19. _Leseth_, lose ye; note the form of the imperative plural in _-eth_;
cf. l. 37. _As ferforth as ye may_, as far as lies in your power.
20. _wasteth_, consumeth; cf. _wastour_, a wasteful person, in P. Plowm. B.
vi. 154.--M. Hl. has _passeth_, i. e. passes away; several MSS. insert _it_
before _wasteth_, but it is not required by the metre, since the _e_ in
_time_ is here fully sounded; cf. A. S. _t[=i]ma_. Compare--
'The tyme, that passeth night and day,
And rest[e]lees travayleth ay,
And _steleth_ from us so prively,
. . . . . .
_As water that doun runneth ay,_
_But never drope returne may_,' &c.
Romaunt of the Rose, l. 369.
See also Clerkes Tale, E. 118.