[16]. wis . . . war: comp. 129/27, 156/148, 186/324, 190/456; ‘þe wes þe wiseste; þe wes þe warreste,’ L 2107; ‘wisliche þauh ⁊ warliche,’ AR 138/7.
[21]. wisliche, wise, advisable: OE. wīslīc: Layamon has ‘to iwislichen þinge,’ 21052. T has, of wiliche þinges.
[28]. lykyen, please: in this sense it governs a dative, which may be understood out of hine. But Mätzner translates, like.
[29]. one, alone: comp. 19/41, 22/118, 60/2.
[30]. glednesse: after the manner of l. 29, we expect gleawnesse, but comp. ‘Of alkin gladnes es þar gleu,’ CM 23359. T has ⁊ he is gleu | ouer alle glade þinhes: S omits. Line 31 is probably a gloss upon l. 30.
[34]. riche, powerful: comp. 6/30, 133/33; ‘hit ne gerist nanum ricum cynincge,’ Ælf. Lives i. 382/260.
[35], 6. that there shall not be wanting anything he desires to him who is purposed to honour Him here in this world. For the construction of wone, see 52/368: for the double negative comp. ‘for he ne mihte beon wurðe; na þing of his wille,’ L 18704: in the MS. wc the scribe mistook þ for w. T has apparently þo, not wo: Skeat reads [hwo]: that relative is not found in J.
[37]. For stanza iii generally comp. ‘Decet regem discere legem. | Audiat rex quod praecipit lex. | Legem servare hoc est regnare. | Notitia litterarum lux est animarum,’ Wipo 1-4. An echo of this stanza is evident in, ‘The ferste seide, “I understonde | Ne may no king wel ben in londe, | Under God Almihte, | But he cunne himself rede, | Hou he shal in londe lede | Everi man wid rihte,”’ Wright, Pol. Songs, 254/7 (date 1311 A.D.).
[38]. may has possibly its independent force, is strong, has power, comp. 29/12, but the line is evidently corrupt; ryhtwis is a reminiscence of l. 34, as is also riche in T. It is easy to supply beo after king, for TS have ben. But RJ, S are nearest the right reading with, Ne mai no riht cing ben under crist selve (selve SH1; self SH2, selfe SL). Read Ne may beon ryht king. vnder criste, a favourite expression in Layamon, as, ‘Ȝe beoð under criste; cnihten alre kennest | and ich æm rihchest alre kinge; vnder gode seolue,’ L 27230, 27976, 28056.
[40]. It is obvious to substitute for wyttes, wrytes, or better iwriten, as at 20/67, 70, after writes in T, but ‘his writings,’ i.e. manuscripts, seems suspicious, and if correct gives a feeble threefold repetition of the same idea; and further the relation between ll. 41 and 42 requires the explanation of hw as, ‘so as to know how,’ Skeat. A transposition of ll. 40, 41 with welde read for kunne (which seems to be due to the following line), will give a better sequence of ideas, obviate repetition, and restore the alliteration. Comp. ‘ælc bi his witte; wisdom sæiden,’ L 25627; ‘he wes swiðe wis mon; and witful on bocken,’ id. 22097. For cunne RJ, S have icweme.