“As armes,” þanne cride Rolond,
“As armes everychone!”
Cf. ibidem, l. 4125. So we read in the Destruction, l. 1460.
“Ore as armes, seignours, franc chevalier membré.”
Perhaps we ought to read as armes also in l. 491, where the reading and armes is somewhat suspicious, since armes, if we regard and armes to be the true reading, would be the only instance of the imperative plural ending in -es (instead of -eth) in the Sowdan.
p. 77, l. [2689]. Thay thanked God that thay him hadde Gyfe thaye suche grace to spede. These lines are corrupt. I propose to read:
“Thay thanked God that hem hadde
Gyfen suche grace to spede.”
p. 77, l. [2694]. alaye, written as one word in the MS., must be divided into two, a being the indefinite article, and laye meaning “unploughed ground, field, pasture, meadow.” Mod. Eng. ley, lea, lay. See Stratmann, s. v. leȝe, p. 356.
p. 77, l. [2698]. he, “they.” This is the only instance of he instead of the common thay. But he, which is further confirmed by the rhyme, must certainly be attributed to the author; thay occurs only once [‹p129›] (l. 3021) as a rhyme, but the rhyme is not a good one, and there also it would be preferable to read he.