For that thou lestes wacs bot a rose,
That flowred and fayled as kynde hit gefe. (St. 23.)
[584] The principal collections containing lyrical works and popular ballads of that period are: "Ancient Songs and Ballads from the reign of Henry II. to the Revolution," collected by John Ritson, revised by W. C. Hazlitt, London, 1877, 12mo; "Specimens of Lyric Poetry, composed in England in the reign of Edward I.," ed. Th. Wright, Percy Society, 1842, 8vo; "Reliquiæ Antiquæ, scraps from ancient MSS. illustrating chiefly Early English Literature," ed. T. Wright and J. O. Halliwell, London, 1841-43, 2 vols. 8vo; "Political Songs of England, from the reign of John to that of Edward II.," ed. Th. Wright, Camden Society, 1839, 4to; "Songs and Carols now first printed from a MS. of the XVth Century," ed. Th. Wright, Percy Society, 1847, 8vo; "Political Poems and Songs, from Edward III. to Richard III.," ed. Th. Wright, Rolls, 1859-61, 2 vols. 8vo; "Political, Religious and Love Poems," ed. Furnivall, London, Early English Text Society, 1866, 8vo; "Bishop Percy's Folio MS." ed. J. W. Hales and F. J. Furnivall, Ballad Society, 1867, 8vo; "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads," ed. F. J. Child, Boston, 1882 ff. Useful indications will be found in H. L. D. Ward's "Catalogue of MS. Romances in the British Museum," vol. i., 1883.
Tiel come tu es je autie fu,
Tu seras til come je su.
De la mort ne peusay-je mie
Tant come j'avoy la vie.
En terre avoy grand richesse
Dont je y fis grand noblesse,
Terre, mesons et grand tresor,
Draps, chivalx, argent et or,
Mes ore su-je povres et cheitifs,
Perfond en la terre gys,
Ma grand beauté est tout alée ...
Et si ore me veissez,
Je ne quide pas qe vous deeisez
Qe j'eusse onqes hom esté.
(Stanley, "Historical Memorials of Canterbury.")
[586] Compiled in France in 1395. Lecoy de la Marche, "la Chaire française au moyen âge," 2nd ed., Paris, 1886, 8vo, p. 334.
[587] MS. R. iii. 20, in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, fol. 33. In the same MS.: "A roundell made ... by my lorde therlle of Suffolk":
Quel desplaysier, quel courous quel destresse,
Quel griefs, quelx mauls viennent souvent d'amours, &c. (fol. 36).
The author is the famous Earl, afterwards Duke of Suffolk, who was beaten by Joan of Arc, who married Alice, daughter of Thomas Chaucer, and was beheaded in 1450. For ballads of the same kind, by Gower, see below, p. 367. The same taste reigned in France; without mentioning Charles d'Orléans, Pierre de Beauveau writes: "Le joyeulx temps passé souloit estre occasion que je faisoie de plaisant diz et gracieuses chançonnetes et balades." "Nouvelles Françoises du XIV^e Siècle," ed. Moland and d'Héricault, 1858, p. 303.
[588] "Visions concerning Piers Plowman," A. Prol. l. 103, written about 1362-3. See following Chapter.