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.