517. _daungerous_, not affable, difficult to approach. Cf. Rom. of the Rose, l. 591:--'Ne of hir answer _daungerous_'; where the original has _desdaigneuse_. _digne_, full of dignity; hence, repellent. 'She was as _digne_ as water in a dich,' A. 3964; because stagnant water keeps people at a distance. 519. _fairnesse_, i. e. by leading a fair or good life. The Harleian MS. has _clennesse_, that is, a life of purity. 523. _snibben_, reprimand; cf. Dan. _snibbe_, to rebuke, scold; mod. E. _snub_. In Wyclif's translation of Matt, xviii. 15, the earlier version has _snybbe_ as a synonym for _reprove_. _nones_; see l. 379, and the note. 525. _wayted after_, looked for. See line 571. 526. _spyced conscience_; so also in D. 435. _Spiced_ here seems to signify, says Tyrwhitt, nice, scrupulous; for a reason which is given [47] below. It occurs in the Mad Lover, act iii. sc. 1, by Beaumont and Fletcher. When Cleanthe offers a purse, the priestess says-- 'Fy! no corruption.... _Cle._ Take it, it is yours; Be not so _spiced_; 'tis good gold; And goodness is no gall to th' conscience.' 'Under pretence of _spiced_ holinesse.'--Tract dated 1594, ap. Todd's Illustrations of Gower, p. 380. 'Fool that I was, to offer such a bargain To a _spiced-conscience_ chapman! but I care not, What he disdains to taste, others will swallow.' Massinger, Emperor of the East, i. 1. 'Will you please to put off Your holy habit, and _spiced conscience_? one, I think, infects the other.' Massinger, Bashful Lover, iv. 2. The origin of the phrase is French. The name of _espices_ (spices) was given to the fees or dues which were payable (in advance) to judges. A 'spiced' judge, who would have a 'spiced' conscience, was scrupulous and exact, because he had been prepaid, and was inaccessible to any but large bribes. See Cotgrave, s. v. _espices_; Littré, s. v. _épice_; and, in particular, Les Oeuvres de Guillaume Coquillart, ed. P. Tarbé, t. i. p. 31, and t. ii. p. 114. (First explained by me in a letter to The Athenaeum, Nov. 26, 1892, p. 741.) 527. 'But the teaching of Christ and his twelve apostles, that taught he.' 528. Cf. Acts, i. 1; Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 188. THE PLOWMAN. 529. _Plowman_; not a hind or farm-labourer, but a poor farmer, who himself held the plough; cf. note to P. Plowman, C. viii. 182. _was_, who was. 530. _y-lad_, carried, lit. led. Cf. prov. E. _lead_, to cart (corn). 531. _swinker_, toiler, workman; see l. 186. Cf. _swink_, toil, in l. 540. 534. _though him gamed or smerte_, though it was pleasant or unpleasant to him. 536. _dyke_, make ditches, _delve_, dig; A. S. _delfan_. Chaucer may be referring to P. Plowman, B. v. 552, 553. 541. _mere._ People of quality would not ride upon a mare. THE MILLER.