[2034-40]. Suggested by Dante, Inf. iii. 55-57, just as ll. 1924-6 above are by the two preceding lines in Dante; see note to l. 1926. Cary has:—
'and following came
Such a long train of spirits, I should ne'er
Have thought that death so many had despoil'd.'
In l. [2038], left means 'left alive.'
[2044]. I substitute ech for euerych (in Caxton). The two MSS. (F. and B.) have merely Rouned in others ere, which is of course defective.
[2048]. I here follow B. (except that it wrongly omits lo).
[2059]. Wondermost; superl. of wonder, which is very common as an adjective.
[2076]. As the reading of the MSS. is obviously wrong (the word mouth being repeated three times), whilst the reading of the printed editions (Wente every tydyng) cannot be right on account of the scansion, I put word for the first of the three mouths. This gives the right sense, and probably Chaucer actually wrote it.
[2089]. Again from Ovid, Met. xii. 54, 55. A sad soth-sawe, a sober truth.