188

HOUSE OF FAME.

FAIRFAX MS. 16.

The thinges that I herde there
What a lovde / and what in ere

But al the wonder / most was this
Whan oon) had herde / a thinge y-wis

He come forth ryght / to another wight
And gan him tellen / anon) ryght
The same that him was tolde
Or hyt a forlonge way / was olde
But gan somme what / for to eche
Tho this tydynge / in this specho

2058

2062

[leaf 182, back]

2066

That no man) / be they neuer so wrothe

And lete hem goon) / ther myght' y seen)

XI.

The Legend of Good Women.

[Of the first cast of the Prologue to this Poem, only one copy is known, that in MS. Gg. 4. 27, Cambridge University Library. To show the differences between the two casts of the Prologue, the two are here printed opposite to one another-as they were in my Odd Texts, Part I-with double line-numbers, so as to show which lines in one cast correspond to the same, or the like lines, in the other cast. Those lines which differ slightly' from their mates in the other cast are markt†; those which differ more are markt §; those which are only in one cast, *. The differences between the two casts are spoken of in my Trial-Forewords, at the end.]

1 A few differences I've thought too slight to need a mark.

192 LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN. MS. Gg. 4. 27, CAMB.

THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN.

[Cambr. Univ. MS. Gg. 4. 27, leaf 445. No gaps in MS.]

[THE PROLOGUE. First Cast.]

Fx. lines. Gg. li.

+Thousent sythis haue I herd men telle 1†

†That there is Ioye in heuene & peyne in helle † †And I a-corde wel that it be so

+But natheles this wit I1 wel also

3+ 3

4 wit I corrected]

+That there ne is non that dwellyth 2In this cuntre 5† [2 I corr.] That eythir hath in helle or heuene I-be

Ne may of it non othere weyis wytyn

6

7

8

9

But as he hath herd seyd / or founde it wrytyn 8 ffor by asay/there may no man it preue +But goddis forbode / but men schulde leue 10+ Wel more thyng / than men han seyn with eye 11 Men schal nat wenyn / euery thyng alye §ffor that he say it nat of 30re a-go §God wot a thyng is neuere the lesse so

[3 e corr.]

12

12

138

148

15

Bernardus non uidit omnia

Thow euery wyght ne may it nat I-se
Bernard the monk ne3 say nat al parde 16
Thanne motyn we to bokys / that we fynde
Thourw whiche that olde thyngis ben 4In mynde [I corr.]

And to the doctryne of these olde wyse
3euyn credence 5 In euery "skylful wyse [ I,

17

19

sky, corr.] 20

§ And trowyn on these olde aprouede storyis Of holynesse of regnys of victoryis

218

22

Of loue / of hate / of othere sundery thyngis 23

Of whiche I may nat make rehersyngys

And If that olde bokis weryn aweye
I-loryn were of remembrance the keye