[45.] "In the beginning." The first words of St. John's Gospel in the Vulgate.
[46.] purchas. Income from begging.
[47.] lovë-dayës. Days appointed for the amicable settlement of differences, without recourse to law.
[48.] "He wished the sea were guarded." Middelburgh, a port in the Netherlands. Orëwelle, a port in Essex.
[49.] scheeldës. French crowns marked with a shield. Shillings.
[50.] Oxenford. Not the "ford of the ox," but the "ford of the river." Ox, from Celtic esk, ouse, water.
[51.] The word right used, as here, in the sense of very is now considered a vulgarism. "A Southerner would say, 'It rains right hard.'"—Bartlett.
[52.] sawtryë. Psaltery, a Greek instrument of music.
[53.] sownynge. Sounding; that is, in consonance with. Sentence = sense. So, also, construe forme and reverence, above, as meaning propriety and modesty.
