probably means no
more than a warm nook, inviting one to rest, or to such quiet pursuits
as the one indicated. That this is really the reading is shown by the
next stanza, wherein the poet apologizes for having spoken too bluntly;
he ought to have spoken of such a chase by saying that he goes
_a-hawking_ or _a-hunting_. Such was the right euphemism required by
'norture.'"

If this is the meaning, we may compare with it the old poet's reproof to
the proud man:

Man, of [th]i schuldres and of [th]i side
[th]ou mi3*te hunti luse and flee:
of such a park i ne hold no pride;
[th]e dere nis nau3*te [th]at [th]ou mighte sle.

_Early English Poems_, ed. F.J.F., 1862, p. 1, l. 5.

and remember that one of the blessings of the early Paradisaical _Land
of Cokaygne_ is:

Nis [th]er flei, fle, no lowse,
In clo[th], in toune, bed, no house.

_Ib._, p. 157, l. 37-8.

We may also compare the following extract about Homer's death from
"Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English: Profitable
to the Learner, and not vnpleasant to any other Reader. By _John
Minsheu_, Professor of Languages in London. 1623," p. 47.

"F ... a foole with his foolishnesse framed in his owne imagination may
giue to a hundred wise men matter to picke out.

"I, So it hapned to the Poet Homer, that as he was with age blinde, and
went walking by the sea shoare, & heard certaine Fishermen talking, that
at that time were a _lowsing_ themselues, and as he asked them, what
fish they caught, they vnderstanding that he had meant their lice, they
answered, Those that we [1]haue, we seeke for, and those that we [2]haue
not wee finde, but as the good Homer could not see what they did, and
for this cause could not vnderstand the riddle, it did so grieue his
vnderstanding to obtaine the secret of this matter, which was a
sufficient griefe to cause his death."

[Footnote 1: i. Haue in their clothes. i. lice.]

[Footnote 2: i. Haue not in hand.]

But the subject is not a very pleasant one for discussion, though the
occupation alluded to in the Oriel Text must have been one of the
pastimes of many people in Early England.

The book itself, _Lytill Johan_, is by a disciple of Lydgate's--see l.
366, p. 36-7--and contains, besides, the usual directions how to dress,
how to behave in church, at meals, and when serving at table, a wise
man's advice on the books his little Jack should read, the best English
poets,--then