178. #grunde#: comp. 46/295; ‘alesde us of helle grunde,’ OEH i. 19/8;
‘al forloren into helle grunde,’ id. 21/35; see also 119/82. For #faren
forð mid#, E e have, falle swiþe raþe.
179. #are#: ore E J D. The text means, ever without mercy and without
end, but Lewin confusing ore with orde as in ‘Wiþþutenn ord ⁊ ende,’ Orm
234/6775, translates ‘ohne Anfang und Ende.’ e reads á ⁊ buten ende.
180. #gate#: dure E e J D; M omits. #for lesen#: for lese e; the others
have to. The infinitive of purpose with _for_ is uncommon, comp.
173/409.
181. #sullic#, wonder. #wa . . . uneade#, OE. #unēaðe#, are historically
adverbs, lit. though to them it be wofully and grievously; bet, wwrs,
&c., are used in the same construction; see 46/289: comp. with #uneade#,
‘þer fore hire wes uneðe,’ L 4503; ‘an heorte him wes unneðe,’ id.
26730. J has, he mawe wunye eþe, they may easily remain there.
182. #for lesen#: variants as in l. 180, but E for lesen. Comp. ‘Ki deu
ne uolt conustre tut serrat cureicus | Il ne morrat ia meis ne por mei
ne por uus,’ Guischart 223, 4.
183. #helle brec#, harrowed hell. ‘The Gospel [of Nicodemus] probably
reached the climax of its popularity in England during the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries,’ The ME. Harrowing of Hell, ed. Hulme, p.
lxviii.
184: Comp. ‘Tant cher nus achatað de sun sanc precius,’ Guischart 220;
OEM 49/434, 187/20. #hom#: hi D; the others, us.
185. #mei . . . mei#: comp. 30/29, where L has the usual pair,
representing OE. #mǣge#, kinswoman, #mǣg#, kinsman: mouwe . . . mey E;
maȝhe . . . mei e; moȝe . . . meie D; moȝe . . . mei M: but J Nolde hit
nomon do for me.