DIMEV 4346
IMEV 2737
NIMEV 2737
Pass forth thou pilgrim and bridle well thy beast
‘Balade moral of gode counseyle’ (ascribed in one MS to Gower)
— five stanzas rhyme royal
Author(s): John Gower (attrib.); Benedict Burgh (attrib.)
Title(s): ‘Balade moral of gode counseyle’
Subjects: counsel, moral
Versification: —
seven-line —
ababbcc
Manuscript Witnesses:
1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Ashmole 59 (SC 6943), ff. 17
v-18
Transcription:PAsse forþe þou pilgryme and bridel wele þy beeste
Loke
not ageine for thing þat may betyde
Thenke what þou wilt but speke
ay with þe leeste
Avyse þee weele who stondeþe þee
besyde…
…Remembre eke þat what man doþe
amisse
þou haste or arte or may besuche as he is
Attributed Author: …made by Gower (f. 17v)
Attributed Title: Balade moral of gode counseyle made by Gower (f. 17v)
Editions:
Meyer, Paul.
John Gowers Beziehungen zu Chaucer und König Richard II.
Bonn: Georgi, 1889: 72.
Macaulay, George Campbell,
ed.
English Works of John Gower.
2 vols.
EETS
e.s. 81, 82 (1900, 1901); repr. 1978: clxxiii.
2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Rawlinson C.86 (SC 11951), f. 89
v
First Lines:Passe forthe þu pilgryme and brydell wele þi beste
loke
not a gayne for þynge þat may be tyde…
Last Lines:…But loke be hynde & war þe fram herstonge
Thow shalt
haue hurt yf þu play with her lond longe
Note: Four stanzas only.
Editions: Meyer, Paul.
John Gowers Beziehungen zu Chaucer und König Richard II.
Bonn: Georgi, 1889: 72.
3.Source: London, British Library Addit. 29729, ff. 6
v-7
First Lines:Passe forthe pilgryme and bridle well thy beaste
loke not agayne for
thyngs þat may betyde…
Last Lines:…thynke well all weye that what man doth amysse
thow hast or
art or may be as he is
Attributed Author: benedict burgh (f. 7)
Attributed Title: A leson to kepe well þe tonge owt of Mstr hanlays booke (heading, f.
6v); Explicit to kepe thy tonge well per Magistrum benedictum
burgh (below last line, f. 7); both by scribe (John Stow)
Editions: Förster, Max.
“über Benedict Burghs Leben und Werke.”
Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und
Literaturen
101 (1898): 53-5: 50-1.