Book 3 — NOTES.

[It may be observed, once for all, that the expression in to repeatedly occurs where we should simply use in; and one to is in like manner put for unto. The ending -ith (for -ed) is frequent in the past tense, and -it (also for -ed) in the past participle, though this distinction is not always observed. A still more noticeable ending is -ing (for -en) in the infinitive. Observe further that the letters v, u, and w are perfectly convertible, and used quite indiscriminately; so that wpone means upon; vthir means uthir, i.e., other: our is put for over; vounde signifies wound, etc.]

Page 1, line 1. The soft morow. This nominative case has no verb. A similar construction occurs in the first lines of Books II. and III.

4. Uprisith—his hot courss, Upriseth in his hot course; chare, chariot.

6. sent, sendeth; so also stant, standeth, l. 326.

8. valkyne, waken.

10. gyrss, grass.

11. assay, assault.

13. wox, voice.

17. frome I can, from the time that I did.

18. It deuit me, it availed me. Jamieson gives “Dow, 1. to be able; A.S. dugan (valere), to be able. 2. to avail; Teut. doogen.”

P. 2, l. 23. hewy ȝerys, heavy years.

24. “Until that Phœbus had thrice gone through his full circuits” (lit. spheres). See the peculiar use of “pas” in other places.

26. “So, by such a manner, was my lot fated;” see l. 41.

28. carving can, did cut.

30. be the morow, by the morn.

36. neulyngis, newly, anew.

43. walkith, walked.

50. I-clede, y-clad, clad. Ch. has clede.

54. “No one within thought he could be seen by any wight outside.”

P. 3, l. 56. clos it, enclose it; the MS. has closit.

57. alphest. This reading of the MS. is an error for alcest. See Chaucer, Prologue to Legend of good women, l. 511:

Alceste being the contracted form of Alcestis.

59. Wnclosing gane, did unclose.

60. “The bright sun had illumined the spray, and had updrawn (upwarped) into the lusty air the night’s soft (sober) and moist showers; and had made the morning soft, pleasant, and fair.” With this difficult passage we should compare l. 2477.

66. Quhill, until.

67. till ony vicht, to any wight.

69. Bot gladness til the thochtful, euer mo, etc., “But, as for gladness to the melancholy man, evermore the more he seeth of it, the more wo he hath.”

73. represent, represented (accented on the second syllable).

74. Al day gan be sor, etc., “All the day, my spirit began to dwell in torment, through sorrow of thought;” be sor, by sorrow (A.S. sorh).

77. Ore slep, or how I wot, “Or sleep, ere I knew how.”

83. A-licht, alighted.

84. levis in to were, livest in doubt.

P. 4, l. 91. be morow, by morrow; at early morn.

99. set, although.

103. weil accordinge, very fitting.

105. long ore he be sonde, (It is) long ere he be sound.

108. seith, for to consel, saith, that as for concealing or shewing, etc.

109. althir-best, lit. best of all; see Chaucer’s use of alderfirst, alderlast.

P. 5, l. 127. lat be thi nyss dispare, let be thy nice (foolish) despair.

128. erith, earth.

134. schall hyme hating, shall hate him. The termination -ing is here the sign of the infinitive mood after the verb shall.

140. Set, although.

146. tak one hand and mak, undertake and compose; trety, treatise; vnkouth, unknown, new.

151. belevis, believe will please thy lady.

160. yis, this.

P. 6, l. 161. troucht, truth.

163. discharge, release.

170. spir, sphere.

171. “At command of a wise (god from) whose vision,” etc. We sometimes find in old English the adjective “a wise” used absolutely for “a wise man.” See “Le Morte Arthur,” ed. F. J. Furnivall, l. 3318.

175. tynt, lost.

177. be this worldis fame. Here again, as in many other passages, “be” expresses with relation to, as regards.

185. yaim, them.

191. demande, demur.

P. 7, l. 198. Quhill, until.

200. conten, treat; lit. contain.

202. Lancelot is here called the son of Ban, king of Albanak; so again in l. 1447.

204. redis, read.

214. “I will not waste my efforts thereupon.”

219. wnwyst, unwist, unknown.

225. nome, name.

226. Iwondit to the stak, very deeply wounded; but there is no doubt about the origin of the phrase. See Glossary.

228. astart, get rid of it, escape it.

P. 8, l. 240. dedenyt to aras, deigned to pluck out.

244. hurtare, hurter.

245. Iwond, wounded.

248. ful wicht, full nimble.

251. of quhome, by whom.

253. send, sent.

257. pasing vassolag, surpassing prowess.

260. “Passed down into the fell caves.”

264. tane, taken.

266. cwre, care.

P. 9, l. 267. gart be maid, caused to be made.

271. awoue, vow.

275. in to that gret Revare, in that great river.

284. o gret confusione of pupil and knychtis, al enarmyt, a great medley of people and knights, all fully armed. Stevenson actually reads unarmyt!

294. I wil report; both here and in l. 320 we should almost expect to find “I nil report;” i.e. I will not tell. It must mean, “I will tell you why I omit to mention these things.” Compare lines 266, 320.

297. thing, think.

P. 10, l. 305. veris, wars.

306. be the wais, by the ways.

307. Tuex, betwixt; accorde, agreement.

314. mot, must.

316. stek, concluded.

319. most conpilour, very great composer.

320. “As to whose name I will only say, that it is unfit,” etc.

326. stant, standeth.

328. yroung, rung.

330. beith, shall be; observe the future sense of beith in this place.

331. suet, sweet.

332. “His soul in bliss preserved be on that account.”

334. and this endit. Whether endit here refers to inditing or ending is perhaps doubtful.