NOTES (continued 3)

The acute accent is used twenty-one times over long vowels, in ten cases over e representing ǣ: séé 95, 132 is furnished with two, as often in MS. O of Layamon, comp. 95/2. In v́uel 217 it serves to distinguish the vowel.

The consonants show little divergence from OE. use. For w, u is written in uexynde 112, for u, w in hw 22, 42: wur is wr in wrþsipes 22, wrþie 36, 286, wrþe 124: iwrche 83 is OE. gewyrcan, wrt 112 is wyrt. OE. swa is regularly so, but once swo 99, influenced by the initial sw of the following word. l is lost in vyches 276, eueruyches 54 and other pronominal words of similar formation: n is dropped in euelyche 49, owe 111, wyndrunke 184; uppe prep. 132 occurs beside vpen 123. f between vowels is commonly v, u, but hafst 133, oferhoweþ 323, wife 185 where it is probably voiced; initially it is largely maintained, but it is v, u in urouer 37, velde 112, vouh 129, forvare 147, 260, vere 148, vordrye 227, vayre 245, 6, avynde 291, vale 300, in all these cases before a vowel. d is t in huntseuenti 79; schaltu 168 has t for þ after a dental: þ is represented by d in vordrye 227; madmes 138 answers to LWS. mādm: t is omitted in lest 316. c + s is represented by x in arixlye 329. hw is generally preserved, but wile 149: in initial combinations with other consonants h is lost: swyhc 159 is written for swych, iscohte 303 for ischote. The prefix ge is regularly i: k is often used for c; cw is qu; č is ch, as chireche 57, cheorl 58, &c. sc is generally sch, but scolde 87, wrþsipes 22: ġ is regularly y.

In syllables of minor stress the vowels have mostly been levelled to e, as in egleche, sadelbowe, sikerliche, vppen, &c. An e, generally slurred in scansion, is inserted in clerek, euere, seorewe, arewe, erewe, foleweþ, pouere.

Accidence: Nouns of the strong declension m., neut. have s. g. -es, cristes 283, cunnes 276; d. -e, bure 212, balewe 282, &c., but the termination is sometimes not written before a vowel, god 104, word 16, or omitted by the scribe, lyf 28, lond 12, mod 224, þing 188, or an accusative form is used, cotlyf 174, fryþ 58, loþ 234, through confusion of the prepositional constructions. The plural of masculines ends in -es, n. þeynes 1, d. wrenches 257, a. acres 79: neuter nouns with masc. terminations are n. wordes 24, a. sedes 59, þinges 21, wyttes 40, but the normal þing, pl. a. 143; treowe 202, pl. n. represents trēowu; þinge 250 is an isolated pl. a.; worde 300 is probably pl. g., an OE. construction after vale; worde 301 is pl. d.: englene pl. g. 6, &c. (Engla), iwriten pl. a. 67 are weak forms. Of the strong feminines, ayhte 125, blisse 31, 282, 310, lone 126 (read lon), neode 141, vnhelþe 73, youþe 105 have added e in the s. n., and worlde 278, wunne 279 in the s. a.: worldes 22, s. g. shows confusion of declensions: the s. d. ends regularly in -e, except world 122 (see note): s. a. in e. The general termination of the pl. is e, n. eyhte 145, ayhte 274, leode 20 &c., wene 74; g. quene 237 (cwēna), or s. g. (cwēne); d. leode 264, honde 259; a. custe 170, saule 23, but d. blissen 31, deden 47, spechen 249: tales 295, pl. d. medes 60, pl. a. (mǣdwa) show confusion of declensions: doweþes 118 appears to be meant for s. g., but it answers to OE. duguþa; perhaps doweþe is to be read. Loss of final n has greatly simplified the weak declension, so s. d. heorte 163, sadelbowe 153, weole 82, 103, ivere 144, vere 148, wille 35; s. a. tunge 190, tyme 114, weole 91, 100, wille 185 &c., but wyllen 283: dwales 296 is a strong pl. a. The minor declensions are represented by mon s. n. 17, monnes s. g. 54, fremannes 299, mon s. d. 159, wymmon s. a. 204, monne pl. g. 32, pl. d. 253, 269; boke s. d. 39; fader s. n. 33, s. g. 212, moder s. d. 203; freond s. a. 83, 245, pl. v. 25, pl. a. 267.

Remnants of the strong declension of adjectives are longes s. g. neut. 109, reade s. d. n. 80 (rēadum), yonge 328 (geongum), godne s. a. m. 45, vuelne 231, swikelne 252; wenliche s. n. m. 68, godlyche 204 have e, contrary to OE. usage, but vnlede s. n. m. 238, is OE. unlǣde. Weak forms are wise s. n. m. 287, betere s. n. neut. 325, 327, wysuste s. n. m. 17; for mildest s. n. m. 32 mildeste should be read. OE. āna is one 29, 41, 118, ān is o 79, 278. The participial āgen gives s. n. neut. owe 149, d. f. owere 54, a. m. owene 318, a. neut. owe 128. With exception of the above, the adjective is not inflected in the singular. The plural in all cases ends in e. Adjectives used as nouns are arewe s. d. 152, erewe s. n. 156, fayre s. d. 172, feye s. g. 113, frakele s. a. 172, god[e] s. d. 225, god s. a. 90, ifon pl. n. 129, ivo pl. d. 186, ildre pl. g. 125, loþe s. a. 247, more s. a. 162, pouere s. d., riche s. d. 268, s. a. 50, vuele s. d. 90.

The personal pronouns are ich, we, us, þu, þe, ye, ou 21, eu 142: s. n. he m. 9, heo f. 169 &c.; d. him m. 35, 71, 88, 330, n. 312, 316; a. hine m. 36 &c., hyne 144 &c., hi f. 187, 192, 242, hit n. 118, it 96; pl. n. hi, heo 76; d. heom 9; a. hi 80, 170. Reflexives are him seolue 260, hymseolue 137; definitives, heo seolf 308, himseolf 41, seoluen 38: possessives, mi, me 140, myne pl. 25, 26; þi s. n. m. 272, þin s. n. f. 166, þire s. d. f. 163, þin s. a. neut. 323, þi 168, in all other cases þine, þyne; hire, hyre, once heore 11; vre; eure, ower 141. The definite article is s. n. þe m. 4 &c., f. 141; þes g. m. 63, þas 113; þan d. m. 55, 152, þare f. 5, 217, þe 216 (read þare); þane a. m. 247, 248, þene 114, 116, 198, þe f. 95 &c., þe n. 220, 234, þat 46, 56; pl. þe in all cases; for þan adv. 240. The compound demonstrative is þis s. n. f. 63; d. 122: the relatives, þe, þat, once þet 154, hwat 181: interrogative, hwat 84: indefinites, oþre pl. d. 242; non n. 38, no 112, nones g. 299, none d. 169, a. f. 280, non a. neut. 308, nenne pl. a. 296; eny s. d. neut. 225: nouht n. 35, nouhte d. 275: me 245, 247: fewe pl. d. 301: fele, feole 2, 249, vale 300: vyches s. g. neut. 276, echere s. d. f. 161, eueruyches s. g. m. 54: hwych s. a. neut. 52: swuch 53, swyhc 159: al s. n. neut. 105, alle d. f. 29, 30, a. m. 185, al a. f. 278, 279, a. neut. 89 &c., alre pl. g. 62, 110, in other cases of the pl. alle; mid alle 128.

Two-thirds of the infinitives end in e, ie, ye, y, lokie 41, wrþie, 36, 286, wyssye 21, arixlye 329, leorny 69, weny 244; n is retained mostly before vowels and at the end of lines and half-lines, but leten and forleten occur six times against lete once. A dative infinitive with inflection is to fone 55, others without inflection are leden 46, mowen 60, reowe 93, sowen 59, swynke 96, for to do 229, for to werie 56, for to vordrye 227. Presents are s. 1. holde 304, munye 25; 2. hauest 151, hafst 133, lest 316 (lǣtest); 3. leorneþ 66, seyþ 234 &c., foþ 289, wurþ 209, iwinþ 100 (read iwinneþ), let 204, 329, bihat 245: pl. 1. wurcheþ 283; 3. ibureþ 45, forteoþ 235: subjunctive s. 3. fare 64, lykie 88, lyke 155, loke 64; pl. 1. biþenche 284; 2. adrede 27, luuyen, lykyen 28: imperative s. 2. seye 152, leorne 170, ilef 132, 248, ryd 153, let 165, wurþ 184, but wrþe 124; pl. 2. lusteþ 140. Past of Strong Verbs: s. 3. Ia. cweþ 19 &c.; Ic. bigon 9, pl. Ia. sete 1; subj. s. 2. Ia. iseye 186; 3. Ib. bycome 138; V. greowe 81, wolde 278. Participles present: I c. singinde 153; V. uexynde 112, 313; past: I b. iboren 138, 328, vnbore 327; I c. forswunke 200, aswunde 76; II. biswike 76, idryue 61; III. idrowe 105, iscohte 303; IV. ischapen 92; V. isowen 80; VI. bitowe 106. Past of Weak Verbs: s. 2. heuedest 187; 3. brouhte 181, hadde 80, luuede 15, seyde 24, wiste 181. Participles present: lyuyinde 188, werende 316; past: ihurd 205, ilered 2, 39, iseyd 236, ised 230, iwreþþed 187, 222. Minor Groups: wot pr. s. 118, 156, not 114; ahte pt. s. subj. 79; on pr. s. 160, 162; con pr. s. 154, 302, kunne pr. s. subj. 40, cunne 41; schal pr. s. 35 &c., schulle 1 pr. pl. 127, schulen 276, schulle pr. pl. 49 &c., schule pr. s. subj. 42, 1 pr. pl. subj. 119, scolde pt. s. 87 &c., scholden pt. pl. 11; myht 2 pr. s. 159, 263, may pr. s. 38 &c., mawe 1 pr. pl. 286, 2 pr. pl. 10, mvwe pr. s. subj. 113, myhte pt. s. 199 &c., 2 pt. pl. 22; mote pr. s. subj. 149; beon inf. 68, nys pr. s. 112, 125, biþ pr. s. 322, beoþ pr. pl. 74, 76, beo pr. s. subj. 35 &c., pr. pl. subj. 202, wes pt. s. 4, were pt. pl. 24, pt. s. subj. 200, 325, nere 82; wille 1 pr. s. 142, wile pr. s. 154, wule 91 &c., nele 254, nule 69, wolde pt. s. 21, 2 pt. pl. 20, pt. s. subj. 191; do inf. 197, for to do dat. inf. 229, deþ pr. s. 288, 321, doþ 81 (read deþ); agoþ pr. s. 146, ouergoþ 143, ago pr. s. subj. 145.

Noteworthy adverbs are frakele 246, ifurn 236 (gefyrn), lihte 198, muchele 162, vuele 171, 176, vayre 245, 246: oft is always ofte.

Dialect: Southern, free from South-Eastern influence. The wavering in the representation of a before nasals points to the Middle South, but ihure 10, ihurd 205 are South-Western. But this representation of īe, as well as lyen (= lēan), is found in MS. e of the Poema Morale, which is generally taken as of the Middle South. The forms vyches, eueruyches occur elsewhere in MS. J, and are probably due to the scribe.

Metre: The system is that of Layamon and the Bestiary; the Worcester Fragment B shows an earlier stage of its development. It is a mixture of the national alliterative verse loosely constructed and rhyming couplets. The latter are bound together by perfect, imperfect, even inflectional rhymes, and assonances. The halves of the couplets as they appear in MS. J are of varying lengths, two measures as 73, 216, more frequently two and a half 7, 44 &c., three 51 &c., three and a half 8 &c. Three-syllable measures are common, as, ‘hé wes þe | wýsuste | mòn,’ 17, ‘his sé | des to sów | èn,’ 59, ‘his mé | des to mów | èn’ 60. The alliterative combinations present every possible variety, 2 + 2, as 16; the normal 2 + 1, as 67; 1 + 2, as 142; 1 + 1, as 23 and often. The couplet has sometimes the added ornament of alliteration, as 46, 47. Where a line has neither alliteration nor rhyme, it may be assumed that the formless text is corrupt, as at 26, 68 &c.

There is then little to be gained by a metrical analysis of the poem in its present condition. It had originally a quite definite and regular structure, but this has been spoiled by copyists with little feeling for the structure of the verse and possessed by a strong desire to renovate the antique. It is highly probable that the last of them, the writer of MS. J, had a large hand in this alteration, for the copy of the Poema Morale in the same MS. has undergone a drastic revision which sets it apart among the versions of that poem, and the version of the Owl and Nightingale has suffered, though not to the same extent. On the other hand MS. T was copied by a man who was incapable of remodelling it; though a ruin, it often preserves in details the original.

The dilapidations wrought by the copyists may be classed as follow: i. Archaic and uncommon words are rejected: for þeynes 1, read sweynes; comp. L 28359, O 3297, 14953 for this word as meaning the immediate dependants of the king; the line then divides after ‘sete’: l. 13, see note: l. 24 for seyde þe, read wordede; comp. ‘þe king wordede þus,’ L 13052: l. 26 with the help of T may be restored, arme ⁊ edie leode · of lifis wisdom: l. 38, see note: l. 56, adopting ‘here’ from T, read þat land for to werie | wiþ hunger and wiþ here (the Danish marauding host was forgotten): l. 62, for bihoue read biliue (bilif T, W): l. 68, for beon read wurþen: l. 71, 330 for rewe read suwe, smart; comp. 72/199: l. 82, see note and comp. L 30903: l. 87, for howyen, read ȝeomeren, be depressed: l. 88, 155, for lykie read wurþe: comp. ‘Ne scyle nán wís monn gnornian to hwæm his wise weorþe,’ Boeth. 40, 3 (B-T): l. 111, see note: l. 115, for turne read rume (rime T): l. 122, see note: l. 133, for inowe read muche (moch T): l. 136, for Monymen read moni gume: l. 137, for him seolue read his saule, with T: l. 138, for bycome read were, with T, restoring a couplet: l. 143 for þing, read weole (welþe T): half a line is lost after lere: read, And ich eu lere wille · [leoue freond myne] | wit and wisdom · þat alle weole ouergoþ.: ll. 202, 207, see notes: l. 278 for mon read wiht: l. 280 for holde read lenge, as in T. ii. Older forms and constructions are modernised: ll. 159, 160, see note: l. 169 read þat heo þe bringe, making a couplet: l. 187 read heuede: l. 216 read þare for þe: l. 305, read alle for al, comp. 185: other instances are noted in Accidence. iii. Words are rearranged mostly in a prose order, spoiling rhyme and rhythm: read l. 25, leoue freond myne: l. 41 himseólf one lokie: l. 55 bihoueþ þan knyhte, for the alliterating word in the first half of the line comes almost invariably last, the rare exceptions being mostly verbs: for l. 56 see above: read l. 80 and he isowen hadde: l. 118 hit one wot dryhten: l. 130, vre maþmes welden | and vs byhinde leten: l. 142, lere wille: l. 156, if þu hauest serewe | and hit wot þe erewe: l. 203, þe kat museþ: l. 211, wiþute is bryht: ll. 232, 233, þe hire rede folẹweþ | to seorewe heo bringeþ: l. 245, þat he habbe freond: ll. 321, 322, þanne hit sone deþ | þat þe unyqueme biþ. iv. Lines and parts of lines are transposed, most of these as affecting the interpretation have been dealt with in the notes, see 40, 90, 144, 186, 247; read ll. 72, 73, þenne cumeþ vnhelþe | and ek uniselþe: though the combination in the text is found elsewhere as 40/197, elde seems to be due to the preceding line; at l. 190 we should perhaps read wymmon is tungwod · ⁊ haueþ wordes to wroþ. v. Padding is freely used: l. 4 omit þe: l. 7 read On Engelonde king: l. 9 read gon for bigon: omit l. 24, þe before king; l. 35, ne; l. 49, he; l. 66, his; l. 69, þat; l. 98, þe mon, and read þe on youhþe swo swinkeþ | and worldes weole her iwinneþ: l. 105, read on ȝouþe þat he haueþ idrowe: omit l. 132, þu; l. 149, owe; l. 152, þu; l. 188, hit; l. 189, scholde, forþ; l. 192, nowiht, and read ll. 191, 192 as an alliterative line: omit l. 205, ne, he; l. 209, blyþe and; l. 210, þe mon: l. 219-23, with the help of T we may restore, Ne ared þu nouht to swiþe | þe word of þine wyue. | If heo be i wreþþed · myd worde oþer dede; l. 231, for þat wymmon read heo; comp. T: l. 242 omit þe mon: l. 249, see note: l. 254, omit þe before wule: l. 262 omit þe, see note: l. 275, for schulle bicumen read bicumeþ: l. 280, for none read no: ll. 294, 296, omit þu: l. 324 omit þe. vi. The rhymes may, in some cases, have been spoiled by the substitution of alien dialectic forms; it is tempting to read ihere 10, iherd 205, but the u forms do not appear to belong to the dialect of the scribe of J: at l. 102 helde, a patois form (Bülbring § 175 note), might be read: at l. 240 þon. The combinations brouhte : myhte, 181, 182; ayhte : nouhte, 274, 275 are remarkable.

Many intractable lines remain, such as 284, where perhaps bet has been lost at the end.

Elision and slurring are frequent; pronounce þeorl 4, lawẹlyche 47, euẹlyche 49, euẹruyches, owẹre 54, &c.

Introduction: The ascription of the Proverbs to Alfred rests on no firmer ground than an affectionate remembrance of the great king as a sage and teacher of his people. The only part of the poem which could with even artistic fitness be attributed to him is ll. 19-64, the rest is mostly the cautious wisdom of the common people, varied by reflections in a higher strain on the favourite mediaeval theme of the shortness and uncertainty of life. Up to l. 64 the poem is connected; afterwards it is without apparent plan, though there is occasionally a slender thread of union between the stanzas. The editors indeed see a new exordium and the beginning of a second section in stanza xiii, which appears to me to be a weak imitation of stanza vii. Perhaps a structural difference may be detected between the more general observations of the first part and the advice to an individual which begins with stanza xiv. Stanza xxi appears to have strayed from its natural place beside stanza vii.

The version of MS. J is not necessarily the more primitive because it is shorter than that of T. A poem of such loose structure readily lends itself to selection on the part of the copyist; and the scribe of MS. J was evidently a critic.

If the suggestions offered in the section on metre have any weight, a considerable time and several copies must have intervened between the original and the present form of the poem. The composition of that original should, I think, be placed somewhere about 1180 A.D.

1. Seuorde: siforde T; Sifforde W, RJ, which is identified by Spelman 126 with ‘Shifford, six miles west from Oxford.’ That it is ‘remote from the use of the southern dialect’ does not prevent it from being the place where Alfred discoursed. But Seaford, a seaport in Sussex, is more likely to have been associated in the popular mind and tradition with Alfred.

2. Biscopes, &c.: comp. ‘Forð iwenden eorles; forð iwenden beornes. | forð iwenden biscopes; & þa boc-ilæred men; forð iwenden þæines; forð iwenden sweines | . . . at þan hustinge,’ L 14620. With bokilered comp. 19/39, 4/20 note.

3. egleche, valiant: OE. aglǣca, a fierce warrior. egloche S.

4. Alurich: An Ælfric thesaurarius witnesses a charter of King Alfred, A.D. 892, Birch, Cart. Saxon. ii. 209.

5. of . . . wis: comp. 212/533.

6. hurde: comp. ‘Swa se æþela lareow sægde, þæt se cyning & se biscop sceoldan beón Cristenra folca hyrdas,’ BH 45/24; ‘folces hyrde,’ Beowulf 610.

7. Englene durlyng: so, ‘com Alfred þe king; Englelondes deorling,’ L 6316: he has also ‘Bruttene, Orka[n]es, Denemarkes, Irisce monnen, utlaȝen deorling.’ See KH 488 note.

9. bigon: gon T, gan W,S: set to work to teach.

13. and may be redundant, as often in Layamon, as ‘Ic wlle mine riche to-don; & allen minen dohtren,’ 2945 but Alured, though it is in all the copies, may be an error for Ælder: comp. ‘& þu seolf læuerd king; leoden þu ært ælder,’ L 16835, 17252, in the latter place, leader. T,W,S read a.

16. wis . . . war: comp. 129/27, 156/148, 186/324, 190/456; ‘þe wes þe wiseste; þe wes þe warreste,’ L 2107; ‘wisliche þauh ⁊ warliche,’ AR 138/7.

21. wisliche, wise, advisable: OE. wīslīc: Layamon has ‘to iwislichen þinge,’ 21052. T has, of wi[s]liche þinges.

28. lykyen, please: in this sense it governs a dative, which may be understood out of hine. But Mätzner translates, like.

29. one, alone: comp. 19/41, 22/118, 60/2.

30. glednesse: after the manner of l. 29, we expect gleawnesse, but comp. ‘Of alkin gladnes es þar gleu,’ CM 23359. T has ⁊ he is gleu | ouer alle glade þinhes: S omits. Line 31 is probably a gloss upon l. 30.

34. riche, powerful: comp. 6/30, 133/33; ‘hit ne gerist nanum ricum cynincge,’ Ælf. Lives i. 382/260.

35, 6. that there shall not be wanting anything he desires to him who is purposed to honour Him here in this world. For the construction of wone, see 52/368: for the double negative comp. ‘for he ne mihte beon wurðe; na þing of his wille,’ L 18704: in the MS. wc the scribe mistook þ for w. T has apparently þo, not wo: Skeat reads [hwo]: that relative is not found in J.

37. For stanza iii generally comp. ‘Decet regem discere legem. | Audiat rex quod praecipit lex. | Legem servare hoc est regnare. | Notitia litterarum lux est animarum,’ Wipo 1-4. An echo of this stanza is evident in, ‘The ferste seide, “I understonde | Ne may no king wel ben in londe, | Under God Almihte, | But he cunne himself rede, | Hou he shal in londe lede | Everi man wid rihte,”’ Wright, Pol. Songs, 254/7 (date 1311 A.D.).

38. may has possibly its independent force, is strong, has power, comp. 29/12, but the line is evidently corrupt; ryhtwis is a reminiscence of l. 34, as is also riche in T. It is easy to supply beo after king, for TS have ben. But RJ, S are nearest the right reading with, Ne mai no riht cing ben under crist selve (selve SH₁; self SH₂, selfe SL). Read Ne may beon ryht king. vnder criste, a favourite expression in Layamon, as, ‘Ȝe beoð under criste; cnihten alre kennest | and ich æm rihchest alre kinge; vnder gode seolue,’ L 27230, 27976, 28056.

40. It is obvious to substitute for wyttes, wrytes, or better iwriten, as at 20/67, 70, after writes in T, but ‘his writings,’ i.e. manuscripts, seems suspicious, and if correct gives a feeble threefold repetition of the same idea; and further the relation between ll. 41 and 42 requires the explanation of hw as, ‘so as to know how,’ Skeat. A transposition of ll. 40, 41 with welde read for kunne (which seems to be due to the following line), will give a better sequence of ideas, obviate repetition, and restore the alliteration. Comp. ‘ælc bi his witte; wisdom sæiden,’ L 25627; ‘he wes swiðe wis mon; and witful on bocken,’ id. 22097. For cunne RJ, S have icweme.

41. lokie, consult, examine, refer to records for himself: comp. ‘þat yow tels sent Ieremi, | If yee wald lok his propheci,’ CM 9333.

46. leden, guide; usually with personal object.

49. he, resumes the subject clerek and knyht: a frequent construction in this poem, comp. 20/66-68, 21/98-105, 24/204, 5; similarly 24/209, 10 where the pronoun is explained by a noun. It is common in AR ‘þe wreche peoddare more noise he makeð to ȝeien his sope,’ 66/17. Borgström takes he as referring to eorl and eþelyng, l. 44, with clerek and knyht as object of demen, on the ground that clerks and knights did not exercise judicial power. The matter is not so simple. Clerek may include bishops, who sat in pre-Conquest shire-courts by the side of the Alderman, and lawyers generally. And demen is a word of wide meaning, comp. ‘Ne wandige ná se mæsse-preost no for rices mannes ege, ne for féo, ne for nanes mannes lufon, ꝥ he him symle rihte deme, gif he wille sylf Godes domas gedégan,’ BH 43/9; ‘Ne sceall nan godes þegn for sceattum riht deman,’ Ælf. Lives i. 430/244; ‘And he hæhte alle cnihtes; demen rihte domes,’ L 22115. Alfred meant that there should be no discrimination between rich and poor; discrimination between clerk and knight was not likely. demen riht is a phrase in which riht is a noun: comp. ‘Se rihtwisa dema sceall deman æfre riht,’ Ælf. Lives i. 430/239: sometimes, as in the quotation above, it means simply, to administer justice.

52, 3. Comp. ‘Ech man sal eft mowen bi þan þe he nu soweð,’ OEH ii. 159/15; i. 137/31, 131/24; all referring to ‘Qui parce seminat, parce et metet,’ 2 Cor. ix. 6: here the reference is to ‘Quae enim seminaverit homo, haec et metet,’ Galat. vi. 8: l. 54 means that the judgment passed on each man is of his own making: comp. 36/115.

55. on to fone, may mean, to take on himself; its ordinary use is, to begin, 143/85. Skeat translates, undertake, but in the place referred to in support, L 31415, the meaning is, proceed. T, RJ have cnouen, cnowen; S. mowen: the former has been explained, to study, to know how to. I think these readings are substitutes for something the scribes did not understand, such as, keneliche to kepen, or keneliche him kepen.

56. T has, of here ⁊ of heregong, where of is remarkable: the simple dative in OE., wið, 48/321, 141/41, and later from are the usual constructions with werien, of the thing guarded against.

57. gryþ: ‘pax regia per manum data,’ Liebermann, Ueber die Leges Edwardi Confessoris, 28: here it means vaguely, protection, much as frið with which it is constantly associated; comp. ‘þonne nam man grið ⁊ frið wið hi,’ AS. Chron. 1011; ‘a þisse londe he heold grið; a þisse londe he hulde frið,’ L 9912; Orm 116/3380; 116/133.

58. Comp. ‘þe ælc cheorl eæt his sulche; hæfde grið al swa þe king sulf,’ L 4260.

59, 60. Comp. ‘cornes heo seowen; medewen heo meowen. | al heo tileden; ase heo to þohten,’ L 1941.

62. bihoue: comp. 91/108: ‘to his awere bihoue,’ L 4565. T has bilif.

63. lawe, rule of conduct, practice: at 176/15, habit. In spite of the consensus of the MSS., the reading of the original was probably lare.

64. Let the knight see that it thrive, i.e. be well kept.

65-71. Comp. ‘Disce puer, dum tempus habes, euo puerili, | Ne te nil didicisse fleas etate senili,’ Flor. Gott. 98: ‘Qui vacat in iuventute turbatur in senectute,’ Wipo 63; Cato 231/12; ‘He ꝥ in ȝouþe no vertu vsiþ, | In Age Alle honure hym refusiþ,’ ES xli. 262/27. See Kneuer, p. 19.

69. lorþeu: see 1/19.

72. elde . . . vnhelþe: for this combination, see 40/197, where unhelðe rhymes with uniselðe.

75. wroþe, pl. adj. agreeing with wene, to which latter heo and hi, variant forms of the pl. n., refer. When age and ill-health come, then the expectations of the improvident man are in experience found to be utterly perverse: not only are they cheated, but they actually vanish, i.e., he is left without hope at all. There is a play on wene and wenliche, l. 68.

78. Comp. ‘Melior est sapientia, quam secularis potentia | Plus unicus sensus quam multiplex census,’ Wipo 7.

82. furþer. T has wrþere, more worthy, which is, no doubt, original, as it alliterates with weole. noht wurþ, RJ.

83. of frumþe, from the beginning, betimes: comp. 65/59; ‘þah þu liuedest of adames frumðe,’ OEH i. 33/31. RJ reads of fremðe, but T fremede, and Skeat adding [of] translates, out of a stranger. But the point is not the making friends early or out of strangers, but the having wisdom along with your gold. Stanza xiii. is a weak echo of vii. and l. 144 is the key to l. 83. Read hine to freme for him of frumþe, with the meaning, Unless he make Wisdom his friend to his profit. See 15/110; 176/24 note.

87-92. Comp. ‘ȝif þou be visite[d] with pouerte, | take it not to hevyle, | for he ꝥ sende þe Aduersite, | may turne þe Aȝen to wele,’ ES xli. 261/5: Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 133.

87. howyen, be anxious, distressed: comp. ‘Ne beo ge na hogiende ymb þa morgenlican neode,’ S. Matt. vi. 34.

89. welde: comp. 4/41.

90. Comp. ‘After vuele cumeð god; wel is him þe hit habbe mot,’ L 3608. A transposition here restores the alliteration in two verses.

92. Comp. 195/634, where the verb is omitted after wel, as is usual in such expressions; ‘Wel him ðe is clene iþrowen,’ VV 95/30; ‘Ah wel hire ꝥ luueð godd,’ HM 27/35. For þat=for whom, see 46/292 note, and for ischapen, destined, comp. ‘after ðan ðe hem iscapen is,’ VV 105/4: hit is, of course, good after evil, weal after woe.

94. Comp. ‘Whoso roweth aȝein the flod, | Off sorwe he shal drinke; | Also hit fareth bi the unsele, | A man shal have litel hele | Ther agein to swinke,’ Pol. Songs, 254/20; ‘werig sceal se wiþ winde roweþ,’ Exeter Book, 345/12. For strong, difficult, tough, comp. 48/312, 76/18, 200/111; ‘hu strong hit is to arisen of vuel wune,’ AR 326/28: ‘þes ilke Mon is strong to sermonen’ (difficult to preach to, a tough subject), OEH i. 81/14.

98. mon is a suspended nom., the construction being changed at l. 105: analogous to 19/48.

102. idelnesse holde, enjoy leisure. T has hednesse, OE. ēadnes, happiness, comfort. ‘Honestior est qui senectutem ad otium rettulit, quam quem in otio invenit,’ Monita 22/75.

106. wel bitowe, well employed, profitably experienced. Comp. ‘alle þe ȝeres weren wel bi-toȝe,’ L 19902; VV 13/2; ON 702; ‘uuele bitohe,’ 74/225.

108. See 26/244 note, and for the form of the expression, comp. ‘Ah her, þu wenest ȝet | ꝥ tu wenen ne þerf,’ SK 1153.

110. lyues: read lyf is . . . luued: ‘Qui enim vult vitam diligere,’ &c. 1 S. Peter iii. 10.

111. lyf his owe: the order is strange, and owe is pointless, quite different from 22/128, 23/149, 27/277, where there is a contrast with one’s possessions, &c. Possibly the original had lifes leowe, life’s warmth, shelter, OE. hlēow: comp. ‘herd leouwe,’ AR 368/12, poor housing. The word was uncommon and likely to puzzle the copyist.

112. wrt: Comp. ‘Herba nec antidotum poterit depellere loetum; | Quod te liberet a fato, non nascitur horto,’ Fecunda Ratis 132/725. Skeat quotes as a proverb, ‘Cur moriatur homo, cui salvia crescit in horto?’ It is from the Regimen Sanit. Salern. l. 177, and the next line is, ‘Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis.’ a wude: comp. 181/181.

113. þas feye furþ, the life of the doomed man.

118. doweþes louerd: prob. the original had duȝeðe, pl. gen.: ‘duguða dryhten,’ Christ, 781 = Dominus exercituum, Dominus virtutum. T has domis louird.

122. Skeat explains the MS. reading, givest away and controllest; an unnatural order: Borgström takes yefst = yhefst < OE. gehæbban, ‘If thou hast and possessest.’ Morris’s conjecture, yetst, may mean, gettest, gainest. The passage is corrupt: T has ‘ȝif þu hauest welþe awold iwis ȝerlde:’ in þis world is mere padding arising from vpen eorþe: the original may have been, Gif þu havest a wold | seoluer and gold: comp. 22/133, 4; ‘Whil ȝe habbeþ wyt at wolde,’ Hendyng 299; 52/387 note.

125. ildre istreon: comp. ‘þæt he of his yldrena gestreone hine sylfne fercian mote,’ Ælf. Lives i. 524/597, 528/669; ‘þæ castles aðele weore; of his eoldrene istreon,’ L 18608.

126. lone: Skeat quotes ‘divitiæ . . . donum Dei,’ Eccles. v. 18.

127. þar of, from them: comp. 22/117: the expression is unusual.

128. ‘Homo vitæ commodatus, non donatus est,’ Syri Sent. 220.

129. vouh, for veoh: OE. feoh. Comp. 3/13: ‘ffrendles ys þe dede,’ Hendyng 288.

130. Mayþenes for maþmes: see 102/134. leten . . . byhinde: Skeat explains as, forget us; but 4/14 suggests a more pointed meaning.

131. Comp. ‘Cum fueris felix, quae sunt adversa caveto,’ Cato 218/18; ‘Tranquillis rebus semper diversa timeto,’ id. 232/26. The first four lines are imitated in, ‘The ferthe seide, that he is wod | That dwelleth to muchel in the flod, | For gold or for auhte; | For gold or silver, or any wele, | Hunger or thurst, hete or chele, | Al shal gon to nohte,’ Pol. Songs 256/1, where the writer has evidently misunderstood l. 132.

132. fele as adverb is not common; Einenkel, Anglia, xxxiii. 531, quotes ‘þonne moton we . . . fela for urum synnum þrowian,’ Wulfstan 151/5, and the present passage: add Beowulf 1385; ‘He bounden him so fele sore,’ Havelok 2442. see, the flowing tide of success: comp. ‘Swo floweð þis woreld þenne men michel tuderið . . . ⁊ beð michel blisse among mannen,’ OEH ii. 177/16.

134. gnyde in the intransitive meaning, ‘be rubbed away’: elsewhere active. T has wurþen. Comp. 27/274-6.

135. to duste . . . dryuen: comp. ‘makede . . . godes deore temple to driuen al to duste,’ SJuliana 41/1; a less frequent intransitive use. Dryhten, &c.: comp. ‘geong ealdian · god us ece biþ,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 333/22.

136. godes vrre: comp. 46/276.

137. foryemeþ &c.: comp. 122/167, 8; ‘Forrletenn ⁊ forrȝemmdenn,’ Orm 259/7502.

138. by come: comp. 27/275: in T, were.

142. wit and wisdom are often so coupled: ‘Wyt and wysdom is god warysoun,’ Hendyng 21; Kneuer, 20; 130/81: with sing. masc. pronoun hyne, l. 144.

143. ouergoþ, surpasses in worth: comp. ‘Þeo luue . . . ouergeð ham alle uoure ⁊ passeð ham alle,’ AR 394/1; an extension of the meaning of OE. ofergān, conquer, overcome, which is that of 125/270, 207/340: at 29/45 it means, pass away, so ‘deð ꝥ ouergeað,’ SK 1883; ‘ðæt hi geðencen hu hrædlice se eorðlica hlisa ofergǽð,’ Cura Past. 447/29.

144. sitte: comp. 26/270. The recurrence of þe—vere at l. 148 and the divergence of T which gives for the last half of this line, and hwo hem mide senden, preserving the alliteration, shows that something is wrong here. A rearrangement in the order 143, 147, 148, 144, reading syker he may sitte ⁊ þat him mide syndon, 145, 146, 149 gives a good sense.

151, 2. Comp. ‘Tel þou neuer þy fo þat þy fot akeþ,’ Hendyng 93; Kneuer, 29. arewe, apparently found only here, malicious person, enemy: OE. earg, earh.

153. þe, an ethical dative; see 13/34 note.

154. The subject of wile is the clause þet—con, he who is not acquainted with your circumstances. With 155 comp. 21/88.

158. teleþ, derides, makes sport of.

159. swych mon þat, &c., such a man as wishes you very well, said ironically: þat is not conjunction, but relative pronoun, and the construction is parallel to, ‘talem igitur te esse oportet qui primum te ab impiorum civium . . . societate seiungas,’ Cic. Fam. x. 6. 3; just as so . . . þat, 24/184, 5 is matched by, ‘Quis est tam lynceus qui in tantis tenebris nihil offendat?’ id. ix. 2; and similarly ‘nec tamen ego sum ille ferreus, qui fratris maerore non movear,’ Cic. Cat. iv. 3. Where the expression is generic, the dependent verb should be subjunctive, as is the case with segge, and probably here the original had monne—onne. Comp. ‘ic bidde . . . swælc monn seðe to minum ærfe foe,’ Thorpe, Diplom. 471/16; ‘Nes þo non so hardy · þat on me leyde honde,’ OEM 43/209; ‘þat na man ne wurðe swa wod; ne witte bi-dæled, | þat in his hirede breke grið,’ L 10282; ‘þat na mon on worlde; swa wod no iwurðe, | no swa ær witte gume; þat his grið bræke,’ id. 22069, 787. With on comp. ‘ne beo he no swa luðer mon; þat his freond him wel ne on,’ L 22963: Skeat’s insertion of hit spoils the meaning. Swyhc mon = such a one: swillc an appears for the first time in Orm 11595.

166. bywite: þenkeþ T.

169. Comp. ‘Uxorem fuge ne ducas sub nomine dotis,’ Cato 228/12: ‘Monimon for londe wyueþ to shonde,’ Hendyng 280; Kneuer, 57.

170. custe, qualities, virtuous or otherwise.

171. vuele iauhteþ, estimates falsely, makes a bad bargain.

172. of fayre, not, out of what is fair, but, in choosing a fair wife: of = in the form of, in the person of. For frakele, comp. ‘he bið wið-uten feire ⁊ frakel wið-innen,’ OEH i. 25/27. ‘Munditiam seruat sinceram rara uenustas,’ Fec. Ratis 114/581.

175. So: Holthausen, Archiv lxxxviii. 370, suggests wo, which gives a common phrase, ‘Wo is hym alyue,’ OEM 183/221; ‘wa is me on liue,’ L 3422.

177. vppen eorþe, a favourite tag: see 28/315; KH 247 O.

179-82. These lines are repeated with small variation in Hendyng, 133-7, but the ‘wyf’ is ‘ȝonge’; Kneuer, 53. Zupitza, Anglia, iii. 370, quotes an inscription in Low German from a room in the Lübeck Rathskeller, which is identical with the English proverb, and Holthausen, Archiv, lxxxviii. 371, contributes two more versions in the same dialect.

184. so wod . . . þat . . . segge, so mad as to say: see 23/159; and comp. ‘Ne wurðe nan cniht swa wod; ne kempe swa wilde,’ L 8593, ‘& þa drihliche gumen; weoren win drunken,’ id. 8125.

185. wille, all that is in thy mind: comp. 27/305, 23/166.

186. þu: T has hue, and Skeat alters here to heo, but the text may very well mean, if you ever found yourself. Perhaps the original had: For if þu hi myd worde · iwreþþed heuede | And heo iseye þe · bi vore þine ivo alle. Comp. ‘confundet te in conspectu inimicorum,’ Ecclus. xxv. 35.

188. lete, omit, refrain from: form and meaning from OE. lǣtan, but with construction, þat- clause with subj., of OE. lettan.

189. Omit scholde, a mere repetition from the preceding line. Comp. ‘gyf þonne þissa þreora þinga ænig hwylcne man lette, þæt hine to ðam fæstene ne ónhágje,’ Wulfstan 285/3 (quoted in B.-T.). forþ, openly, freely: comp. ‘ðane sei ðu forð mid seinte Petre: Tu es Christus,’ VV 25/31. baleusyþes, cast up to you your misfortunes: comp. 2/27. But one expects, after l. 185, something like, will reveal all your secrets.

190. woþ: T has wod and wordwod may mean word-mad; in that case the second half of the line is little more than repetition. But T has often d for þ, and so his reading may be the same in effect as that of J, which does not put þ for d. Now in Layamon the younger MS. writes woþ for wouh, woh in the elder, 3327, 4333, where the sense requires the latter, and word woh, perverse of speech, would fit well here.

191. wel wolde, though she desired it ever so much, she cannot control it at all.

194. ouerprute, excessive pride: the noun apparently only here; the adj. ouerprut is commoner. In T, orgul prude. Comp. ‘Bruttes hafden muchel mode; & vnimete prute,’ L 19408.

196. After þat, heo has dropped out.

198. That vice she would readily give up, if she were often in a sweat exhausted with toil. Comp. ‘moni swinc moni swæt; . . þolede ich on folde,’ L 2281, 7; ‘he swonc i þon fehte; þat al he lauede asweote,’ id. 7488.

202. Read, þat beon uulle treowe: lit. though it is ill to bend what are full-grown trees, i.e. though full-grown trees are hard to bend. It is not necessary to alter beo, but n of nule probably belongs to it; it is subjunctive in an object clause expressing a class of things. For uulle comp. 42/219; ‘min fulla freond,’ Thorpe, Diplom. 525/8; ‘heo beoð ure fulle feond,’ L 963; ‘Ech god giue ⁊ fule giue cumeð of heuene dunward,’ OEH ii. 105/17; ‘fulliche cristene mon,’ OEH i. 73/5. ‘Dum curuare potes, vel curuam tendere virgam, | Fac sit ut ad libitum plantula ducta tuum: | Cum vetus in magnum fuerit solidata vigorem | Non leviter flectes imperiale caput,’ Alanus 435. It is difficult to alter a grown-up.

203. after, following the example of: comp. ‘Prendere maternam bene discit cattula predam,’ Prov. Heinrici 169; ‘Muricipis proles cito discit prendere mures,’ id. 109: said of innate tendencies. The hindrances to the training of the young wife are that she is already grown up and has an inherited disposition.

204. þe mon þat . . . he: see 19/49. Comp. ‘Femina quem superat, nunquam uiuit sine pena; | Libertate caret, turpi constrictus habena,’ Flor. Gott. 724.

205. ihurd, listened to, or perhaps, spoken of, as having any independence in what he says. Had the writer in mind, ‘labia nostra a nobis sunt, quis noster Dominus est?’ Ps. xi. 5.

207. steorne is strange in form (it should be sturne in this text), and does not suit the context, and the verbs to-trayen, to-teonen are apparently found nowhere else. Read, turne to treye and to teone, change his life to sorrow and affliction: in that case the two lines should be printed as one alliterative long line. The combination is common; comp. Minot vi. 2 note, and 133/61. T has, ac he sal him rere dreiȝe, but he shall provide trouble for himself.

210. þe mon resumes he of l. 209. qued occurs again as quet T 702, in the metaphorical sense of devil, evil man. Here Skeat translates, aversion; Borgström, following Morris, contempt, scorn, without any support from other examples. The word is a coarse term of contempt for a ‘poor creature,’ based on the primitive sense of OE. cwead: it is easily paralleled in modern dialects.

212. fader is pointless: the reading of T, in hire faire bure, which is for, faire in hire bure, points to the right way. Read, So is mony burde · bryht on hyre bure: ‘bright in bower’ is a common tag in the romances; see Guy of Warwick 2674 with Zupitza’s note.

213. Schene vnder schete: comp. ‘swete in bedde,’ Havelok 2927.

214. Comp. ‘Ne sont pas tuit chevalier, qui a cheval montent,’ Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 201.

215. This line is to be rejected: it spoils the symmetry of the contrast, and is not original.

216. glede, ‘beside the glowing coal,’ Skeat; ‘in mirth,’ Borgström; glede being identified with OWScand. gleði, joy, with an allusion to boasting at the feast. The original word was probably wede, comp. ‘in wlanke wede,’ Eng. Met. Homilies (ed. Small), 42/2 = mollibus vestimentis indutus; ‘Whyle þe wlonkest wedes he warp on hym-seluen,’ Sir Gawayne, 2025; ‘awlencð his lichame,’ OEH ii. 211/36. The contrast would then be between his gay clothes and his unserviceableness. T has werȝe, for which Borgström reads werwe, steed; and Skeat weiȝe, way: for the former might be quoted, ‘Nis so wlonk vnder crist · ridynde on stede,’ OEM 91/19. With 217, comp. 26/265.

221. arede, take as advice. ‘Femina quod iurat, errat qui credere curat,’ Prov. Hein. 64.

222. ‘Coniugis iratae noli tu verba timere; | Nam lacrimis struit insidias, cum femina plorat,’ Cato 229/20.

226. lude ⁊ stille, under all circumstances: comp. 28/317, 188/377; ‘don we hit wullet | lude and stille,’ L 3665: Minot viii. 54 note.

228. ‘Didicere flere feminae in mendacium,’ Syrus 74/130; ‘Muliebris lacrima condimentum est malitiae,’ id. 87/343; Fecunda Ratis 39/163.

231. Not said by Solomon, but by Syrus, ‘Malo in consilio feminae vincunt viros,’ 86/324.

234. loþ, read leoþ; OE. lēoþ, song.

235. Skeat equates scumes with Icel. skūmi, twilight, and translates, ‘like twilight-shadows (they) mislead (us),’ which is fanciful. Scumes may be miswriting for scunnes, which would represent OE. scēones, scȳness, suggestion, temptation, as in ‘deofol þonne þurh þa attor berendan næddran mid hire þære yfelan scéonesse . . . beswác þone ærestan wifmon,’ BH 3/17. The sense would be, as temptation they mislead. But more probably the place is corrupt, and the original may simply have had, as cwen us forteoþ, with an allusion to Eve’s bad counsel.

237. Björkman, 14, thinks that this proverb was originally Scandinavian, and it adds point to understand cold in the meaning, disastrous, of the Icelandic version. Comp. ‘Wommennes counseils been ful ofte colde,’ Chaucer, C. T., B 4446. ‘Mulier cum sola cogitat, male cogitat,’ Syrus 87/335.

240, 241. Skeat’s version, ‘I do not say this because a good woman is not a good thing,’ shows that he takes for þan þat together, which is contrary to the metrical stress on þan and gives no sufficient sense: for þan, is, therefore, i.e. in spite of all the hard things I have said about women: hit is an anticipatory object, which is expanded in the object clause, þat . . . wymmon. The scribe deleted n before ys, Skeat restores it; T also has is, for which Skeat substitutes [n]is, quoting, ‘Hic ne sige nout byþan | þat moni ne ben gentile man,’ T 665. I think that what the scribe wrote should be retained. It is clear that the relation between a negative principal clause and its dependent object clause was often in ME. very loose and illogical. Comp. ‘For sco was traist and duted noght, | þat godds wil ne suld be wroght,’ CM 12321; ‘Ne doð ham no þing swo wo | . . . | swo ꝥ hi niten, ꝥ here þine | ne sal habben ende,’ Poema Morale, MS. D. 140 (see 46/290); ‘ihc nas na wurdra; þenne ich nes weldinde,’ L 3466; also 100/104. ‘Ðat ne forȝeit ðu naure · þat ðu godd ne heriȝe,’ 93/149, means, That forget thou never that thou honour God; what is more natural than to leave out the negative, if the contrary meaning is required? Our text may be paraphrased, Whatever I have said about women in general, I do not say it with reference to the proposition that a good woman is a good thing. For the sentiment comp. ‘Femina raro bona, sed que bona digna corona,’ Prov. Hein. 65; ‘Femina pauca bona est; si forte inveneris ullam, | De celo cecidit, tessella caractere miro,’ Fecunda Ratis 153/919.

242. þe mon þe, for the man who. icouere, &c. win her from his rivals.

244. Repeated from 21/108.

245. Comp. ‘Nulla sevior pestis quam familiaris hostis. Nis non werse fo; þene frakede fere,’ OEH ii. 189/33; ‘Gravior est inimicus, qui latet in pectore,’ Syrus 79/200.

246. vayre . . . frakele: see 23/172 note.

247. Skeat explains þane loþe, the hostile one, and lead, keep on one’s side, so, by fair words. T reads So mon mai welþe lengest helden, which is easier of interpretation, but is just as inept. I think both scribes or their exemplars have altered as best they could a displaced line to fit it into its new context. Its proper place is after the good advice of ll. 248-51 (comp. l. 263), and it may have originally run, So myght þu fayre lif · lenguste leden.

248. ‘Nolito quaedam referenti credere saepe: | Exigua est tribuenda fides, qui multa locuntur,’ Cato 224/20.

249 is a very lame verse; we might read, þat feole speken can.

251. With singen, comp. ‘Noli homines blando nimium sermone probare: | Fistula dulce canit, uolucrem dum decipit auceps,’ Cato 220/27.

252. swikelne, deceitful: comp. ‘Ueond þet þuncheð freond is swike ouer alle swike,’ AR 98/5; ‘Habet suum venenum blanda oratio,’ Syrus 80/214.

254. cuþe, give warning.

256. Alfred would hardly have said that a man learns wisdom from proverbs and prudence from good luck. Read for sawe, sorewe (the scribe has overlooked the contraction for re), and for hiselþe, uniselþe, misfortune. Comp. ‘In þes middeneardes iscole · selðen ⁊ uniselðen,’ OEH i. 243/7: ‘Vitat maiora sapiens post dampna minora,’ Prov. Hein. 240. Borgström reads his elde, where his is surely doubtful and þ interchanging with d without parallel.

258. The editors leave out And, which is not in T, but l. 257 is complete in itself; And vnwurþ, and despicable, is a sort of afterthought: for the combination comp. 4/37; ‘þat he biðe vnworð & lah’ (loþ, MS. O), L 3464, and further for this meaning of vnwurþ, 143/92; ‘þe idele ȝelp us beo eure unwurð,’ OEH i. 107/8.

259. hokede, thievish: in thieves’ slang, a hook is a pickpocket, his fingers are hooks. Comp. ‘Sutoribus custodem addidit et ut eorum curvos ungues observaret . . . rogavit,’ Disciplina Clericalis, ed. Hilka u. Söderhjelm, 28/19; ‘Arpiis similes armantur in ungue ferino,’ Fec. Ratis, de Predonibus, 173/1154. þat he bereþ is rejected by Skeat as a ‘gloss.’ It is certainly feeble; perhaps we should read, þat he herȝeþ, with which he plunders; the relative would be under the régime of the preceding þurh.

261. From—wune, (dis)accustom thyself from lying: a singular phrase.

262. þe may be the reflexive dat. as at 13/34, but it is more probably a mistake, due to þe in the previous line: its omission improves the metre.

263. on þeode, a tag beloved of Layamon: with him it is always local; comp. ‘he þohte to quellen; þe king on his þeoden,’ 20056 (in his londe, MS. O); ‘þa weoren Rom-leoden; bliðen on heore þeoden,’ id. 11144: it corresponds to ‘vpen eorþe,’ 22/123, and differs from in alle leode, among all the people, Layamon’s ‘on folke,’ 2218.

265. Comp. ‘behoueð ðe ðat ðu bie well warr ꝥ tu luuiȝe ðine nexte, ðat is, aurich mann ðe berð ðin anlicnesse,’ VV 39/13: a translation of proximus, S. Luke x. 29. þe: comp. 22/141, 25/217: ‘Au besoing voit on qui amis est’, Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 72.

266. Comp. 188/378; ‘Vrom mulne ⁊ from cheping, from smiðe ⁊ from ancre huse, me tiðinge bringeð,’ AR 88/26; ‘At chireche and at chepyng | hwanne heo to-gadere come,’ OEM 189/57; Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 112/82.

270. sytte: comp. 22/144: rest in contentment; ‘sit soft.’

271. Skeat takes lond le as a mere scribal error for londe which T reads. I think it points to an original londe ⁊ se: comp. 40/194; ‘Mid mede man mai ouer water faren And mid weldede of giue; frend wuerche,’ OEH ii. 41/20 (possibly a reminiscence of this place). For the proverb comp. ‘Mieux vaut amis en voie, ke deniers en corroie. Melius valet amicus in via quam denarius in corrigia,’ Hauréau, Notices et Extraits, ii. 283.

274-6. Comp. 22/133-5. mixe: T has nocht.

280. holde, maintain: ‘vpholde,’ 21/113.

285. Comp. 18/9-11.

288. Comp. generally 32/39-65; 29/20-24. Perhaps the allusion is to ‘In timore Domini esto [tuum cor] tota die: Quia habebis spem in novissimo, et praestolatio tua non auferetur,’ Prov. xxiii. 17, 18.

289. lyen: comp. ‘ꝥ sind þa gecostan cempan þa þam cyninge þeowað | se næfre þa lean alegeð þam þe his lufan adreogeð,’ Exeter Book, ed. Gollancz, 108/91. See 32/64 note.

293. gabbe, talk mockingly or derisively: the meaning of Fr. gaber, to talk boastingly, would suit well here, but it lacks support. schotte is difficult: the obvious sense is, to pay scot, to take part in convivial assemblies, but this does not go well with gabbe. Borgström thinks that it may be schoute, to shout, or possibly to scout, sneer, modified for the sake of the rhyme. If that principle may be admitted, stroute, to swagger (Havelok, 1779), would be preferable.

294. chid, wrangle, engage in a ‘flyting,’ or scolding match: ‘Ne respondeas stulto iuxta stultitiam suam,’ Prov. xxvi. 4. Whether tales be taken with the preceding or the following line, it is equally unsuitable, unless it may mean reproaches, charges, after OE. talian. It goes best with l. 296; ne should be omitted before chid. dwales, not ‘fools’ in the general sense, but erring ones; dwall in mod. dialects means to wander in mind, to talk incoherently. With cunnes comp. 81/80.

298. ‘Rumores fuge, neu studeas novus auctor haberi,’ Cato 218/12. With 299 comp. ‘Pauca in convivio loquere’, id. 217/51. ‘Inter convivas fac sis sermone modestus,’ Columbanus 92; ‘Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis: | Sermo datur cunctis, animi sapientia paucis,’ Cato 217/10.

302. biluken, enclose, comprehend: the brief utterances of the wise man are weighty.

303. See Hendyng 85 and Kneuer 28.

305. With wille, comp. 24/185.

307. Comp. Hendyng 144 and Kneuer 55; Förster’s note, ES xxxi. 6; ‘Osse caret lingua, secat os tamen ipsa maligna,’ Prov. Hein. 149; ‘Mo sleað word þene sweord,’ AR 74/1; ‘plaga . . . linguae comminuet ossa,’ Ecclus. xxviii. 21.

310. ‘Exultat gaudio pater iusti,’ Prov. xxiii. 24: ‘Him stondes wel þat god child strenes,’ Havelok 2983.

311. ibidest, dost obtain: OE. gebīdan, to await, experience, attain to.

312. mon þewes: comp. ‘hauest þu nu quene þeouwes inume,’ L 30281. ‘Curva cervicem eius in iuventute, et tunde latera eius dum infans, ne forte . . . erit tibi dolor animae,’ Ecclus. xxx. 12. The ‘child unþewed’ is one of the ‘Ten Abuses,’ OEM 185/9.

314. The better things will ever go in the world. For buuen eorþe, see 23/177.

316. werende: Skeat reads wexende; if any alteration is made, wuniende would give a common OE. and ME. combination: as ‘þæt he her in worulde wunian mote,’ Christ 817; ‘wuniende ⁊ rixlende on worlde,’ OEH 1. 25/17. But weren is equated in Stratmann-Bradley with Mid. Dutch, OHG. weren, to remain, with this place as the only instance.

317. lude and stille: see 25/226.

327. Comp. ‘For betere were child ounboren þen ounbeten,’ Hending, MS. O, Anglia iv. 191/4.

328. ‘Qui parcit virge, sua pignora protinus odit,’ Fec. Ratis 93/438; ‘Quippe diu male cesus lamentabitur infans,’ id. 65/289. spareþ, with dative.

329. areche, get at, control.

Manuscript: Manuscript.

The Cotton MS. ... MS. Stowe 163, B.M. ff. Stowe, 163 B. M.

... īe in scīene, gesīene gives schene 213, isene 75. scīene gesīene

ea + h occurs in wexynde 112, 113, iauhteþ 171 113 iauhteþ

The personal pronouns ... a. f. 280, non non,

s. g. neut. 276, echere echere,

... Past of Weak Verbs: s. 2. heuedest 187; 187:

1. Seuorde: siforde T; Sifforde W, RJ, which is RJ.,

38. ... ryhtwis rightwis

87-92. ... sende þe Aduersite Aduersite

129. vouh, for veoh “veoh” misprinted as bold

144. ... the divergence of T of B

258. ... which is not in T, T.,

271. Skeat takes lond le as a mere scribal error “lond le” misprinted as plain (non-bold)

VII. MEMENTO MORI

Manuscript: As for no. vi. There are other copies in (C) MS. Cotton Caligula A ix., B.M., of the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and (B) MS. Laud 471, Bodleian, of the end of the same century. In (A) MS. Arundel 57, B.M. there is a fourteenth-century version of nine lines. CJ form a group, B belongs to another branch.

Editions: Of CJ; Morris, R., OEM, pp. 156-9 under the inappropriate title, Long Life: of B; Zupitza, J., Anglia i. p. 410: of B, corrected by CJ; Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, p. 56; of C; Wright, T., Percy Society, vol. xi. p. 63. Of A; Morris, R., Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 129.

Literature: Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 410; Varnhagen, H., Anglia ii. 71; ii. 67.

Phonology: The position is the same as that of piece vi: words not in it are blench 4 (blencan vb.); falwy 6 (fealwian); luteþ 29 (lūtian); sterk 11 (stearc); steo 38 (stīgan, imitating in the inf. flēon, wrēon, Bülbring, Ablaut 88), sunne 10 (synn). MS. C does not differ materially from it: it has however drinche 8, deaþes 8, sterch 11, strench 14, tahte 23, fole 33, wormes 34, nowt 50. MS. B is South-Eastern bordering on Kent; it has rene 3 (rēn), senne 10, starc 11, sene 13, to yenes 16, Man let lust and senne stench 19, sede 23, stie 38 and st for ht in brigst 13. The text is often faulty as if written down from memory, and l. 26 is missing, but the rhymes are correct: the original was doubtless in the South-Eastern dialect.

Accidence: longe s. g. neut. 1 (comp. longes 21/109); heyust adv. 38; endi inf. 39 (endian), last 2 pr. s. (lǣdest) 36 are the only forms which require notice.

Metre: The ten-line stanza of this poem is unique in ME. literature. It is an expansion of the common eight-line stanza: its rhyme formula is abab | baab | bb, two quatrains with contrasted rhymes and a two-line close in which the sentiment of the stanza culminates. In the last stanza the effect is spoiled by the absence of a break at the end of the eighth line.

As a rule the line contains four measures, but four out of five times the ninth line of the stanza has only three, so, Món | er þu fál | lẹ of þi bénch | 9; Ac déþ | lúteþ | in his schó | 29; In déþ | schal þi lýf | endí | 39; wúrcheþ him | pýnẹ eu|er mó | 49. Further, in the original form of the verse, as preserved by MS. B, the tenth line has only two measures, þi sénnẹ | aquénch | 10; wel dó | wel þénch | 20; hím to | fordó | 30 (Zupitza’s correction of the MS. do him for do); on wóp | þi glé | 40; ne dó | þu só | 50. The rhythm is mostly trochaic, as Món may | lónge | lýues | wéne | 1, but sometimes iambic, as Nis nón | so stróng | ne stárk | ne ké|nè 11; her naú|ẹstu blís|se dáy|es þré | 35. Lines with three-syllable measures like 9 are 22, 26: with monosyllabic first foot are 19, 22, 31, 32.

Introduction: The comparative smoothness and finish of the verse points to a date considerably later than that of the Proverbs: perhaps about 1210 A.D. The piece seems to have been inspired by stanzas x and xxi of the earlier poem.

1. A man may look forward to a long life, but the trick often deceives him; an oft-quoted proverb, as at 21/108, 222/274; ‘Mani man weneþ þat he wene ne þarf, longe to liven, and him lieþ þe wrench,’ Hending MS. O, Anglia iv. 200. The second line occurs in another connection in AR, ‘moni mon abit to schriuen him uort þe nede tippe. Auh ofte him lieð þe wrench,’ 338/18. For the case of liues comp. ‘Ðær sceolan þeofas . . . lifes ne wenan,’ Christ 1608; with wrench . . . blench comp. 157/125; ‘wrenceþ he ⁊ blenceþ · worn geþenceþ · hinder-hoca,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 315/18.

3. turneþ: went, BA.

4. makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder, neut.: turneþ he, B; i.e. reyne (OE. regn, m.). Comp. ‘Hope maketh fol man ofte blenkes,’ Havelok 307; ‘þenne þe kyng of þe kyth a counsayl hym takes, | Wyth þe best of his burnes, a blench for to make,’ Cleanness 1201, 2.

6. falwy: falewi, BC: comp. 133/39, ‘faleweþ so doþ medewe gres,’ OEM 93/16.

8. deþes drench: comp. ‘Þær Cristess mennisscnesse | Drannc dæþess drinnch o rodetreo,’ Orm 45/1373.

9. bench implies feasting: comp. ‘Ne schaltu neuer sytten · on bolstre ne on benche | Ne neuer in none halle · þar me wyn schenche,’ OEM 175/89; ‘Ye þat weryeþ þat riche schrud · and sytteþ on eure benche,’ id. 169/3; ‘Ac þu sete on þine benche, underleid mid þine bolstre,’ Worcester Frag. C, 26; L 9693.

10. With aquench, comp. ‘Her-of we owe þenche. | And vre sunnen aquenche. | Mid beden and myd almesse,’ OEM 79/217.

12. B reads, þat may agein deaþes wiþer clench, that has power against death’s hostile grip: wiþer-clench appears to be without parallel. In our text, Morris takes ago for agon, escape, but, as Zupitza points out, it is probably for agon = agein, which is also found as age, aȝe. Stratmann-Bradley translates wiþer-blench, attack, quoting this place only: more probably it means sly, treacherous attack.

14. ryueþ, rakes: Icel. rifja, to rake hay into rows: ‘Ryvyn, or rakyn,’ Prompt. Parvul. ed. Mayhew, col. 386. on o streng: so B, but C in one strench, which would represent OE. strenc, a by-form of streng, recorded in Funiculus, modicum funus, rap uel strenc, Wright, Vocabularies 245/6, just as drench, wrench represent drenc, wrenc. If that be the case here, then C agrees with BJ, save in the preposition in. For Death armed with a rake comp. ‘Hwen he com to arudden | of deaðes rake oðre, | hwi deide he him seoluen?’ SK 1137: Satan is often so represented, ‘Þer is sathanas þe qued · | redi wyþ his rake,’ OEM 181/213; SM 11/11; SK, MS. C 917. Death sweeps in his victims with his rope; ‘Ded has vs wit-sett vr strete, | · | All sal we rin into his rape,’ CM 23727; ‘Ded sal rug us til his rape,’ CM 21920; ‘Deþ shal take vs al in rape,’ id. MS. T. The conception then is that of Death sweeping in all sorts and conditions with the same rope. It is just possible that the reading of C, strench, is meant for strech, i.e. stretch, the word still used in Dorsetshire for ‘the space taken in at one stretch of the rake,’ EDD. v. 813. Streche is not common at this period, but comp. 42/231; ‘on his modes streche,’ OEH i. 111/25, in the sweep, or compass, of his mind.

15. fox, adj.: comp. 187/351; ‘fox of fyl’ (read wil), Horst., S.A.L. 12/251; Orm 230/6646: for wrench, comp. ‘Alse þe fox þe mid his wrenches walt oðer deor; ⁊ haueð his wille þerof,’ OEH ii. 195/7.

16. B has, ne mai him noman to yenes.

17. þreting, menace, or possibly upbraiding: B has weping. The nouns þreting, bene, Mede, &c., are subjects of may, l. 16.

18. Mede, bribery: B reads, ne listes ne leches drench.

21. Possibly a reference to the advice given at 27/288.

23. Do as He who bringeth thee to thy end taught thee and said. Comp. 27/282-286.

25. mysdo, misfare. B leaves out þenne and the whole of the following line, which means, But thou hast good reason to live in fear and trembling. ‘A peyne joie avra un sul jur | Ke de sa fyn bien pensera,’ MS. Lambeth 522, Archiv lxiii. 76/23.

27. such, such and such a man, indefinitely.

29. luteþ, lurkeþ. Comp. ‘Ja n’ert tant prus ne tant vaillanz, | Ne tant de richesces en avra, | Ke tuit nel perde a un launz: | Kar mort tapit enmi sun gaunt, | Kant meyns quide | Chescun,’ Archiv lxiii. 76/33; ‘within the hollow crown | That rounds the mortal temples of a king | Keeps Death his court,’ Shakspere, K. Richard II, iii. ii. 160. The reading of B, ‘deþ him ledes on his sóó,’ apparently means, death on his shoes (OE. scōum) directs his footsteps.

33. fule fulþe: comp. 134/94. ‘Cum faex, cum limus, cum res vilissima simus, | Unde superbimus? Ad terram terra redimus,’ Hauréau, Notices, vi. 124.

37. Comp. ‘Quor deades strenge warp him dun,’ GE 21/714.

38. Comp. 21/110; ‘Quen þu best wenis to haf all, | Fra al þan sal þou titest fall,’ CM 21939; ‘þenne þu wenest ꝥ þu scalt libben alre best · þenne gest þu forð,’ OEH i. 7/23; ‘quant mielz quidet vivre | e estre a delivre, | la mort li cort sore,’ Reimpredigt 32/16.

41. Comp. ‘Wela · weolla · wella; hu þu biswikest monine mon. | þenne he þe treoweðe alre best on; þenne biswikes tu heom,’ L 3411.

45, 6. Evidently a popular saying, so ‘Mon let þi fol lust ouergo · and eft hit þe likeþ,’ Poema Morale MS. J. 15 an interpolated line; ‘auh let lust ouergon ⁊ hit te wule liken,’ AR 118/26; ‘Let lust ouergon ⁊ hit þe wule liken,’ id. 238/27; Hendyng 53. For likeþ comp. 30/11, and for ouergo, pass by, 22/143.

Manuscript: ... (B) MS. Laud 471 printed as shown: error for “Laud Misc.”?

Editions: Of CJ; Morris, R., OEM R. OEM

As a rule ... Món may | lónge | lýues | wéne lyúes

4. makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder, neut. neut

VIII. POEMA MORALE

Manuscripts: i. Lambeth 487 (L), a small quarto, 177 × 135 mm., of 67 leaves, written towards the end of the twelfth century. Its contents are described in Wanley, p. 266, and printed in OEH i. pp. 2-189: nos. x, xi. of this book are also taken from it. The words printed in clarendon in these three pieces are written in red, not inserted afterwards by a rubricator but done at the same time as the rest of the text. The PM ends with fordemet, l. 270, in the middle of a page; the final t has a flourish for its cross stroke; the copyist had apparently no knowledge of any more.

ii. iii. Egerton 613, B.M., described in the List of Additions, 1843. Its contents are mostly in Norman French, but it has two copies of the PM: the second (e) furnishes here a complement to the Lambeth MS. as far as l. 370, with which it ends; the first (E) is used to complete the text. e was written in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, E is somewhat later; the former has accents, the latter none. In e every other line has a red initial, but the rubricator went wrong at ll. 308, 312. These copies are in different hands.

iv. Trinity College, Cambridge, B. 14. 52 (T), on vellum, 135 × 105 mm.; written early in the thirteenth century. Its contents are described in James, M. R., The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1900, i. 459. A leaf is lost after f. 8, and a new hand begins with f 9; the PM appears to be a distinct MS. (Anglia, iv. 408). The initials of each line are capitals and written apart from their words. A later hand has glossed aihte 42, goodes; ore 53, favour, grace; lean 64, deserving; manke 70, Manca, Mancus.

Other MSS. are v. Digby A 4, Bodleian D, of the beginning of the thirteenth century; described in Macray, W. D., Catalogue of the Digby MSS., Oxford, 1883. The PM is written in half lines and stanzas; it is in a hand found nowhere else in the MS., which was probably copied at Christ Church, Canterbury (James, M. R., The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover, Cambridge, 1903; Förster, M., Archiv cxv. 167). Its dialect is Kentish. vi. Jesus College, Oxford, E 29 (J): see p. 285. vii. McClean MS. 123 (M), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 122 leaves on vellum, 262 × 167 mm.: about 1300: the Nuneaton Book, described by Miss Anna C. Paues, who discovered this copy of the poem, in Anglia xxx. 217-26, and in A Descriptive Catalogue of the McClean Collection of Manuscripts by M. R. James, Cambridge, 1912. Like Egerton 613 it has the Bestiary of William the Norman and the Gospel of Nicodemus in French. The dialect of PM is South-Eastern, bordering on Kent. It begins with two lines from Sinners Beware (OEM p. 72), and has four other lines not found in any other copy: on the other hand, it wants seventy lines found in T; it diverges from the other MSS. in the order of the lines, and in other respects gives the impression of having been written down from memory.

Facsimile: Of vi. Skeat, W. W., Twelve Facsimiles, Oxford, 1892; plate vi gives ll. 1-34.

Editions: Of L: OEH i. 159-75 with modern version. Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, 57-61. Of E: Furnivall, F. J., Early English Poems. Philological Society, 1862, 22-34, with readings of e and OEH i. 288-95, 175-83. Of e: Zupitza-Schipper, Alt- und Mittelenglisches Übungsbuch, Wien, 1907, 80-91, completed from E. Of T: OEH ii. 220-32 and Specimens 195-221. Of J: OEM 58-71 and Specimens 194-220. Of D: Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 6-32, part in Hickes i. 222. Of M: Paues, A. C., Anglia xxx. 227-37 (I read l. 29, hire; 63 þon; 65 nammore; 71 ouersicþ; 84 þurȝsicþ; 105 diaþe; 147 þar pine; 152 ysicþ; 191 ofspreng; 223 hi neure; 236 Mot; 268 wulle; 314 hī = him; 333 ḅyseo = yseo).

A critical edition based on all the MSS. then known was issued by H. Lewin, Halle, 1881. He adopted Zupitza’s filiation of the MSS. as expressed in the following table:

L

X E

Y W

e

U J

T

Z

D

Miss Paues thinks that M is descended from V co-equal with U, thus displacing the latter from its position of original: to me it seems to belong to the Z group, and to be most nearly related to D.

The MSS. thus fall into two groups, which are here adequately represented by the printed texts, for D is inferior and J much altered, indeed often rewritten. U, the original, was probably written about 1180 A.D.

Literature: Einenkel, E., Anglia iv. Anz. 88-93; Jordan, R., ES xlii. 38-42 (dialect of L); Krüger, A., Sprache und Dialekt der ME. Homilien in der Handschrift B. 14. 52. Trinity College, Cambridge, Erlangen, 1885; Paues, A. C., Anglia xxx. 217-37; Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 5-38; iii. 32, 33; iv. 406-10.

Analogues: Reimpredigt, ed. H. Suchier, Halle, 1879; Le Sermon de Guischart de Beauliu, ed. A. Gabrielson, Upsala, 1909; Guischart de Beauliu’s debt to religious learning and literature in England, by A. Gabrielson, Archiv cxxviii. 309-28.

Phonology: (1) of the Lambeth MS. Oral a is a, baþien 245, faren 176; a before nasals is normally o, mon 22, þonc 71, but a in manke 70, þanke 241, and þenne, þene, þen, wenne are the usual spellings, with occasional þanne 18, 160; a before lengthening groups is o, honde 81, ifonded 147; ent 159 is Anglian end. æ is mostly e, brec 183, et 92, feder 148, efþ 171 (hæfð), hwet 92 &c., weter 248, but a in bað 218, fader 186, 195, habbe 3, 5, hwat 90, water 142, 194, 240. e is e, beren 95, ende 179, strengþe 168, but sullic 181 (syllic; comp. seollic L 18035), ni 77, meind 142 (mengde). i is i, biden 125, binden 216, child 148; after w it is u in wule 34, 39, 155, wulleð 97, 226, uuel 123 (= nule), nute 236, nusten 102, 225. It is e in þerdde 138, u in ofsprung 207; boð 120 is miswritten for bið. o is o, bifore 16, borde 260, but after w, a, walde 49, nalde 185, 261; cumen 202 is c(w)omon. The prep. on is mostly a, sometimes an; u is u, cumeð 234, funde 68, but come 124, 221, iwoned 57 in contact with m, n, w. y is mostly u, abuȝeð 195, cunne 202, duden 265, sunne 201, swuch 80, þunchen 62; before lengthening groups, sungede 258, but i in afirst 37, hwice 136, lifte 83, ofþinchþ 130 (5), swich 80 (3), and e in dede 2, vnnet 5: king 50, drihten 80, drihte 110 are the only forms of these words.

ā is normally a, an 26, are 179, hwam 202, þa 190; before consonant groups, are 207, hattre 247, but it is o in hom 95, hwon 105, þo 53, wori 142, e through loss of stress in se 80 &c., þe 169. ǣ₁ is e, eni 53, er 11, þen 71, ech 32, efre 68, ledden 209, but a in anige 269, þan 74: uches 90 descends from ylc. ǣ₂ is always e, adrede 6, brede 143, lende 122, uniselðe 198. ē is always e; ī, i; ō, o, but e in te 108: na 134 is Anglian nā. ū is always u. ȳ is normally u, cudde 191, fur 76, hud 77, lutel 46, but litel 28, hwi 104.

ea before r + cons. is regularly e, erȝe 17, þerf 43; before lengthening groups, erninge 64, herde 157, 169, wernin 228, but arme 227, warni 226: the i-umlaut is represented by derne 78, smirte 114. ea before l + cons. is once ea, bifealt 7; normally a (Anglian absence of breaking), al 7 &c., salt 248, ald 4, -fald 54, 247, waldeð 84, but welde 2, welden 55 (by confusion with gewieldan): the i-umlaut is seen in elde 14, 15, eldre 192, helde 197, but alder 1. eo before r + cons. is mostly e, herte 74, werke 27 (9), but horte 113; before length. groups it is o in ȝorne 49, horþe 75, orðe 81, orðliche 153. The wur group is represented by wurð 140; the i-umlaut by wurs 236, wurst 217, 219: bernd 249, berninde 218, bernunde 245 come from bærnan. eo before l + cons. is written o [ö], solf 12 (13), but u in sulf 214 (LWS. sylf). ea, u-umlaut of a is represented by kare 45. eo, u-umlaut of e is o, houene 25 (7), world 153, 222, but e in heuenriche 42, 63, and by influence of w, u in suster 148, 185: eo, å-umlaut of e is written o [ö], brokeð 91, fole 9 (4), unfrome 226, but is e in fele 70, 166, wele 222. eo, umlaut of i is written o [ö], binoþen 87, hore 101, solure 264, souene 26, soððen 9, 117, but is e in biclepie 107, iclepede 104, seue 140; u in suððen 205, hure 141. The palatal diphthong ea is a in scal 24, 35, schal 19, -gate 180; e in scefte 84, ȝere 110; sceamian is skamie 163, 165, sceomu, scome 166. ie after g is regularly e (Anglian), ȝeuen 64, 261, ȝefð 144, ȝeue 45, 74, ȝelde 45, forȝeten 34, 98, but i in giue 56; after č, e, chele 197, 233 (without umlaut); after sc, i, scilde 220. eo after g is u in ȝung 4, 10; after sc, u, sculen 20 (8), sculde 118, 263, sculden 60, 265, but o once in solde 51. eom is em 1, 4, heom, hom 18 &c.

ēa is ea in deaþe 182, uneade 181, otherwise e, brede 189, chep 68, deðe 115, uneðe 189: lan 64 is Scandinavian. The i-umlaut is e, alesed 134, iheren 262, ileuen 255. ēo is eo in beoð 17, beo 29, freonde 220, seon 16, otherwise regularly o, bon 2 (5), bo 134 (10), boð 26 &c., dore 143, doule 97 (5), frond 30 (4), son 158, þoue 43, but e in lef 252, sec 199, tening 253: bið 233 is due to confusion with the singular. The i-umlaut is represented by dore 144, 184, fond 219, frond 220, node 261, þostre 78, but once þestre 76. gīet is ȝet 5; gēar, ȝer 140. ō after sc is seen in scop 84.

a + g is aȝ, draȝen 47, 49, laȝe 170: ah 14, 119, ach 58 is Anglian ah. æ + g is ei, dei 134, mei 14, seið 114, 133. e + g is eȝ in weȝes 72, ei in eie 18, weien 63: ongegn is aȝein 76; e + h is seen in hechte 268; i + h in iwichte 212; o + g in unwron 160 (unwrogen); o + h in bohte 184, unbocht 59; u + g in fuȝeles 83, luȝen 159, muȝe 21, wruȝen 160; y + g in abuh 144 (abygþ). ā + g produces aȝ, aȝen 30 (5), maȝe 29, but ahen 161: ā + h is seen in ahte 2, achten 129. ǣ₁ + g is ei in eiðer 62, seiden 223; ǣ₁ + h, eh in ehte 259, echte 42 (3), but ach in tachte 268. ǣ₂ + g gives eȝ in iseȝen 98, 102, but ei in mei 29, 185. ē + g is seen in forwreien 97; ō + g in inoch 235; ō + h in biþocht 8, brochte 183: uwer 88 is ōwer < ōhwǣr, comp. ouhwar AR 60/25. ea + h gives mihte 13, michte 16, 52, mahte 222, isech 261; the i-umlaut is represented in nihte 78: eo + h, brichte 75, rihte 109; its i-umlaut is represented in ouersich 75, þurþsicheþ 90. ēa + g is eȝ in eȝen 75; ēa + h gives þah 4, þach 102, 222, þech 181; ēo + h, lihte 76, lihtliche 145. ā + w is au in cnauð 146, knauð 110, saule 136, 245, naut 48, 212; aw in nawiht 150, 249 (but noht 190, nocht 132 are from nōwiht); auw in iknauwen 161; otherwise aw, blaweð 136, mawen 20. ēa + w is aw in scaweð 135. ēo + w is ou in ou 50; ow in ow 228, rowen 19, sowen 20, eow in eow 25: its i-umlaut is represented in untrownesse 265.

In syllables without stress a is levelled to e, abuten 267, bihinden, binoþen 87, biforen 25, sone 38, but biforan 63; o to e, atter 142, siker 41, swikele 251. e is added in areles 216 (ārlēas), ofte 57. The prefix ge is i, ilome 47, iswinc 36, itit 125.

For sw, su is written once in suilch 120; qu is the regular equivalent of cw, iquemen 95, quike 79. An l is lost in ful 6, 145, fulenden 243: gg is written for ng in biginnigge 119. Initial f is once u in uersc 248: f between vowels or vowel and voiced consonant is generally u, buuen 87, eure 86, iuere 229, solure 264, uuel 251, but f in ufel 59, 93, ufele 17, ifere 102; frure 232 is probably frōfre. In heste 242 t is added, but hese 91: ts is c in milce 72. d is lost in leden 93 and added in ordlinghes 103: t is written for d in ent 159, fordemet 270, idemet 106, 171, maket 230, undret 208, 247. þ is lost in abuh 144, ouersich 75; written for d in hefð 147; for it th is written in with 216, t in etlete 148, 153, 257, hauet 65, ofþinchet 10, seit 133, þunchet 233, d in cud 159 (but kuðe 9), uneade 181, h in þench 33, wih 220, c in eclete 74: it is assimilated in attere 127, at ta 156. sc [š] is sc in scal 24, scameþ 165, scilde 220, sch in schal 19, s in bisunien 152, ss in fisses 83 and notably sk in skamie 163. č is generally ch, chele 197, child 3, ich 1, but drunke 258, smike 16; c [k] is palatalized in hech 232, werch 108, 116, werche 254, but werc 177; it is g in þingþ 5; ah 14, 119, 120, ach 58, 166, hi 221 (= ih) have Anglian h: čč is ch, feche 222, reche 221, rechð 133, streche 231, stuche 189, wreche 232: cg is gg, seggen 94, buggen 65, but abuȝeð 195. Palatal g is very regularly represented by ȝ, forȝeten 34, ȝeue 74, ȝere 110, but i in medierne 256 (georne), h in ahen 161 and g in anige 269: gate 180 is plural: ng is ngh in ordlinghes 103, ngg in eueningges 162: g is lost in murþe 154. The prefix ge is lost in bon 137, hud 77, meind 142, write 101. h has been added initially in hech 232, helche 89, his 72, 121, 229, honde 193, dropped in is 217, raþer 131, undret 208, 247: þ displaces h in þurþ 90. For hw, w appears in wa 114, wet 79, 94, h in hom 95. ch for h is frequent, achten 129, brochte 183, brichte 75, hechte 268, isech 261, ouersich 75, þurþsicheþ 90, &c. In soht 30, ht is written for tt.

(2) of the Trinity College MS. Oral a is a, fare 180, habben 39; a before nasals regularly a, man 20, þanc 245, þanne, þane, þan are the usual forms, but þene 343; a before lengthening groups is o, fonded 149, longe 3, but hangeð 312. æ is regularly a, after 28, almesse 28, brac 185, fader 150, water 244, but sæd 392, hweðer 240. e is e, bed 222, beren 95; before lengthening groups, bende 398, felde 348, imengd 144, strengðe 317, but ængles 94, angles 284, 355, 380. i is i, þridde 140, child 3, finde 54, but e after w in nele 336, nelle 291, nesten 229, 388, also in ofspreng 211, þese 312, þesse 328, 383, þesses 338 (ðyssum, ðysses), u after w in swunche 208, 373, as also in ofsprung 198. o is o, bode 264, borde 311, but on prep. is most frequently a, an. sorg is soreȝe 142 (4), but sareȝe 378. u is invariably u, bigunne 218, grunde 180. y is e in deden 269, 270, euel 26 (11), hlesten 230, 387, kenne 206 (4), senne 129 (7), senden 290 (syndun), steche 191, vnnet 5, unwenne 212; u in abugeð 197, abuið 146, bugge 65, dude 2, duden 96, fulle 352, furst 37, gulteð 315 (4), gult 197 (4), hulle 351, misduden 101, 194, muchel 76 (8), murie 156, murihðe 396, þunche 62, ofþunche 207 (3), sunegeden 262; i in tihte 272, þincheð 5, 10, 166, swilch 79, 399, hwilch 138, unwinne 250: king, drihten, drihte are the only forms of these words.

ā is mostly o; the exceptions are aquerne 366, bihat 368, hat 308, hatere 251, hwan 206, lac 203 (loc in corresponding line 73). ǣ₁ is mostly a, ani 53, are 124, has 91, 349, hate 236, sa 83, sade 131 (LWS. sǣde), tache 305, þare 346; before two consonants, ache 235 (4), afre 86, mast 7, unhalðe 16 (4); but e in hete 199, mene 170, ðer 216, and before two consonants arerde 172, ech 23 (8); æ in ænes 185; ea in hease 296. In forgoð 358 a plural form is used for the singular. ǣ₂ is mostly a, adrade 6, dade 3 (4), lache 306, misdade 132, 166, 275, rade 4, strate 235 (4), before two consonants naddren 277, ofdrad 43, 94, 288, unisalðe 200, 378, wapne 340, but e in mere 393, misdede 209 r. w. ofdrade, unsele 201, iselðe 15; æ in læte 345, and ia in þiar 165. ē is e, beten 242, demde 274, iquemd 174, but a in ache 364 (ǣce): doð 35 (8) is plural form for singular. ī is i, abiden 140, þriste 19, but syrreue 50, ȝietceres 271 (Bülbring, § 306, anm. 1). ō is o except in cam 117 (4), te 316. ū is invariably u. ȳ is e in forbet 307, here 45, kedde 193; u in cuðen 99, fure 43, 152, hudden 162, i in litel 46, 264, 331.

ea before r + cons. is, as a rule, a, arme 231, narewe 343, swarte 282, before lengthening groups mostly a, hardde 171, warnie 304, but e in erninge 64, metheschele 366; ea, æ in middeneard 140, 200, middenærd 195: the i-umlaut is represented by erminges 323, derne 77, smierte 114. ea before l + cons. is regularly a, alle 22, biualle 198, before lengthening groups mostly ea, bihealde 288, eald 4, but bihelden 392, holde 55: the i-umlaut is seen in elde 16 (5), elder 1, 326, elderne 194. eo before r + cons. is mostly e, herte 74 (3), werc 108 (10), but storre 279, hierte 113; before lengthening groups it is ie in ȝierles 324, ȝierne 49, e in erðe 75, erðeliche 155. In the wur group u is the rule, wurðe 142, wurðen 334. The i-umlaut after w gives werse 299, werest 221 (LWS. wyrsa, wyrrest): barneð 253, barnende 222, descend from bærnan; oerre 280 represents eorre. eo before l + cons. is always e, self 131 &c. eo, u-umlaut of e is e, heuene 27, wereldes 271, but o in woreldes 226, 338; the å-umlaut is represented by fele 9 (3), wele 155 (4): eo, umlaut of i is e, icleped 104, henne 400, seðen 9, seuene 28, bineþen 87, but binime 44, ȝieue 74, niþer 347, quike 78, 192, siluer 268, and after w, suster 150, 187, wude 348. ea after palatals is a in sal 21, 26, safte 84, same 168, samie 165, sameð 167, scat 367. ie after g is ie in biȝiete 105, 126, ȝielde 45, forȝiete 34 (4), ȝieuen 64 (12), forȝieue 217; after sc, c, it is i, silde 224 (5), e in chele 199, 236, bicherd 322. The conj. gif is ȝief 121, 166. eo after g gives ȝeunge 10, ȝeunger 326, jung 4, ȝieuð 377 (geogoð): eo after sc, solde 37, 267, solden 60, sulle 22, sullen 103. heom is hem; eom, am.

ēa is mostly ea, breade 191, deaðe 106 (7), eaðe 210, 288, 376, uneaðe 183, 191, but ec 46, 107, eðlate 74, 150, 261, rauing 257. The i-umlaut of ēa has regularly e, alesed 136, hereð 89, ileuen 49, temen 108, but ȝiemeð 80. ēo is mostly e, ben 39 (12), biflen 154, deflen 97, lef 73, frend 30, rewen 358, but ie in bien 389, bie 4 (4), biede 266, bieð 291, 315, diere 145, fiendes 223, friende 224, lief 203, 261, hielden 172, 298, isien 18 (5), swiere 146, þieue 43; i in sic 201. The i-umlaut is represented in diere 146, 186, fiend pl. n. 283, friend pl. a. 224, niede 265, þiesternesse 281, but derlinges 389, frend 185, 304, þuster 77. gesīene is isene 344; gīet, ȝiet 5, 293; gēar, ȝier 142: ō after sc is seen in sop 84.

a + g is aw in drawen 47, aȝ in laȝe 172, 295. æ + g is ai, dai 370, fair 392, mai 16, 44, but maiȝ 88, 124, 217. e + g is ei, wei 353, eiseliche 285, eie 20, seið 112, 135, but treiȝe 375, weiȝ 341, weiȝen 63: ongegn is aȝien 351. i + g is ie, nieðe 342, unwrien 162; final ig is i, peni 300, weri 244: i + h is ih, sihte 369, wihte 78. o + h is oh, bohte 186. u + g is uȝ, luȝen 161, muȝe 23, 55, muȝen 159, but fueles 83. y + h, drihte 79, 110 with i as usual, abuið 146, abugeð 197. ā + g, h is oȝ, moȝe 187, oȝen 163; ow, mowe 29, owen 30; oh, foh 365. ǣ₁ + g is ei in eiðer 62, 239, but aiðer 306, aihware 88: ǣ₁ + h is ai, aihte 42 (5), taihte 272, but eihte 321. ǣ₂ + g is æi in mæi 29; ai in mai 187, grai 365; ei in iseie 118, iseien 98, 99, 102. ē + g occurs in forwreien 97, leie 282: ō + g, h in inoh 391, inoȝh 389, biþoht 8, brohte 185. ea + g, h is ei, iseih 265; the i-umlaut is seen in mihte 15, 52, 202, 226, mihte 76, nihte 77, 370. eo + h is ih in brihte 75, rihte 109, rihtwisnesse 72, unriht 93; the i-umlaut is represented in ouersihð 75, þurhsihð 90. ēa + g is seen in eien 75, 381, raketeie 283; ēa + h in heie 16, 284, þeih 4, 102, 131: ēo + g in drie 292, lie 291; ēo + h in liht 316, 382, lihtliche 147. ā + w is ow, bloweð 138, cnoweð 110, icnowen 163, nowiht 152, sowle 138, but naht 48, &c., naðer 367. ī + w is seen in glie 292; ēa + w in feawe 349; ēo + w in newe 313, rewen 21, sewen 22, untrewnesse 269: ēow is eow 157.

In unstressed syllables levelling to e takes place as in L: e is inserted after r between consonants in arefeð 315, harem 198, iboreȝe 167, narewe 343: quica 192, þa 349 have a for e; comp. alla 81/76, blaca 82/99.

r is lost medially in metheschele 366; rr is simplified in werest 221. n is lost medially in ore 383, raketeie 283, druken 257, seuenihte 142; nn is simplified in done 37, isiene 392. bb is simplified in haben 53, 100, habeð 179, 194, libeð 208. f between vowels is u, buuen 87, eueten 277, deueles 179, but deflen 97, defles 258. t is dropped in a te 92, foremes 197, nah 129; ts is represented by c in milce 8, by ch in milche 219. d is lost in godcunnesse 393, exchanged with ð in idemð 173, and doubled in hardde 171. For þ, d is written in habbed 141, 177, bed 104, 381; th in lothe 61, metheschele 366, sathanas 287: þþ is simplified in seðen 9, 117, 209. sc [š] is sc in scat 367; s in bisunien 154, safte 84, sal 21, same 168, sameð 167, samie 165, senche 335, silde 224 (5), sineð 279, solde 37, sop 84, srud 367, sulle 22, syrreue 50; ss in fisses 83. gītsere is ȝietceres 271. č is expressed by ch, muchel 12 (23), ich 1 (25), but mukel 209, ic 12, 229: čč is also ch, feche 226, reche 135, 225, steche 191, ?wichen, 103: cg is gg, seggen 92, g, abugeð 197 (but abuið 146), ligeð 283: cw is always qu, aquerne 366, quike 78. ġ is regularly ȝ, forȝieuenesse 302, forȝiete 34, but j in jung 4. A y sound has developed initially in ȝierles 324; comp. ȝeie 13/43. g before ð is c in strencðe 170, h in murihðe 396. For almihtin 337 see 79/17 note. hw initial is preserved, but hr is r, raðer 133, rewen 358.

Accidence: (1) of L. Strong declension of masc. and neut. nouns. In the s. n. were 31 has added e; sune 186 represents sunu. Gen. -es, swinkes 64; golde 70 is probably miswritten for goldes: d. -e, gode 73, middenerde 193, fure 43, werke 27; exceptions are festen 145, god 49, hunger 145 (hungre), king 63 (r. w. erninge), middenerd 198, unriht 209, mostly before vowels, fur 150, werch 116, at mid pause of the verse: misse 234, acc. has added e. The pl. n. a. of masculines ends in -es, engles 94, weȝes 72, bendes 188, but wintre 208 (wintru): neuters are -ȝer 140, iswinc 36, lif 246, þing 84, word 9, 158, doule 97 (dēoflu), gate 180 (gatu), werkes 63, 72, 111 with masc. termination; g. manke 70; d. doulen 269, wrenchen 251, bende 134, wintre 1, 4, write 101. Of the fem. nouns, blisse 233, endinge 120, mihte 211, milce 72, murþe 154, rihtwisnesse 72, sorȝe 140, 194, sunne 201, tilþe 57, unhelðe 197, witnesse 113, 116, wombe 145 have added e in the s. nom., echte 42, 55, ehte 259, node 261 in the acc. The other cases sing. and pl. end in e, helle 216, s. g., are 179, s. d., 53, s. a., but tening 253; pl. n. are blisse 153, glede 218, mihte 77, saule 136, uniselðe 198, wihte 79; g. misdede 130, souenihte 140, a. dede 10, hese 91, saule 245, scefte 84, sorȝe 166, stunde 147, sunne 238, tide 137: worldes 222 s. g. is a masc. form, deden 89 pl. a. a weak form. In the weak declension the termination of all cases in the singular is e; n. mone 76; g. houene 65; d. deme 96, wawe 151; a. grome 166, swore 144: plural n. are reuen 256, swicen 103, eȝen 75, ifere 102, iuere 229. The minor declensions are represented by mon s. n. 22 &c., monnes s. g. 30, monne s. d. 117, but mon 201, 259, men pl. n. 41, monne pl. g. 161, pl. d. 18, but men 18; boke s. d. 118, (a) boken pl. d. 224 (on bōcum); feder s. n. 148, fader s. g. 195, s. a. 186; broðer s. n. 148, s. a. 185; suster s. n. 148, 185; frond s. n. 30, freonde pl. d. 220, frond pl. a. 183, 219, 220, fond 219.

With the exception of the weak forms laþe 268, betere 26, 142, hattre 247, loure 29, 263, mare 2, 18, wunderlukeste 68, the adjective in the s. n. is uninflected: alder 1 is ieldra. The s. d. regularly terminates in e, except uuel 24. The s. a. is mostly uninflected, as wurst 217, but endelese 141, herdne 169, lesse 60, muchele 191, 205. The participial āgen is unvaried, aȝen 30, 108, 113, 116, 261, once ahen 161. The pl. n. ends in e, arme 227, erȝe 17, herde 169, orðliche 153, but words in -ig, gredi 264, edi 227, weri 240 and idel 9, lut 104 (lȳt indeclinable), ofdred 94 are uninflected: pl. d. are fulle, gode 219, uuel 251; pl. a. with e, bare 137, ȝunge 10, sare 36, uuele 170, wreche 170, 250. OE. āna is ane 86, 110, 213: ān is an s. n. f. 26, are d. f. 205, 207, enne a. m. 137; nān is na n. 22, 80, 181, nan 59, nane d. neut. 236, nenne a. m. 119, nane a. f. 235; naþing a. neut. 98. Adjectives are used extensively as nouns, s. n. sullic 181, ufel 59, uersc 248; s. a. beste 51, litel 28, lutel 46, lesse 71, lest 112, mare 2, 54, mest 7 (4), muchel 28. In the s. d. and throughout the pl. the termination is regularly e, s. d. gode 21, 61, laðe 61, ufele 17; pl. n. eldre 192, fremede 34, laðe, loue 44, sibbe 34, unholde 36, pl. a. dede, quike 190, uuele 192.

The personal pronouns are ich, hi 221 (= ih), i in ilede 5, me, we, us, þu, þe, ȝe, eow 25, ou 50, ow 155, 228. The pronoun of the third person is s. n. he m. 21, hit neut. 11, d. him m. 24, 44, a. hine m. 12, 34, 116, him 110, ha f. 215 (Mercian), es (see p. 274) 55, 239, is 144, his 40, 259; hes, hies 56 (= he + es), hit neut. 15, 38, pl. n. hi 66 (4), ho 19 (11), d. him 165, 184, hom 18, 62, 181, hi a. 180, hom 182, 184. Reflexives are him s. 124, him solue 23 (5), him solf 115; definitives, solf s. 46, 129, sulf 214, þe solf 29, him solf 40, 114, 184, hom solf pl. 225; possessives, mi 2, þin 29, his 30, 31, 42, is 217, hire 31, vre 57, 247, hore 101, hure 141. The definite article is s. n. þe m. 39, 68, þe f. 74, þa 116, 201, g. þes neut. 193, d. þe m. 63, 92, 96, þa 156, (at) ta 156, þere f. 233, (at) tere 127, þe 83, þan neut. 212, a. þe m. 232, þe f. 13, 261, þat neut. 51, pl. n. þe 94, þa 103, 136, (ent) ta 103, a. þa 190. The article is also frequently used as pronoun antecedent to relatives, þe ðe 69 (5), þa þe 215, þo þe 53, 261, þe þet 55, he who; þa þe 93 (8), þa þi 173, þo þe 61, 96, they who; þa þe 250, þe þe 252, þe ꝥ 263, they to whom; with þa þe 216, with those whom; þen þe 71, to him who; þan þe 225, to those who; ꝥ þe 58, what. Other pronominal uses are of þan 74, of him of whom, þe 169, þa 270, they; þer fore 144, for it. The compound demonstrative is represented by þisse s. g. f. 267, þes pl. n. 41, þas pl. a. 230. The relatives are þe 33 &c., þa 12, 139, 169, þi 173, often meaning he who, they who 12, 19, 23, 253, þet 21 &c., often meaning that which, what: þe 10 is genitive, of which, ꝥ 65, 257 dat.: þen 269 is þe + en. Interrogatives are hwa s. n. 133, hwam d. 202, hom 95; hwat 244, hwet, wet 79, 103, to hwon 105; hweþer 236, hwilke s. d. m. 130, hwice s. n. f. 136, correlative suilch s. n. 120, swich, swuch 80, swilche pl. d. 220: ilca is ilke s. d. 212. Indefinites are wa se 114; me 48 &c.; sum s. 25, summe pl. 147; fole 9 (4), fele 70, 166; eiðer 62; oðers s. g. m. 30, 263, oðer 257, s. d. m. 186, s. a. neut. 147, oþre pl. n. 166; ech s. n. 32 &c., hech 232, ec 171, uches s. g. m. 90, elches s. g. f. 222, eche s. d. 231, ilche s. d. m. 86, helche s. a. f. 89; eni s. n. m. 68, anige s. d. f. 269, eni s. a. neut. 53; moni s. n. 38, monies s. g. 36; al s. n. a. 81, 54, alle pl. n. a. 79, 173, 174, 195, 84, alre pl. g. 161, 187.