2005. _simphonye_, the name of a kind of tabor. In Ritson's Ancient Songs, i. lxiv., is a quotation from Hawkins's Hist. of Music, ii. 284, in which that author cites a passage from Batman's translation of Bartholomaeus de Proprietatibus Rerum, to the effect that the _symphonie_ was 'an instrument of musyke ... made of an holowe tree [i. e. piece of wood], closyd in lether in eyther syde; and mynstrels beteth it with styckes.' Probably the _symphangle_ was the same instrument. In Rob. of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, ll. 4772-3, we find:-- 'Yn harpe, yn thabour, and _symphangle_, Wurschepe God, yn trumpes and sautre.' Godefroy gives the O. F. spellings _cifonie_, _siphonie_, _chifonie_, _cinfonie_, _cymphonie_, &c.; all clearly derived from the Greek [Greek: sumphônia]; see Luke, xv. 25. Cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 1070-7. 2007. _al-so mote I thee_, as I may thrive; or, as I hope to thrive; a common expression. Cf. 'So mote y thee'; Sir Eglamour, ed. Halliwell, l. 430; Occleve, De Regimine Principum, st. 620. Chaucer also uses 'so thee ik,' i. e. so thrive I, in the Reves Prologue (A. 3864) and elsewhere. 2012. _Abyen it ful soure_, very bitterly shalt thou pay for it. There is a confusion between A. S. _súr_, sour, and A. S. _sár_, sore, in this and similar phrases; both were used once, but now we should use _sorely_, not _sourly_. In Layamon, l. 8158, we find 'þou salt it sore abugge,' thou shalt sorely pay for it; on the other hand, we find in P. Plowman, B. ii. 140:-- 'It shal bisitte [gh]owre soules · ful _soure_ atte laste.' So also in the C-text, though the A-text has _sore_. Note that in another passage, P. Plowman, B. xviii. 401, the phrase is--'Thow shalt abye it _bittre_.' For _abyen_, see the Glossary. 2015. _fully pryme._ See note to Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4045. _Prime_ commonly means the period from 6 to 9 a.m. _Fully prime_ refers to the end of that period, or 9 a.m.; and even _prime_ alone may be used with the same explicit meaning, as in the Nonne Pres. Ta., B. 4387. 2019. _staf-slinge._ Tyrwhitt observes that Lydgate describes David as armed only 'with a _staffe-slynge_, voyde of plate and mayle.' It certainly means a kind of sling in which additional power was gained by fastening the lithe part of it on to the end of a stiff stick. _Staff-slyngeres_ are mentioned in the romance of Richard Coer de Lion, l. 4454, in Weber's Metrical Romances, ii. 177. In Col. Yule's edition of Marco Polo, ii. 122, is a detailed description of the artillery engines of the middle ages. They can all be reduced to two classes; those [193] which, like the trebuchet and mangonel, are enlarged staff-slings, and those which, like the arblast and springold, are great cross-bows. Conversely, we might describe a staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.