The Lyrics of Henry VIII/O my hart and o my hart, Henry VIII

[ff. 22v-23r]

The Kyng H. viij.

Commentary
This piece is a lyric of departure: the lover regretfully leaves his lady, not fully understanding the reasons for his leaving. The Henry VIII Manuscript presents “O my hart and o my hart” in three voices, each in full and with text-height block capitals at the outset. Extra rules are given on both the verso and recto sheets. The lyric appears to have been copied once, in an early sixteenth-century hand, on the final page (gg4v) of Caxton’s edition of Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea (PBLe; trans. and pr. 1493; Huntington Printed Book 69798; Pollard/STC 24875).

“O my hart and o my hart” is indexed in Robbins Index & Suppl. 2531.5, Boffey, Ringler MS TM1218, and Crum O715. The piece is reprinted in Chappell Account 374, Flügel Anglia 232, Trefusis 9, Stevens M&P 390, and Stevens MCH8 17.

Texts Collated
H1,2,3 (ff. 22v–23r), PBLe (gg4v).
 * 2   it] that PBLe
 * 3   sens] sytt PBLe;     I] that I PBLe;     nedys] omit PBLe