4. Bole, Bull. The sun entered Taurus, in the fifteenth century, just before the middle of April. Hence the phrase Amid the Bole refers, not to the first degree of the sign, but (literally) to the middle of it. The reference must be to May 1, when the sun had just passed a little beyond the middle (or 15th degree) of Taurus.
Even here we trace the influence of Chaucer's translation of the Romaunt of the Rose; for which see notes to ll. 36, 74 below. Chaucer reiterates the mention of May, R. R. 49, 51, 55, 74, 86; and ll. 1 and 2 of the present poem answer to R. R. 53-56:—
'For ther is neither busk ne hay
In May, that it nil shrouded been,
And it with newe leves wreen.'
12. with seint Johan, with St. John for their security or protection; probably suggested by The Compleynt of Mars, l. 9, which opens in a similar strain; cf. note to C. T., F 596; vol. v. p. 385.
15, 16. Compare Rom. Rose (Chaucer's version), ll. 94-5.
21. halt, holds, constrains; the present tense.
22, 23. Compare Rom. Rose (Chaucer's version), ll. 100-1.
28. Lydgate is fond of calling the sun Tytan; Chaucer has the name only once; in Troil. iii. 1464. Lydgate is here thinking of the passage in the Knightes Tale, A 1493-6, about fyry Phebus. Note that he is fond of the word persaunt; see ll. 358, 591, 613; cf. Schick, note to T. G. 328.