_pas_, a foot-pace. Cf. A. 2897; C. 866; G. 575; Troil. ii. 627. [59]
826. _St. Thomas a Waterings_ was a place for watering horses, at a brook
beside the second mile-stone on the road to St. Thomas's shrine, i. e. to
Canterbury. It was a place anciently used for executions in the county of
Surrey, as Tyburn was in that of Middlesex. See Nares, s. v. _Waterings_.
828. _if yow leste_, if it may please you. The verb _listen_ made _liste_
in the past tense; but Chaucer changes the verb to the form _lesten_, pt.
t. _leste_, probably for the sake of the rime. See ll. 750 and 102. In the
Knightes Tale, A. 1052, _as hir liste_ rimes with _upriste_.
The true explanation is, that the A. S. _y_ had the sound of mod. G. _ü_.
In Mid. Eng., this was variably treated, usually becoming either _i_ or
_u_; so that, e. g., the A. S. _pyt_ (a pit) became M. E. _pit_ or _put_,
the former of which has survived. But, in Kentish, the form was _pet_; and
it is remarkable that Chaucer sometimes deliberately adopts Kentish forms,
as here, for the sake of the rime. A striking example is seen in _fulfelle_
for _fulfille_, in Troil. iii. 510, to rime with _telle_. He usually has
_fulfille_, as below, in A. 1318, 2478.
829. _Ye woot_, ye know. Really false grammar, as the pl. of _woot_
(originally a past tense) is properly _witen_, just as the pl. of _rood_ is
_riden_ in l. 825. As _woot_ was used as a present tense, its original form
was forgotten. 'Ye know your agreement, and I recall it to your memory.'
See l. 33.
830. 'If even-song and matins agree'; i. e. if you still say now what you
said last night.
832. 'As ever may I be able to drink'; i. e. As surely as I ever hope to be
able, &c. Cf. B. 4490, &c.