155. Arcít-e; trisyllabic, as frequently in Kn. Tale.
157. 'Like a wicked horse, which generally shrieks when it bites'; Bell. This explanation is clearly wrong. The line is repeated, with the slight change of pleyne to whyne, in C. T. 5968 (D 386). To pleyne or to whyne means to utter a plaintive cry, or to whinny; and the sense is—'Like a horse, (of doubtful temper), which can either bite or whinny (as if wanting a caress).'
161. Theef, false wretch; cf. Squi. Tale, F 537.
162. Cf. Squi. Tale, F 462, 632.
166. Cf. Squi. Tale, F 448.
169. Cf. Squi. Tale, F 412, 417, 430, 631.
171. Al crampissheth, she draws all together, contracts convulsively; formed from cramp. I know of but four other examples of the use of this word.
In Lydgate's Flour of Curtesie, st. 7, printed in Chaucer's Works, ed. 1561, fol. 248, we have the lines:—
'I gan complayne min inwarde deedly smert
That aye so sore crampeshe at min herte.'