'Nunc quis modus sit audiendi disseramus. Tale enim quiddam fieri consuevit in uocibus, quale cum paludibus uel quietis aquis iactum eminus mergitur saxum. Prius enim in paruissimum orbem undam colligit, deinde maioribus orbibus, undarum globos spargit, atque eo usque dum fatigatus motus ab eliciendis fluctibus conquiescat. Semperque posterior et maior undula pulsu debiliori diffunditur. Quod si quid sit, quod crescentes undulas possit offendere, statim motus ille reuertitur, et quasi ad centrum, unde profectus fuerat, eisdem undulis rotundatur. Ita igitur cum aer pulsus fecerit sonum, pellit alium proximum, et quodammodo rotundum fluctum aeris ciet. Itaque diffunditur et omnium circunstantium (sic) simul ferit auditum, atque illi est obscurior uox, qui longius steterit, quoniam ad eum debilior pulsi aeris unda peruenit.'
[792]. Covercle, a pot-lid. Cotgrave cites the proverb—'Tel pot tel couvercle, Such pot, such potlid, like master, like man.'
[794]. Wheel must have been glossed by cercle (circle) in an early copy; hence MSS. F. and B. have the reading—'That whele sercle wol cause another whele,' where the gloss has crept into the text.
[798]. Roundel, a very small circle; compas, a very large circle. Roundel is still a general term for a small circular charge in heraldry; if or (golden), it is called a bezant; if argent (white), it is called a plate; and so on. In the Sec. Non. Tale, G 45, compas includes the whole world.
[801]. Multiplying, increasing in size.
[805]. 'Where you do not observe the motion above, it is still going on underneath.' This seems to allude to some false notion as to a transmission of motion below the surface.
[808]. This is an easy way of getting over a difficulty. It is no easy task to prove the contrary of every false theory!
[811]. An air aboute, i.e. a surrounding layer, or hollow sphere, of air.
[822]. I would rather 'take it in game'; and so I accept it.
[826]. Fele, experience, understand by experiment.