v. 113. _chere_] i. e. spirit,—or reception.
v. 115. _Oracius to recorde_] i. e. Horace to witness.
v. 126. _Measure is treasure_] Lydgate mentions this as “an olde prouerbe:” see his verses on Moderation, _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 29, and his poem beginning “Men wryte of oold how _mesour is tresour.” Id._ 2255. fol. 143.
—— _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 137. _a rest_] i. e. a wrest—by which the strings of harps and other musical instruments were drawn up.
v. 138. _All trebyllys and tenours be rulyd by a meyne_] “Intercentus, a _meane_ of a songe.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. In the notes on Shakespeare, in Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ &c., _mean_ is wrongly explained—tenor: what the _mean_ was, depended entirely on the nature of the composition.
v. 149. _skyll_] i. e. reason: see note on v. 106.
v. 150. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 151. _It is no maystery_] “_Maystry_ done by delyuernesse _ung tovr de souplesse, appertise_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvi. (Table of Subst.); and see note, p. 113. v. 329.
“So me helpe God! queth Beues tho, _Hit were no meistri_ me to slo, For this is the ferthe dai agon Mete ne drinke ne bot I non.”
_Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 68. Maitl. ed.
“That is _lytel maystry_ sayd syre launcelot to slee myn hors.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xix. c. iiii. vol. ii. 369. ed. Southey.
Page 230. v. 153. _herdely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 231. v. 166. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 175. _Conuenyent_] i. e. Fit, suitable.
v. 178. _syttynge_] i. e. proper, becoming,—a word very common in our early poetry (altered unnecessarily to “fyttynge” in the Roxburgh reprint of this piece).
—— _lawe_] i. e. low: so again in v. 2541, “nowe hy, nowe _lawe_ degre.”
Page 232. v. 202. _losyll so lyther_] i. e. scoundrel so wicked.
v. 209. _plenarly_] i. e. fully, entirely.
v. 213. _Had I wyste_] See note, p. 86. v. 40.
v. 230. _lyghtly_] “_Lightly_ or sone [i. e. soon]. Leuiter.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499: or, easily.
Page 233. v. 231. _to moche_] i. e. too much.
v. 234. _a poppynge fole_]—_fole_, i. e. fool. “He is a _popte fole_ or a starke fole for the nones. Homo fatuitate monstrabilis.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. P iii. ed. 1530. And see note, p. 231. v. 39.