39. _Foure thowsande and sex hundereth ȝere._ I do not know on what
calculation the writer changes 5,500, which is the figure in the Greek
and Latin texts of the Gospel of Nicodemus, in the French verse
renderings, and the ME. poem _Harrowing of Hell_. Cp. l. 354.
40. _in þis stedde_: the rimes _hadde_: _gladde_: _sadde_ point to the
Towneley MS. reading _in darknes stad_, 'set in darkness', as nearer the
original, which possibly had _in þister(nes) stad_.