Same. ↩
To bless, cross himself. ↩
Saint Frideswide was the patroness of a considerable priory at Oxford, and held there in high repute. ↩
Knows. ↩
Madness. ↩
Secret counsel. ↩
Unlearned. ↩
Knows no more than his “credo.” ↩
Watch, keep watch on. ↩
Till he fell into a marl-pit. Plato, in his Theatetus, tells this story of Thales; but it has since appeared in many other forms. ↩
I am very sorry for. ↩
Chidden, rated, for his devotion to study. ↩
Heave up the door by a lever beneath. ↩
Apply himself. ↩
Lock; from the Anglo-Saxon, haepsian, to lock, fasten; German, hespe. ↩
Thought. ↩
Caught. ↩
Angrily. ↩
Protect thee, by signing the sign of the Cross. ↩
Witches, who were not of the feminine gender only. ↩
In due form. ↩
Corners, parts. ↩
Dwellest. ↩
Forthwith, immediately. ↩
Labour. ↩
Shut. ↩
Loved. ↩
Betray. ↩
Lost; German, verloren. ↩
Betray. ↩
Mad. ↩
Talker. ↩
Fond of prating. ↩
Wasted or subdued hell: in the middle ages, some very active exploits against the prince of darkness and his powers were ascribed by the monkish tale-tellers to the saviour after he had “descended into Hell.” ↩
Mad. ↩
Drenched, drowned. ↩
Drown. ↩
Learned and counsel. ↩
Repent. ↩
Should perish. ↩
Long since. ↩
According to the old mysteries, Noah’s wife refused to come into the ark, and bade her husband row forth and get him a new wife, because he was leaving her gossips in the town to drown. Shem and his brothers got her shipped by main force; and Noah, coming forward to welcome her, was greeted with a box on the ear. ↩
He would have given all his black wethers, if she had had an ark to herself. ↩
That. ↩
House. ↩
Brewing-tub. ↩
Slacken, abate. ↩
Early forenoon. ↩
Servant. ↩
Unless thou be out of thy wits. ↩
Foresight, providence. ↩
Call out. ↩
Same. ↩
Command. ↩
Asunder. ↩
What all the strange contrivance meant. ↩
Pretended to fear that she would die. ↩
Drown. ↩
A dismal countenance. ↩
Groaning. ↩
Rungs and uprights, or sides. ↩
Beams, joists. ↩
Jug, bottle. ↩
His servant and serving-maid. ↩
Business. ↩
Prepared. ↩
As long as it might take to walk a furlong. ↩
Clum, like mum, a note of silence; but otherwise explained as the humming sound made in repeating prayers; from the Anglo-Saxon, clumian, to mutter, speak in an undertone, keep silence. ↩
Eight in the evening, when, by the law of William the Conqueror, all people were, on ringing of a bell, to extinguish fire and candle, and go to rest; hence the word curfew, from French, couvre-feu, cover-fire. ↩
Spirit. ↩
Then he snored, for his head lay awry. ↩
Where. ↩
Matins, or morning song, at three in the morning. ↩
Occasion. ↩
Cloistered monk. ↩
Know not. ↩
Work. ↩
Say certainly. ↩
Sure enough. ↩
Chamber wall; the window, it has been said, projected over the door. ↩
By my faith. ↩
Dreamt. ↩
With exact care. ↩
Grains of Paris, or Paradise; a favourite spice. ↩
Some sweet herb: another reading, however, is “a true love-knot,” which may have been of the nature of a charm. ↩
Reached. ↩
Low tone. ↩
Cinnamon. ↩
Mistress. ↩
Wherever. ↩
Faint, swelter; hence sultry. ↩
Certainly. ↩
Come ba, or kiss, me. ↩
Twenty devils fly away with thee! ↩
Better. ↩
In a low voice. The two lines within brackets are not in most of the editions: they are taken from Urry; whether he supplied them or not, they serve the purpose of a necessary explanation. ↩
Favour. ↩
Neither better nor worse befell. ↩
Every word. ↩
Requite, pay off, be even with. ↩
Rubbeth; French, frotter. ↩
Rather. ↩
Revenged: from wreak, awreak. ↩
Deceived, befooled. ↩
Quenched. ↩
Cared not a rush: “kers” is the modern cress. ↩
Master.
