88. #wurðen him#, become for him; ‘vertet{ur},’ M. T has hire, and
similarly twice in the next line. #tadden#: frouden P; see 46/273. #ba#:
boðe N; Baðe T.
89. #hwitel#: whittel P; OE. #hwītel# is usually a mantle, cloak; the
sense here accords better with Icel. hvítill; it means a blanket spread
over the bed straw to lie on. So the poor man in Piers Plowman has a too
short ‘substratum,’ ‘when he streyneþ hym to strecche · þe straw is hus
whitel,’ C 284/76; Walter of Henley quotes as an English proverb, ‘wo
þat strechet forþerre þan his wytel wyle reche, in þe straue his fet he
mot streche,’ Husbandry 4/6. ‘de v{er}mib{us} erit tam coop{er}toriu{m}
q{ua}m substratoriu{m},’ M; ‘son cou{er}tour ⁊ sa coilte,’ F; coilte
meaning mattress. The reading of N, his kurtel ⁊ his kuuertur, spoils
the meaning.