Stanza VII. line 95. 'The principal distinction between the independent esquire (terming him such who was attached to no knight's service) and the knight was the spurs, which the esquire might wear of silver, but by no means gilded.'--Scott's 'Essay on Chivalry,' p.64. With the squire's 'courteous precepts' compare those of Chaucer's squire in the Prologue,-- 'He cowde songes make and wel endite, Juste and eek daunce, and wel purtreye and write. . . . Curteys he was, lowely, and servysable, And carf byforn his fader at the table.' Stanza VIII. line 108. Him listed is an Early English form. Cp. Chaucer's Prologue, 583,-- 'Or lyve as scarsly as HYM LIST desire.' In Elizabethan English, which retains many impersonal forms, LIST is mainly used as a personal verb, as in Much Ado, iii. 4,-- 'I am not such a fool to think what I LIST,' and in John iii. 8, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' Even then, however, it was sometimes used impersonally, as in Surrey's translation of AEneid ii. 1064,-- 'By sliding seas ME LISTED them to lede.' line 116. Hosen = hose, tight trousers reaching to the knees. The form hosen is archaic, though it lingered provincially in Scotland till modern times. For a standard use of the word, see in A. V., Daniel iii. 21, 'Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments.' line 121. The English archers under the Tudors were famous. Holinshed specially mentions that at the battle of Blackheath, in 1496, Dartford bridge was defended by archers 'whose arrows were in length a full cloth yard.' Stanza IX. line 130. morion (Sp. morra, the crown of the head), a kind of helmet without a visor, frequently surmounted with a crest, introduced into England about the beginning of the sixteenth century. line 134. linstock (lont, a match, and stok, a stick), 'a gunner's forked staff to hold a match of lint dipped in saltpetre.' yare, ready; common as a nautical term. Cp. Tempest, i. I. 6, 'Cheerly, my hearts! Yare, yare!' and see note to Clarendon Press edition of the play. Stanza X. line 146. The angel was a gold coin struck in France in 1340, and introduced into England by Edward IV, 1465. It varied in value from 6s. 8d, to 10s. The last struck in England were in the reign of Charles I. The name was due to the fact that on one side of the coin was a representation of the Archangel Michael and the dragon (Rev. xii. 7). Used again, St. xxv. below. line 149. brook (A. S. brucan, to use, eat, enjoy, bear, discharge, fulfil), to use, handle, manage. Cp. Chaucer, 'Nonnes Prestes Tale,' line 479,-- 'So mote I BROUKEN wel min eyen twey,' and 'Lady of the Lake,' I. xxviii-- 'Whose stalwart arm might BROOK to wield A blade like this in battle-field. ' For other meaning of the word see xiii. and xvi. below.