254. 'The last of all (in order), and swiftest in her orbit.'
256. Thynne has tapere = to appear; this passage is curiously cited, in Richardson's Dictionary, in illustration of the sb. taper!
261. churl, man; this is Chaucer's cherl, in Troil. i. 1024. See the note to that line.
263. na nar, no nearer; the moon's orbit, being the least, was the most remote from the outer heaven that enclosed the primum mobile.
273. shew, shewed; but it is false grammar, for the verb to shew (or show) was weak. Formed by analogy with blew, grew, knew; cf. rew, mew, sew, old strong preterites of row, mow, and sow.
290. As Henryson usually refrains from the addition of a syllable at the cæsura, we should probably read injure, not injury; see Troil. iii. 1018.
297, 298. hyest, i.e. Saturn; lawest (lowest), i.e. Cynthia.
299. modify, determine, specify; not here used in the modern sense.
318. Heat and moisture characterised the sanguine temperament (see vol. v. p. 33); coldness and dryness characterised the melancholy temperament (see P. Plowman, B-text, p. xix). Cf. l. 316.
343. 'With cup and clapper, like a leper.' It was usual for lepers to carry a cup (for their own use), and a clapper or clap-dish, which was used in order to give warning of their approach, and also as a receptacle for alms, to prevent actual contact; cf. l. 479 below. Compare the following:—