14. 'This appears to mean, that the knight had himself acquired his land, and held it in fee simple (verrey purchas), not entailed nor settled; and that, consequently, he had a right to divide it among his children as he pleased. The housbond in this case means a man who was kept at home looking after his domestic business and his estates, and who could not be wyde-wher,' i. e. often far from home; note by Mr. Jephson. See ll. 58-61 below, which prove that the knight had partly inherited his land, and partly won it by military service. Cf. Chaucer, Prol. 256, 319. In the Freres Tale (D. 1449) we find:—
'And here I ryde about my purchasing,
To wite wher men wolde yeve me any-thing;
My purchas is theffect of al my rente.'
I cannot think that Dr. Morris is right in explaining purchasing by 'prosecution'; see Purchas in the Glossary.
16. hadde, might have; the subjunctive mood.
20. on lyve, in life; now written a-live or alive. Lyve is the dat. case, governed by on, which constantly has the sense of 'in' in A.S. and M.E.
23. ther, where. The reader should note this common idiom, or he will miss the structure of the sentence. Cf. ll. 33, 52, 66, &c.
31. ne dismay you nought, do not dismay yourself; i. e. be not dismayed or dispirited.
32. 'God can bring good out of the evil that is now wrought.' Boot, advantage, remedy, or profit, is continually contrasted with bale or evil; the alliteration of the words rendered them suitable for proverbial phrases. One of the commonest is 'When bale is hext, then boot is next,' i. e. when evil is highest (at its height), then the remedy is nighest. This is one of the Proverbs of Hendyng; see Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, part ii. p. 40. So, in l. 34, Boote of bale means 'remedy of evil,' good out of evil. See note to l. 631.