2637. Read Ne I as N'I. 'Nor would I advise thee to thy harm.'

2640. 'And, at the same time, I make protestation in this manner, viz. that, unless thou do as I shall direct thee.'

2653. 'I will not have any reservation.'

2655. Y-sene, visible; an adj., not a pp. See l. 1394; and Prol. to Cant. Tales, 592.

2660. Siker, secure. The use of the word is precisely like that in the well-known anecdote of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn. Meeting Bruce at the door of the Greyfriars' Church in Dumfries, he asked what tidings. 'Bad tidings,' answered Bruce, 'I doubt I have slain Comyn.' 'Doubtest thou?' said Kirkpatrick; 'I make sicker? With these words, he and Lindsay rushed into the church and despatched the wounded Comyn. See Note K to Scott's Lord of the Isles, c. I. st. 27, c. 2. st. 13.

2661. Biker, quarrel, altercation; also a skirmish, encounter. 2662, 'By him that I have (already) sworn by.' See 1. 2642. 2666. Costrel, a flask, a kind of bottle. Costred, or costrelle, grete botelle, Onopherum, aristophorum'; Prompt. Parv.; see Way's note. 'A Costrelle, oneferum, &c., vbi a flakett'; Cath. Angl. p. 77; see Herrtage's note. See costa, costarez, costarium, costrelli, in Ducange; and coste, costeret, costerel, in Godefroy. In the Craven dialect, a costril is the little wooden barrel carried by reapers.

2671. 'Lest that the time may seem long to him.' Ovid alludes to the narcotic drink; Her. xiv. 42:-'quaeque tibi dederam uina, soporis erant.' Cf. Kn. Tale, 614.

2680. Cf. Her. xiv. 44:-'Erigor, et capio tela tremente manu.'

2681. From Her. xiv. 39:

'Utque leui Zephyro graciles uibrantur aristae,

frigida populeas ut quatit aura comas.'

2682. From Her. xiv. 34:-'Securumque quies alta per Argos erat.'

2683. 'Sanguis abit; mentemque calor corpusque reliquit'; Her. xiv. 37. And, in the next line-‘frigida facta.’

2686. 'Ter male sublato decidit ense manus'; 46.

:

2690. From Her. xiv. 55, &c. :

'Femina sum et uirgo, natura mitis et annis.

Non faciunt molles ad fera tela manus

Quid mihi cum ferro? Quo bellica tela puellae?'

2696. And me beshende, and bring myself to ruin, and perish. I know of only one other example of this rare word, viz. the example given in Murray from Cursor Mundi, 1. 14838, where the Trinity MS. has: 'Allas! nu has he zu bischent'; alas! now has he ruined you. But it is a perfectly legitimate compound from the M. E. shenden. All former editions give this line wrongly; they omit me, and read 'and be shende,' explained by 'and be destroyed.' Now, in the first place, this will not scan; and secondly, the idea of adding a final e to the pp. beshend (more correctly beshent) is a characteristic commentary on that ignorance of M. E. grammar which is only too common. Yet the final e must needs be added, for ende (in 1. 2697) is essentially dissyllabic. Hence it follows, irresistibly, that shende is not a past participle; and we are driven to see that beshende is the infinitive mood of a compound verb.

2697. Nedes cost, by condition of necessity, i.e. necessarily; see Kn. Ta. 619, and the note.

2700. Supply he before hath; cf. note to 1. 2630.

2705. Goter, gutter, channel for water. This is an addition. The original merely has (11. 77, 78) :

'Quaerenti caussam, "Dum nox sinit, effuge," dixi;

"dum nox atra sinit, tu fugis, ipsa moror."

2708. Roggeth, shaketh. 'Roggyn, or mevyn, or scogghyn, rokkyn. Agito'; Prompt. Parv. See P. Plowman, B. xvi. 78; and ruggen in Stratmann. Cf. Icel. rugga, to rock a cradle. Prof. Napier tells me that the A. S. roccan, to rock, has been found in a gloss. Bell's edition has the singular and unauthorised reading jeggeth (sic).

2709. The rest of the story seems to be Chaucer's addition. Ovid merely has (11. 83, 84):—

'Abstrahor a patriis pedibus; raptamque capillis

(haec meruit pietas praemia) carcer habet.'

2710. Don him bote, given him assistance.

2715. 'Her father caused her to be seized,' lit. caused (men) to seize her.

2723. 'This tale is told for the following reason.' And here the MSS. break off, in the middle of the sentence.

Also the following: v. a verb in the infinitive mood; ger.=gerund;
pr. s. (and pt. s.) mean the third person singular of the present (and
past) tense, except when I or 2 (first person or second person) is
prefixed; pr. pl. (and pt. pl.) mean, likewise, the third person plural
of the present (and past) tense; imp. s. = second person singular of the
imperative mood; and imp. pl. = second person plural of the same.
Other contractions, such as s. = substantive, and pp. = past participle,
will be readily understood.

Further information as to the etymologies of the words is given in
Mayhew and Skeat's Concise Middle-English Dictionary, and in Skeat's
Concise Etymological Dictionary.

The references are to the lines. When 'A' is prefixed to a number,
the reference is to the 'A-text' of the Prologue, i. e. the upper text on

pp. 2-41.

This Glossary may be compared with that to the Minor Poems.
A large proportion of the words here given occur in that also.

A.

A, art. about, some, 2075.
A-bak, adv. aback, back, 864.
Abite, s. habit, dress, A 146.
Able, adj. fit, 320.

Aboght, pp. bought dearly, 1387;
paid for, 2483. See note to 1.
1387.

Abood, I pt. s. remained, waited,
309. Pt. t. of abyden.
Accordeth, pr. s. agrees, beseems,
2583; Accorded, pp. agreed,
1635. See Acorde.
Accusour, s. accuser, 353.
Acheve, v. achieve, 1614.
Achoked, pp. choked, 2008.
A-compas, adv. in a circle, 300.
Acord, s. agreement, 159.
Acorde, I pr. s. grant, allow, 3;
Acordeth, pr. s. agrees, con-
cerns, 955; Acordeden, pt. pl.
agreed, 168, 1739. See Ac-

cordeth.

A-doun, adv. downwards, down,
178, 250, 792, 1413, 1726.
A-fer, adv. afar, 212.
Afered, pp. frightened, afraid,
A 53; 2321. A. S. á-færan.
Affermed, pp. agreed upon, 790.
After, prep. after, by inheritance

from, 1072; according to, 2651.
A-fyre, adv. on fire, 2493.
Again, prep. when exposed to,

2426; Agayn, in comparison
with, 189; towards, 112. See
Agein.
Agasteth, pr. s. frightens, 1171;
Agaste, pt. s. frightened, 1221;
Agast, pp. afraid, 1534. A. S.
á-gæstan.

Agein, prep. against, towards,
turned towards, 48. See Again.
Ageyns, prep. against, 330.
Agilten, z. do wrong, 436; A-
gilte, pt. s. wrongly committed,
2385; Agilt, pp. done wrong,
463. A. S. á-gyltan.