writer meant to say ‘none the less does he demand,’ &c.
21382. Matt. xxiii. 14.
21399. The quotation is actually from Hos. iv. 8. In _Vox Clam._ iv.
767, the same quotation is given in the same connexion and attributed
rightly to Hosea.
21403. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 1141 ff. The passage of the _Plowmans Crede_
relating to this subject is well known.
21449. An allusion to the story current about the death of the Emperor
Henry VII in the year 1313.
21455. _s’il volt lesser_, &c., ‘if you ask whether he will spare us,’
&c.
21469 ff. Chaucer, _C. T. Prol._ 218 ff.,
‘For he hadde power of confessioun,
As seyde himself, more than a curat.’
The confessor would claim the right of burial, if it were worth having:
cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 735 ff.,
‘Mortua namque sibi, quibus hic confessor adhesit,
Corpora, si fuerint digna, sepulta petit;
Sed si corpus inops fuerit, nil vendicat ipse,’ &c.
21477. For baptism there would be no fee: so _Vox Clam._ iv. 739 f.,
‘Baptizare fidem nolunt, quia res sine lucro
Non erit in manibus culta vel acta suis.’
21481. Matt. vi. 25.
21499 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 815,
‘Appetit ipse scolis nomen sibi ferre magistri,
Quem post exemptum regula nulla ligat:
Solus habet cameram, propriat commune, que nullum
Tunc sibi claustralem computat esse parem.’
21517. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 971 ff.
21536. _acomparas_: for this form of future cp. ‘compara’ 26578, ‘dura’
3909, &c.
21544. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 981 ff.
21562. _Vox Clam._ iv. 991 f.,
‘Set vetus vsus abest, nam circumvencio facta
Nunc trahit infantes, qui nichil inde sciunt.’
21580. Rom. xvi. 17, 18.
21604. Ps. lxxxiii. (_Vulg._ lxxxii.) 6, 7.
21607. _Brev. in Psalm._ lxxxii. 6; but our author has not quite
understood the explanation.
21610. _ou pitz_, i.e. ‘au pitz,’ ‘in the breast.’
21625 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ iv. 787 f.,
‘Nomine sunt plures, pauci tamen ordine fratres;
Vt dicunt aliqui, Pseudo prophetat ibi.’
It seems that the word ‘pseudopropheta’ used Rev. xix. 20 and elsewhere
was read ‘pseudo propheta,’ and ‘pseudo’ taken as a proper name. At
the same time this was combined with the idea of the wolf in sheep’s
clothing suggested by Matt. vii. 15, ‘Attendite a falsis prophetis,’ &c.
21637. ‘The Pseudos whom men call friars.’
21641. ‘Cannot fail to suffer for it’: ‘compere’ for ‘compiere’ from
‘comparer,’ which is usually transitive, like ‘acomparer’ 21536,
meaning ‘to pay for.’
21647. The reference is to 2 Pet. ii. 1-3, where ‘pseudoprophetae’ is
the word used in the Vulgate.
21663 ff. The same argument as was before applied to the monks, 21061
ff.
21676. _n’en puet chaloir_: the meaning apparently is ‘it cannot be
doubted,’ but I cannot clearly explain the phrase.
21739. The Apocalypse does not exactly say this, but it is apparently
our author’s interpretation of ch. viii. 10, 12, or some such passage.
21754. ‘But, before it do trouble us worse, it were well,’ &c., ‘face’
being used as auxiliary with ‘grever.’
21769. _m’en soit au travers_, ‘should be of the opposite opinion to me
on the subject.’
21776. _Mais_ &c.: answering apparently to the conditional clause,
‘s’aucun,’ &c.
21780. _Encore ... plus_, ‘even more (than I have said).’
21979. One leaf with its full number of 192 lines has here been cut
out. We find ourselves in the favourite story of Nebuchadnezzar’s
pride and punishment: cp. _Conf. Am._ i. 2785 ff., where it is told in
full detail. Here it is one of a series of examples to illustrate the
inconstancy of Fortune to those at the head of empires.
22002. The sense seems to require a negative here and in 22004.
22004. _de halt en bass_, ‘(bringing him) down from his height.’
22009. It is difficult to say what occasion precisely is referred to
here.
22026. _mella_: ‘Fortune’ is the subject of the verb.
22033. With this review of the succession of empires compare _Conf. Am.
Prol._ 670 ff.
22081 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ ii. 93 ff.
22101. _Vox Clam._ ii. 61, ‘Mobilis est tua rota nimis,’ a nearly exact
translation.
22125. _mal partie_, ‘badly ordered.’
22158 ff. With these references to the former greatness and present
decay of Rome cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 834-848.
22159. _emperere_: apparently used here as a feminine form, but not so
in 17120.
22168. _Troian_: this form of the name is used also in _Conf. Am._ vii.
3144, and ‘Troianus’ in _Vox Clam._ vi. 1273. The justice and humanity
of Trajan were proverbial in the Middle Ages, owing chiefly to the
legend about him connected with Gregory the Great.
22182. ‘Well know I that this has not happened (for nought), but it is
because of our wanton life.’
22191. _deux chiefs_, i.e. the Pope and the Emperor.
22192. ‘The one is he who sets forth the will of holy Church,’ i.e. the
Pope.
22201. This stanza seems to be a reference to the helplessness of the
Empire.
22273 ff. With these stanzas compare _Vox Clam._ vi. 589 ff., where
there is the same reiterated personal address, ‘O rex,’ ‘O bone rex,’
&c., but the substance of the advice is there specially adapted to the
age and circumstances of Richard II, whereas here it is general.
22292. _par halte enprise_, ‘loftily’: cp. l. 22077, and elsewhere.
22294. ‘and forces him to confess his error’: ‘recreandise’ is properly
the admission that one is vanquished, or the faintheartedness which
might lead to such an admission.
22333. 2 Maccabees xi. 1-12.
22341. The number given is 11,000 footmen and 1600 horsemen.
22350. Lev. xxvi. 17.
22744. After the omission of 384 lines (two leaves cut out), we find
ourselves again in the story of Nebuchadnezzar: cp. _Conf. Am._ v.
7017 ff. Here it seems to be used as a warning against excess of
drinking and other such vices, whereas there it is an example of
sacrilege. For the form of sentence here, ‘Mais cil q’estoit,’ &c., cp.
_Conf. Am._ v. 6925, vi. 2250, &c.
22765. 3 Esdras iii. f. The story is told at length in _Conf. Am._ vii.
1783 ff., where the number of persons who give answers is three, the
third giving two opinions, as in the original. Here no doubt the author
is trusting to his memory.
22804. _Ore_, see note on 37.
22819. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 861 f.
22827 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 501 f.,
‘Propter peccatum regis populi perierunt,
Quicquid et econtra litera raro docet.’
See also _Conf. Am._ vii. 3925 ff.
22835. _Vox Clam._ vi. 498, ‘Nam caput infirmum membra dolere facit.’
22843. 2 Sam. xxiv.
22866. _fait blemir_, ‘injures.’
22874. The MS. has ‘dix,’ but the author evidently meant ‘six.’
22883. _au parler_, ‘so to say.’
22894. _fait plus ne meinz_, ‘does just the same thing.’
22962. ‘There is no one whom David will teach by his example,’ i.e. who
will follow David’s example.
22965. That is, for the French the harping is out of tune, because they
do not accept their rightful ruler.
22967. With this question cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 1053 ff.,
‘Bot wolde god that now were on
An other such as Arion,’ &c.
22975 f. Apparently the meaning is ‘And the sorrow that David felt for
his sins is now changed.’
22981. _si fretz que sage_, see note on 16700.
22982. Perhaps _Cic. de Off._ i. 68, ‘Non est autem consentaneum, qui
metu non frangatur, eum frangi cupiditate.’
22984 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 807-810.
22995. Is. xxviii. 1.
23006. 2 Sam. xvi. 5 ff.
23011. 1 Sam. xxiv.
23021. 2 Kings xix. The number of the slain is given in the Bible as
185,000.
23041 ff. For Justice and Mercy as royal virtues cp. _Conf. Am._ vii.
2695 ff., where they are the third and fourth points of policy, the
first and fifth being Truth and Chastity, which have been dealt with in
22753 ff., and the second Liberality, which may have been spoken of in
the lines which are lost.
23053. Sen. _Clem._ iii. 2 ff.
23055. Cp. 13921 and _Conf. Am._ vii. 3137.
23059. Cp. 13918 and _Conf. Am._ vii. 3161.*
23072. 1 Macc. iii. 18, 19.
23082. Ps. lxxxv. 10: cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 109.
23089. Observe the mixture of tenses, present ind., conditional, and
imperfect ind., in the conditional clauses.
23116. _tant amonte_, ‘is in the same position.’
23136. _de son aguait_, ‘by the snare which he sets for him.’
23149. Cp. _Conf. Am._ vii. 3891 ff.
23191. _Cusy_: in the Vulgate ‘Chusai,’ A. V. Hushai.
23216. Cp. 5459.
23370. The quotation is actually from Juvenal, but it is attributed to
Horace both here and in _Conf. Am._ vii. 3581. The lines are _Sat._
viii. 269 ff.,
‘Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis
Aeacidae similis Vulcaniaque arma capessas,
Quam te Thersitae similem producat Achilles.’
Our author no doubt picked up the quotation in a common-place book. He
refers to ‘Orace’ also in ll. 3804 and 10948, the true reference in the
latter case being to Ovid, while the former quotation is really from
Horace.
23393. The ‘pigas’ is the long-pointed shoe worn by fashionable people
at the time. ‘Not one of these rich men is born with his pointed shoe,’
says the author.
23413. ‘Much is that bird to be blamed,’ &c. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 835 f.,
‘Turpiter errat auis, proprium que stercore nidum,
Cuius erit custos, contaminare studet.’
23492. _si te pourvoie_, ‘and provide thyself (accordingly).’
23500. Probably Matt. vi. 19.
23534. ‘That the law excuses you’: ‘despenser avec’ is used similarly
in l. 1400.
23573 f. _se delitera ... tout avant_, ‘will go on taking pleasure.’
23582. _a ce q’en ce termine_, &c., ‘according as the matter appears in
regard to this order,’ i.e. what lies within the limits of this class:
cp. 16151.
23607. _Qe nous ne devons_, ‘so that we may not,’ so also in 23640; see
note on 1193.
23638. ‘At the making of the new knight’: a curious use of the gerund.
23659. _au prodhomme_, ‘to be valiant.’
23671. _l’onour de France_: the particular name of the country is of no
consequence and is determined probably by the rhyme. That the general
point of view is not a continental one is shown by 23713.
23683. _jours d’amour_, ‘love-days,’ for reconciliation of those who
had differences.
23701 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 519 f.
23704 ff. ‘If anyone pays him well, he will show himself valiant at the
sessions.’
23722 ff. ‘Though the heralds cry little to him for largess, yet he
gives the poor reason to complain’: he robs the poor without the excuse
of being generous to others out of the proceeds.
23726. _un chivaler de haie_, ‘a hedgerow knight.’
23732 ff. Terms of war are ironically used: he draws up his court in
order of battle and throws into confusion the jury-panell, to support
his friends and dismay their poorer opponents.
23755. _du loy empereour_, ‘by the law of the emperor.’
23815. _n’ad garde de_, ‘does not keep himself from.’
23844. _quatorsze._ The precise number is of no importance, cp. 24958.
In _Conf. Am._ ii. 97, the author says ‘mo than twelve’ in a similar
manner.
23869. _Sisz chivalers._ The author apparently will not admit the three
pagan worthies, Hector, Alexander, and Julius Cæsar.
23895. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1630 f.,
‘Somtime in Prus, somtime in Rodes,
And somtime into Tartarie.’
23907. _vois_, for ‘vais.’
23920 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1634 ff.,
‘And thanne he yifth hem gold and cloth,
So that his fame mihte springe,’ &c.
also _Vox Clam._ v. 257 ff.
23922. See note on 10341.
23933 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am._ iv. 1664 f., and _Vox Clam._ v. 267 ff.
23982. _trop sont petit_: probably, ‘there are too few.’
24097. This denunciation of war is quite characteristic of the author:
cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 122-192.
24129. _voldroiont_, ‘ought to desire’: see note on 1688.
24170 f. Cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 833,
‘The world empeireth every day.’
24216. _Vei la_: so ‘vei cy,’ 23688.
24226 ff. i.e. he will not undertake the cause which is not favoured by
fortune. The ‘double ace’ would of course be the lowest throw with two
dice, and ‘sixes’ the highest.
24255 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 241-244.
24265. ‘Ne quid nimis.’
24267. _Des tieux_, ‘such persons,’ subject of the verb.
24272 f. ‘Neither his nature nor his strain is seasoned with justice.’
24290. The word ‘mire’ seems here to be used for a surgeon as
distinguished from a physician: that, however, is not its ordinary use.
24325. _Qui_, like ‘Quique’ in 24313, ‘Whosoever may have to pay, these
will get exemption, if they can.’
24326. _appaier._ I take this to be for ‘a paier,’ like ‘affaire’ for
‘a faire’: ‘estovoir’ is used with or without ‘a,’ cp. l. 42.
24338. _volt_, imperf. subj., cp. 327.
24362. _encharné._ The metaphor is from hounds being trained for
hunting, as we see from ‘quirée,’ ‘courre,’ ‘odour,’ &c., in the
succeeding lines.
24379. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 251,
‘Si cupit in primo, multo magis ipse secundo,’
i.e. ‘in primo gradu,’ which is that of ‘Apprentis,’ the second being
that of ‘Sergant.’
24398. Matt. xix. 29, but the quotation is not quite accurate.
24435. _Sur son sergant_: the double meaning of ‘sergant’ is played
upon, as in ‘Qui sert au siecle,’ 24415.
24440. _coronne_: alluding to the French coin so called from the crown
upon it.
24469 ff. I do not know the origin of this curious statement.
24481. Probably Is. v. 21 ff.
24485 f. _mais la partie_, &c., ‘but as for the side that is poor,
justice sleeps.’
24519. Job xxi. 7-13.
24530. Gen. xxxii. 10.
24543. Is. v. 8, 9, ‘Vae, qui coniungitis domum ad domum, et agrum agro
copulatis usque ad terminum loci’: &c.
24544. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 141.
24582. _la verrour_, i.e. the truth expressed in the preceding line,
that they make their gains by wrongful means. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 144,
‘Set de fine patet quid sibi iuris habet.’
24583. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 145 ff.
24605. _a demesure_, i.e. at an extravagant price, so that, as the
author goes on to say, poor people cannot afford to buy in their market.
24625. For the metre cp. 2742, 26830: see Introd. p. xlv.
24646. ‘But advanced my unjust cause,’ &c. This position of ‘ainz’ is
quite characteristic of the author: see note on 415.
24678. Ex. xxiii. 8.
24697. James i. 19.
24715. Gal. iii. 19, and Rom. xiii. 4.
24722. Deut. xxvii. 19.
24733 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 387 ff.
24748. _comme tant_, ‘how much.’
24769. Is. i. 23.
24782. _Ad_, ‘there is.’
24817 ff. The _Vox Clamantis_ as usual runs parallel to this, with the
heading, ‘Hic loquitur de errore Vicecomitum, Balliuorum necnon et in
assisis Iuratorum,’ &c., vi. 419 ff.
24832. For the order of words cp. 24646.
24852. ‘His conscience will not fail him,’ that is, will not be an
obstacle.
24858. _il n’est pas si nice_, ‘he is not so nice,’ i. e. not so
careful about it. The word ‘nice,’ meaning originally ‘ignorant,’
‘foolish,’ passes naturally to the meaning of ‘foolishly scrupulous’ in
a half ironical sense, as here.
24917. _enmy la main._ As ‘devant la main,’ ‘apres la main,’ mean
‘beforehand’ and ‘afterwards,’ this apparently is ‘meanwhile.’
24949. _Des soubz baillifs_, &c. Cp. 25014. ‘Des’ depends on ‘tout
plein’ (toutplein), ‘a quantity’; as ‘toutplein des flours,’ _Bal._
xxxvii. 2, ‘tout plein des autres,’ _Mir._ 74. Join ‘soubz’ with
‘baillifs,’ ‘under-reeves,’ the ‘visconte’ being regarded as a superior
‘baillif or reeve,’ which of course in a certain sense he was, witness
the name ‘sheriff.’
24955. _Vei la_, cp. 24216: ‘ministre’ is of course plural.
24958. Cp. 23844.
24962. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 467 f.,
‘Ut crati bufo maledixit, sic maledico
Tot legum dominis et sine lege magis.’
24973. _Vox Clam._ 463 f.,
‘Quid seu Balliuis dicam, qui sunt Acherontis
Vt rapide furie?’
24981. _ribalds_: observe the rhyme, showing that the ‘d’ is not
sounded.
24996. A proverbial expression, which occurs also in 15405 f.
25021 ff. I do not clearly understand the first lines of the stanza.
Perhaps it means, ‘For the expense to which you go in buying their
perjury they pay (or suffer) the burdening of their conscience.’ Then
afterwards, ‘The bribe is enough for them by way of evidence, for
covetousness dispenses them from anything more’: ‘ove leur dispense,’
‘arranges with them’ that this shall be enough.
25064. _il_, for ‘ils,’ cp. 10341.
25071. _sanz culpe d’enditer_, ‘free from indictable fault.’
25110. _tesmoignal_: the original idea of a jury, as a body of persons
living in the locality and able to bear witness to the facts of the
case, had not disappeared in the fourteenth century.
25127. _le pot hoster_, ‘might have stopped it.’
25151. _serra vendu_, ‘will prove to have been bought by you’ (at a
high price).
25153. ‘Truth is no libel,’ the author’s justification for speaking
freely.
25166. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vi. 439,
‘Causidici lanam rapiunt, isti quoque pellem
Tollunt, sic inopi nil remanebit oui.’
25177 ff. With this compare the heading of Bk. v. ch. ii. in the _Vox
Clamantis_: ‘Quia varias rerum proprietates vsui humano necessarias
nulla de se prouincia sola parturit vniuersas,’ &c.
25216 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 489 ff.
25239. In the _Vox Clamantis_ also we have cheating personified
(under the name of Fraus), and its operations classified as affecting
(1) Usurers, (2) Merchants and shopkeepers, (3) Artificers, (4)
Victuallers. See _Vox Clam._ v. 703-834.
25240. _pour sercher_, &c. For the form of expression cp. _Bal._ xi. l.
5, _Conf. Am._ i. 2278,
‘To sechen al the worldes riche,’
and other similar passages.
25254. _Brutus_, i. e. Brut of Troy: so London is referred to in the
_Confessio Amantis_, Prol. 37*,
‘Under the toun of newe Troie,
Which tok of Brut his ferste joie.’
25261 ff. ‘Fraud may have large dealings, but he has small honesty
when he buys and sells by different standards of weight.’ The idea is
apparently that the buyer is deceived as to the true market price when
wholesale dealings are carried on with weights nominally the same but
really different, as when the merchant buys coal by the ton of 21 cwt.
25269. See note on 3367.
25270. _la crois_, &c.: cp. 18580.
25287. Cp. _Bal._ xviii. l. 8.
25289. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 749 ff.
25302. ‘Chalk for cheese,’ a proverbial expression used also in _Conf.
Am. Prol._ 415: still current in some parts of England.
25321. John iii. 20.
25327. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 779 f.,
‘Fraus eciam pannos vendit, quos lumine fusco
Cernere te faciet, tu magis inde caue.’
25332. _du pris la foy_, ‘the true price.’
25333. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 757 ff.,
‘Ad precium duplum Fraus ponit singula, dicens
Sic, “Ita Parisius Flandria siue dedit.”
Quod minus est in re suplent iurancia verba,’ &c.
25350. _a son dessus_, so ‘at myn above’ in _Conf. Am._ vi. 221.
25556. _tu plederas_, ‘you will have to sue him.’
25558. ‘He pays no regard to honesty.’
25569. _parasi_, equivalent to ‘parisi,’ properly an adjective used
with names of various coins, as ‘livre parisie,’ but often also by
itself to denote some coin of small value, in phrases such as we have
here.
25607. For this function of St. Michael cp. 13302. Here the point
suggested is that the seller ought to be reminded by his balance of
that in which his merits must eventually be weighed.
25618. _enclinez_: this is simply a graphical variation of _enclines_,
rhyming with ‘falsines,’ &c.
25631. Cp. 20912.
25657 ff. ‘I would not desire a better stomach than could be ruined by
medicines, or a longer purse than could be drained by an apothecary,’
i. e. the best of stomachs and the longest of purses may be thus ruined.
25691. ‘But if they had worn wool,’ &c.
25717 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 793 ff.,
‘Si quid habes panni, de quo tibi vis fore vestem,
Fraus tibi scindit eam, pars manet vna sibi;
Quamuis nil sit opus vestis mensuraque fallit,
Plus capit ex opere quam valet omne tibi.’
25729 ff. _Vox Clam._ v. 805.
25753 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 745 ff.
25801 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 111 ff.
25826. ‘Will see their halls carpeted’ (or ‘covered with tapestry’), so
‘encourtiner’ below; a loose employment of the infinitive.
25839 ff. Observe the confusion of 2nd pers. sing. and 2nd pers. plur.
in this stanza, especially ‘tu gaignerez’ in 25842. Even if we take
‘baillerez,’ ‘gaignerez,’ &c., as rhyme-modifications of ‘gaigneras,’
&c., this will not go for ‘avisez,’ which must be meant for 2nd pers.
plur. pres. subj.: cp. 442, &c.
25853. This would be to avoid arrest. The liberty of St. Peter would
perhaps be the precincts of Westminster Abbey, that of St. Martin might
be the Church of St. Martin in the Fields: but perhaps no definite
reference is intended. He takes advantage of the sanctuary to make
terms with his creditors.
25887. Ecclus. xiii. 24 (30), ‘Bona est substantia cui non est peccatum
in conscientia.’
25898. Matt. xvi. 26.
25975 f. The author returns to the observation made at the beginning of
his remarks on the estate of Merchants, that the calling is honourable,
though some may pursue it in a dishonest manner.
26019. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 777 f.,
‘Fraus manet in doleo, trahit et vult vendere vinum,
Sepeque de veteri conficit ipsa novum.’
26112. _maisq’elles soient lieres_, ‘even though they should be
robbers’ (of their husbands): _maisque_ can hardly have here its usual
meaning ‘provided that’; cp. 26927.
26120. _brusch._ The occurrence of this word here in a connexion which
leaves no doubt of its identity is worth remark: see _New Engl. Dict._
under ‘brusque,’ ‘brisk,’ ‘brussly.’
26130. _au sojour_, ‘at their ease’ in their tavern: ‘sojour’ means
properly ‘stay’ in a place, hence ‘rest’ or ‘refreshment’: cp. the uses
of the verb ‘sojourner.’
26133. _ne pil ne crois_, ‘neither head nor tail’ of a coin, i. e. no
money: ‘cross and pile’ was once a familiar English phrase.
26185 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 809 f.,
‘Fraus facit ob panes pistores scandere clatas,
Furca tamen furis iustior esset eis.’
26231. _les chars mangiers_, &c., ‘flesh will not be food for the
common people.’
26288 ff. ‘His conscience does not remind him of the truth until after
he has been paid.’
26342 ff. ‘Of all those who live by buying and selling I will not
except a single one as not submissive to Fraud.’
26365. This complaint, directed against some particular Mayor of
London, whose proceedings were disapproved of by the author, is
repeated in the _Vox Clamantis_, v. 835 ff.
26374. Cp. _Vox Clam._ v. 1005 ff.
26391. _celle autre gent_, ‘the other people.’
26401. Matt. v. 29 f.
26427. _guardessent_, for ‘guardassent,’ or rather ‘guardeissent.’
26477. _en orguillant_: perhaps rather ‘enorguillant.’
26480. _au servir souffrirent_, ‘submitted to service.’
26497 ff. Cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ after l. 498,
‘Ignis, aqua dominans duo sunt pietate carentes,
Ira tamen plebis est violenta magis.’
26571. Hos. iv. 1-3, ‘non est enim veritas, et non est misericordia,
et non est scientia Dei in terra ... Propter hoc lugebit terra et
infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea,’ &c.
26581 ff. With this discussion cp. _Conf. Am. Prol._ 520 ff.
26590 ff. Cp. _Vox Clam._ vii. 361,
‘O mundus, mundus, dicunt, O ve tibi mundus!’
26699. _la malice seculier_, ‘the evil of the world.’
26716. _pluvie._ For the suppression of the ‘i’ see note on 296.
26737. _Commete_: the reference is probably to that of the year 1368.
26745. _diete_, ‘influence,’ from the idea of regularity in the
physical effect which the heavenly bodies are supposed to produce, like
that of food or medicine: cp. _Conf. Am._ vii. 633 ff.
26748. _Nous n’avons garde de_, apparently for ‘que nous n’avions
garde,’ ‘that we should not pay regard to.’
26749. Albumasar’s books on astrology, especially the _Introductorium
in Astronomiam_ and the _Liber Florum_, were very well known in Latin
translations, apparently abridged from the originals. This reference is
to _Introduct._ iii. 3: ‘Ut vero sol aerem calefacit, purgat, attenuat,
sic pro modo suo luna et stellae. Unde Ypocras in libro climatum, Nisi
luna et stellae, inquit, nocturnam densitatem attenuarent, elementa
impenetrabilis aeris pinguetudine corporum omnium vitam corrumperent.’
(Quoted from the Bodleian copy of the edition printed at Venice, 1506.)
26799. _Qui_, ‘for whom.’
26810. Referring perhaps to Hos. iv. 3, quoted above.
26830. For the metre, cp. 2742.
26851. ‘For that in which he is alone to blame’: ‘dont que’ used for
‘dont,’ cp. 1779.
26857. Job v. 6, ‘Nihil in terra sine causa fit’: it is different in A.
V.