For ther was he nat like a cloisterere, 265 As don the sterres in a frosty night. 270 This worthy limitour was cleped Huberd. A Marchant was ther with a forked berd; In mottelee, and highe on hors he fat, And on his hed a Flaundrish bever hat. His bootes clapfed fayre and fetifly; 275 His refons fpake he ful folempnely, With his bargeines and with his chevifance. 280 .278. the fee were kept] i. e. guarded. The old fubfidy of tonnage and poundage was given to the king" pur¶a fauf"garde et cuftodie del mer," 12 Edw. IV. c. 3. For fothe he was a worthy man withalle, But foth to fayn I n'ot how men him calle. Ful thredbare was his overest courtepy, 285 290 295 Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre, 3co But all that he might of his frendes hente On bokes and on lerning he it spente, And befily gan for the foules praie Of hem that yave him wherwith to scolaie. V. 292. his overeft courtepy] His uppermoft fhort cloke of coarse cloth. See ver. 6964, and P. P. fol. 33, b. 1. ult. And kyt her copes, and courtepies hem made. It is a Teutonick word, from kort, curtus, and pije, penula coactiles, ex villis craffioribus. Kilian in vv. . 300. Yet hadde he] Hadde is here to be pronounced as a diffyllable, the b in be being confidered as a confonant: fo below, ver. 388. See also ver. 9859,11784,11805,12532,12834, in all which inftances (and many others) the e feminine is to be pronounced before b. . 304. to fcolaie] To attend fchool, from the old Fr. verb efcoloier. It is used in the fame fenfe by Lydgate, Traged. fol. Of hudie toke he moste cure and hede; And fhort and quike, and full of high fentence: A Sergeant of the Lawe ware and wife, 395 310 Difcrete he was, and of gret reverence; He femed fwiche, his wordes were fo wife: 315 Juftice he was ful often in affife By patent and by pleine commiffioun: For his science and for his high renoun So grete a pourchafour was no wher non: 320 All was fee finiple to him in effect, His pourchafing might not ben in fufpect: 99. So Chaucer ufes to werreie, ver. 10324, 14338, and to fefleye, ver. 10659, from guerroier and festoier. . 307. in forme and reverence] With propriety and modefty. In the next line "ful of high fentence" means only, I ap prehend, full of high or excellent fenfe.Mr. Warton will excufe me for fuggesting these explanations of this paffage in lieu of those which he has given in his Hift. of Eng. Po. p. 451. The credit of good letters is concerned that Chaucer thould not be fuppofed to have made a pedantick formality and a precife fententious ftyle on all fubjects the characteristicks of a fcholar. . 322. in fufpea] In fufpicion. See ver. 8781, 12197. Volume II. No wher fo befy a man as he ther n'as, In termes hadde he cas and domes alle 325 That fro the time of King Will, weren falle; A Frankelein was in this compagnie; 330 .331. a feint of filk with bärres fmale] It appears from our Author's tranflation of R. R. ver. 1103, that barres were called cloux in French, and were an ufual ornament of a girdle. See Mr. Warton's Hift. p. 377, 426. Clavus in Latin, from whence the Fr. cloux is derived, feems to have fignified not only an outward border, but also what we call a ftripe. Mountfaucon, t. iii. P. i. ch. vi. A bar in heraldry is a narrow ftripe or fafcia. Du Cange in v. Clavatus, quotes the Statut. Andegav. an. 1423, in which the clergy, and especially the regulars, are forbid to wear zonas auro clavatas. .333. A Frankelein] Fortefcue [de L. L. Ang. c. 29,] defcribes a Franklain to be a Pater familias- -magnis ditatus Pfeffionibus. He is claffed with (but after) the miles and armiger, and is diftinguished from the libere tenentes and valedi, though as it thould feem the only real diftinction between him and other freeholders confifled in the largenefs of his eftate. Spelman, in v. Frankelein, quotes the following paffage from Trivet's Fr. Chronicle, [mj. Bibl. R. S. n. 56,] "Brotherton (filius Edwardi I. Marefchallus Angliæ) apres la mort fon pere etpofa la fille de un Francheleyn apelee Alice." The hiftorian did not think it worth his while even to mention the name of the Frankelein. "Thomas de Of his complexion he was fanguin; Wel loved he by the morwe a fop in win: To liven in delit was ever his wone, For he was Epicures owen sone, That held opinion that plein delic 335 Was veraily felicite parfite. An houfholder and that a grete was he; 340 345 350 . 342. Seint Julian] was eminent for providing his votaries with good lodgings and accomodations of all forts. In the title of his legende, [mf. Bod. 1596, f. 4,] he is called "St. Julian, "the gode herberjour :" it ends thus ; Therfore yet to this day thei that over lond wende Thei biddeth Seint Julian anon that gode herborw he hem fende, For his fader foule and his moderes, that he hem bring thereto. Of the virtue of St. Julian's pater-nofter fee The Decam. d. ii. n. 2. V. 344. envyned] Stored with wine. Cotgrave has preserved the Fr. word envine in the fame fenfe. This is the reading of m. Afk. 1, 2, and others. The common editions read viendid. |