722. sclaundre, ill fame, ill report concerning Walter. See l. 730.
738. message, a messenger; Lat. 'nuncios Romam misit.' So in Old English we find prisoun or prison for prisoner; Piers Pl. B. vii. 30.
772. anon, immediately. It was not uncommon in olden times for girls to be married at twelve years of age. The Wife of Bath was first married at that age; see D. 4.
797. Lat. 'magna omnis fortuna seruitus magna est; non mihi licet, quod cuilibet liceret agricolae.'
850. were agrees with the word clothes following; cf. it ben, Piers Plowm. B. vi. 56. She did not really bring her husband even the dower of her old clothes, as they had been taken from her. Lines 851-861 are all Chaucer's own, and shew his delicacy of touch.
866. Lat. 'neque omnino alia mihi dos fuit, quam fides et nuditas.'
871. Probably suggested by Job, i. 21. So l. 902 is from Job, iii. 3.
880-882. These lines are Chaucer's own; l. 880 is characteristic of him. The phrase in l. 880 seems to have been proverbial. Cf. 'I walke as werme, withoute wede'; Coventry Mysteries, p. 28. But Chaucer got it from Le Roman de la Rose, 445; see his translation, l. 454; vol. i. p. 112.
888-889. The latter part of l. 888, and l. 889, are Chaucer's own.
903. lyves, alive; a lyves creature, a creature alive, a living being. Lyves is an adverb, formed like nedes, from the genitive case of the substantive. There are other instances of its use.