1346. _Wikke_, poor, much alloyed. 1352. _Lapidaire_, 'a treatise on precious stones, so entitled; probably a French translation of the Latin poem of Marbodus _De Gemmis_, which is frequently cited by the name of _Lapidarius_; Fabricius, Bibl. Med. Æt., in v. _Marbodus_'; Tyrwhitt's Glossary. The Lapidarium of Abbot Marbodus (Marboeuf), composed about 1070-80, is chiefly taken from Pliny and Solinus. A translation in English verse is given in King's Antique Gems. See note to l. 1363 below. There is some account of several precious stones in Philip de Thaun's Bestiary, printed in Wright's Popular Treatises on Science; at p. 127 he refers to the _Lapidaire_. Vincent of Beauvais refers to it repeatedly, in book viii. of his Speculum Naturale. There is a note about this in Warton, Hist. E. P. ed. 1871, ii. 324. And see note to l. 1363. 1360. _Dees_, daïs; see the note to Prol. 370, in vol. v. Lines 1360-7 may be compared with various passages in Boccaccio's Amorosa Visione, which describe a lady in a rich vesture, seated on a royal throne:-- 'Tutti li _soprastava_ veramente Di _ricche pietre_ coronata e d'oro' ... 'Il suo vestire a guisa _imperiale_ Era, e teneva nella man sinestra Un pomo d'oro; e'n _trono_ alla reale Vidi sedeva' ... 'Odi: che mai _natura_ con sua arte _Forma_ non diede a si bella figura' ... 'Donna pareva li leggiadra e pura'.... See Am. Vis. vi. 49, 58, 43, 48. See note to l. 1311 above. 1361. The reading _Sit_ would mean 'sitteth' or 'sits'; the reading _Sat_ would mean 'sat.' Both are wrong; the construction is _sitte I saugh_ = _I saugh sitte_, I saw sit; so that _sitte_ is the infin. mood. 1363. _Carbuncle._ Vincent of Beauvais, Spec. Nat bk. viii. c. 51, has: '_Carbunculus_, qui et Græcè _anthrax_ dicitur, vulgariter _rubith_.' An account of the _Carbunculus_ is given in King's Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems. He remarks that the ruby 'must also be included among the numerous species of the _carbunculus_ described by Pliny, although he gives the first rank to the _Carbunculi amethystizontes_, our Almandines or Garnets of Siam.' See also his Antique Gems, where he translates sect. 23 of the Lapidarium of Marbodus thus:-- 'The _Carbuncle_ eclipses by its blaze All shining gems, and casts its fiery rays Like to the burning coal; whence comes its name, Among the Greeks as _Anthrax_ known to fame. Not e'en by darkness quenched, its vigour tires; Still at the gazer's eye it darts its fires; A numerous race; within the Lybian ground Twelve kinds by mining Troglydytes are found.' 1368-76. Cf. Boethius, in Chaucer's translation; bk. i. pr. 1, ll. 8-13 (vol. ii. p. 2). 1376. _Sterres sevene_, the seven planets. 1380. _Tolde_, counted; observe this sense. 1383. _Bestes foure_, four beasts; Rev. iv. 6. Cf. Dante, Purg. xxix. 92.