3990. The _Soler-halle_ has been guessed to be Clare Hall, merely because
that college was of early foundation, and was called a 'hall.' But a happy
find by Mr. Riley tells us better, and sets the question at rest. In the
First Report of the Historical MSS. Commission, p. 84, Mr. Riley gives
several extracts from the Bursar's Books of King's [120] Hall, in which the
word _solarium_ repeatedly occurs, shewing that this Hall possessed
numerous _solaria_, or sun-chambers, used as dwelling-rooms, apparently by
the fellows. They were probably fitted with bay-windows. This leaves little
doubt that _Soler-Hall_ was another name for _King's Hall_, founded in 1337
by Edward III, and now merged in Trinity College. It stood on the ground
now occupied by the Great Gate, the Chapel, Bowling-green, and Master's
Lodge of that celebrated college. On the testimony of Chaucer, we learn
that the King's Hall, even in his time, was 'a greet collegge.' Its
successor is the largest in England.
In Wright's Hist. of Domestic Manners, pp. 83, 127, 128, it is explained
that the early stone-built house usually had a hall on the ground-floor,
and a _soler_ above. The latter, being more protected, was better lighted,
and was considered a place of greater security. 'In the thirteenth century
a proverbial characteristic of an avaricious and inhospitable person, was
to shut his hall-door and live in the _soler_.' It was also 'considered as
the room of honour for rich lodgers or guests who paid well.' Udall speaks
of 'the _solares_, or loftes of my hous'; tr. of Erasmus' Apophthegmes,
_Aug. Cæsar_, § 27.
3999. _made fare_, made a to-do (as we now say).
4014. _Strother._ There is now no town of this name in England, but the
reference is probably to a place which gave its name to a Northumbrian
family. Mr. Gollancz tells me:--'The Strother family, of Northumberland,
famous in the fourteenth century, was a branch of the Strothers, of Castle
Strother in Glendale, to the west of Wooler. The chief member of this
Northumberland branch seems to have been _Alan de Strother_ the younger,
who died in 1381. (See Calendarium Inquis. post Mortem, 4 Ric. II, vol.
iii. p. 32.) The records contain numerous references to him; e. g. "Aleyn
de Struther, conestable de nostre chastel de Rokesburgh," A. D. 1366
(Rymer's Foedera, iii. 784); "Alanum del Strother, vicecomitem de
Rokesburgh et vicecomitem Northumbriæ" (id. iii. 919). It is a noteworthy
point that this Alan de Strother had a son _John_.' This definite
information does away with the old guess, that Strother is a mistake for
Langstrothdale Chase almost at the N.W. extremity of the W. Riding of
Yorkshire, joining the far end of Wharfdale to Ribblesdale, and even now
not very accessible, though it can be reached from Ribblehead station, on
the Skipton and Carlisle Railway, or from Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
I suppose that Castle Strother, mentioned above, must have been near
Kirknewton, some 5 miles or so to the west of Wooler. The river Glen falls
into the Till, which is a tributary of the Tweed. I find mention, in
1358-9, of 'Henry de Strother, of Kirknewton in Glendale'; Brand, Hist. of
Newcastle, ii. 414, note. W. Hutchinson, in his View of Northumberland,
1778, i. 260, speaks of 'Kirknewton, one of the manors of the Barony of
Wark, the ancient residence of the Strothers, now the property of John
Strother Ker, Esq.' [121]
We may here notice some of the characteristics of the speech which Chaucer
assigns to these two students from Northumberland.
(_a_) They use _a_ for A. S. _[=a]_, where Chaucer usually has _[=o]_ (long
and open). Ex. _na_ (Ch. _no_), _swa_ (_so_), _ham_ (_hoom_), _gas_
(gooth), _fra_ (_fro_), _banes_ (_bones_), _anes_ (_ones_), _waat_
(_woot_), _raa_ (_ro_), _bathe_ (_bothe_), _ga_ (_go_), _twa_, (_two_),
_wha_ (_who_). Similarly we find _saule_ for Ch. _soule_, soul, _tald_ for
_told_, _halde_ for _holde_, _awen_ for _owen_, own.
(_b_) They use _a_ for A. S. short _a_ before _ng_. Ex. _wanges_, but Ch.
also has _wang-tooth_, B. 3234; _sang_ for _song_ (4170), _lange_ for
_longe_, _wrang_ for _wrong_.
(_c_) They use (perhaps) _ee_ for _oo_; as in _geen_ for _goon_, gone,
4078; _neen_ for _noon_, none, 4185. This is remarkable, and, in fact, the
readings vary, as noted. _Geen_, _neen_ are in MS. E. Note also _pit_ for
_put_, 4088.
(_d_) They use the indicative sing. and pl. in _-es_ or _-s_. Ex. 3 pers.
sing. _far-es_, _bo-es_, _ga-s_, _wagg-es_, _fall-es_, _fynd-es_, 4130,
_bring-es_, _tyd-es_, 4175, _say-s_, 4180. Pl. _werk-es_, 4030. So also is
_I_, _I is_, _thou is_, 4089. In l. 4045, we find _are ye_, E.; _ar ye_
(better), Hn.; _ere ye_, Cp. Hl.; _is ye_, Cm. Pt.; _es ye_, Ln. Both _ar_
(_er_) and _is_ (_es_) are found in the present tense plural in Northern
works; _we is_ occurs in Barbour's Bruce, iii. 317. It is not
'ungrammatical,' as Tyrwhitt supposes.
(_e_) Other grammatical peculiarities are: _sal_ for _shal_, shall, 4087;
_slyk_ for _swiche_, such, 4173; _whilk_ for _whiche_, 4171; _thair_ for
_hir_, their, 4172 (which is now the standard use); _hethen_ for _hennes_,
hence, 4033; _til_ for _to_ (but Chaucer sometimes uses _til_ himself,
chiefly before a vowel); _y-mel_ for _amonges_, 4171; _gif_ for _if_, 4181.
(_f_) Besides the use of the peculiar forms mentioned in (_e_), we find
certain words employed which do not occur elsewhere in Chaucer, viz. _boes_
(see note to 4027), _lathe_, barn, _fonne_, fool, _hething_, contempt,
_taa_, take. To these Tyrwhitt adds _gar_, reading _Gar us have mete_ in l.
4132, but I can only find _Get us som mete_ in my seven MSS. _Capul_,
horse, occurs again in D. 1554, 2150.
I think Mr. Ellis a little underrates the 'marked northernism' of Chaucer's
specimens. Certainly _thou is_ is as marked as _I is_; and other certain
marks are the pl. indic. in _-es_, as in _werk-es_, 4030, the use of _sal_
for 'shall,' of _boes_ for 'behoves,' of _taa_ for 'take,' of _hethen_ for
'hence,' of _slyk_ for 'such,' the prepositions _fra_ and _y-mel_, and even
some of the peculiarities of pronunciation, as _[=a]_ for _[=o]_, _wrang_
for _wrong_.
It is worth enquiring whether Chaucer has made any mistakes, and it is
clear that he has made several. Thus _as clerkes sayn_ (4028) should be _as
clerkes says_; and _sayth_ should again be _says_ in l. 4210. In l. 4171,
_hem_ (them) should be _thaim_. In l. 4180, _y-greved_ should be _greved_;
the Northern dialect knows nothing of the prefix _y-_. It also ignores the
final _-e_ in definite adjectives; hence _thy fair-e_ (4023), _this
short-e_ (4265), and _this lang-e_ (4175) all have a superfluous _-e_. Of
course this is what we should expect; the poet merely gives [122] a
Northern colouring to his diction to amuse us; he is not trying to teach us
Northern grammar. The general effect is excellent, and that is all he was
concerned with.
4020. The mill lay a little way off the road on the left (coming from
Trumpington); so it was necessary to 'know the way.'
4026. _nede has na peer_, necessity has no equal, or, is above all. More
commonly, _Nede ne hath no lawe_, as in P. Plowman, B. xx. 10, or C. xxiii.
10; 'Necessitas non habet legem'; a common proverb.
4027. _boës_, contracted from _behoves_, a form peculiar to Chaucer. In
northern poems, the word is invariably a monosyllable, spelt _bos_, or more
commonly _bus_; and the pt. t. is likewise a monosyllable, viz. _bud_ or
_bood_, short for _behoved_. In Cursor Mundi, l. 9870, we have: 'Of a woman
_bos him_ be born; and in l. 10639: 'Than _bus_ this may be clene and
bright.' In M. E., it is always used impersonally; _him boes_ or _him bos_
means 'it behoves him,' or 'he must.' See _Bus_ in the New E. Dictionary.
Chaucer here evidently alludes to some such proverb as 'He who has no
servant must serve himself,' but I do not know the precise form of it. The
expression 'as clerkes sayn' hints that it is a Latin one.
4029. _hope_, expect, fear. Cf. P. Plowman, C. x. 275, and see _Hope_ in
Nares, who cites the story of the tanner of Tamworth (from Puttenham's Arte
of Poesie, bk. iii. c. 22) who said--'I _hope_ I shall be hanged
to-morrow.' Cf. also Thomas of Erceldoun, ed. Murray, l. 78:--
'But-if I speke with yone lady bryghte,
I _hope_ myne herte will bryste in three!'
4030. 'So ache his molar teeth.' _Wark_, to ache, is common in Yorkshire:
'My back _warks_ while I can hardly bide,' my back aches so that I can
hardly endure; Mid. Yks. Gloss. (E. D. S.).
4032. _ham_, i. e. _h[=a]m_, _haam_, home.
4033. _hethen_, hence, is very characteristic of a Northern dialect; it
occurs in Hampole, Havelok, Morris's Allit. Poems, Gawain, Robert of
Brunne, the Ormulum, &c.; see examples in Mätzner.
4037. One clerk wants to watch above, and the other below, to prevent
cheating. This incident is not in the French fabliaux. On the other hand,
it occurs in the Jest of the Mylner of Abyngton, which is plainly copied
from Chaucer.
4049. _blere hir yë_, blear their eyes, cheat them, as in l. 3865.
4055. 'The fable of the Wolf and the Mare is found in the Latin Esopean
collections, and in the early French poem of _Renard le Contrefait_, from
whence it appears to have been taken into the English _Reynard the Fox_';
Wright. Tyrwhitt observes that the same story is told of a mule in Cento
Novelle Antiche, no. 91. See Caxton's Reynard, ch. 27, ed. Arber, p. 62,
where the wolf wants to buy a mare's foal, who said that the price of the
foal was written on her hinder foot; 'yf ye conne rede and be a clerk, ye
may come see and rede it.' And when [123] the wolf said, 'late me rede it,'
the mare gave him so violent a kick that 'a man shold wel haue ryden a myle
er he aroos.' The Fox, who had brought it all about, hypocritically
condoles with the Wolf, and observes--'Now I here wel it is true that I
long syth haue redde and herde, that _the beste clerkes ben not the wysest
men_.'
For the story in Le Roman du Renard Contrefait, see Poètes de Champagne,
Reims, 1851, p. 156. For further information, see Caxton's Fables of Æsop,
ed. Jacobs, lib. v. fab. 10; vol. i. 254, 255; vol. ii. 157, 179. La
Fontaine has a similar fable of the Fox, the Wolf, and the Horse. In
Croxall's Æsop, it is told of the Horse, who tells the Lion, who is acting
as physician, that he has a thorn in his foot. See further references in
the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, ed. Crane, pp. 147, 197.
4061. _levesel_, an arbour or shelter formed of branches or foliage.
_Lev-e_ is the stem of _leef_, A. S. _l[=e]af_, a leaf; and _-sel_ is the
same as the A. S. _sæl_, _sele_, a hall, dwelling, Swed. _sal_, Icel.
_salr_, G. _Saal_. The A. S. _sæl_ occurs also in composition, as
_burg-sæl_, _folc-sæl_, _horn-sæl_, and _sele_ is still commoner; Grein
gives twenty-three compounds with the latter, as _gæst-sele_, guest-hall,
_hr[=o]f-sele_, roofed-hall, &c. In Icel. we have _lauf-hús_, leaf-house,
but we find the very word we require in Swed. _löfsal_, 'a hut built of
green boughs,' Widegren; Dan. _lövsals-fest_, feast of tabernacles. The
word occurs again in the Persones Tale, l. 411, where it means a leafy
arbour such as may still be seen to form the porch of a public-house. The
word is scarce; but see the following:--
'Alle but Syr Gauan, graythest of alle,
Was left with Dame Graynour, _vndur the greues_ [groves] _grene_.
By a lauryel ho [she] lay, vndur a _lefe-sale_
Of box and of barberè, byggyt ful bene.'
Anturs of Arthur, st. 6; in Three Met. Romances, ed. Robson, p. 3.
The editor prints it as _lefe sale_, and explains it by 'leafy hall,' but
it is a compound word; the adjective would be _lefy_ or _leuy_. In this
case the arbour was 'built' of box and barberry.
'All his devocioun and holynesse
At the taverne is, as for the most dele,
To Bacus syne, and to the _leef-sele_
His youthe hym haleth,' &c.
Hoccleve, De Regim. Principum, p. 22.
Again, in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 448, the arbour formed by Jonah's
gourd is called a _lefsel_.
4066. Lydgate has 'through thinne and thikke'; Siege of Troy, fol. Cc. 6,
back.
4078. _geen_, goon; so in MS. E., which again has _neen_, none, 4185. The
usual Northern form is _gan_ (= _gaan_), as in Hl.; Hn. Ln. have _gane_.
But we also find _gayn_, as in Wallace, iv. 102; Bruce, ii. 80. [124] The
forms _geen_, _neen_, are so remarkable that they are likely to be the
original ones.
4086. 'I am very swift of foot, God knows, (even) as is a roe; by God's
heart, he shall not escape us both; why hadst thou not put the horse in the
barn?' 'Light as a rae' [roe]; Tournament of Tottenham, st. 15.
4088. _capul_, a horse, occurs again, in D. 2150. _lathe_, a barn, is still
in use in some parts of Yorkshire, but chiefly in local designations, being
otherwise obsolescent; see the Cleveland and Whitby Glossaries. 'The
northern man writing to his neighbour may say, "My _lathe_ standeth neer
the _kirkegarth_," for My barne standeth neere the churchyard:' Coote's
Eng. Schoolemaster, 1632 (Nares). Ray gives: '_Lathe_, a barn' in 1691; and
we again find '_Leath_, a barn' in 1781 (E. D. S. Gloss. B. 1); and
'_Leath_, _Laith_, a barn' in 1811 (E. D. S. Gloss. B. 7); in all cases as
a Northern word.
4096. 'Trim his beard,' i. e. cheat him; and so again in D. 361. See
Chaucer's Hous of Fame, 689, and my note upon it.
'Myght I thaym have spyde,
I had _made thaym a berd_.'
Towneley Mysteries, p. 144.
4101. _Iossa_, 'down here'; a cry of direction. Composed of O. F. _jos_,
_jus_, down; and _ça_, here. Bartsch gives an example of _jos_ in his
Chrestomathie, 1875, col 8: 'tuit li felun cadegren _jos_,' all the felons
fell down; and Cotgrave has: '_Jus_, downe, or to the ground.' Godefroy
gives: _ça jus_, here below, down here. It is clearly a direction given by
one clerk to the other, and was probably a common cry in driving horses.
_warderere_, i. e. _warde arere_, 'look out behind!' Another similar cry.
MS. Cm. has: _ware the rere_, mind the rear, which is a sort of gloss upon
it.
4110. _hething_, contempt. See numerous examples in Mätzner, s. v.
_hæthing_, ii. 396. Cf. 'Bothe in _hething_ and in _scorn_'; Sir Amadace,
l. 17, in Robson's _Three Met. Romances_, p. 27. 'Him thoght _scorn_ and
gret _hething_'; Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 91.