Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 112

DIMEV 112

IMEV 71

NIMEV 71

A man that loveth fishing and fowling both

Piers of Fulham’s ‘many praty conceytis in love vnder covert termes off fysshyng and ffowlyng’ — in couplets

Author(s): Piers of Fulham

Subjects: lovers, advice to; hunting; allegorical poems

Versification: — two-line — aa

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library James 43 (SC 3880), ff. 3-11

First Lines:

A man that lovyth fyscheng & fowlyng bothe
ofte tymes that game schall hym be lothe…

Last Lines:

…hys fryndes game for to leve in pees
Stroy not ther stewes rob not ther panters

Note: Lacks ‘The moralyte’.

Attributed Author: Explysyth peers of fulham (f. 11)

Attributed Title: Vayn conseytes of folysche love undyr colour of fyscheng and fowlyng (f. 3)

Editions:

Hazlitt, William Carew. Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England. London: J. R. Smith, 1864-6: 2.2-15.

2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Rawlinson C.86 (SC 11951), ff. 100-106

First Lines:

A Man that loueth fisshyng & foulyng bothe
Of tymes that game shall hym lothe…

Last Lines:

…An erbe is Called of all this Rage
In oure tong Called Chilrage

Attributed Author: pyerse of ffulleham (added by later hand of the sixteenth century, f. 100); Explicit Piers Of ffullam (scribe, f. 106v)

3.Source: Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Library Ll.4.14, ff. 173ra-174v

First Lines:

[A] man þat loueþ fisshing & fowlyng boþe
Often tymes þat lif shal hym lothe…

Last Lines:

…His frende is game to lyue yn pes
Struy no stewes stele no plays

Note: Lacks the ‘Moralyte’.

Attributed Title: A Doctrine of ffisshing and foulyng (f. 173ra); Explicit res Disputandi (f. 174v)

4.Source: Cambridge UK, Trinity College R.3.19 (599), ff. 240-244v

First Lines:

[A] Man that lovith ffisshyng and fowlyng bothe
Ofte tyme that lyff shall hym be lothe
In See in Ryver in ponde or in poole
Off that craft thowe he knowe the scole…

Last Lines:

…An erbe is cause off all this Rage
In oure tonge called Culrage

Note: 188 lines and 82 lines for ‘Moralyte’; 19th-century transcript by Hartshorne is Oxford, Bodleian Library Addit. A.60 (SC 30161), ff. 1-17.

Attributed Author: Piers off ffulham (ff. 240, 244v)

Attributed Title: Loo worshipfull Sirs here after ffolleweth a gentylmanly Tretyse full convenyent for contemplatiff Lovers to rede and vnderstond made by a noble clerke Piers of ffulham sum tyme vssher of Venus scole whiche hath brieflye compyled many praty conceytis in love vnder covert termes off ffysshyng and ffowlyng (f. 240)

Facsimiles:

Fletcher, Bradford Y. “Introduction.” Manuscript Trinity R.3.19. A Facsimile. Norman, OK: Pilgrim, 1987.

Editions:

Hartshorne, Charles Henry. Ancient Metrical Tales. London: W. Pickering, 1829: 117-33.