'Ceste ruile est si généraus,
Qu'el ne puet defaillir vers aus.'
57. Here Fortune replies. This stanza is nearly made up of extracts from
Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, transposed and rearranged. For the sake of
comparison, I give the nearest equivalents, transposing them to suit the
order here adopted.
'That maketh thee now inpacient ayeins me.... I norisshede thee with my
richesses.... Now it lyketh me to with-drawen my hand ... shal I than only
ben defended to usen my right?... The see hath eek his right to ben somtyme
calme ... and somtyme to ben horrible with wawes.... Certes, it is leveful
to the hevene to make clere dayes.... The yeer hath eek leve ... to
confounden hem [_the flowers_] somtyme with reynes ... shal it [_men's
covetousness_] binde me to ben stedefast?'
Compare also the defence of Fortune by Pandarus, in Troilus, bk. i.
841-854.
65. Above this stanza (ll. 65-72) all the MSS. insert a new heading, such
as 'Le pleintif,' or 'Le pleintif encountre Fortune,' or 'The pleyntyff
ageinst Fortune,' or 'Paupertas ad Fortunam.' But they are all wrong, for
it is quite certain that this stanza belongs to Fortune. Otherwise, it
makes no sense. Secondly, we know this by the original (in Boethius). And
thirdly, Fortune cannot well have the 'envoy' unless she has the stanza
preceding it. Dr. Morris, in his edition, rightly omits the heading; and so
in Bell's edition.
66. Compare:--'For purviaunce is thilke divyne reson that is establisshed
in the soverein prince of thinges; the whiche purviaunce disponeth alle
thinges'; Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6, l. 42.
68. _Ye blinde bestes_, addressed to men; evidently by _Fortune_, not by
the _Pleintif_. Compare the words _forth_, _beste_, in the Balade on Truth,
Sect. XIII. l. 18.
71. Here we have formal proof that the speaker is Fortune; for this is
copied from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 3, l. 60--'natheles the laste day of a
mannes lyf is a manere deeth to Fortune.' Hence _thy_ refers to _man_, and
_myn_ refers to _Fortune_; and the sense is--'Thy last day (O man) is the
end of my interest (in thee)'; or 'dealings (with thee).' The word
_interesse_, though scarce, is right. It occurs in Lydgate's Minor Poems,
ed. Halliwell, p. 210; and in Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 33:--
'That not the worth of any living wight
May challenge ought in Heaven's _interesse_.'
And in Todd's Johnson:--'I thought, says his Majesty [K. Charles I.] I
might happily have satisfied all _interesses_'; Lord Halifax's Miscell. p.
144. The sb. also occurs as Ital. _interesse_; thus Florio's Ital. Dict.
(1598) has:--'_Interesse_, _Interesso_, the interest or profite of money
for lone. Also, what toucheth or concerneth a mans state or reputation.'
And Minsheu's Spanish Dict. (1623) has:--'_Interes_, or _Interesse_,
interest, profite, auaile.' The E. vb. to _interess_ was once common, and
occurs in K. Lear, i. 1. 87 (unless Dr. Schmidt is right in condemning the
reading of that line).
73. _Princes._ Who these princes were, it is hard to say; according to l.
76 (found in MS. I. only), there were _three_ of them. If the reference is
to the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, then the 'beste frend'
must be the king himself. Cf. l. 33.
75, 76. 'And I (Fortune) will requite you for your trouble (undertaken) at
my request, whether there be three of you, or two of you (that heed my
words).' Line 76 occurs in MS. I. _only_, yet it is difficult to reject it,
as it is not a likely sort of line to be thrust in, unless this were done,
in revision, by the author himself. Moreover, we should expect the Envoy to
form a stanza with the usual seven lines, so common in Chaucer, though the
rime-arrangement differs.
77. 'And, unless it pleases you to relieve him of his pain (yourselves),
pray his best friend, for the honour of his nobility, that he may attain to
some better estate.'
The assigning of this petition to _Fortune_ is a happy expedient. The poet
thus escapes making a direct appeal in his own person.