Poem (mock testament with inset ballads) · 1878
The Greater Testament
Le Testament, translated by John Payne
Translated by John Payne (1878; Mosher edition, 1909)
Begun about 1461, after Villon's release from prison at Meung, this long mock will mingles confession, satire and lament, and holds the ballads on which his fame mostly rests, among them the Ballad of Old-Time Ladies.
Contents · 33 parts
- Stanzas I–XLIabout 330 lines
- Ballad of Old-Time Ladies29 lines
- Ballad of Old-Time Lords (No. 1)29 lines
- Ballad of Old-Time Lords (No. 2)29 lines
- Stanzas XLII–XLVI40 lines
- The Complaint of the Fair Helm-Maker Grown Old77 lines
- The Doctrine of the Fair Helm-Maker to the Light o’ Loves29 lines
- Stanzas XLVII–LIV64 lines
- Double Ballad to the Like Purport48 lines
- Stanzas LV–LXXIXabout 200 lines
- Ballad that Villon Made at the Request of His Mother, Wherewithal to Do Her Homage to Our Lady38 lines
- Stanzas LXXX–LXXXIII32 lines
- Ballad of Villon to His Mistress29 lines
- Stanza LXXXIV8 lines
- Lay, or Rather Roundel12 lines
- Stanzas LXXXV–CXVabout 240 lines
- Ballad and Orison (for Master Cotard’s Soul)26 lines
- Stanzas CXVI–CXXIXabout 110 lines
- Ballad that Villon Gave to a Newly Married Gentleman to Send to His Lady, by Him Conquered at the Sword’s Point29 lines
- Stanzas CXXX–CXXXIII32 lines
- Ballad Entitled the Counterblast to Franc-Gontier34 lines
- Stanza CXXXIV8 lines
- Ballad of the Women of Paris29 lines
- Stanzas CXXXV–CXLV86 lines
- Seemly Lesson of Villon to the Good-for-Noughts24 lines
- Ballad of Good Doctrine to Those of Ill Life29 lines
- Stanzas CXLVI–CLIII64 lines
- Roundel (On My Release)12 lines
- Stanzas CLIV–CLXV88 lines
- Roundel (Requiem)12 lines
- Stanzas CLXVI–CLXXIII64 lines
- Ballad Crying All Folk Mercy29 lines
- Ballad, by Way of Ending29 lines