Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 — Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems

The MSS. are: F. (Fairfax 16); Harl (Harl. 7333); Ff. (Camb. Univ. Library, Ff. I.6): P. (Pepys 2006); Add. (Addit. 22139); also Cx. (Caxton's edition); Th. (Thynne, 1532). I follow F. mainly.

Title. So in Cx. (but with Un-to for to); F. om. empty; P. La compleint de Chaucer a sa Bourse Voide.

1. F. yow. 2. F. Complayn; Harl. P. Compleyne. 3. Harl. be; F. been. 4. Add. That; P. But; rest For. P. Add. but ye; F. Harl. but yf ye; Ff. but yif ye; Cx. Th. ye now. 5. Add. leyd; F. layde. 7. F. Beeth; ageyne; mote. 8. F. hyt; nyght. 9. F. yow; sovne. 10. F. lyke; bryght. 11. Read That of yél-ownés-se. 12. F. lyfe; hertys. 14. F. ageyne; moote. 15. P. Cx. purs; F. Add. purse. F. ben. 17. F. Oute; helpe; thurgh. 18. F. bene. 19. Harl. P. Th. any; Add. eny; Cx. ony; F. is a.

21. F. Bethe; ayen; moote. F. Lenvoy de Chaucer; Harl. P. Lenvoye; Cx. Thenuoye of Chaucer vnto the kynge. 23. F. Whiche. F. lygne; Harl. Cx. Ff. P. lyne. 24. F. Been; kynge; yow. 25. F. alle myn harme; Ff. alle oure harmes; Harl. all oure harmous; P. Cx. alle harmes.

XX. Proverbs.

The MSS. are: F. (Fairfax 16); Ha. (Harl. 7578); Ad. (Addit. 16165). I follow F. mainly. Title; in F. Ha.; Ad. Prouerbe.

1. Ad. þees; F. Ha. these. All needlessly insert thus after clothes. F. many-folde. 2. F. Loo; hoote. 3. F. grete hete; Ha. greet hete; Ad. heet. F. colde. 4. Ha. pilche; F. pilch. 5. F. all; worlde. Ad. wyde; F. Ha. large. Ad. Ha. compas; F. compace. 6. Ad. Hit; F. Yt. Ad. wol; F. Ha. wil. Ad. myn; F. Ha. my. 7. F. Whoo-so.

APPENDIX.

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

XXI. AGAINST WOMEN UNCONSTANT.

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. Mirrour; 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.

XXII. AN AMOROUS COMPLEINT.

(COMPLEINT DAMOURS.)

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; conclucioun. 24. wele. F. sing; B. singe; Harl. say. Harl. sorye. 25. B. ys my (for may have). Confucioun. 26. B. my saluacioun (for deep affeccioun). 27, 28. B. I sey for me I haue noun [neuer?] felte Alle thes diden me in despeire to melte. 27. fo (? for for). 28. Alle 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; alle; wondering. 51. sheo. 53. eke. 54. Hathe; shalle; 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. wofulle songe; conplaynte. 90. wolle; I supply for. 91. alle-thowhe sheo. F. B. Explicit; Harl. om.

XXIII. A BALADE OF COMPLEYNT.

In MS. Addit. 16165, fol. 256, back; headed Balade of compleynte.

1. koude; hert. 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. wrēon. 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. χαραδριός. 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. hārrā, with the same sense. The A. S. word is hǣre, a derivative from hǣr, 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 aȝ, i. e. agh or ogh. Ogh (A. S. āh) 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. lāwerce, lāferce, 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. sǣton, 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:—

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.

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 (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. bǣre.

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):—