Passages in C (mostly interlined or marginal) which are not in N are
inserted between asterisks in the text of the latter. The collations at
the foot of pp. 60-75 show the other divergences of C and those of T
from N; when not followed by any letter they give the readings of T;
those followed by C are the readings of C, while B indicates agreement
of T and C as against N.
The Eighth Book of the Ancrene Wisse consists of a brief introduction,
to the effect that the outer rule is not rigidly binding, and seven
sections (‘stucchenes’ 72/188) treating of i. eating and drinking; ii.
worldly possessions and dealings, ll. 1-25; iii. clothes, 26-67; iv.
occupations, 67-100; v. care of the person, 101-20; vi. servants,
120-222; vii. use of the rule, and conclusion, 223-39.
1. #bute--reade# corresponds to frequent phrases in the Gilbertine Rule,
like ‘nisi necessitas postulet aliqua hoc fieri,’ ‘nisi magister aliter
iusserit.’ With the former compare 60/18, 62/20, 64/84, 74/217; with the
latter 60/13, 62/30, 37, 66/98; ‘þes riwle ⁊ alle oðre beoð in owres
scriftes read ⁊ in oweres meistres breoste,’ MS. C f. 190. The master is
‘presbyter aliquis senex maturus moribus, cui raro, nisi de confessione
et animae aedificatione, [inclusa] loquatur. A quo consilium accipiat in
dubiis, in tribulationibus consolationem,’ Ailred, 642 c.
3. #þuncheð bet#, seemeth to be rather. The contrast of Martha and Mary,
the active and the contemplative life, is a favourite topic in the AR;
‘Husewifschipe is Marthe dole[;] and Marie dole is stilnesse and reste
of alle worldes noise,’ 414/16. Less frequently it is Lya and Rachel
that are opposed, Hugh of S. Victor, i. 133.
5. #for# &c.: the passage is based on Ailred, ‘Aliae [inclusae] . . .
pecuniae congregandae vel multiplicandis pecoribus inhiant: tantaque cum
hac sollicitudine in his extenduntur, ut eas matres vel dominas
familiarum existimes, non anachoretas. Quaerunt aliquibus pascua,
pastores . . . Sequitur emptio et venditio’ &c., 641 c, but its vivid
detail and interest are all the writer’s own.
6. #Olhnin#, wheedle, get on the right side of; a word peculiar to AR,
SJ, SK, SM; ‘couendra . . . de querre la g{ra}ce de messer,’ F.
#heiward#: OE. *#hægweard# occurring in _dat._ hæigwerde; adopted by the
writer of Quadripartitus, p. 22 (_c._ 1100), as heiwardo, _d._, but
often called messor; among other duties, he kept cattle out of the
enclosed fields and impounded strays: see Liebermann, Gesetze, i. 452;
Leo, Rectitudines, 245. #wearien#: warien NCT; OE. #wergian#, curse,
revile; comp. ‘ne ne warien hwon me agulteð to ou,’ AR 186/2, 284/22;
‘Ȝe ne schulen uor none þinge ne warien, ne swerien,’ 70/20: ‘mandir
(for maudir) le q{a}nt il les enparke,’ F.
7. #ȝelden# &c., and moreover pay for the damage done. #wat crist#:
comp. ‘Deu le set,’ AR 382/17. #hwen# &c., when there is complaint among
the people at large about the recluse’s cattle, or possibly, wealth. The
order of the words forbids the explanation, ‘complaint of anchoresses’
cattle in an enclosure,’ Morris. For the vague use of #in tune#, comp.
KH 153 note. Comp. ‘si bestias haberetis, aliena pascua forsitan
occupare{n}t, essetque magnus clamor vicinorum dicentium: Utinam isti
eremitae nunquam advenissent, nam multiplex eorum possessio multiplex
nobis infert impedimentum,’ S. Stephani Grandimontensis Regula; De
bestiis non habendis; Migne, P. L. cciv. col. 1143: possibly the source
of this place.
8. #Nu þenne# introduces a command, 123/218, 126/311, or request 119/78,
or argument 122/191, but its use here for still, notwithstanding, is
peculiar. Note that the scribe of T deleted þenne in favour of þah.
10. #ifestnet#: L has nothing corresponding to the following
ancre--heorte, but instead ‘Cauens en{im} psalmista [di]cente. Nolite
cor appon[ere]’; a reference to Ps. lxi. 11.
11. #driue#, practise, pursue: comp. 130/72; ‘þa þe þone ceaþ drifað,’
Benedictine Rule, ed. Schröer, 95/11; ‘ꝥ nis bute dusilec | al ꝥ ha
driueð,’ SK 424, 5, 1798; ‘long wune is her driuen,’ GE 1681. #chepilt#,
a female trader, one who buys to sell at a profit, as the text explains.
12. #efter#: see 7/53. #chepeð#, offers for sale, with _dat._ chapmon;
comp. ‘And chepte heom to sullen vre helare,’ OEM 40/115, but with prep.
in sense of buying, ‘Ȝif me cheapeð on of þeos et ou,’ AR 190/8.
14 C: the addition þah--wordes, not in any other MS., is noteworthy: F
has nothing corresponding to it or to the sentence in A, þing--honden.
14. #sumhwile#: he is probably thinking of the Fathers of the Desert,
who plaited mats of palm, for the Vitas Patrum was a favourite book of
his. The regulation is only of general application, these sisters being
fully provided for.
15. #wite#, take charge of: in troublous times the anchorhold would be
regarded as a place of safe deposit. #of#: so CN, but T omits (correct
footnote by deleting B); it depends on #Nawt#. ‘Rien ne gardeȝ en
v{os}tre maisone daltrui choses,’ F. In N #of# must be partitive, for
witen takes the _acc._ of the thing guarded: see 118/52 note.
16. #boistes#, boxes, caskets, mostly for ointment, but here probably
jewel cases. #chartres#, deeds; probably the earliest instance.
#Scoren#, scrolls: OF. escroe; comp. ‘Scrowe oðer quaer,’ AR 282/29.
17. #cyrograffes#, indentures, bonds; an early instance of the word.
#calices#: there was a special objection, ‘nulla femina . . . calicem
Domini tangat,’ Udalrici Sermo Synodalis, Migne, P. L. cxxxv. 1071 b.
18. #strengðe#, violence: comp. 40/168: ‘bute vor neod one, als strengðe
⁊ deaðes dred,’ AR 6/23; ‘auh teares doð him strencðe’ (= lacrima
cogit), id. 244/27; ‘Ne dede dieuel him none strengþe,’ VV 113/19. F has
‘force.’
20. #makeð--hus#, causes your house to be laid open; comp. 117/8,
118/28; ‘oðer ȝif þu iherdest þeoues breken þine woawes,’ AR 242/23. The
Gilbertine Rule, while forbidding access to the nuns ordinarily, says
‘propter ignis incendium vel mortis instantis periculum, vel propter
furtum et latrocinium omnibus sustinemus introitum,’ p. *lxxvi.
22. #seoð#: comp. ‘Nullich ꝥ no mon iseo ou bute he habbe leaue speciale
of ower meistre,’ AR 56/21; ‘inclusa etiam facie velata loqui debet cum
viro,’ Ailred, 642 d. #wel mei don of#, it matters little about: #don#
means originally, serve, suffice, as in ‘that will do,’ but the phrase
with the words in this order is specialized: comp. ‘Ah wel mæi do{n} hu
hit ga[;] for wræcches we beoð æuere ma,’ L 12754, 5; ‘Scheome is
understonden bi þe reade[;] auh wel mei don,’ AR 356/11, where Morton
mistranslates. Quite different is, ‘an olde ancre mei don wel ꝥ tu dest
vuele,’ AR 52/9. T has duhen here, as A at 64/59 and C at 65/52,
ordinarily meaning to be of profit, to avail, but the sense is the same
as in the phrase containing don. The construction is impersonal; ancre
is _dative_ at 64/59, 65/52, as at 64/74: for #of#, concerning, comp.
‘he . . . dyde of heom ꝥ he wolde,’ AS. Chron. D 208/9. ‘De colore
aute{m} vest{ium} non est m{u}ltu{m} curandu{m},’ L; ‘ne puit chaler de
voȝ draps,’ F.
23. #unorne#, plain, rough: ‘vils,’ F; ‘du{m} [ta]me{n} no{n} n[im]is
(?) exq{ui}site,’ L. But Förster (Morsbachs Studien l. 171) would
translate, ordinary, usual.
24. #ow to neodeð#: comp. ‘nimen . . . þet hire to neodeð,’ AR 414/24.
#ow# is _dat._ depending directly on the verb, the usual construction of
the person in EME. for neoden and neod, comp. 123/210; #to# is adverbial
and a superfluity, quite in the manner of the writer, comp. ‘þurh hwat
muhte sonre ful luue of aquiken,’ AR 58/10; ‘þet ich spec er of
þeruppe,’ id. 372/23; 130/80 note. Contrast, ‘Nefde he nane neode to us
ac we hefden muchele neode to him,’ OEH i. 123/35, where to = of. #to
bedde#: comp. ‘to ruggen and to bedde[;] iscrud mid gode webbe,’ L
19946, 7; ‘Nowe is the tyme of the yere when provysion was wont to be
made . . . of ther wynter vesturys [to] theyr bodyes and to ther
beddis,’ Wright, Suppression of Monasteries, 68/4: ‘a lit ⁊ a dos,’ F.
26. #linnene#: its use in any form was a great concession. It was noted
that Abbot Roger Norreys of Evesham, in his contempt for the Rule,
‘camisiis et lintheaminibus . . . palam utebatur,’ Chron. Abb. de
Evesham, 104. #hearde#, hard; _pl._ of heard, l. 44: #herde# N 28 is the
same word, but Morris glosses it, hards, hurds, tow, and heorden, hards
of flax, referring both to #heordan#, without accounting for the
difference in form. The meaning, of hards and of coarse hards, is not
satisfactory. F has ‘sil ne seit de stupeȝ ⁊ de grosses estoupes’; the
two nouns appear to be an Anglo-French and a French form from the same
Latin word, stupa. Possibly the former means tow of flax and the latter
tow of hemp; anyhow the cloth was called stupacium. Comp. generally,
‘Porro talia ei vestimenta sufficiant quae frigus repellant.
Grossioribus peliciis utatur, & pellibus propter hyemem, propter
aestatem autem unam habeat tunicam: utroque vero tempore duas de
stupacio camisias vel staminas,’ Ailred, 644 e.
27. #Stamin#: OF. estamine, an under-garment loosely woven of coarse
wool, nearly as uncomfortable as a hair shirt, ‘camiseam de grossiori
panno [habeant], si voluerint’ of the Gilbertine Rule, p. *lxxix.
‘Estamiȝ,’ F.
28. #hetter#, garment: ‘vn de voȝ vestures,’ F. OE. _pl._ #hæteru#,
often in ME. as singular. ‘Vestiti quoque dormiant et cincti, vt semper
sint parati,’ Grimlaici Regula Solitariorum, in Holstenii Codex, i. 291.
Lay folk did not in those days wear night clothes. #leoðeliche#,
loosely: the ME. adverb corresponding to the OE. adjective #liþig#,
flexible; comp. OWScand. liðugr, free: liðeliche, 72/194 is OE. #līþe#,
soft. The writer here and elsewhere shows himself anxious to mitigate
the austerities of his pupils. F has nothing corresponding to
swa--under.
30. #cunne# is historically genitive plural: see 132/9 note and 81/80
note. #schriftes#, confessor’s: the ‘meistre’ of 60/2: comp. 80/62; ‘bi
ure shriftes rede,’ OEH ii. 55/29; ‘mid ðe rade of þine scrifte,’ VV
127/2. In F ‘sanȝ congie de son confessour’ corresponds to ‘wiðute
schriftes leaue,’ 62/33.
31. #ilespiles felles#, hedgehogs’ skins: OE. #igil#, #īl#, hedgehog +
#pīl#, prickle; the compound is used in ME. for the animal. Comp. ‘⁊
alle [sunnen] weren prikiende so piles on ile | He biþ þicke mid piles,’
Worc. Frag. F 21, 2. In #irspiles# N 30 _r_ is probably due to OF.
heriçun: F has ‘peel diricon.’
31 N. #ileðered# in this MS. only: it must mean, furnished with leather
thongs: F has ‘[pl]umbee.’