For, but I you this day avance,
It stant upon your ownè chance,
Al only in defalte of grace;
So shall be shewed in this place
Upon you all well afyn',
That no defaltè shal be myn.
They knelen all, and with one vois
The king they thonken of this chois:
And after that they up arise,
And gon aside, and hem avise,
And at lastè they acorde
(Wherof her tale to recorde
To what issue they be falle)
A knyght shall spekè for hem alle :
He kneleth doun unto the king,
And seith that they upon this thing,
Or for to winne, or for to lese3,
Ben all avised for to chese.
Tho' toke this knyght a yerd' on honde,
And goth there as the cofres stonde,
And with assent of everychone
He leith his yerde upon one,
And seith the king how thilke same
They chese in reguerdon® by name,
And preith him that they might it have.
The king, which wolde his honor save,
Whan he had heard the common vois,
Hath granted hem her owne chois,
And toke hem therupon the keie;
But for he woldè it were seie1
What good they have as they suppose,
He bad anon the cofre unclose,
Which was fulfild with straw and stones:
Thus be they served all at ones.
This king than, in the samè stede,
Anon that other cofre undede,
Where as they sihen gret richesse,
Well more than they couthen gesse.
Lo! seith the king, now may ye se
That ther is no defalte in me;
Forthy my self I wol aquite,
And bereth ye your ownè wite3
Of that fortune hath you refused.
Thus was this wise king excused:
And they lefte off her evil speche,
And mercy of her king beseche.
OF THE GRATIFICATION WHICH THE LOVER'S PASSION RECEIVES FROM THE SENSE OF HEARING.
RIGHT as myn eyè, with his loke,
Is to myn herte a lusty cooke
Of lovès foodè delicate;
Right so myn eare in his estate,
3 Blame. 4 i. e. that which.
Wher as myn eye may nought serve,
Can wel myn hertès thonk' deserve;
And feden him, fro day to day,
With such deynties as he may.
For thus it is that, over all
Wher as I come in speciall,
I may heare of my lady price:
I heare one say that she is wise;
Another saith that she is good;
And, some men sain, of worthy blood
That she is come; and is also
So fair that no wher is none so :
And some men praise hir goodly chere.
Thus every thing that I may heare,
Which souneth to my lady goode,
Is to myn eare a lusty foode.
And eke myn eare hath, over this,
A deyntie feste whan so is
That I may heare hirselvè speke;
For than anon my fast I breke
On suchè wordes as she saith,
That ful of trouth and ful of faith
They ben, and of so good disport,
That to myn earè great comfort
They don, as they that ben delices
For all the meates, and all the spices,
That any Lombard couthè make,
Ne be so lusty for to take,
Ne so far forth restauratif,
(I say as for myn ownè lif,)
As ben the wordès of hir mouth.
For as the windès of the South
Ben most of allè debonaire ;
So, whan her list to spekè faire,
The vertue of hir goodly speche
Is verily myn hertès leche.
And if it so befalle among,
That she carol upon a song,
Whan I it hear, I am so fedd,
That I am fro miself so ledd
As though I were in Paradis;
For, certes, as to myn avìs,
Whan I heare of her voice the steven,
Me thinketh it is a blisse of heven.
And eke in other wise also,
Full oftè time it falleth so,
Myn eare with a good pitance
Is fedd of reding of romance
Of Ydoine and of Amadas,
That whilom weren in my cas;
And eke of other many a scorè,
That loveden1 long ere I was bore 2.
For whan I of her loves rede,
Myn eare with the tale I fede,
And with the lust of her histoire
Somtime I draw into memoire,
How sorrow may not ever last;
And so hope cometh in at last.
Was born at a place of that name in Suffolk, about the year 1370. His translation (taken through the medium of Laurence's version) of Boccaccio's Fall of Princes, was begun while Henry VI. was in France, where that king never was, but when he went to be crowned at Paris, in 1432. Lydgate was then above threescore. He was a monk of the Benedictine order, at St. Edmund's Bury, and in 1423 was elected prior of Hatfield Brodhook, but the following year had licence to return to his convent again. His condition, one would imagine, should have supplied him with the necessaries of life, yet he more than once complains to his patron, Humphry, Duke of Gloucester, of his wants; and he shews distinctly in one passage, that he did not dislike a little more wine than his convent allowed him. He was full thirty years of age when Chaucer died, whom he calls his master, and who probably was so in a literal sense. His Fall of Princes is rather a paraphrase than a translation of his original. He disclaims the idea of writing "a stile briefe and compendious." A great story he compares to a great oak, which is not to be attacked with a single stroke, but by "a long processe."
Gray has pointed out beauties in this writer which had eluded the research, or the taste, of former critics.
|