The titles in the MSS. are: Ad. Prouerbe; F. Proverbe of Chaucer; Ha.
Prouerbe of Chaucers.
Each proverb takes the form of a question or objection, in two lines,
followed by an answer in two lines more.
There is a fair copy of them (but not well spelt) in the black-letter
edition of 1561, fol. cccxl. They there appear without the addition of
fourteen unconnected lines (not by Chaucer) which have been recklessly
appended to them in modern editions. The title in ed. 1561 is--'A Prouerbe
agaynst couitise and negligence.'
For the metre, compare the Envoy to a Ballad by Deschamps, ed. Tarbé, pp.
23, 24.
7. At the head of a Ballad by Deschamps, ed. Tarbé, i. 132, is the French
proverb--'Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint.' Cotgrave, s.v. _embrasser_, has:
_Trop embrasser, et peu estraigner_, to meddle with more business then he
can wield; to have too many irons in the fire; to lose all by coveting
all.'
But the most interesting point is the use of this proverb by Chaucer
elsewhere, viz. in the Tale of Melibeus, Group B, 2405--'For the proverbe
seith, he that to muche embraceth, distreyneth litel.' It is also quoted by
Lydgate, in his description of the Merchant in the Dance of Machabre.
7. _Embrace_ must be read as _embrac'_, for the rime. Similarly, Chaucer
puts _gras_ for _grac-e_ in Sir Thopas (Group B, l. 2021).