GLOSSARY. Explanation of the Abbreviations by which the Extracts from Gower and Chaucer, and other Illustrations in the present Work, are cited in the following Glossary. The word ver. denotes the verse of the poem cited, and the referred to, in this volume. letter p. the page Berthelet's Preface to Gower. Chaucer's Floure and Leafe. Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Supposed Poems of Chaucer, No. I, and The Extracts from Gower, No. I, and A "A A, commonly called the indefinite article, is really, Mr. Tyrwhitt says, nothing more than a corruption of the Saxon adjective ane or an, before a substantive beginning with a consonant. It is sometimes prefixed to another adjective; the substantive, to which both belong, being understood. Ch. Prol. ver. 208. Frere there was, a wanton and a mery." So, in ver. 163. "A fayre for the maistrie," where we should say, a fair one. Again, ver. 189. "Therfore he was a prickasour, a right," that is, a right one; but, in Chaucer's time, such tautology, Mr. Tyrwhitt supposes, was not elegant. Chaucer is preceded in this usage by the author of Piers Plowmans Crede, edit. 1554. sign. B. i, b. a frere on a bench, A greet chorl and a grym That is, a grim one. ABANDONE. See Th. Anim. p. 48. ABLE, Fr. fit, proper. Ch. Prol. ver. 165. ACERTAINED, confirmed in opinion. Ch. F. L. ver. 568. Fr. acertener. Urry has discarded the old legitimate spelling, and substitutes the modern ascertained. ACCORD, Fr. agreement. Ch. Prol. ver. 840, and F. L. 132. ACCORD, Fr. to agree. Ch. Prol. ver. 832. |