48. The shippes hoppesteres: The meaning is dubious. We may
understand “the dancing ships,” “the ships that hop” on the
waves; “steres” being taken as the feminine adjectival
termination: or we may, perhaps, read, with one of the
manuscripts, “the ships upon the steres” — that is, even as they
are being steered, or on the open sea — a more picturesque
notion.
49. Freting: devouring; the Germans use “Fressen” to mean
eating by animals, “essen” by men.