THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING: FOOTNOTES

Title: clepyd, called; onyd, "one-ed," joined.

2 wille, desires.

3 privé, secret; entent, intention.

4 parfiteliche, completely.

4-5 worthilich, fittingly.

8 charge, exhort.

9 suffre, allow.

10 outher, either; propirté, ownership; keping, having in charge.

11 by wille and avisement, of set purpose and forethought

12 suffre, allow; red, read.

14 hole, undivided, whole; parfite, perfect.

15 leving, living; sovereinnest, highest, ultimate, absolute.

16 deedly, mortal.

18 able him to, make himself capable of; menes, means.

19 acordeth nothing, is not at all suitable.

20 charge, exhort; autorité, authority.

22 hem, them.

23 al over, all through; paraventure, possibly.

24 hanging, left in the air.

25 sone, soon; o, one; mater, matter.

26 eschewing, avoiding.

27 par charité, for charity's sake.

28 Fleschely, Sensual, unregenerate; janglers, babblers; opyn, public.

28-29 tithing tellers, newsmongers.

29 rouners, gossips, whisperers; tutilers, whisperers, scandal-mongers; pinchers, carpers, detractors; kept I never that thei, I would prefer that they did not.

31 medel, get mixed up with; corious, curious.

32 lewed, uneducated.

33 thoo, those; though al, although.

34 stering, prompting, impulse, touch of grace.

35 privé, secret, mysterious; domes, judgments.

35-36 contynowely, continually, incessantly.

36 is propre to, belongs to; than and than, occasionally; parceners, sharers.

39 distingwid, divided.

40 certeyn, sure; tokens, signs.

41 preve, test; clepid, called; worcher, worker.

43 cours, successive progress.

45 stering to, spiritual motion toward.

49 witte, intellect.

51 thoo, those.

53 conceyte, conception.

55 kunnyng, learning, intelligence.

56 kyndely witte, natural intelligence.

57 doutes, uncertainties.

59 distynging, classifying; partyes, parts.

61 letteth, hinders.

64 charge, attach importance to; iche, each.

65 rechelesnes, carelessness.

72 profe, proof; seien, says.

73 parfiter, more perfect; mekid, humbled.

74-75 turned and clepid, converted and summoned.

77 list, desires; medel hym of, involve himself in.

80 pleynen hem, complain.

83 excusacion, justification.

87 hemself, themselves; besines aboute, preoccupation with.

90 in persone of, representative of.

92 purvey, provide.

93 sperite, spirit.

94 sotely, subtly.

95 parfitely, perfectly.

97 beholding, regard; o, one.

98 ful, very.

99 travelous, burdensome.

100 holpen, helped.

101 gracious, dependent on grace.

106 bidingly, persistently; travaile, labor.

107 pine, pain; deme, judge.

108 defautes, faults.

109 have hym, behave.

110 agens, against; steringes, impulses.

111 goostli, spiritual; sleightes, strategies, stratagems; helpli, helpful.

114 pine of hem, penalty for them, punishment; parfite, perfect.

115 withouten any mene, directly.

116 menes, means, conscious devices.

117-18 prentise, apprentice, beginner.

119 travailen, labor.

125 acorden than most, are most suitable.

126 propirté, special quality.

128 o, one.

129 on, one.

132 sekerly, certainly.

133 wetyng, knowing; felyng, feeling.

134 nedelynges, of necessity; verrely, truly, genuinely.

136 the owne partie, its own part.

137 wetyng, knowing; the owne being, its own being.

138 disseites, deceptions.

139 mowen, may, are able to.

141 listines, eager longing; boistousnes, brute force.

142 sleygh, wise, strategic; purté, purity.

146 thoo sounes, those sounds.

149 wile, will; mowe, may.

150 accidentes, non-essentials.

151 Whiche, What.

152 seelden, seldom; right, very.

153 warnes, caution.

154 goostly, spiritually.

157 deseites, deceits.

158 continaunces, bearing, behavior.

161 seemly, fitting, decorous.

165 kyndely witte, natural intelligence; clergie, learning.

174 stede, place.

175 worching, working.

176 next, nearest.

177 pases, paces, steps.

178 soget, subject.

179 kinde, nature; agensward, contrarily.

180 wite, know.

181 withouten, outside; even with, on a level with.

183 mightes, powers.

190 sensualité, bodily knowing.

195 goostly, spiritually.

196 utter man, outer, physical man; clepith, calls; nowght, nought, nothing.

198 wrought, performed, done.

199 defailing, failing.

200 redeliest, most quickly.

201 goostly wittes, intellectual faculties.

204 ravisching, ecstasy.

206 deme, judge.

209 medeling hem aboute, concerning themselves with.

213 acordaunce, harmony.

214 charge, imposition of responsibility.

216 clepid, called.

218 besi, earnest.

219 cleeping, calling.

220 stifly, firmly; sotil, subtle.

224 boistous, rudimentary.

225 beholdyng, examination.

226 Parfite, Perfect; mow, may, can.

229 ilch, each .

230 me thinketh, it seems to me.

232 wote, know.

233 wordely, worldly.

235 prise, price, excellence.

237 kyndelid, kindled.

238 lyame, leash.

241 leve, leave.

243 oughtes, of any account; lystly, vigorously.

244 leving, living.

249 weike, weak; wreche, sinner.

251 sleuthe, sloth; drawght, pulling, attraction.

252 cleping, calling; Bewar . . . with, Be on guard against.

257 meek Hym, humble Himself.

259 stede, place.

260 in erles of, as a foretaste of.

261 fast, firmly.

262 thee faileth, you are missing; haste, have.

263 behoveth algates, must in every possible way.

266 Him list not, it does not please Him.

269 thee thar bot, you have only to; put, press on.

271 abideth, await.

274 steryng, impulse, prompting; mene, focus intently on, intend, "mean."

275 lothe, loathe; ought, anything.

278 directe, directed; streche, extended.

279 take no kepe, pay no heed.

281 here, their; wood, mad.

282 proven for to felle, try to put a stop to.

283 holpen of, helped by.

286 sensible, that can be felt, perceptible; liste, zest, desire.

287 wonderful, miraculous.

288 Lette, Desist; travayle, labor; lyst, zest, desire.

290 entent, intention, directing of the mind, aspiration.

291 letteth, hinders.

293 schap thee, dispose yourself; bide, stay.

296 travayle, labor.

299 forthi that, in order that; wene, imagine.

300 me thinketh, it seems to me.

301 ones, once.

303 athomus, moment, twinkling of an eye.

305 undepartable, indivisible; neighhonde, almost.

306 goven, given.

307 skilful, reasonable; geve, give.

308 even acording, exactly corresponding; steryng, impulse, movement.

309 principal worching might, main operating power.

310 oure, hour.

313 stering, impulse; yede forby, went astray.

314 streche, extend; wilnable, that can be willed.

316 mete, measured (having the proper dimensions made to fit).

321 create knowable might, created intellectual faculty, created power of knowing.

324 Bot seth, Only see; ilchone, each one.

325 might, faculty, power.

333 seese, cease.

335 pyne, pain.

336 in keping of, in control of.

339 fulle, complete; stere, incite, prompt.

340 here, hear.

343 reparailed, restored.

346 hier, higher.

349 token, mark, sign.

351 ordinel, regular.

352 hy kynde, celestial nature.

354 even acordyng, exactly corresponding.

355 Dome, Last Judgment.

356 steryng, impulse, stirring.

358 seerly, separately.

361 mowe kepe, be able to attend to; make aseeth to, deal adequately with.

362 wote, know.

364 conclude, confounded.

365 resons, arguments.

370 domesman, judge.

371 Knyt, Tie; beleve, faith.

372 parcener, partner.

374 lese, lose.

376 ful justly, in perfect justice (Walsh, p. 125).

377 lith, lies; construe, construe, interpret; pike, gather.

378 chalenge, claim.

385 unavisid, without warning; sparcle, spark.

386 oure, hour.

388 fast, quickly.

392 queynte, fanciful, strange.

394 coryous, curious.

395 algates, always, in every way; stifly, firmly, resolutely.

397 weneth, think.

398 travayle, labor.

399 wittes, intellectual faculties.

402 insomochel that, to such a degree that.

404 frenesies, wild follies.

405 lorne, lost.

410 congelid, amassed.

411 fleen, fly.

414 agenswarde, conversely.

418 skile, reason.

421 wone, stay.

422 thee byhoveth, you must.

424 Thee thinketh, It seems to you.

424-25 forthi that, because.

425 sekirly, certainly; and it, if it.

428 the self creatures, the creatures themselves.

429 oute take, except.

433 thof al, although.

435 For why, Wherefore, because of this.

436 ighe, eye.

437 ficchid, fixed; schoter, archer; prik, target.

439 insomochel, to such a degree.

440 ought, anything.

443-44 beholding, attention.

445 thof al, although.

451 wote, know.

455 fulheed, fulness; wel to kon thinke, be well able to think.

457 For whi, Because.

460 light, illumination.

462 stalworthly, resolutely; listely, with eager longing.

463 fonde, strive.

464 darte, dart.

467 algates, always, in every way.

468 asche, ask.

469 coveite, want.

472 skile, knowledge, understanding.

473 thof, though.

478 jangle, chatter.

480 kepeth, seeks.

482 wonid, stayed; wite, know.

483 scaterid, distracted, scattered.

484 letest, permit.

486 wenith, expects.

488 sekirly, certainly.

490 algates, completely, in every way; put, thrust.

494 clepid, called.

495 mene, focus attention, intend, "mean"; God love, God's love.

497 thee list, as it pleases you.

499 lappid and foulen, wrapped and folded up.

508 insomochel, to the degree.

510 clergie, learning.

518 passing, exceeding.

522 withal, moreover.

525 sekirly me thinketh, assuredly it seems to me.

526 so febeli as I can, as well as my feebleness permits.

528 beholding, sight.

530 algates, in every way; for whi, because.

535 letterly conning, erudite knowledge.

539 skyles, arguments; wordely, worldly.

540 fleschley conceites, carnal thoughts, worldly considerations; worschipes, honors.

543 sithen, since.

546 the tone . . . the other, the one . . . the other.

549 thof al, although; party, part.

550 for whi, because.

557 travailid, busied.

572 knit, united; acorduance, harmony.

574 sees, cease.

575 mowe, be able to.

576 unleveful, unlawful.

577 lette, hinder.

578 thof al, although.

579 sekirly, certainly.

580-81 affectuous, ardent.

581 late, permit.

584 liking, pleasant; counfortable, comforting.

585 skile, reason.

586 kever, cover; hote, promise.

587 For whi, Because; reche, reach.

588 wonith, dwells.

590 medelid, mixed; fantasie, image, imagination.

591 unclene, obstructed; bot if more wonder were, unless it were most exceptional.

596 insomochel that, to the degree that; wenest, expect.

598 witterly, truly.

601 likyng, pleasant.

604 quik, living.

605 privé love put, secret love thrust.

607 ighe, eye.

611 grope, try to find.

613 vouchethsaaf, grants.

616 minde, remembrance.

617 wetyng, understanding; nere it were, if it were not the case; letteth, hinders.

619 wetyngly, knowingly.

620 sithen, since.

622 wordely, worldly.

623 let, hinder.

626 avisement, deliberation.

633 worldly, worldly.

634 arettid, attributed.

639 gruching, grumbling, complaining; thee think, it seems to you.

644 rotyng, taking root.

646 theires, theirs; suffred, allowed.

652 teenful, wrathful.

653 fel dedein, cruel contempt; wlatsomnes, loathing.

654 dispitous, malevolent.

655 unlistines, listlessness.

657 passaunt, immoderate.

659 coveitest, want.

665 Covetyse, avarice, inordinate desire; deinteuous metes, dainty foods.

667 daliaunce, conversation; glosing, blandishment, adulation.

670 trowe, believe.

671 combrid, encumbered; chargedist, attach importance to.

672 travailedist, labored.

675-76 eschewe, avoid.

676 rechelesnes, carelessness, indifference.

685 ligge, lie down; harde, on a hard surface; were thou never so scharp, wear you never so prickly a haircloth.

703 For whi, Because; clene, entire.

712 weten, know.

719 algates, in every way.

722 kynde, nature.

724 defaile, am not able.

734 comounyng, associating.

738 lever, rather.

745 swink and swete, work and sweat.

749 is possible . . . to be knowen, can be known; vouchethsaaf, grants.

750 deedly, mortal.

752 traveile, labor.

753 holy, wholly.

756 prevé, secret, personal; put, offered.

757 sotely, mysteriously.

759 whiche, what.

764 wene, imagine, think.

765 nighhond, almost.

766-67 belappid, enveloped.

767 fonde, strive.

775 customable, habitual.

776 speedful, profitable; mynde, remembrance.

781 avisement, deliberation.

783-84 aseeth-makyng, satisfaction.

787 penaunt, penitent, one doing penance.

792 wite, know.

803 puttyng apon, pressing on.

808 put, thrust.

811 customable, habitual; hidous, intense.

814 thof al, although.

816 gede, went; birthen, burden; hole, recess, hidden depth.

830 wite, know.

845 dightyng, preparation.

846 mete, food.

851 lappid, contained.

852 list hir not, she did not want; remowe, remove.

854 lysty, full of eager longing.

859 prevé love put, secret thrust of love.

862 pleynid, complained.

863 travayle, labor.

864 grucching, grumbling.

866 wist, knew; leiser, leisure.

868 contenaunces, behavior.

870 sithen, since.

873 same skil in licnes, self-same reason.

876 and, if.

877-78 outetake none, make no exceptions.

880 kunnyng, knowledge, intelligence.

880-81 counseyl acordyng, spiritual director in agreement.

884 reken up, mention in turn.

885 goven, given.

887 in licnes, to all appearances.

891 frenesies, wild follies.

893 vouchethsaaf, grants.

897 specyal, outstanding.

898 wordly, worldly.

899 unworschip, dishonor.

902 ful, very; reward, regard.

908 me thinketh, it seems to me.

910 boystously, crudely; beholdyng, regard.

912 wetyn, know.

915 wist, knew.

918 defautes, faults.

919 for defaute of, through default of.

920-21 peteuously, compassionately.

921 algates, entirely; sekirly, certainly.

927 alther, of all.

931 domesman, judge.

935 leve, leave.

936 apelyd, invoked as judge.

937 spede, expediency; nemnid, named.

939-40 behoven, must.

942 even-Cristen, fellow-Christians.

943 wetyn, know; besines, activity.

945 echid to, added.

953-54 even of noumbre, identical with.

958 nemnyd, named.

964 saaf, saved.

968 stedes, places.

970-71 liggeth, lies.

974 sibreden, relationship.

981 alther, of all.

986 the tother, the other.

988 mowe, be able; dighe, die.

989 beryelles, burial.

991 listely lene therto, with eager longing incline towards.

997 the tone, the one; you list, it pleases you.

998 boldely, in physical activities and working with the bodily senses; medel yow not, don't interfere.

1003 contynaunce, bearing, behavior.

1004 treufeler, idle gossip.

1011 hight, promised.

1011-12 for whi hir thought, because it seemed to her.

1016 even acordyng, exactly corresponding.

1017 therfore, for that purpose; take, understand.

1019 customable, habitual.

1022 Symound Leprous, Simon the Leper.

1023 passing, exceeding.

1025 and we, if we; listely, vigorously; confourme, model.

1030 kepe, attention.

1031 leve of, leave off.

1033 hem, them.

1035 stere, stir, incite.

1038 leveful, legitimate.

1039 sekir, sure, certain.

1041 kanne, know.

1045 What thar reche, What does it matter.

1046 dwere, doubt; revith, robs of.

1047-48 make . . . queinte, conceive ingeniously.

1048 skiles, reasons.

1053 defayle, be lacking.

1057 sotely, inseparably, mysteriously.

1058 blynde love put, blind thrust of love.

1061 bemene, signify.

1065 directe, directed.

1066 mede, reward.

1067 rechith, cares.

1071 comoun, share.

1073 by the profe, by this argument.

1075 sib or fremmyd, kin or stranger; think hym iliche, seem to him alike.

1076 foen, foes.

1079 homliest, most intimate.

1084 fallith, is fitting.

1086 comoun, associate with; fro, by departing entirely from, in desisting from.

1088 speedful, profitable, expedient.

1093 leveful, legitimate.

1102 affecte, disposed.

1104-05 pined and disesid, tormented and distressed.

1114 sotely, mysteriously.

1116 fast, firmly, steadfastly.

1117 sithen, afterwards; travayle, labor.

1118 sekirly, certainly, truly.

1119 usid him, accustomed himself.

1125 mynde, mental awareness.

1129 behote, promise.

1130 fast, firmly.

1132 streyte, rigorous, narrow.

1137 mery, delightful.

1140 priveté, mystery.

1143 blabryng, babbling; althof I durst, even if I dared.

1147 formest, foremost.

1152 customable, habitual.

1158 leve, live; besy, assiduous.

1159 sithen, afterwards, then.

1160 lawefuly, in accordance with the practice enjoined.

1163 wonyng, dwelling.

1167 rightwise, just.

1169 underloute, subservient; steryng, prompting.

1175 wantith, is lacking; bihovith, it is necessary; bidingly, patiently.

1180 greet skyle, very reasonable.

1184 fayre, just.

1188 worschepid, honored.

1189 deedly, mortally.

1190 helle calves, spawn of hell, devils.

1192 dede, action; levefully, legitimately.

1196 in aperte, publicly.

1201 domes, judgments; deme, judge.

1206 fordone, previously committed.

1208 stalworthly, vigorously.

1209 fonde, strive.

1210 outher, either.

1213 sleightes, devices; wiles, wiles.

1214 by the profe, by experience.

1219 seching, seeking.

1221 esid, satisfied.

1226 koure doun, cower; cheitif, caitiff, captive.

1229 fordone, destroyed.

1231 sotely, penetratingly.

1232 filthe, defilement, vile creature; fer, far.

1235 ighen, eyes.

1236 wode, mad.

1239 cun, know how to.

1242 fast, hard, steadfastly; pyne, pain.

1244-45 graciously getyn in custume, acquired by grace as a habit.

1246 fordone, previously committed.

1248 besi, persevering; dere afflict, harm.

1248-49 in rewarde of, in comparison with.

1255 and, if.

1258 mowe dere, be able to harm.

1262 wyten, know.

1266 vouchesaaf, grant.

1270 lyst, pleases.

1277 legge it bi thi syde, lay it aside.

1279 Bewar with, Be on guard against.

1283 onyd, united, "one-ed."

1283-84 departyng, distinction.

1288 Reche, Care.

1292 suffrer, one acted upon.

1294 wright, carpenter.

1295 hosbonde, master of the house, husband.

1296 let, hinder.

1297 likyngly, pleasantly, delectably.

1299 directe, directed.

1301 mene, intermediary.

1307 menes, helpful activities.

1317 profiters, those making progress.

1319 redyn on . . . redyn on, read . . . listen to; lewid, uneducated.

1322 cours, procedure.

1328 bleendid, blinded.

1331 wheraneintes, whereabouts.

1332 at erst, and none er, at first and not before.

1334 blynde, secret, obscure.

1340 conseites, understandings.

1345 maad no force, thof, would not care if.

1346 mene, focus intently on, mean.

1348 the list, pleases you.

1354 woder, madder.

1356 contenaunce, bearing, behavior.

1357 liggyng, lying; sad, steadfast.

1363 worschip, honor.

1369 to, two.

1372 affraied, frightened.

1377 brestith up hidously, bursts out terrifyingly.

1382 brede, breadth.

1383 sauter, psalter, a portion of psalms; mumlyd, mumbled.

1389-90 wittis of the spirit, spiritual intelligence.

1395 Alle-witty, omniscient.

1405 doelfulnes, anguish.

1406 slecke, extinguish, slake.

1408 not agenstonding, notwithstanding.

1418 propirté, essential characteristic.

1421 directe, directed.

1422 remowyng, removing.

1424 ententifly, wholeheartedly.

1429 forby, in preference to; couthe, knew.

1432 Stody, study, cast about.

1439 oftnes, frequency.

1440 never the rather, no more for that.

1445 angre, affliction.

1447 bemenyng, significance.

1450 What thar reche, What does it matter.

1453 here goostly pees, their spiritual peace.

1459 kumbryng, burden.

1466 What thar reche, What does it matter.

1474 congelid, coalesced; chaungabely, alternately.

1475 and2, if.

1483 even-Crysten, fellow Christian.

1486 iliche, alike.

1488 let, hinder.

1491 goodly, diligently.

1493 hole, whole.

1496 hele, health.

1499 likyng, pleasant.

1501 paraventure, possibly.

1504 kun, know how to.

1506 mowe, be able (to).

1508 and I, if I.

1509 rechelesnes, carelessness, indifference.

1512 merke, limit.

1513 couth, could.

1516 wanteth, misses.

1519 fonde, try.

1520 felle, put down; treed, trample.

1528 bot, unless.

1532 thee schal think, it shall seem to you.

1533 departyng, distinction.

1534 wetyng, knowing.

1536 in rewarde of, in comparison with.

1544 paraventure thee think, possibly it seems to you.

1544-45 lettynges, hindrances.

1551 rudely, violently.

1552 slepyng sleight, simulation of sleep, sleeping strategem; forsobbid, exhausted with sobbing; forsonken, plunged deeply.

1556 wote, knows.

1561 revith, robs.

1564 mow, be able.

1570 ni wood, nearly insane.

1571 banneth, curses.

1572 rechith, cares; worth, becomes.

1578 lerne, teach.

1579 weelwyllyng, goodwill.

1585 war, on guard; leve of, leave off; paraventure, possibly.

1587 longe of, on account of.

1593 deserven, deserve.

1595 beestly, carnally; rudely, violently.

1596 unlisty, listless.

1599 chaufyng, inflaming.

1601 unkyndely, unnatural.

1605 wene, imagine.

1622 over-rudely, too violently; list, zest, desire.

1622-23 lither strengthe, evil brute force.

1629 sely, simple; bewar with, be on guard against.

1630 demure, quiet, composed.

1630-31 contenaunce, bearing, behavior.

1632 lache, seize.

1633 gamenly, as in play; rede, advise.

1634 rude, violent, excessive.

1635 fayne, gladly.

1637 gamesumli, sportively.

1638 clippyng, embracing.

1641 kyndly, natural; skyles, reasons.

1648 boistousté, crude, uncultured natural state.

1649 knit, tie.

1650 onheed, oneness.

1655 aperte, open.

1657 medelid, mixed.

1661 listely, with eager longing.

1664 hele, conceal; pleynly, wholly.

1672 forthi, because.

1676 boden, enjoined.

1678 contenaunce, bearing, expression.

1683 leve, leave off, refrain from.

1688 departe, separate.

1691 in erles of that mede, as a foretaste of reward.

1702 remowed, removed.

1703 lere, teach.

1704 woneth, dwells.

1705 mene, intermediary.

1712 lette, desist.

1713 noye, annoy.

1718 listy, vigorous.

1719 kun, be able to.

1720 uncouthe, strange.

1726 lene listely to, incline eagerly towards.

1730 weelpayednes, full satisfaction.

1732 accydentes, non-essentials.

1734 parbrakyng, breaking up.

1735 departyng, distinction.

1744 likyng, pleasurable.

1745 rechelesnes, indifference; lene not, do not rely.

1746 ferde, fear; bide, remain.

1748 grocche, complain, are resentful.

1752 apayed, pleased.

1763 pike, gather.

1769 lene, incline.

1772 conseytes, conceptions.

1773 hele, hide.

1774 boden, enjoined.

1778 warnes, caution.

1783 wote I by the profe, I know by experience; herdsey, hearsay.

1785 weneth, thinks, imagines.

1792 kyndely witte, natural intelligence.

1793 covetyse, inordinate desire.

1799 here, their.

1802 woodnes, madness.

1808 whiche, what.

1810 kynde, nature.

1817 reynes, kidneys, loins; pryvé, private.

1818 restful mynde, peaceful awareness.

1819 lettyng, obstruction.

1820 dere, harm.

1823 lette, hinder.

1824 suspecte, suspicion.

1826 contenaunces, expressions, behavior.

1827 spice, kind; forby, in comparison with.

1831 leighingly, laughingly; ware, on guard.

1832 sturdy, diseased.

1833 dighe, die.

1834 pipyn, peep, chirp.

1841 hem, themselves.

1842 homely, in familiar surroundings.

1843 trowe, believe; streitly, rigorously.

1853 corious, frivolous.

1854 ought, anything; queyntely, with affection.

1855 here, hear.

1856 here, their.

1861 leighing, laughing; gigelotes, flirts.

1862 nice japyng jogelers, foolish jesting buffoons; lackyng kontenaunce, who don't know how to behave; cher, face, demeanor; demure, composed.

1863 mirthe, cheerfulness.

1872 prove, test.

1877 favour, features.

1878 fayne, glad.

1882 kun, be able.

1885 customable, habitual.

1889 sad, sober, steadfast.

1891 stuffe hem, reinforce themselves; underput, support.

1894 charge, attach importance to.

1895 unsittyng, unbecoming.

1897 voided, letout.

1898 wher, whether.

1899 sittyngly, becoming manner.

1902 pipyng, obsequious.

1903 disposission, tendency.

1905 boystous, loud.

1910 pipyng ypocrisie, feigned weakness.

1916 aperte, openly.

1919 dur, dare.

1921 lighe, lie.

1931 fygureth, symbolizes, typifies; provide a temporal or physical manifestation.

1934 nygromauncye, necromancy.

1937 nose-therel, nostril.

1940 kepeth, seeks after.

1942 dere, harm.

1947 avysement, deliberation; over sone, too soon.

1948 staunson, membrane separating the nostrils, septum.

1949 the to, "thet o," i.e., the one.

1950 dissevre, separate.

1957 letterly kunnyng, erudite knowledge.

1958 fautours, partisans.

1961 brestyn up, burst out.

1965 stalworthly, vigorously.

1971 apeerte, open, public.

1973 fare, behavior.

1983-84 curiously, elaborately.

1988 wene, imagine.

2000 ighen, eyes.

2002 directe, directed.

2012 onyd, joined.

2016 skyle, reason.

2017 Hym, Himself.

2019 bemenynges, complex significances.

2036 seing His moder and His disciples, as His mother and His disciples watched.

2042 liggyng, lying.

2043 wetyn, known.

2044 departing, distinction.

2063 stifly, resolutely; fel, cruel.

2066 by, on account of.

2075 iliche, invariably, unceasingly.

2083 stede, place.

2085 remowing, moving.

2086 and, if.

2088 steedly, steady.

2102 thee think, it seems to you.

2104-05 seyng alle His disciples, as all His disciples watched.

2108 so febely as I kan, as well as my feebleness permits, however inefficiently.

2116 nexte, nearest.

2126 sogette, subject.

2129 statute, ordained; likyd, pleased; weende, go.

2135-36 unwetyng, unknowing.

2136 paraventure, possibly.

2137 heeldyng, inclining.

2143 falleth, fails.

2153 it bot goostly, it signifies spiritually; see note.

2164 anowrnid, adorned.

2165 clennes, cleanness, purity.

2170 wreten, written.

2181 departable, divisible.

2187 wittes, senses.

2200 blendid, blinded; kon, know how to.

2201 the thing that it worcheth in, i.e., its object.

2205 likyng, pleasure, joy; eendli, finally.

2207 savour, apprehend, savor.

2223 newlynges, recently.

2227 mowe, can.

2232 rechyng, ranging, reaching.

2234 gruchyng, displeasing.

2236 lustis, pleasures, desires.

2239 grochith, is displeasing.

2240 mislikyng, displeasing.

2248 speedful, profitable, expedient.

2250 wantounly weltre, wallow without discipline; welthes, good things; well being.

2252 manly, human.

2256-57 thoo the whiche, those who.

2269 whether, whither.

2276 nought, nothing.

2277 ought, something.

2301 elles, provided.

2302 lete nought, do not desist.

2306 ought, something.

2308 Reche thee never, Don't ever care; wittys, faculties.

2314 Al, All.

2330 abeden, remained, endured.

2337 stathil, remaining root of felled tree.

2348 swarenes, squareness; fernes, distance.

2349 eren, ears.

2365 goostly wittys, spiritual senses of perception.

2369 failyng, failing.

2374 alegge, cite.

2376 hedes, conclusions.

2377 kunnyng, knowledge.

2378 trowe, believe.

2381 feerdful, terrifying.

2383 ravisching, ecstasy; as febely as I kan, as well as my feebleness permits, however inefficiently.

2389 homely, familiar.

2393 lettyng, hindrance.

2395 figurid, typified.

2396-97 most medelid hem aboute, were most concerned with.

2399 lityl love put, little placing of love.

2408 Bot that, Whereas.

2412 sleightes, devices, stratagems; mowen propre unto hem, can make their own.

2426 vaale, valley.

2437 deseert, deserving.

2442 costume, habit.

2453 savely, safely.

2456 ofter, more often.

2466 liche to, apt for.

2470 hanging, left in the air.

2477 jangelers, babblers; glosers, flatterers; roukers and rouners, tale-bearers and whisperers.

2478 pynchers, carpers.

2480 corious lettrid ne lewid, inquisitive people, educated nor uneducated.

2484 likyng, delectable.

2494-95 bot yif, only if.

2501 over-homely, too comfortably; wene, expect.

2507 rechelesnes, carelessness.

2509 cauteel, strategem; deintee, esteem.

2511 wite, know.

2521 wanyn, wane, diminish.

2522 fyndinges, discoveries, insights.

THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING: NOTES

When I make use of Hodgson's notes, I follow the form used in her 1982 edition. That is, each note is preceded by the page and line numbers, in brackets, of the word or phrase being glossed: e.g., [H. 1/16-17] refers to page 1 of her text of the Cloud, lines 16 and 17. References to the Cloud author's other works, in the same Hodgson edition, follow the same format.
"R. M." throughout the notes refers to Richard Methley, a Carthusian, who in the fifteenth century translated the Cloud into Latin and annotated it (Walsh, pp. 14-19).
I have used British Library MS Harleian 674 as my copy text. It is referred to in the notes as Har1. Other manuscripts referred to are British Library MS Harleian 2373 = Har2; British Library MS Royal C xxvi = Ro1; British Library MS Royal D v = Ro3; University Library, Cambridge MS Kk.vi.26 = Kk; Bodleian Library MS University College = U; St. Hugh's Charterhouse, Sussex, MS Parkminster, D176 = Pa.

8ff. The convention of warning off those who are unworthy is meant to force the reader to examine his motives, make him appropriately wary, and inculcate a sense of reverence.

15-16 Although the author restricts the achievement of the highest prayer here to a relatively small group of Christians, there are hints throughout the Cloud (lines 8-27; 32-38; 339-43; 795-97; 1274-78; 2444-50) that such prayer is potentially accessible to all. In lines 340 ff., he says that contemplation is the activity man should have continued in, had he not sinned; without this activity, man moves further and further from God. Gilson, History, p. 166: Man's act of willing himself for himself made him "dissimilar to God, but the effect of the grace of the Redemption is to restore man to the divine resemblance he lost. The Christian life is therefore identical with the mystical life, and the latter in turn can be considered as a reeducation of love" (my emphasis). See the discussion in Riehle, pp. 15 ff. Also, Hodgson [2/7-13] cites Gregory and Walter Hilton on the "mixed life." For the active and contemplative lives, see Butler, pp. 201-23.

sovereinnest pointe of contemplatif leving. This phrase, a variation of the concept of the apex animae, occurring also at lines 37, 1370-71 (see note), and 1371, is at the heart of mystical theology. See Hodgson, pp. xxii-xxiii, lv; Lees, pp. 270-308, quoting Gregory of Nyssa's "to anotaton meros." Walsh, p. 185, quotes from the Divine Names, ch. 7: "It is through the power of charity that the soul in the sovereign point of the spirit is extended"; and, p. 101, R. M.'s phrase supremo affectivo apice vitae contemplationis ("the supreme affective peak of the contemplative life'' -- my translation). See also Houston Smith, Beyond the Post-Modern Mind: "This essence, or 'being,' is called by the German mystics grund, 'ground,' of the spirit." The Middle English poem, Pearl, has the word grounde in the final line of each stanza in section VII, lines 372, 384, 396, etc. According to Wood, Eckhart considered "the ground, the abyss and the apex of the soul to be actually one and the same" (p. 53, n. 28).

20-23 I.e., the treatise must be read in its entirety. In this context, it should be said that the author's Book of Privé Counseling, at least, is an important supplement to understanding the Cloud.

28-38 For a similar vigor in the defense of the author's teaching on contemplation, see beginning of Privé Counseling, 76/16 ff.

31 of. MS: off.

corious. Bernard of Clairvaux's definition of "curiosity" is "love of abstract speculation for its own sake and without bearing on the quest for salvation" [H. 2/2-5; my translation].

36 verrey. Inserted in the margin of Har1.

67 also. Inserted in the margin of Har1.

76 of God. Inserted in the margin of Har1.

121-22 The seven and . . . of this book. Omitted and placed at the bottom of the page in Har1.

141 boistousnes. "A lack of culture, a crudeness, in spiritual matters" [H. 5/12]. However, the adverb form of the word is used as the equivalent of "humbly" or "unpretentiously" in Privé Counseling, 77/18.

180 werk. Inserted in the margins of Har1.

201 goostly wittes. Either the reason and the will, or the "spiritual senses," inferred from "some experience of God's presence in metaphor or implicit analogy" [H. 6/41].

218 Goostly freende in God. On the indebtedness of the Cloud to the epistolary style of Seneca, see Emery, pp. 47-50.

220 stifly. Between stifly and agens, the following has been heavily canceled in Har1: in the state and the degree and in the fourme of leving that thou hast ententively purposed. Hodgson ignores the cancellation and prints the phrase as part of the text. She notes that it has also been canceled in Ro1 and omitted in Kk, Har2, U, Ro3, and Pa. Observing "it is uncertain whether [those passages] were in the original text," she notes scholarly debate on the issue [H. 7/24-25].

229 R. M.: "The ordinary degree is of laypeople, the special of clerics or religious, and the singular of solitaries: that is, hermits, anchorites and especially Carthusians" (Walsh, p. 116). See also Emery on the use of William of St. Thierry's Epistola ad Fratres de Monte Dei by the Cloud author and by the Carthusians. Singuler can also refer to a physically solitary state or a solitude of the spirit. The recipient of the letter is described as in the singular life [H. 7/348/17].

234-35 wrought . . . nought . . . bought. This rhyming antithesis between creation, nothingness, and redemption, continued in the oughtes of line 243, sums up a key pattern in the work, an existential dimension that occurs more explicitly in Privé Counseling, 75/18 ff., where the reader is urged to focus on the simple fact of his existence, that he is. But the purpose of this exercise is mainly negation: a "noughting" of oneself and an "alling" of God [H. 85/15]; and forgetting "the feeling of the being of thyself for the feeling of the being of God" [H. 88/41-42]. See below, lines 745-46.

238 longing. The word used by the Owl to describe the kind of prayer she engages in in the Owl and the Nightingale (Stanley, pp. 869, 889). See also Denis's discussion of "yerning" in the Divine Names, Ch. 4, 708B ff.

246 the fote of thi love. The source of this image is Augustine, commenting on Psalm 9: "Rightly understood, the foot of the soul is love, for it moves by means of love to the place it is going" PL 36:124 [H. 8/16; my translation]. See also line 395 and Privé Counseling [H. 84/14]. This is a reference to the active part to be played by the contemplative, who is to avoid any kind of Quietism [H. 8/16]. For an application of the foot motif to Dante, Inferno, 28-30, see Freccero, p. 38.

249 weike wreche. Canceled in Har1 but added in several other manuscripts. I have followed Hodgson's decision to include it.

what thou arte. In the Cloud, the author moves from a meditation on what a person is, his character, virtues and vices, to a forgetting of what he is, as in the case of Mary Magdalen, who no longer reflects on what she has been (lines 834-41). This movement is more explicit in Privé Counseling, 76/38-39: "For I hold him too ignorant and too crude who cannot think and feel that he himself is, not what he is, but that he is."

252 wreche. Canceled in Har1 and omitted in several other manuscripts. Hodgson includes it, and I like its dramatic force.

254 cursid. Hodgson emends to werid on grounds of alliteration and recurrence of the phrase wrechid and werid elsewhere in the manuscript.

261 Look now forwardes, and lat be bacwardes. An idea repeated at lines 2519-20, where the author insists that God does not care what you have been but what you are going to be. It is an allusion to Philippians 3:13: "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching out for what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal," cited by Walsh, p. 118.

263 The assertion that all the contemplative's life now must be desire recurs at lines 2524-26 and is from Augustine (Walsh, p. 266).

265 gelous lover. The idea of God as a jealous lover may derive from the Pseudo-Dionysius: "Those strong in divine things [contemplatives] call him the jealous one," Divine Names, ch. 4, as cited by Walsh, p. 119.

268 the windowes and the dore. The "window" image is associated with the five bodily senses, from a traditional interpretation of Jeremiah 9:21 (Vulg.) (Walsh, p. 119). In Chaucer's Tale of Melibee, an elaborate allegory develops from this topos (Benson, lines 970-72; 1421-23).

274 mene Himself. The core injunction, repeated at lines 495-98.

276-77 And do . . . of hem. This clause was omitted by the scribe but added at the foot of the page.

278 streche. Walsh, p. 120, observes that this is "perhaps the most typical word used by the Dionysian school to describe the contemplative effort." See also Lees, pp. 328-30.

280 aungelles. Medieval angelology developed, with the authority of the Pseudo-Dionysius in the De Coelesti Hierarchia, from Scripture and the Neoplatonic theory of Emanations [H. 9/19-20]. In the mystical ascent in Gallus, Bonaventure, and Balma, the nine orders of angels parallel the stages of contemplation. See Introduction, p. 6.

289 Cloude of unknowyng. See Exodus 24:15-18.

290 nakid entent. Entent, from the Latin intentio, is defined as "an act of the will moved by the desire of love and directed by reason." Nakid means "stripped of all images," a concept common to apophatic mystical texts [H. 9/31 ]. For an excellent discussion of intentionality in medieval culture, see Myles 1994, pp. 33-54; and note at line 1065.

303 athomus. See 1 Corinthians 15:52. "In Medieval Latin, its time value was equivalent to about 1/6 (15/94) of a second, the smallest measure of time" [H. 10/6]. See in the Pistle of Preier, the phrase, "a twinkeling of an ige" [H. 101/23]. Augustine's treatment of the smallest segments of time is an occasion for a philosophical reflection on eternity (Vance, pp. 34-50). For a discussion of the "moment" as a temporal designation for the mystical experience in Augustine and a similar motif among Romantic writers, see Abrams, pp. 385-90, et passim.

314 soverein desirable. The use of the prefix soverein, a stylistic feature of the Dionysian tradition, corresponds to the Latin super and Greek hyper (Lees, pp. 226-28). See note at line 15.

316 He is. MS: maad has been canceled after is.

by mesuring. According to the Pseudo-Dionysius, every created spirit receives divine things "in proportion to its powers, and in this measure is perception granted through the workings of the Divine goodness," which "divinely tempereth unto finite measure" the infinite things that pass man's understanding [H. 10/22]. In the Consolation of Philosophy, V, pr. 4, a similar observation occurs: for al that evere is iknowe, it is rather comprehendid and knowen, nat aftir his strengthe and his nature, but aftir the faculte (that is to seyn, the power and the nature) of hem that knowen [Everything which is known is known not according to its own power but rather according to the capacity of the knower] (Chaucer's translation, Benson, lines 137-41; see Green, p. 110). Walsh, p. 122, cites Thomas Gallus in regard to this passage: "So great is the power of the true love of the good and the beautiful that not only does it lead men and angels to outstrip their natural powers so that they can ascend to God, but it causes God to leave behind as it were his own nature, and to descend below it to the creature." However, the Cloud author seems to shy away from this kind of aesthetic statement; and the Thomist theology of being, which, from one point of view, is rather austere, seems more congenial to him.

324 Bot seth. In Har1, this is bot sith, "but since," amended convincingly by Hodgson to "but see" [H. 10/31].

326-27 two mightes. Walsh, p. 123, quotes Gallus: "We are convinced that the affection is ineffably more profoundly and more sublimely drawn to God by God himself than is the intellect, because men and angels love more than they have the power to reason or understand. . . . And what is there in God that is not loved by the affection? It is as if the whole of him is clasped by the affection and rejected by the understanding."

338 taast. Walsh, p. 123, cites Psalm 33:9 and 1 Peter 2:3 as an important image in Western spirituality. See Piers Plowman, B.18, 83-84: "For alle þei were unhardy þat houed þer or stode / To touchen hym or to tasten hym or taken doun of roode. . . ." See Gallacher, 1991, pp. 59-60; italics my own.

339-46 This very strong assertion that the contemplation described in the Cloud is what humanity was created for and by which it is to be restored enlarges the possible audience envisioned for the work. See note to 15-16.

352 hy. Canceled by Hodgson.

358 thing seerly. Har1 reads thing, but Hodgson, with evidence from other manuscripts, emends to tyme for puposes of coherence. But thing makes good sense too.

368-76 For the central role of Christ as creator and time keeper in the Cloud, as opposed to the views of Huxley and others, see Johnston, (1975), pp. 67-79.

373 St. Theresa of Avila describes a stage at which the humanity of Christ is withdrawn only to provide a future, deeper fruition of this humanity, which has only seemed to be lost (see Johnston, [1975], p. 76).

385 sparcle fro the cole. See Introduction, p. 6, for the concept of the scintilla synderesis. The idea is evident in Henry Vaughan's Silex Scintillans (1655). Also an image from Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem, The Windhover, seems to suggest this same tradition: "and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear, / Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion."

388-90 for corupcion . . . riseth agen. Hugh of Balma describes the commonplace of the recoil of the spirit: "immediately after its rise, the mind falls beneath itself, again and again rises, and again falls beneath itself" [H. 12/27-29; my translation]. For Augustine's complex experience of falling back from the mystical vision, see TeSelle, pp. 20-26.

395 troden doun. This metaphor is often associated in mystical writing with the "foot of love" [H. 12/36]. See note at line 246.

423 Cloude of forgetyng. Walsh, p. 128, cites Richard of St. Victor's Benjamin Major, V, 2: "To enter the Cloud of Unknowing is to rise above mind, and by means of the Cloud of forgetfulness, to hide from the mind the awareness of whatever lies at hand." In Chaucer's House of Fame, II, 972-78, the dreamer looks down at one point and is prevented from seeing the world he has left by a Cloud: "And thoo thoughte y upon Boece, / That writ, 'A thought may flee so hye / Wyth fetheres of Philosophye, / To passen everych element, / And whan he hath so fer ywent, / Than may be seen behynde his bak / Cloude . . .' " (Chaucer's translation; my emphasis). Also see Boethius, Consolation, Book 4, meter 1, 1-7 (Benson, p. 441).

441-42 A combination of affirmation and negation that runs throughout the Cloud. By telling the reader in some detail not to think about the kindness and worthiness of God, he has already caused him to think about it.

445-48 It is good to think on the kindness of God (affirmation), but better to think upon His "nakid beyng" (negation). See note at line 590. For the existential metaphysics of the Cloud, see Myles; and for the "prayer of being," see Rissanen.

446 apon. MS: on pon.

453-56 R. M. "Man's thought or mental skill can never find God. So, according to Denis the Areopagite, it is by an incomprehensible ascent that we find union with him who is above every substance and all knowledge" (Walsh, p. 130).

464 darte. Guigues du Pont: "It often happens, that God, for the soul's sake, causes certain rents to occur in the Cloud itself. Through these rents the divine goodness is reached by means of secret aspirations -- sharp arrows of loving impulses which penetrate the Cloud. When this happens, the soul has a sweet and spiritual taste of divine things, which it savors but does not see" (Walsh, p. 131).

470-74 Answering the question is an affirming act, even though it is followed by the apophatic advice to tread it down.

473 thof. MS: For thof. Hodgson's (1944) emendation notes that although for is to be found in the best manuscript, "it is obviously redundant" [H. 27/1].

483 scaterid. In the process of telling the reader what to reject, he affirms the value of many meditative activities. For the motif of "scattering and oneing," see Englert.

495 love. Omitted by Hodgson though she notes that the word "love" must have entered the text at an early stage [H. 15/26].

497-98 Ro1, which seems to have more copy mistakes than the other manuscripts I have looked at, has "with any other cause" rather than ''withouten,'' an error which reverses the meaning of Har1 and is obviously contradictory.

500 a litil worde of o silable. The author "aims at focusing the attention by giving the mind an imageless suggestion to fasten on" [H. 15/31-32].

504 Ro1 has for thing that it bifalleth, which is ungrammatical.

505 thi scheeld. Cassian: "Take a short verse of a psalm and it shall be your shield and buckler" (Walsh, p. 134).

513 swete. Inserted in the margin of Har1.

525 questyon. The variant spelling in Kk is whestion.

526 so febeli as I can. That is, "as well as my feebleness permits" [H., glossary under febeli].

530 a beme . . . God. "Because man was created in the image and likeness of the Trinity, his reason participates in the intelligence of God, whose light illumines the true working of the mind" [H. 16/27].

566 nakid beyng. "I.e., not clothed in any image or concept that would restrict and falsify" [H. 17/33]. See line 447.

577 thanne. Inserted in the margin of Har1.

590 fantasie. Aquinas, ST IIa-IIae, q. 180, a. 5: "Human contemplation according to the condition of the present life, cannot exist without images, because it is connatural for man to see intelligible species in images" [H. 18/18-21; my translation].

595 werk blynd. Emended to blynd werk by Hodgson.

605 privé love put. Kk and Ro1, as well as other manuscripts, have puttyng for put, making it clear that put is used as a noun in this expression which occurs throughout the Cloud: lines 807-08, 859, 1058, 2399, 2495. The term seems related to the Latin ponere and Greek tithenai (Lees, pp. 211-13). Walsh, p. 139, translates this phrase as "this secret love beating on this Cloud of unknowing."

606-09 Note again the combination of affirmation and negation. Encountering the Cloud of unknowing (negation) is better than beholding all the mirth and melody of heaven (affirmation). The imagery of "mirth and melody" are negated, but only after being invoked.

617 nere it were. "If it were not"; literally, "were it not that it were."

642 Seven lines have been canceled in Har1 between woreld and soche. Hodgson ignores this cancellation and reads & arte oblischid unto any degree in devote levyng in Holi Chirche, what-so it be, prive or aperte, & ther-to that wil be rewlid not after theire owne wille & theire owne witte, bot after the wille & the counsel of theire sovereins, what-so thei be, religious or seculeres after woreld, observing that this was apparently an early addition which may have been canceled by those opposed to the religious life, perhaps Lollards [H. 20/4].

643 Hodgson [20/5] glosses venial as "pardonable" and deedly (line 641) as "leading to damnation." She refers to Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, questions 88, 89 for further information.

645 stonde in. The phrase bi the witnes and the counsel of som discret fader [i.e., priest] has been canceled after stonde in. It is included in Hodgson who notes its cancellation in Har1, Ro1, Ro2, and its omission in Kk, Har2, U, Ro3, and Pa. Like the clause identified in line 642, this seems to have been an early addition, subsequently canceled by an anti-clerical reader. See H. 7/24.

649ff. Hodgson [20/15-36] calls this treatment of the Seven Deadly Sins "unusual and perfunctory." However, the unusual placing of Wrath before Pride fits in with his discussion of the world, the flesh, and the devil in his treastise on the Discretion of Spirits. He calls the devil the "prince of wraþþe" [H. 148/12] and weaves wrath in with malice, wickedness, and bitterness. His main argument against this group of vices is that they rob the soul of the peace and charity so essential to contemplation. Also relevant to this passage is his discussion of the sensuality in Chapter 66, where a peace of the senses is to be obtained by regulating the natural irritation that occurs in the senses because of discomfort or the lack of bodily comforts. He calls this irritation groching, which can be translated as grumbling -- see Wolpers, p. 131, Johnston (1973), p. 133 -- with the obvious connotation of Wrath. A similar point is made in Piers Plowman 5.609 ff. (Kane/Donaldson edition) where Wrath undermines Truth discovered and possessed in the heart as the goal of the pilgrimage.

664 This is the only instance in Har1 where worldy replaces the usual wordly.

678 Several manuscripts read the trewe dissiples, namely U, Ro3, Pa, Kk, Har2 and Ro1, but such an addition is redundant given the state of perfection sought.

698 be sotely. MS: sotely be, with words reversed by scribal correction.

700 crokid. "Cf. Latin curva, a familiar term used technically by St. Bernard and St. Bonaventura among others in antithesis to recta, to signify curvature away from God" [H. 22/2]. See the phrase "croked wey" in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale, line 761.

703 clene cause of alle vertewes. A quote from Augustine harmonizes with the existential dimension of the Cloud: "For virtue is principally God himself: in whom there is no difference between having virtue and being virtue" [H. 22/4-5; my translation].

707 charité. Augustine's classic definition of charity is useful here: "I call 'charity' the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of God for His own sake, and the enjoyment of one's soul and of one's neighbor for the sake of God; but 'cupidity' is a motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of one's self, one's neighbor, or any corporeal thing for the sake of something other than God" (On Christian Doctrine Bk. 3.x.16, trans. D. W. Robertson, Jr. [Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1958], p. 88).

710 meeknes. Christian Dionysianism, by shifting the emphasis from the efficient to the final cause, circumvents the possibility of self-contempt in monastic discussions of humility and stresses the "divine glory that is the purpose of humility" (Walsh, p. 147).

711 thof al it be the cheef. Virtually the same words and meaning occur in lines 705 and 735 (where "this" replaces "it"). Contrary to Hodgson [22/13-14], I would suggest that none of these three pronouns refers to "God." Rather, "it" in line 705 and "this" in line 735 refer to "cause"; and "it" in line 711 refers to "thing." The meaning of these three expressions is virtually the same: that is, when even the (seemingly) highest cause or thing ("the cheef") that is not God brings a virtue into existence, that virtue is imperfect. Only when God Himself causes the virtue is it perfect. In this interpretation, however, Hodgson's rejection of the "he" for "it" or "this" in other manuscripts would be correct; and the use of "he" in other variations of this clause suggests a misreading of the line.

721 worthines of God in Himself. This is, in effect, a brief allusion to the illuminative way -- affirmation rather than negation -- the mind's contemplation of the works of God, which the Cloud author deals with only glancingly.

727-31 That the worthiness of God can cause the meditant to forget all knowing and feeling of his being, whether he is holy or wretched, touches on the motif of nought or "nothing," as it is developed in chapters 68 and following. Compare Balma: "Every creature who truly recognizes the source whence he originates reckons himself as nothing; and since he is created from nothing, is all the more aware of the splendour of the Creator" (Walsh, p. 148). See note at lines 234-35.

732 a ful schort while. The shortness of this experience of completely forgetting one's own being parallels the brevity of the actual union with God or the One. See TeSelle, p. 21, on Augustine, and Louth, p. 48, on Plotinus.

735 inparfite meeknes. R. M. points out here that imperfect humility is based on knowledge derived from the senses and the intellect. Perfect humility transcends this "in an ineffable way through union with God" (Walsh, p. 149).

745-46 swink and swete . . . a trewe knowyng and a feling of thiself as thou arte. The concern here is still with what one is, rather than that one is, an existential emphasis found in Privé Counseling [H. 76/39]. Although this seems to contradict lines 727-31, it is a characteristic of the author's dialectic, a constant movement between affirmation and negation. Richard of St. Victor says that "it is arduous and difficult to win the necessary grace in the higher reaches of contemplation: and compunction of heart, sighs, and groans will be of more avail than a welter of investigation and reasoning" (Walsh, p. 150).

762 lackyng of knowyng. As regards the importance of knowledge, see lines 2255-58, where the author refers to the blindness and deception of those who are ignorant of the powers of the soul, which he has discussed in several previous chapters.

763 parfite meeknes. R. M.: "This true humility is in love, which is perfect in the highest union that is possible in this life. But until this is certainly revealed to you by the Lord, be on your guard against thinking that you are possessed of this highest humility, charity and union. What is said here about not sinning -- that is, mortally -- is not a general rule for everyone, but for the chosen, as is believed of the apostles after Pentecost, and of others specially chosen. For David and Solomon were contemplatives, yet they sinned mortally" (Walsh, p. 151). See Proserpina's view of Solomon in Chaucer's Merchant's Tale, lines 2291-2302.

780 MS reads as it were that ben with order corrected by scribal signs.

782-85 The author may be "anxious to establish that his doctrine had nothing" to do with those heretical sects such as the Brethren of the Free Spirit, who "held themselves above common morality" [H. 24/15-17].

784 alle. Canceled in Har1 and omitted in Pa which may be correct.

793 seen. MS: sesen with second s canceled.

795 perfeccion. The author is referring to the perfect meekness that realizes the overabundant love and worthiness of God as He is in Himself, described at lines 720-25. Gallus says that it was this perfect, contemplative humility that brought the wisdom of God to earth (Walsh, p. 152).

810 was. Inserted above the line in Har1.

822 mynde of hir synnes. R. M.: "We ought to have particular sorrow for our sins whenever they come to mind in any special way. But in this contemplative ascent it is undesirable to delay over them in actual sorrow, except when we are especially moved to do so; but since they are an obstacle to the higher, we can only know through the Holy Spirit if we should follow our instinct. For the rest, because of our feeble human nature, to recall one's special sins on occasion (though not during the contemplative exercise) is good and for some people necessary, lest they fall into pride, and forget whence they came, where they are and whither they go" (Walsh, p. 154).

837 lityl specyal mynde. In Plotinus, the pursuit of morality for its own sake, like self-consciousness, can be a hindrance to the soul's progress. See Louth, pp. 43-44.

848-51 There seems to be a parallel here to St. Bernard's three phases of mystical love: the "object of sensible love is the Humanity of Christ and the mysteries of His mortal life, of rational love the teaching of the faith, of spiritual love the very being of God" [H. 26/13-17].

856-59 R. M.: "As often as we are completely rapt into the Cloud of Unknowing, which is the author's subject here, our ravishing, in comparison with that of the blessed in heaven who see, is a sort of Cloud, though it is luminous. Further, though God is clearly seen by the blessed in heaven, he is still far above their comprehension, otherwise he could not be said to be immense. From this point of view, the blessed in heaven are also in a Cloud, even though he is seen most clearly according to each one's capacity" (Walsh, p. 157).

856 Hodgson's text [26/22] has is instead of in.

903 hir unknowyng was the cause. The Cloud author's gracious tolerance of those who criticize contemplatives is an important characteristic (see Burrow, p. 146).

905 Walsh, p. 160, suggests that the author has Martha's later "confession of faith" in mind. Brown, pp. 190-91, goes further in the praise of Martha, and consequently of the role of women, to assert that her confession of faith in John 11:27 ["You are the Christ, the Son of God"] is on a virtually equal plane with Peter's confession in Matthew 16:16.

921 wordes and dedes ignoraunte. MS: ignoraunte marked for transposition.

953-54 even of noumbre. Hodgson, p. xlvii, cites a passage from Balma in which the Latin phrase idem numero, "the same in number," occurs. The latter phrase means "the same individual" (Deferrari, p. 496). Frege's distinction between sense and reference may be helpful here. That is, the two phrases "Plato's student" and "Alexander's teacher" differ in sense but have the same referent - Aristotle (Ricoeur, p. 74). In medieval terms, the referent of the two phrases is idem numero, "the same in number." Gallus: "The perfection of unitive love is precisely the same union as in heaven; but here below, separation is still possible" (Walsh, p. 163). Walsh, who says here that the issue is not the frequency of the stirrings but the quality of contemplative love, opposes Hodgson [29/17] who glosses even of noumbre as referring to the number of stirrings.

957 Gregory discusses the superlative best in his Homilies on Ezekiel, PL 76:953-54 [H. 28/39-40]. See also the quest for Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest in Piers Plowman.

966 ff. That the mystical life has three stages goes back at least to Origen, although successive writers often provide a unique configuration. See Hodgson, p. xxxii, and Introduction pp. 2, 4, and 6; and note at line 1316-17.

970 secound partye. The distinction between the second and third parts of contemplation correspond to Augustine's distinction between knowledge (scientia) and wisdom (sapientia), to which the inferior reason and the superior reason correspond respectively. Man cannot through his own powers move from the temporal to the eternal, but through the Incarnation, Christ enters the temporal and all of his actions are the object of scientia, not of sapientia. Any true judgment concerning the Word beyond time and space would be the function of sapientia: On The Trinity, XII. xix.24 (Louth, p. 155). For the Cloud author, who follows Denis the Areopagite, the movement from the temporal to the eternal is a matter of unknowing and darkness. See below, lines 2259 ff., the distinction between without, within, and above.

998 I have substituted boldely for Hodgson's bodely, which appears in Har1 and in the Latin version of the Cloud in Pembroke College MS 221, as corporaliter. However, as Hodgson notes, other manuscripts have boldely. Progoff opts for bodely in his phrase "physically at once;" Wolpers, p. 81, has "courageously" and Johnston, (1973), p. 77: "courageously undertake both together." In his edition/ translation, Walsh, p. 165, has the interpretation, "at once," where the problematic word would appear.

999 pley. Hodgson [30/28] quotes from Thomas Merton's Asian Journal: "To live with the true consciousness of life centered in Another is thus to lose one's self-important seriousness, and thus to live life as 'play' in union with a Cosmic Player." See also Englert, "Of Another Mind."

999-1000 best partye. Gallus: "All the just love God, but there is a special and pre-eminent love of God in perfect spiritual men which by its excellence outstrips reason and understanding. This love is called ecstatic, or producing ecstasy, because it raises the sovereign point of the loving power (affectus) above all intellectual knowl-edge. On this love is founded the best part of Mary, which shall never be taken from her" (Walsh, p. 162). See Introduction, p. 8.

1022 Symound Leprous. "Simon the Leper"; Vulgate Simon Leprosus, Mark xiv, 3 [H. 31/14].

1029 sum men. MS: written as one word.

1037 we. Har1 manuscript he. Hodgson's emendation notes: "Har1 has unique inferior reading he" [H. (1944) 57/5].

1040 God sendeth the kow. This is a proverb of the detractors, who say in effect "that God helps those who help themselves." The Cloud author disagrees with this and, following the argument of Guigo II, maintains that "it is not for our limited judgment to impose limits on the generosity of God" [H. 31/35].

1043-44 habundaunce. R. M.'s Charterhouse of Mount Grace in Yorkshire was a royal foundation under Richard II (Walsh, p. 168).

1050 the wonderful height and the worthines of God. Another example of the author's brief allusion to the kataphatic phase of illumination.

1059 understonden. MS: vnstonden. Hodgson's emendation.

1060 charité. See note to line 707.

1065 nakid entente. Linked with "chaste love" in line 1750 and in the author's Pistle of Preier [H. 105/16-22]. See notes at lines 290 and 1213. See also Hodgson [15/31-34; 32/24-31; 52/6-9; Privé Counseling 97/10-20].

1088 charité. The locus classicus for this concept is Origen's comment on Canticles 2:4: "He set in order charity in me" (Walsh, p. 171).

1108 streyne up his spirite. Walsh, p. 172, quotes a line from Denis, Ecclesiastical Hierarchies, ch. 3, with a gloss from Gallus to show the philosophical richness of the tradition and the Cloud author's contrasting restraint: "The divine goodness benignly directs our substance and fashions it in his own form by the archetypal beauties." Gallus comments: "By means of the archetypal beauties: that is, makes us like to God through the beautiful works of Christ, which are the exemplars of all our living" (Walsh, p. 172).

1170-71 fele that. Har1 deletes that, perhaps on the grounds of redundancy. Other manuscripts and Hodgson retain the word.

1181-82 customable synners. Northrop Frye, p. 115, gives the name culbute générale to a recurring type of biblical event in which the weak become powerful and the powerful weak, a reversal in roles that takes place, as in the case of Mordecai and Haman in the Book of Esther. Providing hope for the delinquent and wariness for the just, this principle enriches the possibility for character development in authors like Chaucer and Langland.

1190 helle calves. Devils [H. 36/8].

1191 demyd. R. M.: "In every walk of life, religious, cleric, or lay, we have to pass judgment with charity -- religious on their brethren, clerics on their fellows, layfolk on their neighbour. But note that I say 'with charity.' And perfect charity takes into account time, place and circumstances" (Walsh, p. 178).

1213 sleightes. Several manuscripts read soteletes, which may be preferable.

sotiltees. Gallus says that most chaste prayer is one of the devices used by the contemplative soul, the bride of the Canticles, to achieve union. Prayer is most chaste when the bride asks not for the spouse's gifts but for the spouse himself (Walsh, p. 180). See notes to lines 1065 and 1749.

1235-36 that is in poynte to perische under the mouthes of wilde swyne or wode bityng beres. The alliterative pattern, especially the interlocking of the last two phrases, is itself a manifestation of the playfulness which is explicitly mentioned at lines 999 and 1637.

1242 I preie inserted from the margin before thee in Har1.

1258 scholen bot ryght lityl mowe dere thee. "will be able to trouble you hardly at all" (Walsh, p. 183).

1261 curtesye. St. Francis, Fioretti, cap. 37: "Courtesy is one of the properties of God," a favorite concept with fourteenth-century writers, especially Julian of Norwich [H. 38/7].

1263 the werk of only God. R. M.: "The Saints and angels in heaven do not see in a mirror dimly, but clearly, simply and openly, face to face; though they also see God in creatures. But what the author seems to be implying is this: since God is incomprehensible, it would never be possible to be carried above natural knowledge to the incomprehensible God, except by the hand of God" (Walsh, p. 183).

1271 ff. On the question of who is capable of doing this work, see lines 1281-90 and also lines 1120-26. In this context, Walter Hilton quotes Augustine: "God . . . fillith alle creatures aftir that they are able to receyve" [H. 38/18-21]. See also Privé Counseling, 88/28-38. On the universal call to mysticism, see McGinn, index, s.v. mysticism.

1274-75 withholden, and not withdrawen. According to R. M., these two words "differ in this way: a sinner, no matter how wicked he has been, when he is truly converted, becomes a persevering seeker after God, who does not withhold any gift of contemplation from him permanently" (Walsh, p. 184).

1277 it₂. Omitted in MS. Hodgson's emendation, though the manuscript reading makes a kind of sense, like "sleep with it."

1285-87 St. Bernard, De Diligendo Deo, vii, 22: "But what is amazing here is that no one can seek you if he has not already found you. You wish therefore to be found so that you may be sought, to be sought so that you may be found" [H. 38/29-36; my translation].

1287-88 that sterith . . . never what. Found at the bottom of the page with proper position delineated by a line.

1291 schortlyer. Four manuscripts (Kk, Har2, Ro3, and Pa) read sothlyer.

1291-93 A distinction is being made between the "co-operant" and the "operant" mode of grace. Summa Theologica I-II, q. 111, a. 2: "In that effect . . . in which our mind is moved and not moving, but God alone moving, the activity is attributed to God; and accordingly it is called operant grace. In that effect in which our mind both moves and is moved, the activity is attributed not only to God, but also to the soul; and accordingly, this is called co-operant grace''[H. 39/2-13; my translation]. See Privé Counseling, 88/20-27, for an illustration of the dominance of grace and the proper response.

1312 Lesson, Meditacion, and Oryson. The book referred to at line 1314 is probably Guigo II's Ladder, where reading, reflecting, and praying are the first three rungs. See Walsh, p. 187. For the importance of reading, or lectio divine, see Leclercq, pp. 90, 366.

1316-17 biginners and profiters . . . parfite. "There are technical terms which translate the commonly accepted Latin division into Incipientes, Proficientes, Perfect" [H. 39/30]. These categories are related to Purgation, Illumination, and Union, the three stages of the Mystic Way as formulated by Denis the Areopagite. See note at line 966; and Louth, pp. 57, 82, 163.

1323 The mirror image is a favorite medieval topos, evident in innumerable books that have the Latin word for mirror, speculum, in the title. See St. Gregory, Moralia II, i: "Holy Scripture confronts the eyes of the mind as a kind of mirror, so that our internal face may be seen therein. And it is there that we know our ugly and beautiful deeds" [H. 39/37; my translation]. For Gregory of Nyssa's use of mirror imagery, see Louth, p. 92.

1340 sodein conseites. For a discussion of this motif from Plato to Origen, see Louth, s.v. exaiphnes, "suddenly." See also note at line 2088. This motif of suddeness is present in Plato (McGinn, p. 27) as well as in the Stoics, Plotinus, and Origen (Louth's index, s.v. exaiphnes).

1360-66 "The author again stresses that the practices of Holy Church are to be assumed as framework for his 'special work' " [H. 41/1-5].

1367-71 Mystical prayer is wordless and differs from discursive or reasoned petition. Bernard dramatizes the movement from the need for words to wordlessness in one of his Sermones de Diversis (Gallacher 1975, pp. 24-25). See Hugh of St. Victor, De Modo Orandi, ii: "Prayer is pure, when the mind is so inflamed by the abundance of devotion, that . . . it even forgets its request because of the magnitude of its love" [H.41/8; my translation].

1368-69 a lityl worde of o silable. See Augustine Ep. ad Proba, x, 20: "The brothers in Egypt are said to have made frequent prayers, but very short and, in a way, quickly thrown. . . . Let prayer be free from much talking, but not from much pleading, provided that the fervent intention perseveres" [H. 41/10; my translation].

1371 the sovereynest pointe of the spirit. See note at line 15.

1371 soth. Inserted from the right margin in Har1.

1377 bot. Moved in Har1 from position after worde to after cryeth.

1383-84 The teaching on short prayers is to be found in patristic commentary on the Our Father in the context of Matthew 6:7-13: ''When you are at prayer, do not use many phrases." Other treatments of the short prayer, or aspiration, can be found in Cassian's Conferences (X, 10), the rule of St. Benedict (ch. 20), and Augustine in his Letter to Proba, X, 20, who refers to "very short prayers shot out speedily" (Walsh, p. 193).

1386 it. Inserted from the right margin in Har1.

This whole chapter begins from Ephes. 3:17-19, and follows the development of Bernard of Clairvaux, De Consideratione, V, xiii: "That one thing is length because of eternity, breadth because of charity, sublimity because of majesty, depth because of wisdom." This passage occurs also in Hilton, Scale I, 13 [H. 41/31]. Louth, p. 145, points out that for Augustine, continence is itself "a single-minded devotion to God."

1389 Har1 has contynoued, which doesn't make sense and Hodgson properly amends to the contyned of the other manuscripts.

1390 as it felith. The manuscript duplicates the phrase without cancellation.

1397-98 the licnes of God. A passage from Augustine, De Trinitate, 12.7, quoted in turn by Gallus, bears on this transformation which is the goal of the contemplative exercise: "The more the soul extends itself towards that which is eternal, the more it is reformed according to the image of God." This passage in turn echoes 2 Corinthians 3:18: "We become transfigured into his likeness" (Walsh, p. 194).

1407-11 R. M.: "Good and devout contemplatives never rejoice over evil, but rejoice in truth. . . . By this you may know if you are mortified and ready for this exercise, if you do not rejoice over the ill-fortune of your enemy, but are well-affected towards him from your heart and really love him because of Christ" (Walsh, p. 194).

1429 two. Omitted from Har1 but added in Kk, Har2, Ro1, U, Ro3, and Pa.

1447-50 By means of a subtle occupatio, the author combines the affirmative and the negative movements of contemplation. That is, he lists sins and attributes of God that he doesn't want you to imagine, thereby having you briefly imagine them, only, however, to dismiss them in favor of the two summarizing words, sin and God.

1453 goostly pees. See Louth, p. 103, for the motif of monastic tranquility. See also restfulnes at line 1493.

1475 None of the manuscripts that I have examined -- Har1, Kk, Ro1 -- have the capitalization of SYNNE and GOD, as in Hodgson. I have opted for a less dramatic emphasis of italicizing, which modern practice requires for words used precisely as words.

1479 discrecion. Although Antony the Hermit, Cassian, and the whole spiritual tradition maintain that discretion, the guardian of all virtues, leads to God and is the essential condition for perfection, the Dionysians subordinate discretion to reaching out to God (consurrectio). That is, in the latter tradition, the purpose of discretion, which is not itself the goal, is the "nakid entent unto God" (Walsh, p. 198). The aim of such teaching seems to be a kind of liberation and recalls the device in Purgatorio XII, 115-26, whereby Dante grows physically lighter after completing the penance of each cornice of the mountain.

1484 holde no mesure. Compare St. Bernard De Diligendo Deo I, i: "The cause of loving God is God; the measure, to love without measure" [H. 44/22; my translation].

1488 Har1 has an ungrammatical the whiche between kynde and wol. Hodgson does not mention this but tacitly removes these words and makes the sentence coherent.

1490 in ernest or in game. A phrase common in Chaucer. The author's gloss of the phrase, in werk or in wille, means "in actuality or in intention" [H. 44/30].

1491 An insistence on maintaining health is characteristic of English devotional writers from Ancrene Wisse on [H. 44/31-32].

1502 right schortli. Inserted in margin in Har1.

1512 merke. Har1 has a token and a mesure. In the 1944 and 1982 editions, Hodgson substitutes merke, found in both Ro1 and Kk, to provide alliteration. Walsh's translation seems to preserve this change in wording, but without the alliteration: "a target or a degree of moderation." Similarly, at lines 1519-20, although Har1 has proue, fonde occurs in other manuscripts and provides alliteration. Hence, "fonde for to felle." This substitution of fonde, "try," appears in both Walsh's and Wolpers's translations.

1513 in. MS: by. I have followed the reading of Kk, Har2, Ro1, U, Ro3, and Pa. Hodgson emends to in.

1525 hate himself. Recalling the context of mystical theology with a quote from Balma can prevent the psychologizing of this phrase and puts the hyperbole in the context of the contemplative's arduous denial of self: "Because it is difficult to abandon all those things, we are directed to shear them away by contrition and a strong effort of the mind; for the soul must as it were despoil itself of itself, and the affection must follow step by step the love given from on high. So . . . we are ordered to tread down and leave behind all being, and the exercise of the knowing power itself" (Walsh, p. 202). See also Gilson's discussion of self-love in La Théologie Mystique de Saint Bernard, especially p. 59, n. 1.

1546 withoutyn a ful specyal grace. It is interesting to note that in Plato, this final movement towards completion of the ascent is not in the power of the individual. "The final vision of the Beautiful is not attained, or discovered: it comes upon the soul. . . . It is outside the soul's capacity; it is something given and received" (Louth, p. 13).

1552 slepyng sleight. For readers of the Middle English Pearl, this suggests the phrase, slepyng-slaghte, in line 59, which could be glossed as a "sleeping-stroke," i.e., something that causes sleep. See Gordon, et alii. It is tempting to see a kinship between the two phrases because each marks a transitional state in the experience of contemplation. MED glosses slepyng sleight as "sudden sleep." See sleping(e)(f). The phrase suggests a technique (slight) of negation (sleeping).

1556-57 not onli what he is, bot that he is. At the beginning of Privé Counseling [H. 75/21 ff.], the Cloud author uses this distinction as a way of explicating the meaning of his whole contemplative doctrine. See Myles, "This Litil Worde 'Is.' "

1565-66 a trewe wetyng and a felyng of his God. An indication that knowing in some sense is important for the Cloud author. See Introduction, pp. 8-9.

1572 what worth of hym. Har1 has hym and not him, as in Hodgson.

1573-74 And yit in al this sorrow he desireth not to unbe, for that were develles woodnes and despite unto God. A very subtle and clearly expressed combination of affirmative and negative movements. With the understanding that he must delight and be grateful for his being, the contemplative desires to move beyond this knowing and feeling in order to achieve a more profound union with God.

1575 gift of his beyng. In Shewings, chapters 66-68, "Julian of Norwich, after describing such a temptation of the devil, beautifully elaborates on 'the noble gift of man's being'" (Walsh, p. 205).

1580 compleccion. "In Medieval physiology this term was used to refer to the combination of humours, or vital juices, which a man's body was thought to contain. The four humours, blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile, were assumed to be related to the elements, air, water, earth, fire and to the primary qualities of those elements, hot and moist, moist and cold, cold and dry, hot and dry, respectively. These humours, which varied in proportion from individual to individual, determined a man's temperament. According to which humour preponderated, temperaments were classified as sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, or choleric, epithets still current though retaining only a part of their original meaning" [H. 47/10].

1591 as fast. Inserted in margin in Har1.

1591-93 Walter Hilton and the Cloud author are "vehement in their warnings against the misinterpretation of purely natural psychological phenomena as supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. See Scale I, chs. 10, 11 Of Angels' Song" [H. 47/33-41].

1607 moche heresye. "This could well be a general reference to the Wycliffite challenge to the sacramental practices of the Church" [H. 47/43].

1609 right as . . . Gods scole. Inserted in the margin in Har1.

trewe feling. The primacy of feeling here reflects the emphasis in the Cloud's tradition: see Introduction, p. 8.

1632 lache not over-hastely. This parallels the motif of hiding one's desire from God. See Dante's comment on Virgil's hasty movement away from Cato in Purgatorio 3, 10-11: "Quando li piedi suoi lasciar la fretta, / che l'onestade ad ogn' atto dismaga . . .": "When his feet left off haste, which takes seemliness from every act . . ." Text and translation from Charles S. Singleton, La divina commedia, ed. and annotated by C. H. Grangent; rev. by Charles S. Singleton (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972); and The Divine Comedy, trans. with commentary by Charles S. Singleton, 3 vols. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970-75).

1637 God gamesumli pley. Hodgson convincingly substitutes God from Har2, for good in Har1 and most other manuscripts [48/35-36]. The philosophical reading of "good" would be grotesque in this highly personal and immediately human context. The emendation clearly makes more sense in spite of manuscript evidence to the contrary.

1638 ". . . a masculine version of the traditional image of the ludus amoris, or game of love, where God is the mother. . . . Julian of Norwich gives an especially felicitous version of it in her theological exposition of the Motherhood of God. See Showings, ch. 61, pp. 299-302" (Walsh, p. 209). See also Caroline Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), and Georgia Ronan Crampton, ed. The Shewings of Julian of Norwich (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1994), pp. 125-26.

1691-96 Guigo II in the Ladder, ch. 12: "He does not wait until their prayer is finished, but he breaks into the midst of the burning longing of that thirsty soul, and with the balm of heavenly sweetness, softens and comforts the soul, and overpowers it with delight and joy" (Walsh, p. 212).

1720 that thei ben. Inserted in margin in Har1.

1729 The central act of the Cloud, the "steryng of love," is here defined as a good and an acordyng wil unto God. Walsh says that Julian of Norwich, in Shewings, approaches the problem of the good will with greater theological precision than the Cloud author or Walter Hilton: "Beseeching is a true and gracious enduring will of the soul, united and joined to our Lord's will by the sweet, secret operation of the Holy Spirit" (p. 215).

1745 rechelesnes. See note on discretion at line 1479 and the function of the character Rechelesnesse in the B-Text of Piers Plowman, XI, 34. The proverbial expression "Man proposes, but God disposes" joins this passage to XX, 33, to assert the limitations of human prudence.

1749 chaste. St. Bernard uses the word to mean "disinterested," loving God for Himself and not for one's own sake [H. 52/6].

1750 For a love . . . parfite. Inserted in margin in Har1.

1751 swete. Omitted in Har1 but included in Kk, Har2, Ro1, U, Ro3, and Pa. Hodgson's emendation.

1773 ff. The technique of hiding one's desire from God seems to apply the apophatic principle to intention itself. Since intention -- "meaning God" -- sums up the work of the Cloud, hiding this intention from God comes close to being the ultimate negation.

1793 a kindly covetyse to hid thinges. The Flemish mystic, Ruysbroeck, describes a perfectly natural state, distinct from mystical contemplation, in which someone is "bare and imageless in his senses, and empty and idle in his higher powers," and "enters into rest through mere nature." Such rest "is pleasant and great," but possibly dangerous spiritually (Johnston, [1975], pp. 29-30).

1801 worching agens kynde. This section takes up the warning with which the book begins: that is, this method is not for everyone.

1826 ff. The Cloud author seems to combine personal observation with other accounts, notably from Hugh of St. Victor in the De Institutione Novitiorum, of strange gestures and antics of those who only pretend to be spiritual [H. 54/9]. As regards the word semely in line 1828, R. M. "is unwilling to accept that true contemplative graces always manifest themselves in exterior and interior decorum" and refers to his own spiritual inebriation (Walsh, p. 221).

1831 leighingly. MS: ther to. Although leighingly is not in Har1, it appears in Ro1 and Kk. It might have originally been Middle English elengely, "ailingly, miserably,'' but leighingly suggests the maniacal quality of the action [H. 54/15]. Hodgson's emendation.

1832-33 sturdy scheep. "Sheep suffering from the brain disease known as 'sturdy,' which makes them stagger around in circles" [H. 54/17]. The term sturdy is still used (Walsh, p. 222).

1849 ye. Omitted in Har1 but added in Kk, Har2, Ro1, Ro3, Pa, and U. Hodgson's emendation (1982 but not 1944).

1874-80 See Rudolph of Biberach's De Septem Itineribus Aeternitatis III, v: "The human spirit walking through the journeys of the contemplative life shall be made beautiful in face" (my translation); Rachel's beauty and Moses's radiant countenance (Exod.34:30 [A.V.]) were examples [H. 55/25].

1923 ff. Walsh, p. 226, observes that a morbid curiosity about demonology began in the thirteenth century.

1936-37 o nose-therel. In The Golden Legend, the Latin naris "nostril," or "nose," is interpreted as discretion. The etymology of St. Apollinaris (July 23) is apollo, "admirable," and naris, "discretion," identifying a man of extraordinary discretion and prudence. In a manuscript version of St. Bridget's Revelations, I, 23, a similar point occurs: "His nose is cutt awai for all discrecion is taken fro him, bi the whilke he suld deme bitwene sin and vertue. . ." [H. 57/21]. Such allegorization suggests the Dionysian sensible mode of theology. See Introduction, p. 5.

1947 to blame. Inserted in margin in Har1.

1949 the to. This expression means "the one." "The to" is "thet o," which is an example of what is sometimes called sandhi, or shifted juncture, a redivision of words, such as happens with adder, a word which results from the shift of the n in the phrase, "a nadder," to "an adder." A common Middle-English example is for the nones which results from for then ones, "for then once."

1979 sterres. The author is warning the novice against an excessively literal meaning of ascent, such as seems to be implied by Richard Rolle: "thi thoght sal al be on Jhesu, and so be receyved aboven all erthly thyng aboven the firmament and the sternes, so that the egh of thi hert mai loke intil heven" [H. 58/26].

2007 Seynte Martyn. "One of the most universally acclaimed saints of Christendom." According to the story, St. Martin divided his cloak to share it with a naked beggar and that same night saw Christ in a vision wearing the half-cloak [H. 59/9].

2010 on Crystes. Duplicated in Har1.

2026 tree. For another use of the tree image, see The Epistle of Prayer, Hodgson 130/34 ff.

2036 seing His moder and His disciples. The construction, presumably a nominative absolute, means "while His mother and His disciples looked on"; and at lines 2104-05, a similar expression occurs: seyng alle His disciples: "while all His disciples looked on." Walsh, p. 234, translates the first passage "in the sight of his mother and his disciples." Har1 reads unseyng, which might mean "confounding" or "unsaying." An interesting fact in Ro1, not noted by Hodgson, indicates the difficulty the copyist had with the line. In each of these instances, Ro1 has "unseyng" with the "un" crossed out. The grammatical construction was itself probably misunderstood in some way by the copyist, since a change reflecting doctrinal idiosyncrasy seems unlikely here. That is, it was probably not his belief that the ascent into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit were not visible bodily. He may have construed the expression to mean that Christ was not looking at his mother and disciples with his bodily eyes. The precise nature of the copyist's misunderstanding is, of course, irretrievable; but the fact that the incorrect un- in each instance was crossed out indicates that some copyist understood the construction.

2047 He schewid. Inserted in margin in Har1.

2055 in. Omitted in Har1. Hodgson's emendation (1982 but not 1944) on the basis of readings in Kk, Har2, Ro1, Ro3, and U. Those manuscripts also add in after not.

2073 sotyl. Medieval theologians list "subtlety" and "agility" (subtilitas, agilitas) as qualities of the glorified body (the body that rises at the Last Judgment) which make the body obey every command of the soul (Walsh, p. 236). For a discussion of this capacity in one of Chaucer's sources, see Robert Holcot, Commentary on Wisdom, lectio 34, cap. 3, p. 119.

2086 schal. MS: scal. Hodgson's emendation.

2088 sodeyn chaunging. R. M.: "A sudden change does occur in this exercise, but I think it would be impossible for anyone to find the exact word to describe it" (Walsh, p. 237).

2125 elementes. The "heavenly bodies" or "celestial spheres of ancient astronomy" [H. 63/1].

2153 bot. Hodgson does not comment on this odd sentence, for which there are no variant readings. The context is clear enough so that the translators can interpret the sentence without addressing the problem. Literally translated, the sentence would seem to be "No, it but spiritually." Progoff offers a paraphrase: "Not at all; it should be interpreted spiritually, as it was intended to be" (p. 209). Johnston, (1973), p. 128, translates the sentence as "Of course not." He then adds a whole interpretive comment which is not in the Middle English text: "As human beings we can go beyond their immediate significance to grasp the spiritual significance they [the words] bear at another level." Walsh, p. 241, translates simply: "No, spiritually." Wolpers, p. 128, keeps the "but": "Indeed not, but spiritually" (my italics). In my view, it makes most sense to interpret bot as a contracted form of bodeth, "signifies," in which the d and the th contract to t (see Mossé, p. 79, iv). The word would be from Middle English boden: Old English bodian. If this is the case, the short sentence would mean: "No, it signifies spiritually." This has the advantage of removing the incoherence of interpreting the word as modern but. Neither Hodgson nor, as far as I can make out, any of the translators raises this possibility.

2159 and when it is within thee and even with thee. Omitted from Har1 without footnote or endnote in Hodgson, but the words are present in Kk and Ro1.

2183 and som . . . bodily thinges. Inserted from bottom of the page in Har1.

2197-98 Augustine, On the Trinity, chapter xii, makes the distinction between the "superior reason" and the "inferior reason," which Walsh, p. 244, sees operative in the Cloud. See notes at lines 970 and 2259.

2204-05 I have departed here from Hodgson's reading, which occurs in Har1. The subject is the operation of the will, thorow the whiche we love God, we desire God, and resten us with ful likyng and consent eendli in God [H. 65/10-11]. Instead of the first two uses of God in the passage, other manuscripts have good, as Hodgson points out. In fact, Kk has God (god) crossed out in the first two instances and good (goode) substituted throughout the whole sentence. I believe that the Cloud author here is referring to good as one of the "Divine Names," as discussed by Denis the Areopagite. The author's intention, I believe, is to engage in word play which conveys the natural disposition of the will towards the good and its fulfillment in God, a pattern that is actually present in Ro1, but is absent from both Har1 and Kk. With this change, the passage reads as in Ro1: thorow the whiche we love good, we desire good, and resten us with ful likyng and consent eendli in God. It is the more difficult reading, given the problem presented by the passage to the copyists; but also more in keeping with the motif of play in the treatise. In fact, another confusion between good and God (not capitalized) in the manuscripts occurs at line 1637 (see note above), where the line reads that in certain instances, the contemplative "schuld fele God gamesumli pley with hym." Most of the manuscripts, as Hodgson observes, have good instead of God, a reading which makes little sense, unless good is one of God's names. The fact that God is never capitalized in manuscript versions of any of these three passages makes errors in copying such wordplay predictable.

2207 savour. From Latin verb sapere, 'to taste'; sapor n., also related to sapientia, 'wisdom.' In mystical writings, these expressions often suggest "knowledge through immediate experience" [H. 65/14].

2254 to. Hodgson emends unnecessarily to into, noting a cancellation in Har1 which I am unable to perceive.

2259 ff. The immediate source of the distinction of without, within, and above is Richard of St. Victor, but the scheme parallels similar distinctions in Augustine, Gregory the Great, Bonaventure, and Denis the Areopagite [H. 66/36 and p. xxxii]. A classic Augustinian distinction between knowledge (scientia) and wisdom (sapientia), to which correspond the inferior reason and the superior reason respectively, is influential both here and in the Martha/Mary story. See note at line 970.

2273 for soche onheed that feleth the perfeccion of this werk. One of the few references to mystical union. But see McGinn, p. xvii, for union as only one of many possible metaphors of the mystical encounter.

2274 "The Cloud author, anxious to avoid any pantheistic misinterpretation, insistently reiterates the traditional doctrine on the difference in essence between God and man" [H. 67/14].

2302-06 An especially striking example of the author's use of occupatio (the saying of what you say you won't say through paralyptic negations) by which he both alludes to and simultaneously negates illumination. That is, he beautifully invokes the aesthetic of the Divine Names, surveying all creation in his image of a lord who can be everywhere bodily, merrily playing with this fullness of created being, this "something," to which he then immediately prefers the "nought" of the Divine Presence. See passage from Augustine in Introduction, p. 1.

2307-08 this noghwhere and this nought. Omitted in Har1 but found in all other manuscripts. Hodgson's emendation. " 'Nothing' in Dionysius connotes the 'Dark-ness' of the infinite Godhead. Eckhart and Tauler adopted 'Nothing' as one of God's names." According to Tauler, "God is none of the things you can name" [H. 68/7-8]. This use of the concept of nothing differs substantially from a famous usage in Hemingway's story, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," or in the work of Jean-Paul Sartre.

2308 whi. Hodgson emends to sekirly on the basis of Kk, Har2, Ro1, U, Ro3; Pa reads surely. But for whi better connects the author's approval with what precedes.

2318-19 R. M.: "He does not say that nothing is something, since nothing is nothing, that is, no thing. But because next to nothing (quasi nihil) is something, a man labors to cut away everything that exists that he might be purified and naked, according to that knowledge which is unknowing (cognitionem incognitam)" (Walsh, p. 253).

2325 hym think. "It seems to him." Old English thyncan "to seem" is very close to Old English thencan "to think." By the Middle-English period, the two expressions are morphologically identical, although usage remains different. The phrase hym think occurs also at lines 2325-26, 2336, 2338, and 2340; and at line 2341, the expression, "think what he think wil," employs the word in its modern sense.

2335 nought helle bot purgatory. Hodgson notes that elles appears in "other MSS" for helle here, but does not comment. For our purposes, the error is worth some interpretation. The theme is the suffering of the contemplative. For such a person, the activity of looking upon the nothing of the divine darkness is sometimes hell, but if he perseveres, he feels this pain continually decrease: "And therfore he clepith it noght helle bot purgatory." What is interesting is that the copyists of other manuscripts are distracted by the similarity of an idiomatic expression -- "nothing else but" -- and substitute ellys ("else") for helle, a mistake that ruins the parallelism, which is completed at the next stage when the nothing seems to be "paradis or heven."

2344-46 This is a brief summary of the directives of Denis's Mystical Theology, chapter 1; and especially the key text from the Latin translation of Sarracenus: "With intense contrition, abandon the senses and the operations of the intellect" (my translation). See Walsh, p. 255.

2345 and alle that thei worche in. Omitted in Har1 but added in Kk, Har2, Ro1, U, Ro3, and Pa. Hodgson's emendation (1982 but not 1944).

2359 and on . . . gostely thinges. Inserted at the foot of the column in a different hand.

2372 For a discussion of the Cloud author's acquaintance with the works of Denis the Areopagite, see Walsh, pp. 26 ff.

2388 ravisching. Walter Hilton's use of the term defines it: "ravished from the use of thy bodily wits so that all manner phantoms of bodily likeness be withdrawn from thy soul, and thy mind overpass the common and reasonable manner of thinking in this life" (Walsh, p. 257).

2392 deliberacion. A generous concession on the part of the Dionysian author towards those who attribute a greater role to the intellect than he does -- that is, the Victorines and Augustinians.

2393 bot withouten gret lettyng. Inserted at the foot of the column in a different hand. Included by Hodgson (1982 but not 1944).

2398-2400 The author here designates the lityl love put as the equivalent of the Ark of the Covenant, itself a symbol of the perfeccion of this goostly werk (line 2406). Walsh, p. 258, sees in this passage a summary of Gallus's teaching on the "hierarchies of the mind." Both Thomas Gallus and Hugh of Balma teach that in the affective union with God, the mind also is especially graced. See Introduction, pp. 8-9 and Walsh, p. 72.

2412 with. MS: bi. Hodgson's emendation (1982 but not 1944), following the example of Kk, Har2, Ro1, U, Ro3, and Pa.

2421 In both Kk and Ro1, a that is added between God and thoo (acknowledged by Hodgson in a footnote) and makes the sentence ungrammatical.

2455 in this writyng. Omitted in Har1 but found in all other manuscripts. Hodgson's emendation.

2480 althof. Kk has all though.

2483 redyn or heren. Transposed in Har1, Kk, Har2, and Ro1.