634. _on the list_, on the ear. Such is the sense of _lust_ in the Ancren
Riwle, p. 212, l. 7, where the editor mistakes it. In Sir Ferumbras, l.
1900, mention is made of a man striking another 'on the luste' with his
hand. The original sense of A. S. _hlyst_ is the sense of 'hearing'; but
the Icel. _hlust_ commonly means 'ear.' Cf. E. _listen_. For _on the list_,
Hl. Cm. and Tyrwhitt have _with his fist_; but Tyrwhitt, in his note on the
line, inclines to the reading here given, and quotes from Sir T. More's
poem entitled 'A Merry Jest of a Serjeant,' the lines:--
'And with his fist
_Upon the lyst_
He gave hym such a blow.'
This juvenile poem is printed at length in the Preface to Todd's edition of
Johnson's Dictionary, ed. 1827, i. 64.
640. 'Although he had sworn _to the contrary_'; see a similar use of this
phrase in A. 1089; and the note at p. 65.
642. _Romayn gestes_, the 'Roman gests,' in the collection called Gesta
Romanorum, or stories of a like character. The reference, however, in this
case is to Valerius Maximus, lib. vi. c. 3, as is certified by the note in
the margin of E., viz. 'Valerius, lib. vi. fol. 19.' The passage is:
'Horridum C. quoque Sulpicii Galli maritale supercilium. Nam uxorem
dimisit, quod eam _capite aperto_ foris versatam cognouerat.'
647. This story is from the same chapter in Valerius. The passage is:
'Jungendus est his P. Sempronius Sophus, qui coniugem repudii nota affecit,
nihil aliud quam se ignorante _ludos_ ausam spectare.'
648. _someres game_, summer-game; called _somer-game_ in P. Plowman, B. v.
413; and, in later English, a _summering_; a rural sport at Midsummer. The
great day was on Midsummer eve, and the games consisted of athletic sports,
followed usually by bonfires. See Brand's Pop. Antiquities; Strutt, Sports
and Pastimes, bk. iv. c. 3. § 22; the description of the Cotswold Games in
Chambers, Book of Days, i. 714; the word _Summering_ in Nares' Glossary,
&c. They were not always respectably conducted. [308]
'Daunces, karols, _somour-games_,
Of manye swych come many shames.'
Rob. of Brunne, Handl. Synne, l. 4684.
'As the common sorte of vnfaythfull women are wonte to goe forth vnto
weddynges and _may-games_'; Paraphr. of Erasmus, 1549; Tim. f. 8. Stubbes
is severe upon May-games and Whitsun-games; see his Anatomy of Abuses, ed.
Furnivall (Shak. Soc.), p. 149.
651. See Ecclus. xxv. 25:--'Give the water no passage; neither a wicked
woman liberty to gad abroad.' The Latin version is here quoted in the
margin of E.
655. This is clearly a quotation of some old saying, as shewn by the metre,
which here varies, and becomes irregular. There is a slightly different
version of it in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 233:--
'Who that byldeth his howse all of salos,
And prikketh a blynde horsse over the falowes,
And suffereth his wif to seke many halos,
God sende hym the blisse of everlasting galos!'
The proverb implies that these three things are the signs of a foolish man.
_Salwes_ are osiers; the osier is commonly called _sally_ in Shropshire,
and the same name is given to all kinds of willows. It is not from the Lat.
_salix_ directly, but from the native A. S. _sealh_, which is merely
cognate with _salix_, not borrowed from it. The three foolish things to do
are; to build a house all of osiers, to spur a blind horse over a
fallow-field, and to allow a wife to go on a pilgrimage. To go on a
pilgrimage is here called 'to seek hallows,' i. e. saints, or saints'
shrines; and the expression was a common one; cf. A. 14. 'Gone to seke
hallows' occurs in Skelton, i. 426, l. 7, ed. Dyce; and the editor quotes
two more examples at p. 337 of vol. ii.
659. 'I do not care the value of a haw for his proverbs.' In l. 660, _nof_
stands for _ne of_; see footnote.