VERB: pres. ind. 1 sg. _settes_ _a_ 30; beside uninflected _sygh_ _a_ 69, _sob_ _a_ 69. 3 sg. _lastes_ _a_ 1. 1 pl. _flese_ _b_ 86: beside _we drede_ _b_ 85. 3 pl. _lyse_ _a_ 61, _lufes_ _b_ 7, &c.; beside _þay take_, _þay halde_ _b_ 12, &c., which agree with the Midland forms. pres. p. _lastand_ _a_ 25, _byrnand_ _a_ 26, riming with _hand_. strong pp. _wryten_ _a_ 2. Note the Northern and North Midland short forms _mase_ 'makes' _a_ 15, _tane_ 'taken' _a_ 53 (in rime). PRONOUN 3 pers.: sg. fem. _scho_ _b_ 1; pl. nom. _þai_ _a_ 60; poss. _þar_ _a_ 59 or _þair_ _a_ 65; obj. _thaym_ _b_ 2. The demonstrative _thire_ 'these' at _b_ 55, _b_ 59 is specifically Northern. #Sounds#: OE. _ā_ is regularly represented by _ā_, not by _ǭ_ of the South and most of the Midlands: _wa_ _a_ 2, _euermare_ _a_ 20, _balde_ 'bold' _a_ 51; _bane_ (in rime) _a_ 54. _ọ̄_ becomes _ū_ (_ǖ_?) in _gud(e)_ _b_ 9, _b_ 15; and its length is sometimes indicated by adding _y_, as in _ruysand_ 'vaunting' _b_ 80. * * * * * _a._ 'This poem is largely a translation of sentences excerpted from Rolle's _Incendium Amoris_, cc. xl-xli (Miss Allen in _Mod. Lang. Review_ for 1919, p. 320). Useful commentaries are his prose _Form of Perfect Living_ (ed. Horstmann, vol. i, pp. 3 ff.), and _Commandment of Love to God_ (ibid. pp. 61 ff.), which supply many parallels in thought and phrasing; see, for example, the note to l. 48 below. * * * * * _a_ 1. _feste._ Not the adj. 'fast', but pp. 'fastened', and so in l. 82. _a_ 5. _louyng_, 'beloved one', here and in l. 56. This exceptional use of the verbal noun occurs again in _my ȝhernyng_ 'what I yearn for', _a_ 22; _my couaytyng_ 'what I covet', _a_ 23. _a_ 9-12. The meaning seems to be: 'The throne of love is raised high, for it (i.e. love) ascended into heaven. It seems to me that on earth love is hidden, which makes men pale and wan. It goes very near to the bed of bliss (i.e. the bridal bed of Christ and the soul) I assure you. Though the way may seem long to us, yet love unites God and man.' _a_ 24. _louyng_, 'praise' here and in XVI 405, from OE. _lof_ 'praise'; quite distinct from _louyng_, _lufyng_, in ll. 5 and 56. _a_ 36. _fle þat na man it maye_, 'which no man can escape'. See Appendix § 12, Relative. _a_ 42. _styll_, 'always' rather than 'motionless'. _a_ 43-4. Apparently 'the nature of love (_þat kyend_) turns from care the man (_þe lyfe_) who succeeds in finding love, or who ever knew it in his heart; and brings him to joy and delight.'