_slep_, _slepe_, subst. and verb, (_kepe_ : _slepe_, Prol. 309 f., 475 f., _slep_ : _kep_, i. 155, &c.), but _slep_ : _hep_ (_hēap_), iv. 3007 f. _speche_ (_spieche_) (: _seche_, Prol. 174, _beseche_, i. 1986). _spieke_ (_speke_), from _sprǣcon_, pret. pl. (: _beseke_, ii. 959, _sieke_, ii. 1456). _thred_ (: _sped_, i. 1419). _ȝer_, _ȝere_, (_ȝere_ : _stiere_, ii. 2379, _ȝer_ : _hier_, iii. 129, _ȝeeres_ : _pleiefieres_, iv. 481), with no instances apparently of _ę̄_. If we take now the words in which _ē_ is from _ǣ_ corresponding to Germanic _ai_, we obtain the following results. With _ę̄_: _er_ (: _ner_, ii. 2285). _geth_ (: _deth_, ii. 1804, 2616, &c.). _lene_, ‘lend,’ (: _bene_, v. 4407). _leve_, ‘remain,’ (: _bereve_, Prol. 412). _se_ (_see_), ‘sea,’ (: _stree_, iii. 86, iv. 1715, _sle_, iv. 1664), but _be_ : _se_, iv. 1625 f., _me_ : _see_, viii. 1723 f. _ȝe_ (_ȝee_), ‘yea,’ (: _slee_, iii. 262, 2068, _stree_, iii. 668). (_stre_, _slee_, have no _ẹ̄_ rhymes, so we have no reason to suppose, as in the case of Chaucer, that final _ē_ has a close sound.) With _ẹ̄_: _areche_, from _ārǣcan_, (: _beseche_, ii. 666). _clene_ (: _sene_, ii. 3461). _del_ (_diel_), _somdiel_, &c. (: _whiel_, Prol. 137, _stiel_, Prol. 612, 828). _evere_, _nevere_, (: _levere_, Prol. 38, ii. 5, ii. 2417, &c.). _-hede_ (_-hiede_) as a suffix: _hiede_ : _godhiede_, Prol. 497 f., cp. i. 1211 f., 1719 f., v. 595 f., viii. 95 f., _mede_ : _wommanhiede_, iii. 1607 f., _wommanhiede_ : _fiede_, vi. 695 f., _maidenhede_ : _spede_, vii. 5145 f., viii. 1419 f., and so on, but once _ę̄_, _Maidenhede_ : _rede_ (from _rēad_), v. 5987. _hete_, subst. and verb, ‘heat,’ (: _swete_, ‘sweet,’ ii. 2740, vi. 249), but _hete_ : _tobete_, iii. 121 f., _hete_ : _bete_, viii. 1195 f. _lede_ (: _hiede_, v. 156, : _fede_, vii. 2336*), but _dede_ (dead) : _lede_, ii. 2779 f. _lere_ (_liere_), from _lǣran_, (: _hiere_, verb, i. 454, iii. 2204, v. 2029, _diere_, viii. 1462, _hiere_ (adv.), viii. 1497, _unliered_ : _stiered_, Prol. 233 f.). _mene_ (_meene_), verb, (: _sene_, ii. 2830, iv. 1645, _wene_, i. 1937, &c., _grene_, i. 777, &c., _tene_, iii. 771, _queene_, iv. 786). _sprede_ (_spriede_) (: _fede_, i. 2824, _spede_, ii. 504, _spredeth_ : _nedeth_, v. 7679 f., _feedeth_, vi. 895 f.), but _sprede_ : _hede_ (head), vii. 845 f. _teche_ (: _beseche_, i. 590, 2260, iii. 132).