Observe the mention of notemigges in the same, l. 1361.

Line 21 of the Milleres Tale (A. 3207) runs similarly:—

Maundeville speaks of the clowe-gilofre and notemuge in his 26th chapter; see Specimens of E. Eng. ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 171. Cetewale is generally explained as the herb valerian, but is certainly zedoary; see the Glossary. Clowe-gilofre, a clove; notemuge, a nutmeg. 'Spiced ale' is amongst the presents sent by Absolon to Alisoun in the Milleres Tale (A. 3378). Cf. the list of spices in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 6790-9.

1955. leye in cofre, to lay in a box.

1956. Compare Amis and Amiloun, ed. Weber, ii, 391:—

See also Romaunt of the Rose, ll. 613-728. But Chaucer's burlesque is far surpassed by a curious passage in the singular poem of The Land of Cockaygne (MS. Harl. 913), ll. 71-100:—

1964. as he were wood, as if he were mad, 'like mad.' So in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber), ii. 419:—

Cf. note to l. 1949.

1974. seinte, being feminine, and in the vocative case, is certainly a dissyllable here—'O seintè Márie, ben'cite.' Cf. note to B. 1170 above.

1977. Me dremed, I dreamt. Both dremen (to dream) and meten (also to dream) are sometimes used with a dative case and reflexively in Old English. In the Nonne Prestes Tale we have me mette (l. 74) and this man mette (l. 182); B. 4084, 4192.

1978. An elf-queen. Mr. Price says—'There can be little doubt that at one period the popular creed made the same distinctions between the Queen of Faerie and the Elf-queen that were observed in Grecian mythology between their undoubted parallels, Artemis and Persephone.' Chaucer makes Proserpine the 'queen of faerie' in his Marchauntes Tale; but at the beginning of the Wyf of Bathes Tale, he describes the elf-queen as the queen of the fairies, and makes elf and fairy synonymous. Perhaps this elf-queen in Sire Thopas (called the queen of fairye in l. 2004) may have given Spenser the hint for his Faerie Queene. But the subject is a vast one. See Price's Preface, in Warton's Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, pp. 30-36; Halliwell's Illustrations of Fairy Mythology; Keightley's Fairy Mythology; Warton's Observations on the Faerie Queene, sect. ii; Sir W. Scott's ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, &c.

1979. under my gore, within my robe or garment. In l. 2107 (on which see the note) we have under wede signifying merely 'in his dress.' We have a somewhat similar phrase here, in which, however, gore (lit. gusset) is put for the whole robe or garment. That it was a mere phrase, appears from other passages. Thus we find under gore, under the dress, Owl and Nightingale, l. 515; Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 244, vol. ii. p. 210; with three more examples in the Gloss. to Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. In one of these a lover addresses his lady as 'geynest under gore,' i. e. fairest within a dress. For the exact sense of gore, see note to A. 3237.

1983. In toune, in the town, in the district. But it must not be supposed that much sense is intended by this inserted line. It is a mere tag, in imitation of some of the romances. Either Chaucer has neglected to conform to the new kind of stanza which he now introduces (which is most likely), or else three lines have been lost before this one. The next three stanzas are longer, viz. of ten lines each, of which only the seventh is very short. For good examples of these short lines, see Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knyȝt, ed. Morris; and for a more exact account of the metres here employed, see vol. iii. p. 425.

1993. So wilde. Instead of this short line, Tyrwhitt has:—

But none of our seven MSS. agrees with this version, nor are these lines found in the black-letter editions. The notion of spying with one's mouth seems a little too far-fetched.

1995. This line is supplied from MS. Reg. 17 D. 15, where Tyrwhitt found it; but something is so obviously required here, that we must insert it to make some sense. It suits the tone of the context to say that 'neither wife nor child durst oppose him.' We may, however, bear in mind that the meeting of a knight-errant with one of these often preceded some great adventure. 'And in the midst of an highway he [Sir Lancelot] met a damsel riding on a white palfrey, and there either saluted other. Fair damsel, said Sir Lancelot, know ye in this country any adventures? Sir knight, said that damsel, here are adventures near hand, and thou durst prove them'; Sir T. Malory, Morte Arthur, bk. vi. cap. vii. The result was that Lancelot fought with Sir Turquine, and defeated him. Soon after, he was 'required of a damsel to heal her brother'; and again, 'at the request of a lady' he recovered a falcon; an adventure which ended in a fight, as usual. Kölbing points out a parallel line in Sir Guy of Warwick, 45-6:—

1998. Olifaunt, i. e. Elephant; a proper name, as Tyrwhitt observes, for a giant. Maundeville has the form olyfauntes for elephants. By some confusion the Mœso-Goth. ulbandus and A. S. olfend are made to signify a camel. Spenser has put Chaucer's Olifaunt into his Faerie Queene, bk. iii. c. 7. st. 48, and makes him the brother of the giantess Argantè, and son of Typhoeus and Earth. The following description of a giant is from Libius Disconius (Percy Folio MS. vol. ii. p. 465):—

Sir Libius says:—

Another giant, 20 feet long, and 2 ells broad, with two boar's tusks, and also with brows like bristles of a swine, appears in Octouian Imperator, ed. Weber, iii. 196. See also the alliterative Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, p. 33.

2000. child; see note to l. 2020. Termagaunt; one of the idols whom the Saracens (in the medieval romances) are supposed to worship. See The King of Tars, ed. Ritson (Met. Rom., ii. 174-182), where the Sultan's gods are said to be Jubiter, Jovin (both forms of Jupiter), Astrot (Astarte), Mahoun (Mahomet), Appolin (Apollo), Plotoun (Pluto), and Tirmagaunt. Lybeaus Disconus (Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 55) fought with a giant 'that levede yn Termagaunt.' The Old French form is Tervagant, Ital. Tervagante or Trivigante, as in Ariosto. Wheeler, in his Noted Names of Fiction, gives the following account—'Ugo Foscolo says: "Trivigante, whom the predecessors of Ariosto always couple with Apollino, is really Diana Trivia, the sister of the classical Apollo.".... According to Panizzi, Trivagante or Tervagante is the Moon, or Diana, or Hecate, wandering under three names. Termagant was an imaginary being, supposed by the crusaders, who confounded Mahometans with pagans, to be a Mahometan deity. This imaginary personage was introduced into early English plays and moralities, and was represented as of a most violent character, so that a ranting actor might always appear to advantage in it. See Hamlet, iii. 2. 15.' Fairfax, in his translation of Tasso (c. i. st. 84), speaks of Termagaunt and Mahound, but Tasso mentions 'Macometto' only. See also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 47. Hence comes our termagant in the sense of a noisy boisterous woman. Shakespeare has—'that hot termagant Scot'; 1 Hen. IV., v. 2. 114. Cf. Ritson's note, Met. Rom. iii. 257.

2002. slee, will slay. In Anglo-Saxon, there being no distinct future tense, it is expressed by the present. Cf. go for will go in 'we also go with thee'; John xxi. 3.

2005. simphonye, the name of a kind of tabor. In Ritson's Ancient Songs, i. lxiv., is a quotation from Hawkins's Hist. of Music, ii. 284, in which that author cites a passage from Batman's translation of Bartholomaeus de Proprietatibus Rerum, to the effect that the symphonie was 'an instrument of musyke ... made of an holowe tree [i. e. piece of wood], closyd in lether in eyther syde; and mynstrels beteth it with styckes.' Probably the symphangle was the same instrument. In Rob. of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, ll. 4772-3, we find:—

Godefroy gives the O. F. spellings cifonie, siphonie, chifonie, cinfonie, cymphonie, &c.; all clearly derived from the Greek συμφωνία; see Luke, xv. 25. Cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 1070-7.

2007. al-so mote I thee, as I may thrive; or, as I hope to thrive; a common expression. Cf. 'So mote y thee'; Sir Eglamour, ed. Halliwell, l. 430; Occleve, De Regimine Principum, st. 620. Chaucer also uses 'so thee ik,' i. e. so thrive I, in the Reves Prologue (A. 3864) and elsewhere.

2012. Abyen it ful soure, very bitterly shalt thou pay for it. There is a confusion between A. S. súr, sour, and A. S. sár, sore, in this and similar phrases; both were used once, but now we should use sorely, not sourly. In Layamon, l. 8158, we find 'þou salt it sore abugge,' thou shalt sorely pay for it; on the other hand, we find in P. Plowman, B. ii. 140:—

So also in the C-text, though the A-text has sore. Note that in another passage, P. Plowman, B. xviii. 401, the phrase is—'Thow shalt abye it bittre.' For abyen, see the Glossary.

2015. fully pryme. See note to Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4045. Prime commonly means the period from 6 to 9 a.m. Fully prime refers to the end of that period, or 9 a.m.; and even prime alone may be used with the same explicit meaning, as in the Nonne Pres. Ta., B. 4387.

2019. staf-slinge. Tyrwhitt observes that Lydgate describes David as armed only 'with a staffe-slynge, voyde of plate and mayle.' It certainly means a kind of sling in which additional power was gained by fastening the lithe part of it on to the end of a stiff stick. Staff-slyngeres are mentioned in the romance of Richard Coer de Lion, l. 4454, in Weber's Metrical Romances, ii. 177. In Col. Yule's edition of Marco Polo, ii. 122, is a detailed description of the artillery engines of the middle ages. They can all be reduced to two classes; those which, like the trebuchet and mangonel, are enlarged staff-slings, and those which, like the arblast and springold, are great cross-bows. Conversely, we might describe a staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.

2020. child Thopas. Child is an appellation given to both knights and squires, in the early romances, at an age when they had long passed the period which we now call childhood. A good example is to be found in the Erle of Tolous, ed. Ritson, iii. 123:—

Compare Romance of 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' pr. in Ritson, iii. 282; the ballad of Childe Waters, &c. Byron, in his preface to Childe Harold, says—'It is almost superfluous to mention that the appellation "Childe," as "Childe Waters," "Childe Childers," &c., is used as more consonant with the old structure of versification which I have adopted.' He adopts, however, the late and artificial metre of Spenser.

2023. A palpable imitation. The first three lines of Sir Bevis of Hampton (MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. ii. 38, leaf 94, back) are—

In a long passage in Todd's Illustrations to Chaucer, pp. 284-292, it is contended that mery signifies sweet, pleasant, agreeable, without relation to mirth. Chaucer describes the Frere as wanton and merry, Prol. A. 208; he speaks of the merry day, Kn. Ta. 641 (A. 1499); a merry city, N. P. Ta. 251 (B. 4261); of Arcite being told by Mercury to be merry, i. e. of good cheer, Kn. Ta. 528 (A. 1386); in the Manciple's Tale (H. 138), the crow sings merrily, and makes a sweet noise; Chanticleer's voice was merrier than the merry organ, N. P. Ta. 31 (B. 4041); the 'erbe yve' is said to be merry, i. e. pleasant, agreeable, id. 146 (B. 4156); the Pardoner (Prol. A. 714) sings merrily and loud. We must remember, however, that the Host, being 'a mery man,' began to speak of 'mirthe'; Prol. A. 757, 759. A very early example of the use of the word occurs in the song attributed to Canute—'Merie sungen the Muneches binnen Ely,' &c. See the phrase 'mery men' in l. 2029.

2028. The phrase to come to toune seems to mean no more than simply to return. Cf. Specimens of E. Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 48—

which merely means that spring, with its thoughts of love, has returned. See the note on that line.

2034. for paramour, for love; but the par, or else the for, is redundant. Iolite, amusement; used ironically in the Kn. Ta. 949 (A. 1807). Sir Thopas is going to fight the giant for the love and amusement of one who shone full bright; i. e. a fair lady, of course. But Sir Thopas, in dropping this mysterious hint to his merry men, refrains from saying much about it, as he had not yet seen the Fairy Queen, and had only the giant's word for her place of abode. The use of the past tense shone is artful; it implies that he wished them to think that he had seen his lady-love; or else that her beauty was to be taken for granted. Observe, too, that it is Sir Thopas, not Chaucer, who assigns to the giant his three heads.

2035. Do come, cause to come; go and call hither. Cf. House of Fame, l. 1197:—

Tyrwhitt's note on gestours is—'The proper business of a gestour was to recite tales, or gestes; which was only one of the branches of the Minstrel's profession. Minstrels and gestours are mentioned together in the following lines from William of Nassyngton's Translation of a religious treatise by John of Waldby; MS. Reg. 17 C. viii. p. 2:—

I cite these lines to shew the species of tales related by the ancient Gestours, and how much they differed from what we now call jests.'

The word geste here means a tale of the adventures of some hero, like those in the Chansons de geste. Cf. note to l. 2123 below. Sometimes the plural gestes signifies passages of history. The famous collection called the Gesta Romanorum contains narratives of very various kinds.

2038. royales, royal; some MSS. spell the word reales, but the meaning is the same. In the romance of Ywain and Gawain (Ritson, vol. i.) a maiden is described as reading 'a real romance.' Tyrwhitt thinks that the term originated with an Italian collection of romances relating to Charlemagne, which began with the words—'Qui se comenza la hystoria el Real di Franza,' &c.; edit. Mutinae, 1491, folio. It was reprinted in 1537, with a title beginning—'I reali di Franza,' &c. He refers to Quadrío, t. vi. p. 530. The word roial (in some MSS. real) occurs again in l. 2043. Kölbing remarks that the prose romance of Generides is called a royal historie, though it has nothing to do with Charlemagne.

2043. No comma is required at the end of this line; the articles mentioned in ll. 2044-6 all belong to spicery. Cf. additional note to Troilus, vol. ii. p. 506.

2047. dide, did on, put on. The arming of Lybeaus Disconus is thus described in Ritson's Met. Rom. ii. 10:—

2048. lake, linen; see Glossary. 'De panno de lake'; York Wills, iii. 4 (anno 1395).

2050. aketoun, a short sleeveless tunic. Cf. Liber Albus, p. 376.

The Glossary to the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, has—'Acton, a wadded or quilted tunic worn under the hauberk.—Planché, i. 108.' Thynne, in his Animadversions (Early Eng. Text Soc.), p. 24, says—'Haketon is a slevelesse jackett of plate for the warre, couered withe anye other stuffe; at this day also called a jackett of plate.'

It is certain that the plates were a later addition. It is the mod. F. hoqueton, O. F. auqueton; and it is certain that the derivation is from Arab. al-qoton or al-qutun, lit. 'the cotton'; so that it was originally made of quilted cotton. See auqueton in Godefroy, hoqueton in Devic's Supp. to Littré, and Acton in the New E. Dict.

2051. habergeoun, coat of mail. See Prol. A. 76, and the note.

2052. For percinge, as a protection against the piercing. So in P. Plowman, B. vi. 62, Piers puts on his cuffs, 'for colde of his nailles,' i. e. as a protection against the cold. So too in the Rom. of the Rose, l. 4229.

2053. The hauberk is here put on as an upper coat of mail, of finer workmanship and doubtless more flexible.

2054. Jewes werk, Jew's work. Tyrwhitt imagined that Jew here means a magician, but there is not the least foundation for the idea. Mr. Jephson is equally at fault in connecting Jew with jewel, since the latter word is etymologically connected with joy. The phrase still remains unexplained. I suspect it means no more than wrought with rich or expensive work, such as Jews could best find the money for. It is notorious that they were the chief capitalists, and they must often have had to find money for paying armourers. Or, indeed, it may refer to damascened work; from the position of Damascus.

2055. plate. Probably the hauberk had a breastplate on the front of it. But on the subject of armour, I must refer the reader to Godwin's English Archaeologist's Handbook, pp. 252-268; Planché's History of British Costume, and Sir S. R. Meyrick's Observations on Body-armour, in the Archaeologia, vol. xix. pp. 120-145.

2056. The cote-armour was not for defence, but a mere surcoat on which the knight's armorial bearings were usually depicted, in order to identify him in the combat or 'debate.' Hence the modern coat-of-arms.

2059. reed, red. In the Romances, gold is always called red, and silver white. Hence it was not unusual to liken gold to blood, and this explains why Shakespeare speaks of armour being gilt with blood (King John, ii. 1. 316), and makes Lady Macbeth talk of gilding the groom's faces with blood (Macbeth, ii. 2. 56). See also Coriol. v. 1. 63, 64; and the expression 'blood bitokeneth gold'; Cant. Tales, D. 581.

2060. Cf. Libeaus Desconus, ed. Kaluza, 1657-8:—

And see the editor's note, at p. 201.

2061. 'A carbuncle (Fr. escarboucle) was a common [armorial] bearing. See Guillim's Heraldry, p. 109.'—Tyrwhitt.

2062. Sir Thopas is made to swear by ale and bread, in ridiculous imitation of the vows made by the swan, the heron, the pheasant, or the peacock, on solemn occasions.

2065. Iambeux, armour worn in front of the shins, above the mail-armour that covered the legs; see Fairholt. He tells us that, in Roach Smith's Catalogue of London Antiquities, p. 132, is figured a pair of cuirbouilly jambeux, which are fastened by thongs. Spenser borrows the word, but spells it giambeux, F. Q. ii. 6. 29.

quirboilly, i. e. cuir bouilli, leather soaked in hot water to soften it that it might take any required shape, after which it was dried and became exceedingly stiff and hard. In Matthew Paris (anno 1243) it is said of the Tartars—'De coriis bullitis sibi arma leuia quidem, sed tamen impenetrabilia coaptarunt.' In Marco Polo, ed. Yule, ii. 49, it is said of the men of Carajan, that they wear armour of boiled leather (French text, armes cuiracés de cuir bouilli). Froissart (v. iv. cap. 19) says the Saracens covered their targes with 'cuir bouilli de Cappadoce, ou nul fer ne peut prendre n'attacher, si le cuir n'est trop échaufé.' When Bruce reviewed his troops on the morning of the battle of Bannockburn, he wore, according to Barbour, 'ane hat of qwyrbolle' on his 'basnet,' and 'ane hye croune' above that. Some remarks on cuir bouilli will be found in Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 344.

2068. rewel-boon, probably whale-ivory, or ivory made of whales' teeth. In the Turnament of Tottenham, as printed in Percy's reliques, we read that Tyb had 'a garland on her hed ful of rounde bonys,' where another copy has (says Halliwell, s. v. ruel) the reading—'fulle of ruelle-bones.' Halliwell adds—'In the romaunce of Rembrun, p. 458, the coping of a wall is mentioned as made 'of fin ruwal, that schon swithe brighte.' And in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. v. 48, fol. 119, is the passage—

In Sir Degrevant, 1429, a roof is said to be—

Quite near the beginning of the Vie de Seint Auban, ed. Atkinson, we have—

i. e. but it was not adorned with gold nor other metal, nor with precious stones, nor ivory, nor rewel. Du Cange gives a Low Lat. form rohanlum, and an O. Fr. rochal, but tells us that the MS. readings are rohallum and rohal. The passage occurs in the Laws of Normandy about wreckage, and should run—'dux sibi retinet ... ebur, rohallum, lapides pretiosas'; or, in the French version, 'l'ivoire, et le rohal, et les pierres precieuses.' Ducange explains the word by 'rock-crystal,' but this is a pure guess, suggested by F. roche, a rock. It is clear that, when the word is spelt rochal, the ch denotes the same sound as the Ger. ch, a guttural resembling h, and not the F. ch at all. Collecting all the spellings, we find them to be, in French, rohal, rochal, roal; and, in English, ruwal, rewel, ruel, (reuylle, ruelle). The h and w might arise from a Teutonic hw, so that the latter part of the word was originally -hwal, i. e. whale; hence, perhaps, Godefroy explains F. rochal as 'ivoire de morse,' ivory of the walrus (A. S. hors-hwæl). The true origin seems rather to be some Norse form akin to Norweg. röyrkval (E. rorqual). Some whales, as the cachalot, have teeth that afford a kind of ivory; and this is what seems to be alluded to. The expression 'white as whale-bone,' i. e. white as whale-ivory, was once common; see Weber's Met. Romances, iii. 350; and whales-bone in Nares. Most of this ivory was derived, however, from the tusk of the walrus or the narwhal. Sir Thopas's saddle was ornamented with ivory.

2071. cipress, cypress-wood. In the Assembly of Foules, l. 179, we have—

i. e. the cypress suitable for lamenting a death. Vergil calls the cypress 'atra,' Æn. iii. 64, and 'feralis,' vi. 216; and as it is so frequently a symbol of mourning, it may be said to bode war.

2078. In Sir Degrevant (ed. Halliwell, p. 191) we have just this expression—

2085. love-drury, courtship. All the six MSS. have this reading. According to Wright, the Harl. MS. has 'Of ladys loue and drewery,' which Tyrwhitt adopts; but it turns out that Wright's reading is copied from Tyrwhitt; the MS. really has—'And of ladys loue drewery,' like the rest.

2088. The romance or lay of Horn appears in two forms in English. In King Horn, ed. Lumby, Early Eng. Text Soc., 1866, printed also in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 207, the form of the poem is in short rimed couplets. But Chaucer no doubt refers to the other form with the title Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild, in a metre similar to Sir Thopas, printed in Ritson's Metrical Romances, iii. 282. The Norman-French text was printed by F. Michel for the Bannatyne Club, with the English versions, in a volume entitled—Horn et Riemenhild; Recueil de ce qui reste des poëmes relatifs à leurs aventures, &c. Paris, 1845. See Mr. Lumby's preface and the remarks in Mätzner.

It is not quite clear why Chaucer should mention the romance of Sir Ypotis here, as it has little in common with the rest. There are four MS. copies of it in the British Museum, and three at Oxford. 'It professes to be a tale of holy writ, and the work of St. John the Evangelist. The scene is Rome. A child, named Ypotis, appears before the Emperor Adrian, saying that he is come to teach men God's law; whereupon the Emperor proceeds to interrogate him as to what is God's Law, and then of many other matters, not in any captious spirit, but with the utmost reverence and faith.... There is a little tract in prose on the same legend from the press of Wynkyn de Worde'; J. W. Hales, in Hazlitt's edition of Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ii. 183. It was printed in 1881, from the Vernon MS. at Oxford, in Horstmann's Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, pp. 341-8. It is hard to believe that, by Ypotys, Chaucer meant (as some say) Ypomadoun.

The romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton (i. e. Southampton) was printed from the Auchinleck MS. for the Maitland Club in 1838, 4to. Another copy is in MS. Ff. 2. 38, in the Cambridge University Library. It has lately been edited, from six MS. copies and an old printed text, by Prof. Kölbing, for the Early Eng. Text Society. There is an allusion in it to the Romans, meaning the French original. It appears in prose also, in various forms. See Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 142, where there is also an account of Sir Guy, in several forms; but a still fuller account of Sir Guy is given in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, ii. 509. This Folio MS. itself contains three poems on the latter subject, viz. Guy and Amarant, Guy and Colbrande, and Guy and Phillis. 'Sir Guy of Warwick' has been edited for the Early Eng. Text Society by Prof. Zupitza.

By Libeux is meant Lybeaus Disconus, printed by Ritson in his Metrical Romances, vol. ii. from the Cotton MS. Caligula A. 2. A later copy, with the title Libius Disconius, is in the Percy Folio MS. ii. 404, where a good account of the romance may be found. The best edition is that by Dr. Max Kulaza, entitled Libeaus Desconus; Leipzig, 1890. The French original was discovered in 1855, in a MS. belonging to the Duc d'Aumale. Its title is Li Biaus Desconneus, which signifies The Fair Unknown.

Pleyndamour evidently means plein d'amour, full of love, and we may suspect that the original romance was in French; but there is now no trace of any romance of that name, though a Sir Playne de Amours is mentioned in Sir T. Malory's Morte Darthur, bk. ix. c. 7. Spenser probably borrowed hence his Sir Blandamour, F. Q. iv. 1. 32.

2092. After examining carefully the rimes in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Mr. Bradshaw finds that this is the sole instance in which a word which ought etymologically to end in -yë is rimed with a word ending in -y without a following final e. A reason for the exception is easily found; for Chaucer has here adopted the swing of the ballad metre, and hence ventures to deprive chiualryë of its final e, and to call it chivalry' so that it may rime with Gy, after the manner of the ballad-writers; cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 79, 80. So again chivalryë, druryë become chivalry, drury; ll. 2084, 2085. We even find plas for plac-e, 1971; and gras for grac-e, 2021.

2094. glood, glided. So in all the MSS. except E., which has the poor reading rood, rode. For the expression in l. 2095, compare—

2106. The first few lines of the romance of Sir Perceval of Galles (ed. Halliwell, p. 1) will at once explain Chaucer's allusion. It begins—

Both Sir Thopas and Sir Perceval were water-drinkers, but it did not impair their vigour.

In the same romance, p. 84, we find—

These quotations set aside Mr. Jephson's interpretation, and solve Tyrwhitt's difficulty. Tyrwhitt says that 'The Romance of Perceval le Galois, or de Galis, was composed in octosyllable French verse by Chrestien de Troyes, one of the oldest and best French romancers, before the year 1191; Fauchet, l. ii. c. x. It consisted of above 60,000 verses (Bibl. des Rom. t. ii. p. 250) so that it would be some trouble to find the fact which is, probably, here alluded to. The romance, under the same title, in French prose, printed at Paris, 1530, fol., can be an abridgement, I suppose, of the original poem.'

2107. worthy under wede, well-looking in his armour. The phrase is very common. Tyrwhitt says it occurs repeatedly in the romance of Emare, and refers to folios 70, 71 b, 73 a, and 74 b of the MS.; but the reader may now find the romance in print; see Ritson's Metrical Romances, ii. pp. 214, 229, 235, 245. The phrase is used of ladies also, and must then mean of handsome appearance when well-dressed. See Amis and Amiloun, ed. Weber, ii. pp. 370, 375. Cf. l. 1979.

2108. The story is here broken off by the host's interruption. MSS. Pt. and Hl. omit this line, and MSS. Cp. and Ln. omit ll. 2105-7 as well.

Prologue to Melibeus.

2111. of, by. lewednesse, ignorance; here, foolish talk.

2112. also, &c.; as verily as (I hope) God will render my soul happy. See Kn. Ta. A. 1863, 2234.

2113. drasty, filthy. Tyrwhitt and Bell print drafty, explained by full of draff or refuse. But there is no such word; the adjective (were there one) would take the form draffy. See drestys, i. e. dregs, lees of wine, in the Prompt. Parv., and Way's note, which gives the spelling drastus (a plural form) as occurring in MS. Harl. 1002. The Lat. feces is glossed by drastys in Wright's Vocab., ed. Wülcker, p. 625, l. 16. And the Lat. feculentus is glossed by the A. S. dræstig in the same, col. 238, l. 20.

2123. in geste, in the form of a regular story of adventure of some well-known hero; cf. House of Fame, 1434, 1515. The gestes generally pretended to have some sort of historical foundation; from Low Lat. gesta, doings. Sir Thopas was in this form, but the Host would not admit it, and wanted to hear about some one who was more renowned. 'Tell us,' he says, 'a tale like those in the chansons de geste, or at least something in prose that is either pleasant or profitable.'

2131. 'Although it is sometimes told in different ways by different people.'

2137. 'And all agree in their general meaning.' sentence, sense; see ll. 2142, 2151.

2148. Read it—Tenforcë with, &c.

The Tale of Melibeus.

For the sources of the Tale of Melibeus, see vol. iii. p. 426. It may suffice to say here that Chaucer's Tale is translated from the French version entitled Le Livre de Mellibee et Prudence, ascribed by M. Paul Meyer to Jean de Meung. Of this text there are two MS. copies in the British Museum, viz. MS. Reg. 19 C. vii. and MS. Reg. 19 C. xi, both of the fifteenth century; the former is said by Mr. T. Wright to be the more correct. It is also printed, as forming part of Le Menagier de Paris, the author of which embodied it in his book, written about 1393; the title of the printed book being—'Le Menagier de Paris; publié pour la première fois par la Société des Bibliophiles François; a Paris M.D. CCC. XLVI'; (tome i. p. 186); ed. J. Pichon. In the following notes, this is alluded to as the French text.

This French version was, in its turn, translated from the Liber Consolationis et Consilii of Albertano of Brescia, excellently edited for the Chaucer Society in 1873 by Thor Sundby, with the title 'Albertani Brixiensis Liber Consolationis et Consilii.' This is alluded to, in the following notes, as the Latin text. Thor Sundby's edition is most helpful, as the editor has taken great pains to trace the sources of the very numerous quotations with which the Tale abounds; and I am thus enabled to give the references in most cases. I warn the reader that Albertano's quotations are frequently inexact.

Besides this, the Tale of Melibeus has been admirably edited, as a specimen of English prose, in Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, ii. 375, with numerous notes, of which I here make considerable use. Owing to the great care taken by Sundby and Mätzner, the task of explaining the difficulties in this Tale has been made easy. The more important notes from Mätzner are marked 'Mr.'

The first line or clause (numbered 2157) ends with the word 'Sophie,' as shewn by the slanting stroke. The whole Tale is thus divided into clauses, for the purpose of ready reference, precisely as in the Six-text edition; I refer to these clauses as if they were lines. The 'paragraphs' are the same as in Tyrwhitt's edition.

2157. Melibeus. The meaning of the name is given below (note to l. 2600).

Prudence. 'It is from a passage of Cassiodorus, quoted by Albertano in cap. vi., that he [Albertano] has taken the name of his heroine, if we may call her so, and the general idea of her character:—"Superauit cuncta infatigabilis et expedita prudentia"; Cass. Variarum lib. ii. epist. 15.'—Sundby.

Sophie, i. e. wisdom, σοφία. Neither the Latin nor the French text gives the daughter's name.

2159. Inwith, within; a common form in Chaucer; see note to B. 1794. Y-shette, pl. of y-shet, shut; as in B. 560.

2160. Thre; Lat. text, tres; Fr. text, trois. Tyrwhitt has foure, as in MSS. Cp. Ln.; yet in l. 2562, he prints 'thin enemies ben three,' and in l. 2615, he again prints 'thy three enemies.' Again, in l. 2612, it is explained that these three enemies signify, allegorically, the flesh, the world, and the devil.

2164. As ferforth, as far; as in B. 19, 1099, &c. Mätzner also quotes from Troilus, ii. 1106—'How ferforth be ye put in loves daunce.'

2165. Mätzner would read—'ever the lenger the more'; but see E. 687, F. 404.

2166. Ovide, Ovid. The passage referred to is—

2172. Warisshe, recover; Cp. Ln. Hl. be warisshed, be cured. Chaucer uses this verb elsewhere both transitively and intransitively, so that either reading will serve. For the transitive use, see below, ll. 2207, 2466, 2476, 2480; also F. 856, 1138, 1162; Book of Duch. 1104. For the intransitive use, observe that, in F. 856, Cp. Pt. Ln. have—'then wolde myn herte Al waryssche of this bitter peynes smerte'; and cf. Morte Arthure, 2186—'I am wathely woundide, waresche mon I neuer!'—M.

Lat. text—'Filia tua, dante Domino, bene liberabitur.'

2174. Senek, Seneca. 'Non affligitur sapiens liberorum amissione, non amicorum; eodem animo enim fert illorum mortem quo suam expectat'; Epist. 74, § 29.

2177. Lazarus; see John, xi. 35.

2178. Attempree, moderate; Lat. text, 'temperatus fletus.' Hl. attemperel, which Mätzner illustrates. Cf. D. 2053, where Hl. has attemperelly; and E. 1679, where Hl. has attemperely. Cf. ll. 2570, 2728 below.

Nothing defended, not at all forbidden.

2179. See Rom. xii. 15.

2181. 'According to the doctrine that Seneca teaches us.' Cf. 'Non sicci sint oculi, amisso amico, nec fluant; lacrimandum est, non plorandum'; Epist. 63, § 1.

2183. This is also, practically, from Seneca: 'Quem amabis extulisti, quaere quem ames; satius est amicum reparare, quam flere'; Epist. 63, § 9.

2185. Iesus Syrak, Jesus the son of Sirach. 'Ecclesiasticus is the title given in the Latin version to the book which is called in the Septuagint The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach'; Smith, Dict. of the Bible. Compare the title 'A prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach' to Ecclus. ch. li. But the present quotation is really from Prov. xvii. 22. It is the next quotation, in l. 2186, that is from Ecclus. xxx. 25 (Vulgate), i. e. xxx. 23 in the English version. The mistake is due to misreading the original Lat. text, which quotes the passages in the reverse order, as being from 'Jesus Sirac' and 'alibi.'

2187. From Prov. xxv. 20; but the clause is omitted in the modern Eng. version, though Wycliffe has it. The Vulgate has:—'Sicut tinea uestimento, et uermis ligno: ita tristitia uiri nocet cordi.' The words in the shepes flees (in the sheep's fleece) are added by Chaucer, apparently by way of explanation. But the fact is that, according to Mätzner, the Fr. version here has 'la tigne, ou lartuison, nuit a la robe,' where artuison is the Mod. F. artison, explained by Cotgrave as 'a kind of moth'; and I strongly suspect that 'in the shepes flees' is due to this 'ou lartuison,' which Chaucer may have misread as en la toison. It looks very like it. I point other similar mistakes further on.

Anoyeth, harms; F. nuit, L. nocet. The use of to here is well illustrated by Mätzner, who compares Wycliffe's version of this very passage; 'As a moghe to the cloth, and a werm to the tree, so sorewe of a man noyeth to the herte'; whereas Purvey's later version thrice omits the to. In the Persones Tale, Group I. 847, anoyeth occurs both with to and without it.

2188. Us oghte, it would become us; oghte is in the subjunctive mood. Cf. hem oughte, it became them, in l. 2458; thee oughte, it became thee, in l. 2603.—Mr. The pres. indic. form is us oweth.

Goodes temporels; F. text, biens temporels. Chaucer uses the F. pl. in -es or -s for the adjective in other places, and the adj. then usually follows the sb. Cf. lettres capitals, capital letters, Astrolabe, i. 16. 8; weyes espirituels, spiritual ways, Pers. Tale, I. 79; goodes espirituels, id. 312; goodes temporeles, id. 685; thinges espirituels, id. 784.—Mr.

2190. See Job, i. 21. Hath wold, hath willed (it); see 2615.

2193. Quotations from Solomon and from Ecclesiasticus are frequently confused, both throughout this Tale, and elsewhere. The reference is to Ecclus. xxxii. 24, in the Vulgate (cf. A. V. xxxii. 19); here Wycliffe has:—'Sone, withoute counseil no-thing do thou; and after thi deede thou shalt not othynke' (i. e. of-thinke, repent).

Thou shalt never repente; here Hl. has—'the thar neuer rewe,' i. e. it needeth never for thee to rue it.

2202. With-holde, retained. Cf. A. 511; Havelok, 2362.—Mr.

2204. Parties, &c.; Fr. text: supporter partie.—Mr.

2205. Hool and sound; a common phrase. Cf. Rob. of Glouc. pp. 163, 402, ed. Hearne (ll. 3417, 8301, ed. Wright); King Horn, l. 1365 (in Morris's Specimens of English); also l. 2300 below.—Mr.

2207. 'Heal, put a stop to, war by taking vengeance; a literal and very happy translation from the French—aussi doit on guerir guerre par vengence.'—Bell. Tyrwhitt omits the words by vengeaunce, and Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 320) defends him, arguing that 'the physicians are represented as agreeing with the surgeons'; whereas Chaucer expressly says that 'they seyden a fewe wordes more.' The words 'by vengeaunce' are in all the seven MSS. and in the French original. Admittedly, they make nonsense, but the nonsense is expressly laid bare and exposed afterwards, when it appears that the physicians did not really add this clause, but Melibeus dreamt that they did (2465-2480). The fact is, however, that the words par vengence were wrongly interpolated in the French text. Chaucer should have omitted them, but the evidence shews that he did not. I decline to falsify the text in order to set the author right. We should then have to set the French text right also!

2209. 'Made this matter much worse, and aggravated it.'

2210. Outrely, utterly, entirely, i. e. without reserve; Fr. text tout oultre. Not from A. S. ūtor, outer, utter, but from F. oultre, outre, moreover; of which one sense, in Godefroy, is 'excessivement.' See E. 335, 639, 768, 953; C. 849; &c.

2216. Fr. text—'en telle maniere que tu soies bien pourveu d'espies et guettes.'—Mr.

2218. To moeve; Fr. text, de mouvoir guerre; cf. the Lat. phrase mouere bellum.—Mr.

2220. The Lat. text has here three phrases for Chaucer's 'common proverb.' It has: 'non enim subito uel celeriter est iudicandum, "omnia enim subita probantur incauta," et "in iudicando criminosa est celeritas," et "ad poenitendum properat qui cito iudicat."' Of these, the first is from Cassiodorus, Variarum lib. i. c. 17; and the second and third from Publilius Syrus, Sententiae, 254 and 32 (ed. Friedrich, Berolini, 1880). For iudicando, as in some MSS., Friedrich has the variant vindicando. Cf. the Proverbs of Hending, l. 256: 'Ofte rap reweth,' haste often rues. See note to 2244.

2221. Men seyn; this does not necessarily mean that Chaucer is referring to a proverb. He is merely translating. The Lat. text has; 'quare dici consueuit, Optimum iudicem existimem, qui cito intelligit et tarde iudicat.' It also quotes two sentences (nos. 311 and 128) from Publilius Syrus: 'Mora omnis odio est, sed facit sapientiam'; and—'Deliberare utilia mora est tutissima.' Mätzner points out that there are two other sentences (nos. 659 and 32) in Publilius, which come very near the expression in the text, viz. 'Velox consilium sequitur poenitentia'; and—'Ad poenitendum properat, qui cito iudicat.'

2223. See John, viii. 3-8. For he wroot, Hl. has 'hem wrot,' which is obviously wrong.

2227. Made contenaunce, made a sign, made a gesture. Among the senses of F. contenance, Cotgrave gives: 'gesture, posture, behaviour, carriage.'

2228. Fr. text—'qui ne scevent que guerre se monte.'—Mr.

2229. 'The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water'; Prov. xvii. 14.

2231. 'The chylde may rue that is vnborn'; Chevy Chase, l. 9.

2235. 'A tale out of season is as music in mourning'; Ecclus. xxii. 6.

2237. Not from 'Solomon,' but from 'Jesus, son of Sirach,' as before. The Lat. text agrees with the Vulgate version of Ecclus. xxxii. 6: 'ubi auditus non est, ne effundas sermonem'; the E. version (verse 4) is somewhat different, viz. 'Pour not out words where there is a musician, and shew not forth wisdom out of time.' Chaucer gives us the same saying again in verse; see B. 3991.

2238. Lat. text: 'semper consilium tunc deest, quando maxime opus est'; from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 594. (Read cum opus est maxime.)

2242. Cf. F. text—'Sire, dist elle, je vous prie que vous ne vous hastez, et que vous pour tous dons me donnez espace.'—Wright.

2243. Piers Alfonce, Petrus Alfonsi. 'Peter Alfonsus, or Alfonsi, was a converted Spanish Jew, who flourished in the twelfth century, and is well known for his Disciplina Clericalis, a collection of stories and moralisations in Latin prose, which was translated afterwards into French verse, under the title of the Chastoiement d'un pere a son fils. It was a book much in vogue among the preachers from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century.'—Wright. Tyrwhitt has a long note here; he says that a copy of this work is in MS. Bibl. Reg. 10 B. xii in the British Museum, and that there is also a copy of another work by the same author, entitled Dialogus contra Judaeos, in MS. Harl. 3861. He also remarks that the manner and style of the Disciplina Clericalis 'show many marks of an Eastern original; and one of his stories Of a trick put upon a thief is entirely taken from the Calilah a Damnah, a celebrated collection of Oriental apologues.' All the best fables of Alfonsus were afterwards incorporated (says Tyrwhitt) into the Gesta Romanorum. He was born at Huesca, in Arragon, in 1062, and converted to Christianity in 1106.

The words here referred to are the following: 'Ne properes ulli reddere mutuum boni uel mali, quia diutius expectabit te amicus, et diutius timebit te inimicus'; Disc. Cler. xxv. 15; ed. F. W. V. Schmidt, Berlin, 1827, 4to., p. 71.

2244. The proverbe, &c.; not in either the Latin or the French texts. Cf. the proverb of Hending—'ofte rap reweth,' often haste rues it. Heywood has—'The more haste, the worse speed'; on which Ray notes—'Come s'ha fretta non si fa mai niente che stia bene'; Ital. Qui trop se hâte en cheminant, en beau chemin se fourvoye souvent; Fr. Qui nimis properè minus prosperè; et nimium properans serius absoluit.

'Tarry a little, that we may make an end the sooner, was a saying of Sir Amias Paulet. Presto e bene non si conviene; Ital.' See 2325 below, and observe that Chaucer has the same form of words in Troil. i. 956.

2247. From Ecclesiastes, vii. 28. Cf. A. 3154.

2249. From Ecclus. xxv. 30 (Vulgate): 'Mulier, si primatum habeat, contraria est uiro suo.' Not in the A. V.; cf. v. 22 of that version.

2250. From Ecclus. xxxiii. 20-22 (Vulgate); 19-21 (A. V.).

2251. After noght be, ed. 1550 adds—'if I shuld be counsayled by the'; but this is redundant. See next note.

2252-3. These clauses are omitted in the MSS. and black-letter editions, but are absolutely necessary to the sense. The French text has—'car il est escript: la jenglerie des femmes ne puet riens celer fors ce qu'elle ne scet. Apres, le philosophe dit: en mauvais conseil les femmes vainquent les hommes. Pour ces raisons, je ne doy point user de ton conseil.' It is easy to turn this into Chaucerian English, by referring to ll. 2274, 2280 below, where the missing passage is quoted with but slight alteration.

The former clause is quoted from Marcus Annaeus Seneca, father of Seneca the philosopher, Controversiarum Lib. ii. 13. 12:—'Garrulitas mulierum id solum nouit celare, quod nescit.' Cf. P. Plowman, B. v. 168; xix. 157; and see the Wyf of Bathes Tale, D. 950. The second clause is from Publilius Syrus, Sent. 324:—'Malo in consilio feminae uincunt uiros.'

2257. 'Non est turpe cum re mutare consilium'; Seneca, De Beneficiis, iv. 38, § 1.

Maketh no lesing, telleth no lie; compare the use of lyer just above.

Turneth his corage, changes his mind. Mätzner quotes a similar phrase from Halliwell's Dict., s. v. Torne:—