Envoy
Therfore, thou vache, leve thyn old wrecchednesse
Unto the worlde; leve now to be thral;
Crye him mercy, that of his hy goodnesse
Made thee of noght, and in especial
Draw unto him, and pray in general
For thee, and eek for other, hevenlich mede;
And trouthe shal delivere, hit is no drede.
(Chaucer: Balade de bon conseyl. ab. 1385.)
Here Chaucer follows the rules of the ballade carefully, but in the "rime royal" stanza. It will be noticed that the rime-word "al" seems to be repeated, but it is used each time in a distinct sense, hence—according to the rules of Chaucer's time, as of modern French—is regarded as a different rime-word each time.
Compare, also, Chaucer's Fortune ("Balades de visage sanz peinture"), made of three ballades, with one envoy; the Balade to Rosemound and Moral Balade on Gentilesse, without envoys; the ballades on Lak of Stedfastnesse and the Compleint of Chaucer to his Empty Purse, with envoys addressed to the king; also the ballade in the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, B-text, ll. 249-269. The Compleynt of Venus, like Fortune, is in three ballades, with one envoy, and is of special interest as being based on three French ballades of Graunson.[48] Says Chaucer:
"And eek to me hit is a greet penaunce,
Sith rym in English hath swich scarsitee,
To folowe word by word the curiositee
Of Graunson, flour of hem that make in Fraunce."
In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, when Chaucer is accused by the god of love for his translation of the Romance of the Rose, Alcestis defends him by enumerating his other works, which include:
"many an ympne for your halydayes,
That highten Balades, Roundels, Virelayes."
(B-text, ll. 422 f.)
On the roundels, see below; none of Chaucer's virelays have come down to us. Chaucer's contemporary, John Gower, also wrote ballades, but in French.