'If God will me grace send,
Or this day come to an end
I hope him for to spill,' &c.
Another giant, 20 feet long, and 2 ells broad, with two boar's tusks, and
also with brows like bristles of a swine, appears in Octouian Imperator,
ed. Weber, iii. 196. See also the alliterative Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, p.
33.
2000. _child_; see note to l. 2020. _Termagaunt_; one of the idols whom the
Saracens (in the medieval romances) are supposed to worship. See The King
of Tars, ed. Ritson (Met. Rom., ii. 174-182), where the Sultan's gods are
said to be Jubiter, Jovin (both forms of Jupiter), Astrot (Astarte), Mahoun
(Mahomet), Appolin (Apollo), Plotoun (Pluto), and _Tirmagaunt_. Lybeaus
Disconus (Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 55) fought with a giant 'that levede yn
Termagaunt.' The Old French form is _Tervagant_, Ital. _Tervagante_ or
_Trivigante_, as in Ariosto. Wheeler, in his Noted Names of Fiction, gives
the following account--'Ugo Foscolo says: "_Trivigante_, whom the
predecessors of Ariosto always couple with Apollino, is really Diana
_Trivia_, the sister of the classical Apollo.".... According to Panizzi,
_Trivagante_ or _Tervagante_ is the Moon, or Diana, or Hecate, _wandering
under three names_. _Termagant_ was an imaginary being, supposed by the
crusaders, who confounded Mahometans with pagans, to be a Mahometan deity.
This imaginary personage was introduced into early English plays and
moralities, and was represented as of a most violent character, so that a
ranting actor might always appear to advantage in it. See Hamlet, iii. 2.
15.' Fairfax, in his translation of Tasso (c. i. st. 84), speaks of
Termagaunt and Mahound, but Tasso mentions 'Macometto' only. See also
Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 47. Hence comes our _termagant_ in the sense of a
noisy boisterous woman. Shakespeare has--'that hot [192] _termagant_ Scot';
1 Hen. IV., v. 2. 114. Cf. Ritson's note, Met. Rom. iii. 257.
2002. _slee_, will slay. In Anglo-Saxon, there being no distinct future
tense, it is expressed by the present. Cf. _go_ for _will go_ in 'we also
_go_ with thee'; John xxi. 3.
2005. _simphonye_, the name of a kind of tabor. In Ritson's Ancient Songs,
i. lxiv., is a quotation from Hawkins's Hist. of Music, ii. 284, in which
that author cites a passage from Batman's translation of Bartholomaeus de
Proprietatibus Rerum, to the effect that the _symphonie_ was 'an instrument
of musyke ... made of an holowe tree [i. e. piece of wood], closyd in
lether in eyther syde; and mynstrels beteth it with styckes.' Probably the
_symphangle_ was the same instrument. In Rob. of Brunne's Handlyng Synne,
ll. 4772-3, we find:--
'Yn harpe, yn thabour, and _symphangle_,
Wurschepe God, yn trumpes and sautre.'
Godefroy gives the O. F. spellings _cifonie_, _siphonie_, _chifonie_,
_cinfonie_, _cymphonie_, &c.; all clearly derived from the Greek [Greek:
sumphônia]; see Luke, xv. 25. Cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 1070-7.
2007. _al-so mote I thee_, as I may thrive; or, as I hope to thrive; a
common expression. Cf. 'So mote y thee'; Sir Eglamour, ed. Halliwell, l.
430; Occleve, De Regimine Principum, st. 620. Chaucer also uses 'so thee
ik,' i. e. so thrive I, in the Reves Prologue (A. 3864) and elsewhere.
2012. _Abyen it ful soure_, very bitterly shalt thou pay for it. There is a
confusion between A. S. _súr_, sour, and A. S. _sár_, sore, in this and
similar phrases; both were used once, but now we should use _sorely_, not
_sourly_. In Layamon, l. 8158, we find 'þou salt it sore abugge,' thou
shalt sorely pay for it; on the other hand, we find in P. Plowman, B. ii.
140:--
'It shal bisitte [gh]owre soules · ful _soure_ atte laste.'
So also in the C-text, though the A-text has _sore_. Note that in another
passage, P. Plowman, B. xviii. 401, the phrase is--'Thow shalt abye it
_bittre_.' For _abyen_, see the Glossary.
2015. _fully pryme._ See note to Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4045. _Prime_
commonly means the period from 6 to 9 a.m. _Fully prime_ refers to the end
of that period, or 9 a.m.; and even _prime_ alone may be used with the same
explicit meaning, as in the Nonne Pres. Ta., B. 4387.
2019. _staf-slinge._ Tyrwhitt observes that Lydgate describes David as
armed only 'with a _staffe-slynge_, voyde of plate and mayle.' It certainly
means a kind of sling in which additional power was gained by fastening the
lithe part of it on to the end of a stiff stick. _Staff-slyngeres_ are
mentioned in the romance of Richard Coer de Lion, l. 4454, in Weber's
Metrical Romances, ii. 177. In Col. Yule's edition of Marco Polo, ii. 122,
is a detailed description of the artillery engines of the middle ages. They
can all be reduced to two classes; those [193] which, like the trebuchet
and mangonel, are enlarged staff-slings, and those which, like the arblast
and springold, are great cross-bows. Conversely, we might describe a
staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.
2020. _child Thopas._ _Child_ is an appellation given to both knights and
squires, in the early romances, at an age when they had long passed the
period which we now call childhood. A good example is to be found in the
Erle of Tolous, ed. Ritson, iii. 123:--
'He was a feyre chylde, and a bolde,
_Twenty wyntur he was oolde_,
In londe was none so free.'
Compare Romance of 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' pr. in Ritson, iii.
282; the ballad of Childe Waters, &c. Byron, in his preface to Childe
Harold, says--'It is almost superfluous to mention that the appellation
"Childe," as "Childe Waters," "Childe Childers," &c., is used as more
consonant with the old structure of versification which I have adopted.' He
adopts, however, the late and artificial metre of Spenser.
2023. A palpable imitation. The first three lines of Sir Bevis of Hampton
(MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. ii. 38, leaf 94, back) are--
'Lordynges, lystenyth, grete and smale,
_Meryar then the nyghtyngale_
I wylle yow synge.
In a long passage in Todd's Illustrations to Chaucer, pp. 284-292, it is
contended that _mery_ signifies sweet, pleasant, agreeable, without
relation to mirth. Chaucer describes the Frere as wanton and _merry_, Prol.
A. 208; he speaks of the _merry_ day, Kn. Ta. 641 (A. 1499); a _merry_
city, N. P. Ta. 251 (B. 4261); of Arcite being told by Mercury to be
_merry_, i. e. of good cheer, Kn. Ta. 528 (A. 1386); in the Manciple's Tale
(H. 138), the crow sings _merrily_, and makes a _sweet_ noise;
Chanticleer's voice was _merrier_ than the _merry_ organ, N. P. Ta. 31 (B.
4041); the 'erbe yve' is said to be _merry_, i. e. pleasant, agreeable, id.
146 (B. 4156); the Pardoner (Prol. A. 714) sings _merrily_ and loud. We
must remember, however, that the Host, being 'a _mery_ man,' began to speak
of '_mirthe_'; Prol. A. 757, 759. A very early example of the use of the
word occurs in the song attributed to Canute--'_Merie_ sungen the Muneches
binnen Ely,' &c. See the phrase '_mery_ men' in l. 2029.
2028. The phrase _to come to toune_ seems to mean no more than simply _to
return_. Cf. Specimens of E. Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 48--
'Lenten ys _come_ wiþ loue _to toune_'--
which merely means that spring, with its thoughts of love, has _returned_.
See the note on that line.
2034. _for paramour_, for love; but the _par_, or else the _for_, is
redundant. _Iolite_, amusement; used ironically in the Kn. Ta. 949 (A.
1807). Sir Thopas is going to fight the giant for the love and amusement of
[194] one who shone full bright; i. e. a fair lady, of course. But Sir
Thopas, in dropping this mysterious hint to his merry men, refrains from
saying much about it, as he had not yet seen the Fairy Queen, and had only
the giant's word for her place of abode. The use of the past tense _shone_
is artful; it implies that he wished them to think that he _had_ seen his
lady-love; or else that her beauty was to be taken for granted. Observe,
too, that it is _Sir Thopas_, not _Chaucer_, who assigns to the giant his
_three_ heads.
2035. _Do come_, cause to come; go and call hither. Cf. House of Fame, l.
1197:--
'Of alle maner of _minstrales_,
And _gestiours_, _that tellen tales_
Bothe of weping and of _game_.'
Tyrwhitt's note on _gestours_ is--'The proper business of a _gestour_ was
to _recite tales_, or _gestes_; which was only _one_ of the branches of the
Minstrel's profession. _Minstrels_ and _gestours_ are mentioned together in
the following lines from William of Nassyngton's Translation of a religious
treatise by John of Waldby; MS. Reg. 17 C. viii. p. 2:--
I warne you furst at the beginninge,
That I will make no vain carpinge
Of dedes of armys ne of amours,
As dus _mynstrelles_ and _jestours_,
That makys carpinge in many a place
Of _Octoviane_ and _Isembrase_,
And of many other _jestes_,
And namely, whan they come to festes;
Ne of the life of _Bevys of Hampton_,
That was a knight of gret renoun,
Ne of _Sir Gye of Warwyke_,
All if it might sum men lyke, &c.
I cite these lines to shew the species of tales related by the ancient
Gestours, and how much they differed from what we now call _jests_.'
The word _geste_ here means a tale of the adventures of some hero, like
those in the _Chansons de geste_. Cf. note to l. 2123 below. Sometimes the
plural _gestes_ signifies passages of history. The famous collection called
the Gesta Romanorum contains narratives of very various kinds.
2038. _royales_, royal; some MSS. spell the word _reales_, but the meaning
is the same. In the romance of Ywain and Gawain (Ritson, vol. i.) a maiden
is described as reading 'a _real_ romance.' Tyrwhitt thinks that the term
originated with an Italian collection of romances relating to Charlemagne,
which began with the words--'Qui se comenza la hystoria el _Real di
Franza_,' &c.; edit. Mutinae, 1491, folio. It was reprinted in 1537, with a
title beginning--'_I reali di Franza_,' &c. He refers to Quadrío, t. vi. p.
530. The word _roial_ (in some MSS. _real_) [195] occurs again in l. 2043.
Kölbing remarks that the prose romance of Generides is called _a royal
historie_, though it has nothing to do with Charlemagne.
2043. No comma is required at the end of this line; the articles mentioned
in ll. 2044-6 all belong to _spicery_. Cf. additional note to Troilus, vol.
ii. p. 506.
2047. _dide_, did on, put on. The arming of Lybeaus Disconus is thus
described in Ritson's Met. Rom. ii. 10:--
'They caste on hym a scherte of selk,
A gypell as whyte as melk,
In that semely sale;
And syght [_for_ sith] an hawberk bryght,
That rychely was adyght
Wyth mayles thykke and smale.'
2048. _lake_, linen; see Glossary. 'De panno de lake'; York Wills, iii. 4
(anno 1395).
2050. _aketoun_, a short sleeveless tunic. Cf. Liber Albus, p. 376.
'And Florentyn, with hys ax so broun,
All thorgh he smoot
Arm and mayle, and _akketoun_,
Thorghout hyt bot [_bit_]';
Octouian, ed. Weber, iii. 205.
'For plate, ne for _acketton_,
For hauberk, ne for campeson';
Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 18.
The Glossary to the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall,
has--'_Acton_, a wadded or quilted tunic worn under the
hauberk.--_Planché_, i. 108.' Thynne, in his Animadversions (Early Eng.
Text Soc.), p. 24, says--'_Haketon_ is a slevelesse jackett of plate for
the warre, couered withe anye other stuffe; at this day also called _a
jackett of plate_.'
It is certain that the plates were a later addition. It is the mod. F.
_hoqueton_, O. F. _auqueton_; and it is certain that the derivation is from
Arab. _al-qoton_ or _al-qutun_, lit. 'the cotton'; so that it was
originally made of quilted _cotton_. See _auqueton_ in Godefroy, _hoqueton_
in Devic's Supp. to Littré, and _Acton_ in the New E. Dict.
2051. _habergeoun_, coat of mail. See Prol. A. 76, and the note.
2052. _For percinge_, as a protection against the piercing. So in P.
Plowman, B. vi. 62, Piers puts on his cuffs, 'for colde of his nailles,'
i. e. as a protection against the cold. So too in the Rom. of the Rose, l.
4229.
2053. The hauberk is here put on as an upper coat of mail, of finer
workmanship and doubtless more flexible.
'The _hauberk_ was al reed of rust,
His platys thykke and swythe just';
Octouian, ed. Weber, iii. 200.
[196]
'He was armed wonder weel,
And al with plates off good steel,
_And ther aboven, an hawberk_';
Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 222.
2054. _Jewes werk_, Jew's work. Tyrwhitt imagined that _Jew_ here means a
magician, but there is not the least foundation for the idea. Mr. Jephson
is equally at fault in connecting _Jew_ with _jewel_, since the latter word
is etymologically connected with _joy_. The phrase still remains
unexplained. I suspect it means no more than wrought with rich or expensive
work, such as Jews could best find the money for. It is notorious that they
were the chief capitalists, and they must often have had to find money for
paying armourers. Or, indeed, it may refer to damascened work; from the
position of Damascus.
2055. _plate._ Probably the hauberk had a breastplate on the front of it.
But on the subject of armour, I must refer the reader to Godwin's English
Archaeologist's Handbook, pp. 252-268; Planché's History of British
Costume, and Sir S. R. Meyrick's Observations on Body-armour, in the
Archaeologia, vol. xix. pp. 120-145.
2056. The _cote-armour_ was not for defence, but a mere surcoat on which
the knight's armorial bearings were usually depicted, in order to identify
him in the combat or 'debate.' Hence the modern _coat-of-arms_.
2059. _reed_, red. In the Romances, _gold_ is always called _red_, and
silver _white_. Hence it was not unusual to liken gold to blood, and this
explains why Shakespeare speaks of armour being _gilt_ with blood (King
John, ii. 1. 316), and makes Lady Macbeth talk of _gilding_ the groom's
faces with blood (Macbeth, ii. 2. 56). See also Coriol. v. 1. 63, 64; and
the expression 'blood bitokeneth gold'; Cant. Tales, D. 581.