Of quhich non erdly wicht can be content;
Quho most has wit, lest suld in it affy,
Quho taistis it most, most sall him repent;
Quhat valis all this richess and this rent, 5
Sen no man wat quho sall his tresour have?
Presume nocht gevin that god has don but lent,
Within schort tyme the quhiche he thinkis to crave.
_Leaulte vault richesse._
XXVII. _From_ MS. Arch. Seld. B. 24, fol. 138; _I give rejected spellings_.
1. Ioy; onely. 3. leste. 6. wate. 7. done. 9. richess.
* * * * *
XXVIII. SAYINGS PRINTED BY CAXTON.
1. Whan feyth failleth in prestes sawes,
And lordes hestes ar holden for lawes,
And robbery is holden purchas,
And lechery is holden solas,
Than shal the lond of Albyon 5
Be brought to grete confusioun.
2. Hit falleth for every gentilman
To saye the best that he can
In [every] mannes absence,
And the soth in his presence. 10
3. Hit cometh by kynde of gentil blode
To cast away al hevines,
And gadre to-gidre wordes good;
The werk of wisdom berith witnes.
_Et sic est finis._
XXVIII. _From_ Caxton's print of Chaucer's Anelida, &c.; see vol. i. p. 46.
Also in ed. 1542, in later spelling.
7. Cx. euery. 9. _I supply_ every. 12. Cx. heuynes. 14. Cx. wisedom.
* * * * *
XXIX. BALADE IN PRAISE OF CHAUCER.
Master Geffray Chauser, that now lyth in grave,
The nobyll rethoricien, and poet of Gret Bretayne,
That worthy was the lawrer of poetry have
For thys hys labour, and the palme attayne;
Whych furst made to dystyll and reyne 5
The gold dew-dropys of speche and eloquence
In-to Englyssh tong, thorow hys excellence.
_Explicit._
XXIX. _From_ MS. Trin. R. 3. 19, fol. 25; _also in_ Stowe (ed. 1561). 1.
MS. Chaus_er_s; Stowe, Chauser. 2. Rethoricion (!). 6. elloquence.
* * * * *
NOTES.
§ I. THE TESTAMENT OF LOVE.
The text is from Thynne's first edition (1532); the later reprints are of
inferior value. No MS. of this piece is known. Rejected spellings are given
at the bottom of each page. Conjectural emendations are marked by a
prefixed obelus (+). In many places, words or letters are supplied, within
square brackets, to complete or improve the sense. For further discussion
of this piece, see the Introduction.
BOOK I.
PROLOGUE. 1. The initial letters of the chapters in Book I. form the words
MARGARETE OF. See the Introduction.
3. _by queynt knitting coloures_, by curious fine phrases, that 'knit' or
join the words or verses together. For _colours_ = fine phrases, cf. Ch.,
HF. 859; C. T., E 16, F 726.
7. _for_, because, seeing that; _boystous_, rough, plain, unadorned; cf. l.
12. The Glossary in vol. vi should be compared for further illustration of
the more difficult words.
19. _for the first leudnesse_, on account of the former lack of skill.
21. _yeve sight_, enable men to see clearly.
30. _conne jumpere suche termes_, know how to jumble such terms together.
_Jumpere_ should rather be spelt _jumpre_; cf. _jompre_ in the Gloss. to
Chaucer. For such words, see the Glossary appended to the present volume.
_but as_, except as the jay chatters English; i.e. without understanding
it; cf. Ch. Prol. 642.
43. _necessaries to cacche_, to lay hold of necessary ideas. Throughout
this treatise, we frequently find the verb placed _after_ the substantive
which it governs, or relegated to the end of the clause or sentence. This
absurd affectation often greatly obscures the sense.
45. The insertion of the words _perfeccion is_ is absolutely necessary to
the sense; cf. ll. 47, 50. For the general argument, cf. Ch. Boeth. iii.
proses 10 and 11, where 'perfection' is represented by _suffisaunce_, as,
e.g., in iii. pr. 11. l. 18.
50. Aristotle's Metaphysics begins with the words: [Greek: pantes anthrôpoi
tou eidenai oregontai phusei], all men by nature are actuated by the desire
of knowledge. The reference to this passage is explicitly given in the
Romans of Partenay, ll. 78-87; and it was doubtless a much worn quotation.
And see l. 64 below.
58. _sightful and knowing_, visible and capable of being known.
61. _David_. The whole of this sentence is so hopelessly corrupt that I can
but give it up. Possibly there is a reference to Ps. cxxxix. 14. _me in
makinge_ may be put for 'in makinge me.' _Tune_ is probably a misprint for
_time_; _lent_ may be an error for _sent_; but the whole is hopelessly
wrong.
64. Apparently derived from Aristotle, De Animalibus, bk. i. c. 5. The
general sense is that created things like to know both their creator and
the causes of natural things akin to them ([Greek: oikeia]).
67. _Considred_; i.e. the forms of natural things and their creation being
considered, men should have a great natural love to the Workman that made
them.
68. _me_ is frequently written for _men_, the unemphatic form of _man_, in
the impersonal sense of 'one' or 'people'; thus, in King Horn, ed. Morris,
366, 'ne recche i what _me_ telle' means 'I care not what people may say.'
Strict grammar requires the form _him_ for _hem_ in l. 69, as _me_ is
properly singular; but the use of _hem_ is natural enough in this passage,
as _me_ really signifies created beings in general. Cf. _me_ in ch. i. l.
18 below.
80. _Styx_ is not 'a pit,' but a river. The error is Chaucer's; cf. 'Stix,
the put of helle,' in Troil. iv. 1540. Observe the expression--'Stygiamque
paludem'; Vergil, Aen. vi. 323.
86. I. e. 'rend the sword out of the hands of Hercules, and set Hercules'
pillars at Gades a mile further onward.' For the latter allusion, see Ch.
vol. ii. p. lv; it may have been taken from Guido delle Colonne. And see
Poem VIII (below), l. 349. _Gades_, now Cadiz.
89. _the spere_, the spear. There seems to be some confusion here. It was
King Arthur who drew the magic sword out of the stone, after 150 knights
had failed in the attempt: see Merlin, ed. Wheatley (E. E. T. S.), pp.
100-3. Alexander's task was to untie the Gordian knot.
90. _And that_; 'and who says that, surpassing all wonders, he will be
master of France by might, whereas even King Edward III could not conquer
all of it.' An interesting allusion.
96. _unconninge_, ignorance. There is an unpublished treatise called 'The
Cloud of Unknowing'; but it is probably not here alluded to.
98. _gadered_, gathered. Thynne almost invariably commits the anachronism
of spelling the words _gader_, _fader_, _moder_, _togider_, and the like,
with _th_; and I have usually set him right, marking such corrections with
a prefixed obelus (+). Cf. _weder_ in l. 123 below.
100. _rekes_, ricks. The idea is from Chaucer, L. G. W. 73-4.
101, 102. _his reson_, the reason of him. _hayne_, hatred.
110. _Boëce_, Boethius. No doubt the author simply consulted Chaucer's
translation. See the Introduction.
115. _slye_, cunning; evidently alluding to the parable of the unjust
steward.
117. _Aristotle_. The allusion appears to be to the Nicomachean Ethics, bk.
i. c. 7: [Greek: doxeie d' an pantos einai proagagein, ... pantos gar
prostheinai to elleipon].
122. _betiden_, happened to me; the _i_ is short. This sudden transition to
the mention of the author's pilgrimage suggests that a portion of the
Prologue is missing here.
CHAP. I. 1. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met. 1. ll. 1, 2.
12. _thing_ seems to mean 'person'; the person that cannot now embrace me
when I wish for comfort.
15. _prison_; probably not a material prison. The author, in imitation of
Boethius, imagines himself to be imprisoned. At p. 144, l. 132, he is 'in
good plite,' i.e. well off. Cf. note to ch. iii. 116.
16. _caitived_, kept as a captive; the correction of _caytisned_ (with s
for _s_) to _caytifued_ (better spelt _caitived_) is obvious, and is given
in the New E. Dict., s.v. _Caitive_.
17, 18. _Straunge_, a strange one, some stranger; _me_, one, really meaning
'myself'; _he shulde_, it ought to be.
21, 22. _bewent_, turned aside; see New E. Dict., s.v. _Bewend_. The
reading _bewet_, i.e. profusely wetted, occurs (by misprinting) in later
editions, and is adopted in the New E. Dict, s.v. _Bewet_. It is obviously
wrong.
23. _of hem_, by them; these words, in the construction, follow
_enlumined_. The very frequent inversion of phrases in this piece tends
greatly to obscure the sense of it.
24. _Margarite precious_, a precious pearl. Gems were formerly credited
with 'virtues'; thus Philip de Thaun, in his Bestiary (ed. Wright, l.
1503), says of the pearl--
'A mult choses pot valier, ki cestes peres pot aveir,' &c., or, in Wright's
translation: 'For him who can have this stone, it will be of force against
many things; there will never be any infirmity, except death, from which a
person will not come to health, who will drink it with dew, if he has true
faith.' See l. 133 below.
28. _twinkling in your disese_, a small matter tending to your discomfort.
Here _disese_ = dis-ease, want of ease. Cf. l. 31 below.
42. 'It is so high,' &c. The implied subject to which _it_ refers is
_paradise_, where the author's _Eve_ is supposed to be. Hence the sense
is:--'paradise is so far away from the place where I am lying and from the
common earth, that no cable (let down from it) can reach me.'
59. _ferdnes_ is obviously the right word, though misprinted _frendes_. It
signifies 'fear,' and occurs again in ch. ii. ll. 9, 16; besides, it is
again misprinted as _frendes_ in the same chapter, l. 13.
63. _weyved_ is an obvious correction for _veyned_; see the Glossary.
70. _mercy passeth right_, your mercy exceeds your justice. This was a
proverbial phrase, or, as it is called in the next clause, a 'proposition.'
79. _flitte_, stir, be moved; 'not even the least bit.'
80. _souded_ (misprinted _sonded_ by Thynne), fixed; cf. Ch. C.T., B 1769.
From O.F. _souder_, Lat. _solidare_.
83. _do_, cause; 'cause the lucky throw of comfort to fall upward';
alluding to dice-play.
96. _wolde conne_, would like to be able to.
99, 100. _me weninge_, when I was expecting. _ther-as_, whereas.
116. _no force_, it does not matter; no matter for that.
117-20. Evidently corrupt, even when we read _flowing_ for _folowing_, and
_of al_ for _by al_. Perhaps _ther_ in l. 119 should be _they_; giving the
sense:--'but they (thy virtues) are wonderful, I know not which (of them it
is) that prevents the flood,' &c. Even so, a clause is lacking after
_vertues_ in l. 118.
126. Thynne has _ioleynynge_ for _ioleyuynge_, i.e. _joleyving_, cheering,
making joyous. The word is riot given in Stratmann or in Mätzner, but
Godefroy has the corresponding O.F. verb _joliver_, to caress.
CHAP. II. 18. _a lady_; this is evidently copied from Boethius; see Ch.
Boeth. bk. i. pr. 1. l. 3. The visitor to the prison of Boethius was named
Philosophy; the visitor in the present case is Love, personified as a
female; see l. 53 below.
20. _blustringe_, glance. But the word is not known in this sense, and
there is evidently some mistake here. I have no doubt that the right word
is _blushinge_; for the M.E. _blusshen_ was often used in the sense of 'to
cast a glance, give a look, glance with the eye'; as duly noted in the New
E. Dict, s.v. _Blush_. The word was probably written _bluschinge_ in
Thynne's MS., with a _c_ exactly (as often) like a _t_. If he misread it as
_blusthinge_, he may easily have altered it to _blustringe_.
32. _neighe_, approach; governing _me_.
37. _O my nory_, O my pupil! Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 3. l. 10;
cf. the same, bk. iii. pr. 11. l. 160. In l. 51 below, we have _my
disciple_.
60. _by thyn owne vyse_, by thine own resolve; i.e. of thine own accord;
see _Advice_ in the New E. Dict. § 6. _Vyse_ is put for _avyse_, the
syllable _a_ being dropped. Halliwell notes that _vice_, with the sense of
'advice,' is still in use.
64. 'Because it comforts me to think on past gladness, it (also) vexes me
again to be doing so.' Clumsily expressed; and borrowed from Ch. Boeth. bk.
ii. pr. 4. ll. 4-7.
74-84. From Matt. xviii. 12; Luke, xv. 4; John, x. 11.
92. Love was kind to Paris, because he succeeded in gaining Helen. Jason
was false to Love, because he deserted Hypsipyle and Medea. It is probable
that _false_ is misprinted for _faire_ in l. 93; otherwise there is no
contrast, as is implied by _for_.
93. _Sesars sonke_ (_sic_) should probably be _Cesars swink_, i.e. Caesar's
toil. I adopt this reading to make sense; but it is not at all clear why
Caesar should have been selected as the type of a successful lover.
95. _loveday_, a day of reconciliation; see note to Ch. C. T., A 258.
96. 'And chose a maid to be umpire between God and man'; alluding to the
Virgin Mary.
114-5. _cause, causing_, the primary cause, originating these things and
many others besides. See note to Troil. iv. 829.
123-4. _wo is him_; Lat. ve soli, Eccl. iv. 10; quoted in Troil. i. 694.
125. Cf. 'weep with them that weep'; Rom. xii. 15.
138. Here the author bemoans his losses and heavy expenses.
143. For _wolde endeynous_ I here read _wolde ben deynous_, i.e. would be
disdainful; see _Deynous_ in the Gloss. to Chaucer. The New E. Dict. adopts
the reading _wolde [be] endeynous_, with the same sense; but no other
example of the adj. _endeynous_ is known, and it is an awkward formation.
However, there are five examples of the verb _endeign_, meaning 'to be
indignant'; see Wyclif, Gen. xviii. 30; Ex. xxxii. 22; Is. lvii. 6; Job,
xxxii. 2; Wisd. xii. 27.
166. Copied from Troil. iv. 460-1:--
'But canstow playen raket, to and fro,
Netle in, dokke out, now this, now that, Pandare?'
See the note on the latter line.
_Wethercocke_ is a late spelling; the proper M.E. spelling is _wedercokke_,
from a nom. _wedercok_, which appears in the poem Against Women Unconstant,
l. 12.
173. _a_, an unemphatic form of _have_; 'thou wouldest have made me.'
180. _voyde_, do away with. _webbes_; the _web_, also called _the pin and
web_, or _the web and pin_, is a disease of the eyes, now known as
cataract. See Nares, s.v. _Pin_; Florio's Ital. Dict., s.v. _Cateratta_;
the New E. Dict., s.v. _Cataract_; King Lear, iii. 4. 122; Winter's Tale,
i. 2. 291.
191, 192. _truste on Mars_, trust to Mars, i.e. be ready with wager of
battle; alluding to the common practice of appealing to arms when a
speaker's truthfulness was called in question. See ch. vii. 10 below (p.
31).
CHAP. III. 14. _Come of_, lit. come off; but it is remarkable that this
phrase is used in M.E. where we should now say rather 'come on!' See note
to Troil. ii. 1738.
21. _mayst thou_, canst thou do (or act)?
25-7. 'I never yet set any one to serve anywhere who did not succeed in his
service.'
32. 'the nut in every nook.' Perhaps _on_ should be _in_.
37-8. There is some corruption here. I insert _Tho gan I_ to help out the
sense, but it remains partially obscure. Perhaps the sense is:--'Often one
does what one does not wish to do, being stirred to do so by the opinion of
others, who wanted me to stay at home; whereupon I suddenly began to wish
to travel.' He would rather have stayed at home; but when he found that
others wanted him to do so, he perversely began to wish to travel.
39. _the wynding of the erthe_; an obscure expression; perhaps 'the
envelopment of the earth in snow.'
40. 'I walked through woods in which were broad ways, and (then) by small
paths which the swine had made, being lanes with by-paths for seeking
(there) their beech-mast.'
42. _ladels_, by-paths (?). No other example of the word appears. I guess
it to be a diminutive of M.E. _lade_, a path, road, which occurs in the
Ormulum; see Stratmann. Perhaps it is a mere misprint for _lades_.
44, 45. _gonne to wilde_, began to grow wild; cf. _ginne ayen waxe ramage_,
in l. 48, with the like sense. I know of no other example of the verb _to
wilde_.
52. _shippe_, ship; not, however, a real ship, but an allegorical one named
Travail, i.e. Danger; see ll. 55, 75 below. _many_ is here used in place of
_meynee_, referring to the ship's company; some of whom had the allegorical
names of Sight, Lust, Thought, and Will. The 'ship' is a common symbol of
this present life, in which we are surrounded by perils; compare the
parable of 'the wagging boat' in P. Plowm. C. xi. 32, and the long note to
that line.
58. _old hate_; probably borrowed from Ch. Pers. Tale, I 562; see the note.
64. _avowing_, vowing; because persons in peril used to vow to perform
pilgrimages.
75. _my ship was out of mynde_, i.e. I forgot all about my previous danger.
84. _the man_, the merchant-man in Matt. xiii. 45.
105. _enmoysed_, comforted. _Enmoise_ or _emmoise_ is a variant of M.E.
_amese_, _ameise_, from O.F. _amaiser_, _amaisier_, to pacify, appease,
render gentle (Godefroy); answering to the Low Lat. type _*ad-mitiare_ from
_mitis_, gentle. See _Amese_ in the New E. Dict. No other example of the
form _enmoyse_ is known.
111. _of nothing now may serve_, is now of no use (to you).
116. _prison_; the author has forgotten all about his adventure in the
ship, and is now back in prison, as in ch. i.
118. _renyant forjuged_, a denier (of his guilt) who has been wrongfully
condemned.
121. _suche grace and non hap_, such favour and no mere luck.
124. _let-games_; probably from Troil. iii. 527; spoilers of sport or
happiness. _wayters_, watchers, watch-men, guards.
131. _nothing as ye shulde_, not at all as you ought to do.
148. _feld_, felled, put down, done away with.
153-4. _For he ... suffer_, a perfect alliterative line; imitated from P.
Plowm. C. xxi. 212:--'For wot no wight what wele is, that never wo
suffrede.' Clearly quoted from memory; cf. notes to bk. ii. ch. 9. 178, and
ch. 13. 86.
157. _happy hevinesse_, fortunate grief; a parallel expression to _lyking
tene_, i.e. pleasing vexation, in l. 158. These contradictory phrases were
much affected by way of rhetorical flourish. For a long passage of this
character, cf. Rom. Rose, 4703-50.
158. _harse_ is almost certainly a misprint for _harme_; then _goodly_
_harme_ means much the same as _lyking tene_ (see note above). So, in Rom.
Rose, 4710, 4733, 4743, we find mention of 'a sweet peril,' 'a joyous
pain,' and 'a sweet hell.'
CHAP. IV. 2. _semed they boren_, they seemed to bore; _boren_ being in the
infin. mood.
18. For _or_ read _for_, to make sense; _for of disese_, for out of such
distress come gladness and joy, so poured out by means of a full vessel,
that such gladness quenches the feeling of former sorrows. Here _gladnesse
and joy_ is spoken of as being all one thing, governing the singular verb
_is_, and being alluded to as _it_.
25. _commensal_, table-companion; from F. _commensal_, given in Cotgrave.
See the New E. Dict.
27. _soukinges_, suckings, draughts of milk; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 2.
l. 4.
36. _clothe_, cloth. This circumstance is copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr.
2. l. 19.
42. This reference to Love, as controlling the universe, is borrowed from
Boeth. bk. ii. met. 8.
47. Read _werne_ (refuse) and _wol_ (will); 'yet all things desire that you
should refuse help to no one who is willing to do as you direct him.'
56. _every thing in coming_, every future thing. _contingent_, of uncertain
occurrence; the earliest known quotation for this use of the word in
English.
61-2. _many let-games_; repeated from above, ch. iii. ll. 124-8. _thy
moeble_; from the same, ll. 131-2.
64. _by the first_, with reference to your first question; so also _by that
other_, with reference to your second question, in l. 71.
CHAP. V. 8. Acrisius shut his daughter Danaë up in a tower, to keep her
safe; nevertheless she became the mother of Perseus, who afterwards killed
Acrisius accidentally.
14. _entremellen_, intermingle hearts after merely seeing each other.
16. _beestes_, animals, beings; not used contemptuously; equivalent to
_living people_ in ll. 17, 18.
20. _esployte_, success, achievement; see _Exploit_ in the New E. Dict.
29. Supply _don_; 'and I will cause him to come to bliss, as being one of
my own servants.'
35. _and in-to water_, and jumps into the water and immediately comes up to
breathe; like an unsuccessful diver.
37. _A tree_, &c.; a common illustration; cf. Troil. i. 964.
43. _this countrè_; a common saying; cf. Troil. ii. 28 (and note), 42. And
see l. 47 below.
45. 'the salve that he healed his heel with.' From HF. 290.
71. _jangelers_; referring to l. 19 above. _lokers_; referring to
_overlokers_; in ch. iii. l. 128.
72. _wayters_; referring to ch. iii. l. 128.
77. 'It is sometimes wise to feign flight.' Cf. P. Plowman, C. xxii. 103.
85. _cornes_, grains of corn. I supply _bare_, i.e. empty.
86-7. _Who_, &c.; a proverb; from Troil. v. 784.
87-8. _After grete stormes_; see note to P. Plowman, C. xxi. 454.
92. _grobbed_, grubbed; i.e. dug about. Cf. Isaiah, v. 2.
95. _a_, have (as before). _Lya_, Leah; Lat. _Lia_, in Gen. xxix. 17
(Vulgate).
103. _eighteth_, eighth; an extraordinary perversion of the notion of the
sabbatical year. So below, in l. 104, we are informed that the number of
workdays is _seven_; and that, in Christian countries, the day of rest is
the eighth day in the week! _kinrest_, rest for the _kin_ or people; a
general day of rest. I know of no other example of this somewhat clumsy
compound.
110. _sothed_, verified; referring to Luke, xiv. 29.
113. _conisance_, badge. Badges for retainers were very common at this
date. See Notes to Richard the Redeless, ii. 2.
117-9. Copied from P. Plowman, C. vii. 24, 25:--
'Lauhynge al aloude, for lewede men sholde
_Wene_ that ich were _witty_, and _wyser than anothere_;
_Scorner_ and unskilful to hem that _skil_ shewed.'
As these lines are not found in the earlier versions, it follows that the
author was acquainted with the _latest_ version.
124. _a bridge_; i.e. to serve by way of retreat for such as trust them.
_wolves_, destroyers; here meant as a complimentary epithet.
127. This idea, of Jupiter's promotion, from being a bull, to being the
mate of Europa, is extremely odd; still more so is that of the promotion of
Aeneas from being in hell (l. 129). Cf. _Europe_ in Troil. iii. 722.
128. _lowest degrè_; not true, as Caesar's father was praetor, and his aunt
married Marius. But cf. C. T., B 3862.
CHAP. VI. 3. _enfame_, infamy, obloquy; from Lat. _infamia_. Godefroy gives
_enfamer_, to dishonour. The word only occurs in the present treatise; see
ll. 6, 7, 15.
12. From Prov. xxvii. 6: 'Meliora sunt vulnera diligentis quam fraudulenta
oscula odientis.'
17. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. ll. 5-13.
23. Cf. the same; bk. iv. pr. 7. ll. 34-42.
27. Cf. the same; bk. ii. pr. 5. ll. 121, 122.
30. Cf. the same; bk. iv. pr. 6. ll. 184-191.
48. _Zedeoreys_ (or _[gh]edeoreys_). I can find nothing resembling this
strange name, nor any trace of its owner's dealings with Hannibal.
53. The (possibly imaginary) autobiographical details here supplied have
been strangely handled for the purpose of insertion into the life of
Chaucer, with which they have nothing to do. See Morris's Chaucer, vol. i.
p. 32 (Aldine edition). The author tells us very little, except that
tumults took place in London, of which he was a native, and that he had
knowledge of some secret which he was pressed to betray, and did so in
order to serve his own purposes.
77-8. From Chaucer, Troil. v. 6, 7:--
--'shal dwelle in pyne
Til Lachesis his threed no lenger twyne.'
107. Referring to John, xiv. 27.
114. _Athenes_; Athene was the goddess who maintained the authority of law
and order, and in this sense was 'a god of peace.' But she was certainly
also a goddess of battles.
139. _mighty senatoures_. It has been conjectured that the reference is to
John of Gaunt. In the Annals of England, under the date 1384, it is noted
that 'John of Northampton, a vehement partisan of the duke, is tried and
sentenced to imprisonment and forfeiture. An attempt is also made to put
the duke on his trial.' John of Northampton had been mayor of London in
1382, when there was a dispute between the court and the citizens regarding
his election; perhaps the words _comen eleccion_ (common election), in l.
125 above, may refer to this trouble; so also _free eleccion_ in l. 140. In
l. 143 we must read _fate_, not _face_; the confusion between _c_ and _t_
is endless. Perhaps _governours_ in l. 144 should be _governour_, as in l.
147. Note that the author seems to condemn the disturbers of the peace.
157. _coarted by payninge dures_, constrained by painful duress (or
torture).
165. _sacrament_, my oath of allegiance. Note that the author takes credit
for giving evidence _against_ the riotous people; for which the populace
condemned him as a liar (l. 171).
178. _passed_, surpassed (every one), in giving me an infamous character.
181. _reply_, i.e. to subvert, entirely alter, recall; lit. to fold or bend
back.
189. Here the author says, more plainly, that he became unpopular for
revealing a conspiracy.
193. _out of denwere_, out of doubt, without doubt. Such is clearly the
sense; but the word _denwere_ is rejected from the New E. Dict., as it is
not otherwise known, and its form is suspicious. It is also omitted in
Webster and in the Century Dictionary. Bailey has '_denwere_, doubt,' taken
from Speght's Chaucer, and derived from this very passage. Hence Chatterton
obtained the word, which he was glad to employ. It occurs, for instance, in
his poem of Goddwyn, ed. Skeat, vol. ii. p. 100:--
--'No _denwere_ in my breast I of them feel.'
The right phrase is simply _out of were_; cf. 'withoute were' in the Book
of the Duchess, 1295. I think the letters _den_ may have been prefixed
accidentally. The line, as printed in Thynne, stands thus: 'denwere al the
sothe knowe of these thinges.' I suggest that _den_ is an error for _don_,
and the word _don_ ought to come at the _end_ of the line (after _thinges_)
instead of at the beginning. This would give the readings 'out of were' and
'these thinges don in acte'; both of which are improvements.
194. _but as_, only as, exactly as.
198. _clerkes_, i.e. Chaucer, HF. 350; Vergil, Aen. iv. 174.
200. _of mene_, make mention of. Cf. 'hit is a schep[h]erde _that I of
mene_'; Ancient Metrical Tales, ed. Hartshorne, p. 74.
CHAP. VII. 10. _profered_, offered wager of battle; hence the mention of
_Mars_ in l. 11. Cf. note to ch. ii. 191 above, p. 455.
23. _he_, i.e. thine adversary shall bring dishonour upon you in no way.
34. _Indifferent_, impartial. _who_, whoever.
38. _discovered_, betrayed; so that the author admits that he betrayed his
mistress.
46. _that sacrament_, that the oath to which you swore, viz. when you were
charged upon your oath to tell the truth. That is, his oath in the court of
justice made him break his private oath.
49. _trewe_ is certainly an error for _trewthe_; the statement is copied
from Jer. iv. 2:--' Et iurabis ... in veritate, et in iudicio, et in
justitia.' So in l. 58 below, we have: 'in jugement, _in trouthe_, and
rightwisenesse'; and in l. 53--'for a man to say truth, unless judgement
and righteousness accompany it, he is forsworn.'
54. _serment_, oath; as in l. 52: referring to Matt. xiv. 7.
56. 'Moreover, it is sometimes forbidden to say truth rightfully--except in
a trial--because all truths are not to be disclosed.'
60. _that worde_: 'melius mori quam male vivere'; for which see P. Plowman,
C. xviii. 40. Somewhat altered from Tobit, iii. 6:--'expedit mihi mori
magis quam vivere.'
61, 62. _al_, although, _enfame_, dishonour; as in vi. 3 (see note, p.
458).
63. _whan_, yet when.
73. _legen_, short for _alegen_; 'allege against others.'
75. Here misprinted; _read_:--'may it be sayd, "in that thinge this man
thou demest,"' &c. From Rom. ii. 1; 'in quo enim iudicas alterum, teipsum
condemnas.'
83. _shrewe_, wicked man, i.e. Ham; Gen. ix. 22.
101. _emprisonned_; so in Thynne; better, _emprisouned_.
104. _brige_, contention, struggle, trouble; see note to Ch. C. T., B 2872.
105. _after thyne helpes_, for your aid; i.e. to receive assistance from
you.
108. _Selande_, Zealand, Zeeland. The port of Middleburg, in the isle of
Walcheren, was familiar to the English; cf. note to C. T., Prol. 277. The
reference must be to some companions of the author who had fled to Zealand
to be out of the way of prosecution. _rydinge_, expedition on horseback,
journey.
109, 110. _for thy chambre_, to pay the rent of your room. _renter_,
landlord; 'unknown to the landlord.'
112. _helpe of unkyndnesse_, relieve from unkind treatment.
115-6. _fleddest_, didst avoid. _privitè to counsayle_, knowledge of a
secret.
120-1. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8. ll. 31-3.
CHAP. VIII. 1. _Eft_, again. Thynne prints _Ofte_, which does not give the
sense required. Fortunately, we know that the first letter _must_ be E, in
order that the initial letters of the Prologue and chapters I. to VIII. may
give the word MARGARETE. The reading _Ofte_ would turn this into MARGARETO.
4, 5. From Ch. Troil. iv. 3; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8. ll. 19-21.
13. _and thou_, if thou. Cf. Matt. xviii. 12.
27. _in their mouthes_, into their mouths; Matt. xii. 34.
31. _leve for no wight_, cease not on any one's account.
32. _use Jacobs wordes_. The allusion seems to be to the conciliatory
conduct of Jacob towards Esau; Gen. xxxiii. 8, 10, 11. Similarly the author
is to be patient, and to say--'I will endure my lady's wrath, which I have
deserved,' &c.
41. _sowe hem_, to sew them together again. _at his worshippe_, in honour
of him; but I can find no antecedent to _his_. Perhaps for _his_ we should
read _her_.
44. The text has _forgoing al errour distroyeng causeth_; but _distroyeng_
(which may have been a gloss upon _forgoing_) is superfluous, and _al_
should be _of_. But _forgoing_ means rather 'abandonment.'
55. _passest_, surpassest.
59. _by_, with reference to.
61. Hector, according to Guido delle Colonne, gave counsel against going to
war with the Greeks, but was overborne by Paris. See the alliterative
Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson (E. E. T. S.), Book VI; or
Lydgate's Siege of Troye, ch. xii.
65. _leveth_, neglects to oppose what is wrong.
66. The modern proverb is: 'silence gives consent.' Ray gives, as the Latin
equivalent, 'qui tacet consentire videtur (inquiunt iuris consulti).' This
is the exact form which is here translated.
73. Alluding to the canticle 'Exultet' sung upon Easter Eve, in the Sarum
Missal:--'O certe necessarium Ade peccatum.' See note to P. Plowman, C.
viii. 126 (or B. v. 491).
80. _lurken_, creep into lurking-holes, slink away.
95. _centre_, central point; from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. ll. 18-20. The
whole passage (ll. 94-105) is imitated from the same 'prose' of Boethius.
103. _London_ is substituted for 'Rome' in Chaucer's Boethius. Chaucer
has--'may thanne the glorie of a singuler Romaine strecchen thider as the
fame of the name of Rome may nat climben or passen?' See the last note.
112-6. From Ch. Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 7. 58-62.
116-25. From the same, ll. 65-79. Thus, in l. 123, the word _ofte_ (in
Thynne) is a misprint for _of the_; for Chaucer has--'For of thinges that
han ende may be maked comparisoun.' The whole passage shews that the author
consulted Chaucer's translation of Boethius rather than the Latin text.
127. _and thou canst nothing don aright_; literally from Chaucer: 'Ye men,
certes, _ne conne don nothing aright_'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. 79. _but thou
desyre the rumour therof be heled and in every wightes ere_; corresponds to
Chaucer's--'but-yif it be for the audience of the people and for ydel
rumours'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. 80. Hence _heled_ (lit. hidden) is quite
inadmissible; the right reading is probably _deled_, i.e. dealt round.
134. The words supplied are necessary; they dropped out owing to the
repetition of _vertue_.
135-6. Again copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. 106: 'the sowle ...
unbounden fro the prison of the erthe.'
CHAP. IX. 13. _than leveth there_, then it remains.
15. _for thy moebles_, because thy goods.
20. This proverb is given by Hazlitt in the form--
'Who-so heweth over-high,
The chips will fall in his eye.'
Cf. 'one looketh high as one that feareth no chips'; Lyly's Euphues, ed.
Arber, p. 467. And see IX. 158 (p. 270).
34. From Chaucer, Boeth. bk. i. pr. 4. 186. The saying is attributed to
Pythagoras; see the passage in Chaucer, and the note upon it.
39. _a this halfe god_, on this side of God, i.e. here below; a strange
expression. So again in bk. ii. ch. 13. 23.
46. _the foure elementes_, earth, air, fire, and water; see notes to Ch. C.
T., A 420, 1247, G 1460. _Al universitee_, the whole universe; hence man
was called the microcosm, or the universe in little; see Coriolanus, ii. 1.
68.
64. _I sette now_, I will now suppose the most difficult case; suppose that
thou shouldst die in my service.
71. _in this persone_; read _on this persone_; or else, perhaps, _in this
prisoune_.
86. _til deth hem departe_; according to the phrase 'till death us depart'
in the Marriage Service, now ingeniously altered to 'till death us _do
part_.'
96. 'and although they both break the agreement.'
98, 99. _accord_, betrothal. _the rose_, i.e. of virginity; as in the
Romance of the Rose, when interpreted.
99, 100. _Marye his spouse_. But the Vulgate has; 'Surge, et accipe puerum
et _matrem eius_'; Matt. ii. 13. The author must have been thinking of
Matt. i. 18: 'Cum esset _desponsata_ mater eius Maria Ioseph.'
113. _al being thinges_, all things that exist.
118. _prophete_; David, in Ps. xcvi. 5: (xcv. 5 in the Vulgate): 'omnes dii
gentium daemonia.'
129. This refers back to ch. iv. 71-2, ch. ix. 14, 20, 56.
CHAP. X. 5. _last objeccion_; i.e. his poverty, see ch. iii. 131, iv. 73,
ix. 14.
12-8. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 4. 200-17.
18. _sayd_, i.e. it is said of him.
19. _aver_, property, wealth; 'lo! how the false man, for the sake of his
wealth, is accounted true!'
20. _dignitees_; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6.
21. _were he out_, if he were not in office; cf. l. 23.
26-37. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met. 5. 22-39. Thus, _slydinge chaunges_ in l.
31 answers to Chaucer's _slydinge fortune_ (l. 24); and _that arn a fayr
parcel of the erthe_, in l. 32, to _a fayr party of so grete a werk_ (l.
38); and yet again, _thou that knittest_, in l. 35, to _what so ever thou
be that knittest_ (l. 36).
37-40. From Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met 5. 27-30.
64-7. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 2. 7-12.
71-6. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 2. 23-5.
76-80. Cf. the argument in the same; bk. iii. pr. 3.
85-120. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8. For literal imitations, compare _the
other haleth him to vertue by the hookes of thoughtes_ (l. 104-5) with
Chaucer's 'the contrarious Fortune ... haleth hem ayein as with an hooke'
(l. 21); and _Is nat a greet good ... for to knowe the hertes of thy
sothfast frendes_ (ll. 107-9) with Chaucer's 'wenest thou thanne that thou
oughtest to leten this a litel thing, that this ... Fortune hath discovered
to thee the thoughtes of thy trewe frendes' (l. 22). Also ll. 114-6 with
Chaucer (ll. 28-31).
126. _let us singen_; in imitation of the Metres in Boethius, which break
the prose part of the treatise at frequent intervals. Cf. 'and bigan anon
to singen right thus'; Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 149.
BOOK II.
CHAP. I. The initials of the fourteen Chapters in this Book give the words:
VIRTW HAVE MERCI. Thynne has not preserved the right division, but makes
_fifteen_ chapters, giving the words: VIRTW HAVE MCTRCI. I have set this
right, by making Chap. XI begin with 'Every.' Thynne makes Chapter XI begin
with 'Certayn,' p. 86, l. 133, and another Chapter begin with 'Trewly,' p.
89, l. 82. This cannot be right, because the latter word, 'Trewly,' belongs
to the last clause of a sentence; and the Chapter thus beginning would have
the unusually small number of 57 lines.
1. Chapter I really forms a Prologue to the Second Book, interrupting our
progress. At the end of Book I we are told that Love is about to sing, but
her song begins with Chap. II. Hence this first Chapter must be regarded as
a digression, in which the author reviews what has gone before (ll. 10-3),
and anticipates what is to come (l. 61).
9. _steering_, government (of God), _otherwysed_, changed, varied; an
extraordinary form.
12, 13. _after as_, according as. _hildeth_, outpours.
14-8. There is clearly much corruption in this unintelligible and imperfect
sentence. The reference to 'the Roman emperor' is mysterious.
21. _woweth_; so in Thynne, but probably an error for _waweth_, i.e. move,
shift; see _wa[gh]ien_ in Stratmann.
23. _phane_, vane; cf. 'chaunging as a vane'; Ch. C. T., E 996.
34. _irrecuperable_, irrecoverable; _irrecuperabilis_ is used by Tertullian
(Lewis and Short).
40. _armes_; this refers, possibly, to the struggle between the pope and
anti-pope, after the year 1378.
51-2. _lovers clerk_, clerk of lovers; but perhaps an error for _Loves
clerk_; cf. Troil. iii. 41.
62-3. _ryder and goer_, rider on horseback and walker on foot.
77. Translated from 'Fides non habet meritum ubi humana ratio praebet
experimentum'; as quoted in P. Plowman, C. xii. 160. This is slightly
altered from a saying of St. Gregory (xl. Homil. in Evangelium, lib. ii.
homil. 26)--'nec fides humana habet meritum cui humana ratio praebet
experimentum.' See note to P. Plowman (as above).
83. _as by a glasse_, as in a mirror; 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
93. _cockle_, tares. This seems to refer to the Lollards, as puns upon the
words _Lollard_ and _lolia_ were very rife at this period. If so, the
author had ceased to approve of Lollard notions. In l. 94, _love_ seems to
mean Christian charity, in its highest sense; hence it is called, in l. 95,
the most precious thing in nature.
96, 97. The passage seems corrupt, and I cannot quite see what is meant.
Perhaps read: 'with many eke-names, [and] that [to] other thinges that the
soule [seketh after, men] yeven the ilke noble name.' The comma after
_kynde_ in l. 96 represents a down-stroke (equivalent to a comma) in
Thynne; but it is not wanted.
99. _to thee_, i.e. to the 'Margaret of virtue' whose name appears as an
acrostic at the head of the Chapters in Book I. and Chapters I-V of Book
II; moreover, we find at last that Margaret signifies Holy Church, to which
the treatise is accordingly dedicated. _tytled of Loves name_, entitled the
Testament of Love.
103. _inseëres_, lookers into it, readers.
104. _Every thing_; with respect to everything to which appertains a cause
which is wrought with a view to its accomplishment, Aristotle supposes that
the doing of everything is, in a manner, its final cause. 'Final cause' is
a technical term, explained in the New E. Dict. as 'a term introduced into
philosophical language by the schoolmen as a translation of Aristotle's
fourth cause, [Greek: to hou heneka] or [Greek: telos], the end or purpose
for which a thing is done, viewed as the cause of the act; especially as
applied in Natural Theology to the design, purpose, or end of the
arrangements of the universe.' The phrase 'the end in view' comes near to
expressing it, and will serve to explain 'A final cause' in the next
clause.
107. _is finally to thilke ende_, is done with a view to that result.
109. After _so_, understand 'is it with regard to.'
110. _the cause_, the cause whereby I am directed, and that for which I
ought to write it, are both alike noble.
113. _this leude_, &c.; I have set about learning this alphabet; for I
cannot, as yet, go beyond counting up to three.
115. _in joininge_, &c.; by proceeding to the joining together of
syllables.
124. _in bright whele_, in (its) bright circuit. Chaucer has _wheel_ in the
sense of orbit; HF. 1450.
126. _another tretyse_. As to this proposed treatise nothing is known.
Perhaps it never was written.
CHAP. II. 2. _in Latin_. This suggests that the present chapter may be
adapted from some Latin original; especially as the author only gives the
_sentence_ or general drift of it. But the remark may mean nothing, and the
tone of the chapter is wholly medieval.
24. _Saturnes sphere_, Saturn's orbit; the supposed outer boundary of the
spheres of the seven planets.
27. _me have_, possess me (i.e. love), since Love is the speaker; i.e. they
think they can procure men's love by heaping up wealth.
28. Perhaps place the comma after _sowed_ (sewn), not after _sakke_.
29. _pannes_, better spelt _panes_; see _pane_ in Stratmann. From O.F.
_pan_, _panne_, Lat. _pannus_, a cloth, garment, robe. _mouled_, become
mouldy; the very form from which the mod. E. _mould-y_ has been evolved;
see _muwlen_ in Stratmann, and _mouldy_ in my Etym. Dict. (Supplement).
_whicche_, chest, from A.S. _hwæcca_; see P. Plowm. A. iv. 102, where some
copies have _huche_, a hutch, a word of French origin. Thus _pannes mouled
in a whicche_ signifies garments that have become mouldy in a chest. See
note to C. T., C 734.
30. _presse_, a clothes-press; observe the context.
35. _seventh_; perhaps an error for _thirde_; cf. 'percussa est tertia pars
solis'; Rev. viii. 12. He is referring to the primitive days of the Church,
when 'the pope went afoot.'
40. _defended_, forbade (opposed) those taxations. See _Taylage_ in Ch.
Glossary.
42. _maryed_, caused to be married; cf. P. Plowman, B. vii. 29.
47. _symonye_, simony; cf. note to P. Plowman, C. iii. 63.
48. Observe the rimes: _achates, debates_; _wronges, songes_.
49. _for his wronges_, on account of the wrongs which he commits.
_personer_, better _parsoner_ or _parcener_, participant, sharer; i.e. the
steward, courtier, escheator, and idle minstrel, all get something. See
_parcener_ in Stratmann.
50. 'And each one gets his prebend (or share) all for himself, with which
many thrifty people ought to profit.'
51. _behynde_, behindhand; even these wicked people are neglected, in
comparison with the _losengeour_, or flatterer.
52. Note the rimes, _forsake, take_. _it acordeth_, it agrees, it is all
consistent; see note to l. 74 below.
55. _at matins_; cf. P. Plowm. C. i. 125, viii. 27.
56. _bene-breed_, bean-bread; cf. P. Plowm. C. ix. 327.
57, 58. Cf. P. Plowman, C. vi. 160-5.
60. _shete_, a sheet, instead of a napkin to cover the bread; _god_ refers
to the eucharist.
62. _a clergion_, a chorister-boy; see Ch. C. T., B 1693, and the note.
65. _broken_, torn; as in P. Plowm. B. v. 108, ix. 91.
66. _good houndes_; cf. P. Plowm. C. vi. 161-5.
69. _dolven_, buried; 'because they (the poor) always crave an alms, and
never make an offering, they (the priests) would like to see them dead and
buried.'
69. _legistres_, lawyers; 'legistres of bothe the lawes,' P. Plowm. B. vii.
14.
71. 'For then wrong and force would not be worth a haw anywhere.' Before
_plesen_ something seems lost; perhaps read--'and [thou canst] plesen,'
i.e. and you can please no one, unless those oppressive and wrong-doing
lawyers are in power and full action.'
74. _ryme_, rime. The reference is not to actual jingle of rime, but to a
proverb then current. In a poem by Lydgate in MS. Harl. 2251 (fol. 26),
beginning--'Alle thynge in kynde desirith thynge i-like,' the refrain to
every stanza runs thus:--'It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought'; see
his Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 55. The sense is that unlike things may
be brought together, like riming words, but they will not on that account
agree. So here: such things may seem, to all appearance, congruous, but
they are really inconsistent. Cf. note to l. 52 above.
79. _beestly wit_, animal intelligence.
99. _cosinage_, those who are my relatives.
104. _behynde_, behindhand, in the rear. _passe_, to surpass, be prominent.
109. _comeden_ is false grammar for _comen_, came; perhaps it is a
misprint. The reference is to Gen. ix. 27: 'God shall enlarge Japheth ...
and Canaan shall be his servant.' The author has turned _Canaan_ into
_Cayn_, and has further confused Canaan with his father Ham!
112. _gentilesse_; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. 31-4; C. T., D 1109.
116. _Perdicas_, Perdiccas, son of Orontes, a famous general under
Alexander the Great. This king, on his death-bed, is said to have taken the
royal signet-ring from his finger and to have given it to Perdiccas. After
Alexander's death, Perdiccas held the chief authority under the new king
Arrhidaeus; and it was really Arrhidaeus (not Perdiccas) who was the son of
a _tombestere_, or female dancer, and of Philip of Macedonia; so that he
was Alexander's half brother. The dancer's name was Philinna, of Larissa.
In the Romance of Alexander, the dying king bequeaths to Perdiccas the
kingdom of Greece; cf. note to bk. iii. c. ii. l. 25. Hence the confusion.
122. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 6:--'Al the linage of men that
ben in erthe ben of semblable birthe. On allone is fader of thinges.... Why
noisen ye or bosten of your eldres? For yif thou loke your biginninge, and
god your auctor and maker,' &c.
135. _one_; i.e. the Virgin Mary.
139. After _secte_, supply _I_:--'that, in any respect, I may so hold an
opinion against her sex.' _Secte_ is properly 'suite'; but here means
_sex_; cf. l. 134.
140. _in hem_, in them, i.e. in women. And so in l. 141.
CHAP. III. 8. _victorie of strength_; because, according to the first book
of Esdras, iv. 14, 15, women are the strongest of all things.
9. _Esdram_, accus. of Esdras, with reference to the first book of Esdras,
called 'liber Esdrae tertius' in the Vulgate.
9, 10. _whos lordship al lignes_. Something is lost here; _lordship_ comes
at the end of a line; perhaps the insertion of _passeth_ will give some
sort of sense; _whos lordship [passeth] al lignes_, whose lordship
surpasses all lines. But _lignes_ is probably a corrupt reading.
10. _who is_, i.e. who is it that? The Vulgate has: 'Quis est ergo qui
dominatur eorum? Nonne mulieres genuerunt regem,' &c. But the A. V. has:
'Who is it then that ruleth them, or hath the lordship over them? Are they
not women? Women have borne the king,' &c. This translates a text in which
_mulieres_ has been repeated.
17-21. From 1 Esdras, iv. 15-7: 'Women have borne the king and all the
people that bear rule by sea and land. Even of them came they: and they
nourished them up that planted the vineyards, from whence the wine cometh.
These also make garments [Lat. _stolas_] for men; these bring glory unto
men; and without women cannot men be.'
21-5. Adapted from 1 Esdras, iv. 18, 19.
30. 'That by no way can they refuse his desire to one that asks well.'
32. _of your sectes_, of your followers, of those of your sex. Cf. chap. 2.
139 above, and the note.
38. _wenen_, imagine that your promises are all gospel-truth; cf. Legend of
Good Women, 326 (earlier version).
41. _so maked_; 'and that (i.e. the male sex) is so made sovereign and to
be entreated, that was previously servant and used the voice of prayer.'
Men begin by entreating, and women then surrender their sovereignty.
43. _trewe_; used ironically; i.e. untrue.
45, 46. _what thing to women it is_, what a thing it is for women. Ll.
45-58 are borrowed, sometimes word for word, from Ch. HF. 269-85. See note
to l. 70 below, and the Introduction, § 11.
47. 'All that glisters is not gold'; see Ch. C. T., G 962, and the note.
But it is here copied from Ch. HF. 272.
55. _whistel_, pipe. Cf. note to P. Plowm. B. xv. 467.
60. _is put_, i.e. she (each one of them) is led to suppose.
63, 64. Copied from Ch. HF. 305-10.
67. _they_, i.e. women; cf. l. 58. So also in l. 68.
68. _ye_, i.e. ye men; so also _you_ in l. 69.
70-81. Expanded from Ch. HF. 332-59; observe how some phrases are
preserved.
91. 'Faciamus ei adiutorium simile sibi'; Gen. ii. 18.
92. _this tree_, i.e. Eve, womankind. So in l. 96.
100. 'What is heaven the worse, though Saracens lie concerning it?'
111. _dames_, mothers; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. met. 6. 1-9.
114. _way_, path; _it lightly passe_, easily go along it.
115. This proverb is copied from Ch. HF. 290-1; just as the proverb in l.
47 is from the same, l. 272. Compare p. 22, ll. 44-5.
131-2. Obscure; and apparently imperfect.
CHAP. IV. 2. Either _my_ or _to me_ should be struck out.
4-8. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 2. 3-8. 14-6. From the same, 8-12.
20-1. _by wayes of riches_; cf. _richesses_ in Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 2.
20; so also _dignite_ answers to _digne_ of _reverence_ in the same, l. 21;
_power_ occurs in the same, l. 24; and _renomè_ answers to _renoun_ in l.
26.
21. _wening me_, seeing that I supposed.
22. _turneth_; 'it goes against the hair.' We now say--'against the grain.'
45. The words between square brackets must be supplied.
55. _holden for absolute_, considered as free, separate, or detached; as in
Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 6. 169.
56. _leveth in_, there remain in, i.e. remain for consideration, remain to
be considered. When 'bestial' living is set aside, 'manly' and 'resonable'
are left.
61. _riches_, &c.; from Boethius. See _riches_ discussed in Ch. Boeth. bk.
ii. pr. 5; _dignitè_, in pr. 6; _renomè_, or fame, in pr. 7; and _power_,
along with _dignitè_, in pr. 6.
99. _as a litel assay_, as if for a short trial, for a while.
100. _songedest_, didst dream; from F. _songer_. I know of no other example
of this verb in English. However, Langland has _songewarie_, interpretation
of dreams, P. Plowman, C. x. 302.
113. _thy king_; presumably, Richard II; cf. l. 120.
116. _to oblige_, to subject thy body to deeds of arms, to offer to fight
judicially; as already said above; cf. bk. i. c. 7. 10.
138. 'Love and the bliss already spoken of above (cf. 'the parfit blisse of
love,' bk. ii. c. 1. 79) shall be called "the knot" in the heart.' This
definition of "the knot," viz. as being the perfect bliss or full fruition
of love, should be noted; because, in later chapters, the author
continually uses the phrase "the knot," without explaining what he means by
it. It answers to 'sovereyn blisfulnesse' in Chaucer's Boethius.
141. _inpossession_ is all one word, but is clearly an error. The right
word is certainly _imposition_. The Lat. _impositio_ was a grammatical
term, used by Varro, signifying the _imposing_ of a name, or the
application of a name to an object; and the same sense of O.F. _imposition_
appears in a quotation given by Godefroy. It is just the word required.
When Love declares that she shall give the name of "the knot" to the
perfect bliss of love, the author replies, 'I shall well understand the
application of this name,' i.e. what you mean by it; cf. l. 149.
147. _A goddes halfe_, lit. on the side of God; with much the same sense as
in God's name; see Ch. C. T., D 50.
CHAP. V. 3. _richesse_ is singular; it was probably Thynne who put the
following verbs into plural forms.
5. _Aristotle_. Perhaps the reference is to the Nicomachean Ethics, i. 1.
15-20. The argument is from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 84, 122.
57, 58. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 45-7.
65. Cf. 'Why embracest thou straunge goodes as they weren thyne?' Ch.
Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 50.
67-77. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 52-69.
79-110. From the same; ll. 71-80; 88-133.
CHAP. VI. Suggested by Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6.
11-4. From the same, 57, 58; 54-7; 62-4.
25. _dignites ... is as the sonne_; the verb _is_ agrees with the latter
substantive _sonne_.
26-9. From the same as above, 4-6; the author substitutes _wilde fyre_ for
Chaucer's _flaumbe of Ethna_.
30. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6. 75-8.
38. Perhaps read _dignitè in suche thing tene y-wrought_; 'as dignity in
such a case wrought harm, so, on the contrary, the substance in dignity,
being changed, rallied (so as) to bring in again a good condition in its
effect.' Obscure. 'Dignities' are further discussed in Boeth. bk. iii. pr.
4.
74-7. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 64-70.
78. _Nero_. The name was evidently suggested by the mention of Nero
immediately after the end of Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4 (viz. in met. 4); but
the story of Nero killing his mother is from an earlier passage in
Boethius, viz. bk. ii. met. 6.
81. _king John_. By asserting his 'dignity' as king against prince Arthur,
he brought about a war in which the greater part of the French possessions
of the crown were lost.
82. _nedeth in a person_, are necessary for a man.
99. _such maner planettes_, planets such as those; referring to the sun and
moon mentioned just above; ll. 87, 91. The sun and moon were then accounted
as being among the seven planets.
100-1. 'That have any desire for such (ill) shining planets to appear any
more in that way.'
117-8. _I not_, I do not know. _and thou see_, if thou shouldst see. Cf.
Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 22-7.
123-8. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 31-9.
127. _besmyteth_, contaminates, defiles. Note that the author is here
reproducing Chaucer's _bispotten and defoulen_ (pr. 4. 38). The word is
noted in Stratmann, because the A.S. _besm[=i]tan_, in this sense, occurs
in Mark, vii. 15. The form _besmitten_ is commoner, four examples of it
being given in the New E. Dict., s.v. _besmit_. The verb _besmite_ has
escaped recognition there, because the present passage has not been noted.
So also, in the next line, _smyteth_ has a like sense. _Smitted_ occurs in
Troilus, v. 1545.
129. _fyr_, fire; from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 47.
132-4. From the same; ll. 48-53.
138. The sentence is incomplete and gives no sense; probably a clause has
dropped out after the word _goodnesse_. I cannot set it right.
143-5. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 55-7.
153-6. Suggested by the same; ll. 64-70.
164. Cf. 'leve hem in [_or_ on] thy lift hand'; P. Plowman, C. viii. 225.
CHAP. VII. Suggested by Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5.
8. _Nero_; from the same, bk. iii. met. 4. 4, 5.
14. _ensamples_; answers to _ensaumples_ in the same, bk. iii. pr. 5. 4.
17. _Henry Curtmantil_, Henry II. 'Henry short mantell, or Henry the
seconde'; Fabyan, ed. Ellis, p. 260. 'In his fifty-fifth year he thus
miserably expired, and his son Geoffrey of Lincoln with difficulty found
any one to attend to his funeral; the attendants had all fled away with
everything valuable that they could lay their hands on'; Miss Yonge, Cameos
from English History (1869); p. 180.
20. Copied _without material alteration_ from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5.
5-7.
23. _power of rëalmes_; from the same, l. 7.
30-9. Copied, in part literally, from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5. 8-17.
39-42. From the same; ll. 20-5.
50-2. Cf. 'Holdest thou thanne thilke man be mighty, that thou seest that
he wolde don that he may nat don?' the same; ll. 23-5.
72. _overthrowen_ would be better grammar.
74-8. From the same prose, ll. 25-9.
78. _warnisshed_, guarded. _warnishe,_ guard; _the hour of warnishe_, the
time of his being guarded.
81. _famulers_, household servants; borrowed from Chaucer's _familieres_ in
the same prose, l. 29.
82. _sypher_, cipher in arithmetic. Though in itself it signifies nothing,
yet appended to a preceding figure it gives that figure a tenfold value.
Cf. Richard the Redeless, iv. 53-4:--
'Than satte summe as siphre doth in awgrym
That noteth a place, and no-thing availeth.'
92. _the blynde_; alluding to a common fable.
95-6. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5. 32-4.
98-9; 101-3. From the same; ll. 41-6.
105-8. From the same, ll. 48-51.
109-12. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 5.
114-6. Here the author suddenly dashes off to another book of Boethius; see
bk. ii. pr. 6. 44-5.
117. _Buserus_; Chaucer has _Busirides_ in his text of Boethius, bk. ii.
pr. 6. 47 (whose text our author here follows); but _Busirus_ in the Monkes
Tale, B 3293. The true name is _Busiris_, of which _Busiridis_ is the
genitive case. Chaucer evolved the form _Busirides_ out of the accusative
_Busiridem_ in Boethius. See note in vol. ii. p. 433.
118. _Hugest_; substituted for the example of Regulus in Boethius. Hugest
is probably an error for Hengest, i.e. Hengist. The story of his slaughter
of the Britons at Stonehenge by a shameful treachery is famous; he
certainly 'betrayed many men.' See Fabyan, ed. Ellis, p. 66; Rob. of
Gloucester, l. 2651 (ed. Hearne, p. 124). The story of his death is not
inconsistent with the text. Rob. of Gloucester, at l. 2957 (ed. Hearne, p.
140) tells how he was suddenly seized, in a battle, by Eldol, earl of
Gloucester, who cried out for help; many came to his assistance, and
Hengist was taken alive. Shortly afterwards, at the instance of Eldad,
bishop of Gloucester, Eldol led him out of the town of Corneboru, and smote
his head off. Eldad's verdict was:--
'Also doth by this mon that so moche wo ath y-do,
So mony child y-mad faderles, dighteth him al-so.'
The name of his betrayer or capturer is given as _Collo_ in our text; but
proper names take so many forms that it is not much to go by. Thus, the
very name which is given as _Eldol_ in one MS. of Robert of Gloucester (l.
2679) appears as _Cadel_ in another. Fabyan calls him _Edolf_ (p. 66), and
makes him Earl of Chester. Layamon (ed. Madden, ii. 268) calls him
_Aldolf_.
120. 'Omnes enim, qui acceperint gladium, gladio peribunt'; Matt. xxvi. 52.
122. _huisht_, hushed, silent; cf. _hust_ in Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. met. 5. 16.
130-2. Cf. the same, bk. iv. pr. 2. 31-4.
132. 'But then, as for him who could make you wretched, if he wished it,
thou canst not resist it.' The sentence appears to be incomplete.
135. _flye_, fly; substituted for Chaucer's _mous_; see his Boeth. bk. ii.
pr. 6. 22-4.
139-42. From the same, ll. 25-9.
148-9. _Why there_, i.e. 'wherefore (viz. by help of these things) there is
no way,' &c. Cf. 'Now is it no doute thanne that thise weyes ne ben a maner
misledinges to blisfulnesse'; Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 8. 1-2.
CHAP. VIII. 5. _renomè_, renown; answering to _glori_ and _renoun_ in Ch.
Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. 1, 6. But there is not much imitation of Chaucer in
the former part of this chapter.
37. _abouten_, round about; i.e. you have proved a contradiction.
39. _acorden_, agree; _by lacking_, with respect to blame and praise.
42. _elementes_, the four elements. Sir T. Elyot's Castel of Helthe (1539)
presents the usual strange medieval notions on medicine. He begins by
saying that we must consider the things natural, the things not natural,
and the things against nature. The things natural are seven, viz. elements,
complexions, humours, members, powers, operations, and spirits. 'The
Elementes be those originall thynges vnmyxt and vncompounde, of whose
temperance and myxture all other thynges, hauynge corporalle substance, be
compacte: Of them be foure, that is to saye, Erthe, Water, Ayre, and Fyre.
ERTHE is the moost grosse and ponderouse element, and of her proper nature
is _colde_ and _drye_.
WATER is more subtyll and lyght thanne erthe, but in respect of Ayre and
Fyre, it is grosse and heuye, and of hir proper Nature is _colde_ and
_moyste_.
AYRE is more lyghte and subtylle than the other two, and beinge not altered
with any exteriour cause, is properly _hotte_ and _moyste_.
FYRE is absolutely lyght and clere, and is the clarifier of other
elementes, if they be vyciate or out of their naturall temperaunce, and is
properly _hotte_ and _drye_.' Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 9. 13-7.
50. _oned_, united; see the last note.
52. _erthe_ (see the footnote) is an obvious error for _eyre_; so also in
l. 53. But the whole of the argument is ridiculous.
68-9. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. 3-4. From the Andromache of
Euripides, l. 319; see the note in vol. ii. p. 439.
69-71. From Chaucer, as above, ll. 5-9.
75-81. From the same, ll. 9-17.
82. _obstacles_; they are enumerated in bk. i. c. 8. l. 98 (p. 37).
85-7; 89-97. From Chaucer, bk. iii. pr. 6. ll. 21-34.
99. I do not know the source of this saying. Cf. C.T., D 1109-12.
102-7. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 8. 26-35.
104-5. _fayre and foule_, handsome and ugly men; _hewe_, beauty.
107-10. _thilke--knotte_; equivalent to 'they ne ben nat weyes ne pathes
that bringen men to blisfulnesse'; Ch., as above, ll. 42-3.
122. Cf. 'But alday fayleth thing that fooles wenden'; certainly the right
reading of Troil. i. 217; see note on the line; vol. ii. p. 463.
124. _the sterre_, the star of the Southern pole; so in the next line, the
Northern pole-star.
126. _out-waye-going_, going out of the way, error of conduct; which may be
called, as it were, 'imprisonment,' or 'banishment.' It is called
_Deviacion_ in bk. iii. ch. i. 6, which see.
127. _falsed_, proved false, gave way.
130. Cf. 'It suffyseth that I have shewed hiderto the forme of false
welefulness'; Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 1. With line 131, cf. the same,
ll. 5-7.
CHAP. IX. 1-5. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 9-11.
9. The 'harmony' or music of the spheres; see Troil. v. 1812-3; Parl.
Foules, 59-63, and the note in vol. i. p. 507.
37-8. _sugre ... soot_; cf. 'sucre be or soot,' Troil. iii. 1194; and 'in
her hony galle'; C. T., B 3537.
54. _Flebring_; omitted in the New E. Dict., as being a false form; there
is no such word. Mr. Bradley suggests _flekring_ or _flekering_, which is
probable enough. The M.E. _flekeren_, also spelt _flikeren_, meant not only
to flutter, but to be in doubt, to vacillate, and even to caress. We may
take it to mean 'light speech' or 'gossip.'
65. 'Good and yvel ben two contraries'; Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 2. 10.
74. _in that mores_, in the possession of that greater thing.
77-8. Cf. l. 81 below. Hence the sense is: 'and that thing which belongs to
it (i.e. to the knot) ought to incline to its superior cause out of honour
and good-will.' But it is clumsy enough; and even to get this sense (which
seems to have been that intended) we must alter _mores_ to _more_. The form
was probably miswritten _mores_ here owing to the occurrence of _mores_
just above (l. 74) and just below (l. 79). It proceeds thus:--'otherwise,
it is rebellious, and ought to be rejected from protection by its
superior.'
116. From Troil. iii. 1656-9.
129-38. Perhaps the finest passage in the treatise, but not very original.
Cf. P. Plowman, C. xxi. 456-7; Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. met. 6. 20-3.
133. Cf. 'ones a yere al thinges renovelen'; Ch. C. T., I 1027.
134. Cf. 'To be gayer than the heven'; Book of the Duch. 407.
139. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 2. 54-5; but with the
substitution of 'garmentes' for 'tonnes.'
143. _proverbe_, proverb. 'When bale is hext (highest), then bote is next';
Proverbs of Hending; see notes to Gamelyn, ll. 32, 631, in vol. v. pp. 478,
486. For _hext_ our author substitutes _a nyebore_, i.e. a neighbour, nigh
at hand.
151. The truth of astrology is here assumed.
155-70. I suspect that this account of the days of the week (though no
doubt familiar in those days to many) was really copied from Chaucer's
Treatise on the Astrolabe, part ii. sect. 12 (vol. iii. p. 197). For it
contains a remarkable blunder. The word _noon_ in l. 163 should, of course,
be _midnight_; but, as Chaucer omits to say when the first planetary hour
of the day occurs, the author was left to himself in regard to this point.
Few people understand _why_ the day after Sunday must needs be Monday; yet
it is very simple. The principle is given in the footnote to vol. iii. p.
197 (cf. vol. v. p. 86), but may here be stated a little more plainly. The
earth being taken as the centre of the planetary system, the planets are
arranged in the order of the radii of their orbits. The nearest planet is
the Moon, then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These
were arranged by the astrologers in the _reverse_ order; viz. Saturn,
Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon; after which the rotation began
over again, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, &c.; as before. If we now divide Sunday
into twenty-four hours, and assign the _first_ of these to the Sun, the
_second_ to Venus (next in rotation), the _third_ to Mercury, and so on,
the _eighth_ hour will again fall to the Sun, and so will the _fifteenth_
and the _twenty-second_. Consequently, the _twenty-third_ (like the
_second_) belongs to Venus, the _twenty-fourth_ to Mercury, and the
_twenty-fifth_ to the Moon. But the twenty-fifth hour is the first hour of
the new day, which is therefore the day of the Moon. And so throughout.
Since the twenty-second hour belongs to the Sun, and the twenty-fifth to
the Moon, the planetary interval from day to day is really obtained by
pitching upon every _third_ planet in the series, i.e. by skipping two.
Hence the order of ruling planets for each day (which rule depends upon the
assignment of the _first_ hour) is obviously--the Sun, the Moon, Mars,
Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn; or, in Anglo-Saxon terminology, the Sun,
the Moon, T[=i]w, W[=o]den, Thunor (Thur), Frige, and Sætern (Sæter).
178. Cf. 'here wo into wele wende mote atte laste'; P. Plowman, C. xxi.
210. See notes to ch. 13. 86 below, and bk. i. 3. 153.
180. Cf. Troil. iv. 836, and the note (vol. ii. p. 490).
196. _slawe_, slain; the usual expression; cf. Compl. of Mars, 186; Compl.
unto Pitè, 112.
CHAP. X. 1-6. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 1-4; pr. 10. 1-4.
7. _three lyves_; as mentioned above, bk. ii. ch. 4. 44-6.
18. _firste sayde_; viz. in bk. ii. ch. 4. 56.
28-34. Borrowed from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 7.
37. _a fair parcel_. Similarly, Boethius recites his former good fortune;
bk. ii. pr. 3. 20-43.
45. He insists that he was only a servant of conspirators; he would have
nothing to do with the plot (l. 50); yet he repented of it (l. 49); and it
is clear that he betrayed it (bk. i. ch. 6. l. 189).
58. _farn_, for _faren_, fared. _Fortune_; cf. the complaints of Boethius,
bk. i. met. 1. 19; pr. 4. 8; bk. ii. met. 1.
68-71. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4. 57-61.
81-3. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 4. 122; pr. 3. 61.
84-7. From the same; pr. 4. 127-32.
88-105. From the same; pr. 3. 48-63.
96. _both_, booth; Chaucer has _tabernacle_; pr. 3. 56.
105-10; 115-20. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 4. 33-42.
126-9. From the same; ll. 43-7.
133. Here begins a new chapter in Thynne; with a large capital C. See note
to book ii. ch. i.
148-50. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4. 97-101.
155. 'The soules of men ne mowe nat deyen in no wyse'; the same, ll. 122-3.
163. _oon of three_; see ch. 10. 10 above (p. 83).
CHAP. XI. 11-3. Not in character; the author forgets that Love is supposed
to be the speaker, and speaks in his own person.
40-8. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 8. 3-7, 16-8; pr. ix. 12-16, 66-70;
somewhat varied.
56. _over his soule_; cf. 'but only upon his body'; the same, bk. ii. pr.
6. 31.
56-69. The general idea corresponds with the same, bk. iii. pr. 9. I
observe no verbal resemblance.
82. Thynne begins a new chapter here, with a large capital T. See note to
bk. ii. ch. i.
93. _Plato_. This story is told of Socrates, and is given in the note to C.
T., I 670, in vol. v. p. 466; from Seneca, De Ira, lib. i. c. 15.
111. _conclude_ seems here to mean 'include,' as in C. T., G 429.
121. _habit ... monk_; 'Cucullus non facit monachum'; a common medieval
proverb; see Rom. Rose, 6192, and the note.
125. _cordiacle_ is Thynne's misprint for _cardiacle_; cf. 'That I almost
have caught a cardiacle'; C.T., C 313.
CHAP. XII. 8. _in place_, i.e. present; _chafinge_, warming.
14. _neigheth_, approaches; _and it ... be_, if it can be.
17. _Donet_, primer, elementary book of instruction; named from _Donatus_,
the grammarian; see note to P. Plowman, C. vii. 215.
32. _muskle_; referring to bk. i. ch. 3. 78.
35. _excellence of coloures_, its (outward) blue colour. Blue was the
emblem of constancy and truth; see note to C. T., F 644 (vol. v. p. 386).
For _coloures_ we should rather read _colour_; the same error occurs in l.
43 below (see footnote).
45. 'When pleasant weather is above.'
46. 'Betokening steadfastness (continuance) in peace'; cf. note to l. 35
above.
47. The following is Pliny's account of the Pearl, as translated by
Holland; bk. ix. c. 35.
'This shell-fish which is the mother of Pearle, differs not much in the
manner of breeding and generation from the Oysters; for when the season of
the yeare requireth that they should engender, they seeme to yawne and
gape, and so do open wide; and then (by report) they conceive a certaine
moist dew as seed, wherewith they swell and grow big; ... and the fruit of
these shell-fishes are the Pear[l]es, better or worse, great or small,
according to the qualitie and quantitie of the dew which they receiued. For
if the dew were pure and cleare which went into them, then are the Pearles
white, faire, and Orient: but if grosse and troubled, the Pearles likewise
are dimme, foule, and duskish; ... according as the morning is faire, so
are they cleere; but otherwise, if it were misty and cloudy, they also will
be thicke and muddy in colour.'
50. The sense of _Margaryte_ in _this_ passage is the visible church of
Christ, as the context shews. In book iii. ch. 9. 160, the author tells us
that it signifies 'grace, lerning, or wisdom of god, or els _holy church_.'
52. _mekenesse_, humility; cf. l. 63. The church is descended from Christ,
who is the heavenly dew.
56. _reduced in-to good_, connected with good; _mene_, intermediate.
58. _beestes_, living things that cannot move; the very word used by
Chaucer, Boeth. bk. v. pr. 5. 20; compare the passage.
64. There is something wrong; either _discendeth_ should be _discended_, or
we should understand _and_ before _to_; and perhaps _downe_ should be
_dewe_; cf. l. 68. The reference seems to be to the Incarnation.
68. Here the Protean word _Margaryte_ means 'the wisdom of god,' judging by
the context; see note to l. 50 above.
78. This does not mean 'I would have explained it better,' but 'I should
like to have it better explained.'
86. _Margaryte_ here means the visible church, as before (l. 50); to the
end of the chapter.
91. _welde_, possess; and all that he now possesses is his life.
108. _yvel spekers_; this seems to allude to the Lollards, who ought (he
says) to be 'stopped and ashamed.'
114. This shews that Margarete does not mean a woman; for it is declared to
be as precious as a woman, to whom it is likened.
121. _deedly_, mortal. Hence Margarete does not mean the church in general,
but the visible church at the time of writing, the church militant.
CHAP. XIII. 11. 'To be evil, is to be nothing.' The general argument
follows Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 2. 143-94, and pr. 4.
23. _a this halfe_, on this side of, under; cf. note to bk. i. ch. 9. 39.
30. _determinison_, determination; a correct form. Cf. _venison_ from Lat.
acc. _uenationem_. Accordingly, the O.F. forms were _determinaison_,
_-eson_, _-oison_, as given by Godefroy. He supplies the example:
'Definicio, difinicion ou _determineson_,' from an old glossary. Hence
_determination_ is here used in the sense of 'definition,' as is obvious
from the context. Thynne prints _determission_, which makes nonsense; and
there is no such word. The present passage is entered in the New E. Dict.
under _determission_, with the suggestion that it is an error; it might
have been better to enter it under _determinison_ (or _-eson_); but it is
always difficult to know how to deal with these mistakes of printers and
editors.
33. _your-selfe sayd_; referring to l. 4 above.
35. _y-sayd good_, called 'good.'
40. _participacion_; from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 10. 110.
43. _Austen_, St. Augustin; and so Pope, Essay on Man, i. 294:--'One truth
is clear, Whatever is, is right.'
49. _Boece_, Boethius; whom the author here mentions just once more; see
his former allusion in bk. i. prologue, 110. The reference is to bk. iii.
pr. 10. 153-84.
53. _apeted to_, sought after, longed for, desired. _Apete_ is a correct
form, as it represents an O.F. _*apeter_; but the usual O.F. form is
_appeter_ (Littré, s.v. _appéter_), from Lat. _appetere_. See New E. Dict.,
s.v. _Appete_, where a quotation is given from Chaucer, L. G. W. 1582. But
the right reading in that line is surely _appetyteth_, as _appeteth_ will
not scan; unless we strongly accent the initial _As_. See vol. ii. p. 137,
l. 1582 and footnote, and the note to the line, at p. 328.
56. _This_ stands for _This is_, as usual; see notes to C. T., A 1091, E
56.
71. _betterer_, better; not necessarily a misprint. The form _bettyrer_
occurs in the Catholicon Anglicum.
72. _his kyndely place_, its natural position; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr.
11. 100-2.
77. _blacke_; cf. Troil. i. 642.
82. _yeven by the ayre_, endowed by the air with little goodness and
virtue; because the dew that produced the pearl fell through the air; see
note to ch. xii. 47 above. Hence _matier_ is material, viz. the dew.
86. _unpees_, war. The general argument, with the contrast of colours above
mentioned, occurs in P. Plowman, C. xxi. 209-21; cf. also ll. 144-66. Of
these lines, ll. 210 and 212 have already been explicitly cited above: see
notes to bk. i. ch. 3. 153, and to bk. ii. ch. 9. 178.
92. _Pallas_; we should have expected 'Minerva'; however, _Pallas_ occurs
five times in Troilus.
94. _and Mercurie_, if Mercury; but it is obscure.
99. _a dewe and a deblys_. Under _Adieu_, in the New E. Dict., we find:
'_fig._ an expression of regret at the loss or departure of anything; or a
mere exclamatory recognition of its disappearance; = away, no longer, no
more, all is over with. _c._ 1400 _Test. Love_ ii. (1560) 292/1. Adewe and
adewe blis.'
Something has gone wrong here; the edition of 1561 (not 1560) has, at fol.
306, back (not 292) the reading 'a dewe and a deblis'; as in the text. The
same reading occurs in all the earlier black-letter editions and in
Chalmers; there being no other authority except Thynne. I do not understand
the passage; the apparent sense is: 'his name is given _a dieu_ and to
devils'; i.e. (I suppose) is renounced. _Deblis_ for 'devils' is a possible
form; at any rate, we find _deblet_, _deblerie_, for _devilet_ and
_diablerie_; see New E. Dict., under _Dablet_ and _Deblerie_.
115-6. 'That which is good, seems to me to be wholly good.' This is
extremely significant. 'The church is good, and therefore wholly good,' is
evidently intended. In other words, it needs no reform; the Lollards should
let it alone. In ch. 14. 24, he plainly speaks of 'heretics,' and of the
errors of 'mismeninge people.'
130. _leve_, believe. L. 120 shews that he hopes for mercy and pity; we may
safely conclude that he had been a Lollard once. Cf. ch. 14. 2-4.
CHAP. XIV. 6. _Proverbes_. He refers to Prov. vii. 7-22: 'Considero
uecordem iuuenem, qui ... graditur in obscuro, in noctis tenebris; et ecce
occurrit illi mulier ornatu meretricio, praeparata ad capiendas animas,
garrula et uaga, quietis impatiens ... dicens ... ueni, inebriemur
uberibus, et fruamur cupitis amplexibus ... statim eam sequitur quasi bos
ductus ad uictimam.'
25. _skleren and wimplen_, veil and cover over. He probably found the word
_skleire_, a veil, in P. Plowman, C. ix. 5 (cf. also B. vi. 7, A. vii. 7),
as that is the only known example of the substantive. The verb occurs here
only. Other spellings of _skleire_, sb., in the MSS., are _sklayre_,
_scleyre_, _slaire_, _skleir_, _sleire_, _sleyre_. Cf. Du. _sluier_, G.
_Schleier_.
29. _by experience_; i.e. the author had himself been inclined to 'heresy';
he was even in danger of 'never returning' (l. 38).
36. _weyved_, rejected; he had rejected temptations to Lollardry.
38. _shewed thee thy Margarite_; meaning (I suppose) shewn thee the
excellence of the church as it is.
40. _Siloë_, Siloam. It is a wonder where the author found this description
of the waters of the pool of Siloam; but I much suspect that it arose from
a gross misunderstanding of Isaiah, viii. 6, 7, thus:--'the waters of
Shiloah that go softly ... shall come up over all his channels, and go over
all his banks.' In the Vulgate: 'aquas Siloë, quae uadunt cum silentio ...
ascendet super omnes riuos eius, et fluet super uniuersas ripas eius.'
Hence _cankes_ in l. 44 is certainly an error for _bankes_; the initial _c_
was caught from the preceding _circuit_.
46. After _Mercurius_ supply _servaunts_ or _children_. The children or
servants of Mercury mean the clerks or writers. The expression is taken
from Ch. C. T., D 697:--
'The children of Mercurie and of Venus
Ben in hir wirking ful contrarious.'
47. _Veneriens_, followers of Venus; taken from Ch. C. T., D 609.
52. _that ben fallas_; that is to say, deceptions. See _Fallace_ in the New
E. Dict.
60. _sote of the smoke_, soot of the smoke of the fire prepared for the
sacrificed ox; 'bos ductus ad uictimam'; Prov. vii. 22.
61. _it founde_, didst find it; referring, apparently, to _thy langoring
deth_.
67-8. _thilke Margaryte_, the church; by serving which he was to be
delivered from danger, by means of his amendment.
70. _disese_, misery, discomfort; because he had to do penance.
74. He had formerly sinned against the church.
80. 'And yet thou didst expect to have been rejected for ever.'
83. _lache_, loosen (it); from O.F. _lascher_, to loosen, relax. Or it may
mean 'turn cowardly.'
85. 'Inueni Dauid seruum meum; oleo sancto meo unxi eum'; Ps. lxxxix. 20
(lxxxviii. 21, Vulgate).
93. _openly_; hence the author had publicly recanted.
BOOK III.
CHAP. I. This chapter is really a Prologue to the Third Book.
2. _discrete_, separate; _tellinge_, counting.
3. _Three_ was considered a perfect number; see below.
6. Time was divided into three ages; first, the age of Error, before the
coming of Christ; all that died then went to hell, whence some were rescued
by Christ when He descended thither. The second, the age of Grace, from the
time of Christ's coming till His second advent. The third, the age of Joy,
enduring for ever in heaven.
_Deviacion_; Thynne prints _Demacion_, an obvious error for _Deuiacion_
(_m_ for _ui_); in l. 26, it is replaced by _Errour of misgoinge_, which
has the same sense, and in bk. ii. ch. 8. 126, it is called
_out-waye-going_. The New E. Dict. has no quotation for _deviation_ older
than 1603; but here we find it.
25. I. e. Book I treats of Error or Deviation; Book II, of Grace; and Book
III, of Joy.
28. _whiche is faylinge without desert_, which is failure without merit;
these words are out of place here, and perhaps belong to the preceding
clause (after _shewed_ in l. 26). _thilke_, &c.; amending that first fault.
29. Perhaps for _and_ read _an_; it refers to guidance into the right path.
37. He says that the English alter the name _Margarite-perle_ into
_Margery-perle_, whereas Latin, French, and many other languages keep the
true form. Cf. Lat. _margarita_, O.F. _marguerite_, _margarete_, Gk.
[Greek: margaritês], Pers. _marw[=a]r[=i]d_, Arab. _marj[=a]n_; all from
Skt. _manjar[=i]_, a pearl.
45. _the more Britayne_, greater Britain (England and Scotland), as
distinguished from lesser Britain (Brittany); see note to bk. ii. ch. 12.
47 above. Pliny says (tr. by Holland, bk. ix. c. 35):--'In Brittaine it is
certain that some [pearls] do grow; but they be small, dim of colour, and
nothing orient.'
56. _conninge_, certain knowledge; _opinion_, uncertain knowledge,
supposition; as he proceeds to say.
62. We thus learn that it was at this date an open question, whether the
sun was bigger than the earth; there were some who imagined it to be so.
68. He here mentions the _quadrivium_, or group of four of the seven
sciences, viz. arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy; see note to P.
Plowman, C. xii. 98.
73. These are the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and
Fortitude; see note to P. Plowman, C. i. 131.
79. Why 'two things' are mentioned, is not clear. It was usual to introduce
here the _trivium_, or second group of the seven arts (see note to l. 68);
which contained logic, grammar, and rhetoric. For the two former he has
substituted 'art,' the general term.
99. _twey_, two; viz. _natural_ and _reasonable_; cf. l. 53. The third is
_moral_. Hence we have the following scheme.
{ _natural_: the quadrivium.
{ relating to the body {
Philosophy { { _reasonable_: the trivium.
{
{ relating to the soul: _moral_: the cardinal virtues.
{ law: _natural_.
{
{ right: _reasonable_.
Law {
{ { written: _constitution_.
{ custom {
{ unwritten: _usage_.
122. I. e. 'so that harm, (as punishment) for harm, should restrain
evil-doers by the bridle of fear.'
125. _contrarioustee of_, that which is contrary to.
130. _and unworthy_, even if they be unworthy.
_professe and reguler_; the 'professed' were such as, after a year of
probation, had been received into a monastic order; the 'regular' were such
as were bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience.
131. _obediencer_, bound by obedience; used adjectivally; cf. Low Lat.
_obedientiarius_.
134. Thus the author was himself bound by monastic vows, and was one of the
'regular' clergy.
146-7. _abouten_, about (me), near at hand. _eche_, to increase, lengthen.
156. _refrete_, refrain, burden of a song; O.F. _refrait_, _refret_
(Godefroy). 'Sobs are a ready (ever-present) refrain in its meditations';
where _his_ (its) refers to _goost_, or spirit, in l. 155.
157-8. _comming about I not than_, recurring I know not when. For _than_
read _whan_, to make sense.
160. _he_, Christ; referring to Matt. xxi. 16.
161. _whos spirit_; 'Spiritus ubi uult spirat'; John, iii. 8; 'Spiritus,
diuidens singulis prout uult'; 1 Cor. xii. 11.
170. _wyte that_, lay the blame for that upon. Such is the right idiom; cf.
'Wyte it the ale of Southwerk, I yow preye'; Ch. C. T., A 3140. Thynne
prints _with_ for _wite_ or _wyte_, making nonsense of the passage.
CHAP. II. 14. _lybel of departicion_, bill (or writ) of separation; taken
from _libellum repudii_ in Matt. v. 31, which Wyclif translates by 'a libel
of forsakyng.'
16. 'I find, in no law, (provision for) recompensing and rewarding in a
bounteous way, those who are guilty, according to their deserts.'
19. _Paulyn_, Paulinus. But there is some mistake. Perhaps he refers to L.
Aemilius Paulus, brother of M. Aemilius Lepidus the Triumvir. This Paulus
was once a determined enemy of Caesar, but was won over to his side by a
large bribe.
21-3. I cannot explain or understand this clause; something seems to be
omitted, to which it refers.
23. Julius Caesar was accounted as following Cato in justice. The statement
is obscure.
25. Perdiccas, according to the romances, succeeded Alexander the Great;
see note to Bk. ii. c. 2. 116. I do not find the anecdote referring to
Porus. It is not improbable that the author was thinking of Philip the
physician, who revealed to Alexander 'a privy hate' entertained against
that monarch by Parmenion; see the Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat, 2559-83.
49. _right as mater_. Cf. 'sicut ad formam de forma procedere materiam
notum est'; an often quoted passage in Guido delle Colonne's Historia
Troiae; see note to Legend of Good Women, 1582 (vol. iii. p. 329).
65. _and right_, if right-doing were not in the original working.
82. _muste do good nedes_, must necessarily do good.
87. _ende_, object. The reference seems to be to Aristotle, Nicomachean
Ethics, bk. i. c. 1, c. 2, or c. 5.
90. _goodly_, with a good motive. In l. 99, it simply means 'a good
motive.'
112. _praysing ne lacking_, praise nor blame.
115. The Latin would be _nemo inuite beatus_; but I do not know where to
find it.
128. _free arbitrement_, Lat. liberum arbitrium; introduced in order to
lead up to a discussion of free will, necessity, and providence; as in
Boeth. bk. v.
140. _closing_, including, implying.
154-60. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 3. 1-18.
CHAP. III. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 3 and pr. 4.
26. Cf. the same, pr. iii. 29, and the context.
58. _for I love_, i.e. because (or since) I love.
74. _commende_, coming; probably the original MS. had _command_, the
Northern form. We have a similar form _lykende_, in l. 133 below. In ll.
82, 83, the usual form _comming_ appears.
82-3. In many places, _comming_ is used nearly with the sense of 'future';
cf. ll. 177-8.
126. Here again we have the usual ridiculous contradictions; the sense
is--'being wet, I burn; without wasting, I fade.' Cf. Rom. Rose, Eng.
version, 4703-50.
128. Thynne has (here and in ch. 6. 147, p. 132) _vnbyde_, an obvious error
for _onbyde_, i.e. abide, remain; see ch. 7. 161, 163.
131. 'God grant (that) that thing may soon draw nigh to thee.' _Neigh_ is
here a verb, as in Bk. ii. ch. 12. 14.
164. _that_, that which; _with nothing_, yet not so as to be constrained by
anything else.
171. _rysinge of the sonne_, rising of the sun; this example is borrowed
from Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 6. 103, 165.
CHAP. IV. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 6. 157-89.
29. _and nedeful is_, 'and it is necessary that, in order to desire (a
thing), he may also _not_ desire (it)'; otherwise, he does not make any
choice.
30-1. The words 'But thilke ... the same to wilne' are _repeated_ in
Thynne's edition, to the destruction of the sense.
59. _as now_, present; cf. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 6. 28-32.
96-9. A clear case of reasoning in a circle.
112. 'Constituisti terminos eius, qui praeteriri non poterunt'; Job, xiv.
5.
121-6. See Rom. viii. 29, 30. _conformes_; the Vulgate has: 'Nam quos
praesciuit, et praedestinauit _conformes_ fieri imaginis Filii sui.'
129. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 6. 35, 71-8.
140. Cf. the same, 12-9, 28-33, &c.
152. Referring to ll. 121-6 above.
165. _close and one_, are closed and united; here _close_ and _one_ seem to
be verbs.
169. _by_, with reference to.
198-9. _no art_, in no way (?); but surely an error for _nat_, as _wrytest
nat_ is repeated in l. 200.
206. _defendeth_, 'forbids something to be movable,' &c.
220. Too obscure to deserve the encomium for perspicuity which follows in
ll. 222-5.
232. _for right_, &c.; 'for nothing at all exists there (i.e. in eternity)
after the manner of that which is temporal.'
243. _ben to ben_, are to come because of God's knowledge.
249. _philosophical poete_; Chaucer, because he translated The Consolation
of Philosophy, and introduced passages from it into his poem of Troilus,
notably in Book iv. 963-6, 974-1078. In l. 254, Troilus is expressly
mentioned. Most likely, the allusion is to Bk. iv. 974-1078; although this
deals rather with predestination than with the origin of evil.
257. _storiers_, gen. pl. of _storier_, a teller of a story; cf. O.F.
_historieur_, an historian (Godefroy). Thynne prints _starieres_; which
gives no sense.
262. _two the laste_, the last two; chapters 13 and 14; but chapter 14 has
little to do with the subject.
CHAP. V. 4. 'Or as an ook comth of a litel spyr'; Troil. ii. 1335.
33-7. The word _welked_ occurs twice in Chaucer, C. T., C 738, D 277; and
_wiver_ once, Troil. iii. 1010.
57. _with yvel ... acomered_, desires not to be encumbered with evil.
63. 'Why, as soon as one has sprung up on high, does not the other spring
up also?' Here 'one' and 'the other' seem to refer to 'will' and 'bliss';
cf. ll. 16, 17, 70, 71.
73-6. Cf. HF. 737-46; Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 11. 98-101.
CHAP. VI. 4-7. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met. 6. 5-11.
10. _seconde boke_; cf. Book ii. ch. 11. 51-69, 102.
12. _setling_; misprinted _setteles_; but see _setling_ in ch. 5. l. 23.
17. He here contemplates the possibility of yielding to persecution and
threats.
50-1. The _five wits_ are the five senses; P. Plowman, C. ii. 15, and the
note.
60. _aptes_, natural tendencies; used here only; see New E. Dict.
64. _terme of equivocas_, terms of like signification; _terme_ being an
error for _termes_. Answering to Lat. _uerba aequiuoca_, words of like
signification; Isidore, Orig. ii. 26 (Lewis and Short). _Equivocas_ is
formed by adding the Eng. pl. _-s_ to the Lat. neuter plural (New E.
Dict.).
Cf. the passage in P. Plowman, where _Liberum-arbitrium_ recites his names;
C. xvii. 201. The first name, 'instrument of willing,' corresponds to
_animus_: '_dum uult, animus est_'; but the rest vary.
68. _reson_. Compare the same passage: '_dum iudicat, racio est_.'
73. Compare the same: '_dum recolit, memoria est_.'
77. _affeccion_: a disposition to wish for sleep.
90. _that lambes_, who scorn and despise lambs.
104. Thynne has _vs_, which is a not uncommon spelling of 'use.' I merely
print 'us[e]' because _us_ looks so unintelligible. In l. 103, the word is
_usage_; in l. 110, we have _use_.
140. _thinges_; viz. riches, honour, and power; discussed in Book ii.
chapters 5-7.
147. _onbyde_, misprinted _unbyde_; see note above, to ch. 3. 128.
CHAP. VII. 11. The idea of this Tree is copied from P. Plowman, C. xix.
4-14. Thus in l. 11, the ground in which the tree grows is said to be 'ful
in thyne herte'; and in P. Plowman, the tree grows in _cor-hominis_, the
heart of man. In P. Plowman, the tree is called True-love, the blossoms are
Benign-Speech (cf. l. 16), and the fruits are deeds of Charity. See note to
l. 69 below.
38. Cf. 'As, wry the gleed, and hotter is the fyr'; Legend of Good Women,
735.
50. _pype_; see Troil. v. 1433; C. T., A 1838 (and note).
53. _no wode lay use_, sing no mad song.
59. _Aristotel_. The reference appears to be to Aristotle, De
Interpretatione ([Greek: peri hermêneias]), ch. 1. _Voice_ seems to mean 'a
word unrelated to a sentence,' i.e. not related to something else as
forming part of a sentence.
69. So in P. Plowman, C. xix. 29, the tree is attacked by three wicked
winds; especially 'in flouryng-tyme,' l. 35.
97. _A marchaunt_; so in Chaucer, C. T., G 945-50.
99. _So ofte_; from Ch. Troil. ii. 1380-3; note the epithet _happy_, the
use of the sb. _sweigh_ or _swaye_, and the phrase _come al at ones_, in
both passages.
101. Cf. 'Gutta cauat lapidem'; Ovid, Ex Ponto, iv. 10. 5.
_lethy_, weak; see Prompt. Parv., and Gloss. to P. Plowman.
117-121. Compare Bk. iii. ch. 2. 122-9.
123. 'Quod debuimus facere, fecimus'; Luke, xvii. 10.
145. _al is_, it is all to be accounted to her wholly. _To wyte_ usually
has a bad sense; as implying blame.
160. _this lady_; i.e. Heavenly Love suddenly took up its place in his
heart. This is rather inartistic; no wonder that the author was much
astonished at such a proceeding (ch. 8. 2 below). This of course puts an
end to the dialogue, but in Thynne's misarranged print the lady speaks to
him again, as if it were _out of his heart_!
CHAP. VIII. 7. _lynes_, written lines of writing, which he imagines to be
imprinted on his understanding; see ll. 8, 13, 14 below.
10. _me might_, one might; _me_ for _men_ = _man_, as often.
21. _but for_, except because; so in l. 22. _wol_, desires.
42. _owe I not alowe_, I ought not to applaud.
46. _it make_, cause it (to be so); as in Troil. ii. 959.
91. 'Quia Christi bonus odor sumus Deo, in iis qui salui fiunt; ... aliis
quidem odor mortis in mortem'; 2 Cor. ii. 15-6.
120. _ne had_, had; disregarding _ne_, which is inserted after the word
_denyed_.
123. _without ... nede_, without any kind of necessity.
125. _him nedeth_, something is lacking to him.
146. _forward_, thenceforward, afterwards.
155-6. _in his owne comodité_, in what is suitable for him; _comodites_,
desires that are suitable. The examples of the word in this passage are
older than any given, s.v. _Commodity_, in the New E. Dict. Cf. ll. 159,
165.
CHAP. IX. 7. _destenee_, destiny; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6. 39, 44.
12. _non inconvenient_, convenient; i.e. befitting.
21. _chapitre_, chapter; viz. ch. 3 of Book iii.
46. Here Thynne's text returns to the right order.
52. The author now concludes his work with a prayer and a short
recommendation of his book to the reader. Ll. 58-61 speak of its
imperfections; ll. 61-6 tell us that the effort of writing it has done him
good. In ll. 67-75 he anticipates future freedom from anxiety, and
continuance 'in good plight.' He was then evidently unaware that his death
was near at hand.
86. 'My dull wit is hindred by the stepmother named Forgetfulness.' A
curious expression.
92. _horisons_, put for _orisons_, prayers.
98. _sightful_, visible; an obvious allusion to the eucharist (l. 100).
Similarly, a gem denotes a pearl, or 'margaret'; and Margaret (a woman's
name) denotes grace, learning, or wisdom of God, or else holy church.
104. From John, vi. 63.
107. From 2 Cor. iii. 6.
109, 110. Printed as prose in Thynne; but two riming verses seem to be
intended. If so, _al-le_ is dissyllabic.
§ II. THE PLOWMAN'S TALE.
Numerous references are given to Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, ed. Skeat
(E.E.T.S.); a poem by the same author. See the Introduction.
9. _tabard_; a ploughman's loose frock; as in Ch. C. T., A 541.
11. _saynt Thomas_; i.e. his shrine at Canterbury.
30. _therwith to fynd_, to provide for thereby.
40. _queynt_, quenched; because, in the solemn form of excommunication used
in the Romish church, a bell was tolled, the book of offices for the
purpose was used, and three candles were extinguished. See Nares, s.v.
_Bell, Book, and Candle_. Cf. ll. 165, 1241.
44. Four lines are here lost, the stanza being incomplete. We might supply
them thus:--
They have the loof and we the crust,
They eten more than kinde hath craved;
They been ungentle and unjust,
With sinners shullen such be graved.
53. _stryf_, strife. The struggle was between the secular and regular
clergy on the one hand, and the Lollards on the other; see ll. 61-76. Each
side accused the other of falseness, and the author hopes that the falser
of them may suffer shame. He evidently sides with the Lollards; but, not
caring to decide so weighty a question for himself, he contrives that the
dispute shall be carried on by two birds, the Griffin and the Pelican.
55. _sedes_, seeds. The Lollards were accused of sowing tares (_lolia_).
The author hints that seeds were sown by _both_ of the contending parties.
57. _some_; referring rather to the sowers than to the seeds. In any case,
it refers to the two parties.
58. _souple_; the text has _souble_, which is an obvious error. The O.F.
_souple_ means 'humble,' which is the sense here intended.
71. _a-cale_, chilled, frozen; cf. note to P. Plowman, C. xxi. 439; and see
the New E. Dict.
72. _ever in oon_, always in the same condition, without increasing in
wealth.
73. _I-cleped_, called; the old text has _Iclepeth_, but some editions make
this obvious correction. _lollers_, idle fellows; see the note to P.
Plowman, C. x. 213.
74. 'Whoever looks on them (sees that) they are the reverse of tall.' Cf.
'a _tall_ fellow,' and 'a _tall_ man of his hands' in Shakespeare.
81. _wro_, nook; see _wr[=a]_ in Stratmann.
86. _Griffon_, griffin; a fabulous monster with the head and wings of an
eagle, and the hinder parts of a lion; with probable reference to the
Vulture. 'In that contre ben many _griffounes_ ... thei han the body upward
as an egle, and benethe as a lyoun.... But o griffoun is more strong thanne
.viij. lyouns'; Mandeville's Travels; ch. xxvi. See l. 1317 below.
87. 'A Pelican laid his lure to (attracted to him) these lollers.' The
Pelican was supposed to feed its young with blood which it drew from its
own breast by wounding it, and was early considered as the type of
Christian love or Charity, or of Christ himself; see l. 1293. See the
illustration at p. 172 of Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris. Hence it is
here supposed to plead on behalf of meekness, in the long passages
contained in ll. 95-716, 719-988, 991-1072, 1110-32, 1177-232, 1245-68. The
Pelican is responsible for the greater part of the poem, as the author
distinctly says in l. 1373. Anything that is amiss, we are told, must be
put down to the Pelican; the author is irresponsible, as it is only a
fable.
106. _pelure_, costly fur; also spelt _pellour_; but _pylloure_ (as in the
old text) is a bad spelling. See Gloss. to P. Plowman.
111. _batail_, battle. It was notorious that William Spenser, bishop of
Norwich, used to lead military expeditions. Thus he led one such expedition
into Flanders, in 1382. Cf. l. 128.
129. 'God is not the master of them that consider no man equal to them.'
130. _peragall_, equal; spelt 'p_er_agal' or 'p_ar_agal' in Rich. the
Redeless, i. 71. The old text has _permagall_, where the _m_ is clearly for
_in_; the spelling _peringall_ being intended. Godefroy has O.F. _parivel_,
also _parigal_, _paregal_, _perigal_, _paringal_ [with intrusive _n_],
'adj. et s., tout à fait ègal, tout à fait semblable.' From Lat.
_peraequalis_.
135. 'Painted and adorned with colours.' Cf. 'peynt and portred'; P. Pl.
Crede, 192; 'portreid and paynt,' 121.
139. _boystous_, rough. The O.F. _boistous_ meant 'lame' (F. _boiteux_);
but Godefroy shews, in his Supplement, that it was also applied to a very
rough road (as being likely to lame one); hence, generally, rough, and
finally, rude, noisy, as in the E. _boisterous_; a word of which the
etymology has not yet been fully accounted for, but may be thus explained.
159. _perrey_, precious stones, jewellery; see _Perree_ in the Glossary
(vol. vi). The old text has _pyrrey_.
162. _gown_, an obvious correction; old text, _gold_, repeated from l. 161.
For 'grene gownes,' see l. 925 below.
178. This line seems to be corrupt.
186. _crallit_, curled, twisted; cf. _crulle_ in Chaucer; see New E. Dict.
187. _gold-mastling_ is a compound word, and should have been printed with
a hyphen. It means the same as _latoun_, unless _latoun_ was an imitation
of an older and richer alloy. Thus, in Wright's A.S. Vocabularies, we find:
'_Auricalcum_, goldmæslinc,' col. 334, 10; '_Auricalcum_, goldmestling,'
col. 550, 34; '_Auricalcum_, _Anglice_ latoun,' col. 567, 5. As to
_latoun_, see note in vol. v. p. 270. Cf. A.S. _mæstling_, G. _Messing_;
words of uncertain origin.
193-4. Cf. 1 John, iv. 3. _admirall_, prince, chief.
198. _demed_; an easy correction; old text, _done_, which will not scan.
201. _All-holyest_, i.e. _Sanctissimus_ (l. 230); a title given to the head
of a religious order.
208. 'The very thing which Christ forbad to the apostles.'
212. 'They regard him (the pope) as wholly omnipotent.'
213-6. _He_, the Pope. _another_, (apparently) a head of a religious order,
an abbot or prior. _mystere_, ministry, office.
220. 'He reserves nothing at all'; _opin_, open, a thing that is free;
_joint_, a thing that is connected.
226. _An angell_; see Rev. xxii. 9.
235. Read _Christ his_; 'Christ keep his people from them'; the printer
evidently regarded _Christ his_ as a form of the genitive case. The proper
sense of _wisse_ is guide, or direct.
242. _which of hem_, which of the two popes. The rival popes were Boniface
IX, elected Nov. 2, 1389, and Benedict XIII, elected Sept. 28, 1394.
Clement VIII, predecessor of the latter, died Sept. 16, 1394.
245. 'Omnes enim, qui acceperint gladium, gladio peribunt'; Matt. xxvi. 52.
255. Swearing was a dismembering of Christ; see note to C. T., C 474 (vol.
v. p. 275).
264. 'But curse all that oppose them.'
275. 'But he, who so acquires it, shall part from it.'
281. _rent_, income, profit; the method of doing this is explained in The
Freres Tale, D 1371-4.
282. 'They anoint the sheep's sore'; as a shepherd does with tar; see
_Tar-box_ in Halliwell; and cf. l. 707.
298. _Maximien_; Galerius Valerius Maximianus, usually called Galerius;
emperor of Rome, 305-11; a cruel persecutor of the Christians.
297. 'They follow Christ (who went upward) to heaven, just as a bucket
(that goes downward) into a well.' Said ironically; their ascent towards
heaven is in a downward direction; cf. l. 402. _wall_ for 'well' is rare,
but not unexampled; cf. _walle-stream_, well-stream, in Layamon, vol. i. p.
121, and see _walle_ in Stratmann.
305. 'The truth has (often) slain such men.'
306. 'They comb their "crockets" with a crystal comb.' A _crocket_ was a
curl or roll of hair, as formerly worn; see the New E. Dict. There is a
lost romance entitled 'King Adelstane with gilden kroket'; see footnote to
Havelok, ed. Skeat, p. vi. Sir F. Madden remarks that 'the term _crocket_
points out the period [i.e. the earliest possible date] of the poem's
composition, since the fashion of wearing those large rolls of hair so
called, only arose at the latter end of the reign of Henry III.'
321. Cf. 'turpis lucri'; Tit. i. 7, 11; 1 Pet. v. 2.
322. _meynall_, perhaps better spelt _meyneall_. It is the adj. formed from
M.E. _meynee_, a household, and is the same word as mod. E. _menial_.
Wyclif uses _meyneal_ to translate Lat. _domesticam_ in Rom. xvi. 5. The
sense here is--the exaction of tithes is, with these masters, a household
business, a part of their usual domestic arrangements.
325. Lit. 'They betake to farm to their sumners,' i.e. they farm out to
their sumners the power of harming people as much as they can; they let
their sumners make exactions. The method of doing this is fully exposed in
Chaucer's Freres Tale. Cf. ll. 328, 725.
333. 'Such rascals are sure to slander men, in order to induce them to win
their favour'; i.e. by compounding.
338. _call_, caul or head-dress, richly ornamented, and therefore
expensive; see note to C. T., D 1018 (vol. v. p. 318).
375. 'Or, to commit such a tool (instrument) to such cursed men.'
402. 'As good a bishop as is my horse Ball.' Said ironically; 'no better a
bishop than,' &c. Ball was, and still is, a very common name for a horse.
406. _nothing_, not at all, not a whit.
410. Old text, _one fors_, with _s_ attached to the wrong word.
417-8. _goodes_, property. _somme totall_, sum total of wealth.
421, 431. _for Christes love_, for love of Christ. The words _forsake_ in
l. 421, and _wake_ in l. 431, are used ironically.
434. _Lamuall_, Lemuel; who was a king; Prov. xxxi. 1.
443. _the stoon_, the rock; Matt. xvi. 18; cf. 1 Cor. x. 4.
445. _croysery_, crusade, as in Rob. of Glouc. 9938. No serious crusade was
intended at this time; however, the author affirms that the rival popes
discouraged the idea; for each wanted men to fight for him.
464. _hye seet_, sat aloft; the form _seet_ occurs in Ch. C. T., A 2075.
471. _fettes_, fetch; observe the use of this Northern plural.
473. 'Their servants are unfaithful [or unserviceable] to them unless they
can double their rental.'
477. The author can find no more rimes to rime with _fall_, so he proceeds
to 'shew' or propose another word, viz. _amend_.
487. 'They tell men nothing, nor (explain) how; yet, in God's word, they
tell of (or count) many a slip, or omission,' i.e. find errors in the
Scriptures. See _Balk_ in the New E. Dict.
490. _offrend_; O.F. _offrende_; cf. '_Offrande_, an offering'; Cotgrave.
520. Read _punishëments_, as in the old edition; it is a word of four
syllables; from O.F. _punissement_ (Godefroy), which often appears in verse
as a word of four syllables.
531. 'They hate guests of the poor,' i.e. hate to entertain them; cf. l.
747.
542. _careckes_, characters, signs, marks; see the New E. Dict.
567. 'One, to curse to hell; the other, to slay men here (on earth)'; cf.
Luke, xxii. 38.
575. 'A sword is no implement to guard sheep with, except for shepherds
that would devour the sheep.' In later English, at any rate, a
_sheep-biter_ meant a thief (Halliwell). Cf. l. 583.
594. _untrend_, unrolled; not rolled up, but freshly pulled off.
605. _Sathan_, Satan; Heb. _s[=a]t[=a]n_, adversary, opponent.
610. Read _reprende_; cf. _comprende_ in Chaucer.
625. _ensyse_, variant of _assyse_, fashion, sort; 'they are, surely, of
the same sort.' See _Assize_, sect. 8, in the New E. Dict. Bailey gives:
'_Ensise_, quality, stamp; _Old word_'; with reference, doubtless, to this
very line. Cf. _assyse_, fashion, manner, in l. 843 below.
626. _frend_, evidently put for _fremde_, strange, foreign, averse; which
was difficult to pronounce.
633. Read _maundements_, i.e. commandments (trisyllabic). The form
_commaundementes_ is too long for the line. See _mandement_ in Stratmann
and in Chaucer.
642. _to prison_. Evidently written before 1401, when Lollards were
frequently sent to the stake for heresy. Cf. l. 650; and see note to l.
827.
645. 'The king's law will judge no man angrily, without allowing the
accused to answer.'
661. _testament_, a will; the friars had much to do with the making of
wills.
681. 'For they (the people) are faster in their bonds, worse beaten, and
more bitterly burnt than is known to the king.' For the word _brent_, see
note to l. 827.
693. _The emperour_; Constantine, according to a legend which the Lollards
loved to repeat; see the full note to P. Plowman, C. xviii. 220.
695. _sely kyme_, innocent (or silly) wretch. _Kyme_ answers to an A.S.
_*c[=y]ma_ = _*k[=u]m-ja_, lit. 'one who laments,' from the verb found in
O.H.G. _k[=u]mjan_, to lament, _ch[=u]-mo_, a lament; cf. Gk. [Greek:
goos], wailing; Skt. _gu_, to sound. See O.H.G. _c[=u]m_, _c[=u]mjan_ in
Schade; and the Idg. root _gu_, in Fick.
723. 'A title of dignity, to be as a play-mate to them'; a curious
expression. Godefroy gives O.F. '_personage_, s.m., dignité, bénéfice
ecclésiastique; en particulier personnat, dignité ecclésiastique qui
donnait quelque prééminence au _chanoine_ qui en était revêtu dans le
chapitre auquel il appartenait.' Cotgrave has: '_Personat_, a place, or
title of honour, enjoyed by a beneficed person, without any manner of
jurisdiction, in the church.'
724. Possibly copied from P. Plowman, B. prol. 92:--'Somme serven the king,
and his silver tellen.' These ecclesiastics often busied themselves in the
law-courts, to their great profit. Cf. l. 790.
725. 'And let out to farm all that business.'
743. _builde_; so in P. Pl. Crede, 118: 'For we buldeth a burwgh, a brod
and a large.' Cf. Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 380.
748. 'Nor (will they) send anything to Him who hath given them everything.'
759. _gigges_, concubines; see Stratmann. Roquefort has: '_Gigues_, fille
gaie, vive.' Cf. _giglot_ in Shakespeare. (Initial _g_ is here sounded as
_j_.)
760. 'And provide them with fine clothes.'
773. Here all the 'seven sins' are mentioned except gluttony.
780. 'The wisdom of such willers is not worth a needle.'
791. _jay_; so also in Chaucer, C. T., A 642.
801. _maynteyners_, abettors of wrongdoers; see note to P. Plowman, B. iii.
90.
827. _brent_, burnt; still more strongly put in l. 1234. That heretics were
sometimes burnt before 1401, is certain from Wyclif's Sermons, ed. Arnold,
vol. i. pp. x, 205, as compared with p. 354. There is a case given in
Bracton of a man who was burnt as early as in the reign of Henry III. See
the whole subject discussed in my edition of P. Plowman (E. E. T. S.), in
the Pref. to B-text, p. v, Pref. to C-text, pp. xi-xiv, and the note to B.
xv. 81, where Langland has 'ledeth me to brennynge.' Observe that the king
is here spoken of as not presuming to burn heretics.
855. The seven sacraments of the Romish church; cf. l. 875.
856. Compare--'And also y sey coveitise _catel to fongen_'; P. Pl. Crede,
146.
857. 'They want to meddle in everything, and to perform matters amiss is
their amusement.'
868. _sturte_, variant of _sterte_, start up; _stryve_, struggle.
870. _at the nale_ = _at then ale_, at the ale-house; cf. note to P.
Plowman, C. i. 43.
871. Cf. 'At marketts and miracles we medleth us nevere'; P. Pl. Crede,
107.
872. 'They dance and hoot with the cry of "heave and hale."' _Heave_ is
here to use exertion; cf. Troil. ii. 1289; and _hale_ is to haul or pull.
_Heave and hale_, or _heave and hoe_, was a cry used for men to pull all
together; hence _with heve and hale_ just corresponds to the modern 'with
might and main.' Cotgrave has (s.v. _Cor_) the phrase: '_À cor et à cry_,
by proclamation; also, by might and maine, with heave and hoe, eagerly,
vehemently, seriously.'
878. _they_, i.e. the husbands; _sory_, aggrieved.
880. _For_, for fear of being summoned.
893. _stocke_, i.e. some image of a saint. An image of a favourite saint
was honoured with many candles burning before it; whilst other saints were
left in the dark, because they could work no miracles. The most favourite
image was that of Mary; see l. 902, and cf. P. Pl. Crede, 79.
915. 'And alle povere in gost god himself blisseth'; P. Pl. Crede, 521.
918. _Baudriks_, belts; _baselardes_, short swords, sometimes curved. See
note to P. Plowman, C. iv. 461.
927. _counten ... of gownes_, they think much (_counten_) of scarlet and
green gowns, that must be made in the latest fashion, in order to embrace
and kiss the damsels. An awkward sentence.
929. _sewe_, sue, suit, lit. follow; unless it be for _schewe_, i.e. shew.
930. _pykes_, peaks. Long-peaked shoes were much in fashion; cf. note to P.
Plowman, C. xxiii. 219.
941. 'Such men will ask them (i.e. those that confess to them) for money
for shriving them.' _is_ = _es_, them; a curious form of the plural pronoun
of the third person; see _es_ in Stratmann.
942. 'And they desire men to creep to the cross.' 'Creeping to the cross'
was an old ceremony of penance, most practised on Good Friday; see note to
P. Plowman, C. xxi. 475.
943. _askes_, ashes; alluding to the sacrament of penance. For all other
sacraments (as baptism, confirmation, holy orders, the eucharist,
matrimony, and extreme unction) men had to pay.
955. _sans ... dyre_, without (saying) 'if I may say so.' That is, _ose je
dyre_, (dare I say it) is an apologetic phrase for introducing an
unpalatable remark.
957. 'Either they give the bishops (some reason) why.'
961. _agryse_, dread, here used in an imperative sense; 'let such men dread
God's anger.' Cf. ll. 964, 1216.
979. _for he_, because he would fain earn something.
993. _Benet_, Benedict; cf. Ch. C. T., A 173, and note.
1002. Cf. 'Of double worstede y-dight'; P. Pl. Crede, 228.
1035. Compare--'And his syre a soutere' (cobbler); P. Pl. Crede, 752.
1042-4. _honged_, hung upon, followed after. Cf. 'opon the plow hongen,' P.
Pl. Crede, 421. And compare also the same, 784-8.
1050. The line is imperfect. I have supplied _but_, but the right word is
_not_. For _cherelich_ means 'expensive' or 'prodigal,' from O.F. _cher_,
dear. This we know from the occurrence of the same rare form as an adverb
in P. Pl. Crede, 582; where the sense is--'but to maintain his chamber as
expensively (_chereliche_) as a chieftain.' See _cherely_ in the New E.
Dict. The parallel phrase _not lordlych_ occurs in l. 1052.
1066. _Crede_, i.e. Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, written shortly before by
the same author, and describing at length the four orders of friars.
1089. _sad_, sated, tired. The more usual old sense was 'staid.'
1097. 'If they were poor, filthy, and dirty.'
1102. _honest_, honourable, worthy of respect; cf. l. 1105.
1115. _Maysters_, masters; Matt. xxiii. 10. Cf. P. Pl. Crede, 574-6, 838;
and C. T., D 2185, and the note (vol. v. p. 340).
1135. Read _leve_, not _lyve_; _with hir leve_, with what is permitted to
them. For _leve_ (leave), see l. 1238.
1153. _For ye woll_, because you wish to.
1166. _distaunce_, disagreement, strife; see Mätzner.
1174. 'Why do ye meddle, who have nothing to do with it?'
1189. _lette_, to prevent men from living in that way.
1193. _soule-hele_, salvation for the soul.
1200. Pronounce _this is_ as _this_.
1212. _Wedding_, matrimony; considered as a sacrament.
1222. 'subject or accident'; cf. note to C. T., C 539.
1231. The line should end with a semicolon.
1244. 'Unless ye will act otherwise.'
1271. _cockes_, euphemistic for _goddes_.
1272. _doule_, small feather, down-feather. I derive it from O.F. _doulle_,
variant of _douille_, soft, something soft, from Lat. _ductilis_. Hence it
meant something downy, and, in particular, the 'down-feather' of a bird.
This is clearly the sense in Shakespeare also, where Ariel uses the
expression--'one _dowle_ that's in my plume'; Temp. iii. 3. 65; i.e. one
down-feather (small feather) that is in my plumage. Dr. Schmidt is in doubt
whether _plume_ here means 'plumage,' but the stage-direction expressly
says that 'Ariel enters like a harpy, and claps his _wings_ upon the
table.' It is very interesting to see how well this passage illustrates
Shakespeare. See Mr. Wright's note for other passages where _dowl_ means
'soft down.' Of course, the words _dowl_ and _down_ are in no way
connected. See my note in Phil. Soc. Trans. 1888-90, p. 3.
1280. _God wolde_, i.e. oh! that it might be God's will. Cf. _would God_,
Numb. xi. 29; Deut. xxviii. 67; 2 Kings, v. 3; Rich. II, iv. 1. 117.
1293. Christ was likened to the pelican; see note to l. 87.
1305. _The foul_, the former or _bird_-like part of the griffin; see note
to l. 86, and cf. l. 1317.
1315. 'Because bribery may break God's prohibition.'
1317. Referring to the form of the griffin; see notes to ll. 86, 1305.
1336. _Y-gurd_, lit. girt; hence, prepared, ready.
1339. _ly_, lie, i.e. deceive; because the lapwing tries to delude those
who search for its nest.
1340. _for-gerd_, destroyed, utterly done away with; from M.E. _for-garen_.
1343. _the Phenix_. The Phoenix is here supposed, as being an unique bird,
to be the king or master of all birds, and to execute vengeance on
evil-doers.
1359. The sense of _of_ is here uncertain. Perhaps _of flight_ means 'as
regards my flight,' and so 'to protect my flight.'
1361. This line is somewhat 'set back,' as in the original. But there seems
to be no reason for it.
1362. The original has: 'And the lambe that slayn was'; imperfect.
1367. Here the author speaks for himself, and excuses the Pelican's
language.
§ III. JACK UPLAND.
To this piece, which is an attack upon the friars, a reply was made by one
of them (probably a Dominican, see notes to ll. 100, 130), which is printed
at length in Wright's Political Poems and Songs (Record Series), vol. ii.
pp. 39-114; together with a rejoinder by Jack Upland, printed on the same
pages. The friar's reply is often cited in the Notes below, where the
number refers to the page of the above-named volume. See further in the
Introduction.
1. _Jack Uplande_, Jack the Countryman, a nickname for one who is supposed
to have had but little education; cf. the _Plowman's_ Tale.
6. _fellest folk_, the wickedest people; referring to the friars.
7. The friar's reply copies several of these expressions: thus we
find--'_On wounder wise_, seith Jak, freres, ye ben growun'; p. 42.
8. '_sowen_ in youre sectes of _Anticristis_ hondes'; p. 42.
9. _not obedient_; 'unboxom _to bishopis_, not _lege men to kynges_'; p.
42. The friar asserts that they _do_ obey the bishops; but carefully
adds--'although not so fer forth as seculer preestes'; p. 44.
11. '_wede, corn, ne gras_, wil ye not hewen'; p. 42; repeated on p. 44.
The friar retorts that they are not expected to cleanse ditches, like a
Jack Upland; p. 44. We thus learn that _woode_ in l. 11 is almost certainly
an error for _weede_.
15. _where to been_, where they will (hereafter) go to.
21. See 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.
27. _skilfully_, reasonably; _skill_ often has the sense of reason.
28. The friar evades the question as to the number of orders, and replies
that he is of Christ's order; pp. 59-61.
35. Reply: St. James makes mention of two kinds of life, the active and the
contemplative; we belong to the latter; pp. 63-6.
37. _apostata_, apostate; a term applied to a friar who left his order (see
l. 42) _after_ his year of probation had been completed, or else (see l.
42) after a probation of three months. See ll. 273-5, and 310-2 below; and
the note to P. Plowman, C. ii. 98 (B. i. 104). The question here put was
not answered.
40-1. Reply: it is shocking to speak of men leaving their wives like this;
we are not wedded to our habit any more than a priest is to his tonsure; p.
67.
44. Reply: no. We are only punished for leaving off our habits because it
implies forsaking of our rule. Our habits are not sendal, nor satin nor
golden; pp. 67-8.
50. Reply: what, Jack, does your tippet mean? My wide cope signifies
charity. My hood, patience in adversity. The scapulary denotes obedience to
our superiors. As for the knotted girdle, ask the Franciscans; pp. 68-71.
52. Reply: Why do most of the Lollards wear gray clothes? p. 71.
58. No reply to this question.
60. Reply: see Eccles. iii. 7; Prov. xxv. 28; p. 71.
62. Reply: a question rather for monks than friars. Why do you not put your
dining-table in your cow-house? p. 72.
65. Reply: perhaps some of us go to Rome for dispensations, but most of us
have need to stay at home, to keep watch over Lollards; p. 73.
70. Reply: you have forgotten the text, 2 Cor. vi. 9; p. 74.
74. Reply: Christ, at His transfiguration, had only three witnesses from
among His apostles. And He chose only twelve apostles, out of His many
followers; and see Prov. xii. 15; p. 75.
77. Reply: a man is better than a beast; yet even for your beasts you make
cattle-sheds and stables. Our houses are often poor ones. Did you ever see
any that resembled the Tower, or Windsor Castle, or Woodstock? Your lies
are shameless; pp. 77-8. I note here Jack Upland's rejoinder; he says that
he does not object to the friars having houses, but he objects to the
needless grandeur of them; for it does not follow that a man who drinks a
quart of wine must therefore proceed to drink a gallon; p. 76.
83. Reply: you say that we let the whole realm to farm. Why, it is not ours
at all! It belongs to the king. We have no more estate in the country than
you have in heaven; pp. 78-9. The incompleteness of this reply is amazing.
86. The original reading must have been different here. The friar puts the
question thus: Why do you pay no tribute to the king, whereas Christ paid
tribute to the emperor? Reply: Christ did not pay it as a debt, but only to
perform the law in meekness. The Jewish priests did not pay taxes like the
commons. Priests may pay if they are willing, but not friars; pp. 79, 80.
90. Reply: we are glad to have the prayers of the poor, if their letters of
fraternity are genuine; but we do not desire _your_ paternosters; p. 80.
92. Reply: we do not make men more perfect than their baptism makes them;
p. 81.
95. Reply: the golden trental, 'that now is purchasid of preestis out of
freris hondis,' delivers no soul, except as it is deserved; p. 81. See note
to Ch. C. T., D 1717 (vol. v. p. 331).
100. Reply: you are quite mistaken. Perhaps some Carmelite told you this,
or some Franciscan. The Austin friars and the Dominicans do not say so; p.
82.
105. Reply: if you accuse us of stealing children, Christ practically did
the same, by enticing disciples to follow him. See Matt. xix. 21; Luke,
xiv. 33; John, xv. 19. To win souls is no robbery; pp. 83-4.
109. _undernime_, reprove. Reply: according to you, not even the king
should maintain any discipline. The pope has a prison; and so has the
bishop of Canterbury, and the bishop of London. But you do not like
prisons, for you often experience them; pp. 85-6.
114. Reply: burial is _not_ a sacrament, as you say. You contradict
yourself; p. 86.
116. Reply: if, as you say, we never shrive the poor, why are
parish-priests so angry with us for doing so? p. 87. Cf. note to P.
Plowman, C. xiii. 21. Questions 26, 27, and 28 are passed over.
127. Reply: we do right to live of the gospel; see 1 Cor. ix. 14; Luke, x.
7; Rom. xv. 26.
130. Reply: God knows how much good the preaching of the friars has
wrought; p. 89. The Dominicans especially were proud of their preaching.
133. The friar here remarks that the Wycliffites are heretics, and ought to
be burnt; p. 90. The same remark is all the answer made to question 32.
141. Reply: the friars do not _sell_ the mass; they only freely give it to
those who freely give to them. Even if we did sell it, surely the
parish-priests receive money for the same; this is not simony; pp. 93-5.
See note to Ch. C. T., D 1749; vol. v. p. 333.
149. Reply: we write down the names only to help our _own_ memories; for
special prayers are very profitable for souls; pp. 99, 100. See note to Ch.
C. T., D 1741; vol. v. p. 332.
153. _berest god in honde_, accusest Christ. Reply: Christ was lord of all
spiritually; but, as a man, he was needy. David says of Him, 'I am poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me'; Ps. xl. 17. I refer you to Matt.
viii. 20; pp. 95-8.
156. No special answer is given to questions 36-9.
187. Reply: you expect your servant to call you 'master.' It is not the
being called 'master,' but ambition, that Christ forbids; pp. 100-1. Cf.
note to Ch. C. T., D 2185; vol. v. p. 340.
189. The reply is singular, to the effect that pope John XXIV wrote against
this matter, and the friars Minors (Franciscans) against him. 'Examyne her
actis, and loke who hath the beter; and knowe noon other ordre this
perfitnesse approveth'; p. 101.
208. There is no reply to question 42.
211. Reply; going two and two together is a scriptural custom. Barnabas and
Paul did so. So did Paul and Timothy. Besides, there were _two_ tables in
the law, _two_ cherubim in the temple, and _two_ in the tabernacle. It was
not good for Adam to be _alone_; pp. 101-3. Cf. note to P. Plowman, C. xi.
8; and to Chaucer, C. T., C 1740.
213. There seems to be no reply to questions 44-8.
246. As regards question 49, the friar replies to ll. 249-51, saying that,
according to this, no one could pray for any one; for we cannot tell his
future destiny; p. 103. Cf. note to Ch. C. T., D 2126; vol. v. p. 339.
258. Questions 50 and 51 do not seem to be noticed. Question 52 is partly
answered in the reply to question 22. See l. 105.
277. Reply: you admit (l. 283) that God made _all things_ according to
weight, number, and measure. But a friar is _something_; ergo, God made
friars according to weight, &c. Why are priests so numerous? As to a man's
hand (l. 287), the number of fingers is fixed, and an extra finger is
monstrous. But neither God nor holy church have fixed the number of priests
or friars. 'Many hondis togider maken light werk'; pp. 105-6. Cf. note to
P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 270.
At this point the friar introduces a subject not discussed in the copy of
Jack Upland here printed, viz. the subject of transubstantiation. He says
that Jack accuses the friars of saying that the bread is not Christ's body,
but mere roundness and whiteness, and accident without subject; and Wyclif
is adduced as saying that it remains material bread, and only Christ's body
in a figurative sense; pp. 106-10. The rest of the friar's reply (which
goes but little further) is inapplicable to our text, so that the latter
part of the treatise, ll. 294-end, is left unanswered. Perhaps sections
54-64 were, at first, a somewhat later addition.
296. This has been partly said before; see l. 77 above.
310. It was thought that to die in a friar's habit increased a man's chance
of salvation; see l. 100 above.
320. Cf. note to P. Plowman, C. xiii. 21. See l. 246 above.
336. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 323-72.
368. This enquiry takes up a large portion of the Ploughman's Crede. The
jealousy of one order against the other was very remarkable. See note to l.
100 above.
399. See James, i. 27; cf. l. 36 above.
411. See Matt. xi. 30. Wyclif has--'For my yok is _softe_, and my charge
light.'
421. The Franciscans claimed that St. Francis sat in heaven above the
Seraphim, upon the throne from which Lucifer fell; see note to P. Plowman,
C. ii. 105 (B. i. 105).
424-7. Evidently intended for four alliterative lines, but the third is too
long; read--'And whan ye han soiled that I saide,' &c. Again, the first is
too short; read--'Go, _frere_, now forth,' &c.
430. _even-Christen_, fellow-Christian; see Gloss. to P. Plowman.
433. 'Benefac humili, et non dederis impio: prohibe panes illi dari, ne in
ipsis potentior te sit'; Ecclus. xii. 6.
§ IV. GOWER: THE PRAISE OF PEACE.
This piece has no English title except that printed at p. 205; for the
Latin title, see p. 216. See the Introduction.
12, 13. Henry founded his title on conquest, hereditary right, and
election. The first of these is referred to in ll. 9, 10; the second, in l.
12; and the third, in l. 13. See note in vol. i. p. 564, to XIX. 23.
17. _boun_, ready; better than the reading _bounde_.
21. I note here an unimportant variation. For _this is_, the MS. has _is
this_.
27. I find that there is no need to insert _the_. Read _requeste_, in three
syllables, as it really had a final _e_, being a feminine substantive. Cf.
'Et lor _requestë_ refaison'; Rom. Rose, 4767. _Requeste_ is trisyllabic in
Troil. iv. 57; L. Good Wom. 448.
36. According to the romance of Alexander, the god Serapis, appearing in a
dream, told him that his great deeds would be remembered for ever. Before
this, Alexander had told his men that he hoped to conquer all the
earth--'with the graunt of my god.' See Wars of Alexander, ed. Skeat, ll.
990, 1095.
57. This obviously refers to Bolingbroke's invasion, when he came, as he
said, to claim his inheritance; cf. l. 65.
81. _Of pestilence_, out of pestilence, to free him from pestilence.
86. _lyf_, person, man; lit. 'living soul.' Common in P. Plowman.
174, 179. Matt. v. 9; John, xiv. 27.
185. _out of herre_, out of (off) the hinge; like mod. E. 'out of joint.' A
favourite phrase of Gower's; see his Conf. Amant. ii. 139; iii. 43, 52,
203, 211.
197. Knights were expected to defend the faith; see note to P. Plowman, C.
ix. 26. Cf. ll. 243-5.
202. I supply _alday_ (i.e. continually) to complete the line.
204. _wayted_, watched, carefully guarded; in contrast to l. 207.
211. For _any_ perhaps read _a_; the line runs badly.
218. 'It is easier to keep a thing than acquire it.'
236. _assysed_, appointed; as in Conf. Amant. i. 181; iii. 228.
251. 'Let men be armed to fight against the Saracens.'
253. Three points; stated in ll. 254, 261-2, and 268; i.e. the church is
divided; Christian nations are at variance; and the heathen threaten us.
281-3. These are the nine worthies; of whom three were heathen (281), three
Jewish (282), and three Christian (283); as noted in Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i.
287. Sometimes they varied; thus Shakespeare introduces Hercules and Pompey
among the number; L. L. L. v. 2. 538. _Machabeus_, Judas Maccabeus.
_Godfray_, Godfrey of Bouillon. _Arthus_, King Arthur.
294. For _men_, MS. T. has _pes_ = _pees_; which perhaps is better.
295. For _tennes_, as in Thynne, the Trentham MS. has the older spelling
_tenetz_, which gives the etymology of 'tennis.' _Tenetz_ is the imperative
plural of the verb _tenir_, and must have been a cry frequently used in the
_jeu de paume_; probably it was used to call attention, like the modern
'play!' This is the earliest passage in which the word occurs. 'No one can
tell whether he will win or lose a "chace" at tennis, till the ball has run
its course.' _Chace_ is a term 'applied to the second impact on the floor
(or in a gallery) of a ball which the opponent has failed or declined to
return; the value of which is determined by the nearness of the spot of
impact to the end wall. If the opponent, on both sides being changed, can
"better" this stroke (i.e. cause his ball to rebound nearer the wall) he
wins and scores it; if not, it is scored by the first player; until it is
so decided, the "chace" is a stroke in abeyance'; New E. Dict.
306. _be gete_, begotten, be obtained; _begete_ gives no sense.
323. _lyf_, life; not as in l. 86. See 1 Cor. xiii. 1.
330. _Cassodore_, Cassiodorus. Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, born about A.D.
468, was a statesman and author; his chief work being his _Variarum
Epistolarum Libri XII_, which is six times quoted in Chaucer's Tale of
Melibeus. Gower, in his Conf. Amantis, iii. 191, quotes this very passage
again; thus--
'Cassiodore in his aprise telleth,
The regne is sauf, where pitè dwelleth.'
I find: 'Pietas est quae regit et celos'; Cass. _Var._ xi. 40.
332. _assysed_, fixed, set; cf. l. 236. Unless it means assessed, rated; a
sense which is also found in Gower, viz. in his Conf. Amant. i. 5; see the
New E. Dict. The passage is a little obscure.
336. 'On account of which mercy should turn aside.'
339. _Constantyn_, Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from A.D. 306 to
337. Eusebius wrote a life of him in four books, which is rather a
panegyric than a biography. The story here told is hardly consistent with
the facts, as Constantine caused the death of his own son Crispus and of
young Licinius; as to which Gibbon (c. xviii) remarks that 'the courtly
bishop, who has celebrated in an elaborate work the virtues and pieties of
his hero, observes a prudent silence on the subject of these tragic
events.' In his Conf. Amantis, iii. 192, Gower again says:--
'Thus saide whylom Constantyn:--
What emperour that is enclyn
To pitè for to be servaunt,
Of al the worldes remenaunt
He is worthy to ben a lord.'