Vi PREFACE. 



materials into another form : and here, at all 

 events, is a bundle of what is readiest under 

 my hand. The nature and name of which I 

 must try to make a httle more intelligible 

 than my books have lately been, either in 

 text or title. 



'Meinie' is the old English word for 

 'Many,' in the sense of 'a many' persons 

 attending one, as bridesmaids, when in sixes 

 or tens or dozens ; — courtiers, footmen, and 

 the like. It passes gradually into 'Menial,' 

 and unites the senses of Multitude and 

 Servitude. 



In the passages quoted from, or referred to 

 in, Chaucer's translation of the Romance of 

 the Rose, at the end of the first lecture, any 

 reader who cares for a clue to the farther sig- 

 nificances of the title, may find one to lead him 

 safely through richer labyrinths of thought 

 than mine : and ladder enough also, — if there 

 be either any heavenly, or pure earthly. Love, 

 in his own breast, — to guide him to a pretty 

 bird's nest ; both in the Romances of the Rose 

 and of Juliet, and in the Sermons of St. Francis 

 and St. Bernard. 



The term ' Lecture ' is retained, for though 



