'Sin first that day that _shapen was my sherte_,
Or by the _fatal sustren_ had my dom.'
So also in Troil. iii. 733.
1593. _I drede noght_, I have no fear, I doubt not.
1594. _outher ... or_ = either ... or.
1609. _To darreyne hir_, to decide the right to her. Spenser is very fond
of this word; see F. Q. i. 4. 40; i. 7. 11; ii. 2. 26; iii. i. 20; iv. 4.
26, 5. 24; v. 2. 15; vi. 7. 41. See _deraisnier_ in Godefroy's O. Fr. Dict.
1622. _to borwe._ This expression has the same force as _to wedde_, in
pledge. See l. 1218.
1625. The expression 'sooth is seyd' shews that Chaucer is here introducing
a quotation. The original passage is the following, from the Roman de la
Rose, 8487:--
'Bien savoient cele parole,
Qui n'est mençongiere ne fole:
Qu'onques Amor et Seignorie
Ne s'entrefirent companie,
Ne ne demorerent ensemble.'
Again, the expression 'cele parole' shews that Jean de Meun is also here
quoting from another, viz. from Ovid, Met. ii. 846:--
'Non bene conueniunt, nec in una sede morantur
Maiestas et Amor.'
1626. _his thankes_, willingly, with good-will; cf. l. 2107. Cf. M. E. _myn
unthonkes_ = ingratis. 'He faught with them in batayle _their unthankes_';
Hardyng's Chronicle, p. 112.--M.
1638. Cf. Teseide, vii. 106, 119; Statius, Theb. iv. 494-9.
1654. _Foynen_, thrust, push. It is a mistake to explain this, as usual, by
'fence,' as fence (= defence) suggests _parrying_; whereas _foinen_ means
to thrust or push, as in attack, not as in defence. It occurs again in l.
2550. Hence it is commonly used of the pushing with spears.
'With speres ferisly [fiercely] they foynede.'
Sir Degrevant, 274 (Thornton, Rom. p. 188).
Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, bk. iii. c. 1. § 32) explains that a thrust is
more dangerous than a cut, and quotes the old advice, that 'to foyne is
better than to smyte.' 'And there kyng Arthur smote syr Mordred vnder the
shelde wyth a _foyne_ of his spere thorughoute the body more than a fadom';
Sir T. Malory, Morte Darthur, bk. xxi. c. 4. This was a foine indeed!
1656. Deficient in the first foot. Scan:--In | his fight | ing, &c. The
usual insertion of _as_ before _a_ is wholly unauthorised.