96. Thynne has—'With al Alisaundres.' The word al is needless, and probably due to repeating the first syllable of Alisaundre.
107. We now come to examples of famous women. Hestre is Esther, and Griseldes, the Grisildis of Chaucer's Clerkes Tale. Others are Judith (in the Apocrypha), Polyxena, Penelope, Helen, Medea, Marcia the daughter of Marcus Cato Uticensis (see note to Legend of Good Women, 252), and Alcestis. They are all taken from Chaucer; Esther, Polyxena, Penelope, Helen, 'Marcia Catoun,' are all mentioned in the 'Balade' in Legend of Good Women, Prologue, B-text, 249-69;
and Alcestis is the heroine of the same Prologue. The Legend contains the story of Medea at length; and Judith is celebrated in the Monkes Tale. See the similar list in IX. 190-210.
110. For Policenes, Ff. has Penilops (!); but Penelope is mentioned in l. 113. Policenes is right; see IX. 190.
115. For Eleynes, the printed editions have the astonishing reading Holynesse, a strange perversion of Heleynes.
121. kerve, cut; suggested by Chaucer's use of forkerveth in the Manciple's Tale, H 340. This is tolerably certain, as in l. 129 he again refers to the same Tale, H 332-4.
130. Chaucer does not mention Cato; he merely says—'Thus lerne children whan that they ben yonge.' Both Chaucer and Lydgate had no doubt been taught some of the sayings of Dionysius Cato in their youth; for see Troil. iii. 293-4. This particular precept occurs in the third distich in Cato's first book; i.e. almost at the very beginning. See note to C. T., H 332 (vol. v. p. 443).
This piece is gently ironical throughout, as, for example, in ll. 15, 23, 31, 39, 47, &c.
30. abit, abideth, abides, remains, is constant.