and 20.150 (B.18.147) “truyfle,” and Pearsall’s note to 20.145; cf. Chaucer’s “He served hem with nyfles and with fables,” SumT D1760, where “nyfle” clearly has the same meaning as “dido” and is equally mysterious in origin (OED, s.v. nifle, n.); see 20.150n below; see also MED trotevale, from Handlyng Synne. Both MED and OED say that “walterot” is the same word with syllables reversed—and thus apparently not based on “Walter”—and thus it isn’t parallel to Dido as a character. See Noel Coward 1937:287, “slick American ‘vo-do-deo-do’ musical farces,” where the intention is like Langland’s, to refer dismissively to a trivial and inferior literary form. Kane 1989:103–4 lists it as one of those expressions in the poem that “await recovery,” and “require annotation, not translation.”
171–73 Al the wit … parties (B.13.173–76 Al þe wit … peple): The doctor responds not scripturally at all but politically: interestingly, he here represents the very school of hard knocks, the cynicism of experience, that Conscience credited Patience with representing. (There is a valuable exchange of opinion on Patience’s ideas in YLS 15 (2001) between Anna Baldwin and Fiona Somerset, in which, roughly speaking, Baldwin (99–108) adopts Patience’s idealism, and Somerset (109–15) responds with something like the doctor’s realism, though not his bad manners. They live the poem.) By wit B.13.168, Patience presumably meant both the skill to solve the riddle and the wisdom to grasp the value of laying on your enemy with love till he smiles at you (146); what the doctor means by wit here is hardheaded realism. The poem will continue to promote Patience’s view; see 17.123–24n. On the pope and his enemies, see 17.234n and Stephen Barney’s very full note to 21.428–48; also J. A. W. Bennett 1943:60–63, Gwynn 1943:4, Anna Baldwin 2001:105. As for kynges (B), Bennett says (61) that “the context suggests that the poet was thinking of the English and French kings as adherents of the pope and antipope respectively”—though Barney makes it clear that nothing in the B text requires us to date it after the schism, which began in 1378.
B.13.178 That Pacience þo most passe, “for pilgrymes konne wel lye”: Passe means “leave the house.” For Patience’s “pilgrymes cloþes,” see line 29 above. The quotation marks indicate that these are the doctor’s words. On pilgrims and lying, see Prol.47–50 (B.Prol.46–49, A.Prol.46–49) and 7.180–81 (B.5.535–36, A.6.23–24), where the palmer insists that he has never heard of any palmer asking after truth. The meaning “lie” for “Canterbury tale” did not develop until at least the fifteenth century, (Spurgeon 1925:1.81 etc.) or even the sixteenth (OED).
175–83 Ac Concience … parfitnesse to fynde (B.13.179–215 Ac Conscience … pilgrymes as it were): Conscience’s purpose in going away with Patience is clearer in the much shortened C version. In B he will go til I haue preued moore (182), a vague formulation that perhaps means “gained more actual experience”—either of Patience, or in general—as opposed to book-learning—see B.13.133–35a and note—but that also carries a suggestion of “proving himself” morally. Presumably he will learn both by undergoing experience himself and by hearing of Patience’s experience; it is the latter source of knowledge that Clergie assumes at B.13.185–87 that Conscience has in mind. At B.13.191 he adds a penitential purpose, and apparently a desire to imitate Patient’s patient will; in B.13.201 (C.15.179) he implies that he hopes to become perfectly patient, although the contrast of perfect patience there to half þi pak of bokes suggests that “patience” still carries the meaning “experience.” At B.13.214 Clergie interprets Conscience’s purpose as to be tested in order to be made perfect; and Conscience’s own final, rather grand articulation of this purpose is for the two of them, Conscience and Clergie, with Patience as their ally, to bring peace and religious unity to all nations; see below, B.13.203–4n, B.13.207–10n.
In the C version, this process of gradual clarification—as if Conscience were figuring out before our eyes why he is going—is replaced by an immediate settled decision: his purpose is to perfect himself in patience, once again through the medium of experience: he must escape the world of books if he is to learn kynde pacience. No mention is made of any grand plan to apply his newfound perfection to saving the world. Of course one should keep in mind that L seems to place a high value on an impulsive decision to go on pilgrimage: see Piers and the knight at 8.56 (B.6.57, A.7.52); Conscience at the end of the poem; perhaps the Samaritan’s sudden resumption of his journey to Jerusalem.
B.13.183–84 What! … redels: With this friendly dig, Clergie indicates that he shares the doctor’s contempt for Patience’s speech, ridiculing its presentation as a redels (cf. B.13.167) and reducing to absurdity Patience’s formulation at B.13.169–71 of the political value of patient love in terms of the generous requital it will earn from kings and queens. A yeresʒeue is a New Year’s gift, traditionally exchanged at court; cf. Gawain 67; though it can be a bribe exacted by an office-holder, as at B.3.100; see Alford, Gloss. Clergie still insists on the superiority of books to experience.
B.13.188–97 “Nay, by crist!” … Gaʒophilacium: Conscience in reply makes it clear that he certainly does not expect material gain from his association with Patience: what he treasures is his trewe wille, which is priceless, in contrast to the will of folk here, that is, the doctor with his ego and Clergie with his diffidence. He instances the woman in Luke 7:37–50 (often identified as Mary Magdalene), anointing the feet of Jesus and the widow who gave her mite (Luke 21:4) as examples of true will, and presumably also of perfect patience, for their fearless love. I have discussed lines B.13.183–97, Clergie’s challenge and Conscience’s answer, fully in Lawler 1995:94–96. As I wrote (96), “Our dinner scene has by now amounted to a rewriting of these biblical dinner scenes [i.e., those featuring Mary and Zacheus], a rewriting in which at last the host acts with full generosity.” For Zacheus, see Luke 19:1–10. He too has a true will, even if Mary Magdalene outshone him: he climbed a tree to see Jesus, “received him with joy” in his house, and gave his half. Mary gave her all, to be sure; but half is a lot.
B.13.185–87 I shal brynge yow a bible … parfitly knew neuere: This pointed contrast between the old law and Patience is yet another hint that one thing Patience represents is Christ himself; see the note to 32–33 (B.13.9–30) above.
179 (B.13.201) half thy pak of bokes: A little friendly dig in return, whispered softly in the ear, perhaps, as a gesture of friendliness. Conscience is a book unto himself; cf. 17.197 “no boek but Consience” and n. As Gillespie 1994:105 says, since Clergie will await Conscience (in B), “Learning is deferred rather than despised.”
B.13.202 Clergie of Conscience no congie wolde take: This seems petulant, but what he goes on to say makes clear his deep attachment to Conscience—and Conscience’s reply indicates such warmth in return that the petulance evaporates, as line 211 shows.
B.13.203–4 þow shalt se þe tyme … wille me to counseille: A prediction of Conscience’s need when he attempts in B passūs 19–20 to carry out (though only for Christians) the program of unity that he announces here at lines 205–10, and in particular of his cry “help, Clergie or I falle” 20.228 (C.22.228); see also 20.375. Note that both Conscience’s program and Clergie’s prediction are omitted in the C version, perhaps because L was aware that though he had presented Conscience’s attempt at unity, he had not worked out a way of involving either Patience or Clergie, not to mention the conversion of heathens and Jews, in that presentation. Or he intended to transfer this material somehow to that final scene, but never managed to revise it.
B.13.207–10 Ther nys wo … oon bileue: To bring all lands to love and to belief in one law was Wit’s definition of Dobest, 10.190–200 (not in AB). Conscience proposes here, in effect, that he, Clergie, and Patience undertake the effort “to wende as wyde as þe worlde were/To
