NOTES

MIROUR DE L’OMME

Table of Contents.—This table is written in a hand which differs somewhat from that of the text, and it has some peculiar forms of spelling, as ‘diable,’ ‘eyde,’ ‘por,’ ‘noet,’ ‘fraunchement,’ ‘fraunchise,’ ‘governaunce,’ ‘sount,’ ‘lesserount’: some of these forms are also found in the rubrics.

After the Table four leaves have been cut out, and the first leaf that we have of the text is signedaiiii. It is probable that the first of the lost leaves was something likef. 6in the Glasgow MS. of theVox Clamantis, which is blank on one side and has a picture and some verses on the other (being, as this is, a half-sheet left over after the Table of Contents), and that the text of theMirourbegan with the first quire of eight (ai). If this is so, three leaves of the text are missing, probably containing forty-seven stanzas, i.e. 564 lines, an allowance of twelve lines of space being made for title and rubrics. The real subject of the book begins at l. 37 of the existing text, as will be seen by the rubric there, and what preceded was probably a prologue dealing with the vanity of worldly and sinful pleasures: see ll. 25-30.

1.Escoulte cea&c. This is addressed to lovers of sin and of the world, not to lovers in the ordinary sense, as we shall see if we read the first stanzas carefully.

2.perestes: see ‘perestre’ in Glossary. The 3rd pers. sing. ‘perest’ is fully written out in the MS. several times, e.g. 1760, 2546.

4.ove tout s’enfant, ‘together with her children,’ ‘s’enfant’ (for ‘si enfant’) being plural. For ‘ove tout’ cp. 27662,

‘Le piere et miere ove tout l’enfant,’

where ‘l’enfant’ is singular. This shows that ‘ove tout’ should be combined, and not ‘tout s’enfant.’ For other adverbial uses of ‘tout’ see Glossary. ‘Ove’ counts always as a monosyllable in the verse, and so also ‘come’: see l. 28.

6.chapeal de sauls, the wreath of willow being a sign of mourning.

23.Changeast: pret. subjunctive for conditional, a very common use with our author.

25.porroit: conditional used for pret. subjunctive, cp. 170, 322,Bal.i. 3, &c.

28.come, also written ‘comme’ and ‘com,’ has always, like ‘ove,’ the value of a monosyllable in the metre.

31.l’amour seculer, ‘the love of the world.’

37.ore, counting as a monosyllable here, cp. 1775, &c., but as a dissyllable 4737, 11377,Bal.xxviii. 1.

39.fait anientir, ‘annihilates’: see note on 1135.

46.Que, ‘For.’

51. The reference is to John i. 3 f., ‘Omnia per ipsum facta sunt: et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est. In ipso vita erat,’ &c. This was usually taken with a full stop after ‘nihil,’ and then ‘Quod factum est in ipso, vita erat.’ It was read so by Augustine, who seems to suggest the idea which is attributed below to Gregory, viz. that the ‘nothing’ which was made without God wassin. ‘Peccatum quidem non per ipsum factum est; et manifestum est quia peccatum nihil est,’ &c.,Joann. Evang.i. 13. Gregory also held that sin was nothing: ‘Res quidem aliquid habet esse, peccatum vero esse nullum habet,’ i.Reg. Exp.v. 14, but I do not know whether he founded his opinion specially on this text. Pierre de Peccham expresses the same idea:

‘Pecché n’est chose ne natureNe si n’est la deu creature,Einz est de nature corrupciunEt defaute et destructiun,’ &c.M.S. Bodl. 399, f. 21 vo.

‘Pecché n’est chose ne nature

Ne si n’est la deu creature,

Einz est de nature corrupciun

Et defaute et destructiun,’ &c.

M.S. Bodl. 399, f. 21 vo.

65.de les celestieux, ‘from heaven,’ cp. 27120, and such expressions as ‘les infernalx’ just below.

74.tout plein, ‘a great number’: often written as one word ‘toutplein,’ so, for example,Bal.xxxvii. 2,Mir.25276 &c.; divided as here l. 11021.

83.au droit divis, ‘rightly,’ an adverbial expression which is often used by our author to fill up a line: cp. 872 and Glossary under ‘devis.’

84.du dame Evein, ‘in the person of Eve’: ‘du’ for ‘de,’ see Glossary.

85. For this kind of repetition cp. 473 andConf. Am. Prol.60, ‘So as I can, so as I mai.’

89. The sentence is broken off and resumed under another form: cp. 997 ff., 17743, &c., andConf. Am.vi. 1796 ff.

94.q’estoit perdue, ‘that which was lost.’ The formperdueis not influenced by gender but by rhyme.

100. For the position of ‘et’ see note on 415.

115.avoit, ‘there was,’ for ‘y avoit’: so used frequently.

116.luy, a form ofly,le, see Glossary.

118.n’en fuist mangant, ‘should not eat of them.’ This use of pres. participle with auxiliary instead of the simple tense is frequent not only with our author but in old French generally: see Burguy,Grammaireii. 258.

131.a qui constance&c., because of her nature as a woman.

135.u que, ‘where’: sometimes combined into ‘uque,’ ‘uqe,’ e.g.Bal.xv. 3, but usually separate.

136.deable, also written ‘deble,’ and never more than a dissyllable in the metre.

139.en ton endroit, ‘for your part.’ Phrases composed with ‘endroit’ or ‘en droit’ are among the commonest forms of ‘fill up’ employed by our author: cp. note on l. 83, and see Glossary under ‘endroit.’

163. Cp.Conf. Am.i. 1610, ‘For what womman isso above.’

168.le fist ... forsjuger, ‘condemned him,’ see note on 1135.

170.serroit: conditional for subjunctive, cp. l. 25.

190.Ce dont, ‘the cause whereby.’

194. Note that the capital letters of ‘Pecché,’ ‘Mort,’ ‘Char,’ ‘Alme,’ ‘Siecle,’ indicating that they are spoken of as persons, are due to the editor.

217 ff.Tant perservoit ... dont il fuist&c. This use of ‘dont’ (instead of ‘que’), after such words as ‘tant,’ ‘si,’ &c., to introduce the consequence, is very common with our author, see 544, 657, &c., cp. 682. Compare the similar use of the relative in English, e.g.Conf. Am.i. 498. Here there is a second consecutive clause following, which is introduced by ‘Que’: ‘His daughter so kept him in pleasant mood and made him such entertainment that he was enamoured of her so much that,’ &c.

218.en son degré, ‘for her part’: cp. note on 139.

230.vont ... engendrant, equivalent to ‘engendrent,’ another instance of the use of pres. partic. with auxiliary verbs for the simple tense, which is common in old French: cp. 118, 440, 500, and the conclusion of this stanza, where we have ‘serray devisant’ and ‘est nomant’ for ‘deviserai’ and ‘nomme.’

238 ff. ‘As I will describe to you, (telling) by what names people call them and of the office in which they are instructed.’

253.celle d’Avarice, ‘that which is called Avarice.’ For this apposition with ‘de’ cp. 84, 14197.

276.grantment: corrected here and in 397 from ‘grantement,’ which would be three syllables. We have ‘grantment’ 8931.

296.Accidie.This counts as three syllables only in the metre, and it is in fact written ‘Accide’ in l. 255. A similar thing is to be observed in several other words with this ending, as ‘Vituperie’ 2967, ‘familie’ 3916, ‘contumelie’ 4067, ‘perjurie’ 6409, ‘encordie’ 6958, ‘remedie’ 10912, ‘pluvie’ 26716; and in general, when the accent fell on the antepenultimate, there was a tendency to run the-ieinto one syllable. The accent, however, was variable (at least in Anglo-Norman) according to the exigences of metre, and in some cases where we should expect the above rule to apply we find the accent thrown on the penultimate and all the syllables fully sounded, as 2362,

‘Contumacie l’oi nommer.’

301.ceos mals: equivalent to ‘les mals,’ so ‘cel homme’ 305, ‘celle Alme’ 667, ‘celle amorouse peigne’Bal.iii. 1. This use of demonstrative for definite article is quite common.

305.pot, perhaps meant for subjunctive.

307. Cp.Bal.v. 3: ‘Si fuisse en paradis ceo beal Manoir.’

322.serroit, ‘he might be,’ conditional for subj.; cp. l. 25.

330. ‘And swore it mutually’: see note on 1135.

355.a son derere, ‘to his harm.’

364.porray, fut. for subj.

373.de sa partie, ‘for his part’: like ‘en son endroit,’ ‘en son degre,’ &c., ll. 139, 218, &c.

397.grantment: cp. l. 276.

407.Q’un messager&c. ‘So that he sent a messenger at once after him in great haste.’ This is better than taking ‘tramist’ as subjunctive (‘that he should send’ &c.), because of ‘Cil messager’ in the next stanza. For ‘que’ meaning ‘so that’ cp. 431, 485.

415.Depar le deable et.This position of the conjunction is characteristic of Gower’s English writing, e.g.Conf. Am. Prol.155, 521, 756, &c., and it often occurs also in the present work: cp. 100, 1008, 2955, &c. ‘Depar le deable’ evidently is better taken here with ‘pria’ than with the preceding line. The words thus treated are ‘et,’ ‘mais,’ ‘car,’ ‘ainz’ (24646).

416.hastera: see note on 1184.

438.soiez, for ‘soies,’ 2 pers. singular; so 645.

440.Je t’en vois loer promettant, ‘I promise you payment for it’: ‘vois’ is for ‘vais,’ and this is a case of the construction noticed at l. 230, &c.

442.ne t’en soietz: the singular and plural of the second person are often interchanged by our author: cp. 25839 ff., 27935, 29604, &c.

454.Et si, ‘and also’; so 471.

488.se fist muscer, ‘hid himself’; see note on 1135.

492.Du, as usual for ‘de.’

500.vas tariant: cp. 230, 440, &c.

541. The rhyme of ‘scies’ with ‘malvoistés’ should be noted.

575.te lerra q’une haire, ‘will leave thee (nothing) but sackcloth.’ The negative is omitted as with ‘but’ in English.

581. Either ‘Makes vain encouragement,’ or ‘Encourages the foolish person.’

626.s’estuit: see note on 997.

637.si fuissetz avisée, ‘if you only knew!’

654.Fuissent ... reconfortant, ‘should encourage’: cp. 118.

658.en, ‘with regard to this.’

667.celle Alme, ‘the Soul’: cp. 301.

682.Par quoy, used like ‘dont’ to introduce the consequence: cp. 696, 743, and see note on 217, where the consecutive clauses are piled up much as they are here.

688.lessera, future used as in 416.

740.Du Char folie, ‘by reason of the wantonness of the Flesh’: ‘du’ belongs to ‘folie.’

761.de ton honour, ‘by means of the honour which you have to bestow.’

780. ‘So that you may have Man back again’: for this use of ‘dois’ see note on 1193.

799.c’il, for ‘s’il’: so ‘ce’ for ‘se’ 1147, ‘Ciriens’ for ‘Siriens’ 10314.

815.qui, ‘whom’: this form is quite freely used as an object of the verb; see Glossary.

865.en son degré: cp. l. 139, &c.

912.le: this is used (side by side with ‘luy,’ e.g. 921) as indirect object masculine or feminine, though ‘la’ is also found.

940. We must take ‘deesce’ as a dissyllable. The usual form is ‘duesse’ (‘dieuesce’Bal.xx. 4).

943.ce buisson, i.e. ‘le buisson.’

948. This line occurs again 9453, and is practically reproducedBal.xiii. 1:

‘Quelle est sanz point, sanz reule et sanz mesure.’

It means here that the feasting was without limit. For the form of expression cp. 984.

987.As grans hanaps&c., i.e. ‘a emplir les grans hanaps.’ This kind of combination is not uncommon, e.g. 5492, ‘des perils ymaginer.’

988.par envoisure, ‘in gaiety’: ‘envoisure’ means properly ‘trick,’ ‘device,’ connected with such words as ‘voisdie,’ hence ‘pleasantry,’ ‘gaiety.’

992.les firont rejoïr, ‘delighted them’: see note on 1135.

997.s’estuit.In 613 and 15144 this means ‘was silent,’ from ‘s’esteire,’ and that sense will perhaps do for it here. However, the form ‘restuit’ below suggests ‘esteir,’ which presumably might be used reflexively, and ‘s’estuit’ would then mean ‘stood.’ This may be the sense also in 626.

1008. Cp. 415.

1015.luy, used for ‘ly,’ the def. article: see Glossary under ‘ly.’

1016. ‘Much resembled one another’: cp. such compounds as ‘s’entrecontrer,’ ‘s’entrasseurer,’ &c.

1027.le livre.What ‘book’ is our author following in his statement that the Deadly Sins are ‘hermafodrite,’ as he calls it? Or does this reference only apply to what follows about the meaning of the word?

1030. ‘If I lay upon them female names,’ but ‘enditer’ is employed in an unusual sense.

1061.au seinte ... quideroit, ‘should believe her to be a saint.’

1066.Tant plus come, ‘The more that,’ answered by ‘Tant plus’ in the next line.

1069. Apparently the meaning is that Hypocrisy in public separates herself from others and stands apart: for ‘singulere’ cp. 1513.

1081. 2 Kings xx. 12 ff.

1085. ‘According to the divination of the prophet,’ taking ‘devinant’ as a substantive, like ‘vivant,’ ‘pensant,’ &c.

1094. For this use of the verb cp.Trait.iv. 1, ‘qant plus resemblont amorouses.’

1100 ff. Cp.Conf. Am.i. 604 f.,

‘And he that was a lomb befornIs thanne a wolf.’

‘And he that was a lomb beforn

Is thanne a wolf.’

1117. Matt. xxiii. 27.

1127. Probably Is. ix. 17.

1135.q’om fait despire, ‘which one abhors,’ the auxiliary use of ‘faire,’ which is very common in our author, like ‘do,’ ‘doth,’ in English: cp. 39, 168, 368, 488, 992, 1320,Bal.iv. 1, &c. In some places this auxiliary (again like the English ‘do’) takes the place of the principal verb, which is understood from a preceding clause, e.g. 3180, 10649. These uses are common in Old French generally, but perhaps more so in Anglo-Norman than in the Continental dialects.

1146. Bern.Serm. in Cant.xvi. 10.

1147.cefor ‘se’: see note on 799.

1180.boit: indicative for subjunctive to suit the rhyme; so ‘voit’ 1185, ‘fait’ 1401.

1184.qu’il serra poy mangant, ‘that he shall eat little,’ the future being used in command as in 416, 688. For the participle with auxiliary see note on l. 118.

1193.l’en doit loer: ‘should praise him’: an auxiliary use of ‘doit,’ which stands for ‘may’ in all senses: cp. 780, 3294, 6672, 17041, &c.

1194. Similar sayings of Augustine are quoted elsewhere by our author, e.g. 10411, 20547.

1244.qui lors prise, &c., ‘when one praises her, she thinks not that God can undo her by any means.’ This is probably the meaning: cp. such expressions as ‘qui bien guarde en son purpens’ 9055, ‘qui bien se cure’ 16541, &c. Compare the use of ‘who that’ in Gower’s English, e.g.Conf. Am. Prol.460.

1261.laisse nient que, &c., ‘fails not to keep with him,’ &c.

1273. Job xxi. 12, 13: ‘Tenent tympanum et citharam, et gaudent ad sonitum organi. Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt.’

1280. Perhaps Is. v. 14.

1285. The passage is Jeremiah xlv. 5. ‘Ysaïe’ is a mistake for ‘Jeremie,’ which would suit the metre equally well and perhaps was intended by the author.

1291. There is nothing exactly corresponding to this in the book of Joel, but perhaps it is a general reference to the first chapter.

1317. Ecclus. xxv. 3. This book is sometimes referred to as ‘Salomon,’ and sometimes more properly as ‘Sidrac’: cp. 2509.

1326. Ps. li. 3, ‘Quid gloriaris in malitia, qui potens es in iniquitate?’

1335. Job xx. 6, 7.

1365.frise: a puzzling word. It ought to mean here ‘blows,’ or ‘blows cold,’ of the wind.

1375. ‘It is she who causes a man to be raised from a foot-page to great lordship.’

1389. ‘He plays them so false a turn’: ‘tresgeter’ came to be used especially of cheating or juggling, hence ‘tregetour.’

1400. Cp. 14473.

1401.fait: indic. for subj. in rhyme.

1416. Cp. 12780, ‘N’ad pas la langue au fil pendant.’

1446. Perhaps ‘pareill’ is here a substantive and means ‘equality.’

1447.qui, ‘whom.’

1460.est plus amant, i.e. ‘aime.’

1495 ff. Cp.Conf. Am.i. 2409-2415, where the same idea of a wind of pride blowing away a man’s virtue is suggested under the head of ‘Avantance.’

1518. ‘Noli me tangere’ is perhaps originally from John xx. 17, but it has received a very different application.

1563. The story was that the hunter, having carried off the tiger’s cubs and being pursued, would throw behind him in the path of the animal a sphere of glass, the reflection in which was supposed by the tiger to be one of her lost cubs. This would delay her for a time, and by repeating the process the man would be able to ride away in safety with his booty: see Ambrose,Hex.vi. 4. The story is founded on that told by Pliny,Nat. Hist.viii. 25.

1575. Perhaps an inaccurate reminiscence of John viii. 49.

1585. The reference is to Job xi. 12, ‘Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat.’ The rest is due to our author.

1597. Ecclus. xxxvii. 3. ‘O praesumptio nequissima, unde creata es...?’ The rest is added by our author.

1618. Perhaps Bern.de Hum. Cond.5, ‘Stude cognoscere te: quam multo melior et laudabilior es, si te cognoscis, quam si te neglecto cognosceres cursum siderum,’ &c.

1624. Matt. vii. 1, 2.

1627. Probably Is. xxix. 14, but it is not an exact quotation.

1645. Job xxx. 1, ‘Nunc autem derident me iuniores tempore.’

1648. Job xii. 4, ‘deridetur enim iusti simplicitas.’

1653. The reference is no doubt intended for the Elegies of Maximianus, but I think no such passage occurs in them. Perhaps our author was thinking of Cato,Distich.iii. 7,

Alterius dictum aut factum nec carpseris unquam,Exemplo simili ne te derideat alter.

Alterius dictum aut factum nec carpseris unquam,

Exemplo simili ne te derideat alter.

1662.faisoit, singular for the rhyme, with the excuse of ‘chascun’ to follow.

1669. Perhaps Prov. xxiv. 9, ‘abominatio hominum detractor,’ or xvi. 5, ‘Abominatio Domini est omnis arrogans.’

1678. Ps. lix. (Vulg.lviii.) 8 (9), ‘Et tu, Domine, deridebis eos.’

1684 ff. It is suggested here that Malapert gets his name fromdiscovering things which should be concealed, saying them ‘en apert’; but the word is rather from ‘apert’ in the sense of ‘bold’ ‘impudent,’ whence the modern English ‘pert.’

1688.serroit, ‘ought to be,’ a common use of the conditional: cp. 6915, 8941, &c., andVox Clam.iii. 1052 and elsewhere, where the Latin imp. subj. is used in the same way.

1709 f. ‘All set themselves to listen what he will say.’

1711.si nuls soit, ‘if there be any.’

1717. Prov. ix. 7, ‘Qui erudit derisorem, ipse iniuriam sibi facit.’

1740.n’en dirroit plus avant, ‘would not go further in speaking of it,’ ‘avant’ being probably an adverb: cp. 1762.

1758. Boeth.de Cons.iii. Pr. 8. ‘Igitur te pulcrum videri non tua natura sed oculorum spectantium reddit infirmitas.’

1762 f.si par tout avant, &c., ‘if he could go on further and see the rest.’

1776.volt, used apparently for pret. subj., as 327; here in conditional sense.

1784. Aug.in Joann. Ev.i. 15, ‘Quid est quod te inflas, humana superbia?... Pulicibus resiste, ut dormias: cognosce qui sis.’

1790. Boeth.de Cons.iii. Pr. 3 ff.

1795.de nounstable, ‘instead of transient.’

1824. ‘Often you see evil come (upon him).’ The reference may be to Prov. xvi. 18, or to some similar saying.

1825. Zephaniah iii. 11.

1828. Perhaps Jer. xlviii. 29 ff.

1837. Luke xviii. 9 ff.

1848.par soy despisant: a characteristic use of the gerund for infinitive: cp. 6093.

1849. The references to Solinus in this book are mostly false. Many of the anecdotes may be found in Pliny, but not this. Isidore gives the etymology, but the original of the story here is perhaps Albertus Magnusde Animalibus(quoted by the Delphin editor on Plin.N. H.x. 3).

1868. Perhaps Ps. ci. 5. In any case the last lines of the stanza are an addition by our author to the quotation.

1883.fait a reprendre, ‘deserves to be blamed’: cp. 5055, 9687, 12238, &c., and see the examples quoted by Burguy,Grammaire, ii. 167 f.

1887. The story is told at length inConf. Am.i. 2785 ff.

1912 ff. Cp.Conf. Am.i. 2416 ff., but the parallel is not very close.

1942.parferroit.The contraction is thus written out in all parts of this verb, because ‘parfaire,’ ‘parfait,’ occur in full, e.g. 4413. Probably, however, there was fluctuation between ‘par’ and ‘per,’ as in ‘parfit,’ ‘parigal.’

1944. It would perhaps be difficult to say why Montpelliers should be a proverbially rich place, but Mr. Archer points out to me that such expressions as this are common in thechansons de geste, e.g.Chanson d’Antiocheii. 628, ‘Il n’y vousist mie estre pour l’or de Montpellier.’ Pavia is referred to inMir.7319 in the same way.

2022.frocke et haire, i.e. the outer and the inner garment of a monk or friar.

2037. Perhaps rather ‘Tout mal dirra’; but the text may be translated ‘he will curse continually.’

2067.l’en chastie, ‘may correct him for it’: but perhaps we should read ‘l’enchastie’ without separation; cp. 7917.

2090. Rom. v. 19.

2095.Moises: a dissyllable here, but elsewhere ‘Moïses,’ &c.

2101. Sol.Collect.52, ‘[Monoceros] vivus non venit in hominum potestatem, et interimi quidem potest, capi non potest.’

2135 f. Cp.Conf. Am.i. 1240 ff.

2142. France is looked upon simply as a land which has revolted from its lawful sovereign, Edward III, who has the right ‘from his mother,’ 2148. This passage was apparently written before the death of Edward III.

2169. ‘Is delivered up in slavery to him.’

2184.Du permanable vilenie, to be taken with ‘mort,’ ‘death comes suddenly upon him bringing him to everlasting shame.’

2185. Is. xxxiii. 1. ‘Vae qui praedaris, nonne et ipse praedaberis? et qui spernis, nonne et ipse sperneris?’ &c.

2197. Deut. xxviii. 38 ff.

2209. Ezek. xvii. 19 ff.

2221. Prov. xvii. 5.

2224. Mal. ii. 10, ‘Numquid non pater unus omnium nostrum? numquid non Deus unus creavit nos? Quare ergo despicit unusquisque nostrum fratrem suum?’

2242. Greg.Moral.xxiii. 31, ‘Obstaculum namque veritatis est tumor mentis.’

2275. Luke xiii. 14. The person who protested was the ‘ruler of the synagogue,’ whom our author calls ‘un archeprestre,’ and the miracle was done upon a woman.

2281. Prov. xxix. 22, ‘qui ad indignandum facilis est, erit ad peccandum proclivior.’

2293. Prov. xxx. 13.

2301. Is. ii. 11, or v. 15.

2305.Danger: see note onBal.xii. l. 8. Here Danger represents the spirit which rejects advances of friendship from motives of pride.

2323.fait ... appeller: see note on 1135.

2326. Cp. 2362, where we have ‘oi’ (monosyllable), as also 410.

2330. Numbers xiv. 30.

2341 ff. Numbers xvi.

2348.Que, ‘For.’

2351 f.que plus avant, &c., ‘so that by this he gave warning to the rest for the future’ (‘plus avant’).

2353 ff. Acts ix. 5. In this stanza the word ‘point’ occurs no less than six times in the rhyme. This is an extreme instance of a common case, any difference in the meaning or manner of employment beingheld both in French and English verse to justify the repetition of the same word as a rhyme. Here ‘point’ is the past participle of a verb in 2357 and is used as an adverb in 2356: in the other four cases it is simply the same substantive with differences of meaning.

2377. 1 Macc. iii. 13-24.

2384. 1 Macc. vi. 1-16.

2389. Deut. xxi. 18-21.

2405. Exod. xvii. 1-7.

2413. Deut. xxxii.

2425. 1 Macc. vii. 26-47.

2441. Perhaps Is. v. 20.

2443. 2 Kings xix (Is. xxxvii).

2449. Levit. xxiv. 16.

2452. Luke xxiii. 39 ff., but our author has characteristically reversed the story, giving us the supposed punishment of the blasphemer instead of the mercy shown to the penitent.

2462.C’est un des tous, &c. Cp. the expression in fourteenth-century English, ‘oon the beste’ &c.

2463. Rev. xiii. 1, 6 f.

2509. Ecclus. x. 12 (14). The references of our author to ‘Sidrac’ are to this book, ‘The wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach,’ but he also quotes from it under the name of Solomon, cp. 1317, and curiously enough the very next quotation, taken from the same chapter, is a case of this kind.

2513. Ecclus. x. 7, ‘Odibilis coram Deo est et hominibus superbia.’

2534.fait plus a redoubter: see note on l. 1883.

2538.a son passage, ‘at his death.’

2548. Ecclus. x. 17, ‘Sedes ducum superborum destruxit Deus, et sedere fecit mites pro eis.’

2587. Mal. i. 6.

2629.Haymo: Bishop of Halberstadt, ninth century. The reference is to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, i. 10, ‘Detractio est aliorum bene gesta opera vel in malum malitiose mutare, vel invidendo fallaci fraude diminuere,’ &c. (Migne.Patrol.cxvii. 377).

2653. Numbers xii. 1.

2665. Probably the reference is to Is. xiv. 13-15, but the beginning is loosely quoted: the latter part is closer, see verse 15, ‘ad infernum detraheris in profundum laci.’

2677 ff. Cp.Conf. Am.ii. 388 ff., where ‘Malebouche’ comes in as the attendant of ‘Detraccioun.’

2700.le meinz, ‘the less,’ cp. ‘ly pire’ 2760, ‘le plus’ 12347, ‘le meulx’ 14396.

2715. I do not understand this. By comparison withConf. Am.ii. 394 ff. the passage should mean that he praises first, and then ends up with blame, which overcasts all the praise: cp. Chaucer,Persones Tale, 494 (Skeat). Perhaps we ought to read ‘primerement’ for ‘darreinement.’

2742. For the metre cp. 24625 and see Introduction, p. xlv.

2749. See du Cange under ‘fagolidori’ (Gr. φαγολοίδοροι), where the passage of Jerome is quoted, but the word is set down as probably a corruption of φιλολοίδοροι.

2761. Ps. x. 7 (Vulg.ix. 28).

2779. Ps. cxl. 3 (Vulg.cxxxix. 4).

2790. Ps. xxxviii. 20 (Vulg.xxxvii. 21), ‘Qui retribuunt mala pro bonis, detrahebant mihi, quoniam sequebar bonitatem.’

2799. Jer. xviii. 21 f.

2809. Ps. xxxi. 18 (Vulg.xxx. 19), cp. cxix. (Vulg.lxviii), 23.

2861. Jer. li. 1, but the passage is misunderstood.

2865. Rom. i. 30, ‘Detractores, Deo odibiles.’

2874. Bern.Int. Dom.xxiii. 49, ‘Detrahentes et audientes pari reatu detinentur.’

2893. The disgusting habits of the hoopoe in nesting are often referred to.

2894 ff. There is a close parallel to this inConf. Am.ii. 413 ff.,

‘Lich to the Scharnebudes kinde,Of whos nature this I finde,’ &c.

‘Lich to the Scharnebudes kinde,

Of whos nature this I finde,’ &c.

2908. Perhaps Prov. xxii. 1.

2917 ff. Luke xvii. 1, 2.

2923. Matt. xviii. 8, 9.

2931. Ps. l. (Vulg.xlix.) 20, but it is a very much expanded quotation.

2941. Deut. xxii. 13-19.

2955. See note on 415.

2959. Perhaps a general reference to Ezek. xviii.

2961.ne tient plait de, &c., ‘does not hold discourse of example of holy scripture.’

3109. Acts iv. 1.

3116. This line is too long, no doubt by inadvertence, having five measures instead of four. So inBal.xxvii. the first line is of six measures instead of five. Both might easily be amended, if it were thought desirable: for example, here we might read

‘Q’avoit leur prechement oïe.’

The word ‘prechement’ occurs 18092, and very probably this is what the author meant to write.

3133. Ps. vii. 16 (17).

3137. The reference is perhaps to Ecclus. xxvii. 25-29.

3145. The reference is Jeremiah xlv. 3.

3158. Cp.Conf. Am.ii. 222, ‘A vice revers unto this,’ where the author is speaking of the same thing as here.

3160. The MS. has ‘male,’ but perhaps the author meant to write ‘mal,’ for disregard of gender is common with him, while formal irregularity of metre is exceedingly rare. Compare, however, 10623, 10628. For the form of expression cp. 3467.

3180.fait, used here to supply the place of ‘escoulte.’ ‘As the fox listens for the hounds, so doth he for other men’s loss.’ See note on 1135.

3233.Par si q’, ‘provided that,’ cp. 20576.

3234 ff. This is the tale told in illustration of the vice of ‘Gaudium alterius doloris,’ inConf. Am.ii. 291-364.

3240. ‘When the game was thus set between them.’ From this kind of expression comes ‘jeu parti,’ ‘jeupartie,’ meaning a set game or match between two parties, hence a risk or hazardous alternative: Engl. ‘jeopardy.’

3248. Ps. xxxviii. 16 (or xiii. 4).

3253. Ezek. xxv. 3 ff.

3265 ff. John xvi. 20.

3271 ff. This is an addition by our author, who is always unwilling to overlook the punishment of the wicked.

3277. Ecclus. xix. 5, ‘Qui gaudet iniquitate, denotabitur.’

3285. Matt. viii. 12, &c.

3294.doit supplanter, ‘may supplant’: see note on 1193.

3361. Cic.de Off.iii. 21.

3365.Conjecture, ‘trickery’: cp. 6389.

3367.ce que chalt: cp. 8905, 25269, 25712. Here and at 8905 it stands by itself, but in the other cases it is followed by ‘car,’ or ‘quant.’ It is apparently equivalent to ‘it matters not,’ or some such phrase.

3388. Ps. xli. 9 (Vulg.xl. 10): ‘magnificavit super me supplantationem’ is the Latin version.

3398.Ambicioun: evidently not ‘ambition’ in the ordinary sense, but the vice of those who go about prying into other people’s affairs, and playing the spy upon them with a view to some advantage for themselves.

3415. Perhaps Habakkuk ii. 8, 9: cp. 3601, where Habakkuk is certainly quoted as ‘Baruch.’

3445. Jer. iii. 24.

3453.cele, used for definite article, see note on 301.

3457. Prov. xi. 3 ff.

3467. A favourite form of expression with our author, cp. 3160, andTrait.ii. 1 ff.,

‘Si l’un est bon, l’autre est assetz meilour.’

3487.Qui, ‘He whom.’

3531. Prov. xxvi. 22.

3533.affole, ‘wounds’ (Low Latin ‘fullare’), to be distinguished from ‘affoler’ meaning ‘to make foolish.’

3541. Ps. lv. 21 (Vulg.liv. 22), ‘Molliti sunt sermones eius super oleum, et ipsi sunt iacula.’

3553. Ecclus. xl. 21, ‘Tibiae et psalterium suavem faciunt melodiam, et super utraque lingua suavis.’

3559. Prov. xxix. 5.

3575. ‘His deeds change into sorrow that by which before he made them laugh’:luyforly=les.

3584 ff. Cp. the Latin lines (beginning ‘Nil bilinguis aget’) which introduce the description of ‘Fals semblant’ inConf. Am.ii. 1879, ‘Vultus habet lucem, tenebras mens’ &c.

3589. Ecclus. xxxvii. 20 (23) f., ‘Qui sophistice loquitur odibilis est: in omni re defraudabitur. Non est illi data a Domino gratia,’ &c.

3601. The quotation is from Habakkuk ii. 15 f.

3612 ff. Ps. cxx. 3, 4, of which these two stanzas are a much expanded version.

3637. Ecclus. xxviii. 15 ff.

3667. Perhaps Job v. 12.

3679. Micah ii. 1, ‘Vae, qui cogitatis inutile.’

3685. Jer. iv. 4, ‘ne forte egrediatur ut ignis indignatio mea, et succendatur, et non sit qui extinguat, propter malitiam cogitationum vestrarum.’

3721. Cp.Conf. Am.ii. 401,

‘For as the Netle which up rennethThe freisshe rede Roses brenneth,And makth hem fade and pale of hewe,Riht so this fals Envious hewe’ &c.

‘For as the Netle which up renneth

The freisshe rede Roses brenneth,

And makth hem fade and pale of hewe,

Riht so this fals Envious hewe’ &c.

The opposition of rose and nettle is common in our author, e.g.Bal.xxxvi. 3, xlviii. 1,Vox Clam.vii. 181.

3725.l’ille Colcos: cp.Trait.viii. 1, andConf. Am.v. 3265: so also in Chaucer. Guido delle Colonne is the person mainly responsible for the idea.

3727.Medea la meschine, ‘Medea the maid.’ The word ‘meschine’ means ‘maidservant’ just above and in 5163, but it was also used generally for ‘girl,’ ‘young woman,’ as ‘meschin’ for ‘young man.’ The origin is said to be an Arabic word meaning ‘poor’ (cp. the meaning of ‘mesquin,’ ‘meschino,’ in modern French and Italian), hence ‘feeble,’ ‘delicate.’

3735. Rev. xii. 7, 10: ‘en oel’ stands apparently for ‘ante conspectum Dei.’

3747. The description of the basilisk is perhaps from Solinus,Collect.27. He had it from Plin.Nat. Hist.viii. 121.

3773. Prov. xiv. 30, ‘putredo ossium invidia.’

3781. Levit. xiii. 46.

3801. Hor.Epist.i. 2. 58, ‘Invidia Siculi non invenere tyranni Maius tormentum.’ Our author did not understand it quite rightly.

3805. Cp.Conf. Am.ii. 20, andProl.329. In all these passages the reference is to the fire of Envy as a heat that consumes itself, rather than anything outside itself.

3823. Cp.Conf. Am.ii. 3122 ff.

3831.Conf. Am.ii. 3095 ff., where the saying is attributed to Seneca: cp. Dante,Inf.xiii. 64.

3841. Perhaps Jerome, who says something of the kind: cp.Wisd.ii. 24.

3864.les faisont a despire, ‘hate them’: but the preposition with the infinitive in this kind of expression is unusual. As a rule ‘faisont a despire’ would mean ‘ought to be hated’: cp. 1883.

3882.pour poy du riens, ‘for a trifling matter,’ lit. ‘for little of matter’: cp. 4826.

3898.Ore voet, noun voet, i.e. ‘Ore voet, ore noun voet,’ but cp. 5470.

3913. The text is Ecclus. iv. 30 (35): see note on 1317.

3925. Prov. xxv. 28.

3958. Perhaps we ought rather to read ‘pour ton salu.’

3977. Exod. xxxii. 21, and other passages.

3997. Baruch iv. 6.

4021. Perhaps suggested by Ps. lxxviii. (Vulg.lxxvii.) 58 ff.

4067.Par contumelie: for the metre see note on 296, and cp. 4312, 4317.

4077. Cp. 4704.

4112. ‘Which flies free without caging.’

4117. Referred to also by Chaucer,Wyf of Bath, Prol.278 ff., andTale of Melibeus, 2276. It is a common enough saying, but not to be found in the Bible in this form: cp. Prov. xxvii. 15.

4129. Jer. viii. 17.

4141. Ecclus. xxv. 15 (22), ‘Non est caput nequius super caput colubri, et non est ira super iram mulieris.’

4147. Perhaps Prov. xv. 2, ‘os fatuorum ebullit stultitiam.’

4155. Ecclus. xxi. 29, ‘In ore fatuorum cor illorum.’

4168. This is related alsoConf. Am.iii. 639 ff., and there too a doubt is expressed as to whether so much patience was altogether wise.

4189 ff. Ecclus. xxviii. 18 (22) ff.

4203. Ecclus. xxviii. 24 (28), ‘Sepi aures tuas spinis, linguam nequam noli audire.’

4213. James iii. 7, 8.

4219. Apparently a vague reference to Amos iv. 6, 9, ‘dedi vobis stuporem dentium ... Percussi vos in vento urente.’

4237. Zech. v. 5 ff.

4273.Rampone, ‘raillery,’ ‘mockery,’ cp. Ital. ‘rampognare.’

4285 ff. The idea seems to be this: ‘Contention wounded by wrath encamps in the heart in a tent of mockery, whence it issues forth through the mouth, and assisted by Slander and Defamation enlarges other men’s vices to their greatest extent, until its own wound becomes so foul that he dies who inhales its corruption.’

4369. Prov. xxvii. 6.

4381. Ecclus. xii. 16.

4387. Prov. vi. 16, 18.

4393. Cic.de Amic.89, ‘odium, quod est venenum amicitiae.’

4453. Beemoth is here perhaps confused with Leviathan, which was regarded by some as a kind of serpent: see Isidore,Etym.viii. 27.

4462.le al: there is of course an elision, though not indicated in the text.

4477. 2 Macc. v. 17, &c.

4494. Note that in the forms ‘refusablez,’ ‘abhominablez,’ ‘delitablez,’ &c., thezis equivalent tos, and does not imply any accenting of the final syllable.

4542.ou, for ‘au,’ see Glossary.

4558.devant lez meins, ‘beforehand’: cp. 5436.

4561.survient.This and the other verbs rhyming with it in the stanza seem to be in the past tense, for ‘survint,’ ‘vint,’ ‘tint,’ &c. Other examples of this will be found elsewhere, e.g. 8585, 9816. The passage means: ‘When the fire from heaven fell on the sacrifice, it was Malignity that inspired the hatred of Abel in the heart of Cain, for which he was accursed.’ ‘Dont’ answers regularly to such expressions as ‘par tiele guise’: see note on 217.

4570. Ps. x. 15, ‘Contere brachium peccatoris et maligni.’

4605. Ps. xxii. 16 (Vulg.xxi. 17), ‘concilium malignantium obsedit me,’ &c.

4704.mestre Catoun: the author of the well-knownDisticha, many of whose maxims tend to teach patience.

4717. Exod. xxi. 24 f.

4729. Exod. xxi. 26 f.

4741. Cp.Conf. Am.iii. 1095,

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