y-go, gone, betaken himself.
287. Hence 'Leane as a rake' in Skelton, Philip Sparowe, l. 913; 'A villaine, leane as any rake, appeares'; W. Browne, Brit. Past. bk. ii. song 1.
290. 'His uppermost short cloak (of coarse cloth).' The syllable -py answers to Du. pije, a coarse cloth; cf. Goth. paida, a coat. Cf. E. pea-jacket. See D. 1382; P. Plowman, B. vi. 191; Rom. Rose, 220.
292. 'Nor was he so worldly as to take a (secular) office.' Many clerks undertook legal employments; P. Plowman, B. prol. 95.
293. 'For it was dearer to him to have,' i. e. he would rather have.
lever is the comparative of M. E. leef, A. S. lēof, lief, dear.
294. The first foot is defective: Twen | ty bo | kes, &c.
296. In the Milleres Tale, Chaucer describes a clerk of a very opposite character, who loved dissipation and played upon a 'sautrye' or psaltery. See A. 3200-20.
fithel is the mod. E. fiddle. sautrye is an O. F. spelling of our psaltery.
297. philosophre is used in a double sense; it sometimes meant an alchemist, as in G. 1427. The clerk knew philosophy, but he was no alchemist, and so had but little gold.