'Cyllenius astitit ales,
Somniferam quatiens uirgam, tectusque galero.'
See Lounsbury, Studies, ii. 382.
1390. _Argus_, Argus of the hundred eyes, whom Mercury charmed to sleep
before slaying him. Ovid, Met. i. 714.
1401. Cf. 'Hir face ... Was al ychaunged in another kinde'; Troil. iv. 864.
1405. _bar him lowe_, conducted himself as one of low estate. Cf. E. 2013.
1409. Cf. 'in maniera di pover valletto'; Tes. iv. 22.
1428. In the Teseide, iv. 3, he takes the name of _Penteo_. _Philostrato_
is the name of another work by Boccaccio, answering to Chaucer's Troilus.
The Greek [Greek: philostratos] means, literally, 'army-lover'; but it is
to be noted that Boccaccio did not so understand it. He actually connected
it with the Lat. _stratus_, and explained it to mean 'vanquished or
prostrated with love'; and this is how the name is here used.
1444. _slyly_, prudently, wisely. The M. E. _sleigh_, _sly_ = wise,
knowing: and _sleight_ = wisdom, knowledge. (For change of meaning compare
_cunning_, originally knowledge; _craft_, originally power; _art_, &c.)
'Ne swa _sleygh_ payntur never nan was,
Thogh his _sleght_ mught alle other pas,
That couthe ymagyn of þair [devils'] gryslynes.'
Hampole's Pricke of Consc., ll. 2308, 2309.--M.
1463. The third night is followed by the fourth day; so Palamon and Arcite
meet on the 4th of May (l. 1574), which was a Friday (l. 1534); the first
hour of which was dedicated to Venus (l. 1536) and to lovers' vows (l.
1501). The 4th of May was a Friday in 1386.
1471. _clarree._ 'The French term _claré_ seems simply to have denoted a
clear transparent wine, but in its most usual sense a compounded drink of
wine with honey and spices, so delicious as to be comparable to the nectar
of the gods. In Sloane MS. 2584, f. 173, the following directions are found
for making _clarré_:--"Take a galoun of honi, and skome (skim) it wel, and
loke whanne it is isoden (boiled), that ther be a galoun; thanne take viii
galouns of red wyn, than take a pound of pouder canel (cinnamon), and half
a pounde of pouder gynger, and a quarter of a pounde of pouder peper, and
medle (mix) alle these thynges togeder and (with) the wyn; and do hym in a
clene barelle, and stoppe it fast, and rolle it wel ofte sithes, as men don
verious, iii dayes."'--Way; note to Prompt. Parv., p. 79. 'The Craft to
make Clarre' is also given in Arnold's Chronicle of London; and see the
Gloss. to the Babees Book. See Rom. of the Rose, 5971.
1472. Burton mentions 'opium Thebaicum,' which produced stupefaction; Anat.
Met. pt. 3. sec. 2. mem. 6. subsec. 2. The words 'Opium Thebaicum' are
written in the margin in MSS. E. and Hn. [71]
1477. _nedes-cost_, for _needes coste_, by the force of necessity. It seems
to be equivalent to M. E. _needes-wyse_, of necessity. _Alre-coste_
(Icelandic _alls-kostar_, in all respects) signifies 'in every wise.' It
occurs in Old English Homilies (ed. Morris), part i. p. 21: 'We ne ma[gh]en
_alre-coste_ halden Crist(es) bibode,' we are not able in every wise to
keep Christ's behests. The right reading in Leg. Good Women, 2697, is:--
'And nedes cost this thing mot have an ende.'
1494. A beautiful line; but copied from Dante, Purg. i. 20--'Faceva tutto
rider l'oriente.'
1500. See note to l. 1047, where the parallel line from Shakespeare is
quoted. And cf. Troil. ii. 112--'And lat us don to May som observaunce.'
See the interesting article on May-day Customs in Brand's Popular
Antiquities (where the quotation from Stubbes will be found); also
Chambers, Book of Days, i. 577, where numerous passages relating to May are
cited from old poems. An early passage relative to the 1st of May occurs in
the Orologium Sapientiae, printed in Anglia, x. 387:--'And thanne is the
custome of dyuerse contrees that yonge folke gone on the nyghte or erely on
the morow to Medowes and woddes, and there they kutten downe bowes that
haue fayre grene leves, and arayen hem with flowres; and after they setten
hem byfore the dores where they trowe to haue amykes [friends?] in her
lovers, in token of frendschip and trewe loue.' And see _May-day_ in Nares.
1502. From the Legend of Good Women, 1204.
1508. _Were it_ = if it were only.