340. The bridle is here said to have been put away with the _jewels_. So
also, when Richard I., in a crusade, took Cyprus, among the treasures in
the castles are mentioned precious stones, golden cups, &c., together with
golden saddles, _bridles_, and spurs; Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Iter Hierosol.
c. xli. p. 328; in Vet. Script. Angl. tom. ii.
346. Tyrwhitt inserts _that_ after _Til_, to fill up the line. It is not
required; it is one of the many lines in which the first syllable is
lacking.
347. 'Sleep, digestion's nurse, winked upon them, and bade them take
notice, that much drink and exercise must require repose.' Cf. 2 Hen. IV.,
iii. 1. 6. Tyrwhitt supposes l. 349 to be corrupt; I do not know why.
351. To scan the line, retain the _e_ in _seyde_, preserved by the caesura.
[382]
352. By the old physicians, blood was supposed to be in domination, or
chief power, for seven hours, from the ninth hour of the night (beginning
at 8 P. M.) to the third hour of the day. Tyrwhitt quotes from a book De
Natura, ascribed to Galen, tom. v. p. 327--'_Sanguis dominatur_ horis
septem, ab hora noctis nona ad horam diei tertiam.' Other authorities were
pleased to state the matter somewhat differently. 'Six houres after
midnight bloud hath the mastery, and in the sixe houres afore noon choler
reigneth, and six houres after noon raigneth melancholy, and six hours
afore midnight reigneth the flegmatick'; Shepheardes Kalender, ed. 1656,
ch. xxix. Chaucer no doubt followed this latter account, which he may have
found in the original French Calendrier des Bergers; see note to l. 51, p.
373.
358. _fumositee_, fumes arising from wine-drinking. See C. 567; and
concerning dreams, see the Nonne Prestes Tale, 103-149 (B. 4113-59).
359. _no charge_, no weight; to which no weight, or no significance, can be
attached.
360. _pryme large_; probably the same as _fully pryme_, Sir Thop., B. 2015,
which see. It must then mean the time when the period of prime was quite
ended; i. e. 9 A. M. This would be a very late hour for rising, but the
occasion was exceptional.
365. _appalled_, enfeebled, languid; lit. 'rendered pallid,' cf. Kn. Ta.
2195 (A. 3053); and Shipm. Tale, B. 1290-2:--
'"Nece," quod he, "it oghte y-nough suffyse
Fyve houres for to slepe upon a night,
But it were for an old _appalled_ wight,"' &c.
373. 'Before the sun began to rise'; i. e. before 6 A. M., as it was near
the equinox.