'Tous jors est-il ung seul Fenis'; &c.
Rom. de la Rose, 16179.
'Una est, quæ reparet, seque ipsa reseminet, ales;
Assyrii phœnica uocant.'—Ovid, Met. xv. 392.
Scan: Th' soléyn | feníx | of A | rabye ||. Cf. 'Com la fenix souleine est au sejour En Arabie': Gower, Balade 35.
987. Chaucer refers to Esther again; e.g. in his Merchant's Tale (E 1371, 1744); Leg. of G. Women, prol. 250; and in the Tale of Melibee (B 2291).
997. Cf. Vergil, Æn. i. 630: 'Haud ignara mali.'
1021. In balaunce, i. e. in a state of suspense. F. en balance; Rom. de la Rose, 13871, 16770.
1024. This sending of lovers on expeditions, by way of proving them, was in accordance with the manners of the time. Gower explains the whole matter, in his Conf. Amant, lib. 4 (ed. Pauli, ii. 56):—
'Forthy who secheth loves grace,