XVII. SAINT KATHERINE

XVII. SAINT KATHERINEManuscripts:As for Sawles Warde. The text of this extract is from the Royal MS.Editions:Morton, James, The Legend of St. Katherine of Alexandria, Abbotsford Club, London, 1841 (text from MS. Titus D 18, with variants from the Royal MS.). Hardwick, Charles, An Historical Inquiry touching Saint Catharine of Alexandria: to which is added a Semi-Saxon Legend, Cambridge, 1849 (text from MS. Titus). Einenkel, Eugen, The Life ofSaint Katherine, London 1884 (text based on the Royal MS. with readings of all the manuscripts, the Latin original and an English translation): also as Appendix to The Life and Martyrdom of Saint Katherine of Alexandria, Roxburghe Club, 1884.Literature:(1)Of the present version.Einenkel, E. (seep. 493/7); *Stodte, H. (seep. 493/9); Victor, Otto, Zur Textkritik und Metrik der frühmittelenglischen Katharinenlegende, Bonn, 1912; Luick, Karl, Anglia, Beiblatt, xxiii. 226-35 (review of Victor’s dissertation); Bartels, L. (seep. 450/23). (2)Of the Legend in general.Knust, H., Geschichte der Legenden der h. Katharina von Alexandrien und der h. Maria Aegyptiaca, Halle, 1890; Varnhagen, H., Zur Geschichte der Legende der Katharina von Alexandrien, Erlangen, 1891; id., Zur Geschichte der Legende der Katharina von Alexandrien, Erlangen, 1901.Source:The most widely spread of the Latin lives of the Saint, called by Varnhagen the Vulgata, and printed opposite the English text by Einenkel. Varnhagen’s tract dated 1891 gives a good account of all the Latin versions and their sources.Phonology:This is of the same type as that of MS. A of the Ancrene Wisse and of MSS. B, R of Sawles Warde. Noteworthy are cang 88 withaforabefore a lengthening group, and therefore a loan-word; wastum 24 withaforæafterw; icuret 25 participle of ME. curen, derivative ofcyre; dale 33 fromdāl, notdǣl; medschipe 79 (gemǣddpp.); teeð 64 with doubled vowel for length; roðeren 21 (reoderen B) fromhrȳðerthrough ruðeren L 8106 (roþere O); awariede 48, 82, wariet 67 withouti-umlaut ofea; horte 38 French writing for heorte; steðeluest 24u-umlaut ofa; woorld 97 probably miswritten for weorld (weorlde B); hersumin 49 representing *hēarsumianwithout umlaut; storede 4 French writing for steorede fromstēoranwithout umlaut; scheop 73, 80, 103 (scēop). Dreien 12 isdraganwithå-umlaut ofa; for plohen 36 see 360/19; slaht 67 is Anglianslæht; seheliche represents *gesegenlic, Li has geseen; rewfule 55 hasewfromēow. A glideeis added in halewunde 78, ludere 69;eis lost in ȝeinde 54, wettres 93;eisuin halewunde 78 (hālwende) through an intermediatei;oisuin þrittuðe 15. In ȝurinde 54rhas been lost,distin wurðmunt 73 (wurðmund T);ðin cweðen 45 is from the singular;ðis lost in wurgin 19, wurgið 93 (wurðgin B, ME. derivative ofwierðig);ȝis written forgin ȝeinen 60 (OWScand. gegna); initialhis lost in lowinge, ludinge 48, remes 55.Accidence:This has been sufficiently described in the texts mentioned above. Noteworthy is heoren 85, perhaps the earliest instance of the form withnadded from min, þin.Vocabulary:Scandinavian are bule 21, crokes 43 with its derivative crokinde 87, euene 20, ȝeinen 60 (keinen T), (god)lec 98, 101, hap 62, keisere 60, lates 35, menske 45, witer(liche) 96: possibly hird 53, ȝeinde 54. French are lay 55, mawmez 21, mawmetes 48: possibly cang 88, crauant 45.Dialect:As for Sawles Warde.Style:What has been said about the arrangement of Sawles Warde in Layamonic verse applies to Einenkel’s distribution of SK in Otfridic verse, which Trautmann, the discoverer of Otfrid’s verse in England, afterwards recognized as Layamon’s. It produces such strange divisions as, ‘þet an engel ne com | lihtinde, with swuch | leome, from heouene,’ 666-8; ‘He haueð iweddet him to | mi meiðhad mit te ring,’ 1507, 8; ‘to habben ant to halden þe | cwic, þen to acwellen þe,’ 1867, 8; ‘ant heo duden; drohen hire | wið uten þe burhȝetes,’ 2173, 4, and such rhythms as, ‘hwet he warpe a word aȝein ow,’ 643; ‘for hwas nome ich underneome,’ 765; ‘ant kénest of ow álle óf þe créft,’ 814; ‘ant cweðe ham al sker up,’ 867, with many others. There is a parallel to SK in the OHG. Himmel und Hölle printed as verse in MSD i. 67. It is described by Einenkel (p. xxi) as ‘a poem which, curiously enough, is in its unrhymed form unique inO. H. G., and forms the only perfect analogy to our three legends and to numerous other Old and Middle English poems of the same class,’ while Steinmeyer (MSDii. 162) is of opinion that to treat it as verse and so create an unique rhymeless poem in the earliest German literature is a very doubtful proceeding.Introduction:This is the first version of the Legend extant in English. It was followed by six other redactions in Middle English, all in verse: they are enumerated and traced to their originals in Varnhagen’s tract of 1901.1.Maxence: a mistake of the Latin original and of its source, Simeon Metaphrastes, for Maximinus, as correctly given in the Menologium Basilianum (Hardwick, p. 11). Galerius Valerius Maximinus was raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle, the Emperor Galerius, and made governor of Syria and Egypt in 303A.D.He died in 313. See 138/16.as, as being: comp. 122/180, 131/103, 139/15, 141/49, 142/57, 145/105, 108.2.hehest i rome: comp. 140/32.3.þurh: the usual prep. isbi, as ‘ðe ferden al bi fendes red,’ GE 2921: ‘be his witena ræde,’ Ælf. Lives, ii. 106/591.hwiles: hwile BT, which is grammatically correct; but comp. ‘umbehwiles,’ l. 5 (where BT have again hwile); ‘sumehwiles,’ AR 272/28; ‘oðer hwiles,’ HM 33/31.4.refschipe: comp. 143/71.5.comen: subjecthi, contained in preceding ‘him’: see 6/18. Similarlywarð, l. 10.7.walde: for omission of gan, see 2/2.9.of him siker, secure so far as he was concerned, fearing no danger from him.of his cume: comp. 94/24.10.lei into, appertained to, was subject to; comp. 143/72: a charter expression: B-T quotes ‘ælc ðara landa ðe on mines fæder dæge læg into Cristes cyrcean,’ Kemble, iv. 232/8: in modern dialect it means, to border on.11.wedwulf: ‘repentina rabie incitatus’: comp. ‘þe þurs Maxence, | þe wed wulf, þe heaðene hund,’ SK 1858.14.Oleast, at last, as a final resort: the prefix ison: comp. ‘a last,’ Castel off Loue, 457, AR 18/15.15.tintreo: comp. 144/98, 145/119. tintreohen B, tintrohen T. The first form which occurs five times in R corresponds to OE.tintrego, pl. oftintreg: the others totintregan, pl. oftintrega.16.okine seotle: comp. ‘set in kineseotle,’ SK 722.18.iþe tundoes not mean ‘in the town,’ Morton, but, in the court, the enclosure in which the temple was built. The Latin is ‘ad templum deorum suorum.’20.bi his euene, according to his ability, means: ‘iuxta possibilitatem suam’; comp. ‘efter hire efne,’ AR 126/31; ‘mys motinde men alle by here euene,’ Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 110/38. OWScand. efni: Einenkel points out that it has taken the place of OE.hæfen, as in ‘Be his agene hæfene,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 582/28.to wurgen: wur`d´gede B.21.mahte: so B; mihte T.22. Add full stop after briddes.23.ȝung of ȝeres: comp. 139/23; ‘ȝung of ȝeres ase he was,’ AR 158/17; ‘ȝunglich of ȝeres,’ SK 545.twa wone of twenti: ‘duo de viginti’: see 52/368 and comp. ‘Abraham on wane of an hundred told,’ GE 1028.feier ⁊ freolich: comp. 123/209, 138/22.o wlite&c.: comp. ‘schan al of wlite ant of wastum,’ SM 2/34: similarly, ‘O schene nebschaft | ⁊ schape se swiðe semlich,’ SK 1446.24.steðeluestgoes closely with ‘of treowe bileaue’; not ‘steadfast within, of true faith,’ Morton: comp. ‘stalewarde ⁊ kene ine treowe bileaue,’ AR 272/6. OE.staþol-fæstusually takeson, like ‘a þanke unstedefeste,’ 44/241. ‘speciosa valde, sed quod pluris est religiosa fide.’25.icuret clergesse, a choice female scholar: comp. ‘Sum is clergesse, ⁊ sum nis nout,’ AR 6/12.26.of, from: comp. ‘Þah ich beo in alle | of se earliche ilearet,’ SK 858.27.wisliche: see 18/16.28.herd: OE.heord, flock: not ‘custodia,’ Einenkel, which is OE.heorde. It does not fit the context, and eard B points to an original erde, dwelling-place, ancestral home. Morton took herd to mean hearth, hall.com of&c.: com hire of burde B, com hire of burðe T, came to her by birth: Victor quotes ‘⁊ tat com þe of burðe,’ OEH i. 273/27.30.telleð wel to: see 124/264.32.kepte . . . of: like ‘let of,’ 44/260; ‘tellen of,’ 164/256; ‘Hold it of wel litel pris,’ Floriz, 350: ‘nichil cum mundo habere commune decreverat.’34.in, upon.35.lasteles lates, blameless gestures, bearing.36.lihte plohenapparently answers to ‘puellares iocos,’ and Morton’s ‘trifling amusements’ seems preferable to ‘frivolous plays,’ Einenkel.luue—songes: sotte songes Nalde he nane ronnes BT.37.leorninrefers to ‘songes,’lustninto ‘runes,’ talk; see 102/159.39.to leaf ⁊ to lare, to belief and to learning: comp. ‘ꝥ tu were iset ȝung | to leaf ⁊ to lare,’ SK 384.underueng: undernom B, undernam T.41.underneomen, ‘entrap,’ Morton, a translation which suits also ‘me to underneomene,’ SK 652, but is hard to parallel elsewhere, the usual senses being to receive (in one’s mind), to reprehend. Perhaps the writer had in mind OF. susprendre, to catch in one’s words; ‘ut eum caperent in verbo,’ S. Mark xii. 13. The Latin has attemptassent.42.wrenchen . . . ut of þe weie: a phrase characteristic of this group: Einenkel quotes ‘mahen wrenchen sum rihtwis of þe weie,’ SJ 43/5; ‘tu ne maht . . . me . . . wrenchen ut of þe weie,’ SM 4/25.crefti crokes, crafty devices; a figurative use of croke, hook: comp. 131/87, 148/141; SJ 35/5; ‘Mast he cuth o crafte and crok,’ CM 700, 740.43.ȝeincleppes, blows in return, counter strokes; apparently only here: ȝeincleappes B, ȝainclappes T.45.crauant, vanquished: comp. ‘he is crauant ꝥ me wende to ouercumen,’ SM 11/19.cweðen . . . up, yield, resign: comp. ‘al ich forsake her | ⁊ cweðe ham al sker up,’ SK 866: possibly an imitation of L. abdicare.47.burde boldes: burðe boldes T: it corresponds to ‘in palatiopatris,’and may mean, ancestral mansion; it occurs only here: at l. 439 is ‘buriboldes,’ = palatium.murhðe: murð T, nurð B, which is doubtless correct: see 118/22.48.towart, in the direction of.49. Comp. ‘gleowinde of euch gleo,’ SK 1667; ‘ꝥ euch mon ah to hersumin | ⁊ herien in eorðe,’ id. 352; 131/84.51.wereis subjunctive in a dependent question: contrast with ‘wes’ in preceding line.sone so, as soon as: comp. 94/18: ‘Þe child himanswerde | Sone so he hit herde,’ KH 199, where MS. L has the alternative ‘so sone.’52.of: comp. ‘þat he of þe holy gost · so vre heorte a-tende,’ OEM 52/548, but ‘wið’ is usual, as at 70/168.wod—walde: similar expressions are frequent in this group: comp. 130/81; 146/121; ‘þet wod he walde iwurðen,’ SJ 66/7; ‘for neh wod he walde iwurðen,’ SM 7/34.53.hwuch as, those whom: less common than the equivalent ‘hwich þat.’ For a similar use ofas, comp. 72/192.54.ȝeinde ⁊ ȝurinde: comp. ‘⁊ he to rarin reowliche · to ȝuren ant to ȝein,’ SJ 49/4; ‘þe heaðene hundes ȝellen | ⁊ ȝeien ⁊ ȝuren on euch half,’ SK 2013.wið rewfule remes: comp. 141/39.57.hire: heo BT; both are necessary andinbesides: read, þen heo in hire heorte iwundet inwið: comp. 139/28; ‘Nes þis meiden nawiht | herfore imenget | in hire mod inwið,’ SK 607; ‘Constu bulden a burh | inwið i þin heorte,’ id. 1642. Einenkel reads heo and says that ‘heorte’ is instrumental.58.wraðe: the usual meaning, angry, is unsuitable: the word is connected with OE.wrīþan, to twist, OHG. reid, ‘curled’, and crooked, perverse, would give a good sense here and in such places as ‘iboren owraðe time,’ SJ 57/3; ‘to wraðer heale,’ 141/64.60.þah: so all three MSS. Einenkel reads þa, and translates, ‘as she was alone (to strive) against’; rather, when she singly should be against, &c. If any alteration is to be made, ꝥ for þat would be preferable, but þah, even if, as in ‘ꝥ we ne cunnen | ⁊ tah we cuðen, | ne nullen ne ne duren,’ SK 1322, gives a quite sufficient sense.61.hef, lifted: comp. ‘tu schuldest þin herte heouen þiderward as tin heritage is,’ HM 25/34; AR 86/5.62.hap, good fortune, success.wisliche, truly.63.wepnede: ‘sumentes scutum fidei,’ Eph. vi. 16; ‘induti loricam fidei,’ 1 Thess. v. 8.65.rode taken: see 17/145.66.itend of lei: comp. 130/52; ‘al þe cwarterne, of his cume | leitede o leie,’ SK 671; but, ‘leitinde al on leie,’ id. 1651; ‘þe halwende lei | of þe hali gast,’ id. 1401.bimong: see66/97 note.67.deoulen,dat. pl., deouele BT,dat. sing.to lake, for a sacrifice.69.ludere stefne,dat., as in ‘þa cleopode he hludre stefne,’ BH 181/18; but ‘⁊ ȝeide lude steuene,’ SK 2033; ‘ȝeiden lude stefne,’ SJ 64/12.71.ȝeld, tribute, resumed in ‘hit,’ l. 72.72.driueð: comp. 60/11.73.⁊ al walt: omit al and ⁊ after wisdom, with BT.75.he him ane, he and only he: see123/200 note.76.þah—þolie, though he be long-suffering; ‘longanimiter ferens,’ Heb. vi. 15.78.halde, keep: comp. ‘haldeð his heastes,’ SK 1788; ‘heaste halden,’ HM 5/28.80.wiðis adverbial and repeats ‘þurh’: see62/24 note, and add, ‘vor vuel ꝥ ter kumeð of hit,’ AR 52/2; ‘þu ꝥ dest eni þing hwarof þer mon is fleschliche ivonded of þe,’ id. 58/22. The repetition of conjunctions is also found as in, ‘nis he fol chepmon þet, hwon he wule buggen hors oðer oxe, ȝif he nule biholden bute þet heaued one?’ AR 208/6; of pronouns, as ‘ꝥ þe muð ne mei uor scheome, þe liht eie spekeð hit,’ id. 60/6. B omits wið.þen= þen ꝥ.81.schad: see 122/176.wit ⁊ . . . wisdom: see 22/142.wurðen&c.: see 130/52.82.forð: se uorð B, se forð T: se being wanting in this text, the followingꝥmust mean, so that.83.unwitlese: so B unwitelese, but T witlese, senseless, the meaning required.wuneð in: the idea that idols are inhabited by demons is as old as Porphyry: it is frequently expressed in the legends: comp. 145/118; SJ 22/14; CM 2303; SK 553; ‘praecipio tibi, daemon, qui in eo [ydolo] latitas, ut simulacrum istud comminuas,’ Legenda Aurea, ed. Graesse, 39/2; ‘In hoc ydolo quidam daemon habitabat,’ id. 540/30.84.hereð&c.: see 130/49.87.fint: ‘malorum omnium inventor diabolus.’crokinde creftes, comp. 129/42: not ‘crooked crafts,’ but either, perverting devices, or more probably, devices by which he hooks his victims; the idea of both words being pursued in ‘keccheð’ and ‘creftluker’: for the termination of the latter, see 125/270.88.cang: see 58/82.89.ꝥ he makeð, by his making.92.sunne&c.: the Latin has only ‘elementis mundi’; perhaps the author had in mind, ‘Nam solis lunaeque simulacra humanum in modum formant, item ignis et terrae et maris: quae illi Vulcanum, Vestam, Neptunum vocant,’ Lactantius, de Origine Erroris, ch. vi (ed. Spark, 143/5).95.bute ꝥ ow þuncheð, but by your thinking, lit. but that it seems to you; the explanation of ‘þing.’schulen: so B, but T has correctly sehen.97. B reads, ant of nawt ant i.98.of: comp. 83/5.99.ha ꝥ walden, must mean, they desired that. But BT have correctly he ꝥ walde.100.þurh cunde, by reason of their nature.101.makeð&c.: see 126/325.in eche, eternal: T omits in, but the phrase occurs again 149/182, SJ 79/14.103.as in sum time, as conditioned by time: comp. 128/1. BT have ham for as.104.ꝥ . . . in, in which.nedoes not negative the clause: it continues and emphasizes the negatives of the principal sentence: see the quotations in note on 25/241.Style:... unique in O.H.G.O. H. G.while Steinmeyer (MSD ii. 162)MSD.47. ... ‘in palatio patris,’close quote invisible

Manuscripts:As for Sawles Warde. The text of this extract is from the Royal MS.Editions:Morton, James, The Legend of St. Katherine of Alexandria, Abbotsford Club, London, 1841 (text from MS. Titus D 18, with variants from the Royal MS.). Hardwick, Charles, An Historical Inquiry touching Saint Catharine of Alexandria: to which is added a Semi-Saxon Legend, Cambridge, 1849 (text from MS. Titus). Einenkel, Eugen, The Life ofSaint Katherine, London 1884 (text based on the Royal MS. with readings of all the manuscripts, the Latin original and an English translation): also as Appendix to The Life and Martyrdom of Saint Katherine of Alexandria, Roxburghe Club, 1884.Literature:(1)Of the present version.Einenkel, E. (seep. 493/7); *Stodte, H. (seep. 493/9); Victor, Otto, Zur Textkritik und Metrik der frühmittelenglischen Katharinenlegende, Bonn, 1912; Luick, Karl, Anglia, Beiblatt, xxiii. 226-35 (review of Victor’s dissertation); Bartels, L. (seep. 450/23). (2)Of the Legend in general.Knust, H., Geschichte der Legenden der h. Katharina von Alexandrien und der h. Maria Aegyptiaca, Halle, 1890; Varnhagen, H., Zur Geschichte der Legende der Katharina von Alexandrien, Erlangen, 1891; id., Zur Geschichte der Legende der Katharina von Alexandrien, Erlangen, 1901.Source:The most widely spread of the Latin lives of the Saint, called by Varnhagen the Vulgata, and printed opposite the English text by Einenkel. Varnhagen’s tract dated 1891 gives a good account of all the Latin versions and their sources.Phonology:This is of the same type as that of MS. A of the Ancrene Wisse and of MSS. B, R of Sawles Warde. Noteworthy are cang 88 withaforabefore a lengthening group, and therefore a loan-word; wastum 24 withaforæafterw; icuret 25 participle of ME. curen, derivative ofcyre; dale 33 fromdāl, notdǣl; medschipe 79 (gemǣddpp.); teeð 64 with doubled vowel for length; roðeren 21 (reoderen B) fromhrȳðerthrough ruðeren L 8106 (roþere O); awariede 48, 82, wariet 67 withouti-umlaut ofea; horte 38 French writing for heorte; steðeluest 24u-umlaut ofa; woorld 97 probably miswritten for weorld (weorlde B); hersumin 49 representing *hēarsumianwithout umlaut; storede 4 French writing for steorede fromstēoranwithout umlaut; scheop 73, 80, 103 (scēop). Dreien 12 isdraganwithå-umlaut ofa; for plohen 36 see 360/19; slaht 67 is Anglianslæht; seheliche represents *gesegenlic, Li has geseen; rewfule 55 hasewfromēow. A glideeis added in halewunde 78, ludere 69;eis lost in ȝeinde 54, wettres 93;eisuin halewunde 78 (hālwende) through an intermediatei;oisuin þrittuðe 15. In ȝurinde 54rhas been lost,distin wurðmunt 73 (wurðmund T);ðin cweðen 45 is from the singular;ðis lost in wurgin 19, wurgið 93 (wurðgin B, ME. derivative ofwierðig);ȝis written forgin ȝeinen 60 (OWScand. gegna); initialhis lost in lowinge, ludinge 48, remes 55.Accidence:This has been sufficiently described in the texts mentioned above. Noteworthy is heoren 85, perhaps the earliest instance of the form withnadded from min, þin.Vocabulary:Scandinavian are bule 21, crokes 43 with its derivative crokinde 87, euene 20, ȝeinen 60 (keinen T), (god)lec 98, 101, hap 62, keisere 60, lates 35, menske 45, witer(liche) 96: possibly hird 53, ȝeinde 54. French are lay 55, mawmez 21, mawmetes 48: possibly cang 88, crauant 45.Dialect:As for Sawles Warde.Style:What has been said about the arrangement of Sawles Warde in Layamonic verse applies to Einenkel’s distribution of SK in Otfridic verse, which Trautmann, the discoverer of Otfrid’s verse in England, afterwards recognized as Layamon’s. It produces such strange divisions as, ‘þet an engel ne com | lihtinde, with swuch | leome, from heouene,’ 666-8; ‘He haueð iweddet him to | mi meiðhad mit te ring,’ 1507, 8; ‘to habben ant to halden þe | cwic, þen to acwellen þe,’ 1867, 8; ‘ant heo duden; drohen hire | wið uten þe burhȝetes,’ 2173, 4, and such rhythms as, ‘hwet he warpe a word aȝein ow,’ 643; ‘for hwas nome ich underneome,’ 765; ‘ant kénest of ow álle óf þe créft,’ 814; ‘ant cweðe ham al sker up,’ 867, with many others. There is a parallel to SK in the OHG. Himmel und Hölle printed as verse in MSD i. 67. It is described by Einenkel (p. xxi) as ‘a poem which, curiously enough, is in its unrhymed form unique inO. H. G., and forms the only perfect analogy to our three legends and to numerous other Old and Middle English poems of the same class,’ while Steinmeyer (MSDii. 162) is of opinion that to treat it as verse and so create an unique rhymeless poem in the earliest German literature is a very doubtful proceeding.Introduction:This is the first version of the Legend extant in English. It was followed by six other redactions in Middle English, all in verse: they are enumerated and traced to their originals in Varnhagen’s tract of 1901.

Manuscripts:As for Sawles Warde. The text of this extract is from the Royal MS.

Editions:Morton, James, The Legend of St. Katherine of Alexandria, Abbotsford Club, London, 1841 (text from MS. Titus D 18, with variants from the Royal MS.). Hardwick, Charles, An Historical Inquiry touching Saint Catharine of Alexandria: to which is added a Semi-Saxon Legend, Cambridge, 1849 (text from MS. Titus). Einenkel, Eugen, The Life ofSaint Katherine, London 1884 (text based on the Royal MS. with readings of all the manuscripts, the Latin original and an English translation): also as Appendix to The Life and Martyrdom of Saint Katherine of Alexandria, Roxburghe Club, 1884.

Literature:(1)Of the present version.Einenkel, E. (seep. 493/7); *Stodte, H. (seep. 493/9); Victor, Otto, Zur Textkritik und Metrik der frühmittelenglischen Katharinenlegende, Bonn, 1912; Luick, Karl, Anglia, Beiblatt, xxiii. 226-35 (review of Victor’s dissertation); Bartels, L. (seep. 450/23). (2)Of the Legend in general.Knust, H., Geschichte der Legenden der h. Katharina von Alexandrien und der h. Maria Aegyptiaca, Halle, 1890; Varnhagen, H., Zur Geschichte der Legende der Katharina von Alexandrien, Erlangen, 1891; id., Zur Geschichte der Legende der Katharina von Alexandrien, Erlangen, 1901.

Source:The most widely spread of the Latin lives of the Saint, called by Varnhagen the Vulgata, and printed opposite the English text by Einenkel. Varnhagen’s tract dated 1891 gives a good account of all the Latin versions and their sources.

Phonology:This is of the same type as that of MS. A of the Ancrene Wisse and of MSS. B, R of Sawles Warde. Noteworthy are cang 88 withaforabefore a lengthening group, and therefore a loan-word; wastum 24 withaforæafterw; icuret 25 participle of ME. curen, derivative ofcyre; dale 33 fromdāl, notdǣl; medschipe 79 (gemǣddpp.); teeð 64 with doubled vowel for length; roðeren 21 (reoderen B) fromhrȳðerthrough ruðeren L 8106 (roþere O); awariede 48, 82, wariet 67 withouti-umlaut ofea; horte 38 French writing for heorte; steðeluest 24u-umlaut ofa; woorld 97 probably miswritten for weorld (weorlde B); hersumin 49 representing *hēarsumianwithout umlaut; storede 4 French writing for steorede fromstēoranwithout umlaut; scheop 73, 80, 103 (scēop). Dreien 12 isdraganwithå-umlaut ofa; for plohen 36 see 360/19; slaht 67 is Anglianslæht; seheliche represents *gesegenlic, Li has geseen; rewfule 55 hasewfromēow. A glideeis added in halewunde 78, ludere 69;eis lost in ȝeinde 54, wettres 93;eisuin halewunde 78 (hālwende) through an intermediatei;oisuin þrittuðe 15. In ȝurinde 54rhas been lost,distin wurðmunt 73 (wurðmund T);ðin cweðen 45 is from the singular;ðis lost in wurgin 19, wurgið 93 (wurðgin B, ME. derivative ofwierðig);ȝis written forgin ȝeinen 60 (OWScand. gegna); initialhis lost in lowinge, ludinge 48, remes 55.

Accidence:This has been sufficiently described in the texts mentioned above. Noteworthy is heoren 85, perhaps the earliest instance of the form withnadded from min, þin.

Vocabulary:Scandinavian are bule 21, crokes 43 with its derivative crokinde 87, euene 20, ȝeinen 60 (keinen T), (god)lec 98, 101, hap 62, keisere 60, lates 35, menske 45, witer(liche) 96: possibly hird 53, ȝeinde 54. French are lay 55, mawmez 21, mawmetes 48: possibly cang 88, crauant 45.

Dialect:As for Sawles Warde.

Style:What has been said about the arrangement of Sawles Warde in Layamonic verse applies to Einenkel’s distribution of SK in Otfridic verse, which Trautmann, the discoverer of Otfrid’s verse in England, afterwards recognized as Layamon’s. It produces such strange divisions as, ‘þet an engel ne com | lihtinde, with swuch | leome, from heouene,’ 666-8; ‘He haueð iweddet him to | mi meiðhad mit te ring,’ 1507, 8; ‘to habben ant to halden þe | cwic, þen to acwellen þe,’ 1867, 8; ‘ant heo duden; drohen hire | wið uten þe burhȝetes,’ 2173, 4, and such rhythms as, ‘hwet he warpe a word aȝein ow,’ 643; ‘for hwas nome ich underneome,’ 765; ‘ant kénest of ow álle óf þe créft,’ 814; ‘ant cweðe ham al sker up,’ 867, with many others. There is a parallel to SK in the OHG. Himmel und Hölle printed as verse in MSD i. 67. It is described by Einenkel (p. xxi) as ‘a poem which, curiously enough, is in its unrhymed form unique inO. H. G., and forms the only perfect analogy to our three legends and to numerous other Old and Middle English poems of the same class,’ while Steinmeyer (MSDii. 162) is of opinion that to treat it as verse and so create an unique rhymeless poem in the earliest German literature is a very doubtful proceeding.

Introduction:This is the first version of the Legend extant in English. It was followed by six other redactions in Middle English, all in verse: they are enumerated and traced to their originals in Varnhagen’s tract of 1901.

1.Maxence: a mistake of the Latin original and of its source, Simeon Metaphrastes, for Maximinus, as correctly given in the Menologium Basilianum (Hardwick, p. 11). Galerius Valerius Maximinus was raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle, the Emperor Galerius, and made governor of Syria and Egypt in 303A.D.He died in 313. See 138/16.as, as being: comp. 122/180, 131/103, 139/15, 141/49, 142/57, 145/105, 108.

2.hehest i rome: comp. 140/32.

3.þurh: the usual prep. isbi, as ‘ðe ferden al bi fendes red,’ GE 2921: ‘be his witena ræde,’ Ælf. Lives, ii. 106/591.hwiles: hwile BT, which is grammatically correct; but comp. ‘umbehwiles,’ l. 5 (where BT have again hwile); ‘sumehwiles,’ AR 272/28; ‘oðer hwiles,’ HM 33/31.

4.refschipe: comp. 143/71.

5.comen: subjecthi, contained in preceding ‘him’: see 6/18. Similarlywarð, l. 10.

7.walde: for omission of gan, see 2/2.

9.of him siker, secure so far as he was concerned, fearing no danger from him.of his cume: comp. 94/24.

10.lei into, appertained to, was subject to; comp. 143/72: a charter expression: B-T quotes ‘ælc ðara landa ðe on mines fæder dæge læg into Cristes cyrcean,’ Kemble, iv. 232/8: in modern dialect it means, to border on.

11.wedwulf: ‘repentina rabie incitatus’: comp. ‘þe þurs Maxence, | þe wed wulf, þe heaðene hund,’ SK 1858.

14.Oleast, at last, as a final resort: the prefix ison: comp. ‘a last,’ Castel off Loue, 457, AR 18/15.

15.tintreo: comp. 144/98, 145/119. tintreohen B, tintrohen T. The first form which occurs five times in R corresponds to OE.tintrego, pl. oftintreg: the others totintregan, pl. oftintrega.

16.okine seotle: comp. ‘set in kineseotle,’ SK 722.

18.iþe tundoes not mean ‘in the town,’ Morton, but, in the court, the enclosure in which the temple was built. The Latin is ‘ad templum deorum suorum.’

20.bi his euene, according to his ability, means: ‘iuxta possibilitatem suam’; comp. ‘efter hire efne,’ AR 126/31; ‘mys motinde men alle by here euene,’ Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 110/38. OWScand. efni: Einenkel points out that it has taken the place of OE.hæfen, as in ‘Be his agene hæfene,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 582/28.to wurgen: wur`d´gede B.

21.mahte: so B; mihte T.

22. Add full stop after briddes.

23.ȝung of ȝeres: comp. 139/23; ‘ȝung of ȝeres ase he was,’ AR 158/17; ‘ȝunglich of ȝeres,’ SK 545.twa wone of twenti: ‘duo de viginti’: see 52/368 and comp. ‘Abraham on wane of an hundred told,’ GE 1028.feier ⁊ freolich: comp. 123/209, 138/22.o wlite&c.: comp. ‘schan al of wlite ant of wastum,’ SM 2/34: similarly, ‘O schene nebschaft | ⁊ schape se swiðe semlich,’ SK 1446.

24.steðeluestgoes closely with ‘of treowe bileaue’; not ‘steadfast within, of true faith,’ Morton: comp. ‘stalewarde ⁊ kene ine treowe bileaue,’ AR 272/6. OE.staþol-fæstusually takeson, like ‘a þanke unstedefeste,’ 44/241. ‘speciosa valde, sed quod pluris est religiosa fide.’

25.icuret clergesse, a choice female scholar: comp. ‘Sum is clergesse, ⁊ sum nis nout,’ AR 6/12.

26.of, from: comp. ‘Þah ich beo in alle | of se earliche ilearet,’ SK 858.

27.wisliche: see 18/16.

28.herd: OE.heord, flock: not ‘custodia,’ Einenkel, which is OE.heorde. It does not fit the context, and eard B points to an original erde, dwelling-place, ancestral home. Morton took herd to mean hearth, hall.com of&c.: com hire of burde B, com hire of burðe T, came to her by birth: Victor quotes ‘⁊ tat com þe of burðe,’ OEH i. 273/27.

30.telleð wel to: see 124/264.

32.kepte . . . of: like ‘let of,’ 44/260; ‘tellen of,’ 164/256; ‘Hold it of wel litel pris,’ Floriz, 350: ‘nichil cum mundo habere commune decreverat.’

34.in, upon.

35.lasteles lates, blameless gestures, bearing.

36.lihte plohenapparently answers to ‘puellares iocos,’ and Morton’s ‘trifling amusements’ seems preferable to ‘frivolous plays,’ Einenkel.luue—songes: sotte songes Nalde he nane ronnes BT.

37.leorninrefers to ‘songes,’lustninto ‘runes,’ talk; see 102/159.

39.to leaf ⁊ to lare, to belief and to learning: comp. ‘ꝥ tu were iset ȝung | to leaf ⁊ to lare,’ SK 384.underueng: undernom B, undernam T.

41.underneomen, ‘entrap,’ Morton, a translation which suits also ‘me to underneomene,’ SK 652, but is hard to parallel elsewhere, the usual senses being to receive (in one’s mind), to reprehend. Perhaps the writer had in mind OF. susprendre, to catch in one’s words; ‘ut eum caperent in verbo,’ S. Mark xii. 13. The Latin has attemptassent.

42.wrenchen . . . ut of þe weie: a phrase characteristic of this group: Einenkel quotes ‘mahen wrenchen sum rihtwis of þe weie,’ SJ 43/5; ‘tu ne maht . . . me . . . wrenchen ut of þe weie,’ SM 4/25.crefti crokes, crafty devices; a figurative use of croke, hook: comp. 131/87, 148/141; SJ 35/5; ‘Mast he cuth o crafte and crok,’ CM 700, 740.

43.ȝeincleppes, blows in return, counter strokes; apparently only here: ȝeincleappes B, ȝainclappes T.

45.crauant, vanquished: comp. ‘he is crauant ꝥ me wende to ouercumen,’ SM 11/19.cweðen . . . up, yield, resign: comp. ‘al ich forsake her | ⁊ cweðe ham al sker up,’ SK 866: possibly an imitation of L. abdicare.

47.burde boldes: burðe boldes T: it corresponds to ‘in palatiopatris,’and may mean, ancestral mansion; it occurs only here: at l. 439 is ‘buriboldes,’ = palatium.murhðe: murð T, nurð B, which is doubtless correct: see 118/22.

48.towart, in the direction of.

49. Comp. ‘gleowinde of euch gleo,’ SK 1667; ‘ꝥ euch mon ah to hersumin | ⁊ herien in eorðe,’ id. 352; 131/84.

51.wereis subjunctive in a dependent question: contrast with ‘wes’ in preceding line.sone so, as soon as: comp. 94/18: ‘Þe child himanswerde | Sone so he hit herde,’ KH 199, where MS. L has the alternative ‘so sone.’

52.of: comp. ‘þat he of þe holy gost · so vre heorte a-tende,’ OEM 52/548, but ‘wið’ is usual, as at 70/168.wod—walde: similar expressions are frequent in this group: comp. 130/81; 146/121; ‘þet wod he walde iwurðen,’ SJ 66/7; ‘for neh wod he walde iwurðen,’ SM 7/34.

53.hwuch as, those whom: less common than the equivalent ‘hwich þat.’ For a similar use ofas, comp. 72/192.

54.ȝeinde ⁊ ȝurinde: comp. ‘⁊ he to rarin reowliche · to ȝuren ant to ȝein,’ SJ 49/4; ‘þe heaðene hundes ȝellen | ⁊ ȝeien ⁊ ȝuren on euch half,’ SK 2013.wið rewfule remes: comp. 141/39.

57.hire: heo BT; both are necessary andinbesides: read, þen heo in hire heorte iwundet inwið: comp. 139/28; ‘Nes þis meiden nawiht | herfore imenget | in hire mod inwið,’ SK 607; ‘Constu bulden a burh | inwið i þin heorte,’ id. 1642. Einenkel reads heo and says that ‘heorte’ is instrumental.

58.wraðe: the usual meaning, angry, is unsuitable: the word is connected with OE.wrīþan, to twist, OHG. reid, ‘curled’, and crooked, perverse, would give a good sense here and in such places as ‘iboren owraðe time,’ SJ 57/3; ‘to wraðer heale,’ 141/64.

60.þah: so all three MSS. Einenkel reads þa, and translates, ‘as she was alone (to strive) against’; rather, when she singly should be against, &c. If any alteration is to be made, ꝥ for þat would be preferable, but þah, even if, as in ‘ꝥ we ne cunnen | ⁊ tah we cuðen, | ne nullen ne ne duren,’ SK 1322, gives a quite sufficient sense.

61.hef, lifted: comp. ‘tu schuldest þin herte heouen þiderward as tin heritage is,’ HM 25/34; AR 86/5.

62.hap, good fortune, success.wisliche, truly.

63.wepnede: ‘sumentes scutum fidei,’ Eph. vi. 16; ‘induti loricam fidei,’ 1 Thess. v. 8.

65.rode taken: see 17/145.

66.itend of lei: comp. 130/52; ‘al þe cwarterne, of his cume | leitede o leie,’ SK 671; but, ‘leitinde al on leie,’ id. 1651; ‘þe halwende lei | of þe hali gast,’ id. 1401.bimong: see66/97 note.

67.deoulen,dat. pl., deouele BT,dat. sing.to lake, for a sacrifice.

69.ludere stefne,dat., as in ‘þa cleopode he hludre stefne,’ BH 181/18; but ‘⁊ ȝeide lude steuene,’ SK 2033; ‘ȝeiden lude stefne,’ SJ 64/12.

71.ȝeld, tribute, resumed in ‘hit,’ l. 72.

72.driueð: comp. 60/11.

73.⁊ al walt: omit al and ⁊ after wisdom, with BT.

75.he him ane, he and only he: see123/200 note.

76.þah—þolie, though he be long-suffering; ‘longanimiter ferens,’ Heb. vi. 15.

78.halde, keep: comp. ‘haldeð his heastes,’ SK 1788; ‘heaste halden,’ HM 5/28.

80.wiðis adverbial and repeats ‘þurh’: see62/24 note, and add, ‘vor vuel ꝥ ter kumeð of hit,’ AR 52/2; ‘þu ꝥ dest eni þing hwarof þer mon is fleschliche ivonded of þe,’ id. 58/22. The repetition of conjunctions is also found as in, ‘nis he fol chepmon þet, hwon he wule buggen hors oðer oxe, ȝif he nule biholden bute þet heaued one?’ AR 208/6; of pronouns, as ‘ꝥ þe muð ne mei uor scheome, þe liht eie spekeð hit,’ id. 60/6. B omits wið.þen= þen ꝥ.

81.schad: see 122/176.wit ⁊ . . . wisdom: see 22/142.wurðen&c.: see 130/52.

82.forð: se uorð B, se forð T: se being wanting in this text, the followingꝥmust mean, so that.

83.unwitlese: so B unwitelese, but T witlese, senseless, the meaning required.wuneð in: the idea that idols are inhabited by demons is as old as Porphyry: it is frequently expressed in the legends: comp. 145/118; SJ 22/14; CM 2303; SK 553; ‘praecipio tibi, daemon, qui in eo [ydolo] latitas, ut simulacrum istud comminuas,’ Legenda Aurea, ed. Graesse, 39/2; ‘In hoc ydolo quidam daemon habitabat,’ id. 540/30.

84.hereð&c.: see 130/49.

87.fint: ‘malorum omnium inventor diabolus.’crokinde creftes, comp. 129/42: not ‘crooked crafts,’ but either, perverting devices, or more probably, devices by which he hooks his victims; the idea of both words being pursued in ‘keccheð’ and ‘creftluker’: for the termination of the latter, see 125/270.

88.cang: see 58/82.

89.ꝥ he makeð, by his making.

92.sunne&c.: the Latin has only ‘elementis mundi’; perhaps the author had in mind, ‘Nam solis lunaeque simulacra humanum in modum formant, item ignis et terrae et maris: quae illi Vulcanum, Vestam, Neptunum vocant,’ Lactantius, de Origine Erroris, ch. vi (ed. Spark, 143/5).

95.bute ꝥ ow þuncheð, but by your thinking, lit. but that it seems to you; the explanation of ‘þing.’schulen: so B, but T has correctly sehen.

97. B reads, ant of nawt ant i.

98.of: comp. 83/5.

99.ha ꝥ walden, must mean, they desired that. But BT have correctly he ꝥ walde.

100.þurh cunde, by reason of their nature.

101.makeð&c.: see 126/325.in eche, eternal: T omits in, but the phrase occurs again 149/182, SJ 79/14.

103.as in sum time, as conditioned by time: comp. 128/1. BT have ham for as.

104.ꝥ . . . in, in which.nedoes not negative the clause: it continues and emphasizes the negatives of the principal sentence: see the quotations in note on 25/241.

Style:... unique in O.H.G.O. H. G.while Steinmeyer (MSD ii. 162)MSD.47. ... ‘in palatio patris,’close quote invisible

Style:... unique in O.H.G.O. H. G.

while Steinmeyer (MSD ii. 162)MSD.

47. ... ‘in palatio patris,’close quote invisible

XVIII. THE ORISON OF OUR LADYManuscript:Cotton Nero A 14, British Museum. See p. 355.Editions:Morris, R., OEH i. 191-9 (with translation), and Specimens, 129-32 (part only); Zupitza-Schipper, AE. Lesebuch, ed. viii. 106-10.Literature:Kölbing, E., ES i. 169; Lauchert, F., ES xiii. 83; xvi. 124. Marufke, W., Der älteste englische Marienhymnus, Leipzig, 1907; Vollhardt, W. (seep. 269/19).Phonology:This section should be compared with the account of MS. N of the Ancrene Wisse, pp. 363-5, the copy of which is by the same scribe as the Orison.Oralaisa, hauest 9, uare 119;abefore nasals iso, mon 74, nome 126, hwon 112, 119, but me 45;abefore lengthening groups iso, londe 16, ilong 96, but and 4: þeonne 118 is influenced by heonne.æis regularlye, et 90, gled 54, hedde 144, nes 68, onceea, sead 30, andain habbe 82 (4 times), hwat 106, was 88 (4).eise, aleggen 133, seggen 158; before lengthening groups, engles 27, schende 92, butiin siggen 134, siggeð 72, 73: in seoruwe 60, 89, 120eorepresentsœ,i-umlaut ofo.iisi.oiso, uorst 38, hopie 110, note 88; before lengthening groups, gold 34, nolde 143: þene 93, 127, 169 is LWS.þæne:onwithout stress isa9.uisu, kume 117, unne 164; before lengthening groups, bunden 123, murnen 44.yisu, agult 82, muchele 14 (7), sunne r. w. wiðinnen 92; before lengthening groups, guldene 45, 52, welsprung 72 r. w. þing, but chelle 45: king 57, kinestol 25 have the usuali.āiso, holie 126, loðe 93, one 21, but aadv.129, aart.150; before two consonants, wost 145: nenne 131 representsnǣnne.ǣ1is divided betweene(15), clenenesse 163, er 66, techen 48; before two consonants, euer 54, lefdi 2 (5), neuer 30 (3), andea(10) in cleane 42 (3), todealen 95, deale 154, heale 6 (3), healen 124, leafdi 170: ilch 81 is OE.ylc.ǣ2is regularlye, uorbere 106, greden 155, misdeden 156, were 105, butain hwar 106.ēise, greten 152, swete 17, buteoin steoren 45,weopen 44 represents umlautœ̄, and idreaued 58, 82, fromdrœ̄fan, descends in form fromdrǣfan.īisi, arine 127, bliðe 116, hird 51, butuin hwule 12, 153, swuðe 14 (6), wummon 23, wummen 19.ōiso:ū,u:ȳ,u, kuðe 118 r. w. siðe, fulðe 94 r. w. dweoluhðe, luðere 123, luðernesse 107, schrude 139 r. w. wide, ischrud 51.eabeforer+ cons. ise, der 158, erme 64, ert 158, 160, herm 36, ȝeruh 132, but ȝeirkest 49.eabeforel+ cons. isa, al 4 &c., uallen 111, ualuwen 39, schalt 149: thei-umlaut is seen in wille 46 (wiell).eobeforer+ cons. iseo, eorðe 159 r. w. wurðe, ueor 94, ȝeorne 80, 103, heorte 4 (5); to thewurgroup belong wurðie 7, wurðeð 21, wurð 122, wurschipe 13: beornen 104, wurðe 138, 160 are without umlaut.eobeforel+ cons. isuin suluen 64, 66, 100. Theu- andå-umlaut ofais wanting in kare 120, iðauien 142; it may possibly account forein were 71, comp.helwearumVP 29/4,SodomwearenaVH 7/62.eo,u-umlaut ofeiseo, dweolðe 148, dweoluhðe 93, heouene 77 (3), heoueriche 24, 150.eo,å-umlaut ofeiseo, ueole 9.eo,å-umlaut ofiiso, hore 22, 42.eaafter palatals isa, schal 45, ande, ȝef 100.ieafterġisi, ȝiue 162, ȝif 102, 126, ȝiuest 34 (3), uorȝiuenesse 110, 132, butein forȝelden 135. EWS.giefis ȝif 42, 84.eoaftersćisu, schulen 41, 43;ieaftersć,i, ischild 120.eomis am 112, 113, ham 98;heom, ham 56.ēaisea, deað 36, leasung 75, read 53, butein ek 87, ec 159, edmodnesse 79, isched 88; itsi-umlaut ise, aulem 94, alesed 15, ȝeme 163, ȝemeð 42, ȝeme 121, ihere 84, but dreameð 27, without umlaut.ēois regularlyeo, beon 113 &c., biseon 134, deoflene 15, leoue 2 (10), but looue 100, 170, apparently for lōue; thei-umlaut ise, onsene 27.ēoaftergiseo, ȝeomer 40:gīetis ȝet 109.a+gisaw, drawe 128, 141.æ+gisei, dei 50, feier 137, mei 31, but daie 8, dai 166, fawe 142 (fagen).e+gis alsoei, awei 94, pleie 62, reine 58 r. w. kwene.i+gfinal isi, holi 70, i 97, 106, moniuold 61, murie 27.i+htisiht, wiht 31, 47.u+gisuw, muwen 65.ā+ggivesow, owen 13, owune 112;ā+h, ouh 7.ō+hisouh, auouh 119, brouhte 86, inouh 62.ū+gisuw, buwe 3.ie,i-umlaut ofea, +htisiht, miht 133, nihte 8.eo+htis alsoiht, briht 19, uihte 60; thei-umlaut is seen in bisihð 81.ēa+ggivesei, beie 3, beien 18.ēo+htisiht, liht 5, lihtliche 133, 135.ēa+his seen in þauh 82, 105.ā+w, bloweð 37, soule 5, snou 38, but iseie (?gesǣge).ēo+w, kneon 3, kneouwunge 136, reoweð 101, þeoudome 98.Swāis so 53. Fore,uis written in owune 112; foro,ein heouene 77, sumer 39:eis added in clenenesse 163, heuede 108, heuedest 107, neuere 143, but neure 111;eis lost in hird 51; the suffixingisungin gretunge135.onis weakened to a 9.uis added in dweoluhðe 93, muruhðe 61, seoruwe 60 (3), þuruh 122 (3); comp. ‘seluðe,’ AR 354/4.Metathesis ofris seen in spert 140;rris simplified in der 158;llin wil 62;mmin ȝimstones 55.nis lost in i 50, o 96, 114 and medially in heoueriche 24, 150.bbis simplified in sib 60.fis generally preserved in combination with other consonants, deoflene 15, efter 76, lefdi 2; beforeu, ful 35, fulðe 94; finally, ȝif 126, lif 6; initially after a word ending in a voiceless sound, fawe 142, feier 137, fif 102, forboren 109, forȝelden 135. Otherwise it isu,v, uorst 38, aulem 94, auouh 119, iureden 38; exceptions are hefedest 143 and the contract hedde 144.tis added by inadvertence in þuruhtut 70;ttis simplified in biset 55:þis omitted in wurschipe 13, wurchipe 130. After þet, þu becomes tu 72, 84, 91, but vort þu 64, þet þe 73, 74, bit þe 132, et ðe 90.tsis represented bycin milce 79 (3):bletsungis blescinge 162.ssis simplified in blisful 19. Initialsćissch, gledschipe 14, schende 92, but wurðscipe 141, wurchipe 130; medially it isssc, englissce 167,ssch, wassche 139.c[k] iskbefore e, i, u, ȝeirkest 49, sike 97, kinescrud 34, kunne 9,cbefore o, com 36, icoren 67, in other positions it is indiscriminatelycork, Cristes 1, krune 55, kneon 3, licame 163, kare 120, woc 40, ek 87, ec 159.čisch, eche 35, techen 48, stenches 44;ččiscch, drecche 148, wrecche 130, but arechen 47:cwiskw, kwene 57, but once queadschipe 42:cgisgg, aleggen 133, seggen 158. Palatalgis writtenȝ, ȝef 100, forȝelden 135, ȝimstones 55: the prefixge-is preserved asi, ilong 96. The stopgis doubled in singges 8. Forh,chis written in ðurchut 142;his added in ham 98, dweoluhðe 93, ȝeruh 132 (as at AR 394/12), lost in is 126, licame 163, arine 127 (ahrīnan), lefdi 2, ringes 34, buthwis kept in hwar 106.Accidence:Strong declension ofmasc.andneut.nouns. In thes. n.sune 57 representssunu, gome 62 has lost finaln.Gen.-es, deaðes 120, kunnes 92, but heoueriche 150 is not inflected:dat.-e, daie 8, deaðe 90, reine 58, siðe 101, wille 46; no exceptions. In thea.schrifte 152 has added e. Thepl. n. a.of masculines ends in-es, engles 27, beies 34, but were 21: neuters are þing 71, kneon 3. Genitives are kunne 9, meidene 21, þinge 76; weak forms are deoflene 15, englene 16 (4); there are no datives. Thefem.nouns of the strong declension have-ein thes. n. a., kwene 57, ore 73, sorinesse 36, bene 84, except sib 60, help 116 (oftenm.in OE.).Gen.-e, helle 44, 104, soule 5:dat.-e, blisse 16 (5), fulðe 94, honde 15, mihte 7.Pl. dat.are honden 32, misdeden 156, wunden 102;a.heorte 18, wunden 124. Nouns of the weak declension have-ein all cases of the singular, except lefdi 2 (6): plurals aren.blostmen 37,d.wrecchen 63, uote 155. The minor declensions are represented by mons. n.74, wummon 23, menpl. n.13, ureondmen 166, wepmenpl. a.20, wummen 19; nihtes. d.8, 59, nihts. a.50; moders. n.1, 67; ureondespl. a.33.Adjectives which in OE. end in a vowel have-ethroughout, eche 35, 39, 62, 120, swete 17. Of the weak declension ares. n.leoue 2 (5), looue 100, 170,d.erme 64, fule 94, heie 66, 165, holie 126, leoue 125,a.englissce 167, leoue 26, 76, loðe 93. Strong inflections ares. d. m.guldene 45,s. d. f.hwite 51,s. a. m.fulle 65,s. a. f.fulle 110, gode 121: iliche 23, 68 isgelīca. The plurals of all adjectives end in-e, holie 71, hwite 37, luðere 123, reade 37; exceptions are gled 54, sead 30, hwit, read 53; gold-ring 34 is an OE. combination.myceliss. n.muchel 79,s. d.muchelem.14,f.89, 140,neut.49.āgengives owune 112.ānoccurs once as a 150;ānais ones. d. m.125,f.21:nāniss. n.no 23 (9), non 24, 39 (pronominal), 47 (before heorte), 40,s. g. neut.none 92,a. m.nenne 131. Adjectives used as nouns are gods. a. neut.49, muchel 151: superlatives are best 129, leouest 76.The personal pronouns are ich, i 97, 106, me, we, us, þu, tu 72 (4), after þet, þe. The pronoun of the third person iss. n.hitneut.63,a.11;pl. n.heo 30 &c.,d.ham 29,a.15. Reflexives are mi suluen 100, ðe suluen 64, 66: possessives,s. n.mi 6 &c., min 6, 96, 158 (pronominal),g.miref.5, mine 5, 157, minesneut.2,d.minem.117, miref.75, mine 7, 107, mineneut.126,a.minem.152,f.135, mineut.133, min 4;pl.minen.166,d.156,a.3:s. n.þi 25 (3), þin 24 (7) before vowel or h, 157 (predicative),d.ðinem.26 (4), ðiref.149 (5), þine 18 (8), þin 27, ðineneut.89,a.þinem.116,f.31 (3), þineut.30;pl.þined.32, 155,a.33: is 126: ure 18, 86: hore 22, 42. The definite article iss. n.þe 53 &c.,g.þes 100 (pronominal),d.ðem.90, þeref.85, 88,a.þenem.93, 127, 169;pl. g.þer 24 (for þere). The compound demonstrative iss. n.þesm.78,d.þisseneut.64, 119,a.ðesnem.167, 170. The relative is þet 23 &c., once þe 41; ðet 12, during which; interrogative is hwat 106; indefinites are me 45; ilchs. d. m.81; sumes. d. m.101; ueolepl. g.9;s. n.al 5,g.alleneut.93,d. m.42,f.7,a.alm.100,neut.48 &c.;pl. n.alle 13 (6),g.alre 76,a.alle 19.The infinitives of the second weak conjugation end in-ien, iðauien 142, karien 43, luuien 17, except ualuwen 39; others, 32 in number, end in-en, but without n are deale 154, singge 8, þonkie 12, wurðie 7, iseo 165: to biseonne 137, to iseonne 30 aredat.infinitives. Presents ares.1. beie 3, hopie 110, liuie 12, offrie 4, þonkie 11, wene 111, wurðie 146; 2. ȝiuest 34, ȝeirkest 49; 3. hateð 145, likeð 29, wurðeð 144, contracted bisihð 81, bit 80, 132, let 56, spert 140, wurð 68, 122;pl.3. bloweð 37, wurðeð 21:subjunctive s.1. habbe 116, 156, iðeo 121, 130; 2. bringe 169, ȝiue 162, kume 117, kuðe 118, makie 91, schrude, wassche 139, werie, wite 147; 3. arine127, derie 148, drawe 128, drecche 148, habbe 82, ihere 84, schende 92, to-drawe141, unne 164;pl.1. kumen 66:imperative s.2. auouh 119, aulem 94, ȝeme 163, haue 159, ȝif 102, 126, ischild 120, iþench 100, nim 121, þole 127. Past of Strong Verbs: I a.s.1. ȝef 100; 2. iseie 105: I b. 3. com 36;subj. s.2. uorbere 106: I c.s.3. funde 170 (weak form): IV.s.1. uorsoc 99; 2. stode 90. Participles past: I b. forboren 109, iboren 23, 68, ibroken 151, ikumen 112, inumen 107: I c. bunden 123, iholpen 9, isungen 167: III. icoren 67, uorloren 74, 108: V. isched 88. Past of Weak Verbs:s.1. heuede 108, wreðede 101; 2. heuedest 107, 143:subjunctive s.3. brouhte 86, hedde 144. Participles present: liuiinde 40adj.; past: agult 82, alesed 15, biset 55, ibrouht 10, 98, idreaued 58, 82, ischrud 51, isend 16. Minor Groups: wot 1pr. s.103, wost 2pr. s.145; ouh 1pr. s.7, owen 1pr. pl.18, owe we 17, owenpr. pl.13; kunne 1pr. s. subj.134; der 1pr. s.158; schal 1pr. s.104, schalt 2pr. s.149, schalpr. s.45, 95, schulenpr. pl.41, 43; miht 2pr. s.133, meipr. s.31, 74, muwen 1pr. pl.65; mote 1pr. s. subj.165; beoninf.74, 113, to beonnedat. inf.29, 138, am 1pr. s.112, 113, ham 98, ert 2pr. s.5, 158, 160, ispr. s.25, nis 23 (4), beoðpr. pl.52, beo 1pr. s. subj.23, 116,pr. s. subj.122, 129, 138,pr. pl. subj.166, was 1pt. s.106,pt. s.88, nes 68, were 2pt. s. subj.105; wulle 1pr. s.12 (3), wule 113, wult 2pr. s.121, 133, 142, wulepr. s.142; doninf.13, do 152, dest 2pr. s.149, doðpr. pl.41, 56, dude 1pt. s.106.Noteworthy are the adverb þereuore 63, 83, an early example of the meaning, that being so, and the prepositions anunder 32, OE.anunder(Morsbachs Studien, l. 171), ine 104 (4), onuppe 25 (comp. ‘anuppon’ 77/46).Vocabulary:Scandinavian are laste 69, lasten 123, lune 126, wonteð 73, possibly trust 125. French are cherite 161, ciclatune 51, krune 52, ikruned 52, lai 167, paradise 10, 49, 108, seruise 50, seinte 17, seynte 1, trone 22. Latin are cherubine 25, lilie 53, munuch 169, rose 53, seraphine 26, all OE. borrowings, except the last. The inflectional-eof cherubine, seraphine appears to be quite isolated.Dialect:The Orison in its present form agrees substantially with the copy of the Ancren Riwle in the same manuscript; both are in the dialect of the scribe, that of the Middle South. But the Midland i fory,ȳis attested by the spoilt rhymes þing : welsprung 71; wiþinnen : sunne 91; kuðe : siðe 118; schrude : wide 139, which also point to an original filðe : dwilðe 94 (the forms dweoleð, dweoluhðe, dweolðe are found only in this manuscript), and chille : wille 45. There is nothing else in the rhymes to help to a nearer localization of the author: it can only be said that his dialect was Midland.Metre:This is in dispute. Schipper sees in it a mixture of septenaries, alexandrines, and alliterative verse. He regards l. 28, pléieð and swéieð and síngeð bitwéonen as the only indubitable example of the last, but first half-lines have two accents only in, to þé ich búwe 2; and þónkie wúlle 12; ne wéopen ne múrnen 44, 72, 77, and second half-lines in, þi uéir to iséonne 30; mid gúldene chélle 45; mid énglene wílle 46, 52, 70. The alexandrine is a French verse of six stresses equally divided into two half-verses by a caesura; the ending of each half-line may be masculine or feminine; each half-line may also take a prelude. The scheme of the verse is accordingly (x)x́xx́xx́ (x) || (x)x́xx́xx́(x). Such is held to be the rhythm of nís no | wúmmon i|bóren || þét ðe | béo i|líche 23; þíne | blísse ne | méi || nówiht | únder|stónden 31, where the stress on ‘þet’ and ‘no’ is forced. It is found necessary to employ all the licences of English prosody in scanning this foreign metre, which moreover in its native form is never mixed with other metres, and rhymes, not in couplets, but only in ‘laisses’ or fours. Scanned as septenaries are, biuór|en ðín|e léo|ue súne || wiðín|nen sér|aphíne 26; þú ham | ȝíuest | kíne | scrúd || beíes | and góld|ringes34. But a line like vor heoneúerne beoð séad . þiueírto iséonne 30 may be scanned as an alliterative long line as marked, or as a septenary, vór heo | néuer | né beoð | séad || þi uéir | tó i|séonne, or as an alexandrine, vor heoneú|erne béoð | séad || þi uéir | tó i|séonne. On the other hand, Kaluza refuses to admit such an admixture of metres: he regards the poem as written throughout in septenaries. So the first line is to be scanned, Crístes | mílde | mód|èr || séynte | Már|íè. The unstressed syllable in a foot is often wanting; sometimes all the syllables of a word are stressed, as in the first half of l. 55, Mid bríht|e ȝím | stòn|ès. It is very artificial and unconvincing.The matter is complicated by the fact that the Orison is only a copy, probably a copy of a copy, perhaps one of a succession of copies. A scribe dealing with an older text was generally little concerned about the form and much about the matter and the transcription of its language into his own dialect and idiom. That the text of the Orison has suffered from this preoccupation is evident from the rhymes; it is fairly certain that the author wrote lefdie 2, 11, 17, 170, sorinisse 36, mildheortnisse 78, 149, 164, edmodnisse 79, luðernisse 107, rene 58, leste 69, leasinge 75, gretinge 85, þas 100, seggen 134, and it may be inferred that alterations, including substitution of words, have been made within the verse. But even taking this into account, it is very doubtful whether the poet meant to write syllabic verse at all. Rather his metre exhibits the alliterative long line in the last stage of its dissolution, in which systematic rhyme has largely displaced the older and once essential elements of the verse. If rhythms occur, whichcan with some violence be forced into the moulds of purely syllabic verse, they are not of the author’s express purpose; precisely the same phenomenon is seen in Layamon (464/5). Moreover the alliterative element is considerable; the poet starts with two perfect lines, and ll. 60, 94, 101, 115, 153, 157, 171 have each three alliterating words; l. 3 is up to the Layamonic norm, and there are twenty-seven others equally good. But the development of the verse towards rhyme is complete and no longer, as in Layamon, occasional and for the most part imperfect (464/16).Introduction:The author speaks of himself as a monk and of his composition as an English lay, as though it were an original production. He shows acquaintance with the earlier English literature, his manner is English, and the French element in his vocabulary is remarkably small. The highly conventional character of his language makes it difficult to speak with any confidence of his reading, but he would find much of it in his service books, and he was probably acquainted with Adgar’s Mary Legends and the long series of Orationes ad Sanctam Mariam Virginem with the Psalterium S. Virginis of S. Anselm (ed. Gerberon, pp. 276-87, 303-8), the enthusiastic promoter of the cult of the Virgin Mary in England. For the same reason it is impossible to give much weight to the series of parallels from the writings of S. Edmund of Pontigny (Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1234-40), by which Marufke has sought to prove his authorship of the Orison.Inureisunof the title, both pretonic and tonicuare characteristic of early Anglo-French:eiis historic spelling, and at this time alternates in AF. with phonetice.1. Comp. 134/67; ‘O mater alma Christi charissima,’ York Brev. ii. 182; ‘virgo singularis: inter omnes mitis,’ id. ii. 477; ‘La duce mere al Salueur,’ Adgar 131/39.2.mi leoue lefdi: comp. ll. 11, 17, 63, 115, 170; ‘ma douce dame,’ Wright, Lyric Poetry, 55/1.3.buwe . . . beie: see 143/84.6. Comp. 134/96, 136/153; ‘te spem meam singularem, te salutem computo,’ Guibert of Nogent, De Laude S. Mariae, 6; ‘Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve!’ l. 2 of Salve Regina; ‘Ki est salu, ueire esperance | A tuz Crestiens, sanz dutance,’ Adgar 107/845;‘Þu art hele and lif and liht,’ OEM 160/11.mid iwisse: see 32/40.8.bi daie&c.: comp. 133/50.9.aueole kunne wise, lit. in fashion of many kinds,i.e.in very many ways: comp. 62/30, 114/64, 151/20; ‘a vele kunne wise,’ OEM 39/53, 44/241; ‘Aþre cunne wise,’ id. 38/33; L 1717. OE.fela, much, many, is anindeclinable noun followed by a genitive case, and this construction is occasionally found in EME., as at 27/300, 34/70 (76/19 is ambiguous), but generally in ME. fele, many, is pl. adj. or pronoun of all cases, asnom.15/83, 16/115, 18/2;gen.85/105;acc.30/9. For the expression withwise, comp. ‘on ælches cunnes wise,’ L 8072; ‘on aiȝes cunnes wisen,’ id. 25778; ‘an almes monnes wisen,’ id. 19641: the genitive is, of course, equivalent to an adjective, as in ‘a seolcuðe wisen,’ id. 27835; ‘on moni are wisen,’ id. 555.11.hit: see 115/120.13. Comp. ‘Ceste Dame deit hoem loer | E mult seruir e honurer, | Ki rent as soens si bon luier, | Ke cors e alme lur uelt saluer,’ Adgar 225/65.15.of: see 52/394.19. Comp. ‘Marie, ki fu si bele, | Vnke si bele ne uit pucele,’ Adgar, 22/75; ‘gaude gloriosa: super omnes speciosa,’ York Brev. ii. 493.21.wereBjörkman (Archiv cxxii. 398) takes as a scribe’s mistake for wered; comp. ‘He gesceop tyn engla werod,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 10/12. But comparing 134/71, it is more probable that it represents OE.wara,waru, as in Lundenwaru, in an extended sense of, host, company: possibly influenced in form by OWScand.-veri,-verjar.22.blostme: comp. ‘Leuedi, flour of alle þing,’ OEM 195/28.23. Comp. 134/68; ‘nis non maiden under sunne | þe mei beo þin eueni[n]g,’ OEH ii. 256/43: ‘Sancta maria, non est tibi similis orta in mundo in mulieribus,’ York Brev. ii. 491.25. Comp. 124/243; ‘Exaltata est sancta dei genetrix: Super choros angelorum ad celestia regna,’ York Brev. ii. 477; ‘atque in regni solio sublimata post Christum gloriosa resedit,’ id. ii. 492; ‘Tibi thronus regius ab angelis collocatur in aula aeterni regis,’ Sermon of Fulbert of Chartres, in S. Augustini Opera V2, 246.26.wid innen, surrounded by.28.sweieð, make melody.bitweonen: see 148/6.29. Comp. ‘Kar li angele funt nuit e ior | Son plaisir, par grant amur,’ Adgar 165/287.30. See 124/239.sead . . . to iseonne: see 76/17. Forueiras a noun, beauty, comp. 139/27; ‘þe mone ⁊ þe sunne wundrieð of faire · swo fair is ure louerd ihesu crist,’ OEH ii. 19/29.32. Comp. ‘Tuit est en sa main atachie | Li ciels e li munz ensement,’ Adgar 165/282.33.riche: see 19/34.34. Suggested by such places as, ‘Tulitque annulum de manu sua, et dedit eum in manu eius: vestivitque eum stola byssina, et collo torquemauream circumposuit,’ Gen. xli. 42; Esther vi. 8.beies, crowns; comp. 133/55 note, or less probably, collars, armlets; comp. 202/194.35. Comp. 50/360.36-40, 59-62.These passages describing the joys of Paradise have many analogues in the earlier literature. Kölbing, ES i. 169, thought they were borrowed directly from the OE. Phoenix: he compares with l. 38, ‘Ne mæg þær ren ne snaw, | ne forstes fnæst . . . | wihte gewyrdan,’ Ph. 14, 15, 19; with l. 37, ‘is þæt æþele lond | blostmum geblowen,’ Ph. 20; with l. 39, ‘Wintres ⁊ sumeres wudu bið gelice | bledum gehongen,’ Ph. 37, 38; with l. 36, ‘Nis þær on þam londe laðgeniðla | . . . ne se enga deað,’ Ph. 50, 52, and he might have added, ‘ne feallað þær on foldan fealwe blostman,’ Ph. 74. For similar descriptions comp. Grau, G. (Morsbachs Studien, xxxi), p. 130; Pseudo-Cyprian, De Resurrectione Mortuorum, ed. Hartel, iii. 316/193-268; De Die Iudicii (attributed to Bede), 128-47; Christ, 1650-65; BH 65/16-22, but the parallels between the text and the Phoenix are remarkable.36.þer ðe, where: comp. ‘ȝet doð þer þe heo beoð,’ OEH i. 9/9.37.hwite ⁊ reade: lilies and roses; symbols of virgins and martyrs: comp. Be Domes Dæge, 18/286-9.39.ualuwen: see 29/6.43.swinken, be distressed: comp. 134/97, and see40/194 note.44.stinken, smell, perceive: comp. ‘wrieð hore fulðe so ꝥ heo hit ne muwen stinken,’ AR 86/17.45.steoren&c., cense with golden censer: probably suggested by Rev. viii. 3.chelle: OE.cylle, vessel; only here in ME.46.mid englene wille, ‘with angels’ joy,’ Specimens; comparing OWScand. vili. But this use of ME. wille for state of felicity is at least rare, and besides something more concrete is needed to balance ‘mid guldene chelle’; wille represents OE.wiell,wiella, fountain, with allusion to the ‘fluvium aquae vitae’ of Rev. xxii. 1, and to such places as ‘Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus salvatoris,’ Isa. xii. 3; ‘torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos,’ Ps. xxxv. 9. The sense then would be, and pour out for them eternal life by means of the water of Paradise. The writer usesenglenevaguely for, of Heaven; comp. ll. 16, 70.47-50. An application of 1 Cor. ii. 9 already in Adgar, ‘Certes, nul ne poet escrire, | De cuer penser, de buche dire | Les biens de la Dame uaillante, | Ki de tuz biens est puissante, | Ke as soens fait chascun ior, | Vers cels, ke el’ ad puint d’amur,’ 224/7. See 46/285, 119/85. With l. 50 comp. ‘Nostre Dame serui nuit e ior, | El soen seruise out grant amur,’ Adgar 117/27.51.ciclatune, originally a fine silken stuff of Persian origin, usually red. Almeria, in Spain, was the seat of a flourishing manufacture of this stuff in the twelfth century. Comp. 140/37.53. Comp. ‘eall heora neb-wlite wæron swilce rose and lilie,’ Ælf., Lives i. 536/780.55. Comp. ‘þær se beorhta beag brogden wundrum | eorcnanstanum eadigra gehwam | hlifað ofer heafde,’ Phoenix 602.58. Comp. ‘Þær ne hægl ne hrim hreosað to foldan | ne windig wolcen, ne þær wæter fealleþ | lyfte gebysgad,’ Phoenix 60.60.uihte, variance: ‘gewindagas,’ days of strife, Phoenix 612. Comp. also, ‘sib butan niþe,’ Christ 1660; 70/158 note.61.teone ⁊ treie: see 24/208.62. ForGleobeames, harps, gleodreames is suggested in Specimens, with a reference to Beowulf, 3021, ‘gamen ⁊ gleo-dream,’ sport and social joys.inouhgoes with gome.liues wil, joy of life.63.long hit þuncheð: comp. ‘ne biþ him wynne hyht, | þæt hy þis læne lif long gewunien,’ Phoenix 480.64. Forvort, see72/179 note.67.Swete: comp. ‘Bidde we ure lauedi | swetest alre þinge,’ OEM 166/81.icoren: comp. ‘Mildest quene ant best icorn,’ E. E. Lyrics, ed. Chambers and Sidgwick, 90/41; ‘Of þe he makede his moder · vor he þe hedde ycore,’ OEM 38/22, 88/37. The expression comes from the service books, ‘praeelecta ut sol,’ York Missal ii. 20; ‘Ista est speciosa electa a domino,’ York Brev. ii. 540.69. Comp. ‘moder unwemmed ⁊ maiden clene | swich in world non oþer nis,’ OEH ii. 255/3; ‘Virgene en l’emfantement, | Deuant e apres ensement,’ Adgar 225/53.70.reste, abode.71.were: see 132/21.72.liues welsprung: apparently suggested by ‘quoniam apud te est fons vitae,’ Psalm xxxv. 10. In the York Breviary she is called ‘puteus aquarum viventium,’ ii. 480.74. Comp. ‘Ki fu refuse u cumfus, | Ki unkes out fiance en uus?’ Adgar 107/825.75. A word has dropped out after soule. In Specimens, leome is supplied, in Zupitza-Schipper, liht, as in l. 5.79-81. Comp. ‘Duze Dame tresimple e coie, | Plein de misericorde e de uertu, | E de grant grace, mere Jhesu; | Mult tost mustrez uostre duzur | A checun dolent pecheur. | Mult se poent en uus fier, | Ki uus uolent merci crier,’ Adgar 26/243, 38/17, 65/64.80.of helpe . . . missen, fail to obtain help: comp. ‘Þu hauest ymyst of fayrhede,’ ON 581, 825; ‘Hi wenden to wisse | of here lif to misse,’ KH 121 note.81.to: see 124/249.milce ⁊ ore: comp. 135/102; ON 1083, 1404.82.agult, offended; a transitive use; the word is usually followed by to, wið, toward, of the person; comp. ‘ne ne warien hwon me agulteð to ou,’ AR 186/2.84.ȝif þi wille is: a common tag: comp. 77/60; ‘ȝef hit were þin wille,’ L, MS. O 20815; ‘ȝef þi deore wil is,’ SJ 37/9; ‘mi swete leuedi, her mi bene | ⁊ reu of me, ȝif þi wille is,’ OEH ii. 255/7.85.gretunge: the first of the five joys of the Virgin; see OEM 87/1-8, as l. 87 refers to the greatest of her sorrows: comp. ‘Bidde we seinte Marie | for hire milde mode. | For þe teres þat heo wep | for hire sone blode,’ OEM 190/93.93.loðe: comp. 46/283.kunnes: see 81/80.dweoluhðe: also at 136/148 in a similar context, for delusions, deceptions practised by the devil: see AR 224/12, and comp. ‘et ideo prae ceteris | volo te precari, | ne sinas me daemonis | dolo defraudari,’ Mone, Lat. Hymnen ii. 108/85.94.fule fulðe: comp. 29/33.95.to dealen: comp. Rom. vii. 39.96.ilong, dependent: comp. 135/114; ‘Þæt wæs swiþost on ðæm gelong þæt Hasterbal swa late fleah,’ Orosius 198/26: ‘is seo bot gelong | eal æt þe anum,’ Christ 153: ‘On hire is al mi lif ilong,’ OEM 158/1; ‘ꝥ is long on felefelde iuele lastes,’ OEH ii. 71/31: in mod. English, along of. See also ‘bilong,’ 200/112.97.wel ilome: see 32/47.98.þeoudome, bondage: comp. ‘ic em in þine loue bende,’ OEH ii. 256/35.101.sume siðe, at one time, in former days: comp. ‘giet sume siþe,’ Christ 318, yet one day.102.fif wunden: comp. ‘Þat we moten to him cume · for his wundes fyue,’ OEM 57/696; ‘He make vs clene and bryhte | for his wundes fyue,’ id. 87/23; Minot i. 91.103.þetis explained by the noun-clause, l. 104.wel ȝeorneand ‘ful ȝeorne,’ l. 145, appear to mean, very accurately, very well. Mätzner quotes in support, ‘Me awaiteð ou, þet wute ȝe ful ȝeorne, wiðuten,’ AR 174/15, which might be punctuated otherwise.105.stille, silent: comp. 36/112.106.þauh, and yet.107.wreche inumen, taken vengeance: different is the sentiment in‘Sunful ich am an wrecche. | Awrec þe nu on me leuedi. | Er deþ me honne fecche. | Do nim þe wreche ich am redi,’ OEM 162/42.109.ȝet, further, longer.111.uallen&c.: comp. 80/47.112.hwon, since, seeing that.hine, household servant: comp. ‘Eyez merci, quar en mon vivant | Serroi vostre lige serjaunt,’ Lyric Poetry, ed. Wright, 56/13; ‘E sa duce mere e chere | Pitusement fist sa preiere, | K’il eussent de sun serf merci,’ Adgar 5/44; ‘Vne nuit, par auisiun, | Vint la Dame a cel son barun,’ id. 56/7; ‘swete leuedi of me þu reowe;⁊ haue merci of þin knicht,’ OEH ii. 255/15; ‘ic crie þe merci, ic am þi mon,’ id. 256/23.115.longeð: impersonal construction, with acc. of person: comp. ‘Loð is me þis eorðliche lif . ⁊ me longeð to criste,’ OEH ii. 149/29.117. Comp. ‘Bi-sih to me lauedi briȝt. | Hwenne ich schal wende heonne,’ OEM 160/18; Anglia i. 391/45; and elsewhere.120.kare, anxiety about; practically, fear: comp. 121/150.123.þuruh, tightly.bunden: see 81/67.125. Comp. ‘Dame! En uus sule ai ma fiance,’ Adgar 101/649; ‘Apres Deu ne ai autre refui,’ id. 106/818.126.lune, rest, occurs only here in ME.; for the word in modern dialects see EDDs.v.lown, quiet, shelter, which is Northern and North Midland: the solitary instance recorded for Hampshire is probably a stray. Dan. luun; OWScand. logn: see Björkman, 250.127.þet he me arine: a clause instead of an infinitive; comp. 126/325; analogous is 151/21.129.so&c., so that whatever happens may ever be the best for me: comp. ‘And he þat haueþ þis rym iwryten . beo hwat he beo | God in þisse lyue . hyne lete wel iþeo,’ OEM 57/697.132.to bote ȝeruh, ready to make amends: comp. ‘sunbote,’ 80/58; ‘deadbote,’ 119/75.134.biseon to me: see 124/249.136.swinc . . . sor: comp. 40/194.140.spert: comp. 89/44.141.to drawe: tear in pieces, destroy: comp. ‘ichot þe cherl is def, þe del hym to drawe,’ Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 177/34. Morris explains ‘entice me (to sin),’ referring to the glossary to Hampole, Prick of Conscience, where the word so explained is ‘drawe.’142.wule: supply, to-drawen me.144. Nor that any man that honoureth thee should have gladness:heresumesno mon ꝥ þe wurðeð; comp. 77/39, 138/12: similar are, ‘Þewreche peoddare more noise he makeð to ȝeien his sope,’ AR 66/17: ‘ꝥ þe muð ne mei uor scheome þe liht eie spekeð hit,’ id. 60/6.147.wite&c.: see 118/50.148.dweolðe: see 134/93.149.dest: supply witen ⁊ werien.150.schaltcan hardly mean, ‘shalt give,’ as Morris translates: some word such asdelenhas dropped out after me: comp. ‘to pore men dalt his dale,’ Sir Amadas 43.aueir dol, a fair, handsome, portion.151. Comp. ‘De cest e d’el uus frai dreit, | Selunc ceo que uus sui forfait,’ Adgar 163/221.153.lif . . . heale: comp. 132/6.156.vort: see72/179 note.157, 8. Adgar has similar uses of lovers’ language: ‘Ne ia, Dame, uus ne larrai; | Kar espuse prise uus ai. | Ja ne larrai uostre amistie, | Ne uostre amur,’ Adgar 163/213, 162/178-85.160.al so, even as; not ‘as much as,’ Morris.163. The line lost after this may have been something like, and ek mine soule vor þine eadmodnesse.164, 5. Comp. ‘Pur amur de la Dame chere, | Ki nus duinst la seinte Deu grace, | E Deu nus duinst ueer sa face,’ Adgar 40/98.166.ureondmen, friends: a rare word, which occurs again in OEH ii. 183/23; CM 20242.170.bi, concerning.Metre:... nó wiht | únder|stónden 31wiht|únderand góld|ringes 34text unchanged: error for “rínges”?But a line like vor heo neúer ne beoð séad . þi ueír to iséonne 30text unchanged: errors for “néuer” and “uéir”?or as an alexandrine, vor heo neú|er ne béoðtext unchanged: error for “néuer”?6. ... Adgar 107/845; ‘Þu art107/845; | ‘Þu9. ... i.e. in very many ways“i” in “i.e.” invisible

Manuscript:Cotton Nero A 14, British Museum. See p. 355.Editions:Morris, R., OEH i. 191-9 (with translation), and Specimens, 129-32 (part only); Zupitza-Schipper, AE. Lesebuch, ed. viii. 106-10.Literature:Kölbing, E., ES i. 169; Lauchert, F., ES xiii. 83; xvi. 124. Marufke, W., Der älteste englische Marienhymnus, Leipzig, 1907; Vollhardt, W. (seep. 269/19).Phonology:This section should be compared with the account of MS. N of the Ancrene Wisse, pp. 363-5, the copy of which is by the same scribe as the Orison.Oralaisa, hauest 9, uare 119;abefore nasals iso, mon 74, nome 126, hwon 112, 119, but me 45;abefore lengthening groups iso, londe 16, ilong 96, but and 4: þeonne 118 is influenced by heonne.æis regularlye, et 90, gled 54, hedde 144, nes 68, onceea, sead 30, andain habbe 82 (4 times), hwat 106, was 88 (4).eise, aleggen 133, seggen 158; before lengthening groups, engles 27, schende 92, butiin siggen 134, siggeð 72, 73: in seoruwe 60, 89, 120eorepresentsœ,i-umlaut ofo.iisi.oiso, uorst 38, hopie 110, note 88; before lengthening groups, gold 34, nolde 143: þene 93, 127, 169 is LWS.þæne:onwithout stress isa9.uisu, kume 117, unne 164; before lengthening groups, bunden 123, murnen 44.yisu, agult 82, muchele 14 (7), sunne r. w. wiðinnen 92; before lengthening groups, guldene 45, 52, welsprung 72 r. w. þing, but chelle 45: king 57, kinestol 25 have the usuali.āiso, holie 126, loðe 93, one 21, but aadv.129, aart.150; before two consonants, wost 145: nenne 131 representsnǣnne.ǣ1is divided betweene(15), clenenesse 163, er 66, techen 48; before two consonants, euer 54, lefdi 2 (5), neuer 30 (3), andea(10) in cleane 42 (3), todealen 95, deale 154, heale 6 (3), healen 124, leafdi 170: ilch 81 is OE.ylc.ǣ2is regularlye, uorbere 106, greden 155, misdeden 156, were 105, butain hwar 106.ēise, greten 152, swete 17, buteoin steoren 45,weopen 44 represents umlautœ̄, and idreaued 58, 82, fromdrœ̄fan, descends in form fromdrǣfan.īisi, arine 127, bliðe 116, hird 51, butuin hwule 12, 153, swuðe 14 (6), wummon 23, wummen 19.ōiso:ū,u:ȳ,u, kuðe 118 r. w. siðe, fulðe 94 r. w. dweoluhðe, luðere 123, luðernesse 107, schrude 139 r. w. wide, ischrud 51.eabeforer+ cons. ise, der 158, erme 64, ert 158, 160, herm 36, ȝeruh 132, but ȝeirkest 49.eabeforel+ cons. isa, al 4 &c., uallen 111, ualuwen 39, schalt 149: thei-umlaut is seen in wille 46 (wiell).eobeforer+ cons. iseo, eorðe 159 r. w. wurðe, ueor 94, ȝeorne 80, 103, heorte 4 (5); to thewurgroup belong wurðie 7, wurðeð 21, wurð 122, wurschipe 13: beornen 104, wurðe 138, 160 are without umlaut.eobeforel+ cons. isuin suluen 64, 66, 100. Theu- andå-umlaut ofais wanting in kare 120, iðauien 142; it may possibly account forein were 71, comp.helwearumVP 29/4,SodomwearenaVH 7/62.eo,u-umlaut ofeiseo, dweolðe 148, dweoluhðe 93, heouene 77 (3), heoueriche 24, 150.eo,å-umlaut ofeiseo, ueole 9.eo,å-umlaut ofiiso, hore 22, 42.eaafter palatals isa, schal 45, ande, ȝef 100.ieafterġisi, ȝiue 162, ȝif 102, 126, ȝiuest 34 (3), uorȝiuenesse 110, 132, butein forȝelden 135. EWS.giefis ȝif 42, 84.eoaftersćisu, schulen 41, 43;ieaftersć,i, ischild 120.eomis am 112, 113, ham 98;heom, ham 56.ēaisea, deað 36, leasung 75, read 53, butein ek 87, ec 159, edmodnesse 79, isched 88; itsi-umlaut ise, aulem 94, alesed 15, ȝeme 163, ȝemeð 42, ȝeme 121, ihere 84, but dreameð 27, without umlaut.ēois regularlyeo, beon 113 &c., biseon 134, deoflene 15, leoue 2 (10), but looue 100, 170, apparently for lōue; thei-umlaut ise, onsene 27.ēoaftergiseo, ȝeomer 40:gīetis ȝet 109.a+gisaw, drawe 128, 141.æ+gisei, dei 50, feier 137, mei 31, but daie 8, dai 166, fawe 142 (fagen).e+gis alsoei, awei 94, pleie 62, reine 58 r. w. kwene.i+gfinal isi, holi 70, i 97, 106, moniuold 61, murie 27.i+htisiht, wiht 31, 47.u+gisuw, muwen 65.ā+ggivesow, owen 13, owune 112;ā+h, ouh 7.ō+hisouh, auouh 119, brouhte 86, inouh 62.ū+gisuw, buwe 3.ie,i-umlaut ofea, +htisiht, miht 133, nihte 8.eo+htis alsoiht, briht 19, uihte 60; thei-umlaut is seen in bisihð 81.ēa+ggivesei, beie 3, beien 18.ēo+htisiht, liht 5, lihtliche 133, 135.ēa+his seen in þauh 82, 105.ā+w, bloweð 37, soule 5, snou 38, but iseie (?gesǣge).ēo+w, kneon 3, kneouwunge 136, reoweð 101, þeoudome 98.Swāis so 53. Fore,uis written in owune 112; foro,ein heouene 77, sumer 39:eis added in clenenesse 163, heuede 108, heuedest 107, neuere 143, but neure 111;eis lost in hird 51; the suffixingisungin gretunge135.onis weakened to a 9.uis added in dweoluhðe 93, muruhðe 61, seoruwe 60 (3), þuruh 122 (3); comp. ‘seluðe,’ AR 354/4.Metathesis ofris seen in spert 140;rris simplified in der 158;llin wil 62;mmin ȝimstones 55.nis lost in i 50, o 96, 114 and medially in heoueriche 24, 150.bbis simplified in sib 60.fis generally preserved in combination with other consonants, deoflene 15, efter 76, lefdi 2; beforeu, ful 35, fulðe 94; finally, ȝif 126, lif 6; initially after a word ending in a voiceless sound, fawe 142, feier 137, fif 102, forboren 109, forȝelden 135. Otherwise it isu,v, uorst 38, aulem 94, auouh 119, iureden 38; exceptions are hefedest 143 and the contract hedde 144.tis added by inadvertence in þuruhtut 70;ttis simplified in biset 55:þis omitted in wurschipe 13, wurchipe 130. After þet, þu becomes tu 72, 84, 91, but vort þu 64, þet þe 73, 74, bit þe 132, et ðe 90.tsis represented bycin milce 79 (3):bletsungis blescinge 162.ssis simplified in blisful 19. Initialsćissch, gledschipe 14, schende 92, but wurðscipe 141, wurchipe 130; medially it isssc, englissce 167,ssch, wassche 139.c[k] iskbefore e, i, u, ȝeirkest 49, sike 97, kinescrud 34, kunne 9,cbefore o, com 36, icoren 67, in other positions it is indiscriminatelycork, Cristes 1, krune 55, kneon 3, licame 163, kare 120, woc 40, ek 87, ec 159.čisch, eche 35, techen 48, stenches 44;ččiscch, drecche 148, wrecche 130, but arechen 47:cwiskw, kwene 57, but once queadschipe 42:cgisgg, aleggen 133, seggen 158. Palatalgis writtenȝ, ȝef 100, forȝelden 135, ȝimstones 55: the prefixge-is preserved asi, ilong 96. The stopgis doubled in singges 8. Forh,chis written in ðurchut 142;his added in ham 98, dweoluhðe 93, ȝeruh 132 (as at AR 394/12), lost in is 126, licame 163, arine 127 (ahrīnan), lefdi 2, ringes 34, buthwis kept in hwar 106.Accidence:Strong declension ofmasc.andneut.nouns. In thes. n.sune 57 representssunu, gome 62 has lost finaln.Gen.-es, deaðes 120, kunnes 92, but heoueriche 150 is not inflected:dat.-e, daie 8, deaðe 90, reine 58, siðe 101, wille 46; no exceptions. In thea.schrifte 152 has added e. Thepl. n. a.of masculines ends in-es, engles 27, beies 34, but were 21: neuters are þing 71, kneon 3. Genitives are kunne 9, meidene 21, þinge 76; weak forms are deoflene 15, englene 16 (4); there are no datives. Thefem.nouns of the strong declension have-ein thes. n. a., kwene 57, ore 73, sorinesse 36, bene 84, except sib 60, help 116 (oftenm.in OE.).Gen.-e, helle 44, 104, soule 5:dat.-e, blisse 16 (5), fulðe 94, honde 15, mihte 7.Pl. dat.are honden 32, misdeden 156, wunden 102;a.heorte 18, wunden 124. Nouns of the weak declension have-ein all cases of the singular, except lefdi 2 (6): plurals aren.blostmen 37,d.wrecchen 63, uote 155. The minor declensions are represented by mons. n.74, wummon 23, menpl. n.13, ureondmen 166, wepmenpl. a.20, wummen 19; nihtes. d.8, 59, nihts. a.50; moders. n.1, 67; ureondespl. a.33.Adjectives which in OE. end in a vowel have-ethroughout, eche 35, 39, 62, 120, swete 17. Of the weak declension ares. n.leoue 2 (5), looue 100, 170,d.erme 64, fule 94, heie 66, 165, holie 126, leoue 125,a.englissce 167, leoue 26, 76, loðe 93. Strong inflections ares. d. m.guldene 45,s. d. f.hwite 51,s. a. m.fulle 65,s. a. f.fulle 110, gode 121: iliche 23, 68 isgelīca. The plurals of all adjectives end in-e, holie 71, hwite 37, luðere 123, reade 37; exceptions are gled 54, sead 30, hwit, read 53; gold-ring 34 is an OE. combination.myceliss. n.muchel 79,s. d.muchelem.14,f.89, 140,neut.49.āgengives owune 112.ānoccurs once as a 150;ānais ones. d. m.125,f.21:nāniss. n.no 23 (9), non 24, 39 (pronominal), 47 (before heorte), 40,s. g. neut.none 92,a. m.nenne 131. Adjectives used as nouns are gods. a. neut.49, muchel 151: superlatives are best 129, leouest 76.The personal pronouns are ich, i 97, 106, me, we, us, þu, tu 72 (4), after þet, þe. The pronoun of the third person iss. n.hitneut.63,a.11;pl. n.heo 30 &c.,d.ham 29,a.15. Reflexives are mi suluen 100, ðe suluen 64, 66: possessives,s. n.mi 6 &c., min 6, 96, 158 (pronominal),g.miref.5, mine 5, 157, minesneut.2,d.minem.117, miref.75, mine 7, 107, mineneut.126,a.minem.152,f.135, mineut.133, min 4;pl.minen.166,d.156,a.3:s. n.þi 25 (3), þin 24 (7) before vowel or h, 157 (predicative),d.ðinem.26 (4), ðiref.149 (5), þine 18 (8), þin 27, ðineneut.89,a.þinem.116,f.31 (3), þineut.30;pl.þined.32, 155,a.33: is 126: ure 18, 86: hore 22, 42. The definite article iss. n.þe 53 &c.,g.þes 100 (pronominal),d.ðem.90, þeref.85, 88,a.þenem.93, 127, 169;pl. g.þer 24 (for þere). The compound demonstrative iss. n.þesm.78,d.þisseneut.64, 119,a.ðesnem.167, 170. The relative is þet 23 &c., once þe 41; ðet 12, during which; interrogative is hwat 106; indefinites are me 45; ilchs. d. m.81; sumes. d. m.101; ueolepl. g.9;s. n.al 5,g.alleneut.93,d. m.42,f.7,a.alm.100,neut.48 &c.;pl. n.alle 13 (6),g.alre 76,a.alle 19.The infinitives of the second weak conjugation end in-ien, iðauien 142, karien 43, luuien 17, except ualuwen 39; others, 32 in number, end in-en, but without n are deale 154, singge 8, þonkie 12, wurðie 7, iseo 165: to biseonne 137, to iseonne 30 aredat.infinitives. Presents ares.1. beie 3, hopie 110, liuie 12, offrie 4, þonkie 11, wene 111, wurðie 146; 2. ȝiuest 34, ȝeirkest 49; 3. hateð 145, likeð 29, wurðeð 144, contracted bisihð 81, bit 80, 132, let 56, spert 140, wurð 68, 122;pl.3. bloweð 37, wurðeð 21:subjunctive s.1. habbe 116, 156, iðeo 121, 130; 2. bringe 169, ȝiue 162, kume 117, kuðe 118, makie 91, schrude, wassche 139, werie, wite 147; 3. arine127, derie 148, drawe 128, drecche 148, habbe 82, ihere 84, schende 92, to-drawe141, unne 164;pl.1. kumen 66:imperative s.2. auouh 119, aulem 94, ȝeme 163, haue 159, ȝif 102, 126, ischild 120, iþench 100, nim 121, þole 127. Past of Strong Verbs: I a.s.1. ȝef 100; 2. iseie 105: I b. 3. com 36;subj. s.2. uorbere 106: I c.s.3. funde 170 (weak form): IV.s.1. uorsoc 99; 2. stode 90. Participles past: I b. forboren 109, iboren 23, 68, ibroken 151, ikumen 112, inumen 107: I c. bunden 123, iholpen 9, isungen 167: III. icoren 67, uorloren 74, 108: V. isched 88. Past of Weak Verbs:s.1. heuede 108, wreðede 101; 2. heuedest 107, 143:subjunctive s.3. brouhte 86, hedde 144. Participles present: liuiinde 40adj.; past: agult 82, alesed 15, biset 55, ibrouht 10, 98, idreaued 58, 82, ischrud 51, isend 16. Minor Groups: wot 1pr. s.103, wost 2pr. s.145; ouh 1pr. s.7, owen 1pr. pl.18, owe we 17, owenpr. pl.13; kunne 1pr. s. subj.134; der 1pr. s.158; schal 1pr. s.104, schalt 2pr. s.149, schalpr. s.45, 95, schulenpr. pl.41, 43; miht 2pr. s.133, meipr. s.31, 74, muwen 1pr. pl.65; mote 1pr. s. subj.165; beoninf.74, 113, to beonnedat. inf.29, 138, am 1pr. s.112, 113, ham 98, ert 2pr. s.5, 158, 160, ispr. s.25, nis 23 (4), beoðpr. pl.52, beo 1pr. s. subj.23, 116,pr. s. subj.122, 129, 138,pr. pl. subj.166, was 1pt. s.106,pt. s.88, nes 68, were 2pt. s. subj.105; wulle 1pr. s.12 (3), wule 113, wult 2pr. s.121, 133, 142, wulepr. s.142; doninf.13, do 152, dest 2pr. s.149, doðpr. pl.41, 56, dude 1pt. s.106.Noteworthy are the adverb þereuore 63, 83, an early example of the meaning, that being so, and the prepositions anunder 32, OE.anunder(Morsbachs Studien, l. 171), ine 104 (4), onuppe 25 (comp. ‘anuppon’ 77/46).Vocabulary:Scandinavian are laste 69, lasten 123, lune 126, wonteð 73, possibly trust 125. French are cherite 161, ciclatune 51, krune 52, ikruned 52, lai 167, paradise 10, 49, 108, seruise 50, seinte 17, seynte 1, trone 22. Latin are cherubine 25, lilie 53, munuch 169, rose 53, seraphine 26, all OE. borrowings, except the last. The inflectional-eof cherubine, seraphine appears to be quite isolated.Dialect:The Orison in its present form agrees substantially with the copy of the Ancren Riwle in the same manuscript; both are in the dialect of the scribe, that of the Middle South. But the Midland i fory,ȳis attested by the spoilt rhymes þing : welsprung 71; wiþinnen : sunne 91; kuðe : siðe 118; schrude : wide 139, which also point to an original filðe : dwilðe 94 (the forms dweoleð, dweoluhðe, dweolðe are found only in this manuscript), and chille : wille 45. There is nothing else in the rhymes to help to a nearer localization of the author: it can only be said that his dialect was Midland.Metre:This is in dispute. Schipper sees in it a mixture of septenaries, alexandrines, and alliterative verse. He regards l. 28, pléieð and swéieð and síngeð bitwéonen as the only indubitable example of the last, but first half-lines have two accents only in, to þé ich búwe 2; and þónkie wúlle 12; ne wéopen ne múrnen 44, 72, 77, and second half-lines in, þi uéir to iséonne 30; mid gúldene chélle 45; mid énglene wílle 46, 52, 70. The alexandrine is a French verse of six stresses equally divided into two half-verses by a caesura; the ending of each half-line may be masculine or feminine; each half-line may also take a prelude. The scheme of the verse is accordingly (x)x́xx́xx́ (x) || (x)x́xx́xx́(x). Such is held to be the rhythm of nís no | wúmmon i|bóren || þét ðe | béo i|líche 23; þíne | blísse ne | méi || nówiht | únder|stónden 31, where the stress on ‘þet’ and ‘no’ is forced. It is found necessary to employ all the licences of English prosody in scanning this foreign metre, which moreover in its native form is never mixed with other metres, and rhymes, not in couplets, but only in ‘laisses’ or fours. Scanned as septenaries are, biuór|en ðín|e léo|ue súne || wiðín|nen sér|aphíne 26; þú ham | ȝíuest | kíne | scrúd || beíes | and góld|ringes34. But a line like vor heoneúerne beoð séad . þiueírto iséonne 30 may be scanned as an alliterative long line as marked, or as a septenary, vór heo | néuer | né beoð | séad || þi uéir | tó i|séonne, or as an alexandrine, vor heoneú|erne béoð | séad || þi uéir | tó i|séonne. On the other hand, Kaluza refuses to admit such an admixture of metres: he regards the poem as written throughout in septenaries. So the first line is to be scanned, Crístes | mílde | mód|èr || séynte | Már|íè. The unstressed syllable in a foot is often wanting; sometimes all the syllables of a word are stressed, as in the first half of l. 55, Mid bríht|e ȝím | stòn|ès. It is very artificial and unconvincing.The matter is complicated by the fact that the Orison is only a copy, probably a copy of a copy, perhaps one of a succession of copies. A scribe dealing with an older text was generally little concerned about the form and much about the matter and the transcription of its language into his own dialect and idiom. That the text of the Orison has suffered from this preoccupation is evident from the rhymes; it is fairly certain that the author wrote lefdie 2, 11, 17, 170, sorinisse 36, mildheortnisse 78, 149, 164, edmodnisse 79, luðernisse 107, rene 58, leste 69, leasinge 75, gretinge 85, þas 100, seggen 134, and it may be inferred that alterations, including substitution of words, have been made within the verse. But even taking this into account, it is very doubtful whether the poet meant to write syllabic verse at all. Rather his metre exhibits the alliterative long line in the last stage of its dissolution, in which systematic rhyme has largely displaced the older and once essential elements of the verse. If rhythms occur, whichcan with some violence be forced into the moulds of purely syllabic verse, they are not of the author’s express purpose; precisely the same phenomenon is seen in Layamon (464/5). Moreover the alliterative element is considerable; the poet starts with two perfect lines, and ll. 60, 94, 101, 115, 153, 157, 171 have each three alliterating words; l. 3 is up to the Layamonic norm, and there are twenty-seven others equally good. But the development of the verse towards rhyme is complete and no longer, as in Layamon, occasional and for the most part imperfect (464/16).Introduction:The author speaks of himself as a monk and of his composition as an English lay, as though it were an original production. He shows acquaintance with the earlier English literature, his manner is English, and the French element in his vocabulary is remarkably small. The highly conventional character of his language makes it difficult to speak with any confidence of his reading, but he would find much of it in his service books, and he was probably acquainted with Adgar’s Mary Legends and the long series of Orationes ad Sanctam Mariam Virginem with the Psalterium S. Virginis of S. Anselm (ed. Gerberon, pp. 276-87, 303-8), the enthusiastic promoter of the cult of the Virgin Mary in England. For the same reason it is impossible to give much weight to the series of parallels from the writings of S. Edmund of Pontigny (Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1234-40), by which Marufke has sought to prove his authorship of the Orison.Inureisunof the title, both pretonic and tonicuare characteristic of early Anglo-French:eiis historic spelling, and at this time alternates in AF. with phonetice.

Manuscript:Cotton Nero A 14, British Museum. See p. 355.

Editions:Morris, R., OEH i. 191-9 (with translation), and Specimens, 129-32 (part only); Zupitza-Schipper, AE. Lesebuch, ed. viii. 106-10.

Literature:Kölbing, E., ES i. 169; Lauchert, F., ES xiii. 83; xvi. 124. Marufke, W., Der älteste englische Marienhymnus, Leipzig, 1907; Vollhardt, W. (seep. 269/19).

Phonology:This section should be compared with the account of MS. N of the Ancrene Wisse, pp. 363-5, the copy of which is by the same scribe as the Orison.

Oralaisa, hauest 9, uare 119;abefore nasals iso, mon 74, nome 126, hwon 112, 119, but me 45;abefore lengthening groups iso, londe 16, ilong 96, but and 4: þeonne 118 is influenced by heonne.æis regularlye, et 90, gled 54, hedde 144, nes 68, onceea, sead 30, andain habbe 82 (4 times), hwat 106, was 88 (4).eise, aleggen 133, seggen 158; before lengthening groups, engles 27, schende 92, butiin siggen 134, siggeð 72, 73: in seoruwe 60, 89, 120eorepresentsœ,i-umlaut ofo.iisi.oiso, uorst 38, hopie 110, note 88; before lengthening groups, gold 34, nolde 143: þene 93, 127, 169 is LWS.þæne:onwithout stress isa9.uisu, kume 117, unne 164; before lengthening groups, bunden 123, murnen 44.yisu, agult 82, muchele 14 (7), sunne r. w. wiðinnen 92; before lengthening groups, guldene 45, 52, welsprung 72 r. w. þing, but chelle 45: king 57, kinestol 25 have the usuali.āiso, holie 126, loðe 93, one 21, but aadv.129, aart.150; before two consonants, wost 145: nenne 131 representsnǣnne.ǣ1is divided betweene(15), clenenesse 163, er 66, techen 48; before two consonants, euer 54, lefdi 2 (5), neuer 30 (3), andea(10) in cleane 42 (3), todealen 95, deale 154, heale 6 (3), healen 124, leafdi 170: ilch 81 is OE.ylc.ǣ2is regularlye, uorbere 106, greden 155, misdeden 156, were 105, butain hwar 106.ēise, greten 152, swete 17, buteoin steoren 45,weopen 44 represents umlautœ̄, and idreaued 58, 82, fromdrœ̄fan, descends in form fromdrǣfan.īisi, arine 127, bliðe 116, hird 51, butuin hwule 12, 153, swuðe 14 (6), wummon 23, wummen 19.ōiso:ū,u:ȳ,u, kuðe 118 r. w. siðe, fulðe 94 r. w. dweoluhðe, luðere 123, luðernesse 107, schrude 139 r. w. wide, ischrud 51.

eabeforer+ cons. ise, der 158, erme 64, ert 158, 160, herm 36, ȝeruh 132, but ȝeirkest 49.eabeforel+ cons. isa, al 4 &c., uallen 111, ualuwen 39, schalt 149: thei-umlaut is seen in wille 46 (wiell).eobeforer+ cons. iseo, eorðe 159 r. w. wurðe, ueor 94, ȝeorne 80, 103, heorte 4 (5); to thewurgroup belong wurðie 7, wurðeð 21, wurð 122, wurschipe 13: beornen 104, wurðe 138, 160 are without umlaut.eobeforel+ cons. isuin suluen 64, 66, 100. Theu- andå-umlaut ofais wanting in kare 120, iðauien 142; it may possibly account forein were 71, comp.helwearumVP 29/4,SodomwearenaVH 7/62.eo,u-umlaut ofeiseo, dweolðe 148, dweoluhðe 93, heouene 77 (3), heoueriche 24, 150.eo,å-umlaut ofeiseo, ueole 9.eo,å-umlaut ofiiso, hore 22, 42.eaafter palatals isa, schal 45, ande, ȝef 100.ieafterġisi, ȝiue 162, ȝif 102, 126, ȝiuest 34 (3), uorȝiuenesse 110, 132, butein forȝelden 135. EWS.giefis ȝif 42, 84.eoaftersćisu, schulen 41, 43;ieaftersć,i, ischild 120.eomis am 112, 113, ham 98;heom, ham 56.

ēaisea, deað 36, leasung 75, read 53, butein ek 87, ec 159, edmodnesse 79, isched 88; itsi-umlaut ise, aulem 94, alesed 15, ȝeme 163, ȝemeð 42, ȝeme 121, ihere 84, but dreameð 27, without umlaut.ēois regularlyeo, beon 113 &c., biseon 134, deoflene 15, leoue 2 (10), but looue 100, 170, apparently for lōue; thei-umlaut ise, onsene 27.ēoaftergiseo, ȝeomer 40:gīetis ȝet 109.

a+gisaw, drawe 128, 141.æ+gisei, dei 50, feier 137, mei 31, but daie 8, dai 166, fawe 142 (fagen).e+gis alsoei, awei 94, pleie 62, reine 58 r. w. kwene.i+gfinal isi, holi 70, i 97, 106, moniuold 61, murie 27.i+htisiht, wiht 31, 47.u+gisuw, muwen 65.ā+ggivesow, owen 13, owune 112;ā+h, ouh 7.ō+hisouh, auouh 119, brouhte 86, inouh 62.ū+gisuw, buwe 3.ie,i-umlaut ofea, +htisiht, miht 133, nihte 8.eo+htis alsoiht, briht 19, uihte 60; thei-umlaut is seen in bisihð 81.ēa+ggivesei, beie 3, beien 18.ēo+htisiht, liht 5, lihtliche 133, 135.ēa+his seen in þauh 82, 105.ā+w, bloweð 37, soule 5, snou 38, but iseie (?gesǣge).ēo+w, kneon 3, kneouwunge 136, reoweð 101, þeoudome 98.

Swāis so 53. Fore,uis written in owune 112; foro,ein heouene 77, sumer 39:eis added in clenenesse 163, heuede 108, heuedest 107, neuere 143, but neure 111;eis lost in hird 51; the suffixingisungin gretunge135.onis weakened to a 9.uis added in dweoluhðe 93, muruhðe 61, seoruwe 60 (3), þuruh 122 (3); comp. ‘seluðe,’ AR 354/4.

Metathesis ofris seen in spert 140;rris simplified in der 158;llin wil 62;mmin ȝimstones 55.nis lost in i 50, o 96, 114 and medially in heoueriche 24, 150.bbis simplified in sib 60.fis generally preserved in combination with other consonants, deoflene 15, efter 76, lefdi 2; beforeu, ful 35, fulðe 94; finally, ȝif 126, lif 6; initially after a word ending in a voiceless sound, fawe 142, feier 137, fif 102, forboren 109, forȝelden 135. Otherwise it isu,v, uorst 38, aulem 94, auouh 119, iureden 38; exceptions are hefedest 143 and the contract hedde 144.tis added by inadvertence in þuruhtut 70;ttis simplified in biset 55:þis omitted in wurschipe 13, wurchipe 130. After þet, þu becomes tu 72, 84, 91, but vort þu 64, þet þe 73, 74, bit þe 132, et ðe 90.tsis represented bycin milce 79 (3):bletsungis blescinge 162.ssis simplified in blisful 19. Initialsćissch, gledschipe 14, schende 92, but wurðscipe 141, wurchipe 130; medially it isssc, englissce 167,ssch, wassche 139.c[k] iskbefore e, i, u, ȝeirkest 49, sike 97, kinescrud 34, kunne 9,cbefore o, com 36, icoren 67, in other positions it is indiscriminatelycork, Cristes 1, krune 55, kneon 3, licame 163, kare 120, woc 40, ek 87, ec 159.čisch, eche 35, techen 48, stenches 44;ččiscch, drecche 148, wrecche 130, but arechen 47:cwiskw, kwene 57, but once queadschipe 42:cgisgg, aleggen 133, seggen 158. Palatalgis writtenȝ, ȝef 100, forȝelden 135, ȝimstones 55: the prefixge-is preserved asi, ilong 96. The stopgis doubled in singges 8. Forh,chis written in ðurchut 142;his added in ham 98, dweoluhðe 93, ȝeruh 132 (as at AR 394/12), lost in is 126, licame 163, arine 127 (ahrīnan), lefdi 2, ringes 34, buthwis kept in hwar 106.

Accidence:Strong declension ofmasc.andneut.nouns. In thes. n.sune 57 representssunu, gome 62 has lost finaln.Gen.-es, deaðes 120, kunnes 92, but heoueriche 150 is not inflected:dat.-e, daie 8, deaðe 90, reine 58, siðe 101, wille 46; no exceptions. In thea.schrifte 152 has added e. Thepl. n. a.of masculines ends in-es, engles 27, beies 34, but were 21: neuters are þing 71, kneon 3. Genitives are kunne 9, meidene 21, þinge 76; weak forms are deoflene 15, englene 16 (4); there are no datives. Thefem.nouns of the strong declension have-ein thes. n. a., kwene 57, ore 73, sorinesse 36, bene 84, except sib 60, help 116 (oftenm.in OE.).Gen.-e, helle 44, 104, soule 5:dat.-e, blisse 16 (5), fulðe 94, honde 15, mihte 7.Pl. dat.are honden 32, misdeden 156, wunden 102;a.heorte 18, wunden 124. Nouns of the weak declension have-ein all cases of the singular, except lefdi 2 (6): plurals aren.blostmen 37,d.wrecchen 63, uote 155. The minor declensions are represented by mons. n.74, wummon 23, menpl. n.13, ureondmen 166, wepmenpl. a.20, wummen 19; nihtes. d.8, 59, nihts. a.50; moders. n.1, 67; ureondespl. a.33.

Adjectives which in OE. end in a vowel have-ethroughout, eche 35, 39, 62, 120, swete 17. Of the weak declension ares. n.leoue 2 (5), looue 100, 170,d.erme 64, fule 94, heie 66, 165, holie 126, leoue 125,a.englissce 167, leoue 26, 76, loðe 93. Strong inflections ares. d. m.guldene 45,s. d. f.hwite 51,s. a. m.fulle 65,s. a. f.fulle 110, gode 121: iliche 23, 68 isgelīca. The plurals of all adjectives end in-e, holie 71, hwite 37, luðere 123, reade 37; exceptions are gled 54, sead 30, hwit, read 53; gold-ring 34 is an OE. combination.myceliss. n.muchel 79,s. d.muchelem.14,f.89, 140,neut.49.āgengives owune 112.ānoccurs once as a 150;ānais ones. d. m.125,f.21:nāniss. n.no 23 (9), non 24, 39 (pronominal), 47 (before heorte), 40,s. g. neut.none 92,a. m.nenne 131. Adjectives used as nouns are gods. a. neut.49, muchel 151: superlatives are best 129, leouest 76.

The personal pronouns are ich, i 97, 106, me, we, us, þu, tu 72 (4), after þet, þe. The pronoun of the third person iss. n.hitneut.63,a.11;pl. n.heo 30 &c.,d.ham 29,a.15. Reflexives are mi suluen 100, ðe suluen 64, 66: possessives,s. n.mi 6 &c., min 6, 96, 158 (pronominal),g.miref.5, mine 5, 157, minesneut.2,d.minem.117, miref.75, mine 7, 107, mineneut.126,a.minem.152,f.135, mineut.133, min 4;pl.minen.166,d.156,a.3:s. n.þi 25 (3), þin 24 (7) before vowel or h, 157 (predicative),d.ðinem.26 (4), ðiref.149 (5), þine 18 (8), þin 27, ðineneut.89,a.þinem.116,f.31 (3), þineut.30;pl.þined.32, 155,a.33: is 126: ure 18, 86: hore 22, 42. The definite article iss. n.þe 53 &c.,g.þes 100 (pronominal),d.ðem.90, þeref.85, 88,a.þenem.93, 127, 169;pl. g.þer 24 (for þere). The compound demonstrative iss. n.þesm.78,d.þisseneut.64, 119,a.ðesnem.167, 170. The relative is þet 23 &c., once þe 41; ðet 12, during which; interrogative is hwat 106; indefinites are me 45; ilchs. d. m.81; sumes. d. m.101; ueolepl. g.9;s. n.al 5,g.alleneut.93,d. m.42,f.7,a.alm.100,neut.48 &c.;pl. n.alle 13 (6),g.alre 76,a.alle 19.

The infinitives of the second weak conjugation end in-ien, iðauien 142, karien 43, luuien 17, except ualuwen 39; others, 32 in number, end in-en, but without n are deale 154, singge 8, þonkie 12, wurðie 7, iseo 165: to biseonne 137, to iseonne 30 aredat.infinitives. Presents ares.1. beie 3, hopie 110, liuie 12, offrie 4, þonkie 11, wene 111, wurðie 146; 2. ȝiuest 34, ȝeirkest 49; 3. hateð 145, likeð 29, wurðeð 144, contracted bisihð 81, bit 80, 132, let 56, spert 140, wurð 68, 122;pl.3. bloweð 37, wurðeð 21:subjunctive s.1. habbe 116, 156, iðeo 121, 130; 2. bringe 169, ȝiue 162, kume 117, kuðe 118, makie 91, schrude, wassche 139, werie, wite 147; 3. arine127, derie 148, drawe 128, drecche 148, habbe 82, ihere 84, schende 92, to-drawe141, unne 164;pl.1. kumen 66:imperative s.2. auouh 119, aulem 94, ȝeme 163, haue 159, ȝif 102, 126, ischild 120, iþench 100, nim 121, þole 127. Past of Strong Verbs: I a.s.1. ȝef 100; 2. iseie 105: I b. 3. com 36;subj. s.2. uorbere 106: I c.s.3. funde 170 (weak form): IV.s.1. uorsoc 99; 2. stode 90. Participles past: I b. forboren 109, iboren 23, 68, ibroken 151, ikumen 112, inumen 107: I c. bunden 123, iholpen 9, isungen 167: III. icoren 67, uorloren 74, 108: V. isched 88. Past of Weak Verbs:s.1. heuede 108, wreðede 101; 2. heuedest 107, 143:subjunctive s.3. brouhte 86, hedde 144. Participles present: liuiinde 40adj.; past: agult 82, alesed 15, biset 55, ibrouht 10, 98, idreaued 58, 82, ischrud 51, isend 16. Minor Groups: wot 1pr. s.103, wost 2pr. s.145; ouh 1pr. s.7, owen 1pr. pl.18, owe we 17, owenpr. pl.13; kunne 1pr. s. subj.134; der 1pr. s.158; schal 1pr. s.104, schalt 2pr. s.149, schalpr. s.45, 95, schulenpr. pl.41, 43; miht 2pr. s.133, meipr. s.31, 74, muwen 1pr. pl.65; mote 1pr. s. subj.165; beoninf.74, 113, to beonnedat. inf.29, 138, am 1pr. s.112, 113, ham 98, ert 2pr. s.5, 158, 160, ispr. s.25, nis 23 (4), beoðpr. pl.52, beo 1pr. s. subj.23, 116,pr. s. subj.122, 129, 138,pr. pl. subj.166, was 1pt. s.106,pt. s.88, nes 68, were 2pt. s. subj.105; wulle 1pr. s.12 (3), wule 113, wult 2pr. s.121, 133, 142, wulepr. s.142; doninf.13, do 152, dest 2pr. s.149, doðpr. pl.41, 56, dude 1pt. s.106.

Noteworthy are the adverb þereuore 63, 83, an early example of the meaning, that being so, and the prepositions anunder 32, OE.anunder(Morsbachs Studien, l. 171), ine 104 (4), onuppe 25 (comp. ‘anuppon’ 77/46).

Vocabulary:Scandinavian are laste 69, lasten 123, lune 126, wonteð 73, possibly trust 125. French are cherite 161, ciclatune 51, krune 52, ikruned 52, lai 167, paradise 10, 49, 108, seruise 50, seinte 17, seynte 1, trone 22. Latin are cherubine 25, lilie 53, munuch 169, rose 53, seraphine 26, all OE. borrowings, except the last. The inflectional-eof cherubine, seraphine appears to be quite isolated.

Dialect:The Orison in its present form agrees substantially with the copy of the Ancren Riwle in the same manuscript; both are in the dialect of the scribe, that of the Middle South. But the Midland i fory,ȳis attested by the spoilt rhymes þing : welsprung 71; wiþinnen : sunne 91; kuðe : siðe 118; schrude : wide 139, which also point to an original filðe : dwilðe 94 (the forms dweoleð, dweoluhðe, dweolðe are found only in this manuscript), and chille : wille 45. There is nothing else in the rhymes to help to a nearer localization of the author: it can only be said that his dialect was Midland.

Metre:This is in dispute. Schipper sees in it a mixture of septenaries, alexandrines, and alliterative verse. He regards l. 28, pléieð and swéieð and síngeð bitwéonen as the only indubitable example of the last, but first half-lines have two accents only in, to þé ich búwe 2; and þónkie wúlle 12; ne wéopen ne múrnen 44, 72, 77, and second half-lines in, þi uéir to iséonne 30; mid gúldene chélle 45; mid énglene wílle 46, 52, 70. The alexandrine is a French verse of six stresses equally divided into two half-verses by a caesura; the ending of each half-line may be masculine or feminine; each half-line may also take a prelude. The scheme of the verse is accordingly (x)x́xx́xx́ (x) || (x)x́xx́xx́(x). Such is held to be the rhythm of nís no | wúmmon i|bóren || þét ðe | béo i|líche 23; þíne | blísse ne | méi || nówiht | únder|stónden 31, where the stress on ‘þet’ and ‘no’ is forced. It is found necessary to employ all the licences of English prosody in scanning this foreign metre, which moreover in its native form is never mixed with other metres, and rhymes, not in couplets, but only in ‘laisses’ or fours. Scanned as septenaries are, biuór|en ðín|e léo|ue súne || wiðín|nen sér|aphíne 26; þú ham | ȝíuest | kíne | scrúd || beíes | and góld|ringes34. But a line like vor heoneúerne beoð séad . þiueírto iséonne 30 may be scanned as an alliterative long line as marked, or as a septenary, vór heo | néuer | né beoð | séad || þi uéir | tó i|séonne, or as an alexandrine, vor heoneú|erne béoð | séad || þi uéir | tó i|séonne. On the other hand, Kaluza refuses to admit such an admixture of metres: he regards the poem as written throughout in septenaries. So the first line is to be scanned, Crístes | mílde | mód|èr || séynte | Már|íè. The unstressed syllable in a foot is often wanting; sometimes all the syllables of a word are stressed, as in the first half of l. 55, Mid bríht|e ȝím | stòn|ès. It is very artificial and unconvincing.

The matter is complicated by the fact that the Orison is only a copy, probably a copy of a copy, perhaps one of a succession of copies. A scribe dealing with an older text was generally little concerned about the form and much about the matter and the transcription of its language into his own dialect and idiom. That the text of the Orison has suffered from this preoccupation is evident from the rhymes; it is fairly certain that the author wrote lefdie 2, 11, 17, 170, sorinisse 36, mildheortnisse 78, 149, 164, edmodnisse 79, luðernisse 107, rene 58, leste 69, leasinge 75, gretinge 85, þas 100, seggen 134, and it may be inferred that alterations, including substitution of words, have been made within the verse. But even taking this into account, it is very doubtful whether the poet meant to write syllabic verse at all. Rather his metre exhibits the alliterative long line in the last stage of its dissolution, in which systematic rhyme has largely displaced the older and once essential elements of the verse. If rhythms occur, whichcan with some violence be forced into the moulds of purely syllabic verse, they are not of the author’s express purpose; precisely the same phenomenon is seen in Layamon (464/5). Moreover the alliterative element is considerable; the poet starts with two perfect lines, and ll. 60, 94, 101, 115, 153, 157, 171 have each three alliterating words; l. 3 is up to the Layamonic norm, and there are twenty-seven others equally good. But the development of the verse towards rhyme is complete and no longer, as in Layamon, occasional and for the most part imperfect (464/16).

Introduction:The author speaks of himself as a monk and of his composition as an English lay, as though it were an original production. He shows acquaintance with the earlier English literature, his manner is English, and the French element in his vocabulary is remarkably small. The highly conventional character of his language makes it difficult to speak with any confidence of his reading, but he would find much of it in his service books, and he was probably acquainted with Adgar’s Mary Legends and the long series of Orationes ad Sanctam Mariam Virginem with the Psalterium S. Virginis of S. Anselm (ed. Gerberon, pp. 276-87, 303-8), the enthusiastic promoter of the cult of the Virgin Mary in England. For the same reason it is impossible to give much weight to the series of parallels from the writings of S. Edmund of Pontigny (Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1234-40), by which Marufke has sought to prove his authorship of the Orison.

Inureisunof the title, both pretonic and tonicuare characteristic of early Anglo-French:eiis historic spelling, and at this time alternates in AF. with phonetice.

1. Comp. 134/67; ‘O mater alma Christi charissima,’ York Brev. ii. 182; ‘virgo singularis: inter omnes mitis,’ id. ii. 477; ‘La duce mere al Salueur,’ Adgar 131/39.

2.mi leoue lefdi: comp. ll. 11, 17, 63, 115, 170; ‘ma douce dame,’ Wright, Lyric Poetry, 55/1.

3.buwe . . . beie: see 143/84.

6. Comp. 134/96, 136/153; ‘te spem meam singularem, te salutem computo,’ Guibert of Nogent, De Laude S. Mariae, 6; ‘Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve!’ l. 2 of Salve Regina; ‘Ki est salu, ueire esperance | A tuz Crestiens, sanz dutance,’ Adgar 107/845;‘Þu art hele and lif and liht,’ OEM 160/11.mid iwisse: see 32/40.

8.bi daie&c.: comp. 133/50.

9.aueole kunne wise, lit. in fashion of many kinds,i.e.in very many ways: comp. 62/30, 114/64, 151/20; ‘a vele kunne wise,’ OEM 39/53, 44/241; ‘Aþre cunne wise,’ id. 38/33; L 1717. OE.fela, much, many, is anindeclinable noun followed by a genitive case, and this construction is occasionally found in EME., as at 27/300, 34/70 (76/19 is ambiguous), but generally in ME. fele, many, is pl. adj. or pronoun of all cases, asnom.15/83, 16/115, 18/2;gen.85/105;acc.30/9. For the expression withwise, comp. ‘on ælches cunnes wise,’ L 8072; ‘on aiȝes cunnes wisen,’ id. 25778; ‘an almes monnes wisen,’ id. 19641: the genitive is, of course, equivalent to an adjective, as in ‘a seolcuðe wisen,’ id. 27835; ‘on moni are wisen,’ id. 555.

11.hit: see 115/120.

13. Comp. ‘Ceste Dame deit hoem loer | E mult seruir e honurer, | Ki rent as soens si bon luier, | Ke cors e alme lur uelt saluer,’ Adgar 225/65.

15.of: see 52/394.

19. Comp. ‘Marie, ki fu si bele, | Vnke si bele ne uit pucele,’ Adgar, 22/75; ‘gaude gloriosa: super omnes speciosa,’ York Brev. ii. 493.

21.wereBjörkman (Archiv cxxii. 398) takes as a scribe’s mistake for wered; comp. ‘He gesceop tyn engla werod,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 10/12. But comparing 134/71, it is more probable that it represents OE.wara,waru, as in Lundenwaru, in an extended sense of, host, company: possibly influenced in form by OWScand.-veri,-verjar.

22.blostme: comp. ‘Leuedi, flour of alle þing,’ OEM 195/28.

23. Comp. 134/68; ‘nis non maiden under sunne | þe mei beo þin eueni[n]g,’ OEH ii. 256/43: ‘Sancta maria, non est tibi similis orta in mundo in mulieribus,’ York Brev. ii. 491.

25. Comp. 124/243; ‘Exaltata est sancta dei genetrix: Super choros angelorum ad celestia regna,’ York Brev. ii. 477; ‘atque in regni solio sublimata post Christum gloriosa resedit,’ id. ii. 492; ‘Tibi thronus regius ab angelis collocatur in aula aeterni regis,’ Sermon of Fulbert of Chartres, in S. Augustini Opera V2, 246.

26.wid innen, surrounded by.

28.sweieð, make melody.bitweonen: see 148/6.

29. Comp. ‘Kar li angele funt nuit e ior | Son plaisir, par grant amur,’ Adgar 165/287.

30. See 124/239.sead . . . to iseonne: see 76/17. Forueiras a noun, beauty, comp. 139/27; ‘þe mone ⁊ þe sunne wundrieð of faire · swo fair is ure louerd ihesu crist,’ OEH ii. 19/29.

32. Comp. ‘Tuit est en sa main atachie | Li ciels e li munz ensement,’ Adgar 165/282.

33.riche: see 19/34.

34. Suggested by such places as, ‘Tulitque annulum de manu sua, et dedit eum in manu eius: vestivitque eum stola byssina, et collo torquemauream circumposuit,’ Gen. xli. 42; Esther vi. 8.beies, crowns; comp. 133/55 note, or less probably, collars, armlets; comp. 202/194.

35. Comp. 50/360.

36-40, 59-62.These passages describing the joys of Paradise have many analogues in the earlier literature. Kölbing, ES i. 169, thought they were borrowed directly from the OE. Phoenix: he compares with l. 38, ‘Ne mæg þær ren ne snaw, | ne forstes fnæst . . . | wihte gewyrdan,’ Ph. 14, 15, 19; with l. 37, ‘is þæt æþele lond | blostmum geblowen,’ Ph. 20; with l. 39, ‘Wintres ⁊ sumeres wudu bið gelice | bledum gehongen,’ Ph. 37, 38; with l. 36, ‘Nis þær on þam londe laðgeniðla | . . . ne se enga deað,’ Ph. 50, 52, and he might have added, ‘ne feallað þær on foldan fealwe blostman,’ Ph. 74. For similar descriptions comp. Grau, G. (Morsbachs Studien, xxxi), p. 130; Pseudo-Cyprian, De Resurrectione Mortuorum, ed. Hartel, iii. 316/193-268; De Die Iudicii (attributed to Bede), 128-47; Christ, 1650-65; BH 65/16-22, but the parallels between the text and the Phoenix are remarkable.

36.þer ðe, where: comp. ‘ȝet doð þer þe heo beoð,’ OEH i. 9/9.

37.hwite ⁊ reade: lilies and roses; symbols of virgins and martyrs: comp. Be Domes Dæge, 18/286-9.

39.ualuwen: see 29/6.

43.swinken, be distressed: comp. 134/97, and see40/194 note.

44.stinken, smell, perceive: comp. ‘wrieð hore fulðe so ꝥ heo hit ne muwen stinken,’ AR 86/17.

45.steoren&c., cense with golden censer: probably suggested by Rev. viii. 3.chelle: OE.cylle, vessel; only here in ME.

46.mid englene wille, ‘with angels’ joy,’ Specimens; comparing OWScand. vili. But this use of ME. wille for state of felicity is at least rare, and besides something more concrete is needed to balance ‘mid guldene chelle’; wille represents OE.wiell,wiella, fountain, with allusion to the ‘fluvium aquae vitae’ of Rev. xxii. 1, and to such places as ‘Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus salvatoris,’ Isa. xii. 3; ‘torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos,’ Ps. xxxv. 9. The sense then would be, and pour out for them eternal life by means of the water of Paradise. The writer usesenglenevaguely for, of Heaven; comp. ll. 16, 70.

47-50. An application of 1 Cor. ii. 9 already in Adgar, ‘Certes, nul ne poet escrire, | De cuer penser, de buche dire | Les biens de la Dame uaillante, | Ki de tuz biens est puissante, | Ke as soens fait chascun ior, | Vers cels, ke el’ ad puint d’amur,’ 224/7. See 46/285, 119/85. With l. 50 comp. ‘Nostre Dame serui nuit e ior, | El soen seruise out grant amur,’ Adgar 117/27.

51.ciclatune, originally a fine silken stuff of Persian origin, usually red. Almeria, in Spain, was the seat of a flourishing manufacture of this stuff in the twelfth century. Comp. 140/37.

53. Comp. ‘eall heora neb-wlite wæron swilce rose and lilie,’ Ælf., Lives i. 536/780.

55. Comp. ‘þær se beorhta beag brogden wundrum | eorcnanstanum eadigra gehwam | hlifað ofer heafde,’ Phoenix 602.

58. Comp. ‘Þær ne hægl ne hrim hreosað to foldan | ne windig wolcen, ne þær wæter fealleþ | lyfte gebysgad,’ Phoenix 60.

60.uihte, variance: ‘gewindagas,’ days of strife, Phoenix 612. Comp. also, ‘sib butan niþe,’ Christ 1660; 70/158 note.

61.teone ⁊ treie: see 24/208.

62. ForGleobeames, harps, gleodreames is suggested in Specimens, with a reference to Beowulf, 3021, ‘gamen ⁊ gleo-dream,’ sport and social joys.inouhgoes with gome.liues wil, joy of life.

63.long hit þuncheð: comp. ‘ne biþ him wynne hyht, | þæt hy þis læne lif long gewunien,’ Phoenix 480.

64. Forvort, see72/179 note.

67.Swete: comp. ‘Bidde we ure lauedi | swetest alre þinge,’ OEM 166/81.icoren: comp. ‘Mildest quene ant best icorn,’ E. E. Lyrics, ed. Chambers and Sidgwick, 90/41; ‘Of þe he makede his moder · vor he þe hedde ycore,’ OEM 38/22, 88/37. The expression comes from the service books, ‘praeelecta ut sol,’ York Missal ii. 20; ‘Ista est speciosa electa a domino,’ York Brev. ii. 540.

69. Comp. ‘moder unwemmed ⁊ maiden clene | swich in world non oþer nis,’ OEH ii. 255/3; ‘Virgene en l’emfantement, | Deuant e apres ensement,’ Adgar 225/53.

70.reste, abode.

71.were: see 132/21.

72.liues welsprung: apparently suggested by ‘quoniam apud te est fons vitae,’ Psalm xxxv. 10. In the York Breviary she is called ‘puteus aquarum viventium,’ ii. 480.

74. Comp. ‘Ki fu refuse u cumfus, | Ki unkes out fiance en uus?’ Adgar 107/825.

75. A word has dropped out after soule. In Specimens, leome is supplied, in Zupitza-Schipper, liht, as in l. 5.

79-81. Comp. ‘Duze Dame tresimple e coie, | Plein de misericorde e de uertu, | E de grant grace, mere Jhesu; | Mult tost mustrez uostre duzur | A checun dolent pecheur. | Mult se poent en uus fier, | Ki uus uolent merci crier,’ Adgar 26/243, 38/17, 65/64.

80.of helpe . . . missen, fail to obtain help: comp. ‘Þu hauest ymyst of fayrhede,’ ON 581, 825; ‘Hi wenden to wisse | of here lif to misse,’ KH 121 note.

81.to: see 124/249.milce ⁊ ore: comp. 135/102; ON 1083, 1404.

82.agult, offended; a transitive use; the word is usually followed by to, wið, toward, of the person; comp. ‘ne ne warien hwon me agulteð to ou,’ AR 186/2.

84.ȝif þi wille is: a common tag: comp. 77/60; ‘ȝef hit were þin wille,’ L, MS. O 20815; ‘ȝef þi deore wil is,’ SJ 37/9; ‘mi swete leuedi, her mi bene | ⁊ reu of me, ȝif þi wille is,’ OEH ii. 255/7.

85.gretunge: the first of the five joys of the Virgin; see OEM 87/1-8, as l. 87 refers to the greatest of her sorrows: comp. ‘Bidde we seinte Marie | for hire milde mode. | For þe teres þat heo wep | for hire sone blode,’ OEM 190/93.

93.loðe: comp. 46/283.kunnes: see 81/80.dweoluhðe: also at 136/148 in a similar context, for delusions, deceptions practised by the devil: see AR 224/12, and comp. ‘et ideo prae ceteris | volo te precari, | ne sinas me daemonis | dolo defraudari,’ Mone, Lat. Hymnen ii. 108/85.

94.fule fulðe: comp. 29/33.

95.to dealen: comp. Rom. vii. 39.

96.ilong, dependent: comp. 135/114; ‘Þæt wæs swiþost on ðæm gelong þæt Hasterbal swa late fleah,’ Orosius 198/26: ‘is seo bot gelong | eal æt þe anum,’ Christ 153: ‘On hire is al mi lif ilong,’ OEM 158/1; ‘ꝥ is long on felefelde iuele lastes,’ OEH ii. 71/31: in mod. English, along of. See also ‘bilong,’ 200/112.

97.wel ilome: see 32/47.

98.þeoudome, bondage: comp. ‘ic em in þine loue bende,’ OEH ii. 256/35.

101.sume siðe, at one time, in former days: comp. ‘giet sume siþe,’ Christ 318, yet one day.

102.fif wunden: comp. ‘Þat we moten to him cume · for his wundes fyue,’ OEM 57/696; ‘He make vs clene and bryhte | for his wundes fyue,’ id. 87/23; Minot i. 91.

103.þetis explained by the noun-clause, l. 104.wel ȝeorneand ‘ful ȝeorne,’ l. 145, appear to mean, very accurately, very well. Mätzner quotes in support, ‘Me awaiteð ou, þet wute ȝe ful ȝeorne, wiðuten,’ AR 174/15, which might be punctuated otherwise.

105.stille, silent: comp. 36/112.

106.þauh, and yet.

107.wreche inumen, taken vengeance: different is the sentiment in‘Sunful ich am an wrecche. | Awrec þe nu on me leuedi. | Er deþ me honne fecche. | Do nim þe wreche ich am redi,’ OEM 162/42.

109.ȝet, further, longer.

111.uallen&c.: comp. 80/47.

112.hwon, since, seeing that.hine, household servant: comp. ‘Eyez merci, quar en mon vivant | Serroi vostre lige serjaunt,’ Lyric Poetry, ed. Wright, 56/13; ‘E sa duce mere e chere | Pitusement fist sa preiere, | K’il eussent de sun serf merci,’ Adgar 5/44; ‘Vne nuit, par auisiun, | Vint la Dame a cel son barun,’ id. 56/7; ‘swete leuedi of me þu reowe;⁊ haue merci of þin knicht,’ OEH ii. 255/15; ‘ic crie þe merci, ic am þi mon,’ id. 256/23.

115.longeð: impersonal construction, with acc. of person: comp. ‘Loð is me þis eorðliche lif . ⁊ me longeð to criste,’ OEH ii. 149/29.

117. Comp. ‘Bi-sih to me lauedi briȝt. | Hwenne ich schal wende heonne,’ OEM 160/18; Anglia i. 391/45; and elsewhere.

120.kare, anxiety about; practically, fear: comp. 121/150.

123.þuruh, tightly.bunden: see 81/67.

125. Comp. ‘Dame! En uus sule ai ma fiance,’ Adgar 101/649; ‘Apres Deu ne ai autre refui,’ id. 106/818.

126.lune, rest, occurs only here in ME.; for the word in modern dialects see EDDs.v.lown, quiet, shelter, which is Northern and North Midland: the solitary instance recorded for Hampshire is probably a stray. Dan. luun; OWScand. logn: see Björkman, 250.

127.þet he me arine: a clause instead of an infinitive; comp. 126/325; analogous is 151/21.

129.so&c., so that whatever happens may ever be the best for me: comp. ‘And he þat haueþ þis rym iwryten . beo hwat he beo | God in þisse lyue . hyne lete wel iþeo,’ OEM 57/697.

132.to bote ȝeruh, ready to make amends: comp. ‘sunbote,’ 80/58; ‘deadbote,’ 119/75.

134.biseon to me: see 124/249.

136.swinc . . . sor: comp. 40/194.

140.spert: comp. 89/44.

141.to drawe: tear in pieces, destroy: comp. ‘ichot þe cherl is def, þe del hym to drawe,’ Böddeker, AE. Dicht. 177/34. Morris explains ‘entice me (to sin),’ referring to the glossary to Hampole, Prick of Conscience, where the word so explained is ‘drawe.’

142.wule: supply, to-drawen me.

144. Nor that any man that honoureth thee should have gladness:heresumesno mon ꝥ þe wurðeð; comp. 77/39, 138/12: similar are, ‘Þewreche peoddare more noise he makeð to ȝeien his sope,’ AR 66/17: ‘ꝥ þe muð ne mei uor scheome þe liht eie spekeð hit,’ id. 60/6.

147.wite&c.: see 118/50.

148.dweolðe: see 134/93.

149.dest: supply witen ⁊ werien.

150.schaltcan hardly mean, ‘shalt give,’ as Morris translates: some word such asdelenhas dropped out after me: comp. ‘to pore men dalt his dale,’ Sir Amadas 43.aueir dol, a fair, handsome, portion.

151. Comp. ‘De cest e d’el uus frai dreit, | Selunc ceo que uus sui forfait,’ Adgar 163/221.

153.lif . . . heale: comp. 132/6.

156.vort: see72/179 note.

157, 8. Adgar has similar uses of lovers’ language: ‘Ne ia, Dame, uus ne larrai; | Kar espuse prise uus ai. | Ja ne larrai uostre amistie, | Ne uostre amur,’ Adgar 163/213, 162/178-85.

160.al so, even as; not ‘as much as,’ Morris.

163. The line lost after this may have been something like, and ek mine soule vor þine eadmodnesse.

164, 5. Comp. ‘Pur amur de la Dame chere, | Ki nus duinst la seinte Deu grace, | E Deu nus duinst ueer sa face,’ Adgar 40/98.

166.ureondmen, friends: a rare word, which occurs again in OEH ii. 183/23; CM 20242.

170.bi, concerning.

Metre:... nó wiht | únder|stónden 31wiht|únderand góld|ringes 34text unchanged: error for “rínges”?But a line like vor heo neúer ne beoð séad . þi ueír to iséonne 30text unchanged: errors for “néuer” and “uéir”?or as an alexandrine, vor heo neú|er ne béoðtext unchanged: error for “néuer”?6. ... Adgar 107/845; ‘Þu art107/845; | ‘Þu9. ... i.e. in very many ways“i” in “i.e.” invisible

Metre:... nó wiht | únder|stónden 31wiht|únder

and góld|ringes 34text unchanged: error for “rínges”?

But a line like vor heo neúer ne beoð séad . þi ueír to iséonne 30text unchanged: errors for “néuer” and “uéir”?

or as an alexandrine, vor heo neú|er ne béoðtext unchanged: error for “néuer”?

6. ... Adgar 107/845; ‘Þu art107/845; | ‘Þu

9. ... i.e. in very many ways“i” in “i.e.” invisible

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