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.