Imatges de pàgina
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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 kan/nat telle how

1296

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

hand, in the margin]

[blocks in formation]

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

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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 doon

Explicit the Boke of the Duchesse

II.

The Compleynte to Pite.

[How Pity is dead in a cruel Kobed-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 dotħ 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 saugħ the herse

Dede as stone/while that the swogh me laste

But vp I roose/ with coloure ful dyuerse

And petously on) hir / myñ eyen I caste

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And ner the corps / I gañ preseñ faste
And for the soule / I shope me for to prey

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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

25

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

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(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)

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35

[leaf 187, back]

39

42

A compleynt had I writeñ / in myn 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

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