288 



OBSERVATIONS 



THE LANGUAGE OF GOWEIlS CONFESSIO 



VERBS. 



§ 48. Present Indicative. — The First Person 

 Singular of the Present Indicative terminates 



in -e. 



I thenke, i. 2 : ii. 353. t 

 I make, ii. 21. 



I finde, ii. 6, 79. 

 I seche, ii. 11. 

 I come, ii. 25. 

 I take, ii. 70. 



< 



I trowe, i. 107 : ii. 79, 



190, 213. 

 I live, ii. 211. 

 I telle, ii. 7, 203. 

 I hope, ii. 317. 

 I bidde, ii. 276. 



I rede, i. 311, 358 : ii. 93, I wisshe, ii. 352. 



300, 302 : iii. 16. 



I pleie, ii. 41. 



Exceptions : hast ben er this, I rede the leve, iii. 



47 : also, i. 117. 



I tell that I were ded(e), 



though 



(probably 



§49. 



The Second Person Singular of the Pres- 



ent Indicative ends in -st as in modern English. 

 thou hast, ii. 209, 211. thou accusest, ii. 279, 



tellest, ii. 279 



saist, ii. 279 : iii. 85. 



seeet, iii. 15. 

 feignest, i. 47 f, 67 f. 



§ 50. The Third Person ends in -eth, -th. 



groweth, bestoweth, ii. 84. maketh (one syllable), 

 falleth, calleth, ii. 84. 



hath, ii. 129, 187. 



geth (goth), iii. 247. 



iii. 46 (6 cases), 

 taketh (one syllable), 



comth, iii. 370. 

 lefth, ii 391. 



iii. 46. 

 berth, i. 135 : ii. 129. 

 tath (taketh), ii. 129: 



iii. 120 f, 217 f. 



wroth (S. wraojan), iii. 

 331. 



has occurs on the same page with hath, ii. 187. 



§ 51. But Saxon verbs which have t or d for the 

 last consonant of the root, and one or two which 

 have s, form the Third Person Singular in -t, as in 

 Saxon. 



writ, i. 1. 

 smit, i. 40. 

 let, i. 21. 

 betit, i. 22l 

 shet ( 



hoots), i. 258. 



put, ii. 135 : iii. 355 

 set, ii. 135 : iii. 42. 

 holt, ii. d 44, 391. 

 get, ii. 331 : iii. 16. 

 byt, ii. 40. 



spret (= spreads), i. 173. fret, iii. 98. 



beholt, i. 132. , rit iiL 35L 







hit, i. 294. 

 abit, i. 286 f. 

 tint, ii. 116, 145 



bint, iii. 4. 



blent (= blinds), ii. 210 f, 

 348 f. 



(In a few cases we find d instead of t : stond, ii. 84 : 



send, iii. 221 : held, iii. 328.) 



arist, i. 20, 175 : ii. 151 f : iii. 200, 313. 



lost, lest (= loses), i. 168 : ii. 34, 147 : iii. 346. 



wext, i. 133. 



he let it never out of his honde, 



but get him more and halt it fast[e], ii. 128. 



he taketh, he Jcppeth, he halt, he bint, ii. 284. 



The longer form in -eth, sometimes found in 

 Saxon, hardly occurs in Gower. We find lasteth, 

 overcasteth, i. 317 : but should probably read arist 



the mede ariseth of the service, iii. 342. 



in 



§ 52. The Plural of the Present Indicative 



ends, 



a. rarely in -eth (S. aS). 



ye thenketh, i. 135 : they saileth, iii. 292. 

 men calleth (for rhyme's sake), iii. 103. 



* and they also him hath behight, iii. 248, very 

 doubtful. 



&. generally in -en. 



bridlen, i. 110. worchen, ii. 85. 



receiven, weiven, i. 180. waxen, ii. 85. 



axen, i. 184. 

 knowen, ii. 25. 

 fallen, ii. 31. 



ben, i. 85 : ii. 189. 

 aren, iii. 135. 

 sain, i. 1. 



saine, iii. 107, if right, is probably a transposi- 



tion of saien. 



c. sometimes in -e. 

 clepe, i. 7. 



ride, i. 110. 



they setten up[on] thilke dede, 



2,ml spillen more than they specie, ii. 88. 



that knowen litel what they mene ; 



it is nought on(e) to wito and wene, ii. 89. 



§ 53. Imperfect Indicative. 



Simple (or " Regular ") Verbs. 



a. The Imperfect of Simple Verbs is generally 

 formed in -de or -te, with occasional change of 

 vowel. 



