613. Both Chaucer and Gower make the Souldan send for the merchants, whereas in Trivet they are brought before him on accusation: but in fact here Gower agrees in essentials with Trivet, while Chaucer invents a quite different occasion for the interview.
653. Betwen hem two, ‘by themselves together’: cp. 752, 3517, iii. 1466.
684. Hire clos Envie: see note on Prol. 221. The metaphor here may be from spreading a net, or perhaps it means simply she displayed her secret envy.
693 f. Compare Chaucer’s development of the idea with examples, Cant. Tales, B 470 ff.
709. withoute stiere: Chaucer says ‘a ship al steereles’ where Trivet has ‘sanz sigle et sanz naviroun,’ or ‘sanz viron’ (MS. Rawl.): but either ‘viron’ or ‘naviron’ might stand for the oar with which the ship was steered.
709 ff. Note the free transposition of clauses for the sake of the rhymes. The logical order would be 709, 711, 710, 713, 712.
711. for yeres fyve. Trivet says ‘pur treis aunz,’ but he keeps her at sea nevertheless for nearly five.
736. gon, plural, ‘he and his wife go’: cp. 1152.
749 ff. In the MSS. the paragraph begins at ‘Constance loveth,’ l. 751.
752. ‘They speaking every day together alone,’ an absolute use: cp. 1723. For ‘betwen hem two’ cp. 653.