v. 27. Gyb our cat] Gib, a contraction of Gilbert, was a name formerly given to a male cat:
“Gibbe our Cat,
That awaiteth Mice and Rattes to killen.”
Romaunt of the Rose,—Chaucer’s Workes, fol. 136. ed. 1602.
In Gammer Gurtons Nedle, 1575, “Gib our cat” is a person of consequence. Shakespeare (Henry iv. Part First, act i. sc. 2.) has the expression “gib cat;” and how his commentators have written “about it and about it” most readers are probably aware.
v. 29. Worrowyd her on that] So Dunbar;
“He that dois on dry breid wirry.”
Poems, i. 108. ed. Laing.
v. 34. stounde] i. e. moment, time.
v. 35. sounde] i. e. swoon.