Lidegate,' but on fol. 3 he refers to the same poem, speaking of it as being a complaint—
'al in balade[[244]],
That daun Iohan of Bury made,
Lydgate the Munk clothed in blakke.'
Here also we find two separate fragments of Anelida[[245]]; the two stanzas mentioned above (p. [52], l. 20), called by Shirley 'two verses made in wyse of balade by Halsham, Esquyer'; Chaucer's Proverbs; the poem no. 45 above (p. [33]), attributed in this MS. to Lydgate; &c. At fol. 256, back, is the Balade of compleynte printed in this volume as poem no. XXIII.
Add. (MS. Addit. 22139). This is a fine folio MS., containing Gower's Confessio Amantis. At fol. 138 are Chaucer's Purse, Gentilesse, Lak of Stedfastnesse, and Truth.
At. (MS. Addit. 10340). Contains Chaucer's Boethius (foll. 1-40); also Truth, with the unique envoy, and the description of the 'Persone,' from the Canterbury Tales, on fol. 41, recto[[246]].
Ct. (MS. Cotton, Cleopatra, D. 7). The Chaucer poems are all on leaves 188, 189. They are all ballads, viz. Gentilesse, Lak of Stedfastness, Truth, and Against Women Unconstaunt. All four are in the same hand; and we may remark that the last of the four is thus, in a manner, linked with the rest; see p. [58], l. 5, p. [26], l. 29.
H. (MS. Harl. 2251). Shirley's MS. contains a large number of pieces, chiefly by Lydgate. Also Chaucer's Prioresses Tale, Fortune (fol. 46), Gentilesse (fol. 48, back), A. B. C. (fol. 49), and Purse (fol. 271). The Craft of Lovers also occurs, and is dated 1459 in this copy. Poem no. 56 (p. [34]) also occurs here, and is marked as Lydgate's. We also see from this MS. that the first four stanzas of no. 52 (p. [33]) form part of a poem on the Fall of Man, in which Truth, Mercy, Righteousness, and Peace are introduced as allegorical personages. The four stanzas form part of Mercy's plea, and this is why the word mercy occurs ten times. At fol. 153, back (formerly 158, back), we actually find a copy of Henry Scogan's poem in which Chaucer's Gentilesse is not quoted, the requisite stanzas being entirely omitted. At fol. 249, back, Lydgate quotes the line 'this world is a thurghfare ful of woo,' and
says it is from Chaucer's 'tragedyes.' It is from the Knightes Tale, l. 1989 (A 2847).