1061. _Ther as this Emelye hadde hir pleyinge_, i. e. where she was amusing herself. 1063. In the Teseide (iii. 11) it is Arcite who first sees Emily. 1074. _by aventure or cas_, by adventure or hap. 1076. _sparre_, a square wooden bolt; the bars, which were of iron, were as thick as they must have been if wooden. See l. 990. 1078. _bleynte_, the past tense of _blenche_ or _blenke_ (to blench), to start, draw back suddenly. Cf. _dreynte_, pt. t. of _drenchen_. 'Tutto stordito, Gridò, Omè!' Tes. iii. 17. 1087. _Som wikke aspect._ Cf. 'wykked planete, as Saturne or Mars,' Astrolabe, ii. 4. 22; notes in Wright's edition, ll. 2453, 2457; and Piers the Plowman, B. vi. 327; and see Leg. of Good Women, 2590-7. Add to these the description of Saturn: 'Significat in _quartanis_, _lepra_, _scabie_, in mania, _carcere_, _submersione_, &c. Est infortuna.'--Johannis Hispalensis, Isagoge in Astrologiam, cap. xv. See A. 1328, 2469. 1089. _al-though_, &c., although we had sworn to the contrary. Cf. 'And can nought flee, _if I had it sworn_'; Lydgate, Dance of Machabre (The Sergeaunt). Also--'he may himselfe not sustene Upon his feet, _though he had it sworne_'; Lydgate, Siege of Thebes (The Sphinx), pt. i. [66] '_Thofe_ the rede knyghte _had sworne_, Out of his sadille is he borne.' Sir Percevalle, l. 61. 1091. _the short and pleyn_, the brief and manifest statement of the case. Pronounce _this is_ as _this_; as frequently elsewhere; see l. 1743, E. 56, F. 889. 1100. Cf. 'That cause is of my torment and my sorwe': Troil. v. 654. 1101. Cf. 'But whether goddesse or womman, y-wis, She be, I noot'; Troil. i. 425. _wher_, a very common form for _whether_. 1105. _Yow_ (used reflexively), yourself. 1106. _wrecche_, wretched, is a word of two syllables, like _wikke_, wicked, where the _d_ is a later and unnecessary addition. 1108. _shapen_, shaped, determined. '_Shapes_ our ends.'--Shakespeare, Hamlet, v. 2. 10. Cf. l. 1225. 1120. 'And except I have her pity and her favour.' 1121. _atte leeste weye_, at the least. Cf. _leastwise_ = _at the leastwise_: '_at leastwise_'; Bacon's Advancement of Learning, ed. Wright, p. 146, l. 23. See English Bible (Preface of 'The Translators to the Reader'). 1122. 'I am not but (no better than) dead, there is no more to say.' Chaucer uses _ne_--_but_ much in the same way as the Fr. _ne--que_. Cf. North English 'I'm _nobbut_ clemmed' = I am almost dead of hunger. 1126. _by my fey_, by my faith, in good faith. 1127. _me list ful yvele pleye_, it pleaseth me very badly to play. 1128. This debate is an imitation of the longer debate (in the Teseide), where Palamon and Arcite meet in the grove; cf. l. 1580 below. 1129. _It nere_ = _it were not_, it would not be.