3188. _gnof_, churl, lit. a thief; a slang word, of Hebrew origin; Heb. _gan[=a]v_, a thief, Exod. xxii. 1. The same as the mod. E. _gonoph_, the epithet applied to Jo in Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix. Halliwell's Dict. quotes from The Norfolke Furies, 1623--'The country _gnoffes_, Hob, Dick, and Hick, With clubbes and clouted shoon,' &c. Drant, in his tr. of Horace, _Satires_, fol. A i, back (1566), has:--'The chubbyshe _gnof_ that toyles and moyles.' Todd, in his Illustration of Chaucer, p. 260, says--'See A Comment upon the Miller's Tale and the Wife of Bath, 12mo. Lond. 1665, p. 8, [where we find] "A rich _gnofe_; a rich grub, or miserable caitiff, as I render it; which interpretation, to be proper and significant, I gather by the sence of that antient metre: The caitiff _gnof_ sed to his crue, My meney is many, my incomes but few. This, as I conceive, explains the author's meaning; which seems no less seconded by that antient English bard: That _gnof_, that grub, of pesants blude, Had store of goud, yet did no gude."' The note in Bell's Chaucer, connecting it with _oaf_, is wrong. The carpenter's name was John (l. 3501). 3190. This shews that students used often to live in lodgings, as is so common at Cambridge, where the number of students far exceeds the number of college-rooms. 3192, 3. Chaucer himself knew something of astrology, as shewn by his numerous references to it. The word _conclusions_ in l. 3193 is the technical name for 'propositions' or problems. In his Treatise on the Astrolabe, prologue (l. 9), he says to his son Lowis--'I purpose to teche thee a certein nombre of _conclusions_ apertening to the same [97] instrument.' We here learn that one object of astrology was to answer questions relating to coming weather, as well as with reference to almost every other future event. 3195. _in certein houres._ In astrology, much depended on times; certain times were supposed to be more favourable than others for obtaining solutions of problems. The great book for prognostications of weather was the _Calendrier des Bergiers_, an English version of which was frequently reprinted as The Shepheards Kalendar. The old almanacks also predicted the weather; see Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of his Humour, A. i. sc. 1--'Enter _Sordido_, with an almanack in his hand.' 3199. _hende_, gracious, mild; hence, gentle, courteous; orig. near at hand, hence, useful, serviceable; A. S. _gehende_. Ill spelt _hendy_ in Tyrwhitt. Several passages from this Tale are quoted and illustrated by Warton, Hist. E. Poetry, sect. xvi; which see. 3203. _hostelrye_, lodging. Nicholas had his room to himself; whereas it was usual for two or more students to have a room in common, even in college.