The Devonshire Manuscript/lament my losse my labor and my payne

f. [76v]

1    lament my losse my labor and my payne 2    all ye that here mye wofull playnte and crye 3    yf ever man might ons yor herte constrayne 4    to pytie wordes {es} of right yt shulde bee I 5    that sins. the tyme that youthe yn me ded rayne 6    my plesaunte yeris to bondage ded aplye 7    wiche as yt was I porpose to declare 8    wherebye my frindes {es} hereafter maye be ware

9    And if per {p+} chaunce some radrs list to muse 10    what menith me so playnlye for to wright 11    my good entente the fawte of yt shall skuse 12    wiche meane nothing but trulye tendyght to endite 13    the crafte and care the greef and long abuse 14    of lovors lawe and eke her puisssauntemight 15    wiche though that men oft tymes bye paynis doth kno. 16    lyttle thye wot wiche wayes the gylis doth growe

17    yet well ye kno yt will renwe my smar {m'} te 18    thus to reherse the paynes that I have past 19    my hand dothe shake my pen skant dothe his parte 20    my boddye quakes {es} my wyttis begynne to waste 21    twixt heate and colde in fere I fele my herte 22    {_i} {_a} pay panting for paine and thus as all agaste 23    I do remayne wo skant wotting what I wry d 24    perdon me then Rudelye tho I indyte

25    And patientelye o Rerdre I the praye 26    take in good parte this worke as yt ys men {_e} te 27    {{th}+t+} {w+t+} and greve the not with aught that I shall saye 28    sins with {w+t+} good will this boke a brode ys sente 29    to tell men I howe in youthe I ded assaye 30    what love ded mene and nowe I yt repente 31    that moving me my frindes {es} might well be ware 32    {_o} {_e} and kepe them fre from all suche payne and care /

fs

Commentary
Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt, this poem was entered by H8. Here the speaker warns a friend of the grief and abuse caused by the “law” of lovers. While some scholars have argued that Wyatt based his poem on Petrarch's Rime I, Rebholz notes that the poem does not have enough similarities to constitute a direct translation or imitation; the poem, Rebholz argues, might have instead belonged to a group of poems Wyatt intended to send abroad, and this poem would "have been both a preface and an envoy in the medieval tradition of farewells to books."