1101. The punctuation is that of F.
1128. tak in his mynde, ‘let him take thought’: cp. v. 3573, and l. 1420 below.
1165. the wisest: cp. Introduction, p. cxi.
1184 ff. In the original it is not Cerimon himself, but a young disciple of his, who discovers the signs of life and takes measures for restoring her. She has already been laid upon the pyre, and he by carefully lighting the four corners of it (cp. l. 1192) succeeds in liquefying the coagulated blood. Then he takes her in and warms her with wool steeped in hot oil.
1195. ‘began’ is singular, and the verbs ‘hete,’ ‘flacke,’ ‘bete’ are used intransitively: ‘to flacke’ means to flutter.
1219. ‘In short, they speak of nothing’: ‘as for an ende’ seems to mean the same as ‘for end’ or ‘for an end’ in later English: cp. New English Dictionary, ‘end.’
1248. This daughter is apparently an invention of Gower’s, who perhaps misread the original, ‘adhibitis amicis filiam sibi adoptauit,’ that is, he adopted her as his daughter.
1285. his In, ‘his lodging,’ in this case the house of Strangulio. Note the distinction made here by the capital letter between the substantive and the adverb: see Introduction, p. clix.
1293. whiche: note the plural, referring to Strangulio and his wife.
1295. The name here in the original is ‘Tharsia,’ given to her by her father’s suggestion from the name of the city, Tharsus, where she was left; but the Laud MS. afterwards regularly calls her Thasia.