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The cercles of his eyen in his hed

They gloweden betwixen yelwe and red,
And like a griffon loked he about,

With kemped heres on his browes flout;

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His limmes gret, his braunes hard and stronge,
His fhouldres brode, his armes round and longe;
And as the guife was in his contree,

Ful highe upon a char of gold flood he,
With foure white bolles in the trais.
Inftede of cote armure on his harnais,
With nayles yelwe, and bright as any gold,
He hadde a beres fkin, cole-blake for old.

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His longe here was kempt behind his bak,

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As any ravenes fether it fhone for blake.

A wreth of gold arm-gret, of huge weight,
Upon his hed fate ful of ftones bright,

Of fine rubins and of diamants.

About his char ther wenten white alauns,

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Twenty and mo, as gret as any ftere,
To hunten at the leon or the dere,

And folwed him, with mofel faft ybound,
Colered with gold, and torettes filed round.

V. 2150. alauns] Alano is the Spanish name of a species of dog which'the dictionaries call a Maltiff. Sir J.Bouchier's tranflation of Froiffart, b. iv. c. 24, “ foure courfers and two allans "of Spaygne fayre and good."

V. 2154. torettes] Rather toretes, with the mff. from the Fr. touret, which is explained by Cotgrave to fignify, among other things, the little ring by which a hawke's lune (or leath) is faft

An hundred lordes had he in his route

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Armed full wel, with hertes fterne and floute.

With Arcita, in ftories as men find,

The gret Emetrius the King of Inde,
Upon a stede bay, trapped in stele,
Covered with cloth of gold diapred wele,

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Came riding like the god of Armes Mars;
His cote armure was of a cloth of Tars,
Couched with perles white, and round, and grete;
His fadel was of brent gold new ybete;
A mantelet upon his fhouldres hanging
Bret-ful of rubies red, as fire fparkling;
His crifpe here like ringes was yronne,
And that was yelwe, and glitered as the fonne;

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His nofe was high, his eyen bright citrin,

His lippes round, his colour was fanguin,
A fewe fraknes in his face yfpreint,

Betwixen yelwe and blake fomdel ymeint,
And as a leon he his loking cafte,

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Of five-and-twenty yere his age I cafte;

His berd was wei begonnen for to fpring,

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His vois was as a trompe thondering;

ened unto the jeffes. Mr. Warton has thewn, by feveral quotations, that toretes were affixed to the collars of dogs for a fimilar purpose. Hifi. of Eng. Post. p. 364. Our Author lays that "the ringe [of the aftrolabe] renneth in a manner of a turet." Tr. of Af. fol. 291, b.

. 2171. fraknes] The Sax. word for what we call freckles.
Volume II.
K

Upon his hede he wered of laurer grene,
A gerlond freshe and lufty for to fene;
Upon his hond he bare for his deduit

An egle tame, as any lily whit:

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An hundred lordes had he with him there,
All armed fave hir hedes in all hir gere,

Ful richely in alle manere thinges;

For trufteth wel that erles, dukes, kinges,

Were gathered in this noble compagnie,
For love and for encrefe of chevalie.
About this king ther ran on every part

Ful many a tame leon and leopart.

And in this wife thefe lordes all and fome

Ben on the Sonday to the citee come

Abouten prime, and in the toun alight,

This Thefeus, this duk, this worthy knight,
Whan he had brought hem into his citee,
And inned hem everich at his degree,
He fefteth hem, and doth fo gret labour
To efen hem, and don hem all honour,
That yet men wenen that no mannes wit
Of non eftat ne cond amenden it.
The mintralcie, the fervice at the fefte,
The grete yeftes to the most and lefte,
The riche array of Thefeus paleis,
Ne who fate first ne last upon the deis,
What ladies fayreft ben or beft dancing,
Or which of hem can carole beft or fing,

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Ne who moft felingly fpeketh of love,
What haukes fitten on the perche above,
What houndes liggen on the floor adoun,
Of all this now make I no mentioun,

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But of the effect, that thinketh me the befte; 2209
Now cometh the point, and herkeneth if you leste.
The Sonday night or day began to spring,
Whan Palamon the larke herde fing,
Although it n'ere not day by houres two,
Yet fang the larke, and Palmon right tho
With holy herte, and with an high corage
He rofe, to wenden on his pilgrimage
Unto the blisful Citherea benigne,
I mene Venus, honourable and digne,
And in hire houre he walketh forth a pas
Unto the liftes, ther hire temple was,

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. 2206. What hautes] He alludes to the following defcrip

tion in The Thefeida, 1. vii;

L'aula grand d'alti cavalieri

Tutta era piena, e di diverfe gente.
Quivi aveva zugelari e miniurieri
Di diverá atu copiofamente,

Zilfalchi, aftori, falcoul, e fparavieri,
Brachi, livreri, e matin ver mente,
Su per le stanze e in terra a giacere,
Affai a quor zeatifi belli a vedere.

. 2219. And in bire boure] I cannot better illustrate Chau cer's aftrology than by a quotation from the old Kalendrier de Berg. edit. 1500, lign. K ti. b.; “ Qui vealt savoir comme ber"giers fcevent quel planete regne chafcune heure du jour et "de la nuit, doit favoir le plarete du jour qui veult s'enquerir; " et la premiere heure temporelle du fole levant ce jour et 66 pour celluy pianete. la feconde heure eft pour la planete en

And doun he kneleth, and with humble chere
And herte fore he fayde as ye fhul here:

Fayreft of fayre, o lady min Venus,
Daughter to Jove, and spouse of Vulcanus,
Thou glader of the Mount of Citheron!
For thike love thou haddeft to Adon

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"fuivant. et la tierce pour l'autre," &c. in the following order, viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, Luna. To apply this doctrine to the prefent cafe. The firft hour of the Sunday, reckoning from funrife, belonged to the Sun, the planet of the day, the fecond to Venus, the third to Mercury, &c.; and continuing this method of allotment we thall find that the twenty-fecond hour alfo belonged to the Sun, and the twenty-third to Venus, fo that the hour of Venus really was, as Chaucer fays, two hours before funrife of the following day. Accordingly we are told in ver. 2273 that the third hour after Palamon fet out for the temple of Venus the fun rofe, and Emelie began to go to the temple of Diane. It is not faid that this was the hour of Diane or the Moon, but it really was; for, as we have juft seen, the twenty-third hour of Sunday belonging to Venus, the twenty-fourth must be gi ven to Mercury, and the first hour of Monday falls in course to the Moon, the prefiding planet of that day.- After this Arcite is defcribed as waiking to the temple of Mars, ver. 2 369,

the nexte boure of Mars, that is, the fourth hour of the day. It is neceffary to take thefe words together, for the nexte boure fingly, would fignify the fecond hour of the day; but that according to the rule of rotation mentioned above belonged to Saturn, as the third did to Jupiter. The fourth was the nexte boure of Mars that occurred after the hour laft named.

.2223. Fayreft of fayre] So Palamon in The Theseida;

O bella dea, dei ben Vulcan fpofa,
Per cui fe aliegra il monte Citherone,
Dee i ti priegu, che mi fii pietofa,

Per quello amore che portaiti ad Adone.

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