[226] There is another copy of The Craft of Lovers in MS. Harl. 2251. It is there dated 1459.
[227] I. e. Joan of Navarre, who was married to Henry IV in 1403.
[228] A good French Virelai is one by Eustace Deschamps, ed. Tarbé, 1849; i. 25.
[229] See remarks on this poem in The New English, by T. L. Kington Oliphant, i. 402.
[230] It is much to be regretted that Prof. Morley, in his new edition of his English Writers, still clings to the notion of 'the Court of Love' being Chaucer's. It is sufficient to say that, after 1385, Chaucer's poems are of a far higher order, especially as regards correctness of idiom and rhythm. Our knowledge of the history of the English language has made some advance of late years, and it is no longer possible to ignore all the results of linguistic criticism.
[231] A great peculiarity of this poem is the astonishing length, of the sentences. Many of them run to fifty lines or more. As to the MS., see Thynne's Animadversions, ed. Furnivall, 1875, p. 30. A second MS. is now in the British Museum (Addit. 10303), also written about 1550.
[232] The authoress had an eye for colour, and some knowledge, one would think, of heraldry. There is a tinsel-like glitter about this poem which gives it a flashy attractiveness, in striking contrast to the easy grace of Chaucer's workmanship. In the same way, the authoress of 'The Assembly of Ladies' describes the colours of the dresses of the characters, and, like the authoress of 'The Flower and the Leaf,' quotes occasional scraps of French.
[233] Plesir may be meant, but Chaucer does not use it; he says plesaunce.
[234] It is so termed in a table of contents in MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 15, which (as noted on p. [45]) contains all three of the pieces here numbered 66, 67, and 68.
[235] The copy of no. XXI. in MS. Fairfax 16 has not been printed. I made a transcript of it myself. There is another unprinted copy in MS. Harl. 7578. I also copied out nos. XII., XXII., XXIII.