51. In the old astrology, different qualities are ascribed to the different signs. Thus Aries is described as choleric and fiery in MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 15. 18, tract 3, p. 11. So, too, Tyrwhitt quotes from the Calendrier des Bergers that Aries is 'chault et sec,' i. e. hot and dry.
53. agayn, against, opposite to. So also in Kn. Ta. 651 (A. 1509).
54. What for; cf. Mod. Eng. what with. See Kn. Tale, 595 (A. 1453).
59. deys, raised platform, as at English feasts. But this is in Marco Polo too; see vol. iii. p. 473. Cf. Kn. Tale, l. 1342 (A. 2200); and note to Prol. l. 370.
63. In a similar indirect manner, Chaucer describes feasts, &c. elsewhere: see Kn. Ta. 1339 (A. 2197); Man of Lawes Tale, B. 701-707. And Spenser imitates him; F. Q. i. 12. 14; v. 3. 3.
67. sewes, seasoned broths. 'Sewes and potages'; Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 151, l. 523; cf. p. 149, l. 509.
68. Mr. Wright's note on the line is—'It is hardly necessary to observe that swans were formerly eaten at table, and considered among the choicest ornaments of the festive board. Tyrwhitt informs us that at the intronization of Archbp. Nevil, 6 Edward iv, there were "Heronshawes iiijc." [i. e. 400]; Leland's Collectanea, vi. 2: and that at another feast in 1530 we read of "16 Heronsews, every one 12d"; Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, ii. 12.' Heronsew is derived from A. F. heronceau, variant of heroncel. Godefroy gives herouncel, from the Liber Custumarum, i. 304 (14 Edw. II.), and the pl. heroncaulx in an account dated 1330. Cotgrave only has 'Haironneau, a young heron,' and 'Hairon, a heron, herne, herneshaw.' Halliwell quotes 'Ardeola, an hearnesew' from Elyot's Dict. 1559, and the form herunsew from Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 88. Certainly heronsewe is the name of a bird, not of a dish, as some have guessed, by comparing the sewes in l. 67. In fact, the word heronsew (for heron) is still used in Swaledale, Yorkshire. And in Hazlitt's old Plays (The Disobedient Child), vol. ii. p. 282, we have—
'There must be also pheasant and swan;
There must be heronsew, partridge, and quail.'
See the quotations in Nares; also Notes and Queries, 1st Ser. iii. 450, 507; iv. 76; vii. 13; Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 152, l. 539. Cf. handsaw, for hernshaw, in Hamlet, ii. 2. Heroncel, or -ceu, or -ceau, is simply the diminutive form; so also, lioncel, or lionçeau, as a diminutive of lion.