73. The authoress had to wait till the other ladies also arrived in the centre of the maze. Cf. note to l. 736.
82. sad, settled, staid. demure, sober; lit. mature.
83. blewe, blue; which was the colour of constancy; see note to C. T., F 644 (vol. v. p. 386). For the lady's name was Perseverance. It is convenient to enumerate here the officers who are mentioned. They are: Perseveraunce, usher (91); Diligence (133, 198, 728); Countenance, porter (177, 277, 295); Discretion, purveyour (263); Acquaintance, herbergeour (269); Largesse, steward (318); Belchere, marshall (322); Remembrance, chamberlain (336); Avyseness, or Advisedness, secretary (343); and Attemperance, chancellor (508). The chief Lady is Loyalty (98), dwelling in the mansion of Pleasant Regard (170).
87. Here word means 'motto.' I here collect the French mottoes mentioned, viz. Bien et loyalement (88); Tant que je puis (208); A moi que je voy (308); Plus ne purroy (364); A endurer (489). Afterwards, four ladies are introduced, with the mottoes Sans que jamais (583); Une sanz chaungier (590); Oncques puis lever (598); and Entierment vostre (616). These ladies afterwards present petitions, on which were written, respectively, the phrases Cest sanz dire (627); En dieu est (645); Soyez en sure (666); and Bien moneste (675). The words, or mottoes, were embroidered on the sleeves of the ladies (119). See Lydgate's Temple of Glas, 308-10.
224. They said a pater-noster for the benefit of St. Julian, because
he was the patron-saint of wayfarers. 'Of this saynt Julyen somme saye that this is he that pylgryms and wey-faryng men calle and requyre for good herberowe, by-cause our lord was lodgyd in his hows'; Caxton's Golden Legend. The story occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, c. xviii., and in the Aurea Legenda. The following extract from an old translation of Boccaccio, Decam. Day 2. Nov. 2, explains the point of the allusion. 'Nevertheless, at all times, when I am thus in journey, in the morning before I depart my chamber, I say a pater-noster and an Ave-Maria for the souls of the father and mother of St. Julian; and after that, I pray God and St. Julian to send me a good lodging at night'; &c. Dunlop, in his Hist. of Fiction, discussing this Novella, says: 'This saint was originally a knight, and, as was prophecied to him by a stag, he had the singular hap to kill his father and mother by mistake. As an atonement for his carelessness, he afterwards founded a sumptuous hospital for the accommodation of travellers, who, in return for their entertainment, were required to repeat pater-nosters for the souls of his unfortunate parents.'
241. Because she was to change her dress, and put on blue; see ll. 258-9, 313-4, 413.
457. The reference is to the Legend of Good Women, which contains the story of Phyllis, Thisbe, and 'Cleopataras.' Cf. l. 465.
463. Hawes, probably the same name as Havise, which occurs in the old story of Fulke Fitzwarine. But it is remarkable that MS. A. has the reading:—'That other sydë was, how Enclusene'; and this looks like an error for Melusene, variant of Melusine. This would agree with the next line, which means 'was untruly deceived in her bath.' The story of Melusine is given in the Romance of Partenay. She was a fairy who married Raymound, son of the Earl of Forest, on the understanding that he was never to watch what she did on a Saturday. This he at last attempts to do, and discovers, through a hole in the door, that she was in a bath, and that her lower half was changed into a serpent. He tries to keep the knowledge of the secret, but one day, in a fit of anger, calls her a serpent. She reproaches him, and vanishes from his sight. See the Romans of Partenay, ed. Skeat (E.E.T.S.).
465. From Chaucer's poem of Anelida and the false Arcite; vol. i. p. 365; for her Complaint, see the same, p. 373.