[36]. The fruits of many a man’s hard toil often pass into the possession of his enemies. Comp. 22/129, 30. From ‘Scrutetur foenerator omnem substantiam eius: et diripiant alieni labores eius,’ Psalm cviii. 11, in the OE. version, ‘Ealle his æhta unholde fynd, rice reðe mann, rycene gedæle; and his feoh onfon fremde handa,’ Thorpe, Psalter, 317/11. sare iswinc is plural.
[37]. don afirst, put off: OE. fyrst, respite: comp. ‘Vre deð he do in firste ȝet,’ OEH i. 71/294. slawen: so e; but sclakien E; slakien J; sleuhþen D; sclakie M. ‘Nolite deficere benefacientes,’ 2 Thess. iii. 13.
[40]. he his: he it E; he hit JD; he e M. mid iwisse, of a certainty: OE. mid gewisse: ‘mid iwissen,’ 38/139 is mid gewissum: ‘iwis,’ 187/349 represents s. neut. of gewiss: ‘fuliwis,’ 79/17, ‘fullȝewiss,’ 89/20 is the same strengthened by ful: ‘to fuliwis’ 190/445 shows the same treated as though it were a noun: similarly ‘to fuligewis,’ 192/508, a compound of fulli + gewiss; Orm has contracted ‘fuliȝwiss.’ From to wisse, mid wisse come ‘to nafre none wisse,’ 45/240, ‘mid neure nane wisse,’ 44/236. See KH 1209 note.
[42]-65. Comp. generally 27/274-291.
[43] T. After For, þar ne has been omitted by the scribe.
[44]. þerf he, copied by mistake from the preceding line. The MSS. agree substantially with T: e has, þer ne mei hí be nime. laðe . . . loue: formal; comp. ‘mid lufe ge mid laþe,’ BH 45/8; ‘litel me is of ower luue, leasse of ower laððe,’ SJ 27/14.
[45]. of ȝeve ne of ȝelde, of bribes to officials and of taxes; things which subtract from his gains on earth. Comp. ‘hem þat desireth | Ȝiftes or ȝeresȝyues · bi cause of here offices,’ Piers Plowman, B. iii. 98, 99; Böddeker, Alteng. Dicht. 104/53; 44/256: Mede was very busy in those days. This is undoubtedly the original reading; J D concur, but E has of wiue ne of childe, similarly e; M of ȝunge ne of ȝelde: here in T is hire, usury.
[46]. For solf bereð E has the singular variant, suuel and bred, savoury meat and bread.
[47], 48. Not in D. draȝen ⁊ don, convey our wealth and deposit it: comp. ‘La devriüm traire | trestot nostre afaire, | nostre estage prendre, | le nostre doner | por nos delivrer, | partir e despendre,’ Reimpredigt 56/110, which is possibly the source of the English; see also 51 note. Otherwise draȝen with þider would naturally mean, proceed to that place, as in ‘Traez uers cel pais chascon a grant espleit,’ Guischart 1259, but that leaves don without meaning. It has the sense of the fuller phrase in l. 42: see NED, do I 3. Morris indeed connects don wel which is against the metrical pause as indicated by the point after don in E e J: E e moreover read wel oft ⁊ wel ȝelome, and J has hit in l. 48 for naut. For wel ofte see 49/329, for wel ilome, 134/97. M reads þider we scolde bere ⁊ draȝe, ofte ⁊ wel ylome, with hit in the next line, as in J. ofte ⁊ ilome: OE. oft and gelōme; comp. 48/325, 119/78, 127/360; ‘Hi hedden teone and seorewe · ofte and ilome,’ OEM 89/14, 169/22; ON 1545; L 16500.
[48]. wrangwise dome: comp. 44/256. E reads mid wronge ne mid woȝe.