Chapter XXII: Appendix (1)

[_The following Poems are also probably genuine; but are placed here for lack of external evidence_.]

XXI. AGAINST WOMEN UNCONSTANT.

BALADE.

Madame, for your newe-fangelnesse,
Many a servaunt have ye put out of grace,
I take my leve of your unstedfastnesse,
For wel I wot, whyl ye have lyves space,
Ye can not love ful half yeer in a place; 5
To newe thing your lust is ever kene;
In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene.

Right as a mirour nothing may enpresse,
But, lightly as it cometh, so mot it pace,
So fareth your love, your werkes bereth witnesse. 10
Ther is no feith that may your herte enbrace;
But, as a wedercok, that turneth his face
With every wind, ye fare, and that is sene;
In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene.

Ye might be shryned, for your brotelnesse, 15
Bet than Dalyda, Creseide or Candace;
For ever in chaunging stant your sikernesse,
That tache may no wight fro your herte arace;
If ye lese oon, ye can wel tweyn purchace;
Al light for somer, ye woot wel what I mene, 20
In stede of blew, thus may ye were al grene.

_Explicit._

TITLE. _None in_ Ct.; Balade _in_ F.; ed. 1561 _has_--A Balade which Chaucer made agaynst woman unconstaunt.

_The text is from_ Ct. (Cotton, Cleopatra D. 7); _that in_ ed. 1561 _is much the same, except in spelling. Another copy in_ F. (Fairfax 16). _A third in_ Ha. (Harl. 7578); _of less value_.

2. Ct. Manie; F. many. Ct. F. of youre; Ha. _om._ youre. 4. Ct. wote while. F. have lyves; Ct. to lyve haue. 5. Ct. kunnought; F. Ha. kan not. 6. F. thing; Ct. Ha. thinges. Ct. _inserts_ so _before_ kene; ed. (1561) _omits_ so; F. _has_ ay so. 7. Ct. sted; F. stede. Ct. Blue; F. blew. 8. Ct. Mirro_ur_; ed. mirour. Ct. Ha. ed. _ins._ that _bef._ nothing; F. _om._ 11. Ct. F. hert; Ha. ed. herte. 12. Ha. _om._ a. Ha. wethirkoc. 14. Ct. _om._ al; F. Ha. ed. _retain it_.

15. Ct. _om._ your; F. Ha. ed. _retain it_. 16. Ct. Bettir; F. Ha. ed. Better; _read_ Bet. F. Dalyda; Ct. Dalide. Ct. Cresside; F. Creseyde. 17. Ct. Changeng; F. chaungyng. _All_ stondeth; _read_ stant. 18. F. tache; Ct. tacche: ed. tatche. F. Ha. herte; Ct. ed. hert. 19. Ct. Ha. lese; F. ed. lose. Ct. kunne; F. kan; ed. can; Ha. kanne. Ct. ed. tweine; F. tweyn. 20. Ct. All; ed. Al. Ct. F. wote; Ha. woote; ed. wot; _cf._ Cant. Ta. A 740, 829. 21. Ct. _om._ al; F. ed. _retain it_. Ct. _adds_ Explicit.

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XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT.

(COMPLEINT DAMOURS.)

AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT, MADE AT WINDSOR.

I, which that am the sorwefulleste man
That in this world was ever yit livinge,
And leest recoverer of him-selven can,
Beginne thus my deadly compleininge
On hir, that may to lyf and deeth me bringe, 5
Which hath on me no mercy ne no rewthe
That love hir best, but sleeth me for my trewthe.

Can I noght doon ne seye that may yow lyke,
[For] certes, now, allas! allas! the whyle!
Your plesaunce is to laughen whan I syke, 10
And thus ye me from al my blisse exyle.
Ye han me cast in thilke spitous yle
Ther never man on lyve mighte asterte;
This have I for I lovë you, swete herte!

Sooth is, that wel I woot, by lyklinesse, 15
If that it were thing possible to do
Tacompte youre beutee and goodnesse,
I have no wonder thogh ye do me wo;
Sith I, thunworthiest that may ryde or go,
Durste ever thinken in so hy a place, 20
What wonder is, thogh ye do me no grace?

Allas! thus is my lyf brought to an ende,
My deeth, I see, is my conclusioun;
I may wel singe, 'in sory tyme I spende
My lyf;' that song may have confusioun! 25
For mercy, pitee, and deep affeccioun,
I sey for me, for al my deedly chere,
Alle thise diden, in that, me love yow dere.

And in this wyse and in dispayre I live
In lovë; nay, but in dispayre I dye! 30
But shal I thus [to] yow my deeth for-give,
That causeles doth me this sorow drye?
Ye, certes, I! For she of my folye
Hath nought to done, although she do me sterve;
Hit is nat with hir wil that I hir serve! 35

Than sith I am of my sorowe the cause
And sith that I have this, withoute hir reed,
Than may I seyn, right shortly in a clause,
It is no blame unto hir womanheed
Though swich a wrecche as I be for hir deed; 40
[And] yet alwey two thinges doon me dyë,
That is to seyn, hir beutee and myn yë.

So that, algates, she is the verray rote
Of my disese, and of my dethe also;
For with oon word she mighte be my bote, 45
If that she vouched sauf for to do so.
But [why] than is hir gladnesse at my wo?
It is hir wone plesaunce for to take,
To seen hir servaunts dyen for hir sake!

But certes, than is al my wonderinge, 50
Sithen she is the fayrest creature
As to my dome, that ever was livinge,
The benignest and beste eek that nature
Hath wrought or shal, whyl that the world may dure,
Why that she lefte pite so behinde? 55
It was, y-wis, a greet defaute in kinde.

Yit is al this no lak to hir, pardee,
But god or nature sore wolde I blame;
For, though she shewe no pite unto me,
Sithen that she doth othere men the same, 60
I ne oughte to despyse my ladies game;
It is hir pley to laughen whan men syketh,
And I assente, al that hir list and lyketh!

Yit wolde I, as I dar, with sorweful herte
Biseche un-to your meke womanhede 65
That I now dorste my sharpe sorwes smerte
Shewe by worde, that ye wolde ones rede
The pleynte of me, the which ful sore drede
That I have seid here, through myn unconninge,
In any worde to your displesinge. 70

Lothest of anything that ever was loth
Were me, as wisly god my soule save!
To seyn a thing through which ye might be wroth;
And, to that day that I be leyd in grave,
A trewer servaunt shulle ye never have; 75
And, though that I on yow have pleyned here,
Forgiveth it me, myn owne lady dere!

Ever have I been, and shal, how-so I wende,
Outher to live or dye, your humble trewe;
Ye been to me my ginning and myn ende, 80
Sonne of the sterre bright and clere of hewe,
Alwey in oon to love yow freshly newe,
By god and by my trouthe, is myn entente;
To live or dye, I wol it never repente!

This compleynt on seint Valentynes day, 85
Whan every foul [ther] chesen shal his make,
To hir, whos I am hool, and shal alwey,
This woful song and this compleynt I make,
That never yit wolde me to mercy take;
And yit wol I [for] evermore her serve 90
And love hir best, although she do me sterve.

_Explicit._

_In_ MS. Harl. 7333, fol. 133 b and 134. _Title_--And next folowyng begynnith an amerowse compleynte made at wyndesore in the laste May tofore Novembre (_sic_). _Also in_ F. (Fairfax) _and_ B. (Bodley 638); _entitled_ Complaynt Damours. N. B. Unmarked _readings are from_ Harl.

1. sorowfullest. 2. worlde; leving (F. lyvinge). 3. F. lest; Harl. B. leste. B. rekeuerer. 4. Begynne right thus; _so_ F. B.; _I omit_ right. 5. lyff; dethe. 6. Whiche hathe; rought (_for_ rewthe). 7. beste; sleethe. 8. F. Kan I noght doon to seyn; B. Kan I nought don to seyn; Harl. Cane I nought ne saye. 9. _All_ Ne; _read_ For. 10. Youre. 11. frome. 12. Yee. F. B. han; Harl. haue. caste. F. B. thilke; Harl. that. _All_ spitouse. 13. Harl. ne (_after_ lyve); F. B. _om._ 14. beste (_after_ you); F. B. _om._

15. Soothe; weele. 16. F. B. that; Harl. _om._ F. B. a thing; Harl. _om._ a. thinge; doo. 17. F. B. Tacompte youre; Harl. For to acounte your. 18. noo wondre; yee; woo. 19. Sithe; goo. 20. F. neuer; B. euyr; Harl. euer. hie. 21. wondir; doo; noo. 22. Ellas; Eonde. F. myshefe; B. myschef (_for_ my lyf). 23. dethe; concluciou_n_. 24. wele. F. sing; B. singe; Harl. say. Harl. sorye. 25. B. ys my (_for_ may have). Confuciou_n_. 26. B. my saluaciou_n_ (_for_ deep affeccioun). 27, 28. B. I sey for me I haue nou_n_ [neu_er_?] felte All_e_ thes diden me in despeire to melte. 27. fo (? _for_ for). 28. All_e_ this; yowe deere. 29. Harl. _om. 2nd_ in. 30. F. B. nay; Harl. nay nay. 31. _I supply_ to; yowe; dethe for-geve. 32. dothe. 33. certe (!); sheo. 34. Hathe; Al-thoughe sheo. 35. nought (_for_ nat). 36. Thane sithe. 37. sitthe; rede. 38. seyne. 39. noo; womanhede. 40. Thaugh suche; dede.

41. Yette; _I supply_ And; twoo; doone. 42. seyne; beaute; eye. 43. Harl. _om._ that. F. B. _om._ the. verraye Roote. 44. diseese; alsoo. 45. worde sheo myght; boote. 46. sheo wovched saufe; soo. 47. _I supply_ why; woo. 48. wonne; _all ins._ to _after_ wonne. 49. seon; sarvauntes; B. seruaunte. 50. thanne; all_e_; wondering. 51. sheo. 53. eke. 54. Hathe; shall_e_; Harl. _om._ that; worlde. 55. Whi; sheo lefe pitte; byhinde. Harl. so; F. alle; B. all. 56. ewisse; grete. 57. Yitte; noo. F. B. _om._ al. 58. Harl. _ins._ hem _before_ soore (_sic_); F. B. hem (_but om._ sore). 59. thowe (_for_ though); sheo; pette. 60. sheo doothe. 61. ought. 62. Harl. _om._ hir; pleye; lawhe when that men sikith. 63. liste; likethe. 64. B. Yit; F. Yet; Harl. Yeo (_sic_); _see_ 57. dare; sorowfull. 65. F. B. meke; Harl. mekly. 66. F. sorwes; B. sorwys; Harl. shoures. 67. Harl. and; F. B. that, yee; onys.

68. compleynte (_for_ pleynte); which I Fulle. 69. saide; thorowe. B. vnkonnynge; F. vnkunnynge; Harl. vnknowynge. F. B. _om._ here _and_ myn. 70. yowre. 71. Loothest; loothe. 72. als; sowle safe. 73. seyne; thorughe; yee; wrothe. 74. leyde. 75. sarvaunt ne shulde yee. F. shul; B. shall; Harl. shulde. 76. thaughe. F. B. on yow haue pleyned; Harl. haue playned vnto yow. 77. For-gyvethe yt me, myne oune lady so dere. 78. howe. 79. youre. 80. Yee ben; gynnynge. 81. Harl. of; F. ouer; B. ovyr. F. B. _om._ and clere. Sterre so bright; huwe. 82. Harl. And I ay oon; F. B. Alwey in oon. fresshely. 84. wolle. 85. Conpleynte; valantines. 86. foughel cheesen shall; _I supply_ ther _from_ Parl. Foules, 310. 87. was (F. B. whos); hole; shall. 88. wofull_e_ songe; conplaynte. 90. wolle; _I supply_ for. 91. all_e_-thowhe sheo. F. B. Explicit; Harl. _om._

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XXIII. A BALADE OF COMPLEYNT.

Compleyne ne coude, ne might myn herte never
My peynes halve, ne what torment I have,
Though that I sholde in your presence ben ever,
My hertes lady, as wisly he me save
That bountee made, and beutee list to grave 5
In your persone, and bad hem bothe in-fere
Ever tawayte, and ay be wher ye were.

As wisly he gye alle my Ioyes here
As I am youres, and to yow sad and trewe,
And ye, my lyf and cause of my good chere, 10
And deeth also, whan ye my peynes newe,
My worldes Ioye, whom I wol serve and sewe,
My heven hool, and al my suffisaunce,
Whom for to serve is set al my plesaunce.

Beseching yow in my most humble wyse 15
Taccepte in worth this litel povre dyte,
And for my trouthe my service nat despyse,
Myn observaunce eek have nat in despyte,
Ne yit to long to suffren in this plyte,
I yow beseche, myn hertes lady dere, 20
Sith I yow serve, and so wil yeer by yere.

_In_ MS. Addit. 16165, fol. 256, back; _headed_ Balade of compleynte.

1. koude; h_er_t. 2. turment. 3. Thaughe; shoulde; youre. 4. wissely. 5. beaute liste. 6. youre; bade; in-feere. 7. beo. 8. wissely. 9. yowe sadde; truwe. 10. lyff; gode. 11. dethe; whane; reewe, _altered by the scribe to_ newe. 12. whome; suwe. 13. hole; souffisaunce. 14. sette. 15. yowe; moste. 16. Taccept; worthe; pore. 17. not despice. 18. eke; not. 19. longe; suffre. 20. here (_error for_ dere; _see_ XXII. 77). 21. yowe; yere by yere.

* * * * *

NOTES

TO

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE.

The French text, a portion of which is given in the lower part of pp. 93-164, is reprinted from Le Roman de la Rose, ed. Méon, Paris, 1814.

1. Scan:--Many | men seyn | that in | swev'níng-es ||. So, in the next line, read:--lesíng-es. In l. 3, read:--swev'nes. In l. 4, read 'hard-e-ly' as _three_ syllables, and 'fals-e' as two; and, in general, throughout ll. 1-1705, apply the usual rules of Chaucerian pronunciation.

_sweveninges_, dreamings; see l. 3; cf. A.S. _swefen_, a dream, pl. _swefnu_; _swefnian_, v., to dream. The translation should be compared with the original F. text, as given below it.

On the subject of dreams, cf. Hous of Fame, ll. 1-52, and the notes to ll. 1, 7.

5. _apparaunte_, apparent, as coming true.

6. 'To warrant this, I may cite an author named Macrobius.' Macrobius, the commentator on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis (as here said); see notes to Parl. of Foules, 31; Book Duch. 284.

8-10. _halt_, holds, considers; _lees_, deceptive. 'But explains to us the vision that king Scipio formerly dreamt.'

22. _taketh his corage_, assumes fresh confidence from the support of the young, is encouraged by the young, receives their tribute. The O.F. _paage_ is the mod. F. _péage_, toll, lit. 'footing.'

24. Cf. 'Right ther as I was wont to done'; Ho. Fame, 113.

27. Read--'That hit me lyked wonder wel.' _wonder wel_, wonderfully well. This use of _wonder_ is common; see Cant. Ta., G 751, 1035. At a later time, _wonder_, when thus used adverbially, received the adverbial suffix _-s_; hence Th. has '_wonders_ wel' here. So also '_wonders_ dere' in the Test. of Love; see _Wondrous_ in my Etym. Dict.

38. _hote_, be called; a less ambiguous spelling than _hatte_, as in Thynne; cf. Cant. Ta. D 144. _rede you here_, advise you to hear.

44. _she._ These and similar allusions are merely translated, and have therefore no special significance.

49. 'Me thoghte thus; that hit was May'; Book Duch. 291.

56. _wreen_, cover; A. S. _wr[=e]on_. Cf. _wrye_, I cover, Cant. Ta. D 1827.

59. Read:--And th'erth-e. Cf. Book Duch. 410-5; Good Wom. 125.

61. _Forget_, i. e. forgetteth; pres. tense. So in Ayenb. of Inwyt, p. 18, l. 9, we find the form _uoryet_. I supply _al_.

67. _inde_, azure; see Cursor Mundi, 9920. _pers_; see Prol. 439.

73. _grille_, keen, rough. '_Grym_, gryl, and horryble'; Prompt. Parv.

81. _chelaundre_, (cf. l. 663), a kind of lark; O. F. _calandre_, _caladre_, Lat. _caradrius_, Gk. [Greek: charadrios]. Cf. Land of Cockaigne, l. 97. _papingay_, parrot; Sir Topas, B 1957.

98. _aguiler_, needle-case. It occurs nowhere else. The rime _drow_, _y-now_ occurs in Leg. Good Women, 1458.

118. _Seine_, the river of Paris. In the next line, _wel away straighter_ means 'a good deal broader' or more expanded (F. text, _plus espandue_), though less in volume. _Wel away_, in this sense, occurs in P. Plowman, B. xii. 263, xvii. 42.

129. _Beet_, beat, struck, i. e. bordered closely; a translation of F. _batoit_.

131. So also 'And ful atempre'; Book Duch. 341.

147. The descriptions of allegorical personages in this poem are clearly imitated from similar descriptions in Latin poets. Compare the celebrated description of Envy in Ovid, Metam. ii. 775, and the like. MS. G. absurdly reads _a hate_ for _Hate_.

149. The reading must, of course, be _moveresse_, as in the Fr. text; Speght corrected it in 1598; it means a mover or stirrer up of strife.

196. Read _miscounting_ (Kaluza); F. text, _mesconter_.

197. _maketh_; pronounced _mak'th_. Note, once for all, that _'th_ for final _-eth_ is extremely common throughout all parts of this poem.

206. _thing_, pl. goods (A. S. _þing_, pl.). Cf. l. 387.

207. _Avarice_, i. e. Penuriousness, as distinct from _Coveitise_, i. e. Covetousness of the wealth of others. Compare the description of Avarice in Piers Plowman, B. v. 188.

220. _courtepy_, short coat, cape; see Prol. 290.

225. _perche_, a horizontal pole, on which clothes were sometimes hung.

226. _burnet_, a cloth of dyed wool, orig. of a dark brown colour. Gowns were nearly always trimmed with fur, but in this case only a common lambskin fur was used, instead of a costly fur such as _miniver_.

240. I supply _doun_, down. Cf. 'heng ... doun'; Cant. Ta. G 574.

247. _Envy._ Cf. Ovid, Met. ii. 775; P. Plowman, B. v. 76.

273. _maltalent_, ill-will; see 330. Cf. _talent_, Cant. Ta. C 540.

276. Read _melt'th_. _for pure wood_, as if entirely mad. The simple phrase _for wood_, as if mad, occurs in Ho. Fame, 1747; Leg. of Good Women, 2420 (unless _For-wood_ is there a compound adjective).

292. _baggingly_, askant, sideways; cf. _baggeth_, looks askant, Book Duch. 623.

311. _fade_, withered. 'Thi faire hewe is al _fade_'; Will. of Palerne, 891. Compare the description of Sorrow in Sackville's 'Induction'; see my Specimens of Eng. Literature, iii. 286.

360. _dwyned_, dwindled, wasted; cf. _for-dwyned_, 366.

361. _forwelked_, much wrinkled; cf. _welked_, Cant. Ta. C 738.

368. _potente_, a crutch, staff; cf. Cant. Ta. D 1776.

369, 381. With these lines cf. Cant. Tales, B 20-24.

380. F. _trois tens_, three moments. It is here asserted that no one can think of the present moment; for while he tries to do so, three moments have fled.

387. _fret_, for _freteth_, devours. 'Tempus edax rerum'; Ovid, Met. xv. 234. _and shal_, and will ever do so. _thing_ is pl., as in 206.

396. Bell and Morris here print _elde_ with a capital letter, shewing that they did not make out the sense. But it is here a _verb_, as in 391, 392. The sense is:--'Time ... had made her grow so extremely old that, as far as I knew, she could in no wise help herself.'

401. _inwith_, for _within_, is common in Chaucer; the occurrence of _pith_, just before, probably caused the scribe to omit _with_.

413. _doon ther write_, caused to be written (or described) there.

415. _Pope-holy_; properly an adjective, meaning 'holy as a pope,' hence, hypocritical. Here used as a sb., as equivalent to 'hypocrite,' to translate F. _Papelardie_. Used as an adj. in P. Plowman, C. vii. 37; see my note, which gives references to Dyce's Skelton, i. 209, 216, 240, 386; Barclay, Ship of Fools, ed. Jamieson, i. 154; and Polit. Poems, ed. Wright, ii. 251.

429. 'Devoted to a religious life,' viz. by having joined one of the religious orders. See note to P. Plowman, C. xi. 88.

438. _haire_, hair-shirt; the F. text has _la haire_, borrowed from O. H. G. _h[=a]rr[=a]_, with the same sense. The A. S. word is _h[=æ]re_, a derivative from _h[=æ]r_, hair. See _Haar_ in Kluge. See Cant. Ta., G 133; P. Plowman, C. vii. 6, and the note.

442. The reading _ay_ possibly stands for _a[gh]_, i. e. _agh_ or _ogh_. _Ogh_ (A. S. _[=a]h_) is the (obsolete) pres. t. of _ought_, which takes its place in mod. E. Cf. _ye owen_, in Melibeus, B 2691. See _ah_ in Stratmann. 'From her the gate of Paradise ought to be kept.' But it is simpler to read _shal_ (F. text, _ert_ = Lat. _erit_).

445. Alluding to Matt. vi. 16. For _grace_, read _face_ (l. 444).

454. Cf. 'like a worm'; Clerkes Ta. E 880.

464. _halke_, corner; Can. Yem. Ta. G 311.

482. _shepherd-e_, is trisyllabic; cf. _herd-e_, in Prol. 603.

490. _daungerous_, stingy; contrasted with _riche_ (l. 492).

501. It is impossible to make sense without reading _nolde_ for _wolde_. The Fr. text clearly shews that _nolde_ is meant:--'Que _n_'en preisse _pas_ ... Que ge _n_'entrasse.' The scribe stumbled over the double negative.

505. G. has:--'Thassemble, god kepe it fro care Of briddis, whiche therynne ware'; and Th. has the same reading. It cannot be right, because _care_ and _were_ give a false rime. Even the scribe has seen this, and has altered _were_ to _ware_, to give a rime to the eye. Perhaps such a rime may have passed in Northern English, but certainly not in Midland. I have no hesitation in restoring the reading, which must have been 'God _it kepe and were_,' or something very near it. It is obvious that _were_ is the original word in this passage, because it is the precise etymological equivalent of _garisse_ in the French text; and it is further obvious that the reason for expelling it from the text, was to avoid the apparent repetition of _were_ in the rime; a repetition which the scribe too hastily assumed to be a defect, though examples of it are familiar to the student of Chaucer; cf. Prol. 17, 18. Chaucer has _were_, to defend, riming with _spere_, Cant. Ta. A 2550; and _were_ (were) also riming with _spere_, Ho. Fame, 1047. He would therefore have had no hesitation in riming these words together; and we cannot doubt that he here did so. Cf. ll. 515, 516 below.

516. _where_ would mean 'by which'; read _o-where_, i. e. anywhere.

520. The spelling _angwishis_ is a false spelling of _anguissous_, i. e. full of anguish. For this form, see Pers. Tale, I 304.

535. Read _oft_; F. text, 'par maintes fois.'

562. _orfrays_, gold embroidered work, cloth-of-gold; cf. ll. 869, 1076. 'The golden bands fastened to, or embroidered on chasubles, copes, and vestments ... Fringes or laces appended to the garments, as well as the embroidered work upon them, were so termed'; Fairholt, Costume in England. See Way's note on _Orfrey_ in the Prompt. Parvulorum. Cotgrave has: '_Orfrais_, m. Broad welts, or gards of gold or silver imbroidery laid on Copes, and other Church-vestments'; &c. There is a long note upon it, with quotations, in Thynne's Animadversions on Speght's Chaucer, ed. Furnivall, pp. 33-35; he says it is 'frised or perled cloothe of gold,' or 'a weued clothe of gold.' Here it seems to mean a gold-embroidered band, worn as a chaplet.

568. _tressour_; so spelt in Gawain and the Grene Knight, 1739, where a lady is described as having precious stones, in clusters of twenty, 'trased aboute hir _tressour_.' Roquefort also gives the O. F. forms _tressour_, _tressoir_, _tresson_, 'ornement de tête pour les femmes, ruban pour attacher les cheveux.' It differs from the heraldic term _tressure_ (Lat. _tricatura_) in the form of the suffix. _Tressour_ can rime with _mirrour_, whilst _tressure_ (strictly) cannot do so. Her hair was entwined with gilt ribbons or threads.

574. _Gaunt_, Ghent; see Cant. Ta. A 448.

579, 580. _Iournee_, day's work. _wel bigoon_, might mean richly adorned; cf. 'With perle and gold so wel begoon'; Gower, C. A. ii. 45. But it is here equivalent to _mery_; see l. 693.

584. _graythe hir_, dress or adorn herself. _uncouthly_, strikingly, in an unusual way.

593. This is 'the porter Ydlenesse' of the Knightes Tale; A 1940.

602. _Alexandryn_, of Alexandria; for _of_ may well be omitted. It means that many trees have been imported from the east by way of Alexandria. Many MSS. of the Fr. text read 'de la terre Alexandrins.' The damson, for example, came from Damascus.

603. I put _be hider_ for _hider be_; but _be_, after all, is better omitted. _Made hider fet_ is a correct idiom; see note to Cant. Ta. E 1098.

610. The images and pictures on the outside of the wall were made repellent, to keep strangers aloof.

624. _oon_, one; i. e. a place. _intil Inde_, as far as India.

656. The rime is only a single one, in _-ing_.

658. _Alpes_, bullfinches; also called _an awp_, or, corruptly, _a nope_. 'Alp, or _Nope_, a bulfinch. I first took notice of this word in _Suffolk_, but find since that it is used in other counties, almost generally all over England'; Ray's Collection of South and E. Country Words (1691).

_wodewales_, witwalls. In the Prompt. Parvulorum, the _wodewale_ is identified with the _wodehake_, woodpecker; whilst Hexham explains Du. _Weduwael_ as 'a kinde of a yellow bird.' There is often great confusion in such names. The true _witwall_ is the Green Woodpecker (_Gecinus viridis_). We may omit _and_, and even _were_ in l. 657.

662. _laverokkes_, larks. The A. S. _l[=a]werce_, _l[=a]ferce_, became _laverk_; then the final _k_ was exchanged for the diminutive suffix _-ok_.

663. _Chalaundres_; see note to l. 81 above.

664. _wery_, weary (F. _lassees_); _nigh forsongen_, nearly tired out with singing.

665. _thrustles_, throstles, thrushes; see Parl. Foules, 364.

_terins_; F. _tarin_, which, Littré says, is the _Fringilla spinus_. Cotgrave has: '_Tarin_, a little singing bird, having a yellowish body, and an ash-coloured head'; by which (says Prof. Newton) he means the siskin, otherwise called the aberdevine.

_mavys_, mavises, song-thrushes. If we take the _mavis_ to be the song-thrush, _Turdus musicus_, then the throstle may be distinguished as the missel-thrush, _Turdus viscivorus_. But the mavis is also called throstle. In Cambridge, the name is pronounced _mavish_ (romic mei·vish).

672. 'As spiritual angels do.'

676. 'Of man liable to death'; by mortal man.

684. _sereyns_, i. e. Sirens. Cotgrave has: '_Sereine_, f. a Mermaid.' Chaucer takes no notice of G. de Lorris' notable etymology, by which he derives _Seraines_ from the adj. _seri_. Cotgrave gives (marked as obsolete): '_Seri_, m. _ie_, f. Quiet, mild, calm, still; fair, clear.'

693. _wel bigo_, the opposite of 'woe begone'; as in l. 580. Cf. 'glad and wel begoon'; Parl. Foules, 171.

700. _leten_, pp. of _leten_, to let; 'and had let me in.'

705. Morris reads _Withoute_, which improves the line:--'Without-e fabl' I wol descryve.'

714. _sete_, sat; A. S. _s[=æ]ton_, pt. t. pl. (The correct form).

716. _Iargoning_, chattering; cf. E. _jargon_.

720. Read _reverdye_ (see footnote). It means 'rejoicing'; from the renewal of green things in spring.

731. _mentes_, mints; Th. has _myntes_.

735. 'Where he abode, to amuse himself.'

744. _carole_, a dance; orig. a dance in a ring, accompanied with song. Hence, in l. 745, the verb _carolen_, to sing, in accompaniment to a dance of this character. In Rob. of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, 9138, there is a description of a company carolling 'hand in hand.' And see below, ll. 759-765, 781; Book Duch. 849.

746. I insert _the_ (as Urry does) before _blisful_; cf. l. 797.

749. The line--'And couthe make in song swich refreininge' is obviously too long. The word _couthe_ is needlessly repeated from l. 747, and must be omitted. The Fr. text shews that _refreininge_ means the singing of a refrain at the end of each verse.

768. _in this contree._ This is an adaptation; the original Fr. says 'in _any_ country.' Warton calmly observes: 'there is not a syllable of these songs and singers of Lorraine in the French.' But he consulted a defective copy.

769. _timbestere_, a female player on a timbrel. Tyrwhitt confuses the matter by quoting Lye, who mixed up this word with _tombestere_, a female tumbler; for which see Cant. Ta. C 477. They are quite unconnected, but are formed with the same fem. suffix, viz. that which appears also in the mod. E. _spin-ster_, and in the old words _webb-estere_, _bak-estere_, whence the surnames Webster, Baxter. In l. 772, _timbres_ simply mean timbrels, and tambourine-players may still be performing the easy trick of throwing up a tambourine and catching it, spinning, on a finger-point. There is therefore no reason for explaining _timbre_ as a basin. Nevertheless, such a mistake arose, and Junius quotes (s.v. _Timbestere_) some lines from an edition of Le Roman de la Rose, printed in 1529, in which the following lines here occur:--

'Apres y eut farces joyeuses,
Et batelleurs et batelleuses,
Qui de passe passe jouoyent,
Et en l'air _ung bassin_ ruoyent,
Puis le scavoyent bien recueillir
Sur ung doy, sans point y faillir.'

It is tolerably certain that this is a corrupt form of the passage, and only makes the matter darker. All it proves is, that _timbre_ was, by some, supposed to mean a basin! No doubt it had that sense (see Cotgrave), but not here.

_Timbestere_ is a mere English form of the O.F. _tymberesse_, a player on a _timbre_. Diez, in his Dictionary, cites a passage from a commentary on the Psalms, given in Roquefort, Poés. franç, p. 127, to this effect:--'li _tymbres_ est uns estrumenz de musique qui est couverz d'un cuir sec de bestes'; i. e. it is the Lat. _tympanum_. So also, in Wright's Vocab. col. 616, l. 28, we have:--'_Timpanum_, a taber, or a tymbre.' In Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, ii. 1414, we read of the sound of '_tymbres_ and _tabornes_,' and of '_symbales_,' i. e. cymbals. In King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 191, we again have _tymbres_ meaning 'timbrels.' Wyclif, in his tr. of Isaiah, v. 12, has '_tymbre_ and trumpe,' to translate 'tympanum et tibia'; and the word is well preserved in the mod. E. dimin. _timbr-el_.

770. _saylours_, dancers; from O. F. _saillir_, Lat. _salere_; cf. '_Salyyn_, salio'; Prompt. Parv. The M. E. _sailen_, to dance, occurs in P. Plowman, C xvi. 208 (see my note); and in Rob. of Glouc. l. 5633 (or p. 278, ed. Hearne).

791. _Ne bede I._ The Fr. text means--'I would never seek to go away.' As _e_ and _o_ are constantly confused, I change _bode_ (which gives no sense) into _bede_; i. e. 'I would never pray.' _Bede_ is the pt. t. subj. of _bidden_, to pray. Gower uses _ne bede_ in the same sense; 'That I ne bede never awake'; Conf. Am. ii. 99.

826. _girdilstede_, the _stead_ or place of the girdle, i. e. the waist.

836. _samyt_, samite, a very rich silk; see Halliwell and my Etym. Dict.

840. _to-slitered_, very much 'slashed' with small cuts. It is well known that slashed or snipped sleeves, shewing the colour of the lining beneath them, were common in the Tudor period; and it here appears that they were in vogue much earlier. _Sliteren_ is the frequentative form of _sliten_, to slit.

843. _decoped_, cut, slashed. The shoes were slashed like the dress; the Fr. text has here _decopes_, which, only just above, is translated by _to-slitered_. Cf. the expression 'galoches _y-couped_' in P. Plowman, C. xxi. 12, and see my note on that passage. Halliwell is quite wrong in confusing _decoped_ with _coppid_, i. e. peaked. See note to Mill. Ta. A 3318.

860. The readings _pleye_, _pley_ are evidently false; the scribe has omitted the stroke for _n_ above the vowel. The right reading is obviously _playn_, i. e. plain, smooth; it translates F. _poli_, just as _frounceles_ translates _sans fronce_, without a wrinkle.

865. If the reader prefers to keep _eleven_ (or _twelve_) syllables in this line, I am sorry for him.

869. _orfrays_, gold embroidery; see note to l. 562. In this case, the gold seems to have been embroidered on silk; see l. 872.

886. _quistroun_, a kitchen-boy, scullion. Godefroy gives the forms _coistron_, _coitron_, _coisteron_, _quistron_, _coestron_, with the sense 'marmiton.' His examples include the expressions '_coitron_ de la cuisine,' and 'un _quistroun_ de sa quisyne.' The addition of _de la (sa) cuisine_ shew that the word meant no more than 'boy' or 'lad'; such a lad as was often employed in the kitchen.

'Ther nas knave, ne _quystron_,
That he ne hadde god waryson';
King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 2511.

892. _amorettes_, (probably) love-knots. Such seems also to be the meaning in the passage in the Kingis Quair, st. 47, which was probably imitated from the present one. But both passages are sufficiently obscure. The word occurs again, below, in l. 4755, where the meaning is different, viz. young girls, sweethearts; but we must remember that it is there employed by a different translator. In the present passage, the Fr. text is obscure, and it is possible that _par fines amoretes_ means 'by beautiful girls.' The note in Bell's Chaucer says accordingly:--'these flowers were painted by amorous young ladies;' and adds that '_with_ here means _by_.' But this will hardly serve. We have no proof that Chaucer so understood the French; and if '_with_ means _by_' here, it must have the same sense in l. 894, which would mean that birds, leopards, and lions all lent a hand in painting. On the whole, the sense 'love-knots' seems the safest.

893. _losenges and scochouns_, lozenges (or diamond-shaped figures) and escutcheons.

911. _felden_, caused to fall, knocked off.

914. _chalaundre_; see note to l. 81. _wodewale_; see note to l. 658.

915. _archaungel_, supposed to mean 'a titmouse,' answering to F. _mesange_. But no other example of this use is known.

923. This line is too long; I omit _ful wel devysed_, which is not in the original.

933. _thwiten_, cut, shaped; pp. of _thwyten_, to cut (see Hous of Fame, 1938); cf. _thwitel_ in the Reves Ta. A 3933, and E. _whittle_.

938. _gadeling_, vagabond; see Gamelyn, 102, 106.

971. The idea of the two sets of arrows is taken from Ovid, Met. i. 468-471.

998. William de Lorris did not live to fulfil this promise.

1008. I. e. Beauty was also the name of an arrow; see l. 952. The allegory is rather of a mixed kind.

1014. _byrde_, i. e. bride (though the words are different); Fr. _espousee_. _bour_, bower; the usual name for a lady's chamber.

1018. I alter the _wintred_ of the old copies to _windred_, to make the form agree with that in l. 1020. To _windre_ is evidently a form suggested by the Fr. _guignier_. There are two verbs of this form; the more common is _guigner_, to wink (see Cotgrave); the other is given by Godefroy as _guignier_, _guigner_, _guingnier_, _guinier_, _gignier_, with the senses 'parer, farder,' i. e. to trick out. Note the original line: 'Ne fu fardee ne guignie'; and again in l. 2180: 'Mais ne te farde ne guigne.' The sense, in the present passage, is evidently 'to trim,' with reference to the eyebrows. 'Her eyebrows were not artificially embellished.'

_Poppen_, in l. 1019, has much the same sense, and is evidently allied to F. _popin_, 'spruce, neat, briske, trimme, fine,' in Cotgrave.

1031. I read _Wys_ for want of a better word; it answers to one sense of Lat. _sapidus_, whence the F. _sade_ is derived. However, Cotgrave explains _sade_ by 'pretty, neat, spruce, fine, compt, minion, quaint.' Perhap _Queint_ or _Fine_ would do better.

1049. _in hir daungere_, under her control; see Prol. A 663, and the note. And see l. 1470.

1050. _losengere_, deceiver, flatterer; see Non. Pr. Ta. B 4516; Legend of Good Women, 352. Cf. ll. 1056, 1064 below.

1057. 'And thus anoint the world with (oily) words.'

1058. I cannot find that there is any such word as _prill_ (as in Th.) or _prile_ (as in G.) in any suitable sense; the word required is clearly _prikke_. As it was usual to write _kk_ like _lk_, the word probably looked, to the eye, like _prilke_, out of which _prille_ may have been evolved. Numerous mistakes have thus arisen, such as _rolke_ for _rokke_ (a rock) in Gawain Douglas, and many more of the same kind. M. Michel here quotes an O. F. proverb--'Poignez vilain, il vous oindra: Oignez vilain, il vous poindra.'

1068. Read _aryved_, for the Fr. text has _arives_; cf. Ho. Fame, 1047.

1079. _bend_, band, strip; as used in heraldry.

1080. Read _améled_, as in Speght; of which _enameled_ is a lengthened form, with the prefix _en-_. It signifies 'enamelled.' Palsgrave gives a good example. 'I _ammell_, as a goldesmyth dothe his worke, _Iesmaille_. Your broche is very well amelled: _vostre deuise est fort bien esmaillee_.' See _Ameled_ in the New Eng. Dict. See also the long note in Warton (sect. xiii, where this passage is quoted) on enamelling in the middle ages. He cites the Latin forms _amelitam_ and _amelita_ in the sense 'enamelled,' and shews that the art flourished, in particular, at Limoges in France.

1081. _of gentil entaile_, of a fine shape, referring to her neck, apparently; or it may refer to the collar. Halliwell quotes from MS. Douce 291 'the hors of gode _entaile_,' i. e. of a good shape. Cf. _entaile_, to shape, in l. 609 above; and see l. 3711.

1082. _shet_, shut, i. e. clasped, fastened. _Chevesaile_, a collar; properly, the neckband of the robe, as explained in the New E. Dict. Though it does not here occur in the Fr. text, it occurs below in a passage which Chaucer does not exactly translate, though it answers to the 'colere' of l. 1190, q.v. There seems to be no sufficient reason for explaining it by 'necklace' or 'gorget,' as if it were a separable article of attire. It answers to a Lat. type _capitiale_, from _capitium_, the opening in a tunic through which the head passed; which explains how the word arose.

1089. The right word is _thurte_, which the scribe, not understanding, has turned into _durst_; both here, and in l. 1324 below. _Thurte him_ means 'he needed,' the exact sense required. The use of the dative _him_ is a clear trace of the use of this phrase.

The idea that a gem would repel venom was common; see P. Plowman, B. ii. 14, and my note.

1093. _and Fryse_, and Friesland. Not in the original, and merely added for the rime.

1094. _mourdaunt_, mordant, chape, tag. Halliwell explains it 'the tongue of a buckle,' which is probably a guess; it is often mentioned as if it were quite distinct from it. It was probably 'the metal chape or tag fixed to the end of a girdle or strap,' viz. to the end _remote_ from the buckle; see Fairholt's 'Costume.' Godefroy explains it in the same way; it terminated the dependent end of the girdle; and this explains how it could be made of a stone. Warton, in a note on this passage (sect. xiii.), quotes from a wardrobe roll, in which there is mention of one hundred garters 'cum boucles, barris, et pendentibus de argento.'

1103. _barres_, bars; fixed transversely to the satin tissue of the girdle, and perforated to receive the tongue of the buckle. See note to Prol. A 329.

1106. 'In each bar was a bezant-weight of gold.' A _bezant_ was a gold coin, originally struck at Byzantium, whence the name. It 'varied in weight between the English sovereign and half-sovereign, or less'; New E. Dict.

1117. The false reading _ragounces_ is easily corrected by the original. In Lydgate's Chorle and Bird, st. 34, we find:--'There is a stone which called is _iagounce_.' Warton rather hastily identifies it with the jacinth. Godefroy says that some make it to be a jacinth, but others, a garnet. Warnke explains _iagunce_ (in Marie de France, Le Fraisne, 130) by 'ruby.'

1120. _carboucle_, carbuncle; see notes to Ho. Fame, 1352, 1363.

1137. That is, he would have expected to be accused of a crime equal to theft or murder, if he had kept in his stable such a horse as a hackney. The F. text has _roucin_, whence Chaucer's _rouncy_, in Prol. A 390.

1148. I. e. as if his wealth had been poured into a garner, like so much wheat. _daungere_ here means 'parsimony.'

1152. I. e. Alexander was noted for his liberality.

1163. _to hir baundon_, (so as to be) at her disposal.

1182. _adamaunt_, lodestone; _leyd therby_, laid beside it.

1188. The form _sarlynysh_ (in G.) evidently arose from the common mistake of reading a long _s_ as an _l_. The right reading is, of course, _Sarsinesshe_, i. e., Saracenic, or coloured by an Eastern dye. Compare the mod. E. _sarsnet_, a derivative from the same source.

1190. Her neck-band was thrown open, because she had given away the brooch, with which she used to fasten it.

1199. The knight is said to be _sib_, i. e., akin, to king Arthur, because of the great celebrity of that flower of chivalry.

1201. The reading _gousfaucoun_ is a queer mistake; the scribe seems to have thought that it meant a goshawk! But the sense is war-banner.' See _Gonfanon_ in my Etym. Dict.

1215. _at poynt devys_, with great exactness, with great regularity; cf. l. 830. The same expression occurs in the Ho. of Fame, 917.

1216. _tretys_, long and well-shaped; hence this epithet, as applied to the nose of the Prioress; see Prol. A 152. See ll. 932, 1016.

1227. _bistad_, bestead; i. e. hard beset.

1232. _sukkenye_, an E. adaptation of the O.F. _sorquanie_. Cotgrave has: '_Souquenie_, f. a canvas Jacket, frock, or Gaberdine; such a one as our Porters wear.' Mod. F. _souquenille_, a smock-frock. It was therefore a loose frock, probably made, in this case, of fine linen. For a note in the glossary to Méon's edition says that linen was sometimes the material used for it; and we are expressly told, in the text, that it was _not_ made of hempen hards. Cf. Russ. _sukno_, cloth.

1235. _rideled_, 'gathered,' or pleated; F. _coillie_. Not 'pierced like a riddle,' as suggested in Bell's Chaucer, but gathered in folds like a curtain or a modern surplice; from O.F. _ridel_ (F. _rideau_), a curtain. Cf. 'filettis, and wymplis, and _rydelid_ gownes and rokettis, colers, lacis,' &c.; Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i. 41. Hence, in ll. 1236, 7, the statement that every point was in its right place; because it was so evenly gathered.

1240. 'A _roket_, or _rochet_, is a loose linen frock synonymous with _sukkenye_. The name is now appropriated to the short surplice worn by bishops over their cassocks.'--Bell.

1249, 50. _Al hadde he be_, even if he had been. As the French copy consulted by Warton here omitted two lines of the original, Warton made the singular mistake of supposing that, in l. 1250, Chaucer intended 'a compliment to some of his patrons.' But William de Lorris died in 1260, so that the _seignor de Gundesores_ was 'Henry of Windsor,' as he was sometimes termed[287], i. e. no other than Henry III; and the reference was probably suggested by the birth of prince Edward in 1239, unless these two lines were added somewhat later.

1263. _avenant_, comely, graceful; see the New E. Dict.

1282. The absolutely necessary correction in this line was suggested by Ten Brink, in his Chaucer Studien, p. 30.

1284. _volage_, flighty, giddy; see Manc. Ta. H 239.

1294. I should like to read--'They ne made force of privetee'; pronounced _They n' mad-e_, &c. But _no fors_ is usual.

1321. _his thankes_, willingly; see Kn. Ta. A 1626, 2107.

1324. _durst_ is an error for _thurte_; see note to l. 1089.

1334. For _hadde_ (which gives no sense), read _bad_; confusion of _b_ and _h_ is not uncommon. And for _bent_, read _bende it_; see l. 1336.

1341. Some mending of the text is absolutely necessary, because _shette_ is altogether a false form; the pp. of _sheten_, to shoot, is _shoten_. The suggested emendation satisfies the conditions, and makes better sense. So, in l. 1343, read _wol me greven_.

1348. In ll. 1461, 1582, the F. _vergier_ is translated by _yerde_. So here, and in l. 1447 (as Dr. Kaluza suggests) we must read _yerde in_, to make sense. The scribe easily turned _yerde in_ into _gardin_, but ruined the sense by it. So in l. 1366, _yerde_ would be better than _gardin_.

1359. _greet foisoun_, a great abundance (of them).

1361. _notemygge_ is the form given in the Prompt. Parv. In Sir Topas, 1953, _notemuge_ occurs in all the seven MSS. See note to the same, B 1950, which explains _clow-gelofre_, i. e. clove, and _setewale_, i. e., zedoary.

1363. The form _alemandres_ is justified by the Fr. text, which has _Alemandiers_. The O. F. for 'almond' was at first _alemande_, before it was shortened to _almande_; see _Almond_ in the New E. Dict. The sense is 'almond-trees.'

1369. _parys_ or _paris_ is a stupid blunder for _paradys_, as the Fr. text shews. It was a well-known term. Cotgrave has '_Graine de paradis_, the spice called Grains.' Philips explains _Paradisi grana_ as 'cardamum-seed.' Compare the quotation from Langham in the New E. Dict., s. v. _Cardamom_. _Canelle_ (in l. 1370) is 'cinnamon.'

1374. _coyn_ is the word which has been twisted into _quin_; and the pl. _quins_ has become the sing. _quince_.

1377. _aleys._ 'Aley [adapted from O. Fr. _alie_, _alye_ (also _alis_), mod. Fr. _alise_, _alize_, from O. H. G. _eliza_, mod. G. _else_(_beere_); the suppression of the _s_ in the O. Fr. is anomalous.] The fruit of the Wild-Service tree'; New E. Dict. No other example of the word is known in English. _bolas_, bullace; the rime is only a _single_ one.

1379. _lorer_, laurel; miswritten _lorey_ in G.; cf. l. 1313 above, where _loreres_ is miswritten _loreyes_.

1384. Compare the tree-lists in Parl. Foules, 176, and in the Kn. Ta. A 2921.

1385. I should read _Pyn, ew_, instead of _Fyn ew_; only we have had _pyn_ already, in l. 1379.

1391. Imitated in the Book Duch. 419; again, l. 1401 is imitated in the same, 429.

1397, 8. The rimed words must needs be _knet_, _set_, as in the Parl. Foules, 627, 628.

1405. _claperes_, burrows. '_Clapier_, m. A clapper of conies, a heap of stones, &c., whereinto they retire themselves'; Cotgrave. See _Clapper_ in the New E. Dict.

1414. _condys_, conduits; Fr. text, _conduis_. Godefroy gives numerous examples of _conduis_ as the pl. of O. F. _conduit_, in the sense of safe-conduct, &c. So, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 91, we find:--'Thise uif wytes byeth ase uif _condwys_,' i. e. these five wits (senses) are as five channels. _by devys_, by contrivances (l. 1413).

1420. _vel-u-et_ is here a trisyllabic word; and the _u_ is a vowel, as in A. F. _veluet_. The mod. E. _velvet_ arose from misreading the _u_ as a _v_. The Prompt. Parv. has also the form _velwet_. So in Lydgate, Compl. of the Black Knight, l. 80: 'And soft as vel-u-et,' &c.

1426. _as mister was_, as was need, as was necessary.

1447. As _garden_ makes no sense here, Kaluza reads _yerde in_; see note to l. 1348.

1448. _estres_ (F. text, _l'estre_), inner parts; see Rev. Ta. A 4295, and the note.

1453. _at good mes_, to advantage, from a favourable position; Fr. _en_ _bel leu_. In l. 3462, the phrase translates F. _en bon point_. _Mes_ (_Lat. missum_) is an old Anglo-French hunting-term, answering (nearly) to mod. E. _shot_. Thus, in Marie de France, Guigemar, 87:--'Traire voleit, si _mes_ ëust,' he wished to shoot, if he could get a good shot. See Ducange, ed. 1887, ix. 270, for two more examples.

1458. _Pepyn_; the F. text says 'Charles, the son of Pepin.' Charles the Great, who died in 814, was the son of Pepin Le Bref, king of the Franks, who died in 768.

1469. This story of Narcissus is from Ovid, Met. iii. 346.

1470. _in his daungere_, within his control; in l. 1492, _daungerous_ means 'disdainful.' See note to l. 1049.

1498. The right spelling is _vilaynsly_; it occurs in the Pers. Tale, I 279; and the adj. _vilayns_ in the same, I 627, 715, 854.

1517, 18. The right spellings are _sene_, adj., visible, and _shene_, adj., showy, bright.

1525. _bere_, bore; but it is in the subjunctive mood; A. S. _b[=æ]re_.

1537. _warisoun_, reward; F. _guerredon_. But this is not the usual sense; it commonly means healing, cure, or remedy; see _Guarison_ in Cotgrave. However, it also means provision, store, assistance; whence it is no great step to the sense of 'reward.' To 'winne a warisun' is to obtain a reward; Will. of Palerne, 2253, 2259. Cf. note to l. 886.

1550. _scatheles_, without harm. There is actually a touch of humour here; the poet ran no risk of falling in love with such a face as his own.

1561. _welmeth up_, boils up, bubbles up; from A. S. _wylm_, a spring.

1564. _For moiste_, because it was moist, because of its moisture. The adj. has almost the force of a sb. Cf. note to l. 276.

1591. _entrees_ is, of course, a blunder for _estres_, as the F. text shews. See l. 1448 above, where _estres_ rightly occurs, to represent F. _l'estre_. _accuseth_, reveals, shews; see the New Eng. Dict.

1604. 'That made him afterwards lie on his back,' i. e. lie dead (F. _mors_). The alteration of _lye_ to _ligge_ in MS. G. is a clear example of the substitution of a Northern form.

1608. Here _laughyng_ is a very queer travesty of _loving_, owing to a similarity in the sound. But the F. text has _d'amer_, which settles it.

1621. _panteres_, nets; see Leg. of Good Women, 131, and the note.

1624. _lacche_, trap. The usual sense is 'the latch of a door'; but the sense here given is clearly caught from the related verb _lacchen_, which sometimes meant to catch birds. Thus in P. Plowman, B. v. 355, we find 'forto lacche foules,' i. e. to catch birds. We must not confuse _lacche_, as here used, with _lace_, a snare.

1641. We must read _syked_, not _sighede_, in order to rime with _entryked_. Observe that _syketh_ rimes with _entryketh_ in the Parl. of Foules, 404. Further, as the rime is a double one, the word _have_ must be inserted, to fill up the line. It is in the Fr. text, 'tant en _ai_ puis souspire.'

1652. _enclos_, enclosed; a French form, used for the rime. Cf. _clos_, in the same sense; The Pearl, l. 2.

1663. Speght made the obvious correction of _be_, for _me_.

1666. _My thankes_, with my goodwill; cf. _his thankes_, l. 1321.

1673. _gret woon_, a great quantity.

1674. _roon_ (in place of _Rone_); F. text, _sous ciaus_, 'under the skies.' Bell suggests that there is a reference to the river Rhone, and to the roses of Provence. But the prep. _in_ must mean 'in' or 'upon'; and as roses do not grow on a river, but upon bushes, perhaps _roon_ answers to Lowland Scotch _rone_, a bush; see Jamieson. Thus Henrysoun, Prol. to Moral Fables, l. 15, has:--'The roisis reid arrayit on _rone_ and ryce'; and G. Douglas has _ronnis_, bushes. _In Roon_ might mean 'in Rouen'; spelt _Roan_ in Shakespeare.

1677. _moysoun_, size; Cotgrave has: '_Moyson_, size, bignesse, quantity'; from Lat. _mensionem_, a measuring. See P. Plowman, C. xii. 120, and my note. Not connected with _moisson_, harvest, as suggested in Bell.

1701. 'The stalk was as upright as a rush.'

1705. Here ends Chaucer's portion of the translation, in the middle of an incomplete sentence, without any verb. It may have been continued thus (where _dide fulfild_ = caused to be filled):--

The swote smelle sprong so wyde,
That it dide al the place aboute
_Fulfild of baume, withouten doute_.

We can easily understand that the original MS. ended here suddenly, the rest being torn away or lost. An attempt was made to join on another version, without observing the incompleteness of the sentence. Moreover, the rime is a false one, since _swote_ and _aboute_ have different vowel-sounds. Hence the point of junction becomes visible enough.

Dr. Max Kaluza was the first to observe the change of authorship at this point, though he made Chaucer's portion end at l. 1704. He remarked, very acutely, that Chaucer translates the F. _bouton_ by the word _knoppe_; see ll. 1675, 1683, 1685, 1691, 1702, whereas the other translator merely keeps the word _botoun_; see ll. 1721, 1761, 1770.

It is easily seen that ll. 1706-5810 are by a second and less skilful hand. This portion abounds with non-Chaucerian rimes, as explained in the Introduction, and is not by any means remarkable for accuracy. Some of the false rimes are noted below.

As the remaining portion is of less interest and value, I only draw attention, in the notes, to the most important points. I here denote the second portion (ll. 1706-5810) by the name of Section B.

1713. _muche_, in Sect. B, is usually dissyllabic; perhaps the original had _mikel_.

1721. In sect. B, the word _botoun_ is invariably misspelt _bothum_ or _bothom_. That this ridiculous form is wrong, is proved by the occurrence of places where the pl. _botouns_ rimes with _sesouns_ (4011) and with _glotouns_ (4308). I therefore restore the form _botoun_ throughout.

1776. Sect. B is strongly marked by the frequent use of _withouten wene_, _withouten were_, _withouten drede_, and the like tags.

1820. A common proverb, in many languages. 'Chien eschaudé craint l'eau froide, the scaulded dog fears even cold water;' Cotgrave. 'Brend child fur dredeth' is one of the Proverbs of Hending, l. 184. The Fr. text has: 'Qu'eschaudés doit iaue douter.' See Cant. Ta. G 1407. At this point, the translation somewhat varies from the Fr. text, as usually printed. The _third_ arrow is here called Curtesye (1802, cf. 957) instead of Fraunchise (955).

1853, 4. Both _thore, more_, evidently for _thar, mar_; see ll. 1857, 8.

1871. _allegeaunce_, alleviation; F. text, _aleiance_. Cf. _aleggement_, 1890; F. text, _alegement_; and see l. 1923.

1906. Both texts have _Rokyng_. A better spelling is either _rouking_ or _rukking_. It means--'crouching down very closely on account of the pain.' See Kn. Ta. A 1308. (Not in the French text.)