Front matter (continued 4)

5169. a proud prikere of Fraunce. A proud rider of France. Until the fifteenth century there appears to have been a strong prejudice among the lower orders against horsemen: their name was connected with oppressors and foreigners. Horses appear to have been comparatively little used for riding among the Anglo-Saxons until they were introduced by the Norman favourites of Edward the Confessor, in whose reign we read that the Anglo-Saxon soldiers in Herefordshire were defeated by the Welsh owing to their awkwardness on horseback, having been unadvisedly mounted by their Norman commander. The Anglo-Norman barons of the three following centuries, with their numerous household of knights and attendants who plundered and oppressed the peasantry and middle classes of society, kept alive the prejudice alluded to, and we trace it in several popular songs. In a song of the reign of Edward I (Political Songs, p. 240), we find the following lines:—

5276. Epist. ad. Philippens. iii, 19.

5283. Epist. Joan. iv, 16.

5289. Matth. xxv, 12; Psal. lxxx, 13. Et dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum, ibunt in adventionibus suis.

5305. the four doctours. The four doctors par excellence of the western church were, I believe, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome.

5354. Ecclesiast. i, 16.

5363. Epist. Jacob. ii, 10. Quicunque autem totam legem servaverit, offendat autem in uno, factus est omnium reus.

5412. as Caym was on Eve. See further on l. 5549. According to a very curious legend, which was popular in the middle ages, Cain was born during the period of penitence and fasting to which our first parents were condemned for their breach of obedience.

5415. Psa. vii, 15. Concepit dolorem et peperit iniquitatem.

5417. Whitaker's text inserts before this line—

5433. Gen. vi, 7. pænitet enim me fecisse eos.

5464. Ezech. xviii, 20.

5470. Whitaker's text adds here:—

5479. Matt. vii, 16.

5497. John xiv, 6.

5507. many a peire, sithen the pestilence. The continuator of William de Nangis, who gives a detailed account of the effects of the great pestilence on the Continent, mentions the hasty marriages which followed it, but he gives quite a different account of their fruitfulness. "Cessante autem dicta epidimia, pestilentia, et mortalitate, nupserunt viri qui remanserunt et mulieres ad invicem, conceperunt uxores residuæ per mundum ultra modum, nulla sterilis efficiebatur, sed prægnantes hinc inde videbantur, et plures geminos pariebant, et aliquæ tres infantes insimul vivos emittebant." The writer goes on to observe, "Sed proh dolor! ex hujus renovatione sæculi non est mundus propter hoc in melius commutatus. Nam homines fuerunt postea magis avari et tenaces, cum multo plura bona quam antea possiderent; magis etiam cupidi et per lites, brigas, et rixas, atque per placita, seipsos conturbantes.... Charitas etiam ab illo tempore refrigescere cæpit valde, et iniquitas abundavit cum ignorantiis et peccatis; nam pauci inveniebantur qui scirent aut vellent in domibus, villis, et castris informare pueros in grammaticalibus rudimentis."—Contin. G. de Nangis, in Dacherii Spicileg. iii, 110 (ed. 1723).

5515. do hem to Dunmowe. This is, I believe, the earliest allusion at present known to the custom of the flitch of bacon at Dunmow, which was evidently, at that time, a matter of general celebrity. In Chaucer, about half a century later, the Wife of Bath says of her two old husbands, and of the way in which she tyrannized over them,—

In a curious religious poem preserved in a manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, written about the year 1460, from which some extracts are printed in the "Reliquiæ Antiquæ," ii, 27-29, we have the following satirical allusion to this custom:—

One or two other allusions to this custom have been found in manuscripts of the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth century these allusions become more numerous.

5563. 1 Corinth. vii, 1.

5613. Margery perles. A margarite pearl, perle marguerite. The Latin name for a pearl (margarita) seems to be the origin of this expression.

5634. a love day | to lette with truthe. Love days (Dies amoris) were days fixed for settling differences by umpire, without having recourse to law or to violence. The ecclesiastics seem generally to have had the principal share in the management of these transactions, which throughout the Visions of Piers Ploughman appear to be censured as the means of hindering justice and of enriching the clergy. A little further on, Religion is blamed for being "a ledere of love-dayes." (l. 6219.) In Chaucer, it is said of the friar:—

5646. The quotation is made up from Job xxi, 7; and Jerem. xii, 2.

5651. Psal. lxxii, 12.

5659. Psal. x, 4. Quoniam quæ perfecisti, destruxerunt: justus autem quid fecit?

5739. Psal. cxxxi, 6.

5769. Isai. lviii, 7.

5778. Tob. iv, 9. Si multum tibi fuerit, abundanter tribue; si exiguum tibi fuerit, etiam exiguum libenter impertiri stude.

In what follows, Whitaker's text is in parts much more brief than the one now printed; there are also many transpositions, and other variations, which are not of sufficient importance to be pointed out more particularly.

5801. in a pryvee parlour. 5803. in a chambre with a chymenee. This is a curious illustration of contemporary manners. The hall was the apartment in which originally the lord of the household and the male portion of the family passed nearly all their time when at home, and where they lived in a manner in public. The chambers were only used for sleeping, and as places of retirement for the ladies, and had, at first, no fire-places (chymenees), which were added, in course of time, for their comfort. The parlour was an apartment introduced also at a comparatively late period, and was, as its name indicates, a place for private conferences or conversation. As society advanced in refinement, people sought to live less and less in public, and the heads of the household gradually deserted the hall, except on special occasions, and lived more in the parlour and in the "chambre with a chymenee." With the absence of the lord from the hall, its festive character and indiscriminate hospitality began to diminish; and the popular agitators declaimed against this as an unmistakeable sign of the debasement of the times.

5829. Ezech. xviii, 19.

5835. Galat. vi, 5.

5844. Pauli Epist. ad Rom. xii, 3.

5911. seven artz. In the scholastic system of the middle ages, the whole course of learning was divided into seven arts, which were, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy. They were included in the following memorial distich:—

5963. a baleys. See before, the note on l. 2819.

5990. Caton. Distich. lib. i, 26.

6009. Galat. vi, 10.

6022. Epist. ad Rom. xii, 19.

6037. The second Trin. Coll. MS. reads here—

6146. Matth. vii, 3.

6179. Matth. xv, 14; Luke vi, 39; Mark (?)

6186. mausede. An error of the press for mansede. See the Glossary.

6191. Offyn and Fynes. Ophni and Phinees. See 1 Samuel iv. (in the Vulgate called 1 Kings).

6199. Psal. xlix, 21.

6207. Isai. lvi, 10.

6217. The text of the Trin. Coll. MS. 2, differs very much from ours in this part of the poem. Instead of 6217-6277, we have the following lines:—

6223. an heepe of houndes. "Walter de Suffield, bishop of Norwich, bequeathed by will his pack of hounds to the king, in 1256. Blomefield's Norf. ii, 347. See Chaucer's Monke, Prol. v, 165. This was a common topic of satire. It occurs again fol. xxvii, a [l. 3321, of the present Edition]. See Chaucer's Testament of Love, page 492, col. ii, Urr. The Archdeacon of Richmond, on his visitation, comes to the priory of Bridlington in Yorkshire, in 1216, with ninety-seven horses, twenty dogs, and three hawks. Dugd. Mon. ii, 65." Warton.

6251. Psal. xix, 8.

6259. the abbot of Abyngdone. There was a very ancient and famous abbey at Abingdon in Berkshire. Geoffrey of Monmouth was abbot there. It was the house into which the monks, strictly so called, were first introduced in England, and is, therefore, very properly introduced as the representative of English monachism.

6266. Isai. xiv, 4, 5.

6289. Ecclesiasticus x, 10.

6291. Catonis Distich. iv, 4.

6327. Colos. iii, 1.

6353. mœchaberis. A mistake in the original MS. for necaberis, as it is rightly printed in Crowley's edition.

6372. John iii, 13.

6414. Matth. xxiii, 2. Super cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribæ et Pharisæi.

6440. Psal. xxxv, 8.

6476. Ecclesiastes ix, 1.

6504. Matth. x, 18. The quotation is not quite literal.

6528. For idiotæ irapiunt, read idiotæ vi rapiunt: the error was caused accidentally in the printing, and has escaped in the present edition.

6571. Matth. xx, 4.

6741. John iii, 3.

6755. Matth. vii, 1.

6764. Psal. l, 21.

6815. Isai. lv, 1.

6825. Mark xvi, 16.

6831. may no cherl chartre make. Such was the law of vileinage, then in existence. There is a curious story illustrative of the condition of the cherl or peasant, in the Descriptio Norfolciensium, in my Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, p. 94. The 'cherl,' vilein, or bondman, could not even be put apprentice without the licence of the lord of the soil. In the curious poem on the Constitution of Masonry (14th cent.) published by Mr. Halliwell, the master is particularly cautioned on this point:—

6859. Trojanus. 6869. Gregorie. The legend here alluded to is given briefly as follows, in the life of St. Gregory in the Golden Legend, fol. lxxxxvii,—

"In the tyme that Trayan themperour regned, and on a tyme as he wente toward a batayll out of Rome, it happed that in hys waye as he shold ryde a woman a wydowe came to hym wepyng and sayd: I praye thee, syre, that thou avenge the deth of one my sone, whyche innocently and wythout cause hath ben slayn. Themperour answerd: yf I come agayn fro the batayll hool and sounde, thenne I shall do justyce for the deth of thy sone. Thenne sayd the wydowe: Syre, and yf thou deye in the bataylle, who shall thenne avenge hys deth for me? And the wydowe sayd, is it not better that thou do to me justice, and have the meryte thereof of God, than another have it for thee? Then had Trayan pyté, and descended fro his horse, and dyde justyce in avengynge the deth of her sone. On a tyme saynt Gregory went by the marked of Rome whyche is called the marked of Trayan. And thenne he remembred of the justyce and other good dedes of Trayan, and how he had ben pyteous and debonayr, and was moche sorowfull that he had ben a paynem; and he tourned to the chyrche of saynt Peter waylyng for thorrour of the mescreaunce of Trayan. Thenne answerd a voys fro God, sayng: I have now herd thy prayer, and have spared Trayan fro the payne perpetuelly. By thys thus, as somme saye, the payne perpetuell due to Trayan as a mescreaunt was somme dele take awaye, but for all that was he not quyte fro the pryson of helle; for the sowle may well be in helle, and fele ther no payne, by the mercy of God."

6907. 1 John iii, 15.

6938. Luke xiv, 12.

6964. John viii, 34.

6981. Galat. vi, 2.

7015. Matth. vii, 3.

7063. Luke x, 40.

7072. Luke x, 42.

7113. Although our writer quotes the circumstance from Luke xviii, the words he gives are from Matth. xix, 21.

7113. In Whitaker's text the following passage is here inserted:—

7128. Matth. xvii, 20.

7131. Psal. xxxiii, 11.

7141. Psal. xlii, 1.

7191. James ii, 10.

7194. over-skipperis. Those who skipped over words in reading or chanting the service of the church. The following distich points out the classes of defaulters in this respect:—

A still more numerous list of such offenders is given in the following lines from MS. Lansdowne, 762, fol. 101, v^o:—

Tutivillus was the popular name of one of the fiends (see Towneley Mysteries, pp. 310, 319; Reliq. Antiq. p. 257). According to an old legend, a hermit walking out met one of the devils bearing a large sack, very full, under the load of which he seemed to labour. The hermit asked him what he carried in his sack. He answered that it was filled with the fragments of words which the clerks had skipped over or mutilated in the performance of the service, and that he was carrying them to hell to be deposited among the stores there.

7195. Psal. xlvi, 7, 8.

7264. Briddes I biheld. A similar sentiment is expressed in the following parallel passage of a modern poet:—

7342. Ecclesiasticus xi, 9.

7344. Instead of ll. 7344-7363, Whitaker's text has the following passage:—

7347. Genes. i, 31.

7363. Cato, Distich. i, 5.

It may be observed here, that Whitaker, in his note on this passage, has very much misunderstood Tyrwhitt (in Chaucer, Cant. T. 3227), in making him the authority for calling the author of the Disticha de Moribus an obscure French writer. Tyrwhitt says that the mode in which Chaucer spells his name (Caton) seems to show that the French translation was more read than the Latin original. The same observation would apply to the present poem: but I am very doubtful how far it is correct. The Distiches of Cato were translated into English, French, German, &c., and were extremely popular. The author of these Distiches, Dionysius Cato, is supposed to have lived under the Antonines, and has certainly no claim to the title of an obscure French writer.

7441-7642. Instead of these lines, Whitaker has the following:—

7453. Luke xii, 38.

7461. Heb. xii, 6.

7464. Psalm xxii, 4.

7470. makynges. 7483. make.—There is a curious analogy between the Greek and the Teutonic languages in the name given to the poet—the Greek ποιήτης (from ποιεῖν), the Anglo-Saxon scóp (from sceopan, to make or create), and the Middle-English maker, preserved in the later Scottish makkar (also applied to a poet), have all the same signification. In the Neo-Latin tongues a different, though somewhat analogous, word was used: the French and Anglo-Norman trouvère, and the Provençal trobador, signify a finder or inventor.

7484. Catonis Distich. iii, 5.

7500. 1 Cor. xiii, 13. Nunc autem manent fides, spes, charitas, tria hæc: major autem horum est charitas.

7528, &c. Aristotle, Ypocras, and Virgile.—These three names were the great representatives of ancient science and literature in the middle ages. Aristotle represented philosophy, in its most general sense; Virgil represented literature in general, and more particularly the ancient writers who formed the grammar course of scholastic learning, whether verse or prose; Ypocras, or Hippocrates, represented medicine. They are here introduced to illustrate the fact that men of science and learning, as well as warriors and rich men, experience the vicissitudes of fortune.

7534. Felice. Perhaps this name is only introduced for the sake of alliteration.

7536. Rosamounde. I suppose the reference is to "fair Rosamond."

7554. Luc. vi, 38.

7567. John iii, 8.

7572. John iii, 11.

7582. John iii, 8.

7600. thorugh caractes. It was the popular belief in the middle ages, that while the Jews were accusing the woman taken in adultery, Christ wrote with his staff on the ground the sins of the accusers, and that when they perceived this they dropped their accusation in confusion at finding that their own guilt was known. See this point curiously illustrated in Mr. Halliwell's Coventry Mysteries, pp. 220, 221. These are the characters alluded to in Piers Ploughman.

7624. Luke vi, 37.

7701. 1 Cor. iii, 19.

7709. Luke ii, 15.

7714. Matth. ii, 1.

7721. Luke ii, 7.

7779. Psalm xxxi, 1.

7795. Luke vi, 39. The ignorance and inefficiency of the parish priests appear to have become proverbial in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the latter century a canon of Lilleshul in Shropshire, named John Myrk, or Myrkes, composed an English poem, or rather metrical treatise, on their duties, which he commences by applying to them this same aphorism of our Saviour:—

It had previously been applied in the same manner to the parish priests by the author of a long French poem (apparently written in England in the fourteenth century) entitled Le Miroir de l'Ome (Speculum Hominis), as follows:—

The following picture of the corrupt manners of the parish priests at this time is extracted from a much longer and more minute censure in the same poem:—

7802. Psal. xv, 5. We might be led to suppose that this was the "neck verse" in the time of Piers Ploughman. In later times the text which was given to read to those who claimed the benefit of clergy is said to have been the beginning of Psal. lv, Miserere mei, &c.

7840. Eccl. v, 5.

7846. Trojanus. See the note on line 6859.

7854. Matth. xvi, 27. Filius enim hominis venturus est in gloria Patris sui cum angelis suis: et tunc reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus.

7915. his flessh is foul flessh. Yet in spite of the "foulness" of its flesh, the peacock was a very celebrated dish at table. For an account of the use made of the peacock in feasts, see Le Grand d'Aussy, Histoire de la Vie privée des Français, tom. i, pp. 299-301, and 361. In the Romance of Mahomet, 13th century, it is said of Dives—

7944. Avynet. In the 14th and 15th centuries, as any grammar was called a Donet, because the treatise of Donatus was the main foundation of them all, so, from Esop and Avienus from whom the materials were taken, any collection of fables was called an Avionet or an Esopet. The title of one of these collections in a MS. of the Bibl. du Roi at Paris is, Compilacio Ysopi alata cum Avionetto, cum quibusdam addicionibus et moralitatibus. (Robert, Fabl. Inéd. Essay, p. clxv.) Perhaps the reference in the present case is to the fable of the Peacock who complained of his voice, the 39th in the collection which M. Robert calls Ysopet, in the morality to which are the following lines:—

7961. Whitaker's text reads here:—

7961. Aristotle, the grete clerk. From the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries the influence of Aristotle's writings in the schools was all-powerful. It was considered almost an impiety to go against his authority. He was indeed "the great clerk."

7967. Sortes. I suppose this is an abbreviated form of the name Socrates. It occurs again in one of the poems printed among the Latin Poetry attributed to Walter Mapes (Camden Society's Publication), which has the following lines:—

7987. 1 Peter iv, 18.

8015. Psalm xxii, 4.

8073. a maister. This word was generally used in the scholastic ages in a restricted sense, to signify one who had taken his degrees in the schools—a master of arts.

8103. Luke x, 7.

8133-8137. These are the indications of different Psalms. Psalm li begins with the words, Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam. The thirty-first Psalm commences with the words, Beati quorum remissæ sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata. Beatus vir, is the beginning of Psalm i. The fifth verse of Psalm xxxi contains the words Dixi: Confitebor adversum me injustitiam meam Domino.

8141. Psalm xxxi, 6.

8145. Psalm l, 19.

8153. Isaiah v, 22.

8155. Whitaker's text has—

The second Trin. Coll. MS. has—

8167. 2 Corinth. xi, 24, 25, 27.

8173, 8180. 2 Cor. xi, 26.

8202. Mahoun. Mahoun was the middle-age name of Mohammed, and in the popular writers was often taken in the mere sense of an idol or pagan deity.

8204. justly wombe. MS. Trin. Coll. 2.

8225. in a frayel. Whitaker's text has in a forel, which he explains by "a wicker basket." The second Trin. Coll. MS. has also in a forell. Forel is the Low-Latin forellus, a bag, sack, or purse: a frayel (fraellum) was a little wicker basket, such as were used for carrying figs or grapes.

8273. Matth. v, 19.

8292. Psalm xiv, 1.

8368. 1 John iv, 18.

8416. Luke xix, 8.

8418. Luke xxi, 1-4.

8444. Surré. Syria.

8474. a mynstrall. The description of the minstrel given here is very curious. For a sketch of the character of this profession see Mr. Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages;" and for more enlarged details of the history of the craft the reader may consult the Introduction to Percy's Reliques, and Chappell's History of National Airs.

8518. a pardon with a peis of leed. The papal bulls, &c., had seals of lead, instead of wax.

8526. Marc. xvi, 17, 18.

8541. Acts iii, 6.

8554. Whitaker's text omits all that follows here to l. 8958 of our text, entering very abruptly upon the subject there treated. Some of the intervening matter had already been inserted in other places in Whitaker's text. See our notes on ll. 2846 and 3030.

8567. cart ... with breed fro Stratforde. Stratford-at-Bow is said to have been famous in old times for its numerous bakers, who supplied a great part of the metropolis. Stowe, in his Survey of London, p. 159 (who appears to have altered the text of Piers Ploughman to suit his own calculation, for all the manuscripts and printed editions I have collated give "twice twenty and ten"), observes, "And because I have here before spoken of the bread carts comming from Stratford at the Bow, ye shall understand that of olde time the bakers of breade at Stratford were allowed to bring dayly (except the Sabbaoth and principall feast) diverse long cartes laden with bread, the same being two ounces in the pennie wheate loafe heavier than the penny wheate loafe baked in the citie, the same to be solde in Cheape, three or foure carts standing there, betweene Gutherans lane and Fausters lane ende, one cart on Cornehill, by the conduit, and one other in Grasse streete. And I have reade that in the fourth yere of Edward the second, Richard Reffeham being maior, a baker named John of Stratforde, for making bread lesser than the assise, was with a fooles whoode on his head, and loaves of bread about his necke, drawne on a hurdle through the streets of this citie. Moreover in the 44. of Edward the third, John Chichester being maior of London, I read in the visions of Pierce Plowman, a booke so called, as followeth. There was a careful commune when no cart came to towne with baked bread from Stratford: tho gan beggers weepe, and workemen were agast, a little this will be thought long in the date of our Dirte, in a drie Averell a thousand and three hundred, twise thirtie and ten, &c. I reade also in the 20. of Henrie the eight, Sir James Spencer being maior, six bakers of Stratford were merced in the Guildhall of London, for baking under the size appoynted. These bakers of Stratford left serving of this citie, I know not uppon what occasion, about 30 yeares since."

8572. a drye Aprill. This is without doubt the dry season placed by Fabyan in the year 1351, which, as he describes it, began with the month of April. The difference of the date arises probably from a different system of computation. Fabian says, "In the sommer of this xxvii yeare, it was so drie that it was many yeres after called the drie sommer. For from the latter ende of March, till the latter ende of Julye, fell lytle rayne or none, by reason whereof manye inconveniences ensued."

8576. Whan Chichestre was maire. According to Fabyan, John Chichester was mayor only once, in 1368, 1369, which was the period of the "thirde mortalytie." The other authorities seem to agree in giving this as the year of Chichester's mayoralty. He may perhaps have been mayor more than once. See Introduction.

8645. Galat. i, 10.

8685. Psalm x, 7.

8707, 8708. The two persons mentioned here (the shoemaker of Southwark and dame Emma of Shoreditch) were probably eminent sorcerers and fortune-tellers of the time.

8769-8778. To understand fully this passage, it must be borne in mind that the corn lands were not so universally hedged as at present, and that the portions belonging to different persons were separated only by a narrow furrow, as is still the case in some of the uninclosed lands in Cambridgeshire.

8812. Brugges. Bruges was the great mart of continental commerce during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.

8813. Pruce-lond—Prussia, which was then the farthest country in the interior of Europe with which a regular trade was carried on by the English merchants.

8827. Matth. vi, 21.

8858. Luke vi, 25.

8879. Psalm ci, 7.

8891. a lady of sorwe. The old printed edition has a laye of sorow.

8900. Whitaker has no division here, but continues the previous passus, and omits many lines and has many variations in what follows.

8903. I slepe therinne o nyghtes. This passage is curious, because at the time the poem was written, it was the custom for all classes of society to go to bed quite naked, a practice which is said to have been not entirely laid aside in the sixteenth century. We see constant proofs of this practice in the illuminations of old manuscripts. The following memorial lines are written in the margin of a MS. of the thirteenth century:—

In the Roman de la Violette, the old nurse expresses her astonishment that her young mistress should retain her chemise when she goes to bed:—

The lady explains her conduct by stating that she has a mark on the breast which she had promised that no one should ever see.

8906. Luke xiv, 20.

8950. noon heraud ne harpour. Robes and other garments were among the most usual gifts bestowed upon minstrels and heralds by the princes and great barons. See before, ll. 8480, 8481.

8970. Matth. vi, 25, 26.

8999. John xiv, 13; xv, 16. Matth. iv, 4.

9037. Psalm cxliv, 16.

9039. fourty wynter. During the forty years that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they did not apply themselves to agriculture.

9049. Sevene slepe. The legend of the seven sleepers was remarkably popular during the middle ages.

9101. Psalm xxxi. 1.

9176. Psalm lxxv, 6.

9178. Psalm lxxii, 20. Whitaker's Passus sextus de Dowel ends with this quotation.

9317. Both in the Vision of Piers Ploughman, and in the Creed, there are frequent expressions of indignation at the extravagant expenditure in painting the windows of the abbeys and churches. It must not be forgotten that a little later the same feeling as that exhibited in these satires led to the destruction of many of the noblest monuments of medieval art.

9344. Mat. xix, 23, 24.

9347. Apocal. xiv, 13.

9352. Matth. v, 3.

9452. Compare the defence of poverty in Chaucer (Cant. T. 6774):—

The definition given in Piers Ploughman is taken from the Dialogues of Secundus, where it is thus expressed:—"Quid est paupertas? Odibile bonum, sanitatis mater, curarum remotio, absque sollicitudine semita, sapientiæ reparatrix, negotium sine damno, intractabilis substantia, possessio absque calumnia, incerta fortuna, sine sollicitudine felicitas." (MS. Reg. 9 A xiv, fol. 140 v^o.) See also Roger de Hoveden, p. 816, and Vincent de Beauvais, Spec. Hist. lib. x, c. 71.

9517. the paas of Aultone. Whitaker has Haultoun, and says that this pass is Halton "in Cheshire, formerly infamous to a proverb as a haunt of robbers."

9529. Cantabit, etc. The author has modified, or the scribes have corrupted, the well-known line of Juvenal,

9665. These definitions will be found in Isidore, Etymol. lib. xl, c. 1, and Different, lib. ii, c. 29. They are repeated by Alcuin, De Anim. Rat. N. x, p. 149, Anima est, dum vivificat; dum contemplatur, spiritus est; dum sentit, sensus est; dum sapit, animus est; dum intelligit, mens est; dum discernit, ratio est; dum consentit, voluntas est; dum recordatur, memoria est.

9708. Prov. xxv, 27.

9740. Epist. ad Rom. xii, 3.

9751. the seven synnes. The seven deadly sins were—pride, anger, envy, sloth, covetousness, gluttony, and lechery. "Now ben they cleped chiefetaines, for as moche as they be chiefe, and of hem springen alle other sinnes. The rote of thise sinnes than is pride, the general rote of alle harmes. For of this rote springen certain braunches: as, ire, envie, accidie or slouthe, avarice or coveitise, (to commun understonding) glotonie, and lecherie: and eche of thise chief sinnes hath his braunches and his twigges." Chaucer, Persones Tale, p. 40.

9766. Psal. xcvi, 7; iv, 3.

9828. in Latyn. The monks had collections of comparisons, similitudes, proverbs, &c., to be introduced in their sermons, and even when preaching in English they generally quoted them in Latin. This I suppose to be the meaning of the expression here.

9918. Matth. xviii, 3.

9934. 1 Corinth. xiii, 4.

9946. 1 Corinth, xiii, 12.

9957. a tunicle of Tarse. Tarse was the name given to a kind of silk, said to have been brought from a country of that name on the borders of Cathai, or China. Chaucer (Cant. T. l. 2162), describing "the king of Inde," says—

Ducange (v. Tarsicus) quotes a visitation of the treasury of St. Paul's, London, in 1295, where there is mention of Tunica et dalmatica de panno Indico Tarsico Besantato de auro, and of a Casula de panno Tarsico.

10004. Psal. vi, 7.

10009. Psal. l, 19.

10062. Matth. vi, 16.

10069. Edmond and Edward. St. Edmund the martyr, king of East Anglia, and king Edward the Confessor.

10124. Psal. iv, 9.

10159. Antony and Egidie. Whitaker has Antonie and Ersenie. St. Antony is well known as the father and patron of monks, and for the persecutions he underwent from the devil. St. Giles, or Egidius, is said to have been a Greek, who came to France about the end of the seventh century, and established himself in a hermitage near the mouth of the Rhone, and afterwards in the neighbourhood of Nismes. Arsenius was a noble Roman who, at the end of the fourth century, retired to Egypt to live the life of an anchoret in the desert.

10174. after an hynde cride. The monkish biographer of St. Giles relates, that he was for some time nourished with the milk of a hind in the forest, and that a certain prince discovered his retreat while hunting in his woods, by pursuing the hind till it took shelter in St. Giles's hermitage.

10183. Hadde a bird. This incident is not found in the common lives of St. Antony.

10187. Poul. Paul was a Grecian hermit, who lived in the tenth century in the wilderness of Mount Latrus, and became the founder of one of the monastic establishments there. He was famous for the rigorous severity of his life.

10203. Marie Maudeleyne. By Mary Magdalen here is meant probably St. Mary the Egyptian, who lived in the fifth century, and who, according to the legend, after having spent her youth in unbridled debauchery, repented in her twenty-ninth year, and lived during the remainder of her life (forty-seven years) in the wilderness beyond the Jordan, without seeing one human being during that time, and sustained only by the precarious food which she found in the desert.

10239. Whitaker's text here adds a passage relating to Tobias:—

Throughout this part of the poem, Whitaker's text differs very much in words and phraseology from the one now printed, but it would take up too much space to point out all these variations.

10247. Job vi, 5.

10270. 2 Corinth, ix, 9.

10303. These sentences appear to be quotations from the fathers of the Latin Church.

10322. lussheburwes. A foreign coin, much adulterated, common in England in the middle of the fourteenth century. Chaucer (C. T. 15445) uses the word in a very expressive passage:—

Among the foreign money, mostly of a base quality, which came into this country in the fourteenth century, the coinage of the counts of Luxemburg, or, as it was then called, Lusenburg (hence called lussheburwes and lusscheburghes), seems to have been the most abundant, and to have given most trouble. These coins were the subject of legislation in 1346, 1347, 1348, and 1351; so that the grievance must have been at its greatest height at the period to which the poem of Piers Ploughman especially belongs. Many of these coins are preserved, and found in the cabinets of collectors; they are in general very much like the contemporary English coinage, and might easily be taken for it, but the metal is very base.

10368. Grammer, the ground of al. In the scholastic learning of the middle ages, grammar was considered as the first of the seven sciences, and the foundation-stone of all the rest. See my Essay on Anglo-Saxon Literature, introductory to vol. i. of the Biographia Britannica Literaria, p. 72. The importance of grammar is thus stated in the Image du Monde of Gautier de Metz (thirteenth century):—

10398. Corpus Christi feeste. Corpus Christi day was a high festival of the Church of Rome, held annually on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, in memory, as was said, of the miraculous confirmation of transubstantiation under pope Urban IV.

10418. This Makometh. This account of Mohammed was the one most popularly current in the middle ages. According to Hildebert, who wrote a life of the pseudo-prophet in Latin verse in the twelfth century, Mohammed was a Christian, skilled in magical arts, who, on the death of the patriarch of Jerusalem, aspired to succeed him:—

His intrigues being discovered, the emperor drives him away, and in revenge he goes and founds a new sect. The story of the pigeon (which is not in Hildebert) is found in Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Hist. lib. xxiii, c. 40. This story is said to be founded in truth. Neither of them are found in the Roman de Mahomet (by Alexander du Pont), written in the thirteenth century, and edited by MM. Reinaud and Michel, Paris, 1831, 8vo, a work which contains much information concerning the Christian notions relative to Mohammed in the middle ages.

10478. John xvi, 24.

10481, 10486. Matth. v, 13.

10499. Ellevene holy men. The eleven apostles who remained after the apostasy of Judas and the crucifixion of their Lord.

10550. Ne fesauntz y-bake. The pheasant was formerly held in the same honour as the peacock (see before the note on l. 7915), and was served at table in the same manner. It was considered one of the most precious dishes. See Le Grand d'Aussy, Hist. de la Vie privée des François, ii, 19. The Miroir de l'Ome (MS. in the possession of Mr. Russell Smith) says (punning) of the luxurious prelates of the fourteenth century,—

10553. Matth. xxii, 4.

10581. Mark xvi, 15.

10585. So manye prelates. 10699. that huppe aboute in Engelond. The pope appointed many titular bishops of foreign sees in which, from the nature of circumstances, they could not possibly reside, and who therefore were a burthen upon the church. Some of these prelates appear to have resorted to England, and to have exercised the episcopal functions, consecrating churches, &c. The church of Elsfield, in Oxfordshire, was consecrated by a foreign bishop. (See Kennett's Parochial Antiquities.)

10593. John x, 11.

10599. Matth. xx, 4, 7.

10606. Matth. vii, 7.

10617. Galat. vi, 14.

10632. That roode thei honoure. A cross was the common mark on the reverse of our English money at this period, and for a long time previous to it. The point of satirical wit in this passage of Piers Ploughman appears to be taken from the old Latin rhymes of the beginning of the thirteenth century. See the curious poem De Cruce Denarii, in Walter Mapes, p. 223. Another poem in the same volume (p. 38) speaks thus of the court of Rome:—

10637. Shul torne as templers dide. The suppression of the order of the Templars was at this time fresh in people's memories. It was the general belief, and not without some foundation, that the Templars had entirely degenerated from their original sanctity and faithfulness, and that before the dissolution of the order they were addicted to degrading vices and superstitions; and they were accused of sacrificing everything else to their grasping covetousness.

10659. Whan Constantyn. The Christian church began first to be endowed with wealth and power under the emperor Constantine the Great.

10649. Luke i, 52.

10695-10699. Instead of these lines, Whitaker's text has the following:—

In the remainder of this passus, Whitaker's text differs much from the one I have printed, but in such a manner that to give here the variations it would be necessary to reprint the whole. In the remainder of the poem, the variations are not great or important, being only such as we always find in different copies of poems which enjoyed considerable popularity.

10716. Isai. iii, 7.

10721. Malach. iii, 10.

10733. Luke x, 27. Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex omni mente tua, et proximum tuum sicut teipsum.

10755. John xi, 43.

10787. litlum and litlum, by little and little, gradually. It is the pure Anglo-Saxon phrase. In the Anglo-Saxon version of Genesis xl, 10, the Latin paulatim is rendered by lytlum and lytlum.

10844. Psal. xxxvi, 24.

10891. Matth. xii, 32.

11000. Luke i, 38.

11023. Matth. ix, 12. Mark ii, 17. Luke v, 31.

11033. Matth. xxvi, 37.

11044. Matth. xi, 18.

11075. Matth. xxi, 13.

11121. Matth. xviii, 7.

11238. Matth. xxvii, 46, and Mark xv, 34.

11300. Rom. iv, 13.

11322. John i, 29 and 36.

11396. Matth. xx, 40.

11518, 11520. lo! here silver ... two pens. It must be remembered that at this period the mass of the coinage, including pence, halfpence, and farthings, was of silver; copper came into use for the smaller coinage at a later period. Two pence of Edward III would be worth about two shillings of our modern money.

11670. John xii, 32.

11708. tu fabricator omnium. This was one of the hymns of the catholic church.

11866. Luke xiii, 27.

11883. 1 Corinth. xiii, 1.

11894. Matth. vii, 21.

11998. Thre thynges. This proverb is frequently quoted by the satirical and facetious writers of the middle ages. Thus in Chaucer (C. T. 5860):—

In the poem entitled Golias de Conjuge non ducenda, in Walter Mapes, p. 83, the proverb is alluded to in the following words:—

There was an old French proverbial distich to the same effect,—

12040. 2 Corinth. xii, 9.

12097. to be dubbed. These and the following lines contain a continued allusion to the ceremonies of knighthood and tournaments.

12106. Psal. cxvii, 26.

12211. Matth. xxvii, 54.

12232, 12244. Longeus ... this blynde bacheler. This alludes to one of the many legends which the monks engrafted upon the scripture history. Longeus is said to have been the name of the soldier who pierced the side of Christ with his spear; and it is pretended that he was previously blind from his birth, but that the blood of the Saviour ran down his spear, and a drop of it touching his eye, he was instantly restored to sight, by which miracle he was converted. See, in illustration of this subject, Halliwell's Coventry Mysteries, p. 334; The Towneley Mysteries, p. 321; Jubinal, Mystères inédits du quinzième Siècle, tom. ii, pp. 254-257; &c.

12319, 12418, 12420. Mercy and Truthe, ... Pees ... Rightwisnesse. Lydgate seems to have had this passage in his mind, when he described the four sisters in the following lines at the commencement of one of his poems (MS. Harl. 2255, fol. 21):—

12361. a tale of Waltrot. This name, like Wade in Chaucer, appears to have been that of a hero of romances and tales, or a personage belonging to the popular superstitions. Perhaps it may be connected with the old German Waltschrat (satyrus, pilosus). See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 270.

12438. Psal. xxix, 6.

12566. Matth. xiv, 28.

12599. a spirit speketh to helle. The picture of the "Harrowing of Hell," which here fol, bears a striking resemblance to the analogous scene in the old Mysteries, particularly in that edited by Mr. Halliwell under this title, 8vo, 1840. Compare the play on the same subject in the Towneley Mysteries, p. 244.

12601. Psal. xxiii, 7, 9.

12645, 12669, 12676. sevene hundred wynter ... thritty wynter ... two and thritty wynter. Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers always counted duration of time by winters and nights; for so many years, they said so many winters, and so many nights for so many days. This form continued long in popular usage, and still remains in our words fortnight and se'nnight.

12663. Gobelyn. Goblin is a name still applied to a devil. It belongs properly to a being of the old Teutonic popular mythology, a hob-goblin, the "lubber-fiend" of the poet, and seems to be identical with the German kobold. (See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 286.) Gobelin occurs as the name of one of the shepherds in the Mystery of the Nativity, printed by M. Jubinal in his Mystères inédits, vol. ii, p. 71. It occurs as the name of a devil in a song of the commencement of the fourteenth century, Political Songs, p. 238:—

12679. to warne Pilates wif. This is an allusion to a popular legend prevalent at this time that the devil wished to hinder Christ's crucifixion, and that he appeared to Pilate's wife in a dream, and caused her to beseech her husband not to condemn the Saviour. It was founded on the passage in Matthew xxvii, 19. Sedente autem illo pro tribunali, misit ad eum uxor ejus, dicens: Nihil tibi et justo illi: multa enim passa sum hodie per visum propter eum. The most complete illustration of the passage of Piers Ploughman will be found in Halliwell's Coventry Mysteries, p. 308, "Pilate's Wife's Dream."

12691. And now I se wher a soule | Cometh hiderward seillynge, | With glorie, &c. With this beautiful passage may be compared a very similar one in the Samson Agonistes of Milton:—

12753. y-lik a lusard. In the illuminations of manuscripts representing the scene of the temptation, the serpent is often figured with legs like a lizard or crocodile, and a human face.

12759. Matth. v, 38.

12781. Matth. v, 17.

12801. thorugh a tree. Some of the medieval legends go still farther, and pretended that the tree from which the wood of the cross was made was descended directly from a plant from the tree in Paradise of which Adam and Eve were tempted to eat the fruit.

12805. Psal. vii, 16.

12840. Psal. l, 6.

12876. 2 Corinth. xii, 4.

12886. Psal. cxlii, 2.

12896. Astroth. This name, as given to one of the devils, occurs in a curious list of actors in the Miracle Play of St. Martin, given by M. Jubinal, in the preface to his Mystères inédits, vol. ii, p. ix. It is similarly used in the Miracle Play of the Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, Jubinal, ib. vol. i, p. 69. In one of the Towneley Mysteries (p. 246), this name is likewise given to one of the devils:—

12937. Psal. lxxxiv, 11.

12943. Psal. cxxxii, 1.

13222. 1 Sam. xviii, 7.

13274. Luke xxiv, 46.

13317. John xx, 29.

13375. Veni creator spiritus. The first line of the hymn at vespers, on the feast of Pentecost.

13412. 1 Corinth. xii, 4.

13550. Cato, Distich. 14, lib. ii:—

13789. I knew nevere cardynal. The contributions levied upon the clergy for the support of the pope's messengers and agents was a frequent subject of complaint in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

13807. At Avynone among the Jewes. In the middle ages there was a large congregation of Jews at Avignon, as in most of the principal cities in the south of France. In the civil dissensions which disturbed Italy during this century, the pope was frequently obliged to take shelter at Avignon and other places within the French territory.

13825. Matth. v, 45.

13855. Rom. xii, 19; Hebr. x, 30.

14142. Kynde cessede. The lines which follow contain an allusion to the dissipation of manners which followed the pestilence.

14191, 14196. Westmynstre Halle ... the Arches. The law courts have been held at Westminster from the earliest Anglo-Norman times, it being the king's chief palace. The court of the arches was a very ancient consistory court of the archbishop of Canterbury, held at Bow church in London, which was called St. Mary de Arcubus or St. Mary le Bow, from the circumstance of its having been built on arches.

14211. leet daggen hise clothes. An account of the mode in which the rich fashionable robes of the dandies of the fourteenth century were dagged, or cut in slits at the edges and borders, will be found in any work on costume: it is frequently represented in the contemporary illuminations in manuscripts. Chaucer, in the "Persones Tale," when treating of pride and of the "superfluitee of clothing," speaks of "the costlewe furring in hir gounes, so moche pounsoning of chesel to maken holes, so moche dagging of sheres," &c. And again, "if so be that they wolden yeve swiche pounsoned and dagged clothing to the povre peple, it is not convenient to were for hir estate," &c. In the Alliterative Poem on the Deposition of Richard II (printed for the Camden Society), p. 21, the clergy is blamed for not preaching against the new fashions in dress:—

Whitaker gives the following singular explanation of this passage:—"Let dagge hus clothes, probably, let them fall to the ground, or divested himself of them; for warriors are 'succinct' for battle as well as 'for speed!'"

14269. A glazene howve. I suppose this means that, in return for his gold, Physic gave him a hood of glass, i. e. a very frail protection for his person.

14367. of the Marche of Walys. Whitaker's text reads, of the Marche of Yrelonde. The clergy of the Welsh border appear, from allusions in other works, to have been proverbial for their ignorance and irregularity of life.

14438. Psal. cxlvi, 4.

14444. wage menne to werre. This is a curious account of the composition of an army in the fourteenth century.

14482. Exod. xx, 17.

14511. suffre the dede in dette, i. e., The friars persuade people to leave to them, under pretence of saving their souls, the property which was due to their creditors, and thus, after their death, their debts remain unpaid.

14615, 14617. this lymytour ... he salvede so oure wommen. The whole of this passage, taken with what precedes, is an amusing satire upon the limitour. Compare the description of the limitour given by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales, ll. 208-271, who alludes to his kindness for the women. The limitour was a friar licensed to visit and beg within certain limits. His pertinacity and inquisitiveness in visiting, alluded to in the name given him in Piers Ploughman (Sir Penetrans-domos), is admirably satirized by Chaucer, in the opening of the "Wif of Bathes Tale:"—

———

NOTES TO THE CREED.

65. a Minoure. These were the Gray or Franciscan Friars, founded at the beginning of the thirteenth century by St. Francis of Assise. They are supposed to have come to England in 1224, when they settled, first at Canterbury, and afterwards at London.

75. a Carm. 95. Maries men. The Carmelites, or White Friars, pretended to be of great antiquity, and were originally established at Mount Carmel, from whence they were driven by the Saracens about the year 1238. They were brought into England in 1244, and settled first at Alnwick in Northumberland, and at Ailesford in Kent.

About the date (or a little before) of our poem, the Carmelites appear to have been very active in asserting in a boasting manner the superiority of their order over the others. An anecdote told by Fuller (History of Cambridge, p. 113), under the year 1371, affords a curious illustration. "John Stokes, a Dominican, born at Sudbury, in Suffolk, but studying in Cambridge, as champion of his order, fell foul on the Carmelites, chiefly for calling themselves 'The brothers of the Blessed Virgin,' and then by consequence all knew whose uncle they pretend themselves. He put them to prove their pedigree by Scripture, how the kindred came in. In brief, Bale saith, 'he left red notes in the white coats of the Carmelites,' he so belaboured them with his lashing language. But John Hornby a Carmelite (born at Boston in Lincolnshire) undertook him, called by Bale Cornutus, by others Hornet-bee, so stinging his stile. He proved the brothership of his order to the Virgin Mary by visions, allowed true by the infallible popes, so that no good Christian durst deny it."

130. Freres of the Pye. The Fratres de Pica, or Friars of the Pye, are said to have received their name from the circumstance of their wearing their outer garment black and white like a magpie. Very little is known of their history. They are said to have had but one house in England.

143. Robartes men. See before the notes on the Vision, ll. 88 and ll. 3410.

155. miracles of mydwyves. The monks had many relics and superstitious practices to preserve and aid women in childbirth. One of the commissioners for the suppression of the monasteries mentions among the relics of a house he had visited, "Mare Magdalens girdell, and yt is wrappyde and coveride with white, sent also with gret reverence to women traveling:" he had previously spoken of "oure Lades gyrdell of Bruton, rede silke, wiche is a solemne reliquie sent to women travelyng wiche shall not miscarie in partu." (MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 249.) See the account of a gem, which had a similar virtue, in Matthew Paris's History of the Abbots of St. Albans.

305. the Prechoures. The Black Friars, or Dominicans, were founded by St. Dominic, a Spanish monk of the end of the eleventh century. They were called Friars Preachers, because their chief duty was to preach and convert heretics. They came into England in 1221, and had their first houses in Oxford.

327. posternes in privité. These private posterns are frequently alluded to in the reports of the Commissioners for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. One of them, speaking of the abbey of Langden, says, "Wheras immediatly descendying fro my horse, I sent Bartlett your servant, with all my servantes to circumcept the abbay and surely to kepe all bake dorres and startyng hoilles, and I myself went alone to the abbottes logeying joyning upon the feldes and wode, evyn lyke a cony clapper full of startyng hoilles." (MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 127.) Another commissioner (MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 35), in a letter concerning the monks of the Charter-house in London, says, "These charterhowse monkes wolde be callyde solytary, but to the cloyster dore ther be above xxiiij. keys in the handes of xxiiij. persons, and hit is lyke my letters, unprofytable tayles and tydinges and sumtyme perverse concell commythe and goythe by reason therof. Allso to the buttrey dore ther be xij. sundrye keys in xij. [mens] handes wherin symythe to be small husbandrye."

351. merkes of merchauntes. Their ciphers or badges painted in the windows. For examples, see the note in Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. ii, p. 98, last edition.

481. euelles. Perhaps for evel-les, i. e. without evil.

534. the Austyns. The Austin Friars, or Friars Eremites of the order of St. Augustine, came into England about the year 1250. Before the end of the fourteenth century they possessed a great number of houses in this island.

566. the foure ordres. The four principal orders of Mendicant Friars. See note on the Vision, l. 116.

721. harkne at Herdforthe. This appears to be an allusion to some event which had recently occurred among the Franciscans at Hertford, or at Hereford: if the latter, perhaps they had been active in the persecution of Walter Brut. See below, l. 1309.

745. than ther lefte in Lucifere. Than there existed in Lucifer, before his fall. See before, the note on l. 681 of the Vision.

771. couuen. Probably an error of the old printed edition for connen.

869. lath. Perhaps an error of the printer of the first edition for lay.

911. Matth. vii, 15.

913. werwolves. People who had the power of turning themselves into, or were turned into, wolves. This fearful superstition, which is very ancient, was extremely prevalent in the middle ages. In French they were called Loup-garous. The history of a personage of this kind forms the subject of the Lai de Bisclaveret, by Marie de France. Sir Frederick Madden has published a very remarkable Early-English metrical romance on the subject of "William and the Werwolf." See on this superstition Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, pp. 620-622.

954. Golias. There is perhaps here an allusion to the famous satire on the Monkish orders entitled Apocalypsis Goliæ, printed among the poems of Walter Mapes.

967. the kynrede of Caym. In the popular belief of the middle ages, hob-goblins and evil spirits (which haunted the wilds and the waters) literally, and bad men figuratively, were represented as being descended from the first murderer, Cain. In Old-English poetry, Caymes kyn is a common epithet for very wicked people. In the Anglo-Saxon romance of Beowulf, the Grendel is said to be of "Cain's kin."

1051. wytnes on Wyclif. In the persecutions to which Wycliffe was subjected for his opinions in 1382, his most violent opponents were the Mendicants. He died in 1384, quietly at his living of Lutterworth.

1189. a lymytoure. See before, the note on l. 14615 of the Vision.

1178. stumlen in tales. An allusion to the idle and superstitious tales with which the monks filled their sermons, in place of simple and sound doctrine.

1309. Water Brut. Walter Brut (or Bright) was a native of Herefordshire, and was prosecuted by the Bishop of Hereford for heresy in 1393. A long account of his defence will be found in Foxe's Acts and Monuments.

1401. Hildegare. I suppose this refers to St. Hildegardis, a nun who flourished in the middle of the twelfth century, and who was celebrated among the Roman Catholics as a prophetess. Her prophecies are not uncommon in manuscripts, and they have been printed. Those which relate to the future corruptions in the monkish orders are given in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, book vi, and in other works.

GLOSSARY.

[The figures in the following Glossary refer to the page of the text. Words preceded by a †, occur only in the Creed. A.S. and A.N. distinguish the two different languages of which our own is composed, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman.]

a, prefixed to verbs of Anglo-Saxon origin, has sometimes a negative, sometimes an intensative power: before nouns and adjectives it represents on and at, as, a-brood, a-fore (æt-foran), a-rowe (i. e. on a row), a-loft (i. e. on high), &c. In words of Anglo-Norman origin, it answers to the prepositions, a, ab, ad, of the original Latin words

a (A.N.) 355, ah! (an interjection)

abidynge (A.S.) 413, patient

abiggen (A.S.) 35, 127, abien, 58, abugge, 122, abye, 164, abyen, 393, to make amends for, to atone for. pret. s. aboughte, 168, 190, 231, 268. part. past, abought, 392

abite (A.S.) 331, to bite, nip

a-blende (A.S.) 377, a-blynden, to blinde, dazzle. pret. s. a-blente, 388

abosten (A.N.) 126, to assault

abouten, aboute (A.S.) about

a-brood (A.S.) abroad

ac (A.S.) but, and

a-cale (A.S.) 393, cold. It occurs in the Romance of the Seven Sages (Weber, p. 59):

accidie (A.N.) 99, sloth, a fit of slothfulness

acombren (A.N.) to embarrass, bring into trouble

acorden (A.N.) to agree, accord

acorse, acursen (A.S.) 375, to curse. acorsed, 375, accursed

acoupen (A.N.) 272, to blame, accuse. (for acoulpen)

a-drad (A.S.) 397, afraid

a-drenchen (A.S.) 198, to drown

afaiten, 291, affaiten 81, 119, (A.N.) to tame

a-feren (A.S.) 395, 435, to frighten, drive away. a-fered, 376, afraid, terrified

affraynen (A.S.) 347, to ask, question, interrogate

afore (A.S.) before

aforthe (A.S.) 129, to afford

afrounte (A.N.) to encounter, attack, accost rudely. pret. s. afrounted, 425

a-fyngred (A.S.) 133, 176, 283, 403, a-hungered, hungry

a-furst (A.S.) 176, 283, a-thirst, thirsty. The two forms, a-fyngred and a-furst, appear to be characteristic of the dialect of the counties which lay on the Welsh border. They occur once or twice in MS. Harl. 2253, which, in my Specimens of Lyric Poetry, I have shown to have been written in Herefordshire. They also occur in several other manuscripts which may probably be traced to that part of England. In the Romance of Horn, in the MS. just mentioned, we have the lines:—

i. e. the beggars are thirsty. Whitaker gives a very remarkable translation of a-furst and a-fyngred, i. e. frost-bitten, and with aching fingers. Ritson has no less inaccurately explained a-furste in the Romance of Horn, by at first: the Cambridge MS. of this Romance, earlier and better than the MS. Harl., reads:—

ayein (A.S.) again, in return for. ayeins, against, towards

a-gulte (A.S.) 273, 313, 318, 365, to fail in duty towards any one, offend, sin against

aiels (A.N.) 314, forefathers

†aisliche (A.S.) 471, fearfully. The Anglo-Saxon egeslice

aken (A.S.) to ache. pret. pl. oke, 359

al (A.S.) all. pl. alle, gen. pl. alre, aller. oure aller fader, 342, the father of us all. your aller heed, 424, head of you all

a-leggen (A.N.) 207, to allege

a-liry (A.S.) 124, across, cross-legged

alkenamye (A.N.) 186, alchemy

allowen (A.N.) 294, to allow, approve

a-loft (A.S.) 378, on high

almarie (A.N.) 288, a cupboard

almesse (A.S.) alms

a-lough, a-logh (A.S.) 241, 242, below

†aloute (A.S.) 495, to salute

als (A.S.) also

a-maistren, a-maistryen (A.N.) to overcome, be master of

amenden (A.N.) to make amends for

amercy (A.N.) to amerce

amortisen (A.N.) 314, to amortize, to give property in mortmain

ampulle (A.N.) 109, a small vessel containing holy water or oil

an (A.S.) 2, on

ancres (A.S.) 3, 308, anachorites, monks who live in solitude. It is applied to nuns, in the early English Rule of Nuns. See Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. ii, p. 1

and (A.S.) the conjunction, is frequently used in the sense of if. and men crye, 362, if men cry

aniente (A.N.) 365, to destroy, annihilate, reduce to nothing

anoon (A.S.) anon

anoy (A.N.) annoyance

†anuel (A.N.) 475, an annuity: a yearly salary paid to a priest for keeping an anniversary

apayen (A.N.) 123, to satisfy, to please

apeiren (A.N.) 80, 111, 125, 127, 141, to lessen, diminish, impair

apertli (A.N.) openly

appenden, apenden (A.N.) 17, to belong, appertain to

apposen (A.N.) 18, 43, 252, 318, to raise questions, to object

arate (A.S.) 208, 283, to rate, scold, correct (the A.S. aretan?)

arayen (A.N.) to array

arere (A.N.) backwards, back

arwe, pl. arewes (A.S.) 438, an arrow

arst (A.S.) 287, first, erst

ascapen (A.N.) to escape

askes (A.S.) ashes

asondry (A.S.) 358, separated

aspare (A.N.) 303, to spare

aspien (A.N.) to espy. part. s. aspied, 350

assaien, assaie (A.N.) 334, 336, to assay, try

assetz (A.N.) 362, assets sufficient to pay the debts or legacies of a testator. A law term

assoille (A.N.) 57, 188, 407, 419, to assoil, absolve, to explain or solve

astronomien (Lat.) an astronomer

a-thynken (A.S.) 374, to repent

attachen (A.N.) 40, to attach, indict

atte (A.S.) at the. atte nale, 124, at the ale, a corruption of the Saxon, æt þan ale

attre (A.S.) 243, poison, venom

a-tweyne (A.S.) in two

aught (A.S.) something, anything, everything

auncer (A.N.) 90, a small vessel or cup. In Low-Latin it is called anceria. See Ducange, s. v., who quotes from a charter of the date of 1320 the words, Una cum cuppis, anceriis, tonis, et aliis utensilibus

auntren (A.N.) to venture, adventure, pret. s. auntrede, 382, auntred, 435

auter, pl. auteres (A.N.) altar

avarouser (A.N.) more avaricious

aventrous (A.N.) 370, adventurers, adventurous persons

aventure (A.N.) an adventure, an accident. an aventure, 47, by adventure, by chance

avoutrye (A.N.) adultery

avowen (A.N.) to make a vow

avowes (A.N.) vows, promises

awaiten (A.N.) 346, to watch, wait. a-wayte, 193, to see or discover by watching

awaken (A.S.) to awake. pret. s. awaked, 396, awakned, 424, a-wook, 147, part. past, awaked, 425

awreken (A.S.) to avenge, revenge. part. pas. a-wroke, 129

†awyrien (A.S.) 490, to curse, execrate

axen (A.S.) 71, to ask. pret. s. asked, 81

ay (A.S.) ever, always

bakstere (A.S.) 14, 47, a woman who bakes

bale (A.S.) 70, 209, 381, 371 (?), evil, mischief, punishment

†bale (A.S.) 490, a bon-fire (rogus)

baleis (A.N.) 184, 229, a rod

baleisen (A.N.) 87, to beat with a rod

balled (A.S.) 436, bald. balled reson, 176, a bald reason, a bare argument

ballok-knyf (A.S.) 302, a knife hung from the girdle

bannen, banne (A.N.) 18, 143, 167, 310, to ban, curse, banish. pret. s. banned, 173

banyer (A.N.) 321, a banner-bearer, standard-bearer

barn (A.S.) 353, a child

baselarde (A.N.) 61, 302, a kind of large dagger, carried in the girdle

batauntliche (A.N.) 286, hastily. Cotgrave gives the Fr. phrase, il arriva tout batant, he came very hastily

baude (A.S.) a bawd

baudy (A.N.) 88, dirty, applied to garments. Thus in Chaucer, Cant. T. l 16102:—

baw (A.S.) 210, 419, an interjection of contempt. Whitaker says that the word is still used in Lancashire, and that "the verb means alvum levare"

bayard (A.N.) 72, a term for a horse. It means properly a bay horse

beau-peere (A.N.) 383, a common title for a monk. "Beau-pere, titre que l'on donnoit aux religieux." Roquef.

beche (A.S.) a beech-tree

bede, pl. bedes (A.S.) prayer. Our modern word beads is derived from this word, because it was by such articles, hung on a cord, that our forefathers reckoned the number of their prayers

bedeman (A.S.) 45, a person who prays for another

†been (A.S.) 493, bees

beigh (A.S.) pl. beighes, rings, bracelets, collars

bekene (A.S.) 363, a beacon

†beldyng (A.S.) 483, building. belded, 483, built

†bellyche (A.N.) 461, fairly

bel-sire (A.N.) 168, grandfather, or rather, an ancestor

belwe (A.S.) 222, to bellow

ben (A.S.) to be. pres. pl. arn, aren or ben, we beth, 391, ye aren, 301, they arn, 375. subj. sing. weere, 15, 19, 417, pl. were. what she were, 19

bene (A.S.) a bean, †pl. benen (A.S.) 495, beans

†beneson (A.N.) 489, blessing

†beouten (A.S.) 489, without

beren, bere (A.S.) to bear. pr. s. he berth, 341. pret. s. bere, 54, bar, 28, 109, pl. baren, 98. part. pas. born, y-bore, 377

bergh (A.S.) 112, a hill, mount

bern (A.S.) 416, a barn

best, beest, pl. beestes (A.N.) a beast, animal

bet (A.S.) 389, better

bete (A.S.) 375, to beat. pret. s. bette, 184, 436. part. pas. y-bet

bete (A.S.) 131, to amend, heal, abate. that myghtt not bete my bale (Sir Amadas, l. 46), that might not amend my misfortune. bete his nede (Rom. of Alexand. l. 5065, in Weber), to satisfy his need

bettre (A.S.) better

bi- or be- is a very common prefix to words in our language derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and has chiefly an intensative power, although it modifies the meaning in various degrees. Many verbs are no longer known, except in this compound form. Thus we have:—

bi-dravelen (A.S.) 88, to slobber or slaver on anything

bi-fallen (A.S.) to befal, happen. pr. sing. bifel

bi-yete (A.S.) begetting, offspring

bi-ginnen (A.S.) to begin. pret. s. bi-gonne, 106

bi-heste (A.S.) 50, a behest, command

bi-hest (A.S.) 432, a promise

bi-holden (A.S.) to behold. pr. sing. biheeld

†bi-hirnen (A.S.) 488 (?)

bi-hoten (A.S.) to promise. pres. s. bi-hote, 104. pret. s. bi-highte, 81, 345, 389. bi-hote God, 133, an exclamation

by-japen (A.S.) 386, 453, to mock

bi-kennen (A.S.) 31, 154, to commit to

bi-knowen (A.S.) 13, 45, to know, recognize, acknowledge. pret. s. bi-knewe, 404, part. past, bi-knowe, 370

bi-lien (A.S.) 174, bi-lye, 101, to calumniate. part. past, bi-lowen, 29

bi-love (A.S.) 184, false love (?)

bi-loven (A.S.) 130, to make friends (?)

by-menen (A.S.) to signify. pret. s. by-mente, 370

by-molen (A.S.) 273, 274, to spot, stain

by-nymen (A.S.) to take from. part. past, by-nomen, 62

bi-quasshen (A.S.) 384, to crush to pieces

bi-reve (A.S.) 132, to take from, bereave

bi-rewe (A.S.) 242, to rue

bi-seken, bi-sechen, 18 (A.S.) to beseech. pret. bi-soughte. part. pas. bi-sought

bi-semen (A.S.) to appear

bi-setten (A.S.) 93, 95, to place, set

bi-seggen (A.S.) to reproach, insult. part. past, bi-seye, 437

bi-sherewen (A.S.) 75, to curse

bi-shetten (A.S.) 40, to shut up. part. past, bi-shet, 405

bi-sitten (A.S.) 36, 195, to beset

†be-slomered, 476, bedaubed

bi-snewed (A.S.) 301, snowed over, covered with snow

bi-speren (A.S.) 303, to lock up

bi-swynken (A.S.) 323, to labour hard. pret. pl. bi-swonke, 442

bi-tiden (A.S.) to happen to, betide

bi-wicchen (A.S.) 405, to bewitch

bicche (A.N.) 98, a bitch

bidden, bidde (A.S.) to pray, to ask, beg, to require, to order. pres. s. he bit, 308, 188. pret. s. bidde, bad, pl. beden, 372, 404. part. act. biddynge. (if he) bede, 157

bidder (A.S.) pl. bidderes, an asker, petitioner

biden (A.S.) 387, 428, to bide, wait. part. past, boden

bienfait (A.N.) a benefit

bi-girdle (A.S.) 156, a bag to hang at the girdle, a purse

bi-hynde (A.S.) behind

bikere (A.S.) 429, to skirmish, fight

†bild (A.S.) 460, a building

bile (A.S.) a bill

bilyve (A.S.) 410, 425, food

bynden (A.S.) to bind. pret. s. bond, 352. part. pas. bounden

bisie (A.S.) busy

bismere, bismare (A.S.) 82, 413, infamy, reproach, disgrace

biten, bite (A.S.) 446, to bite, urge. pres. s. bitit, 225. pret. s. boot, 82

byte (A.S.) 381, a morsel, bit

bi-time (A.S.) betimes

bittre (A.S.) 393, bitterly

bi-yonde (A.S.) beyond: when used indefinitely it signifies beyond sea, ultra mare

blancmanger (A.N.) 252, a made dish for the table. Receipts for cooking it are given in most of the early tracts on cookery

bleden (A.S.) to bleed. pret. s. bledde, 402, 415

blenche (A.S.) 112, to draw back

blende (A.S.) 181, to blind. blent, blinded

†blenying (A.S.) 468, blistering

bleren (A.S.) to blear, to make a person's sight dim, impose upon him. bler-eighed, 367, blear-eyed

blisse (A.S.) joy, happiness

blisful (A.S.) joyful, full of happiness, blessed

blody (A.S.) 129, 213, by blood, of or in blood

bloo (A.S.) blue

blosmen (A.S.) to blossom. pret. blosmede

blowen (A.S.) to blow. pret. s. blewe, blew. part. past, y-blowe, 360

blustren (A.N. ?) 108, to wander or stray along without any particular aim

bochier (A.N.) a butcher

†bode ( ) 493 (?)

bolden (A.S.) to encourage, embolden

bole (A.S.) a bull

bolk (A.S.) 100, a belching

bolle (A.S.) 83, 99, a bowl

bollen, bolne (A.S.) to swell. pres. s. bolneth, 84

book, pl. bokes (A.S.) a book

boold (A.S.) 373, bold

boon (A.S.) a bone

boor (A.S.) a boar

boot (A.S.) a boat

boote (A.S.) 70, 139, 189, 209, 233, 266, help, reparation, amendment, restoration, remedy

bootne (A.S.) to restore, remedy. part. pas. bootned, 128

boot-les (A.S.) 369, without boots

borde (A.S.) table. Hence the modern use of the word board when we speak of "board and lodging"

bord-lees (A.S.) 239, without table

borgh, 70, 143, 181, 346. borugh, 426, 439, pl. borwes, 19 (A.S.) a pledge, surety. s. in obj. case, borwe, 285

borwen (A.S.) 71, to give security, or a pledge to release a person or thing, to bail, to borrow. pret. s. borwed

bosarde (A.N.) 189, a worthless or useless fellow. It is properly the name of a worthless species of hawk, which is unfit for sporting; and is thus used in Chaucer's version of the Romance of the Rose, l. 4033:—