§ 37. [18]. thise 3 howsez. That is, the nadirs of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th houses give the houses that 'follow,' i.e. the 8th, 9th, and 10th. The word 'follow' here seems to refer, not to position, but to the order in which the houses may most conveniently be found. Chaucer omits to add that the beginnings of the 5th and 6th houses can be found in a similar way, because it is sufficiently evident. It is all from Messahala.
§ 38. [1]. for warping, the brodere the bettre. This may mean, either (1) to prevent warping, the thicker the better; or (2) to prevent the errors arising from warping (for fear of warping), the larger the better. I believe the latter to be the true interpretation; for it is better thus to guard against possible errors than to make the plate very thick and, at the same time, small. Besides which, the usual meaning of brodere is wider, larger, more ample. Indeed, we find the very expression 'non sit tamen nimis parvus' in the 4th section of the Practica Chilindri of John Hoveden, published by the Chaucer Society; which see.
[8]. fro the centre, i.e. sticking up above the centre, the length of the wire being equal to a fourth of the diameter, or half the radius, of the circle. This proportion would do for many days in the year; but in the summer time, the pin would bear to be rather longer. Still, we need not alter the text. Cf. the Critical Note on p. [237].
[10]. any-thing, i.e. ever so little; so ony-thyng in l. 13; cf. § 17. 6.
§ 39. Though MS. A is rather corrupt here, there is little doubt about the corrections to be made. See the Critical Notes, p. [237].
[19]. That is, the latitude, or breadth, of a climate, or belt, is measured along a line which goes from North to South as far as the earth extends; so that the latitude of the first climate, for example, is measured from the beginning of it to the end of the same, in a due northerly direction. Other authors, he explains, reckoned the latitude of a climate always from the equinoxial line, instead of from the parallel of latitude which terminated the climate immediately to the south of it. Thus the latitude of the fourth climate might mean, either the breadth of that belt itself, or the whole breadth from the equator to the Northern limit of that climate. The MS. E. 2 in St. John's College, Cambridge, contains (besides Chaucer's 'Astrolabe') a Latin treatise entitled 'De septem climatibus expositio.' We find mention of the 'climates' also in MS. Camb. Ii. 3. 3, fol. 33 b, where a diagram appears representing a hemisphere, divided by parallels of latitude into 9 climates or belts, which, beginning from the equator, are as follows. 1. Inhabitabile propter Calorem. 2. Primum clima dia Meroes. 3. Secundum clima dya cienes. 4. Tertium clima di' alexandrios. 5. Quartum clima dia rodos. 6. Quintum clima dia romes. 7. Sextum clima dia boristenes. 8. Septimum clima dia rifeos. 9. Inhabitabile. This agrees with the list in the footnote on p. [221].
There is a passage in Mandeville which well illustrates Chaucer; I quote the part of it which more immediately relates to the Climates. 'For the Superficialtee of the Erthe is departed in 7 parties, for the 7 Planetes; and the parties ben clept Clymates. And oure parties be not of the 7 Clymates: for they ben descendynge toward the West. And also these yles of Ynde, which beth evene aȝenst us, beth noght reckned in the Climates: for thei ben aȝenst us, that ben in the lowe Contree. And the 7 Clymates strecchen hem, envyrounynge the World,' &c. Mandeville's Voiage, ed. Halliwell, p. 186. See also Ptolemy's Almagest, lib. ii.
As regards the longitudes of towns, it may be observed that in MS. F. 25 in St. John's College, Cambridge, the longitudes of Rome, Cordova, London, Paris, and Malta, are said to be 34° 24′, 9° 30′, 19°, 20°, and 38° respectively. These do not well agree together, but they suggest a reckoning from a meridian situated some 20° W. from that of Greenwich. Chaucer says nothing as to what meridian was used for reckoning longitudes from; and Messahala says, vaguely enough, that longitudes were reckoned 'a meridiano circulo ultime regionis habitabilis in occidente,' i.e. from the most westward habitable place, which possibly once meant Madeira.
§ 40. It is possible that this conclusion was really intended to belong to the Fourth Part of the treatise, and was written by way of instalment. See the Prologue, ll. 67-72. It is curious that in all the best MSS. (P. excepted) the last sentence should be incomplete.
[13]. This sentence is very awkward. It seems to mean—'and then set I the point of F upward in the same sign, because that the latitude was north, upon the latitude of Venus; that is to say, (I set it upward) keeping it in the 6th degree of Capricorn.' Upward means inward, i.e. towards the centre or towards the north; the opposite being expressed by southward, or outward, or toward the border, as in l. 48 below. Upon the latitude of Venus means that the point F of the compass was set above the second degree of latitude, so that the space between the legs of the compass became equal to 2 degrees, as said in l. 16. Lastly, the words that is to seyn, in the 6 degree, &c., are an explanation of the vaguer expression in the same signe. The repetition of the words that is to seyn, &c. (ll. 12 and 14), is intended to draw attention to the necessity of keeping both legs of the compass in the same degree of longitude (A on the zodiac, and F to the north of it).