JAMES I OF SCOTLAND, THE KINGIS QUAIR: FOOTNOTES

1 Lines 29-32: Because of which [the content of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy], though I began at that time on purpose to read in order to fall asleep, / [I was so caught up in the text that] before I ever stopped, my best [course of action] was to read further / Upon the writing of this noble man

2 Lines 62-63: So mysteriously does she distribute fates, / Specifically to the young, to whom [she] seldom provides anything [of good]

3 Lines 69-70: I began to think over again, so that no longer could I sleep or rest, so [badly] were my wits twisted

4 And made (wrote) [the sign of] a cross [at the top of the page] and thus began my book

5 Lines 188-89: I would argue with my attendants - but all for nothing, / [Since there] was no one who might sympathize, who cared about (pitied) my pains

6 Lines 209-10: Since for awhile, although I might not get any more of mirth's food (i.e., joy), it did me good to look

7 Lines 215-17: Was the whole place, and [with] hawthorn hedges knit [with intertwining branches], / [Such] that [there] was no person walking past there / Who might scarcely see anyone inside

8 Awake, for shame! [you] who have won your heavens (i.e., merry companions)

9 Thank Love who desires that you call upon his mercy

10 Can I no other [explanation] find, except that he

11 Lines 276-77: Quite privately newly arrived to express her complaint [about love or life], / The fairest or the freshest young flower

12 Now if there was a good contract [between the red and white], God [alone] knows it!

13 Lines 414-16: I also thought this: if I clap my hands / Or if I throw [something], then she (the nightingale) will fly away. / And if I hold my peace, then she will drowse [or continue to be idle]

14 Lines 417-18: And if I call out, she will not know what I say, / Thus I did not know what is the best [thing to do], [swearing] by this day

15 Pitifully [worn out] with too much weeping and complaining

16 Lines 515-16: And it so passed over all my body / That it completely blinded the property of my sight

17 When suddenly - as one says, "at a thought"

18 And taken by [their] friends (relations), without their knowing anything about it

19 In [a situation that] both their hearts grudged against

20 Lines 638-39: And [in the cases] where their hearts were given away and set [upon another] / [They] were coupled (forced into marriage) with another with whom they could not accord

21 Lines 748-49: Occasionally on things both [yet] to come and [that have already] gone / It falls not to me alone to control

22 During which [events] through true service [to Love] you [will] have her (your lady) won

23 Friend of all of you, to keep you from mourning

24 Lines 922-23: Accord thereto, and uttered with discretion, / The [choice of] place, hour, manner, and means

25 Lines 1006-08: So that she who has thy heart should have pity on thy distress and anguish, I will pray most fervently / That Fortune be no more contrary thereto

26 Spotted with the same [black tips of the ermine] in black spots

27 Lines 1188-90: Though your beginning has followed a backward course, / Be aggressive, directly opposite to that [backward movement]; / Now shall they turn and look at the dart (i.e., they shall be caught off guard)

28 Lines 1271-72: Whoever from Hell has crept [but] once into Heaven / Would, after one expression of thanks, for [sheer] joy make six or seven

29 When they would most readily advance with what they may spurn

30 Where you would most wish to be released of blame

31 Colophon: "Here ends etc. etc. / Said James the First, most Illustrious king of the Scots"
 

JAMES I OF SCOTLAND, THE KINGIS QUAIR: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Abbreviations: B: Julia Boffey (2003); L: Alexander Lawson (1910); Mac: W. Mackay MacKenzie (1939); McD: Matthew P. McDiarmid (1973); Mor: Robert Morison (1786); MS: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden. B. 24, fols. 192-211; NS: John Norton-Smith (1971); R: Rev. Charles Rogers (1873); S: Jean Robert Simon (1967); Sk: Walter W. Skeat (1911); Tyt: W. Tytler (1783). For other common abbreviations, see Introduction.

Heading This heading, attributing authorship to James, was added by a later hand to blank space on folio 191v.

1 Heigh in the hevynnis figure circulere. The line is repeated at the end ("Hich in the hevynnis figure circulere," line 1372) to complete the poem's frame, thus, through its allusion to the epilogue to TC (viewed from the eighth sphere and with its dedication to Gower), setting up the poem's tribute to Chaucer and Gower in the final stanza.

1-14 hevynnis figure circulere. During much of the Middle Ages, the universe was envisioned as a series of crystalline spheres with the earth at the center, each sphere with a planet embedded in its surface, the innermost being our moon. These spheres were nested within a larger sphere, that of the fixed stars (planets were thus thought to be "wandering stars"). Beyond this sphere was the eighth sphere, the primum mobile or "First Mover," a sphere turned by the hand of God, which in turn caused the motion of all within it (except for earth, which was stationary). Chaucer provides the poetic model for this view in the last twelve stanzas of TC.
The Kingis Quair's speaker sets his story in the context of the movement of the heavens: the figure circulere (line 1) is the vaulted heavens of the fixed stars, which were thought to influence life on earth (the extreme version of which is astrology). This cosmic perspective indicates that the theme of his poem, like that of Chaucer's TC, will be broader than simply a love story, or even a release from prison. Like Boethius, the poet is addressing the huge mystery of life: Why are things constantly changing? Why is there injustice in the world? Who is in charge of it all, anyway?
Compare the opening of Henryson's Testament of Cresseid, where the poet contemplates Venus, then retires to his bedchamber to reflect upon Chaucer, Boethius, and "The fatall destenie / Of fair Cresseid" (lines 62-63).

3 Aquary. Norton-Smith, p. 51, compares Gower, CA 7.1185-1214, and Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon l.viii, 2.xxx, 3.xxviii, noting that the direct source seems to be TG 4-9. This astrological dating would fall between 21 January and 18 February.

Citherea. Venus. Some editors emend to "Cinthia" (the moon) because of the reference in line 6 to "hir hornis bright." See Skeat, p. 58, who compares TC 3. 624-65 and 5.652, a position followed by Lawson (see explanatory note to line 6, below), and MacKenzie, p. 103. See also the explanatory note to line 4. Carretta (p. 16) argues that this misattribution of "horns" to Venus "casts doubt on the narrator-persona's reliability as a spiritual guide by emphasizing how limited his classical knowledge is."

clere. See lines 358, 377, 696, 888, 1045, where the epithet celebrates Venus' brightness.

4 Rynsid hir tressis. The phrase builds on the allegorical representation of Venus, who might wash her golden hair when in the sign of Aquarius, the Waterbearer. That she appeared "late tofore, in fair and fresche atyre" (line 5) perhaps alludes to her being recently the evening star in Capricorn (early January). See Norton-Smith, p. 52: "Between 10 and 18 Frebuary 1424 . . . Venus was a morning star near the boundary between Aquarius and Capricornus. Having been an evening star through the later half of 1423, the planet passed through inferior conjunction on about 30 January and appeared as a morning star a few days later. For five weeks after conjunction it moved only slowly with respect to the stars and so remained in the Aquarius/Capricornus area during the whole of February."

6 hir hornis bright. Lawson, following Skeat (see note to Citherea, line 3), discusses this phrase in terms of Cinthia, the moon. The whole opening passage is"modelled on Temple of Glas, and the meaning is that the poet had this experience in the month of January when the moon was full, which shortly before in the month of December had, as a new moon, shewn herself in crescent form" (p. 129). Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid, presents "Lady Cynthia" (the moon) as "buskit with hornis twa" (lines 253-55). But Norton-Smith's suggestion (p. 52) that hornis refers to"the elaborate dressing of women's hair in a horn shape, popular at this time (cf. Lydgate, Hornes Away?)" has merit and maintains the extensive allusions to Venus elsewhere in the poem. She is fashionably horned and a great horn maker, as well.

7 North northward approchit the mydnyght. The phrase has caused much editorial discussion. Skeat (p. 58) hyphenates myd-nyght and observes:"the meridian. A part of the meridian, as marked on an astrolabe, was called 'the north lyne, or elles the lyne of midnight'; Chaucer, On the Astrolable, pt. i. § 4." Following Skeat, Norton-Smith suggests that mydnyght is thus antithetical to midday, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky and goes on to note that astronomical midday was called"south" (Latin meridies for"south"), so midnight would be"north" (p. 52). This astronomical setting, like so much of The Kingis Quair's beginning, imitates TG.

8-14 In BD (lines 44-59), Chaucer provides similar motivation for the actions of the narrator to follow:

So whan I saw I might not slepe
Til now late this other night
Upon my bed I sat upright
And bad oon reche me a book,
A romaunce, and he it me tok
To rede and drive the night away.

Compare Henryson's Testament of Cresseid, lines 39-40, where the narrator"tuik ane quair" to read in order"[t]o cut the winter nicht and mak it schort." In the course of the fifteenth century this opening gambit becomes commonplace.

16 Boece. Boethius, or Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius (A.D. 480- 524), Roman statesman and philosopher whose De consolatione philosophiae (The Consolation of Philosophy) is intended here. Transferring the author's name to the work itself has the sanction of Chaucer in Adam Scriveyn, The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Parson's Tale, HF, LGW, and Rom., as well as in several glosses that he adds to his own translation of The Consolation of Philosophy (Boece). McDiarmid suggests that James is probably using Walton's Boethius, the 1410 version, on the basis of references to Rome and senatorship (lines 18-19) which are not so emphatically spelled out in Chaucer (p. 118); given the prominence of Chaucer references in KQ, however, he may well have known Chaucer's translation, as well. Walton draws heavily on Chaucer's translation at any rate. See also the note to line 23, below.

16-18 compiloure . . . Compilit. On poetry as"compilation" and the poet as"compilator," see Alastair J. Minnis,"Late-Medieval Discussions of Compilatio and the Role of the Compilator," in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur 101 (1979), 385-421.

21 Forjugit was to povert in exile. Like James, Boethius wrote his Consolation in exile as a man condemned to prison.

23 His metir suete. This phrase supports the view that James is using Walton's translation, which is entirely in verse, rather than Chaucer's, which is in prose. The original alternates prose and verse in the manner of Menippean satire. See F. Anne Payne, Chaucer and Menippean Satire (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981).

24 flourit pen. The pen is"ornate" (Latin floridus) because employed in the writing of rhetorically ornate verse.

35 And in tham set."Them" here refers to the things recovered (fortune, wealth, happiness) within himself through the teachings of Philosophy.

42 suffisance. Sufficiency (sufficientia) is a key virtue in Boethian therapy, linked to happiness (laetitia), reverence (reverentia), and strength (potentia), which, though they have different names, are one in substance."'Than is it,' quod sche, 'consequent and pleyn / Þat noble[ne]sse haþ no difference / ffro suffisaunce, pouer and reuerence / Wiche þat we han assembled into one'" (CP 3.pr9.440.3-6). The concept is central in Chaucer's representation of mental health, anxiety, and the search for steadfastness.

46 my scole. Skeat glosses:"my skull, my head" (p. 60). We follow Tytler's gloss:"my learning."

54 rolling. A Boethian notion of contemplation in the language of Chaucer's translation; for example:"Whoso that seketh sooth by a deep thought, and coveyteth not to ben disseyvid by no mysweyes, lat hym rollen and trenden withynne hymself the lyght of his ynwarde sighte" (Boece 3.m.11.1-4; emphasis ours). In Walton the verb is"reuolue" (3.m11.536.4).

55-61 Compare these lines from Chaucer's Knight's Tale:"Now be we caytyves, as it is wel seene, / Thanked by Fortune and hire false wheel, / That noon estaat assureth to be weel" (CT I[A]924-26).

70 so were my wittis wrest. At this point, he is in the same mental state that Boethius found himself in when Lady Philosophy appeared to him. This is a crisis of emotion and understanding that often precedes revelation in the literatures of dream vision.

91 maid a cross. Medieval scribes sometimes began a work by making a sign of the cross at the head of the text, or, sometimes, by writing a brief prayer to Mary, to ask divine assistance with the writing.

93 The association of windis variable (line 93) with youth (unrypit fruyte, line 93) and the passage that follows, with its rudderless boat on a stormy sea, evoke Boethius' realm of Fortune's wheel where"wawis of this warld" (line 111) are ever-changing and unpredictable. The image of the dangerous rocks against which the boat might be dashed (line 102) is an especially rich one, for, as he explains, he is using the sea both as a metaphor for his writing, and as a comment on his youthful lack of comprehension of the nature of the world, as well.

101-33 This common topos of Fortune's victim being likened to a rudderless ship in a storm is prominent in Boethius, though James may have been influenced more directly by Chaucer, who uses it to describe his inability to express the situation in which Troilus found himself at the beginning of Book 2 of TC. See also Curtius, pp. 128-30, Spearing (2000), pp. 126-28, and Scheps, pp. 145-49.

113-21 the rokkis blake . . . doith my wittis pall. The protagonist's lament against the rokkis blake (line 113) that with their prolixitee / Of doubilnesse (lines 120-21) threaten the security of his feeble boat echoes Dorigen's lament in Chaucer's Franklin's Tale, where the"grisly rokkes blake" (CT V[F]857; see also lines 868-91 and 1158) seem to threaten Dorigen as she cries out against God's creation, her wit impaired by the possibilities of disaster.

119 Calyope. The muse of epic poetry and lofty verse, invoked in the Proem to Book 3 of Chaucer's TC. See note to lines 128-33, below.

120 prolixitee. For use of prolixitee as a term of rhetoric, compare Chaucer's usage in The Squire's Tale (CT V[F]405), HF 2.348, or TC 2.1564.
Skeat points out that stanzas 18 and part of 19 imitate the Proem to Book Two of Chaucer's TC (lines 1-10):

Owt of thise blake wawes for to saylle,
O wynd, o wynd, the weder gynneth clere;
For in this see the boot hath swych travaylle,
Of my connyng, that unneth I it steer.
This see clepe I the tempestous matere
Of disespeir that Troilus was inne;
But now of hope the kalendes bygynne.

O lady myn, that called art Cleo,
Thow be my speed fro this forth, and my Muse,
To ryme wel this book til I have do.

But see also Chaucer's Franklin's Tale and the note to lines 113-21, above.

128-33 To yow, Cleo . . . my joye. Cleo, Polymye, and Thesiphone appear (because of the reference to nine sisters, line 130) to be an allusion to the Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). Clio was muse of history, Polyhymnia the muse of hymns to the gods. Thesiphone was not a muse but rather one of the furies. Clair James (pp. 96-97) argues that the narrator's error here - calling a fury a muse - is further evidence of his unreliability. It is also possible that this is a genuine mistake on the part of poet or scribe: conceivably, James (the poet) intended Terpsichore, muse of choral dancing and song, or Thalia, muse of comedy and bucolic poetry. But the narrator does speak of his torment (line 133), so more likely James is following Chaucer in thinking of Thesiphone as"goddesse of torment" (TC 1.8) and, like Chaucer, includes her with other muses like Cleo (TC 2.8) and Caliope (TC 3.45), upon whom he calls in the happier books of his poem. That is, James is looking for inspiration for both my turment and my joye (line 133). For Polymye, see Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite, lines 15-16.

134-54 In Ver . . . myn aventure. James is imitating time-telling flourishes as introduced by Chaucer. Compare TC 1.155-57:"whan comen was the tyme / Of Aperil, whan clothed is the mede / With newe grene, of lusty Veer the pryme." See also the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales and the Introduction to The Man of Law's Tale. Synthius (line 138) is another name for Apollo, the sun, from Mt. Cynthus, where he and Diana were born. As in Chaucer's work, it is spring when Apollo, the sun, is rising in Aries, that is, March-April.

140 Ariete. The sign of Aries. Compare TC 4.1592 and 5.1190. See Wood, pp. 233-35.

154 tuke I myn aventure. Here the frame ends and story begins, almost seamlessly, from the metaphor for the insecurities of life as a ship sailing without rudder (lines 101-26) to the actual sailing passage he begins to describe here.

159 Sanct Johne to borowe. A favorite phrase of valediction in Chaucer and Gower. Compare Complaint of Mars, line 9 ("Taketh your leve, and with Seint John to borowe"), and The Squire's Tale (CT V[F]596):"And took hym by the hond, Seint John to borwe." See also CA 5.3415-16:"And thus he ros up be the morwe / And tok himself, Seint John to borwe." Lydgate uses the phrase in Troy Book 1.3082 and Complaint of the Black Knight, line 12.

162 The association of the"to and fro" of the ocean's waves with vagaries of (ill) fortune is a commonplace in the fifteenth century, but James is doing more here than repeating clichés. The speaker has told us that he lay in bed with his thoughts"rolling to and fro" (line 64), which caused him to think of"fortune and ure [destiny]" (line 65). Then he has created the picture of the boat"Amang the wawis of this warld" (line 111), using the image of the boat with empty sails (an image familiar from the poetry of Chaucer and that of many other medieval poets) to explain his inability at the time to deal with the experiences because he lacked reason. Here he is describing a (supposedly) real life experience; he describes himself as having been"infortunate," and concludes the stanza with"Fortune it schupe [destined] non othir wayis to be" (line 168). James could hardly have drawn a closer parallel between the physical circumstances of his capture and the philosophical problem at hand.

170-72 So ferforth . . . secund sister. The three Fates, or Parcae, were represented as old women spinning. The second sister, Lachesis, was believed to unwind the thread of life for each person. The lines here would mean,"So forward the second sister has chosen to unwind the sad thread of my life, without comfort, abandoned in sorrow, for nearly the period of eighteen years."

183-85 The bird, the beste . . . lyve in fredome . . . I a man, and lakkith libertee! A Boethian commonplace based on CP 1.pr4. Compare the lyric"Fowles in the frith, / The fisshes in the flood, / And I mon waxe wood" (IMEV 864).

187 Fortune. The first explicit mention of Fortune in the poem, which, in the context of prison, strongly evokes the first two books of Boethius' CP.

188 My folk. The attendants on James, not only the guards but his personal attendants.

194 figuris nyne. The Arabic numerals one through nine (excluding zero, which is no number). He implies that he himself is the zero, or"Cipher," standing alone surrounded by others of more consequence. Compare Charles d'Orléans:"Me thynkith right as a sypher now I serve / That nombre makith [as zero makes 1 into 10] and is himself noon" (FS, lines 2042-43). Compare also Richard the Redeless 4.53-54:"Than satte summe as sipre doth in awgrym [Arabic numerals], / That noteth a place and no thing availith" (Richard the Redeless and Mum and the Sothsegger, ed. James M. Dean [Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2000], p. 47).

204 Bewailing in my chamber thus allone. Compare TC 1.547:"Bywayling in his chambre thus allone." For a list of parallels between this scene and Chaucer's Knight's Tale, see Scheps, p. 160.

204 ff. The viewing of the lady through a window as she"Full secretly new cummyn hir to pleyne" (line 276) in her garden"fast by the touris wall" (line 211) imitates Chaucer's Knight's Tale, where Palamon and Arcite are smitten with love as they look from their prison windows and see Emelye near the"gardyn wal" where she"hadde hir pleyynge" (CT I[A]1060-61).

211-13 Now was there maid . . . / Ane herber grene. The description of the"gardyn fair" (lines 212-31) resonates with imagery from several of Chaucer's poems: e.g., TC 2.820-26, with its"blosmy bowes grene, / And benched newe" (i.e., with newly refurbished benches topped with fine grass); or PF, lines 183-210, with its birds, greenery and flowers.
The placement of the garden by the touris wall (lines 211) recalls The Knight's Tale, line 1056-60:"The grete tour, that was so thikke and stroong, . . . / Was evene joynant to the gardyn wal." The garden in RR casts a long shadow over such descriptions; see Chaucer's Rom., lines 1349-1444; and compare the description of the garden in The Floure and the Leafe, lines 27-70.

225-38 On the loudness of the bird song, compare Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, lines 42-46:"the briddes song, / . . . So loude songe, that al the wode rong / Lyke as it shulde shiver in peces smale," and Charles d'Orléans, FS, lines 1694-95:"Ther shall we here the birdis synge and pley / Right as the wood therwith shulde forshyuere." For the fact that there were words to their song (i.e., that they sing a song with an understandable text), see the ending of PF, where the birds sing,"Now welcome, somer, with thy sonne softe" (lines 685 ff).

232 Cantus is written in the left margin of the beginning of the hymn to May.

234-35 Away, winter, away! / Cum, somer, cum. See PF, lines 685-86, 690-93, the birds' joyous song welcoming summer after winter.

293-308 So also Palamon in Chaucer's Knight's Tale (CT I[A]1101-11) wonders if Emelye is a goddess when he first sees her walking in the garden outside his prison tower:"I noot wher she be womman or goddesse, / But Venus is it soothly, as I gesse" (lines 1101-02).

312 For the idea of falling into Love's dance, see Chaucer's TC 2.1106 and the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's General Prologue, CT I[A]475-76:"Of remedies of love she knew per chaunce, / For she koude ["knew,""understood"] of that art the olde daunce."

316-43 Wood suggests parallels with the late medieval Court of Love, but much closer parallels (in time and in specificity) are to be found in Charles d'Orléans' description of the figure of Fortune (FS, lines 4974-5050); see note to lines 1107-55, below.

317 atyre. Atyre means headdress, that which decorated the hair and held it in shape. Here, it is a kind of netting adorned with pearls, golden balls, emeralds, and sapphires.

324 amorettis. The word has been translated"love knot," a knotted ribbon tied in a particular way and supposed to be a token of love, but the word derives from French, where, in the fifteenth century, it still meant some kind of field flower (as do"jonette" and"burnette"; see Greimas and Keane, Dictionnaire du moyen français).

326-27 flour jonettis . . . flour burnettis. In both instances the manuscript reads flour jonettis, repeated, no doubt, through scribal error. Various interpretations have been given for flour jonette, including the flower St. John's wort, the French"jaulnet d'eau" or yellow marsh lily, and the flower of the jonette pear tree, all white or yellow. Another possibility is yellow loosestrife, Lysimachia, called"herbe jaunnez" in a list of Synonyma (see Hunt, p. 114). The second instance of the phrase, an example of scribal dittography, is here altered (as a possible restoration) to flour burnettis or burnet flower, a flower of dark blue color.

332-33 a ruby . . . / Lyke to ane hert schapin. Compare the brooch Criseyde gives to Troilus, made of"gold and asure, / In which a ruby set was lik an herte" (TC 3.1370-71).

336 gud partye. Various interpretations have been offered for this phrase, including (as here) a sixteenth-century Scottish meaning"of a good contest," that is between the white of her throat and red of her necklace, and"a good portion," or"fair prize," referring to the lady herself.

344-50 The description of his lady's beauty and virtues resonates with the pleasures of convention. Compare the Black Knight's account of his first looking upon the"goode faire White" in Chaucer's BD, lines 817-1041.

348 mesure."Measure" is both an Aristotelian and a Christian virtue - Aristotelian in terms of the mean, and Christian in terms of God's creation of the universe according to"measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:21). James' lady's behavior, In every poynt so guydit hir mesure, recalls perhaps the good fair White's behavior, as she does all things by"mesure" (BD, line 881), even opening and closing her eyes"by mesure" (BD, line 872), as Dame Nature has taught her to do.

352 a warldly creature. The lover's uncertainty as to whether the lady is a goddess or a real woman echoes the amusing debate between Palamon and Arcite in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, in which Palamon, thinking Emilye, the woman in the garden, might be divine, praises her as a goddess, perhaps a transformation of Venus (CT I[A]1104-11), to which Arcite replies that his kinsman may love her that way, but he will love her as a"creature" (lines 1156-59). See explanatory note to lines 293-308, above. James' lover incorporates both sides of the debate, talking instead to his lady's"lytill hound" (line 368).

368 hir lytill hound. The idea of the little hound as love mediator perhaps originates in Chaucer's BD, lines 387-99, where the"whelp" leads the dreamer to the Black Knight in his love torment.

379-92 Though the story of Philomela and Procne is a common one (e.g., Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.424-605; Gower, CA 5.5551-6052; Chaucer, LGW 7.2228- 2393, TC 2.64-70), James seems to be following Gower's version of the story. According to this sequence, the two women were sisters, daughters of the king of Athens. Procne was married to Tereus, king of Thrace. He desired and raped her sister Philomela, then cut out her tongue so that she could not tell of the deed. Nevertheless, she managed to report it to her sister by weaving the story into a tapestry; the sisters conspired to avenge the rape by killing Itys, Tereus' son and heir, and serving up his body to Tereus. When he realized what they had done, he sought to kill them, but he was changed to a hoopoe, they to a nightingale and a swallow. James asks Philomela to sing about all the pains she felt when she was raped, and what her sister Procne felt when betrayed by her husband. Her song is to chide false husbands and bid thame mend (line 392) their ways. It is also to cheer James' newfound beloved.

392 the twenti devil way. An expression of impatience, an intensification of"right away." Compare Chaucer's Miller's Tale, CT I[A]3713; Reeve's Tale, CT I[A] 4257; LGW, line 2177; or Lydgate's Siege of Thebes, line 162. On twenty as an unlucky number or, with devils, an oath or curse, see Russell A. Peck,"Numbers as Cosmic Language," in Essays in the Numerical Criticism of Medieval Literature, ed. Caroline D. Eckhardt (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1980), p. 59.

402 he . . . he. See textual note on Edwards' emendation.

414-20 The narrator's sense of utter helplessness and indecision is reminiscent of that of Troilus in Book Four of TC (lines 148-75) when he hears that Criseyde is to be traded to the enemy for Antenor.

428 philomene. MED cites this line and line 766 as instances where the name of the mythological maiden has become the word for nightingale. The Kingis Quair is the only authority the MED cites for such a usage, however. Similarly, the OED cites, apart from these two references in The Kingis Quair, only the proper names of the maiden who is transformed into the bird. See explanatory note to line 766.

484 Tantalus. The son of Zeus and the titaness Pluto. Because of some offence to the gods (various offences are named in various myths), he was punished by being placed in or below fruit trees whose branches blew aside whenever he reached to pluck the fruit and near a pool of water which receded whenever he tried to drink from it. Like Tantalus, James says he tries to draw water from a well using a bottomless bucket: he is thirsty for some positive response from his lady, but his attempts to get it are hopeless. The parallel between James' plight and that of Tantalus is not exact, and it is possible, as Claire James points out (p. 96), that this discrepancy underscores a lack on the part of the narrator.

491-95 From RR; compare BD, lines 599-617, and Charles d'Orléans, FS, lines 5846-51:

But all my wele, . . . In his aumferse me turnyth in disese. For all my joy is turnyd to hevynes, Myn ese in harme, my wele in woo, Mi hope in drede, in dowt my sikirnes, And my delite in sorrow, loo, . . .

turns for me into its opposite certitude

499 Phebus. This is another name for the sun: at the end of day, Phebus ceased casting forth his bright beams.

501-02 This kind of elaborate description of day and night was considered elegant. Compare Chaucer's description in TC 2.904-09:

The dayes honour, and the hevenes yë, The nyghtes foo - al this clepe I the sonne - Gan westren faste, and downward for to wrye, As he that hadde his dayes cours yronne, And white thynges wexen dymme and donne For lak of lyght, and sterres for t'apere . . .

eye (the sun) call go dun (grey-brown)

Esperus (line 502), or Hesperus, is another name for Venus as the evening star, which appears in the western sky after sunset.

523-32 Compare the ascent of the narrator in the claws of a huge eagle in Chaucer's HF (lines 541-53):

And with hys grymme pawes stronge, Withyn hys sharpe nayles longe, Me, fleynge, in a swap he hente, And with hys sours ayen up wente, Me caryinge in his clawes starke As lyghtly as I were a larke. . .

at a stroke; grabbed flight

526 spere to spere. James' ascent upward"from sphere to sphere" follows the Ptolemaic model of the universe in which earth is at the center, encircled by crystalline spheres bearing the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the fixed stars (including the band of the zodiac, see note to line 529). He first passes through the rings of air, water, and fire (the other three elements besides earth) before reaching the first sphere, that of the moon. Such ascents (which derive directly or indirectly from Macrobius) are fairly commonplace in medieval dream vision literature; Dante, Chaucer, and later Charles d'Orléans employ versions of them.

529 Signifer. The "sign-bearer" is the band of sky in which the signs of the zodiac appear. It is also referred to as the sphere of the fixed stars.

536 at a thoght. "Swift as thought." Compare Geoffrey's flight "as swyft as thought" as he approaches the House of Rumor in HF, line 1924.

538-74 In HF (lines 1214-84) the narrator likewise sees hoards of people, all seeking fame.

540-43 The speaker's flight on high to a residence from which he can look down on lovers of every nation in "love's service" is perhaps reminiscent of TC 5.1807 ff., where Troilus looks down on the little spot of earth to observe humankind.

549 martris and confessour. From the hierarchies of saints: a martyr is one who dies for his/her faith; a confessor is one who continues to affirm faith under torture but does not ultimately die for that faith.

575-651 This list of lovers, their stories and their complaints, is reminiscent of Lydgate's TG, lines 44-246.

592 bukis newe. In the first half of the fifteenth century there was a great vogue for narratives about great battles, among them The Siege of Jerusalem and Lydgate's Troy Book, complementing the recent stories of Henry V's triumphs in France.

595 Ovide and Omer. Ovid, or Publius Ovidius Naso, any number of whose works, Ars Amatoria, Heroides, Amores, or Metamorphoses, may be referred to here. Homer, not known directly but cited in Statius' Achilleid and the Troy books of Dares, Dictys, and Lydgate, may be referred to in this context because of his description of the faithful Penelope, wife of Ulysses.

612 folk of religioun. Although the allusion may be mainly to those of the"religion of love," the reference could well be to prelates, given their"capis wyde" (line 611) and the sneakiness of their worldly behavior (lines 613-16). Compare Lydgate's TG, lines 196-208.

666-79 Chaucer makes a similar distinction between kinds of sighs. Troilus sighs"Naught swiche sorwfull sikes as men make / For wo, or elles when that folk ben sike, / But esy sykes, swiche as ben to like, / That shewed his affeccioun withinne" (TC 3.1361-64).
James' description of Venus"upon her bed" (line 670) is less provocative than Chaucer's in PF, lines 246-50, 260-73:

Withinne the temple, of sykes hoote as fyr I herde a swogh that gan aboute renne, Whiche sikes were engendered with desyr, That maden every auter for to brenne Of newe flaume . . . And in a prive corner in disport Fond I Venus and hire porter Richesse, That was ful noble and hautayn of hyre port - Derk was that place, but afterward lightnesse I saw a lyte, unnethe it myghte be lesse - And on a bed of gold she lay to reste, Til that the hote sonne gan to weste. Hyre gilte heres with a golden thred Ibounden were, untressed as she lay, And naked from the brest unto the hed Men myghte hire sen; and, sothly for to say, The remenaunt was wel kevered to my pay, Ryght with a subtyl coverchef of Valence - Ther was no thikkere cloth of no defense.

sighs sigh altar hair i.e., her lower body; pleasure sheer offering protection

673 Fair Calling. A variant on Fair Welcome (Bel Acueil), from RR, whose blessing is necessary for any happy progress in love.

689-90 Venus is addressed in both her forms as planet and as goddess, in both of which capacities she was thought able to appease the wrath and malevolence of Mars. See, for example, Chaucer's Complaint of Mars. As god of war, Mars is responsible for James' imprisonment. Aspectis in line 690 refers to the astronomical positions of the planet, that is, the angles of its relationships to other planets or houses.

762 cremesye. A fine crimson cloth. In other words, James is as unworthy in comparison with the lady he loves as rough sackcloth is to expensive crimson cloth.

763 doken. Dock is a common weed. James here compares his unworthy state to that of dock-weed in comparison with daisies, or other fine, delicate flowers one would grow in a garden.

764-65 Unlike . . . Januarye is . . . unto May. The dissimilarity is perhaps an allusion to Chaucer's Merchant's Tale.

766 phylomene. Philomela, the nightingale. See explanatory note to line 428. James here continues his comparisons of unworthy varieties of things with noble varieties to express his sense of his unworthiness in comparison with his lady's nobility and beauty: moonlight is as unworthy in comparison with sunlight, as January is to May, as the cuckoo is to the nightingale, as the crow to the popinjay, as (in goldsmith's work) the fish's eye (or beading) is to the pearl. Medieval writers loved these kinds of oppositions, as we see in debate poems between sun and moon, cuckoo and nightingale, soul and body, heart and eye, etc.

767 of one array."Of one appearance" (having the same arms or rank): the outer clothing of the cuckoo and the nightingale, signifying their family and breeding, is not the same.

768 papejay. The poppinjay, or parrot. The parrot is here contrasted with the crow's blackness not only because of its bright plumage but because it figuratively symbolized a lady or the Virgin Mary, qualities not associated with the lowly crow.

769 a fischis eye. The fish-eye stone has a semi-opaque gray-white appearance, like the eye of a cooked fish; this stone is clearly inferior to the pearl.

781 Mynerve. Minerva appears here in her capacity as goddess of wisdom, since Venus sends the dreamer James to her so that she can give him"counsele" (line 791) and be his"gude lady, help, and counseilour" (line 793), giving him her"gude avise" (line 794). She is reminiscent of Boethius' Lady Philosophy.

806-12 In mock admonition to his friend Scogan, Chaucer describes Venus' tears:"now so wepith Venus in hir spere [sphere] / That with hir teeres she wol drenche [drown] us here. / Allas! Scogan, this is for thyn offence [i.e., failing to love]; / Thow causest this diluge of pestilence" ("Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan," lines 11-14).

848-51 On the association of Venus and Saturn, compare Gower, CA 8.2273-76.

925 Ecclesiastes 3:1: "All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven."

953-59 On the decline of virtue to the present day, compare Chaucer's Clerk's Tale (CT IV[E]1163-69), and Boethius 2.m5. The idea is originally Ovidian.

1014 hir that has the cuttis two. A reference to Fortune, this time not with wheel but with "two lots" (two straws cut to different lengths, as in "to draw lots") in her hand that will decide one's fate for good or ill.

1060-71 Compare the scene in Chaucer's PF (lines 183-89):

A gardyn saw I ful of blosmy bowes Upon a ryver, in a grene mede, There as swetnesse everemore inow is, With floures white, blewe, yelwe, and rede, And colde welle-stremes, nothyng dede, That swymmen ful of smale fishes lighte, With fynnes rede and skales sylver bryghte.

boughs meadow enough not sluggish

The garden that underlies many such descriptions is that of Guillaume de Lorris at the opening of RR.

1074-1101 James refers briefly to a long rawe / Of treis (lines 1074-75) followed by a long catalogue of animals. Chaucer before him had described the animals in the garden of PF briefly (lines 190-96), but names the trees of the garden in a similar, though more compressed, catalogue: "The byldere ok, and ek the hardy asshe; / The piler elm, the cofre unto carayne [coffin for corpses]; / The boxtre pipere [for making pipes]" (lines 176 ff.). Lydgate, in his own extensive garden description in The Complaint of the Black Knight, lines 36-84, follows Chaucer in cataloguing the trees in the garden (lines 64-74), and includes a stream lined with "gravel gold, the water pure as glas" (line 78).

1080 smaragdyne. The panther here is said to be like an emerald: the color of panthers in medieval bestiaries varies, and they are sometimes said to be multi-colored, as are also emeralds. See Hassig, pp. 156-66 (n.b. figures 161-74). As noted by MacKenzie, McDiarmid, Norton-Smith, and other editors, Apocalypse 4:3 describes the rainbow around God's throne as"like unto an emerald." Bain drew attention to symbolic traditions associated with both the panther and emerald and concluded that they were here compared"because both, by symbolic association with the highest truths of the faith of that day, were emblems of a sovereign virtue which offered comfort and healing to mankind" (p. 422). Another aspect of the panther as described in medieval bestiaries was that it exuded a wonderful odor in its breath which attracted all other creatures except the dragon; likewise, the emerald's green color was said to be attractive to human sight (see Bain and Hassig).

1083 werely porpapyne. The porcupine is here called "warlike" because of its quills. This practice of identifying animals, birds, or trees by a characteristic adjective is a favorite rhetorical practice. Compare Chaucer's PF, lines 176-82 and 337-64.

1084 lufare unicorne. The unicorn was attracted to virgins (and could only be tamed by one), and its horn was thought to have many wondrous properties, one of which was clearing water of "venym" (line 1085) or harmful impurities, poisons, etc.

1088 standar oliphant. Medieval bestiaries describe the elephant as having jointless legs, such that it always had to stand; such a misconception may have originally grown out of observation of elephants sleeping while standing and leaning against a tree.

1089 wedowis inemye. A reference to fables of the cock and the fox. Compare Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale

1090 elk for alblastrye. Alblastrye is crossbowmanship; Skeat cites a reference to elk skins being used to cover shields; Kinghorn suggests that "elk's hide [was] used to cover targets at shooting-butts" (p. 55); Norton-Smith cites John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomeus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, for use of ox-horn (though not elk-horn) for tipping and notching the bolts of crossbows.

1091 herknere bore. Wild boar are known for keen hearing.
holsum grey for hortis. I.e., "wholesome gray [badger] for wounds (hurts)." McDiarmid cites Jamieson's Dictionary for a reference to the grease of the badger being mixed with other ingredients in a plaster to be placed on wounds.

1093 drawar by his hornis grete. Presumably this refers to attaching hauling lines to the horns of the ox.

1107-55 It is interesting that this figure of Fortune is described so elaborately, but not as elaborately as that of Charles d'Orléans, whose Fortune appears above the earth, wearing a "surcot" of diverse hues and a cloak trimmed with ermine. Like James' Fortune, her countenance is changeable, and like her she carries a wheel on which are many people, some climbing, some falling (FS, lines 4964-5049).

1175-76 Compare BD, lines 659-61; FS, lines 2110-14.

1188 retrograde. In the Ptolemaic model of the universe, some planets, in relation to others, appear to move backward in their otherwise regular movement across the sky.

1195 prime. Time of day equivalent to about 6:00 a.m. in modern reckoning, or sometimes to the period from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Since Fortune tells James that an hour and more have passed since Prime, and that therefore almost half the time has gone so he should spend the rest of the day well, it seems that James is referring to the three-hour period of prime, an hour and more after which would bring the time to past 10:00 a.m., nearing midday. He is figuratively referring to his life, of course, and at the age of twenty-nine he had already spent between a third and a half of his expected life span. He could not know that he was to be murdered in 1437, so he had, in fact, already lived two-thirds of his life at age twenty-nine.

1205 O besy goste. Skeat compares TC 4.302 ff., from which it"is directly copied" (p. 91).

1224 of my forethoght impressioun. This harks back to the passage in which Minerva explains foreknowledge versus free will (lines 1009-43); James wonders whether his dream was created by what he had been thinking before he went to sleep or by a heavenly vision sent by the gods (see lines 1226 ff.) or God Himself.

1240-53 The dove presents a branch of gillyflowers, or a scroll on which gillyflowers have been painted, or both. Editors have differed in their interpretations, but since there is clearly some form of writing in gold letters, which he then hangs at his bed's head, some form of scroll must be intended, whether wrapped around a branch of live flowers (as is suggested more clearly by lines 1252-53) or some depiction of them. Lines 1243-44 suggest that either the lettering (said to be on the edges, perhaps as a border) or the depiction of stalks of gillyflowers have been arranged in a circle on the scroll.

1241 jorofflis. The gillyflower, "giroflower," "gylofre," or "Gariofilus," the carnation, had been recently introduced into northern Europe and so was a rare plant. See Hunt, pp. 120, 125, etc. See also line 1329, where it is spelled "gerafloure."

1278 his goldin cheyne. Speaking of God (though he was, of course, a pagan), Chaucer's Theseus, in The Knight's Tale,

says:

The Firste Moevere of the cause above, Whan he first made the faire cheyne of love, Greet was th'effect, and heigh was his entente. Wel wiste he why, and what thereof he mente, For with that faire cheyne of love he bond The fyr, the eyr, the water, and the lond In certeyn boundes, that they may nat flee. (CT I[A]2987-93)

(i.e., the four elements)

The idea that the world would"fall apart" without the continuing hand of God upon it derives from Boethius, De cons. 2.m8 (compare Troilus' reference to God's"bond" of love in TC 3.1744-71).

1333 sanctis marciall. The martial saints included such figures as St. Martin of Tours, Longinus (who pierced Christ's side with his spear), Marcellus the centurian, and of course St. George. Alternatively, the phrase could refer to the saints of the month of March.

after 1351 [Envoy]. Not in MS, but we have followed other editors in making the link to Chaucer more clear. An envoy is an addition to the end of a poem (or prose work) by which the author"sends on" or directs the poem to its destination. In the manner of Chaucer's envoy to TC, it offers the author an opportunity to praise the patron of the work and to confess humbly his own unworthiness to write a poem addressed to such a person. Here James speaks as if sending his litill tretise to his beloved ("in the presence / Quhare as of blame faynest thou wald be quite," lines 1359-60) and to a more general audience ("the reder," line 1354). He admits to the shortcomings of the treatise (lines 1352-58, 1361), but hopes that general readers will be tolerant of its faults and that his mistress will still have mercy on him. Compare Lydgate's envoy to The Complaint of the Black Knight (lines 675-81) and Chaucer's lengthy envoy to TC (5.1786-1869).

1372 Hich in the hevynnis figure circulere. I.e., God, having written or created all of our lives, could have read James' poem at any time through His foreknowledge. By repeating the first line of this poem (as does the Pearl-poet in both The Pearl and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), the poet frames his account with the largest of all settings, God's arching firmament. This also indicates that what follows is to be seen as a coda or envoy to the poem proper.

1374 on the steppis satt. James echoes Chaucer as he sends his verses to sit"on the steps" of greater poets. See TC 5.1791-92:"kis the steppes, where as thow seest pace / Virgile, Ovide, Omer, Lucan, and Stace."

1378 my buk in lynis sevin. Schep relates the number seven here to the figure of Minerva (p. 159n39), through Macrobius, and explains how the number symbolism was considered to work. James is specifically calling attention to his seven-line stanzaic pattern, ababbcc, which, as noted in the Introduction above, was named"rhyme royal" for its use here by him, though used extensively by others before him, first in English by Chaucer. He may be drawing attention to it because of its use by Chaucer, thereby making a comparison between his work and Chaucer's. See note to line 357 above.

after 1379 This colophon is written by the scribe who copied lines 1240-1375 of the poem, and is therefore contemporary with the writing of the manuscript, though this may have been as long as seventy-five years after the composition of the poem.
 

JAMES I OF SCOTLAND, THE KINGIS QUAIR: TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: See Explanatory Notes.

Headnote majestee. MS: ma.

17 the. MS omits. R's emendation, followed by Sk, NS, McD. Tyt retains manuscript reading, as does Mor, Mac, S, B. L: gude counsele.

20 Fortunes quhile. MS: Fortune a quhile. This phrase has caused some editorial difficulty, and seems to involve a scribal miscopying. Most editors have read quhile as modern"while" interpreting the phrase to mean"by Fortune for awhile" or"after a time"; but in line 1323, the scribe spells"wheel," as in"Fortune's wheel" in the same way. We have therefore emended the manuscript a to s:"by Fortune's wheel." Tyt, R, Mor, Mac, S, NS, B: fortune a quhile. L: fortune so a quhile. Sk, McD: fortune for a quhile.

22 And thereto here this worthy lord and clerk."And thereto [in reference to his fall from Fortune] here [in this place in the poem, Boece], this worthy clerk set to work his rhetorically eloquent pen, his verses sweetly rendered, full of moral teaching." In this reading of the difficult lines 1-28 we follow most nearly NS, who argued for"here" as referring to"in this place in the poem." This reading differs considerably from Sk's, who read"here" as a verb,"hear," referring to line 14"But took up a book to read for a while" with all of stanza 3 being treated as an apostrophe. Thus Sk's reading,"And there (I seemed) to hear, etc." or the alternative reading,"And there! (what a joy it was) to hear, etc." (p. 59). Sk agrees with L 's first rendering (p. 130) but notes that Wischmann agreed more nearly with Sk's second,"And what joy it gives to hear there (i.e., in his banishment) this worthy lord and clerk." McD follows L. The reading we have adopted simplifies the syntax somewhat by making stanza 3 an integral part of the sentence, but such iterative syntax, imitating the syntax of Latin rhetorical writings, is nevertheless difficult to interpret: it does not work as well in an uninflected language like English.

29 thogh. MS: thoght. Sk's emendation, followed by Mac, NS, B. S follows the MS. Tyt, Mor: thot. R: thought. L, McD: though.

39 quit is. Sk, Mac, NS and B read as two words, quit is, followed by Of in the next line, the idiom being"is finished with." Tyt, Mor, R, S, and McD read as one word; McD argues that breaking quitis into two words spoils the rhyme, and that quitis / Off means literally"quits in respect of," i.e.,"abandons" (p. 119).

40 their. Tyt, followed by Mor, R, L: theire. Sk, NS, McD, emends to thir. Mac, S, B: their. Clearly the sense is"these," but MED lists their as a variant of thir, hence no emendation is necessary. NS notes the verbal parallel of unsekir warldis appetites with Chaucer's TC 5.1581:"thire wrecched worldes appetites" (p. 55).

48 my. McD, L: the. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: my.

51 Myn. NS: My. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: Myn.

eyne. So MS. L, Sk, NS, McD, B: eyen. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S follow MS.

54 new. Sk, followed by NS, reads new as an adverb and emends to newe. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: new.

56 thame will. L, McD: thame sche. NS: will ay. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, B: thame will.

61 prynce. NS: prince; L: prynce noght. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: prynce.

than. NS: than is. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: than.

91 cross. Rendered by symbol in MS.

92 Thou sely. MS: Though. The line is short one foot. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, Sk, Mac, NS, and McD. R, S omit sely. L: Thou tendir. B: Thou youth.

102 rok. L: rokkis, an emendation followed by Sk, Mac, NS and McD. Tyt, R, Mor, S, B follow the MS.

108 lakit. MS: lak. Sk's emendation, followed by NS and McD. Tyt, Mor, R, S follow the MS. L, Mac, B: lakkit.

114 to. Added above line.

138 Synthius. R, L: Cynthius. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: Synthius.

gynneth. Tyt, Mor, R: gyneth. L, McD: begynneth. Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: gynneth.

aryse. Mac: arys. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: aryse.

141 bot mydday four. Mor, R, B: foure; L, McD: mydday bot foure. Tyt, Sk, Mac, S, NS: bot mydday four.

144 confort. Originally freschenesse but this is deleted and a caret inserted to point to confort, which is written by the scribe in the right margin.

159 Johne. MS: Iohnen. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B. S: Johnn.

162 wawis. Tyt, Mor, R: wevis. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD: wawis. B: wavis.

163 us. Tyt, Mor, R: we; McD omits. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: us.

170 ferforth. Tyt, Mor, R: fere forth. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ferforth.

171 abandoun. Tyt, Mor, R, L: abandoune; McD: and bandoune. Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: abandoun.

192 me. Editorial addition for sense: comprisit requires an object. So emended by Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B. Mac omits. Tyt: he more me.

196 help hath. MS: help in drede hath. I.e., in drede deleted.

207 And to. L, Mac, McD: unto. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, S, NS, B: And to.

212 fair. Tyt, Mor, R, L, McD, B: faire. Sk, Mac, S, NS: fair.

corneris. McD: cornere. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: corneris.

230 of2. MS: on. R's emendation, so too in Sk, NS, McD. Tyt, Mor, Mac, S, B follow the MS. L: in.

232 Cantus, or "Song," is written in the left margin as a heading.

277 yong. L emends to yonge, to clarify the adjective and improve the meter. Followed by Sk and NS. Mac, S, McD, B: yong. Tyt, Mor, R: zoung.

292 Than gan. MS: Than gam gan. I.e., gam deleted, then written correctly.

293 A. Tyt, Mor, R: Ah. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: A.

suete. B: swete. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD: suete.

ye. Tyt, Mor, R: ze. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ye.

311 Unknawing. MS: unknawin. Sk's emendation, followed by NS. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: Unknawin

312 ferr. Tyt, Mor, R, L, McD, B: ferre. Sk, Mac, S, NS: ferr.

fallyng. L: fallyng was. Sk: fallen was. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: fallyng.

into. McD: was in. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: into.

318 wise. Mac: wis. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: wise.

couchit. L: couchit was. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: couchit.

perllis. Tyt, Mor, R: perlis. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: perllis.

323 Full. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: Full. L: And full. McD: All full.

bryght. Tyt, Mor: bryt; R: brycht. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: bryght.

golde. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: gold.

327 flour burnettis. MS: flour jonettis. I.e., repeats end of preceding line. First adjusted by Sk to round crokettis. Mac and NS change to flour burnettis, as do we. McD changes to floure margarettis, thus avoiding the repetition. L changes to floure-violettis. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B follow the MS.

330 fyne. MS: fyre. Perhaps fyre refers to the enameling process, in which case emendation is unnecessary. Tyt, Mor, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: fyre amaille. R: fayre enamel. McD: fyne amaille.

333 Lyke. Mor, R: Like. Tyt, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: Lyke.

hert. Sk, NS, and McD emend for meter to herte. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, B: hert.

schapin. L: y-schapin. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: schapin.

341 Lo. MS: to. L's emendation, followed by NS and B. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, McD follow the MS.

361 suich wise. So L, followed by Mac, S. Sk, NS, and McD emend to suich a wise, for meter. Tyt, Mor, R: such wise. B: swich wise.

387 thy notis. MS: thy nt notis. I.e., nt deleted.

391 Chide. L: chideth. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: Chide.

ar. L, Mac, McD: are. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, S, NS, B: ar.

402 he . . . he. MS: sche . . . sche. The nightingale is female, thus presumably requiring a male lover. See A. S. G. Edwards and Elizabeth Robertson,"The Kingis Quair, 402," N&Q n.s. 41 (1994), 307.

421 sche. MS: he. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B. S follows the MS.

432 sanct, walking. Sk emends to sanct there walking, followed by McD. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: sanct walking.

434 Devotly. L: Devotely. McD: Devotly than. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: Devotly.

454 new. L emends for meter: newe; followed by Sk and NS. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, McD, B: new.

456 song. Tyt, Mor, R: sang. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: song.

460 myght. Mor, R: might. Tyt, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: myght.

allane. Tyt, Mor, R, B: alone; McD: allone. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS: allane.

470 Quhareto. Tyt, Mor, R: Quharto; L, Sk: Quhare-unto. Mac, S, NS, McD, B: Quhareto.

477 noght. Tyt, Mor, R: not. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: noght.

478 cald. L, Sk, NS, McD emend to calde, for meter. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: cald.

479 hensfurth. So Tyt, Mor, R. L, NS, McD: hennesfurth. Sk, Mac, S, B: hennsfurth.

484 butles. MS: but les. Tyt, Mor, R: buteles. L, Sk, mac, NS, McD, B: butles. S follows the MS.

495 feere. MS: seere. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, S, McD, NS, B. Mac: feer.

498 long day. Sk and NS emend to longe day for adjective and meter. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: long day.

500 every lef. MS: euery ly lef. I.e., ly deleted.

501 approchen. MS: approch with mark of abbreviation: as emended by L, Sk, NS, McD. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B follow the MS.

508 cold stone. Sk, NS, and McD emend to colde stone. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, B: cold stone.

531 caryit. MS: cryit. Sk adds quhar before cryit, as does McD. NS's emendation, followed by B. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, McD: cryit.

533 Of. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: Off. L, NS: Of.

quhich. McD: quhiche. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: quhich.

place. Mor: n place. L: palace. Tyt, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: place.

quhen. Sk, McD: quhen as. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: quhen.

nye. L: a-nye. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: nye.

542 that. S: yat. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: that.

endit. L, Sk, McD: endit had. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: endit.

thair. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD: thaire. Mac, S, NS, B: thair.

552 mony a solempt. L reads solempnit, followed by Sk. NS: solempit. McD emends to mony a sad and solempt. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: mony a solempt.

553 lykit to. MS: lykit had to. I.e., had marked for deletion.

554 Of. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD: Off.

fair. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD, B: faire.

555 order. McD: ordour. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: order.

577 Yonder. Tyt, Mor, R: Zonder. L: Yond there. McD: Yond. Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: Yonder.

593 ben. Mor, R, L, McD: bene. Tyt, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: ben.

that. S: yat; McD: omitted. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, B: that.

597 yong. Tyt, Mor, R: zong; L, Sk, NS, McD: yonge. Mac, S, B: yong.

610 yone. Tyt: zone. Mor, R: zong. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: yone.

doun. L, Sk: adoun. McD: doune.Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: doun.

620 half. L and McD emend to halflynge. Sk emends to halfdel. NS emends to halfe. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: half.

629 ar. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, McD, B: are. S, NS: ar.

cummyn. McD: cum vnreconsilit. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: cummyn.

634 gruchen. MS: gruch. Sk's emendation, followed by NS. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: gruch. McD: gruche. L: gruchit.

636 othir. Tyt, Mor, R: other. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: othir.

and. L, Sk, McD: and in. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: and.

645 othir. Tyt, Mor, R: other. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: othir.

649 So. Sk: Sche. McD: Scho. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: So.

thair. L, Sk, McD: thaire. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: thair.

682 last. Sk and NS emend to laste. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: last.

683 my kneis. MS: my han kneis. I.e., han deleted.

690 pure. McD: sure. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: pure.

your. Tyt, R: zour. Mor: youre. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: your.

725 Me. Tyt, Mor, R: She; L, Sk, McD: Sche. Mac, S, NS, B: Me.

735 I smyte bot. MS: I smyte full bot. I.e., full deleted.

739 humily. McD observes:"MS, as elsewhere in MS, has its sign for m above i" (p. 129). Michael Livingston, MA Thesis, Western Michigan University, 2001, reads the MS as hinely, which would be an otherwise unattested adjectival form of the common ME hine (see MED hine, n.2), a term James would have come across many times in Chaucer, meaning"servant." Thus hinely would be "servant-like." DOST hyne (n.) notes that the word's modern Scots descendant hynd means "a married and skilled farm workman . . . [who] ranks above the farm servants and labourers." Tyt, Mor, R: truely. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: humily.

747 to bynd. MS: bynd; as emended by NS. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S: bynd. L, Sk, McD, B: byndand.

meynes. MS: mynes; as emended by NS. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, McD, B: mynes. L: menys. Sk: menes.

755 courses. MS: course; as emended by NS. L, Sk, Mac, McD, B read coursis. Tyt, Mor, R, S: course.

756 hir iwone. Originally ended hir grace but scribe or someone else marked the failed rhyme and added iwone after grace, perhaps intending that grace be deleted for the sake of meter, and, in fact, it is so marked. Tyt, Mor, R, L: hir I-wonne. NS: hir iwone. Sk, Mac, S, B: hir graice I-wone. McD: hir graice wonne.

763 foule doken. MS: foule added above line. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, S, McD omit foule. L, Mac, McD, B: doken foule.

onto. MS: on added above line. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, S and NS omit on. L, Mac, B: onto. McD: vnto.

765 like unto. L: unlike unto, followed by McD; Sk, Mac: unlike to. These emendations fail to account for the fact that the"unlike" at the head of the stanza (line 764) controls the sense; thus, no emendation is necessary. The like here refers to the unlikeness of the moon and the sun, not the likeness of May and January. Tyt, Mor, R, S, NS, B: like unto.

767 bothe maid of one array. MS: bothe maid of array. One needed for sense, and probably bothe could be omitted for the meter. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, B follow MS. NS emends to bothe maid of a ray. McD inserts one and deletes bothe.

770 preese. MS: pererese. Tyt, Mor, R read purcress. L, McD, B: prese. Mac: peres. S: pure rese. NS: preese. Sk: preisse.

771 unto. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: unto. L: yit unto. Sk: now unto.

775 that. MS: than. Sk's emendation, followed by L, Mac, S, NS, McD, B. Tyt, S follow the MS. Mor: than one. R: the.

788 letten. MS: let. NS's emendation. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B follow the MS. L: lat. Sk: lette. McD: lete.

804 breken. Originally bresten but that deleted and breken written above line.

805 Is ther none. MS: Is non eft none. I.e., non eft deleted. NS adds ther, as do I. Tyt, Mac: Is none. Mor, R, S: Is none that. L, Sk: nocht eft. McD: nought left. B: now left.

806 MS: nota in margin, written by an undated hand.

811 ye. Tyt, Mor, R: ze. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ye.

fast. McD: faste. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: fast.

ybete. Tyt, Mor, R: yvete; L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: ybete. McD: bete.

813 stynten. L: stynt. NS: stynting. B: stynt in. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, McD: stynten.

othir. L: anothir. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: othir.

818 men. Tyt, Mor, R: me. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: men.

in. L: into. Sk: as in. McD, B: ryght in. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS: in.

thair. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD, B: thaire. S, NS: thair.

830 folk to renewe. L, Sk, S, NS, and McD omit to. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, B: folke to renewe.

836 or. MS omits. NS's emendation, followed by B. Tyt, Mor, R, S follow the MS. L emends to al forget, followed by Sk. Mac: is and forget. McD: is all forget.

838 bidden. MS: bid. L's emendation, followed by Sk, NS, McD. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, and B follow the MS.

864 hir. Sk: hir hy. McD: hir hie. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: hir.

867 redy. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS: redy. L, Sk: the redy. McD, B: by redy.

ryght. Tyt, Mor: ryt. R: rycht. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ryght.

873 renown. MS: renewe. L's emendation, followed by NS. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, B follow the MS. McD: renowne.

875 and. The scribe originally wrote am, then crossed out these two letters and wrote and after them.

891 hert. Sk, NS, McD: herte. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, B: hert.

ground. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ground. L: grounden.

suich. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD: suich. B: swich.

893 othir. Tyt, Mor, R: other. L: another. Sk, McD: anothir. Mac, S, NS, B: othir.

902 on lufe thy. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: on lufe thy. L, McD: thy lufe on.

903 sal. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac: sall. S, NS, McD, B: sal.

916 Ground. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: Ground. L: Groundith. Sk, McD: Ground thou.

therfore. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD: therefore. Mac, S, NS, B: therfore.

926 wil. Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, and B emend to wel(e). Tyt: will.

930 wele. Tyt, Mor, R: well. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: wele.

931 wisedome. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk: wisedom. L, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: wisedome.

to. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: to. Sk, NS: unto.

938 heid. Added above line in MS. Tyt, Mor, R, McD omit. L, Sk: hid. Mac, S, NS, B: heid.

941 a. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: a. NS: and.

suete. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD: suete. B: swete.

958 ar. MS: and. L's emendation, followed by Sk, NS, and McD, B. Tyt, Mor, R: are. Mac: and.S follows the MS.

962 labour. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: labour. L, Sk, McD: laboure.

me. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: me. L: me wel. Sk: me ful. McD: me than.

978 Nald. MS: Wald. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S follow the MS. L: Nold. NS, McD, B: Nald.

983 faynt. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS: faynt. McD: faute. B: faynte.

noght. Tyt, Mor, R: not. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: noght. McD: nought.

991 quod. Tyt, Mor, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: quod. R: quoth.

trew. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: trew. L: trewly. McD omits.

withoutin. M Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: withoutin. L: without. McD: withoutin any.

fantise. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: fantise. Mac: fantis.

992 Another short line. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: sall I never uprise. L: sall I neuer desire vp-rise. Sk: sall neuer be I sall vp-rise. NS: to sall I neuer [se] vp-rise; McD: sall I, trewly, neuer vprise.

997 it. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: it. Sk, McD: I.

myght. Tyt, Mor: myt. R: mycht. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS: myght. McD, B: might.

processe. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: processe. Mac: process.

1000 and therto. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S: and therto. L, Sk: therevnto. NS: and eke thereto. McD: and therto wolde. B: and thereto.

1005 hensforth. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: hensforth. L, Sk, NS, McD: hennesforth.

1007 hert. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: hert. NS: herte.

will. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: will. L, Sk, McD: will hir.

fair. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD: faire. Mac, S, NS, B: fair.

1009 ye. MS: the written first, then deleted and ye written above line. Tyt, Mor: ze. R omits. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ye.

1013 Appertenit. MS: Apperit. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B follow the MS. McD: Afferand.

1016 be. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: be. L, Sk, McD: be it.

that. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: that. S: yat.

1020 Quhare. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: Quhare. L: Thar.

that. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: that. S: yat.

therfore. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD, B: therefore. Mac, S, NS: therfore.

1026 necessitee. The scribe originally wrote ec, then crossed out these two letters and wrote necessitee after them.

1031 Of. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: Off. NS: Of.

that. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: that. S: yat.

fall. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: fall. McD: falle. L, Sk: fallen.

purposely. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: purposely. Mac: purposly.

1034 it. Tyt, Mor, R, S, NS: it. L, Sk, Mac, McD, B: that.

1036 foreknawing. MS: foreknawin. NS's emendation. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B follow the MS.

1048 schewit here. L: schewit I here. Sk, McD: schewit have here. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: schewit here.

myn avise. NS emends to myn gud avise. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: myn avise.

therfore. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, McD: therefore. Mac, NS, B: therfore.

1053 I. MS: he. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B. S follows the MS.

1068 and dressit. After and, the scribe originally began to repeat part of the preceding line, in a rout can, but then deleted these four words.

1073 fand. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: fand. L, Sk: thar fand.

I. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: I. McD: I ever.

like. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, B: like. NS: like for. McD: ylike.

1076 That full of fruyte. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: That full of fruyte. McD: And fruyte that.

1077 come. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: come. McD: cummys.

1086 sawe. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: sawe. NS: saw.

new. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: new. NS: newe.

of. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: of. L, Sk, McD: of his.

haunt. Tyt, Mor, R, McD, B: hant. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS: haunt.

1097 that. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, Mcd, B: that. S: yat.

noght. Tyt, Mor, R: not. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS: noght. B, McD: nought.

say. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: say. L, Sk: sayis.McD: says.

1108 round. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B: round. Sk, NS: rounde.

place. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: place. McD: place and a.

wallit. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: wallit. L, Sk: y-wallit.

1109 eftsone. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: eftsone. L, McD: eftsones.

1112 on. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: on. L: onto.

quhich. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: quhich. Sk: quhich than. McD: quhich there.

1115 to. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: to. Sk, McD: unto.

diverse. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: diverse. Mac: divers.

1116 Quhilum thus. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: Quhilum thus. L: And quhilum thus. McD: Thus quhilum.

wald. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: wald. Sk, McD: wald hir.

turn. So Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, and NS. L, S, McD, B: turne.

1117 renewis. Blank space in MS. Tyt, Mor, S leave blank. R: askewis. L:of lewis. Sk emends: of glewis, i.e.,"of destiny," citing Barbour 6.658, where"glew" means"fortune of war" (p. 103), followed by Mac, McD. NS, B: remewis.

1126 And. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: And. McD: As.

at. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: at. L, Sk, McD: for at.

1127 noght. Tyt, Mor: not. R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: noght. L: hir noght. McD: nought.

bot. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: bot. Sk, McD: bot was.

1129 Ane. Tyt, R, L, S, NS, B: An. Mor: And. Sk, Mac, McD: Ane.

depe. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: depe. L: as depe. Sk: was depe. McD: als depe.

1132 Com. So Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, NS, B. L, Mac, S, McD: Come.

1137 strong. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, McD, B: strong. L, NS: stronge. Sk: strange.

1138 sawe. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS: sawe. McD, B: saw.

that. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: that. S: yat.

than. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: than. L: thareon.

clymben. Tyt, Mor: clumben. R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: clymben. McD: up clymben.

1143 ourstraught. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, B: ourestraught. L: overstraught. Mac, S, NS: ourstraught. McD: ourestraught it was.

1146 Clymbe. So NS, McD, and B. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S: clymb. L, Sk: clymben.

ryght. Tyt, Mor: ryt. R, L, Sk, Mac: ryght. S: rycht. NS, McD, B: right.

dounward. Tyt, Mor, R: downward. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: dounward.

1147 had. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, B: had. Sk, McD: had so. NS: hadde.

sore. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: sore. L: tofore. Sk, McD: so sore.

1149 sawe. Tyt, Mor, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: sawe. R: saw.

that. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: that. S: yat.

quhere. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS: quhere. Sk: quhere as. McD, B: quhare.

slungin. Tyt, Mor, Sk, Mac, S, NS: slungin. R: flungin. L, McD: yslungin.

1151 hath. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: hath. McD: hath thame. L: hath it. Sk: hath thaim.

1154 thoght. MS omits; added for sense. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S omit. L: socht. Sk's emendation, followed by NS, B. McD: thought.

1156 presence. MS: presene. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B. S follows the MS.

1159 hailsing. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: hailsing. L: halflyng.

1165 It. MS: As written first (McD misreads Are), then deleted.

1171 bringen. MS: bring. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B follow the MS. McD: bringe. Sk's emendation, followed by L, NS.

1180 clymben. MS: clymb. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, McD, B: clymbe. Sk's emendation, followed by L, NS.

1182 werdis. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: werdis. McD: warldis.

1184 wrechit. Tyt, Mor, R: wretchit. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: wrechit.

callit. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: callit. L, Sk, McD: ycallit. NS: icallit.

1185 that. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, NS, McD, B: that. S: yat. L, Sk: omitted.

thy hert. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: thy hert. Sk: thy herte. McD: the.

1189 quhare till. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: quhare till. L: thare-till. McD: quhirlit.

1190 thai. McD: thou. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: thai.

turn. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS: turn. L, McD, B: turne.

luken on. MS: luke on. L's emendation, followed by Sk, NS. Tyt, Mor, Mac, S: luke on. R, McD, B: luke upon.

1199 That fro. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: That fro. McD: Fro that.

1210 waking. MS: walking. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S follow the MS. NS's emendation, followed by McD, B.

1212 Covert. So MS, followed by Tyt, Mor, R, L, S, NS. Sk emends to Touert, followed by Mac, McD. B: Towert.

1214 suevenyng. MS: suevyng. L's emendation, followed by Sk, NS. Tyt, Mor, R: suenyng. Mac, S follow the MS. B: swevyng.

1222-23 Reversed in MS, with inversion marked b and a in the margin. See also lines 1292-93. NS ignores the correction.

1235 turtur. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, McD, B: turture. Mac, S, NS: turtur.

1240 The second scribe begins copying here.

fair. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: fair. Sk, McD: faire.

ryght. Tyt, Mor: ryt. R: rycht. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ryght.

1243 with. MS: witht, followed by Mac, S, McD. Tyt, Mor, R: wicht. L's emendation, followed by Sk, NS, B.

1246 ryght. Tyt, Mor, R: ryt. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: ryght.

on. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: on. McD: apon; L, Sk: upon.

wise. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: wise. Mac: wis.

1256 hertfull. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS: hertfull. L, McD, B: hert full of. Sk: hertefull.

glaidnese. Tyt, Mor, R, McD: glaidnesse. L, Sk, S, NS, B: glaidnese. Mac: glaidnes.

{C}1263Quhich. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS: Quhich. L, McD, B: From. Sk: Quhiche.

hensferth. Tyt, Mor, R: he offerth; McD, NS: hennesferth. L, Sk, Mac, S, B: hensferth.

1271 croppin. MS: r inserted above the line.

1279 thus. MS: this. NS's emendation, followed by B. Tyt, Mor, R, S follow the MS. L emends to thinkis, followed by Sk, Mac, McD.

1281 sufficiaunce. Tyt, Mor, R, L, McD: sufficiance. Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: sufficiante.

1292-93 These lines are transposed in MS, but marked b and a in margin for reversal.

1294 cunnyng. So S. Tyt, Mor, R: cumyng. McD, B: cummyng. L, Sk, Mac: cummyn.

1299 lif. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: lyf. Sk: lif.

mend. Tyt, Mor, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: mend. R: mynd; L: menden.

1305 wofull. L, Sk: al my wofull; NS, McD: my wofull. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, B: wofull.

1306 long. Scribe 2 underscores the term with a flourish unique to this single occasion. It is possible that this is merely a decorative act, but it may also be the scribe showing his resentment of the length of the king's imprisonment or even of the length of the poem itself.

1307 flour. MS: flouris, followed by S, L. Sk's emendation, followed by Mac, NS, B. Tyt, Mor, R, McD: floure.

seye. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: seye. Sk, McD: seye you.

1308 attendit. MS: actendit. L's emendation, followed by Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B. Tyt, Mor, R follow the MS.

1312 halely. McD: hale. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: halely.

myn. Tyt, Mor, R: myne. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: myn.

1315 quhome. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD: quhom. Sk, NS, B: quhome.

laud. Tyt, Mor, R: land. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: laud.

prise. Mac: pris. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: prise.

1317 mot. NS emends mot to moten, also for reasons of meter. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, McD, B: mot.

the goddis. L, McD: the blisfull goddis. Sk emends to: the heyë goddis, thus preserving the meter. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: the goddis.

1318 glateren. L, Sk, McD, B: glitteren. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS: glateren.

the. S: ye. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: the.

1321 so. MS omits. L's emendation, added for sense, followed by Sk, S, NS, McD, B. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac follow the MS.

1322 exiltree. MS: exilkee. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD. B: exilte.

1323 quhele. MS: quhile. Tyt's emendation, followed by mor, R, L, Sk, NS, McD, B. Mac, S follow the MS.

1324 in. MS: and. NS's emendation, followed by McD, B. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S follow the MS.

1335 the. McD: the suete. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, B: the.

1336 fortunyt me. MS: fortunyt one. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B.

1344 cum. L: cumin. Tyt, Mor, R, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: cum.

and. Sk, McD: and yit. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, NS, B: and.

wise. Mac: wis. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, S, NS, McD, B: wise.

1347 guerdoun. L: guerdoun fair. Sk: guerdoun eke. McD: guerdoun dere. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S, NS, B: guerdoun.

1357 reule. Tyt, R, Mac, S, NS, McD, B: reule. Mor: ruele. L, Sk: reulen.

1359 cummyst. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac: cumyst. L, Sk, S, NS, B: cummyst. McD: cum.

the. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Sk, Mac, NS, McD, B: the. S: ye.

1363 gif. MS: geve. Tyt's emendation, followed by mor, R. L, Sk, Mac, S, NS, McD, B follow the MS.

1366 fatall. MS: fotall. Tyt's emendation, followed by Mor, R, L, Sk, NS, McD, B. Mac, S follow the MS.

1370 thank. MS: think. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S follow the MS. L's emendation, followed by Sk, NS, McD, B.

oure. MS might be read onre ("honor"), in which case the emendation adding lif (which spoils the meter) would be unnecessary.

lif. MS omits. Tyt, Mor, R, Mac, S follow the MS. L: lyf, followed by McD. Sk: lif, followed by NS, B.

1371 couth. MS: coutht. Sk's emendation, followed by NS. Tyt, Mor, R, L, Mac, S, McD, B follow the MS.

1373 the impnis. So Sk. MS: inpnis. Tyt, Mor, R, McD: impnis; L: the ympis; NS: th'inpnis. NS, B follow the MS.