John Lydgate, ‘A song of Iust Mesure’ — in 8-line stanzas
with refrain, ‘Nothyng commendyd but it in measure be’
Author(s): John Lydgate
Title(s): ‘A song of Iust Mesure’
Subjects: advice, moral; precepts; moderation
Versification: —
eight-line —
ababbcbc
1.Source: London, British Library Addit. 29729, ff. 123-124
First Lines:By wytte of man A thyng that is contryved
standyth in proporcion
playnlye to conclude…
Last Lines:…so as thow weyest be mercy or Rygour
The same mesure shall be
done to the
Note: 13 stanzas.
Attributed Author: by Iohn lidgate (squeezed between last line and rubric title, f. 124; by
scribe, Stow)
Attributed Title: Explicit the songe of Iust mesure writen by Iohn stowe (in rubric below
last line, f. 124; by scribe, Stow)
Editions: MacCracken, Henry Noble,
ed.
John Lydgate: The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems.
EETS
o.s. 192 (1934); repr. 1961: 772-5 (composite text, 13 stanzas).