The Lyrics of Henry VIII/Thow that men do call it dotage, Henry VIII

[ff. 55v - 56r]

Textual Commentary
“Thow that men do call it dotage” is a lyric urging constancy in love while denigrating those who do not love (and those who hinder the activities of the lover) as being cowardly and unsophisticated. At the same time, the text puts forward a neo-platonic theory of love’s reception by the lover akin to that outlined by Bembo in the fourth book of the Courtier (337); love is received from Venus, or the woman who is heir to Venus, and the object of love is perceived to be fair by the lover both visually and mentally/emotionally—first appreciated by the eye, and then by the mind and heart. Underlying these concerns is that of the author with unsophisticated lovers (those, presumably, who do not love properly) who hinder the activities of true lovers.


 * 1    Thow  Though.


 * 2   corage   Sexual vigour and inclination, the desire to love, the amorous spirit; see Henry’s “The tyme of youthe is to be spent” (H 19.10, note), and l. 10, below.


 * 4   venus   Note also the words ascribed to Henry, at his death, by Cavendish (Metrical Visions): “Whan Venus veneryall of me had domynacion, / And blynd Cupido my purpose did avaunce, / Than willfull lust thoroughe indiscression, / Was chosyn juge to hold my balaunce” (ll. 1245–48).     fett   Fetch, gain (OED “fet” v. obs.).


 * 5   hayre   Heir.


 * 7   Wyth  Read “when.”     ee Eye.


 * 8   bote   Remedy, help.


 * 10 afformyth  Affirms, confirms.


 * 13 courage   Perhaps, here, a combination of the two senses of the word “corage” (as outlined in the note to Henry’s “The tyme of youthe is to be spent” [H 19.10]); the “corage” of bravery, as noted in other lyrics in H, is facilitated by the type of love that Henry here urges, as evidenced by discussions in Castiglione’s Courtier (as noted in the commentary to this lyric).


 * 14 dysdaynyth  Cf. Henry’s “Whoso that wyll all feattes optayne” (H 28.2,4,8,11,14) and elsewhere; see the note to H 28.2.    of the village  Uncourtly, perhaps bucolic; cf. Youth’s sentiments “Were thou born in Trumpington / And brought up in Hogs Norton?” (Lancashire, Two Tudor Interludes [Youth] 141 ll. 603–4).     who . . . village  Cf. “loue enforcyth all nobyle kynd. / And dysdayne dyscorages all gentyl mynd” (Henry’s “Whoso that wyll all feattes optayne” [H 28.3–4]).


 * 17 sewe  Make suit; legal (courtly allusion); see also the comment to Henry’s “If love now reynyd as it hath bene” (H 38.12).

“Thow that men do call it dotage” is in three voices, with the text of the first couplet underlaid and the remaining text appearing after the music.

This lyric is indexed in Robbins Index & Suppl. 3706.7, Boffey, and Ringler MS TM1708. Reprinted in Chappell Account 377, Flügel Anglia 246–47, Flügel Neuengl 137, Greene 297, Stevens M&P 411–12, Stevens MCH8 xviii, 52, and Trefusis 28–31.

Texts Collated
H1,2,3 (ff. 55v–56r, ll. 1–2 H2,3).


 * 2   not] no H1, not H2,3