386. mormal, a cancer or gangrene. Ben Jonson, in imitation of
this passage, has described a cook with an 'old mortmal on his shin'; Sad Shepherd, act ii. sc. 2. Lydgate speaks of 'Goutes, mormalles, horrible to the sight'; Falls of Princes, bk. vii. c. 10. In Polit. Religious and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 218, we are told that the sin of Luxury 'ys a lyther mormale.' In Skelton's Magnificence, l. 1932, Adversity is made to say—'Some with the marmoll to halte I them make'; and it is remarkable that Palsgrave gives both—'Mormall, a sore,' and 'Marmoll, a sore'; the latter being plainly a corrupt form. See also Prompt. Parvulorum, p. 343, note 5. In MS. Oo. i. 20, last leaf, in the Camb. Univ. Library, are notices of remedies 'Por la maladie que est apele malum mortuum.' The MS. says that it comes from melancholy, and shows a broad hard scurf or crust.
387. blank-manger, a compound made of capon minced, with rice, milk, sugar, and almonds; see Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 9. Named from its white colour.
The Shipman.
See the essay on Chaucer's Shipman in Essays on Chaucer, p. 455.
388. woning, dwelling; from A. S. wunian, to dwell.
by weste = westward. A good old expression, which was once very common as late as the sixteenth century.
389. Dartmouth was once a very considerable port; see Essays on Chaucer, p. 456. Compare the account of the Shipman's Gild at Lynn; E. Gilds, p. 54.
390. rouncy, a common hackney horse, a nag. Cf. Rozinante. 'Rocinante—significativo de lo que habia sido cuando fué rocin, antes de lo que ahora era.' Don Quijote, cap. 1. 'From Rozin, a drudge-horse, and ante, before.' Jarvis's note. The O. F. form is roncin; Low Lat. runcinus. The rouncy was chiefly used for agricultural work; see Essays on Chaucer, p. 494.
as he couthe, as he knew how; but, as a sailor, his knowledge this way was deficient.