[77] Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, A. 7-8.
At the beginning of April the sun is a little past the middle of Aries and at the beginning of May, roughly speaking, he is in the middle of Taurus. Thus the sun in April runs a half-course in Aries and a half-course in Taurus. Chaucer means here that the former of these half-courses is completed, so that it is some time after the eleventh of April.
[78] Troilus and Criseyde, II. 50-56. On the third of May, in Chaucer’s time, the sun would be past the twentieth degree of Taurus.
[79] The sun’s declination means his angular distance north or south of the celestial equator. The solstices mark his maximum declination north or south. See [Appendix I. 83 ff.]
[80] V. 8-14.
[81] Frankeleyns Tale, F. 1031-35. See [Appendix V].
[82] Latoun was a compound metal containing chiefly copper and zinc.
[83] F. 1245-49.
[84] Astrolabe, Prologue, 64-70.
[85] Legend of Good Women, III. 1162-4.