More at length. ↩
Relate. The story of Ugolino is told in the 33rd Canto of the Inferno. ↩
Of a surety. ↩
Source of distress, annoyance. ↩
Delight, comfort. ↩
Talked. ↩
Were it not for the jingling of you bridle-bells. See note 60. ↩
The request is justified by the description of Monk in the prologue as “an outrider, that loved venery;” see here. ↩
I have no fondness for jesting. ↩
On this Tyrwhitt remarks; “I know not how it has happened, that in the principal modern languages, John, or its equivalent, is a name of contempt or at least of slight. So the Italians use Gianni, from whence Zani; the Spaniards Juan, as Bobo Juan, a foolish John; the French Jean, with various additions; and in English, when we call a man a John, we do not mean it as a title of honour.” The title of “Sir” was usually given by courtesy to priests. ↩
Gladden. ↩
Unless. ↩
Commenced, broached. Compare French, entamer, to cut the first piece off a joint; thence to begin. ↩
The “Tale of the Nun’s Priest” is founded on the fifth chapter of an old French metrical “Romance of Renard;” the same story forming one of the fables of Marie, the translator of the Breton Lays. (See note 3215.) Although Dryden was in error when he ascribed the “Tale” to Chaucer’s own invention, still the materials on which he had to operate were out of cornparison more trivial than the result. ↩
Somewhat advanced. ↩
Her goods and her income. ↩
Thrifty management. ↩
Maintained. ↩
Chamber. ↩
Whit. ↩
In keeping with her cottage. ↩
Moderate. ↩
Content of heart. ↩
No wise prevented her. ↩
Hurt, destroyed. ↩
Singed. ↩
Kind of day labourer. Tyrwhitt quotes two statutes of Edward III, in which “deys” are included among the servants employed in agricultural pursuits; the name seems to have originally meant a servant who gave his labour by the day, but afterwards to have been appropriated exclusively to one who superintended or worked in a dairy. ↩
Courtyard, farmyard. ↩
Was not. ↩
Equal. ↩
Licentiously used for the plural, organs or orgons, corresponding to the plural verb gon in the next line. ↩
More punctual. ↩
Clock; French, horloge. ↩
Indented on the upper edge like the battlements of a castle. ↩
Toes. ↩
Sociable. ↩
Limb. ↩
Love. ↩
Gone. ↩
This seems to have been the refrain of some old song, and its precise meaning is uncertain. It corresponds in cadence with the morning salutation of the cock; and may be taken as a greeting to the sun, which is beloved of Chanticleer, and has just come upon the earth—or in the sense of a more local boast, as vaunting the fairness of his favourite hen above all others in the country round. ↩
Oppressed. ↩
Afraid. ↩
Amiss, in umbrage. ↩
I dreamed. ↩
Peril, trouble. ↩
Dream, vision. ↩
I dreamed. ↩
Seizure. ↩
Die. ↩
Avoi! is the word here rendered Away! It was frequently used in the French fabliaux, and the Italians employ the word via! in the same sense. ↩
Coward. ↩
Frightened. ↩
Rag, clout, trifle. ↩
Braggart. ↩
Dreams. ↩
Are produced by. ↩
Choler, bile. ↩
Contention. ↩
Little. ↩
Attach no consequence to; “Somnia ne cares,”—Cato De Moribus, l. II, dist. 32. ↩
The rafters of the hall, on which they were perched. ↩
Profit, advantage. ↩
Nature. ↩
The herb so called because by its virtue the centaur Chiron was healed when the poisoned arrow of Hercules had accidentally wounded his foot. ↩
The herb “fumitory.” ↩
Spurge; a plant of purgative qualities. To its name in the text correspond the Italian catapuzza, and French catapuce—words the origin of which is connected with the effects of the plant. ↩
Dogwood berries. ↩
Thrive. ↩
Opinion. ↩
Trial, experience. ↩
Cicero, who in his book De Divinatione tells this and the following story, though in contrary order and with many differences. ↩
Lodging. ↩
Inn. ↩
Dreamed. ↩
Awoke, started. ↩
Again. ↩
Slain. ↩
Cause that cart to be stopped. ↩
Dreamed. ↩
Delay. ↩
Describe. ↩
Loathsome. ↩
