[418]. litle childre: the appointment of well-connected boys to valuable preferments was an abuse of that time. Comp. ‘Si nepotibus suis paruulis [prelati] mille animas strangulandas tradiderint et dixerint adulatores quod bene faciunt, tales in curiis laudantur,’ Eudes de Cheriton, p. 262. It is frequently referred to in Grosseteste’s letters, as no. 17, 19, 26, 30 &c.
[420]. In this way their wit adjudges them in error, namely, inasmuch as Master Nicholas continues to endure such neglect. swo is explained by the clause which begins with þat. Wells translates, ‘So they condemn their intelligence [as] in error (foolish),’ but that is against the order of the words and syncopated pres. plurals are rare.
[423]. In J, þat is a mistake for þar.
[425]. rede, present, report.
[428]. al: acc. after telle. ende of orde, end from beginning, that is, from beginning to end; a strange expression, but not more so than ‘ord fram þan ende,’ L 15770, 22983. In OE. as now, ‘from ord oð ende forð,’ Elene, 590; ‘ord and ende,’ Ælf. Hom. ii. 220/34.
[430]. misrempe: only here and in ‘misrempe ⁊ misdo,’ ON 1353, where J substitutes ‘misnyme,’ and the scribe of C adds in the margin ‘steppe’ as a gloss on rempe. The simple verb occurs twice, ‘Oft mon biþ suiðe rempende,’ Cura Past. 149/12, corresponding to ‘praecipitata actio’ of the Latin original, and ‘þe Bretons sawe þer syde ȝede lowe | þey rempede þem to reste a þrowe,’ R. of Brunne, 3491, where Wace has ‘a une part se sont retret,’ 3160. The root of the word, as of OHG. rimpfan, G. rümpfen, F. rampe, a slope, OE. *hrimpan, Gk. κράμβος, Eng. rimple, rumple, appears to mean, crooked, out of straight, hence ‘rempende’ said of headlong action, ‘rempede,’ drew aside, ‘misrempe,’ to go crooked, out of the straight path, in this place, to act on the cross, be dishonest.
[431]. crempe, restrain, check; only here and in the compound forcrempeþ, ON 510: related to cramp, and ultimately to the word with which it here rhymes.
[433]. Absolutely without army or following; comp. ‘Ne scalt þu neuere þider faren; bute mochelere ferde,’ L 3678.
[434]. ꝥ: þat, until; comp. 72/179 note; ‘æuere heo uerden alle niht; þat hit wes dæi-liht,’ L 19200; KH 123 note. þer in J may mean where, but it is more probably a mistaken expansion of the original. For bicome see 147/134.