7. _croppes_, shoots, extremities of branches, especially towards the top
of a tree; hence simply tree-tops, tops of plants, &c. Hence _to crop_ is
'to cut the tops off.' Cf. A. 1532; tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. met. 2. 24;
Rom. Rose, 1396; and note to P. Plowman, B. xvi. 69.
_yonge sonne_ (yungg[*e] sunn[*e]); see the next note. The _-e_ in _yong-e_
denotes the definite form of the article. _Sonn-e_, A. S. _sunna_, is
essentially dissyllabic.
8. _the Ram._ The difficulty here really resides in the expression 'his
halfe cours,' which means what it says, viz. 'his half-course,' and not, as
Tyrwhitt unfortunately supposed, 'half his course.' The results of the two
explanations are quite different. Taking Chaucer's own expression as it
stands, he tells us that, a little past the middle of April, 'the young sun
has run his half-course in the Ram.' Turning to Fig. 1 in The Astrolabe
(see vol. iii.), we see that, against the month 'Aprilis,' there appears in
the circle of zodiacal signs, the _latter_ half (roughly speaking) of
Aries, and the _former_ half of Taurus. Thus the sun in April runs a
half-course in the Ram and a half-course in the Bull. 'The former of these
was completed,' says the poet; which is as much [3] as to say, that _it was
past the eleventh of April_; for, in Chaucer's time, the sun entered Aries
on March 12, and left that sign on April 11. See note to l. 1.
---+-----------+-----------+-----------+---------
| March. | April. | May. |
---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---
| Aries. | Taurus. | Gemini. |
---------+-----------+-----------+-----------+---
The sun had, in fact, only just completed his course through the first of
the twelve signs, as the said course was supposed to begin at the vernal
equinox. This is why it is called 'the yonge sonne,' an expression which
Chaucer repeats under similar circumstances in the Squyeres Tale, F. 385.
_Y-ronne_, for A. S. _gerunnen_, pp. of _rinnan_, to run (M. E. _rinnen_,
_rinne_). The M. E. _y-_, A. S. _ge-_, is a mere prefix, mostly used with
past participles.
9. Pron. ([*e]nd smaa·l[*e] fuu·lez maa·ken melodii·[*e]); 'and little
birds make melody.' Cf. _fowel_ (fuul), a bird, in l. 190.
10. _open ye_, open eye. Cf. the modern expression 'with one eye open.'
This line is copied in the Sowdone of Babylon, ll. 41-46.
11. 'So nature excites them, in their feelings (instincts).' _hir_, their;
A. S. _hira_, lit. 'of them,' gen. pl. of _h[=e]_, he. _corage_
(kuraa·j[*e]); mod. E. courage; see l. 22.
12, 13. According to ordinary English construction, the verb _longen_ must
be supplied after _palmers_. In fact, l. 13 is parenthetical. Note that
_Than_, in l. 12, answers to _Whan_ in l. 1.
13. _palmer_, originally, one who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and
brought home a _palm_-branch as a token. Chaucer, says Tyrwhitt, seems to
consider all pilgrims to foreign parts as palmers. The essential difference
between the two classes of persons here mentioned, the palmer and the
pilgrim, was, that the latter had 'some dwelling-place, a palmer had none;
the pilgrim travelled to some certain place, the palmer to all, and not to
any one in particular; the pilgrim might go at his own charge, the palmer
must profess wilful poverty; the pilgrim might give over his profession,
the palmer must be constant'; Blount's Glossographia (taken from Speght).
See note to P. Plowman, B. v. 523.
The fact is, that palmers did not always reach the Holy Land. They commonly
went to Rome first, where not unfrequently the Pope 'allowed them to wear
the palm as if they had visited Palestine'; Rock, Church of our Fathers,
vol. iii. pt. 1. p. 439.
_to seken_, to seek; the A. S. gerund, _t[=o] s[=e]canne_; expressive of
purpose. _strondes_, strands, shores.
14. _ferne halwes_, distant saints, i. e. shrines. Here _ferne_ = _ferrene_
= distant, foreign. 'To _ferne_ poeples'; Chaucer's Boethius, bk. ii. met.
7. See Mätzner's M. E. Dict. _Ferne_ also means 'ancient,' but not here.
_halwes_, saints; cf. Scotch _Hallow-e'en_, the eve of All Hallows, or All
Saints; the word is here applied to their shrines.
Chaucer has, 'to go seken _halwes_,' to go (on a pilgrimage) to seek [4]
saints' shrines; D. 657. _couthe_ (kuudh'), well known; A. S. _c[=u]ð_,
known, pp. of _cunnan_, to know. _sondry_ (sun·dri), various.
16. _wende_, go; pret. _wente_, Eng. _went_. The use of the present tense
in modern English is usually restricted to the phrase 'he _wends_ his way.'
17. _The holy blisful martir_, Thomas à Becket. On pilgrimages, see
Saunders, Chaucer, p. 10; and Erasmus, _Peregrinatio religionis ergo_.
There were numerous places in England sought by pilgrims, as Durham, St.
Alban's, Bury, St. David's, Glastonbury, Lincoln, York, Peterborough,
Winchester, Holywell, &c.; but the chief were Canterbury and Walsingham.
18. _holpen_, pp. of _helpen_. The older preterites of this verb are
_heolp_, _help_, _halp_. _seke_, sick, rimes to _seke_, seek; this apparent
repetition is only allowed when the repeated word is used in two different
senses.
_seke_, pl. of _seek_, A. S. _s[=e]oc_, sick, ill. For _hem_, see n. to l.
175.