203. _Herber_, an arbour. This difficult word is fully explained in the New E. Dict., s.v. _arbour_. It is there shewn that the original sense of the M.E. _herber_ or _erber_ was 'a plot of ground covered with grass or turf; a garden-lawn or green.' In the Medulla Grammatices, ab. 1460, we find:--'_Viretum, locus pascualis virens_, a gres-yerd, or an herber.' Subsequently it meant a herb-garden or flower-garden; a fruit-garden or orchard; trees or shrubs trained on frame-work; and then a bower, or 'shady retreat, of which the sides and roof are formed by trees and shrubs closely planted or intertwined, or of lattice-work covered with climbing shrubs and plants, as ivy, vine, &c.' Dr. Murray remarks that 'the original characteristic of the arbour seems to have been the floor and benches of herbage [as here]; in the modern idea the leafy covering is the prominent feature.' The present passage was imitated and amplified by the authoress of The Flower and the Leaf, beginning at l. 49:-- 'a pleasaunt herber well ywrought, That benched was, and with turfes new, Freshly turved, wherof the grene gras, So small, so thicke, so short, so fresh of hew, That most like unto green woll wot I it was; The hegge also, that yede in compas And closed in all the grene herbere, With sicamour was set and eglatere'; &c. So too, in the Assembly of Ladies, st. 7:-- 'Which broght me to an herber fair and grene Made with benches ful crafty and clene.' 208. _Hed_, hidden. This rare form occurs again in Will. of Palerne, 688. The usual M.E. forms are _hud_ and _hid_. Similarly Chaucer uses _ken_ for 'kin' in Book Duch. 438, the usual M.E. forms being _kun_ and _kin_; and we find _ken_ also in Will. of Palerne, 722. These forms are Southern, and mostly Kentish. 213. _The god of love_, Cupid; cf. Parl. Foules, 212. Cf. the description in the E. version of the Rom. of the Rose, ll. 890, 1003. _In his hande_, i.e. leading by the hand; see l. 241. _A quene_, a queen, viz. Alcestis, as we afterwards learn. She is so clothed as to represent a daisy; hence her green dress, golden hair-ornament or caul, and white crown; see l. 218, and note to l. 227. 215. _Fret_ here means a caul of gold wire. They were sometimes set with stones. Cf. Rom. Rose, 1108, and The Flower and the Leaf, 152:--'A riche _fret_ of gold,' &c. See Fairholt, Costume in England. 217. The pause after _smale_ saves the final _e_ from elision. See examples in the Cant. Tales, B 2153, 3281, 3989; &c. We may translate the phrase _and I shal nat lye_ by 'if I am not to lie'; see l. 357, and the note.