"An housholder, and that a gret was he;"
the context plainly showing the meaning to be, "hospitable on a great scale." Mr Horne ignorantly translates the words,
"A householder of great extent was he."
In Chaucer we have—
"His table dormant in his halle alway Stood ready covered all the longè day."
The meaning of that is, that any person, or party, might sit down, at any hour of the day, and help himself to something comfortable, as indeed is the case now in all country houses worth Visiting—such as Buchanan Lodge. Mr Horne stupidly exaggerates thus—
"His table with repletion heavy lay Amidst his hall throughout the feast-long day."
In the prologue to the Reve's Tale, the Reve, nettled by the miller, who had been satirical on his trade, says he will
"somdel set his howve For leful is with force force off to showve."
"Howve" is cap—and in the Miller's Prologue we had been told