81. wro, nook; see wrā in Stratmann.
86. Griffon, griffin; a fabulous monster with the head and wings of an eagle, and the hinder parts of a lion; with probable reference to the Vulture. 'In that contre ben many griffounes ... thei han the body upward as an egle, and benethe as a lyoun.... But o griffoun is more strong thanne .viij. lyouns'; Mandeville's Travels; ch. xxvi. See l. 1317 below.
87. 'A Pelican laid his lure to (attracted to him) these lollers.' The Pelican was supposed to feed its young with blood which it drew from its own breast by wounding it, and was early considered as the type of Christian love or Charity, or of Christ himself; see l. 1293. See the illustration at p. 172 of Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris. Hence it is here supposed to plead on behalf of meekness, in the long passages contained in ll. 95-716, 719-988, 991-1072, 1110-32, 1177-232, 1245-68. The Pelican is responsible for the greater part of the
poem, as the author distinctly says in l. 1373. Anything that is amiss, we are told, must be put down to the Pelican; the author is irresponsible, as it is only a fable.
106. pelure, costly fur; also spelt pellour; but pylloure (as in the old text) is a bad spelling. See Gloss. to P. Plowman.
111. batail, battle. It was notorious that William Spenser, bishop of Norwich, used to lead military expeditions. Thus he led one such expedition into Flanders, in 1382. Cf. l. 128.
129. 'God is not the master of them that consider no man equal to them.'
130. peragall, equal; spelt 'peragal' or 'paragal' in Rich. the Redeless, i. 71. The old text has permagall, where the m is clearly for in; the spelling peringall being intended. Godefroy has O.F. parivel, also parigal, paregal, perigal, paringal [with intrusive n], 'adj. et s., tout à fait ègal, tout à fait semblable.' From Lat. peraequalis.
135. 'Painted and adorned with colours.' Cf. 'peynt and portred'; P. Pl. Crede, 192; 'portreid and paynt,' 121.
139. boystous, rough. The O.F. boistous meant 'lame' (F. boiteux); but Godefroy shews, in his Supplement, that it was also applied to a very rough road (as being likely to lame one); hence, generally, rough, and finally, rude, noisy, as in the E. boisterous; a word of which the etymology has not yet been fully accounted for, but may be thus explained.