And seyde, 'Lorde and fader, al youre wille, "I nil,' quod he, have noon excepcioun.'. And seyde, 'Hereof a draught, or two, or three To chambre broghte with revel and with songe. And on hire handes faste loketh she. may, Thanne be a traytour lyvyng in my shame. Whanne she hath warned hym and doone hym bote. Allas, Lyno, why art thou so unkynde? Ne folowen hym, she sate hire doune ryghte thoo HERE ENDETH THE LEGENDE OF GOODE WOMEN. 401 MINOR POEMS. INTRODUCTION. THE following short pieces include all the remaining poems which can be traced with any certainty to Chaucer; and, considered as the trifles which a great genius throws off in the intervals of more sustained labour, they are neither unworthy of their author, nor destitute of intrinsic interest. The Compleynte of the Dethe of Pite is in the style of the allegories, fashionable among the French in Chaucer's time, of which The Romaunt of the Rose is the example best known. This style has been imitated by Chaucer in many of his minor poems, as well as in The Court of Love, in which the Dethe of Pite forms an episode.-See vol. iv. p. 307. MSS. of The Compleynte are preserved in the University Library at Cambridge, in the volume marked Fairfax 16 in the Bodleian, and in the Harl. Collection 78 in the British Museum. The present text is taken from the last. [Ætas Prima, or the Former Age, is here edited (by Mr. Skeat) from two MSS. The first, denoted A, is Camb. Univ. MS. Ii. 3. 21, which has been edited by Dr. Morris. It is appended to a copy of the translation of Boethius, and is entitled "Chaucer upon this fyfte metur of the second book." The poem is in fact a metrical paraphrase of the passage indicated, commencing "Blysful was the first age of men," &c. The other MS., referred to as MS. B, is Hh 4, 12 in the same Library. The Ballade de Visage sauns peynture is, apparently, a translation from the French. The title bears no relation VOL, III. 2 D whatever to the subject, which, under the form of a dialogue between Fortune and a Plaintiff, seems to be a petition from Chaucer to the Council, to promote him to some higher office than he then held at Court. It is found in MS. in the volume marked Fairfax 16, and in MS. Bodl. 638. The present text is taken from the former. [The Goodly Ballade of Chaucer is of doubtful authenticity.] The Ballade sent to King Richard, The Compleynte of Chaucer to his Purse, are taken from a volume of MSS. numbered 7333 in the Harleian collection, collated with copies in that marked Fairfax 16 in the Bodleian Library. From the latter volume are also derived the texts of the Envoyes to Scogan and Bukton. [The Good Conseil of Chaucer is printed from a copy which occurs on a flyleaf at the end of Chaucer's translation of Boethius, B. M. Add. MSS. 10,340, which was communicated to the Athenæum, Sept. 14th, 1867, by Mr. Furnivall.] The ballad beginning, 'The firste fadir and fynder,' &c., the present text of which, varying slightly from that of Speght, has been taken from the Harl. MS. 7333, is attributed to Chaucer by Henry Scogan, in a poem published by Speght in his edition of Chaucer's collected works-1604. Scogan appears to have been attached to the Courts both of Edward III. and Richard II. His name occurs among those to whom the latter granted letters of protection before his expedition to Ireland in 1399. We here find him described as Henricus Scogan, Armiger. It is evident that he enjoyed a traditional character for wit long after his death; for in the reign of Henry VIII. a collection of stories was published by Dr. Andrew Borde, under the title of Scogan's Jests, in which he is said to have been a graduate of Oxford, and the King's jester. Shakspeare introduces him in no very dignified capacity in 2 Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2. A volume of MSS. numbered 7578 in the Harleian collec tion, has supplied the text of the Proverbes of Chaucer, collated with copies in MS. Fairfax 16. The song entitled a Roundel is given as published by Percy in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. [It is not well authenticated.] The text of the Virelai, of the Prophecy, and of Chauceres Wordes to his own Scrivener, are those of the printed editions adopted in the absence of MSS. [The first two are of doubtful authenticity.] [The poem entitled Oratio Galfridi Chaucer is edited from a theological MS. in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, in which it is cited as an 'orisoune' by him. The Chaucer Society have printed two other MSS.] THE COMPLEYNTE OF THE DETHE OF PITE. HOW PITE IS DEDE AND BURIED IN A GENTLE HERTE. PITVE, whiche that I have sought so yore With herte sore, ful of besv peyne, That in this worlde nas ther no wight woer And whanne that I by lengthe of certain yeres 1 In the MS. Harl. 78, this poem is thus headed:-'And now here following begynnethe a complaint of pitee made by Geffrey Chaucer, the aureate poete, that ever was fonde in oure vulgare tofore hes dayes.' |