89, 90. sengle, single. oo-fold, one-fold, as distinct from double. See the whimsical praise of 'double' things in Hood's Miss Kilmansegg, in the section entitled 'Her Honeymoon.'
[XIV. A BALADE: WARNING MEN, ETC.]
6. see at y, see by the outward appearance; cf. C. T., G 964, 1059. This Balade resembles no. XIII. Cf. l. 4 with XIII. 63, 81.
7. et, eateth, eats. This contracted form evidently best suits the scansion. The copy in MS. T. had originally ette, mis-spelt for et, with ettyth written above it, shewing that the old form et was obsolescent. Et (eateth) occurs in P. Plowman, C. vii. 431; and again, in the same, B. xv. 175, the MSS. have eet, eteth, ette, with the same sense. 'The blind eat many flies' is given in Hazlitt's Collection of Proverbs. Skelton has it, Works, ed. Dyce, i. 213; and Hazlitt gives four more references.
9. geson, scarce, rare, seldom found; see note to P. Plowman, B. xiii. 270.
19. Remember to pronounce this is (this's) as this.
25. A common proverb; see note to C. T., G 962.
26. 'But ay fortune hath in hir hony galle'; C. T., B 3537.
29. The proverbial line quoted in T. is here referred to, viz. 'Fallere, flere, nere, tria sunt hec in muliere.' In the margin of the Corpus MS. of the C. T., opposite D 402, is written—'Fallere, flere, nere, dedit Deus in muliere.' See that passage in the Wife's Preamble.
33. sleight; pronounced (sleit), riming with bait; shewing that the gh was by this time a negligible quantity.