For by this werk, north, south, ne west, ne est,
There n'is yfostred man, ne brid, ne best;
It doth no good, to my wit, but anoyeth."
I therefore propose the following as the true reading of the passage in question: viz.,
—— "Ye had a great chertee
Toward mankind; but how then may it be
That ye swiche menez make, it to destroyen,
Which menez don no good, but ever anoyen?"
And if I have succeeded in making good this position we no longer stand in need of a precedent for the same reading in the case of—"In menez libra."
A. E. B.