Two-thirds of the infinitives end in e, ie, ye, y, lokie 41, wrþie, 36, 286, wyssye 21, arixlye 329, leorny 69, weny 244; n is retained mostly before vowels and at the end of lines and half-lines, but leten and forleten occur six times against lete once. A dative infinitive with inflection is to fone 55, others without inflection are leden 46, mowen 60, reowe 93, sowen 59, swynke 96, for to do 229, for to werie 56, for to vordrye 227. Presents are s. 1. holde 304, munye 25; 2. hauest 151, hafst 133, lest 316 (lǣtest); 3. leorneþ 66, seyþ 234 &c., foþ 289, wurþ 209, iwinþ 100 (read iwinneþ), let 204, 329, bihat 245: pl. 1. wurcheþ 283; 3. ibureþ 45, forteoþ 235: subjunctive s. 3. fare 64, lykie 88, lyke 155, loke 64; pl. 1. biþenche 284; 2. adrede 27, luuyen, lykyen 28: imperative s. 2. seye 152, leorne 170, ilef 132, 248, ryd 153, let 165, wurþ 184, but wrþe 124; pl. 2. lusteþ 140. Past of Strong Verbs: s. 3. Ia. cweþ 19 &c.; Ic. bigon 9, pl. Ia. sete 1; subj. s. 2. Ia. iseye 186; 3. Ib. bycome 138; V. greowe 81, wolde 278. Participles present: I c. singinde 153; V. uexynde 112, 313; past: I b. iboren 138, 328, vnbore 327; I c. forswunke 200, aswunde 76; II. biswike 76, idryue 61; III. idrowe 105, iscohte 303; IV. ischapen 92; V. isowen 80; VI. bitowe 106. Past of Weak Verbs: s. 2. heuedest 187; 3. brouhte 181, hadde 80, luuede 15, seyde 24, wiste 181. Participles present: lyuyinde 188, werende 316; past: ihurd 205, ilered 2, 39, iseyd 236, ised 230, iwreþþed 187, 222. Minor Groups: wot pr. s. 118, 156, not 114; ahte pt. s. subj. 79; on pr. s. 160, 162; con pr. s. 154, 302, kunne pr. s. subj. 40, cunne 41; schal pr. s. 35 &c., schulle 1 pr. pl. 127, schulen 276, schulle pr. pl. 49 &c., schule pr. s. subj. 42, 1 pr. pl. subj. 119, scolde pt. s. 87 &c., scholden pt. pl. 11; myht 2 pr. s. 159, 263, may pr. s. 38 &c., mawe 1 pr. pl. 286, 2 pr. pl. 10, mvwe pr. s. subj. 113, myhte pt. s. 199 &c., 2 pt. pl. 22; mote pr. s. subj. 149; beon inf. 68, nys pr. s. 112, 125, biþ pr. s. 322, beoþ pr. pl. 74, 76, beo pr. s. subj. 35 &c., pr. pl. subj. 202, wes pt. s. 4, were pt. pl. 24, pt. s. subj. 200, 325, nere 82; wille 1 pr. s. 142, wile pr. s. 154, wule 91 &c., nele 254, nule 69, wolde pt. s. 21, 2 pt. pl. 20, pt. s. subj. 191; do inf. 197, for to do dat. inf. 229, deþ pr. s. 288, 321, doþ 81 (read deþ); agoþ pr. s. 146, ouergoþ 143, ago pr. s. subj. 145.
Noteworthy adverbs are frakele 246, ifurn 236 (gefyrn), lihte 198, muchele 162, vuele 171, 176, vayre 245, 246: oft is always ofte.
[Dialect:] Southern, free from South-Eastern influence. The wavering in the representation of a before nasals points to the Middle South, but ihure 10, ihurd 205 are South-Western. But this representation of īe, as well as lyen (= lēan), is found in MS. e of the Poema Morale, which is generally taken as of the Middle South. The forms vyches, eueruyches occur elsewhere in MS. J, and are probably due to the scribe.
[Metre:] The system is that of Layamon and the Bestiary; the Worcester Fragment B shows an earlier stage of its development. It is a mixture of the national alliterative verse loosely constructed and rhyming couplets. The latter are bound together by perfect, imperfect, even inflectional rhymes, and assonances. The halves of the couplets as they appear in MS. J are of varying lengths, two measures as 73, 216, more frequently two and a half 7, 44 &c., three 51 &c., three and a half 8 &c. Three-syllable measures are common, as, ‘hé wes þe | wýsuste | mòn,’ 17, ‘his sé | des to sów | èn,’ 59, ‘his mé | des to mów | èn’ 60. The alliterative combinations present every possible variety, 2 + 2, as 16; the normal 2 + 1, as 67; 1 + 2, as 142; 1 + 1, as 23 and often. The couplet has sometimes the added ornament of alliteration, as 46, 47. Where a line has neither alliteration nor rhyme, it may be assumed that the formless text is corrupt, as at 26, 68 &c.
There is then little to be gained by a metrical analysis of the poem in its present condition. It had originally a quite definite and regular structure, but this has been spoiled by copyists with little feeling for the structure of the verse and possessed by a strong desire to renovate the antique. It is highly probable that the last of them, the writer of MS. J, had a large hand in this alteration, for the copy of the Poema Morale in the same MS. has undergone a drastic revision which sets it apart among the versions of that poem, and the version of the Owl and Nightingale has suffered, though not to the same extent. On the other hand MS. T was copied by a man who was incapable of remodelling it; though a ruin, it often preserves in details the original.
The dilapidations wrought by the copyists may be classed as follow: i. Archaic and uncommon words are rejected: for þeynes 1, read sweynes; comp. L 28359, O 3297, 14953 for this word as meaning the immediate dependants of the king; the line then divides after ‘sete’: l. 13, see note: l. 24 for seyde þe, read wordede; comp. ‘þe king wordede þus,’ L 13052: l. 26 with the help of T may be restored, arme ⁊ edie leode · of lifis wisdom: l. 38, see note: l. 56, adopting ‘here’ from T, read þat land for to werie | wiþ hunger and wiþ here (the Danish marauding host was forgotten): l. 62, for bihoue read biliue (bilif T, W): l. 68, for beon read wurþen: l. 71, 330 for rewe read suwe, smart; comp. 72/199: l. 82, see note and comp. L 30903: l. 87, for howyen, read ȝeomeren, be depressed: l. 88, 155, for lykie read wurþe: comp. ‘Ne scyle nán wís monn gnornian to hwæm his wise weorþe,’ Boeth. 40, 3 (B-T): l. 111, see note: l. 115, for turne read rume (rime T): l. 122, see note: l. 133, for inowe read muche (moch T): l. 136, for Monymen read moni gume: l. 137, for him seolue read his saule, with T: l. 138, for bycome read were, with T, restoring a couplet: l. 143 for þing, read weole (welþe T): half a line is lost after lere: read, And ich eu lere wille · [leoue freond myne] | wit and wisdom · þat alle weole ouergoþ.: ll. 202, 207, see notes: l. 278 for mon read wiht: l. 280 for holde read lenge, as in T. ii. Older forms and constructions are modernised: ll. 159, 160, see note: l. 169 read þat heo þe bringe, making a couplet: l. 187 read heuede: l. 216 read þare for þe: l. 305, read alle for al, comp. 185: other instances are noted in Accidence. iii. Words are rearranged mostly in a prose order, spoiling rhyme and rhythm: read l. 25, leoue freond myne: l. 41 himseólf one lokie: l. 55 bihoueþ þan knyhte, for the alliterating word in the first half of the line comes almost invariably last, the rare exceptions being mostly verbs: for l. 56 see above: read l. 80 and he isowen hadde: l. 118 hit one wot dryhten: l. 130, vre maþmes welden | and vs byhinde leten: l. 142, lere wille: l. 156, if þu hauest serewe | and hit wot þe erewe: l. 203, þe kat museþ: l. 211, wiþute is bryht: ll. 232, 233, þe hire rede folẹweþ | to seorewe heo bringeþ: l. 245, þat he habbe freond: ll. 321, 322, þanne hit sone deþ | þat þe unyqueme biþ. iv. Lines and parts of lines are transposed, most of these as affecting the interpretation have been dealt with in the notes, see 40, 90, 144, 186, 247; read ll. 72, 73, þenne cumeþ vnhelþe | and ek uniselþe: though the combination in the text is found elsewhere as 40/197, elde seems to be due to the preceding line; at l. 190 we should perhaps read wymmon is tungwod · ⁊ haueþ wordes to wroþ. v. Padding is freely used: l. 4 omit þe: l. 7 read On Engelonde king: l. 9 read gon for bigon: omit l. 24, þe before king; l. 35, ne; l. 49, he; l. 66, his; l. 69, þat; l. 98, þe mon, and read þe on youhþe swo swinkeþ | and worldes weole her iwinneþ: l. 105, read on ȝouþe þat he haueþ idrowe: omit l. 132, þu; l. 149, owe; l. 152, þu; l. 188, hit; l. 189, scholde, forþ; l. 192, nowiht, and read ll. 191, 192 as an alliterative line: omit l. 205, ne, he; l. 209, blyþe and; l. 210, þe mon: l. 219-23, with the help of T we may restore, Ne ared þu nouht to swiþe | þe word of þine wyue. | If heo be i wreþþed · myd worde oþer dede; l. 231, for þat wymmon read heo; comp. T: l. 242 omit þe mon: l. 249, see note: l. 254, omit þe before wule: l. 262 omit þe, see note: l. 275, for schulle bicumen read bicumeþ: l. 280, for none read no: ll. 294, 296, omit þu: l. 324 omit þe. vi. The rhymes may, in some cases, have been spoiled by the substitution of alien dialectic forms; it is tempting to read ihere 10, iherd 205, but the u forms do not appear to belong to the dialect of the scribe of J: at l. 102 helde, a patois form (Bülbring § 175 note), might be read: at l. 240 þon. The combinations brouhte : myhte, 181, 182; ayhte : nouhte, 274, 275 are remarkable.
Many intractable lines remain, such as 284, where perhaps bet has been lost at the end.
Elision and slurring are frequent; pronounce þeorl 4, lawẹlyche 47, euẹlyche 49, euẹruyches, owẹre 54, &c.
[Introduction:] The ascription of the Proverbs to Alfred rests on no firmer ground than an affectionate remembrance of the great king as a sage and teacher of his people. The only part of the poem which could with even artistic fitness be attributed to him is ll. 19-64, the rest is mostly the cautious wisdom of the common people, varied by reflections in a higher strain on the favourite mediaeval theme of the shortness and uncertainty of life. Up to l. 64 the poem is connected; afterwards it is without apparent plan, though there is occasionally a slender thread of union between the stanzas. The editors indeed see a new exordium and the beginning of a second section in stanza xiii, which appears to me to be a weak imitation of stanza vii. Perhaps a structural difference may be detected between the more general observations of the first part and the advice to an individual which begins with stanza xiv. Stanza xxi appears to have strayed from its natural place beside stanza vii.
The version of MS. J is not necessarily the more primitive because it is shorter than that of T. A poem of such loose structure readily lends itself to selection on the part of the copyist; and the scribe of MS. J was evidently a critic.