The Quare of Jelusy

by: Dana M. Symons (Editor)

from: Chaucerian Dream Visions and Complaints  2004

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This lusty Maii, the quhich all tender flouris By nature nurisith with hir hote schouris, The felde oureclad hath with the tender grene, Quhich all depaynt with diverse hewis bene, And everything makith to convert Agayn the stroke of winter, cold and smert. The samyn moneth and the sevynt ide, The sonne, the quhich that likith not to hyde His course, ascending in the orient From his first gree, and forth his bemys sent, Throu quhich he makith every lusty hert Out of thair sleuth to walkyn and astert And unto Maii to done thair observance. Tho fell it me into remembrance A thing the quhich that noyith me full sore, That for to rest availith me no more; Bot walking furth upoun the new grene, Tho was the ayer sobir and amene, And solitare, allone without my fere, Unto a bonk, quhare as a small ryvere Makith his course doun by a woddis side, Quhois levis fair did all the bewis hyde, I past me furth remembring to and fro, All on this warldis changeing and his wo, And namely on the suffrance and the peyne Quhich most hath do my carefull hert constreyne,1 The quhich as now me nedith not report. For thare is non that likith to support, Nor power has; quharefor I will sustene, And to no wicht I will compleyne nor mene, Bot suffering furth, as I have done tofore,2 Myn hevynes and wo: quhat is thare more? Wele long I walkit there, till at the last Myn eye estward agayne the sonne I cast, Quhare as I saugh among the levis grene A lady, quhich that was rycht wele besene, And als fresch in hir beautee and array As the bricht sonne at rising of the day. Of coloure was sche lik unto the rose, Boith quhite and red ymeynt; and I suppose One gudliar that Nature nevir wrocht; Of lustyhede ne lakkit sche rycht nocht.3 My spirit coud nocht resemble hir, nor gesse, Bot unto Dyane or sum hie goddesse. And prevely I hid me of entent Among the levis to here quhat sche ment. And forth a passe sche walkit sobirly There as I was and passing cam so ny That I persavit have upoun hir chere The cristall teris falling from hir eyne clere. It semyt wele that wo hir hert constreynit, Sche sorowit, sche sikit, sche sore compleynit; So sobirly sche spak that I no mycht Not here one word quhat that sche said arycht. Bot wele I herd, sche cursit prevaly The cruell vice of causeles Jelousye. Sche wepit so a quhile, till at the last With that hir voce and eyne to hevin sche cast And said, "Goddesse Imeneus, thou rewe Of me, into thy dangerouse bound of newe Ycome. Allace! Quhich be the cause that I Am turment thus, withoutyn cause or quhy, So sudaynly under youre strong lowe, For it the quhich is unto me unknowe? As als sekirly here in thy presence, Geve evirmore I did in suich offence, The scharp deth mote perce me throuch the hert4 So that on fute from hens I nevir astert. Nor nevirmore it was in myn entent; Thareof I am both hole and innocent. And, gif I say false, Pluto that is king, Quhich the derk regioun hath in his governyng, Mote me into his fyry cart do ta, As quhilom did he to Proserpina, And thare my body and my soule also With him ay duell in torment and in wo. O Dyane! Goddesse of fredome and of ese, Under quhom I have bot thraldome and disese, Litill of treuth, of gladnese, or plesance, So helpith me agayn this waryit chance, For of this gilt thou knowis wele my part; And Jupiter, that knowith every hart, Wote that I am sakelese - me defende! Ne for no want, nor for to have commend, Not say I this, for here nys non bot ye, Of thilk hid thing, that knowith the veritee;5 And sen thou wote that my complaynt is treuth, Of pitee, than, compassioun have and reuth; My life to gone mak on ane othir dance,6 Or me delyvir of this warldis chance; Quhich is to say that efter as I deserve That I may lyve or sodaynly to sterve." And thus apoun the goddis can sche crye, And evir among sche cursit Jelousye; With that sche sichit with a rycht pitouse chere; Allace, gret reuth hir pleynyng was to here. Hir coloure, quhich that was so fair to sene, It changit oft, and wexit pale and grene. Hir to behold, thare was no gentill hert Than ne schuld have compassioun of hir smert,7 To sene from hir lusty eyne availle Tho glettering teris, als thik as ony haile As thai descendet from the ayr abone Upoun the lusty colourit rose in June, Quhen thai ar fairest on thair stalkis newe; So was the teris upoun hir fresch hewe. Allace, hir chere! Allace, hir countenance! For to behald it was a grete pennance. And, as I was uprising for to go To confort hir and counsele of hir wo, So come one othir lady, hir allone, The nerrest way unto hir is sche gone; And one thai tuo ysamyn gan to fare, Bot quhens thai past I can nocht you declare. Bot quhen that thai out of my sicht were gone, And I in wod belevit me allone, My goste hath take in sad remembering This ladies chere and wofull compleynyng,8 Quhich to my hert sat full very nere; And to myselfe I thocht in this manere: Quhat may this mene? Quhat may this signifye? I can nocht wit quhat is the cause or quhy This lady suffrit this strong adversitee; For, as me think, in erde suld nothing be Possible to ony wicht of wele-willing, As ony richesse or hertis cherising, And everything according to plesance, Than sche thareof suld have full suffisance9 To gladin hir and plesyn with thair chere, Bot deth of lufe or deth of frendis dere, Quhich is inpossible for to bring ageyn. For thing possible, me think, sche suld nocht pleyne;10 For sche, for fairhede and for suete-having, Mycht wele accorde for ony wicht lyving. Bot tho it fell into my fantasy How sche so oftsyse cursit Jelousy. Than thoucht I thus: gife lyvis ony wicht Quhich fynd into his cherlisch hert mycht Thus for to turment suich one creature, To done hir wo, to done hir payne endure, Now wele I wote - it is no questioun - Thare lyveth none into this erth adoun, Bot he be cummyn of sum cherlisch kynd, For othir wayis, forsuth, I can nocht fynd, He suich one lady wold in ony way displese, Or harme do to hir honour or hir ese. Be as be may, yit my consate me gevith This Jelousye, the quhich that sche reprevith, Annoyith hir, and so it may wele be Ofe evill condicioun evirmore is he, As the Devill, ay birnyng into hate, Full of discorde and full of frese consate. Howevir it stonde, yit for this ladies sak Sa mekle occupacioun schall I tak Furthwith for to syttyn doun and writt Of jelouse folk sumthing into dispitt; And quho be wroth, or quho be blith, here I Am, he the quhich that sett nothing thareby. For ladyes schall no cause have, gif I may, Thame to displese for nothing schall I say, And gif I do, it is of negligence And lak of connyng and of eloquence, For it is nothing into myn entent To say the thing schall mak thame discontent; Nor yit no faithfull lover to displese, Nor schewe nothing in contrare of thair ese, Nor of no wicht of gude condycioun, Bot of this wickit ymaginacioun, Quhich by his name is clepit Jelousye, That every lovere hatith of invy. And thouch all suich were wode in thair entent As Herculese, quhen he himselven brent, Or cursit Nero, quhen he his perile sawe, Of his own hond ymurderit and yslawe, Ne rek I not, nor geve I of thame charge - 11 Lat thame go saile all in the Devillis barge! And quhethir thay flete or into hell synk, Yit schall I writen efter as I think. And ye loveris that stondith furth in treuth, Menyt eke, compassioun have and reuth How ladies evill demanit ar oftsyse12 By this foule wrech. Go! Helpith him dispise, And to compleyne thair treuth and innocence, That mekle suffrith throuch thair owin pacience. And of my termes and my rude endite Excusith me sett thai be inperfyte, Beseking you at Lovis hie reverence, Takith gude will instede of eloquence. For as I can, non othir wyse I may. Thus I begyn, and on this wise I say: O tendir youth, that stant in innocence, Grundid on treuth, sadnes, and pacience (Wommen I mene), all vicis contempnyng, That void ibene of every violens, And full of pitee and benevolence, Humble and wise, rycht sobir and benig, And full of merci unto everything In suffrance, scant of mony grete offense, Full paciently into this erth lyving Under thraldome and mannis subjectioun, And mekly suffrith thair correctioun. Allace, the wo! Allace, the sad grevance! Ye, suffering men of evill condicioun, Quhich hath no pitee and lakkith discrecioun, And bene ysett under thair govirnance, Youre suffering thare is mony one hard mischance, Youre fairhede goth, your youth is brocht adoun With weping teris ay full of strong penance. Loveris compleyne, and every gentill wicht Help for to mene, help for to waill arycht; Compassioun have and reuth upoun the nede, In helping and supporting at your mycht Thame quhich that of youre gladnese is the licht, That is to say, all lusty womanhede, Quhich you in lufe and chevalry doth fede, But quhom this warldis gladnese from his hicht Schold sone avale and fallyn out of drede Into this erth; quhat is oure gladnese here, Iff that we lak the presence and the chere Of thame that bene this worldis hole plesance? Quhat ar we worth, gif that thair help ne were? All vertuouse womman Salamon holdith dere, And mekle worth of thair govirnance. Thai ar oure ese; thai ar oure suffisance. From viciouse women passith my matere,13 Thai most all gone apoun one othir dance. Allace, the wo - quho can it specify?- That wommen suffren ay withoutyn quhy Into this erth in dangere and in vere. And to recist agaynis tyranny Is no defense; thai have to pas thareby Bot weping with the teris of thair chere, With syking, wailling, pleynyng, and prayere; And evirich thing sustene thai paciently: Thus livith ay thir sely women here. This mene I: all be wickit men oftsyse That giltles dooth thir ladies to supprise14 Withoutyn cause of ony maner thing, And namely, by thair varyit tyrannyis, The cruelteis, the wikkitnes that lyis In Jelousy and false ymagynyng, Quhich harmyth all this world by his demyng, Of quhom I think sumthing to devise And schewe to you here, eftir my connyng. Quho schall me help, allace, for to endite, For to bewaill, to compleyne, and to write This vice that now so large is, and common? Quhat sall I say? Quhom sall I awite? For hie nor low is non estate to quyte, Now all hath fele of thilke poysoun. Allace, this false and wickit condicioun The lustyhede and every glade delyte Hath of this world full nere ybrocht adoun. For in the tyme was of oure elderis old, Quhen Jelousy abhominable was hold, Quhareofe eschamith every noble wy, Than was thir ladies ever in honour hold, Thair lustyhede, quhich causith monyfold Fredome, gentrise, disport, and chevalry; Thai syng, thai dance, and makith company. Thame to defame was non that durst nor wold, As now thai do withoutyn cause or quhy. And yit I wote thir ladies bene echone Als trew and sad as ony tyme aygone, And ar to blame als litill or repreve; Bot now thai mon thame uttirly dispone To duell as doth the anker in the stone, Yf that thai think undemyt for to leve; So fast encressyn can this false beleve That in this world fewe ladyis ar, or none, Quhich schall unsclanderit from his tong escheve. For ife sche makith chere or company, As they were wount, he raisith up his cry; And yfe sche loke, he jugith of hir thocht; And sett sche loke or speke unto no wy, Yit evill he demith in his fantasy; And be sche glad or wele besene in oucht, This tyrane saith it is nat do for nocht. Allace! By him the harm withoutyn ony quhy Is every day into this world ywrocht. And ife a spouse stant with this vice, iwys, All thing is said, all thing is wrocht amys In his consate; and gif that ony way Fro home he goth, his spy he schall nocht mys, That feynith tailis - nothing as it is - To plesyn him, for sumthing mon he say. Than goth all rest, than goth all pes away; Farewele of lufe the gladnese and the blis, Fro he cum home als ferfuth as he may. And yit to hir is double wo and grame, For thouch that he be gilty in the same Full mony a lady nothing dare sche say; And yit thir ladies in Jelousy to blame Ar nocht as men, for men haith now no schame To be in love as double as thai may - Thir ladies thus full mony a cause have thay. And thouch he speke, it hynderit nocht his name;15 And ife sche loke, it harmith hir allway. This may be clept a wrech intill his mynd, For, as we may in old bukis fynd, In lak of hert ay stant this maladeye To him the quhich supposith aye behynd And verreis to stond in lufis kynd. For Salamoun saith, "Ane noble hert nor eye Haith to enquere of ladis, nor espye, Nor thame misdeme into thair treuth unkinde," As doth this wrech, that hot is Jelusye; Of quhom into contempnyng and dispite My will is gude for to declare and write. Suppose of wit I empty be and bare, Thou Ecco, quhich of chiding is perfyte, I thee beseke thou helpith me to flyte, And Thesiphone, thou lord of wo and care, So helpith me this mater to declare On Jelousy his malice to acquyte With the supplee of every trewe lufare. Here efter folowis the trety in the reprefe of Jelousye. The passing clerk, the grete philosophoure Sydrake, enspirit of hevinly influence, Quhich holdyn was into his tyme the floure Of clergy, wisedome, and intelligence, Into his bukis declarith this sentence To Bokas King, amang his doctrinis sere, Of Jelousy, and saith in this manere: He clepith it foly of one ignorant, The quhich evill humoris makith to procede, As hert corrupt, or quho it list to hant;16 Malancholy it raisith up but drede, That lust of slepe, of mete or drink, of ded; And wit of man confusith it all plane With this hote fevir that is cotidiane. And suth it is by resoun, as we fynd, That this suspicioun and this Jelousye Is and cummith of the veray kynd Of Herubus, the quhich that of Invye The fader is, and be this resoun quhy For evirmore in rancoure and in ire, As Ethena, he birnyth in the fyre. Thus with the cheyne of sorow is he bound Furth in this world full of adversitee, His frendschip to no wicht it schall be found. Quhy in himself ay at debate is he? Withoutyn lufe, withoutyn cheritee, In his consate and his ymagynyng Ay to the worst he demith everything, That in this erth lyveth thare no wicht Of no condicioun nor of no degree, In his presence that wisedome has, nor micht, To reule himself in ony wyse than he Schall deme thareof amys, ysett he be Als chaste, als trew, and reule himself als wele As evir hath do the prophete Daniele. For every thocht and luke and countenance Suspect he holdith into his demyng, And turnyth all to harm and to mischance. This tygir with his false ymagynyng Lith as a devill into this erth lyving, Contenyng aye in anger and in hate - Both with himself and otheris at debate. But cheritee thus evirmore he levith, Quhich Crist of wedding clepith the habyte, But quhilk of hevin every wicht belevyth, But of the blisse and of the fest is quyte.17 And Paule thus to the Corinthies doth writ Of faith, of hope, and eke of cheritee; The last the most he clepith of the thre. And he declarith in the samyn chapture That thouch men be as angelis eloquent, Or all thair gudis gyvith to the pure, Or yit for Crist ysuffering suich turment To be yslawe, ymarterit, or brent, Or doth all gude the quhich that may be wrocht, And lakkith cheritee, all it availit nocht. And every wicht that hath discrecioun wote That quho thus lyvith into Jelousye, In ire and malice birnyth ay full hote, From worldis joy and hevinly companye Excludit ar thus throu thair false invye; And oft thareof cummith mischance, As strife, debate, slauchter, and vengeance; Quhareof I coud ane hundreth samplis tell Of stories olde the quhich I lat ourego; And als that in this tyme present befell, Amongis quhilk we fynd how one of tho His lady sleuch and syne himselfe also In this ilk lond withoutyn ony quhy But onely for his wickit gelousy. Of quhich full mony ensample may we fynde Of olde ygone and new experiment, That quho this gilt hauntith in his mynd, It hath bene cause quhy mony one were schent;18 Sum sleuch himself, and sum of evill entent From innocentis bereving oft the lyfe; Sum sleuch his lady, and othir sum his wife. And Jelousye hath evir suich a tong That from the malice of his hert procedith, By quhich that sclander wyde quhare is rong, And Crist he saith, "That quhom of sclander dredith, Wo be to him!" and, more, unto him bedith Away the sclanderouse member for to kerve,19 Quhich dampnyth you eternaly to sterve. And the first verteu, as poetis can declare, Is tong with wysedome to refreyne and stere, Quhich unto God is nerest evirmare; And Salamoun saith, "Fer better that it were Allone to duell with lyouns than be nere A sclanderouse tong of chiding and of hate," So odiouse he holdith suche debate. A poete saith that nevirmore is pes, Quhare suich a tong hath dominacioun, Nor yit the tong the quhich that can nocht ces, Ay schewing his evill ymaginacioun, And hath of langage no more discrecioun Than he the quhich that talkith in his slepe; Nor unto him aucht no wicht takyn kepe. Approvit is by resoun and scripture Of Crist and His apostlis evirilkone, By prophetis, doctouris, poetis, and Nature, Of quhom this vice, of quhom this gilt is tone, And quhens he cummith, and quhider he schall gone; Quhich is to say that Jelousy, at schort, Commyth of the devill, and thedir schall resort. As onys of one emperoure we rede, One haly man, and clepit was Henry, In prayer, fasting, and in almouse dede; And for no cause bot for his Jelousye, The quhich he caucht, and for non othir quhy, Upoun his lufe trew and innocent, Efter his deth he come to jugement. And thare, as into revelacioun Till one of oure faderis old was sene, He had ressavit his owin dampnacioun For the ilk gilt of Jelusy I mene, Had nocht Laurence the blisfull marter bene By merci of oure blisfull Salvioure: Suich is the fyne of all this false erroure. And quhareof long it hath bene said or this "That of hote lufe ay cummith Jelousye," That sentence is interpret to amys, And, schortly said, nocht understand the quhy. For it is nocht for to presume thareby That Jelousye, quhich is of vice the ground, Is into lufe or in a lufar found. For jelousy, the quhich of lufe that risith, Is clept nothing bot of a simple drede, As quhen thir lufaris remembreth and avisith, Sum of thair wo and sum apoun thair nede, And sum of gladnese, that doth of lufe procede, Throuch quhich thair hertis brynt ar in the fyre, Sum of grete raddoure, and sum of hote desire. Than everything thai dout that may thame make Of lufe the grettest plesance to forgo, Throuch quhich sum lufaris hath suich drede ytake That it to thame is hevynes and wo; Bot, natwithstonding, ay thai reule thame so Thair drede it is to every wicht unknowe - Thame likith not to sclander nor to schowe. Thir jelousyis full diverse ar of kynd. The tone, it harmith to no creature, Bot secrete ded and symple, as we fynd, That lufaris into lufing most endure; That othir bereth all one othir cure: He sclanderith, feynyth, defamith, and furth criyth, And lufe and every lufar he invyith. O wofull wrech and wickit, evill consate! O false suspicioun nurist full of hate, In hevyn and erth thi harm is boith ywritte! O cruell serpent aye lying in awayte! O sclanderouse tong, fy on thy dissayte! Quhare that thou lovith thou feynyth, that ypocrite; That thou art jelouse, lufe thou gevith the wyte - Thou leis thareof, as that I schall declare To understand to every trewe lufare. For every wicht that is with lufe ybound, And sad and trewe in every faith yground, Syne likith nocht to varye nor eschewe; Rather suffer schall he the dethis wound Than into him schall onything be found That to this lady may displese or greve, Or do to hir or to hir fame reprefe, For his desire is althir most to se Hir stand in honoure and in prosperitee. And contrair this thy cursit violence Staunt ay for quhy; thi sclanderouse offense Harmith thy lady most of ony wy, Quhich stryvith evir agayn hir innocence, That hath no suerd bot suffrance and pacience For to resist agaynis hir inymy, The quhich thou art; and be this resoun quhy: Thou uirkith that quhich may hir most annoye, That is to say, hir worschip to distroye. For every lady of honour and of fame Lesse settith of hir deth than hir gud name; Oft be experiment previth it is so Of mony o lady quhich done the same, Rather chesyn can thair deth than blame, So lovyn thai thair honoure evirmo. Fy on thee, wrech! Fy on thee, lufis fo! That for to sclander hath no schame nor drede The innocence and fame of womanhede. Quhat helpith thee be clepit hir lovare, Syne doith all thing that most is hir contrare? Quhat servyth it? Quhat vaillith it of ocht? Forgo thy lady schall thou nevirmare, And set hir corse be thine, yit I declare Hir hert is gone, it servyth thee of nocht, Thare is no lufe quhare that such thing is wrocht; And thouch sche wold, it is, as thou may fynd, Contrair to lufe, to resoun, and to kynd. Thus of thi lady makis thou thy fo, Quhois hert, of resoun, most thou nede forgo Be thyne owin gilt, may nothing it appese; And every othir lady schall also Ensample tak to adventure evirmo Under thine hond thair honour or thair ese; And yfe thai do suppose thai have disese, Quho schall thame mene of weping, eve and morowe, Quhich seith tofore, syn rynnyth on thair sorowe?20 To every lady schortly I declare That thare thou art beith thare nevirmare Rest nor quyete, treuly to conclud, Nor grace, nor ese, nor lyving in welfare, Bot everything of gladnese in his contrare. For barane ay thou art and destitud Of everything that soundith unto gude; A lady rather schuld hir deth ytak Than suich a wrech till have onto hir mak. Quhare is thi wit or thy discrecioun, Quhich be thine evill ymaginacioun In sewing thingis the quhich that bene unknewe? Quhat helpith thee thy false suspicioun? Or quhat availith thy wickit condicioun To sayne or done that thou most efter rewe?21 O nyce foole, thine owin harm for to schewe! Drink nat the poysoun sene tofore thine eye, Lest thou corrupt and venymyt be thareby. For yf thee lestith as thou hath begonne Of Jelusy to drinkyn of the tonne, Thare thy confusioun sene is thee before, Thou wo yneuch unto thyself hath wonne. Farewele of lufe, thy fortune is yronne; Thy ladyis dangere hath thou evirmore, For thy condicioun greveth hir so sore, And all thi lufe furth drivyth in pennance With hevynes and suffering grete mischance. For it hath bene and aye schall be also, Thou Jelousy in angir and in wo Enduryn schall thy wrechit, cursit life, Yfret rycht by the suerd of cruell syte a two, Thy stormy thocht ay walking to and fro As doth the schip among the wawis dryve, And not to pas and note quhare to arryve,22 Bot ay in drede furth sailith eve and morowe, So passith thou thy worldis course in sorowe. For scharp wo doth so thi dredfull goste bete That, as the tree is by the wormis frete, So art thou here ay wastit and ybrent And birnyng as the tigir ay in hete. Quho lyvth nowe that can thi wo repete? Bot in thiselfe thou sufferith such torment, Leving to deth ay in thin owen entent; Thyne owin harm consumith thee, and annoyith, And both thi body and thi soule distroyith. Bot sith it is thou failith not one of two:23 That is to say, into this erth in wo Ay to endure, or efter to be schent Eternaly withoutyn ony ho, And wele accordith it for to be so. Quho is thi lord? The fader of haterent, And quhens that cummith every evill entent, Quhois love thou ay full besyly conservith, For thi desert rewardith thee and servith. Thus may thou fynd that proffit is thare non In Jelousy. Tharefore thou thee dispone, My counsele is, playnly and forsee This fantasy to leve quhich thou hath tone24 And furth among gud falouschip thou gone, Lyving in ese and in prosperitee And love, and eke with ladies lovit be; Gif so thee likith not, I can no more. Thus I conclude schortly, as for me, Quho hath the worst I schrew him evirmore. You loveris all rycht hertly I exhort This litill write helpith to support; Excusith it, and tak no maner hede To the endyte, for it most bene of ned. Ay simpill wit furth schewith sympilnese, And of unconnyng cummith aye rudnese. Bot sen here ar no termes eloquent, Belevith the dyté and takith the entent, Quhich menyth all in contrair lufis fo, And how thir ladies turment bene in wo And suffrith payne and eke gret violence Into thair treuth and in thair innocence, As daily be experience may be sene; The quhich, allace, grete harm is to sustene. Thus I conclude with pitouse hert, and meke: To every god that regnyth, I beseke, Above the erth, the watir, or the aire, Or on the fire, or yit in wo and care, Or yit in turment, slauchter, or mischance, Or mycht or power hath to done vengeance Into this erth, or wickitnese distroye, That quho thir ladyis likith to annoye, Or yit thare fame or yit thaire ese engrewe, Mote suffryn here and fallyn grete mischewe Into this erth - syne with the falouschip of hell In body and soule eternaly mot duell. Explicit quod au

invigorating (life-giving); which; flowers; (see note) nourishes; her warm showers field has covered over; green; (see note) emblazoned; colors is makes everything turn Away from (Against); harsh; (see note) [In] this same month; seventh ides; (see note) sun, which does not like to hide; (see note) east degree; sent his beams forth Through; joyful heart sluggishness; awaken; leap up May; do; (see note) Then which troubles; very keenly [So] that forth Then; air calm (mild); pleasant; (see note) alone; companion; (see note) bank; where wood's Whose leaves; boughs hide went on reflecting; (see note) world's inconstancy; its misery; (see note) suffering; grief I need not (it is not needful for me to) report there; none who wants to assist [me] wherefore; be strong person; complain; lament My sorrow (misfortune); anguish; what Very; walked eastward towards Where; saw; green very well-dressed (good-looking) as youthful (fresh); appearance bright she like; (see note) Both white; mingled; think better [than]; never made could not; compare; consider Except to Diana; some exalted; (see note) secretly; myself on purpose hear; said while; walked quietly; (see note) Where; near perceived; face crystal (shining) tears; eyes bright; (see note) seemed very much; heart distressed lamented; sighed; complained spoke; might hear; clearly (aright) cursed in private; (see note) cruel; causeless (i.e., unfounded) wept; while voice; eyes; (t-note) Hymen; take pity; (see note) On me; domineering bond recently Come. Alas! What is the reason tormented; without; reason suddenly; law For something that is unknown to me also surely If at any time; such foot; here; never escape Of that [offense]; free from blame if; (see note) dark region (Hades); under his rule May; fiery cart; take; (see note) once there always live (stay) Diana; freedom; tranquility; (see note) whom; only servitude; suffering Little; joy (pleasure) beleaguered circumstance accusation (offense); know who; heart; (see note) Know; blameless; defend me since; (see note) (see note) Or [else] deliver me from; world's fortune according to what I suddenly; die upon; gods did she cry continually sighed; piteous expression; (see note) [a] great pity; complaining; hear see changed often; turned (waxed); green (t-note) bright eyes drop Those; thick; any; (see note) air above Upon; brightly colored they (i.e., roses) are; new stems (stalks) were; complexion Alas; expression (face); (see note) hardship (penance) getting up comfort another; alone (i.e., by herself) quickest (nearest) one [direction] they two together began to take But where; went; tell sight wood left by myself alone; (t-note) near (close) thought mean; (see note) understand; reason suffered as it seems to me, on earth should benevolence [Such] as; wealth; heart's affection conforming; desire (pleasure) gladden; please; mirth Except death of loved [one]; dear friends impossible; back (t-note) because of beauty; pleasant demeanor be compatible with then; imagination; (see note) often Then; if any person lives; (t-note) Who finds in his churlish heart [the] Thus to torment such a do her injury; make her endure suffering none [such] down on this earth Unless; is a descendent; some churlish race; (t-note) ways, in truth (forsooth) a; would pleasure; (t-note) yet my mind tells me blames (condemns) Troubles (Harasses) Of wicked character Devil, forever burning in cruel judgment stands; lady's sake I will take very great pains Right away; sit; write jealous people; in contempt whoever; angry; happy (blithe) he who takes no account of that if To be displeased by anything I will say; (see note) [because] of lack of skill (knowledge) in my [that] shall make them show; contrary to character Except; wicked imagination (inventiveness); (see note) called That hates every lover [because] of enmity though; mad; purpose when he burnt himself; (see note) peril saw; (see note) hand murdered; slain (i.e., suicide) Devil's; (see note) whether; float; sink; (see note) write according to what continue to be steadfast in devotion Lamented also wretch (Jealousy); [to] despise him proclaim; integrity suffer greatly; own phrases; unlearned verses; (see note) although; imperfect Beseeching; by Love's high; (see note) good other way begin; in this way tender; stands; (see note) Established vices spurning empty are; all violence; (t-note) pity gracious; (t-note) tolerance, free on servitude; man's subjection; (see note) meekly endure; punishment (see note) You, putting up with; bad character; (see note) Who have; pity; lack are placed many a; misfortune beauty goes; brought gentle (i.e., noble); (see note) complain (moan); lament well when necessary by Those whom; light delightful (beautiful) womankind Whom; love; chivalry do sustain Without; world's; its height Should soon drop; fear kindness those who (i.e., women); whole; (t-note) if their help (favor) did not exist virtuous women Solomon holds dear; (see note) much delight; satisfaction must; go upon a different (see note) suffer always without reason In; fear resist against [Offers] no defense; pass Only; faces sighing, wailing, complaining every; bear these innocent Without various tyrannies; (see note) cruelties; wickedness; lies; (see note) treacherous (untrustworthy) imagination harms; its judgment plan something according to my knowledge (ability) compose; (see note) is now so widespread What shall; accuse rank to be acquitted [the] feeling of this poison joyfulness; glad delight very nearly brought time; elders When; held (considered) Of which was ashamed; person Then were these ladies; held joyfulness; abundant generosity, courtesy, entertainment none; dared; would each one faithful and sober as [at]; past culpable must wholly incline themselves live; recluse; stone [cell]; (see note) If; uncondemned; live expanded has; belief [there] are unslandered; tongue escape entertains wont looks Even though; speaks; person Yet; assumes; fancy (deluded imagination); (see note) dressed at all tyrant; not done for no reason reason in; done if; sides with; indeed done amiss if any From; goes; miss Who makes up tales (i.e., the spy) please him (i.e., the spouse); must goes; peace Farewell the gladness and the bliss of love When; quickly grief guilty have; shame duplicitously (see note) Yet; forever called; in his mind books find This malady ever consists of lack of courage who believes [himself] always behind hesitates to be steadfast in love's nature; (see note) A noble heart; (see note) Has [neither] to investigate ladies; spy misjudge in; faithfulness impiously is called in scorn; contempt (defiance) desire; good (strong) who; perfect; (see note) beseech; attack/rail Tisiphone (one of the three Furies); (see note) repay assistance; true (faithful) lover treatise condemnation surpassing (preeminent); (see note) Sidrak, inspired by heavenly Who was held in; flower Of knowledge (doctrine) In; books declares this wisdom King Boctus, among his various doctrines; (see note) calls; [the] folly of an ignorant person; (see note) It (Jealousy) raises up melancholy without fear desire for; food or drink; death it (Jealousy) confuses fully hot (intense) fever; recurring; (see note) truly arises from; true nature Envy; (see note) father; [the] reason why rancor Like Etna; burns; (see note) chain charity judges (believes) [Such] that; there lives rank might conduct; way but that he (i.e., Jealousy) judge (think); wrong, even if (although) (t-note) ever did; (see note) look in; judgment tiger; (see note) Lurks as a devil living on this earth Persisting at odds (see note) Corinthians; (see note) charity greatest; calls same chapter [as] eloquent as angels goods give; poor slain, martyred good which; done (wrought) lacks; helps not at all (does no good) who has moral judgment lives in burns; very intensely (hotly) world's; heavenly hatred (malice) comes trouble [Such] as; murder (destruction) Whereof I could a hundred examples let pass by also [stories]; present time happened; (see note) Amongst which; find; those killed; afterwards same land; reason only because of; jealousy many example[s] observation sin practices (dwells on); mind Often took the life of innocents always; (see note) arises from the malice of his heart slander widely there; rung (sounded) fears; (see note) bids; (t-note) damns; eternally; die virtue; poets know how to declare [the] tongue; restrain; command (steer) nearest Far; (see note) Alone; dwell; lions; near he (Solomon) peace; (t-note) dominion which cannot cease making known Than he who; (t-note) ought; heed It is proved apostles every one sin; derived (conceived) whence; whither Which; in short Comes; thither; return once; an; read; (see note) A holy; called works of charity except conceived (caught); no; reason Upon; (see note) After; came there (i.e., at judgment); in divine communication To; fathers; seen would have received; own damnation very sin blissful martyr; (see note) mercy; Savior (i.e., Christ) conclusion has been; before hot; comes; (see note) proverb is greatly misinterpreted the reason not understood not [appropriate]; thereby foundation; (t-note) in which rises from called; blameless fear lovers reflect; deliberate need; (t-note) Through; hearts are burned terror Then; fear Forego the greatest pleasure of love some lovers; taken control themselves so [that] It pleases them neither; reveal jealousies; different; in nature; (see note) The one secret deeds and blameless [ones] lovers in loving must other (i.e., Jealousy) has; another concern cries out lover; feels ill-will toward deplorable wretch nourished heaven; your; written ambush; (see note); (t-note) fie; deceit; (see note) love; feign, who [are a] hypocrite; (see note) give the responsibility; (t-note) lie about that Both sober Afterwards does not like to change; flee; (t-note) death's; (t-note) anything; (t-note) grieve; (t-note) reputation disgrace; (t-note) most of all to see; (t-note) (t-note) against; (t-note) Stands; for this reason; your anyone; (t-note) struggles/fights always against sword except endurance; (see note) enemy for this reason do (work) honor; (t-note) Sets less store by; good; (see note) by observation demonstrates many a; who did did choose (chose) So do they forever love their honor Fie; love's foe reluctance (hesitation); fear What [does it] help you [to] be called Since [you] do; against her What good does it do You shall never give up your lady But even though her body heart where; done (wrought); (t-note) would like [to give it] Contrary; nature your lady you make your enemy Whose heart; you must needs forfeit By your own sin (see note) Be warned against risking ever again hand think; suffering (see note); (t-note) (t-note) wherever you are [there will] be nevermore; (t-note) quiet, truly comfort; living in security (t-note) barren; destitute; (t-note) has a tendency towards take; (see note) to have as; mate; (t-note) pursuing bizarre things What does your false suspicion do to help you what use is (t-note) ignorant; own ruin poison; before contaminated; poisoned it pleases you; begun drink; cask There enough; won luck has run out lady's resistance (disdain); (see note) oppresses pursues (t-note) been (t-note) Shall endure; wretched Pierced; sword; anguish in; (see note); (t-note) (see note) ship; waves drive in fear keeps sailing will you spend; world's fearful spirit scourge (beat); (t-note) worms devoured; (t-note) wasted (laid waste); (t-note) burning; tiger; heat; (t-note) Who lives now; repeat; (t-note) (t-note) Living; own mind (thought); (t-note) consumes; (t-note) (t-note) (t-note) on; (t-note) afterwards; destroyed; (t-note) pause; (t-note) is it very just; (t-note) father of hatred; (t-note) whence; comes; (t-note) Whose; diligently maintain; (t-note) (t-note) profit; none; (t-note) therefore make yourself ready; (t-note) and fully prepare (see note) good fellowship; go loved If curse lovers; earnestly; (see note) composition take no kind of heed; (see note) poetic form; must be of necessity lack of sophistication ignorance; lack of skill since; phrases Turn away from; poem; thought (intent) declares all against love's foe are tormented suffer pain In by endure compassionate heart; meek reigns; beseech (see note) whether torment, strife (destruction) Has either might or power to do On; wickedness whoever likes to oppress these ladies injure; (t-note) May suffer; come [to]; misfortune; (t-note) On; afterwards; fellowship may [they] dwell eternally (t-note)

Go To La Belle Dame sans Mercy, introduction
Go To La Belle Dame sans Mercy, text

Footnotes

THE QUARE OF JELUSY: FOOTNOTES

1 That most have distressed my miserable heart

2 But go on suffering, as I have done up to now

3 Of beauty she lacked absolutely nothing

4 May sharp death pierce me through the heart

5 Lines 84-86: Neither for any desire, nor in order to be commended, / Do I say this, for here [there] is not any (none) but you, / Who knows the truth of this hidden thing

6 Lines 88-89: Then [out] of pity have compassion - and sympathy; / Cause my life to follow a different course

7 Lines 99-100: To behold her, there would be no noble heart / That would not have compassion about her pain

8 Lines 117-18: This lady's face (expression) and sorrowful lamentation / Has absorbed my spirit in sober (pensive) reflection

9 But that she should have full sufficiency thereof

10 For something possible, it seems to me, she should not complain

11 I do not count them, nor do I give them importance

12 [On] how ladies are many times maliciously mistreated (demeaned)

13 My [subject] matter passes over immoral women

14 Lines 236-37: This is what I have in mind: all are wicked men commonly / Who unjustly abuse (oppress) these ladies

15 And though he speak [i.e., to another woman], it harms (hinders) not his reputation

16 Lines 325-26: Which causes destructive humors to continue / [Such] as [a] sinful heart, or whoever chooses to practice (dwell morbidly on) it (jealousy)

17 Lines 359-62: Without charity thus evermore he lives, / Which Christ calls the wedding garment, / Without which every person turns away from (forgoes) heaven, / And of the bliss and of the feast is destitute

18 It has been [the] cause why many were ruined

19 To cut (carve) away the offending (slanderous) member

20 Lines 516-17: Who shall pity them in their weeping, evening and morning, / Those who see beforehand, yet afterwards hasten towards their sorrow (see note)

21 To say or do that [which] you must afterwards regret

22 And does not know where it is going, nor where it will come ashore

23 But since it is [that] you will not lack one [or another] of two [things]

24 To leave this fantasy that you have conceived

THE QUARE OF JELUSY: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Abbreviations: see Textual Notes.

1 lusty Maii. A common way to characterize spring and May in particular. Compare William Dunbar's Thistle and the Rose: "lusty May, that mvddir is of flouris" (poem 52, line 4). In the anonymous Lancelot of the Laik, it is April which is termed "lustee" (line 1). See also descriptions of May as "lusty" in Chaucer's PF (line 130) and The Knight's Tale (CT I[A]2484), as well as in Gower's CA, where Genius explains the properties of the astrological signs and the months that correspond to them. According to this schema, Genius explains, May belongs to Gemini:

His propre Monthe wel I wot
Assigned is the lusti Maii,
Whanne every brid upon his lay
Among the griene leves singeth. (ed. Macaulay, 7.1044-47)

1 ff. For the conventional opening in spring, see Clanvowe's BC, explanatory note to line 20. Compare especially the opening lines of Lancelot of the Laik. Lydgate's CLL, Gavin Douglas' Palis of Honoure, and Dunbar's Golden Targe (poem 59) and Merle and the Nightingale (poem 24), have similar openings.

3 oureclad. The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue lists overclethe as to "clothe or cover over (with verdure)," but the MED does not include a similar meaning for the past participle of overclothen. Compare the use of "ourgilt" in Dunbar's The Golden Targe: "The purpur hevyn, ourscailit in silver sloppis, / Ourgilt the treis branchis, lef, and barkis" (poem 59, lines 26-27); and "overspred" in Douglas' Palis of Honoure: "The fragrant flouris, blomand in their seis, / Overspred the leves of Naturis tapestreis" (lines 19-20).

6 Agayn the stroke of winter, cold and smert. Possibly an echo of Chaucer's Squire's Tale, where the birds find protection in spring "[a]gayn the swerd of wynter, keene and coold" (CT V[F]57), or the Prologue to LGW: "Forgeten hadde the erthe his pore estat / Of wynter, that hym naked made and mat, / And with his swerd of cold so sore greved" (F.125-17; compare G.113-15). See also explanatory note to line 548.

7 sevynt ide. 9 May. The ides are the fifteenth of March, May, July, October, or the thirteenth of any other month. Thus, sevynt ide would be the seventh day before the ides (counting backwards from, and including the ides). In Lancelot of the Laik it is the "kalendis of May" (line 12) that is mentioned (i.e., 1 May).

8-13 Compare the description of the sun early in Lancelot of the Laik, lines 4-12.

13 unto Maii to done thair observance. Compare Chaucer's TC, where Pandarus says to Criseyde, "rys up, and lat us daunce, / And lat us don to May som observaunce" (2.111-12); and Chaucer's Knight's Tale, where Arcite goes out into the fields "for to doon his observaunce to May" (CT I[A]1500). Similarly, in Douglas' Palis of Honoure the narrator explains: "In May, I rays to do my observance" (line 6).

18 Tho was the ayer sobir and amene. Compare Dunbar's The Golden Targe: "The air attemperit, sobir and amene" (poem 59, line 249); and Lancelot of the Laik, where "the lusty aire" is rendered "soft, ameyne, and faire" by the coming of morning (lines 63-64).

19 ff. The narrator's walk alongside a river bank where he meditates on some source of private grief after which he spies a beautiful woman is a variant of the conventional opening to the medieval amatory complaint. Consider, for example, the openings of CLL and the prologue to Lancelot of the Laik. For more on the locus amoenus tradition, see explanatory note to lines 58-60 of BC.

23 I past me furth remembring to and fro. Compare the narrator's walk in Lancelot of the Laik: "Thus in the feild I walkith to and froo" (line 43).

24 All on this warldis changeing and his wo. The narrator's concern for the world's inconstancy is conventional and recalls the Prologue to Gower's CA, where the narrator laments, "The world is changed overal, / And therof most in special / That love is falle into discord" (ed. Peck, Prol.119-21). See Curtius' discussion of the theme, "The World Upsidedown," pp. 94-98.

39-40 Of coloure was sche lik unto the rose, / Boith quhite and red ymeynt. White and red is a common way of describing medieval beauty. See Whiting R199, "As red as (a, any, the) rose," and L285, "As white as (any, a, the) lily-flower." Dunbar charac-terizes Margaret Tudor similarly in The Thistle and the Rose: "the fresche Ros of cullour reid and quhyt" (poem 52, line 142).

44 Dyane. Goddess of chastity and the hunt. Perhaps likening the woman to Diana serves to emphasize the unjustness and irrationality of "causeles Jelousye" (line 56). The narrator compares the woman to Diana while he hides himself, essentially spying on her (lines 45-46), recalling the story of Acteon, who saw Diana bathing naked in the woods and was killed by his own hounds once the goddess had turned him into a stag as punishment. For literary citations on Acteon, see explanatory note to lines 94-98 of CLL.

47-52 The description of the lady's tears, accompanied by her sorrowing, sighing, and complaining is a common portrait of one suffering from love-longing. Compare lines 95-98 (and see explanatory note).

50 The cristall teris falling from hir eyne clere. As with the comparison to Diana in line 44, the images of cristall and clere are perhaps used to emphasize the lady's purity. The image of cristall teris is not Chaucerian, but rather seems to be a somewhat popular descriptive phrase among Middle Scots poets, perhaps following Lydgate. Compare Venus' description of her own tears in The Kingis Quair: "of my cristall teris that bene schede / The hony flouris growen vp and sprede" (lines 816-17 [st. 117]); Aurora's (the dawn's) tears when she weeps at parting from Phebus (the sun) in Dunbar's Golden Targe: "Hir cristall teris I saw hyng on the flouris" (poem 59, line 17); and "the most [moist] schowris" in Lancelot of the Laik that "[a]s cristoll terys withhong [hung] upone the flouris" (lines 61-62). Aurora has "cristall ene" in Dunbar's Thistle and the Rose (poem 52, line 9); as does Cresseid in Robert Henryson's Testament of Cresseid (line 337).
   The ballade "As Ofte," sometimes attributed to Lydgate, makes use of the phrase in its opening lines: "As ofte as syghes ben in herte trewe, / And cristall teres on dolefull chekes trill" (lines 1-2; H. N. MacCracken, "Lydgatiana," Archiv 127 [1911], 323-27). Lydgate uses the image in Troy Book to describe the tears of Cassandra and other women of Troy, who cry upon sight of their lords' wounds: "Wher men may seen the cristal teris meynt / Of her wepinge in ther woundes grene" (4.6382-83). See also Lydgate's Life of Saint Alban and Saint Amphibal, where Alban weeps "bitter teeris from his eyen tweyn / Lik cristal wellis encresyng as a flood" (lines 1661-62; ed. J. E. Van Der Westhuizen [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974]).

55-56 sche cursit prevaly / The cruell vice of causeles Jelousye. Compare Criseyde's complaint to Troilus about his jealousy in Chaucer's TC: "noot I for-why ne how / That jalousie, allas, that wikked wyvere, / Thus causeles is cropen into yow" (3.1009- 11). See also Romaunt where Drede says to Shame: "Jelousie hath us blamed, / Of mystrust and suspecioun, / Causeles, withoute enchesoun" (lines 3980-82).

59-92 In her speech, the lady calls on pagan gods and goddesses to judge her and find her innocent. In this way she is similar to Henryson's Cresseid (in The Testament of Cresseid), who complains to the pantheon of gods that she has been mistreated by Cupid and Venus and demands the gods' judgment in the matter.

59 Goddesse Imeneus. Hymen is the god of marriage and is normally represented as male rather than female. See, for example, Chaucer's TC 3.1258-60. NS&P (p. 64n59 ff.) remark that the address to Hymen shows that the lady has only recently been married, since she has come under his purview "of newe" (line 60).

71-72 Pluto that is king, / Quhich the derk regioun hath in his governyng. The god Pluto is king of Hades, the underworld. Although the woman's speech here depicts Hades as a place of punishment only, where body and soul will "ay duell in torment and in wo" (line 76), Virgil describes Hades as containing places of both reward (Elysian Fields) and punishment (Tartarus). The phrase derk regioun (line 72) echoes Chaucer's description of Pluto's kingdom in The Knight's Tale: "Ther Pluto hath his derke regioun" (I[A]2082); and in The Franklin's Tale, where Aurelius wishes "to synken every rok adoun / Into hir owene dirke regioun / Under the ground, ther Pluto dwelleth inne" (V[F]1073-75).

73-76 Mote me into his fyry cart do ta, / As quhilom did he to Proserpina . . . ay duell in torment and in wo. Proserpina is the daughter of Ceres, goddess of the harvest. Having fallen in love with Proserpina, Pluto abducts her and brings her to the underworld to be his bride. Once in Hades, Proserpina makes the mistake of eating pomegranate seeds, enabling Pluto to keep her in Hades for part of the year, while she continues to dwell with her mother for the remainder. Winter thus represents Ceres' grief at the loss of her daughter while Proserpina lives with Pluto; spring and summer occur during the time Proserpina spends with Ceres, who celebrates her daughter's return each year with the bounty of the earth. The story is recorded in Vat. Myth. I (7), Ovid, Fasti 4.417 ff., and Hyginus, Hyg. Fab. 146. Chaucer alludes to Pluto's rape of Proserpina in The Merchant's Tale (CT IV[E]2229 ff.). In Book 4 of TC, Troilus uses the image of spending eternity with Proserpina as a way to emphasize his faithfulness to Criseyde (4.472-76).

77-81 O Dyane! . . . wele my part. The woman calls upon Diana as goddess of chastity to vouchsafe her innocence. Compare Chaucer's Knight's Tale, where Emelye prays to Diana to keep her chaste (CT I[A]2304-11). See also explanatory note to line 44.

82-83 Jupiter . . . me defende. Jupiter is king of the gods. Chaucer's Criseyde also calls on Jupiter (Jove) to defend her from jealousy when she tells Troilus, "Jove hym [i.e., jealousy] sone out of youre herte arace!" (3.1015). However, Jupiter himself is depicted as a womanizer and adulterer in Gower's CA:

For Jupiter was the secounde,
Which Juno hadde unto his wif;
And yit a lechour al his lif
He was, and in avouterie
He wroghte many a tricherie;
And for he was so full of vices,
Thei cleped him god of delices. (ed. Macaulay, 5.870-76)

Among other affairs, Jupiter begat Cupid on his sister Venus (mentioned in CA 5.1404-05).

87-88 The syntax of line 88 emphasizes its final word, reuth. The same construction and rhyme are repeated in lines 179-80, with the phrase compassioun have and reuth of line 88 repeated in line 180 and at the beginning of line 211 ("compassioun have - and reuth"). Reuth ("pity/compassion") comes up frequently in the poem as a defining quality for both those who are noble and the true (faithful) lover. Jealousy lacks this quality completely, which suggests that nobility or true love and jealousy are mutually exclusive qualities. The connection with the Christian virtue of compassion becomes explicit later in the poem in the section called "the trety in the reprefe of Jelousye" (after line 316). The poet's rhyme of treuth (line 87) with reuth (line 88) echoes lines 1309-10 at the end of BD: "'She ys ded!' 'Nay!' 'Yis, be my trouthe!' / 'Is that youre los? Be God, hyt ys routhe!'"

89-92 My life to gone mak . . . sodaynly to sterve. In Book 3 of TC, Criseyde expresses a similar sentiment to that of the lady here: "if that I be giltif, do me deye!" (3.1049).

95-98 With that sche sichit . . . pale and grene. As in lines 49-52, the lady's sighing, pleynyng, and changing of color are a typical depiction of the lovesick sufferer. See the description of the lovesick knight in BD, whose "hewe chaunge and wexe grene / And pale" (lines 497-98). For more on lovesickness, see BC, explanatory note to lines 31-32.

102 glettering teris, als thik as ony haile. Compare Dunbar's description of the Dawn's tears (dew) as "cristall haile" in A Ballat of the Abbot of Tungland (poem 4, line 1).

107 Allace, hir chere! Allace, hir countenance! Compare lines 202 and 227. See also Chaucer's Knight's Tale, CT I(A) 2771 and I(A)2773-75, for similar rhetorical flourishes.

121 Quhat may this mene? Quhat may this signifye? L points out that this line is the same as line 160 of Lancelot of the Laik (p. 150n121). Compare also the phrase "quhat may this be?" repeated in lines 78, 249, and 253 (st. 12, 36, 37) of The Kingis Quair. See also Chaucer's Complaint of Mars, line 224, and CLL, line 302.

135 Bot tho it fell into my fantasy. The narrator's use of fantasy and imagination recurs throughout the poem. See the Introduction for further discussion, pp. 155-56. The two other uses of the word "fantasy" occur with negative overtones in reference to the jealous lover's imagined slights; in line 276 it is the jealous lover (represented as Jealousy personified) who "evill . . . demith in his fantasy," imagining unjustly that his lady has been unfaithful; in lines 575-76 the narrator urges the jealous one: "This fantasy to leve quhich thou hath tone [conceived] / And furth among gud falouschip thou gone." Here, "fantasy" refers to the lover's jealous imagination that keeps him from "gud falouschip" and love. These images of Jealousy echo Gower's depiction of lovers in CA, who "thurgh here oghne fantasie . . . fallen into Jelousie" (ed. Macaulay, 5.441-42). See also explanatory note to lines 168-69.

160-62 Thame to displese . . . lak of connyng and of eloquence. Compare lines 185 ff. The narrator's modesty is conventional. For more on this trope, see CLL, explanatory note to lines 190 ff.

168-69 wickit ymaginacioun, / Quhich by his name is clepit Jelousye. This negative view of Jealousy also goes hand in hand with imagination elsewhere in the poem; see, for example, lines 240-42. (For more on wicked jealousy, see explanatory note to lines 240-41.) For jealousy's association with imagination or fantasy, see, for example, Lydgate's Banner of St. Edmund 2.548; Chaucer's Prologue to LGW, where the narrator tells Alceste that her court is full of liars who "tabouren in youre eres many a thyng / For hate, or for jelous ymagynyng" (G.330-31; compare F.354-55, which reads somewhat differently); and Gower's CA, where Genius informs Amans,

Riht so this fieverous maladie,
Which caused is of fantasie,
Makth the Jelous in fieble plit
To lese of love his appetit
Thurgh feigned enformacion
Of his ymaginacion. (ed. Macaulay, 5.589-94)

For further discussion of the poem's treatment of "fantasy" see explanatory note to line 135.

172 Herculese, quhen he himselven brent. See explanatory note to line 357 of CLL for details of the story and literary references. The narrator continues his extended metaphor of Jealousy "ay birnyng into hate" from line 151. The comparison to Hercules' self-immolation foreshadows the narrator's later claim in lines 559-62 that the jealous lover consumes himself with his jealousy. The image of Jealousy burning forever in a hell of its own making also contrasts with the lady's claim of innocence in lines 71-76, where she imagines herself abducted into Hades by Pluto should she "say false" (line 71).

173-74 cursit Nero, quhen he his perile sawe, / Of his own hond ymurderit and yslawe. Chaucer tells the story of Nero in The Monk's Tale, CT VII(B2)2463-2550. It also appears in Boece (2.m.6). Gower discusses Nero in CA 6.1151 ff., but without mentioning the story of his death.

176 saile all in the Devillis barge. NS&P observe, "The extended allegory of Envy's barge in [CA] (II.1882-1909) points to a well-known convention. Invidia's barge never reaches port but sails on ceaselessly with attending tempests. Our poet is thinking precisely of this allegory in lines 549-53 in the ship similitude there - where the jealous person's mind is so compared" (p. 66n176).

177 quhethir thay flete or into hell synk. Chaucer frequently uses a variant of this phrase (always omitting into hell). See, for example, The Knight's Tale, CT I(A)2397; The Complaint unto Pity, line 110; Anel., line 182; and PF, line 7.

185 ff. Compare lines 160-62. For more on the convention of modesty, see explanatory note to lines 190 ff. of CLL.

187 at Lovis hie reverence. Compare Chaucer's TC 3.1328: "at Loves reverence."

191-93 O tendir youth . . . (Wommen I mene). The narrator's evident desire to defend all women from the charges brought against them by Jealousy seems antithetical to the frequent stereotypes of women in medieval literature as inconstant, willful, and manipulative. See, for example, Chaucer's Merchant's Tale, Miller's Tale, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, etc. For a more consistently cynical view, see Dunbar's The Tretis of the Tua Marriit Wemen and the Wedo (poem 3). Compare this stanza and the next (through line 208) to the narrator's declamation on William Wallace in The Wallace 2.207-15.

191 ff. The nine-line decasyllabic stanza rhyming aabaabbab beginning here and employed through line 416 is used in Chaucer's Anel. and was popular among the Middle Scots poets; see, for example, Dunbar's The Golden Targe (poem 59), and sections of Henryson's Testament of Cresseid (lines 407-69); Douglas' Palis of Honoure (Prologue, Parts 1 and 2); and The Wallace (2.171-359).

200 Under thraldome and mannis subjectioun. This line echoes Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale, where Custance proclaims, "Wommen are born to thraldom and penance, / And to been under mannes governance" (II[B1]286-87). See also the argument the Sultan's mother puts forth against converting to Christianity: "What sholde us tyden of this newe lawe / But thraldom to oure bodies and penance" (II[B1]337-38). The word thraldom also recurs throughout The Parson's Tale; for example: "sith so is that synne was first cause of thraldom, thanne is it thus: that thilke tyme that al this world was in synne, thanne was al this world in thraldom and subjeccioun" (X[I]770). The narrator of The Kingis Quair uses this same word to describe his imprisonment (line 191 [st. 28]).

202 Allace, the wo! Allace, the sad grevance! See also lines 107 and 227. Compare The Knight's Tale, CT I(A)2771: "Allas, the wo! Allas, the peynes stronge" and I(A) 2773-75.

203 men of evill condicioun. Compare the narrator's description of Jealousy in line 150 as "[o]fe evill condicioun evirmore."

209 ff. Loveris compleyne. Compare the narrator's request in The Wallace that "sanctis," "lordys," and "yhe ladyis brycht" complain on behalf of William Wallace (2.216- 33).

222 All vertuouse womman Salamon holdith dere. An allusion to Proverbs 31:10.

227 Allace, the wo. See explanatory note to line 202.

239 thair varyit tyrannyis. The narrator's portrayal of jealous men as tyrants is in keeping with what NS&P call "a growing mood of indignation and anger in the writer" which they characterize as "obsessional," adding "[n]o modest moral ur-banity of Chaucer here" (p. 7). However, compare Chaucer's comment at the end of The Legend of Lucrece in LGW:

For wel I wot that Crist himselve telleth
That in Israel, as wyd as is the lond,
That so gret feyth in al that he ne fond
As in a woman; and this is no lye.
And as of men, loke ye which tirannye
They doon alday; assay hem whoso lyste,
The trewest ys ful brotel for to triste. (lines 1879-85)

240-41 the wikkitnes that lyis / In Jelousy. Compare TC, where Criseyde exclaims: "O thou wikked serpent jalousie" (3.837); or when Troilus suspects Criseyde's unfaithfulness in Book 5 and "the wikked spirit . . . / Which that men clepeth woode jalousie, / Gan in hym crepe, in al this hevynesse" (5.1212-14).

245-53 Quho schall me help, allace, for to endite . . . full nere ybrocht adoun. Compare the narrator's appeal to Niobe for help in writing his complaint in CLL, lines 176-82.

267 the anker in the stone. A recluse in her cell. For a detailed discussion of anchor-esses, see the introduction to Ancrene Wisse, ed. Robert Hasenfratz (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2000). NS&P (p. 67n267) suggest that this is "a partial memory of" Romaunt, line 6348: "Now lyk an anker in an hous," but in fact this must have been a common enough reference; in addition to the passage that L (p. 151n267) quotes from Charles d'Orleans' English Balade 97 ("O sely Ankir that in thi selle / Iclosed art with stoon and gost not out"), the same image occurs in The Legend or Life of Saint Alexis (Laud MS. 622) when Alexis' wife complains "I am boþe maiden & wijf, / I noot to whom telle my strijf, / I lyue as ankre in stone" (lines 418-20).

276 See explanatory notes to line 135 and 168-69.

297-98 And thouch he speke . . . harmith hir allway. In other words, there is a double standard operating, where men can speak to anyone they like, but if a woman even looks at another man, she is condemned.

303 verreis. L claims that "[t]he form of this word would indicate the meaning 'wars,' or 'makes war,' but the context seems to demand 'wearies'" (p. 151n303). I follow NS&P in glossing this word as "hesitates," which they suggest is a rare sense for the verb "vary" (p. 68n303).

304-06 For Salamoun saith. NS&P (p. 68n304 ff.) suggest that this is based on Ecclesias-ticus 10:1, but if so, the relationship is obscure. Perhaps Proverbs 31:11 is the basis for the quotation.

311 Thou Ecco, quhich of chiding is perfyte. See Lenvoy de Chaucer at the end of The Clerk's Tale, which exhorts wives: "Folweth Ekko, that holdeth no silence, / But evere answereth at the countretaille" (CT IV[E]1189-90). See explanatory note to lines 87-88 of CLL, for the story of Echo and Narcissus.

313 Thesiphone, thou lord of wo and care. One of the three Furies. Compare Chaucer's TC 1.6-9, where the narrator asks Tisiphone for help in composing his story, and Lydgate's Temple of Glass, lines 958 ff.

317 ff. The stanzas here through line 456 are in rhyme royal (seven-line stanzas rhyming ababbcc), so called because it is the stanza form used in The Kingis Quair, attributed in the MS to James I of Scotland. Henryson also uses it in The Testament of Cresseid, and Chaucer employs the stanza in TC, PF, portions of Anel., and in a number of tales in CT.

317-18 The passing clerk, the grete philosophoure / Sydrake. A supposed philosopher in a thirteenth-century work, Sidrac, "an Old French prose book of knowledge, cast in question and answer form, enclosed within a framing adventure story" (Sidrak and Bokkus, p. xxi). Sidrac (Sidrak in the Middle English versions) answers a vast number of questions put to him by Boctus, the "Bokas King" of line 320. NS&P (p. 69n318) suggest that the poem reflects a knowledge of Gower's CA more than of the Old French text which recounts the dialogue between the title characters, but see explanatory note to lines 324-30. See also L's note (p. 151n318-23) for an exten-sive summary of the Middle English translation of the French narrative.

322 Bokas King. The heathen king converted by Sidrac (Sidrak and Bokkus, p. xxii). See explanatory notes to lines 317-18 and 324-30.

324-30 Although NS&P claim that "[n]early all of [the poet's] observations may be traced to his close reading of Gower's Confessio Amantis" (p. 8), in these lines the poet seems to be paraphrasing a portion of Sidrak's discussion in response to Bokkus' question on jealousy, here presented as question 87 in the Middle English Sidrak and Bokkus:

3it is þere a gelosye Þat comith of fowle herte and folye And of wykked humours also That the herte geders vnto: That gelosye is not of woman goode For hit is full brennyng and wykked mode. The herte hit brenneth full of wykked þought; Rest in þe body may hit nought; Mete and drynke he doþe forsake And all his ioye is from hym take. (Laud; lines 3397-3405)

3it þer is a ielousie Þat comeþ of foule herte and folie And of wicked humours also Þat the herte gadren to: Þat ielousie is of a womman þikke And þat is foule brenning and wicke. Þe herte brenneþ so of wicked þoght Þat in the body may it rest noght; Mete and drinke þei forgoon as tite And al ioye and al delite. (Lansdowne; lines 4299-4308)

As the EETS editors point out in their introduction to Sidrak and Bokkus, "in spite of the claim by Norton-Smith and Pravda that the author of QJ makes 'little use' of Sidrac (p. 69), a comparison . . . shows that in this instance at least there is a genuine debt" (p. xxxv).

330 With this hote fevir that is cotidiane. In Gower's CA, Genius describes jealousy as "[a] Fievere . . . cotidian, / Which every day wol come aboute" (ed. Macaulay, 5.464-65), an "unsely maladie" (5.459) and a "fieverous maladie" (5.589). Other medieval writers also characterize jealousy as a sickness; for example, in The Kingis Quair, the narrator asks the nightingale, "Or artow seke, or smyt with ielousye?" (line 401 [st. 58]).

334-35 Of Herubus, the quhich that of Invye / The fader is. L (p. 153n334-35) points out that this genealogy (of Envy from Erebus) ultimately comes from Cicero's De Natura Deorum (3.17).

337 As Ethena, he birnyth in the fyre. This is not a comparison Chaucer makes much use of, as it appears only in Boece (2.m.5 and elsewhere). The association is one inherited from classical tradition (see Ovid, Metam. 8.867 ff.), where the burning fires of Etna represent the Cyclops Polyphemus' jealous rage over Galatea's preference of Acis, a story also told in Gower's CA (2.97-200; see also 2.20 and 2.2837 ff.). See also Lydgate's Reson and Sensuallyte, where Diana warns against jealousy:

Yif Venus Marke the [you] with hir bronde,
Which that she holdeth in hir honde;
The fire of whom, who kan take hede,
Ys of perel more to drede
Than is the fire, I dar wel seyn,
Of smoky Ethna, the mounteyn. (lines 4117-22)

Mount Etna is identified by Claudian in his unfinished poem De Raptu Proserpina ("The Rape of Proserpina") as the place where Proserpina was abducted into the underworld by Pluto (see explanatory note to lines 73-76). Chaucer alludes to this version of the story in The Merchant's Tale (CT IV[E]2229 ff.), as do Gower (CA, 5.1277 ff.) and Osbern Bokenham (in the Life of Saint Anne from Legendys of Hooly Wummen, ed. Mary S. Serjeantson, EETS o.s. 206 [London: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 1938], lines 1456-57). For further mention in Chaucer of Claudian as the source of the story, see also HF, lines 1507-12. Trevisa describes Etna in De monte Ethna (4.10).

351 the prophete Daniele. See Daniel 1:11-16.

355-56 This tygir with his false ymagynyng / Lith as a devill into this erth lyving. Compare The Kingis Quare: "There sawe I dresse him new[e] out of haunt / The fery tiger full of felonye" (lines 1086-87 [st. 156]; brackets in original). See also Chaucer's Squire's Tale, where the tiger is an image of deceit ("this tigre, ful of doublenesse" - V[F]543), and Dunbar's Done is a battel on the dragon blak, which describes Lucifer as a "deidly dragon," "crewall serpent with the mortall stang," and "[t]he auld kene tegir, with his teith on char, / Quhilk in a wait hes lyne for ws so lang, / Thinking to grip ws in his clowis strang" (poem 10, lines 9, 10, 11-13). Trevisa describes the tiger in De tigride (8.104), where he explains that it is possible to steal the tiger's cubs despite the fierceness of the beast, because the male does not care about the them, while the female can be tricked by a mirror, for when she sees her own reflection she thinks it is that of her offspring and delays long enough for the hunter to get away (see p. 1255/4-12).

359-60 But cheritee . . . Quhich Crist of wedding clepith the habyte. Matthew 22:1-14.

363-72 Paule thus to the Corinthies doth writ . . . all it availit nocht. Paraphrased from 1 Corinthians 13.

382-86 And als that in this tyme present . . . for his wickit gelousy. Apparently an allusion to a contemporary event. In his note to these lines, L states, "This fifteenth-century Scottish criminal is not named in any of the older histories" (p. 153n382-86).

394-96 Compare CLL: "And Male-Bouche gan first the tale telle / To sclaundre Trouthe of indignacion, / And Fals-Report so loude ronge the belle" (lines 260-62).

397-400 Paraphrased from Matthew 18:7-9.

404-06 Derived from Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 25:23 (in Douay-Rheims; 25:16 in more recent translations): "And there is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman." Note that the narrator has removed any mention of women in his paraphrase. See The Wife of Bath's Prologue (CT III[D]775 ff.).

422-23 one emperoure . . . Henry. Henry II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1002-24. See explanatory notes to lines 427 and 433, for details of the story.

427 his lufe. Cunegunda, Henry II's wife. According to Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda Aurea, the couple had a chaste marriage, but when Henry suspected Cunegunda of adultery with one of his knights he forced her to "walk barefoot a distance of fifteen feet over plowshares reddened in the fire," but, having prayed for God's help, Cunegunda was able to cross the obstacle safely (Jacobus de Voragine, trans. Ryan, 2.69). The Scottish version of the Legenda makes explicit Henry's jealousy:

þe feynd, þat ay wil besy be
to tempt, þat þame twa had Inwy,
& gert hyme fal In Ialusy,
venand his wyf had mysdone
vith a 3unge knycht. (lines 696-700)

For the Scottish legend, see Legends of the Saints in the Scottish Dialect of the Fourteenth Century, ed. W. M. Metcalfe, 5 vols. STS first ser. 13, 18, 23, 35, 37 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1896), vol. 1, lines 691-770 of XXII, the legend of "Laurentius."

433 Laurence the blisfull marter. The Legenda Aurea reports that Henry was saved from hell, despite his false suspicion, because of a chalice he had donated in honor of St. Laurence to a church in Eichstätt (Jacobus de Voragine, trans. Ryan, 2.69). See explanatory notes to lines 427 and 422-23.

437 That of hote lufe ay cummith Jelousye. The equivalency of jealousy with love occurs in Chaucer's TC, "al my wo is this, that folk now usen / To seyn right thus, 'Ye, jalousie is love!'" (3.1023-24), and elsewhere. Proverbial; see Whiting J22.

457 ff. Thir jelousyis full diverse ar of kynd. Similarly, in Chaucer's TC 3.1030, Criseyde briefly discusses different types of jealousy, some more excusable than others.

467 O cruell serpent aye lying in awayte! Criseyde characterizes jealousy similarly in Chaucer's TC: "O thou wikked serpent, jalousye" (3.837).

468 O sclanderouse tong. Jealousy is commonly associated with lies and slander in medieval thought. Compare Gower's treatment of it in CA 5.429-746.

469-70 Quhare that thou lovith thou feynyth . . . / gevith the wyte. Compare Chaucer's Anel., where Arcite pretends to love Anelida: "Withoute love he feyned jelousye" (line 126).

486 That hath no suerd bot suffrance and pacience. See explanatory note to line 548.

492 Lesse settith of hir deth than hir gud name. A theme the narrator expands on in lines 493-96 and reiterates in lines 525-26. For discussion of this subject in relation to Chaucer's LGW, see the Introduction, pp. 158-59. The idea is proverbial: "better to die with honor than live in shame"; see Whiting D239, for extensive citations. Compare also line 160 in BC and lines 546-48 in Roos' BDSM.

512-14 And every othir lady . . . or thair ese. At first glance, the passage seems to suggest that ladies "taking example" from this case would continue to risk their honor and pleasure under the hand of jealous, domineering men. The context seems to require reading Ensample tak to adventure evirmo (line 513) to mean something like "be warned against risking ever again."

516-17 Quho schall thame mene of weping, eve and morowe, / Quhich seith tofore, syn rynnyth on thair sorowe? A difficult passage, which L translates in his note: "Who shall bewail in their weeping, evening and morning, those who see beforehand, but who yet afterwards run to their own sorrow" (p. 154n516-17). Understanding mene as "pity" (see MED, menen v. [2], 4 [a]) makes more sense in the context, however, since it suggests that no one would feel sorry for someone who chooses suffering that could be avoided: "Who shall pity them in their weeping, evening and morning, / Those who see beforehand, yet afterwards hasten towards their sorrow." It is tempting to read rynnyth on with a second meaning of "impale [themselves] on," in line with other attested meanings in the MED (see rennen v., 25 [b]).

525-26 A lady rather schuld hir deth ytak / Than suich a wrech till have onto hir mak. This reiterates the theme of death before dishonor. See explanatory note to line 492, above, and the Introduction, pp. 158-59.

541 Thy ladyis dangere. For a discussion of the concept of dangere, see explanatory note to line 13 of CLL. Although in many cases dangere might mean simply standoffishness, the context here suggests not only that the lady will forever be on her guard against him, but also that she will offer active resistance.

548 suerd of cruell syte. See also explanatory note to line 6. Compare Chaucer's Anel., where the phrase "swerd of sorowe" occurs twice (lines 212, 270). Such metaphorical uses of "sword" were fairly common, as for example the "swerd of castigacioun" in Chaucer's Lak of Stedfastnesse (line 26). L (p. 155n548) also notes Lancelot of the Laik: "The dredful suerd of lovis [love's] hot dissire" (line 29). Syte (from Old Norse) is chiefly a northern word.

549-53 Compare line 176 and see explanatory note.

575-76 See explanatory note to line 135.

582 ff. The address to lovers is a conventional envoy. Compare, for example, the apos-trophes to lovers at the ends of CLL, lines 653 ff., and BDSM, 813-20; and to ladies in the latter, lines 821-28.

584 ff. Excusith it. The narrator's request for understanding on the part of the reader for his simple and crudely executed poetry is conventional. See also the explanatory note to lines 160-62. Compare such disclaimers at the ends of BDSM (lines 829 ff.), The Kingis Quair (lines 1352 ff. [st.194-97]), and many of Chaucer's poems.

598-99 Above the erth, the watir, or the aire, / Or on the fire. A reference to the "four elements." In ancient and medieval thought all material bodies were thought to be comprised of earth, water, air, and fire, which were connected to the four humors that were thought to regulate temperament and health. Compare Chaucer's Knight's Tale: "ther nys erthe, water, fir, ne eir, / Ne creature that of hem maked is, / That may me helpe or doon confort in this" (CT I[A]1246-48). Genius explains the four elements at length to Amans in Book 7 of Gower's CA. See also Lydgate's Secreta Secretorum: "Al the wyse Philosofers in oone accorde sayne that iiije elementes bene in the worlde, Wherof euery corruptabill thynge is makyd; that Is to witte, Erthe, Watyr, Eeyre, and fyre: And euery of thes hath two Propyrteis; The Erthe is colde and dry; The watyr is colde and moiste; The eeire hote and moyste; The fyre hote and dry. In the body of euery man ben iiije humorus, answarynge to the iiije elementes: and like propyrteis therof they haue. Malencoly, colde and dry; Fleme, colde and moysty; Sangyne, hote and moyste; Colerike, hote and dry" (Three Prose Versions of the Secreta Secretorum, ed. Robert Steele, EETS e.s. 74 [London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co, 1898], pp. 236-37).

THE QUARE OF JELUSY: TEXTUAL NOTES

Abbreviations: B = J. T. T. Brown; Ban = the Bannatyne Club edition; L = Alexander Lawson; MS = Bodleian Library MS. Arch. Selden. B. 24 , fols. 138v-141v; NS&P = J. Norton-Smith and I. Pravda.

title Here beginnith the quare of Jelusy / Avise ye gudely folkis and see. This rubric is a later insertion in an early sixteenth-century hand (NS&P, p. 62). (The rubric after line 316 is original.)

58 voce. MS: woce.

100 ne. MS: he.

116 I. Added above line in MS.

132 think. MS: thing.

137 thoucht. MS: thouch.

143 be cummyn. MS: cummyn. I follow Jeffrey's suggestion (p. 500) in adding be to emend the idiom to its standard construction. NS&P emend to cummyn[g].

146 harme do to hir. MS: harme to do to hir; in both cases to is inserted above the line; to1 has then been canceled.

194 ibene. MS: I bene. NS&P: ibene. L, B: I bene.

196 benig. The word in the MS could be read as either benig or being, since the minims render ni indistinguishable from in. I follow NS&P in reading benig. B reads being, which he emends to bening. L: bening.

220 worldis. MS: the l is written above the r. NS&P read wordis but emend to wor[l]dis. B: warldis. L: wordis.

350 wele. No longer legible in MS. I follow previous editors here.

398 Wo. The MS is damaged at this point, so only a small portion of the W is visible.

408 is pes. MS: ha I . . . pes. The s in is is now illegible. L: In pes. NS&P point out the presence of ha before is, noting that ha has been stricken; this seems likely, though the line through the word is so faint that it is difficult to tell for certain. Probably the scribe mistakenly began to copy"hath" from line 409 of his exemplar. NS&P say that the p in pes is illegible, but it is visible in the facsimile now that the MS has been restored.

413 slepe. MS: the middle letters ep are no longer legible. I follow previous editions.

441 ground. MS: only grou is legible. I follow previous editions.

446 thair nede. The final -r in thair and all of nede are now illegible. I follow previous editions.

467 lying. MS: leving. Emended for sense.

470 In the MS there is a stanza break after this line. I follow NS&P and L in moving the break to after line 472, as the poem moves at this point from seven- to nine-line stanzas. This is probably a scribal error, since the MS division yields a seven-line stanza followed by one of eleven lines instead of two stanzas of nine lines each. B resolves the problem by leaving the break after 470 and also adding one after 472, so that 471-72 stand alone as a couplet.

475 ff. After this point in the MS, the edges of the pages along the binding have disintegrated to the point where many letters or words are missing at the beginnings of lines on the recto side of folios and at the end of lines on the verso side. There seems to be considerably more damage than when L edited the poem in 1910, as he does not note any lacunae before line 554. L relies on Ban for missing letters but tends to emend these readings heavily; I follow NS&P, who agree with Ban in most cases.

476 Rather. MS: only th legible here.

477 Than. MS: T illegible.

478 That. MS: T no longer legible.

479 Or do. MS: Or now illegible; the ascender is the only clear stroke left of d.

480 For his. MS: or h no longer legible.

481 Hir. No longer legible in MS.

482 And. MS: A illegible.

484 Harmith. MS: ar no longer legible.

490 That. MS: T no longer legible.

506 wrocht. MS: r illegible.

516 morowe. MS: rowe now illegible.

517 sorowe. MS: second o no longer legible.

519 nevirmare. MS: a and part of m illegible.

522 contrare. MS: re no longer legible.

523 destitud. There may have been a stroke indicating a final -e in MS, but if so it is no longer legible.

526 mak. So B. The MS is damaged here, so part of m is missing, but this looks like the best reading of the MS; NS&P emend to and L reads make.

532 rewe. Nearly illegible in MS.

544 With. MS: i and part of W no longer legible.

546 Thou. MS: T . . . ou. L: Throuch, with uch as an expanded abbreviation. I follow NS&P, B.

548 rycht. MS: only ry is visible, but I presume a missing superscript t.

554 For. Now missing from MS. L suggests 3it. Fol. 228 has sustained the most damage, with the inside edge crumbled away on the bottom half of the folio. For this reason, lines 554-73 have lost initial words or portions of words.

555 That. Now missing from MS.

556 So. Now missing from MS.

557 And. Now missing from MS.

558 Quho. MS: only ho is visible.

559 Bot in. Now missing from MS. L: And of.

560 Leving. MS: only ing is visible.

561 Thyne. MS: only yne is visible.

562 And both. MS: only h is legible.

563 Bot. MS: only t is legible.

564 That. Now missing from MS.

565 Ay to. Now missing from MS, although NS&P could apparently read both the initial A and to. Laing (in Ban) conjectured Still instead of Ay.

566 Eternaly. MS: only ly is visible.

567 And wele accordith. MS: only a cordith is legible.

568 Quho. Now missing from MS.

569 And quhens. MS: only uhens is visible.

570 Quhois love. Quhoi now missing from MS. L reads luve, but the word, although very faint now, looks to be love in the post-conservation photograph in the facsimile volume. NS&P also reconstruct luve.

571 For thi desert. Now missing from MS.

572 Thus may. MS: only ay is legible.

573 In Jelousy. MS: only sy is legible.

604 engrewe. MS: engrew and part of a final letter legible, which I read as e, following previous editors.

605 mischewe. MS: only mische and part of w are legible.

colophon au . . . Besides these two letters, only the top of a nearby ascender is still legible. Laing recorded the first six letters as auchin, and L, B read auch, which they interpreted as the beginning of the name Auchinleck, following Laing's conjecture. While agreeing that au is clearly visible, NS&P make a detailed argument against the chin reading, claiming that, the paper being "worn to a thin transparency," these letters are the reverse images of letters from the recto side of the folio (p. 15; for NS&P's full discussion, see pp. 15-16). As the leaf is now missing the edge in question, it is not possible to draw a firm conclusion.