Notes and Illustrations. 299 
the editions I have been able to examine read “ lesse worthie than 
theefe to be whipt,” I suspect the correct reading to be “ lesse 
worthie than /heese to be whipt.””. The mistake might easily occur 
through the similarity of the old s and f The meaning, as the 
lines read at present, is not very clear, but if we adopt the suggested 
reading, the sense becomes at once apparent:—‘‘In Bridewell 
many are stripped for flogging who do not deserve it so much as 
these.” 
63. 16. ‘‘ Take them ” =arrest them. 
63. 18. “Mo,” lit.=more; but also used in the sense of others. 
«This use of mo is not common, but there are a few examples of 
it. Thus in Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, we have at 
p- 47, 1. 51, 
«VY sike for vnsete 
Ant mourne ase men dop mo,” 
ze. ‘I sigh for unrest, and mourn as offer men do.’ And on the 
next page (48, l. 22) we have 
‘ Mody menep so dop mo, 
Ichot ycham on of po,’ 
te. ‘The moody moan as others do; I wot I am one of them.’ 
Somewhat similar is the expression oper mo, where we should now 
say others as well, Piers Plowman, C. Text, Passus v. 10.” —Rev. 
W. Skeat, in note to 1. 1039 of Chaucer, Clerke’s Tale, Clarendon 
Press Series. Jo is also used in the same sense in 67, I1, p. 154. 
‘“‘ Verlets,” originally a servant to a knight, below page or 
squire, though often used in French Romance as equivalent to 
asquire. ‘Pages, varlefs, ou damoiseaux: noms quelquefois com- 
muns aux ecuyers.”—Cotgrave. Ducange (Gloss. M. et I. Lat.) has: 
“Valet? valecti appellati vulgo magnatum filii, qui necdum militare 
cingulum consecuti erant: vassallorum filii vassa/ef7 dicti.’ Levins 
(Manip. Vocab.) says: ‘‘ Varlett, verna.” See Wedgwood, Dict. 
Eng. Etymology, s.v. Valet. 
63. 19. “ Ruleth the roste;” to rule the roast is to preside at the 
board, to assign what share one pleases to the guests; hence it 
came to mean to domineer, in which sense it is commonly used in 
our old authors. See Nares, s.v. 
64. 1. With this description of an envious neighbour compare 
Langland’s picture of Zavidia (Envy) in Piers Plowman, B. Text, 
E. E. Text Soc., ed. Skeat, Passus v. |. 76. 
64. 3. “His hatred procureth,” etc., his hatred takes pains to 
bring bad to worse, his friendship is like that of Judas who, etc., 
7.e. 18 Selfish. 
64. 9. “His lips out of frame,” ze. are out of order, are not kept 
in order. Cf. the expression “loose in the haft.” 
64. 12. “‘Spials;” so Spenser, Faery Queene, i. 4: 
“« And privie spza/s plast in all his way.” 
Levins (Manip. Vocab.) has “‘ Spyall, arbiter.” 
’ 
