B.13.185–87 I shal brynge yow a bible … parfitly knew neuere: This pointed contrast between the old law and Patience is yet another hint that one thing Patience represents is Christ himself; see the note to 32–33 (B.13.9–30) above.
179 (B.13.201) half thy pak of bokes: A little friendly dig in return, whispered softly in the ear, perhaps, as a gesture of friendliness. Conscience is a book unto himself; cf. 17.197 “no boek but Consience” and n. As Gillespie 1994:105 says, since Clergie will await Conscience (in B), “Learning is deferred rather than despised.”
B.13.202 Clergie of Conscience no congie wolde take: This seems petulant, but what he goes on to say makes clear his deep attachment to Conscience—and Conscience’s reply indicates such warmth in return that the petulance evaporates, as line 211 shows.
B.13.203–4 þow shalt se þe tyme … wille me to counseille: A prediction of Conscience’s need when he attempts in B passūs 19–20 to carry out (though only for Christians) the program of unity that he announces here at lines 205–10, and in particular of his cry “help, Clergie or I falle” 20.228 (C.22.228); see also 20.375. Note that both Conscience’s program and Clergie’s prediction are omitted in the C version, perhaps because L was aware that though he had presented Conscience’s attempt at unity, he had not worked out a way of involving either Patience or Clergie, not to mention the conversion of heathens and Jews, in that presentation. Or he intended to transfer this material somehow to that final scene, but never managed to revise it.
B.13.207–10 Ther nys wo … oon bileue: To bring all lands to love and to belief in one law was Wit’s definition of Dobest, 10.190–200 (not in AB). Conscience proposes here, in effect, that he, Clergie, and Patience undertake the effort “to wende as wyde as þe worlde were/To tulie þe erthe with tonge and teche men to louye,” the effort it is said there (10.199–200) that bishops should make. Later, Liberum Arbitrium (Anima) will treat the matter extensively as the duty above all of bishops who are assigned to dioceses in Muslim lands but who never leave England; see 17.150–321 (B.15.390–613). Thus there may be a suggestion that our three figures here are (ideal) bishops, particularly since Clergie seems to list administering the sacrament of Confirmation as one of his duties (B.13.213; but see B.13.211–14n below). If so, he would be an English bishop, Conscience and Patience missionary bishops, for Clergie’s humdrum routine at home is treated with equanimity, whereas similar work in England by missionary bishops is treated as escapism at 17.279–80 (B.15.529–30). See Lawler 2002:115–16. As I have mentioned above (15.29n), Gruenler 2017:155 regards Conscience as resembling the bishop in the story of St Andrew and the Three Questions.
B.13.209 Sarsens and Surre: Since Syria was in Muslim hands, this phrase must be a doublet. Surre is similarly used as a generic term for Muslim lands throughout passus 17 (B.15); see notes at 17.189 (B.15.494) and 278 (B.15.528).
B.13.211–14 “That is sooþ” … parfit þee maked”: This essentially comic scene ends with genuine reconciliation, arrived at deftly after Clergie’s petulance at line 202. To quote my essay one last time (97): “This is the first time in the whole scene that anyone has said, ‘I see what you mean’ to anyone else. Clergie’s ‘I shal dwelle as I do my devoir to shewe’ seems to acknowledge implicitly that Conscience’s devoir is to go, and his defining his own devoir as confirming children or those who have taken instruction has a winning modesty: the children in whose company he puts himself now are like the widow and the Magdalene, underdogs: Patience has indeed become Clergie’s ‘partyng felawe.’”
Kane, Glossary defines confermen 213 as “make secure in the faith,” which may be right, though fauntekyns suggests the sacrament of confirmation, which was typically administered to infants as soon after baptism as a bishop was available; see B.15.457 and Brewer 2005:66.
Conscience and Patience—and Will—go on pilgrimage to seek parfitnesse (184, B.13.215)
183 With pacience wol y passe parfitnesse to fynde (B.13.215 Conscience þo wiþ Pacience passed, pilgrymes as it were): In C Will says that he goes, too: with grete wille y folowede 184. In B he is not said in so many words to accompany the others on this pilgrimage, though he is obviously there—one is always present in one’s dreams—to report on it, to look and listen, though not to interact in any way with Actyf. There are several instances of careful peering in B (13.271 I took greet kepe, 318 þanne took I hede, 342 I waitede wisloker), that are removed in C, which drops not only Actyf’s coat but all physical description of him. Even in C Will says, “They met with a minstrel,” not “We met with a minstrel” (190, B.13.221). Nor has Conscience much of a part. He fades out of the vision in the C version after asking Actyf one question at 15.196–97 (not in B). In B he lasts longer, till 14.28, after which Patience takes over as Actyf’s interlocutor, and nothing more is heard of Conscience, or of his quest for perfection. In B the pilgrimage ends when Will wakes at the end of passus 14. It will turn out to be less of a quest for perfection on Conscience’s part than one more learning opportunity for Will. In C it keeps going, though as Will’s pilgrimage rather than Patience’s, when Liberum arbitrium silently replaces Patience as Will’s guide at 16.158.
And since Will is going to stay on the road, in effect, until he arrives in Jerusalem in passus 20 (B.18), we should perhaps think of him as “going to Jerusalem” from the moment he leaves Conscience’s dinner party. That would make him like many a contemporary pilgrim, but also, more interestingly, make passūs 15–19 something like the middle chapters of Luke’s Gospel, specifically 9:51 to 18:30, in which Jesus too is “going to Jerusalem”: 9:51, “he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,” and we might think of Will’s whole long search starting here as inspired by the structure of Luke’s Gospel. This is perhaps too grand a notion, but at least it seems true that L responded in a special way to Luke. Luke is especially tough on the rich, and more willing than the other evangelists to speak of “the poor” rather than “the poor in spirit.” He is also the only source of the story of Dives and Lazarus, and of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
183 parfitnesse (cf.179 [B.13.201] parfitlyche, B.13.214 parfit): I.e., dobest. Conscience shows a knowledge of the Gospels here, since the passage from the Sermon on the Mount about loving one’s enemies that Patience quoted ends with the verse, “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
186 (B.13.217) Sobrete … bileue: The idea of spiritual nourishment is carried over from the dinner scene. Bileue is an apt pun: what most pilgrims have in their pouch is bí-leve, sustenance, what they live by; Patience has bi-léve, what he believes.
188 (B.13.219) vnkyndenesse and coueytise … hungry contreys: The opposition of patience to coueytise that marked the land of longing in the inner vision continues; presumably the “contrey of coueytise” is not dissimilar from the land of longing. Hungry contreys is a daring catachresis. They will make the pilgrims hungry for the foods in the poke, and they are hungry themselves. Coueytise is hungry because it is full of needs and desires, always seeking to be filled: hunger is another word