1693. _clergeon_, not 'a young clerk' merely, as Tyrwhitt says, but a happily chosen word implying that he was a chorister as well. Ducange gives--'_Clergonus_, junior clericus, vel puer choralis; jeune clerc, petit clerc ou enfant de choeur'; see Migne's edition. And Cotgrave has--'_Clergeon_, a singing man, or Quirester in a Queer [choir].' It means therefore 'a chorister-boy.' Cf. Span. _clerizon_, a chorister, singing-boy; see New E. Dict.
1694. _That_, as for whom. A London street-boy would say--'_which_ he was used to go to school.' _That ... his_ = whose.
1695. _wher-as_, where that, where. So in Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. i. 2. 58; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 38. See Abbott's Shakesp. Grammar, sect. 135. _thimage_, the image; alluding to an image of the Virgin placed by the wayside, as is so commonly seen on the continent.
1698. _Ave Marie_; so in Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 35. The words were--'Aue Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus uentris tui. Amen.' See the English version in Specimens of Early English, ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 106. It was made up from Luke i. 28 and i. 42. Sometimes the word _Jesus_ was added after _tui_, and, at a later period, an additional clause--'Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.' See Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 315; and iii. pt. 2, 134. [177]
1702. 'For a good child will always learn quickly.' This was a proverbial expression, and may be found in the Proverbs of Hending, st. 9:--
'Me may lere a sely fode [_one may teach a good child_] That is euer toward gode With a lutel lore; Yef me nul [_if one will not_] him forther teche, Thenne is [_his_] herte wol areche Forte lerne more. _Sely chyld is sone ylered_; Quoth Hendyng.'
1704. _stant_, stands, is. Tyrwhitt says--'we have an account of the very early piety of this Saint in his lesson; Breviarium Romanum, vi. Decemb.--Cuius uiri sanctitas quanta futura esset, iam ab incunabulis apparuit. Nam infans, cum reliquas dies lac nutricis frequens sugeret, quarta et sexta feria (i. e. _on Wednesdays and Fridays_) semel duntaxat, idque uesperi, sugebat.' Besides, St. Nicholas was the patron of schoolboys, and the festival of the 'boy-bishop' was often held on his day (Dec. 6); Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 2. 215.