Quidam morosi Reges, quidam viciosi,
Disparibus meritis sic pax sic mocio litis
Publica regnorum manifestant gesta suorum:
Quicquid delirant Reges, plectuntur Achiui,
Quo mala respirant, vbi mores sunt fugitiui.
Laus et honor Regum foret obseruacio legum,
Ad quas iurati sunt prima sorte vocati:
Vt celeste bonum puto concilium fore donum,
Quo prius in terris pax contulit oscula guerris: 10
Consilium dignum Regem facit esse benignum,
Est aliter signum quo spergitur omne malignum.
In bonitate pares sumat sibi consiliares
Rex bonus, et cuncta venient sibi prospera iuncta:
Qui regit optentum de consilio sapientum
Regnum, non ledit set ab omni labe recedit:
Consilium tortum scelus omne refundit abortum
Regis in errorem, regni quo perdit amorem.
‘Ve qui predaris,’ ~Ysaias~ clamat auaris;
Sic verbis claris loquitur tibi qui dominaris. 20
Rex qui plus aurum populi quam corda thesaurum
Computat, a mente populi cadit ipse repente.
Os vbi vulgare non audet verba sonare,
Stat magis obscura sub murmure mens loqutura:
Que stupet in villa cicius plebs murmurat illa,
Vnde malum crescit, sapiens quo sepe pauescit.
Est tibi credendum murmur satis esse timendum;
Cum sit commune, tunc te super omnia mune.[811]
Lingua nequit fari mala, cor nec premeditari,
Que parat obliqus sub fraude dolosus amicus: 30
Mundus erit testis, vir talis vt altera pestis
Inficit occulto regnum de crimine multo.
Blandus adulator et auarus consiliator,
Quamuis non velles, plures facit esse rebelles:
Sepius ex herbis morbus curatur acerbis,
Sepe loquela grauis iuuat et nocet illa suauis.
Qui falsum pingunt sub fraudeque vera refingunt,
Hii sunt qui blando sermone nocent aliquando:
Rex qui conducit tales, sibi scandala ducit,
Nomen et abducit quod nobile raro reducit: 40
Quod viguit mane, sibi vespere transit inane,
Dummodo creduntur que verba dolosa loquntur.
Consilio tali regnum magis in speciali
Vndique turbatur, quo Regis honor variatur:
Nunc ita sicut heri poterit res ista videri,
Vnde magis plangit populus, quem lesio tangit.
Set premunitus non fallitur inde peritus;
Quod videt ante manum, fugit omne notabile vanum:
Cum laqueatur auis, cauet altera, sicque suauis
Rex pius in cura semper timet ipse futura. 50
Rex insensatus nullos putat esse reatus,
Quam prius ante fores casus sibi sint grauiores;
Set qui prescire vult causas, expedit ire,
Plebis et audire voces per easque redire:
Si sit in errore Regis vel in eius honore,
Hoc de clamore populi prefertur ab ore.
Est qui morosus, Rex non erit ambiciosus,
Set sub eo tutum regni manet omne statutum:
Nomine preclarus nunquam fuit vllus auarus,
Larga manus nomen cum laude meretur et omen: 60
Nomen regale populi vox dat tibi, quale
Sit, bene siue male, deus illud habet speciale.
[Sidenote: Nota.]
Rex qui tutus eris, si temet noscere queris,
Ad vocem plebis aures sapienter habebis:
Culpe vel laudis ex plebe creatur, vt audis,
~Fama ferens verba que~ dulcia sunt et acerba.
Fama cito crescit, subito tamen illa vanescit,
Saltem fortuna stabilis quia non manet vna:
Principio scire fortunam seu stabilire,
Non est humanum super hoc quid ponere planum; 70
Fine set expertum valet omnis dicere certum,
Qualia sunt facta, quia tunc probat exitus acta.
Rex qui laudari cupit et de fine beari,
Sint sua facta bona, recoletur vt inde corona.
Regia precedant benefacta que crimina cedant,
Viuat vt eterno sic Rex cum Rege superno:
Absque deo vana cum sit tibi cotidiana
Pompa, recorderis, sine laude dei morieris.
Rex sibi qui mundum prefert Cristumque secundum
Linquit, adherebit vbi finis laude carebit: 80
Regis enim vita cum sit sine laude sopita,
Nomen erat quale, dabit vltima cronica tale.
Et sic concludo breuiter de carmine nudo,
Ordine quo regnant Reges, sua nomina pregnant.
Quo caput infirmum, nichil est de corpore firmum,
Plebs neque firmatur, vbi virtus non dominatur.
Rex qui securam laudis vult carpere curam,
Cristum preponat, Reges qui laude coronat:
Nam qui presumit de se, cum plus sibi sumit,
Fine carens laude stat fama retrograda caude. 90
Omni viuenti scola pertinet ista regenti,
Displicet hic genti qui non placet omnipotenti,
Gracia succedit, meritis vbi culpa recedit:
Qui sic non credit, sua Rex regalia ledit.
Non ex fatali casu set iudiciali
Pondere regali stat medicina mali.
Plebs vt ouile gregis, mors vitaque, regula legis,
Sub manibus Regis sunt ea quanta legis.
Tanta licet pronus pro tempore det tibi thronus;
Sit nisi fine bonus, non honor est set onus. 100
Rex igitur videat cum curru quomodo vadat,
Et sibi prouideat, ne rota versa cadat.
Celorum Regi pateant que scripta peregi,
Namque sue legi res nequit vlla tegi.
FOOTNOTES:
[809] ‘O deus immense’ &c. _Text of_ S, _collated with_ CH
[810] _Title_ Carmen quod Iohannes Gower tempore regis Ricardi, dum
vixit, vltimo composuit CHG
[811] 28 comune S
LAST POEMS
=Hic in fine notandum est qualiter ab illa Cronica que Vox clamantis
dicitur vsque in finem istius Cronice que tripertita est, Ego inter
alios scribentes super hiis que medio tempore in Anglia contingebant,
secundum varias rerum accidencias varia carmina, prout patet, que
ad legendum necessaria sunt, notabiliter conscripsi. Sed nunc, quia
vlterius scribere non sufficio, excusacionis mee causam scriptis
subsequentibus plenius declarabo.=
Quicquid homo scribat, finem natura ministrat,
Que velut vmbra fugit, nec fugiendo redit;
Illa michi finem posuit, quo scribere quicquam
Vlterius nequio, sum quia cecus ego.
Posse meum transit, quamuis michi velle remansit;
Amplius vt scribat hoc michi posse negat.
Carmina, dum potui, studiosus plurima scripsi;
Pars tenet hec mundum, pars tenet illa deum:
Vana tamen mundi mundo scribenda reliqui,
Scriboque mentali carmine verba dei. 10
Quamuis ad exterius scribendi deficit actus,
Mens tamen interius scribit et ornat opus:
Sic quia de manibus nichil amodo scribo valoris,
Scribam de precibus que nequit illa manus.
Hoc ego, vir cecus, presentibus oro diebus,
Prospera quod statuas regna futura, deus,
Daque michi sanctum lumen habere tuum. Amen.
* * * * *
S _as above_: _in_ CHG _as follows_:
=Nota hic in fine qualiter a principio illius Cronice que Vox
clamantis dicitur, vna cum sequenti Cronica que tripertita est, tam de
tempore Regis Ricardi secundi vsque in ipsius deposicionem, quam de
coronacione Illustrissimi domini Regis Henrici quarti vsque in annum
Regni sui secundum, Ego licet indignus inter alios scribentes scriptor
a diu solicitus, precipue super hiis que medio tempore in Anglia
contingebant, secundum varias rerum accidencias varia carmina, que ad
legendum necessaria sunt, sub compendio breuiter conscripsi. Et nunc,
quia tam grauitate senectutis quam aliarum infirmitatum multipliciter
depressus vlterius de cronicis scribere discrete non sufficio,
excusacionem meam necessariam, prout patet, consequenter declarare
intendo.=
Henrici Regis annus fuit ille secundus,
Scribere dum cesso, sum quia cecus ego,
Vltra posse nichil, quamuis michi velle ministrat,
Amplius vt scribam non meus actus habet.
Scribere dum potui, studiosus plurima scripsi;
Pars tenet hec mundum, pars tenet illa deum:
Vana tamen mundi mundo scribenda reliqui,
Scriboque finali carmine vado mori.
Scribat qui veniet post me discrecior alter,
Ammodo namque manus et mea penna silent. 10*
Sic quia nil manibus potero conferre valoris,
Est michi de precibus ferre laboris onus.
Deprecor ergo meis lacrimis, viuens ego cecus,
Prospera quod statuas regna futura, deus,
Daque michi sanctum lumen habere tuum. Amen.
* * * * *
_In the Trentham_ MS. _as follows_ (_without heading_),
Henrici quarti primus Regni fuit annus,
Quo michi defecit visus ad acta mea.
Omnia tempus habent, finem natura ministrat,
Quem virtute sua frangere nemo potest.
Vltra posse nichil, quamuis michi velle remansit,
Amplius vt scribam non michi posse manet.
Dum potui scripsi, set nunc quia curua senectus
Turbauit sensus, scripta relinquo scolis.
Scribat qui veniet post me discrecior alter,
Ammodo namque manus et mea penna silent. 10**
Hoc tamen in fine verborum queso meorum,
Prospera quod statuat Regna futura deus. Amen.
=Orate pro anima Iohannis Gower. Quicumque enim pro anima ipsius
Iohannis deuote orauerit, tociens quociens Mille quingentos dies
indulgencie ab ecclesia rite concessos misericorditer in domino
possidebit.=
* * * * *
CH _as above_: G _as follows_:
=Orantibus pro anima Iohannis Gower mille quingenti dies indulgencie
misericorditer in domino conceduntur.=
(_Shield of arms borne by two angels._)
Armigeri scutum nichil ammodo fert sibi tutum,
Reddidit immo lutum morti generale tributum.
Spiritus exutum se gaudeat esse solutum,
Est vbi virtutum regnum sine labe statutum.
(_A bier, with candle at head and foot._)
[812]Vnanimes esse qui secula duxit ad esse
Nos iubet expresse, quia debet amor superesse;
Lex cum iure datur, pax gaudet, plebs gratulatur,
Regnum firmatur, vbi verus amor dominatur:
Sicut yemps florem, diuisio quassat amorem,[813]
Nutrit et errorem quasi pestis agitque dolorem.
Quod precessit heri docet ista pericla timeri,
Vt discant veri sapientes secla mederi.
Filius ipse dei, manet in quo spes requiei,[814]
Ex meritis fidei dirigat acta rei. 10
=Diligamus invicem.=
[815]Presul, ouile regis, vbi morbus adest macularum,
[Sidenote: Nota de primordiis Stelle Comate in Anglia.]
Lumina dumque tegis, tenebrescit pestis earum.
Mune pericla gregis, patuit quia stella minarum,
Vnde viam Regis turbat genus insidiarum.
Velle loco legis mundum nunc ducit auarum,
Sic vbicumque legis, nichil est nisi cordis amarum,
Quod maneat clarum, stat modo dulce parum.
Cultor in ecclesia qui deficiente sophia
Semina vana serit, Messor inanis erit.
Hii set cultores, sunt quorum semina mores
Ad messem Cristi, plura lucrantur ibi.[816]
Qui cupit ergo bonus celorum lucra colonus,
Vnde lucrum querat, semina sancta serat.
Qui pastor Cristi iusto cupit ordine sisti,
Non sit cum Cristo Symon mediator in isto:
Querat pasturam Pastor sine crimine puram,
Nam nimis est vile, pascat si Symon ouile. 10
Per loca deserta, quo nulla patet via certa,
Symon oues ducit, quas Cristo raro reducit.
Dicunt scripture memorare nouissima vite;
[Sidenote: Nota contra mortuorum executores.[817]]
Pauper ab hoc mundo transiet omnis homo.
Dat fortuna status varios, natura set omnes
Fine suo claudit, cunctaque morte rapit.
Post mortem pauci, qui nunc reputantur amici,
Sunt memores anime, sis memor ergo tue:
Da, dum tempus habes, tibi propria sit manus heres;[818]
Auferet hoc nemo, quod dabis ipse deo.
FOOTNOTES:
[812] ‘Vnanimes esse’ &c. _This and the three remaining pieces are
found in_ CHG, _and, except the second, also in_ E
[813] 5 _margin_ No_ta_ pro amore E
[814] 9 ipse] ille E Diligamus invicem _om._ E
[815] ‘Presul’ &c. 1 Regis MSS.
[816] ‘Cultor in ecclesia’ &c. 4 ff. _margin_ No_ta_ q_ui_d pastores
eccl_es_ie debe_n_t esse et q_uo_modo debe_n_t intrare &c. E
[817] ‘Dicunt scripture’ &c. 2 ff. _margin_ Nota--executores] No_ta_
q_uo_d bonu_m_ est vnicuiq_ue_ esse executor sui ipsius E
[818] 7 Dum tua tempus habes EH
NOTES
EPISTOLA.
This Epistle, written apparently on the occasion of sending a copy
of the book to the archbishop, is found only in the All Souls MS.,
and it is reasonable to suppose that this was the copy in question.
The statement of Mr. Coxe in the Roxburghe edition, that ‘the preface
to archbishop Arundel ... is also in the original hand’ of the book
(Introduction, p. lix) is a surprising one, and must have been due to
some deception of memory. The hand here is quite a different one from
that of the text which follows, and has a distinctly later character.
The piece is full of erasures, which are indicated in this edition by
spaced type, but the corrections are in the same hand as the rest.
Having no other copy of it, we cannot tell what the original form of
the erased passages may have been, but it is noticeable that the most
important of them (ll. 26-34) has reference almost entirely to the
blindness of the author, and nearly every one contains something which
may be regarded as alluding to this, either some mention of light and
darkness, or some allusion to the fact that his only perceptions now
are those of the mind. We may perhaps conclude that the Epistle was
inscribed here before the author quite lost his eyesight, and that the
book then remained by him for some time before it was presented. The
illuminated capital S with which this composition begins is combined
with a miniature painting of the archbishop.
2. _tibi scribo_, ‘I dedicate to thee.’
3. _Quod ... scriptum_: written over erasure; perhaps originally ‘Quem
... librum,’ altered to avoid the repetition of ‘librum’ from the
preceding line.
4. _contempletur_: apparently in a passive impersonal sense.
17. _Cecus ego mere._ The word ‘mere’ alone is over erasure here, but
if we suppose that the original word was ‘fere,’ we may regard this
as referring originally to a gradual failure of the eyesight, not to
complete blindness.
19. _Corpore defectus_, ‘the failure in my body,’ as subject of ‘sinit.’
23. _dumque_: equivalent to ‘dum’ in our author’s language; cp. i. 165,
2007, &c.
33. _morosa_: this word has a good meaning in Gower’s language; cp. ‘O
deus immense,’ l. 2, where ‘morosi’ is opposed to ‘viciosi.’
VOX CLAMANTIS
CAPITULA.
LIB. I. Cap. iii. _quandam vulgi turmam._ It may be noted that these
headings do not always exactly correspond with those placed at the
head of the chapters afterwards. For example here the actual heading
of the chapter has ‘secundam vulgi turmam,’ and for the succeeding
chapters ‘terciam,’ ‘quartam,’ ‘quintam,’ &c. Usually the differences
are very trifling, as ‘illius terre’ for ‘terre illius’ above, but
sometimes they proceed from the fact that alterations have been made
in the chapter headings, which the corrector has neglected to make in
this Table of Chapters. This is the case for example as regards Lib.
VI. Capp. xviii. and xix. Slight variations of the kind first mentioned
will be found in Lib. III. Capp. i, v, viii, xii, xvi, xix, xx.
LIB. III. Cap. iiii. The form which we have here in D corresponds to
the heading of the chapter given by LTH₂ (but not by D itself) in
the text later. G has the text here after ‘loquitur’ written over an
erasure.
LIB. VII. Cap. xix. Here S has lost two leaves (the sixth and seventh
of the first full quire) to Lib. I. Cap. i. l. 18. The verso of the
former of these leaves had no doubt the four lines ‘Ad mundum mitto’
&c. with picture, as in the Cotton MS.
LIB. I. PROLOGUS.
3 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, iv. 2921 f.,
‘Al be it so, that som men sein
That swevenes ben of no credence.’
‘propositum credulitatis’ seems to mean ‘true ground of belief.’
12. _interius mentis_: cp. i. 1361.
15. That is, ‘hinc puto quod sompnia que vidi,’ &c.
21 ff. We are here told to add to ‘John’ the first letters of
‘Godfrey,’ the beginning of ‘Wales,’ and the word ‘Ter’ without its
head: that is, ‘John Gower.’
23. _que tali._ The use of ‘que’ in this manner, standing independently
at the beginning of the clause, is very common in Gower.
33 f. Taken from Ovid, _Tristia_, v. 1. 5 f.
36. Cp. _Tristia_, i. 1. 14, ‘De lacrimis factas sentiet esse meis,’
which, so far as it goes, is in favour of the reading ‘senciat’ here.
37 f. This couplet was originally _Tristia_, iv. 1. 95 f.,
‘Saepe etiam lacrimae me sunt scribente profusae,
Humidaque est fletu litera facta meo.’
The first line however was altered so as to lose its grammatical
construction, and the couplet was subsequently emended.
43 f. Cp. Ovid, _Tristia_, i. 5. 53 f.
47 f. Cp. _Pont._ iv. 2. 19, where the comparison to a spring choked
with mud is more clearly brought out.
49. The original reading here was ‘confracto,’ but it has been altered
to ‘contracto’ in C and G, while E gives ‘contracto’ from the first
hand. The general meaning seems to be that as the long pilgrimage to
Rome is to one with crippled knee, so is this work to the author, with
his limited powers of intellect.
56. The reading ‘conturbant’ in all the best MSS. seems to be a mistake.
57 f. The author is about to denounce the evils of the world and
proclaim the woes which are to follow, like the writer of the
Apocalypse, whose name he bears. Perhaps he may also have some thought
of the formula ‘seint John to borwe’ by which travellers committed
themselves to the protection of the saint on their setting forth: cp.
_Conf. Amantis_, v. 3416.
LIB. I.
1. The fourth year of Richard II is from June 22, 1380 to the same date
of 1381. The writer here speaks of the last month of that regnal year,
during which the Peasants’ rising occurred.
4. Cp. Ovid, _Her._ xvii. 112, ‘Praevius Aurorae Lucifer ortus erat.’
7 f. Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 24 (ed. 1584), has
‘Luce diem reparat, mirandaque lumina praestat,
Sic fuga dat noctem, luxque reversa diem.’
He is speaking of the Sun generally, and the second line means ‘Thus
his departure produces the night and his returning light the day.’ As
introduced here this line is meaningless.
9. Adapted from Ovid, _Metam._ ii. 110.
11. Cp. _Metam._ vii. 703, but here ‘mane’ is made into the object of
the verb instead of an adverb.
13. Cp. _Metam._ ii. 113.
15. Cp. _Metam._ ii. 24.
17 f. From Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 24 (ed. 1584).
21 ff. Cp. _Metam._ ii. 107 ff.,
‘Aureus axis erat, temo aureus, aurea summae
Curvatura rotae, radiorum argenteus ordo.
Per iuga chrysolithi positaeque ex ordine gemmae
Clara repercusso reddebant lumina Phoebo.’
‘alter ab auro’ seems to mean ‘different from gold.’
27. Cp. _Metam._ ii. 23.
33-60. This passage is largely from Ovid: see especially _Fasti_, i.
151 ff. and iii. 235-242, iv. 429 f., v. 213 f., _Metam._ ii. 30,
_Tristia_, iii. 12. 5-8.
40. In Ovid (_Fasti_, iii. 240) it is ‘Fertilis occultas invenit herba
vias.’ The metrical fault produced by reading ‘occultam ... viam’
seems to have been corrected by the author, and in G the alteration has
been made by erasure, apparently in the first hand.
44. _redditus_: apparently a substantive and practically equivalent to
‘reditus.’
59. Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 213 f., where however we have ‘Saepeque
digestos.’ It is difficult to say exactly what our author meant by ‘O
quia.’
67. Cp. _Metam._ xiii. 395.
79 f. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 47, ll. 9 f. (ed. Wright, Rolls Series,
59, vol. i.).
81. _irriguis._ Perhaps rather ‘Fontibus irriguus, fecundus,’ as given
by most of the MSS.
131. _ad ymum_, ‘to that low place,’ i.e. his bed.
135. _Non ita ... Quin magis_: cp. ll. 264 ff., 351 ff., 442 ff., 499
ff, &c. This form of sentence is a very common one with our author and
appears also in his French and English: cp. _Mirour_, 18589, _Balades_,
vii. 4, xviii. 2, xxx. 2, _Conf. Amantis_, i. 718, 1259, 1319, &c.
For example, _Bal._ xviii. 2,
‘Tiel esperver crieis unqes ne fu,
Qe jeo ne crie plus en ma maniere.’
_Conf. Amantis_, i. 718 ff.,
‘So lowe cowthe I nevere bowe
To feigne humilite withoute,
That me ne leste betre loute
With alle the thoghtes of myn herte.’
It is most frequent in Latin, however, and the French and English forms
seem to be translations of this idiom with ‘quin.’
152. ‘Dreams cast the soul into wanderings’: ‘ruunt’ is transitive, as
very commonly, and apparently we must take ‘vaga nonnulla’ together.
155. _grauis et palpebra_, &c., ‘and my heavy eyelid unclosed pondered
over troubles, but no help came.’ This is the best translation I can
give, but the explanation of ‘ex oculis’ as ‘away from the eyes’ must
be regarded as doubtful.
168. That is, on a Tuesday. It would be apparently Tuesday, June 11,
1381. The festival of Corpus Christi referred to afterwards (see l.
919), when the insurgents entered London, fell on June 13.
201. _Burnellus_: a reference to the _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 13 (Rolls
Series, 59, vol. i).
205 ff. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 13, whence several of these lines
are taken.
211 f. ‘They care not for the tail which He who gave them their ears
implanted in them, but think it a vile thing.’ The former line of the
couplet is from _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 15, l. 17.
213 f. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 15, ll. 23 f.
255. _caudas similesque draconum_, ‘and tails like those of dragons.’
267. _Minos taurus_, ‘the bull of Minos,’ sent from the sea in answer
to his prayer.
271. There is some confusion here in the author’s mind between
different stories, and it is difficult to say exactly what he was
thinking of.
277 f. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ xi. 34 ff.
280. _crapulus._ I do not know what this is, unless it is equivalent to
‘capulus,’ which is rather doubtfully given by D. That would mean the
‘handle’ of the plough, but we have ‘ansa’ in l. 282.
289 f. Cp. _Pont._ i. 3. 55 f.
291. _Metam._ viii. 293.
325 ff. For this passage compare _Metam._ viii. 284 ff.
335. _Metam._ viii. 285. The Digby MS. has a rubricator’s note here in
the margin, ‘sete. a bristell.’
341. _quod_: consecutive, ‘so that’; cp. ‘sic ... quod,’ ll. 223, 311,
&c. In the next line ‘pascua’ seems to be singular.
351 ff. See note on l. 135.
381. _Fasti_, ii. 767.
395. _Cutte que Curre_, ‘Cut and Cur,’ names for mongrel dogs.
396. As a note on ‘casas’ the Digby MS. has ‘i.e. kenell’ in the margin.
402. ‘Neither does he of the mill remain at home.’
405. The rubricator of the Digby MS. has written in the margin, ‘i.e.
threefoted dog commyng after halting.’
407. Digby MS. rubric, ‘i.e. Rig þe Teydog.’ Note the position of
‘que,’ which should properly be attached to the first word of the line:
cp. l. 847.
455. As a note on ‘thalia’ here (for ‘talia’) the Digby MS. has
‘Thelea i.e. dea belli’ written by the rubricator. It is difficult to
conjecture what he was thinking of.
457. The Digby MS. rubricator, as a note on ‘Cephali canis’ has in the
margin, ‘i.e. stella in firmamento.’
465. ‘super est’ is the reading of the Glasgow MS. also.
474. _artes._ This seems to be the reading of all the MSS., though in S
the word might possibly be ‘arces.’ I take it to mean ‘devices,’ in the
way of traps, or ingenious hiding-places.
479. ‘The grey foxes determine to leave the caverns of the wood’:
‘vulpes’ (or rather ‘vulpis’) is masculine in Gower.
483. ‘Henceforth neither the sheep nor the poor sheepfold are anything
to them.’ For this use of ‘quid’ with a negative cp. l. 184.
492. _solet._ The present of this verb seems often to be used by our
author as equivalent to the imperfect: cp. l. 541, iii. 705, 740, &c.
Also ‘solebat,’ i. 699, iii. 1485; cp. v. 333, where ‘solebant’ seems
to stand for ‘solent.’ In other cases also the present is sometimes
used for the imperfect, e.g. l. 585 ‘quas nuper abhorret Egiptus.’
499 ff. See 1 Sam. v. The plague of mice is distinctly mentioned in the
Vulgate version, while in our translation from the Hebrew it is implied
in ch. vi. 5. ‘Accharon’ is Ekron.
541. _solent_: see note on l. 492.
545. _Coppa_: used as a familiar name for a hen in the _Speculum
Stultorum_, pp. 55, 58, and evidently connected with ‘Coppen’ or
‘Coppe,’ which is the name of one of Chantecleer’s daughters in the
Low-German and English _Reynard_.
557 f. ‘They determine that days are lawful for those things for which
the dark form of night had often given furtive ways.’
568. _quod_: equivalent to ‘vt’; cp. ll. 600, 1610.
576. G reads ‘perstimulant’ with CED.
579 f. See Ovid, _Metam._ vi. 366 ff. Apparently ‘colonum’ is for
‘colonorum.’
603. _Toruus oester_: cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 25.
615 f. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 24, l. 21 f.
635. Cp. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 25, l. 15.
637 f. _Speculum Stultorum_, p. 26,
‘Haec est illa dies qua nil nisi cauda iuvabit,
Vel loca quae musca tangere nulla potest.’
652. _stramine_: probably an allusion to the name of Jack Strawe, as
‘tegula’ in the next couplet to Wat Tyler.
Cap. ix. _Heading_, l. 3. It seems to be implied that the jay,
which must often have been kept as a cage-bird and taught to talk,
was commonly called ‘Wat,’ as the daw was called ‘Jack,’ and this
name together with the bird’s faculty of speech has suggested the
transformation adopted for Wat Tyler.
716. There is no punctuation in S, but those MSS. which have stops,
as CD, punctuate after ‘nephas’ and ‘soluit.’ The line is suggested
by Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 44, ‘Solve nefas, dixit; solvit et ille nefas.’
There it is quite intelligible, but here it is without any clear
meaning.
It may be observed here that the passage of Ovid in which this line
occurs, _Fasti_, ii. 35-46, is evidently one of the sources of
_Confessio Amantis_, v. 2547 ff.
749. _Sicut arena maris_: cp. Rev. xx. 8, to which reference is made
below, ll. 765 ff.
762. ‘All that they lay upon us, they equally bear themselves.’
Apparently this is the meaning, referring to the universal ruin which
is likely to ensue.
765-776. These twelve lines are taken with some alterations of wording
and order from Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, p. 228 (ed. 1584). In l.
765 the reference to the Apocalypse is to Rev. xx.
774. _forum_: apparently ‘law.’
783 ff: This well-known chapter was very incorrectly printed in the
Roxburghe edition, owing to the fact that a leaf has here been cut
out of S, and the editor followed D. Fuller, whose translation of the
opening lines has often been quoted, had a better text before him,
probably that of the Cotton MS.
810. It is difficult to see how this line is to be translated, unless
we suppose that ‘fossa’ is a grammatical oversight.
821. Cp. Ovid, _Metam._ i. 211, ‘Contigerat nostras infamia temporis
aures.’
849 f. Adapted from _Amores_, iii. 9. 7 f., but not very happily.
855 ff. With this passage we may compare the description in Walsingham,
vol. i. p. 454, ‘quorum quidam tantum baculos, quidam rubigine obductos
gladios, quidam bipennes solummodo, nonnulli arcus prae vetustate
factos a fumo rubicundiores ebore antiquo, cum singulis sagittis,
quorum plures contentae erant una pluma, ad regnum conquaerendum
convenere.’
868. The reading ‘de leuitate’ is given also by G.
869. _limpidiores._ The epithet is evidently derived from 1 Sam. xvii.
40, where the Vulgate has ‘et elegit sibi quinque limpidissimos lapides
de torrente.’
876. ‘These fools boast that the earth has been wetted,’ &c.
871 ff. Cp. _Metam._ xi. 29 f.
879 f. Cp. _Conf. Amantis_, Prol. 37*. One of the charges against Sir
Nicholas Brembre in 1388 was that he had designed to change the name of
London to ‘New Troy.’
891. _siluis que palustribus_, ‘from the woods and marshes.’
904. Cp. Ovid, _Ars Amat._ iii. 577 f.
909. Cp. _Metam._ viii. 421.
919. Corpus Christi day, that is Thursday, June 13.
929 f. _via salua_: apparently meaning ‘Savoye,’ the palace of the duke
of Lancaster in the Strand. In the next line ‘longum castrum’ looks
like ‘Lancaster,’ but it is difficult to say exactly what the meaning
is.
931. _Baptisteque domus._ This is the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem
at Clerkenwell, which was burnt by the insurgents because of their
hostility to Robert Hales, the Master of the Hospital, then Treasurer
of the kingdom. Walsingham says that the fire continued here for seven
days.
933-936. Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 439 ff., where the reference is to the
burning of the temple of Vesta. Hence the mention of sacred fires,
which is not appropriate here.
937. _Metam._ ii. 61.
939 f. _Metam._ i. 288 f.
941 ff. This accusation, which Gower brings apparently without thinking
it necessary to examine into its truth (‘Est nichil vt queram,’ &c.),
is in direct contradiction to the statements of the chroniclers, e.g.
Walsingham, i. 456 f., Knighton, ii. 135; but it is certain that
dishonest persons must have taken advantage of the disorder to some
extent for their own private ends, however strict the commands of the
leaders may have been, and it is probable that the control which was
exercised at first did not long continue. The chroniclers agree with
Gower as to the drunkenness.