1076. sparre, a square wooden bolt; the bars, which were of iron, were as thick as they must have been if wooden. See l. 990.
1078. bleynte, the past tense of blenche or blenke (to blench), to start, draw back suddenly. Cf. dreynte, pt. t. of drenchen. 'Tutto stordito, Gridò, Omè!' Tes. iii. 17.
1087. Som wikke aspect. Cf. 'wykked planete, as Saturne or Mars,' Astrolabe, ii. 4. 22; notes in Wright's edition, ll. 2453, 2457; and Piers the Plowman, B. vi. 327; and see Leg. of Good Women, 2590-7. Add to these the description of Saturn: 'Significat in quartanis, lepra, scabie, in mania, carcere, submersione, &c. Est infortuna.'—Johannis Hispalensis, Isagoge in Astrologiam, cap. xv. See A. 1328, 2469.
1089. al-though, &c., although we had sworn to the contrary. Cf. 'And can nought flee, if I had it sworn'; Lydgate, Dance of Machabre (The Sergeaunt). Also—'he may himselfe not sustene Upon his feet, though he had it sworne'; Lydgate, Siege of Thebes (The Sphinx), pt. i.
'Thofe the rede knyghte had sworne,
Out of his sadille is he borne.'
Sir Percevalle, l. 61.
1091. the short and pleyn, the brief and manifest statement of the case. Pronounce this is as this; as frequently elsewhere; see l. 1743, E. 56, F. 889.
1100. Cf. 'That cause is of my torment and my sorwe': Troil. v. 654.