[6]. floteringe matere: 'materiae fluitantis'; see below, Pr. xi. 156.
[8]. beringe, &c.; see Leg. of Good Women, 2229, and note.
[13]. Thou bindest: 'Tu numeris elementa ligas.'
[14]. colde. Alluding to the old doctrine of the four elements, with their qualities. Thus the nature of fire was thought to be hot and dry, that of water cold and moist, that of air cold and dry, that of earth hot and moist. Cf. Ovid, Met. i. 19:—
'Frigida pugnabant calidis, humentia siccis,
Mollia cum duris, sine pondere habentia pondus.
Hanc Deus et melior litem Natura diremit ...
Dissociata locis concordi pace ligauit.'
Sometimes the four elements are represented as lying in four layers; the earth at the bottom, and above it the water, the air, and the fire, in due order. This arrangement is here alluded to. Cf. Kn. Ta. A 2992.
[18]. Thou knittest, &c.