"_And peined hire_ to contrefeten chere
Of court, and been astatelich of manere,
And to be holden digne of reverence."
That is, she took pains to imitate the manners of the Court, &c.;
whereas Mr Horne, with inconceivable ignorance of the meaning of words
that occur in Chaucer a hundred times, writes "_it gave her pain_ to
counterfeit the ways of Court," thereby reversing the whole picture.
"And French she spake full fayre and fetisly,"
he translates "full properly _and neat_!" Dryden rightly calls her "the
mincing Prioress;" Mr Horne wrongly says, "she was evidently one of the
most high-bred and refined ladies of her time."