2219. Shewe here means 'to propose' or 'propound.'
2235. See Chaucer's own explanation of the method of propagation of a sound, in the Hous of Fame, 782-821. He seems to have taken it from Boethius, De Musica, i. 14; see vol. iii. p. 260.
2238. my cherl, i. e. my serf; as being his dependant. It probably implies vassalage.
2244. Cf. A. 100. Although the squire was not above winning 'a new gown,' he was probably a young man of (future) equal rank with the lord of the manor. In fact, his scornful boldness proves it.
2247. goune-cloth. 'In the middle ages, the most common rewards, and even those given by the feudal landholders to their dependants and retainers, were articles of apparel, especially the gown or outward robe.... Money was comparatively very scarce in the middle ages; and as the household retainers were lodged and fed, clothing was almost the only article they wanted.'—Wright.
2259. 'The regular number of monks or friars in a convent had been fixed at twelve, with [i. e. besides] their superior; in imitation, it is said, of the number of twelve apostles and their divine master. The larger religious houses were considered as consisting of a certain number of convents. Thus Thorn, speaking of the abbot of St. Augustine's at Canterbury, says:—Anno Domini m.c.xlvi, iste Hugo reparavit antiquum numerum monachorum istius monasterii, et erant lx. monachi professi praeter abbatem, hoc est, quinque conuentus in universo.—Decem Scriptores, col. 1807.'—Wright. That is, this house consisted of sixty-one members, the abbot and five convents of twelve each. The smaller (single) convents were also called cells, and the principal, the prior; see A. 172, and note that, in A. 167, the Monk is said, not to be an abbot, but to be fit to be an abbot. The expression 'his covent,' in l. 2261, shews that the friar confessor was the prior or head of his cell.
2279. 'Yif a frere be a maister, or a riche frere in-mong hise bretheren, he shal be loutid and worshipid more then Cristis lawe techith,' &c.; Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 306.
2281. This implies that the squire, with the rest, had heard the friar preach in church that morning, and had been greatly bored by the sermon.
2289. I supply the word as, which is plainly wanted. MS. Hl. supplies elles, but I believe as to be right. The way in which the second as came to be dropped in this line, is very curious. It arose from misunderstanding the spelling of Ptolemy.