498. The allusion is to Matt. v. 19, as shewn by a parallel passage in P.
Plowman, C. xvi. 127.
502. _lewed_, unlearned, ignorant. _Lewed_ or _lewd_ originally signified
the people, laity, as opposed to the clergy; the modern sense of the word
is not common in Middle English. Cf. mod. E. _lewd_, in Acts xvii. 5. See
_Lewd_ in Trench, Select Glossary.
503-4. _if a preest tak-e keep_, if a priest may (i. e. will) but pay heed
to it. St. John Chrysostom also saith, 'It is a great shame for priests,
when laymen be found faithfuller and more righteous than they.'--Becon's
Invective against Swearing, p. 336.
507. _to hyre._ The parson did not leave his parish duties to be performed
by a stranger, that he might have leisure to seek a chantry in St. Paul's.
See Piers Plowman, B-text, Prol. l. 83; Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum,
ed. Wright, pp. 51, 52; Spenser, Shep. Kalendar (May).
508. _And leet_, and left (not). We should now say--'_Nor_ left.' So also,
in l. 509, _And ran_ = Nor ran. _Leet_ is the pt. t. of _leten_, to let
alone, let go.
509. Here again, _së-ynt_ is used as if it were dissyllabic; see ll. 120,
697.
510. _chaunterie_, chantry; an endowment for the payment of a priest to
sing mass, agreeably to the appointment of the founder. 'There were
thirty-five of these chantries established at St. Paul's, which were served
by fifty-four priests; Dugd. Hist. pref. p. 41.'--Tyrwhitt's Glossary. On
the difference between a _gild_ and a _chantry_, see the instructive
remarks in Eng. Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith, pp. 205-207, 259.
511. 'Or to be kept (i. e. remain) in retirement along with some
fraternity.' I do not see how _with-holde_ can mean 'maintained,' as it is
usually explained. Cf. _dwelte_ in l. 512, and _with-holde_ in G. 345.
514. _no mercenarie_, no hireling; see John x. 12, where the Vulgate
version has _mercenarius_.