200. _in good point_, in good case, imitated from the O. F. _en bon point_.
Cotgrave has: '_En bon poinct_, ou, _bien en poinct_, handsome: faire, fat,
well liking, in good taking.' [24]
201. _stepe_, E. E. _steap_, does not here mean _sunken_, but _bright_,
burning, fiery. Mr. Cockayne has illustrated the use of this word in his
Seinte Marherete, pp. 9, 108: 'His twa ehnen [semden] _steappre_ þene
steorren,' his two eyes seemed _brighter_ than stars. So also: 'schininde
and schenre, of [gh]imstanes _steapre_ then is eni steorre,' shining and
clearer, brighter with gems than is any star; St. Katherine, l. 1647. The
expression 'eyen gray and _stepe_,' i. e. bright, has already been quoted
in the note to l. 152. So also 'Eyyen _stepe_ and graye'; King of Tars, l.
15 (in Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 157); and again, 'thair een _steep_';
Palladius on Husbandry, bk. iv. l. 800. Cf. _stemed_ in the next line; and
see l. 753.
202. _stemed as a forneys of a leed_, shone like the fire under a cauldron.
Here _stemed_ is related to the M. E. _st[=e]m_, a bright light, used in
Havelok, 591. Cf. 'two _stemyng_ eyes,' two bright eyes; Sir T. Wiat, Sat.
i. 53. _That_ refers to _eyen_, not to _heed_.
A kitchen-copper is still sometimes called a _lead_. As to the word _leed_,
which is the same as the modern E. _lead_ (the metal), Mr. Stevenson, in
his edition of the Nottingham Records, iii. 493, observes--'That these
vessels were really made of _lead_ we have ample evidence'; and refers us
to the Laws of Æthelstán, iv. 7 (Schmid, Anhang, xvi. § 1); &c. He
adds--'The _lead_ was frequently fixed, like a modern domestic copper, over
a grate. The grate and flue were known as a _furnace_. Hence the frequent
expression--_a lead in furnace_.' See also _led_ in Havelok, l. 924; and
_lead_ in Tusser's Husbandrie, E. D. S.