116. #strengðe#, weight, importance: a favourite word of the writer; comp. ‘of þincges wiðuten . . . nis nout muche strencðe,’ AR 12/12; ‘me schal makien strencðe of onnesse of cloþes,’ id. 12/5. For #of# see 66/97. In the introduction to part viii, he says that they must not promise, as unwise people might do, to observe any of the external rules. 117. #inre#, the inner rule, the ‘lady rule,’ to which the outer is but an handmaid: comp. AR 4/10, 12/24, 410/18. 118. #skile#, reason. 119. #þuften#, handmaid; comp. 68/123; ‘for mi lauerd biseh his þufftenes mekelac,’ HM 45/12; AR 4/11. OE. #þyften#. 120. #feareð to wundre#, goes to misfortune, ruin: OE. #wundor#, a portentous thing. Comp. 6/46 note; 117/10; ‘þu scealt to wundre gewurðan,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 174/163; ‘⁊ tukeð ham alto wundre,’ AR 380/15; ‘ȝeuest þin ahne dere bodi to tuken swa to wundre,’ HM 27/14; ‘so was ðis were to wunder brogt,’ GE 3977. #Ancre# &c.: the first clause is conditional, as at 54/11; if an anchoress have not her food close at hand, two women are busy, i.e. have plenty to do, are needed. This absolute use of #bisie#, meaning fully employed, is noteworthy. F has ‘Recluse qe nad pas sa vetaille pres · mestier ad dauer ij fe{m}mes’; L, ‘Anachorita que no{n} h{abe}t victu{m} ad manu{m} indiget duabus ancillis.’ The rule is founded on that of Ailred, ‘Itaque eligatur tibi aliqua anus, non garrula, non vaga, non litigiosa, non nugigerula . . . Haec ostium cellulae custodiat . . . Habeat sub cura sua fortiorem ad onera sustinenda puellam,’ 641 f. 121. #þe leaue#, who may remain, to stay: an intransitive use. 123. #unorne#, not ‘old,’ but plain in appearance; comp. 62/23; either a young girl or middle-aged, without adornment. 124. #beoden#, prayers: comp. ‘Cheatereð ouwer beoden euere, ase sparuwe deð þet is one,’ AR 174/24: ‘voise disant ses proiores,’ F. 129. #dame#, mistress: each of the anchoresses had her own maids; see 74/208. 132. #ȝe#: the reading of N is preferable: CT have no nominative: ‘Nul hom ne lessent entrer,’ F. 134. #oboke#, by book; comp. ‘Sum is clergesse ⁊ sum nis nout ⁊ mot . . . an oðer wise siggen hire ures,’ AR 6/12. #bi#, by the repetition of: ‘die par p{at}r{e} n{ost}res,’ F. Comp. AR 24, where the writer describes how the lay brethren of his own order say their hours. 136. Comp. ‘So þet me seið ine bisawe, “Vrom mulne ⁊ from cheping, from smiðe ⁊ from ancre huse, me tiðinge bringeð,”’ AR 88/26: Ailred, 641 b. 140. #to uuel turnen#: ‘vnde q{ui}s aliq{uid} mali pot{er}it suspicari,’ L. 141. #heaued clað#: ‘coeuere chief,’ F. #eiðer ligge ane#, let each lie by herself, comes in awkwardly among the directions about their clothes: F has it here, but T after habben, l. 143.