If Fragments II and III were ever joined together, we must suppose that at
least _five_ lines have been lost, as I have already shewn in the note to
Dr. Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 96.
Thus, after l. 23, ending in _asterte_, we should require lines ending in
_-ye_, _-erse_, _-ye_, _-erse_, and _-ede_ respectively, to fill the gap.
However, I have kept fragments II and III apart, and it is then sufficient
to supply _three_ lines. Lines 25 and 26 are from the Compl. of Pite, 22,
17, and from Anelida, 307.
32. I suspect some corruption; MS. Sh. has _The wyse eknytte_, Ph. has _The
wise I-knyt_, and ed. 1561 has _The Wise, eknit_. As it stands, it
means--'Her surname moreover is the Fair Ruthless one, (or) the Wise one,
united with Good Fortune.' Fair Ruthless is a translation of the French
phrase _La Belle Dame sans Merci_, which occurs as the title of a poem once
attributed to Chaucer. The Wise one, &c., means that she is wise and
fortunate, and will not impair her good fortune by bestowing any thought
upon her lover. Shirley often writes _e_ for initial _y-_.
35. Almost identical with Anelida, 222--'More then myself, an hundred
thousand sythe.'
36. Obviously corrupt; neither sound nor sense is good. Read:--'Than al
this worldes richest (_or_ riche) creature.' _Creature_ may mean 'created
thing.' Or scan by reading _world's richéss'_.
39. Cf. Kn. Tale, l. 380 (A 1238)--'Wel hath Fortune y-turned thee the
dys.'