1089, 1090. Read _seyë_, subjunctive, and _seyë_, gerund. Cf. _knewë_,
subj., 1133.
_Yong_ is properly monosyllabic. Read--'I was right yong, the sooth to
sey.' In. l. 1095, _yong-e_ is the _definite_ form.
1096. Accent _besette_ (= besett') on the prefix. Else, we must read
_Without_' and _besettë_. We should expect _Without-e_, as in 1100.
_Without_ is rare; but see IV. 17.
1108. _Yit_, still. _Sit_, sittteth; pres, tense.
1113. I. e. you are like one who confesses, but does not repent.
1118. _Achitofel_, Ahitophel; see 2 Sam. xvii.
1119. According to the Historia Troiana of Guido (see note to l. 1070) it
was Antenor (also written Anthenor) who took away the Palladium and sent it
to Ulysses, thus betraying Troy. See the Geste Hystoriale, p. 379; or see
the extract from Caxton in my Specimens of English from 1394 to 1579, p.
89. Or see Chaucer's Troilus, bk. iv. l. 204.
1121. _Genelon_; also _Genilon_, as in the Monkes Tale, B 3579. He is
mentioned again in the Nonne Preestes Tale, B 4417 (C. T. 15233), and in
the Shipmannes Tale, B 1384 (C. T. 13124), where he is called 'Geniloun of
France.' Tyrwhitt's note on _Genelon_ in his Glossary is as follows: 'One
of Charlemaigne's officers, who, by his treachery, was the cause of the
defeat at Roncevaux, the death of Roland, &c., for which he was torn to
pieces by horses. This at least is the account of the author who calls
himself Archbishop Turpin, and of the Romancers who followed him; upon
whose credit the name of _Genelon_ or _Ganelon_ was for several centuries a
synonymous expression for _the worst of traitors_.' See the Chanson de
Roland, ed. Gautier; Dante, Inf. xxxii. 122, where he is called
_Ganellone_; and Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction. Cf. also the Roman de la
Rose, l. 7902-4:--
'Qu'onques Karles n'ot por Rolant,
Quant en Ronceval mort reçut
Par _Guenelon_ qui les deçut.'
1123. _Rowland and Olivere_, the two most celebrated of Charlemagne's
Twelve Peers of France; see _Roland_ in Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction,
and Ellis's Specimens of Early Eng. Metrical Romances, especially the
account of the Romance of Sir Otuel.
1126. I supply _right_. We find _right tho_ in C. T. 6398, 8420 (D 816, E
544).
1133. _Knew-e_, might know; subjunctive mood. See note to l. 1089.
1137. Accent _thou_. This and the next line are repeated, nearly, from ll.
743, 744. See also ll. 1305-6.
1139. I here insert the word _sir_, as in most of the other places where
the poet addresses the stranger.