Page:Alexander and Dindimus (Skeat 1878).djvu/94

 explains by 'a cancas, private suite, underhand labouring for an office, &c.; hence, also, debate, contention, altercation, litigious wrangling anout a matter.' But this is hardly the sense; rather compare brike in the sense of 'perilous state;' Chaucer, Cant. Tales, Group B., l. 3580. Breke spouce, to break espousal, is due to the (commoner) sb. spusbreche, i.e. spouse-breach, adultery, see ll. 787, 885; and cf. Ancren Riwle, p. 56; Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 37. 400, 401. 'For we lighten (i.e. recreate, amuse) not our live by any wicked deed, on account of which we ought to be shamefully cut short of our days.' But this is not satisfactory. It is obvious that liyyten is an error for liten, i.e. stain; a close translation of sordidamus in the Latin. The Latin text also has a strange error; for aerem read uitam.

402. Don deie, cause to be dyed.

405. The MS. tolk is clearly miswritten for to folk.

406. Hihten, explained by Stevenson to mean 'honour, adorn;' a rare word. So hiht = improved, l. 408. And see l. 418. It is difficult to fin authority for the word; but it is probably a peculiar use of A.S. hyhtan or hihtan as (1) to hope; (2) to exult. To these Bosworth adds 'to increase,' with a reference that shews that it was considered as equivalent to Lat. augere. In Spelman's edition of the A.S. Psalter, Ps. civ. 22, we find 'he gehihte folc his' as a gloss upon 'auxit populum suum.

407. Corn is for coren, i.e. chosen, as in l. 415. Comelokur corn, chosen as being comelier. Similarly in l. 415, kindeli coren is literally 'naturally chosen', i.e. chosen to be by nature, shaped by nature. Than hur kynde askyþ, than their nature requires; see note to Piers Plowman, C. i. 21.

415. 'As pleases the king of heaven.'

416. Schine, shun. So in l. 449, schineþ = shunneth.

417. 'To choose them for His children, who have changed the shapes He gave them.'

421. 'And shew themselves otherwise', i.e. in another form.

426, 427. 'Nor make any man work our will, or serve us in worldly matters.'

437. The alliteration and l. 848 make the reading boldus (habitation) certain.

439. Lome, tool; cf. mod. E. loom. At least, such is the sense most readily suggested. But if it be intended as a translation of Uascula de terra non facimus, then lome may be loam, i.e. potter's clay. In l. 854, the word for 'tool' is tol.

440. Owen aboute, employ all around us.

442. The alliteration (a poor one) is on the vowels; Al, any, erthliche.

470. Good of to lauyye, good to laugh at.

475. Ta sain, to say. The MS. really has ta.

477. Seue sterres, seven stars, i.e. the seven planets. We find, at different periods, three uses of this phrase. It means (1) the seven