That Flower of Jesse yet bears the price
As most of heal,
To slake our sorrows every deal.
Stanza vii.
Steven (Cum. w.Yks.), a gathering; an appointment. Hence, to set the steven, a phrase meaning to agree upon the time and place of meeting, O.E. stefn, a voice. The phrase ‘at unset stevene’ occurs in Chaucer’s Knightes Tale, l. 666, and in other early poems. In the Cokes Tale we read concerning ‘Perkin Revelour’ and his friends:
And ther they setten steven for to mete
To pleyen at the dys in swich a strete.
ll. 19, 20.
Shep (Cum. Lin. Som. Dev.), a shepherd. This form is familiar to us as occurring in the opening lines of Piers Plowman:
In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne,