Where I saw standing the goodly portresse,
Who askéd me from whence I came of late;
To whom I ’gan in every thing express
All mine adventure, chaunce, and busynesse,
With every accident that me befel
Throughout my chequered life—I could no less—
And eke my name; I told her every dell:
When she this story heard she likéd me right well.
The ballet-stave of seven is one of the many varieties of Chaucer, who has written in this measure four of his “Canterbury Tales,” and composed a very long poem in it, Troylus, of which the following stanza is a specimen (lib. ii. 1030.)
For though that the best harper upon live