4405. _col-fox_; explained by Bailey as a 'coal-black fox'; and he seems to have caught the right idea. _Col-_ here represents M. E. _col_, coal; and the reference is to the _brant-fox_, which is explained in the New E. Dict. as borrowed from the G. _brand-fuchs_, 'the German name of a variety of the fox, chiefly distinguished by a greater admixture of black in its fur; according to Grimm, it has black feet, ears, and tail.' Chaucer expressly refers to the black-tipped tail and ears in l. 4094 above. Mr. Bradley cites the G. _kohlfuchs_ and Du. _koolvos_, similarly formed; but the ordinary dictionaries do not give these names. The old explanation of _col-fox_ as meaning 'deceitful fox' is difficult to establish, and is now unnecessary. 4412. _undern_; see note to E. 260. 4417. _Scariot_, i. e. Judas Iscariot. _Genilon_; the traitor who caused the defeat of Charlemagne, and the death of Roland; see Book of the Duchesse, 1121, and the note in vol. i. p. 491. 4418. See Vergil, Æn. ii. 259. 4430. _bulte it to the bren_, sift the matter; cf. the phrase _to boult the bran_. See the argument in Troilus, iv. 967; cf. Milton, P. L. ii. 560. 4432. _Boece_, i. e. Boethius. See note to Kn. Tale, A. 1163. _Bradwardyn._ Thomas Bradwardine was Proctor in the University of Oxford in the year 1325, and afterwards became Divinity Professor and Chancellor of the University. His chief work is 'On the Cause of God' (_De Causâ Dei_). See Morley's English Writers, iv. 61. 4446. _colde_, baneful, fatal. The proverb is Icelandic; 'köld eru opt kvenna-ráð,' cold (fatal) are oft women's counsels; Icel. Dict. s. v. _kaldr_. It occurs early, in The Proverbs of Alfred, ed. Morris, Text 1, l. 336:--'Cold red is quene red.' Cf. B. 2286, and the note. [256] 4450-6. Imitated from Le Roman de la Rose, 15397-437. 4461. _Phisiologus._ 'He alludes to a book in Latin metre, entitled Physiologus de Naturis xii. Animalium, by one Theobaldus, whose age is not known. The chapter _De Sirenis_ begins thus:-- Sirenae sunt monstra maris resonantia magnis Vocibus, et modulis cantus formantia multis, Ad quas incaute veniunt saepissime nautae, Quae faciunt sompnum nimia dulcedine vocum.'--Tyrwhitt. See The Bestiary, in Dr. Morris's Old English Miscellany, pp. 18, 207; Philip de Thaun, Le Bestiaire, l. 664; Babees Book, pp. 233, 237; Mätzner's Sprachproben, i. 55; Gower, C.A. i. 58; and cf. Rom. Rose, Eng. Version, 680 (in vol. i. p. 122). 4467. In Douglas's Virgil, prol. to Book xi. st. 15, we have-- 'Becum thow cowart, craudoun recryand, And by consent _cry cok_, thi deid is dycht';