NOTES.
[1] There can be no harm in stating the simple fact, that a long and intimate acquaintance, extending over many years, with the habits and methods of the scribes of the fourteenth century, has made me almost as familiar with the usual spelling of that period as I am with that of modern English.
It is little more trouble to me to write a passage of Chaucer from dictation than one from Tennyson. It takes me just a little longer, and that is all. In Fragments B and C of the Romaunt, many fifteenth-century spellings have been retained.
[2] See my paper on this subject, printed for the Chaucer Society. Prof. Herford has drawn attention to an unlucky misprint in vol. i. p. 80, where I speak of the pp. of the verb to see as y-seen. Of course I meant y-seyn; see the Glossarial Index. He further remarked, quite correctly, that Chaucer never employs the form seen or y-seen, nor ever rimes it with words in -een. Yet this very form, unknown to Chaucer, occurs thrice in Fragment B, viz. in ll. 3066, 4461, 5571; and in each case it rimes with been. This is a strong hint to those who can appreciate it. A highly characteristic word in Fragment B is dool, in the sense of 'grief'; so also is grete, to weep. But I have no space here to continue the argument. The form sloo, to slay, and other peculiarities suggest that the original dialect of Fragment B was not pure Northumbrian, but Lincolnshire or North East Midland.
[3] For example, l. 4690 of the Romaunt is called l. 4693 in Morris's edition; whilst Book IV of Troilus begins, in the same edition, in the wrong place.
[4] This is the real reason why it was necessary to retain the unauthorised order of the Groups introduced by Dr. Furnivall (see vol. iii. p. 434). To initiate yet another mode of reference would have caused much inconvenience.
[5] The following are some of the more remarkable blunders in the old text. 196. myscoueiting. 274. wo omitted; no sense. 379. er omitted; no sense. 442. ay (for shal). 444. grace (!); for face. 567. Two syllables short. 773. hem omitted. 1007. And for As was; no sense. 1018. wyntred; no such word. 1058. prile for prikke; there is no such word. 1089. durst; for thurte. 1187. sarlynysh (!). 1201. gousfaucoun (!). 1281. And she (!); for Youthe; corrected by Ten Brink. 1313. loreyes; no such word. 1334. Mere nonsense. 1369. Parys (!); for paradise. 1399. it omitted. 1447. garden (!); for yerde in. 1453. goodmesse (!); for good mes (see 3462). 1591. entrees (!); for estres. 1608. laughyng (!); for loving. 2285. Farce; for Fard. 2294. knowith (!); for lauhwith or laughith. 2301. pleyneth; for pleyeth. 2236. londes (!); for Loues. 2650. whider (!); for weder. 3337. cherisaunce; for chevisaunce. 3693-8. Though for Thought; rennyng for rewing; come for to me; the merest nonsense. 4322. wente aboute (!); for wende ha bought; (corrected by Kaluza). 4358. in omitted; no sense. 4366. charge; for change. 4372. MS. yone wole; Th. you wol; for yon wal. 4478. Imperfect. Many more errors, of less consequence, might be added to the list.
[6] Roundel 1 has sustene, kene, grene, quene, sene. In sustēne, the long e is close (Ten Brink, Chaucers Sprache, p. 48); the A.S. words are cēne, grēne, cwēn(e), gesēne, all with close e. Roundel 2 has lēne, bēne, mēne, clēne, all with A.S. ǣ or ēa. Also mēne, of French origin, with open ē; Ten Brink, p. 49.
[7] There is no such word as mena. Critics seem to think that In mena means 'in the middle'; but nothing can be more absurd than to decline a French adjective like a Latin one.
[8] The 'slips' on which the glossaries to these works were written were preserved, and have all been incorporated into the Glossarial Index in the present volume.