1985. _vese_ is glossed _impetus_ in the Ellesmere MS., and means 'rush' or 'hurrying blast.' It is allied to M.E. _fesen_, to drive, which is Shakespeare's _pheeze_. Copied from 'salit Impetus amens E foribus'; Theb. vii. 47, 48. 1986. _rese_ = to shake, quake. 'Þe eorðe gon _to-rusien_,' 'the earth gan to shake.'--La[gh]amon, l. 15946. _To resye_, to shake, occurs in Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 23, 116. Cf. also--'The tre _aresede_ as hit wold falle'; Seven Sages, ed. Weber, l. 915. A.S. _hrysian_. 1987. 'I suppose the _northern light_ is the aurora borealis, but this phenomenon is so rarely mentioned by mediaeval writers, that it may be questioned whether Chaucer meant anything more than the faint and cold illumination received by reflexion through the door of an apartment fronting the north.' (Marsh.) The fact is, however, that Chaucer here copies Statius, Theb. vii. 40-58; see the translation in the note to l. 2017 below. The 'northern light' seems to be an incorrect rendering of 'aduersum Phoebi iubar'; l. 45. 1990. 'E le porte eran d'eterno diamante'; Teseide, vii. 32. Such is the reading given by Warton. However, the ultimate source is the phrase in Statius--'adamante perenni ... fores'; Theb. vii. 68. 1991. _overthwart_, &c., across and along (i. e. from top to bottom). The same phrase occurs in Rich. Coer de Lion, 2649, in Weber, Met. Romances, ii. 104. 1997, 8. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 33:-- 'Videvi l' Ire rosse, come fuoco, E le Paure pallide in quel loco.' But Chaucer follows Statius still more closely. Ll. 1195-2012 answer to Theb. vii. 48-53:-- --'caecumque Nefas, Iraeque rubentes, Exsanguesque Metus, occultisque ensibus astant Insidiae, geminumque tenens Discordia ferrum. Innumeris strepit aula minis; tristissima Virtus Stat medio, laetusque Furor, uultuque cruento Mars armata sedet.' 1999. Cf. Rom. of the Rose, 7419-20. [80] 2001. See Chaucer's Legend of Hypermnestra. 2003. 'Discordia, _contake_'; Glossary in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 7. 2004. _chirking_ is used of grating and creaking sounds; and sometimes, of the cry of birds. The Lansd. MS. has _schrikeinge_ (shrieking). See House of Fame, iii. 853 (or 1943). In Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. viii. c. 29, the music of the spheres is attributed to the '_cherkyng_ of the mouing of the circles, and of the roundnes of heauen.' In Chaucer's tr. of Boethius, bk. i. met. 6, it is an adj., and translates _stridens_. Cf. D. 1804, I. 605. 2007. This line contains an allusion to the death of Sisera, Judges iv. But Dr. Koch has pointed out (Essays on Chaucer, Chaucer Soc. iv. 371) that we have here some proof that Chaucer may have altered his first draft of the poem without taking sufficient heed to what he was about. The original line may have stood-- 'The sleer of _her husband_ saw I there'--