9. #iqueðen#: ispeken T; ispeke J. Comp. ‘Ifurn ich habbe isuneȝet mid
wurken ⁊ midd muðe | ⁊ mid alle mine lime siððe ich sunehi cuðe | ⁊ wel
feole sunne ido þe me ofþincheð nuðe,’ OEM 193/29-31.
10. #þe#: so T e, but þat EJM; þet D. OE. #ofþyncan# is impersonal, it
takes dative of the person and genitive or, rarely, nominative of the
cause; ‘him ðæs slæpes ofþuhte,’ Ælf., Hom. Cath. i. 86/19 is normal.
The indeclinable relative þe here and in similar places, as ‘Ne do þu
non oðer man þing þe þe wolde ofþunche gief me hit dude þe,’ OEH ii.
179/20, may be doing duty for the genitive (see 46/292 note). But in ME.
generally hit is expressed as subject, 52/370, or the cause is
nominative, 38/164, 42/203 (notwithstanding the verb in the singular),
145/104, or the subject is actually personal, 46/271; ‘his freonden hit
ofþuhten,’ L 197. Þat in the other texts is nominative.
11. Comp. ‘Or me semblet puillent co ke ieo mult amai | Quant del plait
me souent enz en mun queor mes mai,’ Guischart 1205, 6. #Mest#: Best J.
The scribe should have put the stop after er.
12. Comp. ‘Mult est fous ke fait trop de sa volontez,’ Archiv lxiii.
84/301. After this line J interpolates, Mon let þi fol lust ouer-go ·
and eft hit þe likeþ; see 29/45.
13. #þe# is possibly miswriting of þen. M has also þe selþe, but e T D
þo; E þer; J eny selhþe. The meanings given in the dictionaries for
iselþe, luck, good fortune, happiness, do not give a good sense here; if
it could mean experience, the sentiment would be like ‘si jeunesse
savait, si vieillesse pouvait.’ Morris in OEH i. 160/13 translates
discretion.