16. #wittes#, senses: comp. ‘hire fif wittes . sihðe ⁊ heringe .
smecchunge ⁊ smeallunge ⁊ euch limes felunge,’ HM 13/25; AR 48/8,
116/25.
17. #hwer--ȝemeles#: ‘Nam si vel parum a sua sollicitudine torpuerit,’ V
207 _e_.
18. #feareð untoheliche#, behaves in unruly fashion. #gulteð ilome#: see
34/91.
19. #ifol semblant#, in foolish demeanour: comp. ‘ȝif þu makest ei
semblaunt oðer eni luue lates touward unðeauwes,’ AR 90/17. #Inwið# &c.:
following on the division made in ll. 14, 15, we might have expected
here something like, Þeo wið innen beoð þohtes.
20. #in#, busied about, intent on such a great variety of purposes to
please Will. For #in#, of aim, object, comp. ‘He only, in a general
honest thought | And common good to all, made one of them,’ Shakspere,
Julius Caesar, v. v. 71. It might also be regarded as, in the shape of.
21. #hit# might be impersonal, that things shall go on to her liking,
but comp. l. 10.
22. #iþþlen# can hardly be a mistake for ifelen (Specimens): it is
possibly for iðolien. R has felen, T fele. #nurhð#, noise: comp. 129/47
note: ‘His laðliche nurð ⁊ his untohe bere makeð þe to agrisen,’ HM
31/22; ‘nurð ne kimeð in heorte bute of sum þing ꝥ me haueð oðer isehen
oðer iherd,’ AR Corpus MS. where MS. Nero, ed. Morton, 92/3, has
‘noise’; ‘leaueð ower nurð . ant oþer ladliche bere,’ SM 21/20. The word
is not found outside this group. T has murð, as at 118/22, but R with
‘murhðe’ there has correctly nurð here.
23. #a þet#: see 72/179 note. #hit#: RT have correctly wit. #eie . . .
luue#: comp. 72/200. With #tuhte#, discipline, comp. ‘tuhten ne chasten
þi meiden uor hire gult,’ AR 268/21.
24. #for#, because of the untrustworthiness of: analogous to 104/175.
#for hwen ꝥ#, if on occasion, when: see 72/192 and comp. ‘for hwen þat
he cheas hire,’ HM 15/11. Its use appears to be restricted to this
group. slepe . oðer ohwider fare R; slepes oðer owhwider fares T.
26. #let ham iwurðen#, lets them have their own way, abandons them to
their own devices. Comp. ‘ure Louerd let us one iwurðen oðer hwules ⁊
wiðdraweð his grace,’ AR 230/27, 288/23; ‘Heo let heom alle i-wurþe .
þat beoþ so swyþe stronge,’ OEM 89/32; SK 791.
28. #forte breoke . . . abuten#: see 74/229 note. #efter#: see 7/53. #ꝥ#
is _acc._ after bohte, with lette it means, for which: comp. 44/252,
263. With #lette# &c. comp. 144/84.
29. #moni þeof#: ‘Fur autem non unus est sed multiplex, quia singulis
virtutibus singula vitia insidiantur,’ V 208 _a_.
30. #gasttes#: comp. 15/79; ‘ȝewerged gastes . ⁊ unþeawes . ⁊ unwraste
lahtres,’ OEH i. 243/7.
31. #castel#: so T, but R has chatel, property, possession. All the MSS.
have ‘castel’ at 123/203.