4368. 'Brown as a berry.' So in A. 207.
4377. 'There were sometimes Justs in Cheapside; Hollingshead, vol. ii. p.
348. But perhaps any procession may be meant.'--Tyrwhitt. 'Cheapside was
the grand scene of city festivals and processions.'--Wright.
4379. T. has _And til_, but his note says that _And_ was inserted by
himself. Wright reads, 'And tyl he hadde'; but _And_ is not in the Harleian
MS. Observe that Wright insists very much on the fact that he reproduces
this MS. 'with literal accuracy,' though he allows himself, according to
his own account, to make silent alterations due to collation with the
Lansdowne MS. But the word _And_ is not to be found in any of the seven
MSS., and this is only _one_ example of the numerous cases in which he has
_silently_ altered his text without any [130] MS. authority at all. His
text, in fact, is full of treacherous pitfalls; and Bell's edition is quite
as bad, though that likewise pretends to be accurate.
The easiest way of scanning the line is to ignore the elision of the final
_e_ in _had-de_, which is preserved, as often, by the cæsural pause.
4383. _sette steven_, made an appointment; see A. 1524.
4394. 'Though he (the master) may have,' &c.
4396. 'Though he (the apprentice) may know how to play,' &c. Opposed to l.
4394. The sense is--'The master pays for the revelling of the apprentice,
though he takes no part in such revel; and conversely, the apprentice may
gain skill in minstrelsy, but takes no part in paying for it; for, in his
case, his rioting is convertible with theft.' The master pays, but plays
not; the other pays not, but plays.
4397. 'Revelling and honesty, in the case of one of low degree (who has no
money), are continually wrath with (i. e. opposed to) each other.'
4402. 'And sometimes carried off to Newgate, with revel (such as he might
be supposed to approve of).' The point of the allusion lies in the fact
that, when disorderly persons were carried to prison, they were preceded
_by minstrels_, in order to call public attention to their disgrace. This
is clearly shewn in the Liber Albus, pp. 459, 460, (p. 396 of the E.
translation). E. g. 'Item, if any person shall be impeached of adultery,
and be thereof lawfully attainted, let him be _taken unto Newgate_, and
from thence, _with minstrelsy_, through Chepe, to the Tun on Cornhulle
[Cornhill], there to remain at the will of the mayor and alderman.'
4404. _paper._ The allusion is not clear; perhaps it means that he was
referring to his account-book, and found it unsatisfactory.
4406. In Hazlitt's Proverbs we find; 'The rotten apple injures its
neighbour.' Cf. G. 964.
In the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 205, we are bidden to avoid bad company,
because a rotten apple rots the sound ones, if left among them.
In Ida von Düringsfeld's Sprichwörter, 1872-5, no. 354, is:--'Ein fauler
Apfel steckt den andern an. Pomum compunctum cito corrumpit sibi iunctum.'
4413. _his leve_, his leave to go, his dismissal, his _congé_.
4414. _or leve_, or leave it, i. e. or desist from it.
4415. _for_, because, since. _louke_, an accomplice who entices the dupe
into the thief's company, a decoyer of victims. Not 'a receiver to a
thief,' as Tyrwhitt guessed, but his assistant in thieving, one who helped
him (as Chaucer says) to suck others by stealing or borrowing. It answers
to an A. S. _*l[=u]ca_ (not found), formed with the agential suffix _-a_
from _l[=u]can_, lit. to pull, pluck, root up weeds, hence (probably) to
draw, entice. The corresponding E. Friesic _l[=u]kan_ or _lukan_ means not
only to pull, pluck, but also to milk or suck (see Koolman). The Low G.
_luken_ means not only to pull up weeds, but [131] also to suck down, or to
take a long pull in drinking; hence O. F. _louchier_, _loukier_, to
swallow. From the A. S. _l[=u]can_, to pluck up, comes the common prov. E.
_louk_, _lowk_, _look_, to pluck up weeds; see Ray, Whitby Glossary, &c.
4417. _brybe_, to purloin; not to bribe in the modern sense; see the New E.
Dict.
4422. Here the Tale suddenly breaks off; so it was probably never finished.
*** See Notes to Gamelin at the end of the Notes to the Tales.
* * * * *
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