or pooles, where they use to keepe them.' The moat round a castle was frequently converted into a stew or fish-pond, and there were few monasteries that had not a well-stored pool. Fish-ponds flowing into one another were common, and they were made on purpose to catch fish in the lower pools. See Ducange v. Lapsus. 353. Woo was his cook. Cf. Idler, No. 33. 'Pease-pudding not boiled enough. Cook reprimanded and sconced in my presence.' sauce poynant sauce piquante. The rage for highly spiced sauces had reached such a height in the reign of Edward III., that their use was limited by Statute. 354. gere, A.S. gearwa, clothing, or in a more general sense, equipments. 355. table dormant. In early Norman times, a board laid upon tressels was used as a table, hence the expression 'bed and board' for 'lodging and food.' About the time of Chaucer, a table was made by fastening the board to its supports, and in that form it usually remained standing in the hall, and was called a table dormant. 'King Arthour then verament, Ordeyned throw hys awne assent, The tabull dormounte withouten lette.' -The Horn of King Arthur. 336-356. The following lines from the Boke of Nurture will shew the nature of a Franklin's feast : 'A Franklen may make a feste Improberabill, with bragot & meth, thus men may meryly ; bakoun serued with pesoun. convenyent for the sesoun; whenne eggis & crayme be gesoun. for the second course by resoun. bakemetes or dowcettes with alle. To serue chambur Sand halle. with bred and chese to calle. plese welle bothe gret and smalle.' 357. at sessions, that is, at the meetings of the Justices of the Peace. By an Act, passed in Chaucer's time (12 Rich. II.), sessions had to be held in every quarter of the year, and oftener if need be. It was thus that they came to be called Quarter Sessions. Sire (1) an elder, (2) a father, (3) a title of respect. The root of the word is senior, from which also sprang the corresponding words in the Romance languages-Ital. Signor, Sp. Señor, Fr. Seigneur, sieur, sire, as also our word Sir. See lines 831 and 834, and Cf. Gower's Conf. Aman., "Of thilke empire He was crowned lord and sire.' 358. Knight of the schire. In 1254, the 38th of Henry III., knights of shires were first summoned to sit in Parliament. Every county had to send two, and they seem to have been elected by military tenants in chief. By the beginning of the 15th century, the privilege of election was considerably extended, for in 7 Henry IV., 'not only all free holders, but all persons whatever, present at the County Court, were declared or rendered capable of voting for the Knight of their shire.' 359. an anlas. In the Roman Partonopex is mentioned' un alesnas bien poignant' which Sir S. Meyrick suggests is a corrup tion of anelacius, the anelacio, or anelace, a knife or short dagger. Matthew Paris says of Petrus de Rivallis-Loricâ erat indutus, gestans anelacium ad lumbare quod clericum non decebat.' gipser, Fr. gibecière, Old Fr. gibassière from gibbasse, a great bunch or hunch-like swelling, literally, therefore, it means something sticking out. The Saxon word pouch is used in line 370. 360. whit as morne milk. The limitation to morning milk is suggestive. 361. schirreve, A.S. scirgerefa, the governor of a county. "The sherife (which is as much as to say the reeve or baily of the shire) is properlie word for word questor provincia, it is he which gathereth up and accounteth for the profits of the shire that come to the Exchequer.'-Smith's Commonwealth. a counter, Fr. conteur, a pleader in court. The Justices when not employed in judicial stations acted as advocates, and were then called 'Serjeant Counters.' 362. vavaser, vavasour, Fr. vavaseur, a word frequently used in Early English, but one to which it is difficult to assign a precise meaning. Some say it denotes a subvassal; others, a middle-class landholder, and a third party would have it denote the degree of nobility next to a baron. The following quotation will show the relation it bore to other dignities :-'Duc est la première dignité, et puis contes, et puis viscontes, et puis barons, et puis chastelains, et puis vavasor, et puis citaen, et puis vilain.’ -Li Livre de jostice et de plait, 67. THE FIVE TRADESMEN OF THE CITY. 363. An Haburdasher—not a seller of needles, tapes, buttons, and other small wares, but a haberdasher of hats. 'The haberdasher of hats,' says Wedgwood, seems named from some kind 6 of stuff called hapertas of which probably hats were made.' A carpenter (Fr. charpentier, a worker in timber), a wright. In describing the Reeve, Chaucer uses both words 'He was a wel good wright, a carpenter.' 364. A Webbe, A.S. webba or webbere, masc., and webbe or webb-estre, fem., a weaver. The word used here was applied to a female as well as to a male weaver. 'My wife was a webbe And wollen cloth made.'-P. P. 2901-2. Webbester was also in use, and seems likewise to have been of common gender, as 'Wollen webbesters And weaveres of lynnen, Taillours and tynkers.'-P. P. 436-8. A Deyer (A.S. deag, deog, deah, a dye or colour), a Dyer. A Tapicer (Fr. tapissier, old form tapicier), an upholsterer. 365. in oo lyveré of a fraternité, in one livery of a brotherhood. Lyveré is from the French livrée, something delivered. It means (1) clothes of a certain pattern, given out at regular periods by a lord or master to the members of his family and to his servants. By a stretch of this meaning, it was made to denote the food and horse provender delivered at stated times; (2) the dress worn by the members of a particular company of men to distinguish them from others. In the literature and statutes of the 14th century, we read of des robes de livrée, des draps de livrée, and des chaperons de livrée, from which we learn that the distinctive mark was not always in the entire costume, but sometimes in one garment, and sometimes in the hood or tippet. A statute passed in the 7th year of Henry IV.'s reign—1406-expressly permits the adoption of such distinctive dress by fraternities and gentz de mestere-tradesmen. 367. gere. See note on line 354, and Cf. Shakespere's line, 'Disguised like Muscovites in shapeless gere.' piked (from A. S. pycan to pick), and allied to the verb peak. It means pointed or trimmed. Cf. 'They be commed and piked and very finely apparelled.'—Bullinger. Hackluyt, in his voyages, speaks of arrow-heads being made of 'Vipers' teeth, bones of fishes, flint stones, and piked points of knives.'-Vol. III., p. 517. 368. i-chapud = chaped, that is, having plates, and metal caps in the sheath. Shakespere speaks of the chape of a dagger' in All's well that ends Well, iv. 3, and of ‘an old rusty sword with a broken hilt and chapeless' in the Taming of the Shrew, iii. 2. According to Wedgwood, the fundamental meaning of this word is something clapt on. 'The Sp. chapa is a small plate of flat metal, leather, or the like.' On examining the words in lines 368-70, it is worthy of note that the Franklin's knife was called an anlas, and his pouch a gipser; and also, that the Man of Law's girdle was called a seint. In the 37 Edwd. III., an Act was passed forbidding all tradesmen, artificers, and yeomen, not worth £500 in goods and chatels, to wear any gold or silver upon their girdles, knives, rings, garters, pouches, ribands, chains, bracelets, or seals.' By the same Act their wives and children were forbidden to wear furs, 'except those of lambs, rabbits, cats, and foxes.' It is probable that the five representatives of the city trades among the pilgrims had possessions which placed them beyond the range of the Act, but it is likely that such an Act would be frequently disregarded. 371. burgeys, Fr. bourgeois, an inhabitant of a bourg or fortified town, as distinguished from a villain who was an inhabitant of a villa or country house, open and unfortified. = 372. Yelde halle Guild hall. Among the Saxons gild signified a fraternity. It is derived from gildan, to pay, and the brotherhood was so designated because every man paid his share of the expenses of the community. Hence their place of meeting is frequently called the guild or guidhall.-Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. i. p. 473. deys, Fr. dais. Prov: deis. This is a word of frequent use in old writers. In the oldest French works, it is used to designate the table at which notables ate. With this usage, compare Matt. Paris, Priore prandente ad magnam mensam quam dais vocamus'. From this, we infer that it is derived from the Lat. discus, so that in its primitive sense, it had the same meaning as our word desk. In later works, it frequently refers to the elevated platform on which the dais or cross table at the head of the long table stood, and this is evidently its meaning here. As a canopy was placed over this platform, at a still later stage, we find the word applied to the canopy that overhung the platform, and this is the most common meaning of the modern French word. was schaply for, as we now say, 'cut out for.' 374. Aldurman, A.S. eald, old; ealda-fœdar, a grandfather; ealdor, an elder; ealdor-apostol, chief apostle; ealdor-biscop, archbishop; ealdor-man, a senator or magistrate. In AngloSaxon times, it denoted a nobleman, next in rank to an Atheling or Prince, and was a title hereditary as well as official. In later times, as the towns grew, it was applied to a governor of a city or borough, and hence the meaning attached to the word here. 'Earl,' says Max Müller, 'the same as the Danish jarl, was, I believe, originally a contraction of elder; earl therefore, and alder in alderman, were once the same word. In Latin, an elder would be senior, and this became changed into seigneur, sieur, and at last dwindled down to sir.' In the Corporation of London, there are 26 Aldermen, including the Lord Mayor. They are chosen by the freemen of the city. An interesting account of the Procession and Ceremonials on the entrance of the Lord Mayor of London into office, is given in Hone's Ancient Mysteries, pp. 246-261. 375. Catel, Fr. chatel, from Lat. capitale, catâllum, literally, capital, property in the sense of goods or money-all kinds of property with the exception of lands. 'How shal I come to catel so To clothe me and to feede'?-P. P. 14342–3. rente, Fr. rente, income or return. The two words as used in this line throw a considerable amount of light on one another. Catel refers to the capital or principal, rente is the rent, income or interest of that principal. Lines 378-80. From these lines, it appears that the honours of aldermen were reflected on their wives, and that these were entitled (1) to be called madame-an honour highly esteemed (See note on line 121); (2) to take precedence of other wives in |