685. _vernicle_, a small copy of the 'vernicle' at Rome. _Vernicle_ is 'a diminutive of _Veronike_ (Veronica), a copy in miniature of the picture of Christ, which is supposed to have been miraculously imprinted upon a handkerchief preserved in the church of St. Peter at Rome.... It was usual for persons returning from pilgrimages to bring with them certain tokens of the several places which they had visited; and therefore the Pardoner, who is just arrived from Rome, is represented with a _vernicle sowed on his cappe_.'--Tyrwhitt. See the description of a pilgrim in Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. v. 530, and the note. The legend was invented to explain the name. First the name of Bernice, taken from the Acts, was assigned to the woman who was cured by Christ of an issue of blood. Next, Bernice, otherwise Veronica, was (wrongly) explained as meaning _vera icon_ (i. e. true likeness), which was assigned as the name of a handkerchief on which the features of Christ were miraculously impressed. Copies of this portrait were called _Veronicae_ or _Veroniculae_, in English _vernicles_, and were obtainable by pilgrims to Rome. There was also a later St. Veronica, who died in 1497, after Chaucer's time, and whose day is Jan. 13. See Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris, pp. 170, 171; Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, ii. 269; Lady Eastlake's History of our Lord, i. 41; Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. pt. i. p. 438; and the picture of the vernicle in Chambers, Book of Days, i. 101. 687. _Bret-ful of pardon_, brim-full (top-full, full to the top) of indulgences. Cf. Swed. _bräddfull_, brimful; from _brädd_, a brim. See A. 2164; Ho. of Fame, 2123. 692. _fro Berwik_, from Berwick to Ware (in Hertfordshire), from North to South of England. See the similar phrase--'From Barwick to Dover, three hundred miles over'--in Pegge's Kenticisms (E. D. S.), p. 70. 694. _male_, bag; cf. E. _mail_-bag. _pilwebeer_, pillow-case. Cf. Low. G. _büren_, a case (for a pillow), Icel. _ver_, Dan. _vaar_, a cover for a pillow. The form _pillow-bear_ occurs as a Cheshire word as late as 1782; N. and Q. 6 S. xii. 217. 696. _gobet_, a small portion; O. F. _gobet_, a morsel; _gober_, to devour. 698. _hente_, caught hold of; from A. S. _hentan_, to seize. 699. 'A cross made of _latoun_, set full of (probably counterfeit) precious stones.' _Latoun_ was a mixed metal, of the same colour as, and closely resembling, the modern metal called _pinchbeck_, from the name of the inventor. It was chiefly composed of copper and zinc. See further in the note to C. 350; and cf. F. 1245. 701. Cf. Wyclif's Works, ed. Matthew, p. 154; and the note to C. 349. 702. _up-on lond_, in the country. Country people used to be called _uplondish men_. _Jack Upland_ is the name of a satire against the friars. 705, 706. _Iapes_, deceits, tricks. _his apes_, his dupes; cf. A. 3389. [57]