There are but three MSS., all much alike. As to Scogan, see the
Introduction. MSS. F. and P. have the heading--'Lenvoy de Chaucer a
Scogan'; Gg. has--'Litera directa de Scogon per G. C.'
1, 2. These two lines are quite Dantesque. Cf. Purg. i. 47, 76; Inf. iii.
8:--'Son le leggi ... cosi rotte'; 'gli editti eterni ... guasti'; 'io
eterno duro.'
3. The 'seven bright gods' are the seven planets. The allusion is to some
great floods of rain that had fallen. Chaucer says it is because the
heavenly influences are no longer controlled; the seven planets are allowed
to weep upon the earth. The year was probably 1393, with respect to which
we find in Stowe's Annales, ed. 1605, p. 495:--'In September, lightnings
and thunders, in many places of England did much hurt, but esp[e]cially in
Cambridge-shire the same brent houses and corne near to Tolleworke, and in
the Towne it brent terribly. Such abundance of water fell in October, that
at Bury in Suffolke the church was full of water, and at Newmarket it bare
downe walles of houses, so that men and women hardly escaped drowning.'
Note the mention of Michaelmas in l. 19, shewing that the poem was written
towards the close of the year.
7. _Errour_; among the senses given by Cotgrave for F. _erreur_ we find
'ignorance, false opinion.' Owing to his ignorance, Chaucer is almost dead
for fear; i. e. he wants to know the reason for it all.
9. _Fifte cercle_, fifth circle or sphere of the planets, reckoning from
without; see note to Mars, l. 29. This fifth sphere is that of _Venus_.
14. _This deluge of pestilence_, this late pestilential flood. There were
several great pestilences in the fourteenth century, notably in 1348-9,
1361-2, 1369, and 1375-6; cf. note to IV. 96. Chaucer seems to imply that
the bad weather may cause another plague.