wer a
supposed question put to him as to the causes of his depression and
"melancolye":

I holde hit be a siknesse
That I have suffred this eight yere,
And yet my bote is never the nere;
For ther is phisicien but oon,
That may me hele.

Proem of the "Book." See, in connection with this, the "Compleynte unto
Pite." Who was the loved one we do not know; could it be that the poet
was playing upon her name in such lines as these:

For kindly by your heritage right
Ye been annexed ever unto Bountee? (l. 71).

There were numerous families of Bonamy, Bonenfaut, Boncoeur. A William
de Boncuor is named in the "Excerpta e Rotulis Finium," of Roberts, vol.
ii. pp. 309, 431, 432.

[456] The date of Chaucer's marriage has not been ascertained. We know
that his wife was called Philippa, that one Philippa Chaucer belonged to
the queen's household in 1366, and that the Philippa Chaucer, wife of
the poet, was at a later date in the service of the Duchess of
Lancaster, after having been in the service of the queen. It seems most
likely that the two women were the same person: same name, same
function, same pension of ten marks, referred to in the same words in
public documents, for example: 1