[51] B. l ff.
“Our Hoste sey wel that the brighte sonne
The ark of his artificial day had ronne
The fourthe part, and half an houre, and more;
And though he were not depe expert in lore,
He wiste it was the eightetethe day
Of April, that is messager to May;
And sey wel that the shadwe of every tree
Was as in lengthe the same quantitee
That was the body erect that caused it.
And therefor by the shadwe he took his wit
That Phebus, which that shoon so clere and brighte,
Degrees was fyve and fourty clombe on highte;
And for that day, as in that latitude,
It was ten of the clokke, he gan conclude,
And sodeynly he plighte his hors aboute.”
For Chaucer’s accuracy in this reference see [Appendix II].
[52] Prologue, 267-68.
[53] Planets are said to be in conjunction with one another when they appear as one object or very close together within a limited area of the sky.
[54] The Hous of Fame, Book I. 503-8. Cf. Dante, Paradiso i. 58-63:
“I not long endured him, nor yet so little but that I saw him sparkle all around, like iron issuing molten from the furnace. And, of a sudden, meseemed that day was added unto day, as though he who hath the power, had adorned heaven with a second sun.”
[55] The Marchantes Tale, E. 2219-21.
[56] Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, 125-9.
[57] Troilus and Criseyde, V. 8.