abby. Of these cells some were altogether subject to their respective abbies, who appointed their officers, and received their revenues; while others consisted of a stated number of monks, who had a prior sent them from the abby, and who paid an annual pension as an acknowledgment of their subjection; but, in other matters, acted as an independent body, and received the rest of their revenues for their own use. These priories or cells were of the same order with the abbies on whom they depended. See Tanner, Pref. Not. Monast. p. xxvii.'—Todd, Illustrations of Chaucer, p.326. Cf. note to l. 670, and especially the note to D. 2259.
173. The reule (rule) of seint Maure (St. Maur) and that of seint Beneit (St. Benet or Benedict) were the oldest forms of monastic discipline in the Romish Church. St. Maur (Jan. 15) was a disciple of St. Benet (Dec. 4), who founded the Benedictine order, and died about A.D. 542.
174. Note that streit, mod. E. strait, A. F. estreit, from Lat. strictus, is quite distinct from mod. E. straight, of A. S. origin.
175. The Harl. MS. reads, 'This ilke monk leet forby hem pace' (error for leet hem forby him pace?), 'This same monk let them pass by him unobserved.' hem refers to the rules of St. Maur and St. Benet, which were too streit (strict) for this 'lord' or superior of the house, who preferred a milder sort of discipline. Forby is still used in Scotland for by or past. pace, pass by, remain in abeyance; cf. pace, pass on, proceed, in l. 36. hem, them; originally dat. pl. of he.
176. space, course (Lat. spatium); 'and held his course in conformity with the new order of things.'
177. yaf not of, gave not for, valued not. yaf is the pt. t. of yeven or yiven, to give.
a pulled hen, lit. a plucked hen; hence, the value of a hen without its feathers; see l. 652. In D. 1112, the phrase is 'not worth a hen.' Tyrwhitt says, 'I do not see much force in the epithet pulled'; but adds, in his Glossary—'I have been told since, that a hen whose feathers are pulled, or plucked off, will not lay any eggs.' Becon speaks of a 'polled hen,' i. e. pulled hen, as one unable to fly; Works, p. 533; Parker Soc. It is only one of the numerous old phrases for expressing that a thing is of small value. See l. 182. I may add that pulled, in the sense of 'plucked off the feathers,' occurs in the Manciple's Tale; H. 304. And see Troil. v. 1546.
text, remark in writing; the word was used of any written statement that was frequently quoted. The allusion is to the legend of Nimrod, 'the mighty hunter' (Gen. x. 9), which described him as a very bad man. 'Mikel he cuth [much he knew] o sin and scham'; Cursor Mundi, l. 2202. It was he (it was said) who built the tower of Babel, and introduced idolatry and fire-worship. All this has ceased to be familiar, and the allusion has lost its point. 'We enjoin that a priest be not a hunter, nor a hawker, nor a dicer'; Canons of King Edgar, translated; no. 64. See my note to P. Plowman, C. vi. 157.
179. recchelees (in MS. E.) means careless, regardless of rule; but 'a careless monk' is not necessarily 'a monk out of his cloister.' But the reading cloisterless (in MS. Harl.) solves the difficulty; being a coined word, Chaucer goes on to explain it in l. 181. See the quotation from Jehan de Meung in the next note.