Chapter VII: Part I: It would be a gross libel to ascribe this poem to Chaucer, as it is (1)

very poor, and contains execrable rimes (such as _prysoun_, _bycome_; _apply-e_, _pyte_; _thee_, _dy-e_). But we may easily see that the title is likely to give rise to a misconception. It does not really mean that the _poem itself_ is by Chaucer, but that it gives a brief epitome of the 'Cronicle made by Chaucier' of 'the nyene worshipfullest Ladyes.' And, in fact, it does this. Each stanza briefly describes one of the nine women celebrated in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women. It is sufficient to add that the author makes a ludicrous mistake, which is quite enough to acquit Chaucer of having had any hand in this wholly valueless production; for he actually addresses 'quene Alceste' as sorrowing for 'Seyse her husbande.' _Seyse_ is Chaucer's _Ceyx_, and _Alceste_ is the author's comic substitution for _Alcyone_; see Book of the Duchess, l. 220. This is not a fault of the scribe; for _Alceste_ rimes with _byheste_, whereas _Alcione_ does not. I much suspect that Shirley wrote this poem _himself_. His verses, in MS. Addit. 16165, are very poor.

TN. (Tanner 346) is a fair MS. of the 15th century, and contains, besides six of the Minor Poems, the _Legend of Good Women_, Hoccleve's _Letter of Cupid_ (called _litera Cupidinis dei Amoris directa subditis suis Amatoribus_), the _Cuckoo and Nightingale_ (called the _god of loue_), Lydgate's _Temple of Glas_ and _Black Knight_, &c. One of them is the Ballad no. 32 discussed above (p. 40). At fol. 73 is a poem in thirteen 8-line stanzas, beginning 'As ofte as syghes ben in herte trewe.' One stanza begins with these lines:--

'As ofte tymes as Penelapye
Renewed her werk in the _raduore_,' &c.

I quote this for the sake of the extremely rare Chaucerian word spelt _radevore_ in the Legend of Good Women. The same line occurs in another copy of the same poem in MS. Ff., fol. 12, back.

AR. (Arch. Seld. B. 24) is a Scottish MS., apparently written in 1472, and contains, amongst other things, the unique copy of the _Kingis Quair_, by James I. of Scotland. This is the MS. wherein the scribe attributes pieces to Chaucer quite recklessly: see p. 47. It is also the authority for the pieces called _Prosperity_ and _Leaulte vault Richesse_. Here, once more, we find the _Letter of Cupid_ and the _Cuckoo and Nightingale_; it is remarkable how often these poems occur in the same MS. It also contains _Troilus_ and the _Legend of Good Women_.

D. (Digby 181) contains, besides two of the Minor Poems, an imperfect copy of Troilus; also the _Letter of Cupid_ and _Complaint of the Black Knight_. At fol. 52 is a piece entitled 'Here Bochas rep_re_uyth hem that yeue hasti credence to eu_er_y reporte or tale'; and it begins--'All-though so be in eu_er_y maner age'; in nineteen 7-line stanzas. This is doubtless a part of chapter 13 of Book I. of Lydgate's _Fall of Princes_.

R. (Rawlinson, Poet. 163) contains a copy of Chaucer's _Troilus_, followed by the _Balade to Rosemounde_. Both pieces are marked 'Tregentyll' or 'Tregentil' to the left hand, and 'Chaucer' to the right.

§ 16. CAMBRIDGE MSS.

FF. (Ff. 1. 6) contains, besides five of the Minor Poems, many other pieces. One is a copy of _Pyramus and Thisbe_, being part of the Legend of Good Women. There are four extracts from various parts of Gower's _Confessio Amantis_; the _Cuckoo and Nightingale_ and _Letter of Cupid_; the Romance of _Sir Degrevaunt_; _La Belle Dame sans Merci_. Some pieces from this MS. are printed in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 23, 169, 202; and two more, called _The Parliament of Love_ and _The Seven Deadly Sins_, are printed in Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall (E. E. T. S.), pp. 48, 215. We also find here a copy of Lydgate's _Ballad of Good Counsail_, printed in the old editions of Chaucer (piece no. 40; see above, p. 33).

GG. (Gg. 4. 27) is the MS. which contains so excellent a copy of the Canterbury Tales, printed as the 'Cambridge MS.' in the Chaucer Society's publications. Four leaves are lost at the beginning. On leaf 5 is Chaucer's _A. B. C._; on leaf 7, back, the _Envoy to Scogan_; and on leaf 8, back, Chaucer's _Truth_, entitled _Balade de bone conseyl_. This is followed by a rather pretty poem, in 15 8-line stanzas, which is interesting as quoting from Chaucer's _Parliament of Foules_. Examples are: '_Qui bien ayme tard oublye_' (l. 32; cf. P. F. 679): 'The fesaunt, scornere of the cok Be nihter-tyme in frostis colde' (ll. 49, 50; cf. P. F. 357); 'Than spak the frosty feldefare' (l. 89; cf. P. F. 364). Line 41 runs--'Robert redbrest and the wrenne'; which throws some light on the etymology of _robin_. This valuable MS. also contains _Troilus_ and the _Legend of Good Women_, with the unique earlier form of the Prologue; _The Parlement of Foules_; and Lydgate's _Temple of Glas_. At fol. 467 is a _Supplicacio amantis_, a long piece of no great value, but the first four lines give pretty clear evidence that the author was well acquainted with Chaucer's Anelida, and aspired to imitate it.

'Redresse of sorweful, O Cytherea,
That w_i_t_h_ the stremys of thy plesau_n_t hete
Gladist the cuntreis of al Cirrea,
Wher thou hast chosyn thy paleys and thy sete.'

It seems to be a continuation of the _Temple of Glas_, and is probably Lydgate's own.

HH. (Camb. Univ. Lib. Hh. 4. 12) contains much of Lydgate, and is fully described in the Catalogue.

P. (Pepys 2006) consists of 391 pages, and contains Lydgate's _Complaint of the Black Knight_, and _Temple of Glass_, part of the _Legend of Good Women_, the _A. B. C._, _House of Fame_, _Mars and Venus_ (two copies), _Fortune_, _Parlement of Foules_, _The Legend of the Three Kings of Cologne_, _The War between Caesar and Pompey_, _a Translation of parts of Cato_, _the Tale of Melibeus_ and _Parson's Tale_, _Anelida_, _Envoy to Scogan_, _A. B. C._ (again), _Purse_, _Truth_, and _Merciless Beauty_.

TRIN. (Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 3. 19) not only contains two of the Minor Poems, but a large number of other pieces, including the _Legend of Good Women_ and many of Lydgate's Poems. In particular, it is the source of most of Stowe's additions to Chaucer: I may mention _The Craft of Lovers_, dated 1448 in the MS. (fol. 156), but 1348 in Stowe; the _Ten Commandments of Love_, _Nine Ladies worthy_, _Virelai_ (fol. 160), _Balade_ beginning _In the seson of Feuerer_ (fol. 160), _Goddesses and Paris_ (fol. 161, back), _A balade plesaunte_ (fol. 205), _O Mossie Quince_ (fol. 205), _Balade_ beginning _Loke well aboute_ (fol. 207); and _The Court of Love_; see the pieces numbered 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, (p. 33). The piece numbered 41 also occurs here, at the end of the _Parliament of Foules_, and is headed 'Verba translatoris.' One poem, by G. Ashby, is dated 1463, and I suppose most of the pieces are in a handwriting of a later date, not far from 1500. It is clear that Stowe had no better reason for inserting pieces in his edition of Chaucer than their occurrence in this MS. to which he had access. If he had had access to any other MS. of the same character, the additions in his book would have been different, and _The Court of Love_ would never have been 'Chaucer's.' Yet this is the sort of evidence which some accept as being quite sufficient to prove that Chaucer learnt the language of a century after his own date, in order to qualify himself for writing that poem.

§ 17. LONDON MSS.

AD. (MS. Addit. 16165). One of Shirley's MSS., marked with his name in large letters. It contains a copy of Chaucer's _Boethius_; Trevisa's translation of the gospel of _Nichodemus_; the _Maistre of the game_ (on hunting); the _Compleint of the Black Knight_ and the _Dreme of a Lover_, both by Lydgate. The latter is the same poem, I suppose, as _The Temple of Glas_. It is here we learn from Shirley that the _Complaint of the Black Knight_ is Lydgate's. Not only is it headed, on some pages, as 'The complaynte of a knight made by Lidegate,' but on fol. 3 he refers to the same poem, speaking of it as being a complaint--

'al in balade[244],
That daun Iohan of Bury made,
Lydgate the Munk clothed in blakke.'

Here also we find two separate fragments of _Anelida_[245]; the two stanzas mentioned above (p. 52, l. 20), called by Shirley 'two verses made in wyse of balade by Halsham, Esquyer'; Chaucer's _Proverbs_; the poem no. 45 above (p. 33), attributed in this MS. to Lydgate; &c. At fol. 256, back, is the _Balade of compleynte_ printed in this volume as poem no. XXIII.

ADD. (MS. Addit. 22139). This is a fine folio MS., containing Gower's _Confessio Amantis_. At fol. 138 are Chaucer's _Purse_, _Gentilesse_, _Lak of Stedfastnesse_, and _Truth_.

AT. (MS. Addit. 10340). Contains Chaucer's _Boethius_ (foll. 1-40); also _Truth_, with the unique _envoy_, and the description of the 'Persone,' from the Canterbury Tales, on fol. 41, recto[246].

CT. (MS. Cotton, Cleopatra, D. 7). The Chaucer poems are all on leaves 188, 189. They are all ballads, viz. _Gentilesse_, _Lak of Stedfastness_, _Truth_, and _Against Women Unconstaunt_. All four are in the same hand; and we may remark that the last of the four is thus, in a manner, linked with the rest; see p. 58, l. 5, p. 26, l. 29.

H. (MS. Harl. 2251). Shirley's MS. contains a large number of pieces, chiefly by Lydgate. Also Chaucer's _Prioresses Tale_, _Fortune_ (fol. 46), _Gentilesse_ (fol. 48, back), _A. B. C._ (fol. 49), and _Purse_ (fol. 271). The _Craft of Lovers_ also occurs, and is dated 1459 in this copy. Poem no. 56 (p. 34) also occurs here, and is marked as Lydgate's. We also see from this MS. that the first four stanzas of no. 52 (p. 33) form part of a poem on the _Fall of Man_, in which _Truth_, _Mercy_, _Righteousness_, and _Peace_ are introduced as allegorical personages. The four stanzas form part of Mercy's plea, and this is why the word _mercy_ occurs ten times. At fol. 153, back (formerly 158, back), we actually find a copy of Henry Scogan's poem in which Chaucer's _Gentilesse_ is _not_ quoted, the requisite stanzas being entirely omitted. At fol. 249, back, Lydgate quotes the line 'this world is a thurghfare ful of woo,' and says it is from Chaucer's 'tragedyes.' It is from the Knightes Tale, l. 1989 (A 2847).

HA. (Harl. 7578). Contains Lydgate's _Proverbs_; Chaucer's _Pite_ (fol. 13, back), _Gentilesse_ and _Lak of Stedfastnesse_ (fol. 17), immediately followed by the _Balade against Women unconstaunt_, precisely in the place where we should expect to find it; also Chaucer's _Proverbs_, immediately followed by the wholly unconnected stanzas discussed above; p. 52, l. 20. At fol. 20, back, are six stanzas of Chaucer's _A. B. C._

HARL. (MS. Harl. 7333). This is a fine folio MS., and contains numerous pieces. At fol. 37, recto, begins a copy of the Canterbury Tales, with a short prose Proem by Shirley; this page has been reproduced in facsimile for the Chaucer Society. At fol. 129, back, begins the _Parliament of Foules_, at the end of which is the stanza which appears as poem no. 41 in Stowe's edition (see p. 33). Then follow the _Broche of Thebes_, i. e. the _Complaint of Mars_, and _Anelida_. It also contains some of the _Gesta Romanorum_ and of Hoccleve's _De Regimine Principum_. But the most remarkable thing in this MS. is the occurrence, at fol. 136, of a poem hitherto (as I believe) unprinted, yet obviously (in my opinion) written by Chaucer; see no. XXII. in the present volume. Other copies occur in F. and B.

SH. (MS. Harl. 78; one of Shirley's MSS.). At fol. 80 begins the _Complaint to Pity_; on fol. 82 the last stanza of this poem is immediately followed by the poem here printed as no. VI; the only mark of separation is a star-like mark placed upon the line which is drawn to separate one stanza from another. At the end of fol. 83, back, l. 123 of the poem occurs at the bottom of the page, and fol. 84 is gone; so that the last stanza of 10 lines and the ascription to Chaucer in the colophon do not appear in this MS.

MS. Harl. 372. This MS. contains many poems by Lydgate. Also a copy of _Anelida_; followed by _La Belle Dame sans mercy_, 'translatid out of Frenche by Sir Richard Ros,' &c.

MS. Lansdowne 699. This MS. contains numerous poems by Lydgate, such as _Guy of Warwick_, the _Dance of Macabre_, the _Horse, Sheep, and Goose_, &c.; and copies of Chaucer's _Fortune_ and _Truth_.

§ 18. I. A. B. C.

This piece was first printed in Speght's edition of 1602, with this title: 'Chaucer's A. B. C. called _La Priere de Nostre Dame_: made, as some say, at the Request of Blanch, Duchesse of Lancaster, as a praier for her priuat vse, being a woman in her religion very deuout.' This is probably a mere guess, founded on the fact that Chaucer wrote the Book of the Duchess. It cannot be literally true, because it is not strictly 'made,' or composed, but only translated. Still, it is just possible that it was _translated_ for her pleasure (rather than use); and if so, must have been written between 1359 and 1369. A probable date is about 1366. In any case, it may well stand first in chronological order, being a translation just of that unambitious character which requires no great experience. Indeed, the translation shews one mark of want of skill; each stanza begins by following the original for a line or two, after which the stanza is completed rather according to the requirements of rime than with an endeavour to render the original at all closely. There are no less than thirteen MS. copies of it; and its genuineness is attested both by Lydgate and Shirley.[247] The latter marks it with Chaucer's name in the Sion College MS. Lydgate's testimony is curious, and requires a few words of explanation.

Guillaume De Deguilleville, a Cistercian monk in the royal abbey of Chalis[248], in the year 1330 or 1331[249], wrote a poem entitled _Pèlerinage de la Vie humaine_. Of this there are two extant English translations, one in prose and one in verse, the latter being attributed to Lydgate. Of the prose translation[250] four copies exist, viz. in the MSS. which I call C., Gl., Jo., and L. In all of these, Chaucer's A. B. C. is inserted, in order to give a verse rendering of a similar prayer in verse in the original. Of Lydgate's verse translation there is a copy in MS. Cotton, Vitell. C. xiii. (see foll. 255, 256); and when he comes to the place where the verse prayer occurs in his original, he says that, instead of translating the prayer himself, he will quote Chaucer's translation, observing:--

'My mayster Chaucer, in hys tyme,
Affter the Frenchs he dyde yt ryme.'

Curiously enough, he does not do so; a blank space was left in the MS. for the scribe to copy it out, but it was never filled in[251]. However, it places the genuineness of the poem beyond doubt; and the internal evidence confirms it; though it was probably, as was said, quite an early work.

In order to illustrate the poem fully, I print beneath it the French original, which I copy from the print of it in Furnivall's _One-text Print of Chaucer's Minor Poems_, Part I. p. 84.

It is taken from Guillaume De Deguilleville's _Pèlerinage de l'Ame_, Part I, _Le Pèlerinage de la Vie humaine_. Edited from the MS. 1645, Fonds Français, in the National Library, Paris (A), and collated with the MSS. 1649 (B), 376 (C), and 377 (D), in the same collection, by Paul Meyer. I omit, however, the collations; the reader only wants a good text.

Chaucer did not translate the last two stanzas. I therefore give them _here_.

'Ethiques[252] s'avoie leü,
Tout recordé et tout sceü,
Et après riens n'en ouvrasse
Du tout seroie deceü. 280
Aussi con cil qui est cheü,
En sa rois et en sa nasse.
Vierge, m'ame je claim lasse,
Quar en toy priant se lasse
Et si ne fait point son deü.
Pou vault chose que je amasse;
Ma priere n'est que quasse
S'a bien je ne sui esmeü.

'Contre[253] moy doubt que ne prie
Ou que en vain merci ne crie. 290
Je te promet amandement;
Et pour ce que je ne nie
Ma promesse, je t'en lie
L'ame de moy en gaigement;
Puis si te pri finablement
Que quant sera mon finement
Tu ne me defailles mie:
Pour moy soies au jugement
Afin que hereditablement
J'aie pardurable vie. AMEN.' 300

MS. C. affords, on the whole, the best text, and is therefore followed, all variations from it being duly noted in the footnotes, except (occasionally) when _i_ is put for _y_, or _y_ for _i_. The scribes are very capricious in the use of these letters, using them indifferently; but it is best to use _i_ when the vowel is short (as a general rule), and _y_ when it is long. Thus, _it is_ is better than _yt ys_, and _wyse_ than _wise_, in order to shew that the vowel is long in the latter case. I also use _y_ at the end of a word, as usual; as in _lady_, _my_. When the spelling of the MS. is thus slightly amended, it gives a fair text, which can easily be read with the old and true pronunciation.

We may roughly divide the better MSS. into two sets, thus: (_a_) C. Gl. L. Jo.; (_b_) F. B. Gg. The rest I have not collated. See Koch, in Anglia, iv. b. 100.

The metre of this poem is worthy of notice. Chaucer uses it again, in the _Former Age_ (IX), _Lenvoy to Bukton_ (XVII), and in the _Monkes Tale_. More complex examples of it, with repeated rimes, are seen in the _Balade to Rosemounde_ (XII), _Fortune_ (X), and _Venus_ (XVIII). See also the two stanzas on p. 47.

§ 19. II. THE COMPLEYNT UNTO PITE.

The word _compleynt_ answers to the O. F. _complaint_, sb. masc., as distinguished from O. F. _complainte_, sb. fem., and was the technical name, as it were, for a love-poem of a mournful tone, usually addressed to the unpitying loved one. See Godefroy's Old French Dictionary[254]. Dr. Furnivall's account of this poem begins as follows: 'In seventeen 7-line stanzas: 1 of Proem, 7 of Story, and 9 of Complaint, arranged in three Terns [sets of three] of stanzas; first printed by Thynne in 1532.... The poem looks not easy to construe; but it is clearly a Complaint _to_ Pity, as 5 MSS. read, and not _of_ Pity, as Shirley reads in MS. Harl. 78. This Pity once lived in the heart of the loved-one of the poet.... But in his mistress's heart dwells also Pity's rival, Cruelty; and when the poet, after waiting many years[255], seeks to declare his love, even before he can do so, he finds that Pity for him is dead in his mistress's heart, Cruelty has prevailed, and deprived him of her.' His theory is, that this poem is Chaucer's earliest original work, and relates to his own feelings of hopeless love; also, that Chaucer was not married till 1374, when he married his namesake Philippa Chaucer[256]. If this be so, a probable conjectural date for this poem is about 1367. I have remarked, in the note to l. 14, that the allegory of the poem is somewhat confused; and this implies a certain want of skill and clearness, which makes the supposition of its being an early work the more probable[257]. It is extremely difficult to determine to what extent the sentiments are artificial. If a French poem of a similar character should one day be found, it would not be very surprising. Meanwhile, it is worth observing that the notion of personifying _Pity_ is taken from Chaucer's favourite author Statius; see the _Thebaid_, bk. xi. 458-496, and compare the context, ll. 1-457. It is this which enables us to explain the word _Herenus_ in l. 92, which is an error for _Herines_, the form used by Chaucer to denote the _Erinnyes_ or Furies[258]. The _Erinnyes_ are mentioned in Statius, _Theb._ xi. 345 (cf. ll. 58, 60, 383); and Statius leads up to the point of the story where it is an even chance whether there will be peace or war. The Furies urge on the combatants to war; and at this crisis, the only power who can overrule them is _Pietas_, personified by Statius for this express purpose (ll. 458, 465, 466). The struggle between Pity and Cruelty in Chaucer's poem is parallel to the struggle between Pietas and the fury Tisiphone as told in Statius. Pity is called _Herines quene_, or queen of the Furies, because she alone is supposed to be able to control them. See my notes to ll. 57, 64, and 92.

The poem is extant in nine MSS. It is attributed to Chaucer by Shirley in MS. 'Sh.,' and the internal evidence confirms this. There is a fairly good copy in MS. F., on which my edition of it is based. There is, further, an excellent _critical edition_ of this poem by Prof. Ten Brink, in _Essays on Chaucer_, Part II, p. 170 (Chaucer Soc.); this I carefully consulted after making my own copy, and I found that the differences were very slight. The least valuable MSS. seem to be Ff., Ph., and Lt. Omitting these, the MSS. may be divided into three sets, viz. A, Ba, and Bb, the two last going back to a common source B. These are: (A.)--Sh. Ha.; (Ba.)--F. B.; (Bb.)--Tn. Trin. See Koch, in Anglia, iv. b. 96.

In this poem we have the earliest example, in English, of the famous 7-line stanza.

§ 20. III. THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESSE.

Here we are on firm ground. The genuineness of this poem has never been doubted. It is agreed that the word _Whyte_ in l. 948, which is given as the name of the lady lately dead, is a translation of _Blanche_, and that the reference is to the wife of the Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt), who died Sept. 12, 1369, at the age of twenty-nine, her husband being then of the same age. As the poem would naturally be written soon after this event, the date must be near the end of 1369. In fact, John of Gaunt married again in 1372, whereas he is represented in the poem as being inconsolable. Chaucer's own testimony, in the Legend of Good Women, l. 418, is that he made 'the deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse'; and again, in the Introduction to the Man of Law's Prologue, l. 57, that 'In youthe he made of Ceys and Alcion.' In 1369, Chaucer was already twenty-nine years of age (taking the year of his birth to be 1340, not 1328), which is rather past the period of youth; and the fact that he thus mentions 'Ceys and Alcion' as if it were the name of an independent poem, renders it almost certain that such was once the case. He clearly thought it too good to be lost, and so took the opportunity of inserting it in a more ambitious effort. The original 'Ceys and Alcion' evidently ended at l. 220; where it began, we cannot say, for the poem was doubtless revised and somewhat altered. Ll. 215, 216 hint that a part of it was suppressed. The two subjects were easily connected, the sorrow of Alcyone for the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband being the counterpart of the sorrow of the duke for the loss of his wife. The poem of 'Ceys and Alcion' shews Chaucer under the influence of Ovid, just as part of his Complaint to Pity was suggested by Statius; but in the later part of the poem of the Book of the Duchesse we see him strongly influenced by French authors, chiefly Guillaume de Machault and the authors of Le Roman de la Rose. His familiarity with the latter poem (as pointed out in the notes) is such as to prove that he had already been previously employed in making his translation of that extremely lengthy work, and possibly quotes lines from his own translation[259].

The relationship between the MSS. and Thynne's edition has been investigated by Koch, in _Anglia_, vol. iv. Anzeiger, p. 95, and by Max Lange, in his excellent dissertation entitled _Untersuchungen über Chaucer's Boke of the Duchesse_, Halle, 1883. They both agree in representing the scheme of relationship so as to give the following result:

{ [beta] ---- Thynne.
[alpha] ---- {
{ [gamma] ---- { Tanner MS.
{
{ { Fairfax MS.
{ [delta] ---- {
{ Bodley MS.

Here [alpha] represents a lost original MS., and [beta] and [gamma] are lost MSS. derived from it. Thynne follows [beta]; whilst [gamma] is followed by the Tanner MS. and a lost MS. [delta]. The Fairfax and Bodley MSS., which are much alike, are copies of [delta]. The MS. [gamma] had lost a leaf, containing ll. 31-96; hence the same omission occurs in the three MSS. derived from it. However, a much later hand has filled in the gap in MS. F, though it remains blank in the other two MSS. On the whole, the authorities for this poem are almost unusually poor; I have, in general, followed MS. F, but have carefully amended it where the other copies seemed to give a better result. Lange gives a useful set of 'Konjecturen,' many of which I have adopted. I have also adopted, thankfully, some suggestions made by Koch and Ten Brink; others I decline, with thanks.

This poem is written in the common metre of four accents, which was already in use before Chaucer's time, as in the poem of Havelok the Dane, Robert of Brunne's Handling Synne, Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, &c. Chaucer only used it once afterwards, viz. in his House of Fame. It is the metre employed also in his translation (as far as we have it) of the French _Roman de la Rose_.

§ 21. IV. THE COMPLEYNT OF MARS.

Lydgate tells us that this poem is Chaucer's, referring to it as containing the story of 'the broche which that Vulcanus At Thebes wrought,' &c. Internal evidence clearly shews that it was written by the author of the _Treatise on the Astrolabie_. In MS. Harl. 7333, Shirley gives it the title 'The broche of Thebes, as of the love of Mars and Venus.' Bale oddly refers to this poem as _De Vulcani veru_, but _broche_ is here an ornament, not a spit. With the exception of two lines and a half (ll. 13-15), the whole poem is supposed to be sung by a bird, and upon St. Valentine's day. Such a contrivance shews a certain lack of skill, and is an indication of a comparatively early date. The poem begins in the ordinary 7-line stanza, rimed _a b a b b c c_; but the Complaint itself is in 9-line stanzas, rimed _a a b a a b b c c_, and exhibits a considerable advance in rhythmical skill. This stanza, unique in Chaucer, was copied by Douglas (_Palace of Honour_, part 3), and by Sir D. Lyndesay (_Prol. to Testament of Papyngo_).

At the end of the copy of this poem in MS. T., Shirley appends the following note:--'Thus eondethe here this complaint, whiche some men sayne was made by [i. e. with respect to] my lady of York, doughter to the kyng of Spaygne, and my lord huntingdon, some tyme Duc of Excestre.' This tradition may be correct, but the intrigue between them was discreditable enough, and would have been better passed over in silence than celebrated in a poem, in which Mars and Venus fitly represent them. In the heading to the poem in the same MS., Shirley tells us further, that it was written to please John of Gaunt. The heading is:--'Loo, yee louers, gladethe and comfortethe you of thallyance etrayted[260] bytwene the hardy and furyous Mars the god of armes and Venus the double [i. e. fickle] goddesse of loue; made by Geffrey Chaucier, at the comandement of the reno_m_med and excellent Prynce my lord the Duc Iohn of Lancastre.' The lady was John of Gaunt's sister-in-law. John of Gaunt married, as his second wife, in 1372, Constance, elder daughter of Pedro, king of Castile; whilst his brother Edmund, afterwards duke of York, married Isabel, her sister. In Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 154, we read that this Isabel, 'having been somewhat wanton in her younger years, at length became a hearty penitent; and departing this life in 1394, was buried in the Friers Preachers at Langele,' i. e. King's Langley in Hertfordshire; cf. Chauncy's _Hertfordshire_, p. 455; Camden's _Anglica_, p. 350. It is possible that Chaucer addressed his Envoy to the Complaint of Venus to the same lady, as he calls her 'Princess.'

Mars is, accordingly, intended to represent John Holande, half-brother to Richard II, Earl of Huntingdon, and afterwards Duke of Exeter. He actually married John of Gaunt's daughter, Elizabeth, whose mother was the Blaunche celebrated in the Book of the Duchess.

If this tradition be true, the date of the poem must be not very many years after 1372, when the Princess Isabel came to England. We may date it, conjecturally, about 1374. See further in Furnivall's _Trial Forewords_, pp. 78-90. I may add that an attempt has been made to solve the problem of the date of this poem by astronomy (see _Anglia_, ix. 582). It is said that Mars and Venus were in conjunction on April 14, 1379. This is not wholly satisfactory; for Chaucer seems to refer to the 12th of April as the time of conjunction. If we accept this result, then the year was 1379. The date 1373-9 is near enough.

The poem is remarkable for its astronomical allusions, which are fully explained in the notes. The story of Mars and Venus was doubtless taken from Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 170-189. The story of the brooch of Thebes is from Statius, ii. 265, &c.; see note to l. 245.

I shall here add a guess of mine which possibly throws some light on Chaucer's reason for referring to the brooch of Thebes. It is somewhat curious that the Princess Isabel, in a will made twelve years before her death, and dated Dec. 6, 1382, left, amongst other legacies, 'to the Duke of Lancaster, a _Tablet of Jasper which the King of Armonie gave her_'; see Furnivall's _Trial Forewords_, p. 82. Here _Armonie_ means, of course, Armenia; but it is also suggestive of _Harmonia_, the name of the first owner of the brooch of Thebes. It seems just possible that the brooch of Thebes was intended to refer to this tablet of jasper, which was doubtless of considerable value and may have been talked about as being a curiosity.

MSS. F. Tn. and Lt. are much alike; the rest vary. I follow F. mainly, in constructing the text.

§ 22. V. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES.

This poem is undoubtedly genuine; both Chaucer and Lydgate mention it. It is remarkable as being the first of the Minor Poems which exhibits the influence upon Chaucer of Italian literature, and was therefore probably written somewhat later than the Complaint of Mars. It is also the first of the Minor Poems in which touches of true humour occur; see ll. 498-500, 508, 514-6, 563-575, 589-616. Dr. Furnivall (_Trial Forewords_, p. 53) notes that the MSS. fall into two principal groups; in the first he places Gg., Trin., Cx., Harl., O., the former part of Ff., (part of) Ar., and the fragments in Hh. and Laud 416; in the second he places F., Tn., D., and the latter part of Ff. Lt. also belongs to the second group. See further in _Anglia_, vol. iv. Anzeiger, p. 97. The whole poem, except the Roundel in ll. 680-692, is in Chaucer's favourite 7-line stanza, often called the ballad-stanza, or simply _balade_ in the MSS.

The poem itself may be roughly divided into four parts. The first part, ll. 1-84, is mainly occupied with an epitome of the general contents of Cicero's Somnium Scipionis. The second part, ll. 85-175, shews several instances of the influence of Dante, though the stanza containing ll. 99-105 is translated from Claudian. The third part, ll. 176-294, is almost wholly translated or imitated from Boccaccio's Teseide. And the fourth part, ll. 295 to the end, is occupied with the real subject of the poem, the main idea being taken, as Chaucer himself tells us, from Alanus de Insulis. The passages relating to the _Somnium Scipionis_ are duly pointed out in the notes; and so are the references to Dante and Claudian. The history of the third and fourth parts requires further explanation.

We have already seen that Chaucer himself tells us, in the Prol. to the Legend, 420, that he made--'al the love of Palamon and Arcyte Of Thebes, thogh the story is knowen lyte.' (N.B. This does not mean that _Chaucer's_ version of the story was 'little known,' but that _Boccaccio_ speaks of the story as being little known--'che Latino autor non par ne dica'; see note to Anelida, l. 8.) Now, in the first note on _Anelida and Arcite_, it is explained how this story of Palamon and Arcite was necessarily translated, more or less closely, from Boccaccio's Teseide, and was doubtless written in the 7-line stanza; also that fragments of it are preserved to us (1) in sixteen stanzas of the Parliament of Foules, (2) in the first ten stanzas of Anelida, and (3) in three stanzas of Troilus. At a later period, the whole poem was re-written in a different metre, and now forms the Knightes Tale. The sixteen stanzas here referred to begin at l. 183 (the previous stanza being also imitated from a different part of the _Teseide_, bk. xi. st. 24), and end at l. 294. Chaucer has somewhat altered the order; see note to l. 183. I here quote, from Furnivall's _Trial Forewords_, pp. 60-66, a translation by Mr. W. M. Rossetti, of Boccaccio's _Teseide_, bk. vii. stanzas 51-66; and I give, beneath it, the Italian text, from an edition published at Milan in 1819. This passage can be compared with Chaucer's imitation of it at the reader's leisure.

I note, beforehand, that, in the first line of this translation, the word _whom_ refers to _Vaghezza_, i. e. Grace, Allurement; whilst _she_ is the prayer of Palemo, personified.

_Tes._ vii. stanzas 51-60; cf. _Parl. Foules_, ll. 183-259.

<<
'With whom going forward, she saw that [i. e. Mount Cithaeron]
In every view suave and charming;
In guise of a garden bosky and beautiful,
And greenest, full of plants,
Of fresh grass, and every new flower;
And therein rose fountains living and clear;
And, among the other plants it abounded in,
Myrtle seemed to her more than other.
>>
Colla quale oltre andando vide quello
Per ogni vista soave ed ameno,
A guisa d'un giardin fronzuto e bello
E di piante verdissimo ripieno,
D'erbetta fresca e d'ogni fior novello;
E fonti vive e chiare vi surgieno,
E in fra l'altre piante, onde abbondava,
Mortine più che altro le sembrava.

<<
'Here she heard amid the branches sweetly P. F. 190.
Birds singing of almost all kinds:
Upon which [branches] also in like wise
She saw them with delight making their nests.
Next among the fresh shadows quickly
She saw rabbits go hither and thither,
And timid deer and fawns,
And many other dearest little beasts.

>>
Quivi sentì pe' rami dolcemente
Quasi d'ogni maniera ucce' cantare,
Sopra de' quali ancor similemente
Gli vide con diletto i nidi a fare:
Poscia fra l'ombre fresche prestamente
Vidi conigli in qua e in là andare,
E timidenti cervi e cavrioli,
E molti altri carissimi bestiuoli.

<<
'In like wise here every instrument P. F. 197.
She seemed to hear, and delightful chaunt:
Wherefore passing with pace not slow,
And looking about, somewhat within herself suspended
At the lofty place and beautiful adornment
She saw it replete in almost every corner
With spiritlings which, flying here and there,
Went to their bourne. Which she looking at,

>>
Similemente quivi ogni stromento
Le parve udire e dilettoso canto;
Onde passando con passo non lento,
E rimirando, in sè sospesa alquanto
Dell' alto loco e del bell' ornamento;
Ripieno il vide quasi in ogni canto
Di spirite', che qua e là volando
Gieno a lor posta; a' quali essa guardando,

<<
'Among the bushes beside a fountain P. F. 211.
Saw Cupid forging arrows--
He having the bow set down by his feet;
Which [arrows when] selected his daughter Voluptas
Tempered in the waves. And settled down
With them was Ease [_Ozio_, Otium]; whom she saw
That he, with Memory, steeled his darts
With the steel that she [Voluptas] first tempered.

>>
Tra gli albuscelli ad una fonta allato
Vide Cupido a fabbricar saette,
Avendo egli a' suoi piè l'arco posato,
Le qua' sua figlia Voluttade elette
Nell' onde temperava, ed assettato
Con lor s'era Ozio, il quale ella vedette,
Che con Memoria l'aste sue ferrava
De' ferri ch' ella prima temperava.

<<
'And then she saw in that pass Grace [_Leggiadria_], P. F. 218.
With Adorning [_Adornezza_] and Affability,
And the wholly estrayed Courtesy;
And she saw the Arts that have power
To make others perforce do folly,
In their aspect much disfigured.
The Vain Delight of our form
She saw standing alone with Gentilesse.

>>
E poi vide in quel passo Leggiadria
Con Adornezza ed Affabilitate,
E la ismarrita in tutto Cortesia,
E vide l'Arti ch' hanno potestate
Di fare altrui a forza far follia,
Nel loro aspetto molto isfigurate:
Delia immagine nostra il van Diletto
Con Gentilezza vide star soletto.

<<
'Then she saw Beauty pass her by, P. F. 225.
Without any ornament, gazing on herself;
And with her she saw Attraction [_Piacevolezza_] go,--
She [the prayer] commending to herself both one and other.
With them she saw standing Youth,
Lively and adorned, making great feast:
And on the other side she saw madcap Audacity
Going along with Glozings and Pimps.

>>
Poi vide appresso a sè passar Bellezza
Sanz' ornamento alcun sè riguardando,
E vide gir con lei Piacevolezza,
E l'una e l'altra seco commendando,
Vide con loro starsi Giovinezza
Destra ed adorna, molto festeggiando:
E d'altra parte vide il folle Ardire
Con Lusinghe e Ruffiani insieme gire.

<<
'In mid the place, on lofty columns, P. F. 232.
She saw a temple of copper; round which
She saw youths dancing and women--
This one of them beautiful, and that one in fine raiment,
Ungirdled, barefoot, only in their hair and gowns,
Who spent the day in this alone.
Then over the temple she saw doves hover
And settle and coo.

>>
In mezzo il loco sur alte colonne
Di rame vide un tempio, al qual d'intorno
Danzanti giovinetti vide e donne,
Qual d'esse bella, e qual d'abito adorno,
Iscinte, iscalze, in capei soli e'n gonne,
Che in questo solo disponeano il giorno:
Poi sopra il tempio vide volitare
E posarsi colombe e mormorare.

<<
'And near to the entry of the temple P. F. 239.
She saw that there sat quietly
My lady Peace, who a curtain
Moved lightly before the door.
Next her, very subdued in aspect,
Sat Patience discreetly,
Pallid in look; and on all sides
Around her she saw artful Promises.

>>
E all'entrata del tempio vicina
Vide che si sedava pianamente
Monna Pace, la quale una cortina
Movea innanzi alla porta lievemente;
Appresso a lei in vista assai tapina
Pacienza sedea discretamente;
Pallida nell' aspetto, e d'ogni parte
Intorno a lei vide Promesse ad arte.

<<
'Then entering the temple, of Sighs P. F. 246.
She felt there an earthquake, which whirled
All fiery with hot desires.
This lit up all the altars
With new flames born of pangs;
Each of which dripped with tears
Produced by a woman cruel and fell
Whom she there saw, called Jealousy

>>
Poi dentro al tempio entrata, di sospiri
Vi senti un terremoto, che girava
Focoso tutto di caldi disiri:
Questi gli altari tutti alluminava
Di nuove fiamme nate di martiri,
De' qua' ciascun di lagrime grondava,
Mosse da una donna cruda e ria,
Che vide lì, chiamata Gelosia:

<<
'And in that [temple] she saw Priapus hold P. F. 253.
The highest place--in habit just such as
Whoever would at night see him
Could [do] when, braying, the animal
Dullest of all awoke Vesta, who to his mind
Was not a little--towards whom he in like guise
Went: and likewise throughout the great temple
She saw many garlands of diverse flowers.'

>>
Ed in quel vide Priapo tenere
Più sommo loco, in abito tal quale
Chiunque il volle la notte vedere
Potè, quando ragghiando l'animale
Più pigro destò Vesta, che in calere
Non poco gli era, in vêr di cui cotale
Andava; e simil per lo tempio grande
Di fior diversi assai vide grillande.

_Tes._ vii. 61, 62; cf. _P. F._ 281-294.

<<
'Here many bows of the Chorus of Diana P. F. 281.
She saw hung up and broken; among which was
That of Callisto, become the Arctic
Bear. The apples were there of haughty
Atalanta, who was sovereign in racing;
And also the arms of that other proud one
Who brought forth Parthenopaeus,
Grandson to the Calydonian King Oeneus.

>>
Quivi molti archi a' Cori di Diana
Vide appiccati e rotti, in tra quali era
Quel di Callisto fatta tramontana
Orsa; le pome v'eran della fiera
Atalanta che 'n correr fu sovrana;
Ed ancor l'armi di quell' altra altiera
Che partorì il bel Partenopeo
Nipote al calidonio Re Eneo.

<<
'She saw there histories painted all about; P. F. 288.
Among which with finer work
Of the spouse of Ninus she there
Saw all the doings distinguished; and at foot of the mulberry-tree
Pyramus and Thisbe, and the mulberries already distained;
And she saw among these the great Hercules
In the lap of Iole, and woeful Biblis
Going piteous, soliciting Caunus.'

>>
Videvi storie per tutto dipinte,
In tra le qua' con più alto lavoro
Della sposa di Nino ivi distinte
L'opere tutte vide; e a piè del moro
Piramo e Tisbe, e già le gelse tinte:
E'l grand' Ercole vide tra costoro
In grembo a Jole, e Bibli dolorosa
Andar pregando Cauno pietosa.

_Tes._ vii. 63-66; cf. _P. F._ 260-280.

<<
'But, as she saw not Venus, it was told her P. F. 260.
(Nor knew she by whom)--"In secreter
Part of the temple stays she delighting.
If thou wantest her, through that door quietly
Enter." Wherefore she, without further demur,
Meek of manner as she was,
Approached thither to enter within,
And do the embassy to her committed.

>>
Ma non vedendo Vener, le fu detto,
Nè conobbe da cui: 'In più sagreta
Parte del tempio stassi ella a diletto:
Se tu la vuoi, per quella porta, cheta
Te n'entra': ond' essa, sanza altro rispetto,
In abito qual era mansueta,
Là si appressò per entrar dentro ad essa,
E l'ambasciata fare a lei commessa.

<<
'But there she, at her first coming, P. F. 261.
Found Riches guarding the portal--
Who seemed to her much to be reverenced:
And, being by her allowed to enter there,
The place was dark to her at first going.
But afterwards, by staying, a little light
She gained there; and saw her lying naked
On a great bed very fair to see.

>>
Ma essa lì nel primo suo venire
Trovò Richezza la porta guardare;
La qual le parve assai da riverire;
E lasciata da lei quiv'entro entrare,
Oscuro le fu il loco al primo gire;
Ma poca luce poscia nello stare
Lì prese, e vide lei nuda giacere
Sopra un gran letto assai bella a vedere.

<<
'But she had hair of gold, and shining P. F. 267.
Round her head without any tress.
Her face was such that most people
Have in comparison no beauty at all.
The arms, breast, and outstanding apples,
Were all seen; and every other part with a
Texture so thin was covered
That it shewed forth almost as [if] naked.

>>
Ma avie d'oro i crini e rilucenti
Intorno al capo sanza treccia alcuna:
Il suo viso era tal che le più genti
Hanno a rispetto bellezza nissuna:
Le braccia, il petto e le poma eminenti
Si vedien tutte, e ogni altra parte d'una
Testa tanto sottil si ricopria,
Che quasimente nuda comparia.

<<
'The neck was fragrant with full a thousand odours. P. F. 274.
At one of her sides Bacchus was seated,
At the other Ceres with her savours.
And she in her hands held the apple,
Delighting herself, which, to her sisters
Preferred, she won in the Idean vale.
And, having seen all this, she [the prayer] made her request,
Which was conceded without denial.'

>>
Olíva il collo ben di mille odori:
Dall' un de' lati Bacco le sedea,
Dall' altro Ceres cogli suoi savori:
Ed essa il pomo per le man tenea,
Sè dilettando, il quale alle sorori
Prelata vinse nella valle Idea:
E tutto ciò veduto posse il prego,
Il qual fu conceduto senza niego.

At l. 298 we are introduced to a queen, who in l. 303 is said to be the noble goddess Nature. The general idea is taken from Aleyn's _Pleynt of Kynde_ (l. 316), i. e. from the _Planctus Naturae_ of Alanus de Insulis; see note to l. 298 of the poem. I here quote the most essential passage from the Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, ed. T. Wright, ii. 437. It describes the garment worn by the goddess Nature, on which various birds were represented. The phrase _animalium_ _concilium_ may have suggested the name given by Chaucer to our poem. But see the remark on p. 75, l. 21.

'Haec autem [vestis] nimis subtilizata, subterfugiens oculorum
indaginem, ad tantam materiae tenuitatem advenerat, ut ejus aerisque
eandem crederes esse naturam, in qua, prout oculis pictura
imaginabatur, _animalium_ celebratur _concilium_. Illic _aquila_, primo
juvenem, secundo senem, induens, tertio iterum reciprocata priorem, in
Adonidem revertebatur a Nestore. Illic _ancipiter_ (_sic_), civitatis
praefectus aeriae, violenta tyrannide a subditis redditus exposcebat.
Illic _milvus_, venatoris induens personam, venatione furtiva larvam
gerebat ancipitris. Illic _falco_ in _ardeam_ bellum excitabat civile,
non tamen aequali lance divisum. Non enim illud pugnae debet
appellatione censeri, ubi tu pulsas, ego vapulo tantum. Illic
_struthio_, vita seculari postposita, vitam solitariam agens, quasi
heremita factus, desertarum solitudines incolebat. Illic _olor_, sui
funeris praeco, mellitae citherizationis organo vitae prophetabat
apocopam. Illic in _pavone_ tantum pulcritudinis compluit Natura
thesaurum, ut eam postea crederes mendicasse. Illic _phoenix_, in se
mortuus, redivivus in alio, quodam Naturae miraculo, se sua morte a
mortuis suscitabat. Illic _avis concordiae_ (_ciconia_) prolem
decimando Naturae persolvebat tributum. Illic _passeres_ in atomum
pygmeae humilitatis relegati degebant, _grus_ ex opposito in giganteae
quantitatis evadebat excessum.

'Illic _phasianus_, natalis insulae perpessus angustias, principum
futurus deliciae, nostros evolabat in orbes. Illic _gallus_, tanquam
vulgaris astrologus, suae vocis horologio horarum loquebatur
discrimina. Illic _gallus silvestris_, privatioris galli deridens
desidiam, peregre proficiscens, nemorales peragrabat provincias. Illic
_bubo_, propheta miseriae, psalmodias funereae lamentationis
praecinebat. Illic _noctua_ tantae deformitatis sterquilinio
sordescebat, ut in ejus formatione Naturam crederes fuisse somnolentam.
Illic _cornix_, ventura prognosticans, nugatorio concitabatur garritu.
Illic _pica_, dubio picturata colore, curam logices perennebat
insomnem. Illic _monedula_, latrocinio laudabili reculas thesaurizans,
innatae avaritiae argumenta monstrabat. Illic _columba_, dulci malo
inebriata Diones, laborabat Cypridis in palaestra. Illic _corvus_,
zelotypiae abhorrens dedecus, suos foetus non sua esse pignora
fatebatur, usque dum comperto nigri argumento coloris, hoc quasi secum
disputans comprobat. Illic _perdix_ nunc aeriae potestatis insultus,
nunc venatorum sophismata, nunc canum latratus propheticos abhorrebat.
Illic _anas_ cum _ansere_, sub eodem jure vivendi, hiemabat in patria
fluviali. Illic _turtur_, suo viduata consorte, amorem epilogare
dedignans, in altero bigamiae refutabat solatia. Illic _psittacus_ cum
sui gutturis incude vocis monetam fabricabat humanae. Illic
_coturnicem_, figurae draconis ignorantem fallaciam, imaginariae vocis
decipiebant sophismata. Illic _picus_, propriae architectus domunculae,
sui rostri dolabro clausulam fabricabat in ilice. Illic _curruca_,
novercam exuens, materno pietatis ubere alienam cuculi prolem adoptabat
in filium; quae tamen capitali praemiata stipendio, privignum
agnoscens, filium ignorabat. Illic _hirundo_, a sua peregrinatione
reversa, sub trabe nidi lutabat hospitium. Illic _philomena_,
deflorationis querelam reintegrans, harmoniaca tympanizans dulcedine,
puritatis dedecus excusabat. Illic _alauda_, quasi nobilis citharista,
non studii artificio, sed Naturae magisterio, musicae praedocta
scientiam, citharam praesentabat in ore.... Haec animalia, quamvis
illic quasi allegorice viverent, ibi tamen esse videbantur ad
litteram.'

As to the date of this poem, Ten Brink (_Studien_, p. 127) shews that it must have been written later than 1373; and further, that it was probably written earlier than Troilus, which seems to have been finished in 1383. It may therefore have been written in 1382, in which case it may very well refer to the betrothal (in 1381) of King Richard II to Queen Anne of Bohemia. See, on this subject, Dr. Koch's discussion of the question in Essays on Chaucer, p. 407, published by the Chaucer Society. Prof. Ward (who follows Koch) in his Life of Chaucer, p. 86, says:--'Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the great Emperor Charles IV., and sister of King Wenceslas, had been successively betrothed to a Bavarian prince and to a Margrave of Meissen, before--after negotiations which, according to Froissart, lasted a year[261]--her hand was given to young King Richard II. of England. This sufficiently explains the general scope of the _Assembly of Fowls_, an allegorical poem written on or about St. Valentine's Day, 1381[262]--eleven months or nearly a year after which date the marriage took place[263].'

I here note that Lydgate's _Flour of Curtesie_ is a palpable imitation of the _Parliament of Foules_; so also is the earlier part of his _Complaint of the Black Knight_.

On the other hand, it is interesting to find, in the Poésies de Marie de France, ed. Roquefort, Paris, 1820, that Fable 22 (vol. i. p. 130) is entitled:--'Li parlemens des Oiseax por faire Roi.' In this fable, the Birds reject the Cuckoo, and choose the Eagle as king.

§ 23. VI. A COMPLEINT TO HIS LADY.

We may fairly say that this poem is attributed to Chaucer by Shirley, since in MS. Harl. 78 it is copied out by him as if it were a continuation of the Complaint to Pity, and the pages are, throughout, headed with the words--'The Balade of Pytee. By Chauciers.' Stowe implies that he had seen more than one MS. copy of this poem, and says that 'these verses were compiled by Geffray Chauser,' for which he may have found authority in the MSS.[264] Moreover, the internal evidence settles the matter. It is evident that we have here a succession of metrical experiments, the last of which exhibits a ten-line stanza resembling the nine-line stanza of his Anelida; in fact, we here have that Complaint in a crude form, which was afterwards elaborated; see the references, in the Notes, to the corresponding passages in that poem. But a very great and unique interest is attached to lines 16 to 43. For here we have the _sole_ example, in English literature of that period, of the use of _terza rima_, obviously copied from Dante; and Chaucer was the only writer who then had a real acquaintance with that author. I know of no other example of the use of this metre before the time of Lord Surrey and Sir Thomas Wiat, when Englishmen once more sought acquaintance with Italian poetry. Consequently, we have here the pleasure of seeing how Chaucer handled Dante's metre; and the two fragments here preserved shew that he might have handled it quite successfully if he had persevered in doing so.

It is to be regretted that Shirley's spelling is so indifferent; he was rather an amateur than a professional scribe. Some of his peculiarities may be noticed, as they occur not only here, but also in the two last pieces, nos. XXII. and XXIII. He constantly adds a final _e_ in the wrong place, producing such forms _fallethe_, _howe_, _frome_, and the like, and drops it where it is necessary, as in _hert_ (for _herte_). He is fond of _eo_ for _ee_ or long _e_, as in _beo_, _neodethe_. He writes _ellas_ for _allas_; also _e_ in place of the prefix _y-_, as in _eknytte_ for _y-knit_. This last peculiarity is extremely uncommon. I have removed the odd effect which these vagaries produce, and I adopt the ordinary spelling of MSS. that resemble in type the Ellesmere MS. of the Canterbury Tales.

This piece exhibits three distinct metres, viz. the 7-line stanza, terza rima, and the 10-line stanza. Of the last, which is extremely rare, we have here the earliest example. Lines 56 and 59 are lost, and some others are imperfect.

§ 24. VII. ANELIDA AND ARCITE.

The genuineness of this poem is obvious enough, and is vouched for both by Lydgate and Shirley, as shewn above. It is further discussed in the Notes. I may add that Lydgate incidentally refers to it in his _Complaint of the Black Knight_, l. 379:--'Of Thebes eke the false Arcite.' Much later allusions are the following:--

'There was also Annelida the queene,
Upon Arcite how sore she did complaine';
_Assembly of Ladies_, l. 465.

...... 'and the weimenting
Of her Annelida, true as turtle-dove
To Arcite fals.'
_Court of Love_, l. 233.