VERB: pres. ind. 2 sg. _þou royis_ 99, _þou is_ 360; beside _þou hast_ 69. 3 sg. _bidis_ 23, _comes_ 57. 1 pl. _we here_ 169. 2 pl. _ȝe haue_ 124. 3 pl. _þei make_ 103, _þei crie_ 107, _dwelle_ (rime) 102 ; beside _musteres_ 104, _sais_ 108. imper. pl. _harkens_ 37, _beholdes_ 195; but _vndo_ 182. pres. p. _walkand_ 53 (in rime); beside _shynyng_ 94. strong pp. _stoken_ 193, _brokynne_ 195, &c. Contracted verbal forms are _mase_ pres. 3 pl. (in rime) 116, _bus_ pres. 2 sg. 338, _tane_ pp. 172. PRONOUN 3 PERS.: pl. nom. _þei_ 21; poss. _thare_ 18, _þer_ 20; obj. _þame_ 9; but _hemselue_ 307. The demonstrative _þer_ 'these' 97, 399, is Northern. #Sounds#: _ā_ remains in rimes: _are_: _care_ 345-7, _waa_: _gloria_ 406-8, _lawe_: _knawe_ 313-15, _moste_ (for _māste_): _taste_ 358-60; but _ō̮_ is also proved for the original in _restore_: _euermore_: _were_ (for _wǭre_): _before_ 13 ff. #Spelling#: In _fois_ (= _fǭs_) 30, the spelling with _i_ indicates vowel length. * * * * * 17. _were_: rime requires the alternative form _wǭre_. 39. _Foure thowsande and sex hundereth ȝere._ I do not know on what calculation the writer changes 5,500, which is the figure in the Greek and Latin texts of the Gospel of Nicodemus, in the French verse renderings, and the ME. poem _Harrowing of Hell_. Cp. l. 354. 40. _in þis stedde_: the rimes _hadde_: _gladde_: _sadde_ point to the Towneley MS. reading _in darknes stad_, 'set in darkness', as nearer the original, which possibly had _in þister(nes) stad_. 49. _we_: read _ȝe_ (?). For what follows cp. Isaiah ix. 1-2. 59. _puplisshid_: the rime with _Criste_ shows that the pronunciation was _puplist_. Similarly, _abasshed_: _traste_ 177-9. In French these words have _-ss-_, which normally becomes _-sh-_ in English. It is hard to say whether _-ss-_ remained throughout in Northern dialects, or whether the development was OFr. _-ss-_ > ME. _-sh-_ > Northern _-ss-_ (notes to I 128, VII 4). 62. _þis_: read _His (?) frendis_: here 'relatives', 'parents' (ON. _frǽndi_); see Luke ii. 27. 65-8. Luke ii. 29-32. 73-82. Matthew iii. 13-17, &c. 75. _hande_: the rime requires the Norse plural _hend_ as at l. 400; cp. XVII 255, IV _a_ 65 (foot-note). 86 ff. Cp. Matthew xvii. 3 ff., Mark ix. 2 ff. 113. _Astrotte_: cp. 2 Kings xxiii. 13 'Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians'. I cannot identify _Anaball_ among the false gods. 115. _Bele-Berit_: Judges viii. 33 'the children of Israel... made Baal-Berith their god'. For _Belial_ see 2 Cor. vi. 15. 122-4. A common misrendering for 'Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors', Psalm xxiv. 7.