Note 44 — Chapter I · PATRONYMIC SURNAMES.

In the ‘Romaunt of the Rose,’ it is said—

‘For right no more than Gibbe, our cat,

That awaiteth mice and rattes to killen,

Ne entend I but to beguilen.’

In Peele’s ‘Edward I.,’ too, the Novice says to the Friar—

‘Now, Master, as I am true wag,

I will be neither late, nor lag,

But go and come with gossips cheer,

Ere Gib, our cat, can lick her ear.’