3248. pere-ionette, early-ripe pear. Tyrwhitt refers us to a F. poire jeunette, or an Ital. pero giovanetto, i. e. very young pear-tree; but I believe the explanation is as imaginary as are these terms, which I seek for in vain. I take it that he has been misled by a false etymology from F. jeune, Ital. giovane, young, whereas the reference is to the early-ripe pear called in O. F. poire de hastivel (F. hâtiveau); see hastivel in Godefroy. The corresponding E. term is gennitings, applied to apples, but applicable to pears also; and I take the etymology to be from F. Jean, John, because such apples and pears ripen about St. John's day (June 24), which is very early. Cotgrave has: 'Hastivel, a soon-ripe apple, called the St. John's apple.' Littré, s. v. poire, has: 'La poire appellée à Paris de messire Jean est celle qu'en Dauphiné et Languedoc l'on nomme de coulis.' Lacroix (Manners, &c. during the Middle Ages, p. 116) says that, in the thirteenth century, one of the best esteemed pears was the hastiveau, which was 'an early sort, and no doubt the golden pear now called St. Jean.' Finally, we learn from Piers Plowman, C. xiii. 221, that 'pere-Ionettes' were very sweet and very early ripe, and therefore very soon rotten; see my note to that line. The text, accordingly, compares this young and forward beauty to the newe (i. e. fresh-leaved) early-ripe pear-tree; and there is much propriety in the simile. Of course, this explanation is somewhat of a guess; and perhaps I may add another possible etymology, viz. from jaune, yellow, with reference to the golden colour of the pear. Cf. jaulnette, in Cotgrave, as a name for St. John's wort, and the form floure-jonettis in the King's Quair, st. 47.
3251. 'With silk tassels, and pearls (or pearl-shaped knobs or buttons) made of the metal called latoun.' Such is Tyrwhitt's simple explanation. In Riley's Memorials of London, p. 398, we find that a man was accused of having 'silvered 240 buttons of latone ... for
purses.' The notes in Warton are doubly misleading, first confusing latoun with cheklatoun (which are unconnected words), and then quoting the expression 'perled cloth of gold,' which is another thing again. As to latoun, see note to C. 350, and cf. A. 699, B. 2067, &c.
3254. popelote, darling, poppet. Not connected with papillon, but with F. poupée and E. puppet. Halliwell gives: 'Poplet, a term of endearment, generally applied to a young girl: poppet is still in common use.' Cotgrave has: 'Popelin, masc. a little finicall darling.' Godefroy gives: 'poupelet, m. petit poupon.'
3256. Wright says: 'The gold noble of this period was a very beautiful coin; specimens are engraved in Ruding's Annals of the Coinage. It was coined in the Tower of London [as here said], the place of the principal London mint.' It was worth 6s. 8d., and first coined about 1339. See C. 907, and note.
3258. 'Sitting on a barn.' Repeated in C. 397.
3261. bragot, a sweet drink, made of ale and honey fermented together; afterwards, the honey was replaced by sugar and spice. See Bragget in New E. Dict. The full receipt for 'Braket' is given in Strutt, Manners and Customs, iii. 74; it contained 4 gallons of ale to a pint of honey. In 1783, it was made of ale, sugar, and spices, and drunk at Easter; Brand, Pop. Antiq. i. 112. Spelt bragot, Palladius on Husbandry, p. 90, l. 812; &c. Of British origin; Welsh bragawd; cf. O. Irish brac, later braich, malt. See also the note on Bragott in the Catholicon, ed. Herrtage.
3262. Cf. 'An appyll-hurde, pomarium'; Catholicon Anglicum.
3263-4. These two lines are cited by Dryden with approval, in the Preface to his Fables, as being 'not much behind our present English.' We are amazed to find that Dryden condemns Chaucer's lines as unequal; and coolly remarks that 'equality of numbers ... was either not known, or not always practised in Chaucer's age.' The black-letter editions which Dryden read were, in fact, full of misspelt words; but even in them, he might have found plenty of good lines, if he had not been so prejudiced and (to say the truth) conceited.
3268. prymerole, primrose; as in Gower, C. A. iii. 130. pigges-nye, pig's eye, a term of endearment; pig's eyes being (as Tyrwhitt notes) remarkably small. Cf. 'Waked with a wench, pretty peat, pretty love, and my sweet pretty pigsnie'; Peele, Old Wives' Tale, ed. Dyce (1883), p. 455, col. 1. And see Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 28, ii. 97, 104. In fact, it is common. Brand, quoting Douce (Illust. of Shak. ii. 151), says that 'Shadwell not only uses the word pigsney in this sense, but also birdsney [bird's eye]; see his Plays, i. 357, iii. 385.' See also pigsney in Todd's Johnson, where one quotation has the form pigs eie. An ye became a nye; hence the pl. nyes, and even nynon (= eyne), as in Halliwell. See note to P. Plowman, C. xx. 306, where bler-eyed, i. e. blear-eyed, appears as bler-nyed in the B-text.