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Mail.] (VI. viii. 6.) Fr. maille; Lat. macula. Cf. Gray's" Bard," 5,
"h.wberk's twisted mail." The more usual form is coat of mail. It
was the old word for armour, and was of three kinds-scale, chain, and
plate.

Malison.] (V. xxv. 9.) Curse. Fr. malichon; Old Eng. malisoun.
Edward the Black Prince, by his will, left to his son Richard his malison
if he should empeche, or suffer to be empeched, his will. Benison is
the converse: cf. "Lay of Last Minstrel," VI. vi. 14.

Mantles.] Vide notes, III. xvii. 6.

Maraud.] Verb. (V. iv. 14.) Marauder, subs. (VI. xxxi. 27), much
more common. Mr. Jeaffreson ("Lady of the Lake," ii. 232) gives a
long list of derivations offered for this word. I wish to add to them, from
Murray's "North Germany," the village Merode.

Mark.] Vide note, I. xi. 11.

Mass.] (IV. xvi. 6; V. xxiv. 9, xxxii. 23.) The name for the cele-
bration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church. It is said to be
derived from the Lat. mitto, because of the dismissal of the non-commu-
nicants: last words of the service, “missa est:" sc. concio. Fr. messe.
Mell.] Meddle, note, IV. xvii. 9.

Mettled.] (I. iii. 7.) High-spirited; probably connected with Germ.
muth, courage. Some connect mettle with metal.

Morion.] (I. ix. 4.) A round iron hat, derived from Moor=a
Moorish helmet: so burganet, a Burgundian helmet.

Morrice-pikes.] (I. x. 1.) Moorish pikes. Cf. Morris-dancers.
Mulct.] Fine (Lat. mulcta).

Mullet.] (VI. ii. 11.) Lat. mola. A term in heraldry. "A mullet is
the rowel of a spur, and hath never but five points; a star hath six.”—
Peacham, "On Blazoning."

Novice,] (through the French, from the Latin novus) at first means
one who is new to a business, a "novice in the trade." In II. ii. 23,
used in a more technical sense: one who has entered a religious house,
but not yet taken the vows, still a probationer.

Offices.] (IV. xv. 19.) Lat. officium, duty. Offices of religion=acts
of worship. Cf. the expression "officiating minister."

Or.] Heraldic term for gold (through the French, from Lat. aurum).

Paladin.] (VI. xxxiii. 11.) A name used in the old romances for
some of the principal lords and knights who followed King Charles the
Great to war, of whom Roland is the most celebrated: by extension
used for knights generally. He is a true Paladin=He has plenty of
claims to bravery and gallantry. Derivation through the French, from
Palatium, and a knight of the king's palace.

Palfrey.] (I. viii. 5.) A showy kind of horse, ridden by nobles on
state occasions; also a small horse, adapted for ladies' use before the
invention of carriages. It comes from Fr. palefroi, the derivation of
which is probably par le frein, by the bridle, because palfreys were so led.
Palisade, pale.] Cf. note, I. ii. 9.

Pallet.] (VI. vi. 5.) A small mean bed. Chaucer spells it paillet,
from Fr. paille, straw. Cf. Campbell's "Soldier's Dream,"

"When reclining that night on my pallet of straw."

Palmer.] Vide note, I. xxiii. 1.

Pardoner.] Vide note, I. xx. 15.

Patter.] (VI. xxvii. 26.) To repeat, or recite hastily. Cf. Chaucer,
"before the people pattere and praie." Cf. "Lay of Last Minstrel," II.
vi. 4; "Save to patter an Ave Mary." It also means, to strike in
quick succession; pattering footsteps, pattering hail. Der. (1.) pat, strike
gently; or (2.) Fr. patte, the foot, and so first of quick succession of
sounds in running. (3.) Old Eng. Patren, pray, from Pater, the first
word of the Lord's Prayer; in Latin, Paternoster.

Peer.] (Fr. pair.) Latin, par, equal.

(1) Equal (I. xxviii. 8, VI. xiv. 17): "He hath na peer," motto of
the Napier family. "No one is to be condemned except by the judgment
of his peers."-Magna Charta.

(2) A lord, noble. (VI. xxxii. 11.) The House of Peers, or Lords.
They were so called because all the nobles had equal privileges.
The two senses will be found together (VI. xiv.).

Pennon.] Vide note on I. iii. 4.

Pensil.] (IV. xxviii. 6.) Lat. pendeo. A hanging flag.
Pentacle.] Vide note III. xx. 22.

Pike.] (I. ix. 4.) A long wooden staff, with a pointed steel head.
It answered the purpose of the modern bayonet.

Plain.] (VI. xii. 5, XII. xiii. 13.) Fr. plaindre. The simple form
of com-plain. Cf. plaintive (VI. xxx. 11), plaintiff, plaint.

Platform.] (I. iv. 7.) Lat. platea. Gr. λarùs. Germ. plat, whence
our plate and flat. A levelled elevation in a fortress on which cannon
are placed. Cf. plateau, platter.

Plight.] (IV. i. 23.) Lat. plicatus. A state of being involved; hence,
condition, state; used absolutely both for good and bad case. Cf.
Swift: "When a traveller and his horse are in heart and plight." It is
to be distinguished from plight, pledge, a word of Teutonic origin.

Plump.] (I. iii. 3.) A knot or cluster, properly applied to wild fowl;
but applied by analogy to a body of horsemen. It is probably derived
from the adjective plump, which means "fat and well-liking," but the
derivation of which is uncertain. It seems, however, in common with
the word clump, a cluster of trees, to be allied with or derived from the
word lump. The following passages illustrate its use:-

"England, Scotland, and Ireland lie all in a plump together, not
accessible but by sea."-Bacon.

"We rested under a plump of trees."-Sandys.

"Spread upon a lake, with upward eye

A plump of fowl behold their foe on high;

They close their trembling troop, and all attend
On whom the sowsing eagle will descend."-Dryden.

"Warwick having espied certain plumps of Scottish horsemen ranging
the field, turned towards the arriere to prevent danger."-Howard.

"There is a knight of the North Country,

Which leads a lusty plump of spears."

Ballad of Flodden Field.

Portcullis.] (I. iv. 13.) Sometimes called Portcluse. "A sort of door
formed of crossbars of iron like a grate. It has not hinges like a door,
but is drawn up by pulleys, and let down when any danger approaches.
It may be let go in a moment, and then falls down into the doorway;
and as it has great iron spikes at the bottom, it crushes all that it
lights upon."-Tales of a Grandfather (Scotland), vol. i. p. 70. Cf. "Lay
of Last Minstrel," VI. iii. 10: "the portcullis, iron grate." Derived
from French, porte-coulisse.

Prick.] (VI. xix. 3.) Lit. to spur; hence to ride hard, gallop. Cf.
Spenser," Faerie Queene," I. i. 1 :—

"A gentle knight was pricking on the plaine.”

And Milton," Par. Lost," ii. 536 :—

"Before each van

Prick forth the airy knights, and couch their spears."

Pricker.] (V. iv. 8, xvii. 16.) A light horseman, whether pricking
with spur (Cf. prick, supra) or lance.

Prime.] (IV. xxxi. 10.) One of the services in the Church before the
Reformation. It was held at six o'clock in the morning, and the name
is derived from Lat. primus, because at the first hour of the day, accord-
ing to the old calculation.

Pursuivant.] Vide note, I. xi. 1.

Quaigh.] Vide note on III. xxvi. 1.

Quiver.] (III. xxvi. 9.) A case for arrows. Prob. deriv., (1) Fr.
couvrir, cover; (2) Fr. cuivre, metal of which the quiver was made.

Ramp.] (IV. xxviii. 18.) Fr. ramper, climb.
caper. So Chaucer :-

To stamp, prance,

"Whan she cometh home, she rampeth in my face
And cryeth, False coward, wreke thy wife!"

Cf. the slang words rampageous and rampage, to stamp about in a rage,
in Dickens's "Great Expectations." The word ramp has a secondary
meaning, to climb, which is its use in heraldry. Peacham, an old
writer on heraldry, says, "Rampant is when the lion is reared up in the
escutcheon, as it were ready to combat with his enemy." Cf. “a ramp-
ing and a roaring lion.”—Ps. xxii. 13, (Prayer-book version.) Perhaps,
however, that ramp is somewhat different, and connected with Lat.
rapere. Cf. Rampart, (VI. ii. 3.)

Recluse.] (V. xxxi. 18.) A person who lives in retirement from the

world. Derived, through French reclus, from Latin recludo, but not in
the classical sense. Recludo means to open (re, back, and claudo, shut).

Rede.] (L'Envoy, 4.) Words. Cf. "Tales of a Grandfather" (Scot-
land), vol. i. p. 30, "Short rede, good rede, slay we the bishop," which
means, "Few words are best, let us kill the bishop." Spenser, "Hymn
of Heavenly Love :"

"Such mercy He by His most holy reade
Unto us taught."

The original meaning of rede (subs. and verb) seems to be advice, to
advise; but afterwards it means speech, to speak. It also means to ex-
plain, to guess, and is here connected with the ordinary English read,
"Read me my riddle." Henry III. (Proclamation, 1248) calls the Par-
liament his redesmen.

Requiem.] (V. xv. 30.) Accusative of Latin requies, rest. It passed
into the English language from being the first word of a hymn used in
the Roman Catholic Church at the funeral mass, praying for the rest of
the soul of the deceased. Cf. "Lay of Last Minstrel," VI. xxx. 16. It
is now used, more generally, for any musical composition in honour of
the dead.

Retrograde.] (III. xx. 26.) Term in astrology, for a backward
movement, and contrary to the order of the signs of the Zodiac.

Rocquet.] Vide note, VI. xi. 19.

Romance.] A tale of adventure, so called because it took its origin
in the southern parts of France, which remained longest under the
Roman influence.

Roundelay.] (III. viii. 16.) Fr. rondelet: a kind of song which
was often combined with a dance. Cf. Shakespeare, "Mids. Night
Dream," I. iii.—

"Come now a roundel and a fairy song."

Of Fr. rondelet we have made roundelay, as though compounded with
lay, a song.

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Rowel.] The wheel of a spur. Cf. mullet, supra. (Fr. roue, wheel.)
Ruth.] (II. xix. 21; IV. i. 25), pity. From rue, which is a Teutonic
word. Germ. reuen, repent. Milton's "Lycidas," I. 163:-

"Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth.”

And Gray's "Bard," 1, "ruthless king."

Sable.] Heraldic term for black. It is properly the skin of an animal
that lives in the northern regions of Asia.

Sackbut.] (IV. xxxi. 4.) A wind instrument; a kind of trumpet
which can be either lengthened or shortened according to the tone
required. In the Bible it is not a wind instrument, but a kind of lyre
or harp. Dan. iii. 5.

Sanguine.] (IV. xxviii. 4.) Of the colour of blood, red. Cf. Shake-
speare, "Henry VI." IV. i. 90.-

"This fellow

Upbraided me about the rose I wear :
Saying the sanguine colour of the leaves
Did represent my master's blushing cheeks."

Milton's "Par. Lost:"-

"A stream of nectarous humour issuing flowed

Sanguine."

Sans.] (I. xxi. 34.) Without: a French word frequently used by
early English writers. Cf. Shakespeare's "Tempest,” I. ii.—

"A confidence sans bound."

And "As You Like It," II. vii. 66 :-

scarce.

"Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

Scaur.] (V. xii. 41.) Cf. Tennyson's "Idylls,” p. 150 a steep
place, broken off. Cf. shear, share, ploughshare, shard (pot-sherd),
Germ. scharren, to scrape. Shoreditch, the ditch that took the
scrapings of the streets. "Scar, a cliff, a naked detached rock, also
written or pronounced scaur in Scotland." (Ogilvy.) There is a rock
called the Scar at Whitby.

Scouts.] (I. ii. 7.) Spies, lit. listeners; from French écouter (escouter).
Scrip.] Vide note, I. xxiii. 16.

Scutcheon.] (I. xi. 2, xii. 20), or escutcheon (through the French
écussor, escusson, from Latin scutum, shield). A shield of arms.

Selle.] (III. xxxi. 10.) Lat. sella. French word for saddle, for-
merly used in English. Cf. Spenser's "Faerie Queene," II. ii. 11, 6 :—

"He left his loftie steed with golden selle."

Scott ("Lay of Last Minstrel," VI. viii. 6) uses it for seat generally :-
"As those that sat in lordly selle."

Seneschal.] Vide note, I. iii. 16.

Seraphim.] (V. xxiii. 6.) Plural of seraph, a Hebrew word. Cf.
Cherubim and Teraphim.

Settle.] (III. iii. 16.) A.-S. setl, Germ. sessel, Lat. sedile, something
on which to sit; used for a bench by Dryden. In Ezek. xliii. 14, 17, xlv.
19 (Vulgate, crepido), it is used in a somewhat different sense, for a
kind of ledge round the bottom of an altar.

Sewer.] Vide note, I. iii. 16.

Shaw.] Vide note, I. xiii. 16.

Sheen.] (1.) Adj. (V. x. 27.) Shining. A.-S. scén, Germ. schön. Cf.
Sheen, old name for Richmond, Surrey. (2.) Subs. (V. viii. 12.)
Splendour.

Shrift.] (VI. xxxi. 6), and shrive.] (I. xxi. 37, VI. xxx. 31.) (A.S.
scrifan, the written penance imposed by priest. Germ. schreiben; Lat.
scribo.) Confession, to confess; also absolution as following confession.
Obsolete since the Reformation. Cf. Tennyson's "Idylls," p. 204 :-

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