148. feld, felled, put down, done away with.
153-4. For he ... suffer, a perfect alliterative line; imitated from P. Plowm. C. xxi. 212:—'For wot no wight what wele is, that never wo suffrede.' Clearly quoted from memory; cf. notes to bk. ii. ch. 9. 178, and ch. 13. 86.
157. happy hevinesse, fortunate grief; a parallel expression to lyking tene, i.e. pleasing vexation, in l. 158. These contradictory phrases were much affected by way of rhetorical flourish. For a long passage of this character, cf. Rom. Rose, 4703-50.
158. harse is almost certainly a misprint for harme; then goodly
harme means much the same as lyking tene (see note above). So, in Rom. Rose, 4710, 4733, 4743, we find mention of 'a sweet peril,' 'a joyous pain,' and 'a sweet hell.'
Chap. IV. 2. semed they boren, they seemed to bore; boren being in the infin. mood.
18. For or read for, to make sense; for of disese, for out of such distress come gladness and joy, so poured out by means of a full vessel, that such gladness quenches the feeling of former sorrows. Here gladnesse and joy is spoken of as being all one thing, governing the singular verb is, and being alluded to as it.
25. commensal, table-companion; from F. commensal, given in Cotgrave. See the New E. Dict.
27. soukinges, suckings, draughts of milk; cf. Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 2. l. 4.
36. clothe, cloth. This circumstance is copied from Ch. Boeth. bk. i. pr. 2. l. 19.