_b_ 1. _Cornehulle._ Cornhill was one of the liveliest quarters of fourteenth-century London, and a haunt of idlers, beggars, and doubtful characters. Its pillory and stocks were famous. Its market where, if _The London Lickpenny_ is to be credited, dealing in stolen clothes was a speciality, was privileged above all others in the city. See the documents in Riley's _Memorials of London_. _b_ 2. _Kytte_: In the B-text, Passus xviii. 425-6, _Kytte_ is mentioned again: _and riȝt with þat I waked And called Kitte my wyf and Kalote my douȝter._ _b_ 4. _lollares of London_: The followers of Wiclif were called 'Lollards' by their opponents; but the word here seems to mean 'idlers' as in l. 31. _lewede heremytes_: 'lay hermits': hermits were not necessarily in holy orders, and so far from seeking complete solitude, they often lived in the cities or near the great highways, where many passers would have opportunity to recognize their merit by giving alms. See Cutts, _Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages_, pp. 93 ff. _b_ 5. 'For I judged those men as Reason taught me.' Skeat's interpretation—that _made of_ means 'made verses about'—is forced. The sense is that the idlers and hermits thought little of the dreamer, and he was equally critical of them. _b_ 6. _as ich cam by Conscience_: 'as I passed by Conscience', referring to a vision described in the previous Passus, in which Conscience is the principal figure. _b_ 10 f. _In hele and in vnité_, 'in health and in my full senses', and _Romynge in remembraunce_ qualify _me_. _b_ 14. _Mowe oþer mowen_, 'mow or stack'. For these unrelated words see the Glossary. _b_ 16. _haywarde_: by derivation 'hedge-ward'. He watched over enclosures and prevented animals from straying among the crops. Observe that ME. nouns denoting occupation usually survive in surnames:—Baxter 'baker', Bow(y)er, Chapman, Dyer, Falconer, Fletcher 'arrow-maker', Fo(re)ster, Franklin, Hayward, Lister (= litster, 'dyer'), Palmer, Reeve(s), Spicer, Sumner, Tyler 'maker or layer of tiles', Warner 'keeper of warrens', Webb, Webster, Wright, Yeoman, &c. _b_ 20-1. 'Or craft of any kind that is necessary to the community, to provide food for them that are bedridden.' _b_ 24. _to long_, 'too tall': cp. B-text, Passus xv. 148 _my name is Longe Wille_. Consistency in such details in a poem full of inconsistencies makes it probable that the poet is describing himself, not an imagined dreamer. _b_ 33. Psalm lxii. 12. _b_ 45. 1 Corinthians vii. 20. _b_ 46 ff. Cp. the note to XI _b_ 131 f. The dreamer appears to have made his living by saying prayers for the souls of the dead, a service which, from small beginnings in the early Middle Ages, had by this time withdrawn much of the energy of the clergy from their regular duties. See note to XI _b_ 140 f.