v. 271. _She swered by the rode of rest_]—_rode_, i. e. _rood_,—cross: see note on _Ware the Hauke_, v. 69. “That is hardly saide, man, _by the roode of rest_.” Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A iii. ed. 1570. v. 280. _haruest gyrdle_] i. e. perhaps, a girdle worn at the feast after the gathering in of the corn. v. 286. _To offer to the ale tap_] So in _Jak Hare_, a poem attributed to Lydgate; “And with his wynnynges he _makith his offrynge_ _At the ale stakis_.” _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 14. v. 288. _sowre dowe_]—_dowe_, i. e. dough. “_Sower dough leuayn_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxv. (Table of Subst.). v. 289. _howe_] i. e. ho. v. 292. _And pype tyrly tyrlowe_] Compare a Song belonging to the Tailors’ and Shearmen’s Pageant; “Thé sange _terly terlow_.” Sharp’s _Diss. on Coventry Pag. and Myst._, p. 114. v. 295. _hekell_] i. e. comb for dressing flax. v. 296. _rocke_] i. e. distaff.—In a poem entitled _Cryste Crosse me Spede_. _A. B. C. Imprynted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of the Sonne, by me Wynkyn de Worde_, 4to. (which I know only from the account of it in _Typog. Antiq._ ii. 367. ed. Dibdin) are the following lines; “A grete company of gossyps gadred on a route Went to besyege an ale hous rounde aboute Some brought a distaffe & some a rele Some brought a shouell & some a pele Some brought drynke & some a tankarde And a galon potte faste they drewe thederward,” &c. Though no edition of _Elynour Rummyng_ has come down to us printed anterior to _Cryste Crosse me Spede_, the evident imitation of the former in the passage just quoted, shews that it must have existed. Page 104. v. 298. _wharrowe_] i. e. whirl, or wharve, for a spindle. “A spyndell with a _wharowe_—fusus cum _spondulo, siue verticillo siue harpage_.” Hormanni _Vulg._ sig. t i. ed. 1530. v. 299. _rybskyn_] In _Prompt. Parv._, ed. 1499, “_Rybskyn_” stands without a Latin term; but in the copy of that work, _MS. Harl._ 221, is “_Rybbe skynn._ Melotula.” In a MS. _Catholicon in Lingua materna_, dated 1483, I find “_Rybbynge skyn._ nebrida. pellicudia.” I may add that in Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, “_Rybbe skynne_” occurs without the corresponding French, fol. lix. (Table of Subst.).—Does it mean (as Albert Way, Esq. has obligingly suggested to me) a leather apron, used during the operation of flax-dressing? Page 105. v. 303. _thrust_] i. e. thirst. v. 305. _But drynke, styll drynke,_ _And let the cat wynke_] So in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522; “_Manhode._ Now _let vs drynke_ at this comnaunt For that is curtesy. _Folye._ Mary mayster ye shall haue in hast A ha syrs _let the catte wyncke_,” &c. Sig. C ii. See also three epigrams by Heywood _Of the winking Cat_,—_Workes_, sig. P 4. ed. 1598. v. 307. _gommes_] i. e. gums. v. 308. _crommes_] i. e. crums. v. 314. _chaffer_] i. e. merchandise.