929 f. via salua: apparently meaning ‘Savoye,’ the palace of the duke of Lancaster in the Strand. In the next line ‘longum castrum’ looks like ‘Lancaster,’ but it is difficult to say exactly what the meaning is.
931. Baptisteque domus. This is the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem at Clerkenwell, which was burnt by the insurgents because of their hostility to Robert Hales, the Master of the Hospital, then Treasurer of the kingdom. Walsingham says that the fire continued here for seven days.
933-936. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 439 ff., where the reference is to the burning of the temple of Vesta. Hence the mention of sacred fires, which is not appropriate here.
937. Metam. ii. 61.
939 f. Metam. i. 288 f.
941 ff. This accusation, which Gower brings apparently without thinking it necessary to examine into its truth (‘Est nichil vt queram,’ &c.), is in direct contradiction to the statements of the chroniclers, e.g. Walsingham, i. 456 f., Knighton, ii. 135; but it is certain that dishonest persons must have taken advantage of the disorder to some extent for their own private ends, however strict the commands of the leaders may have been, and it is probable that the control which was exercised at first did not long continue. The chroniclers agree with Gower as to the drunkenness.
943 f. Ovid, Trist. v. 6. 39 f.
951. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 673.
953. Metam. xv. 665.
955 f. That is, the deeds of Friday (dies Veneris) were more atrocious than those of Thursday.