286. Cf. Pers. Tale, I. 93:--'repentant folk, that stinte for to sinne, and forlete [give up] sinne er that sinne forlete hem.' WORDS OF THE HOST. In the Six-text Edition, pref. col. 58, Dr. Furnivall calls attention to the curious variations in this passage, in the MSS., especially in ll. 289-292, and in 297-300; as well as in ll. 487, 488 in the Pardoneres Tale. I note these variations below, in their due places. 287. _wood_, mad, frantic, furious; esp. applied to the transient madness of anger. See Kn. Tale, A. 1301, 1329, 1578; also Mids. Nt. Dr. ii. 1. 192. Cf. G. _wüthend_, raging. 288. _Harrow!_ also spelt _haro_; a cry of astonishment; see A. 3286, 3825, B. 4235, &c. '_Haro_, the ancient Norman hue and cry; the exclamation of a person to procure assistance when his person or property was in danger. To cry out _haro_ on any one, to denounce his evil doings'; Halliwell. Spenser has it, F. Q. ii. 6. 43; see _Harrow_ in Nares, and the note above, to A. 3286. On the oaths used by the Host, see note to l. 651 below. 289. _fals cherl_ is the reading in E. Hn., and is evidently right; see [265] note to l. 140 above. It is supported by several MSS., among which are Harl. 7335, Addit. 25718, Addit. 5140, Sloane 1686, Barlow 20, Hatton 1, Camb. Univ. Lib. Dd. 4. 24 and Mm. 2. 5, and Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 3. A few have _fals clerk_, viz. Sloane 1685, Arch. Seld. B. 14, Rawl. Poet. 149, Bodley 414. Harl. 7333 has _a fals thef, Acursid Iustise_; out of which numerous MSS. have developed the reading _a cursed theef, a fals Iustice_, which rolls the two Claudii into one. It is clearly wrong, but appears in good MSS., viz. in Cp. Pt. Ln. Hl. See vol. iii. pp. 437-8, and the note to l. 291 below. 290. _shamful._ MSS. Ln. Hl. turn this into _schendful_, i. e. ignominious, which does not at all alter the sense. It is a matter of small moment, but I may note that of the twenty-five MSS. examined by Dr. Furnivall, only the two above-named MSS. adopt this variation. 291, 292. Here MSS. Cp. Ln. Hl., as noted in the footnote, have two totally different lines; and this curious variation divides the MSS. (at least in the present passage) into two sets. In the _first_ of these we find E. Hn. Harl. 7335, Addit. 25718, Addit. 5140, Sloane 1685 and 1686, Barlow 20, Arch. Seld. B. 14, Rawl. Poet. 149, Hatton 1, Bodley 414, Camb. Dd. 4. 24, and Mm. 2. 5, Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 3. 3. In the _second_ set we find Cp. Ln. Hl., Harl. 1758, Royal 18. C. 2, Laud 739, Camb. Ii. 3. 26, Royal 17. D. 15, and Harl. 7333. There is no doubt as to the correct reading; for the 'false cherl' and 'false justice' were two different persons, and it was only because they had been inadvertently rolled into one (see note to l. 289) that it became possible to speak of '_his_ body,' '_his_ bones,' and '_him_.' Hence the lines are rightly given in the text which I have adopted.