57, 58. Closely copied from the French, ll. 85-87. But the rest of the
stanza is nearly all Chaucer's own. Cf. Col. ii. 14.
67. The French means, literally--'For, when any one goes out of his way,
thou, out of pity, becomest his guide, in order that he may soon regain his
way.'
70. The French means--'And thou bringest him back into the right road.'
This Chaucer turns into--'bringest him out of the wrong road'; which is all
that is meant by _the crooked strete_.
71. In the ending _-eth_ of the third pers. sing. present, the _e_ is
commonly suppressed. Read _lov'th_. So also _com'th_ in l. 99.
73. The French means--'Calendars are illumined, and other books are
confirmed (or authenticated), when thy name illumines them.' Chaucer has
'illuminated calendars, in this world, are those that are brightened by thy
name.' 'An allusion to the custom of writing the high festivals of the
Church in the Calendar with red, or illuminated, letters'; note in Bell's
Chaucer. The name of Mary appears several times in old calendars; thus the
Purification of Mary is on Feb. 2; the Annunciation, on Mar. 25; the
Visitation, on July 2; the Assumption, on Aug. 15; the Nativity, on Sept.
8; the Presentation, on Nov. 21; the Conception, on Dec. 8. Our books of
Common Prayer retain all of these except the Assumption and the
Presentation. _Kalenderes_ probably has four syllables; and so has
_enlumined_. Otherwise, read Kálendér's (Koch).
76. _Him thar_, i. e. it needs not for him to dread, he need not dread. It
occurs again in the Cant. Tales, A 4320, D 329, 336, 1365, &c.
80. _Resigne_ goes back to l. 112 of the original, where _resiné_ (=
_resigne_) occurs.
81. Here the French (l. 121) has _douceur_; Koch says it is clear that
Chaucer's copy had _douleur_; which refers to the _Mater dolorosa_.
86. This line runs badly in the MSS., but is the same in nearly all. Read
_both' hav-e_. I should prefer _hav' both-e_, where _bothe_ is dissyllabic;
see ll. 63, 122. This runs more evenly. The sense of ll. 84-6 seems to
be--'Let not the foe of us all boast that he has, by his wiles (_listes_),
unluckily convicted (of guilt) that (soul) which ye both,' &c.