623. religioun, the members of the religious orders, as distinguished from the rest of the clergy.
626. It scheweth, ‘it appears’: cp. Prol. 834.
636. devolte apparantie: the words are pure French, and the French feminine form is as naturally used for the adjective, as in the ‘seinte apparantie’ of Mir. 1124. We cannot apply the English rule of the definite adjective to such combinations as this: cp. note on Prol. 221. However, ‘devoute’ in l. 669 seems to be the plural form.
637. set, present tense: so ll. 650, 707, &c.
648. these othre seculers, ‘the men of the world also.’
650. ‘He makes no reckoning in his account.’
695. As he which &c.; that is simply, ‘feigning to be sick,’ so iv. 1833, ‘As he who feigneth to be wod’; cp. vii. 3955. The expression ‘as he which,’ ‘as sche which,’ is very commonly used by Gower in this sense; cp. i. 925, 1640, &c., and Mir. 27942, ‘Comme cil q’est tout puissant,’ ‘being all-powerful.’
698. Cp. iv. 1180, ‘And thus mi contienance I pike.’ It means ‘he makes many a pretence.’
709. Entamed, ‘wounded’: used in a similar moral sense in Mir. 25161, ‘Car Covoitise les entame.’
713. As forto feigne, i.e. ‘as regards feigning’: so l. 723, ‘as to my ladi diere.’