The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• General Introduction.
• Life of Geoffrey Chaucer.
• List of Chaucer’s Works.
• Errata and Addenda.
• Introduction.: the Romaunt of the Rose.
• Introduction: the Minor Poems.
• The Romaunt of the Rose.
• Fragment A.: Le Roman De La Rose.
• Fragment B.
• Fragment C.
• The Minor Poems.
• I.: An A. B. C.
• II.: The Compleynte Unto Pite.
• III.: The Book of the Duchesse.
• IV.: The Compleynt of Mars.
• V.: The Parlement of Foules.
• VI.: A Compleint to His Lady.
• VII.: Anelida and Arcite.
• VIII.: Chaucers Wordes Unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn.
• IX.: The Former Age.
• X.: Fortune.
• XI.: Merciles Beaute: a Triple Roundel.
• XII.: To Rosemounde. a Balade.
• XIII.: Truth.
• XIV.: Gentilesse.
• XV.: Lak of Stedfastnesse.
• XVI.: Lenvoy De Chaucer a Scogan.
• XVII.: Lenvoy De Chaucer a Bukton.
• XVIII.: The Compleynt of Venus.
• XIX.: The Compleint of Chaucer to His Empty Purse.
• XX.: Proverbs.
• Appendix.
• XXI.: Against Women Unconstant.
• XXII.: An Amorous Compleint. (compleint Damours.)
• XXIII.: A Balade of Compleynt.
• Notes to the Romaunt of the Rose.
• Notes to the Minor Poems.

X.

FORTUNE.

Balades de visage sanz peinture.

The spelling is conformed to that of the preceding poems; the alterations though numerous are slight; as y for i, au for aw, &c. The text mainly follows MS. I. (= Ii. 3. 21, Camb. Univ. Library). Other MSS. are A. (Ashmole 59); T. (Trin. Coll. Camb.); F. (Fairfax 16); B. (Bodley 638); H. (Harl. 2251).

• I. Le Pleintif countre Fortune.
• • This wrecched worldes transmutacioun,^[ ]
  • As wele or wo, now povre and now honour,^[ ]
  • With-outen ordre or wys discrecioun
  • Governed is by Fortunes errour;
  • But natheles, the lak of hir favour5
  • Ne may nat don me singen, though I dye,
  • ‘Iay tout perdu mon temps et mon labour:’^[ ]
  • For fynally , Fortune, I thee defye !
• • Yit is me left the light of my resoun,^[ ]
  • To knowen frend fro fo in thy mirour.10
  • So muche hath yit thy whirling up and doun
  • Y-taught me for to knowen in an hour.
  • But trewely, no force of thy reddour^[ ]
  • To him that over him-self hath the maystrye!
  • My suffisaunce shal be my socour:15
  • For fynally, Fortune, I thee defye!
• • O Socrates, thou stedfast champioun ,^[ ]
  • She never mighte be thy tormentour ;
  • Thou never dreddest hir oppressioun,
  • Ne in hir chere founde thou no savour.^[ ]20
  • Thou knewe wel deceit of hir colour,
  • And that hir moste worshipe is to lye.
  • I knowe hir eek a fals dissimulour:
  • For fynally , Fortune, I thee defye !

• II. La respounse de Fortune au Pleintif.
• • No man is wrecched, but him-self hit wene,^[ ]25
  • And he that hath him-self hath suffisaunce.
  • Why seystow thanne I am to thee so kene,
  • That hast thy-self out of my governaunce?^[ ]
  • Sey thus: ‘Graunt mercy of thyn haboundaunce^[ ]
  • That thou hast lent or this.’ Why wolt thou stryve ?30
  • What wostow yit, how I thee wol avaunce?^[ ]
  • And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve!^[ ]
• • I have thee taught divisioun bi-twene
  • Frend of effect, and frend of countenaunce;^[ ]
  • Thee nedeth nat the galle of noon hyene,^[ ]35
  • That cureth eyen derke fro hir penaunce;
  • Now seestow cleer, that were in ignoraunce.
  • Yit halt thyn ancre, and yit thou mayst arryve^[ ]
  • Ther bountee berth the keye of my substaunce:^[ ]
  • And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve.40
• • How many have I refused to sustene,
  • Sin I thee fostred have in thy plesaunce!
  • Woltow than make a statut on thy quene^[ ]
  • That I shal been ay at thyn ordinaunce?
  • Thou born art in my regne of variaunce,45
  • Aboute the wheel with other most thou dryve.^[ ]
  • My lore is bet than wikke is thy grevaunce,^[ ]
  • And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve.

• III. La respounse du Pleintif countre Fortune.
• • Thy lore I dampne , hit is adversitee.^[ ]
  • My frend maystow nat reven, blind goddesse!^[ ]50
  • That I thy frendes knowe, I thanke hit thee.^[ ]
  • Tak hem agayn, lat hem go lye on presse!^[ ]
  • The negardye in keping hir richesse^[ ]
  • Prenostik is thou wolt hir tour assayle;
  • Wikke appetyt comth ay before seknesse:55
  • In general, this reule may nat fayle.^[ ]
• • La respounse de Fortune countre le Pleintif.
  • Thou pinchest at my mutabilitee,^[ ]
  • For I thee lente a drope of my richesse,
  • And now me lyketh to with-drawe me.
  • Why sholdestow my realtee oppresse ?60
  • The see may ebbe and flowen more or lesse;
  • The welkne hath might to shyne, reyne, or hayle;
  • Right so mot I kythen my brotelnesse .
  • In general, this reule may nat fayle.
• • Lo, thexecucion of the magestee^[ ]65
  • That al purveyeth of his rightwisnesse,^[ ]
  • That same thing ‘Fortune’ clepen ye,
  • Ye blinde bestes, ful of lewednesse!^[ ]
  • The hevene hath propretee of sikernesse,
  • This world hath ever resteles travayle;70
  • Thy laste day is ende of myn intresse :^[ ]
  • In general, this reule may nat fayle.^[ ]
• • Lenvoy de Fortune.
  • Princes, I prey you of your gentilesse ,
  • Lat nat this man on me thus crye and pleyne,
  • And I shal quyte you your bisinesse^[ ]75

  • 76. InI.only; the rest omit this line.

  • At my requeste, as three of you or tweyne;
  • And , but you list releve him of his peyne,^[ ]
  • Preyeth his beste frend, of his noblesse,
  • That to som beter estat he may atteyne.79

Explicit.

[2. ]F. pouerte; rest poure (poore, pore, poeere).

[8, 16. ]I. fynaly; deffye.

[11. ]I. mochel; the rest muche, moche.

[13. ]I. fors; thi reddowr.

[17. ]I. stidfast chaumpyoun.

[18. ]I. myht; thi tormentowr.

[20. ]I. fownde thow.

[21. ]I. the deseyte; A. T. H. om. the.

[22. ]I. most.

[23. ]I. knew; rest knowe. I. ek.

[24. ]I. fynaly; the deffye.

[27. ]H. seystow; I. seysthow. I. (only) om. to.

[30. ]So I.; rest Thou shalt not stryue.

[31. ]I. woost thow; B. wostow; A. T. wostowe.

[36. ]I. derkyd; rest derke (derk). T. from hir; H. from ther; A. frome theire; F. B. fro; I. for.

[37. ]H. seestow; A. T. seestowe; I. partly erased.

[43. ]I. Wolthow; B. Woltow.

[46. ]I. most thow; H. thow must; the rest maystow, maisthow, maistow.

[49. ]I. dempne; F. B. H. dampne.

[50. ]I. maysthow; B. maistou; H. maystow.

[51. ]I. thanke to; F. thanke yt; B. thanke it; H. thank it nat: (Lansdowne and Pepys also have thank it).

[60. ]I. apresse; rest oppresse.

[61. ]I. A. or; rest and.

[62. ]I. welkne; A. B. H. welkin; F. welkene; T. sky.

[63. ]I. brutelnesse; T. brutilnesse; F. B. H. brotelnesse; A. brittelnesse. After l. 64, a new rubric is wrongly inserted, thus: I. Le pleintif; F. B. H. Le pleintif encontre Fortune; A. The Pleyntyff ageinst Fortune; T. Thaunswer of the Lover ayenst Fortune; see note.

[65. ]A. F. þexecucion; B. thexecucyon; I. excussyoun. I. maieste; rest magestee (mageste).

[71. ]I. intersse (sic); (Lansd. and Pepys intresse); T. F. B. interesse; A. H. encresse.

[73. ]I. gentilesses; the rest gentilesse.

[77. ]A. F. B. H. And; I. T. That. I. lest; rest list (liste). At end—B. Explicit.

[1.]The beginning somewhat resembles Boethius, bk. ii. met. 1, l. 5:—‘She, cruel Fortune, casteth adoun kinges that whylom weren y-drad; and she, deceivable, enhaunseth up the humble chere of him that is discomfited.’ Cf. Rom. Rose (E. version), ll. 5479-83.

[2.]The latter part of this line is badly given in the MSS. The readings are: F. now pouerte and now riche honour (much too long); I. now poeere and now honour; A. T. nowe poure and nowe honour; H. now poore and now honour. But the reading poure, poer, pore, i. e. poor, hardly serves, as a sb. is required. Pouerte seems to be the right word, but this requires us to omit the former now. Pouerte can be pronounced povért’; accented on the second syllable, and with the final e elided. For this pronunciation, see Prol. to Man of Lawes Tale, Group B, l. 99. Precisely because this pronunciation was not understood, the scribes did not know what to do. They inserted now before pouerte (which they thought was póverte); and then, as the line was too long, cut it down to poure, poore, to the detriment of the sense. I would therefore rather read—‘As wele or wo, poverte and now honour,’ with the pronunciation noted above.

[7.]In the Introduction to the Persones Tale (Group I, 248), we find: ‘wel may that man, that no good werke ne dooth, singe thilke newe Frenshe song, Iay tout perdu mon temps et mon labour.’ In like manner, in the present case, this line of ‘a new French song’ is governed by the verb singen in l. 6; cf. Sect. XXII. l. 24. The sense is—‘the lack of Fortune’s favour shall never (though I die) make me sing—“I have wholly lost my time and my labour.” ’ In other words, ‘I will not own myself defeated.’

[9.]With this stanza cf. Rom. de la Rose (E. version), 5551-2, 5671-78, 5579-81:—

• ‘For Infortune makith anoon
• To knowe thy freendis fro thy foon . . .
• A wys man seide, as we may seen,
• Is no man wrecched, but he it wene, . .
• For he suffrith in pacience . . .
• Richesse riche ne makith nought
• Him that on tresour set his thought;
• For richesse stont in suffisaunce;’ &c.

[13.]No force of, it does not matter for; i. e. ‘thy rigour is of no consequence to him who has the mastery over himself.’ From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4, l. 98, which Chaucer translates: ‘Thanné, yif it so be that thou art mighty over thy-self, that is to seyn, by tranquillitee of thy sowle, than hast thou thing in thy power that thou noldest never lesen, ne Fortune ne may nat beneme it thee.’

[17.]Socrates is mentioned in Boeth. bk. i. pr. 3, l. 39, but ll. 17-20 are from Le Rom. de la Rose, ll. 5871-4:—

• ‘A Socrates seras semblables,
• Qui tant fu fers et tant estables,
• Qu’il n’ert liés en prospérités,
• Ne tristes en aversités.’

[20.]Chere, look. Savour, pleasantness, attraction; cf. Squi. Tale, F 404. All the MSS. have this reading; Caxton alters it to favour.

[25.]This Second Ballad gives us Fortune’s response to the defiance of the complainant. In Arch. Seld. B. 10, it is headed—‘Fortuna ad paupertatem.’ See Boethius, bk. ii. prose 2, where Philosophy says—‘Certes, I wolde pleten with thee a fewe thinges, usinge the wordes of Fortune.’ Cf. ‘nothing is wrecched but whan thou wenest it’; Boeth. ii. pr. 4, l. 79; and see Rom. Rose (E. version, 5467-5564).

[28.]‘Who possessest thy (true) self (as being quite) beyond my control.’ A fine sentiment. Out of, beyond, independent of.

[29.]Cf. ‘thou hast had grace as he that hath used of foreine goodes; thou hast no right to pleyne thee’; Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, l. 17.

[31.]Cf. ‘what eek yif my mutabilitee yiveth thee rightful cause of hope to han yit beter thinges?’ id. l. 58.

[32.]Thy beste frend; possibly John of Gaunt, who died in 1399; but see note to l. 73 below. There is a curious resemblance here to Le Rom. de la Rose, 8056-60:—

• ‘Et sachies, compains, que sitost
• Comme Fortune m’ot ça mis,
• Je perdi trestous mes amis,
• Fors ung, ce croi ge vraiement,
• Qui m’est remès tant solement.’

[34.]Cf. ‘For-why this like Fortune hath departed and uncovered to thee bothe the certein visages and eek the doutous visages of thy felawes . . . thow hast founden the moste precious kinde of richesses, that is to seyn, thy verray freendes’; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8, l. 25.

Cf. Rom. Rose (E. version), l. 5486, and ll. 5547-50. The French version has (ll. 4967, &c.):—

• ‘Si lor fait par son mescheoir
• Tretout si clerement veoir,
• Que lor fait lor amis trover,
• Et par experiment prover
• Qu’il valent miex que nul avoir
• Qu’il poïssent où monde avoir.’

[35.]Vincent de Beauvais, Speculum Naturale, bk. 19, c. 62, headed De medicinis ex hyæna, cites the following from Hieronymus, Contra Iouinianum [lib. ii. Epist. Basileæ, 1524, ii. 74]:—‘Hyænæ fel oculorum claritatem restituit,’ the gall of a hyena restores the clearness of one’s eyes. So also Pliny, Nat. Hist. bk. xxviii. c. 8. This exactly explains the allusion. Compare the extract from Boethius already quoted above, at the top of p. 543.

[38.]‘Still thine anchor holds.’ From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 4, l. 40:—whan that thyn ancres cleven faste, that neither wolen suffren the counfort of this tyme present, ne the hope of tyme cominge, to passen ne to faylen.’

[39.]‘Where Liberality carries the key of my riches.’

[43.]On, referring to, or, that is binding on.

[46.]Fortune says:—‘I torne the whirlinge wheel with the torning cercle’; Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, l. 37.

[47.]‘My teaching is better, in a higher degree, than your affliction is, in its degree, evil’; i. e. my teaching betters you more than your affliction makes you suffer.

[49.]In this third Ballad, the stanzas are distributed between the Complainant and Fortune, one being assigned to the former, and two to the latter. The former says:—‘I condemn thy teaching; it is (mere) adversity.’ M. S. Arch. Seld. B. 10 has the heading ‘Paupertas ad Fortunam.’

[50.]My frend, i. e. my true friend. In l. 51, thy frendes means ‘the friends I owed to thee,’ my false friends. From Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 8, l. 23:—‘this aspre and horrible Fortune hath discovered to thee the thoughtes of thy trewe freendes; . . . Whan she departed awey fro thee, she took awey hir freendes and lafte thee thyne freendes.’

[51.]I thanke hit thee, I owe thanks to thee for it. But very likely hit has been inserted to fill up, and the right reading is, probably, I thank-e thee; as Koch suggests.

[52.]On presse, in a throng, in company, all together.

[53.]‘Their niggardliness, in keeping their riches to themselves, foreshews that thou wilt attack their stronghold; just as an unnatural appetite precedes illness.’

[56.]Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 19179:—

• ‘Ceste ruile est si généraus,
• Qu’el ne puet defaillir vers aus.’

[57.]Here Fortune replies. This stanza is nearly made up of extracts from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, transposed and rearranged. For the sake of comparison, I give the nearest equivalents, transposing them to suit the order here adopted.

‘That maketh thee now inpacient ayeins me. . . I norisshede thee with my richesses. . . Now it lyketh me to with-drawen my hand . . . shal I than only ben defended to usen my right? . . . The see hath eek his right to ben somtyme calme . . . and somtyme to ben horrible with wawes. . . Certes, it is leveful to the hevene to make clere dayes. . . The yeer hath eek leve . . . to confounden hem [the flowers] somtyme with reynes . . . shal it [men’s covetousness] binde me to ben stedefast?’

Compare also the defence of Fortune by Pandarus, in Troilus, bk. i. 841-854.

[65.]Above this stanza (ll. 65-72) all the MSS. insert a new heading, such as ‘Le pleintif,’ or ‘Le pleintif encountre Fortune,’ or ‘The pleyntyff ageinst Fortune,’ or ‘Paupertas ad Fortunam.’ But they are all wrong, for it is quite certain that this stanza belongs to Fortune. Otherwise, it makes no sense. Secondly, we know this by the original (in Boethius). And thirdly, Fortune cannot well have the ‘envoy’ unless she has the stanza preceding it. Dr. Morris, in his edition, rightly omits the heading; and so in Bell’s edition.

[66.]Compare:—‘For purviaunce is thilke divyne reson that is establisshed in the soverein prince of thinges; the whiche purviaunce disponeth alle thinges’; Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6, l. 42.

[68.]Ye blinde bestes, addressed to men; evidently by Fortune, not by the Pleintif. Compare the words forth, beste, in the Balade on Truth, Sect. XIII. l. 18.

[71.]Here we have formal proof that the speaker is Fortune; for this is copied from Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 3, l. 60—‘natheles the laste day of a mannes lyf is a manere deeth to Fortune.’ Hence thy refers to man, and myn refers to Fortune; and the sense is—‘Thy last day (O man) is the end of my interest (in thee)’; or ‘dealings (with thee).’ The word interesse, though scarce, is right. It occurs in Lydgate’s Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 210; and in Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 33:—

• ‘That not the worth of any living wight
• May challenge ought in Heaven’s interesse.’

And in Todd’s Johnson:—‘I thought, says his Majesty [K. Charles I.] I might happily have satisfied all interesses’; Lord Halifax’s Miscell. p. 144. The sb. also occurs as Ital. interesse; thus Florio’s Ital. Dict. (1598) has:—‘Interesse, Interesso, the interest or profite of money for lone. Also, what toucheth or concerneth a mans state or reputation.’ And Minsheu’s Spanish Dict. (1623) has:—‘Interes, or Interesse, interest, profite, auaile.’ The E. vb. to interess was once common, and occurs in K. Lear, i. 1. 87 (unless Dr. Schmidt is right in condemning the reading of that line).

[73.]Princes. Who these princes were, it is hard to say; according to l. 76 (found in MS. I. only), there were three of them. If the reference is to the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, then the ‘beste frend’ must be the king himself. Cf. l. 33.

[75, 76.]‘And I (Fortune) will requite you for your trouble (undertaken) at my request, whether there be three of you, or two of you (that heed my words).’ Line 76 occurs in MS. I. only, yet it is difficult to reject it, as it is not a likely sort of line to be thrust in, unless this were done, in revision, by the author himself. Moreover, we should expect the Envoy to form a stanza with the usual seven lines, so common in Chaucer, though the rime-arrangement differs.

[77.]‘And, unless it pleases you to relieve him of his pain (yourselves), pray his best friend, for the honour of his nobility, that he may attain to some better estate.’

The assigning of this petition to Fortune is a happy expedient. The poet thus escapes making a direct appeal in his own person.