This hypothesis satisfies several conditions. It explains why the lover's _English_ is not good enough to praise the lady; why so many French lines are quoted; the significant allusion to the lily, i.e. the lily of France, in l. 16; the lover's consolation found in English roundels (40); the expression 'cheef princesse' in l. 70; and the very remarkable exclamation of _Salve, regina_, in l. 83, which doubtless made Thynne imagine that the poem was addressed to the Virgin Mary. The expression 'for your departing' in l. 105 does not necessarily mean 'on account of your departure from me'; it is equally in accordance with Middle-English usage to suppose that it means 'on account of your separation from me'; see _Depart_ and _Departing_ in the New English Dictionary.
It is well known that Lydgate provided the necessary poetry for the entry of Henry VI into London in Feb. 1432.
Some resemblances to Chaucer are pointed out in the Notes. The most interesting circumstance about this poem is that the author quotes, at the end of his third stanza, the first line of 'Merciles Beautè'; this is a strong point in favour of the attribution of that poem to his master.
This piece is distinguished from the preceding by the difference of its subject; by the difference in the character of the metre (there is here no alliteration); and, most significant of all, by its absence from MS. Ashmole 59 and MS. Sloane 1212, both of which contain the preceding piece. The two poems may have been brought together, in the MS. which Thynne followed, by the accident of being written about the same time.
The title of this piece in Stowe's edition stands as follows: 'A balade of good counseile, translated out of Latin verses into Englishe, by dan Iohn lidgat cleped the monke of Buri.' What were the Latin verses here referred to, I have no means of ascertaining.
This Ballad is eminently characteristic of Lydgate's style, and by no means the worst of its kind. When he once gets hold of a refrain that pleases him, he canters merrily along till he has absolutely no more to say. I think he must have enjoyed writing it, and that he wrote it to please himself.
He transgresses one of Chaucer's canons in ll. 79-82; where he rimes _hardy_ with _foly_ and _flatery_. The two latter words are, in Chaucer, _foly-ë_ and _flatery-ë_, and never rime with a word like _hardy_, which has no final _-e_.