Line 345. Thy.—MS. has they.
Line 360. Cruell, huge, are the epithets properly belonging to elephant; changing, small, to chameleon. See Introduction.
Line 396. Ile beare thee light.—If this expression be an idiom, I can find no other instance of it; cf., however, the analogous phrase "to bear hard," i.e. to take ill (Julius Cæsar, ii. 1, 215; 1 Henry IV. i. 3, 270). The punning character of the passage makes it difficult to determine what exact meaning Florida wishes to convey. A not improbable sense would be obtained by supplying a comma after thee, and thus turning light into a nominative of address.
Line 397. Lurden, a clown, sluggard, ill-bred person (Halliwell).
"And seyde, lurden, what doyst thou here?
Thou art a thefe, or thefys fere."
(MS. Cantab, Ff. ii. 38, f. 240.)
The word occurs in Piers Plowman.
Line 399. O Œdipus I am not, I am Davus.—A quotation from Terence, Andria, i. 2, 23: "Davus sum, non Œdipus."
Line 400. Master Davis.—Evidently an intentional anglicizing of the classical name.