The Devonshire Manuscript, My ferefull hope from me ys fledd

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 7v (Image: DMSEG, CC BY-SA 3.0) |

f. [7v]

{9}{p`} 1    3primus My ferefull hope from me ys fledd
2    whyche of long tyme hathe ben my gyde
3    now faythefull trust ys in hys stedd
4    & bydes{es} me sett all fere asyde

5    O trewthe yt ys I not denye
6    all lovers may not lyve in ease
7    yet sum by hap dothe hyt truly
8    so lyke may I yff that she please

9    Why so yt ys a gyfft ye wott
10    by nature one to love another
11    & syns that{{th}+t+} love dothe fall by lott
12    then why not I as well as other

13    yt may so be the cawse ys why
14    she knowythe no part to my poore mynd
15    but yet as one assuRyddly
16    I speke nothyng but as I fynd

17    yff nature wyll yt shall so be
18    no reason Rulythe fantasy1
19    yet in thys case as semythe me
20    I take all thyng Indyfferently

21    yet vncertayn I wyll Reioyce
22    & thynk to have tho yet thow hast
23    I put my chawnce vnto her choyce
24    with{w+t+} pacyence for power ys past

25    No no I knowe the lyke ys fayre
26    with{w+t+}owt dysdayn or cruelltye
27    & so to end from all dyspayre
28    vntyll I fynd the contraRye

fynys quod{q+d+}n [] et2

Notes & Glosses

1. This writer often uses a majuscule as the first letter of a word.
2. Standard witness indexes indicate that the obscured word here is "nobody," corresponding to the attribution to "somebody" in the corresponding poem, "Yowre ferefull hope cannot prevayle" (8r).

Commentary

Entered by H2, this poem remains unattributed and may be an original creation. The poems appears as a question/answer sequence, marked first (primus) and second (secundus) by an unidentified hand on facing pages, and with possibly responding closers. Unlike earlier medieval question/answer courtly love poems, such as the Middle English "Demaundes off Love" (c. 1487), 1] this particular poem seems to reference a specific beloved and does not follow a designated thematic sequence of questions. The speaker in this poem has traded hope for trust, believing that Fortune will be kind to his suit because his “chance” resides in the lady’s choice. Compare this poem to the speaker’s “answer” about trust on the facing page ([8r).

Works Cited

• ↑ W. L. Braekman, ed., The 'Demaundes off Love (Brussels: Omirel, UFSAL, 1982.) This poem, found in the royal manuscript Additional 60577, is based on the older French game "Le Roi Qui Ne Ment."

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