571. Chaucer tells us that the Pardoner's hood, on the contrary, was _not_
fastened to his cloak; see Prol. 680. Dr. Rock, in The Church of our
Fathers, ii. 44, says:--'Sometimes the hood of the cope was not only sewed
to it, but stitched all round, and not allowed to hang with the lower part
free; in such instances, the hood was necessarily left on the cope and
folded with it.'
575. 'Rather faster than at a trot or a foot-pace.' Said ironically. Cf.
Prol. 825.
577. _clote-leef_, the leaf of a burdock. Cotgrave has--'_Lampourde_, f.
the _Cloot_ or great Burre.' Also--'_Glouteron_, m. The _Clote_, Burre
Docke, or great Burre.' And again--'_Bardane_, f. the _Clote_, burre-dock,
or great Burre.'
In the Prompt. Parv. we find--'_Clote_, herbe; Lappa bardana, lappa
rotunda.' In Wyclif's Version of the Bible, Hosea ix. 6, x. 8, we find
_clote_ or _cloote_ where the Vulgate version has _lappa_. The Glossary to
Cockayne's 'Leechdoms' explains A. S. _cl[=a]te_ as _Arctium lappa_, with
numerous references. The A. S. _cl[=a]te_ is related to G. _Klette_, a bur,
a burdock; O. H. G. _chletta_; Mid. Du. _kladde_.
It is clear that _clote_ originally meant the bur _itself_, just as the
name of _bur-dock_ has reference to the same. The _clote_ is, accordingly,
the _Arctium lappa_, or Common Burdock, obtaining its name from the
_clotes_ (i. e. burs or knobs) upon it; and one of the large leaves of this
plant would be very suitable for the purpose indicated.
We may safely dismiss the suggestion in Halliwell's Dictionary, founded on
a passage in Gerarde's Herball, p. 674 D, that the _Clote_ here means the
yellow water-lily. We know from Cockayne's 'Leechdoms' that the name
_cl[=a]te s[=e]o þe swimman wille_ (i. e. swimming clote) was sometimes
used for that flower (_Nuphar lutea_), either on account of its large round
leaves or its globose flowers; but in the present passage we have only to
remember the Canon's haste to feel assured, that he might much more easily
have caught up a burdock-leaf from the road-side than have searched in a
ditch for a water-lily. [418]
578. _For swoot_, to prevent sweat, to keep off the heat. See note to Sir
Thopas, B. 2052.
580. It is probable that _stillatorie_ (now shortened to _still_) is really
a shortened form of _distillatorie_. Both forms occur in the Book of
Quintessence, p. 10, l. 24, p. 13, l. 10.
581. _Were ful_, that might be full, that might chance to be full. _Were_
is the subjunctive, and the relative is omitted.