THE COURT OF LOVE.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Chaucer, Geoffrey and Purves, David Laing
14. Arras: tapestry of silk, made at Arras, in France.
15. Danger, in the Provencal Courts of Love, was the allegorical personification of the husband; and Disdain suitably represents the lover’s corresponding difficulty from the side of the lady.
16. In The Knight’s Tale, Emily’s yellow hair is braided in a tress, or plait, that hung a yard long behind her back; so that, both as regards colour and fashion, a singular resemblance seems to have existed between the female taste of 1369 and that of 1869.
17. In an old monkish story — reproduced by Boccaccio, and from him by La Fontaine in the Tale called “Les Oies de Frere Philippe” — a young man is brought up without sight or knowledge of women, and, when he sees them on a visit to the city, he is told that they are geese.
18. Tabernacle: A shrine or canopy of stone, supported by pillars.
19. Mister folk: handicraftsmen, or tradesmen, who have learned “mysteries.”
20. The loves “Of Queen Annelida and False Arcite” formed the subject of a short unfinished poem by Chaucer, which was afterwards worked up into The Knight’s Tale.
21. Blue was the colour of truth. See note 36 to the Squire’s Tale.
22. Blife: quickly, eagerly; for “blive” or “belive.”
23. It will be seen afterwards that Philogenet does not relish it, and pleads for its relaxation.
24. Feat: dainty, neat, handsome; the same as “fetis,” oftener used in Chaucer; the adverb “featly” is still used, as applied to dancing, &c.
25. Solomon was beguiled by his heathenish wives to forsake the worship of the true God; Samson fell a victim to the wiles of Delilah.
26. Compare the speech of Proserpine to Pluto, in The Merchant’s Tale.
27. See note 91 to the Knight’s Tale for a parallel.
28. Flaw: yellow; Latin, “flavus,” French, “fauve.”
29. Bass: kiss; French, “baiser;” and hence the more vulgar “buss.”
30. Maximian: Cornelius Maximianus Gallus flourished in the time of the Emperor Anastasius; in one of his elegies, he professed a preference for flaming and somewhat swelling lips, which, when he tasted them, would give him full kisses.
31. Dwale: sleeping potion, narcotic. See note 19 to the Reeve’s Tale.
32. Environ: around; French, “a l’environ.”
33. Cast off thine heart: i.e. from confidence in her.
34. Nesh: soft, delicate; Anglo-Saxon, “nese.”
35. Perfection: Perfectly holy life, in the performance of vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and other modes of mortifying the flesh.
36. All the sin must on our friendes be: who made us take the vows before they knew our own dispositions, or ability, to keep them.
37. Cope: The large vestment worn in singing the service in the choir. In Chaucer’s time it seems to have been a distinctively clerical piece of dress; so, in the prologue to The Monk’s Tale, the Host, lamenting that so stalwart a man as the Monk should have gone into religion, exclaims, “Alas! why wearest thou so wide a cope?”
38. The three of fatal destiny: The three Fates.
39. Cythere: Cytherea — Venus, so called from the name of the island, Cythera, into which her worship was first introduced from Phoenicia.
40. Avaunter: Boaster; Philobone calls him out.
41. The statute: i.e. the 16th.
42. “Metamorphoses” Lib. ii. 768 et seqq., where a general description of Envy is given.
43. Golden Love and Leaden Love represent successful and unsuccessful love; the first kindled by Cupid’s golden darts, the second by his leaden arrows.
44. “Domine, labia mea aperies — et os meam annunciabit laudem tuam” (“Lord, open my lips — and my mouth will announce your praise”) Psalms li. 15, was the verse with which Matins began. The stanzas which follow contain a paraphrase of the matins for Trinity Sunday, allegorically setting forth the doctrine that love is the all-controlling influence in the government of the universe.
45. “Venite, exultemus,” (“Come, let us rejoice”) are the first words of Psalm xcv. called the “Invitatory.”
46. “Domine Dominus noster:” The opening words of Psalm viii.; “O Lord our Lord.”
47. “Coeli enarrant:” Psalm xix. 1; “The heavens declare (thy glory).”
48. “Domini est terra”: Psalm xxiv. I; “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” The first “nocturn” is now over, and the lessons from Scripture follow.
49. “Jube, Domine:” “Command, O Lord;” from Matthew xiv. 28, where Peter, seeing Christ walking on the water, says “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water.”
50: “Tu autem:” the formula recited by the reader at the end of each lesson; “Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis.” (“But do thou, O Lord, have pity on us!”)
51. “Te Deum Amoris:” “Thee, God of Love (we praise).”
52. Not Tubal, who was the worker in metals; but Jubal, his brother, “who was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (Genesis iv. 21).
53. “Dominus regnavit:” Psalm xciii. 1, “The Lord reigneth.” With this began the “Laudes,” or morning service of praise.