'Myght I thaym have spyde,
I had made thaym a berd.'
Towneley Mysteries, p. 144.
[692]. Holding in hond means keeping in hand, attaching to oneself by feigned favours; just as to bear in hand used to mean to make one believe a thing; see my note to Man of Lawes Tale, B 620.
[695]. Lovedayes, appointed days of reconciliation; see note in vol. v. to Chaucer's Prol. 258, and my note to P. Plowman, B. iii. 157. 'What, quod she, maked I not a louedaie bitwene God and mankind, and chese a maide to be nompere [umpire], to put the quarell at ende?' Test. of Love, bk. i. ed. 1561, fol. 287.
[696]. Cordes, chords. Apparently short for acordes, i.e. musical chords, as Willert suggests. It is rather a forced simile, like cornes in l. 698.
[698]. Cornes, grains of corn; see note to Monkes Tale (Group B, 3225).
[700]. Wis, certainly; cf. y-wis. The i is short.
[702]. Impossíble, (accent on i); cf. Clerkes Tale, E 713.
[703]. Pyes, mag-pies, chattering birds; Squi. Ta., F 650.