531. The final _e_ in _plese_ is preserved from elision by the cæsural
pause. Or, we may read _plesen_; yet the MSS. have _plese_.
533. _Hermengild_; spelt _Hermyngild_ in Trivet; answering to A. S.
_Eormengild_ (Lappenberg, Hist. England, i. 285). Note that St. Hermengild
was martyred just at this very time, Apr. 13, 846.
543. _plages_, regions; we even find the word in Marlowe's Tamburlaine, pt.
i. act iv. sc. 4, and pt. ii. act i. sc. 1. The latter passage is--'From
Scythia to the oriental _plage_ Of India.'
552. 'Eyes of his mind.' Jean de Meun has the expression _les yex de cuer_,
the eyes of the heart; see his Testament, ll. 1412, 1683.
578. _Alla_, i. e. Ælla, king of Northumberland, A.D. 560-567; the same
whose name Gregory (afterwards Pope) turned, by a pun, into Alleluia,
according to the version of the celebrated story about Gregory and the
English slaves, as given in Beda, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. c. 1. [157]
584. _quyte her whyle_, repay her time; i. e. her pains, trouble; as when
we say 'it is worth _while_.' _Wile_ is _not_ intended.
585. 'The plot of the knight against Constance, and also her subsequent
adventure with the steward, are both to be found, with some variations, in
a story in the Gesta Romanorum, ch. 101; MS. Harl. 2270. Occleve has
versified the whole story'; Tyrwhitt. See vol. iii. p. 410, for further
information. Compare the conduct of Iachimo, in Cymbeline.