Page:Chaucer - Complete works (Skeat Volume 7).djvu/437

I am so shaken with the fevers whyte,
Of al this May yet slepte I but a lyte;^[1]
And also it naught lyketh unto me,^[2]
That any herte shulde slepy be
In whom that Love his fyry dart^[3] wol smyte. 45

But as I lay this other night wakinge,
I thoghte how^[4] lovers had a tokeninge,
And among^[5] hem it was a comune tale,
That it were good to here the nightingale
Rather than the lewde cukkow^[6] singe. 50

And then I thoghte^[7], anon as it was day,
I wolde go som whider^[8] to assay
If that I might a nightingale here;
For yet had I non herd of al this yere,^[9]
And hit was tho the thridde^[10] night of May. 55

And than, anon as I the day espyde,^[11]
No lenger wolde I in my bedde abyde,
But unto a wode, that was faste by,^[12]
I wente forth alone, boldely,^[13]
And held my way doun by a broke-syde,^[14] 60

Til I com^[15] to a launde of whyte and grene;
So fair oon had I never in[ne] been;^[16]
The ground was grene, y-poudred with daisye,^[17]
The floures and the gras y-lyke hye,^[18]
Al grene and whyte; was nothing elles^[19] sene. 65

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1. Th. T. om. yet; (Ff. has ne.) Th. T. slepe; Ff. S. slepte; F. B. slept.
2. S. naught likith vnto me; Th. T. Ff. is not lyke to me; F. B. is vnlike for to be.
3. Th. darte.
4. Th. howe.
5. Th. amonge.
6. Th. cuckowe.
7. Th. thought.
8. T. Ff. whider; S. quhider; F. B. whedir; Th. where.
9. Th. none herde. F. B. T. this; Ff. the; Th. S. that.
10. S. thridde; T. thridd; Th. F. B. thirde.
11. S. than; rest om. Th. aspyde.
12. Ff. to; Th. T. vnto; F. B. into; S. in. Th. wodde ; F. B. wode.
13. Th. T. went; F. B. wente. Th. forthe. Th. boldely; Ff. T. boldly; rest priuely.
14. Th. helde. F. B. S. my; Th. Ff. the; T. me the. Th. downe.
15. F. B. come; S. cam; Th. T. came (read com).
16. All in; read inne. S. has in y-ben.
17. 63, 64. B. transposes.
18. F. B. gras; S. greses; Th. greues; T. Ff. grenes. S. ylike; F. B. al I-like; Th. T. Ff. lyke.
19. Th. els.