1979. _under my gore_, within my robe or garment. In l. 2107 (on which see the note) we have _under wede_ signifying merely 'in his dress.' We have a somewhat similar phrase here, in which, however, _gore_ (lit. gusset) is put for the whole robe or garment. That it was a mere phrase, appears from other passages. Thus we find _under gore_, under the dress, Owl and Nightingale, l. 515; Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 244, vol. ii. p. 210; with three more examples in the Gloss. to Böddeker's Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. In one of these a lover addresses his lady as 'geynest under gore,' i. e. fairest within a dress. For the exact sense of _gore_, see note to A. 3237. 1983. _In toune_, in the town, in the district. But it must not be supposed that much _sense_ is intended by this inserted line. It is a mere tag, in imitation of some of the romances. Either Chaucer has neglected to conform to the new kind of stanza which he now introduces (which is most likely), or else three lines have been lost before this one. The next three stanzas are longer, viz. of _ten_ lines each, of which only the seventh is very short. For good examples of these short lines, see Sir Gawayne and the Greene Kny[gh]t, ed. Morris; and for a more exact account of the metres here employed, see vol. iii. p. 425. 1993. _So wilde._ Instead of this short line, Tyrwhitt has:-- 'Wherin he soughte North and South, And oft he spied with his mouth In many a forest wilde.' But none of our seven MSS. agrees with this version, nor are these lines found in the black-letter editions. The notion of _spying_ with one's _mouth_ seems a little too far-fetched. 1995. This line is supplied from MS. Reg. 17 D. 15, where Tyrwhitt found it; but something is so obviously required here, that we must insert it to make some sense. It suits the tone of the context to say that 'neither wife nor child durst oppose him.' We may, however, bear in mind that the meeting of a knight-errant with one of these often preceded some great adventure. 'And in the midst of an highway he [Sir Lancelot] met a damsel riding on a white palfrey, and there either saluted other. Fair damsel, said Sir Lancelot, know ye in this country any adventures? Sir knight, said that damsel, here are adventures near hand, and thou durst prove them'; Sir T. Malory, Morte Arthur, bk. vi. cap. vii. The result was that Lancelot fought with Sir Turquine, and defeated him. Soon after, he was 'required of a damsel to heal her brother'; and again, 'at the request of a lady' he recovered a falcon; an adventure which ended in a fight, as usual. Kölbing points out a parallel line in Sir Guy of Warwick, 45-6:-- [191] 'In all Englond ne was ther none That durste in wrath ayenst hym goon'; Caius MS., ed. Zupitza, p. 5.