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ON THE TIMES: FOOTNOTES

1 Alas! that such things could be said

2 Their cut sleeves adorn (expose) their knuckled elbows

3 I wish their pouch (vagina?) were filled

4 having been prepared [by drink] for wreaking havoc

5 They demand [performance] time for clapping

6 May his grace flourish in fruit [children?]

7 Whoever may read these things / let him not condemn the meters I have fashioned; / The English language refuses / to submit itself to any law.

8 O king, if you are a king, rule yourself, and you will be a king though you have nothing. / You have the name without the thing, unless you, king, rightly rule yourself.

ON THE TIMES: NOTES

2 decendunt. A: descendunt with decedunt written above. C: procedunt, with discendunt written above it.

5 In B this line was skipped by the scribe, then written in at the top of the page, with an arrow curling downward to locate the place where it should be inserted.

7 oure. A: tour. Wr and C: honowr.

9 slewthe. A: slouthe. Wr and C: lust.

11 Sethyn trewth was. A: Sith trouthe ys. C: Sone trowyth ys. asyde. B: o syde.

13 Wheche. A: Whiche. C: Where.

14 nostri fiunt. A: nostri fient. C: nostri sunt jam.

15 schyld. A and C: scheld.

16 eu. A: en. C: heu.

17 A: Ofte tymes have we herd. C: Oftyn tyme have we here.

19 A: But ever desired we. C: But ever have we desire. B clearly reads deferred rather than deserred. Richard Green (correspondence April 5, 1995) suggests the gloss "we have continually put off more favorable opportunities [i.e., to remedy the situation] for ourselves."

20 commoda. C: commercia

26 The scribe has inserted que above the line with a caret.

28 per rus. Or perhaps B: per ens. A: parvo. C: per rus et mare. Green suggests by correspondence: "C's per rus et mare is grammatical (unlike A's paruo per mare) and yields a sort of sense 'through the countryside and by the sea' but is clumsy at best. Perhaps the original read parvum per mare [i.e., 'across the Channel'] which would explain B's per rus per mare."

29 went. B: want. A and C: went.

31 C: Ho seythe truth he is schent

33 Rowners. C: Robberes

35-36 The B scribe skipped the long line, but added it at the bottom of the page, with an arrow indicating where it should be placed.

35 klaterers. C: flaterars

36 A and C: sua subdant colla securi

42 collacrematur. A and C: collachrimatur.

44 depopulatur. B: deppulatur. A and C: depopulatur

46 spirituales cedunt. A: spiritualia cadunt. C: spiritualia cedunt.

47 A: Sume bethe myschevyd. C: And so sume be myschevyd.

49 goose. The second -o is superscript. A: goith. C: goth

50 plus facit homo viciosus. A: plus fecit homo vitiosus. C: et plus hoc facit ut vitiosus.

53 A: Goddes halydayys ar noght. C: Goddes dere halydayys ar noght. See line 55, which, in B, is also shortened, thus rhyming halydays/playes.

55 A: For unthrifty pley is worght. C: For onthryfty pley ys worght. See note to line 53 on B's rhyme.

58 B writes in eis regnant ma before striking this out and writing steriles & luxuriosi above the crossout.

62 fune. A and C: fine.

63 C: Put these to the peynys.

65-88 Wesmynster. These lines resemble the complaints about law courts in poems such as London Lickpenny and The Simonie.

67 Noght ellys. A: neuertheles; C: neuer Þe lesse.

68 vincuntur. B: vincunt. A and C: vincuntur.

71 face. I am indebted to Richard Green for the gloss "outface," or "face down."

82 crucis here seems to be a reference to a coin.

83 Green notes a similar use of the proverb in the Towneley Second Shepherd's Play: "Ill spon weft, iwys, ay commys foull owte"(line 587).

92 metuendi. A and C: metuenda.

95 The kyng knows nott alle. Topos of "the king's ignorance." See Truthe, Reste, and Pes, lines 45-46, and The Simonie, lines 313-24.

99 The kattys nek to the bel. This line refers to the well-known fable of belling the cat which Langland used in his political allegory, Piers Plowman B Prologue 146-208. There the cat is probably John of Gaunt, uncle to Richard II and his guardian. In 1376 Bishop Thomas Brinton preached a sermon that mentioned the fable of the mice and the cat. The identity of the cat in On the Times is less certain.

107 B inserts hym above the line.

109 Goode Jak . . . John. Wright identified the first Jak with Robert de Vere, Duke of Dublin, and Jak nobil (line 113) with Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Green believes "Goode Jak" refers to Jack Philipot, who helped finance Thomas of Woodstock's expedition to France, thus providing the soldiers with "loricos vel tunicas, quas vulgo 'jakkes' vocant." "John" in Green's political explanation denotes John of Gaunt, who might have been expected to reimburse Philipot for aid to his brother (pp, 336-39). That "Jak" probably refers to a person may be seen in the word's repetition in proximity (lines 105, 109, 111, 113).

110 gratia. Green suggests a reference to "his grace" John of Gaunt, with a pun on "kindness" and "thanks."

112 regna remota. Green explains these lines as John of Gaunt's absence from England during the late 1370s and early 1380s, including the 1378 St.-Malo expedition, an expedition to Scotland in 1380, and a diplomatic mission to Scotland in 1381.

117 Purs Penyles. This allegorical figure appears in other late medieval writings, including The First Shepherd's Play from the Towneley cycle of mystery plays: "I may syng / With purs penneles...." See MED, s.v. peniles (b). A satire on contemporary fashion begins in this line with the introduction of Galauntes who cavort with Purs Penyles as if they had both wealth and leisure.

123 B: Now ys he here gone. A & C: Now is he here, and now is he gon.

125 Freshest. B: Freshet. A: Fresshest. C: Fresch.

new towche. The phrase is reminiscent of Chaucer's Pardoner: "Hym thoughte he rood al of the newe jet" (CT General Prologue, line 682).

131 B: Narow thay bene thay seme brod. So too in C. Gloss based on A: Narugh they be, thou they seme brode.

132 A: nova sunt; factio gentis. C: vana sunt hoc facite, gentes.

139 War ye. C's reading. B: Where ever. A: Ware.

144 A: non sit regula Sarum. C: cum non sit regula Sarum.

146 A: laqueantur a corpore crura. C: laqueant ad corpora crura. Perhaps the sense is: "the legs are laced [with points] to the body."

157 Mony. B Mon^y (y inserted above a caret).

160 B and C: nisi deus instat aliquando. Emendation from A.

161 B: Womonly brestes. A: Women, lo! with wantounly brestes. C: Women lo! with here brestes.

162 B: pretendunt. The sense of B 161-62, which reads: Womonly brestes pretendunt arte prophana, is perhaps something like "with profane art they puff out their chests like women."

168 A: ut ventus ecce! vacillant. C: ventus velut ecce vacillant.

169 A: Now knokelyd elbowys. C: Her knokelys elbowys

175 A: Than ther teth quakis. C: Here chekys than quakys.

176 A: sed se quasi concutientes. C: sese quasi concutientes.

181 Huffe o galant. RHR comments on the phrase: "'Galaunt' continued in use well into the sixteenth century, and there is a considerable body of literature on these overdressed braggarts" (p. 322). RHR edits a satirical lyric against sumptuous clothing that contains the refrain, "Huff! a galawnt, vylabele! / Thus syngyth galawntys in here revelere" (no. 52, Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth Centuries). "Huff" is a term associated with braggarts and bullies, as is indicated by a stage direction in the Digby mystery play: "Her xal entyr a galavnt þus seyying: Hof, hof, hof, a frysche new galavnt!" (RHR, pp. 322-23). A: Huf a galaunt thee atowche. C: Of a galaunt the towch. Krochalis and Peters gloss "Huf" as "If." Green suggests that the sense of B might be: "If a gallant alludes [OED s.v. Touch v. 18b] to it [þer a = þeron?] (with 'it' being the dripping nose)."

182 Green wonders if the line might not be an ostentatiously polite way the gallant alludes to his lady's dripping nose?

183 powche. Perhaps "mouth" rather than "vagina."

189 Vye velabel. These words are similar to the refrain term in RHR's no. 52, which he entitles "Huf! A Galaunt." See above, note to line 181. Perhaps A is the more sound reading with Vive la bele!

197-200 appear in C as lines 177-80. Though Krochalis and Peters normally follow A, they follow C's line order in this instance.

200 dampna. B dampn^a (a inserted above a caret).

201 Armes, sydes, and blode. Blasphemous oaths against Christ's body.

202 recitauit. A and C read future tense recitabit, which makes better sense. So too in line 204 with domabit.

206 poscunt: A's reading. B: possunt.

207 B and A: A contur tenore. C: A cowntur-tenur at Newgat. Krochalis and Peters emend according to C, an emendation that provides a more stable meter than that of the London MSS.

211 A: Now sey I for this dispite. C: Nowt I say for despyte.

217 Symon. Simon Magus (Acts 8.9-24), who gave his name to the word "simony." He offered money to the apostles so that he might pass on the power of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. R. F. Green suggests a possible jibe at Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury at the time of the Peasants' Revolt. See note to "Tax has tenet us alle," line 35, below.

227 ye. A and B. C: he

229 lanterne of lyght. Perhaps an allusion to John 8:12, the source for the title of the Wycliffite treatise.

232 venena: C's reading. B: vena.

233 A: Oure kynge and oure lond. C: Ouer kynge and his lond.

234 servet: A & C. B: servat.

et tueatur. B: et tudatur. C: te a tudatur. A and Wr: et teneatur.

238 fructu. Glossed here as "fruit [children?]"; but perhaps an allusion to St. Paul on the first fruits of grace (Rom. 8:23); or to James 1:18.

Latin epilogue O rex. The B Prologue of Piers Plowman contains similar verses: "Dum rex a regere dicatur nomen habere / Nomen habet sine re nisi studet iura tenere" (140). Since the name of "king" comes from regere, to rule, unless a man takes care to maintain law he bears the name without the substance.