IN ERTH IT ES A LITILL THING: FOOTNOTES

1 Sir Penny causes [many people] to wear fine clothing / And many to go about on horseback

IN ERTH IT ES A LITILL THING: NOTES

25 till. See OED s.v. Till v.³ signification 1: "To draw, attract, persuade; to entice, allure, coax; to win over."

29 For he . . . trayl syde. "i.e. To wear low trailing gowns" (RHR). Trayl = "To walk with trailing garments" (RHR Glossary).

30 grene. The color green; but also, perhaps, "sexual passion." See MED (n.2).

33 grace. So RHR; MS gce.

34 lese . . . bind. Alludes to the pope's power to "bind and loose." See Matt. 16.19 and 18.18.

41 borgh and wed. Borgh (from OE borg) = surety, pledge, security-money; to borwe = as a pledge, as security. Wed (from OE wedd) = pledge, compact, as in Chaucer's Knight's Tale: "Lat hym be war! his nekke lith to wedde" (I.1218). The author of this lyric often writes in doublets, including some tags from the alliterative tradition. For example: "life and saul" (line 62), "get and wyn" (line 63), "lene and gyf" (line 73), "frith and felde" (line 98, compare line 75), "stede and stall" (line 86), "spere or schelde" (line 97).

44 thai. So RHR (þai); MS he.

52 fase. Scots spelling of foes.

67 hertes. RHR hert es, which may be the correct reading. In the manuscript the letters are crowded together, but there may be a break between hert and es.

81 made . . . softe. That is, he is seated at the place of honor.

92 gifen. So MS; RHR gyfen.

94 gré. The first degree, the prize, the victory, pre-eminence, top of the ladder, reward.

105 Nowther. So MS (nowþer); RHR nouþer.

108 assise. The court of Assizes determined legal matters of fact by means of assessors or jurymen (sisours). See Alford, Glossary, s.v. Sise, and The Simonie line 469 and note.