57. _comessing_: The metre points to a disyllabic form _comsing_ here, and to _comsi_ in l. 247. 80. _it bled wete_: In early English the clause which is logically subordinate is sometimes made formally co-ordinate. More normal would be _þat (it) bled wete_ 'until (_or_ so that) it bled wet'; i.e. until it was wet with blood. 82. _reuey<se>d_ or some such form of _ravished_ is probably right. _reneyd_ 'apostate' is a possible reading of the MS., but does not fit the sense. _N. E. D._ suggests _remeued_. 102. _what is te?_: 'What ails you?; cp. l. 115. _Te_ for _þe_ after _s_ of _is_. Such modifications are due either to dissimilation of like sounds, as _þ_: _s_ which are difficult in juxtaposition; or to assimilation of unlike sounds, as _þatow_ 165, for _þat þow_. 115. 'What ails you, and how it came about?'; cp. l. 102. 129. _ichil_ = _ich wille_; and so _ichaue_ 209, _icham_ 382, _ichot_ XV _b_ 23. These forms, reduced to _chill_, _cham_, &c., were still characteristic of the Southern dialect in Shakespeare's time: cp. _King Lear_, IV. vi. 239 _Chill not let go, Zir_. 131. _þat nouȝt nis_: 'That cannot be'; cp. l. 457 _þat nouȝt nere_. 157-8. _palays_: _ways_. The original rime was perhaps _palys_: _wys_ 'wise'. 170. 'Wherever you may be, you shall be fetched.' 201-2. _barouns_: _renouns_. Forms like _renouns_ in rime are usually taken over from a French original. 215. The overloaded metre points to a shorter word like _wite_ for _vnderstond_. 216. _Make ȝou þan a parlement_: _ȝou_ is not nom., but dat. 'for yourselves'. Observe that Orfeo acts like a constitutional English king. 241. _þe fowe and griis_: A half translation of OFr. _vair et gris_. _Vair_ (Lat. _varius_) was fur made of alternate pieces of the grey back and white belly of the squirrel. Hence it is rendered by _fowe_, OE. _fāg_ 'varicolor'. _Griis_ is the grey back alone, and the French word is retained for the rime with _biis_, which was probably in the OFr. original. 258. _berien_: The MS. may be read _berren_, but as this form is incorrect it is better to assume that the _i_ has been carelessly shaped by the scribe. 289. _him se_, 'see (for himself), and similarly _slep þou þe_ XV _g_ 13. This reflexive use of the dative pronoun, which cannot be reproduced in a modern rendering, is common in OE. and ME., especially with verbs of motion; cp. note to XV _g_ 24. But distinguish _went him_ 475, 501, where _him_ is accusative, not dative (OE. _wente hine_), because the original sense of _went_ is 'turned', which naturally takes a reflexive object. 342. _me no reche_ = _I me no reche_. The alternative would be the impersonal _me no recheþ_. 343. _also spac_ = _also bliue_ 142 = _also swiþe_ 574: 'straightway', &c. 363. MS. _auowed_ (or _anowed_) is meaningless here. _Anow<rn>ed_, or the doubtful by-form _anow<r>ed_ 'adorned', is probably the true reading.