Cr1.3.60KD.3.59 Haue mercy quod mede of men that it haunten
C.3.59KD.3.59 ¶ Haue mercy quod Mede of men þat it hauntes
R.3.52KD.3.51.1 Þat I ne wolde make and amende it with of myne . These two lines are offered by alpha instead of eleven lines preserved in
beta (= KD3.52-62); it appears that the beta passage is archetypal but was somehow overlooked
or unavailable to alpha and that the two lines in their stead were introduced to patch the
resulting incoherence, adapted from two cognate lines in A (= Kane
3.50-51). Beta's cognate lines are as follows:
Wist I that quod þat womman I wolde nouȝt spare
For to be ȝowre
frende frere and faille ȝow neure
Whil ȝe loue lordes þat lechery haunteþ
And lakkeþ nouȝt ladis þat loueþ wel þe same
It is a frelete of flesche
ȝe fynde it in bokes
And a course of kynde wher-of
we komen alle
Who may scape þe sklaundre þe skaþe is sone amended
It is synne of
seuene sonnest relessed
Haue mercy quod Mede of men þat it haunte
And I shal
keure ȝowre kirke ȝowre cloystre do maken
Wowes do whitten and wyndowes
glasen.