p. [17]. Fault. Text: that thy salt holds—which the rhyme shows to be corrupt.
p. [18]. Work. Text: keep—changed for the rhyme.
p. [18]. Fingers, i.e., not with thy knife? Or has a negative been omitted?
p. [19]. No drop be seen. So Chaucer’s Prioress. See Introduction, p. [xvi].
p. [19]. Behind no man’s back. There was perhaps originally an idea of greed, or, it may be, of possible tampering with the drink, behind the prohibition.
p. [20]. Jill. From Gillian, once a common name for women.
p. [20]. The same. Text: in same (German zusammen) together.
p. [21]. Cumbered with no fiends. This fear was very real in the Middle Ages, and was fostered by such stories as Robert the Devil, Sir Gowther, and ballads of supernatural beings.
THE YOUNG CHILDREN’S BOOK
MS. Ashmole 61 (Bodleian Library), fol. 20, about 1500.