376. From Jerome (p. 36):—'Sicut in ligno uermis, ita perdit uirum suum uxor malefica.' Quoted in the margin of E., with perdet for perdit. Cf. 'Sicut ... uermis ligno,' Prov. xxv. 20 (Vulgate); not in the A. V.
378. Jerome has (p. 39):—'Nemo enim melius scire potest quid sit uxor uel mulier, illo qui passus est.' (Quoted in E.)
386. byte and whyne, i. e. both bite (when in a bad temper) and whine or whinny as if wanting a caress (when in a good one). It is made clearer by the parallel line in Anelida, l. 157, on which see my note in vol. i. p. 535.
389. Cf. our proverb—'first come, first served.' Hazlitt quotes the medieval Lat. proverb—'Ante molam primus qui venit, non molat imus.' And Mr. Wright quotes the French proverb of the fifteenth century—'Qui premier vient au moulin premier doit mouldre.' Cotgrave, s. v. Mouldre, has the same; with arrive for vient, and le premier for premier.
392. hir lyve, i. e. during their (whole) life. With ll. 393-6, cf. Le Rom. de la Rose, 14032-42.
399. colour, pretext; as in Acts, xxvii. 30.
401. In the margin of Cp. and Ln. is the medieval line: 'Fallere, flere, nere, dedit Deus in muliere.' Pt. has the same, with statuit for dedit.
406. grucching, grumbling; mod. E. grudge. Hl. has chidyng.
407. Suggested by the complaint of a jealous man to his wife, in Le Roman de la Rose, 9129:—