[268] 14. =Clerkly Henry.= In his youth Henry had been a student and scholar--hence his early nickname "Henry Beauclerc." [269] 15. =Ruthless=; pitiless. [270] 17. =Eyes were gone.= According to a legend, which, however, has no historical foundation, Henry had put out the eyes of his brother Robert. [271] 26. =Fealty.= Under the feudal system each vassal or dependant was required to take an oath of allegiance to his overlord. [272] 35. =Liege=; having the right to allegiance. [273] 36. =Father's foot.= William the Conqueror, Henry's father, defeated Harold, the English king, at Hastings in 1066 and thus became master of England. [274] 39. =Rood=; the fourth part of an acre. [275] 45. =Harfleur's harbor.= Harfleur is a seaport town on the north bank of the outlet of the river Seine in northwest France. [276] 59. =Hind=; servant. [277] 98. =Moil=; wet. [278] 138. =Maugre=; notwithstanding. [279] 163. =Honfleur=; a town on the south bank of the outlet of the river Seine, opposite Harfleur. [280] 166. =Body of Christ=; the procession of the Holy Communion. [281] 178. =Hight=; called. [282] 198. =Foredone=; gone. [283] 211. =Shrift=; the confession made to a priest. [284] 214. =Winchester=; a cathedral city in southern England, the ancient capital of the country. [285] 233. =Pleasaunce=; pleasure. [286] 236. =Pardie=; certainly or surely. It was originally an oath from the French _par Dieu_. [287] 260. =Dais=; the platform on which was the king's throne. [288] 268. =Rede=; story. WILLIAM MORRIS William Morris was born in 1834 in Walthamstead, Essex, England, and died in London in 1896. He went to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1853, where he formed a close friendship with Edward Burne-Jones, the future artist. A little later he came under the influence of Rossetti, who induced him to attempt painting, an art which he followed with no great success. In 1858 he published _The Defence of Guinevere, and Other Poems_. This volume was followed by _The Life and Death of Jason_ (1867), _The Earthly Paradise_ (finished 1872), and _Sigurd the Volsung_ (1876). In 1863 he became a manufacturer of wall paper and artistic furniture, branching out afterwards into weaving, dyeing, and other crafts. After 1885 he was a confirmed Socialist, speaking frequently at laborers' meetings and pouring forth a steady stream of leaflets and pamphlets in support of his radical beliefs. His death was probably due to overwork. Morris was by instinct a lover of the beautiful and harmonious. A fluent versifier, he delighted especially in the composition of narrative poetry, which he adorned with ornate description and superb decoration. This very richness sometimes cloys the taste and tends to arouse a feeling of monotony. His longest work, _The Earthly Paradise_, is modelled somewhat on Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, and contains twenty-four stories, twelve mediæval and twelve classic in origin.