Ne pot conquerre tel aveir,’
and again 28594,
‘Se li tresors Octoviens
Fust lor, si lor donassent il.’
The expression here seems to be in imitation of the French form without
preposition, as in the latter of the above quotations.
The French _Roman d’Othevien_, found in the Bodleian MS. Hatton 100,
and reproduced in two English versions, has nothing to do with the
treasures of Octovien, for which see William of Malmesbury, _Gesta
Regum_, ii. § 169 f. The treasures were supposed to be buried at Rome
or elsewhere, and several persons, especially the Pope Silvester
(Gerbert), were said to have seen them, but not to have been permitted
to carry them away. They appear also in the _Roman des Sept Sages_.
4748. _eschu of._ The adjective is used by Chaucer with ‘to’ (or ‘for
to’) and infin., _Cant. Tales_, E 1812, I 971. We may note the spelling
here with reference to Chaucer’s rhyme in the former passage.
4763. ‘It may not by any means be avoided that,’ &c.
4774. _as to tho pars_, ‘as regards those matters’: ‘pars’ is the
French plural form, cp. _Mirour_, 7386, where apparently ‘pars’ means
‘duties.’
4787. Cp. l. 7716, where the saying has a different application. The
proverb is here used of those who are, as we say, penny wise and pound
foolish. In the other passage it is applied to the opposite case of
gaining the coat for the hood.
4808 ff. This story is founded on the so-called _Comedia Babionis_,
one of those Latin elegiac poems in a quasi-dramatic form which were
popular in the fourteenth century. Others of the same class are _Geta_
and _Pamphilus_. In the original, Viöla is Babio’s step-daughter, with
whom he is in love, and who is taken in marriage against his will by
Croceus. The serving-man is Fodius, not Spodius, and most of the piece
is concerned with an intrigue between him and the wife of Babio. See
Wright’s _Early Mysteries_, p. 65.
4899. _comth to londe_, ‘appears’: cp. l. 18.
4921. _who that it kan_, that is, as any one who knows it will witness:
cp. l. 4927, ‘For, as any one who observes may know, a beast is,’ &c.
4937 ff. This story, which is of Eastern origin, is told near the end
of the _Speculum Stultorum_ (i. e. _Burnellus_), with which Gower was
acquainted, as we know from the _Vox Clamantis_. The names there are
Bernardus and Dryānus, and the animals are three, a serpent, an ape,
and a lion. A similar tale is told by Matthew Paris, under the year
1195, as related by King Richard I in order to recommend liberality in
the cause of Christendom. In this the rich man is Vitalis, a Venetian,
and the poor man’s name is not given. The animals in the pit are a lion
and a serpent. Vitalis thanks his deliverer, and appoints a time for
him to come to his palace in Venice and receive the promised reward of
half his goods; but when he comes, he is refused with contumely. The
magic qualities of the gem which the serpent brings are not mentioned
in the story of Vitalis.
5010 f. So in the _Speculum Stultorum_, ‘Tunc ita Bernardus, Sathanae
phantasmate lusum Se reputans, dixit,’ &c.
5022. _blessed_, i. e. crossed himself. This ceremony plays a
considerable part in the story of Vitalis, for by it he is preserved
from the wild beasts while in the pit.
5025. _Betwen him and his Asse_, that is, he and his ass together: cp.
l. 5381. The expression is imitated from the French, cp. _Roman de
Troie_, 5837.
5093. There is a stop after ‘Purs,’ no doubt rightly, in F. On the
other hand the stop after ‘wif’ in l. 5096 must be wrong.
5123 f. Cp. 4597 ff.
5215. _standt._ For this spelling cp. ‘bidt,’ iv. 1162.
5231 ff. The outline of this story might have been got from Ovid and
from Hyginus, _Fab._ 40-43, but several points of detail suggest a
different source. These are, for example, the idea that the son of
Minos went to Athens to study philosophy, the statement of the number
of persons sent as a tribute to Minos, the incident of the ball of
pitch given by Ariadne to Theseus to be used against the Minotaur,
and the name of the island where Ariadne was deserted. In the first
and third of these Gower agrees with Chaucer, _Legend of Good Women_,
1894 ff., but his story is apparently quite independent, so that in
regard to, these matters we must assume a common source: cp. L. Bech in
_Anglia_, v. 337 ff.
_as telleth the Poete._ The authority referred to here must be Ovid
(cp. i. 386, ii. 121, v. 6713, 6804, &c.). He slightly mentions the
death of Androgeus, _Metam._ vii. 458, and relates the war of Minos
against Megara at some length (_Metam._ viii. 1 ff), very briefly
summarising the remainder of the story. Chaucer follows Ovid more fully
here, telling the story of Nisus, to which Gower does not think it
necessary to refer.
5248. _dighte._ This is the form of spelling here in S as well as F: so
also in l. 5352.
5264 f. Hyginus says seven persons each year: Chaucer seems to conceive
it as one every third year. The usual account is seven youths and seven
maidens either every year or once in nine years.
5302. _many on._ Perhaps we should read ‘manye on’ with S and F, as
vii. 2191, ‘manye an other.’
5319. This expression occurs also in ll. 5598 and 7553.
5360. _fawht._ Elsewhere this verb has preterite ‘foghte,’ as iii.
2651, iv. 2095, but the strong form ‘faught’ is used by Chaucer, e. g.
_Cant. Tales_, B 3519, and this in fact is the originally correct form.
5413. _Chyo._ Ovid says ‘Dia,’ that is Naxos.
5507. _His rihte name_: cp. _Mirour_, 409, ‘par son droit noun Je l’oi
nommer Temptacioun,’ 4243, ‘Si ot a noun par droit nommant,’ &c. and
other similar expressions.
5510. _as men telleth_: cp. l. 6045, ‘men seith.’
5511. According to the margin Extortion is the _mother_ of Ravine.
5550. _femeline_, used repeatedly both as adjective and as substantive
in the _Mirour de l’Omme_.
5551 ff. The tale of Tereus is from Ovid, _Metam._ vi. 424-674, in
some parts abbreviated and in others expanded, with good judgement
usually in both cases, so that this is one of Gower’s best-told
tales. He omits the long account given by Ovid of the way in which
Pandion was persuaded to allow Philomela to accompany Tereus (_Metam._
vi. 447-510), the incidents of the rescue of Philomela from her
imprisonment, which no doubt he felt would be unintelligible to his
readers (587-600), and many of the more shocking details connected with
the death of Itys and the feast upon his flesh. On the other hand he
has added the prayer and reflections of Philomene in her prison (ll.
5734-5768), the prayers of the two sisters (5817-5860), the words of
Progne to Tereus (5915-5927), and especially the reflections on the
nightingale and the swallow at the end of the story (5943-6029). This
latter part is quite characteristic of our author, and as usual it is
prettily conceived.
Chaucer, who tells the story in the _Legend of Good Women_, 2228-2393,
was weary of it even from the beginning (2257 f.), and omits the
conclusion altogether, either as too shocking or as not suiting with
his design. So far as he goes, however, he follows Ovid more closely
than Gower.
5555. See note on Prol. 460.
5598. So also ll. 5319, 7553.
5623. Ovid’s comparison is to fire catching dry straw and leaves,
_Metam._ vi. 456 f.
5643 ff. Ovid compares her state after the deed was done to that of a
lamb hurt by a wolf and still trembling, or a dove which has escaped
wounded from a bird of prey (527-530). Here, on the other hand, the
idea is of being held fast, so that she cannot move or escape; while
Chaucer, using the same similes as Ovid, applies the comparison less
appropriately to her fear of the violence yet to come.
5651. Cp. _Metam._ vi. 531, ‘Mox ubi mens rediit.’
5663 ff.
‘si copia detur,
In populos veniam; si silvis clausa tenebor,
Implebo silvas, et conscia saxa movebo.’ _Metam._ vi. 545 ff.
5670. I suspect the combination ‘tale and ende’ may have arisen from
some such phrase as ‘to sette tale on ende’ (or ‘an ende’), meaning to
begin a speech: see _New Engl. Dict._ under ‘ende.’
5676. _where is thi fere?_ that is, ‘where is thy fear of the gods?’
We must not take ‘fere’ in the sense of ‘companion’ or ‘equal,’ because
in that case it could not properly rhyme with ‘Ere.’
5690 f.
‘comprensam forcipe linguam
Abstulit ense fero.’ _Metam._ vi. 556 f.
Gower must be commended for omitting the tasteless lines which
follow in Ovid about the severed tongue, and still more the shocking
statement, which even Ovid accompanies with ‘vix ausim credere,’ of 561
f.
5709. _tyh_, preterite of ‘ten,’ from OE. ‘_tēon_,’ meaning ‘draw,’ and
hence ‘come.’
5724. The punctuation follows F, ‘To hire’ meaning ‘in her case,’ cp.
l. 4182, vii. 4937. It would suit the sense better perhaps to set the
comma after ‘forsake,’ and to take ‘To hire’ with what follows: cp.
note on l. 3966, where it is shown that the punctuation of F is often
wrong in such cases as this.
5726. _hir Sostres mynde_, ‘her sister’s memory.’
5730. _guile under the gore_, that is, deceit concealed, as it were,
under a cloak: cp. l. 6680. The expression ‘under gore’ is common
enough, meaning the same as ‘under wede,’ and this alliterative form
looks like a proverbial expression.
5734-5768. All this is original.
5737. _so grete a wo_: cp. l. 6452, and see Introduction, p. cx.
5778. ‘nec scit quid tradat in illis,’ _Metam._ vi. 580.
5793. ‘Non est lacrimis hic, inquit, agendum, Sed ferro,’ _Metam._ vi.
611.
5802 ff. According to Ovid this was done under cover of a Bacchic
festival (587 ff.).
5816-5860. This is all original.
5840. _to lytel of me let_: see note on l. 1004.
5891 ff. Gower does well in omitting the circumstances of this which
Ovid gives (619-646), and in partially covering the horror of it by
the excuse of madness, but there is one touch which ought to have been
brought in, ‘Ah, quam Es similis patri!’ (621).
5910 ff. Ovid says that Philomela threw the gory head into the father’s
face, and that Tereus endeavoured to vomit up that which he had eaten.
Our author has shown good taste in not following him.
5915 ff. This speech is not in Ovid.
5943-6029. Nearly all this is Gower’s own. Ovid only says, ‘Quarum
petit altera silvas: Altera tecta subit’ (668 f.). We have already
observed upon our author’s tendency to make additions of this
symbolical kind to the stories which he takes from Ovid: see note on i.
2355.
6020. The reading ‘here’ is given both by S and F, but ‘hire’ (‘hir’),
supported by AJMXGCB₂, BT, W, seems to be required by the sense. She
informs them of the falseness of her husband, that they also may learn
to beware of them, that is of husbands. The combination of ‘here’ with
the singular ‘housebonde,’ meaning ‘their husbands,’ would be very
harsh.
6041 ff.
‘Ille dolore suo, poenaeque cupidine velox,
Vertitur in volucrem, cui stant in vertice cristae,
Prominet immodicum pro longa cuspide rostrum.
Nomen Epops volucri, facies armata videtur.’
_Metam._ vi. 671 ff.
The lapwing is identified with the hoopoe because of its crest. In the
_Traitié_, xii, where this story is shortly told, Tereus is changed
into a ‘hupe,’
‘Dont dieus lui ad en hupe transformée,
En signe qu’il fuist fals et avoltier,’
while at the same time in the _Mirour_, 8869 ff., the ‘hupe’ is
represented as the bird which tries to deceive those who search for its
nest, a description which obviously belongs to the lapwing.
6047. Cp. Chaucer, _Parl. of Foules_, 347, ‘The false lapwyng ful of
trecherye.’
6053. _goddes forebode_: cp. Chaucer, _Leg. of Good Women_, 10,
‘But goddes forbode but men schulde leve,’
where the second form of text has
‘But god forbede but men shulde leve.’
We must take ‘forebode’ as a substantive.
6073. _auht_: modified to suit the rhyme: so ‘awht,’ i. 2770, and
‘naght,’ l. 3786, rhyming with ‘straght.’ The regular forms for Gower
are ‘oght,’ ‘noght.’
6145 ff. This is from Ovid, _Metam._ ii. 569-588. Gower has judiciously
kept it apart from the story of Coronis and the raven, told by him in
the second book, with which it is combined in rather a confusing manner
by Ovid. The story is somewhat expanded by Gower.
6150. _wif to Marte_: cp. 1214 f.
6169. _And caste_: cp. l. 4590, and see note on i. 1895.
6197. ‘mota est pro virgine virgo, Auxiliumque tulit,’ _Metam._ ii. 579
f., but Ovid says nothing of any special prayer to Pallas for help,
nor does he represent that Cornix was before in attendance upon that
goddess.
6207 ff. This is original and characteristic of our author.
6225 ff. This story is from Ovid, _Metam._ ii. 409-507, but Gower
evidently knew it from other sources also, for the name Calistona (or
Callisto) is not given by Ovid, who calls her ‘virgo Nonacrina’ and
‘Parrhasis.’ Hyginus tells it in various forms, _Fab._ 177 and _Poet.
Astr._ ii. 2.
6255. According to Ovid, Diana was quite ignorant of the fact, though
the nymphs suspected it.
6258. _in a ragerie_, that is ‘in sport’: cp. Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_,
E 1847, and the use of the verb ‘rage,’ e. g. i. 1764 and _Cant.
Tales_, A 257, 3273, 3958.
6275 ff. ‘I procul hinc, dixit, nec sacros pollue fontes,’ _Metam._ ii.
464.
6281. F has a stop after ‘schame.’
6291 ff. This address is mostly original: cp. _Metam._ ii. 471 ff.
6334 ff.
‘Arcuit omnipotens, pariterque ipsosque nefasque
Sustulit, et celeri raptos per inania vento
Imposuit caelo vicinaque sidera fecit.’
_Metam._ ii. 505 ff.
_Latin Verses_, x. The idea expressed is that though examples of
virginity can only be produced through marriage, yet virginity is
nobler than marriage, as the flower of a rose is nobler than the stock
from which it springs. Marriage, in fact, replenishes the earth, but
virginity heaven: cp. _Trait._ ii.
6359 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 17119 ff., where the saying is attributed to
Jerome, who says in fact that precedence was given in the streets to
the Vestal Virgins by the highest magistrates, and even by victors
riding in the triumphal car (_adv. Jovin._ ii. 41).
6372 ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 18301 ff. The anecdote is taken from Valerius
Maximus, _Mem._ iv. 5, but the name in the original is ‘Spurina,’ and
he does not thrust out his eyes, but merely destroys the beauty of his
face. In the _Mirour_ it is ‘Coupa ses membres.’
6385 ff. ‘So may I prove that, if a man will weigh the virtues, he will
find that virginity is to be praised above all others.’ The sentence is
disordered for the sake of the rhymes: cp. ii. 709 ff.
6389. The quotation from the Apocalypse is given in the margin of SΔ
and in _Mirour_, 17053 ff. The reference is to Rev. xiv. 4.
6395* ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 17067 and note.
6398 ff. This also appears in _Mirour_, 17089 ff., and _Traitié_, xvi.
It may have been taken from the _Epistola Valerii ad Rufinum_.
6402. The margin makes him ‘octogenarius,’ and so it is also in the
_Mirour_ and _Traitié_, as well as in the _Epistola Valerii_.
6435 ff. This shows more knowledge than could have been got from the
_Roman de Troie_. The story is told by Hyginus, _Fab._ 121, but not
exactly as we have it here. This ‘Criseide douhter of Crisis’ should be
distinguished from the Criseide daughter of Calchas (Briseïda in the
_Roman de Troie_), who is associated with Troilus, if it is worth while
making distinctions where so much confusion prevails.
6442. _dangerous_, that is, ‘grudging’ or ‘reluctant’: cp. Chaucer,
_Cant. Tales_, D 1090, and see note on i. 2443.
6452. _So grete a lust_: cp. l. 5737 and Introduction, p. cx.
6498. _as a Pocok doth._ It is difficult to see the appropriateness
of the comparison, for to ‘stalke’ is to go cautiously or secretly,
and that is evidently the meaning here, so that any idea of display is
out of the question. The peacock was supposed to be ashamed of its
ugly feet, cp. _Mirour_, 23459, and in the _Secretum Secretorum_ we
actually have the expression ‘humilis et obediens ut pavo,’ translated
by Lydgate (or Burgh) ‘Meeke as a pecock.’ Albertus Magnus says, ‘Cum
aspicitur ad solem, decorem ostentat, et alio tempore occultat quantum
poterit’ (_De Animalibus_, 23). There seems to have been a notion that
it was liable to have its pride humbled and to slink away ashamed.
6526. _bile under the winge_, that is, concealed, as a bird’s head
under its wing: apparently proverbial.
6541. _I mai remene ... mene._ This is apparently the reading of the
MSS. The meaning of ‘remene’ is properly to bring back. It is used
earlier, i. 279, with reference to the application of the teaching
about vices generally to the case of love, and here it seems to have
much the same sense. ‘So that I may apply what has been said about this
craft directly’ (‘Withouten help of eny mene’) to the case of lovers,
they being very evidently offenders in this way.
6581. _hire it is_: but in l. 4470, ‘It schal ben hires.’
6608 ff. For the construction see note on i. 718.
6620. _Danger_: see note on i. 2443.
6634. _slyke_: cp. l. 7092*, ‘He can so wel hise wordes slyke.’ The
word means properly to smoothe, hence to flatter: cp. the modern
‘sleek.’
6635. _Be him_, &c., i. e. by his own resources or by the help of any
other.
6636. _To whom_: see note on i. 771.
6654. _a nyht_, i. e. by night, also written ‘anyht,’ ii. 2857.
6672. _Protheüs_, that is Proteus: cp. note on l. 3082.
6674. _in what liknesse_, ‘into any form whatsoever.’
6680. _under the palle_, ‘in secret,’ like ‘under the gore,’ l. 5730.
6713 ff. From Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 192-255, but with several changes. In
the original story the Sun-god came to Leucothoe by night and in the
form of her mother. Clytie (not Clymene) discovered the fact (without
the aid of Venus) and told it to the father; and it was an incense
plant which grew from the place where Leucothoe was buried.
6757. For the expression cp. iii. 2555, ‘Achastus, which with Venus was
Hire priest.’
6779. This change into a flower which follows the sun is suggested by
_Metam._ iv. 266 ff., where we are told that Clytie was changed into a
heliotrope. Here it is a sun-flower apparently.
6807 ff. From Ovid, _Fasti_, ii. 305-358. The ‘mistress’ of whom Ovid
speaks is Omphale, but Gower supposed it to be Iole. He gets ‘Thophis’
as the name of the cave from a misunderstanding of l. 317, and
apparently he read ‘Saba’ for ‘Lyda’ in l. 356, out of which he has got
his idea of a goddess Saba with attendant nymphs. This feature, though
based on a mistake, is a decided improvement of the story, which is
told by Gower in a spirited and humorous manner.
6848 ff. The reading of X in this passage is also that of GOAd₂.
6899. The punctuation is that of F.
6932. _al a route_: so iv. 2145, cp. l. 6257, ‘al a compainie.’
7013. Cp. _Mirour_, 7181 ff.
7048. This is a nautical metaphor, ‘so near the wind will they steer.’
The verb ‘love’ is the modern ‘luff,’ meaning to bring a ship’s head
towards the wind. The substantive ‘lof’ (genit. ‘loves’) means in ME.
a rudder or some similar contrivance for turning the ship, and ‘love’
here seems to mean simply to steer. The rhyme with ‘glove’ makes ‘love’
from ‘lufian’ out of the question, even if it gave a satisfactory sense.
7140. _gon offre._ The ceremony of ‘offering’ after mass was one which
involved a good deal of etiquette as regards precedence and so on, cp.
Chaucer, _Cant. Tales_, A 449 ff., and ladies apparently were led up to
the altar on these occasions by their cavaliers.
7179. ‘If I might manage in any other way,’ like the expression ‘(I
cannot) away with,’ &c.
7195 ff. The story comes no doubt from Benoît, _Rom. de Troie_,
2851-4916, where it is told at much greater length. Guido does not
differ much as regards the incidents related by Gower, but by comparing
the two texts in some particular places we can tell without much
difficulty which was Gower’s source. For example, in the speech of
Hector Benoît has,
‘Veez Europe que il ont,
La tierce partie del mont,
Où sont li meillor chevalier.’ 3791 ff.,
while Guido says, ‘Nostis enim ... totam Affricam et Europam hodie
Grecis esse subiectam, quanta Greci multitudine militum sunt suffulti,’
&c. See below, 7340 ff.
The story is told by Gower with good judgement, and he freely omits
unnecessary details, as those of the mission of Antenor to Greece. The
debate in Priam’s parliament is shortened, and the speeches of Hector
and Paris much improved.
7197 ff. Cp. 3303 ff.
7202. The sentence is broken off and resumed in a different form: see
note on i. 98.
* * * * *
7015* ff. Cp. _Mirour_, 7156 ff.
7033*. _And that_, i. e. ‘And provided that.’
7092*. See note on l. 6634.
7105* ff. The tale is told also in the _Mirour de l’Omme_, 7093-7128.
It is to be found in the _Gesta Romanorum_ (which however is not
Gower’s source), and in various other places. Cicero tells what is
practically the same story of Dionysius of Syracuse (_De Nat. Deorum_,
iii. 34), but the acts of sacrilege were committed by him in various
places. The golden mantle was taken from the statue of Zeus at Olympia,
and the beard from that of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, the justification
in this latter case being that Apollo, the father of Aesculapius, was
always represented without a beard. Those who repeated the anecdote in
the Middle Ages naturally missed this point. We may note that Dyonis is
the name given in the _Mirour_.
* * * * *
7213 ff. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 2779 ff.
7235 ff. _Rom. de Troie_, 3029 ff. Gower has judiciously cut short the
architectural details.
7275. _Esionam_: see note on l. 6719.
7307. _in his yhte_, ‘in his possession.’ For the substance of these
lines cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 2915-2950.
7372. _schape ye_, imperative, for _schapeth_; so ‘Sey ye’ in l. 7435.
7377. _Strong thing_, i. e. a hard thing to bear. This is apparently a
translation of the French ‘fort,’ which was very commonly used in the
sense of ‘difficult’: see the examples in Godefroy’s Dictionary,
e. g. ‘forte chose est de çou croire,’ ‘fors choses est a toi guerroier
ancontre moi.’
7390 ff. ‘Ten men have been seen to deal with a hundred and to have had
the better.’
7400. _Rom. de Troie_, 3842, ‘L’autrier ès kalendes de Mai,’ &c. The
word ‘ender’ is an adjective meaning ‘former,’ originally perhaps an
adverb. It is used only in the expressions ‘ender day’ and ‘ender
night.’ The combination ‘enderday’ occurs in i. 98.
7420. _Rom. de Troie_, 3889 f.,
‘Cascune conseilla à mei
Privéement et en segrei,’ &c.
7451 ff. For Cassandra as the Sibyl cp. Godfrey of Viterbo, _Pantheon_,
p. 214 (ed. 1584).
7497 f.
‘Molt est isnele Renommée,
Savoir fist tost par la contrée,’ &c.
_Rom. de Troie_, 4299 ff.
7555 ff. The further incidents of the embarkation and of the voyage
home, _Rom. de Troie_, 4505-4832, are omitted.
7576 f. Cp. _Rom. de Troie_, 4867 ff.
7591 ff. This incident is related in the _Rom. de Troie_, 17457 ff.
The occasion was an anniversary celebration at the tomb of Hector, and
though the temple of Apollo is not actually named here by Benoît, it
has been previously described at large as Hector’s burial place.
7597 ff. The scene in Chaucer’s _Troilus_, i. 155 ff., is well known.
He took it from Boccaccio.
7612. In the treatment of Avarice Gower has departed entirely from the
plan of fivefold division which he follows in the first three books, as
throughout in the _Mirour_. In the sixth book he deliberately declines
to deal with more than two of the branches of Gule (vi. 12f.), and the
treatment of Lechery is also irregular.
7651. _here tuo debat_, i. e. the strife of those two.
7716. _the Cote for the hod_: that is, he gets a return larger than the
amount that he gave; a different form of the expression from that which
we have in l. 4787.
7719. _hors_: probably plural in both cases.
7724. ‘If a man will go by the safe way.’
7736 ff. This saying is not really quoted from Seneca, but from
Caecilius Balbus, _Nug. Phil._ xi. It must have been in Chaucer’s mind
when he wrote ‘Suffice unto thy good, though it be smal,’ that is,
‘Adapt thy life to thy worldly fortune.’
7830 f. I take this to mean, ‘And suddenly to meet his flowers the
summer appears and is rich.’ For the meaning of ‘hapneth’ see the
examples in the _New English Dictionary_.
7838. _be war_: written as one word in F and afterwards divided by a
stroke.
LIB. VI.
_Latin Verses._ i. 6. _ruit_ seems to be transitive, ‘casts down.’
i. 7. Rather involved in order: ‘on the lips which Bacchus intoxicates
and which are plunged in sleep.’
4. _mystymed_, ‘unhappily produced.’ In other places, as i. 220, iii.
2458, the word seems to mean to order or arrange wrongly. The OE.
‘mistīmian’ means to happen amiss.