VIII

#Dialect#: South Midland, with mixture of forms.

_a._ VERB: pres. ind. 2 sg. _seist_ 226, _wilnest_ 256.

3 sg. _comaundeth_ 16.

1 pl. _haue_ 118, _preye_ 119.

2 pl. _han_ 11, _wasten_ 127.

3 pl. _liggeth_ 15, &c.; beside _ben_ 50,

_waste_ 155.

imper. pl. _spynneth_ 13.

pres. p. (none in _a_); _romynge_ _b_ 11.

strong pp. _bake_ 187, _ybake_ 278, _ybaken_ 175.

Infinitives in _-ie_ (OE. _-ian_) are retained: _erye_

4, _hatie_ 52, _tilye_ 229 (OE. _erian_, _hatian_,

_tilian_).

PRONOUN 3 PERS.: pl. nom. _þei_ 126, &c., beside _hii_ 15;

poss. _her_ 54; obj. _hem_ 2.

#Sounds#: OE. _y_ often shows the Western development, as in _huyre(d)_

108, 133, &c.; _abugge_ 75, 159; beside _bigge_ 275. So _Cornehulle_ _b_

1. But such forms were not uncommon in the London dialect of the time.

_b._ The second extract has a more Southern dialectal colouring. Note

especially the gen. pl. forms _lollarene_ 31, _knauene_ 56, _lordene_

77, continuing or extending the OE. weak gen. pl. in _-ena_; and _menne_

29, 74, retaining the ending of the OE. gen. pl. _manna_.

The representation of unaccented vowels by _u_ in _hure_ (= 'their') 50,

(= 'her') 53; _(h)us_ 'his' 60, 101; _clerkus_ 65, is commonest in

Western districts. _h(w)_ is no longer aspirated: _wanne_ 1, _werby_

35, MS. _eggen_ 19; and conversely _hyf_ 'if' 43, _his_ 'is' 105.

* * * * *

_a_ 9. _for shedyng_, 'to prevent spilling'; and so _for colde_ 62 'as a

protection against cold'; _for bollyng_ 209 'to prevent swelling'; _for

chillyng_ 306, &c.

_a_ 11. _Þat ȝe han silke and sendal to sowe_: The construction

changes as if Piers had begun: _Ich praye ȝow_, which is the reading

in the C-text. The difficulty of excluding modern ideas from the

interpretation of the Middle Ages is shown by the comment of a scholar

so accomplished as M. Petit-Dutaillis: 'Il attaque les riches peu

miséricordieux, les _dames charmantes aux doigts effilés_, qui ne

s'occupent pas des pauvres' (_Soulèvement_, p. lxii). But there is no

hint of satire or reproach in the text. The poet, always conventional,

assigns to high-born ladies the work which at the time was considered

most fitting for them. So it is reported in praise of the sainted

Isabella of France, sister of St. Louis: _Quand elle fust introduicte

des lettres suffisamment, elle s'estudioit à apprendre à ouurer de soye,

et faisoit estolles et autres paremens à saincte Eglise_—'When she was

sufficiently introduced to letters, she set herself to learn how to work

in silk, and made stoles and other vestments for Holy Church.'

(Joinville, _Histoire d. S. Louys_, Paris 1668, pt. i, p. 169.)

_a_ 19. _for þe Lordes loue of heuene_: cp. l. 214, and notes to I 44, I

83, II 518.

_a_ 23. _on þe teme_, 'on this subject'; _teme_ 'theme' is a correct

form, because Latin _th_ was pronounced _t_. The modern pronunciation is

due to the influence of classical spelling.

_a_ 32. _affaite þe_, 'tame for thyself'; cp. l. 64 _(I shal) brynge

me_ = 'bring (for myself)', and the note to II 289.

_a_ 40-1. 'And though you should fine them, let Mercy be the assessor,

and let Meekness rule over you, in spite of Gain.' This is a warning

against abuse of the lord of the manor's power to impose fines in the

manorial court with the object of raising revenue rather than of

administering justice. Cp. Ashley, _Introduction to English Economic

History_, vol. i (1894), pt. ii, p. 266. For _maugré Medes chekes_ cp.

151.

_a_ 49. Luke xiv. 10.

_a_ 50. _yuel to knowe_, 'hard to distinguish'.

_a_ 72-5. These clumsy lines, which are found in all versions, exemplify

the chief faults in _Piers Plowman_: structural weakness and superfluous

allegory.

_a_ 79. _I wil... do wryte my biqueste_, 'I will have my will written';

_make(n)_, _ger_ (_gar_), and _lete(n)_ are commonly used like _do(n)_

with an active infinitive, which is most conveniently rendered by the

passive; so _do wryte_ 'cause to be written'; _dyd werche_ 'caused to be

made' I 218; _mad sumoun_ 'caused to be summoned' VI 179; _gert dres

vp_ 'caused to be set up' X 16; _leet make_ 'caused to be made' IX 223,

&c.

_a_ 80. _In Dei nomine, amen_: A regular opening phrase for wills.

_a_ 84. 'I trust to have a release from and remission of my debts which

are recorded in that book.' _Rental_, a book in which the sums due from

a tenant were noted, here means 'record of sins'.

_a_ 86. _he_: the parson, as representing the Church.

_a_ 91. _douȝtres._ In l. 73 only one daughter is named. In the

B-text, Passus xviii. 426, she is called _Kalote_ (see note to _b_ 2

below).

_a_ 94. _bi þe rode of Lukes_: at Lucca (French _Lucques_) is a Crucifix

and a famous representation of the face of Christ, reputed to be the

work of the disciple Nicodemus. From Eadmer and William of Malmesbury we

learn that William the Conqueror's favourite oath was 'By the Face of

Lucca!', and it is worth noting that the frequent and varied adjurations

in Middle English are copied from the French.

_a_ 114. 'May the Devil take him who cares!'

_a_ 115 ff. _faitoures_ (cp. ll. 185 ff.), who feigned some injury or

disease to avoid work and win the pity of the charitable, multiplied in

the disturbed years following the Black Death. Statutes were passed

against them, and even against those who gave them alms (Jusserand,

_English Wayfaring Life_, pp. 261 ff.). But the type was long lived. In

the extract from _Handlyng Synne_ (No. I), we have already a monument of

their activities.

_a_ 141. 'And those that have cloisters and churches (i.e. monks and

priests) shall have some of my goods to provide themselves with copes.'

_a_ 142. _Robert Renne-aboute._ The type of a wandering preacher;

_posteles_ are clearly preachers with no fixed sphere of authority, like

the mendicant friars and Wiclif's 'poor priests'. Against both the

regular clergy constantly complained that they preached without the

authority of the bishop.

_a_ 186. _Þat seten_: the MS. by confusion has _þat seten to seten to

begge_, &c.

_a_ 187. _þat was bake for Bayarde_: i.e. 'horse-bread' (l. 208), which

used to be made from beans and peas only. _Bayard_, properly a 'bay

horse', was, according to romance, the name of the horse given by

Charlemagne to Rinaldo. Hence it became the conventional name for a

horse, just as _Reynard_ was appropriated to the fox. Chaucer speaks of

_proude Bayard_ (_Troilus_, Bk. i. 218) and, referring to an unknown

story, _Bayard the blynde_ (_Canon's Yeoman's Tale_, 860).

_a_ 221. _Michi vindictam_: Romans xii. 19.

_a_ 224. Luke xvi. 9.

_a_ 229. Genesis iii. 19.

_a_ 231. _Sapience_: the Book of Wisdom, but the quotation is actually

from Proverbs xx. 4.

_a_ 234. _Mathew with mannes face._ Each of the evangelists had his

symbol: Matthew, a man; Mark, a lion; Luke, a bull; John, an eagle; and

in early Gospel books their portraits are usually accompanied by the

appropriate symbols.

_a_ 235 ff. Matthew xxv. 14 ff.; Luke xix. 12 ff.

_a_ 245. _Contemplatyf lyf or actyf lyf._ The merits of these two ways

of life were endlessly disputed in the Middle Ages. In XI _b_ Wiclif

attacks the position of the monks and of Rolle's followers; and the

author of _Pearl_ (VI 61 ff.) takes up the related question of salvation

by works or by grace.

_a_ 246. Psalm cxxviii. 1.

_a_ 264. Jusserand gives a brief account of the old-time physicians

in _English Wayfaring Life_, pp. 177 ff. The best were somewhat

haphazard in their methods, and the mountebanks brought

discredit on the profession. Here are a few fourteenth-century

prescriptions:

_For hym that haves the squynansy ['quinsy']_:—

Tak a fatte katte, and fla hit wele and clene, and draw oute the

guttes; and tak the grees of an urcheon ['hedgehog'], and the

fatte of a bare, and resynes, and feinygreke ['fenugreek'], and

sauge ['sage'], and gumme of wodebynde, and virgyn wax: al this

mye ['grate'] smal, and farse ['stuff'] the catte within als thu

farses a gos: rost hit hale, and geder the grees, and enoynt hym

tharwith. (_Reliquiae Antiquae_, ed. Wright and Halliwell (1841),

vol. i, p. 51.)

_Ȝyf a woud hund hat ybite a man_:—

Take tou<n>karsyn ['towncress'], and pulyole ['penny-royal'], and seþ

hit in water, and ȝef hym to drynke, and hit schal caste out þe

venym: and ȝif þou miste ['might'] haue of þe hundys here, ley

hit þerto, and hit schal hele hit. (_Medical Works of the

Fourteenth Century_, ed. G. Henslow, London 1899, p. 19.)

_A goud oynement for þe goute_:—

Take þe grece of a bor, and þe grece of a ratoun, and cattys

grece, and voxis grece, and hors grece, and þe grece of a brok

['badger']; and take feþeruoye ['feverfew'] and eysyl ['vinegar'],

and stampe h_e_m togedre; and take a litel lynnesed, and stampe

hit wel, and do hit þerto; and meng al togedre, and het hit in a

scherd, and þerwith anoynte þe goute by the fuyre. Do so ofte and

hit schal be hol. (Ibid., p. 20.)

_a_ 284. _Lammasse tyme_: August 1, when the new corn (l. 294) would be

in. On this day a loaf was offered as firstfruits: whence the name, OE.

_hlāf-mæsse_.

_a_ 307 ff. Owing to repeated famines, the wages of manual labour rose

throughout the first half of the fourteenth century. A crisis was

reached when the Black Death (1349) so reduced the number of workers

that the survivors were able to demand wages on a scale which seemed

unconscionable to their employers. By the Statute of Labourers (1350 and

1351) an attempt was made to force wages and prices back to the level of

1346. For a day's haymaking 1_d._ was to be the maximum wage; for

reaping 2_d._ or 3_d._ Throughout the second half of the fourteenth

century vain attempts were made to enforce these maxima, and the

penalties did much to fan the unrest that broke out in the Peasants'

Revolt of 1381.

_a_ 309-10. From Bk. i of the _Disticha_ of Dionysius Cato, a collection

of proverbs famous throughout the Middle Ages.

_a_ 321. Saturn was a malevolent planet, as we see from his speech in

Chaucer's _Knight's Tale_, 1595 ff.

_a_ 324. _Deth_: the Plague.

_b_ 1. _Cornehulle._ Cornhill was one of the liveliest quarters of

fourteenth-century London, and a haunt of idlers, beggars, and doubtful

characters. Its pillory and stocks were famous. Its market where, if

_The London Lickpenny_ is to be credited, dealing in stolen clothes was

a speciality, was privileged above all others in the city. See the

documents in Riley's _Memorials of London_.

_b_ 2. _Kytte_: In the B-text, Passus xviii. 425-6, _Kytte_ is mentioned

again:

_and riȝt with þat I waked

And called Kitte my wyf and Kalote my douȝter._

_b_ 4. _lollares of London_: The followers of Wiclif were called

'Lollards' by their opponents; but the word here seems to mean 'idlers'

as in l. 31. _lewede heremytes_: 'lay hermits': hermits were not

necessarily in holy orders, and so far from seeking complete solitude,

they often lived in the cities or near the great highways, where many

passers would have opportunity to recognize their merit by giving alms.

See Cutts, _Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages_, pp. 93 ff.

_b_ 5. 'For I judged those men as Reason taught me.' Skeat's

interpretation—that _made of_ means 'made verses about'—is forced. The

sense is that the idlers and hermits thought little of the dreamer, and

he was equally critical of them.

_b_ 6. _as ich cam by Conscience_: 'as I passed by Conscience',

referring to a vision described in the previous Passus, in which

Conscience is the principal figure.

_b_ 10 f. _In hele and in vnité_, 'in health and in my full senses', and

_Romynge in remembraunce_ qualify _me_.

_b_ 14. _Mowe oþer mowen_, 'mow or stack'. For these unrelated words see

the Glossary.

_b_ 16. _haywarde_: by derivation 'hedge-ward'. He watched over

enclosures and prevented animals from straying among the crops. Observe

that ME. nouns denoting occupation usually survive in surnames:—Baxter

'baker', Bow(y)er, Chapman, Dyer, Falconer, Fletcher 'arrow-maker',

Fo(re)ster, Franklin, Hayward, Lister (= litster, 'dyer'), Palmer,

Reeve(s), Spicer, Sumner, Tyler 'maker or layer of tiles', Warner

'keeper of warrens', Webb, Webster, Wright, Yeoman, &c.

_b_ 20-1. 'Or craft of any kind that is necessary to the community, to

provide food for them that are bedridden.'

_b_ 24. _to long_, 'too tall': cp. B-text, Passus xv. 148 _my name is

Longe Wille_. Consistency in such details in a poem full of

inconsistencies makes it probable that the poet is describing himself,

not an imagined dreamer.

_b_ 33. Psalm lxii. 12.

_b_ 45. 1 Corinthians vii. 20.

_b_ 46 ff. Cp. the note to XI _b_ 131 f. The dreamer appears to have

made his living by saying prayers for the souls of the dead, a service

which, from small beginnings in the early Middle Ages, had by this time

withdrawn much of the energy of the clergy from their regular duties.

See note to XI _b_ 140 f.

_b_ 49. _my Seuene Psalmes_: the Penitential Psalms, normally vi, xxxii,

xxxviii, li, cii, cxxx, cxliii, in the numbering of the Authorised

Version. The _Prymer_, which contained the devotions supplementary to

the regular Church service, included the Placebo, Dirige, and the Seven

Psalms: see the edition by Littlehales for the Early English Text

Society.

_b_ 50. _for hure soules of suche as me helpen_: combines the

constructions _for þe soules of suche as me helpen_, and _for hure

soules þat me helpen_.

_b_ 51. _vochen saf_: supply _me_ as object, 'warrant me that I shall be

welcome'.

_b_ 61. 1 Thessalonians v. 15; Leviticus xix. 18.

_b_ 63. _churches_: here and in l. 110 read the Norse form _kirkes_ for

the alliteration, as in _a_ 28, 85. But the English form also belongs to

the original, for it alliterates with _ch_ at _a_ 12, 50.

_b_ 64. _Dominus_, &c.: Psalm xvi. 5.

_b_ 83. _Symondes sone_: a son of Simon Magus—one guilty of simony, or

one who receives preferment merely because of his wealth.

_b_ 90. Matthew iv. 4.

_b_ 103-4. _Simile est_, &c.: Matthew xiii. 44. _Mulier que_, &c.: Luke

xv. 8 ff.