afterwarde shewethe what shall be done to those women, yf they
be founde agayne in the Kinges courte, in suche sorte, that, as
by Tillius, this Rex Ribaldorum his auctorytye was over homines
perditos, mulieres puellasq{ue} perditas. And that yt was, by
Lupanus, to assigne to Ribaldes lodginge out of the courte, (for
so modestye willeth vs to vnderstande, because they shoulde not
offende and infecte the courte with their sighte and manners,)
so ys yt our Marshalls office, to banyshe those harlottes the
courte, and bestowe them in some other place, where they might
be lesse annoyance. [Sidenote: Master Thynne being a herold
liketh not that false semblance should be thought one.]
Wherefore I conclude w{i}th the frenche, and the former
edit{i}one of Chaucer in the yere of Christe 1542, that False
Semblance was of righte to be made kinge of Harlottes, and not
of Haroldes, who wolde mightely be offended to haue them holden
of the conditions of false semblance. Nowe here be nugæ in the
Romante of the Roose, I cannott (as the proverb ys) take my hand
from the table, (fyndinge go manye oversightes in the two last
editiones,) but must speake of one thing more, deserving
correctione, in these woordes of the Romante, fo. 116 of the
last impress{i}one:
Amide saw I hate stonde,
That for wrathe and yre & onde
Semed to be a minoresse;
[Sidenote: Hate was a Moueresse or stirrer of debate, not a
minoresse.] Where this woorde Minoresse shoulde be Moueresse,
signyfyinge a mover or styrrer to debate, for these be the
frenche verses in the oldest written copye that euer was (to be
founde in Englande, yf my coniecture fayle me not,) by the age
of the frenche wordes, which are these:
Enz euz le milieu vi hayne,
qui de courouz et datayn
Sembla bien estre moueresse,
et courouse et teucerresse.
Beinge thus englyshed, as of righte they oughte, accordinge to
the frenche:
Amyde sawe I hate stonde,
That of wrathe and yre & onde
Semed well to be mooveresse,
An angry wighte and chyderesse.
[Sidenote: Molinet calleth Hate a Ducteress, or leader.] Whiche
woord mooveresse the learned molinet, in his moralizat{i}one of
that Romant, dothe turne into Ducteresse, a leader or leadresse,
so that they agree yt shoulde not be a minoresse, but a
mooveresse or leadresse of and to anger and yre; anye of whose
woordes will as well and rather better fytt the sence and verse
of Chaucer, and better answere the Frenche originall and
meanynge, than the incerted woorde Minoresse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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