The Devonshire Manuscript/Myn vnhappy chaunce / to home shall I playn

←to men that knows ye not

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 60v

 f. [60v] 

1    Myn vnhappy chaunce / to home shall I playn
2    for wher as / I love no grace do I fynd
3    displesur I haue / with{w+t+} woo and payn
4    tormented I am I wot not wher to wynde
5    shall it be my fortune / thus to be assynd /
6    that wher as I vulde be faynest beloved
7    to be with{w+t+} disdayn / Cruelly rewardid /

8    Offt haue I shoyd / my lovyng hert /
9    {es}{w+t+} with wordes vnfayned and eke by lett
10    {p+}{_n} by message all so / sent onn my part
11    and all to cause / her love the gretter{t'}
12    but yet of nowght I am the better{t'}
13    for the more I sho to be beloved
14    the more with{w+t+} disdayn I am rewardyd

15    My truth nor yet my lowynge chere
16    my harty mynd nor stedfastnes /
17    my woofull lyff whiche I haue here
18    with{w+t+} all my payf paynfull hewynes
19    cannot not her cause for to redresse
20    my hart whiche is to her vnfayned
21    but with{w+t+} disdayn to be rewardyd

Causeles

Commentary

Transcribed by H7, the poem remains unattributed and is unique to this manuscript. While George F. Nott suggests that the last line of the poem, "Causeles," is actually a signature for “C. Lanselles,” readers can also interpret the word as “causeless” and the final line of the poem. Similar to other courtly love lyrics, the speaker's beloved disdains him. Thus, he finds only cruelty in her demeanor toward him. If readers interpret the final line as “causeless,” then the speaker would be indicating his position as undeserving of the lady's disdain for him.