123. agnelet, little lamb; not in the New E. Dict., because this stanza is now first printed.
126. habounde, abundant; of this adj. the New E. Dict, gives two examples.
128. Cockle, shell; referring to the shell in which the pearl was supposed to be generated by dew. See note to I. ii. 12. 47, p. 475.
129. 'O bush unbrent'; C. T., B 1658; see the note, fyrles, set on fire without any fire (i.e. without visible cause).
132. Referring to Gideon's fleece; Judges, vi. 39.
133. Referring to Aaron's rod that budded; Heb. ix. 4.
134. misty, mystic; cf. 'mysty, misticus,' in Prompt. Parv.
arke, ark; the ark of the covenant.
probatik; certainly the right reading (as in MS. Sl.), instead of probatyf or probatyfe, as in A. and Thynne. The reference is to the O.F. phrase piscine probatique, which Godefroy explains as being a cistern of water, near Solomon's temple, in which the sheep were washed before being sacrificed. The phrase was borrowed immediately from the Vulgate version of John v. 2: 'Est autem Ierosolymis probatica piscina, quae cognominatur hebraice Bethsaida'; i.e. the reference is to the well-known pool of Bethesda. The Greek has: ἐπὶ τῇ προβατικῇ κολυμβήθρα. The etymology is obvious, from Gk. πρόβατον, a sheep. We may translate the phrase by 'sheep-cleansing pool.' Cotgrave explains it very well; he has: 'piscine probatique, a pond for the washing of the sheep that were, by the Law, to be sacrificed.'