N’il n’est dame ne damoisele,
Soit vielle ou jone, laide ou bele,
Qui vie en ce monde reçoive,
Qui de ces deus tonneaus ne boive.
C’est une taverne planière,
Dont Fortune la tavernière
Trait aluine et piment en coupes’ &c. 6836 ff. (ed. Méon).
Gower has applied the idea especially to the subject of love, and has made Cupid the butler instead of Fortune. The basis in Homer is Il. xxiv. 527 ff.,
δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Διὸς οὔδει, κ.τ.λ.
360. trouble is properly an adjective, cp. v. 4160. The corrupt reading ‘chere’ for ‘cler’ has hitherto obscured the sense.