Chaucerian and Other Pieces / Being a Supplement to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

by Unknown

431. 'Whyt was this crowe'; C. T., H 133; cf. note to C. T., D 232.

456. Compare the Merchant's Tale; C. T., E 1245.

469. Cf. T. G. 1168-70: 'All trwe louers to relese of her payne,' &c.

475. 'Ai fressh and wel besein'; T. G. 1167. Cf. Rom. Rose, 2279-84. 'Munditiae placeant,' &c.; Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. i. 513.

484. 'Who loveth trewe hath no fatnesse'; Rom. Rose, 2686; 'Arguat et macies animum'; Ovid, Art. Amat. lib. i. 733.

491-504. Cf. Rom. Rose, 2419-39, 2817-20. In particular, ll. 496-7 seem to be actually copied from Rom. Rose, 2819-20: 'or of hir chere That to thee made thy lady dere.' This raises the suspicion that the Court of Love was written after 1532.

499. thou seen would be in Latin tu videatis; another example of false grammar.

523. let been, to let (them) be, to leave off.

526. kepten been (MS. bene); so in all the copies; but kepten is the pt. t. plural, as if we should say in Latin seruauerunt sunt. Unless, indeed, the -en is meant for the pp. suffix of a strong verb, as if we should make a Latin form seruatiti. The scansion shews that this false grammar came from the author.

529. 'Except God and the devil.'