[474]. 'But I do not know who caused them to be made.'
[475]. Read ne in as nin; as in Squi. Tale, F 35.
[482]. This waste space corresponds to Dante's 'gran diserto,' Inf. i. 64; or, still better, to his 'landa' (Inf. xiv. 8), which was too sterile to support plants. So again, l. 486 corresponds to Dante's 'arena arida e spessa,' which has reference to the desert of Libya; Inf. xiv. 13.
[487]. 'As fine [said of the sand] as one may see still lying.' Jephson says yet must be a mistake, and would read yt. But it makes perfect sense. Cx. Th. read at eye (put for at yë) instead of yet lye, which is perhaps better. At yë means 'as presented to the sight'; see Kn. Ta., A 3016.
[498]. Kenne, discern. The offing at sea has been called the kenning; and see Kenning in Halliwell.
[500]. More, greater. Imitated from Dante, Purgat. ix. 19, which Cary translates thus:—
'Then, in a vision, did I seem to view
A golden-feather'd eagle in the sky,
With open wings, and hovering for descent.'
Cf. also the descent of the angel in Purg. ii. 17-24.