Page 380. v. 467. birrall enbosid] i. e. beryl embossed.
v. 469.
Enlosenged with many goodly platis
Of golde]
i. e. Having many goodly plates of gold shaped like lozenges (quadrilateral figures of equal sides, but unequal angles).
—— entachid with many a precyous stone]—entachid may be used in the sense of—tacked on; but qy. is the right reading “enhachid?” as in v. 40 of the present poem, “Enhachyde with perle,” &c., (and v. 1078 of Phyllyp Sparowe,) see note, p. 302.
v. 472. whalis bone] In our early poetry “white as whales bone” is a common simile; and there is reason to believe that some of our ancient writers supposed the ivory then in use (which was made from the teeth of the horse-whale, morse, or walrus) to be part of the bones of a whale. Skelton, however, makes a distinction between “whalis bone” and the real ivory (see v. 468). The latter was still scarce in the reign of Henry the Eighth; but, before that period, Caxton had told his readers that “the tooth of an olyfaunt is yuorye.” Mirrour of the world, 1480. sig. f i.
v. 474. The carpettis within and tappettis of pall]—tappettis of pall, i. e. coverings of rich or fine stuff (perhaps table-covers): that tappettis does not here mean tapestry, is proved by the next line; and compare v. 787,
“With that the tappettis and carpettis were layd,
Whereon theis ladys softly myght rest,