33. #binetli#, whip with nettles: NED. quotes from Cotgrave,
‘_enortier_, to benettle.’
34. #biuoren#, in front of the body. #ne na keoruunge#, practise no
cutting or mutilation. #ed eanes#, at any one time. F ‘a nule foiȝ.’
35. #luðere#, severe, lit. wicked. #disceplines#: ‘smerte smiten of
smale longe ȝerden,’ OEH ii. 207/6. Comp. ‘Disciplina pacis nostre super
eum, seið Isaye, þus ure beatunge ueol upon him,’ AR 366/14, 346/24.
36. #cundeliche#: for sicknesses which come in the natural course they
must not put faith in or try remedies which are unnatural, such as the
nostrums of the herb-woman: see 54/6 note. The writer in another place,
368, says that recluses are apt to be far too much concerned about
bodily health.
37. #leste# &c., lest worse befall you: see 30/18. #leste# descends from
#þȳ lǣs þe#; this is an early instance of its use.
38. #meoke#, soft, supple; comp. 64/66: the only instances in English of
the use of this word in the material sense of OWScand. mjúkr as in Icel.
mjúk-hendr, soft-handed. ‘In yeme utamini sotularib{us} grossis ⁊
callidis,’ L.
39. #Hosen wiðute vampez#, stockings without feet; the ‘chausses’ were
usually footed. ‘En chauces sanȝ auant pieȝ gise qi voudra,’ F; ‘In
caligis sine pedalib{us} dormiet{is},’ L. #vampez#, _pl._ of vampe or
vampey, are properly the front part of a boot, the ‘uppers’ (avant
pied), here they mean the whole covering of the foot. In Cavendish’s
Life of Wolsey (ed. Singer 335), Wolsey is represented as saying, ‘we do
intend . . . to go afoot . . . in the vamps of our hosen,’ i.e. in our
stocking feet. The second #and# in 35 N is superfluous.
40. #Ischeoed--bedde#: another prohibition of undue austerities. The
passage is not in any other of the English MSS., nor in F, but L has
‘calciatis nu{m}qu{am} n{e}c nisi in lecto.’
41. #Sum--wereð#, it may be that some woman wears &c. For #inohreaðe#
see 56/43; F has ‘parauenture’ here as there. #brech#, drawers; OE.
#brēc#, _pl._ of #brōc#, answering to femoralia of the monastic Rules.
#here#, haircloth; OE. #hǣre#.
42. #streapeles#, the legs of the drawers; especially so called when
they were closely confined to the limb by cross-gartering. They were
worn by men also: see Strutt’s Complete View of the Dress &c. i, plates
31, 49, 56, for good illustrations. OE. #strapul#: ‘Hoc tibiale: a
strapylle,’ Wright, Vocab. 775/18, 734/23. F has ‘les braeis de heire
m[u]lt bien noueȝ les tiguns aual desqe a pieȝ mult ferm laceȝ,’ but
nothing corresponding to #ah--here#, which is in A alone: and yet it is
necessary to the sense. The writer does not approve of the ‘brech of
here,’ a sweet and patient disposition is better, an often-repeated
idea; ‘Þis is Godes heste, þet him is muchele leouere þen þet tu ete
gruttene bread, oðer werie herde here,’ AR 186/10. L is with A, ‘Alique
utu{n}tur femoralib{us} ciliciu{m}. Mallem tame{n} in vobis cor humile ⁊
pote{n}s s{us}tinere dura v{er}ba · et p{ro}brosa · q{uam} duru{m}
ciliciu{m} portare.’
43. #swete . . . swote#: a frequent combination: comp. ‘swete ⁊ swote
iheorted,’ AR 118/3; ‘so unimete swote ⁊ swete,’ id. 102/26. #þolien#:
comp. ‘A mis-word þet ȝe þolieð . . . ȝe nolden sullen hire uor al þe
worldes golde,’ AR 190/7.
44. #ȝef--wullen#, If you can do without wimples, and you would
doubtless wish to do so.
45. #beoð bi#, have for use: comp. ‘beoð bi þe leste þet heo euer
muwen,’ AR 350/7; ‘gifð us al þat we bi ben,’ OEH ii. 69/29, 179/6.
Similarly, ‘ne na mâ wifa þonne ân hæbbe, ac beo be þære anre þa hwile,
þe heo lybbe,’ Wulfstan, 271/14 (B.-T.); ‘ne æac maran getilige to
haldænne þonne ic gêmetlice bi beon mage,’ Blooms, ES xviii. 343/43.
#cappen#: the ‘mitras lineas, nigras et forratas de agninis pellibus’ of
the Gilbertine Rule, p. *lxxix.
46. #wimplunge#: so S. Bernard contrasts the wimpled fine lady and the
veiled nun, ‘Risus immoderatior, incessus lascivior, vestitus ornatior
wimplatae magis quam velatae congruerent,’ i. 123 f. The wimple was a
long strip of fine linen which encircled the head, neck, and the top of
the shoulders; at this time one end of it hung down along the left arm.
There is a good illustration of it in Shaw’s Dresses and Decorations, i,
on the middle figure of plate 10. Like other linen clothing, it was at
this time coloured with saffron; ‘hire winpel wit, oðer maked geleu mid
saffran,’ OEH ii. 163/32; Rel. Ant. ii. 15/8; the ‘ȝeolewe clað’ of
82/108. The long passage from Ancren l. 46 to wimplunge l. 59 is in AC
only; in the latter it is added on the margin, which has been cropped. L
is very fragmentary at this point, but it had matter corresponding to A.
47. #cundeliche#, by reason of her sex, because she is a woman, and
ordered as such by S. Paul to veil her head.
48. #heaued clað#: the ‘couvre-chef,’ a veil of fine linen worn on the
head. Holy Scripture says nothing of wimples or other head-dress, but
speaks of covering only. ‘Si turpe est mulieri tonderi aut decalvari,
velet caput suum,’ 1 Cor. xi. 6.
51-55. The source of this passage is probably, ‘Linus papa . . .
constituit ut mulieres in ecclesia velatae sint. Et hoc propter tres
causas fit: una est, cum sint decipula diaboli, ne laxis earum crinibus
iuvenum animi illaqueentur; . . . tertia est ut reatus originalis
peccati, qui per mulierem evenit, ad memoriam nobis revocetur. Iudex
quippe malorum est Christus: sacerdos eius vicarius. Ante sacerdotem
ergo debet se mulier velare velut rea et tanti mali sibi conscia coram
iudice celare. Unde dicit Apostolus, ut mulier velata sit propter
angelos, id est sacerdotes,’ Honorius Augustodunensis (Migne, P. L.
clxxii) 589 d. #sunfule# goes with eue; comp. 63/44.
52. #on earst#, at the beginning, would correspond to OE. *#on ǣrest#,
which is apparently not found: OE. #on ǣr# means beforehand. Comp. ‘on
erest,’ AR 264/8; ‘on earst,’ SM 14/7; ‘on alre earst,’ HM 17/25; SM
14/4. The phrase is confined to AR and its group; elsewhere at erst is
used.
53. #drahe#, divert from their proper use: a rare meaning. #tiffunge#,
adornment.
54. If #ȝetten# means yet, furthermore, it repeats and reinforces #Eft#.
As a form it seems to be quite isolated: it may be derived from ȝette
and owe its final _n_ to the influence of such pairs as ofte, often;
uppe, uppen; buten, bute; seþþen, seþþe. #ȝette# 47 C is also a rare
form; comp. 76/19; HM 13/9, 43/13; ‘ewt ꝥ mon seið þe oðer deð ȝette,’
id. 43/21. It can hardly come from #gīeta#, which gives ȝete; perhaps it
is for ȝet + þe, like þætte for þæt þe: þe ȝet is frequent in Layamon.
55. #þurh hire onsihðe#, through the seeing of her: comp. 124/253,
perhaps the only other place where the word occurs: it is possibly
formed on the analogy of OE. #ansīen#. #Et hoc# &c.: ‘Ideo debet mulier
potestatem habere supra caput propter Angelos,’ 1 Cor. xi. 10.
56. #iwimplet#: the writer is addressing an imaginary disciple who
insists on the wimple as satisfying the requirements of S. Paul. He
replies that the apostle requires more; the face also must be veiled;
his words are directed against the recluse who receives visits from men.
The wimple can be dispensed with by the recluse who keeps within her
walls and avoids the sight of men. The visits of various people to the
recluse are often referred to; see AR 56/20, 58/5, 68/16.