69. 'As courteys as any mayde'; Arthur, ed. Furnivall (E. E. T. S.), l. 41.
Cf. B. 1636.
70. _vileinye_, any utterance unbecoming a gentleman. Cf. Trench, English
Past and Present, ch. 7, on the word _villain_.
71. _no maner wight_, no kind of person whatever. In M. E. the word _maner_
is used without _of_, in phrases of this character.
72. _verray_, very, true. _parfit_, perfect; F. _parfait_. _gentil_,
gentle; see D. 1109-1176.
74. 'His horses were good, but he himself was not gaudily dressed.' _Hors_
is plural as well as singular. In fact, the knight had _three_ horses; one
for himself, one for his son, and one for the yeoman. Perhaps we should
read--'but hé ne was not gay,' supplying _ne_ from Hl. and Hn. This makes
_he_ emphatic; and we may then treat the _e_ in _god-e_ as a light extra
syllable, at the caesural pause; for doing which there is ample authority.
[9]
75. _fustian_; see Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 224. _gipoun_ (jipuu·n),
a diminutive of _gipe_, a tight-fitting vest, a doublet; also called a
_gipell_, as in Libeaus Disconus, 224. See Fairholt, s. v. _fustian_, and
s. v. _gipon_. The O. F. _gipe_ (whence F. _jupe_) meant a kind of frock or
jacket. _wered_ is the A. S. _werede_, pt. t. of the weak verb _werian_, to
wear. It is now strong; pt. t. _wore_. See l. 564.
76. This verse is defective in the first foot, which consists solely of the
word _Al_. Such verses are by no means uncommon in the Cant. Tales and in
the Leg. of Good Women. Pron. (al· bismut·erd widh·iz ha·berjuu·n). 'His
doublet of fustian was all soiled with marks made by the habergeon which he
had so lately worn over it.' _Bismotered_ has the same sense as mod. E.
_besmutted_.
_habergeoun_, though etymologically a diminutive of _hauberk_, is often
used as synonymous with it. 'It was a defence of an inferior description to
the hauberk; but when the introduction of plate-armour, in the reign of
Edward III, had supplied more convenient and effectual defences for the
legs and thighs, the long skirt of the hauberk became superfluous; from
that period the _habergeon_ alone appears to have been worn.'--Way, note to
Promptorium Parvulorum, p. 220.
'And Tideus, above his _Habergeoun_,
A _gipoun_ hadde, hidous, sharpe, and hoor,
Wrought of the bristles of a wilde Boor.'
Lydgate, Siege of Thebes, pt. ii.
See the Glossary to Fairholt's Costume in England, s. v. _Habergeon_; and,
for the explanation of _gipoun_, see the same, under _gipon_ and
_gambeson_. For a picture of a _gipoun_, see Boutell's Heraldry, ed.
Aveling, p. 67.
77, 78. 'For he had just returned from his journey, and went to perform his
pilgrimage' (which he had vowed for a safe return) in his knightly array,
only without his habergeon.