Chapter XXVI: Part 26

407. _Q’un messager_ &c. ‘So that he sent a messenger at once after him in great haste.’ This is better than taking ‘tramist’ as subjunctive (‘that he should send’ &c.), because of ‘Cil messager’ in the next stanza. For ‘que’ meaning ‘so that’ cp. 431, 485.

415. _Depar le deable et._ This position of the conjunction is characteristic of Gower’s English writing, e.g. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 155, 521, 756, &c., and it often occurs also in the present work: cp. 100, 1008, 2955, &c. ‘Depar le deable’ evidently is better taken here with ‘pria’ than with the preceding line. The words thus treated are ‘et,’ ‘mais,’ ‘car,’ ‘ainz’ (24646).

416. _hastera_: see note on 1184.

438. _soiez_, for ‘soies,’ 2 pers. singular; so 645.

440. _Je t’en vois loer promettant_, ‘I promise you payment for it’: ‘vois’ is for ‘vais,’ and this is a case of the construction noticed at l. 230, &c.

442. _ne t’en soietz_: the singular and plural of the second person are often interchanged by our author: cp. 25839 ff., 27935, 29604, &c.

454. _Et si_, ‘and also’; so 471.

488. _se fist muscer_, ‘hid himself’; see note on 1135.

492. _Du_, as usual for ‘de.’

500. _vas tariant_: cp. 230, 440, &c.

541. The rhyme of ‘scies’ with ‘malvoistés’ should be noted.

575. _te lerra q’une haire_, ‘will leave thee (nothing) but sackcloth.’ The negative is omitted as with ‘but’ in English.

581. Either ‘Makes vain encouragement,’ or ‘Encourages the foolish person.’

626. _s’estuit_: see note on 997.

637. _si fuissetz avisée_, ‘if you only knew!’

654. _Fuissent ... reconfortant_, ‘should encourage’: cp. 118.

658. _en_, ‘with regard to this.’

667. _celle Alme_, ‘the Soul’: cp. 301.

682. _Par quoy_, used like ‘dont’ to introduce the consequence: cp. 696, 743, and see note on 217, where the consecutive clauses are piled up much as they are here.

688. _lessera_, future used as in 416.

740. _Du Char folie_, ‘by reason of the wantonness of the Flesh’: ‘du’ belongs to ‘folie.’

761. _de ton honour_, ‘by means of the honour which you have to bestow.’

780. ‘So that you may have Man back again’: for this use of ‘dois’ see note on 1193.

799. _c’il_, for ‘s’il’: so ‘ce’ for ‘se’ 1147, ‘Ciriens’ for ‘Siriens’ 10314.

815. _qui_, ‘whom’: this form is quite freely used as an object of the verb; see Glossary.

865. _en son degré_: cp. l. 139, &c.

912. _le_: this is used (side by side with ‘luy,’ e.g. 921) as indirect object masculine or feminine, though ‘la’ is also found.

940. We must take ‘deesce’ as a dissyllable. The usual form is ‘duesse’ (‘dieuesce’ _Bal._ xx. 4).

943. _ce buisson_, i.e. ‘le buisson.’

948. This line occurs again 9453, and is practically reproduced _Bal._ xiii. 1:

‘Quelle est sanz point, sanz reule et sanz mesure.’

It means here that the feasting was without limit. For the form of expression cp. 984.

987. _As grans hanaps_ &c., i.e. ‘a emplir les grans hanaps.’ This kind of combination is not uncommon, e.g. 5492, ‘des perils ymaginer.’

988. _par envoisure_, ‘in gaiety’: ‘envoisure’ means properly ‘trick,’ ‘device,’ connected with such words as ‘voisdie,’ hence ‘pleasantry,’ ‘gaiety.’

992. _les firont rejoïr_, ‘delighted them’: see note on 1135.

997. _s’estuit._ In 613 and 15144 this means ‘was silent,’ from ‘s’esteire,’ and that sense will perhaps do for it here. However, the form ‘restuit’ below suggests ‘esteir,’ which presumably might be used reflexively, and ‘s’estuit’ would then mean ‘stood.’ This may be the sense also in 626.

1008. Cp. 415.

1015. _luy_, used for ‘ly,’ the def. article: see Glossary under ‘ly.’

1016. ‘Much resembled one another’: cp. such compounds as ‘s’entrecontrer,’ ‘s’entrasseurer,’ &c.

1027. _le livre._ What ‘book’ is our author following in his statement that the Deadly Sins are ‘hermafodrite,’ as he calls it? Or does this reference only apply to what follows about the meaning of the word?

1030. ‘If I lay upon them female names,’ but ‘enditer’ is employed in an unusual sense.

1061. _au seinte ... quideroit_, ‘should believe her to be a saint.’

1066. _Tant plus come_, ‘The more that,’ answered by ‘Tant plus’ in the next line.

1069. Apparently the meaning is that Hypocrisy in public separates herself from others and stands apart: for ‘singulere’ cp. 1513.

1081. 2 Kings xx. 12 ff.

1085. ‘According to the divination of the prophet,’ taking ‘devinant’ as a substantive, like ‘vivant,’ ‘pensant,’ &c.

1094. For this use of the verb cp. _Trait._ iv. 1, ‘qant plus resemblont amorouses.’

1100 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ i. 604 f.,

‘And he that was a lomb beforn
Is thanne a wolf.’

1117. Matt. xxiii. 27.

1127. Probably Is. ix. 17.

1135. _q’om fait despire_, ‘which one abhors,’ the auxiliary use of ‘faire,’ which is very common in our author, like ‘do,’ ‘doth,’ in English: cp. 39, 168, 368, 488, 992, 1320, _Bal._ iv. 1, &c. In some places this auxiliary (again like the English ‘do’) takes the place of the principal verb, which is understood from a preceding clause, e.g. 3180, 10649. These uses are common in Old French generally, but perhaps more so in Anglo-Norman than in the Continental dialects.

1146. Bern. _Serm. in Cant._ xvi. 10.

1147. _ce_ for ‘se’: see note on 799.

1180. _boit_: indicative for subjunctive to suit the rhyme; so ‘voit’ 1185, ‘fait’ 1401.

1184. _qu’il serra poy mangant_, ‘that he shall eat little,’ the future being used in command as in 416, 688. For the participle with auxiliary see note on l. 118.

1193. _l’en doit loer_: ‘should praise him’: an auxiliary use of ‘doit,’ which stands for ‘may’ in all senses: cp. 780, 3294, 6672, 17041, &c.

1194. Similar sayings of Augustine are quoted elsewhere by our author, e.g. 10411, 20547.

1244. _qui lors prise_, &c., ‘when one praises her, she thinks not that God can undo her by any means.’ This is probably the meaning: cp. such expressions as ‘qui bien guarde en son purpens’ 9055, ‘qui bien se cure’ 16541, &c. Compare the use of ‘who that’ in Gower’s English, e.g. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 460.

1261. _laisse nient que_, &c., ‘fails not to keep with him,’ &c.

1273. Job xxi. 12, 13: ‘Tenent tympanum et citharam, et gaudent ad sonitum organi. Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt.’

1280. Perhaps Is. v. 14.

1285. The passage is Jeremiah xlv. 5. ‘Ysaïe’ is a mistake for ‘Jeremie,’ which would suit the metre equally well and perhaps was intended by the author.

1291. There is nothing exactly corresponding to this in the book of Joel, but perhaps it is a general reference to the first chapter.

1317. Ecclus. xxv. 3. This book is sometimes referred to as ‘Salomon,’ and sometimes more properly as ‘Sidrac’: cp. 2509.

1326. Ps. li. 3, ‘Quid gloriaris in malitia, qui potens es in iniquitate?’

1335. Job xx. 6, 7.

1365. _frise_: a puzzling word. It ought to mean here ‘blows,’ or ‘blows cold,’ of the wind.

1375. ‘It is she who causes a man to be raised from a foot-page to great lordship.’

1389. ‘He plays them so false a turn’: ‘tresgeter’ came to be used especially of cheating or juggling, hence ‘tregetour.’

1400. Cp. 14473.

1401. _fait_: indic. for subj. in rhyme.

1416. Cp. 12780, ‘N’ad pas la langue au fil pendant.’

1446. Perhaps ‘pareill’ is here a substantive and means ‘equality.’

1447. _qui_, ‘whom.’

1460. _est plus amant_, i.e. ‘aime.’

1495 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ i. 2409-2415, where the same idea of a wind of pride blowing away a man’s virtue is suggested under the head of ‘Avantance.’

1518. ‘Noli me tangere’ is perhaps originally from John xx. 17, but it has received a very different application.

1563. The story was that the hunter, having carried off the tiger’s cubs and being pursued, would throw behind him in the path of the animal a sphere of glass, the reflection in which was supposed by the tiger to be one of her lost cubs. This would delay her for a time, and by repeating the process the man would be able to ride away in safety with his booty: see Ambrose, _Hex._ vi. 4. The story is founded on that told by Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ viii. 25.

1575. Perhaps an inaccurate reminiscence of John viii. 49.

1585. The reference is to Job xi. 12, ‘Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat.’ The rest is due to our author.

1597. Ecclus. xxxvii. 3. ‘O praesumptio nequissima, unde creata es...?’ The rest is added by our author.

1618. Perhaps Bern. _de Hum. Cond._ 5, ‘Stude cognoscere te: quam multo melior et laudabilior es, si te cognoscis, quam si te neglecto cognosceres cursum siderum,’ &c.

1624. Matt. vii. 1, 2.

1627. Probably Is. xxix. 14, but it is not an exact quotation.

1645. Job xxx. 1, ‘Nunc autem derident me iuniores tempore.’

1648. Job xii. 4, ‘deridetur enim iusti simplicitas.’

1653. The reference is no doubt intended for the Elegies of Maximianus, but I think no such passage occurs in them. Perhaps our author was thinking of Cato, _Distich._ iii. 7,

Alterius dictum aut factum nec carpseris unquam,
Exemplo simili ne te derideat alter.

1662. _faisoit_, singular for the rhyme, with the excuse of ‘chascun’ to follow.

1669. Perhaps Prov. xxiv. 9, ‘abominatio hominum detractor,’ or xvi. 5, ‘Abominatio Domini est omnis arrogans.’

1678. Ps. lix. (_Vulg._ lviii.) 8 (9), ‘Et tu, Domine, deridebis eos.’

1684 ff. It is suggested here that Malapert gets his name from discovering things which should be concealed, saying them ‘en apert’; but the word is rather from ‘apert’ in the sense of ‘bold’ ‘impudent,’ whence the modern English ‘pert.’

1688. _serroit_, ‘ought to be,’ a common use of the conditional: cp. 6915, 8941, &c., and _Vox Clam._ iii. 1052 and elsewhere, where the Latin imp. subj. is used in the same way.

1709 f. ‘All set themselves to listen what he will say.’

1711. _si nuls soit_, ‘if there be any.’

1717. Prov. ix. 7, ‘Qui erudit derisorem, ipse iniuriam sibi facit.’

1740. _n’en dirroit plus avant_, ‘would not go further in speaking of it,’ ‘avant’ being probably an adverb: cp. 1762.

1758. Boeth. _de Cons._ iii. Pr. 8. ‘Igitur te pulcrum videri non tua natura sed oculorum spectantium reddit infirmitas.’

1762 f. _si par tout avant_, &c., ‘if he could go on further and see the rest.’

1776. _volt_, used apparently for pret. subj., as 327; here in conditional sense.

1784. Aug. _in Joann. Ev._ i. 15, ‘Quid est quod te inflas, humana superbia?... Pulicibus resiste, ut dormias: cognosce qui sis.’

1790. Boeth. _de Cons._ iii. Pr. 3 ff.

1795. _de nounstable_, ‘instead of transient.’

1824. ‘Often you see evil come (upon him).’ The reference may be to Prov. xvi. 18, or to some similar saying.

1825. Zephaniah iii. 11.

1828. Perhaps Jer. xlviii. 29 ff.

1837. Luke xviii. 9 ff.

1848. _par soy despisant_: a characteristic use of the gerund for infinitive: cp. 6093.

1849. The references to Solinus in this book are mostly false. Many of the anecdotes may be found in Pliny, but not this. Isidore gives the etymology, but the original of the story here is perhaps Albertus Magnus _de Animalibus_ (quoted by the Delphin editor on Plin. _N. H._ x. 3).

1868. Perhaps Ps. ci. 5. In any case the last lines of the stanza are an addition by our author to the quotation.

1883. _fait a reprendre_, ‘deserves to be blamed’: cp. 5055, 9687, 12238, &c., and see the examples quoted by Burguy, _Grammaire_, ii. 167 f.

1887. The story is told at length in _Conf. Am._ i. 2785 ff.

1912 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ i. 2416 ff., but the parallel is not very close.

1942. _parferroit._ The contraction is thus written out in all parts of this verb, because ‘parfaire,’ ‘parfait,’ occur in full, e.g. 4413. Probably, however, there was fluctuation between ‘par’ and ‘per,’ as in ‘parfit,’ ‘parigal.’

1944. It would perhaps be difficult to say why Montpelliers should be a proverbially rich place, but Mr. Archer points out to me that such expressions as this are common in the _chansons de geste_, e.g. _Chanson d’Antioche_ ii. 628, ‘Il n’y vousist mie estre pour l’or de Montpellier.’ Pavia is referred to in _Mir._ 7319 in the same way.

2022. _frocke et haire_, i.e. the outer and the inner garment of a monk or friar.

2037. Perhaps rather ‘Tout mal dirra’; but the text may be translated ‘he will curse continually.’

2067. _l’en chastie_, ‘may correct him for it’: but perhaps we should read ‘l’enchastie’ without separation; cp. 7917.

2090. Rom. v. 19.

2095. _Moises_: a dissyllable here, but elsewhere ‘Moïses,’ &c.

2101. Sol. _Collect._ 52, ‘[Monoceros] vivus non venit in hominum potestatem, et interimi quidem potest, capi non potest.’

2135 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ i. 1240 ff.

2142. France is looked upon simply as a land which has revolted from its lawful sovereign, Edward III, who has the right ‘from his mother,’ 2148. This passage was apparently written before the death of Edward III.

2169. ‘Is delivered up in slavery to him.’

2184. _Du permanable vilenie_, to be taken with ‘mort,’ ‘death comes suddenly upon him bringing him to everlasting shame.’

2185. Is. xxxiii. 1. ‘Vae qui praedaris, nonne et ipse praedaberis? et qui spernis, nonne et ipse sperneris?’ &c.

2197. Deut. xxviii. 38 ff.

2209. Ezek. xvii. 19 ff.

2221. Prov. xvii. 5.

2224. Mal. ii. 10, ‘Numquid non pater unus omnium nostrum? numquid non Deus unus creavit nos? Quare ergo despicit unusquisque nostrum fratrem suum?’

2242. Greg. _Moral._ xxiii. 31, ‘Obstaculum namque veritatis est tumor mentis.’

2275. Luke xiii. 14. The person who protested was the ‘ruler of the synagogue,’ whom our author calls ‘un archeprestre,’ and the miracle was done upon a woman.

2281. Prov. xxix. 22, ‘qui ad indignandum facilis est, erit ad peccandum proclivior.’

2293. Prov. xxx. 13.

2301. Is. ii. 11, or v. 15.

2305. _Danger_: see note on _Bal._ xii. l. 8. Here Danger represents the spirit which rejects advances of friendship from motives of pride.

2323. _fait ... appeller_: see note on 1135.

2326. Cp. 2362, where we have ‘oi’ (monosyllable), as also 410.

2330. Numbers xiv. 30.

2341 ff. Numbers xvi.

2348. _Que_, ‘For.’

2351 f. _que plus avant_, &c., ‘so that by this he gave warning to the rest for the future’ (‘plus avant’).

2353 ff. Acts ix. 5. In this stanza the word ‘point’ occurs no less than six times in the rhyme. This is an extreme instance of a common case, any difference in the meaning or manner of employment being held both in French and English verse to justify the repetition of the same word as a rhyme. Here ‘point’ is the past participle of a verb in 2357 and is used as an adverb in 2356: in the other four cases it is simply the same substantive with differences of meaning.

2377. 1 Macc. iii. 13-24.

2384. 1 Macc. vi. 1-16.

2389. Deut. xxi. 18-21.

2405. Exod. xvii. 1-7.

2413. Deut. xxxii.

2425. 1 Macc. vii. 26-47.

2441. Perhaps Is. v. 20.

2443. 2 Kings xix (Is. xxxvii).

2449. Levit. xxiv. 16.

2452. Luke xxiii. 39 ff., but our author has characteristically reversed the story, giving us the supposed punishment of the blasphemer instead of the mercy shown to the penitent.

2462. _C’est un des tous_, &c. Cp. the expression in fourteenth-century English, ‘oon the beste’ &c.

2463. Rev. xiii. 1, 6 f.

2509. Ecclus. x. 12 (14). The references of our author to ‘Sidrac’ are to this book, ‘The wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach,’ but he also quotes from it under the name of Solomon, cp. 1317, and curiously enough the very next quotation, taken from the same chapter, is a case of this kind.

2513. Ecclus. x. 7, ‘Odibilis coram Deo est et hominibus superbia.’

2534. _fait plus a redoubter_: see note on l. 1883.

2538. _a son passage_, ‘at his death.’

2548. Ecclus. x. 17, ‘Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus, et sedere fecit mites pro eis.’

2587. Mal. i. 6.

2629. _Haymo_: Bishop of Halberstadt, ninth century. The reference is to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, i. 10, ‘Detractio est aliorum bene gesta opera vel in malum malitiose mutare, vel invidendo fallaci fraude diminuere,’ &c. (Migne. _Patrol._ cxvii. 377).

2653. Numbers xii. 1.

2665. Probably the reference is to Is. xiv. 13-15, but the beginning is loosely quoted: the latter part is closer, see verse 15, ‘ad infernum detraheris in profundum laci.’

2677 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 388 ff., where ‘Malebouche’ comes in as the attendant of ‘Detraccioun.’

2700. _le meinz_, ‘the less,’ cp. ‘ly pire’ 2760, ‘le plus’ 12347, ‘le meulx’ 14396.

2715. I do not understand this. By comparison with _Conf. Am._ ii. 394 ff. the passage should mean that he praises first, and then ends up with blame, which overcasts all the praise: cp. Chaucer, _Persones Tale_, 494 (Skeat). Perhaps we ought to read ‘primerement’ for ‘darreinement.’

2742. For the metre cp. 24625 and see Introduction, p. xlv.

2749. See du Cange under ‘fagolidori’ (Gr. φαγολοίδοροι), where the passage of Jerome is quoted, but the word is set down as probably a corruption of φιλολοίδοροι.

2761. Ps. x. 7 (_Vulg._ ix. 28).

2779. Ps. cxl. 3 (_Vulg._ cxxxix. 4).

2790. Ps. xxxviii. 20 (_Vulg._ xxxvii. 21), ‘Qui retribuunt mala pro bonis, detrahebant mihi, quoniam sequebar bonitatem.’

2799. Jer. xviii. 21 f.

2809. Ps. xxxi. 18 (_Vulg._ xxx. 19), cp. cxix. (_Vulg._ lxviii), 23.

2861. Jer. li. 1, but the passage is misunderstood.

2865. Rom. i. 30, ‘Detractores, Deo odibiles.’

2874. Bern. _Int. Dom._ xxiii. 49, ‘Detrahentes et audientes pari reatu detinentur.’

2893. The disgusting habits of the hoopoe in nesting are often referred to.

2894 ff. There is a close parallel to this in _Conf. Am._ ii. 413 ff.,

‘Lich to the Scharnebudes kinde,
Of whos nature this I finde,’ &c.

2908. Perhaps Prov. xxii. 1.

2917 ff. Luke xvii. 1, 2.

2923. Matt. xviii. 8, 9.

2931. Ps. l. (_Vulg._ xlix.) 20, but it is a very much expanded quotation.

2941. Deut. xxii. 13-19.

2955. See note on 415.

2959. Perhaps a general reference to Ezek. xviii.

2961. _ne tient plait de_, &c., ‘does not hold discourse of example of holy scripture.’

3109. Acts iv. 1.

3116. This line is too long, no doubt by inadvertence, having five measures instead of four. So in _Bal._ xxvii. the first line is of six measures instead of five. Both might easily be amended, if it were thought desirable: for example, here we might read

‘Q’avoit leur prechement oïe.’

The word ‘prechement’ occurs 18092, and very probably this is what the author meant to write.

3133. Ps. vii. 16 (17).

3137. The reference is perhaps to Ecclus. xxvii. 25-29.

3145. The reference is Jeremiah xlv. 3.

3158. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 222, ‘A vice revers unto this,’ where the author is speaking of the same thing as here.

3160. The MS. has ‘male,’ but perhaps the author meant to write ‘mal,’ for disregard of gender is common with him, while formal irregularity of metre is exceedingly rare. Compare, however, 10623, 10628. For the form of expression cp. 3467.

3180. _fait_, used here to supply the place of ‘escoulte.’ ‘As the fox listens for the hounds, so doth he for other men’s loss.’ See note on 1135.

3233. _Par si q’_, ‘provided that,’ cp. 20576.

3234 ff. This is the tale told in illustration of the vice of ‘Gaudium alterius doloris,’ in _Conf. Am._ ii. 291-364.

3240. ‘When the game was thus set between them.’ From this kind of expression comes ‘jeu parti,’ ‘jeupartie,’ meaning a set game or match between two parties, hence a risk or hazardous alternative: Engl. ‘jeopardy.’

3248. Ps. xxxviii. 16 (or xiii. 4).

3253. Ezek. xxv. 3 ff.

3265 ff. John xvi. 20.

3271 ff. This is an addition by our author, who is always unwilling to overlook the punishment of the wicked.

3277. Ecclus. xix. 5, ‘Qui gaudet iniquitate, denotabitur.’

3285. Matt. viii. 12, &c.

3294. _doit supplanter_, ‘may supplant’: see note on 1193.

3361. Cic. _de Off._ iii. 21.

3365. _Conjecture_, ‘trickery’: cp. 6389.

3367. _ce que chalt_: cp. 8905, 25269, 25712. Here and at 8905 it stands by itself, but in the other cases it is followed by ‘car,’ or ‘quant.’ It is apparently equivalent to ‘it matters not,’ or some such phrase.

3388. Ps. xli. 9 (_Vulg._ xl. 10): ‘magnificavit super me supplantationem’ is the Latin version.

3398. _Ambicioun_: evidently not ‘ambition’ in the ordinary sense, but the vice of those who go about prying into other people’s affairs, and playing the spy upon them with a view to some advantage for themselves.

3415. Perhaps Habakkuk ii. 8, 9: cp. 3601, where Habakkuk is certainly quoted as ‘Baruch.’

3445. Jer. iii. 24.

3453. _cele_, used for definite article, see note on 301.

3457. Prov. xi. 3 ff.

3467. A favourite form of expression with our author, cp. 3160, and _Trait._ ii. 1 ff.,

‘Si l’un est bon, l’autre est assetz meilour.’

3487. _Qui_, ‘He whom.’

3531. Prov. xxvi. 22.

3533. _affole_, ‘wounds’ (Low Latin ‘fullare’), to be distinguished from ‘affoler’ meaning ‘to make foolish.’

3541. Ps. lv. 21 (_Vulg._ liv. 22), ‘Molliti sunt sermones eius super oleum, et ipsi sunt iacula.’

3553. Ecclus. xl. 21, ‘Tibiae et psalterium suavem faciunt melodiam, et super utraque lingua suavis.’

3559. Prov. xxix. 5.

3575. ‘His deeds change into sorrow that by which before he made them laugh’: _luy_ for _ly_ = _les_.

3584 ff. Cp. the Latin lines (beginning ‘Nil bilinguis aget’) which introduce the description of ‘Fals semblant’ in _Conf. Am._ ii. 1879, ‘Vultus habet lucem, tenebras mens’ &c.

3589. Ecclus. xxxvii. 20 (23) f., ‘Qui sophistice loquitur odibilis est: in omni re defraudabitur. Non est illi data a Domino gratia,’ &c.

3601. The quotation is from Habakkuk ii. 15 f.

3612 ff. Ps. cxx. 3, 4, of which these two stanzas are a much expanded version.

3637. Ecclus. xxviii. 15 ff.

3667. Perhaps Job v. 12.

3679. Micah ii. 1, ‘Vae, qui cogitatis inutile.’

3685. Jer. iv. 4, ‘ne forte egrediatur ut ignis indignatio mea, et succendatur, et non sit qui extinguat, propter malitiam cogitationum vestrarum.’

3721. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 401,

‘For as the Netle which up renneth
The freisshe rede Roses brenneth,
And makth hem fade and pale of hewe,
Riht so this fals Envious hewe’ &c.

The opposition of rose and nettle is common in our author, e.g. _Bal._ xxxvi. 3, xlviii. 1, _Vox Clam._ vii. 181.

3725. _l’ille Colcos_: cp. _Trait._ viii. 1, and _Conf. Am._ v. 3265: so also in Chaucer. Guido delle Colonne is the person mainly responsible for the idea.

3727. _Medea la meschine_, ‘Medea the maid.’ The word ‘meschine’ means ‘maidservant’ just above and in 5163, but it was also used generally for ‘girl,’ ‘young woman,’ as ‘meschin’ for ‘young man.’ The origin is said to be an Arabic word meaning ‘poor’ (cp. the meaning of ‘mesquin,’ ‘meschino,’ in modern French and Italian), hence ‘feeble,’ ‘delicate.’

3735. Rev. xii. 7, 10: ‘en oel’ stands apparently for ‘ante conspectum Dei.’

3747. The description of the basilisk is perhaps from Solinus, _Collect._ 27. He had it from Plin. _Nat. Hist._ viii. 121.

3773. Prov. xiv. 30, ‘putredo ossium invidia.’

3781. Levit. xiii. 46.

3801. Hor. _Epist._ i. 2. 58, ‘Invidia Siculi non invenere tyranni Maius tormentum.’ Our author did not understand it quite rightly.

3805. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 20, and _Prol._ 329. In all these passages the reference is to the fire of Envy as a heat that consumes itself, rather than anything outside itself.

3823. Cp. _Conf. Am._ ii. 3122 ff.

3831. _Conf. Am._ ii. 3095 ff., where the saying is attributed to Seneca: cp. Dante, _Inf._ xiii. 64.

3841. Perhaps Jerome, who says something of the kind: cp. _Wisd._ ii. 24.

3864. _les faisont a despire_, ‘hate them’: but the preposition with the infinitive in this kind of expression is unusual. As a rule ‘faisont a despire’ would mean ‘ought to be hated’: cp. 1883.

3882. _pour poy du riens_, ‘for a trifling matter,’ lit. ‘for little of matter’: cp. 4826.

3898. _Ore voet, noun voet_, i.e. ‘Ore voet, ore noun voet,’ but cp. 5470.

3913. The text is Ecclus. iv. 30 (35): see note on 1317.

3925. Prov. xxv. 28.

3958. Perhaps we ought rather to read ‘pour ton salu.’

3977. Exod. xxxii. 21, and other passages.

3997. Baruch iv. 6.

4021. Perhaps suggested by Ps. lxxviii. (_Vulg._ lxxvii.) 58 ff.

4067. _Par contumelie_: for the metre see note on 296, and cp. 4312, 4317.

4077. Cp. 4704.

4112. ‘Which flies free without caging.’

4117. Referred to also by Chaucer, _Wyf of Bath, Prol._ 278 ff., and _Tale of Melibeus_, 2276. It is a common enough saying, but not to be found in the Bible in this form: cp. Prov. xxvii. 15.

4129. Jer. viii. 17.

4141. Ecclus. xxv. 15 (22), ‘Non est caput nequius super caput colubri, et non est ira super iram mulieris.’

4147. Perhaps Prov. xv. 2, ‘os fatuorum ebullit stultitiam.’

4155. Ecclus. xxi. 29, ‘In ore fatuorum cor illorum.’

4168. This is related also _Conf. Am._ iii. 639 ff., and there too a doubt is expressed as to whether so much patience was altogether wise.

4189 ff. Ecclus. xxviii. 18 (22) ff.

4203. Ecclus. xxviii. 24 (28), ‘Sepi aures tuas spinis, linguam nequam noli audire.’

4213. James iii. 7, 8.

4219. Apparently a vague reference to Amos iv. 6, 9, ‘dedi vobis stuporem dentium ... Percussi vos in vento urente.’

4237. Zech. v. 5 ff.

4273. _Rampone_, ‘raillery,’ ‘mockery,’ cp. Ital. ‘rampognare.’

4285 ff. The idea seems to be this: ‘Contention wounded by wrath encamps in the heart in a tent of mockery, whence it issues forth through the mouth, and assisted by Slander and Defamation enlarges other men’s vices to their greatest extent, until its own wound becomes so foul that he dies who inhales its corruption.’

4369. Prov. xxvii. 6.

4381. Ecclus. xii. 16.

4387. Prov. vi. 16, 18.

4393. Cic. _de Amic._ 89, ‘odium, quod est venenum amicitiae.’

4453. Beemoth is here perhaps confused with Leviathan, which was regarded by some as a kind of serpent: see Isidore, _Etym._ viii. 27.

4462. _le al_: there is of course an elision, though not indicated in the text.

4477. 2 Macc. v. 17, &c.

4494. Note that in the forms ‘refusablez,’ ‘abhominablez,’ ‘delitablez,’ &c., the _z_ is equivalent to _s_, and does not imply any accenting of the final syllable.

4542. _ou_, for ‘au,’ see Glossary.

4558. _devant lez meins_, ‘beforehand’: cp. 5436.

4561. _survient._ This and the other verbs rhyming with it in the stanza seem to be in the past tense, for ‘survint,’ ‘vint,’ ‘tint,’ &c. Other examples of this will be found elsewhere, e.g. 8585, 9816. The passage means: ‘When the fire from heaven fell on the sacrifice, it was Malignity that inspired the hatred of Abel in the heart of Cain, for which he was accursed.’ ‘Dont’ answers regularly to such expressions as ‘par tiele guise’: see note on 217.

4570. Ps. x. 15, ‘Contere brachium peccatoris et maligni.’

4605. Ps. xxii. 16 (_Vulg._ xxi. 17), ‘concilium malignantium obsedit me,’ &c.

4704. _mestre Catoun_: the author of the well-known _Disticha_, many of whose maxims tend to teach patience.

4717. Exod. xxi. 24 f.

4729. Exod. xxi. 26 f.

4741. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iii. 1095,

‘Contek, so as the bokes sein,
Folhast hath to his Chamberlein,’ &c.

4750. _le court sure_, ‘runs upon him’; so 10763 and elsewhere.

4752. _l’un ne lesse_, ‘he fails not to attain one or the other,’ i.e. either the object of his violence, or his own destruction.

4753. Is. ii. 22, ‘Quiescite ergo ab homine, cuius spiritus in naribus eius est.’ This illustrates the meaning, otherwise rather obscure, of the Latin line after _Conf. Am._ iii. 1088 (introducing the subject of ‘Contek’), which is seen by this to be a reference to the above passage of Isaiah.

4769. _come fist a Asahel_, ‘as it did to Asahel’: see note on 1135. The reference is to 2 Sam. ii. 18 ff.

4826. Cp. 3882.

4837. Ecclus. xxii. 30, ‘Ante ignem camini vapor et fumus ignis inaltatur: sic et ante sanguinem maledicta et contumeliae et minae.’

4850. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iii. 453 ff.

4858. _voit_, used for _vait_, as 3 sing. pres. ind.

4864 ff. This kind of repetition is often used by our author, cp. 8294 ff., _Vox Clam._ iii. 11 ff., and _Conf. Am._ v. 2469 ff.

4870. _ou giroun_, ‘in the bosom’: ‘giro(u)n’ is properly the bend or fold of a cloak (sinus).

4897. 2 Sam. iv.

4906. Matt. xxvi. 52, Rev. xiii. 10.

4945. Ex. xxi. 14.

4962. 2 Sam. vii. 4 ff., but it is not quite accurately cited.

4973. Gen. ix. 6.

5005. Ezek. xxv. 12 f.

5018. Is. xiv. 12, ‘Corruisti in terram, qui vulnerabas gentes.’ The rest is hardly a quotation, though it may give the general sense.

5029 ff. The same thing is related with the same application in _Conf. Am._ iii. 2599-2616. There, as here, it is referred to Solinus, but this seems to be a mistaken reference.

5031. _a diviser_, ‘to describe’ (or ‘compare’), i.e. ‘to describe it, we may say that it has’ &c.: so, ‘pour deviser’ 11245, ‘au droit deviser’ 13204.

5055. _faisont a redoubter_: see note on 1883.

5059. _fait periler_, ‘imperils’: _ainçois ... Que_, ‘before that.’

5114 ff. Matt. v. 3, 5.

5126. _D’Accidie_: see note on 296.

5179. For the use of ‘lée’ in this phrase as a dissyllable cp. 15518, ‘ove lée chiere,’ 17122, 28337. When occurring in other connexions it seems to follow the usual rule, as in 28132, 28199, &c.

5190 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 2739 f.,

‘And makth his exposicion
After the disposicion
Of that he wolde.’

The connexion is the same as here.

5205. On the subject of ‘Tirelincel’ cp. Waddington, _Man. des Pech._ 4078 ff.

5216. ‘Hold thy nurture so dear’ (as to think of it in this matter): ‘norreture’ is that which has to do with physical development, and ‘preu’ I take to represent the Latin ‘prope,’ which appears in this form among others: see Godefroy.

5252. Cp. 8130. To judge by Littré’s examples for the fourteenth-century usage of ‘bout,’ it would seem to be specially used of the top or bottom of a cask.

5257. Prov. xxvi. 14.

5266. Cato, _Distich._ i. 2:

‘Plus vigila semper, neu somno deditus esto,
Nam diuturna quies vitiis alimenta ministrat.’

5269. I do not know what passage is referred to.

5283. Jer. li. 39, ‘inebriabo eos, ut sopiantur et dormiant somnum sempiternum et non consurgant.’

5329. Ecclus. xli. 1, ‘O mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti in substantiis suis.’ The rest is our author’s addition.

5344. Deut. xxviii. 56 f.

5349. _Cil homme tendre_, equivalent to ‘l’omme tendre,’ so 5553, ‘celle alme peccheresse’: see note on 301.

5376. _Luy dorra_: usually in this form of expression (which is common alike in the French, Latin, and English of our author) a negative is used with the verb of the second clause, e.g. _Bal._ xviii. 2.

5377. ‘Peresce’ answers to ‘Ydelnesse’ in the _Confessio Amantis_.

5389 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1090 f.,

‘In Wynter doth he noght for cold,
In Somer mai he noght for hete.’

5395 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1108 ff.,

‘And as a cat wolde ete fisshes
Withoute wetinge of his cles,
So wolde he do.’

5436. _apres la mein_: cp. 4558 and _Conf. Am._ iv. 893: ‘Thanne is he wys after the hond,’ an exact translation of this line.

5437 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 877 ff.

5449. Prov. xx. 4.

5452. _beguinage_, equivalent to ‘beggerie’ (5800), as ‘beguyne’ (6898) is used for ‘beggar.’ The Beguins were mendicants.

5455. 2 Thess. iii. 10.

5458. _le decré_: the reference is probably to the Canon law; cp. 7480.

5492. _des perils ymaginer._ This form of expression, in which the preposition belonging to the infinitive is combined with the article of the object, occurs also 9339, 16303, and elsewhere. So also in other authors, as _Rom. de la Rose_ 2875, ‘Or sunt as roses garder troi.’

5499. Prov. vii. 10-22.

5500. _Qui_, ‘whom.’

5572 f. ‘He who has growth in common with the trees’; an allusion to the text of Gregory quoted so often by our author: see 26869.

5580. _apparant_: I take this to mean ‘heir apparent,’ as in _Conf. Am._ ii. 1711.

5606. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 9,

‘And everemore he seith, “Tomorwe.”’

5622. The kissing of the ‘pax’ came after the prayer of consecration.

5645 ff. Matt. x. 22, and Luke ix. 62.

5659. Deut. xxv. 18.

5701 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 3389 ff., where, however, ‘Tristesce’ is described as developed from ‘Slowthe’ generally, not (as here) from ‘Lachesce’ in particular. ‘Tristesce’ is there synonymous with ‘Desesperance.’

5714. Prov. xxv. 20, ‘Sicut tinea vestimento et vermis ligno, ita tristitia viri nocet cordi.’ The English version is quite different.

5729 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 3432 ff.,

‘For Tristesce is of such a kinde,
That forto meintiene his folie
He hath with him Obstinacie,
Which is withinne of such a slouthe
That he forsaketh alle trouthe,
And wole unto no reson bowe.’

5758. Job vii. 16, ‘Desperavi: nequaquam ultra iam vivam.’

5762. Jer. xviii. 12 ff., ‘Qui dixerunt: Desperavimus: post cogitationes enim nostras ibimus ... Ideo haec dicit Dominus: Interrogate gentes: quis audivit talia horribilia?... Quia oblitus est mei populus meus,... ut fieret terra eorum in desolationem et in sibilum sempiternum: omnis qui praeterierit per eam obstupescet et movebit caput suum.’ This is a good example of our author’s method of dealing with a text.

5792. Cp. 8492.

5794. _jure vent et voie_: cp. 8685, ‘jure tout le monde.’

5822. Cp. _Bal._ vii. 2,

‘Tressalt et buile et court aval le prée’

(speaking of a spring).

5839. Eccles. ii. 21, ‘Nam cum alius laboret in sapientia et doctrina et sollicitudine, homini otioso quaesita dimittit: et hoc ergo vanitas et magnum malum.’ I suspect we should read here

‘que c’est errour
Et vanité,’ &c.

5845. Perhaps Ecclus. xxxiii. 29, ‘Multam enim malitiam docuit otiositas,’ the rest being added by our author.

5854. The reference is perhaps really to Ezek. xvi. 49.

5868. Matt. xii. 44 f.

5879. After this, one leaf has been cut out, which contained 190 lines and one rubric, ‘La quinte file de Accidie, q’est appellée Necgligence,’ or something to that effect.

6070. The author seems here to be speaking of the negligence shown by overseers of some kind, who do not efficiently superintend those under their authority.

6082. 2 Tim. ii. 12.

6102. _ou pis_, for ‘au pis,’ ‘in his heart’: cp. 7100.

6103. James i. 23 f.

6109. Prov. xxxi. 4, 5.

6115. Hos. iv. 6.

6226. _ne serroit partie_, ‘should not be a party interested in the suit.’ The conditional is used for subjunctive, as often.

6253 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 2015 ff.,

‘Bote as the Luce in his degre
Of tho that lasse ben than he
The fisshes griedili devoureth,’ &c.,

where the author is speaking, as here, of ‘Covoitise.’

6303. The ‘lot,’ as a measure of wine, is about half a gallon.

6313 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 2859 ff., where Coveitise has two especial counsellors, Falswitness and Perjurie.

6315. ‘Chalenge’ (Lat. calumnia) is a claim or accusation against a person in a court of law, usually in a bad sense.

6328. _falt ... pour retenir_, ‘it is necessary to retain’: ‘pour’ is often used by our author instead of ‘de’ or ‘a,’ representing perhaps the English ‘forto’: cp. ll. 7650, 10639, 29078, _Bal._ iv*. 1, xlv. 1, 2, &c.

6345. Mal. iii. 5, ‘et ero testis velox maleficis et adulteris et periuris et qui calumniantur mercedem mercenarii,’ &c.

6363. Jer. l. 33 ff. ‘Haec dicit Dominus exercituum: Calumniam sustinent filii Israel ... Gladius ad Chaldaeos, ait Dominus, et ad habitatores Babylonis,’ &c.

6386. Can this be Is. xix. 9, ‘Confundentur qui operabantur linum ... texentes subtilia’?

6389. _Conjecture_, cp. 3365.

6391. Luke xvi. 8.

6397. Ambrose tells the story, _Hex._ v. 8, of the _crab_ and the oyster, ‘tunc clanculo calculum immittens, impedit conclusionem ostrei.’ I do not know the word ‘areine.’

6409. _Perjurie_: see note on l. 296.

6434. This was a charge commonly brought against swearers by the preachers of the day: cp. Chaucer, _Pardoneres Tale_, l. 12, &c., _Persones Tale_, 591 (Skeat).

6445. Cp. Matt. xxiii. 21 f.

6451. Probably Is. xlviii. 1.

6482. Zech. v. 1-4.

6496. _si tresfalse noun_, ‘except (what was) utterly false’: cp. 8853, _Bal._ xxiv. 1.

6498. Ps. lxiii. 11.

6499. Mal. iii. 5: cp. 6345.

6528. Perhaps Prov. i. 18, ‘moliuntur fraudes contra animas suas.’

6529. Levit. vi. 2-7.

6539. ‘Fails to do right at the risk of his soul,’ and not merely of his worldly goods, as by the old law.

6544. Cp. _Bal._ xlii. 3, where ‘fraude et malengin’ go together, as here.

6545 f. ‘It were well if they were caught in the snare, to be thrown far into the deep sea.’

6553 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4396 ff., where the practice here mentioned is ascribed to ‘Usure.’

6556. _au creance_, ‘on credit,’ meaning apparently that they charge exorbitant prices when credit is given, cp. 7246, 7273 ff.

6561. Deut. xxv. 14.

6640. _tout son propre adune_, ‘gathers together everything for himself,’ i.e. appropriates everything.

6672. _qu’il doit vivre_, ‘that he should live’: for this use of ‘doit,’ cp. 1193.

6685 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4917-4922.

6733. For this treatment of _dame_ as a monosyllable in the metre, cp. 13514, 16579, and _Bal._ xix. 3, xx. 2, &c.

6745. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 1971 (for the form of expression).

6750. Matt. xix. 24.

6758. 1 Tim. vi. 10.

6760. Senec. _Dial._ xii. 13, ‘si avaritia dimisit, vehementissima generis humani pestis.’

6769. Prov. xxvii. 20.

6781. _Conf. Am._ vii. 2551.

6783 ff. 2 Chron. xxi. Our author is evidently familiar with every part of the Old Testament history.

6798. Ambros. _Hex._ vi. 24.

6841. Probably Ezek. xxii. 25.

6855. Job iv. 11, ‘Tigris periit, eo quod non haberet praedam.’ The English version is different.

6859. Prov. xi. 24.

6865. Is. xxxiii. 1.

6869. Jer. xxx. 16.

6877. This time ‘Baruch’ stands for Nahum, ii. 8 ff.

6886. Nahum ii. 10, ‘et facies omnium eorum sicut nigredo ollae.’

6925 ff. The same three that are mentioned here, Robbery, Stealth, and Sacrilege, are dealt with in the same order in the _Confessio Amantis_ immediately after ‘Ravine’ (v. 6075 ff.), though not as dependent upon it.

6940 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 6089 ff.,

‘Forthi to maken his pourchas
He lith awaitende on the pas,’ &c.

6958. _m’encordie_: see note on l. 296; but perhaps we should read ‘m’encorde,’ cp. l. 7574.

6967. _ne fait pas a demander_, ‘there is no need to ask’: an impersonal form of the construction noticed on l. 1883.

6987. Ps. lxii. 10.

6991. Prov. xxi. 7.

6999. Joshua vii.

7015. Ambros. _Hex._ v. 18, ‘Accipitres feruntur in eo duram adversum proprios fetus habere inclementiam, quod ubi eos adverterint tentare volatus primordia, nidis eiciunt suis,’ &c.

7025 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 6501-6516, a close parallel. ‘Stelthe’ (in the Latin margin ‘secretum latrocinium’) corresponds to ‘Larcine’ here.

7033 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 6517-6521.

7081. Gen. xxxi. 19 ff.

7093. This story is told _Conf. Am._ v. 7105*-7207* under the head of Sacrilege, with no essential difference except in the greater detail and in the name of the person involved. Here it is ‘Dyonis,’ apparently for convenience of rhyming, there Lucius.

d’Appollinis: the genitive form is also used in _Conf. Am._ v. 7109*,

‘Unto the temple Appollinis.’

7109. _Conf. Am._ v. 7186* ff.,

‘Gold in his kinde, as seith the bok,
Is hevy bothe and cold also,’ &c.

7153 ff. The distinctions of various kinds of Sacrilege, indicated in this stanza, are more fully developed _Conf. Am._ v. 7015* ff.: cp. Chaucer, _Persones Tale_, 801 ff. (Skeat).

7177 ff. The same examples occur in _Conf. Am._ v. 7007 ff., with the addition of Antiochus.

7181. 2 Kings xxv. 8 ff.

7193. Jer. l., li.

7209. Cp. Neh. x. 31, &c.

7215. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4395, ‘Usure with the riche duelleth.’

7227 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4387.

7249. Lev. xxv. 37, &c., Luke vi. 35.

7270. _Qe_, repeated from the line above.

7282. _ou mein_, apparently for ‘au meinz,’ ‘at least.’

7315. The reference seems to be a mistaken one.

7319. _le tresor de Pavie_, cp. l. 1944. Pavia no doubt has its reputation of wealth from having been the capital of the Lombard kingdom.

7379. _Les lettres_: cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 209.

7393 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1233 ff.

7416. _Poverte avoir_, ‘that Poverty has.’

7429. Matt. xxi. 12.

7441. Rev. xi. 1.

7453. Ezek. vii. 12.

7454. Is. xxiv. 2.

7459. 2 Kings v. 20 ff.

7475. _concordance_: that is, what we should call a ‘harmony’ of the Gospels or other parts of the Bible.

7499. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 4678, and the marginal Latin.

7507. Probably we should read ‘tenont,’ or ‘tienont,’ for ‘tenoit’: cp. 8459.

7511. _privé de son secroy_, ‘privy to his secret counsels.’

7549. The reference is not really to the Psalter, but to the song of Moses, Deut. xxxii. 13.

7562. Ecclus. xxxi. 29, ‘Nequissimo in pane murmurabit civitas.’

7569. 2 Cor. ix. 6.

7587. ‘the right pit of helle,’ as they said in English. The same comparison is made _Conf. Am._ v. 29 ff. With these cp. Chaucer, _Tale of Melibeus_: ‘And therefore seith seint Austyn that the averous man is likned unto helle’ &c.

7597. I fear that this is a rendering of ‘Avaro autem nihil est scelestius,’ with additions by our author: Ecclus. x. 9.

7603 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 249 ff.

7609. Col. iii. 5, ‘avaritiam, quae est simulacrorum servitus.’

7611. 2 Kings xxi. 21 ff.

7621 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 363 ff., where the same comparison is made in fuller detail.

7640. The author referred to as ‘Marcial’ here and in ll. 15505, 15949, is in fact Godfrey of Winchester, popularly called by the name of the epigrammatist whom he not unhappily imitated. He was a native of Cambrai, and prior of St. Swithin’s in the twelfth century. His epigrams are repeatedly quoted under the name of Martial by Albertano of Brescia in the _Liber Consolationis_. They will be found in Wright’s _Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century_ (Rolls series). The reference here is to _Ep._ cxxxvi,

‘Non sibi, non aliis prodest, dum vivit, avarus:
Et prodest aliis et sibi, dum moritur.’

7645 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 49 ff., a very close parallel,

‘To seie hou such a man hath good,
Who so that reson understod,
It is impropreliche seid,
For good hath him and halt him teid,’ &c.

7650. _Pour ... faire_: cp. 6328.

7678. Perhaps Jer. xv. 13.

7694. Bern. _Serm. Resurr._ iii. 1, ‘Et vero magna abusio et magna nimis, ut dives esse velit vermiculus vilis, propter quem Deus maiestatis et Dominus sabaoth voluit pauper fieri.’

7728. _farin_: a form of ‘frarin’ (‘frerin’), ‘beggarly,’ hence ‘wretched.’

7731. For this use of ‘tire’ cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 817.

7739. See note on 415.

7777. Job xv. 27, ‘Operuit faciem eius crassitudo, et de lateribus eius arvina dependet.’ Perhaps our author read ‘anima’ for ‘arvina,’ unless he was also thinking of xl. 15 (11).

7791. _ces_, for ‘les,’ see note on 301.

7825 ff. Cp. Chaucer, _Pardoneres Tale_, 76 ff.

7827. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 870 (margin), ‘Iupiter deus deliciarum.’

7883. _allaita_, apparently here ‘sucked (milk)‘: ‘he thinks not of the former time when he sucked the simple milk and longed for it.’

7896. ‘Nor will they hunt in that wood,’ that is, they will not share in the sport: ‘brosser,’ ‘bruisser,’ a term of the chase, meaning to ride or run through thick underwood, see Littré under ‘brosser,’ and _New Eng. Dict._ ‘brush.’

7940. ‘Martinmas beef’ was the meat salted in the autumn for the supply of the household during the winter, in times when keep for cattle in winter was hard to get.

7969. Cp. _Trait._ xv. 1 ff., ‘Car beal oisel par autre se chastie,’ a proverbial expression meaning that one should take example by others.

7972. The story is told in the same connexion _Conf. Am._ vi. 986 ff.

7993. 2 Pet. ii. 12 ff.

8049. Deut. xxxii. 15 ff.

8053. Is. xlvii. 8, 9.

8072. For the position of ‘et’ see note on 415.

8077. Job xx. 15 f. The preceding stanza is mostly the invention of our author.

8089. Job xx. 19 ff.

8103. Lam. iv. 5, ‘qui nutriebantur in croceis, amplexati sunt stercora.’ Our author misunderstood ‘in croceis.’

8138 f. Cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 19-23.

8191. _serroit governé_, ‘should be ruled.’

8236. Gen. xix. 30 ff.

8246 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 71 f.,

‘He drinkth the wyn, bot ate laste
The wyn drynkth him and bint him faste.’

8266. _puis la mort_, ‘after death,’ ‘puis’ used as a preposition.

8269. Is. v. 11.

8278. Prov. xxiii. 31 f., or Ecclus. xxxi. 32 ff.

8289. Jer. xxv. 15.

8294 ff. See note on 4864.

8376. _ou_ = ‘ove.’

8403. The ‘sestier’ would be about a gallon and a half.

8459. I substitute _devont_ for _devoit_: cp. 7507.

8482. _superflual_: the adjective form is used instead of the name ‘Superfluité’ for the sake of the rhyme.

8495. Some correction seems to be required. Perhaps read ‘Siqe’ for ‘Siq’il.’

8501. Cp. _Conf. Am._ v. 7755 f.,

‘For thanne is ther non other lawe,
Bot “Jacke was a good felawe.”’

8533. Senec. _Ep._ lx. 2, ‘Una silva elephantis pluribus sufficit: homo et terra et mari pascitur.’

8553. Cp. _Conf. Am._ vi. 60, ‘And seith, “Nou baillez ça the cuppe.”’

8559. 1 Cor. vi. 13.

8581 ff. This stanza is a repetition, with slight variations, of 8041-8052.

8815. _conivreisoun._ The dictionaries quote no examples of ‘conniver’ or ‘connivence’ earlier than the sixteenth century.

8853. _si de vo teste noun_, cp. 6496.

8869. The bird meant is no doubt the lapwing: see note on _Trait._ xii. l. 19.

8905. _ce que chalt_: cp. 3367.

8911. A reference to Wisd. iv. 3, ‘spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices altas,’ a text not unknown in English history.

8916. Matt. vii. 26.

8924. ‘Whereby she will deliver up her body free,’ i.e. since she gives presents as well as receiving them, she must be held not to sell herself, but to give herself away to her lover; and this, observes the author, is the worse alternative, because it impoverishes her husband.

8941. _creroie_, ‘ought to trust,’ see note on 1688.

8942. _verroie_, conditional for pret. subj.: see note on l. 25.

8952. Cp. _Bal._ xliii. 2, ‘Si es comun plus qe la halte voie’; also 9231 ff.

8984. _soubgite et abandonnée_, ‘as his subject and servant.’

9055. ‘If we consider well, we shall see that’ &c.: see note on 1244.

9068. The reference is to Job xxxi. 9-12. The verse quoted is ‘Ignis est usque ad perditionem devorans, et omnia eradicans genimina.’

9085. ‘Incest’ is here used in a much wider sense than belongs to the word in English. It includes the impure intercourse of those who are near of kin, as we see in ll. 9181 ff.; but the cases of it which are chiefly insisted on have to do with breach of the ecclesiastical vow of purity, and this not only where the confessor corrupts his penitent (who is his daughter in a spiritual sense), but also in general where monk, nun, or priest commits fornication.

9130 ff. ‘so that at last by reason of his inconstancy and habitual sin we see Incest throw off his vows and leave the order.’

9132. The ‘possessioners’ are the members of those religious orders which held property, as distinguished from the mendicant orders mentioned next.

9138. _ses Abbes._ If this is singular, the use of the subject form after a preposition is very harsh: it is ‘son Abbes’ (though subject) in l. 12115. Perhaps the monastic rent-collector is spoken of here generally, and as coming from a variety of monasteries.

9139. _vois_, the usual form for ‘vais,’ as 440, &c.

9143. _irroit_, see 1688.

9148. _ly limitantz_, ‘the limitour’: cp. Chaucer’s ironical reference to him at the beginning of the _Wyf of Bath’s Tale_.

9156. The woman’s husband passes for the father of the children.

9158. _au dieu demeine_, ‘in the possession of God.’

9168. ‘Than he who does (the same) as regards his neighbour’ (who is not under a religious vow).

9171. This is the case of the widow’s marriage to the Church, the vow of not marrying again, see 17827 ff. This was taken, for example, by Eleanor, sister of Henry III, who afterwards married Simon de Montfort. The vow of course would be dispensed with, and the relations here contemplated are probably those of marriage, notwithstanding the severity with which they are spoken of in ll. 9172-74: therefore the author is doubtful about the punishment of this offence in a future state, and suggests that the arrangements of human law, by which the wife would often suffer in property by such a marriage, may be a sufficient punishment. On this subject see Furnivall’s _Fifty Earliest English Wills_, E.E.T.S.

9229. _en cest escrit_, ‘in the scripture,’ cp. 9277: so ‘celle’ is used for the definite article, 9786 and elsewhere; see note on 301.

9230. The reference seems to be a general one to such passages as Jer. iii. 1 ff.

9240. _en ton despit_, ‘in hatred of thee.’

9265. _El viele loy_, e.g. Deut. xxiii. 17.

9281. Perhaps ‘burette’ is here the same as ‘birette,’ used for a lady’s head-covering, see Littré: usually it means a small phial, and ‘burettes’ might stand here for scent-bottles.

9292. For ‘mie’ without negative particle cp. 2589, and _Bal._ xliv. 1.

9311. _au petit loisir_ seems to mean ‘in a small space of time,’ ‘loisir’ (‘leisour’) being ordinarily used in its modern sense, referring to restrictions of time: so in the phrase ‘par loisir’ 5693, and ‘a bon leisour’ 9222. In the next stanza, however, it has a somewhat different sense, ‘femme a son loisir faldra,’ 9315, meaning apparently ‘the woman shall not be at his (_or_ her) own disposal’; and later (9322) ‘au bon loisir’ means ‘with ease.’

9314. _sur luy_, that is ‘on her’: cp. 2151, 9351.

9320. _luy_, here equivalent to ‘la’: cp. _Bal._ xxiii. 2.

9359. The reference probably is to Matt. v. 28, ‘Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’

9410. _s’ordinaire_: cp. 1477.

9496. ‘Compels hearts to love’: so ‘par destresce’ 5549, ‘by force.’

9553. 1 Cor. ii. 14, ‘Animalis autem homo non percipit ea quae sunt Spiritus Dei.’ Our author not unnaturally fails to understand ‘animalis.’

9557. Wisd. 1. 4, ‘in malevolam animam non introibit sapientia.’

_tal_: used here for the rhyme, but it is in fact the older Norman form, as in _Rom. de Rou_, 2270, quoted by Burguy, _Gramm._ i. 193.

9565. Nihil est enim tam mortiferum ingenio quam luxuria est: quoted as ‘Socrates’ by Caec. Balbus, p. 43 (ed. Woelfflin).

9579. Amos i. 5, ‘disperdam habitatorem de campo idoli et tenentem sceptrum de domo voluptatis.’ The English version is different.

9588. _Que_, ‘that which’: cp. 9646.

9591. _climant._ This is the reading of the MS., but possibly the author wrote ‘cliniant’ (for ‘cligniant’).

9601. I do not know the reference.

9611. ‘unto the enemy’s throat.’

9613. The sense of this line is repeated by the word ‘Luxure,’ 9616.

9616. Cic. _de Off._ i. 123, ‘luxuria ... cum omni aetati turpis, tum senectuti foedissima.’

9620. ‘Others will excuse themselves ill, but the old worse than the rest,--or rather, none will be able to excuse themselves at all’: this seems to be the meaning.

9656. _serroit_: note on 1688.

9671. _la halte voie_, &c., the high-way to hell: ‘remeine’ instead of ‘remeint’ for the rhyme.

9678. _feis_, 2 sing. pret.

9687. _fait a loer_, ‘she ought to be praised,’ see note on 1883.

9720. _Qui corps_, ‘whose body,’ cp. 3491.

9782. _mes amis_: the subject form of the possessive pronoun is used here, as ‘tes’ in _Bal._ iv*. 3.

9786. The slight alteration of ‘mettroit’ to ‘metteroit’ is required by the metre.

9816. _tient_ may be preterite, though ‘tint’ occurs 3322: cp. 4561 ff.

9820. _dont fuist a baniere_, ‘whose leader she was.’

9889. Rev. xiii.

9907. ‘Seven heads, because he devotes himself to the seven sins.’

9956. ‘When she plays with the mouse’: ‘se fait juer’ is simply equivalent to ‘se jue,’ cp. 39, 1135, 1320, &c.

10071. _De resoun_, &c., explaining ‘le faisoit.’

10117. I take ‘pareies’ to be for ‘parées’ (past part.), as ‘journeies’ for ‘journées,’ see Introduction, p. xx.

10121. _preies_, i.e. ‘proies,’ the older form used for sake of the rhyme. For the meaning cp. _Bal._ xv. 4.

10125. _les cornont_, ‘play music to them’: for ‘les’ cp. 2416, &c.; ‘par leur journeies’ seems to mean ‘on their way.’

10140. That is, the meeting will not be one of like with like.

10176. _oietz chançon flourie_: cp. _Bal. Ded._ i. 3, ‘Ore en balade, u sont les ditz floriz.’

10176(R). _Puisq ‘il ad dit_, &c. We have the same form of expression in the heading of the _Traitié_.

10215. 2 Kings iv. 33.

10221. Luke vi. 12.

10233. Ps. cxlv. (_Vulg._ cxliv.) 18.

10239. Ps. xxxvii. (_Vulg._ xxxvi.) 7, ‘Subditus esto Domino, et ora eum,’ but there is nothing to explain ‘delacioun.’

10243. Dan. vi. 10.

10249. 1 Macc. iii. 44 ff., 2 Macc. viii. 1, and x. 25.

10262. Tobit iii. 7 ff.

10267. Tobit iii. 1 ff.

10273. 1 Sam. i.

10279. Luke vii. 38.

10286. Luke xxi. 36.