4. Rondel: «S’il ne vous plaist que j’aye mieulx»

by: Oton de Granson (Author) , Peter Nicholson (Editor) , Joan Grenier-Winther (Editor)

from: Poems  

5 10 15

4. Rondel: «S’il ne vous plaist que j’aye mieulx» S’il ne vous plaist que j’aye mieulx, Je prendré en gré ma destresse. Mais par Dieu, ma plaisant maistresse, J’aymasse mieulx estre joieux. De vous suis si fort amoureulx Que mon cuer de crier ne sesse. S’il ne vous plaist que j’aye mieulx, Je prendré en gré ma destresse. Belle, tournez vers moy voz yeux, Et veés en quele tristesse Je use mon temps et ma jeunesse, Et puis faitez de moy voz jeux. S’il ne vous plaist que j’aye mieulx, Je prendré en gré ma destresse. Mais par Dieu, ma plaisant maistresse, J’aymasse mieulx estre joieux.

4. Rondeau: “If it please you not that I have better” If it please you not that I have better, I will willingly accept my pain. But by God, my charming mistress, I would much prefer to be in joy. I am so deeply in love with you That my heart does not cease to cry out. If it please you not that I have better, I will willingly accept my pain. Beauty, turn your eyes towards me And see in what great sadness I spend my time and pass my youth, And then play your games with me. If it please you not that I have better, I will willingly accept my pain. But by God, my charming mistress, I would much prefer to be in joy.

(t-note) (see note) (t-note) (see note)

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Footnotes

GRANSON, 4. RONDEL: «S'IL NE VOUS PLAIST QUE J'AYE MIEULX»: EXPLANATORY NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, f. fr. 2201; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; 100B: Les Cent Ballades; Basso: “L’envol et l’ancrage”; BD: Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess; Berguerand: Berguerand, Duel; Boulton: Song; Braddy: Braddy, Chaucer and Graunson; Carden: “Le Livre Messire Ode d’Oton de Grandson; CA: Gower, Confessio Amantis; DL: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit dou lyon; DLA: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit de l’alerion; FA: La fonteinne amoureuse; FC: Wimsatt, French Contemporaries; GW: Granson, Poésies, ed. Grenier-Winther; LGW: Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women; PA: Froissart, Paradis d’Amour; PF: Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls; Piaget: Grandson, Vie et poésies, ed. Piaget; PL: Guillume de Machaut, Poésies Lyriques; Poirion: Poirion, Poète et prince; TC: Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; RR: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la rose; VD: Guillaume de Machaut, Le livre dou voir dit.

9 Belle, tournez vers moy voz yeux. Compare the identical line in 75.1 and 75.216. Jung (“Répertoire,” p. 95) notes that 4 immediately follows 75 in manuscript A, the only one of four copies of 75 that contains line 216, and he suggests that this rondeau is actually the conclusion of the lai that precedes it.

12 Et puis faitez de moy voz jeux. We have translated this line literally in recognition that it might possibly be ambiguous. Jeu more commonly has a positive sense in Granson, suggesting innocent amusement, as in 78.1268, 2049, and 2137, and the “jeu sans vilennie [game without wickedness]” of 61.5; but the game played by Love in 50.24 suggests something more like the cat and mouse image invoked by our translation.

GRANSON, 4. RONDEL: «S'IL NE VOUS PLAIST QUE J'AYE MIEULX»: TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 2201; G: London, Westminster Abbey Library, MS 21; H: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 833, c. 1500; J: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1952; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; L: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Rothschild MS I.I.9; M: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS fr. 390; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; O: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, MS 410, c. 1430; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; Q: Berne, Burgerbibliothek da la Bourgeoisie, MS 473, 1400–40; R: Turin, Archivio di Stato, MS J. b. IX. 10; S: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24404, 13th century (16th century addition); T: Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 556, 1826; V: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS 411; W: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS IV 541, 1564–81; Y: Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale e Universitaria, MS L.II.12.

For each poem, we provide the following:

Other editions: The location of the poem in the editions of Grenier-Winther (GW) and Piaget.

Base MS: The manuscript from which our text is taken, using the sigla listed on this page.

Other copies: The other manuscripts in which the poem appears, with the line numbers for excerpts.

Selected variants: Most of the notes record the editors’ emendations. A small number (for instance, regarding the titles) record alternative readings when we did not emend the base text. We do not, however, provide a complete list of variants, for which one may consult Grenier-Winther’s edition. Each note consists of a line number, a lemma (the reading from our text), the manuscript source for the reading that we have chosen, selected readings from other manuscripts; and the reading from the base manuscript when it was rejected. If no manuscript source is listed following the lemma, the adopted reading is the editors’ conjecture.

Other comments on the text, as required.

GW40, Piaget p. 241.
Base MS A. Other copies: F.

3, 15 com. A: lacks.
10 quele. So F; quel A.