42. 'It is so high,' &c. The implied subject to which it refers is paradise, where the author's Eve is supposed to be. Hence the sense is:—'paradise is so far away from the place where I am lying and from the common earth, that no cable (let down from it) can reach me.'
59. ferdnes is obviously the right word, though misprinted frendes. It signifies 'fear,' and occurs again in ch. ii. ll. 9, 16; besides, it is again misprinted as frendes in the same chapter, l. 13.
63. weyved is an obvious correction for veyned; see the Glossary.
70. mercy passeth right, your mercy exceeds your justice. This was a proverbial phrase, or, as it is called in the next clause, a 'proposition.'
79. flitte, stir, be moved; 'not even the least bit.'
80. souded (misprinted sonded by Thynne), fixed; cf. Ch. C.T., B 1769. From O.F. souder, Lat. solidare.
83. do, cause; 'cause the lucky throw of comfort to fall upward'; alluding to dice-play.
96. wolde conne, would like to be able to.
99, 100. me weninge, when I was expecting. ther-as, whereas.