172. 'And, as prizes for it, there were exhibited a ram and a ring.' In
Lodge's novel, 'a day of wrastling and tournament' is appointed by
Torimond, king of France. In Chaucer's Prologue, A. 548, we find: 'At
wrastling he wolde have alwey the ram.' On this Tyrwhitt has the following
note: 'This was the usual prize at wrestling-matches. See C. T. l. 13671
[Sir Thopas, st. 5], and Gamelyn, ll. 184, 280. Mathew Paris mentions a
wrestling-match at Westminster, A. D. 1222, at which a ram was the prize.'
In Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, bk. ii. ch. 2. § 14, two men are
represented as wrestling for a live cock. Strutt also quotes a passage from
'A mery Geste of Robin Hode,' which gives an account of a wrestling, at
which the following prizes were 'set up' (the same phrase being used as
here), viz. a white bull, a courser with saddle and bridle, a pair of
gloves, a _red gold ring_, and a pipe of wine!
199. 'Why dost thou thus behave?' i. e. make this lamentation. Cf. As You
Like It, i. 2. 133-140.
204. 'Unless God be surety for them,' i. e. ensure their recovery. The
story supposes that the two sons are not slain, but greatly disabled; as
Shakespeare says, 'there is little hope of life' in them.
206. _with the nones_, on the occasion that, provided that. _For the_ [482]
_nones_, for the occasion, stands for _for then ones_, for the once; so
here _with the nones_ = _with then ones_, with the once. _Then_ is the dat.
case of the article, being a weakened form of A.S. _ð[=a]m_. Cf. l. 456.