589. This shews that the pilgrims had rested all night on the road; see
note to l. 555 above.
597. _oght_, in any way, at all. Cf. Kn. Ta., A. 3045; and Prioresses Tale,
B. 1792.
599. _ye_, yea. There is a difference between _ye_, yea, and _yis_, yes.
The former merely assents, or answers a simple question in the affirmative.
The latter is much more forcible, is used when the question involves a
negative, and is often followed by an oath. See note to Specimens of Eng.
1394-1579, ed. Skeat, sect. xvii. (D), l. 22; and note to _[gh]is_ in the
Glossary to my edition of William of Palerne. See an example of _[gh]us_
(yes) after a negative in Piers the Plowman, B. v. 125. Similarly, _nay_ is
the weaker, _no_ the stronger form of negation.
602. A note in Bell's edition makes a difficulty of the scansion of this
line. It is perfectly easy. The caesura (carefully _marked_ in MS. E. as
occurring after _knewe_) preserves the final _e_ in _knewe_ from elision.