[87]. howyen, be anxious, distressed: comp. ‘Ne beo ge na hogiende ymb þa morgenlican neode,’ S. Matt. vi. 34.
[89]. welde: comp. 4/41.
[90]. Comp. ‘After vuele cumeð god; wel is him þe hit habbe mot,’ L 3608. A transposition here restores the alliteration in two verses.
[92]. Comp. 195/634, where the verb is omitted after wel, as is usual in such expressions; ‘Wel him ðe is clene iþrowen,’ VV 95/30; ‘Ah wel hire ꝥ luueð godd,’ HM 27/35. For þat=for whom, see [46/292 note], and for ischapen, destined, comp. ‘after ðan ðe hem iscapen is,’ VV 105/4: hit is, of course, good after evil, weal after woe.
[94]. Comp. ‘Whoso roweth aȝein the flod, | Off sorwe he shal drinke; | Also hit fareth bi the unsele, | A man shal have litel hele | Ther agein to swinke,’ Pol. Songs, 254/20; ‘werig sceal se wiþ winde roweþ,’ Exeter Book, 345/12. For strong, difficult, tough, comp. 48/312, 76/18, 200/111; ‘hu strong hit is to arisen of vuel wune,’ AR 326/28: ‘þes ilke Mon is strong to sermonen’ (difficult to preach to, a tough subject), OEH i. 81/14.
[98]. mon is a suspended nom., the construction being changed at l. 105: analogous to 19/48.
[102]. idelnesse holde, enjoy leisure. T has hednesse, OE. ēadnes, happiness, comfort. ‘Honestior est qui senectutem ad otium rettulit, quam quem in otio invenit,’ Monita 22/75.
[106]. wel bitowe, well employed, profitably experienced. Comp. ‘alle þe ȝeres weren wel bi-toȝe,’ L 19902; VV 13/2; ON 702; ‘uuele bitohe,’ 74/225.
[108]. See 26/244 note, and for the form of the expression, comp. ‘Ah her, þu wenest ȝet | ꝥ tu wenen ne þerf,’ SK 1153.
[110]. lyues: read lyf is . . . luued: ‘Qui enim vult vitam diligere,’ &c. 1 S. Peter iii. 10.