[79]. frofreþþ . . . beldeþþ, comforts . . . encourages, a favourite combination: comp. O. Dedication, 237; i. 20/662.
[82]. Toc, betook himself, began.
[89]. shetenn inn hiss herrte: Holt translates, ‘shut up, harden,’ wrongly connecting shetenn with OE. scyttan: it represents scēotan, meaning, to shoot into his heart, to inflict a deadly wound: the expression was suggested by such places as ‘þæt hi magon sceotan þa unscyldigan heortan dygollice,’ = ‘ut sagittent in obscuro rectos corde,’ Ps. x. 3 (Thorpe), and ‘þine flana synt swyþe scearpe on þam heortum þinra feonda,’ id. xliv. 7.
[90]. whas is for whase, whoso. itt is formal nominative; the whole expression is equivalent to, Whosoever is armed. Comp. 116/154; ‘Whasumm itt iss þatt illke mann | Þatt hafeþþ tweȝȝenn kirrtless,’ O. i. 324/9291; ‘Whatt mann se itt iss þatt wepeþþ her,’ id. 196/5666; ‘ꝥ iss ꝥ,’ 116/157.
[91]. rihht, adv., utterly, at all: ‘Rihht all swa summ,’ O. i. 39/1188, means, precisely as.
[93]. o godess hallfe, on God’s behalf.
[97]. borenn . . . to manne: see [113/30 note].
[98-102]: ‘notandum quod Angelus qui in noctis utique vigiliis pastores affatur non ait, hac nocte, sed hodie natus est vobis salvator. Non aliam scilicet ob causam, nisi quia gaudium magnum evangelizare veniebat. Nam ubi tristia quaeque nocturnis temporibus gesta vel gerenda significantur, ibi saepe nox vel adiungitur, vel etiam sola nominatur,’ Bede, v. 235.
[100]. all: see 112/3.
[104]-7: ‘Neque enim frustra Angelus tanto lumine cinctus apparuit, ut claritas Dei pastores circumfulsisse . . . dicatur . . . sed mystice praemonuit, quod aperte postea monuit apostolus dicens, Nox praecessit, dies autem appropinquavit,’ Bede, v. 235.