8. Answers to l. 6 of the original--'Vaincu m'a mon aversaire.' Perhaps
_Venquisht_ is here the right form; similarly, in the Squieres Tale, F 342,
the word _vanisshed_ is to be read as _vanísh'd_, with the accent on the
second syllable, and elision of e. See Ten Brink, Chaucers Sprache, § 257.
Otherwise, read _Venquis-shed m'hath_; cf. _mexcuse_, XVI. 37 (p. 397).
11. _Warne_, reject, refuse to hear. So in P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 12,
'whanne men hym _werneth_' means 'when men refuse to give him what he asks
for.'
12. _Free_, liberal, bounteous. So in Shak. Troilus, iv. 5. 100--'His heart
and hand both open and both _free_.' It may be remarked, once for all, that
readers frequently entirely misunderstand passages in our older authors,
merely because they forget what great changes may take place in the sense
of words in the course of centuries.
13. _Largesse_, i. e. the personification of liberality; 'thou bestowest
perfect happiness.'
14. Cf. original, l. 15--'Quer [_for_] tu es de salu porte.' Scan by
reading--Háv'n of refút. But in l. 33, we have _réfut_.
15. _Theves seven_, seven robbers, viz. the seven deadly sins. We could
easily guess that this is the meaning, but it is needless; for the original
has--'Par sept larrons, pechies mortez,' l. 17; and a note in the Sion
Coll. MS. has--'i. seven dedly synnes.' The theme of the Seven Deadly Sins
is one of the commonest in our old authors; it is treated of at great
length in Chaucer's Persones Tale, and in Piers Plowman.