Note 10 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES
Reading edition
I explained, in one of my replies to Mr Archer, that this statement applied only to its usage 'in Wace' (Academy, September 16, 1893), but, characteristically, he has not hesitated to suppress this explanation, and renew his sneers at my knowledge of 'Old French', on the ground of a statement which, I had explained, was not my meaning (English Historical Review, ix. 604). It is difficult to describe such devices as these.
Common as the word is in Wace, I have never found any other instance of its use (i.e. by him) in a metaphorical sense, nor, if there is one, has Mr Archer attempted to produce it.