[§ 24]. VII. Anelida and Arcite.
The genuineness of this poem is obvious enough, and is vouched for both by Lydgate and Shirley, as shewn above. It is further
discussed in the Notes. I may add that Lydgate incidentally refers to it in his Complaint of the Black Knight, l. 379:—'Of Thebes eke the false Arcite.' Much later allusions are the following:—
'There was also Annelida the queene,
Upon Arcite how sore she did complaine';
Assembly of Ladies, l. 465.
...... 'and the weimenting
Of her Annelida, true as turtle-dove
To Arcite fals.'
Court of Love, l. 233.