The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Errata and Addenda
• Introduction
• I: The Testament of Love.
• Book I Prologue. [ ]
• Book II.
• Book III.
• II.: The Plowmans Tale.
• III.: Jack Upland.
• IV.: John Gower Unto the Worthy and Noble Kinge Henry the Fourth.
• V.: Thomas Hoccleve. the Letter of Cupid.
• VI.: To the Kinges Most Noble Grace; and to the Lordes and Knightes of the Garter.
• VII.: A Moral Balade.
• VIII.: John Lydgate. the Complaint of the Black Knight; Or, the Complaint of a Loveres Lyfe.
• IX.: The Flour of Curtesye.
• X.: A Balade; In Commendation of Our Lady.
• XI.: To My Soverain Lady.
• XII.: Ballad of Good Counsel.
• XIII.: Beware of Doubleness.
• XIV.: A Balade: Warning Men to Beware of Deceitful Women.
• XV.: Three Sayings.
• XVI.: La Belle Dame Sans Mercy. Translated Out of French By Sir Richard Ros.
• XVII.: The Testament of Cresseid.
• XVIII.: The Cuckoo and the Nightingale; Or the Book of Cupid, God of Love.
• XIX.: Envoy to Alison.
• XX.: The Flower and the Leaf.
• XXI.: The Assembly of Ladies.
• XXII.: A Goodly Balade.
• XXIII.: Go Forth, King.
• XXIV.: The Court of Love.
• XXV.: Virelai.
• XXVI.: Prosperity.
• XXVII.: Leaulte Vault Richesse.
• XXVIII.: Sayings Printed By Caxton.
• XXIX.: Balade In Praise of Chaucer.
• Notes.
• Glossarial Index.
• List of Subscribers.

XIX.

ENVOY TO ALISON.

From F. (Fairfax 16); collated with T. (Tanner 346); and Th. (Thynne, ed. 1532).

• • OLEWDEbook , with thy foole rudenesse,
  • Sith thou hast neither beautee n’eloquence,
  • Who hath thee caused, or yeve thee hardinesse
  • For to appere in my ladyes presence?
  • I am ful siker, thou knowest her benivolence[ ]5
  • Ful ágreable to alle hir obeyinge ;
  • For of al goode she is the best livinge.
• • Allas! that thou ne haddest worthinesse
  • To shewe to her som plesaunt sentence,
  • Sith that she hath, thorough her gentilesse,10
  • Accepted thee servant to her digne reverence![ ]
  • O, me repenteth that I n’had science
  • And leyser als, to make thee more florisshinge;
  • For of al goode she is the best livinge.
• • Beseche her mekely, with al lowlinesse,15
  • Though I be fer from her [as ] in absence,
  • To thenke on my trouth to her and stedfastnesse,
  • And to abregge of my sorwe the violence,
  • Which caused is wherof knoweth your sapience;
  • She lyke among to notifye me her lykinge;20
  • For of al goode she is the best livinge.

Lenvoy.

Th. Lenuoye; T. The Lenuoye; F.om.

• Aurore of gladnesse, and day of lustinesse,[ ]
• Lucerne a-night, with hevenly influence
• Illumined, rote of beautee and goodnesse,
• Suspiries which I effunde in silence,25
• Of grace I beseche, alegge let your wrytinge,
• Now of al goode sith ye be best livinge.

Explicit.

[1. ]F. boke; T. Th. booke. Th. foule.

[2. ]All beaute.

[3. ]All the (twice).

[5. ]So all.

[6. ]Th. abeyeng (!).

[7. ]F. T. goode; Th. good. Th. best; F. T. beste.

[9. ]All somme, some. Th. plesaunt; F. plesant.

[10. ]T. thorugh; F. thorgh; Th. through.

[11. ]All the.

[12. ]All ne (before had).

[13. ]So all (with the for thee).

[14. ]Th. good. Th. best; F. T. beste.

[16. ]I supply as.

[17. ]T. Th. trouth; F. trouthe.

[18. ]F. abregge; Th. abrege; T. abrigge. T. sorow; F. sorwes; Th. sorowes.

[20. ]All amonge. T. Th. notifye; F. notefye.

[21. ]T. Th. al; F. alle. F. T. goode; Th. good.

[24. ]Th. T. Illumyned; F. Enlumyned. F. Rote (with capital). All beaute. F. and of; Th. T. om. of.

[25. ]F. Suspiries; Th. Suspires.

[26. ]T. beseke. Th. alege.

[27. ]F. goode; Th. T. good. After 27: Th. Explicit; F. T. om.

[1.]lewde book, unlearned book. It is not known to what book this refers. It has nothing to do with the preceding poem. My guess, in vol. i. p. 40, that this piece might be Hoccleve’s, is quite untenable. His pieces are all known, and the metrical form is of later date. See the next note.

[11.]Too long; perhaps servant should be struck out. So in l. 13 we could spare the word als. But ll. 17, 18, 19, 20, are all of an unconscionable length.

[22–7.]I believe I was the first to detect the obvious acrostic on the name of Alison; see vol. i. p. 40. The sense of ll. 25–6 (which are forced and poor) is—‘I beseech (you) of your grace, let your writing (in reply) alleviate the sighs which I pour out in silence.’