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.