Chapter XXV: Part 25

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,' [436] 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. [437] 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 qhuilis _a nape_, to mak mowis as a fule,
Bot as _a sow_, quhen he fallis in a pule.'

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:--

'Such as wilbe drongen (_sic_) _as an ape_ ...
And in such caas often tymes they be
That one may make them _play with strawes thre_.'

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 [438] 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:--

'O the dear blood of grapes
Turns us to antic shapes,
Now to show tricks _like apes_,
Now _lion-like_ to soar'; &c.

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';
Ritson's Ancient Songs, vol. i. p. 46.

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, Prayer-book 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, blast, _fnæstiað_, the windpipe; _fn[=e]osung_, 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 [Greek: pneô], 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. [439]

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.'

THE MAUNCIPLES TALE.

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.

'Nam fuit haec quondam niveis argentea pennis
Ales, ut aequaret totas sine labe columbas.'
Ovid, Met. ii. 536.

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 [440] in view, as it is quoted and commented on in Le Roman de la Rose, 14221-8, &c. Jean de Meun adds the comment:--

'Que vaut ce? Toute créature
Vuet retorner à sa nature.
Jà nel' erra por violence
De force, ne de convenance.'

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--

'Li oisillons du vert boscage,
Quant il est pris et mis en cage,' &c.

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.:--

'Qui prendroit, biau filz, ung chaton
Qui onques rate ne raton
Véu n'auroit, puis fust noris
Sans jà véoir ras ne soris,
Lonc tens par ententive cure
De délicieuse pasture,
Et puis véist soris venir,
N'est riens qui le péust tenir,
Se l'en le lessoit eschaper,
Qu'il ne l'alast tantost haper.'

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:--

'Le vaillant homme arriere boute
Et prent le pire de la route:
Là norrit ses amors, et couve
Tout autresinc cum fait la louve,
Cui sa folie tant empire,
Qu'el prent des lous tretout le pire.'

_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 [441] 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 [442] 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.):--

'Sesit his sité, _slong_ it to ground'; 4215. 'Slogh hym full sleghly, and _slange_ hym to ground'; 13745. 'But the citie to sese, and _slyng_ it to ground'; 8851.

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. [443]

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.'

* * * * *

[444]

NOTES TO GROUP I.

THE PARSON'S PROLOGUE.

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. [445]

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 [446] 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 A. D. 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:--

'For to bere thi word so wyde,
And maken of the _rym and raf_.'

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. [447]

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.

THE PERSONES TALE.

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 perisse_ = 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.' [448]

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 A.D. 570, died A.D. 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 [449] 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:--

'_Cordis contricio_ cometh of sorwe in herte,
And _oris confessio_, that cometh of shrifte of mouthe,
And _operis satisfactio_, that for synnes payeth
And for alle synnes soueraynliche quiteth:
_Cordis contricio, oris confessio, operis satisfactio_.'

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, Dominum 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 [450] 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 _wr[=o]t_; 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 ilia 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 terrens 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. [451]

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:--

'Bi so that thow be sobre of syghte and of tonge,
In etynge and in handlynge, and in alle thi fyue wittis.'

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:--

'Of this Saynt Ierom, the haly man,
Says thus, als I here shewe yhow can:
_Ibi est ignis inextinguibilis, et fetor intollerabilis_.'

_Isaye_, Isaiah. The reference is to the Vulgate version of Isaiah, xxiv. 9:--'amara erit potio bibentibus illam.' But I may remark, [452] 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 _n[=e]tser_, i. e. a 'shoot' or 'sprout,' of Jesse. Genesius explains _n[=e]tser_ as meaning 'a branch,' Isaiah xiv. 19, lx. 21; [453] 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 Myre'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 [454] 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. Diet, 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._' [455]

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 Commemoration of Al Soules. See my note to P. Pl. C. vii. 338.