In al my yowthe/ in al chaunce 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] Is that youre losse / be god hyt ys routhe 1312 1316 As me mette / but thus hyt fille 1320 Ryght' thus me mette / as I yow telle I fond hyt/in myñ honde ful evene 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 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 18 And ner the corps / I gañ preseñ faste 41 THE COMPLEYNTE TO PITE. FAIRFAX 16. (4) Thus am I slayne / sith that pite is dede To whom shal now /eny sorwful herte calle 25 In ydel hope folke redelesse of peyne 28 (5) But yet encreseth me / this wonder newe And yet dyed not / sodeynly For I haue sought hir euer / ful besely (6) Aboute hir herse / there stoden lustely (7) 32 35 [leaf 187, back] 39 42 A compleynt had I writeñ / in myn honde Then do me helpe / I helde my pleynt stille 46 49 |