24. #bute--milde#: a formula of frequent occurrence; see KH 80 note. 25. D alters, Sende sum god biuoren him | man, ꝥ wile to heuene; the scribe of E copied the end of l. 21, reading, þe wyle ȝe ben aliue, and in the second half of the next line, þanne ben after vyue. 27, 28 are misplaced, the other MSS. have them as in T. With 27 comp. ‘Ifurn ich habbe isunehed mid worke ⁊ mid worde,’ OEM 193/21; and with 28, ‘muchel ich habbe ispened[;] to lite ich habbe an horde. | Hord þat ich telle · is almesse dede,’ id. 193/24, 25; ‘Ne des altres uertuz nule ne reseruai | . . . | Or ai si despendu ke ieo nule nen ai,’ Guischart 1184, 6. 29, 30 are wanting in D. #þe solf#: þi self EJ. With #mei . . . maȝe#, comp. ‘Ne naueþ he mey ne mowe. | þat durre one þrowe. | Bi hym sitte ne stonde,’ OEM 79/208-10, 179/161, 2. With l. 30 comp. ‘Qui mieux aime autri que sei au molin fu mort de sei.’ ‘Videtur enim quod quis alium plus quam se amat qui alios admonitionibus et correctionibus pascit et seipsum non emendat,’ Hauréau, Notices, ii. 281, an application which robs the proverb of its apparent crude selfishness. 31. #lipnie#: lipne J; hopie E e T D; truste M. 32. #ech#: vych J; the others are with T. 33. #to him#: the others have him. #þe mot#: he is to be understood from him in the preceding clause, see 6/18 note. E has þe he mot, D, ꝥ he, M, þat he, the other MSS. he. 34. #fremede . . . sibbe#: a formula, see KH 64 note. A variant is, ‘to freomede ⁊ to kunne,’ OEH ii. 259/30. #wule# is singular; comp. T. 35. Comp. 30/19, 44/238. The proverb is common, as, ‘he ne mei hwon he wule, þe nolde hwule þet he muhte,’ AR 338/19; ‘hit is riht Godes dom, þet hwo ne deð hwon he mei, he ne schal nout hwon he wolde,’ id. 296/22; Hendyng C., stanza 46. 36. The fruits of many a man’s hard toil often pass into the possession of his enemies. Comp. 22/129, 30. From ‘Scrutetur foenerator omnem substantiam eius: et diripiant alieni labores eius,’ Psalm cviii. 11, in the OE. version, ‘Ealle his æhta unholde fynd, rice reðe mann, rycene gedæle; and his feoh onfon fremde handa,’ Thorpe, Psalter, 317/11. #sare iswinc# is plural. 37. #don afirst#, put off: OE. #fyrst#, respite: comp. ‘Vre deð he do in firste ȝet,’ OEH i. 71/294. #slawen#: so e; but sclakien E; slakien J; sleuhþen D; sclakie M. ‘Nolite deficere benefacientes,’ 2 Thess. iii. 13. 40. #he his#: he it E; he hit JD; he e M. #mid iwisse#, of a certainty: OE. #mid gewisse#: ‘mid iwissen,’ 38/139 is #mid gewissum#: ‘iwis,’ 187/349 represents _s. neut._ of #gewiss#: ‘fuliwis,’ 79/17, ‘fullȝewiss,’ 89/20 is the same strengthened by ful: ‘to fuliwis’ 190/445 shows the same treated as though it were a noun: similarly ‘to fuligewis,’ 192/508, a compound of fulli + #gewiss#; Orm has contracted ‘fuliȝwiss.’ From #to wisse#, #mid wisse# come ‘to nafre none wisse,’ 45/240, ‘mid neure nane wisse,’ 44/236. See KH 1209 note. 42-65. Comp. generally 27/274-291. 43 T. After For, þar ne has been omitted by the scribe.