MARRIAGE, OR BUKTON. FAIRFAX MS. 16.

305

MARRIAGE, OR BUKTON.

[Fairfax MS. 16, leaf 193, back.]

Lenvoy de Chaucer A Bukton./

1.

My maister Bukton) / whan) of Criste our kyng
Was axed/what ys trouthe or sothefastnesse
He nat a worde answerde / to that axinge
As who saith/noo man) is al trew I gesse
And therfore though I hight / to expresse
The sorwe and woo / that is in mariage
I dar not writen) of hyt / noo wikkednesse
Leste y my-self falle eft / in swich dotage

2.

I wol nat seyn/ how that hyt is the cheyne
Of Sathanas / on) which he gnaweth euere
But I dar seyn/ were he oute of his

peyne

As by his wille/he wolde be bounde nevere
But thilke doted foole / that ofte hath leuere
Y-cheyned be than out of prison) crepe
God lete him neuer / fro his woo disseuere
Ne noo man him bewayle / thougħ he wepe

1

4

8

9

12

[leaf 194]

16

3.

But yet lest thow doo worse / take a wyfe

17

Bet ys to wedde / than) brenne in worse wise

But thow shalt have sorwe / on thy flessh thy lyfe

20

And ben) thy wifes thral / as seyn) these wise
And yf that hooly writte / may nat suffyse
Experience shal the teche / so may happe
That the were lever / to be take in ffrise
Than eft falle of weddynge / in the trappe

24

306

MARRIAGE, OR BUKTON. FAIRFAX MS.

4. (Envoy.)

This lytel writte / prouerbes or figure
I sende yow / take kepe of hyt I rede

Vnwise is he that kan) noo wele endure

25

Yf thow be siker / put the nat in drede
The wyfe of Bathe I pray yow that ye rede
Of this matere / that we haue on honde
God graunte yow your lyfe / frely to lede
In fredam) for ful harde it is/ to be bonde

28

32

[Follows:

TExplicit/

¶ Better is to suffre / and fortune abyde

And hastely to clymbe / and sodeynly to slyde And then Chaucer's Balade of 'Stedfastness', printed in the Parallel-Text, p. 435.]

XVI.

Gentilesse.

A BALADE, WITHOUT ENVOY,

FROM

SHIRLEY'S ASHMOLE MS. 59, BODLEIAN LIBRARY,

[This Balade occurs in a Moral Poem by Henry Scogan to Henry IV.'s sons. See the Parallel-Text, p. 427.]

308

GENTILESSE.

SHIRLEY'S ASH MOLE MS. 59.

GENTILESSE.

[Shirley's Ashmole MS. 59, leaf 27.]

(Headings to leaves 26 b & 27.) "Balade by Scoggan / // To pe Kynges sonnes."

// Geffrey Chaucier made peos thre balades nexst pat folowen // [in margin]

(1) (-esse, -e, -eme)

be first fader / and foundour of gentylesse /

What man þat claymeþe / gentyle for to be /

Moste felowe heos traas / and alle heos wittes dresse / Vertue to suwe and vyces / for to flee /

1

For vn-to vertue longe pe dignytee /

And nouzt þe reverse / sauely dar I. deeme /

Al were he mytre croune / or dyademe /

7

(2)

his first stocke / was grounde of rightwysnesse / Truwe of his worde / sobur pitous and fre

8

Clene of his gooste / and loved besynesse

Ageinst þe vice of sloupe / in honestee

11

And but his heyre / love vertue as did he

He nys not gentyle/ þaughe him ryche seeme

Al were he mytre / crowne or dyademe /

14

(3)

Vyce may wele be / an heyre til olde Richchesse
But þere may noman / as þou maist wele seeme
Beqweype his heyre / his vertuous noblesse /
hat is appropred / vn-to no degree

But to first fader / in magestee /

þat mape his heyre / him þat wol him qweme Al were he mytre crowne or dyademe /

[No Envoy quoted, or known to exist.]

15

[Nam genus
et proauos et
quæ non feci-
mus ipsi Vix ea
nostra voco.
in a late hand]

21