[865]. Probably “commutant.”
[866]. Confessionale, 32, 33; see also his Poenitentiale, ii. 22, 23. Thorpe, ii. 157, 190.
[867]. Poenit., iv. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Thorpe, ii. 208, 210.
[868]. This is repeated in the same words in the collection called Canons enacted under king Eádgár, in that portion entitled “Modus imponendi poenitentiam.” But as Dr. Kunstman, an authority of the highest character on this point, informs me, these Canons are founded upon and contain portions of the very ancient Poenitential of Cummianus; and we may suppose Ecgberht to have adopted these passages from him.
[869]. Repeated in nearly the same words in the ‘Modus imponendi poenitentiam,’ § 39. Thorpe, ii, 274.
[870]. Thorpe, ii. 249. “And we lærað ðæt preosta gehwilc cristendóm geornlíce árære, ⁊ ælcne hæðendóm mid ealle ádwǽsce, ⁊ forbeóde wilweorðunga ⁊ lícwiglunga ⁊ hwata ⁊ galdra ⁊ manweorðunga ⁊ ða gemearh ðe man drífð on mislícum gewiglungum, ⁊ on fríðsplottum, ⁊ on ellenum, ⁊ eác on óðrum mislícum treówum, ⁊ on stánum, ⁊ on manegum mislícum gedwimerum ðe mon ondreógað fela ðæs ðe hi ná ne scoldon.”
A various reading adds:—“treówwurðunga ⁊ stánwurðunga ⁊ ðone deófles cræft ðǽr man ða cild þurh ða eorðan tihð, ⁊ ða gemear ðe man drihð on geares niht:”—“tree-worshippings and stone-worshippings, and that devil’s craft, whereby children are drawn through the earth, and the vain practices which are carried on on the night of the year.” The fríðsplot was a patch or plot of ground sanctified, gefríðod, by some heathen ceremony, a kind of Taboo.
[871]. Edited by the Rev. T. O. Cockayne for the Master of the Rolls’ Series, 1864-1866, under the title of “Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England.”
[872]. Fol. 193.
[873]. MS. Harl. 585. fol. 196. 196 b.