44. #þerf he#, copied by mistake from the preceding line. The MSS. agree
substantially with T: e has, þer ne mei hí be nime. #laðe . . . loue#:
formal; comp. ‘mid lufe ge mid laþe,’ BH 45/8; ‘litel me is of ower
luue, leasse of ower laððe,’ SJ 27/14.
45. #of ȝeve ne of ȝelde#, of bribes to officials and of taxes; things
which subtract from his gains on earth. Comp. ‘hem þat desireth | Ȝiftes
or ȝeresȝyues · bi cause of here offices,’ Piers Plowman, B. iii. 98,
99; Böddeker, Alteng. Dicht. 104/53; 44/256: Mede was very busy in those
days. This is undoubtedly the original reading; J D concur, but E has of
wiue ne of childe, similarly e; M of ȝunge ne of ȝelde: #here# in T is
hire, usury.
46. For #solf bereð# E has the singular variant, suuel and bred, savoury
meat and bread.
47, 48. Not in D. #draȝen ⁊ don#, convey our wealth and deposit it:
comp. ‘La devriüm traire | trestot nostre afaire, | nostre estage
prendre, | le nostre doner | por nos delivrer, | partir e despendre,’
Reimpredigt 56/110, which is possibly the source of the English; see
also 51 note. Otherwise #draȝen# with #þider# would naturally mean,
proceed to that place, as in ‘Traez uers cel pais chascon a grant
espleit,’ Guischart 1259, but that leaves #don# without meaning. It has
the sense of the fuller phrase in l. 42: see NED, #do# I 3. Morris
indeed connects don wel which is against the metrical pause as indicated
by the point after #don# in E e J: E e moreover read wel oft ⁊ wel
ȝelome, and J has hit in l. 48 for naut. For #wel ofte# see 49/329, for
wel ilome, 134/97. M reads þider we scolde bere ⁊ draȝe, ofte ⁊ wel
ylome, with hit in the next line, as in J. #ofte ⁊ ilome#: OE. #oft and
gelōme#; comp. 48/325, 119/78, 127/360; ‘Hi hedden teone and seorewe ·
ofte and ilome,’ OEM 89/14, 169/22; ON 1545; L 16500.