Thomas Usk

“ For
every cause of a cause is cause of thing caused. Than thus:
good thinges and profitable ben by dignitè, honour, and reverence
caused. Ergo, they accorden; and dignites ben good with 10
reverences and honour. But contraries mowen not accorden.
Wherfore, by reson, there shulde no dignitee, no reverence, non
honour acorde with shrewes. But that is fals; they have ben
cause to shrewes in many shreudnes; for with hem they accorden. ”

“ Sc. bevar, 'one who is worn out with age,' according to Jamieson, who merely guesses at the sense, as being perhaps allied to bavard, which he also explains as 'worn out'; although, if from the F. bavard, it rather means talkative, babbling, or idle. I believe that bevar hat simply means 'beaver hat,' formerly used by women as well as by men. Even Dickens alludes to 'farmer's wives in beaver bonnets,' in Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. 5. No doubt a beaver hat was, when new, an expensive luxury, as worn by Chaucer's 'Merchant' (Prol. l. 272) ”

“ For badde is nothing els but absence of good;
and [as] that god in good maketh that good dedes ben good, 265
in yvel he maketh that they ben but naught, that they ben bad;
for to nothing is badnesse to be [lykned] .'
'I have,' quod I tho, 'ynough knowing therin; me nedeth of
other thinges to here, that is to saye, how I shal come to my
blisse so long desyred.' 270
Ch. ”

“ Hazlitt also says that, in Sussex, the 14th of April is supposed to be 'first cuckoo-day'; whereas it would better apply to the nightingale. And again, another proverb says (p. 380) —'The nightingale and the cuckoo sing both in one month.' It is clear that, whatever the facts may be, our ancestors had a notion that these birds arrived nearly at the same time, and attached some importance, by way of augury, to the possibility of hearing the nightingale first. They must frequently have been disappointed. ”

“ As the king is more than his people, and hath in 75
possession al his rëalme after, right so the knot is more than
al other goodes; thou might recken al thinges lasse; and that
to him longeth, oweth in-to his mores cause of worship and of
wil †to turne; it is els rebel and out of his mores defending to
voyde. Right so of every goodnesse; in-to the knotte and 80
in-to the cause of his worship [it] oweth to tourne. And trewly,
every thing that hath being profitably is good, but nothing hath
to ben more profitably than this knot; kinges it mayntayneth,
and hem, their powers to mayntayne. ”

“ It is obvious that the extraordinary word setrone (see the footnote) arose from a desire on the part of the scribe to secure a rime for the name in the next line, which he must have imagined to be An-ti-góne, in three syllables, with a mute final e! This turned secree into secrone, which Thynne probably misread as setrone, since c and t are alike in many MSS. But there are no such words as secrone or setrone; and secree must be restored, because An-ti-go-ne is a word of four syllables. We know whence Lydgate obtained his 'white Antigone'; it was from Troilus, ii. ”

“ For goodnesse, of mans propre body were they
maked, after the sawes of the bible, rehersing goddes wordes in 90
this wyse: "It is good to mankynde that we make to him an
helper." Lo! in paradyse, for your helpe, was this tree graffed,
out of whiche al linage of man discendeth. If a man be noble
frute, of noble frute it is sprongen; the blisse of paradyse, to
mennes sory hertes, yet in this tree abydeth. O! noble helpes 95
ben these trees, and gentil jewel to ben worshipped of every
good creature! He that hem anoyeth doth his owne shame; it is
a comfortable perle ayenst al tenes. ”

“ For al thing, a this halfe the first being, is
being through participacion, taking partie of being; so that [in]
every creature is difference bitwene being of him through whom 25
it is, and his own being. Right as every good is a maner of
being, so is it good thorow being; for it is naught other to be.
And every thing, though it be good, is not of him-selfe good;
but it is good by that it is ordinable to the greet goodnesse.
This dualitè, after clerkes †determinison, is founden in every 30
creature, be it never so single of onhed.' ”

“ For tennes, as in Thynne, the Trentham MS. has the older spelling tenetz, which gives the etymology of 'tennis.' Tenetz is the imperative plural of the verb tenir, and must have been a cry frequently used in the jeu de paume; probably it was used to call attention, like the modern 'play!' This is the earliest passage in which the word occurs. 'No one can tell whether he will win or lose a "chace" at tennis, till the ball has run its course.' Chace is a term 'applied to the second impact on the floor (or in a gallery) of a ball which the opponent has failed or declined to return ”

“ He that hath no worthinesse on it-selfe, now it ryseth
and now it vanissheth, after the variaunt opinion in false hertes
of unstable people. Wherfore, if thou desyre the knotte of this
jewel, or els if thou woldest suppose she shulde sette the knotte 150
on thee for suche maner dignitè, than thou wenest beautee or
goodnesse of thilke somwhat encreseth the goodnesse or vertue in
the body. But dignite [es] of hemself ben not good, ne yeven
reverence ne worshippe by their owne kynde. How shulde they
than yeve to any other a thing, that by no waye mowe they have 155
hem-selfe? ”

“ Aristotle's Metaphysics begins with the words: πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ ἐιδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει, all men by nature are actuated by the desire of knowledge. The reference to this passage is explicitly given in the Romans of Partenay, ll. 78-87; and it was doubtless a much worn quotation. ”

“ If any man yeve to another wight, to whom 130
that he ought not, and whiche that of him-selfe nothing may
have, a garnement or a cote, though he were the cote or els
thilke clothing, it is not to putte to him that was naked the cause
of his clothinge, but only to him that was yever of the garnement.
Wherfore I saye, thou that were naked of love, and of thy-selfe 135
non have mightest, it is not to putte to thyne owne persone,
sithen thy love cam thorow thy Margaryte-perle. Ergo, she was
yever of the love, although thou it use; and there lente she thee
grace, thy service to beginne. ”

“ The earth being taken as the centre of the planetary system, the planets are arranged in the order of the radii of their orbits. The nearest planet is the Moon, then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. ”

“ What hath caused any wight 70
to don any good dede? Fynd me any good, but-if this knotte
be the cheef cause. Nedes mot it be good, that causeth so
many good dedes. Every cause is more and worthier than thing
caused; and in that mores possession al thinges lesse ben
compted. ”

“ Intencion of god was,
that rightfully and blissed shulde resonable nature ben maked, 110
himselfe for to kepe; but neyther blisful ne rightful might it not
be, withouten wil in them bothe. Wil of rightfulnesse is thilke
same rightfulnesse, as here-to-forn is shewed; but wil of blisse
is not thilke blisse, for every man hath not thilke blisse, in whom
the wil therof is abydinge. In this blisse, after every 115
understandinge, is suffisaunce of covenable comoditees without any
maner nede, whether it be blisse of aungels or els thilke that
grace first in paradise suffred Adam to have. ”

“ Mieulx un, one (is) better; evidently cited from a motto or device. The meaning seems to be: it is better to have but one lover, and you have found one in a heart that will never shrink. In the Temple of Glas, 310, Lydgate uses the motto de mieulx en mieulx.
22-3. 'Daisy (born) of light; you are called the daughter of the sun.' Alluding to the name day's eye, which was also applied by Lydgate to the sun; see note in vol. iii. p. 291 (l. 43) . Imitated from Legend of Good Women, 60-4. ”

“ Ergo,
richesse is no cause of the knot. And many men, as I sayd,
setten the cause of the knotte in richesse; thilke knitten the
richesse, and nothing the yvel; thilke persons, what-ever they 35
ben, wenen that riches is most worthy to be had; and that make
they the cause; and so wene they thilke riches be better than the
person. Commenly, suche asken rather after the quantitè than
after the qualitè; and suche wenen, as wel by hem-selfe as by
other, that conjunccion of his lyfe and of his soule is no more 40
precious, but in as mikel as he hath of richesse. Alas! ”

“ The lines of this stanza are wrongly arranged in Thynne, and in every printed edition except the present one; i.e. the lines 12 and 13 are transposed. But as the rime-formula is aabba, it is easy to see that suffyse, devyse, agryse rime together on the one hand, and nyce, vyce, on the other. The pronunciation suffice is comparatively modern; in Chaucer, the suffix -yse was pronounced with a voiced s, i.e. as z. Note the rimes devyse, suffyse in the Book of the Duch. 901-2; suffyse, wyse, devyse, in the C. T., B 3648-9; &c. The MSS. Ff., F., and B. all give the right arrangement. ”

“ Everiche qualitè and every
accion, and every thing that hath any maner of beinge, it is of
god; and god it made, of whom is al goodnesse and al being. 10
Of him is no badnesse. Badde to be, is naught; good to be,
is somwhat; and therfore good and being is oon in
understanding.'
'How may this be?' quod I. 'For often han shrewes me
assailed, and mokel badnesse therin have I founden; and so me 15
semeth bad to be somwhat in kynde.'
'Thou shalt,' quod she, 'understande that suche maner badnesse,
whiche is used to purifye wrong-doers, is somwhat; and god it
made, and being [it] hath ”

“ It thus appears that the lines of Christine's poem are to be taken in the following order: 1-116, 537-54, 126-30, 531-4, 131-96, 721-5, 259-520, 321-5, 271-4, 387-460, 643-77, 608-23, 559-75, 759-800. The following stanzas, on the other hand, are wholly Hoccleve's own: 71-7, 92-8, 127-33, 141-7, 162-8, 176-89, 267-73, 316-29, 379-434. The last set extends to 56 lines.
Cupid, god of Love, is supposed to write a letter to all lovers, who are his subjects, reproving men for their slander and ill-treatment of women, and defending women against all that is alleged against them. ”

“ And so I say: though thou be put to serve the
ilke jewel duringe thy lyfe, yet is that no servage of
underputtinge, but a maner of travayling plesaunce, to conquere and
gette that thou hast not. I sette now the hardest: in my service
now thou deydest, for sorowe of wantinge in thy desyres; trewly, 65
al hevenly bodyes with one voyce shul come and make melody in
thy cominge, and saye—"Welcome, our fere, and worthy to entre
into Jupiters joye! For thou with might hast overcome deth;
thou woldest never flitte out of thy service ”

“ Borrowed from Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 287: 'of whiche the name I wante.' Hence wante, i.e. lack, is the right reading. The rime is imperfect.
155. The missing word is not branches, as suggested by Sir H. Nicolas, nor floures, as suggested by Morris, but leves; as the company of the Leaf is being described; cf. l. 259. The epithets fresh and grene are very suitable. The leaves were of laurel, woodbine, and agnus-castus.
160. For were read ware; see ll. 267, 329, 335, 340; the sense is wore. Chaucer's form is wered, as the verb was originally weak; Gower and Lydgate also use the form wered. ”

“ Soroufully muste I bewayle, and live as a wrecche.
Every of tho joyes is tourned in-to his contrary. For richesse, 55
now have I povertè; for dignitè, now am I emprisoned; in
stede of power, wrecchednesse I suffre; and for glorie of renomè,
I am now dispysed and foulich hated. Thus hath farn Fortune,
that sodaynly am I overthrowen, and out of al welth dispoyled.
Trewly, me thinketh this way in entree is right hard; god graunt 60
me better grace er it be al passed; the other way, lady, me
thought right swete.'
'Now, certes,' quod Love, 'me list for to chyde. ”

“ F. séjour. The O.F. verb was sojorner, sojourner, whence M.E. sojornen, sojournen, correctly used by Chaucer. The sb. sojour occurs in Rom. Rose, 4282, 5150. The mistake is so bad that even the scribe has here written soiorne; but, unluckily, this destroys the rime.
1255. 'Envy is admirably represented as rocking himself to and fro with vexation, as he sits, dark, in a corner.'—Bell. For all this, I suspect the right word is rouketh, i.e. cowers, as in C. T., A 1308. Rokken is properly transitive, as in C. T., A 4157.
1257. For the description of Envy, see Rom. Rose, 247. ”

“ Boece sheweth this thing at the ful, that
this name "good" is, in general, name in kynde, as it is comparisoned 50
generally to his principal ende, which is god, knotte of
al goodnesse. Every creature cryeth "god us made"; and so
they han ful apeted to thilke god by affeccion such as to hem
longeth; and in this wyse al thinges ben good of the gret god,
which is good alone.' 55
'This wonder thing,' quod I, 'how ye have by many resons
proved my first way to be errour and misgoing, and cause [d] of
badnesse and feble meninge in the grounde ye aleged to be roted. ”

“ Reply: a man is better than a beast; yet even for your beasts you make cattle-sheds and stables. Our houses are often poor ones. Did you ever see any that resembled the Tower, or Windsor Castle, or Woodstock? Your lies are shameless; pp. 77-8. I note here Jack Upland's rejoinder; he says that he does not object to the friars having houses, but he objects to the needless grandeur of them; for it does not follow that a man who drinks a quart of wine must therefore proceed to drink a gallon ”

“ Parfit science, in good service, of their desyre to comprehende
in bodily doinge the lykinge of the soule; not as by
a glasse to have contemplacion of tyme cominge, but thilke first
imagined and thought after face to face in beholding. What
herte, what reson, what understandinge can make his heven to be 85
feled and knowe, without assaye in doinge? Certes, noon. Sithen
thanne of love cometh suche fruite in blisse, and love in him-selfe
is the most among other vertues, as clerkes sayn; the seed of
suche springinge in al places, in al countreys, in al worldes shulde
ben sowe. 90
But o! ”

“ Legend of Good Women, 924. 316-29. These two stanzas are wholly original. Hoccleve, remembering that the examples of Medea and Dido both occur in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, here takes occasion to make an express reference to that work, which he here calls 'my Legende of Martres.' My refers to Cupid; Legend, to Chaucer's title; and Martres, to the Latin titles to some of the Legends. Thus the Legend of Hypsipyle and Medea is entitled—'Incipit Legenda Ysiphile et Medee, Martirum.' Instead of Martres, Thynne has the ridiculous reading Natures, which the editions carefully retain. ”

“ I may nat telle, by thousande partes, the wronges in trechery
of suche false people; for make they never so good a bond,
al sette ye at a myte whan your hert tourneth. And they that
wenen for sorowe of you deye, the pitè of your false herte is flowe
out of towne. Alas! therfore, that ever any woman wolde take 70
any wight in her grace, til she knowe, at the ful, on whom she
might at al assayes truste! Women con no more craft in queynt
knowinge, to understande the false disceyvable conjectementes
of mannes begylinges. Lo! how it fareth ”

“ Wyclif uses meyneal to translate Lat. domesticam in Rom. xvi. 5. The sense here is—the exaction of tithes is, with these masters, a household business, a part of their usual domestic arrangements.
325. Lit. 'They betake to farm to their sumners,' i.e. they farm out to their sumners the power of harming people as much as they can; they let their sumners make exactions. The method of doing this is fully exposed in Chaucer's Freres Tale. ”

“ Shal not the loos of thy frendes ayenward dequace thilke
enfame, and saye they graunted a sothe without a stroke or fighting?
Many men in batayle ben discomfited and overcome in
a rightful quarel, that is goddes privy jugement in heven; but
yet, although the party be yolden, he may with wordes saye his 30
quarel is trewe, and to yelde him, in the contrarye, for drede of
dethe he is compelled; and he that graunteth and no stroke hath
feled, he may not crepe away in this wyse by none excusacion.
Indifferent folk wil say: "ye, who is trewe, who is fals, him-selfe
knowlegeth tho thinges." ”