It is to be regretted that Shirley's spelling is so indifferent; he was rather an amateur than a professional scribe. Some of his peculiarities may be noticed, as they occur not only here, but also in the two last pieces, nos. XXII. and XXIII. He constantly adds a final _e_ in the wrong place, producing such forms _fallethe_, _howe_, _frome_, and the like, and drops it where it is necessary, as in _hert_ (for _herte_). He is fond of _eo_ for _ee_ or long _e_, as in _beo_, _neodethe_. He writes _ellas_ for _allas_; also _e_ in place of the prefix _y-_, as in _eknytte_ for _y-knit_. This last peculiarity is extremely uncommon. I have removed the odd effect which these vagaries produce, and I adopt the ordinary spelling of MSS. that resemble in type the Ellesmere MS. of the Canterbury Tales.
This piece exhibits three distinct metres, viz. the 7-line stanza, terza rima, and the 10-line stanza. Of the last, which is extremely rare, we have here the earliest example. Lines 56 and 59 are lost, and some others are imperfect.
The genuineness of this poem is obvious enough, and is vouched for both by Lydgate and Shirley, as shewn above. It is further discussed in the Notes. I may add that Lydgate incidentally refers to it in his _Complaint of the Black Knight_, l. 379:--'Of Thebes eke the false Arcite.' Much later allusions are the following:--
'There was also Annelida the queene, Upon Arcite how sore she did complaine'; _Assembly of Ladies_, l. 465.
...... 'and the weimenting Of her Annelida, true as turtle-dove To Arcite fals.' _Court of Love_, l. 233.
The first three stanzas are from Boccaccio's _Teseide_, as shewn in the Notes; so also are stanzas 8, 9, and 10. Stanzas 4-7 are partly from Statius. The origin of ll. 71-210 is at present unknown. It is difficult to date this poem, but it must be placed after 1373, because of its quotations from the _Teseide_, or rather from Chaucer's own _Palamon and Arcite_. The mention of 'the quene of Ermony' in l. 72 suggests that Chaucer's thoughts may have been turned towards Armenia by the curious fact that, in 1384, the King of Armenia came to England about Christmas time, stayed two months, and was hospitably entertained by King Richard at Eltham; see Fabyan's _Chronicles_, ed. Ellis, p. 532. At an earlier time, viz. in 1362, Walsingham says that some knights of Armenia appeared at a tournament in Smithfield. In the Transactions of the Cambridge Philological Society, May 13, 1886, there is a short paper by Prof. Cowell, from which we learn that Mr. Bradshaw believed the name of _Anelida_ to be identical 'with Anáhita ([Greek: Anaitis]), the ancient goddess of Persia and Armenia.... He supposed that Chaucer got the name _Anelida_ from a misreading of the name _Anaetidem_ or _Anaetida_ in some Latin MS., the _t_ being mistaken for _l_.' We must remember that _Creseide_ represents a Greek _accusative_ form [Greek: Chrusêida], of which the gen. [Greek: Chrusêidos] occurs in Homer, _Il._ i. 111; and perhaps the form _Dalida_ (for Dalilah) in the Septuagint is also due to association with Greek accusatives in [Greek: -ida]. The genitive _Anaetidos_ occurs in Pliny, xxxiii. 4; in Holland's translation of Pliny, ii. 470, she appears as 'the goddesse _Diana_ syrnamed _Anaitis_.' It may be as well to explain to those who are unaccustomed to MSS. of the fourteenth century, that it was then usual to write _e_ in place of _ae_ or _æ_, so that the name would usually be written, in the accusative case, _Anetida_. This suggests that _Anelida_ should be spelt with but one _n_; and such is the practice of all the better MSS.