Front matter (continued 7)

Of Ipomydon's education we learn that his tutor taught him to sing, to read, to serve in hall, to carve the meat, and

See also the Squire of Low Degree, in Ritson, vol. iii. p. 177.

1931. ram, the usual prize at a wrestling match. Cf. Gk. τραγῳδία.

stonde, i. e. be placed in the sight of the competitors; be seen. Cf. Prol. A. 548, and the Tale of Gamelyn, 172. Tyrwhitt says—'Matthew Paris mentions a wrestling-match at Westminster, A.D. 1222, in which a ram was the prize, p. 265.' Cf. also—

1933. paramour, longingly; a common expression; see the Glossary.

1937. hepe, mod. E. 'hip,' the fruit of the dog-rose; A. S. hēope.

1938. Compare—'So hyt be-felle upon a day'; Erle of Tolous, Ritson's Met. Rom. iii. 134. Of course it is a common phrase in these romances.

1941. worth, lit. became; worth upon = became upon, got upon. It is a common phrase; compare—

1942. launcegay, a sort of lance. Gower has the word, Conf. Amant. bk. viii. (ed. Pauli, iii. 369). Cowel says its use was prohibited by the statute of 7 Rich. II, cap. 13. Camden mentions it in his Remaines, p. 209. Tyrwhitt quotes, from Rot. Parl. 29 Hen. VI, n. 8, the following—'And the said Evan then and there with a launcegaye smote the said William Tresham throughe the body a foote and more, wherof he died.' Sir Walter Raleigh (quoted by Richardson) says—'These carried a kind of lance de gay, sharp at both ends, which they held in the midst of the staff.' But this is certainly a corrupt form. It is no doubt a corruption of lancezagay, from the Spanish azagaya, a word of Moorish origin. Cotgrave gives—'Zagaye, a fashion of slender, long, and long-headed pike, used by the Moorish horsemen.' It seems originally to have been rather a short weapon, a kind of half-pike or dart. The Spanish word is well discussed in Dozy, Glossaire des mots Espagnols et Portugais dérivés de l'Arabe, 2nd ed. p. 225. The Spanish azagaya is for az-zagaya, where az is for the definite article al, and zagaya is a Berber or Algerian word, not given in the Arabic dictionaries. It is found in Old Spanish of the fourteenth century. Dozy quotes from a writer who explains it as a Moorish half-pike, and also gives the following passage from Laugier de Tassy, Hist. du royaume d'Alger, p. 58—'Leurs armes sont l'azagaye, qui est une espéce de lance courte, qu'ils portent toujours à la main.' The Caffre word assagai, in the sense of javelin, was simply borrowed from the Portuguese azagaia.

1949. a sory care, a grievous misfortune. Chaucer does not say what this was, but a passage in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber, ii. 410) makes it probable that Sir Thopas nearly killed his horse, which would have been grievous indeed; see l. 1965 below. The passage I allude to is as follows:—

Readers of Scott will remember Fitz-James's lament over his 'gallant grey.'

1950. This can hardly be other than a burlesque upon the Squire of Low Degree (ed. Ritson, iii. 146), where a long list of trees is followed up, as here, by a list of singing-birds. Compare also the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1367:—

Observe the mention of notemigges in the same, l. 1361.

Line 21 of the Milleres Tale (A. 3207) runs similarly:—

Maundeville speaks of the clowe-gilofre and notemuge in his 26th chapter; see Specimens of E. Eng. ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 171. Cetewale is generally explained as the herb valerian, but is certainly zedoary; see the Glossary. Clowe-gilofre, a clove; notemuge, a nutmeg. 'Spiced ale' is amongst the presents sent by Absolon to Alisoun in the Milleres Tale (A. 3378). Cf. the list of spices in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 6790-9.

1955. leye in cofre, to lay in a box.

1956. Compare Amis and Amiloun, ed. Weber, ii, 391:—

See also Romaunt of the Rose, ll. 613-728. But Chaucer's burlesque is far surpassed by a curious passage in the singular poem of The Land of Cockaygne (MS. Harl. 913), ll. 71-100:—

1964. as he were wood, as if he were mad, 'like mad.' So in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber), ii. 419:—

Cf. note to l. 1949.

1974. seinte, being feminine, and in the vocative case, is certainly a dissyllable here—'O seintè Márie, ben'cite.' Cf. note to B. 1170 above.

1977. Me dremed, I dreamt. Both dremen (to dream) and meten (also to dream) are sometimes used with a dative case and reflexively in Old English. In the Nonne Prestes Tale we have me mette (l. 74) and this man mette (l. 182); B. 4084, 4192.

1978. An elf-queen. Mr. Price says—'There can be little doubt that at one period the popular creed made the same distinctions between the Queen of Faerie and the Elf-queen that were observed in Grecian mythology between their undoubted parallels, Artemis and Persephone.' Chaucer makes Proserpine the 'queen of faerie' in his Marchauntes Tale; but at the beginning of the Wyf of Bathes Tale, he describes the elf-queen as the queen of the fairies, and makes elf and fairy synonymous. Perhaps this elf-queen in Sire Thopas (called the queen of fairye in l. 2004) may have given Spenser the hint for his Faerie Queene. But the subject is a vast one. See Price's Preface, in Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, pp. 30-36; Halliwell's Illustrations of Fairy Mythology; Keightley's Fairy Mythology; Warton's Observations on the Faerie Queene, sect. ii; Sir W. Scott's ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, &c.

1979. under my gore, within my robe or garment. In l. 2107 (on which see the note) we have under wede signifying merely 'in his dress.' We have a somewhat similar phrase here, in which, however, gore (lit. gusset) is put for the whole robe or garment. That it was a mere phrase, appears from other passages. Thus we find under gore, under the dress, Owl and Nightingale, l. 515; Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 244, vol. ii. p. 210; with three more examples in the Gloss. to Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. In one of these a lover addresses his lady as 'geynest under gore,' i. e. fairest within a dress. For the exact sense of gore, see note to A. 3237.

1983. In toune, in the town, in the district. But it must not be supposed that much sense is intended by this inserted line. It is a mere tag, in imitation of some of the romances. Either Chaucer has neglected to conform to the new kind of stanza which he now introduces (which is most likely), or else three lines have been lost before this one. The next three stanzas are longer, viz. of ten lines each, of which only the seventh is very short. For good examples of these short lines, see Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knyȝt, ed. Morris; and for a more exact account of the metres here employed, see vol. iii. p. 425.

1993. So wilde. Instead of this short line, Tyrwhitt has:—

But none of our seven MSS. agrees with this version, nor are these lines found in the black-letter editions. The notion of spying with one's mouth seems a little too far-fetched.

1995. This line is supplied from MS. Reg. 17 D. 15, where Tyrwhitt found it; but something is so obviously required here, that we must insert it to make some sense. It suits the tone of the context to say that 'neither wife nor child durst oppose him.' We may, however, bear in mind that the meeting of a knight-errant with one of these often preceded some great adventure. 'And in the midst of an highway he [Sir Lancelot] met a damsel riding on a white palfrey, and there either saluted other. Fair damsel, said Sir Lancelot, know ye in this country any adventures? Sir knight, said that damsel, here are adventures near hand, and thou durst prove them'; Sir T. Malory, Morte Arthur, bk. vi. cap. vii. The result was that Lancelot fought with Sir Turquine, and defeated him. Soon after, he was 'required of a damsel to heal her brother'; and again, 'at the request of a lady' he recovered a falcon; an adventure which ended in a fight, as usual. Kölbing points out a parallel line in Sir Guy of Warwick, 45-6:—

1998. Olifaunt, i. e. Elephant; a proper name, as Tyrwhitt observes, for a giant. Maundeville has the form olyfauntes for elephants. By some confusion the Mœso-Goth. ulbandus and A. S. olfend are made to signify a camel. Spenser has put Chaucer's Olifaunt into his Faerie Queene, bk. iii. c. 7. st. 48, and makes him the brother of the giantess Argantè, and son of Typhoeus and Earth. The following description of a giant is from Libius Disconius (Percy Folio MS. vol. ii. p. 465):—

Sir Libius says:—

Another giant, 20 feet long, and 2 ells broad, with two boar's tusks, and also with brows like bristles of a swine, appears in Octouian Imperator, ed. Weber, iii. 196. See also the alliterative Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, p. 33.

2000. child; see note to l. 2020. Termagaunt; one of the idols whom the Saracens (in the medieval romances) are supposed to worship. See The King of Tars, ed. Ritson (Met. Rom., ii. 174-182), where the Sultan's gods are said to be Jubiter, Jovin (both forms of Jupiter), Astrot (Astarte), Mahoun (Mahomet), Appolin (Apollo), Plotoun (Pluto), and Tirmagaunt. Lybeaus Disconus (Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 55) fought with a giant 'that levede yn Termagaunt.' The Old French form is Tervagant, Ital. Tervagante or Trivigante, as in Ariosto. Wheeler, in his Noted Names of Fiction, gives the following account—'Ugo Foscolo says: "Trivigante, whom the predecessors of Ariosto always couple with Apollino, is really Diana Trivia, the sister of the classical Apollo.".... According to Panizzi, Trivagante or Tervagante is the Moon, or Diana, or Hecate, wandering under three names. Termagant was an imaginary being, supposed by the crusaders, who confounded Mahometans with pagans, to be a Mahometan deity. This imaginary personage was introduced into early English plays and moralities, and was represented as of a most violent character, so that a ranting actor might always appear to advantage in it. See Hamlet, iii. 2. 15.' Fairfax, in his translation of Tasso (c. i. st. 84), speaks of Termagaunt and Mahound, but Tasso mentions 'Macometto' only. See also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 47. Hence comes our termagant in the sense of a noisy boisterous woman. Shakespeare has—'that hot termagant Scot'; 1 Hen. IV., v. 2. 114. Cf. Ritson's note, Met. Rom. iii. 257.

2002. slee, will slay. In Anglo-Saxon, there being no distinct future tense, it is expressed by the present. Cf. go for will go in 'we also go with thee'; John xxi. 3.

2005. simphonye, the name of a kind of tabor. In Ritson's Ancient Songs, i. lxiv., is a quotation from Hawkins's Hist. of Music, ii. 284, in which that author cites a passage from Batman's translation of Bartholomaeus de Proprietatibus Rerum, to the effect that the symphonie was 'an instrument of musyke ... made of an holowe tree [i. e. piece of wood], closyd in lether in eyther syde; and mynstrels beteth it with styckes.' Probably the symphangle was the same instrument. In Rob. of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, ll. 4772-3, we find:—

Godefroy gives the O. F. spellings cifonie, siphonie, chifonie, cinfonie, cymphonie, &c.; all clearly derived from the Greek συμφωνία; see Luke, xv. 25. Cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 1070-7.

2007. al-so mote I thee, as I may thrive; or, as I hope to thrive; a common expression. Cf. 'So mote y thee'; Sir Eglamour, ed. Halliwell, l. 430; Occleve, De Regimine Principum, st. 620. Chaucer also uses 'so thee ik,' i. e. so thrive I, in the Reves Prologue (A. 3864) and elsewhere.

2012. Abyen it ful soure, very bitterly shalt thou pay for it. There is a confusion between A. S. súr, sour, and A. S. sár, sore, in this and similar phrases; both were used once, but now we should use sorely, not sourly. In Layamon, l. 8158, we find 'þou salt it sore abugge,' thou shalt sorely pay for it; on the other hand, we find in P. Plowman, B. ii. 140:—

So also in the C-text, though the A-text has sore. Note that in another passage, P. Plowman, B. xviii. 401, the phrase is—'Thow shalt abye it bittre.' For abyen, see the Glossary.

2015. fully pryme. See note to Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4045. Prime commonly means the period from 6 to 9 a.m. Fully prime refers to the end of that period, or 9 a.m.; and even prime alone may be used with the same explicit meaning, as in the Nonne Pres. Ta., B. 4387.

2019. staf-slinge. Tyrwhitt observes that Lydgate describes David as armed only 'with a staffe-slynge, voyde of plate and mayle.' It certainly means a kind of sling in which additional power was gained by fastening the lithe part of it on to the end of a stiff stick. Staff-slyngeres are mentioned in the romance of Richard Coer de Lion, l. 4454, in Weber's Metrical Romances, ii. 177. In Col. Yule's edition of Marco Polo, ii. 122, is a detailed description of the artillery engines of the middle ages. They can all be reduced to two classes; those which, like the trebuchet and mangonel, are enlarged staff-slings, and those which, like the arblast and springold, are great cross-bows. Conversely, we might describe a staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.

2020. child Thopas. Child is an appellation given to both knights and squires, in the early romances, at an age when they had long passed the period which we now call childhood. A good example is to be found in the Erle of Tolous, ed. Ritson, iii. 123:—

Compare Romance of 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' pr. in Ritson, iii. 282; the ballad of Childe Waters, &c. Byron, in his preface to Childe Harold, says—'It is almost superfluous to mention that the appellation "Childe," as "Childe Waters," "Childe Childers," &c., is used as more consonant with the old structure of versification which I have adopted.' He adopts, however, the late and artificial metre of Spenser.

2023. A palpable imitation. The first three lines of Sir Bevis of Hampton (MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. ii. 38, leaf 94, back) are—

In a long passage in Todd's Illustrations to Chaucer, pp. 284-292, it is contended that mery signifies sweet, pleasant, agreeable, without relation to mirth. Chaucer describes the Frere as wanton and merry, Prol. A. 208; he speaks of the merry day, Kn. Ta. 641 (A. 1499); a merry city, N. P. Ta. 251 (B. 4261); of Arcite being told by Mercury to be merry, i. e. of good cheer, Kn. Ta. 528 (A. 1386); in the Manciple's Tale (H. 138), the crow sings merrily, and makes a sweet noise; Chanticleer's voice was merrier than the merry organ, N. P. Ta. 31 (B. 4041); the 'erbe yve' is said to be merry, i. e. pleasant, agreeable, id. 146 (B. 4156); the Pardoner (Prol. A. 714) sings merrily and loud. We must remember, however, that the Host, being 'a mery man,' began to speak of 'mirthe'; Prol. A. 757, 759. A very early example of the use of the word occurs in the song attributed to Canute—'Merie sungen the Muneches binnen Ely,' &c. See the phrase 'mery men' in l. 2029.

2028. The phrase to come to toune seems to mean no more than simply to return. Cf. Specimens of E. Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 48—

which merely means that spring, with its thoughts of love, has returned. See the note on that line.

2034. for paramour, for love; but the par, or else the for, is redundant. Iolite, amusement; used ironically in the Kn. Ta. 949 (A. 1807). Sir Thopas is going to fight the giant for the love and amusement of one who shone full bright; i. e. a fair lady, of course. But Sir Thopas, in dropping this mysterious hint to his merry men, refrains from saying much about it, as he had not yet seen the Fairy Queen, and had only the giant's word for her place of abode. The use of the past tense shone is artful; it implies that he wished them to think that he had seen his lady-love; or else that her beauty was to be taken for granted. Observe, too, that it is Sir Thopas, not Chaucer, who assigns to the giant his three heads.

2035. Do come, cause to come; go and call hither. Cf. House of Fame, l. 1197:—

Tyrwhitt's note on gestours is—'The proper business of a gestour was to recite tales, or gestes; which was only one of the branches of the Minstrel's profession. Minstrels and gestours are mentioned together in the following lines from William of Nassyngton's Translation of a religious treatise by John of Waldby; MS. Reg. 17 C. viii. p. 2:—

I cite these lines to shew the species of tales related by the ancient Gestours, and how much they differed from what we now call jests.'

The word geste here means a tale of the adventures of some hero, like those in the Chansons de geste. Cf. note to l. 2123 below. Sometimes the plural gestes signifies passages of history. The famous collection called the Gesta Romanorum contains narratives of very various kinds.

2038. royales, royal; some MSS. spell the word reales, but the meaning is the same. In the romance of Ywain and Gawain (Ritson, vol. i.) a maiden is described as reading 'a real romance.' Tyrwhitt thinks that the term originated with an Italian collection of romances relating to Charlemagne, which began with the words—'Qui se comenza la hystoria el Real di Franza,' &c.; edit. Mutinae, 1491, folio. It was reprinted in 1537, with a title beginning—'I reali di Franza,' &c. He refers to Quadrío, t. vi. p. 530. The word roial (in some MSS. real) occurs again in l. 2043. Kölbing remarks that the prose romance of Generides is called a royal historie, though it has nothing to do with Charlemagne.

2043. No comma is required at the end of this line; the articles mentioned in ll. 2044-6 all belong to spicery. Cf. additional note to Troilus, vol. ii. p. 506.

2047. dide, did on, put on. The arming of Lybeaus Disconus is thus described in Ritson's Met. Rom. ii. 10:—

2048. lake, linen; see Glossary. 'De panno de lake'; York Wills, iii. 4 (anno 1395).

2050. aketoun, a short sleeveless tunic. Cf. Liber Albus, p. 376.

The Glossary to the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, has—'Acton, a wadded or quilted tunic worn under the hauberk.—Planché, i. 108.' Thynne, in his Animadversions (Early Eng. Text Soc.), p. 24, says—'Haketon is a slevelesse jackett of plate for the warre, couered withe anye other stuffe; at this day also called a jackett of plate.'

It is certain that the plates were a later addition. It is the mod. F. hoqueton, O. F. auqueton; and it is certain that the derivation is from Arab. al-qoton or al-qutun, lit. 'the cotton'; so that it was originally made of quilted cotton. See auqueton in Godefroy, hoqueton in Devic's Supp. to Littré, and Acton in the New E. Dict.

2051. habergeoun, coat of mail. See Prol. A. 76, and the note.

2052. For percinge, as a protection against the piercing. So in P. Plowman, B. vi. 62, Piers puts on his cuffs, 'for colde of his nailles,' i. e. as a protection against the cold. So too in the Rom. of the Rose, l. 4229.

2053. The hauberk is here put on as an upper coat of mail, of finer workmanship and doubtless more flexible.

2054. Jewes werk, Jew's work. Tyrwhitt imagined that Jew here means a magician, but there is not the least foundation for the idea. Mr. Jephson is equally at fault in connecting Jew with jewel, since the latter word is etymologically connected with joy. The phrase still remains unexplained. I suspect it means no more than wrought with rich or expensive work, such as Jews could best find the money for. It is notorious that they were the chief capitalists, and they must often have had to find money for paying armourers. Or, indeed, it may refer to damascened work; from the position of Damascus.

2055. plate. Probably the hauberk had a breastplate on the front of it. But on the subject of armour, I must refer the reader to Godwin's English Archaeologist's Handbook, pp. 252-268; Planché's History of British Costume, and Sir S. R. Meyrick's Observations on Body-armour, in the Archaeologia, vol. xix. pp. 120-145.

2056. The cote-armour was not for defence, but a mere surcoat on which the knight's armorial bearings were usually depicted, in order to identify him in the combat or 'debate.' Hence the modern coat-of-arms.

2059. reed, red. In the Romances, gold is always called red, and silver white. Hence it was not unusual to liken gold to blood, and this explains why Shakespeare speaks of armour being gilt with blood (King John, ii. 1. 316), and makes Lady Macbeth talk of gilding the groom's faces with blood (Macbeth, ii. 2. 56). See also Coriol. v. 1. 63, 64; and the expression 'blood bitokeneth gold'; Cant. Tales, D. 581.

2060. Cf. Libeaus Desconus, ed. Kaluza, 1657-8:—

And see the editor's note, at p. 201.

2061. 'A carbuncle (Fr. escarboucle) was a common [armorial] bearing. See Guillim's Heraldry, p. 109.'—Tyrwhitt.

2062. Sir Thopas is made to swear by ale and bread, in ridiculous imitation of the vows made by the swan, the heron, the pheasant, or the peacock, on solemn occasions.

2065. Iambeux, armour worn in front of the shins, above the mail-armour that covered the legs; see Fairholt. He tells us that, in Roach Smith's Catalogue of London Antiquities, p. 132, is figured a pair of cuirbouilly jambeux, which are fastened by thongs. Spenser borrows the word, but spells it giambeux, F. Q. ii. 6. 29.

quirboilly, i. e. cuir bouilli, leather soaked in hot water to soften it that it might take any required shape, after which it was dried and became exceedingly stiff and hard. In Matthew Paris (anno 1243) it is said of the Tartars—'De coriis bullitis sibi arma leuia quidem, sed tamen impenetrabilia coaptarunt.' In Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii. 49, it is said of the men of Carajan, that they wear armour of boiled leather (French text, armes cuiracés de cuir bouilli). Froissart (v. iv. cap. 19) says the Saracens covered their targes with 'cuir bouilli de Cappadoce, ou nul fer ne peut prendre n'attacher, si le cuir n'est trop échaufé.' When Bruce reviewed his troops on the morning of the battle of Bannockburn, he wore, according to Barbour, 'ane hat of qwyrbolle' on his 'basnet,' and 'ane hye croune' above that. Some remarks on cuir bouilli will be found in Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 344.

2068. rewel-boon, probably whale-ivory, or ivory made of whales' teeth. In the Turnament of Tottenham, as printed in Percy's reliques, we read that Tyb had 'a garland on her hed ful of rounde bonys,' where another copy has (says Halliwell, s. v. ruel) the reading—'fulle of ruelle-bones.' Halliwell adds—'In the romaunce of Rembrun, p. 458, the coping of a wall is mentioned as made 'of fin ruwal, that schon swithe brighte.' And in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. v. 48, fol. 119, is the passage—

In Sir Degrevant, 1429, a roof is said to be—

Quite near the beginning of the Vie de Seint Auban, ed. Atkinson, we have—

i. e. but it was not adorned with gold nor other metal, nor with precious stones, nor ivory, nor rewel. Du Cange gives a Low Lat. form rohanlum, and an O. Fr. rochal, but tells us that the MS. readings are rohallum and rohal. The passage occurs in the Laws of Normandy about wreckage, and should run—'dux sibi retinet ... ebur, rohallum, lapides pretiosas'; or, in the French version, 'l'ivoire, et le rohal, et les pierres precieuses.' Ducange explains the word by 'rock-crystal,' but this is a pure guess, suggested by F. roche, a rock. It is clear that, when the word is spelt rochal, the ch denotes the same sound as the Ger. ch, a guttural resembling h, and not the F. ch at all. Collecting all the spellings, we find them to be, in French, rohal, rochal, roal; and, in English, ruwal, rewel, ruel, (reuylle, ruelle). The h and w might arise from a Teutonic hw, so that the latter part of the word was originally -hwal, i. e. whale; hence, perhaps, Godefroy explains F. rochal as 'ivoire de morse,' ivory of the walrus (A. S. hors-hwæl). The true origin seems rather to be some Norse form akin to Norweg. röyrkval (E. rorqual). Some whales, as the cachalot, have teeth that afford a kind of ivory; and this is what seems to be alluded to. The expression 'white as whale-bone,' i. e. white as whale-ivory, was once common; see Weber's Met. Romances, iii. 350; and whales-bone in Nares. Most of this ivory was derived, however, from the tusk of the walrus or the narwhal. Sir Thopas's saddle was ornamented with ivory.

2071. cipress, cypress-wood. In the Assembly of Foules, l. 179, we have—

i. e. the cypress suitable for lamenting a death. Vergil calls the cypress 'atra,' Æn. iii. 64, and 'feralis,' vi. 216; and as it is so frequently a symbol of mourning, it may be said to bode war.

2078. In Sir Degrevant (ed. Halliwell, p. 191) we have just this expression—

2085. love-drury, courtship. All the six MSS. have this reading. According to Wright, the Harl. MS. has 'Of ladys loue and drewery,' which Tyrwhitt adopts; but it turns out that Wright's reading is copied from Tyrwhitt; the MS. really has—'And of ladys loue drewery,' like the rest.

2088. The romance or lay of Horn appears in two forms in English. In King Horn, ed. Lumby, Early Eng. Text Soc., 1866, printed also in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 207, the form of the poem is in short rimed couplets. But Chaucer no doubt refers to the other form with the title Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild, in a metre similar to Sir Thopas, printed in Ritson's Metrical Romances, iii. 282. The Norman-French text was printed by F. Michel for the Bannatyne Club, with the English versions, in a volume entitled—Horn et Riemenhild; Recueil de ce qui reste des poëmes relatifs à leurs aventures, &c. Paris, 1845. See Mr. Lumby's preface and the remarks in Mätzner.

It is not quite clear why Chaucer should mention the romance of Sir Ypotis here, as it has little in common with the rest. There are four MS. copies of it in the British Museum, and three at Oxford. 'It professes to be a tale of holy writ, and the work of St. John the Evangelist. The scene is Rome. A child, named Ypotis, appears before the Emperor Adrian, saying that he is come to teach men God's law; whereupon the Emperor proceeds to interrogate him as to what is God's Law, and then of many other matters, not in any captious spirit, but with the utmost reverence and faith.... There is a little tract in prose on the same legend from the press of Wynkyn de Worde'; J. W. Hales, in Hazlitt's edition of Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ii. 183. It was printed in 1881, from the Vernon MS. at Oxford, in Horstmann's Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, pp. 341-8. It is hard to believe that, by Ypotys, Chaucer meant (as some say) Ypomadoun.

The romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton (i. e. Southampton) was printed from the Auchinleck MS. for the Maitland Club in 1838, 4to. Another copy is in MS. Ff. 2. 38, in the Cambridge University Library. It has lately been edited, from six MS. copies and an old printed text, by Prof. Kölbing, for the Early Eng. Text Society. There is an allusion in it to the Romans, meaning the French original. It appears in prose also, in various forms. See Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 142, where there is also an account of Sir Guy, in several forms; but a still fuller account of Sir Guy is given in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, ii. 509. This Folio MS. itself contains three poems on the latter subject, viz. Guy and Amarant, Guy and Colbrande, and Guy and Phillis. 'Sir Guy of Warwick' has been edited for the Early Eng. Text Society by Prof. Zupitza.

By Libeux is meant Lybeaus Disconus, printed by Ritson in his Metrical Romances, vol. ii. from the Cotton MS. Caligula A. 2. A later copy, with the title Libius Disconius, is in the Percy Folio MS. ii. 404, where a good account of the romance may be found. The best edition is that by Dr. Max Kulaza, entitled Libeaus Desconus; Leipzig, 1890. The French original was discovered in 1855, in a MS. belonging to the Duc d'Aumale. Its title is Li Biaus Desconneus, which signifies The Fair Unknown.

Pleyndamour evidently means plein d'amour, full of love, and we may suspect that the original romance was in French; but there is now no trace of any romance of that name, though a Sir Playne de Amours is mentioned in Sir T. Malory's Morte Darthur, bk. ix. c. 7. Spenser probably borrowed hence his Sir Blandamour, F. Q. iv. 1. 32.

2092. After examining carefully the rimes in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Mr. Bradshaw finds that this is the sole instance in which a word which ought etymologically to end in -yë is rimed with a word ending in -y without a following final e. A reason for the exception is easily found; for Chaucer has here adopted the swing of the ballad metre, and hence ventures to deprive chiualryë of its final e, and to call it chivalry' so that it may rime with Gy, after the manner of the ballad-writers; cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 79, 80. So again chivalryë, druryë become chivalry, drury; ll. 2084, 2085. We even find plas for plac-e, 1971; and gras for grac-e, 2021.

2094. glood, glided. So in all the MSS. except E., which has the poor reading rood, rode. For the expression in l. 2095, compare—

2106. The first few lines of the romance of Sir Perceval of Galles (ed. Halliwell, p. 1) will at once explain Chaucer's allusion. It begins—

Both Sir Thopas and Sir Perceval were water-drinkers, but it did not impair their vigour.

In the same romance, p. 84, we find—

These quotations set aside Mr. Jephson's interpretation, and solve Tyrwhitt's difficulty. Tyrwhitt says that 'The Romance of Perceval le Galois, or de Galis, was composed in octosyllable French verse by Chrestien de Troyes, one of the oldest and best French romancers, before the year 1191; Fauchet, l. ii. c. x. It consisted of above 60,000 verses (Bibl. des Rom. t. ii. p. 250) so that it would be some trouble to find the fact which is, probably, here alluded to. The romance, under the same title, in French prose, printed at Paris, 1530, fol., can be an abridgement, I suppose, of the original poem.'

2107. worthy under wede, well-looking in his armour. The phrase is very common. Tyrwhitt says it occurs repeatedly in the romance of Emare, and refers to folios 70, 71 b, 73 a, and 74 b of the MS.; but the reader may now find the romance in print; see Ritson's Metrical Romances, ii. pp. 214, 229, 235, 245. The phrase is used of ladies also, and must then mean of handsome appearance when well-dressed. See Amis and Amiloun, ed. Weber, ii. pp. 370, 375. Cf. l. 1979.

2108. The story is here broken off by the host's interruption. MSS. Pt. and Hl. omit this line, and MSS. Cp. and Ln. omit ll. 2105-7 as well.

Prologue to Melibeus.

2111. of, by. lewednesse, ignorance; here, foolish talk.

2112. also, &c.; as verily as (I hope) God will render my soul happy. See Kn. Ta. A. 1863, 2234.

2113. drasty, filthy. Tyrwhitt and Bell print drafty, explained by full of draff or refuse. But there is no such word; the adjective (were there one) would take the form draffy. See drestys, i. e. dregs, lees of wine, in the Prompt. Parv., and Way's note, which gives the spelling drastus (a plural form) as occurring in MS. Harl. 1002. The Lat. feces is glossed by drastys in Wright's Vocab., ed. Wülcker, p. 625, l. 16. And the Lat. feculentus is glossed by the A. S. dræstig in the same, col. 238, l. 20.

2123. in geste, in the form of a regular story of adventure of some well-known hero; cf. House of Fame, 1434, 1515. The gestes generally pretended to have some sort of historical foundation; from Low Lat. gesta, doings. Sir Thopas was in this form, but the Host would not admit it, and wanted to hear about some one who was more renowned. 'Tell us,' he says, 'a tale like those in the chansons de geste, or at least something in prose that is either pleasant or profitable.'

2131. 'Although it is sometimes told in different ways by different people.'

2137. 'And all agree in their general meaning.' sentence, sense; see ll. 2142, 2151.

2148. Read it—Tenforcë with, &c.

The Tale of Melibeus.

For the sources of the Tale of Melibeus, see vol. iii. p. 426. It may suffice to say here that Chaucer's Tale is translated from the French version entitled Le Livre de Mellibee et Prudence, ascribed by M. Paul Meyer to Jean de Meung. Of this text there are two MS. copies in the British Museum, viz. MS. Reg. 19 C. vii. and MS. Reg. 19 C. xi, both of the fifteenth century; the former is said by Mr. T. Wright to be the more correct. It is also printed, as forming part of Le Menagier de Paris, the author of which embodied it in his book, written about 1393; the title of the printed book being—'Le Menagier de Paris; publié pour la première fois par la Société des Bibliophiles François; a Paris M.D. CCC. XLVI'; (tome i. p. 186); ed. J. Pichon. In the following notes, this is alluded to as the French text.

This French version was, in its turn, translated from the Liber Consolationis et Consilii of Albertano of Brescia, excellently edited for the Chaucer Society in 1873 by Thor Sundby, with the title 'Albertani Brixiensis Liber Consolationis et Consilii.' This is alluded to, in the following notes, as the Latin text. Thor Sundby's edition is most helpful, as the editor has taken great pains to trace the sources of the very numerous quotations with which the Tale abounds; and I am thus enabled to give the references in most cases. I warn the reader that Albertano's quotations are frequently inexact.

Besides this, the Tale of Melibeus has been admirably edited, as a specimen of English prose, in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, ii. 375, with numerous notes, of which I here make considerable use. Owing to the great care taken by Sundby and Mätzner, the task of explaining the difficulties in this Tale has been made easy. The more important notes from Mätzner are marked 'Mr.'

The first line or clause (numbered 2157) ends with the word 'Sophie,' as shewn by the slanting stroke. The whole Tale is thus divided into clauses, for the purpose of ready reference, precisely as in the Six-text edition; I refer to these clauses as if they were lines. The 'paragraphs' are the same as in Tyrwhitt's edition.

2157. Melibeus. The meaning of the name is given below (note to l. 2600).

Prudence. 'It is from a passage of Cassiodorus, quoted by Albertano in cap. vi., that he [Albertano] has taken the name of his heroine, if we may call her so, and the general idea of her character:—"Superauit cuncta infatigabilis et expedita prudentia"; Cass. Variarum lib. ii. epist. 15.'—Sundby.

Sophie, i. e. wisdom, σοφία. Neither the Latin nor the French text gives the daughter's name.

2159. Inwith, within; a common form in Chaucer; see note to B. 1794. Y-shette, pl. of y-shet, shut; as in B. 560.

2160. Thre; Lat. text, tres; Fr. text, trois. Tyrwhitt has foure, as in MSS. Cp. Ln.; yet in l. 2562, he prints 'thin enemies ben three,' and in l. 2615, he again prints 'thy three enemies.' Again, in l. 2612, it is explained that these three enemies signify, allegorically, the flesh, the world, and the devil.

2164. As ferforth, as far; as in B. 19, 1099, &c. Mätzner also quotes from Troilus, ii. 1106—'How ferforth be ye put in loves daunce.'

2165. Mätzner would read—'ever the lenger the more'; but see E. 687, F. 404.

2166. Ovide, Ovid. The passage referred to is—

2172. Warisshe, recover; Cp. Ln. Hl. be warisshed, be cured. Chaucer uses this verb elsewhere both transitively and intransitively, so that either reading will serve. For the transitive use, see below, ll. 2207, 2466, 2476, 2480; also F. 856, 1138, 1162; Book of Duch. 1104. For the intransitive use, observe that, in F. 856, Cp. Pt. Ln. have—'then wolde myn herte Al waryssche of this bitter peynes smerte'; and cf. Morte Arthure, 2186—'I am wathely woundide, waresche mon I neuer!'—M.

Lat. text—'Filia tua, dante Domino, bene liberabitur.'

2174. Senek, Seneca. 'Non affligitur sapiens liberorum amissione, non amicorum; eodem animo enim fert illorum mortem quo suam expectat'; Epist. 74, § 29.

2177. Lazarus; see John, xi. 35.

2178. Attempree, moderate; Lat. text, 'temperatus fletus.' Hl. attemperel, which Mätzner illustrates. Cf. D. 2053, where Hl. has attemperelly; and E. 1679, where Hl. has attemperely. Cf. ll. 2570, 2728 below.

Nothing defended, not at all forbidden.

2179. See Rom. xii. 15.

2181. 'According to the doctrine that Seneca teaches us.' Cf. 'Non sicci sint oculi, amisso amico, nec fluant; lacrimandum est, non plorandum'; Epist. 63, § 1.

2183. This is also, practically, from Seneca: 'Quem amabis extulisti, quaere quem ames; satius est amicum reparare, quam flere'; Epist. 63, § 9.

2185. Iesus Syrak, Jesus the son of Sirach. 'Ecclesiasticus is the title given in the Latin version to the book which is called in the Septuagint The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach'; Smith, Dict. of the Bible. Compare the title 'A prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach' to Ecclus. ch. li. But the present quotation is really from Prov. xvii. 22. It is the next quotation, in l. 2186, that is from Ecclus. xxx. 25 (Vulgate), i. e. xxx. 23 in the English version. The mistake is due to misreading the original Lat. text, which quotes the passages in the reverse order, as being from 'Jesus Sirac' and 'alibi.'

2187. From Prov. xxv. 20; but the clause is omitted in the modern Eng. version, though Wycliffe has it. The Vulgate has:—'Sicut tinea uestimento, et uermis ligno: ita tristitia uiri nocet cordi.' The words in the shepes flees (in the sheep's fleece) are added by Chaucer, apparently by way of explanation. But the fact is that, according to Mätzner, the Fr. version here has 'la tigne, ou lartuison, nuit a la robe,' where artuison is the Mod. F. artison, explained by Cotgrave as 'a kind of moth'; and I strongly suspect that 'in the shepes flees' is due to this 'ou lartuison,' which Chaucer may have misread as en la toison. It looks very like it. I point other similar mistakes further on.

Anoyeth, harms; F. nuit, L. nocet. The use of to here is well illustrated by Mätzner, who compares Wycliffe's version of this very passage; 'As a moghe to the cloth, and a werm to the tree, so sorewe of a man noyeth to the herte'; whereas Purvey's later version thrice omits the to. In the Persones Tale, Group I. 847, anoyeth occurs both with to and without it.

2188. Us oghte, it would become us; oghte is in the subjunctive mood. Cf. hem oughte, it became them, in l. 2458; thee oughte, it became thee, in l. 2603.—Mr. The pres. indic. form is us oweth.

Goodes temporels; F. text, biens temporels. Chaucer uses the F. pl. in -es or -s for the adjective in other places, and the adj. then usually follows the sb. Cf. lettres capitals, capital letters, Astrolabe, i. 16. 8; weyes espirituels, spiritual ways, Pers. Tale, I. 79; goodes espirituels, id. 312; goodes temporeles, id. 685; thinges espirituels, id. 784.—Mr.

2190. See Job, i. 21. Hath wold, hath willed (it); see 2615.

2193. Quotations from Solomon and from Ecclesiasticus are frequently confused, both throughout this Tale, and elsewhere. The reference is to Ecclus. xxxii. 24, in the Vulgate (cf. A. V. xxxii. 19); here Wycliffe has:—'Sone, withoute counseil no-thing do thou; and after thi deede thou shalt not othynke' (i. e. of-thinke, repent).

Thou shalt never repente; here Hl. has—'the thar neuer rewe,' i. e. it needeth never for thee to rue it.

2202. With-holde, retained. Cf. A. 511; Havelok, 2362.—Mr.

2204. Parties, &c.; Fr. text: supporter partie.—Mr.

2205. Hool and sound; a common phrase. Cf. Rob. of Glouc. pp. 163, 402, ed. Hearne (ll. 3417, 8301, ed. Wright); King Horn, l. 1365 (in Morris's Specimens of English); also l. 2300 below.—Mr.

2207. 'Heal, put a stop to, war by taking vengeance; a literal and very happy translation from the French—aussi doit on guerir guerre par vengence.'—Bell. Tyrwhitt omits the words by vengeaunce, and Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 320) defends him, arguing that 'the physicians are represented as agreeing with the surgeons'; whereas Chaucer expressly says that 'they seyden a fewe wordes more.' The words 'by vengeaunce' are in all the seven MSS. and in the French original. Admittedly, they make nonsense, but the nonsense is expressly laid bare and exposed afterwards, when it appears that the physicians did not really add this clause, but Melibeus dreamt that they did (2465-2480). The fact is, however, that the words par vengence were wrongly interpolated in the French text. Chaucer should have omitted them, but the evidence shews that he did not. I decline to falsify the text in order to set the author right. We should then have to set the French text right also!

2209. 'Made this matter much worse, and aggravated it.'

2210. Outrely, utterly, entirely, i. e. without reserve; Fr. text tout oultre. Not from A. S. ūtor, outer, utter, but from F. oultre, outre, moreover; of which one sense, in Godefroy, is 'excessivement.' See E. 335, 639, 768, 953; C. 849; &c.

2216. Fr. text—'en telle maniere que tu soies bien pourveu d'espies et guettes.'—Mr.

2218. To moeve; Fr. text, de mouvoir guerre; cf. the Lat. phrase mouere bellum.—Mr.

2220. The Lat. text has here three phrases for Chaucer's 'common proverb.' It has: 'non enim subito uel celeriter est iudicandum, "omnia enim subita probantur incauta," et "in iudicando criminosa est celeritas," et "ad poenitendum properat qui cito iudicat."' Of these, the first is from Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. c. 17; and the second and third from Publilius Syrus, Sententiae, 254 and 32 (ed. Friedrich, Berolini, 1880). For iudicando, as in some MSS., Friedrich has the variant vindicando. Cf. the Proverbs of Hending, l. 256: 'Ofte rap reweth,' haste often rues. See note to 2244.

2221. Men seyn; this does not necessarily mean that Chaucer is referring to a proverb. He is merely translating. The Lat. text has; 'quare dici consueuit, Optimum iudicem existimem, qui cito intelligit et tarde iudicat.' It also quotes two sentences (nos. 311 and 128) from Publilius Syrus: 'Mora omnis odio est, sed facit sapientiam'; and—'Deliberare utilia mora est tutissima.' Mätzner points out that there are two other sentences (nos. 659 and 32) in Publilius, which come very near the expression in the text, viz. 'Velox consilium sequitur poenitentia'; and—'Ad poenitendum properat, qui cito iudicat.'

2223. See John, viii. 3-8. For he wroot, Hl. has 'hem wrot,' which is obviously wrong.

2227. Made contenaunce, made a sign, made a gesture. Among the senses of F. contenance, Cotgrave gives: 'gesture, posture, behaviour, carriage.'

2228. Fr. text—'qui ne scevent que guerre se monte.'—Mr.

2229. 'The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water'; Prov. xvii. 14.

2231. 'The chylde may rue that is vnborn'; Chevy Chase, l. 9.

2235. 'A tale out of season is as music in mourning'; Ecclus. xxii. 6.

2237. Not from 'Solomon,' but from 'Jesus, son of Sirach,' as before. The Lat. text agrees with the Vulgate version of Ecclus. xxxii. 6: 'ubi auditus non est, ne effundas sermonem'; the E. version (verse 4) is somewhat different, viz. 'Pour not out words where there is a musician, and shew not forth wisdom out of time.' Chaucer gives us the same saying again in verse; see B. 3991.

2238. Lat. text: 'semper consilium tunc deest, quando maxime opus est'; from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 594. (Read cum opus est maxime.)

2242. Cf. F. text—'Sire, dist elle, je vous prie que vous ne vous hastez, et que vous pour tous dons me donnez espace.'—Wright.

2243. Piers Alfonce, Petrus Alfonsi. 'Peter Alfonsus, or Alfonsi, was a converted Spanish Jew, who flourished in the twelfth century, and is well known for his Disciplina Clericalis, a collection of stories and moralisations in Latin prose, which was translated afterwards into French verse, under the title of the Chastoiement d'un pere a son fils. It was a book much in vogue among the preachers from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century.'—Wright. Tyrwhitt has a long note here; he says that a copy of this work is in MS. Bibl. Reg. 10 B. xii in the British Museum, and that there is also a copy of another work by the same author, entitled Dialogus contra Judaeos, in MS. Harl. 3861. He also remarks that the manner and style of the Disciplina Clericalis 'show many marks of an Eastern original; and one of his stories Of a trick put upon a thief is entirely taken from the Calilah a Damnah, a celebrated collection of Oriental apologues.' All the best fables of Alfonsus were afterwards incorporated (says Tyrwhitt) into the Gesta Romanorum. He was born at Huesca, in Arragon, in 1062, and converted to Christianity in 1106.

The words here referred to are the following: 'Ne properes ulli reddere mutuum boni uel mali, quia diutius expectabit te amicus, et diutius timebit te inimicus'; Disc. Cler. xxv. 15; ed. F. W. V. Schmidt, Berlin, 1827, 4to., p. 71.

2244. The proverbe, &c.; not in either the Latin or the French texts. Cf. the proverb of Hending—'ofte rap reweth,' often haste rues it. Heywood has—'The more haste, the worse speed'; on which Ray notes—'Come s'ha fretta non si fa mai niente che stia bene'; Ital. Qui trop se hâte en cheminant, en beau chemin se fourvoye souvent; Fr. Qui nimis properè minus prosperè; et nimium properans serius absoluit.

'Tarry a little, that we may make an end the sooner, was a saying of Sir Amias Paulet. Presto e bene non si conviene; Ital.' See 2325 below, and observe that Chaucer has the same form of words in Troil. i. 956.

2247. From Ecclesiastes, vii. 28. Cf. A. 3154.

2249. From Ecclus. xxv. 30 (Vulgate): 'Mulier, si primatum habeat, contraria est uiro suo.' Not in the A. V.; cf. v. 22 of that version.

2250. From Ecclus. xxxiii. 20-22 (Vulgate); 19-21 (A. V.).

2251. After noght be, ed. 1550 adds—'if I shuld be counsayled by the'; but this is redundant. See next note.

2252-3. These clauses are omitted in the MSS. and black-letter editions, but are absolutely necessary to the sense. The French text has—'car il est escript: la jenglerie des femmes ne puet riens celer fors ce qu'elle ne scet. Apres, le philosophe dit: en mauvais conseil les femmes vainquent les hommes. Pour ces raisons, je ne doy point user de ton conseil.' It is easy to turn this into Chaucerian English, by referring to ll. 2274, 2280 below, where the missing passage is quoted with but slight alteration.

The former clause is quoted from Marcus Annaeus Seneca, father of Seneca the philosopher, Controversiarum Lib. ii. 13. 12:—'Garrulitas mulierum id solum nouit celare, quod nescit.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. v. 168; xix. 157; and see the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D. 950. The second clause is from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 324:—'Malo in consilio feminae uincunt uiros.'

2257. 'Non est turpe cum re mutare consilium'; Seneca, De Beneficiis, iv. 38, § 1.

Maketh no lesing, telleth no lie; compare the use of lyer just above.

Turneth his corage, changes his mind. Mätzner quotes a similar phrase from Halliwell's Dict., s. v. Torne:—

MS. Lansdowne 793, fol. 68.

2258. Thar ye nat, it needs not that ye; i. e. you are not obliged. But yow lyke, unless you please (lit. unless it please you).

2259. Ther, where. What that him lyketh, whatever he likes.

2260. Save your grace, with the same sense as the commoner phrase 'save your reverence.' The Lat. text has 'salua reuerentia tua'; which shews the original form of the phrase.

As seith the book. Here 'the book' probably means no more than the Latin text, which has 'nam qui omnes despicit, omnibus displicet'; without any reference.

2261. Senek. Mätzner says this is not to be found in Seneca; in fact, the Latin text refers us to 'Seneca, De Formula Honestae Vitae'; but Sundby has found it in Martinus Dumiensis, Formula Honestae Vitae, cap. iii. This shews that it was attributed to Seneca erroneously. Moreover, the original is more fully expressed, and runs thus—'Nullius imprudentiam despicias; rari sermonis ipse, sed loquentium patiens auditor; seuerus non saeuus, hilares neque aspernans; sapientiae cupidus et docilis; quae scieris, sine arrogantia postulanti imperties; quae nescieris, sine occultatione ignorantiae tibi benigne postula impertiri.' Cf. Horace, Epist. vi. 67, 68.

2265. Rather, sooner. See Mark, xvi. 9. The weakness of this argument for the goodness of woman appears by comparison with P. Plowman, C. viii. 138: 'A synful Marye the seyh er seynt Marie thy moder,' i. e. Christ was seen by St. Mary the sinner earlier than by St. Mary His mother, after His resurrection.

2266-9. This reappears in verse in the March. Tale, E. 2277-2290.

2269. Alluding to Matt. xix. 17; Luke xviii. 19.

2273. Or noon, or not. So elsewhere; see B. 2407, F. 778, I. 962, 963, 964.

2276. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xx. 297, on which my note is as follows. 'Perhaps the original form of this commonly quoted proverb is this:—"Tria sunt enim quae non sinunt hominem in domo permanere; fumus, stillicidium, et mala uxor"; Innocens Papa, de Contemptu Mundi, i. 18. It is a mere compilation from Prov. x. 26, xix. 13, and xxvii. 15. Chaucer refers to it in his Tale of Melibeus, Prologue to Wife of Bathes Tale (D. 278), and Persones Tale (I. 631); see also Kemble's Solomon and Saturn, pp. 43, 53, 63; Walter Mapes, ed. Wright, p. 83.' Cf. Wright's Bibliographia Britannica, Anglo-Norman Period, pp. 333, 334; Hazlitt's Proverbs, pp. 114, 339; Ida von Düringsfeld, Sprichwörter, vol. i. sect. 303; Peter Cantor, ed. Migne, col. 331; &c. A medieval proverbial line expresses the same thus:—

2277. From Prov. xxi. 9; cf. Prov. xxv. 24. See D. 775.

2286. The Lat. text has: 'uulgo dici consueuit, Consilium feminile nimis carum aut nimis uile.' Cf. B. 4446, and the note.

2288. The examples of Jacob, Judith, Abigail, and Esther are again quoted, in the same order, in the March. Tale, E. 1362-74. See Gen. xxvii; Judith, xi-xiii; 1 Sam. xxv. 14; Esther, vii.

2293. Forme-fader, first father. Here forme represents the A. S. forma, first, cognate with Goth. fruma, Lat. primus. Cf. 'Adam ure forme fader'; O. E. Homilies, ed. Morris, ii. 101; so also in Hampole, Pr. Cons. 483; Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris, p. 62; Allit. Poems, A. 639.

2294. To been a man allone, for a man to be alone; for this idiom, cf. I. 456, 469, 666, 849, 935.—Mr. See Gen. ii. 18.

2296. Confusioun; see B. 4354, and the note.

2297. Lat. text:—'quare per uersus dici consueuit:

Sundby quotes from Ebrardi Bituniensis Graecismus, cum comm. Vincentii Metulini, fol. C. 1, back—

(A better reading is Auro quid melius.)

In MS. Harl. 3362, fol. 67, as printed in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 91, we find:—

And these lines are immediately followed by the second quotation above, with the variations 'Auro quid melius,' 'Sensu quid,' and 'nichil' for 'Deus.'

2303. From Prov. xvi. 24.

2306. For the use of to with biseken, cf. 2940 below.—Mr.

2308. From Tobit, iv. 20 (Vulgate); iv. 19 (A. V.). Dresse, direct; Lat. 'ut uias tuas dirigat.'

2309. From James, i. 5. At this point the Fr. text is much shortened, pp. 20-30 of the Latin text being omitted.

2311. Lat. text (p. 33):—'a te atque consiliariis tuis remoueas illa tria, quae maxime sunt consilio contraria, scilicet iram, uoluptatem siue cupiditatem atque festinantiam.'

2315. Lat. text:—'iratus semper plus putat posse facere, quam possit.'

2317. The Lat. text shews that the quotation is not from Seneca's De Ira, but from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 281:—'Iratus nil non criminis loquitur loco.' Cf. D. 2005, I. 537.

2320. From 1 Tim. vi. 10. See C. 334, I. 739.

2325. Lat. 'Ad poenitendum properat, qui cito iudicat'; from Publil. Syrus, Sent. 32. (Read cito qui.) See l. 2244 above, and the note.

2331. From Ecclus. xix. 8, 9 (A. V.).

2333. Lat. text (p. 40):—'Et alius dixit: Vix existimes ab uno posse celari secretum.'

2334. The book. Lat. text:—'Consilium absconditum quasi in carcere tuo est retrusum, reuelatum uero te in carcere suo tenet ligatum.' Compare Petrus Alfonsi, Disciplina Clericalis, iv. 3. Cf. Ecclus. viii. 22 (Vulgate); viii. 19 (A. V.).

2337. Lat. text:—'Ait enim Seneca: Si tibi ipse non imperasti, ut taceres, quomodo ab alio silentium quaeris?' This, however, is not from Seneca, but from Martinus Dumiensis, De Moribus, Sent. 16. Sundby further quotes from Plutarch (Opera, ed. Hutten. Tubingae, 1814, vol. xiv. p. 395):—Ὅπερ ἂν σιωπᾶσθαι βούλῃ, μηδενὶ εἴπῃς· ἢ πῶς παρά τινος ἀπαιτήσεις τὸ πιστὸν τῆς σιωπῆς, ὃ μὴ παρέσχες σεαυτῷ;

2338. Plyt, plight, condition. It rimes with appetyt, E. 2336, and wyte, G. 953. It occurs again in the Complaint of Anelida, 297, and Parl. of Foules, 294; and in Troilus, ii. 712, 1738, iii. 1039. The modern spelling is wrong, as it is quite a different word from the verb to plight. See it discussed in my Etym. Dict., Errata and Addenda, p. 822.

2342. Men seyn. This does not appear to be a quotation, but a sort of proverb. The Lat. text merely says:—'Et haec est ratio quare magnates atque potentes, si per se nesciunt, consilium bonum uix aut nunquam capere possunt.'

2348. From Prov. xxvii. 9.

2349. From Ecclus. vi. 15:—'Amico fideli non est comparatio; et non est digna ponderatio auri et argenti contra bonitatem fidei illius.' L. 2350 is a sort of paraphrase of the latter clause.

2351. From Ecclus. vi. 14:—'Amicus fidelis, protectio fortis; qui autem inuenit illum, inuenit thesaurum.' 'He [Socrates] was wonte to saie, that there is no possession or treasure more precious then a true and an assured good frende.'—N. Udall, tr. of Erasmus' Apophthegmes, Socrates, § 13.

2352. Cf. Prov. xxii. 17; Ecclus. ix. 14.

2354. Cf. Job xii. 12.

2355. From Cicero, De Senectute, vi. 17:—'Non uiribus aut uelocitatibus aut celeritate corporum res magnae geruntur, sed consilio, auctoritate, sententia; quibus non modo non orbari, sed etiam augeri senectus solet.'

2357. From Ecclus. vi. 6.

2361. From Prov. xi. 14; cf. xv. 22.

2363. From Ecclus. viii. 17.

2364. Lat. text:—'Scriptum est enim, Proprium est stultitiae aliena uitia cernere, suorum autem obliuisci.' From Cicero, Disput. Tusc. iii. 30. 73.

2366. 'Sic habendum est, nullam in amicitia pestem esse maiorem quam adulationem, blanditiam, assentationem'; Cicero, Laelius, xxvi. 97 [or xxv.]

2367. Lat. text:—'In consiliis itaque et in aliis rebus non acerba uerba, sed blanda timebis.' The last six words are from Martinus Dumiensis, De Quatuor Virtutibus Cardinalibus, cap. iii. Cf. Prov. xxviii. 23.

2368. From Prov. xxix. 5. The words in the next clause (2369) seem to be merely another rendering of the same passage.

2370. 'Cauendum est, ne assentatoribus patefaciamus aures neue adulari nos sinamus'; Cicero, De Officiis, i. 26.

2371. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. iii. 6:—'Sermones blandos blaesosque cauere memento.'

2373. 'Cum inimico nemo in gratiam tuto [al. tute] redit'; Publilius Syrus, Sent. 91.

2374. Lat. text:—'Quare Ysopus dixit:

2375. Not from Seneca, but from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 389:—'Nunquam ubi diu fuit ignis deficit uapor'; but the MSS. differ in their readings. 'There is no fire without some smoke'; Heywood's Proverbs.

2376. From Ecclus. xii. 10.

2379. The passage alluded to is the following:—'Ne te associaueris cum inimicis tuis, cum alios possis repperire socios; quae enim mala egeris notabunt, quae uero bona fuerint deuitabunt [Lat. text, deuiabunt]'; cf. Petrus Alfonsi, Disciplina Clericalis, iv. 4. The words 'they wol perverten it' seem to be due to the reading deuiabunt, taken to mean 'they will turn aside,' in a transitive sense.

2381. Lat. text (pp. 50, 51); 'ut quidam philosophus dixit, Nemo ei satis fidus est, quem metuit.'

2382. Inexactly quoted from the Latin text, taken from Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 7:—'Malus custos diuturnitatis est metus, contraque beniuolentia fidelis uel ad perpetuitatem.... Nulla uis imperii tanta est, quae premente metu possit esse diuturna.'

2384. From Prov. xxxi. 4, where the Vulgate has: 'Noli regibus, o Lamuel, noli regibus dare uinum; quia nullum secretum est ubi regnat ebrietas.' Cf. C. 561 (and note), 585, 587.

2386. Cassidorie, Cassiodorus, who wrote in the time of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths (A.D. 475-526). The quotation is from his Variarum lib. x. epist. 18:—'quia laesionis instar est occulte consulere, et aliud uelle monstrare.' In the Latin text, cap. xxiii, the heading of the chapter is:—'De Vitando consilium illorum, qui secreto aliud consulunt, et palam aliud se uelle ostendunt.' Chaucer's rendering is far from being a happy one.

2387. Cf. Prov. xii. 5; but note that the Lat. text has:—'Malus homo a se nunquam bonum consilium refert'; which resembles Publilius Syrus, Sent. 354:—'Malus bonum ad se nunquam consilium refert.'

2388. From Ps. i. 1.

2391. Tullius. The reference is to Cicero's De Officiis, ii. 5, as quoted in the 'Latin text':—'quid in unaquaque re uerum sincerumque sit, quid consentaneum cuique rei sit, quid consequens, ex quibus quaeque gignantur, quae cuiusque rei caussa sit.' This is expanded in the English, down to l. 2400.

2405. For distreyneth, MS. Hl. has the corrupt reading destroyeth. The reading is settled by the lines in Chaucer's Proverbs (see the Minor Poems, vol. i. p. 407):—

The Lat. text has: 'Qui nimis capit parum stringit'; the Fr. text has: 'Qui trop embrasse, pou estraint.'

2406. Catoun, Dionysius Cato; Distich. iii. 15:—

2408. The Lat. text has:—'Ait enim Petrus Alfunsus, Si dicere metuas unde poeniteas, semper est melius non quam sic.' From his Disciplina Clericalis, vi. 12.

2411. Defenden, forbid, i. e. advise one not to do. This passage is really a quotation from Cicero, De Officiis, i. 9:—'Bene praecipiunt qui uetant quidquid agere, quod dubites aequum sit an iniquum.'

2413. The Lat. text has:—'Nunc superest uidere, quando consilium uel promissum mutari possit uel debeat.' This shews that the reading counseil, as in Hl., is correct.

2415. Lat. text:—'Quae de nouo emergunt, nouo indigent consilio, ut leges dicunt.'

2416. Lat. text:—'Inde et Seneca dixit, Consilium tuum si audierit hostis, consilii dispositionem permutes.' But no such sentence has been discovered in Seneca.

2419. Lat. text:—'Generaliter enim nouimus, Turpes stipulationes nullius esse momenti, ut leges dicunt,' for which Sundby refers us to the Digesta, xlv. 1. 26.

2421. 'Malum est consilium, quod mutari non potest': Publilius Syrus, Sent. 362.

2431. First and forward; so in l. 2684. We now say 'first and foremost.'

2436. See above, ll. 2311-2325; vol. iv. p. 208.

2438. Anientissed, annulled, annihilated, done away with. In Rom. iv. 14, where Wycliffe's earlier text has anentyschid, the later text has distried. The Prompt. Parv. has: 'Anyyntyschyn, or enyntyschyn, Exinanio.' From O. F. anientiss-, pres. pt. stem of anientir, to bring to nothing, variant of anienter, a verb formed from prep. a, to, and O. F. nient (Ital. niente, mod. F. néant), nothing. The form nient answers to Lat. *ne-entem or *nec-entem, from ne, nec, not, and entem, acc. of ens, being. See the New E. Dict. Cf. anyente in P. Plowman, C. xx. 267, xxi. 389. As yow oghte, as it behoved you; Hl. as ye oughte. Both phrases occur.

2439. Talent; Fr. text, 'ta voulonte'; i. e. your desire, wish. 'Talent, ... will, desire, lust, appetite, an earnest humour unto'; Cotgrave. Cf. C. 540, and l. 2441 below.

2444. This paragraph is omitted in MS. Hl.

2447. Hochepot; Hl. hochepoche, whence E. hodgepodge. From F. hochepot, 'a hotch-pot, or gallimaufrey, a confused mingle-mangle of divers things jumbled or put together'; Cotgrave. This again is from the M. Du. hutspot, with the same sense; from hutsen, to shake, and pot. See Hotchpot in my Etym. Dict. Ther been ye condescended, and to that opinion ye have submitted.

2449. Reward, regard; for reward is merely an older spelling of 'regard.' So in Parl. of Foules, 426; Leg. of Good Women, 375, 399, 1622.

2454. Lat. text:—'Humanum enim est peccare, diabolicum uero perseuerare.' Sundby refers us to St. Chrysostom, Adhortatio ad Theodorum lapsum, I. 14 (Opera, Paris, 1718, fol.; i. 26); where we find (in the Lat. version):—'Nam peccare quidem, humanum est; at in peccatis perseuerare, id non humanum est, sed omnino satanicum.' It is also quoted by Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, lib. xvii. c. 45.

2459. Lat. text:—'ad illorum officium spectat omnibus prodesse et nulli nocere.' This (says Sundby) is quoted from the Decretals of Gregory IX., lib. i. tit. 37. cap. 3.

2467. Cf. Lat. text:—'scilicet, Contraria contrariis curantur.'

2473. Fr. text:—'Or veez, dist Prudence, comment un chascun croist legierement ce qu'il veut et desire!'—Mr.

2479. For good, &c., 'namely, in the sense that good,' &c.

2482. See Rom. xii. 17; cf. 1 Thess. v. 15; 1 Cor. iv. 12. The Lat. text quotes part of verses 17-21 of Rom. xii. But it is clear that Chaucer has altered the wording, and was thinking of 1 Pet. iii. 9.

2485. After wyse folk, Cp. inserts 'and olde folk,' and Ln. 'and the olde folke.' The Fr. text has: 'les advocas, les sages, et les anciens.' Ed. 1532 also inserts 'and olde folke'; and perhaps it should be inserted.

2487. Warnestore, to supply with defensive materials, to garrison, protect; see 2521, 2523, 2525 below. 'And wel thei were warnestured of vitailes inow'; Will, of Palerne, 1121. We also find a sb. of the same form. 'In eche stude hii sette ther strong warnesture and god'; Rob. of Glouc. 2075 (ed. Hearne, p. 94). 'The Sarazins kept it [a castle] that tym for ther chefe warnistour'; Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, ed. Hearne, p. 180. 'I will remayn quhill this warnstor be gane'; Wallace, bk. ix. l. 1200, where ed. 1648 has 'till all the stuffe be gone.' Correctly warnisture; a derivative of O. F. warnir, garnir, to supply (E. garnish). Godefroy gives O. F.'garnesture, garnisture, garniture, warnesture, s. f. provisions, ressource; authentication; garnison, forteresse'; with eight examples. Cf. E. garrison (M. E. garnison), garment (M. E. garnement), and garniture. The last of these is, in fact, nothing but the O. F. warnisture in a more modern form. Hence we obtain the sense by consulting Cotgrave, who gives: 'Garniture, garniture, garnishment, furniture; provision, munition, store, necessary implements.' It also appears that the word is properly a substantive, with the spelling warnisture; it became warnistore or warnestore by confusion with O. F. estor, a store; and, as the word store was easily made into a verb, it was easy to treat warnestore in the same way. It is a sb. in Rob. of Gloucester, as shewn above, but appears as a verb in Will. of Palerne. MS. Hl. has warmstore (with m for ni); and the same error is in the editions of Wright, Bell, and Morris. Ed. 1532 has warnstore.

2494. From Ps. cxxvii. 1 (cxxvi. 1, Vulgate).

2496. From Dionysius Cato, lib. iv. dist. 14:—'Auxilium a nobis petito, si forte laboras; Nec quisquam melior medicus quam fidus amicus.'

2499. Piers Alfonce, Petrus Alfonsi, in his Disciplina Clericalis, xviii. 10:—'Ne aggrediaris uiam cum aliquo nisi prius eum cognoueris; si quisquam ignotus tibi in uia associauerit, iterque tuum inuestigauerit, dic te uelle longius ire quam disposueris; et si detulerit lanceam, uade ad dextram; si ensem, ad sinistram.'

2505. The repetition of that before ye, following the former that before for, is due to a striving after greater clearness. It is not at all uncommon, especially in cases where the two thats are farther apart. Cf. the use of he and him in l. 2508.

Lete the keping, neglect the protection; A. S. lǣtan.

2507. 'Beatus homo qui semper est pauidus; qui uero mentis est durae, corruet in malum'; Prov. xxviii. 14. Hence the quotation-mark follows bityde.

2509. Counterwayte embusshements, 'be on the watch against lyings in ambush.' 'Contregaitier, v. act. épier, guetter de son côté'; refl. se garder, se mettre en garde'; Godefroy. Three examples are given of the active use, and four of the reflexive use. Espiaille, companies of spies; it occurs again in the sense of 'a set of spies' in D. 1323. Mätzner well remarks that espiaille does not mean 'spying' or 'watching,' as usually explained, but is a collective sb., like O. F. rascaille, poraille, pedaille. Godefroy, in his O. F. Dict., makes the same mistake, though his own example is against him. He has: 'Espiaille, s. f. action d'épier: Nous avons ja noveles par nos espiailles'; i. e. by means of our spies (not of our spyings). This quotation is from an A. F. proclamation made in London, July 26, 1347.

2510. Senek, Seneca; but, as before, the reference is really to the Sentences of Publilius Syrus. Of these the Lat. text quotes no less than four, viz. Nos. 542, 607, 380, and 116 (ed. Dietrich); as follows:—

2514. Senek; this again is from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 255:—'Inimicum, quamuis humilem, docti est metuere.'

2515. The Lat. and Fr. texts both give the reference, correctly, to Ovid's Remedia Amoris; see l. 421:—

Chaucer has here interpolated the reference to 'the thorn pricking the king' between his translations of these two lines. The interpolation occurs neither in the French nor in the Latin text.

Wesele, weasel. The origin of this queer mistake is easily perceived. The Fr. text has: 'La petite vivre occist le grant torel.' Here vivre represents Lat. uipera, a viper (cf. E. wivern); but Ch. has construed it as if it represented Lat. uiuerra, a ferret.

2518. The book. The quotation is from Seneca, Epist. 111. § 3:—'Quidam fallere docuerunt, dum falli timent.' (For Quidam read Nam multi). Tyrwhitt's text is here imperfect, and he says he has patched it up as he best could; but the MSS. (except Cp. and Ln.) give a correct text.

2520. Lat. text:—'Cum irrisore consortium non habeas; loquelae eius assiduitatem quasi toxica fugias.' From Albertano of Brescia, who here quotes from his own work, De Arte Eloquendi, p. cviii.; according to Sundby.

2521. Warnestore, protect; see note to 2487 above, and see 2523.

2523. Swiche as han, 'such as castles and other kinds of edifices have.'

Artelleries, missile weapons; cf. 1 Sam xx. 40, 1 Macc. vi. 51 (A. V.). 'Artillarie now a dayes is taken for ii. thinges: Gunnes and Bowes'; Ascham, Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 65. In Chaucer's time it referred to bows, crossbows, and engines for casting stones. Cotgrave explains F. artillier as 'one that maketh both bowes and arrowes.'

2525-6. Owing to the repetition of the words grete edifices, one of the early scribes (whom others followed) passed from one to the other, thus omitting the words 'apperteneth som tyme to pryde and eek men make heighe toures and grete edifices.' But MSS. Cp. and Ln. supply all but the last three words 'and grete edifices,' and as we know that 'grete edifices' must recur, they really supply all but the sole word 'and,' which the sense absolutely requires. Curiously enough, these very MSS. omit the rest of clause 2525, so that none of the MSS. are perfect, but the text is easily pieced together. It is further verified by the Lat. text, which has:—'Munitio turrium et aliorum altorum aedificiorum ad superbiam plerumque pertinet ... praeterea turres cum magno labore et infinitis expensis fiunt; et etiam cum factae fuerint, nihil ualent, nisi cum auxilio prudentium et fidelium amicorum et cum magnis expensis defendantur.' The F. text supplies the gap with—'appartiennent aucune fois a orgueil: apres on fait les tours et les grans edifices.'—MS. Reg. 19 C. vii. leaf 133, back. Hence there is no doubt as to the reading.

All former editions are here defective, and supply the gap with the single word is, which is found in ed. 1532.

2526. With gret costages, at great expense: Fr. text, 'a grans despens.'

Stree, straw; MS. Hl. has the spelling straw. We find the phrase again in the Book of the Duch. 671; also 'ne roghte of hem a stree,' id. 887; 'acounted nat a stree,' id. 1237; 'ne counted nat three strees,' id. 718.

2530. Lat. text:—'unum est inexpugnabile munimentum, amor ciuium.' Not from Cicero; but from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 19. 5.

2534. 'In omnibus autem negotiis, prius quam aggrediare, adhibenda est praeparatio diligens'; Cicero, De Officiis, i. 21.

2537. Lat. text:—'Longa praeparatio belli celerem uictoriam facit.' But the source is unknown; it does not seem to be in Cicero. Mätzner quotes a similar saying from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 125:—'Diu apparandum est bellum, ut uincas celerius.'

2538. 'Munitio quippe tunc efficitur praeualida, si diuturna fuerit excogitatione roborata'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 17.

2545. Tullius. This refers to what has already preceded in 2391-2400, the passage referred to being one from Cicero's De Officiis, ii. 5, where we are bidden to consider several points, viz. (1) 'quid in quaque re uerum sincerumque sit; (2) quid consentaneum cuique rei sit; (3) quid consequens; (4) ex quo quidque gignatur; (5) quae cuiusque rei caussa sit.' All these five points are taken below in due order; viz. (1) in 2546; (2) in 2550; (3) in 2577; (4) in 2580; and (5) in 2583.

2546. Trouthe; referring to uerum in clause (1) in the last note.

2550. Consentinge; i. e. consentaneum in clause (2) in note to 2545. Cf. 2571. MS. Hl. has here the false reading couetyng, but in l. 2571 it has consentynge.

2551. Lat. text:—'qui et quot et quales.' Thus whiche means 'of what sort.' The words and whiche been they, omitted in MS. E. only, are thus seen to be necessary; cf. l. 2552, where the phrase is repeated.

2558. Cosins germayns; Lat. 'consanguineos germanos.' Neigh kinrede, relations near of kin; cf. 'nis but a fer kinrede' in 2565.

2561. Reward, regard, care; as above, in 2449; (see the note).

2565. Litel sib, slightly related; ny sib, closely related. Cf. 'ne on his mæges láfe þe swa néah sib wǽre,' nor with the relict of his kinsman who was so near of kin; Laws of King Cnut, § vii; in Thorpe's Ancient Laws, i. 364.

2570. As the lawe; Sundby refers to Justinian's Codex, VIII. iv. 1.

2573. That nay; Fr. text—'que non.'

2577. Consequent; i. e. 'consequens' in clause (3), note to 2545.

2580. Engendringe; i. e. 'ex quo quidque gignatur' in clause (4), note to 2545.

2582. Mätzner says this is corrupt; but it is quite right, though obscure. The sense is—'and, out of the taking of vengeance in return for that, would arise another vengeance'; &c. Engendre is here taken in the sense of 'be engendred' or 'breed'; see the New E. Dict. The Fr. text is clearer: 'de la vengence se engendrera autre vengence.'

2583. Causes; i. e. 'caussa' in clause (5), note to 2545.

2585. The Lat. text omits Oriens, which seems to be here used as synonymous with longinqua. 'Caussa igitur iniuriae tibi illatae duplex fuit efficiens, scilicet remotissima et proxima.'

2588. 'Occasio uero illius caussae, quae dicitur caussa accidentalis, fuit odium,' &c. So below, the Lat. text has caussa materialis, caussa formalis, and caussa finalis.

2591. It letted nat, it tarried not; Lat. text, 'nec per eos remansit.' This intransitive use of letten is awkward and rare. It occurs again in P. Plowman, C. ii. 204, xx. 76, 331.

2594. Book of Decrees; Sundby refers us to the Decretum Gratiani; P. ii, Caussa 1, Qu. 1. c. 25:—'uix bono peraguntur exitu, quae malo sunt inchoata principio.'

2596. Thapostle, the apostle Paul. The Lat. text refers expressly to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, meaning 1 Cor. iv. 5; but Chaucer has accommodated it to Rom. xi. 33.

2600. The Lat. text informs us that Melibeus signifies mel bibens. For similar curiosities of derivation, see note to G. 87. There was a town called Meliboea (Μελίβοια) on the E. coast of Thessaly.

2605. From Ovid, Amor. i. 8. 104:—'Impia sub dulci melle uenena latent.'

2606. From Prov. xxv. 16.

2611. The three enemys, i. e. the flesh, the devil and the world. The entrance of these into man through the five senses is the theme of numerous homilies. See especially Sawles Warde, in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, First Series, p. 245; and the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 263.

2614. Deedly sinnes, the Seven Deadly Sins; see the Persones Tale. Fyve wittes, five senses; cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 15, xvi. 257.

2615. Wold, willed; pp. of willen. F. text—'a voulu.' See 2190 above; Leg. of Good Women, 1209; Compl. of Venus, 11; P. Plowman, B. xv. 258; Malory's Morte Arthure, bk. xviii. c. 15—'[he] myghte haue slayne vs and he had wold'; and again, in c. 19—'I myght haue ben maryed and I had wolde.' Gower has—'if that he had wold'; Conf. Amantis, ii. 9.

2618. Falle, befall, come to pass; F. text—'advenir.'

2620. Were, would be; F. text—'ce seroit moult grant dommage.'

2623-4. The missing portion is easily supplied. The French text (MS. Reg. 19 C. vii, leaf 136) has:—'Et a ce respont Dame Prudence, Certes, dist elle, Ie t'octroye que de vengence vient molt de maulx et de biens; mais vengence n'appartient pas a vn chascun, fors seulement aux iuges et a ceulx qui ont la iuridicion sur les malfaitteurs.' Here 'mais vengence' should rather be 'mais faire vengence,' as in MS. Reg. 19 C. xi. leaf 59, back, and in the printed edition. It is clear that the omission of this passage is due to the repetition of trespassours at the end of 2622 and 2624.

2627. Lat. text—'nam, ut ait Seneca, Bonis nocet, qui malis parcit.' This corresponds to—'Bonis necesse est noceat, qui parcit malis'; Pseudo-Seneca, De Moribus, Sent. 114; see Publilius Syrus, ed. Dietrich, p. 90. The Fr. text has:—'Cellui nuit [al. nuist] aux bons, qui espargne les mauvais.' Chaucer's translation is so entirely at fault, that I think his MS. must have been corrupt; he has taken nuist aux as maistre, and then could make but little of espargne, which he makes to mean 'proveth,' i. e. tests, tries the quality of; perhaps his MS. had turned espargne (or esparne) into esprouve. MSS. Cp. Pt. Ln. turn it into reproveth; this makes better sense, but contradicts the original still more.

2628. 'Quoniam excessus tunc sunt in formidine, cùm creduntur iudicibus displicere'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 4.

2629. Lat. text:—'Et alibi dixit, Iudex, qui dubitat ulcisci, multos improbos facit'; slightly altered from Publ. Syrus, Sent. 526:—'Qui ulcisci dubitat, inprobos plures facit.'

2630. From Rom. xiii. 4. For spere, as in all the copies, Chaucer should have written swerd. The Fr. text has glaive; Lat. gladium.

2632. Ye shul retourne or have your recours to the Iuge; explanatory of the F. text—'tu recourras au iuge.'

2633. As the lawe axeth and requyreth; explanatory of the Fr. text—'selon droit.' For this use of axeth (= requires), cf. P. Plowman, C. i. 21, ii. 34.

2635. Many a strong pas; Fr. text—'moult de fors pas.' MS. Hl. has:—'many a strayt passage.'

2638. Not from Seneca, but (as in other places where Seneca is mentioned) from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 320 (ed. Dietrich):—'Male geritur, quicquid geritur fortunae fide.'

2640. Again from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 189 (ed. Dietrich):—'Fortuna uitrea est; tum quum splendet frangitur.'

2642. Seur (E. sure) and siker are mere variants of the same word; the former is O. F. seur, from Lat. acc. secūrum; the latter is from Lat. sécŭrus, with a different accentuation and a shortening of the second vowel. We also have a third form, viz. secure.

2645. Again from Publ. Syrus, Sent. 173:—'Fortuna nimium quem fouet, stultum facit.'

2650. From Rom. xii. 19; cf. Deut. xxxii. 35, Ps. xciv. 1.

2653. From Publ. Syrus, Sent. 645:—'Veterem ferendo iniuriam inuites nouam.'

2655. Holden over lowe, esteemed too low, too lightly.

2656. From Publ. Syrus, Sent. 487:—'Patiendo multa [al. inulta] eueniunt [al. ueniunt] quae nequeas pati.' Mowe suffre, be able to endure. For mowe, Wright wrongly prints nowe; MS. Hl. has mowe, correctly.

2663. From Caecilii Balbi Sententiae, ed. Friedrich, 1870, no. 162:—'Qui non corripit peccantem gnatum, peccare imperat.'

2664. 'And the judges and sovereign lords might, each in his own land, so largely tolerate wicked men and evil-doers,' &c. Lat. text:—'si multa maleficia patiuntur fieri.'

2667. Let us now putte, let us suppose; Fr. text—'posons.' A more usual phrase is 'putte cas,' put the case; cf. note to 2681.

2668. As now, at present; see 2670.

2671. From Seneca, De Ira, ii. 34, § 1:—'Cum pare contendere, anceps est; cum superiore, furiosum; cum inferiore, sordidum.'

2675. From Prov. xx. 3.

2678. From Publilius Syrus, Sent. 483:—'Potenti irasci sibi periclum est quaerere.'

2679. From Dion. Cato, Dist. iv. 39:—

2681. Yet sette I caas, but I will suppose; Fr. text—'posons,' as in 2667 above.

2684. First and foreward; Fr. text—'premierement.' See note to 2431 above.

2685. The poete; Fr. text, 'le poete.' Not in the Latin text, and the source of the quotation is unknown. Cf. Luke, xxiii. 41.

2687. Seint Gregorie. Not in the Lat. text; source unknown.

2692. From 1 Pet. ii. 21.

2700. Referring to 2 Cor. iv. 17.

2702. From Prov. xix. 11, where the Vulgate has:—'Doctrina uiri per patientiam noscitur.'

2703. From Prov. xiv. 29, where the Vulgate has:—'Qui patiens est multa gubernatur prudentia.'

2704. From Prov. xv. 18.

2705. From Prov. xvi. 32.

2707. From James, i. 4:—'Patientia autem opus perfectum habet.'

2713. Corage, desire, inclination; cf. E. 1254.

2715. The Fr. text is fuller: 'et si ie fais un grant exces, car on dit que exces n'est corrige que par exces, c'est a dire que oultrage ne se corrige fors que par oultrage.'—Mr. Perhaps part of the clause has been accidentally omitted, owing to repetition of 'exces.'

2718. 'Quid enim discrepat a peccante, qui se per excessum nititur uindicare?'—Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 30.

2721. Lat. text:—'ait enim Seneca, Nunquam scelus scelere uindicandum.' Not from Seneca; Sundby refers us to Martinus Dumiensis, De Moribus, S. 139.

2723. Withouten intervalle ... delay; the Fr. text merely has 'sans intervalle.' Chaucer explains the word intervalle.

2729. 'Qui impatiens est sustinebit damnum'; Prov. xix. 19.

2730. Of that that, in a matter that.

2731. Lat. text (p. 95):—'Culpa est immiscere se rei ad se non pertinenti.' Sundby refers us to the Digesta, l. xvii. 36.

2732. From Prov. xxvi. 17.

2733. Outherwhyle, sometimes, occasionally; cf. 2857. So in Ch. tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 12. 119 (vol. ii. p. 89); P. Plowman, C. vi. 50, vii. 160, xxii. 103, &c.

2740. From Ecclesiastes, x. 19:—'pecuniae oboediunt omnia.'

2741. All the copies have power; but, as Mätzner remarks, we should read poverte; the Fr. text has povrete.

2743. Richesses ben goode; the Lat. text here quotes 1 Tim. iv. 4.

2744. 'Homo sine pecunia est quasi corpus sine anima' is written on a fly-leaf of a MS.; see my Pref. to P. Plowman, C-text, p. xx.

2746. All the MSS. have Pamphilles instead of Pamphilus. The allusion is to Pamphilus Maurilianus, who wrote a poem, well-known in the fourteenth century, entitled Liber de Amore, which is extant in MSS. (e.g. in MS. Bodley 3703) and has been frequently printed. Tyrwhitt cites the lines here alluded to from the Bodley MS.

Sundby quotes the same (with ipsa for illa) from the Paris edition of 1510, fol. a iiii, recto. Chaucer again refers to Pamphilus in F. 1110, on which see the note.

2748. This quotation is not in the Latin text, and is certainly not from Pamphilus; but closely follows Ovid's lines in his Tristia, i. 9. 5:—

See notes to B. 120 and B. 3436.

2751. Neither is this from Pamphilus, but from some author quoted by Petrus Alfonsi, Discip. Cler. vi. 4, who says:—'ait quidam uersificator, Clarificant [al. Glorificant] gazae priuatos nobilitate.'

2752. We know, from the Lat. text, that there is here an allusion to Horace, Epist. i. 6. 37:—

2754. The Lat. text has mater criminum, and the Fr. text, mere des crimes. It is clear that Chaucer has misread ruines for crimes, or his MS. was corrupt; and he has attempted an explanation by subjoining a gloss of his own—'that is to seyn ... overthrowinge or fallinge doun.' The reference is to Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. ix. epist. 13:—'Ut dum mater criminum necessitas tollitur, peccandi ambitus auferatur.'

2756. 'Est una de aduersitatibus huius saeculi grauioribus libero homini, quod necessitate cogitur, ut sibi subueniat, requirere inimicum'; Petrus Alfonsi, Disciplina Clericalis, iv. 4.

2758. Lat. text:—'O miserabilis mendicantis conditio! Nam, si petit, pudore confunditur; et si non petit, egestate consumitur; sed ut mendicet necessitate compellitur'; Innocentius III (Papa), De Contemptu Mundi, lib. i. c. 16. See note to B. 99, at p. 142.

2761. 'Melius est enim mori quam indigere'; Ecclus. xl. 29; cf. A. V., Ecclus. xl. 28. See note to B. 114, at p. 142.

2762. 'Melior est mors quam uita amara'; Ecclus. xxx. 17. The Fr. text has:—'Mieulx vault la mort amere que telle vie'; where, as in Chaucer, the adjective is shifted.

2765. How ye shul have yow, how you ought to behave yourself. In fact, behave is merely a compound of be- and have.

2766. Sokingly, gradually. In the Prompt. Parv. we find 'Esyly, or sokyngly, Sensim, paulatim.' And compare the following:—'Domitius Corbulo vsed muche to saie, that a mannes enemies in battaill are to be ouercomed (sic) with a carpenters squaring-axe, that is to saie, sokingly, one pece after another. A common axe cutteth through at the first choppe; a squaring-axe, by a little and a little, werketh the same effecte.'—Udall, tr. of Erasmus' Apophthegmes, Julius Caesar, § 32.

2768. From Prov. xxviii. 20.

2769. From Prov. xiii. 11.

2773. Not in the Latin text.

2775. 'Detrahere igitur alteri aliquid, et hominem hominis incommodo suum augere commodum, magis est contra naturam, quam mors, quam paupertas, quam dolor, quam cetera, quae possunt aut corpori accidere aut rebus externis'; Cicero, De Officiis, iii. 5.

2779. 'For idleness teacheth much evil'; Ecclus. xxxiii. 27.

2780. From Prov. xxviii. 19; cf. xii. 11.

2783. Cf. Prov. xx. 4.

2784. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. i. 2:—

2785. Quoted again in G. 6, 7; see note to G. 7.

2789. Fool-large, foolishly liberal; Fr. text, 'fol larges.' Cf. 2810.

2790. Chincherye, miserliness, parsimony; from the adj. chinche, which occurs in 2793. Chinche, parsimonious, miserly, is the nasalised form of chiche; see Havelok, 1763, 2941; and see Chinch in the New E. Dictionary. To the examples there given add:—'A Chinche, tenax: Chinchery, tenacitas'; Catholicon Anglicum.

2792. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. iv. 16:—

2795. From Dionysius Cato, Distich. iii. 22:—

2796. Folily, foolishly. We find M. E. folliche, both adj. and adv., and follichely, folily as adv. It is spelt folily in Wycliffe, Num. xii. 11, and in the Troy-book, 573; also folili, Will. of Palerne, 4596; folyly, Rom. of the Rose, 5942 (see the footnote).

2800. Weeldinge (so in E., other MSS. weldinge), wielding, i. e. power.

2802. Not in the Latin text.

2807. Compare Prov. xxvii. 20.

2811. 'Quamobrem nec ita claudenda est res familiaris, ut eam benignitas aperire non possit; nec ita reseranda, ut pateat omnibus'; Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 15.

2818. See Prov. xv. 16; xvi. 8.

2820. The prophete, i. e. David; see Ps. xxxvii. 16.

2824. See 2 Cor. i. 12.

2825. 'Riches are good unto him that hath no sin'; Ecclus. xiii. 24.

2828. From Prov. xxii. 1.

2829. The reference seems to be to Prov. xxv. 10 in the Vulgate version (not in the A. V.):—'Gratia et amicitia liberant; quas tibi serua, ne exprobrabilis fias.'

2832. The reference is clearly to the following:—'Est enim indigni [al. digni] animi signum, famae diligere commodum'; Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. epist. 4. This is quoted by Albertano (p. 120), with the reading ingenui for indigni; hence Chaucer's 'gentil.' Mätzner refers us to the same, lib. v. epist. 12:—'quia pulchrum est commodum famae.'

2833. 'Duae res sunt conscientia et fama. Conscientia tibi, fama proximo tuo'; Augustini Opera, ed. Caillou, Paris, 1842, tom. xxi. p. 347.—Mr.

2837. Fr. text:—'il est cruel et villain.'—Mr.

2841. Lat. text:—'nam dixit quidam philosophus, Nemo in guerra constitutus satis diues esse potest. Quantumcunque enim sit homo diues, oportet illum, si in guerra diu perseuerauerit, aut diuitias aut guerram perdere, aut forte utrumque simul et personam.'—p. 102.

2843. See Ecclesiastes, v. 11.

2851. 'With the God of heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company: For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host; but strength cometh from heaven.' 1 Macc. iii. 18, 19.

2854. The gap is easily detected and filled up by comparison with the Fr. text, which Mätzner cites from Le Menagier de Paris, i. 226, thus:—'pour ce ... que nul n'est certain s'il est digne que Dieu lui doint victoire ne plus que il est certain se il est digne de l'amour de Dieu ou non.' We must also compare the text from Solomon, viz. Ecclesiastes, ix. 1, as it stands in the Vulgate version.

2857. Outher-whyle, sometimes; see note to 2733.

2858. The seconde book of Kinges, i. e. Liber secundus Regum, now called 'the second book of Samuel.' The reference is to 2 Sam. xi. 25, where the Vulgate has: 'uarius enim euentus est belli; nunc hunc et nunc illum consumit gladius.' The A. V. varies.

2860. In as muchel; Fr. text:—'tant comme il puet bonnement.' This accounts for goodly, i. e. meetly, fitly, creditably. Cotgrave has: 'Bonnement, well, fitly, aptly, handsomely, conveniently, orderly, to the purpose.'

2861. Salomon; rather Jesus son of Sirach. 'He that loveth danger shall perish therein'; Ecclus. iii. 26.

2863. The werre ... nothing, 'war does not please you at all.'

2866. Seint Iame is a curious error for Senek, Seneca. For the Fr. text has:—'Seneque dit en ses escrips,' according to Mätzner; and MS. Reg. 19 C. xi (leaf 63, col. 2) has 'Seneques.' There has clearly been confusion between Seneques and Seint iaques. Hence the use of the pl. epistles is correct. The reference is to Seneca, Epist. 94, § 46; but Seneca, after all, is merely quoting Sallust:—'Nam concordia paruae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur'; Sallust, Jugurtha, 10.

2870. From Matt. v. 9.

2872. Brige, strife, contention; F. brigue, Low Lat. briga. 'Brigue, s. f. ... debate, contention, altercation, litigious wrangling about any matter'; Cotgrave. See Brigue in the New E. Dict.

2876. Here Hl. has pryde and despysing for homlinesse and dispreysinge, thus spoiling the sense. The allusion is to our common saying—Familiarity breeds contempt.

2879. Syen, saw; Cm. seyen; Ln. sawe; Cp. saugh.

2881. Lat. text (p. 107):—'scriptum est enim, Semper ab aliis dissensio incipiat, a te autem reconciliatio.' From Martinus Dumiensis, De Moribus, Sent. 49.

2882. The prophete, i. e. David; Ps. xxxiv. 14.

2883. The words 'as muchel as in thee is' are an addition, due to the Fr. text:—'tant comme tu pourras.'—Mr.

2884. The use of to after pursue is unusual; Mätzner compares biseke to, in 2940 below and 2306 above.

2886. From Prov. xxviii. 14.

2891. Fr. text:—'Pour ce dit le philosophe, que les troubles ne sont pas bien cler voyans.' Cf. the Fr. proverb:—'À l'œil malade la lumière nuit, an eie distempered cannot brook the light; sick thoughts cannot indure the truth'; Cotgrave.

2895. From Prov. xxviii. 23.

2897. This quotation is merely an expansion of the former part of Eccles. vii. 3, viz. 'sorrow is better than laughter'; the latter part of the same verse appears in 2900, immediately below.

2901. I shal not conne answere, I shall not be able to answer; Fr. text:—'ie ne sauroie respondre.'—Mr.

2909. From Prov. xvi. 7.

2915. Fr. text:—'ie met tout mon fait en vostre disposition.'—Mr.

2925. Referring to Ps. xx. 4 (Vulgate)—'in benedictionibus dulcedinis'; A. V.—'with the blessings of goodness,' Ps. xxi. 3.