'An olde sawe is: who that is sligh,
In place w[h]ere he may be nigh,
He maketh the ferre leve loth
Of love; and thus ful ofte it goth.'
Hending, among his Proverbs, has--'Fer from eye, fer from herte,' answering
to the mod. E. 'out of sight, out of mind.' Kemble cites: 'Quod raro cernit
oculi lux, cor cito spernit,' from MS. Trin. Coll., fol. 365. Also 'Qui
procul est oculis, procul est a lumine cordis,' from Gartner, Dict. 8 b.
3427. _deyde_, should die; subjunctive mood.
3430. _that ... him_ is equivalent to _whom_. Cf. A. 2710.
3445. _kyked_, stared, gazed; see l. 3841. Cf. Scotch _keek_, to peep, pry;
Burns has it in his Twa Dogs, l. 58.
3449. The carpenter naturally invokes St. Frideswide, as there was a priory
of St. Frideswide at Oxford, the church of which has become the present
cathedral. The shrine of St. Frideswide is still to be seen, though in a
fragmentary state, at the east end of the cathedral, on its former site
near the original chancel-arches and wall of her early stone church. In
this line, _seint-e_ has the fem. suffix.
3451. _astromye_ is obviously intentional, as it fills up the line, and is
repeated six lines below. The carpenter was not strong in technical terms.
In like manner, he talks of 'Nowelis flood'; see note to l. 3818. The
reading _astronomy_ just spoils both lines, and loses the jest.