Þe tweyne yȝen, and þe nase, þe naked lyppeȝ,
And þose were soure to se, and sellyly blered.
Gawayne ll. 961-3.
350-1. 'And David afterwards, who suffered much evil, was <morally> blinded by Bathsheba.'
352-6. 'Since these were injured with their wiles, it would be a great gain to love them well, and not believe them—for a man who could do it [cp. note to XI b 209]. For these (Adam, Solomon, &c.) were of old the noblest, whom all happiness followed, surpassingly, above all the others that lived beneath the heavens.' mused 'thought' is used for the rime, and means no more than 'lived'. ll. 354-6 amount to 'above all other men'.
[VI]
Dialect: West Midland, like Gawayne.
The metre occasionally gives clear evidence that final flexional -e of the original has not always been preserved in the extant MS., e.g.
Þaȝ cortaysly ȝe carp<ė> con 21.