In al my yowthe/ in al chaunce
She tooke me / in hir gouernaunce
Therwyth she was alway so trewe
Our Ioye was euer / y-lyche newe
Oure hertys werne / so evene a payre
That neuer nas / that oon contrarye
To that other/ for noo woo

For sothe y-lyche / they suffred thoo

Oo blysse and eke / oo sorwe bothe

Y-lyche they were / bothe glad and wrothe

Al was vs oon / withoute were

1288

[leaf 147]

1292

And thus we lyved / ful many a yere

So wel I kañ /nat telle how

1296

¶ Sir quod I/ where is1 she now is late, she ys dede' in Stowe's

Now quod he/ and stynte anooñ
Therwith he waxe / as dede as stooñ

hand, in the margin]

1300

Is that youre losse / be god hyt ys routhe
And with that worde / ryght' anooñ
They gan to strake / forth al was doon
For that tyme / the herte huntynge
With that me thoght/ that this kynge
Gañ homewarde / for to ryde
Vnto a place was there besyde
Which was from vs / but a lyte
A longe castel / with wallys white
Be seynt Iohan / oñ a ryche hille

1312

1316

As me mette / but thus hyt fille

1320

Ryght thus me mette / as I yow telle
That in the castell/ther was a belle
As hyt hadde smyte / oures twelve
Therewyth I/a-wooke my selve
And fonde me lyinge / in my bedde
And the booke / that I hadde redde
Of Alchione and Seys the kynge
And of the goddys / of slepynge

I fond hyt/in myñ honde ful evene
Thoght I thys ys / so queynt a sweuene
That I wol / be processe of tyme
Foñde to put this / sweuene in ryme

1324

[leaf 147, back)

1328

1332

As I kan best and that anoon

This was my sweuene / now hit ys dooñ

Explicit the Boke of the Duchesse

II.

The Compleynte to Pite.

[How Pity is dead in a cruel Fobed-One's Heart.]

(This is Chaucer's 1st Poem, and should be studied first. Its subject is alluded to in the Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse and the Parlament of Foules. See my Trial-Forewords.)

[Fairfax MS 16 (vellum, ?1440-50; Bodl. Libr.), leaf 187.]

[t is for t with a curl over it; ñ is for n.]

¶ Balade.

[complainte of the deathe of pitie (in Stowe's hand)]

(1) [The Proem.]

Ite that I haue sought / so yore agoo
With hert soore / and ful of besy peyne

That in this worlde / was neuer wight' so woo
With-oute dethe/ and yf I shal not feyne

4

My purpose was / to pite / to compleyne

Vpon the crueltee / and tirannye

Of loue / that for my trouthe doth me dye

7

(2) [The Story.]

And when that I be lengthe/ of certeyne yeres
Had euere in oon / soughte a tyme to speke

To pitee rañ I / al bespreynte with teres

To prayen hir on cruelte / me awreke

11

But er I myght/ with any worde out breke

Or tellen any of my peynes smerte

I fonde hir dede / and buried in an herte

14

(3)

Adovne I fel / when I saugh the herse

Dede as stone/while that the swogh me laste

vp

But I roose with coloure ful dyuerse
And petously on) hir / myñ eyen I caste
And ner the corps / I gañ preseñ faste
And for the soule / I shope me for to prey
I was but lorne / ther was no more to sey

41

THE COMPLEYNTE TO PITE. FAIRFAX 16.

(4)

Thus am I slayne / sith that pite is dede
Allas that day / that euer hyt shuld falle
What maner man) / dar now hold vp his hede
To whom shal now /eny sorwful herte calle
Now cruelte hath caste / to slee vs alle

In ydel hope / folke redelesse of peyne
Syth she is dede / to whom shul we compleyne

(5)

But yet encreseth me / this wonder newe

That no wight woot / that she is dede but I
So mony men as in her tyme hir knewe
And yet dyed not / sodeynly

For I haue sought hir euer / ful besely
Sith I hadde firste / witte or mynde
But she was dede / er I koude hir fynde

(6)

Aboute hir herse / there stoden lustely
Withoute any woo/ as thoughte me
Bounte parfyt / wel armed and richely
And fresshe beaute / lust and iolyte
Assured maner / youthe and honeste
Wisdome estaat / drede and gouernaunce
Confedred both by bonde / and Alliaunce

(7)

A compleynt had I writen / in myñ honde
To haue put to pittee / as a bille
But when I al this companye / ther fonde
That rather wolde / al my cause spille

Then do me helpe / I helde my pleynt stille
For to that folke / with-oute any fayle
Withoute pitee/ther may no bille a-vaile

46

49