And carf byforn his fadur at the table. A YEMAN had he, and servantes nomoo Wel cowde he dresse his takel yomanly: His arwes drowpud nought with fetheres lowe. A not-heed hadde he, with a broun visage. A forster was he sothely, as I gesse. Ther was also a Nonne, a PRIORESSE, That of hire smylyng was ful symple and coy; 100 108 116 104.-pocok arwes. Arrows fledged with peacock's feathers. They appear to have been larger than the common arrows. In a compotus of the Bishop of Winchester, in 1471 (cited by Warton, Hist. E. P. ii. p. 211), we have one head:-"Sagittæ magnæ. Et de cxliv. sagittis magnis barbatis cum pennis pavonum." 115.-A Cristofre. A figure of St. Christopher used as a brooch. On the use of these brooches, or signs, see an interesting paper, by Mr. C. Roach Smith, in the Journal of the British Archæological Association, vol. i. p. 200. The figure of St. Christopher was looked upon with particular reverence among the middle and lower classes; and was supposed to possess the power of shielding the person who looked on it from hidden dangers. Ful wel sche sang the servise devyne, And Frensch sche spak ful faire and fetysly, Wel cowde sche carie a morsel, and wel keepe, In curtesie was sett al hire lest. Hire overlippe wypud sche so clene, That in hire cuppe was no ferthing sene Of grees, whan sche dronken hadde hire draught. And sikurly sche was of gret disport, 122 130 138 120.-St. Loy. Probably a corruption of St. Eloy, or St. Eligius. It is the reading of all the MSS., and Tyrwhitt ought not to have changed it. The same oath occurs in the Freres Tale, 1. 7143. 124. Frensch. The French taught in England was the debased form of the old Anglo-Norman, somewhat similar to that used at a later period in the courts of law; and it was this at which Chaucer, and some of his contemporaries, sneered. The writer of the Visions of Piers Ploughman speaks of French of Norfolk, 1. 2949. 127. At mete. These remarks agree, almost literally, with the directions contained in the different medieval tracts written for the purpose of teaching manners at table. Sche wolde weepe if that sche sawe a mous Hire mouth ful smal, and therto softe and reed; It was almost a spanne brood, I trowe; And theron heng a broch of gold ful schene, 144 152 160 149-men smot. The word men, used in this phrase, appears here construed with a singular verb, as though it had been man (on frappa). So again below, 1. 169, men might. So in a poem in my Political Songs, p. 330,"Where shal men nu finde." 152.-eyen grey. This appears to have been the favourite colour of ladies' eyes in the time of Chaucer. Tale, is described "With camoys nose, and eyghen gray as glas." 160.-a broch. In 1845 a brooch, of the form of an A, represented in the accompany. ing cut, was found in a field in Dorsetshire. It appears to be of the fourteenth century, and affords a curious illustration of this passage of Chaucer. The inscription on one side seems to be, "IO FAS AMER E DOZ DE AMER." On which was first i-writen a crowned A, 161 Ful many a deynté hors hadde he in stable: And whan he rood, men might his bridel heere 169 175 166.-loved venerye. The monks of the middle ages were extremely attached to hunting and field-sports, and this was a frequent subject of complaint with the more austere ecclesiastics, and of satire with the laity. 170.-gyngle. It was a universal practice among riders who wished to be thought fashionable, to have their horses' bridles hung with bells. The Templars were blamed for this vanity, in the thirteenth century. In the romance of Richard Cœur de Lion, the sultan of Damas has a trusty mare, of which we are told, "Hys crouper heeng al ful of belles, And his peytrel, and his arsoun, Three myle myghte men hear the sown." Wycliffe, in his Triloge, inveighs against the priests of his time for their "fair hors, and joly and gay sadeles, and bridles ringing by the way." At a much later period, Spencer describes a lady's steed,"Her wanton palfrey all was overspread With tinsel trappings, woven like a wave, Whose bridle rung with golden bells and bosses brave." 173.-The reule. The rules of St. Maure and St. Benet were the oldest forms of monastic discipline in the Romish church. 175.-olde thinges. This is the reading of most of the MSS., and I have adopted it instead of that of the MS. Harl., for by hem, which appears to give no clear sense. And helde aftur the newe world the space. That seith, that hunters been noon holy men; Is likned to a fissche that is watirles ; This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre. 176 What schulde he studie, and make himselven wood, Uppon a book in cloystre alway to powre, 185 Or swynke with his handes, and laboure, As Austyn byt? How schal the world be served? Greyhoundes he hadde as swifte as fowel in flight: 192 200 179.-cloysterles. This is also the reading of a Cambridge MS. The passage is a literal translation of one from the Decretal of Gratian, as cited by Tyrwhitt,-" Sicut piscis sine aqua caret vita, ita sine monasterio monachus." The other readings, rekkeles, recheles, &c., found in most of the MSS., present considerable difficulties; and Tyrwhitt's explanation seems hardly admissible. |