[169]. so . . . so: ‘Et si cum il furent en la mier . si leua un grant torment.’
[170]. was ileid him &c.: ‘se esteit cochiez dormir.’
[173]. ha wiste wel &c.: ‘il estoit chose de ce . kil nauoent creance,’ D, it was a fault that they had not faith; ‘il les chalenga de ceo qui il naueient bone fiance en lui,’ A. The translator had in mind choisi.
[174]. wat dret yw is usually explained as, what terrifies you, a very rare meaning for dreden, or possibly as an impersonal construction, which is without parallel. The French has ‘que cremez uus,’ the Vulgate, ‘quid timidi estis.’ The usual construction in ME. is reflexive, comp. 208/397, ‘ne drede ȝe ow nawiht,’ SK 1393; ‘Ne dred te, Zacariȝe, nohht,’ Orm i. 2/151; ‘him ne dret naȝt to do zenne,’ Ayenbite 34/14, and if dret may be taken as a syncopated plural, that construction would be exemplified here. Syncopated plurals are rare, and where they occur, they are usually said to be scribal mistakes; such are ‘yeft,’ 215/35, ‘spekþ,’ Ayenbite 58/15, ‘brekþ,’ id. 16/21, ‘zeneȝþ’ id. 155/3. Perhaps they are specifically Kentish. If this view be accepted, wat is an acc. of reference like quid and practically equivalent to why.
[175]. tok, rebuked: ‘chosa.’
[177]. so awondrede hem: ‘si sesmerueillerent;’ see 54/27.
[180]. þet se þet . . . þet: ‘que cil qui securut . . . quil nus sucurre.’ For the repeated þet, comp. 220/200; ‘sitteð al stille, ꝥ hwon he parted urom ou, ꝥ he ne cunne ower god,’ AR 64/20.
[183]. ‘Salus populi ego sum, dicit Dominus: de quacumque tribulatione clamaverint ad me, exaudiam eos: et ero illorum Dominus in perpetuum,’ Introit for xixth Sunday after Pentecost, and for Thursday after the iiird Sunday in Lent. The French version ends, ‘serrai lur deu pardurables:’ in l. 186 the English translator has deserted, as he rarely does, his original.
[187]. sikerliche, with confidence: ‘seurement.’ acumbri, load, oppress; ‘enconbrer:’ apparently the earliest instance of its occurrence.
[191]. yef—done, grant us to do such works. þo saulen &c., ‘les almes ⁊ les cors de nus,’ A.