[99] There are no portraits, otherwise, of these two princes, whose characters are so clear and forcible all through that some physical description is sorely needed. The portraits of the two sovereigns fit singularly well the fierce, passionate nature of Palamon, and the cooler but equally noble one of Arcite.
[100] Kemped heres: Dr. Morris rejects the usual rendering of the word kemped as combed, and asserts that it means the very reverse, and, “instead of smoothly combed, means bent, curled, and hence rough, shaggy.” A similar term occurs a few lines farther on, describing the hair ‘kempt behind his back,’ where Dr. Morris reads combed. It seems, however, contrary to the rule of courtesy observed by lovers, that a noble knight should appear at a festival like a wild man of the woods. If, on the other hand, the shaggy hairs were on the eyebrow, it certainly adds to the ferocity of his look. I prefer the former reading for Emelye’s bridegroom.
[102] Alauns. A species of dog used for hunting the boar, &c. Sp. alano. Speght says they were greyhounds, Tyrwhitt mastiffs, much esteemed in Italy in the 14th century. See Cotgrave—‘Allan, a kind of big, strong, thick-headed, and short-snowted dog—the brood whereof came first out of Albania.’
[104] A kind of rich silk.
[105] The ‘mantelet’ was at first devised to protect the burnished helmet from becoming inconveniently heated by the sun: it became afterwards fantastic in form, and is the origin of the ‘mantling’ seen in modern coats of arms.
[106] This fair countenance is oddly assigned to an Indian monarch: but some of the details of his appearance are poetic embellishments and must not be relied upon. The white eagle carried for his pleasure is probably one of the many exaggerations for picturesque effect, and is only a magnified falcon, a bird which was at this time the constant companion of the noble: hawking was in high favour, and the bird’s tameness depended on its habituation to its owner’s voice and touch. A little later on the hawks are mentioned as sitting on perches during the festival; such perches were in every room and hall in common life; so provision had to be made for their accommodation on the grandest occasions. In Wright’s ‘Womankind,’ we read: “Different species of the hawk were allotted to persons of the different grades and ranks of society. Thus we are told that the eagle and the vulture belonged to the emperor, from which we must understand that the emperor was not expected to go often a-hawking.” Evidently Chaucer was well read in his books on falconry.
[107] Carole (Tyrwhitt—the other editions have dance) was a round dance.
[108] The term for the whole panoply of knight or steed—armour and coat-armour included.