In the two MSS., this poem is written as if it were a continuation of the
Compleint unto Pity. The printed edition of 1651 has this heading--'These
verses next folowing were compiled by Geffray Chauser, and in the writen
copies foloweth at the ende of the complainte of petee.' This implies that
Stowe had seen more than one MS. containing these lines.
However, the poem has nothing to do with the Complaint of Pity; for which
reason the lines are here numbered separately, and the title 'A Compleint
to his Lady' is supplied, for want of a better.
The poem is so badly spelt in Shirley's MS. (Harl. 78) as quite to obscure
its diction, which is that of the fourteenth century. I have therefore
re-spelt it throughout, so as to shew the right pronunciation. The
Phillipps MS. is merely a copy of the other, but preserves the last stanza.
The printed copy resembles Shirley's MS. so closely, that both seem to have
been derived from a common source. But there is a strange and unaccountable
variation in l. 100. The MS. here has--'For I am sette on yowe in suche
manere'; whilst ed. 1561 has--'For I am set so hy vpon your whele.' The
latter reading does not suit the right order of the rimes; but it points to
a lost MS.
The poem evidently consists of several fragments, all upon the same
subject, of hopeless, but true love.
It should be compared with the Complaint of Pity, the first forty lines of
the Book of the Duchess, the Parliament of Foules (ll. 416-441), and the
Complaint of Anelida. Indeed, the last of these is more or less founded
upon it, and some of the expressions (including one complete line) occur
there again.
1. MSS. _nightes_. This will not scan, nor does it make good sense. Read
_night_; cf. l. 8, and Book of the Duchess, l. 22.