[28]. A proverb. In the Proverbs of Hendyng, l. 29, we have: 'Ase fele thede, ase fele thewes,' i.e. so many peoples, so many customs. See l. 42 below. Cf. Boethius, Bk. ii. Pr. 7. 49 (p. 47).
[36]. went, for wendeth; i.e. goes; pres. tense.
[46]. 'Yet all is told, or must be told.'
[48]. bitit, for bitydeth; i.e. betides, happens.
[55]. Bole, Bull, the sign Taurus. On the third of May, in Chaucer's time, the sun would be in about the 20th degree of Taurus. The epithet white is from Ovid, Met. ii. 852.
[63]. wente, sb., a turn; i.e. he tossed about.
[64-68]. forshapen, metamorphosed. Progne was changed into a swallow; Ovid, Met. vi. 668. Tereus carried off Progne's sister Philomela; see Leg. of Good Women (Philomela).
[74]. 'And knew that the moon was in a good plight (position) for him to take his journey.' That is, the moon's position was propitious; see note to Man of Lawes Tale, B 312.
[77]. 'Janus, god of (the) entry;' see Ovid, Fasti, i. 125.
[81]. 'And found (that) she and two other ladies were sitting.' Sete (A. S. sǣton) is the pt. t. pl., not the pp.