[49]. Comp. ‘gleowinde of euch gleo,’ SK 1667; ‘ꝥ euch mon ah to hersumin | ⁊ herien in eorðe,’ id. 352; 131/84.
[51]. were is subjunctive in a dependent question: contrast with ‘wes’ in preceding line. sone so, as soon as: comp. 94/18: ‘Þe child him answerde | Sone so he hit herde,’ KH 199, where MS. L has the alternative ‘so sone.’
[52]. of: comp. ‘þat he of þe holy gost · so vre heorte a-tende,’ OEM 52/548, but ‘wið’ is usual, as at 70/168. wod—walde: similar expressions are frequent in this group: comp. 130/81; 146/121; ‘þet wod he walde iwurðen,’ SJ 66/7; ‘for neh wod he walde iwurðen,’ SM 7/34.
[53]. hwuch as, those whom: less common than the equivalent ‘hwich þat.’ For a similar use of as, comp. 72/192.
[54]. ȝeinde ⁊ ȝurinde: comp. ‘⁊ he to rarin reowliche · to ȝuren ant to ȝein,’ SJ 49/4; ‘þe heaðene hundes ȝellen | ⁊ ȝeien ⁊ ȝuren on euch half,’ SK 2013. wið rewfule remes: comp. 141/39.
[57]. hire: heo BT; both are necessary and in besides: read, þen heo in hire heorte iwundet inwið: comp. 139/28; ‘Nes þis meiden nawiht | herfore imenget | in hire mod inwið,’ SK 607; ‘Constu bulden a burh | inwið i þin heorte,’ id. 1642. Einenkel reads heo and says that ‘heorte’ is instrumental.
[58]. wraðe: the usual meaning, angry, is unsuitable: the word is connected with OE. wrīþan, to twist, OHG. reid, ‘curled’, and crooked, perverse, would give a good sense here and in such places as ‘iboren owraðe time,’ SJ 57/3; ‘to wraðer heale,’ 141/64.
[60]. þah: so all three MSS. Einenkel reads þa, and translates, ‘as she was alone (to strive) against’; rather, when she singly should be against, &c. If any alteration is to be made, ꝥ for þat would be preferable, but þah, even if, as in ‘ꝥ we ne cunnen | ⁊ tah we cuðen, | ne nullen ne ne duren,’ SK 1322, gives a quite sufficient sense.
[61]. hef, lifted: comp. ‘tu schuldest þin herte heouen þiderward as tin heritage is,’ HM 25/34; AR 86/5.
[62]. hap, good fortune, success. wisliche, truly.