NOTE IV.
On which the slightest touch alone would kill.—p. 24. l. 6.
An unfortunate mistake in printing the word trill instead of kill, has made this appear ridiculous: it alludes to the old proverb—
You should neither tell friend nor foe
Where life-blood go.
Any wound in a place while this pulsation passed through being esteemed fatal.
NOTE V.
Abrupt his native accents broke.—p. 50. l. 7.
The Anglo-Norman dynasty, with their martial nobility, down to the reign of Edward III. continued to use, almost exclusively, the Romance or ancient French language; while the Saxon, although spoken chiefly by the vulgar, was gradually adopting, from the rival tongue, those improvements and changes, which fitted it for the use of Chaucer and Gower. In the introduction to the Metrical Romance of Arthur and Merlin, written during the minority of Edward V. it appears that the English language was then gaining ground. The author says, he has even seen many gentlemen who could speak no French (though generally used by persons of that rank), while persons of every quality understood English.—Sir Tristrem.