[FN#234] Lit. "land;" but the meaning is evidently as in the text.
[FN#235] The reader will recognize the well-known story used by
Chaucer, Boccaccio and La Fontaine.
[FN#236] Syn. flourishing.
[FN#237] Syn. depopulated.
[FN#238] Lit. an oppressor.
[FN#239] i.e. a man of commanding presence.
[FN#240] Syn. cause flourish.
[FN#241] Syn. depopulateth.
[FN#242] Lit. the year.
[FN#243] The whole of the tither's account of himself is terribly obscure and so corrupt that it is hardly possible to make sense of it. The same remark applies to much of the rest of the story.