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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) XXIV.: THE COURT OF LOVE. - The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. 7 (Supplement: Chaucerian and Other Pieces)
XXIV.: THE COURT OF LOVE. - 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.
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XXIV.
THE COURT OF LOVE.
From MS. Trin. R. 3. 19, fol. 128; collated with the print of the same in (S.) Stowe’s edition (1561). I note some rejected readings of the MS.
-
- WITH hert and hand of drede,
- Of cunning naked, bare of eloquence,
- Unto the flour of in womanhede
- I write, as he that intelligence
- Of metres hath, ne floures of sentence;5
- Sauf that me list my writing to convey,[ ]
- In that I can to please her hygh nobley.
-
- The blosmes fresshe of Tullius garden soote[ ]
- Present thaim not, my for to borne :
- taken here no rote,10
- Ne crafte of may not here sojorne:[ ]
- Why nam I cunning? O well may I morne,
- For lak of science that I can-not write
- Unto the princes of my life a-right
-
- No digne unto her excellence,15
- So is she sprong of noble stirpe and high:
- A world of and of reverence
- There is in her, this I testifie.
- Calliope , sister wise and sly,
- And , Minerva, guyde me with thy grace,20
- That langage rude my mater not deface.
-
- Thy suger-dropes swete of Elicon
- Distill in me, gentle Muse, I pray;
- And , Melpomene , I calle ,
- Of ignoraunce the to chace away;25
- And give me grace so for to write and sey,
- That she, my lady, of her worthinesse,
- Accepte in gree this short tretesse,[ ]
-
- That is entitled thus, ‘Theof Love.’
- And ye that metriciens me excuse,30
- I you , for Venus sake above;
- For I mene in this ye not muse:
- And if so be my lady it refuse
- For lak of ornat speche, I wold be ,
- That I presume to her to writen .
-
- But entent and all my besy cure[ ]
- Is for to write this tretesse, as I can,
- Unto my lady, stable, true, and sure,
- Feithfull and , sith first that she began
- Me to accept in service as her man :40
- To her be all the of this boke,
- That, whan her like, she may it rede and loke.[ ]
-
- WHEN I was yong, at eighteen yere of age,
- Lusty and light, desirous of pleasaunce,
- Approching on full sadde and ripe corage,45[ ]
- Love arted me to do myn observaunce
- To his astate, and doon him obeysaunce,
- Commaunding me the of Love to see,
- A lite beside the of Citharee,[ ]
-
- There Citherea goddesse was and quene50
- Honoured highly for her ;
- And eke her , the mighty god, I wene,
- the , that for his
- A thousand lovers worship on ;
- There was I pain of death, t’apere,55
- By , the winged messengere.[ ]
-
- So than I went straunge and contrees,
- Enquiring ay costes † ,[ ]
- The of Love: and thiderward, as bees,
- At last I the peple gan pursue:60
- Anon, me thought, som wight was there that
- Where that the was holden, ferre or ,
- And after thaim I gan me .
-
- Anone as I theim , I ,
- ‘ , frendes! whider purpose ye to ?’65
- ‘ ,’ quod that answered lich a ,
- ‘To Loves we, gentill frend.’
- ‘Where is that place,’ quod I, ‘my felowe hend?’
- ‘At Citheron, sir,’ seid he, ‘without dowte,
- The King of Love, and all his noble rowte,70
-
- Dwelling a castell ryally.’
- So than apace I jorned forth among,
- And as he seid, so fond I there truly.
- For I the towres high and strong,
- And high pinácles, large of hight and long,75
- With plate of gold on every side,
- And presious , the for to hide.
-
- No saphir ind , no rubè riche of price,
- There lakked , nor so grene,
- , ne thing to my devise,80[ ]
- That may the castell maken for to shene :
- All was as bright as sterres in winter ;[ ]
- And Phebus , to make his agayn,
- For doon to high estates ,
-
- Venus and Mars, the god and goddesse clere,85
- Whan he theim in armes cheined :[ ]
- Venus was then full sad of and chere.
- But Phebus bemes, streight as is the ,[ ]
- Upon the castell he to cast,
- To the lady, princesse of that place,90
- In signe he loketh aftir Loves grace.
-
- For there nis god in heven or helle, y-wis,[ ]
- But he hath ben right soget unto Love:
- Jove, Pluto, or he is,
- Ne creature in erth, or yet above;95
- Of thise the révers may no wight approve.
- But furthermore, the castell to ,
- Yet I never so large and high.
-
- For unto heven it streccheth, I suppose,
- and depeynted wonderly,100
- With many a thousand daisy, rede as rose,
- And white also, this I :
- But tho might do ,
- Can I not tell, sauf that the quenes
- Alceste was that there her ;105[ ]
-
- Which under Venus lady was and quene,
- And Admete king and soverain of that place,
- To whom the ladies gode ninetene ,
- With many a thowsand other, bright of face.
- And yong men fele came forth with lusty pace,110
- And aged eke, homage to dispose;
- But thay were, I not well disclose.
-
- Yet and furth in I gan me dresse
- Into an halle of noble apparaile,
- With arras spred and cloth of gold, I gesse,115[ ]
- And other of esier availe :
- Under the cloth of estate, saunz faile ,
- The king and quene ther sat, as I beheld:
- It passed joye of the feld.[ ]
-
- There saintes have their comming and resort,120
- To seen the king so ryally ,
- In purple clad, and eke the quene in sort:
- And on hedes I crownes ,
- With stones , so that it was no ,
- Withouten mete and , to stand and see125
- The kinges honour and the .
-
- And for to trete of states with the king,
- That of councell chief, and with the quene,
- The king had Daunger to him standing,[ ]
- The Quene of Love, , and that was seen:130
- For by the feith I shall to god, I wene,
- Was never straunger [ ] in her degree
- Than was the quene in casting of her .
-
- And as I perceiving her apart,
- And eke the bemes shyning of her yen,135
- Me thought thay were ,
- and persing, smale, and streight as lyne.
- And all her here, it as gold so fyne,[ ]
- hinging at her bak[ ]
- A yarde in length: and than I :—140
-
- ‘O bright Regina, who made so ?
- Who made thy colour vermelet and white?
- Where that god? fer above the ?
- was his , and was his .
- Now marvel I nothing that ye do hight145
- The Quene of Love, and the place
- Of lady, thy grace.’
-
- In mewet I, so that nought astert,[ ]
- By no condicion, that might be ;
- B[ut] in inward thought I gan ,150
- And oft I seid, ‘My is dulle and :’
- For with her , thus, god wot, I
- As doth the man y-ravisshed with sight,
- I beheld her cristall yen so bright,
-
- No respect having was best to doon;155
- Till right anon, beholding here and there,
- I spied a frend of myne, and that full ,
- A gentilwoman, was the chamberer
- Unto the quene, that hote, as ye shall here,
- Philobone, that lovëd all her life:160
- Whan she me sey, she led me furth as blyfe;
-
- And me demaunded and in wise
- I thider , and myne erand was?
- ‘To the ,’ quod I, ‘and all the guyse;
- And eke to sue for pardon and for grace,165
- And mercy for all my trespace,
- That I erst to the of Love:[ ]
- Foryeve me this, ye goddes all above!’
-
- ‘That is well seid,’ quod Philobone, ‘in-dede:
- But were ye not assomoned to apere170[ ]
- By ? For that is all my drede.’
- ‘Yes, ,’ quod I, ‘ am I here;
- Ye, yit , though that be true, my dere?’
- ‘Of ye shuld have come unsent:
- For ye not, I deme ye be shent.175
-
- For ye that in youth and lustinesse,[ ]
- Pampired with , and † in your age,
- is, as as I gesse,
- To Loves to dressen viage,
- As sone as Nature maketh you so sage,180
- That ye may a woman from a swan,[ ]
- Or is growen half a .
-
- But sith that ye, necligence,
- This eighteen yere have at large,
- The gretter is trespace and ,185
- And in your nek ye bere all the charge:
- For better were ye ben withouten barge,
- , in tempest and in ,
- byden here, receiving woo and ,
-
- That ordeined is for as thaim 190
- Fro Loves by yeres long and fele.
- I ley my lyf ye shall full repent;
- For Love reyve , lust, and hele:
- Eke ye on many an hevy mele:[ ]
- No force, y-wis, I stired you long 195
- To ,’ quod litell Philobon.
-
- ‘Ye shall well and angry face
- The King of Love will , when ye him ;
- By advyse and him grace,
- Eschewing perell and adversitee;200
- For I wot it other be,
- is , ne to ;[ ]
- Why ye the King of Love displese?’
-
- ‘O mercy, god,’ quod , ‘I me repent,
- Caitif and wrecche in hert, in wille, and thought!205
- And aftir this shall be myne hole entent
- To serve and dere that love be bought:[ ]
- Yit, sith I have penaunce y-sought,
- With humble shall I it receive,
- Though that the King of Love my life bereyve.210
-
- And though fervent loves qualitè
- In me did never truly, yit I
- With all obeisaunce and humilitè,
- And , shall serve him til I dye:
- And he that Lord of † is, grete and highe,215
- Right as him me chastice and ,
- And me, with trespace thus .’
-
- Thise wordes seid, she caught me by the lap,
- And led me furth intill a temple round,
- Large and wyde: and, as my blessed hap220
- And avénture was, right sone I
- A tabernacle reised from the ,
- Where Venus sat, and by her syde;
- Yet half for drede I gan my visage hyde.
-
- And eft again I loked and ,225
- full sundry peple in the place,
- And mister , and som that might not
- limmes , me thought a wonder ;
- The temple with all of ,[ ]
- Bright as the day, with many a image;230
- And there I sey the quene of Cartage,
-
- Dido, that brent her for the love
- Of fals Eneas; and the weymenting
- Of hir, Anelida, true as turtill-dove,
- To Arcite fals: and there was in 235
- Of many a prince, and many a doughty king,
- Whose marterdom was shewed the walles;
- And that for love had suffered falles.
-
- But sore I was abasshed and
- Of all that there were in that tyde;240
- And than I asked where thay [y-]woned:
- ‘In dyvers courtes,’ quod she, ‘here besyde.’
- In sondry clothing, mantil-wyse full wyde,
- They were arrayed, and did sacrifice
- Unto the god and goddesse in guyse.245
-
- ‘[ ] † ! yonder ,’ quod she, ‘that knele in ,
- They were the ay, and ever shall,
- In they were, and ever will be trew
- Withouten chaunge: and , yonder all
- That ben in blak, with morning cry and 250[ ]
- Unto the goddes, for their loves
- Som , som dede, som all to and kene.’
-
- ‘Ye, than,’ quod I, ‘ thise prestes here,
- Nonnes and , freres, and all thoo
- That sit in white, in russet, and in grene ?’255
- ‘For-soth,’ quod she, ‘they wailen of .’
- ‘O mercy, lord! may thay so come and
- to court, and have ?’
- ‘Ye, men of condicion and degree,
-
- And women eke: for truly, there is 260
- Excepcion , ne never was ne may:
- This is ope and for ,
- The King of Love he nat say thaim nay:
- He taketh all, in poore or riche ,
- That sewe unto his excellence265
- With all and all their reverence.’
-
- And, walking thus with Philobone,
- I where a messenger in
- Streight from the king, which let anon,
- the to make an ho and :270[ ]
- ‘A! folk, abyde! and ye ?
- The kinges is for to seen :
- , let ! his be .’
-
- Than gan I me present to-fore the king,
- for fere, with visage pale of ,275
- And many a lover with me was kneling,
- Abasshed sore, till thay
- The sentence of his entent full :
- And at the the king hath me behold
- With visage, and seid, ‘ doth this old,280[ ]
-
- Thus y-stope in yeres, come so late
- Unto the ?’ ‘For-soth, my liege,’ quod I,
- ‘An hundred tyme I have ben at the gate
- Afore this tyme, yit I never
- Of acqueyntaunce with ;285
- And shamefastnes away me to chace;
- But I me unto your grace.’
-
- ‘Well! all is perdoned, with condicion[ ]
- That be
-
- ‘GOTH on,’ she seid to , ‘and take[ ]
- This man with you, and lede him all abowt
- Within the court, and shew him, for my sake,1025
- What lovers dwell withinne, and all the rowte
- Of he is, out of dowte,
- A straunger yit:’—‘Come on,’ quod Philobone,
- ‘Philogenet, with me now must ye gon.’
-
- And stalking soft with , I saw1030
- About the king [ ] stonden environ,
- Attendaunce, Diligence, and their [ ]
- Fortherer, , and many oon;
- Dred-to-offend there , and not aloon;
- For there was eke the cruell ,1035
- The lovers fo, that cleped is ,
-
- Which unto me spak angrely and fell,
- And said, my lady me shall:
- ‘ thow,’ quod she, ‘that all that she did tell,
- Is true? Nay, nay, but under hony gall!1040[ ]
- Thy birth and † be nothing egall:
- Cast of thyn hart, for all her wordes whyte,[ ]
- For in faith she thee but a lyte.
-
- And eek remember, thyn habilite
- May not compare with hir, this well thow wot .’1045
- Ye, than cam Hope and said, ‘My frend, let be!
- Beleve him not: , he ginneth dote.’
- ‘Alas,’ quod I, ‘here is both cold and :
- The tone me biddeth love, the toder nay;
- Thus wot I not what me is best to say.1050
-
- But well wot I, my lady graunted me,
- Truly to be my woundes remedy;
- Her gentilness may not infected be[ ]
- With dobleness, thus trust I till I .’
- So cast I void Dispaires company,1055[ ]
- And taken Hope to councell and to frend.
- ‘Ye, kepe that wele,’ quod Philobone, ‘in mind.’
-
- And there besyde, within a bay-window ,
- in grene, full large of brede and length,
- His berd as blak as fethers of the crow;1060
- His name was Lust, of wounder might and strength;
- And with Delyt to argue there he ,
- For this was all his [ ] opinion,
- That love was ! and so he hath
-
- To fast, and legge auctoritè:1065[ ]
- ‘Nay,’ quod , ‘love is a vertue clere,
- And from the soule his progress holdeth he:
- Blind of lust doth often ,
- And that is lakketh there,
- For thow [ ] think thy neighbours wyfe :1070
- Yit think it well that love may not be ;
-
- For god and seint, they love right ,[ ]
- Void of all and : this knowe I wele,
- Affeccion of flessh is , truly;
- But verray love is vertue, as I fele,1075
- :
- For [ ] love is love withouten .’
- ‘Now stint,’ quoth Lust, ‘thow spekest not worth a .’
-
- And there I left thaim in their arguing,
- Roming ferther in the castell wyde,1080
- And in a corner Lier talking
- Of lesings fast, with Flatery there besyde;
- He seid that were attire of pryde,
- And men were founde of nature variaunt,
- And coud be false, and shewen semblaunt.1085
-
- Than Flatery bespake and seid, y-wis:
- ‘See, so she goth on patens faire and fete,
- Hit doth right wele: what prety man is this
- That rometh ? Now truly, drink ne mete
- Nede I not have; myne hart for joye doth bete1090
- Him to behold, so is he fressh:
- It semeth for love his harte is tender nessh.’
-
- This is the court of lusty folk and glad,
- And wel becometh their and array:
- O why be som so sorry and so sad,1095[ ]
- Complaining thus in blak and whyte and gray?
- Freres they ben, and monkes, in fay:
- Alas, for rewth! greet dole it is to ,
- To see thaim thus bewaile and sory .
-
- See how they cry and wring their handes whyte,1100[ ]
- For they so sone went to religion!
- And eke the nonnes, with vaile and wimple plight,
- There thought that they ben in confusion:
- ‘Alas,’ thay sayn, ‘we fayn perfeccion ,
- In clothes wide, and lak our libertè;1105
- But all the mote on our frendes be.[ ]
-
- For, Venus wot, we wold as fayn as ye,
- That ben attired and wel besene,
- Desiren man, and love in our degree,
- Ferme and feithfull, right as wold the quene:1110
- Our frendes wikke, in tender youth and grene,
- Ayenst our will made us religious;
- That is the cause we morne and wailen thus.’
-
- Than seid the and freres in the tyde,
- ‘Wel may we our and our place,1115
- Our statuts sharp, to sing in copes wyde,
- Chastly to kepe us out of loves grace,
- And never to fele comfort ne solace;
- Yet suffre we the hete of loves fire,
- we desire.1120
-
- O Fortune cursed, why now and wherefore
- Hast thow,’ they seid, ‘beraft us ,
- Sith nature yave us instrument in store,
- And to love and lovers be?
- Why mot we suffer suche adversitè,1125
- Diane to serve, and Venus to refuse?
- Ful often sith this doth us muse.
-
- We serve and honour, sore ayenst our will,
- Of chastitè the goddes and the quene;
- Us leffer were with Venus byden still,1130
- And have reward for love, and soget been
- Unto thise women courtly, fressh, and shene.
- Fortune, we curse thy whele of variaunce!
- There we were wele , thou our plesaunce.’
-
- Thus leve I thaim, with voice of pleint and care,1135
- In raging crying ful ;[ ]
- And as I yede, full naked and full bare
- Some I , looking ,
- On povertè that dedely cast their ;
- And ‘Welaway!’ they cried, and were not fain,1140
- For they ne might their glad desire attain.
-
- For lak of richesse worldely and of † ,
- They banne and curse, and wepe, and sein, ‘Alas,
- That poverte hath us hent that whylom stode
- At hartis , and free and in case!1145
- But now we dar not shew our-self in place,
- Ne us embolde to duelle in company,
- There-as our hart wold love right faithfully.’
-
- And yet againward shryked every nonne,
- The of love so straineth thaim to cry:1150[ ]
- ‘Now the tyme,’ quod thay, ‘that we be !
- This hateful ordre nyse will don us !
- We sigh and sobbe, and bleden inwardly,
- Freting our-self with thought and hard complaint,
- That ney for love we waxen wode and faint.’1155
-
- And as I beholding here and there,
- I was of a sort full languisshing,
- Savage and wild of loking and of chere,
- Their and their clothës ay tering;
- And oft thay were of nature complaining,1160[ ]
- For they members lakked, fote and hand,
- With visage wry and blind, I understand.
-
- They lakked shap, and beautie to preferre
- Theim-self in love: and seid, that god and kind
- Hath forged thaim to worshippen the sterre,1165
- Venus the bright, and leften all behind
- His other werkes clene and out of mind:
- ‘For other have their full ,
- And we,’ quod they, ‘ben in deformitè.’
-
- And nye to thaim there was a company,1170
- That have the susters waried and misseid;
- I mene, the three of fatall destinè,
- That be our † ; and sone, in a brayd,[ ]
- Out gan they cry as they had been affrayd,
- ‘We curse,’ quod thay, ‘that ever hath nature1175
- Y-formed us, this wofull lyfe !’
-
- And there he was contrite, and gan repent,
- Confessing hole the wound that Citherè
- Hath with the dart of hot desire him ,
- And how that he to love must subjet be:1180
- Than held he all his skornes vanitè,
- And seid, that lovers lede a lyfe,
- Yong men and old, and , maid and wyfe.
-
- ‘Bereve † , goddesse,’ quod he, ‘[of] thy might,
- My skornes all and skoffes, that I have1185
- No power , to mokken any wight,
- That in thy service dwell: for I rave:
- This know I well right now, so god me save,
- And I shal be the post of thy feith,
- And love uphold, the révers who-so seith.’1190
-
- Dissemble stood not fer from him in trouth,
- With party mantill, party and hose;
- And said, he had upon his lady rowth,
- And thus he wound him in, and gan to glose
- Of his entent full doble, I suppose:1195
- And al the world, he seid, he loved it wele;
- But ay, me thoughte, he loved her nere a dele.
-
- Eek Shamefastness was there, as I hede,
- That rede, and durst nat ben a-knowe
- She lover was, for thereof had she drede;1200
- She stood and hing her visage down alowe;
- But suche a sight it was to sene, I trow,
- †As of these roses rody on their stalk:
- There cowd no wight her spy to speke or talk
-
- In loves , so gan she to abasshe,1205
- Ne durst not utter all her :
- Many a stripe and many a grevous lasshe
- She to thaim that wolden loveres be,
- And hindered sore the simpill ,
- That in no wyse durst grace and mercy crave;1210
- For were not she , they but ask and have;
-
- Where if they now approchin for to speke,
- Than Shamefastness returnith thaim again:
- Thay think, if † our councell breke,
- Our will have scorn on us, ,1215
- And [ ] aventure thinken greet disdain:
- Thus Shamefastness may ,
- Whan she is dede, the toder will be .[ ]
-
- Com forth, Avaunter ! now I ring thy bell!
- I spyed him sone; to god I make a-vowe,1220
- He loked blak as fendes doth in hell:—
- ‘The ,’ quod he, ‘that ever [I] ,[ ]
- Within a word she com, I wot not how,
- So that in armes was my lady free;
- And so hath ben a thousand mo than she.1225
-
- In Englond, Bretain, Spain, and Pycardie,
- Arteys, and Fraunce, and up in hy Holand,
- In Burgoyne, Naples, and [ ] Italy,
- Naverne, and Grece, and up in hethen ,
- Was never woman yit that wold 1230
- To ben at myn commaundement, whan I wold:
- I lakked neither silver, coin, ne gold.
-
- And there I met with estate and that;
- And here I broched her, and here, I trow:
- Lo! there of myne; and ye ?1235
- fressh attired have I leyd full low;
- And such yonder eke right well I know:
- I kept the statut whan we lay y-fere;
- And yet yon same hath made me right good chere.’
-
- Thus hath Avaunter blowen every-where1240
- Al that he knowith, and more, a thousand-fold;
- His auncetrye of was to ,[ ]
- For firste he makith promise for to hold
- His councell, and it not unfold;
- Wherfore, the secret when he doth ,1245
- he, that all the world may .
-
- For falsing so his promise and behest,
- I wounder sore he hath such ;
- He lakketh wit, I trowe, or is a best,
- That no bet him-self with .1250
- myn advice, Love shal contrarie
- To his availe, and him eke dishonoure,
- So that in court he shall no more .[ ]
-
- ‘Take hede,’ quod she, this litell Philobone,
- ‘Where Envy in the yond,1255[ ]
- And sitteth dirk; and ye shall see anone
- His lenë bodie, fading face and hond;[ ]
- Him-self he fretteth, as I understond;
- Witnesse of Ovid ;[ ]
- The lovers he is, I wil not .1260
-
- For where a lover thinketh him promote,
- Envy will grucch, repyning at his wele;
- Hit swelleth sore about his rote,
- That in no wyse he can not live in hele;
- And if the feithfull to his lady stele,1265
- Envy will noise and ring it round aboute,
- And sey moche worse than don is, out of dowte.’
-
- And Prevy Thought , rejoysing of him-self,
- not thens in mervelous;
- ‘ is,’ thought [ ], ‘som or some elf,1270
- His sotill image is so :
- How is,’ quod I, ‘that he is shaded thus
- With yonder cloth, I not of what colour?’
- And nere I went, and gan to lere and pore,
-
- And frayned him [ ] question full hard.1275
- ‘What is,’ quod I, ‘the thing thou lovest best?
- Or what is unto thy paines hard?
- Me think, thow livest here in grete unrest;
- Thow wandrest ay from south to est and west,
- And est to north; as as I see,1280
- There is no place in court may holden thee.
-
- Whom folowest thow? where is thy harte y-set?
- But my demaunde asoile, I thee require.’
- ‘Me thought,’ quod he, ‘no crëature may let
- † to ben here, and where-as I desire:1285
- For where-as absence hath don out the fire,
- My mery thought it yet again,
- That , me think, with my souverain[ ]
-
- I stand and speke, and laugh, and kisse, and halse,
- So that my thought comforteth me full oft:1290[ ]
- I think, god wot, though all the world be false,
- I will be trewe; I think also how soft
- My lady is in speche, and this on-loft
- Bringeth myn hart † joye and [ ] gladnesse;
- This prevey thought alayeth myne hevinesse.1295[ ]
-
- And what I thinke, or where to be, no man
- In all this erth can tell, y-wis, but I:
- And eke there nis no swallow swift, ne swan
- So wight of wing, ne half [ ] yern can fly;
- For I can been, and that right sodenly,1300
- In heven, in helle, in paradise, and here,
- And with my , whan I will desire.
-
- I am of councell ferre and wyde, I wot,
- With lord and lady, and their previtè
- I wot it all; but be it ,1305
- They shall not speke licence of me,
- I mene, in suche as sesonable be;
- For first the thing is thought within the ,
- Ere any word out from the mouth astert.’
-
- And with that word Thought bad farewell and yede:1310
- Eke furth went I to :
- And at the dore cam in, so god me spede,
- † courteours of age and of assyse
- Liche high, and brode, and, as I me advyse,
- The Golden Love, and Leden Love thay hight:1315[ ]
- was sad, the toder glad and light.
[Some stanzas lost.]
-
- ‘Yis! draw your hart, with all your force and might,[ ]
- To lustiness, and been as ye have seid;
- And think that I no drop of favour hight ,
- Ne never had your desire obeyd,1320
- Till sodenly, me thought, me was affrayed,
- To you wax so dede of countenaunce;
- And Pitè bad me don you some .
-
- Out of her she from deth to lyve,[ ]
- And in myne full prevely she spak,1325
- “Doth not your servaunt hens away to dryve,
- Rosiall,” quod she; and than myn harte [it] ,
- For tender † : and where I found moch lak
- In your persoune, † bethought,
- And seid, “This is the man myne harté hath sought.” ’1330
-
- ‘Gramercy, Pitè! might I † suffice
- To yeve the lawde unto thy shryne of gold,[ ]
- God wot, I wold; for sith that † did rise
- From deth to lyve for me, I am behold
- To † you a thousand tymes told,1335
- And eke my lady Rosiall the shene,
- Which hath in comfort set myn harte, I wene.
-
- And here I make myn protestacion,
- And depely swere, as [ ] myn power, to been
- Feithfull, devoid of variacion,1340
- And forbere in anger or in tene,
- And serviceable to my worldes quene,
- With al my and intelligence,
- To don her honour high and reverence.’
-
- I had not spoke so sone the word, but she,1345
- My souverain, did thank me hartily,
- And seid, ‘Abyde, ye shall dwell still with me
- Till come of May; for than, truly,
- The King of Love and all his company
- Shall hold his fest full ryally and well:’1350
- And there I bode till that the fell.
-
- ON May-day, whan the lark began to ryse,
- To matens went the lusty nightingale[ ]
- Within a temple shapen hawthorn-wise;[ ]
- He might not slepe in all the nightertale,1355
- But ‘Domine labia ,’ gan he crye and gale,
- ‘My lippes open, Lord of Love, I crye,
- And let my mouth thy preising now .’[ ]
-
- The eagle sang ‘Venite , bodies all,
- And let us joye to love that is our helth.’1360
- And to the deske anon they gan to fall,
- And who come late, he in by stelth:[ ]
- Than seid the fawcon, hartis welth,
- ‘Domine, Dominus noster , I wot,
- Ye be the god that don us thus .’1365
-
- ‘ ,’ said the popingay,[ ]
- ‘Your might is told in heven and firmament.’
- And than came in the goldfinch fresh and gay,
- And said psalm with glad intent,
- ‘Domini est terra ; this Laten intent,1370
- The god of Love hath erth in governaunce:’
- And than the wren gan skippen and to daunce.
-
- ‘Jube, Domine , Lord of Love, I pray
- Commaund me well this lesson for to rede;
- This legend is of all that wolden 1375[ ]
- Marters for love; god the sowles spede!
- And to thee, Venus, † we, out of drede,
- By influence of all thy vertue grete,
- Beseching thee to kepe us in our hete.’
-
- The second lesson robin redebrest sang,1380[ ]
- ‘Hail to the god and goddess of our lay!’
- And to the lectorn † he :—
- ‘Hail,’ quod [ ] eke, ‘O fresh seson of May,
- Our moneth glad that singen on the spray !
- Hail to the floures, rede, and whyte, and blewe,1385
- Which by their vertue our lustes newe!’
-
- The thrid lesson the turtill-dove up,[ ]
- And therat lough the mavis [ ] in scorn:
- He said, ‘O god, as I or ,
- This folissh dove will us all an horn !1390
- There been right here a thousand better born,
- To rede this lesson, which, as well as he,
- And eke as hot, can love in all degree.’
-
- The turtill-dove said, ‘Welcom, welcom, May,
- Gladsom and light to loveres that ben trewe!1395
- I thank thee, Lord of Love, that doth purvey
- For me to rede this lesson all of dewe;
- For, in gode sooth, of corage I †
- To serve my make till deth us depart:’
- And than ‘autem ’ sang he all apart.1400
-
- ‘Te deum amoris ,’ sang the thrustell-cok:
- Tuball him-self, the first musician,
- With key of armony coude not
- So swete [ ] tewne as that the thrustill can:
- ‘The Lord of Love we praisen,’ quod he than,1405
- ‘And so don all the fowles, grete and ;
- Honour we May, in fals lovers dispyte.’
-
- ‘Dominus regnavit ,’ seid the pecok there,
- ‘The Lord of Love, that mighty prince, y-wis,
- He hath received her[e] and every-where:1410
- Now Jubilate † :’—‘What meneth this?’
- Seid than the ; ‘welcom, Lord of blisse!’
- Out-stert the owl with ‘Benedicite ,
- What meneth al this mery fare?’ quod he.
-
- ‘Laudate ,’ sang the lark with voice full shrill;1415
- And eke the , ‘O admirabile ;
- This quere will myne eris pers and thrill;
- But what? welcom this May ,’ quod he;
- ‘And honour to the Lord of Love mot be,
- That hath this feest so and so high:’1420
- ‘Amen,’ seid all; and so seid eke the pye.
-
- And furth the cokkow gan procede anon,[ ]
- With ‘Benedictus’ thanking god in hast,
- That in this May wold visite thaim echon,
- And gladden thaim all whyl the fest shall :1425
- And therewithall a-loughter out he brast,
- ‘I thank it god that I shuld end the song,
- And all the service which hath been so long.’
-
- Thus sang thay all the service of the fest,
- And that was don right erly, to my dome;1430
- And furth all the Court, both most and lest,
- To feche the floures fressh, and braunche and ;
- And namly, hawthorn brought both page and grome.
- With fressh , partie blewe and whyte,
- And thaim in .1435
-
- Eke eche at other threw the floures bright,[ ]
- The prymerose, the violet, the gold ;
- So than, as I beheld the ryall sight,
- My lady gan me sodenly behold,
- And with a trew-love , plited many-fold,1440
- She me the as blyve;
- And Venus yet I thanke I am alyve.
- ‘I purpos here to maken and to write
- A litil tretise, and a processe make
- In pris of women, oonli for hir sake.’
- ‘Citeron est une montaigne . . .
- Venus, qui les dames espire,
- Fist là son principal manoir’;
- ll. 15865–71.
- ‘One shaft is pointed with refulgent gold
- To bribe the love, and make the lover bold;
- One blunt, and tipped with lead, whose base allay
- Provokes disdain, and drives desire away.’
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