1152. This suggests that Chaucer, in his travels, had observed a snow-clad mountain; the snow lies much lower on the north side than on the south side; see ll. 1160 (which means that it, i.e. the writing, was preserved by the shade of a castle), 1163, 1164. 1159. _What hit made_, what caused it, what was the cause of it. 1167-80. This passage somewhat resembles one in Dante, Par. i. 4-12. 1177. _Craft_, art; _cast_, plan. _Craft_, in the MSS., has slipt into l. 1178. 1183. _Gyle_, Giles; St. Ægidius. His day is Sept. 1; see note to Can. Yem. Tale, G 1185, where the phrase _by seint Gyle_ recurs. 1189. _Babewinnes_ is certainly meant; it is the pl. of _babewin_ (O. Fr. _babuin_, Low Lat. _babewynus_, F. _babouin_), now spelt _baboon_. It was particularly used of a grotesque figure employed in architectural decoration, as in Early Eng. Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 1411, where the pl. form is spelt _baboynes_, and in Lydgate, Chron. Troy, II. xi; both passages are given in Murray's Dict., s.v. _Baboon_. 'Babewyn, or babewen, _detippus_, _ipos_, _figmentum_, _chimera_'; Prompt. Parv. 'Babwyne, beest, _baboyn_'; Palsgrave. In Shak. _Macb._ iv. 1. 37--'Coole it with a báboones blood'--the accent on the _a_ is preserved. The other spellings are inferior or false. 1192. _Falle_, pres. pl., fall; (or perhaps fallen, the past participle). 1194. _Habitacles_, niches; such as those which hold images of saints on the buttresses and pinnacles of our cathedrals. They are described as being _al withoute_, all on the outside. 1196. _Ful the castel_, the castle (being) full, on all sides. This line is parenthetical. 1197. Understand _Somme_, some, as nom. to _stoden_. 'In which stood ... (some) of every kind of minstrels.' So in l. 1239. As to minstrels, &c., see note to Sir Topas (B 2035). 1203. _Orpheus_, the celebrated minstrel, whose story is in Ovid, Met. x. 1-85; xi. 1-66. Chaucer again mentions him in C. T., E 1716; and in Troil. iv. 791. 1205. _Orion_; so in all the copies; put for _Arion_. His story is in Ovid, Fasti, ii. 79-118. Spelt _Arione_ in Gower, Conf. Amant. (end of prologue), ed. Pauli, i. 39. We might read _Arion_ here; see l. 1005. 1206. _Chiron_; called _Chiro_ in Gower, C. A. ii. 67 (bk. iv). Chiron, the centaur, was the tutor of Achilles; and Achilles, being the grandson of Æacus, was called Æacides; Ovid, Met. xii. 82; Fasti, v. 390. Hence _Eacides_ is here in the genitive case; and _Eacides Chiron_ means 'Achilles' Chiron,' i.e. Chiron, tutor of Achilles. In fact, the phrase is copied from Ovid's _Æacidæ Chiron_, Art of Love, i. 17. Another name for Chiron is _Phillyrides_; Ovid, Art of Love, i. 11; or _Philyrides_; Verg. Georg. iii. 550; cf. Ovid, Fasti, v. 391. In a similar way, Chaucer calls the paladin _Oliver_, friend of _Charles_ the Great, by the name of _Charles Olyuer_; Monkes Tale, B 3577.