Chapter 31

Andrea del Sarto's famous painting _La Charité_ in the Louvre.

277. WHOSE PASSING PRICE, etc., whose surpassing value it was difficult to calculate.

292. WELL TO DONNE, well doing, right doing.

318. SEVEN BEAD-MEN, seven men of prayer, corresponding to the Seven Deadly Sins of the House of Pride. They represent good works: (1) entertainment of strangers; (2) food to the needy; (3) clothing to the naked; (4) relief to prisoners; (5) comfort to the sick; (6) burial of the dead, and (7) care of widows and orphans.

354. PRICE OF BRAS, ransom in money. _Bras_ is a Latinism from _æs_.

355. FROM TURKES AND SARAZINS. In the sixteenth century thousands of Christians were held captive in Turkish and Saracen prisons, and many of these were ransomed by the charitable of Europe. Prescott tells us that Charles V found 10,000 Christians in Tunis at its capture in 1535.

359. HE THAT HARROWD HELL. The Harrowing of Hell was the mediæval belief in the descent of Christ to hell to redeem the souls of Old Testament saints, and to despoil the powers of darkness. It is the subject of an old miracle play.

374. The reference is to the resurrection from the dead.

378. I DEAD BE NOT DEFOULD, that I (when) dead be not defiled. This prayer was answered, for the poet received honorable burial in Westminster Abbey.

381. AND WIDOWES AYD, i.e. had charge (to) aid widows, etc.

382. IN FACE OF JUDGEMENT, before the judgment-seat.

422-423. HIS ... HER, Redcross Knight...mercy.

430. FOR NOUGHT HE CAR'D, for he cared nought that his body had been long unfed.

470. THAT SAME MIGHTY MAN OF GOD, Moses. See _Exodus_, xiv, 16, xxiv, and xxxiv.

471. THAT BLOOD-RED BILLOWES, of the Red Sea.

478. THAT SACRED HILL, the mount of Olives.

483. THAT PLEASAUNT MOUNT, mount Parnassus, the seat of the nine Muses (l. 485), the patronesses of the arts and of learning. Sacred and profane literature are beautifully blended in the thoughts of the contemplative man.

489. A GOODLY CITIE, the Celestial City, Heaven. The description is suggested by that in _Revelation_, xxi, 10 _seq._

515. THAT GREAT CLEOPOLIS, London, "the city of glory."

519. PANTHEA, probably Westminster Abbey, in which Elizabeth's ancestors were buried.

524. FOR EARTHLY FRAME, for an earthly structure.

549. SAINT GEORGE OF MERY ENGLAND. St. George became the patron Saint of England in 1344, when Edward III consecrated to him the Order of the Garter. Church and Percival say that _merry_ means _pleasant_ and referred originally to the country, not the people. Cf. Mereweather.