The Devonshire Manuscript/thou haste no faith of him that eke hath none

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The Devonshire Manuscript facsimile 69v

f. [69v]

1    thou haste no faith of him that eke hath none
2    {es}{{th}+u+} but thou must love him nedes bye good reason
3    for as the pro{p2}verbe saith right notable
4    everye thinksekith his semblable /
5    {_on}{_o} {{th}+u+} and thou hast thyne of thy owne condicion
6    yet ys yt not the thing I passe vppon
7    nother hot nor colde is my affection
8    for sins thi hert is this so mutable /
9    thou haste no faith /

10    I demid the trwe with{w+t+}out exception
11    but I perceyve I lacked dastrestion discretion 
12    to fasten faith to wordes{es} so dobtable
13    thye thought is to light and variable /
14    to chaunge so oft without  occasion occacoion{_i}{w+t+} 
15    thou hast no faith

Commentary

Attributed to Sir Thomas Wyatt, this poem was entered by H8. The speaker complains of his love's fickleness, which was a common theme in medieval and early Tudor courtly love poetry. Wyatt adopts the French rondeau structure for his poem, a form which consists of thirteen lines, two stanzas of four lines, five lines in the last stanza, and a refrain that appears after each stanza. In this particular rondeau, Wyatt omits the refrain after the first stanza.

The two refrains following are aligned to the right.

Textual Notes

Texts Collated

LEge41

Collation

1 thou] Thou LEge41 haste] hast LEge41 eke] LEge41
2 bye good] by LEge41
3 the proverbe saith right] saieth a proverbe LEge41
4 everye thinkg] eche thing LEge41 sekith] seketh LEge41 semblable /] semblable LEge41
5 thyne] thyn LEge41 owne condicion] conditions LEge41
6 ys yt] is it LEge41 vppon] on LEge41
7 nother] nor LEge41 hot] hote LEge41 colde] cold LEge41 is my] ofis myn LEge41
8 sins] syns LEge41 thi] thyn LEge41 this] LEge41 mutable /] mutable LEge41
9 haste] hast LEge41 faith /] faith LEge41
10 demid] thought LEge41 trwe] true / LEge41 without] withoute LEge41
11 perceyve] perceve LEge41 dastrestiondiscretion] discretion LEge41
12 fasten] fasshion LEge41 so doblable] mutable LEge41
13 thye] thy LEge41 and variable /] & variable LEge41
14 without] withoute LEge41 occacion] occasion LEge41
15 thou] Thou LEge41