Geoffrey Chaucer,
Chaucer's Works (ed. Skeat) Vol…
(1899)
“ I give two lines to the first refrain, and three to the second. The reader may give three lines to both, if he pleases; see note to sect. V, l. 675. We cannot confine the first refrain to one line only, as there is no stop at the end of l. 14.8. Trouth-e is dissyllabic; see treouthe in Stratmann.15. Ne availeth; with elided e. MS. nauailleth; Percy prints n'availeth.16. Halt, i. e. holdeth; see Book of Duch. 621.17. MS. han ye me, correctly; Percy omits me, and so spoils both sense and metre.27. Lovers should be lean; see Romaunt of the Rose (E. version) , 2684. ”
