17. _Yow_, you. In addressing a superior, it was customary to use the words
_ye_ and _you_, as a mark of respect; but, in prayer, the words _thou_ and
_thee_ were usual. Hence, Chaucer has mixed the two usages in a very
remarkable way, and alternates them suddenly. Thus, we have _thee_ in l. 5,
_thou_ in l. 6, &c., but _yow_ in l. 17, _thy_ in l. 19, _you_ in l. 24;
and so on. We even find the plural verbs _helpen_, l. 104; _Beth_, l. 134;
and _ben_, l. 176.
20. _Accioun_, action, is here used in the legal sense; 'my sin and
confusion have brought an action (i. e. plead) against me.' It is too close
a copy of the original, l. 25--'Contre moy font une accion.'
21. I. e. 'founded upon rigid justice and a sense of the desperate nature
of my condition.' Cf. 'Rayson et desperacion Contre moy veulent maintenir';
orig. l. 29. _Maintenir_, to maintain an action, is a legal term. So, in l.
22, _sustene_ means 'sustain the plea.'