NOTES (continued 9)

ea before r + cons. is a, naru 13, starrke 75; before lengthening groups æ, ærd 5, middelærd 6, but harrd 37, towarrd 87, warrþ 3 (3). The i-umlaut is not represented in this extract, it is e in ‘errfe’ i. 1068, beside ‘dærne’ i. 2004, where æ represents ea before a lengthening group. ea before l + cons. is a (Anglian), all 3 &c., hallf 36, 93; before lengthening groups a, haldenn 22, kald 37, walde 124; the i-umlaut is e, beldeþþ 79, corrected out of miswritten beoldeþþ; see 359/5. eo before r + cons. is e, herrte 89, 119, but misspelt herte 134; before lengthening groups e, erless 164, erþe 20 (4). To the wur group belong forrwerrpenn 149, wurrþenn 17 (3), wurrþshipe 132: ȝernenn 21 is without umlaut, but hirde 53, hirdess 46, irre 75, 167. eo before l + cons. is seen in sellf 53, sellfenn 19 (4). eo, u-umlaut of e is eo, heoffness 57 (5), but e in heffness 5 (11), hefennlike 8, werelld 9: the å-umlaut of e is wanting in berenn 29; the umlaut of i is eo in heore 56, but here 50, ‘fele’ i. 7640. ea after palatals is a, shall 134, shaffte 9, unnshaþiȝnesse 50 (scæþþig). ie after g is i, ȝifenn 14 (5), ȝifeþþ 72, gife 174: ȝef is ȝiff 80. eo after g is u, ȝung 108; after sc, o, shollde 47, 94, sholldenn 50, 96.

ēa is æ, læfe 49, ræfenn 89, sæm 29, but e in ec 53 &c.; its i-umlaut is e, ekedd 129, lefenn 96. ēo is e, ben 7, bitwenenn 141, defell 86 (3), lefe 34, lem 77 (4), sen 40, þed 15, and eo, deofless 67, leome 57, seo 91; ȝho 2 (hēo) shows shifted accent: the i-umlaut of ēo is wanting in lesenn 102, nede 33, stereþþ 9, þessterrnesse 63, 160, þeossterrnesse 65. gīet is ȝḗt 39. ēa after palatals is e, shep 50, 54, īe after g, e, ȝemenn 52, 125.

a + g is aȝh, laȝhess 22. æ + g is aȝȝ, daȝȝ 99 (= daī), daȝȝess s. g. 100 (= dai-iess), laȝȝ 16, maȝȝ 40 (3), but seȝȝde 92 (as if from *segde). e + g is eȝȝ, leȝȝd 13 (= leīd). Final -ig is iȝ (= ī), aniȝ 157, bodiȝ 173, grisliȝ 91, modiȝnesse 87; greditleȝȝc 167 is probably miswritten. i + h is ihh, sihhþe 58, 77. o + g is oȝh, forrhoȝhenn 149. u + g is uȝh, muȝhenn 80, 142. ā + g is aȝh, aȝhenn 3, 54. ō + g is oh, inoh 31. ea + h is seen in waxenn 137; the i-umlaut in mihhte 36, 137, nihht 55, 57, but mahht 72, allmahhtiȝ 108, nahht 46 (4) descend from Anglian forms in æ. eo + ht is ihht in brihhte 77, rihhte 49, 89, 91, fihhten 123; the i-umlaut is wanting in seþ 84 (corr. out of seoþ). ēa + h is ehh, þehh 74 (ðēh shortened by loss of stress), neh 30. ēo + ht is seen in lihht 57 (as if from leoht). ā + w gives aw, sawless 69, 129, wawenn 151. hewe 70 is from Anglian hēow: ohht 145 represents oht, similarly nohht 40, 91. ēa + w appears in awwnedd 105 (*ēawnian); ēo + w in reweþþ 158 (corr. out of reoweþþ), trowwþe 90 (treowþ without umlaut and with shifted accent), þeww 72 (= þeū: from þeow), so, too, þewwten 31.

Ealswā is alls 172: for e, i appears in drihhtin 42 (6); it is lost in wiþþren 150, added in swikedomess 67, 168, onne 29, ‘offe’ i. 4097 by analogy of inne, uppe: o is a in anan 1. The prefix ge is i, iwhillc 134, 161.

Metathesis of r is seen in þrisst 37, wrihhte 151. n is lost in i 2, o 36; by inadvertence it is not doubled in unorneliȝ 45, comp. vnnorne 4. f is used in every position, faldess 56, hafeþþ 28, hallfe 93, but it was probably voiced between vowels and vowellikes, v as in ‘serven’ i. 506 is rare. For d, þ appears by analogy in wurrþenn 33, 48. After d, t, certain pronominal words change initial þ to t, tær 13, tanne 94, tatt 13 &c., teȝȝ 128, te 25, 115, tu 34. sć is regularly sh, shrideþþ 6, shop 9, nesshe 37; in bisscopess 51, ‘bisskopess’ i. 7233 (but elsewhere bisshopess), and mennisscnesse 38, sc is probably due to Scandinavian influence. The stop c is k before e, i, makenn 5, mannkinn 21, c before o, u, other consonants and final, comm 26, clut 2, flocc 49, ec 53 (contrast ekedd 129), k or c in other positions, kald 37. č is ch, child 4, eche 19, but palatalization does not take place in swillke 69, illke 13, illkess 161, iwhillc 134, whillc 152 and ekedd 129, mikell 93, miccle 33. čč is cch in wrecche 4: cw is regularly preserved, cwellenn 38, cwike 15; qu occurs in the Latin words quarrterrne, quaþþrigan. Palatal g is ȝ, ȝæn 73, ȝernenn 21, ȝifenn 14 (6), but gife 174: the guttural spirant is ȝh, follȝhenn 79, 107, 165, hallȝhe 69, sinnȝheþþ 155. The guttural stop is distinguished from the dzh sound in edge, which is represented by g. h is lost initially in laferrd 25, nesshe 37, reweþþ 158: hēo is ȝho 2: hw is wh, whas 90, whatt 137.

Accidence: Strong declension of masc. and neut. nouns. In the s. n. sune 20, 106 represents sunu. Gen. -ess, daȝȝess 100, deofless 67, heffness 14, lifess 100, but, by a scribal error, daȝȝes 75: d. -e, hewe 170, sune 96, worde 60, and six others, but the inflection is mostly wanting, as in bodiȝ 173, daȝȝ 99, dom 75, and thirty-two others. The acc. heffne 12 is due to the LWS. fem. heofone. The pl. n. a. of masculines ends in -ess, hirdess 46, bisscopess 51; neuters are shep 50, 54, ?wiless 126: genitives are enngle (þed) 15, 122, kinne 64, 71, 157: datives have mostly -ess, bandess 11, claþess 24, but þinge 71, wrihhte 151. The fem. nouns of the strong declension end in e in the s. n. a., blisse, sellðe 95, are 80, bisne 43, except mahht 72, þed 15, werelld 9, and sæ 12. Gen. -e, helle 101, 151, possibly blisse 174: dat. -e, blisse 18, cribbe 2, hallfe 93, but hallf 36. Pl. g. is þede 122; d. sawless 129; a. hande 10, shaffte 9, sawless 69. Nouns of the weak declension have mostly -e in all cases of the singular, but demess 75 is genitive and, before the caesura, lem 77, dative, beside leome 57, lem 107, 163 accusative: a pl. n. is wawenn 151. The minor declensions are represented by fet pl. a. 10, mann s. n. 20, manness s. g. 172, manne s. d. 30, mann s. a. 134, menn pl. n. 76, pl. d. 49, 56; nahht s. d. 46, nihht s. a. 57; moderr s. d. 1; child s. n. 4.

Adjectives which in OE. end in e retain that termination throughout, as bliþe 85, cweme 152, eche 19, 100, 103, milde 82, riche 5, 112, 165, soffte 85, vnnorne 4. Instances of weak inflections are s. d. m. laþe 165, lefe 34, rihhte 49, starrke 75, s. d. f. brihhte 77, s. a. m. laþe 32, 73, 123, s. a. neut. rihhte 89, rume 14: strong inflections are few, s. d. f. fulle 90, hefennlike 8, 173, s. a. m. gode 153: all others are uninflected in the singular. The plural ends in -e, glade 127, gode 147, hallȝhe 69, laþe 31, 66, 126, cwike 15. Adjectives used as nouns are not inflected. mycel in the strong declension is mikell, s. d. f. 131, s. a. f. 93, s. a. neut. 61, in the weak, miccle s. d. f. 33 (myclan), s. a. neut. 120 (mycle). āgen gives aȝhenn 3, 54 without inflection. OE. ān is an n. m. 114, a 172, aness g. m. 170, an d. f. 2, a. m. 49, a. f. 3. Comparatives are bettre, mare 145, lasse 39; superlative, mast 169.

The personal pronouns are uss, tu, after t, 34, þe. The pronoun of the third person is s. n. he m. 3, ȝho f. 2, itt neut. 28 (with asse mf.); d. himm m. 17, 23; a. 2, itt neut. 29 (with sæm m.); pl. n. þeȝȝ 130, teȝȝ, after t, 52; d. a. þeȝȝm. Reflexives are himm 10, 173, þe sellfenn 44, 45, himm sellfen 19, 35: definitive, himm sellf 53: possessives, ure 4; hiss, as general form for the singular, 1, 3, 16, 34, 47, 54, but hise g. m. 155; pl. a. hise 22; here 50, heore 56, teȝȝre, after t, 32. The definite article is þe, te, after t, 25, 126: þatt (ꝥ), tatt, after t, is demonstrative adjective 13 or demonstrative pronoun 26; its plural is þa adj. 56 and pron. 22. The compound demonstrative is s. þiss 6, pl. þise. The relative is þatt, tatt, after t, 13, 27; þatt 30, 36, = in, on which, þurrh whatt 137, 144, by that by which. Interrogative is whillc 152 (hwelc); its correlative is swillke pl. a. 69: ilca is illke s. n. 13, 152, a. 97, 118. Indefinites are mann 29, 36, 38, 169; whase 154, whas 90, whoso; illkess 161, every; iwhillc 134, 161; aniȝ pl. g. 157; all s. n. neut. 30, d. neut. 64, 94, a. m. 32, f. 9, neut. 14, but alle s. d. f. 6; pl. alle n. 128, alre g. 169, alle 64, 71, all 122, alle d. 172, a. 5, 9, 22: all 168 is apparently s. n. = everyone.

Infinitives end in -enn, except sen 40, fon 36: of the second weak conjugation are follȝhenn 107, forhoȝhenn 149, lofenn 110, lokenn 156, makenn 5, pinenn 36, ræfenn 89, sammnenn 48, tacnenn 47, þankenn 120. The dat. inf. is not inflected, to berenn 29, tunnderrstanndenn 109, to sen 116, forr to kiþenn 92, for . . . to makenn 112. Presents are s. 3. beldeþþ 79, bitacneþþ 100, and nineteen others; contracted, birrþ 3, 44, seþ 84, stannt 158; pl. cumenn 70, haldenn 22, lufenn 23, stanndenn 117, waken 66, wiþþrenn 150: subjunctive s. 3. gife 174, seo 91. Past of Strong Verbs: I a. s. 3. laȝȝ 16: I b. s. 3. comm 26, 30, 55: I c. s. 3. wand 2, warrþ 3, 20, 42; pl. 3. sungenn 131: IV. s. 3. shop 9, toc 60, 82; pl. 3. unnderrstodenn 135, wokenn 46, 56 (form from wacan, meaning from wacian): V. s. 3. let 10. Participles past: I a. ȝifenn 17: I b. borenn 1, 97, cumenn 92, utnumen 53: I c. wundenn 7, wurrþenn 33, 48: IV. V. waxenn 138: V. forrdredd 88, forrdredde adj. pl. 59, 83, offdredde 74. Past of Weak Verbs: s. 3. leȝȝde 2, seȝȝde 92. Participles past: bitacnedd 81, ekedd 129, leȝȝd 13, sett 68, 146. Minor Groups: witenn inf. 3, witt 2 s. imp. 34, wisste pt. s. 83, wisstenn pt. pl. 128, 139; shall pr. s. 134, shollde pt. s. 47, 94, shollden pt. pl. 50, 96; muȝhenn inf. 142, maȝȝ pr. s. 40, 152, 171, muȝhenn pr. pl. subj. 80, mihhte pt. s. 36, 137; ben inf. 7, iss pr. s. 63, 151 (apparently with pl. nominative), niss 91, sinndenn pr. pl. 74, 169, be pr. s. subj. 28, si 3 s. imp. 132, wass pt. s. 1, wærenn pt. pl. 58, 76, 127, wære pt. s. subj. 17, 138, 172; wile pr. s. 88, wollde pt. s. 5; to don dat. inf. 32, doþ pr. s. 29, 109, missdoþ 157, don pp. 61, 118.

Vocabulary: Scandinavian are afell 28, aȝȝ 44, baþe 10, fra 67, gætenn 52, griþþ 133, laȝhenn 44, lahȝhre 43, mec 85, occ 117, sahht(nesse) 140, skerrenn 88, skill (læs) 27, summ 27, takenn 40, till 49, (inn)till 18, þeȝȝ 74, þeȝȝre 32, þohh 28, usell 4, usell(dom) 24, and the suffix in (modiȝ)leȝȝc, (gredit)leȝȝc 167; possibly also bandess 10, come 148, deȝeþþ 41. French is gluter(nesse) 167; long i in Crist shows new borrowing from French.

Dialect: East Midland bordering on the North; a mixed dialect, which possibly accounts for the wavering in the representation of eo, ēo. The large Scandinavian element in the vocabulary and the absence of u in final syllables (372/34) point to the East; the representation of ā + w, the development of c, g, and perhaps the uniform appearance of ā as a in this thirteenth-century text, show Northern influence. Lambertz has noted so many correspondences between the phonology of Orm and that of the Rushworth gloss on the Gospel of S. Matthew as to make it probable that they belong to the same dialectal area. The Northern border of Lincolnshire was most probably the place where the Ormulum was written.

Metre: For the scheme of the Septenarius see p. 327. Orm’s verse is monotonously regular; every line has its fifteen syllables exactly counted out and ends in x́ x; the caesura comes after the eighth syllable; the rhythm is iambic without substitution. For the sake of this uniformity he does violence to the natural accent in Niþþrédd 35, Bisscópess 51, Enngléss 69, sahhtnésse 140, drihhtíness 171, though Schipper regards such cases as examples of ‘hovering accent,’ wherein the stress is distributed equally over the two syllables having the word-accent and the verse-accent,—a spondee rather than an iamb. Elision takes place regularly before an initial vowel or h, sonẹ, leȝȝdẹ 2, vnnornẹ, wrecchẹ 4, heffnẹ 12, mihhtẹ 36, wolldẹ 54, wilẹ 88, seȝȝdẹ 94, whasẹ 154, &c. Sometimes e is not written, as in whas 90; crasis is found elsewhere in he̋t (= he itt), ȝhőt (= ȝho itt), þűtt (= þu itt), and similar combinations.

Introduction: The author of the Ormulum speaks of himself under two names in ‘Þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum Forrþi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte,’ Preface 1, 2, and ‘Icc wass þær þær I crisstnedd wass Orrmin bi name nemmnedd,’ Dedication 323, 4. The former was a fairly common name in the Scandinavian districts of the North; in the latter, not found elsewhere, he has probably added, as befitting the ritual occasion, the Latin termination īn from īnus, as in Awwstin (= Augustinus). In the same way, as Bradley suggests, he has taken the termination of Ormulum from Speculum, as often occurring in titles of devotional books, like Speculum Laicorum, Conscientiae, Sanctorale. He tells us that he wrote at the request of his brother Walter, who was, like himself, an Augustinian Canon; his purpose was to paraphrase and expound, for the benefit of unlearned English folk, the Gospels of the Mass throughout the year. His exposition is drawn for the most part from S. Bede, and particularly from his sermons and commentaries, and to a small extent from S. Gregory the Great. Traces of his acquaintance with S. Isidore and Josephus, through Hegesippus, have been found by Sarrazin.

Nothing further is known of Orm, but Bradley has made it probable that he was an inmate of Elsham Priory in North Lincolnshire (Dugdale, vi. 560). The contention of J. Wilson that he was identical with Orm, brother of Walter, Prior of Carlisle between 1150 and 1170, would be very attractive, if it were not for the philological difficulty, for the Ormulum is undoubtedly written in the Midland dialect, and must be dated about 1210.

This extract gives ll. 3662-4009, in Holt, i. pp. 126-38.

1. Forrþrihht anan se, lit. Straightway forthwith as, i.e. as soon as. Orm has ‘forrþrihht se, anan se, sone swa, son se, forrþrihht summ, anan summ,’ all with this same meaning, and forrþrihht summ, immediately, ii. 42/11404. Orm’s expletives are a feature of his dreary style; in his dedication he says that he has set ‘maniȝ word | þe rime swa to fillenn,’ that is, to make up the number of syllables required for his metre; he makes extensive use of all, 112/3, 16 &c. Beside anan, Orm has the primitive onn an, continuously, without a break.

2-18. The original of this passage is, ‘Et pannis eum involvit et reclinavit eum in praesepio . . . parvulus natus est nobis, ut nos viri possimus esse perfecti. Qui totum mundum vario vestit ornatu, pannis vilibus involvitur, ut nos stolam primam recipere valeamus. Per quem omnia facta sunt, manus pedesque cunis adstringitur, ut nostrae manus ad opus bonum exertae, nostri sint pedes in viam pacis directi. Cui coelum sedes est, duri praesepis angustia continetur, ut nos per coelestis regni gaudia dilatet. Qui panis est Angelorum, in praesepio reclinatur, ut nos quasi sancta animalia carnis suae frumento reficiat,’ Bede, v. 234.

2. ⁊ = annd; see 115/114.

3. uss birrþ, we ought: a favourite expression of Orm.

5. heffness ærd, heaven’s region: a phrase suggested by middellærd.

9. shaffte, creatures: OE. gesceafta.

10. baþe belongs to fet ⁊ hande.

12-14. This section diverges in form from those before and after it, as also from the original. The subject of filleþþ is Þatt illke child. heffness rume riche, the wide kingdom of heaven: perhaps suggested by ‘ut amplitudinem nobis supernarum sedium tribueret’ of Bede’s Sermon, vii. 300.

16. all alls = all alse, alswa, quite as.

17. Swa summ, so as, just as if: summ is OEScand. sum: more usually the phrase means, just as, 112/27, 113/47, 55. Variants are ‘all swa summ,’ O. Introd. 43; ‘all all swa summ,’ 114/76; ‘all all swa se,’ O. Dedication, 281. fode: the ass represents the Gentiles, of whom Bede says, ‘plurimi . . . coelestibus eius (= Christi) quaerebant alimoniis ad perpetuam crescere salutem,’ vii. 300.

19. And give himself as everlasting food there to us with angels.

21. to ȝernenn, &c., to be content with a humble lot.

27. stunnt ⁊ dill: comp. ‘⁊ stunnt ⁊ stidiȝ, dill ⁊ slaw | to sekenn sawless seollþe,’ O. i. 344/9885.

28. afell, strength. O. has also a pp. afledd, endowed with strength, ‘Forr cnapechild iss afledd wel,’ O. i. 274/7903; opposed to ‘unnstrang.’

30. þatt, when: so þe 15/84, þa 15/93. comm . . . to manne, was incarnate: comp. 36/117, 114/97; ‘þe becom to mannum mid iudeiscum folce,’ Ælf. Lives, ii. 60/89; ‘hu hi to mannum comon,’ AS. Hom. ed. Assmann, 26/44; ‘Hwarto was he aure iscapen te manne,’ VV 113/14, regularly with pl. dat.; contrast ‘ic ðe to men gebær,’ I bore thee as a man, Ælf. Lives, ii. 78/175.

31. laþe gastess, hateful spirits, i.e. false gods: ‘in asino autem exprimit populum gentium, qui sordibus idololatriae semper manebat immundus,’ Bede, vii. 300.

33, 34. þurrh ꝥ . . . þurrh ꝥ, inasmuch as, whereas . . . thereby, as a consequence; propter quod . . . propter id: so 115/114, 116. O. is fond of these formal correlatives: comp. ‘forr þi . . . Forr ꝥ,’ 113/48.

35. niþþredd, lowered, humbled: OE. geniþerod, pp. of niþerian. wannsedd, diminished: OE. wansian. Comp. ‘⁊ illc an lawe ⁊ illc an hill | Shall niþþredd beon ⁊ laȝhedd,’ O. i. 321/9205; ‘Aȝȝ niþþreþþ Godess genge, | ⁊ cwelleþþ hemm ⁊ wannseþþ hemm,’ id. 279/8032.

36. o ꝥ hallf ꝥ, in that part of his nature in which: see 46/292.

39. ȝet lasse, still lower: ‘qui modico quam Angeli minoratus est,’ Heb. ii. 9.

43. lahȝhre inoh, sufficiently lower, i.e. much lower.

45. lætenn, &c., think very meanly: comp. 44/260.

46-53: suggested by, ‘Apte autem satis hoc superna est providentia dispositum, ut nascente Domino pastores in vicinia civitatis (eiusdem) vigilarent, suosque greges a timore nocturno vigilando protegerent. Oportebat namque, ut cum magnus pastor ovium, hoc est, animarum nutritor fidelium, in mundo natus est, testimonium eius nativitati vigilantes super gregem suum pastores darent. . . . Nam et futurum (iam) tunc erat, ut per orbem universum electi pastores, id est, praedicatores sancti, mitterentur, qui ad ovile Dominicum, videlicet sanctam Ecclesiam, populos credentium cogerent,’ Bede, vii. 301.

46. wokenn, kept watch: comp. 113/56.

48. forr þi . . . Forr ꝥ, for that reason . . . because: like ‘eone es ferox, quia habes imperium in beluas?’ Terence, Eun. iii. 1. 25.

49. rihhte læfe: see 89/28.

52. ȝemenn . . . gaetenn: comp. 114/68, 115/125: synonyms, the former English, the latter Scandinavian.

53. utnumenn hirde: ‘princeps pastorum,’ 1 Pet. v. 4.

56. wakemenn, watchers.

57. lihht ⁊ leome: often in O.; comp. 114/70, 77, 115/107; ‘Ah swuch leome ⁊ liht | leitede þrinne,’ SK 1582. leome is flame, a bright and flashing light. With 57-70 comp. ‘Bene autem vigilantibus pastoribus angelus apparet, eosque Dei claritas circumfulget. Quia illi prae ceteris videre sublimia merentur, qui fidelibus gregibus praeesse sollicite sciunt, dumque ipsi pie super gregem vigilant, divina super eos gratia largius coruscat,’ Bede, v. 235.

63. þessterrnesse: comp. ‘Þiss þessterrnesse iss hæþenndom | ⁊ dwillde inn hæfedd sinness,’ O. ii. 303/18855.

64. Inn—sinne, in sin of all kinds; comp. 114/71, 116/157, ‘O fele kinne wise,’ O. i. 123/3573, and see 132/9 note.

67. stanndenn inn: comp. 116/158; ‘Affterr þatt he beoþ fullhtnedd, | Birrþ stanndenn inn to þeowwtenn Crist,’ O. ii. 43/11434, where Mätzner says it = perseverare: in Specimens it is translated, continue. Orm is, in his literal way, translating L. instare, to press on, to be zealous, a meaning which suits well here and elsewhere: the phrase is peculiar to him.

71. god innsihht, ‘recta sapere,’ ‘a right judgement in all things.’

72. hiss þeww, to his servant.

74. þohh swa þehh, notwithstanding: OE. þēah, yet, was reinforced by the addition of swā, swā þēah meaning even so yet: to this in Orm is prefixed the Scandinavian þoh, although. See Björkman, 73.

75. starrke, rigid, stern: ‘se hearda dæg,’ Christ, 1065.

76-91: this passage is mainly a repetition of O. 20/657-80, which comments on the appearance of Gabriel to Zacharias, S. Luke i. 11: it is drawn from Bede’s Commentary: ‘Trementem Zachariam confortat Angelus: quia sicut humanae fragilitatis est spiritalis creaturae visione turbari, ita et angelicae benignitatis est paventes de aspectu suo mortales mox blandiendo solari. At contra daemonicae est ferocitatis quos sui praesentia territos senserit ampliori semper horrore concutere, quae nulla melius ratione quam fide superatur intrepida,’ v. 220.

78. hihht, joyful expectation.

79. frofreþþ . . . beldeþþ, comforts . . . encourages, a favourite combination: comp. O. Dedication, 237; i. 20/662.

82. Toc, betook himself, began.

89. shetenn inn hiss herrte: Holt translates, ‘shut up, harden,’ wrongly connecting shetenn with OE. scyttan: it represents scēotan, meaning, to shoot into his heart, to inflict a deadly wound: the expression was suggested by such places as ‘þæt hi magon sceotan þa unscyldigan heortan dygollice,’ = ‘ut sagittent in obscuro rectos corde,’ Ps. x. 3 (Thorpe), and ‘þine flana synt swyþe scearpe on þam heortum þinra feonda,’ id. xliv. 7.

90. whas is for whase, whoso. itt is formal nominative; the whole expression is equivalent to, Whosoever is armed. Comp. 116/154; ‘Whasumm itt iss þatt illke mann | Þatt hafeþþ tweȝȝenn kirrtless,’ O. i. 324/9291; ‘Whatt mann se itt iss þatt wepeþþ her,’ id. 196/5666; ‘ꝥ iss ꝥ,’ 116/157.

91. rihht, adv., utterly, at all: ‘Rihht all swa summ,’ O. i. 39/1188, means, precisely as.

93. o godess hallfe, on God’s behalf.

97. borenn . . . to manne: see 113/30 note.

98-102: ‘notandum quod Angelus qui in noctis utique vigiliis pastores affatur non ait, hac nocte, sed hodie natus est vobis salvator. Non aliam scilicet ob causam, nisi quia gaudium magnum evangelizare veniebat. Nam ubi tristia quaeque nocturnis temporibus gesta vel gerenda significantur, ibi saepe nox vel adiungitur, vel etiam sola nominatur,’ Bede, v. 235.

100. all: see 112/3.

104-7: ‘Neque enim frustra Angelus tanto lumine cinctus apparuit, ut claritas Dei pastores circumfulsisse . . . dicatur . . . sed mystice praemonuit, quod aperte postea monuit apostolus dicens, Nox praecessit, dies autem appropinquavit,’ Bede, v. 235.

107. follc, dative.

108-12: ‘Hoc est non tantum humilitatis eum et mortalitatis, sed et paupertatis habitum suscepisse pro nobis. Quia cum dives esset, pauper factus est pro nobis, ut nos illius inopia ditaremur,’ Bede, v. 235.

109. wrecche, poor, of lowly condition. doþ uss, causes, gives us to understand: comp. 209/405; ‘us gedyde nu to witanne Alexander,’ Orosius 126/31 (= ‘nobis prodidit Alexander’).

111. Off . . . wollde, because of the fact that he was willing; off governs the clause, þatt he wollde: so, ‘writen uppo boc . . . off þatt he wisslike ras,’ O. Dedication, 161, 167, written in book concerning the fact that &c.

114-20: ‘mox multitudo militiae coelestis advolans, consono in laudem creatoris ore prorumpit, ut sui sicut semper obsequii devotionem Christo impendat, et nos suo pariter instituat exemplo . . . Deo statim laudes ore, corde et opere reddendas,’ Bede, v. 235.

116. Thereby it was given us to see and understand full well in that incident.

119. herrtess tunge: see 56/51: apparently, with sincere and heartfelt praise.

120. god is acc. of the thing for which thanks are to be given. Comp. 132/11; ‘þonkien hit ure drihten,’ OEH. i. 5/29.

121-6. ‘Et bene chorus adveniens Angelorum militiae coelestis vocabulum accipit, qui et duci illo potenti in praelio, qui ad debellandas aëreas potestates apparuit, humiliter obsecundat. Deus . . . ad tutelam nostram constituit exercitus Angelorum,’ Bede, v. 235, 6.

123. Alls is shortened alse, as. ȝæn . . . gast: see 114/66, 73.

127-9: ‘Glorificant Angeli Deum pro nostro redemptione incarnatum, quia dum nos conspiciunt recipi, suum gaudent numerum impleri,’ Bede, v. 236.

132-5: ‘Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis,’ S. Luke ii. 14.

133. griþþ ⁊ friþþ: a frequent combination in O.; the words are synonyms, one Scandinavian, the other English: see 19/57 note.

136-8: that the angelic host was to be made up to its full number by the addition of holy souls, by which addition honour and glory in God’s presence should be as though it were increased, if indeed it were capable of increase. The explanation of this passage is helped by the parallel place, ll. 143-5: ‘Ȝiff—mihhte’ corresponds to l. 145. ‘quos infirmos prius abiectosque despexerant [Angeli], nascente in carne Domino iam socios venerantur,’ Bede, v. 236.

140. soþ sahhtnesse: see 84/50.

146-51: ‘qui cum pacem hominibus poscunt, exponunt et quibus, videlicet bonae voluntatis, hoc est eis qui suscipiunt natum Christum, non autem Herodi, pontificibus et Pharisaeis caeterisque antichristis, qui eius nativitate audita turbati sunt, eumque quantum valuere gladiis insecuti. Non est enim pax impiis, dicit Dominus,’ Bede, v. 236.

149. Forrhoȝhenn &c., despise and reject.

151. wrihhte, merit, lit. thing done: OE. gewyrht, from wyrcan: a dat. pl.: comp. ‘⁊ he wass flemmd ⁊ drifenn ut | All affterr hise wrihhte,’ O. i. 286/8239, id. 147/4283.

154. itt: see 114/90.

155. hise þannkess, wilfully, of his own free will: see 10/167.

156. himm lokenn, keep watch over himself: see 4/20, 78/85.

158. stannt . . . inn: see 114/67 note.

165. flocc, company: a favourite word of the author’s: comp. 113/49, ‘þe laþe gastess flocc,’ O. i. 226/6546; ‘summ hæþene flocc,’ id. 344/9875.

167. modiȝleȝȝc, with same meaning as modiȝnesse, l. 165, but with Scand. suffix, leikr, leiki in Icel. forming abstracts. There are a good many instances in the MS. of -nesse corrected into -leȝȝc. greditleȝȝc: so MS., but the correct form is grediȝleȝȝc, as elsewhere in Orm.

170. hewe, form, appearance.

173. hefennlike: ‘Angeli corpora in quibus hominibus apparent, in superno aëre sumunt solidamque speciem ex coelesti elemento inducunt, per quam humanis obtutibus manifestius demonstrentur,’ Bede, viii. 294. f. 95 v ends with kinde, l. 174 is added on the margin, and the two leaves following are missing.

Literature: ... Orrms Doppelkonsonanten Ormms

111. ... ‘writen uppo boc text unchanged; text cited has “writenn”

XVI. SAWLES WARDE

Manuscripts: i. Bodleian 34, Oxford (B); on vellum, 165 × 120 mm.; written in one hand throughout about 1210 A.D. Its contents are S. Katherine f. 1 r; S. Margaret f. 18 r; S. Juliana f. 36 v (see p. 139); Hali Meidenhad f. 52 v; Sawles Warde f. 72 r (old foliation f. 76 r). It has lost two leaves after f. 80, which is very faint and defective. Entries in fourteenth-century hands connect it with Ledbury, Godstow, and Magna Coworne (Much Cowarne) in Herefordshire. The text is printed from this manuscript up to its end at 127/4.

The writing is sometimes difficult to decipher; the letters are often crowded and hesitating, a, e, o are sometimes hard to distinguish. Doubts are permissible in the following cases, hwen or hwon 118/24, ihaten or ihoten 37, hondon or honden 51; in sent 55, the last letter wavers between t and d; in ȝemelese 56, ȝ appears to have been corrected out of g; after mei 60, there is a half-formed c; under the second o of preoouin 72, there is what looks like a casual pen mark, not a dot of erasure; in seoueuald 287, d is corrected out of t, or the reverse.

ii. Royal 17 A 27, British Museum (R); on vellum, 160 × 117 mm.; early thirteenth century. Has all the pieces in B except Hali Meidenhad, with the addition of an incomplete copy of the Oreisun of Seinte Marie (printed in OEH i., p. 305). This manuscript supplies the end here from 127/4.

iii. Cotton Titus D 18, British Museum (T). See p. 355.

Editions: Morris, R., OEH i. 244-267 (with translation); Specimens, 87-95 (part only); Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, 8-15; Wagner, W., Kritische Textausgabe . . . mit Einleitung, Anmerkungen und Glossar, Bonn, 1908.

Literature: Bartels, L. (see p. 450/23); Einenkel, E., Ueber die Verfasser einiger neuangelsächsischer Schriften, Leipzig, 1881, continued in Anglia, v. 91; Konrath, M., ES xii. 459; Stodte, H., Ueber die Sprache und Heimat der ‘Katherine-Gruppe,’ Göttingen, 1896; Vollhardt, W. (see p. 269/19); Williams, Irene F., Anglia, xxix. 413.

Sources: SW is a free expansion of chapters xiii, xiv and xv of the fourth book of the treatise, De Anima, ascribed to Hugh of S. Victor (Rouen ed., 1648, vol. ii. pp. 207-9). The imaginative detail is mostly due to the English author: contrast, ‘Et qui veniunt cum illa?’ Memoria: ‘Mille daemones ferentes secum libros grandes et uncos ferreos et igneas catenas’ of the original with its equivalent 119/68-75. The gruesome picture of 119/86-121/140 is mainly derived from the Visions literature.

Phonology: (1) of B. The following should be compared with the account of the MS. A of the Ancrene Wisse on pp. 357-62; explanations of abnormal forms offered there are not repeated here. Oral a is a, habben 41, makid 39; a before nasals and lengthening groups is o, from 25, lonc 58, fondin 224, inȝonge 32; þen, þenne, hwen, hwenne are the usual forms, but þeonne 138 by analogy of heonne: and is ant 9, man indefinite is me 45, possibly mon 25. æ is mostly e, ed 98, gledd 208, but ea in feader 116 (4 times), forbearneð 103 (forbærnan), glead 201 (3), gleadschipes 306, 307, leatere 103, nease 96, 112 (næs-), reaðliche 21, smeale 70, wearliche 4, weattres 100, and a in blac 58, 110, war 195, 332, warliche 39, 178, warre 142, warschipes 42 &c., and habbe 61, 112, 220. e is e, bereð 70, herien 320, spekeð 8; before lengthening groups, ende 106, engles 239, but rikenin 86, stude 46 (3), hwuch 6 &c., swuch 93 (4). Umlaut e is ea in beast 332 (but best 64), formealte 104 (Anglian mæltan), smeal 275, spealie 303: from *swolgian descend forswolheð 91, forswolhe 152. i is regularly i, blisse 136, ȝimmes 245, but wiit 200; before lengthening groups, binden 71, bringe 113, but u in wule 42 (7), wulleð 289: in welcume 227, an early instance of this spelling, the adverb wel has been substituted for the original wil. o is o, bodi 323, bigotten 316; before lengthening groups, bold 129, word 73, but a in nalde 7, walde 6 (3), wrahtte 74 (descended from an older form with a): dehtren 202 is an umlaut plural: greot 93 for grot RT (grot, particle) is due to confusion with grēot, grit. u is regularly u, cume 7, stunde 207, tungen 114, once o in comme 60, and i in kimeð 69, 138. y is u, arudden 120 (*āryddan), brune 83, ȝuldene 170, sunderlepes 280; mycel is muchel 11, muche 105.

ā is a, ban 131, ouergað 270; before two consonants, gast 323, tadden 95, but e through loss of stress in se 17 &c., (hwam) se 276, (hwider) se 275, ase 91, beside stressed swa 120 &c., alswa 230, and u in wumme 133: ohwider 25 is probably influenced by nohwider (nō): ea in easkeð 75, 215, easkest 68 comes from a form with ǣ. ǣ₁ is ea (33 times), deale 105, ear 44, ȝeað 151, leasten 108, but e in flesch 99 (5), lest 54, lesten 178, sumdel 137, 284, þen 158, 212, mostly before two consonants. ǣnig is ei 42 (4), but eni 113; ǣlc is euch 16 &c. ǣ₂ is e (45 times), bere 23, dede 19, dreden 166 (5), ferliche 67 (3), þer 27, 150, were 124 (9), and eo in leote 40; ea appears only in deadbote 75, fearlac 62, heale 242, ileanett 35, 202, offearen 56 (4), reades 296, ?readien 81, reade 142, readeð 177, þear 246, 331. ē is e; ī, i, but u in bluðeliche 80 (*blȳþe); ō is o, but eo in iseoð 229 (beside soð 75, 179, 293, isoðet 257); ū is u without exception; ȳ is u, cuðen 241, fure 71; before two consonants, lutlin 327, but stele 114 represents the earlier stǣli, similarly the derivative istelet 126.

ea before r + cons. is a in igarket 339, ȝarowe 260, swarte 70, 89, and before lengthening groups, hardi 56, inwarde 72, inwardliche 247, towart 81 (4), warde 1 (3), wardi 141, warneð 34, warne 155, warni 42, warnin 63, 140, unwarnede 157, mostly after w, but ea in heard 116 (7), ofearneð 135, as well as hearm 117, hearmin 290, and e in þerf 171. The i-umlaut is e, derne 296, ferd 151. ea before l + cons. is regularly a, al 12 &c., fallinde 178, forwalleð 104; before lengthening groups, bald 183, bihalde 40, bihalden 57 (5), calde 104, halden 46 &c., half 143 (4), talde 114, but ea in wealdent 226, eo in feole 54. eo before r + cons. is generally eo, feor 40, heorte 163, steorren 267, and before lengthening groups, eorðe 84, ȝeorne 201, but e in derueð 90, 103 (possibly representing dierfan), hercneð 218, werc 74, werkes 64, and o in dorc 130 with accent shifting. To the wur group belong iwurðen 26, iwurden 298, iwurðeð 93, 148; wyr words are deorewurðe 203, wurse 102, 105, wursi 164, wursin 328, wurð 156, 181, 194, wurðe 40: warpe 43 is Scandinavian; istirret 245 a ME. formation. eo before l + cons. is seen in seolf 27 &c. ea, the u- and å-umlaut of a, is seen in eawles 126, gleadeð 310, gleadien 223, 270, gleadunge 283 (4), heatel 128, heateð 109, meaðen 99, neauele 98, and analogically in feareð 18, igleadet 214, heatieð 111, but it is wanting in bale 93, 129, care 150, carien 162, 166, cwakie 131, cwakien 325, waker 53, 57, 142 (Vesp. Ps. wæc(c)er), wakien 7 (Angl. wæcian, Bülbring, § 231). eo, u-umlaut of e, is represented in heouene 146 (3), heouenliche 243, but wordes 251, world 169 (7), worldlich 170 after w. eo, å-umlaut of e, is seen in abeoren 125, breoken 8, 28, freoteð 96, speoken 61, feole 306, weole 161, weoleful 245; eo, the u- and å-umlaut of i, in cleopeð 38, icleopet 36, hweonene 60, 65, neomen 317, neome 328, neomeð 311, seoðen 213, seoueðe 284, seouenfald 282, 287, þeose 97, unweotenesse 179, and by analogy, neome 147, bineome 11, but hare 18 (3), suster 43, 207. ea after palatals is a, schal 21 &c., schadewe 148, 231, schape 122, but e in schekeð 132 (i-umlaut), eo before nasal, scheome 117. ie after ġ is e, forȝet 25, 167, ȝef 27, ȝeueð 87, 164, ȝelden 301, ȝeldeð 213, ȝelpeð 188. ȝef is ȝef 6, 14, gef 12. ie after č is e, chele 101; after sć, i in schilde 233 (scildan), e in scheld 159. eo after sć is u, schulen 178, 224, 320, schulde 158 (R₁ has scylde subj.), schunien 177. eom is am 62; heom, ham 45, 87.

ēa is generally ea, beateð 48, deaðes 62, deaðlich 58, eauraskes 97, but e in ec 64, echen 95 (perhaps representing īecan), etscene 240, eðeliche 157, 193, ȝe 77, 216 (Anglian gǣ), gret 70: its i-umlaut is e, alesen 242, alesnesse 294, here 22 (5), herunge 16, (an)lepi 313, (sunder)lepes 280. ēo is generally eo, beon 10, biheolt 262, breoste 98, deopre 296, þeosternesse 89, but þosternesse 86 and schute 160, with shifted accent: hēo is ha 40; the i-umlaut is wanting, deore 31, 144, þeoster 246, neod 211 (see p. 288, last line). Palatalization is wanting after ġ in forȝeme 54, ȝemeð 168, ȝeme 177, ȝeme 147, 311, ȝemeles 18, 56; after sć in schene 233, 268, schenre 287. gīet is ȝet 239.

a + g is ah, drahen 72, sahen 201, mahen 22: islein 116 is geslegen; sei 280, seist 279, seið 6, 61 come from forms with æ; dreaien 206 represents *dreagan. æ + g is regularly ei, dei 29, feier 209, feierleac 272, iteilede 90, mei 10 &c., meiden 243, seide 66, but mahe 290, 332. e + g is ei, aȝein 20, eie 23, eilin 290, wei 170, but isehen 77 (6). i + g, h is ih, nihe 251, diht 10, sihðe 16 (4), unwiht 5, but flið 158 (WS. flihð, Rushworth₂ has flīð): freineð 65 is from a form with æ or e (R₁ has frægnast, Li, fregna). The spirant has disappeared in monie 307, 314, murie 283: final ig is i, buri 129 (from dat. byrig), dreorinesses 131, moni 29, seli 280, unseli 121. o + g, h is oh, bohte 28, 237, untohe 23, untohene 13, untoheliche 18; dehtren 35 has umlaut e. u + h is uh, bituhhe 133; y + h, uh, tuht 46, tuhte 23. ā + g, h is ah, ahen 4, ahne 184, 305, wahes 32, ah 165. ǣ₁ + h is ah, bitaht 144, 149, but ǣ₁ + g, ei, keis 34, eiðer 102, 111. ī + g, ih, wiheles 155; in sti 186 the spirant has disappeared. ū + h is uh, buhsam 241. ea + h is ah, mahte 84 (5), but iseh 118 (6); the i-umlaut is seen in almihti 324, unmihti 181, 191, niht 29; lahhinde 213 comes from an Anglian form in æ. eo + g is seen in tintreohen 264 with eo, å-umlaut of e; the form is characteristic of the group. eo + ht is iht, brihte 269, rihte 14 &c., rihtwise 193, but fehte 160 has Anglian e. ie + h is seen in bisið 332. ēa + g, h is eh, ehnen 51, heh 225, neh 329, but tah 11 (3). ēo + g is eh in drehen 105, dreheð 167, but liht 87, lihtschipe 283, lihtliche 263. īe + h, lihteð 69, ilihtet 214, but hest 48 (Anglian hēst), nest 41 (Angl. nēst). ā + w is aw, cnaweð 55, cnawen 293, cnawlechunge 292, nawt 7 &c., nawiht 183, sawles 1, 27, snawi 100, but noht 149 (nōht), nowðer 171 (nōwþer), sehe 228, isehe 118. ī + w, elheowet 58 (Anglian hēow), speoweð 91 (with w-umlaut). ēa + w is aw, schaweð 240, schawede 265, ischawed 258, schawere 233, but þeaw 30, unþeaw 32, unþeawes 334, heaued þeawes 36. ēo + w is mostly eow, tocheoweð 93, reowðful 120, treowe 157 (trīewe), treoweliche 78, 206, but fowr 36 (3), trowðe 78.

In deorewurðe 149, eðeliche 193, euenin 83, husebonde 34 (but husbonde 38), huselauerd 9, 17, husewif 20, 205, leatere 103, steuene 133, sunegin 179, wrecchedom 85 a glide e has been added, a final e to ine 337, inwarde 72, ofte 18. e is lost in echnesse 108, i in unwerged 251, 318 (wērigod): a occurs for o in anan 105; o is levelled to e in lauerd 4, sikere 107, sikerliche 171, sikernesse 188, sunderliche 308, te 71 &c., lost in wordes 251 (werod). u is e in durewart 39, it is lost in world 169 &c. The prefix æt is ed, edwiteð 123, et, etstont 158; be is bi, bisetten 64, bigineð 1, bihinden 92, biwiten 5; ēaþ is et in etscene 240; ge is generally i, icwiddet 257, ifindeð 156, ihal 91, iwis 137, unimete 125, but it is omitted in bere 23, schape 122, monge 102, schad 176, unrude 71 (but unirude 125), wissunge 31. The suffix in herunge 16 is noteworthy. þǣr is syncopated in þrin 79, þrinne 53, þrof 33, trof 331, þrute 41.

Metathesis of r is seen in wernches 5, wrahhte 74, eauraskes 97 (forsc). rr is simplified in feor 40. ll is simplified in feole 54, tele 79, 228, and finally in ful 82, godspel 4, wil 10. m is doubled in comme 60, mm simplified in grimfule 122. nn is simplified in bigineð 1, moncunnes 242, n is lost in raketehe 71; the prepositions in, on are reduced to i, o, except before a vowel or h or when stressed, as in 316; for n, m appears in þrumnesse 234. p is inserted in inempnet 244. f is usually u between vowels or vowel and liquid, biuoren 59, deouel 171, froure 35, seoluen 117, vuel 19, but deoflen 69 (4), otherwise it is f, fondin 224, hefde 113, seolf 27. t is doubled in bigotten 316, bitternesse 130, ileanett 35 (but ileanet 202), wrahtte 74, lost in best 64, beast 332, added in lustnið 61, loftsong 283. For t, d occurs in ed 98; tt is simplified in wit 8 (but wittes 16). For d, t is often written finally, ant 9, dret 50, durewart 39, etstont 158, feont 33, heart 165, hiderwart 139, hundret 335, lont 130, ontswereð 66, somet 21, þusent 69, towart 81, wealdent 226, but ð in iseið 280, lauerð 8, schenðlac 124; d is doubled in gledd 208, dd is simplified in midel 174 (but middel 45, 170). Initial þ becomes t after t, tah 12, te 9, tis 106, 152, tu 68, after d (possibly miswritten for t), te 98, trof 331: final þ becomes t before t, limpet 154; for þ, d appears in blideliche 248, deorewurde 301, iwurden 298, makid 39, makied 255, oder 19, sod 293, swide 208. s is doubled in gasstes 30 (gāst), but gastes 122, rihtwissnesse 175 (wīs); for ss, sc appears in iblescede 221: sć is regularly sch, schad 176, schal 21, scheome 117, schilde 233, schunien 177. The stop c is usually k before e, i, biloke 204, blake 110, keis 34, kimeð 69, þonkeð 201, c in other positions, blac 58, moncunnes 242, þonc 20: ah 26 is Anglian ah, WS. ac. č is ch, chele 101, echen 95, echnesse 108 (a new formation from eche), euch 16, hwuch 6, ich 61, ilich 97, licomlich 173, pich 104, rechelese 13, sechen 32, smeche 88 (but North. smeke 88), stench 84, tocheoweð 93, þulliche 162 (but þulli 326, 327). čč is cch, dreccheð 90. cw is preserved, cwakie 131, cwemen 20, cwic 84, acwikieð 105, but quoð 139 &c. Palatal g is written ȝ, forȝeme 54, ȝarowe 260, ȝe 137, ȝe 159, ȝef 6, 14 (but gef 12), ȝef 27, ȝelden 301, ȝelpeð 188, ȝeorne 201, ȝet 239, ȝimmes 245, but igarket (no breaking). The guttural stop is written g, bigineð 1, gulteð 18, bigoten 259, 316, unwerged 251, but ȝ in aȝulteð 48, ȝeað 151, inȝonge 32, 41, 146 (comp. Northumbrian ġeonga, ġionga, Bülbring, § 492, anmerkung 1, and hiniong[a]e, Sweet, Oldest E. Texts, p. 149), ȝuldene 170. For the spirant after l, r, h appears in folhin 12, 336, folheð 275, halhen 278, forswolhe 152, forswolheð 91, sorhe 85: myrigþ is murhðe 253, 255, murðes 219. hl is reduced to l in leane 58, leor 58, 231, lust 261, lustnið 61, anlepi 313, sunderlepes 280, hn to n in nesche 162, 167, hr to r in remunge 99. Initial hw is usually preserved, hwen 68, hwer 17, hwet 60. h is added in unwhiht 151, doubled in bituhhen 168, bituhhe 133, 169.

(2) Of R. The principal divergences from B are noted. a before nasal: unþeonkes 42 (comp. ‘feondeð,’ SM 10/7). æ: the spelling ea for e is used only in smeale 70, wearliche 4, otherwise e occurs, except in latere 103, neose 96, 112 (nosu): similarly ea for umlaut e is absent in best 332, formelte 104, smel 275, spelien 303. o: grot 93. u: com 60 (cwōm), cumeð 69, 138. y is regularly u, as in B. ā: swā stressed and unstressed is so, but once swa 234; eskeð 75, 215, eskest 68. The representation of ǣ₁ is divided between ea and e, each 28 times: ǣ₂ is e 50 times (lete 40); the exceptions are hear 132, heale 242, hileanet 202, offearen 56 (4), offeared 54, 211, reade 142, reades 296, rodien 81 (reoden T). ī: bliðeliche 351. ea (breaking): hard 116 (7), harm 117, herdes 183, þearf 171, weldent 226. eo: hercni 349, darc 130. The u-, å-umlaut of a is e in gledeð 310, gledien 223, 270, gledunge 308, 310, 312, medeð 99 (for meðen), neuele 98, igledet 214, and is wanting in fareð 18, hatel 128, hateð 109, hatieð 111. å-umlaut of e: to speokene 347. u-, å-umlaut of i: seððen 213, unwitnesse 179. eo after ġ: ȝuheðe 383. ēa: deð 171, dedlich 58, adie 269, eðsene 240, greạt 70. īe: fleme 343. ēo: þeosternesse 86, þreohad 372. a + g: dreien 206. æ + g: feirlec 272. i + ht: unwiht 151. ē + g: tweien 342. ō + h: þohtes 360. eo + g: tintreon 264.

r: wrenches 5. n: in 108, 319, on 29. f: under fon 57. t: et 98. d final is seldom altered to t, dred 50, dureward 39, hard 165, hideward 139, lond 130, toward 81, 127, but heauet 59: other spellings are onswereð 66, 281, schenlac 124, gled 108, middel 174. Initial þ is often unaltered after final t, þu 79, þrof 331 (but it is lost in ant e 372), so final þ in limpeð 154. Normal þ appears in bliðeliche 248, makieð 255, makeð 39, oðer 19, soð 293, swiðe 208; for þ, d in beod 15. s: gastes 30. c: ecnesse 108. g: ȝef 12, iȝarcket 339, biȝeoten 316 (but bigoten 259), agulteð 48, guldene 170, strencðe 153 (5), strencðen 164, strenðe 343. h: unwiht 151, hearen 98, her 94, hileanet 202, hearneð 135, hure 144, er 58, is 28, wilinde 135.

(3) Of T. a before nasals and lengthening groups is o, but fram 25 (5) is invariable. æ is a (45 times including nase 96, 112), exceptions are hefde 116, hefden 256, hweðer 101, forbearneð 103, readliche 21, smecche 88, wrecchedom 85. e: rekenen 86, best 332, smal 275, spelie 303. i: wile 42 &c. (but ichulle 81), wilneð 289. o: grot 93. u: cumeð 69, 138. y is u, except winne 161, 173 (but wunne 166, 169). ā: ai 53 (7), a Scandinavian word, leað 153 (? lǣþo, or miswritten for leið, OWScand. leiðr), askeð 75, 215, askest 68, owhwider 25 (comp. ‘ouhwuder’ AR 172/3, ?influence of ōwer). ǣ₁ is ea, in close agreement with B; sumdeal 284, but lasten 108, 178. ǣnig is ani 42, 135, 192. ǣ₂: also as in B; lete 40, rodien 81, þer 246, 331, trinne 86. ē: fearreden 269. ī: bliðeliche 80, huinen 17 (comp. OWScand. hjûn). ō: isoð 229, sweote 291 (‘swoete’ Vesp. Psalt., Sweet, OET. 217/13). ȳ is u, written ui in fuire 71, fuir 83, 87 (but fur 103). ea (breaking): wearnið 34, wearne 155, wearnen 63, unwearnede 157, hard 116 (5), hardes 163, 172, harm 117, harmen 290, þurf 171; i-umlaut, dearne 296, ferd 151. eo: isterret 245, self 27 (6), seluen 5 (3), but seolf 8. The u- å-umlaut of a is wanting, except in eawles 126; for heatel 128 heates is read. The absence of this umlaut points to Northumbrian or W. Saxon. eo, u-umlaut of e: heuene 220, 325, heuenliche 243, but heouene 146; after w, woredes 251, world 108 (7), worldlich 170. eo, å-umlaut of e: breke 28, breken 8, freten 96, speken 61. eo, u- å-umlaut of i: nime 147, 328, binime 11, nimeð 311, siðen 213, clepeð 38, iclepet 36, seuenfald 282, seuefald 287: for hweonene B 60, 65 T has hweðen, hwenne; hore 122. ea after sć, schome 117. ie: ȝef 27, ȝiueð 87, 164, ȝiue 371. ȝif 6, 12, 14. ēa: dedes 62, gledred 71; ȝa 216, ȝea 77 (possibly Scandinavian), great 70. ēo: biheld 262, depre 296, deulen 69, iseð 89, 94, seð 257, ned 211, þeosternesse 86, ho 40. æ + g: dai 29 &c., mai 10 &c. are the regular forms, but mei 303, so feir 209, 239, feirleic 272. e + g: aȝain 20 (Angl. ongægn), aȝaines 34, 153, but to ȝeines 196. ea + h: mihte 113, 118, 162, but mahte 84, 232. eo + g: tintrohen 264. ie + h: bisihð 332. ā + w: noht 7. ī + w: speweð 91. ēa + w: scheaweð 240, scheawde 265, ischeawet 258, scheawere 233. ēo + w: treowðe 78; treweliche 78, 206.

r: wrenches 5. m: com 60. n: in 99, 108. f: biforen 59, þer fore 150, þurn 225, under fon 57. t: blend 87, at 98. d: dred 50, dureward 59, atstond 158, feond 33, hard 165, hiderward 139, hundreð 97, 335 (OWScand. hundrað), lond 130, 256, heauet 59, onswereð 66, 281, somen 21, þusend 69, þusand 114, 119, þusanð 138, toward 81, 127, schendlac 124, glad 208, middel 174. þ: bliðeliche 248, limpeð 154, makes 39, makieð 255, swiðe 208. s: gastes 30. c: cumeð 69, þoncheð 201, long 58, swing 289, smecche 88, euh 58, hwucse 72, stinc 84, ecnesse 108. ȝ: ȝif 12, ȝarket 339, biȝoten 316, unwerched 251, agulteð 48, guldene 170. h: unwiht 151.

Accidence: (1) Of B. Strong declension of masc. and neut. nouns. In the s. n. þinge 84 has added e. Gen. -es, cunnes 90, deaðes 62, contracted weis 162, 236: d. -e, dome 261, flesche 270, hame 25, with all nouns which have vowel ending in the s. n. as bale 93, chele 101, in others the inflection is more frequently wanting, deað 222, flesch 99, and generally in words of two syllables, as finger 325, godspel 4, heaued 59, lauerd 207; wa 86 is indeclinable. In the s. a. deale 105, inȝonge 32, 41 (but inȝong n. 146), mete 45, 47 have added e; bere 23 is gebǣre; sune 235 represents sunu. The pl. n. a. of masculines ends in -es, eauraskes 97, engles 239, deaðes 119, duntes 125: neuters, with the exception of þing 178, 297, schape 122 (gesceapu), have taken the masc. termination, þinges 89, werkes 64, wittes 16, wordes 251, wordes 64, or have joined the weak declension, deoflen 89, 91, studen 240, wepnen 159: genitive is smeche 88; datives have mostly -es, eawles 126, gleadschipes 307, but bisocnen 277, colen 104, deoflen 69, 139, wepnen 162, 184, and siðe 97, 138, 335 (without n). The fem. nouns of the strong declension have -e in the s. n., este 173, cnawlechunge 292, and many other derivatives in -ung, schadewe 148, but meað 37, 43 (once masc. in OE.). Gen. -e, helle 95, nease 96, but murðes 219, sawles 1: dat. -e, alesnesse 294, bisne 4, worlde 108, 136, 260, but ferd 151, half 160, 238, luft 186, sti 186 (stīg), world 108, 110, 147, 169 are not inflected: acc. -e, blisse 221, froure 35, but ferreden 269, fulst 225 (fylst), half 143. Pl. n. is hondon 51; d. blissen 267, pinen 90, 127, sunnen 70, wunden 240, dreorinesses 131; a. pinen 263, sahen 201, strengðen 164, sunnen 124, cunreadnes 261, estes 197, keis 34, runes 296. Nouns of the weak declension have -e in all cases of the singular, -en throughout the plural. The minor declensions are represented by uet pl. d. 260; mon s. n. 8, monnes s. g. 9, 15; boc s. d. 72, s. a. 70; buri s. n. 129 (from dat. byrig); niht s. d. 29; feader s. g. 237, s. d. 241, s. a. 116; moder s. a. 116; dehtren pl. n. 202, pl. d. 35, 195; suster s. a. 43, sustren pl. n. 202, pl. d. 207; feont s. n. 33, s. d. 158; wealdent s. n. 226.

Adjectives which in OE. end in e retain that termination in all cases. Weak inflections are s. n. m. ȝuldene 170, rihtwise 193, neut. blake 110, willesfule 205, s. d. f. swarte 89, s. d. neut. ferliche 102, s. a. m. willesfule 44, f. brihte 269: strong inflections are s. d. f. inwarde 72, s. a. f. longe 254: swote s. n. m. 275, neut. 291 (swōt) has conformed to swete. All other adjectives are uninflected in the singular. Those in -ig lose g, anlepi 313, eadi 243, hali 234: lȳtel is lutle s. a. f. 235; lutle s. a. neut. 328, lut pl. n. 187, few people, are used as nouns; mycel is mostly muche, but muchel s. d. neut. strong 166, muchele weak 300, pl. a. 314: āgen gives ahne s. d. f. 305, pl. d. 184. The plural ends in -e, ȝarowe 260, wakere 57, 142, misliche 127, unmihtie 191; exceptions are n. ful 239, hal 93, ilich 97, hardi 56, lusti 318, d. eadi 269, mislich 20, seli 280, snawi 100, a. unseli 121, wurð 194. OE. āna is ane 200; ān is an, a, s. g. anes 311, d. ane 207, a. 216: nān is nan, na, s. g. nanes 317, pl. n. nane 274. Adjectives used as nouns are rarely inflected, as heardes s. g. 163, 172, nesches 172, uuele pl. n. 224: comparatives regularly end in e, brihtre 287, deopre 296, earre 103, leatere 103, wurse 102, but grisluker 97; of superlatives earste 36, forme 195, leaste 115, 118, measte 115 have weak inflection.

The personal pronouns are ich, me, we, ure 181, us, þu, tu after t, þe, ȝe, ow. The pronoun of the third person is s. n. he m. 6, ha f. 10 &c., hit neut. 13; g. hire f. 11; d. him m. 35, hire f. 42, a. hire f. 8 (with hus neut.), 11, 33 (with þeaw m.), 43, 87, hit neut. 10, 85; pl. n. ha 89 &c., heo 93, 274, 276; g. hare 18; d. ham 55; a. 13. Reflexives are me 190, him 54, hire 180, 205, ham 94, me seolf 189 (possibly definitive), me seoluen 117, us seolf 191, 193, us seoluen 5, him seolf 27, him seoluen 109, 309, hire seoluen 182; definitive are seolf 8, 228, him seolf 277, him ane 200; possessives are mi s. 80, 116, min 163, 196, mine pl. 164, 234, ure 4, þi s. 78, þin 319, his 5, hire 12, hare 51, 122. The definite article is þe, te after t; inflected forms are þet s. n. neut. 33, 214, þen s. d. m. 158, s. a. m. 212, þet s. a. neut. 248; the instrumental is þe 11, 142. Þet is used demonstratively 35, 103, 104, þet ilke 89, 105, 256; the article is also used pronominally, þeo þe, those who 48, 49, 56, 247, those which 178, one who 180, þeo, those 15. The compound demonstrative is s. n. þes m. 6, tis 106, þis neut. 8, 53, 124, tis 26, s. d. þis m. 318, þisse f. 136, þeos 146, þis 110, neut. 9, 102, 137, 198, 199, s. a. þes m. 118, þis neut. 284, 285, tis 152; pl. n. þeos 17, 202, d. 24, 101, 207, 285, þeose 97, a. þeos 140. The relatives are þe, þet; þet . . . hire 10, = whom, þet te 154, = what. Interrogatives are hwam 39, hwet 60 (4), hweðer 101, hwuch 6 (6), hwucche pl. n. 14; its correlative is swuch 93, 135, 255, swucche pl. n. 194: ilca is ilke 105 &c.; þyllic, þulliche pl. d. 162, þulli s. d. 326, 327. Indefinites are hwam se s. a. 276, hwet se s. n. 172, hwuch se s. a. 72; me 45, 68, 87, 165, 275, mon 25; an 252; sum 54, summes s. g. 162, 236, summe pl. n. 14; eiðer 102, 111; oðer 37, oðres s. g. 109, 112, oðre s. d. 252, pl. d. 52, 285, pl. a. 277; euch 108, euchan 49, 109, euchanes s. g. 252, eauereuchan 307; eni 113, ei 42, 135, 192; nawiht 172, 183, noht 149; moni 20, 29, 166, monie pl. n. 307, pl. a. 314, ma 167; feole 306; al s. n. 12, alles s. g. 90, 197, 264, al s. d. 74, 155, s. a. 105, 116, 117; alle pl. n. 13, 114, 214, alre pl. g. 181, alle pl. d. 30, 46, 281, pl. a. 33, 40, 297, mid alle 211.

Verbs in -an have infinitive -en, abeoren 125, bihalden 233, 236, and thirty-five other instances, or -e, bringe 113, 173, cume 7, here 22, munne 303, neome 328, those in ian, mostly of the second weak conjugation, have -ien, carien 162, 166, gleadien 270, herien 320, schunien 177, þolien 7 (6), wakien 7, readien 81 (ME. formation from read = rǣd), or -ie, spealie 303, þolie 235, or -in, amurdrin 32, blissin 270, eilin 290, euenin 83, folhin 12, 336, fondin 224, grapin 87, hearmin 290, lokin 232, 254, lutlin 327, openin 285, rikenin 86, sunegin 179, warnin 152, wursin 328, and ME. wontin, or -i, wursi 164: contract verbs are biseon 122, fleon 158, seon 305, underuon 312, unwreo 285. The dat. inf. is inflected in to cumene 265, to witene 50, 150, 226; other forms are forte binden 71, forte warnin 140, forte . . . halden 57, for . . . to drahen 72, forte breoke 28, to alesen 242, to seon ⁊ to cnawen 293 (virtual nom.), to warnin 63, to . . . makie 325. Presents are s. 1. cume 76, 220, cwakie 131, demi 185, iseo 150; 2. cumest 76, easkest 68, seist 279; 3. cleopeð 38, limpet 154, makid 39, and seventy-four others; contracted, about one-fourth of the total number, bisið 332, bit 246, flið 158, forȝet 25, 167, halt 180, 195, 205, hat 45, let 26, 212, sent 55, sit 48, 225, 237, wit 52, and nine others, passive hatte 62; pl. 1. habbeð 191, witeð 144, drede we 155; 3. aȝulteð 48, edwiteð 123; of the second weak conjugation, acwikieð 105, heatieð 111, herieð 317, makied 255, wunieð 272, 320, but ofearneð 135 and liuieð 287, werieð 143; meallið 90, seoð 257, 295, iseoð 89, 94: subjunctive s. 1. habbe 61, understonde 285; 3. bihalde 40, bineome 11, cume 23, 65, 144, comme 60, feole, forȝeme 54, forswolhe 152, fortruste 54, leade 65, leare 45, leote 40, reade 142, rihte 14, 141, schute 160, seche 60, slepe 25, tuhte 23, werie 141, chasti 11, loki 39, wardi 141, warni 42; pl. 1. demen 191, 193, halden 198, þonkin 200, neome we 147: imperative s. 2. etstont 158, let 209, sei 280, tele 79, 228, warne 155; pl. 2. hercnið 218, lokið 67, lustnið 61, neomeð 311, þencheð 115, understondeð 218. Past of Strong Verbs: I a. s. 1. iseh 118 (5), biseh 249, 3. ȝef 27, quoð 315; pl. 1. speken 44; subjunctive s. 1. isehe 118, 2. sehe 228: I b. s. 1. com 139: I c. subj. s. 3. bigunne 299: III. subj. s. 3. forbude 13: V. s. 1. biheolt 262, lette (weak form) 28. Participles present: I a. sittende 278: I b. cuminde 40: IV. lahhinde adj. 213: V. fallinde adj. 178; past: I a. isehen 77 (6), ispeken 335: I b. ibore 136, icumen 55: I c. bigunne 112, iborhen 276, formealte 104: II. iwriten 70, untohene adj. pl. 13, untohe adj. s. 23, fulitohe adj. s. 9: III. bigoten 259, bigotten 316, biloke 204: IV. islein 116: V. bihalden 57, ihaten 10, 37, 220, underuon 57, ofdred adj. 145. Past of Weak Verbs: s. 1. hefde 113, talde 114; 3. bohte 28, luuede 241, schilde 233, sende 223, wrahtte 74; pl. 3. deiden, liueden 266. Participles present: libbinde 270, sechinde 151; ME. formations are fikelinde adj. 147, smorðrinde adj. 88; past: bitaht 144, 149, ibet 74, igret 256, ilihtet 214, ischawed 258, iseid 328, iseið 280, unwerged 251, icleopet 36, icwiddet 257, offearet 54, 211, unwerget 318, and thirteen others in -t, besides irobbet 26, istirret 245; others used as adjectives are elheowet 58, fordemde pl. 133, forrotet 99, forwerede pl. 114, iblescede s. weak 221, pl. 250, isette pl. 252, istelet pl. 126, iteilede pl. 90, unwarnede noun pl. 157, offruhte pl. 222. Minor Groups: witen inf. 137, 305, wat pr. s. 176, nat 66, witen pr. pl. 295, 297, nuten 101, wiste pt. s. 6; ah pr. s. 165, ahen 1 pr. pl. 4, pr. pl. 300; con 1 pr. s. 81, 329, pr. s. 64, cunnen pr. pl. 187; þerf pr. s. 171, þurue we 1 pr. pl. 145, 225; schal pr. s. 21 &c., schulen pr. pl. 178, 224, 320, schulde we 1 pt. pl. 158; mei 1 pr. s. 81, pr. s. 10 &c., me[i] 327, mahen 1 pr. pl. 22, 2 pr. pl. 137, 305, mahe pr. pl. 274, pr. s. subj. 290, 332, mahte 1 pt. s. 113, 162, 232, pt. s. 84, 118; most 2 pr. s. 285, 316; beon inf. 10 &c., am 1 pr. s. 62, is pr. s. 8, nis 18, bið 146, aren pr. pl. 107, 256, beoð 13, 56, 159, 202, beod 306, beo pr. s. subj. 26 (8), beon 1 pr. pl. subj. 142, 198, beo we 193, beon pr. pl. subj. 104, wes pt. s. 205, weren pt. pl. 94, 114, were pt. s. subj. 127, 136, 210, 253, nere 121, 136, were pt. pl. subj. 124, ibeo pp. 331; ich chulle 1 pr. s. 81, wule pr. s. 145, 193, 325, wulleð pr. pl. 289, wule pr. s. subj. 42, 210, 323, walde 1 pt. s. 119, pt. s. 6, 12, nalde 7; to donne dat. inf. 142, 185, to don 288, 324, to do 189 (virtual nom.), do 1 pr. s. 190, 197, deð pr. s. 182, doð pr. pl. 49, 267, do 2 s. imp. 154, idon pp. 300, ido 53, 117; gan inf. 21, 316, ȝeað pr. s. 151, ga we 1 pr. pl. 171, ouergað pr. pl. 270, ga 2 s. imp. 315, pr. s. subj. 10, 47.

Among adverbs may be noted á 105 (4), áá 53 (3), ever, distinguished by accent from a 227, ah! hweonene 60, 65, interrogative, earþon 74, previously, unmundlunge (unmyndlinga) 68, unexpectedly, in ME. apparently only here and once in AR; among prepositions, bituhhen 168, bituhhe 133, 169, extension of OE. bituh, BH 133/33, which comes also in SK 1515, ‘bituhe’ AR MS. A, 204/20, ‘bituhhen,’ id. 358/11, fore 27, 276, on behalf of, in both places separated from the word governed and put at the end of the sentence.

(2) Of R. This is substantially the same as that of MS. B: some forms from ll. 339-373 are here noted. Nouns: neut. bodi s. d. 369, limen pl. n. 364; fem. sawle s. n. 369, neod 349, sondes s. g. 346, murðes 342, lefdi s. d. 355, sonden pl. a. 357. Adjective comp. lessere 345 (lǣssa), an early instance of the double comparative; T has lesre. Pronoun: incker dual g.: indef. oðer s. d. 363, noðres s. g. 347.

(3) Of T. It differs from B mainly in the verbal inflection. Forms with i are few, euennin inf. 83, fondin 224, lutlin 327, openin 285, sunegin 179, wursi 164, mellið pr. pl. 90; in the pr. s. -es and -eð alternate, warnes 348, wilnes 286, bides 59 (hat B), fares 25, haues 144, makes 39, slepes 25, spekes 8, wites 52 (wit B), fleoð 158 (flið B), beoð 146, beð 24, in the pr. pl. -en and -eð, habben 191, beon 14 (6), freten 96, ȝelden 213, hatien 111, iwurðen 93, snicken 96, sweren 21, beoð 17 &c., speweð 91: arn 256, schuln 340, þurn 225 are syncopated. Beside ha, she, ho occurs 12, 40, 181; man 165 is indefinite. The suffix of the verbal noun is regularly -ing, cnawlechinge 292, gretinge 213, hechelinge 100. For aðet B, R 104, it has til ꝥ, for mid B, mit R 28, wið.

Vocabulary: Scandinavian are ai T 53 &c., aren 107, drupnin 222, etlunge 310, far (lac) 341, 363, fear (laic) T 341, (feir) lec R 272, feoloh(lukest) 270 (OWScand. félagi), flute 349, flutteð 100, ȝa T 216, ȝea T 77, hird 65, hundreð T 79, keiseres 261, lahe 193, 259, 271, lane 202, meoke 198, nowcin 163 (4), tidinges 140, til T 104, trust 184, vmben 207, wan 129, warpe 43, varpeð 341, wengen 143, 340, witer(liche) 78, witer(luker) 285, wontin 135 (OWScand. vanta), wontreaðes 129, wondraðes R 129, wandreðes T 129, þicke 86 (OWScand. þykkr), probably baðe T 23, iburst 151, lustnin 217, possibly froden T 95, ȝetteð 247 (Björkman 109), ȝeieð 134 (OWScand. geyja) influenced like ȝoulen by ȝellen (Björkman 69). French are archangles 249 (possibly Latin), apostle 157, castel 31, chasti 11, chere 213, icheret 209, cruneð 49, cunestable 38, 200, cunfessurs 266, enbreuet 73, false 147, falsi 163, fol 19, feh 149, 204, grace 160, iordret 252, irobbet 26, leattres 71, liun 151, meistre 44, meistreð 33, meoster 189, 252, mesure 174, meosure 45, patriarches 255 (possibly Latin), poure 259, preoouin 72, prophetes 255, semblant 19, seruið 247, 250, tresor 27 (3), treosor 369, tresures 339, tresorers T 339, trone 244, 260, turnes 182, ?turneð 206, aturnet 209. A Latin borrowing is martyrs 262.

Dialect: MS. B bears a close resemblance in all dialectal criteria to MS. A of the Ancrene Wisse; its Anglian peculiarities are somewhat more pronounced. MS. R differs from MS. B in its representation of ǣ₁ and in the narrower range of its u-, å-umlauts; it is somewhat more Southern than MS. B. MS. T, in the same hand as the copy of the Ancrene Wisse, is of the mixed character described on p. 373, but the Southern element is more extensive here.

Style: Sawles Warde has been divided by its latest editor into one thousand and seventy-two half-lines of ‘rhymeless Layamonic verse,’ with three hundred and sixty-two varieties of scansion, nearly two hundred of which are each represented by a single line. Much ME. verse, the Proverbs of Alfred, the Brut, the Bestiary for example, is, like Sawles Warde, written continuously, but its verse character is always definitely indicated by its punctuation, in Layamonic verse by a half- or full stop at the end of the half-line and a full stop at the end of the line. But, as Luick has shown, Sawles Warde has a prose punctuation of natural pauses in reading, of clause and sentence, a contention which may readily be tested by the texts in the present book, which reproduce the manuscripts in this detail. Thus the punctuation of Sawles Warde which has been adduced as an indication of its verse character is evidence to the contrary.

Some specimens of the verse with the editor’s scansion are: ‘téacheð us þùrh a bísnè,’ 117/4: ‘Þis hús þe ùre láuèrd | spékeð òf, is sèolf þe món,’ 117/8: ‘þe éarèste is Wárschìpe | icléopet, ànt te óðèr | is gástelìch Stréncðè,’ 118/36: ‘Wárschìpe, þet àa is wáker, | ìs offéared, lèste súm | fortrúste hìm ant fèole oslép,’ 118/53: ‘hwuch só he mèi préouìn | þùrh his bóc, þèt is ón | euch súnnè ibréuèt,’ 119/72. Now Bartels points out that in Layamon’s verse there is no enjambment and no beginning of a clause in the middle of a half-line. Furthermore, there is no rhythm in these lines which remotely resembles either the recitative of Layamon’s alliterative line or the syllabic measure of his rhymed lines. But the fatal objection is the absence of alliteration or rhyme, for without one of these or a combination of the two there is no verse at all in Middle English; they are of the essence of its form. For Orm is an eccentric and absolutely isolated; his verse would be recognizable by his contemporaries as such only in virtue of the rigid uniformity of its rhythm.

Sawles Warde is written in the same rhythmic prose, and by the same author, as AR and the other pieces mentioned on p. 373, including the Wohunge of Ure Lauerd (OEH i. 269-87) and the Ureisun of God Almihti (id. 200-3). The evolution of this style is easily followed. The writer began his literary career with his memory well stocked with alliterative formulae and other phrases, derived in some small measure from the pre-Conquest literature, but mostly from a body of popular poetry which is represented by isolated pieces like the Worcester Fragments. His first writings, SJ and SM, are overloaded with them, and they have impressed their peculiar movement more or less on the stretches of prose which link them together. Accordingly many passages in SJ for example approach much more nearly to verse than anything in Sawles Warde. Take at random 143/68-72:—

This has the right swing, and its slightly faulty alliteration could easily be mended, yet Saint Juliana is not verse. In SK, HM, AR, and SW we can observe a gradual and progressive diminution of this borrowed matter, but the verse cadences persist to the end.

Introduction: Einenkel, in the preface to his edition of Saint Katherine, claims to have proved that Saint Juliana and Saint Margaret were written by one author, Saint Katherine by another, and Hali Meidenhad by a third. His proof rests largely on the untenable assumption that a Middle English author, whatever the length of his literary career, or the changes in his environment, or the nature of his subject, by reason of his unbending ‘individuality’ did not vary in his vocabulary, phrases, or turns of expression. So if words in sufficient number occur often in one writing and seldom or not at all in another, if the percentage of the foreign element is not similar, if the synonyms for abstract notions like joy and sorrow, luck and mishap are not the same, the compositions must be the work of different authors. Of far other significance are the unity, not uniformity, of style which pervades the whole group in orderly and natural development, the unity of subject, that is, the praise of virginity and its superior virtue over other states of life, the recurrence of a considerable number of characteristic words, phrases, and constructions found seldom or never outside the group, the presence throughout of a pronounced Scandinavian element testifying at least to a common dialect of origin.

As has already (p. 376) been suggested, this literature is best understood as a product of the Gilbertine movement. The lives of the female saints, of whom two resist marriage and the other says of Christ ‘He haueð iweddet him to mi meiðhad,’ were suitable reading for the Gilbertine nuns, and the anchoresses, for whom the Ancrene Wisse was written, had a copy at least of Saint Margaret. Hali Meidenhad was probably occasioned by the affair of the nun at Watton, one of Gilbert’s foundations, which is related by Gilbert’s friend, Ailred of Rievaulx, in what is one of the most extraordinary revelations of the mediaeval clerical mind on the subject of the single life: it shows us the younger nuns of Watton far outdoing in ferocity their exemplar Saint Juliana, and helps to the understanding of the sentiment in Hali Meidenhad, which is so distasteful and even revolting to modern feeling that some have thought it impossible that the author of the mild wisdom of the Ancrene Wisse could have any part in it. But it must be observed that much of the abusive language about the married state in Hali Meidenhad is not original, some of it is as old as S. Jerome, and no one is so likely to have written the treatise as the enthusiastic founder of an order of nuns.

The writer has already used the main idea of the allegory in the Ancrene Wisse (M 172, 271). The parallelism pointed out in the note on l. 82 of Sawles Warde is another indication of common authorship; it is not like a borrowing, nor can it be accounted for by independent use of the curt Latin original. Finally, the passage 125/268-278 in glorification of the ‘feire ferreden of uirgines in heouene,’ SK 2309, which is an addition of the author’s, strikes the dominant note of all his works.

The Latin original of Sawles Warde was again adapted by the writer of the supplement to the Ayenbite of Inwyt, pp. 263-9, presumably Dan Michel of Northgate; his version is much closer to the original, and he does not seem to have been acquainted with that of his predecessor.

1. With the title comp. ‘Mid alle cunne warde (= custodia) . . . wite wel þine heorte, uor soule lif is in hire; ȝif heo is wel iwust,’ AR 48/5; ‘þonne se weard swefeð, | sawele hyrde,’ Beowulf, 1741 (with Holthausen’s note).

2. Si &c.: S. Matt. xxiv. 43: V has ‘veniret’ with S. Luke xii. 39.

3. a bisne: a forbisne T.

5. to is omitted by R: to witen T: comp. ‘To wyten vs wyþ þan vnwihte,’ OEM 72/4; ‘ihereð hu ȝe schulen witen ou wið þes deofles wieles, þet he ou ne biwrenche,’ AR 224/20, and see 48/299 note. þe unwiht of helle: so HM 41/19; ‘of þe laðe vnwiht þe hellene schucke,’ id. 41/35.

6. þes lauerd: þe husebonde RT.

8. hire: so all MSS.; the writer is thinking of the allegory rather than of his grammar. With breoken comp. 62/20. mon &c.: R has, mon . in wið þe monnes wit iþis is þe huselauerd . , T, mon . Jnwið . þe monnes wit iþis hus is te huselauerd. Kluge, adopting the text of B, punctuates þis hus, . . ., is seolf þe mon inwið; þe monnes wit i þis hus is þe huselaverd; while W, omitting ‘i þis hus,’ which does not fit into his metrical scheme, has þis hus, . . . , is seolf þe mon . inwið þe monnes wit is þe huselauerd. In both cases ‘inwið’ is adverbial, as at 130/57, and the sense yielded is intelligible. But it diverges strangely from the original, ‘Pater iste familias animus potest intelligi, cuius familia sint cogitationes et motus earum, sensus quoque et actiones tam exteriores quam interiores. . . . Domus est conscientia, in qua pater iste habitans thesauros (see 118/27) virtutum congregat, propter quos ne domus effodiatur, summopere vigilatur,’ V 207 e, 208 a. All three writers appear to have been contending with a faulty archetype: the original may have been:—

where the first line is actually that found in R: the division of mon-nes would readily give rise to the corruptions of all three MSS. In the Ayenbite of Inwyt the Latin is translated, ‘Hous . is inwyt|in huychen þe uader of house woneþ . þe hord of uirtues gadereþ,’ 263/24. For inwit comp. ‘wiðinnen us suluen, ure owune conscience, þet is, ure inwit,’ AR 306/1, 206/5. When the writer afterwards speaks of the house of the body, 127/369, he is using a familiar expression, for which there is nothing corresponding in the Latin original. wit is Reason = animus rationalis: the contest between it and Will is also in HM 15/23-36; the embodiment of the latter as the ‘fulitohe wif’ is due to our writer.

10. ꝥ—hire, whose guidance if the household (hus = familia) follow: see 46/292 note. diht &c.: see 66/120 note.

11. chasti, discipline, restrain: comp. ‘Hwil þi wit atstond ⁊ chaisteð þi wil . . . ne harmeð hit te nawiht,’ HM 15/26.

13. hit: see 1/10: ha RT.

16. wittes, senses: comp. ‘hire fif wittes . sihðe ⁊ heringe . smecchunge ⁊ smeallunge ⁊ euch limes felunge,’ HM 13/25; AR 48/8, 116/25.

17. hwer—ȝemeles: ‘Nam si vel parum a sua sollicitudine torpuerit,’ V 207 e.

18. feareð untoheliche, behaves in unruly fashion. gulteð ilome: see 34/91.

19. ifol semblant, in foolish demeanour: comp. ‘ȝif þu makest ei semblaunt oðer eni luue lates touward unðeauwes,’ AR 90/17. Inwið &c.: following on the division made in ll. 14, 15, we might have expected here something like, Þeo wið innen beoð þohtes.

20. in, busied about, intent on such a great variety of purposes to please Will. For in, of aim, object, comp. ‘He only, in a general honest thought | And common good to all, made one of them,’ Shakspere, Julius Caesar, v. v. 71. It might also be regarded as, in the shape of.

21. hit might be impersonal, that things shall go on to her liking, but comp. l. 10.

22. iþþlen can hardly be a mistake for ifelen (Specimens): it is possibly for iðolien. R has felen, T fele. nurhð, noise: comp. 129/47 note: ‘His laðliche nurð ⁊ his untohe bere makeð þe to agrisen,’ HM 31/22; ‘nurð ne kimeð in heorte bute of sum þing ꝥ me haueð oðer isehen oðer iherd,’ AR Corpus MS. where MS. Nero, ed. Morton, 92/3, has ‘noise’; ‘leaueð ower nurð . ant oþer ladliche bere,’ SM 21/20. The word is not found outside this group. T has murð, as at 118/22, but R with ‘murhðe’ there has correctly nurð here.

23. a þet: see 72/179 note. hit: RT have correctly wit. eie . . . luue: comp. 72/200. With tuhte, discipline, comp. ‘tuhten ne chasten þi meiden uor hire gult,’ AR 268/21.

24. for, because of the untrustworthiness of: analogous to 104/175. for hwen ꝥ, if on occasion, when: see 72/192 and comp. ‘for hwen þat he cheas hire,’ HM 15/11. Its use appears to be restricted to this group. slepe . oðer ohwider fare R; slepes oðer owhwider fares T.

26. let ham iwurðen, lets them have their own way, abandons them to their own devices. Comp. ‘ure Louerd let us one iwurðen oðer hwules ⁊ wiðdraweð his grace,’ AR 230/27, 288/23; ‘Heo let heom alle i-wurþe . þat beoþ so swyþe stronge,’ OEM 89/32; SK 791.

28. forte breoke . . . abuten: see 74/229 note. efter: see 7/53. ꝥ is acc. after bohte, with lette it means, for which: comp. 44/252, 263. With lette &c. comp. 144/84.

29. moni þeof: ‘Fur autem non unus est sed multiplex, quia singulis virtutibus singula vitia insidiantur,’ V 208 a.

30. gasttes: comp. 15/79; ‘ȝewerged gastes . ⁊ unþeawes . ⁊ unwraste lahtres,’ OEH i. 243/7.

31. castel: so T, but R has chatel, property, possession. All the MSS. have ‘castel’ at 123/203.

32. hire, the corresponding vice. OE. þēaw, un-þēaw are masculine.

33. heaued: ‘Principalis tamen fur diabolus intelligitur. Contra quem et eius satellites pater idem (si tamen non negligens fuerit) domum suam forti custodia muniens, prudentiam in primo aditu constituat,’ V 208 a. meistreð, acts as leader to.

34. keis is evidently translation of satellites, guards. ‘Item satelles dicitur quia adheret alteri ad eius custodiam,’ Catholicon. But W explains it of those who hold the keys of office.

35. froure: so T, comfort, support; comp. 18/19. But fowre R is better.

36. heaued þeawes, cardinal virtues. V mentions only three of these here, but Temperantia (= Meað) afterwards takes part in the dialogue. Warschipe is Prudentia: gastelich strengðe is a translation of the Spiritus Fortitudinis of the very ancient Confirmation Prayer; VV has more literally ‘gost of strengþe,’ 83/22: V has Fortitudo only.

38. cunestable, chief officer: an early instance of the word in English.

39. durewart: comp. ‘Þe ȝeteward . þet is wittes skile,’ AR 270/26: in VV she is ȝeapnesse, ‘on of ðe holie mihtes ðe wel cunne ⁊ wel muȝe ðo gaten ⁊ ðo duren wel bilokin of ðis holi temple,’ 99/22. þe: so R, but ꝥ T: relative with subjunctive of purpose, like the Latin, ‘quae discernat quid sit admittendum, quid vitandum, quid excludendum.’

40. of feor, from a distance; explained in NED under afar, as an analytical form = OE. feorran, adv., from far. The latter is sometimes treated in ME. as a noun and combined with prepositions of, on, from: comp. 118/55, 198/31: oferrum in Minot vii. 70 is on + dat. s. neut. of feorr, adj.

42. warschipes: for the construction, see 10/167. R has warschipe, showing confusion of gender. The subject of warni is warschipe contained in the preceding genitive; see 6/18. fore, adv., previously, comp. 121/140; ‘Ah wel ich warni þe uore,’ SJ 47/15.

44. ꝥ . . . speken: see 81/77.

45. mete: so T, but meðe R: comp. 122/174. uueles: so T, faults of excess and defect, extremes: ‘muchel ⁊ lutel,’ 122/169. R has þinge, which perhaps points to an original uuele þinge. for ꝥ—halden, lit., for that is in every place (i.e. under all circumstances) virtue and disciplined conduct in the observance; which is practically, for the observance of that moderation is under all circumstances virtuous conduct. So ‘ꝥ ich demi riht ⁊ wisdom to donne,’ 122/185, the doing of that I judge to be proper and wise. This use of the gerundial infinitive is frequent in AR, comp. ‘ne beo þu nout Gius fere ne Gius make uorte birlen him so,’ 114/15, by pouring him out such a drink. With halden comp. ‘Al so me tempreð an baþ . . . also deð ðis haliȝe mihte alle ðes mannes ðeawes ðe hes luuiȝeð ⁊ healden cann,’ VV 107/18.

46. ꝥ nan &c., that none of them in any case should, in opposition to her, with excess overstep moderation: wid vnmeoð is duplicated in ouer mete.

48: ‘Iustitia sedeat in medio, ut sua cuique tribuat,’ V 208 b.

49. efter his rihte, according to his deserts.

50. his: RT have correctly þis, and after is, his. Comp. the corresponding passage 127/356-8, where efter ꝥ he is is varied by ‘efter ꝥ him limpeð to,’ and nimed . . . his warde to witene by ‘fondeð . . . his warde te witene.’ This household, each in his own department, undertakes the care of his charge. R omits to witene. With warde . . . witene comp. 74/231; ‘þet he wite ⁊ wardie ou,’ AR 174/24: similar combinations are ‘werieð ⁊ witeð,’ 121/143, 122/192; ‘wite ⁊ werien,’ 123/203, 136/147, 149/169; ‘wardi ⁊ werie,’ 121/141.

52. of þe oþre, of the other servants. wit is contracted 3 sing. pr. for witeþ, takes care; T has the equivalent in his dialect, wites: comp. ‘swuchne wardein, þet wit ⁊ wereð us euer wið þe unseiene gostes,’ AR 312/8. R reads ant euchan al swa as of þe oðere wið ꝥ wit onont him . ne schal &c.; wið ꝥ wit is an evident mistake for wit ꝥ. onont him, so far as he is concerned: see NED under Anent; the final t is possibly due to Scandinavian influence (Björkman, 20), and the second o to the analogy of such pairs as hwenne, hwonne, þenne, þonne. Comp. 70/161 note.

53: ‘His ita dispositis, introducere debet prudentia aliquos nuntios, qui aliqua narrent, quae ad exercitationem valeant,’ V 208 b.

54. fortruste him appears to mean, be over confident, the prefix implying excess: the word occurs here only.

55. in, adverb. of feorren: see 118/40 note.

58. elheowet, of strange colour: apparently here only. T has blac ille heowet, which looks like a popular derivation of an uncommon word.

59. þuncheð ꝥ stont: see 7/52 note. biuoren, as a preliminary, as the first thing to be said: comp. ‘vore,’ 118/42. RT have biuoren ham, which is rather pointless.

61-3. lust: ‘se respondit non aliter quicquam dicturum, nisi summum fiat silentium. Quo impetrato sic incipit. Ego sum timor mortis et mortem vobis venire nuncio,’ V. In AR 306, fearlac binds the sinner condemned in Reason’s court. munegunge, ‘Memoria mortis,’ V.

64. bisetten, employ, expend (NED i. 817, comparing bestow): arrange, dispose would better suit wordes, but not werkes.

67. ah—hwenne, but be always expectant of that time: comp. ‘deað þet we beoð siker of ⁊ unsiker hwonne.’ AR 144/13.

68. unmundlunge, unexpectedly: vnmunidlinge T. hwen—weneð: comp. ‘er me lest wene,’ AR 178/12, and often; ‘þer we lest wenet,’ OEH i. 7/26; SJ 44/3.

70. of, with, filled with records of sins: comp. ‘Vre Louerd hefde ifuld him of his þreatunge,’ AR 156/3; 121/130; 201/61 note. See 36/101.

72. preoouin, convict: a rare absolute use. preouin R, preouen T.

73. ꝥ . . . on, on which: see 1/3 note. enbreuet, enrolled: comp. ‘vor nis non so lutel þing of þeos þet þe deouel naueð enbreued on his rolle,’ AR 344/10; ‘in iames ant imembres bokes ibreuet,’ SM 16/31. OF. embriever: n for m is Anglo-French: T has embreuet: ibreuet in R is pp. of *breuen, enroll.

74. lif siðe: see 2/27.

75. soð schrift: see 88/183, 80/52, and comp. ‘healen ham wið soð schrift ⁊ wið deadbote,’ HM 15/1, 21/24. hire: so RT: see 13/34 note.

77. ha seið warschipe: comp. 119/79, 80, 215/23; ‘An oðer stede he seið godd,’ VV 81/2; ‘he seið seint Jame,’ AR 10/14 and often; in all cases the name of the person thus added in explanation of the pronoun has been previously mentioned. Analogous are 192/504, 194/602.

78. ofte ⁊ ilome: see 32/47. Nu . . . þenne: see 60/8 note. for þi trowðe: see 94/26, and note in l. 80, the common ‘omi trowðe.’

80. efter: comp. 36/119; ‘Vor efter þet me icnoweð his muchele godnesse . . . efter þet me luueð hine more oðer lesse,’ AR 92/13: in the next line efter—con means, to the best of my ability and knowledge.

81. tellen: RT omit. þer towart, lit. in that direction, i. e. concerning that matter: mostly used in local sense as ‘buhen þertoward,’ SK 1473. In l. 83 it means thereto. readien, discourse: rodien R, reoden T: W reads reordin.

82 ff. The details in this and similar descriptions, as VV 17-19, are ultimately derived from the Visions literature; see Introduction to piece X. The main divisions here correspond exactly to those in AR 144; ‘þe seoruwe of helle, þer bihold þreo þinges—þe untaleliche pinen þet no tunge ne mei tellen (comp. 119/85)—þe echenesse of euerichon, þet lesteð wiðuten ende (comp. 120/106-8)—þe unimete bitternesse of euerichon’ (comp. 120/108-112).

82. [wid]: supplied from T, not in R. ‘Infernus latus est sine mensura, profundus sine fundo, plenus ardore incomparabili (‘uneuenlich’), plenus foetore intolerabili (‘unþolelich’), plenus dolore innumerabili’ (‘untalelich’), V 208 d. wið ute grunde: comp. 40/178.

83. uneuenlich: comp. ‘al so ase heo (blisse) is unefenlich to alle worldes blissen, al so heo is untalelich to alle worldliche tungen,’ AR 410/11. R has unwerilich.

85. ne mei &c.: comp. 46/285, 126/303; ‘ne mahte hit na mon rikenin ne tellen,’ SJ 50/4.

88. smeke: smoke RT. smeche forcuðest, vilest of fumes, but RT have smecche, of flavours (smæcc); comp. ‘þreaste smeorðrinde smoke ut smecche forcuðest,’ SM 9/6. The adjective is everywhere else used of moral worthlessness; comp. 26/253.

90. alles cunnes pinen: see 81/80.

91. ase deoflen: R has as þe deoulen, which is preferable.

94. For bute bote T has unbotelich, a rare word, but ‘unboteliche lure,’ HM 17/25. The combination of bote and bale is very common; see Minot i. 4 note. as—weren belongs to hal. ful—grure, and unmistakably they see themselves terrible and awful. grisle . . . grure: comp. 56/40, 120/122, 121/131; ‘þet grisliche word ⁊ grureful ouer alle,’ AR 306/5; ‘grislich ⁊ grureful uorto biholden,’ id. 242/12.

95. froggen: T has froden: see 46/273 note.

96. The omission of þe would improve the grammar of this passage by giving a verb for helle wurmes, tadden ⁊ froggen.

97. eauraskes, water-frogs: eaureskes R, eafroskes T.

99. eauerȝete, at any time yet: comp. ‘al þe wo ꝥ nu is ⁊ euer ȝete was,’ AR 52/12. In ‘For falshede euer ȝite heo souhten,’ Castel off Loue, 342, it represents Fr. tut tens. remunge &c.: ‘Ibi est fletus et stridor dentium (S. Matt. xxii. 13 altered), ibi transitur a frigore nivium ad calorem ignium, et utrumque intolerabile,’ V 208 d. Comp. 42/231-6, 76/25.

100. hechelunge: apparently here only: Morris translates ‘chattering.’ If it is connected with ME. hechele, a tool for heckling flax, grating or gnashing is a more likely meaning.

102. monge, mixture, alternation of extremes.

103: ‘Ibi omnes comburuntur . . . nec consumuntur,’ V.

104. forwalleð, ‘tortures by boiling,’ NED; apparently here only: comp. 43/222.

106. unhope, absence of hope, of any prospect of release: ‘ibi nulla spes boni,’ V 208 d. A rare word, differing in meaning from wanhope: comp. ‘in desperaunce, þet is, in unhope ⁊ in unbileaue forte beon iboruwen,’ AR 8/17. See 46/289.

108. iwa: in wa RT.

109. heateð: ‘Omnis, qui est in eo, odit se et omnes alios,’ V. T has, hateð oðer . ⁊ ter teken him seluen, and in addition thereto (tō ēacan).

110. blake: ‘bestia nigerrima sicut corvus,’ Visio Tnugdali, 36/4.

114. tungen of stele: Virgil’s ‘ferrea vox’; ‘isene stemne,’ Wulfstan, 215/2; ‘teþ and tunge . of stel imaked,’ OEM 154/268.

116. hefde a mon &c.: comp. ‘Testis mihi Deus est, quia, si viderem quempiam hominum, qui me et omnes caros meos omnibus damnis, iniuriis et laesionibus et extrema leti sorte affecisset: si, inquam, tam immanissimum hostem meum illis suppliciis, quae vidi, deputatum conspicerem prolixius cruciandum, millies, si fieri posset, pro eius ereptione temporalem mortem appeterem,’ Visio Monachi de Eynsham, ed. Huber, Rom. Forschungen, xvi. 663/25. The date of the Visio is 1196 A.D.

117. al þe ende, the whole: ende, portion, as in OE. micel ende, nan ende appears to show in this solitary place the same development of meaning as lot, portion in the colloquial use, ‘the lot,’ ‘the whole lot.’ Morris translates ‘remnant,’ but that is a late meaning of the word: W, starting from the meaning, region (see 127/344), explains, the whole circle of my kin.

120. ut þrof, out of that place: comp. ‘arudden mi sawle ut of þine honden,’ SM 6/21: but aredden is usually followed by of alone, as, ‘to aredden of helle,’ OEH i. 203/16.

121. Some distinction is apparently intended between iseon (seon RT) and biseon (all MSS.) such as that between, to be within sight of, and, to gaze upon.

122. grimfule ⁊ grurefule: the first word is rare and the combination apparently without parallel.

124. schenðlac, disgrace: schenlac R, schendlac T: a word found only in AR, SK, and here.

125. ⁊ hure þolien, and especially to bear: in a normal sentence we should look for something like, but it is still worse to endure. unirude: unrude RT: see 188/389.

126. mealles: melles RT, beetles, clubs: comp. ‘þer ȝe schulen iseon bunsen ham mit tes deofles bettles,’ AR 188/4; ‘Þarfor þe devels salle stryk þam þare | With hevy melles ay,’ Hampole, Pr. of Consc. 7047. dustlunges: only here; the parallel place, 58/68, fixes its meaning as flingings, hurlings: ME. dusten, to fling, is a word characteristic of the group. R has reade . hare dustlunges as, T reade Hare dustlunges as, a better division, but requiring ⁊ before hare.

128. grure &c.: comp. ‘greden ai ⁊ granen iþe eche grure of helle,’ HM 47/12; ‘ðær is ece gryre . . . þær is wanung and granung,’ Wulfstan 114/4, id. 209/15, 18. heatel, full of hate, cruel; OE. hatol. R has hatel, T Heates.

129. wontreaðes: wondraðes R, wandreðes T: see 58/76. With bold, dwelling place, comp. ‘bold of eche blisse,’ OEH i. 273/10.

132. For schekeð R reads sorheð. me . . . me are dat. pronouns, like ham 120/96: comp. 80/47. rueð: runeð T, ruueð R; the first two seem to be mistakes for the last, which may represent a simple form of which ruffle is derivative, with meaning, to stiffen, stand up in disorder. W reads riseð. of, at; indicating source or cause: see 160/184.

133. wumme: see 2/13. ‘Nulla ibi vox, nisi vae, vae, vae habent, vae sonant,’ V 208 e.

135. ofearneð: if the prefix has any force, it means, thoroughly, fully. hwilinde: the OE. adj. are hwīlen, hwīlendlic, hwīlwende.

136. ȝef ꝥ: R omits ȝef: T has ȝif without þet. ‘Bonum erat ei, si non esset natus homo ille,’ S. Mark xiv. 21.

140. fore: see 118/42.

141. rihte . . . reade: comp. 141/50, 147/158.

142. Read beo[n] we, let us be.

145. he: ha RT.

146. deore: ‘pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors Sanctorum eius,’ Ps. cxv. 15.

147. fikelinde, deceiving: comp. ‘þis fikele world ⁊ frakele,’ HM 7/34; ‘eorðe ðet is fikel ⁊ fals,’ OEH i. 200/24. false: fahe RT., variegated.

148. wurðeð: so T, wurcheð R.

151. iburst, bristled, and metaphorically, enraged: elsewhere said of the boar, ‘burst bar,’ SJ 68/13, ‘iburst bar,’ id. 69/16; ‘al was heora gristbatinge; al swa wilde bares eȝe. | Whil heo weoren blake; ⁊ ladliche iburste,’ L 1886; ‘comeþ þe maister budel brust ase a bore,’ Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 104/51. sechinde: R adds inȝonge, which is superfluous, but not senseless; comp. 118/32.

152. tis, for þis after ant, cannot mean ‘thus,’ Morris: the meaning is, this much I can do, warn you against his malice . . . but I have no power against his force.

153. of, for, against. T has of his leað for hise wrenches ich con . Ah i ne mai &c.

154. ꝥ te, what: R has only ꝥ, T reads ꝥ te limpeð to.

157. eðeliche, morally poor: usually as applied to persons, it means, in humble circumstances. T reads eðeliche ⁊ wake · vnwearnede ⁊ unwepnede of treowe bileaue; preserving the original.

158. Etstont: here with dat.; it takes wið 122/182; aȝeines 126/324.

159. alle &c., our weapons are all given us by his favour. Fortitudo in the Latin quotes ‘induite vos armaturam Dei,’ Eph. vi. 11.

160. he, the adversary.

161. towart, against: comp. 126/333; ‘weorreð ⁊ warpeð eauer toward tis tur,’ HM 5/18. weole ⁊ wunne: a frequent combination in this group: comp. 143/69, 95; AR 198/30; SK 1501; HM 9/8, also ‘For al þe weole and þe wyn . þat riche men fede,’ OEM 91/22. este: comp. 72/187; ‘al hore wil ⁊ flesches eise ⁊ este,’ AR 220/6.

162. summes weis, in some respects: comp. 140/30; HM 9/32; at 124/236 it appears to translate aliquantisper, for some time. Similar phrases are ‘þisses weis,’ AR 186/25, ‘eueriches weis,’ id. 218/12.

163. na þing heardes: like Lat. nihil duri: comp. 122/183; ‘Wat dostu godes among monne,’ ON 563. With heardes comp. 113/37.

165. For both things, i. e. for both the rigour of adversity and the absence of bliss, it behoves one to feel dread. heart: hard RT.

167. ma þah, still more.

168. forȝemeð ham: comp. 22/137.

170. ȝuldene: comp. ‘Þe middel weie of mesure is euer guldene,’ AR 336/23. guldene RT.

172. hwet se &c., whatever be the case when hardships are concerned, I am not at all afraid of prosperity. For this use of of, comp. ‘Hwen þus is of þe riche . hwat wenes tu of the poure,’ HM 9/16. Morris translates, ‘Whatever may be of hardships I dread’; which involves an impossible ellipsis and the mistake of making ‘of heardes’ partitive depending on ‘hwet.’ In this text that would require ‘heardes’ without the preposition: comp. 122/163, 183.