3770. _viritoot_ must be accepted as the reading; the reading _verytrot_ in MS. Hl. gives a false rime, as the _oo_ in _woot_ is long. The meaning is unknown; but the context requires the sense of 'upon the move,' or 'astir.' My guess is that _viri-_ is from F. _virer_, to turn (cf. E. _virelay_), and that _toot_ represents O. F. _tot_ (L. _totum_, F. _tout_), all; so that _viritoot_ may mean 'turn-all.' Cotgrave gives _virevoulte_, 'a veere, whirle a round gamball, friske, or turne,' like the Portuguese _viravolta_. The form _verytrot_ (very trot) is clearly due to an attempt to make sense. MS. Cam. has _merytot_, possibly with reference to M. E. _merytoter_, a swing [111] (Catholicon); which is derived from _mery_, merry, and _toteren_, to totter, oscillate. In the North of England, a swing is still called a _merry-trotter_ (corruption of _merry-totter_), as noted by Halliwell, who remarks that 'the _meritot_ is mentioned by Chaucer,' which is not the fact. Both these 'glosses' give the notion of movement, as this is obviously the general sense implied. Whatever the reading may be, we can see the sense, viz. 'some gay girl (euphemism for light woman) has brought you thus so early astir'; and Gervase accordingly goes on to say, 'you know what I mean.' Ed. 1561 has _berytote_, a misprint for _verytote_. 3771. Here as elsewhere, _së-ynt_ is dissyllabic; several MSS. have _seinte_, but this can hardly be right. For _Note_, MSS. Pt. Hl. have _Noet_, meaning _St. Neot_, whose day is Oct. 28, and whose name remains in St. Neot's, in Cornwall, and St. Neot's, in Huntingdonshire. He died about 877; see Wright's Biogr. Brit. Litt., A. S. Period, p. 381. The spelling _Note_ is remarkable, as the mod. E. name (pronounced as _Neet_, riming with _feet_) suggests the A. S. form _N[=e]ot_, and M. E. _Neet_. 3774. A proverbial phrase. Tyrwhitt quotes from Froissart, v. iv. p. 92, ed. 1574; 'Il aura en bref temps autres estoupes en sa quenoille.' To 'have tow on one's distaff' is to have a task in hand. 'Towe on my dystaf have I for to spynne'; Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum, p. 45. 3777. _As lene_, pray lend; see note to E. 7. 3782. MS. Hl. has _fo_, which is silently altered to _fote_ by Bell and Wright. Tyrwhitt also has _fote_, which he found in the black-letter editions. The reading _foo_ is probably quite right, and is an intentional substitution for _foot_. It is notorious that oaths were constantly made unmeaning, to avoid a too open profanity. In Chaucer, we have _cokkes bones_, H. 9, I. 29, and _Corpus bones_, C. 314. Another corruption of a like oath is _'s foot_, Shak. Troil. ii. 3. 6, which is docked at the other end. It is poor work altering MSS. so as to destroy evidence. _Cristes foo_ might mean 'the devil'; but this is unlikely. 3785. _stele_, handle; i. e. by the cold end, which served as a handle. See note to D. 949. _st[=e]le_, i. e. steel, would give a false rime.