PROLOGUE.
N the yere of oure lord, a.M. three honderd LIII ⟨353 AD⟩, as was in a gardyn under a shadowe, as it were in thyssue of Aprylle, all moornyng and pensyf, but a lytle I reioysed me in the sowne and songe of the fowles sauuage, whiche songe in theyr langage, as the Merle, the Mauys, the thrustell, and the nyghtyngale, whiche were gay and lusty. This swete songe enlustyed me, and made remembryng of the tyme passed in my youthe, how loue hadde holde me in that tyme in hys seruyce by grete distresse, in whiche I was many an houre gladde and ioyeful, and many another tyme sorowful, lyke as it doth to many a louer. But alle myn euylles haue rewarded me, sythe that the fayre and good hath gyuen to me, whiche hath knowleche of alle honoure, alle good and fayre mayntenyng. And of alle good she semed me the best and the floure, in whome I so moche me delyted. For in that tyme I made songes, layes, Roundels, balades, Vyrelayes, and newe songes in the mooste best wyse I coude But the deth, whiche spareth none, hath taken her, for whom I have receyued many sorowes and heuynesses in such wyse that I haue passed my lyf more than twenty yere heuy and sorowfull For the very herte of a trewe louer shall neuer in ony tyme ne day forgete good loue, but euermore shal remembre it. And thus in that tyme as I was in a grete pensyfnes and it thought, I behelde in the way and sawe my doughters comyng,
