_Derne_ is a Saxon adj. signifying _secret, private_, in which sense it is used more than once by Chaucer, and in no other. 16. DROORIE. Ep. 47. Botte lette ne wordes, whiche _droorie_ mote ne heare, Bee placed in the same ----. The only sense that I know of _druerie_ is _courtship, gallantry_, which will not suit with this passage. 17. FONNES. E. II. 14. Æ 421. FONS. T. 4. Decorn wyth _fonnes_ rare ---- On of the _fonnis_ whych the clerche have made. Quayntyssed _fons_ depictedd on eche sheelde. A _fonne_ in Chaucer signifies a _fool_, and _fonnes--fools_; and Spenser uses _fon_ in the same sense; nor do I believe that it ever had any other meaning. 18. KNOPPED. M. 14. Theyre myghte ys _knopped_ ynne the froste of fere. _Knopped_ is used by Chaucer to signifie _fastened_ with a button, from _knoppe_, a button; but what poet, that knew the meaning of his words, would say that any thing was buttoned with _frost_? 19. LECTURN. Le. 46. An onlist _lecturn_ and a songe adygne. I do not see that _lecturn_ can possibly signifie any thing but _a reading-desk_, in which sense it is used by Chaucer. 20. LITHIE. Ep. 10. Inne _lithie_ moncke apperes the barronnes pryde. If there be any such word as this, we should naturally expect it to follow the signification of _lithe_; soft, limber: which will not suit with this passage. * * * * * I go on to the _third_ general head of words inflected contrary to grammar and custom. In a language like ours, in which the inflections are so few and so simple, it is not to be supposed that a writer, even of the lowest class, would commit very frequent offences of this sort. I shall take notice of some, which I think impossible to have fallen from a genuine Rowley. 1. CLEVIS. H. 2. 46. Fierce as a _clevis_ from a rocke ytorne. _Clevis_ or _cleves_ is the plural number of _Cleve_, a cliff. It is so used by Chaucer. I cannot believe that it was ever used as a singular noun. EYNE. E. II. 79. T. 169. See also Æ 681. In everich _eyne_ aredynge nete of wyere. Wythe syke an _eyne_ shee swotelie hymm dydd view. _Eyne_, a contraction of _eyen_, is the plural number of _eye_. It is not more probable that an ancient writer should have used the expressions here quoted, than that any one now should say--In _every eyes_;--_With such an eyes_. HEIE. E. II. 15. T. 123. Le. 5. 9. Ent. 2. Æ 355. _Heie_, the old plural of _He_, was obsolete, I apprehend, in the time of the supposed Rowley. At least it is very improbable that the same writer, at any time, should use _heie_ and _theie_ indifferently, as in these poems. THYSSEN. E. II. 87. Lette _thyssen_ menne, who haveth sprite of love.