[1]. bute—reade corresponds to frequent phrases in the Gilbertine Rule, like ‘nisi necessitas postulet aliqua hoc fieri,’ ‘nisi magister aliter iusserit.’ With the former compare 60/18, 62/20, 64/84, 74/217; with the latter 60/13, 62/30, 37, 66/98; ‘þes riwle ⁊ alle oðre beoð in owres scriftes read ⁊ in oweres meistres breoste,’ MS. C f. 190. The master is ‘presbyter aliquis senex maturus moribus, cui raro, nisi de confessione et animae aedificatione, [inclusa] loquatur. A quo consilium accipiat in dubiis, in tribulationibus consolationem,’ Ailred, 642 c.
[3]. þuncheð bet, seemeth to be rather. The contrast of Martha and Mary, the active and the contemplative life, is a favourite topic in the AR; ‘Husewifschipe is Marthe dole; and Marie dole is stilnesse and reste of alle worldes noise,’ 414/16. Less frequently it is Lya and Rachel that are opposed, Hugh of S. Victor, i. 133.
[5]. for &c.: the passage is based on Ailred, ‘Aliae [inclusae] . . . pecuniae congregandae vel multiplicandis pecoribus inhiant: tantaque cum hac sollicitudine in his extenduntur, ut eas matres vel dominas familiarum existimes, non anachoretas. Quaerunt aliquibus pascua, pastores . . . Sequitur emptio et venditio’ &c., 641 c, but its vivid detail and interest are all the writer’s own.
[6]. Olhnin, wheedle, get on the right side of; a word peculiar to AR, SJ, SK, SM; ‘couendra . . . de querre la grace de messer,’ F. heiward: OE. *hægweard occurring in dat. hæigwerde; adopted by the writer of Quadripartitus, p. 22 (c. 1100), as heiwardo, d., but often called messor; among other duties, he kept cattle out of the enclosed fields and impounded strays: see Liebermann, Gesetze, i. 452; Leo, Rectitudines, 245. wearien: warien NCT; OE. wergian, curse, revile; comp. ‘ne ne warien hwon me agulteð to ou,’ AR 186/2, 284/22; ‘Ȝe ne schulen uor none þinge ne warien, ne swerien,’ 70/20: ‘mandir (for maudir) le qant il les enparke,’ F.
[7]. ȝelden &c., and moreover pay for the damage done. wat crist: comp. ‘Deu le set,’ AR 382/17. hwen &c., when there is complaint among the people at large about the recluse’s cattle, or possibly, wealth. The order of the words forbids the explanation, ‘complaint of anchoresses’ cattle in an enclosure,’ Morris. For the vague use of in tune, comp. KH 153 note. Comp. ‘si bestias haberetis, aliena pascua forsitan occuparent, essetque magnus clamor vicinorum dicentium: Utinam isti eremitae nunquam advenissent, nam multiplex eorum possessio multiplex nobis infert impedimentum,’ S. Stephani Grandimontensis Regula; De bestiis non habendis; Migne, P. L. cciv. col. 1143: possibly the source of this place.
[8]. Nu þenne introduces a command, 123/218, 126/311, or request 119/78, or argument 122/191, but its use here for still, notwithstanding, is peculiar. Note that the scribe of T deleted þenne in favour of þah.
[10]. ifestnet: L has nothing corresponding to the following ancre—heorte, but instead ‘Cauens enim psalmista [di]cente. Nolite cor appon[ere]’; a reference to Ps. lxi. 11.
[11]. driue, practise, pursue: comp. 130/72; ‘þa þe þone ceaþ drifað,’ Benedictine Rule, ed. Schröer, 95/11; ‘ꝥ nis bute dusilec | al ꝥ ha driueð,’ SK 424, 5, 1798; ‘long wune is her driuen,’ GE 1681. chepilt, a female trader, one who buys to sell at a profit, as the text explains.
[12]. efter: see 7/53. chepeð, offers for sale, with dat. chapmon; comp. ‘And chepte heom to sullen vre helare,’ OEM 40/115, but with prep. in sense of buying, ‘Ȝif me cheapeð on of þeos et ou,’ AR 190/8.
[14 C]: the addition þah—wordes, not in any other MS., is noteworthy: F has nothing corresponding to it or to the sentence in A, þing—honden.