Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookpresent, offer, deliver. This sense was once common; see Sec. Non. Ta., G 223; Can. Yem. Ta., G 1030, 1034, 1365; P. Plowman, B. i. 56, iv. 58, &c. 1136-49. Much abridged from Æn. i. 657-722. 1145. 'Let it be as it may; I care little about it.' 1150-55. Chaucer here comes to the end of Æn. bk. i, and passes over the second book with the remark in l. 1153. 1155. _Entendeden_, gave their attention. Corson and Gilman explain it by 'attend,' as if it were the present tense. 1156. Chaucer here passes on to Vergil's fourth book, which he epitomises, and seldom follows quite exactly. 1157. _Sely_, simple, unsuspecting; see l. 1254. See _Silly_ in Trench, Select Glossary. 1161. 'Why I have told the story so far, and must tell the rest.' 1163. The reading _his_ (for _her_) in MS. C. can be justified, and may be right. The A.S. _móna_ was masculine, but the Lat. _luna_ was feminine. Hence arose a confusion, so that the M.E. _mone_ was of either gender. Hence, in Chaucer's Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 34, l. 12, we find--'And _nota_, that yif the mone shewe _himself_ by light of day,' &c.; whereas in the same, pt. ii. § 40, l. 54, we find--'the mone, loke thou rekne wel _hir_ cours houre by houre; for _she_,' &c. 1166. _Brayd_, start, sudden movement. In the Cursor Mundi, 7169, we read of Samson, that-- 'Vte of thair handes son he stert And gaue a _braid_ sa fers and fast, That all the bandes of him brast.' See _Braid_ in the New E. Dictionary. 1170-81. From Vergil's Æn. iv. 9-29. 1174. 'And eke so likely to be a hero.' _Man_ is here used emphatically; cf. 'quam forti pectore et armis'; iv. 11. 1182, 3. Cf. Æn. iv. 31-53; but Chaucer cuts it short. 1187. _Love_ (A.S. _lufu_) is here monosyllabic; cf. Kn. Ta., A 1135. 'Love desires (to have) love; for no one will it desist.' Cf. A.S. _wandian_, to turn aside, blench, fear. And see _wol_, in l. 1191. 1188-1211. From Æn. iv. 129-159. 1191. _An hunting_, on hunting, a-hunting. Here _an_ is another form of the prep. _on_, and _hunting_ is a substantive, like Lat. _uenatio_. See Skeat, Principles of Eng. Etymology, Ser. 1, p. 260. _Wol_, desires (to go); cf. _wol_ in l. 1187. 1196. _Hoven_, wait in readiness, hover. Cf. 'where that she _hoved_ and abode'; Gower, C. A. iii. 63; and see P. Plowman, B. prol. 210, xviii. 83. It just expresses the notion of slight movement, whilst remaining nearly in the same place. The old editions read _heven_, which gives no sense; for it never means 'mount,' as has been suggested. Cf. Vergil's 'expectant'; iv. 134. 1198. _Paper-whyt_, as white as paper; a curious and rare compound. Printed _paper white_ (as two words!) in former editions. 1200. The 4th sense of _Bar_ in the New E. Dict. is--'An ornamental transverse band on a girdle, saddle, &c.; subsequently, an ornamental boss of any shape.' 1201. _Sit_, sits. _Wrye_, covered; A.S. _wrigen_, pp. 1204. _Startling_, moving suddenly; the frequentative form of _starting_, which Chaucer preferred when repeating this same line in his Kn. Tale, A 1502. 1205. _A litel wyr_, i.e. a small bridle-bit. See l. 1208. 1206. _Phebus_; Vergil's 'Apollo'; iv. 144. _To devyse_, to describe (him). 1209. _Wold_, willed, desired; the pp. of _willen_. This form is very rare, but we again find _hath wold_ in l. 11 of the Compl. of Venus; and _hadde wold_ in P. Plowman, B. xv. 258. Prof. Corson aptly quotes three examples from Malory's Morte Arthur, ed. T. Wright, with the references 'vol. i. c. 33, vol. iii. c. 119, and vol. iii. c. 123.' The first of these answers to bk. ii. c. 8, p. 54 in the 'Globe' edition, where we find--'Then said Merlin to Balin, Thou hast done thyself great hurt, because thou savedst not this lady that slew herself, that might have saved her and thou _wouldest_.' Caxton (ed. 1485) also has _woldest_; but Wright, following the edition of 1634, has _had would_. For the other passages, see bk. xviii. capp. 15 and 19, where Caxton has 'and he _had wold_,' and 'and I _had wolde_.' 1212-31. From Vergil, Æn. iv. 154-170. 1213. _Go bet_, go more quickly, hasten; a term of encouragement. See Pard. Tale, C 667, and the note. _Prik thou_, spur thou, push on; a like term. _Lat goon_, let (the dogs) go. 1230. 'Ille dies primus leti, primusque malorum Causa fuit'; iv. 169. It looks as if Chaucer has translated _leti_ by 'gladnesse,' as if it were _letitiae_. (Bech makes a similar remark.) 1232-41. These lines are original. Cf. Ho. Fame, 253-292. 1242. Here follows, in Vergil, the celebrated description of Fame, which Chaucer had already introduced into his Hous of Fame, 1368-1392; it is therefore here omitted. He passes on to Æn. iv. 195. 1245. _Yarbas_, i.e. Iarbas, son of Ammon; Æn. iv. 196. 1254-84. Original; but see Ho. Fame, 269-292. 1262. _Pilled_, robbed. 'A knight ... sholde deffenden holy chirche, and nat robben it ne _pilen_ it'; Persones Tale, _De Avaritia_, I 767. 1277. _Ther-as_, whereas. _Sterve_, to die. 1287. Perhaps copied by the author of fragment B. of the Romaunt of the Rose. We there find (l. 4838, Glasgow MS.)--'The hoote ernes [ernest?] they al foryeten'; there being nothing answering to it in the French text. 1288. 'And he secretly causes his ships to be prepared'; lit. 'causes (men) to prepare his ships.' 1289. _Shapeth him_, intends, purposes. See Prologue, 772. 1295. 'Me patris Anchisae ... Admonet ... imago'; iv. 351. 1297. _Mercurie_, Mercury; 'interpres Divûm'; iv. 356. 1305. _What womman_, what sort of a woman. 1310. _Seketh halwes_, repairs to saints' shrines; a curious medieval touch. Vergil only mentions the sacrifice; iv. 453. Cf. Prologue, 14, and the note. 'To go _seken halwes_'; C. T. (Wyf of Bathes Prol.), D 657. 1312, 3. 'Si pudet uxoris, non nupta, sed hospita dicar,' &c.; Ovid, Her. vii. 167. 1316. Cf. 'Sed neque fers tecum'; Her. vii. 79. 1317. _Thise lordes_; 'Nomadumque tyranni'; Æn. iv. 320. Also Pygmalion and Iarbas, id. 325, 6. 1324. The former syllable of _Mercy_ forms the first foot in the line; cf. l. 1342. 'Have pitee on my sorwes smerte!' Ho. Fame, 316; which see. 1331. _Lavyne_, Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus; Æn. vii. 359. 1332. _A cloth._ This refers to the Trojan garments left behind by Æneas; 'Iliacas uestes'; iv. 648. The sword is mentioned by Vergil just two lines above; 646. 1338-40. Here the _cloth_ answers to the Lat. _exuuiae_; and _whyl hit leste_ = whilst it pleased. These three lines are a close imitation of Vergil, Æn. iv. 651-3:-- 'Dulces exuuiae, dum fata Deusque sinebant; Accipite hanc animam, meque his exsoluite curis; Vixi, et quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi.' We hence see that, in l. 1339, the right reading is _unbind me of this unreste_, a close translation from the Latin. _Me of_ are run together; see note to Complaint to Pitè, l. 11. 1341. _Withouten_, without any succour from Æneas. 1346. _Her norice_, her nurse, or rather the nurse of Sichæus, named Barce; Æn. iv. 632. 1351. 'She roof hir-selve to the herte |