p. 26, 1. 797. = p. 27, 1. 810. crepid; crepe p. 27, 1. 812. p. 27, 1. 817. -W. W. S. sownyd out of reson. ? For reson read seson. as wele me myzht haue clepid. ? For clepid read crepitate (see Cockeram's Dict., 1626), break wind. changit onys chere; before chere insert his. Angir or disese. Halliwell s. v. anger gives : (A.S.)," and cites instances, in one of which we have angere and disese. Angre in this sense is frequent in Hampole's Pricke of Conscience. 66 sorrow p. 27, 1. 822. Stypio and Sithero. It's the old mistake of t for c: many scribes write St for Sc. 'Stypio" means Scipio, and "Sithero " means Sichero (Cicero).-W. W. S. In the French Romance they are termed cipio and cithero, which confirms preceding note. p. 27, 1. 822-3. They were named Stypio Astrolage, and Sithero Astrolage. Astrolage astrologer.-W. W. S. = p. 27, 1. 824. Astronomy-in O.E.--means often what we now call astrology.-W. W. S. ?Here fences = p. 27, 1. 824. of Astronomy al the fences. defences, and means prohibitions of setting out on a journey on a certain day and the like; see Skeat's note to the Man of Lawes Tale, 1. 312. p. 28, 1. 837. His sportis & his estris. ? For sportis read portis; "his doors and his apartments." p. 28, 11. 855-6. delites, pris. A strange rime. Is this another instance of a t being written for a c, and inay we read delices pleasures)? See Halliwell, s. v. and "delices," Cursor Mundi, 1. 23284. p. 28, 1. 867. inlich gentil. Cp. 1. 1098: inwardlich sory. Halliwell, s. v. inly says: "inwardly, deeply, thoroughly." The words inlich and inwardlich, used in this sense, were great favourites with the M.E. writers. The writer of Generydes uses them frequently. p. 31, 1. 959. Save that tournith al to cautele, except that that (viz. glosing) turns entirely to deceit. p. 32, 1. 974. But of my remembraunce. "Yeur deth wol nevir, I woot it wele, but evir be in mynde ”— i. e. your death will never, I know well, be out of my remembrance, but be ever in my mind. p. 32, 1. 987. & I lafft yew behynde. A blunder of our author's ; he means 66 & yew lafft me behynde." = vixen, with suffix age; p. 33, 1. 1012. lewde visenage. ? visenage cp. Rosan for Roxana in the Wars of Alexander (E. E. Text Society). p. 33, 1. 1019. Ner thou my father's messenger wer. Cp. Ner = ne wer for this Hampole uses warn war ne. 66 Elles suld be hert, thurgh sorow & care, And men says, 'warn hope ware, it suld brest.' Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, 11. 7259-7266. 66 war ne syn war."-Id. 2342. These lines are cited in note on 1. 220, Sunday Homilies in Verse (A). (Specimens by Morris and Skeat.) p. 33, l. 1032. The death of Agea sprang about the town. Cp. 1. 3213, "It was I-spronge purh the toun." This word is very frequently used in this sense by the M.E. writers: we find a still earlier use of it in the A.S. Gospel of St. Mark i. 28. Thorpe's Analecta, p. 130. p. 35, 1. 1087. the serkill celestyne is the primum mobile. After enumerating, in their ascending order, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Fixed Stars, Dante goes on to say: *** 'lo nono [sito] è quello che non è sensibile se non per questo movimento che è detto di sopra, lo quale chiamano molti Cristallino, cioè diafano, ovvero tutto trasparente. Veramente, fuori di tutti questi, li Cattolici pongono lo Cielo Empireo, che è a dire Cielo di fiamma, ovvero luminoso; e pongono, esso essere immobile, per avere in sè, secondo ciascuna parte, ciò che la sua materia vuole. E questo è cagione al primo mobile per avere velocissimo movimento; che per lo ferventissimo appetito che ha ciascuna parte di quello nono Cielo, che è immediato a quello, d'essere congiunta con ciascuna parte di quello Cielo divinissimo, Cielo quieto, in quello si rivolve con tanto desiderio, che la sua velocità è quasi incomprensibile: e quieto e pacifico è lo luogo di quella somma Deità che sè sola compiutamente vede. Questo luogo è di Spiriti beati, secondo che la santa Chiesa vuole, che non può dire menzogna: e Aristotile pare ciò sentire, chi bene lo 'ntende, nel primo di Cielo e Mondo.'-Convito, Tratt. II., cap. iv.-S. = p. 35, 1. 1098. [And] With the vii sagis. ? For [And] With read With [that] thereupon. Cp. 1. 1181, "Rame with pat gan sizhe." p. 36, 1. 1112. þat she myzt be shryne to all other wymmen, an object for other women to visit and gaze on. Cp. with this: "She is playnly expresse Egeria, the goddesse And lyke to her image, Emportured with corage, A lovers pilgrimage." Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe, 1. 1157-1161,— where I take a lover's pilgrimage to mean an object for a lover to make a pilgrimage to; I bring forward this explanation, however, with diffidence. p. 37, 1. 1167. spak ful feir with hym, Perhaps the reading of the MS. spal may be retained, as preterite of spell, 'speak'; possibly it means "she spoke bewitchingly" (cp. the sbst. spell), " talked him over." p. 38, 1. 1196. so hize & mode. In Le Bone Florence (Ritson), 1. 90, we have "swete and sware." Perhaps for & in both cases we should read on, or of. Cp. "so lowe I was of mode," 1. 2129. p. 39, 1. 1217. I had levir he were I-sod. verb sod, to cover with sod, to turf. the sod" may now and then be heard. Ogilvie's Dict. gives a At the present day "he's under p. 39, 1. 1229. The devill hym spech. ? For speche read spede. The words "the devill hym spede " occur four or five times elsewhere in this tale. Probably the che in speche was caught from reche, which follows. p. 39, 1. 1244. aweynyd. aweyn, disaccustom, cp. G. entwöhnen, seems to be the correct form of the word, the later wean having lost a significant prefix; the same is the case with manse, excommunicate, for amanse. See Stratmann, s. v. mânsian. p. 40, 1. 1250. merellis. A game somewhat like fox and geese,— It was called also nine men's morris, and five-penny morris,-played upon a board by two persons, each having nine pawns or counters. often played in the open air, the lines of the merelle board being then cut out in the turf. Shakspere mentions the game in this form, Mid. N. D., II. i. 98. Further particulars, and a woodcut of a 14th cent. merelle table, will be found in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, ed. Hone, 1845, bk. IV. chap. ii. pp. 317-18. Sherwood calls it: "(The boyish game) five-pennie morris. Le jeu de merelles."-Cotgrave, ed. 1632, Eng.-Fr. s. v. Morris. 'Mereau * * * selon Monet, jeton pour compter.' -Roquefort, s. v. 'Mereau,' and see also 'Merellier.'-S. p. 40, l. 1267. rekelagis = rigolagis = diversions. Littré gives a verb rigoler[se], of which he says: "v. réflex. Terme vieilli. Se divertir, faire une petite debauche; v. n. Terme populaire. Rigoler, même sens." The word is found also in the Cursor Mundi, 1652/47, Laud MS. "Ensample hereby to hem I say, That rage in her ryot allewey, In Riot and in rygolage." Here Bedford MS. has Ricolage. See also Cursor Mundi, 10/49, where Cotton MS. has rygolage, Fairfax and Trinity ricolage, and Göttingen (which is a Northern MS.) rekelage. p. 41, l. 1283. Vel fikill flaptail. Vel = wel, very, fikill, deceitful; cp. Heo ne couthe of no fikelyng, and answerede not so (said of Cordelia). Lazamon (in Mätzner), 156/32, and note. p. 41, l. 1288. as if one said to meaning gelding. p. 41, l. 1295. with wilie-coat, the And lepe out of the chambir, as who seyd "cut", him 'cut.'" Cut was a term of reproach, probably See Nares, s. v. willokis. ? undergarments. Perhaps it is connected origin of which word is unknown; see Jamieson. p. 41, l. 1300. for seth min aray! for thy vilany. ? after for insert God, which perhaps the scribe omitted from reverential feelings; cp. 1. 1275. At the same time I should remark that Geoffrey begins a speech, 1. 3253, with the word for. For thy read thys, thys vilany meaning "the vilainous appearance I make." p. 41, l. 1308. ffor tho he first gan to glow a sory mans hede. Here clow = claw. g and c are frequently confounded by the glow scribes; which may easily be explained in the case of those who wrote from dictation. In this tale, 1. 8, we probably have capes for gapes. Cp. also "3e be so fayre, lyme & lythe, And therto comly glad tharwtt, Syre Gawane and the Carle of Carelyle, 1. 190 (ed. Madden), where for glad read clad. Again we are told that Gengis Khan becomes Cambynscan in the Squieres Tale; glaize, the white of an egg, is from the Latin clarus, and we find knawen for gnawen in the MS. of the Mirrour of Magistrates, p. 296 of Skeat's Specimens; perhaps also in this way arose the early use of can for gan. As to clow for claw, Halliwell tells us that this is a Cumbrian usage. It is evident that our author wrote his tale in the dialect of some Northern county, with a sprinkling of Southern forms, which he picked up when a monk at Canterbury. As to the meaning of the expression, Jamieson tells us that to claw an auld man's pow is a vulgar phrase, signifying to live to old age, and that it is often negatively addressed to a man who lives hard, Ye'll never claw, &c. If therefore "to claw an old man's head" means to become an old man, "to claw a sorry man's head" will mean "to become a sorry man," and the line before us will mean that Beryn then became really sorry for the first time in his life. p. 41, 1309. kepe thy cut, be faithful to thyself. The editors of Nares, s. v. keep cut, cite : Keep cut therefore "A pretty playfellow, chirp it would, but how it got this p. 42, 1. 1342. And hop & fly to fist; Keep cut, as twere a usurers gold, And bill me when I list." Cotgrave's Wits Interpreter, 1671, p. 176. seems to = keep touch, stand the test, like gold; meaning I cannot say. That he had part of sorowe, me thinkith pat myzt avowe. Cp. 1. 2467, part of sapience; and 1. 3122, parcel of his sapience. The meaning of the line is: "that he fell into a swoon, I think, shows that he was sorry." p. 42, 1. 1350. alto tare his ere, With many a bittir tere = tore his hair, at the same time shedding many a bitter tear. p. 43, 1. 1365. The poet here makes Fortune masculine; so also Nature, 1. 689; and the City of Rome, 1. 736; Beryn's mantell, 1. 2428; Foly, 1. 2319, and a knyfe, 1. 2345. p. 44, 1. 1393. wel a fyne. Cp. Professor Zupitza's note in Guy of Warwick; he decides that well and fyne is the correct form. p. 44, 1. 1410. And herde Beryn made his mone. Cp. "Has doon fraught.”—Man of Lawes Tale, 1. 171 (ed. Skeat), and note thereon; also "Whose fathers he caus'd murder'd in those wars." Green's George-a-Greene (ed. Dyce), p. 269, col. 1. "The lorde halpe with myrthe & play Seven Sages, 1. 3051 (ed. T. Wright). p. 45, 11. 1425-1442. Faunus usually addresses his son as thou: so in this speech he begins with thou, but being softened by his recollections of Agea, at l. 1437 he changes to zewe. The son always addresses the father as gewe. Faunus addresses Rame, 1. 1536, as thou, though he usually calls her you: on that occasion he is upset with joyfulness. This change from you to thou is found as late as the year 1757. In Foote's Englishman returned from Paris (Modern British Drama, vol. v. p. 263), Crabb first addresses Mac-ruthin as you; then getting out of temper, thou's him; then subsiding a little, he returns to you, and finally breaks out again into thou. Again, at p. 270, Lucinda, conversing with Burke, commences by addressing him as you, but soon breaks out into thou, upon which he retaliates with the same disrespectful pronoun. On the whole the use of thou may be said to indicate strong feeling, good or bad, or superior station. p. 45, 1. 1439. I shall zit, or eue [come], that Bergeyn vndirtake. Cp. 1. 1486, "onys or it be eve that I shall do my devoir." 66 This expression or it be eve we find very frequently in the M.E. writers, who borrowed it from the French; in the Histoire de Berinus, chap. liii. ad fin, we have: "sil eut este dans leur puissance, royaume de blandie saisi, avant quil eut este la vespree." it was nyght."- Squieres Tale, 1. 460, ed. Skeat. logres fut de Cp. also "ere Perhaps the a p. 46, 1. 1460. a redy for to snache. Cp. 1. 659. represents the older 3e. Dr. Morris in his note on the word 3eredie, An Bispel, 1. 152 (Specimens), says: “in Piers Plowman we find iredi and aredi; aredinese occurs in Bacon's Advancement of Learning, and in our English Bible, 2 Cor. x. vi.” It may be observed in favour of the meaning all, attributed to it in the Gl., that at 11. 23, 484, we have al redy. p. 46, 1. 1473. And as sone as—And hized--And told and made. There is no apodosis in this sentence. We find a similar one in Chaucer's Prologe of the Wyf of Bath, 11. 818-822, when-and—and. p. 46, 1. 1477. She hullid hym & mollid hym. For hullid, covered with her arms, embraced, cp. "how hertily be herdes wyf hules pat child, William of Palerne, 1. 97 (E. E. Text Soc.). As to moll, slobber over, see Gl.; perhaps this word appears in the term mollicoddle, and that may be explained as one who has been molled and coddled." p. 46, 1. 1478. kite = belly; see Jamieson. p. 48, 1. 1536. my hertis swete. ? for hertis read herte. 1. 2801, for 66 a mannys hertis" read herte. So again, p. 49, 1560. had wedir at will. Frequent in the M.E. writers, who have taken it from the French; cp. Histoire de Berinus, sign. H 1, col. |