4641. Repeated from B. 3135.
4643. _Thee wer-e nede_, there would be need for thee.
4649. _brasil_, a wood used for dyeing of a _bright red_ colour; hence the
allusion. It is mentioned as being used for dyeing leather in Riley's
Memorials of London, p. 364. '_Brazil-wood_; this name is now applied in
trade to the dye-wood imported from Pernambuco, which is derived from
certain species of _Cæsalpinia_ indigenous there. But it originally applied
to a dye-wood of the same genus which was imported from India, and which is
now known in trade as _Sappan_. The history of the word is very curious.
For when the name was applied to the newly discovered region in S. America,
probably, as Barros alleges, because it produced a dye-wood similar in
character to the _brazil_ of the East, the trade-name gradually became
appropriated to the S. American product, and was taken away from that of
the E. Indies. See some further remarks in Marco Polo, ed. Yule, 2nd ed.
ii. 368-370.
'This is alluded to also by Camo[e]s (Lusiad, x. 140). Burton's
translation has:--
"But here, where earth spreads wider, ye shall claim
Realms by the _ruddy dye-wood_ made renowned;
These of the 'Sacred Cross' shall win the name,
By your first navy shall that world be found."
'The medieval forms of _brazil_ were many; in Italian, it is generally
_verzi_, _verzino_, or the like.'--Yule, Hobson-Jobson, p. 86.
Again--'_Sappan_, the wood of _Cæsalpinia sappan_; the _baqqam_ of the
Arabs, and the Brazil-wood of medieval commerce. The tree appears to be
indigenous in Malabar, the Deccan, and the Malay peninsula.'--id. p. 600.
And in Yule's edition of Marco Polo, ii. 315, he tells us that 'it is
extensively used by native dyers, chiefly for common and cheap [259]
cloths, and for fine mats. The dye is precipitated dark-brown with iron,
and red with alum.'
Cf. Way's note on the word in the Prompt. Parv. p. 47.
Florio explains Ital. _verzino_ as 'brazell woode, or fernanbucke
[Pernambuco] to dye red withall.'
The etymology is disputed, but I think _brasil_ and Ital. _verzino_ are
alike due to the Pers. _wars_, saffron; cf. Arab. _war[=i]s_, dyed with
saffron or _wars_.
_greyn of Portingale._ _Greyn_, mod. E. _grain_, is the term applied to the
dye produced by the coccus insect, often termed, in commerce and the arts,
_kermes_; see Marsh, Lectures on the E. Language, Lect. III. The colour
thus produced was 'fast,' i. e. would not wash out; hence the phrase to
_engrain_, or to _dye in grain_, meaning to dye of a fast colour. Various
tones of red were thus produced, one of which was _crimson_, and another
_carmine_, both forms being derivatives of _kermes_. _Of Portingale_ means
'imported from Portugal.' In the Libell of English Policy, cap. ii. (l.
132), it is said that, among 'the commoditees of _Portingale_' are:--'oyl,
wyn, osey [Alsace wine], wex, and _graine_.'
4652. _to another_, to another of the pilgrims. This is so absurdly
indefinite that it can hardly be genuine. Ll. 4637-4649 are in Chaucer's
most characteristic manner, and are obviously genuine; but there, I
suspect, we must stop, viz. at the word _Portingale_. The next three lines
form a mere stop-gap, and are either spurious, or were jotted down
temporarily, to await the time of revision. The former is more probable.
This Epilogue is only found in three MSS.; (see footnote, p. 289). In Dd.,
Group G follows, beginning with the Second Nun's Tale. In the other two
MSS., Group H follows, i. e. the Manciple's Tale; nevertheless, MS. Addit.
absurdly puts _the Nunne_, in place of _another_. The net result is, that,
at this place, the gap is _complete_; with no hint as to what Tale should
follow.
It is worthy of note that this Epilogue is preserved in Thynne and the old
black-letter editions, in which it is followed immediately by the
Manciple's Prologue. This arrangement is obviously wrong, because that
Prologue is not introduced by the Host (as said in l. 4652).
In l. 4650, Thynne has _But_ for _Now_; and his last line runs--'Sayd to a
nother man, as ye shal here.' I adopt his reading of _to_ for _unto_ (as in
the MSS.).
* * * * *
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