makyere in the sense of "author" occurs in the Kentish Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 269; written A. D. 1340. The A. S. scop and O.H. G. scóf mean "a shaper." The G. Dichter means an "arranger"; the Fr. trouvère, Provençal troubadour, and Ital. trovatore means a “finder.”—Skeat, note to P. Plowman, B. xii. 16 (where makynges means 'poems'). 72. Cf. l. 193. There appears to be here some reference to a poem of the kind called in F. tenson (O. F. tençon) or in O. Provençal tenso, i. e. ‘dispute,' in which the relative merits of two subjects are discussed. An early example in English is the poem called The Owl and the Nightingale, in which these birds contend for the superiority. In the present case, the suggestion is to discuss the value of the Leaf, representing no doubt constancy or any enduring virtue, as compared with that of the Flower, the representative of perishable beauty and the freshness of first love. Chaucer probably refers to some such poem in French, but I cannot point out the exact source. On the other hand, the present passage doubtless suggested the poem called 'The Flower and the Leaf,' a pretty but somewhat tedious poem of the fifteenth century, in which Chaucer's style is imitated with no remarkable exactness or success. This poem was formerly rashly attributed to Chaucer himself without any evidence, though it was printed for the first time as late as 1598. See it discussed in vol. i. p. 44. Gower also refers to the present passage; C. A. iii. 358. In scanning this line, remember to pronounce Whether as Whe'r, a monosyllable. This is common also in Shakespeare, as in his 59th Sonnet: 'Whe'r we are mended, or whe'r better they.' 74. Making, poetry; ropen, reaped. For I well know, that ye (poets) have long ere this reaped the field of poetry, and carried away the corn from it; and I come after you as a gleaner.' See note to 1. 69. Compare Parl. Foules, 22-25. In The A.S. ripan, to reap, was a strong verb; pt. t. ráp, pp. ripen. The M.E. forms are various and corrupt, and not very common. P. Plowman, B. xiii. 374, the pt. t. is rope, pl. ropen. The proper form of the pp. is ripen; the form ropen is due to that confusion between the past tense and past participle which is so extremely common in English. See Morris, Hist. Outlines of Eng. Accidence, p. 160. 80. Evel apayd, ill pleased, displeased; a common phrase. Cler. Tale, E 1052; Can. Yem. Tale, G 921, 1049. Apayd, pleased, occurs in the Kn. Tale, 1010 (A 1868). See 85. Wynt, windeth, turns (me) about, directs (me). These contracted forms of the third person singular of the present indicative are almost universal in Anglo-Saxon, and very common in M. E. Chaucer has fynt findeth, rit = rideth, hit hideth, et = eateth, 1. 1389, &c. A much earlier example of wint for windeth is in the Ancren Riwle, p. 296. = = 86. In-with, within. This curious form is not very common in Chaucer. Still it occurs in l. 228 below; in the Prior. Tale, B 1794; Cler. Tale, E 870; March. Tale, E 1944; Troilus, ii. 508, iii. 1499, &c. See Mätzner. 88. Nothing I, I am not at all (the master of it). = 90. This is a fine simile. His lady sovereign can evoke from him any tone at will. And maketh and (the hand) makes. Bell puts That for And, without authority. 93. Yow list, it pleases you. 97. But why said I that we should give credence?' See ll. 10, 20. In the A-text (1. 81) But wherfor is used differently, and means— 'But the reason why,' &c. List = listeth; cf. note to 1. 85. 100. Seen at eye, see evidently. So in the Can. Yem. Tale, G 1059. Cf. fair at yë, fair to the sight, id. G 964; Cler. Tale, E 1168. The promise made in l. 101 was not fulfilled. 103. Besy gost, active spirit. Thrusteth, thirsteth. 105. Gledy, glowing; an adj. formed from gleed, a glowing coal. I know of no other example of this word. The compound adj. gled-read, glede-red, i. e. red as a glowing coal, occurs in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 249. 108. The first of May was a favourite time for joyful observances. See note to Kn. Tale, A 1500. 109. Dredful, timid, timorous; as in Kn. Tale, A 1479. 112. Agayn, against, towards, turned towards; as in l. 48. 113. The beste, i. e. the Bull, the sign Taurus. Agenores doghter is Europa, daughter of Agenor of Phoenicia, who, according to the fable, was carried off by Jupiter in the form of a bull. Hence Ovid uses the expression 'Agenoreus bos,' Fast. vi. 712; and calls Europa Agenore nata,' Met. ii. 858. For the story, see the latter reference. Chaucer here tells us that the Sun, on the 1st of May, was 'in the breast' of Taurus, i. e. in the middle of it. It was, in fact, far advanced in the sign, near the 20th degree. See Fig. 1 in this volume, which shews the back of the Astrolabe. 118. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, 399. 125. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, ll. 410-2, which is a parallel passage. Both passages are borrowed from the Roman de la Rose, 55-58; see vol. i. p. 95. 126. Mat, dead; a term borrowed from the game of chess. See Anelida, 176; Book Duch., 660; and Kn. Tale, A 955. 128. Atempre, temperate, mild. See Book of the Duch., 341, and the note. This again is from the Rom. de la Rose, 125. Releved, raised up again, revived. Cotgrave gives: 'Relevé, raised, lift, or set up again; relieved, revived, fully restored.' 130. In the classical and middle ages small birds were a common article of food, as they are on the continent at the present time; and the season for catching them with a panter, or bag-net, was winter, when the scarcity of food made them tame. The poet here represents their songs in the spring, as the expression of their exultation at having baffled the stratagems, quaintly called sophistries, by which the fowler had endeavoured to lure them to their destruction.'— BELL. The word panter is curiously preserved in the mod. E. painter, a rope for mooring a boat. I quote the following from my Etym. Dict.: ""Painter, a rope employed to fasten a boat"; Hawkesworth's Voyages, 1773, vol. i. p. xxix. Corrupted (by assimilation to the ordinary sb. painter) from M. E. panter, a noose, esp. for catching birds. See Chaucer, Leg. of Good Women, 131; Prompt. Parv., p. 381; spelt paunter, Polit. Songs, ed. Wright, p. 344.-O. F. pantiere, a kind of snare for birds, Roquefort; panthiere," a great swoop-net"; Cotgrave. Cf. Ital. pantiera," a kind of tramell or fowling net"; Florio; panthera, "a net or haie to catch conies with, also a kind of fowling-net"; id.— Lat. panther, a hunting-net for catching wild beasts. Cf. panthera, an entire capture.—Gk. #avðŋpós, catching all; cf. mavenpa, the whole booty (a very late word).—Gk. яâv, neut. of πâs, every; and Onp, a wild beast. 'The Irish painteir, Gael. painntear, a gin, snare, are forms of the same word [but were borrowed from English or French]. It is remarkable that, in America, a panther is also called a painter. See Cooper, The Pioneers, cap. xxviii.' 132. Upon, against, in scorn of; cf. in his despyt, l. 134. A-whaped, scared. A. 127. The A-text is hereabouts very imperfect, and some lines are too short. I supply words within square brackets, in order to fill out the lines, and to make sense. 145. See Parl. of Foules, 309, 683, and the note to the former passage in vol. i. p. 516. Birds were supposed to choose their mates on St. Valentine's day (Feb. 14). 146. Chees, chose: the past tense; A.S. céas. 154. Tydif, the name of some small bird, guessed by Skinner to be the titmouse; more probably the tydy mentioned by Drayton, which is supposed to mean a wren. See Tydy in Nares. Cf. Squi. Tale, F 648; id. 610, 611. 158. 'Provided that their mates would pity them.' 160. Daunger usually means 'power to harm.' These allegorical personages were suggested by the Roman de la Rose. In the English version (1. 3018) Daunger is the name of the 'foul churl,' who is set beside the Rose, to prevent strangers from plucking it. In Chaucer's Complaint unto Pite, he introduces such personages as Crueltee (corresponding to Daunger), Pite, Bountee, Gentilesse, and Curtesye. So here, we are told that although Daunger (i. e. power to harm or to repel) seemed for a time to have the upper hand, yet at the last Pity induced relenting, and caused Mercy to surpass (or prevail over) Right (or Justice). Just as Pity is opposed to Danger or Cruelty, so we find, in the old theological allegories, that Mercy is opposed to Justice. The pleading of Mercy against Justice will be found at length in Grosteste's Chastel d'Amour, in the Cursor Mundi, p. 550, and in the Gesta Romanorum, Tale 55. See my note to P. Plowman, C. xxi. 120. 163. By means of innocence and well-mannered courtesy.' 164. But I do not call folly, or false pity, by the name of innocence'; i. e. the poet does not approve of immodesty or weakness, because in all things the chief virtue is moderation, or the 'golden mean.' Beauty should be neither too yielding nor too pitiless. 166. Etik, Lat. Ethica; alluding to the Ethics of Aristotle, in which happiness and virtue are discussed, and the nature of virtue is said to shew itself in its appearing as the medium or mean between two extremes. Similarly, Gower in his Conf. Amantis (ed. Pauli, iii. 153) refers us to Aristotle's advice to Alexander, to keep the mean between avarice and prodigality. See also Gower's remarks on ethique; id. iii. 140. Cf. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 387. 170. So in the Parl. of Foules, 680, the birds are described as joining in the roundel-'Now welcom somer, with thy sonne softe.' 171. Here again is a reminiscence of the Roman de la Rose, II. 8449-51 : 'Zephirus et Flora, sa fame, Qui des flors est deesse et dame, i. e. Zephirus and his wife Flora, who is the goddess and lady of 184. The daisy, or, otherwise, the eye of day'; see note to 1. 43. 186. 'I pray that she may fall fairly,' that she may light upon good fortune. All the MSS. have she; otherwise we might read her, as such is the more usual idiom, in which case it would mean 'that it may befall her fairly.' We have a similar case in the Manciple's Prologue, H 40, where six MSS. have the usual idiom 'foule mot thee falle,' whilst the Ellesmere MS. alone has 'foule mot thou falle.' For a similar variation, cf. 1. 277 below with A. 180, i. e. with the corresponding line in the earlier text. 191. For, as regards me, neither of them is dearer or more hateful than the other; I am not yet retained on the side of either of them.' The sense of with-holden is detained, kept back, hence reserved to one side, committed to a particular view. 195. Thing=werk (A. 79), i. e. poem. Of another tonne, out of quite a different cask. Cf. 'Nay, thou shalt drinken of another tonne Er that I go'; C. T., D 170. Cf. Rom. Rose (French Text), 6838. 196. Swich thing, such a thing as the strife between the Leaf and the Flower. The A-text (1. 80) helps us here, as it reads 'swich stryf.' 203. Herber, an arbour. This difficult word is fully explained in the New E. Dict., s. v. arbour. It is there shewn that the original sense of the M. E. herber or erber was 'a plot of ground covered with grass or turf; a garden-lawn or green.' In the Medulla Grammatices, ab. > 1460, we find :-' Viretum, locus pascualis virens, a gres-yerd, or an herber.' Subsequently it meant a herb-garden or flower-garden; a fruit-garden or orchard; trees or shrubs trained on frame-work; and then a bower, or 'shady retreat, of which the sides and roof are formed by trees and shrubs closely planted or intertwined, or of lattice-work covered with climbing shrubs and plants, as ivy, vine, &c.' Dr. Murray remarks that 'the original characteristic of the arbour seems to have been the floor and benches of herbage [as here]; in the modern idea the leafy covering is the prominent feature.' The present passage was imitated and amplified by the authoress of The Flower and the Leaf, beginning at l. 49 : 'a pleasaunt herber well ywrought, So small, so thicke, so short, so fresh of hew, And closed in all the grene herbere, With sicamour was set and eglatere'; &c. So too, in the Assembly of Ladies, st. 7 :— 'Which broght me to an herber fair and grene Made with benches ful crafty and clene.' 208. Hed, hidden. This rare form occurs again in Will. of Palerne, 688. The usual M. E. forms are hud and hid. Similarly Chaucer uses ken for 'kin' in Book Duch. 438, the usual M. E. forms being kun and kin; and we find ken also in Will. of Palerne, 722. These forms are Southern, and mostly Kentish. 213. The god of love, Cupid; cf. Parl. Foules, 212. Cf. the description in the E. version of the Rom. of the Rose, ll. 890, 1003. In his hande, i. e. leading by the hand; see l. 241. A quene, a queen, viz. Alcestis, as we afterwards learn. She is so clothed as to represent a daisy; hence her green dress, golden hair-ornament or caul, and white crown; see 1. 218, and note to 1. 227. 215. Fret here means a caul of gold wire. They were sometimes set with stones. Cf. Rom. Rose, 1108, and The Flower and the Leaf, 152:— 'A riche fret of gold,' &c. See Fairholt, Costume in England. 217. The pause after smale saves the final e from elision. See examples in the Cant. Tales, B 2153, 3281, 3989; &c. We may translate the phrase and I shal nat lye by 'if I am not to lie'; see l. 357, and the note. 221. Oriental, eastern; here, of superior quality. The precious stones called by lapidaries oriental ruby, oriental topaz, oriental amethyst, and oriental emerald are red, yellow, violet, and green sapphires, distinguished from the other gems of the same name which have not |