#Style:# MS. N is not only the most remote from the original in dialect, it has also been altered in language more than the others, partly from a desire to make the meaning plainer, partly from a dislike of any singularity of expression. The changes made may be classified as i. insertion of connecting particles, ‘and,’ ‘vor,’ ‘þeonne,’ N 144 &c.; ‘so uorð so’ in A is altered into ‘uor so’ Morton, 136/13: ii. expansions like ‘ȝe habbeð’ N 95, ‘he nout’ N 101, ‘to þer eorðe’ N 130, ‘þeo þinges’ N 160: iii. re-arrangement of words in a prose order, ‘kume hom’ N 102, ‘so’ N 115, ‘dreamen wel’ N 192: iv. substitution of nouns for pronouns, ‘nenne mon’ N 23; the writer has a peculiar affection for the word mon, so, ‘ase deð, among moni mon, sum uniseli ancre,’ Morton 128/23, where A has ‘monie’ without noun: v. elimination of words and expressions used in a figurative way, ‘hit is’ N 99 for ‘driueð,’ ‘kumeð--heouene’ N 170, destroying the alliteration. These alterations have tended to obscure the peculiar rhythmic movement of the prose, which was a feature of the original as of Sawles Warde, the Katherine Group, Hali Meidenhad and some smaller pieces. It is discernible in the other manuscripts, especially in elevated passages, as b 182-7, b 205-8, b 231-5, and the scribe of MS. A often shows by his punctuation that he recognized its existence. #Introduction:# The Ancren Riwle, as it was called by Morton, the Ancrene Wisse (the Anchoresses’ Guide) as its title is in MS. A, was written for the instruction of three sisters, ‘gentile wummen,’ of whom the author says ‘ine blostme of ower ȝuweðe, uorheten alle worldes blissen ⁊ bicomen ancren’ (Morton, 192). Their dwelling is under the eaves of a church, they are ‘under chirche iancred’ (M. 142); there is but a wall between them and the Host (M. 262). They live in separate cells, for they send messages to one another by their attendant maids (M. 256), and they are fully provided for, ‘euerich of ou haueð of one ureond al þet hire is neod[;] ne þerf þet meiden sechen nouðer bread ne suuel, fur þene et his halle’ (M. 192). They are greatly beloved, ‘vor godleic ⁊ for ureoleic iȝerned of monie’ (M. 192); their whole life in so strict an order is as a martyrdom, ‘ȝe beoð niht ⁊ dei upe Godes rode’ (M. 348).