490. 'And to make others take heed by my example, as the lion is [384]
chastised (or reproved) by means of the dog.' The explanation of this
passage was a complete riddle to me till I fortunately discovered the
proverb alluded to. It appears in George Herbert's Jacula Prudentum
(Herbert's Works, ed. Willmott, 1859, p. 328) in the form 'Beat the dog
before the lion,' where _before_ means _in the sight of_. This is cleared
up by Cotgrave, who, in his French Dictionary, s. v. _Batre_, has the
proverb--'Batre le chien devant le Lion, to punish a mean person in the
presence, and to the terror of, a great one.' It is even better explained
by Shakespeare, Othello, ii. 3. 272--'What, man! there are ways to recover
the general again: you are but now cast in his mood, _a punishment more in
policy than in malice_; even so as one would beat his offenceless dog to
affright an imperious lion.'
499. _Ther_, where. The numerous expressions in this narrative certainly
shew that the falcon was really a princess (cf. l. 559) who had been
changed into a falcon for a time, as is so common in the Arabian Tales.
Thus, in l. 500, the _roche_ or rock may be taken to signify a palace, and
the _tercelet_ (l. 504) to be a prince. This gives the whole story a human
interest.
505-506. _welle_, well, fountain. _Al were he_, although he was.
511. _coloures_, colours; and, in a secondary sense, pretences, which
meaning is also intended; cf. l. 560. On dyeing _in grain_, i. e. of a fast
colour, see note to Sir Thopas, B. 1917.
512. _hit him_, hideth himself. The allusion is to the well-known lines
'Qui legitis flores ... fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba'; Verg. Bucol.
iii. 92. Cf. D. 1994; and Macbeth, i. 5. 66.