95. _with hawe bake_, with plain fare, as Dr. Morris explains it; it
obviously means something of a humble character, unsuited for a refined
taste. This was left unexplained by Tyrwhitt, but we may fairly translate
it literally by 'with a baked haw,' i. e. something that could just be
eaten by a very hungry person. The expression _I sette nat an hawe_ (= I
care not a haw) occurs in the Wyf of Bathes Prologue, D. 659. _Haws_ are
mentioned as given to feed hogs in the Vision of Piers Plowman, B. x. 10;
but in The Romance of William of Palerne, l. 1811, a lady actually tells
her lover that they can live in the woods on _haws_, hips, acorns, and
hazel-nuts. There is a somewhat similar passage in the Legend of Good
Women, Prol. ll. 73-77. I see no difficulty in this explanation. That
proposed by Mr. Jephson--'hark back'--is out of the question; we cannot
rime _bak_ with _makë_, nor does it make sense.
_Baken_ was a strong verb in M. E., with the pp. _baken_ or _bake_ (A. S.
_bacen_). Dr. Stratmann, apparently by mistake, enters this phrase under
_hawe_, adj. dark grey! But he refrains from explaining _bake_.
96. _I speke in prose_, I generally have to speak in prose in the law
courts; so that if my tale is prosy as compared with Chaucer's, it is only
what you would expect. Dr. Furnivall suggests that perhaps the prose tale
of Melibeus was originally meant to be assigned to the Man of Lawe. See
further in vol. iii. p. 406.
98. _after_, afterwards, immediately hereafter. Cf. _other_ for _otherwise_
in Old English.--M.