Front matter (continued 15)

415. costlewe, costly. 'Costelewe, costfull, costuous, Sumptuosus'; Prompt. Parv.; see Way's note. This form answers to the Icel. kostligr; and the only difference between the suffixes -lewe and -ly is that the former is Norse, and represents Icel. -ligr, whilst the latter represents the A. S. -lic. See Chokelew in the New Eng. Dict., and cf. drunken-lewe, drunken-like, sik-lewe, sickly.

416. Wyclif (Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 124) is similarly severe against proud array.

417. degyse, fashionable; O. F. desguisè, also spelt desguisiè (Godefroy). Chaucer found this word in Le Roman de la Rose, l. 827; see vol. i. p. 128.

endentinge, notching, or the use of indented lines. Indentee (better endentee) is still a term in heraldry, to signify that an edge or dividing line is notched or serrated, as shewn in any heraldic work. Several of the terms in this clause have, in heraldry, a special sense, and Chaucer seems to be thinking, in particular, of such coats-of-arms as were sometimes made of variously coloured cloths, cut into the requisite shapes.

barringe, cutting into stripes, or decoration with bars. A bar, in heraldry, is a horizontal stripe like the fess, but narrower.

oundinge, waving; decoration by the use of waved lines. Oundee or oundy (also onde, ondy) is the heraldic name for a waved line or edge. Criseyde's hair was ounded, i. e. waved; Troilus, iv. 736.

palinge, decoration with a 'pale' or upright stripe. A pale, in heraldry, is a broad upright stripe, occupying the third part of the field. Cf. note to HF. 1840 (vol. iii. p. 282).

windinge, twisting; decoration with curved lines. Many heraldic charges, such as a lion, had to be cut out in the cloth, by 'winding' the scissors about, along the outline required.

bendinge, decoration with bends. A bend, in heraldry, is a slanting stripe or band. The bend dexter is drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base of the shield; the bend sinister (once a mark of bastardy) slopes the other way.

418. pounsoninge, punching, perforation. Strictly, the use of a puncheon or perforating implement. 'Punchon, stimulus, punctorium'; Prompt. Parv.

chisels, i. e. cutting instruments; we may note that, etymologically, chisels and scissors (M. E. cisoures) are closely related words.

dagginge, slitting, snipping, cutting into strips or narrow flapping ends. There is a special allusion to the custom of dagging, i. e. jagging, or foliating the edges of robes (especially of the sleeves), so common in the reigns of Edw. III. and Rich. II. See fig. 91 in Fairholt's Costume in England (1885), i. 124. See P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 143; Rich. the Redeless, iii. 193.

419. The length of the trains of gowns is a common subject of satire. See, in particular, Sir David Lyndesay's Minor Poems (E. E. T. S.), pp. 574-5.

421. bete, remedy, amend, better, relieve; cf. A. 2253.

422. cutted, cut short; see Leg. G. Women, 973, and note.

sloppes, garments; here, evidently, jackets of a short length. 'Sloppe, garment, Mutatorium'; Prompt. Parv.; Icel. sloppr, a robe, gown. There is a parallel passage in the Knight of La Tour-Landry, cap. xlvii (p. 63). Cf. oversloppe, G. 633.

hainselins (also spelt hanselins, anslets), the same as sloppes, i. e. jackets. Tyrwhitt unluckily says that 'it appears from the context to mean a sort of breeches,' whereas it was the shortness of the hainselin that enabled the breeches to be seen; and his error has been copied by others. This most unusual word answers to the rare O. F. hamselin, hamcellim, or hainselin, a sort of robe. Godefroy says—'sorte de robe longue'; whereas it was certainly 'courte.' His examples include the mention of 'un hainselin de vert brun' in 1416, 'hamselin' in 1403, and an extract from Christine de Pisan:—

I suppose the last line means 'tightly gathered in above the hips.' Cotgrave has: 'sus, above.' The word is probably of Frankish origin; from O. H. G. *hemithilīn, M. H. G. hemdelīn, dimin. of O. H. G. hemithi, a shirt (G. Hema). See Fig. 93 and Fig. 136 in Fairholt's Costume, i. 126, 180.

425. degysinge, mode of dress. This alludes to the singular habit of wearing parti-coloured dresses; see the remarks in Fairholt's Costume, i. 114, 115.

427. fyr of seint Anthony, St. Anthony's fire; a popular name for erysipelas, which this saint was supposed to cure.

429. honestetee, decency; as in B. 3908. In 431, it seems to mean 'neatness'; and so in 436.

432. aornement, the O. F. form of 'adornment'; see Adornment in the New E. Dict., in which the oldest quotation for this form is from Caxton. The expression 'in thinges that apertenen to rydinge' answers to 'his uaire ridinges' in Ayenb. p. 24, l. 3 from bottom; Fr. 'beles chevauchures.'

434. From Zech. x. 5.

435. This curiously expresses the view taken by the lower orders in England, who regarded the riders, mostly Normans, as belonging to the class of their oppressors. Hence the curious song against the Retinues of the Rich, in Wright's Political Songs, pp. 237-240.

437. greet meinee, a large household; 'the uayre mayné,' Ayenb. p. 24, l. 31; Fr. 'bele maisnie.'

440. As 'thilke that holden hostelries,' i. e. innkeepers, are here represented as upholding the cheating ways of the 'hostilers,' the latter must here be used (like mod. E. ostler) in the sense of the servants attached to the inn. In A. 241, hostiler may mean the innkeeper himself; but ostler goes well with tappestere, i. e. barmaid.

442. From Ps. lv. 15.

445. wilde fyr, fire caused by kindling some inflammable spirit, just as our modern 'Christmas pudding' or 'mince pie' is surrounded with the flames of burning brandy. It seems to have been called 'wild fire' as being not easily extinguishable, like the 'Greek fire' of the middle ages; see Ancren Riwle, p. 402, and Warton's note, Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. 1871, ii. 154. In A. 4172, and E. 2252, it is used, metaphorically, to denote 'erysipelas.'

446. vessel, a collective noun, like mod. E. 'plate.' As to minstrelsy at feasts, see E. 1178, F. 268, &c.

448. sourden of, arise from, have their source in; F. sourdre.

450-5. Here the E. text is tolerably close to the Fr. original; cf. Ayenb. p. 24. The 'goodes' are Li bien de nature, being such as are (1) devers le cors, viz. sainteté (good health), biauté, force, proesce, noblesce, bone langue, bone voiz; and (2) devers l'ame, viz. cler sens, soutil engin, bone memoire, les vertuz natureles. Again, there are Li bien de fortune, viz. hautesces, honors, richesces, delices, prosperitez. Lastly, there are Li bien de grace, viz. vertuz, bones œvres.

459. Alluding to Gal. v. 17; see Wyclif's version.

460. causeth ... meschaunce, often brings many a man into peril and misfortune. The idiom is curious; but all the MSS. agree here, and Thynne's edition has the same. Tyrwhitt has 'causeth ful oft to many man peril,' &c. This is easier, but lacks authority.

467. Chaucer found this quotation from Seneca in the Latin treatise which is the original of 'Melibeus' (p. 124 of Sundby's edition), though the passage does not occur in his version of that tale. It is made up of two clauses, taken, respectively, from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 3. 3, and the same, i. 19. 2. 'Nullum clementia magis decet quam regem'; et iterum, 'Iracundissimae et parui corporis sunt apes, rex tamen earum sine aculeo est.' Cf. Pliny, Nat. History, bk. xi. c. 17; Batman upon Bartholomè, bk. xviii. c. 12; Hoccleve, de Regimine Principum, p. 121; Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Tresor, i. v. 155.

At the same time, it is remarkable that Chaucer's words resemble even more closely a passage from Cicero which is quoted on the preceding page of the same book:—'Nam Tullius dixit: Nihil est laudabilius, nihil magno et praeclaro viro dignius placabilitate atque clementia'; De Officiis, i. 25.

470. Here there is a slight change in the order; the 'goods of grace' are discussed before those of 'fortune'; see 454, 455.

473. Cf. the Clerkes Tale, E. 1000.

475. In the Fr. treatise, all the Sins come first, and then the Remedies are discussed afterwards. The alteration in this respect is an improvement.

476. mekenesse; called 'Mildenesse' in Ayenb. p. 130, and 'umilite' in Fr. The resemblance of this § 29 to the Fr. text is very slight.

483. to stonde gladly to, willingly to abide by.

De Inuidia.

484. See Ayenb. 26; Myrc's Instructions to Parish Priests, p. 37; P. Plowm. C. vii. 63 (B. v. 76); Ancren Riwle, p. 200; Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 128. In form and general contents, this chapter on Envy is a condensation of the corresponding chapter in the Fr. text, but there are several deviations.

philosophre; I do not know who is meant. However, St. Gregory (see the note to 388) says: 'De inuidia, odium, susurratio, detractio, exsultatio in aduersis proximi, afflictio autem in prosperis nascitur.'

Augustin. The quotation seems rather to follow the words of St. Gregory just quoted. I find, in St. Augustine, only one of the clauses, viz. 'Inuidia est enim odium felicitatis alienae'; S. Aug. in Psalm. civ. 25 (cv. 25 in the Vulgate); ed. Migne, vol. 37, col. 1399. This is the very quotation which has already done duty in the Phisicien's Tale; see C. 115, and the note. Cf. P. Plowm. B. v. 112, 113.

485. platly, &c.; Fr. 'il est contraires an saint esperit.' Cf. Ayenb. p. 28, l. 7 from bottom.

486. two; Dr. Eilers remarks—'Clearly three follow.' But we can easily count them as two; (1) hardness of heart; (2) warring against truth, or against grace given to one's neighbour.

487. Fr. 'guerroier verité a son escient'; and again, 'guerroier la grace du saint esperit en autrui.' See Ayenb. p. 29, ll. 2, 3, 18, 19.

490. Compare P. Pl. C. vii. 93.

491-492. See 484 above, and the note.

493. bakbyting; cf. Ancren Riwle, p. 86; P. Plowm. B. v. 89. Fr. text, 'detraction.'

493-494. Fr. 'quant on dist bien d'autrui devant lui, toz jors il i trueve e i met un mes'; where mes is the mod. F. mais, Chaucer's 'but.'

495. Fr. 'il pervertist e torne tout a la pior partie.'

496. Fr. 'il estaint e met a nient touz les biens que li hons fait.'

499. Fr. 'grondiller e murmurer.'

500. Fr. 's'il [Dieu] li envoie adversitez, povretez, chier tens, pluie, seccheresce, s'il done a l'un et toult a l'autre.' Cf. P. Pl. B. vi. 317.

502. See John xii. 4. enoynte, anointed, is the past tense; the pp. is enoynt, A. 2961; cf. anoint, A. 199.

504. See Luke vii. 39.

505. bereth him, &c., lays to his charge. Cf. D. 226, 380.

508. Compare the Fr. text:—'murmure contre Dieu et chante la pater-nostre au singe, certes mais la chancon au diable.'

515. This section, on the Remedy against Envy, is very much abridged from the Fr. original, and the points of contact are few. Cf. Ayenb. p. 144; Myrc, p. 52.

526. From Matt. v. 44.

De Ira.

532. 'The first part of this chapter is, in arrangement as in substance, a condensation of the corresponding chapter in Fr. The working out of the subject is interwoven with ideas, which are nowhere to be found in Fr. ... the verbal coincidences are very numerous.'—Essays on Chaucer, p. 533. See Ayenb. p. 29; Myrc, p. 38; Wyclif, Works, iii. 134.

535. 'Nam et ipsam iram nihil aliud esse, quam ulciscendi libidinem, veteres definierunt'; S. August. De Civitate Dei, lib. xiv. c. 15. § 2. Cf. Cicero, Tuscul. Disput. lib. iii. c. 5; lib. iv. c. 9.

536. Cf. Horace, Epist. I. 2. 62:—'Ira furor breuis est.'

537. trouble, i. e. troubled, agitated; F. trouble, adj. Cf. H. 279.

540. From Ps. iv. 5 (Vulgate).

551. 'Juniperus, ... Graece dicta, ... quod conceptum diu teneat ignem: adeo ut si prunae ex eius cinere fuerint opertae, usque ad annum perueniant; πυρ enim apud Graecos ignis dicitur'; S. Isidorus, Etymologiarum lib. xvii. c. 7; ed. Migne, vol. 82, col. 615. This is one of Isidore's delicious 'etymologies.' This remarkable story is founded on the imaginary fact that juniper is derived from the Gk. πῦρ, fire!

562. hate, &c. This expression is from St. Augustine:—'Quid est odium? ira inueterata. Ira inuerata si facta est, iam odium dicitur'; Sermo lviii. c. 7; ed. Migne, vol. 38, col. 397.

565. six thinges; evidently an error for three. The three are: (1) hate; (2) backbiting; (3) deceitful counsel. The error may easily have arisen from misreading iij as uj. Most of the MSS. have '.vj.'; but '.ui.' and '.uj.' were also in use. See 1 John iii. 15.

566. Probably due to an imperfect remembrance of Prov. xxv. 18:—'Iaculum, et gladius, et sagitta acuta, homo qui loquitur contra proximum suum falsum testimonium.' Cf. xii. 18, xxx. 14.

568. From Prov. xxviii. 15; cf. iii. 27.

shepe, hire, is a rare word; hence the addition, either by Chaucer or by a scribe, of the words or the hyre, by way of a gloss. The writer of the Ayenbite writes ss for sh; and we there find the word ssepe, in the sense of 'hire' or 'pay,' no less than five times; at pp. 33, 40, 86, 113, 146, also the pl. ssepes, wages, at p. 39. Cf. A. S. scipe, pay, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints, ed. Skeat, xxxi. 55 (vol. ii. p. 222). See note to Anelida, 193.

569. From Prov. xxv. 21.

572. in his defendaunt, in his (own) defence; it looks like an imitation of the French phrase en se defendant.

575. Note the double use of homicide; it here translates homicidium; just above, it translates homicida.

580. Fr. 'Mais especiaument nous apelons ci blaspheme, quant on mesdit de Dieu e de ses sainz, on des sacramenz de sainte eglise.'

582. From Ps. cxlv. 9.

587. The French treatise includes seven forms of swearing (parjuremens) under the head of Ire.

588. See Exod. xx. 7; Matt. v. 34. Cf. C. 642.

591. Fr. 'Il resont plus cruel que li Iuys qui le crucifierent. Il ne briserent nul des os, mais cist le depiecent plus menu c'on ne fait pourcel en la boucherie.' Cf. Pard. Tale, C. 475, 651, and the notes.

592. See the parallel passage in the Pard. Tale, C. 635, and the note. From Jer. iv. 2; on which St. Jerome remarks: 'Animaduertendum est quod iusiurandum tres habet comites.'

593. See Pard. Tale, C. 649, and the note. The wounde is a translation of the Lat. plaga in Ecclus. xxiii. 12 (Vulgate):—'non discedet a domo illius plaga.'

597. From Acts iv. 12.

598. From Phil. ii. 10.

601. This section (§ 37) is rather closer than usual to the French text, but is amplified.

603. Fr. 'comme font les devines et les sorcieres et les charmeresses. Et touz ceus qui en tiex choses croient ... pecchent morteument; car toutes teles choses sont contre la foi, et por ce les deffent sainte eglise.'

bacins ful of water. These were sometimes used, instead of looking-glasses, for divination; Brand, Pop. Antiq. ed. Ellis, iii. 169. This kind of divination was called catoptromancy.

bright swerd, used, instead of a magic mirror, in catoptromancy; see Brand.

in a cercle. Circles were almost invariably drawn upon the ground by sorcerers, within which the invoked spirit was supposed to be confined; see Brand, iii. 56, 59.

in a fyr, as in pyromancy. 'Amphiaraus was the first that had knowledge in Pyromancie, and gathered signs by speculation of fire'; Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. vii. c. 56. Cf. P. Plowman, A. xi. 158.

'Magic may be practised after diuers sorts; ... for it worketh by the means of (1) Water, hydromantia; (2) Globes or Balls, sphaeromantia; (3) Aire, aeromantia; (4) Starres, astrologia; (5) Fire-lights, pyromantia; (6) Basons, lecanomantia; and (7) Axes, axinomantia'; Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxx. c. 2.

shulder-boon. See Pard. Tale, C. 351, and the note. Brand, in his Pop. Antiq., has a chapter on Divination by the Speal [rather Spaule], or Blade-bone. In Miss Burne's Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 179, we are referred to Tylor, Prim. Culture, i. 124; Folk-Lore Record, i. 176; Henderson, Folk-Lore, p. 175.

605. divynailes, divinations. 'Devinailles, f. Divinations, predictions'; Cotgrave.

flight of briddes. This form of divination, so well known to the Romans, is still kept in remembrance by the use of the words augury and auspice. Divinations by beasts were common and various; the commonest method was by inspecting the entrails of a beast when sacrificed. See Brand's chapter on Omens, as e.g. by the howling of dogs, by cats, birds, animals crossing one's path, &c.

sort, lot; as by the Virgilian lots, Bible lots, &c.; see Brand, Pop. Antiq. iii. 336; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v. c. 24, § 7; Gay, Shepherd's Week, Pastoral 4.

geomancie, divination by dots made with a pointed stick in dust, &c. See the note on A. 2043, above. Divination by dreams needs no remark.

chirkinge, creaking. Strange noises have often caused superstitious terrors; a familiar instance is that of the death-watch. They are also sometimes regarded, with less evil effect, and perhaps, occasionally, with some truth, as weather-omens.

See Gay's Trivia, bk. i. l. 157; and the well-known Signs of Rain, by Dr. Jennings.

gnawynge of rattes. See Brand, Popular Antiq. iii. 188.

607. Charmes. See examples in Brand, Pop. Antiquities, of Rural Charms, Characts, and Amulets. It is curious to note Chaucer's qualified belief in them.

609. Cf. Fr. 'unes menconges aidans, ... unes nuisans, ... por faire domage a autrui.'

611. Som lesinge, &c.; 'some (kind of) lying arises, because a man wants to sustain (the credit of) his word.' Dr. Eilers marks he with the note—'grammatical error.' But it is quite right; he is used indefinitely, as frequently. It is just a little too bad to charge this as an error on the author.

612. The mention of flattery seems out of place. But, as Dr. Eilers says, we may well suppose that 'the English author, once having had recourse to the "pecchiez de male langue," exhausted its whole contents, perhaps intentionally, perhaps unintentionally, but certainly with no regard to the subject of anger.' If we turn to the Ayenbite, p. 57, we shall find that the sins of the tongue, including flattery, are there given at the end of the section on Gluttony, where their appearance is even more surprising. The fact is, that the grouping of all sins under the Seven Deadly Sins is extremely artificial, and there is no particular place for the insertion of flattery or of certain other sins. Moreover, in 618 below, Chaucer naively gives his reason for the arrangement which he has adopted.

613. Fr. 'Li losengier sont les norrices au diable, qui ses enfans alaitent et endorment en leur pecchies ... par lor biau chanter.' The same expression occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 60, l. 7.

614. Salomon. Chaucer gives the general sense of Prov. xxviii. 23.

615. Fr. 'les apele l'escripture enchanteors, car il enchantent tant l'ome que il les croit plus que soi meismes.' The Ayenbite has 'charmeres'; p. 60, l. 25.

616. Following Tyrwhitt, I have supplied the words between square brackets, which are wanting in all the seven MSS. and in Thynne's edition. Tyrwhitt supplies 'god; and thise flatereres betrayen.' But he does not tell us where (if anywhere) he found these words.

617. The Fr. text has the very expression 'quant il chantent touz jors Placebo.' The Ayenbite adds an explanation (p. 60, l. 7 from bottom): viz. they all sing Placebo, that is to say, 'my lord saith truth,' or 'my lord doth well'; and turn to good all that the master doth or saith, whether it be good or bad. See my note to P. Plowman, C. iv. 467.

Note the name Placebo in the Marchauntes Tale; see E. 1476.

619. Fr. 'Apres vienent les maudicons.... E saint Pol dist que tieus genz ne poent le regne Dieu avoir.' This refers to 1 Cor. vi. 10, where the Vulgate has: 'neque maledici (A. V. 'revilers') ... regnum Dei possidebunt.' So in Ayenb. p. 66, l. 22.

620. Not in the Fr. text. This is an old proverb, which Southey quotes, in a Greek form, as a motto prefixed to his Curse of Kehama. His English version of it is:—'curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.'

623. gospel. See Matt. v. 22, 44.

624. Fr. 'on reproche à l'ome ou ses pecchiez, ou ses folies, ou sa povrete, ou ses povres parenz, ou aucune defaute qu'il a en lui.' Cf. Ayenb. p. 66, l. 27.

mesel, leper; so meselrie, leprosy, in 625.

625. maheym, maim, i. e. mutilation or bodily imperfection. Our maim is a contracted form of this M. E. maheym. In P. Plowman, B. xvii. 189, one MS. has y-mayheymed, where others have y-maymed. In Britton, i. 98, the Anglo-French form is maheyng; in the Liber Albus, p. 281, it is mahaym.

627. From Matt. xii. 34.

629. From Prov. xv. 4.

deslavee, lit. 'unwashed,' foul; from O. F. 'deslaver, v. a. salir, souiller; fig., souiller, ternir la reputation de quelqu'un'; Godefroy. The pp. deslave properly means: 'non lavé, crasseux, sale.' Chaucer seems to confuse this with the transitive sense of the active verb; and he evidently had in mind the above verse from the Proverbs, where the Vulgate has 'Lingua placabilis, lignum uitae; quae autem immoderata est, conteret spiritum.' Hence deslavee here means 'unbridled.'

630. From 2 Tim. ii. 24.

631. From Prov. xxvii. 15; the Vulgate has 'Tecta perstillantia.' Cf. Prov. xix. 13; and note to D. 278.

633. From Prov. xvii. 1. Below, see Col. iii. 18.

636. See Ayenb., p. 187. The toad was considered poisonous, and wine was an antidote. Hence the antipathy.

639. See 2 Sam. xvii. 1.

640. fals livinge, false liver, evil liver.

642-3. This passage resembles the Fr. text.

649. From Ecclesiastes, v. 3.

651. deffendeth, forbids; see Eph. v. 4.

654. The word Mansuetude is borrowed from the Fr. text.

657. Jerome seems to be quoting 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5.

660. Compare Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 7. ll. 91, 92 (vol. ii. p. 48).

661. Mat. v. 9. Cf. Frank. Tale, F. 773, and the note. The 'wise man' is Dionysius Cato, who says:—'Quem superare potes, interdum uince ferendo,' sometimes altered to 'superare nequis, patienter,' &c.; Distich. i. 38.

664. From Prov. xxix. 9.

670. This example somewhat resembles a story in Seneca, De Ira, lib. i. c. 15:—'Socrates seruo ait: Caederem te, nisi irascerer'; &c.

De Accidia.

677. The description of Sloth answers to the description in the Fr. text chiefly as regards the general outline. The particular points of contact are few. Cf. Ayenb. of Inwyt, pp. 31-34.

678. This remark, from Augustine, properly applies to the sin of Envy; see note to 484 above; p. 461.

679. Salomon; with reference to Eccl. ix. 10.

680. See Jer. xlviii. 10; for 'necligently,' the Vulg. has 'fraudulenter'; A. V. 'deceitfully.'

687. Referring, probably, to Rev. iii. 16.

688. Cf. Prov. xx. 4; xxi. 25.

693. wanhope, despair; as in the parallel passage in the Ayenb. p. 34, l. 12. Cf. P. Plowman, C. viii. 59, 81, and note.

694. 'Quidam enim in peccata prolapsi desperatione plus pereunt'; S. Aug. De Natura et Gratia, cap. 35; ed. Migne, xliv. 266. A similar passage occurs in his Sermo xx. § 3; ed. Migne, xxxviii. 140.

698. The words recreant and creant are, curiously enough, used in almost exactly the same sense; perhaps creant was merely an abbreviated form. To 'say creant' and to 'yield oneself recreant' meant, 'to own oneself beaten'; the original sense being, apparently, 'to entrust oneself to the enemy' or confide in him, in the hope of obtaining mercy; see the explanation of se recredere in Ducange, and recreant and recroire in Godefroy. The E. phrase is well illustrated by P. Plowman, B. xii. 193, xviii. 100; see creant in the New E. Dict.

700-703. Alluding to Luke xv. 7; xv. 24; xxiii. 42, 43.

705. From Matt. vii. 7, John xvi. 24; compare Wyclif's version.

707. by the morwe, early in the morning; cf. D. 755, H. 16; and D. 1080.

709. From Prov. viii. 17.

712. From the Vulgate, Eccl. vii. 19 (18):—'qui timet Deum, nihil negligit.'

714. Cf. G. 3, and note; also Ayenb. p. 31, ll. 20-22.

715. thurrok, the sink in which all evil things collect; see note to 363, above, p. 454.

716. Cf. Matt. xi. 12. The reference to 'David' is to Ps. lxxiii. 5 (lxxii. 5 in the Vulgate):—'In labore hominum non sunt, et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.' See the comment on this verse in Hampole's Psalter, ed. Bramley; which concludes with:—'for with men whaym God drawes to heven thai sal nought be swongen, but with fendes in hell.'

718. latrede, tardy (very rare); A. S. læt-rǣde, slow of counsel, deliberate (see Toller).

dich, ditch. In the Fr. text, the image is that of a prisoner, who, when the door is open, is too lazy to mount the steps; so in Ayenb. p. 32, l. 2. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xiv. 236, 237.

719. Cf. Ayenb. p. 32, l. 21:—'thou sselt libbe long'; also P. Pl. C. xii. 180; Prov. of Hendyng, l. 304.

723. This is something like the Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 33, l. 14. But the Fr. text does not quote St. Bernard. The passage in St. Bernard seems to be one in his Vitis Mystica, cap. xix. § 66; ed. Migne, vol. clxxxiv. coll. 674, 675: 'Aliquando affligitur hoc uitio anima bonorum,... ut nec orare, nec legere, nec meditari, nec opus manuum libeat exercere.'

725. tristicia. The Fr. text has tristesce, translated by 'zorȝe' in the Ayenbite, p. 34, l. 8; see 2 Cor. vii. 10.

728. Fr. text—'La vertu de proesce'; Ayenb.—'uirtue' and 'prouesse,' p. 163, l. 22. Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues; P. Plowman, C. xxii. 289.

731. The 'speces,' or kinds, are here five, viz. magnanimity, faith, surety, magnificence, and constancy. These are taken from the Fr. text, which gives six kinds, viz. magnanimite, fiance, seurte, pacience, magnificence, constaunce. Patience is omitted, as having occurred above; see 659.

De Auaricia.

739. In this section we again find several hints taken from the Fr. text, especially in the arrangement of the subdivisions; cf. Ayenb. pp. 34-45. The text of St. Paul is quoted in the original, and in the Ayenb. p. 34; see note to C. 334, and cf. 1 Tim. vi. 10.

741. 'Amor mundi, amor huius saeculi, cupiditas dicitur'; S. Augustini enarratio in Psalmum xxxi, part ii. § 5; ed. Migne, vol. 36, col. 260.

748. 'Auarus, quod est idolorum seruitus'; Eph. v. 5.

749. mawmet, idol. It was unjustly supposed that Mahometans worshipped the prophet; whence Mahomet, corrupted to mawmet, came to mean an idol in general. See Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 174, for illustrations.

751. 'Non habebis deos alienos coram me. Non facies tibi sculptile'; Exod. xx. 3, 4. The addition of the second clause, taken from the second commandment, is remarkable. It was quite common to omit the second commandment altogether; cf. note to C. 641. Cf. Ayenb. pp. 5, 6.

752. tailages, &c. The Fr. text has:—'par tallies, par corvees, par emprunz, par mauvaises coustumes,' &c.; cf. 'be tailes, be coruees, be lones, be kueade wones'; Ayenb. p. 38. Cowel explains tallage as 'a tribute, toll, or tax.' It was, in fact, an exaction for which a tally, or acknowledgement (upon a notched stick) was given; see note to P. Plowman, B. iv. 57; and cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 570; P. Plowman, C. xxii. 37.

Dr. Murray explains cariage in this passage as meaning 'an obsolete service of carrying, or a payment in lieu of the same, due by a tenant to his landlord or feudal superior, or imposed by authority.'

amerciments, arbitrary fines inflicted 'at the mercy' of an affeeror. If the affeeror had no mercy, they became, as is here said, mere extortions.

754. The reference is given to Augustine's De Civitate Dei, lib. ix.; but is wrong. It should be to lib. xix. c. 15:—'Prima ergo seruitutis caussa peccatum est.'

755. See Gen. ix. 18-27. The reference to Gen. v. is a mistake, perhaps due to the fact that Ham is first mentioned in that chapter, at the end of it. See 766 below.

759. This is from Seneca, Epist. 47, which begins:—'Libenter ex his, qui a te ueniunt, cognoui, familiariter te cum seruis tuis uiuere; hoc prudentiam tuam, hoc eruditionem decet. Serui sunt? immo homines. Serui sunt? immo contubernales.'

760. contubernial with, dwelling together with, intimate with. Chaucer found the word in Seneca; see the last note.

761-3. The general sense of this passage is from Seneca, Epist. 47 (note to 759). Thus the words 'that they rather love thee than drede' answer to 'Colant [serui] potius te, quam timeant.'

766. See Gen. ix. 26, and note to 755.

767-8. Cf. Ayenb. p. 39, ll. 6-9; P. Pl. B. vi. 28. The Fr. Text has:—'ces gran prelaz qui acrochent ... par trop grans procuracions ... ce sont li lou qui manguent les berbiz.' It does not mention St. Austin.

783. So in Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 41, near the bottom. See also the parallel passage in Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 64.

788. Damasie; Damasus I., pope from 336 to 384. His day is December 11. St. Jerome (Epist. 61, c. 3) tells us that a Roman senator, envious of the pomp sometimes observed in church ceremonies, said to pope Damasus, 'Make me bishop of Rome, and I will be a Christian tomorrow.' (Alban Butler.)

793. See Pard. Tale, C. 590; Ayenb. p. 45, l. 13.

797. Cf. 'ualse notaryes'; Ayenb. p. 40, l. 8; and see 'Susannah' in the Apocrypha, as told in Dan. xiii., in the Vulgate version.

799. Corporel, bodily theft; see Ayenb. p. 37, l. 3.

801. Sacrilege; see Ayenb. p. 40, l. 26. chirche-hawes, church-yards; Fr. 'mostiers, ou sainz leus, cymetieres'; Ayenb. (p. 41)—'cherches, other holi stedes, cherchtounes.'

802. See Ayenb. p. 41, ll. 7-20. The concluding portion of this section resembles the Fr. text more closely than usual.

Dr. Eilers proposes to insert the words rentes and before rightes, because the Fr. text has 'les rentes ... e les autres droitures'; and it is remarkable that Tyrwhitt also inserts these words. But they neither appear in any of the seven MSS., nor in Thynne's edition.

804. misericorde answers to 'merci' in Ayenb. p. 185, l. 26.

811. largesse, bounty; so also in Ayenb. p. 188, l. 4.

813. fool-largesse, foolish prodigality, such as is satirised in P. Plowm. C. viii. 82-101.

De Gula.

818. This section has very little in common with the Fr. Text; cf. Ayenb. p. 50. It is also much shorter than the original.

819-20. Adam; mentioned also in Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 50, l. 8 from bottom. See Pard. Tale, C. 505, and the note; also C. 529, and the note. From Phil. iii. 18, 19.

822. See Pard. Tale, C. 549, 558.

828. The mention of St. Gregory is copied from the Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 51, l. 18. The passage meant is the following: 'Sciendum praeterea est quia quinque nos modis gulae uitium tentat. Aliquando namque indigentiae tempora praeuenit; aliquando uero tempus non praeuenit, sed cibos lautiores quaerit; aliquando quaelibet qua sumenda sint praeparari accuratius expetit; aliquando autem et qualitati ciborum et tempori congruit, sed in ipsa quantitate sumendi mensuram moderatae refectionis excedit.'—S. Gregorii Moralium Lib. xxx. cap. xviii. § 60; ed. Migne, vol. 76, col. 556.

829. curiositee; Fr. 'curieusete'; Ayenb. 'bysihede,' p. 55, l. 8 from bottom.

831. The remedy against Gluttony, in the Fr. text, is 'La vertu de Sobrete,' answering to 'the uirtue of Temperance' in the Ayenb. p. 245. The Fr. text treats this at great length; but Chaucer only says a few words. He mentions, however, 'Attemperaunce' and 'Mesure'; cf. Fr. 'atemprance' and 'mesure.'

De Luxuria.

836. This section contains a considerable amount of the matter found in the Fr. text, but the comparison between the texts is difficult, owing to the frequent changes in the arrangement of the material. Dr. Eilers says (p. 566):—'This chapter of the Eng. text, though twice as comprehensive as the French, contains more in quantity that corresponds with the Fr. than that diverges from it, and exceeds all the previous chapters in the degree of correspondence.' For details, see Dr. Eilers' essay, and cf. Ayenb. pp. 46-49.

After 'departe,' MS. Hl. supplies a reference to Eph. v. 18.

837-8. See Exod. xx. 14; Lev. xix. 20; Deut. xxii. 21; Lev. xxi. 9.

839. thonder-leyt, thunder-bolt, lit. thunder-flash; A. S. līget, līgetu, a flash; cf. note to Boethius, bk. i. met. 4. 8. See Gen. xix. 24.

841. stank, pool; 'stagno' in the Vulgate (Rev. xxi. 8).

842-5. See Matt. xix. 5; Eph. v. 25; Exod. xx. 17; Matt. v. 28.

852. that other, the second. The former is mentioned above, in 830. The 'five fingers' are, in Fr., called fol regart, fous atouchemenz, foles paroles, fous baisiers, le fait; all 'si come dist saint Gregoire.' Cf. Ayenb. p. 46.

853. basilicok, basilisk; Fr. Text, 'basilicoc.' The fabulous basilisk, or cockatrice, which had a head like a cock and a body like a serpent, was supposed to slay men by its mere glance. In the Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat, 4837-57, we read how Alexander induced a basilisk to commit suicide by gazing in a mirror. Cf. Ayenb. p. 28, l. 12.

854. See Prov. vi. 26-9; vii. 26; Ecclus. xii. 13, 14; xiii. 1; xxvi. 7.

858. roser, rose-bush; as in Havelok, 2919.

busshes, as in Tyrwhitt, must be the right reading; but I can find no authority for it. The MSS. all have beautees, i. e. beauties, or some equivalent form. Thynne (ed. 1550) has benches, which is also found in some MSS.; but it does not help us.

859. Compare this with the March. Tale, E. 1840; and see Ayenb. p. 48, l. 25.

861. 'Si egeris patienter, coniunx mutabitur in sororem'; Hieron. c. Iouinianum, lib. i. (ed. 1524, t. ii. p. 25).

867. 'St. Paul gives them the kingdom due to sinners.' In fact, St. Paul denies them the kingdom due to saints; which comes to the same thing. See Gal. v. 19-21; and see 884 below. Cf. Rev. xxi. 8.

869. the hundred fruit, i. e. fruit brought forth a hundred-fold. Cf. 'dabant fructum, aliud centesimum,' &c.; Matt. xiii. 8. It was usual to liken virginity, widowhood, and matrimony, respectively, to the bringing forth of fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold; see P. Plowman, C. xix. 84-90, and note to l. 84; Hali Meidenhad, ed. Cockayne, p. 22; Ayenb. p. 234. 'Centesimus et sexagesimus et tricesimus fructus ... multum differt in numero. Triginta referuntur ad nuptias ... Sexaginta uero ad uiduas ... Porro centesimus numerus ... exprimit uirginitatis coronam'; Hieronymus contra Iouinianum, lib. i; ed. 1524, ii. 18. The Fr. text has: 'Ceus qui gardent virginite ont le centiesme fruit.' But Chaucer, being well acquainted with Jerome's treatise, recognised at once the Latin source; for in MS. Hl. we find the note, 'secundum Ieronimum contra Iouinianum.'

879. 'Him shall God destroy'; 1 Cor. iii. 17.

880. douted, feared. See Gen. xxxix. 8, 9.

884. 'Huanne me brecth the sacrement of spoushod, hit y-ualth otherhuyl desertesoun of eyr, and ualse mariages'; Ayenb. p. 48.

887. gladly, readily; hence, fittingly.

889. 'Iam amplius noli peccare'; John viii. 11.

895. as by the dignitee, i. e. on account of the dignity of their office; see note to 900.

'Satanas transfigurat se,' &c.; 2 Cor. xi. 14.

897-8. From 1 Sam. ii. 12 (in the Vulgate, Liber primus Regum). Belial signifies worthlessness; and hence, lawlessness, or evil. But in the Vulgate version of Judges, xix. 22, the word Belial is explained to mean 'absque iugo'; which in O. French would become 'sans ioug.' Chaucer seems to have met with this explanation, and perhaps misread it as 'sans iuge'; i. e. 'without Iuge.'

900. misterie, i. e. office, duty. As in 895 above, misterie is here short for ministerie, i. e. ministry, office, duty; in fact, the Selden and Lansdowne MSS. actually have the spelling mynysterie. MS. Cm., by a singular error, adds mynystre again, and has the reading: 'kunne not mynystre the mysterie.' Tyrwhitt has wrongly introduced the extra mynystre. Wright copied him; Bell copied Wright; and Morris copied Bell; so that these editions vary from the Harl. MS., which omits it! The question is easily settled. 'The Book' means the Bible; and the Vulgate version (1 Sam. ii. 12, 13) has 'nescientes ... officium sacerdotum ad populum.' Hence conne means 'know.'

904. 'Adulter est, inquit [Xystus, in sententiis] in suam uxorem amator ardentior,' &c.; S. Hieron. c. Iouinian. lib. i. (near the end)

906. There is no such passage in the E. version of the book of Tobit; but it occurs in the Vulgate, Tob. vi. 17; and see Ayenb. p. 223.

908. godsibbes, i. e. his godmother or his goddaughter. Already, in the Laws of Cnut (Eccles. § vii), we find that a man is forbidden to marry his godmother; and this rule was formerly stringent. Cf. Ayenb. p. 48.

915. This section has much in common with the Fr. text. 'We meet,' says Dr. Eilers, 'with whole sentences in entire agreement.' See Ayenb. pp. 202-238.

916. two maneres, two ways; cf. the two 'states,' in Ayenb. p. 220.

918-19. Eph. v. 32; Gen. ii. 24; John ii. 1.

922. Eph. v. 25, again quoted in 929; 1 Cor. xi. 3.

927. desray, disorder, 'dissarray'; A. F. desrei, O. F. desroi; see derai in Stratmann.

930. MS. Hl. adds cap. iij. after Peter; hence the reference is to 1 Pet. iii. 1.

933. Perhaps the reference is to Rev. xvii. 4, xviii. 16.

934. Gregorie; see note to 414 above, p. 458.

939. three thinges, three reasons; so in Ayenb. p. 222, l. 14.

944. widewe; cf. Ayenb. p. 225, l. 9.

947. boyste, box; Mat. xxvi. 7; John xii. 3.

948. lyf, life; i. e. she lives like them; Fr. semblant as angels du ciel,' i. e. like the angels of heaven. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xix. 89-100; Ayenb. p. 227, l. 13.

951. See the parallel passage; Ayenb. p. 204, at the bottom.

954. leyt, flame; the candle being stuck close to the wall.

955. Daniel; so in E. Cm.; but the other five MSS. have Dauid, i. e. David. It appears that David is the correct reading, since the names of Sampson, David, and Solomon occur both in the Fr. text, and in Ayenb. p. 204.

956-7. Probably Chaucer omitted the ten commandments, because he was getting tired of the work. He mentions them because they are treated of at length in the French treatise; see Ayenb. pp. 5-11. Hence his 'leaving them to divines' is a mere excuse. Cf. Kn. Tale, A. 1323; and see note to 1043 below (p. 474).

We may also see, in this expression, a clear proof that this Treatise was originally made by Chaucer in his own person. On assigning this Tale to the Parson, he should have struck out this tell-tale clause; for surely the Parson was 'a divine.'

De Confessione. Instead of this Title, most MSS., including E., have—'Sequitur secunda Pars Penitencie.' But this is unsuitable, as it has already appeared, viz. at p. 586. I have therefore taken, from MSS. Pt. and Christchurch, the alternative title—'De Confessione.' See p. 639.

958. This chapter, on Confession, answers to a similar chapter in the Fr. text, though the material has been re-arranged. See Ayenb. pp. 172-180; Ancren Riwle, pp. 299, 317. The reference to the 'firste chaptire' is to paragraph 107, on p. 572.

959. fyve wittes, five senses, also called 'the vif wittes of the bodie' in Ayenb. p. 177. And cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 15, and the note.

960. that that, that which, what it is that.

961. This corresponds to Ayenb. p. 175, l. 23, and lines following, to p. 176, l. 12; but the order varies.

971. eschew, reluctant; lit. 'shy.' See E. 1812, and the note. Tyrwhitt reads slow, which is ingenious, but wrong.

979. engreggen, aggravate; Fr. 'les circumstances qui poent engreger le pecche.' Godefroy, s. v. engregier, quotes this very passage, from two other MS. which read, respectively, 'qui pueent engregier le pechie,' and 'qui engrigent les pechies.'

981. namely by the two, especially by the (former) two; penitence and shrift. the thridde, the third; i. e. satisfaction, reparation.

982. foure, four; Fr. 'six.' See Ayenb. p. 172, l. 6.

983. Ezekias, Hezekiah; Fr. text, 'Ezechias'; all the MSS. have Ezekiel (wrongly); see Isaiah, xxxviii. 15. The Ayenb. has 'ezechie'; p. 172, l. 9 from bottom.

986-8. See Luke xviii. 13; 1 Pet. v. 6.

994, 996. See Matt. xxvi. 75; Luke vii. 37.

998. hastily, without delay; Ayenb. 'hasteliche,' p. 173, l. 10; Fr. 'hastivement.' And see Ayenb. p. 173, l. 25 for the rest of the sentence.

1005. countrewaite, watch against, be on his guard against; see Tale of Melibeus, B. 2508.

1006. parcel, part; departe, divide; see Ayenb. p. 175.

1008. Cf. Somn. Tale, D. 2095-8.

1013. nayte, deny; Icel. neita; Tyrwhitt has nay. So, in Boeth. bk. i. met. 1. l. 16, where the original has negat, MS. Addit. has naieth; but the Camb. MS. has nayteth.

1020. This passage from St. Augustine is alluded to in the Ancren Riwle, p. 337:—'Qui causa humilitatis mentitur fit quod prius ipse non fuit, id est, peccator.' See S. August. Sermo clxxxi. § 4 (ed. Migne, vol. 38, col. 981): 'Propter humilitatem dicis te peccatorem.... Testis ergo falsus es contra te.'

1025. Cf. Ayenb. p. 178, l. 13; Ancren Riwle, p. 323.

1027. ones a yere, viz. at Easter. In the Ancren Riwle, p. 413, fifteen times are mentioned. See P. Plowman, C. xxi. 472, xxii. 3, and the note to the latter passage. renovellen, are renewed; i. e. in spring-time.

De Satisfaccione.

1030. In Religious Pieces, ed. Perry (E. E. T. S.), p. 9, the seven 'works of mercy' are (1) feeding the hungry; (2) giving drink to the thirsty; (3) clothing the naked; (4) sheltering the homeless; (5) visiting the sick; (6) visiting prisoners; (7) burying the dead poor.

1031. Cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 20 (B. i. 20), and the note.

1034. Compare Ayenb. p. 192, l. 5.

1036. From Matt. v. 14-16. Chaucer's translation is smoother than Wyclif's.

1040-2. Compare Ayenbite, p. 99.

1043. Here again Chaucer really speaks in his own person; cf. note to 957 above. The reason for his mentioning the 'exposition' of the prayer is, that a long exposition, which he wished to avoid, is given in the Fr. text (see Ayenb. pp. 99-118).

1045. Epitomised from the Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 207.

1048. wakinge, watching; see Matt. xxvi. 41.

1049. Cf. Ayenb. p. 53, where iolyuete answers to ioliuete in the Fr. text, and to Iolitee in Chaucer.

1051. On eating, see P. Plowman, C. ix. 273 (B. vi. 263). in untyme, at a wrong season; see P. Plowm. B. ix. 186.

1052. Observe that, in 1038, Chaucer says that bodily pain stands in (1) prayers; (2) watching; (3) fasting; and (4) virtuous teachings. He speaks of prayers in 1039-1047; of watching in 1048-9; of fasting in 1050-1. He now takes up 'teaching,' by which he means, in the first place, bodily 'discipline'; and the words 'or techinge by word or by writinge or in ensample' are, practically, parenthetical. The word discipline is due to the Fr. text; cf. Ayenb. p. 250, l. 2: 'ase ine uestinges, ine wakiinges, ine dissiplines,' &c.

heyres, hair-shirts; see P. Plowman, C. vii. 6, and the note.

haubergeons, habergeons, shirts of mail. It is surprising to find, in the Romance of Tristan, ed. Michel, ii. 36, that the heroine (Yseult) is described as wearing a 'byrnie' or shirt of mail next her skin:—'Vest une brunie à sa char nue.' Michel quotes from Le Voyage de Charlemagne à Constantinople, I. 635:—'Il lur a cumaundet que aient vestu brunies.'

1054. Tyrwhitt puts a comma after herte, and none after God, and other editors follow him. But the text (Col. iii. 12) has: 'Induite uos ergo, sicut electi Dei, ... uiscera misericordiae, benignitatem, ... patientiam.' Hence 'in herte of misericorde' simply translates 'uiscera misericordiae.'

1055-6. Not in the Fr. text. Cf. P. Plowm. C. viii. 61, and the note.

1057. The Fr. text mentions five things; the fifth is a wicked love of sin; see Ayenb. p. 179.

1059. Fr. 'au regart de la peine d'enfer.'

1067. surquidrie, too great confidence; see 403 above, and the note.

1069. From S. Gregorii Moralium lib. xxxiv. cap. xix. § 36 (ed. Migne, vol. 76, col. 738):—'Ad districti ergo iudicis iustitiam pertinet, ut nunquam careant supplicio, quorum mens in hac uita nunquam uoluit carere peccato.'

1073. There is here a sad oversight. For 'the seconde wanhope,' we should read 'the same wanhope.' The second kind of despair is discussed in 1074. All the MSS. have this mistake.

1080. poverte espirituel; this refers to the 'poor in spirit'; Matt. v. 3. lowenesse, i. e. meekness; Matt. v. 5. hunger; Matt. v. 6. travaille; Matt. v. 4, 10, 11. lyf; Rom. viii. 13. This concluding passage may be compared with the concluding passage of the Ayenbite, p. 261.

1081. This final paragraph is variously headed in the MSS. E. has: 'Here taketh the makere of this book his leue.' So also Cm. So also Pt., preceded by 'Explicit fabula Rectoris.' Hl. has: 'Preces de Chauceres.' The words 'this litel tretis' refer, of course, to the Persones Tale as originally written, so that some part of this concluding address was certainly added afterwards. The interpolation (due to Chaucer himself, if we may trust the evidence) probably extends (as Tyrwhitt suggested) from the words and namely in 1085 to the words salvacioun of my soule in 1090. This accounts for the unusual length of the sentence in 1084-1092. The addition was made at the time of revision, when Chaucer had made up his mind that the Persones Tale was to be the last; and he took the opportunity of writing the conclusion of the work before it was, in reality, completed. This accounts for the whole matter.

1083. Alluding to Rom. xv. 4.

1085. I revoke in my retracciouns, I recall by retracting what I may have said amiss. There is no need to lay an undue stress on this expression, as if the author had been compelled to denounce and retract most of his works. We may fairly understand the expression 'thilke that sownen into sinne' as applicable to all the works, and not to the Tales alone. Whilst thanking God for his devotional works, it was not out of place for him to 'recall' his more secular ones; for this expression seems to mean no more than that he could not claim that they were written in God's service. To 'revoke' cannot here mean 'to withdraw,' because the poems named were not withdrawn, nor was there any way in which such a result could have been brought about. Cf. vol. iii. p. 503.

1086. The book of the xix. Ladies is, of course, the Legend of Good Women. For xix., most MSS. have 'xxv.'; MS. Harl. 1758 has '25'; MS. Ln. has 'xv.'; and MS. Hl. has '29'; but we know, from the Poem itself, that 'xix.' is correct. Numbers, as the various readings shew, easily went wrong; see note to 565 above.

'The book of seint Valentynes day of the Parlement of Briddes' is all one title; the poem itself is well known.

1087. 'The book of the Lion' is now lost; most likely, as Tyrwhitt suggests, it was a translation from, or adaptation of, Le Dit du Lione, a poem by G. de Machault, composed in the year 1342. It is printed among Machault's poems. Lydgate, in his Prologue to the Falls of Princes, ascribes this work to Chaucer in the words:—

But it is probable that Lydgate is merely quoting from the present passage, and knew no more of the matter than we do.

I may here note that Tyrwhitt expresses his astonishment that Chaucer does not expressly 'revoke' his translation of the Romaunt of the Rose; but it is sufficiently indicated by the words 'and namely [i. e. especially] of my translacions'; see 1085.

1088. Boece, i. e. his translation of Boethius. Legendes, i. e. the Legend of St. Cecilia and the Legend of the boy-saint in the Prioresses Tale. Omelies, homilies; such as the Parson's Tale and the Tale of Melibeus. moralitee and devocioun; such as Chaucer's A B C, and his Balades on Fortune, Truth, Gentilesse, and Lack of Steadfastness; also the Monkes Tale, which is expressly called 'a Tragedie.' The Pardoneres Tale, moreover, is called 'an honest thing'; and even of the Nonnes Prestes Tale we are bidden, at the end, to 'take the moralitee.'

NOTES

TO

THE TALE OF GAMELYN.

1. Litheth, hearken ye; cf. l. 169. This is the imperative plural; so also lesteneth, herkeneth. See remarks on the dialect in vol. iii. p. 400. For the explanation of the harder words, see the Glossary. Compare: 'Now list and lithe, you gentlemen'; Percy Folio MS., ii. 218; 'Now lithe and listen, gentlemen,' id. iii. 77.

3. Iohan of Boundys. It is not clear what is meant by Boundys, which is repeated in l. 226; nor is there any clear indication of the supposed locality of the story. Lodge, in his novel (see vol. iii. p. 404), ingeniously substitutes Bourdeaux, and calls the knight 'Sir John of Bourdeaux.'^[29] In Shakespeare, he becomes Sir Roland de Bois.

The reading righte (for right) is demanded by grammar, the article being in the definite form; and the same reading is equally demanded by the metre. Where the final e is thus necessary to the grammar and metre alike, there is little difficulty in restoring the correct reading. Compare the good-e knight in ll. 11, 25, 33.

4. 'He was sufficiently instructed by right bringing up, and knew much about sport.' Nurture is the old phrase for a 'genteel education.' Thus we find 'The boke of Nurture, or Schoole of good maners: for men, seruants, and children,' written by Hugh Rhodes, and printed in 1577; and John Russell's 'Boke of Nurture,' in MS. Harl. 4011. See the Babees Book, ed. F. J. Furnivall, 1868; where much information as to the behaviour of our forefathers is given. By game is meant what is now called sport; 'The Master of the Game' is the name of an old treatise on hunting; see Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 149. Cf. As You Like It, ii. 7. 97: 'Yet am I inland bred, And know some nurture.'

5. Thre sones, three sons. They are here named Johan, Ote, and Gamelyn; Lodge calls them Saladyne, Fernandine, and Rosader; in Shakespeare, they are Oliver, Jaques, and Orlando. The characters of the three are much the same in all three versions of the story.

6. sone he began, he soon began, viz. to evince his disposition.

12. his day, his term of life, his lifetime. So in Hamlet, v. 1. 315, the 'dog will have his day.' Hence after his day is, practically, after his death.

14. 'This appears to mean, that the knight had himself acquired his land, and held it in fee simple (verrey purchas), not entailed nor settled; and that, consequently, he had a right to divide it among his children as he pleased. The housbond in this case means a man who was kept at home looking after his domestic business and his estates, and who could not be wyde-wher,' i. e. often far from home; note by Mr. Jephson. See ll. 58-61 below, which prove that the knight had partly inherited his land, and partly won it by military service. Cf. Chaucer, Prol. 256, 319. In the Freres Tale (D. 1449) we find:—

I cannot think that Dr. Morris is right in explaining purchasing by 'prosecution'; see Purchas in the Glossary.

16. hadde, might have; the subjunctive mood.

20. on lyve, in life; now written a-live or alive. Lyve is the dat. case, governed by on, which constantly has the sense of 'in' in A.S. and M.E.

23. ther, where. The reader should note this common idiom, or he will miss the structure of the sentence. Cf. ll. 33, 52, 66, &c.

31. ne dismay you nought, do not dismay yourself; i. e. be not dismayed or dispirited.

32. 'God can bring good out of the evil that is now wrought.' Boot, advantage, remedy, or profit, is continually contrasted with bale or evil; the alliteration of the words rendered them suitable for proverbial phrases. One of the commonest is 'When bale is hext, then boot is next,' i. e. when evil is highest (at its height), then the remedy is nighest. This is one of the Proverbs of Hendyng; see Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, part ii. p. 40. So, in l. 34, Boote of bale means 'remedy of evil,' good out of evil. See note to l. 631.

34. it is no nay, there is no denying it, it cannot be denied. So in Chaucer, C. T. 8693, 9015 (E. 817, 1139).

39. that on, that other, the one, the other. Sometimes corruptly written the ton, the tother; and hence the vulgar English the tother.

43. Such was their intention, but it was partly overruled; for we see, from l. 45, that the second son duly received his share.

48. whan he good cowde, when he knew what was good, i. e. when he was old enough to know right from wrong; or, as we now say, when he came to years of discretion. Observe that the division of land here proposed was not final; for the good knight, being still alive, altered it; see l. 54.

53. 'Saint Martin was a Hungarian by birth, and served in the army under Constantius and Julian. He is represented in pictures as a Roman knight on horseback, with his sword dividing his cloak into two pieces, one of which he gives to a beggar. He was a strenuous opponent of the Arians, and died at Tours, where his relics were preserved and honoured.'—Jephson. St. Martin's day, commonly called Martinmas, is Nov. 11. The knight swears by St. Martin in his character of soldier. Cf. l. 225.

57. plowes, ploughlands; see the Glossary.

62. The knight's intention was, evidently, that Gamelyn's share should be the best. In Lodge's novel, Sir John gives to the eldest 'fourteen ploughlands, with all my manner-houses and my richest plate'; to the second, 'twelve ploughlands'; but to the youngest, says he, 'I give my horse, my armour, and my launce, with sixteene ploughlands; for, if the inwarde thoughts be discovered by outward shadows, Rosader wil exceed you all in bountie and honour.'

64. 'That my bequest may stand,' i. e. remain good.

67. stoon-stille, as still as a stone. So Chaucer has 'as stille as stoon'; Clerkes Tale, E. 121. See ll. 263, 423.

76. 'And afterwards he paid for it in his fair skin.' We should now say, his recompense fell upon his own head.

78. of good wil, readily, of their own accord. 'They of their own accord feared him as being the strongest.' So also 'of thine own good will,' Shak. Rich. II. iv. 1. 177; 'by her good will,' Venus and Adonis, 479. But the nearest parallel passage is in Octouian Imperator, l. 561, pr. in Weber's Metrical Romances, iii. 180. It is there said of some sailors who were chased by a lioness, that they ran away very hastily 'with good wylle.' Cf. in wille, i. e. anxious, in l. 173.

82. To handle his beard, i. e. to feel, by his beard, that he was of full age. Lodge has a parallel passage, but gives a more literal sense to the expression 'hondlen his berd,' which merely signifies that he was growing up. 'With that, casting up his hand, he felt haire on his face, and perceiving his beard to bud, for choler he began to blush, and swore to himselfe he would be no more subject to such slaverie.' Cf. As You Like It, iii. 2. 218, 396.

90. 'Is our meat prepared,' i. e. is our dinner ready? Our perhaps means my, being used in a lordly style. See the next note.

92. Observe the use of the familiar thou, in place of the usual respectful ye. This accounts for the elder brother's astonishment, as expressed in the next line.

100. 'Brother by name, and brother in that only.'

101. that rape was of rees, who was hasty in his fit of passion. Mr. Jephson's explanation 'deprived of reason for anger' is incorrect. Rape is hasty; see the Glossary. Rees is the modern E. race, A. S. rǣs, applied to any sudden course, whether bodily or mental; cf. l. 547. So in Gower, ed. Pauli, i. 335, we find:—

i. e. do nothing in such a sudden fit; referring to Pyramus, who rashly slew himself upon the hasty false assumption that Thisbe was dead.

102. gadeling, fellow; a term of reproach. But observe that the sarcasm lies in the similarity of the sound of the word to Gamelyn. Hence Gamelyn's indignant reply. In P. Plowman, C. xi. 297, gadelynges are ranked with false folk, deceivers, and liars.

103. 'Thou shall be glad to get mere food and clothing.'

109. ner, nigher, the old comparative form; afterwards written near, and wrongly extended to near-er, with a double comparative suffix. Cf. l. 135, 352.

a-foote, on foot; not a foot, the length of a foot, as that would have no final e.

115. schal algate, must in any case.

116. This is obscure; it may mean 'unless thou art the one (to do it)'; i. e. to give me the beating. In other words, Gamelyn dares his brother to use the rod himself, not to delegate such an office to another. But his brother was much too wary to take such advice; he preferred to depute the business to his men.

121. over-al, all about, all round, everywhere.

122. stood, i. e. which stood. The omission of the relative is common.

125. good woon, good store; plentifully.

129. for his eye, for awe of him. His is not the possessive pronoun here, but the genitive of the personal pronoun.

130. by halves, lit. by sides; i. e. some to one side, some to the other. drowe by halves = sidled away.

131. 'May ye prosper ill!' Cf. Chaucer, Pard. Tale, C. 947.

136. 'I will teach thee some play with the buckler.' An allusion to the 'sword and buckler play,' described in Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, bk. iii. ch. 6. § 22. Not unlike our modern 'single-stick,' but with the addition of a buckler in the left hand. Strutt gives a picture from a Bodleian MS., dated 1344, in which clubs or bludgeons are substituted for swords; and, no doubt, the swords used in sport were commonly of wood. Gamelyn is speaking jocosely; he had no buckler, but he had a wooden 'pestel,' which did very well for a sword.

137. 'by Saint Richard was a favourite oath^[30] with the outlaws of Robin Hood's stamp, probably because of his Saxon extraction'; Jephson. Mr. Jephson adds the following quotation from the English Martyrologe, 1608: 'Saint Richard, King and Confessor, was sonne to Lotharius, King of Kent, who, for the love of Christ, taking upon him a long peregrination, went to Rome for devotion to that sea [see], and, on his way homeward, died at Lucca, about the year of Christ 750, where his body is kept until this day, with great veneration, in the oratory and chappell of St. Frigidian, and adorned with an epitaph both in verse and prose.' But this is altogether beside the mark; for Mr. Jephson certainly refers to the wrong saint. There were four St. Richards, commemorated, respectively, on Feb. 7, April 3, June 9, and August 21; see Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints. The day of the Saxon king is Feb. 7; but he could hardly have been so fresh in the memory of Englishmen as the more noted St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, who died in 1253, and was canonized in 1262; his day being April 3. There is a special fitness in the allusion to this latter saint, because he was a pattern of brotherly love, and Johan is here deprecating Gamelyn's anger. Alban Butler says of him: 'The unfortunate situation of his eldest brother's affairs gave him an occasion of exercising his benevolent disposition. Richard condescended to become his brother's servant, undertook the management of his farms, and by his industry and generosity effectually retrieved his brother's before distressed circumstances.' His name still appears in our Prayer-books.

141. I mot nede is used for 'I must needs'; see examples in Mätzner, Alteng. Sprachproben, i. 302 (182). Mot is the present tense; whereas moste (mod. E. must) is the past tense, and was once grammatically incorrect as a form of the present tense.

150. of thing, of a thing; as in Sir Tristram, 406.

154. 'And mind that thou blame me, unless I soon grant it.'

156. 'If we are to be at one,' i. e. to be reconciled. Cf. l. 166.

158. 'Thou must cause me to possess it, if we are not to quarrel.'

160. We should now say—'All that your father left you, and more too, if you would like to have it.' The offer is meant to be very liberal.

164. 'As he well knew (how to do).'

167. 'In no respect he knew with what sort of a false treason his brother kissed him.' Whiche is cognate with the Latin qualis, and has here the same sense.

171. 'There was a wrestling-match proclaimed there, hard by.'

172. 'And, as prizes for it, there were exhibited a ram and a ring.' In Lodge's novel, 'a day of wrastling and tournament' is appointed by Torimond, king of France. In Chaucer's Prologue, A. 548, we find: 'At wrastling he wolde have alwey the ram.' On this Tyrwhitt has the following note: 'This was the usual prize at wrestling-matches. See C. T. l. 13671 [Sir Thopas, st. 5], and Gamelyn, ll. 184, 280. Mathew Paris mentions a wrestling-match at Westminster, A. D. 1222, at which a ram was the prize.' In Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, bk. ii. ch. 2. § 14, two men are represented as wrestling for a live cock. Strutt also quotes a passage from 'A mery Geste of Robin Hode,' which gives an account of a wrestling, at which the following prizes were 'set up' (the same phrase being used as here), viz. a white bull, a courser with saddle and bridle, a pair of gloves, a red gold ring, and a pipe of wine!

199. 'Why dost thou thus behave?' i. e. make this lamentation. Cf. As You Like It, i. 2. 133-140.

204. 'Unless God be surety for them,' i. e. ensure their recovery. The story supposes that the two sons are not slain, but greatly disabled; as Shakespeare says, 'there is little hope of life' in them.

206. with the nones, on the occasion that, provided that. For the nones, for the occasion, stands for for then ones, for the once; so here with the nones = with then ones, with the once. Then is the dat. case of the article, being a weakened form of A.S. ðām. Cf. l. 456.

207. wilt thow wel doon, if thou wishest to do a kind deed.

214. drede not of, fear not for.

217. 'How he dared adventure himself, to prove his strength upon him that was so doughty a champion.'

224. whyl he couthe go, whilst he was able to go about.

230. a moche schrewe thou were, thou wast a great doer of mischief. Gamelyn retorts that he is now a more, i. e. a still greater doer of mischief. Moche is often used of size. In Havelok, l. 982, more than the meste = bigger than the biggest.

236. gonne goon, did go. Gonne is a mere auxiliary verb.

237. 'The champion tried various sleights upon Gamelyn, who was prepared for them.'

240. faste aboute, busily employed, trying your best. Cf. l. 785.

248. Spoken ironically, 'shall it be counted as a throw, or as none?'

249. whether, &c., whichever it be accounted.

253. of him, &c., he stood in no awe of him. Instead of our modern expression 'he stood in awe of him,' the M.E. expression is, usually, 'he stood awe of him,' suppressing in. It probably arose out of the very construction here used, viz. 'awe of him stood to him,' i. e. arose in him. However that may be, the idiom is common. Thus, in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 62:—

In Havelok, l. 277:—

So also, 'he stode of him non eye'; Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 8, l. 24. So also in Wallace, v. 929, vi. 878.

255. 'Who was not at all well pleased.'

256. 'He is an evil master.' The reading oure alther mayster (in Cp.) means—'he is master of us all.'

257. 'It is full yore ago'; it is very long ago.

262. wil no-more, desires no more, has had enough.

270. 'This fair is done.' A proverb, meaning that the things of the fair are sold, and there is no more business to be done.

271. 'As I hope to do well, I have not yet sold up the half of my ware'; i. e. I have more to offer. The wrestler, in spite of his pain, utters the grim joke that Gamelyn sells his ware too dearly.

272. halvendel is for A.S. healfne dǣl or þone healfan dǣl, the accusative case. The word of is to be understood after it. See Zupitza's Notes to Guy of Warwick, l. 5916.

273. See note to l. 334.

276. lakkest, dispraisest, decriest. In P. Plowman, B. v. 130, we find 'to blame mennes ware'; and, only two lines below, the equivalent phrase 'to lakke his chaffare.'

277. 'By Saint James in Galicia.' In Chaucer's Prologue, the Wife of Bath had been 'in Galice at Seint Jame.' The shrine of St. James, at Compostella in Galicia, was much frequented by pilgrims. See my note to Prol. 466, at p. 44 above. It is remarkable that the whole of this line is quoted from A Poem on the Times of Edw. II., l. 475; see Political Songs, ed. Wright, p. 345. It occurs again below, l. 764.

278. 'Yet it is too cheap, that which thou hast bought.' The franklin tells the defeated wrestler that it is not for him to call Gamelyn's ware dear, for he has, in fact, been let off much too cheaply. Our modern cheap is short for good cheap, i. e. bought in good market. To buy in a good cheap was shortened to to buy good cheap, and finally became to buy cheap.

281. have, have, receive, take.

285. rowte, company. We are to suppose that a crowd of Gamelyn's admirers accompanied him home. In Lodge's novel, the elder brother 'sawe wher Rosader returned with the garland on his head, as having won the prize, accompanied with a crue of boon companions; greeved at this, he stepped in and shut the gate.'

297. See note to l. 334.

302. though thou haddest swore, though thou hadst sworn (the contrary). This curious phrase occurs also in Chaucer, Kn. Tale, A. 1089, where 'althogh we hadde it sworn' is equivalent to 'though we had sworn (the contrary).'

312. 'That desired either to walk or to ride in.' Go, when opposed to ride, means to go on foot, to walk.

318. and ye wil doon after me, if ye will act according to my advice; spoken parenthetically.

321. oure catour, caterer for us. oure aller purs, the purse of us all. Cf. footnotes to l. 256.

324. largely, liberally; the usual old meaning.

328. no cheste, no strife, no quarrelling.

334. so, &c., 'as I hope to enjoy the use of my eye'; lit. 'as I may use my eye.' This phrase occurs also in Havelok, 2545: 'So mote ich brouke mi rith eie,' as I hope to have the use of my right eye. And again in the same, l. 1743, with the substitution of 'finger or toe' for 'right eye'; and in l. 311, with the substitution of 'mi blake swire,' i. e. my black neck; cf. ll. 273, 297 above. See also ll. 407, 489, 567. Even Chaucer has: 'So mote I brouke wel myn eyen tweye,' as I hope to make good use of my two eyes; Nonne Prestes Tale, 479 (B. 4490).

338. bitaughte is used in two senses; they commended Gamelyn to God's protection, and bade him good day.

345. mangerye, feast, lit. an eating. It occurs in P. Plowman, C. xiii. 46; Wyclif, Works, ed. Arnold, i. 4. In Sir Amadace, st. 55, a wedding-feast is called a maungery, and lasted 40 days; Early Eng. Metrical Romances, ed. Robson, p. 49. Cf. ll. 434, 464.

349, 350. These lines are anticipatory; they give a brief summary of the next part of the story.

352. ful neer, much nearer. See note to l. 109.

366. Iohan was pronounced like modern E. Jawn, and rimes with noon, pronounced as nawn (with aw as in awe). So also in Chaucer, Man of Lawes Tale, B. 1019.

367. 'By my faith'; cf. l. 555. Chaucer has 'by my fey'; Kn. Tale, 268 (A. 1126).

368. 'If thou thinkest the same as thou sayst, may God requite it thee!'

372. Tho, when. threwe, didst throw; observe the absence of -st in the suffix of the second person of the past tense of strong verbs.

373. moot, meeting, assembly, concourse of people; in allusion to the crew of companions whom Gamelyn introduced. Moreover, the word moot was especially used of an assembly of men in council, like our modern meeting. But it is, perhaps, simpler to take it in the sense of public disputation, dispute; cf. St. Katherine, l. 1314, and cf. M.E. motien, to dispute publicly. Indeed, as the rimes are often imperfect, the original word may have been mood, i. e. anger.

376. It was not uncommon, to prevent a person from being forsworn, that the terms of an oath should be literally fulfilled; cf. Merch. Ven. iv. l. 326. In his novel, Lodge avoids all improbability by a much simpler device. He makes the eldest brother surprise the youngest in his sleep. 'On a morning very early he cald up certain of his servants, and went with them to the chamber of Rosader, which being open, he entered with his crue, and surprized his brother when he was asleepe, and bound him with fetters,' &c.

382. Here, as in l. 420, all the MSS. have honde. The final e probably represents the dative or instrumental case, and the correct reading is fote and honde, as in MSS. Pt. and Ln. in both passages.

386. wood, mad. It was common to bind and starve madmen, and to treat them cruelly. Even Malvolio was to be put 'in a dark room and bound'; Tw. Nt. iii. 4. 147. Cf. As You Like It, iii. 2. 421.

392. a party is an adverb, meaning 'partly,' or 'in some measure.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. xv. 17; Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 2334.

394. or, ere, before; not 'or.' be, been.

398. 'Spence, or (according to the original French form of the word) despense, was the closet or room in convents and large houses where the victuals, wine, and plate were locked up; and the person who had the charge of it was called the spencer, or the despencer. Hence originated two common family names.'—Wright. The spence, however, like the spencer, owed its name to the O.F. verb despendre, to spend; as explained in my Etym. Dict. s. v. spend. See the Glossary. Lodge retains the name of Adam Spencer; whence Adam in Shakespeare.

411. 'Upon such an agreement.'

413. 'All as I may prosper'; as I hope to thrive.

414. After wil supply lose; see the footnote. 'I will hold covenant with thee, if thou wilt loose me.'

430. wher I go, whether shall I go. Wher is a contracted form of whether, like or for other. Girde of, strike off.

433. that this, &c., that this is a thing not to be denied, a sure thing.

438. hem, them, i. e. the fetters (understood); cf. l. 498.

441. borwe the, be surety for thee, go bail for thee.

444. do an other, act in another way, try another course. There is no authority for inserting thing after other.

445. Lodge says: 'and at the ende of the hall shall you see stand a couple of good pollaxes, one for you and another for me.'

449. 'If we must in any case absolve them of their sin.' Said jocosely; he was going to absolve them after a good chastisement.

451. St. Charity was the daughter of St. Sophia, who christened her three daughters Fides, Spes, and Caritas; see Butler's Lives of the Saints (Aug. 1). Cf. Percy Folio MS., i. 28; l. 26.

453. Lodge says: 'When I give you a wincke,' &c.

456. for the nones, for the occasion; see note to l. 206.

460. leste and meste, least and greatest.

461. halle, of the hall; A. S. healle, gen. case of heal, a hall. Here, and in l. 496, we may take halle-dore as a compound word, but halle is still a genitive form.

471. ther that, where that; as commonly.

481. 'Who beggeth for thee (to come) out of prison, or who may be surety for thee; but ever may it be well with them that cause thee much sorrow.'

485. 'All that may be surety for thee, may evil befall them'; lit. 'may it befall them evilly.'

489. so, &c., 'as I hope to make use of my bones,' lit. bone.

503. 'Gamelyn sprinkles holy water with an oaken sprig.' Said jocosely; Gamelyn flourishes his staff like one who sprinkles holy water. A spire is properly a springing shoot, hence a sprig or sapling. Cf. Troil. ii. 1335. See the Glossary.

509. Mr. Jephson here remarks as follows:—'The hatred of churchmen, of holy water, and of everything connected with the church, observable in all the ballads of this class, is probably owing to the fact, that William the Conqueror and his immediate successors systematically removed the Saxon bishops and abbots, and intruded Normans in their stead into all the valuable preferments in England. But there were also other grounds for the odium in which these foreign prelates were held. Sharing in the duties of the common law judges, they participated in the aversion with which the functionaries of the law were naturally regarded by outlaws and robbers,' &c. He also quotes, from the Lytel Geste of Robin Hood, the following:—

It may be added that Lodge entirely omits here all mention of abbot, prior, monk, or canon. Times had changed.

514. 'Pay a liberal allowance,' i. e. deal your blows bountifully.

515. so ever, &c., 'as sure as ever I hear mass.' Cf. l. 595.

520. telle largely, count fully.

523. the croune, i. e. the crown of each man's head; alluding to the tonsure. It means, do not spoil the tonsure on their crowns, but break their legs and arms.

531. cold reed, cold counsel, unprofitable counsel. So in Chaucer, Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4446; see the note. So Shakespeare has 'colder tidings'; Rich. III, iv. 4. 536. Cf. l. 759 below.

532. 'It had been better for us.' Cf. l. 621.

533. This is ironical, and refers, as Mr. Jephson rightly says, to the laying on of hands, whereby Gamelyn made his victims deacons and priests after a new fashion of his own.

543. here love, love of them; here awe, awe of them. Here = A.S. hira, gen. pl. of hē, he. Hence here also means 'their,' as in l. 569.

558. ther ... inne, wherein (Gamelyn was).

567. 'As I hope to have the use of my chin.' See note to l. 334.

578. 'I will repay thee for thy words, when I see my opportunity.'

583. It ben, they are; lit. it are. A common idiom in Middle English. See P. Plowman, C. vi. 59, ix. 217, xvi. 309; and compare it am I, as in Chaucer, Man of Lawes Tale, B. 1109.

588. 'Make their beds in the fen,' i. e. lie down in the fen or mud.

596. Spoken ironically. Adam offers them some refreshment. They reply, that his wine is not good, being too strong; indeed, so strong that it will not only, like ordinary wine, steal away a man's brains, but even take them out of his head altogether, so that they lie scattered in his hood. In other words. Adam's staff breaks their heads, and lets the brains out.

606. 'It is better for us to be there at large.'

609. Lodge says that they 'tooke their way towards the forest of Arden.'

610. 'Then the sheriff found the nest, but no egg (in it).' So also in William of Palerne, l. 83: 'Than fond he nest and no neiȝ · for nouȝt nas ther leued'; i. e. for nothing was left there. No neiȝ = non eiȝ, no egg.

616. and loke how he fare, and let us see how he may fare.

618. Here Adam merely expresses disgust of his new mode of life. In Lodge's novel, he begins to faint, being old. Cf. l. 817.

621. lever me were, it would be preferable for me.

631. 'After misery comes help.' So in the Proverbs of Hendyng, as said above, in note to l. 32. Trench, in his book On Proverbs, quotes a Hebrew proverb:—When the tale of bricks is doubled, Moses comes.

642. 'Whoso looked aright,' i. e. if one were to look carefully.

651. i. e. I only curse (or blame) myself if I yield.

652. 'Though ye fetched five more, ye would then be only twelve in number.' He means that he would fight twelve of them.

660. In Lodge's novel, the chief is 'Gerismond the lawfull King of France, banished by Torismond, who with a lustie crue of Outlawes lived in that Forrest.' But the present text evidently refers to an English outlaw, such as Robin Hood.

666. 'I will adventure myself as far as the door.' Spoken proverbially, there being no door in the wood. He means that he will venture within sight of the chief. hadde mete, might have food.

689. 'His peace was made'; i. e. his pardon had been obtained.

698. 'And caused his brother to be indicted.'

700. wolves-heed, wolf's head. 'This was the ancient Saxon formula of outlawry, and seems to have been literally equivalent to setting the man's head at the same estimate as a wolf's head. In the laws of Edward the Confessor [§ 6], it is said of a person who has fled justice, 'Si postea repertus fuerit et teneri possit, vivus regi reddatur, vel caput ipsius si se defenderit; lupinum enim caput geret a die utlagacionis sue, quod ab Anglis wluesheued nominatur. Et hec sententia communis est de omnibus utlagis.'—Wright. See Thorpe, Ancient Laws, &c., i. 445.

701. of his men, i. e. (some) of his men.

703. 'How the wind was turned'; i. e. which way the wind blew, as we now say.

704. 'When a man's lands were seized by force or unjustly, the peasantry on the estates were exposed to be plundered and ill-treated by the followers of the intruder.'—Wright.

707. 'The messengers of ill tidings, however innocent themselves, often experienced all the first anger of the person to whom they carried them, in the ages of feudal power. Hence the bearer of ill news generally began by deprecating the wrath of the person addressed.'—Wright. This was not, however, peculiar to those times. Cf. Sophocles, Antigone, 228; 2 Hen. IV. i. I. 100; Rich. III. iv. 4. 510; Macb. v. 5. 39.

709. 'I. e. has obtained government of the bailiwick. In former times ... the high sheriff was the officer personally responsible for the peace of his bailiwick, which he maintained by calling out the posse comitatus to assist him.'—Jephson.

710. doth thee crye, causes thee to be proclaimed.

713. 'Greet well my husbands (i. e. servants) and their wives.' The A.S. wif was a neuter substantive, and remained unchanged in the plural, like sheep and deer in modern English. We find wif as a pl. form also in Layamon, l. 1507. The present is a very late example.

714. 'I will go to (attend) the next assizes; see note to l. 715. If schire refers to the shire or county, the result is much the same. In venturing into the shire of which his brother was sheriff, Gamelyn was boldly putting himself into his brother's power.

715. nexte schire, may mean 'next (succeeding) assizes'; for schire may be used in the sense of A. S. scīr-gemōt; and the Lat. comitatus meant curia as well as 'county.' See, for example, the last quotation in the note to l. 871.

718. 'Put down his hood,' lowered his hood, so as to show his face.

724. leet take Gamelyn, caused (men) to take Gamelyn; we now say 'caused Gamelyn to be taken,' changing the verb from active to passive. The active use of the verb is universal in such phrases in Middle English, as is still common in German. 'Er liess Gamelyn nehmen.' Cf. l. 733.

727. Ote is not a common name; we find mention of 'Sir Otes de Lile' in Libius Disconius, l. 1103, in the Percy Folio MS., ii. 455. Otes is equivalent to 'Otho'; see Le Livere de Reis de Angletere, ed. Glover, p. 268, l. 6; and p. 272. The form Otoun or Oton is equivalent to Lat. acc. Othonem.

732. wonder sory, wonderfully sorry. nothing light, in no degree light-hearted.

738. 'May evil befall such another brother (as thou art)'; cf. l. 485.

744. 'I offer to bail him,' lit. I bid for him for bail; mainprise being a sb., and him a dative case. Mr. Jephson says—'I demand that he be granted to me on mainprise, or bail, till the assize for general gaol-delivery.'

752. 'Cause (men) to deliver him at once, and to hand him over to me.'

761. sitte means 'may sit'; cf. l. 749.

779. cors, curse. He was never cursed by those with whom he had dealings. This can only refer to the poor whom he never oppressed. The author quietly ignores the strong language of the churchmen whom he stripped of everything. This is precisely the tone adopted in the Robin Hood ballads.

782. nom, catch, take; a new form of the infinitive mood. It arose from the pt. t. cam, by analogy of comen from cam. See Mätzner, Alteng. Sprachproben, i. 261, l. 80.

785. fast aboute, busily employed. See l. 240.

786. to hyre the quest, to suborn the jury. See l. 801.

790. seet, should sit. The A.S. for sat is sæt, but for should sit (3rd pers. sing. of the pt. t. subj.) is sǣte. The latter became the M.E. seete; hence seet, by loss of the final e. It rimes with beheet (A.S. behēt).

806. spet, short for speedeth; cf. stant for standeth, &c.

834. of, in. So in Shakespeare, Jul. Cæsar, ii. 1. 157—'We shall find of him A shrewd contriver.'

840. the quest is oute, the verdict is (already) delivered.

852. the barre, the bar in front of the justice's seat; see ll. 860, 867.

864. 'It seemed a very long time to him.'

871. sisours, jury-men. I copy the following from my note on P. Plowman, B. ii. 62. 'The exact signification of sisour does not seem quite certain, and perhaps it has not always the same meaning. The Low-Latin name was assissores or assisiarii, interpreted by Ducange to mean "qui a principe vel a domino feudi delegati assisias tenent"; whence Halliwell's explanation of sisour as a person deputed to hold assizes. Compare—

Mr. Furnivall's note says—'Sysour, an inquest-man at assizes. The sisour was really a juror, though differing greatly in functions and in position from what jurymen subsequently became; see Forsyth's Hist. of Trial by Jury.' In the tale of Gamelyn, however, it is pretty clear that 'the twelve sisours that weren of the quest' were simply the twelve gentlemen of the jury, who were hired to give false judgment (l. 786). Blount, in his Law Dictionary, says of assisors, that 'in Scotland (according to Skene) they are the same with our jurors.' The following stanza from A Poem of the Times of Edw. II., ll. 469-474 (printed in Political Songs, ed. Wright, p. 344), throws some light on the text:—

880. 'To swing about with the ropes, and to be dried in the wind.'

881. 'Sorrow may he have who cares for it.' Not an uncommon phrase. In P. Plowman, B. vi. 122, it appears as 'þe deuel haue þat reccheth,' i. e. the devil take him who regrets it.

885. This seems to mean, 'he was hanged by the neck, and not by the purse.' That is, he was really hanged, and not merely made to suffer in his purse by paying a fine; cf. Ch. Prol. 657.

889. of the best assise, in the truest manner; cf. l. 544.

900. 'Buried under the earth.'

901. 'No man can escape it.'

ADDENDA.

Note: to vol. i. p. ix. I am informed that it appears, from a charter in the British Museum, that one Galfridus de Chaucere is a witness to a grant of land to Hatfield Broad Oak Priory, co. Essex, about A.D. 1300. This shews that the poet was not the first of his surname to bear the name of Geoffrey.

Rom. Rose, 923. Turke bowes, Turkish bows. The form Turke can hardly be right, as the adjective is required. The original copy probably had 'Turkis,' with the is written as a contraction; this would easily be misread as 'Turke,' i. e. as if the contraction stood for e. The French text has ars turquois, as the reader can see.

Cotgrave gives: 'Arc turquois, the Turkish long-bow.' But the Turkish long-bow was short, as compared with the English. Strutt speaks of his seeing the Turkish ambassador shoot; this was in the year 1800. 'The bow he used was much shorter than those belonging to the English archers; and his arrows were of the bolt kind, with round heads made of wood'; Sports and Pastimes, bk. ii. c. i. § 17. Cf. 'with bowes turkoys,' Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, ii. 458.

III. (Book of the Duchesse), 1318, 1319. The lines are:—

There can be no doubt that (as has been suggested by the Bishop of Oxford) these apparently otiose lines contain punning allusions to the whole subject of the poem. Long-castell (put for Lon-castell, or the castle on the Lune) was another name for Lancaster; compare the modern Lonsdale as a name for the valley of the Lune, and see Barbour's Bruce, xvii. 285, 582. Whyte alludes to Blanche. Thus the former line expresses Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster.

In the second line, the RICHE HIL refers to Richmond in Yorkshire; and the whole line expresses John, Earl of Richmond. John of Gaunt had been created Earl of Richmond (vol. i. p. xviii).

Boethius. For some corrections, see vol. ii. p. lxxix.

Troilus. For some corrections and additions, see vol. ii. pp. lxxix, lxxx.

For an Additional Note to Bk. iii. 674, see vol. ii. p. 506.

Legend of Good Women. For an Additional Note to ll. 1896-8, see vol. iii. p. lvi.

Vol. III. pp. 421, 422. Sources of the Prioresses Tale. It is tolerably clear that Chaucer really got the former part of this story from one of the Miracles of our Lady, by Gautier de Coinci or Coincy^[31]. And I have now little doubt that he adapted the latter part of it from another story in the same collection (and therefore in the same MS.), by the same author. It so happens that the latter story is printed in Bartsch and Horning's collection in 'La Langue et la Littérature Françaises'; Paris, 1887; col. 367. It is there entitled 'De Clerico Sancte Virgini devoto, in cuius iam mortui ore flos inuentus est.' It is rather a stupid and pointless story, to the following effect. There was a wicked cleric at Chartres, who gave himself up to all kinds of debauchery; but he had one merit. He never passed an image of Our Lady without kneeling down and saying a prayer. Some enemies killed him; and it was at once resolved to bury him in a ditch, as an outcast; and this was done. But Our Lady appeared to one of the chief clergy, and commanded that he should be buried again, in the holiest spot in the cemetery. When the body was recovered, it was found that the tongue of the corpse remained uncorrupted, being as red as a rose, and a miraculous flower was blossoming in his mouth. He was reburied in holy ground, with many tears from the pious. It was also observed that his tongue still slowly moved, as if endeavouring to sing the Virgin's praises.

This is rather a clumsy assumption; for the tongue might have been trying to swear. Hence Chaucer gives it a real voice; and substitutes a small grain in place of the flower; probably because there was a well-known legend about the three grains found by Seth under Adam's tongue (above, p. 180, note to l. 1852). Chaucer's tale is really made up, with great skill, from a combination of these two poems by Gautier de Coinci; and it is highly remarkable that, in the Vernon MS., there is a version of the story which says that five roses were found in the child's head; one in his mouth, two in his eyes, and two in his ears. In the Legend of Alphonsus of Lincoln (see vol. iii. p. 421), the child has a precious stone in place of a tongue; but this legend was composed in 1459, and was probably copied from Chaucer. I think it highly probable that Chaucer combined the two 'Miracles' himself; though of course some one else may have done it before him. In any case, it is worth while pointing out that we must combine the two stories by de Coinci, before we obtain the whole of Chaucer's poem.

Vol. III. pp. 502, 503. The statement that the French treatise by Frère Lorens, entitled La Somme des Vices et des Vertus, 'has never been printed,' is incorrect. However, the book is scarce. Mr. Bradley tells me that there is a copy of it in the British Museum, printed by Anthoine Verard 'sus le pont notre dame,' Paris. It is undated, but it is said to have been printed in 1495.

Canterbury Tales.

The Canterbury Tales, and especially the Prologue, are so full of allusions and expressions that either require or invite illustrations, that no commentary upon them can be considered exhaustive. Consequently, those points only have, for the most part, been considered where the expressions used are for any reason difficult, obscure, or likely to be misunderstood; for it frequently happens that, by a change in meaning, the modern form or use of a word suggests a wrong impression.

A considerable number of words and phrases which occur in Chaucer have already been explained by me in the Notes to Piers the Plowman. Hence, in many cases, additional illustrations and references can easily be had by consulting the 'Index to the Explanations in the Notes' printed in P. Plowman, vol. iv. pp. 464-491.

The 'Index of Books referred to in the Notes' to the same, vol. iv. pp. 492-502, gives a long list of books, most of which are useful for the illustration of Chaucer also. I add here a few additional notes, taken almost at random, for two of which I am indebted to Professor Earle.

A. 30. Zupitza (Notes to Guy of Warwick, 855, p. 361) further illustrates this line. 'There can be no doubt that the pp. goon is to be supplied.' He quotes 'to reste eode þa sunne,' Layamon, 28328; 'until the son was gon to rest,' Iwaine, 3612, ed. Ritson (Met. Romances, i. 151); also from J. Grimm, Mythology, p. 702, who treats of the M.H.G. phrase ze reste gān.

A. 179. It is shown (vol. v. p. 22) that the simile about the fish out of water occurs in the Life of St. Anthony. Chaucer clearly took it from Jehan de Meung (or Jean de Meun); but the French poet probably took it from the Life of St. Anthony in the Legenda Aurea. We find it even in Caxton's Golden Legende:—'for lyke as fysshes that haue ben longe in the water whan they come in-to drye londe they muste dye, in lyke wyse the monkes that goon out of theyr cloystre or selles, yf they conuerse longe wyth seculiers they must nedes lose theyr holynesse and leue theyr good lyf.'

A. 387. With the beste, 'as well as possible,' but originally 'among the best.' So in Zupitza, notes to Guy of Warwick, l. 1496. He quotes Mätzner's Grammatik, II. 2. 434; King Horn, 1326, knight with the beste; &c. Cf. with the furste, King Horn, 1119.

A. 467. She coude muche of wandring by the weye; i. e. she knew much which she had learnt through being so great a traveller.—J. Earle.

I have explained it above, p. 44, by—'She knew much about travelling.' The original will bear either interpretation; all depends upon the meaning of the word of.

A. 655. See Freeman, vol. v. p. 497, and his quotation from John of Salisbury, Ep. 146 (Giles, i. 260):—'Erat, ut memini, genus hominum, qui in ecclesia Dei archidiaconorum censentur nomine, quibus vestra discretio omnem salutis viam querebatur esse praeclusam. Nam, ut dicere consuevistis, diligunt munera, sequuntur retributiones, ad injurias proni sunt, calumniis gaudent, peccata populi comedunt et bibunt, quibus vivitur ex rapto, ut non sit hospes ab hospite tutus.'—J. Earle. [From Freeman's Hist. of the Norman Conquest, ed. 1867-79.]