The Devonshire Manuscript/He Robyn gentyll robyn

f. [22v]

1    He Robyn gentyll robyn1 2    tell me howe thy lady dothe 3    and thou shalte knowe of myn

4    My ladye is vnkynde per {p+} dye 5    allas why is she soo 6    She loves another Beter then I 7    and yet she wyll saye W2

Notes & Glosses
1. The flourish may be an imitation of the scribe's hand, possibly by Lady Margaret Douglas.

2. This ornamental flourish appears to be a majuscule W, possibly referring to Sir Thomas Wyatt.

Commentary
Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt, this poem was entered by H10. This poem is a seven-line excerpt of a twenty-six line poem that seems to have been written last on the page between an excerpt by H3 above and a possibly original poem by Mary Shelton below. H3 enters a complete and slightly different version of the poem on 24r-24v as "Hey Robyn loly Robyn tell me." Rebholz observes that this poem may be an expansion of a popular song: a slightly different version of the first three stanzas appears in Henry VIII's song-book and Feste sings another version of the poem in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (IV, 2, 78-9).

Texts Collated
LDev038, LHen1, LEge02

Collation
1 He] Hey LDev038 A LHen1 He Robyn gentyll] A Robyn/ Ioly LEge02 Robyn] robyn LHen1 gentyll] gentyl LHen1 gentyll robyn/ tell me] Ioly Robyn tell me/ LDev038 robyn/] Robyn/ LEge02 tell] tel LHen1 howe] how LDev038 LEge02 LHen1 lady] leman LEge02 lemman LHen1 dothe/] dose LDev038 doeth/ LEge02 doth/ LHen1 thou] thow LHen1 shalte] shalt LDev038 shall LEge02 shal LHen1 knowe] know/ LDev038 know LHen1 of] off LHen1 myn] myne LHen1 1.1 ] A robyn gentil robyn gentyl LHen1 1.2 ] thy lemman doth LHen1 1.3 ] and thow shal know of myne LHen1 1.4 ] A robyn gentil robyn LHen1 1.5 ] tel me how thy lemman doth LHen1 1.6 ] and thow shalt know of myne LHen1 2 My] my LHen1 ladye] lady LDev038 LEge02 LHen1 is] us LHen1 is vnkynde] ys wnkynd LDev038 vnkynde] vnkynd LEge02 perdye] perdy LDev038 perde LEge02 I wis LHen1 3 allas] Alas LDev038 alac LHen1 allas why] alack whi LEge02 is] ys LDev038 soo] so LEge02 LHen1 4 She] she LDev038 She loves another Beter then I] she loveth an othre better then me LEge02 she louyth another better than me LHen1 loves] lowes LDev038 another] a nother LDev038 Beter] better LDev038 5 yet] yett LDev038 wyll] will LEge02 LHen1 saye] say LDev038 LEge02 LHen1 W] noo LDev038 no LEge02 LHen1 5.1 ] Responce LEge02 r robyn LHen1 6 ] I fynd no shech doblenes LDev038 I fynde no suche doublenes LEge02 I can not thynk such dobylnes LHen1 7 ] for I fynd women trew LDev038 I fynde women true LEge02 for I fynd wo men trew LHen1 8 ] my lady lovyth me dowtles LDev038 my lady loveth me dowtles LEge02 In faith my lady louith me well LHen1 9 ] and wyll chang for no new LDev038 and will chaunge for no newe LEge02 she will change for no new LHen1 9.1 ] le plaintif LEge02 A robyn LHen1 10 ] Thow art happy yf ytt doth last LDev038 Thou art happy while that doeth last LEge02 11 ] bot I say as I fynd LDev038 but I say as I fynd LEge02 12 ] that womens lou ys but A blast LDev038 that womens love is but a blast LEge02 13 ] and tornyth as the wynd LDev038 and torneth lik the wynde LEge02 14 ] Yf that be trew yett as thou sayst LDev038 15 ] that women turn their hart LDev038 16 ] then spek better of them thov mayst LDev038 17 ] In hop to hau thy partt LDev038 17.1 ] Responce LEge02 18 ] Such folke shal tak no hurt by louee LDev038 Suche folkes shall take no harme by love LEge02 19 ] that can abyd their torn LDev038 that can abide their torn LEge02 20 ] bot I Alas can no ways prou LDev038 But I alas can no way prove LEge02 21 ] In lou butt lak and mornn LDev038 in love but lake &amp; morn LEge02 21.1 ] le plaintif LEge02 22 ] yet yff thow wylt Avoyd the harm LDev038 But if thou wilt avoyde thy harme LEge02 23 ] Lern thys leson off me LDev038 lerne this lessen of me LEge02 24 ] at others fyers thy self to Warn LDev038 in othre fieres thy self to warme LEge02 25 ] and lett them warn wyth the LDev038 and let theim warme with the LEge02