Here Mr. Dyce also explains it by hind, or servant, whereas the context requires the opposite meaning of a despised master. Halliwell gives—'Heyne, a miser, a worthless person'; but without a reference. It means 'miser' in Udall's translation of Erasmus' Apophthegmes (1564), where it occurs thrice. Thus, in bk. i. § 106, we find: 'Soch
a niggard or hayn, that he coulde not finde in his harte ... to departe with an halfpeny.' In the same, § 22, we find: 'haines and niggardes of their purse'; and, for a third example, see note to Parl. Foules, 610 (vol. i. p. 523). The word seems to be Scandinavian; cf. Icel. hegna, Dan. hegne, to hedge in, Swed. hägna, to fence, guard, protect; whence Lowl. Sc. hain, to hedge in, to preserve, to spare, to save money, to be penurious (Jamieson).
1320. 'This priest being meanwhile unaware of his false practice.' See l. 1324.
1342. Alluding to the proverb—'As fain as a fowl [i. e. bird] of a fair morrow'; given by Hazlitt in the form—'As glad as fowl of a fair day.' See Piers the Plowman, B. x. 153; Kn. Tale, 1579 (A. 2437).
1348. To stonde in grace; cf. Prol. 88; also A. 1173.
1354. By our; pronounced By'r, as spelt in Shakespeare, Mid. Nt. Dr. iii. 1. 14.
1362. nere, for ne were; meaning 'were it not for.'
1381. sy, saw. The scribes also use the form sey or seigh, as in Kn. Tale, 208 (A. 1066); Franklin's Tale, F. 850, in both of which places it rimes with heigh (high). Of these spellings sey (riming with hey) is to be preferred in most cases. See note to Group B, l. 1.
1388. This line begins with a large capital C in the Ellesmere MS., shewing that the Tale itself is at an end, and the rest is the Yeoman's application of it.
1389. 'There is strife between men and gold to that degree, that there is scarcely any (gold) left.'