185. Hette, promised (incorrectly). The M.E. haten, to promise, is a complicated verb; see the excellent examples in Mätzner's Dictionary, and in Grein's A. S. Dict., s. v. hátan. It had two past tenses; the first heet, a strong form, meaning 'promised, commanded,' answering to A.S. héht and Goth. haihait; and the second hette, hatte, a weak form, meaning 'I was named,' answering to A. S. hátte (used both as a present and a past tense without change of form) and to the Goth. present passive haitada. Chaucer has here used the intransitive weak past tense with the sense of the transitive strong one; just as he uses lernen with the sense of 'teach.' The confusion was easy and common.
190. But grace be, unless favour be shewn me. See, shall see; present as future.
191. Tern 2. Shall I complain to my lady? Not so; for she is in distress herself. Lovers may be as true as new metal, and yet suffer. To return: my lady is in distress, and I ought to mourn for her, even though I knew no other sorrow.
197. 'But if she were safe, it would not matter about me.'
205. 'They might readily leave their head as a pledge,' i. e. might devote themselves to death.
206. Horowe, foul, unclean, filthy, scandalous; pl. of horow, an adj. formed from the A.S. sb. horu (gen. horwes). filth; cf. A.S. horweht, filthy, from the same stem horw-. The M.E. adj. also takes the form hori, hory, from A.S. horig, an adj. formed from the closely related A.S. sb. horh, horg, filth. As the M.E. adj. is not common, I give some examples (from Mätzner). 'Hit nis bote a hori felle,' it is only a dirty skin; Early Eng. Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 19, l. 13. 'Thy saule ... thorugh fulthe of synne Sone is mad wel hory wythinne,' thy soul, by filth of sin, is soon made very foul within; Reliquiæ Antiquæ, ii. 243. 'Eny uncleene, whos touchynge is hoory,' any unclean person, whose touch is defiling; Wyclif, Levit. xxii. 5. 'Still used in Devon, pronounced horry'; Halliwell.
218. Tern 3. Why did the Creator institute love? The bliss of lovers is so unstable, that in every case lovers have more woes than the moon has changes. Many a fish is mad after the bait; but when he is hooked, he finds his penance, even though the line should break.
219. Love other companye, love or companionship.
229. Read putt'th; as a monosyllable.