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

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

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

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

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

1713. muche, in Sect. B, is usually dissyllabic; perhaps the original had mikel.

1721. In sect. B, the word botoun is invariably misspelt bothum or bothom. That this ridiculous form is wrong, is proved by the occurrence of places where the pl. botouns rimes with sesouns (4011) and with glotouns (4308). I therefore restore the form botoun throughout.

1776. Sect. B is strongly marked by the frequent use of withouten wene, withouten were, withouten drede, and the like tags.

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

1853, 4. Both thore, more, evidently for thar, mar; see ll. 1857, 8.

1871. allegeaunce, alleviation; F. text, aleiance. Cf. aleggement, 1890; F. text, alegement; and see l. 1923.

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

1909. The other four arrows are Beauty (1750), Simplesse (1774), Curtesye (1802, and note to l. 1820), and Companye (1862). But the names, even in the F. text, are not exactly the same as in a former passage; see ll. 952-963 above.

2002. 'For I do not vouchsafe to churls, that they shall ever come near it.' For of (suggested by sauf) we should read to.

2017. Lord seems to be dissyllabic; read (perhaps) laverd.

2037. As in l. 4681, there is here an allusion to the mode of doing homage, wherein the kneeling vassal places his joined hands between those of his lord. This is still the attitude of one who receives a degree at Cambridge from the Vice-chancellor.

2044. For taken read tan, the Northern form. So again in l. 2068.

2046. Disteyned is, of course, a blunder for Disceyued.

2051. 'If I get them into my power.'

2063. For-why, i. e. why; F. 'por quoi.'

2076. disseise, oust you from possessing it. Disseisin is the opposite of seisin, a putting in possession of a thing.

2087. aumener, purse, lit. bag for alms; F. aumoniere.

2092. I take iowell (with a bar through the ll) to be the usual (Northern) contraction for Iowellis, jewels; F. text, joiau, pl. I can find no authority for making it a collective noun, as Bell suggests.

2099. spered, for sperred, fastened; F. ferma. See l. 3320.

2141. I supply sinne; perhaps the exact word is erre, as suggested by Urry; F. 'Tost porroie issir de la voie.'

2154. Read ginn'th; only one syllable is wanted here. Cf. l. 2168.

2161. poyntith ille, punctuates badly. This is a remarkable statement. As the old MSS. had no punctuation at all, the responsibility in this respect fell entirely on the reader. Ll. 2157-62 are not in the French.

2170. Romaunce, the Romance language, Old French.

2190. This important passage is parallel to one in the Wife of Bath's Tale, D 1109. Ll. 2185-2202 are not in the French; so they may have been suggested by Chaucer's Tale.

2203. 'Gravis est culpa, tacenda loqui'; Ovid, Ars Amat. ii. 604.

2206. Keye, Sir Kay, one of the knights of the Round Table, who was noted for his discourtesy. For his rough treatment of Sir Beaumains, see Sir T. Malory's Morte d'Arthur, bk. vii. c. 1. On the other hand, Sir Gawain was famed for his courtesy; see Squi. Ta. F 95.

2271. The word aumenere is here used, as in l. 2087 above, to translate the F. aumosniere or aumoniere. In Th., it is miswritten aumere, and in G. it appears as awmere. Hence awmere has gained a place in the New E. Dict., to which it is certainly not entitled. It is not a 'contraction for awmenere,' as is there said, but a mere blunder.

2278. Of Whitsonday, suitable for Whitsunday, a time of great festivity; F. text—'a Penthecouste.'

2279. Both texts have costneth, which makes the line halt. Cost (short for costeth) has the same sense, and suits much better; the F. text has simply couste.

2280-4. Copied from Ovid, Ars Amat. i. 515-9.

2285. It is clear that Fard, not Farce, is the right reading. Farce would mean 'stuff' or 'cram'; see Prol. A 233. The F. text has—'Mais ne te farde ne ne guigne.' Among the additions by Halliwell and Wright to Nares' Glossary will be found: 'Fard, to paint the face'; with three examples. Cotgrave also has: 'Fardé, Farded, coloured, painted.'

2294. knowith is a strange error for lowhith, or lauhwith, forms of laugheth; F. text, rit.

2296. meynd, mingled; see Kn. Ta. A 2170.

2301-4. Not in the F. text. I alter pleyneth in l. 2302 to pleyeth, to suit the context more closely.

2309. sitting, becoming; cf. sit, Clk. Ta. E 460.

2318. 'Make no great excuse'; F. essoine. From Ovid, Ars Am. i. 595.

2327. For meuen I read meve hem, move them. Ll. 2325-8 are not in the French text.

2336. Read Loves. 'Whoever would live in Love's teaching must be always ready to give.' F. text, 'Se nus se vuelt d'amors pener.'

2341. Cf. F. text:—'Doit bien, apres si riche don.' See ll. 2381.

2354. alosed, praised (for liberality); see Alose in the New E. Dict.

2365. 'Against treachery, in all security.' For is here used for 'against.' F. text, 'Tous entiers sans tricherie.'

2386. maugre his, in spite of himself; against the giver's will.

2463. 'That thou wouldst never willingly leave off.'

2471. fere, fire; spelt fyr in l. 2467. But desyr rimes with nere, l. 2441.

2473. Obscure. The French text helps but little; it means—'whenever thou comest nearer her.' Hence Thought should be That swete, or some such phrase.

2522. 'To conceal (it) closely'; F. de soi celer.

2561. 'Now groveling on your face, and now on your back.'

2564. 'Like a man that should be defeated in war.' To get a rime to abrede or abreed, abroad, read forwerreyd; see l. 3251.

2573. 'Thou shalt imagine delightful visions.' The 'castles in Spain' are romantic fictions. Cf. Gower, Conf. Am. ii. 99.

2617, 2624. In both lines, wher is short for 'whether.'

2628. To liggen, to lie, is a Northern form; I alter liggen to ly, which occurs in the next line.

2641. contene, contain (thyself). But the F. text has te contendras, which perhaps means 'shalt struggle.'

2650. What whider gives no sense; read What weder, i. e. whatever weather it be; see next line.

2660. score, (perhaps) cut, i. e. crack; F. text, fendéure.

2669. I supply a, i. e. by; or we may supply al.

2676. There is something wrong here; the F. text has:—

The lover is here directed to kiss the door!

2684-6. From Ovid, Ars Amat. i. 729, 733.

2695. All from Ovid, Ars Amat. ii. 251-260.

2710. Read fare, short for faren, gone; cf. Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 357-8. A note in Bell says—'fore means absent, from the Lat. foris, abroad.' This is a cool invention.

2775. Hope, do thou hope; imperative mood.

2824. The reading not ben ruins sense and metre.

2883. Such was the duty of sworn brethren; See Kn. Ta. A 1132.

2888. The trilled r in darst perhaps constitutes a syllable.

2951. 'When the God of Love had all day taught me.'

2971. hay(e), hedge; F. haie. Perhaps not hay-e; see l. 2987.

2984. Bial-Acoil, another spelling of Bel-Acueil, i. e. 'a graceful address'; which would be useful in propitiating the lady.

3105. doth me drye, makes me suffer; Scotch 'gars me dree.'

3132. chere, face; kid, manifested, displayed.

3137. kirked, probably 'crooked,' as Morris suggests. It may be a mere dialectal form of 'crooked,' or it may be miswritten for kroked, the usual old spelling. Halliwell gives, 'kirked, turning upwards,' on the authority of Skinner; but a reference to Skinner shows that his reason for giving the word this sense was solely owing to a notion of deriving it from A. S. cerran, to turn, which is out of the question. On the strength of this Wright, in his Provincial Dictionary, makes up the verb: 'Kirk, to turn upwards.' This is how glossaries are frequently written. The F. text merely has: 'Le nes froncié.'

3144. maugree, disfavour, ill will.

3185. with the anger, against the pain.

3231. trasshed, betrayed; F. traï. Trasshen is from the stem traiss-.

3234. verger, orchard; F. vergier; Lat. uiridiarium; so in ll. 3618, 3831.

3249. to garisoun, to protection, to safety; here, to your cure.

3251. thee to werrey, to war against thee; F. guerroier.

3256. musarde, sluggard; one who delays; F. musarde; see l. 4034.

3264. G. has seyne; Th. sayne. I prefer feyne. Not in the F. text.

3277. passioun, suffering, trouble; F. poine pain.

3284. but in happe, only in chance, i. e. a matter of chance.

3292. a rage, as in Th.; G. arrage. Cf. l. 3400.

3303. leve, believe; for the F. text has croit.

3326. in the peine, under torture; see Kn. Ta. A 1133.

3337. chevisaunce, resource, remedy. Both G. and Th., and all old editions, have cherisaunce, explained by Speght to mean 'comfort,' though the word is fictitious. Hence Kersey, by a misprint, gives 'cherisaunei, comfort'; which Chatterton adopted.

3346. The F. text has 'Amis ot non'; so that 'Freend' is here a proper name.

3356. meygned, maimed. This word takes numerous forms both in M. E. and in Anglo-French.

3462. at good mes, at a favourable time (en bon point); see note to l. 1453.

3501. 'And Pity, (coming) with her, filled the Rosebud with gracious favour.' of = with.

3508. Supply word; F. La parole a premiere prise.

3539. Cf. 'Regia, crede mihi, res est succurrere lapsis'; Ovid, Ex Ponto, Ep. lib. ii. ix. 11.

3548. This, put for This is; as in Parl. Foules, 411.

3579. moneste, short for amoneste, i. e. admonish.

3604. 'You need be no more afraid.' Here Thynne has turned thar into dare; see l. 3761, and note to l. 1089.

3633. to spanisshing, to its (full) expansion. F. text, espanie, expanded, pp. fem. of espanir, which Cotgrave explains by 'To grow or spread, as a blooming rose.'

3645, 6. vermayle, ruddy, lit. vermilion. abawed, dismayed; variant of abaved, Book Duch. 614; cf. l. 4041 below.

3699. werreyeth, makes war upon; cf. Knight Ta. A 2235, 6. The corrections here made in the text are necessary to the sense.

3715. I. e. she did not belong to a religious order.

3718. attour; better atour; F. text ator; array, dress.

3740. chasteleyne, mistress of a castle; F. chastelaine.

3751. The reading is easily put right, by help of the French:—

3774. Read it nil, it will not; F. Qu'el ne soit troble (l. 3505).

3811. The F. text has une vielle irese, and M. Méon explains irese by angry, or full of ire. Hence, a note in Bell suggests that irish here means 'full of ire.' But I think M. Méon is wrong; for the O.F. for 'full of ire' is irous, whence M.E. irous; and M. Michel prints Irese with a capital letter, and explains it by 'Irlandaise.' Besides, there is no point in speaking of 'an old angry woman'; whereas G. de Lorris clearly meant something disrespectful in speaking of 'an old Irishwoman.' M. Michel explains, in a note, that the Irish character was formerly much detested in France. I therefore believe that Irish has here its usual sense.

3826. Where Amyas is, is of no consequence; for the name is wrongly given. The F. text has 'a Estampes ou a Miaus,' i. e. at Étampes or at Meaux. Neither place is very far from Paris. Reynes means Rennes in Brittany; see note to Book Duch. 255.

3827. foot-hoot, foot-hot, immediately; see note to Cant. Ta. B 438.

3832. reward, regard; as in Parl. Foules, 426.

3845. Insert not, because the F. text has 'Si ne s'est mie.'

3855. We should probably insert him after hid.

3856. took, i. e. caught; see l. 3858.

3880. Read leye, lay; both for rime and sense.

3882. loigne, leash for a hawk. Cotgrave gives: 'Longe,... a hawks lune or leash.' This is the mod. F. longe, a tether, quite a different word from longe, the loin. Longe, a tether, was sometimes spelt loigne in O.F. (see Godefroy), which accounts for the form here used. It answers to Low Lat. longia, a tether, a derivative of longus, long. Perhaps lune is only a variant of the same word. The expression 'to have a long loigne' means 'to have too much liberty.'

3895. Read trecherous, i. e. treacherous people, for the sake of the metre and the rime. Trechours means 'traitors.'

3907. Read loude; for loude and stille is an old phrase; see Barbour's Bruce, iii. 745. It means, 'whether loudly or silently,' i. e. under all circumstances.

3912. blered is myn ye, I am made a fool of; see Cant. Ta. G 730.

3917. Read werreyed, warred against; see note to l. 3699.

3928. I. e. 'I must (have) fresh counsel.'

3938. 'And come to watch how to cause me shame.'

3940-3. The F. text has:—

3954. 'And to blind him with their imposture.'

3962. Perhaps read he durste.

3987. purpryse, enclosure; F. porprise, fem. Cotgrave has pourpris, m., in the same sense. See l. 4171.

4021. Read in hy, in haste, a common phrase; see l. 3591.

4032. 'No man, by taming it, can make a sparrow-hawk of a buzzard.' A buzzard was useless for falconry, but a sparrow-hawk was excellent. The F. text gives this as a proverb. Two similar proverbs are given in Cotgrave, s.v. Esparvier.

4034. musarde, a sluggish, and hence a useless person; see l. 3256.

4038. recreaundyse, recreant conduct; F. recreantise.

4073. goth afere, goes on fire, is inflamed.

4096. me sometimes occurs in M. E. as a shorter form of men, in the sense of 'one'; but it is better to read men at once, as it receives the accent. If written 'mē,' it might easily be copied as 'me.'

4126. 'Unless Love consent, at another time.'

4149. querrour, a quarrier, stone-cutter; see quarrieur in Cotgrave.

4176. ginne, war-engine, skaffaut, scaffold; a wooden shed on wheels, to protect besiegers. See the description of one, called 'a sow,' employed at the siege of Berwick in 1319, in Barbour's Bruce, xvii. 597-600; together with other sundry 'scaffatis' in the same, l. 601.

4191. Springoldes (F. perrieres, from Lat. petrariae), engines for casting-stones; spelt spryngaldis in Barbour's Bruce, xvii. 247. From O. F. espringale, a catapult; from G. springen, to spring.

4195. kernels, battlements; F. text, creniaus. Cf. P. Plowm. C., viii. 235; B. v. 597.

4196. arblasters (answering to Lat. arcuballistra), a variant form of arblasts or arbalests (answering to Lat. arcuballista), huge cross-bows, for discharging missiles. See Arbalest in the New E. Dict.

4229. for stelinge, i. e. to prevent stealing.

4248. distoned, made different in tone, out of tune. Cotgrave gives: 'Destonner, to change or alter a tune, to take it higher or lower.'

4249. Controve, compose or invent tunes, foule fayle, fail miserably.

4250. horn-pypes, pipes made of horn; but the F. text has estives, pipes made of straw. Cornewayle is doubtful; some take it to mean Cornwall; but it was more probably the name of a place in Brittany. A note in Méon's edition of Le Roman de la Rose, iii. 300, suggests 'la ville de Cornouaille, aujourd'hui Quimper-Corentin, qui est en basse Bretagne.' The F. text has Cornoaille.

4286. vekke, an old woman; as in l. 4495. Cf. Ital. vecchia, the same; but it is difficult to see how we came by the Ital. form.

4291. Some late editions read expert, which is clearly right; except gives no sense. Expt, with a stroke through the p, may have been misread as except.

4300. F. 'Qu'el scet toute la vielle dance'; see Prol. A 476.

4322. The old reading gives no sense; the corrected reading is due to Dr. Kaluza. It means 'I weened to have bought it very knowingly'; F. Ges cuidoie avoir achetés, I weened to have bought them. Ges = Ge les, i. e. les biens, the property. See note to l. 4352.

4333. For also perhaps read als, or so.

4352. wend, for wende, weened, supposed; F. cuidoie.

4372. For wol read wal; F. 'Qui est entre les murs enclose.'

4389. M. Méon here quotes a Latin proverb:—'Qui plus castigat, plus amore ligat.'

4432. G. de Lorris here ended his portion of the poem (containing 4070 lines), which he did not live to complete. His last line is:—

When Jean de Meun, more than forty years later, began his continuation, he caught up the last word, commencing thus:—

4464. a-slope, on the slope, i. e. insecure, slippery.

4472. Perhaps stounde should be wounde. F. 'S'ele ne me fait desdoloir.' Stounde arose from repeating the st in staunche.

4499. enforced, made stronger, i. e. increased.

4510. Read simpilly; this trisyllabic form is Northern, occurring in Barbour's Bruce, i. 331, xvii. 134. Cf. l. 3861.

4525. 'Who was to blame?' Cf. l. 4529.

4532. for to lowe, to appraise; hence, to be valued at. F. 'De la value d'une pome.' See Allow in the New E. Dict.

4549. The develles engins, the contrivances of the devil.

4556. yolden, requited; cf. Somp. Ta. D 2177.

4559. 'Ought I to shew him ill-will for it?'

4568. 'And lie awake when I ought to sleep.'

4574. taken atte gree, receive with favour.

4617, 8. not, know not; nist (knew not) would suit better; see l. 4626. eche, eke out, assist.

4634. I insert pyned, punished; F. 'N'as tu mie éu mal assés?'

4646. 'Thou didst act not at all like a wise man.'

4668. 'See, there's a fine knowledge.' Noble is ironical, as in 4639.

4681. with myn honde; see note to l. 2037 above.

4689, 90.

4697-4700. To him who flees love, its nature is explicable; to you, who are still under its influence, it remains a riddle.

4705. In Tyrwhitt's Gloss., s.v. Fret, he well remarks:—'In Rom. Rose, l. 4705, And through the fret full, read A trouthe fret full.' In fact, the F. text has: 'C'est loiautes la desloiaus.' Fret full is adorned or furnished, so as to be full; from A. S. frætwian, to adorn; cf. fretted full, Leg. of Good Women, 1117; and see Mätzner. Cf. l. 7259. On the whole, I do not think it is an error for bret-ful, i. e. brimful.

4712. This line is not in the F. text; it seems to mean—'a wave, harmful in wearing away the shore.'

4713. Caribdis, Charybdis, the whirlpool; cf. Horace, Carm. i. 27. 19.

4720. Havoir, property; usually spelt avoir.

4722. 'A thirst drowned in drunkenness'; F. 'C'est la soif qui tous jors est ivre.'

4728. drerihed, sadness; F. 'tristor'; cf. G. Traurigkeit.

4732. F. 'De pechies pardon entechies.' without, on the outside.

4747. Pryme temps, spring-time; F. 'Printems.'

4751. a slowe, a moth; F. taigne (Lat. tinea). But I know of no other example. Hence were, in the next line, must mean to wear away, to fret; cf. note to 4712.

4755. 'And sweethearts are as good in black mourning as when adorned in shining robes.' Cotgrave, s. v. Amourette, quotes a proverb: 'Aussi bien sont amourettes Soubs bureau, que soubs brunettes; Love bides in cottages, as well as in courts.' A burnet was a cloth of a superior quality; see note to l. 226.

4764. For That read But, answering to the F. Qui ... ne.

4768. Genius is one of the characters in a later part of the F. text, l. 16497 (ed. Méon).

4790. avaunt, forward; F. 'Ge n'en sai pas plus que devant.'

4793. For ever read er, i. e. ere, before; for the rime.

4796. can, know. parcuere, by heart; F. 'par cuer.'

4831. 'For paramours only feign.' But the original has: 'Mes par Amors amer ne daignent,' i. e. 'But they do not deign to love like true lovers'; unless it is a mere exclamation, 'I swear by Love.'

4859. 'To save the progeny (or strain) of our species'; cf. Cl. Ta. E 157.

4875, 6. Not in the original. It seems to mean—'who very often seek after destroyed increase (abortion) and the play of love.' Cf. tenen, to harm. But no other instance of for-tened is known, nor yet of crece as short for increes (increase). However, the verb cresen, to increase, is used by Wyclif; see cresce in Stratmann, ed. Bradley.

4882-4. Alluding to Cicero's treatise De Senectute.

4901. 'And considers himself satisfied with no situation.'

4904. Yalt him, yields himself, goes; F. 'se rent.'

4910. I. e. to remain till he professes himself, his year of probation being over. So, in l. 4914, leve his abit, to give up his friar's dress.

4923. Conteyne, contain or keep himself; F. 'le tiegne.'

4943. And mo seems a mistake for Demand, i. e. 'he may go and ask them.' F. 'Ou le demant as anciens.'

5014. This sentence is incomplete; the translator has missed the line—'Et qu'ele a sa vie perdue.' And he missed it thus. He began: 'That, but [i. e. unless] aforn hir,' &c., and was going to introduce, further on, 'She findeth she hath lost hir lyf,' or something of that kind. But by the time he came to 'wade' at the end of l. 5022, where this line should have come in, he had lost the thread of the sentence, and so left it out!

5028. Who list have Ioye; F. 'Qui ... veut joir.'

5047. arn, with the trilled r, is dissyllabic; see l. 5484.

5051. so, clearly an error for sho, Northern form of she.

5064. druery, courtship; but here, apparently, improperly used in the sense of 'mistress,' answering to 'amie' in the F. text.

5080. ado, short for at do, i. e. to do; at = to, is Northern.

5085. Read they; F. 'Més de la fole Amor se gardent.'

5107. Read herberedest; see Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 14. Pronounce it as herb'redest. F. 'hostelas,' from the verb hosteler.

5123, 4. As these lines are not in the original, the writer may have taken them from Chaucer's Hous of Fame, ll. 1257, 8. The converse seems to me unlikely; however, they are not remarkable for originality. Cf. note to l. 5486.

5124. recured, recovered; see examples in Halliwell.

5137. That refers to love, not to the sermon; and hir refers to Reason.

5162. The sense is doubtful; perhaps—'Then must I needs, if I leave it (i. e. Love), boldly essay to live always in hatred, and put away love from me, and be a sinful wretch, hated by all who love that fault.' Ll. 5165, 6 are both deficient, and require filling up.

5176. 'He who would not believe you would be a fool.' The omission of the relative is common; it appears (as qui) in the F. text. The line is ironical. Cf. ll. 5185-7.

5186. 'When that thou wilt approve of nothing.'

5191. 'But I know not whether it will profit.'

5223. I supply Ne lak (defect) in hem, to make some sense; the F. text does not help here. Half the line is lost; the rest means—'whom they, that ought to be true and perfect in love, would wish to prove.'

5266. A proverbial phrase; not in the F. text.

5274. him is here reflexive, and means 'himself.'

5278, 9, fered, fired, inflamed. depart, part, share.

5285. Read amitee; F. 'amitié.'

5286. Alluding to Cicero, De Amicitia: capp. xiii, xvii.

5292. The sense is; one friend must help another in every reasonable request; if the request seem unjust, he need not do so, except in two cases, viz. when his friend's life is in danger, or his honour is attacked: 'in quibus eorum aut caput agatur aut fama.' Read in cases two; F. 'en deux cas.'

5330. bit not, abides not, at any time; bit = bideth.

5341. For hir read the.

5353. The original reading would be It hit, i. e. it hideth; then It was dropped, and hit became hidith.

5384. gote, goat; but the F. text has cers, i. e. stag, ramage, wild.

5443. Obscure. The F. text has: 'Et que por seignors ne les tiengnent' Perhaps it means: 'They perform it (their will) wholly'; see l. 5447.

5452. Here chere of is for there of, with the common mistake of c for t.

5470. Of, i. e. off, off from.

5484. arn, with trilled r, is dissyllabic; as in l. 5047.

5486. 'Friend from affection (affect), and friend in appearance.' Chaucer, in his Balade on Fortune, l. 34, has 'Frend of effect [i. e. in reality], and frend of countenance.' And as the passage is not in the French, but is probably borrowed from Chaucer, we see that effect (not affect) is the right reading here; see l. 5549.

5491. The reading of Th. and G. is clearly wrong. The F. text helps but little. I read al she, i. e. all that she.

5507. flaterye is very inappropriate; we should expect iaperye, i. e. mockery. F. text, 'a vois jolie.'

5510. I. e. 'Begone, and let us be rid of you.' See Troilus, iii. 861, and note. (Probably borrowed from Chaucer.)

5513. From Prov. xvii. 17.

5523-9. 'This appears to be taken from Ecclus. xxii. 26.'—Bell. This reference is to the Vulgate; in the A.V., it is Ecclus. xxii. 22. Compare ll. 5521-2 with the preceding verse. With l. 5534 cf. Eccles. vii. 28.

5538. valoure, value; F. text, 'valor.' See 5556.

5541. So in Shakespeare; 2 Hen. IV. v. 1. 34. Michel cites: 'Verus amicus omni praestantior auro.'

5569. F. text; 'Que vosist-il acheter lores'; &c.

5585, 6. I fill up the lines so as to make sense. miches, F. 'miches.' A miche is a loaf of fine manchet bread, of good quality; see Cotgrave. chiche (l. 5588) is 'niggardly.'

5590. mauis, (as in G. and Th.) is clearly an error for muwis, or, muis, bushels. The F. text has muis, i. e. bushels (from Lat. modius). For the M.E. form muwe or mue, cf. M.E. puwe or pue (Lat. podium). The A.F. form muy occurs in the Liber Custumarum, ed. Riley, i. 62.

5598. that, perhaps 'that gold'; see l. 5592. 'And though that (gold) lie beside him in heaps.' It is better to read it.

5600. Asseth, a sufficiency, enough; see note to P. Plowman, C. xx. 203; and the note to Catholicon Anglicum, p. 13, n. 6.

5619. maysondewe, hospital, lit. 'house of God.' See Halliwell.

5649. Pictagoras, Pythagoras; the usual form, as in Book Duch. 1167. He died about B. C. 510. He was a Greek philosopher, who taught the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and he is here said to have taught the principle of the absorption of the soul into the supreme divinity. None of his works are extant. Hierocles of Alexandria, in the fifth century, wrote a commentary on the Golden Verses, which professed to give a summary of the views of Pythagoras.

5661. From Boethius, de Consolatione Philosophiæ, lib. i. pr. 5; lib. v. pr. 1. See notes to the Balade of Truth, ll. 17, 19.

5668. 'According as his income may afford him means.'

5673. ribaud, here used in the sense of 'a labouring man.' In the F. text he is spoken of as carrying 'sas de charbon,' i. e. sacks of coal.

5683. It is quite possible that Shakespeare caught up the phrase 'who would fardels bear,' &c., from this line in a black-letter edition of Chaucer. His next line—'To grunt and sweat under a weary life'—resembles ll. 5675-6; and 'The undiscovered country' may be from ll. 5658-5664. And see note to l. 5541. (But it is proper to add that Shakespearian scholars in general do not accept this as a possibility.)

5699. Read 'in sich a were'; F. 'en tel guerre.'

5700. Insert 'more'; F. 'Qu'il art tous jors de plus acquerre.'

5702. yeten, poured; a false form; correctly, yoten, pp. of yeten, to pour (A. S. gēotan, pp. goten).

5710. Seyne; F. 'Saine'; the river Seine (at Paris).

5739-5744. Not in the F. text, but inserted as a translation of some lines by Guiot de Provins, beginning: 'Fisicien sont apelé Sanz fi ne sont-il pas nommé.' See La Bible Guiot de Provins, v. 2582, in Fabliaux et Contes, édit. de Méon, tom. ii. p. 390. We must spell the words fysyk and fysycien as here written. A mild joke is intended. These words begin with fy, which (like E. fie!) means 'out upon it'; and go on with sy (= si), which means 'if,' and expresses the precariousness of trusting to doctors. Cf. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 222.

5749. 'Because people do not live in a holy manner.' This is ironical. The word 'Her' refers to 'tho that prechen,' i. e. the clergy; F. 'devins.' But the F. text has—'Cil [i. e. the preachers] ne vivent pas loiaument.' See ll. 5750-1.

5759. Proverbial. F. 'Deceus est tex decevierres.' See Reves Ta. A 4321; P. Plowman, C. xxi. 166, and the note.

5799. yeve, gave, i. e. were to give; past pl. subjunctive.

5810. This answers to l. 5170 of the original; after which there is a gap of some 6000 lines, which are entirely lost in the translation. L. 5811 answers to l. 10717 of the F. text. The last portion, or part C, of the E. text (ll. 5811-7698) may be by a third hand. Part C is considerably better than Part B, and approaches very much nearer to Chaucer's style; indeed, Dr. Kaluza accepts it as genuine, but I am not myself (as yet) fully convinced upon this point. See further in the Introduction.

5811. At l. 10715 of the original, we have the lines:—

Ll. 5811-2 of the E. text answer to the two last of these.

5824. lyf answers to F. âme; but the F. text has arme, a weapon.

5837. To-moche-yeving; F. 'Trop-Donner.'

5855, 6. To, i. e. against; F. 'Contre.' Fair-Welcoming; F. 'Bel-Acueil'; called Bialacoil in Fragment B of the translation.

5857. Wel-Helinge, good concealment; F. 'Bien-Celer.'

5894. tan, taken; common in the Northern dialect. So, perhaps, in l. 5900.

5931. letting, hindrance; F. 'puisse empéeschier.' He cannot prevent another from having what he has himself paid for.

5953. According to one account, Aphrodite was the daughter of Cronos and Euonyme; and the Romans identified Aphrodite with Venus, and Cronos with Saturnus. The wife of Cronos was Rhea.

5962. Two of the fathers were Mars and Anchises; and there are several other legends about the loves of Venus.

5966. pole, pool; F. 'la palu d'enfer.'

5978. Here sparth, with trilled r, appears to be dissyllabic; cf. ll. 3962, 5047, 5484, 6025. Or supply with before gisarme.

5984. pulle, pluck; as in Prol. A 652, &c.

5988. 'Unless they continue to increase (F. sourdent) in his garner.'

6002. chinchy, niggardly. For grede read gnede, i. e. stingy (person); A. S. gnēð.

6006. beautee; F. 'volonte'; read leautee; see l. 5959.

6009. For wol read wolde; F. 'Tous les méisse."

6017. they; i. e. a number of barons; see l. 5812.

6024. 'They act like fools who are outrageous,' i. e. they act foolishly. F. 'Il ne feront mie que sage'; which seems to mean just the contrary.

6025. forsworn, with trilled r, seems to be trisyllabic; see note to l. 5978. But it is better to read forsworen.

6026. Ne lette, nor cease. Cf. l. 5967. But read let, pp. prevented.

6027. piment is much the same as clarree; in fact, in l. 5967, where the E. has clarree, the F. text has piment. Tyrwhitt says, s. v. clarre; 'wine mixed with honey and spices, and afterwards strained till it is clear. It is otherwise called Piment, as appears from the title of the following receipt, in the Medulla Cirurgiae Rolandi, MS. Bodl. 761, fol. 86: Claretum bonum, sive Pigmentum,' &c., shewing that piment is spiced wine, with a third part of honey; see Piment in Halliwell.

6033. vicaire, deputy. In Méon's edition, the F. text has: 'Ja n'i querés autres victaires'; but Kaluza quotes five MSS. that read vicaires.

6037. Lat ladies worche, let ladies deal.

6044. 'Shall there never remain to them' (F. demorra).

6057. This, a common contraction for This is; cf. E. 'tis; see 3548.

6068. King of harlots; F. 'rois des ribaus.' The sense is 'king of rascals.' There is a note on the subject in Méon's edition. It quotes Fauchet, Origine des Dignités, who says that the roi des ribauds was an officer of the king's palace, whose duty it was to clear out of it the men of bad character who had no business to be there. M. Méon quotes an extract from an order of the household of king Philippe, A.D. 1290:—'Le Roy des Ribaus, vi. d. de gages, une provende de xl. s. pour robbe pour tout l'an, et mengera à court et n'aura point de livraison.' It further appears that the title of Roi des ribaus was often jocularly conferred on any conspicuous vagabond; as e.g. on the chief of a gang of strolling minstrels. See the note at p. 369 of Political Songs, ed. T. Wright, where it is shewn that the ribaldi were usually 'the lowest class of retainers, who had no other mode of living than following the courts of the Barons, and who were employed on all kinds of disgraceful and wicked actions.' The word harlot had, in Middle English, a similar sense.

6078. mister, need, use; F. 'mestier.'

6083. 'Which I do not care should be mentioned'; cf. l. 6093, which means—'They do not care to hear such tales.'

6103. 'If I say anything to impair (or lessen) their fame.'

6111. Let, short for ledeth: 'that he leads his life secretly.'

6120. 'Whilst every one here hears.'

6146. to hulstred be, to be concealed; cf. A. S. heolstor, a hiding-place.

6149. Remember that the speaker is Fals-Semblant, who often speaks ironically; he explains that he has nothing to do with truly religious people, but he dotes upon hypocrites. See l. 6171.

6169. lete, let alone, abandon; lette gives no sense.

6186. 'They offer the world an argument.'

6192. 'Cucullus non facit monachum'; a proverb.