portance. The cat can be no other than John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, concerning whom rumours were spread that he aspired to the royal dignity; this greatly offended the people, who were fond of Richard for the sake of his father, their beloved Black Prince. The speech made by the Duke, Oct. 13, 1377, indignantly repelling all such accusations, is entered on the Parliamentary Rolls, and may be read in Lingard's History of England, 8vo., 1825; vol. iv. p. 224. Still more clearly is this shewn by the curious resolution adopted by the insurgents under Wat Tyler, who swore to admit of no king of the name of John,' in order to express their detestation of the Duke. See Lingard's History of England, vol. iv. p. 240.

152. Doute in Old English almost always means fear, as here. about us; cf. l. 172.

Loke, look

Or, ere.

155. Vs lotbeth, it loathes us, i. e. we loathe; cf. 1. 174. 158. Renable, contracted from resonable. Thus, in Myrc's Duties of a Parish Priest (ed. Peacock, 1868), the Cotton MS. has 'renabulle tonge' where the Douce MS. has 'resonable.' But it was often regarded as if formed from the verb renne, to run; hence it is still used in Norfolk in the form runnable; i. e. glib, loquacious. In the following it has, apparently, the older meaning:

'Hir maners might no man amend;
Of tong she was trew and renable,
And of hir semblant soft and stabile.'

Ywaine and Gawaine, 208; in Ritson's Met. Rom., vol. i. p. 10. 161. Bighes, necklaces. Colers of crafty werk, collars of skilful workmanship; alluding to the gold or metal chains, such as are still worn by sheriffs, &c.

164. And at other times they are elsewhere, viz. away from London, living in retirement.

181. Leten, considered, esteemed; cf. Pass. iv. 1. 160.

187. To lat the catte worthe, to let the cat be, to let it alone.

Wortbe

is the A.S. weordan, to be. When Alexander tamed Bucephalus, we read that

'Soone hee leapes on-loft and lete hym worthe

To fare as hym lyst faine in feelde or in towne.'

William of Palerne, &c.; ed. Skeat, 1867; p. 216. 189. Is seuene zere ypassed, it is seven years past, seven years ago.

190. The expressive word elyng, elenge, or ellinge, still common in Kent, includes the meanings sad and solitary. Henry VIII, in a letter to Anne Bullen, speaks of his ellengness since her departure;' Hearne's edition of Avesbury, p. 360.

191. Væ tibi, terra, cujus rex puer est, et cujus principes mane comedunt; Ecclesiastes x. 16. In MS. Digby 53 is a note to this effect'par pe child is kinge and pe cuerl [churl] is alderman, and be wale [stranger] biscop, wa pene lede [wo to the people]; unde versus,

Ve populo cujus puer est rex, censor agrestis,
Exterus antistes; hii mala multa movent.'

When Robert Crowley reprinted Piers Plowman, in the time of Edward VI, he added, for obvious reasons, this sidenote: Omnium doctissimorum suffragio, dicuntur hec de lassiuis, fatuis, aut ineptis principibus, non de etate tenellis. Quasi dicat, ubi rex puerilis est.' In this and other quotations, I

на

follow the peculiar spellings of the originals. The use of e for æ in Latin words is very common.

192. The wise mouse here suggests that the rats want keeping in order themselves, and that it is a pity that the true cat (i. e. the king, in this instance) is only a kitten. Also the cat may sometimes be expected to go out catching rabbits, and meanwhile he will let the rats and mice alone. 'Better a little loss than a long sorrow; (for there would, if the duke died, be) confusion amongst us all, though we be rid of a tyrant.' Langland uses the mase to mean confusion, bewilderment; 1. 196 is explanatory of the 'long sorrow' mentioned above.

197. We mice, the lower order of commons, would eat up many men's malt, and ye rats, the burgesses, would tear men's clothes, &c.' These lines are almost prophetical. The rising of the peasantry under Wat Tyler took place but a short time afterwards, in June, 1381.

202. Observe how the cat (John of Gaunt) is here distinguished from the kitten (Richard II).

203. Ne carpyng of, nor shall there be any more talking about. Supply shal be from the line above. Costed me neure, would never have cost me anything; for I would not have subscribed to it.

204. And, even if I bad subscribed, I would not own it, but would submit to let him do as he likes; both he and the kitten may catch what they can. 209. Deuine ze, guess ye the meaning; I dare not.

210. The rest of the Prologue is found in Text A, as well as in the later ones. The law-sergeants are here spoken of. 'Lawyers were originally priests and of course wore the tonsure; but when the clergy were forbidden to intermeddle with secular affairs, the lay lawyers continued the practice of shaving the head, and wore the coif for distinction's sake. It was at first made of linen, and afterwards of white silk;' British Costume, p. 126. The white silk hoods are again alluded to in Pass. iii. 1. 293.

212. Pleteden, pleaded. This verb is derived from the O. Fr. plet, a plea, which is corrupted from the Lat. placitum, an opinion. Hence plead and please are from the same root. By the Statute of 36 Edw. III, c. 15 (A.D. 1362), it was enacted that pleadings should henceforward be conducted in English, but recorded in Latin. They were not recorded in English till the fourth year of George II. The penny was an important coin in the time of Edward III; but it should be observed that any coin, such as a florin, could be sometimes called a penny, in which case a balf-penny would mean the half-florin, and a farthing (fourth-ing) the fourth part of the florin. See note to Pass. ii. 143. There is a satirical poem in praise of 'Sir Peny,' who was much sought after by all men, including lawyers.

'Sir Peny mai ful mekil availe

To tham that has nede of cownsail,
Als sene is in assise.'

213. Vnlese, unloose, unclose.

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Hazlitt; Early Popular Poetry, i. 165.

214. Thou mightest better measure the mist on Malvern hills than get a mum out of their mouth, unless money should be exhibited.' The whole

of this passage is imitated by Lydgate;

Unto the common place [pleas] I yode thoo,

Where sat one with a sylken boode;

I dyd hym reverence, for I ought to do so,
And told my case as well as I coud,
How my goods were defrauded me by falshood.
I gat not a mum of his mouth for my meed,
And for lack of mony, I myght not spede.'

Lydgate's London Lyckpeny; MS. Harl. 367.

'The trade of brewing was confined

216. An, and. Both spellings are common. 218. Brewesteres, female brewers. almost wholly to females, and was reckoned among the callings of low repute.'-Note to Liber Albus, ed. H. T. Riley; p. 307. At p. 312 of the same we read, 'If any brewer or brewster,' &c. Cf. Pass. v. 306.

219. Wollewebsteres, female weavers of linen. But the distinction between webbe, a male weaver, and webstere, a female weaver, is not always made. Thus, in Pass. v. 215 we find―

'My wyf was a webbe and wollen cloth made.'

222. Of labourers of every kind there leapt forth some.' For alkin we sometimes find alle kyn, alle kynne, alles kinnes, and (which is very extraordinary) alle skinnes. The full form is alles kynnes, of every kind. It is in the genitive case. The word labourers in the Statutes of Edward III is comprehensive, including masons, bricklayers, tilers, carpenters, ditchers, diggers, &c.

224. Dieu vous saue, dame Emme! God save you, dame Emma! Evidently the refrain of some low popular song. In another place Langland speaks of 'dame Emme of Shoreditch,' which was a low locality.

226. Good pigs and geese! let's go and dine!' It was the practice thus to tout for custom, standing outside the shop-door. In the same way the taverners kept crying out, White wine! Red wine!' &c. Lydgate copies from Langland :

Cokes to me they toke good entent,

Called me nere, for to dyne;

And profered me good brede, ale, and wyne.
Then I hied me into Est Chepe;

One cries ribes of befe, and many a pie;

Pewtar potts they clatteryd on a heape;
Ther was harpe, pipe, and sawtry,' &c.

Here again

London Lyckpeny; MS. Harl. 542. 228. White and red wines, chiefly imported from France, were common. Though Osey is said to come from Portugal in the first volume of Hackluyt's Voyages, p. 188, yet the name is certainly a corruption of Alsace. Thus Ausoy is written for Alsace frequently in the Romance of Partenay, and Roquefort explains the O. Fr. Aussay to mean Alsatia. It seems to have been a sweet, straw-coloured wine. The wines of Gascony, of the Rhine, and of Rochelle, need no explanation. The roste to defye, to digest the This is well illustrated by the following oft-quoted passage:'Ye shall have rumney and malmesyne,

roast meat.

Both ypocrasse, and vernage wyne,

Mount rose and wyne of Greke,

Both algrade, and respice eke,

Antioche, and bastarde,

Pyment also, and garnarde,

Wyne of Greke, and muscadell,
Both clarè, pyment, and Rochell;
The reed your stomake to defye,
And pottes of Osey set you by.'

Squyr of lowe degre; Ritson's Met. Rom. iii. 176.

NOTES TO PASSUS I.

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Passus, a portion or 'fytte' of a poem. In an entertainment given to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth, a minstrel was to have sung a song, &c. After singing a portion, he was to have made a pauz and a curtezy, for primus passus,' i. e. to signify that the first part was over. See Ritson's Met. Rom. vol. i. p. ccxxii. Compare

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Thus passed is the first pas of this pris tale.'

1. Bymeneth, signifies.

William of Palerne, 1. 161.

3. A loueli ladi of lere, i. e. A ladi, loueli of lere, A lady, lovely of

countenance.

5. Sone; some copies read Wille, the poet's name. Slepestow, sleepest thou; sestow, seest thou. The word tow, for thou, is often added thus to

verbs in the second person.

6. Mase, confused medley of people.

8. Haue thei worschip, if they have honour. Wilne, desire; different both from wil, intend, and wyssche, wish.

9. Holde thei no tale, they keep no account, they regard not.

II. What is this to mene, what is the meaning of this? To mene takes the place of A.S. gerund, where to is a preposition governing the dative case, and mene is for mænanne, a dative formed from the infinitive mænan, to mean. Thus to mananne is, literally, for a meaning.

12. Vp, upon. The tower is that mentioned in the Prologue, 1. 14. Truth is here synonymous with the Father of Faith, i. e. God the Father and Creator.

15. Fyue wittis, five senses, viz. of hearing, sight, speech, smelling, feeling, according to the enumeration in Grosteste's Castel of Love. But for speech we commonly have tasting. In Pass. xiv is the passage

Bi so that thow be sobre of syzte and of tonge,

In etynge and in handlyng and in alle thi fyue wittis.' Compare Tennyson's Song of the Owl:

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Alone and warming his five wits,

The white owl in the belfry sits.'

17. Hygbte, commanded. To help you of, to provide you with.

21. In comune three thinges, three things in common; these are clothing, meat, and drink. The chief thing for life is water, and bread, and clothing, and an house to cover shame.' Ecclus. xxix. 21; cf. xxxix. 26.

23. From chele, &c., to keep thee from a chill.

24. For myseise, as a remedy against disease or discomfort. This curious use of for is worth notice. It is sufficiently common.

26. That thow worth, so that thou become the worse for it.

35. Moderation is a remedy, though thou yearn for much.' The same

line reappears in the 'Deposition of Richard II,' a poem which I attribute to Langland.

'But mesure is a meri mene, thou; men much yerne.' Dep. Rich. II (Camd. Soc.), p. 12. 'Mesure is a mery mene' is quoted as a proverb by Skelton and Heywood. 36, 37. This means-Not all which the body desires is good for the soul, nor is all that is dear to the soul a source of life to the body.

38. Believe not thy body, for a liar-this wretched world-teaches it, and would betray thee.'

·

41. Both this (the fiend) and that (thy flesh) pursue thy soul, and suggest things to thy heart.'

42. Ywar, wary. This is an instance of the prefix y-, the A.S. ge-, being prefixed to an adjective. It is the A.S. gewar, wary, cautious. It is not to be confused with aware, which is a corruption of A.S. on wáre, in caution, on guard. I wisse, I teach, is to be distinguished from the adverb I-wis, certainly, which is only too often confounded with it; and both again are different from I wot, I know, and I wist, I knew, which are from the verb to wit.

46. Go to the gospel, (and see there) that which God said himself.'

50. Ilyke, like; see note to 1. 42. The word was is understood before Ilyke, but is not in the MSS.

52. Et ait illis Jesus: Cujus est imago hæc, et superscriptio? Dicunt ei, Cæsaris. Tunc ait illis: Reddite ergo quæ sunt Cæsaris, Cæsari; et quæ sunt Dei, Deo.' Matt. xxii. 20, 21 (Vulgate).

55. Kynde witte, common sense.

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56. And Common Sense should be preserver of your treasure, and should bestow it on you in your need.'

57. Hy, put for bij, they.

Holden togideres; see note to Prol., 1. 66.

58. For bym, for the sake of Him.

59. The dungeon is that spoken of in Prol., 1. 15.

62. To body, so as to possess a body. Cf. 1. 82, where wrought me to man means wrought me so that I became a 64. And founded it, and be founded it.

man.

Here it refers to falsehood, not to the castle of care; for, with our author, to found is to originate. 66. Caym, Caim. See note to Prol., 1. 58.

67. Iuwen, of Jews. The gen. pl. ending is -en or -ene; see l. 105. 68. The idea that Judas hanged himself upon an elder occurs in Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2; and in Ben Jonson-' He shall be your Judas, and you shall be his elder-tree to hang on;' Every Man out of Hum. iv. 4. See Nares. On the other hand, we read that the Arbor Juda is thought to be that whereon Judas hanged himself, and not upon the eldertree, as it is vulgarly said;' Gerrard's Herbal, ed. Johnson, p. 1428; quoted by Brand, Pop. Ant. iii. 283. Mr. Wright points out a passage in Sir John Maundevile, who says that the very elder-tree was still in existence when he visited Jerusalem; see p. 93 of Halliwell's edition.

69, 70. Letter, stopper, destroyer. Lyeth bem, lieth to them. who.

73. Yeode, or yede, went. See note to Prol., 1. 40. 74. Wissed, taught. See note to 1. 42.

76. I underfonge be, I received thee, viz. at baptism.

That, Those