Again (at p. 50) Jerome says:—'Valeria, Messalarum soror, amisso Seruio uiro, nulli uolebat nubere. Quae interrogata cur hoc faceret, ait sibi semper maritum Seruium uiuere.'
1457. Notwithstanding the length of Dorigene's complaint, Chaucer seems to have contemplated adding more examples to the list. For in the margin of E. is the note:—'Mem. Strato regulus. Vidi et omnes pene Barbares (sic); cap. xxvio. primi [libri]. Item, Cornelia, &c. Imitentur ergo nupte Theanam, Cleobiliam, Gorgun., Thymodiam, Claudias atque Cornelias; in fine primi libri.' All these names are in Jerome, who says: 'Imitentur ergo nuptae Theano, Cleobulinam, Gorguntem, Timocliam, Claudias atque Cornelias'; &c.
1470. as wis, as (it is) certain; cf. Ancren Riwle, p. 38; Ormulum, l. 2279, &c. Stratmann (ed. Bradley) gives the example also wis so he god is, as surely as he is God. Of course the i is short, as wis rimes with this. Cf. A. S. ge-wis, ge-wiss, Icel. viss, adj., certain, sure. And see wisly, i. e. certainly, in l. 1475.
1472. Referring to the proverb—'Let sleeping dogs lie'; or to one with the same sense. Cf. Troil. iii. 764.
1483. tel is here the right form of the imperative; see l. 1591. So in D. 1298.
1493-8. Of our seven MSS., only E. contains these six lines. They are omitted in most modern editions, except Gilman's. But they occur, as Tyrwhitt pointed out, in the second edition printed by Caxton. In l. 1496, Caxton has him for hir; which, perhaps, is better.
1502. quikkest, most lively, i. e. most frequented.
1503. boun, all ready, prepared; as she was boun implies that she had already set out, and was on her way. Preserved in mod. E., in the form bound, in such phrases as 'the ship is bound for New York.' See Bound, pp., in the New E. Dictionary. Cf. l. 1505.
1525. For which, for which reason, wherefore.
1529-1531. The phrases him were lever and I have lever are here seen to have been both in use at the same time. See, again, ll. 1599, 1600 below.