Specimens of English literature from the 'Ploughmans crede' to the ...

372 NOTES.sing, indicative. It means that the (formerly) indigent man, who haspartaken of the lavish man's bounty, shews no gratitude.So seitb, so says Poverty, who justifies himself in the case of everyman who is foolishly extravagant.Here foole-large is a coined compound word, like foole-largely above.Large in Old English commonly means ' profuse,' 'lavish.'625. Gane, yawn; cf. gofte in Gower, 1. 238, in Morris's Specimens.His S7fiall stvffe, its small contents.My lord, i. e. Henr)' V, to whom the poem is addressed. In likemanner, Chaucer addressed his ' Compleynt to his Purse' to Richard II,prajing him to have mind upon his supplication.''III.(A)JOHN LYDGATE.London Lyckpeny.This piece has been several times printed ; see Strutt's Ivlanners andCustoms of the People of England, vol. iii. p. 59 A Chronicle of;London (printed in London, 1827), p. 265; and. vol, ii. of the PercySociety's publications, p. 103. The two MSS. of it are the HarleianMSS. 367 and 542 in the British Museum; both of them are printed in'A Chronicle of London,' which was edited by Sir H. Nicolas.Mention is made of the Court of King's Bench, the Court of CommonPleas, and the Rolls Court.'The three courts of the King's Bench, theCommon Pleas, and the Exchequer, had each of them a perfectly distinctand separate existence. The Court of King's Bench had the control of allthe inferior tribunals and the cognizance of all trespasses against theking's peace ;to the revenue ;the Court of Exchequer had cognizance of all cases relatingand the Court of Common Pleas was the only tribunal forThe Courts ofcauses of a purely civil nature between private persons.King's Bench and Exchequer still retain each of them its peculiar jurisdiction; and the Common Pleas is still the only court in Westminster inwhich a real action can be tried ; but the great mass of causes betweenparty and party may now be brought indiscriminately in any of thethree courts.'—English Cyclopt-edia, s. v. Courts; iii. 301. It must beremarked, however, that the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequeroften contrived to secure business which properly belonged to the Courtof Common Pleas ; and hence Lydgate represents himself as carryinghis complaint from one court to another.The word Lyclipeny has been explained as being an epithet of London.London is said to be a lickpenny in the sense that it licks up the pence