1. A man may look forward to a long life, but the trick often deceives him; an oft-quoted proverb, as at 21/108, 222/274; ‘Mani man weneþ þat he wene ne þarf, longe to liven, and him lieþ þe wrench,’ Hending MS. O, Anglia iv. 200. The second line occurs in another connection in AR, ‘moni mon abit to schriuen him uort þe nede tippe. Auh ofte him lieð þe wrench,’ 338/18. For the case of #liues# comp. ‘Ðær sceolan þeofas . . . lifes ne wenan,’ Christ 1608; with #wrench . . . blench# comp. 157/125; ‘wrenceþ he ⁊ blenceþ · worn geþenceþ · hinder-hoca,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 315/18. 3. #turneþ#: went, BA. 4. #makeþ#: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder, _neut._: turneþ he, B; i.e. reyne (OE. #regn#, _m._). Comp. ‘Hope maketh fol ma{n} ofte ble{n}kes,’ Havelok 307; ‘þe{n}ne þe ky{n}g of þe kyth a cou{n}sayl hy{m} takes, | Wyth þe best of his burnes, a blench for to make,’ Cleanness 1201, 2. 6. #falwy#: falewi, BC: comp. 133/39, ‘faleweþ so doþ medewe gres,’ OEM 93/16. 8. #deþes drench#: comp. ‘Þær Cristess mennisscnesse | Drannc dæþess drinnch o rodetreo,’ Orm 45/1373. 9. #bench# implies feasting: comp. ‘Ne schaltu neuer sytten · on bolstre ne on benche | Ne neuer in none halle · þar me wyn schenche,’ OEM 175/89; ‘Ye þat weryeþ þat riche schrud · and sytteþ on eure benche,’ id. 169/3; ‘Ac þu sete on þine benche, underleid mid þine bolstre,’ Worcester Frag. C, 26; L 9693. 10. With #aquench#, comp. ‘Her-of we owe þenche. | And vre sunnen aquenche. | Mid beden and myd almesse,’ OEM 79/217. 12. B reads, þat may agein deaþes wiþer clench, that has power against death’s hostile grip: _wiþer-clench_ appears to be without parallel. In our text, Morris takes #ago# for _agon_, escape, but, as Zupitza points out, it is probably for _agon_ = agein, which is also found as age, aȝe. Stratmann-Bradley translates #wiþer-blench#, attack, quoting this place only: more probably it means sly, treacherous attack.