_Confessio Amantis_ makes Valentinian’s age ‘an hundred wynter,’
but the Latin margin both there and in the _Traitié_ calls him
‘octogenarius.’
17103. Num. xxxi. 17 f.
17113. This is the Gilbert mentioned in the note on l. 17067. He was
abbot of S. Marie de Nogent in the early part of the twelfth century.
His ‘sermoun’ is the _Opusculum de Virginitate_, to which this is a
rather general reference.
17119. Jerome _adv. Jovin._ i. 41.
17122. See note on 5179.
17125. Cyprian, _Tract._ ii. ‘Flos est ille ecclesiastici germinis,
decus atque ornamentum gratiae spiritualis.’
17149 ff. Cp. _Trait._ iii. 2.
17166. _Soubz cel habit_, &c., cp. _Trait._ v. 2.
17200. Gen. ii. 18.
17208. _acompaigner_, ‘take as a companion.’
17223. 1 Cor. vii. 9.
17228. ‘which cause us to take matrimony upon us.’
17238 ff. Cp. _Trait._ iv.
17268. ‘I call in the world as my witness to this.’
17293. ‘If a man thus takes a wife’: cp. 1244, &c.
17308. Cp. _Trait._ v.
17310. _jure avant_, ‘proceeds to swear’: cp. 14730.
17336. Compare the popular lines,
‘When Adam dalf and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?’
Much the same argument as we have here is to be found in _Conf. Am._
iv. 2204 ff.
17366. ‘the ladies are not of that mind.’
17374. _ainçois demein_, ‘before the morrow’; ‘ançois’ as a preposition.
17417. Tobit iii. 8, and vi. 13, 14, but nothing is said distinctly of
the reason here assigned. It may be thought that it is implied in Tobit
viii. 9. The idea is fully developed in the _Confessio Amantis_, where
the whole story is told with this motive and in connexion with the same
argument about chastity in the state of marriage. See _Conf. Am._ vii.
5307-5381.
17450. _regent_, used here as a present participle.
17469. _Naman_: more correctly ‘Aman’ in 11075.
17472. _retient_, ‘saved’: it seems to be a preterite, cp. 8585, 9816,
&c.
17484. _volt avoir malbailly_: so ‘volt avoir confondu’ below; perhaps
a translation of the English ‘would have illtreated’ &c.
17497. _fait bien a loer_: see note on 1883.
17498. ‘it is good to marry the good’: ‘du’ for ‘de.’
17500. Ecclus. vii. 21.
17532. ‘to be companions by Holy Church,’ that is by ordinance of Holy
Church.
17593. Ecclus. ix. 2, xxv. 30.
17608. 2 Sam. vi.
17616. _puis tout jour_, ‘ever after.’
17630. _ou_, for ‘au,’ see Glossary.
17641. Cat. _Distich._ i. 8,
‘Nil temere uxori de seruis crede querenti,
Semper enim mulier quem coniux diligit odit.’
17689. _ert_: future in imperative sense, ‘shall be’; so in the lines
that follow.
17702. _Anne_, called ‘Edna’ in the A. V.
17705. Tobit x. 12. The Authorised English version has but one of the
five points, and that in a somewhat different form from our author’s:
‘Honour thy father and thy mother in law, which are now thy parents,
that I may hear good report of thee.’ The Vulgate reading is, ‘Monentes
eam honorare soceros, diligere maritum, regere familiam, gubernare
domum, et seipsam irreprehensibilem exhibere.’
17714 ff. _estrive ... quiert ... labourt_: apparently present
indicative, stating what the good wife does.
17743. ‘For if a woman’ &c. The construction is confused, cp. 89.
17776. _n’ait homme tant pecché_, ‘however much a man may have sinned.’
17785. Ez. xxxiii. 14 ff.
17801. _Cil_, i.e. ‘the latter,’ as the following lines show.
17827. The widow’s marriage: cp. 9170 and note.
17845. 1 Tim. v. 3-6.
17864. _le vou Marie_: see 27734 ff.
17874. Ps. lxxvi. 11 (_Vulg._ lxxv. 12), ‘Vovete et reddite Domino Deo
vestro.’
17876. ‘that purpose has little merit, which’ &c.: ‘decert’ for
‘desert,’ from ‘deservir,’ so also the substantive ‘decerte’ for
‘deserte.’
17882. _sanz en faire glose_, ‘without need of comment.’
17904. Nevertheless according to 17302 ff. he is bound to do so.
17935 ff. Cp. _Trait._ ii. 1,
‘Des bones almes l’un fait le ciel preignant,
Et l’autre emplist la terre de labour.’
The original of it is perhaps Jerome _adv. Jovin._ i. 16, ‘Nuptiae
terram replent, virginitas paradisum.’ Much the same thing is said by
Augustine and by others.
17945. Jerome, _Ep._ xxii. 20, ‘Laudo nuptias, laudo coniugium, sed
quia mihi virgines generant: lego de spinis rosam.’
17948. 1 Cor. vii. 9.
17952. ‘as the highest teaching.’
17996. _trestout ardant_ belongs of course to ‘fornaise’ in the next
line. These inversions are characteristic of the author’s style: cp.
15941.
18004. Bern. _de Ord. Vit._ ii. 4, ‘Et ne incentivis naturalibus
superentur, necesse est ut lasciviens caro eorum crebris frangatur
ieiuniis.’ _De Convers._ 21, ‘Quidni periclitetur castitas in
deliciis.’
18018. _chalt pas_, ‘at once.’
18025. Ambr. _Hex._ vi. 4. 28, ‘Ieiuni hominis sputum si serpens
gustaverit, moritur. Vides quanta vis ieiunii sit, ut et sputo suo homo
terrenum serpentem interficiat, et merito spiritalem.’
18067. _q’est d’aspre vie_, ‘which belongs to hard life.’
18097. Matt. xiii.
18154. ‘And then performs the circumstance of it,’ that is the deeds
suggested by it.
18159 ff. With this passage on the power of the divine word compare
that on the power of the human word in _Conf. Am._ vii. 1545 ff.
18172. John xv. 3.
18292. Ps. cxxvi. (_Vulg._ cxxv.) 6, ‘Euntes ibant et flebant,
mittentes semina sua. Venientes autem venient cum exsultatione,
portantes manipulos suos.’
18301. Val. Max. iv. 5. The story is also given in the _Confessio
Amantis_ v. 6372 ff. with a slight variation in the details, and it is
alluded to in _Vox Clam._ vi. 1323. It is to be noted that the same
corruption of the original name Spurina, into ‘Phirinus,’ is found in
all three.
The lines corresponding to 18301 f. are _Conf. Am._ v. 6359 f.,
‘Of Rome among the gestes olde
I finde hou that Valerie tolde’ &c.
18303. _Ot_, ‘there was,’ for ‘y ot.’
18317. _dont_, ‘because of which.’
18324. _Celle alme_, ‘the soul’: see note on 301.
18329. _Dont_ answering to ‘ensi,’ in consecutive sense, as often.
18348. _qant s’esbanoie_, ‘in his glory’; lit. ‘when he diverts
himself.’
18371. ‘What can I say more except that God honours thee?’
18420. _L’escoles_, for ‘les escoles,’ ‘li’ (or ‘le’) being used for
‘les’: see Glossary ‘ly,’ ‘le.’
18421. The part of the work which begins here runs parallel with a
large portion of the _Vox Clamantis_, viz. Books iii.-vi. inclusive.
18445. The assertion that he is merely giving voice to public opinion
is more than once repeated by our author in his several works, e.g.
_Conf. Am. Prol._ 122 ff.
18451. Simon Magus is the representative of spiritual corruption,
called ‘simony.’ His name is similarly used in our author’s other
works, e.g. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 204, 439, and often in the _Vox
Clamantis_. With the argument here compare _Vox Clam._ iii. ch. 4,
where nearly the same line is followed.
18462. _deux pointz_, ‘two points,’ instead of one: ‘ou ... ou,’
‘whether ... or.’
18466. ‘Or if not so, then proceed to tell me’ &c. For ‘avant’ cp.
14730.
18469. ‘I cannot believe.’
18505. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 265 ff.,
‘In quanto volucres petit auceps carpere plures,
Vult tanto laqueos amplificare suos’: &c.
Here the speech is put into the mouth of a member of the Roman court,
for which cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 817 ff., where a similarly cynical
avowal is put into the mouth of the Pope.
18539. _perchera._ I am disposed to take this as a future of
‘percevoir,’ in the sense ‘receive,’ ‘collect,’ (‘parcevoir rentes’
Godefr.). Roquefort (Suppl.) gives ‘perchoir’ as a possible form of the
word.
18542. _serrons_, from ‘serrer.’
18553. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 141,
‘Clauiger ethereus Petrus extitit, isteque poscit
Claues thesauri regis habere sibi.’
18556. Cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 206 ff., where the parallel is very close.
18580. The allusion is to the cross upon the reverse of the English
gold coinage of Edward III’s time, as also on that of some other
countries and perhaps on the pound sterling, see 25270.
18584. _cil huissier_, ‘the doorkeepers.’
18589. This form of sentence is characteristic of our author: cp.
_Bal._ xviii. 2,
‘Tiel esperver crieis unqes ne fu,
Qe jeo ne crie plus en ma maniere.’
Also _Bal._ vii. 4, xxx. 2, _Conf. Am._ i. 718 and frequently in the
_Vox Clamantis_, e.g. i. 499 ff.
18631. Referring to the payments made by Jews and prostitutes at Rome
for liberty to live and exercise their professions.
18637. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 283 ff. and _Conf. Am._ ii. 3486 ff.
18649. John xiv. 27. The discourse however is not to St. Peter alone,
cp. 18733.
18663. _des bonnes almes retenir_, for ‘de retenir les bonnes almes,’
‘in keeping guard over souls’: cp. 5492, &c. For the substance of the
passage cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 344,
‘Hic animas, alius querit auarus opes,’
where ‘Hic’ is St. Peter and ‘alius’ the modern Pope.
18672. ‘As long as physic may avail’ to save us from it.
18673. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 343 ff. and _Conf. Am. Prol._ 212 ff. In
the latter we have a pretty literal translation of l. 18675,
‘Of armes and of brigantaille,’
which seems to mean ‘of regular or irregular troops.’
18721. _faisons que sage_: cp. 16700.
18733. Matt. xxiii. 8-10.
18737. Rev. xix. 10. Precisely the same application of this passage is
made in _Vox Clam._ iii. 957 ff.
18761 f. ‘that he distinguished his cardinals by their red hats.’
18779. With this stanza cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 11 ff.
18783. _Innocent._ This must be taken to be a reference to the Pope
generally and not pressed as an evidence of date. Innocent VI, the only
pope of this name in the fourteenth century, died in 1362, whereas we
see from 18829 ff. that this work was not completed until after the
schism of the year 1378.
18793 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1247 ff.,
‘Antecristus aget que sunt contraria Cristo,
Mores subuertens et viciosa fouens:
Nescio si forte mundo iam venerat iste,
Eius enim video plurima signa modo.’
18797. ‘What think you of whether such an one has yet come? Yes, for
truly pride now rises above humility’ &c. That this is the meaning
is clear from the above-quoted passage of the _Vox Clamantis_. I
assume that the author is now speaking in his own person again,
notwithstanding ‘nostre court’ below, which occurs also in other
places, e.g. 18873.
18805. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1271,
‘In cathedram Moysi nunc ascendunt Pharisei,
Et scribe scribunt dogma, nec illud agunt’
and _Conf. Am. Prol._ 304 ff.,
‘And thus for pompe and for beyete
The Scribe and ek the Pharisee
Of Moïses upon the See
In the chaiere on hyh ben set.’
18829 ff. A reference to the schism of the papacy, which must have
taken place during the composition of this work: see Introduction p.
xlii.
18840 (R). _solonc ce que l’en vait parlant_: cp. 19057 ff. and such
expressions as ‘secundum commune dictum’ in the headings of the
chapters of the _Vox Clamantis_, e.g. iii. ch. 15.
18848. _Maisque_, apparently here the same as ‘mais.’
18876. _verra_: fut. of ‘venir’ instead of the usual ‘vendra.’ Burguy
(i. 397) does not admit the form for the Norman dialect, but it was
used in Picardy. Usually ‘verrai’ is the future of ‘veoir,’ e.g. 19919,
as in modern French.
18889 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1341 ff.,
‘Cuius honor, sit onus; qui lucris participare
Vult, sic de dampnis participaret eis:
Sic iubet equa fides, sic lex decreuit ad omnes,
Set modo qui curant ipsa statuta negant.’
18925. 2 Kings v.
18997. The story is alluded to in much the same connexion _Vox Clam._
iii. 249,
‘Alcius ecce Simon temptat renouare volatum.’
19031. _s’il sa garde pance_, &c., ‘if he neglects his belly-armour
of antidote’: ‘garde pance’ is to be taken as practically one word,
though not written so in the MS. The idea is that the Pope has to take
the precaution of an antidote against poison with all his meals.
19044. ‘as a chicken does the hen,’ i.e. ‘follows the hen’; a good
instance of the use of ‘faire’ often noted before.
19057 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. _Prol._ 11 ff.,
‘A me non ipso loquor hec, set que michi plebis
Vox dedit, et sortem plangit vbique malam;
Vt loquitur vulgus loquor,’ &c.
There, as here, the excuse is prefatory to an attack on Church
dignitaries.
19113. _persuacioun_: five syllables in the metre.
19117. The application of this reference, which is here lost, may be
supplied from _Vox Clam._ iii. 1145 ff., where the instance is quoted,
as here, in condemnation of the laxity of bishops.
19315. The leaf which is here lost contained the full number of 192
lines without any rubric, as we may see by the point at which the
present stanza begins. The author is still on the subject of bishops.
19333 ff. With the substance of this and the following stanza cp.
_Conf. Am. Prol._ 449 ff.
19345. An unfavourable view of the bee is generally taken by our
author: cp. 5437 ff.
19372 f. ‘The wanton prelate, who is bound to God, separates himself
grievously from him by reason of the sting’: ‘q’a dieu se joynt’ seems
only meant to express the fact that by his office he is near to God.
19377. Referring to some such passage as Gal. v. 16 f.
19380. ‘would be in better case if they had no sting.’
19407. Cp. Chaucer, _Persones Tale_, 618 (Skeat): ‘And ofte tyme swich
cursinge wrongfully retorneth agayn to him that curseth, as a brid that
retorneth agayn to his owene nest.’
19411. _Du quelle part_, ‘in whatever direction.’
19457. _S’en fuit_: apparently used in the same sense as ‘fuit,’ with
‘sainte oreisoun’ as direct object.
19501 f. Evidently a play upon the words ‘phesant,’ ‘faisant,’ and
‘vin,’ ‘divin,’ as afterwards ‘coupe,’ ‘culpe.’
19505 f. ‘Rather than to correct and attend to the fault of the
Christian man.’ This use of ‘pour’ has been noticed before, 6328, &c.
19891. The two leaves which are lost contained the full number of 384
lines, and we are still on the subject of bishops.
19897. Not Solinus, so far as I know.
19907. 1 Tim. iii. 1.
19941. _la divine creature_, ‘God’s creature.’
19945. 1 Sam. xii. 19 ff.
19948. ‘was not disturbed in his charity.’
19949. _ne place a dieu_, &c., ‘God forbid that I should not pray for
you.’
19957. Jer. ix. 1, ‘Quis dabit capiti meo aquam, et oculis meis fontem
lacrymarum?’ &c.
19968. Presumably we should read either ‘du prelat’ or ‘des prelatz.’
19971. Possibly Is. lxiii. 3, 5, but it is not an exact quotation.
19972 f. ‘He looked, but there was none of the people who regarded, or
who sighed for his sufferings.’
19981. Val. Max. v. 6, but he does not give the name of the enemy
against whom the war was made, therefore the story is perhaps not taken
directly from him. The story is in _Conf. Am._ vii. 3181 ff., beginning,
‘for this Valeire tolde,
And seide hou that be daies olde
Codrus,’ &c.
19984. _ceaux d’Orense_: in the _Conf. Am._ ‘ayein Dorrence.’ The war
is said by some authorities to have been ‘in Dorienses,’ and this is no
doubt what is meant, but there is evidently a discrepancy here between
the _Mirour_ and the _Confessio Amantis_ with regard to the name. The
MS. reading here is of course ‘dorense.’
19995. _proprement_, ‘for his own part,’ i.e. ‘himself.’
19996. ‘or suffer his people to be killed.’
20014. _mais pour cherir_, ‘except for taking care of.’
20016. Judas is the type of those who fall by transgression from their
bishoprics.
20019. Luke x. 30 ff. The ‘deacon’ here stands for the Levite of the
parable.
20035. Zech. x. 3, ‘Super pastores iratus est furor meus, et super
hircos visitabo.’
20042. Perhaps Is. xxix. 15.
20053. This must be a reference to Matt. xxiii. 13, attributed by
mistake to Isaiah.
20065 ff. This is also in _Conf. Am._ v. 1900 ff. with a reference to
Gregory’s Homilies, and referred to more shortly in _Vox Clam._ iii.
903 ff.
20109. _de celle extente_, ‘to that extent.’ This seems practically to
be the meaning; that is, so far forth as the purse extends.
20120. _la coronne_: evidently this indicates the tonsured priest,
whose circle of unshorn hair was supposed to represent the crown of
thorns. As to the following lines, we must take them to mean ‘if you
read the sequence of the Gospel you will know who is meant,’ the
relative being used in the same way as in 1244, &c.
20123. _son incest_: see note on 9085.
20126 f. ‘offices fall to the lot of different persons at different
times.’
20140. ‘There is no one by whom they may be corrected.’
20153 ff. ‘There are those who farm out prostitution as if it were
property of land and tillage.’
20161. This stanza is very closely parallel with _Conf. Am. Prol._
407-413,
‘And upon this also men sein,
That fro the leese which is plein
Into the breres thei forcacche
Here Orf, for that thei wolden lacche,
With such duresce and so bereve
That schal upon the thornes leve
Of wulle, which the brere hath tore.’
Cp. also _Vox Clam._ iii. 195 f.
20178. _Pour dire_ &c., to be connected with ‘ce ne te puet excuser’:
‘it cannot excuse you to say’ &c., ‘pour’ standing for ‘de,’ as often.
20195. _ma bource estuet_: this looks like a personal use of
‘estovoir,’ but presumably ‘ma bource’ is a kind of object, ‘it is
necessary for my purse,’ as in phrases like ‘m’estuet.’
20197 ff. Cp. Chaucer, _C. T. Prol._ 658,
‘Purs is the erchedeknes helle.’
20200. ‘It is of a piece with this, that he uses no other virtue to
correct me, provided that I give him my substance.’
20225 ff. The substance of this is repeated in _Vox Clam._ iii. 1403 ff.
20244. _entribole_: we might equally well read ‘en tribole,’ ‘disturbs
by it.’
20247 ff. To this corresponds _Vox Clam._ iii. 1351 ff.
20250. _puist_, properly pret. subjunctive.
20287 ff. Cp. _Vox Clamantis_, iii. 1375 ff.,
‘Littera dum Regis papales supplicat aures,
Simon et est medius, vngat vt ipse manus,’ &c.
20294. _s’absentont._ Note the rhyme on the weak final syllable, so
below ‘esperont’: the irregularity is perhaps due to the similarity in
appearance of the future form, e.g. ‘avanceront,’ ‘responderont.’
20305 ff. With this compare _Vox Clam._ iii. 1487 ff.
20308. _easera_: fut. for pres. subj. expressing purpose: cp. 364.
20313. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1509 ff.,
‘Stat sibi missa breuis, devocio longaque campis,
Quo sibi cantores deputat esse canes:
Sic lepus et vulpes sunt quos magis ipse requirit;
Dum sonat ore deum stat sibi mente lepus.’
20318. _avant_, to be taken here perhaps as strengthening ‘Plus’: but
see note on 20537.
20344 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1549-1552.
20355. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1519 ff.,
‘Dum videt ipse senem sponsum sponsam iuuenemque,
Tales sub cura visitat ipse sua;
Suplet ibi rector regimen sponsi, que decore
Persoluit sponse debita iura sue.’
20401. Matt. xv. 14.
20425 ff. Note the loose usage of the conditional in this stanza for
future, pres. subj., and in the sense noticed on l. 1688.
20441. _au primer divis_, ‘firstly’; so ‘au droit devis,’ ‘rightly.’
20449. Cp. Greg. _Ep._ vi. 57 (end).
20462. Probably Hos. v. 4-7.
20488. _s’elle_, &c., ‘as to whether she,’ &c.
20492. Perhaps Prov. vi. 27 ff.
20497 ff. The meaning of the word ‘annueler’ which occurs in the
heading of the section is sufficiently explained in these lines. The
corresponding passage in the _Vox Clamantis_ is iii. 1555 ff.
20527. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1559, ‘Plus quam tres dudum nunc exigit unus
habendum.’
20528. _mais_, for ‘maisque,’ ‘provided that.’
20537. _avant_: used often with no particular meaning, cp. 20318. Here
we may take it with ‘dirrons,’ ‘what shall we go on to say then,’ &c.
It might, however, go with what follows, ‘takes beforehand.’
20539. _a largesce_, ‘freely bestowed’: it would be of course a
provision in the will of the dead person.
20542. _ardante_, i.e. in purgatory.
20547. Cp. 1194, 10411.
20574. ‘Si diaconus sanctior episcopo suo fuerit, non ex eo quod
inferior gradu est apud Christum deterior erit.’
20576. _Par si q’_: cp. 3233.
20582. ‘that however great his learning may be.’
20594. Matt. v. 13, 14.
20621. _fait baraigner_: I take _fait_ as auxiliary and _baraigner_ to
mean ‘make barren.’
20700. _legende._ This probably means the passages of the Gospel
appointed to be read in the service of the Mass.
20713. The argument used by the priest is that his sin is no worse than
the same act in a layman. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1727 ff,
‘Dicunt presbiteri, non te peccant magis ipsi,
Dum carnis vicio fit sua victa caro:
Sicut sunt alii fragili de carne creati,
Dicit quod membra sic habet ipse sua.’ &c.
20725 f. _Vox Clam._ iii. 1761,
Presbiter et laicus non sunt bercarius vnum,
Nec scelus in simili condicione grauat.
20740. Mal. i. 6, 7.
20785 ff. _Vox Clam._ iii. 2049 ff. The author is here dealing with
young students, ‘scolares.’
20793. _le meulx_: see note on 2700, so ‘le plus’ below.
20798. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iii. 2071 ff.
20827. _Vox Clam._ iii. 2074, ‘Si malus est iuvenis, vix bonus ipse
vetus.’
20832. _Qui_, ‘whom.’
20833 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 1-676.
20845. This is a very hackneyed quotation, but the origin of it does
not seem quite clear; see note on Chaucer, _C.T. Prol._ 179 in Skeat’s
edition: cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 277.
20866. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 26 f., ‘Pellicibus calidis frigus et omne
fugant.’
20892. _mye et crouste_, ‘crumb and crust’ in the modern sense of the
expression.
20905. See note on 12565. I do not know where this story comes from,
but somewhat similar tales of the devil visiting Macarius and his
monastery are to be found in the _Legenda Aurea_ and elsewhere.
20952. _esloigner_, used with a personal object, ‘flee from.’
20989. Jerome, _Ep._ cxxv. 7, ‘Sordidae vestes candidae mentis indicia
sunt.’
20999. Cp. Chaucer, _C.T. Prol._ 193 f.
21001. I do not know anything about this story.
21061 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 371-388.
21076. _cloistrers_: i.e. those who remain within the monastery walls.
21094. _qui s’est rendu_, ‘who has delivered himself to God,’ by his
profession: cp. 20988.
21118. _mais petit voy_, &c., ‘but I see small number of them who,’ &c.
21133 ff. This passage, in which monastic virtues and vices are
personified with the title ‘danz’ (Lat. ‘dompnus’) which was given to
monks, has a parallel in _Vox Clam._ iv. 327 ff.
21134. _n’ad mais refu_: apparently ‘refu’ is here a past participle;
‘has been again no more,’ i.e. has not survived.
21157. The criticism of the life of Canons follows here in the _Vox
Clamantis_ also, iv. 347 ff.,
‘Ut monachos, sic Canonicos quos deuiat error,’ &c.
The ‘Canons regular’ differed but little in their discipline from monks.
21166. _devant_: see 20909 ff.
21181. On the Mendicant orders see _Vox Clamantis_ iv. 677 ff.
21190 f. ‘I have found out this about the order, that friars seek after
the world,’ &c.: the perfect is used loosely for present. For ‘querre’
in this sense cp. 21528.
21197. 2 Cor. vi. 10.
21241. ‘The friars go together in pairs’: so in Chaucer, _Sompnours
Tale_, whence we learn that after having been fifty years in the order
they were relieved from this rule. In the next line ‘sanz partie’
means ‘without separating.’ The same word used in a different sense is
admissible as a rhyme: so ‘mestier,’ 21275, and cp. note on 2353.
21250. Here, as elsewhere, it is implied that the friars made
themselves by preference the confessors of women, cp. 9148, Chaucer,
_C.T. Prol._ 215 ff.
21266. The marginal note opposite this stanza has lost the ends of its
lines by the cutting of the leaves of the MS. Its purport however is
clear enough, and it is certainly from the author. In _Vox Clam._ iv.
689, we have the substance of it,
‘Non volo pro paucis diffundere crimen in omnes,
Spectetur meritis quilibet immo suis;
Quos tamen error agit, veniens ego nuncius illis,
Que michi vox tribuit verba loquenda fero.’ &c.
The note perhaps may be read thus:
‘Nota quod super hii<s> que in ista pa<gina> secundum commune dictum
d<e fra>tribus scripta pa<tent>, transgressos simp<liciter> et non
alios mater<ia> tangit: vnde h<ii> qui in ordine transgressi sunt
ad <viam> reuertentes prius<quam> in foueam cada<nt> hac eminente
<scrip>tura cercius pre<mu>niantur.’
21301. _Flaterie professé_, i.e. Flattery the friar.
21325 ff. This stanza is nearly a repetition of ll. 9145-9156.
21369. In Chaucer, _Sompnours Tale_, the sack is carried by a ‘sturdy
harlot,’ who accompanied the two friars. At the present day the
Capuchin in his begging expeditions often goes alone and carries his
own sack.
21373 ff. Observe how clearly this agrees in substance with Chaucer’s
humorous description in the _Sompnours Tale_.
21376. ‘If the woman has little or nothing to give,’ like the widow in
Chaucer’s _Prologue_,
‘Yet wolde he have a ferthing or he wente.’