Page:Alexander and Dindimus (Skeat 1878).djvu/92

 Piers Plowman C.xi.128. See also note to the same, B.xviii.298, for another example of don in the sense of 'make;' where, moreover, the gen. form dones is used.

235. 'It would not lose its light, nor burn the less,' lit. the later, i.e. less readily.

236. Vn-wasteþ; so in the MS., probqbly due to the final sound of the word lasteþ, which the scribe had in his mind as the next word to be written. Read un-wasted, unwasted. But cf. l. 988.

238—242. This is from the other Latin text, which has--"Quapropter obsecro ut præbeas responsa qæesitis;" e. Bisse, p. 86.

240. Sende, to send; infinitive. Omit the full stop at the end of the line, accidentally inserted. The sense is—'to send us tidings concerning that which we desire very readily to know from you, in order to ascertain the wisdom which ye exhibit,' lit. go with. Properly, the verb kennen means 'to make to know, to teach,' but it is also used like G. kennen, Icel. kenna, in the simple sense of 'to know;' see ll. 308, 515. In l. 910 the causal sense clearly appears.

245. 'He bade (men) write a second letter concerning their life.' Observe oþir, i.e. second; and lettrus, i.e. a letter, like Lat. literæ.

263. Wantede, lacked; as in Shakespeare.

265, 266. 'But the humblest that lived might become his lord, nad deal with him as a foll that wants (lit. should want) his wits.'

275. 'With regard to the message thou sentest, (which was) to tell the truth about all the teachings of our life without delay.'

281. 'Ye have no leisure nor time to attend to my sayings.'

302. Alliteration imperfect. Refe is obviously a substitution for something else. The right word is bruten, to destroy, which see in the Glossary to Will. of Palerne, and cf. Alexander, fragment A., l. 888.

310. We; probably an error for ye; see note to l. 635.

313. 'Therefore we are seen to be sound,' i.e. hale.

314. Hir, here. Henne passe, depart hence, die.

325. 'But, by the arrival of natural decay, as the king of heaven decrees, we must fear death when the day (for it) comes.' Cominnge, i.e. coming, may stand as the reading; the sense is the same as in bi ordre of oure kinde, l. 327; and cf. comeþ us, i.e. comes upon us, l. 331. These expressions answer to "secundum ordinem natiuitatis cuiuslibet" in the Latin text.

327. Holde, old. So also hauter = auter, altar, 728; haþel = aþel, noble, l. 856.

328. 'When our limbs lack might, and (when) we lose our (natural) heat.'

347. 'Nor do we desire to procure any man to go against them.' Procre was misprinted prince in Stevenson's edition, thus destroying the sense. Nol, i.e. ne wol, was misprinted ne of. In l. 366, procred was misprinted proceed. In ;. 1019, it was printed correctly.

349. 'We fear no doughty one, nor any stern (cruel) deed,' i.e. attack. Or the reading may be—ne no dede sterue, i.e. nor to die any