17. When Boethius complains of being exiled, Philosophy directs him to a
heavenly home. 'Yif thou remembre of what contree thou art born, it nis nat
governed by emperours ... but oo lord and oo king, and that is god'; bk. i.
pr. 5, l. II. This is copied (as being taken from 'Boece') in Le Roman de
la Rose, l. 5049 (Eng. version, l. 5659).
18. The word _beste_ probably refers to the passage in Boethius where
wicked men are likened to various animals, as when the extortioner is a
wolf, a noisy abusive man is a hound, a treacherous man is a fox, &c.; bk.
iv. pr. 3. The story of Ulysses and Circe follows; bk. iv. met. 3.
19. 'Recognise heaven as thy true country.' _Lok up_, gaze upwards to
heaven. Cf. the expression 'thy contree' at the end of bk. iv. pr. I of his
translation of Boethius. There is also a special reference here to Boeth.
bk. v. met. 5, where it is said that quadrupeds look _down_, but man is
upright; 'this figure amonesteth thee, that axest the hevene with thy
righte visage'; l. 14. See Ovid, Met. i. 85.
But, man, as thou wittlees were,
Thou lokist euere dounwarde as a beest.'
Polit, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 185, l. 273.
_Thank god of al_, thank God for all things. In like manner, in the
Lamentation of Mary Magdalen, st. 53, we find: 'I thanke God _of_ al, if I
nowe dye.' Mätzner (Gram. ii. 2. 307) quotes from the Towneley Mysteries,
p. 128:--'Mekyll thanke _of_ youre good wille'; and again (Gram. ii. 1.
238) from King Alisaunder, l. 7576:--'And thankid him _of_ his socour.'
Henrysoun, in his Abbay Walk, l. 8, has:--'Obey, and thank thy God of al';
but he is probably copying this very passage. Cf. also--'of help I him
praye'; Lydgate, London Lyckpeny, st. 6; 'beseech you of your pardon'; Oth.
iii. 3. 212. In Lydgate's Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 225, is a poem in
which every stanza ends with 'thonk God of alle.' Cf. Cant. Tales, B 1113.
'Lyft wp thyne Ene [_not_ orne], and thank thi god of al.'
Ratis Raving, ed. Lumby, p. 10.
20. _Hold the hye wey_, keep to the high road. Instead of _Hold the hye
wey_, some MSS. have _Weyve thy lust_, i. e. put aside thy desire, give up
thine own will.
22. This last stanza forms an Envoy. It exists in _one_ copy only (MS.
Addit. 10340); but there is no reason at all for considering it spurious.
_Vache_, cow; with reference to the 'beast in the stall' in l. 18. This
animal was probably chosen as being less offensive than those mentioned by
Boethius, viz. the wolf, hound, fox, lion, hart, ass, and sow. Possibly,
also, there is a reference to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, as related by
Chaucer in the Monkes Tale; Group B, 3361.