'Nunc quis modus sit audiendi disseramus. Tale enim quiddam fieri consuevit in uocibus, quale cum paludibus uel quietis aquis iactum eminus mergitur saxum. Prius enim in paruissimum orbem undam colligit, deinde maioribus orbibus, undarum globos spargit, atque eo usque dum fatigatus motus ab eliciendis fluctibus conquiescat. Semperque posterior et maior undula pulsu debiliori diffunditur. Quod si quid sit, quod crescentes undulas possit offendere, statim motus ille reuertitur, et quasi ad centrum, unde profectus fuerat, eisdem undulis rotundatur. Ita igitur cum aer pulsus fecerit sonum, pellit alium proximum, et quodammodo rotundum fluctum aeris ciet. Itaque diffunditur et omnium circunstantium (_sic_) simul ferit auditum, atque illi est obscurior uox, qui longius steterit, quoniam ad eum debilior pulsi aeris unda peruenit.' 792. _Covercle_, a pot-lid. Cotgrave cites the proverb--'_Tel pot tel couvercle_, Such pot, such potlid, like master, like man.' 794. _Wheel_ must have been glossed by _cercle_ (circle) in an early copy; hence MSS. F. and B. have the reading--'That whele sercle wol cause another whele,' where the gloss has crept into the text. 798. _Roundel_, a very small circle; _compas_, a very large circle. _Roundel_ is still a general term for a small circular charge in heraldry; if _or_ (golden), it is called a _bezant_; if _argent_ (white), it is called a _plate_; and so on. In the Sec. Non. Tale, G 45, _compas_ includes the whole world. 801. _Multiplying_, increasing in size. 805. 'Where you do not observe the motion above, it is still going on underneath.' This seems to allude to some false notion as to a transmission of motion below the surface. 808. This is an easy way of getting over a difficulty. It is no easy task to prove the contrary of every false theory! 811. _An air aboute_, i.e. a surrounding layer, or hollow sphere, of air. 822. I would rather 'take it in game'; and so I accept it. 826. _Fele_, experience, understand by experiment. 827. I here take the considerable liberty of reading _the mansioun_, by comparison with l. 831. Those who prefer to read _sum place stide_, or _som styde_, or _some stede_, can do so! The sense intended is obviously--'And that the dwelling-place, to which each thing is inclined to resort, has its own natural stead,' i.e. position. Fishes, for example, naturally exist in _water_; the trees, upon the _earth_; and sounds, in the _air_; water, earth, air, and fire being the four 'elements.' Cf. the phrase--'to be in his _element_.' 836. _Out of_, i.e. not in; answering to l. 838. 846. Referring to Ovid's description, Met. xii. 39, 40. 'Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque fretumque Coelestesque plagas, triplicis confinia mundi.' I suspect that Ovid's _triplicis confinia mundi_ is the origin of Chaucer's phrase _tryne compas_, in Sec. Non. Tale, G 45. 857. The 'terms of philosophy' are all fully and remorselessly given by Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. vii.