933. eft-sone, for the future; lit. soon afterwards.
934. ‘I am quite sure that the pot was cracked.’
938. mullok, rubbish. This is a common provincial E. word; see (in the E. Dial. Society’s Publications) Ray’s Glossary, p. 57; and the Glossaries for Wilts., Hants., Lancashire, c.
962. The reading shyneth is of course the right one. In the margin of MS. E. is written ‘Non teneas aurum,’ c. This proves that Tyrwhitt’s note is quite correct. He says—‘This is taken from the Parabolae of Alanus de Insulis, who died in 1294; see Leyser, Hist. Poetarum Medii Ævi, p. 1074.
Shakespeare has—‘All that glisters is not gold’; Merch. of Venice, ii. 7. 65. Hazlitt’s English Proverbs has—‘All is not gold that glisters (Heywood). See Chaucer, Chan. Yeom. Prol.; Roxburghe Ballads, ed. Collier, p. 102; Udall’s Royster Doyster, 1566, where we read: All things that shineth is not by and by pure golde (Act v. sc. 1). Fronti nulla fides, Juvenal, Sat. ii. 8. The French say, Tout ce qui luict n’est pas or. Non é oro tutto quel che luce; Ital. No es todo or lo que reluce; Span. ’ So in German—‘Est ist nicht Alles Gold was glänzt’; and again—‘Rothe Aepfel sind auch faul.’ See Ida v. Düringsfeld’s Sprichwörter, i. 53, 107. Cf. Chaucer’s House of Fame, i. 272.
972. Pars secunda. This is where the Tale begins. Even now, the Yeoman has some more to say by way of preface, and only makes a real start at l. 1012.
975. Alisaundre, Alexandria. and other three, and three more as well.
999. I mente, I intended; as in l. 1051 below. ‘But my intention was to correct that which is amiss.’
The reading I-ment, as a past participle, adopted by Mr. Wright, is incorrect, as shewn by Mr. Cromie’s Ryme-Index. Cf. Nonne Pr. Tale, 604 (B. 4614); Sq. Tale, F. 108. See note to G. 534 above.
1005. by yow, with reference to you canons. See By in Wright’s Bible Word-book.
1012. annueleer. So called, as Tyrwhitt explains, ‘from their being employed solely in singing annuals or anniversary masses for the dead, without any cure of souls. See the Stat. 36 Edw. III. c. viii, where the Chappelleins Parochiels are distinguished from others chantanz annuales, et a cure des almes nient entendantz. They were both to receive yearly stipends, but the former was allowed to take six marks, the latter only five. Compare Stat. 2 Hen. V. St. 2. c. 2, where the stipend of the Chapellein Parochiel is raised to eight marks, and that of the Chapellein annueler (he is so named in the statute) to seven.’ See also the note at p. 505 of Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew (E. E. T. S.); and Monumenta Franciscana, p. 605.
1015. That is, to the lady of the house where he lodged.
1018. spending-silver, money to spend, ready money. The phrase occurs in Piers the Plowman, B. xi. 278.
1024. a certeyn, a certain sum, a stated sum. Cf. l. 776.
1027. at my day, on the day agreed upon, on the third day.
1029. Another day, another time, on the next occasion.
1030. him took, handed over to him; so in ll. 1034, 1112.
1055. ‘In some measure to requite your kindness.’ See note to Sq. Tale, F. 471, and cf. l. 1151.
1059. seen at yë, see evidently; lit. see at eye.
1066. ‘Proffered service stinketh’ is among Heywood’s Proverbs. Ray remarks on it—‘Merx ultronea putet, apud Hieronymum. Erasmus saith, Quin uulgo etiam in ore est, ultro delatum obsequium plerumque ingratum esse. So that it seems this proverb is in use among the Dutch too. In French, Merchandise offerte est à demi vendue. Ware that is proffered is sold for half the worth, or at half the price.’ The German is—‘Angebotene Hülfe hat keinen Lohn’; see Ida v. Düringsfeld’s Sprichwörter, i. 86.
1096. Algates, at any rate. Observe the context.
1103. that we it hadde, that we might have it. Hadde is here the subjunctive. Perhaps have would be better, but it lacks authority.
1126. mortifye, mortify; a technical term. See note to l. 1431.
1151. ‘To blind the priest with.’ See note to l. 1055.
1171. For torned, read terved, i. e. flayed, skinned; MS. E. has terued (so it may be read). See l. 1274.
1185. Seint Gyles, saint Giles; a corrupted form of Ægidius. His day is Sept. 1; see Chambers’ Book of Days, ii. 296; Legenda Aurea, cap. cxxx.; or Caxton’s Golden Legende.
1204–1205. The rime is given by týmë (two syllables, from A. S. tīma ) riming with by me.
On referring to Prof. Child’s Observations on the Language of Gower, I find seven references given for this rime, as occurring in the edition by Dr. Pauli. The references are—i. 227, 309, 370; ii. 41, 114, 277; iii. 369. Dr. Pauli prints byme as one word!
1210. The last foot contains the words—or a pannë.
1238–1239. MS. E. omits these two lines: the other MSS. retain them.
1244. halwes is in the genitive plural. ‘And the blessing of all the saints may ye have, Sir Canon!’
1245. ‘And may I have their malison,’ i.e. their curse.
1274. For torne, read terve, i. e. flay; as in MS. E. Cf. l. 1171.
1283. ‘Why do you wish it to be better than well?’ Answering nearly to—‘what would you have better?’
1292. A rather lax line. Is ther is to be pronounced rapidly, in the time of one syllable, and her-inne is of three syllables.
1299. Pronounce simple as simpl’; tong-e is dissyllabic.
1313. his ape, his dupe. See Prol. 706, B. 1630. The simile is evidently taken from the fact that showmen used to carry apes about with them much as organ-boys do at the present day, the apes being secured by a string. Thus, ‘to make a man one’s ape’ is to lead him about at will. The word apewarde occurs in Piers the Plowman, B. v. 540. To lead apes means to lead about a train of dupes.
1319. heyne, wretch. This word has never before been properly explained. It is not in Tyrwhitt’s Glossary. Dr. Morris considers it as another form of hyne, a peasant, or hind, but leaves the phonetic difference of vowel unaccounted for; the words are clearly distinct. It occurs in Skelton’s Bowge of Courte, l. 327:—
Here Mr. Dyce also explains it by hind, or servant, whereas the context requires the opposite meaning of a despised master. Halliwell gives—‘ Heyne, a miser, a worthless person’; but without a reference. It means ‘miser’ in Udall’s translation of Erasmus’ Apophthegmes (1564), where it occurs thrice. Thus, in bk. i. § 106, we find: ‘Soch a niggard or hayn, that he coulde not finde in his harte . . to departe with an halfpeny.’ In the same, § 22, we find: ‘ haines and niggardes of their purse’; and, for a third example, see note to Parl. Foules, 610 (vol. i. p. 523). The word seems to be Scandinavian; cf. Icel. hegna, Dan. hegne, to hedge in, Swed. hägna, to fence, guard, protect; whence Lowl. Sc. hain, to hedge in, to preserve, to spare, to save money, to be penurious (Jamieson).
1320. ‘This priest being meanwhile unaware of his false practice.’ See l. 1324.
1342. Alluding to the proverb—‘As fain as a fowl [i. e. bird] of a fair morrow’; given by Hazlitt in the form—‘As glad as fowl of a fair day.’ See Piers the Plowman, B. x. 153; Kn. Tale, 1579 (A. 2437).
1348. To stonde in grace; cf. Prol. 88; also A. 1173.
1354. By our; pronounced By’r, as spelt in Shakespeare, Mid. Nt. Dr. iii. 1. 14.
1362. nere, for ne were; meaning ‘were it not for.’
1381. sy, saw. The scribes also use the form sey or seigh, as in Kn. Tale, 208 (A. 1066); Franklin’s Tale, F. 850, in both of which places it rimes with heigh (high). Of these spellings sey (riming with hey ) is to be preferred in most cases. See note to Group B, l. 1.
1388. This line begins with a large capital C in the Ellesmere MS., shewing that the Tale itself is at an end, and the rest is the Yeoman’s application of it.
1389. ‘There is strife between men and gold to that degree, that there is scarcely any (gold) left.’
1408. Alluding to the proverb—‘Burnt bairns fear fire.’ This occurs among the Proverbs of Hendyng, in the form—‘Brend child fur dredeth.’ So in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1820—‘Brent child of fyr hath muche drede.’ The German is—‘Ein gebranntes Kind fürchtet das Feuer’; see Ida v. Düringsfeld’s Sprichwörter, i. 531.
1410. Alluding to the proverb—‘Better late than never’; in French ‘Il vaut mieux tard que jamais.’ The German is—‘Besser spät als nie’; see Ida v. Düringsfeld’s Sprichwörter, i. 204.
1411. In Hazlitt’s Proverbs—‘Never is a long term.’
1413. Bayard was a colloquial name for a horse; see Piers Plowman, B. iv. 53, 124; vi. 196; and ‘As bold as blind Bayard’ was a common proverb. See also Troil. i. 218; Gower, Conf. Amant. iii. 44; Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 139, 186. ‘Bot al blustyrne forth unblest as Bayard the blynd’; Awdelay’s Poems, p. 48.
1416. ‘As to turn aside from an obstacle in the road.’
1419. Compare this with the Man of Lawes Tale, B. 552.
1422. rape and renne, seize and clutch. The phrase, as it stands, is meaningless; rapen is to hurry, and rennen is to run, both verbs being intransitive. But it took the place of the older phrase repen and rinen (Ancren Riwle, p. 128), from A. S. hrepian and hrīnan, to handle and touch. The Ancren Riwle gives the form arepen and arechen, with the various readings repen and rinen, ropen and rimen. Ihre quotes the English ‘ rap and ran, per fas et nefas ad se pertrahere.’ Mr. Wedgwood notices rap and ran, to get by hook or crook, to seize whatever one can lay hands on, but misses the etymology. Palsgrave has—‘ I rap or rende, je rapine.’ Coles (Eng. Dict. ed. 1684) has ‘ rap an [ d ] ren, snatch and catch.’ ‘All they could rap and rend and pilfer’; Butler, Hudibras, pt. ii. c. 2. 789. (First ed., rap and run. ) The phrase is still in use in the (corrupted) form to rape and rend, or (in Cleveland) to rap and ree.
Briefly, rape, properly to hurry (Icel. hrapa ), is a false substitute for A. S. hrepian, allied to G. raffen; whilst renne, to run, is a false substitute for A. S. hrīnan, to touch, lay hold of.
1428. Arnoldus de Villa Nova was a French physician, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist; born about ad 1235, died ad 1314. Tyrwhitt refers us to Fabricius, Bibl. Med. Æt., in v. Arnaldus Villanovanus. In a tract printed in Theatrum Chemicum, iii. 285, we have a reference to the same saying—‘Et hoc est illud quod magni philosophi scripserunt, quod lapis noster fit ex Mercurio et sulphure praeparatis et separatis, et de hoc opere et substantia dicit Magister Arnoldus in tractatu suo parabolice, nisi granum frumenti in terra cadens mortuum fuerit, c. Intelligens pro grano mortuo in terra, Mercurium mortuum cum sale petrae et vitriolo Romano, et cum sulphure; et ibi mortificatur, et ibi sublimatur cum igne, et sic multum fructus adfert, et hic est lapis major omnibus, quem philosophi quaesi-verunt, et inventum absconderunt.’ The whole process is described, but it is quite unintelligible to me. It is clear that two circumstances stand very much in the way of our being able to follow out such processes; these are (1) that the same substance was frequently denoted by six or seven different names; and (2) that one name (such as sulphur) denoted five or six different things (such as sulphuric acid, orpiment, sulphuret of arsenic, c.).
1429. Rosarie, i.e. Rosarium Philosophorum, the name of a treatise on alchemy by Arnoldus de Villa Nova; Theat. Chem. iv. 514.
1431. The word mortification seems to have been loosely used to denote any change due to chemical action. Phillips explained Mortify by—‘Among chymists, to change the outward form or shape of a mixt body; as when quicksilver, or any other metal, is dissolved in an acid menstruum.’
1432. ‘Unless it be with the knowledge (i. e. aid) of his brother.’ The ‘brother’ of Mercury was sulphur or brimstone (see l. 1439). The dictum itself is, I suppose, as worthless as it is obscure.
1434. Hermes, i. e. Hermes Trismegistus, fabled to have been the inventor of alchemy. Several books written by the New Platonists in the fourth century were ascribed to him. Tyrwhitt notes that a treatise under his name may be found in the Theatrum Chemicum, vol. iv. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, lib. i. c. 10; and Smith’s Classical Dictionary. The name is preserved in the phrase ‘to seal hermetically. ’
Mr. Furnivall printed, for the Early Eng. Text Society, a tract called The Book of Quinte Essence, ‘a treatice in Englisch breuely drawe out of the book of quintis essenciis in latyn, that Hermys the prophete and kyng of Egipt, after the flood of Noe, fadir of philosophris, hadde by reuelacioun of an aungil of god to him sende.’
1438. dragoun, dragon. Here, of course, it means mercury, or some compound containing it. In certain processes, the solid residuum was also called draco or draco qui comedit caudam suam. This draco and the cauda draconis are frequently mentioned in the old treatises; see Theatrum Chemicum, iii. 29, 36, c. The terms may have been derived from astrology, since ‘dragon’s head’ and ‘dragon’s tail’ were common terms in that science. Chaucer mentions the latter in his Astrolabe, ii. 4. 23. And see ‘Draco’ in Theat. Chem. ii. 456.
1440. sol and luna, gold and silver. The alchemists called sol (gold) the father, and luna (silver) the mother of the elixir or philosopher’s stone. See Theat. Chem. iii. 9, 24, 25; iv. 528. Similarly, sulphur was said to be the father of minerals, and mercury the mother. Id. iii. 7.
1447. secree, secret of secrets. Tyrwhitt notes—‘Chaucer refers to a treatise entitled Secreta Secretorum, which was supposed to contain the sum of Aristotle’s instructions to Alexander. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, vol. ii. p. 167. It was very popular in the middle ages. Ægidius de Columnâ, a famous divine and bishop, about the latter end of the 13th century, built upon it his book De Regimine Principum, of which our Occleve made a free translation in English verse, and addressed it to Henry V. while Prince of Wales. A part of Lydgate’s translation of the Secreta Secretorum is printed in Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, p. 397. He did not translate more than about half of it, being prevented by death. See MS. Harl. 2251, and Tanner, Bibl. Brit. s. v. Lydgate. The greatest part of the viith Book of Gower’s Confessio Amantis [see note to l. 820] is taken from this supposed work of Aristotle.’ In the Theatrum Chemicum, iii. 14, I find an allusion to the philosopher’s stone ending with these words—‘Et Aristoteles ad Alexandrum Regem dicit in libro de secretis secretorum, capitulo penultimo: O Alexander, accipe lapidem mineralem, vegetabilem, et animalem, et separa elementa.’ See Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, sect. 19; iii. 19 (ed. 1871), or ii. 230 (ed. 1840).
1450. Tyrwhitt says—‘The book alluded to is printed in the Theatrum Chemicum, vol. v. p. 219 [p. 191, ed. 1660], under this title, Senioris Zadith fil. Hamuelis Tabula Chemica. The story which follows of Plato and his disciples is there told, p. 249 [p. 224, ed. 1660], with some variations, of Solomon. “Dixit Salomon rex, Recipe lapidem qui dicitur Thitarios ( sic ) . . . Dixit sapiens, Assigna mihi illum . . . Dixit, Est corpus magnesiae. . . . Dixit, Quid est magnesia? . . . Respondit, Magnesia est aqua, composita,” c.’ The name of Plato occurs thrice only a few lines below, which explains Chaucer’s mistake. We find ‘Titan Magnesia’ in Ashmole’s Theat. Chem. p. 275; cf. pp. 42, 447. The Gk. τίτανος means lime, gypsum, white earth, chalk, c.
1457. ignotum per ignotius, lit. an unknown thing through a thing more unknown; i. e. an explanation of a hard matter by means of a term that is harder still.
1460. The theory that all things were made of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, was the foundation on which all alchemy was built; and it was the obstinacy with which this idea was held that rendered progress in science almost impossible. The words were used in the widest sense; thus air meant any vapour or gas; water, any liquid; earth, any solid sediment; and fire, any amount of heat. Hence also the theory of the four complexions of men; for even man was likewise composed of the four elements, under the influence of the planets and stars. See Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. vii; Theat. Chem. iii. 82; iv. 533, 537; and the note to A. 420, at p. 40 above.
1461. rote represents the Lat. radix. In the Theat. Chem., ii. 463, we read that the philosopher’s stone ‘est radix, de quo omnes sapientes tractauerunt.’
1469. ‘Except where it pleases His Deity to inspire mankind, and again, to forbid whomsoever it pleases Him.’
1479. terme of his lyve, during the whole term of his life.
1481. bote of his bale, a remedy for his evil, help out of his trouble.
1. Wite ye, know ye. The singular is I woot, A. S. ic wāt, Mœso-Goth. ik wait; the plural is we witen or we wite, A. S. we witon, Mœso-Goth. weis witum. See l. 82, where the right form occurs. But it is certain that Chaucer also uses the construction ye woot, as in A. 829, c.; which, strictly speaking, was ungrammatical.
2. Bob-up-and-doun. This place is here described as being ‘under the Blee,’ i. e. under Blean Forest. It is also between Boughton-under-Blean (see Group G, l. 556) and Canterbury. This situation suits very well with Harbledown, and it has generally been supposed that Harbledown is here intended. Harbledown is spelt Herbaldoun in the account of Queen Isabella’s journey to Canterbury (see Furnivall’s Temporary Preface, p. 31; p. 124, l. 18; p. 127, l. 21), and Helbadonne in the account of King John’s journey (id. p. 131, l. 1). However, Mr. J. M. Cowper, in a letter to The Athenæum, Dec. 26, 1868, p. 886, says that there still exists a place called Up-and-down Field, in the parish of Thannington, which would suit the position equally well, and he believes it to be the place really meant. If so, the old road must have taken a somewhat different direction from the present one, and there are reasons for supposing that such may have been the case. This letter is reprinted in Furnivall’s Temporary Preface (Ch. Soc.), p. 32.
The break here between the Canon’s Yeoman’s and the Manciple’s Tales answers to the break between the first and second parts of Lydgate’s Storie of Thebes. At the end of Part I, Lydgate mentions the descent down the hill (i. e. Boughton hill), and at the beginning of Part II, he says that the pilgrims, on their return from Canterbury, had ‘passed the thorp of Boughton-on-the-blee.’
5. Dun is in the myre, a proverbial saying originally used in an old rural sport. Dun means a dun horse, or, like Bayard, a horse in general. The game is described in Brand’s Popular Antiquities, 4to. ii. 289; and in Gifford’s notes to Ben Jonson, vol. vii. p. 283. The latter explanation is quoted by Nares, whom see. Briefly, the game was of this kind. A large log of wood is brought into the midst of a kitchen or large room. The cry is raised that ‘Dun is in the mire,’ i. e. that the cart-horse is stuck in the mud. Two of the company attempt to drag it along; if they fail, another comes to help, and so on, till Dun is extricated.
There are frequent allusions to it; see Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum, p. 86; Skelton, Garland of Laurell, l. 1433; Towneley Mysteries, p. 310; Romeo and Juliet, i. 4. 41; Beaumont and Fletcher’s Woman-hater, iv. 3; Hudibras, pt. iii. c. iii. l. 110.
In the present passage it means—‘we are all at a standstill’; or ‘let us make an effort to move on.’ Mr. Hazlitt, in his Proverbial Phrases, quotes a line—‘And all gooth bacward, and don is in the myr. ’
12. Do him come forth, make him come forward. Cf. Group B, 1888, 1889.
14. a botel hay, a bottle of hay; similarly, we have a barel ale, Monk’s Prol. B. 3083. And see l. 24 below. A bottle of hay was a small bundle of hay, less than a truss, as explained in my note to The Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 2. 45. ‘Nec vendant [foenum] per botellum’; Liber Albus, p. 721.
16. by the morwe, in the morning. There is no need to explain away the phrase, or to say that it means in the afternoon, as Tyrwhitt does. The Canon’s Yeoman’s tale is the first told on the third day, and the Manciple’s is only the second. The Cook seems to have taken too much to drink over night, and to have had something more before starting. The fresh air has kept him awake for a while at first, but he is now very drowsy indeed.
Tyrwhitt well remarks that there is no allusion here to the unfinished Cook’s Tale in Group A. This seems to shew that the Manciple’s Prologue was written before the Cook’s Tale was begun. Note that the Cook is here excused; l. 29.
23. ‘I know not why, but I would rather go to sleep than have the best gallon of wine in Cheapside.’ me were lever slepe, lit. it would be dearer to me to sleep.
24. Than constitutes the first foot; beste is dissyllabic.
29. as now, for the present; a common phrase.
33. not wel disposed, indisposed in health.
42. fan, the fan or vane or board of the quintain. The quintain, as is well known, consisted of a cross-bar turning on a pivot at the top of a post. At one end of the cross-bar was the fan or board, sometimes painted to look like a shield, and at the other was a club or bag of sand. The jouster at the fan had to strike the shield, and at the same time to avoid the stroke given by the swinging bag. The Cook was hardly in a condition for this; his eye and hand were alike unsteady, and his figure did not suggest that he possessed the requisite agility. See Quintain in Nares, and Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, bk. iii. c. 1; As You Like It, i. 2. 263, on which see Mr. Wright’s note (Clar. Press Series); Stow, Survey of London, ed. Thoms, pp. 36, 215.
44. wyn ape, ape-wine, or ape’s wine. Tyrwhitt rightly considers this the same as the vin de singe in the Calendrier des Bergers, sign. l. ii. b., where the author speaks of the different effects produced by wine upon different men, according to their temperaments. ‘The Cholerick, he says, a vin de lyon; cest a dire, quant a bien beu, veult tanser, noyser, et battre. The Sanguine a vin de singe; quant a plus beu, tant est plus joyeux. In the same manner, the Phlegmatic is said to have vin de mouton, and the Melancholick vin de porceau. ’
Tyrwhitt adds—‘I find the same four animals applied to illustrate the effects of wine in a little Rabbinical tradition, which I shall transcribe here from Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepig. Veteris Testamenti, vol. i. p. 275. “Vineas plantanti Noacho Satanam se junxisse memorant, qui, dum Noa vites plantaret, mactaverit apud illas ovem, leonem, simiam, et suem: Quod principio potûs vini homo sit instar ovis, vinum sumptum efficiat ex homine leonem, largius haustum mutet eum in saltantem simiam, ad ebrietatem infusum transformet illum in pollutam et prostratam suem. ” See also Gesta Romanorum, c. 159, where a story of the same purport is quoted from Josephus, in libro de casu rerum naturalium. ’ Wine of ape occurs in a detailed proverb, in Le Roux de Lincy, Prov. Franç. 1842, p. 157. The most ancient source is the Talmudical Parable, given in Rabbinische Blumenlese, Leipzig, 1844, p. 192, by Leopold Dukes (N. and Q. S. i. xii. 123).
In Bernardus de Cura Rei Familiaris, ed. Lumby, p. 13, a drunken man is thus described:—
And Lydgate, in his Troy-book, L. 1, back, col. 2, says of one:—‘And with a strawe playeth lyke an ape.’
Warton (Hist. E. P. ed. 1871, i. 283) gives a slight sketch of chapter 159 in the Gesta, referring to Tyrwhitt’s note, and explaining it in the words—‘when a man begins to drink, he is meek and ignorant as the lamb, then becomes bold as the lion, his courage is soon transformed into the foolishness of the ape, and at last he wallows in the mire like a sow.’
In Colyn Blowboll’s Testament, l. 280 (pr. in Hazlitt’s Early Pop. Poetry, i. 104–5) we find:—
Barclay, in his Ship of Fools, ed. Jamieson, i. 96, speaking of drunken men, says—
‘Some sowe-dronke, swaloyng mete without mesure.’
And again—
‘Some are Ape-dronke, full of lawghter and of toyes.’
The following interesting explanation by Lacroix is much to the same effect:—
‘In Germany and in France it was the custom at the public entries of kings, princes, and persons of rank, to offer them the wines made in the district, and commonly sold in the town. At Langres, for instance, these wines were put into four pewter vessels called cimaises, which are still to be seen. They were called the lion, monkey, sheep, and pig wines—symbolic names, which expressed the different degrees or phases of drunkenness which they were supposed to be capable of producing: the lion, courage; the monkey, cunning; the sheep, good temper; the pig, bestiality.’—P. Lacroix; Manners, Customs, and Dress during the Middle Ages, 1874, p. 508.
Massinger has: ‘Nay, if you are lion-drunk, I will make one’; The Bondman, A. iii. sc. 3.
A note in Bell’s edition quotes an illustrative passage from a song in Lyly’s play of Mother Bombie, printed in the Songs from the Dramatists, ed. Bell, p. 56:—
The idea here intended is precisely that expressed by Barclay. The Cook, being very dull and ill-humoured, is ironically termed ape-drunk, as if he were ‘full of lawghter and of toyes,’ and ready to play even with a straw. The satire was too much for the Cook, who became excited, and fell from his horse in his attempts to oppose the Manciple.
50. chiváchee, feat of horsemanship, exploit. See Prol. 85 for the serious use of the word, where in chivachye means on an (equestrian) expedition. Cf.
‘Bot oute sal ride a chivauchè’;
51. ‘Alas! he did not stick to his ladle!’ He should have been in a kitchen, basting meat, not out of doors, on the back of a horse.
57. dominacioun, dominion. See note to F. 352. Cf. ‘the righteous shall have domination over them in the morning’; Ps. xlix. 14, Prayerbook Version. See Chaucer’s Minor Poems, xv. 16 (vol. i. p. 394).
62. fneseth, blows, puffs; of which the reading sneseth is a poor corruption, though occurring in all the modern editions. To fnese does not mean to sneeze, but to breathe hard; though sneeze is its modern form.
I have no doubt that the word neesings in Job xli. 18, meaning not ‘sneezings’ but ‘hard breathings,’ is due to the word fnesynge, by which Wyclif translates the Latin sternutatio. In Jer. viii. 16, Wyclif represents the snorting of horses by fnesting. Cf. A. S. fnæst, a puff, a blast, fnæstiað, the windpipe; fnēosung, a hard breathing. Grimm’s law helps us to a further illustration; for, as the English f is a Greek p, a cognate word is at once seen in the common Greek verb πνέω, I breathe or blow. For further examples, see fnast in Stratmann.
pose, a cold in the head. Fully described in Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. vii. c. 4—‘Of the Pose.’ See A. 4152.
72. To reclaim a hawk is to bring it back to the hawker’s hand; this was generally effected by holding out a lure, or something tempting to eat. For young hawks, the lure was an artificial bird made of feathers and leather; see note in Dyce’s Skelton, ii. 147. Here the Host means that some day the Cook will hold out a bait to, or lay a snare for, the Manciple, and get him into his power; for example, he might examine the details of the Manciple’s accounts with an inconvenient precision, and perhaps the amounts charged, if tested, would not appear to be strictly honest. The Manciple replies in all good humour, that such a proceeding might certainly bring him into trouble. See Prol. 570–586. Cf. Strutt, Sports, bk. i. c. 2. § 9.
76. Read mauncipl ’, and pronounce were a rapidly.
83. ‘Yea, of an excellent vintage.’
90. pouped, blown; see Nonne Prestes Tale, 578. Here ‘blown upon this horn’ is a jocular phrase for ‘taken a drink out of this gourd.’
This story, of Eastern origin, is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, bk. ii. ll. 534–550, whence Chaucer evidently took it. Gower, also following Ovid, gives the story very briefly; see his Conf. Amantis, ed. Pauli, i. 305. Compare the tale of the three cocks, Gesta Romanorum, cap. 68; also the Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 2201 (Metrical Rom. vol. iii. p. 86). Somewhat similar in idea is a tale in the Knight de la Tour, c. 16. See further in vol. iii. p. 501.
109. Phitoun, the Python, shot by Apollo; see Ovid, Met. i. 438–444; Dryden, trans. of Ovid’s Met., i. 587.
116. Amphioun, Amphion; see note to E. 1716. Cf. Horace, De Arte Poetica, l. 394.
133.
Gower has:—‘Wel more white than any swan. ’
139. Ovid gives her name, Coronis of Larissa.
148. As indicated by a side-note in Hn., this passage is taken directly from the Liber Aureolus de Nuptiis of Theophrastus, as cited by St. Jerome near the end of the first Book of his treatise against Jovinian. Cf. note to D. 221.
The passage from Theophrastus is:—‘Verum quid prodest etiam diligens custodia: cum uxor seruari impudica non possit, pudica non debeat? Infida enim custos est castitatis necessitas: et illa uere pudica dicenda est, cui licuit peccare si uoluit. Pulchra cito adamatur, foeda facile concupiscit. Difficile custoditur, quod plures amant.’—Hieron. Opus Epistolarum (Basil. 1534); ii. 51.
161. Cf. Horace, Epist. I. x. 24—‘Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret,’ c. And this is the very passage which Chaucer had in view, as it is quoted and commented on in Le Roman de la Rose, 14221–8, c. Jean de Meun adds the comment:—
This passage in Le Roman is preceded by the illustration of the caged bird, and followed by that of the cat; see ll. 163, 175. Further, Jean de Meun took the illustration of the caged bird from Boethius; see next note.
163. From Boethius; see the note to F. 607. It reappears in Le Roman de la Rose, 14145–62; beginning—
Compare Sq. Ta., F. 611–617. It is interesting to see how Chaucer has repeated the passage, and yet so greatly varied the form of it. We find, however, that silk and milk rime together in both cases.
175. Not from Boethius, but from Le Roman de la Rose, 14241, c.:—
183. This is taken from a different part of Le Roman altogether, and is founded on a different argument, viz. the perversity of women’s choice, as noticed in ll. 198–200 below. See Le Rom. de la Rose, 7799–7804:—
vileins kinde, nature of a villain, a villainous or base disposition. Practically, vileins has here the force of an adjective, and came to be so regarded, as shewn by the formation from it of the adv. vileinsly, which occurs in I. 154, and elsewhere. Similarly, the gen. case wonders became the adj. wonders, which was gradually turned into wondrous; see Wondrous in my Etym. Dictionary.
This adj. vileyns, with the sense of ‘villainous,’ is unnoticed in Halliwell and Stratmann. Yet Chaucer uses it often, as the reader may see for himself. See D. 1158, 1268, I. 556, 631, 652, 715, 802, 854, 914; and hence vileinsly, adv., I. 154, 279, Rom. Rose, 1498.
193. newefangel, eager of novelty; see note to F. 618.
195. souneth in-to, accords with; see notes to A. 307, B. 3157, C. 54, and F. 517.
204. lemman, short for leef man, lit. dear man. The context shews that it was considered a ‘knavish’ word at this period.
207–8. Repeated from Prol. 741–2; see note to A. 741.
215. The line, as it stands, is deficient in the first foot, and is not pleasing. Tyrwhitt reads any for a. This improves it; but I do not know where he found any. The old editions of 1550 and 1561 have a, like the MSS.
220. wenche, like lemman, was a ‘knavish’ word; see E. 2202.
223. titlelees, title-less, glossed in Hn. by the words sine titulo. It means ‘usurping,’ as applied to one who has no title or claim to a throne except force. Obviously written before 1399!
224. Here out-law-e is trisyllabic, and the final e is preserved by the caesura. But in l. 231 the accent is thrown back, and it is dissyllabic, as in modern English. Tyrwhitt puts any for a, against all authority.
227. This well-known story of Alexander occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, c. 146: and this circumstance gave it vogue. In Swan’s translation, the tale begins thus:—‘Augustine tells us in his book, De Civitate Dei, that Diomedes, in a piratical galley, for a long time infested the sea, plundering and sinking many ships. Being captured by command of Alexander, before whom he was brought, the king inquired how he dared to molest the seas. “How darest thou, ” replied he, “molest the earth? Because I am master only of a single galley, I am termed a robber; but you, who oppress the world with huge squadrons, are called a king and a conquerour.” ’ John of Salisbury repeats the story in his Policraticus, lib. iii. c. 14. Cf. Higden, Polychron. iii. 422.
239. volage, giddy, thoughtless; cf. E. volatile. See the E. version of the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1284 (vol. i. p. 147).
243. It was already understood that cuckoo was, as Shakespeare says, ‘a word of fear’; see Love’s Labour’s Lost, v. 2. 920. In the Parl. of Foules, 358, we find: ‘the cukkow ever unkinde’; vol. i. p. 348.
252. blered is thyn ye, thine eye is bleared or dimmed, i. e. thou art deceived or cajoled. See A. 4049.
262. wryen, to turn aside hastily; see A. 3283.
271. scorpioun, scorpion. Alluding to the notion that the scorpion, though its sting was deadly, had a flattering tongue, and could beguile. See notes to B. 404, E. 2059.
278. rakel, rash, hasty; afterwards altered to rake-hell, by a curious popular etymology; and then shortened to rake, as in the phrase ‘a dissolute rake. ’ See rake (2) in my Etym. Dictionary. Cf. l. 283.
279. trouble, adj., troubled, clouded, obscured. Tyrwhitt explains it by ‘dark, gloomy,’ with reference to its occurrence in E. 465 above. And see Pers. Tale, I. 537.
Compare the Friar’s sermon, on the subject of Ire, in D. 2005–2088, and the description of the same in the Pers. Tale, I. 535–561.
290. fordoon, destroyed. For and (as in E. Cm.) Hn. Cp. Pt. Ln. have or.
In place of this line, Hl. has the following extraordinary variation:—
‘Fordoon, or dun hath brought hem in the myre.’
This shews that the scribe remembered the fifth line in the Manciple’s Prologue, and thought fit to re-introduce it here, where it is wholly out of place. This is one of the many signs of the untrustworthiness of this grossly over-rated MS.
294. songe, didst sing; A. S. sunge.
301. See the Parl. of Foules, l. 363, and the note (vol. i. pp. 520–1).
306. slong, slung, threw violently; needlessly altered by Tyrwhitt to flong. So in the Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 1316:—‘Amidde the pit he hit slong. ’ As s and f are often confused, I give some alliterative examples from the Geste Historyale of the Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.):—
307. which, to whom; i. e. ‘to whom I commit him.’
314. Daun, Dan, i. e. lord, sir; see note to B. 3119.
Salomon, Solomon; the reference is to Prov. xxi. 23; cf. Ps. xxxiv. 13.
317. Sayings similar to those quoted below are common; but Dr. E. Köppel has shewn (in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, ed. L. Herrig, vol. lxxxvi, p. 44) that Chaucer had particularly in mind a treatise by Albertano of Brescia, entitled De arte loquendi et tacendi. He refers us to a new edition by Thor Sundby, in a work entitled Brunetto Latinos levnet og skrifter, Kopenhagen, 1869.
We may further compare a passage in Le Roman de la Rose, 7069, which professes to follow Ptolemy’s Almagest. And we find similar pieces of advice in Middle English, with such titles as ‘How the Good Wife taught her Daughter,’ and ‘How the Wise man taught his Son’; but these are probably later than the time of Chaucer.
325. The corresponding passage in Albertano’s treatise is the following, p. xcviii:—‘Paucos vel neminem tacendo, multos loquendo circumventos vidimus, quod pulchre voluit, qui ait: Nil tacuisse nocet, nocet esse saepe locutum.’ This hexameter is quoted from Dionysius Cato, Distich. lib. i. dist. 12, slightly altered. Cato has: ‘Nam nulli tacuisse nocet, nocet esse locutum.’ Cf. the common proverb—‘a fool’s bolt is soon shot,’ which appears in the Proverbs of Alfred, l. 421. As to Cato, see note to G. 688.
329. The corresponding passage in Albertano is:—‘Causa igitur finalis tui dicti sit aut pro Dei servitio aut pro humano commodo, aut pro utroque’; p. cx.
332. In Albertano’s treatise, p. xcvi, we find:—‘Catho dixit: Virtutem primam esse puta compescere linguam.’ From Dion. Cato, Distich. lib. i. dist. 3. Chaucer quotes it again in Troilus, iii. 294. Cf. Le Rom. de la Rose, 7073–4.
335. Cf. Albertano, p. cxv:—‘In quantitate insuper modum requiras non multa dicendo; nam in multiloquio non deest peccatum.’ This refers to Prov. x. 19:—‘In multiloquio non deerit peccatum.’
340. Cf. Ps. lvii. 4:—‘and their tongue a sharp sword.’
344. See Prov. vi. 17, where ‘a lying tongue’ is said to be one of the seven things which ‘are an abomination unto’ the Lord. See also Prov. x. 31, xvii. 20, xxvi. 28, c.
345. Cf. Ps. x. 7, xii. 3, lii. 2, lxiv. 3-8, cxx. 3, c. The reference to Seneca is, probably, to his treatise De Ira, from which two stories in the Sompnours Tale are taken; or it may be to the Sentences of Publilius Syrus, which are frequently quoted in the Tale of Melibeus under the name of ‘Senek.’
350. Evidently an allusion to some Flemish proverb, equivalent to our ‘least said, soonest mended,’ which Hazlitt gives in the form—‘Little said, soon amended.’ In Bell’s edition, the suggested form of the proverb is—‘of little meddling comes great ease,’ which comes nearer to the text. Chaucer has already given us a Flemish proverb in A. 4357.
355. ‘Et semel emissum fugit irreuocabile uerbum’; Horace, Epist. I. xviii. 71. Chaucer found this line of Horace in Albertano’s treatise (p. xcviii); or in Le Roman, 16746–8.
357. Cf. Albertano’s treatise, p. cvi:—‘Consilium vel secretum tuum absconditum quasi in carcere tuo est reclusum; revelatum vero te in carcere suo tenet ligatum.’
359. This is clearly, as Tyrwhitt suggests, from Dionysius Cato, Distich. lib. i. dist. 12:—‘Rumores fuge, ne incipias novus auctor haberi.’
1. maunciple, manciple; see the last Tale. But there is no real connexion between this Group and Group H. It is most likely that the word maunciple was only inserted provisionally.
When the Manciple had told his Tale, it was still only morning; see H. 16, and the note. The Pilgrims, however, had not far to go. Perhaps we may suppose that they halted on the road, having a shorter day’s work before them than on previous occasions, and then other Tales might have been introduced; so that the time wore away till the afternoon came. It is clear, from l. 16, that the Parson’s Tale was intended, when the final reversion should be made, to be the last on the outward journey. Whatever difficulties exist in the arrangement of the Tales may fairly be considered as due to the fact, that the final revision was never made.
4. nyne and twenty. In my Preface to Chaucer’s Astrolabe (E. E. T. S.), p. lxiii, I have explained this passage fully. In that treatise, part ii. sections 41–43, Chaucer explains the method of taking altitudes. He here says that the sun was 29° high, and in ll. 6-9 he says that his height was to his shadow in the proportion of 6 to 11. This comes to the same thing, since the angle whose tangent is 6/11 is very nearly 29°. Chaucer would know this, as I have shewn, by simple inspection of an astrolabe, without calculation.
5. Foure, four p.m. Many MSS. have Ten, but the necessity of the correction is undoubted. This was proved by Mr. Brae, in his edition of Chaucer’s Astrolabe, pp. 71–74. We have merely to remember that ten p.m. would be after sunset, to see that some alteration must be made. Now the altitude of the sun was 29°, and the day of the year was about April 20; and these data require that the time of day should be about 4 p.m. Tyrwhitt notes that some MSS. actually have the reading Foure, and this gives us authority for the change. Mr. Brae suggests that the reading Ten was very likely a gloss upon Foure; since four o’clock is the tenth hour of the day, reckoning from 6 a.m. The whole matter is thus accounted for.
10. the mones exaltacioun, the moon’s exaltation. I have discussed this passage in my Preface to Chaucer’s Astrolabe, (E. E. T. S.), p. lxiii. Of course Chaucer uses exaltation here (as in other passages) in its ordinary astrological sense. The ‘exaltation’ of a planet is that sign in which it was believed to exert its greatest influence; and, in accordance with this, the old tables call Taurus the ‘exaltation of the Moon,’ and Libra the ‘exaltation of Saturn.’ These results, founded on no reasons, had to be remembered by sheer effort of memory, if remembered at all. I have no doubt, accordingly, that Chaucer (or his scribes) has made a mistake here, and that the reading should be ‘Saturnes,’ as proposed by Tyrwhitt. The sentence then means—‘Therewith Saturn’s exaltation, I mean Libra, kept on continually ascending above the horizon.’ This would be quite right, as the sign of Libra was actually ascending at the time supposed. The phrase ‘I mene Libra’ may be paralleled by the phrase ‘I mene Venus’; Kn. Tale, 1358 (A. 2216); see also Group B. 1860, 2141. alwey, continually, is common in Chaucer; see Clerkes Tale, E. 458, 810. gan ascende, did ascend, is the opposite to gan descende; Clerkes Tale, E. 392. It is somewhat remarkable that the astrologers also divided each sign into three equal parts of ten degrees each, called ‘faces’; mentioned in Chaucer’s Astrolabe, ii. 4. 39, and in the Squieres Tale, F. 50. According to this arbitrary scheme, the first 10 degrees of Libra were called the ‘face of the moon,’ or ‘mones face.’ This suggests that Chaucer may, at the moment, have confused face with exaltation, thus giving us, as the portion of the zodiac intended, the first ten degrees of Libra.
I doubt if the phrase is worth further discussion. For further information, see my Preface to Chaucer’s Astrolabe (as above); and, for an ingenious (but impossible and unconvincing) theory, offered in explanation of the whole passage, see Mr. Brae’s edition of the same, p. 74. Most unfortunately, more than one attempt has been made to fix the date of the Canterbury Tales, by adopting as the true reading the phrase ‘In mene Libra,’ and then pretending that the moon itself (not its exaltation ) was ‘in the middle of Libra.’ But this reading is evolved out of a mistake in MS. Hl., which (after all) has not In mene, but In mena (!); neither does In mene mean ‘in the middle.’ All calculations founded on this rotten basis are necessarily worthless.
16. This means that the Parson’s Tale was meant to be the last one on the outward journey. Unfortunately, there lack a great many more tales than one, as the matter really stands.
26. ‘Unpack your wallet, and let us see what is in it.’ In other words, tell us a story, and let us see what it is like.
32. See 1 Tim. i. 4, iv. 7; 2 Tim. iv. 4.
42. Southren. Nearly all alliterative poems are in the Northern or West-Midland dialect, as opposed to the East-Midland dialect of Chaucer, which approaches the Southern dialect. Still, it is the Parson himself, not Chaucer, who says he is a Southerner; though perhaps the poet meant, naturally enough, to tell us that he was himself resident in Kent (probably at Greenwich). The dialect of Kent was Southern. Many Southern forms occur in Gower.
43. rum, ram, ruf are of course nonsense words, chosen to represent alliteration, because they all alike begin with r. In most alliterative poetry, the number of words in a line beginning with a common letter is, as Chaucer suggests, three.
The word geste here means no more than ‘tell a story,’ without reference to the form of the story. It is, however, worth noting that one very long alliterative poem on the siege of Troy, edited by Panton and Donaldson (Early English Text Society), bears the title of ‘ Gest Hystoriale.’ The number of distinctively Northern words in it is very considerable.
I think that this line has been forced by some out of its true meaning, and made to convey a sneer against alliterative poetry which was by no means intended. Neither Chaucer himself nor his amiable parson would have spoken slightingly of other men’s labours. The introduction of the words rum, ram, ruf conveys no more than a perfectly good-humoured allusion. That this is the true view is clear from the very next line, where the Parson declares that ‘he holds rime but little better.’
The most interesting question is—why should Chaucer allude to alliterative poetry at all ? The answer is, in my view, that he distinctly wished to recognise the curious work of his contemporary William, whose Vision of Piers the Plowman had, by this time, passed, as it were, into a second edition, having been extremely popular in London, and especially amongst the lower classes. The author was not a Southerner, but his poem had come to London, together with himself, before ad 1377.
In his play entitled The Old Wives’ Tale, Peele introduces a character named Huanebango who imitates the spluttering hexameters used by Stanyhurst in his translation of a part of Vergil’s Æneid, and afterwards says:—‘I’ll now set my countenance, and to her in prose; it may be, this rim-ram-ruf is too rude an encounter.’ He evidently borrowed the expression from Chaucer.
I may further observe that Chaucer did not invent these nonsense words himself; he probably borrowed them from some French source. For, in Sigart’s Walloon Dictionary, we find these entries following.
‘ Rim ni ram ( ça n’a ni ), cela n’a ni rime ni raison.
Rim-ram, protocole, formulaire: C’est toudi l’même rim-ram, c’est toujours la même chanson.’
Again, in the Dispute between the Soul and the Body (Vernon MS.), printed in Wright’s edition of Walter Mapes, p. 340, col. 2, we find:—
51. Alluding to Rev. xxi. 2. There is also here a direct reference to the opening sentences of the Persones Tale; see I. 79, 80.
57. textuel, literally exact in giving the text. The next line means ‘I only gather (and give you) the general meaning.’ Most quotations at this period were very inexact, and Chaucer was no more exact than others.
67. hadde the wordes. Tyrwhitt says—‘This is a French phrase. It is applied to the Speaker of the Commons in Rot. Parl. 51 Edw. III. n. 87: “Mons. Thomas de Hungerford, Chivaler, qi avoit les paroles pur les Communes d’Angleterre en cest Parlement,” c.’ It means—was the spokesman.
A considerable portion of this Tale (chiefly after § 23) is borrowed from a French Treatise by Frère Lorens, entitled ‘La Somme des Vices et des Vertus,’ the very treatise of which the Ayenbite of Inwyt is a translation. This treatise, says Dr. Morris, ‘was composed in the year 1279 for the use of Philip the Second of France, by Frère Lorens (or Laurentius Gallus, as he is designated in Latin), of the order of Friars Preachers’ or Dominicans. There are two MS. copies of this treatise in the British Museum, viz. MS. Cotton, Cleopatra, A.v., and the Royal MS. 19 C. ii.
The printed text (circa 1495) is scarce; but numerous quotations from the Cotton MS. are given by Dr. W. Eilers, in Essays on Chaucer, Part V., pp. 501–610, published by the Chaucer Society. I occasionally give extracts from these quotations below, and I simply denote them by the symbol ‘Fr.’ I also use ‘Ayenb.’ to denote the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris (E. E. T. S.). An interesting review, by Dr. Koch, of this essay by Eilers, will be found in Anglia, vol. v. pt. ii. p. 130.
The ‘sections’ (marked §) into which the Tale is divided are the same as in Tyrwhitt’s edition, though he does not number them. Still, it renders reference to that edition an easy matter.
The clauses or ‘lines,’ or short subdivisions, are the same as in the Six-text edition. Each ‘line’ ends with a slanting stroke, as in the Tale of Melibee, and they are numbered ‘by fives’ in the margin.
Text. The ‘text’ at the head of the Tale is taken from the Vulgate version of Jer. vi. 16. The usual reading for viis is semitis.
I have only partially succeeded in finding the numerous quotations. For some of the references I am indebted to the Rev. E. Marshall.
75. A note in Bell’s Chaucer suggests that we should read—‘that wole that no man,’ c.; inserting wole that. But the old edd. agree with the MSS.; and the text is right as it stands. That no man wole periss[Editor: illegible character] =that wishes no one to perish. For this common use of wole, see the very next phrase, which means—‘but desires that we may all come.’ The reference is to 2 Pet. iii. 9, where Wyclif’s later version has a similar turn of expression, viz. ‘and wole not that ony men perische, but that alle turne ayen to penaunce.’
77. A translation of Jer. vi. 16 above; it is nearest to Wyclif’s earlier version: ‘Stondeth up-on weies, and seeth, and asketh of the olde pathis, what is the goode weie; and goth in it, and yee shul fynde refreshinge to youre soules.’
79. espirituels, the pl. (French) adj. in s, following its sb.; see B. 2038, F. 1278.
80. Alluding to ll. 50, 51 of the Prologue to this Tale.
82. whennes it is cleped Penitence; our author entirely forgets this clause in the sequel, and takes no more notice of the point here noted.
84. ‘Poenitentia est et mala praeterita plangere, et plangenda iterum non committere’; S. Ambrosii Opera, Appendix, Sermo xxv; ed. Migne (Cursus Patrologicus), vol. 17, col. 655.
The quotations, chiefly from the Latin fathers, in this Persones Tale, are so numerous, and often so brief and inexact, that I am not able to give the references in more than a few instances. I have, however, succeeded in finding some of them, such as the one above.
85. In the works of St. Ambrose, the following sentence occurs just above the one cited in the last note: ‘Poenitentia vero est dolor cordis, et amaritudo animae pro malis quae quisque commisit.’
89. St. Isidore of Seville is here intended (born ad 570, died ad 636). Cf. 551 below, (p. 603). I find no passage which precisely answers to this quotation, but I think the following is intended: ‘Nam qui plangit peccatum, et iterum admittit peccatum, quasi si quis lavet laterem crudum, quem quanto magis eluerit, tanto amplius lutum facit.’—S. Isidorus, Sententiarum lib. ii. c. 13; ed. Migne, vol. 83, col. 613. Here Isidore does not call the sinner a ‘japer,’ but says that he is as foolish as a man who washes an unburnt brick; for such a process only produces more mud.
92. St. Gregory the Great, the first pope of that name, is here meant; and the following is probably the passage referred to: ‘Ut intelligas in anima gravissimo iniquitatis pondere obrutum . . . ut ad sublimia levari jam non valeat, quoniam iniquitatis eam [mentem] gravitudo coarctat.’—S. Gregorius, in Septem Psalmos Poenitentiales Expositio; Ps. xxvii. v. 8; ed. Migne, vol. 79, col. 572.
93. and forlete sinne, and forsake sin before they die. This expression has already occurred at the end of the Phisiciens Tale; see C. 286.
94. Note the glosses in the footnotes; thus tak means tene, i. e. ‘keep to’; and siker is certum, i. e. ‘sure.’
96. It is quite hopeless to make any sense of this passage. It is perfectly clear that, as Koch suggests (see Anglia, V. pt. ii. p. 135), a considerable portion of the text is here lost. And no doubt it happened in the usual way, viz. by the omission of a clause included between some repeated words, such as that a man. Our author must have described, first of all, three actions of Penitence; and afterwards, three defautes (or defects) in doing penance. All that we have left is a notice of the first action (left unexplained), and a partial explanation of the three ‘defautes.’ I suggest, therefore, a lacuna after that a man; and I take it that the original text had: ‘The firste accion of Penitence is that a man [do so and so. The second action is, that he do so and so. The third is, that he do so and so. Moreover, ye shall understand that there are three defautes in doing penance. The first is, if that a man ] be baptized after that he hath sinned.’ Some MSS. read that if a man or if a man before be baptized. I do not see that this helps us, because I do not think that this is where the fault really lies.
97. The quotation here meant is the following: ‘Omnis enim, qui iam arbiter voluntatis suae constitutus est, cum accedit ad sacramentum fidelium, nisi eum poeniteat vitae veteris, novam non potest inchoare’: Homil. l.; in Opp. Basil. 1569, tom. x. col. 552 C.
100. ‘Est enim poenitentia bonorum et humilium fidelium poena quotidiana’; S. Aug. Opp. Basil. 1569, tom. ii. col. 507 A; Epist. cviii.
102. spyces, species, kinds; of frequent occurrence in this Tale.
103. The ‘slaughter of children’ here referred to is probably the accidental overlying of them by nurses, which was accounted a deadly sin, as being the result of negligence. This Chaucer expressly states below; see 575 (p. 604).
105. naked, i. e. thinly clad, in little more than a shirt-like garment.
108. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xvii. 29:—
I find ‘confessio’ and ‘cordis contritio’ mentioned near together in the Latin version of St. Chrysostom’s 20th homily on Genesis, cap. iv; ed. Migne, vol. liii. col. 170.
115. Not the words of Christ, but of St. John the Baptist; Matt. iii. 8.
116. See Matt. vii. 20.
119. ‘Et in timore Domini declinatur a malo’; Prov. xvi. 6.
125. ‘Iniquos odio habui, et legem tuam dilexi’; Ps. cxviii. (cxix.) 113.
126. Cf. Daniel iv. 10–27.
127. The reference is probably to Prov. xxviii. 13.
128. In this Penitence, i. e. in this ‘spice’ or particular portion of Penitence; for he is here speaking of Contrition only.
130. St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The reference may be to the following passage: ‘Tertius gradus est dolor, sed et ipse trina connexione ligatus. Vere post cognitionem et poenitentiam dolor renovatus est, et in meditatione mea ignis incanduit, quia Creatorem offendi, Dominunt non timui, sprevi benefactorem. ’—S. Bernardus, Sermo xl. § 5; ed. Migne, vol. 183, col. 649.
134. I find nothing like this in Job; the nearest passage seems to be in ch. xxxiii. vv. 26–28, where the idea of forgiveness after confession is referred to.
135. Ezechie, king Hezekiah; see Isaiah, xxxviii. 15 (Vulgate).
136. From Rev. ii. 5.
138. Referring to 2 Pet. ii. 22.
141. From Ezek. xx. 43.
142. Really from John viii. 34; but cf. 2 Pet. ii. 19.
143. Here, again, the reference is wrong. The text intended is, probably, Job xlii. 6, where the Vulgate has:—‘Idcirco ipse me reprehendo, et ago poenitentiam in favilla et cinere.’ Cf. Ps. xxxviii. 6.
144. The allusions to Seneca are numerous, and sentences from other authors are frequently attributed to him.
150. ‘Vis ut tibi seruiat cum quo factus es, et non uis seruire ei a quo factus es? Ergo cum uis ut seruiat tibi seruus tuus homo, et tu non uis seruire Deo, facis Deo quod tu pati non uis.’—S. Aug. Opp. Basil. 1569, tom. ix. col. 929 D; De Decem Chordis, cap. x.
151. Take reward of, have regard to.
154. vileynsly; an adv. formed from the adj. vileyns, base. See 652 below; c.
156. See Prov. xi. 22. groyn, snout. ‘Groyne of a swyne, Rostrum porcinum ’; Prompt. Parv. Cotgrave has:—‘ Groin de porceau, the snowt of a Hog.’ Florio’s Ital. Dict. has:—‘ Grugno, the snout of a hog.’ The Low Lat. form is grunnus; we find—‘ Grunnus, Anglice a gruyn, or a wrot’; Wright-Wülcker’s Gloss. col. 587, l. 23. The A. S. word is wrōt; whence M. E. wroten, vb., as below.
159. This quotation is also given, in Latin, in Hampole’s Pricke of Conscience, l. 4671:—‘Siue comedam, siue bibam, siue aliquid aliud faciam, semper michi uidetur illa tuba resonare in auribus meis, Surgite, mortui, uenite ad iudicium.’ It occurs still earlier, in the Gesta Romanorum, cap. 37. It is not really from Jerome, but occurs in the Regula Monachorum, in S. Hieron. Opp. tom. v. App.; Paris, 1706. Cf. Lyndesay’s Monarchè, book iv. l. 5606.
162. From Rom. xiv. 10.
164. essoyne, excuse; a common legal term; A.F. essoigne, essoyne; See Essoin in my Etym. Dict., 2nd ed., Addenda.
166. ‘Nulla ibi dissimilatio, ubi reddenda ratio etiam de verbo otioso’; S. Bernardus, Sermo ad Prelatos in Concilio, § 5; ed. Migne, vol. 184, col. 1098.
168. This gives the general sense of Prov. i. 28.
169. ‘O angustiae! Hinc erunt peccata accusantia; inde terrons iustitia; subtus patens horridum chaos inferni; desuper iratus iudex; intus urens conscientia; foris ardens mundus. Iustus uix saluabitur; peccator sic deprehensus in quam partem se premet? Constrictus ubi latebo? quomodo parebo? Latere erit impossibile; apparere intolerabile.’—S. Anselmi Meditatio Secunda; ed. Migne, vol. 158, col. 724. Cf. St. Bernard, Tractatus de Interiore Domo, cap. 22, § 46; Ancren Riwle, p. 304.
174. This passage from Jerome is probably founded upon Ps. xcvii. 3, 4.
176. From Job x. 20–22.
181. Referring to the quotation above; see 177.
182. I.e. Job calls it ‘dark,’ because he that is in hell is deprived of natural light. Of course material is here the adjective.
183. shal turne him al to peyne, shall all become painful to him; him is here a dative. In Hampole’s Pricke of Conscience, ll. 6823, 6829, we find the above quotation from Job x. 20–22; and, soon after (l. 6879), a quotation from St. Augustine which seems to be here imitated:—‘Demones igne scintillante uidebunt.’
186. defautes, wants, deprivations; agayn, as compared with.
189. Not from Jeremiah, but from 1 Sam. ii. 30; cf. Mal. ii. 9.
190. fortroden of, trodden down by; see fortreden in Stratmann; A. S. fortredan.
191. This singular quotation is said, in Hampole’s Pricke of Conscience, l. 8592, to be from the book of Job. The reference is to Job xx. 25, where the Vulgate has: ‘uadent et uenient super eum horribiles.’ The word demones is supplied in Hampole before horribiles. Even Wycliffe’s version has: ‘orrible fendis schulen go, and schulen come on hym.’ A. V. ‘terrors are upon him.’
defouled, trodden down. In Ps. cxxxviii. 11, Wycliffe has—‘schulen defoule me’; Vulgate, ‘ conculcabunt me.’
193. Chaucer extends this quotation by the insertion of the explanatory words about ‘the riche folk’; see Ps. lxxvi. 5. oneden to, united to, entirely gave up (their hearts) to. The pp. oned, united, occurs in D. 1968. See Prompt. Parv. p. 365.
195. From Deut. xxxii. 24, 33. Cf. Hampole’s Pricke of Conscience, l. 6755.
198. From Isaiah xiv. 11.
201. From Micah vii. 6.
204. The reference is to the Vulgate version of Ps. x. 6 (answering to Ps. xi. 6 in the A.V.): ‘Qui autem diligit iniquitatem, odit animam suam.’ Cf. Prov. xxix. 24.
207. The ‘five wits’ are the five senses. Cf. P. Plowman, B. xiv. 53:—
208. grintinge, gnashing; cf. Matt. xiii. 42, xxv. 30.
209. nosethirles, nostrils. This seems to be taken from Jerome; for Hampole, in his Pricke of Conscience, l. 6677, says:—
Isaye, Isaiah. The reference is to the Vulgate version of Isaiah, xxiv. 9:—‘amara erit potio bibentibus illam.’ But I may remark, that the corresponding passage in Hampole’s Pricke of Conscience refers us, at l. 6770, to Job xx. 16; and that the word ‘gall’ occurs in Job xx. 14.
210. The reference is to the last verse in Isaiah.
211. Alluding to Job x. 22, already cited above; see note to 176. The Vulgate has:—‘ubi umbra mortis.’
214. ‘Fit ergo miseris mors sine morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine defectu, quia et mors uiuit, et finis semper incipit, et deficere defectus nescit’;—S. Gregorius, Moralium lib. ix. c. 66; ed. Migne, vol. 75, col. 915.
216. From Rev. ix. 6. Cf. Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, ll. 6723, 7387.
217. Referring to the words ‘et nullus ordo,’ in Job x. 22; see 177 above.
218. This seems to have been the usual explanation of the passage. See the curious application of this text to the friars in Piers Plowman, B. xx. 268.
220. Referring to Ps. cvii. 34.
221. St. Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (born in 329, died in 379). The passage alluded to is from his Homilies on the Psalms; on Ps. xxviii. 7; § 6.
223. The same text as that translated above (177) by ‘grisly drede that ever shal laste.’ ‘Sempiternus horror inhabitat’; Job x. 22.
225. This probably refers to the words ‘In inferno nulla est redemptio,’ founded on Job vii. 9; see P. Plowm. C. xxi. 153.
227. From Prov. xi. 7.
229–230. I cannot trace these references Cf. Eccl. i. 18.
236. From Ezek. xviii. 24.
248. This seems to be the refrain of a Balade. It is interesting to notice that Chaucer again quotes it, as a line of verse, in his poem on Fortune; see Minor Poems, x. 7 (vol. i. p. 383).
252. to paye with his dette, to pay his debt with.
253–4. This is evidently the same passage from St. Bernard as that referred to in Hampole’s Pricke of Conscience, l. 5653:—‘Sicut non peribit capillus de capite, ita non erit momentum de toto tempore, de quo sane non conqueratur.’
258. mowes, grimaces. ‘ Mowe, or skorne’; Prompt. Parv. p. 346. Cf. Troil. iv. 7.
273. This probably refers to Ps. lxix, which is frequently interpreted to refer to the sufferings of Christ; see vv. 7, 9, 18–21.
281. From Isaiah liii. 5.
284. From the Vulgate version of John xix. 19.
286. From Matt. i. 21.
287. From Acts iv. 12.
288. Nazarenus, an inhabitant of Nazareth.
There is a further reference to passages in which the promised Messiah is described as a nētser, i. e. a ‘shoot’ or ‘sprout,’ of Jesse. Genesius explains nētser as meaning ‘a branch,’ Isaiah xiv. 19, lx. 21; and, metaphorically, ‘a Branch of Jesse,’ Isaiah xi. 1. This sense of ‘branch’ or ‘sprout’ shews the origin of the explanation of the word as ‘flourishing.’
289. From Rev. iii. 20.
300. and nat repente, and (for him) not to repent; used substantively, as equivalent to ‘non-repentance.’ So also repenten him, to repent, is equivalent to ‘repentance.’
303. ‘Scio enim Deum inimicum omni criminoso’; S. Aug. De Vera Poenitentia, cap. ix; Opp. Basil. 1569, tom. iv. col. 1044 C.
307. Ps. xcvii. 10 (xcvi. 10, in the Vulgate).
309. From Ps. xxxii. 5. The words that is to seyn are superfluous.
313. sone of ire, i. e. a child of wrath; Eph. ii. 3.
315. a sory song, i. e. a mournful song.
316. The subject of this second Chapter, viz. Confession, is interrupted, in §§ 23–84, by a long description of the Seven Deadly Sins. The subject is resumed in § 85, at p. 634. As to Confession, compare the Ancren Riwle, p. 299, and Myrc’s Instructions for Parish Priests, p. 24.
317. And whether it oghte nedes be doon or noon. Here again, as in 83 above, Chaucer forgets this clause, and pays no more heed to the matter.
320. Before avaunte, understand he moot; i. e. and (he must) not boast of his good works. Compare Ancren Riwle, p. 317; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 255.
322. From Rom. v. 12.
326–330. Compare Wycliffe’s later version of Gen. iii. 1-7.
337–340. This agrees rather closely with the Ninth of the Articles of Religion.
341. refreyded, chilled, cooled. Words of Anglo-French origin have ey or ei in place of the Central French oi. Cotgrave has:—‘ Refroidir, to coole, to take away the heat of, to slacken, to calme.’ Cotgrave also has:—‘ Malefice, a mischiefe; . . . also, a charme (wherby hurt is done); mischievous witchery.’ It is the same word as the Span. malhecho, mischief, and Shakespeare’s mallecho; Hamlet, iii. 2. 146.
342. From Gal. v. 17.
343. Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 25–27.
344. From Rom. vii. 24.
345. This passage refers to St. Jerome’s 22nd Epistle to Eustochium, De Virginitate, § 7 (ed. Migne, vol. 22. col. 398). A long extract from this letter is given in Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints, under Sept. 30.
348. From James i. 14.
349. From 1 John i. 8.
351. The sense shews that suggestion is really meant; but it only appears in MSS. Selden and Lansdowne; all the rest have subieccion or subieccioun, which I have therefore retained in the text. The fact is, that the words were confused in medieval Latin. Ducange gives subjectio, as used for suggestio. However, we find the words ‘by wikked suggestion ’ just below, in l. 355.
bely, i. e. bellows; so in all the seven MSS. It is precisely the same word as the mod. E. belly, notwithstanding the present difference in sense. The old sense was simply ‘bag’; applied either to an inflated bag for blowing, or to the abdomen. The pl. form belies was also used in the double sense, viz. (1) a pair of bellows, and (2) bellies; in fact, a pair of bellows is still called blow-bellis in some parts of Shropshire; see Blow-bellows and Blow-bellys in Miss Jackson’s Shropshire Glossary. And see the full explanations of Bellows and Belly in the New Eng. Dict.
355. ‘Perhaps there may be some such passage in the Rabbinical histories of Moses, which the learned Gaulmin published in the last century (Paris, 1629, 8vo.), and which, among other traditions, contain that alluded to by St. Jude, Epist. 9.’—Tyrwhitt. An apocryphal book, called the Assumption of Moses, is mentioned by Origen.
358. Wycliffe protested against this attempted distinction between ‘venial’ and ‘deadly’ sin; see his Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 452. See also Myrc’s Instructions for Parish Priests, p. 43.
362. Hazlitt gives this proverb in the form—‘Many littles make a mickle’; from Camden’s Remains. He adds several parallels from Ray’s Proverbs. Another similar proverb is: ‘A little leak will sink a great ship’; cf. 363.
363. crevace, crevice. thurrok, the holde of a ship. ‘Thurrok of a schyppe, Sentina ’; Prompt. Parv. The following remarkable passage occurs in The Myroure of oure Ladye, ed. Blunt (E. E. T. S.), pt. ii. pp. 108, 109:—‘Noe [Noah] ioyed that hys Shyppe shulde be so pycked [pitched] wyth-in and wyth-out, that there shulde [be?] no thorrocke [bilge-water?] that myghte syee [leak, ooze in] or droppe in therto. Ye shall vnderstonde that there ys a place in the bottome of a shyppe wherein ys gatheryd all the fylthe that cometh in-to the shyppe, other by lekynge or by syinge in-to yt by the bourdes, when the shyppe is olde, or when yt is not wel pycked, or by eny other wyse. And that place stynketh ryghte fowle; and yt ys called in some contre [county] of thys londe a thorrocke. Other calle yt an hamron, and some calle yt the bulcke of the shyppe. And thys is the thorrocke that this Lesson spekyth of. For the shyppe of Noe was soo well pycked, that there gatheryd no soche fylthe therin.’ It is cognate with Du. durk, Mid. Du. durck; Hexham’s Du. Dict. has:—‘ Durck van het schip daer al het water ende vuyligheyt in loopt, The Bottom or Sink of a ship where all the water and filth runs in.’ Sewel’s Du. Dict. has:—‘ Durk (vuyl scheepswater), The foul water at the bottom of a ship.’ This shews that the word meant (1) the lower part of the hold; and (2) the bilge-water that collects there. Probably a still older sense is simply ‘hull’; for we find A. S. þurruc, as a gloss to ‘ Cumba, uel caupolus ’; Wright-Wülcker’s Gloss. 181. 35. And Ducange has:—‘ Cumba, cymba, navis, seu potius navis species . . . Glossar. Arabico-Latinum; Lembus, navicula brevis, dicta et caupulus, et cumba, et lintris . . . . Ugutio: Cumba et cimba, ima pars navis et vicinior aquis. ’
This image is doubtless borrowed from St. Gregory; see Sweet’s ed. of Ælfred’s translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, cap. lvii.
378. tale, relate, narrate; cf. A. 772; Will. of Palerne, 160; Gower, C. A. iii. 329. A. S. talian. Tyrwhitt reads talke.
384. I find, in Caxton’s Golden Legende, the expression—‘yf they had done ony venyal synne, hit was anone putte awey by the loue of charyte, lyke as a drope of water in a fornays. ’—Of the Commemoracion of Al Soules. See my note to P. Pl. C. vii. 338.
386. Confiteor, I confess. In the Ancren Riwle, p. 137, the editor’s translation has:—‘Wherefore every anchoress saith to every priest Confiteor first of all, and confesseth herself first of all, and often.’
387. Here begins the famous and very common subject of the Seven Deadly Sins, largely borrowed from the treatise by Frère Lorens mentioned above (p. 447). I give occasional quotations from the French text, marked ‘Fr.,’ with references to the pages of Essays on Chaucer, Part V (Chaucer Society).
I here repeat, from my note on P. Plowman, C. vii. 3, some of the references to passages in which the Seven Sins appear. See, for instance, Ælfric’s Homilies, ed. Thorpe, ii. 219; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 119, 225; The Ancren Riwle, ed. Morton, pp. 198–204; Religious Pieces, ed. Perry (E. E. T. S.), pp. 11, 12; the Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 16; Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 215; Hymns to the Virgin and Christ, ed. Furnivall, p. 62; Myrc’s Instructions for Parish Priests, p. 33; Dunbar’s Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins; Spenser, F. Q. bk. i. c. 4; c. See also Sins in Nares’ Glossary.
The Seven Sins, in Chaucer’s order, are:—
springers, origins, sources. I adopted this reading from Hl., because none of the other MSS. make sense. They have spryngen of or springen of (Hn. sprynge of ), which can only mean ‘arise from,’ thus exactly contradicting the sense intended. Thynne has springe of; but Wright, Morris, and Bell all have springers of, as they follow the Harl. MS. I know no other example of this rare word; and it is difficult to see why the commoner form springes would not have served the purpose. Tyrwhitt gets over the difficulty by transposing the words, as in the Selden MS., thus reading—‘and of hem springen alle,’ c. But the other MSS. do not countenance this arrangement.
388. Pride is usually accounted as the chief of all sins, and the source of the rest; cf. Ecclus. x. 13; P. Plowman, C. vii. 3 (B. v. 63), and the note; Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 16.
There is a long passage in St. Gregory’s Moralium lib. xxxi. c. 45 (ed. Migne, vol. 76. col. 621), to which I suppose that later writers were much indebted. It is explicitly referred to, for instance, by John of Salisbury, in his Policraticus, lib. viii. c. 1. I quote some passages from it further on, in suitable places. It begins thus:—
‘Radix quippe cuncti mali Superbia est. Primae autem ejus soboles, septem nimirum principalia vitia, de hac virulenta radice proferuntur, scilicet inanis gloria, invidia, ira, tristitia, avaritia, ventris ingluvies, luxuria; . . . sed habet contra nos haec singula exercitum suum.’
389. hise braunches, its branches. In the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 17, they are called boghes, boughs; and the ‘twigs’ are called little boghes.
390. In Essays on Chaucer, p. 510, Dr. Eilers gives a detailed and careful comparison of the English with the French text from which it is partly derived. The result, through no fault of his, is more bewildering than useful; for the numerous alterations in the arrangement of the parts of the subject are altogether too tedious to explain. The reader will gain the best idea of the state of the case, if I here quote Dr. Eilers’ summary of his comparison of the two texts, as to their treatment of ‘Pride.’ Similar numberless alterations of detail occur in the treatment of the other ‘Sins.’ (Fr.=French text).
‘From the above [comparison] it will appear that a well-ordered scheme underlies the French text. Orguel is divided into 7 branches, and each of these again into a similar number of reinselez ( branchettes ). Let us examine the English text (Chaucer’s) more closely. After first pointing out (substantially in agreement with Fr.) the impossibility of naming all the parts ( twigges ) into which Pride may be divided, 16 twigges are enumerated, but without that logical coherence apparent in Fr. Next follow short definitions of the twigs, in which, however, the 11th twig ( Strif ) is omitted from the list, and is added instead at the end, under janglinge, which had never been mentioned before. These 16 twigs correspond partly to the branches, partly to the reinselez of Fr., whilst some of them are not found in Fr. at all, or at least not under the same heading.
‘The definitions correspond only in their general sense with Fr. [Here instances are given.]
‘Throughout this part there is in Ch. much confusion of particulars. The definition of “swelling of herte” is incorrect. “Arrogaunce” and “Presumpcion,” which in Fr. are identical, appear in Ch. as distinct conceptions. On the other hand, the definitions of some of the words resemble each other closely. . . . The next section, on “a privee spece of Pryde” (§ 25), has nothing corresponding to it in Fr.; c. . . . In the section “whennes Pride sourdeth and springeth” (§ 29), Ch. is in tolerably exact accordance with Fr. . . . The correspondence in this first Deadly Sin is confined to isolated expressions, points of arrangement common to both,’ c.
On account, then, of the complicated differences in the treatment of details, I do not think it advisable to give the full and exact results. I confine myself to passages in which the Fr. throws real light on the English text, and to the points of chief interest only.
I think it worth while to continue here the quotation from Gregory commenced in the note to l. 388 above:—‘Nam de inani gloria inobedientia, jactantia, hypocrisis, contentiones, pertinaciae, discordiae, et novitatum praesumptiones oriuntur.’ Here is the outline of the division of Pride into branches. He gives similar ‘branches’ of Inuidia, Ira, and the rest.
In the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 17, the first bough of Pride has three twigs, as in Fr.; in fact, it follows Fr. very closely, and gives a very good idea of its general contents and treatment.
In the Ancren Riwle, p. 199, ‘the Lion of Pride’ has 9 whelps, such as Vain Glory, Indignation, Hypocrisy, Presumption, c.
392. Inobedient, disobedient. Cf. P. Plowman, C. vii. 19; Ayenb. (i. e. Ayenbite of Inwyt), p. 20, ll. 7. 8.
393. Avauntour, boaster; P. Pl. C. vii. 35; Ayenb. p. 22, ll.5-15.
394. Ipocrite, hypocrite. Cf. P. Pl. C. vii. 36–40; Ayenb. p. 25 (Sixth Bough).
395. Despitous, scornful; cf. Ayenb. p. 20, ll. 4, 5. even-cristene, fellow-Christian; cf. Swed. jämn-christen, from jämn, even; Icel. jafnkristinn. Euene-cristene occurs in P. Plowm. B. ii. 94, v. 440; also spelt emcristene in the same, C. xx. 226, c.
398. The definition does not well suit ‘Swellinge of herte.’ It better defines ‘the envious man’; see Ayenb. p. 27, l. 15. And see p. 599, l. 492, below. At the same time, it is not so much out of place as the critics say it is, and is paralleled by the lines in P. Plowman, C. vii. 17, where Pride says that he was—
399. This is parallel to P. Plowm. C. vii. 41–58.
401. This corresponds to Ayenb. p. 29, l. 19. ‘The zixte is, to werri zoþnesse be his wytinde.’ Fr. ‘guerroier verité a son escient.’
402. Contumax, contumacious; as in P. Plowm. C. xiv. 85.
403. Surquidrie, presumption; O. F. surquiderie. It occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 56 (note h ); Gawain and the Grene Knight, l. 2457; Barbour’s Bruce, xi. 11, xvi. 327; c.
406. See E. 1200, and the note. Cf. Ayenb. p. 58, l. 13:—‘that byeth[Editor: illegible character]ase the cleper of the melle, thet ne may him naght hyealde stille.’ Fr. ‘vaines paroles, qui sont come li batels du moulin. ’
407. There is nothing in Fr. corresponding to this passage. waiteth, i. e. watches his opportunity of being first saluted, or of taking a higher seat at table. above him, before him, as in a procession.
kisse pax, to kiss the pax. The pax was a small flat piece of wood or metal, quite distinct from the pyx, with which it is often confounded. See the full explanation in Nares. See also Bingham, Antiq. of the Christian Church; and Rock, Church of our Fathers.
goon to offring; see A. 450, and the note.
411. leefsel, a shady arbour, such as may still be seen before an ale-house-door, or a cottage-door, in some country villages. The word has already occurred it A. 4061, and has been explained in the note to that line. It is quite distinct from the ivy-bush which was so commonly suspended in place of, or in addition to, the sign which denoted an ale-house; see the chapter on Ale-house Signs in Brand’s Pop. Antiquities. Perhaps we may assume that the descriptive epithet gaye is here of some force; the arbour in front of an inn-door would, usually, be either larger or more conspicuous than that in front of an ordinary cottage.
412. This ‘outrageous array of clothing’ answers to the ‘plente des beles robes’ in Fr.; cf. Ayenb. p. 24, last line but one.
413. Alluding to Luke xvi. 19. Really from S. Gregorii Homiliarum in Evangelia lib. ii. homil. xl. § 3: ‘Quodsi uidelicet culpa non esset, nequaquam sermo Dei tam uigilanter exprimeret quod diues . . . bysso et purpura indutus fuisset.’ See Migne’s ed. vol. 76. col. 1305.
414. From S. Gregorii Homiliarum in Evangelia lib. ii. homil. 40. § 3: ‘Nemo quippe uestimenta praecipua nisi ad inanem gloriam quaerit, uidelicet, ut honorabilior caeteris esse uideatur.’ Cf. lib. i. homil. vi. § 3 (on the text, Matt. xi. 2-10), where St. Gregory inveighs against such as—‘solis exterioribus dediti, praesentis uitae mollitiem et delectationem quaerunt . . . Nemo ergo existimet in fluxu atque studio uestium peccatum deesse;’ (ed. Migne, vol. 76. col. 1097). He proceeds to refer to 1 Pet. iii. 5, 1 Tim. ii. 9.
415. costlewe, costly. ‘ Costelewe, costfull, costuous, Sumptuosus ’; Prompt. Parv.; see Way’s note. This form answers to the Icel. kostligr; and the only difference between the suffixes - lewe and - ly is that the former is Norse, and represents Icel. - ligr, whilst the latter represents the A. S. - lic. See Chokelew in the New Eng. Dict., and cf. drunken-lewe, drunken-like, sik-lewe, sickly.
416. Wyclif (Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 124) is similarly severe against proud array.
417. degyse, fashionable; O. F. desguisè, also spelt desguisiè (Godefroy). Chaucer found this word in Le Roman de la Rose, l. 827; see vol. i. p. 128.
endentinge, notching, or the use of indented lines. Indentee (better endentee ) is still a term in heraldry, to signify that an edge or dividing line is notched or serrated, as shewn in any heraldic work. Several of the terms in this clause have, in heraldry, a special sense, and Chaucer seems to be thinking, in particular, of such coats-of-arms as were sometimes made of variously coloured cloths, cut into the requisite shapes.
barringe, cutting into stripes, or decoration with bars. A bar, in heraldry, is a horizontal stripe like the fess, but narrower.
oundinge, waving; decoration by the use of waved lines. Oundee or oundy (also onde, ondy ) is the heraldic name for a waved line or edge. Criseyde’s hair was ounded, i. e. waved; Troilus, iv. 736.
palinge, decoration with a ‘pale’ or upright stripe. A pale, in heraldry, is a broad upright stripe, occupying the third part of the field. Cf. note to HF. 1840 (vol. iii. p. 282).
windinge, twisting; decoration with curved lines. Many heraldic charges, such as a lion, had to be cut out in the cloth, by ‘winding’ the scissors about, along the outline required.
bendinge, decoration with bends. A bend, in heraldry, is a slanting stripe or band. The bend dexter is drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base of the shield; the bend sinister (once a mark of bastardy) slopes the other way.
418. pounsoninge, punching, perforation. Strictly, the use of a puncheon or perforating implement. ‘ Punchon, stimulus, punctorium’; Prompt. Parv.
chisels, i. e. cutting instruments; we may note that, etymologically, chisels and scissors (M. E. cisoures ) are closely related words.
dagginge, slitting, snipping, cutting into strips or narrow flapping ends. There is a special allusion to the custom of dagging, i.e. jagging, or foliating the edges of robes (especially of the sleeves), so common in the reigns of Edw. III. and Rich. II. See fig. 91 in Fairholt’s Costume in England (1885), i. 124. See P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 143; Rich. the Redeless, iii. 193.
419. The length of the trains of gowns is a common subject of satire. See, in particular, Sir David Lyndesay’s Minor Poems (E. E. T. S.), pp. 574–5.
421. bete, remedy, amend, better, relieve; cf. A. 2253.
422. cutted, cut short; see Leg. G. Women, 973, and note.
sloppes, garments; here, evidently, jackets of a short length. ‘ Sloppe, garment, Mutatorium ’; Prompt. Parv.; Icel. sloppr, a robe, gown. There is a parallel passage in the Knight of La Tour-Landry, cap. xlvii (p. 63). Cf. oversloppe, G. 633.
hainselins (also spelt hanselins, anslets ), the same as sloppes, i. e. jackets. Tyrwhitt unluckily says that ‘it appears from the context to mean a sort of breeches, ’ whereas it was the shortness of the hainselin that enabled the breeches to be seen; and his error has been copied by others. This most unusual word answers to the rare O. F. hamselin, hamcellim, or hainselin, a sort of robe. Godefroy says—‘sorte de robe longue ’; whereas it was certainly ‘courte.’ His examples include the mention of ‘un hainselin de vert brun’ in 1416, ‘hamselin’ in 1403, and an extract from Christine de Pisan:—
I suppose the last line means ‘tightly gathered in above the hips.’ Cotgrave has: ‘ sus, above.’ The word is probably of Frankish origin; from O. H. G. * hemithilīn, M. H. G. hemdelīn, dimin. of O. H. G. hemithi, a shirt (G. Hema ). See Fig. 93 and Fig. 136 in Fairholt’s Costume, i. 126, 180.
425. degysinge, mode of dress. This alludes to the singular habit of wearing parti-coloured dresses; see the remarks in Fairholt’s Costume, i. 114, 115.
427. fyr of seint Anthony, St. Anthony’s fire; a popular name for erysipelas, which this saint was supposed to cure.
429. honestetee, decency; as in B. 3908. In 431, it seems to mean ‘neatness’; and so in 436.
432. aornement, the O. F. form of ‘adornment’; see Adornment in the New E. Dict., in which the oldest quotation for this form is from Caxton. The expression ‘in thinges that apertenen to rydinge’ answers to ‘his uaire ridinges’ in Ayenb. p. 24, l. 3 from bottom; Fr. ‘beles chevauchures.’
434. From Zech. x. 5.
435. This curiously expresses the view taken by the lower orders in England, who regarded the riders, mostly Normans, as belonging to the class of their oppressors. Hence the curious song against the Retinues of the Rich, in Wright’s Political Songs, pp. 237–240.
437. greet meinee, a large household; ‘the uayre mayné,’ Ayenb. p. 24, l. 31; Fr. ‘bele maisnie.’
440. As ‘thilke that holden hostelries,’ i. e. innkeepers, are here represented as upholding the cheating ways of the ‘hostilers,’ the latter must here be used (like mod. E. ostler ) in the sense of the servants attached to the inn. In A. 241, hostiler may mean the innkeeper himself; but ostler goes well with tappestere, i. e. barmaid.
442. From Ps. lv. 15.
445. wilde fyr, fire caused by kindling some inflammable spirit, just as our modern ‘Christmas pudding’ or ‘mince pie’ is surrounded with the flames of burning brandy. It seems to have been called ‘wild fire’ as being not easily extinguishable, like the ‘Greek fire’ of the middle ages; see Ancren Riwle, p. 402, and Warton’s note, Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. 1871, ii. 154. In A. 4172, and E. 2252, it is used, metaphorically, to denote ‘erysipelas.’
446. vessel, a collective noun, like mod. E. ‘plate.’ As to minstrelsy at feasts, see E. 1178, F. 268, c.
448. sourden of, arise from, have their source in; F. sourdre.
450–5. Here the E. text is tolerably close to the Fr. original; cf. Ayenb. p. 24. The ‘goodes’ are Li bien de nature, being such as are (1) devers le cors, viz. sainteté (good health), biauté, force, proesce, noblesce, bone langue, bone voiz; and (2) devers l’ame, viz. cler sens, soutil engin, bone memoire, les vertuz natureles. Again, there are Li bien de fortune, viz. hautesces, honors, richesces, delices, prosperitez. Lastly, there are Li bien de grace, viz. vertus, bones ævres.
459. Alluding to Gal. v. 17; see Wyclif’s version.
460. causeth . . . meschaunce, often brings many a man into peril and misfortune. The idiom is curious; but all the MSS. agree here, and Thynne’s edition has the same. Tyrwhitt has ‘causeth ful oft to many man peril,’ c. This is easier, but lacks authority.
467. Chaucer found this quotation from Seneca in the Latin treatise which is the original of ‘Melibeus’ (p. 124 of Sundby’s edition), though the passage does not occur in his version of that tale. It is made up of two clauses, taken, respectively, from Seneca, De Clementia, i. 3. 3, and the same, i. 19. 2. ‘Nullum clementia magis decet quam regem’; et iterum, ‘Iracundissimae et parui corporis sunt apes, rex tamen earum sine aculeo est.’ Cf. Pliny, Nat. History, bk. xi. c. 17; Batman upon Bartholomè, bk. xviii. c. 12; Hoccleve, de Regimine Principum, p. 121; Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Tresor, i. v. 155.
At the same time, it is remarkable that Chaucer’s words resemble even more closely a passage from Cicero which is quoted on the preceding page of the same book:—‘Nam Tullius dixit: Nihil est laudabilius, nihil magno et praeclaro viro dignius placabilitate atque clementia’; De Officiis, i. 25.
470. Here there is a slight change in the order; the ‘goods of grace’ are discussed before those of ‘fortune’; see 454, 455.
473. Cf. the Clerkes Tale, E. 1000.
475. In the Fr. treatise, all the Sins come first, and then the Remedies are discussed afterwards. The alteration in this respect is an improvement.
476. mekenesse; called ‘Mildenesse’ in Ayenb. p. 130, and ‘umilite’ in Fr. The resemblance of this § 29 to the Fr. text is very slight.
483. to stonde gladly to, willingly to abide by.
484. See Ayenb. 26; Myrc’s Instructions to Parish Priests, p. 37; P. Plowm. C. vii. 63 (B. v. 76); Ancren Riwle, p. 200; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 128. In form and general contents, this chapter on Envy is a condensation of the corresponding chapter in the Fr. text, but there are several deviations.
philosophre; I do not know who is meant. However, St. Gregory (see the note to 388) says: ‘De inuidia, odium, susurratio, detractio, exsultatio in aduersis proximi, afflictio autem in prosperis nascitur.’
Augustin. The quotation seems rather to follow the words of St. Gregory just quoted. I find, in St. Augustine, only one of the clauses, viz. ‘Inuidia est enim odium felicitatis alienae’; S. Aug. in Psalm. civ. 25 (cv. 25 in the Vulgate); ed. Migne, vol. 37, col. 1399. This is the very quotation which has already done duty in the Phisicien’s Tale; see C. 115, and the note. Cf. P. Plowm. B. v. 112, 113.
485. platly, c.; Fr. ‘il est contraires au saint esperit.’ Cf. Ayenb. p. 28, l. 7 from bottom.
486. two; Dr. Eilers remarks—‘Clearly three follow.’ But we can easily count them as two; (1) hardness of heart; (2) warring against truth, or against grace given to one’s neighbour.
487. Fr. ‘guerroier verité a son escient’; and again, ‘guerroier la grace du saint esperit en autrui.’ See Ayenb. p. 29, ll. 2, 3, 18, 19.
490. Compare P. Pl. C. vii. 93.
491–492. See 484 above, and the note.
493. bakbyting; cf. Ancren Riwle, p. 86; P. Plowm. B. v. 89. Fr. text, ‘detraction.’
493–494. Fr. ‘quant on dist bien d’autrui devant lui, toz jors il i trueve e i met un mes ’; where mes is the mod. F. mais, Chaucer’s ‘but.’
495. Fr. ‘il pervertist e torne tout a la pior partie.’
496. Fr. ‘il estaint e met a nient touz les biens que li hons fait.’
499. Fr. ‘grondiller e murmurer.’
500. Fr. ‘s’il [Dieu] li envoie adversitez, povretez, chier tens, pluie, seccheresce, s’il done a l’un et toult a l’autre.’ Cf. P. Pl. B. vi. 317.
502. See John xii. 4. enoynte, anointed, is the past tense; the pp. is enoynt, A. 2961; cf. anoint, A. 199.
504. See Luke vii. 39.
505. bereth him, c., lays to his charge. Cf. D. 226, 380.
508. Compare the Fr. text:—‘murmure contre Dieu et chante la pater-nostre au singe, certes mais la chancon au diable.’
515. This section, on the Remedy against Envy, is very much abridged from the Fr. original, and the points of contact are few. Cf. Ayenb. p. 144; Myrc, p. 52.
526. From Matt. v. 44.
532. ‘The first part of this chapter is, in arrangement as in substance, a condensation of the corresponding chapter in Fr. The working out of the subject is interwoven with ideas, which are nowhere to be found in Fr. . . . the verbal coincidences are very numerous.’—Essays on Chaucer, p. 533. See Ayenb. p. 29; Myrc, p. 38; Wyclif, Works, iii. 134.
535. ‘Nam et ipsam iram nihil aliud esse, quam ulciscendi libidinem, veteres definierunt’; S. August. De Civitate Dei, lib. xiv. c. 15. § 2. Cf. Cicero, Tuscul. Disput. lib. iii. c. 5; lib. iv. c. 9.
536. Cf. Horace, Epist. I. 2. 62:—‘Ira furor breuis est.’
537. trouble, i. e. troubled, agitated; F. trouble, adj. Cf. H. 279.
540. From Ps. iv. 5 (Vulgate).
551. ‘ Juniperus, . . . Graece dicta, . . . quod conceptum diu teneat ignem: adeo ut si prunae ex eius cinere fuerint opertae, usque ad annum perueniant; πυ̑ρ enim apud Graecos ignis dicitur’; S. Isidorus, Etymologiarum lib. xvii. c. 7; ed. Migne, vol. 82, col. 615. This is one of Isidore’s delicious ‘etymologies.’ This remarkable story is founded on the imaginary fact that juniper is derived from the Gk. πυ̑ρ, fire!
562. hate, c. This expression is from St. Augustine:—‘Quid est odium? ira inueterata. Ira inuerata si facta est, iam odium dicitur’; Sermo lviii. c. 7; ed. Migne, vol. 38, col. 397.
565. six thinges; evidently an error for three. The three are: (1) hate; (2) backbiting; (3) deceitful counsel. The error may easily have arisen from misreading iij as uj. Most of the MSS. have ‘.vj.’; but ‘.ui.’ and ‘.uj.’ were also in use. See 1 John iii. 15.
566. Probably due to an imperfect remembrance of Prov. xxv. 18:—‘Iaculum, et gladius, et sagitta acuta, homo qui loquitur contra proximum suum falsum testimonium.’ Cf. xii. 18, xxx. 14.
568. From Prov. xxviii. 15; cf. iii. 27.
shepe, hire, is a rare word; hence the addition, either by Chaucer or by a scribe, of the words or the hyre, by way of a gloss. The writer of the Ayenbite writes ss for sh; and we there find the word ssepe, in the sense of ‘hire’ or ‘pay,’ no less than five times; at pp. 33, 40, 86, 113, 146, also the pl. ssepes, wages, at p. 39. Cf. A. S. scipe, pay, in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints, ed. Skeat, xxxi. 55 (vol. ii. p. 222). See note to Anelida, 193.
569. From Prov. xxv. 21.
572. in his defendaunt, in his (own) defence; it looks like an imitation of the French phrase en se defendant.
575. Note the double use of homicide; it here translates homicidium; just above, it translates homicida.
580. Fr. ‘Mais especiaument nous apelons ci blaspheme, quant on mesdit de Dieu e de ses sainz, on des sacramenz de sainte eglise.’
582. From Ps. cxlv. 9.
587. The French treatise includes seven forms of swearing (parjuremens) under the head of Ire.
588. See Exod. xx. 7; Matt. v. 34. Cf. C. 642.
591. Fr. ‘Il resont plus cruel que li Iuys qui le crucifierent. Il ne briserent nul des os, mais cist le depiecent plus menu c’on ne fait pourcel en la boucherie.’ Cf. Pard. Tale, C. 475, 651, and the notes.
592. See the parallel passage in the Pard. Tale, C. 635, and the note. From Jer. iv. 2; on which St. Jerome remarks: ‘Animaduertendum est quod iusiurandum tres habet comites.’
593. See Pard. Tale, C. 649, and the note. The wounde is a translation of the Lat. plaga in Ecclus. xxiii. 12 (Vulgate):—‘non discedet a domo illius plaga.’
597. From Acts iv. 12.
598. From Phil. ii. 10.
601. This section (§ 37) is rather closer than usual to the French text, but is amplified.
603. Fr. ‘comme font les devines et les sorcieres et les charmeresses. Et touz ceus qui en tiex choses croient . . . pecchent morteument; car toutes teles choses sont contre la foi, et por ce les deffent sainte eglise.’
bacins ful of water. These were sometimes used, instead of looking-glasses, for divination; Brand, Pop. Antiq. ed. Ellis, iii. 169. This kind of divination was called catoptromancy.
bright swerd, used, instead of a magic mirror, in catoptromancy; see Brand.
in a cercle. Circles were almost invariably drawn upon the ground by sorcerers, within which the invoked spirit was supposed to be confined; see Brand, iii. 56, 59.
in a fyr, as in pyromancy. ‘Amphiaraus was the first that had knowledge in Pyromancie, and gathered signs by speculation of fire’; Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. vii. c. 56. Cf. P. Plowman, A. xi. 158.
‘Magic may be practised after diuers sorts; . . . for it worketh by the means of (1) Water, hydromantia; (2) Globes or Balls, sphaeromantia; (3) Aire, aeromantia; (4) Starres, astrologia; (5) Fire-lights, pyromantia; (6) Basons, lecanomantia; and (7) Axes, axinomantia ’; Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxx. c. 2.
shulder-boon. See Pard. Tale, C. 351, and the note. Brand, in his Pop. Antiq., has a chapter on Divination by the Speal [rather Spaule], or Blade-bone. In Miss Burne’s Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 179, we are referred to Tylor, Prim. Culture, i. 124; Folk-Lore Record, i. 176; Henderson, Folk-Lore, p. 175.
605. divynailes, divinations. ‘ Devinailles, f. Divinations, predictions’; Cotgrave.
flight of briddes. This form of divination, so well known to the Romans, is still kept in remembrance by the use of the words augury and auspice. Divinations by beasts were common and various; the commonest method was by inspecting the entrails of a beast when sacrificed. See Brand’s chapter on Omens, as e. g. by the howling of dogs, by cats, birds, animals crossing one’s path, c.
sort, lot; as by the Virgilian lots, Bible lots, c.; see Brand, Pop. Antiq. iii. 336; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v. c. 24, § 7; Gay, Shepherd’s Week, Pastoral 4.
geomancie, divination by dots made with a pointed stick in dust, c. See the note on A. 2043, above. Divination by dreams needs no remark.
chirkinge, creaking. Strange noises have often caused superstitious terrors; a familiar instance is that of the death-watch. They are also sometimes regarded, with less evil effect, and perhaps, occasionally, with some truth, as weather-omens.
See Gay’s Trivia, bk. i. l. 157; and the well-known Signs of Rain, by Dr. Jennings.
gnawynge of rattes. See Brand, Popular Antiq. iii. 188.
607. Charmes. See examples in Brand, Pop. Antiquities, of Rural Charms, Characts, and Amulets. It is curious to note Chaucer’s qualified belief in them.
609. Cf. Fr. ‘unes menconges aidans, . . . unes nuisans, . . . por faire domage a autrui.’
611. Som lesinge, c.; ‘some (kind of) lying arises, because a man wants to sustain (the credit of) his word.’ Dr. Eilers marks he with the note—‘grammatical error.’ But it is quite right; he is used indefinitely, as frequently. It is just a little too bad to charge this as an error on the author.
612. The mention of flattery seems out of place. But, as Dr. Eilers says, we may well suppose that ‘the English author, once having had recourse to the “pecchiez de male langue,” exhausted its whole contents, perhaps intentionally, perhaps unintentionally, but certainly with no regard to the subject of anger.’ If we turn to the Ayenbite, p. 57, we shall find that the sins of the tongue, including flattery, are there given at the end of the section on Gluttony, where their appearance is even more surprising. The fact is, that the grouping of all sins under the Seven Deadly Sins is extremely artificial, and there is no particular place for the insertion of flattery or of certain other sins. Moreover, in 618 below, Chaucer naively gives his reason for the arrangement which he has adopted.
613. Fr. ‘Li losengier sont les norrices au diable, qui ses enfans alaitent et endorment en leur pecchies . . . par lor biau chanter.’ The same expression occurs in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 60, l. 7.
614. Salomon. Chaucer gives the general sense of Prov. xxviii. 23.
615. Fr. ‘les apele l’escripture enchanteors, car il enchantent tant l’ome que il les croit plus que soi meismes.’ The Ayenbite has ‘charmeres’; p. 60, l. 25.
616. Following Tyrwhitt, I have supplied the words between square brackets, which are wanting in all the seven MSS. and in Thynne’s edition. Tyrwhitt supplies ‘god; and thise flatereres betrayen.’ But he does not tell us where (if anywhere) he found these words.
617. The Fr. text has the very expression ‘quant il chantent touz jors Placebo. ’ The Ayenbite adds an explanation (p. 60, l. 7 from bottom): viz. they all sing Placebo, that is to say, ‘my lord saith truth,’ or ‘my lord doth well’; and turn to good all that the master doth or saith, whether it be good or bad. See my note to P. Plowman, C. iv. 467.
Note the name Placebo in the Marchauntes Tale; see E. 1476.
619. Fr. ‘Apres vienent les maudicons . . . E saint Pol dist que tieus genz ne poent le regne Dieu avoir.’ This refers to 1 Cor. vi. 10, where the Vulgate has: ‘neque maledici (A. V. ‘revilers’) . . . regnum Dei possidebunt.’ So in Ayenb. p. 66, l. 22.
620. Not in the Fr. text. This is an old proverb, which Southey quotes, in a Greek form, as a motto prefixed to his Curse of Kehama. His English version of it is:—‘curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost.’
623. gospel. See Matt. v. 22, 44.
624. Fr. ‘on reproche à l’ome ou ses pecchiez, ou ses folies, ou sa povrete, ou ses povres parenz, ou aucune defaute qu’il a en lui.’ Cf. Ayenb. p. 66, l. 27.
mesel, leper; so meselrie, leprosy, in 625.
625. maheym, maim, i. e. mutilation or bodily imperfection. Our maim is a contracted form of this M. E. maheym. In P. Plowman, B. xvii. 189, one MS. has y-mayheymed, where others have y-maymed. In Britton, i. 98, the Anglo-French form is maheyng; in the Liber Albus, p. 281, it is mahaym.
627. From Matt. xii. 34.
629. From Prov. xv. 4.
deslavee, lit. ‘unwashed,’ foul; from O. F. ‘ deslaver, v. a. salir, souiller; fig., souiller, ternir la reputation de quelqu’un’; Godefroy. The pp. deslave properly means: ‘non lavé, crasseux, sale.’ Chaucer seems to confuse this with the transitive sense of the active verb; and he evidently had in mind the above verse from the Proverbs, where the Vulgate has ‘Lingua placabilis, lignum uitae; quae autem immoderata est, conteret spiritum.’ Hence deslavee here means ‘unbridled.’
630. From 2 Tim. ii. 24.
631. From Prov. xxvii. 15; the Vulgate has ‘Tecta perstillantia.’ Cf. Prov. xix. 13; and note to D. 278.
633. From Prov. xvii. 1. Below, see Col. iii. 18.
636. See Ayenb., p. 187. The toad was considered poisonous, and wine was an antidote. Hence the antipathy.
639. See 2 Sam. xvii. 1.
640. fals livinge, false liver, evil liver.
642–3. This passage resembles the Fr. text.
649. From Ecclesiastes, v. 3.
651. deffendeth, forbids; see Eph. v. 4.
654. The word Mansuetude is borrowed from the Fr. text.
657. Jerome seems to be quoting 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5.
660. Compare Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 7. ll. 91, 92 (vol. ii. p. 48).
661. Mat. v. 9. Cf. Frank. Tale, F. 773, and the note. The ‘wise man’ is Dionysius Cato, who says:—‘Quem superare potes, interdum uince ferendo,’ sometimes altered to ‘superare nequis, patienter, ’ c.; Distich. i. 38.
664. From Prov. xxix. 9.
670. This example somewhat resembles a story in Seneca, De Ira, lib. i. c. 15:—‘Socrates seruo ait: Caederem te, nisi irascerer’; c.
677. The description of Sloth answers to the description in the Fr. text chiefly as regards the general outline. The particular points of contact are few. Cf. Ayenb. of Inwyt, pp. 31–34.
678. This remark, from Augustine, properly applies to the sin of Envy; see note to 484 above; p. 461.
679. Salomon; with reference to Eccl. ix. 10.
680. See Jer. xlviii. 10; for ‘necligently,’ the Vulg. has ‘fraudulenter’; A. V. ‘deceitfully.’
687. Referring, probably, to Rev. iii. 16.
688. Cf. Prov. xx. 4; xxi. 25.
693. wanhope, despair; as in the parallel passage in the Ayenb. p. 34, l. 12. Cf. P. Plowman, C. viii. 59, 81, and note.
694. ‘Quidam enim in peccata prolapsi desperatione plus pereunt’; S. Aug. De Natura et Gratia, cap. 35; ed. Migne, xliv. 266. A similar passage occurs in his Sermo xx. § 3; ed. Migne, xxxviii. 140.
698. The words recreant and creant are, curiously enough, used in almost exactly the same sense; perhaps creant was merely an abbreviated form. To ‘say creant ’ and to ‘yield oneself recreant ’ meant, ‘to own oneself beaten’; the original sense being, apparently, ‘to entrust oneself to the enemy’ or confide in him, in the hope of obtaining mercy; see the explanation of se recredere in Ducange, and recreant and recroire in Godefroy. The E. phrase is well illustrated by P. Plowman, B. xii. 193, xviii. 100; see creant in the New E. Dict.
700–703. Alluding to Luke xv. 7; xv. 24; xxiii. 42, 43
705. From Matt. vii. 7, John xvi. 24; compare Wyclif’s version.
707. by the morwe, early in the morning; cf. D. 755, H. 16; and D. 1080.
709. From Prov. viii. 17.
712. From the Vulgate, Eccl. vii. 19 (18):—‘qui timet Deum, nihil negligit.’
714. Cf. G. 3, and note; also Ayenb. p. 31, ll. 20–22.
715. thurrok, the sink in which all evil things collect; see note to 363, above, p. 454.
716. Cf. Matt. xi. 12. The reference to ‘David’ is to Ps. lxxiii. 5 (lxxii. 5 in the Vulgate):—‘In labore hominum non sunt, et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.’ See the comment on this verse in Hampole’s Psalter, ed. Bramley; which concludes with:—‘for with men whaym God drawes to heven thai sal nought be swongen, but with fendes in hell.’
718. latrede, tardy (very rare); A. S. læt-rǣde, slow of counsel, deliberate (see Toller).
dich, ditch. In the Fr. text, the image is that of a prisoner, who, when the door is open, is too lazy to mount the steps; so in Ayenb. p. 32, l. 2. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xiv. 236, 237.
719. Cf. Ayenb. p. 32, l. 21:—‘thou sselt libbe long’; also P. Pl. C. xii. 180; Prov. of Hendyng, l. 304.
723. This is something like the Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 33, l. 14. But the Fr. text does not quote St. Bernard. The passage in St. Bernard seems to be one in his Vitis Mystica, cap. xix. § 66; ed. Migne, vol. clxxxiv. coll. 674, 675: ‘Aliquando affligitur hoc uitio anima bonorum, . . . ut nec orare, nec legere, nec meditari, nec opus manuum libeat exercere.’
725. tristicia. The Fr. text has tristesce, translated by ‘zorȝe’ in the Ayenbite, p. 34, l. 8; see 2 Cor. vii. 10.
728. Fr. text—‘La vertu de proesce’; Ayenb.—‘uirtue’ and ‘prouesse,’ p. 163, l. 22. Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues; P. Plowman, C. xxii. 289.
731. The ‘speces,’ or kinds, are here five, viz. magnanimity, faith, surety, magnificence, and constancy. These are taken from the Fr. text, which gives six kinds, viz. magnanimite, fiance, seurte, pacience, magnificence, constaunce. Patience is omitted, as having occurred above; see 659.
739. In this section we again find several hints taken from the Fr. text, especially in the arrangement of the subdivisions; cf. Ayenb. pp. 34–45. The text of St. Paul is quoted in the original, and in the Ayenb. p. 34; see note to C. 334, and cf. 1 Tim. vi. 10.
741. ‘Amor mundi, amor huius saeculi, cupiditas dicitur’; S. Augustini enarratio in Psalmum xxxi, part ii. § 5; ed. Migne, vol. 36, col. 260.
748. ‘Auarus, quod est idolorum seruitus’; Eph. v. 5.
749. mawmet, idol. It was unjustly supposed that Mahometans worshipped the prophet; whence Mahomet, corrupted to mawmet, came to mean an idol in general. See Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 174, for illustrations.
751. ‘Non habebis deos alienos coram me. Non facies tibi sculptile’; Exod. xx. 3, 4. The addition of the second clause, taken from the second commandment, is remarkable. It was quite common to omit the second commandment altogether; cf. note to C. 641. Cf. Ayenb. pp. 5, 6.
752. tailages, c. The Fr. text has:—‘par tailles, par corvees, par emprunz, par mauvaises coustumes,’ c.; cf. ‘be tailes, be coruees, be lones, be kueade wones’; Ayenb. p. 38. Cowel explains tallage as ‘a tribute, toll, or tax.’ It was, in fact, an exaction for which a tally, or acknowledgement (upon a notched stick) was given; see note to P. Plowman, B. iv. 57; and cf. Chaucer’s Prologue, 570; P. Plowman, C. xxii. 37.
Dr. Murray explains cariage in this passage as meaning ‘an obsolete service of carrying, or a payment in lieu of the same, due by a tenant to his landlord or feudal superior, or imposed by authority.’
amerciments, arbitrary fines inflicted ‘at the mercy’ of an affeeror. If the affeeror had no mercy, they became, as is here said, mere extortions.
754. The reference is given to Augustine’s De Civitate Dei, lib. ix.; but is wrong. It should be to lib. xix. c. 15:—‘Prima ergo seruitutis caussa peccatum est.’
755. See Gen. ix. 18–27. The reference to Gen. v. is a mistake, perhaps due to the fact that Ham is first mentioned in that chapter, at the end of it. See 766 below.
759. This is from Seneca, Epist. 47, which begins:—‘Libenter ex his, qui a te ueniunt, cognoui, familiariter te cum seruis tuis uiuere; hoc prudentiam tuam, hoc eruditionem decet. Serui sunt? immo homines. Serui sunt? immo contubernales.’
760. contubernial with, dweliing together with, intimate with. Chaucer found the word in Seneca; see the last note.
761–3. The general sense of this passage is from Seneca, Epist. 47 (note to 759). Thus the words ‘that they rather love thee than drede’ answer to ‘Colant [serui] potius te, quam timeant.’
766. See Gen. ix. 26, and note to 755.
767–8. Cf. Ayenb. p. 39, ll. 6-9; P. Pl. B. vi. 28. The Fr. Text has:—‘ces gran prelaz qui acrochent . . . par trop grans procuracions . . . ce sont li lou qui manguent les berbiz.’ It does not mention St. Austin.
783. So in Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 41, near the bottom. See also the parallel passage in Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 64.
788. Damasie; Damasus I., pope from 336 to 384. His day is December 11. St. Jerome (Epist. 61, c. 3) tells us that a Roman senator, envious of the pomp sometimes observed in church ceremonies, said to pope Damasus, ‘Make me bishop of Rome, and I will be a Christian tomorrow.’ (Alban Butler.)
793. See Pard. Tale, C. 590; Ayenb. p. 45, l. 13.
797. Cf. ‘ualse notaryes’; Ayenb. p. 40, l. 8; and see ‘Susannah’ in the Apocrypha, as told in Dan. xiii., in the Vulgate version.
799. Corporel, bodily theft; see Ayenb. p. 37, l. 3.
801. Sacrilege; see Ayenb. p. 40, l. 26. chirche-hawes, church-yards; Fr. ‘mostiers, ou sainz leus, cymetieres ’; Ayenb. (p. 41)—‘cherches, other holi stedes, cherchtounes. ’
802. See Ayenb. p. 41, ll. 7-20. The concluding portion of this section resembles the Fr. text more closely than usual.
Dr. Eilers proposes to insert the words rentes and before rightes, because the Fr. text has ‘les rentes . . . e les autres droitures’; and it is remarkable that Tyrwhitt also inserts these words. But they neither appear in any of the seven MSS., nor in Thynne’s edition.
804. misericorde answers to ‘merci’ in Ayenb. p. 185, l. 26.
811. largesse, bounty; so also in Ayenb. p. 188, l. 4.
813. fool-largesse, foolish prodigality, such as is satirised in P. Plowm. C. viii. 82–101.
818. This section has very little in common with the Fr. Text; cf. Ayenb. p. 50. It is also much shorter than the original.
819–20. Adam; mentioned also in Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 50, l. 8 from bottom. See Pard. Tale, C. 505, and the note; also C. 529, and the note. From Phil. iii. 18, 19.
822. See Pard. Tale, C. 549, 558.
828. The mention of St. Gregory is copied from the Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 51, l. 18. The passage meant is the following: ‘Sciendum praeterea est quia quinque nos modis gulae uitium tentat. Aliquando namque indigentiae tempora praeuenit; aliquando uero tempus non praeuenit, sed cibos lautiores quaerit; aliquando quaelibet qua sumenda sint praeparari accuratius expetit; aliquando autem et qualitati ciborum et tempori congruit, sed in ipsa quantitate sumendi mensuram moderatae refectionis excedit.’—S. Gregorii Moralium Lib. xxx. cap. xviii. § 60; ed. Migne, vol. 76, col. 556.
829. curiositee; Fr. ‘curieusete’; Ayenb. ‘bysihede,’ p. 55, l. 8 from bottom.
831. The remedy against Gluttony, in the Fr. text, is ‘La vertu de Sobrete,’ answering to ‘the uirtue of Temperance’ in the Ayenb. p. 245. The Fr. text treats this at great length; but Chaucer only says a few words. He mentions, however, ‘Attemperaunce’ and ‘Mesure’; cf. Fr. ‘atemprance’ and ‘mesure.’
836. This section contains a considerable amount of the matter found in the Fr. text, but the comparison between the texts is difficult, owing to the frequent changes in the arrangement of the material. Dr. Eilers says (p. 566):—‘This chapter of the Eng. text, though twice as comprehensive as the French, contains more in quantity that corresponds with the Fr. than that diverges from it, and exceeds all the previous chapters in the degree of correspondence.’ For details, see Dr. Eilers’ essay, and cf. Ayenb. pp. 46–49.
After ‘departe,’ MS. Hl. supplies a reference to Eph. v. 18.
837–8. See Exod. xx. 14; Lev. xix. 20; Deut. xxii. 21; Lev. xxi. 9.
839. thonder-leyt, thunder-bolt, lit. thunder-flash; A. S. līget, līgetu, a flash; cf. note to Boethius, bk. i. met. 4. 8. See Gen. xix. 24.
841. stank, pool; ‘stagno’ in the Vulgate (Rev. xxi. 8).
842–5. See Matt. xix. 5; Eph. v. 25; Exod. xx. 17; Matt. v. 28.
852. that other, the second. The former is mentioned above, in 830. The ‘five fingers’ are, in Fr., called fol regart, fous atouchemenz, foles paroles, fous baisiers, le fait; all ‘si come dist saint Gregoire.’ Cf. Ayenb. p. 46.
853. basilicok, basilisk; Fr. Text, ‘basilicoc.’ The fabulous basilisk, or cockatrice, which had a head like a cock and a body like a serpent, was supposed to slay men by its mere glance. In the Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat, 4837–57, we read how Alexander induced a basilisk to commit suicide by gazing in a mirror. Cf. Ayenb. p. 28, l. 12.
854. See Prov. vi. 26–9; vii. 26; Ecclus. xii. 13, 14; xiii. 1; xxvi. 7.
858. roser, rose-bush; as in Havelok, 2919.
busshes, as in Tyrwhitt, must be the right reading; but I can find no authority for it. The MSS. all have beautees, i. e. beauties, or some equivalent form. Thynne (ed. 1550) has benches, which is also found in some MSS.; but it does not help us.
859. Compare this with the March. Tale, E. 1840; and see Ayenb. p. 48, l. 25.
861. ‘Si egeris patienter, coniunx mutabitur in sororem’; Hieron. c. Iouinianum, lib. i. (ed. 1524, t. ii. p. 25).
867. ‘St. Paul gives them the kingdom due to sinners.’ In fact, St. Paul denies them the kingdom due to saints; which comes to the same thing. See Gal. v. 19–21; and see 884 below. Cf. Rev. xxi. 8.
869. the hundred fruit, i. e. fruit brought forth a hundred-fold. Cf. ‘dabant fructum, aliud centesimum, ’ c.; Matt. xiii. 8. It was usual to liken virginity, widowhood, and matrimony, respectively, to the bringing forth of fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold; see P. Plowman, C. xix. 84–90, and note to l. 84; Hali Meidenhad, ed. Cockayne, p. 22; Ayenb. p. 234. ‘ Centesimus et sexagesimus et tricesimus fructus . . . multum differt in numero. Triginta referuntur ad nuptias . . . Sexaginta uero ad uiduas . . . Porro centesimus numerus . . . exprimit uirginitatis coronam’; Hieronymus contra Iouinianum, lib. i; ed. 1524, ii. 18. The Fr. text has: ‘Ceus qui gardent virginite ont le centiesme fruit.’ But Chaucer, being well acquainted with Jerome’s treatise, recognised at once the Latin source; for in MS. Hl. we find the note, ‘secundum Ieronimum contra Iouinianum.’
879. ‘Him shall God destroy’; 1 Cor. iii. 17.
880. douted, feared. See Gen. xxxix. 8, 9.
884. ‘Huanne me brecth the sacrement of spoushod, hit y-ualth otherhuyl desertesoun of eyr, and ualse mariages’; Ayenb. p. 48.
887. gladly, readily; hence, fittingly.
889. ‘Iam amplius noli peccare’; John viii. 11.
895. as by the dignitee, i.e. on account of the dignity of their office; see note to 900.
‘Satanas transfigurat se,’ c.; 2 Cor. xi. 14.
897–8. From 1 Sam. ii. 12 (in the Vulgate, Liber primus Regum ). Belial signifies worthlessness; and hence, lawlessness, or evil. But in the Vulgate version of Judges, xix. 22, the word Belial is explained to mean ‘absque iugo’; which in O. French would become ‘sans ioug.’ Chaucer seems to have met with this explanation, and perhaps misread it as ‘sans iuge’; i.e. ‘without Iuge.’
900. misterie, i. e. office, duty. As in 895 above, misterie is here short for ministerie, i. e. ministry, office, duty; in fact, the Selden and Lansdowne MSS. actually have the spelling mynysterie. MS. Cm., by a singular error, adds mynystre again, and has the reading: ‘kunne not mynystre the mysterie.’ Tyrwhitt has wrongly introduced the extra mynystre. Wright copied him; Bell copied Wright; and Morris copied Bell; so that these editions vary from the Harl. MS., which omits it! The question is easily settled. ‘The Book’ means the Bible; and the Vulgate version (1 Sam. ii. 12, 13) has ‘nescientes . . . officium sacerdotum ad populum.’ Hence conne means ‘know.’
904. ‘Adulter est, inquit [Xystus, in sententiis] in suam uxorem amator ardentior,’ c.; S. Hieron. c. Iouinian. lib. i. (near the end)
906. There is no such passage in the E. version of the book of Tobit; but it occurs in the Vulgate, Tob. vi. 17; and see Ayenb. p. 223.
908. godsibbes, i. e. his godmother or his goddaughter. Already, in the Laws of Cnut (Eccles. § vii), we find that a man is forbidden to marry his godmother; and this rule was formerly stringent. Cf. Ayenb. p. 48.
915. This section has much in common with the Fr. text. ‘We meet,’ says Dr. Eilers, ‘with whole sentences in entire agreement.’ See Ayenb. pp. 202–238.
916. two maneres, two ways; cf. the two ‘states,’ in Ayenb. p. 220.
918–19. Eph. v. 32; Gen. ii. 24; John ii. 1.
922. Eph. v. 25, again quoted in 929; 1 Cor. xi. 3.
927. desray, disorder, ‘dissarray’; A. F. desrei, O. F. desroi; see derai in Stratmann.
930. MS. Hl. adds cap. iij. after Peter; hence the reference is to 1 Pet. iii. 1.
933. Perhaps the reference is to Rev. xvii. 4, xviii. 16.
934. Gregorie; see note to 414 above, p. 458.
939. three thinges, three reasons; so in Ayenb. p. 222, l. 14.
944. widewe; cf. Ayenb. p. 225, l. 9.
947. boyste, box; Mat. xxvi. 7; John xii. 3.
948. lyf, life; i. e. she lives like them; Fr. semblant as angels du ciel,’ i. e. like the angels of heaven. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xix. 89–100; Ayenb. p. 227, l. 13.
951. See the parallel passage; Ayenb. p. 204, at the bottom.
954. leyt, flame; the candle being stuck close to the wall.
955. Daniel; so in E. Cm.; but the other five MSS. have Dauid, i.e. David. It appears that David is the correct reading, since the names of Sampson, David, and Solomon occur both in the Fr. text, and in Ayenb. p. 204.
956–7. Probably Chaucer omitted the ten commandments, because he was getting tired of the work. He mentions them because they are treated of at length in the French treatise; see Ayenb. pp. 5-11. Hence his ‘leaving them to divines’ is a mere excuse. Cf. Kn. Tale, A. 1323; and see note to 1043 below (p. 474).
We may also see, in this expression, a clear proof that this Treatise was originally made by Chaucer in his own person. On assigning this Tale to the Parson, he should have struck out this tell-tale clause; for surely the Parson was ‘a divine.’
De Confessione. Instead of this Title, most MSS., including E., have—‘Sequitur secunda Pars Penitencie.’ But this is unsuitable, as it has already appeared, viz. at p. 586. I have therefore taken, from MSS. Pt. and Christchurch, the alternative title—‘De Confessione.’ See p. 639.
958. This chapter, on Confession, answers to a similar chapter in the Fr. text, though the material has been re-arranged. See Ayenb. pp. 172–180; Ancren Riwle, pp. 299, 317. The reference to the ‘firste chaptire’ is to paragraph 107, on p. 572.
959. fyve wittes, five senses, also called ‘the vif wittes of the bodie’ in Ayenb. p. 177. And cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 15, and the note.
960. that that, that which, what it is that.
961. This corresponds to Ayenb. p. 175, l. 23, and lines following, to p. 176, l. 12; but the order varies.
971. eschew, reluctant; lit. ‘shy.’ See E. 1812, and the note. Tyrwhitt reads slow, which is ingenious, but wrong.
979. engreggen, aggravate; Fr. ‘les circumstances qui poent engreger le pecche.’ Godefroy, s. v. engregier, quotes this very passage, from two other MS. which read, respectively, ‘qui pueent engregier le pechie,’ and ‘qui engrigent les pechies.’
981. namely by the two, especially by the (former) two; penitence and shrift. the thridde, the third; i. e. satisfaction, reparation.
982. foure, four; Fr. ‘six.’ See Ayenb. p. 172, l. 6.
983. Ezekias, Hezekiah; Fr. text, ‘Ezechias’; all the MSS. have Ezekiel (wrongly); see Isaiah, xxxviii. 15. The Ayenb. has ‘ezechie’; p. 172, l. 9 from bottom.
986–8. See Luke xviii. 13; 1 Pet. v. 6.
994, 996. See Matt. xxvi. 75; Luke vii. 37.
998. hastily, without delay; Ayenb. ‘hasteliche,’ p. 173, l. 10; Fr. ‘hastivement.’ And see Ayenb. p. 173, l. 25 for the rest of the sentence.
1005. countrewaite, watch against, be on his guard against: see Tale of Melibeus, B. 2508.
1006. parcel, part; departe, divide; see Ayenb. p. 175.
1008. Cf. Somn. Tale, D. 2095–8.
1013. nayte, deny; Icel. neita; Tyrwhitt has nay. So, in Boeth. bk. i. met. 1. l. 16, where the original has negat, MS. Addit. has naieth; but the Camb. MS. has nayteth.
1020. This passage from St. Augustine is alluded to in the Ancren Riwle, p. 337:—‘Qui causa humilitatis mentitur fit quod prius ipse non fuit, id est, peccator.’ See S. August. Sermo clxxxi. § 4 (ed. Migne, vol. 38, col. 981): ‘Propter humilitatem dicis te peccatorem. . . Testis ergo falsus es contra te.’
1025. Cf. Ayenb. p. 178, l. 13; Ancren Riwle, p. 323.
1027. ones a yere, viz. at Easter. In the Ancren Riwle, p. 413, fifteen times are mentioned. See P. Plowman, C. xxi. 472, xxii. 3, and the note to the latter passage. renovellen, are renewed; i. e. in spring-time.
1030. In Religious Pieces, ed. Perry (E. E. T. S.), p. 9, the seven ‘works of mercy’ are (1) feeding the hungry; (2) giving drink to the thirsty; (3) clothing the naked; (4) sheltering the homeless; (5) visiting the sick; (6) visiting prisoners; (7) burying the dead poor.
1031. Cf. P. Plowman, C. ii. 20 (B. i. 20), and the note.
1034. Compare Ayenb. p. 192, l. 5.
1036. From Matt. v. 14–16. Chaucer’s translation is smoother than Wyclif’s.
1040–2. Compare Ayenbite, p. 99.
1043. Here again Chaucer really speaks in his own person; cf. note to 957 above. The reason for his mentioning the ‘exposition’ of the prayer is, that a long exposition, which he wished to avoid, is given in the Fr. text (see Ayenb. pp. 99–118).
1045. Epitomised from the Fr. text; see Ayenb. p. 207.
1048. wakinge, watching; see Matt. xxvi. 41.
1049. Cf. Ayenb. p. 53, where iolyuete answers to ioliuete in the Fr. text, and to Iolitee in Chaucer.
1051. On eating, see P. Plowman, C. ix. 273 (B. vi. 263). in untyme, at a wrong season; see P. Plowm. B. ix. 186.
1052. Observe that, in 1038, Chaucer says that bodily pain stands in (1) prayers; (2) watching; (3) fasting; and (4) virtuous teachings. He speaks of prayers in 1039–1047; of watching in 1048–9; of fasting in 1050–1. He now takes up ‘teaching,’ by which he means, in the first place, bodily ‘discipline’; and the words ‘or techinge by word or by writinge or in ensample’ are, practically, parenthetical. The word discipline is due to the Fr. text; cf. Ayenb. p. 250, l. 2: ‘ase ine uestinges, ine wakiinges, ine dissiplines, ’ c.
heyres, hair-shirts; see P. Plowman, C. vii. 6, and the note.
haubergeons, habergeons, shirts of mail. It is surprising to find, in the Romance of Tristan, ed. Michel, ii. 36, that the heroine (Yseult) is described as wearing a ‘byrnie’ or shirt of mail next her skin:—‘Vest une brunie à sa char nue.’ Michel quotes from Le Voyage de Charlemagne à Constantinople, l. 635:—‘Il lur a cumaundet que aient vestu brunies.’
1054. Tyrwhitt puts a comma after herte, and none after God, and other editors follow him. But the text (Col. iii. 12) has: ‘Induite uos ergo, sicut electi Dei, . . . uiscera misericordiae, benignitatem, . . . patientiam.’ Hence ‘in herte of misericorde’ simply translates ‘uiscera misericordiae.’
1055–6. Not in the Fr. text. Cf. P. Plowm. C. viii. 61, and the note.
1057. The Fr. text mentions five things; the fifth is a wicked love of sin; see Ayenb. p. 179.
1059. Fr. ‘au regart de la peine d’enfer.’
1067. surquidrie, too great confidence; see 403 above, and the note.
1069. From S. Gregorii Moralium lib. xxxiv. cap. xix. § 36 (ed. Migne, vol. 76, col. 738):—‘Ad districti ergo iudicis iustitiam pertinet, ut nunquam careant supplicio, quorum mens in hac uita nunquam uoluit carere peccato.’
1073. There is here a sad oversight. For ‘the seconde wanhope,’ we should read ‘the same wanhope.’ The second kind of despair is discussed in 1074. All the MSS. have this mistake.
1080. poverte espirituel; this refers to the ‘poor in spirit’; Matt. v. 3. lowenesse, i. e. meekness; Matt. v. 5. hunger; Matt. v. 6. travaille; Matt. v. 4, 10, 11. lyf; Rom. viii. 13. This concluding passage may be compared with the concluding passage of the Ayenbite, p. 261.
1081. This final paragraph is variously headed in the MSS. E. has: ‘Here taketh the makere of this book his leue.’ So also Cm. So also Pt., preceded by ‘Explicit fabula Rectoris.’ Hl. has: ‘Preces de Chauceres.’ The words ‘this litel tretis’ refer, of course, to the Persones Tale as originally written, so that some part of this concluding address was certainly added afterwards. The interpolation (due to Chaucer himself, if we may trust the evidence) probably extends (as Tyrwhitt suggested) from the words and namely in 1085 to the words salvacioun of my soule in 1090. This accounts for the unusual length of the sentence in 1084–1092. The addition was made at the time of revision, when Chaucer had made up his mind that the Persones Tale was to be the last; and he took the opportunity of writing the conclusion of the work before it was, in reality, completed. This accounts for the whole matter.
1083. Alluding to Rom. xv. 4.
1085. I revoke in my retracciouns, I recall by retracting what I may have said amiss. There is no need to lay an undue stress on this expression, as if the author had been compelled to denounce and retract most of his works. We may fairly understand the expression ‘thilke that sownen into sinne’ as applicable to all the works, and not to the Tales alone. Whilst thanking God for his devotional works, it was not out of place for him to ‘recall’ his more secular ones; for this expression seems to mean no more than that he could not claim that they were written in God’s service. To ‘revoke’ cannot here mean ‘to withdraw,’ because the poems named were not withdrawn, nor was there any way in which such a result could have been brought about. Cf. vol. iii. p. 503.
1086. The book of the xix. Ladies is, of course, the Legend of Good Women. For xix., most MSS. have ‘xxv.’; MS. Harl. 1758 has ‘25’; MS. Ln. has ‘xv.’; and MS. Hl. has ‘29’; but we know, from the Poem itself, that ‘xix.’ is correct. Numbers, as the various readings shew, easily went wrong; see note to 565 above.
‘The book of seint Valentynes day of the Parlement of Briddes’ is all one title; the poem itself is well known.
1087. ‘The book of the Lion’ is now lost; most likely, as Tyrwhitt suggests, it was a translation from, or adaptation of, Le Dit du Lione, a poem by G. de Machault, composed in the year 1342. It is printed among Machault’s poems. Lydgate, in his Prologue to the Falls of Princes, ascribes this work to Chaucer in the words:—
‘And of the Lyon a boke he did wryte.’
But it is probable that Lydgate is merely quoting from the present passage, and knew no more of the matter than we do.
I may here note that Tyrwhitt expresses his astonishment that Chaucer does not expressly ‘revoke’ his translation of the Romaunt of the Rose; but it is sufficiently indicated by the words ‘and namely [i. e. especially ] of my translacions ’; see 1085.
1088. Boece, i. e. his translation of Boethius. Legendes, i. e. the Legend of St. Cecilia and the Legend of the boy-saint in the Prioresses Tale. Omelies, homilies; such as the Parson’s Tale and the Tale of Melibeus. moralitee and devocioun; such as Chaucer’s A B C, and his Balades on Fortune, Truth, Gentilesse, and Lack of Steadfastness; also the Monkes Tale, which is expressly called ‘a Tragedie.’ The Pardoneres Tale, moreover, is called ‘an honest thing’; and even of the Nonnes Prestes Tale we are bidden, at the end, to ‘take the moralitee.’
1. Litheth, hearken ye; cf. l. 169. This is the imperative plural; so also lesteneth, herkeneth. See remarks on the dialect in vol. iii. p. 400. For the explanation of the harder words, see the Glossary. Compare: ‘Now list and lithe, you gentlemen’; Percy Folio MS., ii. 218; ‘Now lithe and listen, gentlemen,’ id. iii. 77.
3. Iohan of Boundys. It is not clear what is meant by Boundys, which is repeated in l. 226; nor is there any clear indication of the supposed locality of the story. Lodge, in his novel (see vol. iii. p. 404), ingeniously substitutes Bourdeaux, and calls the knight ‘Sir John of Bourdeaux.’ 1 In Shakespeare, he becomes Sir Roland de Bois.
The reading righte (for right ) is demanded by grammar, the article being in the definite form; and the same reading is equally demanded by the metre. Where the final e is thus necessary to the grammar and metre alike, there is little difficulty in restoring the correct reading. Compare the good-e knight in ll. 11, 25, 33.
4. ‘He was sufficiently instructed by right bringing up, and knew much about sport.’ Nurture is the old phrase for a ‘genteel education.’ Thus we find ‘The boke of Nurture, or Schoole of good maners: for men, seruants, and children,’ written by Hugh Rhodes, and printed in 1577; and John Russell’s ‘Boke of Nurture,’ in MS. Harl. 4011. See the Babees Book, ed. F. J. Furnivall, 1868; where much information as to the behaviour of our forefathers is given. By game is meant what is now called sport; ‘The Master of the Game’ is the name of an old treatise on hunting; see Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 149. Cf. As You Like It, ii. 7. 97: ‘Yet am I inland bred, And know some nurture.’
5. Thre sones, three sons. They are here named Johan, Ote, and Gamelyn; Lodge calls them Saladyne, Fernandine, and Rosader; in Shakespeare, they are Oliver, Jaques, and Orlando. The characters of the three are much the same in all three versions of the story.
6. sone he began, he soon began, viz. to evince his disposition.
12. his day, his term of life, his lifetime. So in Hamlet, v. 1. 315, the ‘dog will have his day. ’ Hence after his day is, practically, after his death.
14. ‘This appears to mean, that the knight had himself acquired his land, and held it in fee simple ( verrey purchas ), not entailed nor settled; and that, consequently, he had a right to divide it among his children as he pleased. The housbond in this case means a man who was kept at home looking after his domestic business and his estates, and who could not be wyde-wher, ’ i.e. often far from home; note by Mr. Jephson. See ll. 58–61 below, which prove that the knight had partly inherited his land, and partly won it by military service. Cf. Chaucer, Prol. 256, 319. In the Freres Tale (D. 1449) we find:—
I cannot think that Dr. Morris is right in explaining purchasing by ‘prosecution’; see Purchas in the Glossary.
16. hadde, might have; the subjunctive mood.
20. on lyve, in life; now written a-live or alive. Lyve is the dat. case, governed by on, which constantly has the sense of ‘in’ in A.S. and M.E.
23. ther, where. The reader should note this common idiom, or he will miss the structure of the sentence. Cf. ll. 33, 52, 66, c.
31. ne dismay you nought, do not dismay yourself; i.e. be not dismayed or dispirited.
32. ‘God can bring good out of the evil that is now wrought.’ Boot, advantage, remedy, or profit, is continually contrasted with bale or evil; the alliteration of the words rendered them suitable for proverbial phrases. One of the commonest is ‘When bale is hext, then boot is next,’ i.e. when evil is highest (at its height), then the remedy is nighest. This is one of the Proverbs of Hendyng; see Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, part ii. p. 40. So, in l. 34, Boote of bale means ‘remedy of evil,’ good out of evil. See note to l. 631.
34. it is no nay, there is no denying it, it cannot be denied. So in Chaucer, C. T. 8693, 9015 (E. 817, 1139).
39. that on, that other, the one, the other. Sometimes corruptly written the ton, the tother; and hence the vulgar English the tother.
43. Such was their intention, but it was partly overruled; for we see, from l. 45, that the second son duly received his share.
48. whan he good cowde, when he knew what was good, i.e. when he was old enough to know right from wrong; or, as we now say, when he came to years of discretion. Observe that the division of land here proposed was not final; for the good knight, being still alive, altered it; see l. 54.
53. ‘Saint Martin was a Hungarian by birth, and served in the army under Constantius and Julian. He is represented in pictures as a Roman knight on horseback, with his sword dividing his cloak into two pieces, one of which he gives to a beggar. He was a strenuous opponent of the Arians, and died at Tours, where his relics were preserved and honoured.’—Jephson. St. Martin’s day, commonly called Martinmas, is Nov. 11. The knight swears by St. Martin in his character of soldier. Cf. l. 225.
57. plowes, ploughlands; see the Glossary.
62. The knight’s intention was, evidently, that Gamelyn’s share should be the best. In Lodge’s novel, Sir John gives to the eldest ‘fourteen ploughlands, with all my mannor-houses and my richest plate’; to the second, ‘twelve ploughlands’; but to the youngest, says he, ‘I give my horse, my armour, and my launce, with sixteene ploughlands; for, if the inwarde thoughts be discovered by outward shadows, Rosader wil exceed you all in bountie and honour.’
64. ‘That my bequest may stand,’ i.e. remain good.
67. stoon-stille, as still as a stone. So Chaucer has ‘as stille as stoon’; Clerkes Tale, E. 121. See ll. 263, 423.
76. ‘And afterwards he paid for it in his fair skin.’ We should now say, his recompense fell upon his own head.
78. of good wil, readily, of their own accord. ‘They of their own accord feared him as being the strongest.’ So also ‘of thine own good will,’ Shak. Rich. II. iv. 1. 177; ‘by her good will,’ Venus and Adonis, 479. But the nearest parallel passage is in Octouian Imperator, l. 561, pr. in Weber’s Metrical Romances, iii. 180. It is there said of some sailors who were chased by a lioness, that they ran away very hastily ‘with good wylle.’ Cf. in wille, i.e. anxious, in l. 173.
82. To handle his beard, i.e. to feel, by his beard, that he was of full age. Lodge has a parallel passage, but gives a more literal sense to the expression ‘hondlen his berd,’ which merely signifies that he was growing up. ‘With that, casting up his hand, he felt haire on his face, and perceiving his beard to bud, for choler he began to blush, and swore to himselfe he would be no more subject to such slaverie.’ Cf. As You Like It, iii. 2. 218, 396.
90. ‘Is our meat prepared,’ i.e. is our dinner ready? Our perhaps means my, being used in a lordly style. See the next note.
92. Observe the use of the familiar thou, in place of the usual respectful ye. This accounts for the elder brother’s astonishment, as expressed in the next line.
100. ‘Brother by name, and brother in that only.’
101. that rape was of rees, who was hasty in his fit of passion. Mr. Jephson’s explanation ‘deprived of reason for anger’ is incorrect. Rape is hasty; see the Glossary. Rees is the modern E. race, A. S. rǣs, applied to any sudden course, whether bodily or mental; cf. l. 547. So in Gower, ed. Pauli, i. 335, we find:—
‘Do thou no-thinge in suche a rees, ’
i.e. do nothing in such a sudden fit; referring to Pyramus, who rashly slew himself upon the hasty false assumption that Thisbe was dead.
102. gadeling, fellow; a term of reproach. But observe that the sarcasm lies in the similarity of the sound of the word to Gamelyn. Hence Gamelyn’s indignant reply. In P. Plowman, C. xi. 297, gadelynges are ranked with false folk, deceivers, and liars.