[ Text of the Poem ]
XXIII. A Balade of Compleynt.
1. Cf. Troil. iii. 104:—'And thogh I dar ne can unto yow pleyne.'
4. See note to XXII. 72, and l. 8 below.
13, 14. Cf. VI. 110, 111.
16. Dyt-e, ditty (dissyllabic); see Ho. of Fame, 622. It here rimes with despyte and plyte. In the Cant. Tales the usual forms are despyt and plyt-e respectively, but despyt-e may here be taken as a dative case.
20. Hertes lady; see VI. 60. Dere is the best reading, being thus commonly used by Chaucer as a vocative. If we retain the MS. reading here, we must insert a comma after lady, and explain I yow beseche ... here by 'I beseech you to hear.'