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LAI See LAY.

LA MALE RÈGLE THOMAS HOCCLEVE (ca.
1405) THOMAS HOCCLEVE’s La Male Règle is a 448-line
poem divided into 56 eight-line STANZAs employing the
rhyme scheme abab, bcbc; a suitable title translation
might be misrule, since this poem is a confession of a
misspent youth. Hoccleve begins with an APOSTROPHE to
Health—here a combination of physical wellness and
material prosperity—and claims to have once possessed
both but to have squandered them while working at the
Privy Seal offi ce where the king’s offi cial paperwork
was processed. After several opening stanzas setting
forth his miserable state, Hoccleve goes on to chastise
his “unwar yowthe,” condemning his rejection of Rea-
son and grieving his subjection to Sickness.
In subsequent stanzas (16–25), Hoccleve is more
specifi c about his faults: He was a too-frequent patron
of the Paul’s Head Tavern, indulging in both wine and
women. Hoccleve maintains that he never had inter-
course with these women, but he confesses that his
abstinence was mainly due to an embarrassment con-
cerning sexual matters: “Whan that men speke of it in
my presence, / For shame I wexe as reed as is the gleede”
(ll. 158–159). Hoccleve admits to overtipping the tav-
ern keepers who called him “gentleman,” and to squan-
dering his Privy Seal pay by taking boats down the
Thames when it was inconvenient to walk. The fl attery
of shopkeepers, boatmen, and other benefi ciaries of his
largesse contributed to his profl igate existence.

The fi nal 20 stanzas are less cohesive than foregoing

ones, as Hoccleve ranges widely over a number of sub-

jects: the demonic infl uence of excess, the fi ckleness of

friends, and the importance of a good reputation. In

stanza 50, he begins to bring his poem to a close by ask-

ing himself, “Ey what is me that to my self, thus longe, /

Clappid have I.. .[?]” (ll. 393–394). Hoccleve attributes

his ranting speech to his straitened circumstances—

especially fi nancial. He concludes by turning his confes-

sion of misrule into a request for payment, asking Lord

Fourneval, the treasurer, to pay his annual salary of 10

pounds. Hoccleve acknowledges that he does not want

to be seen begging for his salary, but since begging is the

custom, he fears that if he does not speak up, he will get

nothing, so in the end the ailing poet maintains that coin

is all the medicine he really needs.

Hoccleve’s poem bears affi nities with his other works

such as the Regiment of Princes, Hoccleve’s Complaint, and

Dialogue with a Friend in offering autobiographical details.

Scholars have attempted to ascertain whether or not

these details relate to a persona or to Hoccleve himself.

Studies have also attempted to defi ne the “begging poem”

genre, or the confessional poem. With this confessional

petition, Hoccleve may be following his acquaintance,

GEOFFREY CHAUCER, whose “COMPLAINT OF CHAUCER TO

HIS PURSE” shares a similar function, though without the

penitential tone which marks La Male Règle.

FURTHER READING

Burrow, J. A. Thomas Hoccleve. Aldershot, U.K.: Variorum,

1994.

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