468. _Gat-tothed_ = _gat-toothed_, meaning gap-toothed, having teeth wide apart or separated from one another. A _gat_ is an opening, and is allied to E. _gate_. The Friesic _gat_, Dan., Du., and Icel. _gat_, and Norweg. _gat_, all mean a hole, or a gap. Very similar is the use of the Shropshire _glat_, a gap in a hedge, also a gap in the mouth caused by loss of teeth. Example: 'Dick, yo' bin a flirt; I thought yo' wun (_were_) gwein to marry the cook at the paas'n's. Aye, but 'er'd gotten too many _glats_ i' the mouth for me'; Miss Jackson's Shropshire Wordbook. 'Famine--the _gap-toothed_ elf'; Golding's Ovid, b. 8; leaf 105. It occurs again, D. 603. [_Gat-toothed_ has also been explained as _goat-toothed_, lascivious, but the word _goat_ appears as _goot_ in Chaucer.] Perhaps the following piece of 'folk-lore' will help us out. 'A young lady the other day, in reply to an observation of mine--"What a lucky girl you are!"--replied; "So they used to say I should be when at school." "Why?" "Because my teeth were set _so far apart; it was a sure sign I should be lucky and travel_."'--Notes & Queries 1 Ser. [45] vi. 601; cf. the same, 7 Ser. vii. 306. The last quotation shews that the stop after _weye_ at the end of l. 467 should be a mere semicolon; since ll. 467 and 468 are closely connected. 469. _amblere_, an ambling horse. 470. _Y-wimpled_, covered with a wimple; see l. 151. 471. _targe_, target, shield. 472. _foot-mantel._ Tyrwhitt supposes this to be a sort of _riding-petticoat_, such as is now used by market-women. It is clearly shewn, as a blue outer skirt, in the drawing in the Ellesmere MS. At a later time it was called a _safe-guard_ (see Nares), and its use was to keep the gown clean. It may be added that, in the Ellesmere MS., the Wife is represented as riding astride. Hence she wanted 'a pair of spurs.' 474. _carpe_, prate, discourse; Icel. _karpa_, to brag. The present sense of _carp_ seems to be due to Lat. _carpere_. 475. _remedyes._ An allusion to the title and subject of Ovid's book, Remedia Amoris. 476. _the olde daunce_, the old game, or custom. The phrase is borrowed from Le Roman de la Rose, l. 3946--'Qu'el scet toute la vielle dance'; E. version, l. 4300--'For she knew al the olde daunce.' It occurs again; Troil. iii. 695. And in Troil. ii. 1106, we have the phrase _loves daunce_. Cf. _the amorouse daunce_, Troil. iv. 1431. THE PERSOUN. 478. _Persoun of a toun_, the parson or parish priest. Chaucer, in his description of the parson, contrasts the piety and industry of the secular clergy with the wickedness and laziness of the religious orders or monks. See Dryden's 'Character of a Good Parson,' and Goldsmith's 'Deserted Village'; also Wyclif, ed. Matthew, p. 179. 482. _parisshens_, parishioners; in which _-er_ is a later suffix. 485. _y-preved_, proved (to be). _ofte sythes_, often-times; from A. S. _s[=i]ð_, a time.