tial'; and here again at the end is his stupid-'Quod Chaucere.' The date of this MS. appears to be 1472; so it is of no high authority; and, unless we make some verbal alteration, we shall have to explain how Chaucer came to write oftsiss in two syllables instead of ofte sithe in four; see his Can. Yem. Tale, Group G, 1. 1031.

72. Leaulte vault Richesse; pr. in vol. vi. p. 302, for the first time. This is from the same MS., fol. 138, and is as follows:

This warldly Ioy is onely fantasy,

Of quhich non erdly wicht can be content;
Quho most has wit, leste suld In It affy,
Quho taistis It most, most sall him repent;
Quhat valis all this richess and this rent,
Sen no man wate quho sall his tresour haue?

Presume nocht gevin that god has done but lent,
Within schort tyme the quhiche he thinkis to craue.
Leaulte vault richess.

On this poem, I have three remarks to make. The first is that not even the reckless Scottish scribe attributes it to Chaucer. The second is that Chaucer's forms are content and lent without a final e, and repent-e and rent-e with a final -e, so that the poem cannot be his; although content, repent, rent, and lent rime well enough in the Northern dialect. The third is that if I could be sure that the above lines were by a well-known author, I should at once ascribe them to King James I., who might very well have written these and the lines called Prosperity above. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the very MS. here discussed is that in which the unique copy of the Kingis Quair is preserved.

73. Proverbs of Chaucer; printed in vol. vi. p. 303. The first eight lines are genuine. But two 7-line stanzas are added, which are spurious. In MS. Addit. 16165, Shirley tells us that they were 'made by Halsham Esquyer'; but they seem to be Lydgate's, unless he added to them. See Lydgate's Minor Poems (Percy Soc. 1840), pp. 193 and 74. And see pp. xli., xlv.

It thus appears that, of the 73 pieces formerly attributed to Chaucer, not more than 26 can be genuine. These are: Canterbury Tales, Troilus, Legend of Good Women, the first 21 Minor Poems printed in the present volume, and two pieces in prose.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MSS.

After the preceding somewhat tedious, but necessary discussion of the contents of the black-letter and other editions (in many of which poems were as recklessly attributed to Chaucer as medieval proverbs used to be to King Solomon), it is some relief to turn to the manuscripts, which usually afford much better texts, and are altogether more trustworthy.

1

The following is a list of the MSS. which have been followed. I must here acknowledge my great debt to Dr. Furnivall, whose excellent, careful, and exact reproduction in print of the various MSS. leaves nothing to be desired, and is a great boon to all Chaucer scholars. They are nearly all1 printed among the Chaucer Society's publications. At the same time, I desire to say that I have myself consulted most of the MSS., and have thus gleaned a few hints which could hardly have been otherwise acquired; it was by this process that I became acquainted with the poems numbered XXII. and XXIII., which are probably genuine. An editor should always look at the MSS. for himself, if he can possibly contrive to do so.

LIST OF THE MSS.; WITH ABBREVIATIONS.

N.B. The roman numbers following the name of each MS. denote the numbers of the poems in the present edition.

A.-Ashmole 59, Bodleian Library (Shirley's).—XI. XIII.

XVIII.

Ad.—Addit. 16165, British Museum.-VII. XX. XXIII. Add. Addit. 22139, British Museum.-XII. XIII. XIV. XIX. Ar.-Arch. Selden B. 24, Bodleian Library.-IV. V. XII. XVIII.

At.-Addit. 10340, British Museum.-XII.

B.-Bodley 638 (Oxford).-I. II. III. V. VII. IX. XI. XXII. Bannatyne MS. 1568, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.-XIV. Bedford MS. (Bedford Library).—I.

C.-Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. 5. 30.-I.

Corpus. Corpus Chr. Coll., Oxford, 203.-XII.

The copy of no. XV in MS. Fairfax 16 has not been printed. I made a transcript of it myself. There is another unprinted copy in MS. Harl. 7578.

Ct.-Cotton, Cleopatra D. 7; Brit. Mus.-XII. XIII. XIV. XV. Cx.-Caxton's editions; see above (p. xv).—V. VII. IX. XI. XII. XIII. XVI. (part); XIX.

D.-Digby 181, Bodleian Library.-V. VII.

E. Ellesmere MS. (also has the Cant. Tales).-XII.

ed. 1561.-Stowe's edition, 1561.—VIII. XV. XX. XXI., &c. F.-Fairfax 16, Bodleian Library.—I. II. III. IV. V. VII. IX. XI. XII. (two copies); XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXII.

Ff.-Cambridge Univ. Library, Ff. 1. 6.-II. V. VII (part); XVIII. XIX.

Gg.'-Cambridge Univ. Library, Gg. 4. 27.—I. V. XII. XVI. Gl.-Glasgow, Hunterian Museum, Q. 2. 25.—I.

H.-Harleian 2251, Brit. Mus.-I. XI. XIII. XIX.

Ha.
Harl.

Harleian 7578, Brit. Mus.-I. II. XIII. XIV. XV. XX. Harleian 7333, Brit. Mus.-IV. V. VII. XII. XIII. XIV. XIX. XXII.

Harleian 78, Brit. Mus. (Shirley's). See Sh. below.
Harleian 372, Brit. Mus.-VII.

Hh.-Cambridge Univ. Library, Hh. 4. 12.-V (part); X.
I. Cambridge Univ. Library, Ii. 3. 21.-X. XI.

Jo. St. John's College, Cambridge, G. 21.-I.

Ju. Julian Notary's edition (see p. xvi.).—IV. XVII. XVIII. Kk.-Cambridge Univ. Library, Kk. 1. 5.—XII.

L.-Laud 740, Bodleian Library.—I.

Lansdowne 699, Brit. Mus.-XI. XII.

Laud. Laud 416, Bodleian Library.-V (part).
Lt.-Longleat MS. 258 (Marquis of Bath).—II. IV. V. VII.
O.-St. John's College, Oxford (no. lvii.).-V.

P.-Pepys 2006, Magd. Coll., Cambridge.—I. (two copies); IV.
V. VI. VII (part); IX. XI. XVI. XVIII. (two copies); XIX.
Sh. Shirley's MS. Harl. 78, Brit. Mus.-II. XXI.

Sion College MS. (Shirley's).-I.

T.-Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 20.-IV. VII (part); VIII. XI. XII. (two copies); XIII. XIV. XVIII.

Th.-W. Thynne's edition, 1532.—III. IX. XIV. XVII., &c. Tn.-Tanner 346, Bodleian Library.-II. III. IV. V. VII.

XVIII.

1 Called 'Cm.' in my editions of parts of the Canterbury Tales.

Trin.-Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 3. 19.—II. V. Trinity College, Cambridge, R. 14, 51.-XIII. XIV. Conversely, I here give a list of the Poems in the present volume, shewing from which MSS. each one is derived. I mention first the MSS. of most importance. I also note the number of lines in each piece.

I. A. B. C. (184 lines).—C. Jo. Gl. L. Gg. F.; other copies in H. P.1 Bedford. Ha. Sion. B.2

II. Pite (119).—-Tn. F. B. Sh. Ff. Trin.; also Ha. Lt.

III. Duchess (1334).-F. Tn. B. Th.

IV. Mars (298).-F. Tn. Ju. Harl. T. Ar.; also P.1 Lt.

V. Parl. Foules (699).—-F. Gg. Trin. Cx. Harl. O. Ff. Tn. D.; also Ar. B. Lt. P.; Hh. (365 lines); Laud (142 lines).

VI. Merciless Beaute (39).-P.

VII. Anelida (357).—Harl. F. Tn. D. Cx.; also B. Lt. Ad. ; Harl. 372; partly in T. Ff. P.

VIII. Lines to Adam (7).-T.; ed. 1561.

IX. Fame (2158).—F. B. P. Cx. Th.

X. Former Age (64).—I. Hh.

XI. Fortune (79).—I. A. T. F. B. H. ; also P. Cx. ; Lansd. 699. XII. Truth (28).—At. Gg. E. Ct. T.; also Harl. F. Add. Cx; Ar. Kk. Corpus; Lansd. 699.

XIII. Gentilesse (21).-A. T. Harl. Ct. Ha. Add. Cx; also H. and Trinity.

XIV. Lak of Stedfastnesse (28).—Harl. T. Ct. F. Add.; also Th. Ha.; Trinity, and Bannatyne.

XV. Against Women Unconstaunt (21).—Ct. F. Ha.; ed. 1561.
XVI. To Scogan (49).—Gg. F. P.; also Cx. (21 lines).
XVII. To Bukton (32).-F. Th.; also Ju.

XVIII. Venus (82).—T. A. Tn. F. Ff.; also Ar. Ju. P.5

XIX. Purse (26).-F. Harl. Ff. P. Add.; also H. Cx.

XX. Proverbs (8).—F. Ha. Ad.; ed. 1561.

XXI. Complaint to his Lady (123).—Harleian 78; ed. 1561. XXII. An Amorous Complaint (91).—Harl. F. B.

XXIII. Balade of Complaint (21).—Ad.

1 There are two copies in MS. P.; they may be called P1 and P 2. 2 I make but little use of the copies in the second group.

3 Two copies; may be called T1 and T2.

Two copies; F1 and F2.

Two copies; P1 and P2.

REMARKS ON SOME OF THE MSS.

Some of these MSS. deserve a few special remarks.

Shirley's MSS. are- -A. Ad. H. Harl. Sh. Sion, and T.

MSS. in Scottish spelling are—Ar. Bannatyne. Kk.; L. shews Northern tendencies.

MSS. AT OXFORD.

F. (Fairfax 16) is a valuable MS.; not only does it contain as many as seventeen of these Minor Poems, but it is a fairly written MS. of the fifteenth century. The spelling does not very materially differ from that of such an excellent MS. as the Ellesmere MS. of the Canterbury Tales, excepting in the fact that a great number of final e's are added in wrong places, and are dropped where they are required. This is a matter that can be to a large extent rectified, and I have endeavoured to do so, taking it in many instances as the standard text. Next to this misuse of final e's, which is merely due to the fact that it was written out at a time when the true use of them was already lost, its most remarkable characteristic is the scribe's excessive love of the letter y in place of i; he writes hyt ys instead of hit is, and the like. In a great number of instances I have restored i, where the vowel is short. When the text of the Fairfax MS. is thus restored, it is by no means a bad one. It also contains fair copies of many poems by Hoccleve and Lydgate, such as the former's Letter of Cupide1, and the latter's Complaint of the Black Knight, Temple of Glass, and Balade against Women's Doubleness, being the very piece which is introduced into Stowe's edition, and is numbered 45 above (see p. xxi). We are also enabled, by comparing this MS. with MS. Harl. 7578, to solve another riddle, viz. why it is that Chaucer's Proverbs, as printed in Morris's and Bell's editions, are followed by two 7-line stanzas which have nothing whatever to do with them. In MS. Harl. 7578 these two stanzas immediately follow, and MS. F. immediately precede Chaucer's Proverbs, and therefore were near enough to them to give an excuse for throwing them in together. However, both these stanzas are by Lydgate, and are mere frag

1 Also a Balade, beginning 'Victorious kyng,' printed in G. Mason's edition of Occleve, 1796; as well as The Book of Cupid, which is another name for the Cuckoo and Nightingale.