47. _But._ This reading is given by Tyrwhitt, from MS. Dd. 4. 24 in the Cambridge University Library and two other MSS. All our seven MSS. read _That_; but this would require the word _Nath_ (hath not) instead of _Hath_, in l. 49. Chaucer talks about his writings in a similar strain in A. 746, 1460; and at a still earlier period, in his House of Fame, 620, where Jupiter's eagle says to him:-- 'And nevertheles hast set thy wit, Although that in thy hede ful lyte is, To make bokes, songes, dytees, In ryme, or elles in cadence, As thou best canst, in reverence Of Love, and of his servants eke'; &c. [137] _can but lewedly on metres_, is but slightly skilled in metre. _Can_ = _knows_ here; in the line above it is the ordinary auxiliary verb. 54. Ovid is mentioned for two reasons; because he has so many love-stories, and because Chaucer himself borrowed several of his own from Ovid. _made of mencioun_; we should now say--'made mention of.' 55. _Epistelles_, Epistles. (T. prints _Epistolis_, the Lat. form, without authority. The word has here four syllables.) The book referred to is Ovid's Heroides, which contains twenty-one love-letters. See note to l. 61. 56. _What_, why, on what account? cf. Prologue, A. 184. 57. 'The story of Ceyx and Alcyone is related in the introduction to the poem which was for some time called "The Dreme of Chaucer," but which, in the MSS. Fairfax 16 and Bodl. 638, is more properly entitled, "The Boke of the Duchesse."'--Tyrwhitt. Chaucer took it from Ovid's Metamorphoses, bk. xi. 'Ceyx and Alcyone' was once, probably, an independent poem; see vol. i. p. 63. 59. _Thise_ is a monosyllable; the final _e_ probably denotes that _s_ was 'voiced,' and perhaps the _i_ was long, pronounced (dhiiz). 59, 60. For _eek_, _seek_, read _eke_, _seke_. Here _sek-e_ is in the infinitive mood. The form _ek-e_ is not etymological, as the A.S. _[=e]ac_ was a monosyllable; but, as _-e_ frequently denoted an _adverbial_ suffix, it was easily added. Hence, in M.E., both _eek_ and _ek-e_ occur; and Chaucer uses either form at pleasure, _ek-e_ being more usual. For examples of _eek_, see E. 1349, G. 794.