her.

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. AE 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 AE 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. AE 355.

_Heie_, the old plural of _He_, was obsolete, I apprehend, in the time
of the supposed Rowley. At least it is very improba