clerkes,’ Prol. 900.
_where he duelleth_, that is, the hypocrite, standing for Hypocrisy in
general.
623. _religioun_, the members of the religious orders, as distinguished
from the rest of the clergy.
626. _It scheweth_, ‘it appears’: cp. Prol. 834.
636. _devolte apparantie_: the words are pure French, and the French
feminine form is as naturally used for the adjective, as in the ‘seinte
apparantie’ of _Mir._ 1124. We cannot apply the English rule of the
definite adjective to such combinations as this: cp. note on Prol. 221.
However, ‘devoute’ in l. 669 seems to be the plural form.
637. _set_, present tense: so ll. 650, 707, &c.
648. _these othre seculers_, ‘the men of the world also.’
650. ‘He makes no reckoning in his account.’
695. _As he which_ &c.; that is simply, ‘feigning to be sick,’ so iv.
1833, ‘As he who feigneth to be wod’; cp. vii. 3955. The expression
‘as he which,’ ‘as sche which,’ is very commonly used by Gower in this
sense; cp. i. 925, 1640, &c., and _Mir._ 27942, ‘Comme cil q’est tout
puissant,’ ‘being all-powerful.’
698. Cp. iv. 1180, ‘And thus mi contienance I pike.’ It means ‘he makes
many a pretence.’
709. _Entamed_, ‘wounded’: used in a similar moral sense in _Mir._
25161, ‘Car Covoitise les entame.’
713. _As forto feigne_, i.e. ‘as regards feigning’: so l. 723, ‘as to
my ladi diere.’
718 ff. For the form of sentence, which is a favourite one with our
author in all his three languages, but especially perhaps in Latin, cp.
_Mirour_, 18589 ff.,
‘Unques le corps du sainte Heleine
Serchant la croix tant ne se peine,
Qe nous ovesque nostre Court,
Assetz n’y mettons plus du peine,’ &c.
_Vox Clam._ i. 263 ff.,
‘In Colchos tauri, quos vicit dextra Iasonis,
Non ita sulphureis ignibus ora fremunt,
Quin magis igne boues isti,’ &c.
So also _Bal._ vii. 23, xviii. 8, xxx. 10; _Vox Clam._ i. 355, 449,
499, &c.; _Conf. Am._ i. 1259, 1319, &c.
733. ‘For I shall not declare this in my defence, that’ &c.; a somewhat
different use of the word from that which we find in the quotations
given by the _New Engl. Dict._, ‘Excuse _v._’ i. 1. d.
761 ff. The story of Mundus and Paulina is historical, related by
Josephus, _Ant._ xviii. 66 ff., and after him by Hegesippus, ii. 4,
from whom it was taken by Vincent of Beauvais, _Spec. Hist._ vii. 4,
and also doubtless, directly or indirectly, by Gower. It is told in
verse by Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_, xv, but it is certain that
this was not Gower’s source.
771. _Which_: for this use of the relative in a consecutive clause,
which is very common in our author’s style, see note on 492, and cp.
801.
773. _thilke bore frele kinde._ Human nature is described as frail from
birth, and by its weakness causing blindness of the heart.
776 f. ‘And such were the fortunes of this tale of which I would
speak,’ i.e. this was the passion which determined its course.
816. _his thonk pourchace_, ‘win their gratitude towards himself.’
833. ‘In which a false heart was concealed,’ an instance of inverted
order, for which cp. ii. 565,
‘Whiche as he wot is puyson inne.’
872. _hire_, cp. 367.
894. _which stod thanne upon believe_, ‘which then was thought to be
possible.’
938. _homward_, i.e. ‘goes towards home’; cp. iii. 1021, 2451.
940 ff. In Hegesippus the address is as follows: ‘Beata Paulina
concubitu dei. Magnus deus Anubis cuius tu accepisti mysteria. Sed
disce te sicut diis ita et hominibus non negare, quibus dii tribuant
quod tu negaveras: quia nec formas suas dare nobis nec nomina
dedignantur. Ecce ad sacra sua deus Anubis vocavit et Mundum, ut tibi
iungeret. Quid tibi profuit duritia tua, nisi ut te xx milium quae
obtuleram defraudaret compendio? Imitare deos indulgentiores, qui
nobis sine pretio tribuunt quod abs te magno pretio impetrari nequitum
est. Quod si te humana offendunt vocabula, Anubem me vocari placuit,
et nominis huius gratia effectum iuvit.’ It must be allowed that our
author has improved upon this offensive prolixity.
987. _sche may ther noght_, ‘she hath no power in the matter’: cp. 725,
‘there I lye noght.’
1006. _Citezeine._ Gower uses several of these feminine forms of
substantives. Besides ‘citezeine’ we have cousine, ii. 1201, capiteine,
v. 1972, enemie, v. 6753, anemie, viii. 1355 (all of which also occur
in the _Mirour_), and occasionally adjectives, as ‘veine’ (gloire), i.
2677 ff., (vertu) ‘sovereine,’ ii. 3507, ‘seinte’ (charite), iv. 964,
‘soleine,’ v. 1971, and probably ‘divine,’ ii. 3243, ‘gentile,’ viii.
2294.
1013 ff. ‘questioni subicit, confessos necat.’ Our author here expands
his original.
1040. _Whos cause_, ‘for the sake of which.’
1051. _put_, pres. tense, ‘putteth.’
1067. _menable_, ‘fit to guide,’ the ship; cp. ii. 1123, ‘A wynd
menable fro the londe.’ The word occurs several times in our author’s
French, as _Mirour_, 3676, 11882, 17392. The meaning in English is not
always the same, the word being, like others of this form, sometimes
active and sometimes passive: cp. ‘deceivable’ (ii. 1698, 2202). Here
and in the passage quoted the meaning is ‘leading,’ ‘fit to guide’:
elsewhere it stands for ‘easily led,’ ‘apt to be guided,’ as in iii.
390 and the French examples.
1068. ‘tobreken’ is the reading of JH₁XGL, SBΔ, W, and is evidently
required by the sense.
1077 ff. Here Gower mainly follows Benoît de Sainte-More (_Roman de
Troie_, 25620 ff.), but he was of course acquainted also with Guido
(_Historia Troiana_, lib. 27: m 5, ed. Argent. 1494). The name Epius
is from Benoît, for Guido has ‘Apius’: on the other hand, Guido and
not Benoît describes the horse as made of brass. In speaking of the
discussion about pulling down a portion of the walls, and of the walls
themselves as built by Neptune, 1146, 1152 ff., our author is certainly
drawing from Benoît. Some points of the story and many details are
original.
_Of hem that_ &c., ‘As regards those who have such deceit in
their hearts,’ i.e. hypocrites: cp. 956, ‘O derke ypocrisie.’
1102. The MS. can hardly be right in punctuating after ‘Togedre.’
1129 f. So Lydgate, perhaps with this passage in his mind,
‘Makynge a colour of devocion
Through holynesse under ypocrisie.’
_Tale of Troye_, bk. iv.
1133. _trapped._ ‘In quo construentur quedam clausure sic artificiose
composite, quod’ &c. _Hist. Troiana_, m 4 v^o. Gower does not say that
men were contained within, though this is stated by his authorities, of
whom Benoît places Sinon inside the horse, while Guido finds room there
for a thousand armed men. The ‘twelve’ wheels seem to be due to Gower,
as also the picturesque touch, ‘And goth glistrende ayein the Sunne.’
1146 ff. Cp. _Roman de Troie_, 25814 ff. (ed. Joly),
‘Et quant ço virent Troien,
Conseil pristrent que des terralz
Abatroient les granz muralz,
Les biax, les granz, que Neptunus
Ot fet, M. anz aveit et plus,
Et qu’ Apollo ot dedié.’
1165. _crossen seil_, ‘set their sails across (the mast).’
1172. _Synon._ The reading of F may be right, for ‘Simon’ is the form
of the name given in many copies of Guido. Here however the whole of
the second recension and the better copies of the first give ‘Synon,’
and a copyist’s alteration would be towards the more familiar name.
1225. _lok._ In l. 1703 we have ‘loke’ for the imperative, which must
be regarded as more strictly correct.
_Latin Verses._ vi. 1 f. _olle Fictilis ad cacabum_, a proverb derived
from Ecclus. xiii. 3, ‘Quid communicabit cacabus ad ollam? quando enim
se colliserint confringetur.’
6. The elephant was supposed to have no joints.
1262 f. _That I ... ne bowe more._ For the form of expression see note
on 718. Pauli makes the text here quite unintelligible by reproducing
an error of Berthelet’s edition and adding to it another of his own.
1293. A proverbial expression like that in vi. 447, ‘For selden get a
domb man lond.’
1328. _retenue_, ‘engagement of service’: cp. _Bal._ viii. 17,
‘Q’a vous servir j’ai fait ma retenue.’
1354. _the decerte Of buxomnesse_, i.e. ‘the service of obedience.’ For
both the spelling and meaning of ‘decerte’ cp. _Mir._ 10194,
‘Qe ja ne quiert ou gaign ou perte
Du siecle avoir pour sa decerte.’
1407 ff. The ‘Tale of Florent’ is essentially the same as Chaucer’s
‘Wife of Bath’s Tale,’ but the details are in many ways different.
According to Chaucer the hero of the adventure is a knight of Arthur’s
court and the occasion of his trouble a much less creditable one than
in the case of Florent. In Chaucer’s tale the knight sees a fairy
dance of ladies in the forest before he meets his repulsive deliverer,
and she gets from him a promise that he will grant her next request
if it lies in his power, the demand of marriage being put off until
after the question has been successfully solved by her assistance. The
rather unseasonable lectures on gentilesse, poverty, and old age are
not introduced by Gower. On the other hand, Chaucer’s alternative,
‘Will you have me old and ugly but a faithful wife, or young and fair
with the attendant risks?’ is more pointed and satisfactory than the
corresponding feature in Gower’s tale. Finally, Chaucer has nothing
about the enchantment by which the lady had been transformed.
It is tolerably certain that neither borrowed the story from the other,
though there are a few touches of minute resemblance which may suggest
that one was acquainted with the other’s rendering of it: see ll. 1587,
1727.
We cannot point to the precise original of either; but a very similar
story is found in _The Weddynge of Sir Gawene and Dame Ragnell_,
published in the collection of poems relating to Gawain edited by Sir
F. Madden (Bannatyne Club, 1839) and contained in MS. Rawlinson C. 86.
In this ballad Arthur’s life is spared by a strange knight who meets
him unarmed in the forest, on condition of answering his question,
‘What do women love best,’ at the end of twelve months. He is assisted
by Dame Ragnell, who demands in return to be married to Sir Gawain. Sir
Gawain accepts the proposal from loyalty to his lord, and the rest is
much as in Gower’s version. It should be noted that the alternative of
day or night appears in the ballad and was a feature of the original
story, which Chaucer altered.
The Percy fragment of _The Marriage of Sir Gawain_, also printed in Sir
F. Madden’s volume, is the same story as we have in the other ballad.
The name Florent and that of the Emperor Claudius are probably due to
Gower, who is apt to attach to his stories names of his own choosing:
cp. Lucius and Dionys (_Conf. Am._ v. 7124*, _Mir._ 7101).
Shakespeare refers to Gower’s story in the line,
‘Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love.’
_Tam. of the Shr._ i. 2. 69.
1427. _his oghne hondes_: cp. iii. 2011, 2142; v. 1884, 5455 (‘seide
his oghne mouth’).
1509. _schape unto the lere_, ‘prepared for the loss’ (O. E. lyre).
1521. _par aventure_, or ‘per aventure’ as given by J. The former of
the two words is as usual contracted in F.
1536. _his horse heved_, ‘his horse’s head’: cp. Prol. 1085, iv. 1357,
&c. The word ‘heved,’ also written ‘hefd,’ ‘hed,’ is a monosyllable as
regards the metre.
1541. _Florent be thi name_: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, B 3982, ‘dan
Piers be youre name.’
1556. ‘I ask for nothing better (to be imposed) as a task.’
1587. _Have hier myn hond_: so in Chaucer, ‘Have heer my trouthe,’ D
1013.
1662. This is one of the closest parallels with the ballad,
‘And she that told the nowe, sir Arthoure,
I pray to god I maye se her bren on a fyre.’
_Weddynge of Syr Gawene_, 475.
1676. _what_: cp. the use of ‘quoy’ in French, e.g. _Mir._ 1781.
1677. _caste on his yhe_, ‘cast his eye upon.’
1714. ‘He must, whom fate compels.’ The words ‘schal,’ ‘scholde’ are
regularly used by Gower to express the idea of destiny, e.g. iii. 1348,
iv. 92, 377.
1722. ‘Placing her as he best could.’
1727. _Bot as an oule_ &c. So in Chaucer,
‘And al day after hidde him as an owle,
So wo was hym, his wyf looked so foule.’
D 1081 f.
1767. _tok thanne chiere on honde_, ‘began to be merry.’
1771. _And profreth him ... to kisse_, i.e. offers to kiss him: cp. v.
6923, ‘Anon he profreth him to love.’
1886. _til it overthrowe_, i.e. till it fall into calamity,
‘overthrowe’ being intransitive, as 1962.
1888. _Hadde I wist_: cp. ii. 473, iv. 305.
1895. _And is_, i.e. ‘And he is,’ the pronoun being frequently omitted:
cp. Prol. 348, 676, i. 2083, 2462, ii. 258, 624, 2071, 2985, iii. 1063,
&c.
1917 f. A proverbial expression: cp. Lydgate, _Secrees of the
Philosophres_, 459, ‘Yit wer me loth ovir myn hed to hewe.’
1934. _ne schal me noght asterte_, ‘shall not escape me,’ in the sense
of letting a fault be committed by negligence in repressing it: cp. i.
722.
1967. _unbende_, 1st sing. pret., ‘I unbent (my bow).’ For the form cp.
‘sende,’ Prol. 1013.
1980 ff. The example of Capaneus is probably from Statius. The medieval
romances (e.g. the French _Roman de Thèbes_) do not represent Capaneus
as slain by a lightning stroke. The impious speech alluded to here,
‘Primus in orbe deos fecit timor!’ is Statius, _Theb._ iii. 661, and
the death of Capaneus, _Theb._ x. 827 ff.
2007. _it proeveth_, i.e. ‘it appears’: cp. Prol. 926.
2021 ff. This story was probably taken by Gower from the _Vita Barlaam
et Josaphat_, cap. vi (Migne, _Patrol._ vol. 74. p. 462 f.). The
incidents are the same, but amplified with details by Gower, who has
also invented the title of the king. In the original he is only ‘magnus
quidam et illustris rex.’ The story is found in several collections,
as _Gesta Romanorum_, 143, Holkot, 70, see _Gesta Romanorum_, ed.
Oesterley.
2030. _ride amaied_: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, C 406, and Skeat’s
note.
2049. _par charite._ Rather perhaps ‘per charite,’ following J. F and A
both have the contracted form. So also ‘per chance,’ ‘per chaunce,’ in
ll. 2225, 2290, 3203, and ‘per aventure,’ l. 2350.
2073. _was the same ... which_, cp. viii. 3062*.
2078. This line, which would more naturally follow the next, seems to
be thrown in parenthetically here.
2106. So also ii. 895, 2670.
2172. _to tendre with_, ‘whereby to soften’: cp. i. 452, ‘To tarie with
a mannes thoght,’ and ii. 283.
2176. _sihe_: the mixture of past with present tenses is common in
Gower.
2214 ff. ‘O stulte ac demens, si fratris tui, cum quo idem tibi genus
et par honos est, in quem nullius omnino sceleris tibi conscius es,
praeconem ita extimuisti, quonam modo mihi reprehensionis notam idcirco
inussisti, quod Dei mei praecones, qui mortem, ac Domini, in quem me
multa et gravia scelera perpetrasse scio, pertimescendum adventum
mihi quavis tuba vocalius altiusque denuntiant, humiliter ac demisse
salutarim?’ _Barl. et Jos._ cap. vi.
2225. See note on 2049.
2236. _obeie_, ‘do obeisance to’: cp. v. 1539.
2275 ff. The tale of Narcissus is no doubt from Ovid, _Met._ iii. 402
ff., but the account of his death is different from that which we find
there. Ovid relates that he pined away gradually, and that his body was
not found, but in place of it a flower.
2290. _par chance_: see note on 2049.
2316 f. Cp. Bocc. _Gen. Deorum_, vii. 59, ‘existimans fontis Nympham.’
By the margin we find that the nymph here meant is Echo, who is
represented by Ovid as having wasted away for love of Narcissus and as
giving an answer now to his cries.
2317. _as tho was faie_, ‘as then was endued with (magic) power,’
‘faie’ being an adjective, as in ii. 1019, v. 3769.
2320. _of his sotie_, to be taken with what follows.
2340 ff. I know of no authority for this manner of his death.
2343-2358. This pretty passage is a late addition, appearing only
in the third recension MSS. and one other copy, so far as I know.
According to Ovid, the nymphs of the fountains and of the woods mourned
for Narcissus,
‘Planxere sorores
Naides, et sectos fratri posuere capillos;
Planxerunt Dryades, plangentibus assonat Echo,’
but when they desired to celebrate his obsequies, they found nothing
there but a flower.
2350. _par aventure_: see note on 2049.
2355 ff. This application of the story, founded on the fact that the
narcissus blooms in early spring, seems to be due to our author: cp.
ii. 196, iii. 1717.
2377. _a place_, equivalent to ‘aplace,’ which we find in l. 1888, i.e.
‘on place,’ ‘into place.’ We might read ‘aplace’ here also, for though
the words were at first written separately in F, there seems to have
been an intention of joining them afterwards. However, such separations
are often found elsewhere, as ‘a doun,’ iv. 2710, v. 385; ‘a ferr’; i.
2335; ‘a game,’ viii. 2319; and most MSS. have ‘a place’ here.
2398. The reading of F, ‘Which elles scholde haue his wille,’ is a
possible one, but the preservation of final ‘e’ before ‘have’ used
unemphatically, as here, would be rather unusual. Instances such as
l. 2465, ‘a werre hadde,’ are not to the point, and in l. 2542, where
there is a better example, ‘Of such werk as it scholde have,’ the word
‘have’ is made more emphatic by standing in rhyme.
_Latin Verses._ ix. 2. _cilens._ Such forms of spelling are not
uncommon in Gower’s Latin: cp. ‘cenatore,’ v. 4944 (margin).
2410. _wynd._ The curious corruption ‘hunt,’ which appears in one form
or another in all the copies of the unrevised first recension, must
have been one of the mistakes of the original copyist. The critical
note here should be, ‘hunt(e) H₁YX ... C hante L haunt B₂,’ and the
actual reading in L is, ‘Haþ þilke errour hante in his office,’ which
seems due to a marginal note having been incorporated in the text.
2411. _Which_, for ‘that’ in consecutive sense, answering to ‘thilke,’
see note on l. 492. In this case it does not even stand as the subject
of the verb, for we have ‘he overthroweth.’
2421. _tok._ This is second person singular, and we might rather expect
‘toke,’ which in fact is the reading of some good copies: cp. ii. 234,
iii. 2629, viii. 2076.
2443. _daunger._ See note on _Balades_, xii. 8. The name represents the
influences which are unfavourable to the lover’s suit, and chiefly the
feelings in the lady’s own mind which tend towards prudence or prompt
her to disdain. The personification in the _Roman de la Rose_ is well
known. There Danger is the chief guardian of the rose-bush, and has for
his helpers Malebouche, who spreads unfavourable reports of the lover,
with Honte and Paour, who represent the feelings in the lady’s mind
which lead her to resist his advances: see _Roman de la Rose_, 2837
ff., Chaucer, _Leg. of G. Women_, B 160, _Troilus_, ii. 1376. Danger,
however, also stands without personification for scornfulness or
reluctance in love, and so the adjective ‘dangereus’ _Rom. de la Rose_,
479 (Eng. ‘dangerous,’ _Cant. Tales_, D 1090, ‘Is every knight of his
so dangerous?’).
In the _Confessio Amantis_ the principal passages relating to Danger
as a person are iii. 1537 ff. and v. 6613 ff. Such expressions also
frequently occur as ‘hire daunger,’ iv. 2813; ‘thi Daunger,’ iv. 3589;
‘make daunger,’ ii. 1110; ‘withoute danger,’ iv. 1149: cp. Chaucer,
_Troilus_, ii. 384.
For the references to Danger in Lydgate see Dr. Schick’s note on
_Temple of Glas_, 156 (E. E. T. S.).
2459 ff. The story of Alboin and Rosemund is related by Paulus
Diaconus, _Gest. Langob._ ii. 28, and after him by many others. This
historian declares that he has himself seen the cup made of a skull
from which the queen was invited to drink. According to him, Helmichis,
the king’s foster-brother and shield-bearer, plotted with Rosemunda
against the king and induced her to gain the support of one Peredeus
by the device of substituting herself for her waiting-maid. In some
versions of the story this Peredeus was omitted. For example, in the
_Pantheon_ of Godfrey of Viterbo (xvii), where the story is related
first in prose and then in verse, he is only slightly mentioned in the
prose account and not at all in the verse, Helmegis being substituted
for him in both as the object of the queen’s artifice. It seems
probable that Gower followed this author, with whose book we know he
was acquainted (viii. 271). The name of the waiting-maid, Glodeside,
seems to have been supplied by our author, who took it no doubt from
‘Glodosinda,’ the name of Alboin’s former wife. Helmege the king’s
‘boteler’ is the ‘Helmegis pincerna regis’ of the _Pantheon_, and some
expressions correspond closely, as 2474 (margin), ‘ciphum ex ea gemmis
et auro circumligatum ... fabricari constituit,’ with the line ‘Arte
scyphum fieri statuens auroque ligari.’
The tale is well told by Gower, but he alters the final catastrophe,
so as not to lengthen the story unnecessarily and divert attention
from his principal object, which has to do with Alboin’s punishment
for boasting and not with the fate of the adulterous pair. He is
responsible for most of the details: in the _Pantheon_ the story
occupies only sixty lines of Latin verse and is rather meagre in style.
Compare, for example, the following with the account given by Gower of
the holding of the banquet, the cruel boast of Alboin, and the feelings
of the queen (2495-2569),
‘Ipse caput soceri, quem fecerat ense necari,
Arte scyphum fieri statuens auroque ligari,
Vina suae sponsae praecipit inde dari.
Femina nescisset quod testa paterna fuisset,
Vina nec hausisset, nisi diceret impius ipse,
“Testa tui patris est, cum patre, nata, bibe.”
Dum bibit immunda data vina gemens Rosimunda,
Pectora pessumdat, lacrymae vehementer inundant,
Occisique patris res fit amara satis.’
2485 (margin). _Bibe cum patre tuo_: these are the exact words of the
prose account in the _Pantheon_.
2504. There is a stop after ‘ordeine’ in F, therefore ‘sende’ should be
taken as a past tense rather than as infinitive dependent on ‘let.’
2533. ‘And took a pride within his heart.’
2548. The punctuation is that of the MSS.
2569. _had mad._ The use of ‘had’ for ‘hadde’ in a position like this,
where it is followed by a consonant (or of ‘hadde’ with the value of
a monosyllable in such a position), is most unusual in Gower’s verse.
If there were a little more authority for it, we might read ‘hath,’
as given by J: cp. iv. 170, where many of the best copies read ‘Had
mad’ for ‘Hath mad.’ It is possible that the author meant here ‘hath
had mad’ (‘had’ being past participle), but I cannot quote any clear
example of this form of speech at so early a date.
2642 ff. Here Gower departs from the authorities and winds up the story
abruptly. According to the original story, Longinus the prefect of
Ravenna conspired with Rosemunda to poison Helmichis; and he, having
received drink from her hand and feeling himself poisoned, compelled
her to drink also of the same cup.
2677. _veine gloire._ The adjective here adopts the French feminine
form, as we have it in this very combination in the _Mirour_, e.g. l.
1219. On the other hand, where the words are separated, as l. 2720, the
uninflected form is used. See note on l. 1006.
_Latin Verses._ x. 5. _strigilare fauellum_, ‘to curry favel.’
2684. ‘Heaven seems no gain to him.’ The forms ‘þinken’ and ‘þenken’
are identified by Gower under ‘þenken’; but ‘þinke’ is sometimes used
in rhyme, and indifferently for either, e.g. v. 213, 254.
2701. _unavised_, adv., ‘in a foolish fashion.’
2703 ff. Cp. _Mir._ 27337 ff., where the author pleads guilty to these
crimes, as the lover also does below.
2705 (margin). Ecclus. xix. 27, ‘Amictus corporis et risus dentium et
ingressus hominis enunciant de illo.’
2706 f. _the newe guise of lusti folk_, i.e. the latest fashion for men
of pleasure.
2713 f. This is one of the cases in which the third recension reading
has been introduced over erasure into the text of F: cp. Prol. 336, iv.
1321, 1361, vii. _Lat. Verses_ after ll. 1640 and 1984.
The original lines are given in the foot-note in accordance with S.
They were altered perhaps to avoid repetition of 2681 f.
2745. _songe_, so here in F and A, elsewhere ‘song.’
2746. _Wherof_: cp. l. 498.
2764. _hire good astat._ For the loss of inflexion cp. ii. 2341, ‘his
slyh compas.’
2769. _whiche_: often treated as a monosyllable in the verse, as ii.
604, iv. 1498, &c., but cp. l. 2825.
2787. Prol. 585 ff.
2795. _bere_: pret., as shown both by sense and rhyme.