Chapter XV: Part 15

4051. _as the Ieet_, like the jet. Beads used for the repetition of prayers were frequently formed of _jet_. See note to Prol. A. 159.

4060. _damoysele Pertelote._ Cf. our 'Dame Partlet.'

'I'll be as faithful to thee
As Chaunticleer to Madame Partelot.'
The Ancient Drama, iii. p. 158.

In Le Roman de Renart, the hen is called _Pinte_ or _Pintain_.

4064. _in hold_; in possession. Cf. 'He hath my heart _in holde_'; Greene's George a Greene, ed. Dyce, p. 256. [251]

4065. _loken in every lith_, locked in every limb.

4069. _my lief is faren in londe_, my beloved is gone away. Probably the refrain of a popular song of the time.

4079. _herte dere._ This expression corresponds to 'dear heart,' or 'deary heart,' which still survives in some parts of the country.

4083. _take it nat agrief_ = _take it not in grief_, i. e. take it not amiss, be not offended.

4084. _me mette_, I dreamed; literally _it dreamed to me_.

4086. _my swevene recche_ (or _rede_) _aright_, bring my dream to a good issue; literally 'interpret my dream favourably.'

4090. _Was lyk._ The relative _that_ is often omitted by Chaucer before a relative clause, as, again, in l. 4365.

4098. _Avoy_ (Elles.); _Away_ (Harl.). From O. F. _avoi_, interj. fie! It occurs in Le Roman de la Rose, 7284, 16634.

4113. See the Chapter on Dreams in Brand's Pop. Antiquities.

4114. _fume_, the effects arising from gluttony and drunkenness. 'Anxious black melancholy _fumes_.'--Burton's Anat. of Mel. p. 438, ed. 1845. 'All vapours arising out of the stomach,' especially those caused by gluttony and drunkenness. 'For when the head is heated it scorcheth the blood, and from thence proceed melancholy _fumes_ that trouble the mind.'--Ibid. p. 269.

4118. _rede colera_ ... red cholera caused by too much bile and _blood_ (sometimes called _red humour_). Burton speaks of a kind of melancholy of which the signs are these--'the veins of their eyes red, as well as their faces.' The following quotation explains the matter. 'Ther be foure humours, Bloud, Fleame, Cholar, and Melancholy.... First, working heate turneth what is colde and moyst into the kind of Fleme, and then what is hot and moyst, into the kinde of Bloud; and then what is hot and drye into the kinde of Cholera; and then what is colde and drye into the kinde of Melancholia.... By meddling of other humours, Bloud chaungeth kinde and colour: for by meddling of _Cholar_, it seemeth _red_, and by Melancholy it seemeth _black_, and by Fleame it seemeth watrie, and fomie.'--Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. iv. c. 6. So also--'in bloud it needeth that there be _red Cholera_'; lib. iv. c. 10; &c.

The following explains the belief as to dreams caused by _cholera_. Men in which red _Cholera_ is excesssive 'dreame of fire, and of lyghtening, and of dreadful burning of the ayre'; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. iv. c. 10. Those in which _Melancholia_ is excessive dream 'dredfull darke dreames, and very ill to see'; id. c. 11. And again: 'He that is Sanguine hath glad and liking dreames, the melancholious dremeth of sorrow, the Cholarike, of _firy_ things, and the Flematike, of Raine, Snow,' &c.; id. lib. vi. c. 27.

4123. _the humour of malencolye._ 'The name (melancholy) is imposed from the matter, and disease denominated from the material cause, as Bruel observes, [Greek: melancholia] _quasi_ [Greek: melainacholê], from black choler.' Fracastorius, in his second book of Intellect, calls those melancholy [252] 'whom abundance of that same depraved humour of black choler hath so misaffected, that they become mad thence, and dote in most things or in all, belonging to election, will, or other manifest operations of the understanding.'--Burton's Anat. of Melancholy, p. 108, ed. 1805.

4128. 'That cause many a man in sleep to be very distressed.'

4130. _Catoun._ Dionysius Cato, de Moribus, l. ii. dist. 32: _somnia ne cures_. 'I observe by the way, that this distich is quoted by John of Salisbury, Polycrat. l. ii. c. 16, as a precept _viri sapientis_. In another place, l. vii. c. 9, he introduces his quotation of the first verse of dist. 20 (l. iii.) in this manner:--"_Ait vel Cato vel alius_, nam autor incertus est."'--Tyrwhitt. Cf. note to G. 688.

4131. _do no fors of_ = take no notice of, pay no heed to. Skelton, i. 118, has 'makyth so lytyll fors,' i. e. cares so little for.

4153. 'Wormwood, _centaury_, pennyroyal, are likewise magnified and much prescribed, especially in hypochondrian melancholy, daily to be used, sod in whey. And because the spleen and blood are often misaffected in melancholy, I may not omit endive, succory, dandelion, _fumitory_, &c., which cleanse the blood.'--Burton's Anat. of Mel. pp. 432, 433. See also p. 438, ed. 1845. '_Centauria_ abateth wombe-ache, and cleereth sight, and vnstoppeth the splene and the reines'; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. xvii. c. 47. '_Fumus terre_ [fumitory] cleanseth and purgeth Melancholia, fleme, and cholera'; id. lib. xvii. c. 69. 'Medicinal herbs were grown in every garden, and were dried or made into decoctions, and kept for use'; Wright, Domestic Manners, p. 279.

4154. _ellebor._ Two kinds of hellebore are mentioned by old writers; 'white hellebore, called sneezing powder, a strong purger upward' (Burton's Anat. of Mel. pt. 2. § 4. m. 2. subsec. 1.), and '_black hellebore_, that most renowned plant, and famous purger of melancholy.'--Ibid. subsec. 2.

4155. _catapuce_, caper-spurge, _Euphorbia Lathyris_. _gaytres_ (or _gaytrys_) _beryis_, probably the berries of the buck-thorn, _Rhamnus catharticus_; which (according to Rietz) is still called, in Swedish dialects, the _getbärs-trä_ (goat-berries tree) or _getappel_ (goat-apple). I take _gaytre_ to stand for _gayt-tre_, i. e. goat-tree; a Northern form, from Icel. _geit_ (gen. _geitar_), a goat. The A. S. _g[=a]te-tr[=e]ow_, goat-tree, is probably the same tree, though the prov. Eng. _gaiter-tree_, _gatten-tree_, or _gatteridge-tree_ is usually applied to the _Cornus sanguinea_ or cornel-tree, the fruits of which 'are sometimes mistaken for those of the buck-thorn, but do not possess the active properties of that plant'; Eng. Cyclop., s. v. _Cornus_. The context shews that the buck-thorn is meant. Langham says of the buck-thorn, that 'the beries do purge downwards mightily flegme and choller'; Garden of Health, 1633, p. 99 (New E. Dict., s. v. _Buckthorn_). This is why Chanticleer was recommended to eat them.

4156. _erbe yve_, herb ive or herb ivy, usually identified with the ground-pine, _Ajuga chamæpitys_. _mery_, pleasant, used ironically; as the leaves are extremely nauseous. [253]

4160. _graunt mercy_, great thanks; this in later authors is corrupted into _grammercy_ or _gramercy_.

4166. _so mote I thee_, as I may thrive (or prosper). _Mote_ = A. S. _m[=o]t-e_, first p. s. pr. subj.

4174. _Oon of the gretteste auctours._ 'Cicero, De Divin. l. i. c. 27, relates this and the following story, but in a different order, and with so many other differences, that one might be led to suspect that he was here quoted at second-hand, if it were not usual with Chaucer, in these stories of familiar life, to throw in a number of natural circumstances, not to be found in his original authors.'--Tyrwhitt. Warton thinks that Chaucer took it rather from Valerius Maximus, who has the same story; i. 7. He has, however, overlooked the statement in l. 4254, which decides for Cicero. I here quote the whole of the former story, as given by Valerius. 'Duo familiares Arcades iter una facientes, Megaram venerunt; quorum alter ad hospitem se contulit, alter in tabernam meritoriam devertit. Is, qui in hospitio venit, vidit in somnis comitem suam orantem, ut sibi cauponis insidiis circumvento subveniret: posse enim celeri ejus accursu se imminenti periculo subtrahi. Quo viso excitatus, prosiluit, tabernamque, in qua is diversabatur, petere conatus est. Pestifero deinde fato ejus humanissimum propositum tanquam supervacuum damnavit, et lectum ac somnum repetiit. Tunc idem ei saucius oblatus obsecravit, ut qui auxilium vitae suae ferre neglexisset, neci saltem ultionem non negaret. Corpus enim suum à caupone trucidatum, tum maxime plaustro ad portam ferri stercore coöpertum. Tam constantibus familiaris precibus compulsus, protinus ad portam cucurrit, et plaustrum, quod in quiete demonstratum erat, comprehendit, cauponemque ad capitale supplicium perduxit.' Valerii Maximi, lib. i. c. 7 (De Somniis). Cf. Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 27.

4194. _oxes_; written _oxe_ in Hl. Cp. Ln; where _oxe_ corresponds to the older English gen. _oxan_, of an ox--_oxe_ standing for _oxen_ (as in Oxenford, see note on l. 285 of Prologue). Thus _oxes_ and _oxe_ are equivalent.

4200. _took of this no keep_, took no heed to this, paid no attention to it.

4211. _sooth to sayn_, to say (tell) the truth.

4232. _gapinge._ The phrase _gaping upright_ occurs elsewhere (see Knightes Tale, A. 2008), and signifies lying flat on the back with the mouth open. Cf. 'Dede he sate uprighte,' i. e. he lay on his back dead. The Sowdone of Babyloyne, l. 530.

4235. _Harrow_, a cry of distress; a cry for help. 'Harrow! alas! I swelt here as I go.'--The Ordinary; see vol. iii. p. 150, of the Ancient Drama. See F. _haro_ in Godefroy and Littré; and note to A. 3286.

4237. _outsterte_ (Elles., &c.); _upsterte_ (Hn., Harl.)

4242. A common proverb. Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 50, has 'I drede mordre wolde come oute.'

4274. _And preyde him his viáge for to lette_, And prayed him to abandon his journey. [254]

4275. _to abyde_, to stay where he was.

4279. _my thinges_, my business-matters.

4300. 'Kenelm succeeded his father Kenulph on the throne of the Mercians in 821 [Haydn, Book of Dates, says 819] at the age of seven years, and was murdered by order of his aunt, Quenedreda. He was subsequently made a saint, and his legend will be found in Capgrave, or in the Golden Legend.'--Wright.

St. Kenelm's day is Dec. 13. Alban Butler, in his Lives of the Saints, says:--[Kenulph] 'dying in 819, left his son Kenelm, a child only seven years old [see l. 4307] heir to his crown, under the tutelage of his sister Quindride. This ambitious woman committed his person to the care of one Ascobert, whom she had hired to make away with him. The wicked minister decoyed the innocent child into an unfrequented wood, cut off his head, and buried him under a thorn-tree. His corpse is said to have been discovered by a heavenly ray of light which shone over the place, and by the following inscription:--

In Clent cow-pasture, under a thorn,
Of head bereft, lies Kenelm, king born.'

Milton tells the story in his History of Britain, bk. iv. ed. 1695, p. 218, and refers us to Matthew of Westminster. He adds that the 'inscription' was inside a note, which was miraculously dropped by a dove on the altar at Rome. Our great poet's verson of it is:--

'Low in a Mead of Kine, under a thorn,
Of Head bereft, li'th poor _Kenelm_ King-born.'

Clent is near the boundary between Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

Neither of these accounts mentions Kenelm's dream, but it is given in his Life, as printed in Early Eng. Poems, ed. Furnivall (Phil. Soc. 1862), p. 51, and in Caxton's Golden Legend. St. Kenelm dreamt that he saw a noble tree with waxlights upon it, and that he climbed to the top of it; whereupon one of his best friends cut it down, and he was turned into a little bird, and flew up to heaven. The little bird denoted his soul, and the flight to heaven his death.

4307. _For traisoun_, i. e. for fear of treason.

4314. _Cipioun._ The Somnium Scipionis of Cicero, as annotated by Macrobius, was a favourite work during the middle ages. See note to l. 31 of the Parl. of Foules.

4328. See the Monkes Tale, B. 3917, and the note, p. 246.

4331. _Lo heer Andromacha._ Andromache's dream is not to be found in Homer. It is mentioned in chapter xxiv. of Dares Phrygius, the authority for the history of the Trojan war most popular in the middle ages. See the Troy-book, ed. Panton and Donaldson (E.E.T.S.), l. 8425; or Lydgate's Siege of Troye, c. 27.

4341. _as for conclusioun_, in conclusion.

4344. _telle ... no store_, set no store by them; reckon them of no value; count them as useless.

4346. _never a del_, never a whit, not in the slightest degree. [255]

4350. This line is repeated from the Compleynt of Mars, l. 61.

4353-6. 'By way of quiet retaliation for Partlet's sarcasm, he cites a Latin proverbial saying, in l. 344, 'Mulier est hominis confusio,' which he turns into a pretended compliment by the false translation in ll. 345, 346.'--Marsh. Tyrwhitt quotes it from Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Hist. x. 71. Chaucer has already referred to this saying above; see p. 207, l. 2296. 'A woman, as saith the philosofre [i. e. Vincent], is the confusion of man, insaciable, &c.'; Dialogue of Creatures, cap. cxxi. 'Est damnum dulce mulier, confusio sponsi'; Adolphi Fabulae, x. 567; pr. in Leyser, Hist. Poet. Med. Aevi, p. 2031. Cf. note to D. 1195.

4365. _lay_, for _that lay_. Chaucer omits the relative, as is frequently done in Middle English poetry; see note to l. 4090.

4377. According to Beda, the creation took place at the vernal equinox; see Morley, Eng. Writers, 1888, ii. 146. Cf. note to l. 4045.

4384. See note on l. 4045 above.

4395. Cf. Man of Lawes Tale, B. 421, and note. See Prov. xiv. 13.

4398. In the margin of MSS. E. and Hn. is written 'Petrus Comestor,' who is probably here referred to.

4402. See the Squieres Tale, F. 287, and the note.

4405. _col-fox_; explained by Bailey as a 'coal-black fox'; and he seems to have caught the right idea. _Col-_ here represents M. E. _col_, coal; and the reference is to the _brant-fox_, which is explained in the New E. Dict. as borrowed from the G. _brand-fuchs_, 'the German name of a variety of the fox, chiefly distinguished by a greater admixture of black in its fur; according to Grimm, it has black feet, ears, and tail.' Chaucer expressly refers to the black-tipped tail and ears in l. 4094 above. Mr. Bradley cites the G. _kohlfuchs_ and Du. _koolvos_, similarly formed; but the ordinary dictionaries do not give these names. The old explanation of _col-fox_ as meaning 'deceitful fox' is difficult to establish, and is now unnecessary.

4412. _undern_; see note to E. 260.

4417. _Scariot_, i. e. Judas Iscariot. _Genilon_; the traitor who caused the defeat of Charlemagne, and the death of Roland; see Book of the Duchesse, 1121, and the note in vol. i. p. 491.

4418. See Vergil, Æn. ii. 259.

4430. _bulte it to the bren_, sift the matter; cf. the phrase _to boult the bran_. See the argument in Troilus, iv. 967; cf. Milton, P. L. ii. 560.

4432. _Boece_, i. e. Boethius. See note to Kn. Tale, A. 1163.

_Bradwardyn._ Thomas Bradwardine was Proctor in the University of Oxford in the year 1325, and afterwards became Divinity Professor and Chancellor of the University. His chief work is 'On the Cause of God' (_De Causâ Dei_). See Morley's English Writers, iv. 61.

4446. _colde_, baneful, fatal. The proverb is Icelandic; 'köld eru opt kvenna-ráð,' cold (fatal) are oft women's counsels; Icel. Dict. s. v. _kaldr_. It occurs early, in The Proverbs of Alfred, ed. Morris, Text 1, l. 336:--'Cold red is quene red.' Cf. B. 2286, and the note. [256]

4450-6. Imitated from Le Roman de la Rose, 15397-437.

4461. _Phisiologus._ 'He alludes to a book in Latin metre, entitled Physiologus de Naturis xii. Animalium, by one Theobaldus, whose age is not known. The chapter _De Sirenis_ begins thus:--

Sirenae sunt monstra maris resonantia magnis
Vocibus, et modulis cantus formantia multis,
Ad quas incaute veniunt saepissime nautae,
Quae faciunt sompnum nimia dulcedine vocum.'--Tyrwhitt.

See The Bestiary, in Dr. Morris's Old English Miscellany, pp. 18, 207; Philip de Thaun, Le Bestiaire, l. 664; Babees Book, pp. 233, 237; Mätzner's Sprachproben, i. 55; Gower, C.A. i. 58; and cf. Rom. Rose, Eng. Version, 680 (in vol. i. p. 122).

4467. In Douglas's Virgil, prol. to Book xi. st. 15, we have--

'Becum thow cowart, craudoun recryand,
And by consent _cry cok_, thi deid is dycht';

i. e. if thou turn coward, (and) a recreant craven, and consent to cry _cok_, thy death is imminent. In a note on this passage, Ruddiman says--'_Cok_ is the sound which cocks utter when they are beaten.' But it is probable that this is only a guess, and that Douglas is merely quoting Chaucer. To cry _cok! cok!_ refers rather to the utterance of rapid cries of alarm, as fowls cry when scared. Brand (Pop. Antiq., ed. Ellis, ii. 58) copies Ruddiman's explanation of the above passage.

4484. Boethius wrote a treatise De Musica, quoted by Chaucer in the Hous of Fame; see my note to l. 788 of that poem (vol. iii. p. 260).

4490. 'As I hope to retain the use of my two eyes.' So Havelok, l. 2545:--

'So mote ich brouke mi Rith eie!'

And l. 1743:--'So mote ich brouke finger or to.'

And l. 311:--'So brouke i euere mi blake swire!'

_swire_ = neck. See also _Brouke_ in the Glossary to Gamelyn.

4502. _daun Burnel the Asse._ 'The story alluded to is in a poem of Nigellus Wireker, entitled Burnellus seu Speculum Stultorum, written in the time of Richard I. In the Chester Whitsun Playes, _Burnell_ is used as a nickname for an ass. The original word was probably _brunell_, from its _brown_ colour; as the _fox_ below is called _Russel_, from his _red_ colour.'--Tyrwhitt. The Latin story is printed in The Anglo-Latin Satirists of the Twelfth Century, ed. T. Wright, i. 55; see also Wright's Biographia Britannica Literaria, Anglo-Norman Period, p. 356. There is an amusing translation of it in Lowland Scotch, printed as 'The Unicornis Tale' in Small's edition of Laing's Select Remains of Scotch Poetry, ed. 1885, p. 285. It tells how a certain young Gundulfus broke a cock's leg by throwing a stone at him. On the morning of the day when Gundulfus was to be ordained and to receive a benefice, the cock took his revenge by not crowing till much later [257] than usual; and so Gundulfus was too late for the ceremony, and lost his benefice. Cf. Warton, Hist. E. P., ed. 1871, ii. 352; Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 338. As to the name _Russel_, see note to l. 4039.

4516. See Rom. of the Rose (E. version), 1050. MS. E. alone reads _courtes_; Hn. Cm. Cp. Pt. have _court_; Ln. _courte_; Hl. _hous_.

4519. _Ecclesiaste_; not Ecclesiastes, but Ecclesiasticus, xii. 10, 11, 16. Cf. Tale of Melibeus, B. 2368.

4525. Tyrwhitt cites the O. F. form _gargate_, i. e. (throat), from the Roman de Rou. Several examples of it are given by Godefroy.

4537. _O Gaufred._ 'He alludes to a passage in the Nova Poetria of Geoffrey de Vinsauf, published not long after the death of Richard I. In this work the author has not only given instructions for composing in the different styles of poetry, but also examples. His specimen of the plaintive style begins thus:--

'Neustria, sub clypeo regis defensa Ricardi,
Indefensa modo, gestu testare dolorem;
Exundent oculi lacrimas; exterminet ora
Pallor; connodet digitos tortura; cruentet
Interiora dolor, et verberet aethera clamor;
Tota peris ex morte sua. Mors non fuit eius,
Sed tua, non una, sed publica mortis origo.
_O Veneris lacrimosa_ dies! O sydus amarum!
Illa dies tua nox fuit, et Venus illa venenum.
Illa dedit vulnus,' &c.

These lines are sufficient to show the object and the propriety of Chaucer's ridicule. The whole poem is printed in Leyser's Hist. Poet. Med. Ævi, pp. 862-978.'--Tyrwhitt. See a description of the poem, with numerous quotations, in Wright's Biographia Britannica Literaria, Anglo-Norman Period, p. 400; cf. Lounsbury, Studies, ii. 341.

4538. Richard I. died on April 6, 1199, on Tuesday; but he received his wound on Friday, March 26.

4540. _Why ne hadde I_ = O that I had.

4547. _streite swerd_ = drawn (naked) sword. Cf. Aeneid, ii. 333, 334:--

'Stat _ferri acies_ mucrone corusco
_Stricta_, parata neci.'

4548. See Aeneid, ii. 550-553.

4553. _Hasdrubal_; not Hannibal's brother, but the King of Carthage when the Romans burnt it, B.C. 146. Hasdrubal slew himself; and his wife and her two sons burnt themselves in despair; see Orosius, iv. 13. 3, or Ælfred's translation, ed. Sweet, p. 212. Lydgate has the story in his Fall of Princes, bk. v. capp. 12 and 27.

4573. See note to Ho. Fame, 1277 (in vol. iii. p. 273). '_Colle_ furit'; Morley, Eng. Writers, 1889, iv. 179.

4584. Walsingham relates how, in 1381, Jakke Straw and his men killed many Flemings 'cum clamore consueto.' He also speaks of the noise made by the rebels as 'clamor horrendissimus.' See _Jakke_ in [258] Tyrwhitt's Glossary. So also, in Riley's Memorials of London, p. 450, it is said, with respect to the same event--'In the Vintry was a very great massacre of Flemings.'

4590. _houped._ See Piers Plowman, B. vi. 174; '_houped_ after Hunger, that herde hym,' &c.

4616. Repeated in D. 1062.

4633. 'Mes retiengnent le grain et jettent hors la paille'; Test. de Jean de Meun, 2168.

4635. _my Lord._ A side-note in MS. E. explains this to refer to the Archbishop of Canterbury; doubtless William Courtenay, archbishop from 1381 to 1396. Cf. note to l. 4584, which shews that this Tale is later than 1381; and it was probably earlier than 1396. Note that _good men_ is practically a compound, as in l. 4630. Hence read _good_, not _g[=o]d-e_.

EPILOGUE TO THE NONNE PREESTES TALE.

4641. Repeated from B. 3135.

4643. _Thee wer-e nede_, there would be need for thee.

4649. _brasil_, a wood used for dyeing of a _bright red_ colour; hence the allusion. It is mentioned as being used for dyeing leather in Riley's Memorials of London, p. 364. '_Brazil-wood_; this name is now applied in trade to the dye-wood imported from Pernambuco, which is derived from certain species of _Cæsalpinia_ indigenous there. But it originally applied to a dye-wood of the same genus which was imported from India, and which is now known in trade as _Sappan_. The history of the word is very curious. For when the name was applied to the newly discovered region in S. America, probably, as Barros alleges, because it produced a dye-wood similar in character to the _brazil_ of the East, the trade-name gradually became appropriated to the S. American product, and was taken away from that of the E. Indies. See some further remarks in Marco Polo, ed. Yule, 2nd ed. ii. 368-370.

'This is alluded to also by Camo[e]s (Lusiad, x. 140). Burton's translation has:--

"But here, where earth spreads wider, ye shall claim
Realms by the _ruddy dye-wood_ made renowned;
These of the 'Sacred Cross' shall win the name,
By your first navy shall that world be found."

'The medieval forms of _brazil_ were many; in Italian, it is generally _verzi_, _verzino_, or the like.'--Yule, Hobson-Jobson, p. 86.

Again--'_Sappan_, the wood of _Cæsalpinia sappan_; the _baqqam_ of the Arabs, and the Brazil-wood of medieval commerce. The tree appears to be indigenous in Malabar, the Deccan, and the Malay peninsula.'--id. p. 600. And in Yule's edition of Marco Polo, ii. 315, he tells us that 'it is extensively used by native dyers, chiefly for common and cheap [259] cloths, and for fine mats. The dye is precipitated dark-brown with iron, and red with alum.'

Cf. Way's note on the word in the Prompt. Parv. p. 47.

Florio explains Ital. _verzino_ as 'brazell woode, or fernanbucke [Pernambuco] to dye red withall.'

The etymology is disputed, but I think _brasil_ and Ital. _verzino_ are alike due to the Pers. _wars_, saffron; cf. Arab. _war[=i]s_, dyed with saffron or _wars_.

_greyn of Portingale._ _Greyn_, mod. E. _grain_, is the term applied to the dye produced by the coccus insect, often termed, in commerce and the arts, _kermes_; see Marsh, Lectures on the E. Language, Lect. III. The colour thus produced was 'fast,' i. e. would not wash out; hence the phrase to _engrain_, or to _dye in grain_, meaning to dye of a fast colour. Various tones of red were thus produced, one of which was _crimson_, and another _carmine_, both forms being derivatives of _kermes_. _Of Portingale_ means 'imported from Portugal.' In the Libell of English Policy, cap. ii. (l. 132), it is said that, among 'the commoditees of _Portingale_' are:--'oyl, wyn, osey [Alsace wine], wex, and _graine_.'

4652. _to another_, to another of the pilgrims. This is so absurdly indefinite that it can hardly be genuine. Ll. 4637-4649 are in Chaucer's most characteristic manner, and are obviously genuine; but there, I suspect, we must stop, viz. at the word _Portingale_. The next three lines form a mere stop-gap, and are either spurious, or were jotted down temporarily, to await the time of revision. The former is more probable.

This Epilogue is only found in three MSS.; (see footnote, p. 289). In Dd., Group G follows, beginning with the Second Nun's Tale. In the other two MSS., Group H follows, i. e. the Manciple's Tale; nevertheless, MS. Addit. absurdly puts _the Nunne_, in place of _another_. The net result is, that, at this place, the gap is _complete_; with no hint as to what Tale should follow.

It is worthy of note that this Epilogue is preserved in Thynne and the old black-letter editions, in which it is followed immediately by the Manciple's Prologue. This arrangement is obviously wrong, because that Prologue is not introduced by the Host (as said in l. 4652).

In l. 4650, Thynne has _But_ for _Now_; and his last line runs--'Sayd to a nother man, as ye shal here.' I adopt his reading of _to_ for _unto_ (as in the MSS.).

* * * * *

[260]

NOTES TO GROUP C.

THE PHISICIENS TALE.

For remarks on the spurious Prologues to this Tale, see vol. iii. p. 434. For further remarks on the Tale, see the same, p. 435, where its original is printed in full.

1. The story is told by Livy, lib. iii.; and, of course, his narrative is the source of all the rest. But Tyrwhitt well remarks, in a note to l. 12074 (i. e. C. 140):--'In the Discourse, &c., I forgot to mention the Roman de la Rose as one of the sources of this tale; though, upon examination, I find that our author has drawn more from thence, than from either Gower or Livy.' It is absurd to argue, as in Bell's Chaucer, that our poet must necessarily have known Livy 'in the original,' and then to draw the conclusion that we must look to Livy only as the true source of the Tale. For it is perfectly obvious that Tyrwhitt is right as regards the Roman de la Rose; and the belief that Chaucer may have read the tale 'in the original' does not alter _the fact_ that he trusted much more to the French text. In this very first line, he is merely quoting Le Roman, ll. 5617, 8:--

'Qui fu fille Virginius,
_Si cum dist Titus Livius_.'

The story in the French text occupies 70 lines (5613-5682, ed. Méon); the chief points of resemblance are noted below.

Gower has the same story, Conf. Amant. iii. 264-270; but I see no reason why Chaucer should be considered as indebted to him. It is, however, clear that, if Chaucer and Gower be here compared, the latter suffers considerably by the comparison.

Gower gives the names of Icilius, to whom Virginia was betrothed, and of Marcus Claudius. But Chaucer omits the name Marcus, and ignores the existence of Icilius. The French text does the same.

11. This is the 'noble goddesse Nature' mentioned in the Parl. of Foules, ll. 368, 379. Cf. note to l. 16.

14. _Pigmalion_, Pygmalion; alluding to Ovid, Met. x. 247, where it is said of him:--

'Interea niueum mira feliciter arte
Sculpit ebur, formamque dedit, qua femina nasci
Nulla potest; operisque sui concepit amorem.'

[261]

In the margin of E. Hn. is the note--'Quere in Methamorphosios'; which supplies the reference; but cf. note to l. 16 below, shewing that Chaucer also had in his mind Le Roman de la Rose, l. 16379. So also the author of the Pearl, l. 750; see Morris, Allit. Poems.

16. In the margin of E. Hn. we find the note:--'Apelles fecit mirabile opus in tumulo Darii; vide in Alexandri libro .1.º [Hn. _has_ .6.º]; de Zanze in libro Tullii.' This note is doubtless the poet's own; see further, as to Apelles, in the note to D. 498.

_Zanzis_, Zeuxis. The corruption of the name was easy, owing to the confusion in MSS. between _n_ and _u_.[26] In the note above, we are referred to Tullius, i. e. Cicero. Dr. Reid kindly tells me that Zeuxis is mentioned, with Apelles, in Cicero's De Oratore, iii. § 26, and Brutus, § 70; also, with other artists, in Academia, ii. § 146; De Finibus, ii. § 115; and alone, in De Inventione, ii. § 52, where a long story is told of him. Cf. note to Troil. iv. 414.

However, the fact is that Chaucer really derived his knowledge of Zeuxis from Le Roman de la Rose (ed. Méon, l. 16387); for comparison with the context of that line shews numerous points of resemblance to the present passage in our author. Jean de Meun is there speaking of Nature, and of the inability of artists to vie with her, which is precisely Chaucer's argument here. The passage is too long for quotation, but I may cite such lines as these:--

'Ne _Pymalion_ entaillier' (l. 16379),

'voire _Apelles_
Que ge moult bon paintre appelles,
Biautés de li james descrive
Ne porroit,' &c. (l. 16381).

'_Zeuxis_ neis par son biau paindre
Ne porroit a tel forme ataindre,' &c. (l. 16387).

Si cum _Tules_ le nous remembre
Ou livre _de sa retorique_'; (l. 16398).

Here the reference is to the passage in De Oratore, iii. § 26.

'Mes ci ne péust-il riens faire
_Zeuxis_, tant séust bien portraire,
Ne colorer sa portraiture,
Tant est de grant biauté _Nature_.' (l. 16401).

A little further on, Nature is made to say (l. 16970):--

'Cis Diex méismes, par sa grace,...
Tant m'ennora, tant me tint chere,
Qu'il m'establi sa chamberiere ...
Por chamberiere! certes vaire,
Por connestable, et por _vicaire_.'

[262]

20. See just above; and cf. Parl. of Foules, 379--'Nature, the _vicaire_ of thalmighty lord.'

32-4. Cf. Le Rom. de la Rose, 16443-6.

35. From this line to l. 120, Chaucer has it all his own way. This fine passage is not in Le Roman, nor in Gower.

37. I. e. she had golden hair; cf. Troil. iv. 736, v. 8.

49. Perhaps Chaucer found the wisdom of Pallas in Vergil, Aen. v. 704.--

'Tum senior Nautes, unum Tritonia Pallas
Quem docuit, multaque insignem reddidit arte.'

50. _fácound_, eloquence; cf. _facóunde_ in Parl. Foules, 558.

54. _Souninge in_, conducing to; see A. 307, B. 3157, and notes.

58. _Bacus_, Bacchus, i. e. wine; see next note.

59. _youthe_, youth; such is the reading in MSS. E. Hn., and edd. 1532 and 1561. MS. Cm. has lost a leaf; the rest have _thought_, which gives no sense. It is clear that the reading _thought_ arose from misreading the _y_ of _youthe_ as _þ_ (_th_). How easily this may be done appears from Wright's remark, that the Lansdowne MS. has _youthe_, whilst, in fact, it has _þouht_.

Tyrwhitt objects to the reading _youthe_, and proposes _slouthe_, wholly without authority. But _youthe_, meaning 'youthful vigour,' is right enough; I see no objection to it at all. Rather, it is simply taken from Ovid, Ars Amat. i. 243:--

'Illic saepe _animos iuuenum_ rapuere puellae;
_Et Venus in uinis, ignis in igne fuit_.'

Only a few lines above (l. 232), _Bacchus_ occurs, and there is a reference to _wine_, throughout the context. Cf. the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 4925:--

'For _Youthe_ set man in al folye ...
In leccherye and in outrage.'

Cf. note to l. 65.

60. Alluding to a proverbial phrase, occurring in Horace, Sat. ii. 3. 321, viz. 'oleum adde camino'; and elsewhere.

65. This probably refers to the same passage in Ovid as is mentioned in the note to l. 59. For we there find (l. 229):--

'Dant etiam positis aditum conuiuia mensis;
Est aliquid, praeter uina, quod inde petas ...
Vina parant animos, faciuntque caloribus aptos'; &c.

79. See A. 476, and the note. Chaucer is here thinking of the same passage in Le Roman de la Rose. I quote a few lines (3930-46):--

'Une vielle, que Diex honnisse!
Avoit o li por li guetier,
Qui ne fesoit autre mestier
[263]
Fors espier tant solement
Qu'il ne se maine folement....
Bel-Acueil se taist et escoute
Por la vielle que il redoute,
Et n'est si hardis qu'il se moeve,
Que la vielle en li n'aperçoeve
Aucune fole contenance,
Qu'el scet toute la vielle dance.'

See the English version in vol. i. p. 205, ll. 4285-4300.

82. See the footnote for another reading. The line there given may also be genuine. It is deficient in the first foot.

85. This is like our proverb:--'Set a thief to catch [_or_ take] a thief.' An old poacher makes a good gamekeeper.

98. Cf. Prov. xiii. 24; P. Plowman, B. v. 41.

101. See a similar proverb in P. Plowman, C. x. 265, and my note on the line. The Latin lines quoted in P. Plowman are from Alanus de Insulis, Liber Parabolarum, cap. i. 31; they are printed in Leyser, Hist. Poet. Med. Aevi, 1721, p. 1066, in the following form:--

'Sub molli pastore capit lanam lupus, et grex
Incustoditus dilaceratur eo.'

117. _The doctour_, i. e. the teacher; viz. St. Augustine. (There is here no reference whatever to the 'Doctor' or 'Phisicien' who is supposed to tell the tale.) In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. is written 'Augustinus'; and the matter is put beyond doubt by a passage in the Persones Tale, l. 484:--'and, after the word of seint Augustin, it [Envye] is sorwe of other mannes wele, and Ioye of othere mennes harm.' See note to l. 484.

The same idea is exactly reproduced in P. Plowman, B. v. 112, 113. Cf. 'Inuidus alterius macrescit rebus opimis'; Horace, Epist. i. 2. 57.

135. From Le Roman, l. 5620-3; see vol. iii. p. 436.

140. _cherl_, dependant. It is remarkable that, throughout the story, MSS. E. Hn. and Cm. have _cherl_, but the rest have _clerk_. In ll. 140, 142, 153, 164, the Camb. MS. is deficient; but it at once gives the reading _cherl_ in l. 191, and subsequently.

Either reading might serve; in Le Roman, l. 5614, the dependant is called 'son serjant'; and in l. 5623, he is called 'Li _ribaus_,' i. e. the ribald, which Chaucer Englishes by _cherl_. But when we come to C. 289, the MSS. gives us the choice of 'fals _cherl_' and 'cursed _theef_'; very few have _clerk_ (like MS. Sloane 1685). Cf. vol. iii. p. 437.

153, 154. The 'churl's' name was Marcus Claudius, and the 'judge' was 'Appius Claudius.' Chaucer simply follows Jean de Meun, who calls the judge _Apius_; and speaks of the churl as '_Claudius_ li chalangieres' in l. 5675. [264]

165. Cf. Le Roman, l. 5623-7; see vol. iii. p. 436.

168-9. From Le Roman, 5636-8, as above.

174. The first foot is defective; read--Thou | shalt have | al, &c. _al right_, complete justice. MS. Cm. has _alle_.

184. Cf. Le Roman, l. 5628-33.

203. From Le Roman, 5648-54.

207-253. The whole of this fine passage appears to be original. There is no hint of it in Le Roman de la Rose, except as regards l. 225, where Le Roman (l. 5659) has:--'Car il par amors, sans haïne.' We may compare the farewell speech of Virginius to his daughter in Webster's play of Appius and Virginia, Act iv. sc. 1.

240. _Iepte_, Jephtha; in the Vulgate, _Jephte_. See Judges, xi. 37, 38. MSS. E. Hn. have in the margin--'fuit illo tempore Jephte Galaandes' [_error for_ Galaadites]. This reference by Virginia to the book of Judges is rather startling; but such things are common enough in old authors, especially in our dramatists.

255. Here Chaucer returns to Le Roman, 5660-82. The rendering is pretty close down to l. 276.

280. _Agryse of_, shudder at; 'nor in what kind of way the worm of conscience may shudder because of (the man's) wicked life'; cf. 'of pitee gan agryse,' B. 614. When _agryse_ is used with _of_, it is commonly passive, not intransitive; see examples in Mätzner and in the New E. Dictionary. Cf. _been afered_, i. e. be scared, in l. 284.

'Vermis conscientiae tripliciter lacerabit'; Innocent III., De Contemptu Mundi, l. iii. c. 2.

286. Cf. Pers. Tale, I. 93:--'repentant folk, that stinte for to sinne, and forlete [give up] sinne er that sinne forlete hem.'

WORDS OF THE HOST.

In the Six-text Edition, pref. col. 58, Dr. Furnivall calls attention to the curious variations in this passage, in the MSS., especially in ll. 289-292, and in 297-300; as well as in ll. 487, 488 in the Pardoneres Tale. I note these variations below, in their due places.

287. _wood_, mad, frantic, furious; esp. applied to the transient madness of anger. See Kn. Tale, A. 1301, 1329, 1578; also Mids. Nt. Dr. ii. 1. 192. Cf. G. _wüthend_, raging.

288. _Harrow!_ also spelt _haro_; a cry of astonishment; see A. 3286, 3825, B. 4235, &c. '_Haro_, the ancient Norman hue and cry; the exclamation of a person to procure assistance when his person or property was in danger. To cry out _haro_ on any one, to denounce his evil doings'; Halliwell. Spenser has it, F. Q. ii. 6. 43; see _Harrow_ in Nares, and the note above, to A. 3286.

On the oaths used by the Host, see note to l. 651 below.

289. _fals cherl_ is the reading in E. Hn., and is evidently right; see [265] note to l. 140 above. It is supported by several MSS., among which are Harl. 7335, Addit. 25718, Addit. 5140, Sloane 1686, Barlow 20, Hatton 1, Camb. Univ. Lib. Dd. 4. 24 and Mm. 2. 5, and Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 3. A few have _fals clerk_, viz. Sloane 1685, Arch. Seld. B. 14, Rawl. Poet. 149, Bodley 414. Harl. 7333 has _a fals thef, Acursid Iustise_; out of which numerous MSS. have developed the reading _a cursed theef, a fals Iustice_, which rolls the two Claudii into one. It is clearly wrong, but appears in good MSS., viz. in Cp. Pt. Ln. Hl. See vol. iii. pp. 437-8, and the note to l. 291 below.

290. _shamful._ MSS. Ln. Hl. turn this into _schendful_, i. e. ignominious, which does not at all alter the sense. It is a matter of small moment, but I may note that of the twenty-five MSS. examined by Dr. Furnivall, only the two above-named MSS. adopt this variation.

291, 292. Here MSS. Cp. Ln. Hl., as noted in the footnote, have two totally different lines; and this curious variation divides the MSS. (at least in the present passage) into two sets. In the _first_ of these we find E. Hn. Harl. 7335, Addit. 25718, Addit. 5140, Sloane 1685 and 1686, Barlow 20, Arch. Seld. B. 14, Rawl. Poet. 149, Hatton 1, Bodley 414, Camb. Dd. 4. 24, and Mm. 2. 5, Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 3. In the _second_ set we find Cp. Ln. Hl., Harl. 1758, Royal 18. C. 2, Laud 739, Camb. Ii. 3. 26, Royal 17. D. 15, and Harl. 7333.

There is no doubt as to the correct reading; for the 'false cherl' and 'false justice' were two different persons, and it was only because they had been inadvertently rolled into one (see note to l. 289) that it became possible to speak of '_his_ body,' '_his_ bones,' and '_him_.' Hence the lines are rightly given in the text which I have adopted.

There is a slight difficulty, however, in the rime, which should be noted. We see that the _t_ in _advocats_ was silent, and that the word was pronounced (ad·vokaa·s), riming with _allas_ (alaa·s), where the raised dot denotes the accent. That this was so, is indicated by the following spellings:--Pt. _aduocas_, and so also in Harl. 7335, Addit. 5140, Bodl. 414; Rawl. Poet. 149 has _advocas_; whilst Sloane 1685, Sloane 1686, and Camb. Mm. 2. 5 have _aduocase_, and Barlow 20, _advocase_. MS. Trin. Coll. R. 3. 3 has _aduocasse_. The testimony of ten MSS. may suffice; but it is worth noting that the F. pl. _aduocas_ occurs in Le Roman de la Rose, 5107.

293. 'Alas! she (Virginia) bought her beauty too dear'; she paid too high a price; it cost her her life.

297-300. These four lines are genuine; but several MSS., including E. Hn. Pt., omit the former pair (297-8), whilst several others omit the latter pair. Ed. 1532 contains both pairs, but alters l. 299.

299. _bothe yiftes_, both (kinds of) gifts; i. e. gifts of fortune, such as wealth, and of nature, such as beauty. Compare Dr. Johnson's poem on the Vanity of Human Wishes, imitated from the tenth satire of Juvenal.

303. _is no fors_, it is no matter. _It_ must be supplied, for the sense. [266] Sometimes Chaucer omits _it is_, and simply writes _no fors_, as in E. 1092, 2430. We also find _I do no fors_, I care not, D. 1234; and _They yeve no fors_, they care not, Romaunt of the Rose, 4826. Palsgrave has--'I gyue no force, I care nat for a thing, _Il ne men chault_.'

306. _Ypocras_ is the usual spelling, in English MSS., of _Hippocrates_; see Prologue A. 431. So also in the Book of the Duchess, 571, 572:--

'Ne hele me may physicien,
Noght Ypocras, ne Galien.'

In the present passage it does not signify the physician himself, but a beverage named after him. 'It was composed of wine, with spices and sugar, strained through a cloth. It is said to have taken its name from _Hippocrates' sleeve_, the term apothecaries gave to a strainer'; Halliwell's Dict. s. v. _Hippocras_. In the same work, s. v. _Ipocras_, are several receipts for making it, the simplest being one copied from Arnold's Chronicle:--'Take a quart of red wyne, an ounce of synamon, and half an unce of gynger; a quarter of an ounce of greynes, and long peper, and halfe a pounde of sugar; and brose all this, and than put them in a bage of wullen clothe, made therefore, with the wyne; and lete it hange over a vessel, tyll the wyne be rune thorowe.' Halliwell adds that--'Ipocras seems to have been a great favourite with our ancestors, being served up at every entertainment, public or private. It generally made a part of the last course, and was taken immediately after dinner, with wafers or some other light biscuits'; &c. See Pegge's Form of Cury, p. 161; Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, pp. 125-128, 267, 378; Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 285; and Nares's Glossary, s. v. _Hippocras_.

_Galianes._ In like manner this word (hitherto unexplained as far as I am aware) must signify drinks named after Galen, whose name is spelt _Galien_ (in Latin, _Galienus_) not only in Chaucer, but in other authors. See the quotation above from the Book of the Duchess. Speght guessed the word to mean 'Galen's works.'

310. _lyk a prelat_, like a dignitary of the church, like a bishop or abbot. Mr. Jephson, in Bell's edition, suggests that the Doctor was in holy orders, and that this is why we are told in the Prologue, l. 438, that 'his studie was but litel on the bible.' I see no reason for this guess, which is quite unsupported. Chaucer does not say he _is_ a prelate, but that he is _like_ one; because he had been highly educated, as a member of a 'learned profession' should be.

_Ronyan_ is here of three syllables and rimes with _man_; in l. 320 it is of two syllables, and rimes with _anon_. It looks as if the Host and Pardoner were not very clear about the saint's name, only knowing him to swear by. In Pilkington's Works (Parker Society), we find a mention of 'St. Tronian's fast,' p. 80; and again, of 'St. Rinian's fast,' p. 551, in a passage which is a repetition of the former. The forms _Ronyan_ and _Rinian_ are evidently corruptions of _Ronan_, a saint whose [267] name is well known to readers of 'St. Ronan's Well.' Of St. Ronan scarcely anything is known. The fullest account that can easily be found is the following:--

'Ronan, B. and C. Feb. 7.--Beyond the mere mention of his commemoration as S. Ronan, bishop at Kilmaronen, in Levenax, in the body of the Breviary of Aberdeen, there is nothing said about this saint.... Camerarius (p. 86) makes this Ronanus the same as he who is mentioned by Beda (Hist. Ecc. lib. iii. c. 25). This Ronan died in A. D. 778. The Ulster annals give at [A. D.] 737 (736)--"Mors Ronain Abbatis Cinngaraid." Ængus places this saint at the 9th of February,' &c.; Kalendars of Scottish Saints, by Bp. A. P. Forbes, 1872, p. 441. Kilmaronen is Kilmaronock, in the county and parish of Dumbarton. There are traces of St. Ronan in about seven place-names in Scotland, according to the same authority. Under the date of Feb. 7 (February vol. ii. 3 B), the Acta Sanctorum has a few lines about St. Ronan, who, according to some, flourished under King Malduin, A. D. 664-684; or, according to others, about 603. The notice concludes with the remark--'Maiorem lucem desideramus.' Beda says that 'Ronan, a Scot by nation, but instructed in ecclesiastical truth either in France or Italy,' was mixed up in the controversy which arose about the keeping of Easter, and was 'a most zealous defender of the true Easter.' This controversy took place about A. D. 652, which does not agree with the date above.

311. Tyrwhitt thinks that Shakespeare remembered this expression of Chaucer, when he describes the Host of the Garter as frequently repeating the phrase 'said I well': Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3. 11; ii. 1. 226; ii. 3. 93, 99.

_in terme_, in learned terms; cf. Prol. A. 323.

312. _erme_, to grieve. For the explanation of unusual _words_, the Glossary should, in general, be consulted; the Notes are intended, for the most part, to explain only phrases and allusions, and to give illustrations of the _use_ of words. Such illustrations are, moreover, often omitted when they can easily be found by consulting such a work as Stratmann's Old English Dictionary. In the present case, for example, Stratmann gives twelve instances of the use of _earm_ or _arm_ as an adjective, meaning wretched; four examples of _ermlic_, miserable; seven of _earming_, a miserable creature; and five of _earmthe_, misery. These twenty-eight additional examples shew that the word was formerly well understood. We may further note that a later instance of _ermen_ or _erme_, to grieve, occurs in Caxton's translation of Reynard the Fox, A. D. 1481; see Arber's reprint, p. 48, l. 5: 'Thenne departed he fro the kynge so heuyly that many of them _ermed_,' i. e. then departed he from the king so sorrowfully that many of them mourned, or were greatly grieved.

313. _cardiacle_, pain about the heart, spasm of the heart; more correctly, _cardiake_, as the _l_ is excrescent. See _Cardiacle_ and _Cardiac_ in the New E. Dictionary. In Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. vii. c. 32, [268] we have a description of 'Heart-quaking and the disease Cardiacle.' We thus learn that 'there is a double manner of Cardiacle,' called 'Diaforetica' and 'Tremens.' Of the latter, 'sometime _melancholy is the cause_'; and the remedies are various 'confortatives.' This is why the host wanted some 'triacle' or some ale, or something to cheer him up.

314. The Host's form of oath is amusingly ignorant; he is confusing the two oaths 'by corpus Domini' and 'by Christes bones,' and evidently regards _corpus_ as a genitive case. Tyrwhitt alters the phrase to 'By corpus domini,' which wholly spoils the humour of it.

_triacle_, a restorative remedy; see Man of Lawes Tale, B. 479.

315. _moyste_, new. The word retains the sense of the Lat. _musteus_ and _mustus_. In Group H. 60, we find _moysty ale_ spoken of as differing from _old ale_. But the most peculiar use of the word is in the Prologue, A. 457, where the Wyf of Bath's shoes are described as being _moyste and newe_.

_corny_, strong of the corn or malt; cf. l. 456. Skelton calls it 'newe ale in cornys'; Magnificence, 782; or 'in cornes,' Elynour Rummyng, 378. Baret's Alvearie, s. v. _Ale_, has: 'new ale in cornes, ceruisia cum recrementis.' It would seem that ale was thought the better for having dregs of malt in it.

318. _bel amy_, good friend; a common form of address in old French. We also find _biaus douz amis_, sweet good friend; as in--

'Charlot, Charlot, _biaus doux amis_';
Rutebuef; La Disputoison de Charlot et du Barbier, l. 57.

_Belamy_ occurs in an Early Eng. Life of St. Cecilia, MS. Ashmole 43, l. 161; and six other examples are given in the New Eng. Dictionary. Similar forms are _beau filtz_, dear son, Piers Plowman, B. vii. 162; _beau pere_, good father; _beau sire_, good sir. Cf. _beldame_.

321. _ale-stake_, inn-sign. Speght interprets this by 'may-pole.' He was probably thinking of the _ale-pole_, such as was sometimes set up before an inn as a sign; see the picture of one in Larwood and Hotten's History of Signboards, Plate II. But the _ale-stakes_ of the fourteenth century were differently placed; instead of being perpendicular, they projected horizontally from the inn, just like the bar which supports a painted sign at the present day. At the end of the ale-stake a large garland was commonly suspended, as mentioned by Chaucer himself (Prol. 667), or sometimes a bunch of ivy, box, or evergreen, called a 'bush'; whence the proverb 'good wine needs no _bush_,' i. e. nothing to indicate where it is sold; see Hist. Signboards, pp. 2, 4, 6, 233. The clearest information about ale-stakes is obtained from a notice of them in the Liber Albus, ed. Riley, where an ordinance of the time of Richard II. is printed, the translation of which runs as follows: 'Also, it was ordained that whereas the _ale-stakes_, projecting in front of the taverns in Chepe and elsewhere in the said city, extend too far over the king's highways, to the impeding of riders and others, and, by reason of their excessive weight, to the great deterioration of the houses to which they [269] are fixed,... it was ordained,... that no one in future should have a stake _bearing either his sign or leaves_ [i. e. a bush] extending or lying over the king's highway, _of greater length than 7 feet at most_,' &c. And, at p. 292 of the same work, note 2, Mr. Riley rightly defines an _ale-stake_ to be 'the pole projecting from the house, and supporting a bunch of leaves.'

The word _ale-stake_ occurs in Chatterton's poem of Ælla, stanza 30, where it is used in a manner which shews that the supposed 'Rowley' did not know what it was like. See my note on this; Essay on the Rowley Poems, p. xix; and cf. note to A. 667.

322. _of a cake_; we should now say, a bit of bread; the modern sense of 'cake' is a little misleading. The old cakes were mostly made of dough, whence the proverb 'my cake is dough,' i. e. is not properly baked; Taming of the Shrew, v. 1. 145. Shakespeare also speaks of 'cakes and ale,' Tw. Nt. ii. 3. 124. The picture of the 'Simnel Cakes' in Chambers' Book of Days, i. 336, illustrates Chaucer's use of the word in the Prologue, l. 668.

324. The Pardoner was so ready to tell some 'mirth or japes' that the more decent folks in the company try to repress him. It is a curious comment on the popular estimate of his character. He has, moreover, to refresh himself, and to think awhile before he can recollect 'some honest (i. e. decent) thing.'

327, 328. The Harleian MS. has--

'But in the cuppe wil I me bethinke
Upon some honest tale, whil I drinke.'

THE PARDONERES PROLOGUE.

Title. The Latin text is copied from l. 334 below; it appears in the Ellesmere and Hengwrt MSS. The A. V. has--'the love of money is the root of all evil'; 1 Tim. vi. 10. It is well worth notice that the novel by Morlinus, quoted in vol. iii. p. 442, as a source of the Pardoner's Tale, contains the expression--'radice malorum cupiditate affecti.'

336. _bulles_, bulls from the pope, whom he here calls his 'liege lord'; see Prol. A. 687, and Piers the Plowman, B. Prol. 69. See also Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 308.

_alle and somme_, one and all. Cf. Clerkes Tale, E. 941, and the note.

337. _patente_; defined by Webster as 'an official document, conferring a right or privilege on some person or party'; &c. It was so called because 'patent' or open to public inspection. 'When indulgences came to be sold, the pope made them part of his ordinary revenue; and, according to the usual way in those, and even in much later times, of farming the revenue, he let them out usually to the Dominican friars'; Massingberd, Hist. Eng. Reformation, p. 126.