'La tua benignità non pur soccorre
A chi dimanda, ma molte fiate
Liberamente al dimandar precorre.
In te misericordia, in te pietate,
In te magnificenza, in te s'aduna
Quantunque in creatura è di bontate.
1668. _goost biforn,_ goest before, dost anticipate. _of_, by. The eighth
stanza of the Seconde Nonnes Tale (G. 50-56) closely resembles ll. 1664-70;
being imitated from the same passage in Dante.
1677. _Gydeth_, guide ye. The plural number is used, as a token of respect,
in addressing superiors. By a careful analysis of the words _thou_ and _ye_
in the Romance of William of Palerne, I deduced the following results,
which are generally true in Mid. English. '_Thou_ is the language of a lord
to a servant, of an equal to an equal, and expresses also companionship,
love, permission, defiance, scorn, threatening: whilst _ye_ is the language
of a servant to a lord, and of compliment, and further expresses honour,
submission, or entreaty. _Thou_ is used with singular verbs, and the
possessive pronoun _thine_; but _ye_ requires plural verbs, and the
possessive _your_.'--Pref. to Will. of Palerne, ed. Skeat, p. xlii. Cf.
Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, sect. 231.
1678. _Asie_, Asia; probably used, as Tyrwhitt suggests, in the sense of
Asia Minor, as in the Acts of the Apostles.
1679. _a Iewerye_, a Jewry, i. e. a Jews' quarter. In many towns there was
formerly a Jews' quarter, distinguished by a special name. There is still
an _Old Jewry_ in London. In John vii. 1 the word is used as equivalent to
_Judea_, as also in other passages in the Bible and in Shakesp. Rich. II,
ii. 1. 55. Chaucer (House of Fame, 1435) says of Josephus--
'And bar upon his shuldres hye
The fame up of the _Jewerye_.'
[176] Thackeray uses the word with an odd effect in his Ballad of 'The
White Squall.' See also note to B. 1749.
1681. _vilanye._ So the six MSS.; Hl. has _felonye_, wrongly. In the margin
of the Ellesmere MS. is written 'turpe lucrum,' i. e. vile gain, which is
evidently the sense intended by _lucre of vilanye_, here put for _villanous
lucre_ or _filthy lucre_, by poetical freedom of diction. See Chaucer's use
of _vilanye_ in the Prologue, A. 70 and A. 726.
1684. _free_, unobstructed. People could ride and walk through, there being
no barriers against horses, and no termination in a _cul de sac_. Cf.
Troilus, ii. 616-8.
1687. _Children an heep_, a heap or great number of children. _Of_ is
omitted before _children_ as it is before _quad yere_ in B. 1628. For
_heep_, see Prologue, A. 575.
1689. _maner doctrine_, kind of learning, i. e. reading and singing, as
explained below. Here again _of_ is omitted, as is usual in M.E. after the
word _maner_; as--'In another _maner_ name,' Rob. of Glouc. vol. i. p. 147;
'with somme _manere_ crafte,' P. Plowman, B. v. 25: 'no _maner_ wight,' Ch.
Prol. A. 71; &c. See Mätzner, Englische Grammatik, ii. 2. 313. _men used_,
people used; equivalent to _was used_. Note this use of _men_ in the same
sense as the French _on_, or German _man_. This is an excellent instance,
as the poet does not refer to _men_ at all, but to _children_. Moreover,
_men_ (spelt _me_ in note to B. 1702) is an attenuated form of the sing.
_man_, and not the usual plural.
1693. _clergeon_, not 'a young clerk' merely, as Tyrwhitt says, but a
happily chosen word implying that he was a chorister as well. Ducange
gives--'_Clergonus_, junior clericus, vel puer choralis; jeune clerc, petit
clerc ou enfant de choeur'; see Migne's edition. And Cotgrave
has--'_Clergeon_, a singing man, or Quirester in a Queer [choir].' It means
therefore 'a chorister-boy.' Cf. Span. _clerizon_, a chorister,
singing-boy; see New E. Dict.
1694. _That_, as for whom. A London street-boy would say--'_which_ he was
used to go to school.' _That ... his_ = whose.
1695. _wher-as_, where that, where. So in Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. i. 2. 58;
Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 38. See Abbott's Shakesp. Grammar, sect. 135.
_thimage_, the image; alluding to an image of the Virgin placed by the
wayside, as is so commonly seen on the continent.
1698. _Ave Marie_; so in Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 35. The words were--'Aue
Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus, et
benedictus fructus uentris tui. Amen.' See the English version in Specimens
of Early English, ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 106. It was made up from Luke i.
28 and i. 42. Sometimes the word _Jesus_ was added after _tui_, and, at a
later period, an additional clause--'Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis
peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.' See Rock, Church of
our Fathers, iii. 315; and iii. pt. 2, 134. [177]
1702. 'For a good child will always learn quickly.' This was a proverbial
expression, and may be found in the Proverbs of Hending, st. 9:--
'Me may lere a sely fode [_one may teach a good child_]
That is euer toward gode
With a lutel lore;
Yef me nul [_if one will not_] him forther teche,
Thenne is [_his_] herte wol areche
Forte lerne more.
_Sely chyld is sone ylered_; Quoth Hendyng.'
1704. _stant_, stands, is. Tyrwhitt says--'we have an account of the very
early piety of this Saint in his lesson; Breviarium Romanum, vi.
Decemb.--Cuius uiri sanctitas quanta futura esset, iam ab incunabulis
apparuit. Nam infans, cum reliquas dies lac nutricis frequens sugeret,
quarta et sexta feria (i. e. _on Wednesdays and Fridays_) semel duntaxat,
idque uesperi, sugebat.' Besides, St. Nicholas was the patron of
schoolboys, and the festival of the 'boy-bishop' was often held on his day
(Dec. 6); Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 2. 215.
1708. _Alma redemptoris mater._ There is more than one hymn with this
beginning, but the one meant is perhaps one of five stanzas printed in
Hymni Latini Medii Ævi, ed. F. J. Mone, vol. ii. p. 200, from a St. Gallen
MS. no. 452, p. 141, of the thirteenth century. The first and last stanzas
were sung in the Marian Antiphon, from the Saturday evening before the 1st
Sunday in Advent to Candlemas day. In l. 4 we have the _salutation_ which
Chaucer mentions (l. 1723), and in the last stanza is the prayer (l. 1724).
These two stanzas are as follows:--
'Alma redemptoris mater,
quam de caelis misit pater
propter salutem gentium;
tibi dicunt omnes "aue!"
quia mundum soluens a uae
mutasti uocem flentium....
Audi, mater pietatis,
nos gementes a peccatis
et a malis nos tuere;
ne damnemur cum impiis,
in aeternis suppliciis,
peccatorum miserere.'
There is another anthem that would suit almost equally well, but hardly
comes so near to Chaucer's description. It occurs in the Roman Breviary,
ed. 1583, p. 112, and was said at compline from Advent eve to Candlemas
day, like the other; cf. l. 1730. The words are:-- [178]
'Alma redemptoris mater, quae peruia caeli
Porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti,
Surgere qui curat, populo: Tu quae genuisti,
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem,
Virgo priùs ac posteriùs, Gabrielis ab ore
Sumens illud "Aue!" peccatorum miserere.'
In the Myrour of Our Lady, ed. Blunt, p. 174, an English translation of the
latter anthem is given, with the heading 'Alma redemptoris mater.'
1709. _antiphoner_, anthem-book. 'The Antiphoner, or Lyggar, was always a
large codex, having in it not merely the words, but the music and the
tones, for all the invitatories, the hymns, responses, versicles, collects,
and little chapters, besides whatever else belonged to the solemn chanting
of masses and lauds, as well as the smaller canonical hours'; Rock, Church
of our Fathers, v. 3, pt. 2, p. 212.
1710. _ner and ner_, nearer and nearer. The phrase _come neor and neor_ (=
come nearer and nearer) occurs in King Alisaunder, in Weber's Metrical
Romances, l. 599.
1713. _was to seye_, was to mean, meant. _To seye_ is the gerundial or
dative infinitive; see Morris, Hist. Outlines of English Accidence, sect.
290.
1716. _Texpounden_, to expound. So also _tallege_ = to allege, Kn. Ta., A.
3000 (Harl. MS.); _tespye_ = to espy, Nonne Pr. Ta., B. 4478. See note to
l. 1733.
1726. _can but smal_, know but little. Cf. 'the compiler is _smal_
learned'; Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, i. 10.--M. Cf. _coude_ = knew, in l.
1735.
1733. _To honoure_; this must be read _tonóure_, like _texpounden_ in l.
1716.
1739. _To scholeward_; cf. _From Bordeaux ward_ in the Prologue, A.
397.--M.
1749. The feeling against Jews seems to have been very bitter, and there
are numerous illustrations of this. In Gower's Conf. Amant. bk. vii, ed.
Pauli, iii. 194, a Jew is represented as saying--
'I am a Jewe, and by my lawe
I shal to no man be felawe
To kepe him trouth in word ne dede.'
In Piers the Plowman, B. xviii. 104, Faith reproves the Jews, and says to
them--
'[gh]e cherles, and [gh]owre children · chieue [_thrive_] shal [gh]e
neure,
Ne haue lordship in londe · ne no londe tylye [_till_],
But al bareyne be · & vsurye vsen,
Which is lyf þat owre lorde · in alle lawes acurseth.'
See also P. Pl., C. v. 194. Usury was forbidden by the canon law, and those
who practised it, chiefly Jews and Lombards, were held to [179] be grievous
sinners. Hence the character of Shylock, and of Marlowe's Jew of Malta. Cf.
note on the Jews in England in the Annals of England, p. 162.
1751. _honest_, honourable; as in the Bible, Rom. xii. 17, &c.
1752. _swich_, such. The sense here bears out the formation of the word
from _so-like_.--M.
1753. _your_, of you. Shakespeare has 'in _your_ despite,' Cymb. i. 6. 135;
'in _thy_ despite,' 1 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 22. _Despite_ is used, like the Early
and Middle English _maugre_, with a genitive; as _maugre þin_, in spite of
thee, in Havelok, ll. 1128, 1789.--M.
1754. 'Which is against the respect due to your law.' Cf. 'spretaeque
iniuria formae'; Æneid, i. 27.
1762. _Wardrobe_, privy. Godefroy's O. F. Dict. shews that _garderobe_
meant not only a wardrobe, or place for keeping robes, &c., but also any
small chamber; hence the sense. See Cotgrave.