'Becum thow cowart, craudoun recryand,
And by consent _cry cok_, thi deid is dycht';
i. e. if thou turn coward, (and) a recreant craven, and consent to cry
_cok_, thy death is imminent. In a note on this passage, Ruddiman
says--'_Cok_ is the sound which cocks utter when they are beaten.' But it
is probable that this is only a guess, and that Douglas is merely quoting
Chaucer. To cry _cok! cok!_ refers rather to the utterance of rapid cries
of alarm, as fowls cry when scared. Brand (Pop. Antiq., ed. Ellis, ii. 58)
copies Ruddiman's explanation of the above passage.
4484. Boethius wrote a treatise De Musica, quoted by Chaucer in the Hous of
Fame; see my note to l. 788 of that poem (vol. iii. p. 260).