PART I. REPRINTED MATTER.

1. Caunterburie Tales. (The Prologue begins on a page with the signature A 2, the first quire of six leaves not being numbered; the Knightes Tale begins on a page with the signature B ii., and marked Fol. i. The spurious Plowman's Tale precedes the Parson's Tale.)

2. _The Romaunt of the Rose[213]._ Fol. cxvi.

3. Troilus and Creseide. Fol. cli., back.

4. _The testament of Creseide._ [By Robert Henryson.] Fol. cxciiii. Followed by its continuation, called _The Complaint of Creseide_; by the same.

5. The Legende of Good Women. Fol. cxcvij.

6. _A goodlie balade of Chaucer_; beginning--'Mother of norture, best beloued of all.' Fol. ccx.

7. Boecius de Consolatione Philosophie. Fol. ccx., back.

8. The dreame of Chaucer. [The Book of the Duchesse.] Fol. ccxliiij.

9. Begins--'My master. &c. Whe_n_ of Christ our kyng.' [Lenvoy to Buckton.] Fol. ccxliiii[214].

10. The assemble of Foules. [Parlement of Foules.] Fol. ccxliiii., back.

11. _The Floure of Curtesie, made by Ihon lidgate._ Fol. ccxlviij. Followed by a Balade, which forms part of it.

12. How pyte is deed, etc. [Complaint unto Pite.] Fol. ccxlix., back.

13. _La belle Dame sans Mercy._ [By Sir R. Ros.] Fol. ccl.

14. Of Quene Annelida and false Arcite. Fol. cclv.

15. _The assemble of ladies._ Fol. ccxlvij.

16. The conclucions of the Astrolabie. Fol. cclxi.

17. _The complaint of the blacke Knight._ [By Lydgate; see p. 35, note 3.] Fol. cclxx.

18. _A praise of Women._ Begins--'Al tho the lyste of women euill to speke.' Fol. cclxxiii.[215], back.

19. The House of Fame. Fol. cclxxiiij., back.

20. _The Testament of Loue_ (in prose). Fol. cclxxxiiij., back.

21. _The lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine._ Fol. cccxviij.

22. _The remedie of Loue._ Fol. cccxxj., back.

23, 24. The complaint of Mars and Venus. Fol. cccxxiiij., back. (Printed as _one_ poem; but there is a new title--The complaint of Venus--at the beginning of the latter.)

25. _The letter of Cupide._ [By Hoccleve; _dated_ 1402.] Fol. cccxxvj., back.

26. _A Ballade in commendacion of our Ladie._ Fol. cccxxix. [By Lydgate; see p. 38.]

27. _Ihon Gower vnto the noble King Henry the .iiij._ Fol. cccxxx., back. [By Gower.]

28. _A saiyng of dan Ihon._ [By Lydgate.] Fol. cccxxxii., back[216].

29. _Yet of the same._ [By Lydgate.] On the same page.

30. _Balade de bon consail._ Begins--If it be fall that God the list visite. (Only 7 lines.) On the same page.

31. _Of the Cuckowe and the Nightingale._ Fol. cccxxxiij. [By Hoccleve?]

32. _Balade with Envoy_ (no title). Begins--'O leude booke w_i_t_h_ thy foule rudenesse.' Fol. cccxxxiiij., back.

33. _Scogan, vnto the Lordes and Gentilmen of the Kinges house._ (This poem, by H. Scogan, quotes Chaucer's 'Gentilesse' in full.) Fol. cccxxxiiij., back.

34. Begins--'Somtyme the worlde so stedfast was and stable.' [Lak of Stedfastnesse.] Fol. cccxxxv., back.

35. Good counsail of Chaucer. [Truth.] Same page.

36. Balade of the village (_sic_) without paintyng. [Fortune.] Fol. cccxxxvj.

37. Begins--'Tobroken been the statutes hie in heauen'; headed _Lenuoye_. [Lenvoy to Scogan.] Fol. cccxxxvj., back.

38. _Poem in two stanzas of seven lines each._ Begins--'Go foorthe kyng, rule thee by Sapience.' Same page.

39. Chaucer to his emptie purse. Same page.

40. _A balade of good counseile translated out of Latin verses in-to Englishe, by Dan Ihon lidgat cleped the monke of Buri._ Begins--'COnsyder well euery circumstaunce.' Fol. cccxxxvij.

41. _A balade in the Praise and commendacion of master Geffray Chauser for his golden eloquence._ (Only 7 lines.) Same leaf, back. [See p. 56.]

§ 9. PART II. ADDITIONS BY JOHN STOWE.

At the top of fol. cccxl. is the following remark:--

¶ Here foloweth certaine woorkes of Geffray Chauser, whiche hath not heretofore been printed, and are gathered and added to this booke by Ihon Stowe.

42. A balade made by Chaucer, teching what is gentilnes[217]. [Gentilesse.] Fol. cccxl.

43. A Prouerbe [_read_ Prouerbs] agaynst couitise and negligence. [Proverbs.] Same page.

44. A balade which Chaucer made agaynst women vnconstaunt. Same page. [Certainly genuine, in my opinion; but here relegated to an Appendix, to appease such as cannot readily apprehend my reasons. Cf. p. 26.]

45. _A balade which Chaucer made in the praise or rather dispraise, of women for their doublenes._ [By Lydgate.] Begins--'This world is full of variaunce.' Same page.

46. _This werke folowinge was compiled by Chaucer, and is caled the craft of louers._ Fol. cccxli. [Written in 1448.]

47. _A Balade._ Begins--'Of their nature they greatly the_m_ delite.' Fol. cccxli., back. [Quotes from no. 56.]

48. _The .x. Commaundementes of Loue._ Fol. cccxlij.

49. The _.ix. Ladies worthie_. Fol. cccxlij., back.

50. [_Virelai; no title._] Begins--'Alone walkyng.' Fol. cccxliij.

51. _A Ballade._ Begins--'In the season of Feuerere when it was full colde.' Same page.

52. _A Ballade._ Begins--'O Mercifull and o merciable.' Fol. cccxliij., back. [Made up of scraps from late poems; see p. 57.]

53. _Here foloweth how Mercurie with Pallas, Venus and Minarua, appered to Paris of Troie, he slepyng by a fountain._ Fol. cccxliiij.

54. _A balade pleasaunte._ Begins--'I haue a Ladie where so she bee.' Same page. At the end--'Explicit the discriuyng of a faire Ladie.'

55. _An other Balade._ Begins--'O Mossie Quince, hangyng by your stalke.' Fol. cccxliiij., back.

56. _A balade, warnyng men to beware of deceitptfnll women (sic)._ Begins--'LOke well aboute ye that louers bee.' Same page. [By Lydgate.]

57. These verses next folowing were compiled by Geffray Chauser, and in the writen copies foloweth at the ende of the complainte of petee. Begins--'THe long nyghtes when euery [c]reature.' [This is the 'Compleint to his Lady,' as I venture to call it.] Fol. cccxlv[218].

58. _A balade declaring that wemens chastite Doeth moche excel all treasure worldly._ Begins--'IN womanhede as auctours al write.' Back of same leaf.

59. _The Court of Loue._ Begins--'WIth temerous herte, and tre_m_bling hand of drede.' Fol. cccxlviij.

60. Chaucers woordes vnto his owne Scriuener[219]. Fol. ccclv., back. _At the end_--Thus endeth the workes of Geffray Chaucer. (This is followed by 34 Latin verses, entitled _Epitaphium Galfridi Chaucer_, &c.)

61. _The Storie of Thebes._ [By Lydgate.] Fol. ccclvj.

§ 10. DISCUSSION OF THE POEMS IN PART I. OF ED. 1561.

Of the 41 pieces in Part I. of the above, we must of course accept as Chaucer's the four poems entitled Canterbury Tales, Troilus, Legend of Good Women, and House of Fame; also the prose translation of Boethius, and the prose treatise on the Astrolabie. The remaining number of Minor Poems (excluding the Romaunt of the Rose) is 34; out of which number I accept the 13 numbered above with the numbers 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 23, 24, 33 (so far as it quotes Chaucer), 34, 35, 36, 37, and 39. Every one of these has already been shewn to be genuine on sufficient external evidence, and it is not likely that their genuineness will be doubted. In the present volume they appear, respectively, as nos. III, XVII, V, II, VII, IV, XVIII, XIV, XV, XIII, X, XVI, XIX. Of the remaining 21, several may be dismissed in a few words. No. 4 is well known to have been written by Robert Henryson. Nos. 11, 28, 29, and 40 are distinctly claimed for Lydgate in all the editions; and no. 27 is similarly claimed for Gower. No. 25 was written by Hoccleve[220]; and the last line gives the date--'A thousande, foure hundred and seconde,' i. e. 1402, or two years after Chaucer's death. No. 13 is translated from Alain Chartier, who was only four years old when Chaucer died; see p. 28, note 2. Tyrwhitt remarks that, in MS. Harl. 372, this poem is expressly attributed to a Sir Richard Ros[221]. No one can suppose that no. 41 is by Chaucer, seeing that the first line is--'Maister Geffray Chauser, that now lithe in graue.' Mr. Bradshaw once assured me that no. 17 is ascribed, on MS. authority, to Lydgate; and no one who reads it with care can doubt that this is correct[222]. It is, in a measure, an imitation of the Book of the Duchesse; and it contains some interesting references to Chaucer, as in the lines--'Of Arcite, or of him Palemoun,' and 'Of Thebes eke the false Arcite.' No. 20, i. e. the Testament of Love, is _in prose_, and does not here concern us; still it is worth pointing out that it contains a passage (near the end) such as we cannot suppose that Chaucer would have written concerning himself[223].

After thus removing from consideration nos. 4, 11, 13, 17, 20, 25, 27, 28, 29, 40, and 41, half of the remaining 21 pieces have been considered. The only ones left over for consideration are nos. 6, 15, 18, 21, 22, 26, 30, 31, 32, 38. As to no. 6, there is some external evidence in its favour, which will be duly considered; but as to the rest, there is absolutely nothing to connect them with Chaucer beyond their almost accidental appearance in an edition by Wm. Thynne, published in 1532, i. e. _one hundred and thirty-two years after Chaucer's death_; and it has just been demonstrated that Thynne is obviously wrong in at least _eleven_ instances, and that he wittingly and purposely chose to throw into his edition poems which he _knew_ to have been written by Lydgate or by Gower! It is ridiculous to attach much importance to such testimony as this. And now let me discuss, as briefly as I can, the above-named poems separately.

6. _A goodlie balade of Chaucer_; begins--'Mother of norture, best beloued of all'; printed in Morris's edition, vi. 275; and in Bell's edition, iii. 413. I have little to say against this poem; yet the rime of _supposeth_ with _riseth_ (st. 8) is somewhat startling. It is clearly addressed to a lady named _Margaret_[224], as appears from her being likened to the daisy, and called the sun's daughter. I suspect it was merely attributed to Chaucer by association with the opening lines of the Legend of Good Women. The suggestion, in Bell's Chaucer, that it possibly refers to the Countess of Pembroke, is one of those bad guesses which are discreditable. Tyrwhitt shews, in note _n_ to his 'Appendix to the Preface,' that she must have died not later than 1370, whereas this Balade must be much later than that date; and I agree with him in supposing that _le Dit de la fleur de lis et de la Marguerite_, by Guillaume de Machault (printed in Tarbé's edition, 1849, p. 123), and the _Dittié de la flour de la Margherite_, by Froissart, may furnish us with the true key to those mystical compliments which Chaucer and others were accustomed to pay to the daisy.

I wish to add that I am convinced that one stanza, probably the sixth is missing. It ought to form a triple Balade, i. e. three Balades of 21 lines each, each with its own refrain; but the second is imperfect. There seems to be some affectation about the letters beginning the stanzas which I cannot solve; these are _M_, _M_, _M_ (probably for Margaret) in the first Balade; _D_, _D_ in the second; and _J_, _C_, _Q_ in the third. The poet goes out of his way to bring in these letters. The result looks like _Margaret de Jacques_; but this guess does not help us.

The poem is rather artificial, especially in such inversions as _It receyve_, _Cauteles whoso useth_, and _Quaketh my penne_; these things are not in Chaucer's manner. In the second stanza there is a faulty rime; for we there find _shal_, _smal_, answering to the dissyllabic rimes _alle_, _calle_, _appalle_, _befalle_, in stanzas 1 and 3. Lydgate has: 'My pen quake,' &c.; Troy Book, ch. x., fol. F2, back.

15. _The assemble of Ladies._ This poem Tyrwhitt decisively rejects. There is absolutely _nothing_ to connect it with Chaucer. It purports to have been written by 'a gentlewoman'; and perhaps it was. It ends with the rime of _done_, pp., with _sone_ (soon); which in Chaucer are spelt _doon_ and _son-e_ respectively, and never rime. Most of the later editions omit this poem. It is conveniently printed in Chalmers' English Poets, vol. i. p. 526; and consists of 108 7-line stanzas. For further remarks, see notes on _The Flower and the Leaf_ (p. 44).

At p. 203 of the Ryme-Index to Chaucer's Minor Poems (Chaucer Society), I have printed a Ryme-Index to this poem, shewing that the number of non-Chaucerian rimes in it is about 60.

18. _A praise of Women._ In no way connected with Chaucer. Rejected by Tyrwhitt. Printed in Bell's edition, iv. 416, and in Chalmers' English Poets, vol. i. p. 344; also in Morris's Aldine edition, vol. vi. p. 278. In twenty-five 7-line stanzas. The rime of _lie_ (to tell a lie) with _sie_ (I saw), in st. 20, is suspicious; Chaucer has _ly-e_, _sy_. The rime of _queen-e_ (usually dissyllabic in Chaucer) with _beene_ (miswritten for _been_, they be, st. 23) is also suspicious. It contains the adjective _sere_, i. e. various (st. 11), which Chaucer never uses.

21. _The lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine._ Printed in Bell's Chaucer, iv. 395; and in Chalmers, i. 532. Tyrwhitt's remarks are admirable. He says, in his Glossary, s. v. _Origenes_:--'In the list of Chaucer's Works, in Legend of Good Women, l. 427, he says of himself:--

"He made also, gon is a grete while, _Origenes upon the Maudeleine_"--

meaning, I suppose, a translation, into prose or verse, of the Homily _de Maria Magdalena_, which has been commonly, though falsely, attributed to Origen; v. Opp. Origenis, T. ii. p. 291, ed. Paris, 1604. I cannot believe that the poem entitled _The Lamentation of Marie Magdaleine_, which is in all the [older] editions of Chaucer, is really that work of his. It can hardly be considered as a translation, or even as an imitation, of the Homily; and the composition, in every respect, is infinitely meaner than the worst of his genuine pieces.' To those who are interested in Chaucer's rimes I will merely point out the following: _die_, _why_ (Ch. _dy-e_, _why_); _kene_, _iyen_ (Ch. _ken-e_, _y-ën_); _disguised_, _to-rived_, a mere assonance; _crie_, _incessauntly_ (Ch. _cry-ë_, _incessauntly_); _slaine_, _paine_ (Ch. _slein_, _pein-e_); _y-fet_, _let_ (Ch. _y-fet_, _let-te_); _accept_, _bewept_ (Ch. _accept-e_, _bewept_); _die_, _mihi_ (Ch. _dy-e_, _mihi_). To those interested in Chaucer's language, let me point out 'dogges rabiate'--'embesile his presence'--'my woful herte is inflamed so huge'--'my soveraine and very gentilman.' See st. 34, 39, 54, 99.

22. _The remedie of Loue._ Printed in Chalmers' British Poets, i. 539. In sixty-two 7-line stanzas. Rejected by Tyrwhitt. The language is extremely late; it seems to have been written in the 16th century. It contains such words as _incongruitie_, _deduction_, _allective_, _can't_ (for _cannot_), _scribable_ (fit for writing on), _olibane_, _pant_, _babé_ (baby), _cokold_ (which Chaucer spells _cokewold_), _ortographie_, _ethimologie_, _ethimologise_ (verb). The provincial word _lait_, to search for, is well known to belong to the Northern dialect. Dr. Murray, s. v. _allective_, dates this piece about A.D. 1560; but it must be somewhat earlier than this, as it was printed in 1532. I should date it about 1530.

26. _A Ballade in commendacion of our Ladie._ Tyrwhitt remarks that 'a poem with the same beginning is ascribed to Lydgate, under the title of _Invocation to our Lady_; see Tanner, s. v. Lydgate.' The poem consists of thirty-five 7-line stanzas. It has all the marks of Lydgate's style, and imitates Chaucer's language. Thus the line--'I have none English conuenient and digne' is an echo of the Man of Law's Tale, l. 778--'O Donegild, I ne haue noon English digne.' Some of the lines imitate Chaucer's A. B. C. But the most remarkable thing is his quotation of the first line of Chaucer's Merciless Beauty, which he applies to the Virgin Mary! See note to that poem, l. 1.

A poem called an 'Invocation to our Lady' is ascribed to Lydgate in MS. Ashmole 59, fol. 39, back. It agrees with the present Ballade; which settles the question.

30. _Balade de bon consail._ Not in previous editions. Printed in Chalmers, i. 552. Only 7 lines, and here they are, duly edited:--

'If it befall that God thee list visite With any tourment or adversitee, Thank first the Lord, and [fond] thy-self to quite; Upon suffraunce and humilitee Found thou thy quarel, what ever that it be; Mak thy defence, and thou shalt have no losse, The remembraunce of Christ and of his crosse.'

In l. 1, ed. 1561 has _the_; 2. _aduersite_; 3. _Thanke_; _lorde_; I supply _fond_, i. e. endeavour; _thy-selfe_; 4. (scans ill); 5. _Founde_; 6. _Make_.

31. _Of the Cuckowe and the Nightingale._ Printed in Bell's Chaucer, iv. 334; and in Morris's Chaucer, iv. 75. Not uncommon in MSS.; there is a copy in MS. Ff. 1. 6 in the Cambridge University Library; another in MS. Fairfax 16; another in MS. Bodley 638; another in MS. Tanner 346; and a fifth (imperfect) in MS. Arch. Selden B. 24, in the Bodleian Library. A sixth is in MS. Harl. 7333, in the British Museum. From some of these, Morris's better text was constructed; see his edition, pref. p. ix.

It is worth a note, by the way, that it is _not_ the same poem as one entitled _The Nightingale_, extant in MS. no. 203 in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and in MS. Cotton, Calig. A. ii., fol. 59, and attributed to Lydgate.

That the first two lines are by Chaucer, we cannot doubt, for they are quoted from the Knightes Tale, ll. 927, 928. Chaucer often quotes his own lines, but it is not likely that he would take them as the subject of a new poem. On the other hand, this is just what we should expect one of his imitators to do. The present poem is a very fair imitation of Chaucer's style, and follows his peculiarities of metre far more closely than is usually the case with Lydgate. The notion, near the end, of holding a parliament of birds, with the Eagle for lord, is evidently borrowed from Chaucer's Parliament of Foules. Whilst admitting that the present poem is more worthy of Chaucer than most of the others with which it has been proposed to burden his reputation, I can see no sufficient reason for connecting him with it; and the external evidence connects it, in fact, with Hoccleve. For the copy in MS. Bodley 638 calls it 'The boke of Cupide god of loue,' at fol. 11, back; whilst Hoccleve's _Letter of Cupid_ is called 'The lettre of Cupide god of loue' in the same, fol. 38, back. The copy in the Fairfax MS. ends with the colophon--_Explicit liber Cupidinis_. The rimes are mostly Chaucerian; but the rime of _day_ with the gerund _to assay-e_ in st. 11 is suspicious; so also is that of _now_ with the gerund _to rescow-e_ in st. 46. In st. 13, _grene_ rimes with _been_, whereas _gren-e_, in Chaucer, is always dissyllabic. Chaucer's biographers have been anxious to father this poem upon him, merely because it mentions Woodstock in l. 285.

One point about this poem is its very peculiar metre; the 5-line stanza, riming _a a b b a_, is certainly rare. If the question arises, whence is it copied, the answer is clear, viz. from Chaucer's Envoy to his Compleint to his Purse. This is a further reason for dating it later than 1399.

32. _Balade with envoy_; 'O leude book,' &c. Printed in Bell's Chaucer, iv. 347, and in Morris's Chaucer, iv. 85, as if it were part of The Cuckoo and the Nightingale; but obviously unconnected with it. A Balade in the usual form, viz. three 7-line stanzas, with a refrain; the refrain is--'For of all good she is the best living.' The envoy consists of only six lines, instead of seven, rimed _a b a b c c_, and that for a sufficient reason, which has not been hitherto observed. The initial letters of the lines form, in fact, an anagram on the name ALISON; which is therefore the name of the lady to whom the Balade is addressed. There is a copy of this poem in MS. Fairfax 16, and another in MS. Tanner 346. It is therefore as old as the 15th century. But to attribute to Chaucer the fourth line of the Envoy seems hazardous. It runs thus--'Suspiries whiche I effunde in silence.' Perhaps it is Hoccleve's.

38. _Poem in two 7-line stanzas._ There is nothing to connect this with Chaucer; and it is utterly unworthy of him. I now quote the whole poem, just as it stands in the edition of 1561:--

'Go foorthe king, rule thee by Sapience, Bishoppe, be able to minister doctrine, Lorde, to true counsale yeue audience, Womanhode, to chastitie euer encline; Knight, let thy deedes worship determine; Be righteous, Iudge, in sauyng thy name; Rich, do almose, lest thou lese blisse w_i_t_h_ shame.

'People, obeie your kyng and the lawe; Age, be ruled by good religion; True seruaunt, be dredfull & kepe the vnder awe; And, thou poore, fie on presumpcion; Inobedience to youth is vtter destruccion; Remembre you, how God hath set you, lo! And doe your parte, as ye be ordained to.'

In l. 7, ed. 1532 has _almesse_ instead of _almose_. Surely it must be Lydgate's. Many of his poems exhibit similar catalogues, if I may so term them.

I have now gone through all the poems published in 1532 and copied into the later editions (with the exception of nos. 66-68, for which see p. 45); and I see no way of augmenting the list of Chaucer's Minor Poems any further from this source.

§ 11. DISCUSSION OF THE POEMS IN PART II. OF ED. 1561.

It is hardly worth while to discuss at length all the poems which it pleased John Stowe to fling together into the edition of 1561. But a few remarks may be useful.

Nos. 42, 43, and 60 are admittedly genuine; and are printed below, nos. XIV., XX., and VIII. I believe nos. 44 and 57 to be so also[225]; they are discussed below, and are printed as nos. XXI. and VI. No. 61 is, of course, Lydgate's. Besides this, no. 45 is correctly ascribed to Lydgate in the MSS.; there are copies of it in MS. Fairfax 16 and in MS. Ashmole 59. No. 56 is also Lydgate's, and is so marked in MS. Harl. 2251. As to no. 46, called the Craft of Lovers, it is dated by help of two lines in the last stanza, which are thus printed by Stowe:--

'In the yere of our lorde a .M. by rekeninge CCCXL. .&. UIII. yere folowing.'

This _seems_ to give the date as 1348; whereas the language is palpably that of the fifteenth century. Whether Stowe or his printer thought fit to alter the date intentionally, I cannot say. Still, the fact is, that in the MS. marked R. 3. 19 in Trinity College Library, at fol. 156, the reading is 'CCCCXL & VIII yere,' so that the true date is rather 1448, or nearly half a century after Chaucer's death[226]. The same MS., which I suppose belonged to Stowe, contains several other of these pieces, viz. nos. 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, and perhaps others. The language and, in some cases, the ruggedness of the metre, forbid us to suppose that Chaucer can have had anything to do with them, and some are palpably of a much later date; one or more of these considerations at once exclude all the rest of Stowe's additions. It may, however, be noted that no. 47 quotes the line 'Beware alwaye, the blind eats many a fly,' which occurs as a refrain in no. 56, and it is therefore later than the time of Lydgate. The author of no. 48 says he is 'a man vnknowne.' Many lines in no. 49 are of abnormal length; it begins with--'Profulgent in preciousnes, O Sinope the queen.' The same is true of no. 51, which is addressed to a Margaret, and begins with--'In the season of Feuerere when it was full colde.' Of no. 52, Tyrwhitt says that the four first stanzas are found in different parts of an imperfect poem upon the _Fall of Man_, in MS. Harl. 2251; whilst the 11th stanza makes part of an _Envoy_, which in the same MS. is annexed to the poem entitled the _Craft of Lovers_. No. 53 is a poor affair. No. 54, called a _Balade Pleasaunte_, is very unpleasant and scurrilous, and alludes to the wedding of 'queene Iane[227]' as a circumstance that happened many years ago. No. 55 is scurrilous, odious, and stupid. I doubt if no. 58 is good enough for Lydgate. No. 59 belongs to the sixteenth century.

All the poems here rejected were rejected by Tyrwhitt, with two strange exceptions, viz. nos. 50 and 59, the Virelai and the Court of Love. Of both of these, the language is quite late. The _Virelai_ is interesting from a metrical point of view, because such poems are scarce; the only similar poem that I can call to mind is the _Balet_ (or rather _Virelai_) composed by Lord Rivers during his imprisonment in 1483, and printed by Percy in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. Percy says that Lord Rivers copies the _Virelai_ mentioned above, which he assumes to be Chaucer's; but it is quite as likely that the copying was in the other direction, and that Lord Rivers copied some genuine _Virelai_ (either Chaucer's or in French) that is now lost[228]. The final rime of _end_ with _find_, is bad enough; but the supposition that the language is of the 14th century is ridiculous. Still the _Virelai_ is good in its way, though it can hardly be older than 1500, and may be still later.

Of all poems that have been falsely ascribed to Chaucer, I know of none more amazing than _The Court of Love_. The language is palpably that of the 16th century, and there are absolutely _no_ examples of the occurrence in it of a final _-e_ that is fully pronounced, and forms a syllable! Yet there are critics who lose their heads over it, and will not give it up. Tyrwhitt says--'I am induced by the internal evidence (!) to consider it as one of Chaucer's genuine productions.' As if the 'internal evidence' of a poem containing no sonant final _-e_ is not enough to condemn it at once. The original MS. copy exists in MS. R. 3. 19 in Trinity College, and the writing is later than 1500. The poem itself has all the smoothness of the Tudor period[229]; it excels the style of Hawes, and would do credit to Sackville. One reference is too interesting to be passed over. In the second stanza, the poet regrets that he has neither the eloquence of Tully, the power of Virgil, nor the 'craft of _Galfride_.' Tyrwhitt explains _Galfride_ as 'Geoffrey of Monmouth,' though it is difficult to understand on what ground he could have been here thought of. Bell's 'Chaucer' explains _Galfride_ as 'Geoffrey of Vinsauf,' which is still more curious; for Geoffrey of Vinsauf is the very _Gaufride_ whom Chaucer holds up to eternal ridicule in the Nonne Prestes Tale (l. 526).

I have no doubt at all that the _Galfrid_ here referred to is no other than Geoffrey Chaucer, who was called, indifferently, _Galfrid_ or _Geoffrey_. This appears from the testimony of Lydgate, who speaks, in his 'Troy-book,' of 'Noble Galfryde, chefe Poete of Brytayne,' and again, of 'My mayster Galfride'; see Lydgate's Siege of Troye, bk. ii. ch. 15, and bk. iii. ch. 25; ed. 1557, fol. K 2, col. 1, and fol. R 2, back, col. 2. Hence we are not surprised to find that the author makes frequent reference to Chaucer's Works, viz. to Anelida (l. 235), the Death of Pity (701), Troilus (872), the Legend of Good Women (104, 873), and the Parl. of Foules (near the end). The two allusions to the Legend of Good Women at once make the poem later than 1385; and in fact, it must be quite a century later than that date. There are more than 70 rimes that differ from those employed by Chaucer. The Poet introduces to our notice personages named _Philogenet_, _Philobone_, and _Rosial_. Of these, at least the two former savour of the time of the Renaissance; for, although Chaucer uses the name Philostrate in the Knightes Tale (A 1428, 1558, 1728), he merely _copies_ this name from Boccaccio; and it is amusing to find that Boccaccio himself did not understand it.[230]

§ 12. POEMS ADDED IN SPEGHT'S EDITIONS OF 1598 AND 1602.

We have now to consider the additions made by Speght in 1598. These were only two, viz. _Chaucer's Dream_ and _The Flower and the Leaf_.

62. _Chaucer's Dream._ A long poem of 2206 short lines, in metre similar to that of The House of Fame; accepted by Tyrwhitt, and in all the editions. But there is no early trace of it; and we are not bound to accept as Chaucer's a poem first ascribed to him in 1598, and of which the MS. (at Longleat) was written about 1550. The language is of late date, and the sonant final _-e_ is decidedly scarce. The poem is badly named, and may have been so named by Speght; the proper title is 'The Isle of Ladies.' We find such rimes as _be_, _companie_ (Ch. _be_, _company-e_); _know_, _low_, i. e. law (Ch. _know-e_, _law-e_); _grene_, _yene_, i. e. eyes (Ch. _gren-e_, _y-ën_); _plesaunce_, _fesaunce_ (Ch. _plesaunc-e_, _fesaunts_); _ywis_, _kisse_ (Ch. _ywis_, _kis-se_); and when we come to _destroied_ riming with _conclude_, it is time to stop. The tediousness of this poem is appalling[231].

63. _The Flower and the Leaf._ This is rather a pretty poem, in 7-line stanzas. The language is that of the fifteenth century. It professes to be written by a gentlewoman, like the Assemble of Ladies; and perhaps it was[232]. Very likely, the same 'gentlewoman' wrote both these poems. If so, the Flower and the Leaf is the better finished, and probably the later of the two. It contains the word _henchman_, for which the earliest dated quotation which I have yet found is 1415 (Royal Wills, ed. Nichols, p. 220). An interesting reference is given in the lines--

'Eke there be knightes old of the garter That in hir time did right worthily.'

The order of the Garter was established in 1349; and we should expect that more than half a century would elapse before it would be natural to refer to the Knights as _old_ knights, who did worthily _in their time_. Of course the poem cannot be Chaucer's, and it is hardly necessary to look for rimes such as he never uses; yet such may easily be found, such as _grew_, pt. t. sing., riming with the dissyllabic _hew-e_, _new-e_; _sid-e_ with _espide_, pp. (Ch. _espy-ed_); _eie_, eye (Ch. _y-ë_) with _sie_, saw (Ch. _sy_); and _plesure_[233] with _desire_; after which we may stop.

In 1602, Speght issued another edition, in which, according to Bonn's edition of Lowndes' _Bibliographer's Manual_, two more pieces were added, viz. the prose treatise against Friars called _Jack Upland_, and the genuine poem entitled 'A. B. C.' But this is not all; for I find, in a still later edition, that of 1687, which is said to be a 'reimpression of Speght's edition of 1602,' that, at the very end of all the prefatory matter, on what was probably a spare blank leaf, three more poems appear, which might as well have been consigned to oblivion. But the editors of Chaucer evidently thought that a thing once added must be added for ever, and so these three productions are retained in Bell's Chaucer, and must therefore be noticed with the rest. I find, however, that they had been printed previously, viz. at the end of the Table of Contents in ed. 1542 and ed. 1550, where they are introduced quite casually, without a word of explanation. Moreover, they are copied from MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 15, a MS. which also contains the Canterbury Tales; and no doubt, this fact suggested their insertion. See Todd's Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 120.

64. _Jack Upland._ An invective against friars, in prose, worth printing, but obviously not Chaucer's.

65. Chaucer's A. B. C. Genuine; here printed as poem no. I.

66. _Eight goodly questions with their answers_; printed in Bell's Chaucer, vol. iv. p. 421; nine 7-line stanzas. In st. 3, _tree_ rimes with _profer_; but _tree_ is an obvious misprint for _cofer_! In st. 5, the gerund _to lie_ (Ch. _ly-e_) rimes with _honestie_ (Ch. _honestee_). This is quite enough to condemn it. But it may be Lydgate's.

67. _To the Kings most noble Grace, and to the Lords and Knights of the Garter_; pr. as above, p. 424; eight 8-line stanzas. In MS. Phillipps 8151, and written by Hoccleve; it much resembles his poem printed in _Anglia_, v. 23. The date may be 1416. The 'King' is Henry V.

68. _Sayings._ Really three separate pieces. They are all found on the fly-leaf of the small quarto edition of Caxton, described above, p. 27. When Caxton printed Chaucer's _Anelida_ and _Purse_ on a quire of ten leaves, it so happened that he only filled up nine of them. But, after adding _explicit_ at the bottom of the ninth leaf, to shew that he had come to the end of his Chaucer, he thought it a pity to waste space, and so added three popular sayings on the front of leaf 10, leaving the back of it still blank. Here is what he printed:--

'Whan feyth failleth in prestes sawes And lordes hestes ar holden for lawes And robbery is holden purchas And lechery is holden solas Than shal the lond of albyon Be brought to grete confusio_u_n.

Hit falleth for euery gentilman To saye the best that he can In mannes absence And the soth in his presence.

'Hit cometh by kynde of gentil blode To cast away al heuynes And gadre to-gidre wordes good The werk of wisedom berith witnes Et sic est finis ****.'

The first of these sayings was probably a bit of popular rime, of the character quoted in Shakespeare's _King Lear_, iii. 2. 81. Shakespeare calls his lines _Merlin's_ prophecy; and it has pleased the editors of Chaucer to call the first six lines _Chaucer's_ Prophecy[234]. They appear in Bell's Chaucer, vol. iii. p. 427, in an 'improved' form, not worth discussing; and the last eight lines are also printed in the same, vol. iv. p. 426. Why they are separated, is mysterious. Those who think them genuine may thank me for giving them Caxton's spelling instead of Speght's.

§ 13. PIECES ADDED IN MORRIS'S EDITION, 1866.

In Morris's edition are some pieces which either do not appear in previous editions, or were first printed later than 1700.

69. Roundel; pr. in vol. vi. p. 304. The same as Merciless Beaute; here printed as no. XI. It first appeared, however, in Percy's Reliques of English Poetry. See p. 80 below.

70. The Former Age; pr. in vol. vi. p. 300, for the first time. Here printed as no. IX. See p. 78.

71. _Prosperity_; pr. in vol. vi. p. 296, for the first time. This is taken from MS. Arch. Selden B. 24, fol. 119, where it follows Chaucer's Poem on 'Truth.' It has but one stanza of eight lines, and I here give it precisely as it stands in this Scottish MS.:--

'Richt as pou_er_t causith sobirnes, And febilnes enforcith contenence, Ry_ch_t so prosperitee and grete riches The moder is of vice and negligence; And powere also causith Insolence; And hono_ur_ oftsiss changith gude thewis; Thare is no more p_er_ilouss pestilence Than hie estate geven vnto schrewis. Q_uo_d Chaucere.'

I have no belief in the genuineness of this piece, though it is not ill written. In general, the ascription of a piece to Chaucer in a MS. is valuable. But the scribe of this particular MS. was reckless. It is he who made the mistake of marking Hoccleve's 'Mother of God' with the misleading remark--'Explicit or_aci_o Galfridi Chaucere.' At fol. 119, back, he gives us a poem beginning 'Deuise prowes and eke humylitee' in seven 7-line stanzas, and here again at the end is the absurd remark--'Q_uo_d Chaucer quhen he was ry_ch_t auisit.' But he was himself quite 'wrongly advised'; for it is plainly not Chaucer's at all. His next feat is to mark Lydgate's Complaynt of the Black Knight by saying--'Here endith the Maying and disporte of Chaucere'; which shews how the editors were misled as to this poem. Nor is this all; for he gives us, at fol. 137, back, another poem in six 8-line stanzas, beginning 'O hie Emperice and quene celestial'; and here again at the end is his stupid--'Q_uo_d Chaucere.' The date of this MS. appears to be 1472; so it is of no high authority; and, unless we make some verbal alteration, we shall have to explain how Chaucer came to write _oftsiss_ in two syllables instead of _ofte sythe_ in four; see his Can. Yem. Tale, Group G, l. 1031.

72. _Leaulte vault Richesse_; pr. in vol. vi. p. 302, for the first time. This is from the same MS., fol. 138, and is as follows:--

'This warldly Ioy is onely fantasy, Of quhich non erdly wicht ca_n_ be _con_tent; Quho most has wit, leste suld In It affy, Quho taist_is_ It most, most sall him repent; Quhat valis all this richess and this rent, Sen no ma_n_ wate quho sall his tresour haue? P_re_sume no_ch_t gevin th_a_t god has done but lent, Within schort tyme the quhiche he think_is_ to craue. _Leaulte vault richess._'

On this poem, I have three remarks to make. The first is that not even the reckless Scottish scribe attributes it to Chaucer. The second is that Chaucer's forms are _content_ and _lent_ without a final _e_, and _repent-e_ and _rent-e_ with a final _-e_, so that the poem cannot be his; although _content_, _repent_, _rent_, and _lent_ rime well enough in the Northern dialect. The third is that if I could be sure that the above lines were by a well-known author, I should at once ascribe them to King James I., who might very well have written these and the lines called _Prosperity_ above. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the very MS. here discussed is that in which the unique copy of the _Kingis Quair_ is preserved.

73. _Proverbs of Chaucer_; printed in vol. vi. p. 303. The first eight lines are genuine; here printed as no. XX. But two 7-line stanzas are added, which are spurious. In MS. Addit. 16165, Shirley tells us that they were 'made by Halsham Esquyer'; but they seem to be Lydgate's, unless he _added_ to them. See Lydgate's Minor Poems (Percy Soc. 1840), pp. 193 and 74. And see pp. 52, 57.

It thus appears that, of the 73 pieces formerly attributed to Chaucer, not more than 26, and a part of a 27th, can be genuine. These are: _Canterbury Tales_, _Troilus_, _Legend of Good Women_, _House of Fame_, about a quarter of _The Romaunt of the Rose_, the _Minor Poems_ printed in the present volume and numbered I-XI, XIII-XXI, and two pieces in prose.

§ 14. DESCRIPTION OF THE MSS.

After the preceding somewhat tedious, but necessary discussion of the contents of the black-letter and other editions (in many of which poems were as recklessly attributed to Chaucer as medieval proverbs used to be to King Solomon), it is some relief to turn to the manuscripts, which usually afford much better texts, and are altogether more trustworthy.

The following is a list of the MSS. which have been followed. I must here acknowledge my great debt to Dr. Furnivall, whose excellent, careful, and exact reproduction in print of the various MSS. leaves nothing to be desired, and is a great boon to all Chaucer scholars. They are nearly all[235] printed among the Chaucer Society's publications. At the same time, I desire to say that I have myself consulted most of the MSS., and have thus gleaned a few hints which could hardly have been otherwise acquired; it was by this process that I became acquainted with the poems numbered XXII. and XXIII., which are probably genuine, and with the poem numbered XII., which is certainly so. An editor should always look at the MSS. for himself, if he can possibly contrive to do so.

LIST OF THE MSS.; WITH ABBREVIATIONS.

N.B. The roman numbers following the name of each MS. denote the numbers of the poems in the present edition.

A.--Ashmole 59, Bodleian Library (Shirley's).--X. XIV. XVIII.

Ad.--Addit. 16165, British Museum.--VII. XX. XXIII.

Add.--Addit. 22139, British Museum.--XIII. XIV. XV. XIX.

Ar.--Arch. Selden B. 24, Bodleian Library.--IV. V. XIII. XVIII.

Arch.--Arch. Selden B. 10, Bodleian Library.--X. XIII.

At.--Addit. 10340, British Museum.--XIII.

B.--Bodley 638 (Oxford).--I. II. III. V. VII. X. XXII.

Bannatyne MS. 1568, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.--XV.

Bedford MS. (Bedford Library).--I.

C.--Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. 5. 30.--I.

Corpus.--Corpus Chr. Coll., Oxford, 203.--XIII.

Ct.--Cotton, Cleopatra D. 7; Brit. Mus.--XIII. XIV. XV. XXI.

Cx.--Caxton's editions; see above (p. 27).--V. VII. X. XIII. XIV. XVI. (part); XIX.

D.--Digby 181, Bodleian Library.--V. VII.

E.--Ellesmere MS. (also has the Cant. Tales).--XIII.

ed. 1561.--Stowe's edition, 1561.--VI. VIII. XX. XXI., &c.

F.--Fairfax 16, Bodleian Library.--I. II. III. IV. V. VII. X. XIII. (two copies); XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII.

Ff.--Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. 1. 6.--II. V. VII. (part); XVIII. XIX.

Gg.[236]--Cambridge Univ. Library, Gg. 4. 27.--I. V. XIII. XVI.

Gl.--Glasgow, Hunterian Museum, Q. 2. 25.--I.

H.--Harleian 2251, Brit. Mus.--I. X. XIV. XIX.

Ha.--Harleian 7578, Brit. Mus.--I. II. XIV. XV. XX. XXI.

Harl.--Harleian 7333, Brit. Mus.--IV. V. VII. XIII. XIV. XV. XIX. XXII.

Harleian 78, Brit. Mus. (Shirley's). _See_ Sh. _below._

Harleian 372, Brit. Mus.--VII.

Hat.--Hatton 73, Bodleian Library.--XIII. XV.

Hh.--Cambridge Univ. Library, Hh. 4. 12.--V (part); IX.

I.--Cambridge Univ. Library, Ii. 3. 21.--IX. X.

Jo.--St. John's College, Cambridge, G. 21.--I.

Ju.--Julian Notary's edition (see p. 28).--IV. XVII. XVIII.

Kk.--Cambridge Univ. Library, Kk. 1. 5.--XIII.

L.--Laud 740, Bodleian Library.--I.

Lansdowne 699, Brit. Mus.--X. XIII.

Laud.--Laud 416, Bodleian Library.--V (part).

Lt.--Longleat MS. 258 (Marquis of Bath).--II. IV. V. VII.

O.--St. John's College, Oxford (no. lvii.); fol. 22, bk.--V.

P.--Pepys 2006, Magd. Coll., Cambridge.--I. (two copies); IV. V. VII (part); X. XI. XIII. XVI. XVIII. (two copies); XIX.

Ph.--Phillipps 9053 (Cheltenham).--II. VI. VII. (part); XIX.

Phil.--Phillipps 8299 (Cheltenham).--XIII.

R.--Rawlinson Poet. 163, Bodleian Library.--XII.

Sh.--Shirley's MS. Harl. 78, Brit. Mus.--II. VI.

Sion College MS. (Shirley's).--I.

T.--Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 20.--IV. VII (part); VIII. X. XIII. (two copies); XIV. XV. XVIII.

Th.--W. Thynne's edition, 1532.--III. XV. XVII., &c.

Tn.--Tanner 346, Bodleian Library.--II. III. IV. V. VII. XVIII.

Trin.--Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 19.--II. V.

Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 14. 51.--XIV. XV.

Conversely, I here give a list of the Poems in the present volume, shewing from which MSS. each one is derived. I mention first the MSS. of most importance. I also note the number of lines in each piece.

I. _A. B. C._ (184 lines).--C. Jo. Gl. L. Gg. F.; _other copies in_ H. P.[237] Bedford. Ha. Sion. B.[238]

II. _Pite_ (119).--Tn. F. B. Sh. Ff. Trin.; _also_ Ha. Lt. Ph.

III. _Duchess_ (1334).--F. Tn. B. Th.

IV. _Mars_ (298).--F. Tn. Ju. Harl. T. Ar.; also P.[237] Lt.

V. _Parl. Foules_ (699).--F. Gg. Trin. Cx. Harl. O. Ff. Tn. D.; _also_ Ar. B. Lt. P.; Hh. (365 lines); Laud (142 lines).

VI. _Compleint to his Lady_ (133).--Ph. Sh.; ed. 1561.

VII. _Anelida_ (357).--Harl. F. Tn. D. Cx.; _also_ B. Lt. Ad.; Harl. 372; _partly in_ T. Ff. P. Ph.

VIII. _Lines to Adam_ (7).--T.; ed. 1561.

IX. _Former Age_ (64).--I. Hh.

X. _Fortune_ (79).--I. A. T. F. B. H.; _also_ P. Cx.; Arch.; Lansd. 699.

XI. _Merciless Beaute_ (39).--P.

XII. _To Rosemounde_ (24).--R.

XIII. _Truth_ (28).--At. Gg. E. Ct. T.[239]; _also_ Arch. Harl. Hat. P. F.[240] Add. Cx.; Ar. Kk. Corpus; Lansd. 699; Phil.

XIV. _Gentilesse_ (21).--A. T. Harl. Ct. Ha. Add. Cx; _also_ H. _and_ Trinity.

XV. _Lak of Stedfastnesse_ (28).--Harl. T. Ct. F. Add.; _also_ Th. Ha.; Hat., Trinity, _and_ Bannatyne.

XVI. _To Scogan_ (49).--Gg. F. P.; _also_ Cx. (21 lines).

XVII. _To Bukton_ (32).--F. Th.; _also_ Ju.

XVIII. _Venus_ (82).--T. A. Tn. F. Ff.; _also_ Ar. Ju. P.[241]

XIX. _Purse_ (26).--F. Harl. Ff. P. Add.; _also_ H. Cx. Ph.

XX. _Proverbs_ (8).--F. Ha. Ad.; ed. 1561.

XXI. _Against Women Unconstaunt_ (21).--Ct. F. Ha.; ed. 1561.

XXII. _An Amorous Complaint_ (91).--Harl. F. B.

XXIII. _Balade of Complaint_ (21).--Ad.

§ 15. REMARKS ON SOME OF THE MSS.

Some of these MSS. deserve a few special remarks.

Shirley's MSS. are--A. Ad. H. Harl. Sh. Sion, _and_ T.

MSS. in Scottish spelling are--Ar. Bannatyne. Kk.; L. shews Northern tendencies.

MSS. AT OXFORD.

F. (Fairfax 16) is a valuable MS.; not only does it contain as many as sixteen of these Minor Poems, but it is a fairly written MS. of the fifteenth century. The spelling does not very materially differ from that of such an excellent MS. as the Ellesmere MS. of the Canterbury Tales, excepting in the fact that a great number of final _e_'s are added in wrong places, and are dropped where they are required. This is a matter that can be to a large extent rectified, and I have endeavoured to do so, taking it in many instances as the standard text. Next to this misuse of final _e_'s, which is merely due to the fact that it was written out at a time when the true use of them was already lost, its most remarkable characteristic is the scribe's excessive love of the letter _y_ in place of _i_; he writes _hyt ys_ instead of _hit is_, and the like. In a great number of instances I have restored _i_, where the vowel is short. When the text of the Fairfax MS. is thus restored, it is by no means a bad one. It also contains fair copies of many poems by Hoccleve and Lydgate, such as the former's _Letter of Cupide_[242], and the latter's _Complaint of the Black Knight_, _Temple of Glass_, and _Balade against Women's Doubleness_, being the very piece which is introduced into Stowe's edition, and is numbered 45 above (see p. 33). We are also enabled, by comparing this MS. with MS. Harl. 7578, to solve another riddle, viz. why it is that Chaucer's Proverbs, as printed in Morris's and Bell's editions, are followed by two 7-line stanzas which have nothing whatever to do with them. In MS. Harl. 7578 these two stanzas immediately _follow_, and MS. F. immediately _precede_ Chaucer's Proverbs, and therefore were near enough to them to give an excuse for throwing them in together. However, both these stanzas are by Lydgate, and are mere fragments[243]. The former of them, beginning 'The worlde so wide, thaire so remuable,' really belongs to a poem of 18 stanzas, printed in Halliwell's edition of Lydgate's Minor Poems (Percy Soc.), p. 193. The latter of them, beginning 'The more I goo, the ferther I am behinde,' belongs to a poem of 11 stanzas, printed in the same, p. 74. Perhaps this will serve as a hint to future editors of Chaucer, from whose works it is high time to exclude poems _known_ to be by some other hand.

In this MS. there is also a curious and rather long poem upon the game of chess; the board is called the _cheker_, and the pieces are the _kyng_, the _quene or the fers_ (described on fol. 294), the _rokys_ (_duo_ _Roci_), the _knyghtys_, the _Awfyns_ (_duo alfini_), and the _povnys_ (_pedini_). This is interesting in connection with the _Book of the Duchess_; see note to l. 654 of that poem. The author tells us how 'he plaid at the chesse,' and 'was mated of a Ferse.'

B. (Bodley 638) is very closely related to MS. F.; in the case of some of the poems, both must have been drawn from a common source. MS. B. is not a mere copy of F., for it sometimes has the correct reading where F. is wrong; as, e.g. in the case of the reading _Bret_ in the _House of Fame_, l. 1208. It contains seven of these Minor Poems, as well as _The boke of Cupide god of loue_ (_Cuckoo and Nightingale_), Hoccleve's _Lettre of Cupide god of loue_, Lydgate's _Temple of Glass_ (oddly called _Temple of Bras_ (!), a mistake which occurs in MS. F. also), his _Ordre of Folys_, printed in Halliwell's Minor Poems of Lydgate, p. 164, and his _Complaint of the Black Knight_, imperfect at the beginning.

A. (Shirley's MS. Ashmole 59) is remarkable for containing a large number of pieces by Lydgate, most of which are marked as his. It corroborates the statement in MS. F. that he wrote the _Balade against Women's Doubleness_. It contains the whole of Scogan's poem in which Chaucer's _Gentilesse_ is quoted: see the complete print of it, from this MS., in the Chaucer Society's publications.

Another poem in this MS. requires a few words. At the back of leaf 38 is a poem entitled 'The Cronycle made by Chaucier,' with a second title to this effect:--'Here nowe folowe the names of the nyene worshipfullest Ladyes that in alle cronycles and storyal bokes haue beo founden of trouthe of constaunce and vertuous or reproched (_sic_) womanhode by Chaucier.' The poem consists of nine stanzas of eight lines (in the ordinary heroic metre), and is printed in Furnivall's Odd Text of Chaucer's Minor Poems,