Chapter XXIX: Appendix (8)

2. The latter part of this line is badly given in the MSS. The readings are: F. now pouerte and now riche honour (_much too long_); I. now poeer_e_ and now honour; A. T. nowe poure and nowe honour; H. now poore and now honour. But the reading _poure_, _poer_, _pore_, i. e. poor, hardly serves, as a sb. is required. _Pouerte_ seems to be the right word, but this requires us to omit the former _now_. _Pouerte_ can be pronounced _povért'_; accented on the second syllable, and with the final _e_ elided. For this pronunciation, see Prol. to Man of Lawes Tale, Group B, l. 99. Precisely because this pronunciation was not understood, the scribes did not know what to do. They inserted _now_ before _pouerte_ (which they thought was _póverte_); and then, as the line was too long, cut it down to _poure_, _poore_, to the detriment of the sense. I would therefore rather read--'As wele or wo, poverte and now honour,' with the pronunciation noted above.

7. In the Introduction to the Persones Tale (Group I, 248), we find: 'wel may that man, that no good werke ne dooth, singe thilke newe Frenshe song, _Iay tout perdu mon temps et mon labour_.' In like manner, in the present case, this line of 'a new French song' is governed by the verb _singen_ in l. 6; cf. Sect. XXII. l. 24. The sense is--'the lack of Fortune's favour shall never (though I die) make me sing--"I have wholly lost my time and my labour."' In other words, 'I will not own myself defeated.'

9. With this stanza cf. Rom. de la Rose (E. version), 5551-2, 5671-78, 5579-81:--

'For Infortune makith anoon
To knowe thy freendis fro thy foon...
A wys man seide, as we may seen,
Is no man wrecched, but he it wene,...
For he suffrith in pacience...
Richesse riche ne makith nought
Him that on tresour set his thought;
For richesse stont in _suffisaunce_;' &c.

13. _No force of_, it does not matter for; i. e. 'thy rigour is of no consequence to him who has the mastery over himself.' From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4, l. 98, which Chaucer translates: 'Thanne, yif it so be that thou art mighty over thy-self, that is to seyn, by tranquillitee of thy sowle, than hast thou thing in thy power that thou noldest never lesen, ne Fortune ne may nat beneme it thee.'

17. Socrates is mentioned in Boeth. bk. i. pr. 3, l. 39, but ll. 17-20 are from Le Rom. de la Rose, ll. 5871-4:--

'A Socrates seras semblables,
Qui tant fu fers et tant estables,
Qu'il n'ert liés en prospérités,
Ne tristes en aversités.'

20. _Chere_, look. _Savour_, pleasantness, attraction; cf. Squi. Tale, F 404. All the MSS. have this reading; Caxton alters it to _favour_.

25. This Second Ballad gives us Fortune's response to the defiance of the complainant. In Arch. Seld. B. 10, it is headed--'Fortuna ad paupertatem.' See Boethius, bk. ii. prose 2, where Philosophy says--'Certes, I wolde _pleten_ with thee a fewe thinges, _usinge the wordes of Fortune_.' Cf. 'nothing is wrecched but whan thou wenest it'; Boeth. ii. pr. 4, l. 79; and see Rom. Rose (E. version, 5467-5564).

28. 'Who possessest thy (true) self (as being quite) beyond my control.' A fine sentiment. _Out of_, beyond, independent of.

29. Cf. 'thou hast had grace as he that hath used of foreine goodes; thou hast no right to pleyne thee'; Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, l. 17.

31. Cf. 'what eek yif my mutabilitee yiveth thee rightful cause of hope to han yit beter thinges?' id. l. 58.

32. _Thy beste frend_; possibly John of Gaunt, who died in 1399; but see note to l. 73 below. There is a curious resemblance here to Le Rom. de la Rose, 8056-60:--

'Et sachies, compains, que sitost
Comme _Fortune_ m'ot ça mis,
_Je perdi trestous mes amis_,
_Fors ung_, ce croi ge vraiement,
Qui m'est remès tant solement.'

34. Cf. 'For-why this like Fortune hath departed and uncovered to thee bothe the certein visages and eek the doutous visages of thy felawes... thow hast founden the moste precious kinde of richesses, that is to seyn, thy verray freendes'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8, l. 25.

Cf. Rom. Rose (E. version), l. 5486, and ll. 5547-50. The French version has (ll. 4967, &c.):--

'Si lor fait par son mescheoir
Tretout si clerement veoir,
Que lor fait lor amis trover,
Et par experiment prover
Qu'il valent miex que nul avoir
Qu'il poïssent où monde avoir.'

35. Vincent de Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, bk. 19, c. 62, headed De medicinis ex hyæna, cites the following from Hieronymus, Contra Iouinianum [lib. ii. Epist. Basileæ, 1524, ii. 74]:--'Hyænæ fel oculorum claritatem restituit,' the gall of a hyena restores the clearness of one's eyes. So also Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxviii. c. 8. This exactly explains the allusion. Compare the extract from Boethius already quoted above, at the top of p. 543.

38. 'Still thine anchor holds.' From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4, l. 40:--whan that thyn ancres cleven faste, that neither wolen suffren the counfort of this tyme present, ne the hope of tyme cominge, to passen ne to faylen.'

39. 'Where Liberality carries the key of my riches.'

43. _On_, referring to, or, that is binding on.

46. Fortune says:--'I torne the whirlinge wheel with the torning cercle'; Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, l. 37.

47. 'My teaching is better, in a higher degree, than your affliction is, in its degree, evil'; i. e. my teaching betters you more than your affliction makes you suffer.

49. In this third Ballad, the stanzas are distributed between the Complainant and Fortune, one being assigned to the former, and two to the latter. The former says:--'I condemn thy teaching; it is (mere) adversity.' M. S. Arch. Seld. B. 10 has the heading 'Paupertas ad Fortunam.'

50. _My frend_, i. e. my true friend. In l. 51, _thy frendes_ means 'the friends I owed to thee,' my false friends. From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 8, l. 23:--'this aspre and horrible Fortune hath discovered to thee the thoughtes of thy trewe freendes;... Whan she departed awey fro thee, she took awey _hir_ freendes and lafte thee _thyne_ freendes.'

51. _I thanke hit thee_, I owe thanks to thee for it. But very likely _hit_ has been inserted to fill up, and the right reading is, probably, _I thank-e thee_; as Koch suggests.

52. _On presse_, in a throng, in company, all together.

53. 'Their niggardliness, in keeping their riches to themselves, foreshews that thou wilt attack their stronghold; just as an unnatural appetite precedes illness.'

56. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 19179:--

'Ceste ruile est si généraus,
Qu'el ne puet defaillir vers aus.'

57. Here Fortune replies. This stanza is nearly made up of extracts from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, transposed and rearranged. For the sake of comparison, I give the nearest equivalents, transposing them to suit the order here adopted.

'That maketh thee now inpacient ayeins me.... I norisshede thee with my richesses.... Now it lyketh me to with-drawen my hand ... shal I than only ben defended to usen my right?... The see hath eek his right to ben somtyme calme ... and somtyme to ben horrible with wawes.... Certes, it is leveful to the hevene to make clere dayes.... The yeer hath eek leve ... to confounden hem [_the flowers_] somtyme with reynes ... shal it [_men's covetousness_] binde me to ben stedefast?'

Compare also the defence of Fortune by Pandarus, in Troilus, bk. i. 841-854.

65. Above this stanza (ll. 65-72) all the MSS. insert a new heading, such as 'Le pleintif,' or 'Le pleintif encountre Fortune,' or 'The pleyntyff ageinst Fortune,' or 'Paupertas ad Fortunam.' But they are all wrong, for it is quite certain that this stanza belongs to Fortune. Otherwise, it makes no sense. Secondly, we know this by the original (in Boethius). And thirdly, Fortune cannot well have the 'envoy' unless she has the stanza preceding it. Dr. Morris, in his edition, rightly omits the heading; and so in Bell's edition.

66. Compare:--'For purviaunce is thilke divyne reson that is establisshed in the soverein prince of thinges; the whiche purviaunce disponeth alle thinges'; Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6, l. 42.

68. _Ye blinde bestes_, addressed to men; evidently by _Fortune_, not by the _Pleintif_. Compare the words _forth_, _beste_, in the Balade on Truth, Sect. XIII. l. 18.

71. Here we have formal proof that the speaker is Fortune; for this is copied from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 3, l. 60--'natheles the laste day of a mannes lyf is a manere deeth to Fortune.' Hence _thy_ refers to _man_, and _myn_ refers to _Fortune_; and the sense is--'Thy last day (O man) is the end of my interest (in thee)'; or 'dealings (with thee).' The word _interesse_, though scarce, is right. It occurs in Lydgate's Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 210; and in Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 33:--

'That not the worth of any living wight
May challenge ought in Heaven's _interesse_.'

And in Todd's Johnson:--'I thought, says his Majesty [K. Charles I.] I might happily have satisfied all _interesses_'; Lord Halifax's Miscell. p. 144. The sb. also occurs as Ital. _interesse_; thus Florio's Ital. Dict. (1598) has:--'_Interesse_, _Interesso_, the interest or profite of money for lone. Also, what toucheth or concerneth a mans state or reputation.' And Minsheu's Spanish Dict. (1623) has:--'_Interes_, or _Interesse_, interest, profite, auaile.' The E. vb. to _interess_ was once common, and occurs in K. Lear, i. 1. 87 (unless Dr. Schmidt is right in condemning the reading of that line).

73. _Princes._ Who these princes were, it is hard to say; according to l. 76 (found in MS. I. only), there were _three_ of them. If the reference is to the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, then the 'beste frend' must be the king himself. Cf. l. 33.

75, 76. 'And I (Fortune) will requite you for your trouble (undertaken) at my request, whether there be three of you, or two of you (that heed my words).' Line 76 occurs in MS. I. _only_, yet it is difficult to reject it, as it is not a likely sort of line to be thrust in, unless this were done, in revision, by the author himself. Moreover, we should expect the Envoy to form a stanza with the usual seven lines, so common in Chaucer, though the rime-arrangement differs.

77. 'And, unless it pleases you to relieve him of his pain (yourselves), pray his best friend, for the honour of his nobility, that he may attain to some better estate.'

The assigning of this petition to _Fortune_ is a happy expedient. The poet thus escapes making a direct appeal in his own person.

XI. MERCILESS BEAUTY.

The title 'Mercilesse Beaute' is given in the Index to the Pepys MS. As it is a fitting title, and no other has been suggested, it is best to use it.

I think this Roundel was suggested by one written in French, in the thirteenth century, by Willamme d'Amiens, and printed in Bartsch, Chrestomathie de l'ancien Français. It begins--

'Jamais ne serai saous
D'esguarder les vairs ieus dous
Qui m'ont ocis';--

i. e. I shall never be sated with gazing on the gray soft eyes which have slain me.

1. The MS. has _Yowre two yen_; but the scribe lets us see that this ill-sounding arrangement of the words is not the author's own; for in writing the refrain he writes 'Your yen, &c.' But we have further evidence: for the whole line is quoted in Lydgate's Ballade of our Ladie, printed in Chaucer's Works, ed. 1550, fol. 347 b, in the form--'Your eyen two wol slee me sodainly.' The same Ballad contains other imitations of Chaucer's language. Cf. also Kn. Tale, 260 and 709 (A 1118, 1567).

3. _So woundeth hit ... kene_, so keenly it (your beauty) wounds (me). The MS. has _wondeth_, which is another M. E. spelling of _woundeth_. Percy miscopied it _wendeth_, which gives but poor sense; besides, Chaucer would probably have used the contracted form _went_ as his manner is. In l. 5, the scribe writes _wound_ (better _wounde_).

4. _And but_, and unless. For _word_ Percy printed _words_, quite forgetting that the M.E. plural is dissyllabic (_word-es_). The final _d_ has a sort of curl to it, but a comparison with other words shews that it means nothing; it occurs, for instance, at the end of _wound_ (l. 5), and _escaped_ (l. 27).

_Wounde_ (MS. _wound_) is dissyllabic in Mid. English, like mod. G. _Wunde_. See _wunde_ in Stratmann.

6. I give _two_ lines to the first refrain, and _three_ to the second. The reader may give _three_ lines to both, if he pleases; see note to sect. V, l. 675. We cannot confine the first refrain to _one_ line only, as there is no stop at the end of l. 14.

8. _Trouth-e_ is dissyllabic; see _treouthe_ in Stratmann.

15. _Ne availeth_; with elided e. MS. nauailleth; Percy prints _n'availeth_.

16. _Halt_, i. e. holdeth; see Book of Duch. 621.

17. MS. _han ye me_, correctly; Percy omits _me_, and so spoils both sense and metre.

27. Lovers should be _lean_; see Romaunt of the Rose (E. version), 2684. The F. version has (l. 2561):--

'Car bien saches qu'Amors ne lesse
Sor fins amans color ne gresse.'

28. MS neu_er_e; Percy prints _nere_; but the syllables _in his_ occupy the time of _one_ syllable. I suspect that the correct reading is _thenke ben_; _to_ is not wanted, and _thenke_ is better with a final _e_, though it is sometimes dropped in the pres. indicative. Percy prints _thinke_, but the MS. has _thenk_; cf. AS. _þencan_. With l. 29 cf. Troil. v. 363.

31. _I do no fors_, I don't care; as in Cant. Ta. 6816 (D 1234).

XII. TO ROSEMOUNDE.

This graceful Balade is a happy specimen of Chaucer's skill in riming. The metre is precisely that of 'Fortune,' resembling that of the Monkes Tale with the addition of a refrain; only the same rimes are used throughout. The formula is _a b a b b c b c_.

2. 'As far as the map of the world extends.' _Mappemounde_ is the F. _mappemonde_, Lat. _mappa mundi_; it is used also by Gower, Conf. Amant. iii. 102.

9. _tyne_, a large tub; O. F. _tine_. The whole phrase occurs in the Chevalier au Cigne, as given in Bartsch, Chrest. Française, 350. 23:--'Le jour i ot plore de larmes plaine tine.' Cotgrave has:--'_Tine_, a Stand, open Tub, or Soe, most in use during the time of vintage, and holding _about four or five pailfuls_, and commonly borne, by a Stang, between two.' We picture to ourselves the brawny porters, staggering beneath the '_stang_,' on which is slung the 'tine' containing the 'four or five pailfuls' of the poet's tears.

10. The poet, in all his despair, is sustained and refreshed by regarding the lady's beauty.

11. _seemly_, excellent, pleasing; this is evidently meant by the _semy_ of the MS.

_smal_, fine in tone, delicate; perhaps treble. A good example occurs in the Flower and the Leaf, 180:--

'With voices sweet entuned, and so _smalle_,
That it me thoughte the swetest melodye,' &c.

Cf. 'his vois gentil and _smal_'; Cant. Tales, A 3360. The reading _fynall_ (put for _finall_) is due to mistaking the long s for _f_, and _m_ for _in_.

_out-twyne_, twist out, force out; an unusual word.

17. 'Never was pike so involved in galantine-sauce as I am completely involved in love.' This is a humorous allusion to a manner of serving up pikes which is well illustrated in the Fifteenth-Century Cookery-books, ed. Austin, p. 101, where a recipe for 'pike in Galentyne' directs that the cook should 'cast the sauce _under him and aboue him, that he be al y-hidde in the sauce_.' At p. 108 of the same we are told that the way to make 'sauce galentyne' is to steep crusts of brown bread in vinegar, adding powdered cinnamon till it is brown; after which the vinegar is to be strained twice or thrice through a strainer, and some pepper and salt is to be added. Thus 'sauce galentine' was a seasoned pickle. See further in the note to 1. 16 of Sect. IX.

20. 'True Tristram the second.' For _Tristram_, see note to Sect. V. 1. 290. Tristram was a famous example of 'truth' or constancy, as his love was inspired by having drunk a magical love-potion, from the effects of which he never recovered. The MS. has _Tristam_.

21. _refreyd_, cooled down; lit. 'refrigerated.' This rare word occurs twice in Troilus; see bk. ii. 1343, v. 507; cf. Pers. Ta. I 341. Dr. Murray tells me that no writer but Chaucer is known to have used this form of the word, though Caxton has _refroid_, from continental French, whereas _refreid_ is from Anglo-French.

_afounde_, sink, be submerged. See O. F. _afonder_, to plunge under water, also, to sink, in Godefroy; and _affonder_ in Cotgrave. Chaucer found this rare word in Le Roman de la Rose, 19914. (I once thought it was the pp. of _afinden_, and meant 'nor be explored'; but it is better to take it as infin. after _may not_). See _Afounder_ in the New E. Dict.

XIII. TRUTH.

The Titles are: Gg. Balade de bone conseyl; Lansd. 699, La bon Counseil de le Auttour; Caxton, The good counceyl of Chawcer; Harl. Moral balade of Chaucyre. Shirley calls it--Balade that Chaucier made on his deeth-bedde; a note that has been frequently repeated, and is probably no better than a bad guess.

1. Koch considers that the source of the poem is a passage in Boethius, lib. iii. met. II, at the beginning, but the resemblance is very slight. It contains no more than a mere hint for it. However, part of st. 3 is certainly from the same, bk. i. pr. 5, as will appear; see note to 1. 17.

The former passage in Boethius is thus translated by Chaucer: 'Who-so that seketh sooth by a deep thoght, and coveiteth nat to ben deceived by no mis-weyes, lat him rollen and trenden [_revolve_] withinne himself the light of his inward sighte; and lat him gadere ayein, enclyninge in-to a compas, the longe moevinges of his thoughtes; and lat him techen his corage that he hath enclosed and hid in his tresors, al that he compaseth or seketh fro with-oute.' See also bk. ii. pr. 5 of the same, which seems to me more like the present poem than is the above passage.

2. Koch reads _thing_ for _good_, as in some MSS. He explains the line:--'Devote thyself entirely to one thing, even if it is not very important in itself (instead of hunting after a phantom).' This I cannot accept; it certainly means nothing of the kind. Dr. Sweet has the reading: _Suffise thin owene thing_, &c., which is the reading of _one_ MS. only, but it gives the right idea. The line would then mean: 'let your own property, though small, suffice for your wants.' I think we are bound to follow the MSS. generally; of these, _two_ have _Suffice unto thi thing_; _seven_ have _Suffice unto thy good_; _one_ has _Suffice unto thi lyuynge_ (where _lyuynge_ is a gloss upon _good_); and F. has the capital reading _Suffice the_ (= _thee_) _thy good_. It seems best to follow the majority, especially as they allow _suffice_ to be followed by a vowel, thus eliding the final e. The sense is simply: 'Be content with thy property, though it be small'; and the next line gives the reason why--'for hoarding only causes hatred, and ambition creates insecurity; the crowd is full of envy, and wealth blinds one in every respect.' _Suffice unto thy good_ is much the same as the proverb--'cut your coat according to your cloth.' Chaucer elsewhere has _worldly suffisaunce_ for 'wealth'; Cler. Tale, E 759. Of course this use of _suffice unto_ (be content with) is peculiar; but I do not see why it is not legitimate. The use of _Savour_ in l. 5 below is at least as extraordinary.

Cf. Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 5, l. 54:--'And if thou wolt fulfille thy nede after that it suffiseth to nature, than is it no nede that thou seke after the superfluitee of fortune.'

3. Cf. 'for avarice maketh alwey mokereres [_hoarders_] to ben hated'; Boeth. ii. pr. 5, l. 11.

5. _Savour_, taste with relish, have an appetite for. 'Have a relish for no more than it may behove you (to taste).'

6. Most MSS. read _Werk_ or _Do_; only two have _Reule_, which Dr. Sweet adopts. Any one of these three readings makes sense. 'Thou who canst advise others, work well thyself,' or 'act well thyself,' or 'rule thyself.' To quote from Hamlet, i. 3. 47:--

'Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.'

It is like the Jewish proverb--'Physician, heal thyself.'

7. _Trouthe shal delivere_, truth shall give deliverance. 'The truth shall make you free,' Lat. 'ueritas liberabit uos'; John viii. 32. This is a general truth, and there is no need for the insertion of _thee_ after _shal_, as in the inferior MSS., in consequence of the gradual loss of the final _e_ in _trouthe_, which in Chaucer is properly dissyllabic. The scribes who turned _trouthe_ into _trouthe thee_ forgot that this makes up _trou-thè thee_.

8. _Tempest thee noght_, do not violently trouble or harass thyself, do not be in a state of agitation. Agitation will not redress everything that is crooked. So also:--'_Tempest_ thee nat thus with al thy fortune'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4, l. 50. Chaucer (as Koch says) obtained this curious verb from the third line of section F (l. 63 of the whole poem) of the French poem from which he translated his A B C. This section begins (see p. 263 above):--

'Fuiant m'en viens a ta tente
Moy mucier pour la tormente
Qui ou monde me _tempeste_';

i. e. I come fleeing to thy tent, to hide myself from the storm which harasses me in the world. Goldsmith speaks of a mind being 'tempested up'; Cit. of the World, let. 47.

9. 'Trusting to the vicissitudes of fortune.' There are several references to the wheel of Fortune in Boethius. Thus in bk. ii. pr. 2 of Chaucer's translation:--'I torne the whirlinge wheel with the torning cercle,' quoted above, in the note to X. 46.

10. 'Much repose consists in abstinence from fussiness.'

11. 'To spurn against an awl,' i. e. against a prick, is the English equivalent of the Gk. phrase which our bibles render by 'to kick against the pricks,' Acts ix. 5. Wyclif has 'to kike ayens the pricke.'

In MS. Cotton, Otho A. xviii, we find the reading _a nall_, the _n_ being transferred from _an_ to the sb. Tusser has _nall_ for 'awl' in his Husbandry, § 17, st. 4, l. 3. This MS., by the way, has been burnt, but a copy of it (too much corrected) is given in Todd's Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 131.

12. An allusion to the fable in Æsop about the earthern and brazen pots being dashed together. An earthen pot would have still less chance of escape if dashed against a wall. In MS. T., the word _crocke_ is glossed by 'water-potte.'

13. 'Thou that subduest the deeds of another, subdue thyself.'

15. Cf. 'it behoveth thee to suffren with evene wille in pacience al that is don ... in this world'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. I, l. 66.

16. _Axeth_, requires; i. e. will surely cause.

17. When Boethius complains of being exiled, Philosophy directs him to a heavenly home. 'Yif thou remembre of what contree thou art born, it nis nat governed by emperours ... but oo lord and oo king, and that is god'; bk. i. pr. 5, l. II. This is copied (as being taken from 'Boece') in Le Roman de la Rose, l. 5049 (Eng. version, l. 5659).

18. The word _beste_ probably refers to the passage in Boethius where wicked men are likened to various animals, as when the extortioner is a wolf, a noisy abusive man is a hound, a treacherous man is a fox, &c.; bk. iv. pr. 3. The story of Ulysses and Circe follows; bk. iv. met. 3.

19. 'Recognise heaven as thy true country.' _Lok up_, gaze upwards to heaven. Cf. the expression 'thy contree' at the end of bk. iv. pr. I of his translation of Boethius. There is also a special reference here to Boeth. bk. v. met. 5, where it is said that quadrupeds look _down_, but man is upright; 'this figure amonesteth thee, that axest the hevene with thy righte visage'; l. 14. See Ovid, Met. i. 85.

But, man, as thou wittlees were,
Thou lokist euere dounwarde as a beest.'
Polit, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 185, l. 273.

_Thank god of al_, thank God for all things. In like manner, in the Lamentation of Mary Magdalen, st. 53, we find: 'I thanke God _of_ al, if I nowe dye.' Mätzner (Gram. ii. 2. 307) quotes from the Towneley Mysteries, p. 128:--'Mekyll thanke _of_ youre good wille'; and again (Gram. ii. 1. 238) from King Alisaunder, l. 7576:--'And thankid him _of_ his socour.' Henrysoun, in his Abbay Walk, l. 8, has:--'Obey, and thank thy God of al'; but he is probably copying this very passage. Cf. also--'of help I him praye'; Lydgate, London Lyckpeny, st. 6; 'beseech you of your pardon'; Oth. iii. 3. 212. In Lydgate's Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 225, is a poem in which every stanza ends with 'thonk God of alle.' Cf. Cant. Tales, B 1113.

'Lyft wp thyne Ene [_not_ orne], and thank thi god of al.'
Ratis Raving, ed. Lumby, p. 10.

20. _Hold the hye wey_, keep to the high road. Instead of _Hold the hye wey_, some MSS. have _Weyve thy lust_, i. e. put aside thy desire, give up thine own will.

22. This last stanza forms an Envoy. It exists in _one_ copy only (MS. Addit. 10340); but there is no reason at all for considering it spurious. _Vache_, cow; with reference to the 'beast in the stall' in l. 18. This animal was probably chosen as being less offensive than those mentioned by Boethius, viz. the wolf, hound, fox, lion, hart, ass, and sow. Possibly, also, there is a reference to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, as related by Chaucer in the Monkes Tale; Group B, 3361.

XIV. GENTILESSE.

For remarks upon Scogan's quotation of this Ballad in full, see the Introduction.

The titles are: Harl. Moral balade of Chaucier; T. Balade by Chaucier.

Caxton's text is unusually good, and is often superior to that in the existing MSS.

The general idea of the poem is that Christ was the true pattern of 'gentleness' or gentility, i. e. of noble behaviour. Cf. Dekker's noble line, in which he speaks of Christ as 'The first true gentleman that ever breathed.'

But the finest poetical essay upon this subject is that by Chaucer himself, in the Wife of Bath's Tale; C. T. 6691-6758 (D 1109); which see. And cf. Tale of Melibeus, B 2831-2.

Another passage on this subject occurs in the Eng. version of the Romance of the Rose, ll. 2188-2202, which, curiously enough, is in neither Michel's nor Méon's edition of the French Poem (in which l. 2184 of the E. version is immediately succeeded by l. 2203 of the same). Again, in Le Roman de la Rose, ll. 6603-6616, there is a definition of _Gentillesce_; but this passage is not in the Eng. version.

The original passage, to which both Chaucer and Jean de Meun were indebted, is one in Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 6; which Chaucer thus translates:--'For yif the name of gentilesse be referred to renoun and cleernesse of linage, than is gentil name but a foreine thing, that is to seyn, to hem that glorifyen hem of hir linage. For it semeth that gentilesse be a maner preysinge that comth of deserte of ancestres ... yif thou ne have no gentilesse of thy-self--that is to seyn, preyse that comth of thy deserte--foreine gentilesse ne maketh thee nat gentil.' And again, just below, in metre 6:--'On allone is fader of thinges.... Thanne comen alle mortal folk of noble sede; why noisen ye or bosten of youre eldres?' But we must not overlook a long passage near the end of Le Roman de la Rose, ll. 18807-19096, which Chaucer certainly also consulted. I quote some of these lines below.

1. With this first stanza compare R. Rose, 18881:--

'Quiconques tent à gentillece
D'orguel se gart et de parece;
Aille as armes, ou à l'estuide,
Et de vilenie se vuide;
Humble cuer ait, cortois et gent
En tretous leus, vers toute gent.'

Two MSS., both written out by Shirley, and MS. Harl. 7333, all read:--'The first fader, and foundour (_or_ fynder) of gentylesse.' This is wrong, and probably due to the dropping of the final _e_ in the definite adjective _firste_. We must keep the phrase _firste stok_, because it is expressly repeated in l. 8.

The first line means--'With regard to, _or_ As to the first stock (or source), who was the father of _gentilesse_.' The substantives _stok_ and _fader_ have _no verb_ to them, but are mentioned as being the _subject_ of the sentence.

3. The former _his_ refers to _fader_, but the latter to _man_.

4. _Sewe,_ follow. In a Ballad by King James the First of Scotland, printed at p. 54 of my edition of the Kingis Quair, the first five lines are a fairly close imitation of the opening lines of the present poem, and prove that King James followed a MS. which had the reading _sewe_.

'Sen throu vertew encressis dignite,
And vertew flour and rut [_root_] is of noblay,
Of ony weill or quhat estat thou be,
His steppis _sew_, and dreid thee non effray:
Exil al vice, and folow trewth alway.'

Observe how his first, third, and fourth lines answer to Chaucer's fifth, second, and fourth lines respectively.

5. 'Dignitees apertienen ... to vertu'; Boeth. iii. pr. 4, l. 25.

7. _Al were he_, albeit he may wear; i. e. although he may be a bishop, king, or emperor.

8. _This firste stok_, i. e. Christ. In l. 12, _his heir_ means mankind in general.

Compare Le Rom. de la Rose, 18819:--

'Noblece vient de bon corage,
Car gentillece de lignage
N'est pas gentillece qui vaille,
Por quoi bonté de cuer i faille,
Por quoi doit estre en li parans [_apparent_]
La proece de ses parens
Qui la gentillece conquistrent
Par les travaux que grans i mistrent.
Et quant du siecle trespasserent,
Toutes lor vertus emporterent,
Et lessierent as hoirs l'avoir;
Que plus ne porent d'aus avoir.
L'avoir ont, plus riens n'i a lor,
Ne gentillece, ne valor,
Se tant ne font que gentil soient
Par sens ou par vertu qu'il aient.'

And cf. Dante, Purg. vii. 121-3, to which Ch. refers in his Wife of Bath's Tale (D 1128).

15. _Vyc-e_ is dissyllabic; hence two MSS. turn it into _Vices_, and one even has _Vicesse_!

With this stanza compare part of the French quotation above, and compare Rom. Rose, 19064, &c.:--

'Mes il sunt mauvais, vilain nastre,
Et d'autrui noblece se vantent;
Il ne dient pas voir, ains mentent,
Et le non [_name_] de gentillece emblent,
Quant lor bons parens ne resemblent;' &c.

16. In MS. A. is this side-note, in a later hand:--

'Nam genus et proauos et quæ non fecimus ipsi
Vix ea nostra voco.'

20. This is a difficult line to obtain from the MSS. It is necessary to keep _heir_ in the singular, because of _he_ in l. 21. In MS. A., _maþe_ clearly stands for _makeþe_, i. e. _maketh_, as in nearly all the MSS. This gives us--That maketh his heir him that wol [_or_ can] him queme. The change from _his heir him_ to the more natural order _him his heir_ is such a gain to the metre that it is worth while to make it.

XV. LAK OF STEDFASTNESSE.

In MS. Harl. 7333 is the following note, probably correct:--'This balade made Geffrey Chauuciers the Laureall Poete of Albion, and sent it to his souerain lorde kynge Rycharde the secounde, thane being in his Castell of Windesore.' In MS. T. is the heading:--'Balade Royal made by oure laureal poete of Albyon in hees laste yeeres'; and above l. 22 is:--'Lenvoye to Kyng Richard.' In MS. F. it is simply headed 'Balade.' For another allusion to King Richard at Windsor, see note to Lenvoy to Scogan, l. 43.

The general idea is taken from Boethius, bk. ii. met. 8, which Chaucer thus translates:--'That the world with stable feith varieth acordable chaunginges, that the contrarious qualitee of elements holden among hem-self aliaunce perdurable, ... al this acordaunce of thinges is bounden with love, that governeth erthe and see, and hath also commaundements to the hevenes. And yif this love slakede the brydeles, alle thinges that now loven hem to-gederes wolden maken a bataile continuely, and stryven to fordoon the fasoun of this worlde, the whiche they now leden in acordable feith by faire moevinges.... O weleful were mankinde, yif thilke love that governeth hevene governed youre corages!'

4. _Word and deed_; or read _Word and werk_, as in Harl. 7333 and T.

5. _Lyk_, alike; or read _oon_, one, as in Harl. and T. _Up so doun_ is the old phrase, and common. Modern English has 'improved' it into _upside down_, where _side_ has to mean 'top.'

10. _Unable_, not able, wanting in ability or strength.

21. Here the Bannatyne MS. inserts a spurious _fourth_ stanza. It runs thus:--

'Falsheid, that sowld bene abhominable,
Now is regeing, but reformatioun,
Quha now gifis lergly ar maist dissavable,
For vycis are the grund of sustentatioun;
All wit is turnit to cavillatioun,
Lawtie expellit, and al gentilnes,
That all is loist for laik of steidfastnes.'

This is very poor stuff.

24, 25. _Suffre ... don_, suffer (to be) done; correct as being an old idiom. See my note to the Clerkes Tale, E 1098.

28. For _wed_, two MSS. have _drive_; a reading which one is glad to reject. It would be difficult to think of a more unfitting word.

XVI. LENVOY A SCOGAN.

There are but three MSS., all much alike. As to Scogan, see the Introduction. MSS. F. and P. have the heading--'Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan'; Gg. has--'Litera directa de Scogon per G. C.'

1, 2. These two lines are quite Dantesque. Cf. Purg. i. 47, 76; Inf. iii. 8:--'Son le leggi ... cosi rotte'; 'gli editti eterni ... guasti'; 'io eterno duro.'

3. The 'seven bright gods' are the seven planets. The allusion is to some great floods of rain that had fallen. Chaucer says it is because the heavenly influences are no longer controlled; the seven planets are allowed to weep upon the earth. The year was probably 1393, with respect to which we find in Stowe's Annales, ed. 1605, p. 495:--'In September, lightnings and thunders, in many places of England did much hurt, but esp[e]cially in Cambridge-shire the same brent houses and corne near to Tolleworke, and in the Towne it brent terribly. Such abundance of water fell in October, that at Bury in Suffolke the church was full of water, and at Newmarket it bare downe walles of houses, so that men and women hardly escaped drowning.' Note the mention of Michaelmas in l. 19, shewing that the poem was written towards the close of the year.

7. _Errour_; among the senses given by Cotgrave for F. _erreur_ we find 'ignorance, false opinion.' Owing to his ignorance, Chaucer is almost dead for fear; i. e. he wants to know the reason for it all.

9. _Fifte cercle_, fifth circle or sphere of the planets, reckoning from without; see note to Mars, l. 29. This fifth sphere is that of _Venus_.

14. _This deluge of pestilence_, this late pestilential flood. There were several great pestilences in the fourteenth century, notably in 1348-9, 1361-2, 1369, and 1375-6; cf. note to IV. 96. Chaucer seems to imply that the bad weather may cause another plague.

15. _Goddes_, goddess, Venus; here spoken of as the goddess of _love_.

16. _Rakelnesse_, rashness. The MSS. have _rekelnesse_, _reklesnesse_, _reckelesnesse_; the first is nearly right. _Rakelnesse_ is Chaucer's word, Cant. Tales, 17232 (H 283); five lines above, Phoebus blames his _rakel hond_, because he had slain his wife.

17. _Forbode is_; rather a forced rime to _goddes_; see p. 488 (note).

21. _Erst_, before. I accept Chaucer's clear evidence that his friend Scogan (probably Henry Scogan) was not the same person as the John (or Thomas) Scogan to whom various silly jests were afterwards attributed.

22. _To record_, by way of witness. _Record_, as Koch remarks, is here a sb., riming with _lord_; not the gerund _record-e_.

27. _Of our figure_, of our (portly) shape; see l. 31.

28. _Him_, i. e. Cupid. The Pepys MS. has _hem_, them, i. e. the arrows. Koch reads _hem_, and remarks that it makes the best sense. But it comes to much the same thing. Cf. Parl. of Foules, 217, where some of Cupid's arrows are said to slay, and some to wound. It was the spear of Achilles that could both wound and cure; see Squi. Tale, F 240, and the note. Perhaps, in some cases, the arrow of Cupid may be supposed to cure likewise; but it is simpler to ascribe the cure to Cupid himself. Observe the use of _he_ in ll. 24 and 26, and of _his_ in ll. 25 and 26. Thynne has _hym_.

29. _I drede of_, I fear for thy misfortune.

30. _Wreche_, vengeance; distinct from _wrecche_.

31. 'Gray-headed and round of shape'; i. e. like ourselves. Cf. what Chaucer says of his own shape; C. T. Group B, 1890.

35. 'See, the old gray-haired man is pleased to rime and amuse himself.' For _ryme_ (as in the three MSS.), the old editions have _renne_. This would mean, 'See, the old gray horse is pleased to run about and play.' And possibly this is right; for the O. F. _grisel_ properly means a gray horse, as shewn in Godefroy's O. F. Dict.

36. _Mexcuse_, for _me excuse_, excuse myself. Cf. _mawreke_, Compleint to Pite, 11.

43. For _stremes_, Gg. has _wellis_; but the whole expression _stremes heed_ is equivalent to _well_, and we have _which streme_ in l. 45 (Koch).

In the MSS., the words _stremes heed_ are explained by _Windesore_ (Windsor), and _ende of whiche streme_ in l. 45 by _Grenewich_ (Greenwich); explanations which are probably correct. Thus the _stream_ is the Thames; Chaucer was living, in a solitary way, at Greenwich, whilst Scogan was with the court at Windsor, much nearer to the source of favour.

47. _Tullius._ Perhaps, says Koch, there is an allusion to Cicero's Epist. vi. ad Cæcinam. For myself, I think he alludes to his De Amicitia; see note to Rom. Rose, 5286.

XVII. LENVOY A BUKTON.

1. _Bukton._ Most old editions have the queer reading:--'My mayster. &c. whan of Christ our kyng.' Tyrwhitt was the first to correct this, and added:--'It has always been printed at the end of the _Book of the Duchesse_, with an &c. in the first line instead of the name of _Bukton_; and in Mr. Urry's edition the following most unaccountable note is prefixed to it--"This seems an Envoy to the Duke of _Lancaster_ after his loss of _Blanch_." From the reference to the _Wife of Bathe_, l. 29, I should suppose this to have been one of our author's later compositions, and I find that there was a _Peter de Buketon_, the King's Escheator for the County of York, in 1397 (Pat. 20 R. II. p. 2, m. 3, ap. Rymer) to whom this poem, from the familiar style of it, is much more likely to have been addressed than to the Duke of Lancaster.' Julian Notary's edition is the only one that retains Bukton's name.

_My maister Bukton_ is in the vocative case.

2. 'What is truth?' See John xviii. 38.

5. _Highte_, promised; by confusion with _heet_ (A.S. _h[=e]ht_).

8. _Eft_, again, a second time. This seems to assert that Chaucer was at this time a widower. Cf. C. T. 9103 (E 1227).

9. 'Mariage est maus liens,' marriage is an evil tie; Rom. de la Rose, 8871. And again, with respect to marriage--'Quel forsenerie [_witlessness_] te maine A cest torment, a ceste paine?' R. Rose, 8783; with much more to the same effect. Cf. Cant. Tales, Marchauntes Prologue (throughout); and Barbour's Bruce, i. 267.

18. Cf. 1 Cor. vii. 9, 28. And see Wife of Bath's Prol. D 154-160.

23. 'That it would be more pleasant for you to be taken prisoner in Friesland.' This seems to point to a period when such a mishap was not uncommon. In fact, some Englishmen were present in an expedition against Friesland which took place in the autumn of 1396. See the whole account in Froissart, Chron. bk. iv. cc. 77, 78. He tells us that the Frieslanders would not ransom the prisoners taken by their enemies; consequently, they could not exchange prisoners, and at last they put their prisoners to death. Thus the peculiar peril of being taken prisoner in Friesland is fully explained.

25. _Proverbes_, set of proverbs. Koch remarks--'_Proverbes_ is rather curious, referring to a singular, but seems to be right, as _proverbe_ would lose its last syllable, standing before a vowel.' Perhaps we should read _or proverbe_.

27. This answers to the modern proverb--'Let well alone.'

28. I. e. learn to know when you are well off. 'Half a loaf is better than no bread.' 'Better sit still than rise and fall' (Heywood). 'Better some of a pudding than none of pie' (Ray). In the Fairfax MS., the following rimed proverb is quoted at the end of the poem:--

'Better is to suffre, and fortune abyde,
Than[292] hastely to clymbe, and sodeynly to slyde.'

The same occurs (says Hazlitt) at the end of Caxton's edition of Lydgate's Stans Puer ad Mensam; but does not belong to that poem.

29. The reference is to the Wife of Bathes Prologue, which curiously enough, is again referred to by Chaucer in the Marchauntes Tale, C. T. 9559 (E 1685). This reference shews that the present poem was written quite late in life, as the whole tone of it shews; and the same remark applies to the Marchauntes Tale also. We may suspect that Chaucer was rather proud of his Prologue to the Wife of Bathes Tale. Unquestionably, he took a great deal of pains about it.

XVIII. COMPLEYNT OF VENUS.

This poem has frequently been printed as if it formed a part of The Compleynt of Mars; but it is a separate poem, and belongs to a later period.

The Compleynt of Mars is an original poem; but the present poem is a translation, being partly adapted, and partly translated from three Balades by Sir Otes de Graunson (l. 82). The original Balades have been lately recovered by Dr. Piaget, and are printed below the text. See the Introduction.

It consists of three Ballads and an Envoy, and bears a strong resemblance, in metrical form, to the poem on Fortune, each Ballad having three stanzas of eight lines each, with a refrain. It differs from 'Fortune' only in the arrangement of the rimes, which occur in the order _a b a b b c c b_, instead of (as in Fortune) in the order _a b a b b c b c_. One rime (in _-aunce_) occurs in the second Ballad as well as in the first; but this is quite an accidental detail, of no importance. It must be remembered that the metre was not chosen by Chaucer, but by Graunson. The Envoy, which alone is original, consists of ten lines, rimed _a a b a a b b a a b_. This arrangement is very unusual. See further in the note to l. 82.

In the MSS. T. and A. we have notes of some importance, written by Shirley. T. has:--'The Compleynt of Venus. And filowing begynnethe a balade translated out of frenshe in-to englisshe by Chaucier, Geffrey; the frenshe made sir Otes de Grauntsome, knight Savosyen.' A. has:--'Here begynnethe a balade made by that worthy Knight of Savoye in frenshe, calde sir Otes Graunson; translated by Chauciers.' At the end of the copy in T. is:--'Hit is sayde that Graunsome made this last balade for Venus, resembled to my lady of york; aunswering the complaynt of Mars.' We certainly find that Chaucer has materially altered the first of the three Balades; so perhaps he wished to please his patron. But the title (probably _not_ Chaucer's) is a bad one. See the Introduction. Cf. note to l. 73.

1. We must suppose Venus, i. e. the lady, to be the speaker. Hence the subject of the first Ballad is the worthiness of the lover of Venus, in another word, of _Mars_; indeed, in Julian Notary's edition, the poem is headed 'The Compleint of Venus for Mars.' But Mars is merely to be taken as a general type of true knighthood.

I have written the general subject of each Ballad at the head of each, merely for convenience. The subjects are:--(1) The Lover's worthiness; (2) Disquietude caused by Jealousy; (3) Satisfaction in Constancy. We thus have three movements, expressive of Admiration, Passing Doubt, and Reassurance.

The lady here expresses, when in a pensive mood, the comfort she finds in the feeling that her lover is worthy; for every one praises his excellence.

9. This portrait of a worthy knight should be placed side by side with that of a worthy lady, viz. Constance. See Man of Law's Tale, B 162-8.

11. _Wold_, willed. The later E. _would_ is dead, as a past participle, and only survives as a past tense. It is scarce even in Middle English, but occurs in P. Plowman, B. xv. 258--'if God hadde _wolde_ [better _wold_] hym-selue.' See also Leg. Good Women, 1209, and note.

22. _Aventure_, luck; in this case, good luck.

23. Here is certainly a false rime; Chaucer nowhere else rimes _-oure_ with _-ure_. But the conditions under which the poem was written were quite exceptional (see note to l. 79); so that this is no proof that the poem is spurious. There is a false rime in Sir Topas, Group B, l. 2092 (see my note).

25. In this second Ballad or Movement, an element of disturbance is introduced; jealous suspicions arise, but are put aside. Like the third Ballad, it is addressed to Love, which occurs, in the vocative case, in ll. 25, 49, and 57.

The lady says it is but suitable that lovers should have to pay dearly for 'the noble thing,' i. e. for the valuable treasure of having a worthy lover. They pay for it by various feelings and expressions of disquietude.

26. _Men_, one; the impersonal pronoun; quite as applicable to a woman as to a man. Cf. F. _on_.

31. The French text shews that we must read _Pleyne_, not _Pleye_; besides, it makes better sense. This correction is due to Mr. Paget Toynbee; see his Specimens of Old French, p. 492.

33. 'May Jealousy be hanged, for she is so inquisitive that she would like to know everything. She suspects everything, however innocent.' Such is the general sense.

37. The final _e_ in _lov-e_ is sounded, being preserved from elision by the cæsura. The sense is--'so dearly is love purchased in (return for) what he gives; he often gives inordinately, but bestows more sorrow than pleasure.'

46. _Nouncerteyn_, uncertainty; as in Troilus, i. 337. A parallel formation to _nounpower_, impotence, which occurs in Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 5, l. 14.

49. In this third Ballad, Venus says she is glad to continue in her love, and contemns jealousy. She is thankful for her good fortune, and will never repent her choice.

50. _Lace_, snare, entanglement. Chaucer speaks of the _lace of love_, and the _lace of Venus_; Kn. Tale, 959, 1093 (A 1817, 1951).

52. _To lete of_, to leave off, desist.

56. All the MSS. read _never_; yet I believe it should be _nat_ (not).

62. 'Let the jealous (i. e. Jealousy) put it to the test, (and so prove) that I will never, for any woe, change my mind.'

69. _Wey_, highroad. _Wente_, footpath.

70. The reading _ye_, for _I_, is out of the question; for _herte_ is addressed as _thou_. So in l. 66, we must needs read _thee_, not _you_.

73. _Princess._ As the MSS. vary between _Princesse_ and _Princes_, it is difficult to know whether the Envoy is addressed to a _princess_ or to _princes_. It is true that Fortune seems to be addressed to three princes collectively, but this is unusual, and due to the peculiar form of that Envoy, which is supposed to be spoken by _Fortune_, not by the author. Moreover, the MSS. of Fortune have only the readings _Princes_ and _Princis_; not one of them has _Princesse_.

The present case seems different. Chaucer would naturally address his Envoy, in the usual manner, to a single person. The use of _your_ and _ye_ is merely the complimentary way of addressing a person of rank. The singular number seems implied by the use of the word _benignitee_; 'receive this complaint, addressed to your benignity in accordance with my small skill.' _Your benignity_ seems to be used here much as we say _your grace_, _your highness_, _your majesty_. The plural would (if this be so) be _your benignitees_; cf. Troil. v. 1859. There is no hint at all of the plural number.

But if the right reading be _princess_, we see that Shirley's statement (see p. 560, l. 6) should rather have referred to Chaucer, who may have produced this adaptation at the request of 'my lady of York.' Princesses are usually scarce, but 'my lady of York' had the best of claims to the title, as she was daughter to no less a person than Pedro, king of Spain. She died in 1394 (Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 154; Stowe's Annales, 1605, p. 496); and this Envoy may have been written in 1393.

76. _Eld_, old age. See a similar allusion in Lenvoy to Scogan, 35, 38.

79. _Penaunce_, great trouble. The great trouble was caused, not by Chaucer's having any difficulty in finding rimes (witness his other Ballads), but in having to find rimes, to translate somewhat closely, and yet to adapt the poem in a way acceptable to the 'princess,' all at once. See further in the Introduction.

Chaucer's translation of the A B C should be compared; for there, in every stanza, he begins by translating rather closely, but ends by deviating widely from the original in many instances, merely because he wanted to find rimes to words which he had already selected.

Moreover, the difficulty was much increased by the great number of lines ending with the same rime. There are but 8 different endings in the 72 lines of the poem, viz. 6 lines ending in _-ure_, _-able_, _-yse_, and _-ay_, and 12 in _-aunce_, _-esse_, _-ing_, and _-ente_. In the Envoy, Chaucer purposely limits himself to 2 endings, viz. _-ee_ and _-aunce_, as a proof of his skill.

81. _Curiositee_, i. e. intricacy of metre. The line is too long. I would read _To folwe in word the curiositee_; and thus get rid of the puzzling phrase _word by word_, which looks like a gloss.

82. _Graunson._ He is here called the flower of the poets of France. He was, accordingly, not an Englishman. According to Shirley, he was a knight of Savoy, which is correct. Sir Oto de Graunson received an annuity of £126 13s. 4d. from Richard II., in November, 1393, for services rendered; see the mention of him in the Patent Rolls, 17 Rich. II., p. 1, no. 339, sixth skin; printed in Furnivall's Trial Forewords, p. 123. It is there expressly said that his sovereign _seigneur_ was the Count of Savoy, but he had taken an oath of allegiance to the king of England. The same Graunson received a payment from Richard in 1372, and at other times. See the article by Dr. Piaget referred to in the Introduction.

XIX. THE COMPLEINT TO HIS EMPTY PURSE.

The date of the Envoy to this Poem can be determined almost to a day. Henry IV. was received as king by the parliament, Sept. 30, 1399. Chaucer received his answer, in the shape of an additional grant of forty marks yearly, on Oct. 3 of the same year. Consequently, the date of the Envoy is Sept. 30 or Oct. 1 or 2 in that year. It is obvious that the poem itself had been written (perhaps some time) beforehand; see note to l. 17. As far as we know, the Envoy is Chaucer's last work.

A somewhat similar complaint was addressed to the French king John II. by G. de Machault in 1351-6; but it is in short rimed lines; see his works, ed. Tarbé, p. 78. But the real model which Chaucer had in view was, in my opinion, the Ballade by Eustache Deschamps, written in 1381, and printed in Tarbé's edition, at p. 55.