Chapter XXX: Appendix (9)

This Ballade is of a similar character, having three stanzas of eight lines each, with a somewhat similar refrain, viz. 'Mais de paier n'y sçay voie ne tour,' i. e. but how to pay I know therein no way nor method. It was written on a similar occasion, viz. after the death of Charles V. of France, and the accession of Charles VI., who had promised Deschamps a pension, but had not paid it. Hence the opening lines:--

'Dieux absoille le bon Roy trespassé!
Et Dieux consault cellui qui est en vie!
Il me donna rente le temps passé
A mon vivant; laquelle je n'ay mie.'

The Envoy has but six lines, though the stanzas have eight; similarly, Chaucer's Envoy has but five lines (rimed _a a b b a_), though the stanzas have seven. Chaucer's Envoy is in a _very_ unusual metre, which was copied by the author of the Cuckoo and the Nightingale.

The Title, in MS. F. is--'The Complaynt of Chaucer to his Purse.' In Caxton's print, it is--'The compleint of Chaucer vnto his empty purse.' In MS. P.--'La Compleint de Chaucer a sa Bourse voide.' MS. Harl. has--'A supplicacion to Kyng Richard by chaucier.' The last of these, written by Shirley, is curious. If not a mere mistake, it seems to imply that the Complaint was first prepared before king Richard was deposed, though, by means of the Envoy, it was addressed to his successor. However, this copy of Shirley's gives the Envoy; so it may have been a mere mistake. Line 23 is decisive; see note below.

I remark here, for completeness' sake, that this poem has sometimes been ascribed to Hoccleve; but, apparently, without any reason.

4. Koch remarks, that the Additional MS. 22139, which alone has _That_, is here superior to the rest; and he may be right. Still, the reading _For_ is quite intelligible.

8. _This day._ This hints at impatience; the poet did not contemplate having long to wait. But we must take it in connexion with l. 17; see note to that line.

10. _Colour_; with reference to golden coins. So also in the Phisiciens Tale (C. T. 11971, or C 37), the golden colour of Virginia's hair is expressed by--

'And Phebus dyed hath hir tresses grete
Lyk to the stremes of his burned hete.'

11. Four MSS., as well as the printed copies, read _That of yelownesse_, &c.; and this may very well be right. If so, the scansion is:--That of yél | ownés | se hád | de név | er pere. MS. Harl. 2251 has _That of yowre Ielownesse_, but the _yowre_ is merely copied in from l. 10.

12. _Stere_, rudder; see Man of Lawes Tale, B 448, 833.

17. _Out of this toune._ This seems to mean--'help me to retire from London to some cheaper place.' At any rate, _toune_ seems to refer to some large town, where prices were high. From the tone of this line, and that of l. 8, I should conclude that the poem was written on some occasion of special temporary difficulty, irrespectively of general poverty; and that the _Envoy_ was hastily added afterwards, without revision of the poem itself. (I find that Ten Brink says the same.) Compare Thackeray's Carmen Lilliense.

19. 'That is, I am as bare of money as the tonsure of a friar is of hair'; Bell.

22. _Brutes Albioun_, the Albion of Brutus. _Albion_ is the old name for England or Britain in the histories which follow Geoffrey of Monmouth and profess to give the ancient history of Britain before the coming of the Romans. See Layamon's Brut, l. 1243; Higden's Polychronicon, bk. i. c. 39; Fabyan's Chronicle, ed. Ellis, pp. 1, 2, 7. According to the same accounts, Albion was first reigned over by Brutus, in English spelling _Brute_, a descendant of Æneas of Troy, who arrived in Albion (says Fabyan) in the eighteenth year of Eli, judge of Israel. Layamon's poem is a translation from a poem by Wace, entitled Brut; and Wace borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth. See _Brute_ (2) in the New E. Dict.

23. This line makes it certain that the king meant is Henry IV.; and indeed, the title _conquerour_ in l. 21 proves the same thing sufficiently. 'In Henry IV's proclamation to the people of England he founds his title on _conquest_, _hereditary right_, and _election_; and from this inconsistent and absurd document Chaucer no doubt took his cue'; Bell.

XX. PROVERBS.

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).

XXI. BALADE AGAINST WOMEN UNCONSTANT.

5. _In a place_, in one place. In the New E. Dictionary, the following is quoted from Caxton's print of _Geoffroi de la Tour_, leaf 4, back:--'They satte att dyner in _a_ hall and the quene in another.'

7. From Machault, ed. Tarbé, p. 56 (see p. 88 above):--'Qu'en lieu de bleu, Damë, vous vestez vert'; on which M. Tarbé has the following note:--'_Bleu._ Couleur exprimant la sincérité, la pureté, la constance; le _vert_, au contraire, exprimait les nouvelles amours, le changement, l'infidélité; au lieu de bleu se vêtir de vert, c'était avouer que l'on changeait d'ami.' Blue was the colour of constancy, and green of inconstancy; see Notes to Anelida, l. 330; and my note to the Squire's Tale, F 644.

In a poem called Le Remède de Fortune, Machault explains that _pers_, i. e. _blue_, means loyalty; _red_, ardent love; _black_, grief; _white_, joy; _green_, fickleness; _yellow_, falsehood.

8. Cf. James i. 23, 24; and see The Marchantes Tale (Group E, ll. 1582-5).

9. _It_, i. e. the transient image; relative to the word _thing_, which is implied in _no-thing_ in l. 8.

10. Read _far'th_, _ber'th_; as usual in Chaucer. So _turn'th_ in l. 12.

12. Cf. 'chaunging as a vane'; Clerkes Tale, E 996.

13. _Sene_, evident; A.S. _ge-séne_, _ge-sýne_, adj., evident, quite distinct from the pp. of the verb, which appears in Chaucer as _seen_ or _yseen_. Other examples of the use of this adjective occur in _ysene_, C. T. Prol. 592; C. T. 11308 (Frank. Tale, F 996); _sene_, Compl. of Pite, 112; Merciless Beauty, 10.

15. _Brotelnesse_, fickleness. Cf. 'On _brotel_ ground they bilde, and _brotelnesse_ They finde, whan they wene _sikernesse_,' with precisely the same rime, Merch. Tale, 35 (E 1279).

16. _Dalýda_, Delilah. It is _Dálida_ in the Monkes Tale, Group B, 3253; but see Book of the Duchesse, 738.

_Creseide_, the heroine of Chaucer's Troilus.

_Candáce_, hardly for _Canace_; see note to Parl. of Foules, 288. Rather, it is the queen Candace who tricked Alexander; see Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat, p. 264; Gower, Conf. Amant, ii. 180.

18. _Tache_, defect; cf. P. Plowman, B. ix. 146. This is the word which best expresses the sense of _touch_ (which Schmidt explains by _trait_) in the famous passage--'One _touch_ of nature makes the whole world kin'; Shak. Troil. iii. 3. 175. I do not assert that _touch_ is an error for _tache_, though even that is likely; but I say that the context shews that it is used in just the sense of _tache_. The same context also entirely condemns the forced sense of the passage, as commonly misapplied. It is somewhat curious that _touchwood_ is corrupted from a different _tache_, which had the sense of dried fuel or tinder.

_Arace_, eradicate; precisely as in VI. 20, q. v.

19. Compare the modern proverb--'She has two strings to her bow.'

20. _Al light for somer_; this phrase begins l. 15 of the Canon's Yeoman's Prologue, Group G, 568; and the phrase _wot what I mene_ occurs again in C. T., Group B, 93. This allusion to the wearing of light summer garments seems here to imply wantonness or fickleness. Canacee in the Squi. Tale was arrayed lightly (F 389, 390); but she was taking a walk in her own park, attended by her ladies. Skelton has, 'he wente so all for somer lyghte'; Bowge of Courte, 355; and again, in Philip Sparowe, 719, he tells us that Pandarus won nothing by his help of Troilus but 'lyght-for-somer grene.' It would seem that green was a favourite colour for summer garments.

XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT (COMPLEINT DAMOURS).

There are three MS. copies of this poem, viz. in MSS. F., B., and Harl. 7333. See remarks upon these in the Introduction, p. 89.

1. In Troil. iv. 516, the parallel line is--'Of me, that am the wofulleste wight'; where _wofullest-e_ has four syllables. Chaucer constantly employs _sorwe_ or _sorw_ so as to occupy the time of a monosyllable; hence the right reading in this case is _sorw'fullest-e_, with final _-e_. See also Troil. ii. 450--'So as she was the ferfulleste wight.' And 'Bicomen is the sorwefulleste man'; Cant. Tales, E 2098.

3. _Recoverer_, recovery, cure; answering to O.F. _recovrier_, sb. succour, aid, cure, recovery; see examples in La Langue et la Littérature Française, by Bartsch and Horning, 1887. Gower uses _recoverir_ in a like sense; ed. Pauli, i. 265. In Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, pt. ii. p. 156, l. 394, _recouerer_ may likewise mean 'succour'; and the whole line may mean, 'they each of them cried for succour (to be obtained) from the Creator.'

6. Cf. Sect. VI. l. 53:--'So litel rewthe hath she upon my peyne.'

7. Cf. Sect. VI. l. 33:--'That, for I love hir, sleeth me giltelees.' So also Frank. Ta. F 1322:--'Er ye me sleen bycause that I yow love.'

12. _Spitous_, hateful. The word in Chaucer is usually _despitous_; see Prol. 516, Cant. Ta. A 1596, D 761, Troil. ii. 435, v. 199; but _spitously_ occurs in the Cant. Tales, D 223. Trevisa translates _ignominiosa seruitute_ by 'in a _dispitous_ bondage'; Higden's Polychron. v. 87. The sense is--'You have banished me to that hateful island whence no man may escape alive.' The allusion is to the isle of Naxos, here used as a synonym for a state of hopeless despair. It was the island in which Ariadne was left, when deserted by Theseus; and Chaucer alludes to it at least thrice in a similar way: see C. T. Group B, 68, Ho. of Fame, 416, Legend of Good Women, 2163.

14. _This have I_, such is my reward. _For_, because.

16. Another reading is--'If that it were a thing possible to do.' In that case, we must read _possíbl'_, with the accent on _i_.

17. Cf. Sect. VI. l. 94:--'For ye be oon the worthiest on-lyve.'

19. Cf. Sect. VI. l. 93:--'I am so litel worthy.'

24, 25. Cf. X. 7, and the note (p. 544).

28. Perhaps corrupt; it seems to mean--'All these things caused me, in that (very state of despair), to love you dearly.'

31. The insertion of _to_ is justified by the parallel line--'And I my deeth to yow wol al forgive'; VI. 119.

36, 37. Perhaps read--'And sithen I am of my sorwe the cause, And sithen I have this,' &c.; as in MSS. F. and B.

43. Perhaps read--'So that, algates, she is verray rote'; as in F. B.

45. Cf. C. T. 11287 (F 975):--'For with a word ye may me sleen or save.'

52. _As to my dome_, in my judgment, as in V. 480; and see Troil. iv. 386, 387.

54. Cf. 'whyl the world may dure'; V, 616.

55. _Bihynde_, in the rear, far away; cf. VI. 5.

57. The idea is the same as in the Compl. of Mars, ll. 264-270.

62. See l. 10 above.

70, 71. Cf. C. T. 11625 (F 1313)--'And lothest wer of al this world displese.'

72. Compare the description of Dorigen, C. T. 11255-66 (F 943-54). We have similar expressions in Troil. iii. 1501:--'As wisly verray God my soule save'; and in Legend of Good Women, 1806:--'As wisly Iupiter my soule save.' And see XXIII. 4.

76. Chaucer has both _pleyne unto_ and _pleyne on_; see C. T., Cler. Tale, Group E, 97; and Pard. Tale, Group C, 512.

77. Cf. Troil. iii. 1183, and v. 1344:--'Foryeve it me, myn owne swete herte.'

79. Cf. Troil. iii. 141--'And I to ben your verray humble trewe.'

81. 'Sun of the bright and clear star'; i. e. source of light to the planet Venus. The 'star' can hardly be other than this bright planet, which was supposed to be auspicious to lovers. Cf. Troil. v. 638:--'O sterre, of which I lost have al the light.' Observe that MSS. F. and B. read _over_ for _of_; this will not scan, but it suggests the sense intended.

82. _In oon_, in one state, ever constant; C. T., E 602. Cf. also Troil. iii. 143:--'And ever-mo desire _freshly newe_ To serven.'

83. So in Troil. iii. 1512:--'For I am thyn, by god and by my trouthe'; cf. Troil. iii. 120.

85. See Parl. of Foules, 309, 310, whence I supply the word _ther_. These lines in the Parl. of Foules may have been borrowed from the present passage, i. e. if the 'Amorous Compleint' is the older poem of the two, as is probable. In any case, the connexion is obvious. Cf. also Parl. Foules, 386.

87. Cf. Parl. Foules, 419:--'Whos I am al, and ever wol her serve.'

_Shal_, shall be; as in l. 78 above, and in Troil. iii. 103; cf. Kn. Tale, 286 (A 1144), and note to VI. 86.

90, 91. Cf. Kn. Tale, 285, 286 (A 1143, 1144); Parl. Foules, 419, 420. All three passages are much alike.

XXIII. A BALADE OF COMPLEYNT.

1. Cf. Troil. iii. 104:--'And thogh I dar ne can unto yow pleyne.'

4. See note to XXII. 72, and l. 8 below.

13, 14. Cf. VI. 110, 111.

16. _Dyt-e,_ ditty (dissyllabic); see Ho. of Fame, 622. It here rimes with _despyte_ and _plyte_. In the Cant. Tales the usual forms are _despyt_ and _plyt-e_ respectively, but _despyt-e_ may here be taken as a dative case.

20. _Hertes lady_; see VI. 60. _Dere_ is the best reading, being thus commonly used by Chaucer as a vocative. If we retain the MS. reading _here_, we must insert a comma after _lady_, and explain _I yow beseche ... here_ by 'I beseech you to hear.'

*** For Errata and Addenda, see p. lxiv.

* * * * *

NOTES.

[1] See Rot. Claus. 3 Edw. I., and Kirkpatrick's History of Religious Orders in Norwich, pp. 109, 113. (The Athenæum, Nov. 25, 1876; p. 688.)

[2] Rolls of Parliament, i. 234, 448.

[3] For authorities, see Riley's Memorials of London, pp. xxxiii, xxxiv.

[4] See The Athenæum, Nov. 19, 1893, p. 704.

[5] Life-Records of Chaucer (Chaucer Soc.), p. 128; The Athenæum, Jan. 29, 1881, p.165. From membrane 17 of the Fine Roll, 4 Edw. II.; Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii. pt. 2. p. 30.

[6] The same, p. 126; from mem. 13 of the Coram Rege Roll of Hilary, 19 Edw. II. (1326).

[7] Riley, Mem. London, p. xxxiii.

[8] From Richard Chaucer's will (below); see p. xiv.

[9] Inferred from law-proceedings (below); and cf. note 5, above. Thomas Stace was appointed collector of customs on wine at Ipswich in 1310; Parl. Writs, vol. ii. pt. 2.

[10] Thomas Heyroun, by his will dated April 7, 1349, and proved in the Hustings Court of the City of London, appointed his brother [i. e. his half-brother], John Chaucer, as his executor. In July of the same year, John Chaucer, by the description of 'citizen and vintner, executor of the will of my brother Thomas Heyroun,' executed a deed relating to some lands. See Morris's Chaucer, i. 93, or Nicolas, Life of Chaucer, Note A; from the Records of the Hustings Court, 23 Edw. III.

[11] In December, 1324, Richard and Mary Chaucer declared that they had 'remained in full and peaceful possession of the said wardship [of John Chaucer] for a long while, namely, _for one year_.' See Life-Records (as in note 5), p. 126.

[12] Riley, Mem. London, p. xxxiii.

[13] Placitorum Abbreviatio, temp. Ric. I.--Edw. II., 1811; p. 354, col. 2; The Athenæum, Jan. 29, 1881, p. 165.

[14] I. e. Laurence, the man of Geoffrey Stace.

[15] They did not really succeed in this; it was disproved.

[16] As they were trying to make out a case, it is clear that John Chaucer was still _just under twelve_ on Dec. 3, 1324, when they abducted him.

[17] Rolls of Parliament, ii. 14. Mr. Rye prints 'nulson' in place of 'unkore.'

[18] See the Calendar of Wills in the Hustings Court, by R.R. Sharpe, vol. i. p. 591.

[19] Here Sir H. Nicolas inserts '13th of July,' which I do not understand. His own Chronology of History correctly tells us that the day of St. Thomas the Martyr is Dec. 29, which in 1349 fell on Tuesday. The Monday after it was Jan. 4, 1350; the 23rd year of Edw. III. ended Jan. 24, 1350.

[20] Hustings Roll, Guildhall; see The Athenæum, Dec. 13, 1873, p. 772; The Academy, Oct. 13, 1877, p. 364. The joint names of John and Agnes Chaucer occur in 1354, and later, in 1363 and 1366.

[21] See below, under the date 1381; and The Athenæum, Nov. 29, 1873, p. 698; Dec. 13, 1873, p. 772.

[22] Timbs, Curiosities of London, p. 815.

[23] See a document printed in full in The Academy, Oct. 13, 1877, p. 364.

[24] Rymer's Foedera, vol. ii. pt. iv. p. 23.

[25] Original Writs of Privy Seal in the Rolls House (Nicolas).

[26] Riley; Memorials of London, p. xxxiii.

[27] See The Athenæum, Dec. 13, 1873, p. 772; Nov. 19, 1892, p. 704; and The Academy, Oct. 13, 1877, p. 364. Perhaps his father's death enabled Chaucer to marry; he was married in 1366, or earlier.

[28] 'Bartholomeus atte chapel, ciuis et vinitarius Londinie, et Agnes, uxor eius, ac uxor quondam Johannis Chaucer, nuper ciuis et vinitarii dicte ciuitatis.'--Communicated to The Academy (as in note 27) by W. D. Selby.

[29] It is needless to multiply instances. Dante speaks of 35 years as being 'the middle of life's journey'; and Jean de Meun (Le Testament, ed. Méon, iv. 9) says that a man flourishes till he is 30 or 40 years old; after which he does nothing but languish (ne fait que langorir).

[30] Life-Records of Chaucer, p. 97 (Chaucer Soc.); Fortnightly Review, Aug. 15, 1866.

[31] Johnes, tr. of Froissart, bk. i. c. 206.

[32] The same, c. 207.

[33] Certainly not Retiers, near Rennes, in Brittany, more than 200 miles on the other side of Paris, as suggested by Sir H. Nicolas. Froissart mentions 'Rhetel' expressly. 'Detachments from the [English] army scoured the country.... Some of them went over the whole country of Rhetel;' bk. i. c. 208.

[34] The Athenæum, Nov. 22, 1873; p. 663. From the Wardrobe Book, 63/9, in the Record Office.

[35] He was lodging at Guillon, in Burgundy, from Ash-Wednesday (Feb. 18) until Mid-lent (March 12); Fr. bk. i. c. 210.

[36] This is well worth notice; it shews that it took several days to travel to Canterbury, even for a king who was anxious to return to his own land. In Froissart, bk. iv. c. 118, is an account of two knights who stopped at the same places. See Temp. Preface to the Cant. Tales, by F. J. Furnivall, p. 129.

[37] Johnes, tr. of Froissart, bk. i. c. 213.

[38] Johnes, tr. of Froissart, bk. i. c. 213. The Wyf of Bathe (see Cant. Tales, Prol. 465) once went on a pilgrimage to Boulogne. Chaucer probably did the same, viz. in the last week of October, 1360.

[39] Exchequer, Q. R. Wardrobe Accounts, 39/10; Life-Records, p. xvii.

[40] Rot. Pat. 40 Edw. III. p. 2, membrane 30. The title 'domicella camerae' implies that she was married; N. and Q., 8 S., iii. 355.

[41] Issue Rolls of the Exchequer, Mich., 42 Edw. III.; Nicolas, Note DD.

[42] This exception is incorrect. In the Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, (for 1370), p. 359, it is noted that Philippa Chaucer received 10 marks (i. e. for the whole year), on Nov. 7, 1370.

[43] Here Nicolas inserts 'like herself'; this assumes her identity with 'Philippe Chausy,' which seems to be right; see p. xxi.

[44] Issue Rolls of the Exchequer; Roll for Easter, 10 Ric. II.; Issue Roll, Mich., 44 Edw. III.; ed. Devon, 1835; p. 359.

[45] Writ of Privy Seal, dated March 10, 43 Edw. III., 1369. It mentions Philippa Chaucer, 'damoiselle,' and Philippa Pykart, 'veilleresse.' See Nicolas, life of Chaucer, Note EE.

[46] The Athenæum, Nov. 22, 1873; p. 663.

[47] Register of John of Gaunt, vol. i. fol. 159_b_; Notes and Queries, 7 Ser., v. 289; Trial-Forewords, p. 129.

[48] The same, vol. i. fol. 195_b_; N. and Q., 7 S., v. 289.

[49] The same, fol. 90; N. and Q. (as above).

[50] Issue Roll, Easter, 50 Edw. III.; N. and Q. (as in note 48).

[51] Register of John of Gaunt, vol. ii. foll. 33_b_, 49, 61; Nicolas, Note DD.

[52] Issue Roll, Mich., 8 Ric II., Sept. 20.

[53] Rymer's Foedera, new ed.; vol. iii. p. 829. (G.)

[54] Issue Rolls of the Exchequer; Michaelmas, 42 Edw. III. (1367); Easter, 42 Edw. III. (1368); see Nicolas, Notes B and C. On Nov. 6, 1367, it is expressly noted that he received his pension himself (per manus proprias).

[55] Issue Rolls; Michaelmas, 43 Edw. III. (Nicolas.)

[56] Rymer's Foedera; vol. iii. p. 845. The names of many of those who accompanied the Duke are printed in the same volume, pp. 842-4; but the name of Chaucer is not among them.

[57] The Athenæum, Nov. 29, 1873; p. 698. Exch. L. T. R. Wardrobe, 43 Edw. III. Box A. no. 8. (Ch. Soc., Trial-Forewords, p. 129).

[58] Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe, 64/3; leaf 16, back. See The Athenæum, Nov. 22, 1873, p. 663. A similar entry occurs in 1372; and again in 1373.

[59] Exch. Q. R. Wardrobe, 40/9. (Ch. Soc., Trial-Forewords, p. 129).

[60] Rot. Pat. 44 Edw. III. p. 2. m. 20. (G.)

[61] Issue Rolls of Thomas de Brantingham, 44 Edw. III., ed. F. Devon, 1835; p. 289.

[62] The same; p. 19.

[63] Issue Rolls, 45-47 Edw. III.

[64] The Athenæum, Nov. 22, 1873; p. 663.

[65] Rot. Franc. 46 Edw. III. m. 8. (G.) See Rymer's Foedera, new edition, vol. iii. p. 964.

[66] Issue Roll, Michaelmas, 47 Edw. III., 1373. See Nicolas, Note D. In this document Chaucer is called 'armiger.'

[67] Issue Roll, Michaelmas, 48 Edw. III., 1374. See Nicolas, Note E. The Foreign Accounts, 47 Edw. III. roll 3, include Chaucer's accounts for this journey from Dec. 1, 1372, to May 23, 1373.

[68] The same.

[69] Much of Sir H. Nicolas's argument against this reasonable supposition is founded on the assertion that Chaucer was 'not acquainted with Italian'; which is now known to be the reverse of the truth. He even urges that not a single Italian word occurs in Chaucer's writings, whereas it would have been absurd for him to use words which his readers could not understand. Nevertheless, we find mention of a '_ducat_ in Venyse'; Ho. Fame, 1348.

[70] Rot. Pat., 48 Edw. III., p. i. m. 20. (G.) See Rymer's Foedera, new ed. vol. iii. p. 1001.

[71] Writ of Privy Seal (in French); 18 Apr. 1 Ric. II. (1378); see Nicolas, Note K.

[72] Memorials of London, ed. Riley, p. 377. See § 26 below, p. xxxviii.

[73] Rot. Pat., 48 Edw. III., p. 1. m. 7, in Turri Londinensi; see Foedera, new ed. vol. iii. p. 1004. (G.)

[74] Rot. Pat., 49 Edw. III., p. 2. m. 8.

[75] Calendarium Inquisitionum post Mortem, 46 Edw. III. no. 58.

[76] Rot. Claus., 1 Ric. II., m. 45. (G.) The petition, in French, is printed in full in Liber Custumarum, ed. Riley, ii. 466.

[77] Rot. Pat. 49 Edw. III., p. 2. m. 4. (G.) Calend. Inquis. post Mortem, 49 Edw. III., part 2, no. 40. A solidate of land is supposed to be a quantity of land (Blount suggests 12 acres) yielding 1s. of yearly rent. _Sole_ means 'a pond'; see Pegge's Kenticisms. Soles is the name of a manor in Bonnington, not far from Chillenden, about half-way between Canterbury and Deal.

[78] Issue Roll, Mich., 50 Edw. III.

[79] Receiver's Accounts in the Office of the Duchy of Lancaster, from Mich. 1376 to Mich. 1377; see Nicolas, Note F.

[80] Rot. Pat., 50 Edw. III., p. i. m. 5. (G.)

[81] Issue Roll, Mich., 51 Edw. III.; see Nicolas, Note G.

[82] Rot. Franc., 51 Edw. III., m. 7. (G.)

[83] Issue Roll, Mich., 51 Edw. III.; see Nicolas, Note H.

[84] Issue Roll, Easter, 51 Edw. III.; Nicolas, Note I; Trial-Forewords, p. 131.

[85] Rymer's Foedera, new ed., vol. iii. p. 1073 (in French).

[86] The same, p. 1076 (in French).

[87] Rot. Franc., 51 Edw III., m. 5. (G.)

[88] Issue Roll, Easter, 51 Edw. III. 'Galfrido Chaucer armigero regis misso in nuncium in secretis negociis domini Regis versus partes Francie.' See Nicolas, Note I.

[89] In 1377, Easter fell on March 29, Ash Wednesday on Feb. 11, and Shrove Tuesday on Feb. 10.

[90] Wardrobe Accounts of 50 and 51 Edw. III. (Nicolas).

[91] The same.

[92] Rymer's Foedera, vol. vii. p. 184.

[93] Fine Roll, 1 Ric. II., pt. 2. m. 11; Athenæum, May 26, 1888, p. 661.

[94] This appears from the Patent of May 1, 1388, by which Chaucer's pensions were assigned to John Scalby; see Rot. Pat., 11 Ric. II., pt. 2. m. 1.

[95] Rot. Pat., 11 Ric. II., pt. 2. m. 1 (as in the last note); Writ of Privy Seal (in French), Apr. 18, 1 Ric. II. (see Nicolas, Note K); Issue Roll, Easter, 1 Ric. II. (May 14; see Nicolas, Note L).

[96] Issue Roll, Easter, 1 Ric. II., (as above).

[97] Rot. Franc., 1 Ric. II., pt. 2. m. 6.

[98] The same; see Nicolas, Note M.

[99] Issue Roll, Easter, 1 Ric. II.; Trial-Forewords, p. 131; Nicolas, Note L.

[100] Issue Roll, Mich., 2 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Note N.

[101] Issue Roll, Easter, 2 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Note O.

[102] Issue Roll, Mich. 3 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Note P.

[103] The same; Easter, 3 Ric. II.; see the same, Note Q.

[104] The same; 4 Ric. II.; see the same, Note R.

[105] The Athenæum, Nov. 29, 1873, p. 698. From the Close Roll of 3 Ric. II. And see the whole matter discussed at length in Trial-Forewords, pp. 136-144 (Ch. Soc.).

[106] Issue Roll, 4 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Note R; Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, 1837, p. 315.

[107] Godwin's Life of Chaucer, iv. 284.

[108] Thynne's Animadversions, &c., ed. F. J. Furnivall, p. 12, note 2; cf. The Athenæum, Nov. 29, 1873, p. 698.

[109] Issue Roll, Mich., 5 Ric. II.; see Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser. viii. 367.

[110] Rot. Pat., 5 Ric. II., pt. 2. m. 15. (G.)

[111] For these payments, see Issue Roll, Easter, 5 Ric. II.; in Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser. viii. 367.

[112] Issue Rolls, Easter, 5 and 6 Ric. II.; see N. and Q. (as above).

[113] Issue Roll, Mich., 7 Ric. II.; _ib._ It was usual to make up accounts at Michaelmas; which may explain 'the year late elapsed.'

[114] Issue Roll, Easter, 7 Ric. II.; _ib._

[115] Rot. Claus., 8 Ric. II., m. 30. (G.)

[116] Notes and Queries, 3 S. viii. 368; The Athenæum, Apr. 14, 1888; p. 468.

[117] The Athenæum, Jan. 28, 1888; p. 116.

[118] Rot. Pat., 8 Ric. II., p. 2. m. 31. (G.)

[119] Issue Roll, Easter, 8 Ric. II.; see Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser. viii. 368.

[120] 'Ful ofte tyme he was knight of the shire'; Cant. Ta., A 356. It was usual, but not necessary, for such knights to reside within their county (Nicolas, Note S).

[121] Rot. Claus., 10 Ric. II., m. 16 d.

[122] See Annals of England, Oxford, 1876; p. 206. Sir Nicholas Brembre had been Lord Mayor of London for the three preceding years, 1383-5.

[123] Printed in Godwin's Life of Chaucer; in The Scrope and Grosvenor Roll, ed. Nicolas, i. 178; and in Moxon's Chaucer, p. xiii.

[124] An error for Rethel, near Rheims; see above, footnote 33.

[125] Letter-book in the Guildhall, discovered by Prof. Hales; see The Academy, Dec. 6, 1879, p. 410, and Hales, Folia Litteraria, p. 87. In Riley's Memorials of London, p. 469, is recorded a resolution by the corporation to let no more houses situated over a city-gate.

[126] Rot. Pat., 10 Ric. II., p. 1. m. 5 and m. 9. Perhaps this new Controller was a descendant of the Henry Gisors who was Sheriff of London in 1328.

[127] It was once a fashion to ascribe his misfortunes to the part he was supposed to have taken with respect to a quarrel in 1384 between the court party and the citizens of London regarding John of Northampton, who had been Mayor in 1382. There is no evidence whatever to shew that Chaucer had anything to do with it, beyond an unauthorised and perhaps false interpretation of certain obscure passages in a piece called _The Testament of Love_, which (as is now known) he certainly did not write!

[128] Issue Roll, Easter, 10 Ric. II.

[129] Issue Rolls, Easter, 10 Ric. II.; Mich, and Easter, 11 Ric. II.

[130] Rot. Pat., 11 Ric. II., p. 2. m. 1. (G.) Nicolas remarks that a John Scalby, of Scarborough in Yorkshire, was one of the persons of that town who were excepted from the king's pardon for insurrection in October, 1382; Rot. Parl. vol. iii. p. 136. (Scalby is the name of a village near Scarborough.)

[131] Cf. 'at Eltham or at Shene'; Leg. Good Women, 497; but this passage is of an earlier date.

[132] Rot. Pat., 13 Ric. II., p. 1. m. 30. (G.)

[133] The Athenæum, Jan. 28, 1888; p. 116; Trial-Forewords, p. 133.

[134] Originalia, 13 Ric. II, m. 30; Trial-Forewords, p. 133.

[135] The Athenæum, Feb. 7, 1874; p. 196.

[136] Collinson, Hist, of Somersetshire, iii. 54-74; The Athenæum, Nov. 20, 1886, p. 672; Life-Records (Chaucer Soc.), p. 117.

[137] Rot. Pat., 14 Ric. II., m. 33; Issue Roll, Easter, 13 Ric. II. (G.); Trial-Forewords, p. 133.

[138] The Athenæum, Feb. 7 and 14, 1874, pp. 196, 227; Life-Records (Ch. Soc.), p. 5.

[139] Rot. Pat., 14 Ric. II., p. 2. m. 24: 'quem dilectus serviens noster Galfridus Chaucer clericus operationum nostrarum sub se deputavit'; &c. 'Clericus' is here literal; 'clerk' of the works.

[140] Afterwards Sheriff of London, viz. in 1417-8 (Fabyan).

[141] Archæologia, vol. xxxiv. 45.

[142] Rot. Pat., 15 Ric. II., p. 1, m. 27; see Godwin, Life of Chaucer, iv. 67.

[143] Issue Rolls, Mich. and Easter, 15 Ric. II.; and Easter, 16 Ric. II.

[144] Rot. Pat., 17 Ric. II., pt. 2. m. 35; printed in full in Godwin's Life of Chaucer, and again in Furnivall's Trial-Forewords to the Minor Poems, p. 26.

[145] Issue Roll, Mich., 18 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Note U.

[146] Issue Rolls, Mich. and Easter, 18 Ric. II., and Mich., 19 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Notes U, V, and W.

[147] Rot. Claus., 19 Ric. II. m. 8 d.

[148] Issue Roll, Mich., 21 Ric. II. See Nicolas, Note X.

[149] Issue Roll, Mich., 21 Ric. II. See Nicolas, Note X.

[150] The Athenæum, Sept. 13, 1879; p. 338.

[151] Rot. Pat., 21 Ric. II., p. 3. m. 26. (G.)

[152] Issue Roll, Easter, 21 Ric. II. See Nicolas, Note Y.

[153] The Athenæum, Jan. 28, 1888; p. 116.

[154] Rot. Pat., 22 Ric. I., p. 1. m. 8. (G.)

[155] Issue Roll, Mich., 22 Ric. II.; see Nicolas, Note Z.

[156] Rot. Pat., 1 Hen. IV., p. 1. m. 18; and p. 5. m. 12. (G.)

[157] See Issue Roll, Easter, 1 Hen. IV.; in Nicolas, Note BB.

[158] Godwin, Life of Chaucer, iv. 365, where the document is printed; Hist. MSS. Commission, i. 95.

[159] Issue Roll, Mich., 1 Hen IV.; see Nicolas, Note AA.

[160] Issue Roll, Easter, 1 Hen. IV.; see Nicolas, Note BB.

[161] Stowe's Survey of London, ed. Thoms, p. 171; Nicolas, Life of Chaucer.

[162] Rot. Pat., 1 Hen. IV., p. 1. m. 10.

[163] Rot. Pat., 4 Hen. IV., m. 19; Rot. Parl. iv. 178 b.

[164] Rot. Pat., 12 Hen. IV., m. 34.

[165] Rot. Norman., 5 Hen. V., m. 7; ed. 1835, p. 284.

[166] Rot. Parl. vol. iv. p. 35.

[167] Rot. Pat., 12 Hen. IV., m. 7.

[168] It actually begins by quoting two lines from the Knightes Tale, A 1785-6; so it is later than 1386. There is at least one non-Chaucerian rime, viz. at l. 61, where _gren-e_ (dissyllabic in Chaucer) rimes with the pp. _been_. See p. 39 below.

[169] The seal has lately been re-examined by experts, after application to the Record Office by Dr. Furnivall. See Archæologia, xxxiv. 42, where an engraving of the seal is (inexactly) given, and the deed is printed at length.

[170] Collinson, Hist. of Somersetshire, iii. 54-74; Life-Records, p. 117.

[171] MS. in Lincoln College, p. 377, quoted in Chalmers' English Poets, vol. i. p. x; Letter by Prof. Hales to the Athenæum, Mar. 31, 1888; Hales, Folia Litteraria, p. 109; Lounsbury, Studies, i. 108.

[172] So says Nicolas; 'evidently' means that such is the most likely explanation. The O. F. _roe_ (Lat. _rota_) means 'a wheel'; and _roet_ is its diminutive.

[173] She is described as 'the most renowned Lady Katherine de Roelt [error for Roet or Roett] deceased, late Duchess of Lancaster,' and as having had 'divers inheritances in the county of Hainault,' in Rot. Pat., 13 Hen. IV., p. 1. m. 35; see Rymer's Foedera, viii. 704, and the Account of the Swynford family in the Excerpta Historica, p. 158. Nicolas, Note CC.

[174] This seems to be the sole trace of Sir Payne Roet's existence.

[175] The Testament of Love was greatly relied upon by Godwin and others. They thence inferred that Chaucer was mixed up with the dispute as to the appointment of John of Northampton to the mayoralty of London in 1382; that he was imprisoned; that he fled to Zealand; that he was in exile for two years; that, on his return, he was sent to the Tower for three years, and not released till 1389; with more rubbish of the same sort. However, it so happens that Chaucer did not write this piece (see p. 35, note 4). More than this, I have lately discovered that the initial letters of the chapters form an acrostic, which reads thus: MARGARET OF VIRTW, HAVE MERCI ON TSKNVI. The last word may be an anagram for KITSVN, i. e. Kitson; it is certainly not an anagram for Chaucer. See my letter in The Academy, Mar. 11, 1893, p. 222.

[176] Sir H. Nicolas says that some have inferred that Chaucer was living near Oxford in 1391, and refers to Ast. prol. 7, which mentions 'oure orizonte.' We are not justified in drawing such an inference.

[177] Prof. Lounsbury includes H. F. 995, where the poet declines to be taught astronomy (under the most uncomfortable circumstances) because he is 'too old.' Any man of thirty (or less) might have said the same; the passage tells us nothing at all.

[178] Sir H. Nicolas says that, in L. G. W. 189, he alludes to his poem called The Flower and the Leaf. But that poem is not his, though its title was doubtless suggested by the expressions which Chaucer there uses.

[179] Mr. Wright printed his text from MS. Reg. D. vi. Dr. Furnivall gives these passages from MS. Harl. 4866, in his edition of Hoccleve's Minor Poems, p. xxxi. I give a corrected text, due to a collation of these copies, with very slight alterations.

[180] _Or_, and lerned lyte or naught (MS. Harl. 4866).

[181] _So_ Harl.; Reg. Of rethoryk fro vs; to Tullius.

[182] _Both_ MSS. _have_ hyer (= higher); _an obvious error for_ heyr (= heir).

[183] I think not; it is too short. I take it to be a small pen-knife in a sheath; useful for making erasures. So Todd, Illustrations of Chaucer, s. v. _Anelace_; Fairholt, on Costume in England, s. v. _Knives_.

[184] I see no reason for placing this after 1372; surely ll. 36-56 (from Dante) are a later insertion. Observe 'us wrecches' in G. 32, and 'Me wrecche' in G. 58. These parallel lines must (I think) have once been in closer proximity.

[185] It is not very likely that he ever _finished_ his translation, when we consider his frequent habit of leaving his works incomplete, and the enormous length of the French text (22074 lines in Méon's edition).

[186] By the spelling _malady(e)_, I mean that the word must be pronounced _malady_ in the text, whereas the Chaucerian form is _malady-ë_ in four syllables. And so in other cases.

[187] Doubtless the author meant to employ the form _quoynt_ or _coint_; but Chaucer has _queynt_, Cant. Ta. A 2333, G 752.

[188] _Courtepy_ rimes with _sobrely_; Cant. Ta. prol. 289.

[189] As to _awry_ (or _awry-e_?), we have little evidence beyond the present passage.

[190] _Enemy_ rimes with _I_, Cant. Ta. A 1643, _royally_, id. 1793; &c.

[191] As it is the natural instinct of many critics to claim for themselves even small discoveries, I note that this paragraph was written in July, 1891, and that the curious, but not very important fact above announced, was first noticed by me some three months previously.

[192] The calculation is as follows. A quire of 16 pages, at 24 lines a page, contains 384 lines. Three such quires contain about 1152 lines, which, added to 5810 (in A and B), bring us to l. 6962 (say, 6964). In the fourth quire, if A, B, C, &c., be successive pages, these pages contained the lines following. A, 6965-6988; B, 6989-7012; C, 7013-36; D, 7037-60; E, 7061-84; F, 7085-7108; G (25 lines), 7109-33; H (25 lines), 7134-7158; I (25 lines), 7159-7183; K (25 lines), 7184-7208; L, 7209-32; M, 7233-56; N, 7257-80; O, 7281-7304; P, 7305-28; Q, 7329-52.

[193] I have been greatly assisted in this matter by D. Donaldson, Esq., who gave me some beautifully executed photographic copies of three pages of the MS., which I have shewn to many friends, including Mr. Bond and Mr. Thompson at the British Museum.

[194] The allusion to prince Edward, 'son of the lord of Windsor' (see note to l. 1250), is not in all the copies; so it may have been added afterwards. Edward I. was not born till 1239.

[195] Some copies are dated 1814; but I can detect no difference in them, except that the later copies have an additional frontispiece.

[196] The Legend of Good Women is here meant: and 'xxv.' is certainly an error for 'xix.'

[197] Printed _separately_ in the present edition, in vol. iii.

[198] Of course I mean that _dy-e_ is the Chaucerian form; the author of the Lamentation pronounced it differently, viz. as _dy_.

[199] See the excellent treatise by Dr. E. Köppel entitled 'Laurents de Premierfait und John Lydgates Bearbeitungen von Boccaccios De Casibus Virorum Illustrium'; München, 1885.

[200] Not Ovid, but Statius; Lydgate makes a slip here; see note to IV. 245.

[201] In Lydgate's Lyfe of St. Albon, ed. Hortsmann, l. 15, this line appears in the more melodious form--'The golden trumpet of the House of Fame.'

[202] Hoccleve's poem entitled 'Moder of God' is erroneously attributed to Chaucer in two Scottish copies (Arch. Seld. B 24, and Edinb. 18. 2. 8). But it occurs among 16 poems, _all_ by Hoccleve, in a MS. in the collection of the late Sir Thos. Phillipps, as already noted in § 1 above. A few of these poems (_not_ including the 'Moder of God') were printed from this MS. in the edition of some of 'Occleve's Poems' by G. Mason, in 1796.

[203] Printed 'Six couplets'; clearly a slip of the pen.

[204] They are printed in full below, on p. 46.

[205] i. e. the Parliament of Foules.

[206] La Belle Dame sans Merci, a poem translated from the French originally written by 'Maister Aleyn,' chief secretary to the King of France. Certainly not by Chaucer; for Alain Chartier, the author of the original French poem, was only about _four_ years old when Chaucer died. Moreover, it is now known that the author of the English poem was Sir Richard Ros. See p. 35, note 2.

[207] All in Caxton's edition of the Minor Poems, described above, p. 27.

[208] Both in the small quarto volume described above, p. 27.

[209] Speght added _three more_ pieces, but they are also found in ed. 1550 and ed. 1542, at the end of the Table of Contents; see below, p. 45, nos. 66-8.

[210] Jack Upland is _in prose_, and in the form of a succession of questions directed against the friars.

[211] I have often made use of a handy edition with the following titlepage: 'The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, with an Essay on his Language and Versification and an Introductory Discourse, together with Notes and a Glossary. By Thomas Tyrwhitt. London, Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1855.' I cannot but think that this title-page may have misled others, as it for a long time misled myself. As a fact, Tyrwhitt never edited anything beyond the Canterbury Tales, though he has left us some useful notes upon the Minor Poems, and his Glossary covers the whole ground. The Minor Poems in this edition are merely _reprinted_ from the black-letter editions.

[212] Probably copies slightly differ. The book described by me is a copy in my own possession, somewhat torn at the beginning, and imperfect at the end. But the three missing leaves only refer to Lydgate's _Storie of Thebes_.

[213] I print _in italics_ the names of the pieces which I reject as spurious. In the case of _The Romaunt of the Rose_, the first 1705 lines are genuine; but the rest, which is spurious, is more than three-fourths of the whole. See p. 1 above.

[214] I. e. the folios are misnumbered. Piece 8 begins with fol. ccxliiii, which is followed by ccxlvj (_sic_), ccxli (_sic_), ccxli (_repeated_), ccxlii, and ccxliii; which brings us to 'ccxliiii' over again.

[215] Marked Fol. cclxxvj by mistake.

[216] Nos. 28-30 are in no previous edition.

[217] Stowe did not observe that this had occurred already, in the midst of poem no. 33.

[218] Miscalled Fol. cccxxxix. Also, the next folio is called cccxlviij., after which follows cccxlix., and so on.

[219] In the Preface to Morris's Chaucer, p. x, we are told that the editor took his copy of this poem from Thynne's edition of 1532. This is an oversight; for it does not occur there; Stowe's edition is meant.

[220] 'Thomas Occleve mentions it himself, as one of his own compositions, in a _Dialogue_ which follows his _Complaint_, MS. Bodley 1504.'--Tyrwhitt.

[221] See Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 52. Cf. _Englische Studien_, x. 206.

[222] I have found the reference. It is Shirley who says so, in a poetical 'introduction'; see MS. Addit. 16165, fol. 3.

[223] It runs thus:--'Quod loue, I shall tel thee, this lesson to learne, myne owne true seruaunte, the noble Philosophicall Poete in Englishe, which euermore hym busieth & trauaileth right sore, my name to encrease, wherefore all that willen me good, owe to doe him worship and reuerence both; truly his better ne his pere, in schole of my rules, coud I neuer finde: He, quod she, in a treatise that he made of my seruaunt Troilus, hath this matter touched, & at the full this question [_of predestination_] assoiled. Certainly his noble saiyngs can I not ame_n_d; in goodness of ge_n_til ma_n_lich spech, without any maner of nicitie of starieres (_sic_) imaginacion, in wit and in good reason of sentence, he passeth al other makers'; ed. 1561. (Read _storieres_, story-writer's.)

[224] Hoccleve appeals to St. Margaret, in his Letter of Cupid, st. 6 from the end. Lydgate wrote 'the Lyfe of St. Margarete.' I have a strong feeling that the poem is one of Lydgate's. Lines 24-26 seem to be imitated from Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, ll. 197-9.

[225] I leave this sentence as I wrote it in 1888; shortly afterwards, the attribution of no. 57 to Chaucer received confirmation from a note in the Phillipps MS. See p. 75.

[226] There is another copy of The Craft of Lovers in MS. Harl. 2251. It is there dated 1459.

[227] _I. e._ Joan of Navarre, who was married to Henry IV in 1403.

[228] A good French _Virelai_ is one by Eustace Deschamps, ed. Tarbé, 1849; i. 25.

[229] See remarks on this poem in _The New English_, by T. L. Kington Oliphant, i. 402.

[230] It is much to be regretted that Prof. Morley, in his new edition of his English Writers, still clings to the notion of 'the Court of Love' being Chaucer's. It is sufficient to say that, after 1385, Chaucer's poems are of a far higher order, especially as regards correctness of idiom and rhythm. Our knowledge of the history of the English language has made some advance of late years, and it is no longer possible to ignore all the results of linguistic criticism.

[231] A great peculiarity of this poem is the astonishing length, of the sentences. Many of them run to fifty lines or more. As to the MS., see Thynne's _Animadversions_, ed. Furnivall, 1875, p. 30. A second MS. is now in the British Museum (Addit. 10303), also written about 1550.

[232] The authoress had an eye for colour, and some knowledge, one would think, of heraldry. There is a tinsel-like glitter about this poem which gives it a flashy attractiveness, in striking contrast to the easy grace of Chaucer's workmanship. In the same way, the authoress of 'The Assembly of Ladies' describes the colours of the dresses of the characters, and, like the authoress of 'The Flower and the Leaf,' quotes occasional scraps of French.

[233] _Plesir_ may be meant, but Chaucer does not use it; he says _plesaunce_.

[234] It is so termed in a table of contents in MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 15, which (as noted on p. 45) contains _all three_ of the pieces here numbered 66, 67, and 68.

[235] The copy of no. XXI. in MS. Fairfax 16 has not been printed. I made a transcript of it myself. There is another unprinted copy in MS. Harl. 7578. I also copied out nos. XII., XXII., XXIII.

[236] Called 'Cm.' in the footnotes to vol. iv.

[237] There are _two_ copies in MS. P.; they may be called P 1 and P 2.

[238] I make but little use of the copies in the second group.

[239] Two copies; may be called T 1 and T 2.

[240] Two copies; F 1 and F 2. The copy in P. is unprinted.

[241] Two copies; P 1 and P 2.

[242] Also a Balade, beginning 'Victorious kyng,' printed in G. Mason's edition of Occleve, 1796; as well as _The Book of Cupid_, which is another name for the _Cuckoo and Nightingale_.

[243] Unless they were composed, as Shirley says, by one Halsham, and adopted by Lydgate as _subjects_ for new poems; see pp. 48, 57.

[244] i. e. in the ballad-measure, or 7-line stanzas.

[245] One page of this, in Shirley's writing, has been reproduced in facsimile for the Chaucer Society.

[246] This page has been reproduced, in facsimile, for the Chaucer Society.

[247] It is also twice attributed to Chaucer in MS. P.

[248] I follow the account in Morley's _English Writers_, 1867, ii. 204; the name is there given as de Guilevile; but M. Paul Meyer writes De Deguilleville.

[249] Morley says 1330; a note in the Camb. MS. Ff. 6. 30 says 1331.

[250] Edited by Mr. W. Aldis Wright for the Roxburghe Club in 1869; see p. 164 of that edition. And see a note in Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, 1871, vol. iii. p. 67.

[251] See Furnivall's Trial Forewords, pp. 13-15, and p. 100, for further information.

[252] The initial _E_ stands for _et_. See next note.

[253] The initial _C_ stands for _cetera_. It was usual to place _&c._ (= _et cetera_) at the end of the alphabet.

[254] Chaucer speaks of writing _compleintes_; Cant. Ta. 11260 (F. 948).

[255] Cf. 'this eight yere'; _Book of the Duchesse_, 37.

[256] 'Philippa Chaucer was a lady of the bedchamber, and therefore married, in 1366'; N. and Q. 7 S. v. 289.

[257] But Ten Brink (_Sprache und Verskunst_, p. 174) dates it about 1370-1372.

[258] 'O ye _Herines_, nightes doughtren three'; _Troilus_, last stanza of the invocation in bk. iv.

[259] Most of the passages which he quotes are not extant in the English version of the Romaunt. Where we can institute a comparison between that version and the Book of the Duchess, the passages are differently worded. Cf. B. Duch. 420, with R. Rose, 1393.

[260] i. e. _y-treted_, treated.

[261] See l. 647. The royal tercel eagle is, then, Richard II; and the formel eagle is Queen Anne; the other two tercel eagles were her other two suitors. See Froissart, bk. ii. c. 86.

[262] Rather, 1382. Ch. could not have _foretold_ a year's delay.

[263] It is quite impossible that the poem can refer, as some say, to the marriage of John of Gaunt in 1359, or even to that of de Coucy in 1364; see Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 70. It is plainly much later than the Book of the Duchess, as the internal evidence incontestably shews.

[264] I leave the remarks upon this poem as I first wrote them in 1888. Very soon afterwards, Dr. Furnivall actually _found_ the ascription of the poem to Chaucer in MS. Phillipps 9053. I think this proves that I know how to estimate internal evidence aright. MS. Phillips 9053 also completes the poem, by contributing an additional stanza, which, in MS. Harl. 78, has been torn away.

[265] mix.

[266] fleeces.

[267] hushed, silent.

[268] rewards.

[269] shed.

[270] dug.

[271] lumps.

[272] See Todd, Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 116; and see above, pp. 55, 56.

[273] The critics who brush aside such a statement as this should learn to look at MSS. for themselves. The make-up of this MS. shews that it is essentially a Chaucer-Lydgate MS.; and Merciless Beautee is not Lydgate's. To weigh the evidence of a MS., it must be personally inspected by such as have had some experience.

[274] Middle-English roundels are very scarce. I know of one by Hoccleve, printed by Mason in 1796, and reprinted in Todd's _Illustrations_, p. 372; and there is a poor one by Lydgate, in Halliwell's edition of his Minor Poems, p. 10. Two more (one being by Lydgate) are given in Ritson, _Anc. Songs_, i. 128, 129.

[275] I do _not_ think, as some have guessed, that 'Tregentil Chaucer' means 'Tres gentil Chaucer.' Those who think so had better look at the MS. I see no sense in it; nor do I know why _tres_ should be spelt _tre_.

[276] A similar note was made in MS. Cotton, Otho. A. xviii., now destroyed. Todd printed the poem from this MS. in his Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 131; it belongs to the 'first group.'

[277] high head.

[278] admonishes.

[279] weighed down.

[280] The poem must have been written not many years before 1413, the date of the accession of Henry V. In 1405, the ages of the princes were 17, 16, 15, and 14 respectively. Shirley's title to the poem was evidently written after 1415, as John was not created Duke of Bedford until that year.

[281] See Furnivall's edition of Borde's Introduction of Knowledge, E. E. T. S., 1870. At p. 31 of the Forewords, the editor says there is no evidence for attributing 'Scoggins Iests' to Borde.

[282] Froissart, bk. iv. c. 105 (Johnes' translation).

[283] See Johnes' translation of Froissart, 1839; ii. 612-7.

[284] It would be decent, on the part of such critics as do _not_ examine the MSS., to speak of my opinions in a less contemptuous tone.

[285] Unless, which is more probable, the _Parliament of Foules_ reproduces, nearly, two lines from the present poem.