'Sovent voise à la mestre eglise,
Et face visitacions,
A noces, à processions,
A geus, à festes, à karoles,' &c.
556. _vigilies_, festivals held on the eves or vigils of saints' days. See
note to A. 377.
557. For _preching_, Cm. has _prechyngis_, and Hl. _prechings_; but all the
rest have _preching_, which I therefore retain. _To preching_ means 'to any
place where a sermon was being preached'; much as we say 'to church.' But
the sermons were often given in the open air. The Wife's object was to go
wherever there was a concourse of people, in order to shew her best
clothes. Women still go 'to church' for a like [305] reason. Wycliff speaks
strongly of the evil of pilgrimages; see his Works, ed. Matthew, p. 279;
ed. Arnold, i. 83.
558. 'The miracle-plays were favourite occasions for people to assemble in
great numbers.'--Wright. Wright refers to a tale among his Latin Stories,
p. 100. See the Sermon against Miracle-Plays, in Reliquiae Antiquae, ii.
42; reprinted in Mätzner's Sprachproben, ii. 224.
559. 'And wore upon (me) my gay scarlet gowns.' The use of _upon_ without a
case following it is curious; but see D. 1018, 1382 below.
The word _gyte_ occurs again in A. 3954, where Simkin's wife wears 'a
_gyte_ of reed,' i. e. a red gown. Nares shews that it is used thrice by
Gascoigne, and once by Fairfax. The sense of 'robe' will suit the passage
there quoted. Skelton has _gyte_ in Elynour, l. 68, where the sense of
'robe' or 'dress' is certain. It is clearly the same word as the Lowland
Scotch _gyde_, a dress, robe; see note to A. 3954 (p. 118). That the word
meant both 'veil' and 'gown' appears from the fact that Roquefort explains
the derived O. F. _wiart_ as a veil with which women cover their faces;
whilst Godefroy explains its variant form _guiart_ as a dress or vestment.
560. The sense is; 'the worms, moths, and mites never fretted them (i. e.
my dresses) one whit; I say it at my peril.' There is no difficulty, and
the reading is quite correct. Yet Tyrwhitt altered _peril_ to _paraille_,
which he explains by 'apparel,' and Wright actually explains _perel_, in
the Harl. MS., in the same way! Such an explanation turns the whole into
nonsense, as it could then only mean: 'the worms, &c. never devoured
_themselves_ (!) at all upon my apparel.' Tyrwhitt evidently took it to
mean 'never _fed_ themselves upon (i. e. with) my apparel'; but it is
impossible that _frete hem_ could ever be so interpreted. _Frete_ can only
mean 'devoured,' and it requires an accusative case; this accusative is
_hem_, which can only refer to the _gytes_ or 'gowns.' And this leaves no
other sense for _peril_ except precisely 'peril,' which is of course right.
_Upon my peril_ is clearly a phrase, with the same sense as 'at my peril.'
The phrase is no recondite one; cf. Rich. III. iv. i. 26, where we find 'on
my peril'; and again, 'upon his peril,' in Antony, v. 2. 143; Cymbeline, v.
4. 189.
566. _of my purveyance_, owing to my prudence, or prudent foresight; cf. l.
570. _Purveyance_, _providence_, and _prudence_ are mere variants; from
Lat. _prouidentia_.