(26)

Tffor yee bee oone pe/worthyest on lyve /
And I pe mooste / vnlikly for to thryve /

Yit for al pis / witepe yee right weele /

216

þat yee ne shoule / me frome youre servyce dryve/ þat I ne wil ay / with alle my wittes fyve /

Serve you truwly / what woo. so pat I feele / ffor I am sette on yowe / in suche manere /

219

þat þaughe yee neuer wil / vpoñ me ruwe /
I moste you loue / and beon euer als truwe /

As any man / can / er may on lyve /

223

(27)

But be more pat I loue you goodely free / be lasse fynde I / þat yee loven me /

226

Ellas whan shal / þat harde witte amende Where is nowe al / youre wommanly pitee Youre gentilesse / and youre debonairtee/

Wil yee no thing / per of vpon me spende /
And so hoole sweete / as I am youres al /

229

And so gret wille / as I haue you to serve
Nowe certes / and yee let me pus sterve/

233

Yit haue ye wonne / þer on but a smal

(28)

ffor at my knowing / I / do nought' why

And pis I wol / beseche yowe hertely

'That per1 euer yee fynde / whyles yee lyve / PMS P What

pat corrected]

A truwer seruant / to you / pane am .I.
Leuepe panne [me]/ and sleepe me hardely

And I my deth to you / wil al forgyve /
And if yee fynde / no trewer so verrayly

Wolle yee souffre panne / pat I pus spille
And for no maner gilt but my goode wille
Als goode were panne / vntrewe as truwe to be /

[End of the fragment. Rest of the MS lost.]

237

239

243

vi

[Shirley's MS Ashmole 59, leaf 38, back]

2.

Pe Cronpele made by Chaucier.

¶ Here nowe folowe pe names of pe nyene worshipfullest Ladyes pat in alle cronycles. and storyal bokes haue beo founden of troupe of constaunce and vertuous or reproched womanhode. by Chaucier

Rete Rayson Cleopatre is by Kyndnesse

4

// Cleopatre.

Be putte in mynde / and also þyne hyeness Of Egipte qweene / and affter þat was slayne þyne Anthonye / by Octovyan. pe Romayne / With gret richchesse / pou made his sepulture And affter him þee list no lenger dure For in a pitte with pee serpentes to take powe wente al naked / so þy depe to make

¶ Adryane whiche. with þy craffty labour'
Made Theseus to slee pe Minetawre /
And by a threede / frome þy faders prysouñ
Made him tescape / and pyne housbande bycome
By helpe of Fedra / þy sustre þat with him yeede
Whilest pou slepte / and so he qwytte þy meede
Whe[r]off pe goddes / hade of þy pytee roupe /
And to a sterre transfourmed pee for troupe /

8

// Adryane.

12

16

This noble qweene of Cartage. feyre Dydo

[leaf 89]

Which of Pite. resceyved Eneas so / // Gode Dydo qwene of Cartage. Affter frome Troye / with tempestes in þe see

Vnneepe arryved/in-to hir cuntree/

20

Sheo made him lord and sheo his humble wyve /
Wherby ellas / sheo loste / bope ioye and lyve /
For whane sheo wiste/þat he was frome hir goo
Vppon his swerde / sheo roof hir herte a-twoo/

24

¶ It is gret right pat youre bountee Lucresse
Be putte in writing / and alsoo your goodnesse
Wyff to be Senatour/gode Collatyne
Which thorugh penvye / of Romayne Torqwyn /
For yee to him / wolde never applye /

// Lucresce of Rome.

28

He ravisshed yowe / where-off it was pyte

With a Tyraunt' ful soore ageinst youre wille

He caused yowe / for sorowe / youre selff to spylle

32

What noblesse shewed pou Demophon Philles

Whome to pine housbande qwene of Tarce pou chas "PhilComyng frome Troye / with tempest alforblowe

lees.

As wolde god / pou hadest him wele eknowe
Soone he forgate by fredame and by troupe
Whane to his cuntrey. / he yede þat was roupe
Whiche never affter / for al his heeste with pee
Efft-sones wolde mete / þat made pee soone to dye

36

40

// Thesbe of Babilloigne.

¶ Borne nobully of Babilloygne Thesbe
From þe welle / a lyonesse made pee flee
Where as pou seete / Piramus tabyde
Ellas he foonde pere / by þat welle syde
Blody by wympuł / and wende pou hadest be sleyne
For which he karffe / pere his hert atweyne
Which whane pou saughe/ pou woldest no lenger byde
But on his swerde / þyne hert did thorowe glyde

44

48

¶ Woo is myne hert for pee / pou Isiphyle
Qwene and ladye of / Leanoun pe yle
Wheche wedded was / to Iasoñ grekessħ man
And gret with chylde / lefft þee soone vppoñ
Fro Medea when he to Colcos yeede
þat for pe pitee / I feele myn hert[e] bleede
To thenke on al þy sorowe and by woo

[leaf 39, back]

¶ Isiphyle.

52

Wher thorughe pou dyed and by chylde alsoo

56

¶ Ypermistra / pat noble and truwe wyff by faders prysouñ / made þee to loese by lyff Ypermistra þe Ful pytously for þat þou wolde not flee

gode wyffe.

60

Lyue pine husbande / as he comanded þee

Whiche was pe sone / of daun Danao

Egistes broper / by fader it fel soo

And al was but his owen fantasye

þat he his broper sone / went for to dye

64

The sorowe pou toke pane / O. quene Alceste 1
Whane Seyse pyne husbande/fayled pee of by heste "pe Qwene
Whome for to fynde / pou sought him ay weoping

Hit happende soo / pou saugħe him dede fletyng‐
Vppoñ þe see and to him leepe anoone
With him to dye / so woo was him begone

Alceste.

68

Where pat of yowe pe goddes hade grete pitee

And lyche seemewes / transfourmed him and pee.

72

esse.

'Mistaken for Alcyone: see The Dethe of Blaunche the Duch

ODD BITS OF CHAUCER.

3.

TWO ODD BITS OF

Chaucer's Troilus.

1. One Stanza (Book I, St. xci, Lines 631-7), Wise Men learn by Fools: from Shirley's paper MS. R. 3. 20, Trin. Coll., Cambr.

2. Three Stanzas (Book III, St. xxxviii-xl, Lines 260280), in a Poem, The Tongue, from a paper MS. Ff. i. 6, Cambr. Univ. Library.