Among the cloudes upon lofte,[950] 300 And is so clos, it may noght oute,-- Thanne is it chased sore aboute, Til it to fyr and leyt be falle,[951] And thanne it brekth the cloudes alle, The whiche of so gret noyse craken, That thei the feerful thonder maken. [Sidenote: =P. iii. 95=] The thonderstrok smit er it leyte, And yit men sen the fyr and leyte, The thonderstrok er that men hiere: So mai it wel be proeved hiere 310 In thing which schewed is fro feer, A mannes yhe is there nerr Thanne is the soun to mannes Ere. And natheles it is gret feere Bothe of the strok and of the fyr, Of which is no recoverir In place wher that thei descende, Bot if god wolde his grace sende. [Sidenote: Nota hic[952] qualiter Ignes, quos noctanter in Aere discurrere videmus, secundum varias apparencie formas varia gestant nomina: quorum primus Assub, secundus Capra saliens, tercius Eges et quartus Daali in libris Philosophorum nuncupatus est.] And forto speken over this, In this partie of thair it is 320 That men fulofte sen be nyhte The fyr in sondri forme alyhte. Somtime the fyrdrake it semeth,[953] And so the lewed poeple it demeth; Somtime it semeth as it were A Sterre, which that glydeth there: Bot it is nouther of the tuo, The Philosophre telleth so, And seith that of impressions Thurgh diverse exalacions[954] 330 Upon the cause and the matiere Men sen diverse forme appiere Of fyr, the which hath sondri name. Assub, he seith, is thilke same, The which in sondry place is founde, Whanne it is falle doun to grounde,[955] [Sidenote: =P. iii. 96=] So as the fyr it hath aneled, Lich unto slym which is congeled. Of exalacion I finde[956] Fyr kinled of the fame kinde, 340 Bot it is of an other forme; Wherof, if that I schal conforme The figure unto that it is, These olde clerkes tellen this, That it is lik a Got skippende, And for that it is such semende, It hatte Capra saliens. And ek these Astronomiens An other fyr also, be nyhte Which scheweth him to mannes syhte, 350 Thei clepen Eges, the which brenneth Lik to the corrant fyr that renneth Upon a corde, as thou hast sein, Whan it with poudre is so besein Of Sulphre and othre thinges mo. Ther is an other fyr also, Which semeth to a mannes yhe Be nyhtes time as thogh ther flyhe A dragon brennende in the Sky, And that is cleped proprely 360 Daaly, wherof men sein fulofte,[957] ‘Lo, wher the fyri drake alofte Fleth up in thair!’ and so thei demen. Bot why the fyres suche semen Of sondri formes to beholde,[958]