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Trohetsvisan and Chaucer's Lak of Stedfastnesse 309
3
3
4
5
1. 5
It gas ful wrong, ho-so it wyst
a frend, ho may ken fro his faa?
to hom I may trewely trost
In fayth, I fynde but fewe of ):>o! (R. Hist. no. 60
II. 5-8).
falsed for sleyth now is taken (R. Hist, no. 58 1. 2).
On the difference between word and deed FNR
p. 862 says: 'd. perhaps Boethius Bo. III pr. 12
'205-208' (the wordis moot be cosynes to the thinges
of whiche thei speken'< Plato, Timaeus 29B, FNR
p. 805, used also in Gen. Prol. I 741-42 and Manc. T
IX 207-10) but d. also
Matt. XXIII 3, Jesus on the Pharisees: dicunt enim,
et non faciunt.
Des. III p. 270 no. 455 1. 10: Faulx Semblant qui ne
fait que mentir.
Thou3 a man holynes preche,
He shetep n03t, but bent his bowe
But he Iyue as he teche
He nys not trusty for to trowe (K p. 1611. 57-60).
):>at false am and fayre cun speke (R. Hist. no. 60
1. 27).
Herte and moup lake ):>ei ben tweyne (CB/14 no. 103
1. 9).
Ainsi dit on, mais on ne le fait mie (Des. II p. 62
no. 233 refrain).
FNR p. 862 'Cf, Boethius, Bo. ii pr. 5, 27-28'; this
should read 127-28.
On the idea of 'the world upside down' :
See E. R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin
Middle Ages (1953), 94-98. He demonstrates that
the 'basic formal principle' of Carm. Bur. no. 6,
'stringing together impossibilities', derives from
classical antiquity and is found in Carolingian poetry.
Examples in this Latin poem refer to nature, to the
names of Fathers and Scriptural figures, and to
classical times. This principle is basis for Des. II
p. 3 I no. 209 'Je voy a tout changer condicion', where
verse 2 illustrates impossibilities from nature (d.
Des. III p. 194 no. 404: 'leur propre nature deffont',
refrain) e.g. 'the tender wolf, the fighting chicken' d.
'implumes aves volitant' (Carm. Bur. no. 6). This
poem of Deschamps has been cited by H. Braddy,
JEGP XXXVI (1937). 483 as a source for Chaucer's