Of alle this worlde the large compas
It wil not in myn armes tweyne;
Whoo so mochel wille enbrace,
Litel thereof he shal distreyne.

The worlde so wide, the eyre so remuable,
The sely man so litel of stature;

The grone of grownde1 and clothinge so mutable,
The feer so hoote and sotel of nature,

The water never in oon-what creature
That made is of these foure thus flittynge,
May stedfast be, as here, in his lyvynge?

The more I goo the ferther I am behynde,
The ferther behinde the nere my werres ende;
The more I seche the werse can I fynde;
The lighter leve, the lother for to wende;
The better I lyve, the more oute of mynde;
Is this fortune not* I, or infortune;
Though I goo loos, tyed am I with a loynne."

EXPLICIT.

ROUNDEL.

I.

I

YOURE two eyn will sle me sodenly,

I may the beaute of them not sustene,

So wendeth it thorowout my herte kene.

derived from the Latin pellis, a skin, quasi toga pelliceus.-See Junius

in voc.

1 The Fairfax MS. reads The grove and grounde. Both readings seem equally unintelligible.

2 It was supposed that man was composed of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water. This belief is alluded to by Shakspeare in his 44th and 45th Sonnets.-See Shaks. Poems, Annot. Ed., p. 174. 3 That is, The more likely to leave this world, the less willing.' 4 That is, I know not.'

5 The poet probably means that he is married.-See L'Envoy de Chaucer a Bukton. 6 See above, p. 43.

And but your words will helen hastely
My hertis wound, while that it is grene,
Youre two eyn will sle me sodenly.

3

Upon my trouth I sey yow feithfully,
That ye ben of my liffe and deth the quene,
For with my deth the trouth shal be sene.
Youre two, &c.

II.

I

So hath youre beaute fro your herte chased
Pitee, that me n'availeth not to pleyn;
For daunger halt your mercy in his cheyne.

2

Giltless my deth thus have ye purchased;
I sey yow soth, me needeth not to fayn;
So hath your beaute fro your herte chased, &c.

3

Alas, that nature hath in yow compassed
So grete beaute, that no man may atteyn
To mercy, though he stewe for the peyn.
So hath youre beaute, &c.

III.

I

SYN I fro love escaped am so fat,

I nere thinke to ben in his prison tene;
Syn I am fre, I counte him not a bene.

He may answere, and

2

sey this and that,

I do no fors, I speak ryght as I mene;
Syn I fro love escaped am so fat.1

3

Love hath my name i-strike out of his sclat,
And he is strike out of my bokes clene
For ever mo, ther' is non other mene.

Syn I fro love escaped, &c.

1 The poet often alludes to his corpulence.-See ante, p. 421, note 2, and vol. ii. p. 115, note 2. This embonpoint was quite contrary to mediæval rules of gallantry. See vol. iv. p. 299, note 1.

2 This, MS.

3 This species of lyric was fashionable in Chaucer's time. We have among Froissart's poetical works virelaies and rondeaus. [This poem, however, is not authenticated; see the Introduction.]

QWA Predis tunin Goddis lawes

WAN prestis faylin in her sawes,

Ageynis ryt;

1 In Sir Harris Nicolas's edition of Chaucer's works the following notice is prefixed to these lines:- The Lines entitled Chaucer's Prophecy were found, with the following Variations, on the fly-leaf of a miscellaneous old MS. containing The Meditations of St. Anselm, and other devotional Pieces in Latin. The date at the end of the Volume,

And lecherie is holdin as privy solas,
And robberie as fre purchas,

Bewar than of ille!

Than schall the Lond of Albion

Turnin to confusion,

As sumtyme it befelle.'

Ora pro Anglia Sancta Maria, quod Thomas

Cantuaria.

Sweete Jhesu heven-king

Fayr and beste of all thyng

You bring us owt of this morning
To come to the at owre ending.

but in a different hand, is M.CCC.LXXXI.' Speght's version, which runs as follows, differs materially :

"When faith faileth in Prestes sawes,

And lordes hestes are holden for lawes,

And robberie is holden purchace,

And leccherie is holden solace;

Then shall the londe of Albion

Be brought to great confusion.'

This will remind the reader of the prophecy in Lear:

'When priests are more in word than matter;
When brewers mar their malt with water;
When nobles are their tailors' tutors;
No hereticks burned, but wenches' suitors;
When every case in law is right;

No squire in debt, nor no poor knight;
When slanders do not live in tongues;
Nor cut-purses come not to throngs;
When usurers tell their gold i' the field;
And bawds and whores do churches build;
Then shall the realm of Albion

Come to great confusion.'

Mysterious prophecies, of which the foregoing is a parody, are very common to this day among the peasantry of Scotland and Ireland Sir W. Scott gives many examples in his notes on Thomas the Rhymer. -See Border Mins. vol. iv. [The above, however, is not authenticated as Chaucer's.]