The Lyrics of Henry VIII/O my hart and o my hart, Henry VIII

← Alone I leffe alone || width="325" align="right" | Adew adew my hartis lust → [ff. 22v-23r] The Kyng H. viij. Early Modern English                                Modern EnglishO my hart and o my hartOh my heart, and oh my heart,my hart it is so soreMy heart it is so soresens I must nedys from my loue departSince I must from my love departand know no cause whereforeAnd know no cause wherefore. Commentary This piece is a lyric of departure: the lover regretfully leaves his lady, not fully understanding the reasons for his leaving. The Henry VIII Manuscript presents “O my hart and o my hart” in three voices, each in full and with text-height block capitals at the outset. Extra rules are given on both the verso and recto sheets. The lyric appears to have been copied once, in an early sixteenth-century hand, on the final page (gg4v) of Caxton’s edition of Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea (PBLe; trans. and pr. 1493; Huntington Printed Book 69798; Pollard/STC 24875). “O my hart and o my hart” is indexed in Robbins Index & Suppl. 2531.5, Boffey, Ringler MS TM1218, and Crum O715. The piece is reprinted in Chappell Account 374, Flügel Anglia 232, Trefusis 9, Stevens M&P 390, and Stevens MCH8 17. Textual Notes Texts Collated H1,2,3 (ff. 22v–23r), PBLe (gg4v). 2 it] that PBLe 3 sens] sytt PBLe; I] that I PBLe; nedys] omit PBLe