‘And to [the] herte hym bare.’
The weak preterit tense of berien is very rare; if bere = A.S. beran sometimes has the same meaning, i.e. ‘to strike,’ the reason is that A.S. beran and Icel. berja are confounded.
[St. 61]
p. 25, [l. 696]. woo can hardly stand for wood. It seems to me like a last corruption of an old romance phrase, like worthy inwith wall (woȝe); possibly the line was simply so: Thus in II journeys Torrent so.—Hall.
p. 25, [l. 700]. On the use of M.E. fote as a plural see Zupitza’s note to Guy, l. 598.
[St. 63]
p. 26, [l. 722]. Hall suggests, the original phrase may have been: pomely whyt and grey; cf. Chaucer, C. T., Prol., l. 615 f.:
‘This reeve sat vpon a ful good stot,
That was al pomely gray, and highte Scot.’