964. See note on i. 2677.
979 ff. The story may probably enough be taken from Ovid, Metam. ii. 1-324, but if so it is much abbreviated.
which is the Sonne hote, ‘which is called the Sun’; cp. ii. 131 f. Possibly, however, ‘hote’ may be the adjective, with definite termination for the sake of the rhyme. There would be no objection to rhyming with it the adverb of the same form.
1030 ff. The moral drawn by Gower from the story of Phaeton is against going too low, that is abandoning the higher concerns of love owing to slothful negligence. The next story is against aiming too high and neglecting the due claims of service.
1035 ff. Ovid, Metam. viii. 183-235.
1090 f. Cp. Mirour, 5389 ff.
1096. who as evere take: so ‘what man’ is very commonly used with subjunctive, iii. 2508 &c., but the uncertainty of the construction is shown by ‘And thinkth’ in the next line. See notes on Prol. 13, 460.
1108 ff. Cp. Mirour, 5395 ff.
1131. A superfluous syllable, such as we have at the pause in this line, is very unusual in Gower’s verse; but cp. v. 447.
1153. lete I ne mai, ‘I may not neglect’: see note on i. 3365.