11998. _Thre thynges._ This proverb is frequently quoted by the satirical and facetious writers of the middle ages. Thus in Chaucer (C. T. 5860):-- Thou saist, that droppyng houses, and eek smoke, And chydyng wyves, maken men to fle Out of here oughne hous. In the poem entitled Golias de Conjuge non ducenda, in Walter Mapes, p. 83, the proverb is alluded to in the following words:-- Fumus, et mulier, et stillicidia, Expellunt hominem a domo propria. There was an old French proverbial distich to the same effect,-- Fumée, pluye, et femme sans raison, Chassent l'homme de sa maison. 12040. 2 Corinth. xii, 9. 12097. _to be dubbed._ These and the following lines contain a continued allusion to the ceremonies of knighthood and tournaments. 12106. Psal. cxvii, 26. 12211. Matth. xxvii, 54. 12232, 12244. _Longeus ... this blynde bacheler._ This alludes to one of the many legends which the monks engrafted upon the scripture history. Longeus is said to have been the name of the soldier who pierced the side of Christ with his spear; and it is pretended that he was previously blind from his birth, but that the blood of the Saviour ran down his spear, and a drop of it touching his eye, he was instantly restored to sight, by which miracle he was converted. See, in illustration of this subject, Halliwell's Coventry Mysteries, p. 334; The Towneley Mysteries, p. 321; Jubinal, Mystères inédits du quinzième Siècle, tom. ii, pp. 254-257; &c. 12319, 12418, 12420. _Mercy and Truthe, ... Pees ... Rightwisnesse._ Lydgate seems to have had this passage in his mind, when he described the four sisters in the following lines at the commencement of one of his poems (MS. Harl. 2255, fol. 21):-- Mercy and Trouthe mette on an hih mounteyn Briht as the sonne with his beemys cleer, Pees and Justicia walkyng on the pleyn, And with foure sustryn, moost goodly of ther cheer, List nat departe nor severe in no maneer, Of oon accoord by vertuous encrees, Joyned in charité, pryncessis moost enteer, Mercy and Trouthe, Rihtwisnesse and Pees. 12361. _a tale of Waltrot._ This name, like Wade in Chaucer, appears to have been that of a hero of romances and tales, or a personage belonging to the popular superstitions. Perhaps it may be connected with the old German _Waltschrat_ (_satyrus_, _pilosus_). See Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, p. 270. 12438. Psal. xxix, 6. 12566. Matth. xiv, 28. 12599. _a spirit speketh to helle._ The picture of the "Harrowing of Hell," which here fol, bears a striking resemblance to the analogous scene in the old Mysteries, particularly in that edited by Mr. Halliwell under this title, 8vo, 1840. Compare the play on the same subject in the Towneley Mysteries, p. 244. 12601. Psal. xxiii, 7, 9.