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. 100—'His heart and hand both open and both free.' It may be remarked, once for all, that readers frequently entirely misunderstand passages in our older authors, merely because they forget what great changes may take place in the sense of words in the course of centuries.
13. Largesse, i. e. the personification of liberality; 'thou bestowest perfect happiness.'
14. Cf. original, l. 15—'Quer [for] tu es de salu porte.' Scan by reading—Háv'n of refút. But in l. 33, we have réfut.
15. Theves seven, seven robbers, viz. the seven deadly sins. We could easily guess that this is the meaning, but it is needless; for the original has—'Par sept larrons, pechies mortez,' l. 17; and a note in the Sion Coll. MS. has—'i. seven dedly synnes.' The theme of the Seven Deadly Sins is one of the commonest in our old authors; it is treated of at great length in Chaucer's Persones Tale, and in Piers Plowman.
16. 'Ere my ship go to pieces'; this graphic touch is not in the original.
17. Yow, you. In addressing a superior, it was customary to use the words ye and you, as a mark of respect; but, in prayer, the words thou and thee were usual. Hence, Chaucer has mixed the two usages in a very remarkable way, and alternates them suddenly. Thus, we have thee in l. 5, thou in l. 6, &c., but yow in l. 17, thy in l. 19, you in l. 24; and so on. We even find the plural verbs helpen, l. 104; Beth, l. 134; and ben, l. 176.
20. Accioun, action, is here used in the legal sense; 'my sin and confusion have brought an action (i. e. plead) against me.' It is too close a copy of the original, l. 25—'Contre moy font une accion.'
21. I. e. 'founded upon rigid justice and a sense of the desperate nature of my condition.' Cf. 'Rayson et desperacion Contre moy veulent maintenir'; orig. l. 29. 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.'