#Literature:# Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 410; Varnhagen, H., Anglia ii. 71; ii. 67. #Phonology:# The position is the same as that of piece vi: words not in it are blench 4 (#blencan# _vb._); falwy 6 (#fealwian#); luteþ 29 (#lūtian#); sterk 11 (#stearc#); steo 38 (#stīgan#, imitating in the _inf._ flēon, wrēon, Bülbring, Ablaut 88), sunne 10 (#synn#). MS. C does not differ materially from it: it has however drinche 8, deaþes 8, sterch 11, strench 14, tahte 23, fole 33, wormes 34, nowt 50. MS. B is South-Eastern bordering on Kent; it has rene 3 (#rēn#), senne 10, starc 11, sene 13, to yenes 16, Man let lust a{n}d senne stench 19, sede 23, stie 38 and _st_ for _ht_ in brigst 13. The text is often faulty as if written down from memory, and l. 26 is missing, but the rhymes are correct: the original was doubtless in the South-Eastern dialect. #Accidence:# longe _s. g. neut._ 1 (comp. longes 21/109); heyust _adv._ 38; endi _inf._ 39 (#endian#), last 2 _pr. s._ (#lǣdest#) 36 are the only forms which require notice. #Metre:# The ten-line stanza of this poem is unique in ME. literature. It is an expansion of the common eight-line stanza: its rhyme formula is abab | baab | bb, two quatrains with contrasted rhymes and a two-line close in which the sentiment of the stanza culminates. In the last stanza the effect is spoiled by the absence of a break at the end of the eighth line. As a rule the line contains four measures, but four out of five times the ninth line of the stanza has only three, so, Món | er þu fál | lẹ of þi bénch | 9; Ac déþ | lúteþ | in his schó | 29; In déþ | schal þi lýf | endí | 39; wúrcheþ him | pýnẹ eu|er mó | 49. Further, in the original form of the verse, as preserved by MS. B, the tenth line has only two measures, þi sénnẹ | aquénch | 10; wel dó | wel þénch | 20; hím to | fordó | 30 (Zupitza’s correction of the MS. do him for do); on wóp | þi glé | 40; ne dó | þu só | 50. The rhythm is mostly trochaic, as Món may | lónge | lýues | wéne | 1, but sometimes iambic, as Nis nón | so stróng | ne stárk | ne ké|nè 11; her naú|ẹstu blís|se dáy|es þré | 35. Lines with three-syllable measures like 9 are 22, 26: with monosyllabic first foot are 19, 22, 31, 32. #Introduction:# The comparative smoothness and finish of the verse points to a date considerably later than that of the Proverbs: perhaps about 1210 A.D. The piece seems to have been inspired by stanzas x and xxi of the earlier poem.