'To som woman it is plesaunce
That to another is grevaunce'; &c.
[317]
929-30. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 9977-94. For _y-plesed_, Tyrwhitt and Wright
read _y-preised_, contrary to the seven best MSS.; which gives an imperfect
rime. _preysed_ rimes with _reysed_ (D. 706).
940. _galle_, sore place. '_Galle_, soore yn man or beeste'; Prompt. Parv.
'Let the _galled_ jade wince'; Hamlet, iii. 2. 253.
_clawe_ means 'to scratch'; and to _clawe upon the galle_ is to scratch or
rub a sore. This may be taken in two ways; hence the difficulty about the
reading in l. 941, where E. Cm. have _kike_, i. e. kick, whilst Hn. Hl.
have _like_, and Cp. Pt. Ln. have _loke or he seith us soth_. The last of
these three variations gives no sense, and is certainly wrong; but either
of the other readings will serve. I take them in order.
(1) _kike_, kick. Here the sense is:--'if any one scratch us on a sore
place (and so hurt us), we shall kick, because he tells us the truth (too
plainly).' This goes well with the context, as it answers to the _repreve
us of our vyce_ in l. 937.
(2) _like_, like (it), be pleased. Here the sense is:--'if any one stroke
us on a sore place (and so soothe the itching), we shall be pleased,
because he tells us the truth (or what we think to be the truth).' But I
feel inclined to reject this reading, because it gives so forced a sense to
the words--_for he seith us sooth_. There is, however, no difficulty about
the use of _claw_ in the sense of 'to rub lightly, so as to soothe
irritation'; for which see examples in the New English Dictionary. It is
particularly used in the phrase _to claw_ one's _back_, i. e. to soothe,
flatter; but the word _galle_ suggests a place where friction would rather
hurt than soothe.