v. 8. lykynge] i. e. joy, pleasure.
Page 2. v. 22. a chery fayre] If this is to be understood as cherry-fair (which I think doubtful), the line ought to be pointed,
“Not certayne, but as a chery fayre, full of wo.”
The first of the following parallel passages is cited by Richardson in his Dict. under Cherry (as also from the same work of Gower,
“And that endureth but a throwe,
Right as it were a cherie feste.”
B. vi. fol. cxxxiii. ed. 1554).
and Mr. Halliwell has obligingly forwarded to me a letter from one of his friends, who states that “cherry-wakes or cherry-fairs used not long since to be held in Worcestershire on Sunday-evenings after divine service, and that in his own village there were three in the season, one for the early cherries, and two others for those of later growth.”
“For all is but a cherie feire
This worldes good, so as thei tell.”