Of course the sense is—'too hot to hold.' Tyrwhitt quotes a similar phrase from Froissart, v. i. c. 229, 'ne laissoient riens a prendre, s'il n'estoit trop chaud, trop froid, ou trop pesant.'
1439. 'Were it not for my extortion, I could not live.'
1451. 'What I can thus acquire is the substance of all my income.' See note to A. 256; and Feck in the New Eng. Dictionary.
1456. Read ben'cite; and observe the rime: prey-e, sey ye. Pronounce: (prei·yə, sei·yə), where (ə) represents the obscure vowel, or the a in China.
1459. Such questions were eagerly discussed in the middle ages; see l. 1461-5.
1463. make yow seme, make it seem to you. Tyrwhitt has wene (for seme), which occurs in MS. Cp. only.
1467. iogelour, juggler; for their tricks, see F. 1143. Wright says:—'The jogelour (joculator) was originally the minstrel, and at an earlier period was an important member of society. He always combined mimicry and mountebank performances with poetry and music. In Chaucer's time he had so far degenerated as to have become a mere mountebank, and as it appears, to have merited the energetic epithet here applied to him.' Cf. my note to P. Plowman, C. xvi. 207.
1472. Read abl' is. MS. Hl. has:—'As most abíl is our-e pray to take.' Cf. F. habile, for which Cotgrave gives one meaning as 'apt unto anything he undertakes.'
1476. pryme, 9 A.M., a late time with early risers. See note to B. 4045, p. 250.