Whitaker's interpretation is nonsense, "If I have space to live and look in the book." Other instances of this phrase occur in ll. [12132], [13268], and [13303] of Piers Ploughman.
[5082]. 2 Corinth. xi, 19.
[5157]. of four kynnes thynges. The medieval notion of the manner in which the elements were mixed together in the formation of the human body, here alluded to, appears to partake more of Western legend than of Eastern tradition. In the English verses on Popular Science (given in my "Popular Treatises of Science written during the Middle Ages," p. 138), we have the following curious account of the four things forming the body, and the influence of each:—
Man hath of urthe al his bodi, of water he haveth wete,
Of eyr he haveth wynd, of fur he haveth hete.
Ech quic thing of alle this foure, of some hath more other lasse;
Ho so haveth of urthe most, he is slou as an asse;
Of vad colour, of hard hide, boustes forme, and ded strong,
Of moche thoght, of lute speche, of stille grounynge, and wraththe long,
A slough wrecche and ferblet, fast and loth to geve his god,