4. Mary’s name recalls the waters of “Marah” or bitterness
(Exod. xv. 23), or the prayer of Naomi in her grief that she
might be called not Naomi, but “Mara” (Ruth i. 20). Mary,
however, is understood to mean “exalted.”
5. A typical representation. See The Prioress’s Tale, third
stanza.
6. The reference evidently is to Luke i. 38 — “Ecce ancilla
Domini,” (“Behold the handmaid of the Lord”) the Virgin’s
humble answer to Gabriel at the Annunciation.
7. “Xpe” represents the Greek letters chi rho epsilon, and is a
contraction for “Christe.”
8. According to tradition, the soldier who struck the Saviour to
the heart with his spear was named Longeus, and was blind;
but, touching his eyes by chance with the mingled blood and
water that flowed down the shaft upon his hands, he was
instantly restored to sight.
9. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of
David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness” (Zech. xiii. 1).