The Devonshire Manuscript/O ye louers that hygh vpon the whele
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| ←O very lord / o loue / o god alas | It was my choyse yt was no chaunce /→ |
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f. [30r]
1 O ye louers that hygh vpon the whele
2 ben sette of fortune in good aventure
3 god grawnte that ye fynden aye loue of stele
4 and longe maye yowr lyfe in ioye endure
5 but whan ye comen by my sepulture
6 remembre that yowr felowe resteth there
7 for I louyd eke thowgh I vnworthy were
Commentary
[edit | edit source]Entered by TH2, this is an excerpt from Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, Book IV, 323-39. TH2 may have copied the lines from Thynne’s edition of Chaucer (c. 1532). In this passage, Troilus has just found out about Criseyde’s exile from Troy and laments the fickleness of Fortune. Troilus asks lucky lovers to remember him--their unlucky fellow--when they pass his sepulture. The Devonshire Manuscript contains others verses from Troilus and Criseyde (see: "And now my pen alas wyth wyche I wryte" (29v(1)); "O very lord / o loue / o god alas" (29v(2));"for thylke grownde that bearyth the wedes wycke" (59v); "yff yt be so that ye so creuel be" (91r(2)); "Wo worthe the fayre gemme vertulesse" (91v(1)); "for loue ys yet the moste stormy lyfe" (91v(2)); "Also wyckyd tonges byn so prest" (91v(3)); "And who that sayth that for to love ys vyce" (92r); and "but now helpe god to quenche all thys sorow" (93r).Other medieval and Chaucerian excerpts in the manuscript, possibly copied from Thynne's edition, include selections from Hoccleve, "Womans harte vnto no creweltye" (89v(1)) and "ys thys afayre avaunte / ys thys honor" (89v(2)); Richard Roos' La Belle Dame Sans Merci, "O marble herte and yet more harde perde" (90r(1)) and "Alas what shuld yt be to yow preiudyce" (90r(2)); the Chaucerian "Remedy of Love" first printed in Thynne's edition "yff all the erthe were parchment scrybable" (90r); and Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite, "for thowgh I had yow to morow agayne" (91r).
Textual Notes
[edit | edit source]Texts Collated
[edit | edit source]Collation
[edit | edit source]1 louers that] louers/that T5068.16
2 ben] Ben T5068.16 fortune in] fortune/in T5068.16 aventure] auenture T5068.16
3 god grawnte] God lene T5068.16
4 and] And T5068.16 maye] mote T5068.16 yowr] your T5068.16
5 but] But T5068.16
6 remembre] Remembreth T5068.16 yowr] your T5068.16
7 for] For T5068.16 louyd] loued T5068.16 eke thowgh I] eke/though I T5068.16