This list of examples, which is fairly complete up to v. 1970, will sufficiently show the manner in which _-ede_ preterites are used. In more than three-fourths of the instances quoted the _-e_ is subject to elision, and of those that remain nine are examples of the plural with _-eden_ termination, and three only of the ending _-ede_, viz. ii. 2063, ‘Thogh that he lovede ten or tuelve,’ ii. 2453, ‘Supplantede the worthi knyht,’ and v. 1678, ‘He percede the harde roche,’ of which the first is really a case of syncope, ‘lov’de,’ as also ii. 502 (cp. vi. 882) and iv. 1593, whereas in ii. 2027 ‘lovede’ occurs unsyncopated but with _-e_ elided. It will be noted that in the plural the form _-eden_ is used regularly when the syllables are to be fully pronounced, though _-ede_ can be used for the sake of elision. The _-ed_ form of preterite is less frequent than the other, and I am not aware of any clear example of its employment before a consonant or in rhyme. We have, for example, ‘And _used_ it,’ i. 342, ‘Sche _cleped_ him,’ i. 1535 (‘_humbled_ him,’ i. 2065, is probably a participle, ‘to have humbled himself’), ‘_pryded_ I me,’ i. 2372, ‘ne _feigned_ I,’ ii. 2061, ‘the goddes ... Comanded him,’ iii. 2140 f., ‘Thei _cleped_ him,’ v. 876, cp. 1057, &c. In iii. 1759, ‘The Gregois _torned_ fro the siege,’ we have most probably a participle, ‘were torned.’ We may observe that the _-ed_ form stands also in the plural. Among weak preterites from originally strong verbs we may notice _abreide_, _crepte_ (but past participle _crope_), _foghte_, _fledde_, _schotte_, _slepte_ (also _slep_, with past participle _slepe_), _smette_ (beside _smot_), _wepte_. The pret. _satte_ in vii. 2282, ‘He satte him thanne doun,’ seems to arise from confusion of _sat_ and _sette_. =Imperative.= The _Confessio Amantis_ is peculiarly rich in imperatives. Beside the regular imperative singular forms, e.g. _ared_, _besech_, _behold_, _ches_, _com_, _do_, _forsak_, _griet_, _help_, _hier_, _hyd_, _kep_, _lef_, _ly_, _lei_, _lest_, _lep_, _prei_, _put_, _say_, _schrif_, _spek_, _tak_, _tell_, _thenk_, _understond_, _ȝif_, &c., the MSS. give us also _hyde_, iii. 1502, _seie_, vii. 4084, _speke_, vii. 5422, _take_, iv. 2674, v. 6429, _thenke_, iii. 1083, but not in such positions as to affect the metre. The forms _axe_, _herkne_, _loke_, _wite_ are regular, but _lok_ also occurs (i. 1703, v. 1220).