p. [52]. Couleur de rose. A red wine, classified under malmsey (and therefore Greek?), mentioned in the Interlude of the Four Elements.
p. [52]. New ale is wasteful, i.e., people can drink so much of it because it is not intoxicating.
p. [52]. Stale drink. Perhaps an allusion to the lead poisoning which is known to result from drinking ale that has stood in a pewter pot for some time.
p. [52]. Cowche. Any sort of cover. Used perhaps as nowadays to lessen the noise and save the board.
p. [53]. Lay a second cloth. I understand this to mean that one linen cloth was not wide enough to cover the table and to hang down sufficiently; hence, that two were used, overlapping in the middle, and hanging down on each side. By following the directions, literally, it is possible to see what is meant. The outer edge, I take to be that nearest the centre of the room, the inner, next to the wall.
p. [53]. State. A fold or some other ornamental arrangement of the table-cloth. The usher or sewer seems to have twisted or curled it with his rod.
p. [53]. Put a towel round your neck. The achievement described in the following lines is quite possible, if the loaves are small, and makes quite a “mannerly” appearance.
p. [54]. Rennes cloth. Made at Rennes in Brittany, and frequently mentioned in the romances.
p. [54]. Fold it lengthwise, &c. This performance was possibly to give an appearance of cleanliness. The best way to understand the process is to take a towel and try; it is not so complicated as it sounds.
p. [55]. Surnape. This again becomes simple by experiment. The pleat or doubling about a foot from the end of the table, is probably to avoid letting the long cloth fall to the door. When the triple thickness of cloth has been pushed and pulled across the table by the butler and marshal, the pleat is smoothed out and the cloth hangs from eighteen to thirty inches over each end.