BOOK III.

1091-1109. Imitated from Dante, Parad. i. 13-27. Compare ll. 1106, 1107, with Cary's translation--

'If thou to me of thine impart so much, ... Thou shalt behold me of thy favour'd tree Come to the foot, and crown myself with leaves.'

And compare l. 1109 with--'Entra nel petto mio.'

1098. This shews that Chaucer occasionally, and intentionally, gives a syllable too little to the verse. In fact, he does so just below, in l. 1106; where _Thou_ forms the first foot of the verse, instead of _So thou_, or _And thou_. This failure of the first syllable is common throughout the poem.

1099. _And that_, i.e. And though that; see l. 1098.

1109. _Entreth_ is the imperative plural; see note to A. B. C. 17.

1114. MSS. _cite_, _cyte_ (F. _citee_!); but _site_ in Astrol. pt. ii. 17. 25 (p. 201).

1116. 'Fama tenet, summaque domum sibi legit in arce'; Ovid, Met. xii. 43. Cf. Dante, Purg. iii. 46-48; also Ovid, Met. ii. 1-5.

1131. 'And swoor hir ooth by Seint Thomas of Kent'; C. T., A 3291. It alludes to the celebrated shrine of Beket at Canterbury.

1136. _Half_, side; _al the half_, all the side of the hill which he was ascending, which we find was the _south_ side (l. 1152).

1152. This suggests that Chaucer, in his travels, had observed a snow-clad mountain; the snow lies much lower on the north side than on the south side; see ll. 1160 (which means that it, i.e. the writing, was preserved by the shade of a castle), 1163, 1164.

1159. _What hit made_, what caused it, what was the cause of it.

1167-80. This passage somewhat resembles one in Dante, Par. i. 4-12.

1177. _Craft_, art; _cast_, plan. _Craft_, in the MSS., has slipt into l. 1178.

1183. _Gyle_, Giles; St. Ægidius. His day is Sept. 1; see note to Can. Yem. Tale, G 1185, where the phrase _by seint Gyle_ recurs.

1189. _Babewinnes_ is certainly meant; it is the pl. of _babewin_ (O. Fr. _babuin_, Low Lat. _babewynus_, F. _babouin_), now spelt _baboon_. It was particularly used of a grotesque figure employed in architectural decoration, as in Early Eng. Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1411, where the pl. form is spelt _baboynes_, and in Lydgate, Chron. Troy, II. xi; both passages are given in Murray's Dict., s.v. _Baboon_. 'Babewyn, or babewen, _detippus_, _ipos_, _figmentum_, _chimera_'; Prompt. Parv. 'Babwyne, beest, _baboyn_'; Palsgrave. In Shak. _Macb._ iv. 1. 37--'Coole it with a báboones blood'--the accent on the _a_ is preserved. The other spellings are inferior or false.

1192. _Falle_, pres. pl., fall; (or perhaps fallen, the past participle).

1194. _Habitacles_, niches; such as those which hold images of saints on the buttresses and pinnacles of our cathedrals. They are described as being _al withoute_, all on the outside.

1196. _Ful the castel_, the castle (being) full, on all sides. This line is parenthetical.

1197. Understand _Somme_, some, as nom. to _stoden_. 'In which stood ... (some) of every kind of minstrels.' So in l. 1239. As to minstrels, &c., see note to Sir Topas (B 2035).

1203. _Orpheus_, the celebrated minstrel, whose story is in Ovid, Met. x. 1-85; xi. 1-66. Chaucer again mentions him in C. T., E 1716; and in Troil. iv. 791.

1205. _Orion_; so in all the copies; put for _Arion_. His story is in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 79-118.

Spelt _Arione_ in Gower, Conf. Amant. (end of prologue), ed. Pauli, i. 39. We might read _Arion_ here; see l. 1005.

1206. _Chiron_; called _Chiro_ in Gower, C. A. ii. 67 (bk. iv). Chiron, the centaur, was the tutor of Achilles; and Achilles, being the grandson of Æacus, was called Æacides; Ovid, Met. xii. 82; Fasti, v. 390. Hence _Eacides_ is here in the genitive case; and _Eacides Chiron_ means 'Achilles' Chiron,' i.e. Chiron, tutor of Achilles. In fact, the phrase is copied from Ovid's _Æacidæ Chiron_, Art of Love, i. 17. Another name for Chiron is _Phillyrides_; Ovid, Art of Love, i. 11; or _Philyrides_; Verg. Georg. iii. 550; cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 391. In a similar way, Chaucer calls the paladin _Oliver_, friend of _Charles_ the Great, by the name of _Charles Olyuer_; Monkes Tale, B 3577.

1208. _Bret_, Briton, one of the British. This form is quite correct, being the A.S. _Bret_, a Briton (see A.S. Chronicle, an. 491), commonly used in the pl. _Brettas_. This correct spelling occurs in MS. B. only; MS. P. turns it into _Bretur_, Th. and Cx. read _Briton_, whilst MS. F. turns _Bret_ into _gret_, by altering the first letter. The forms _gret_ and _Bretur_ are clearly corruptions, whilst _Briton_ spoils the scansion.

_Glascurion_; the same as Glasgerion, concerning whom see the Ballad in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, i. 246. Of this 'a traditional version, under the name of _Glenkindie_, a various form of Glasgerion, is given in Jamieson's Popular Songs and Ballads, and in Alex. Laing's Thistle of Scotland (1823).' G. Douglas associates 'Glaskeriane' with Orpheus in his Palice of Honour, bk. i. (ed. Small, i. 21); this poem is a palpable imitation of Chaucer's House of Fame. The name is Celtic, as the epithet _Bret_ implies. Cf. Irish and Welsh _glas_, pale.

1213. 'Or as art imitates nature.' Imitated from Le Rom. de la Rose, where Art asks Nature to teach her; l. 16233 is--

'E la _contrefait comme singes_.'

1218. There is a similar list of musical instruments in Le Rom. de la Rose, 21285-21308:--

'Puis _chalemiaus_, et chalemele Et tabor, et _fléute_, et timbre ... Puis prent sa muse, et se travaille As estives de Cornoaille.'

And in Le Remède de Fortune, by G. de Machault, 1849, p. 87, is a similar long list:--

'_Cornemuses_, flaios, chevrettes, Dousainnes, cimbales, clochettes, Timbre, la _flahute_ brehaigne, Et le grant cornet d'Alemaigne, Flaiot de saus, fistule, _pipe_'; &c.

And a few lines below there is mention of the _muse de blez_ (see note to l. 1224). Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. Hazlitt, iii. 177. quotes a similar passage from Lydgate's poem entitled Reason and Sensualite, ending with--

'There were trumpes, and trumpettes, Lowde shallys [shalmys?] and _doucettes_.'

Cf. also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 9, 5; Shep. Kal. _Feb._ 35-40. In the latter passage, the imitation of ll. 1224-6 is obvious. _Cornemuse_ is a bagpipe; _shalmye_ is a shawm, which was a wind-instrument, being derived from Lat. _calamus_, a reed; Chaucer classes both instruments under _pipe_. Willert (on the House of Fame, p. 36) suggests (and, I think, correctly) that _doucet_ and _rede_ are both adjectival. Thus _doucet_ would refer to _pipe_; cf. '_Doucet_, dulcet, pretty and sweet, or, a little sweet'; Cotgrave. _Rede_ would also refer to _pipe_, and would mean 'made with a reed.' A reed-instrument is one 'in which the sound was produced by the vibration of a reed, as in the clarionet or hautboys'; note in Bell's Chaucer. There is no instrument properly called a _doucet_ in Old French, but only _dousainne_ (see above) and _doucine_ (Godefroy).

1222. _Brede_, roast meat; A.S. _br['æ]de_, glossed by '_assura_, vel _assatura_' in Ælfric's Glossary, ed. Wülcker, col. 127, l. 17. Cf. G. _Braten_. Not elsewhere in Chaucer, but found in other authors.

'To meit was greithed beef and motoun, _Bredes_, briddes, and venysoun.' Kyng Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 5248.

In the allit. Morte Arthure, it occurs no less than five times. Also in Havelok, l. 98, where the interpretation 'bread' is wrong. Also in Altenglische Dichtungen, ed. Böddeker, p. 146, l. 47--'Cud as Cradoc in court that carf the _brede_,' i.e. carved the roast meat; but the glossary does not explain it. The scribe of MS. F. turns _brede_ into _bride_, regardless of the rime. I cannot agree with the wholly groundless conjecture of Willert, who reads _rude_ in l. 1221, in order to force _brude_ into the text. For minstrelsy at feasts, see C. T., A 2197.

1223. Cf. G. Douglas, tr. of Vergil, Æn. vii. 513, 4:--'And in ane bowand _horne_, at hir awyne will, A feindlych hellis voce scho _lyltis_ schyll.'

1224. Alluding to the simple pipes fashioned by rustics. The glossary to Machault's Works (1849) has: '_Muse de blez_, chalumeau fait avec des brins de paille.' The O.F. _estive_, in the quotation in the note to l. 1218, has a like sense. Godefroy has: '_estive_, espèce de flûte, de flageolet ou pipeau rustique, qui venait, ce semble, de Cornouaille.' Cf. the term _corne-pipe_, in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray, p. 65, l. 22; also my note to R. Rose, 4250 (vol. i. p. 436).

1227-8. Nothing is known as to Atiteris (or Cytherus); nor as to Pseustis (or Proserus). The forms are doubtless corrupt; famous musicians or poets seem to have been intended. I shall venture, however, to record my guess, that _Atiteris_ represents _Tyrtaeus_, and that _Pseustis_ is meant for _Thespis_. Both are mentioned by Horace (Ars Poet. 276, 402); and Thespis was a native of Attica, whose plays were acted at Athens. Another guess is that _Atiteris_ means Vergil's _Tityrus_; Athenæum, Apr. 13, 1889. Willert suggests that there is here an allusion to the so-called Ecloga Theoduli, a Latin poem of the seventh or eighth century, wherein the shepherd Pseustis and the shepherdess Alithia [who represent Falsehood and Truth] contend about heathendom and Christianity; and Pseustis adduces various myths and tales, from Ovid, Vergil, and Statius. He refers us to H. Dunger, Die Sage v. troj. Kriege in den Bearbeitungen des Mittelalters: Dresden, 1869, p. 76; cf. Leyser, Hist. Poet. Medii Aevi, p. 295. This only accounts for Pseustis; Atiteris can hardly be Alithia.

1229. This is a curious example of how names are corrupted. _Marcia_ is Dante's _Marsia_, mentioned in the very passage which Chaucer partly imitates in ll. 1091-1109 above. Dante addresses Apollo in the words--

'Entra nel petto mio, e spira tue Si come quando Marsia traesti Della vagina delle membra sue.'

As Chaucer had here nothing to guide him to the gender of _Marsia_, he guessed the name to be feminine, from its termination; and Dante actually has _Marzia_ (Inf. iv. 128), with reference to _Marcia_, wife of Cato. But Dante's _Marsia_ represents the accus. case of Marsyas, or else the Lat. nom. _Marsya_, which also occurs. Ovid, Met. vi. 400, has '_Marsya_ nomen habet,' and tells the story. Apollo defeated the satyr Marsyas in a trial of musical skill, and afterwards flayed him alive; so that he 'lost his skin.'

1231. _Envyën_ (accent on _y_), vie with, challenge (at a sport). So strong is the accent on the _y_, that the word has been reduced in E. to the clipped form '_vie_; see _Vie_ in my Etym. Dict. It represents Lat. _inuitare_, to challenge; and has nothing to do with E. _envy_. Florio's Ital. Dict. has: '_Inuito_, a vie at play, a vie at any game; also an inuiting.'

1234. 'Pipers of every Dutch (German) tongue.'

1236. _Reyes_, round dances, dances in a ring. The term is Dutch. Hexham's Du. Dict. (1658), has: _een Rey_, or _een Reye_, a Daunce, or a round Daunce'; and '_reyen_, to Daunce, or to lead a Daunce.' Cf. G. _Reihen_, a dance, _Reihentanz_, a circular dance; M.H.G. _reie_, _reige_; which does not seem to be connected, as might be thought, with G. _Reihe_, a row; see Kluge and Weigand. Perhaps the Du. word was borrowed from O.F. _rei_, _roi_, order, whence also the syllable _-ray_ in E. _ar-ray_; and the G. word may have been borrowed from the Dutch; but this is a guess. 'I can daunce the raye'; Barclay's First Egloge, sig. A ii. ed. 1570; quoted in Dyce's Skelton, ii. 194.

1239. Understand _Somme_, some; see note to l. 1197. The expression _blody soun_ recurs in Kn. Tale, A 2512, in connection with _trumpe_ and _clarioun_. Our author explains his meaning here; ll. 1241-2.

1243. _Missenus_, Misenus, son of Æolus, trumpeter to Hector, and subsequently to Æneas; Verg. Æn. iii. 239; vi. 162-170.

1245. _Joab_ and _Theodomas_ are again mentioned together in a like passage in the Merch. Tale (C. T., E 1719). 'Joab blew a trumpet'; 2 Sam. ii. 28; xviii. 16; xx. 22. Theodomas is said by Chaucer (Merch. Tale) to have blown a trumpet 'At Thebes, when the citee was in doute.' He was therefore a trumpeter mentioned in some legendary history of Thebes. With this hint, it is easy to identify him with Thiodamas, mentioned in books viii. and x. of the Thebaid of Statius. He succeeded Amphiaraus as augur, and furiously excited the besiegers to attack Thebes. His invocation was succeeded by a great sound of trumpets (Theb. viii. 343), to which Chaucer here refers. But Statius does not expressly say that Thiodamas blew a trumpet himself.

1248. _Cataloigne and Aragon_, Catalonia and Arragon, in Spain, immediately to the S. of the Pyrenees. Warton remarks: 'The martial musicians of English tournaments, so celebrated in story, were a more natural and obvious allusion for an English poet'; Hist. E. P. ii. 331. The remark is, I think, entirely out of place. Chaucer is purposely taking a wide range; and, after mentioning even the pipers of the Dutch tongue, as well as Joab of Judæa and Thiodamas of Thebes, is quite consistent in mentioning the musicians of Spain.

1257. Repeated, at greater length, in C. T., Group B, ll. 19-28; see note to that passage.

1259. _Iogelours_, jugglers. See Squi. Tale, F 219.

1260. _Tregetours_; see C. T., F 1141, on which Tyrwhitt has a long note. A _jogelour_ was one who amused people, either by playing, singing, dancing, or tricks requiring sleight of hand; a _tregetour_ was one who brought about elaborate illusions, by the help of machinery or mechanical contrivance. Thus Chaucer tells us (in the Frank. Tale, as above) that _tregetoures_ even caused to appear, in a dining-hall, a barge floating in water, or what seemed like a lion, or a vine with grapes upon it, or a castle built of lime and stone; which vanished at their pleasure. Sir John Maundeville, in his Travels, ch. 22, declares that the 'enchanters' of the Grand Khan could turn day into night, or cause visions of damsels dancing or carrying cups of gold, or of knights justing; 'and many other thinges thei don, be craft of hire Enchauntementes; that it is marveyle for to see.' See note to l. 1277 below. Gawain Douglas imitates this passage in his Palice of Honour; see his Works, ed. Small, i. 65.

1261. _Phitonesses_, pythonesses. The witch of Endor is called a _phitonesse_ in the Freres Tale, C. T., D 1510; and in Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. iv, ed. Pauli, ii. 66; in Barbour's Bruce, ed. Skeat, iv. 753; and in Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe, 1345. The Vulgate version has _mulier pythonem habens_, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 (cf. Acts xvi. 16); but also the very word _pythonissam_ in 1 Chron. x. 13, where the witch of Endor is again referred to. Ducange notices _phitonissa_ as another spelling of _pythonissa_.

1266. Cf. Chaucer's Prologue, 417-420. There is a parallel passage in Dante, Inf. xx. 116-123, where the word _imago_ occurs in the sense of 'waxen image.' This of course refers to the practice of sticking needles into a waxen image, with the supposed effect of injuring the person represented. See Ovid, Heroid. vi. 91, and Ben Jonson's Masque of Queens (_3rd Charm_). But this is only a particular case of a much more general principle. Images of men or animals (or even of the things representing the zodiacal signs) could be made of various substances, according to the effect intended; and by proper treatment were supposed to cause good or evil to the patient, as required. Much could be done, it was supposed, by choosing the right time for making them, or for subjecting them to celestial influences. To know the right time, it was necessary to observe the _ascendent_ (see note to l. 1268). See much jargon on this subject in Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, lib. ii. capp. 35-47.

1268. The _ascendent_ is that point of the zodiacal circle which is seen to be just ascending above the horizon at a given moment. Chaucer defines it in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, and adds that astrologers, in calculating horoscopes, were in the habit of giving it a wider meaning; they further reckoned in 5 degrees of the zodiac above the horizon, and 25 degrees below the ascending point, so as to make the whole _ascendent_ occupy 30 degrees, which was the length of a 'sign.' In calculating nativities, great importance was attached to this ascendent, the astrological concomitants of which determined the horoscope. The phrase to be 'in the ascendant' is still in use. Thus _in certeyn ascendentes_ is equivalent to 'in certain positions of the heavens, at a given time,' such as the time of one's birth, or the time for making an _image_ (see last note). See p. 191 (above).

1271. _Medea_, the famous wife of Jason, who restored her father Æson to youth by her magical art; Ovid, Met. vii. 162. Gower tells the whole story, C. A. bk. v. ed. Pauli, ii. 259.

1272. _Circes_, Circe, the enchantress; Homer's Odyssey, bk. x; Ovid, Met. xiv. Ovid frequently has the form _Circes_, in the gen. case; Met. xiv. 10, 69, 71, 247, 294. Cf. Chaucer's Boethius, b. iv. met. 3. 24.

_Calipsa_, Calypso, the nymph who detained Ulysses in an island; Odyssey, bk. i; Ovid, ex Ponto, iv. 10. 13.

1273. _Hermes_ is mentioned in the Can. Yeom. Tale, C. T., Group G, 1434, where the reference is to Hermes Trismegistus, fabled to have been the founder of alchemy, though none of the works ascribed to him are really his. The name _Balenus_ occurs, in company with the names of _Medea_ and _Circe_, in the following passage of the Rom. de la Rose, l. 14599:--

'Que ja riens d'enchantement croie, Ne sorcerie, ne charroie, Ne _Balenus_, ne sa science, Ne magique, ne nigromance, ... Onques ne pot tenir _Medée_ Jason por nul enchantement; N'onc _Circe_ ne tint ensement Ulixes qu'il ne s'enfoïst,' &c.

(_Charroie_ is the dance of witches on their sabbath.) _Hermes Ballenus_ is really a compound name, the true significance of which was pointed out to me by Prof. Cowell, and explained in my letter to The Academy, Apr. 27, 1889, p. 287. _Ballenus_ is 'the sage Belinous,' who discovered, beneath a statue of _Hermes_, a book containing all the secrets of the universe. Hence _Hermes' Ballenus_ (where _Hermes_ is an epithet) means 'Belinous, who adopted the philosophy of Hermes.' For an explanation of the whole matter, see the fourth volume of the Notices et Mémoires des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du Roi, p. 107. In this there is an article by De Sacy, describing MS. Arabe de la Bibl. du Roi, no. 959, the title of which is 'Le Livre du Secret de la Creature, par le sage Belinous.' Belinous possessed the art of talismans, which he professed to have learnt from Hermes. There is some reason for identifying him with Apollonius of Tyana.

1274. _Lymote_, according to Warton, is Limotheus; but he omits to tell us where he found such a name; and the suggestion seems no better than his mistake of supposing _Calipsa_ (l. 1272) to mean the muse Calliope! Considering that he is mentioned in company with Simon Magus, or Simon the magician (Acts viii. 9), the suggestion of Prof. Hales seems probable, viz. that _Lymote_ or _Lymete_ (as in F.) means Elymas the sorcerer (Acts xiii. 8).

1275. 'I saw, and knew by name, those that,' &c.

1277. _Colle tregetour_, Colle the juggler; see l. 1260. _Colle_ is here a proper name, and distinct from the prefix _col-_ in _col-fox_, Non. Pr. Tale, B 4405. _Colle_ is the name of a dog; Non. Pr. Tale, B 4573. _Colyn_ and _Colle_ are names of grooms; Polit. Songs, p. 237. Tyrwhitt quotes a passage from The Testament of Love, bk. ii:--'Buserus [Busiris] slew his gestes, and he was slayne of Hercules his gest. Hugest betraished many menne, and of _Collo_ was he betraied'; ed. 1561, fol. 301, col. 2. With regard to _tregetour_, see the account of the performances of Eastern jugglers in Yule's edition of Marco Polo; vol. i. p. 342, and note 9 to Bk. i. c. 61. Col. Yule cites the O.F. forms _tregiteor_ and _entregetour_; also Ital. _tragettatore_, a juggler, and Prov. _trasjitar_, _trajitar_, to juggle. Bartsch, in his Chrestomathie Française, has examples of _trasgeter_, to mould, form, _tresgeteïs_, a work of mechanical art; and, in his Chrestomathie Provençale, col. 82, has the lines--

'Non saps balar ni _tras-gitar_ a guiza de juglar guascon';

i.e. thou know'st not how to dance, nor how to juggle, after the manner of a Gascon juggler. A comparison of the forms leaves no doubt as to the etymology. The Prov. _trasgitar_ answers to a Low Lat. form _trans-iectare_ = _tra-iectare_, frequentative of Lat. _trans-icere_, _tra-icere_, to throw across, transfer, cause to pass. Thus, the orig. sense of _tregetour_ was one who causes rapid changes, by help of some mechanical contrivance. The F. _trajecter_, to ferry, transport, in Cotgrave, is the same word as the Prov. _trasgitar_, in a different (but allied) sense.

1292. 'As is the usual way with reports.'

1295. Accent _Which_ and _so_.

1297. 'And yet it was wrought by haphazard quite as often as by heed.'

1300. _To longe_, too long; not 'to dwell long.' The barbarous practice of inserting an adverb between _to_ and an infinitive, as in 'to ungrammatically talk,' is of later date, though less modern than we might perhaps imagine. Cf. l. 1354.

1302. Elide the former _Ne_; read _N'of_.

1303. Read--Ne hów they hátt' in másonéries; i.e. nor how they are named in masonry, as, for example, corbets full of imageries. _They hatte_, i.e. they are called, was turned into _hakking_, and the sense lost.

1304. _Corbets_, corbels. Florio's Ital. Dict. has, '_Corbella_, _Corbetta_, a little basket'; shewing the equivalence of such forms. The E. _corbel_ is the same word as O.F. _corbel_ (F. _corbeau_), apparently from the Lat. _coruus_. The spelling with _z_ (= _ts_) in MSS. F. and B. shews that the form is really _corbetts_ or _corbets_, not _corbelles_. Spenser has the simple form _corb_; F. Q. iv. 10. 6:--

'It was a bridge ybuilt in goodly wise With curious _corbes_ and pendants graven faire.'

'A _Corbel_, _Corbet_, or _Corbill_ in masonrie, is a iutting out like a _bragget_ [bracket] as carpenters call it, or shouldering-peece in timber-work'; Minsheu's Dict. ed. 1627. Tyrwhitt explains _corbets_ by 'niches for statues'; but 'imageries' are not necessarily statues or _images_, but rather specimens of carved work.

1309. 'A bounty! a bounty! hold up (your hands) well (to catch it).' Sir W. Scott explains _largesse_ as 'the cry with which heralds and pursuivants were wont to acknowledge the bounty received from the knights'; note to Marmion, canto i. St. 11. The word is still in use amongst gleaners in East Anglia; see my note to P. Plowman, C. viii. 109.

1311. In Anglia, xiv. 236, Dr. Köppell points out some resemblances between the present poem and Boccaccio's Amorosa Visione. He compares this line with the A. V. vi. 75:--'Io son la Gloria del popol mondano.'

1316, 7. _Kinges_, i.e. kings-at-arms; _losenges_, lozenges (with _g_ as _j_).

1326. _Cote-armure_, surcoat; see Way's note in Prompt. Parv.

1329-35. Imitated from Rom. Rose, 6762-4.

1330. _Been aboute_, used like the old phrase _go about_.

1342-6. Cf. Boccaccio, Amorosa Visione, iv. 9:--'Ed in una gran sala ci trovammo; Chiara era e bella e risplendente d'oro.'

1346. _Wikke_, poor, much alloyed.

1352. _Lapidaire_, 'a treatise on precious stones, so entitled; probably a French translation of the Latin poem of Marbodus _De Gemmis_, which is frequently cited by the name of _Lapidarius_; Fabricius, Bibl. Med. Æt., in v. _Marbodus_'; Tyrwhitt's Glossary. The Lapidarium of Abbot Marbodus (Marboeuf), composed about 1070-80, is chiefly taken from Pliny and Solinus. A translation in English verse is given in King's Antique Gems. See note to l. 1363 below. There is some account of several precious stones in Philip de Thaun's Bestiary, printed in Wright's Popular Treatises on Science; at p. 127 he refers to the _Lapidaire_. Vincent of Beauvais refers to it repeatedly, in book viii. of his Speculum Naturale. There is a note about this in Warton, Hist. E. P. ed. 1871, ii. 324. And see note to l. 1363.

1360. _Dees_, daïs; see the note to Prol. 370, in vol. v. Lines 1360-7 may be compared with various passages in Boccaccio's Amorosa Visione, which describe a lady in a rich vesture, seated on a royal throne:--

'Tutti li _soprastava_ veramente Di _ricche pietre_ coronata e d'oro' ... 'Il suo vestire a guisa _imperiale_ Era, e teneva nella man sinestra Un pomo d'oro; e'n _trono_ alla reale Vidi sedeva' ... 'Odi: che mai _natura_ con sua arte _Forma_ non diede a si bella figura' ... 'Donna pareva li leggiadra e pura'....

See Am. Vis. vi. 49, 58, 43, 48. See note to l. 1311 above.

1361. The reading _Sit_ would mean 'sitteth' or 'sits'; the reading _Sat_ would mean 'sat.' Both are wrong; the construction is _sitte I saugh_ = _I saugh sitte_, I saw sit; so that _sitte_ is the infin. mood.

1363. _Carbuncle._ Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat bk. viii. c. 51, has: '_Carbunculus_, qui et Græcè _anthrax_ dicitur, vulgariter _rubith_.' An account of the _Carbunculus_ is given in King's Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems. He remarks that the ruby 'must also be included among the numerous species of the _carbunculus_ described by Pliny, although he gives the first rank to the _Carbunculi amethystizontes_, our Almandines or Garnets of Siam.' See also his Antique Gems, where he translates sect. 23 of the Lapidarium of Marbodus thus:--

'The _Carbuncle_ eclipses by its blaze All shining gems, and casts its fiery rays Like to the burning coal; whence comes its name, Among the Greeks as _Anthrax_ known to fame. Not e'en by darkness quenched, its vigour tires; Still at the gazer's eye it darts its fires; A numerous race; within the Lybian ground Twelve kinds by mining Troglydytes are found.'

1368-76. Cf. Boethius, in Chaucer's translation; bk. i. pr. 1, ll. 8-13 (vol. ii. p. 2).

1376. _Sterres sevene_, the seven planets.

1380. _Tolde_, counted; observe this sense.

1383. _Bestes foure_, four beasts; Rev. iv. 6. Cf. Dante, Purg. xxix. 92.

1386. Thynne remarks that _oundy_, i.e. wavy, is a term in heraldry; cf. E. _ab-ound_, _red-ound_, _surr-ound_ (for _sur-ound_); all from Lat. _unda_. Cf. Chaucer's use of _ounded_ in Troilus, iv. 736, and Le Roman de la Rose, 21399, 21400:--

'Et voit ses biaus crins blondoians Comme undes ensemble ondoians.'

1390. 'And tongues, as (there are) hairs on animals.' 'Her feet are furnished with partridge-wings to denote swiftness, as the partridge is remarkable for running with great swiftness with outstretched wings. This description is taken almost literally from the description of Fame in the Æneid [iv. 176-183], except the allusion to the Apocalypse and the partridge-wings'; note in Bell's Chaucer. But it is to be feared that Chaucer simply blundered, and mistook Vergil's _pernicibus_ as having the sense of _perdicibus_; cf. '_pedibus_ celerem et _pernicibus alis_'; Aen. iv. 180.

1400. _Caliopee_, Calliope the muse; her eight sisters are the other Muses. With ll. 1395-1405 cf. Dante, Par. xxiii. 97-111.

1411. Read--Bóth-e th'ármes. _Armes_, i.e. coats of arms. _Name_, name engraved on a plate or written on a scroll.

1413. _Alexander_; see Monkes Tale, in C. T., B 3821. _Hercules_; see the same; the story of the shirt is given in B 3309-3324. In Le Roman de la Rose, l. 9238, it is called 'la venimeuse chemise.' Cf. Dante, Inf. xii. 68.

1431. _Lede_, lead, the metal of Saturn; _yren_, iron, the metal of Mars. See note to Can. Yeom. Tale, G 820, and ll. 827, 828 of the same; also ll. 1446, 1448 below.

1433. Read--Th'Ebráyk Jósephús. In a note on Gower's Conf. Amantis, Warton remarks--'Josephus, on account of his subject, had long been placed almost on a level with the Bible. He is seated on the first pillar in Chaucer's House of Fame. His Jewish History, translated into Latin by Rufinus in the fourth century, had given rise to many old poems and romances; and his Maccabaics, or History of the seven Maccabees, martyred with their father Eleazar under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, a separate work translated also by Rufinus, produced the Judas Maccabee of Belleperche in the year 1240, and at length enrolled the Maccabees among the most illustrious heroes of romance.'--ed. Hazlitt, iii. 26.

1436. _Iewerye_, kingdom of the Jews; cf. Prior. Tale, B 1679.

1437. Who the other seven are, we can but guess; the reference seems to be to Jewish historians. Perhaps we may include Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Daniel, Nehemiah; and, in any case, Ezra. The number _seven_ was probably taken at random. With l. 1447 cf. Troil. ii. 630.

1450. _Wheel_, orbit. The orbit of Saturn is the largest of the (old) seven planets; see Kn. Tale, 1596 (A 2454). The reason why Josephus is placed upon Saturn's metal, is because history records so many unhappy casualties, such as Saturn's influence was supposed to cause. All this is fully explained in the Kn. Tale, 1597-1611 (A 2455-69).

1457. _Yren_, the metal of Mars; see note to l. 1431.

1459. This allusion to 'tiger's blood' is curious; but is fully accounted for by the account of the two tigers in bk. vii. of the Thebaid. A peace had nearly been made up between the Thebans and the other Greeks, when two tigers, sacred to Bacchus, broke loose, and killed three men. They were soon wounded by Aconteus, whereupon 'They fly, and flying, draw upon the plain A bloody line'; according to Lewis's translation. They fall and die, but are avenged; and so the whole war was renewed. Lydgate reduces the two tigers to one; see his chapter 'Of a tame Tigre dwelling in Thebes'; in