. This explains _to thee_, which answers to _tibi_.

106. This stanza refers to Christ rather than to Mary; see l. 112. But Mary

is referred to as the _ground_ on which He built (l. 111).

107. Cf. Isaiah, xi. 1; Jerem. xxiii. 5.

110. _corn_, grain; 'suscitabo Dauid germen iustum'; Jer. xxiii. 5. Cf. 'ex

semine Dauid uenit Christus; John, vii. 42.

111. _ground_; the ground upon which it pleased Him to build. Referring to

Mary.

113. _vytre_, glass; Lat. _uitreum_. The Virgin was often likened to glass;

sun-rays pass through it, and leave it pure.

114. _Tytan_, sun; curiously applied. Christ seems to be meant; see l. 116.

But _thy_ in l. 115 again refers to Mary. Hence, in l. 114 (as in 116) we

should read _his_ for _thy_.

118. _Sunamyte_, Shunammite; Lat. _Sunamitis_, 2 Kings, iv. 25. She was an

emblem of the Virgin, because her son was raised from the dead.

119. _Mesure_, moderate, assuage. _Margaryte_, pearl; as an epithet of the

Virgin.

121. _punical pome_, pomegranate; Pliny has _Punicum malum_ in this sense;

Nat. Hist. xiii. 19.

122. _bouk and boon_, body and bone; see _Bouk_ in the New E. Dict.

123. _agnelet_, little lamb; not in the New E. Dict., because this stanza

is now first printed.

126. _habounde_, abundant; of this adj. the New E. Dict, gives two

examples.

128. _Cockle_, shell; referring to the shell in which the pearl was

supposed to be generated by dew. See note to I. ii. 12. 47, p. 475.

129. 'O bush unbrent'; C. T., B 1658; see the note, _fyrles_, set on fire

without any fire (i.e. without visible cause).

132. Referring to Gideon's fleece; Judges, vi. 39.

133. Referring to Aaron's rod that budded; Heb. ix. 4.

134. _misty_, mystic; cf. 'mysty, _misticus_,' in Prompt. Parv.

_arke_, ark; the ark of the covenant.

_probatik_; certainly the right reading (as in MS. Sl.), instead of

_probatyf_ or _probatyfe_, as in A. and Thynne. The reference is to the

O.F. phrase _piscine probatique_, which Godefroy explains as being a

cistern of water, near Solomon's temple, in which the sheep were washed

before being sacrificed. The phrase was borrowed immediately from the

Vulgate version of John v. 2: 'Est autem Ierosolymis _probatica piscina_,

quae cognominatur hebraice Bethsaida'; i.e. the reference is to the

well-known pool of Bethesda. The Greek has: [Greek: epi têi probatikêi

kolumbêthra]. The etymology is obvious, from Gk. [Greek: probaton], a

sheep. We may translate the phrase by 'sheep-cleansing pool.' Cotgrave

explains it very well; he has: '_piscine probatique_, a pond for the

washing of the sheep that were, by the Law, to be sacrificed.'

135. _Aurora_, dawn; mentioned in Ch. L. G. W. 774. Cf. 'al the orient

_laugheth_'; C. T., A 1494. And cf. 'Th'olyve of pees'; Parl. Foules, 181.

136. 'Column, with its base, which bears up (or supports) out of the

abysmal depth.'

137. 'Why could I not be skilful?'

140. I make up this line as best I can; the readings are all bad.

Note that, at this point, the MS. copies come to an end, and so does the

alliteration. Poem no. XI is joined on to no. X in Thynne without any

break, but is obviously a different piece, addressed to an earthly

mistress.

§ XI. TO MY SOVERAIN LADY.

1. Imitated from C. T., B 778: 'I ne have noon English digne,' &c. Cf. l.

41. And see the Introduction.

8. 'For if I could sing what I feel in love, I would (gladly do so).'

14. 'I have all my trust in thee.' The scansion is got by grouping the

syllables thus: J'áy . en vóus . tóute . má . fiáunce. It is a line of the

Lydgate type, in which the first syllable in the normal line, and the first

syllable after the cæsura, are alike dropped.

17. _thou knette_, mayst thou knit; the subj. or optative mood.

21. This quotation is most interesting, being taken from the first line in

'Merciless Beauty'; Ch. Minor Poems; no. XI. Cf. l. 54.

23. _it is_; pronounced either as _it's_ or _'t is_. The latter sounds

better.

26. The substitution of _ginne_ for _beginne_ much improves the line.

_on esperaunce_, in hope.

44. _in o degree_, (being) always in one state.

49. 'Weep for me, if a lover pleases you.'

56. 'So much it grieves to be away from my lady.'

59. 'Now my heart has what it wished for.'

64. _were_, should be, ought to be (subjunctive).

68. _go love_, go and love, learn to love. _wher_, whether.

77. _and also_, including. The 'fair' Rosamond is mentioned in P. Plowman,

B. xii. 48; which shews that her name was proverbial.

98. 'Embrace me closely with a joyful heart.'

100. 'The ardent hope that pricks my heart, is dead; the hope--to gain the

love of her whom I desire.'

103. 'And I know well that it is not my fault; (the fault of me) who sing

for you, as I may, by way of lament at your departure.' O.F. _sai_, I know,

is a correct form.

107. _sad_, fixed, resolute, firm, constant.

§ XII. BALLAD OF GOOD COUNSEL.

7. Cf. Prov. xvii. 20: 'He that hath a perverse tongue falleth into

mischief.'

15. _equipolent_, equal in power; used by Hoccleve (New E. Dict.).

16. _peregal_, the same as _paregal_, fully equal; Troil. v. 840.

22. I follow the order of stanzas in MS. H. (Harl. 2251), which is more

complete than any other copy, as it alone contains ll. 71-7. Th. and Ff.

transpose this stanza and the next one.

23. _amorous_ is evidently used as a term of disparagement, i.e. 'wanton.'

33. _this is_; pronounced as _this_, as often elsewhere.

40. _deslavee_, loose, unchaste; see Gloss. to Chaucer.

45. Accent _dévourour_ on the first syllable.

60. _dissolucioun_, dissolute behaviour.

71-7. In Harl. 2251 only. In l. 71, read _is_; the MS. has _in_.

73. The missing word is obviously _mene_, i.e. middling; missed because the

similar word _men_ happened to follow it.

78. _prudent_ seems here to be used in a bad sense; cf. mod. E. 'knowing.'

86. In the course of ll. 86-103, Lydgate contrives to mention all the Nine

Worthies except Godfrey of Bouillon; i.e. he mentions David, Joshua, Judas

Maccabaeus, Hector, Julius Caesar, Alexander, Charles (Charlemagne), and

King Arthur. His other examples are Solomon, Troilus, Tullius Cicero,

Seneca, and Cato; all well known.

96. Thynne has--'With _al_ Alisaundres.' The word _al_ is needless, and

probably due to repeating the first syllable of _Alisaundre_.

107. We now come to examples of famous women. _Hestre_ is Esther, and

_Griseldes_, the Grisildis of Chaucer's Clerkes Tale. Others are Judith (in

the Apocrypha), Polyxena, Penelope, Helen, Medea, Marcia the daughter of

Marcus Cato Uticensis (see note to Legend of Good Women, 252), and

Alcestis. They are all taken from Chaucer; Esther, Polyxena, Penelope,

Helen, 'Marcia Catoun,' are all mentioned in the 'Balade' in Legend of Good

Women, Prologue, B-text, 249-69; and Alcestis is the heroine of the same

Prologue. The Legend contains the story of Medea at length; and Judith is

celebrated in the Monkes Tale. See the similar list in IX. 190-210.

110. For _Policenes_, Ff. has _Penilops_ (!); but Penelope is mentioned in

l. 113. _Policenes_ is right; see IX. 190.

115. For _Eleynes_, the printed editions have the astonishing reading

_Holynesse_, a strange perversion of _Heleynes_.

121. _kerve_, cut; suggested by Chaucer's use of _forkerveth_ in the

Manciple's Tale, H 340. This _is_ tolerably certain, as in l. 129 he again

refers to the same Tale, H 332-4.

130. Chaucer does not mention Cato; he merely says--'Thus lerne children

whan that they ben yonge.' Both Chaucer and Lydgate had no doubt been

taught some of the sayings of Dionysius Cato in their youth; for see Troil.

iii. 293-4. This particular precept occurs in the third distich in Cato's

first book; i.e. almost at the very beginning. See note to C. T., H 332

(vol. v. p. 443).

§ XIII. BEWARE OF DOUBLENESS.

This piece is gently ironical throughout, as, for example, in ll. 15, 23,

31, 39, 47, &c.

30. _abit_, abideth, abides, remains, is constant.

32 (footnote). The remark in the margin--'Per antifrasim'--simply means

that the text is ironical.

48. _tache_, defect; this is Shakespeare's _touch_, in the same sense;

Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3. 175.

51. _sliper_, slippery; A.S. _slipor_; as in XVI. 262. Cf. HF. 2154, and

the note.

55. 'Who can (so) guide their sail as to row their boat with craft.' Not

clearly put. Is there a reference to Wade's boat? Cf. C. T., E 1424, and

the note. The irony seems here to be dropped, as in ll. 71, 79.

75. _sys and sink_, six and five, a winning throw at hazard; see C. T., B

124, and the note. _avaunce_, get profit, make gain.

77, 78. Here _sette_ seems to mean 'lay a stake upon,' in the game of

hazard; when, if the player throws double aces (_ambes as_), he loses; see

the note on C. T., B 124 as above; and see _Ambs-Ace_ in the New E. Dict.

It is amusing to find that Stowe so wholly misunderstood the text as to

print _lombes, as_ (see footnote on p. 293); for _lombes_ means 'lambs'!

83. _innocence_ is, I suppose, to be taken ironically; but the constancy of

Rosamond and Cleopatra is appealed to as being real. For the ballad of

'Fair Rosamond,' see Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry.

'Her chiefest foes did plaine confesse

She was a glorious wight.'

89, 90. _sengle_, single. _oo-fold_, one-fold, as distinct from _double_.

See the whimsical praise of 'double' things in Hood's Miss Kilmansegg, in

the section entitled 'Her Honeymoon.'

§ XIV. A BALADE: WARNING MEN, ETC.

6. _see at y_, see by the outward appearance; cf. C. T., G 964, 1059. This

Balade resembles no. XIII. Cf. l. 4 with XIII. 63, 81.

7. _et_, eateth, eats. This contracted form evidently best suits the

scansion. The copy in MS. T. had originally _ette_, mis-spelt for _et_,

with _ettyth_ written above it, shewing that the old form _et_ was

obsolescent. _Et_ (eateth) occurs in P. Plowman, C. vii. 431; and again, in

the same, B. xv. 175, the MSS. have _eet_, _eteth_, _ette_, with the same

sense. 'The blind eat many flies' is given in Hazlitt's Collection of

Proverbs. Skelton has it, Works, ed. Dyce, i. 213; and Hazlitt gives four

more references.

9. _geson_, scarce, rare, seldom found; see note to P. Plowman, B. xiii.

270.

19. Remember to pronounce _this is_ (_this's_) as _this_.

25. A common proverb; see note to C. T., G 962.

26. 'But ay fortune hath in hir hony galle'; C. T., B 3537.

29. The proverbial line quoted in T. is here referred to, viz. 'Fallere,

flere, nere, tria sunt hec in muliere.' In the margin of the Corpus MS. of

the C. T., opposite D 402, is written--'Fallere, flere, nere, dedit Deus in

muliere.' See that passage in the Wife's Preamble.

33. _sleight_; pronounced (_sleit_), riming with _bait_; shewing that the

_gh_ was by this time a negligible quantity.

36. The reference is to the proverb quoted in the note to C. T., B 2297

(vol. v. p. 208):--

'Vento quid leuius? fulgur; quid fulgure? flamma.

Flamma quid? mulier. Quid muliere? nichil.'

Hence _light_ in l. 37 should be _leit_, as it means 'lightning'; which

explains 'passeth in a throw,' i.e. passes away instantly. We also see that

Lydgate's original varied, and must have run thus:--

'Aëre quid leuius? fulgur; quid fulgure? uentus.

Vento quid? mulier. Quid muliere? nichil.'

43. Curiously imitated in the modern song for children:--

'If all the world were paper, And all the sea were ink,

And all the trees were bread and cheese, What _should_ we do for drink?'

The Baby's Bouquet, p. 26.

§ XV. THREE SAYINGS.

(A). 2. _Honour_, i.e. advancement. The Lat. proverb is--'Honores mutant

mores'; on which Ray remarks--'As poverty depresseth and debaseth a man's

mind, so great place and estate advance and enlarge it, but many times

corrupt and puff it up.' _outrage_, extravagant self-importance.

§ XVI. LA BELLE DAME.

1-28. The first four stanzas are original; so also are the four at the end.

These stanzas have seven lines; the rest have eight.

10. Read _called_ as _call'd_; _Bell-e_ and _Dam-e_ are dissyllabic.

11. _Aleyn_; i.e. Alain Chartier, a French poet and prose writer, born in

1386, who died in 1458. He lived at the court of Charles VI and Charles

VII, to whom he acted as secretary. Besides La Belle Dame sans Merci, he

wrote several poems; in one of these, called Le Livre de Quatre Dames, four

ladies bewail the loss of their lovers in the battle of Agincourt. He also

wrote some prose pieces, chiefly satirical; his _Curial_, directed against

the vices of the court, was translated by Caxton. Caxton's translation was

printed by him in 1484, and reprinted by the Early English Text Society in

1888. The best edition of Chartier's works is that by A. Duchesne (Paris,

1617); a new edition is much wanted.

45. I here quote the original of this stanza, as it settles the right

reading of l. 47, where some MSS. have _eyen_ or _eyn_ for _pen_.

'Qui vouldroit mon vouloir contraindre

A ioyeuses choses escrire,

_Ma plume_ n'y sçauroit attaindre,

Non feroit ma langue à les dire.

Ie n'ay bouche qui puisse rire

Que les yeulx ne la desmentissent:

Car le cueur l'en vouldroit desdire

Par les lermes qui des yeulx issent.'

53. The original French is clearer:--

'Je laisse aux amoureulx malades,

Qui ont espoir d'allegement,

Faire chansons, ditz, et ballades.'

65, 66. _forcer_, casket; _unshet_, opened; _sperd_, fastened, locked up.

103 (footnote). _deedly_, inanimate, dull, sleepy; an unusual use of the

word. Only in Thynne, who seems to be wrong.

105, 106. _som_, i.e. some male guests. _their juges_, (apparently) the

ladies who ruled them, whom they wooed; cf. l. 137. _demure_, serious,

grave; an early example of the word; cf. XX. 459, XXI. 82.

105. _most fresshest_, who had most newly arrived; 'Tels y ot qui à l'heure

vinrent.'

137. _scole-maister_, i.e. his mistress who ruled him; cf. _her_ in l. 139.

145. The right reading is _shot_, as in Thynne and MS. Ff., which are

usually better authorities than MSS. F. and H. The original has:--

'I'apperceu le _trait_ de ses yeulx

Tout empenné d'humbles requestes.'

154, 156. _mes_, dish or course of meats. _entremes_, ill-spelt _entremass_

in Barbour's Bruce, xvi. 457; on which my note is: 'it is the O.F.

_entremes_, now spelt _entremets_, [to mark its connection with F.

_mettre_; but] _mets_, O.F. _mes_, is the Lat. _missum_ [accusative of

_missus_], a dish as _sent in_ or served at table (Brachet). An _entremes_

is a delicacy or side-dish (lit. a between-dish)'; and I added a reference

to the present passage. It is here used ironically.

166. _chase_, chose; apparently, a Northern form.

174. _apert_, as in MS. Ff., is obviously right; _pert_, as still in use,

is due to the loss of the former syllable. _prevy nor apert_, neither

secretly nor openly, i.e. in no way; just as in Ch. C. T., F 531.

176. _frounter_; answering here, not to O.F. _frontier_, forehead, but to

O.F. _frontiere_, front rank of an army, line of battle; whence the phrase

_faire frontiere a_, to make an attack upon (Godefroy). So here, the lady's

beauty was exactly calculated to make an attack upon a lover's heart. Sir

R. Ros has 'a frounter _for_'; he should rather have written 'a frounter

_on_.' The original has:--'Pour faire au cueur d'amant _frontiere_'; also

_garnison_ in the preceding line.

182. 'Car ioye triste cueur traueille.' Sir R. Ros actually takes _triste_

with _ioye_ instead of with _cueur_. There are several other instances in

which he does not seem to have understood his original. See below.

184. _trayle_, trellis-work, or lattice-work, intertwined with pliant

thick-leaved branches; Godefroy has O.F. '_treille_, _traille_, treillis,

treillage'; cf. l. 195. The original has:--'Si m'assis dessoubz une

treille.' A note explains _dessoubz_ as _derriere_.

198. _neer_, nearer; as in l. 201. _sought_, attacked (him).

230. 'Et se par honneur et sans blasme Ie suis vostre.' That is, if I am

yours, with honour _to myself_. But the translator transfers the _worship_,

i.e. the honour, to the lady.

259. 'Which promised utterly to deprive me of my trust.'

265. _Other or me_, me or some one else. But the French is:--'Se moy ou

autre vous regarde,' if I or some one else look at you; which is quite a

different thing.

269-72. Obscure, and perhaps wrong; the original is:--

'S'aucun blesse autruy d'auenture

Par coulpe de celuy qui blesse,

Quoi qu'il n'en peult mais par droicture,

Si en a il dueil et tristesse.'

282-3.

'Que peu de chose peult trop plaire

Et vous vous voulez deceuoir.'

300. 'It were less harm for one to be sad than two.'

303. Read _sory_: 'D'ung _dolent_ faire deux joyeulx.'

324. _rechace_, chasing it back, which gives small sense; and the reading

_richesse_ is worse, and will not rime. The French has _rachatz_ = mod. F.

_rachat_, redemption, ransom; which has been misunderstood.

340. 'Preuue ses parolles par oeuure.'

348. _their_ is an error for _his_ (Love's), due to the translator. 'Lors

il [Amour] descouure sa fierté.'

351.

'Tant plus aspre en est la poincture,

Et plus desplaisant le deffault.'

357. _oon_, one; i.e. the same. MS. Ff. has _wone_, a very early example of

the prefixed sound of _w_, as in modern English. See Zupitza's notes to Guy

of Warwick.

393. Something is wrong. The French is:--'La mesure faulx semblant porte';

meaning (I suppose) moderation has a false appearance.

400. _As think_, i.e. pray think; see _As_ in the Gloss. in vol. vi.

443. 'A constrained reward, and a gift offered by way of thanks, cannot

agree'; i.e. are quite different.

449. _wanteth_, is wanting, is lacking.

468. 'Qui soit donné à autre office.'

469. 'D'assez grant charge se cheuit,' he gets rid of a great

responsibility. The translator gives the contrary sense.

506. 'D'en donner à qui les reffuse.'

509. That _He_, not _Who_, should begin the line, is certain by comparison

with the French:--'_Il_ ne doit pas cuider muser.'

514. _me mistook_, that I mistook myself, that I made a mistake.

519, 520. _prevayl you_, benefit you; _after_, according to.

523-4. _after-game_, return-match, a second game played by one who has lost

the first. I believe l. 524 to mean 'who cannot thoroughly afford to double

his stakes.' To _set_ often means to stake. The French is:--

'Et celuy pert le ieu d'attente

Qui ne scet faire son point double.'

531. _it ar_, they are. This use of _ar_ with _it_ is due to the pl. sb.

_fantasyes_ (i.e. vain fancies) immediately following; _other counsayl_ is

equivalent to 'as for any other counsel,' which implies that there are more

alternatives than one.

536. 'Who would like to conduct himself,' i.e. to regulate his conduct.

'Qui la veult conduire et ne peult.'

538. Read _sute_: 'Desespoir le met de sa _suite_.'

555. 'Ne de l'aprendre n'ay-ie cure.'

559. 'Et le deuoir d'amours payer Qui franc cueur a, prisé et droit.'

566. _That_ is a mere conjunction; the reading _Which_ alters the sense,

and gives a false meaning.

583. _let_, makes as though he knew not; French, 'scet celler.'

594, 595. _Hath set_; 'Mettroit en mes maulx fin et terme.' Line 595 should

begin with _Then_ rather than _Yet_, as there is no contrast.

605. 'De tous soit celuy deguerpiz.'

608. _or anything at al_, &c.; 'et le bien fait De sa Dame qui l'a reffait

Et ramené de mort a vie'; i.e. and the kindness of his Lady, who has new

made him, and brought him back from death to life. The English follows some

different reading, and is obscurely expressed.

614. 'A qui l'en puisse recourir'; to whom he could have recourse. But

_recourir_ has been read as _recovrir_, giving no good sense.

627. The reading _high_ is right; 'Que iamais _hault_ honneur ne chiet.'

634. _reclaymed_, taught to come back; a term in falconry; French, 'bien

reclamez.' Opposed to _hem to withholde_, i.e. to keep themselves from

coming back.

635.

'Et si bien aprins qu'ils retiennent

A changer dés qu'ils ont clamez.'

651. _fol_, foolish; F. text, 'fol plaisir.'

667. _To have better_, to get a better lover. But the sense is wrongly

given. In the French, this clause goes with what follows:--'D'auoir mieulx

ne vous affiez,' i.e. expect to get nothing better.

667. _to have better_, to get a better lover.

668. 'Et prenez en gré le reffus.'

673. The original shews that _she_ really refers to _Pity_, denoted by _it_

in l. 671, not to the Lady herself.

680. 'Et iamais á bout n'en vendrez.'

706. _By_; French, _De_; hence _By_ should be _Of_. Read _defame of

cruelty_, an ill name for cruelty. The mistake is the translator's.

741. _Male-bouche_, Slander; a name probably taken from the Rom. de la

Rose, 2847; called _Wikked-Tonge_ in the English version, 3027.

750. _playn_, (all equally) flat. 'La terre n'est pas toute unie.'

757. _be nought_, are naughty, are wicked; as in K. Lear, ii. 4. 136.

788. 'Que si tost mis en obli a.'

814. _avantours_, boasters; see l. 735. F. text, 'venteus'; cf. '_Vanteux_,

vaunting'; Cotgrave.

817. _Refus_, i.e. Denial; personified. 'Reffuz a ses chasteaulx bastiz.'

829. The last four stanzas are original. Note the change from the 8-line to

the 7-line stanza.

§ XVII. THE TESTAMENT OF CRESSEID.

This sequel to Chaucer's 'Troilus,' written by Robert Henryson of

Dunfermline, is in the Northern dialect of the Scottish Lowlands. Thynne

has not made any special attempt to alter the wording of this piece, but he

frequently modifies the spelling; printing _so_ instead of _sa_ (l. 3),

_whan_ for _quhen_ (l. 3), _right_ for _richt_ (l. 4), and so on. I follow

the Edinburgh edition of 1593. See further in the Introduction.

1. _Ane_, a; altered by Thynne to _a_, throughout.

_dooly_ (Th. _doly_), doleful, sad; from the sb. _dool_, sorrow.

4-6. Here _fervent_ seems to mean 'stormy' or 'severe,' as it obviously

does not mean hot. _Discend_ is used transitively; _can discend_ means

'caused to descend.' This is an earlier example than that from Caxton in

the New Eng. Dictionary. _Aries_ clearly means the influence of Aries, and

implies that the sun was in that sign, which it entered (at that date)

about the 12th of March; see vol. iii. p. 188 (footnote). _Lent_ is

'spring'; and the Old Germanic method is here followed, which divided each

of the seasons into three months. In this view, the spring-months were

March, April, and May, called, respectively, foreward Lent, midward Lent,

and afterward Lent; see A Student's Pastime, p. 190. Hence the phrase in

_middis of the Lent_ does not mean precisely in the middle of the spring,

but refers to the month of April; indeed, the sun passed out of Aries into

Taurus on the 11th of the month. The date indicated is, accordingly, the

_first week in April_, when the sun was still in Aries, and showers of

hail, with a stormy north wind, were quite seasonable.

10. _sylit under cure_, covered up, (as if) under his care. The verb _to

syle_ is precisely the mod. E. _ceil_; which see in the New E. Dict.

12. _unto_, i.e. over against. The planet Venus, rising in the east, set

her face over against the west, where the sun had set.

20. _shill_, shrill. _Shille_ occurs as a variant of _schrille_ in C. T., B

4585; see _schil_ in Stratmann.

32. _douf_ (spelt _doif_ in the old edition) is the Northern form of

'deaf,' answering to the Icel. _daufr_; thus a nut without a kernel is

called in the South 'a deaf nut,' but in Scotland 'a douf nit'; see

Jamieson. For _deaf_ in the senses of 'dull' and 'unproductive,' see the

New E. Dict.

39. _cut_, curtail; illustrated from Lydgate in the New E. Dict.

42. Read _lusty_, to avoid the repetition of _worthy_; cf. l. 41. It should

have been stated, in the footnotes, that the readings are: E. worthy; Th.

lusty.

43. Referring to Troil. bk. v. In l. 92, we are told how Diomede led

Criseyde away. Note particularly that, in l. 45, Henryson quotes Chaucer

rather closely. Cf. 'For which wel neigh out of my wit I breyde'; Troil. v.

1262. And cf. ll. 47-9 with--'Betwixen hope and drede his herte lay';

Troil. v. 1207.

48. _Quhill_, till. The reading _Esperus_ in E. is comic enough. Even

Thynne has misread _esperans_, and has turned it into _esperous_. There can

be little doubt that _esperans_ here means 'hope,' as it is opposed to

_wanhope_ in the line above. The word was known to Henryson, as we find, in

st. 8 of his Garment of Gude Ladyis: 'Hir slevis suld be of _esperance_, To

keip hir _fra dispair_.' Cf. l. 49.

50. _behest_, promise; because she had promised to return to Troy within

ten days; Troil. iv. 1595.

65. _this narratioun_, i.e. the sequel of the story, which he is about to

tell. He does not tell us whence he derived it, but intimates that it is a

fiction; I suppose he invented it himself.

74. _lybel of répudy_, Lat. 'libellum repudii,' as in Matt. xix. 7.

77. 'And, as some say, into the common court'; i.e. she became a courtesan.

78. _A-per-se_, i.e. the first letter of the alphabet, standing alone. A

letter that was also a word in itself, as _A_, or _I_, or _O_, was called

'per se,' because it could stand alone. Of these, the _A-per-se_ was a type

of excellence. One of Dunbar's Poems (ed. Small, i. 276) begins:--'London,

thou art of townes _A-per-se_.'

79. _fortunait_, the sport of fortune; oddly used, as it implies that she

was 'an unfortunate.' Cf. l. 89.

94. _but_, without; and Thynne actually prints _without_ in place of it.

97. _quhair_, where her father Calchas (was). He was living among the

Greeks; Troil. i. 80, 87.

106. In the medieval legend, Calchas was not a priest of Venus, but of

Apollo, as Chaucer notes; see Troil. i. 66-70. So also in Lydgate, Siege of

Troy, bk. ii. c. 17. Henryson probably altered this intentionally, because

it enabled him to represent Criseyde as reproaching her father's god; see

ll. 124, 134.

129. _outwaill_, outcast; one who is chosen out and rejected; from the verb

_wail_, _ wale_, to choose. There seems to be no other example of the word,

though Jamieson gives '_outwailins_, leavings, things of little value.'

140. _forlane_ can hardly mean 'left alone.' If so, it would be a word

invented for the occasion, and improperly formed from _lane_, which is

itself a docked form of _alane_. In all other passages _forlane_ or

_forlain_ is the pp. of _forliggen_; and the sense of 'defiled' is quite

applicable. And further, it rimes with _slane_, which means 'slain.'

143. 'And, as it seemed, she heard, where she lay,' &c.

147. The seven planets; which, in the order of the magnitude of their

orbits, are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon.

And to this order the author carefully adheres throughout ll. 151-263.

155. _fronsit_, wrinkled; _frounse_ is the mod. E. _flounce_, which

formerly meant 'a pleat'; see _frounce_, _frouncen_ in Stratmann, and the

Gloss. to Chaucer. Misprinted _frosnit_ in E.

'His complexion was like lead.' Lead was Saturn's metal; see C. T., G 828,

and the note.

164. That _gyte_ is the correct reading, is obvious from ll. 178, 260,

where Thynne has preserved it. It is a Chaucerian word; see the Glossary in

vol. vi. It seems to mean 'mantle.' The Edinburgh printer altered it to

_gyis_, which is too general a term, at least in l. 260.

182. 'To ward off from us the wrath of his father (Saturn).'

198. Compare Ch. C. T., F 1031--'god and governour Of every plaunte, herbe,

tree, and flour.'

205. Alluding to Phaethon's misguidance of the chariot of the sun; 'And

that his faders cart amis he dryve'; Troil. v. 665. Laing prints _unricht_;

but omits to say that E. has _upricht_.

211. _soyr_, sorrel-coloured, reddish-brown; see _Sorrel_ in my Etym. Dict.

212-6. The names of the four horses are curiously corrupted from the names

given in Ovid, Met. ii. 153, viz. Eöus, Æthon, Pyröeis, and Phlegon. As

_Eous_ means 'belonging to the dawn,' we may consider the words _into the

Orient_, i.e. in the East, as explanatory of the name _Eoy_; 'called Eoy,

(which signifies) in the East.' As to the name of the last horse, it was

obviously meant to take the form _Philegoney_, in order to rime with _sey_

(sea), and I have therefore restored this form. The two authorities, E. and

Th., give it in the amazing form _Philologie_ (_Philologee_), which can

only mean 'philology'!

231. _lauch_ and _weip_ are infinitives, but appear to be meant for past

tenses. If so, the former should be _leuch_; _weip_ may answer to the

strong pt. t. _weep_ in Chaucer (A.S. _w[=e]op_).

246. He seems to be thinking of Chaucer's Doctor of Phisyk; cf. Ch. Prol. A

425-6, 439.

254. 'The last of all (in order), and swiftest in her orbit.'

256. Thynne has _tapere_ = to appear; this passage is curiously cited, in

Richardson's Dictionary, in illustration of the sb. _taper_!

261. _churl_, man; this is Chaucer's _cherl_, in Troil. i. 1024. See the

note to that line.

263. _na nar_, no nearer; the moon's orbit, being the least, was the most

remote from the outer heaven that enclosed the _primum mobile_.

273. _shew_, shewed; but it is false grammar, for the verb to _shew_ (or

_show_) was weak. Formed by analogy with _blew_, _grew_, _knew_; cf. _rew_,

_mew_, _sew_, old strong preterites of _row_, _mow_, and _sow_.

290. As Henryson usually refrains from the addition of a syllable at the

cæsura, we should probably read _injure_, not _injury_; see Troil. iii.

1018.

297, 298. _hyest_, i.e. Saturn; _lawest_ (lowest), i.e. Cynthia.

299. _modify_, determine, specify; not here used in the modern sense.

318. Heat and moisture characterised the _sanguine_ temperament (see vol.

v. p. 33); coldness and dryness characterised the melancholy temperament

(see P. Plowman, B-text, p. xix). Cf. l. 316.

343. 'With cup and clapper, like a leper.' It was usual for lepers to carry

a cup (for their own use), and a clapper or clap-dish, which was used in

order to give warning of their approach, and also as a receptacle for alms,

to prevent actual contact; cf. l. 479 below. Compare the following:--

'Coppe and claper he bare ...

As he a mesel [_leper_] were.'--Sir Tristrem, 3173.

'Than beg her bread with dish and clap' (referring to Criseyde).

Turbervile's Poems: The Lover in utter dispaire.

See further under _Clapper_ in the New Eng. Dict.

_lazarous_ is formed as an adj. in _-ous_ from the sb. _lazar_, a leper;

see l. 531.

350. _wa_, woful; 'God knows if she was woful enough.'

382. The accent on the second syllable of _hospital_ was not uncommon;

hence its frequent contraction to _spittal_ or _spittel-house_; for which

see l. 391 below.

386. Read _bevar_ or _bever_ (Th. has _beuer_); the reading _bawar_ in E.

gives no sense. I see no connection with Lowl. Sc. _bevar_, 'one who is

worn out with age,' according to Jamieson, who merely guesses at the sense,

as being perhaps allied to _bavard_, which he also explains as 'worn out';

although, if from the F. _bavard_, it rather means talkative, babbling, or

idle. I believe that _bevar hat_ simply means 'beaver hat,' formerly used

by women as well as by men. Even Dickens alludes to 'farmer's wives in

beaver bonnets,' in Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. 5. No doubt a beaver hat was,

when new, an expensive luxury, as worn by Chaucer's 'Merchant' (Prol. l.

272); but they wore well and long, and were doubtless gladly used by

beggars when cast off by their original owners.

407. The metre, in ll. 407-69, is borrowed from Chaucer's Anelida.

410. _blaiknit_, is not a derivative of M.E. _blak_, black, but of M.E.

_bl[=a]k_, _bleik_, bleak, pallid, cheerless. It is here used in the sense

of 'rendered cheerless'; and _bair_ means 'bare' or 'barren.' See

_bl[=a]kien_ in Stratmann.

413. 'Thy bale is in the growth,' or is sprouting. See _Braird_, the first

shoots of corn or grass, in the New E. Dict., where two more examples of

this phrase are cited from Henryson.

417. 'With goodly bed, and convenient embroidered bench-covers.' _Burelie_

(mod. E. _burly_, prov. E. _bowerly_) answers to an A.S. form

_b[=u]r-l[=i]c_, i.e. suitable for a lady's bower. This explains why it was

appropriately used as an epithet for a bed. Cf. 'Quhair ane _burely_ bed

was wrocht in that wane'; Rauf Coilyear, 264. Hence 'a burly knight' was

one suitable for a lady's bower, and therefore handsome, strong,

well-grown, large; and by a degradation of meaning, huge, corpulent. The

changes in sense are curious and instructive. In the New E. Dict., the

etymology is not given. For _bene_, see _bain_ in the New E. Dict.; and for

_bankouris_, see _banker_.

421. _saipheroun sals_, saffron sauce. _Saffron_ and _salt_ were often used

together in medieval cookery; see Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books, ed.

Austin (E. E. T. S.). The Glossary to that book gives the spellings

_safroun_, _saferon_, _saferoun_, and _sapheron_.

423. This is a very early mention of _lawn_. It is also mentioned in st. 10

of Lydgate's 'London Lickpeny.'

429. _walk_, wake. The history of this spelling is not quite clear; but the

_l_ was, in any case, mute; another spelling is _wauk_. I suspect that it

originated in the misunderstanding of a symbol. The scribe, who wished to

write _wakk_, used a symbol resembling _lk_, where the _l_ was _really_ the

first _k_, indicated by its down-stroke only. For example, the word _rokke_

was (apparently) written _rolke_. See my article on Ghost-words; Phil. Soc.

Trans. 1885, p. 369.

_tak the dew_, gather May-dew. The old custom of bathing the face with

fresh dew on the 1st of May is referred to in Brand's Popular Antiquities.

He gives an example as late as 1791. See Pepys' Diary, May 28, 1667, May

11, 1669; where we find that _any_ day in May was then considered suitable

for this health-giving operation.

433. I take _on every grane_ to mean 'in every particular'; cf. 'a _grain_

of sense.' We may also note the Fr. _teindre en graine_, to dye in grain,

to dye of a fast colour; and we occasionally find _grain_ in the sense of

'tint.' Godefroy cites 'ung couvertoer d'une _graigne_ vermeille'; and 'une

manche vermeille, ne sçay se c'est _graine_ ou autre taincture.' _Grane_

also means 'groan,' and 'groin,' and 'fork of a tree'; but none of these

senses suit.

438. 'Take this leper-lodge in place of thy stately bower.'

450. In l. 407, we have _sop of sorrow_, i.e. sop, or sup, of sorrow. So

here _sowpit in syte_, sopped, or drenched, in sorrow; an expression which

Jamieson illustrates from Holland's Houlate, i. 4, and Douglas's Vergil,

prologue to Book viii, l. 5.

463. This expression is imitated from Chaucer's Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 6.

3--'O glorie, glorie, thou art nothing elles but a greet sweller of eres!'

See note to I. ii. 8. 68 (p. 472).

480. _leir_ (Th. _lerne_); surely miscopied from l. 479. Read _live_.

490. _lipper_ seems to be used collectively; so also in l. 494.

492. _shuik coppis_, shook their cups; it implies that they waved them

aloft, to attract attention. They also used their clappers.

501. _ply_, plight. I know of no other example of _ply_ in this sense; but

_ply_ (usually, a fold) and _plight_ (incorrect spelling of M.E. _plyte_)

are closely related; the former represents Lat. _plicitum_, the latter,

Lat. _plicita_; from _plicare_, to fold (whence E. _ply_, verb, to bend).

541. 'With many a sorrowful cry and cold _or_ sad (cry of) O hone!' Here

_cald_ = sad; and _Ochane_ is the Irish and Scotch cry of _O hone!_ or _Och

hone!_ See _O hone_ in the Century Dict., s.v. _O_.

543. _will of wane_, lit. wild of weening, at a loss what to do. See Gloss.

to Barbour's Bruce, s.v. _Will_.

550. 'And climbed so high upon the fickle wheel' (of Fortune). Cf. Troil.

iv. 6, 11.

567. 'For they (women) are as constant as a weathercock in the wind.' Cf.

'_unsad_ ... and chaunging as a vane'; Ch. C. T., E 995.

588. _wellis_, streams, rills; as in Book Duch. 160.

589. _broche and belt_; Criseyde gave Diomede the brooch she had received

from Troilus; see Troil. v. 1661, 1669, 1688. The _belt_ is Henryson's

addition.

600. 'His heart was ready to burst.'

§ XVIII. THE CUCKOO AND THE NIGHTINGALE.

In this piece, the final _-e_ is much used as forming a distinct syllable;

indeed, more freely than in Chaucer.

1, 2. Quoted from the Knightes Tale, A 1785-6.

4. The word _of_ is inserted in Th., Ff. and S., and seems to be right; but

as _hy-e_ should be two syllables, perhaps the words _And of_ were rapidly

pronounced, in the time of a single syllable. Or omit _And_.

11-5. The lines of this stanza are wrongly arranged in Thynne, and in every

printed edition except the present one; i.e. the lines 12 and 13 are

transposed. But as the rime-formula is _aabba_, it is easy to see that

_suffyse_, _devyse_, _agryse_ rime together on the one hand, and _nyce_,

_vyce_, on the other. The pronunciation _suffice_ is comparatively modern;

in Chaucer, the suffix _-yse_ was pronounced with a voiced _s_, i.e. as

_z_. Note the rimes _devyse_, _suffyse_ in the Book of the Duch. 901-2;

_suffyse_, _wyse_, _devyse_, in the C. T., B 3648-9; &c. The MSS. Ff., F.,

and B. all give the right arrangement.

18. _whom him lyketh_, him whom it pleases him (to gladden or sadden).

20, 23. _May_; cf. Troil. ii. 50-63; Rom. Rose, 51-2, 74-6, 85-6; Legend of

Good Women, 108; C. T., A 1500-2.

36. _of feling_, from experience. _Spek-e_ is dissyllabic.

39. _hoot_, hot, i.e. hopeful; _cold_, full of despair; _acces_, feverish

attack, as in Troil. ii. 1315, 1543, 1578.

41. _fevers whyte_, feverish attacks (of love) that turn men pale; the same

as _blaunche fevere_ in Troil. i. 916; see note to that line.

48. _a comune tale_, a common saying. As a fact, one would expect to hear

the cuckoo first. Prof. Newton, in his Dict. of Birds, says of the cuckoo,

that it 'crosses the Mediterranean from its winter-quarters in Africa at

the end of March or beginning of April. Its arrival is at once proclaimed

by the peculiar ... cry of the cock.' Of the nightingale he says--'if the

appearance of truth is to be regarded, it is dangerous to introduce a

nightingale as singing in England before the 15th of April or after the

15th of June.'

As the change of style makes a difference of 12 days, this 15th of April

corresponds to the 3rd of April in the time of Chaucer. It is remarkable

that Hazlitt, in his Proverbs, p. 305, gives the following:--'On the third

of April, comes in the cuckoo and the nightingale'; which may once have

been correct as regards the latter. Hazlitt also says that, in Sussex, the

14th of April is supposed to be 'first cuckoo-day'; whereas it would better

apply to the nightingale. And again, another proverb says (p. 380)--'The

nightingale and the cuckoo sing both in one month.' It is clear that,

whatever the facts may be, our ancestors had a notion that these birds

arrived nearly at the same time, and attached some importance, by way of

augury, to the possibility of hearing the nightingale first. They must

frequently have been disappointed. See Milton's sonnet, as quoted in the

Introduction.

54. _of_, during; exactly as in l. 42.

62. Read _inne_, the adverbial form; for the sake of the grammar and

scansion. See _Inne_ in the Gloss. in vol. vi. p. 135. _been_ gives a false

rime to _gren-e_ and _sen-e_; shewing that _grene_ and _sene_ are here

monosyllabic (really _green_ and _seen_), instead of being dissyllabic, as

in Chaucer. _Sene_ is the adj., meaning visible, not the pp., which then

took the form _seyn_.

70. For _began_, which is singular, substitute the pl. form _begonne_. _to

don hir houres_, to sing their matins, &c.; referring to the canonical

hours of church-service. Bell has the reading _to don honoures_, for which

there is no early authority. Morris unluckily adopts the meaningless

reading found in MSS. F. and B.

71. 'They knew that service all by rote,' i.e. by heart. Bell actually

explains _rote_ as a hurdy-gurdy; as to which see _Rote_ (in senses 2 and

3) in the Gloss. in vol. vi. p. 218.

80. _Feverere_ seems to have been pronounced _Fev'rer'_. Surely it must be

right. Yet all the MSS. (except T.) actually have _Marche_ (written _Mars_

in Ff.), followed by _upon_, not _on_. Even Th. and T. have _upon_, not

_on_; but it ruins the scansion, unless we adopt the reading _March_. It

looks as if the author really _did_ write _Marche_!

82, 85. _ron_, _mon_, for _ran_, _man_, are peculiar. As such forms occur

in Myrc and Audelay (both Shropshire authors) and in Robert of Gloucester,

they are perfectly consistent with the supposition that they are due to

Clanvowe's connection with Herefordshire.

87. _swow_, swoon; cf. Book Duch. 215.

90. As _brid_ is a monosyllable (cf. ll. 212, 260, 270, 271), it is

necessary to make _lew-ed-e_ a trisyllable; as also in l. 103. But it

becomes _lew'de_ in ll. 50, 94. Chaucer has _lew-ëd_, P. F. 616, &c.

105. _him_; the cuckoo is male, but the nightingale, by way of contrast, is

supposed to be female.

118. _playn_, simple, having simple notes; cf. 'the plain-song cuckoo,'

Mids. Nt. Dr. iii. 1. 134.

119. _crakel_, 'trill or quaver in singing; used in contempt'; New E. Dict.

124. _I_ seems to be strongly accented. It is a pity that there is no

authority for inserting _For_ before it. Otherwise, read _I hav-ë_.

In Old French, _oci oci_, represented the cry of the nightingale; Godefroy

gives examples from Raoul de Houdenc, Froissart, and Deschamps. Moreover,

_oci_ was also the imperative of the O.F. verb _ocire_, to kill; with which

it is here intentionally confused. Accordingly, the nightingale retorts

that _oci_ means 'kill! kill!' with reference to the enemies of love.

135. _grede_, exclaim, cry out. Not used by Chaucer, though found in most

dialects of Middle-English. Clanvowe may have heard it in Herefordshire, as

it occurs in Langland, Layamon, Robert of Gloucester, and in the Coventry

Mysteries, and must have been known in the west. But it was once a very

common word. From A.S. _gr[=æ]dan_.

137. _to-drawe_, drawn asunder; cf. Havelok, 2001; Will. of Palerne, 1564.

140. _yok_, yoke; cf. Ch. C. T., E 113, 1285.

142. _unthryve_, become unsuccessful, meet with ill luck. A very rare word;

but it also occurs in the Cursor Mundi (Fairfax MS.), l. 9450, where it is

said of Adam that 'his wyf made him _to unthryve_.'

146. The first syllable of the line is deficient. Accent _What_ strongly.

Cf. 153-8 below.

151. The sentiment that love teaches all goodness, is common at this time;

see Schick's note to Lydgate's Temple of Glas, l. 450.

152. The true reading is doubtful.

153-8. Here the author produces a considerable metrical effect, by

beginning all of these lines with a strong accent. There are three such

consecutive lines in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D 869-71. Cf. ll. 161, 232,

242, 252, 261, 265, 268, 270, 278.

180. Bell and Morris read _haire_, without authority, and Bell explains it

by 'he may full soon have the _hair_ (!) which belongs to age, _scil._,

grey hair, said to be produced by anxiety.' But the M.E. form of 'hair' is

_heer_, which will not give a true rime; and the word _heyr_ represents the

mod. E. _heir_. As the _h_ was not sounded, it is also written _eir_ (as in

MS. T.) and _air_ (as in MS. S.). The sense is--'For he who gets a little

bliss of love may very soon find that his heir has come of age, unless he

is always devoted to it.' This is a mild joke, signifying that he will soon

find himself insecure, like one whose heir or successor has come of age,

and whose inheritance is threatened. On the other hand, 'to have one's hair

of age' is wholly without sense. Compare the next note.

185. 'And then you shall be called as _I_ am.' I. e. your loved one will

forsake you, and you will be called a cuckold. This remark is founded on

the fact that the O.F. _coucou_ or _cocu_ had the double sense of cuckoo

and cuckold. See _cocu_ in Littré. This explains l. 186.

201-5. Bell, by an oversight, omits this stanza.

203. This reading (from the best MS., viz. Ff.) is much the best. The sense

is--'And whom he hits he knows not, or whom he misses'; because he is

blind.

216-25. All the early printed editions crush these two stanzas into one, by

omitting ll. 217-9, and 224-5, and altering _thoughte me_ (l. 223) to _me

aloon_. This is much inferior to the text.

237. _leve_, believe; yet all the authorities but S. have the reading

_loue_! Cf. l. 238.

243. _dayesye_, daisy. Cf. Legend of Good Women, 182-7, 201-2, 211.

266. _Ye witen_ is the right reading; turned into _ye knowe_ in F. and B.

The old printed editions actually read _The cuckowe_!

267. A syllable seems lacking after _I_; such lines are common in Lydgate.

The reading _y-chid_ would render the line complete; or we may read

_hav-ë_, as perhaps in l. 124.

275. An obvious allusion to Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, in which he

gives 'the royal egle' the first place (l. 330).

284. _The quene_; queen Joan of Navarre, second wife of Henry IV, who

received the manor of Woodstock as part of her dower.

285. _lay_, lea; not a common word in M.E. poetry, though occurring in P.

Plowman. The parliament of birds required a large open space.

289. _Terme_: during the whole term of my life; cf. C. T., G 1479.

§ XIX. ENVOY TO ALISON.

1. _lewde book_, unlearned book. It is not known to what book this refers.

It has nothing to do with the preceding poem. My guess, in vol. i. p. 40,

that this piece might be Hoccleve's, is quite untenable. His pieces are all

known, and the metrical form is of later date. See the next note.

11. Too long; perhaps _servant_ should be struck out. So in l. 13 we could

spare the word _als_. But ll. 17, 18, 19, 20, are all of an unconscionable

length.

22-7. I believe I was the first to detect the obvious acrostic on the name

of Alison; see vol. i. p. 40. The sense of ll. 25-6 (which are forced and

poor) is--'I beseech (you) of your grace, let your writing (in reply)

alleviate the sighs which I pour out in silence.'

§ XX. THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF.

I give numerous references below to 'A. L.', i.e. the Assembly of Ladies,

printed at p. 380. The two poems have much in common.

1-2. Imitated from C. T., F 671; see note in vol. v. p. 386.

3. _Bole_, Bull, Taurus. The sun then entered Taurus about the middle of

April; hence the allusion to April showers in l. 4. Compare the opening

lines of Chaucer's Prologue. But we learn, from l. 437, that it was already

May. Hence the sun had really run half its course in Taurus. _certeinly_;

used at the end of the line, as in A. L. 85.

10. _very good_; this adverbial use of _very_ is noticeable; cf. ll. 35,

315, 409, and A. L. 479. I believe Chaucer never uses _very_ to qualify an

adjective. It occurs, however, in Lydgate.

20. Cf. '_more_ at _hertes ese_'; A. L. 672.

25. Cf. 'at _springing of the day_'; A. L. 218.

26. Cf. 'That ye wold help me _on_ with _myn aray_'; A. L. 241.

27-8. This rime of _passe_ with _was_ occurs again below (114-6); and in A.

L. 436-8.

30. Chaucer has _hew-ë_, _new-ë_; but here _hew_, _new_ rime with the pt.

t. _grew_. So, in A. L. 65-8, _hew_, _new_ rime with the pt. t. _knew_.

31-2. Copied from the Book of the Duch. 419-20:--

'And every tree stood by him-selve

Fro other wel ten foot or twelve.'

35. 'The young leaves of the oak, when they first burst from the bud, are

of a red, cinereous colour'; Bell.

37. Cf. 'this proces _for to here_'; A. L. 27. And again, 'pitous _for to

here_; A. L. 718.

39-42. This seems to be a direct allusion to the Cuckoo and the

Nightingale, ll. 52-4:--

'I wolde go som whider to assay

If that I might _a nightingale here_;

For yet had I non _herd of al this yere_.'

43-5. From the Book of the Duch. 398-401:--

'Doun by a floury grene wente

_Ful thikke of gras_, ful softe and swete,...

_And litel used_, it semed thus.'

Cf. A. L. 47; 'into a strait passage,' and the context.

47. _parde_; a petty oath (being in French), such as a female writer might

use; so in A. L. 753.

49, 50. For the _herber_ and _benches_, see A. L. 48-9; also L. G. W.

203-4. For the phrase _wel y-wrought_, see A. L. 165.

53. Bell and Morris read _wool_, which is obviously right; but neither of

them mention the fact that _both_ Speght's editions have _wel_; and there

is no other authority! Clearly, Speght's MS. had _wol_, which he misread as

_wel_.

56. _eglantere_, eglantine, sweet-briar. Entered under _eglatere_ in the

New E. Dict., though the earlier quotations, in 1387 and 1459, have

_eglentere_. I find no authority for the form _eglatere_ except Speght's

misprint in this line, which he corrects in l. 80 below. Tennyson's

_eglatere_ (Dirge, 23) is clearly borrowed from this very line.

58. _by mesure_; a tag which reappears in A. L. 81.

59. _by and by_; another tag, for which see A. L. 87, 717.

60. _I you ensure_; yet another tag; see l. 457, and A. L. 52, 199, 495,

517.

62. The final _e_ in _peyn-e_ is suppressed; so in A. L. 359, 416.

68. Cf. 'And as they sought hem-self thus _to and fro_'; A. L. 43.

75. Here _espyed_ rimes with _syde_, _wyde_; in A. L. 193, it rimes with

_asyde_ and _gyde_.

89. The _goldfinch_ is afterwards opposed to the _nightingale_. Hence he

replaces the _cuckoo_ in the poem of the Cuckoo and Nightingale. Just as

the Cuckoo and Nightingale represent the faithless and the constant, so the

goldfinch and the nightingale are attached, respectively, to the bright

Flower and the long-lasting Leaf. This is explicitly said below; see ll.

439, 444.

98. _in this wyse_; appears also at the end of a line in A. L. 589; cf. _in

her gyse_, A. L. 603; _in ful pitous wyse_, A. L. 584; _in no maner wyse_,

A. L. 605.

99, 100. These lines correspond to the Cuckoo and Nightingale, 98-100.

113. _inly greet_, extremely great; cf. _inly fair_, A. L. 515.

115. 'Ye wold it _thinke a_ very _paradyse_'; A. L. 168.

118. Better _I set me doun_, as in A. L. 77.

121. 'Withouten sleep, withouten mete or drinke'; L. G. W. 177 (note the

context).

134. Here begins the description of the adherents of the Leaf, extending to

l. 322, including the Nine Worthies, ll. 239-94. The reader must carefully

bear in mind that the followers of the Leaf are clad in _white_ (not in

green, as we should now expect), though the nine Worthies are crowned with

green laurel, and all the company gather under a huge Laurel-tree (l. 304).

On the other hand the followers of the Flower, shortly described in ll.

323-50, are clad in _green_, though wearing chaplets of white and red

flowers; for green was formerly an emblem of _inconstancy_.

137. Cf. '_to_ say you _very right_'; A. L. 750.

144. _oon and oon_, every one of them. This phrase is rare in Chaucer; it

seems only to occur once, in C. T., A 679; but see A. L. 368, 543, 710.

146. _purfil_ occurs in A. L. 87, in the same line with _by and by_; and in

A. L. 522-4, we find _colour_, _sleves_, and _purfyl_ close together.

148. Cf. 'With _grete perles_, ful fyne _and orient_'; A. L. 528. For

_diamonds_, see A. L. 530.

150. Borrowed from Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 287: 'of whiche the name I

wante.' Hence _wante_, i.e. lack, is the right reading. The rime is

imperfect.

155. The missing word is not _branches_, as suggested by Sir H. Nicolas,

nor _floures_, as suggested by Morris, but _leves_; as the company of _the

Leaf_ is being described; cf. l. 259. The epithets _fresh and grene_ are

very suitable. The leaves were of laurel, woodbine, and _agnus-castus_.

160. For _were_ read _ware_; see ll. 267, 329, 335, 340; the sense is

_wore_. Chaucer's form is _wered_, as the verb was originally weak; Gower

and Lydgate also use the form _wered_. The present is perhaps one of the

earliest examples of the strong form of this preterite.

_agnus-castus_; 'from Gk. [Greek: agnos], the name of the tree, confused

with [Greek: agnos], chaste, whence the second word Lat. _castus_, chaste.

A tree, species of Vitex (_V. Agnus Castus_), once believed to be a

preservative of chastity, called also Chaste-tree and Abraham's Balm'; New

E. Dict. The same Dict. quotes from Trevisa: 'The herbe agnus-castus is

alwaye grene, and the flowre therof is namly callyd Agnus Castus, for wyth

smelle and vse it makyth men chaste as a lombe.'

163. For _But_ Morris reads _And_, which is simpler.

164. _oon_, one. She was the goddess Diana (see l. 472), or the Lady of the

Leaf.

171. Cf. 'That to beholde it was a greet plesaunce'; A. L. 59.

172. Cf. 'though it were _for a king_'; A. L. 158.

177-8. Speght has _Suse le foyle de vert moy_ in l. 177, and _Seen et mon

joly cuer en dormy_ in l. 178. I see little good in guessing what it ought

to be; so I leave it alone, merely correcting _Suse_ and _foyle_ to _Sus_

and _foyl_; as the O.F. _foil_ was masculine.

Bell alters _de vert_ to _devers_, and for _Seen_ puts _Son_; and supplies

_est_ after _cuer_; but it all gives no sense when it is done. We should

have to read _Sus le foyl devers moy sied, et mon joli cuer est endormi_;

sit down upon the foliage before me, and my merry heart has gone to sleep.

Which can hardly be right. The Assembly of Ladies has the same peculiarity,

of presenting unintelligible scraps of French to the bewildered reader.

180. _smal_, high, treble; chiefly valuable for explaining the same word in

Chaucer's Balade to Rosemounde.

188-9. A parallel passage occurs in A. L. 384-5.

201. _the large wones_, the spacious dwellings; cf. Ch. C. T., D 2105.

202. Speght has _Pretir_, an obvious error for _Prester_. The authoress may

easily have obtained her knowledge of Prester John from a MS. of

Mandeville's Travels; see cap. 27 of that work. And see Yule's edition of

Marco Polo. He was, according to Mandeville, one of the greatest potentates

of Asia, next to the Great Khan.

209. _cereal_; borrowed from Chaucer:--'A _coroune_ of a grene _ook

cerial_'; C. T., A 2290. And Chaucer took it from Boccaccio; see note in

vol. v. p. 87.

210. _trumpets_, i.e. trumpeters; as several times in Shakespeare. Cf. l.

213.

212. _tartarium_, thin silk from Tartary. Fully explained in my note to P.

Plowman, C. xvii. 299 (B. xv. 163), and in the Glossary to the same.

_bete_, lit. beaten; hence, adorned with beaten gold; see note to C. T., A

978 (vol. v. p. 64). _were_, (all of which) were; hence the plural.

213. Read _bere_, as in l. 223; A.S. _b[=æ]ron_, pt. t. pl.

220. _kinges of armes_, kings-at-arms; who presided over colleges of

heralds. Sir David Lyndsay was Lord Lion king-at-arms.

224. Cf. '_Set with saphyrs_'; A. L. 480.

233. _vel-u-et_ is trisyllabic; as in The Black Knight, 80.

234. 'And certainly, they had nothing to learn as to how they should place

the armour upon them.'

238. _in sute_, in their master's livery.

240. The celebrated Nine Worthies; see notes to IV. 281, XII. 86.

243. Cf. '_and furred_ wel _with gray_'; A. L. 305.

252. _henshmen_, youths mounted on horseback, who attended their lords. See

numerous quotations for this word in A Student's Pastime, §§ 264, 272,

415-8. Each of them is called _a child_, l. 259.

253. For _every on_, it is absolutely necessary to read _the first upon_;

for the sense. Each of the nine worthies had three henchmen; of these

three, the first bore his helmet, the second his shield, and the third his

spear.

257. Bell and Morris alter _nekke_ to _bakke_; but wrongly. The shields

were carried by help of a strap which passed round the _neck_ and over the

shoulders; called in Old French a _guige_. The convenience of this

arrangement is obvious. See note to C. T., A 2504 (vol. v. p. 88).

272. In Lydgate's Temple of Glas, 508, we are told that hawthorn-leaves do

not fade; see ll. 551-3 below.

274. Read _hors_, not _horses_; _hors_ is the true plural; see l. 293.

275. Cf. '_trompes_, that ... blowen _blody sounes_'; C. T., A 2511-2.

286-7. 'That _to beholde it was a greet plesaunce_'; A. L. 59. And

again--'_I you ensure_'; A. L. 52.

289. I. e. the Nine Worthies; see ll. 240, 249.

293. The reading _ninth_ (as in Speght) is an absurd error for _nine_; yet

no one has hitherto corrected it. How could the ninth man alight from

_their horses_? The 'remnant' were the twenty-seven henchmen and the other

knights.

295. Cf. 'See how they come _togider, twain and twain_'; A. L. 350.

302. Cf. '_Ful womanly_ she gave me,' &c.; A. L. 196.

305. 'Laden with leaves, with boughs of great breadth.'

323. Here begins the description of the company of the Flower. They were

clad in _green_.

330. Cf. 'Her gown was _wel embrouded_'; A. L. 85.

348. _bargaret_, a pastoral; a rustic song and dance; O.F. _bergerete_,

from _berger_, a shepherd. Godefroy notes that they were in special vogue

at Easter.

350. We have here the refrain of a popular French pastoral. Warton suggests

it may have been Froissart's; but the refrain of Froissart's Ballade de la

Marguerite happens to be different: 'Sur toutes flours j'aime la

margherite'; see Spec. of O. French, ed. Toynbee, p. 302. In fact, Warton

proceeds to remark, that 'it was common in France to give the title of

Marguerites to studied panegyrics and flowery compositions of every kind.'

It is quite impossible to say if a special compliment is intended; most

likely, the authoress thought of nothing of the kind. She again mentions

_margarettes_ in A. L. 57.

351. _in-fere_, together; very common at the end of a line, as in ll. 384,

450; A. L. 407, 469, 546, 602, 719.

369. _withouten fail_; this tag recurs in A. L. 567, 646, in the form

_withouten any fail_; and, unaltered, in A. L. 188, 537.

373. Those in white, the party of the Leaf.

379. _oon_, one of those in green; this was queen Flora; see l. 534.

403. Bell thinks this corrupt. I think it means, that, before engaging with

them in jousts in a friendly manner, they procured some logs of wood and

thoroughly dried them. Hence _To make hir justës_ = in order to joust with

them afterwards.

410. 'Quickly anointing the sick, wherever they went.'

417. _for any thing_, in any case, whatever might happen; cf. C. T., A 276,

and the note (vol. v. p. 30).

427. 'For nothing was lacking that ought to belong to him.'

450. Here the story ends, and the telling of the moral begins.

457. The meeting with a 'fair lady' was convenient, as she wanted

information. In the Assembly of Ladies, this simple device is resorted to

repeatedly; see ll. 79, 191, 260, 400.

459. We find _ful demure_ at the end of A. L. 82.

462, 467. _My doughter_; this assumes that the author was a female; so in

ll. 500, 547; and in A. L. throughout.

475. Referring to l. 173; so l. 477 refers to l. 160; l. 479, to l. 158.

493. _some maner way_, some kind of way; cf. _what maner way_, A. L. 234.

502. Refers to ll. 240, 249. With l. 510, cf. C. T., A 1027.

512. Speght prints _bowes_ for _boughes_; but the meaning is certain, as

the reference is to ll. 270-1. Bows are not made of laurel; yet Dryden fell

into the trap, and actually wrote as follows:--

'Who bear the bows were knights in Arthur's reign;

Twelve they, and twelve the peers of Charlemagne;

For bows the strength of brawny arms imply,

Emblems of valour and of victory.'

This is probably the only instance, even in poetry, of knights being armed

with bows and arrows.

515. For the knights of Arthur's round table, see Malory's Morte Arthure.

516. _Douseperes_; _les douze pers_, the twelve peers of Charlemagne,

including Roland, Oliver, Ogier the Dane, Otuel, Ferumbras, the traitor

Ganelon, and others. The names vary.

520. _in hir tyme_, formerly, in their day; shewing that the institution of

the Knights of the Garter on April 23, 1349, by Edward III, was anything

but a recent event.

530. I. e. 'Witness _him_ of Rome, who was the founder of knighthood.'

Alluding to Julius Cæsar, to whom was decreed by the senate the right of

wearing a laurel-crown; Dryden mentions him by name.

550. Cf. '_De mieulx en mieulx_'; Temple of Glas, 310.

551-6. Apparently imitated from The Temple of Glas, 503-16.

567. Cf. 'We _thanked_ her _in our most humble wyse_'; A. L. 729.

580. _Male-Bouche_, Slander; borrowed from the Rom. de la Rose. See note

above, to VIII. 260.

589. Cf. 'to _put_ it _in wryting_'; A. L. 664; 'she _put_ it _in

wryting_'; A. L. 629.

590. I. e. in the hope that it will be patronised.

591. Cf. 'As for this _book_'; A. L. (last stanza).

592. 'How darest thou thrust thyself among the throng?' i.e. enter into

contest. Cf. 'In suych materys to _putte mysylff in prees_'; Lydgate,

Secrees of Philosophers, ed. Steele, l. 555.

§ XXI. THE ASSEMBLY OF LADIES.

For numerous references to this poem, see Notes to the preceding poem.

Though apparently written by the authoress of the Flower and the Leaf, it

is of later date, and much less use is made of the final e. That the author

was a woman, is asserted in ll. 7, 18, 259, 284, 370, 379-85, 407, 450,

625.

17. _the mase_. They amused themselves by trying to find a way into a maze,

similar to that at Hampton Court. Cf. l. 32.

29. Ll. 1-28 are introductory. The story of the dream now begins, but is

likewise preceded by an introduction, down to l. 77.

34. The word _went_ is repeated; the second time, it is an error for

_wend_, weened. 'Some went (really) inwards, and imagined that they had

gone outwards.' Which shews that the maze was well constructed. So, in l.

36, those who thought they were far behind, found themselves as far forward

as the best of them.

42. That is, they cheated the deviser of the maze, by stepping over the

rail put to strengthen the hedge. That was because they lost their temper.

44. The authoress got ahead of the rest; although sorely tired, she had

gained a great advantage, and found the last narrow passage which led

straight to the arbour in the centre. This was provided with benches

(doubtless of turf, Flower and Leaf, l. 51) and well enclosed, having stone

walls and a paved floor with a fountain in the middle of it.

54. There were stairs leading downwards, with a 'turning-wheel.' I do not

think that turning-wheel here means a turn-stile, or what was formerly

called a turn-pike. It simply means that the stair-case was of spiral form.

Jamieson tells us that, in Lowland Scotch, the term _turn-pike_ was applied

(1) to the winding stair of a castle, and (2) to any set of stairs of

spiral form; and quotes from Arnot to shew that a spiral stair-case was

called a _turnpike stair_, whereas a straight one was called a _scale

stair_. The pot of marjoram may have been placed on a support rising from

the newel.

It may be noted that arbours, which varied greatly in size and

construction, were often set upon a small 'mount' or mound; in which case

it would be easy to make a small spiral stair-case in the centre. In the

present case, it could hardly have been very large, as it occupied a space

in the centre of a maze. For further illustration, see A History of

Gardening in England, by the Hon. Alicia Amherst, pp. 33, 52, 78, 116, 118,

314.

60. 'And how they (the daisies) were accompanied with other flowers

besides, viz. forget-me-nots and remember-mes; and the poor pansies were

not ousted from the place.'

61. _Ne-m'oublie-mies_; from O.F. _ne m'oublie-mie_, a forget-me-not.

Littré, s.v. _ne m'oubliez pas_, quotes, from Charles d'Orléans, 'Des

fleurs de _ne m'oubliez mie_'; and again, from a later source, 'Un diamant

taillé en fleur de _ne m'oblie mie_.' The recovery of this true reading (by

the help of MS. A.) is very interesting; as all the editions, who follow

Thynne, are hopelessly wrong. Thynne, misreading the word, printed _Ne

momblysnesse_; whence arose the following extraordinary entry in Bailey's

Dictionary:--'_Momblishness_, talk, muttering; Old Word.' This ghost-word

is carefully preserved in the Century Dictionary in the

form:--'_Momblishness_, muttering talk; Bailey (1731).'

_sovenez_ doubtless corresponds to the name _remember-me_, given in

Yorkshire and Scotland to the _Veronica chamædrys_, more commonly called

the germander speedwell, and in some counties forget-me-not. But we should

rather, in this passage, take forget-me-not (above) to refer, as is most

usual, to the _Myosotis_; as Littré also explains it. Here Thynne was once

more at a loss, and printed the word as _souenesse_, which was 'improved'

by Stowe into _sonenesse_. Hence another ghost-word, recorded by Bailey in

the entry:--'_Sonenesse_, noise.' Cf. l. 86.

62. _pensees_, pansies; alluding, of course, to the _Viola tricolor_. The

spelling is correct, as it represents the O.F. _pensee_, thought; and it

seems to have been named, as Littré remarks, in a similar way to the

forget-me-not, and (I may add) to the remember-me.

68. _stremes_, jets of water; there was a little fountain in the middle.

73. The authoress had to wait till the other ladies also arrived in the

centre of the maze. Cf. note to l. 736.

82. _sad_, settled, staid. _demure_, sober; lit. mature.

83. _blewe_, blue; which was the colour of constancy; see note to C. T., F

644 (vol. v. p. 386). For the lady's name was Perseverance. It is

convenient to enumerate here the officers who are mentioned. They are:

Perseveraunce, usher (91); Diligence (133, 198, 728); Countenance, porter

(177, 277, 295); Discretion, purveyour (263); Acquaintance, herbergeour

(269); Largesse, steward (318); Belchere, marshall (322); Remembrance,

chamberlain (336); Avyseness, or Advisedness, secretary (343); and

Attemperance, chancellor (508). The chief Lady is Loyalty (98), dwelling in

the mansion of Pleasant Regard (170).

87. Here _word_ means 'motto.' I here collect the French mottoes mentioned,

viz. Bien et loyalement (88); Tant que je puis (208); A moi que je voy

(308); Plus ne purroy (364); A endurer (489). Afterwards, four ladies are

introduced, with the mottoes Sans que jamais (583); Une sanz chaungier

(590); Oncques puis lever (598); and Entierment vostre (616). These ladies

afterwards present petitions, on which were written, respectively, the

phrases Cest sanz dire (627); En dieu est (645); Soyez en sure (666); and

Bien moneste (675). The words, or mottoes, were embroidered on the sleeves

of the ladies (119). See Lydgate's Temple of Glas, 308-10.

224. They said a pater-noster for the benefit of St. Julian, because he was

the patron-saint of wayfarers. 'Of this saynt Julyen somme saye that this

is he that pylgryms and wey-faryng men calle and requyre for good

herberowe, by-cause our lord was lodgyd in his hows'; Caxton's Golden

Legend. The story occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, c. xviii., and in the

Aurea Legenda. The following extract from an old translation of Boccaccio,

Decam. Day 2. Nov. 2, explains the point of the allusion. 'Nevertheless, at

all times, when I am thus in journey, in the morning before I depart my

chamber, I say a _pater-noster_ and an _Ave-Maria_ for the souls of the

father and mother of St. Julian; and after that, I pray God and St. Julian

to send me a good lodging at night'; &c. Dunlop, in his Hist. of Fiction,

discussing this Novella, says: 'This saint was originally a knight, and, as

was prophecied to him by a stag, he had the singular hap to kill his father

and mother by mistake. As an atonement for his carelessness, he afterwards

founded a sumptuous hospital for the accommodation of travellers, who, in

return for their entertainment, were required to _repeat pater-nosters_ for

the souls of his unfortunate parents.'

241. Because she was to change her dress, and put on blue; see ll. 258-9,

313-4, 413.

457. The reference is to the Legend of Good Women, which contains the story

of Phyllis, Thisbe, and 'Cleopataras.' Cf. l. 465.

463. _Hawes_, probably the same name as _Havise_, which occurs in the old

story of Fulke Fitzwarine. But it is remarkable that MS. A. has the

reading:--'That other sydë was, how Enclusene'; and this looks like an

error for _Melusene_, variant of _Melusine_. This would agree with the next

line, which means 'was untruly deceived in her bath.' The story of Melusine

is given in the Romance of Partenay. She was a fairy who married Raymound,

son of the Earl of Forest, on the understanding that he was never to watch

what she did on a Saturday. This he at last attempts to do, and discovers,

through a hole in the door, that she was _in a bath_, and that her lower

half was changed into a serpent. He tries to keep the knowledge of the

secret, but one day, in a fit of anger, calls her a serpent. She reproaches

him, and vanishes from his sight. See the Romans of Partenay, ed. Skeat

(E.E.T.S.).

465. From Chaucer's poem of Anelida and the false Arcite; vol. i. p. 365;

for her Complaint, see the same, p. 373.

471. _umple_ (MS. T. _vmpylle_), smooth gauze; from O.F. _omple_, smooth,

used as an epithet of cloth, satin, or other stuff (Godefroy). Here

evidently applied to something of a very thin texture, as gauze; see l.

473.

477. _stages_, steps. The chair or throne was set on a platform accessible

by five steps, which were made of _cassidony_. Cotgrave explains O.F.

_cassidonie_ as meaning not only chalcedony, but also a kind of marble; and

this latter sense may be here intended.

488. _Her word_, her motto; _her_ must refer to the great lady (l. 501) to

whom the throne belonged.

499. _tapet_, a hanging cloth (Halliwell); here a portion of the hangings

that could be lifted up, to give entrance.

526. _After a sort_, of one kind, alike. _vent_, slit in front of a gown.

'_Vente_, the opening at the neck of the tunic or gown, as worn by both

sexes during the Norman period, and which was closed by a brooch'; Gloss.

to Fairholt's Costume in England. O.F. _fente_, a slit, cleft; from Lat.

_findere_. The collar and slit were alike bordered with ermine, covered

with large pearls, and sprinkled with diamonds. Cf. also: 'Wyth armynes

powdred bordred at the vent'; Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure, ed. Wright, p.

80.

536. _balays_, a balas-ruby; 'a delicate rose-red variety of the spinel

ruby'; New. E. Dict. _of entail_, lit. 'of cutting,' i.e. carefully cut;

the usual phrase; see New E. Dict.

539. _a world_, worth a world; cf. _a world_ (great quantity) of ladies;

Flower and the Leaf, 137.

576-8. Alluding to the proverb: 'first come, first served'; cf. C. T., D

389, and the note (vol. v. p. 301).

581. We find that the 'bills' are petitions made by the four ladies

regarding their ill success in love-affairs.

592. I. e. yet not so much as she ought to have been, as she had all the

trouble; _she_ refers to the lady herself.

598. _Oncques_, ever; Lat. _unquam_. 'I can ever rise' seems at first sight

to be meant; but _ne_ must be understood; the true sense is, 'I can never

rise'; i.e. never succeed. See the context, ll. 605-9.

645. 'I trust in God'; see l. 655.

675. 'Admonish well'; from O.F. _monester_, to admonish, warn.

680. Here, and in l. 689, the speaker is the lady of the castle. In l. 682

(as in l. 690), the speaker appears to be the fourth lady; it is none too

clear.

689. _I hate you_, I command you. _Hate_ should rather be written _hote_;

perhaps it was confused with the related pt. t. _hatte_, was called. The

reference to Saint James of Compostella is noteworthy.

693. _it_, i.e. the bill, or petition; it takes the form of a Complaint.

697-8. _And_, if. _ye wolde_, i.e. _ye wolde seme_, (see l. 696), ye would

think so. _Seem_ is still common in Devonshire in the sense of think or

suppose; usually pronounced _zim_.

699. _her_ refers to the lady of the castle; at least, it would appear so

from l. 705. Else, it refers to Fortune.

736. _the water_, water thrown in her face by one of her companions, who

had by this time entered the arbour.

752. A headless line; accent the first syllable.

754-5. The Flower and the Leaf has a similar ending (ll. 582-3).

§ XXII. A GOODLY BALADE.

Obviously Lydgate's. See the Introduction.

1. _Moder of norture_, model of good breeding. The poem is evidently

addressed to a lady named Margaret.

2. _flour_, daisy (for Margaret); see ll. 22, 23.

4. _Al be I_, although I am; common in Lydgate.

9. _Thing_, i.e. anything, everything, whatever thing.

15. _Mieulx un_, one (is) better; evidently cited from a motto or device.

The meaning seems to be: it is better to have but _one_ lover, and you have

found one in a heart that will never shrink. In the Temple of Glas, 310,

Lydgate uses the motto _de mieulx en mieulx_.

22-3. 'Daisy (born) of light; you are called the daughter of the sun.'

Alluding to the name _day's eye_, which was also applied by Lydgate to the

sun; see note in vol. iii. p. 291 (l. 43). Imitated from Legend of Good

Women, 60-4.

29. 'When the day dawns, (repairing) to its natural place (in the east),

then your father Phoebus adorns the morrow.'

34. 'Were it not for the comfort in the day-time, when (the sun's) clear

eyes make the daisy unclose.' Awkward and involved; cf. Legend of Good

Women, 48-50, 64-5.

43. _Je vouldray_, I should like; purposely left incomplete.

44. _casuel_, uncertain; see New E. Dict.

48-9. _god saith_; implying that it is in the Bible. I do not find the

words; cf. Prov. xxi. 3; 1 Pet. ii. 20.

50. _Cautels_, artifices, deceits; a word not used by Chaucer, but found in

Lydgate; see New E. Dict.

57. _Quaketh my penne_, my pen quakes; an expression used once by Chaucer,

Troil. iv. 13, but pounced upon by Lydgate, who employs it repeatedly. See

more than twenty examples in Schick's note to the Temple of Glas, 947. Cf.

IX. 229.

59. Read _roseth_, grows rosy, grows red, as opposed to _welkeneth_,

withers, fades. We find the pp. _rosed_ twice in Shakespeare; 'a maid yet

_rosed over_,' Henry V, v. 2. 423; and 'thy _rosed_ lips'; Titus And. ii.

4. 24. The emendation seems a safe one, for it restores the sense as well

as the rime.

_welkeneth_ should probably be _welketh_; I find no other example of the

verb _welkenen_, though _welwen_ occurs in a like sense; and _welketh_

suits the rhythm.

60. _eft_, once again hot. These sudden transitions from cold to heat are

common; see Temple of Glas, 356:--'For thoughe I brenne with _feruence_ and

with hete.'

64. Lydgate is always deploring his lack of eloquence; cf. notes to Temple

of Glas, ed. Schick, ll. 1393, 1400.

69. I can find no such word as _jouesse_, so I alter it to _jonesse_, i.e.

youth. For the spelling _jonesce_ in the 14th century, see Littré, s.v.

_jeunesse_. The expression _have more yet_ implies that the phrase or motto

_je serve jonesse_ is added as a postscript, and that there was some

special point in it; but the application of it is now lost to us. Cf.

'Princes _of youthe_, and flour of gentilesse,' Temple of Glas, 970.

§ XXIII. GO FORTH, KING.

This poem really consists of twelve precepts, intended to redress twelve

abuses. The twelve abuses are given by the Latin lines above, which should

be compared throughout. The whole poem is thus easily understood.

The accent is on the first syllable of the line in most of the lines. In l.

3, the word _Lord_ stands alone in the first foot. The lines are somewhat

unsteady, quite in Lydgate's usual manner. In l. 6, _jug-e_ is probably

dissyllabic. See further in the Introduction.

§ XXIV. THE COURT OF LOVE.

This late piece abounds with imitations of Lydgate, especially of his

Temple of Glas; many of the resemblances are pointed out in Schick's

edition of that poem, which I refer to by the contraction 'T. G.'

1. Cf. 'With quaking hert[e] of myn inward drede'; T. G. 978.

'Another feature characteristic of Lydgate is his self-deprec[i]atory

vein'; T. G., Introd. p. cxl. We have here an instance of an imitation of

it.

6. Cf. 'Save that he wol conveyen his matere'; C. T., E 55.

8. He refers to Cicero's flowers of rhetoric. He may have found the name in

Chaucer, P. F. 31. But he probably took the whole idea from a line of

Lydgate's:--'Of rethoriques _Tullius_ fond the _floures_': Minor Poems, p.

87.

9. _borne_, burnish, adorn; it rimes (as here) with _sojorne_ in Troil. i.

327.

11. _Galfrid_, Geoffrey de Vinsauf; his 'craft' refers to his treatise on

the art of poetry, entitled 'Nova Poetria'; see note to C. T., B 4537 (vol.

v. p. 257). [I once thought (see vol. i. p. 43) that _Galfrid_ here means

Chaucer himself, as he also is twice called _Galfrid_ in Lydgate's

Troy-book. But I find that Dr. Schick thinks otherwise, and the use of the

word _craft_ is on his side. At the same time, this renders it impossible

for Chaucer to have written 'The Court of Love'; _his_ opinion of his

namesake was the reverse of reverential.] With ll. 4-11 compare the opening

lines of Benedict Burgh's Poem in Praise of Lydgate, pr. at p. xxxi of

Steele's edition of Lydgate's Secrees of Philosophers.

19. _Calliope_; twice mentioned by Chaucer; also by Lydgate, T. G. 1303.

Lydgate's Troy-book opens with an invocation to Mars, followed by one to

Calliope:--'Helpe me also, o thou Callyope'; and only four lines above

there is a mention of 'Helicon the welle' (see l. 22 below).

22. _Elicon_, mount Helicon in Boeotia, sacred to Apollo and the Muses;

confused by Chaucer and his followers with the fountain Hippocrene; see

note in vol. i. p. 531. Hence Lydgate's expression 'Helicon the welle' in

the last note and in T. G. 706, and the reference in the text to its

_dropes_.

_suger-dropes_; Lydgate was fond of sugar; he has 'soote _sugred_ armonye,'

Minor Poems, p. 182; and '_sugrid_ melody,' ib., p. 11. Also '_sugred_

eloquence'; XII. 200 (p. 288); with which cf. l. 933 below. I have observed

several other examples.

24. _Melpomene_; the muse who presided over tragedy.

28. Cf. 'This simpil tretis for to take _in gre_'; T. G. 1387. 'Taketh _at

gre_ the rudness of my style'; Lydgate, Secrees of Philosophers, 21.

30. _metriciens_, skilful in metre, poets; a word which has a remarkably

late air about it. Richardson gives an example of it from Hall's Chronicle.

36. Compare the following, from T. G. 1379-81.

'I purpos here to maken and to write

A litil tretise, and a processe make

In pris of women, oonli for hir sake.'

40. _man_, servant, one who does her homage; cf. Chaucer, C. T., I 772; La

Belle Dame, 244; T. G. 742.

42. Cf. 'So that here-after my ladi may it _loke_'; T. G. 1392.

45. Cf. 'Ther was enclosed _rype and sad corage_'; C. T., E 220.

49, 50. Here the mountain of Cithæron, in Boeotia, is confused with the

island of Cythera, sacred to Venus, whence her name Cytherea was derived.

The mistake arose, of course, from the similarity of the names, and occurs

(as said in vol. v. p. 78, note to A 1936), in the Roman de la Rose, where

we find:--

'Citeron est une montaigne ...

Venus, qui les dames espire,

Fist là son principal manoir'; ll. 15865-71.

Hence Chaucer makes the same confusion, but in a different way. Chaucer

preserves the right name of the mountain, in the form _Citheroun_, which he

rimes with _mencioun_ (A 1936) and with _Adoun_ (A 2223); but here we have

the form _Citharee_, riming with _see_. For all this, the scribe corrects

it to _Citheron_ in l. 69, where he has no rime to deal with.

56. Cf. 'the _winged_ god, Mercurie'; C. T., A 1385.

58. The MS. has _costes that it drewe_; Bell alters this to _had to it

drew_, under the impression that _drew_ is the pp. of _draw_! So again, in

l. 78, he alters _saphir ind_, which is correct, to _saphir of Inde_; and

in general, alters the text at will without the least hint that he has done

so.

78. _ind_, blue; as in The Black Knight, 127.

80. _Baleis Turkeis_ (MS. _Bales turkes_). _Baleis_ is a better spelling,

answering to F. _balais_ in Littré. It also occurs as _balai_ in O.F.; and

the word was probably suggested by the mention of it in Rom. de la Rose,

20125:--'Que saphirs, rubis, ne _balai_.' Hence also the mention of it in

the King's Quhair, st. 46, which see; and in the Assembly of Ladies, 536.

_Turkeis_ is the A. F. equivalent of O.F. _Turkois_, i.e. Turkish, as in C.

T., A 2895, on which see the note (vol. v. p. 93).

81. _shene_, a misspelling of _shine_, intimating that the author has

confused the adj. _shene_ with the verb; or rather, that the poem was

written at a time when the word _shine_ could be used as riming to _been_;

since we find similar examples in lines 561, 768. So also we find _pretily_

riming with _be_ in The Flower and the Leaf, 89. The pt. t. _shoon_ occurs

in l. 83.

82. Cf. 'As doon the sterres in the frosty night'; C. T., A 268. And again:

'_bryght As sterrys in_ the _wyntyr_ nyght'; Lydgate, Compleint following

T. G., l. 548.

86. Cf. Compl. of Mars, 78-84, 104-5; C. T., A 2388 (and note); and T. G.

126-8.

88. Cf. 'Long as _a mast_,' &c.; C. T., A 3264.

92. Cf. Troil. iii. 8-21: '_In hevene and helle_,' &c.; from Boccaccio; see

note (vol. ii. p. 475).

105. _Alceste_; evidently borrowed from Ch., Legend of Good Women, 224,

293-9, 432; cf. T. G. 70-4. _The quenes flour Alceste_ = the flower of

queen Alcestis; a common idiom; see note to C. T., F 209 (vol. v. p. 376).

107. _Admete_, Admetus; see Troil. i. 664, and the note; T. G. 72.

108. _ninetene_; copied from the Legend of Good Women, 283; just as the

next line is from the same, 285-9. This is the more remarkable, because

Chaucer never finished the poem, but mentions ten ladies only, in nine

Legends. Cf. 'the book of _the nynetene Ladies_'; C. T., I 1086. Hawes also

refers to Chaucer's 'tragidyes ... of the xix. ladyes'; Pastime of

Pleasure, ed. Wright, p. 53.

115. 'So fair was noon in alle Arras'; R. R. 1234.

116. _of esier availe_, of less value; see _Avail_ in the New E. Dict.

117. _saunz faile_; thrice in Ch.; HF. 188, 429; C. T., B 501.

119. _Helisee_, Elysium; '_the feld_ ... That hight _Elysos_'; Troil. iv.

789.

120. _saintes_, saints, martyrs for love; cf. V. 316, above (p. 227), and

the note. Cf. T. G. 414.

129. 'The king had Danger standing near him, and the queen had Disdain, who

were chief of the council, to treat of affairs of state'; Bell.

138. Cf. T. G. 271, and the note, shewing how common gold hair is in

Lydgate.

139, 140. 'Bihinde _her bak, a yerde long_'; C. T., A 1050.

148. _In mewet_, in an inaudible voice, to myself; like mod. F. _à la

muette_ (Littré).

167. _non erst_; false grammar for _non er_, no sooner; 'no soonest' is

nonsense. We find, however, the phrases _not erst_ and _never erst_

elsewhere; see New E. Dict., s.v. _Erst_, § B. 4.

170. This is the earliest quotation given in the New E. Dict., s.v.

_Assummon_; and the next is from the poet Daniel.

177. Chaucer has the compound _for-pampred_; Former Age, 5. I read _jolif_,

joyful, to make sense; the MS. has the absurd word _ioylof_ (_sic_); and

Stowe has _ialous_, jealous, which is quite out of place here.

181. 'An allusion to the monkish story of the man who brought up a youth

ignorant of women, and who, when he first saw them, told him they were

geese. The story is in the _Promptuarium Exemplorum_. It was adopted by

Boccaccio, from whom it was taken by Lafontaine, liv. iii. conte 1. See

_Latin Stories_, edited by Mr. [T.] Wright.'--Bell.

194. From C. T., B 466: '_On many a_ sory _meel_ now _may she bayte_.'

202. Cf. '_Comfort is noon_'; Chaucer's A B C, 17.

207. _how_, however. Cf. 'that _boghten love_ so _dere_'; Legend of Good

Women, 258.

229. See the Book of the Duchess, 323-34, where the painted glass windows

contain subjects from the Romance of the Rose and others. The story of Dido

is common enough; but the reference to Chaucer's Anelida and the false

Arcite, is remarkable, especially as it occurs also in XXI. 465 above (p.

395). 'The turtel trewe' is from the Parl. Foules, 577. See the parallel

passage in T. G. 44-142, where Lydgate's _first_ example is that of _Dido_,

while at the same time he mentions Palamon, Emilie, and Canacee, all from

Chaucer.

246. _blew_, blue, the colour of constancy; see l. 248.

250. 'And why that ye ben clothed thus _in blak_?' C. T., A 911.

255. _grene_ only gives an assonance with _here_, not a rime. Green was the

colour of inconstancy, and was sometimes used _for despyt_, to use

Chaucer's phrase; see note to C. T., F 644 (vol. v. p. 386). White may

refer to the White Friars or Carmelites, and russet to the hermits; cf. P.

Plowman, C. prol. 3, C. xi. 1.

270. _an ho_, a proclamation commanding silence; see C. T., 2533. Quite

distinct from _hue_ (and cry), with which Bell confuses it. A hue and cry

was only raised against fleeing criminals.

280. Clearly suggested by the God of Love's stern question in the Legend of

Good Women, 315:--'What dostow heer So nigh myn owne flour, so boldely?' At

the same time the phrase _fer y-stope in yeres_ is from Chaucer's _somdel

stape in age_, C. T., B 4011, on which see the note (vol. v. p. 248). See

the next note.

288. Similarly the God of Love pardoned Chaucer (L. G. W. 450), but upon a

condition (ib. 548).

290. _serven_, false grammar for _serve_.

302. Here follow the twenty statutes; ll. 302-504. They are evidently

expanded from the similar set of injunctions given by Venus to the Knight

in The Temple of Glas, ll. 1152-213; as clearly shewn by Schick in his

Introduction, p. cxxxi. The similarity extends to the first, second, third,

fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth and eighteenth

statutes, which resemble passages found in the Temple of Glas, ll.

1152-213, or elsewhere in the same poem. It is also possible that the

author, or Lydgate, or both of them, kept an eye upon Ovid's Art of Love.

See also Rom. Rose (Eng. version), 2355-950, which is much to the point.

305. This is also the first injunction in T. G. 1152-3, and is immediately

followed by the second, which enjoins _secrecy_. The reader should compare

the passages for himself.

311. MS. _synk and flete_; which must of course be corrected to 'sink _or_

flete,' as in Anelida, 182; C. T., A 2397.

317. '_Withoute chaunge_ in parti or in al'; T. G. 1155.

319. The MS. has _brynde_, and Stowe has _brinde_; so I let the reading

stand. Morris has _blynde_, and Bell _blind_; neither of them has a note as

to the change made. Perhaps _brind_ = _brend_ = burnt, in the sense of

'inflamed by passion'; or it may be an error for _brim_ = _breme_, furious,

applied especially to the desire of the boar for the sow. The sense

intended is clear enough; we should now write 'base.'

324-5. From C. T., A 2252-3:--

'And on thyn [_Venus'_] _auter_, wher I ryde or go,

I wol don sacrifice, and _fyres bete_.'

329. _passe forby_, to pass by, i.e. to get out of his way; cf. C. T., B

1759, C 668. _an ese_, a relief, a way of escape. There is no difficulty,

but all the editions have altered it to _passe, for thereby_, which will

not scan.

330. _daungerous_, grudging, reluctant; see C. T., D 514.

332. _of a sight_, of what one may see. _squeymous_ (MS. _squymouse_, Stowe

_squmous_), squeamish, particular; see note to C. T., A 3337 (vol. v. p.

102). It is added that when the lady, on her part, was cruel, it was the

lover's duty to toss about in bed and weep; cf. T. G. 12:--'The longe nyght

_walowing_ to and fro.' 'To _walwe and wepe_'; Troil. i. 699. And see Rom.

Rose (Eng. version), 2553-62.

338. Cf. 'Him to complein, that he walk [_read_ welk = walked] so sole'; T.

G. 552. And cf. Book Duch. 449; Black Knight, 143; Rom. Rose, 2391-6,

2517-9.

340. Cf. 'as though he roughte nought Of life ne deth'; T. G. 939-40.

344. 'Abide awhile,' T. G. 1203; '_patiently_ t'endure'; T. G. 1267.

347. _helden_, false grammar for _held_. The metre shews that it was

intentional.

349. 'Fulli _to obeye_,' T. G. 1151; cf. 1145-50.

360-4. Cf. T. G. 1012-25; especially 'And when I trespas, goodli me

correcte'; and 'neuyr yow offende.' And Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. ii. 199-202.

367. _yern_, earn; so _yearne_ in Spenser, F. Q. vi. 1. 40; A.S.

_geearnian_.

368-9. 'Of _grace and pitè_, and nought of rightwisnes'; T. G. 979.

378. _a-croke_ (MS. _a croke_), awry; see _Acrook_ in the New E. Dict.

379-81. In l. 381, the MS. has _shon_ (shun) distinctly; yet Morris prints

_shoue_, and Stowe _showe_, destroying the sense. All have _knowe_ in l.

379, but it should rather be _con_, which gives a perfect rime; for _con_

represents A.S. _cunnan_, to know, and is frequently spelt _cun_; see _Con_

in the New E. Dict. This statute refers to 'the comfort of Sweet-Looking';

see Rom. Rose, 2893-922; Gower, C. A., iii. 26-7.

390. See T. G. 170-1, 1014.

397. 'Yeve hir giftes, and get hir grace'; Rom. Rose, 2699. 'Auro

conciliatur amor'; Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. ii. 278.

403. Cf. Rom. Rose, 2568-85.

412. 'And for no tales thin herte not remue'; T. G. 1182. Cf. C. T., A

3163-4; F 1483-5; and XII. 113-9 above (p. 289).

429. 'For love ne wol nat countrepleted be'; Legend of Good Women, 476.

'Quisquis erit cui favet illa, fave'; Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. i. 146.

431. '_Whyt_ was this _crowe_'; C. T., H 133; cf. note to C. T., D 232.

456. Compare the Merchant's Tale; C. T., E 1245.

469. Cf. T. G. 1168-70: 'All trwe louers to relese of her payne,' &c.

475. 'Ai fressh and wel besein'; T. G. 1167. Cf. Rom. Rose, 2279-84.

'Munditiae placeant,' &c.; Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. i. 513.

484. 'Who loveth trewe hath no fatnesse'; Rom. Rose, 2686; 'Arguat et

macies animum'; Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. i. 733.

491-504. Cf. Rom. Rose, 2419-39, 2817-20. In particular, ll. 496-7 seem to

be actually copied from Rom. Rose, 2819-20: 'or of hir _chere That to thee

made thy lady dere_.' This raises the suspicion that the Court of Love was

written after 1532.

499. _thou seen_ would be in Latin _tu videatis_; another example of false

grammar.

523. _let been_, to let (them) be, to leave off.

526. _kepten been_ (MS. _bene_); so in all the copies; but _kepten_ is the

pt. t. plural, as if we should say in Latin _seruauerunt sunt_. Unless,

indeed, the _-en_ is meant for the pp. suffix of a strong verb, as if we

should make a Latin form _seruatiti_. The scansion shews that this false

grammar came from the author.

529. 'Except God and the devil.'

536-7. Solomon and Samson; the usual stock examples. But probably in this

case borrowed from Lydgate's Balade, XIV. 4 (p. 295), which is certainly

quoted thrice again below.

542. This line is made up from Lydgate's Balade, XIV. 29-33, and 26; so

again l. 544 resembles the same, l. 24. And Lydgate merely versifies the

medieval proverb: 'Fallere,' &c.; see note to XIV. 29; p. 516.

547. _of kind_, by nature; as in XIV. 29 (p. 296).

550. 'An housbond shal _nat been inquisitif_'; C. T., A 3163.

556. _Citherea_ is right; see l. 50; MS. and Stowe have _Cithera_.

560. 'You that are provided already with a lady.'--Bell. Cf. l. 561.

561-3. _eke_, _lyke_, a permissible rime, at a time when _e_ had gained the

mod. E. sound. See note to l. 81 above.

570. See T. G. 143-6. With l. 577, cf. T. G. 50.

580. The reading _blisful_ is certain; it is from T. G. 328:--'O _blisful_

sterre, persant and ful of light.' The author uses _persant_ below, in l.

849.

582. See the second of the interpolated stanzas in T. G., p. 21, ll. 6,

7:--

'Withoute desert; wherefore that ye vouche

To _ponysshe_ hem dewely for here male-bouche.'

586. _loves daunce_; see references in the Glossary to vol. vi., s.v.

_Daunce_.

589. In T. G. 144, the lovers are only many a thousand; in the Kingis

Quair, st. 78, they are 'mony a' million; here they are a thousand million.

Such is evolution.

591. '_redresse_ is elegantly put for _redresser_';--Bell. Then let the

credit of it be Lydgate's; cf. '_Redresse_ of sorow, O Citheria'; T. G.

701.

592. Bell prints _yheried_, which is obviously right; but he does not say

that both the MS. and Stowe have _I hired_; see Troil. ii. 973, iii. 7,

1804.

593. _loves bond_; founded on Boethius, lib. ii. met. 8, but doubtless

taken from Troil. iii. 1766; see note in vol. ii. p. 483.

598, 603. 'Make him teschwe euere synne and vice'; T. G. 450.

611-3. _Celsitude_ and _pulcritude_ are words that savour of the revival of

learning. Such words are common in Dunbar, who uses both of them. For

_celsitude_, see Dunbar, ed. Small, p. 271, 76, and p. 325, 25; for

_pulcritude_, see the same, p. 271, 74; p. 274, 2; p. 279, 5. He even rimes

them together; p. 271. Hawes also uses _pulchritude_; Pastime of Pleasure,

ed. Wright, pp. 5, 18.

614. Cf. '_Comparisoun may noon y-maked be_'; Legend of Good Women, 122.

623. _fere_, fire (not fear); as in Troil. iii. 978.

628. _Beseech_, to beseech; note the anachronism in using the French infin.

_void-en_ with a suffix, and the Eng. _beseech_ with none at all.

634. _ure_, destiny; from O.F. _eur_, Lat. _augurium_. A word that first

appeared in Northern English; it occurs at least eight times in Barbour's

Bruce. And in the Kingis Quair, st. 10, we have the whole phrase--'my

fortúne and ure.' It is also used by Lydgate; see VIII. 151, 302, 482 (pp.

250, 254, 260).

641. An exact repetition of l. 633 above.

642. Here, for a wonder, is an example of the final _e_; the author took

the whole phrase 'In thilk-ë place' from some previous author; cf. 'In

thilke places' (_sic_); Rom. Rose, 660 (Thynne). _sign_, assign.

648. 'Bi god and be my trouthe'; T. G. 1011.

683. '_And holden werre_ alwey with chastitee'; C. T., A 2236.

684. _I kepen_; false grammar; equivalent to Lat. _ego curamus_.

688. _yove_, gave; but in l. 690 the form is _gave_. I suspect that in l.

690, _gave_ should be _gan_, and that _image_ (for _images_) is to be taken

as a genitive case; then the sense is--'And I began anon to ponder and

weigh in my heart her image's fresh beauty.'

701. The idea is due to Chaucer's Compleynt to Pity; cf. l. 1324.

702. Cf. 'Him deyneth nat to _wreke him on a flye_'; Legend of Good Women,

381.

703. _eke him_, him also; but perhaps read _ete him_.

704. Cf. 'and tendre herte'; C. T., A 150.

725. _springen_; false grammar, as it is a plural form.

727. _endry_, suffer, endure; so again in l. 941. This ridiculous hybrid is

rightly excluded from the New E. Dict., which gives, however, several

similar formations. It was coined by prefixing the F. prefix _en-_, with an

intensive force, to M.E. _drien_, variant of _dreogen_, to endure (A.S.

_dr[=e]ogan_), Lowl. Sc. _dree_. No other author uses it.

732. _spede_, succeed; Stowe's alteration to _speke_ is unnecessary.

749. 'How are you the nearer for loving,' &c.

751. _fayn_, put for _feyn_, i.e. feign, tell an untruth.

755. _heth_, heath. Here, and in l. 757, the author refers to two occasions

when he was in great danger of falling in love; but he does not go into

details.

768. Here we must read _ee_ (eye) for the rime; in other cases it appears

as _eye_, _ye_, _y_, riming with words in _-y_. This points to a somewhat

late date; see note to l. 81 above. As for _stremes_, it is Lydgate's word

for glances of the eye; see T. G. 263, 582. And Lydgate had it from

Chaucer, who mostly uses it of sunbeams, but twice applies it to the beams

from the eyes of Criseyde; Troil. i. 305, iii. 129.

782. _flawe_, generally explained as representing Lat. _flauus_, yellowish,

or the O.F. _flave_, with the same sense. Her hair was gold, so her

eyebrows may have been of a similar colour. I suspect that _flawe_ was a

Northern form; cf. _braw_, as a Northern variant of _brave_.

783. _mene disseverance_, a moderate distance; evidently meant with

reference to Criseyde, whose one demerit was that her eye-brows joined each

other; Troil. v. 813.

787. _milk-whyt path_, the galaxy, or milky way; but surely this is quite a

unique application of it, viz. to the prominent ridge of Rosial's nose.

789. _smaragde_, emerald. The eyes of Beatrice are called _smeraldi_;

Dante, Purg. xxxi. 116. Juliet's nurse said that an eagle's eye was not so

green as that of Paris; Romeo, iii. 5. 222. Eyes in Chaucer are usually 'as

gray as glas'; the O.F. _vair_, an epithet for eyes, meant grayish-blue.

797. _basse_, kiss, buss; see _Bass_ in the New E. Dict. _ben_ is yet

another instance of a false concord; read _be_, as _basse_ is singular. See

next note.

798. Cornelius Maximianus Gallus, a poet of the sixth century, wrote six

elegies which have come down to us. The quotation referred to occurs in the

first Elegy (ll. 97-8), which is also quoted by Chaucer; see note to C. T.,

C 727 (vol. v. p. 287). The lines are:--

'Flammea dilexi, modicumque tumentia labra,

Quae mihi gustanti basia plena darent.'

Hence the epithet _Flaming_ in l. 793.

810. _bend_, a band, sash; see New E. Dict., s.v. _Bend_ (2), sb., 1. a.

811. 'With hair in tresses'; like Criseyde's; see Troil. v. 810.

813. Cf. the Assembly of Ladies, 533-4 (p. 397):--

'_Aboute her nekke_ a sort of faire _rubyes_

In whyte _floures_ of right fyne enamayl.'

See also the Kingis Quair, st. 48.

815-6. See my note to Ch. Minor Poems, XXI. 20 (vol. i. p. 566).

821. _Calixto_, Callisto; called _Calixte_ in Parl. Foules, 286. The story

is in Ovid, Met. ii. 409, _Alcmenia_, Alcmene, mother of Hercules; see

Ovid, Met. ix. 281; cf. Troil. iii. 1428; T. G. 123.

823. _Europa_, the story is in Ovid, Met. ii. 858. See Legend of Good

Women, 113, and the note; T. G. 118.

824. _Dane_, Danae, mother of Perseus; see Ovid, Met. iv. 610. In Chaucer,

C. T., A 2062, _Dane_ means Daphne. _Antiopa_, mother of Amphion and

Zethus; it may be noted that Jupiter's intrigues with Europa, Antiopa,

Alcmene, and Danae, are all mentioned together in Ovid, Met. vi. 103-13. It

follows that our author had read Ovid.

831. '_There is no lak, saue_ onli of pitè'; T. G. 749.

841. The word _the_ was probably written like _ye_, giving, apparently, the

reading _ye ye_; then one of these was dropped. The long passage in ll.

841-903 may be compared with the pleadings of the lover in La Belle Dame

sans Merci (p. 307, above); with T. G. 970-1039; and with the Kingis Quair,

st. 99. Note the expression 'of beaute rote,' T. G. 972; and '_Princes_ of

youthe,' T. G. 970 (two lines above); see l. 843.

849. _persant_, piercing; common in Lydgate; T. G. 328, 756, 1341; Black

Knight, 28, 358, 591, 613. Cf. 'And _with_ the _stremes of your percyng_

light'; Kingis Quair, 103.

852-3. Cf. T. G. 1038-9; Kingis Quair, st. 103, l. 7.

858. 'Of verrey routhe upon my peynes rewe'; T. G. 1001.

865. 'To love him best ne shal I _never repente_'; The Compleynt of Venus,

56, 64, 72. See note to l. 875.