v. 361. _he ware his gere so nye_] i. e., I suppose, he wore his clothes so near, so thoroughly. But Warton explains it “his coat-sleeve was so short.” Note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to.
v. 363. _whynarde_] i. e. a sort of hanger, sword.
—— _his pouche_, _The deuyll myghte daunce therin for ony crouche_]
—_ony crowche_, i. e. any piece of money,—many coins being marked with a _cross_ on one side. “The devil might dance in his purse without meeting with a single sixpence.” Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to. So in Massinger’s _Bashful Lover_;
“The devil sleeps in my pocket; _I have no cross_ _To drive him from it_.”
v. 365. _Counter he coude O lux vpon a potte_]—_Counter_; see note, p. 92:—i. e. he could sing _O lux_, playing an accompaniment to his voice on a drinking-pot. _O lux beata Trinitas_ was an ancient hymn, “which,” says Hawkins, “seems to have been a very popular melody before the time of King Henry viii.” _Hist. of Music_, ii. 354. In a comedy by the Duke of Newcastle is a somewhat similar passage: “I danced a Jig, while Tom Brutish whistled and _play’d upon the head of a pint pot_.” _The Humorous Lovers_, 1677, act i. sc. 1. p. 5.
v. 366. _eestryche fedder_] i. e. ostrich-feather.
_A Morality,—Anc. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 187. ed. Abbotsf.
“Then made they _revell route_ and goodly glee.”
Spenser’s _Mother Hubberds Tale_,—_Works_, vii. 428. ed. Todd.
v. 370. _Felyce fetewse_]—_Felyce_, i. e. Phillis: _fetewse_, i. e. feateous; “_Fetyce_ and prety. Paruiculus. Elegantulus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 371. _klycked_] i. e. fastened. In Chaucer’s _Marchantes Tale_, v. 9991. ed. Tyr., “_clicket_” means a key. Todd (_Johnson’s Dict._ in v.) cites Cotgrave and Skinner for its having the signification of the ring, knocker, or hammer of a door. Richardson (_Dict._ in v.) remarks that the word was “applied to any fastening which was accompanied by a _clicking_, snapping noise.”
v. 375. _in the deuylles date_] An exclamation several times used by Skelton.—In _Pierce Plowman_, a charter, which is read at the proposed marriage of Mede, is sealed “_in the date of the deuil_,” sig. C i. ed. 1561.
v. 378. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note on v. 199. p. 109.