for yf yt do, &c.
But this correctione (savinge, as I sayed, correctione) semeth not so good as the former texte.
Kenelm slain by Queen Drida. Fol: 86. pa: 2. Vppon these woordes, (Lo, in the lyfe of Kenelme we reade,) you saye that Kenelme was sleyne by his sister Quenda, whiche sholde be Quendrida; as Williame of Malmsberye and Ingulphus have. Whiche Quendrida dothe signyfye Quene Drida; as the author of the Antiquyties of Seint Albons and of the Abbottes thereof (supposed to be Mathewe Paris) dothe expounde yt. for that auctor, speakinge of the wyfe of Offa the greate kinge of Mercia, (a wicked and proude womanne because she was of the stocke of Charles the greate,) dothe saye, that she was called Drida, and being the kings wyfe was termed Quendrida, id est, Regina Drida.
Master Speight mistaketh his almanack. Fo: 87. p: 1. Vppon these woordes of “Taurus was fortye degrees and one,” you saye that this place ys misprinted, as well in not namynge of the sygne, as of the misreckonynge of the degrees, that the two and twentye of Marche the sunne is in Aries, and that but eleven degrees or thereaboutes, and hathe in all but thirtye degrees. In whiche, in semynge to correcte the former printe (whiche in truthe deseruethe amendement, but not in that order,) you seme to mee to erre, as farre as heauen and yerthe, in mistakinge Chaucers meanynge and his woordes, as well for the daye of the monthe, as for the signe. for where you suppose that Chaucere meanethe the two and twentithe daye of Marche, you mistake yt. for although yt should be the 22 of the monthe, as the printed booke hathe; yet canne yt not be the 22 daye of Marche, but must of necessytye be the two and twentythe of Aprille: and so the signe Taurus trulye named. But first I must saye, the number of the dayes are misprinted, for where yt is twentye dayes and two, yt must be (and so are my written copies) thirtye dayes and two, whiche must be the seconde of Maye, as you shall well see by the woordes of Chaucer, for whether yowe recken thirtye two dayes, withe the truthe, as hathe the written copye, or xxii dayes, withe the printe: yet must you begynne to recken them from after the last of Marche. for so dothe Chaucer, sayinge Marche was compleate, in these woordes:
When the month in whiche the worlde began,
That hight Marche, when God first made man,
Was complete, and passed were also
Since Marche byganne, &c.
Wherebye you see, that you must begynne to recken the nomber of dayes from the tyme of marche complete; and then woulde the signe fall out to be in Taurus. Yf you holde you to the printe (for the 22 daye after Marche, which is the 22 daye of Aprill in which the sonne is aboute xi degrees in Taurus;) or to the written copye of thirtye two dayes, (whiche is the seconde of maye at what tyme the sonne ys also aboute some xxi degrees in Taurus;) the signe is not misreckoned or misnamed, as you suppose. nether canne these woordes, since Marche beganne, helpe you to recken them from the begynnynge of Marche, (as you seme to doo;) because they muste answere and be agreable to the former wordes of Chaucer, whiche sayethe Marche was complete, and, for that we shoulde not dobte thereof, he addethe also farther, And passed were also since Marche beganne; where the worde beganne ys mysprinted for begonne, that is, since marche be gonne, this word begonne being put for is gonne, or gonne bye, or departed. so that the genuyniell sence hereof is, When march was complete, and also were passed, since march is gonne, or gonne by, or departed. for, in many olde inglishe woordes, this syllable (be) is sett before to make yt moore signyficante and of force, as for moone we saye bemone, for sprincled, besprincled; for dewed, bedewed, &c. as in this case for gonne ys sett downe begonne. But although there be no misnaminge of the The degrees of the signe are misreckoned, not the signe itself. signe; yet yt is true the degrees of the signes are misreckoned, the error whereof grewe, because the degree of the signe, is made equall with the degree of the sonne ascended above the Horizon, beinge at that tyme xli degrees in heighte from the Horizon. But to remedye all this, and to correcte yt accordinge as Chaucer sett yt downe in myne and other written copies; and that yt may stande with all mathematicall proportione, whiche Chaucer knewe and observed there, the print must be corrected after those written copies (whiche I yet holde for sounde till I maye disprove them) having these woordes:
when that the month in whiche the worlde beganne,