220. ‘Une coroie en estendi | De coi grant tère avirona,’ W 7072.
Similar tales are found in Virgil, Aeneid, i. 371; Saxo Grammaticus, ed.
Holder, p. 143, of Ivar’s foundation of London: comp. Geoffrey of
Monmouth, ed. San Marte, p. 313.
223. #muchele ⁊ mare#, great and glorious: B-T. quotes ‘Mære ⁊ miclu
weorc drihtnes,’ Ps. Lamb., cx. 2.
224. #scop . . . hire#, shaped for it: OE. #naman#, or #to naman
scieppan#, with dat. of person or thing named, as ‘scōp him Heor[o]t
naman,’ Beowulf, 78; 179/107 note. L has a weak past also, ‘ah scupte
him nome,’ 1951. ‘Cest non Vancastre li a mis, | El langage de son païs.
| Vancastre cest nom del quir prent, | Sel puet l’on nomer altrement |
Chastel de coroie en romans, | Kaer Kaerai en bretans. | Or l’apèlent
pluisor Lancastre | Qui ne savoient l’aqoison | Dont Vancastre ot
premier cest non,’ W 7075-84. The traditional site is Tong in Kent:
‘Tong Castle or rather Thong Castle, in Saxon Þwangceastre, in British
Caer Kerry . . . both whiche woordes signifie a Thong of leather,’
Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent, ed. 1576, p. 195. But Camden in his
Britannia, published in 1586, p. 306, places it in Lincolnshire, at
Caster, six miles from Grimsby. L specializes in place-names; see his
account of London, 7099, Hampton, 9376, Caen, 27923, Cernel, 29674. The
formula in l. 227 occurs at 6062, 9380 &c.
228. #gome# is translated ‘adventure’ by Madden, rather, proceeding,
tricky device.
230. #lane castel# and Wace’s ‘Lancastre’ can hardly be meant for
Lancaster; they are possibly due to the Lincolnshire tradition.
232. #com# is practically an auxiliary verb: comp. ‘Leir wes cumen
liðen,’ Lear had arrived, L 3626, 5379; ‘Þenne þu cumes faren ham,’ when
thou dost fare home, id. 4398: similarly ‘gon forð liðe,’ 108/243, 245.