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IX.: THE FLOUR OF CURTESYE. - Geoffrey Chaucer, The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. 7 (Supplement: Chaucerian and Other Pieces) [1897]Edition used:The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, edited from numerous manuscripts by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat (2nd ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899). 7 vols.
Part of: The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 7 vols.
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IX.THE FLOUR OF CURTESYE.From Th. (Thynne, ed. 1532). Title: Th. The Floure of Curtesy; (ed. 1561 adds—made by Ihon Lidgate). I note here the rejected spellings.
Balade simple.
Lenvoy .
Here endeth theFlourofCurtesye . Colophon: Floure; Curtesy. [1. ]Feverier. [2. ]firy. [3. ]streames. [5. ]dutie. [6. ]her. [7. ]Eueryche; next. [9. ]agayne. [11. ]glad. [12. ]dothe. [15. ]chosyng. [18. ]whyle; lyfe. [20. ]Cipride. [22. ]obey. [26. ]lyfe. [26. ]closet. [27. ]there. [29. ]herde. [30. ]deuoute. [32. ]ermonye. [33. ]rose. [34. ]Towarde; supply gan. [35. ]eueryche chose. [39. ]distyl; (read distille); chrystal teeres. [41. ]Supply ne. [42. ]beames. [45. ]set; downe. [47. ]behelde. [48. ]inwarde. [49. ]aye; crampessh at (read crampisshed). [50. ]whyle. [51. ]Sate; behelde; tre. [52. ]sytte (read sitten). [53. ]thought. [54. ]foule. [55. ]chose (read chesen). [56. ]Eueryche; yere to yere. [57. ]tytemose. [58. ]election. [59. ]togyther (read togider). [60. ]Where as; lyst aboute envyron. [61. ]inclynacion. [62. ]empresse (read emperesse). [63. ]lyst. [64. ]alone. [66. ]statute. [67. ]al suche. [69. ]agayne. [70. ]Without. [71. ]Supply soothly; sene. [73. ]doulfully; caas. [74. ]ferre. [75. ]lyke. [76. ]lyste. [77. ]harme; dare. [79. ]lykely. [80. ]ferre. [81. ]none. [83. ]myne. [85. ]aye. [86. ]false suspection. [88. ]distruction. [89. ]Supply as; conclusyon. [91. ]dethe mote. [94. ]howe. [95. ]Where so. [96. ]Whyle; dothe; leaues. [98. ]wel; supply ay. [99. ]nowe. [103. ]put. [106. ]say; dute (read duetee). [107. ]presumpcion. [108. ]se. [109. ]correction. [110. ]commendacion. [111. ]her (read here). [114. ]beames. [115. ]amonge. [122. ]Supply as; swetenesse. [123. ]without. [124. ]eye. [125. ]bountie; fayrenesse. [128. ]reken (read reknen?). [131. ]semelynesse. [136. ]reason. [137. ]aye. [138. ]hye. [139. ]aye. [142. ]discrete and wyse (read discret wyse; and supply secree for the rime). [144. ]lowe. [145. ]glad. [147. ]suretie. [148. ]femynyte (!). [149. ]mannyshe; comparison. [150. ]aye pyte. [151. ]ben; trybulacion. [152. ]alone; -cion. [153. ]arne; mischefe. [155. ]aye. [157. ]Dredeful. [158. ]aye. [159. ]her (twice.) [164. ]worlde. [165. ]eeres; worde. [166. ]frende; foe; ferre. [167. ]Amysse. [169. ]trewly; is in sette (om. in). [171. ]bountie; beautie are togyther knette. [173. ]voyde; newfanglenesse (or read voide and newfangelnesse). [174. ]aye one. [175. ]There; sette. [176. ]euerychone. [177. ]Supply for. [178. ]colour; none. [179. ]Lyke; to endyte. [180. ]say. [181. ]Wherfore. [184. ]commendacion. [185. ]blynde; hylye. [186. ]discrypcion. [187. ]say; conclusyon. [188. ]Supply her. [190. ]lyke. [191. ]fayrenesse. [193. ]wyfely. [194. ]faythe. [195. ]setrone (!); read secree (see note). [197. ]lyke. [198. ]Alcest. [199. ]lyke. [202. ]lykened. [203. ]faythe. [206. ]semelynesse; Canace. [208. ]al. [209, 210. ]fal, al. [211. ]Supply her. [216. ]bountie; beautie. [217. ]bountie. [218. ]meane bountie gothe. [220. ]beautie foloweth. [221. ]ne fende (!); degre. [222. ]fre. [224. ]fayre; one. [228. ]Onely. [230. ]rudenesse. [233. ]feare; betwyxt. [234. ]Leste; worde. [236. ]had. [237. ]fayre; supply was; without. [239. ]assay. [240. ]gay. [241. ]lycoure. [242. ]Clye (!). [244. ]Supply the; grounde. [245. ]say. [246. ]might; best entent. [247. ]faythe. [248. ]yaue; sent. [250. ]whyle; lyfe. [251. ]daunynge. [252, 259. ]saynte Valentyne (? om. saynte). [253. ]begynnyng (read ginning); entent. [255. ]assent. [256. ]quicke; lyne (misprint). [257. ]sene; fethers. [258. ]mornynge (for morweninge). [260. ]myne; luste. [261. ]onely; wodde bynde. [262. ]Holy. [263. ]where so. [265. ]al. [266. ]deuoute hert; thought. [267. ]Lenvoye. beautie; represent. [269. ]entent. [270. ]Lyke; supply the. [244. ]their (for hir?); so in 248, &c. [4.]Valentine’s day is Feb. 14; cf. Parl. Foules, 309–11. [8.]larke; cf. the song of the bird in Compl. Mars, 13–21. [20.]Cipryde, really the same as Venus, but here distinguished; see Parl. Foules, 277. [38.]Apparently accented as ‘Aúrorà’; Ch. has Auróra, L. G. W. 774. [49.]crampessh at must be crampisshed, i. e. constrained painfully, tortured; see note to Anelida, 171 (vol. i. p. 535). [62.]Imitated from Parl. Foules, 379–89. [75.]sursanure; a wound healed outwardly only; cf. note to C. T., F 1113. [84.]Male-bouche, Evil Tongue, Slander; from the Roman de la Rose. See VIII. 260 above. [96.]Boreas, only mentioned by Ch. in his Boethius, bk. i. m. 5. 17, m. 3. 8. [113.]somer-sonne; imitated from the Book of the Duch. 821–4. [125.]‘To speke of bountè or of gentilles,’ &c.; T. G. 287. [140.]‘To alle hir werkes virtu is hir gyde’; C. T., B 164. [158.]Alluding to the proverb—‘He that hews above his head, the chips fall in his eye’; which is a warning to men who attack their betters. See I. i. 9. 20, and the note (p. 462). [190–3.]Policene, Polyxena; cf. note to VIII. 367. Helayne, Helen. Dorigene; see Frankleyns Tale, F 815. [195.]Cleopatre; see the first legend in the Legend of Good Women. secree, secret, able to keep secrets; a praiseworthy attribute; cf. Parl. of Foules, 395; and Lydgate’s Temple of Glas, 294–5:—
It is obvious that the extraordinary word setrone (see the footnote) arose from a desire on the part of the scribe to secure a rime for the name in the next line, which he must have imagined to be An-ti-góne, in three syllables, with a mute final e! This turned secree into secrone, which Thynne probably misread as setrone, since c and t are alike in many MSS. But there are no such words as secrone or setrone; and secree must be restored, because An-ti-go-ne is a word of four syllables. We know whence Lydgate obtained his ‘white Antigone’; it was from Troilus, ii. 887, where we find ‘fresshe Antigone the whyte.’ Antigone was Criseyde’s niece, and was so ‘secree’ that Pandarus considered her to be the most fitting person to accompany Criseyde when she visited Troilus (Troil. ii. 1563), and again when she came to visit Pandarus himself (iii. 597). [197.]Hester, Esther; see Book Duch. 987; but especially Legend of Good Women, 250: ‘Ester, lay thou thy mekenesse al adoun.’ Judith; cf. Cant. Tales, B 939, 2289, 3761, E 1366. [198.]Alceste, Alcestis; see L. G. W. 432, 511, 518. Marcia Catoun, Martia, daughter of Cato of Utica; see note to L. G. W. 252 (vol. iii. p. 298). [199.]Grisilde; the Griselda of the Clerkes Tale. Again mentioned by Lydgate in the Temple of Glas, 75, 405, and elsewhere; see Schick’s note to T. G. l. 75. [200, 201.]Ariadne; see L. G. W. 268, 2078, &c. Lucrece, Lucretia; see the same, 1680; especially l. 1691:—‘this Lucresse, that starf at Rome toun.’ [203.]Penelope; see note to L. G. W. 252. [204.]Phyllis, Hipsiphilee; both in L. G. W.; 2394, 1368. [206.]Canacee; may be either the Canace mentioned in L. G. W. 265, or the heroine of the Squieres Tale; probably the latter. See Schick, note to l. 137 of the Temple of Glas. [209.]naught, not. falle, stoop, droop; hence, fail. [211–3.]Dido slew herself; see L. G. W. 1351. [214.]Medee, Medea; see L. G. W. 1580. But Chaucer does not there relate how Medea committed any ‘outrage.’ However, he refers to her murder of her children in the Cant. Tales, B 72. [216.]‘That, while goodness and beauty are both under her dominion, she makes goodness have always the upper hand.’ See l. 218. [221.]Read n’offende, offend not. Probably the MS. had nofende, which Thynne turned into ne fende. [229.]It is remarkable how often Lydgate describes his hand as ‘quaking’; see Schick’s note to the Temple of Glas, 947. Chaucer’s hand quaked but once; Troil. iv. 14. Cf. note to XXII. 57 (p. 539). [232.]suppryse, undertake, endeavour to do. Suppryse is from O. F. sousprendre, for which Godefroy gives the occasional sense ‘entreprendre.’ [234.]lose, praise; out of lose, out of praise, discreditable. [236.]Perhaps this means that Chaucer’s decease was a very recent event. Schick proposes to date this piece between 1400 and 1402. [242.]Chaucer invokes Clio at the beginning of Troilus, bk. ii. (l. 8); and Calliope at the beginning of bk. iii. (l. 45). [251.]Cf. Compl. Mars, 13, 14. The metre almost seems to require an accent on the second syllable of Valentyn, with suppressed final e; but a much more pleasing line, though less regular, can be made by distributing the pauses artificially thus: Upón . the dáy of . saint Válen . týne . sínge. The word saint is altogether unemphatic; cf. ll. 4, 100. [257.]fetheres ynde, blue feathers; possibly with a reference to blue as being the colour of constancy. Cf. floures inde; VIII. 127. [261.]The woodbine is an emblem of constancy, as it clings to its support; cf. XX. 485–7. |
