Chapter X: Part 10

421. Pronounce _ever_ rapidly, and accent _súccessour_ on the first syllable. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Pt. and Cp. is the following [154] note: 'Nota, de inopinato dolore. Semper mundane leticie tristicia repentina succedit. Mundana igitur felicitas multis amaritudinibus est respersa. Extrema gaudii luctus occupat. Audi ergo salubre consilium; in die bonorum ne immemor sis malorum.' This is one of the passages from Innocent's treatise de Contemptu Mundi, of which I have already spoken in the note to B. 99-121 above (p. 140). Lib. i. c. 23 has the heading--'De inopinato dolore.' It begins:--'Semper enim mundanae letitiae tristitia repentina succedit. Et quod incipit a gaudio, desinit in moerore. Mundana quippe felicitas multis amaritudinibus est respersa. Noverat hoc qui dixerat: "Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat."... Attende salubrem consilium: "In die bonorum, non immemor sis malorum."'

This passage is mostly made up of scraps taken from different authors. I find in Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. ii. pr. 4--'Quam multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est'; which Chaucer translates by--'The swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is _sprayned with many biternesses_'; see vol. ii. p. 34; and the same expression is repeated here, in l. 422. Gower quotes the same passage from Boethius in the prologue to his Confessio Amantis. The next sentence is from Prov. xiv. 13--'Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat.' The last clause (see ll. 426, 427) is from Ecclesiasticus, xi. 27 (in the Vulgate version). Cf. Troil. iv. 836.

438. Compare Trivet's French prose version:--'Dount ele fist estorier vne neef de vitaile, de payn quest apele bisquit, & de peis, & de feues, de sucre, & de meel, & de vyn, pur sustenaunce de la vie de la pucele pur treis aunx; e en cele neef fit mettre la richesse & le tresour que Iempire Tiberie auoit maunde oue la pucele Constaunce, sa fille; e en cele neef fist la soudane mettre la pucele saunz sigle, & sauntz neuiroun, & sauntz chescune maner de eide de homme.' I. e. 'Then she caused a ship to be stored with victuals, with bread that is called biscuit, with peas, beans, sugar, honey, and wine, to sustain the maiden's life for three years. And in this ship she caused to be placed the riches and treasure which the Emperor Tiberius had sent with the maid Constance his daughter; and in this ship the Sultaness caused the maiden to be put, without sail or oar, or any kind of human aid.'

_foot-hot_, hastily. It occurs in Gower, ed. Pauli, ii. 114; in The Romaunt of the Rose, l. 3827: Octovian, 1224, in Weber's Met. Rom. iii. 208; Sevyn Sages, 843, in the same, iii. 34; Richard Coer de Lion, 1798, 2185, in the same, ii. 71, 86; and in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 418, xiii. 454. Compare the term _hot-trod_, explained by Sir W. Scott to mean the pursuit of marauders with bloodhounds: see note 3 H to the Lay of the Last Minstrel. We also find _hot fot_, i. e. immediately, in the Debate of the Body and the Soul, l. 481. It is a translation of the O. F. phrase _chalt pas_, immediately, examples of which are given by Godefroy.

449-62. Not in the original; perhaps added in revision. [155]

451-62. Compare these lines with verses 3 and 5 of the hymn 'Lustra sex qui iam peregit' in the office of Lauds from Passion Sunday to Wednesday in Holy Week inclusive, in the Roman breviary.

This hymn was written by Venantius Fortunatus; see Leyser's collection, p. 168.

'Crux fidelis, inter omnes
Arbor una nobilis:
Silua talem nulla profert
Fronde, flore, germine:
Dulce ferrum, dulce lignum,
Dulce pondus sustinent....

Sola digna tu fuisti
Ferre mundi uictimam;
Atque portum praeparare,
Arca mundo naufrago,
Quam sacer cruor perunxit,
Fusus Agni corpore.'

See the translation in Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 97, part 2 (new edition), beginning--'Now the thirty years accomplished.'

We come still nearer to the original of Chaucer's lines when we consider the form of prayer quoted in the Ancren Riwle, p. 34, which is there given as follows:--'Salue crux sancta, arbor digna, quae sola fuisti digna portare Regem celorum et Dominum.... O crux gloriosa! o crux adoranda! o lignum preciosum, et admirabile signum, per quod et diabolus est victus, et mundus Christi sanguine redemptus.'

460. _him and here_, him and her, i. e. man and woman; as in Piers the Plowman, A. Pass. i. l. 100. The allusion is to the supposed power of the cross over evil spirits. See The Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris; especially the story of the Invention of the Cross by St. Helen, p. 160--'And anone, as he had made the [sign of the] crosse, þe grete multitude of deuylles vanyshed awaye'; or, in the Latin original, 'statimque ut edidit signum crucis, omnis illa daemonum multitudo euanuit'; Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, 2nd ed. p. 311. Cf. Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 429-431.

461. The reading of this line is certain, and must not be altered. But it is impossible to _parse_ the line without at once noticing that there is some difficulty in the construction. The best solution is obtained by taking _which_ in the sense of _whom_. A familiar example of this use of _which_ for _who_ occurs in the Lord's Prayer. See also Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, Sect. 265. The construction is as follows--'O victorious tree, protection of true people, that alone wast worthy to bear the King of Heaven with His new wounds--the White Lamb that was hurt with the spear--O expeller of fiends out of both man and woman, on whom (i. e. the men and women on whom) thine arms faithfully spread out,' &c. _Limes_ means the arms of the cross, spread before a person to protect him. [156]

464. _see of Grece_, here put for the Mediterranean Sea.

465. _Marrok_, Morocco; alluding to the Strait of Gibraltar; cf. l. 947. So also in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 688.

470-504. Not in the French text; perhaps added in revision.

474. _Ther_, where; as usual. _knave_, servant.

475. 'Was eaten by the lion ere he could escape.' Cf. l. 437.

480. The word _clerkes_ refers to Boethius. This passage is due to Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6. 114-117, and 152-4; see vol. ii. pp. 117, 118.

491. See Revelation vii. 1-3.

497. Here (if _that_ be omitted) _As_ seems to form a foot by itself, which gives but a poor line. See note to l. 404.

500. Alluding to St. Mary the Egyptian (_Maria Egiptiaca_), who according to the legend, after a youth spent in debauchery, lived entirely alone for the last forty-seven years of her life in the wilderness beyond the Jordan. She lived in the fifth century. Her day is April 9. See Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art; Rutebuef, ed. Jubinal, ii. 106-150; Maundeville's Travels, ed. Halliwell, p. 96; Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, cap. lvi. She was often confused with St. Mary Magdalen.

508. _Northumberlond_, the district, not the county. Yorkshire is, in fact, meant, as the French version expressly mentions the Humber.

510. _of al a tyde_, for the whole of an hour.

512. _the constable_; named _Elda_ by Trivet and Gower.

519. Trivet says that she answered Elda in his own language, 'en sessoneys,' in Saxon, for she had learnt many languages in her youth.

525. The word _deye_ seems to have had two pronunciations; in l. 644 it is _dye_, with a different rime. In fact, Mr. Cromie's 'Ryme-Index' to Chaucer proves the point. On the one hand, _deye_ rimes to _aweye_, _disobeye_, _dreye_, _preye_, _seye_, _tweye_, _weye_; and on the other, _dye_ rimes to _avoutrye_, _bigamye_, _compaignye_, _Emelye_, _genterye_, _lye_, _maladye_, &c. So also, _high_ appears both as _hey_ and _hy_.

527. _forgat hir minde_, lost her memory.

531. The final _e_ in _plese_ is preserved from elision by the cæsural pause. Or, we may read _plesen_; yet the MSS. have _plese_.

533. _Hermengild_; spelt _Hermyngild_ in Trivet; answering to A. S. _Eormengild_ (Lappenberg, Hist. England, i. 285). Note that St. Hermengild was martyred just at this very time, Apr. 13, 846.

543. _plages_, regions; we even find the word in Marlowe's Tamburlaine, pt. i. act iv. sc. 4, and pt. ii. act i. sc. 1. The latter passage is--'From Scythia to the oriental _plage_ Of India.'

552. 'Eyes of his mind.' Jean de Meun has the expression _les yex de cuer_, the eyes of the heart; see his Testament, ll. 1412, 1683.

578. _Alla_, i. e. Ælla, king of Northumberland, A.D. 560-567; the same whose name Gregory (afterwards Pope) turned, by a pun, into Alleluia, according to the version of the celebrated story about Gregory and the English slaves, as given in Beda, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. c. 1. [157]

584. _quyte her whyle_, repay her time; i. e. her pains, trouble; as when we say 'it is worth _while_.' _Wile_ is _not_ intended.

585. 'The plot of the knight against Constance, and also her subsequent adventure with the steward, are both to be found, with some variations, in a story in the Gesta Romanorum, ch. 101; MS. Harl. 2270. Occleve has versified the whole story'; Tyrwhitt. See vol. iii. p. 410, for further information. Compare the conduct of Iachimo, in Cymbeline.

609. See Troil. iv. 357.

620. _Berth hir on hond_, affirms falsely; lit. bears her in hand. Chaucer uses the phrase 'to bere in hond' with the sense of false affirmation, sometimes with the idea of accusing falsely, as here and in the Wyf of Bathes Prologue, D. 393; and sometimes with that of persuading falsely, D. 232, 380. In Shakespeare the sense is rather--'to keep in expectation, to amuse with false pretences'; Nares's Glossary. Barbour uses it in the more general sense of 'to affirm,' or 'to make a statement,' whether falsely or truly. In Dyce's Skelton, i. 237, occurs the line--'They bare me in hande that I was a spye'; which Dyce explains by 'they accused me, laid to my charge that,' &c. He refers us to Palsgrave, who has some curious examples of it. E.g., at p. 450:--'_I beare in hande_, I threp upon a man that he hath done a dede or make hym beleve so, _Ie fais accroyre_ ... I beare hym in hande he was wode, _Ie luy metz sus la raige_, or _ie luy metz sus quil estoyt enragé_. What crime or yuell mayest thou beare me in hande of'; &c. So also: 'Many be borne an hande of a faute, and punysshed therfore, that were neuer gylty; Plerique facinoris _insimulantur_,' &c.; Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. m. ii. ed. 1530. In Skelton's Why Come Ye Nat to Courte, l. 449, _bereth on hand_ simply means 'persuades.'

631-58. Not in the original. A later insertion, of much beauty.

634. 'And bound Satan; and he still lies where he (then) lay.' In the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Christ descends into hell, and (according to some versions) binds him with chains; see Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 401.

639. _Susanne_; see the story of Susannah, in the Apocrypha.

641. The Virgin's mother is called Anna in the Apocryphal Gospel of James. Her day is July 26. See Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, cap. cxxxi; Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, p. 4.

647. 'Where that he gat (could get) for himself no favour.'

660. 'For pitee renneth sone in gentil herte'; Knightes Tale, A. 1761. And see note to Sq. Tale, F. 479.

664. _us avyse_, deliberate with ourselves, consider the matter again. Compare the law-phrase _Le roi s'avisera_, by which the king refuses assent to a measure proposed. 'We will consider whom to appoint as judge.'

666. I. e. a copy of the Gospels in Welsh or British, called in the French prose version 'liure des Ewangeiles.' Agreements were [158] sometimes written on the fly-leaves of copies of the Gospels, as may be seen in two copies of the A. S. version of them.

669. A very similar miracle is recorded in the old alliterative romance of Joseph of Arimathea, l. 362. The French version has:--'a peine auoit fini la parole, qe vne mayn close, com poyn de homme, apparut deuant Elda et quant questoient en presence, et ferri tiel coup en le haterel le feloun, que ambedeus lez eus lui enuolerent de la teste, & les dentz hors de la bouche; & le feloun chai abatu a la terre; et a ceo dist vne voiz en le oyance de touz: Aduersus filiam matris ecclesie ponebas scandalum; hec fecisti, et tacui.' I. e. 'Scarcely had he ended the word, when a closed hand, like a man's fist, appeared before Elda and all who were in the presence, and smote such a blow on the nape of the felon's neck that both his eyes flew out of his head, and the teeth out of his mouth; and the felon fell smitten down to the earth; and thereupon a voice said in the hearing of all, "Against the daughter of Mother Church thou wast laying a scandal; this hast thou done, and I held my peace."' The reading _tacui_ suggests that, in l. 676, the word _holde_ should rather be _held_; but the MSS. do not recognise this reading.

697. _hir thoughte_, it seemed to her; _thoughte_ is here impersonal; so in l. 699. The French text adds that Domulde (Donegild) was, moreover, jealous of hearing the praises of Constance's beauty.

701. _Me list nat_, it pleases me not, I do not wish to. He does not wish to give every detail. In this matter Chaucer is often very judicious; Gower and others often give the more unimportant matters as fully as the rest. Cf. l. 706; and see Squyeres Tale, F. 401.

703. _What_, why. Cf. Squyeres Tale, F. 283, 298.

716. Trivet says--'Puis a vn demy aan passe, vint nouele al Roy que les gentz de Albanie, qe sountz les Escotz, furent passes lour boundes et guerrirent les terres le Roy. Dount par comun counseil, le Roi assembla son ost de rebouter ses enemis. Et auant son departir vers Escoce, baila la Reine Constaunce sa femme en la garde Elda, le Conestable du chastel, et a Lucius, leuesqe de Bangor; si lour chargea que quant ele fut deliueres denlaunt, qui lui feisoient hastiuement sauoir la nouele'; i. e. 'Then, after half-a-year, news came to the king that the people of Albania, who are the Scots, had passed their bounds, and warred on the king's lands. Then by common counsel the king gathered his host to rebut his foes. And before his departure towards Scotland, he committed Queen Constance his wife to the keeping of Elda, the constable of the castle, and of Lucius, bishop of Bangor, and charged them that when she was delivered, they should hastily let him know the news.'

722. _knave child_, male child; as in Clerkes Tale, E. 444.

723. _at the fontstoon_, i. e. at his baptism; French text--'al baptisme fu nome Moris.'

729. _to doon his avantage_, to suit his convenience. He hoped, by going only a little out of his way, to tell Donegild the news also, and to receive a reward for doing so. Trivet says that the old [159] Queen was then at Knaresborough, situated 'between England and Scotland, as in an intermediate place.' Its exact site is less than seventeen miles west of York. Donegild pretends to be very pleased at the news, and gives the man a rich present.

736. _lettres_; so in all seven MSS.; Tyrwhitt reads _lettre_. But it is right as it is. _Lettres_ is sometimes used, like Lat. _literae_, in a singular sense, and the French text has 'les lettres.' Examples occur in Piers Plowman, B. ix. 38; Bruce, ii. 80. See l. 744, and note to l. 747.

738. _If ye wol aught_, if you wish (to say) anything.

740. _Donegild_ is dissyllabic here, as in l. 695, but in l. 805 it appears to have three syllables. Chaucer constantly alters proper names so as to suit his metre.

743. _sadly_, steadily, with the idea of long continuance.

747. _lettre_; here the singular form is used, but it is a matter of indifference. Exactly the same variation occurs in Barbour's Bruce, ii. 80:--

'And, among othir, _lettres_ ar gayn
To the byschop off Androwis towne,
That tauld how slayn wes that baroun.
The _lettir_ tauld hym all the deid,' &c.

This circumstance, of exchanging the messenger's letters for forged ones, is found in Matthew Paris's account of the Life of Offa the first; ed. Wats, pp. 965-968.

748. _direct_, directed, addressed; French text 'maundez.'

751. Pronounce _horrible_ as in French.

752. The last word in this line should rather be _nas_ (= was not), as has kindly been pointed out to me; though the seven MSS. and the old editions all have _was_. By this alteration we should secure a true rime.

754. _elf_; French text--'ele fu malueise espirit en fourme de femme,' she was an evil spirit in form of woman. _Elf_ is the A.S. _ælf_, Icel. _álfr_, G. _alp_ and _elfe_; Shakespeare writes _ouphes_ for _elves_. 'The Edda distinguishes between Ljósálfar, the elves of light, and Dökkálfar, elves of darkness; the latter are not elsewhere mentioned either in modern fairy tales or in old writers.... In the Alvismál, elves and dwarfs are clearly distinguished as different. The abode of the elves in the Edda is Álfheimar, fairy land, and their king the god Frey, the god of light. In the fairy tales the Elves haunt the hills; hence their name Huldufólk, hidden people; respecting their origin, life, and customs, see Íslenzkar þjóðsögur, i. 1. In old writers the Elves are rarely mentioned; but that the same tales were told as at present is clear'; note on the word _álfr_, in Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary. See also Keightley's Fairy Mythology, and Brand's Popular Antiquities. The word is here used in a bad sense, and is nearly equivalent to witch. In the Prompt. Parv. we find--'Elfe, spryte, _Lamia_'; and Mr. Way notes that these elves were often supposed to bewitch children, and to use them cruelly. [160]

767. Pronounce _ágreáble_ nearly as in French, and with an accent on the first and third syllables.

769. _take_, handed over, delivered. _Take_ often means to give or hand over in Middle English: very seldom to convey or bring.

771. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. and Pt. is written--'Quid turpius ebrioso, cui fetor in ore, tremor in corpore, qui promit stulta, prodit occulta, cuius mens alienatur, facies transformatur? Nullum enim latet secretum ubi regnat ebrietas.' This is obviously the original of the stanza, ll. 771-777; cf. note to B. 99 above. There is nothing answering to it in Trivet, but it is to be found in Pope Innocent's treatise De Contemptu Mundi, lib. ii. c. 19--_De ebrietate_. Migne's edition has 'promittit multa' for 'promit stulta.' The last clause is quoted from Prov. xxxi. 4 in the Vulgate version; our English versions omit it. See B. 2384.

778. 'O Donegild, I have no language fit to tell,' &c.

782. _mannish_, man-like, i. e. harsh and cruel, not mild and gentle like a woman. But Chaucer is not satisfied with the epithet, and says he ought rather to call her 'fiend-like.' Perhaps it is worth while to say that in Gower's Conf. Amant., lib. vi., where Pauli (iii. 52) has 'Most liche to _mannes_ creature,' the older edition by Chalmers has the form _mannish_. Lines 778-84 are not in the original.

789. 'He stowed away plenty (of wine) under his girdle,' i. e. drank his fill.

794. Pronounce _constábl'_ much as if it were French, with an accent on a. In l. 808 the accent is on _o_. Lastly, in l. 858, all three syllables are fully sounded.

798. 'Three days and a quarter of an hour'; i. e. she was to be allowed only three days, and after that to start off as soon as possible. _Tide_ (like _tíð_ in Icelandic) sometimes means an hour. The French text says 'deynz quatre iours,' within four days.

801. _croude_, push; see ll. 296, 299 above; and note to l. 299.

813-26. Lines 813-819 are not in the French, and ll. 820-826 are not at all close to the original. The former stanza, which is due to Boeth. bk. i. met. 5. 22-30, was doubtless added in the revision.

827-33. The French text only has--'en esperaunce qe dure comencement amenera dieu a bon fyn, et qil me purra en la mere sauuer, qi en mere et en terre est de toute puissaunce.'

835. The beautiful stanzas in ll. 834-868 are all Chaucer's own; and of the next stanza, ll. 869-875, the French text gives but the merest hint.

842. _eggement_, incitement. The same word is used in other descriptions of the Fall. Thus, in Piers Plowman, B. i. 65, it is said of Satan that 'Adam and Eue he _egged_ to ille '; and in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 241, it is said of Adam that 'thurgh the _eggyng_ of Eue he ete of an apple.'

852. _refut_, refuge; see G. 75, and A. B. C. 14.

859. _As lat_, pray, let. See note to Clerkes Prologue, E. 7. [161]

873. _purchace_, provide, make provision. So in Troilus, bk. ii. 1125, the line 'And of som goodly answere you purchace' means--and provide yourself with some kind answer, i. e. be ready with a kind reply.

875-84. Much abridged from the French text.

885. _tormented_, tortured. However, the French text says the messenger acknowledged his drunkenness freely. Examination by torture was so common, that Chaucer seems to have regarded the mention of it as being the most simple way of telling the story.

893. _out of drede_, without doubt, certainly; cf. l. 869. The other equally common expression _out of doute_ comes to much the same thing, because _doute_ in Middle-English has in general the meaning of _fear_ or _dread_, not of hesitation. See Group E. 634, 1155; and Prol. A. 487.

894. _pleinly rede_, fully read, read at length. In fact, Chaucer judiciously omits the details of the French text, where we read that King Ælla rushed into his mother's room with a drawn sword as she lay asleep, roused her by crying 'traitress!' in a loud voice, and, after hearing the full confession which she made in the extremity of her terror, slew her and cut her to pieces as she lay in bed.

901. _fleteth_, floats. French text--'le quinte an de cest exil, come ele _flotaunt_ sur le mere,' &c. Cf. _fleet_ in l. 463.

905. The name of the castle is certainly not given in the French text, which merely says it was 'vn chastel dun Admiral de paens,' i. e. a castle of an admiral of the Pagans.

912. _gauren_, gaze, stare. See note to Squ. Tale, F. 190.

913. _shortly_, briefly; because the poet considerably abridges this part of the narrative. The steward's name was Thelous.

925. The word _Auctor_, here written in the margin of E., signifies that this stanza and the two following ones are additions to the story by the author. At the same time, ll. 925-931 are really taken from Chaucer's own translation of Pope Innocent's treatise De Contemptu Mundi; see further in the note to B. 99 above. Accordingly, we also find here, in the margin of E., the following Latin note:--'O extrema libidinis turpitudo, que non solum mentem effeminat, set eciam corpus eneruat. Semper sequ[u]ntur dolor et penitentia post,' &c. This corresponds to the above treatise, lib. ii. c. 21, headed 'De luxuria.' The last clause is abbreviated; the original has:--'Semper illam procedunt ardor et petulantia; semper comitantur fetor et immunditia; sequuntur semper dolor et poenitentia.'

932-45. These two stanzas are wholly Chaucer's, plainly written as a parallel passage to that in ll. 470-504 above.

934. _Golias_, Goliath. See I Samuel xvii. 25.

940. See the story of Holofernes in the Monkes Tale, B. 3741; and the note. I select the spelling _Olofernus_ here, because it is that of the majority of the MSS., and agrees with the title _De Oloferno_ in the Monkes Tale.

947. In l. 465, Chaucer mentions the 'Strait of Marrok,' i. e. Morocco, though there is no mention of it in the French text; so here he alludes [162] to it again, but by a different name, viz. 'the mouth of Jubalter and Septe.' _Jubaltar_ (Gibraltar) is from the Arabic _jabálu't tárik_, i. e. the mountain of Tarik; who was the leader of a band of Saracens that made a descent upon Spain in the eighth century. _Septe_ is Ceuta, on the opposite coast of Africa.

965. _shortly_, briefly; because Chaucer here again abridges the original, which relates how the Romans burnt the Sultaness, and slew more than 11,000 of the Saracens, without a single death or even wound on their own side.

967. _senatour._ His name was Arsemius of Cappadocia; his wife's name was Helen. Accent _victorie_ on the _o_.

969. _as seith the storie_, as the history says. The French text relates this circumstance fully.

971. The French text says that, though Arsemius did not recognise Constance, she, on her part, recognised him at once, though she did not reveal it.

981. _aunte._ Helen, the wife of Arsemius, was daughter of Sallustius, brother of the Emperor Tiberius, and Constance's uncle. Thus Helen was really Constance's first cousin. Chaucer may have altered it purposely; but it looks as if he had glanced at the sentence--'Cest heleyne, la nece Constaunce, taunt tendrement ama sa nece,' &c., and had read it as--'This Helen ... loved her _niece_ so tenderly.' In reality, the word _nece_ means 'cousin' here, being applied to Helen as well as to Constance.

982. _she_, i. e. Helen; for Constance knew Helen.

991. _to receyven_, i. e. to submit himself to any penance which the Pope might see fit to impose upon him. Journeys to Rome were actually made by English kings; Ælfred was sent to Rome as a boy, and his father, Æthelwulf, also spent a year there, but (as the Chronicle tells us) he went 'mid micelre weorðnesse,' with much pomp.

994. _wikked werkes_; especially the murder of his mother, as Trivet says. See note to l. 894.

999. _Rood him ageyn_, rode towards him, rode to meet him; cf. l. 391. See Cler. Tale, E. 911, and the note.

1009. _Som men wolde seyn_, some relate the story by saying. The expression occurs again in l. 1086. On the strength of it, Tyrwhitt concluded that Chaucer here refers to Gower, who tells the story of Constance in Book ii. of his Confessio Amantis. He observes that Gower's version of the story includes both the circumstances which are introduced by this expression. But this is not conclusive, since we find that Nicholas Trivet also makes mention of the same circumstances. In the present instance the French text has--'A ceo temps de la venuz le Roi a Rome, comensca Moris son diseotisme aan. Cist estoit _apris priuement de sa mere Constance, qe, quant il irreit a la feste ou son seignur le senatour_,' &c.; i. e. At this time of the king's coming to Rome, Maurice began his eighteenth year. _He was secretly instructed by his mother Constance, that, when he should go to the_ [163] _feast with his lord the senator_, &c. See also the note to l. 1086 below. Besides, Gower may have followed Chaucer.

1014. _metes space_, time of eating. This circumstance strikingly resembles the story of young Roland, who, whilst still a child, was instructed by his mother Bertha to appear before his uncle Charlemagne, by way of introducing himself. The story is well told in Uhland's ballad entitled 'Klein Roland,' a translation of which is given at pp. 335-340 of my 'Ballads and Songs of Uhland.'

'They had but waited a little while,
When Roland returns more bold;
With hasty step to the king he comes,
And seizes his cup of gold.

"What ho, there! stop! you saucy imp!"
Are the words that loudly ring.
But Roland clutches the beaker still
With eyes fast fixed on the king.

The king at the first looked fierce and dark,
But soon perforce he smiled--
"Thou comest," he said, "into golden halls
As though they were woodlands wild,"' &c.

The result is also similar; Bertha is reconciled to Charlemagne, much as Constance is to Ælla.

1034. _aught_, in any way, at all; lit. 'a whit.'

1035. _sighte_, sighed. So also _pighte_, 'pitched'; _plighte_, 'plucked'; and _shrighte_, 'shrieked.' It occurs again in Troil. iii. 1080, iv. 714, 1217, v. 1633; and in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1746.

1036. _that he mighte_, as fast as he could.

1038. 'I ought to suppose, in accordance with reasonable opinion.' Chaucer tells the story quite in his own way. There is no trace of ll. 1038-1042 in the French, and scarcely any of ll. 1048-1071, which is all in his own excellent strain.

1056. _shet_, shut, closed. Compare the description of Griselda in the Clerkes Tale, E. 1058-1061.

1058. Both _twyes_ and _owne_ are dissyllabic.

1060. _all his halwes_, all His saints. Hence the term All-hallow-mas, i. e. All Saints' day.

1061. _wisly_, certainly. _as have_, I pray that he may have; see note to l. 859 above. 'I pray He may so surely have mercy on my soul, as that I am as innocent of your suffering as Maurice my son is like you in the face.'

1078. After this line, the French text tells us that King Ælla presented himself before Pope Pelagius, who absolved him for the death of his mother. Pelagius II. was pope in 578-90.

1086. Here again, Tyrwhitt supposes Chaucer to follow Gower. But, in fact, Chaucer and Gower both consulted Trivet, who says [164] here--'Constaunce charga son fitz Morice del messager [_or_ message].... Et puis, quant Morice estoit deuaunt lempereur venuz, oue la compaignie honurable, et auoit son message fest de part le Roi son pere,' &c.; i. e. 'Constance charged her son Maurice with the message ... and then, when Maurice was come before the emperor, with the honourable company, and had done his message on behalf of the king his father,' &c. Or, as before, Gower may have copied Chaucer.

1090. _As he_; used much as we should now use 'as one.' It refers to the Emperor, of course.

1091. _Sente_, elliptical for 'as that he would send.' Tyrwhitt reads _send_; but it is best to leave an expression like this as it stands in the MSS. It was probably a colloquial idiom; and, in the next line, we have _wente_. Observe that _sente_ is in the subjunctive mood, and is equivalent to 'he would send.'

1107. Chaucer so frequently varies the length and accent of a proper name that there is no objection to the supposition that we are here to read _Cústancë_ in three syllables, with an accent on the first syllable. In exactly the same way, we find _Grísildis_ in three syllables (E. 948), though in most other passages it is _Grisíld_. We have had _Cústance_, accented on the first syllable, several times; see ll. 438, 556, 566, 576, &c.; also _Custáncë_, three syllables, ll. 184, 274, 319, 612, &c. Tyrwhitt inserts a second _your_ before _Custance_, but without authority.

1109. _It am I_; it is I. It is the usual idiom. So in the A.S. version of St. John vi. 20, we find 'ic hyt eom,' i. e. I it am, and in a Dutch New Testament, A.D. 1700, I find 'Ick ben 't,' i. e. I am it. The Moeso-Gothic version omits _it_, having simply 'Ik im'; so does Wyclif's, which has 'I am.' Tyndale, A.D. 1526, has 'it ys I.'

1113. _thonketh_, pronounced _thonk'th_; so also _eyl'th_, B. 1171, _Abyd'th_, B. 1175. So also _tak'th_, l. 1142 below. _of_, for. So in Chaucer's Balade of Truth, l. 19, we have 'thank God _of al_,' i. e. for all things. See my notes to Chaucer's Minor Poems, vol. i. p. 552.

1123. The French text tells us that he was named Maurice of Cappadocia, and was also known, in Latin, as _Mauritius Christianissimus Imperator_. Trivet tells us no more about him, except that he accounts for the title 'of Cappadocia' by saying that Arsemius (the senator who found Constance and Maurice and took care of them) was a Cappadocian. Gibbon says--'The Emperor Maurice derived his origin from ancient Rome; but his immediate parents were settled at Arabissus in Cappadocia, and their singular felicity preserved them alive to behold and partake the fortune of their august son.... Maurice ascended the throne at the mature age of 43 years; and he reigned above 20 years over the east and over himself.'--Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, cap. xlv. He was murdered, with all his seven children, by his successor, Phocas the Usurper; Nov. 27, A.D. 600. His accession was in A.D. 582.

1127. The statement 'I bere it not in minde,' i. e. I do not remember it, may be taken to mean that Chaucer could find nothing about [165] Maurice in his French text beyond the epithet _Christianissimus_, which he has skilfully expanded into l. 1123. He vaguely refers us to 'olde Romayn gestes,' that is, to lives of the Roman emperors, for he can hardly mean the Gesta Romanorum in this instance. Gibbon refers us to Evagrius, lib. v. and lib. vi.; Theophylact Simocatta; Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus.

1132. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. is written--'A mane usque ad vesperam mutabitur tempus. Tenent tympanum et gaudent ad sonum organi,' &c. See the next note.

1135. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. is written--'Quis vnquam vnicam diem totam duxit in sua dilectione [_vel_ delectatione] iocundam? quem in aliqua parte diei reatus consciencie, vel impetus Ire, vel motus concupiscencie non turbauerit? quem liuor Inuidie, vel Ardor Auaricie, vel tumor superbie non vexauerit? quem aliqua iactura vel offensa, vel passio non commouerit,' &c. Cp. Pt. insert _inde_ before _non turbauerit_. This corresponds to nothing in the French text, but it is quoted from Pope Innocent's treatise, De Contemptu Mundi, lib. i. c. 22; see note to B. 99 above. The extract in the note to l. 1132 occurs in the same chapter, but both clauses in it are borrowed; the former from Ecclus. xviii. 26, the latter from Job, xxi. 12.

1143. _I gesse_, I suppose. Chaucer somewhat alters the story. Trivet says that Ælla died at the end of nine months after this. Half-a-year after, Constance repairs to Rome. Thirteen days after her arrival, her father Tiberius dies. A year later, Constance herself dies, on St. Clement's day (Nov. 23), A.D. 584, and is buried at Rome, near her father, in St. Peter's Church. The date 584, here given by Trivet, should rather be 583; the death of Tiberius took place on Aug. 14, 582; see Gibbon.

THE SHIPMAN'S PROLOGUE.

1165. The host here refers to the Man of Lawes Tale, which had just been told, and uses the expression '_thrifty_ tale' with reference to the same expression above, B. 46. Most MSS. separate this end-link widely from the Tale, but MS. Hl. and MS. Arch. Seld. B. 14 have it in the right place. See vol. iii. pp. 417-9.

_for the nones_, for the nonce, for the occasion; see note to the Prologue, A. 379. The A.S. _[=a]nes_ (= once) is an adverb with a genitive case-ending; and, being an adverb, becomes indeclinable, and can accordingly be used as a _dative_ case after the preposition _for_, which properly governs the dative.

1166. The Host here turns to the Parson (see Prol. A. 477), and adjures him to tell a tale, according to the agreement.

1167. _yore_, put for _of yore_, formerly, already.--M.

1169. _Can moche good_, know (or are acquainted with) much good; i. e. with many good things, Cf. B. 47. [166]

1170. _Benedicite_, bless ye; i. e. bless ye the Lord; the first word of the Song of the Three Children, and a more suitable exclamation than most of those in common use at the time. In the Knightes Tale, A. 1785, where Theseus is _pondering_ over the strange event he had just witnessed, the word is pronounced _in full_, as five syllables. But in A. 2115, it is pronounced, as here, as a mere trisyllable. The syllables to be dropped are the second and third, so that we must say _ben'cite_. This is verified by a passage in the Townley Mysteries, p. 85, where it is actually spelt _benste_, and reduced to two syllables only. Cf. notes to B. 1974, and Troil. i. 780.

1171. _man_; dat. case after _eyleth_. Swearing is alluded to as a prevalent vice amongst Englishmen in Robert of Brunne, in the Persones Tale of Chaucer, and elsewhere.--M.

1172. _O Iankin_, &c.; 'O Johnny, you are there, are you?' That is, 'so it is you whom I hear, is it, Mr. Johnny?' A derisive interruption. It was common to call a priest _Sir John_, by way of mild derision; see Monkes Prol. (B. 3119) and Nonne Prestes Prol. (B. 4000). The Host carries the derision a little further by using the diminutive form. See note to B. 4000.

1173. _a loller_, a term of reproach, equivalent to a canting fellow. Tyrwhitt aptly cites a passage from a treatise of the period, referring to the Harleian Catalogue, no. 1666:--'Now in Engelond it is a comun protectioun ayens persecutioun, if a man is customable to swere nedeles and fals and unavised, by the bones, nailes, and sides, and other membres of Christ. And to absteyne fro othes nedeles and unleful, and repreve sinne by way of charite, is mater and cause now, why Prelates and sum Lordes sclaundren men, and clepen hem _Lollardes_, Eretikes,' &c.

The reader will not clearly understand this word till he distinguishes between the Latin _lollardus_ and the English _loller_, two words of different origin which were _purposely_ confounded in the time of Wyclif. The Latin _Lollardus_ had been in use before Wyclif. Ducange quotes from Johannes Hocsemius, who says, under the date 1309---'Eodem anno quidam hypocritae gyrovagi, qui _Lollardi_, sive Deum laudantes, vocabantur, per Hannoniam et Brabantiam quasdam mulieres nobiles deceperunt.' He adds that Trithemius says in his Chronicle, under the year 1315--'ita appellatos a Gualtero _Lolhard_, Germano quodam.' Kilian, in his Dictionary of Mid. Dutch, says--'_Lollaerd_, mussitator, mussitabundus'; i. e. a mumbler of prayers. This gives two etymologies for _Lollardus_. Being thus already in use as a term of reproach, it was applied to the followers of Wyclif, as we learn from Thomas Walsingham, who says, under the year 1377--'Hi uocabantur a uulgo _Lollardi_, incedentes nudis pedibus'; and again--'_Lollardi_ sequaces Joannis Wiclif.' But the Old English _loller_ (from the verb to _loll_) meant simply a lounger, an idle vagabond, as is abundantly clear from a notable passage in Piers the Plowman, C-text (ed. Skeat), x. 188-218; where William tells us plainly-- [167]

'Now kyndeliche, by crist · beþ suche callyd _lolleres_,
As by englisch of oure eldres · of olde menne techynge.
He that _lolleþ_ is lame · oþer his leg out of ioynte,' &c.

Here were already two (if not three) words confused, but this was not all. By a bad pun, the Latin _lolium_, tares, was connected with _Lollard_, so that we find in Political Poems, i. 232, the following--

'Lollardi sunt zizania,
Spinae, uepres, ac _lollia_,
Quae uastant hortum uineae.'

This obviously led to allusions to the Parable of the Tares, and fully accounts for the punning allusion to _cockle_, i. e. tares, in l. 1183. Mr. Jephson observes that _lolium_ is used in the Vulgate Version, Matt. xii. 25; but this is a mistake, as the word there used is _zizania_. Gower, Prol. to Conf. Amant., ed. Pauli, i. 15, speaks of--

'This newe secte of _lollardie_,
And also many an heresie.'

Also in book v., id. ii. 187,--

'Be war that thou be nought oppressed
With anticristes _lollardie_,' &c.

See Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. iii. 355-358; Wordsworth's Eccl. Biography, i. 331, note.

1180. 'He shall not give us any commentary on a gospel.' To _glose_ is to comment upon, with occasional free introduction of irrelevant matter. The _gospel_ is the text, or portion of the Gospel commented upon.

1181. 'We all agree in the one fundamental article of faith'; by which he insinuates--'and let that suffice; we want no theological subtilties discussed here.'

1183. _springen_, scatter, _sprink_-le. The pt. t. is _spreynde_ or _spreynte_; the pp. _spreynd_ occurs in B. 422, 1830.--M. Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. v., ed. Pauli, ii. 190, speaks of _lollardie_

'Which now is come for to dwelle,
To sowe cockel with the corne.'

1185. _body_, i. e. self. Cf. _lyf_ = a person, in P. Plowman, B. iii. 292.--M.

1186. See B. 3984, which suggests that there is a play upon words here. The Shipman will make his horse's bells ring loudly enough to awake them all; or he will ring so merry a peal, as to rouse them like a church bell that awakes a sleeper.

1189. It is plain that the unmeaning words _phislyas_ and _phillyas_, as in the MSS., must be corruptions of some difficult form. I think that form is certainly _physices_, with reference to the Physics of Aristotle, here conjoined with 'philosophy' and 'law' in order to include the chief forms of medieval learning. Aristotle was only known, in Chaucer's time, in Latin translations, and _Physices Liber_ would be a possible title for such a translation. Lewis and Short's Lat. Dict. gives '_physica_, gen. [168] _physicae_, and _physice_, gen. _physices_, f., = [Greek: phusikê], natural science, natural philosophy, physics, Cicero, Academ. 1. 7. 25; id. De Finibus, 3. 21. 72; 3. 22. 73.' Magister Artium et _Physices_ was the name of a degree; see Longfellow's Golden Legend, § vi.

That Chaucer should use the gen. _physices_ alone, is just in his usual manner; cf. _Iudicum_, B. 3236; _Eneidos_, B. 4549; _Metamorphoseos_, B. 93. Tyrwhitt's reading _of physike_ gives the same sense.

THE SHIPMANNES TALE.

This Tale agrees rather closely with one in Boccaccio's _Decamerone_, Day viii. nov. 1. See further in vol. iii. p. 420.

1191. _Seint Denys_, Saint Denis, in the environs of Paris. Cf. ll. 1247, 1249, and note to 1341.

1202. _us_, i. e. us women. This is clear proof that some of the opening lines of this Tale were not originally intended for the Shipman, but for the Wife of Bath, as she is the only lady in the company to whom they would be suitable. We may remember that Chaucer originally meant to make each pilgrim tell _four_ Tales; so there is nothing surprising in the fact that he once thought of giving this to the Wife. This passage is parallel to D. 337-339.

1209. _perilous._ Cf. D. 339: 'it is peril of our chastitee.'

1228. Referring to the common proverb--'As fain as a fowl [bird] of a fair day'; cf. l. 1241 below, A. 2437, G. 1342.

1233. _Daun_, Dan, for Lat. _Dominus_, corresponding to E. _sir_, as in 'Sir John,' a common title for a priest. Cf. B. 3119.

1244. _Shoop him_, lit. shaped himself, set about, got ready. Cf. P. Plowman, C. i. 2, xiv. 247, and the notes.

1245. _Brugges_, Bruges; which, as Wright remarks, was 'the grand central mart of European commerce in the middle ages.' Cf. P. Plowman, C. vii. 278, and the note.

1256. _graunges_, granges; cf. notes to A. 3668, and A. 166.

1260. _Malvesye_, Malmsey; so named from _Malvasia_, now _Napoli di Malvasia_, a town on the E. coast of Lacedaemonia in the Morea. See note in the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 206, where _Malvasia_ is explained as the Ital. corruption of _Monemvasia_, from Gk. [Greek: monê embasia], single entrance; with reference to its position.

1261. _Vernage._ In the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 203, _vernage_ is said to be a red wine, bright, sweet, and somewhat rough, from Tuscany and Genoa, and other parts of Italy. The Ital. name is _vernaccia_, lit. the name of a thick-skinned grape. The information in this note and the preceding one is drawn from Henderson's History of Ancient and Modern Wines, 1824: which see.

1262. _volatyl_, wild fowl, game; here used as a collective plural, to represent Lat. _uolatilia_. Littré quotes: 'Tant ot les _volatiles_ chieres'; Roman de la Rose, 20365. Wyclif has _al volatile_ to translate _cunctum_ [169] _uolatile_, Gen. vii. 14; also _my volatilis_ in Matt. xxii. 4, where the Vulgate has _altilia_. Cf. F. _volaille_.

1278. _passed pryme_, past 9 A.M. See notes to A. 3906, F. 73; and cf. B. 1396.

1281. _his thinges_, the things he had to say; cf. F. 78. It 'means the divine office in the Breviary, i. e. the psalms and lessons from scripture which, being absent from the convent, he was bound to say privately'; Bell. _curteisly_, reverently. See note to l. 1321 below.

1287. _under the yerde_, still subject to the discipline of the rod. As girls were married at a very early age, this should mean 'still quite a child.' Cf. _as hir list_ in l. 1286. And see E. 22. See Ælfric's Colloquy (Wright's Vocab. ed. Wülker, p. 102), where the boy says he is still _sub uirga_, on which the A.S. gloss is _under gyrda_. F. _sous la verge_ (Littré).

1292. _appalled_, enfeebled, languid; see F. 365.

1293. _dare_, lie motionless. This is the original sense of the word, as in E. Friesic _bedaren_. So also Low G. _bedaren_, to be still and quiet; as in _dat weer bedaart_, the weather becomes settled; _een bedaart mann_, a man who has lost the fire of youth. Du. _bedaren_, to compose, to calm. The rather common M.E. phrase _to droupe and dare_ means 'to sink down and lie quiet,' like a hunted animal in hiding; hence came the secondary sense 'to lurk' or 'lie close,' as in the Prompt. Parv. Cotgrave has F. _blotir_, 'to squat, skowke, or lie close to the ground, like a _daring_ lark or affrighted foul.' Hence also a third sense, 'to peer round,' as a lurking creature that looks out for possible danger. The word is common in M.E., and in many passages the sense 'to lie still' suits better than 'lurk,' as it is usually explained.

1295. _Were_, 'which might be,' 'which should happen to be'; the relative is understood. _forstraught_, distracted. Such is evidently the sense; but the word occurs nowhere else, and is incorrect. As far as I can make it out, Chaucer has coined this word incorrectly. The right word is _destrat_ (vol. ii. p. 67, l. 1), from O.F. _destrait_, pp. of _destraire_, to tear asunder (as by horses), to torment, fatigue (Godefroy). Next, he turned it (1) into _forstrait_, pp. of _forstraire_ (_fortraire_ in Cotgrave), to purloin; and (2) into _forstraught_, as if it were the pp. of an A.S. *_for-streccan_, to stretch exceedingly. Thus, he has made one change by altering the prefix, and another by misdividing the word and substituting English for French. A similar mistake is seen in the absurd form _distraught_, used for 'distracted,' though it is, formally, equivalent to _dis-straught_, as if made up of the prefix _dis_- and the pp. of _strecchen_, to stretch. An early instance occurs in Lydgate's Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 206, where we find '_Distrauhte_ in thouhte,' i. e. distracted in thought, mad. There is much confusion between the E. prefixes _for-_, _fore-_, and the F. _fors-_, _for-_. Chaucer has _straughte_ (correctly), as the pt. t. of _strecchen_, in A. 2916.

1298. Accent _labóured_ on the second syllable. [170]

1303. 'God knows all'; implying, 'I can contradict you, if I choose to speak.'

1321. _port-hors_, for _porte-hors_, lit. 'carry-abroad,' the F. equivalent of Lat. _portiforium_, a breviary. Also spelt _portous_, _portess_, &c. 'The _Portous_, or Breviary, contained whatever was to be said by all beneficed clerks, and those in holy orders, either in choir, or privately by themselves, as they recited their daily canonical hours; no musical notation was put into these books.'--Rock, Church of our Fathers, v. iii. pt. 2, p. 212. Dan John had just been saying 'his things' out of it (l. 1281). The music was omitted to save space. See P. Plowman, B. xv. 122, and my note on the line.

1327. _for to goon_, i. e. even though going to hell were the penalty of my keeping secret what you tell me.

1329. 'This I do, not for kinship, but out of true love.'

1335. _a legende_, a story of martyrdom, like that of a saint's life.

1338. St. Martin of Tours, whose day is Nov. 11.

1341. St. Denis of France, St. Dionysius, bishop of Paris, martyred A.D. 272, whose day is Oct. 9. Near his place of martyrdom was built a chapel, which was first succeeded by a church, and then by the famous abbey of St. Denis, in which King Dagobert and his successors were interred. The French adopted St. Denis as their patron saint; see Chambers, Book of Days, ii. 427; Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, Oct. 9.

1353. _sit_, is becoming, befits; see E. 460, 1277.

1384. _Geniloun_, Genilon or Ganelon, the traitor who betrayed Charlemagne's army at Roncesvalles. For this deed he was torn to death by wild horses, according to the romance-writers. See La Chanson de Roland, l. 3735. Cf. note to B. 3579, and Book of the Duchesse, 1121, and my note upon it.

1396. _chilindre_, a kind of portable sun-dial, lit. cylinder. A thirteenth-century Latin treatise on the use of the _chilindre_ was edited by Mr. E. Brock for the Chaucer Society, and I here copy his clear description of the instrument. 'The Chilindre (_cylindrus_) or cylinder is one of the manifold forms of the sun-dial, very simple in its construction, but rude and inaccurate as a time-shower. According to the following treatise, it consists of a wooden cylinder, with a central bore from top to bottom, and with a hollow space in the top, into which a moveable rotary lid with a little knob at the top is fitted. This lid is also bored in the centre, and a string passed through the whole instrument. Upon this string the chilindre hangs [perpendicularly] when in use. The style or gnomon works on a pin fixed in the lid. When the instrument is in use, the style projects at a right angle to the surface of the cylindrical body, through a notch in the side of the lid, but can, at pleasure, be turned down and slipt into the central bore, which is made a little wider at the top to receive it. The body of the _chilindre_ is marked with a table of the points of the shadow, a table of degrees for finding the sun's altitude, and spaces corresponding to [171] the months of the year and the signs of the zodiac. Across these spaces are drawn six oblique hour-lines.

'To ascertain the time of day by the _chilindre_, consider what month it is, and turn the lid round till the style stands directly over the corresponding part of the _chilindre_; then hold up the instrument by the string so that the style points towards the sun, or in other words, so that the shadow of the style falls perpendicularly, and the hour will be shewn by the lowest line reached by the shadow.'

Another treatise of the same character was subsequently edited by Mr. Brock for the same Society. It is entitled 'Practica Chilindri; or the Working of the Cylinder; by John Hoveden.'

There is a curious reference to the same instrument in the following passage from Horman's Vulgaria, leaf 338, back:--'There be iorneyringis [day-circles, dials] and instrume_n_t_is_ lyke an ha_n_gynge pyler with a tu_n_ge lyllyng [lolling] out, to knowe what tyme of the day.'

In Wright's Vocabularies, ed. Wülker, 572. 22, we find: '_Chilindrus, anglice_ a leuel; _uel est instrumentum quo hore notantur, anglice_ a chylaundre.' It thus appears that the reading _kalendar_, in the old editions, is due to a mistake.

The most interesting comment on this passage is afforded by the opening lines of the Prologue to Part II. of Lydgate's _Siege of Thebes_, where Lydgate is clearly thinking of Chaucer's words. Here also the black-letter edition of 1561 has _Kalendar_, but the reading of MS. Arundel 119 (leaf 18) is more correct, as follows:--

'Passed the throp of Bowton on the Ble,
By my _chilyndre_ I gan anon to se,
Thorgh the sonne, that ful cler gan shyne,
Of the clok[ke] that it drogh to nyne.'

_pryme of day_, 9 A.M., in the present passage; see above, and note the preparations for dinner in ll. 1399-1401; the dinner-hour being 10 A.M. See also note to A. 3906. 'Our forefathers dined at an hour at which we think it fashionable to breakfast; _ten o 'clock_ was the time established by ancient usage for the principal meal'; Our Eng. Home, p. 33. In earlier times it was _nine_ o'clock; see Wright, Hist. of Domestic Manners, p. 155.

1399. 'As cheery as a magpie.'

1404. _Qui la?_ who's there. All the MSS. agree in thus cutting down the expression _qui est la_ to two words; and this abbreviation is emphasised by the English gloss 'Who ther' in E. and Hn.; Cm. has _Who there_, without any French. It is clear, too, that the line is imperfect at the caesura, thus:--

_Qui la_? | quod he. | --Pe | ter it | am I ||

This medial pause is probably intentional, to mark the difference between the speakers. Ed. 1532 (which Tyrwhitt follows) has _Qui est la_, in order to fill out the line. Wright has the same; and (as usual) suppresses the fact that the word _est_ is not in the MS. which he follows 'with literal accuracy.' [172]