'For with the princes of pride the Prechours dwellen,
They bene _as digne as the devel_, that droppeth fro hevene.'
Hence _digne_ is proud, repulsive.
3965. 'And full of scorn and reproachful taunting'; like the lady in Lay de
Freine, l. 60 (in Weber's Met. Romances, i. 359):--
'A proud dame and an enuious,
Hokerfulliche missegging,
Squeymous and eke scorning;
To ich woman sche hadde envie.'
_Hoker_ is the A. S. _h[=o]cor_, scorn. _Bismare_ is properly of _two_
syllables only (A. S. _bismor_), but is here made into three; MS. Cp. has
_bisemare_, and Hl. has _bissemare_, and the spelling _bisemare_ also
appears much earlier, in the Ancren Riwle, p. 132, and _bisemære_ in
Layamon, i. 140. Owing to a change in the accentuation, the etymology had
been long forgotten. See _Bismer_ in the New E. Dict., and see the
Glossary.
3966. 'It seemed to her that ladies ought to treat her with consideration,'
and not look down upon her; see note to l. 3943.
3977. _The person_, the parson, i. e. her grandfather.