[639-40]. 'Although thou mayst accompany those whom he is not pleased to assist.' Nearly repeated in Troilus, i. 517, 518.
[652]. In a note upon the concluding passage of the Cant. Tales, Tyrwhitt says of the House of Fame:—'Chaucer mentions this among his works in the Leg. Good Women, verse 417. He wrote it while he was Comptroller of the Custom of Wools, &c. (see Bk. ii. l. 144-8 [the present passage]), and consequently after the year 1374.' See Ward's Chaucer, pp. 76, 77, with its happy reference to Charles Lamb and his 'works'; and compare a similar passage in the Prol. to Legend of Good Women, 30-6.
[662]. Cf. Dante, Inf. i. 113, which Cary thus translates:—
—'and I, thy guide,
Will lead thee hence through an eternal space.'
[678]. Long y-served, faithfully served for a long time, i.e. after a long period of devotion; alluding to the word servant in the sense of lover.
[681]. Alluding to sudden fallings in love, especially 'at first sight.' Such take place at haphazard; as if a blind man should accidentally frighten a hare, without in the least intending it. We find in Hazlitt's collection of Proverbs—'The hare starts when a man least expects it'; p. 373.
[682]. Iolytee and fare, happiness and good speed. The very same words are employed, but ironically, by Theseus in the Knight's Tale, A 1807, 1809. The hare also accompanies them; id. A 1810.
[683]. 'As long as they find love to be as true as steel.' Cf. Troilus, iv. 325:—'God leve that ye finde ay love of steel.'
[689]. 'And more beards made in two hours,' &c. 'Yet can a miller make a clerkes berd'; (Reves Tale), C. T., A 4096. 'Yet coude I make his berd'; C. T., D 361. Tyrwhitt's note on the former passage is: 'make a clerkes berd,' i.e. cheat him. Faire la barbe is to shave, or trim the beard; but Chaucer translates the phrase literally, at least when he uses it in its metaphorical sense. Boccace has the same metaphor, Decamerone, viii. 10. Speaking of some exorbitant cheats, he says that they applied themselves 'non a radere, ma a scorticare huomini' [not to shave men, but to scarify them]; and a little lower—'si a soavemente la barbiera saputo menare il rasoio' [so agreeably did the she-barber know how to handle the razor]. Barbiera has a second and a bad sense; see Florio's Dictionary.