7. Mr Wright says: “The common oaths in the Middle Ages
were by the different parts of God’s body; and the popular
preachers represented that profane swearers tore Christ’s body
by their imprecations.” The idea was doubtless borrowed from
the passage in Hebrews (vi. 6), where apostates are said to
“crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to
an open shame.”
8. Tombesteres: female dancers or tumblers; from Anglo-
Saxon, “tumban,” to dance.