498. _utter yen_, outer eyes, bodily eyes. In MS. E. it is glossed by
'exterioribus oculis.' The Latin has--'nescio ubi oculos amiseris; nam quos
tu Deos dicis, omnes nos saxa esse uidemus; mitte igitur manum et tangendo
disce, quod oculis non uales uidere.'
503. _taste_, test, try; Lat. 'tangendo disce.' The word is now restricted
to _one_ of the five senses; it could once have been used also of the sense
of feeling, at the least. Bottom even ventures on the strange
expression--'I trust to _taste_ of truest Thisbe's _sight_'; Mid. Nt.
Dream, v. 1. 280; such is the reading in the first folio.
505-511. This stanza is all Chaucer's own.