Y curse alle, and y dom
His enemies with Christes mouth,
By East, by West, by North, and South!
Ellis, Metr. Rom. V. I. p. 260.
[[506.] For nouth we must read mouth or wolde. The sense is— “He thought that he would he were dead, except that he might not (or would not) slay him with his (own) hand.”
[550.] The sense is— “When he had done that deed (i.e. gagged the child), then the deceiver had commanded him,” &c.
[560.] with may mean knowest, but this hardly gives sense. Perhaps we should read wilt, i.e. “As thou wilt have (preserve) my life.”
[567.] Mr Morris suggests that the riming words are adoun and croune. We might then read—
“And caste þe knaue so harde adoun,
þat he crakede þer hise croune.”]