L'ENVOYE.1

Therfor, thou vache, leve thin old wreched

nesse;

Vnto the worlde leve now to be thral.2

Crie hym mercy, that of hys hie goodnesse
Made the of nought; and in especial
Draw unto hym, and pray in general
For the, and eke for other, hevenely mede;
And trouthe schal delyvere, it is no drede.

A BALLADE.

HE firste fadir and fyndr of gentilnesse,3

THE

What man desirith gentil for to be,

Most followe his trace, and alle his wittes dresse,

Vertue to shew, and vices for to flee;
For unto vertu longeth dignitee,

And nought the revers, savely dar I deme,
Al were he miter, corone, or diademe.

This first stoke was ful of rightwisnesse,
Trewe of his worde, sober, pitous and free,
Clene of his gooste and lovid besynesse,
Ageynste the vice of slowthe in honeste;
And but his heire love vertu as did he,
He nis not gentil though him riche seme,
Al were he miter, corone, or diademe.

Vice may welle be heyre to olde richesse,
But there may no man, as ye may wel see;
Byquethe his sone his vertuous noblesse;

1 This stanza does not occur in the other MSS.

2 [Cease to be a slave to the world.]

By 'the firste fadir and fyndr of gentilnesse' the poet seems to mean Christ. Compare Wyf of Bathes Tale, vol. i. p. 344. Crist wol we clayme of him oure gentilesse.' Instead of The firste fadir and fynder, Speght, in the poem by Scogan, in which this piece is introduced, reads, The first stockfather.-See ante, p. 402.

That is approperid to no degree,

But to the firste Fader in Magestee,

[quere,

Whiche maketh His heires hem that doone Him Al were he miter, corone or diademe.

EXPLICIT

L'ENVOY DE CHAUCER A SCOGAN.'

TO-B

O-BROKEN been the statutes hye in hevene,
That creat weren eternally to dure,
Syth that I see the bryghte goddis sevene
Mowe wepe' and wayle, and passion endure,
As may in erthe a mortale creature:
Allas! fro whennes may thys thinge procede?
Of whiche errour I deye almost for drede.

By word eterne whilome was yshape,
That fro the fyfte sercle in no manere,
Ne myght a drope of teeres doune eschape;

1 For some account of Scogan see ante, p. 402.

2 The poet here supposes that the great rain which fell in the year 1348, and which was supposed to have produced the pestilence that devastated Europe at this period, was caused by the tears of the planets. The rain is thus described by Fabian:- And in this xxiii. yere [scil., of Edward III.] fell great continuall rayne, from Mydsomer to Christmas, whereof ensued exceedinge floodes. By reason whereof the grounde was sore corrupted, so that dyvers inconveniences ensued upon the same, as sykenesse and other, as in the yeres followinge shall appear. And aboute the ende of August the mortalitie began in dyvers places of Englande, and specially at London, and so continued to the saide month of August next ensuing.'-FABIAN, Chronicle, Anno 1348. There seems to be here some confusion of dates; for the rain is said to have fallen in the twenty-third year of Edward III., that is, in 1350, whereas it is recorded under the year 1348. [It is, however, now ascertained, from allusions in Piers the Plowman, &c., that similar pestilences and dearths, occurring at later periods, were spoken of by various writers in terms such as in the present poem. In 1348 Chaucer was about 8 years old only, so the reference must rather be to the drought in 1370; or even later.-W. W. S.]

But now so wepeth Venus in hir spere,
That with hir teres she wol drenche us here.
Allas! Scogan this is for thyn offence!
Thou causest this deluge of pestilence.

Havest thow not seyd in blaspheme of this goddis,
Thurgh pride, or thurgh thy grete rekelnesse,
Swich thing as in the lawe of love forbode is,
That for thy lady sawgh nat thy distresse,
Therfore thow yave hir up at Mighelmesse?
Allas, Scogan! of olde folke ne yonge,
Was never erst Scogan blamed for his tonge.1

Than drowe in skorne Cupide eke to recorde
Of thilke rebel worde that thow hast spoken,
For which he wol no lenger be thy lorde;
And, Scogan, though his bowe be nat broken,
He wol nat with his arwes been ywroken
On thee ne me, ne noon of youre figure;
We shul of him have neyther hurte nor cure,

Now certes, frend, I drede of thyn unhappe,
Lest for thy gilte the wreche of love procede
On alle hem that ben hoor and rounde of shappe,
That ben so lykely folke to spede,

Than shal we for oure laboure have noo mede;
But wel I wot thow wolt answere and saye,
Loo, olde Grisel lyste to rynne and pley!''

Nay, Scogan, say not soo, for I mexcuse,
God helpe me so, in no ryme douteles;
Ne thynke I never of slepe to wake my muse,

1 An allusion, probably, to Scogan's wit.

2 The poet, in this stanza, seems to say that he is afraid lest the vengeance of the God of Love for Scogan's blasphemy may fall on himself and all, who, like Scogan, are corpulent and hoary. The host in The Canterbury Tales twits the poet with his stoutness; [and this again, points to a somewhat late period of the poet's life. In 1370 he was about 30 years of age.-W. W. S.]

That rusteth in my shethe stille in pees;
While I was yonge I put her forth in prees;
But alle shal passe that men prose or rime,
Take every man hys turne as for his time.

Scogan, thou knelest at the stremes hede1
Of grace, of alle honour, and of worthynesse.
In th'ende' of which streme I am dul as dede,
Forgete in solytary wildernesse ;

Yet, Scogan, thenke on Tullius' kyndenesse;"
Mynde thy frende there it may fructyfye,
Farewel, and loke thow never eft love dyffie.

EXPLICIT.

L'ENVOY DE CHAUCER A BUKTON.*

My maister, Bukton, whanne of Christ oure king,
Was asked, what is troth or sothfastnesse?5
He not a worde answerde to that asking,
As who seyth, no man is al true, I gesse;
And therfor, though I highte to expresse
The sorrow and wo that is in mariage,
I dar not writen of it no wikkednesse,
Lest I

my selfe falle efte in swiche dotage.

1 Opposite to this, in the margin of the Fairfax MS., is written 'i. a Wyndesor.'

2 Opposite to this word is written i. a Greenwich.' The meaning of the passage, therefore, is that Scogan lived at the Court of Windsor, while Chaucer was residing at Greenwich, farther from the source of favour, just as Greenwich is farther than Windsor from the source of the Thames.

3 The friendship inculcated by Cicero in his De amicitiâ.

On these stanzas Tyrwhitt observes:-'From the reference to the Wyf of Bathe, I should suppose it to be one of our author's latter compositions; and I find that there was a Peter de Bukton, the King's escheator for the county of York, in 1397.—Pat. 20 R. II. p. 2 m. 3 apud Rymer.

5 John xviii. 38.

I wol not seye how that it is the cheyne
Of Sathanas, on which he gnaweth ever;
But I dar seyn, 'were he oute of his peyne,
As by his wille he wolde be bounde nevere.
But thilke doted foole that ofte hath levere
Ycheyned be than out of prison crepe
God lete him never fro his woo dissevere,
Ne no man him bewayle though he wepe!
But yet lest thow do worse, take a wyfe;
Bet ys to wedde than burne in worse wise,1
But thow shalt have sorwe on thy flessh thy lyfe,
And ben thy wyfes thral, as seyn these wise.
And yf that hooly writte may not suffyse,
Esperience shal the teche, so may happe,
That the were lever to be take in Frise,
Than eft falle of weddynge in the trappe.
This lytel written proverbes or figure
I sende yow, take kepe of hyt I rede!
Unwise is he that kan noo wele endure.
If thow be siker, put the not in drede.
The wyfe of Bathe I pray yow that ye rede
Of this matere that we have on honde.
God graunte yow your lyfe frely to lede
In fredom, for ful harde is to be bonde.

EXPLICIT.

PROVERBES OF CHAUCER.2

WHAT sulde these clothes thus manyfolde,

Loo, this hoote somers day?

After greet hete cometh colde;
No man kaste his pilche3 away.

11 Cor. vii. 9.

2 Only the first two stanzas in the MSS. which have been follow without any distinction. -W.W.S.]

are given in the printed editions; but consulted for the present text, the rest [They are however distinct, and spurious.

A pilche is a pelisse, or cloak, made or trimmed with far. It is