The cercles of his eyen in his hed They gloweden betwixen yelwe and red, With kemped heres on his browes flout; 2135 His limmes gret, his braunes hard and stronge, Ful highe upon a char of gold flood he, 2140 His longe here was kempt behind his bak, 2145 As any ravenes fether it fhone for blake. A wreth of gold arm-gret, of huge weight, Of fine rubins and of diamants. About his char ther wenten white alauns, 2150 Twenty and mo, as gret as any ftere, And folwed him, with mofel faft ybound, 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 2155 Armed full wel, with hertes fterne and floute. With Arcita, in ftories as men find, The gret Emetrius the King of Inde, 2160 Came riding like the god of Armes Mars; 2165 His nofe was high, his eyen bright citrin, His lippes round, his colour was fanguin, Betwixen yelwe and blake fomdel ymeint, 2170 Of five-and-twenty yere his age I cafte; His berd was wei begonnen for to fpring, 2175 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. Upon his hede he wered of laurer grene, An egle tame, as any lily whit: 2180 An hundred lordes had he with him there, Ful richely in alle manere thinges; For trufteth wel that erles, dukes, kinges, Were gathered in this noble compagnie, 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, 2185 2190 2195 2200 Ne who moft felingly fpeketh of love, 2205 But of the effect, that thinketh me the befte; 2209 2215 2220 . 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. Zilfalchi, aftori, falcoul, e fparavieri, . 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 Fayreft of fayre, o lady min Venus, 2225 "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 quello amore che portaiti ad Adone. |