693. _wanhope_, despair; as in the parallel passage in the Ayenb. p. 34, l.
12. Cf. P. Plowman, C. viii. 59, 81, and note.
694. 'Quidam enim in peccata prolapsi desperatione plus pereunt'; S. Aug.
De Natura et Gratia, cap. 35; ed. Migne, xliv. 266. A similar passage
occurs in his Sermo xx. § 3; ed. Migne, xxxviii. 140.
698. The words _recreant_ and _creant_ are, curiously enough, used in
almost exactly the same sense; perhaps _creant_ was merely an abbreviated
form. To 'say _creant_' and to 'yield oneself _recreant_' meant, 'to own
oneself beaten'; the original sense being, apparently, 'to entrust oneself
to the enemy' or confide in him, in the hope of obtaining mercy; see the
explanation of _se recredere_ in Ducange, and _recreant_ and _recroire_ in
Godefroy. The E. phrase is well illustrated by P. Plowman, B. xii. 193,
xviii. 100; see _creant_ in the New E. Dict.
700-703. Alluding to Luke xv. 7; xv. 24; xxiii. 42, 43.