The Devonshire Manuscript/And who that sayth that for to love ys vyce

f. [92r]

1    And who that sayth that {{th}+t+} for to love ys vyce 2    or th e ralldom / thowgh he fele yn yt dystresse 3    he y ether ys envyous / or ryght nyce 4    or ys vnmyghty for hys shre shreudnesse 5    to loue ys for suche maner folke I gesse 6    dyffamen loue / as nothyng off hym knowe 7    they speken / but they bente never hys bowe

finis

Commentary
Transcribed by TH2, this entry is an excerpt from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (Book II, lines 855-61) -- a long poem based on Petrarch's Rime 132. TH2 most likely copied from Thynne's edition of Chaucer (c. 1532). This passage features part of Antigone’s song to Criseyde and her ladies-in-waiting in the garden and follows Criseyde’s soliloquy about her mistrust of love. The passage explains that those who defame love have never experienced it. Since this is the last complete lyric in the manuscript as it is currently bound, it forms an intriguing “conclusion” to all the poems in the Devonshire Manuscript that speak of woe in love. However, this excerpt is not the last poem entered into the manuscript; Thomas Howard, the probable transcriber for this passage, died in 1537, but internal evidence indicates that the album was still in use in the 1540s (see, for instance, the date of composition of Surrey’s “O happy dames that may enbrayes” (55r-v)).

The Devonshire Manuscript contains numerous other verses from Troilus and Criseyde (see: "And now my pen alas wyth wyche I wryte" (29v(1)), "O very lord / o loue / o god alas" (29v(2)), "O ye louers that hygh vpon the whele" (30r), "for thylke grownde that bearyth the wedes wycke" (59v), "yff yt be so that ye so creuel be" (91r(2)), "Wo worthe the fayre gemme vertulesse" (91v(1)), "Also wyckyd tonges byn so prest" (91v(3)), and "but now helpe god to quenche all thys sorow" (93r)). Other medieval and Chaucerian excerpts in the manuscript, possibly copied from Thynne's edition, include selections from Hoccleve ("Womans harte vnto no creweltye" (89v(1)) and "ys thys afayre / ys thys honor" (89v(2)), Richard Roos' La Belle Dame Sans Merci ("O marble herte and yet more harde perde" (90r(1)) and "Alas what shuld yt be to yow preiudyce" (90r(2)), the Chaucerian Remedy of Love first printed in Thynne's edition ("yff all the erthe were parchment scybable" (90r), and Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite ("for thowgh I had yow to morow agayne" (91r)).

Texts Collated
T5068.04

Collation
1     sayth] saythe T5068.04     love] loue T5068.04     ys] is T5068.04 2     or thralldom / thowgh] Or thraldom/though T5068.04     yn yt] in it T5068.04     dystresse] distresse T5068.04 3     he] He T5068.04     ether] eyther T5068.04     ys] is T5068.04     envyous / or] enuyous/or T5068.04     ryght] right T5068.04 4     or ys] Or is T5068.04     hys] his T5068.04 5     to loue ys] To louen T5068.04 6     dyffamen] Diffamen T5068.04     loue / as] loue/as T5068.04     off hym] of him T5068.04 7     they] They T5068.04     speken / but] speken/but T5068.04     never] neuer T5068.04     hys] his T5068.04