‘schewe’ is probably the correction of a copyist who did not understand
it. The word ‘newe’ means here ‘produce,’ but in l. 59 ‘neweth’ is
intransitive and means ‘comes into being.’
* * * * *
_Latin Verses_, ii. 2. _vertit in orbe_, ‘turns round,’ as upon her
wheel.
4. Cp. 111 f.
11. ‘And thus those regions which were once the strongest fall into
decay throughout the world, and have no centre of rest there.’ (The
first ‘que’ is the relative, for ‘quae.’) It is possible however that
‘per orbem’ may refer again to Fortune’s wheel, cp. 138 ff., where
the sense of this couplet seems to be expressed, and in that case the
meaning is, ‘fall into decay as they turn upon the wheel.’
116. _the vertu_: for this French use of the article, which is often
found in Gower, see note on l. 72.
122 ff. ‘And in witness of that I take the common voice of every land,
which may not lie.’ This appeal to the common voice, the ‘commune
dictum,’ is characteristic of our author, who repeats the proverb ‘Vox
populi vox dei’ several times in various forms, e.g. _Mirour_, 12725.
For the use of ‘that’ in such expressions cp. l. 907, and iv. 2040.
133. _to loke_ &c., ‘when we look on all sides’: cp. 31, i. 1060, 2278,
&c.
139. _blinde fortune._ ‘Fortune’ must here be taken as a proper
name, and hence the definite form of adjective: cp. i. 3396, ‘wyse
Peronelle,’ ii. 588, 2721, ‘of grete Rome,’ ii. 2304, ‘false Nessus,’
iii. 2100, ‘false Egiste,’ &c.
143. _upon a weer_, i.e. in doubt or distress: cp. iii. 1148, and
Chaucer, _House of Fame_, 979,
‘Tho gan I wexen in a wer.’
144 ff. ‘And especially if the power of the rulers of the world be not
kept upright by good counsel in such wise that’ &c.
152. _heved_, always a monosyllable in the metre: the word also appears
as ‘hefd’ i. 199, and frequently as ‘hed.’
154. _her trowthe allowe_, ‘approve of their loyalty,’ i.e. accept it.
155. ‘And welcome them with all his heart.’ For the position of the
conjunction cp. 521, 756, 759, 1014, i. 854, 863, &c., and note on
_Mirour_, 415. Mr. Liddell points out to me that the same usage occurs
frequently in the ME. Palladius.
156 (margin). The quotation is from Ecclus. xxxii. 24, ‘Fili, sine
consilio nihil facias.’ This book is often cited as Solomon in the
_Mirour_.
162. A truce with both France and Scotland was made for three years in
1389, but peace was not finally concluded till 1396.
166 f. Cp. _Praise of Peace_, 190.
172. _at alle assaies_, ‘in every way’: cp. ii. 2447.
_Latin Verses._ iii. 1. _Iohannes_: St. John the Evangelist, who is
mentioned either as the teacher of brotherly love or because his Gospel
contains the exhortations to St. Peter, ‘Feed my sheep,’ ‘Feed my
lambs.’
2. _ista_, ‘this.’
3. _bina virtute_, perhaps charity and chastity, cp. 464 ff.
4. _inculta_, nominative in spite of metre, so _auaricia_ in l. 8.
8. _tepente_, ‘being lukewarm,’ that is, held in a lukewarm manner.
196 (margin). _Roberti Gibbonensis_, Robert of Geneva, elected pope in
opposition to Urban VI, under the title of Clement VII.
198. _the god_, see note on l. 72.
204. _Simon_, i.e. Simon Magus, whence simony has its name: cp. 442
ff., _Mirour_, 18451 ff., and _Vox Clamantis_, iii. 249, 1217, &c.
207 ff. The reference is to Lombard bankers employed as intermediaries
in obtaining Church preferment. The ‘letter’ referred to is the papal
provision, or perhaps the letter of request addressed to the pope in
favour of a particular person: cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1375 f.,
‘Littera dum Regis papales supplicat aures,
Simon et est medius, vngat vt ipse manus.’
210. _provende_, equivalent to prebend, and in fact ‘prebende’ is a
var. reading here. Littré quotes from Wace,
‘Cil me dona et Diez li rende
À Baiex une provende,’
and from Rutebeuf,
‘Qui argent porte a Rome, assés tot provende a.’
212. ‘The authority of the Church’ (symbolized by the key) ‘did not
then lie at the mercy of armed bands or depend upon the issue of
battle.’ For ‘brigantaille,’ meaning bands of irregular troops, cp.
_Mir._ 18675.
218. _defence_, ‘prohibition’: cp. iv. 1026, v. 1710, and Chaucer,
_Troil._ iii. 138, ‘if that I breke your defence.’
220. ‘was then no charge of theirs,’ i.e. did not come under their
authority: ‘baillie’ means the charge or government of a thing, as
_Trait._ xi. 19, ‘Le duc q’ot lors Ravenne en sa baillie,’ hence a
thing placed in a person’s charge.
221. _The vein honour_: the definite form is rather less regularly used
by Gower in adjectives taken from French than in others, e.g. iii. 889,
‘For with here fals compassement’; but on the other hand, i. 864, ‘the
pleine cas,’ ii. 412, ‘And thurgh his false tunge endited,’ and 824,
‘This false knyht upon delay.’
246. _is went_: cp. iii. 878 and Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, E 1013, F 567.
247. _here lawe positif_: the ‘lex positiva’ is that which is
not morally binding in itself, but only so because imposed by
(ecclesiastical) authority: cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 227 ff. This is
naturally the sphere within which Church dispensations of all kinds
take effect.
248. _Hath set._ Apparently ‘set’ is intransitive, ‘Since their
positive law hath set itself to make,’ &c. There is no good authority
for reading ‘hire.’.
252. There is hardly another instance of ‘but’ for ‘bot’ in F, and the
form ‘right’ for ‘riht’ in the preceding line is very unusual.
260. _the manhode_, i.e. human nature: see note on l. 72. For ‘thenkth’
see note on 461.
263. _withholde_, ‘retained as her servant.’
268. _in the point_ &c., i.e. so soon as it is collected. The allusion
is to the circumstances of the campaign of the Bishop of Norwich
in 1385; cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 373 (margin), and see Froissart (ed.
Lettenhove), vol. x. p. 207.
278. _That scholde be_ &c., i.e. the papacy, which by reason of the
schism has become a cause of war and strife.
289. _Gregoire._ The reference is to such passages as _Regula
Pastoralis_, i. cap. 8, 9. The quotation in the margin at l. 298 is
loosely taken from the Homilies on the Gospel (Migne, _Patrol._ vol.
76. p. 1128), ‘Mercenarius quippe est qui locum quidem pastoris tenet,
sed lucra animarum non quaerit: terrenis commodis inhiat, honore
praelationis gaudet, temporalibus lucris pascitur, impensa sibi ab
hominibus reverentia laetatur.’ The idea expressed by ‘non vt prosint
sed vt presint’ often occurs in Gregory’s writings, e.g. _Reg. Past._
ii. cap. 6, ‘nec praeesse se hominibus gaudent sed prodesse.’
299. _manie_: the final ‘e’ counts as a syllable and the preceding
vowel is absorbed; see note on 323: but ‘many’ is also used as the
plural.
305. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1271, ‘In cathedram Moysi nunc ascendunt
Pharisei,’ and see _Rom. de la Rose_, 11809 ff. (ed. Méon), English
version, 6889 ff.
311. _is noght foryete_, an impersonal use, ‘there is no forgetting’:
cp. 338.
323. Here ‘studie’ is reduced by elision to the value of a
monosyllable: see note on _Mirour_, 296. The rule applies to
substantives like ‘accidie,’ ‘Mercurie,’ ‘chirie,’ adjectives like
‘manie’ (l. 299), and verbs like ‘studie,’ ‘carie,’ ‘tarie.’
329. _If Ethna brenne_ &c. What is meant is the fire of Envy, which is
often compared to that of Etna, ii. 20, 2337, &c.
338 f. The verb is used impersonally, ‘there is cause for us all to be
sorry.’
348. ‘it causeth this new sect to be brought in.’ The subject must be
supplied from the previous clause.
366 f. That is, the various claimants to the papacy are supported in
various lands by national partiality or interest.
380 f. ‘They use no other reasoning than this as to the peril of
religion.’
383. _his world_, i.e. his fortune, cp. 1081, i. 178, &c.
388 f. That is, the right cause has no defence but in the rule of
personal inclination and interest, the principle expressed by ‘Where I
love, there I hold.’
407 ff. This is a charge against those who hold office in the Church
of deliberately throwing temptation in the way of their people, in
order to profit by the fines which may be imposed for breaches of
morality and discipline. The meaning is fully illustrated by parallel
passages in the _Mirour de l’omme_, 20161 ff., and the _Vox Clamantis_,
iii. 195; cp. Chaucer, _Pers. Tale_, 721. The sentence here is a little
disorderly and therefore obscure: ‘Men say that they drive forth their
flock from the smooth meadow into the briars, because they wish to
seize and by such ill-treatment take away the wool which shall remain
upon the thorns, torn out by the briars,’ &c. The archdeacon’s court is
chiefly referred to.
416. _chalk for chese_, cp. ii. 2346: it is a proverbial expression
still current.
430. ‘We see the lot drawn amiss’: for ‘merel’ cp. _Mir._ 23496.
434. Hebr. v. 4.
452. _in audience_, ‘in public assembly’: cp. ii. 2556.
454. _a chirie feire_, taken as an emblem of delights which are
transitory: cp. vi. 890 f.,
‘And that endureth bot a throwe,
Riht as it were a cherie feste.’
460. _understode_, past subj. with indefinite sense: cp. i. 383, ii.
88, iii. 971, iv. 2597, 2728, vi. 1474. ‘Whoso understood their words,
to him it seems likely,’ &c., instead of ‘to him it would seem likely’;
cp. l. 520.
461. The distinction between ‘thinke’ and ‘thenke’ is completely lost
in Gower’s usage: ‘thenke’ is the regular form for both, but ‘thinke’
is admitted equally for both in rhyme, as v. 213, 254.
480. ‘For fear that (On the chance that) I may say wrong.’ The subject
is a delicate one and the author shows similar caution when dealing
with it in the _Mirour_.
492. _as of_, ‘as regards’: cp. i. 557, iii. 1479, &c.
* * * * *
_Latin Verses_. iv. 4. _velle_, used as a noun, ‘will’: so ‘de puro
velle’ in the lines at the beginning of the second book.
* * * * *
509 f. ‘Which with great difficulty man shall restrain, if he shall
restrain it ever.’
521. For the position of ‘and’ see note on 155.
525. _stonde upon_: cp. 214.
529. _som men_: ‘som’ is uninflected in this expression: on the other
hand we have ‘somme clerkes,’ l. 355.
546. _the man_, so 582: see note on 72.
550 f. ‘If any one thinks otherwise, look at the people of Israel’:
‘Behold’ is 2nd sing. imperative. The unusual form ‘Irael’ is given by
the best MSS. here and elsewhere, and we must suppose that it proceeds
from the author.
558. _stonde full_: perhaps a reference to 503 ff., or a metaphor from
the tides.
567 (margin). The quotation is from _Cons. Phil._ ii. Pr. 4: ‘Quam
multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est.’ The
constant references to Fortune and her wheel may probably be suggested
by Boethius, e.g. ii. Pr. 1.
578. i.e. till the end of all things.
585 ff. This vision of Nebuchadnezzar, which our author takes as
his guide to universal history, is made the subject of illustration
in those MSS. which have miniatures at or near the beginning of the
_Confessio Amantis_.
618. _Fel doun_: cp. iii. 2492, ‘That have I herd the gospell seith.’
668. _hol_: see note on 683.
676. ‘And he kept himself in this condition undisturbed,’ the subject
being supplied from l. 671, ‘Was in that kinges time tho.’ For omission
of pronoun cp. Prol. 348, i. 1895, 2083, 2462, &c. However, the fall
of the Empire took place not in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar but of
Belshazzar (see l. 685).
683. Here and in 693 the best MSS. have ‘put’ for ‘putte,’ and this
entire suppression of the inflexional syllable in cases where it is
lost to the metre by elision is sufficiently well-attested to justify
us in accepting it as an occasional practice of the author, both in the
case of verbs and adjectives; cp. 668, 739, &c. It is especially common
with this particular verb, e.g. i. 1578, 1807, 3213, ii. 93, 1021, &c.,
where ‘put’ is used for infinitive as well as for the preterite. Much
more rarely in cases where there is no elision, as i. 732. On the other
hand, we have ‘putte’ pret. before an elision, l. 1069, i. 2797, ‘pute’
inf. i. 462, iv. 1641.
702. In the marginal summary here F gives ‘Imparatoris,’ and sometimes
in other places where the word is fully written, as i. 1417, ii. 593,
2506, 3201. However, ‘Imperator’ is also found in various places of the
same MS., as vii. 2416, and the contracted form ‘Imꝑator’ has in this
edition been written out so.
725. _Of that honour which tok_, i.e. ‘of such honour that he took.’
738. _so vileins_: a clear case of French plural of the adjective, used
here for the sake of the rhyme.
739. _fals_: see notes on 221, 683.
745 ff. It is hardly necessary to point out that our author’s history
is here incorrect. Charlemagne was not called in against the Emperor
Leo, who died in the year before he was born, but against the Lombards
by Adrian I, and then against the rebellious citizens of Rome by Leo
III, on which latter occasion he received the imperial crown. The
authority here followed is the Trésor of Brunetto Latini, pp. 84-88
(ed. 1863).
756. _Of Rome and_: cp. ll. 759, 766, and note on 155.
761. _doth restore_, i.e. ‘causeth to be restored.’
772 ff. Here again the story is historically inaccurate, but it is not
worth while to set it straight.
786 ff. The meaning seems to be, ‘But this after all is what we might
expect, for prosperity (they say) seldom endures.’
795. _hath no felawe_ ‘hath no supporter or champion’: cp. _Praise of
Peace_, 266, ‘And in this wise hath charite no brother.’
809. The punctuation follows F.
823. _expondeth._ This form occurs also in ll. 663, 873, as a reading
of F. The French terminations ‘-on,’ ‘-oun,’ had the same sound and
rhymed together, and the same is true of ‘-ance,’ ‘-aunce.’ Probably on
the same principle therefore ‘expondeth’ may stand for ‘expoundeth,’
and rhyme with ‘foundeth’: cp. viii. 235 f. On the other hand, in i.
2867 we have expo_u_nde, founde. It maybe noted that ‘exponde’ is the
form used in the French works, e.g. _Mir._ 22192, _Trait._ xi. 20,
where it rhymes with _Rosemonde_, _responde_, _immonde_. As a rule
in the _Mirour_ this class of words is given without ‘u,’ but in one
stanza we have ‘responde,’ ‘monde,’ ‘blo_u_nde’ in rhyme together, 8681
ff.
836. _Cit_: this is the true reading; the word occurs also _Mir._ 7197.
843. _now with that beforn_, ‘the present with the past,’ ‘now’ being
used as a substantive.
850. _the sothe seie_: this is the reading of the third recension;
the others have ‘the soth schal seie.’ Either text is admissible, for
‘soth’ is used as a substantive, but ‘the sothe’ is usually preferred,
as in l. 834, and i. 981, iii. 765.
858. Cp. ii. 3490.
881. _writ_: syncopated present, ‘writeth.’ The reference is to 1 Cor.
x. 11.
891. _Statue_: a dissyllable in Gower and Chaucer (equivalent to
‘statwe’), and here reduced to one syllable by elision: cp. _Cant.
Tales_, A. 975. The longer form ‘stature’ occurs vi. 1524.
900. _these clerkes_: demonstrative for definite article, as in French;
cp. i. 608, and see note on _Mir._ 301.
905. See l. 965. Perhaps here ‘cause of’ means ‘because of,’ as ‘whos
cause’ for ‘because of which’ 1040; but I suspect rather an inversion
of order, for ‘Man is cause of al this wo.’
907. _that in tokne_, cp. 122.
910 ff. This matter of the corruption of all creation through man’s
fall is discussed at length both in the _Mirour_, 26605 ff., and in the
_Vox Clamantis_, vii. 509 ff.
945 ff. This is one of Gower’s favourite citations: it occurs
also _Mir._ 26869, _Vox Clam._ vii. 639. It is quoted here from
_Moralia_, vi. 16 (Migne, _Patr._ vol. 75, p. 740): ‘Homo itaque,
quia habet commune esse cum lapidibus, vivere cum arboribus, sentire
cum animalibus, discernere cum angelis, recte nomine universitatis
exprimitur.’ In the _Mirour_ it is given as from the Homilies; see
_Hom. in Ev._ xxix. 2. The passage is also quoted in the _Roman de la
Rose_, 19246 ff. (ed. Méon),
‘Il a son estre avec les pierres,
Et vit avec les herbes drues,
Et sent avec les bestes mues,’ &c.
947. _the lasse world_, i.e. a microcosm: cp. _Vox Clam._ vii. 645,
‘Sic minor est mundus homo, qui fert singula solus.’
The saying is attributed to Aristotle in _Mirour_, 26929.
953. That is, the stones have existence and so hath he, this being the
only point in common.
955. _as telleth the clergie_, ‘as learning informs us.’
975. _The which_, resumed by ‘He’ in 978: _for_, i.e. ‘since.’
979. That is, the opposite elements in his constitution (‘complexioun’)
are so much at variance with one another.
985. ‘Without separation of parts.’
995. _also_, a repetition of ‘yit over this,’ 991.
1013. _sende_, pret., cp. i. 851, 992, 1452, &c. (but ‘sente’ in rhyme
i. 3095, ii. 613, v. 1072), so ‘bende’ ii. 2235.
1047. That is, there can be no conciliation of the discord.
1055 ff. Cp. Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 83 ff.
1066. _commun_: this form, as well as ‘commune,’ occurs in the _Mirour_.
1085. _The horse side_: cp. i. 1536, 2301, &c.
_After_ 1088 the Sidney Coll. MS. (Δ) has the following lines,
‘So were it gode at þis tide
þat eueri man vpon his side
besowt and preied for þe pes
wiche is þe cause of al encres
of worschep and of werldis welþe
of hertis rest of soule helþe
withouten pes stant no þing gode
forthi to crist wiche sched his blode
for pes beseketh alle men
Amen amen amen amen.’
These were printed by Caxton, and after him by Berthelet, with some
slight variations of spelling, and the reading ‘and soules helthe’ for
‘of soule helþe.’ No other MS. contains them, so far as I know, except
Hatton 51, which is copied from Caxton’s edition. If we read ‘So were
it good as at þis tide,’ and correct the spelling throughout, the lines
will be such as Gower might have written, and I rather suspect that
they may have been contained in the Stafford MS. (S), to which Δ is
nearly allied. S has lost a leaf here, on which ample room for them
could have been found, the number of lines missing being only 156,
while the number for a full leaf is 184. The authority of S would be
conclusive in their favour.
LIB. I.
After setting forth in the Prologue the evils of the existing state of
society and tracing them for the most part to lack of love and concord
between man and man, the author now deliberately renounces the task
of setting right the balance of the world, an undertaking which he
has not shrunk from in former years, but recognizes now as too great
for his strength. He proposes to change the style of his writings and
to deal with something which all may understand, with that emotion of
love which Nature has implanted both in man and beast, which no one is
able to keep within rule or measure, and which seems to be under the
dominion of blind chance, like the gifts of fortune.
_Latin Verses._ i. 7 f. Cp. the lines ‘Est amor in glosa pax bellica,
lis pietosa,’ &c., which follow the _Traitié_.
10. _of thing_ is, i.e. ‘of thing which is’: cp. ii. 1393, ‘Withinne a
Schip was stiereles,’ so iii. 219, v. 298 &c., and _Mirour_, 16956.
21. _natheles_: as in Prol. 36, this seems to mean here ‘moreover,’ or
perhaps ‘in truth,’ rather than ‘nevertheless.’
37. That is, ‘Wheresoever it pleases him to set himself,’ ‘him’ serving
a double function.
50. _went_: present tense, ‘goes.’
62. _I am miselven_ &c. Note, however, that the author guards himself
in the margin with ‘quasi in persona aliorum, quos amor alligat,
fingens se auctor esse Amantem.’
88. _jolif wo_, cp. ‘le jolif mal sanz cure,’ _Bal._ xiii. 24.
98 ff. The construction is broken off, and then resumed in a new form:
cp. i. 2948, iii. 1595, 2610, iv. 3201, v. 1043, 1339, &c.
116. _other_: this must be regarded as a legitimate plural form beside
‘othre’: cp. iv. 1183, and see Morsbach, _Schriftsprache_, p. 23. On
the other hand, ‘othre’ is sometimes used as singular, e.g. l. 481, ii.
283.
178. _Mi world_, i.e. ‘my fortune’: cp. Prol. 383.
196. The idea of ‘Genius’ is taken from the _Roman de la Rose_, where
Genius is the priest of Nature, ‘Qui célébroit en sa chapelle,’ and she
confesses to him, 16487 ff. (ed. Méon).
205. _Benedicite_: the regular beginning of a confessor’s address to
his penitent.
213. Cp. _Rom. de la Rose_, 16927 f. (of Nature confessing to Genius),
‘Qui dit par grant dévocion
En plorant sa confession.’
225. _my schrifte oppose_, ‘question me as to my confession,’ cp. the
use of ‘opponere’ in the margin here and 299, 708, &c.
232. _tome._ This is Gower’s usual form of combination where the accent
is to be thrown on the preposition. We have also ‘byme,’ ii. 2016, &c.,
tome, l. 294, ii. 3160, &c., ‘untome,’ iii. 99, ‘tothe,’ iv. 1875. In
such cases, as is seen below, l. 294, the final syllable becomes weak
and subject to elision.
279. _remene_, ‘bring back,’ from Fr. ‘remener’: cp. ‘demenen.’
299 ff. See note on _Mir._ 16597.
320. The punctuation is here determined by that of F, which has a stop
after ‘love.’ Otherwise the meaning might be, ‘And doth great mischief
to love,’ the conjunction being transposed, as often.
333 ff. The story is from Ovid, _Metam._ iii. 138 ff.
350. _cam ride._ For this use of the infin. see _New Engl. Dict._,
‘come,’ B. i. 3. f.: so ‘thei comen ryde,’ iv. 1307.
367. For the use of ‘hire’ as a dissyllable in the verse, cp. 872,
1667: on the other hand, 884, 887, 939, 1673, &c.
383. That is, if a man gave heed to the matter, he would see that it
was, &c.: cp. Prol. 460.
389. Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 772 ff. This, however, is not Gower’s only
authority, for he mentions details, as for example the names of
Medusa’s sisters, which are not given by Ovid. The confusion which we
find here between the Graeae and the Gorgons appears in Boccaccio, _De
Gen. Deorum_, x. 10, which possibly our author may have seen; but I
suspect he had some other authority. The names which Gower gives as
Stellibon and Suriale are properly Stheno (Stennio in Boccaccio) and
Euryale.
422. _Mercurie_: see note on Prol. 323. Mercury’s sword is not
mentioned either by Ovid or Boccaccio.
431. _gan enbrace_, ‘placed on his arm’; see the quotations in _New
Engl. Dict._ under ‘embrace _v._ 1,’ e.g. _K. Alis._ 6651, ‘His scheld
enbraceth Antiocus.’
452. _To tarie with_, ‘with which to vex’: cp. i. 2172, ii. 283, 1081,
v. 925, &c., and _Cant. Tales_, F 471, ‘To hele with youre hurtes
hastily.’
463 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 15253. The legend is founded upon Psalm lviii. 4
f. (_Vulg._ lvii. 5 f.), ‘Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis;
sicut aspidis surdae et obturantis aures suas, quae non exaudiet vocem
incantantium,’ &c. (Hence the genitive form ‘Aspidis’ in our author.)
The moral application is connected with the Gospel precept, ‘Be ye wise
as serpents,’ to which reference is made in the _Mirour_. The serpent’s
method of stopping his ears was perhaps first suggested by Augustine,
_In Ps._ lvii, who is followed by Isid. _Etym._ xii. 4, but there is
nothing in these authorities about the carbuncle. The authority for
this is perhaps the Trésor, p. 191.
481. _an othre thing_: for ‘othre’ cp. i. 1496, ii. 511.
_who that recordeth_, ‘if a man calls it to mind’: see note on Prol. 13.
483. _tale of Troie_, i.e. Guido di Colonna, _Hist. Troiana_, lib. 32
(o2, ed. Argent. 1494), which is here followed. Benoît mentions the
Sirens, but does not describe their form nor state that Ulysses stopped
his men’s ears.
492 ff. This manner of piling up consecutive clauses is observable in
the author’s French style, and the use of relatives like ‘wherof,’
‘which’ (l. 771) to introduce them is parallel to that of ‘Dont,’ ‘Par
quoy,’ &c. in the French: e.g. _Mir._ 219 ff.,
‘Et tant luy fist plesant desport,
Dont il fuist tant enamouré,
Que sur sa fille,’ &c.
Cp. _Mir._ 681.
527. ‘plus quam mille ex eis interfecimus,’ Guido, _Hist. Troi._, lib.
32.
532. _hiere_, subjunctive: cp. ii. 252, iii. 665, &c.
574. _othre thing_: plural no doubt, but we have also ‘othre (other)
thinges,’ i. 2464, iv. 1183.
_Latin Verses._ v. i. _que Leone._ This position of ‘que’ is quite
common in our author’s Latin writings: see the lines after the _Praise
of Peace_, ll. 10, 49, 50, &c.
8. _sub latitante_, ‘lurking underneath,’ ‘sub’ being an adverb. The
best copies have the words separate.
577. _applied_, ‘assigned’; cp. iv. 2607, v. 913, vii. 1100.
585. _seid_, ‘named.’
595. _feigneth conscience_, that is, makes pretence as to his feeling,
or state of mind, (‘As thogh it were al innocence’): cp. iii. 1504,
‘Mi conscience I woll noght hyde.’ The explanation suggested in the
_New Engl. Dict._ that ‘conscience’ stands for ‘conscientiousness’ or
‘rightful dealing,’ will hardly do, and the word does not seem to be
used early in this sense.
599. _the vein astat_: see note on Prol. 221.