(A). 2. Honour, i.e. advancement. The Lat. proverb is—'Honores mutant mores'; on which Ray remarks—'As poverty depresseth and debaseth a man's mind, so great place and estate advance and enlarge it, but many times corrupt and puff it up.' outrage, extravagant self-importance.
1-28. The first four stanzas are original; so also are the four at the end. These stanzas have seven lines; the rest have eight.
10. Read called as call'd; Bell-e and Dam-e are dissyllabic.
11. Aleyn; i.e. Alain Chartier, a French poet and prose writer, born in 1386, who died in 1458. He lived at the court of Charles VI and Charles VII, to whom he acted as secretary. Besides La Belle Dame sans Merci, he wrote several poems; in one of these, called Le Livre de Quatre Dames, four ladies bewail the loss of their lovers in the battle of Agincourt. He also wrote some prose pieces, chiefly satirical; his Curial, directed against the vices of the court, was translated by Caxton. Caxton's translation was printed by him in 1484, and reprinted by the Early English Text Society in 1888. The best edition of Chartier's works is that by A. Duchesne (Paris, 1617); a new edition is much wanted.
45. I here quote the original of this stanza, as it settles the right reading of l. 47, where some MSS. have eyen or eyn for pen.
'Qui vouldroit mon vouloir contraindre
A ioyeuses choses escrire,