15. though men dradden never, even if men never feared.
17. roten, rotten; Wright reads rote of, i. e. root of. Yet his MS. has roten; observe its occurrence in the note to l. 14 above.
19. 'And (men also) see that Sloth holds her in a leash, (for her) to do nothing but sleep, and eat and drink, and devour all that others obtain by toil.' The reading hir refers to Idleness, which, as I have before explained, was a branch of Sloth, and was personified by a female. See notes to ll. 2 and 3 above. Tyrwhitt has hem, which is not in any of our seven MSS.
21. Compare Piers Plowman, B. prol. 21, 22—
'In settyng and in sowyng · swonken ful harde,
And wonnen that wastours · with glotonye destruyeth.'
25. After the legende, following the Legend; i. e. the Legenda Aurea. A very small portion is wholly Chaucer's own. He has merely added a line here and there, such as ll. 488-497, 505-511, 535, 536. At l. 346 he begins to be less literal; see notes to 380, 395, 443.
27. St. Cecilia and St. Dorothea are both depicted with garlands. Mrs. Jameson tells us how to distinguish them in her Sacred and Legendary Art, 3rd ed. 591. She also says, at p. 35—'The wreath of roses on the brow of St. Cecilia, the roses or fruits borne by St. Dorothea, are explained by the legends.' And again, at p. 36—'White and red roses expressed love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland with which the angels crown St. Cecilia.' Red was the symbol of love, divine fervour, &c.; white, of light, purity, innocence, virginity. See ll. 220, 244, 279. The legend of St. Dorothea forms the subject of Massinger's Virgin Martyr.
29. virgin-es must be a trisyllable here; such words are often shortened to a dissyllable. The word thou is addressed to the Virgin Mary. In the margin of MSS. E. and Hn. is written—'Inuocatio ad Mariam.'
30. Speaking of St. Bernard, Mrs. Jameson says—'One of his most