Rois Ekenbright fut enfermez,
Et de grant mal forment greuez;
Bien siet n’en poet garrir.
[Here Argentille is Goldborough, and Ekenbright answers to Athelwold. This quotation, and others below, shewing the passages of the French text which most nearly resemble the English poem, are from a MS. in the Herald’s College, marked E. D. N. No. 14. See the Preface.]
[[118.] Wat shal me to rede, lit. what shall be for a counsel to me. See Rede in the Glossary to William of Palerne.
[130.] And don hem of þar hire were queme, lit. and do them off where it should be agreeable to her; i.e. and keep men at a distance as she pleased. Such seems to me the meaning of this hitherto unexplained line.
[132.] For me we ought probably to read hit.]
[136.] He sende writes sone onon. We must here, and in l. 2275, simply understand letters, without any reference to the official summonses of parliament, which subsequently were so termed, κατ’ εξοχην. The word briefs is used in the same sense by the old French writers, and in Laȝamon we meet with some lines nearly corresponding with the present; see ll. 6669-6678.
[[175.] þa. Frequently written for þat. See William of Palerne.]
[189-203.] Ther-on he garte, &c. Compare the French Romance, ll. 215-228.