275. An obvious allusion to Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, in which he gives 'the royal egle' the first place (l. 330).
284. The quene; queen Joan of Navarre, second wife of Henry IV, who received the manor of Woodstock as part of her dower.
285. lay, lea; not a common word in M.E. poetry, though occurring in P. Plowman. The parliament of birds required a large open space.
289. Terme: during the whole term of my life; cf. C. T., G 1479.
1. lewde book, unlearned book. It is not known to what book this refers. It has nothing to do with the preceding poem. My guess, in vol. i. p. 40, that this piece might be Hoccleve's, is quite untenable. His pieces are all known, and the metrical form is of later date. See the next note.
11. Too long; perhaps servant should be struck out. So in l. 13 we could spare the word als. But ll. 17, 18, 19, 20, are all of an unconscionable length.
22-7. I believe I was the first to detect the obvious acrostic on the name of Alison; see vol. i. p. 40. The sense of ll. 25-6 (which are forced and poor) is—'I beseech (you) of your grace, let your writing (in reply) alleviate the sighs which I pour out in silence.'
[XX. THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF.]
I give numerous references below to 'A. L.', i.e. the Assembly of Ladies, printed at p. 380. The two poems have much in common.