And kenneth hem this tale,
Super cathedram Moisi sederunt principes
For-thi I wende that tho wyes
Wern Do-best-of-alle.
I nile not scorne, etc.
[6223]. an heepe of houndes. "Walter de Suffield, bishop of Norwich, bequeathed by will his pack of hounds to the king, in 1256. Blomefield's Norf. ii, 347. See Chaucer's Monke, Prol. v, 165. This was a common topic of satire. It occurs again fol. xxvii, a [l. [3321], of the present Edition]. See Chaucer's Testament of Love, page 492, col. ii, Urr. The Archdeacon of Richmond, on his visitation, comes to the priory of Bridlington in Yorkshire, in 1216, with ninety-seven horses, twenty dogs, and three hawks. Dugd. Mon. ii, 65." Warton.
[6251]. Psal. xix, 8.
[6259]. the abbot of Abyngdone. There was a very ancient and famous abbey at Abingdon in Berkshire. Geoffrey of Monmouth was abbot there. It was the house into which the monks, strictly so called, were first introduced in England, and is, therefore, very properly introduced as the representative of English monachism.
[6266]. Isai. xiv, 4, 5.
[6289]. Ecclesiasticus x, 10.