is quite in Lydgate's style.
§ 5. Editions and MSS. consulted.
I have repeatedly explained that there were but four black-letter editions of Collected Works before Speght's; and these I call Thynne's first edition (1532), Thynne's second edition (1542), the undated edition (about 1550, which I call 1550 for brevity), and Stowe's edition (1561) respectively. I shall denote these editions below by the symbols 'Th.,' ed. 1542, ed. 1550, and 'S.' respectively. Of these editions, the first is the best; the second is derived from the first; the third is derived from the second; and the fourth from the third[4]. In every case it is useless to consult a later edition when an earlier one can be found.
The following is the list of the pieces which depend on the editions only, or for which the editions have been collated. I always cite the earliest; that the later ones also contain the piece in question must, once for all, be understood.
Caxton.—XXVIII. No. VII. was also collated with a print by Caxton.
Wynkyn de Worde.—XXIII.
Wynkyn de Worde.—VIII.
Chepman and Miller (1508).—VIII.
Th.—I. IX. XI. XXII. Also collated for IV. V. VII. VIII. X. XII. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XXI. XXIII.
Thynne had access to excellent MSS., and is always worth consulting.
Ed. 1542.—II. XXVIII. Collated for VI.
An early printed edition of Jack Upland.—III.
S. (1561).—XV. Collated for XIII. XIV. XXIV. XXV. XXIX.
A printed edition of the Testament of Cresseid (1593).—XVII.
Speght (1598).—XX. Collated for III.
The following twenty MSS. have been collated or consulted.
Trentham MS.—IV. (See Introduction.)
Fairfax 16.-V. VIII. XIII. XVI. XVIII. XIX. (See vol. i. p. 51.)
Bodley 638.—V. VIII. XVIII. (See vol. i. p. 53.)
Tanner 346.—V. VIII. XVIII. XIX. (See vol. i. p. 54.)
Ashmole 59.—VII. X. XIII. (See vol. i. p. 53.)
Arch. Selden B. 24.—V. VIII. XVIII. XXVI. XXVII. (See vol. i. p. 54.)
Digby 181.—V. VIII. (See vol. i. p. 54.)
Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. 1. 6.—V. XII. XVI. XVIII. (See vol. i. p. 55.)
Pepys 2006.—VIII. (See vol. i. p. 55.)
Trin. Coll. R. 3. 19.—XIV. XVI. XXI. XXIV. XXV. XXIX. (See vol. i. p. 56.)
Trin. Coll. R. 3. 20.—V. (One of Shirley's MSS.)
Trin. Coll. O. 9. 38.—XIV.
Addit. 16165, B. M.—XIII. (See vol. i. p. 56.)
Addit. 34360, B. M.—XXI.
Harl. 372, B. M.—XVI. (See vol. i. p. 58.)
Harl. 2251, B. M.—VII. XII. XIV. (See vol. i. p. 57.)
Harl. 7578, B. M.—XIII. (See vol. i. p. 58.)
Sloane 1212, B. M.—X. (A fair copy.)
Phillipps 8151.—VI. (See Hoccleve's Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 1.)
Ashburnham 133.—V. (See the same, p. xxvii.)
§ 6. Conversely, I here give the authorities from which each piece is derived. For further comments on some of them, see the separate introductions to each piece below.
I. The Testament of Love (prose).—Th. (Thynne, 1532).
II. The Plowmans Tale (1380 lines).—Th. (Thynne, 1542).
III. Jack Upland (prose).—Early edition, Caius College library; Speght (1598).
IV. Praise of Peace (385 lines).—Th. (1532); Trentham MS.
V. Letter of Cupid (476 lines).—Th. (1532); Fairfax, Bodley, Tanner, Selden, Ashburnham, Digby MSS.; Trin. Coll. R. 3. 20; Camb. Ff. 1. 6; also in the Bannatyne MS.
VI. To the King's Grace (64).—Th. (1542); Phillipps 8151.
VII. A Moral Balade (189).—Th. (1532); Caxton; Ashmole 59, Harl. 2251. (I also find a reference to Harl. 367, fol. 85, back.)
VIII. Complaint of the Black Knight (681).—Th. (1532); Fairfax, Bodley, Tanner, Digby, Selden, Pepys; Addit. 16165. Also printed, separately, by Wynkyn de Worde (n. d.); and at Edinburgh, by Chepman and Miller, in 1508.
IX. The Flour of Curtesye (270).—Th. (1532).
X. In Commendation of our Lady (140).—Th.; Ashmole 59; Sloane 1212.
XI. To my Soverain Lady (112).—Th.
XII. Ballad of Good Counsel (133).—Th.; Camb. Ff. 1. 6; Harl. 2251.
XIII. Beware of Doubleness (104).—Stowe (1561); Fairfax 16, Ashmole 59, Harl. 7578, Addit. 16165.
XIV. A Balade: Warning Men (49).—Stowe (1561); Harl. 2251, fol. 149, back; Trin. R. 3. 19; Trin. O. 9. 38.
XV. Three Sayings (21).—Stowe (1561).
XVI. La Belle Dame sans Mercy (856).—Th.; Fairfax, Harl. 372; Camb. Ff. 1. 6; Trin. R. 3. 19, fol. 98.
XVII. Testament of Cresseid (616).—Th.; Edinburgh edition (1593).
XVIII. The Cuckoo and the Nightingale (290).—Th.; Fairfax, Bodley, Tanner, Selden; Camb. Ff. 1. 6.
XIX. Envoy to Alison (27).—Th.; Fairfax, Tanner.
XX. The Flower and the Leaf (595).—Speght (1598).
XXI. The Assembly of Ladies (756).—Th.; Addit. 34360; Trin. R. 3. 19.
XXII. A goodly Balade (71).—Th.
XXIII. Go forth, King (14).—Wynkyn de Worde; Th.
XXIV. The Court of Love (1442).—Stowe (1561); Trin. R. 3. 19.
XXV. Virelai (20).—Stowe (1561); Trin. R. 3. 19.
XXVI. Prosperity (8); XXVII. Loyalty (7).—Selden MS.
XXVIII. Sayings (14).—Caxton; reprinted, Th. (1542).
XXIX. In Praise of Chaucer (7).—Stowe (1561); Trin. R. 3. 19.
§ 7. I. The Testament of Love; by Thomas Usk.
Of this piece no MS. copy has been discovered. The only authority is Thynne's edition of 1532, whence all later editions have been copied more or less incorrectly. The reprints will be found to grow steadily worse, so that the first edition is the only one worth consulting.
The present edition is printed from a transcript of Thynne (1532), made by myself; the proof-sheets being carefully read with the original. In making the transcript, I have altered the symbol u to v, when used as a consonant; and (in the few places where it occurs) the consonantal i to j. I have also substituted i for y when the vowel is short, chiefly in the case of the suffix -yng or -ynge, here printed -ing or -inge. In nearly all other cases, the original spellings are given in the footnotes. Thynne's chief errors of printing occur in places where he has persistently altered the spelling of the MS. to suit the spelling in fashion in the days of Henry VIII. His chief alterations are as follows. He prints ea for open ee, written ee or e at the beginning of the fifteenth century; thus, he has ease for ese, and please for plese. He most perversely adds a useless final e to the words howe, nowe, and some others; and he commits the anachronism of printing father, mother, together, wether,