He talks of the queen being taken (at chess), l. 6735—
'Car la fierche avoit este prise
Au gieu de la premiere assise.'
He cannot recount all Fortune's tricks (l. 6879)—
'De fortune la semilleuse
Et de sa roë perilleuse
Tous les tors conter ne porroie.'
629. Cf. 'whited sepulchres'; Matt. xxiii. 27; Rom. de la Rose, 8946.
630. The MSS. and Thynne have floures, flourys. This gives no sense; we must therefore read flour is. For a similar rime see that of
nones, noon is, in the Prologue, 523, 524. Strictly, grammar requires ben rather than is; but when two nominatives express much the same sense, the singular verb may be used, as in Lenvoy to Bukton, 6. The sense is—'her chief glory and her prime vigour is (i. e. consists in) lying.'