429. Not only the context, but the Latin text, justifies the reading
_homlinesse_. _Feet_ is fact, i. e. act. The Latin is--'Neque uero solers
sponsa muliebria tantum haec _domestica_, sed, ubi res posceret, publica
etiam obibat officia.' Lines 432-434 are Chaucer's own.
444. 'Although it would have been liefer to her to have borne a male
child'; i. e. she would rather, &c. The Latin has--'quamuis filium
maluisset.'
449-462. Expanded from--'Cepit (ut fit) interim Gualtherum, cum iam
ablactata esset infantula (mirabilis quaedam quàm laudabilis, [_aliter_, an
mirabile quidem magis quam laudabile,] doctiores iudicent) cupiditas satis
expertam charae fidem coniugis experiendi altius [_aliter_, ulterius], et
iterum atque iterum retentandi.'
452. _tempte_, make trial of, prove; see ll. 1152, 1153 below. _sadnesse_,
constancy, equanimity.
483. Note Walter's use of the word _thee_ here, and of _thy_ twice in the
next stanza, instead of the usual _ye_. It is a slight, but significant
sign of insult, offered under pretence of reporting the opinion of others.
In l. 492 we have _your_ again.