In February, Notes

IN FEBRUARY: NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: see Literature of Courtly Love: Introduction

12 whyche. Stow omits.

see of the day. The daisy is popularly known as the "eye of the day" or the "day's eye" (OE daeges eage) because it closes at evening. See Chaucer, LGW F184-86: "men it calle may / The 'daysye,' or elles the 'ye of day,' / The emperice and flour of floures alle."

13 a flowre whyte and rede. The European daisy (bellis perennis) has pink-tipped petals.

14 la bele margarete. On the tradition of French marguerite poetry, see Wimsatt, Marguerite Poetry, pp. 30-39; Nouvet, "'Marguerite,'" pp. 251-76; and Huot, "Daisy and the Laurel," pp. 240-51.

15 on. Stow: in.

18 diligence. T: dilig. Due to cropping here and at lines 18, 19, 32, 34, 35, 43, 44, 46, 47, and 49, the final words are truncated or missing; the readings are supplied from Stow. Fletcher judiciously cautions that "there is only a reasonable presumption that the page was whole in Stow's time" ("Edition of MS R.3.19," p. 357).

47 drope. T: drape.