2043. No comma is required at the end of this line; the articles mentioned in ll. 2044-6 all belong to _spicery_. Cf. additional note to Troilus, vol. ii. p. 506. 2047. _dide_, did on, put on. The arming of Lybeaus Disconus is thus described in Ritson's Met. Rom. ii. 10:-- 'They caste on hym a scherte of selk, A gypell as whyte as melk, In that semely sale; And syght [_for_ sith] an hawberk bryght, That rychely was adyght Wyth mayles thykke and smale.' 2048. _lake_, linen; see Glossary. 'De panno de lake'; York Wills, iii. 4 (anno 1395). 2050. _aketoun_, a short sleeveless tunic. Cf. Liber Albus, p. 376. 'And Florentyn, with hys ax so broun, All thorgh he smoot Arm and mayle, and _akketoun_, Thorghout hyt bot [_bit_]'; Octouian, ed. Weber, iii. 205. 'For plate, ne for _acketton_, For hauberk, ne for campeson'; Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 18. The Glossary to the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, has--'_Acton_, a wadded or quilted tunic worn under the hauberk.--_Planché_, i. 108.' Thynne, in his Animadversions (Early Eng. Text Soc.), p. 24, says--'_Haketon_ is a slevelesse jackett of plate for the warre, couered withe anye other stuffe; at this day also called _a jackett of plate_.' It is certain that the plates were a later addition. It is the mod. F. _hoqueton_, O. F. _auqueton_; and it is certain that the derivation is from Arab. _al-qoton_ or _al-qutun_, lit. 'the cotton'; so that it was originally made of quilted _cotton_. See _auqueton_ in Godefroy, _hoqueton_ in Devic's Supp. to Littré, and _Acton_ in the New E. Dict. 2051. _habergeoun_, coat of mail. See Prol. A. 76, and the note. 2052. _For percinge_, as a protection against the piercing. So in P. Plowman, B. vi. 62, Piers puts on his cuffs, 'for colde of his nailles,' i. e. as a protection against the cold. So too in the Rom. of the Rose, l. 4229. 2053. The hauberk is here put on as an upper coat of mail, of finer workmanship and doubtless more flexible. 'The _hauberk_ was al reed of rust, His platys thykke and swythe just'; Octouian, ed. Weber, iii. 200. [196] 'He was armed wonder weel, And al with plates off good steel, _And ther aboven, an hawberk_'; Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 222. 2054. _Jewes werk_, Jew's work. Tyrwhitt imagined that _Jew_ here means a magician, but there is not the least foundation for the idea. Mr. Jephson is equally at fault in connecting _Jew_ with _jewel_, since the latter word is etymologically connected with _joy_. The phrase still remains unexplained. I suspect it means no more than wrought with rich or expensive work, such as Jews could best find the money for. It is notorious that they were the chief capitalists, and they must often have had to find money for paying armourers. Or, indeed, it may refer to damascened work; from the position of Damascus.