211. For any perhaps read a; the line runs badly.
218. 'It is easier to keep a thing than acquire it.'
236. assysed, appointed; as in Conf. Amant. i. 181; iii. 228.
251. 'Let men be armed to fight against the Saracens.'
253. Three points; stated in ll. 254, 261-2, and 268; i.e. the church is divided; Christian nations are at variance; and the heathen threaten us.
281-3. These are the nine worthies; of whom three were heathen (281), three Jewish (282), and three Christian (283); as noted in Reliquiæ Antiquæ, i. 287. Sometimes they varied; thus Shakespeare introduces Hercules and Pompey among the number; L. L. L. v. 2. 538. Machabeus, Judas Maccabeus. Godfray, Godfrey of Bouillon. Arthus, King Arthur.
294. For men, MS. T. has pes = pees; which perhaps is better.
295. For tennes, as in Thynne, the Trentham MS. has the older spelling tenetz, which gives the etymology of 'tennis.' Tenetz is the imperative plural of the verb tenir, and must have been a cry frequently used in the jeu de paume; probably it was used to call attention, like the modern 'play!' This is the earliest passage in which the word occurs. 'No one can tell whether he will win or lose a "chace" at tennis, till the ball has run its course.' Chace is a term 'applied to the second impact on the floor (or in a gallery) of a ball which the opponent has failed or declined to return; the value of which is determined by the nearness of the spot of impact to the end wall. If the opponent, on both sides being changed, can "better" this stroke (i.e. cause his ball to rebound nearer the wall) he wins and scores it; if not, it is scored by the first player; until it is so decided, the "chace" is a stroke in abeyance'; New E. Dict.
306. be gete, begotten, be obtained; begete gives no sense.
323. lyf, life; not as in l. 86. See 1 Cor. xiii. 1.