7. Nice: foolish; French, “niais.”
8. Claw us on the gall: Scratch us on the sore place. Compare, “Let the galled jade wince.” Hamlet iii. 2.
9. Hele: hide; from Anglo-Saxon, “helan,” to hide, conceal.
10. Yern: eagerly; German, “gern.”
11. Wiss: instruct; German, “weisen,” to show or counsel.
12. Dante, “Purgatorio”, vii. 121.
13. “Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator” — “Satires,” x. 22.
14. In a fabulous conference between the Emperor Adrian and the philosopher Secundus, reported by Vincent of Beauvais, occurs the passage which Chaucer here paraphrases: — “Quid est Paupertas? Odibile bonum; sanitas mater; remotio Curarum; sapientae repertrix; negotium sine damno; possessio absque calumnia; sine sollicitudinae felicitas.” (What is Poverty? A hateful good; a mother of health; a putting away of cares; a discoverer of wisdom; business without injury; ownership without calumny; happiness without anxiety)
15. Elenge: strange; from French “eloigner,” to remove.