[166]. cliuer, expert in seizing: the only ME. example of the word clever: noted by Sir Thomas Browne as an East Anglian word. See NED s.v. clever; the connection with clifer, claw, suggested by this use is illustrated by, ‘Hweðer þe cat of helle claurede euer toward hire ⁊ cauhte mid his cleafres hire heorte heaued,’ AR 102/4. With on comp. ‘gredi uppen woreld richeise,’ OEH ii. 195/1.
[169]. nið ⁊ win: comp. 183/244: ‘nið and strif’ is the equivalent in GE 373: nið usually takes to, ‘he haueð to us muchel nið,’ OEH i. 55/11, but see 197/11.
[170]. Comp. ‘he haueð leue to fonden mon,’ OEH i. 67/232.
[171]. Transpose, us for to deren: it is a rhyming line.
[172]. let us subject the body to pain: bale was probably suggested by ‘bote,’ 180/150. The meaning is made clear by, ‘lyued in penance hys lyueȝ longe | With bodyly bale hym blysse to byye,’. E. E. Allit. Poems, 15/476. Omit ðe before bale.
[173]. that (i.e. the soul) is equal to the head, that is, the head figuratively signifies the soul. But the Latin finally identifies the head with Christ, ‘Hoc caput dico quod habes in ipso | Principe christo,’ which is from ‘omnis viri caput Christus est,’ 1 Cor. xi. 3. helde might be subj. past from healdan, if we were to keep, but that would give a poor sense; and it cannot be from heldan (hieldan) incline, for that would require to: silde should probably be read; comp. 180/130; ‘Semper illesum caput est habendum,’ T.; the meaning would be, let us protect it as it deserves.
[176]. Transpose, weder softe: sen hauen ofte. softe, mild; comp. ‘ðis weder is softe,’ GE 3061.
[177]. Read, heruestes hete; comp. ‘Heruest, with the heite ⁊ the high sun, | Was comyn into colde,’ Destruction of Troy, 407/12465. hardilike: heardlīce, energetically; the glide i takes the place of the usual e.
[178]. renneð rapelike: comp. 187/368.
[181]. wed, weed, used, no doubt, for the rhyme: for a more usual expression, see 21/112.