Ecclesiastes vii. 27-29.

28. Jesus, the son of Sirach, to whom is ascribed one of the
books of the Apochrypha -- that called the "Wisdom of Jesus
the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus;" in which, especially in the
ninth and twenty-fifth chapters, severe cautions are given
against women.

29. Roman gestes: histories; such as those of Lucretia, Porcia,
&c.

30. May means January to believe that she is pregnant, and that
she has a craving for unripe pears.

31. At this point, and again some twenty lines below, several
verses of a very coarse character had been inserted in later
manuscripts; but they are evidently spurious, and are omitted in
the best editions.

32. "Store" is the general reading here, but its meaning is not
obvious. "Stowre" is found in several manuscripts; it signifies
"struggle" or "resist;" and both for its own appropriateness, and
for the force which it gives the word "stronge," the reading in
the text seems the better.



THE SQUIRE'S TALE.