POEMS*

SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY

CHAUCER

DURING HIS IMPRISONMENT.

HALFE in dede sclepe, not fully revyved,
Rudely my sylfe as I lay alone,
With troubled dremes sore was I mevyd;

These Poems are found at the beginning of Lord Stafford's Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales, on two leaves before the Prologue; and written (though not in the same, yet) in a coeval hand, as I have observed in the Introduction preceding the Illustrations in this volume. I am here to strengthen my opinion, that they are the composition of Chaucer, by the juxta-position of passages, drawn from his genuine writings, in unison with passages in these.

Ver. 1. Halfe in dede sclepe, &c.] The opening of the Testament of Love might be compared with the beginning of From Chaucers Dreme, I cite the following parallel expressions, ver. 51. ed. Urr.

this poem.

All worldly joy passed and overgone :

Me semyd full sore I made my mone;

Mynde, thowght, resonable wyt hadde I none; Thus I lay sclomberyng a owre to my dome.

For on this wyse upon a night,
As ye have herd, withoutin light,
Not all wakyng, ne full on slepe,

About such hour as lovirs wepe, &c.

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He had before described himself half on slepe, and beginning to dreme, ver. 22, &c. The resemblance of the first line in the translation of La belle Dame sans mercy, ascribed without foundation to Chaucer, is also remarkable. See Chaucer's Works, ed. Urr. p. 422.

Halfe in a dreme, not fully well awaked,

The golden slepe me wrapped under his wyng, &c.

This poem, however, is said to have been translated from Alan Chartier not by Chaucer but by Sir Richard Ros, MSS. Harl. 372. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's distinction of the genuine and supposititious Works of Chaucer, and Ritson's Bibliographia Poetica, in V. Ros.

Ver. 4. All worldly joy passed, &c.] The usual lamentation of our poet, in his Testament of Love, which, there is every reason to believe, was written in prison. I ginne remember on passed gladnes," Test. ed. Urr. p. 481. col. 1. "For that me comforteth to thinke on passed gladnes,” ibid. "How am I now cast out of all swetenes of blisse, and mischevously stongen by a passed joye!" ib. p. 502. col. 1. resonable wyt hadde I none;] Like his declaration, after pouring forth his sorrow, in the opening of the same work. "Thus witlesse, &c. I endure my penaunce in this derke prisonne.”

Ver. 6.

As thus I lay avexed full sore

In suche thynges, as of right by the agayne nature, I herde a voyce seyyng, Sclepe thow no more. Aryse up, and wake to thy besy cure;

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Thy mynde, thy hert, thy body thow alure
To suche that wyll fall next, tho thy mynde;
Take thy penne in thy hand, stedfaste and sure;
Awake, awake, of comforte full blynde.

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Thys voyce well I herde, and therto gave audyens ;

I felt the entent, but I stode amased;

I wyste not what it ment; for I saw no presens.
Thus in pency ffenes sore was I crased,
And as a wytles man gretely adased

I gave no credence; anon I fell in sclepe,
From all kyndely wyt clene was I rased:
So to hys wordes I toke no grete kepe.

20

Ver. 10. I herde a voyce seying, Sclepe thou no more;] The commentators on Shakspeare will be delighted with this poem, if it be only for the sake of placing the exclamation in this line under that of Macbeth,

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Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more! " Macbeth hath murder'd sleep, &c."

I may be pardoned, I hope, for this digression.

Ver. 11. wake to thy besy cure;] This, I conceive, alludes to his employment in prison, the composition of the Testament of Love. It is also his own phrase, in the Knightes Tale, "Theseus with all his besy cure."

Ver. 20. ——— as a wytles man &c.] See the note on ver 6, and compare ver. 22.

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I supposed yt to have been some noxiall fantasy, As fallyth in dremes, in parties of the nyght, 25 Which cometh of joy, or of grevous malady,

Or of robuste metes which causeth grete myght: Overmoche replet obscuryth the syght

Of naturall reasoune, and causyth idyll thowght, Makyth the body hevy where hyt was lyght.

30

So shortly to conclude; of thys voyce I ne

rowght,

And not sclepte but a lytyll whyle,

Ver. 24. I supposed yt to have been some noxiall fantasy, As falleth in dremes, &c.] The reasoning upon dreams, which follows, is much the same as that adopted by dame Pertelote, in the tale of the Cock and the Fox, related by the Nonnes Preest of our poet, ver. 14929. edit. Tyrwhitt.

Swevenes [dreams] engendren of repletions,
And oft of fume, and of complexions,
Whan humours ben to habundant in a wight-

Of other humours cond I telle also,

That werken many a man in slepe moch wo, &c.

In the Prologue to the House of Fame the causes of dreams

are thus also investigated, ver. 21. edit. Urr.

Or if folkis complexions

Make hem dreme of reflexions

And then are enumerated abstinence, prison, sickness, and

any other great distress, &c.

But thys voyce well I herde; to me he sayde,
Awake, and aryse, thow dost thy sylfe begyle,
Aryse from the place where thow art layde: 35
Wyth that I awoke, and from my sclepe brayed,
Marveling moch, and sayde Benedicite,
As a man unreasonable gretely dysmayed,
Ey, gode Lorde, what thyng may thys be?

Hugely trobled, yet feythfully I belevyd That the voyce came from the celestyall place; Wherefore I aryse, not gretely agrevyd, And besawght God of hys especyall grace, That he wolde be my socowre in this cace; Praying as yt followeth with hert and wyll; Arysyng full lyghtely my sylfe did I brase, Makyng my prayowre undyr thys skyll.

O Reformer of mankynde, one, ij, and iij, Eternall Kynge, and Prynce most emperyall,

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45

Ver. 38. As a man unresonable gretely dysmayed,] In his grief Chaucer thus exclaims, Test. of L. p. 480. col. 1. "Like to a fole naturell am I comparisoned."

Ver. 40. Hugely trobled, &c.] So, in the Testament of Love, Chaucer represents himself "hugely astonied," p. 512.

col. 2.

Ver. 44. imprisonment.

in this cace;] The cause of his

Ver. 48. O Reformer of mankynde, one, ij, and iij,] This is precisely the manner, in which Chaucer's devotional address is formed, at the conclusion of his Troilus and Creseide: