HA. (Harl. 7578). Contains Lydgate's _Proverbs_; Chaucer's _Pite_ (fol. 13, back), _Gentilesse_ and _Lak of Stedfastnesse_ (fol. 17), immediately followed by the _Balade against Women unconstaunt_, precisely in the place where we should expect to find it; also Chaucer's _Proverbs_, immediately followed by the wholly unconnected stanzas discussed above; p. 52, l. 20. At fol. 20, back, are six stanzas of Chaucer's _A. B. C._
HARL. (MS. Harl. 7333). This is a fine folio MS., and contains numerous pieces. At fol. 37, recto, begins a copy of the Canterbury Tales, with a short prose Proem by Shirley; this page has been reproduced in facsimile for the Chaucer Society. At fol. 129, back, begins the _Parliament of Foules_, at the end of which is the stanza which appears as poem no. 41 in Stowe's edition (see p. 33). Then follow the _Broche of Thebes_, i. e. the _Complaint of Mars_, and _Anelida_. It also contains some of the _Gesta Romanorum_ and of Hoccleve's _De Regimine Principum_. But the most remarkable thing in this MS. is the occurrence, at fol. 136, of a poem hitherto (as I believe) unprinted, yet obviously (in my opinion) written by Chaucer; see no. XXII. in the present volume. Other copies occur in F. and B.
SH. (MS. Harl. 78; one of Shirley's MSS.). At fol. 80 begins the _Complaint to Pity_; on fol. 82 the last stanza of this poem is immediately followed by the poem here printed as no. VI; the only mark of separation is a star-like mark placed upon the line which is drawn to separate one stanza from another. At the end of fol. 83, back, l. 123 of the poem occurs at the bottom of the page, and fol. 84 is gone; so that the last stanza of 10 lines and the ascription to Chaucer in the colophon do not appear in this MS.
MS. Harl. 372. This MS. contains many poems by Lydgate. Also a copy of _Anelida_; followed by _La Belle Dame sans mercy_, 'translatid out of Frenche by Sir Richard Ros,' &c.
MS. Lansdowne 699. This MS. contains numerous poems by Lydgate, such as _Guy of Warwick_, the _Dance of Macabre_, the _Horse, Sheep, and Goose_, &c.; and copies of Chaucer's _Fortune_ and _Truth_.
This piece was first printed in Speght's edition of 1602, with this title: 'Chaucer's A. B. C. called _La Priere de Nostre Dame_: made, as some say, at the Request of Blanch, Duchesse of Lancaster, as a praier for her priuat vse, being a woman in her religion very deuout.' This is probably a mere guess, founded on the fact that Chaucer wrote the Book of the Duchess. It cannot be literally true, because it is not strictly 'made,' or composed, but only translated. Still, it is just possible that it was _translated_ for her pleasure (rather than use); and if so, must have been written between 1359 and 1369. A probable date is about 1366. In any case, it may well stand first in chronological order, being a translation just of that unambitious character which requires no great experience. Indeed, the translation shews one mark of want of skill; each stanza begins by following the original for a line or two, after which the stanza is completed rather according to the requirements of rime than with an endeavour to render the original at all closely. There are no less than thirteen MS. copies of it; and its genuineness is attested both by Lydgate and Shirley.[247] The latter marks it with Chaucer's name in the Sion College MS. Lydgate's testimony is curious, and requires a few words of explanation.