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Therwyth she was alway so trewe,
Our joye was ever ylyche newe;
Our hertys werne so evene a payre,
That never nas that oon contrayre
To that other, for noo woo:

For sothe ylyche they suffred thoo
Oo blisse and eke oo1 sorwe bothe;
Ylyche they were bothe glade and wrothe,
Al was us oon, withoute were.

And thus we lyved ful many a yere,
So wel I kan not telle how.'

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'Sir!' quod I, where is she now? 'Now?' quod he, and stynte anoon.; Therewith he waxe as dede as stoon, And seyde, Allas, that I was bore! That was the losse! and herebefore I tolde the that I hadde lorne, Bethenke how I seyde here beforne, Thow wost ful lytel what thow menyst, I have loste more than thow wenyst." God wote, allas! ryghte that was she.' Allas! sir, how? what may that be?' 'She ys dede:"Nay?'—' Yis, be my trouthe!' 'Is that youre losse? be God, hyt ys routhe!' And with that worde, ryghte anoon They gan to strake forth; al was doon, For that tyme, the herte huntynge.

With that me thoughte that this kynge,

Gan homewarde for to ryde,

Unto a place was ther besyde,

Which was from us but a lyte,
A longe castel with wallys white,

100 here means one.

2 See ante, p. 422.

3 The Duchess Blanche died in the year 1369, leaving issue one son, Henry (afterwards Henry IV.), and two daughters, Philippa and Elizabeth.-BARNES.-Hist. of Edw. III.

By seynt Johan, on a rych hille,'
As me mette; but thus hyt fille.

2

Ryghte thus me mette, as I yow telle,
That in the castel ther was a belle,
As hyt hadde smyte houres twelve;
Therewyth I awoke my selve,
And fonde me lyinge in my bedde;
And the booke that I hadde redde,
Of Alcyone and Seys the kynge,
And of the goddys of slepynge,

I fonde hyt in myn honde ful evene.
Thoughte I, thys ys so queynt a swevene,
That I wol, be processe of tyme,
Fonde to put this swevene in ryme,
As I kan best, and that anoon;

This was my swevene; now hit

ys

doon!

EXPLICIT THE BOKE OF THE DUCHESSE.

By this castle on a hill is meant Windsor, and by the Emperor Octavian, Edward III. Perhaps Chaucer, who held the office of clerk of the works, may have intended to compliment him on the taste and magnificence of his buildings, by comparing him to an Emperor who boasted that he had found Rome of brick and left it of marble. 'Ut jure sit gloriatus, marmoream se relinquere quam lateritiam accepisset.' -SUET. D. Augustus.

2 The verb to mete seems to mean, not exactly to dream, but to appear in a dream. Thus me mette would be correctly translated into modern English, It appeared to me in my dream.' The construction is the same as in the expression me thinks, it seems to me.

441

OF QUENE ANELYDA AND FALSE ARCYTE

[THIS short poem is unfinished, as appears from the last stanza, in which the reader is promised a description of the Temple of Mars in Thrace, and of the particulars of Queen Anelyda's vow and sacrifice. The first few verses have so much the air of a weak imitation of the beginning of The Knightes Tale, that we should be disposed to doubt the authenticity of the piece, were it not that it is expressly ascribed to Chaucer by Lydgate in the following verses :—

Of Anelyda and of fals Arcyte

He made a compleynte, dolful and pitous.

The similarity between this fragment and the opening of The Knightes Tale may perhaps be accounted for by supposing that Chaucer at first intended to make the loves of Anelyda and Arcyte the subject of a longer poem; that he afterwards changed his plan in favour of the story of Palamon and Arcite; and that in the latter he ultimately adopted as much of the opening of the former as suited his purpose.

For his authorities he quotes Statius and Corinne. The early stanzas, relating to Theseus, are the only part taken from the Thebais; and the poems of Corinna, the cotemporary of Pindar, are now lost.

The metre of the first part is the same as that of the Troylus and Cryseyde; but the Compleynte of Anelyda is written in a stanza of nine lines, of which the first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth, and ninth, fall into one rhyme, and the third, sixth, and seventh, into another. There are three stanzas which consist of eight lines only, and of which each verse is composed of four, instead of five, iambic feet, or their equivalents. This last deficiency Urry most unwarrantably ekes out with unmeaning expletives of his own.

The MS. from which the present text has been taken is bound up with some of Lydgate's and Occleve's poems, in a volume numbered 372 in the Harleian collection. Though written on paper, and therefore of uncertain date, it is more

correct than any of the printed texts. It supplies some words necessary to the sense, and preserves the grammatical inflections of Chaucer's time, which are essential to the correctness of the metre.]

"THOU ferse God of armes, Marse the rede,
That in thy frosty countre called Trace,1
Withinne thi grisely temples ful of drede,
Honoured arte as patron of that place!
With thee, Bellona, Pallas, ful of grace!
Be present, and my song contynue and guye;
At my begynnyng thus to yow I crye.
For it ful depe is sonken in my mynde,
With pitows herte, in Englissh to endite
This olde story, in Latyn which I fynde,
Of queene Anelyda and fals Arcyte,
That elde, which kan al frete and byte,
(And it hath fretyn many a noble story)
Hath nygh devoured out of oure memory.
'Be favourable eke thou Polymnya'
On Pernasoo that hath thy susters glade,
By Elycon, not ferre from Cirrea,
Syngest with voice memorial in the shade,
Under the laurer, which that may not fade,
And doo that I my shippe to haven wynne,
First folowe I Stace, and after hym Corinne."

1 See vol. i. p. 152, note 1.

2 Polyhymnia, one of the Muses.-See OVID, Fasti, v. 9.

3 By Cirrea is probably meant Syria; and Chaucer perhaps took it for granted that Helicon was near Syria, because they were both in the East. 4 Statius.

5 What author is meant, I cannot say. One can hardly suppose that Chaucer had met with that poem of the ancient Corinna, the contemporary of Pindar, which was entitled 'ETTа eπɩ Onßais (Fragm. ex Apollonia Dyscolo, ap. MAITTAIR de Dialect., p. 429, l. 4), nor do I know that any fictitious work upon the war of Thebes has ever been set forth under her name. She is mentioned by Propertius (ii. El. iii. 21), and by Statius (Sylv. v. Carm. iii. 158), but neither of them takes notice of her having written on the affairs of Thebes.-T. Some poet of this name, however, appears to have been known in the middle ages, for she is mentioned by Skelton.

Jamque domos patrias Scythia post aspera gentis,
Prælia laurigero subeuntem Thesea curru,
Lætifici plausus missusque ad sidera vulgi, &c.1

Whanne Theseus, with werres longe and grete,
The aspre folke of Cithee hadde overcome,
Tho, laurer crouned, in his chare, goold beete,*
Home to his countre houses3 is ycome;
For which the peuple blisfulle alle and some,
So criden, that to the sterres hit went,
And hym to honouren did al hir entent.
Before this duke, in signe of victorie,
The trompes come, and in his baner large,
The ymage of Marse;* and in tokyn of glorye,
Men myght see of treasoure many a charge,
Many a bright helme, and many a spere and targe,
Many a fressh knyght, and many a blisful route,
On hors, on foot, in al the feeld aboughte.

Ypolita' his wif, the hardy quene

Of Cithea, that he conquerid hadde,

With Emelye her younge suster sheene,

Faire in a chare of goold he with hym ladde,

That al the ground abought hir chare she spradde
With brightnesse of beaute in hir face,
Fulfilled of largesse and of al grace.

With his tryumphe, and laurere crowned thus,
In alle the floure of fortunes yeving,
Lete I this noble prynce, this Theseus,
Toward Attenes in his way ridyng,
And fonde I wil inne shortly to brynge
The sley weye of that I gan to wryte,
Of quene Anelyda and fals Arcyte.

1 This is taken from the Thebais of Statius, lib. xii. 519.

2 Ornamented with gold.-See vol. v. p. 99, note 1.

3 That is, To the houses of his country,' or to his home.
4 See vol. i. p. 119.
5 See vol. i. p. 115.

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