THOMAS USK, THE TESTAMENT OF LOVE: FOOTNOTES

2 stoundes, times; tene, sorrow.

3 leve, believe.

4 ynempned, named.

5 yexynge, sobbing; gynne, begin; spylle syth, decline since.

7 sternyng, languishing (see note); myneth, means.

8 murthed, gave me mirth.

9 hent, take; swynke, labor.

10 that, where.

11 thoughtful, anxious.

12 caytisned, incarcerated (lit. captured; see note).

13 Straunge, Weirdness (quasi-personified); there me shulde be, where I should be.

14 Neverthelater, Nevertheless.

16 brennende, burning; bewent, departed; atwene, between.

17 suffre, permit.

18 wyl of, while (see note).

19 dede, dying.

20 traveyle, suffering; here, hear.

22 sterve, die.

24 God wote, God knows.

25 noriture, nurture.

26 sterne, rudder.

29 welth, wealth, abundance.

30 beswynke, work for.

31 pynynge, (causing) suffering; ystocked, imprisoned in stocks; tene, sorrow.

32 hye from thens, i.e., so vast a distance between where.

33 steyers, stairs.

34 recover, rescue; purveyde, am destined.

35 chere, look.

35-36 to me wardes, towards me.

39 no force of, it's no matter regarding.

40 wote, know; spylleth, dies.

41 hestes, commands.

43 ferdness, fearfulness.

44 wreche, vengeance; daunger, haughtiness.

45 nobley, nobleness.

46 veyned, abandoned (see note).

47 tene, grief; shapte, destined.

48 brennyng, burning.

49 defased, defaced; sette prise, value, esteem; connynge, understanding.

54 wemme, stain.

55 there, where; haboundeth, abounds.

58 wot, know; flytte, be moved, prove flighty; gemetrye, measurement.

59 sadly, solemnly, committedly; sonded, ordained, fixed (see note).

62 can, know, am capable.

64 mowen, may; duresse, duration and duress.

66 departe, part in twain.

68 th'entent, the purpose.

70-71 wolde conne, would like to be able to.

71 mener, meaner, lower in status.

73 wenynge, expecting; as galle and aloes, i.e., since bitter substances.

75 noriture nyl, nurture will not.

76 brennande, burning.

79 renne, run; lyggen, lie; importable burthen, unsupportable burden.

80 meve, move, go.

81 even forthe, straight on (or forward); lyft, left.

82 wanhope, despair; ronne, run.

83 leve, believe.

84 tene, sorrow; halte styl awayward, holds still in the opposite direction.

85 no force, no matter.

86 nobley, nobleness.

87 but ther ben, unless there be something; not, do not know.

88 purely, completely; mated . . . thorough sought, penetrated.

89 caytife, prisoner, wretch; inrest, most inward.

92 joleynynge, encouraging, cheering (see note).

93 gynneth, begins [to]; ebbe, decrease; sowne, sound.

95 yeve, give; deynous, disdainful.

96 chere, aspect; avoyde, go away.

97 springe, be rumored about; routh, pity; Pardé, Indeed.

98 kynde, nature.

98-99 right naught worthe, worth nothing.

101-02 me semed, it seemed to me.

104 drede, dread; light, lit.

105 wolde hem greve, would aggrieve; done hem, cause them.

107 ferdenesse, fear or awe.

108 pardé, indeed.

109 adradde, full of dread.

110 blyssed, blessed.

113 astonyed, astonished; semelyest, most comely.

114 blustrynge, sense blowing as in heraldic blason.

115 yave, gave.

116 wyght, person.

117 somdele, somewhat; wexte, grew.

118 durste, dared; salved, greeted.

119 dayned, condescended.

121 after that faculties ben had, according as faculties are (i.e., as far as is possible under the circumstances).

123 caytifnesse, captivity.

124 heavy, depressed.

124-25 somdele fapperceyved, somewhat perceived.

125 besyed, busied.

127 nory, disciple (lit., one being nursed or nourished); wenyst, do you suppose; foryet, forget.

130 sithen, since; fewe especial trewe, i.e., especially true friends.

131 leysar, leisure.

133 reynynge honny, raining honey.

135 mokel, many; enpight, established.

140 forayne, alien, i.e., not natural to human kind.

141 mokyl, much; wernynges, warnings.

142 lyste, were pleased.

143 vyse, counsel.

144 gynne, begin; ne wotte, do not know.

145 tene, grief.

148 teneth, grieves.

149 gan, began, or, did; certes, certainly.

150 me overthynketh, I regret.

151 dote, be insane.

152 maked, caused, made; rue, regret; Wottest, Know.

153 sperkelande, scattered.

154 ronne, run.

155 ayen bringe, bring back; privy, intimate, special; cure, care; unconnynge, unknowing.

156 rennyng, running; drawe, drawn.

158 put him forthe, exert himself.

159 for, in order that.

160 wene, suspect; everych, everyone; tho, those.

162 spylte, lost, destroyed; me lyste, it pleases me; me lyketh, I like.

163 cleped, called; Wost, Know; wight, creature.

164 pardé, indeed; holpe, helped; releved, relieved.

165 begyled, deceived.

166 radde, read.

167 falsed, betrayed; behest, promise; swonke, pomp (see note); tene, sorrow.

168 troned, enthroned.

169 lovedaye, day of accord; chese, chose; nompere, umpire.

170 lyst me not, it does not please me.

171 and I, if I; werche, work.

172 assayes, attempts; redy, ready.

173 ones, once.

174 ayenwarde, in return; daungerous chere, disdainful demeanor; in propre person, in my own person.

176 thee amaistry, overcome you.

177 thylke, that same.

178 ensamples, examples.

179 worthyed, caused to become worthy; felde, (battle)field; boure, bower, bedchamber.

180 voyde, avoid.

181 cyties, cities; the lyste, it pleases you.

182 cleape ayen, recall; coudest, could.

183 be, been.

184 iwys, certainly.

185 beestes, beasts.

186 for I se the, since I see you.

187 wote, know; nories, disciples.

188 shende, ruin.

189 fere, companion; charge, burden.

190 the sorye, the sorrowful person; moned, commiserated with; wight, person.

191 sorie, the sorrowful.

192 hem, them; counterpaysyng, counterbalancing.

193 mokyl, much; passed hevynesse, recent depression; tene, sorrow.

194 besyed me, busied myself.

195 hertes, hearts; playnte, complaints.

196 endyten, compose; queynt, ornate, involved.

197 lerne, learn.

198 maner, comportment; meke, meek.

199 yeve, give; yeftes, gifts; that, so that; renome, renown.

200 springen, spring up; costages, costs.

201 nedy arne, needy are.

202 norture, nurture.

203 deynous, disdainful.

204 wretches, wretches'; hastelyche, hastily.

206 avaunce, advance.

207 dignely, worthily; thee lythe, you lie.

209 wellen, wells up; brokes, brooks.

210 by kynde, naturally; thresten, thrust.

211 kyndely, natural, innate.

212 beestes, beasts; forfete, forfeit, transgress.

212-13 devyne purveyaunce, divine providence.

214 wote, know.

215 al, although.

216 fayned, pretended.

217 made chere to, played the sycophant to.

218 aldaye, continually; trowe, believe; vayled, availed; Certes, Certainly.

219 wete, know.

220 eke, also; raket, a game of racquets; nettyl in docke out, i.e., have not been inconstant.

221 waved, vacillated; sette, placed, positioned.

222 aperte, open.

223 tho, those; sythen, since; moch, much.

224 a, have.

226 sothe, truth, fidelity, truthfulness; ayenst, against.

229 voyde, cast off.

231 a dradde, have fear; sothe, truth.

232 withsay thilke, contradict those.

233 I wol, I desire.

234 mowe, may.

235 dreden, dread.

235-36 stryve conne, are able to contend.

236 yeve, give.

237 wol, will.

239 trowe, believe.

240 transvers, cross.

241 drede, have dread.

242 tho, then; wexen somdele, grown somewhat.

243 sykernesse, certainty.

245 nobley, nobleness.

246 sythe, since.

247 amased, confused, confusing.

248 myght light out of, relieve of.

248-49 after knowyng of thyn owne helpe, [be] conducive to knowing how.

249 styrre, utter.

250 Come of, Come on.

251 purvey, provide.

252 certes, certainly; wete, to know.

253 me, myself.

254 dureth, lasts.

255 mysplesaunce, grievance, aggravation.

256 weten, know.

257 but if, unless.

258 ne spedde, did not profit.

259 sythen, since.

260 bernes, barns.

261 halke, cavity, i.e., shell; londe tyllers, farmers (land-tillers); shape for, till, cultivate.

264 mervayles, marvels; seche, seek; lothe, unattractive (see note).

266 of luste, desire; wyndyng, pathways, circumstances.

267 stretes, roadways.

268 ladels, acorns (see note); maste, food.

270 heerdes gone, herds [were] gone; neyghed, approached, drew nigh.

271 ferde, fear; beestes, beasts'; `shypcrafte, "Ship ahoy!" "All aboard!" "To sea!"; trowe, believe; wete, know.

272 catche her, revert to their.

273 gynne, begin; ayen, again; waxe ramage, grow wild; aferde, afraid.

274 me hyed, hastened myself; ynowe, enough; lache, seize.

276 mayster, master.

277 gan to, began to (or, simply, did).

278 overthwartly, upside-down; welken, sky.

278-79 wawes semeden, waves seemed.

279 kyste, kissed; mokel, much.

280 prively, secretly.

281 date, day.

283 wethers, [harsh] weather; avowyng, promising (i.e., if I survive).

284 yle, isle; wende, expected; rescowed, rescued.

285 the haven to catche, to reach the haven.

286 thorowe, through; dispayred, despaired.

288 weten, know; deynous, disdainful; chere, demeanour.

289 alyght, soften your countenance; drede, dread; disease, discomfiting.

290 lenger, longer.

291 dradde, feared.

292 lad, led; ware, aware.

293 muskel, mussel; blewe, blue.

294 to forne, heretofore.

295 ylke, same; his, its.

296 al, even though.

297 sythen, since.

299 bye, buy; Iwys, Indeed.

300 seche, seek.

301 stynte, cease.

302 sythen, since; wyste, know.

305 sayne, say; pardé, indeed.

306 wete, know.

307 me lyst, it pleases me.

308 thronge, thrust; wene, expect.

309 beshet, shut.

310 brennyng, burning; hewe, color, complexion.

311 me disporte, preoccupy myself, fret; combred, encumbered; I seme, it seems to me.

312 mased, amazed; dured, lasted; speking, speaking; els, else.

313 lest, least; enmoysed, comforted.

314 and he durst, if it dared; pleyne, complain; sythen, since.

315 yolden, exchanged; save, saving; mowe, may.

317 rue, take pity; caytife, prisoner, wretch; of nothyng, for nought.

318 if ye lyste, if it pleases you.

319 assayes, attempts.

320 loke, look.

322 renyant, heretic; forjuged, condemned.

323 wayle, wail; nere, were not.

324 sterve, die.

325 hap, fortune (i.e., it's grace, not luck).

326 bye, buy; if, even if; her, their.

327 let games, hinderers; purpose brekers, liars; wayters, watchmen.

328 lettours, hinderers.

330 maistrye, mastery.

331 leful, lawful; playne, complain.

332 moeble, movables, wealth.

334 peres, peers.

335 nobley, nobleness.

336 wayle, wail.

338 ther thorowe holpen, thereby helped.

339 voyde, escape.

341 strayte, straight; sir Daunger, Sir Haughtiness.

342 leve, believe.

344 mowe, may; you lyste, it pleases you; feld, felled, brought down.

345 cope, cope, garment.

345-46 stondyng is me best, it is easiest for me to stand.

346 unneth, hardly; lygge, lie; miseasy, uncomfortable.

347 ernest sylver, pledge-money; forwarde, contract; mokel, much.

349 yeve, give.

350 rennyng, running; waylen, bewail.

351 lykyng tene, pleasant sorrow.

352 harse, harshness (see note); not, know not; brenne, burn.

353 thrist, thirst; yeve, give.

354 stanche, staunch, stop; drenche, drown.

355 reversed yvel, paradoxical evil (i.e., seeming evil); lyches, physicians.

356 unconnyng, ignorant, unable.

357 brast, burst.

358 bal, eyeball.

359 thought me, it seemed to me; heavy, to become depressed.

360 avysinge, considering.

361 skylles, reasons.

362 avysement, advice, suggestions.

363 eke, also; yeven, give.

366 Mervayle, Marvellous; semblaunt, appearance.

367 thou lyst, you care; recour, succour; playnest, complain.

368 thee lyste, you care; next, close.

369 inwytte, conscience.

370 fyne, end; for of, for out of; is; comes; helded, yielded (obs. sp.).

371 felynge, feeling; tenes, sorrows.

372 enfourmen, inform; adnullynge, annulling.

373 seare, dry, depressing.

375 commensal, a companion of the dining table; mykel, much.

376 potages, foods; soukyng, sucking, nursing.

377 amaystred, overcome; lorn, lost.

379 woxe, grew; reed, red.

380 astonyed, astonished; dyvers stoundes, diverse times, turns; sodainly, suddenly.

381 kynde, nature.

382 hestes, orders.

383 hyngen, hung.

385 stedshyp, stability; but if, unless.

386 unshet, unlock; lerne, teach; heven, heaven.

387 done, follow (lit., "do").

388 beestes, beasts.

388-89 imperciable harneys, impenetrable armor.

389 hardynesse, courage and endurance.

390 wern, deny (lit., warn).

392 nye, near; badde chere, depressed demeanor; sorily, sorely.

393 playnyng, complaining; allegest, alleged; lettyng, hindering.

394 wanhope, despair.

395 is crope, has crept; nyse, foolish; unthrifty, unprofitable.

398 thylke, those same.

400 lette games, hinderers; overlokers, jailors.

401 moeble, moveables, wealth; not, do not know.

402 janglers, tattle-tales.

404 avaunce, advance; steeryng, steering, leading.

405 her, their.

406 leved, believed; for, despite; sothnesse, truthfulness.

407 thilke, that same.

409 countrevayle, to be equal in worth to; to match in value.

410 most, must; wenyng, assumption.

411 caytives, wretches, prisoners; Certes, Certainly.

412 mowe, may; let, hinder.

413 leest, least; wight, person; pricke, isolate to emphasize.

414 ensample, example; preve, prove.

416 raddest, read.

417 entrecomuned, communicated.

418 tour, tower.

419 maistry, mastery.

422 twey, two; entremellen, intermix.

423 preven, prove; yeven, given.

424 devyne, divine.

426 janglynge, tattle-telling; welny, nearly all? willful? villainous? see note; efte, often.

427 esployte, advantage and success.

428 and moun, if [you] may; ye lyst, it pleases you.

429 unworship, disgrace.

430 disease, frustration, illness, anxiety.

432 wende, go; marcial, martial.

433 rathest, soonest.

434 lest, lasted; thilke, that same.

435 voydeth, quits.

436 respireth, breathes again.

437 lyst me, it pleases me.

438 kynde, nature; Loke, Look.

440 worche, work.

441 lych, like.

443 hele, heel (foot); sothe, truth.

449 assay, experience.

453 Wyste, Knew; kynde, nature.

454 dure, endure.

455 underputte, subject; kyndely, natural.

457 proved, validated.

458 mowen, may; defased, defaced; contrariauntes, contrary [to].

460 contrary, contradict.

463 jangelers, tattle-tellers.

464 wayters, hinderers; dere, do harm.

465 porte, comportment; wightes, person's.

466 the fayne, pretend.

467 sleyght, sleight; dequace, quash.

468 flye, [to] fly; otherwhyle, at times.

472 jangleres, tattle-tellers.

473 viage, journey; rayne, rain; cornes, grains of corn.

474 bernes, barns.

476 clatering, loud talk; rownyng, whispering.

478 graffed, dug; groubed, dug around the roots of a plant.

479 a fed, have fed.

481 blere eyed, bleary-eyed; tene, sorrow.

482 clippynges, hugs.

483 swete, sweet; barayne, barren.

485 sythen, since; sone, soon [come] (see note).

486 eyght, eighth, a date of completion (octave); kynrest, kingdom; masseday, feast-day.

488 thilke, that same.

490 mowe, may.

491 sothed, proved true; edefye, build; for, since; foundement, foundation.

493 conysance, badge; lyvery, livery, uniform.

494 wenyst, suppose; me lyst, it pleases me; avaunce, advance.

495 feestes, feasts; stoles, stools, chairs; loutynges, bowings.

496 byde, abide; wenyng, supposing.

498 parten of, share in.

500 styl, secretive, politic.

501 arered, raised.

503 bole, bull.

504 fere, mate.

506 beryng therafter, comporting [yourself] accordingly.

507 janglyng, tattle-telling; greve, grieve; jangles, jangling.

507-08 at a cresse, worth a bladeof cress.

510 fame, reputation.

511 ayen, against.

513 leasynges, lies; enfamé, infamy; wenest, suppose; enpeyred, damaged; wenyng, assumption.

515 soth, truth; apeyred, damaged.

516 mokyl, much; sothly, truly; of, by, from.

517 glosyng, flattering.

518 maketh, renders [void] (see note).

519 Ergo, Therefore; apeyred, damaged.

520 loketh . . . to, considers.

521 aventure, fortuitous event.

522 yeven, give; loken, consider.

524 welfulnesse, prosperity.

525 weaked, wicked.

526 thilke anoye, that same misfortune, distress.

528 alegen, allege.

531 not, know not.

532 yeve, give.

535 enfamé, infamy.

536 sawes, wise sayings.

537 toforne, before.

538 laude, praise or glorification.

542 kynde, native; him semyng, it seeming to him.

543 alyes, allies.

544 discomfyted, frustrated; maner why, reasons.

545 assentaunt, assenting.

547 drawers in, inducers or seducers; exitours, agitators.

547-48 prime face, i.e., prima facie.

548 wenyng mykel, assuming much.

549 besyed, busied [myself].

550 thylke, those same.

551 me rought, I myself cared.

552 comunes, commons'; skylles, reasons.

553 for, because.

555 inwytte, intuition.

557 medlynge, meddling; in ronne, run into.

558 tho teeres, those tears [that] (see note).

559 fornecaste, forecast.

560 of mokyl, by many.

561 feled, felt.

562 caste, planned.

563 shopen me, caused me; pynande, grievous; threde, thread.

564 twyne, weave; me lyste, it pleased me.

565 frenesse of, freedom from; endused, induced, brought about.

566 ful, complete.

570 enpeche, impeach; fere, friend or companion; assentaunt, assenting.

571 frende, friend; deyeth, dies.

572 nere, never.

575 elde, old age; ferforthe, far.

577 adnulled, nullified.

578 cytie of London, city of London [was about to have peace nullified].

579 kyndely, natural; kyndely, native.

580 engendrure, begetting; wylne, wish, desire.

581 stede, place; thylke, that same.

582 knowe, known.

584 entrynge, entering.

586 amonesteth, admonishes.

589 heed, head; one body, [as] one body.

591 styred, steered.

592 nempned, named.

593 thilke, those same; wetyng, knowing.

595 gubernatyfe, governmental; clamure, clamor.

597 styred, directed; connyng, knowledge, shrewdness.

598 comen, common.

600 hyndrers, hinderers.

602 torcencious, extortionate.

605 chastice, chastise, punish; forferde, afraid.

607 menynges, motives; Never-the-latter, Nevertheless.

608 apeched, impeached.

611 stoden, stood.

613 meyny, groups.

614 voluntary, willful; faynynge, pretending.

615 shope, arranged; letted, prevented.

616 mokyl rore, great outcry, roar; arered, raised up.

618 degree, [member of a] social rank.

619 tofornehande, beforehand.

621 toforne, before; coarted, coerced.

622 paynynge dures, painful duress; apertely, openly; preveth, proves.

623 leasynges, lies.

624 greveth, grieves; dyvers, various; janglynge, chattering.

625 shepy, sheep-like.

627 sothe, truth.

628 leigeaunce, allegiance.

629 covyns, bands.

630 wight, person.

631 assentaunt, assenting.

632 apparaylen, make preparations; cleapen, call.

633 mowen, may; plyte nempne, conditions name.

634 thylke, that same.

635 tho, then; yave, gave.

636 nyghe, near; wightes eere, person's ear.

637 yevynge, giving.

638 loos, reputation.

639 sothe, truth.

640 reply her, retract their.

641 aleged, alleged.

642 thilke, that same; hemselfe, themselves.

643 wote, knows; avaunte, boast.

644 lese, lose; secré, secrecy or intimacy.

646 sothe, truth.

647 mayster, master.

648 comers, those living; denwere, danger (? "daengier"; see note).

649 werne, were.

652 flyeth, flies.

655 sadly, sombrely.

656 holpen, helped.

657 Pardé, Indeed.

658 knowleged hemselfe, acknowledged [it] themselves.

659 nayed, said no.

662 sothnesse, truthfulness; durste, dared; thylke, that.

663 marcial, martial; pleasen to, please.

664 sythen, since.

665 dede, deed; take, endurance.

666 wight, person.

668 prise, honor, prize; leaned, left.

669 he, i.e., infamy; none, no.

670 greveth, grieves.

671 loos, praise; ayenward, to the contrary.

672 dequace, quash; thilke, that same.

673 bataile, battle.

674 yolden, yielded.

676 feled, felt; wyse, manner.

678 knowlegeth, acknowledges.

680 knette, knit (as in a net).

681 queyntyses, contrivances.

683 hayne, hatred; here me, listen to.

685 chargyng, charging (with responsibility).

687 nempned, named.

689 serment, oath.

690 but, unless.

691 forsworne, perjured; holdynge, maintaining; dampned, damned.

692 otherwhile, at times, occasionally; forboden, forbidden; by that, because.

694 up, upon; knowyng, acknowledgment; of, pertained to.

695 dey, die; al, although.

697 reyse, raise.

698 commens, the commons; derke, dark.

700 be, by.

701 cleapen, call; mowen, may.

702 sklaundrynge, slandering (see line 709); shendyn, destroy.

704 shulden, [they] should; legen, lay.

706 demest, judge.

707 wene, suppose.

708 tofore, heretofore.

709 beames, trumpets.

711 skorned, scorned, ridiculed.

712 trowe, believe.

714 wotte, know; her asterte, make her move or go away.

715 othe, oath.

715-16 if thou woldest nat greve, if you wouldn't mind.

716 trowe, believe.

718 inrest, innermost.

719 flytte, fly away.

721 walketh, circulates.

722 rewth, pity; getten, got.

723 hawe, trifle.

724 hyed, hastened; wene, suppose; yeve but lyte, cared but a little.

725 lyste, are pleased.

726 meyny, troop; brigge, trouble; lokeden . . . after, had regard to; helpes, [the] help [you could give them].

728 commens, provisions.

729 dispences, expenses.

730 rydynge, journeys; pardye, indeed.

731 unwetynge, unconscious (i.e., indifferent); renter, proprietor.

732 medlest, were busy.

733 of, because of.

734 but if, unless.

735 wene, assume.

736 helest, held (see note).

737 ought, owed; wende, assumed.

738 hem proved, proven them [for what they are].

739 meddle, get involved.

740 Efte, Again; sterne, guide.

742 meditation . . . revolve, essay [shall] in no way shift ground.

743 loos, praise.

744 raysed, elevated; alowed, lowered.

749 and thou, if you.

750 outwaye goynge, i.e., being lost.

751 Lothes, Lot's; ayen lokynge, looking back; hoole, entire.

752 gadre, gather; Neverthelater, Nevertheless.

753 wantrust, despair.

755 thee lyste, it pleases you.

756 cure, care, attention; lightly, easily.

760 apertely, overtly.

761 countreplete, rebut; wystyst, know.

762 leave, leave off; wyght, person.

763 clappen, call out.

764 rightwysed, justified.

765 certes, certainly.

765-66 in good meanynge, sincerely.

768 shul, [she] shall.

769 rentest, tear; sowe, mend.

770 commended, [is] commended (see note); mochefolde, manyfold.

771 forgoyng, abandonment.

772 playted, ornate, intricate.

774 thynges, thing's.

776 ylke, same; in double of, doubled in.

777 wenyste, suppose you.

778 wotte, knows.

779 Wost, Know.

782 by, with (intercourse).

784 slawe, slain.

786 lacketh, is lacking to.

787 leaveth, evades [lit., leaves]; withsay, contradict.

788 as he graunted, as if he had assented (i.e., silence is consent).

793 gate, begat.

795 before dede, early deeds.

796 rede, counsel.

799 weten, know.

804 ydel, idle.

805 noble, nobility.

806 commune, common-folk.

807 leude, ignorant; sithe, since.

810 pricke, point.

811 peersyng, piercing; for, on account of.

813 letted, prevented.

815 Londenoys, Londoner.

817 lacked, found fault with.

819 lacken, detract.

820 Slepe, Relax; dele, deal.

821 thylke, that same; sothe, truth.

822 apere, appear.

823 losed, praised.

824 clenely, completely; elde, age.

825 defased, defaced.

826 pees, piece.

827 grayne, grain; charged, laden.

828 mowe, may.

829 ende, a termination.

830 thynges ended, things with definite limits.

832 losed, praised.

834 healed, sown or broadcast, or perhaps praised (see note); wightes, person's.

836 lesest, lose; guerdon, reward.

837 uphap, perhaps; renome, renown.

839 guerdonyng, rewarding.

842 twey, two.

845 skylles, arguments; leve, believe.

846 greve, frustrate; lette, hinder.

848 steered, manipulated; lest, least.

849 leneth, incline, turn.

850 letting, hindrance.

851 moebles, wealth; thynkest, think [yourself].

854 leged, alleged; heweth, chops, hews; hye, high.

856 seke, seek.

857 lerned, taught.

859 chauntementes, enchantments.

861 daunced behynde, failed, lagged.

863 sort, relationship.

865 lyste, desire.

866 semblable, similar; Wost, Know.

867 lyvelych, vital; purveyaunce, providence; underputte, ordained.

868 a thishalfe god, i.e., made here below; buxome, obedient.

870 wexyng, growth.

873 unyversytee, universality or universal nature.

875 mountenaunce, extent.

877 lyche, like; heyght, stature (moral sense); sythen, since.

878 underputte, [are] subjected.

880 innominable, unnameable; wene, assume.

881 wote, know; thylke, that same.

882 lyne of degree, i.e., rank.

884 dome, judgment.

886 travaylyng, laboring; sette, pose [as a proposition].

887 deydest, died.

889 fere, mate, companion.

890 flytte, fly.

891 routh, pity.

895 chese, choose.

896 benommen, take, remove; thylke, that same.

897 by that, because.

899 wene, assume, suspect; lyste, it please.

900 sothely, truly.

902 thorowe, through.

903 trowest, believe; ydeot wotte, idiot knows.

904 wene, assume.

908 thylke twaye, those two.

909 ensealed, sealed.

910 spousayle, marriage; forwarde, contract.

913 wende, go; cleped, called.

914 mente no flesshly luste, did not intend to partake of any fleshly pleasure.

916 adherande, adhering.

917 this wyse, [in] this way.

918 in gree, reconciled, in agreement.

919 lyche, like.

920 cleaped, called.

922 pryme, first.

926 paynyms, pagans.

927 nuncupacion, nomenclature, act of naming.

928 cleapen, call.

931 longeth, belongs.

932 kynde, nature; nobley, nobility.

933 werche, work.

934 to, too; hye, high.

936 be thee aleged, alleged by you; lette, hinder.

937 forther, further.

938 greve, grieve.

941 loos, renown.

942 prise, praise; yeven, give; louteden, flattered; blasours, flatterers, or "trumpeters"; curreyden, curried favor; glosours, flatterers.

943 thylke, those very ones; deynen, deign; wight, person.

944 wele, fortune.

947 welthed, wealthy.

948 sotted, besotted; aver, payment; cleaped, called.

949 wantyng, lack; mykel, much.

950 out, out [of office]; pere, peer; trowe, believe.

952 wotte, know.

953 thilke, that same.

955 kyndely, natural; happyous, fortuitous.

957 slydyng, variable.

960 but if, unless.

962 chayres of domes, judges' seats.

963 shynende, shining.

964 aver, payment; yeftes, gifts.

965 peynture, painting.

968 miscleapyng, misnaming; folyche, foolish.

969 wenest, suppose.

971 wotte, know.

972 lede, lead.

973 dispent, spent; berafte out of, deprived of, booted from, expelled.

976 loke, look [after].

977 mokel, much; glosing, lying, coloring the truth; deyneth, deign.

978 greveth, grieve.

979 abated, lessened, reduced in status; lesers, losers.

980 wenest, assume.

981 renne, collapse, run out of control.

982 woste, know; chalenge, claim.

986 nys, it is not; chalenge, claim.

987 yeve, give.

988 playnest, complain.

991 laudest, praise; joyest, glorify; for, since.

992 beleve, belief, conviction; wenest, assume; selynesse, fortune.

993 happes, circumstances; unsely, miserable, unfortunate.

994 to preise, to [be] praised; the contrary, on the other hand.

995 lacked, blamed; Unsely, Misery, Misfortune, Infelicity.

996 Et e contra, As for the contrary; Selynesse, Fortune; jape, joke, jest.

997 wyndeth, winds (as about "her little finger").

999 bytande, biting; dispitous, spiteful; gloseth, flatters.

1000 commende, praise; lacke, blame.

1001 dispice, despise.

1002 voydeth, departs.

1003 do thee tene, cause you grief; bytande, biting.

1006 lese, lose.

1007 mokel, much.

1008 haleth, hauls.

1009 wenyst, suppose.

1011 sothfast, trustworthy; Pardy, Indeed.

1012 discevered, separated.

1013 ylke, same; brotel, changeable; yede, went.

1014 leaveth, leaves.

1016 flatterynge flyes, grovelling courtiers, parasites, flatterers; glosed, deceived.

1017 sely, fortunate; playnest, complain.

1018 dereworthy, valuable; cleapest, call; unsely, unfortunate, miserable.

1019 leaveth, withdraws.

1020 denyeth, deigns (see note).

1022 somdele, somewhat.

THOMAS USK, THE TESTAMENT OF LOVE: NOTES

As readers will have already surmised from the Introduction to the edition as a whole, annotating TL is no easy task. This is a matter of great concern to me. There are about 800 annotations in the edition. On the one hand, we can argue that, of course, there should be no upper limit to the explanatory matter offered. On the other hand, however, realistically speaking, there has to be some limit. Knowing that practically there is an upper limit, I have endeavored to include information, wherever it is needed, that will get the reader started: from simple definitions to core bibliography and across a wide spectrum of information between, I have followed the guiding principle of helping readers know enough to decide when they need to know more.
   All annotations originating with me are unmarked. All material originating with other editors and/or scholars is marked typically by their surnames (Skeat's surname refers, unless otherwise indicated, to his 1897 edition of TL). Regarding the work of Jellech, Leyerle, and Skeat, I should observe that material originating with them usually refers to their notes on a particular word, phrase, or moment in TL within the sequence of their textual notes. I am particularly grateful to Schaar for his closely reasoned emendations of corrupt passages.
   Of Skeat's annotations, I have retained generally those that provide source and background information and have omitted those that are primarily his speculations. With the work of Jellech, Leyerle, and Schaar, I have exercised my judgment always on the principle of helping the reader get started.

Abbreviations: Boece: Chaucer's translation of the Consolation of Philosophy; BD: Book of the Duchess; CA: Confessio Amantis; CT: Canterbury Tales; Conc.: De Concordia Praescientiae et Praedestinationis et Gratiae Dei cum Libero Arbitrio; Conf.: Confessions; Cons.: Consolation of Philosophy; EETS: Early English Text Society (o.s., Original Series and e.s., Extra Series); HF: House of Fame; MED: Middle English Dictionary; N&Q: Notes and Queries; OED: Oxford English Dictionary; PPl: Piers Plowman; PL: Patrologia Latina; Purg.: Purgatorio; T&C: Troilus and Criseyde; Th: Thynne; TL: The Testament of Love

Book 1

1 Fortune. There are six references to Fortune in Book 1, eight in Book 2, and none in Book 3. There are three references to selynesse ("felicity") in Book 1, seven to unsely, and two to sely; in Book 2, there are six references to selynesse and one to sely. The word does not occur in Book 3. Thus, if Fortune plays a less dominant role in TL than in Cons. (Jellech's argument, p. 140 and elsewhere), still it is not a negligible role. Moreover, it is noteworthy that in Boethius, Fortune is more prominent in Cons. Books 1 and 2 than it is in 3-5, which concern issues beyond Fortune's purview. If TL seeks more to define the "knot in the heart" than to complain against Fortune, Fortune is still recognized as an impediment to the "knot in the heart," if an impediment that, as in the case of Boethius, too, can and must be overcome.

6 Certes, her absence is to me an hell. Compare T&C 5.1396: "`For though to me youre absence is an helle.'"

6-7 my sternyng. Skeat emends to sterving, i.e., languishing (lit., dying). Leyerle argues that "the protest to Fortune in language implicitly referring to her wheel and the use of the verb turne at line [8] suggest that the correct reading is mysternyng, `turning amiss' . . ." (p. 227).

8 thyng. Skeat suggests that thyng means "person," the sense being, "the person that cannot now embrace me when I wish for comfort" (p. 453).

12 caytisned. Skeat emends to caitived, observing "the correction of caytisned (with f for s) to caytifued (better spelt caitived) is obvious" (p. 453). Jellech and Leyerle agree.

wode. Skeat emends to word, needlessly.

18 Margarite precious. See Introduction iii c; and Appendix 1 below. Note that this is the first mention of the Margarite. Farmer (pp. 318-19) writes:

Very popular in the later Middle Ages in England and elsewhere, Margaret probably never existed as a historical person, but only as a character in pious fiction. . . . At the end of her life, she promised, as the Sarum breviary relates: that those who write or read her "history" will receive an unfading crown in heaven, that those who invoke her on their death-beds will enjoy divine protection and escape from the devils, that those who dedicate churches or burn lights in her honour will obtain anything useful they pray for, and that pregnant women who invoke her will escape the dangers of childbirth, as will their infants. These apocryphal promises contributed powerfully to the spread of her cult. This can be traced back before the Norman Conquest in England, when the first of seven vernacular Lives were [sic] written. Well over 200 ancient English churches were dedicated to her, including fifty-eight in Norfolk. She was frequently depicted in wall paintings and stained-glass windows. . . .

18-19 yet wyl of that . . . my luste to have. Leyerle argues: "The single emendation of wyl to [y]wy[s] gives the sentence adequate coherence. The meaning is `yet, indeed, my desire is to have nought else of that (comfort for me in sorrow) at this time'" (p. 228).

19 dede. Skeat emends to d[r]ede, needlessly.

20-21 to here of a twynckelynge in your disease. Skeat: "to hear of a small matter tending toward your discomfort."

25 kyndly noriture. Compare T&C 4.766-68 (emphasis added): "What is Crisyede worth, from Troilus? How sholde a plaunte or lyves creature Lyve withouten his
kynde noriture?"

32 It is so hye. Skeat paraphrases: "Paradise is so far away from the place where I am lying and from the common earth, that no cable (let down from it) can reach me."

34 I purveyde. Skeat: I [am] purveyed, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

36-37 weareth his olde clothes. Schaar (p. 32) observes:

The reference to the olde clothes is puzzling, and there must be something wrong with the last sentence. It seems that the author has in mind a passage in Joshua (9. 5), telling how the inhabitants of Gibeon, desiring a covenant with the Israelites, went to their camp in old garments and with dry bread (callide cogitantes . . . induti veteribus vestimentis: panes quoque . . . durierant) in order to make them believe that they came from a far off country (otherwise no covenant would be possible). This act appears in the commentaries of some of the Fathers as a symbol of false spiritual friendship; those coming to the Church in their "old garments" are the people who do not seriously seek the Christian truth but are full of their old vices; who do not really want the friendship of God . . . those, in other words, who have outward friendship only and none in the heart. Hence, probably, Usk's reflection, about the false friend, that the soul of friendship is Ydrawn out from his other spirits. The passage should probably read: But ever, me thinketh, he wereth his olde clothes, and that soule in the whiche the lyfe of frendship was in, is drawen out from his other spirites.

37 that the soule. Schaar would emend to that soule.

43 chere, ferdness. Th: chere/ frendes. Observing the placement of the vergule in Thynne, Skeat places a full stop after chere and emends frendes to ferdnes, observing: "ferdnes is obviously the right word, though misprinted frendes. It signifies `fear,' and occurs again in lines [107] and [112]; besides, it is again misprinted as frendes in the same chapter, line [109]" (p. 453). Jellech and Leyerle follow Skeat's suggestion and emend to ferdness, as I do also.

46 veyned. Skeat: weyved, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

51-52 your mercy than passeth right. Compare T&C 3.1282-88: "Here may men seen that mercy passeth right; Th'experience of that is felt in me, That am unworthi to so swete a wight.

52 God graunt that proposycion to be verifyed in me. Jellech observes: "The proposycion is, that your mercy than passeth right. Note the scholastic terminology of proposycion and verifyed," and cites John Conley's note on neologisms (p. 146).

56 unymagynable. Th: ymaginable. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

58 wot. Th: wol. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

59 sonded. Skeat emends to souded ("fixed"), the n/u being a common compositor's error. Jellech and Leyerle follow him. But sonded occasionally occurs as the past participle of senden, in which case the sense might be "ordained" or "placed." (See MED senden [n. 7b]). Though Skeat is probably right, I have glossed the term "ordained," and not emended it.

59-60 O love . . . O charyté. Compare T&C 3.1254-60:

Than seyde he thus, "O Love, O Charite!
Thi moder ek, Citheria the swete,
After thiself next heried be she
-- Venus mene I, the wel-willy planete! --
And next that, Imeneus, I the grete,
For nevere man was to yow goddes holde
As I, which ye han brought fro cares colde."

61 do. Skeat glosses as "cause" and reads, "cause the lucky throw of comfort to fall upward," alluding to dice-play (p. 454).

66 knotte. Here the knot is introduced, anticipating its extended development in Book 2; it is mentioned again in Book 1 at lines 902 and 906.

67 endelesse in. Th: is endeless in. Skeat emends to in endeles blisse. Jellech and Leyerle, also, as do I, omit is.

73 as. Skeat emends to [ther]-as; Leyerle emends to a[la]s.

76 amonges. Th: amomges.

82-83 Trewly, I leve. Th: trewly and leve. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

86 O, alas that your nobley. Leyerle proposes (p. 232): "`Oh, alas! that your noble quality -by continuing stream, by all manner of powers -so much commended among all other creatures, only there is wonderful' [i.e., `among all other creatures']."

92 joleynynge. Skeat emends to joleyiynge, i.e., cheering, making joyous.

109 ferdnes. Th: frendes. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

110 as affection. According to Leyerle, "the phrase beginning with as is to be taken with adradde and the intervening material is parenthetical" (p. 233). In other words, their dread is "as" or "like" affection of wonderfulnesse, etc.

113 a lady. Skeat compares Cons. 1. pr. 1, line 3. See my Introduction iii b, for further commentary.

127 O my nory. Compare Chaucer's Boece III, pr. 9, line 159: O my nory, as Philosophy praises the aptness of her student (alumnae in the original, which Chaucer [and Usk] convert into a suckling, Philosophy being the wet nurse). Love as wet nurse becomes an important trope for Usk. See lines 187 and 202 below, and especially, lines 376-77, where his lady scolds him for forgetting "the olde soukyng whiche thou haddest of me."

133-34 Nowe, good lady . . . are thy movynges. Jellech sees a possible allusion to Canticles 4.10-12:

Favus distillans labra tua sponsa, mel et lac sub lingua tua; et odor vestimentorum tuorum sicut odor thuris. Hortus conclusus, fons signatus! [Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense. My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.]

See p. 154.

146 For that me comforteth. The sense is "Because [it] comforts me to think on passed gladness, it annoys me to be doing it again [experiencing gladness since I can assume it will become passed gladness again]."

152ff. See Matthew 18.12; Luke 15.4; John 10.11.

165ff. Haste thou not radde. Skeat observes: "Love was kind to Paris, because he succeeded in gaining Helen. Jason was false to Love, because he deserted Hypsipyle and Medea" (p. 454).

167 false behest. Leyerle comments: "Skeat proposes to emend false to faire in order to provide the contrast implied by for. A reading of faste would offer fewer paleographical difficulties than faire does. No emendation is needed, if false is taken as a repetition of falsed in order to gain emphasis" (pp. 235-36).

Sesars swonke. Th: Sesars sonke. Jellech observes: "The meaning is obscure. Skeat emended sonke to `swynk,' but we cannot be sure that is correct. Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars (in Vincent of Beauvais' Speculum Historiale 6.38) reads `Armorum et equitandi peritissimus, laboris ultra fidem patiens erat.' This `endurance of effort' might have been transformed into `Sesars swynk' in some alliterative version of Caesar's life, but no such work has been found. The earliest life of Caesar in English seems to be Lydgate's Serpent of Division" (p. 157). Sonke could be a misprint for sonde, ME "message" or "errand," with the possible meaning in TL then being, "How Caesar's errand or mission I abandoned it for no grief until he was throned. . . ." Or perhaps the reading should be swonke, which OED sees as an archaic term for "ostentation" or "presumption" (n.b., swank), in which case the sense is, "How Caesar's pomp I abandoned . . ." I have followed this possibility, as it makes the best sense of the passage. Leyerle (p. 236) offers a different reading, based in the Polychronicon.

169 nompere. Skeat suggests, "And chose a maid to be umpire between God and man" -alluding to the Virgin Mary (p. 455).

171 whome. Th: home. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

189 wo is him. Skeat suggests an allusion to Ecclesiastes 4.10.

189-90 and to the sorye. Compare T&C 1.12-14:

For wel sit it, the sothe for to seyne,
A woful wight to han a drery feere,
And to a sorwful tale, a sory chere.

203 wolde ben deynous. Th: wolde endeynous. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

210-11 appetyte of desyre. Compare St. Augustine's concept of the pondus amoris ("weight of love") in, e.g., City of God 11.28:

For the specific gravity of a body is, in a manner, its love, whether a body tends downwards by reason of its heaviness or strives upwards because of its lightness. A material body is borne along by its weight in a particular direction, as a soul is by its love. (p. 463)

And see further Conf. 7.17 (p. 151).

220 playde raket nettyl in docke out. Compare T&C 4.460-61:

"But kanstow playen raket, to and fro,
Netle in, dok out, now this, now that, Pandare?"

224 a. Skeat notes that this is an unemphatic form of have -"thou wouldest have made me" (p. 455). See also line 231.

229 voyde. Skeat: "voyde, do away with; webbes; the web, also called the pin and web, or the web and pin, is a disease of the eyes" (p. 455).

237-38 truste on Mars. Skeat: "trust to Mars, i.e., be ready with wager of battle -alluding to the common practice of appealing to arms when a speaker's truthfulness was called in question" (p. 455). See line 668 below.

258ff. The narrator's recollection of his nightmare journey into the wilderness, where he encounters terrifying beasts that once were domestic but now have turned vicious and then takes refuge on a ship, bears a remarkable likeness to John Gower's allegorical allusion to the Peasant's Revolt, Vox Clamantis, Book I, especially lines 1612059, where the poet in the fourth year of the reign of King Richard (i.e., 1381) encounters domestic beasts gone wild (that is, the rabble turned into vicious asses, oxen, swine, dogs, etc.) that assail him, driving him through the woods and then on to a ship, where he finds small comfort once the storm arises. Gower's victim does not find security in a great pearl at the bottom of the sea, as Usk's persona does, but he does find refuge through the Virgin Mary, stella Maria maris (I, 2083ff.), a pearl in her own right, who calms the rough waters and saves him from the fearful jaws of wild beasts and fishes. Rather than the Peasant's Revolt, Usk's allusion is to the political aggressions of the Merciless Parliament, through which his life is in jeopardy. That he seems to have read Gower's Latin poem, for whatever reason, is in itself remarkable, for the light it sheds on Gower, Chaucer, and Usk as a literary group. For reference to the Vox Clamantis, see G. C. Macaulay, The Complete Works of John Gower (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902), IV: The Latin Works, lines 1-2092 (pp. 22-78). For a translation of the passage, see Eric W. Stockton, The Major Latin Works of John Gower (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962), pp. 54-94.

261 halke. Skeat glosses as "nook"; MED offers "corner," "hiding place," and "cavity" as well, though the term remains troublesome. Analogy with the "full barn" trope earlier in the sentence clearly suggests the tight container of the nut, thus the shell. See James Orchard Halliwell, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the XIV Century (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1924), p. 465, where "hulk" is glossed as "a hull or husk."

264-66 Oft the lothe thyng . . . of luste to travayle. Observing that both Skeat and Schaar comment on these lines without coming to an acceptable conclusion, Jellech proposes the adding of "I" between opynyon and whiche and then emending wolden to wolde and take to toke to mean: "often the loath thing is done by excitation of another man's opinion; I which would fayne have my abiding [in one place] took in heart a lust to labor and see" (p. 168). Leyerle, like Jellech, rejects Skeat and Schaar. Construing of lust as a rare past participle, oflust, meaning "affected with longing," and construing take as a past participle, too, he would read: "in such a time of plenty, he who has a home and is wise, does not want to wander about seeking miracles, unless he is constrained or incited. Often the hateful thing is done at the incitement of other men, who willingly would have my staying taken to heart. Affected with a desire to travel, etc." (p. 243). In this reading, a new sentence begins with Ofluste (line 266), and "I" (line 268) is the subject of this sentence. I remain at this time skeptical of all proposals, though I have none better myself to offer.

265-66 . . . abydynge may here have a concrete meaning; if so, whiche wolden fayne haue myn abydynge take in herte etc. would mean: . . . "wanted me, who was staying at home, to take a mind to travel." Wolden seems to owe its n to the following fayne; otherwise we may let the passage stand as it is:

In suche tyme of plentee he that hath an home and is wyse, list not to wander mervayles to seche, but he be constrayned or excited. Oft the lothe thing is doon, by excitacion of other mannes opinion, whiche wolde fayne have myn abydinge take in herte of luste to travayle. . . . (Schaar, p. 10)

266 take in herte. Skeat emends to [Tho gan] take in herte, which perhaps makes the syntax more gracious.

268 ladels. "applied to the cup of an acorn" (OED L, p. 581, "ladel," br. 3). Hence, "by small paths that swine and hogs had made, as lanes with acorns, [there] to seek out their mast [food]."

270 gone to wylde. "to grow wild." Skeat cites gynne ayen waxe ramage, in Book 1, line 273, for the like sense (p. 456).

275 many. Skeat: "many is here used in place of meynee, referring to the ship's company" (p. 456). See Siennicki, p. 91 especially.

Syght was the first. Compare 1 John 2:16: "For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life."

283 For consistency of dialect, Skeat emends wethers to weders, and to ease the syntax adds [of] after avowyng. Leyerle follows Skeat; Jellech does not.

285 as. Skeat emends to at, and Leyerle concurs.

292 my shyppe was out of mynde. Skeat glosses: "I forgot all about my previous danger."

293-94 a muskel in a blewe shel. Jellech notes that "natural historians from antiquity conveyed to medieval encyclopaedists the tradition that the pearl was engendered by a drop of dew enclosed in a shellfish or cockle." See Appendix 1 below, for specific historical comments on pearls. At the risk, I know, of eliciting scorn from some, I nonetheless feel obliged to call the reader's attention to the following datum. In the entire TL, as Thynne prints it (i.e., before Book 3 is re-arranged to accord with the acrostic), the only occurrence of the name "Usk" is in the word "mUSKel." In trying to understand Usk and what he wrote, I think it would be mistaken to ignore this datum.

298-99 the man that sought . . . to bye that jewel. I.e., the merchant-man in Matthew 13.4546, who sold all that he had to buy the pearl of great price. Biblical commentaries equate the pearl in the parable with the soul.

304-07 Your might . . . I wonder . . . knoweth. Note how my punctuation recognizes Usk's loose ablative absolute.

312 lady, myne desyre. Skeat punctuates: lady mine, desire, which makes good sense too, though Usk normally refers to Margarite simply as lady, not lady mine (e.g., lines 292 and 315), and here it is his desire that is under scrutiny.

317 of nothyng now may serve. Skeat (p. 456): "is now of no use (to you)."

319 under your wynges of protection. A Marian analogue, where wings or robes signify the aegis of comfort. See John V. Fleming's discussion of the trope in "Anticlerical Satire as Theological Essay: Chaucer's Summoner's Tale," Thalia, 6 (1983), 5-22.

322 A renyant forjuged. Jellech asserts that forjuged is used to signify "exile." "For renyant, the OED gives a `renegade, apostate,' from French renay. Thus, we would be closer to Usk's meaning by paraphrasing, `a convicted traitor,' or merely `criminal'" (p. 174).

341 sir Daunger. A personification in the fin'amors or "courtly love" tradition, referring to the Beloved's standoffishness or haughtiness. Leyerle suggests, in one of his major theoretical arguments about TL, that "Usk's usage [of Daunger] illustrates the tendency in late medieval work for the language of power and the language of love to be applied to each other, In particular, Usk transfers the language of love to the subject of political power . . ." (p. 246). This latter point is perhaps the key to Leyerle's understanding of TL; see, further, p. 17n38, above.

348 For he . . . suffer. Skeat: "a perfect alliterative line." Skeat goes on to argue (p. 456) that the line is "imitated from PPl C.21.212"; but see my Introduction, section iv "Usk and his Contemporaries."

352 harse. Skeat emended the form to "harm." Jellech notes, however, that the MED "has not accepted Skeat's emendation, for it has an entry, harse n. (Compare OF herce a harrow). Grief, vexation. 1532 rev [c.1385] Usk TL (Skeat) 18/158" (p. 177).

355 lyches. Skeat emends to leches, presumably for dialect consistency. Probably the vowel /e/ had not yet moved upward to /i/ in the fourteenth century as it had done in Thynne's era.

370 for of disease . . . vessel. Th: or of disease . . . nessel. Skeat's emendation: "For or read for, to make sense; for of disease, for out of such disease come gladness and joy, so poured out by means of a full vessel that such gladness quenches the feeling of former sorrows. Here gladnesse and joy is spoken of as being all one thing, governing the singular verb is, and being alluded to as it" (p. 457). Jellech and Leyerle follow Skeat, as do I.

375 O where haste thou be. Compare the identical phrasing in T&C 4.496-97: "`O, where hastow ben hid so longe in muwe, / That kanst so wel and formely arguwe?'"

376 soukyng. Skeat emends needlessly to soukinges. Usk is alluding here to Philosophy's chastizing of Boethius who had been "norisched with my melk" (Cons. 1. pr. 2, lines 5-6). This section of Usk draws extensively on this passage. See notes to lines 380 and 382.

380 astonyed. The wording comes from Chaucer's Boece I, pr. 2, lines 12-15. See also Boece I, pr. 1, line 81.

382 clothe. See Cons. 1. pr. 2. lines 25-30, where Philosophy wipes the tears from Boethius's eyes -"the wawes of my wepynges," as Chaucer puts it (Boece, p. 399).

385-89 ye . . . ye . . . ye . . . ye. Compare T&C 3.15, 22-36 (emphasis added):

Ye Joves first to thilke effectes glade, . . .
Ye fierse Mars apaisen of his ire,
And as yow list, ye maken hertes digne;
Algates hem that ye wol sette a-fyre,
They dreden shame, and vices they resygne;
Ye do hem corteys be, fresshe and benigne;
And heighe or lowe, after a wight entendeth,
The joies that he hath, youre myght him sendeth.

387-88 us beestes. Skeat (p. 457) traces the power that governs beasts and heavenly bodies to Boethian Love controlling the universe (Cons. 2. m. 8).

390 Yet al thynge desyreth ye wern . . . wele. Skeat emends wele to wol and suggests: "Read werne (refuse) and wol (will ) -`yet all things desire that you should refuse help to no one who is willing to do as you direct him'" (p. 457).

396-97 sythen . . . by an impossyble. Jellech suggests that contyngent, impossyble, and proposycion are "terms from the vocabulary of the schoolmen" (p. 181). See Conley (1964). "The suggestion of future contingency anticipates the Anselmian discussion of God's providence in Book 3" (p. 181).

404-06 Also false wordes . . . sothnesse. Compare HF 2108-09: "Thus saugh I fals and soth compound / Togeder fle for oo tydynge"; see further Strohm (1989), p. 76.

407 no. Th: uo. Leyerle's emendation.

414 maner. Skeat emends to maneres.

418 Acrisyus. Skeat notes: "Acrisius shut his daughter Danaë up in a tower, to keep her safe; nevertheless she became the mother of Perseus, who afterwards killed Acrisius accidentally" (p. 457).

423 so. Skeat emends to to.

424-25 Lady Love's defense of Divine Providence for permitting evil to function on earth is similar to Lady philosophy's argument in Cons. Bks 4 and 5.

426 welny people . . . efte. Skeat emends to wel ny [al] people . . . ofte. Jellech glosses as "well-nigh." Leyerle claims that "welny is a form, well recorded in ME, of villainy, insult, indignity, discredit,' and may be kept" (p. 252), but he cites no sources. Another possibility might be some form of wilne, thus "willful," "desirous," or "obstinate." "Villainous" is probably the likeliest sense, though in a less pejorative implication than one would associate with the term in modern usage -i.e., deceitful, but without the twirling of moustaches.

431 and who that . . . I helpen. See Matthew 10.22: "he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved."

432 into blysse to wende. Skeat supplies don before blysse and translates: "and I will cause him to come to bliss, as being one of my own servants." He then rewrites the syntax in what follows: As [in] marcial doing in Grece, who was ycrowned? By god, nat the strongest . . . . (p. 22).

433-34 rathest come . . . play lest. See 2 Timothy 4:7: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

435 Skeat inserts [and] before therin and [is] before redy.

436 and into water. Skeat: "and jumps into the water and immediately comes up to breathe, like an unsuccessful diver" (p. 457). But Leyerle objects and offers the alternative repriseth, "withdraws," as a possible emendation of respireth (p. 252).

441 this countré. Skeat: "a common saying"; see T&C 2.28, 42 (p. 457).

443 healed with his hele. Skeat (p. 457) and Jellech (p. 186) cite HF, line 290, as a parallel.

betwixe two thynges lyche. Compare T&C 3.404-6:

"Departe it so, for wyde-wher is wist
How that ther is diversite requered
Bytwixen thynges like, as I have lered."

446 dyversyté cometh in by the contrarious malyce. See St. Augustine, City of God 16.11.

448 lawes. Skeat emends to lawe.

450 and to what. Skeat emends to and [founden] to what.

455 lawe of kynde. Leyerle: "The gist of Love's legal argument as it applies to Usk's situation, is that the ordinance by which Usk was imprisoned is mere mannes lawe (lex positiva), which should be underputte, `subordinated' to the law of Love, lex naturalis, which Usk professed to be following in those actions for which he was condemned" (p. 254).

462 exployte. Skeat: exployte[s].

474 thin. Th: than. Leyerle's emendation.

475 nothyng undertaketh . . . nothyng acheveth. The proverb is common, as Leyerle observes (p. 256), but, as he also notes, and I would, too, Chaucer uses it twice in T&C (2.807-08; 5.784).

480 a. "have" (as before).

480-85 I have this seven yere . . . fayled. Genesis 29.17-30. Jellech notes that later exegetes read the story of Rachel and Leah in terms of the active life and the contemplative life, citing e.g., Richard of St. Victor, Liber Exceptionum, pp. 240-42; Usk, she observes, has adapted the "Biblical account to his own purposes, but his mode of interpreting it seems to show he was drawing on patristic concepts" (p. 190). Perhaps the most memorable adaptation of the story in medieval literature is Dante's, in Purgatorio, in the relationship between Matelda and Beatrice (Purg. 27.100-08); see also the commentary in Singleton 2.2, p. 659.

481 Lya, Leah. See Genesis 29.17.

484 wepe with Rachel. See Matthew 2.18.

485 sone. Skeat emends to [come] sone, which makes good sense; Leyerle concurs with Skeat. I have imagined come to be implicit in sone, though such an ellipsis perhaps stretches credibility too far.

486-87 eyght yere: this eighteth mowe . . . of travayle. Skeat emends eyght to eight[eth] needlessly (p. 458). See Chaucer's BD, line 37, where eight also means eighth. That Usk had this specific passage from Chaucer in mind in constructing his riddle on eight and reward through the agency of a lady (the good faire White, who has gone to her reward, though the narrator's boote, line 38, is no nearer in BD; and, in Usk, for Margarite, kynrest and masseday -a form of reward), see Russell A. Peck, "Theme and Number in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess," in Silent Poetry, ed. Alastair Fowler (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970), pp. 98-99. Eight is the number of eternity, marking the eighth sphere of the fixed stars, beyond the seven moving spheres. It is the Easter number (the dies octavus, the new beginning after Christ's seven days of labor in Jerusalem) and the number of Resurrection (first day after the Jewish Sabbath, Matthew 28.1, Mark 16.2, 9, Luke 24.1, John 20.1); likewise it is affiliated with massday (where the eighth day after seven becomes one again), baptism (octagonal font), Christ's circumcision marking His presentation into His new life (Luke 2.21), the Transfiguration (Luke 9.28) at the end of the eighth day of Jesus's ministry preaching by the Sea of Galilee, Christ's revelation to Thomas (John 20.26), the New Jerusalem and thus justice in the eighth age, after time ceases to be. It is a number of Pentecost (the eighth day after a week of weeks), hence a sign of new beginning, grace, and reward; and (apart from one) as the only cube in the decad, a sign of justice and justification. On the general numerological properties of eight, see Russell A. Peck, "Number as Cosmic Language," in Essays in the Numerical Criticism of Medieval Literature, ed. Caroline D. Eckhardt (Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1980), p. 62; also Fowler, p. 53, and Meyer, p. 140.

486 kynrest. The MED offers "a general cessation of work, a holiday with particular reference to the ancient Jewish sabbatical year"; however, the only citation is this passage in TL. See numerological explanation in the previous note.

488-90 Thynne reduplicates in this case . . .," quod she, which I have deleted. Skeat does not acknowledge the dittography.

493 the conysance of my lyvery. On the nature of livery -"Liveried retainers were clad in a distinctive uniform that marked them out as the men of a particular lord" (Hicks, p. 63) -and its political importance in late Middle English culture, see, in addition to Hicks (pp. 63-65), Horrox (p. 68) and Strohm, "The Literature of Livery" (1992, pp. 179-85) in Hochon's Arrow.

498-99 ben worshyp. Skeat emends to ben [to] worship[pe]; Leyerle concurs.

501 a bridge. Skeat glosses: "to serve by way of retreat for such as trust them" (p. 458).

wolves. "destroyers"; here meant as a complimentary epithet.

503-05 Jupiter . . . Rome is nowe stondyng. Skeat: "This idea, of Jupiter's promotion, from being a bull, to being the mate of Europa, is extremely odd; still more so is that of the promotion of Aeneas from being in hell" (p. 458). I can find no source for this passage either. In my opinion, though, here as elsewhere (see, e.g., line 541), Usk may be inventing images for his own particular use.

504 lowest degré. Skeat observes: "not true, as Caesar's father was praetor, and his aunt married Marius" (p. 458). But compare CT VII.2671-73:

By wisedom, manhede, and by greet labour,
From humble bed to roial magestee
Up roos he Julius, the conquerour.

See, further, Suetonius (p. 34):

Caesar's first home was a modest house . . . one story goes, he found certain features in [a house he built] to his dislike, so that, although poor at the time and heavily in debt, he tore the whole place down.

507 that their jangles. Th: that are their janghes. Skeat emends: that [suche] are their jangles. Leyerle disagrees and proposes "jang[linge]s for jangles is. The sense would be as follows: `their pratings are not to count worth a blade of cress to your disadvantage'" (p. 258).

510 fame. Skeat emends to [en]famé so that the form corresponds with lines 512 and 513. Jellech and Leyerle concur.

516-17 thy frende to thee. Skeat emends: they frende [is] to the. Jellech and Leyerle concur.

517 false kyssyng. See Proverbs 27.6: "Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy."

518 maketh suche. Skeat emends: maketh [voyd] suche. Jellech concurs; Leyerle emends maketh to ma[t]eth.

534-35 by goodnesse or enfamé. Th: or by goodnesse enfame. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

535 For every. Skeat emends For [of] every, which is more graceful (parallel), though not necessary.

541 Zedeoreys (or 3edeoreys). Skeat notes that he "can find nothing resembling this strange name, nor any trace of its owner's dealings with Hannibal" (p. 458). I can find nothing either. Bressie argues that "Antiochus the Great is certainly meant. See Usk's probable source, Higden's Polychronicon, IV, 88-92" (p. 23). But it is not beyond possibility, in my opinion, that, given the personal remarks that follow, Usk invented this character and this "episode" in Roman history as a parallel to his own historical situation: for a while he was on Northampton's side, then he turned against Northampton (to side with Brembre), and "by his wytte after was [Northampton] discomfyted" -only, as we know in hindsight, the wheel turned yet once more and crushed Usk. But see Leyerle who, following Bressie, writes: "The actions of Antiochus fit the reference in the Testament . . .: the name Antiochus was probably lost and his title, Syria rex, corrupted in transmission to the one word, 3edioreys, which was then taken as his name" (p. 260).

547 exitours. Skeat: ex[c]itours.

558 tho teeres lasshed. Skeat emends to tho [the] teres [that] lasshed, thus changing tho from "those" to "though" and altering the syntax.

563 Lachases. See T&C 5.6-7: "shal dwellen in pyne / Til Lachesis his threed no lenger twyne." Lachesis is one of the three Fates in classical mythology, the others being Clotho and Atropos, who "spin" the thread of an individual's life. Like Boethius, Usk seems to be writing from prison, cognizant of the harm that awaits him. His extended defense of his behavior is not unlike that of Boethius, Cons. I. pr. 4, which is one of the longest sections in the Consolation. Reference to those who imprisoned him as Senatoures effects a similar circumstance to that of Boethius, who was betrayed by the Roman Senate.

564 And ever I was sought. Bressie (p. 21) suggests that Usk's defense proper begins here. Jellech offers the following paraphrase of the reasons Usk gives for changing sides (Jellech, p. 200, lines 564 through line 592):

He was pressed to confess so that he would have his life and freedom. / He considered it his duty to help the city. / His soul would have been lost if he had died in falseness. / He did not deserve hatred except insofar as he upheld the errors of the Northampton group and kept their secrets. / All the Northampton faction were prejudiced against their opponents, so that they created broils in order to destroy them. / If he had not exposed the faction, the peace of the city of London, which he dearly loved, would have been broken. / Peace is enjoined on us by Scripture and the example of history.

See, further, Appendix 2 below.

568 helpe to ben saved. Jellech understands to ben saved as "ought to do so," the sense being that "any man who can legitimately help the commonalty to be saved ought to do so" (p. 201). Skeat emends helpe to wele. I punctuate with a dash to suggest a broken thought that can easily be completed -i.e., "he ought to do so."

583ff. perfyte peace. See John 14.27 on the passing of the peace. Jellech notes that Dante in the Monarchia, I.4, also remarks: "`Peace be with you' was the salutation of the one who was the salvation of man. . . . And also his disciples and among them Paul, saw fit to preserve this custom" (p. 202).

584-89 This peace . . . one body we shulde perfourme. Jellech notes that Dante, Monarchia, I.4, "adduces the same example of the angel's song at Christ's nativity to argue that peace is necessary for society's perfection" (p. 202).

585 Testament. The reader should notice that Usk here uses the same word as figures in the title of his book -he does not use "covenant" or "pact," for example, but the word, "testament," that aligns his book with the Savior's benediction.

590 Athenes. "Athene was the goddess who maintained the authority of law and order, and in this sense was `a god of peace.' But she was certainly also a goddess of battles" (Skeat, p. 459). Jellech observes that "the specific notions here of Athena as a god and as an upholder of peace do not have any traceable origin. The tradition seems to have emphasized Athens as a center of art and learning" (p. 203). But see also Downing, p. 490:

[Athena's] central concern is the well-being of the community. "Cities are," it was said, "the gifts of Athena." She nurtures the children on whom the city's future depends and encourages its citizens in the arts and crafts so integral to civilized existence.

From such a perspective, it is not difficult to imagine Athena as "god of peace."

592 certayne poyntes. Jellech notes that several of these poyntes follow rather closely the articles declared in Usk's Appeal. See Appendix 2 below.

593 thilke persones. I.e., members of the Northampton faction.

593-95 drawen to . . . prudence. Jellech compares these lines with the Appeal: "tho they drewe to hem many craftes & mochel smale people that konne non skyl of governance ne of god conseyl" (p. 204). See Appendix 2, lines 149-50.

597-607 whiche,' quod they, '. . . and al other good menynges. Jellech points out that the point of view of this speech is that of Northampton and his followers.

598-99 and auctorité of execucion by comen election. Jellech observes: "That is, election of the Common Council by crafts instead of by wards as in the past. This was one of the issues created by Northampton" (p. 204).

599-601 for we, out . . . in such subjection. Jellech compares Appeal: "& yt was seide thus to the poeple that ever the grete men wolden have the poeple be oppression in lowe degree" (p. 205). See Appendix 2, lines 50-51.

605-07 There ben cytezens . . . good menynges. Jellech: "The reference is to charges made by John More, sheriff under Northampton, that Sir John Philipot had borrowed money from the city during his mayoralty and never repaid it; see Appeal [Appendix 2, lines 54-59]. Other men were to be charged with usury, under a patent to chastise usurers, and so be discredited and exiled from the city, leaving Northampton's men free in charge" (p. 205). See Appeal, Appendix 2, lines 75-91.

608 the mighty senatoures. I.e., the leaders of the victuallers, such as Sir William Walworth, Sir John Philipot, and Sir Nicholas Brembre (Jellech, p. 206).

609-10 free election. Skeat adds [was mad] after free eleccion and [that] before for greet, which alters the sense needlessly. Usk's point is that the manipulated mob, by its clamorous voice, in effect controls the vote. As Leyerle notes (p. 264), "that free election [is] in apposition to it and [is the] subject of fel."

609-14 And so, lady, . . . withouten reason. Jellech suggests that Usk's evident purpose here is to say that the outcome of the election was against the dissidents, but some part of the passage has been lost (p. 206). She reads the sense of the passage to be:

So, when the free election was held, by clamor of many people because of great injury from misgovernance, they (i.e., Northampton and his associates) remained so steadfast in their choice that they underwent every kind of fate rather than allow the hated regimen to rule. Nevertheless, many of the common mass, who have consideration only to their wilful desires, without reason, held to the contrary (i.e., the Northampton faction lost their popular following).

611 face. Skeat (p. 459) emends to fate, observing, "We must read fate, not face; the confusion between c and t is endless." But every maner face, as sign of fickleness, makes good sense, given Usk's appeal against the clamorous mob. Jellech emends to fate (p. 206), as does Leyerle too (p. 43).

614 thylke governour. I.e., John de Northampton (Jellech, p. 207).

614-15 faynynge toforne his undoynge for misrule in his tyme. I.e., "pretending, before his undoing, on account of misrule in his time [i.e., inventing misrule as an excuse], arranged to have."

615-16 shope . . . ben chosen. Jellech compares Appeal, where Usk relates that Northampton sent a delegation, Usk amongst them, to the Duke of Lancaster asking him for a royal writ proclaiming a new election. They were refused. See Appendix 2, lines 118-33.

616 rore have. Skeat: rore [to] have, which is okay too.

617-20 These thynges . . . furthered and holde. Jellech observes: "The clause these thynges . . . to the people seems to be an ablative absolute, meaning `when these things were made known among the princes and opened to the people, then there was brought about an improvement, with the result that every degree . . . 'etc." (p. 207).

621 their moste soverayne juge. I.e., the king.

632 my selven apparaylen. I would expand to my selven [, how they] apparaylen.

648 out of denwere. Leyerle solves this crux: "The form is a nonce spelling of ME denier, `denial, refusal,' MED 2. The MED takes denier to be from OF denïier, a variant of denoiier; Usk's spelling reflects the latter word with the oi represented by w. The phrase out of denwere thus means beyond `denial'" (p. 256).

651 submytten. Skeat: submitted.

652 But nowe than the false fame. With Leyerle (p. 256) I agree that here TL participates directly in the medieval tradition of fame (Leyerle cites Aeneid 4.172ff. and Chaucer's HF 349-50); see, further, my Introduction, Section vi f, page 25, note 44.

668-69 the prise leaned on thy syde. Leyerle: "The sense is, `You spoke truth because your adversaries have affirmed your words [by their refusal to join combat]. Even if you had lied [in the affirmations you had offered to prove by combat], they are still discomfited. The lever leaned on your side so that fame will hold down infamy.' The image in the last sentence is of a prise, `lever,' that raises a thing at one end while pressing down on the other. The final sentence in the passage is Love's commentary on the words every wight [line 666]. The reference of he . . . [line 669] is to wight in line [666]; bringe up means `to invent or tell lies,' MED 6(b): `He will be lying in no way'" (p. 266).

672 without a stroke or fighting. Schaar suggests the meaning to be: "without a single stroke"; the right reading, thus, must be: without a stroke of fighting (p. 10).

679 maysters. Th: maystresse. Jellech's emendation (p. 214), with which I concur.

685 that sacrament of swearyng. Jellech suggests that "to charge by oath" merely means "to swear," or "to pledge" (MED 10a), not "to be under oath." The suggestion here seems to be that Usk "was not perjured or forsworn by his oath - presumably the one binding him to Northampton, because it lacked either truth, judgment, or righteousness. It was on account of his being thought disloyal to Northampton and his friends that Usk was considered by his fellow citizens to have been unkind and unnatural. The issue is . . . one of social pressure and custom" (p. 215).

688 trewe jugement. Skeat argues that trewe is an error for trewthe; the statement is copied from Jeremiah 4.2: "Et iurabis . . . in veritate, et in iudicio, et in justitia" [And you shall swear . . . in truth, and in judgment, and in justice] (p. 460). So in line 693, we have in jugement in trouth, and rightwisenesse; and in lines 690-91, for ofte tymes a man, to saye sothe, but jugement and justyce folowe, he is forsworne.

691 Herodes. Herod swore to give Salome whatever she asked for. Her request was for the head of John the Baptist. See Matthew 14.7. Skeat inserts [he] before dampned.

692-93 Also, to saye truthe . . . to sayne. Skeat paraphrases: "it is sometimes forbidden to say truth rightfully -except in a trial -because all truths are not to be disclosed" (p. 460).

695 that worde. Skeat suggests Tobit 3.6: "expedit mihi mori magis quam vivere" [for it is better for me to die, than to live] (p. 460).

696 fame. Skeat: [en]fame, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

702 sklaundrynge. Th: sklaundynge. Emended by all.

704 shulden. Skeat: [they] shulden.

706 demest, therin thy selfe. See Romans 2.1 -"For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself."

728 commens. Possibly, a truncation of commensal, "sustenance" ("?as contributed by or to a community or group of people" -see the MED C, p. 446 "communes," branch 4).

729 Selande. Zealand (Zeeland) the southwesternmost province of the Netherlands, almost, to the naked eye, due east of London, across the Channel. Skeat suggests the port of Middleburg, in the isle of Walcheren: "The reference must be to some companions of the author who had fled to Zealand to be out of the way of prosecution" (p. 460). See, further, Leyerle, pp. 268-69.

730-31 Yet, pardye, . . . renter. Jellech: "Love's sardonic accusation is that Usk's associates took money set aside by his superiors for his expenses so he had to pay out of his own pocket. Usk was their `renter' or `landlord'" (p. 219).

732-33 neyther . . . for to have. Skeat places a semicolon after unkyndnesse, where Thynne prints a virgule (slash). Jellech rearranges the virgule to produce a "superior reading which needs no explanation [neyther the ne them selfe myghten helpe/ of unkyndnesse nowe they beare the name. . .]. Unkyndnesse or unnatural disloyalty seems to have been one of the main accusations made against Usk" (p. 220). I have followed Jellech.

736 helest. Skeat emends to hele[de]st. Jellech and Leyerle concur.

740 Efte. Th: Ofte. Skeat's emendation which Jellech and Leyerle support. Jellech writes: "Ofte in this position, [is] clearly an error, both in what the sense of the passage calls for [i.e., Efte] and in failing to conform to the acrostic" (p. 221). See Introduction, iii c.

sterne me these. Skeat: steren me [with] these. Jellech and Leyerle concur.

748 flocke. See Matthew 18.12.

751 but in hoole. Th: but hoole. Skeat's emendation, followed by Leyerle, but not Jellech. The story of Lot's life is found in Genesis 19.

758-59 in their mouthes . . . habundaunce of the herte. See Matthew 12.34.

759 stones. Th: stones stones. Emended by all.

763 use Jacobes wordes. Skeat suggests an allusion to the conciliatory conduct of Jacob towards Esau (Genesis 33.8, 10, 11): "Similarly the author is to be patient, and to say `I will endure my lady's wrath, which I have deserved,' etc." (p. 461).

768 shul. Skeat: [she] shul. But no emendation is necessary. Headless clauses are not uncommon in ME usage.

768-70 For ryght . . . commended. Jellech notes that Skeat inserted "is" in front of commended and suggested that Thynne's his (line 768) might be an error for "her" (p. 224). Schaar rejected on paleographical grounds the possibility of mistaking his for "her" and suggested that Thynne's words at his were a misreading of a ms. "alle is." But, Jellech concludes "a misreading of a t h for `alle' is as hard to support paleographically as Skeat's proposal. If we knew the origin of the saying we could perhaps make an intelligent emendation. I have left the sentence in its imperfect state" (p. 224) But although I am insecure about the "origin" of the phrase, I do think we should consider the remarkable similarity between this passage and the climax of the great alliterative poem Patience, when God speaks to Jonah and says "For he þat is to rakel to renden his cloþes / Mot efte sitte wiþ more unsounde to sewe hem togeder" (lines 526-27). Here the counsel is to patience - "don't rip up your clothes in a fit of pique." We might think of the sentence in TL, with the aid of the idea in Patience, as meaning something like: "For just as you tear your clothes in plain sight [of God], having reason to do so because of your error, so openly to repair them at his, God's, worship, without further reproof, is [to be] commended."

769 at. Schaar would emend to alle.

771-72 so good savour . . causeth. Skeat emended Thynne's al errour to of errour and thus omitted distroyeng as a gloss on forgoyng, though he noted that the terms are not synonymous. He glosses forgoyng as "abandonment." Jellech assumes that "Forgoyng and distroyeng do have overlapping meanings, in that sin or error can be both avoided and destroyed, and Usk's original phrase, now hopelessly corrupt, probably read, `good savour to forgoyng and distroyeng of errour.' Skeat's omission of distroyeng, as a gloss, is inexcusable. There are no other glosses, there is apparently no one who could have made one, and no reason to gloss the not obscure word forgoyng" (p. 224). Although Jellech's sharp tone is perhaps deplorable, her position is certainly sound and fundamental, given the corruption of the text of TL: there really is no evidence of glossing or any other form of interpolation in TL, and so much needs to be duly recorded for the reader to know what editorial decisions are necessary.

774-75 every thynges contrary in kynde. On this very ancient idea, which I have called "epistemology by contraries" (Shoaf [1989], pp. 22-24), see, among many possible examples, T&C 1.637: "`By his contrarie is every thyng declared.'" Its origin is ultimately Platonic and neo-Platonic; a very good example can be found in City of God 11.18.

780 Adam. See Genesis 3.6.

781 Noe. See Genesis 9.21.

782 Lothe. See Genesis 19.35.

782 Abraham. See Genesis 22.1.

783 Davydes. See II Samuel 11.2-15.

784 Hector. Skeat notes that Hector, according to Guido delle Colonne in his Destruction of Troy, gave counsel against going to war with the Greeks, but was overborne by Paris (p. 461).

788 He that is stylle. In Proverbia Sententiaeque Latinitatis Medii Aevi, Walther records as number 24843a "Qui tacet, consentire videtur" (Part 4, Q-Sil, p. 291).

792-93 howe necessary was Adams synne. Skeat (p. 461) sees an allusion to the canticle "Exultet" sung upon Easter Eve, in the Sarum Missal (p. 118), "O certe necessarium Ade peccatum" [O truly necessary sin of Adam (p. 272 in the Sarum Missal in English)]. Commonly known as the felix culpa ("fortunate fall," "happy guilt" [Sarum Missal in English, p. 272, as well]), this idea is widespread in the Middle Ages and Renaissance - had Adam not fallen, Christ would not have been born God incarnate; for bibliography, see Shoaf (1993), p. 199n71.

793 Salomon. See II Samuel 12.24, on the conceiving and birth of Solomon.

809 at the hardest suche fame into. Jellech (p. 228) emends to at the farthest . . . is.

814 reason hyndred. Schaar emends reason to renoun: "Reson is not the proper word here; the corresponding passage in Chaucer's Boece (II, p. VII, 64 ff.) reads:

(to the whiche naciouns . . .) nat only the names of singuler men ne may nat strecchen, but eek the fame of citees ne may nat strecchen.

The Latin text gives:

ad quas (nationes) . . . non modo fama hominum singulorum, sed ne urbium quidem peruenire queat. (lines 26 ff)

The original reading of our passage, then, seems to be . . . but also citees and realmes of prosperité ben letted to be knowe, and their renoun hindred" (p. 12).

818 London. Skeat notes that London is substituted for "Rome" in Chaucer's Boece (p. 461), further evidence to suggest that Usk is working from Chaucer's translation, rather than the Latin.

819 praysen . . . lacken. Here and elsewhere (e.g., Book 2, line 742; Book 3, lines 21011), Usk uses the ancient formula, laudando et vituperando ("praising and blaming"), that derives from epideictic rhetoric (see Curtius, p. 69n and p. 182). Although space prohibits a lengthy demonstration, I want nonetheless to register here my sense that Usk's reliance on this rhetorical tradition is one key to understanding TL, especially where the issue of fame is concerned (see the note to Book 1, line 652).

830 ofte. For Skeat ofte is a misprint for of the; Jellech and Leyerle concur.

834 healed. Conceivably the term is a corruption of heilen as a salutation of praise, as one might hope of rumors. Or perhaps it is a figurative form of helen, an agricultural metaphor for "planted," as in the "sowing" or "broadcasting" of seed. Or perhaps it is akin to a medieval metaphor for cure, i.e., "improved." Skeat says "heled (lit. hidden) is quite inadmissible; the right reading is probably deled, i.e., dealt round" (p. 462). Jellech proposes heard, "but the case is uncertain," she says (p. 230). Leyerle follows Skeat.

838-39 for werkes of vertue asketh. Th: of werkes of vertue asketh. Skeat emends to: of vertue. [Trewly, vertue] asketh.

849 leneth. Skeat emends to leveth, "cease." Jellech and Leyerle concur.

854 olde proverbe. Skeat compares the form of the proverb to Hazlitt's "Who-so heweth over-high, / The chips will fall in his eye." See also Gower, CA 1.1917-18; and Stevenson 57.1.

856 ere. Th: are. Skeat emends to that. I propose ere (before).

864-65 See Boece I. pr. 4. 260-62, where the saying is attributed to Pythagoras.

886-87 I sette now the hardest. Leyerle (p. 279) notes a similarity with T&C 2.367, "I sette the worste" (Pandarus to Criseyde).

891-92 in this persone. Skeat suggests on this persone, but Schaar notes, "the passage is still not in order. Love is continually speaking to the prisoner, and we cannot avoid reading [. . .] thilk Margarite, that no routh had on thy persone etc." (p. 12). Leyerle has in th[y] persone.

897 For she hath hem. Leyerle (pp. 280-81) argues at length that a dislocation of text has occurred here. His re-arrangement yields:

shal benommen from thylke perle/ al the vertues that firste here were taken/ for she hath hem forfeyted/ by that on the my seruaunt in thy lyue she wolde not suffre to worche al vertues with order whiche to me was ordayned/ sothely none age/ none ouertournynge tyme/ but withdrawen/ by might of the hygh bodyes: Why than shuldest thou wene so any more. And if the lyste to loke vpon the lawe<334vb> <335ra> of kynde/ and hytherto had no tyme ne power to chaunge the weddyng/ ne the knotte to vnbynde of two hertes thorowe one assent in my presence/ togyther accorden to endure tyl dethe hem departe.

He then punctuates, heavily, to the following sense (p. 60):

shal ben[i]men from thylke perle al the vertues that firste her were taken, for she hath hem forfeyted by that on the, my servaunt, in thy lyve, she wolde not suffre to worche al vertues [with order whiche to me was ordayned. Sothely none age, none ouertournynge but] withdrawen by might of the hygh bodyes. Why, than, shuldest thou wene so any more, and, if the lyste to loke upon the lawe of kynde, and hyt herto had no tyme ne power to chaunge the weddyng, ne the knotte to unbynde of two hertes thorowe one assent in my presence togyther accorden to enduren tyl dethe hem departe?

The reader can compare my own construction (next note) and quickly appreciate the staggering difficulty of "editing" TL.

898 withdrawen by might. Understand "all those virtues withdrawn (see benommen, line 896), if she so behaves, by might . . . etc."

899 Why than shuldest. Jellech: "That is, why should Usk any longer fear that he is loving above his degree?" (p. 238).

902 hertes thorowe. Skeat: hertes [that] thorowe.

905-06 Do waye, do waye . . . nothyng of this. Compare T&C 2.890-04 (emphasis added):

"But wene ye that every wrecche woot
The parfite blisse of love? Why, nay, iwys!
They wenen all be love, if oon be hoot.
Do wey, do wey, they woot no thyng of this!"

906 consente of two hertes alone. On the role of consent in marriage in the Middle Ages, see Baldwin, pp. 6-7, 75-76.

920 haven the. Skeat: haven [by] the, followed by Leyerle.

922 He is. Th: he his. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

925 they. Th: thy. Skeat's emendation, followed by Jellech and Leyerle.

926 prophete. David, in Psalm 95.5: "For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils."

929 nowe reasonable. Skeat: now [art thou a] resonable, followed by Leyerle.

936 abjection. Skeat: objeccion, followed by Jellech.

937 last objection. I.e., his poverty, see chapter 3, lines 331-32.

960-61 Alas, thou that knyttest . . . amenden these defautes? Compare Boece I. m 5.1-2, 31-35.

974 and yet dyddest. Skeat inserted "before that" in front of any thing, but, as Jellech observes, "the mere addition that [after any thing], possibly omitted by the printer by repetition of true were in the following line, completes the meaning; i.e., `you performed in that office by advice of superiors all the business that was transacted.'" (p. 245).

975 ended. Leyerle emends to [ne]ded (p. 284).

1012-15 Leyerle construes the sense as follows: "He (that false friend) was never separated easily from fair fortune." The point is that a false friend follows fortune. No emendation is needed. The next sentence follows the same logic, but is elliptical in sense. "Your own good (i.e., worldly adversity), therefore, leaves it (i.e., what is properly yours) yet with you" (p. 286).

1014 never from that. Schaar emends to ever from thee.

1020 if that Margarite denyeth. Schaar: "it is very probable that there is a simple transposition of letters, and that the correct reading is: And if that Margarite deyneth now nat to suffre her vertues shyne to thee-wardes with spredinge bemes etc. Deynen, moreover, is a word that exactly fits in with the idea of the unresponsive lady, the standard figure of Courtly Love" (p. 13).

1024 lette us syngen. Skeat suggests an imitation of the metres in Boethius, "which break the prose part of the treatise at frequent intervals" (p. 463).