On the Miller's Tale, see _Anglia_, i. 38, ii. 135, vii (appendix), 81; and
see the remarks in vol. iii. p. 395.
3188. _gnof_, churl, lit. a thief; a slang word, of Hebrew origin; Heb.
_gan[=a]v_, a thief, Exod. xxii. 1. The same as the mod. E. _gonoph_, the
epithet applied to Jo in Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix. Halliwell's Dict.
quotes from The Norfolke Furies, 1623--'The country _gnoffes_, Hob, Dick,
and Hick, With clubbes and clouted shoon,' &c. Drant, in his tr. of Horace,
_Satires_, fol. A i, back (1566), has:--'The chubbyshe _gnof_ that toyles
and moyles.' Todd, in his Illustration of Chaucer, p. 260, says--'See A
Comment upon the Miller's Tale and the Wife of Bath, 12mo. Lond. 1665, p.
8, [where we find] "A rich _gnofe_; a rich grub, or miserable caitiff, as I
render it; which interpretation, to be proper and significant, I gather by
the sence of that antient metre:
The caitiff _gnof_ sed to his crue,
My meney is many, my incomes but few.
This, as I conceive, explains the author's meaning; which seems no less
seconded by that antient English bard:
That _gnof_, that grub, of pesants blude,
Had store of goud, yet did no gude."'
The note in Bell's Chaucer, connecting it with _oaf_, is wrong. The
carpenter's name was John (l. 3501).
3190. This shews that students used often to live in lodgings, as is so
common at Cambridge, where the number of students far exceeds the number of
college-rooms.
3192, 3. Chaucer himself knew something of astrology, as shewn by his
numerous references to it. The word _conclusions_ in l. 3193 is the
technical name for 'propositions' or problems. In his Treatise on the
Astrolabe, prologue (l. 9), he says to his son Lowis--'I purpose to teche
thee a certein nombre of _conclusions_ apertening to the same [97]
instrument.' We here learn that one object of astrology was to answer
questions relating to coming weather, as well as with reference to almost
every other future event.
3195. _in certein houres._ In astrology, much depended on times; certain
times were supposed to be more favourable than others for obtaining
solutions of problems. The great book for prognostications of weather was
the _Calendrier des Bergiers_, an English version of which was frequently
reprinted as The Shepheards Kalendar. The old almanacks also predicted the
weather; see Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of his Humour, A. i. sc. 1--'Enter
_Sordido_, with an almanack in his hand.'
3199. _hende_, gracious, mild; hence, gentle, courteous; orig. near at
hand, hence, useful, serviceable; A. S. _gehende_. Ill spelt _hendy_ in
Tyrwhitt. Several passages from this Tale are quoted and illustrated by
Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, sect. xvi; which see.
3203. _hostelrye_, lodging. Nicholas had his room to himself; whereas it
was usual for two or more students to have a room in common, even in
college.
3207. _cetewale_, zedoary; but commonly, though improperly, applied to
valerian (_Valeriana pyrenaica_); also spelt _setwall_. Gerarde, in his
Herball (ed. 1597, p. 919), says that 'it hath beene had (and is to this
day among the poore people of our northerne parts) in such veneration
amongst them, that no brothes, pottages, or phisicall meates are woorthe
anything, if _setwall_ were not at one end'; &c. See Britten's Plant-Names
(E. D. S.). See note to B. 1950.
3208. _Almageste_; Arab. _almajist[=i]_; from _al_, the, and _majist[=i]_,
for Gk. [Greek: megistê];, short for [Greek: megistê suntaxis], 'greatest
composition,' a name given to the great astronomical treatise of Ptolemy;
hence extended to signify, as here, a text-book on astrology. See Hallam,
Middle Ages, c. i. 77. Ptolemy's work 'was in thirteen books. He also wrote
four books of judicial astrology. He was an Egyptian astrologist, and
flourished under Marcus Antoninus.'--Warton. See D. 182, 325, 2289. And see
my note to Chaucer's Astrolabe, i. 17; vol. iii. p. 354.
3209. See Chaucer's own treatise on The Astrolabe, which he describes. It
was an instrument consisting of several flat circular brass plates, with
two revolving pointers, used for taking altitudes, and other astronomical
purposes.
_longinge for_, suitable for, belonging to.
3210. _augrim-stones_, counters for calculation. _Augrim_ is _algorism_
(see New Eng. Dict.), or the Arabic system of arithmetic, performed with
the Arabic numerals, which became known in Europe from translations of a
work on algebra by the Arab mathematician Abu Ja'far Mohammed Ben Musa,
surnamed _al-Khow[=a]razm[=i]_, or the native of Khw[=a]razm (Khiva).
Chaucer speaks of 'nombres in _augrim_'; Astrolabe, i. 9. 3.
3212. _falding_, a kind of coarse cloth; see note on A. 391.
3216. _Angelus ad virginem._ This hymn occurs in MS. Arundel [98] 248, leaf
154, written about 1260, both in Latin and English, and with musical notes.
It is printed, with a facsimile of part of the MS., at p. 695 of the print
of MS. Harl. 7334, issued by the Chaucer Society. The first verse of the
Latin version runs thus:--
'Angelus ad uirginem subintrans in conclaue,
Virginis formidinem demulcens, inquit "Aue!
Aue! regina uirginum celi terreque dominum
concipies et paries intacta,
salutem hominum tu, porta celi facta,
medela criminum."'
Hence the subject of the anthem is the Annunciation.
3217. _the kinges note_, the name of some tune or song. There is nothing to
identify it with a _chant royal_, described by Warton, Hist. E. Poet. ii.
221, note b. Warton says that 'Chaucer calls the _chant royal_ ... a
_kingis note_.' But Chaucer says '_THE kinges note_,' which makes all the
difference; it is merely a bad guess. A song entitled 'Kyng villyamis
note,' or 'King William's note,' is mentioned in the Complaint of Scotland
(1549), ed. Murray, p. 64.