Geoffrey Chaucer

“ Maintenir, to maintain an action, is a legal term. So, in l. 22, sustene means 'sustain the plea.'
24. 'If it were not for the mercy (to be obtained) from you.'
25. Literally—'There is no doubt that thou art not the cause'; meaning, 'Without doubt, thou art the cause.' Misericorde is adopted from the original. According to the usual rule, viz. that the syllable er is usually slurred over in Chaucer when a vowel follows, the word is to be read as mis'ricord-e. So also sov'reyn, l. 69. ”

“ Koch suggests that our-e is dissyllabic; but this would make an unpleasing line; 'That yé | ben fróm | veng'áunce | ay oú | re targe ||.' I hope this was not intended; 'fróm | veng'áun | cë áy | our' would be better.
177. The words of Zechariah (xiii. 1) are usually applied to the blood of Christ, as in Rev. i. 5. Chaucer omits ll. 266-7 of the French.
180. 'That were it not (for) thy tender heart, we should be destroyed.'
181. Koch, following Gg, reads—'Now lady bright, siththe thou canst and wilt.' I prefer 'bright-e, sith'; brighte is a vocative. ”

“ To werre; F. 'pour guerre,' l. 173; i. e. 'by way of attack.' Us may be taken with wroughte, i. e. 'wrought for us such a wonder.' Werre is not a verb; the verb is werreyen, as in Squi. Ta. l. 10.
119. Ther, where, inasmuch as. 'We had no salvation, inasmuch as we did not repent; if we repent, we shall receive it.' But the sentence is awkward. Cf. Mark i. 4; Matt. vii. 7.
122. Pause after both-e; the e is not elided.
125. Mene, mediator; lit. mean (intermediate) person. So in P. Plowman, B. vii. ”

“ Otherwise, read Kálendér's (Koch) .
76. Him thar, i. e. it needs not for him to dread, he need not dread. It occurs again in the Cant. Tales, A 4320, D 329, 336, 1365, &c.
80. Resigne goes back to l. 112 of the original, where resiné (= resigne) occurs.
81. Here the French (l. 121) has douceur; Koch says it is clear that Chaucer's copy had douleur; which refers to the Mater dolorosa. ”

“ Compare the original, l. 11.
8. Answers to l. 6 of the original—'Vaincu m'a mon aversaire.' Perhaps Venquisht is here the right form; similarly, in the Squieres Tale, F 342, the word vanisshed is to be read as vanísh'd, with the accent on the second syllable, and elision of e. See Ten Brink, Chaucers Sprache, § 257. Otherwise, read Venquis-shed m'hath; cf. mexcuse, XVI. 37 (p. 397) .
11. Warne, reject, refuse to hear. So in P. Plowman, C. xxiii. 12, 'whanne men hym werneth' means 'when men refuse to give him what he asks for.'
12. Free, liberal, bounteous. So in Shak. Troilus, iv. 5. ”