Min ben alfo the maladies colde, The derke trefons, and the caftes olde: 2470 Thogh Mars fhal help his knight yet natheles. 2475 Betwixen ther mot fomtime be pees: you All be ye not of o complexion That causeth all day fwiche divifion. The gret effect for which that I began. 2480 Gret was the fefte in Athenes thilke day, 2485 And eke the lufty fefon of that May Made every wight to ben in swiche plefance That all that Monday juften they and dance, . 2469. Min ben alfo the maladies colde] I apprehend that maladies, in this verse, is to be pronounced as of four fyllables; Min ben alfo the máladiés colde. So below, ver. 2495; Ther was in th' hóftelríes áll aboute. And ver. 2591; Ther n'ére swiche cómpagníes néver twey. However, if any one thould prefer a hobbling line with ano ther fyllable in it he may read, with the best mff. And min ben alfo, &c. And spenden it in Venus highe fervise; And on the mor we whan the day gan spring Ther was in the hostelries all aboute, 2490 2495 Ther mayeft thou fee devifing of harneis So uncouth and fo riche, and wrought fo wele 2500 The fheldes brighte, tefteres, and trappures, 2505 2510 .2506. Gniding of heldes) Rubbing, from the Sax. gnidan, fricare. I have not fcrupled to infert this reading in the text from a fingle mf. (NC.) and that one of the leaft authority. Indeed both Caxton's editions support it, for they read guydyng, and in many mff. is undiftinguishable from u. The other read ings are gyngynge, gigging, grigging, girding, gyding, gryding. Pipes, trompes, nakeres, and clariounes, 2515 Here three, ther ten, holding hir queftioun, Long after that the fonne gan up fpring. 2525 2530 Duk Thefeus is at a window fette, Araied right as he were a god in trone: The peple prefeth thider ward ful fone . 2513. Pipes, trompes] Thefeida, 1. ii.; A una hora trombe, nachare, e tamburi Sonaron forte.- See Du Cange in v. Nacara, who defcribes it to be a kind of brazen drum ufed in the cavalry. .2516. Here three] So in The Thefcida; Qui tre, la quatro, e qui fei adunati, Tra lor mostrando diverfe ragione. 2527. Held yet the chambre] So The Thefeida; Anchor le riche camere tenea Del fuo palagie. Him for to feen and don high reverence, And eke to herken his hefte and his fentence. 2535 An heraud on a fcaffold made an O, The lord hath of his high difcretion · 2540 No man therfore, up peine of loffe of lif, 2545 No maner fhot ne pollax ne fhort knif Into the liftes fend or thider bring, Ne fhort fwerd for to ftike with point biting Ne no man fhal unto his felaw ride 2550 But o cours, with a sharpe ygrounden spere; Foin if him lift on foot, himfelf to were: V. 2535. an O] It may be doubted whether this be an abbreviation of eyes, or whether the interjection bo were used to command a ceffation of noife as well as of fighting, &c. For the latter ufe fee ver. 1708, 2658, and Holinsh. p. 495; “The “Duke of Norfolke was not fullie fet forward when the king "caít downe his warder, and the heraldes cried, Ho, bo!" V.2552. bimfelf to were] To defend : it is a Saxon word. See Chr. Sax. Gilf. p. 57, bine werede, fe defendit—and p. 143. See alfo Ly ig. Troy. b. iv; That helde ne plate might his body were. And he that is at mefchief shal be take, And not flaine, but be brought unto the flake On eyther fide, or elles fleth his make, 2555 No longer thal the tourneying ylast. God fpede you; goth forth and lay on faft : 2560 With longe fwerd and with mafe fighteth your fill. So loude crieden they with mery steven, 2565 Up gon the trompes and the melodie, And to the liftes rit the compagnie By ordinance, thurghout the cite large, Hanged with cloth of gold and not with farge. 2570 Ful like a lord this noble duk gan ride, And these two Thebans upon eyther fide, V. 2559. ylaft] The prepofitive y is an addition of my own for the fake of the metre; but perhaps we might read "No "longer thal the tourneyinge laff." See the n. on ver. 1658. I should obferve that some mil. read tournament, and mf. D. tourmentenge, which may lead us to fufpect that Chaucer poffibly wrote tourneymenting. V. 2563. The vois of the peple] So The Thefeida; Di nobili e del populo il romore |