[20]. mid rihten at halden, retain them and treat them fairly.
[21]. of—war: this phrase, which is repeated after the epic manner with the king’s name, as 96/51, 98/78 &c. appears for the first time at 13254, ‘of ufele he wes wel iwar,’ where the context requires the meaning, he was well versed, practised in evil-doing. (OE. wær, having knowledge of.) His character is bad, ‘Fax fu et faussement parla,’ W 6796; ‘þat iharde Uortigerne; þe swike wes ful derne,’ L 13603. Less ambiguous is, ‘Æfter Cap Oein; for elchen vuele he wes fein,’ L 6993. Þat . . . he in O = who.
[23]. Comp. ‘Ne seah ic el-þeodige | þus manige men mōdiglīcran,’ Beowulf, 336, 247-50. bi nihtes: comp. ‘feorh færde bi nihttes,’ L 4415.
[24]. for—bliðe: comp. 108/263; ‘Þe king wes gled for his kime,’ L 3962: with of, 128/9, 206/321; ‘forr mani mann | Wass off hiss come bliþe,’ Orm, 24/795, as in OE., ‘ealle wæron swiðe bliðe his ongeancymes,’ Ælf. Lives, ii. 208/292.
[26]. þurh—wurðscipen, by your true worthiness, as truly as you are honourable. For the position of eouwer comp. 102/154, 104/171. With for in O comp. 78/66, 119/78.
[28]. whar: OE. hwæðer. alde &c., at all seasons, under all circumstances: comp. 25/226.
[32]. hors: so W; in Hist. Britonum, Horsus: comp. such double forms as Sceaf, Sceafa; Geat, Geata.
[34]. ænde, quarter: comp. 100/109, 127/344, ‘heofon biþ open on sumum ende,’ BH 93/1; ‘þe alre leste ende,’ SK 587 (= de remotis partibus); Minot, ix. 3. angles, Ænglis O: the OE. names are Angel, Engel, Ongel; the final s here is probably due to Englisc. ‘De Saisone, dist-il, venon,’ W 6889; but they were Jutes.
[35]. tiðende, lit. happenings, here, customs, ways: comp. 110/271; ‘In France weore læwen; sulkuðe a þan dawen. | ⁊ selcuðe tidende,’ L 5137, where læwen and tidende are synonymous. gonde in O is regarded by Madden as a mistake for goude, a spelling found in C, but not, I think, in O: he translates ‘many good things’; Mätz. ‘wondrously good things’; but that gives a very unsuitable sense and spoils a rhyme. In Specimens it is taken for goinde: O has goinde, 1582, but mostly goinge, which is hard to parallel at this date in the sense of taking place, progressing. Brotanek, in Zupitza-Schipper, 339 suggests that gonde is OE. geondan, yonder; but L otherwise has only ȝeond, ȝond, prep. as at 106/209. Possibly it is a mistake for wonde, accustomed, instead of the usual iwoned 101/121; ‘To hire weren iwoned; wonder craftie men,’ O 1153: C has iwunde, wounded, 10420, and the prefix is occasionally dropped, as somned, 104/167.
[36]. vmbe is ambiguous: bi eche &c., O, means every fifteenth year: ‘Li prince qui les teres ont | Tos les jenes asamblé font | Qui de quinze ans sunt et de plus,’ W 6909. hi for is: him MS. cannot be reflexive here: comp. ‘Þa ferde wes isumned,’ L 1482, and so always in L. But Kock, Anglia, xxv. 318 takes isomned as isomneð, assembles, with him as reinforcing dative, like 13/34.