#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 a{n}d 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.