In the Royal Wills, ed. Nichols, p. 278, we find:--'wher I have beforn
ordeyned and _do mad_ [caused to be made] my tombe.'
The infinitive appears to have been _fraughten_, though the earliest
certain examples of this form seem to be those in Shakespeare, Cymb. i. 1.
126, Temp. i. 2. 13. The proper form of the pp. was _fraughted_ (as in
Marlowe, 2 Tamb. i. 2. 33), but the loss of final _-ed_ in past participles
of verbs of which the stem ends in _t_ is common; cf. _set_, _put_, &c.
Hence this form _fraught_ as a pp. in the present instance. It is a
Scandinavian word, from Swed. _frakta_, Dan. _fragte_. At a later period we
find _freight_, the mod. E. form. The vowel-change is due to the fact that
there was an intermediate form _fret_, borrowed from the French form _fret_
of the Scandinavian word. This form _fret_ disturbed the vowel-sound,
without wholly destroying the recollection of the original guttural _gh_,
due to the Swed. _k_. For an example of _fret_, we have only to consult the
old black-letter editions of Chaucer printed in 1532 and 1561, which give
us the present line in the form--'These marchantes han don _fret_ her ships
new.'
185. _ceriously_, 'seriously,' i. e. with great minuteness of detail. Used
by Fabyan, who says that 'to reherce _ceryously_' all the conquests of
Henry V would fill a volume; Chron., ed. Ellis, p. 589. Skelton, in his
Garland of Laurell, l. 581, has: 'And _seryously_ she shewyd me ther
denominacyons'; on which Dyce remarks that it means _seriatim_, and gives a
clear example. It answers to the Low Latin _seriose_, used in two senses;
(1) seriously, gravely; (2) minutely, [147] fully. In the latter case it is
perhaps to be referred to the Lat. _series_, not _serius_. A similar word,
_cereatly_ (Lat. _seriatim_), is found three times in the Romance of
Partenay, ed. Skeat, with the sense of _in due order_; cf. _Ceriatly_ and
_Ceryows_ in the New E. Dict.
In N. and Q. 7 S. xii. 183, I shewed that Lydgate has at least _ten_
examples of this use of the word in his Siege of Troye. In one instance it
is spelt _seryously_ (with _s_).
190. This refers to the old belief in astrology and the casting of
nativities. Cf. Prol. A. 414-418. Observe that ll. 190-203 are not in the
original, and were doubtless added in revision. This is why _this sowdan_
in l. 186 is so far separated from the repetition of the same words in l.
204.
197. Tyrwhitt shews that this stanza is imitated closely from some Latin
lines, some of which are quoted in the margin of many MSS. of Chaucer. He
quotes them at length from the Megacosmos of Bernardus Silvestris, a poet
of the twelfth century (extant in MS. Bodley 1265). The lines are as
follows, it being premised that those printed in italics are cited in the
margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. and Ln.:--
'Praeiacet in stellis series, quam longior aetas
Explicet et spatiis temporis ordo suis,
_Sceptra Phoronei, fratrum discordia Thebis,_
_Flamma Phaethontis Deucalionis aque_.
In stellis Codri paupertas, copia Croesi,
Incestus Paridis, Hippolytique pudor.
_In stellis Priami species, audacia Turni,_
_Sensus Ulixeus, Herculeusque uigor._
In stellis pugil est Pollux et nauita Typhis,
Et Cicero rhetor et geometra Thales.
In stellis lepidum dictat Maro, Milo figurat,
Fulgurat in Latia nobilitate Nero.
Astra notat Persis, Ægyptus parturit artes,
Graecia docta legit, praelia Roma gerit.'
See Bernardi Sylvestris Megacosmos, ed. C.S. Barach and J. Wrobel,
Innsbruck, 1876, p. 16. The names _Ector_ (Hector), &c., are too well known
to require comment. The death of Turnus is told at the end of Vergil's
Æneid.
207, 208. Here _have_, forming part of the phrase _mighte have grace_, is
unemphatic, whilst _han_ (for _haven_) is emphatic, and signifies
possession. See _han_ again in l. 241.