'When the howndys are set an hert for to mete,
And other hym chasen and folowyn to take,
Then all the _Relais_ thow may vppon hem make.'
Book of St. Alban's, fol. e 8, back.
A _lymere_ was a dog held in a _liam_, _lime_, or leash, to be let loose
when required; from O.F. _liem_ (F. _lien_, Lat. _ligamen_), a leash. In
the Book of St. Alban's, fol. e 4, we are told that the beasts which should
be 'reride with the _lymer_,' i. e. roused and pursued by the dog so
called, are 'the hert and the bucke and the boore.'
365. _Oon, ladde_, i. e. one who led. This omission of the relative is
common.
368. 'The emperor Octovien' is the emperor seen by Chaucer in his dream. In
l. 1314, he is called _this king_, by whom Edward III. is plainly intended.
He was 'a favourite character of Carolingian legend, and pleasantly revived
under this aspect by the modern romanticist Ludwig Tieck--probably [here] a
flattering allegory for the King'; Ward's Life of Chaucer, p. 69. The
English romance of Octouian Imperator is to be found in Weber's Metrical
Romances, iii. 157; it extends to 1962 lines. He was an emperor of Rome,
and married Floraunce, daughter of Dagabers [Dagobert], king of France. The
adventures of Floraunce somewhat resemble those of Constance in the Man of
Lawes Tale. 'The Romance of the Emperor Octavian' was also edited by
Halliwell for the Percy Society, in 1844. The name originally referred to
the emperor Augustus.
370. The exclamation 'A goddes halfe' was pronounced like 'A god's half';
see l. 758. See note to l. 544.