1881. _miracle_, pronounced _míracl'_. Tyrwhitt omits _al_, and turns the
word into _mirácle_, unnecessarily.
1883. _hoste_ is so often an evident dissyllable (see l. 1897), that there
is no need to insert _to_ after it, as in Tyrwhitt. In fact, _bigan_ is
seldom followed by _to_.
1885. _what man artow_, what sort of a man art thou?
1886. _woldest finde_, wouldst like to find. We learn from this passage,
says Tyrwhitt, that Chaucer 'was used to look much upon the ground; that he
was of a corpulent habit; and reserved in his behaviour.' We cannot be
quite sure that the poet is serious; but these inferences are probably
correct; cf. Lenvoy a Scogan, 31.
1889. _war you_, mind yourselves, i. e. make way.
1890. _as wel as I_; said ironically. Chaucer is as corpulent as the host
himself. See note to l. 1886 above.
1891. _were_, would be. _tenbrace_, to embrace. In the Romaunt of the Rose,
true lovers are said to be always lean; but deceivers are often fat
enough:--
'For men that shape hem other wey
Falsly hir ladies to bitray,
It is no wonder though they be fat'; l. 2689.
1893. _elvish_, elf-like, akin to the fairies; alluding to his absent looks
[183] and reserved manner. See _Elvish_ in the Glossary, and cf. 'this
_elvish_ nyce lore'; Can. Yeom. Tale, G. 842. Palsgrave has--'I waxe
_eluysshe_, nat easye to be dealed with, _Ie deuiens mal traictable_.'
1900. _Ye_, yea. The difference in Old English between _ye_ and _yis_ (yes)
is commonly well marked. _Ye_ is the weaker form, and merely assents to
what the last speaker says; but _yis_ is an affirmative of great force,
often followed by an oath, or else it answers a question containing a
_negative_ particle, as in the House of Fame, 864. Cf. B. 4006 below.