[2653]. 'I will not have any reservation.'
[2655]. Y-sene, visible; an adj., not a pp. See l. 1394; and Prol. to Cant. Tales, 592.
[2660]. Siker, secure. The use of the word is precisely like that in the well-known anecdote of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn. Meeting Bruce at the door of the Greyfriars' Church in Dumfries, he asked what tidings. 'Bad tidings,' answered Bruce, 'I doubt I have slain Comyn.' 'Doubtest thou?' said Kirkpatrick; 'I make sicker.' With these words, he and Lindsay rushed into the church and despatched the wounded Comyn. See Note K to Scott's Lord of the Isles, c. 1. st. 27, c. 2. st. 13.
[2661]. Biker, quarrel, altercation; also a skirmish, encounter.
[2662]. 'By him that I have (already) sworn by.' See l. 2642.
[2666]. Costrel, a flask, a kind of bottle. 'Costred, or costrelle, grete botelle, Onopherum, aristophorum'; Prompt. Parv.; see Way's note. 'A Costrelle, oneferum, &c., vbi a flakett'; Cath. Angl. p. 77; see Herrtage's note. See costa, costarez, costarium, costrelli, in Ducange; and coste, costeret, costerel, in Godefroy. In the Craven dialect, a costril is the little wooden barrel carried by reapers.
[2671]. 'Lest that the time may seem long to him.' Ovid alludes to the narcotic drink; Her. xiv. 42:—'quaeque tibi dederam uina, soporis erant.' Cf. Kn. Tale, 614 (A 1472).
[2676]. The line is too short in most MSS. Unless sone be supplied from MS. T., we shall have to scan the line by putting This (with a strong accent) alone in the first foot. Cf. l. 2711, and slur over the o in Lino before and.
[2680]. Cf. Her. xiv. 44:—'Erigor, et capio tela tremente manu.'
[2681]. Accent Zephírus on the i. From Her. xiv. 39:—