The covent lay eke upon the pavement Weping and herying Criftes moder dere; And after that they risen, and forth ben went, 13610 Ther he is now God lene us for to mete. With curfed Jewes, as it is notable, For it n'is but a litel while ago, Pray eke for us, we finful folk unftable, 13615 And faide thus; What man art thou? quod he: Thou lokest as thou woldeft find an hare, 13626 For ever upon the ground I see thee ftare. Approche nere, and loke up merily. Now ware you, Sires, and let this man have place; He in the wafte is fhapen as wel as I. 13630 .13623. to japen he began] So mf. E.; fome mí. read tho began, This were a popet in an arme to enbrace Say now fomwhat, fin other folk han faide; 13635 For other Tale certes can I non But of a rime I lerned yore agon. Ye, that is good, quod he; we fhullen here 13640 THE RIME OF SIRE THOPAS. The Rime of Sire Thopas] A northern Tale of an outlandish knight, purpofely uttered by Chaucer in a rime and ttyle dis fering from the reft, as though he himself were not the author but only the reporter of the other Tales. Urry. .13650. A: Popering] Poppering or Poppeling was the name of a parish in the marches of Calais : our famous antiquary Leland was once Rector of it. Tanner, Bibl. Brit. in v. Leland. And lord he was of that contree, As it was Goddes grace. Sire Thopas was a doughty fwain, White was his face as paindemaine, 13655 His here, his berde, was like fafroun, 13660 That to his girdle raught adoun; His fhoon of Cordewane; Of Brugges were his hofen broun; His robe was of chekelatoun, That coste many a Jane. 13665 .13655. paindemaine] That this must have been a fort of remarkably white bread is clear enough. Skinner derives it from panis matutinus, pain de matin; and indeed Du Cange mentions a fpecies of loaves or rolls called Matinelli. However, I am more inclined to believe that it received its denomination from the province of Maine, where it was perhaps inade in the greateft perfection. I find it twice in a northern tale called The Freiris of Berwick, mf. Maitland; And als that creil is full of breid of Mane. And again-the Mane breid. . 13664. chekelatoun] The gloffaries fuppofe this word to be compounded of cheke and latoun, a fpecies of bafe metal like gold; but it seems rather to be merely a corruption of the Fr. ciclaton, which originally fignified a circular robe of itate, from the Gr. Lat. cyclas, and afterwards the cloth of gold of which fuch robes were generally made. Du Cange, in v. Cyclas, has produced inftances enough of both fenfes. In fact several mff. read ciclaton; and I have no excufe for not having followed them but that I was mified by the authority of Spenfer, as. quoted by Mr. Warton, Obf. on Speaf. v. i. p. 194. Upon further confideration I think it is plain that Spenfer was mistaken in the He coude hunt at the wilde dere, And ride on hauking for the rivere Ful many a maide bright in bour 13670 13675 13680 very foundation of his notion," that the quilted Irish jacket "embroidered with gilded leather" had any resemblance to the "robe of hecklaton." He supposes that Chaucer is here describing Sir Thopas as he went to fight against the giant, in his robe of hecklaton; whereas, on the contrary, it is evident that Sir Thopas is here described in his ufual habit in time of peace: his warlike apparel, when he goes to fight against the giant, is described below, ver. 13786, and foll. and is totally different. V. 13665. a Jane] A coin of Janua, (Genoa) called in our ftatutes galley halfpence. See the quotations from Stow in Mr. Warton's Obf. on Spenf. v. i. p. 180. V.13667. bauking for the rivere] See the note on ver. 6466. . 13671. Ther ony ram] See the note on ver. 550. V. 13682. a launcegay] The editt. have fplit this improperly into two words, as if gay were an epithet. It occurs as one word He priketh thurgh a faire forest, And as he pricked north and eft, I telle it you, him had almefte 13685 Betidde a fory care. Ther fpringen herbes grete and smale, 13690 The licoris and the fetewale, And many a cloue gilofre, The briddes fingen, it is no nay, The fperhauk and the popingay, That joye it was to here, 13695 in Rot. Parl. 29 H.VI. n. 8.; "And the faid Evan then and there "with a launcegay fmote the faid William Thresham threughe "the body a foote and more, whereof he died." Nicot defcribes a zagaye to be a Moorith lance longer and slenderer than a pike, from the Span. Arab. azagaya. .13692. cloue gilofre] Clou de girofle, Fr. caryophyllus, Lat. a clove-tree, or the fruit of it. Sir J. Mandeville, c. xxvi. defcribing a country beyond Cathaie, fays; " And in that con tree, and in other contrees thereabouten, growen many trees that beren clowe gylofres and notemuges, and grete notes of ❝ Ynde, and of canelle and of many other spices."---But the moft appofite illuftration of this paffage is a fimilar description in Chaucer's R. R. ver. 1 360-72-in the original, ver. 1347 —50. See also a note of an ingenious correspondent in Mr. Warton's Obf. on Spens. v. i. p. 139, ed. 1762, where this paffage is very properly adduced to fhew that The Rime of Sire Thopas was intended as a burlefque on the old ballad romances. |