Book I
PROLOGUE. 1. The initial letters of the chapters in Book I. form the words MARGARETE OF. See the Introduction.
3. by queynt knitting coloures, by curious fine phrases, that 'knit' or join the words or verses together. For colours = fine phrases, cf. Ch., HF. 859; C. T., E 16, F 726.
7. for, because, seeing that; boystous, rough, plain, unadorned; cf. l. 12. The Glossary in vol. vi should be compared for further illustration of the more difficult words.
19. for the first leudnesse, on account of the former lack of skill.
21. yeve sight, enable men to see clearly.
30. conne jumpere suche termes, know how to jumble such terms together. Jumpere should rather be spelt jumpre; cf. jompre in the Gloss. to Chaucer. For such words, see the Glossary appended to the present volume.
but as, except as the jay chatters English; i.e. without understanding it; cf. Ch. Prol. 642.
43. necessaries to cacche, to lay hold of necessary ideas. Throughout this treatise, we frequently find the verb placed after the substantive which it governs, or relegated to the end of the clause or sentence. This absurd affectation often greatly obscures the sense.
45. The insertion of the words perfeccion is is absolutely necessary to the sense; cf. ll. 47, 50. For the general argument, cf. Ch. Boeth. iii. proses 10 and 11, where 'perfection' is represented by suffisaunce, as, e.g., in iii. pr. 11. l. 18.
50. Aristotle's Metaphysics begins with the words: [Greek: pantes anthrôpoi tou eidenai oregontai phusei], all men by nature are actuated by the desire of knowledge. The reference to this passage is explicitly given in the Romans of Partenay, ll. 78-87; and it was doubtless a much worn quotation. And see l. 64 below.
58. sightful and knowing, visible and capable of being known.
61. David. The whole of this sentence is so hopelessly corrupt that I can but give it up. Possibly there is a reference to Ps. cxxxix. 14. me in makinge may be put for 'in makinge me.' Tune is probably a misprint for time; lent may be an error for sent; but the whole is hopelessly wrong.
64. Apparently derived from Aristotle, De Animalibus, bk. i. c. 5. The general sense is that created things like to know both their creator and the causes of natural things akin to them ([Greek: oikeia]).
67. Considred; i.e. the forms of natural things and their creation being considered, men should have a great natural love to the Workman that made them.
68. me is frequently written for men, the unemphatic form of man, in the impersonal sense of 'one' or 'people'; thus, in King Horn, ed. Morris, 366, 'ne recche i what me telle' means 'I care not what people may say.' Strict grammar requires the form him for hem in l. 69, as me is properly singular; but the use of hem is natural enough in this passage, as me really signifies created beings in general. Cf. me in ch. i. l. 18 below.
80. Styx is not 'a pit,' but a river. The error is Chaucer's; cf. 'Stix, the put of helle,' in Troil. iv. 1540. Observe the expression--'Stygiamque paludem'; Vergil, Aen. vi. 323.
86. I. e. 'rend the sword out of the hands of Hercules, and set Hercules' pillars at Gades a mile further onward.' For the latter allusion, see Ch. vol. ii. p. lv; it may have been taken from Guido delle Colonne. And see Poem VIII (below), l. 349. Gades, now Cadiz.
89. the spere, the spear. There seems to be some confusion here. It was King Arthur who drew the magic sword out of the stone, after 150 knights had failed in the attempt: see Merlin, ed. Wheatley (E. E. T. S.), pp. 100-3. Alexander's task was to untie the Gordian knot.
90. And that; 'and who says that, surpassing all wonders, he will be master of France by might, whereas even King Edward III could not conquer all of it.' An interesting allusion.
96. unconninge, ignorance. There is an unpublished treatise called 'The Cloud of Unknowing'; but it is probably not here alluded to.
98. gadered, gathered. Thynne almost invariably commits the anachronism of spelling the words gader, fader, moder, togider, and the like, with th; and I have usually set him right, marking such corrections with a prefixed obelus (+). Cf. weder in l. 123 below.
100. rekes, ricks. The idea is from Chaucer, L. G. W. 73-4.
101, 102. his reson, the reason of him. hayne, hatred.
110. Boëce, Boethius. No doubt the author simply consulted Chaucer's translation. See the Introduction.
115. slye, cunning; evidently alluding to the parable of the unjust steward.
117. Aristotle. The allusion appears to be to the Nicomachean Ethics, bk. i. c. 7: [Greek: doxeie d' an pantos einai proagagein, ... pantos gar prostheinai to elleipon].
122. betiden, happened to me; the i is short. This sudden transition to the mention of the author's pilgrimage suggests that a portion of the Prologue is missing here.
CHAP. I. 1. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met. 1. ll. 1, 2.
12. thing seems to mean 'person'; the person that cannot now embrace me when I wish for comfort.
15. prison; probably not a material prison. The author, in imitation of Boethius, imagines himself to be imprisoned. At p. 144, l. 132, he is 'in good plite,' i.e. well off. Cf. note to ch. iii. 116.
16. caitived, kept as a captive; the correction of caytisned (with s for s) to caytifued (better spelt caitived) is obvious, and is given in the New E. Dict., s.v. Caitive.
17, 18. Straunge, a strange one, some stranger; me, one, really meaning 'myself'; he shulde, it ought to be.
21, 22. bewent, turned aside; see New E. Dict., s.v. Bewend. The reading bewet, i.e. profusely wetted, occurs (by misprinting) in later editions, and is adopted in the New E. Dict, s.v. Bewet. It is obviously wrong.
23. of hem, by them; these words, in the construction, follow enlumined. The very frequent inversion of phrases in this piece tends greatly to obscure the sense of it.
24. Margarite precious, a precious pearl. Gems were formerly credited with 'virtues'; thus Philip de Thaun, in his Bestiary (ed. Wright, l. 1503), says of the pearl--
'A mult choses pot valier, ki cestes peres pot aveir,' &c., or, in Wright's translation: 'For him who can have this stone, it will be of force against many things; there will never be any infirmity, except death, from which a person will not come to health, who will drink it with dew, if he has true faith.' See l. 133 below.
28. twinkling in your disese, a small matter tending to your discomfort. Here disese = dis-ease, want of ease. Cf. l. 31 below.
42. 'It is so high,' &c. The implied subject to which it refers is paradise, where the author's Eve is supposed to be. Hence the sense is:--'paradise is so far away from the place where I am lying and from the common earth, that no cable (let down from it) can reach me.'
59. ferdnes is obviously the right word, though misprinted frendes. It signifies 'fear,' and occurs again in ch. ii. ll. 9, 16; besides, it is again misprinted as frendes in the same chapter, l. 13.
63. weyved is an obvious correction for veyned; see the Glossary.
70. mercy passeth right, your mercy exceeds your justice. This was a proverbial phrase, or, as it is called in the next clause, a 'proposition.'
79. flitte, stir, be moved; 'not even the least bit.'
80. souded (misprinted sonded by Thynne), fixed; cf. Ch. C.T., B 1769. From O.F. souder, Lat. solidare.
83. do, cause; 'cause the lucky throw of comfort to fall upward'; alluding to dice-play.
96. wolde conne, would like to be able to.
99, 100. me weninge, when I was expecting. ther-as, whereas.
116. no force, it does not matter; no matter for that.
117-20. Evidently corrupt, even when we read flowing for folowing, and of al for by al. Perhaps ther in l. 119 should be they; giving the sense:--'but they (thy virtues) are wonderful, I know not which (of them it is) that prevents the flood,' &c. Even so, a clause is lacking after vertues in l. 118.
126. Thynne has ioleynynge for ioleyuynge, i.e. joleyving, cheering, making joyous. The word is riot given in Stratmann or in Mätzner, but Godefroy has the corresponding O.F. verb joliver, to caress.
CHAP. II. 18. a lady; this is evidently copied from Boethius; see Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 1. l. 3. The visitor to the prison of Boethius was named Philosophy; the visitor in the present case is Love, personified as a female; see l. 53 below.
20. blustringe, glance. But the word is not known in this sense, and there is evidently some mistake here. I have no doubt that the right word is blushinge; for the M.E. blusshen was often used in the sense of 'to cast a glance, give a look, glance with the eye'; as duly noted in the New E. Dict, s.v. Blush. The word was probably written bluschinge in Thynne's MS., with a c exactly (as often) like a t. If he misread it as blusthinge, he may easily have altered it to blustringe.
32. neighe, approach; governing me.
37. O my nory, O my pupil! Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 3. l. 10; cf. the same, bk. iii. pr. 11. l. 160. In l. 51 below, we have my disciple.
60. by thyn owne vyse, by thine own resolve; i.e. of thine own accord; see Advice in the New E. Dict. § 6. Vyse is put for avyse, the syllable a being dropped. Halliwell notes that vice, with the sense of 'advice,' is still in use.
64. 'Because it comforts me to think on past gladness, it (also) vexes me again to be doing so.' Clumsily expressed; and borrowed from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4. ll. 4-7.
74-84. From Matt. xviii. 12; Luke, xv. 4; John, x. 11.
92. Love was kind to Paris, because he succeeded in gaining Helen. Jason was false to Love, because he deserted Hypsipyle and Medea. It is probable that false is misprinted for faire in l. 93; otherwise there is no contrast, as is implied by for.
93. Sesars sonke (sic) should probably be Cesars swink, i.e. Caesar's toil. I adopt this reading to make sense; but it is not at all clear why Caesar should have been selected as the type of a successful lover.
95. loveday, a day of reconciliation; see note to Ch. C. T., A 258.
96. 'And chose a maid to be umpire between God and man'; alluding to the Virgin Mary.
114-5. cause, causing, the primary cause, originating these things and many others besides. See note to Troil. iv. 829.
123-4. wo is him; Lat. ve soli, Eccl. iv. 10; quoted in Troil. i. 694.
125. Cf. 'weep with them that weep'; Rom. xii. 15.
138. Here the author bemoans his losses and heavy expenses.
143. For wolde endeynous I here read wolde ben deynous, i.e. would be disdainful; see Deynous in the Gloss. to Chaucer. The New E. Dict. adopts the reading wolde [be] endeynous, with the same sense; but no other example of the adj. endeynous is known, and it is an awkward formation. However, there are five examples of the verb endeign, meaning 'to be indignant'; see Wyclif, Gen. xviii. 30; Ex. xxxii. 22; Is. lvii. 6; Job, xxxii. 2; Wisd. xii. 27.
166. Copied from Troil. iv. 460-1:--
'But canstow playen raket, to and fro, Netle in, dokke out, now this, now that, Pandare?'
See the note on the latter line.
Wethercocke is a late spelling; the proper M.E. spelling is wedercokke, from a nom. wedercok, which appears in the poem Against Women Unconstant, l. 12.
173. a, an unemphatic form of have; 'thou wouldest have made me.'
180. voyde, do away with. webbes; the web, also called the pin and web, or the web and pin, is a disease of the eyes, now known as cataract. See Nares, s.v. Pin; Florio's Ital. Dict., s.v. Cateratta; the New E. Dict., s.v. Cataract; King Lear, iii. 4. 122; Winter's Tale, i. 2. 291.
191, 192. truste on Mars, trust to Mars, i.e. be ready with wager of battle; alluding to the common practice of appealing to arms when a speaker's truthfulness was called in question. See ch. vii. 10 below (p. 31).
CHAP. III. 14. Come of, lit. come off; but it is remarkable that this phrase is used in M.E. where we should now say rather 'come on!' See note to Troil. ii. 1738.
21. mayst thou, canst thou do (or act)?
25-7. 'I never yet set any one to serve anywhere who did not succeed in his service.'
32. 'the nut in every nook.' Perhaps on should be in.
37-8. There is some corruption here. I insert Tho gan I to help out the sense, but it remains partially obscure. Perhaps the sense is:--'Often one does what one does not wish to do, being stirred to do so by the opinion of others, who wanted me to stay at home; whereupon I suddenly began to wish to travel.' He would rather have stayed at home; but when he found that others wanted him to do so, he perversely began to wish to travel.
39. the wynding of the erthe; an obscure expression; perhaps 'the envelopment of the earth in snow.'
40. 'I walked through woods in which were broad ways, and (then) by small paths which the swine had made, being lanes with by-paths for seeking (there) their beech-mast.'
42. ladels, by-paths (?). No other example of the word appears. I guess it to be a diminutive of M.E. lade, a path, road, which occurs in the Ormulum; see Stratmann. Perhaps it is a mere misprint for lades.
44, 45. gonne to wilde, began to grow wild; cf. ginne ayen waxe ramage, in l. 48, with the like sense. I know of no other example of the verb to wilde.
52. shippe, ship; not, however, a real ship, but an allegorical one named Travail, i.e. Danger; see ll. 55, 75 below. many is here used in place of meynee, referring to the ship's company; some of whom had the allegorical names of Sight, Lust, Thought, and Will. The 'ship' is a common symbol of this present life, in which we are surrounded by perils; compare the parable of 'the wagging boat' in P. Plowm. C. xi. 32, and the long note to that line.
58. old hate; probably borrowed from Ch. Pers. Tale, I 562; see the note.
64. avowing, vowing; because persons in peril used to vow to perform pilgrimages.
75. my ship was out of mynde, i.e. I forgot all about my previous danger.
84. the man, the merchant-man in Matt. xiii. 45.
105. enmoysed, comforted. Enmoise or emmoise is a variant of M.E. amese, ameise, from O.F. amaiser, amaisier, to pacify, appease, render gentle (Godefroy); answering to the Low Lat. type *ad-mitiare from mitis, gentle. See Amese in the New E. Dict. No other example of the form enmoyse is known.
111. of nothing now may serve, is now of no use (to you).
116. prison; the author has forgotten all about his adventure in the ship, and is now back in prison, as in ch. i.
118. renyant forjuged, a denier (of his guilt) who has been wrongfully condemned.
121. suche grace and non hap, such favour and no mere luck.
124. let-games; probably from Troil. iii. 527; spoilers of sport or happiness. wayters, watchers, watch-men, guards.
131. nothing as ye shulde, not at all as you ought to do.
148. feld, felled, put down, done away with.
153-4. For he ... suffer, a perfect alliterative line; imitated from P. Plowm. C. xxi. 212:--'For wot no wight what wele is, that never wo suffrede.' Clearly quoted from memory; cf. notes to bk. ii. ch. 9. 178, and ch. 13. 86.
157. happy hevinesse, fortunate grief; a parallel expression to lyking tene, i.e. pleasing vexation, in l. 158. These contradictory phrases were much affected by way of rhetorical flourish. For a long passage of this character, cf. Rom. Rose, 4703-50.
158. harse is almost certainly a misprint for harme; then goodly harme means much the same as lyking tene (see note above). So, in Rom. Rose, 4710, 4733, 4743, we find mention of 'a sweet peril,' 'a joyous pain,' and 'a sweet hell.'
CHAP. IV. 2. semed they boren, they seemed to bore; boren being in the infin. mood.
18. For or read for, to make sense; for of disese, for out of such distress come gladness and joy, so poured out by means of a full vessel, that such gladness quenches the feeling of former sorrows. Here gladnesse and joy is spoken of as being all one thing, governing the singular verb is, and being alluded to as it.
25. commensal, table-companion; from F. commensal, given in Cotgrave. See the New E. Dict.
27. soukinges, suckings, draughts of milk; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 2. l. 4.
36. clothe, cloth. This circumstance is copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 2. l. 19.
42. This reference to Love, as controlling the universe, is borrowed from Boeth. bk. ii. met. 8.
47. Read werne (refuse) and wol (will); 'yet all things desire that you should refuse help to no one who is willing to do as you direct him.'
56. every thing in coming, every future thing. contingent, of uncertain occurrence; the earliest known quotation for this use of the word in English.
61-2. many let-games; repeated from above, ch. iii. ll. 124-8. thy moeble; from the same, ll. 131-2.
64. by the first, with reference to your first question; so also by that other, with reference to your second question, in l. 71.
CHAP. V. 8. Acrisius shut his daughter Danaë up in a tower, to keep her safe; nevertheless she became the mother of Perseus, who afterwards killed Acrisius accidentally.
14. entremellen, intermingle hearts after merely seeing each other.
16. beestes, animals, beings; not used contemptuously; equivalent to living people in ll. 17, 18.
20. esployte, success, achievement; see Exploit in the New E. Dict.
29. Supply don; 'and I will cause him to come to bliss, as being one of my own servants.'
35. and in-to water, and jumps into the water and immediately comes up to breathe; like an unsuccessful diver.
37. A tree, &c.; a common illustration; cf. Troil. i. 964.
43. this countrè; a common saying; cf. Troil. ii. 28 (and note), 42. And see l. 47 below.
45. 'the salve that he healed his heel with.' From HF. 290.
71. jangelers; referring to l. 19 above. lokers; referring to overlokers; in ch. iii. l. 128.
72. wayters; referring to ch. iii. l. 128.
77. 'It is sometimes wise to feign flight.' Cf. P. Plowman, C. xxii. 103.
85. cornes, grains of corn. I supply bare, i.e. empty.
86-7. Who, &c.; a proverb; from Troil. v. 784.
87-8. After grete stormes; see note to P. Plowman, C. xxi. 454.
92. grobbed, grubbed; i.e. dug about. Cf. Isaiah, v. 2.
95. a, have (as before). Lya, Leah; Lat. Lia, in Gen. xxix. 17 (Vulgate).
103. eighteth, eighth; an extraordinary perversion of the notion of the sabbatical year. So below, in l. 104, we are informed that the number of workdays is seven; and that, in Christian countries, the day of rest is the eighth day in the week! kinrest, rest for the kin or people; a general day of rest. I know of no other example of this somewhat clumsy compound.
110. sothed, verified; referring to Luke, xiv. 29.
113. conisance, badge. Badges for retainers were very common at this date. See Notes to Richard the Redeless, ii. 2.
117-9. Copied from P. Plowman, C. vii. 24, 25:--
'Lauhynge al aloude, for lewede men sholde Wene that ich were witty, and wyser than anothere; Scorner and unskilful to hem that skil shewed.'
As these lines are not found in the earlier versions, it follows that the author was acquainted with the latest version.
124. a bridge; i.e. to serve by way of retreat for such as trust them. wolves, destroyers; here meant as a complimentary epithet.
127. This idea, of Jupiter's promotion, from being a bull, to being the mate of Europa, is extremely odd; still more so is that of the promotion of Aeneas from being in hell (l. 129). Cf. Europe in Troil. iii. 722.
128. lowest degrè; not true, as Caesar's father was praetor, and his aunt married Marius. But cf. C. T., B 3862.
CHAP. VI. 3. enfame, infamy, obloquy; from Lat. infamia. Godefroy gives enfamer, to dishonour. The word only occurs in the present treatise; see ll. 6, 7, 15.
12. From Prov. xxvii. 6: 'Meliora sunt vulnera diligentis quam fraudulenta oscula odientis.'
17. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. ll. 5-13.
23. Cf. the same; bk. iv. pr. 7. ll. 34-42.
27. Cf. the same; bk. ii. pr. 5. ll. 121, 122.
30. Cf. the same; bk. iv. pr. 6. ll. 184-191.
48. Zedeoreys (or [gh]edeoreys). I can find nothing resembling this strange name, nor any trace of its owner's dealings with Hannibal.
53. The (possibly imaginary) autobiographical details here supplied have been strangely handled for the purpose of insertion into the life of Chaucer, with which they have nothing to do. See Morris's Chaucer, vol. i. p. 32 (Aldine edition). The author tells us very little, except that tumults took place in London, of which he was a native, and that he had knowledge of some secret which he was pressed to betray, and did so in order to serve his own purposes.
77-8. From Chaucer, Troil. v. 6, 7:--
--'shal dwelle in pyne Til Lachesis his threed no lenger twyne.'
107. Referring to John, xiv. 27.
114. Athenes; Athene was the goddess who maintained the authority of law and order, and in this sense was 'a god of peace.' But she was certainly also a goddess of battles.
139. mighty senatoures. It has been conjectured that the reference is to John of Gaunt. In the Annals of England, under the date 1384, it is noted that 'John of Northampton, a vehement partisan of the duke, is tried and sentenced to imprisonment and forfeiture. An attempt is also made to put the duke on his trial.' John of Northampton had been mayor of London in 1382, when there was a dispute between the court and the citizens regarding his election; perhaps the words comen eleccion (common election), in l. 125 above, may refer to this trouble; so also free eleccion in l. 140. In l. 143 we must read fate, not face; the confusion between c and t is endless. Perhaps governours in l. 144 should be governour, as in l. 147. Note that the author seems to condemn the disturbers of the peace.
157. coarted by payninge dures, constrained by painful duress (or torture).
165. sacrament, my oath of allegiance. Note that the author takes credit for giving evidence against the riotous people; for which the populace condemned him as a liar (l. 171).
178. passed, surpassed (every one), in giving me an infamous character.
181. reply, i.e. to subvert, entirely alter, recall; lit. to fold or bend back.
189. Here the author says, more plainly, that he became unpopular for revealing a conspiracy.
193. out of denwere, out of doubt, without doubt. Such is clearly the sense; but the word denwere is rejected from the New E. Dict., as it is not otherwise known, and its form is suspicious. It is also omitted in Webster and in the Century Dictionary. Bailey has 'denwere, doubt,' taken from Speght's Chaucer, and derived from this very passage. Hence Chatterton obtained the word, which he was glad to employ. It occurs, for instance, in his poem of Goddwyn, ed. Skeat, vol. ii. p. 100:--
--'No denwere in my breast I of them feel.'
The right phrase is simply out of were; cf. 'withoute were' in the Book of the Duchess, 1295. I think the letters den may have been prefixed accidentally. The line, as printed in Thynne, stands thus: 'denwere al the sothe knowe of these thinges.' I suggest that den is an error for don, and the word don ought to come at the end of the line (after thinges) instead of at the beginning. This would give the readings 'out of were' and 'these thinges don in acte'; both of which are improvements.
194. but as, only as, exactly as.
198. clerkes, i.e. Chaucer, HF. 350; Vergil, Aen. iv. 174.
200. of mene, make mention of. Cf. 'hit is a schep[h]erde that I of mene'; Ancient Metrical Tales, ed. Hartshorne, p. 74.
CHAP. VII. 10. profered, offered wager of battle; hence the mention of Mars in l. 11. Cf. note to ch. ii. 191 above, p. 455.
23. he, i.e. thine adversary shall bring dishonour upon you in no way.
34. Indifferent, impartial. who, whoever.
38. discovered, betrayed; so that the author admits that he betrayed his mistress.
46. that sacrament, that the oath to which you swore, viz. when you were charged upon your oath to tell the truth. That is, his oath in the court of justice made him break his private oath.
49. trewe is certainly an error for trewthe; the statement is copied from Jer. iv. 2:--' Et iurabis ... in veritate, et in iudicio, et in justitia.' So in l. 58 below, we have: 'in jugement, in trouthe, and rightwisenesse'; and in l. 53--'for a man to say truth, unless judgement and righteousness accompany it, he is forsworn.'
54. serment, oath; as in l. 52: referring to Matt. xiv. 7.
56. 'Moreover, it is sometimes forbidden to say truth rightfully--except in a trial--because all truths are not to be disclosed.'
60. that worde: 'melius mori quam male vivere'; for which see P. Plowman, C. xviii. 40. Somewhat altered from Tobit, iii. 6:--'expedit mihi mori magis quam vivere.'
61, 62. al, although, enfame, dishonour; as in vi. 3 (see note, p. 458).
63. whan, yet when.
73. legen, short for alegen; 'allege against others.'
75. Here misprinted; read:--'may it be sayd, "in that thinge this man thou demest,"' &c. From Rom. ii. 1; 'in quo enim iudicas alterum, teipsum condemnas.'
83. shrewe, wicked man, i.e. Ham; Gen. ix. 22.
101. emprisonned; so in Thynne; better, emprisouned.
104. brige, contention, struggle, trouble; see note to Ch. C. T., B 2872.
105. after thyne helpes, for your aid; i.e. to receive assistance from you.
108. Selande, Zealand, Zeeland. The port of Middleburg, in the isle of Walcheren, was familiar to the English; cf. note to C. T., Prol. 277. The reference must be to some companions of the author who had fled to Zealand to be out of the way of prosecution. rydinge, expedition on horseback, journey.
109, 110. for thy chambre, to pay the rent of your room. renter, landlord; 'unknown to the landlord.'
112. helpe of unkyndnesse, relieve from unkind treatment.
115-6. fleddest, didst avoid. privitè to counsayle, knowledge of a secret.
120-1. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8. ll. 31-3.
CHAP. VIII. 1. Eft, again. Thynne prints Ofte, which does not give the sense required. Fortunately, we know that the first letter must be E, in order that the initial letters of the Prologue and chapters I. to VIII. may give the word MARGARETE. The reading Ofte would turn this into MARGARETO.
4, 5. From Ch. Troil. iv. 3; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8. ll. 19-21.
13. and thou, if thou. Cf. Matt. xviii. 12.
27. in their mouthes, into their mouths; Matt. xii. 34.
31. leve for no wight, cease not on any one's account.
32. use Jacobs wordes. The allusion seems to be to the conciliatory conduct of Jacob towards Esau; Gen. xxxiii. 8, 10, 11. Similarly the author is to be patient, and to say--'I will endure my lady's wrath, which I have deserved,' &c.
41. sowe hem, to sew them together again. at his worshippe, in honour of him; but I can find no antecedent to his. Perhaps for his we should read her.
44. The text has forgoing al errour distroyeng causeth; but distroyeng (which may have been a gloss upon forgoing) is superfluous, and al should be of. But forgoing means rather 'abandonment.'
55. passest, surpassest.
59. by, with reference to.
61. Hector, according to Guido delle Colonne, gave counsel against going to war with the Greeks, but was overborne by Paris. See the alliterative Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson (E. E. T. S.), Book VI; or Lydgate's Siege of Troye, ch. xii.
65. leveth, neglects to oppose what is wrong.
66. The modern proverb is: 'silence gives consent.' Ray gives, as the Latin equivalent, 'qui tacet consentire videtur (inquiunt iuris consulti).' This is the exact form which is here translated.
73. Alluding to the canticle 'Exultet' sung upon Easter Eve, in the Sarum Missal:--'O certe necessarium Ade peccatum.' See note to P. Plowman, C. viii. 126 (or B. v. 491).
80. lurken, creep into lurking-holes, slink away.
95. centre, central point; from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. ll. 18-20. The whole passage (ll. 94-105) is imitated from the same 'prose' of Boethius.
103. London is substituted for 'Rome' in Chaucer's Boethius. Chaucer has--'may thanne the glorie of a singuler Romaine strecchen thider as the fame of the name of Rome may nat climben or passen?' See the last note.
112-6. From Ch. Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 7. 58-62.
116-25. From the same, ll. 65-79. Thus, in l. 123, the word ofte (in Thynne) is a misprint for of the; for Chaucer has--'For of thinges that han ende may be maked comparisoun.' The whole passage shews that the author consulted Chaucer's translation of Boethius rather than the Latin text.
127. and thou canst nothing don aright; literally from Chaucer: 'Ye men, certes, ne conne don nothing aright'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. 79. but thou desyre the rumour therof be heled and in every wightes ere; corresponds to Chaucer's--'but-yif it be for the audience of the people and for ydel rumours'; Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. 80. Hence heled (lit. hidden) is quite inadmissible; the right reading is probably deled, i.e. dealt round.
134. The words supplied are necessary; they dropped out owing to the repetition of vertue.
135-6. Again copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 7. 106: 'the sowle ... unbounden fro the prison of the erthe.'
CHAP. IX. 13. than leveth there, then it remains.
15. for thy moebles, because thy goods.
20. This proverb is given by Hazlitt in the form--
'Who-so heweth over-high, The chips will fall in his eye.'
Cf. 'one looketh high as one that feareth no chips'; Lyly's Euphues, ed. Arber, p. 467. And see IX. 158 (p. 270).
34. From Chaucer, Boeth. bk. i. pr. 4. 186. The saying is attributed to Pythagoras; see the passage in Chaucer, and the note upon it.
39. a this halfe god, on this side of God, i.e. here below; a strange expression. So again in bk. ii. ch. 13. 23.
46. the foure elementes, earth, air, fire, and water; see notes to Ch. C. T., A 420, 1247, G 1460. Al universitee, the whole universe; hence man was called the microcosm, or the universe in little; see Coriolanus, ii. 1. 68.
64. I sette now, I will now suppose the most difficult case; suppose that thou shouldst die in my service.
71. in this persone; read on this persone; or else, perhaps, in this prisoune.
86. til deth hem departe; according to the phrase 'till death us depart' in the Marriage Service, now ingeniously altered to 'till death us do part.'
96. 'and although they both break the agreement.'
98, 99. accord, betrothal. the rose, i.e. of virginity; as in the Romance of the Rose, when interpreted.
99, 100. Marye his spouse. But the Vulgate has; 'Surge, et accipe puerum et matrem eius'; Matt. ii. 13. The author must have been thinking of Matt. i. 18: 'Cum esset desponsata mater eius Maria Ioseph.'
113. al being thinges, all things that exist.
118. prophete; David, in Ps. xcvi. 5: (xcv. 5 in the Vulgate): 'omnes dii gentium daemonia.'
129. This refers back to ch. iv. 71-2, ch. ix. 14, 20, 56.
CHAP. X. 5. last objeccion; i.e. his poverty, see ch. iii. 131, iv. 73, ix. 14.
12-8. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 4. 200-17.
18. sayd, i.e. it is said of him.
19. aver, property, wealth; 'lo! how the false man, for the sake of his wealth, is accounted true!'
20. dignitees; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6.
21. were he out, if he were not in office; cf. l. 23.
26-37. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met. 5. 22-39. Thus, slydinge chaunges in l. 31 answers to Chaucer's slydinge fortune (l. 24); and that arn a fayr parcel of the erthe, in l. 32, to a fayr party of so grete a werk (l. 38); and yet again, thou that knittest, in l. 35, to what so ever thou be that knittest (l. 36).
37-40. From Ch. Boeth. bk. i. met 5. 27-30.
64-7. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 2. 7-12.
71-6. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 2. 23-5.
76-80. Cf. the argument in the same; bk. iii. pr. 3.
85-120. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 8. For literal imitations, compare the other haleth him to vertue by the hookes of thoughtes (l. 104-5) with Chaucer's 'the contrarious Fortune ... haleth hem ayein as with an hooke' (l. 21); and Is nat a greet good ... for to knowe the hertes of thy sothfast frendes (ll. 107-9) with Chaucer's 'wenest thou thanne that thou oughtest to leten this a litel thing, that this ... Fortune hath discovered to thee the thoughtes of thy trewe frendes' (l. 22). Also ll. 114-6 with Chaucer (ll. 28-31).
126. let us singen; in imitation of the Metres in Boethius, which break the prose part of the treatise at frequent intervals. Cf. 'and bigan anon to singen right thus'; Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 149.
Book II
CHAP. I. The initials of the fourteen Chapters in this Book give the words: VIRTW HAVE MERCI. Thynne has not preserved the right division, but makes fifteen chapters, giving the words: VIRTW HAVE MCTRCI. I have set this right, by making Chap. XI begin with 'Every.' Thynne makes Chapter XI begin with 'Certayn,' p. 86, l. 133, and another Chapter begin with 'Trewly,' p. 89, l. 82. This cannot be right, because the latter word, 'Trewly,' belongs to the last clause of a sentence; and the Chapter thus beginning would have the unusually small number of 57 lines.
1. Chapter I really forms a Prologue to the Second Book, interrupting our progress. At the end of Book I we are told that Love is about to sing, but her song begins with Chap. II. Hence this first Chapter must be regarded as a digression, in which the author reviews what has gone before (ll. 10-3), and anticipates what is to come (l. 61).
9. steering, government (of God), otherwysed, changed, varied; an extraordinary form.
12, 13. after as, according as. hildeth, outpours.
14-8. There is clearly much corruption in this unintelligible and imperfect sentence. The reference to 'the Roman emperor' is mysterious.
21. woweth; so in Thynne, but probably an error for waweth, i.e. move, shift; see wa[gh]ien in Stratmann.
23. phane, vane; cf. 'chaunging as a vane'; Ch. C. T., E 996.
34. irrecuperable, irrecoverable; irrecuperabilis is used by Tertullian (Lewis and Short).
40. armes; this refers, possibly, to the struggle between the pope and anti-pope, after the year 1378.
51-2. lovers clerk, clerk of lovers; but perhaps an error for Loves clerk; cf. Troil. iii. 41.
62-3. ryder and goer, rider on horseback and walker on foot.
77. Translated from 'Fides non habet meritum ubi humana ratio praebet experimentum'; as quoted in P. Plowman, C. xii. 160. This is slightly altered from a saying of St. Gregory (xl. Homil. in Evangelium, lib. ii. homil. 26)--'nec fides humana habet meritum cui humana ratio praebet experimentum.' See note to P. Plowman (as above).
83. as by a glasse, as in a mirror; 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
93. cockle, tares. This seems to refer to the Lollards, as puns upon the words Lollard and lolia were very rife at this period. If so, the author had ceased to approve of Lollard notions. In l. 94, love seems to mean Christian charity, in its highest sense; hence it is called, in l. 95, the most precious thing in nature.
96, 97. The passage seems corrupt, and I cannot quite see what is meant. Perhaps read: 'with many eke-names, [and] that [to] other thinges that the soule [seketh after, men] yeven the ilke noble name.' The comma after kynde in l. 96 represents a down-stroke (equivalent to a comma) in Thynne; but it is not wanted.
99. to thee, i.e. to the 'Margaret of virtue' whose name appears as an acrostic at the head of the Chapters in Book I. and Chapters I-V of Book II; moreover, we find at last that Margaret signifies Holy Church, to which the treatise is accordingly dedicated. tytled of Loves name, entitled the Testament of Love.
103. inseëres, lookers into it, readers.
104. Every thing; with respect to everything to which appertains a cause which is wrought with a view to its accomplishment, Aristotle supposes that the doing of everything is, in a manner, its final cause. 'Final cause' is a technical term, explained in the New E. Dict. as 'a term introduced into philosophical language by the schoolmen as a translation of Aristotle's fourth cause, [Greek: to hou heneka] or [Greek: telos], the end or purpose for which a thing is done, viewed as the cause of the act; especially as applied in Natural Theology to the design, purpose, or end of the arrangements of the universe.' The phrase 'the end in view' comes near to expressing it, and will serve to explain 'A final cause' in the next clause.
107. is finally to thilke ende, is done with a view to that result.
109. After so, understand 'is it with regard to.'
110. the cause, the cause whereby I am directed, and that for which I ought to write it, are both alike noble.
113. this leude, &c.; I have set about learning this alphabet; for I cannot, as yet, go beyond counting up to three.
115. in joininge, &c.; by proceeding to the joining together of syllables.
124. in bright whele, in (its) bright circuit. Chaucer has wheel in the sense of orbit; HF. 1450.
126. another tretyse. As to this proposed treatise nothing is known. Perhaps it never was written.
CHAP. II. 2. in Latin. This suggests that the present chapter may be adapted from some Latin original; especially as the author only gives the sentence or general drift of it. But the remark may mean nothing, and the tone of the chapter is wholly medieval.
24. Saturnes sphere, Saturn's orbit; the supposed outer boundary of the spheres of the seven planets.
27. me have, possess me (i.e. love), since Love is the speaker; i.e. they think they can procure men's love by heaping up wealth.
28. Perhaps place the comma after sowed (sewn), not after sakke.
29. pannes, better spelt panes; see pane in Stratmann. From O.F. pan, panne, Lat. pannus, a cloth, garment, robe. mouled, become mouldy; the very form from which the mod. E. mould-y has been evolved; see muwlen in Stratmann, and mouldy in my Etym. Dict. (Supplement). whicche, chest, from A.S. hwæcca; see P. Plowm. A. iv. 102, where some copies have huche, a hutch, a word of French origin. Thus pannes mouled in a whicche signifies garments that have become mouldy in a chest. See note to C. T., C 734.
30. presse, a clothes-press; observe the context.
35. seventh; perhaps an error for thirde; cf. 'percussa est tertia pars solis'; Rev. viii. 12. He is referring to the primitive days of the Church, when 'the pope went afoot.'
40. defended, forbade (opposed) those taxations. See Taylage in Ch. Glossary.
42. maryed, caused to be married; cf. P. Plowman, B. vii. 29.
47. symonye, simony; cf. note to P. Plowman, C. iii. 63.
48. Observe the rimes: achates, debates; wronges, songes.
49. for his wronges, on account of the wrongs which he commits. personer, better parsoner or parcener, participant, sharer; i.e. the steward, courtier, escheator, and idle minstrel, all get something. See parcener in Stratmann.
50. 'And each one gets his prebend (or share) all for himself, with which many thrifty people ought to profit.'
51. behynde, behindhand; even these wicked people are neglected, in comparison with the losengeour, or flatterer.
52. Note the rimes, forsake, take. it acordeth, it agrees, it is all consistent; see note to l. 74 below.
55. at matins; cf. P. Plowm. C. i. 125, viii. 27.
56. bene-breed, bean-bread; cf. P. Plowm. C. ix. 327.
57, 58. Cf. P. Plowman, C. vi. 160-5.
60. shete, a sheet, instead of a napkin to cover the bread; god refers to the eucharist.
62. a clergion, a chorister-boy; see Ch. C. T., B 1693, and the note.
65. broken, torn; as in P. Plowm. B. v. 108, ix. 91.
66. good houndes; cf. P. Plowm. C. vi. 161-5.
69. dolven, buried; 'because they (the poor) always crave an alms, and never make an offering, they (the priests) would like to see them dead and buried.'
69. legistres, lawyers; 'legistres of bothe the lawes,' P. Plowm. B. vii. 14.
71. 'For then wrong and force would not be worth a haw anywhere.' Before plesen something seems lost; perhaps read--'and [thou canst] plesen,' i.e. and you can please no one, unless those oppressive and wrong-doing lawyers are in power and full action.'
74. ryme, rime. The reference is not to actual jingle of rime, but to a proverb then current. In a poem by Lydgate in MS. Harl. 2251 (fol. 26), beginning--'Alle thynge in kynde desirith thynge i-like,' the refrain to every stanza runs thus:--'It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought'; see his Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 55. The sense is that unlike things may be brought together, like riming words, but they will not on that account agree. So here: such things may seem, to all appearance, congruous, but they are really inconsistent. Cf. note to l. 52 above.
79. beestly wit, animal intelligence.
99. cosinage, those who are my relatives.
104. behynde, behindhand, in the rear. passe, to surpass, be prominent.
109. comeden is false grammar for comen, came; perhaps it is a misprint. The reference is to Gen. ix. 27: 'God shall enlarge Japheth ... and Canaan shall be his servant.' The author has turned Canaan into Cayn, and has further confused Canaan with his father Ham!
112. gentilesse; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. 31-4; C. T., D 1109.
116. Perdicas, Perdiccas, son of Orontes, a famous general under Alexander the Great. This king, on his death-bed, is said to have taken the royal signet-ring from his finger and to have given it to Perdiccas. After Alexander's death, Perdiccas held the chief authority under the new king Arrhidaeus; and it was really Arrhidaeus (not Perdiccas) who was the son of a tombestere, or female dancer, and of Philip of Macedonia; so that he was Alexander's half brother. The dancer's name was Philinna, of Larissa. In the Romance of Alexander, the dying king bequeaths to Perdiccas the kingdom of Greece; cf. note to bk. iii. c. ii. l. 25. Hence the confusion.
122. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 6:--'Al the linage of men that ben in erthe ben of semblable birthe. On allone is fader of thinges.... Why noisen ye or bosten of your eldres? For yif thou loke your biginninge, and god your auctor and maker,' &c.
135. one; i.e. the Virgin Mary.
139. After secte, supply I:--'that, in any respect, I may so hold an opinion against her sex.' Secte is properly 'suite'; but here means sex; cf. l. 134.
140. in hem, in them, i.e. in women. And so in l. 141.
CHAP. III. 8. victorie of strength; because, according to the first book of Esdras, iv. 14, 15, women are the strongest of all things.
9. Esdram, accus. of Esdras, with reference to the first book of Esdras, called 'liber Esdrae tertius' in the Vulgate.
9, 10. whos lordship al lignes. Something is lost here; lordship comes at the end of a line; perhaps the insertion of passeth will give some sort of sense; whos lordship [passeth] al lignes, whose lordship surpasses all lines. But lignes is probably a corrupt reading.
10. who is, i.e. who is it that? The Vulgate has: 'Quis est ergo qui dominatur eorum? Nonne mulieres genuerunt regem,' &c. But the A. V. has: 'Who is it then that ruleth them, or hath the lordship over them? Are they not women? Women have borne the king,' &c. This translates a text in which mulieres has been repeated.
17-21. From 1 Esdras, iv. 15-7: 'Women have borne the king and all the people that bear rule by sea and land. Even of them came they: and they nourished them up that planted the vineyards, from whence the wine cometh. These also make garments [Lat. stolas] for men; these bring glory unto men; and without women cannot men be.'
21-5. Adapted from 1 Esdras, iv. 18, 19.
30. 'That by no way can they refuse his desire to one that asks well.'
32. of your sectes, of your followers, of those of your sex. Cf. chap. 2. 139 above, and the note.
38. wenen, imagine that your promises are all gospel-truth; cf. Legend of Good Women, 326 (earlier version).
41. so maked; 'and that (i.e. the male sex) is so made sovereign and to be entreated, that was previously servant and used the voice of prayer.' Men begin by entreating, and women then surrender their sovereignty.
43. trewe; used ironically; i.e. untrue.
45, 46. what thing to women it is, what a thing it is for women. Ll. 45-58 are borrowed, sometimes word for word, from Ch. HF. 269-85. See note to l. 70 below, and the Introduction, § 11.
47. 'All that glisters is not gold'; see Ch. C. T., G 962, and the note. But it is here copied from Ch. HF. 272.
55. whistel, pipe. Cf. note to P. Plowm. B. xv. 467.
60. is put, i.e. she (each one of them) is led to suppose.
63, 64. Copied from Ch. HF. 305-10.
67. they, i.e. women; cf. l. 58. So also in l. 68.
68. ye, i.e. ye men; so also you in l. 69.
70-81. Expanded from Ch. HF. 332-59; observe how some phrases are preserved.
91. 'Faciamus ei adiutorium simile sibi'; Gen. ii. 18.
92. this tree, i.e. Eve, womankind. So in l. 96.
100. 'What is heaven the worse, though Saracens lie concerning it?'
111. dames, mothers; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. met. 6. 1-9.
114. way, path; it lightly passe, easily go along it.
115. This proverb is copied from Ch. HF. 290-1; just as the proverb in l. 47 is from the same, l. 272. Compare p. 22, ll. 44-5.
131-2. Obscure; and apparently imperfect.
CHAP. IV. 2. Either my or to me should be struck out.
4-8. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 2. 3-8. 14-6. From the same, 8-12.
20-1. by wayes of riches; cf. richesses in Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 2. 20; so also dignite answers to digne of reverence in the same, l. 21; power occurs in the same, l. 24; and renomè answers to renoun in l. 26.
21. wening me, seeing that I supposed.
22. turneth; 'it goes against the hair.' We now say--'against the grain.'
45. The words between square brackets must be supplied.
55. holden for absolute, considered as free, separate, or detached; as in Ch. Boeth. bk. v. pr. 6. 169.
56. leveth in, there remain in, i.e. remain for consideration, remain to be considered. When 'bestial' living is set aside, 'manly' and 'resonable' are left.
61. riches, &c.; from Boethius. See riches discussed in Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5; dignitè, in pr. 6; renomè, or fame, in pr. 7; and power, along with dignitè, in pr. 6.
99. as a litel assay, as if for a short trial, for a while.
100. songedest, didst dream; from F. songer. I know of no other example of this verb in English. However, Langland has songewarie, interpretation of dreams, P. Plowman, C. x. 302.
113. thy king; presumably, Richard II; cf. l. 120.
116. to oblige, to subject thy body to deeds of arms, to offer to fight judicially; as already said above; cf. bk. i. c. 7. 10.
138. 'Love and the bliss already spoken of above (cf. 'the parfit blisse of love,' bk. ii. c. 1. 79) shall be called "the knot" in the heart.' This definition of "the knot," viz. as being the perfect bliss or full fruition of love, should be noted; because, in later chapters, the author continually uses the phrase "the knot," without explaining what he means by it. It answers to 'sovereyn blisfulnesse' in Chaucer's Boethius.
141. inpossession is all one word, but is clearly an error. The right word is certainly imposition. The Lat. impositio was a grammatical term, used by Varro, signifying the imposing of a name, or the application of a name to an object; and the same sense of O.F. imposition appears in a quotation given by Godefroy. It is just the word required. When Love declares that she shall give the name of "the knot" to the perfect bliss of love, the author replies, 'I shall well understand the application of this name,' i.e. what you mean by it; cf. l. 149.
147. A goddes halfe, lit. on the side of God; with much the same sense as in God's name; see Ch. C. T., D 50.
CHAP. V. 3. richesse is singular; it was probably Thynne who put the following verbs into plural forms.
5. Aristotle. Perhaps the reference is to the Nicomachean Ethics, i. 1.
15-20. The argument is from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 84, 122.
57, 58. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 45-7.
65. Cf. 'Why embracest thou straunge goodes as they weren thyne?' Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 50.
67-77. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 5. 52-69.
79-110. From the same; ll. 71-80; 88-133.
CHAP. VI. Suggested by Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6.
11-4. From the same, 57, 58; 54-7; 62-4.
25. dignites ... is as the sonne; the verb is agrees with the latter substantive sonne.
26-9. From the same as above, 4-6; the author substitutes wilde fyre for Chaucer's flaumbe of Ethna.
30. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6. 75-8.
38. Perhaps read dignitè in suche thing tene y-wrought; 'as dignity in such a case wrought harm, so, on the contrary, the substance in dignity, being changed, rallied (so as) to bring in again a good condition in its effect.' Obscure. 'Dignities' are further discussed in Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4.
74-7. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 64-70.
78. Nero. The name was evidently suggested by the mention of Nero immediately after the end of Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4 (viz. in met. 4); but the story of Nero killing his mother is from an earlier passage in Boethius, viz. bk. ii. met. 6.
81. king John. By asserting his 'dignity' as king against prince Arthur, he brought about a war in which the greater part of the French possessions of the crown were lost.
82. nedeth in a person, are necessary for a man.
99. such maner planettes, planets such as those; referring to the sun and moon mentioned just above; ll. 87, 91. The sun and moon were then accounted as being among the seven planets.
100-1. 'That have any desire for such (ill) shining planets to appear any more in that way.'
117-8. I not, I do not know. and thou see, if thou shouldst see. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 22-7.
123-8. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 31-9.
127. besmyteth, contaminates, defiles. Note that the author is here reproducing Chaucer's bispotten and defoulen (pr. 4. 38). The word is noted in Stratmann, because the A.S. besm[=i]tan, in this sense, occurs in Mark, vii. 15. The form besmitten is commoner, four examples of it being given in the New E. Dict., s.v. besmit. The verb besmite has escaped recognition there, because the present passage has not been noted. So also, in the next line, smyteth has a like sense. Smitted occurs in Troilus, v. 1545.
129. fyr, fire; from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 47.
132-4. From the same; ll. 48-53.
138. The sentence is incomplete and gives no sense; probably a clause has dropped out after the word goodnesse. I cannot set it right.
143-5. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 4. 55-7.
153-6. Suggested by the same; ll. 64-70.
164. Cf. 'leve hem in [or on] thy lift hand'; P. Plowman, C. viii. 225.
CHAP. VII. Suggested by Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5.
8. Nero; from the same, bk. iii. met. 4. 4, 5.
14. ensamples; answers to ensaumples in the same, bk. iii. pr. 5. 4.
17. Henry Curtmantil, Henry II. 'Henry short mantell, or Henry the seconde'; Fabyan, ed. Ellis, p. 260. 'In his fifty-fifth year he thus miserably expired, and his son Geoffrey of Lincoln with difficulty found any one to attend to his funeral; the attendants had all fled away with everything valuable that they could lay their hands on'; Miss Yonge, Cameos from English History (1869); p. 180.
20. Copied without material alteration from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5. 5-7.
23. power of rëalmes; from the same, l. 7.
30-9. Copied, in part literally, from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5. 8-17.
39-42. From the same; ll. 20-5.
50-2. Cf. 'Holdest thou thanne thilke man be mighty, that thou seest that he wolde don that he may nat don?' the same; ll. 23-5.
72. overthrowen would be better grammar.
74-8. From the same prose, ll. 25-9.
78. warnisshed, guarded. warnishe, guard; the hour of warnishe, the time of his being guarded.
81. famulers, household servants; borrowed from Chaucer's familieres in the same prose, l. 29.
82. sypher, cipher in arithmetic. Though in itself it signifies nothing, yet appended to a preceding figure it gives that figure a tenfold value. Cf. Richard the Redeless, iv. 53-4:--
'Than satte summe as siphre doth in awgrym That noteth a place, and no-thing availeth.'
92. the blynde; alluding to a common fable.
95-6. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 5. 32-4.
98-9; 101-3. From the same; ll. 41-6.
105-8. From the same, ll. 48-51.
109-12. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 5.
114-6. Here the author suddenly dashes off to another book of Boethius; see bk. ii. pr. 6. 44-5.
117. Buserus; Chaucer has Busirides in his text of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 6. 47 (whose text our author here follows); but Busirus in the Monkes Tale, B 3293. The true name is Busiris, of which Busiridis is the genitive case. Chaucer evolved the form Busirides out of the accusative Busiridem in Boethius. See note in vol. ii. p. 433.
118. Hugest; substituted for the example of Regulus in Boethius. Hugest is probably an error for Hengest, i.e. Hengist. The story of his slaughter of the Britons at Stonehenge by a shameful treachery is famous; he certainly 'betrayed many men.' See Fabyan, ed. Ellis, p. 66; Rob. of Gloucester, l. 2651 (ed. Hearne, p. 124). The story of his death is not inconsistent with the text. Rob. of Gloucester, at l. 2957 (ed. Hearne, p. 140) tells how he was suddenly seized, in a battle, by Eldol, earl of Gloucester, who cried out for help; many came to his assistance, and Hengist was taken alive. Shortly afterwards, at the instance of Eldad, bishop of Gloucester, Eldol led him out of the town of Corneboru, and smote his head off. Eldad's verdict was:--
'Also doth by this mon that so moche wo ath y-do, So mony child y-mad faderles, dighteth him al-so.'
The name of his betrayer or capturer is given as Collo in our text; but proper names take so many forms that it is not much to go by. Thus, the very name which is given as Eldol in one MS. of Robert of Gloucester (l. 2679) appears as Cadel in another. Fabyan calls him Edolf (p. 66), and makes him Earl of Chester. Layamon (ed. Madden, ii. 268) calls him Aldolf.
120. 'Omnes enim, qui acceperint gladium, gladio peribunt'; Matt. xxvi. 52.
122. huisht, hushed, silent; cf. hust in Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. met. 5. 16.
130-2. Cf. the same, bk. iv. pr. 2. 31-4.
132. 'But then, as for him who could make you wretched, if he wished it, thou canst not resist it.' The sentence appears to be incomplete.
135. flye, fly; substituted for Chaucer's mous; see his Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 6. 22-4.
139-42. From the same, ll. 25-9.
148-9. Why there, i.e. 'wherefore (viz. by help of these things) there is no way,' &c. Cf. 'Now is it no doute thanne that thise weyes ne ben a maner misledinges to blisfulnesse'; Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 8. 1-2.
CHAP. VIII. 5. renomè, renown; answering to glori and renoun in Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. 1, 6. But there is not much imitation of Chaucer in the former part of this chapter.
37. abouten, round about; i.e. you have proved a contradiction.
39. acorden, agree; by lacking, with respect to blame and praise.
42. elementes, the four elements. Sir T. Elyot's Castel of Helthe (1539) presents the usual strange medieval notions on medicine. He begins by saying that we must consider the things natural, the things not natural, and the things against nature. The things natural are seven, viz. elements, complexions, humours, members, powers, operations, and spirits. 'The Elementes be those originall thynges vnmyxt and vncompounde, of whose temperance and myxture all other thynges, hauynge corporalle substance, be compacte: Of them be foure, that is to saye, Erthe, Water, Ayre, and Fyre.
ERTHE is the moost grosse and ponderouse element, and of her proper nature is colde and drye.
WATER is more subtyll and lyght thanne erthe, but in respect of Ayre and Fyre, it is grosse and heuye, and of hir proper Nature is colde and moyste.
AYRE is more lyghte and subtylle than the other two, and beinge not altered with any exteriour cause, is properly hotte and moyste.
FYRE is absolutely lyght and clere, and is the clarifier of other elementes, if they be vyciate or out of their naturall temperaunce, and is properly hotte and drye.' Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 9. 13-7.
50. oned, united; see the last note.
52. erthe (see the footnote) is an obvious error for eyre; so also in l. 53. But the whole of the argument is ridiculous.
68-9. Copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 6. 3-4. From the Andromache of Euripides, l. 319; see the note in vol. ii. p. 439.
69-71. From Chaucer, as above, ll. 5-9.
75-81. From the same, ll. 9-17.
82. obstacles; they are enumerated in bk. i. c. 8. l. 98 (p. 37).
85-7; 89-97. From Chaucer, bk. iii. pr. 6. ll. 21-34.
99. I do not know the source of this saying. Cf. C.T., D 1109-12.
102-7. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 8. 26-35.
104-5. fayre and foule, handsome and ugly men; hewe, beauty.
107-10. thilke--knotte; equivalent to 'they ne ben nat weyes ne pathes that bringen men to blisfulnesse'; Ch., as above, ll. 42-3.
122. Cf. 'But alday fayleth thing that fooles wenden'; certainly the right reading of Troil. i. 217; see note on the line; vol. ii. p. 463.
124. the sterre, the star of the Southern pole; so in the next line, the Northern pole-star.
126. out-waye-going, going out of the way, error of conduct; which may be called, as it were, 'imprisonment,' or 'banishment.' It is called Deviacion in bk. iii. ch. i. 6, which see.
127. falsed, proved false, gave way.
130. Cf. 'It suffyseth that I have shewed hiderto the forme of false welefulness'; Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 1. With line 131, cf. the same, ll. 5-7.
CHAP. IX. 1-5. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 9-11.
9. The 'harmony' or music of the spheres; see Troil. v. 1812-3; Parl. Foules, 59-63, and the note in vol. i. p. 507.
37-8. sugre ... soot; cf. 'sucre be or soot,' Troil. iii. 1194; and 'in her hony galle'; C. T., B 3537.
54. Flebring; omitted in the New E. Dict., as being a false form; there is no such word. Mr. Bradley suggests flekring or flekering, which is probable enough. The M.E. flekeren, also spelt flikeren, meant not only to flutter, but to be in doubt, to vacillate, and even to caress. We may take it to mean 'light speech' or 'gossip.'
65. 'Good and yvel ben two contraries'; Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 2. 10.
74. in that mores, in the possession of that greater thing.
77-8. Cf. l. 81 below. Hence the sense is: 'and that thing which belongs to it (i.e. to the knot) ought to incline to its superior cause out of honour and good-will.' But it is clumsy enough; and even to get this sense (which seems to have been that intended) we must alter mores to more. The form was probably miswritten mores here owing to the occurrence of mores just above (l. 74) and just below (l. 79). It proceeds thus:--'otherwise, it is rebellious, and ought to be rejected from protection by its superior.'
116. From Troil. iii. 1656-9.
129-38. Perhaps the finest passage in the treatise, but not very original. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xxi. 456-7; Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. met. 6. 20-3.
133. Cf. 'ones a yere al thinges renovelen'; Ch. C. T., I 1027.
134. Cf. 'To be gayer than the heven'; Book of the Duch. 407.
139. Imitated from Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 2. 54-5; but with the substitution of 'garmentes' for 'tonnes.'
143. proverbe, proverb. 'When bale is hext (highest), then bote is next'; Proverbs of Hending; see notes to Gamelyn, ll. 32, 631, in vol. v. pp. 478, 486. For hext our author substitutes a nyebore, i.e. a neighbour, nigh at hand.
151. The truth of astrology is here assumed.
155-70. I suspect that this account of the days of the week (though no doubt familiar in those days to many) was really copied from Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, part ii. sect. 12 (vol. iii. p. 197). For it contains a remarkable blunder. The word noon in l. 163 should, of course, be midnight; but, as Chaucer omits to say when the first planetary hour of the day occurs, the author was left to himself in regard to this point. Few people understand why the day after Sunday must needs be Monday; yet it is very simple. The principle is given in the footnote to vol. iii. p. 197 (cf. vol. v. p. 86), but may here be stated a little more plainly. The earth being taken as the centre of the planetary system, the planets are arranged in the order of the radii of their orbits. The nearest planet is the Moon, then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These were arranged by the astrologers in the reverse order; viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon; after which the rotation began over again, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, &c.; as before. If we now divide Sunday into twenty-four hours, and assign the first of these to the Sun, the second to Venus (next in rotation), the third to Mercury, and so on, the eighth hour will again fall to the Sun, and so will the fifteenth and the twenty-second. Consequently, the twenty-third (like the second) belongs to Venus, the twenty-fourth to Mercury, and the twenty-fifth to the Moon. But the twenty-fifth hour is the first hour of the new day, which is therefore the day of the Moon. And so throughout.
Since the twenty-second hour belongs to the Sun, and the twenty-fifth to the Moon, the planetary interval from day to day is really obtained by pitching upon every third planet in the series, i.e. by skipping two. Hence the order of ruling planets for each day (which rule depends upon the assignment of the first hour) is obviously--the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn; or, in Anglo-Saxon terminology, the Sun, the Moon, T[=i]w, W[=o]den, Thunor (Thur), Frige, and Sætern (Sæter).
178. Cf. 'here wo into wele wende mote atte laste'; P. Plowman, C. xxi. 210. See notes to ch. 13. 86 below, and bk. i. 3. 153.
180. Cf. Troil. iv. 836, and the note (vol. ii. p. 490).
196. slawe, slain; the usual expression; cf. Compl. of Mars, 186; Compl. unto Pitè, 112.
CHAP. X. 1-6. Cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 9. 1-4; pr. 10. 1-4.
7. three lyves; as mentioned above, bk. ii. ch. 4. 44-6.
18. firste sayde; viz. in bk. ii. ch. 4. 56.
28-34. Borrowed from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 7.
37. a fair parcel. Similarly, Boethius recites his former good fortune; bk. ii. pr. 3. 20-43.
45. He insists that he was only a servant of conspirators; he would have nothing to do with the plot (l. 50); yet he repented of it (l. 49); and it is clear that he betrayed it (bk. i. ch. 6. l. 189).
58. farn, for faren, fared. Fortune; cf. the complaints of Boethius, bk. i. met. 1. 19; pr. 4. 8; bk. ii. met. 1.
68-71. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4. 57-61.
81-3. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 4. 122; pr. 3. 61.
84-7. From the same; pr. 4. 127-32.
88-105. From the same; pr. 3. 48-63.
96. both, booth; Chaucer has tabernacle; pr. 3. 56.
105-10; 115-20. From the same; bk. ii. pr. 4. 33-42.
126-9. From the same; ll. 43-7.
133. Here begins a new chapter in Thynne; with a large capital C. See note to book ii. ch. i.
148-50. From Ch. Boeth. bk. ii. pr. 4. 97-101.
155. 'The soules of men ne mowe nat deyen in no wyse'; the same, ll. 122-3.
163. oon of three; see ch. 10. 10 above (p. 83).
CHAP. XI. 11-3. Not in character; the author forgets that Love is supposed to be the speaker, and speaks in his own person.
40-8. From Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. met. 8. 3-7, 16-8; pr. ix. 12-16, 66-70; somewhat varied.
56. over his soule; cf. 'but only upon his body'; the same, bk. ii. pr. 6. 31.
56-69. The general idea corresponds with the same, bk. iii. pr. 9. I observe no verbal resemblance.
82. Thynne begins a new chapter here, with a large capital T. See note to bk. ii. ch. i.
93. Plato. This story is told of Socrates, and is given in the note to C. T., I 670, in vol. v. p. 466; from Seneca, De Ira, lib. i. c. 15.
111. conclude seems here to mean 'include,' as in C. T., G 429.
121. habit ... monk; 'Cucullus non facit monachum'; a common medieval proverb; see Rom. Rose, 6192, and the note.
125. cordiacle is Thynne's misprint for cardiacle; cf. 'That I almost have caught a cardiacle'; C.T., C 313.
CHAP. XII. 8. in place, i.e. present; chafinge, warming.
14. neigheth, approaches; and it ... be, if it can be.
17. Donet, primer, elementary book of instruction; named from Donatus, the grammarian; see note to P. Plowman, C. vii. 215.
32. muskle; referring to bk. i. ch. 3. 78.
35. excellence of coloures, its (outward) blue colour. Blue was the emblem of constancy and truth; see note to C. T., F 644 (vol. v. p. 386). For coloures we should rather read colour; the same error occurs in l. 43 below (see footnote).
45. 'When pleasant weather is above.'
46. 'Betokening steadfastness (continuance) in peace'; cf. note to l. 35 above.
47. The following is Pliny's account of the Pearl, as translated by Holland; bk. ix. c. 35.
'This shell-fish which is the mother of Pearle, differs not much in the manner of breeding and generation from the Oysters; for when the season of the yeare requireth that they should engender, they seeme to yawne and gape, and so do open wide; and then (by report) they conceive a certaine moist dew as seed, wherewith they swell and grow big; ... and the fruit of these shell-fishes are the Pear[l]es, better or worse, great or small, according to the qualitie and quantitie of the dew which they receiued. For if the dew were pure and cleare which went into them, then are the Pearles white, faire, and Orient: but if grosse and troubled, the Pearles likewise are dimme, foule, and duskish; ... according as the morning is faire, so are they cleere; but otherwise, if it were misty and cloudy, they also will be thicke and muddy in colour.'
50. The sense of Margaryte in this passage is the visible church of Christ, as the context shews. In book iii. ch. 9. 160, the author tells us that it signifies 'grace, lerning, or wisdom of god, or els holy church.'
52. mekenesse, humility; cf. l. 63. The church is descended from Christ, who is the heavenly dew.
56. reduced in-to good, connected with good; mene, intermediate.
58. beestes, living things that cannot move; the very word used by Chaucer, Boeth. bk. v. pr. 5. 20; compare the passage.
64. There is something wrong; either discendeth should be discended, or we should understand and before to; and perhaps downe should be dewe; cf. l. 68. The reference seems to be to the Incarnation.
68. Here the Protean word Margaryte means 'the wisdom of god,' judging by the context; see note to l. 50 above.
78. This does not mean 'I would have explained it better,' but 'I should like to have it better explained.'
86. Margaryte here means the visible church, as before (l. 50); to the end of the chapter.
91. welde, possess; and all that he now possesses is his life.
108. yvel spekers; this seems to allude to the Lollards, who ought (he says) to be 'stopped and ashamed.'
114. This shews that Margarete does not mean a woman; for it is declared to be as precious as a woman, to whom it is likened.
121. deedly, mortal. Hence Margarete does not mean the church in general, but the visible church at the time of writing, the church militant.
CHAP. XIII. 11. 'To be evil, is to be nothing.' The general argument follows Ch. Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 2. 143-94, and pr. 4.
23. a this halfe, on this side of, under; cf. note to bk. i. ch. 9. 39.
30. determinison, determination; a correct form. Cf. venison from Lat. acc. uenationem. Accordingly, the O.F. forms were determinaison, -eson, -oison, as given by Godefroy. He supplies the example: 'Definicio, difinicion ou determineson,' from an old glossary. Hence determination is here used in the sense of 'definition,' as is obvious from the context. Thynne prints determission, which makes nonsense; and there is no such word. The present passage is entered in the New E. Dict. under determission, with the suggestion that it is an error; it might have been better to enter it under determinison (or -eson); but it is always difficult to know how to deal with these mistakes of printers and editors.
33. your-selfe sayd; referring to l. 4 above.
35. y-sayd good, called 'good.'
40. participacion; from Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 10. 110.
43. Austen, St. Augustin; and so Pope, Essay on Man, i. 294:--'One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.'
49. Boece, Boethius; whom the author here mentions just once more; see his former allusion in bk. i. prologue, 110. The reference is to bk. iii. pr. 10. 153-84.
53. apeted to, sought after, longed for, desired. Apete is a correct form, as it represents an O.F. *apeter; but the usual O.F. form is appeter (Littré, s.v. appéter), from Lat. appetere. See New E. Dict., s.v. Appete, where a quotation is given from Chaucer, L. G. W. 1582. But the right reading in that line is surely appetyteth, as appeteth will not scan; unless we strongly accent the initial As. See vol. ii. p. 137, l. 1582 and footnote, and the note to the line, at p. 328.
56. This stands for This is, as usual; see notes to C. T., A 1091, E 56.
71. betterer, better; not necessarily a misprint. The form bettyrer occurs in the Catholicon Anglicum.
72. his kyndely place, its natural position; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. iii. pr. 11. 100-2.
77. blacke; cf. Troil. i. 642.
82. yeven by the ayre, endowed by the air with little goodness and virtue; because the dew that produced the pearl fell through the air; see note to ch. xii. 47 above. Hence matier is material, viz. the dew.
86. unpees, war. The general argument, with the contrast of colours above mentioned, occurs in P. Plowman, C. xxi. 209-21; cf. also ll. 144-66. Of these lines, ll. 210 and 212 have already been explicitly cited above: see notes to bk. i. ch. 3. 153, and to bk. ii. ch. 9. 178.
92. Pallas; we should have expected 'Minerva'; however, Pallas occurs five times in Troilus.
94. and Mercurie, if Mercury; but it is obscure.
99. a dewe and a deblys. Under Adieu, in the New E. Dict., we find: 'fig. an expression of regret at the loss or departure of anything; or a mere exclamatory recognition of its disappearance; = away, no longer, no more, all is over with. c. 1400 Test. Love ii. (1560) 292/1. Adewe and adewe blis.'
Something has gone wrong here; the edition of 1561 (not 1560) has, at fol. 306, back (not 292) the reading 'a dewe and a deblis'; as in the text. The same reading occurs in all the earlier black-letter editions and in Chalmers; there being no other authority except Thynne. I do not understand the passage; the apparent sense is: 'his name is given a dieu and to devils'; i.e. (I suppose) is renounced. Deblis for 'devils' is a possible form; at any rate, we find deblet, deblerie, for devilet and diablerie; see New E. Dict., under Dablet and Deblerie.
115-6. 'That which is good, seems to me to be wholly good.' This is extremely significant. 'The church is good, and therefore wholly good,' is evidently intended. In other words, it needs no reform; the Lollards should let it alone. In ch. 14. 24, he plainly speaks of 'heretics,' and of the errors of 'mismeninge people.'
130. leve, believe. L. 120 shews that he hopes for mercy and pity; we may safely conclude that he had been a Lollard once. Cf. ch. 14. 2-4.
CHAP. XIV. 6. Proverbes. He refers to Prov. vii. 7-22: 'Considero uecordem iuuenem, qui ... graditur in obscuro, in noctis tenebris; et ecce occurrit illi mulier ornatu meretricio, praeparata ad capiendas animas, garrula et uaga, quietis impatiens ... dicens ... ueni, inebriemur uberibus, et fruamur cupitis amplexibus ... statim eam sequitur quasi bos ductus ad uictimam.'
25. skleren and wimplen, veil and cover over. He probably found the word skleire, a veil, in P. Plowman, C. ix. 5 (cf. also B. vi. 7, A. vii. 7), as that is the only known example of the substantive. The verb occurs here only. Other spellings of skleire, sb., in the MSS., are sklayre, scleyre, slaire, skleir, sleire, sleyre. Cf. Du. sluier, G. Schleier.
29. by experience; i.e. the author had himself been inclined to 'heresy'; he was even in danger of 'never returning' (l. 38).
36. weyved, rejected; he had rejected temptations to Lollardry.
38. shewed thee thy Margarite; meaning (I suppose) shewn thee the excellence of the church as it is.
40. Siloë, Siloam. It is a wonder where the author found this description of the waters of the pool of Siloam; but I much suspect that it arose from a gross misunderstanding of Isaiah, viii. 6, 7, thus:--'the waters of Shiloah that go softly ... shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks.' In the Vulgate: 'aquas Siloë, quae uadunt cum silentio ... ascendet super omnes riuos eius, et fluet super uniuersas ripas eius.' Hence cankes in l. 44 is certainly an error for bankes; the initial c was caught from the preceding circuit.
46. After Mercurius supply servaunts or children. The children or servants of Mercury mean the clerks or writers. The expression is taken from Ch. C. T., D 697:--
'The children of Mercurie and of Venus Ben in hir wirking ful contrarious.'
47. Veneriens, followers of Venus; taken from Ch. C. T., D 609.
52. that ben fallas; that is to say, deceptions. See Fallace in the New E. Dict.
60. sote of the smoke, soot of the smoke of the fire prepared for the sacrificed ox; 'bos ductus ad uictimam'; Prov. vii. 22.
61. it founde, didst find it; referring, apparently, to thy langoring deth.
67-8. thilke Margaryte, the church; by serving which he was to be delivered from danger, by means of his amendment.
70. disese, misery, discomfort; because he had to do penance.
74. He had formerly sinned against the church.
80. 'And yet thou didst expect to have been rejected for ever.'
83. lache, loosen (it); from O.F. lascher, to loosen, relax. Or it may mean 'turn cowardly.'
85. 'Inueni Dauid seruum meum; oleo sancto meo unxi eum'; Ps. lxxxix. 20 (lxxxviii. 21, Vulgate).
93. openly; hence the author had publicly recanted.