Chapter V: Part 5

The dilapidations wrought by the copyists may be classed as follow: i. Archaic and uncommon words are rejected: for þeynes 1, read sweynes; comp. L 28359, O 3297, 14953 for this word as meaning the immediate dependants of the king; the line then divides after ‘sete’: l. 13, see note: l. 24 for seyde þe, read wordede; comp. ‘þe king wordede þus,’ L 13052: l. 26 with the help of T may be restored, arme ⁊ edie leode · of lifis wisdom: l. 38, see note: l. 56, adopting ‘here’ from T, read þat land for to werie | wiþ hunger and wiþ here (the Danish marauding host was forgotten): l. 62, for bihoue read biliue (bilif T, W): l. 68, for beon read wurþen: l. 71, 330 for rewe read suwe, smart; comp. 72/199: l. 82, see note and comp. L 30903: l. 87, for howyen, read ȝeomeren, be depressed: l. 88, 155, for lykie read wurþe: comp. ‘Ne scyle nán wís monn gnornian to hwæm his wise weorþe,’ Boeth. 40, 3 (B-T): l. 111, see note: l. 115, for turne read rume (rime T): l. 122, see note: l. 133, for inowe read muche (moch T): l. 136, for Monymen read moni gume: l. 137, for him seolue read his saule, with T: l. 138, for bycome read were, with T, restoring a couplet: l. 143 for þing, read weole (welþe T): half a line is lost after lere: read, And ich eu lere wille · [leoue freond myne] | wit and wisdom · þat alle weole ouergoþ.: ll. 202, 207, see notes: l. 278 for mon read wiht: l. 280 for holde read lenge, as in T. ii. Older forms and constructions are modernised: ll. 159, 160, see note: l. 169 read þat heo þe bringe, making a couplet: l. 187 read heuede: l. 216 read þare for þe: l. 305, read alle for al, comp. 185: other instances are noted in Accidence. iii. Words are rearranged mostly in a prose order, spoiling rhyme and rhythm: read l. 25, leoue freond myne: l. 41 himseólf one lokie: l. 55 bihoueþ þan knyhte, for the alliterating word in the first half of the line comes almost invariably last, the rare exceptions being mostly verbs: for l. 56 see above: read l. 80 and he isowen hadde: l. 118 hit one wot dryhten: l. 130, vre maþmes welden | and vs byhinde leten: l. 142, lere wille: l. 156, if þu hauest serewe | and hit wot þe erewe: l. 203, þe kat museþ: l. 211, wiþute is bryht: ll. 232, 233, þe hire rede folẹweþ | to seorewe heo bringeþ: l. 245, þat he habbe freond: ll. 321, 322, þanne hit sone deþ | þat þe unyqueme biþ. iv. Lines and parts of lines are transposed, most of these as affecting the interpretation have been dealt with in the notes, see 40, 90, 144, 186, 247; read ll. 72, 73, þenne cumeþ vnhelþe | and ek uniselþe: though the combination in the text is found elsewhere as 40/197, elde seems to be due to the preceding line; at l. 190 we should perhaps read wymmon is tungwod · ⁊ haueþ wordes to wroþ. v. Padding is freely used: l. 4 omit þe: l. 7 read On Engelonde king: l. 9 read gon for bigon: omit l. 24, þe before king; l. 35, ne; l. 49, he; l. 66, his; l. 69, þat; l. 98, þe mon, and read þe on youhþe swo swinkeþ | and worldes weole her iwinneþ: l. 105, read on ȝouþe þat he haueþ idrowe: omit l. 132, þu; l. 149, owe; l. 152, þu; l. 188, hit; l. 189, scholde, forþ; l. 192, nowiht, and read ll. 191, 192 as an alliterative line: omit l. 205, ne, he; l. 209, blyþe and; l. 210, þe mon: l. 219-23, with the help of T we may restore, Ne ared þu nouht to swiþe | þe word of þine wyue. | If heo be i wreþþed · myd worde oþer dede; l. 231, for þat wymmon read heo; comp. T: l. 242 omit þe mon: l. 249, see note: l. 254, omit þe before wule: l. 262 omit þe, see note: l. 275, for schulle bicumen read bicumeþ: l. 280, for none read no: ll. 294, 296, omit þu: l. 324 omit þe. vi. The rhymes may, in some cases, have been spoiled by the substitution of alien dialectic forms; it is tempting to read ihere 10, iherd 205, but the _u_ forms do not appear to belong to the dialect of the scribe of J: at l. 102 helde, a patois form (Bülbring § 175 note), might be read: at l. 240 þon. The combinations brouhte : myhte, 181, 182; ayhte : nouhte, 274, 275 are remarkable.

Many intractable lines remain, such as 284, where perhaps bet has been lost at the end.

Elision and slurring are frequent; pronounce þeorl 4, lawẹlyche 47, euẹlyche 49, euẹruyches, owẹre 54, &c.

#Introduction:# The ascription of the Proverbs to Alfred rests on no firmer ground than an affectionate remembrance of the great king as a sage and teacher of his people. The only part of the poem which could with even artistic fitness be attributed to him is ll. 19-64, the rest is mostly the cautious wisdom of the common people, varied by reflections in a higher strain on the favourite mediaeval theme of the shortness and uncertainty of life. Up to l. 64 the poem is connected; afterwards it is without apparent plan, though there is occasionally a slender thread of union between the stanzas. The editors indeed see a new exordium and the beginning of a second section in stanza xiii, which appears to me to be a weak imitation of stanza vii. Perhaps a structural difference may be detected between the more general observations of the first part and the advice to an individual which begins with stanza xiv. Stanza xxi appears to have strayed from its natural place beside stanza vii.

The version of MS. J is not necessarily the more primitive because it is shorter than that of T. A poem of such loose structure readily lends itself to selection on the part of the copyist; and the scribe of MS. J was evidently a critic.

If the suggestions offered in the section on metre have any weight, a considerable time and several copies must have intervened between the original and the present form of the poem. The composition of that original should, I think, be placed somewhere about 1180 A.D.

1. #Seuorde#: siforde T; Sifforde W, RJ, which is identified by Spelman 126 with ‘Shifford, six miles west from Oxford.’ That it is ‘remote from the use of the southern dialect’ does not prevent it from being the place where Alfred discoursed. But Seaford, a seaport in Sussex, is more likely to have been associated in the popular mind and tradition with Alfred.

2. #Biscopes#, &c.: comp. ‘Forð iwenden eorles[;] forð iwenden beornes. | forð iwenden biscopes[;] & þa boc-ilæred m{en}[;] forð iwenden þæines[;] forð iwe{n}den sweines | . . . at þan hustinge,’ L 14620. With #bokilered# comp. 19/39, 4/20 note.

3. #egleche#, valiant: OE. #aglǣca#, a fierce warrior. egloche S.

4. #Alurich#: An Ælfric thesaurarius witnesses a charter of King Alfred, A.D. 892, Birch, Cart. Saxon. ii. 209.

5. #of . . . wis#: comp. 212/533.

6. #hurde#: comp. ‘Swa se æþela lareow sægde, þæt se cyning & se biscop sceoldan beón Cristenra folca hyrdas,’ BH 45/24; ‘folces hyrde,’ Beowulf 610.

7. #Englene durlyng#: so, ‘com Alfred þe king[;] Englelondes deorli{n}g,’ L 6316: he has also ‘Bruttene, Orka[n]es, Denemarkes, Irisce mo{n}nen, utlaȝen deorling.’ See KH 488 note.

9. #bigon#: gon T, gan W,S: set to work to teach.

13. #and# may be redundant, as often in Layamon, as ‘Ic wlle mine riche to-don[;] & alle{n} minen dohtren,’ 2945 but #Alured#, though it is in all the copies, may be an error for Ælder: comp. ‘& þu seolf læuerd king[;] leoden þu ært ælder,’ L 16835, 17252, in the latter place, leader. T,W,S read a.

16. #wis . . . war#: comp. 129/27, 156/148, 186/324, 190/456; ‘þe wes þe wiseste[;] þe wes þe warreste,’ L 2107; ‘wisliche þauh ⁊ warliche,’ AR 138/7.

21. #wisliche#, wise, advisable: OE. #wīslīc#: Layamon has ‘to iwisliche{n} þinge,’ 21052. T has, of wi[s]liche þinges.

28. #lykyen#, please: in this sense it governs a dative, which may be understood out of hine. But Mätzner translates, like.

29. #one#, alone: comp. 19/41, 22/118, 60/2.

30. #glednesse#: after the manner of l. 29, we expect gleawnesse, but comp. ‘Of alkin gladnes es þar gleu,’ CM 23359. T has ⁊ he is gleu | ouer alle glade þinhes: S omits. Line 31 is probably a gloss upon l. 30.

34. #riche#, powerful: comp. 6/30, 133/33; ‘hit ne gerist nanum ricum cynincge,’ Ælf. Lives i. 382/260.

35, 6. that there shall not be wanting anything he desires to him who is purposed to honour Him here in this world. For the construction of #wone#, see 52/368: for the double negative comp. ‘for he ne mihte beon wurðe[;] na þing of his wille,’ L 18704: in the MS. _wc_ the scribe mistook þ for w. T has apparently þo, not wo: Skeat reads [hwo]: that relative is not found in J.

37. For stanza iii generally comp. ‘Decet regem discere legem. | Audiat rex quod praecipit lex. | Legem servare hoc est regnare. | Notitia litterarum lux est animarum,’ Wipo 1-4. An echo of this stanza is evident in, ‘The ferste seide, “I understonde | Ne may no king wel ben in londe, | Under God Almihte, | But he cunne himself rede, | Hou he shal in londe lede | Everi man wid rihte,”’ Wright, Pol. Songs, 254/7 (date 1311 A.D.).

38. #may# has possibly its independent force, is strong, has power, comp. 29/12, but the line is evidently corrupt; #ryhtwis# is a reminiscence of l. 34, as is also _riche_ in T. It is easy to supply beo after #king#, for TS have _ben_. But RJ, S are nearest the right reading with, Ne mai no riht cing ben under crist selve (selve SH{1}; self SH{2}, selfe SL). Read Ne may beon ryht king. #vnder criste#, a favourite expression in Layamon, as, ‘Ȝe beoð under criste[;] cnihten alre kennest | and ich æm rihchest alre kinge[;] vnder gode seolue,’ L 27230, 27976, 28056.

40. It is obvious to substitute for #wyttes#, _wrytes_, or better _iwriten_, as at 20/67, 70, after #writes# in T, but ‘his writings,’ i.e. manuscripts, seems suspicious, and if correct gives a feeble threefold repetition of the same idea; and further the relation between ll. 41 and 42 requires the explanation of #hw# as, ‘so as to know how,’ Skeat. A transposition of ll. 40, 41 with _welde_ read for #kunne# (which seems to be due to the following line), will give a better sequence of ideas, obviate repetition, and restore the alliteration. Comp. ‘ælc bi his witte[;] wisdom sæiden,’ L 25627; ‘he wes swiðe wis mon[;] and witful on bocken,’ id. 22097. For cunne RJ, S have icweme.

41. #lokie#, consult, examine, refer to records for himself: comp. ‘þat yow tels sent Ieremi, | If yee wald lok his propheci,’ CM 9333.

46. #leden#, guide; usually with personal object.

49. #he#, resumes the subject #clerek and knyht#: a frequent construction in this poem, comp. 20/66-68, 21/98-105, 24/204, 5; similarly 24/209, 10 where the pronoun is explained by a noun. It is common in AR ‘þe wreche peoddare more noise he makeð to ȝeien his sope,’ 66/17. Borgström takes #he# as referring to #eorl and eþelyng#, l. 44, with #clerek# and #knyht# as object of #demen#, on the ground that clerks and knights did not exercise judicial power. The matter is not so simple. #Clerek# may include bishops, who sat in pre-Conquest shire-courts by the side of the Alderman, and lawyers generally. And #demen# is a word of wide meaning, comp. ‘Ne wandige ná se mæsse-preost no for rices mannes ege, ne for féo, ne for nanes mannes lufon, ꝥ he him symle rihte deme, gif he wille sylf Godes domas gedégan,’ BH 43/9; ‘Ne sceall nan godes þegn for sceattum riht deman,’ Ælf. Lives i. 430/244; ‘And he hæhte alle cnihtes[;] demen rihte domes,’ L 22115. Alfred meant that there should be no discrimination between rich and poor; discrimination between clerk and knight was not likely. #demen riht# is a phrase in which riht is a noun: comp. ‘Se rihtwisa dema sceall deman æfre riht,’ Ælf. Lives i. 430/239: sometimes, as in the quotation above, it means simply, to administer justice.

52, 3. Comp. ‘Ech man sal eft mowen bi þan þe he nu soweð,’ OEH ii. 159/15; i. 137/31, 131/24; all referring to ‘Qui parce seminat, parce et metet,’ 2 Cor. ix. 6: here the reference is to ‘Quae enim seminaverit homo, haec et metet,’ Galat. vi. 8: l. 54 means that the judgment passed on each man is of his own making: comp. 36/115.

55. #on to fone#, may mean, to take on himself; its ordinary use is, to begin, 143/85. Skeat translates, undertake, but in the place referred to in support, L 31415, the meaning is, proceed. T, RJ have cnouen, cnowen; S. mowen: the former has been explained, to study, to know how to. I think these readings are substitutes for something the scribes did not understand, such as, keneliche to kepen, or keneliche him kepen.

56. T has, of here ⁊ of heregong, where _of_ is remarkable: the simple dative in OE., _wið_, 48/321, 141/41, and later _from_ are the usual constructions with _werien_, of the thing guarded against.

57. #gryþ#: ‘pax regia per manum data,’ Liebermann, Ueber die Leges Edwardi Confessoris, 28: here it means vaguely, protection, much as frið with which it is constantly associated; comp. ‘þonne nam man grið ⁊ frið wið hi,’ AS. Chron. 1011; ‘a þisse londe he heold grið[;] a þisse londe he hulde frið,’ L 9912; Orm 116/3380; 116/133.

58. Comp. ‘þe ælc cheorl eæt his sulche[;] hæfde grið al swa þe king sulf,’ L 4260.

59, 60. Comp. ‘cornes heo seowen[;] medewen heo meowen. | al heo tileden[;] ase heo to þohten,’ L 1941.

62. #bihoue#: comp. 91/108: ‘to his awere bihoue,’ L 4565. T has bilif.

63. #lawe#, rule of conduct, practice: at 176/15, habit. In spite of the consensus of the MSS., the reading of the original was probably _lare_.

64. Let the knight see that it thrive, i.e. be well kept.

65-71. Comp. ‘Disce puer, dum tempus habes, euo puerili, | Ne te nil didicisse fleas etate senili,’ Flor. Gott. 98: ‘Qui vacat in iuventute turbatur in senectute,’ Wipo 63; Cato 231/12; ‘He ꝥ in ȝouþe no vertu vsiþ, | In Age Alle honure hym refusiþ,’ ES xli. 262/27. See Kneuer, p. 19.

69. #lorþeu#: see 1/19.

72. #elde . . . vnhelþe#: for this combination, see 40/197, where _unhelðe_ rhymes with _uniselðe_.

75. #wroþe#, _pl. adj._ agreeing with #wene#, to which latter #heo# and #hi#, variant forms of the _pl. n._, refer. When age and ill-health come, then the expectations of the improvident man are in experience found to be utterly perverse: not only are they cheated, but they actually vanish, i.e., he is left without hope at all. There is a play on wene and wenliche, l. 68.

78. Comp. ‘Melior est sapientia, quam secularis potentia | Plus unicus sensus quam multiplex census,’ Wipo 7.

82. #furþer#. T has wrþere, more worthy, which is, no doubt, original, as it alliterates with _weole_. noht wurþ, RJ.

83. #of frumþe#, from the beginning, betimes: comp. 65/59; ‘þah þu liuedest of adames fru{m}ðe,’ OEH i. 33/31. RJ reads of fremðe, but T fremede, and Skeat adding [of] translates, out of a stranger. But the point is not the making friends early or out of strangers, but the having wisdom along with your gold. Stanza xiii. is a weak echo of vii. and l. 144 is the key to l. 83. Read _hine to freme_ for _him of frumþe_, with the meaning, Unless he make Wisdom his friend to his profit. See 15/110; 176/24 note.

87-92. Comp. ‘ȝif þou be visite[d] w{ith} pou{er}te, | take it not to hevyle, | for he ꝥ sende þe Adu{er}site, | may t{ur}ne þe Aȝen to wele,’ ES xli. 261/5: Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 133.

87. #howyen#, be anxious, distressed: comp. ‘Ne beo ge na hogiende ymb þa morgenlican neode,’ S. Matt. vi. 34.

89. #welde#: comp. 4/41.

90. Comp. ‘After vuele cumeð god[;] wel is him þe hit habbe mot,’ L 3608. A transposition here restores the alliteration in two verses.

92. Comp. 195/634, where the verb is omitted after wel, as is usual in such expressions; ‘Wel him ðe is clene iþrowen,’ VV 95/30; ‘Ah wel hire ꝥ luueð godd,’ HM 27/35. For #þat#=for whom, see 46/292 note, and for #ischapen#, destined, comp. ‘after ðan ðe hem iscapen is,’ VV 105/4: hit is, of course, good after evil, weal after woe.

94. Comp. ‘Whoso roweth aȝein the flod, | Off sorwe he shal drinke; | Also hit fareth bi the unsele, | A man shal have litel hele | Ther agein to swinke,’ Pol. Songs, 254/20; ‘werig sceal se wiþ winde roweþ,’ Exeter Book, 345/12. For #strong#, difficult, tough, comp. 48/312, 76/18, 200/111; ‘hu strong hit is to arisen of vuel wune,’ AR 326/28: ‘þes ilke Mon is strong to sermonen’ (difficult to preach to, a tough subject), OEH i. 81/14.

98. #mon# is a suspended _nom._, the construction being changed at l. 105: analogous to 19/48.

102. #idelnesse holde#, enjoy leisure. T has hednesse, OE. #ēadnes#, happiness, comfort. ‘Honestior est qui senectutem ad otium rettulit, quam quem in otio invenit,’ Monita 22/75.

106. #wel bitowe#, well employed, profitably experienced. Comp. ‘alle þe ȝeres weren wel bi-toȝe,’ L 19902; VV 13/2; ON 702; ‘uuele bitohe,’ 74/225.

108. See 26/244 note, and for the form of the expression, comp. ‘Ah her, þu wenest ȝet | ꝥ tu wenen ne þerf,’ SK 1153.

110. #lyues#: read lyf is . . . luued: ‘Qui enim vult vitam diligere,’ &c. 1 S. Peter iii. 10.

111. #lyf his owe#: the order is strange, and #owe# is pointless, quite different from 22/128, 23/149, 27/277, where there is a contrast with one’s possessions, &c. Possibly the original had _lifes leowe_, life’s warmth, shelter, OE. #hlēow#: comp. ‘herd leouwe,’ AR 368/12, poor housing. The word was uncommon and likely to puzzle the copyist.

112. #wrt#: Comp. ‘Herba nec antidotum poterit depellere loetum; | Quod te liberet a fato, non nascitur horto,’ Fecunda Ratis 132/725. Skeat quotes as a proverb, ‘Cur moriatur homo, cui salvia crescit in horto?’ It is from the Regimen Sanit. Salern. l. 177, and the next line is, ‘Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis.’ #a wude#: comp. 181/181.

113. #þas feye furþ#, the life of the doomed man.

118. #doweþes louerd#: prob. the original had duȝeðe, _pl. gen._: ‘duguða dryhten,’ Christ, 781 = Dominus exercituum, Dominus virtutum. T has domis louird.

122. Skeat explains the MS. reading, givest away and controllest; an unnatural order: Borgström takes yefst = yhefst < OE. #gehæbban#, ‘If thou hast and possessest.’ Morris’s conjecture, _yetst_, may mean, gettest, gainest. The passage is corrupt: T has ‘ȝif þu hauest welþe awold iwis ȝerlde:’ #in þis world# is mere padding arising from #vpen eorþe#: the original may have been, Gif þu havest a wold | seoluer and gold: comp. 22/133, 4; ‘Whil ȝe habbeþ wyt at wolde,’ Hendyng 299; 52/387 note.

125. #ildre istreon#: comp. ‘þæt he of his yldrena gestreone hine sylfne fercian mote,’ Ælf. Lives i. 524/597, 528/669; ‘þæ castles aðele weore[;] of his eoldrene istreon,’ L 18608.

126. #lone#: Skeat quotes ‘divitiæ . . . donum Dei,’ Eccles. v. 18.

127. #þar of#, from them: comp. 22/117: the expression is unusual.

128. ‘Homo vitæ commodatus, non donatus est,’ Syri Sent. 220.

129. #vouh#, for veoh: OE. #feoh#. Comp. 3/13: ‘ffrendles ys þe dede,’ Hendyng 288.

130. #Mayþenes# for maþmes: see 102/134. #leten . . . byhinde#: Skeat explains as, forget us; but 4/14 suggests a more pointed meaning.

131. Comp. ‘Cum fueris felix, quae sunt adversa caveto,’ Cato 218/18; ‘Tranquillis rebus semper diversa timeto,’ id. 232/26. The first four lines are imitated in, ‘The ferthe seide, that he is wod | That dwelleth to muchel in the flod, | For gold or for auhte; | For gold or silver, or any wele, | Hunger or thurst, hete or chele, | Al shal gon to nohte,’ Pol. Songs 256/1, where the writer has evidently misunderstood l. 132.

132. #fele# as adverb is not common; Einenkel, Anglia, xxxiii. 531, quotes ‘þonne moton we . . . fela for urum synnum þrowian,’ Wulfstan 151/5, and the present passage: add Beowulf 1385; ‘He bounde{n} hi{m} so fele sore,’ Havelok 2442. #see#, the flowing tide of success: comp. ‘Swo floweð þis woreld þenne men michel tuderið . . . ⁊ beð michel blisse among mannen,’ OEH ii. 177/16.

134. #gnyde# in the intransitive meaning, ‘be rubbed away’: elsewhere active. T has wurþen. Comp. 27/274-6.

135. #to duste . . . dryuen#: comp. ‘makede . . . godes deore temple to driuen al to duste,’ SJuliana 41/1; a less frequent intransitive use. #Dryhten#, &c.: comp. ‘geong ealdian · god us ece biþ,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 333/22.

136. #godes vrre#: comp. 46/276.

137. #foryemeþ# &c.: comp. 122/167, 8; ‘Forrletenn ⁊ forrȝemmdenn,’ Orm 259/7502.

138. #by come#: comp. 27/275: in T, were.

142. #wit and wisdom# are often so coupled: ‘Wyt and wysdom is god warysoun,’ Hendyng 21; Kneuer, 20; 130/81: with sing. masc. pronoun hyne, l. 144.

143. #ouergoþ#, surpasses in worth: comp. ‘Þeo luue . . . ouergeð ham alle uoure ⁊ passeð ham alle,’ AR 394/1; an extension of the meaning of OE. #ofergān#, conquer, overcome, which is that of 125/270, 207/340: at 29/45 it means, pass away, so ‘deð ꝥ ouergeað,’ SK 1883; ‘ðæt hi geðencen hu hrædlice se eorðlica hlisa ofergǽð,’ Cura Past. 447/29.

144. #sitte#: comp. 26/270. The recurrence of þe--vere at l. 148 and the divergence of T which gives for the last half of this line, and hwo hem mide senden, preserving the alliteration, shows that something is wrong here. A rearrangement in the order 143, 147, 148, 144, reading syker he may sitte ⁊ þat him mide syndon, 145, 146, 149 gives a good sense.

151, 2. Comp. ‘Tel þou neuer þy fo þat þy fot akeþ,’ Hendyng 93; Kneuer, 29. #arewe#, apparently found only here, malicious person, enemy: OE. #earg#, #earh#.

153. #þe#, an ethical dative; see 13/34 note.

154. The subject of wile is the clause #þet--con#, he who is not acquainted with your circumstances. With 155 comp. 21/88.

158. #teleþ#, derides, makes sport of.

159. #swych mon þat#, &c., such a man as wishes you very well, said ironically: þat is not conjunction, but relative pronoun, and the construction is parallel to, ‘talem igitur te esse oportet qui primum te ab impiorum civium . . . societate seiungas,’ Cic. Fam. x. 6. 3; just as #so . . . þat#, 24/184, 5 is matched by, ‘Quis est tam lynceus qui in tantis tenebris nihil offendat?’ id. ix. 2; and similarly ‘nec tamen ego sum ille ferreus, qui fratris maerore non movear,’ Cic. Cat. iv. 3. Where the expression is generic, the dependent verb should be subjunctive, as is the case with _segge_, and probably here the original had _monne--onne_. Comp. ‘ic bidde . . . swælc monn seðe to minum ærfe foe,’ Thorpe, Diplom. 471/16; ‘Nes þo non so hardy · þat on me leyde honde,’ OEM 43/209; ‘þat na man ne wurðe swa wod[;] ne witte bi-dæled, | þat in his hirede breke grið,’ L 10282; ‘þat na mon on worlde[;] swa wod no iwurðe, | no swa ær witte gume[;] þat his grið bræke,’ id. 22069, 787. With #on# comp. ‘ne beo he no swa luðer mon[;] þat his freond him wel ne on,’ L 22963: Skeat’s insertion of _hit_ spoils the meaning. #Swyhc mon# = such a one: _swillc an_ appears for the first time in Orm 11595.

166. #bywite#: þenkeþ T.

169. Comp. ‘Uxorem fuge ne ducas sub nomine dotis,’ Cato 228/12: ‘Monimon for londe wyueþ to shonde,’ Hendyng 280; Kneuer, 57.

170. #custe#, qualities, virtuous or otherwise.

171. #vuele iauhteþ#, estimates falsely, makes a bad bargain.

172. #of fayre#, not, out of what is fair, but, in choosing a fair wife: of = in the form of, in the person of. For #frakele#, comp. ‘he bið wið-uten feire ⁊ frakel wið-innen,’ OEH i. 25/27. ‘Munditiam seruat sinceram rara uenustas,’ Fec. Ratis 114/581.

175. #So#: Holthausen, Archiv lxxxviii. 370, suggests wo, which gives a common phrase, ‘Wo is hym alyue,’ OEM 183/221; ‘wa is me on liue,’ L 3422.

177. #vppen eorþe#, a favourite tag: see 28/315; KH 247 O.

179-82. These lines are repeated with small variation in Hendyng, 133-7, but the ‘wyf’ is ‘ȝonge’; Kneuer, 53. Zupitza, Anglia, iii. 370, quotes an inscription in Low German from a room in the Lübeck Rathskeller, which is identical with the English proverb, and Holthausen, Archiv, lxxxviii. 371, contributes two more versions in the same dialect.

184. #so wod . . . þat . . . segge#, so mad as to say: see 23/159; and comp. ‘Ne wurðe nan cniht swa wod[;] ne kempe swa wilde,’ L 8593, ‘& þa drihliche gumen[;] weoren win drunken,’ id. 8125.

185. #wille#, all that is in thy mind: comp. 27/305, 23/166.

186. #þu#: T has hue, and Skeat alters here to _heo_, but the text may very well mean, if you ever found yourself. Perhaps the original had: For if þu hi myd worde · iwreþþed heuede | And heo iseye þe · bi vore þine ivo alle. Comp. ‘confundet te in conspectu inimicorum,’ Ecclus. xxv. 35.

188. #lete#, omit, refrain from: form and meaning from OE. #lǣtan#, but with construction, _þat-_ clause with subj., of OE. #lettan#.

189. Omit #scholde#, a mere repetition from the preceding line. Comp. ‘gyf þonne þissa þreora þinga ænig hwylcne man lette, þæt hine to ðam fæstene ne ónhágje,’ Wulfstan 285/3 (quoted in B.-T.). #forþ#, openly, freely: comp. ‘ðane sei ðu forð mid seinte Petre: Tu es Christus,’ VV 25/31. #baleusyþes#, cast up to you your misfortunes: comp. 2/27. But one expects, after l. 185, something like, will reveal all your secrets.

190. #woþ#: T has wod and wordwod may mean word-mad; in that case the second half of the line is little more than repetition. But T has often _d_ for _þ_, and so his reading may be the same in effect as that of J, which does not put _þ_ for _d_. Now in Layamon the younger MS. writes woþ for _wouh_, _woh_ in the elder, 3327, 4333, where the sense requires the latter, and _word woh_, perverse of speech, would fit well here.

191. #wel wolde#, though she desired it ever so much, she cannot control it at all.

194. #ouerprute#, excessive pride: the noun apparently only here; the adj. ouerprut is commoner. In T, orgul prude. Comp. ‘Bruttes hafden muchel mode[;] & vnimete prute,’ L 19408.

196. After #þat#, _heo_ has dropped out.

198. That vice she would readily give up, if she were often in a sweat exhausted with toil. Comp. ‘moni swinc moni swæt[;] . . þolede ich on folde,’ L 2281, 7; ‘he swonc i þon fehte[;] þat al he lauede asweote,’ id. 7488.

202. Read, þat beon uulle treowe: lit. though it is ill to bend what are full-grown trees, i.e. though full-grown trees are hard to bend. It is not necessary to alter #beo#, but #n# of #nule# probably belongs to it; it is subjunctive in an object clause expressing a class of things. For #uulle# comp. 42/219; ‘min fulla freond,’ Thorpe, Diplom. 525/8; ‘heo beoð ure fulle feond,’ L 963; ‘Ech god giue ⁊ fule giue cumeð of heuene dunward,’ OEH ii. 105/17; ‘fulliche cristene mon,’ OEH i. 73/5. ‘Dum curuare potes, vel curuam tendere virgam, | Fac sit ut ad libitum plantula ducta tuum: | Cum vetus in magnum fuerit solidata vigorem | Non leviter flectes imperiale caput,’ Alanus 435. It is difficult to alter a grown-up.

203. #after#, following the example of: comp. ‘Prendere maternam bene discit cattula predam,’ Prov. Heinrici 169; ‘Muricipis proles cito discit prendere mures,’ id. 109: said of innate tendencies. The hindrances to the training of the young wife are that she is already grown up and has an inherited disposition.

204. #þe mon þat . . . he#: see 19/49. Comp. ‘Femina quem superat, nunquam uiuit sine pena; | Libertate caret, turpi constrictus habena,’ Flor. Gott. 724.

205. #ihurd#, listened to, or perhaps, spoken of, as having any independence in what he says. Had the writer in mind, ‘labia nostra a nobis sunt, quis noster Dominus est?’ Ps. xi. 5.

207. #steorne# is strange in form (it should be sturne in this text), and does not suit the context, and the verbs _to-trayen_, _to-teonen_ are apparently found nowhere else. Read, turne to treye and to teone, change his life to sorrow and affliction: in that case the two lines should be printed as one alliterative long line. The combination is common; comp. Minot vi. 2 note, and 133/61. T has, ac he sal him rere dreiȝe, but he shall provide trouble for himself.

210. #þe mon# resumes #he# of l. 209. #qued# occurs again as quet T 702, in the metaphorical sense of devil, evil man. Here Skeat translates, aversion; Borgström, following Morris, contempt, scorn, without any support from other examples. The word is a coarse term of contempt for a ‘poor creature,’ based on the primitive sense of OE. #cwead#: it is easily paralleled in modern dialects.

212. #fader# is pointless: the reading of T, in hire faire bure, which is for, faire in hire bure, points to the right way. Read, So is mony burde · bryht on hyre bure: ‘bright in bower’ is a common tag in the romances; see Guy of Warwick 2674 with Zupitza’s note.

213. #Schene vnder schete#: comp. ‘swete in bedde,’ Havelok 2927.

214. Comp. ‘Ne sont pas tuit chevalier, qui a cheval montent,’ Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 201.

215. This line is to be rejected: it spoils the symmetry of the contrast, and is not original.

216. #glede#, ‘beside the glowing coal,’ Skeat; ‘in mirth,’ Borgström; glede being identified with OWScand. gleði, joy, with an allusion to boasting at the feast. The original word was probably wede, comp. ‘in wlanke wede,’ Eng. Met. Homilies (ed. Small), 42/2 = _mollibus vestimentis indutus_; ‘Whyle þe wlonkest wedes he warp on hym-seluen,’ Sir Gawayne, 2025; ‘awlencð his lichame,’ OEH ii. 211/36. The contrast would then be between his gay clothes and his unserviceableness. T has werȝe, for which Borgström reads werwe, steed; and Skeat weiȝe, way: for the former might be quoted, ‘Nis so wlonk vnder crist · ridynde on stede,’ OEM 91/19. With 217, comp. 26/265.

221. #arede#, take as advice. ‘Femina quod iurat, errat qui credere curat,’ Prov. Hein. 64.

222. ‘Coniugis iratae noli tu verba timere; | Nam lacrimis struit insidias, cum femina plorat,’ Cato 229/20.

226. #lude ⁊ stille#, under all circumstances: comp. 28/317, 188/377; ‘don we hit wullet | lude and stille,’ L 3665: Minot viii. 54 note.

228. ‘Didicere flere feminae in mendacium,’ Syrus 74/130; ‘Muliebris lacrima condimentum est malitiae,’ id. 87/343; Fecunda Ratis 39/163.

231. Not said by Solomon, but by Syrus, ‘Malo in consilio feminae vincunt viros,’ 86/324.

234. #loþ#, read leoþ; OE. #lēoþ#, song.

235. Skeat equates #scumes# with Icel. skūmi, twilight, and translates, ‘like twilight-shadows (they) mislead (us),’ which is fanciful. #Scumes# may be miswriting for _scunnes_, which would represent OE. #scēones#, #scȳness#, suggestion, temptation, as in ‘deofol þonne þurh þa attor berendan næddran mid hire þære yfelan scéonesse . . . beswác þone ærestan wifmon,’ BH 3/17. The sense would be, as temptation they mislead. But more probably the place is corrupt, and the original may simply have had, as cwen us forteoþ, with an allusion to Eve’s bad counsel.

237. Björkman, 14, thinks that this proverb was originally Scandinavian, and it adds point to understand #cold# in the meaning, disastrous, of the Icelandic version. Comp. ‘Wommennes counseils been ful ofte colde,’ Chaucer, C. T., B 4446. ‘Mulier cum sola cogitat, male cogitat,’ Syrus 87/335.

240, 241. Skeat’s version, ‘I do not say this because a good woman is not a good thing,’ shows that he takes #for þan þat# together, which is contrary to the metrical stress on #þan# and gives no sufficient sense: #for þan#, is, therefore, i.e. in spite of all the hard things I have said about women: #hit# is an anticipatory object, which is expanded in the object clause, #þat . . . wymmon#. The scribe deleted _n_ before #ys#, Skeat restores it; T also has #is#, for which Skeat substitutes [n]is, quoting, ‘Hic ne sige nout byþan | þat moni ne ben gentile man,’ T 665. I think that what the scribe wrote should be retained. It is clear that the relation between a negative principal clause and its dependent object clause was often in ME. very loose and illogical. Comp. ‘For sco was traist and duted noght, | þat godds wil ne suld be wroght,’ CM 12321; ‘Ne doð ham no þing swo wo | . . . | swo ꝥ hi niten, ꝥ here þine | ne sal habben ende,’ Poema Morale, MS. D. 140 (see 46/290); ‘ihc nas na wurdra[;] þenne ich nes weldinde,’ L 3466; also 100/104. ‘Ðat ne forȝeit ðu naure · þat ðu godd ne heriȝe,’ 93/149, means, That forget thou never that thou honour God; what is more natural than to leave out the negative, if the contrary meaning is required? Our text may be paraphrased, Whatever I have said about women in general, I do not say it with reference to the proposition that a good woman is a good thing. For the sentiment comp. ‘Femina raro bona, sed que bona digna corona,’ Prov. Hein. 65; ‘Femina pauca bona est; si forte inveneris ullam, | De celo cecidit, tessella caractere miro,’ Fecunda Ratis 153/919.

242. #þe mon þe#, for the man who. #icouere#, &c. win her from his rivals.

244. Repeated from 21/108.

245. Comp. ‘Nulla sevior pestis quam familiaris hostis. Nis non werse fo[;] þene frakede fere,’ OEH ii. 189/33; ‘Gravior est inimicus, qui latet in pectore,’ Syrus 79/200.

246. #vayre . . . frakele#: see 23/172 note.

247. Skeat explains #þane loþe#, the hostile one, and #lead#, keep on one’s side, #so#, by fair words. T reads So mo{n} mai welþe lengest helden, which is easier of interpretation, but is just as inept. I think both scribes or their exemplars have altered as best they could a displaced line to fit it into its new context. Its proper place is after the good advice of ll. 248-51 (comp. l. 263), and it may have originally run, So myght þu fayre lif · lenguste leden.

248. ‘Nolito quaedam referenti credere saepe: | Exigua est tribuenda fides, qui multa locuntur,’ Cato 224/20.

249 is a very lame verse; we might read, þat feole speken can.

251. With #singen#, comp. ‘Noli homines blando nimium sermone probare: | Fistula dulce canit, uolucrem dum decipit auceps,’ Cato 220/27.

252. #swikelne#, deceitful: comp. ‘Ueond þet þuncheð freond is swike ouer alle swike,’ AR 98/5; ‘Habet suum venenum blanda oratio,’ Syrus 80/214.

254. #cuþe#, give warning.

256. Alfred would hardly have said that a man learns wisdom from proverbs and prudence from good luck. Read for #sawe#, sorewe (the scribe has overlooked the contraction for _re_), and for #hiselþe#, uniselþe, misfortune. Comp. ‘In þes middeneardes iscole · selðen ⁊ uniselðen,’ OEH i. 243/7: ‘Vitat maiora sapiens post dampna minora,’ Prov. Hein. 240. Borgström reads his elde, where _his_ is surely doubtful and þ interchanging with _d_ without parallel.

258. The editors leave out #And#, which is not in T, but l. 257 is complete in itself; #And vnwurþ#, and despicable, is a sort of afterthought: for the combination comp. 4/37; ‘þat he biðe vnworð & lah’ (loþ, MS. O), L 3464, and further for this meaning of #vnwurþ#, 143/92; ‘þe idele ȝelp us beo eure unwurð,’ OEH i. 107/8.

259. #hokede#, thievish: in thieves’ slang, a hook is a pickpocket, his fingers are hooks. Comp. ‘Sutoribus custodem addidit et ut eorum curvos ungues observaret . . . rogavit,’ Disciplina Clericalis, ed. Hilka u. Söderhjelm, 28/19; ‘Arpiis similes armantur in ungue ferino,’ Fec. Ratis, de Predonibus, 173/1154. #þat he bereþ# is rejected by Skeat as a ‘gloss.’ It is certainly feeble; perhaps we should read, þat he herȝeþ, with which he plunders; the relative would be under the régime of the preceding #þurh#.

261. #From--wune#, (dis)accustom thyself from lying: a singular phrase.

262. #þe# may be the reflexive dat. as at 13/34, but it is more probably a mistake, due to #þe# in the previous line: its omission improves the metre.

263. #on þeode#, a tag beloved of Layamon: with him it is always local; comp. ‘he þohte to quellen[;] þe king on his þeode{n},’ 20056 (in his londe, MS. O); ‘þa weoren Rom-leoden[;] bliðen on heore þeoden,’ id. 11144: it corresponds to ‘vpen eorþe,’ 22/123, and differs from #in alle leode#, among all the people, Layamon’s ‘on folke,’ 2218.

265. Comp. ‘behoueð ðe ðat ðu bie well warr ꝥ tu luuiȝe ðine nexte, ðat is, aurich mann ðe berð ðin anlicnesse,’ VV 39/13: a translation of _proximus_, S. Luke x. 29. #þe#: comp. 22/141, 25/217: ‘Au besoing voit on qui amis est’, Li Proverbe au Vilain, no. 72.

266. Comp. 188/378; ‘Vrom mulne ⁊ from cheping, from smiðe ⁊ from ancre huse, me tiðinge bringeð,’ AR 88/26; ‘At chireche and at chepyng | hwanne heo to-gadere come,’ OEM 189/57; Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 112/82.

270. #sytte#: comp. 22/144: rest in contentment; ‘sit soft.’

271. Skeat takes #lond le# as a mere scribal error for londe which T reads. I think it points to an original londe ⁊ se: comp. 40/194; ‘Mid mede man mai ouer water faren And mid weldede of giue[;] frend wuerche,’ OEH ii. 41/20 (possibly a reminiscence of this place). For the proverb comp. ‘Mieux vaut amis en voie, ke deniers en corroie. Melius valet amicus in via quam denarius in corrigia,’ Hauréau, Notices et Extraits, ii. 283.

274-6. Comp. 22/133-5. #mixe#: T has nocht.

280. #holde#, maintain: ‘vpholde,’ 21/113.

285. Comp. 18/9-11.

288. Comp. generally 32/39-65; 29/20-24. Perhaps the allusion is to ‘In timore Domini esto [tuum cor] tota die: Quia habebis spem in novissimo, et praestolatio tua non auferetur,’ Prov. xxiii. 17, 18.

289. #lyen#: comp. ‘ꝥ sind þa gecostan cempan þa þam cyninge þeowað | se næfre þa lean alegeð þam þe his lufan adreogeð,’ Exeter Book, ed. Gollancz, 108/91. See 32/64 note.

293. #gabbe#, talk mockingly or derisively: the meaning of Fr. _gaber_, to talk boastingly, would suit well here, but it lacks support. #schotte# is difficult: the obvious sense is, to pay scot, to take part in convivial assemblies, but this does not go well with #gabbe#. Borgström thinks that it may be _schoute_, to shout, or possibly to scout, sneer, modified for the sake of the rhyme. If that principle may be admitted, _stroute_, to swagger (Havelok, 1779), would be preferable.

294. #chid#, wrangle, engage in a ‘flyting,’ or scolding match: ‘Ne respondeas stulto iuxta stultitiam suam,’ Prov. xxvi. 4. Whether #tales# be taken with the preceding or the following line, it is equally unsuitable, unless it may mean reproaches, charges, after OE. #talian#. It goes best with l. 296; _ne_ should be omitted before _chid_. #dwales#, not ‘fools’ in the general sense, but erring ones; _dwall_ in mod. dialects means to wander in mind, to talk incoherently. With #cunnes# comp. 81/80.

298. ‘Rumores fuge, neu studeas novus auctor haberi,’ Cato 218/12. With 299 comp. ‘Pauca in convivio loquere’, id. 217/51. ‘Inter convivas fac sis sermone modestus,’ Columbanus 92; ‘Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis: | Sermo datur cunctis, animi sapientia paucis,’ Cato 217/10.

302. #biluken#, enclose, comprehend: the brief utterances of the wise man are weighty.

303. See Hendyng 85 and Kneuer 28.

305. With #wille#, comp. 24/185.

307. Comp. Hendyng 144 and Kneuer 55; Förster’s note, ES xxxi. 6; ‘Osse caret lingua, secat os tamen ipsa maligna,’ Prov. Hein. 149; ‘Mo sleað word þene sweord,’ AR 74/1; ‘plaga . . . linguae comminuet ossa,’ Ecclus. xxviii. 21.

310. ‘Exultat gaudio pater iusti,’ Prov. xxiii. 24: ‘Him stondes wel þat god child strenes,’ Havelok 2983.

311. #ibidest#, dost obtain: OE. #gebīdan#, to await, experience, attain to.

312. #mon þewes#: comp. ‘hauest þu nu quene þeouwes inume,’ L 30281. ‘Curva cervicem eius in iuventute, et tunde latera eius dum infans, ne forte . . . erit tibi dolor animae,’ Ecclus. xxx. 12. The ‘child unþewed’ is one of the ‘Ten Abuses,’ OEM 185/9.

314. The better things will ever go in the world. For #buuen eorþe#, see 23/177.

316. #werende#: Skeat reads wexende; if any alteration is made, wuniende would give a common OE. and ME. combination: as ‘þæt he her in worulde wunian mote,’ Christ 817; ‘wuniende ⁊ rixlende on worlde,’ OEH 1. 25/17. But #weren# is equated in Stratmann-Bradley with Mid. Dutch, OHG. weren, to remain, with this place as the only instance.

317. #lude and stille#: see 25/226.

327. Comp. ‘For betere were child ounboren þen ounbeten,’ Hending, MS. O, Anglia iv. 191/4.

328. ‘Qui parcit virge, sua pignora protinus odit,’ Fec. Ratis 93/438; ‘Quippe diu male cesus lamentabitur infans,’ id. 65/289. #spareþ#, with dative.

329. #areche#, get at, control.

_Cross-References_

13/34 (note) = V. (A Parable)
23/172 (note) = _present selection_
46/292, 50/334 (notes) = VIII. (Poema Morale)

_Errata_

The Cotton MS. ... MS. Stowe 163, B.M. ff. [Stowe, 163 B. M.]
... #īe# in #scīene#, #gesīene# gives schene 213, isene 75.
[#scīene# #gesīene#]
#ea# + #h# occurs in wexynde 112, 113, iauhteþ 171 [113 iauhteþ]
The personal pronouns ... _a. f._ 280, non [non,]
_s. g. neut._ 276, echere [echere,]
... Past of Weak Verbs: _s._ 2. heuedest 187; [187:]
1. #Seuorde#: siforde T; Sifforde W, RJ, which is [RJ.,]
38. ... #ryhtwis# [rightwis]
87-92. ... sende þe Adu{er}site [Aduersite]
129. #vouh#, for veoh
[_“veoh” misprinted as bold_]
144. ... the divergence of T [of B]
258. ... which is not in T, [T.,]
271. Skeat takes #lond le# as a mere scribal error
[_“lond le” misprinted as plain (non-bold)_]

VII. MEMENTO MORI

#Manuscript:# As for no. vi. There are other copies in (C) MS. Cotton Caligula A ix., B.M., of the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and (B) MS. Laud 471, Bodleian, of the end of the same century. In (A) MS. Arundel 57, B.M. there is a fourteenth-century version of nine lines. CJ form a group, B belongs to another branch.

#Editions:# Of CJ; Morris, R., OEM, pp. 156-9 under the inappropriate title, Long Life: of B; Zupitza, J., Anglia i. p. 410: of B, corrected by CJ; Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, p. 56; of C; Wright, T., Percy Society, vol. xi. p. 63. Of A; Morris, R., Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 129.

#Literature:# Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 410; Varnhagen, H., Anglia ii. 71; ii. 67.

#Phonology:# The position is the same as that of piece vi: words not in it are blench 4 (#blencan# _vb._); falwy 6 (#fealwian#); luteþ 29 (#lūtian#); sterk 11 (#stearc#); steo 38 (#stīgan#, imitating in the _inf._ flēon, wrēon, Bülbring, Ablaut 88), sunne 10 (#synn#). MS. C does not differ materially from it: it has however drinche 8, deaþes 8, sterch 11, strench 14, tahte 23, fole 33, wormes 34, nowt 50. MS. B is South-Eastern bordering on Kent; it has rene 3 (#rēn#), senne 10, starc 11, sene 13, to yenes 16, Man let lust a{n}d senne stench 19, sede 23, stie 38 and _st_ for _ht_ in brigst 13. The text is often faulty as if written down from memory, and l. 26 is missing, but the rhymes are correct: the original was doubtless in the South-Eastern dialect.

#Accidence:# longe _s. g. neut._ 1 (comp. longes 21/109); heyust _adv._ 38; endi _inf._ 39 (#endian#), last 2 _pr. s._ (#lǣdest#) 36 are the only forms which require notice.

#Metre:# The ten-line stanza of this poem is unique in ME. literature. It is an expansion of the common eight-line stanza: its rhyme formula is abab | baab | bb, two quatrains with contrasted rhymes and a two-line close in which the sentiment of the stanza culminates. In the last stanza the effect is spoiled by the absence of a break at the end of the eighth line.

As a rule the line contains four measures, but four out of five times the ninth line of the stanza has only three, so, Món | er þu fál | lẹ of þi bénch | 9; Ac déþ | lúteþ | in his schó | 29; In déþ | schal þi lýf | endí | 39; wúrcheþ him | pýnẹ eu|er mó | 49. Further, in the original form of the verse, as preserved by MS. B, the tenth line has only two measures, þi sénnẹ | aquénch | 10; wel dó | wel þénch | 20; hím to | fordó | 30 (Zupitza’s correction of the MS. do him for do); on wóp | þi glé | 40; ne dó | þu só | 50. The rhythm is mostly trochaic, as Món may | lónge | lýues | wéne | 1, but sometimes iambic, as Nis nón | so stróng | ne stárk | ne ké|nè 11; her naú|ẹstu blís|se dáy|es þré | 35. Lines with three-syllable measures like 9 are 22, 26: with monosyllabic first foot are 19, 22, 31, 32.

#Introduction:# The comparative smoothness and finish of the verse points to a date considerably later than that of the Proverbs: perhaps about 1210 A.D. The piece seems to have been inspired by stanzas x and xxi of the earlier poem.

1. A man may look forward to a long life, but the trick often deceives him; an oft-quoted proverb, as at 21/108, 222/274; ‘Mani man weneþ þat he wene ne þarf, longe to liven, and him lieþ þe wrench,’ Hending MS. O, Anglia iv. 200. The second line occurs in another connection in AR, ‘moni mon abit to schriuen him uort þe nede tippe. Auh ofte him lieð þe wrench,’ 338/18. For the case of #liues# comp. ‘Ðær sceolan þeofas . . . lifes ne wenan,’ Christ 1608; with #wrench . . . blench# comp. 157/125; ‘wrenceþ he ⁊ blenceþ · worn geþenceþ · hinder-hoca,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 315/18.

3. #turneþ#: went, BA.

4. #makeþ#: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder, _neut._: turneþ he, B; i.e. reyne (OE. #regn#, _m._). Comp. ‘Hope maketh fol ma{n} ofte ble{n}kes,’ Havelok 307; ‘þe{n}ne þe ky{n}g of þe kyth a cou{n}sayl hy{m} takes, | Wyth þe best of his burnes, a blench for to make,’ Cleanness 1201, 2.

6. #falwy#: falewi, BC: comp. 133/39, ‘faleweþ so doþ medewe gres,’ OEM 93/16.

8. #deþes drench#: comp. ‘Þær Cristess mennisscnesse | Drannc dæþess drinnch o rodetreo,’ Orm 45/1373.

9. #bench# implies feasting: comp. ‘Ne schaltu neuer sytten · on bolstre ne on benche | Ne neuer in none halle · þar me wyn schenche,’ OEM 175/89; ‘Ye þat weryeþ þat riche schrud · and sytteþ on eure benche,’ id. 169/3; ‘Ac þu sete on þine benche, underleid mid þine bolstre,’ Worcester Frag. C, 26; L 9693.

10. With #aquench#, comp. ‘Her-of we owe þenche. | And vre sunnen aquenche. | Mid beden and myd almesse,’ OEM 79/217.

12. B reads, þat may agein deaþes wiþer clench, that has power against death’s hostile grip: _wiþer-clench_ appears to be without parallel. In our text, Morris takes #ago# for _agon_, escape, but, as Zupitza points out, it is probably for _agon_ = agein, which is also found as age, aȝe. Stratmann-Bradley translates #wiþer-blench#, attack, quoting this place only: more probably it means sly, treacherous attack.

14. #ryueþ#, rakes: Icel. rifja, to rake hay into rows: ‘Ryvyn, or rakyn,’ Prompt. Parvul. ed. Mayhew, col. 386. #on o streng#: so B, but C in one strench, which would represent OE. #strenc#, a by-form of #streng#, recorded in _Funiculus, modicum funus_, rap _uel_ strenc, Wright, Vocabularies 245/6, just as drench, wrench represent #drenc#, #wrenc#. If that be the case here, then C agrees with BJ, save in the preposition _in_. For Death armed with a rake comp. ‘Hwen he com to arudden | of deaðes rake oðre, | hwi deide he him seoluen?’ SK 1137: Satan is often so represented, ‘Þer is sathanas þe qued · | redi wyþ his rake,’ OEM 181/213; SM 11/11; SK, MS. C 917. Death sweeps in his victims with his rope; ‘Ded has vs wit-sett vr strete, | · | All sal we rin into his rape,’ CM 23727; ‘Ded sal rug us til his rape,’ CM 21920; ‘Deþ shal take vs al in rape,’ id. MS. T. The conception then is that of Death sweeping in all sorts and conditions with the same rope. It is just possible that the reading of C, strench, is meant for strech, i.e. stretch, the word still used in Dorsetshire for ‘the space taken in at one stretch of the rake,’ EDD. v. 813. Streche is not common at this period, but comp. 42/231; ‘on his modes streche,’ OEH i. 111/25, in the sweep, or compass, of his mind.

15. #fox#, _adj._: comp. 187/351; ‘fox of fyl’ (_read_ wil), Horst., S.A.L. 12/251; Orm 230/6646: for #wrench#, comp. ‘Alse þe fox þe mid his wrenches walt oðer deor[;] ⁊ haueð his wille þerof,’ OEH ii. 195/7.

16. B has, ne mai him noma{n} to yenes.

17. #þreting#, menace, or possibly upbraiding: B has weping. The nouns #þreting#, #bene#, #Mede#, &c., are subjects of may, l. 16.

18. #Mede#, bribery: B reads, ne listes ne leches drench.

21. Possibly a reference to the advice given at 27/288.

23. Do as He who bringeth thee to thy end taught thee and said. Comp. 27/282-286.

25. #mysdo#, misfare. B leaves out #þenne# and the whole of the following line, which means, But thou hast good reason to live in fear and trembling. ‘A peyne joie avra un sul jur | Ke de sa fyn bien pensera,’ MS. Lambeth 522, Archiv lxiii. 76/23.

27. #such#, such and such a man, indefinitely.

29. #luteþ#, lurkeþ. Comp. ‘Ja n’ert tant prus ne tant vaillanz, | Ne tant de richesces en avra, | Ke tuit nel perde a un launz: | Kar mort tapit enmi sun gaunt, | Kant meyns quide | Chescun,’ Archiv lxiii. 76/33; ‘within the hollow crown | That rounds the mortal temples of a king | Keeps Death his court,’ Shakspere, K. Richard II, iii. ii. 160. The reading of B, ‘deþ him ledes on his sóó,’ apparently means, death on his shoes (OE. #scōum#) directs his footsteps.

33. #fule fulþe#: comp. 134/94. ‘Cum faex, cum limus, cum res vilissima simus, | Unde superbimus? Ad terram terra redimus,’ Hauréau, Notices, vi. 124.

37. Comp. ‘Quor deades strenge warp him dun,’ GE 21/714.

38. Comp. 21/110; ‘Quen þu best wenis to haf all, | Fra al þan sal þou titest fall,’ CM 21939; ‘þenne þu wenest ꝥ þu scalt libben alre best · þenne gest þu forð,’ OEH i. 7/23; ‘quant mielz quidet vivre | e estre a delivre, | la mort li cort sore,’ Reimpredigt 32/16.

41. Comp. ‘Wela · weolla · wella[;] hu þu biswikest monine mon. | þenne he þe treoweðe alre best on[;] þenne biswikes tu heom,’ L 3411.

45, 6. Evidently a popular saying, so ‘Mon let þi fol lust ouergo · and eft hit þe likeþ,’ Poema Morale MS. J. 15 an interpolated line; ‘auh let lust ouergon ⁊ hit te wule liken,’ AR 118/26; ‘Let lust ouergon ⁊ hit þe wule liken,’ id. 238/27; Hendyng 53. For #likeþ# comp. 30/11, and for #ouergo#, pass by, 22/143.

_Errata_

#Manuscript:# ... (B) MS. Laud 471
[_printed as shown: error for “Laud Misc.”?_]
#Editions:# Of CJ; Morris, R., OEM [R. OEM]
As a rule ... Món may | lónge | lýues | wéne [lyúes]
4. #makeþ#: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder, _neut._ [_neut_]

VIII. POEMA MORALE

#Manuscripts:# i. Lambeth 487 (L), a small quarto, 177 × 135 mm., of 67 leaves, written towards the end of the twelfth century. Its contents are described in Wanley, p. 266, and printed in OEH i. pp. 2-189: nos. x, xi. of this book are also taken from it. The words printed in clarendon in these three pieces are written in red, not inserted afterwards by a rubricator but done at the same time as the rest of the text. The PM ends with fordemet, l. 270, in the middle of a page; the final t has a flourish for its cross stroke; the copyist had apparently no knowledge of any more.

ii. iii. Egerton 613, B.M., described in the List of Additions, 1843. Its contents are mostly in Norman French, but it has two copies of the PM: the second (e) furnishes here a complement to the Lambeth MS. as far as l. 370, with which it ends; the first (E) is used to complete the text. e was written in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, E is somewhat later; the former has accents, the latter none. In e every other line has a red initial, but the rubricator went wrong at ll. 308, 312. These copies are in different hands.