2020. _child Thopas._ _Child_ is an appellation given to both knights and squires, in the early romances, at an age when they had long passed the period which we now call childhood. A good example is to be found in the Erle of Tolous, ed. Ritson, iii. 123:-- 'He was a feyre chylde, and a bolde, _Twenty wyntur he was oolde_, In londe was none so free.' Compare Romance of 'Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,' pr. in Ritson, iii. 282; the ballad of Childe Waters, &c. Byron, in his preface to Childe Harold, says--'It is almost superfluous to mention that the appellation "Childe," as "Childe Waters," "Childe Childers," &c., is used as more consonant with the old structure of versification which I have adopted.' He adopts, however, the late and artificial metre of Spenser. 2023. A palpable imitation. The first three lines of Sir Bevis of Hampton (MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. ii. 38, leaf 94, back) are-- 'Lordynges, lystenyth, grete and smale, _Meryar then the nyghtyngale_ I wylle yow synge. In a long passage in Todd's Illustrations to Chaucer, pp. 284-292, it is contended that _mery_ signifies sweet, pleasant, agreeable, without relation to mirth. Chaucer describes the Frere as wanton and _merry_, Prol. A. 208; he speaks of the _merry_ day, Kn. Ta. 641 (A. 1499); a _merry_ city, N. P. Ta. 251 (B. 4261); of Arcite being told by Mercury to be _merry_, i. e. of good cheer, Kn. Ta. 528 (A. 1386); in the Manciple's Tale (H. 138), the crow sings _merrily_, and makes a _sweet_ noise; Chanticleer's voice was _merrier_ than the _merry_ organ, N. P. Ta. 31 (B. 4041); the 'erbe yve' is said to be _merry_, i. e. pleasant, agreeable, id. 146 (B. 4156); the Pardoner (Prol. A. 714) sings _merrily_ and loud. We must remember, however, that the Host, being 'a _mery_ man,' began to speak of '_mirthe_'; Prol. A. 757, 759. A very early example of the use of the word occurs in the song attributed to Canute--'_Merie_ sungen the Muneches binnen Ely,' &c. See the phrase '_mery_ men' in l. 2029. 2028. The phrase _to come to toune_ seems to mean no more than simply _to return_. Cf. Specimens of E. Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 48-- 'Lenten ys _come_ wiþ loue _to toune_'-- which merely means that spring, with its thoughts of love, has _returned_. See the note on that line.