_shipnes_, stables, or cow-houses; see A. 2000. '_Shippen_, _Shuppen_, a
cow-house'; E. D. S. Gloss. B. 1. '_Shippen_, an ox-house'; id. B. 6.
'_Shuppen_, a cow-house'; id. B. 7; '_Shippen_, a cow-house'; id. B. 15.
875. _undermeles_, for _undern-meles_, undern-times. For the time of
_undern_, see note to E. 260. _Meel_ (pl. _meles_) is the A. S. _m[=æ]l_, a
time. The time referred to, _in this particular instance_, seems to be the
middle of the afternoon; or simply 'afternoons,' as opposed to 'mornings.'
For this sense, cf. 'Undermele, _Postmeridies_,' in the Prompt. Parv.
Nares, s. v. _under-meal_, gives other instances; but he fails to realise
the changeable sense of the word; and is quite wrong in saying (s. v.
_undertime_) that the last-named word is unconnected with _undern_. He also
wrongly dissociates _undern_ from _arndern_ and _orndern_.
876. 'All religious persons were bound, if possible, to recite the divine
office ... at the proper hour, in the choir; but secular priests, not
living in common, and friars, being by their rule obliged to walk about
within their limitation, to beg their maintenance, were allowed to say it
privately,... as they walked.'--Bell. Cf. B. 1281.
880. _incubus._ Milton (P. R. ii. 152) speaks of Belial as being, after
Asmodai, 'the fleshliest incubus.' Mr. Jerram's note on the line says:
'Some of the ejected angels were believed not to have fallen into hell, but
to have remained in the middle of the region of air (P. R. ii. 117), where
in various shapes they tempt men to sin. It was said that they hoped to
counteract the effects of Christ's coming by engendering with some virgin a
semi-demon, who should be a power of evil. In this way Merlin, and even
Luther, were reported to have been [316] begotten.' See the Romance of
Merlin, ed. Wheatley, ch. i. pp. 9, 10; and the poem of Merlin in the Percy
Folio MS.
881. Tyrwhitt and others adopt the reading _no dishonour_, as in the old
black-letter editions; and MS. Cm. has the reading _non_. At first sight,
this looks right, but a little reflection will incline us rather to adopt
the reading of nearly all the MSS., as given in the present text. For to
say that the friar was an incubus, and yet did women no dishonour, is
contradictory. The meaning is, possibly, that the friar brought upon women
dishonour, and nothing more; whereas the incubus never failed to cause
conception. Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 257) adopts the reading here
given, but interprets it thus:--'The dishonour of a woman is, in the eyes
of the Wife of Bath, to be reckoned not as a crime, but as a peccadillo.'
(See the whole passage.) The subject will hardly bear further discussion;
but it is impossible to ignore the repeated charges of immorality brought
against the friars by Wyclif and others. Wyclif says--'thei slen wommen
that withstonden hem in this synne'; Works, ed. Matthew, p. 6.
884. _fro river_, i. e. he was returning from hawking at the river-side.
See B. 1927, and the note.
887. _maugree hir heed_, lit. 'in spite of her head,' i. e. in spite of all
she could do, without her consent. Cf. A. 1169, 2618; also I. 974, where we
find:--'if the womman, _maugree hir heed_, hath been afforced.' Mätzner
remarks that, in some cases, we find a part of the head referred to,
instead of the whole head. Hence the expressions: _maugre his nose_, Rob.
of Gloucester, 2090 (p. 94, ed. Hearne); _maugree thyne yen_, Ch. C. T., D.
315; _maugree hir eyen two_, id., A. 1796; _maugree my chekes_, Allit.
Poems, ed. Morris, C. 54; _m. here chekis_, P. Plowman, B. iv. 50; &c.
909. _lere_, learn; as in B. 181, 630, C. 325, 578, &c. But the right sense
is 'teach.' See l. 921.
_twelf-month_, &c. 'There seems to have been some mysterious importance
attached to this particular time of grace,' &c.--Bell. I think not. The
solution is simply, that it takes an extra day to make the date agree. If
we fix any date, as Nov. 21, 1890, the space of a year afterwards only
brings us to Nov. 20, 1891; if we want to keep to the _same day_ of the
month, we must make the space include 'a year and a day.' This is what any
one would naturally do; and that is all. Cf. A. 1850, and the note. '_Year
and Day_, is a time that determines a right in many cases;... So is the
_Year and Day_ given in case of Appeal, in case of Descent after Entry or
Claim,' &c.; Cowell, Intrepreter of Words and Terms. See l. 916 below; and
cf. _Eight days_, i. e. a week, in the New Eng. Dictionary.