14. #sumhwile#: he is probably thinking of the Fathers of the Desert, who plaited mats of palm, for the Vitas Patrum was a favourite book of his. The regulation is only of general application, these sisters being fully provided for. 15. #wite#, take charge of: in troublous times the anchorhold would be regarded as a place of safe deposit. #of#: so CN, but T omits (correct footnote by deleting B); it depends on #Nawt#. ‘Rien ne gardeȝ en v{os}tre maisone daltrui choses,’ F. In N #of# must be partitive, for witen takes the _acc._ of the thing guarded: see 118/52 note. 16. #boistes#, boxes, caskets, mostly for ointment, but here probably jewel cases. #chartres#, deeds; probably the earliest instance. #Scoren#, scrolls: OF. escroe; comp. ‘Scrowe oðer quaer,’ AR 282/29. 17. #cyrograffes#, indentures, bonds; an early instance of the word. #calices#: there was a special objection, ‘nulla femina . . . calicem Domini tangat,’ Udalrici Sermo Synodalis, Migne, P. L. cxxxv. 1071 b. 18. #strengðe#, violence: comp. 40/168: ‘bute vor neod one, als strengðe ⁊ deaðes dred,’ AR 6/23; ‘auh teares doð him strencðe’ (= lacrima cogit), id. 244/27; ‘Ne dede dieuel him none strengþe,’ VV 113/19. F has ‘force.’ 20. #makeð--hus#, causes your house to be laid open; comp. 117/8, 118/28; ‘oðer ȝif þu iherdest þeoues breken þine woawes,’ AR 242/23. The Gilbertine Rule, while forbidding access to the nuns ordinarily, says ‘propter ignis incendium vel mortis instantis periculum, vel propter furtum et latrocinium omnibus sustinemus introitum,’ p. *lxxvi. 22. #seoð#: comp. ‘Nullich ꝥ no mon iseo ou bute he habbe leaue speciale of ower meistre,’ AR 56/21; ‘inclusa etiam facie velata loqui debet cum viro,’ Ailred, 642 d. #wel mei don of#, it matters little about: #don# means originally, serve, suffice, as in ‘that will do,’ but the phrase with the words in this order is specialized: comp. ‘Ah wel mæi do{n} hu hit ga[;] for wræcches we beoð æuere ma,’ L 12754, 5; ‘Scheome is understonden bi þe reade[;] auh wel mei don,’ AR 356/11, where Morton mistranslates. Quite different is, ‘an olde ancre mei don wel ꝥ tu dest vuele,’ AR 52/9. T has duhen here, as A at 64/59 and C at 65/52, ordinarily meaning to be of profit, to avail, but the sense is the same as in the phrase containing don. The construction is impersonal; ancre is _dative_ at 64/59, 65/52, as at 64/74: for #of#, concerning, comp. ‘he . . . dyde of heom ꝥ he wolde,’ AS. Chron. D 208/9. ‘De colore aute{m} vest{ium} non est m{u}ltu{m} curandu{m},’ L; ‘ne puit chaler de voȝ draps,’ F. 23. #unorne#, plain, rough: ‘vils,’ F; ‘du{m} [ta]me{n} no{n} n[im]is (?) exq{ui}site,’ L. But Förster (Morsbachs Studien l. 171) would translate, ordinary, usual.