164 T. #to þe#: a mistake which has probably arisen out of an original
þo: efning is constructed with wið.
163-166. Not in J. After scal E has þei, e þeh, D þeð, T þeih,
nevertheless.
164. #ofþincþ#: see 30/10 note. The subject of #bet# is he, as implied
by him preceding.
165. #scameþ . . . gromeð#: comp. ‘Teonen þolien ⁊ gromen ⁊ schomen umbe
stunde,’ HM 7/8, and for the corresponding nouns in the next line, ‘Þu
vs hauest iwroht þes schome. | And alle þene eche grome,’ OEM 83/334, 5;
‘Me to sorge, scaðe and same,’ GE 302; OEH ii. 173/13, 14, 23.
166. #þo þre#: so D þoðre, but þe oþre E e M. #oft#: e D M agree with T;
but E has, þat sculle beon forlorene.
167, 168. Comp. ‘Ia ne porrat nuls dire ke il seit enganez | En tant com
li oil clot serrat li plaiz finez,’ Guischart 444, 5.
168. #mene#, with #him# reflexive, complain; comp. ‘þat he ne mahte
nanes weis | meanen him of wohe,’ SK 1235, 6. D has bimene; comp. ‘Men
hem bimenin of litel trewthe,’ Rel. Ant. ii. 121/11. At 196/663, 205/280
it has the more usual sense, with reflexive, of bemoan. #strengþe . . .
wronge#: comp. 19/48-51, 32/48-50, 44/256: the perversion of justice by
bribed or overawed judges is a common theme in the literature of the
time; see Wright, Political Songs, pp. 224-30. #strengþe#, violence, has
usually a determining adjective in this sense, as ‘nawt wið luðer
strencðe,’ SK 1234; ‘liste ne luðer strengðe,’ id. 1516, but see 60/18.
170. #uuele holden#, handled, treated, hardly; comp. ‘and heom heold swa
harde[;] ⁊ mid hærme heo{m} igrette,’ L 29937, 8. #redde#: a mistake for
rerde, as in E; the others have arerde, set up, instituted; comp. 15/80,
85.