Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey
General
Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales
Chaucer, Geoffrey
English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500
22. same CPI; s_e_c_on_de AB. The reading _same_ is right; for the
'latitude of a climate' means the breadth of a zone of the earth, and the
latitude of the first climate (here chosen by way of example) is the
breadth as measured along a great circle perpendicular to the equator, from
the beginning of the said first climate to the end of _the same_. The words
'evene-directe agayns the poole Artik' mean in the direction of the North
pole; i.e. the latitude of a climate is reckoned from its beginning, or
_southernmost_ boundary-line, towards the end of the same, viz. its
_northern_ boundary-line.
22. þe poole Artik P; þe pool artyke C; the pole artike I; from north to
south AB. Observe that this singular error in A, 'euene direct_e_ agayns
from north to south,' probably arose from a confusion of the text 'euene
direct_e_ agayns þe poole Artik' with a gloss upon it, which was 'from
north to south.' It is important as throwing light on the meaning of the
phrase, and proving that the interpretation of it given above (note to l.
22) is correct.
24. intercept CP; intercepte I; except (_over an erasure_) AB.
The only reading about which there is any doubt is that in line 18, which
may be either 'illike distant by-twene them alle' (A), or 'I-like distaunte
fro þe equinoxial' (C). But it is immaterial which reading be adopted,
since _Illike-distant_ is here used merely in the sense of _parallel_, and
the boundaries of the climates are parallel both to one another, and to the
equinoctial. The climates themselves were of different breadths.
§ 40, l. 4. this samples AB; þese ensamples C.
5. for sothe] _miswritten_ for sonne AB; in gen_er_al C; yn special P; _the
reading_ sonne _points to_ sothe, _and makes it very probable that_ for
sothe _is the true reading_.
6. the longitude] þe longitude C; latitude AB (_absurdly_); see l. 11.
7. planete; _miswritten_ that A, _but corrected_ to planete _in the
margin_; C _has_ planete, _correctly_. The figure 6 is omitted in C; so are
all the other figures further on. him] hir C.
8. I tok] Than toke I C. 8, 16. 2 degrees A; 3 degrees B.
10. Than tok I] Than toke I C; _for_ tok AB _wrongly have_ stykke,
_afterwards altered to_ stokke _in_ A. _second_ the] _supplied from_ C,
_which has_ þe; AB _omit_.
23. the] þe C; AB _omit_.
27. prikke] prickes C; _perhaps_ prikkes _would be a better reading_.
29. AB _omit the figure_ 2; _but see_ l. 8.
31. in alle] in al C; A _has_ septe_n_t_r_ionalle, _an obvious mistake for_
septe_n_trional in alle, _by confusion of the syllable_ 'al' _in the former
with_ 'al' _in the latter word_; B _has_ septentrional, _omitting_ in alle.
34. signes C] tymes AB (_wrongly_); see l. 32.
46. _Perhaps_ evene _before_ of _should be omitted, as in_ C. AB _have_ in
the ende euene ou_er_ of thee, _where_ euene ouer _is repeated from the
former part of the line_.
47. F endlang] F endlonge C; A euene AB; _but see_ ll. 23, 24.
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