NOTES.

[1]MS.of

[2]orhyng. ?MS.

[3]MS.gar

[4]? MS. this.

[5]MS.Iħc

[6]MS.The

[7]? MS.hard

[8]The letter between thebandahas had the lower part marked over. But it must mean a longs.

[9]May besubdied; the word has been corrected.

The two first of the three operations of flax-dressing described in lines 526-529, p. 15,

One of hem knocked lyne,A-nothyr swyngelyd good and fyneBy-fore the swyngyl̴l̴-tre,The thyrde did rele and spynne,

must correspond to the preliminary breaking of the plant, and then the scutching or beating to separate the coarse tow or hards from the tare or fine hemp.Exceptso far as theswingleserved as a heckle, the furtherhecklingof the flax, to render the fibre finer and cleaner, was dispensed with, though heckles (iron combs) must have been in use when the poem was written—inasmuch ashekele,hekelare,hekelyn, andhekelynge, are in the Promptorium, ab. 1440a.d.UnderHatchell, Randle Holme gives a drawing of aheckle.

The lines through theh's in the MS. are not, I believe, marks of contraction. There are no insettings of the third lines, or spaces on changes of subject, in the MS.

For reference to two analogous stories to that of the Poem, I am indebted to Mr Thomas Wright. The first is that ofConstant Duhamelin the third volume of Barbazan, and the second that of the Prioress and her three Suitors in the Minor Poems of Dan John Lydgate, published by the Percy Society, ed. Halliwell.

In the Barbazan tale "the wife is violently solicited by three suitors, the priest, the provost, and the forester, who on her refusal persecute her husband. To stop their attacks she gives them appointments at her house immediately after one another, so that when one is there and stripped for the bath, another comes, and, pretending it is her husband, she conceals them one after another in a large tub full of feathers, out of which they can see allthatis going on in the room. She then sends successively for their three wives to come and bathe with her, the bath being still in the same room, and as each is stripped naked in the bath, she introduces her own husband, who dishonours them one after another, oneà l'enverse, with rather aggravating circumstances, and all in view of their three husbands. Finally the latter are turned out of the house naked, or rather well feathered, then hunted by the whole town and their dogs, well bitten and beaten."

(If any one wants to see a justification of the former half of the proverb quoted by Roberd of Brunne,

Frenche men synne yn lecheryeAnd Englys men yn enuye,

let him read the astounding revelation made of the state of the early French mind by the tales in the 3rd and 4th vols. of Barbazan's Fabliaux, ed. 1808.)

The second story, told by Lydgate, is as follows:—A prioress is wooed by "a yonng knyght, a parson of a paryche, and a burges of a borrow." She promises herself to the first if he will lie for a night in a chapel sewn up in a sheet like a corpse; to the second, if he will perform the funeral service over the knight, and bury him; to the third, if he will dress up like a devil, and frighten both parson and knight. This the burges Sir John does well, but is himself terrified at the corpse getting up: all three run away from one another: the knight falls on a stake, and into a snare set for bucks, and breaks his fore top in falling from the tree; the merchant gets tossed by a bull; the parson breaks his head and jumps into a bramble bush; and the prioress gets rid of them all, but not before she has made the "burges" or "marchaunt" pay her twenty marks not to tell his wife and the country generally of his tricks.—Minor Poems, p. 107-117, ed. 1840.

[1]The use of the flatvade (l. 419, p. 12) within 2 lines of the sharpfade (l. 417), corresponds with the flat 'stowde,' l. 400, p. 12, riming with 'owte,' l. 401,baddewithhatte, l. 265-6.Cost,brest, l. 142-3, are careless rimes too.

Wome{n)}, wome{n)}, loue of wome{n)},make bare purs withsome me{n)},Some be nyse as a nonne hene,[1]4Ȝit al thei be nat soo.some be lewde,some all be schrewde;Go schrewes wher thei goo.8Su{m~} be nyse, and some be fonde,And some be tame, y vndirstonde,And some cane take brede of a manes hande,[2]Yit all thei be nat soo.12[Some be lewde, &c.][leaf 135, back]Some cane part with-outen hire,And some make bate in eueri chire,And some cheke mate with oure Sire,16Yit all they be nat so.Some be lewde,and sume be schreuede,go wher they goo.20Som be browne, and some be whit,And some be tender as a ttripe,And some of theym be chiry ripe,Yit all thei be not soo.24Sume be lewde,and some be schrewede,go wher they goo.Some of the{m~} be treue of love28Benetħ þe gerdel̴l̴, but nat above,And in a hode aboue cane chove,Yit all thei do nat soo.Some be lewde,32and some be schreude,go where they goo.Some cane whister, & some cane crie,Some cane flater, and some can lye,36And some cane sette þe moke awrie,Yit all thei do nat soo.Sume be lewde,and sume be schreuede,40go where thei goo.He that made this songe full good,Came of þe nortħ and of þe sother{n)} blode,And some-what kyne to Roby{n)} Hode,44Yit all we be nat soo.Some be lewde,and some be schrewede,go where they goo.48Some be lewde, some be [s]chrwde,Go where they goo.Explicit.

Wome{n)}, wome{n)}, loue of wome{n)},make bare purs withsome me{n)},Some be nyse as a nonne hene,[1]4Ȝit al thei be nat soo.some be lewde,some all be schrewde;Go schrewes wher thei goo.

8Su{m~} be nyse, and some be fonde,And some be tame, y vndirstonde,And some cane take brede of a manes hande,[2]Yit all thei be nat soo.12[Some be lewde, &c.]

[leaf 135, back]Some cane part with-outen hire,And some make bate in eueri chire,And some cheke mate with oure Sire,16Yit all they be nat so.Some be lewde,and sume be schreuede,go wher they goo.

[leaf 135, back]

20Som be browne, and some be whit,And some be tender as a ttripe,And some of theym be chiry ripe,Yit all thei be not soo.24Sume be lewde,and some be schrewede,go wher they goo.

Some of the{m~} be treue of love28Benetħ þe gerdel̴l̴, but nat above,And in a hode aboue cane chove,Yit all thei do nat soo.Some be lewde,32and some be schreude,go where they goo.

Some cane whister, & some cane crie,Some cane flater, and some can lye,36And some cane sette þe moke awrie,Yit all thei do nat soo.Sume be lewde,and sume be schreuede,40go where thei goo.

He that made this songe full good,Came of þe nortħ and of þe sother{n)} blode,And some-what kyne to Roby{n)} Hode,44Yit all we be nat soo.Some be lewde,and some be schrewede,go where they goo.

48Some be lewde, some be [s]chrwde,Go where they goo.

Explicit.

P.S.—This Poem was printed by Mr Halliwell inReliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i., p. 248, and reprinted by Mr Thomas Wright, at p. 103 of his edition ofSongs and Carolsfor the Percy Society, 1847. As, besides minor differences, the reprint hasmanne, and the originalnanne, for what I read asnonne, l. 3, while both havewithowteforwith oure, l. 15, andaccripefora ttripe, l. 21 (see Halliwell's Dictionary, "accripe, a herb?"), I have not cancelled this impression. The other version of the song, from Mr Wright's MS. in his text, pp. 89-91, differs a good deal from that given above.

[1]The Rev. J.R. Lumby first told me of the proverb 'As white as a nun's hen,' the nuns being famous, no doubt, for delicate poultry. John Heywood has in hisProverbes, 1562 (first printed, 1546), p. 43 of the Spencer Society's reprint, 1867,She tooke thenterteinment of the yong menAll in daliaunce,as nice as a Nun's hen.The proverb is quoted by Wilson in hisArte of Rhetorique, 1553 (Hazlitt'sProverbs, p. 69).

She tooke thenterteinment of the yong menAll in daliaunce,as nice as a Nun's hen.

The proverb is quoted by Wilson in hisArte of Rhetorique, 1553 (Hazlitt'sProverbs, p. 69).

[2]Forhonde.

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