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The Towneley Plays

✦ ─── ⟐ ─── ✦

the Wakefield cycle of mystery plays

The Towneley Plays — so called from the Towneley family of Lancashire, in whose library the single manuscript that preserves them was found — are one of only four surviving cycles of English mystery plays, the great cycles of Chester, York, and the so-called "Coventry" (N-Town) plays being the others. Thirty-two pageants survive, tracing sacred history from the Creation to the Last Judgment, most of them written for performance by the craft guilds of Wakefield in Yorkshire and, on the manuscript's own tradition, once housed by the canons of Woodkirk. Several plays are close reworkings of plays from the York cycle; others are the unmistakable work of a single, unnamed dramatist of real genius, writing in a distinctive nine-line stanza, whom scholars call the Wakefield Master. His hand gives the cycle its finest and strangest scenes: Noah's furious argument with his wife before the Flood, the brutal comedy of Cain murdering Abel, the tyrant-rant of Herod, and above all the Secunda Pastorum — the Second Shepherds' Play — in which a sheep-stealer named Mak hides his stolen ewe in a cradle and pretends it is his newborn child, a broad farce folded, without any sense of contradiction, into the shepherds' adoration of the infant Christ.

This edition reproduces the text established by George England from the unique manuscript (British Museum, later Huntington Library), with the side-notes and Introduction supplied by Alfred W. Pollard, published for the Early English Text Society (Extra Series LXXI) in 1897. An appendix by Professor Eugen Kölbing, comparing the Second Shepherds' Play with a Border ballad, and the editors' own Glossarial Index and Index of Names, are preserved as part of the edition. The Middle English text — spelling, contractions, thorn (þ) and yogh (ȝ), and all — is reproduced exactly as England transcribed it from the manuscript; nothing has been modernized.

Contents

TO THE MEMORY OF William Morris, WHO LOVED THESE PLAYS, OUR SHARE IN THIS BOOK — A. W. P., F. J. F.

Introduction

by Alfred W. Pollard

INTRODUCTION.
THE Towneley Plays were printed for the first time by the Surtees
Society in 1836, with an introduction which is variously assigned to
the Society's secretary, James Raine, and to J. Hunter. The text of
the plays as printed in this Surtees edition is, on the whole, very
creditably accurate, and is certainly far more free from serious
blunders than that of the so-called 'Coventry' Plays, edited by
Halliwell-Phillipps for the Shakespeare Society, or even than that
of the Chester Plays, as edited by Thomas Wright. It was not,
however, a transcript with which students of the present day could
be content in the case of a unique manuscript, the ultimate destina-
tion of which is still, unhappily, uncertain. Under Dr. Furnivall's
superintendence a new transcript was, therefore, made by Mr. George
England, who, by the great kindness and liberality of Mr. Quaritch,
the present owner of the manuscript, after the book had been placed
at his disposal for some weeks at the British Museum, was allowed
the use of it a second time at 15 Piccadilly to correct his proofs
by the original.
To the text thus produced Dr. Furnivall himself added notes of
the metres, and at his request the present writer supplied the usual
sidenotes, an interesting and pleasant task in the case of a work of
so great variety and literary value. Dr. Furnivall's further com-
mands for the supply of an Introduction were far less agreeable.
The Towneley Plays present many problems, more especially as to
their language, which descrve to be dealt with by some learned
professor, or at any rate by an editor of really wide reading and
experience. The learned professor, however, could not be obtained.
The difficulty of procuring an introducer threatened to postpone
indefinitely the appearance of the new text (a consideration all the
more serious since the Surtees edition has long been difficult to
procure); and as texts are far more important than introductions,
it seemed better to be content to draw attention to a few points
of interest rather than further to delay publication.
Short as is the preface to the Surtees edition, it contains much
History of the Towneley MS.
that is of real value, as being written by a local antiquary to whom
the history and topography of the district to which the plays are
assigned were thoroughly familiar. I cannot, therefore, make a
better beginning than by quoting the most essential passages of
what was written in 1836, since it has not yet been superseded :—
"The Manuscript Volume in which these Mysteries have been
preserved formed part of the library at Towneley Hall, in Lanca-
shire, collected by the family of Towneley; a family which, in the
two last centuries, produced several remarkable men, through whom
it becomes connected with the arts, with literature, and with science.
The library was dispersed in two sales by auction, at Evans' Rooms,
in Pall Mall, the first in 1814, when there were seven days' sale;
the second in 1815, when the sale lasted ten days."
"This manuscript, as well as the famous Towneley Homer, was in
the first sale. It was bought by John Louis Goldsmid, Esq. From
his possession it very soon passed to Mr. North, but before 1822 it
had returned to the family in whose library it had for so many years
found protection."
66
By what means the Towneley family became possessed of it, or
at what period is not known. There is nothing known with cer-
tainty respecting any previous ownership. When, however, the
catalogue of the Towneley books and manuscripts was prepared
for the sale in 1814, Mr. Douce was requested to write a short
notice, for insertion in it. In this notice, after assigning the com-
position of the Mysteries to the reign of Henry VI. or Edward IV.,¹
he says of the volume itself, that it is supposed to have formerly
'belonged to the Abbey of Widkirk, near Wakefield, in the County
of York.""
¹ There is a passage in the Iudicium which may assist in determining the
period a which it was written. Tutivillus, in describing a fashionable female,
tells his brother demons "she is hornyd like a kowe" (p. 812 [Surtees; p. 375,

  1. 267 in present edition]). He appears to allude to the same description of
    head dress which Stowe thus records: "1388, King Richard (the second)
    married Anne, daughter of Veselaus, King of Bohem. In her dayes, noble
    women used high attire on their heads, piked like hornes, with long trained
    gownes."-Surtees Note.
    ² After returning into the possession of the Towneley family, as narrated
    above, the Plays were again sold, with the rest of the Towneley MSS., at
    Sotheby's, on June 27, 28, 1883. The description of the lot was as follows:
  2. TOWNELEY MYSTERIES. A most valuable collection of early
    English Mysteries, supposed to have been written at Woodkirk in
    the Cell there of Augustinian or Black Canons, for the Amusement
    The Towneley MS. belonged to Woodkirk Abbey. xi
    "This supposition, however, he appears to have subsequently con-
    sidered as not worthy of much regard; for when Mr. Peregrine
    Edward Towneley, in 1822, printed, from this manuscript, the
    Iudicium, as his contribution to the Roxburgh Club, an introduction
    was written by Mr. Douce, in which he says that the volume is
    'supposed to have belonged to the Abbey of Whalley,' and to
    have passed at the dissolution into the library of the neighbouring
    family of Towneley."
    "On what foundation either of these suppositions rests we are not
    informed. The first, however, is that which has been most generally
    accepted, and the three principal collections of Mysteries now known
    have been usually quoted or referred to as those of Chester, Coventry,
    and Widkirk."
    "In the absence of precise information, we may assume that the
    supposition of its having formerly belonged to 'the Abbey of Wid-
    kirk' was the Towneley tradition respecting it; and previously to
    any investigation it may be assumed, that if we are to trace the
    possession of such a volume as this in a period before the Reforma-
    tion, next perhaps to the archives of some guild or other corporation
    in one of the cities or towns of England, we may expect to find it in
    the possession of some Conventual society. The question of that
    early possession is, in fact, the question of the composition of these
    Mysteries, as to the place and people. We shall now endeavour to
    determine it."
    "
    "The supposition that this book belonged to the Abbey of Wid-
    kirk, near Wakefield,' has upon it remarkably the characteristics of
    a genuine tradition. There is no distinct enunciation of the fact
    which the tradition proposes to exhibit, and yet out of the words
    of the supposition we may decisively and easily extract what the
    fact in it originally was. There is no place called Widkirk in the
    and Edification of Persons attending these Pageants. Manuscript on
    Vellum, written circa 1888, in a bold hand, with initial Letters orna-
    mented with the Pen, having the speeches separated by litrs of red Ink,
    olive morocco extra, gold-tooling, tooled leather joints and gilt edges, by
    C. Lewis, back broken. SAEC. XIV.
    The lot was knocked down to Mr. Quaritch, in whose possession the manu-
    script has ever since remained. The date assigned to the plays by the
    cataloguer is clearly derived from the Surtees foot-note on the woman's head-
    gear satirized by Tutivillus; for a discussion of this, see p. xxiv. Whether the
    date given to the Plays is right or wrong, that assigned to the MS. is certainly
    three-quarters of a century too early.
    The Cell of Canons at Woodkirk.
    neighbourhood of Wakefield, and neither there nor in any part of
    England was there ever an Abbey of Widkirk. But there is a place
    called Woodkirk in that neighbourhood, and at Woodkirk there was
    a cell of Augustinian or Black Canons, a dependence on the great
    house of St. Oswald, at Nostel. Whatever weight there may be
    attached to the supposition or tradition respecting the original pos-
    session, must, therefore, be given to the claim of this Cell of Canons
    at Woodkirk."
    "Woodkirk is about four miles to the north of Wakefield. A
    small religious community was established there in the first half
    century after the Conquest, by the Earls Warren, to whom the great
    Lordship of Wakefield belonged, and they were placed in subjection
    to the house of Nostel. King Henry I. granted to the Canons of
    Nostel, a charter, for two fairs, to be held at Woodkirk, one at the
    Feast of the Assumption, the other at the Feast of the Nativity of
    the Blessed Mary. This grant was confirmed by King Stephen.
    These fairs, in a rural district, continued to attract a concourse of
    people to the time of the Reformation. In the Valor of King
    Henry VIII. the profit of the tolls and stallage was returned at
    £13 68. 8d., which was more than one-fourth of the yearly revenue
    of the house. The buildings in which the few Canons resided
    have gradually disappeared. Some portions of the Cloisters were
    remaining not long ago. The Church still exists, on a retired and
    elevated site, and remains of large reservoirs for the Canons' fish in
    the vale below are still very conspicuous. (Loidis and Elmete,
    p. 240.)"
    The writer of the Introduction inserts here a few paragraphs of no
    great value, pointing out resemblances between the language of the
    plays and the dialect spoken in his own day in the West Riding
    of Yorkshire. We may take advantage of his pause to note, that
    Professor Skeat, in a letter to the Athenæum of December 2, 1893,
    proved decisively that the difficulty as to the place called Widkirk,
    of whose existence the writer of the preface could find no trace, is
    only an instance of a variation of spelling, Widkirk being merely
    an older form of Woodkirk, and one which still survives in the
    mouths of the country people (cp. the parallel forms Wydeville and
    Woodville, for the name of the Queen of King Edward IV.).
    After the philological remarks the Introduction proceeds :—
    66
    'Perhaps the supposition in the Towneley family, on whatever it
    Allusions in the Plays to Woodkirk and Wakefield xiii
    may have been founded, and the striking resemblance which there is
    between the language of several of these pieces and the language of
    the same class of society as it may still be heard on the hills and in
    the plains of Yorkshire, may be sufficient to render it at least a
    point of probability that the composition of these Mysteries, and the
    original possession of this volume, are to be attributed to the Canons
    of Wocdkirk; or that the possession is to be traced to them, and the
    composition, perhaps, to some one of the Canons in the far larger
    fraternity at Nostel. But the manuscript itself contains that which
    connects it with Wakefield; and there are topographical allusions in
    one of the pieces, the Secunda Pastorum, which belong to the
    country near Wakefield and Woodkirk."
    "Thus, at the beginning of the first is written in a large hand
    'Wakefelde' and 'Berkers,' the meaning of which seems to be, that
    on some occasion this Mystery was represented at the town of
    Wakefield by the company or fellowship of the Barkers or Tanners.
    To the second is prefixed 'Glover Pag...' without the word
    Wakefield. The imperfect word is 'Pagina,' which appears to have
    been used as the Latin term for these kinds of exhibitions or
    pageants. The meaning appears to be that this was exhibited by
    the Glovers. At the head of the third, however, we find 'Wake-
    field' again, without the name of any trade. These are the only
    notices of the kind, except that at the head of the 'Peregrini,' the
    words 'Fyssher Pagent'¹ occur." 2
    "It is in the Secunda Pastorum, which is truly described by Mr.
    Collier as 'the most singular piece in the whole collection,' that the
    local allusions occur which tend so strongly to corroborate the claim
    of Woodkirk and its Canons to the production of these Mysteries.
    Intended in the first instance for the edification or the amusement
    of the persons in the immediate vicinity of the places in which these
    Pageants were to be exhibited, we may expect to find that there will
    be, when the subject fairly admitted of it, attempts to arrest their
    attention, and to interest their minds, by such a simple artifice as the
    introduction of the names of places with which they were familiar.
    Thus, in the Chester Mysteries, the River Conway is spoken of, and
    ¹ Mr. England notes that these words are in a later hand.-A. W. P.
    • The words Lytster Play occur at the head of the Pharao. They were
    overlooked by the copyist, but the mistake is noticed in the errata.—Surtees
    Note.
    Horbury Scroggs and the Shepherd's Thorn.
    Boughton is mentioned, a kind of suburb to Chester. In the
    Secunda Pastorum.
    Secundus Pastor. Who shuld do us that skorne that were a fowlle spott.
    Primus Pastor. Some shrewe.
    I have soght with my doges
    All Horbery shroges
    And of XV hoges
    Fond I bot oone ewe.
    "Horbury is the name of a village about two or three miles south-
    west from Wakefield. Shroges or Scroggs is a northern term applied
    to any piece of rough uninclosed ground more or less covered with
    low brushwood."
    "The other local allusion is less decisive than this. When the
    two Shepherds appoint to meet, the place which they appoint is 'the
    crokyd thorne.' Now, though it cannot, perhaps, be shown that
    there was any place or tree then precisely so denominated, yet it can
    be shown that, at no great distance from Horbury, there was at that
    time a remarkable thorn tree which was known by the name of the
    Shepherd's Thorn. It stood in Mapplewell, near the borders of the
    two manors of Notton and Darton. A jury in the 20th of Edward
    IV., on a question between James Strangeways of Harlsey, and the
    Prior of Bretton, found that the Shepherd's Thorn' was in Darton';
    and in the time of Charles I., one John Webster of Kexborough,
    then aged 77, deposed that the inhabitants of Mapplewell and
    Darton had been accustomed to turn their sheep on the moor at all
    times, and that it extended southward to a place called 'The Shep-
    herd's Thorn,' where a thorn tree stood. There must be here more
    than an accidental coincidence."
    Since the publication of the Surtees Society edition of the
    Towneley Plays in 1836, all the three other great cycles of
    English Miracle Plays have been printed, the so-called 'Coventry'
    cycle in 1841, the Chester in 1843, and the York Plays, admirably
    edited by Miss Toulmin Smith, in 1885. The publication of
    this last cycle revealed the fact that five of the York Plays
    were based, in whole or in part, on the same originals as five
    of the Towneley. The importance of this discovery for the study
    of Miracle Plays and of the conditions under which they were
    produced, is hardly to be over-estimated.
    believe that it is by a mere chauce, some peculiarly malicious freak of
    There is no reason to
    The Miracle Plays anonymous. The York Cycle. XV
    the arch-enemy Time, that, as far as I am aware, in no single case are
    there two early copies extant of any miracle play. Human nature,
    we may presume, was much the same in the fourteenth and fifteenth
    centuries as in our own, and the ordinary author, when he had
    written a poem or a chronicle, no doubt did everything in his power
    to multiply copies of it, since every fresh copy would increase his
    chance of obtaining the patronage or preferment which constituted
    the rewards of authorship in those days. But in the case of plays we
    can easily see that a wholly different motive would come into action.
    With the highly doubtful exception of the Chester cycle, not a single
    Miracle Play has the name of any author connected with it. The
    author's personality is wholly lost in that of the actors and their pay-
    masters; and in the absence of any law of copyright or custom as to
    'acting rights,' it was to the interest of these jealously to guard their
    book of the words, lest the popularity of their entertainment should
    suffer from unauthorized rivalry. Since many of the players probably
    could not read, even the multiplication of 'actors' parts' would be
    very limited, and fresh copies would only be made when the plays
    underwent revision. The apparent exception to this theory, the five
    copies extant of the Chester cycle, really only confirm it, for all of
    these were made between 1590 and 1607, and must owe their exist-
    ence to the desire of literary antiquaries either simply for their pre-
    servation or, more probably, for their revival, at a time when miracle
    plays were almost gone out of fashion.
    For the reason thus hazarded, opportunities for the study of the
    genesis of any given cycle of plays are extremely small. We know
    that a fragment of the old poem of the Harrowing of Hell, beginning,
    'Harde gatys haue I gon,' is found imbedded in the 'Coventry' Play
    of the Resurrection, and, thanks once more to the industry of Miss
    Toulmin Smith, in the Brome 'Common-Place Book' we can now
    study a version of the Sacrifice of Isaac closely similar to that in the
    Chester cycle. But the relations of the five plays in the York and
    Towneley cycles are much more interesting and important than these,
    and it will be worth while to examine them with some minuteness.
    The first of these five plays is that called by Miss Smith, 'the
    Departure of the Israelites from Egypt,' No. XI. in the York Cycle,¹
    acted by the Hoseers,' No. VIII. in the Towneley Cycle, where it is
    1 Printed, with the generous addition of the Towneley text at the foot
    of the page, on pp. 68-92 of Miss Smith's edition (York Plays. Edited by
    Lucy Toulmin Smith. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1885).
    xvi The Towneley and York Plays of Pharaoh.
    called Pharao, and where also the sidenote 'Litsters Pagonn' informs
    us that it is one of the plays acted by the Craft-Gilds of Wakefield.
    In comparing the two texts, the first point we notice is, that
    while the York Play consists of 4081 lines, divided with unbroken
    regularity into 34 twelve-line stanzas, the metrical scheme of the
    Towneley Play is far less orderly. At the outset, indeed, it is
    evident that the Wakefield reviser mistook the metre, for by the
    addition of a quatrain of mere surplusage, he has turned the first 12-
    line stanza into two octetts. After seven long stanzas (divided in
    this text into octetts and quatrains, 3-16), we find similar additions
    in ll. 113-117 and 127-133, turning two 12-line stanzas into four
    octetts. Everything then proceeds regularly till we come to Towneley
    stanza 49, when we find a line—
    Als wele on myddyng als on more
    -missing after 1. 308.
    Again in stanza 55 the two lines-
    Lorde, was they wente than walde it sese,
    So shuld we save vs and oure seede
    -are omitted after 1. 340.
    In stanzas 57, 58, 11. 355-359 appear in the Towneley MS. as-
    Primus Miles. A, my lord!
    Pharao.
    hagh!
    ijus Miles. Grete pestilence is comyn;
    It is like ful long to last.
    Pharao. In the dwilys name!
    then is oure pride ouer past.
    -in place of the regular York text (11. 344-348)—
    i Egip. My lorde, grete pestelence
    Is like ful lange to last.
    Rex. Owe! come that in oure presence,
    Than is oure pride al past.
    Lastly, we find that the Towneley text has added, or more probably
    retained, twelve lines at the end of the play which do not appear in
    the York edition.
    If now we turn our attention to single lines, we shall find
    numerous instances in which the Towneley text exhibits an unmetrical
    corruption of the York. Here are a few-
    1 Numbered by Miss Smith as 406, but the last couplet is really a quatrain,
    and might with advantage have been so printed.
    Towneley and York Plays of Pharaoh and the Doctors. xvii
    That wold my fors down fell (T. 32)
    That wolde aught fand owre forse to fell (Y. 28)
    That shall euer last (T. 39)
    They are like and they laste (Y. 34)
    I shall sheld the from shame (T. 189)
    I sall the saffe from synne and shame (Y. 176)
    What, ragy the dwyll of hell, alys you so to cry (T. 304)
    What deuyll ayles you so to crye (Y. 291) (cp. T. 337 and 415,
    Y. 334 and 403)
    On the other hand, T. 106-
    And euer elyke the leyfes are greyn
    -is plainly better than Y. 102-
    And the leues last ay in like grene
    --and T. 216, 217–
    God graunt you good weyndyng,
    Aud cuermore with you be
    --both for their sense and the purity of the rime to 'kyng' are better
    thau Y. 203, 204–
    God sende vs gude tythingis
    And all may with you be.
    Lastly we may take a pair of lines-
    My lord, bot if this menye may remeve (T. 270)
    Lord, whills ve [sic] with this menyhe meve (Y. 277)
    -in which we may reasonably suspect that both texts are corrupt
    forms of some such original as—
    My lord, bot if this menye meve.
    The inevitable conclusion from these notes is, that the Towneley
    text of Pharao is a corrupted and edited version of the York play of
    'The Hoseers' in a slightly purer form than we have it at present.
    I think we may also say that the majority of the corruptions in the
    Towneley text are of the kind which would most naturally arise in
    oral transmission, rather than from the blunders of a scribe.
    Turning now to the second play in which the two cycles partly
    agrce, The Play of the Doctors (Towneley XVIII.; York XXII.,
    played by the 'Sporiers and Loriners'), we find that the Towneley
    text, which lacks the opening speech of 'Primus Magister,' begins in
    its present form with twelve quatrains which are quite different
    from the York version, and then follows closely the York twelve-line
    stanzas to the end, only interrupting them to substitute a longer
    2
    B
    xviii Towneley and York Plays of Harrowing and Resurrection.
    exposition of the Ten Commandments, for which again quatrains are
    used. In some instances, as before, the Towneley text is better than
    the York, but we cannot doubt that the nearly homogeneous ¹ York
    play represents the original on which the Towneley playwright
    incorporated his variations in a different metre.
    A comparison of the third pair of plays-the York play of the
    Sadilleres (No. XXXVII.) and Towneley No. XXV.-representing
    the Extraccio Animarum or Harrowing of Hell, yields still more
    striking results. The York play, as usual quite regular, consists of
    34 twelve-line stanzas, and it is clear that the Towneley play-wright
    had these in his mind all the way through, though sometimes, perhaps
    from failure of memory on the part of his informants, he can do no
    more than imbed a few York lines into new stanzas of his own, while
    elsewhere he makes intentional additions.
    Summarizing the result of these changes, we find that the first
    twenty-four lines of Towneley reproduce ten from York; then we have
    York stanzas 4-10 with interpolations between 4 and 5, 8 and 9, and
    the omission of the last quatrain of 5. Stanzas 11 and 12 are repre-
    sented by IL. 115-147, but only nine lines are preserved. Stanzas 13—
    15 are intact; stanza 16 is docked of its first quatrain; then we have
    an interpolation of twelve lines; then the first quatrain of 17, the
    second and third being expanded into twelve lines. Stanzas 18-28
    are only interrupted by an interpolation (11. 314-322) between 25
    and 26. In 29 there is a substitution of a new third quatrain for
    four lines in the octett, the effect being so good that we may doubt
    whether in this case we have not really a preservation of an older
    text. Then come stanzas 30 and 31, and eight lines of 32, and with
    two substituted quatrains the Towneley play reaches its rather abrupt
    end.
    In the fourth pair of plays, treating of 'The Resurrection'
    (York xxxvIII.' The Carpenteres': Towneley xxvi), the resemblance
    begins four lines earlier than Miss Toulmin Smith has noted, T. 41
    -44 answering to Y. 31, 32, 35, 36, while the 'rybaldys' of T. 42
    is a better reading than the York 'rebelles.' In the preceding speech
    of Pilate we may note how the Towneley adaptor altered the York
    metre by lengthening the last line of the first four stanzas from two
    beats to three. We find the same difference in the added stanzas 9
    -11 (11. 51-73), while five (or rather seven) lines tacked on to the
    There is a slight disturbance, in which Towneley agrees, in York, stanzas
    19, 20 (11. 216—240) and Towneley, stanzas 44-46 (11. 204—228).
    Towneley and York Plays of the Resurrection.
    xix
    Stanzas
    last of these are outside the metrical scheme altogether.
    12 and 13 have half their lines as in York and half new. Stanzas
    14-22, though with many corruptions, reproduce York 11-22.
    Stanza 23 is added; 24 (which should have been printed as in four
    lines) agrees with York 20, omitting the two opening lines; 25,
    save in its third linc, is the same as York 21. In stanza 26 some of
    the York phrases are retained, but every line has been changed, and
    the bad rimes 'emang' and 'stand' show the work of a botcher.
    After this, with various corruptions, too numerous to mention, stanzas
    27-35 reproduce York 23-31, but there is nothing in the York
    play to answer to 11. 214-333 (stanzas 36-55). The first ten of
    these 120 lines contiuue the talk of the soldiers, the rest is made up
    of the monologue of the risen Christ. The metre continues regular;
    with a few exceptions, the origin of which can easily be seen, the
    last line of cach stanza remains quadrisyllabic, instead of being
    lengthened as in the added stanzas at the beginning of the play, and
    I think there can be no doubt that this speech of Christ once formed
    part of the York Cycle, but was subsequently omitted. Similar
    speeches occur in the Coventry' and Chester cycles, and in the
    last-named there are some positive resemblances which, in case they
    have not been noticed before, I set forth in a footnote.¹
    It will be noticed that this play falls naturally into three parts,
    of which Christ's monologue is the centre; and it is much easier to
    ¹ Towneley, 11. 226–231.
    Erthly man, that I haue wroght
    Wightly wake, and slepe thou noght!
    With bytter bayll I haue the boght,
    To make the fre;
    Into this dongeon depe I soght
    And all for luf of the.
    11 322-327.
    ffor I am veray prynce of peasse,
    And synnes seyr I may releasse,
    And whoso will of synnes seasse
    And mercy cry,
    I grauntt theym here a measse
    In brede myn awn body.
    Chester, vol. 2, p. 89. (Sh. Soc. ed.)
    Eirthly man that I have wroughte,
    Awake out of thy slepe;
    Eirthly man that I have bought,
    Of me thou have no kepe.
    From heaven man's soule I soughte
    Into a dongion depe
    My dere lemon from thense I broughte
    For ruthe of her I weepe.
    I am vereye prince of peace,
    And kinge of free mercye;
    Who will of synnes have release
    On me the call and crye.
    And yf the will of synnes ceasc
    I graunte them peace trewlye,
    And therto a full rich messyc,
    In brede my owne bodye.
    The verbal resemblances here seem almost too close to be explained by a
    common original. If there has been direct transmission, it must have been
    southwards.
    xx Towneley and York Plays of Resurrection and Last Judgment.
    believe that in some process of amalgamating or dividing the different
    parts, this speech was omitted from the York manuscript, than
    that so important a feature in the plays was not represented in the
    cycle.
    After 1. 333 in Towneley, etc., agreement between the two cycles
    is resumed, and continues, with the usual verbal variations, to 1. 561,
    the agreement of the stanzas being as follows-
    Towneley.
    56-66
    =
    York.
    32-42
    Towneley.
    88 partly
    York.
    =
    67
    67
    =
    parts of 43, 44
    89
    =
    68
    68-85
    =
    45-62
    90-93
    =
    70-73
    86, 87
    =
    64, 65
    Stanzas 63, 66 and 69 of York are unrepresented. L. 562 in
    Towneley is extra metrum, and cuts short the rather wearisome talk
    of Pilate which lasts in the York play for another eighteen lines.
    The scene between Christ and S. Mary Magdalene, which follows in
    the Towneley cycle, forms a separate play (No. XXXIX.) in the York,
    and there are no textual resemblances. It will be noticed that of
    the first eight of the eleven stanzas into which it is divided, every
    one has a different metro-a sure sign, I think, of the hasty work
    rendered necessary by an incident which could not be omitted having
    to be tacked on to a different play.
    ·
    The case of the last of the five parallel texts, that of the play
    of the Last Judgment (Towneley xxx. Judicium; York XLVIII.
    acted by the Merceres '), is again very striking and interesting. The
    Towneley play, unfortunately, lacks some lines (the speech of
    'Primus Malus') at the beginning, and the first sixteen lines which
    have been preserved to us, written in two different metres, are additions
    to the York text. The next three stanzas, with the exception of the
    last half of the fourth, are founded on York stanzas 19-21, then
    we have an inserted speech by 'Quartus Malus' (32 lines), then
    two more York stanzas, then the broad comedy of the Demons
    (stanzas 16-48, 11. 89-384), which takes the place of a short
    passage in York (II. 185—228), the greater part of which is occupied
    by the speeches of Christ and the Apostles. After 1. 385 the bor-
    rowings begin again, and for the whole of the Judgment-scene
    proper (Towneley, st. 49-67, 11. 386-531=York, st. 30-47, 11.
    229-372), the regular 8-line stanzas of the York dramatist are only
    interrupted by a single insertion of four lines (st. 65). But between
    The Tests of a borrowed Play.
    xxi
    the final dooming of the damned and the thanksgiving of the saved
    (1. 612-620), the Towneley play-wright inserts a long passage in
    which the fiends gloat over their victims, and this is all his own.
    Where the last stanza was taken from we cannot say. It is quite
    different from the York text, and bears more resemblance to the
    Towneley ending of the Extraccio Animarum (p. 305).
    The foregoing conspectus of the points of agreement and disagree-
    ment between the Towneley and York texts of these five plays has
    probably been found almost as tedious to read as it certainly was to
    compile. But it was worth while to work it out in full, since the
    most cursory perusal of it must suffice to show that, in the circum-
    stances under which the borrowings took place, it was practically
    impossible for a play to pass from one cycle to another without
    showing signs of the process in marked disturbances of metre and
    frequent corruptions both of sense and rhyme. It follows from this
    that wherever we find a play (not merely a fragment) the metre of
    which is uniform, or is obviously varied only in correspondence with
    the character of the speakers, while at the same time the rhymes are
    regular and the text good, in the absence of positive evidence to the
    contrary we are not only entitled, but bound, to assume that the play
    was composed for the place and the cycle to which it now belongs.
    A play full of obvious corruptions need not be a borrowed play,
    because corruptions may have arisen in many other ways; but a play
    which is creditably free from corruptions can hardly by any
    possibility have been borrowed.
    Now if we apply this canon to the Towneley Plays, it will enable
    us to set some limit to the amount of imported work which we can
    safely recognize as existing in the cycle as it has come down to us.
    Long before the publication of the York Plays, the composite
    character of the Towneley was recognized by its first editor, though
    the reasons he assigned were less happy than his surmise itself, and
    later writers have not failed to enlarge on the point. It thus
    becomes interesting to see how much of the cycle we can claim on
    sure evidence as composed especially for it. It is no bad beginning
    to be able to say at once, at least one-fourth, and this the fourth
    which contains the finest and most original work. The evidence for
    1
    e. g. He says that there are no Yorkshireisms in the Pharao, which we
    now know to be mainly borrowed from the York cycle, and remarks “Cæsar
    Augustus is plainly by the same hand as Pharao. The heroes in both swear by
    'Mahowne '—a habit shared by most potentates in miracle plays.
    2 *
    The 5 best Towneley Plays by a Genius.
    this is irresistible. We find the Wakefield or Woodkirk editor inter-
    polating two broadly humorous scenes, the one containing 297 lines,
    the other 81, on the impressive York play of the Judgment. These
    scenes are written in a complex metre, a 9-line stanza riming aaaa
    bcccb, with central rimes in the first four lines (I should prefer to
    aaaa
    write it cdddc), and we find this same metre used with admir-
    bbbb
    able regularity throughout five long plays, viz.-
    III. Processus Noe cum filiis
    XII. Prima Pastorum
    XIII. Secunda Pastorum 1
    xv. Magnus Herodes
    XXI. Coliphizacio
    558 lines
    502 (2 lines lost)
    754 (2 lines lost)
    513
    450
    -or, including the two passages in the Judicium, in no less than 3155
    lines, occupying in this edition almost exactly 100 pages out of 396.
    If any one will read these plays together, I think he cannot fail to
    feel that they are all the work of the same writer, and that this
    writer deserves to be ranked-if only we knew his name!—at least
    as high as Langland, and as an exponent of a rather boisterous kind
    of humour had no equal in his own day. We may also be sure that
    the two other plays, Flagellacio (No. XXII.) and Processus Talentorum
    (No. XXIV.), contain about the same proportion of his work as does
    the Judicium. They are closely akin to the Coliphizacio, and contain
    the one 24, the other 8 of his favourite stanzas.
    For one other play which it is very tempting to assign to the
    same hand, the Mactacio Abel (No. 11.), we lack the evidence of
    identity of metre; in fact, the frequent changes from one metrical form
    to another would make us suspect that we had here an instance of
    editing, if it were not quite impossible to isolate from the present
    text any underlying original. But the extraordinary boldness of the
    play, and the character of its humour, make it difficult to dissociate
    it from the work of the author of the Shepherds' Plays, and I cannot
    doubt that this also, at least in part, must be added to his credit.
    When the work of this man of real genius has been eliminated,
    the search for another Wakefield, or Woodkirk, author becomes
    distinctly less interesting. It will be worth while, however, now to
    pass the whole cycle in review, adding what notes we can to each
    play, especially as to their metres.
    This play is further stamped as especially composed for the Wakefield
    district by the allusion to ‘Horbury ' noted above, p. xiv.
    The List of the Towneley Plays and their Metres. xxiii
    I. Creation. Couplets (aa¹) and stanzas, mostly aa b³a'b³. Connected
    with Barkers of Wakefield.
    II. Abel. Metres very confused.
    earlier and simpler play.
    Noah. 9-line stanza
    III.
    IV.
    Apparently a bold rehandling of an
    Connected with [Wakefield] Glovers.
    c¹ddd2c. Connected with Wakefield.
    aana2
    bbbb2
    Abraham. abababab. Cp. No. XIX.
    Isaac. Fragments of 35 couplets (aa).
    Jacob. Fragments of 71 couplets (aa¹).
    VIII. [VII.] Pharaoh. abababab'cdcd³, with many corruptions. Con-
    nected with Litsters of Wakefield. Based on York XI.
    VII. [VIII.] Processus Prophetarum. aab³cc¹b³, less often aa¹b³aab³
    Caesar Augustus. aa bab³.
    IX.
    X. Annunciation. Couplets (aa) and stanzas aa³b³cc¹b³.
    Salutation. aa b'cc b³.
    XI.
    XII.
    XIII.
    Prima Pastorum. 9-line stanza, as III.
    Secunda Pastorum. As XII.
    XIV. Magi. aaabab, with four disturbances. Alliterative.
    XV. Flight into Egypt. ababaabaab³c¹³c³. Alliterative.
    XVI. Herod. 9-line stanza as III., etc.
    XVII. Purification. ana b'cce+b² and aa b³cc b³.
    XVIII. Doctors. abababab'cdcd³, with corruptions and interpolations.
    Based on York XXIII.
    XIX. John the Baptist. abababab. Cp. No. IV.
    xx". Conspiracio. abababab'cdcds. Speech of Pilate prefixed in 9-line
    stanzas.
    xx". Capcio. Couplets and quatrains (aa* and abab¹) with interpolations.
    Coliphizacio. 9-line stanza, as III., &c.
    XXI.
    XXII. Flagellacio. Mixed metres. About half the play in 9-line stanzas.
    XXIII. Processus Crucis. Much edited and interpolated from an original
    basis of aa bscc b³.
    XXIV.
    XXV.
    Processus Talentorum. Metres very confused. Much interpolation.
    Extraccio Animarum. abababab'cdcd³, with additions and corrup-
    tions. Based on York xxxvII.
    XXVI. Resurrection. aaa'bab², with many corruptions and interpolations.
    Based on York XXXVIII.
    XXVII. Peregrini. aaa+b²ab², with corruptions and interpolations.
    XXVIII.
    XXIX.
    S. Thomas.
    Ascension.
    aa    bcc b³ followed by a b³a¹b³ab³a+b³.
    Metres very confused.
    XXX. Judgment. Based ou abababab of York XLVIII., with interpola-
    tions of abababab³ and 8-line stanzas.
    Lazarus. Couplets with stanzas in several different metres.
    Suspencio Iude. Fragment in aaa¹b¾a¹b². [Cp. xxvi., xxvii.]
    In this conspectus, besides the plays written in the 8-line stanza,
    we may note that we have two fragments (Nos. iv. and v.) written in
    couplets on the history of Isaac and Jacob; two plays, the Creation
    (No. 1.) and Annunciation (No x.), in which couplets are joined with
    a 6-line stanza rhyming aa4b3cc4b³, or aa baa4bs, and three plays,
    xxiv Prof. Ten-Brink on 'Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Jacob.'
    the Processus Prophetarum (No. VII.; it should of course change
    places with the Pharaoh, No. vIII.), the Caesar Augustus (No. 1x.)
    and Salutation (No. XI.), written throughout in this stanza, which is
    also employed for parts of the plays of the Purification (No. XVII.),
    Processus Crucis (No. XXIII.), and S. Thomas of India (xxvIII.).
    As to the two fragments (Iv. and v.) the late Professor Ten-Brink
    wrote 1-
    "About a generation-but hardly much more-separates this
    oldest extant English drama [i. e. the Harrowing of Hell, composed
    shortly after the middle of the thirteenth century'] from the next.
    The play of Jacob and Esau, as we take the liberty of calling it,
    appears to have been composed not far from the mouth of the
    Humber, and probably to the north of the dialect line. The influ-
    ence of the East Midlands is seen in the choice of subject, which
    was not popular on the earlier stage elsewhere, and the manner of
    treatment also reminds us of the districts and the century which
    produced the poems of Genesis and Exodus."
    “In Jacob and Esau the dramatic art is still of a low standard ;
    the situations are not made much use of; the characteristics show little
    depth or originality. The poet is full of reverence for his subject,
    and dramatizes faithfully what seems to him its most important
    traits, without putting to it much of his own originality," etc.
    In his Appendix (vol. I. p. 274),. Prof. Ten-Brink supported this
    view of the play with the following note-
    "This play has been handed down in the Towneley Collection :
    unfortunately it is mutilated at the beginning, and also divided into
    two parts: Isaac and Jacob. However, it originally formed, and, in
    fact, still forms, one drama, which was produced independently
    without regard to any cycle of mysteries, and indeed earlier than
    most of the others, probably than all the other parts of the cycle in
    which it was subsequently incorporated. All this can easily bo
    proved by means now at the disposal of philology, but this is not
    the place for entering into the subject. Less certain is the local origin
    of the piece. The assumption that few of the rhyming words have
    been altered in their transmission could, for instance, allow of the
    supposition that the drama might have been produced in the north
    of the East-Midland territory, rather than in the southern districts of
    Northumbria, a supposition which would coincide very well with
    many other peculiarities of the work."
    I have quoted these passages from Prof. Ten-Brink in full,
    because the opinion of the writer who has produced the only really
    good history of our early literature, is a thousand times more import-
    ant than my own. But my difficulties in accepting his theory in
    1 History of English Literature (English edition), vol. ii. p. 244.
    The different Groups of the Towneley Plays.
    XXV
    its entirety are both numerous and great. The Harrowing of Hell
    itself seems to me—as it has seemed to my betters before me-rather a
    dramatic poem than a Miracle Play properly so called, and I cannot
    conceive on what occasion, or by whom, an isolated play on Jucub
    and Esau could come to be acted in the vernacular. In a cycle, the
    presence of a play on Abraham might easily suggest a continuation
    dealing with his immediate descendants, and its simpler and more
    archaic form might be partly accounted for by the nature of its
    subject. I should prefer, also, to attribute differences of dialect to
    the removal from one district to another of a play-writing mouk,
    rather than to the acceptance in one district of a play which had
    been composed for another many years before. It is obvious,
    however, that these two fragments do belong to a period, whether
    prae-cyclic or cyclic, at which the narrative and didactic interest
    of the representation was uppermost, and before the constantly
    increasing importation of external attractions had produced a
    distaste for the simpler and more exclusively religious form of
    drama. We know from Chaucer's allusions, as well as from the
    cvidence of the York plays, that by the last quarter of the fourteenth
    century Noah and his quarrelsome wife and the ranting Herods and
    Pilates were already stock characters, and we may thus well believe
    that the cycle of matter from the beginning of the world' in its
    simplest form, must have been in existence during the first half of
    that century. The fact that this play has only come to us in
    fragments, is probably good evidence that it was considered anti-
    quated at the time our manuscript was written, and that only a few
    speeches from it were used.
    I must confess, however, that I cannot find anything either in the
    style or the language of these fragments which need compel us to
    separate them from the couplets in the play of the Creation and the
    Annunciation; and I incline strongly to believe that in these plays,
    and the others which I have mentioned as written wholly or
    partly in the aa bscc4b3 stanza, we possess part of an original didactic
    cycle, of much the same tone as the Chester Plays, on to which
    other plays, mostly written in a more popular style, have been tacked
    from time to time. In any case I do not think it can be doubted
    that the four plays, VII., IX., X., and XI., are the work of the same
    writer, and the rest seem to me to go with them.
    The plays of the Magi (XIV.) and of the Flight into Egypt (xv.) are
    marked off from this group by their much greater use of alliteration,
    xxvi Groups of the Plays. Date of the Shepherds' Plays.
    and seem to nie-though my opinion on questions of dialect is worth
    very little-to have been written by an author of somewhat different
    speech. The Abraham and John the Baptist again are in a totally
    different metre, and may belong to the period when the York plays
    were being incorporated into the cycle. As regards these York plays,
    enough has already been said; but it is worth noting that the pre-
    dominant metre of the Conspiracio (xxª.) is the same as that of three
    out of the five plays connected with York (the Pharaoh, Doctor, and
    Extraccio Animarum), and may possibly be based on a lost alternative
    to the extant York play on this subject. A similar guess may be
    hazarded as to the play of the Peregrini (xxvII.), the metre of which
    is the same as that of the Resurrectio (xxvI., York xxxvIII.), while the
    obvious corruptions and interpolations of the text may well lead us to
    doubt its being indigenous. The fragment of the Suspencio Iude,
    printed at the end of the cycle, but which would naturally come
    immediately before the Resurrectio, is in the same metre, and subject
    to the same hypothesis.
    As regards the work of the one real genius of the Towneley cycle,
    the author of the two plays of the Shepherds, and of the others
    written in the same metre, the converse of the arguments of which
    we admitted the force as regards the Isaac ard the Jacob, will
    naturally lead us to assign to them as late a date as possible.
    As noted by the Surtees editor, the allusion in the Judicium
    to the head-gear which could make a woman look horned like a
    cow,' enables us to be sure that this play-wright was a younger
    contemporary of Chaucer. We must not, indeed, like the cataloguer
    of the auction-room, argue that because Stow writes that in the
    days of Anne of Bohemia 'noble women used high attire on their
    heads, piked like hornes,' therefore these plays may be assigned
    approximately to the date of her arrival in England. I imagine
    that in those days as in these the fashions in the Yorkshire country-
    side were apt to be a little behind those of London; the piked
    head-gear is found in manuscripts as late as about 1420 (e. g. Harl.
    2897, f. 1886, and Harl. 4431, f. 2, kindly pointed out to me
    by Sir E. M. Thompson), and the other allusions of these
    plays, e. g. the reference to tennis (Sec. Past. 736), the frequent
    ¹ See also Lydgate's 15th century Dyté of Womenhis Hornys' in his
    Minor Poems, Percy Soc. p. 46-9, and Harl. MSS. 2255, 2251, etc. Horns were
    in fashion in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries; see Fairholt's Costume in
    England, ed. Dillon, 1885, ii. 224-5, and Planché's paper therein named.-F. J. F.
    Date of Shepherds' Plays. Three Stages of Towneley Plays. xxvii
    all agree very well with the early
    and rather learned talk about music (Sec. Past. 186-89, 656-60,
    Judicium 537, 538), and the general talk of Shepherds and Devils
    about the state of the country
    years of the fifteenth century. In a writer so full of allusions,
    the absence of any reference to fighting tends, I think, to show
    that the plays were not written during the war with France, and
    thus everything seems to point to the reign of Henry IV. as the
    most likely date of their composition. The date of our text is
    probably about half a century later, but the example of the York
    Plays shows us that in its own habitat the text of a play could
    be preserved in tolerable purity for a longer period than this.
    In the direction of popular treatment it was impossible for any
    editor, however much disposed towards tinkering, to think he could
    improve on the play-wright of the 9-line stanzas, while it is reasonable
    to presume that the hold of these plays on the Yorkshire audience
    was sufficiently strong to resist the intrusion of didactics.
    As regards the only plays not yet mentioned in the survey, the Capcio
    (xx.), Processus Talentorum (XXIV.), Ascension (XXIX.) and Lazarus,
    there has been so much editing and interpolating, and the consequent
    mixture of metres is so great, that it is difficult to arrive at any clear
    conclusion about them.2 But, subject to such corrections as the
    survey of the dialect now being undertaken by Dr. Matthews may
    suggest, I think we may fairly regard this Towneley cycle as built
    up in at least three distinct stages. In the first of these we find the
    simple religious tone which we naturally assign to the beginning of
    the cyclical religious drama, the majority of them being written in
    one of the favourite metres of the fourteenth-century romances which
    were already going out of fashion in Chaucer's day. In the second
    Note especially the allusions to 'maintenance' in Let. Past. 1. 35, and
    the claim of Tutivillus to be a 'master lollar' in Jud. 213.
    • The Lazarus, for instance, seems to be built up in three layers, the last of
    them the rim passage on death being strikingly in the style of some of the
    9-line stanzas.
    'A curious reminiscence of these romances is preserved in stauza 26 of the
    Processus Prophetarum :
    Now have I songen you a fytt;
    loke in mynd that ye haue it,
    I rede with my myght;
    He that maide vs with his wytt,
    Sheld vs all from hell pytt,
    And graunt us heuen lyght
    -which might have come straight out of a romance.
    xxviii The three Stages, and the Home of the Towneley Plays.
    stage we have the introduction by some playwright, who brought
    the knowledge of them from elsewhere, of at least five-possibly
    seven or eight-of the plays which were acted at York, and the
    composition of some others in the same style. In the third stage
    a writer of genuine dramatic power, whose humour was unchecked
    by any respect for conventionality, wrote, especially for this cycle,
    the plays in the 9-line stanza which form its backbone, and added
    here and there to others. Taken together, the three stages probably
    cover something like half a century, ending about 1410, though
    subsequent editors may have tinkered here and there, as editors will,
    and much allowance must be made for continual corruption by the
    actors.
    It may be as well to note here that whatever weight we may be
    disposed to attach to the tradition that the cycle belonged to the
    Woodkirk monks and was acted at Woodkirk Fair, it is impossible
    to believe that the plays noted in the MS. as connected with
    Wakefield form in any way a group by themselves. The Barkers'
    play of the Creation, however much edited, belongs in its origin to
    our first stage; the Pharaoh, played by the Wakefield Litsters, but
    based on York XI., to our second, to which also I should assign the
    Peregrini played by the Fishers, written in the metre of the York
    Resurrectio. Lastly, the Noah, against which Wakefield is written, is
    in the 9-line stanza of the Shepherds' Plays, and the Glovers' play of
    Abel, whether re-written by the same author or not, is, in its present
    form, certainly late work. With the exception of the Fishers, wo
    might say, without much exaggeration, that all the three crafts
    named, Dyers, Tanners, and Glovers, had some connection with the
    sheep, their hides and wool, which were probably the chief com-
    modities sold at the Woodkirk fair,¹ and so might have taken a
    special interest in any pageant likely to bring customers to it. But
    we are bound to remember that the connection with Woodkirk is
    a mere tradition, and that it is quite possible that the whole cycle
    belongs to Wakefield, which is the only place with which it is
    authoritatively connected.
    To bring literary criticism to bear on a cycle built up, even
    approximately, in the manner which I have suggested, is no easy
    1 If the Fishers, as at York, were allied with the Mariners, they too might
    be dragged in as concerned with the export trade. If they were Fishers, 'purs
    et simples,' one is tempted to say that they may have lent a hand at play.
    acting for the lack of sufficient employment in an inland town!
    The poetic worth of the Towneley Plays.
    xxix
    task. The plays were not written for our reading, but for the
    edification and amusement of the uncritical audience of their own
    day; and we can certainly say of them that, whatever effect the
    playwright aimed at, he almost always attained. Of the simply
    devotional plays the Annunciation seems to me the finest. The whole
    of this play, indeed, is full of tenderness; and there are touches in
    it in which Rossetti, if he knew it, must have delighted. The
    reconciliation between Joseph and the Blessed Virgin is delightful;
    and the passage in which Joseph describes his enforced marriage
    is really poetically written. One verse is especially quotable:
    Whan I all thus had wed hir thare,
    We and my madyns home can fare,
    That kyngys daughters were ;
    All wroght thay sylk to find them on,
    Maric wroght purpyll, the oder none
    bot othere colers scre.
    If this touch had been entirely of the dramatist's own invention he
    must, indeed, have been Rossetti's spiritual forbear; but it is needless
    to say that it comes from the apocryphal gospel of Mary, though he
    deserves all credit for bringing together two widely separated verses.¹
    The plays which I have put into my second group are on the
    whole very dull. The dramatist of the Abraham could not fail to
    attain to some pathos in the treatment of the scene between Isaac
    and his father; but though he avoids the mistake of the York play-
    wright who represented Isaac as a man of thirty, his handling of the
    scene is distinctly inferior to that of the Brome Play and the
    Chester cycle. The general characteristic, indeed, of the group is,
    that the playwright plods perseveringly through his subject, but
    never rises above the level of the honest journeyman.
    Between the dull work and the abounding humour and constant
    ¹ Chap. vi. 7: “But the Virgin of the Lord, Mary, with seven other virgins
    of the same age, who had been appointed to attend her by the priest,
    returned to her parents' house in Galilee;" and Chap. iv. 1—4 :
    "And it
    came to pass, in a council of the priests it was said, 'Let us make a new veil for
    the temple of the Lord.' And the high-priest said, 'Call together to me seven
    undefiled virgins of the tribe of David.' And the servants went and brought
    them unto the temple of the Lord; and the high-priest said unto them, 'Cast
    lots before me now, who of you shall spin the golden thread, who the blue, who
    the scarlet, who the fine linen, and who the true purple.' Then the high-priest
    knew Mary, that she was of the tribe of David; and he called her, and the
    true purple fell to her lot to spin, and she went away to her own house."
    (Hone's Apocryphal Gospels, 1820.)
    XXX The Writer of the Shepherds' Plays probably a Monk.
    allusiveness of the author of the plays in the 9-line stanza, the
    distance can only be measured by the two words respectability and
    genius. It is all the more pleasant to use the first to denote the dull
    level from which he keeps aloof, in that I have a strong suspicion
    that during his life the author of our 9-line stanza plays may
    have been censured for the lack of this very quality. His sympathy
    with poor folk, and his dislike of the "gentlery men" who oppressed
    them, seem something more than conventional; and his satiro is
    sometimes as grim as it is free. From his frequent allusions to
    music, his scraps of Latin and allusions to Latin authors, his dislike
    of Lollards, and the daring of some of his phrases, which seems to
    surpass what would have been permitted to a layman, it is probable
    that he was in orders; and the vision of the Friar Tuck of Peacock's
    Maid Marian rises up before me as I read his plays. As a dramatist
    it is difficult to praise him too highly, if we remember the limitations
    under which he worked, and the feeble efforts of his contemporaries
    and successors.
    The Secunda Pustorum, the survival of which "in Archie Arm-
    strang's Aith" Prof. Kölbing has so pleasantly illustrated (see his
    Appendix), is really perfect as a work of art; and if in the Prima
    Pustorum our author was only feeling his way, and in the Noah,
    Herod, etc., was cramped by the natural limitation of his subject, we
    have the more reason to regret that a writer of such real power had no
    other scope for his abilities than that offered by the cyclical miracle
    play. Even within these limits, however, he had room to display other
    gifts besides those of dramatic construction and humour. The threc
    speeches of the Shepherds to the little Jesus are exquisite in their
    rustic tenderness, and even if we may not attribute to him the really
    terrific picture of corruption in the Lazarus, there is contrast enough
    between these and the denunciation of the usurers and extortioners
    in the Judicium. Without his aid, the Towneley cycle would have
    been interesting, but not more interesting than any of its three
    competitors. His additions entitle it to be ranked among the great
    works of our earlier literature.
    ALFRED W. Pollard.

Appendix: The Secunda Pastorum and Archie Armstrang's Aith

by Eugen Kölbing

THE SECUNDA PASTORUM OF THE TOWNELEY PLAYS (p. 116 ff.) And
ARCHIE ARMSTRANG'S AITH.
BY PROF. E. KÖLBING, PH.D.
So far as I know, nobody has yet discovered that the leading
incident in the Second Play of the Shepherds is repeated in quite
another department of English Literature, viz. in Archie Armstrang's
Aith, by the Rev. John Marriott, printed in Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border,' 5th ed. vol. iii. Edinb., 1821, p. 481 ff. Archie
Armstrang was, as we learn from the Notes of this poem, p. 487 f.,
"a native of Eskdale, and contributed not a little towards the
raising his clan to that pre-eminence which it long maintained
amongst the Border thieves
and there distinguished himself
so much by zeal and assiduity in his professional duties, that at
length he found it expedient to emigrate. . . He afterwards
became a celebrated jester in the English Court. . . . He was
dismissed in disgrace in the year 1637.
The exploit detailed
in this ballad has been preserved, with many others of the same
kind, by tradition, and is at this time current in Eskdale."
·
The story runs as follows :—
• •
•
Archie has stolen a sheep, and is pursued by the shepherds, but manages to
reach his house, where, with the assistance of his wife, he skins the sheep,
throws its entrails and hide into the river, and stuffs the body into a
child's cradle. Then he sits down by it and sings a lullaby. At this very
moment the pursuers enter the house and declare him to be the thief. But
Archie protests, wants them to be quiet, because his child is dying, and
swears an oath, that, if he has ever lessened the herds of his neighbour, he will
eat the flesh that is now lying in the cradle. Besides, he gives them leave
to ransack every corner of his house in order to find the sheep which they say
he has stolen. So they search-naturally without result, and the shepherds
conclude that it was either the devil himself, that they saw running off with
the sheep, or that they mistook the culprit, and that Maggie Brown is the real
thief. As to Archie, when the shepherds are gone, he piques himself not a
little on his ability in representing a nurse; and, at the same time, says that
nobody is entitled to call him a perjurer, for he really cats up the sheep in the
cradle.
We see at once the striking point in the story, that the thief
and his wife hide the stolen sheep from the suspicious shepherds in
a cradle, is common to both versions. Besides, I ask my readers to
compare the following single passages.
When the thief returns to his house, his wife is afraid that he
will be discovered and tied up; he wants her to be quiet and to help
him. Towneley, p. 126-
Uxor: By the nakyd nek art thou lyke for to hyng.
Mak: Do way
Uxor: It were a fow blott to be hanged for the case.
Mak: I have skapyd, Jelott, oft as hard a glase.
Uxor: Bot so long goys the pott to the water, men says
At last
Mak:
Comys it home broken.
Wett knowe I the token,
Bot let it never be spoken,
Bot com and help fast.
I wold he were slayn, etc.
corresponds to Archie Armstrang's Aith, st. 6 f.
And oh! when he stepp'd o'er the door,
His wife she look'd aghast.
"A, wherefore, Archie, wad ye slight
Ilk word o' timely warning?
I trow ye will be ta'on the night,
And hangit i' the morning."
"Now hawd your tongue, ye prating wife,
I wad be laith to lose my life
And help me as ye dow;
For ae poor silly yowe.'
In Town., p. 130, the thief's wife gives the following advice-
Com and make redy alle, and syng by thyn oone,
Harken ay, when thay calle: thay will com anone.
Syng lullay thou shalle
....
Syng lullay on fast,
When thou heris at the last.
According to Archie Armstrang's Aith, st. 13 f., Archie performs
this skilful service—
And down sat Archie daintillie,
And rock'd it wi' his hand;
Siccan a rough nourice as e
Was not in a' the land.
And saftlie he began to croon,
"Hush, hushabye, my dear."
He hadna sang to sic a tune,
I trow, for mony a year.
the
the
Ar
is,
and
and
It i
izab
balla
1
writt
stran
Was S
made
that
Curat
wicks
sermo
Town
Armst
It
Collecti
Marriot
Prof. K
3
Archie Armstrang's Aith.
thief
erds in
ders to
hat he
-o help
rforms
xxxiii
For the rhyme croon tune we may compare the following lines in
the conversation of the shepherds in front of Mak's hut (p. 131)—
Tertius Pastor: Witt ye here how thay hak! Oure syre, lyst, croyne!
Primus Pastor: Hard I never none crak so clere out of toyne.
In Towneley, p. 133, Uxor says
I pray to God so mylde,
If ever I you begyld,
That I ete this chylde,
That dygys in this credyt.
Likewise in Archie Armstrang's Aith, st. 18, the husband-
If e'er I did sae fause a feat,
As thin my neebor's faulds,
May I doom'd the flesh to eat
This vera cradyl halds!
In both versions the shepherds, not having found anything, believe
they have made a mistake; Town., p. 134—
Primus Pastor: We have merkyd amys: I hold us begyld.
Archie Armstrang's Aith, st. 22—
Or aiblins Maggie's ta'en the yowe,
And thus beguiled your e'e.
The principal difference between the two versions of the same story
is, that in the play the thief, in spite of this trick, is finally discovered
and punished by lynch-law, whilst according to the ballad the thief
and his wife succeed in their plot, and the suspicion falls upon another.
It is in harmony with this difference that the seemingly not real-
izable oath is only of a secondary interest in the play, while in the
ballad it forms the centre of the whole.
Now the only MS. of the Towneley Plays seems to have been
written in the beginning of the fifteenth century, whilst Archie Arm-
strang's Aith, belonging to the "Imitations of the ancient ballad,"
was scarcely composed long before 1802, in which year the Minstrelsy'
made its first appearance in the literary world. It is most unlikely
that John Marriott,-who, according to Allibone's Dictionary, was
Curate of Broad- Clift, Devon, and Rector of Church Liford, War-
wickshire, and in 1820 and 1836 published some collections of
sermons,-borrowed this story from the then unprinted MS. of the
Towneley Plays and transferred it, of his own authority, to Archie
Armstrang, so that the whole of his notes were a forgery. It is much
It is perhaps worth noting that the Secunda Pastorum was printed in the
Collection of English Miracle Plays published at Basel in 1888 by a Dr. William
Marriott, who may possibly have been a relation of the Rev. John Marriott of
Prof. Kölbing's ballad.-A. W. P.
3
C
xxxiv Appendix. Archie Armstrang's Aith.
more credible that this funny tale was preserved by oral traditions,
possibly in a metrical form. The tale was first brought into the
Christmas story by the author of the Towneley Play, and afterwards,
in the seventeenth century, transferred to the famous thief and jester,
Archie Armstrang.
Whether the happy or unhappy end of the story is to be considered
as the original one, is a question, which, in the want of other
materials, we shall perhaps never be able to solve with any certainty.¹
This little paper is englisht from the original in the Zeitschrift
fir vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte, herausgegeben von M. Koch.
Neue Folge. Elfter Band, p. 137 ff.-E. K.
1 As "bang went saxpence" would have been the result of the Shepherds
kissing the babe in the cradle, I suggest that Scotch shepherds, at any rate, would
never have thought of incurring such an awful liability.-F. J. F.

I. The Creation

The Creation

THE TOWNELEY PLAYS.
(I.)
[267 lincs, in stanzas and couplets. Stanzas 12-15 have 10
(aabab aabab), 7 (aab ab ab), 5 and (aabab) lines
respectively, the rest 6 (aab ccb).]
[Dramatis Personae.
Deus.
Angeli Mali 1 et 2.¹
Demones 1 et 2.1
Cherubyn.
Lucifer.
Angeli Boni 1 et 2.
Adam.
Eua.]
IN dei nomine amen.
Assit Principio, Sancta Maria, Meo. Wakefeld.
[Deus]
E
[SCENE I. Heaven.]
(1)
go sum alpha et' o,
I am the first, the last also,
Oone god in mageste;
Meruelus, of myght most,
ffader, & son, & holy goost,
On god in trinyte.
I am without begynnyng',
(2)
My godhede hath none endyng',
I am god in troue ;
Oone god in persons thre,
Which may neuer twynnyd be,
ffor I am god alone.
(3)
AH maner thyng' is in my thoght,
Withoutten me ther may be noȝt,
ffor all is in my sight;
hit shall be done after my will,
that I haue thoght I shaH fulfH
And manteyn with my myght.
1 These may be the same.
BARKERS.
3
6
12
[Fol. 1, a.]
God declares
His nature
& might.
Nothing may
exist with-
15 out Him.
18
God begins
the work of
creation.
The 1st day:
the parting
of darkness
& light.
(4)
At the begynnyng of oure dede
make we heuen) & erth, on brede,
and lyghtys fayre to se,
21
ffor it is good to be so;
darknes from light we parte on two,
In tyme to scrue and be.
24
(5)
Darknes we call the nyght,
and lith also the bright,
It shall be as I say ;
27
after my will this is furþ broght',
Euen) and morne both ar thay wroght,
and thus is maid a day.
The 2nd day: In medys the water, bi oure assent,
the firma-
ment divides be now maide the firmament,
the waters,
30
(6)
And parte ather' from othere,
33
Water aboue, I-wis;
Euen and morne maide is this
A day, [so was] the tothere.
(7)
36
The 3rd day: Waters, that' so wyde ben) spred,
the division
of earth &
sea.
be gedered to geder in to one stedo,
that' dry the erth nay seym);
that at is dry the erth shall be,
The earth to
bring forth
fruit.
the waters also I call the see;
this warke to me is queme.
(8)
Out of the erth herbys shal spryng',
Trees to florish and frute furth bryng',
thare kynde that it' be kyd.
This is done after my will;
39
42
45
Even) & morn) maide is ther' til
A day, this is the thryd.
(9)
[M8. thyrd.]
48
The 4th day: Son & moyne set in the heuen),
creation of
sun & moon. With starnes, & the planettys seuen),
To stand in thare degre;
51
The son to serue the day lyȝt',
moyne also to serue the nyght';
The
The fourte day shall this be.
(10)
The water to norish the fysh swymand,
The erth to norish bestys cropeand,
That fly or go may.
Multiplye in erth, and be
In my blyssyng', wax now ye;
This is the fyft day.
(11)
Cherubyn'. Oure lord god in trynyte,
Myrth and lovyng' be to the,
Myrth and lovyng' ouer al thyng';
ffor thou has made ¹, with thi bidyng',
Heuen), & erth, and all that is,
and giffen) vs Ioy that neuer shał mys.
Lord, thou art full mych of myght,
that has maide lucifer so bright;
we loue the, lord, bright' ar' we,
bot none of vs so bright as he :
54
The 5th day:
the creation
of fish &
"creeping
57 beasts that
may,
60
64
go.
By or
(Cp.
162, 163.J
(Fol. 1, b.]
Cherubim
praise God.
68 He has made
all of them
bright, but
Lucifer
brightest.
He may well hight lucifere,
ffor luffy light that he doth bere.
He is so lufly and so bright
It is grete ioy to se that' sight;
We lofe the, lord, with all oure thoght,
that sich thyng can make of noȝt.
72
76
hic deus receilit à suo solio & lucifer sedebit in eodem solio.
(12)
Lucifer. Certys, it is a semely sight,
Syn that we ar all angels bright,
77
Lucifer
prides him-
self on his
brightness &
81 strength.
and euer in blis to be;
If that' ye will behold me right,
this mastre longys to me.
I am so fare and bright,
of me commys all this light,
this gam) and all this gle;
19
The words "has made' are in a later hand, the originals
having been obliterated.
3 ⭑
Agans my grete myght
1 may [no]thyng' stand [ne] be.
And ye well me behold
I am a thowsand fold
(13)
brighter then) is the son);
my strengthe may not be told,
my myȝt may no thyng' kon;
Who shall be In heuen, therfor, wit I wold
above him in
heaven?
Above me who shuld won).
(14)
ffor' I am lord of blis,
He is so
Beemly he
will take
God's throne
as King of
bliss.
[He seats
himself &]
asks the
angels how
he looks.
ouer at this warld, I-wis,
My myrth is most of aH;
the[r]for my wiłł is this,
master' ye shall me cał.
(15)
And ye shal se, full sone ouone,
How that me semys to sit in trone
as kyng' of blis;
I am so semely, blode & bone,
my sete shall be ther' as was his.
(16)
Say, felows, how semys now me
To sit in seyte of trynyte?
I am so bright' of ich a lym
86
93
98
103
The bad
praise, and
the good
warn him.
I trow me seme as well as hym).
107
primus angelus malus. Thou art so fayre vnto my
syght,
thou semys well to sytt on hiȝt ;
So thynke me that thou doyse.
primus bonus angelus. I rede ye leyfe that vanys
royse,
111
ffor that seyte may now angel seme
So well as hym) that aH shaH deme.
Secundus bonus angelus. I reyde ye sese of that ye sayn),
ffor well I wote ye carpe in vayne;
hit semyd hym) neuer, ne neuer shał,
So well as hym) that has maide ał.
¹ MS. may thyng' stand then) be.
115
Secundus malus angelus. Now, and bi oght that I can witt,
he semys full well theron) to sytt;
119
The bad
angels think
him as fit to
sit in God's
seat as God
Himself.
He is so fayre, withoutten) les,
he semys full well to sytt on des.
therfor, felow, hold thi peasse,
and vmbithynke the what thow saysse.
123
he semys as well to sytt there
as god hymself, if he were here.
Lucifer'. leyf felow, thynk the not' so?
126
primus malus angelus. Yee, god wote, so dos othere mo. [Fol. 2, a.]
primus bonus [Angelus]. Nay, forsoth, so thynk not vs.
lucifer. Now, therof a leke what rekys vs?
Syn) I my self am so bright
therfor will I take a flyȝt.¹
Tunc exibunt demones clamando, & dicit primus,
[SOENE II. Hell.]
primus demon'. Alas, alas, and wele-wo!
131
Lucifer says
he will take
a flight.¹
lucifer', whi felt thou so?
We, that were angels so fare,
and sat so hie aboue the ayere,
135
Now ar we waxen) blak as any coy,
and vgly, tatyrd as a foył.
What' alyd the, lucifer, to fal
The devils
reproach
Lucifer.
139
They are
waxen black
as coal.
was thou not farist of angels a}}
Brightist, and best, & most of luf
With god hym self, that syttys aboyf?
thow has maide [neyn,2] there was [ten,³]
thow art' foul comyn from thi kyn);
thou art fallen, that was the teynd,
ffrom an angel to a feynd.
He has made
nine where
143 there were
ten [i.e. a
tenth part
of each order
of angels has
fallen. Cp.
11. 256, 257].
thow has vs doyn a vyle dispyte,
and broght thi self to sorow and sitt.
Alas, ther' is noght els to say
bot' we ar tynt for now and ay.
147
149
Secundus demon.-Alas, the ioy that we were In
haue we lost, for oure syn).
A scribe has mistaken Lucifer's boastful flight for his fall.
One or more stanzas containing either a speech of Deus (cp. Chester
and Coventry Plays) or the exclamations of the devils as they fall
(ep. Fork Plays) must have been omitted.
MS. ix.
8 MS. I.
We may
curse our
wicked
pride: "so
may ye all
that stand
beside."
alas, that' euer cam pride in thoght,
ffor it has broght vs aH to noȝt.
We were in myrth and Ioy enoȝe
When lucifer to pride droȝ.
Alas, we may warrie wikkyd pride,
so may ye all that' standys be side;
153
157
We held with hym) ther' he saide leasse,
and therfor haue we al vnpeasse.
Alas, alas, oure Ioye is tynt,
We mon) haue payne that neuer shał stynt.
161
God pro-
ceeds to
make man.
[SCENE III. Earth.]
(17)
Deus.-Erthly bestys, that may crepe and go,
bryng ye furth and wax ye mo,
I se that it is good;
164
now make we man to oure liknes,
that' shall be keper of more & les,
of fowles and fysh in flood.
(18)
El tunget eum.
167
spreyte of life I in the blaw,
good and it both shał thow knaw;
rise vp, and stand bi me.
AH that is in water or land,
170
It' shah bow vnto thi hand,
and sufferan) shalt thou be;
(19)
173
strength, the
He gives
him know-
ledge,
government
of the world,
paradise Myrth and Ioy to haue at wiH,
to dwell in.
I gif the witt, I gif the strenght,
of all thou sees, of brede & lengthe;
thou shall be wonder wise.
176
AH thi likyng to fulfiH,
and dwell in paradise.
179
(20)
This I make thi wonnyng playce,
ffult of myrth and of solace,
and I seasse the therin.
182
It is not good to be alone,
to walk here in this worþely wone,
In all this welthly wyn);
185
(21)
therfor, a rib I from the take,
therof shall be [maide] thi make,
And be to thi holpyng'.
Ye both to gouerne that here is,
and euer more to be in blis,
ye wax in my blissyng'.
(22)
ye shall have Ioye & blis therin,
while ye wil kepe you out of syn),
I say without[ten] lese.
God makes
woman to
be man's
188 helping.
191
Ryse vp, myn) angel cherubyn),
Take and leyd theym) both in,
And leyf them) there in peasse.
194
(Fol. 2, b.)
And bids an
angel lead
them to
197
paradise.
Tunc capit cherubyn' adam per manum, & dicit eis
dominus,
(23)
Heris thou adam, and eue thi wife,
I forbede you the tre of life,
And I commaund, that' it be gat',
Take which ye wit, bot neȝ not' that'.
Adam, if thou breke my rede,
thou shall dye a dulfuł dede.
Cherubyn'. Oure lord, oure god, thi wit be done;
I shatt go with theym) full sone.
ffor soth, my lord, I shał not sted
til I haue theym) theder led.
201
205
we thank the, lord, with full good chere,
that has maide man to be oure feere. [Exit Deus.] 209
Com furth, adam, I shaft the leyd;
God forbids
Adanı and
Eve the
tree of life.
take tent to me, I shall the reyd.
The Angel
instructs
Adam.
I rede the thynk how thou art wroȝt,
and luf my lord in all thi thoght,
213
That has maide the thrugh his will,
angels crdir to fulfiH.
Many thyngys he has the giffen,
and maide the master of att that' liffen);
217
He has forbed the bot' a tre;
look that thou let it be,
Adam and
Eve con-
gratulate
themselves
& thank
ffor if thou breke his commaundment,
thow skapys not' bot' thou be shent.
Weynd here in to paradise,
and luke now that' ye be wyse,
And kepe you well, for I must go
vnto my lord, ther' I cam) fro.
221
[Exit Cherubyn.] 225
Adam'. Almyghty lord, I thank it the
that is, and was, and shał be,
God.
Of thi luf and of thi grace,
ffor now is here a mery place;
229
Eue, my felow, how thynk the this?
Era. A stede me thynk of Ioye and blis,
That god has giffen) to the and me;
233
Adam bida
Eve keep
away from
the Tree of
Life.
The tenth
order of
angels is
fallen.
Withoutten) ende blissyd be he.
Adam'. Eue, felow, abide me thore,
ffor I will go to viset more,
To se what trees that here been);
here ar wel moo then) we have seen),
Gresys, and othere small floures,
that' smell full swete, of seyr coloures.
Eua. Gladly, sir, I will full fayne;
When) ye haue sene theym), com) agane.
Adam'. Bot' luke wet, eue, my wife,
that' thow neȝ not the tree of life;
ffor if thou do he bese it paide;
then be we tynt', as he has saide.
Eua. Go furth and play the all abouto,
I shall not neȝ it while thou) art' oute;
ffor be thou sekyr' I were ful loth
237
241
245
ffor any thyng that he were wroth. [Exeunt Adam & Eve.]
[SCENE IV.
Hell.]
Lucifer. Who wend euer this tyme haue seyn)?
We, that in sich myrth haue beyn),
That we shuld suffre so mych wo?
Who wold euer trow it' shuld be so?
[¹ Ten] orders in heuen were
of angels, that had offyce sere;
Of ich order, in thare degre,
the [2 teynd] parte fell downe with me;
1 MS. X.
253
257
8 MS. X.
ffor' thay held with me that tyde,
and mantenyd me in my pride;
Bot' herkyns, felows, what I say—
the Ioy that we haue lost for ay,
God has maide man with his hend,
to haue that' blis withoutten end,
The ¹ neyn ordre to fulfitt,
that' after vs left, sicħ is his wiłł.
And now ar thay in paradise ;
bot' thens thay shat, if we be wise.
261
265
267
God has
made man
to fill its
place.
The MS. has apparently lost 12 leaves here, containing (no
doubt) the Temptation of Eve and the Expulsion of her and Adam
from Paradise.

II. The Killing of Abel

Mactacio Abel

(II.)
Mactacio abel. Secunda pagina.
[478 lines in thirteens (aaab ccccb bdbd, no. 1), twelves (aaab cccb
bdbd, no. 8), elevens (aab cccb, no 2—or aaab ccb, no. 7-bdbd),
nines, eights (aaab bcbc, no. 6, or cccb, no. 10; aaa bbb cc,
no. 14), sevens (aaab ccb, no. 4; aab ab cc, no. 16), sixes, fives
(aa bbb, no. 5), fours (ab ab, no. 13), threes and twos.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Garcio.
Garcio.
Cayn.
Abel.
(1)
[Fol. 3, a.)
Deus.]
Glover Pag....
Garcio
A
H hay, aй hay, both blithe and glad,
ffor here com I, a mery lad;
be peasse youre dyn, my master bad,
Or els the dwill you spede.
Wote ye not I com before?
Bot who that' Ianglis any more
He must' blaw my blak hoit bore,
both behynd and before,
Til his tethe blede.
ffelows, here I you forbede
To make nother nose ne cry;
Who so is so hardy to do that' dede
8
The dwill hang hym vp to dry.
1 MS. ix.
In a later hand.
• MS. dewill; the "e" having been overlined by a later hand.
13
makes a
ranting
speech.
(2)
His master Gedlyngis, I am a fute grete wat,
is a good
yeoman:
A good yoman my master' hat,
ffull well ye al hym ken);
ill to quarrel Begyn he with you for to stryfe,
with.
Cain calls to
his mare.
certis, then mon ye neuer thryfe ;
Bot I trow, bi god on life,
Som of you ar his men.
Bot' let youre lippis couer youre ten,
harlottis, euerichon !
ffor if my master' com, welcom) hym then).
ffarewell, for I am gone.
16
20
[Exit Garcio.] 24
[Enter Cain, ploughing.]
(3)
Cayn'. Io furth, greyn-horne! and war' oute, gryme |
Drawes on! god gif you it to tyme!
Ye stand as ye were fallen in swyme;
What! will ye no further, mare?
Pull on a bit, War! let' me se how down) wiłł draw;
you shrew.
Yit, shrew, yit, put on a thraw!
28
What it' semys for me ye stand none aw!
I say, donnyug, go fare l
32
You're the
worst mare
I ever had
in plough.
A, ha god gif the soro & care!
lo! now hard she what I saide;
now yit' art thou the warst mare
In plogh that' euer I haide.
(4)
He calls the How! pike-harnes, how! com heder belife!
Boy.
36
[Enter Garcio.
They
Garcio. I fend, godis forbot, tha' euer thou thrife!
wrangle.
Cayn. What', boy, shal I both hold and drife?
39
heris thou not how I cry?
Garcio. Say, mal and stott, will ye not' go?
Lemyng', moret, white-horne, Io!
now will ye not se how thay hy?
(5)
43
Fol. 8, b.]
Cayn'. Gog gif the sorow, boy; want of mete it gars.
Garcio. thare prouand, sir, for thi, I lay behynd thare ars,
And tyes them fast bi the nekis,
With many stanys in thare hek is.
Cayn'. That shall bi thi fals chekis.
48
(6)
Garcio. And haue agane as riȝt.
Cayn. I am thi master, wilt thou fight?
Garcio. Yai, with the same mesure and weȝt
That I b ro wit I qwite.
Cuyn. We! now, no thyng', bot call on tyte,
that we had ployde this land.
Garcio. harrer, moreH, iofurth, hyte!
49 Cain offers
to fight him.
The Boy is
52
quite ready.
and let the ploȝ stand.
[Enter Abel.]
(7)
56
Abel. God, as he both may and can,
Spede the, brother', & thi man.
Cayn. Com kis myne ars, me list not ban,
As welcom standis ther' oute.
Thou shuld haue bide til thou were cald;
57 Abel bids
them God
speed.
60 Cain tells
him he isn't
wanted.
Com nar, & other drife or hald,
and kys the dwillis toute.
63
Go grese thi shepe vnder the toute,
ffor that is the moste lefe.
Abel. broder, ther' is none here aboute
that' wold the any grefe ;
67
(8)
bot', leif brother', here my sawO—
It is the custom of oure law,
AH that wyrk as the wise
shall worship god with sacrifice.
tenths of
71
Abel exhorts
him to come
& make
burnt-offer-
ings of his
corn &
cattle.
Oure fader' vs bad, oure fader vs kend,
that oure tend shuld be brend.
Com furth, brothere, and let vs gang
To worship god; we dwell full lang';
75
Gif we hym parte of oure fee,
77
Corne or catal, wheder it be.
(9)
And therfor, brother, let vs weynd,
And first clens vs from the feynd
or' we make sacrifice;
Then blis withoutten end
get we for oure seruyce,
82
Cain will
none of his
sermoning.
(10)
Of hym that' is oure saulis leche.
83
Cayn'. How! let furth youre geyse, the fox will precħe;
How long wilt thou me appech
With thi sermonyng'?
86
Hold thi tong', yit I say,
Euen ther' the good wife strokid the hay ;
90
He won't
leave his
plough & his
work. God
only gives
him sorrow
& woe.
[Fol. 4, a,]
Or sit downe in the dwiłł way,
With thi vayn carpyng'.
(11)
Shuld I leife my plogh & all thyng
And with the to make offeryng
go
Nay thou fyndys me not so mad!
Go to the dwiH, and say I bad!
What' gifys god the to rose hym so?
me gifys he noght bot' soro and wo.
(12)
Abel. Caym, leife this vayn carpyng,
ffor god giffys the att thi lifyng.
94
96
Cayn'. Yit boroed I neuer a farthyng
99
of hym, here my hend.
Abel says
their elders
have told
them they
must tithe &. first shuld we tend with oure hend,
make burnt-
offering.
and to his lofyng sithen be brend.
AbeH. Brother, as elders haue vs kend,
103
(13)
Cayn'. My farthyng is in the preest hand
syn last tyme I offyrd.
Abel. leif brother, let vs be walkand;
I wold oure tend were profyrd.
107
(14)
Cain replies
Cayn'. We! wherof shuld I tend, leif brothere?
here
he is worse
off each
year.
ffor' I am ich yere wars then othere,
my
My wynnyngis ar bot meyn),
trouth it is none othere;
No wonder if that' I be leyn;
ffull long till hym I may me meyn),
113
ffor' bi hym that me dere boȝt,
I traw that he will leyn me noȝt.
115
110
(15)
Abel. Yis, all the good thou has in wone
Of godis grace is bot a lone.
Cayn'. Lenys he me, as com thrift apon
ffor he has euer yit beyn my fo;
ffor had he my freynd beyn,
Other gatis it had beyn seyn.
When al mens corn was fayre in feld
Then was myne not worth a neld¹;
When I shuld saw, & wantyd seyde,
And of corn had fuł grete neyde,
Then gaf he me none of his,
No more with I gif hym of this.
hardely hold me to blame
bot if I serue hym of the same.
Abel. Leif brother, say not so,
bot let vs furth togeder go;
Good brother, let vs weynd sone,
no longer here I rede we hone.
Cayn'. Yei, yei, thou Iangyls waste;
the dwiH me spede if I haue hast,
As long as I may lif',
to dele my good or gif
Ather to god or yit to man),
of any good that' euer I wan);
ffor' had I giffen away my goode,
then myȝt I go with a ryffen) hood,
And it is better hold that' I haue
then go
from doore to doore & craue.
the so?
Abel. Brother, com furth, in godis name,
I am full ferd that we get blame;
Hy we fast that' we were thore.
119 God has
always been
his foe.
His own
corn is the
123 worst of
127
131
anybody's.
135 He is in no
haste to give.
139
If he had
given away
his good he
might go
with a torn
hood.
143 Better keep.
Cayn'. We! ryn on), in the dwiHs nayme Before! 147
Wemay, man, I hold the mad!
than beg.
wenys thou now that I list gad
To gif away my warldis aght?
the dwiłł hym spede that me so taȝt!
what' nede had I my traue to lose,
to were my shoyn & ryfe my hose?
1 MS. an eld.
[Fol. 4, b.]
He thinks
Abel mad.
151
Abel doesn't
want to go
without him.
AbeH. Dere brother, hit were grete wonder
that I & thou shuld go in sonder',
155
Then wold oure fa ler haue grete forly;
Ar we not brether, thou & I?
Cayn'. No, bot cry on, cry, whyls the thynk good;
Here my trowth, I hold the woode;
159
Wheder that he be blithe or wroth
to dele my good is me ful lothe.
I hauc gone oft' on softer wise
ther' I trowed som prow wold rise.
163
I ace I must Bot' well I se go must I nede;
come then.
Go on be-
fore.
now weynd before, iH myght thou spede!
syn that we shall algatis go.
Abel. leif brother', whi sais thou so?
167
Let us go
together,
Bay's Abel.
Bot' go we furth both togeder;
blissid be god we haue fare weder.
Cayn'. lay downe thi trussel apon this hiH.
Abel. fforsoth broder, so I wiH :
171
Gog of heuen, take it to good.
You tithe
first, say's
Cain.
I pray to the thou here my steven,
And take in thank, if thi will be,
the tend that I offre here to the;
ffor I gif it in good entent
to the, my lord, that all has sent.
Cayn'. Thou shall tend first if thou were wood.
AbeH. God that shops both erth and heucn),
175
179
Abel burns
I bren it now, with stedfast thoȝt,
his tithes.
In worship of hym that' aH has wroȝt.
Cayn'. Ryse! let me now, syn thou has done;
tithing.
Cain begins lord of heuen, thou here my boyne!
And ouer, godis forbot, be to the
183
thank or thew to kun me;
ffor, as browke I thise two shankys,
It is full sore, myne vnthankys,
187
The teynd that I here gif to the,
of corn, or thyng, that newys me;
Bot now begyn wit I then,
syn I must' nede my tend to bren).
191
Oone shefe, oone, and this makys two,
bot' nawder of thise may I forgo:
Two, two, now this is thre,
yei, this also shał leif with me:
ffor I with chose and best' haue,
this hold I thrift' of all this thrafe ;
Wemo, wemo, foure, lo, here!
better groved me no this
yere.
At yere tyme I sew fayre corn,
yit was it sich when it' was shorne,
Thystyls & brerys, yei grete plente,
And all kyn wedis that myght be,
ffoure shefis, foure, lo, this makis fyfe-
deyH I fast' thus long or I thrife-
ffyfe and sex, now this is sevyn,
bot' this gettis neuer god of heuen ;
Nor' none of thise fouro, at my myght,
shał neuer com in godis sight.
195 He chooses
& keeps the
best for
himself,
grumbling
all the time.
199
Cain keeps
on counting.
203 [The repeti
tion of the
numbers
may mean
that he
counts 20
sheaves as
207 10, so as to
pay a 20th
instead of a
10th.]
Sevyn, sevyn, now this is aght,
Abel. Cain, brother, thou art not' god betaght'.
211
Cuyn. We! therfor' is it' that I say,
ffor I will not deyle my good away :
Bot' had I gyffen) hym this to teynd
Then wold thou say he were my Freynd;
Bot' I thynk not, bi my hode,
To departe so lightly fro my goode.
we! aght, aght', & neyn, & ten is this,
we! this may we best mys.
Gif hym that that' ligis thore?
[Fol. 5, a.
Big. C. 1.J
215
219 We may best
do without
this one.
It goyse agans myn hart' ful sore.
(16)
Abel. Cam! teynd right of all bedeyn.
221
Cayn. we! lo twelve, fyfteyn, sexteyn
Abel. Caym, thou tendis wrang, and of the warst'.
Cayn'. we! com nar', and hide myne een);
Abel tells
him he is
In the wenyand wist' ye now at last,
Or' els will thou that I wynk?
then shall I doy no wrong, me thynk.
let' me se now how it' is-
(17)
lo, yit' I hold me paido;
I teyndyd wonder well bi ges,
And so euen I laide.
tithing
226
wrongly &
of the worst
228
232
¹ MS. xij, xv, xv!
D
Devil speed
me if he get
a sheaf more.
I had many
a weary back
in getting
this.
(18)
Abel. Came, of god me thynke thou has no drede.
Cume. Now and he get more, the dwiłł me spede!
As mych as oone reepe,
ffor that cam hym full light chepe;
Not as mekit, grete ne smał,
as he myght wipe his ars with ał.
236
ffor that, and this that lyys here,
haue cost me fuł dere;
240
Or it was shorne, and broght in stak,
had I many a wery bak;
Therfor aske me no more of this,
ffor I haue giffen that my wiH is.
Abel. Cam, I rede thou tend right
244
ffor drede of hym that sittis on hight.
Never you
mind how
Cayn'. How that I tend, rek the neuer a deill,
I'in tithing. bot' tend thi skabbid shepe wele;
248
ffor if thou to my teynd tent' take,
It' bese the wars for thi sake.
Thou wold I gaf hym this shefe, or this sheyfe;
Here are two na, nawder of thise [two ¹] wil I leife ;
252
sheaves, and
that must
do.
Bot take this, now has he two,
and for my sauł now mot it go,
Bot' it gos sore agans my wiłł,
and shal he like fut iH.
256
Abel. Cam, I reyde thou so teynd
that' god of heucn be thi freynd.
Cayn'. My freynd? na, not bot' if he will!
I did hym neuer yit bot skitt.
260
If he be neuer so my fo,
I am avisid gif hym no mo;
Bot' chaunge thi conscience, as I do myn,
yit' teynd thou not thi mesel swyne?
264
AbeH. If thou teynd right thou mon) it fynde.
Cayn. Yei, kys the dwits ars behynde;
The dwill hang the bi the nek!
how that I teynd, neuer thou rek.
268
Cease your
jangling.
Wilt thou not yit hold thi peasse?
of this Ianglyng I reyde thou seasse.
And teynd I well, or tend I iH,
bere the euen & speke bot skit.
272
1 MS ::
Bot now syn thou has teyndid thyne,
Now will I set fyr on myne.
We! out! haro! help to blaw!
It' will not' bren for me, I traw;
Puf! this smoke dos me mych shame—
now bren, in the dwillys name!
A! what dwill of helt is it?
Almost had myne breth beyn dit
had I blawen) oone blast more
I had beyn choked right thore;
It' stank like the dwit in hell,
He sets fire
(Fol. 6, a.
Sig. C. 2.11
to his offer
ing.
276
Cain's offer-
ing won't
burn, but
almost
chokes him
280 with smoke
that longer ther myght I not dwelt.
Abel. Cam, this is not worth oone leke;
thy tend shuld bren withoutten) smeke.
Caym'. Com kys the dwilt right in the ars,
for the it' brens bot' the wars;
I wold that' it were in thi throte,
ffyr, & shefe, and ich a sprote.
Deus. Cam, whi art thou so rebełł
Agans thi brother' abel?
Thar' thou nowther flyte ne chyde,
284
288
[God appears above.]
if thou tend right thou gettis thi mede;
And be thou sekir, if thou teynd fals,
thou bese alowed ther after als.
Abel says it
is no good.
Cain reviles
him.
God reproves
Cain. As he
292 tithes so
shall he
[Exit Deus.] 296
Caym'. Whi, who is that hob-ouer-the-wał !
receive.
Cain scoffs
at God.
(19)
we! who was that' that' piped so smał?
"Who is that
hob-over-
Com go we hens, for perels at;
the-wall?"
God is out of hys wit.
300
Com furth, abel, & let vs weynd;
Me thynk that god is not my freynd,
(20)
on land then will I flyt.
Abel. A, Caym, brother, that' is it done.
Cayn'. No, bot' go we hens sone;
The writer of MS. 'has by mistake continued his lines on Fol.
6 a, instead of fol. 5 b, and has made a note in red ink on top
of fol. 5 b. as follows;-"[M]d that this syde of the leyfe [sh]uld
folow the other next syde [ac]cordyng to the tokyns here maide,
[an]d then after al stondys in ordre."
303
Abel is
shocked.
He says he
will go to his
beasts.
And if I may, I shał be
ther as god shalt not' me see.
Abel. Dere brother', I will fayre
on feld ther' oure bestis ar,
307
Cain stops
him and
Bays it is
time to pay
Abel what
he owes him.
Why did
your tithe
burn & not
mine?
To looke if thay be holgh or full.
Caym'. Na, na, abide, we haue a craw to puł;
311
Hark, speke with me or thou go;
what! wenys thou to skape so?
we! na! I aght the a fowl dispyte,
and now is tyme that I hit qwite.
315
Abel. Brother, whi art' thou so to me in Ire?
Caym'. we! theyf, whi brend thi tend so shyre?
Ther myne did bot smoked
right as it wold vs both hauc choked.
319
I will take
your life for
it with this
cheek bone.
Abel. Godis will I trow it' were
that' myn brened so clere ;
¹ If thyne smoked am I to wite?
Caym'. we! yei! that shal thou sore abite;
323
with cheke bon, or that I blyn,
shal I the & thi life twyn;
[Cain kills Abel.]
So lig down ther' and take thi rest,
thus shall shrewes be chastysed best.
327
(21)
Abel cries
for venge-
ance.
Abel. Veniance, veniance, lord, I cry!
for I am slayn, & not' gilty.
Cayn'. Yei, ly ther old shrew, ly ther', ly!
330
(22)
If any one
thinks he
did ainiss,
Cain will
And if any of you thynk I did amys
I shal it' amend wars then it' is,
make things
worse.
[Fol. 5, b.]
But now
that Abel is
brought to
sleep he
would fain
creep into a
hole for 40
days.
that' all men may it se :
weł wars then it' is
right so shall it be.
(23)
Bot' now, syn he is Broȝt on Slepe,
Into Som hole fayn wold I crepe ;
ffor ferd I qwake and can no rede,
ffor be I taken, I be bot dede;
333
335
339
1 Originally written "I am not to wite"; "I" and "not" have
been struck out with red ink, and "I" placed after "am."
here will I lig thise fourty dayes,
And I shrew hym that me fyrst rayse.
Deus. Caym, Caym!
[God appears above.]
God calls to
Cain.
Caym.
who is that that' callis mo?
I am yonder, may thou not' se?
343
Deus. Caym, where is thi brother' abel?
Where is thy
brother?
Caym. what askis thou me? I trow at heH:
At hell I trow he be-
who so were ther' then myght he se—
where fallen on slepyng;
Or somw
when was he in my kepyng?
Cain
answers he
347 may be in
hell or
asleep.
Deus. Caym, Caym, thou was wode;
The voyce of thi brotheris blode
351
That thou has slayn, on fals wise,
from erth to heucn venyance cryse.
God curses
him.
And, for thou has broght thi brother' downe,
here I gif the my malison.
355
Caym'. Yei, dele aboute the, for I will none,
or take it the when I am gone.
Cain says
since he has
lost God's
grace he will
Syn I haue done so mekiłł syn,
that I may not thi mercy wyn,
hide himself.
359
And thou thus dos me from thi grace,
I shall hyde me fro thi face;
And where so any man may fynd me,
Let hym slo me hardely;
And where so any man may me meyte,
Ayther bi sty, or yit bi strete;
And hardely, when I am dede,
bery me in gudeboure at the quare hede,
ffor, may I pas this place in quarte,
If any man
find him, let
363 him alay
him and
bury hin
"in gude-
boure at the
quarell
head."
367
bi al men set I not a fart.
Deus. Nay, caym, it' bese not so;
I will that no man other' slo,¹
God will not
let him be
371 slain.
ffor he that sloys yong or old
It shall be punyshid sevenfold.
[Exit Deus.]
Caym'. No force, I wote wheder I shal;
In het I wote mon be iny staH.
It is no boyte mercy to craue,
375 Cain knows
that hell will
be his place.
ffor if I do I mon none haue;
377
Opposite this line a later hand has added in the margin,
"& that shaft do thy boddy der."
4 ⭑
He wants to Bot' this cors I wold were hid,
hide the
body.
If Pike-
harnes were
there they
would bury
it together.
Cain calls
Pyke-
378
ffor som man myȝt' com at vngayn,
381
'ffle fals shrew,' wold he bid,
And weyn I had my brother' slayn.
Bot' were pike-harnes, my knafe, here,
we shuld bery hym) both in fere.
How, pyke-harnes, scape-thryft! how, pike-harnes, how!
Garcio. Master, master' !
Cayn'. harstow, boy ther' is a podyng' in the pot;
385
harnes and
hits him
take the that, boy, tak the that!
Garcio. I shrew thi bał vnder thi hode,
If thou were my syre of flesh & blode;
AH the day to ryn and trott',
389
And euer amang thou strykeand,
Thus am I comen bofettis to fott.
to keep his
hand in.
Cayn'. Peas, man, I did it bot to vse my hand;
393
(24)
Bot Harke, boy, I haue a counsel to the to Say—
[Fol. 6, b.]
He tells him
he has slain
Abel.
The boy
cries out
upon him,
I sloȝ my brother' this same day;
I pray the, good boy, and thou may,
to ryn away with the bayn.
397
Garcio. We! out apon the, thefe !
has thou thi brother' slayn?
Caym. Peasse, man, for godis payn!
400
(25)
We shall
come off ill
if the bailies
catch us.
I saide it for a skaunce.
Garcio. Yey, bot' for ferde of grevance
here
the forsake;
we mon haue a mekit myschaunce
and the bayles vs take.
Caym'. A, sir, I cry you mercy; seasse!
405
(26)
Cain pro-
mises to cry and I shał make you a relcasse.
his peace.
Garcio. what, wilt thou cry my peasse
(27)
408
thrughout this land?
Cayn'.
Yey, that' I gif god a vow, belife.
Garcio. how wit thou do long or thou thrife?
Caym'. Stand vp, my good boy, belife,
and thaym peasse both man & [w]ife;
412
(28)
And who so wiH do after me
fful slape of thrift' then shal he be.
Bot' thou must be my good boy,
and cry oyes, oyes, oy!
Garcio. Browes, browes, to thi boy.
(29)
Caym'. I commaund you in the kyngis nayme,
Garcio. And in my masteres, fals Cayme,
Caym'. That' no man at' thame fynd fawt ne blame.
Garcio. Yey, cold rost is at my masteres hame.
(30)
Caym'. Nowther with hym nor with his knafe,
417
421
Garcio. What, I hope my master rafe.
Caym'. ffor thay ar trew, futt many fold;
Garcio. My master suppys no coyle bot cold.
425
Caym'. The kyng wrytis you vntiH.
Garcio. Yit ete I neuer half my fiH.
427
(31)
Caym'. The kyng wiH that thay be safe,
Garcio. Yey, a draght of drynke fayne wold I hayfe.
Caym'. At thare awne will let tham) wafe;
Garcio. My stomak is redy to receyfe.
(32)
Caym'. Loke no man say to theym, on nor other';
431
Garcio. This same is he that slo his brother'.
433
Caym!. Byd euery man thaym luf and lowt',
Garcio. Yey, it spon) weft ay comes foule out.
He bids him
cry Oyes.
Cain makes
proclama-
tion of
pardon for
himself &
his boy.
The boy
mocks him
in audible
'asides.'
Caym. long or thou get thi hoyse and thou go thus
aboute.
(33)
Byd euery man theym pleasse to pay.
Garcio. Yey, gif don), thyne hors, a wisp of hay.
Caym'. we! com downe in twenty dwiłł way,
The dwitt I the betake;
ffor bot' it were abel, my brothere,
yit knew I neuer thi make.
¹ This line should probably be Garcio's.
436
Cain curses
the boy.
He has never
known his
440
equal since
Abel.
(Fol. 7, a.
442 Sig. C, 8.]
(34)
The boy
wishes the
spectators
the blessing
God gave
Cain.
Garcio. Now old and yong', or that ye weynd,
443
The same blissyng withoutten end,
AH sam then shall ye haue,
445
That' god of heuen my master has giffen);
Browke it well, whils that ye liffen),
448
Cain makes
the boy go
to the
he vowche it full wel safe.
(35)
Caym'. Com downe yit' in the dwiłłis way,
And angre me no more;
plough.
And take yond ploȝ, I say,
And weynd the furth fast before;
And I shat, if I may,
Tech the another' lore;
I warn the lad, for ay,
If he angers
him he will
hang him
on it,
ffro now furth, euermore,
That' thou greue me noȝt;
ffor, bi Godis sydis, if thou do,
I shall hang the apon this plo,
with this rope, lo, lad, lo!
452
457
By hym that' me dere boȝt.
461
(36)
Now fayre weH, felows all,
His own
place must
be in hell.
ffor I must nedis weynd,
And to the dwill be thrall,
warld withoutten end.
Ordand ther' is my stał,
with sathanas the feynd,
Euer il myght' hym befalt
that theder me commend,
This tyde.
465
470
ffare well les, & fare wełł more,
ffor now and euer more,
I will go me to hyde.
473
Explicit Mactacio Abel.
Sequitur) Noe.

III. Noah and his Sons

Processus Noe Cum Filiis

(III.)
Processus Noe cum filiis. Wakefeld.
[In 62 nine-line stanzas, aaaab ccb, with central rymes in aaaa
markt here by bars.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus filius.
Noe.
Deus.
Prima Mulier.
Secundus filius.
Secunda Mulier.
Vxor Noe.
Tercius filius.
Tercia Mulier.]
Noe.
(1)
[Fol. 7, b.]
yghtful god veray / Maker of all that is,
M
Noah praises
God for His
Thre persons withoutten nay/oone god in work of
endles blis,
Thou maide both nyght & day / beest', fowle,
& fysh,
AH creatures that lif may / wroght thou at thi wish,
As thou wel myght;
The son, the moyne, verament',
Thou maide; the firmament',
The sternes also fuH feruent,
To shyne thou maide ful briȝt.
(2)
Angels thou maide ful euen / at orders that is,
To haue the blis in heuen / this did thou more & les,
ffutt mervelus to neuen / yit' was ther' vnkyndnes,
More bi foldis seuen / then I can wełł expres;
ffor whi?
Of att angels in brightnes
5
9
14
creation.
He recalls
the making
of the angels
God gaf lucifer' most lightnes,
Yit prowdly he flyt his des,
And set hym euen hym) by.
(3)
He thoght hymself as worthi / as hym that hym made,
In brightnes, in bewty / therfor he hym degrade;
put hym in a low degre / soyn) after, in a brade,
hym and all his menye / wher' he may be vnglad
ffor euer.
shaй thay neuer wyn away
hence vnto domysday,
Bot burne in bayle for ay,
shal thay neuer dysseuer.
18
23
27
and the fall
of Lucifer.
(4)
Noah recalls Soyne after that gracyous lord / to his liknes maide
the creation
of Adam &
Eve
and their
Fall.
man),
That place to be restord / euen as he began),
Of the trinite bi accord / Adam & eue that woman),
28
To multiplie without discord / In paradise put' he thaym),
And sithen to both
Gaf in commaundement',
On the tre of life to lay no hend;
Bot' yit' the fals feynd
Made hym with man wroþ,
(5)
Entysyd man to glotony / styrd him to syn in pride;
Bot in paradise securly / myght no syn abide,
32
36
And therfor man full hastely / was put out, in that tyde,
In wo & wandreth for to be / In paynes fuł vnrid
To knawe,¹
41
ffyrst' in erth, in sythen in het
[Fol. 8, a
Big. C, 4.]
All living
people now
sin boldly.
So that he
dreads God's
Vengeance.
with feyndis for to dwell,
Bot' he his mercy meł
To those that will hym trawe.
(6)
Oyle of mercy he Hus hight / As I haue Hard red,
To euery lifyng wight / that wold luf hym and dred;
Bot' now before his sight / euery liffyng leyde,
Most party day and nyght / syn in word and dede
ffull bold;
Som in pride, Ire, and enuy,
Som in Couet[yse] 2 & glotyny,
Som in sloth and lechery,
ffor
And other wise many fold.
(7)
Therfor I drede lest god / on vs will take veniance,
syn is now alod/without any repentance;
Sex hundreth yeris & od / haue I, without distance,
In erth, as any sod/liffyd with grete grevance
AH way;
¹ MS. knowe.
45
50
54
59
2 MS. Couetous.
And now I wax old,
Noah him-
self is old.
seke, sory, and cold,
As muk apon mold
I widder away;
(8)
63
Bot' yit will I cry / for mercy and cał;
Noe thi seruant', am I / lord ouer a} !
Therfor me and my fry / shal with me fał ;
saue from velany / and bryng to thi hal
In heuen);
And kepe me from syn,
68
He calls to
God for
mercy.
This warld within;
Comly kyng' of mankyn,
I pray the here my stevyn)!
(9)
[God appears above.]
Deus. Syn I haue maide all thyng / that is liffand,
Duke, emperour, and kyng / with myne awne hand,
ffor to haue thare likyng / bi sec & bi sand,
Euery man to my bydyng / shuld be bowand
fful feruent';
That' maide man sich a creatoure,
ffarest of favoure,
Man must luf me paramoure,
77
God solilo-
quizes. He
has made all
men & they
should love
Him &
repent.
by reson, and repent.
(10)
81
Me thoght I shewed man luf / when I made hym to be
AH angels abuf/ like to the trynyte;
And now in grete reprufe / full low ligis he,
But they lie
sunk in sin,
for which He
will take
vengeance.
In erth hymself to stuf / with syn that displeasse me
Most of all;
86
Veniance will I take,
In erth for syn sake,
My grame thus wit I wake,
both of grete and smał.
(11)
I repente full sore / that euer maide I man),
Bi me he settis no store / and I am his soferan ;
I will distroy therfor/ Both beest, man, and woman,
90
AH shall perish les and more that bargan may thay
ban,
He repents
He ever
made man.
[Fol. 8, b.]
The earth is
full of sin.
That it has done.
In erth I se right' noght'
Bot syn that is vnsoght;
95
God will
destroy it
Of those that well has wroght
ffynd I bot¹ a fone.
(12)
Therfor' shat I fordo / AH this medit-erd
with foods, with floodis that shall flo / & ryn with hidous rerc;
I haue good cause therto / ffor me no man is ferd,
As I say shal I do / of veniance draw my swerd,
& make end
of every
And make end
thing living, of all that beris life,
Save Noah
& his wife.
He will
warn Noah
quickly.
Sayf noe and his wife,
ffor' thay wold neuer stryfe
With me [ne] me offend.
(13)
hym to meki wyn / hastly will I go,
99
104
(MS. then.]
108
To noe my seruand, or I blyn / to warn hym of his wo.
In erth I se bot' syn / reynand to and fro,
Emang both more & myn / ichon other fo;
With all thare entent;
AH shaH I fordo
with floodis that shall floo,
113
wirk shat I thaym wo,
God bids
Noah build
a ship
300 cubits
long,
30 high,
50 broad.
That will not repent.
[God descends & comes to Noah.]
(14)
Noe, my freend, I thee commaund / from cares the to
keyle,
A ship that thou ordand/ of nayle and bord ful wele.
Thou was alway wełł wirkand / to me trew as stele,
To my bydyng obediand / frendsħip shal thou fele
To mede;
of lennthe thi ship be
Of heȝt euen thrirte,
Thre hundreth cubettis, warn I the,
of fyfty als in brede.
(15)
118
122
126
Anoynt thi ship with pik and tar/ without & als within,
The water out to spar' / this is a noble gyn;
1 MS. bot.
look no man the mar/ thre chese ¹ chambres begyn,
Thou must spend many a spar' / this wark or thou wyn
To end fully.
131
How the ark
is to be
fitted.
Make in thi ship also,
parloures oone or two,
And houses of offyce mo,
ffor beestis that ther must be.
(16)
Oone cubite on hight / A wyndo shal thou make ;
135
on the syde a doore with slyght / be-neyth shal thou take;
With the shal no man fyght / nor do the no kyn wrake.
When all is doyne thus right / thi wife, that' is thi make,
Take in to the;
Thi sonnes of good fame,
Sem, Iaphet', and Came,
Take in also hame,
Thare wifis also thre.
(17)
ffor all shal be fordone / that lif in land bot ye,
with floodis that from abone / shal falt, & that' plente;
It shall begyn full sone / to rayn vncessantle,
After dayes seuen be done / and induyr' dayes fourty,
withoutten fayй.
Take to thi ship also
of ich kynd beestis two,
MayH & femay, bot no mo,
140
144
149
[Fol. 9, a.)
Noah is to
take his
wife, his
three sons &
their wives,
to escape the
rain that
shall last
40 days.
He is to take
in the ark
two beasts
of every
kind,
Or thou pull vp thi sayH.
(18)
153
and to
well.
ffor thay may the avayH / when al this thyng is wroght';
Stuf thi ship with vitay,/ffor hungre that ye perish
noght';
Of beestis, fouH, and catayH/ ffor thaym haue thou in
victual it
thoght,
ffor thaym is my counsayH/ that som socour' be soght,
In hast;
158
Thay must haue corn and hay,
And oder mete alway;
Do now as I the say,
In the name of the holy gast.
162
1 MS."chefe." Compare line 281.
Noah asks
who it is
(19)
Noe. A benedicite! / what art' thou that thus
who speaks. Tellys afore that' shall be? / thou art fuł mervelus!
Tell me, for charite / thi name so gracius.
163
God declares
Himself.
Deus. My name is of dignyte / and also fuł glorius
To knawe.¹
167
I am god most myghty,
Oone god in trynyty,
Made the and ich man to be;
To luf me well thou awe.
171
Noah thanks
Him for
(20)
Noe. I thank the, lord, so dere / that wold vowch sayf
appearing to Thus low to appere / to a symple knafe;
a simple
knave like
himself, &
begs His
blessing.
God blesses
him.
Blis vs, lord, here / for charite I hit crafe,
The better may we stere / the ship that we shall hafe,
Certayn).
176
Deus. Noe, to the and to thi fry
My blyssyng graunt I;
Ye shall wax and multiply,
And fill the ert agane,
(21)
180
Noah says
he will go
When all thise floodis ar past and fully gone away.
Noe. lord, homward wit I hast' / as fast as that I may;
tell his wife. My [wife] will I frast / what she will say, [Exit Deus.]
And I am agast / that we get som fray
Betwixt vs both;
ffor she is ful tethee,
ffor liti oft angre,
If any thyng' wrang be,
Soyne is she wroth.
185
Tunc perget ad vxorem'. 189
(22)
(Fol. 9, b.] God spede, dere wife / how fayre ye?
She wants to
know what
he has been
doing.
Vxor). Now, as euer myght I thryfe / the wars
I thee see;
Do tell me belife / where has thou thus long be?
To dede may we dryfe / or lif for the,
ffor want.
194
1 MS. knowe.
When we swete or swynk,
thou dos what thou thynk,
We sweat
while you
play.
Yit of mete and of drynk
haue we veray skant.
(23)
Noe. Wife, we ar' hard sted/ with tythyngis new.
198
Noah has
bad news.
Vxor. Bot thou were worthi be cled / In stafford blew; His wife says
he should be
"clad in
stafford
ffor thou art alway adred / be it fals or trew;
Bot god knowes I am led / and that may I rew,
blew," for
fful ill;
203
he is always
afraid.
ffor I dar' be thi borow,
ffrom euen vnto morow,
Thou spekis euer of sorow;
God send the onys thi fil!
207
(24)
We women may wary / al iH husbandis;
I haue oone, bi mary! / that lowsyd me of my bandis;
If he teyn I must tary / how so euer it standis,
With seymland fut sory, / wryngand both my handis
ffor drede.
Bot yit other while,
What with gam & with gyle,
212
Women may
curse all ill
husbands,
but she
knows how
to pay out
hers.
I shall smyte and smyle,
And qwite hym his mede.
(25)
216
Noe. We hold thi tong, ram-skyt/ or I shall the stil.
Vxor. By my thryft, if thou smyte / I shal turne the
vntiH.
Noe. We shall assay as tyte / haue at the, gift!
Apon the bone shal it byte. /
Vxor'.
Bot' I suppose
I shal not' in thi det',
A, so, mary! thou smytis iH!
Noah bids
her hold her
tongue.
She dares
him.
He
strikes her.
221
She hits
back,
flyt of this flett!
Take the ther a langett
To tye vp thi hose!
(26)
Noe. A wilt thou so? / mary,
225
that' is myne.
Vxor). Thou shal thre for two / I swere bi godis pyne.
& promises
three blows
for two.
Noah pro-
mises to pay
her back.
Noe. And I shat qwyte the tho / In fayth or syne. 228
Vxor. Out' apon the, ho! /
Noe.
with a rer;
Thou can both byte and whyne,
230
ffor all if she stryke,
There is no
wife like her
on earth.
In fayth I hold none slyke
yit fast will she skryke,
In all mediH-erd;
(27)
234
She says she
will go spin.
Bot' I wiH kepe charyte / ffor I haue at do.
Vxor. Here shal no man tary the / I pray the go to!
ffull well may we mys the / as cuer haue I ro;
To spyn will I dres me. /
Noe.
Bot wife,
We! fare wel, lo;
239
her pray for
him.
Pray for me besele,
Noah bida
[Fol. 10, a.]
Noah begins
work on the
ark,
first invok-
ing the
Trinity.
To eft I com vnto the.
Vxor. Euen as thou prays for me,
As euer myght I thrife.
(28)
[Exit Vxor.] 243
Noe. I tary ful Lang / Fro my warke, I traw;
Now my gere will I fang / and thederward draw;
I may full i gang / the soth for to knaw,
Bot if god help amang / I may sit downe daw
To ken);
Now assay will I
how I can of wryȝtry,
In nomine patris, & filii,
Et spiritus sancti, Amen.
(29)
He gets the To begyn of this tree / my bonys wiH I bend,
ark of the
right
dimensions.
I traw from the trynyte/socoure will be send;
It fayres full fayre, thynk me / this wark to my hend;
Now blissid be he / that this cau amend.
lo, here the lengħt,
Thre hundreth cubettis euenly,
of breed lo is it fyfty,
The heȝt is euen thyrty
Cubetti's full strengħt.
248
252
257
261
(30)
Now my gowne wit I cast / and wyrk in my cote,
Make will I the mast / or I flyt oone foote,
A my bak, I traw, wiH brast!
262 Takes off his
gown to
work at the
mast, but
finds it hard
work for his
this is a sory note!
hit is wonder that I last / sich an old dote
old boner,
266
AH dold,
To begyn sich a wark!
My bonys ar so stark,
No wonder if thay wark,
ffor I am fuł old.
(31)
The top and the sayH/ both wit I make,
270
The helme and the castel / also wit I take,
To drife ich a naył / wiH I not forsake,
This gere may neuer fayH / that dar' I vndertake
Onone.
275
This is a nobuł gyn,
Thise nayles so thay ryn,
Thoro more and myn,
Thise bordis ichon ;
279
(32)
wyndow and doore / euen as he saide,
Thre ches chambre / thay ar wel maide,
Pyk & tar full sure/ther apon laide,
This will euer endure / therof am I paide;
284
ffor why?
It is better wroȝt
Then I coude haif thoght;
hym that' maide all of noght
I thank oonly.
(33)
288
He makes
top & sail,
helm &
castle, &
drives in the
nails.
He makes
window &
door, &
three rooms.
Now will I by me / and no thyng be leder,
My wife and my meneye / to bryng euen heder.
Tent hedir tydely / wife, and consider,
hens must vs file / AH sam togeder'
In hast.
Vxor. Whi, syr, what alis you?
Who is that asalis you?
Then comes
to his wife
& bids her
flee.
293
[Fol. 10, b.
She asks
what ails
him.
To fle it avalis you,
And ye be agast.
297
E
5
Noah tells
his wife of
the coming
flood.
(34)
Noe. Ther is garñ on the rey / other, my dame. 298
Vxor. Tell me that ich a deyH / els get ye blame.
Noe. He that' cares may keit/ blissid be his name!
he has for oure sey/ to sheld vs fro shame,
And sayd,
AH this warld aboute
With floodis so stoute,
That shall ryn on a route,
Shall be ouerlaide.
302
306
(35)
All are to be he saide al shall be slayn / bot oonely we,
slain save
themselves,
their sons,
and their
son's wives,
Oure barnes that' ar bayn / and thare wifis thre;
A ship he bad me ordayn / to safe vs & oure fee,
Therfor with all oure mayn / thank we that fre
Beytter of bayH;
hy vs fast, go we thedir.
Vxor. I wote neuer whedir,
She is afraid I dase and I dedir
at his tale.
tfor ferd of that tayH
(36)
311
315
Noah bids
wife & sons
help get
together
their goods.
They all
promise.
The gear
into the ark.
Noe. Be not aferd, haue done / trus sam oure gere,
That we be ther or none / without more dere.
primus filius. It shall be done full sone / brether, help
to bere.
Secundus filius. ffu long shall I not hoyne / to do my
devere,
Brether sam.
Tercius filius. without any yelp,
At my myght shall I help.
Vxor. Yit for drede of a skelp
help well thi dam.
(37)
Noe. Now ar we there / as we shuld be;
must be got Do get in oure gere/oure catał and fe,
In to this vessel here / my chylder fre.
Vxor. I was neuer bard ere / As euer myght I the,
In sich an oostre as this.
320
324
329
In fath I can not fynd
which is before, which is behynd;
Bot shall we here be pynd,
Noe, as haue thou blis?
(38)
Noe. Dame, as it is skit / here must vs abide grace;
Therfor, wife, with good wit/ com into this place.
Vxor. Sir, for Iak nor for giH/wił I turne my
Till I haue on this hiH / spon a space
on my rok;
Well were he, myght get me,
Now will I downe set me,
Yit reede I no man let me,
ffor drede of a knok.
(39)
Noe. Behold to the heuen / the cateractes aH,
face
The wife
complains of
the ark.
She can't
tell fore from
333 aft
She won't go
in till she
has done
some
338 spinning.
342
Noah sees
the heavens
are threaten-
ing,
That are open full euen / grete and smał,
And the planettis seuen / left has thare stał,
Thise thoners and levyn / downe gar' fał
fful stout,
Both halles and bowers,
Castels and towres;
ffull sharp ar thise showers,
347
(Fol. 11, a.)
that renys aboute;
(40)
351
Therfor, wife, haue done / com into ship fast.
Vxor. Yei, noe, go cloute thi shone / the better wiłł
thai last.
and bids ner
come in.
prima mulier. Good moder, com in sone / ffor all is ouer Her sons'
wives
cast,
entreat her.
Both the son and the mone. /
Secunda mulier".
and many wynd blast'
ffull sharp;
356
Thise floodis so thay ryn,
Therfor moder come in.
Vxor. In fayth yit wil I spyn;
She says she
will spin on.
(41)
AH in vayn ye carp.
Tercia Mulier. If ye like ye may spyn / Moder, in the
ship.
"6
Why not
spin in the
ship?"
360
She will
spin out her
spindle on
the hill
Noe. Now is this twyys com in / dame, on my frenship.
Vxor. Wheder I lose or I wyn / In fayth, thi felow-
ship,
where she is. set I not at a pyn / this spyndiH wit I slip
Apon this hiH,
Or I styr' oone fote.
Noe. Peter! I traw we dote;
without any more note
365
Come in if
wiH.
ye
(42)
369
Noah
threatens
her with the
whip.
She defies
him,
Vxor. Yei, water nyghys so nere / that I sit not dry,
Into ship with a byr / therfor will I hy
ffor' drede that I drone here. /
Noe.
dame, securly,
It bees boght full dere / ye abode so long by
out of ship.
Vxor. I will not, for thi bydyng,
go from doore to mydyng'.
Noe. In fayth, and for youre long taryyng
Ye shal lik on the whyp.
(43)
374
378
Vxor. Spare me not, I pray the / bot euen as thon
thynk,
Thise grete wordis shall not flay me. /
Noe.
Abide, dame, and drynk
ffor' betyn shalt thou be / with this staf to thou stynk;
Ar strokis good? say me. /
Vzor.
Noe. speke!
what say ye, wat wynk?
383
Cry me mercy, I say!
Vzor. Therto say I nay.
Noe. Bot thou do, bi this day,
& wishes she
were &
widow. She
wouldn't
grudge a
penny dole
for his soul
then, & sees
other wives
who think
the same.
Thi hede shall I breke.
(44)
Vxor. Lord, I were at ese / and hertely ful hoylle,
Might' I onys haue a measse / of wedows coyH;
ffor thi sauH, without lese / shuld I dele penny doył,
so wold mo, no frese / that I se on this sole
of wifis that ar here,
387
392
ffor the life that thay leyd,
Wives have
such a bad
Hife.
Wold thare husbandis were dede,
ffor, as euer ete I brede,
So wold I oure syre were.
(45)
Noe. Yee men that has wifis / whyls they ar' yong,
If luf
ye
youre lifis/chastice thare tong :
Me thyuk my hert ryfis / both levyr and long,
To se sich stryfis / wedmen emong;
Bot I,
As haue I blys,
396
401
Noah bids
husbands
chastise
their wives'
tongues
early.
shall chastyse this.
Vxor. Yit may ye mys,
Nicholt nedy!
(46)
[Fol. 11, b.]
He will set
an example.
405
& beats her.
Noe. I shall make pe still as stone / begynnar' of He threaten
blunder!
I shall bete the bak and bone / and breke alt in sonder'.
[They fight.]
Væor. Out, alas, I am gone! / oute apon the, mans She cries out
wonder !
Noe. Se how she can grone / and I lig vnder;
Bot, wife,
In this hast let vs ho,
ffor my bak is nere in two.
Vxor. And I am bet so blo
410
That I may not thryfe. [They enter the Ark.] 414
(47)
& beats him
back.
Primus filius. A! whi fare ye thus / ffader and moder Their sons
both!
Secundus filius. Ye shuld not be so spitus / standyng
in sich a woth.
Tercius filius. Thise ar' so hidus / with many a cold coth.
Noe we will do as ye bid vs / we will no more be
wroth,
Dere barnes!
419
reproach
them.
Now to the helme wiH I hent,
And to my ship tent.
Vxor. I se on the firmament,
Me thynk, the seven starnes.
423
Noah takes
the helm.
5 #
The flood
rises.
Noah calls
on God.
(48)
Noe. This is a grete flood / wife, take hede.
424
Vxor. So me thoght, as I stode / we ar' in grete
drede;
Thise wawgħes ar' so wode. /
Noe.
help, god, in this nede!
428
As thou art stere-man good / aud bost, as I rede,
Of all ;
Thou rewle vs in this rase,
As thou me behete hase.
Noah bids
his wife take
the helm
while he
sounds,
Vxor. This is a perlous case:
help, god, when we call!
(49)
Noe. Wife, tent the stere-tre / and I shall asay
432
The depnes of the see / that we bere, if I may.
Vxor'. That shall I do ful wysely / now go thi way,
ffor apon this flood haue we / flett many day,
437
with pyne.
Noe. Now the water wil I sownd:
A! it is far to the grownd;
This trauet I expownd
had I to tyne.
(50)
The waters
are 15 cubits
above the
hills, but
now they
will abate,
after the 40
days' rain.
Aboue al hillys bedeyn / the water is rysen late
Cubettis fyfteyn,¹ / bot iu a highter state
It may not be, I weyn / for this welt I wate,
This forty dayes has rayn beyn / It will therfor abate
Fut lele.
This water in hast,
eft will I tast;
He sounds
again.
Now am I agast,
It is wanyd a grete dele.
(51)
The wife sees
the sun
shining in
the east.
Now are the weders cest / and cateractes knyt,
Both the most and the leest. /
Vxor'.
Mr
hynk, bi my wit,
"A thise floodis flyt
The son shynes in the eest / lr
we shuld haue a good feest /
So spytus.
not yond it'?
1
441
446
450
455
Noe. we haue been here, al we,
thre hundreth¹ dayes and fyfty.
Vxor). Yei, now wanys the see;
lord, weł is vs !
(52)
459
Noe. The thryd tyme wiH I prufe / what depnes we
bere.
Vxor'. Now long shalt thou hufe / lay in thy lyne there.
Noe. I may towch with my lufe / the grownd evyn
here.
Vxor. Then begynnys to grufe / to vs mery chere;
Bot, husband,
What grownd may this be?
464
They have
now been
350 days in
the ark.
(Fol. 12, a.)
Noah takes
soundings
third time, &
touches
ground,
Noe. The hyllys of armonye.
Vror'. Now blissid be he
That thus for vs can ordand!
(53)
Noe. I see toppys of hyllys he / many at a syght,
No thyng to let me / the wedi' is so bright.
Vxor. Thise ar of mercy / tokyns full right.
468
Noe. Dame, thi counsel me what fowH best myght,
And Cowth,
with flight of wyng
bryng, without taryying,
Of mercy som tokynyng
Ayther' bi north or southe
(54)
They are on
the hills of
Armenia.
Noah asks
his wife what
473
bird will fly
away &
477
soonest
bring back
a token of
Inercy.
ffor this is the fyrst day of the tent moyne.
Vxor. The ravyn, durst I lay / wiłł com agane sone;
As fast as thou may/ cast hym furþ, haue done,
He may happyn to day / com agane or none
With grath.
482
She suggests
the raven.
Noe. I will cast out also
Dowfys oone or two:
Go youre way, go,
God send you som wathe!
(55)
Now ar thise fowles flone / Into seyr countre;
Pray we fast ichon / kneland on our kne,
1 MS. ccc,
486
He lets loose
a dove or
two also.
Noah and
To hym that is alone / worthiest of degre,
pray to God That he wold send anone / oure fowles som fee
his family
that the
birds may
return with
good news.
To glad vs.
Vxor. Thai may not fayH of land,
The water is so wanand.
Noe. Thank we god at weldand,
That lord that made vs.
(56)
He wonders It is a wonder thyng / me thynk soþle,
why they
tarry so
long.
Thai ar so long taryyng / the fowles that we
Cast' out in the mornyng./
489
491
495
Vxor).
Syr, it may be
Thai tary to thay bryng. /
Noe.
The ravyn is a hungrye
500
AH way;
He is without any reson,
And he fynd any caryon,
As peraventure may befon,
he will not away;
504
He hopes
most from
the dove.
The wife sees
her coming
with an
olive-branch
in her bill.
Noah blesses
(57)
The dowfe is more genti / her trust I vntew,
like vnto the turtiH / for she is ay trew.
Vxor, hence bot a litiH/she commys, lew, lew!
she bryngys in her bit / som novels new;
509
Behald!
It is of an olif' tre
A branch, thynkys me.
Noe. It is soth, perde,
right' so is it cald.
(58)
[Fol. 12, b.] Doufe, byrd full blist / ffayre myȝt the befall!
Thou art trew for to trist/ as ston in the wałł;
Full well I it wist / thou wold com to thi hatt,
the dove.
Her return
is a true
token they
shall be
saved.
Vacor. A trew tokyn ist/ we shaft be sauyd at :
ffor whi?
The water, syn she com,
513
518
Of depnes plom,
Is fallen a fathom,
And more hardely.
522
(59)
Primus filius. Thise floodis ar gone / fader, behold.
Noah's sons
exclaim that
Secundus filius. Ther is left right none / and that be the floods
ye bold.
Tercius filius. As still as a stone/oure ship is stold.
Noe. Apon land here anone / that we were, fayn I wold;
My childer dere,
Sem, Japhet and Cam,
with gle and with gam,
Com go we all sam,
we wiłł no longer abide here.
(60)
527
531
are gone &
the ark rests
quietly.
Noah bids
them come
all together
out of the
ark.
Vzor, here haue we beyn/noy long enogh,
with tray and with teyn / and dreed mekiłł woȝ.
Noe. behald on this greyn / nowder cart' ne ploȝ
Is left, as I weyn/nowder tre then boȝ,
Ne other thyng',
Bot all is away;
Many castels, I say,
There is
neither cart
nor plough,
tree nor
536 bough, to be
seen on the
land. Castles
&towns are
all swept
away.
Grete townes of aray,
fflitt has this flowyng'.
(61)
540
Vxor. Thise flood is not afright / all this warld so wide
has mevid with myȝt / on se and bi side.
Noe. To dede ar' thai dyght' / prowdist of pryde,
The proudest
Euer ich a wyght / that euer was spyde,
With syn),
AH ar thai slayn,
And put vnto payn.
Vxor. ffrom thens agayn
May thai nouer wyn?
(62)
of pride are
slain and in
torment,
545
549
Noe. wyn'? no, I-wis bot' he that myght hase
Wold myn of thare mys / & admytte thaym to grace;
As he in bay is blis / I pray hym in this space,
In heven hye with his / to purvaye vs a place,
That we,
554
never to
escape
thence, save
God admit
them to
grace.
4.0
Towneley Plays. IV. Abraham.
May God
bring Noah
with his santis in sight,
& his family And his angels bright,
to heaven
with His
saints!
May com to his light:
Amen, for charite.
558
Explicit processus Noe, sequitur Abraham.
[Fol. 18, a.
Sig. D. 1.]

IV. Abraham

Abraham

(IV.)
Sequitur Abraham.
[Incomplete. 35 eight-line stanzas, ab ab ab ab.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Abraham.
Deus.
Primus Puer.
Isaac.
Abraham.
(1)
Secundus Puer.]
Abraham
prays to God
for mercy.
He muses
on the fate
of his fore-
fathers,
since first
Adam ate
the apple in
Paradise.
donay, thou god veray,
Thou here vs when we to the cat,
As thou art he that best may,
Thou art most socoure and help of all;
Mightful lord! to the I pray,
Let' onys the oyle of mercy fall,
Shall I neuer abide that day,
Truly yit I hope I shatt.
(2)
Mercy, lord omnipotent!
long syn he this warld has wroght;
Wheder ar at oure elders went?
This musys meki in my thoght.
ffrom adam, vnto eue assent',
Ete of that' appyH sparid he noght,
ffor all the wisdom that he ment
12
ffull dere that' bargan has he boght,
16
(3)
ffrom paradise thai bad hym gang';
Adam lived
long in
sorrow.
He went mowrnyng with symple chere,
And after liffyd he here full lang,
More then thre hundreth¹ yere,
1 MS.ccc.
20
In sorow and in traue strang,
And euery day he was in were;
his childre angred hym amang;
Caym slo abel, was hym full dere.
(4)
Sithen Noe, that was trew and good,
his and his chyldre thre,
was saued when aH was flood:
That was a wonder thyng to so.
And loth fro sodome when he yode,
Thre cytees brent, yit eschapyd he;
Thus, for thai menged my lordis mode,
he vengid syn thruȝ his paustè.
(5)
when I thynk of oure elders a¤,
And of the mervels that has been),
No gladnes in my hart may fall,
M[y] comfort goys away full cleyn.
24
28
32
36
Cain slew
Adam's dear
son Abel.
Noah was
saved from
the Flood
and Lot
from SodomL
Abraham
himself is
sad at heart.
[Fol. 13, b.]
lord, when shaH dede make me his thral?
An hundreth yeris, certis, haue I seyn;
Ma fa! sone I hope he shat,
ffor it were right hie tyme I wey).
Yit' adam is to hell gone,
(6)
And ther has ligen many a day,
He is an
hundred
Sears old.
When will
death take
him?
40
And at oure elders, euerychon,
Thay ar gone the same way,
Vnto god will here thare mone;
Now help, lord, adonay!
ffor, certis, I can no better wone,
And ther is none that better may.
44
His fore-
fathers lie in
hell till God
release then,
He can do
no better.
48
[God appears above.]
(7)
Deus. I will help adam and his kynde,
Might I luf and lewte fynd;
Wold thay to me be trew, and blyn
Of thare pride and of thare syn :
My seruand I will found & frast,
Abraham, if he be trast;
1
Query "he."
• MS. C.
2 MS. yede.
MS. And and
God desires
to help
Adam and
his kind.
He will
52 prove
Abraham's
faith.
On certan wise I will hym proue,
If he to me be trew of louf.
66
56
(8)
God calls
Abraham!
Abraham!
57
to Abraham.
Abraham. Who is that? war'! let me se!
I herd oone neven my name.
Deus. It is I, take tent to me,
60
That fourmed thi fader adam,
And euery thyng in it degre.
Abraham. To here thi will, redy I am,
And to fulfit, what euer it be.
64
He has heard
his prayers,
& now bids
him take his
(9)
Deus. Of mercy haue I herd thi cry,
Thi devoute prayers haue me bun);
son Isaac to If thou me luf, look þat thou hy
Vnto the land of Visyon;
'the land of
Visyon' &
there sacri-
ice him
And the thryd day be ther', bid I,
68
And take with the, Isaac, thi son,
As a beest to sacryfy,
To slo hym look thou not shon,
72
(10)
And bren hym ther' to thyn offerand.
Abraham. A, lovyd be thou, lord in throne !
Abraham
cheerfully
promises
Obedience.
hold ouer me, lord, thy holy hand,
He must
obey God
whatever it
costs him,
ffor certis thi bidyng shall be done.
Blissyd be that lord in euery land
wold viset his seruand thus so soyn).
ffayn wold I this thyng ordand,
ffor it profettis noght to hoyne;
(11)
76
[Exit Deus.] 80
This commaundement must I nedis fulfiH,
If that my hert wax hevy as leyde;
even if he be Shuld I offend my lordis wiH ?
bidden to
slay wife and
child.
Nay, yit were I leyffer my child were dede.
What' so he biddis me, good or it,
That' shall be done in euery steede ;
Both wife and child, if he bid spill;
I wille not do agans his rede.
84
88
(12)
wist Isaac, wher' so he were,
he wold be abast now,
how that he is in dangere.
Isaac, son, wher art' thou?
92
Abraham
calls Isaac,
Isaac. AH redy, fader, Lo me here;
Now was I commyng vnto you;
I luf you mekiH, fader dere.
Abraham. And dos thou so! I wold wit how
(13)
lafis thou me, son, as thou has saide.
(Fol. 14, a.
Big. D. 2.]
Isaac comes
to him. 'I
love you
96 much, dear
father.'
Isaac. Yei, fader', with ał myn hart,
More then all that' euer was maide;
God hold me long youre life in quart!
A child so lufand as thou art'?
Abraham. Now, who would not be glad that had
100
Abraham
rejoices in
his son's
Thi luffy chere makis my hert glad,
And many a tyme so has it gart.
love,
104
(14)
Go home, son; com sone agane,
And tell thi moder I com ful fast;
So now god the saif and sayne!
and bids him
tell his
mother he is
coming
[hic transsiet Isaac à patre, quicklv.
Now welł is me that he is past!
Alone, right here in this playn,
Might I speke to myn hart brast,
I wold that' ał were well ful fayn,
Bot' it must' nedis be done at last';
(15)
And it is good that I be war',
108
112
Now he is
alone he
could speak
till his heart
break.
But he must
prepare for
his three
days'
journey.
To be avised full good it were.¹
The land of vision is ful far,
The thrid day end must I be there;'
116
Myn ase shall with vs, if it thar',
To bere oure harnes les & more,
ffor my son may be slayn no nar';
A swerd must with vs yit therfore,
1 The rhyme needs 'wore, thore.'
120
Abraham
will start
this night,
for God's
will must be
done.
He calls
Isaac, & tells
(16)
And I shall found to make me yare;
This nyght will I begyn my way,
pof Isaac be neuer so fayre,
121
And myn awn son, the soth to say,
124
And thof he be myn riȝt haire,
And all shuld weld after my day,
Godis bydyng shat I not spare ;
shuld I that ganstand? we, nay, ma fay!
128
(17)
Isaac !
Isaac.-sir!
him to pre-
pare for a
Journey to
sacrifice in a
far country.
Abraham.-luke thou be bowne;
ffor certan, son, thi self and I,
He is to take we two must now weynd furth of towne,
wood & fire.
Isaac shall
ride & he
will walk.
Take wod and fyere with the, in hy;
In far country to sacrifie,
ffor certan skyllys and encheson.
Bi hillys and dayllys, both vp & downe,
son, thou shal ride and I wit bi.
go
(18)
looke thou mys noȝt pat thou shuld nede;
132
136
Do make the redy, my darlyng!
Isaac is
ready at his
word.
Isaac. I am redy to do this dede,
And euer to fulfil youre bydyng.
140
Abraham. My dere son, look thou haue no drede,
We shal com home with grete lovyng;
144
[To the Servants.
[They come
near the hill
of sacrifice.]
Abraham
tells the
servants to
stay behind.
Both to & fro I shal vs lede;
Com now, son, in my blyssyng.
(19)
Ye two here with this asse abide,
ffor Isaac & I will to yond hiH;
It is so hie we may not ride,
therfor ye two shal abide here stiH.
primus puer. sir, ye ow not to be denyed:
we ar redy youre bydyng to fulfiH.
secundus puer. What so euer to vs betide
To do youre bidyng ay we will.
148
152
(20)
Abraham. Godis blyssyng haue ye boþ in fere;
I shall not tary long you fro.
primus puer. Sir, we shal abide you here,
Oute of this stede shall we not go.
156
Abraham. Childre, ye ar ay to me full dere,
I pray god kepe [you] euer fro wo.
Abraham
blesses
them. He
will soon be
back.
(Fol. 14, b.)
Secundus puer'. we will do, sir, as ye vs lere.
Abraham. Isaac, now ar we bot' we two,
(21)
we must go a full good paase,
ffor it is farther than I wend;
we shall make myrth & grete solace,
Bi this thyng be broght to end.
lo, my son, here is the place.
Isaac. wod and fyere ar' in my hend;
Tell me now, if ye haue space,
where is the beest' that shuld be brend?
(22)
Abraham. Now, son, I may no longer layn,
sich will is into myne hart went;
Thou was euer to me ful bayn
Euer to fulfil myñ entent.
160
164
168
He and
Isaac come
to the place.
Isaac asks
where is the
beast they
are to burn.
172
Abraham
tells him he
is to be
slain.
Bot' certanly thou must be slayn,
And it may be as I haue ment.
Isaac. I am hevy and nothyng fayn,
Thus hastely that shaH be shent.
Isaac is
heavy at
heart and
176 unwilling.
(23)
Abraham. Isaac !
Isauc.
sir?
Abraham
Com heder, bid I;
Thou shal be dede what so euer betide.
Isaac. A, fader, mercy! mercy!
Abraham. That I say may not be denyde;
180
Take thi dede therfor' mekely.
Isaac. A, good sir, abide;
ffader!
Abraham. What son?
Isaac.
to do youre wiH I am redy,
where so euer ye go or ride,
184
Abraham
bids him
take his
death
meekly & he
subunits.
Isaac Ray's
since he has
trespassed
he would be
beaten.
(24)
If I may oght' ouertake youre wił,
syn I haue trepa[s]t I wold be bet.
Abraham. Isaac !
185
Isaac.
What, sir?
Abraham.
good son, be stił.
Isaac. ffader!
Abraham.
what, son!
But what
Isauc.
think on thi get!
188
has he done?
what have I done?
"Truly, no
Abraham.
truly, none iH.
ill," Abra-
ham an-
swers, yet
Abraham.
that may not
help him.
Isaac. And shall be slayn?
Isauc. sir, what may help?
so haue I het.
Abraham.
certis, no skił.
Isaac. I ask mercy.
Abraham.
that may not let.
192
(25)
His ques-
tions wring
Abraham's
heart, but
he bids him
lie still.
Isaac. when I am dede, and closed in clay,
who shall then be youre son?
Abraham. A, lord, that I shuld abide this day!
Isaac. sir, who shall do that I was won?
196
[Fol. 15, a.
Big. D. 3.]
Isaac quakes
at the sight
of the sword.
He is placed
on his face
that he may
not see it.
Abraham. speke no sich wordis, son, I the pray.
Isaac. shall ye me slo?
Abraham.
lyg stil! I smyte !
Isaac.
I trow I mon);
sil',
let' me say.
Abraham. Now, my dere child, thou may not shon). 200
(26)
Isaac. The shynyng of youre bright' blayde
It gars me quake for ferde to dee.
Abraham. Therfor groflyngis thou shał be layde,
Then when I stryke thou shal not se.
204
Isaac. What haue I done, fader, what haue I saide ?
Abraam. Truly, no kyns it to me.
Isaac. And thus gyltles shall be arayde.
Abraham. Now, good son, let sich wordis be.
Isaac. I luf you ay.
Abraham.
(27)
so do I the.
208
Isaac. ffader!
Abraham.
what', son?
Isaac.
let now be scyn).
ffor my moder luf.
let be, let be!
Isaac im-
plores Abra-
ham by his
mother's
love.
Abraham.
It will not help that thou wold meyn ;
Bot' ly styl til I com to the,
I mys a lytył thyng, I weyn.
he spekis so rufully to me
That' water shotis in both myn eeyn,
(28)
I were leuer than ał wardly wyn,
That I had fon hym onys vnkynde,
Bot' no defawt I faund hym in :
212 Abraham
turns aside,
blinded by
tears.
216
If only he
had found
Isaac once
unkind!
I wold be dede for hym, or pynde ;
220
To slo hym thus, I thynk grete syn,
So ruful wordis I with hym fynd;
I am full wo that we shulk twyn,
ffor he will neuer oute of my mynd.
(29)
What shal I to his moder say?
ffor "where is he," tyte will she spyr ;
If I tell hir',
"
ron away,"
hir answere bese belife-" nay, sir!"
And I am ford hir' for to slay ;
I ne wote what I shal say til hir.
224
228
What shall
he say to his
mother? Sle
will not
believe Isan
has run
away.
he lyys full still ther' as he lay,
232
[God appears above.]
ffor to I com, dar' he not' styr.
(30)
Deus. Angeft, hy with all thi mayn!
To abraham thou shall be sent;
say, Isaac' shał not be slayn ;
he shall lif, and not be brent.
My bydyng standis he not agane,
Go, put hym out of his intent';
236
God bids an
angel tell
Abrahain to
spare his
son.
Byd hym go home agane,
I know well how he ment.
240
6
F
[Fol 15, b.]
The Angel
rejoices in
his orrand.
Abraham
says to him-
seif he must
run up sud-
(31)
Angelus. Gladly, Lord, I am redy:
thi bidyng shall be magnyfyed;
I shall me spede ful hastely,
the to obeye at euery tyde ;
Thi wiH, Thi name, to glorifye,
Ouer all this warld so wide;
And to thi seruand now in hy,
good, trew, abraham, wiH I glyde.
(32)
Abraham. Bot myght I yit of wepyng sese,
till I had done this sacrifice;
denly & slay It must nedis be, withoutten lesse,
Isaac where
he lies.
The Angel
bids him
hold his
hand.
thof all I carpe on this kyn wise,
The more my sorow it will incres ;
when I look to hym, I gryse;
I wił ryn on a res,
And slo hym here, right as he lyse.
(33)
Angelus. Abraham! Abraham!
244
248
252
256
[Seizes him.]
Who is ther' now?
Angelus. stand vp, now,
stand;
Abraham.
War! let the 1
go.
Thi good will com I to alow,
Therfor I byd the hold thi hand.
260
Abraham. say, who bad so any bot' thou?
Abrahain
doubts
Angelus. Yei, god; & sendis this beest to thyn offerand.
which is
God's final
order.
The Angel
assures him,
& he thanks
God for His
goodness.
And doyng he me commaund.
Angelus. He has persauyd thy mekenes
And thi good wit also, Iwis;
he will thou do thi son no distres,
Abraham. I speke with god latter, I trow,
264
(34)
ffor he has graunt to the his blys.
268
Abraham. Bot wote thou well that it is
As thou has sayd?
Angelus.
I say the yis.
Abraham. I thank the, lord, well of goodnes,
That' all thus has relest' me this;
1 Query "me.'
19
272
(35)
To speke with the haue I no space,
with my dere son tiH I haue spokyn.
My good son, thou shal haue grace,
On the now will I not be wrokyn;
Ryse vp now, with thi frely face.
276
Abrahain
tells Isaac
he is not to
be killed.
Bids himn
arise,
Isaac. sir, shał I lif}
Abraham.
yei, this to tokyn.
Et osculatur eum.
son thou has skapid a full hard grace,
Thou shuld haue beyn both brent & brokyn.
(36)
280
Isaac. Bot, fader, shat I not be slayn?
Isaac.
then am I glad ;
and kisses
him.
Abraham. No, certis, son.
Good sir, put' vp youre sword agayn.
Abraham. Nay hardely, son, be thou not adrad.
Isaao. Is all for geyn?
Abraham.
yei, son, certan.
Isaac. ffor ferd, sir, was I nere-hand mad.
Isaac bids
him put up
284 his sword
again.
He was
almost mad
286 for fear.
[Two leaves of the MS. are wanting hero, sigs. d 4 and d 5. They
contained the end of Abraham and the beginning, almost all, of
Isaac.]

V. Isaac

Isaac

(V.)
[Isaac.]
[Incomplete. The last 35 couplets only left.]
[Dramatis Personac.
Isaac.
Jacob.
Esaw,
Rebecca.]
[Isaac.] Com nere son and kys me,
that I may feyle the smell of the.
The smell of my son is lyke
to a feld with flouris, or hony bike.
where art thou, Esaw, my son ?
Iacob. here, fader, and askis youre benyson.
4
(Fol. 16, a.)
Isaac bids
Esau come
near that he
may smell
him.
Jacob comes
instead and
asks his
blessing.
Isaac blesses
Jacob in
Isaac'. The blyssyng my fader gaf' to me,
mistake for god of heuen & I gif the ;
Esau.
God gif the plente grete,
of wyne, of oyH, and of whete;
And graunt thi childre at
8
to worship the, both grete and smał;
12
Esau brings
Isaac the
venison he
has prepared
and asks his
blessing.
who so the blyssys, blyssed be he;
who so the waris, wared be he.
Now has thou my grete blyssyng,
loue the shat all thyne ofspryng';
Go now wheder thou has to go.
Iacob. Graunt mercy, sir, I wiłł do so.
recedet iacob.
Esaw. haue, ete, fader, of myw huntyng',
And gif me sythen your blyssyng.
Isaac, Who is that?
16
[Esaw advances.]
20
Esaw.
I, youre son
Esaw, bryngis you venyson.
Isaac. Who was that' was right now here,
And broght' me bruet of a dere?
24
I ete well, and blyssyd hym;
Isaac secs
how he has
been
beguiled by
Jacob.
He gives
Esau the
he can.
And he is blyssyd, ich a lym).
Esaw. Alas! I may grete and sob.
Isaac'. Thou art begylyd thruȝ iacob,
That' is thyne awne german) brother'.
Esaw. haue ye kepyd me none other
Blyssyng then ye set hym one?
Isaac. sich another haue I none;
best blessing Bot' god gif the to thyn handband
the dew of heuen & frute of land;
Other then this can I not say.
Esau vows
to slay Jacob
if he meet
him.
Esaw. Now, alas, and walo-way!
May I with that' tratoure mete,
my
faders dayes shał com with grete,
And my moders also ;
may I hym mete, I shall hym slo.
[Esaw retires. Rebecca advances.]
Rebecca. Isaac, it' were my doth
If Iacob weddeth in kynd of hetħ ;
28
32
36
40
I will send hym to aran,
there my brothere dwellys, laban;
And there may he serue in peasse
Rebecca and
Isaac resolve
44
to send
till his brother's wrath will seasse.
why shuld I apon a day
loyse both my sonnes better nay.
48
Isaac'. Thou says soth, wife; call hym heder,
And let vs tell hym where & wheder
That he may fle esaw,
that' vs both hetis bale to brew.
52
[Iacob advances.]
Rebecca. Iacob, son! thi fader & I
wold speke with the; com, stand vs by !
Out of contry must thou fle,
that Esaw slo not the.
Iacob. Whederward shuld I go, dame?
Rebecca. To mesopotameam;
To my brothere, and thyn eme,
that dwellys besyde Iordan streme;
And ther' may thou with hym won,
to Esaw, myne other son),
fforget, and all his wrath be dede.
Iacob. I will go, fader, at youre rede.
Isaac. Yei, son, do as thi moder says;
Com kys vs both, & weynd thi ways.
et osculatur.
Iacob. Haue good day, sir and dame !
Isaac. God sheld the, son, from syn and shame!
Rebecca. And gif the grace, good man to be,
And send me glad tythyngis to the.
6 ⭑
Explicit Isaac.
56
Jacob to his
uncle Laban
till Esau's
wrath cease.
Rebecca
tells Jacob
he must flee
from Esau.
[FOL. 16, b.]
60
64
68
He kisses his
father &
mother, &
goes his way
with their
blessing.
Jacob.
Deus.
Rachch.

VI. Jacob

Iacob

(VI.)
Sequitur iacob.
[71 couplets aa.]
[Dramatis Personac.
Joseph.
Benjamin.
Esaw.]
Lya. [Leah.]
Turmae.
lacob.
Jacob prays
God to be
his guide on
his way.
elp me lord, adonay,
H
And hald me in the right way
To mesopotameam;
ffor I cam neuer or now where I am;
I cam neuer here in this contre ;
lord of heuen, thou help me!
ffor I haue maide me, in this strete,
sore bonys & warkand feete.
The son is downe, what is best'?
He lies down her purpose I alt nyght to rest';
to sleep with
a stone for a
pillow.
God appears
to him and
Vnder' hede this ston) shal ly;
my
A nyghtis rest' take wit I.
8
12
Deus. Iacob, iacob, thi god I am; [Deus appears above.]
blesses him. Of thi forfader abraham,
And of thi fader Isaac;
I shall the blys for thare sake.
This land that thou slepys in,
I shall the gif, and thi kyn;
16
I shall thi seede multyply,
As thyk as powder on erþ may ly.
20
The kynd of the shał sprede wide,
ffrom eest' to west' on euery syde,
ffrom the south vnto the north;
AH that I say, I shał forth;
And at the folkis of thyne ofspryng,
shal be blyssyd of thy blyssyng'.
Iacob, haue thou no kyns drede !
I shall the clethe, I shaH the fede.
Whartful shall I make thi gate;
I shal the help erly and late;
24
28
And all in qwart' shat I bryng the
I shall not fay, be thou bold,
home agane to thi countre.
God pro-
32 peaceful
mises him a
return home.
Bot I shał do as I haue told.
hic vigilet.
Iacob. A lord! what may this mene?
what' haue I herd in slepe, and sene?
That god leynyd hym to a steȝ,
And spake to me, it' is no legħe;
Jacob
36 awakes, &
sets up a
stone in
praise of
God, pouring
oil thereon.
And now is here none othere gate,
bot' godis howse and heuens yate.
lord, how dredful is this stede!
ther I layde downe my hede,
In godis lovyng' I rayse this stone,
And oy will I putt' theron).
lord of heuen, that all wote,
40
44
here to the I make a hote:
If thou gif me mete and foode,
And close to body, as I behoued,
And bryng me home to kyþ and kyn,
by the way that I walk in,
without' skathe and in quarte,
I promyse to the, with stedfast' hart',
As thou art lord and god myne,
And I Iacob, thi trew hyne,
This stone I rayse in sygne to day
shall I hold holy kyrk for ay;
And of all that' newes me
rightwys tend shall I gif the.
hic egrediatur iacob de aran in terram natiuitatis sue.
A, my fader, god of heuen,
that' saide to me, thruȝ thi steven,
when I in aran was dwelland,
that I shuld turne agane to land
The stone is
his witness,
that if God
provides for
him & brings
him home in
48 peace he wil
52
56
hold to his
holy Church
for ever.
[Fol. 17, a.)
On his return
60 from Aran,
Jacob
remembers
God's pro-
mise.
Ther' I was both fed and borne,
warnyd thou me, lord, beforne,
As I went toward aran
with my staff, and passyd Iordan :
64
Jacob is re-
turning with
two hosts of
men.
He prays
God to pro-
tect him
from Esau.
And now I com agane to kyþ,
with two ostes of men me with.
Thou hete me, lork, to do weł with me,
to multyplye my seede as sand of see;
Thou saue me, lord, thruȝ vertew,
ffrom veniance of Esaw,
That' he slo not, for old greme,
He has sent
Esau many
beasts as a
present, &
hopes it
may pacify
him.
68
72
these moders with thare barne teme.
Rachel. Oure anguysħ, sir, is many fold,
syn that oure messyngere vs told
76
That Esaw wold you slo,
with foure hundreth men and mo.
Iacob. ffor soth, rachel, I haue hym sent
of many beestis sere present'.
80
May tyde he will oure giftis take,
And right' so shall his wrath slake.
where aroure thyngis, ar' thay past Iordan?
He wrestles
with God,
and will not
let Him go.
Lya. Go and look, sir, as ye can.
hic scrutetur superlectile, & luctetur angelus cum eo.
Deus. The day spryngis; now lett' me go.
Iacob. Nay, nay, I will not so,
Bot' thou blys me or thou gang:
If I may, I shall hold the lang.
Deus. In tokynyng that thou spekis with me,
I shall toche now thi thee,
That halt shał thou euermore,
84
88
God changes
his name to
Israel.
Jacobs asks
God's name,
and is told
"Wonder-
ful."
bot' thou shalt fele no sore;
What is thy name, thou me teH ?
Iacob. Iacob.
Deus.
nay, bot' Israel;
syn thou to me sich strengthe may kythe,
to men of erth thou must be stythe.
Iacob. what is thy name?
Deus.
'wonderful,' if thou wil wyt.
Iacob. A, blys me, lord!
Deus.
And be to the full propyce,
92
96
whi askis thou it?
I shall the blys,
100
And gyf the my blyssyng for ay,
As lord and he that' al may.
I shall grayth thi gate,
God blesses
Jacob.
And full well ordeyn thi state;
when thou has drede, thynk on me,
And thou shal full well saynyd be,
And look thou trow well my sayes;
And farewell now, the day dayes.
Iacob. Now haue I a new name,
this place shalt [hight] fanuelt,
ffor I haue seyn in this place,
israel;
god of heuen face to face.
Rachel. Iacob, lo we haue tythand
104
108
112
Jacob calls
the place
"Fanuell,"
for he has
seen God
face to face.
Rachel
announces
the approach
of Esau.
that Esaw is here at hand.
hic diuidit turmas in tres partes.
Iacob. Rachel, stand thou in the last eschele,
ffor I wold thou were sauyd wele;
Cal Ioseph and beniamin,
And let theym not fro the twyn.
If it be so that' Esaw
vs before all-to-hew,
Ye that ar here the last
Jacob
divides his
116 hosts into
three parts,
placing
Rachel & her
sons in the
third for
safety.
120
[Fol. 17, b.]
Ye may be sauyd if ye fle fast.
& vadat iacob osculand Esaw; venit iacob, flectit
genua exorando deum, & leuando, occurrit illi Esaw
in amplexibus.
Iacob. I pray the, lord, as thou me het',
¹ thou saue me and my gete.
Esaw. welcom brother, to kyn and kyþ,
thi wife and childre that comes the with.
how has thou faren in far land?
tell me now som good tythand.
Iacob. Well, my brother' Esaw,
If that' thi men no bale me brew.
dicit seruis suis.
Esaw. wemo! felows, hold youre hend,
ye se that I and he ar' frend,
Jacob &
Esau greet
124 each other
128
kindly.
Esau bids
his men hold
132 their hands.
¹ MS. that.
Jacob
thanks Esau
for his
kindness.
Esau recog-
nizes him as
his lord
"through
destiny."
And frenship here will we fulfiH,
syn that it' is godis wit.
Iacob. God yeld you, brothere, that it so is
that thou thi hyne so wold kys.
Esaw. Nay, Iacob, my dere brothere,
I shall the tel at anothere;
Thou art my lord thrugh destyny;
go we togoder both thou and I,
To my fader and his wife,
that lofys the, brother', as thare lyfe.
136
140
Explicit Iacob.

VII. The Procession of the Prophets

Processus Prophetarum

(VII.)
Processus Prophetarum.
[Incomplete: 39 six-lined stanzas, aab ccb, and 4 bits of Latin.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Moyses.
David.
Moyses.
Sybilla prophcta.
(Prolog.)
Daniel.]
P
Rophetam excitabit deus de fratribus vestris ;
Omnis anima, que non audierit' prophetam illum,
exterminabitur de populo suo;
Nemo propheta sine honore nisi in patriâ suâ.
(1)
Moses
reminds the
people of
Israel of the
condemna-
tion of
Adam.
AH ye folk of israel,
herkyn to me! I will you tel
Tythyngis farly goode;
AH wote ys how it be fell
3
wherfor Adam was dampnyd to hell,
God will
raise up a
prophet, &
all who
believe in
him shall be
saved.
he, and all his blode.
Therfor will god styr' and rayse
A prophete, in som man dayes,
Of oure brethere kyn;
6
(2)
9
And all trowes as he says,
And with walk in his ways,
ffrom hell he will theym twyn.
12
་
(3)
when his tyme begynnys to day,
I rede no man fro hym dray,
In way, ne stand on strut;
ffor he that will not' here his saȝ,
he be shewed as an out-laȝ,
And from his folkis be putt.
(4)
I warne you well that same prophete
shal com hereafterward, full swete,
And many meruels shew ;
Man shall fall til his feete,
He who will
not hear him
shall be as
an outlaw
15
18
The prophet
shall show
many
21 marvels.
ffor cause he can bales beete,
Thruȝ his awn thew.
24
(5)
AH that will in trowth ren
shall he saue, I warne you then,
Trust shall his name be.
Bot' all ouer will man prophete ken
with worship, amangis men,
27
He will save
them who
walk in
truth.
But a pro-
phet ever
has honour
Bot' in his awne countre.
(6)
herkyns alt, both yong and old!
God that has ał in wold,
Gretys you bi me;
his commaundementis ar ten;
Behold, ye that ar his men,
here ye may theym se.
(7)
his commaundementis that I haue broght',
looke that ye hold thaym noght
ffor tryfyls, ne for fables;
ffor
ᎩᎾ shaй well vnderstand
30
save in his
own
333
36
39
country
[Fol. 18, a.]
Moses de-
clares God's
command-
ments.
They are no
trifles nor
fables.
That' god wrote theym with his hand
In thyse same tables.
(8)
Ye that thyse in hart will hald,
vnto heuen shall ye be cald,
God wrote
them with
42 His own
hand.
They who
hold them in
their heart
shall go to
heaven;
those who do
not, to hell.
That is fyrst to com); ·
·
And
ye
that will not do so,
Til helt pyne mon ye go,
And byde a bytter dome.
45
48
(9)
The first
command.
ment is
Do now as I shał you wys ;
The fyrst commaundement is this
against
idols.
That' I shall you say;
Make no god of stok ne stone,
51
And trow in none god bot oone,
The second,
against
swearing
falsely by
God's name.
That' mayde both nyght and day.
(10)
Anothere bydis thou shał not swere,
ffor no mede, ne for' no dere,
ffalsly, bi godis name;
If thou swere wrong wosly,
Wit thou well and wytterly,
Thou art worthi grete blame.
The third,
to keep the
holy day.
(11)
The thyrd is, thou shall well yheme
Thi holy day, and serue to wheme
The fourth,
to honour
father and
mother.
The fifth,
to forsake
fornication
God with all thi hart'.
The fourt commaundement' is bi tay,
ffader and moder worship thou shał,
In pouert' and in qwarte.
(12)
The fyft commaundis thou shall forsake
ffornycacyon, and take the a make,
And lyf in rightwys state.
54
57
60
63
66
& take a
mate.
69
The sixth,
The sext' commaundis thou shal not' be
to be no
manslayer.
Man sloer, for gold ne fee,
72
Ne for luf, ne for hate.
(13)
The seventh, The seuenth commaundis that thou shal leue,
not to steal.
And nather' go to stele ne reue,
ffor more then for les.
The eighth, The aght bydis both old and yong,
to be true of
tongue.
That thay be traw of thare tong,
And bere no fals witnes.
75
78
(14)
The nenth bydis the, bi thi lif,
Thou desyre not thi neȝbur's wife,
Ne mayden that is his.
The tent bidis the, for no case,
Desyre not wranwosly thyng thi neghbur' has;
Do thus, and do no mys.
(15)
I am the same man that' god chase,
And toke the ten commaundementis of peasse
In the monte synay;
Thise wordis, I say, ar no les;
My name is callyd moyses;
And haue now ał good day!
81
The ninth,
not to covet
thy neigh-
bour's wife.
The tenth,
to covet
nothing of
thy neigh-
84 bour's.
[Fol. 18, b.]
87
These words
are true.
[Exit Moses.] 90
Dauid. Omnes reges adorabunt cum, omnes gentes
seruient ei.
(16)
herkyn, aH, that' here may,
And perceyf well what I shall say,
AH with righ[t]wisnes.
loke ye put it not away,
Bot thynk theron both nyȝt and day,
ffor it is sothfastnes.
Iesse sou, ye wote I am;
Dauid is my right name,
And I bere crowne;
(17)
Bot' ye me trow, ye ar to blame;
Of Israel, both wyld and tame,
I haue in my bondon.¹
(18)
As god of heuen has gyffyn me wit,
shał I now syng you a fytt,
With my mynstrelsy;
loke ye do it well in wrytt',
And theron a knot knytt,
ffor it' is prophecy.
1 The ryme needs 'bondowne.'
David bids
the people
think on
righteous-
93 ness.
96
I am Jesse's
son, David,
and have all
Israel sub-
99 ject to me.
102
He will sing
a fytt, which
shall be a
105 prophecy.
108
of the
(19)
David sings Myrth I make til al men,
with my harp and fyngers ten,
coming of
God's Bon
And warn theym that thay glat;
ffor god will that his son down send,
That' wroȝt adam with his hend,
And heuen and erth mayde.
(20)
He wil lyght fro heuen towre,
And saue that' is forlorne ;
111
114
to be man's
Saviour. Of
His coming
he is glad.
for to be mans saueyoure,
117
ffor that I harp, and myrth make,
Is for he will manhede take,
I tell you thus beforne;
120
(21)
God's Son
shall return
to the
highest seat
in heaven
And thider shat he ren agane,
As gyant of mych mayne,
Vnto the hyest' sete ;
123
Ther is nawther' kyng, ne swayn,
Then no thyng that may hym layn,
Ne hyde from his hete.
126
(22)
He shall be
lord of all.
he shall be lord and kyng of att,
Kings shall TyH hys feete shall kyngis fall,
kneel to
Him,
To offre to hym wytterly.
129
Blyssyd be that swete blome,
That' shal saue vs at his com!
Ioyful may we be.
132
(23)
and bring
Him rich
gifts.
Riche gyftis thay shall hym bryng,
And til hym make offeryng,
kneland on thare kne;
135
welt were hym that that lordyng,
And that dere derlyng',
Myght' bide on lyfe and se.
138
(24)
[Fol. 19, a.
Men may know hym bi his marke,
Big. E. 1.1 Myrth and lovyng is his warke,
that shall he luf' most.
141
lyght' shalt be born that' tyme in darke,
Both to lawd man and to clark,
144
Light shall
come both
to layman
and to clerk.
the luft of rightwys gost.
(25)
Therfor, both emperoure and kyng,
Ryche and poore, both old and ying,
temper well youre gle,
Agans that kyng lyght downe,
Temper
your glee,
emperor
king, till
147 that King
come to
free us.
ffor to lowse vs of pryson,
And make vs all free.
150
Ostende nobis domine misericordiam tuam, et' salutare
tuum da nobis.
(26)
Thou shew thi mercy, lord, tył vs,
ffor to thou com, to heH we trus,
we may not go beside;
lord, when thi wiH is for to dele
TyH us thi salue and thi hele,
whom we al abyde.
Till the
Lord come
we must all
go
to hell.
153
156
(27)
Now haue I songen you a fytt';
loke in mynd that ye haue it,
I rede with my myght';
he that' maide vs aH with his wytt,
sheld vs all from hell pytt,
And graunt vs heuen lyȝt'!
I have sung
you a fytt,
look you
keep it in
159 mind.
[Exit David.] 162
sibilla propheta. Iudicii signum tellus sudore madescit',
E celo rex adueniet' per secla futurus,
Scilicet' in carne presens vt iudicet' orbem.
(28)
Who so wył here tythyngis glad,
of hym that all this warld made,
here me wytterly!
sibil sage is my name;
Bot' ye me here, ye ar to blame,
My word is prophecy.
165
168
The Sibyl
calls on inen
to hear her.
(29)
A new king AH men was slayn thruȝ adam syn,
And put to pyne that' neuer shał blyn,
is coming to
fight the
fend.
thruȝ falsnes of the feynd;
A new kyng comes from heuen to fyght
Agans the feynd, to wyn his right,
so is his mercy heynd.
171
174
(30)
He shall
judge the
world.
AH the warld shat he deme,
And that' haue seruyd hym to wheme,
Myrth thaym mon betyde;
177
AH shaй se hym with thare ec,
Ryche and poore, low and hye,
No man may-bym hyde;
(31)
180
Every man
Bot' thay shall in thare flesh ryse,
shall rise in
his flesh, &
see Him on
the Judg-
That' euery man shał whake and gryse,
Agans that ilk dome.
183
ment Day.
with his santis, many oone,
he shall be sene in flesh and bone,
that' kyng that' is to com.
186
(32)
[Fol. 19, b.]
AH that shaH stand hym before,
They shall
stand before
AH shal be les and more,
Him, and
the earth
Of oone eld ichon.
189
shall be
burnt with
Are.
Angels shatt qwake then for ferd,
And fyre shall bren this mydyH-erð,
192
yei, erth and al ther apon).
(33)
Hill and dale shall nothyng here in erþ be kend,
shall run
together &
all be made
even.
Bot it shall be strewyd and brendt,
AH waters and the see.
sythen shall both hit and dale
Ryn togeder, grete and smale,
And all shaй euen be.
(34)
At hys commyng shał bemys blaw,
195
198
That men may his commyng knaw;
ffull sorowful shall be that blast;
201
Ther is no man that' herys it',
Bot' he shalt qwake for att his witt,
(35)
Trumpets
shall blow at
His coming.
& men shall
204 quake at the
sound.
Be he neuer so sted fast.
Then shall heH gape and gryn,
That men may know thare dome therin,
Of that' hye iustyce;
That' it have done, to het mon go;
And to heuen the other also,
that has been rightwys.
Therfor, I rede ilk a man,
kepe, as well as he can,
(36)
ffro syn and fro mysdede.
My prophecy now haue I told;
God you saue, both yong and old,
And help you at youre nede!
Hell shall
gape & grin.
The bad shall
go there, the
207 good to
heaven.
210
213
[Exit Sybil.] 216
Daniel. Cum venerit sanctus sanctorum cessabit vncio
Therefore let
each man
keep him
from sin.
vestra.
(37)
God that maide adam and eue,
whils thay dyd wel, he gaf thaym leue
In paradise to dwell;
219
Sone when thay that appyH ete,
Vnto the pyne of het,
Thruȝ sorow and paynes euer new;
Therfor wył god apon vs rew,
Thay were dampned, sone and skete,
222
(38)
And his son downe send
Into erth, flesh to take,
That' is all for oure sake,
oure trespas to amend.
(39)
fflesh with fleshe will be boght,
That he lose not that he has wroȝt
wyth hys awne hend;
Daniel
recalls the
fall of Adam,
God wills
that His Son
shall take
225
flesh to
amend our
trespass.
228
231
G
7
He shall be
born of a
maiden to
save the
lost.
Of a madyn shal he be borne,
To saue all that' ar forlorne,
Euermore withoutten end. 1
[Fol. 21, a.
Sig. E. 3.]
234

VIII. Pharaoh

Pharao

(VIII.)
Incipit Pharao.
[36 eight-line stanzas, ab ab ab ab; 1 seven-line (no. 49), ab ab aba;
1 six (na. 55), ab ab ab; 32 fours, ab ab; and 2 single lines, 109,
355.]
Pharao.
[Dramatis Personae
Pharaoh
calls for
Peace.
He is king
as his father
was before
him.
Primus Miles.
Moyses.
Deus.
Secundus Miles.
(1)
Eas, of
Pharao.
P
payn that no man pas;
Primus Puer.
Secundus Puer.]
Litsters Pagonn.³
bot' kepe the course that I commaunde,
And take good hede of hym that has
youre helth at holy in hys hande ;
ffor kyng pharro my fader Was,
And led thys lordshyp of thys land;
I am hys hayre as age Wyll has,
Euer in stede to styr or stand.
(2)
his.
All Egypt is AH Egypt is myne awne
To leede aftyr my law;
They who
hearken not
to his words
shall be
I Wold my myght Were knawne s
And honoryd, as hyt awe.
ffuH low he shall be thrawne
That harkyns not my sawe,
hanged high, hanged hy and drawne,
Therfor no boste ye blaw;
4
8
12
16
1 This Play is unfinished, the rest of fol. 19 b, and the whole of
fol. 20, being left blank.
2 This is written at top of the page in the margin, in a more
recent hand; but about half-way down (and not in the margin) are
the words "lyster play," in yet another hand.
MS. knowne.
(3)
Bot' as for kyng I commaund peasse,
To all the people of thys empyre.
looke no man put hym self in preaase,
Bot' that Wył do as I desyre,
And of youre Wordis look that ye seasse.
Take tent to me, youre soferand syre,
That may youre comfort most increasse,
And to my lyst bowe lyfe and lyre.
(4)
Primus Miles. My lord, if any here Were,
That Wold not' wyrk youre Wyll,
If We myght com thaym nere,
20
24
Be obedient
and take
heed to me.
The 1st
soldier will
[Fol. 21, b.] kill any one
who will
not work
Pharaoh's
28 will.
fful soyn we shuld theym spył.
(5)
Pharao. Thruȝ out my kyngdom Wold I ken,
And kun hym thank that Wold me teł,
If
any Were so Waryd men
That' wold my fors downe fel.
Secundus Miles. My lord, ye haue a maner of men
that make great mastres vs emet;
The Iues that Won in gersen,
thay ar callyd chyldyr of Israel.
(6)
32
Pharaoh
asks if there
are any in
his kingdom
who wish his
downfall.
The 2nd
soldier
thinks the
Jews in
36gersen' are
too strong.
Thay multyplye full fast',
and sothly We suppose
That' shall euer last',
oure lordshyp for to lose.
(7)
40
Pharao. Why, how haue thay sych gawdis begun!
ar thay of myght to make sych frayes?
Primus Miles. Yei, lord, ful fel folk ther Was fun
In kyng pharao, youre fader dayes.
Thay cam of Ioseph, Was iacob son-
he Was a prince Worthy to prayse—
44
They come
of Joseph,
Jacob's son.
In sythen in ryst' haue thay ay ron;
thus ar thay lyke to lose youre layse,
48
The Jews
will con-
found
Pharaoh, if
they go on
multiplying.
They were
but 70 when
they came,
and after
(8)
Thay Wyl confound you cleyn,
bot' if thay soner sesse.
Pharao. What' deuy is that thay meyn
that' thay so fast' incresse?
(9)
Secundus Miles. How thay incres fułł well we ken,
as oure faders dyd vnderstand;
Thay Were bot' sexty and ten
49
52
when thay fyrst' cam in to thys land;
56
400 years are Sythen haue soierned in geisen
800,000 men.
[Fower hundreth]¹ Wynter, I dar warand;
Now ar thay nowmbred of myghty men
60
Pharaoh
determines
to crush
them by
cunning.
He is told of
a prophecy,
& gives
orders that
the midwives
shall kill all
Hebrew
babies.
moo then [thre hundreth]² thousand,
(10)
Wyth outen Wyfe and chyld,
or hyrdis that kepe thare fee.
Pharao. How thus myght we be begyld?
bot' shall it not be ;
64
(11)
ffor wyth quantyse we shall thaym quet,
so þat thay shall not far sprede.
Primus Miles. My lord, we haue hard oure faders teł,
and clerkis that well couth rede,
68
Ther shuld a man walk vs amcH
that shuld fordo vs and oure dede.
Pharao. ffy on hym, to the deuy of hell!
sych destyny wył we not' drede;
72
(12)
[Fol. 22, a.
4.]
We shal make mydwyfis to spyH them)
where any ebrew is borne,
Big. E. 1. And all menkynde to ky them),
so shall thay soyn be lorne.
The rest
shall be kept
in bondage
to ditch and
delve.
(13)
And as for elder haue I none awe,
sych bondage shall I to thaym beyde,
To dyke and delf, bere and draw,
and to do all vnhonest deyde;
1 MS. iiijc.
76
80

  • MS. coc.
    So shall these laddis be halden law,
    In thraldom euer thare lyfe to leyde.
    Secundus Miles. Now, certis, thys was a sotel saw,
    thus shall these folk no farthere sprede.
    (14)
    Pharao. Now help to hald theym downe,
    look I no fayntnes fynde.
    Primus Miles. AH redy, lord, We shall be bowne,
    in bondage thaym to bynde.
    Tunc Intrat moyses cum virgâ in manu, etc.
    (15)
    Moyses. Gret god, that all thys Warld began,
    and growndyd it in good degre,
    Thou mayde me, moyses, vnto man,
    and sythen thou sauyd me from the se;
    kyng Pharao had commawndy than,
    ther shuld no man chyld sauyd be;
    Aguns hys Wył away I wan;
    thus has god shewed hys myght for me.
    Now am I sett to kepe,
    (16)
    vnder thys montayn syde,
    Byshope Iettyr shepe,
    The second
    soldier
    thinks this
    a subtle
    84 saying.
    Pharaoh
    Bays there
    must be no
    faintness.
    88
    92
    36
    96
    Moses
    thanks God
    for saving
    him from
    Pharaoh at
    his birth.
    He is now
    set to keep
    sheep till
    better
    betide.
    to better may be tyde;
    (17)
    A, lord, grete is thy myght!
    What man may of yond meruet meyn?
    Yonder I se a selcowth syght,
    sych on in Warld Was neuer seyn;
    A bush I se burnand full bryght,
    and euer elyke the leyfes are greyn ;
    If it be wark of Warldly Wyght,
    I Wył go wyt wythoutyn Weyn.
    Deus. Moyses, Moyses!
    hic properat ad rubum, et dicit ei deus, etc.
    100
    He sees a
    strange
    sight, a bush
    burning
    while its
    104
    leaves keep
    green.
    108
    God bids
    Moses take
    off his shoes
    for the place
    Moyses, com not to nere,
    (18)
    bot styf in that stede thou dweH,
    is hallowed. And harkyn vnto me here;
    take tent What I the tel.
    do of thy shoyes in fere,
    wyth mowth as I the melt,
    110
    113
    the place thou standis in there
    forsothe, is halowd Welt.
    117
    (19)
    He declares I am thy lord, Wythouten lak,
    himself as
    the God who
    blessed
    Abraham,
    Isaac and
    Jacob.
    to lengthe thi lyfe eucn as I lyst;
    I am god that som tyme spake
    121
    to thyn elders, as thay Wyst;
    To abraam, and Isaac,
    and iacob, I sayde shuld be blyst,
    And multytude of them to make,
    so that thare seyde shuld not be myst.
    125
    (20)
    He will not Bot now thys kyng, pharao,
    Buffer
    Pharaoh to
    hurt the
    Jews.
    he hurtys my folk so fast,
    If that I suffre hym so,
    thare seyde shuld soyne be past;
    129
    Bot I Wył not so do,
    in me if thay Wył trast,
    [Fol. 22, b.] Bondage to bryng thaym fro.
    therfor thou go in hast
    133
    (21)
    Moses is
    bidden to
    To do my message, haue in mynde,
    tell Pharaoh
    to let the
    Jews go to
    the Wilder-
    ness to
    worship
    God.
    To Wyldernes that thay may Weynde,
    to Worshyp me as I wył asse.
    Agans my wył if that thay leynd,
    to hym that me sych harme mase;
    Thou speke to hym Wyth wordis heynde,
    so that he let my people pas,
    137
    ful soyn hys song shall be 'alas.'
    141
    (22)
    Moyses. A, lord! pardon me, Wyth thy leyf,
    that' lynage luffis me noght;
    Moses begs
    God to send
    somebody of
    more force.
    Gladly thay Wold me greyf,
    if I sych bod worde broght.
    (23)
    Good lord, lett som othere frast',
    that has more fors the folke to fere.
    Deus. Moyses, be thou nott abast',
    my bydyng shalt thou boldly bere;
    If thay with wrong away Wold Wrast',
    outt of the way I shaH the Were.
    Moyses. Good lord, thay Wył not me trast
    for all the othes that I can swere;
    145
    God bids
    him not be
    149 abashed.
    Moses fears
    that without
    a token he
    will not be
    153 trusted.
    (24)
    To neuen sych noytis newe
    to folk of Wykyd Wył,
    Wyth outen tokyn trew,
    thay wył not tent ther tyH.
    (25)
    Deus. If that he wył not vnderstand
    thys tokyn trew that I shaH sent,
    Afore the kyng cast downe thy Wand,
    and it shall turne to a serpent;
    Then take the tayt agane in hand-
    boldly vp look thou it hent-
    And in the state that thou it fand,
    then shal it turne by myne intent'.
    (26)
    Sythen hald thy hand soyn in thy barme,
    and as a lepre it shal be lyke,
    And hole agane with outen harme;
    lo, my tokyns shal be slyke.
    (27)
    157
    A wand that
    shall turn
    into a ser-
    pent & again
    into a wand
    shall be his
    161 token.
    165
    169
    He shall be
    able to make
    his hand
    leprous or
    whole.
    And if he wył not suffre then
    my people for to pas in peasse,
    I shall send venyance [neyn]¹ or ten,
    shall sowe full sore or I seasse.
    1 MS. ix.
    173
    If Pharaoh
    will not let
    the people
    go,
    God will
    punish him.
    The Hebrews Bot the ebrewes, won in Iessen,
    shall escape
    the plagues.
    shall not be merkyd with that measse ;
    As long as thay my lawes WyH ken
    thare comforth shall euer increasse
    (28)
    Moyses. A, lord, to luf the aght vs welt,
    that makis thy folk thus free;
    174
    177
    Moses asks
    by what
    name he is
    to speak to
    Pharaoh of
    God.
    God tells
    him and
    I shalt vnto thaym tel
    as thou has told to me.
    (29)
    Bot to the kyng, lord, when I com,
    if he aske what is thy ¹ name,
    1
    And I stand styH, both deyf & dom,
    181
    how shuld I [skape] withoutten blame?
    185
    Deus. I say the thus, 'Ego sum qui sum,'
    blosses him. I am he that is the same;
    If thou can nother muf nor mom,
    189
    (30)
    [Fol. 23, a.]
    Moses
    resolves to
    tell his
    friends of
    I shall sheld the from shame.
    Moyses. I vnderstand full well thys thyng,
    I go, lord, with all the myght in me.
    Deus. Be bold in my blyssyng',
    thi socoure shat I be.
    (31)
    [Deus retires.] 193
    Moyses. A, lord of luf, leyn me thy lare,
    that I may truly talys teH;
    this comfort. To my freyndis now wył I fare,
    The Israel-
    ites he
    speaks to
    comp ain of
    their lot.
    the chosyn childre of Israel,
    To tell theym comforth of thare care,
    in dawngere ther as thay dwel.
    197
    God manteyn you euermare, [Moses accosts the Israelites.]
    And meky myrth be you emet.
    (32)
    primus puer. A, master moyses, dere!
    oure myrth is at mowrnyng;
    ffull hard halden ar we here
    as carls vnder the kyng.
    1 MS. my.
    201
    205
  • MS. skake.
    (33)
    Secundus puer.
    We may mowrn, both more and myn,
    ther is no man that oure myrth mase;
    They pray
    God send
    them com-
    fort,
    Bot syn we ar að of a kyn,
    god send vs comforth in thys case.
    209
    Moyses. Brethere, of youre mowrnyng blyn;
    god WyH delyuer you thrugh his grace,
    Out of this wo he wył you wyn,
    and put you to youre pleassyng place;
    (34)
    ffor I shall carp vnto the kyng,
    and fownd full soyn to make you free.
    primus puer. God graunt you good Weyndyng,
    and euermore with you be.
    213
    & wish
    Moses
    217 success.
    [Moses approaches Pharaoh.]
    (35)
    Moyses. kyng pharao, to me take tent.
    Pharao. Why, boy, what tythyngis cau thou tett?
    Moyses. ffrom god hym self hydder am I sent
    Moses asks
    Pharaoh to
    let the
    Israelites
    go to the
    wilderness.
    to foche the chyldre of Israel;
    221
    To Wyldernes he wold thay went.
    Pharao. yei, weynd the to the devy of hel!
    Pharaoh
    I gyf no force What he has ment',
    refuses, with
    threats.
    In my dangere, herst thou, shall thay dwell;
    225
    (36)
    And, fature, for thy sake,
    thay shalbe put to pyne.
    Moyses. Then wył god venyance take
    of the, and of all thyn.
    (37)
    Pharao. On me? fy on the lad, out of my land!
    wenys thou thus to loyse oure lay.?
    [To the soldiers.]
    Say, whence is yond warlow with his wand
    that thus wold wyle oure folk away?
    Primus Miles. Yond is moyses, I dar warand,
    agans all egypt has beyn ay,
    Greatt defawte with hym youre fader fand;
    now wył he mar you) if he may.
    229
    233
    237
    The 1st
    soldier says
    Moses has
    ever been a
    foe to Egypt.
    Towneley Plays. VIII. Pharaoh.
    (38)
    Pharao. ffy on hym! nay, nay, that dawnce is done;
    Moyses. God bydis the graunt my bone,
    lurdan, thou leryd to late.
    and let me go my gate.
    (39)
    241
    Pharaoh
    asks Moses
    for a token.
    [Fol. 23, b.]
    Pharao. Bydis god me? fals loseH, thow lyse!
    What tokyn told he? take thou tent.
    Moyses. He sayd thou shuld dyspyse
    both me, and hys commaundement';
    fforthy, apon thys wyse,
    He changes my Wand he bad, in thi present,
    I shuld lay downe, and the avyse
    how it shuld turne to oone serpent;
    his wand
    into a
    serpent.
    245
    249
    (40)
    And in hys holy name
    here I lay it downe;
    lo, syr, here may thou se the same.
    Pharao. A, ha, dog! the devy the drowne!
    253
    (41)
    Then
    Moyses. He bad me take it by the tayH,
    changes it
    back again. for to prefe hys powere playn);
    Then he sayde, wythouten fayH,
    Pharaoh
    says these
    gauds shall
    help the
    Israelites
    nothing.
    byt shuld turne to a wand agayn.
    lo, sir, behold!
    Pharao.
    257
    wyth ylahay!
    Certis this is a sotel swayn!
    bot thyse boyes shall abyde in bayH,
    AH thi gawdis shall thaym not gayn;
    261
    (42)
    Bot wars, both morñ and none,
    shall thay fare, for thi sake.
    Moyses. I pray god send us venyange sone,
    and on thi Warkis take wrake.
    265
    (43)
    primus Miles. Alas, alas! this land is lorn!
    on lyfe we may [no] longer leynd;
    Sych myschefe is fallen syn morn,
    ther may no medsyn it amend.
    269
    Towneley rays. VIII. Pharaoh.
    78
    Pharao. Why cry ye so, laddis? lyst ye skorn?
    ijus Miles. Syr kyng, sych care was neuer kend,
    In no mans tyme that euer was borne.
    Pharao. Tel on, belyfe, and make an end.
    (44)
    Primus Miles. Syr, the Waters that were ordand
    for men and bestis foyde,
    Thruȝ outt af egypt land,
    ar turnyd into reede bloyde;
    273
    The soldiers
    announce
    the first
    plague: the
    waters are
    turned to
    277 red blood.
    (45)
    ffuH vgly and fuH yH is hytt,
    that both fresh and fayre was before.
    Pharao. O, ho! this is a wonderful thyng to wytt,
    of all the warkis that euer wore!
    ijus Miles. Nay, lord, ther is anothere yit,
    that sodanly sowys vs fuł sore;.
    ffor todis and froskis may no man flyt,
    thay venom vs so, both les and more.
    (46)
    281
    The 2nd
    plague:
    venomous
    285 toads.
    Primus Miles. Greatte mystis, sir, ther is both morn The 3rd
    byte vs full bytterly;
    and noyn,
    we trow that it be doyn
    thruȝ moyses, oure greatte enmy.
    (47)
    plague:
    great
    'mystis
    [gnats]
    biting
    bitterly.
    289
    ijus Miles. My lord, bot' if this menye may remefe,
    Mon neuer myrth be vs amang.
    Pharao. Go, say to hym we wył not' grefe,
    Pharaoh
    makes
    delusive
    bot' thay shall neuer the tytter gang'.
    293 offers to let
    the Jews go
    [Fol. 24, a.]
    Primus Miles. Moyses, my lord gyffys leyfe
    to leyd thi folk to lykyng lang,
    So that' we mend of oure myschefe.
    Moyses. fful weH I wote, thyse wordis ar wrang; 297
    But hardely at that I heytt
    (48)
    fful sodanly it shall be seyn;
    vncowth meruels shalbe meyt
    And he of malyce meyn.
    301
    The 4th
    plague:
    great,
    "loppys"
    [flena].
    The 5th
    plague: a
    murrain on
    the cattle.
    (49)
    Secundus Miles. A, lord, alas, for doy we dy! 302
    we dar look oute at no dowre.
    Pharao. What', ragyd the dwy of heH, alys you so
    to cry?
    Primus Miles. ffor we fare wars then euer we fowre; 305
    grete loppys ouer al pis land thay fly,
    And where thay byte thay make grete blowre,
    and in euery place oure hestis dede ly.¹
    (50)
    Secundus Miles. hors, ox, and asse,
    thay fall downe dede, syr, sodanly.
    Phorao. we lo, ther is no man that has
    half as mych harme as I.
    (51)
    Primus Miles. yis, sir, poore folk haue meky wo,
    to se thare catal thus out cast.
    308
    312
    The Iues in gessen fayre not so,
    thay haue lykyng for to last.
    316
    Pharaoh
    renews his
    pretended
    permission
    Pharao. Then shall we gyf theym leyf to go,
    to tyme this pereł be on past;
    Bot, or thay flytt oght far vs fro,
    we shall pem bond twyse as fast.
    320
    (52)
    Secundus Miles. Moyses, my lord gyffis leyf
    Moyses, ye mon hafe more myschefe
    thi meneye to remeue.
    bot' if thyse talys be trew.
    (53)
    324
    The 6th
    plague:
    boils &
    blains.
    The 7th
    plague:
    hail and
    rain.
    Primus Miles. A, lord, we may not leyde thyse lyfys.
    Pharao, what, dwyH! is grevance grofen agayn?
    Secundus Miles. ye, sir, sich powder apon vs dryfys,
    where it abidys it makys a blayn;
    Mesel makys it man and wyfe,2
    thus ar we hurt with hay & rayn.
    328
    Syr, v[y]nys in montanse may not thryfe,
    so has frost & thoner thaym slayn.
    332
    1 The following line in-owre is left out.
    The singular rymes with the plural now and then.
    (54)
    Pharao. yei, bot' how do thay in gessen,
    the Ines, can ye me say?
    Primus Miles. Of all thyse cares no thyng thay ken,
    thay feyH noght of our afray.
    (55)
    336
    Pharao. No the ragyd! the dwył sytt thay in peasse ?
    and we euery day in doute & drede ?
    ijus Miles. My lord, this care wyll euer encrese,
    to moyses haue his folk to leyd;
    Els be we lorn, it is no lesse,
    yit were it better that pai yede.
    (56)
    Pharao. Thes folk shall flyt no far,
    Primus Miles. Then wit it sone be war;
    If he go welland wode.
    It' were better thay yode.
    (57)
    ijus Miles. My lord, new harme is comyn in hand.
    Pharao. Yei, dwił, wił it no better be?
    342
    346
    Primus Miles. wyld wormes ar layd ouer at this land,
    Thai leyf no floure, nor leyf on tre.
    ijus Miles. Agans that storme may no man stand;
    350
    Pharaoh
    rages when
    he hears the
    Jews are
    unhurt by
    these harms.
    But still will
    not let them
    go.
    [Fol. 24, b.]
    The 8th
    plague: wild
    worms, or
    locusts.
    And mekyH more meruel thynk me,
    That' thise thre¹ dayes has bene durand
    Sich myst, þat no man may other se.
    Pharao.
    bagħ!
    (58)
    Primus Miles. A, my lord!
    ijus Miles. Grete pestilence is comyn;2
    It is like ful long to last.
    Pharao. [pestilence ] in the dwilys name!
    then is oure pride ouer past.
    (59)
    Primus Miles. My lord, this care lastis lang,
    and wiH, to moyses haue his bone;
    let hym go, els wyrk we wrang,
    The 9th
    plague: a
    354 great mist
    359
    or darkness.
    The 10th
    plagne: the
    pestilence.
    The 1st
    soldier says
    care will last
    till Moses
    be satisfied.
    It may not help to houer ne hone.
    1 MS. iij.
    2 Its rymo name is assonantal.
    • MS. pentilence.
    363
    Pharaoh
    gives leave
    for the Jews
    to go, but
    hopes to
    catch them
    again.
    Pharao. Then will we gif theym leyf to gang;
    364
    Syn it must nedis be doyn;
    Perchauns we sal thaym fang
    and mar them or to morñ at' none.
    367
    (60)
    ijus Miles. Moyses, my lord he says
    thou shall haue passage playn.
    Moyses. Now haue we lefe to pas,
    my freyndis, now be ye fayn;
    371
    (61)
    Com furth, now sal ye weynd
    to land of lykyng you to pay.
    Primus puer. Bot' kyng Pharao, that fals feynd,
    he wiH vs eft betray;
    375
    fful soyn he will shape vs to sheynd,
    The
    Israelites
    doubt, but
    Moses
    assures
    And after vs send his garray.
    them.
    Moyses. Be not' abast', god is oure freynd,
    And at oure foes with slay;
    379
    (62)
    Therfor com on with me,
    haue done and drede you noght.
    ijus Puer. That' lord, blyst might he be,
    that vs from bay has broght.
    383
    (63)
    Primus puer. Sich frenship neuer we fand;
    bot' yit' I drede for perels all,
    The reede see is here at hand,
    ther shal we byde to we be thrał.
    387
    He parts the
    Rod Sea
    Moyses. I shall make way ther with my wand,
    with his
    wand.
    as god has sayde, to sayf vs att;
    On ayther syde the see mon) stand,
    to we be gone, right' as a wał.
    391
    (64)
    [Fol. 25, a.]
    Com on wyth me, leyf none behynde;
    lo fownd ye now youre god to pleasse,
    hic pertransient mare.
    Secundus puer. O, lord! this way is heynd;
    Now weynd we all at easse.
    395
    (65)
    primus Miles. kyng pharao! thyse folk ar gone.
    Pharao. Say, ar ther any noyes new?
    ijus Miles. Thise Ebrews ar gone, lord, euer-ichon).
    Pharao. how says thou that'?
    Primus Miles.
    lord, that tay is trew. 399
    Pharao. We, out tyte, that they were tayn;
    That' ryett radly shah thay rew,
    we shall not scasse to thay be slayn,
    ffor to the see we shaH thaym sew;
    (66)
    So charge youre chariottis swythe,
    And fersly look ye folow me.
    ijus Miles. AH redy, lord, we ar ful blyth
    At youre byddyng to be.
    (67)
    Primus Miles. lord, at youre byddyng ar we bowne
    Qure bodys boldly for to beyd;
    we shall not seassc, bot dyng ał downe,
    403
    407
    Pharaoh is
    told of the
    flight of the
    Jews.
    He pursues
    them with
    his chariots;
    To all be dede withouten drede.
    411
    Pharao. heyf vp youre hertis vnto mahowne,
    he will be nere vs in oure nede;
    help! the raggyd dwył, we drowne !
    Now mon we dy for all oure dedc.
    415
    calling on
    Mahound.
    He & his
    men are
    drowned.
    Tunc merget eos mare.
    (68)
    Moyses. Now ar we won from a oure wo,
    And sauyd out of the sec;
    louyng gyf we god vnto,
    Go we to land now merely.
    (69)
    419
    Moses and
    the Jews
    give thanks
    to God for
    their safe
    passage.
    primus puer. lofe we may that lord on hyght,
    And euer tel on this meruet;
    Drownyd he has Kyng pharao myght',
    [Fol. 25, b.]
    louyd be that lord Emanuel.
    423
    Moyses. heuen, thou attend, I say, in syght,
    And erth my wordys; here what I tel.
    As rayn or dew on erth doys lyght
    And waters herbys and trees fuH we},
    427
    Honoured be Gyf louyng to goddys mageste,
    (70)
    428
    God in
    Trinity.
    hys dedys ar done, hys ways ar trew,
    honowred be he in trynyte,
    to hym be honowre and vertew.
    431
    Amen).
    Explicit pharao.

IX. Caesar Augustus

Cesar Augustus

(IX.)
Incipit Cesar Augustus.
[40 six-line stanzas aab ccb.]
[Dramatis Personac.
Imperator.
Primus Consultus.
Secundus Consultus.
Nuncius. (Lyghtfole.)
Sirinus.]
The
Emperor
commands
silence, and
magnifies his
own power.
Imperator.
(1)
E styH, beshers, I commawnd yow,
BⓇ
That no man speke a word here now
Bot' I my self alon;
And if ye do, I make a vow,
Thys brand abowte youre nekys shall bow,
ffor thy be styH as ston:
(2)
And looke ye grefe me noght,
ffor if ye do it shall be boght,
I swere you by mahowne;
I wote well if ye knew me oght,
To slo you at how lytyй I roght',
3
6
9
Ston styH ye wold syt downe.
(3)
12
ffor all is myn that' vp standys,
Castels, towers, townys, and landys,
To me homage thay bryng;
[Fol. 26, a.] ffor I may bynd and lowse of band,
Euery thyng bowys vnto my hand,
I want none erthly thyng.
15
18
(4)
I am lord and syr ouer ał,
AH bowys to me, both grete and smal,
As lord of euery land;
Is none so ccmly on to cat,
Whoso this agane says, fowH shall be fall,
And therto here my hand.
21
24
He is lord
over all.
(5)
ffor I am he that myghty is,
All
heatheness
And hardely at hathennes
obey's him.
Is redy at my wył;
27
Both ryche, and poore, more & les,
At my lykyng for to redres,
whether I wył saue or spyH.
(6)
Cesar august I am cald,
A fayrer cors for to behald,
Is not of bloode & bone;
Ryche ne poore, yong ne old,
Sych an othere, as I am told,
In all thys warld is none.
(7)
Bot oone thyng doys me full nych care,
I trow my land wył sone mysfaro
ffor defawte of counsel lele;
My counsellars so wyse of lare,
help to comforth me of care,
No wyt from me ye
fele.
(8)
As I am man moost of renowne,
I shall you gyf youre waryson
To help me if ye may.
30
He is called
Caesar
Augustus,
the fairest
33 body on
336
earth.
One thing
troubles
him: he
needs loyal
39 counsel.
42
15
primus Consultus. To counsel you, lord, we ar bowne, The 1st
And for no man that' lyfys in towne
wył we not let, perfay;
(9)
youre messyngere I reede ye cał,
ffor any thyng that may befal,
councillor
bids him
send for his
48
messenger.
8
H
His messen-
ger shall
proclaim his
peace over
all the land.
The
Emperor
assents.
[Fol. 26, b.]
Byd hym go hastely,
Thrugh out youre landys ouer aH,
Amang youre folk, both grete and smał
youre gyrth & peasse to cry;
(10)
ffor to commaunde both yong & old,
None be so hardy ne so bold,
To hold of none bot you;
And who so doth, put them in hold,
And loke ye payn theym many fold.
Imperator. I shał, I make a vowe;
(11)
Of thys counsel weł payde am I,
It shaH be done fuH hastely,
wyth outen any respytt.
51
54
57
60
63
Secundus Consultus. My Lord abyde awyle, for why?
A word to you I wold cleryfy.
Imperator. Go on, then, teH me tytt.
(12)
The 2nd
councillor
has heard
that a virgin
shall bear a
child who
shall lay
low the
Emperor's
might.
The
Emperor
rages with
fear and
anger.
Secundus Consultus. AH redy, lord, now permafay,
Thys haue I herd syn many day,
ffolk in the contre teH;
That in this land shuld dweł a may,
The which sat bere a chylde, thay say,
That shall youre force downe fel.
(13)
Imperator. Downe fel? dwyH! what may this be?
Out, harow, ful wo is me!
I am fuł wył of reede!
A, fy, and dewyls! whens cam he
66
69
72
75
That thus shuld reyfe me my pawste ?
78
Ere shuld I be his dede.
(14)
ffor certys, then were my worshyp lorne,
If sych a swayn, a snoke horne,
Shuld thus be my suffrane;
may I wyt when that' boy is borne,
In certan, had the dwył hit sworne,
that' gadlyng shuld agane.
81
84
(15)
Primus Consultus. Do way, lord, greyf you not so,
youre messyngere ye cause furth go
Aftyr youre cosyn dere,
To speke with you a word or two,
The best counsel that lad to slo,
fful soyn he can you lere;
(16)
ffor a wyse man that knyght men know.
Imperator. Now I assent vnto thi saw,
of witt art thou the well;
ffor all the best men of hym blowys;
he shall neuer dystroy my lawes,
were he the dwył of hell.
(17)
Com lyghtfote, lad, loke thou be yare
On my message furth to fare,
go tytt to sir syryn;
The 1st
Councillor
bids the
Emperor
87 take counsel
90
with his
cousin
Sirinus.
The
Emperor
93 assents,
96
and sends
his inessen-
ger Lyght-
foot,
99
Say sorow takys me full sare,
pray hym to comforth me of care,
As myn awne dere cosyn;
(18)
102
And bot if thou com agane to nyght,
look I se the neuer in syght,
bidding him
be back by
night,
neuer where in my land.
105
Nuncius. yis, certys, lord, I am fuł lyght,
or noyn of the day, I dar you hyght,
to bryng hym by the hand.
108
(19)
Imperator. yai, boy, and as thou) luffys me derc,
[Fol. 27, a.
Sig. ff. 1.]
and keep his
111
ears open for
Luke that thou spy, both far and nere,
Ouer all in ych place;
If thou here any saghes sere,
Of any carpyng, far and nere,
Of that lad where that thou gase.
114
(20)
Nuncius. AH redy, lord, I am) full bowne,
To spyr and spy in euery towne,
news.
Lyghtfoot
promises.
After that wykkyd queyd;
If I here any runk or rowne,
I shall fownd to crak thare crowne,
Ouer all, in ylk a stede;
117
120
(21)
And therfor, lord, haue now good day.
The
Imperator. Mahowne he wyse the on thi way,
Emperor
prays
That' weldys water and wynde;
123
Mahound to
speed him.
And specyally, here I the pray,
To spede the as fast as thou may.
Nuncius. yis, lord, that shall ye fynde.
126
(22)
[To Sirinus.]
Lyghtfoot
Mahowne the saue and se, sir syryne!
greets
Birinus
in the
Cesar, my lord, and youre cosyn,
Emperor's
name,
he gretys you well by me.
129
Sirinus. Thou art' welcom) to me and myn);
Com nere and tell me tythandys thyn,
Tyte, what thay may be.
132
(23)
and bids him
come to hold
counsel.
Nuncius. My lord prays you, as ye luf hym derc,
To com to hym, if youre wył were,
To speke with hym awhyle.
135
Sirinus
promises.
Sirinus. Go grete hym well, thou messyngere,
say hym I com, and that' right nere,
Behynd the not a myle.
138
(24)
Lyghtfoot
returns to
the Em-
peror,
Nuncius. AH redy, lord, at youre byddyng. [To Cesar.]
Mahowne the menske, my lord kyng,
And save the by see and sand.
141
Imperator. Welcom), bewshere, say what' tythyng,
Do tell me tyte, for any thyng,
What herd thou in my land?
144
(25)
and an-
nounces the
approach of Syr syryn, that I after yode,
Sirinus.
Nuncius. I herd no thyng, lord, bot goode;
he wył be here this nyght.
147
Imperator. I thank the by mahownes bloode;
Thise tythyngys mekyH amendys my mode;
Go rest, thow worthy wyght.
150
(26)
Sirinus. Mahowne 30 semely on) to cał,
he saue the, lord of lordis at,
Syttyng with thi meneye.
153
Imperator. Welcom, sir syrynne, to this hall,
Besyde my self here sytt thou shal,
156
Sirinus and
the Emperor
greet each
other.
Com vp belyf to me.
(27)
Sirinus. yis, lord, I am at youre talent'.
Imperator. Wherfor, sir, I after the sent,
I shall the say full right;
And therfor take to me intent,
I am in poynt for to be shent'.
Sirinus. how so, for mahownes myght?
(28)
Imperator. syr, I am done to vnderstand,
That a qweyn here, in this land,
shall bere a chyld I wene,
That shall be crowned kyng lyfand,
The Em-
peror tells
159 Sirinus of
his danger;
162
[Fol. 27, b.]
how a quean
shall bear &
child who
shall become
165 king.
And all shall bow vnto his hand;
Thise tythyngys doth me teyne.
(29)
he shall commauude both ying and old,
168
None be so hardy ne so bold
To gyf seruyce to me;
No one will
then give
service to
himself.
171
Then wold my hart be cold
If sich a beggere shold
My kyngdom) thus reyf me;
(30)
174
And therfor, sir, I wold the pray,
He asks
counsel fron
Thy best counsel thou wold me say,
Sirinus.
To do what I am best;
177
ffor securly, if that I may,
If he be fonden I shaH hym slay,
Aythere by eest' or west'.
(31)
Syrinus. Now wote ye, lord, what that I reede;
I counsel you, as etc I brede,
180
8
what' best therof may be;
seek out the Gar scrche youre land in euery stede,
Sirinus bids
the Emperor
boy & kill
him,
183
And byd that boy be done to dede,
who the fyrst may hym sce;
(32)
186
and com-
mand every
man to
come to
him, bring-
ing a head-
penny,
on the third
day. Thus
they will
all pay him
homage.
And also I rede that' ye gar cry,
To fleme wyth all that' belamy,
That' shuld be kyng with crowne;
Byd ych man com to you holly,
And bryng to you a heede penny,
That' dwellys in towere or towne ;
(33)
Bot' he has mayde homage.
189
192
That' this be done by the thyrde day,
Then may none of his freyndys say,
195
If ye do thus, sir, permafay,
youre worship shall ye wyn for ay,
If thay make you trowage.
198
(34)
The Em-
Imperator. I thank you, sir, as myght I the,
peror agrees,
& rewards
ffor thyse tythyngys that thou tellys me,
hiin.
Thy counsel shaй avay¤;
lord and syre of this cowntre,
wythouten ende here make I the,
ffor thy good counsel;
201
204
(35)
Lie sends
out his
My messyngere, loke thou be bowne,
messenger
And weynd belyf from towne to towne,
And be my nobył swane ;
207
I pray the, as thou luffys mahowne,
And also for thy waryson,
That' thou com tytt' agane.
(36)
210
[Fol. 28, a.
Big. ff. 2.]
Commaunde the folk holly ichon,
to command Ryche ne poore forgett thou none,
the folk to
own none
but him as
their lord.
To hold holly on me,
And lowtt' me as thare lord alone;
And who wył not' thay shall be slone,
This brand thare bay shal be.
213
216
(37)
Therfor thou byd both old and ying,
That ich man know me for his kyng,
ffor drede that I thaym spyH,
That I am lord, and in tokynyng,
Byd ich man a penny bryng,
And make homage me tyH.
(38)
To my statutys who wył not stand,
ffast for to fle outt of my land,
Byd thaym, withouten lyte ;
Now by malowne, god at weldand,
Thou shall be mayde kayght with my hand,
And therfor hye the tyte.
(39)
Nuncius. AH redy, lord, it shall be done;
Bot' I wote well I com) not sone,
Old and
young must
bring their
penny and
219 do honiage.
222
Whoso will
not keep his
statutes
must flee
225 from his
228
land.
He promises
the messen-
ger knight-
hood.
The messen-
ger says he
cannot be
back soon,
And therfor be not' wroth;
I swere you, sir, by son and moyne,
231
I com not here by fore eft none,
wheder ye be leyfe or loth;
(40)
Bot' hafe good day, now wył I weynd,
Bot' grathe me furth my gate.
ffor longer here may I not leynd,
he bryng thi Iornay well to eynd,
Imperator. Mahowne that is curtes and heynd,
And wysh the that all wate.
234
and starts
off.
237
The Em-
peror bids
Mahound
speed him.
240
Explicit Cesar Augustus.

X. The Annunciation

Annunciacio

(X.)
Incipit Annunciacio.
[38 couplets au; 49} six-line stanzas aab ccb.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Deus.
Gabriel.
Maria.
Joseph.
Angelus.]
(1)
God recalls
the creation
Deus. Sythen I haue mayde at thyng of noght,
of Adam and And Adam with my handis hath wroght,
his fall.
Lyke to myn ymago, att my devyse,
And gyffen hym Ioy in paradyse,
To won therin, as that I wend,
To that he dyd that I defend;
[Fol. 28, b.] Then I hym) put out of that place,
Bot' yit, I myn, I hight hym grace
OyH of mercy I can hym) heyt,
The time is
come to
And tyme also his bay to beytt.
redeem him for he has boght' his syn futt sore,
from his
pain,
Thise fyfe thowsand yeris and more,
ffyrst' in erthe and sythen) in hell;
Bot' long therin shat he not dweH.
Outt' of payn he shall be boght,
8
12
I wył not tyne that I haue wroght.
16
I wył make redempcyon,
As I hyght for my person,
AH wyth reson and with right,
Both thruȝ mercy and thruȝ myght'.
20
he shall not, therfor, ay be spylt',
for Adam
was beguiled
by the Ser-
pent & Eve.
ffor he was wrangwysly begylt;
he shall out of preson pas,
ffor that he begyled was
Thrugh the edder, and his wyfe;
God's Son
shall take
on Him
manhood.
Thay gart hym towch the tree of lyfe,
And ete the frute that I forbed,
And he was dampned for that dede.
Ryghtwyanes wyłł we make ;
I wyHt that' my son manhede take,
1 MS. V.
24
28
tfor reson wył that ther be thre,
A man, a madyn, and a tre:
Man for man, tre for tre,
Madyn for madyn; thus shal it be.
My son shall in a madyn light',
Agans the feynd of hell to fight';
wythouten wem), os son thrugh glas,
And she madyn as she was.
Both god and man shat he be,
And she moder and madyn fre.
To abraham I am in dett'
To safe hym and his gett;
There must
be man for
32 man, maid
for maid,
36
40
tree for tree,
Abraham &
his seed
must be
saved, and
And I wyll that' al prophecye
all prophecy
fulfilled.
Be fulfyllyd here by me;
44
ffor I am lord and lech of heyle,
My prophetys shall be funden leyle ;
As moyses sayd, and Isay,
Kyng dauid, and Ieromy,
48
Abacuk, and daniel,
SybyH sage, that' sayde ay wel,
And myne othere prophetis at,
As thay haue [said] it shall befaH.¹
52
Ryse vp, gabriel, and weynd
vnto a madyn that is heynd,
To nazareth in galilee,
Ther she dwellys in that cytee.
God bids
Gabriel go to
the Virgin
Mary,
apouse of
Joseph,
56
To that' vyrgyn and to that spouse,
To a man of dauid house,
Ioseph also he is namyd by,
And the madyn name mary.
Angel must to mary go,
ffor the feynd was cue fo ;
60
(a good angel
to Mary, as a
bad angel to
Eve)
he was foule and layth to syght,
And thou art angel fayr and bright;
64
and hail hor.
And hayls that madyn, my lemman,
As heyndly as thou can.
Of my behalf thou shał hyr grete,
I haue hyr chosen, that' madyn swete,
68
1 The word "said" has been inserted in the MS. by a later
hand.
God has
chosen Mary
She shall conceyf my derlyng,
to conceive Thruȝ thy word and hyr heryng.
his darling.
a.
In hyr body wyH I lyght,
That' is to me clenly dyght';
She shall of hyr body bere
God and man wythouten) dere.
(Fol. 29, &. She shall be blyssyd wythouten ende;
Gabriel hails
Mary, queen
of virgins.
Grayth the gabricH, and weynd.
(2)
Gabriel. hay, mary, gracyouse!
hayH, madyn and godis spouse!
Vnto the I lowte;
Of all vyrgyns thou art' qwene,
That euer was, or shall be seyn,
wythouten dowte.
72
76
[Gabriel goes to Mary.]
79
82
(3)
The Lord of hay, mary, and well thou be!
heaven is
with her.
She shall
conceive a
child of
might.
My lord of heuen is wyth the,
wythouten end;
hayH, woman most of mede!
Goodly lady, haue thou no drede,
That I commend ;
(4)
ffor thou has fonden al thyn oone,
The grace of god, that' was out gone,
ffor adam plyght.
This is the grace that the betydys,
85
888
91
Thou shall conceyue within thi sydys
94
(5)
He shall be
called Jesus.
A chyld of myght.
When he is comen, that thi son,
he shał take cyrcumsycyon,
Call hym ihesum.
Mightful man shall be he that',
And godys son shat he hat,
By his day com.
My lord also shall gyf hym tyH
hys fader sete, dauid, at wyH,
97
100
(6)
103 He shall be
King in
Jacob.
Therin to sytt:
he shall be kyng in Iacob kyn,
hys kyngdom shat neuer blyn,
lady, well thou wytt.
(7)
Maria. What is thi name?
Gabriel.
gabriel;
106
Mary asks
Gabriel's
name.
godys strengthe and his anget,
That comys to the.
Maria. fferly gretyng thou me gretys;
A child to bere thou me hetys,
how shuld it be?
I cam neuer by man's syde,
(8)
Bot has avowed my madynhede,
ffrom fleshly gett.
Therfor I wote not how
That this be brokyn, as a vow
That I haue hett;
Neuer the les, well I wote,
(9)
To wyrk thi word and hold thi hote
Mightful god is;
Bot' I ne wote of what manere,
109
112
How can all
this be?
She is a
vowed
virgin.
115
118
But God is
mighty to
fulfill
Gabriel's
121 word.
Therfor I pray the, messyngere,
That thou me wysħ.
(10)
Gabriel. lady, this is the preuate ;
The holy gost shall light in the,
And his vertue,
he shał vmshade and fulfyH
Bot' ay be new.
(11)
That' thi madynhede shat neuer spyH,
The child that thou shal bere, madame,
Shall godys son be callid by name ;
And se, mary,
Elesabeth, thi Cosyn, that is cald geld,
She has conceyffed a son in elde,
Of zacary;
124
Gabriel says
the Holy
Ghost shall.
light in her.
127
[Fol. 29, b.]
130
133
136
The child
she shall
bear shall be
God's Son.
Her cousin
Elizabeth
also has
conceived
a son.
Nothing is
impossible
with God.
And this is, who wył late,
(12)
The sext' moneth of hyr conceytate,
That' geld is cald.
No word, lady, that I the bryng,
Is vnmyghtful to heuen kyng,
Bot all shatt hald.
139
142
(13)
Mary praises
Maria. I lofe my lord aH weldand,
Gorl, &
angel's
believes the I am his madyn at his hand,
message.
And in his wold;
145
I trow bodword that thou me bryng,
Be done to me in all thyng,
As thou has told.
148
(14)
Gabriel
takes leave
of Mary.
Gabriel. Mary, madyn heynd,
me behovys to weynd,
my leyf at the I take.
151
Maria. ffar to my freynd,
Who the can send,
ffor mankynde sake.
154
[Gabriel retires; Joseph advances.]
(15)
Ioseph. AH-myghty god, what may this be !
Joseph
marvels at
the con-
dition in
Of mary my wyfe meruels me,
which he
Alas, what has she wroght'?
157
finds his
wife.
A, hyr body is grete and she with childe!
160
ffor me was she neuer fylyd,
Therfor myin is it' noght.
(16)
He bemoans I irke full sore with my lyfe,
himself that
ever he
That' euer I wed so yong a wyfe,
That' bargan may I ban;
married one
BO young.
To me it was a careful dede,
I myght well wyt that yowthede
wold haue lykyng of man.
(17)
I am old, sothly to say,
passed I am at preuay play,
163
166
The gam fro me ar gane.
It is it cowpled of youth and elde;
I wote well, for I am vnwelde,
som othere has she tane.
(18)
she is with chyld, I wote neuer how,
Now, who wolk any woman trow?
Certys, no man that can any goode;
I wote not' in the warld what I shuld do,
Bot' now then wył I weynd hyr to,
And wytt who owe that foodo.
(19)
hayH, mary, and well ye be !
why, bot woman, what' chere with the?
Maria. The better, sir, for you.
169
172
175
It is ill to
wed youth
with age.
Joseph
determines
to go to
Mary &
178 question her.
He greets
her,
181
Ioseph. So wold I, woman, that' ye wore ;
Bot' certys, mary, I rew fuH sore
It' standys so with the now.
184
(20)
Bot of a thyng frayn the I shał,
who owe this child thou gose with aH?
Maria. Syr, ye, and god of heuen).
Ioseph, Myne, mary do way thi dyn;
That I shuld oght' haue parte therin
Thou nedys it not to neuen ;
(21)
wherto neuyns thou me therto?
187
[Fol. 30, a
Sig. ff. 4.]
& asks
whose is
the child?
190 his & the
She replies
God of
heaven's.
Joseph
denies any
I had neuer with the to do,
how shuld it then be myne?
whos is that chyld, so god the spede?
Maria. Syr, godys and yowrs, with outen drede.
Ioseph. That word had thou to tyne,
part therein.
193
196
Mary repeats
it is God's
& his,
(22)
ffor it is right full far me fro,
And I forthynkys thou has done so
Thise i dedys bedene;
And if thou speke thi self to spуH,
It is full sore agans my wył,
If better myght' haue bene.
199
Joseph has
still mis-
givings.
202
(23)
Mary denies
knowledge
of any other
man.
Maria. At godys wyH, Ioseph, must' it' be,
ffor certanly bot' god and ye
I know none othere man);
205
ffor fleshly was I neuer fylyd.
Ioseph. how shuld thou thus then be with chyld?
Excuse the well thou can ;
208
!
(24)
the way of
Joseph does I blame the not, so god me saue,
not blame
her; it is but woman maners if that' thou haue,
women.
Bot' certys I say the this,
211
1
wełł wote thou, and so do I,
Thi body fames the openly,
That thou has done amys.
214
(25)
He knows
not what to
do.
Maria. yec, god he knowys all my doyng.
Ioseph. we! now, this is a wonder thyng,
I can noght' say therto;
217
Bot' in my hart I haue greatt care,
And ay the longer mare and mare;
ffor doy what shall I do?
220
(26)
He will not Godys and
myn she says
it' is;
father the
child, &
thinks of
leaving his
wife.
I wył not fader it, she says amys;
ffor shame yit' shuld she let,
223
To excuse hir velany by me ;
with hir I thynk no longer be,
I rew that euer we met.
(27)
226
the origin
of their
betrothal.
He describes And how we met ye shał wyt sone;
Men vse yong chyldren for to done
In temple for to lere ;
229
Soo dyd thay hir, to she wex more
Then othere madyns wyse of lore;
then byshopes sayd to hir,
(28)
232
"Mary, the bohowfys to take
Som yong man to be thi make,
As thou seys other hanc,
In the temple which thou wył neue);
And she sayd, none, bot god of heuen,
To hym she had hir tane;
(29)
She wold none othere for any saȝ;
Thay sayd she must, it was the lagh,
She was of age thertitt.
To the temple thay somond old and ying,
AH of Iuda ofspryng,
The law for to fulfiH.
235 Mary, when
pressed to
take a young
wan for her
husband,
dedicated
238 herself to
God.
241
244
[Fol. 30, b.]
She was
urged again,
& old &
young were
summoned
to the
temple.
(30)
Thay gaf ich man a white wand,
And bad vs bere them in oure hande,
To offre with good intent;
Thay offerd thare yerdys vp in that tyde,
ffor I was old I stode be syde,
I wyst' not what thay ment';
(31)
Each man
was given a
white wand
& told to
247 offer it.
Joseph
stood aside
& made no
offering
because he
250 was old.
Thay lakyd oone, thay sayde in hy,
AH had offerd, thay sayd, bot I,
ffor I ay withdroȝ me.
ffurth with my wande thay mayd me com,
In my hand it floryshed with blome;
Then sayde thay ał to nic,
(32)
"If thou be old merueH not' the,
ffor god of heuen thus ordans he,
Thi wand showys openly;
It florishes so, withouten) nay,
That the behovys wed mary the may;"
A sory man then was I;
253
He was
inade to
come forth,
& his wand
256 blossomed in
his hand.
This showed
clearly that
he was to
marry Mary.
259
262
(33)
I was ful sory in my thoght',
I sayde for old I myght' noght
hir haue neuer the wheder ;
I was vulykely to hir so yong,
Thay sayde ther helpyd none excusyng,
And wed vs thus togeder.
265
268
He was sad,
but no ex-
cuses helped
him, &
they were
married.
After the
wedding the
maidens,
kings'
daughters,
worked
silks; Mary
alone
wrought
purple.
(34)
when I all thus had wed hir thare,
we and my madyns home can fare,
That' kyngys doghters were;
AH wroght thay sylk to fynd them on,
Marie wroght purpyH, the oder none
bot' othere colers sere.
(35)
Joseph went I left thaym in good peasse wenyd I,
Into the contre I went on hy,
into the
country to
work.
My craft' to vse with mayn;
To gett' oure lyfyng I must nede,
On marie I prayd them take good hede,
To that I cam agane.
(36)
1 monethes was I fro that myld;
when I cam home she was with chyld;
After nine
inonths he
returns &
Neyn
finds her
with child.
The women
Alas, I sayd, for shame!
say an angel I askyd ther women who that had done,
visited her,
syn that I went froin) hame ;
And thay me sayde an angel sone,
An angel spake with that wyght',
(37)
And no man els, bi day nor nyght,
"sir, therof be ye
bold."
271
274
277
280
283
286
289
giving this
Thay excusyd hir thus sothly,
excuse for
her folly.
To make hir clene of hir foly,
And babyshed me that was old.
(38)
292
[Fol. 31, a.] Shuld an angel this dede haue wroght?
Sich excusyng helpys noght,
It must have
been some
carthly man.
ffor no craft that thay can;
A heuenly thyng, for sothe, is he,
And she is erthly; this may not be,
It is som othere man.
(39)
Certys, I forthynk sore of hir dede,
Bot it is long of yowth-hede,
¹ MS. ix.
295
298
AH sich wanton playes;
ffor yong women wył nedys play them
with yong men, if old forsake them,
Thus it is sene always.
(40)
Bot' marie and I playd neuer so sam,
Neuer togeder we vsid that gam,
I cam hir neuer so nere;¹
(41)
she is as clene as cristal clyfe
ffor me, and shalbe whyls I lyf,
The law wył it be so.
And then am I cause of hir dede,
ffor thi then can I now no rede,
Alas, what I am wo!
(42)
And sothly, if it so befalt,
Godys son that she be with aH,
If sich grace myght betyde,
I wote well that I am not he,
which that is worthi to be
301 Young
304
women will
needs play
with young
men.
But Mary &
he never
played
307 together.
She is clean
as crystal
for him, and
shall be so
310 while he
lives.
313
If it be God's
Son she has
for her child,
then Joseph
316
is not worthy
to lie beside
her.
That blyssed body besyde,
(43)
319
Nor yit to be in company;
To wyldernes I will for thi
Enfors me for to fare;
322
And neuer longer with hir dele,
Bot' stylly shał I from hir stele,
He will steal
away to the
wilderness
so that they
meet no
more.
That' mete shaH we no marc.
(44)
Angelus. Do wa, Ioseph, and mend thy thoght,
I warne the weH, and weynd thou noght',
To wyldernes so wylde;
Turne home to thi spouse aganc,
325
An Angel
warns him
to mend his
328 thoughts and
return to his
wife.
look thou deme in hir no trane,
ffor she was neuer ffylde.
(45)
wyte thou no wyrkyng of Werkys wast,
She hase consauyd the holy gast,
ૐ
331
1 Is half a stanza of the original left out!
I
Mary is with
child of the
Holy Ghost.
And she shall bere godys son);
ffor thy with hir, in thi degre,
Meke and buxom) looke thou be,
Joseph
praises God
for entrust
ing him with
the care of
the young
Child.
And with hir dwell and won.
(46)
Ioseph. A, lord, I lofe the all alon,
That vowches safe that I be oone
To tent that chyld so ying;
I that' thus haue vngrathly gone,
And vntruly taken apon
Mary, that' dere darlyng.
(47)
334
337
340
343
He grieves
for his sus-
picions, &
goes to ask
Mary's
forgiveness.
I rewe full sore that I haue sayde,
And of hir byrdyng hir vpbrade,
And she not gylty is;
346
[Fol. 31, b.]
ffor thy to hir now WyH I weynde,
And pray hir for to be my freynde,
And aske hir forgyfnes.
349
(48)
A, mary, wyfe, what' chere?
Mary asks
Maria. The better, sir, that' ye ar here;
where he has
been.
Thus long where haue ye lent?
352
Ioseph. Certys, walkyd aboute, lyke a fon,
That' wrangwysly hase taken apon;
I wyst' neuer What I ment;
355
(49)
Joseph says Bot' I wote wel, my lemman fre,
he has
siuned
against God
& her, and
asks forgive-
ness. She
forgives him
freely.
I haue trespast' to god and the;
fforgyf me, I the pray.
358
Maria. Now all that cuer ye sayde me to,
God forgyf you, and I do,
With all the myght I may.
361
(50)
He thanks
her. A man
Ioseph. Gramercy, mary, thi good wył
may be well So kyndly forgyfys that I sayde yH,
content with
a meek wife,
though she
have no
goods.
When I can the vpbrade;
Bot' well is hym hase sich a fode,
A, meke wyf, withouten goode,
he may well hold hym payde.
364
367
(51)
A, what I am light as lynde!
he that may both lowse and bynde,
And euery mys amend,
leyn me grace, powere, and myght,
My wyfe and hir swete yong' wight
To kepe, to my lyfys ende.
Explicit Annunciacio beate Marie.
Joseph is
light of
heart. He
prays God
370 help him
keep wife
and child.
373
Maria.

XI. The Salutation of Elizabeth

Salutacio Elizabeth

(XI.)
Incipit Salutacio Elezabeth.
[15 six-line stanzas, aab, ccb.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Maria.
Elezabeth.]
(1)
M
y lord of heuen, that syttys he,
And all thyng seys with ee,
The safe, Elezabeth.
Elezabeth. Welcom, mary, blyssed bloine,
Ioyful am I of thi com
To me, from nazaretħ.
(2)
Maria. how standys it with you, dame, of qwart'?
Elezabeth. wel, my doghter and dere hart',
As can for myn elde.
Maria. To speke with you me thoght full lang,
ffor
ye with childe in elde gang,
And ye be cald geld.
(3)
Elezabeth. fful lang shall I the better be,
That I may speke my fyH with the,
My dere kyns Woman;
To wytt how thi freyndys fare,
In thi countre where thay ar,
Therof tell me thou can,
Mary salutes
Elizabeth.
3
6
She has long
desired to
speak with
12 her.
Elizabeth is
glad to hear
about her
15
friends.
18
(4)
[Fol. 32, a.] And how thou farys, my dere derlyng.
Maria. Well, dame, gramercy youre askyng,
ffor good I wote ye spyr.
21
Elizabeth
asks after
Elezabeth. And Ioachym, thy fader, at hame,
Mary's
And anna, my nese, and thi dame,
father and
inother.
how standys it with hym and hir?
(5)
24
Mary says
they are both
well, &
thanks her.
Elizabeth
hails Mary
as the
mother of
her Lord,
The child in
her own
body makes
joy.
Maria. Dame, yit' ar thay both on lyfe,
Both ioachym and anna his wyfe.
Elezabeth. Els were my hart' full sore.
Maria. Dame, god that at may,
yeld you that' ye say,
And blys you therfore.
(6)
Elezabeth. Blyssed be thou of all women,
And the fruyte that I wel ken,
Within the wombe of the;
And this tyme may I blys,
That' my lordys moder is
Comen thus vnto me.
(7)
ffor syn that' tyme full well I wote,
The stevyn of angel voce it' smote,
And rang now in myñ ere;
A selcouth thyng is me betyde,
The chyld makys Ioy, as any byrd,¹
That I in body bere.
27
30
33
36
36
39
42
(8)
She com-
mends Mary
for believing That' stedfastly wold trow,
the word of
the Lord.
And als, mary, blyssed be thou,
The wordys of oure heven kyng;
45
Therfor at thyng now shall be kend,
That' vnto the were sayd or send,
By the angel gretyng.
(9)
Maria. Magnificat' anima mea dominum ;
My sau lufys my lord abuf,
And my gost' gladys with luf,
1 The rhyme requires bryd.
48
In god, that is my hele ;
ffor he has bene sene agane,
The buxumnes of his bane,
And kept me madyn lele.
(10)
Lo, therof what me shall betyde-
AH nacyons on euery syde,
Blyssyd shall me całł;
51 Mary praises
54
God in the
Magnifcat.
All nations
shall call her
blessed.
57
ffor he that is full of myght,
MekyH thyng to me has dyght',
his name be blyssed ouer aH;
60
(11)
And his mercy is also
ffrom kynde to kynde, tył all tho
God's mercy
is on thein
that dread
Him.
That' ar hym dredand.
63
Myght' in his armes he wroght',
And dystroed in his thoght,
Prowde men and hyȝ berand.
(12)
Myghty men furth of sete he dyd,
And he hyghtynd in that' stede
The meke men of hart;
66
He hath
upraised the
meek.
69
The hungre With all good he fyld,
And left the rich outt shyld,
[Fol. 82, b.]
Thaym to Vnquart'.
72
(13)
Israel has vnder law,
his awne son in his awe,
By menys of his mercy;
As he told before by name,
To oure fader, abrahamı,
And seyd of his body.
Elezabeth, myn awnt dere,
(14)
My lefe I take at' you here,
ffor I dwelt now fułł lang.
Elezabeth. wyH thou now go, godys fere?
Com kys me, doghter, with good chere,
or thou hens gang;
75
78
He fulfils
His promise
to Abraham.
81
84
Mary takes
leave of
Elizabeth.
9⭑
Elizabeth
bids Mary
farewell &
sends greet-
ing to her
kinsfolk.
(15)
ffarewell now, thou frely foode!
I pray the be of comforth goode,
ffor thou art fuł of grace ;
Grete wel all oure kyn of bloode;
That lord, that the with grace infude,
he saue alt in this place.
Explicit Salutacio Elezabeth.
87
90
The 1st
shepherd
envies the
dead who are
now exempt
from
vicissitudes.
[Fol. 33, a.]
In this world
Borrow
comes after
play.

XII. The First Shepherds' Play

Prima Pastorum

(XII.)
Incipit Pagina pastorum.
[54 nine-line stanzas, aaaab cecb, and 1 seven-line (no. 15), aab cccb.
The aaaa lines have central rymes markt by bars.]
Primus Pastor.
Sccundus Pastor.
Tercius Pastor.
Primus Pastor.
Ꮮ
[Dramatis Personae.
Iak Garcio.
Angelus.
(1)
Thesus.
Maria.]
Ord, what thay ar weyH / that hens ar past'!
ffor thay noght feyH / theym to downe cast.
here is meky vnceyH/ and long has it' last',
Now in hart', now in heyH / now in weytt', now
in blast',
Now in care,
Now in comforth agane,
Now is fayre, now is rane,
Now in hart' full fane,
And after full sare.
(2)
Thus this Warld, as I say / farys on ylk syde,
for after oure play / com sorows vnryde;
for he that' most may / When he syttys in pryde,
When it comys on assay / is kesten downe wyde,
5
9
This is seyn;
When ryches is he,
Then comys ponerte,
hors-man Iak cope
Walkys then, I weyn.
14 After riches
18
comes
poverty, &
Jack Cope
must walk
instead of
riding.
(3)
I thank it god / hark ye what I mene,
ffor euen or for od / I haue meky} tene;
He himself
has much
trouble.
As heuy as a sod / I grete with myn eene,
When I nap on my cod / for care that has bene,
And sorow.
AH my shepe ar gone,
I am not left oone,
The rott has theym slone;
Now beg I and borow.
(4)
My handys may I wryng/ and mowrnyng make,
Bot' if good will spryng / the countre forsake;
fferies thyk ar comyng/ my purs is bot wake,
23
27
His sheep
are slain
with the rot
& he must
beg.
Rents are
due & his
purse is
weak.
I haue nerehand nothyng / to pay nor to take;
I may syng
32
With purs penneles,
That' makys this heuynes,
Wo is me this dystres!
And has no helpyng.
(5)
Thus sett' I my mynde / truly to neuen),
By my wytt to fynde / to cast' the warld in seuen);
My shepe haue I tynde / by the moren fut euen);
Now if hap wit grynde / god from his heuen)
Send grace.
To the fare will I
To by shepe, perde,
me,
And yit may I multyple,
ffor all this hard case.
(6)
36
He has lost
his sheep &
must go to
the fair to
buy more.
41
45
Secundus pastor. Benste, benste¹/ be vs emang,
And saue al that I se / here in this thrang,
1 Benedicite, benedicite!
The 2nd
shepherd
comes in
with a
benison,
God keep
us from
he saue you and me / ouertwhart' and endlang,
That' hang on a tre / I say you no wrang;
Cryst saue vs
ffrom all myschefys,
ffrom robers and thefys,
ffrom those mens grefys,
That oft ar agans vs.
(7)
[Fol. 83, b.] Both bosters and bragers / god kepe vs fro,
That with thare long dagers / dos mekył wo;
ffrom all by hagers / with colknyfys that go;
boasters and
braggers &
their
weapons.
They will
bear no
gainsaying.
Sich wryers and wragers / gose to and fro
ffor to crak.
Who so says hym agane,
were better be slane ;
Both ploghe and wane
These
fellows are
as proud as
lords, with a
Amendys will not make.
(8)
he will make it as prowde / a lord as he were,
With a hede lyke a clowde / ffelterd his here;
fine head of he spekys on lowde / with a grym bere,
hair and
grim
bearing.
I wold not haue trowde/ so galy in gere
As he glydys.
I wote not the better,
It is hard to Nor wheder is gretter,
tell lad from
master.
The lad or the master,
They will
have what
they want.
So stowtly he strydys.
(9)
If he hask me oght / that he wold to his pay,
ffull dere bese it boght/ if I say nay;
50
54
59
63
68
72
Bot' god that' all wroght / to the now I say,
help that' thay were broght / to a better way
77
May God
mend them
and end
them.
He calls out
"Good
morning,
Gyb," to
the 1st
shepherd,
ffor thare sawlys;
And send theym good mendyng
With a short endyng,
And with the to be lendyng
When that thou callys.
(10)
how, gyb, goode morne / wheder goys thou?
Thou goys ouer the corne / gyb, I say, how !
81
primus pastor. Who is that? John horne / I make god The 1st
a vowe!
I say not' in skorne / thom, how farys thou?
Secundus pastor. hay, ha!
Ar
ye
in this towne ?
shepherd
greets the
2nd as John
Horne,
86
primus pastor. yey, by my crowne.
ijus pastor. I thoght by youre gowne
This was youre aray.
(11)
90
primus pastor. I am euer elyke / wote I neuer what Gyb is faring
it' gars,
Is none in this ryke / a shepard farys wars.
as badly as
any shep-
herd in the
kingdoin.
ijus pastor. poore men ar in the dyke / and oft tyme Horne says
mars,
The warld is slyke / also helpars
Is none here.
primus pastor. It is sayde full ryfe,
95
poor men
are in the
ditch.
66
a man may not' wyfe
And also thryfe,
And all in a yere."
(12)
ijus pastor. ffyrst must vs crepe / and sythen go.
primus pastor. I go to by shepe. /
Secundus [pastor].
nay, not so;
Gyb quotes
the proverb,
"A man
may not
marry &
thrive all in
99 a year."
We must
creep ere
we go.
Gyb says he
is going to
What, dreme ye or slepe? / where shuld thay go? [Fol. 84, a.] buy sheep,
primus pastor.
& they
quarrel as
to where he
shall feed
here shalt thou none kepe. /
A, good sir, ho!
Who am I?
104
them.
I wył pasture my fe
where so euer lykys me,
here shalt thou theym se.
jus pastor. Not so hardy!
(13)
Not' oone shepe tayH / shall thou bryng hedyr.
108
primus pastor. I shaH bryng, no fayt A hundreth
togedyr.
ijus pastor. What', art' thou in ayH / longys thou oght' Gyb
whedir ?
imagines he
has his sheep
already, &
primus pastor. Thay shall go, saunce fay go now, tells the
bell weder!
bell-wether
to go on.
The two
shepherds
call out con-
tradictory
imaginary
sheep.
ijus pastor. I say, tyr!
primus pastor. I say, tyr, now agane!
orders to the I say skyp ouer the plane.
ijus pastor. wold thou neuer so fane,
Tup, I say, whyr!
(14)
113
117
Gyb
threatens
to break
Horne's
head.
primus pastor. What', wył thou not yit / I say, let the
shepe go?
Whop!
Secundus pastor. abyde yit. /
primus pastor.
Will thou bot' so?
knafe, hens I byd flytt / as good that' thou do,
Or I shall the hytt / on thi pate, lo,
shalt thou reyH;
I say, gyf the shepe space.
jus pastor. Syr, a letter of youre grace,
122
here comys slaw-pase
ffro the myln whele.
(15)
126
The 3rd
shepherd,
Slow-pace,
arrives &
Tercius pastor. What a do, what a do is this you
betweyn ?
asks what is A good day, thou, and thou. /
wrong.
Gyb says
Horne won't
let him drive
his sheep
this way.
Slow-pace
asks where
the sheep
are, and
chaffs him.
primus pastor.
You to say:
I was bowne to by store,
drofe my shepe me before,
he says not' oone hore
shall pas by this way ;
(16)
hark what I meyn
129
Bot and he were wood / this way shall thay go.
133
iijus pastor. yey, bot tell me, good / where ar youre
shepe, lo
ijus pastor. Now, sir, by my hode / yit se I no mo,
Not syn I here stode. /
iijus pastor.
and sorow!
ye fysh before the nett,
And stryfe on this bett,
sich folys neuer I mett
Evyn or at' morow.
god gyf you wo
138
142
(17)
It is wonder to wyt / where wytt shuld be fownde;
here ar old knafys yit / standys on this grownde,
these wold by thare wytt / make a shyp be drownde;
he were well qwytt / had sold for a pownde
sich two.
thay fyght and thay flyte
ffor that' at' comys not tyte;
It is far to byd hyte
To an eg or it go.
(18)
Tytter want' ye sowH/ then sorow I pray;
Ye brayde of mowH/ that went by the way—
Many shepe can she połł / bot' oone had she ay—
Bot' she happynyd full fowl / hyr pycher, I say,
Was broken;
"ho, god," she sayde,
bot' oone shepe yit she hade,
147
151
Here are
two old
knaves not
worth a
pound
between
them,
fighting for
nothing.
(Fol. 34, b.]
They are
like Moll
who, while
counting up
many sheep,
broke her
156 had but one
pitcher, and
sheep all the
time.
The mylk pycher was layde,
The skarthis was the tokyn.
(19)
Bot' syn ye ar bare / of wysdom to knawe,¹
Take hede how I fare / and loro at' my lawe;
ye nede not' to care/ if ye folow my sawe;
hold ye my mare / this sek thou thrawe
On my bak,
Whylst I, with my hand,
160
1 MS. knowe. He makes
them hold
his mare
while he
shakes his
sack empty,
165
lawse the sek band;
Com nar and by stand
Both gyg and Iak;
(20)
169
Is not all shakyn owte / and no meyt is therin?
primus pastor. yey, that is no dowto. /
Tercius pastor.
And
so is youre wyttys thyn. and then
compares it
to their thin
wits.
174
ye look well abowte/nawther more nor myn,
So gose youre wyttys owte/evyn as It com In:
Geder vp
And seke it agane.
ijus pastor. May we not be fane !
he has told vs fuł plane
Wysdom to sup.
178
Jack the boy
comes in.
Save the
men of
Gotham he
thinks they
(21)
Iak garcio. Now god gyf you care / foles ał sam ;
Saȝ I neuer none so fare / bot the foles of gotham.
Wo is hir that' yow bare /youre syre and youre dam,
bear the bell had she broght' furþ an hare / a shepe, or a lam,
of all fools
from heaven
unto hell.
had bene weH.
Of all the foles I can teł,
ffrom heuen vnto het,
ye thre bere the beł;
God gyf you vncey H.
(22)
183
187
Gyb asks
after his
sheep and
then pro-
poses to sit
down &
drink.
primus pastor. how pastures oure fee / say me, good pen.
Garcio. Thay ar gryssed to the kne. /
ijus pastor.
fare fatt the!
Amen!
Garcio.
If
ye
will ye may se/youre bestes y'e ken.
Horne asks,
"What is
drink with-
out meat?"
primus pastor. Sytt we downe at thre/ and drynk
shall we then.
iijus pastor. yey, torde !
I am leuer ete;
what is drynk withoute mete?
Gett' mete, gett',
And sett vs a borde,
192
196
(23)
and wants
dinner.
Then may we go dyne / oure bellys to fyH.
iijus pastor.
be god, sir, I nyt!
ijus pastor. Abyde vnto syne. /
I am worthy the wyne / me thynk it good skyH;
(Fol. 35, a. My seruyse I tyne / I fare ful yH,
Big. G. 1.]
At youre mangere.
primus pastor. Trus! go we to mete,
It' is best that we trete,
I lyst' not to plete
To stand in thi dangere ;
(24)
Thou has euer bene curst/syn we met togeder.¹
201
205
iijus pastor. Now in fayth, if I durst/ye ar euen my
broder.
¹ Note the rymes of -eder, -oder,
ijus pastor. Syrs, let vs cryb furst/ for oone thyng or
oder,
That' thise wordis be purst' / and let vs go foder
Oure mompyns;
lay furth of oure store,
lo, here! browne of a bore.
primus pastor. Set mustard afore,
oure mete now begyns;
(25)
here a foote of a cowe / wchł sawsed, I wene,
The pestell of a sowe / that' powderd has bene,
Two blodyngis, I trow / A leueryng betwene;
Do gladly, syrs, now / my breder bedene,
With more.
Both befe, and moton
Of an ewe that' was roton,
Good mete for a gloton;
210 Horne pro-
duces a
Loar's
brawn;
214
219
Gyb, a cow's
foot, a sow's
shank, blood
puddings,
&c.
Ete of this store.
(26)
223
Euen of an ox tayH / that' wold not be lost;
ha, ha, goderlay! / I let for no cost,
A good py or we fayl / this is good for the frost
ijus pastor. I haue here in my mayH / sothen and rost, Horne has
in his bag
an ox tail,
a pie, two
swine's jaws
& part of a
hare.
In a mornyng;
228
And two swyne gronys,
AH a hare bot' the lonys,
we myster no sponys
here, at oure mangyng.
(27)
iijus pastor. here is to recorde / the leg of a goys,
with chekyns endorde/ pork, partryk, to roys;
A tart for a lorde / how thynk ye this doys?
A calf lyuer skorde / with the veryose ;
Good sawse,
This is a restorete
To make a good appete.
primus pastor. yee speke all by clerge[te],
I here by your clause;
232
237
241
Slow-pace
contributes
a goone's
leg, pork,
partridge,
tart & calf's
liver.
They drink
good whole-
some ale as
a cure for
their ills.
As each
drinks the
others chaff
him.
Horne bids
the others
leave him
some.
(28)
Cowth ye by youre gramery/reche vs a drynk,
I shuld be more mery / ye wote What I thynk.
ijus pastor. haue good aytt of hely / bewar now, I wynk,
ffor and thou drynk drely / in thy połł wył it synk.
primus pastor. A, so;
This is boyte of oure bayH,1
good holsom ayH.
iijus pastor. ye hold long the skayH,
Now lett me go to.
(29)
246
250
Secundus pastor. I shrew those lyppys / bot thou leyff
me som parte.
primus pastor. be god, he bot syppys / begylde thou art;
[Fol. 35, b.] Behold how he kyppys. /
He will
drink till
his breath
fail.
Secundus pastor.
I shrew you so smart,
And me on my hyppys / bot if I gart'
Abate.
Be thou wyne, be thou ayll,
bot if my brethe fayH,
I shall sett' the on sayH;
255
God send the good gayte.
(30)
259
Another
bottle is
found.
Secundus pastor.
Tercius pastor. Be my dam sauH, alyce / It was sadly
dronken.
primus pastor. Now, as euer haue I blys to the
bothom it is sonken.
ijus pastor. yit a botel here is. /
Tercius pastor.
By my thryft we must kys. /
Bot' hark!
that' is well spoken !
that had I forgoten.2
264
They sing.
Who so can best syng
Shall haue the begynnyng.
primus pastor. Now prays at the partyng
I shalt sett you on warke;
268
1 The MS makes 2 lines of this: 1 A so ; 2 This etc.
Note the assonance t and k.
(31)
We have done oure parte / and songyn) right weył,
I drynk for my parte. /
ijus pastor.
Abydo, lett' cop reyH.
primus pastor. Godys forbot, thou spart and thou
drynk euery deyH.
iijus pastor. Thou has dronken a quart / therfor choke
the the deył.
primus pastor. Thon rafys;
And it were for a soȝ
Ther is drynk enogh.
iijus pastor. I shrew the handys it droȝ!
ve be both knafys.
(32)
273
277
primus pastor. Nay! we knaues aH / thus thynk me best,
so, sir, shuld ye caH./
They drink
again, each
still anxious
for his fair
share.
jus pastor.
furth let it rest;
we will not brał. /
primus pastor.
then wold I we fest,
This mete Who shał / into panyere kest.
iijus pastor. syrs, herys;
ffor oure saules lett vs do
Poore men gyf it' to.
primus pastor. Geder vp, lo, lo!
ye hungre begers ffrerys!
(33)
282 Gill pro-
286
poses to
collect the
broken
meats for
the poor.
ijus pastor. It draes nere nyght / trus, go we to rest';
I am euen redy dyght / I thynk it the best.
They pre-
pare to
sleep.
iijus pastor. ffor ferde we be fryght' /a crosse lett vs kest, Slow-pace
Cryst' crosse, benedyght / eest and west',
ffor drede.
Ihesus.¹ onazorus,
says a night.
spell.
291
Crucyefixus,
Morcus, andreus,
God be oure spede!
(34)
295
[They sleep.]
Angelus. herkyn, hyrdes, awake! / gyf louyng ye shal, The angels
he is borne for [y]oure² sake / lorde perpetuat;
1 MS. inc.
Originally oure, the "y" having been added by a later hand.
bid them
awake.
A child is
born at
Bethlehem.
he is comen to take / and rawnson you ał,
youre sorowe to slake / kyng emperiał,
he behestys;
That' chyld is borno
Ať bethelem this morne,
ye shall fynde hym beforne
Betwix two bestys.
(35)
300
301
[Fol. 36, a.
Sig. G. 2.]
Gyb
wonders
what the
song was.
He supposes
it was a
cloud
whistling in
his ear.
Primus Pastor. A, godys dere dominus! / What was
that' sang?
It was wonder curiose / with smał noytys emang ;
I
pray to god saue vs / now in this thrang;
I am ferd, by ihesus ¹/somwhat' be wrang;
Me thoght',
Oone scremyd on lowde;
I suppose it was a clowde,
In myn erys it sowde,
309
By hym that' me boght!
(36)
313
Horne is
sure it was
an angel,
speaking of
a child.
Yon star
betokens it.
Secundus pastor. Nay, that may not be I say you
certan,
ffor he spake to vs thre / as he had bene a man ;
When he lemyd on this lee / my hart' shakyd than,
An angel was he / teł you I can,
No dowte.
he spake of a barne,
We must seke hym, I you warne,
That' betokyns yond starne,
That' standys yonder owte.
(37)
318
322
Tercius pastor. It was meruel to se / so bright as it
Slow-pace
remembers
the angel
bade them
go to
Bethlehem
to worship.
shone,
I wold haue trowyd, veraly / it had bene thoner fione,
Bot' I saȝ with myn ee / as I lenyd to this stone;
327
It was a mery gle / sich hard I neuer none,
I recorde.
As he sayde in a skreme,
Or els that I dreme,
we shuld go to bedleme,
To wyrship that' lorde.
331
1 MS. inc.
(38)
primus pastor. That' same childe is he / that' prophetys They recall
of told,
Shuld make them fre / that adam had sold.
ijus pastor. Take tent vnto me / this is inrold,
By the wordys of Isae / a prynce most bold
shał he be,
And kyng with crowne,
Sett on dauid trone,
Sich was neuer none,
Seyn with oure ee.
(39)
iijus pastor. Also Isay says / oure faders vs told
That a vyrgyn shuld pas / of Iesse, that' wold
Bryng furth, by grace / a floure so bold;
336
340
the words
of the
prophets,
of a king
who shall sit
on David's
throne,
born of a
virgin of the
root of Jesse.
That' vyrgyn now has / these wordys vphold
As ye se;
Trust it now we may,
345
he is borne this day,
Exiet' virga
De radice iesse.
(40)
349
primus pastor. Of hym spake more / Sybył as I weyn, Sybyl &
And nabugodhonosor / from oure faythe alyene,
In the fornace where thay wore / thre childre sene.
The fourt stodo before /godys son lyke to bene.
ijus pastor. That fygure
Was gyffen by reualacyon
That god wold hauc a son);
Nebuchad-
nezzar spake
of Him.
He it was
who was
with the
Three
354 Children in
the Fire.
[Fol. 36, b.]
This is a good lesson,
Vs to consydure.
(41)
358
Tercius pastor. Of hym spake Ieromy / and moyses also, of Him
Where he sagh hym by / a bushe burnand, lo!
spake
Jeremiah &
Moses.
when he cam to aspy/ if it were so,
Vnburnyd was it truly / at commyng therto,
A wonder.
363
primus pastor. That was for to se
hir holy vyrgynyte,
That she vnfylyd shuld be,
Thus can I ponder,
367
K
10
They marvel
how a virgin
may bear a
son,
(42)
And shuld haue a chyld / sich was neuer sene.
ijus pastor. pese, man, thou art' begyld / thou shall se
hym with eene,
Of a madyn so myld / greatt merueł I mene ;
yee, and she vnfyld / a virgyn clene,
So soyne.
primus pastor. Nothyng is inpossybył
sothly, that' god wył;
It' shalbe stabył
372
That god wyH haue done.
(43)
and recall
more pro-
phecies.
ijus pastor. Abacuc and ely / prophesyde so,
And dauid as veraly / is witnes therto,
Elezabeth and zachare / and many other mo,
Iohn Baptyste sewrly/and daniel also.
iijus pastor. So sayng,
he is godys son alon,
without hym shalbe none,
his sete and his trone
Shall euer be lastyng;
(44)
376
381
385
primus pastor. VirgiH in his poetre / sayde in his verse,
Even thus by gramere / as I shał reherse;
Gyb quotes
Virgil's
Eclogue,
Iam rediet virgo, redeunt saturnia regna.”
and is
chaffed by
Horne on
his Latin.
He has
learnt his
'Cato.'
Gyb
"Iam noua progenies celo demittitur alto,
ijus pastor. weme! tord! what' speke ye / here in myn
eeres?
Tel vs no clerge / I hold you of the freres,
ye preche;
It' semys by youre laton
ye haue lerd youre caton.
primus pastor. herk, syrs, ye fon,
I shall you teche;
(45)
he sayde from heuen / a new kynde is send,
expounds
Virgil's text. whom a vyrgyn to neuen, oure mys to amend,
Shall conceyue full euen / thus make I an end;
Sig. G. 3.] And yit more to neuen / that samyne shał bend¹
[Fol. 87, a.
390
394
1 The first five lines on this leaf having become indistinct, have
apparently been touched up by a later hand
vnto vs,
With peasse and plente,
with ryches and menee,
Good luf and charyte
Blendyd amanges vs
(46)
399 Peace and
plenty, love
and charity
shall come
403
Tercius pastor. And I hold it' trew/ffor ther shuld be,
When that kyng commys new / peasse by land and se.
among us.
ijus pastor. Now brethere, adew ! / take tent vnto me; Horne has
I wold that we knew / of this song so fre
Of the angel;
I hard by hys steuen,
he was send downe ffro heuen.
primus pastor. It' is trouth that ye neuen,
I hard hym well speł.
(47)
made out
that the
angel was
408 sent from
412
heaven.
ijus pastor. Now, by god that me boght it was a He brought
mery song;
I dar say that he broght / foure & twenty to a long.
24 short
notes to a
long.
iijus pastor. I wold it were soȝt / that same vs emong.
primus pastor. In fayth I trow noght / so many he Gyb could
throng
On a heppe ;
Thay were genty and sma,
And well tonyd with aH.
iijus pastor. yee, bot I can thaym alt,
not count
them, but
they were
417 gentle and
well toned.
Now lyst I lepe.
(48)
421
primus pastor. Brek outt youre voce / let se as ye yelp. Slow-pace
iijus pastor. I may not for the pose / bot I haue help.
secundus pastor. A, thy hart is in thy hose! /
tries to sing
over the
song, but
finds he has
a cold. The
of a skelp others must
primus pastor.
now, in payn
This sang thou not lose. /
iijus pastor.
thou art an y awelp
ffor angre!
426
help & take
bin up.
secundus pastor. Go to now, begyn!
primus pastor. he lyst not well ryn.
iijus pastor. God lett vs neuer blyn;
Take at my sangre.
430
When the
song is done,
they think
of starting
off, though
there is no
moon.
They pray
that they
may see this
Babe, whom
prophets &
saints have
desired to
see.
[Fol. 87, b.]
(49)
primus pastor. Now an ende haue we doyn/of oure
song this tyde.
ijus pastor. ffayr fall thi growne / well has thou hyde.
iijus pastor. Then furth lett vs ron) / I wył not' abyde.
primus pastor. No lyght makethe mone/ that haue
I asspyde;
Neuer the les
lett vs hold oure beheste.
ijus pastor. That hold I best.
iijus pastor. Then must we go eest,
After my ges.
(50)
435
439
primus pastor. wold god that we myght/ this yong'
bab see!
ijus pastor. Many prophetys that syght/desyryd veralee
to haue seen that bright. /
iijus pastor.
and god so hee
wold shew vs that Wyght / we myght say, perde,
We had sene
That' many sant' desyryd,
with prophetys inspyryd,
If thay hym requyryd,
444
yit I-closyd ar thare eene.
(51)
448
A star
appears to
guide them.
Gyb is sent
in first.
ijus pastor. God graunt vs that grace. /
Tercius pastor.
god so do.
primus pastor. Abyde, syrs, a space / lo, yonder, lo!
It' commys on a rase/yond sterne vs to.
ijus pastor. It is a grete blase / oure gate let vs go,
hore he is!
[They go to Bethlehem.] 453
iijus pastor. Who shał go in before?
primus pastor. I ne rek, by my hore.
ijus pastor. year of the old store,
It semys you, Iwys.
[They enter the stable.] 457
(52)
primus pastor. hay, kyng I the call! / hay, most' of
myght!
hayt, the worthyst of aH! / hay, duke! hay, knyght!
Of greatt and smaH / thou art lorde by right;
hay, perpetual! / hayt, faryst wyght!
here I offer!
I pray the to take—
If thou wold, for my sake,
with this may thou lake,—
This lyty spruse cofer.
(53)
462
466
He worships
the Holy
Child &
offers a little
spruce
coffer.
Secundus pastor. hayft, lytyH tyn) mop / rewarder of Horne offers
mede!
haył, bot' oone drop / of grace at my nede;
a ball for
Him to play
with.
hayн, lytyй mylk sop! / hayt, dauid sede!
Of oure crede thou art crop / hay, in god hede!
This bal
471
That thou wold resaue,—
lytyH is that I haue,
This wył I vowche saue,—
To play the with att.
475
(54)
iijus pastor. hayH, maker of man / hay, swetyng!
hay, so as I can / hayH, praty mytyng!
I cowche to the than / for fayn nere gretyng;
hayH, lord! here I ordan / now at oure metyng,
Slow-pace
presents a
bottle, for
"it is a good
bourd to
drink of a
gourd."
480
This boteH-
It is an old by-worde,
It is a good bowrde,
for to drynk of a gowrde,-
It' holdys a mett' poteH.
484
(55)
Maria. he that all myghtys may / the makere of heuen, Mary prays
That is for to say / my son that I neuen,
that her son
inay reward
them.
Rewarde you this day / as he sett al on seuen;
he graunt' you for ay / his blys full euen
Contynuyng;
489
He gyf you good grace,
[Fol. 38, a
Sig. G. 4.]
Tell furth of this case,
he spede youre pase,
And graunt you good endyng.
493
10 *
The shep-
herds take
their leave,
singing the
laud of this
Lamb.
(56)
primus pastor. ffare well, fare lorde! / with thy moder
also.
ijus pastor. we shall this recorde / where as we go.
iijus pastor. we mon all be restorde / god graunt it be so!
primus pastor. Amen, to that' worde / syng we therto
On hight;
To Ioy al sam,
With myrth and gam,
498
To the lawde of this lam
Syng we in syght.
502
Explicit Vna pagina pastorum.

XIII. The Second Shepherds' Play

Secunda Pastorum

(XIII.)
Incipit Alia eorundem.
[88 nine-line stanzas, aaaab, cccb, and 1 seven-line (No. 30), aab, cccb.
The aaaa lines have central rymes markt by bars.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus Pastor.
Mak.
Angelus.
Secundus Pastor.
Tercius Pastor.
Gyů, uxor ejus.
Jesus.
Maria.]
(1)
The first
shepherd
comes on,
complaining
of the cold
& bitter
weather
Primus Pastor.
ord, what these weders ar cold! / and I am yH
L
happyd;
I am nere hande dold / so long haue I nappyd;
My legys thay fold / my fyngers ar chappyd,
It' is not as I wold / for I am al lappyd
In sorow.
In stormes and tempest,
Now in the eest, now in the west,
wo is hym has neuer rest
Myd day nor morow!
(2)
Bot' we sely shepardes 1/ that walkys on the moore,
In fayth we are nere handys / outt' of the doore;
5
1
assonant to handys, &c.
No wonder as it standys / if we be poore,
ffor the tylthe of oure landys / lyys falow as the floore,
As ye ken.
[Fol. 38, b.]
No wonder
that shep-
herds are
14
poor, they
we ar so hamyd,
ffor-taxed and ramyd,
We ar mayde hand tamyd,
are so
oppressed
by the
gentle folk,
with thyse gentlery men).
(3)
18
Thus thay refe vs oure rest/oure lady theym wary !
These men that' ar lord fest / thay cause the ploghe tary.
That' men say is for the best / we fynde it contrary;
Thus ar husbandys opprest' / in po[i]nte to myscary,
On lyfe.
Thus hold thay vs hunder,
23
for whose
exactions
the plough
cannot
speed,
Thus thay bryng vs in blonder;
It' were greatte wonder,
And euer shuld we thryfe.
(4)¹
♫ Stanzas 4
and 5 should
be trans-
posed, as sug-
27 gested by
Prof.
Kölbing.)
ffor may he gett a paynt' slefe / or a broche now on dayes, Let an
wo is hym that hym grefe / or onys agane says!
Dar noman hym reprefe / what' mastry he mays,
upstart get
fine clothes
& he will
do what he
likes, & be
And yit may noman lefe / oone word that he says,
No letter.
he can make purveance,
with boste and bragance,
And all is thruȝ mantenance
Of men that are gretter.
(5)¹
Ther shall com a swane / as prowde as a po,
he must borow my wane / my ploghe also,
Then I am full fane / to graunt or he go.
Thus lyf we in payne / Anger, and wo,
By nyght and day;
he must haue if he langyd,
If I shuld forgang it,
I were better be hangyd
Then oones say hym nay.
(6)
It' dos me good, as I walk / thus by myn oone,
Of this warld for to talk / in maner of mone.
backed up
by greater
32
men.
36
They will
borrow
waggon &
plough, &
the husband
men had
better hang
than say
41 them nay.
45
Refreshed
by this
grumble he
goes to look
after his
sheep till
his fellows
arrive.
The second
shepherd
complains
of the
weather.
To my shepe wył I stalk / and herkyn anone,
Ther abyde on a balk / or sytt on a stone
ffull soyne.
ffor I trowe, perde,
trew men if thay be,
we gett more compane
Or it be noyne.
(7)
50
54
Secundus pastor. Benste and dominus! / what may this
bemeyne?
why, fares this warld thus / oft haue we not sene?
lord, thyse weders ar spytus / and the weders fult kene.
[Fol. 89, a.] And the frostys so hydus / thay water myn eeyne,
No ly.
Now in dry, now in wete,
Now in snaw, now in slete,
When my shone freys to my fete,
59
It is not all esy.
(8)
63
There is
mickle woe
for wedded
nien. Capel,
their hen,
cackles to &
fro; when
she croaks,
the cock
is in the
shackles.
A wedded
man has not
all his will,
& must keep
his sighs to
himself.
The shep-
herd has
learnt his
lesson: he
that is
bound must
abide so.
Bot' as far as I ken / or yit as I go,
we sely wedmen / dre mekyH wo;
We haue sorow then and then / it fallys oft so;
Sely capyle, oure hen / both to and fro
She kakyls;
Bot' begyn she to crok,
To groyne or [to clo]k,
Wo is hym is of oure cok,
ffor he is in the shekyls.
(9)
These men that ar wed / haue not all thare wył,
when they ar full hard sted/thay syȝ full styH;
God wayte thay ar led / ful hard and full yll;
In bower nor in bed / thay say noght ther tyH,
This tyde.
My parte haue I fun,
I know my lesson.
wo is hym that' is bun,
ffor he must abyde.
68
122
72
77
81
(10)
Bot now late in oure lyfys / a merueH to me,
That I thynk my hart ryfys / sich wonders to see.
what' that destany dryfys / it shuld so be;
Som men wy have two wyfys / and som men thre,
In store;
Yet some
men will
have two
wives &
some three:
some are
woe that
86
they have
any.
Som ar wo that has any,
Bot' so far can I,
wo is hym that has many,
ffor he felys sore.
(11)
90
Bot' yong men of wowyng / for god that you boght',
Be well war of wedyng / and thynk in youre thoght,
"had I wyst" is a thyng / it seruys of noght;
MekyH styH mowrnyng / has wedyng home broght,
And grefys;
with many a sharp showre,
ffor thou may cach in an owre
That shall [savour]¹ fulle sowre
As long as thou lyffys.
95
99
(12)
ffor, as euer red I pysty / I haue oone to my fere,
Young men
must beware
of wedding;
for "had I
wist" serves
nought.
As sharp as a thystyH / as rugh as a brere ;
She is browyd lyke a brystyH / with a sowre loten chere;
The shep-
herd has a
wife as sharp
as thistle.
had She oones Wett Hyr Whystyll / She couth Syng fuł (Fol. 39, b.]
clere
Hyr pater noster.
She is as greatt as a whał,
She has a galon of gał:
By hym that dyed for vs ał,
I wald I had ryn to I had lost hir.
(13)
104 She is great
as a whale
with a gallon
of gall.
He wishes
he had run
till he lost
108 her.
primus pastor. God looke ouer the raw / fful defly ye The first
stand.
jus pastor. yee, the dewiłł in thi maw / so tariand.
sagh thou awro of daw /
hard I hym blaw/he commys here at hand,
primus pastor.
yee, on a ley land
Not' far;
113
The word in brackets is illegible in the MS.
shepherd
greets him,
&says he
has heard
the third,
Daw, blow-
ing his pipe:
he is near
at hand,
Daw will
make them
some lie,
unless they
beware.
Daw invokes
Christ's
cross & 8.
Nicholas, &
complains of
the world's
Stand styH.
jus pastor. qwhy?
primus pastor. ffor he commys, hope I.
ijus pastor. he wył make vs both a ly
Bot if we be war.
(14)
117
Tercius pastor. Crystys crosse me spede / and sant'
nycholas !
Ther of had I nede / it' is wars then it was.
brittleness. Whoso coutþe take hede / and lett the warld pas,
The floods
now are
worse than
ever before.
They that
walk at
night see
strange
It' is euer in drede / and brekył as glas,
And slythys.
This warld fowre neuer 80,
With meruels mo and mo,
Now in weył, now in wo,
And all thyng wrythys.
(15)
Was neuer syn noe floode / sich floodys seyn;
Wyndys and ranys so rude / and stormes so keyn;
Som stamerd, som stod / in dowte, as I weyn;
Now god turne all to good / I say as I mene,
ffor ponder.
These floodys so thay drowne,
Both in feyldys and in towne,
And berys at downe,
And that' is a wonder.
(16)
We that' walk on the nyghtys / oure cateł to kepe,
We se sodan syghtys / when othere men slepe.¹
sights. He yit me thynk my hart lyghtys / I se shrewys pepe;
spies shrews
peeping.
He greets
the shep-
herds &
ye ar two all wyghtys / I wył gyf my shepe
A turne.
Bot' fuH yH haue I ment,
As I walk on this bent',
I may lyghtly repent',
My toes if I spurne.
(17)
A, sir, god you saue / and master myne!
wants meat
& drink.
A drynk fayn wold I haue / and somwhat to dyne.
¹ Originally "slepys"; altered in red ink.
122
126
131
135
140
144
primus pastor. Crystys curs, my knaue thou art a They up-
ledyr hyne!
braid him
as a sluggish
hind, who
ijus pastor. What'! the boy lyst' rave; / abyde vnto syne; comes late
We haue mayde it!.
yH thryft on thy pate!
& talks
149 about
dinner.
(Fol. 40, a.]
Though the shrew cam late,
yit is he in state
To dyne, if he had it.
(18)
153
Tercius pastor. Sicħ seruandys as I / that' swettys and Daw says
swynkys,
Etys oure brede full dry / and that me forthynkys;
servants
sweat &
swink, but
they eat
their bread
dry, & their
master &
dame nip at
158 their hire.
We ar oft' weytt and wery / when master-men wynkys,
yit' commys full lately / both dyners and drynkys,
Bot' nately.
Both oure dame and oure syre,
when we haue ryn in the myre,
Thay can nyp at' oure hyre,
And pay vs futt lately.
(19)
162
Bot' here my trouth, master / for the fayr that' ye make,
I shall do therafter / wyrk as I take;
I shał do a lytyй, sir / and emang euer lake,
ffor yit lay my soper / neuer on my stomake
In feyldys.
Wherto shuld I threpe?
with my staf can I lepe,
And men say "lyght' chepe
letherly for-yeldys."
(20)
167
171
He tells
them he will
work as he
is paid, for
a cheap
bargain
yields but
poorly.
primus pastor. Thou were an yll lad / to ryde on The first
wowyng
With a man that had / bot' lytyH of spendyng.
ijus pastor. Peasse, boy, I bad / no more Iangling,
Or I shall make the futt rad / by the heuen's kyng!
with thy gawdys;
wher ar oure shepe, boy, we skorne?
iijus pastor. Sir, this same day at' morne
I thaym left in the corne,
when thay rang lawdys ;
shepherd
says Daw
would be an
ill lad to go
a-wooing
with a poor
master.
176 The shep-
180
herds ask
after their
sheep.
The three
shepherds
sing a song,
taking tenor,
treble, &
mean.
(21)
Thay haue pasture good / thay can not go wrong.
primus pastor. That is right, by the roode! / thyse
nyghtys ar long,
yit I wold, or we yode / oone gaf vs a song.
ijus pastor. So I thoght' as I stode / to myrth vs emong.
iijus pastor. I grauntt'.
primus pastor. lett' me syng the tenory.
185
Mak comes
on, wishing
he were in
heaven,
where no
bairns weep.
ijus pastor. And I the tryble so hye.
iijus pastor. Then the meyne fallys to me;
lett se how ye
chauntt.
Tunc intrat mak, in clamide se super togam vestitus.
(22)
189
Mak. Now lord, for thy naymes sevyn¹/ that made
both moyn & starnes
WeH mo then I can neuen / thi wiH, lorde, of me
tharnys;
(Fol. 40, b.] I am a vneuen / that moves oft my harnes,
The 2nd
shepherd
asks the
news. Daw
bids each
man look to
his goods.
Mak says he
Now Wold god I were in heuen/for there² wepe no barnes
So styH.
primus pastor. Who is that' pypys so poore ?
Mak. wold god ye wyst how I foore !
lo, a man that walkys on the moore,
And has not all his wyH!
(23)
194
198
secundus pastor. Mak, where has thou gon³ / teH
vs tythyng.
Tercius pastor. Is he commen? then ylkon / take hede
to his thyng.
& accipit clamidem ab ipso.
Mak. what! ich be a yoman / I teł you, of the king ;
is the king's The self and the same / sond from a greatt' lordyng,
yeoman, &
must have
reverence.
And sich.
ffy on you! goyth hence
Out of my presence!
I must haue reuerence;
why, who be ich?
MS. vij.
203
207
2 MS. the.
⚫ MS. gom.
(24)
primus pastor. Why make ye it so qwaynt?/mak, ye In spite of
the shep-
herds' com-
ments Mak
do wrang.
ijus pastor. Bot, mak, lyst ye saynt?/ I trow that ye continues to
lang.
iijus pastor. I trow the shrew can paynt, /the dewył
myght hym hang!
Mak. Ich shall make complaynt / and make you all to
thwang
At a worde,
And tel euyn how ye doth.
primus pastor. Bot, Mak, is that sothe?
Now take outt that sothren tothe,
And sett in a torde !
(25)
212
boast
The 1st
shepherd
bids him
take out his
southern
216 tooth.
ijus pastor. Mak, the dewill in youre ee / a stroke wold Under
I leyne you.
threats Mak
recognizes
the shep-
iijus pastor. Mak, know ye not me? / by god I couthe herds as a
teyn¹ you.
Mak. God looke you a thre! / me thoght I had sene
you,
ye ar a fare compane. /
fair com-
pany.
primus pastor.
can ye now mene you?
secundus pastor.
Shrew, Iape!
Thus late as thou goys,
what wy men suppos?
And thou has an ył noys
(26)
of stelyng of shepe.
Mak. And I am trew as steyH/aH men waytt,
Bot a sekenes I feyH / that haldys me fuł haytt,
My belly farys not wey it is out of astate.
221 The 2nd
shepherd
hints that
Mak is out
so late with
a view to
sheep-
stealing.
225
Mak says all
men know
he is true as
steel, but
his belly is
ill at ease
iijus pastor. Seldom lyys the dewy / dede by the gate. he has no
Mak. Therfor
ful sore am I and yH,
230 appetite.
If I stande stone зtyH;
I ete not an nedyH
Thys moneth and more.
234
1 MS. teyle; but the letters "le" have been written over the
original by a later hand.
Asked after
his wife,
Mak says
she does
nought but
(27)
primus pastor. how farys thi wyff! by my hoode /
how farys sho?
Mak. lyys walteryng, by the roode / by the fyere, lo!
[Fol. 41, a.] And a howse full of brude / she drynkys well to;
eat & drink
& bear
children.
ył spede othere good / that she wył do !
Bot so
Etys as fast as she can,
239
And ilk yere that' commys
to man
She bryngys furth a lakan,
However
rich he were
she would
eat him out
of house &
home.
He would
give all he
has would
she but need
A mass-
penny.
The shep-
herds are
tired and lie
down to
sleep.
And som yeres two.
(28)
Bot' were I not more gracyus / and rychere befar,
I were eten outt of howse / and of harbar;
Yit is she a fowl dowse/ if ye com nar:
Ther is none that' trowse / nor knowys a war,
Then ken I.
Now wył ye se what I profer,
To gyf al in my cofer
To morne at next to offer
hyr hed mas penny.
(29)
243
248
252
Secundus pastor. I wote so forwakyd / is none in this
shyre :
I wold slepe if I takyd/les to my hyere.
iijus pastor. I am cold and nakyd / and wold haue a
fyere.
primus pastor. I am wery, for-rakyd / and run in the
myre.
wake thou!
257
jus pastor. Nay, I wył lyg downe by,
ffor I must slepe truly.
They make
Mak lie
between
them.
iijus pastor. As good a man's son was I
As any of you.
(30)
261
Bot, mak, com heder! betwene / shalt thou lyg downe.
Mak. Then myght I lett you bedene / of that ye wold
rowne,¹
1 Possibly 2 lines in owne are missing in this couplet. But
see the like, stanza 15 in the first Shepherds' Play, p. 104.
No drede.
264 Mak says
ffro my top to my too,
Manus tuas commendo,
poncio pilato,
Cryst crosse me spede!
268
a mock
night-spell.
Tunc surgit, pastoribus dormientibus, & dicit;
(31)
Now were tyme for a man / that lakkys what he wold,
To stalk preuely than / vnto a fold,
And neemly to wyrk than / and be not to bold,
ffor he might aby the bargan / if it were told
At the endyng.
Now were tyme for to reyH;
273
He sees &
chance of
stealing a
sheep.
Bot he nedys good counsel
That' fayn wold fare weyH,
And has bot lytyH spendyng.
(32)
Bot' abowte you a serkył / as rownde as a moyn,
To I haue done that I wyH / ty that it be noyn,
That ye lyg stone styH / to that I haue doyne,
And I shall say therty / of good wordys a foyne.
On hight
Ouer youre heydys my hand I lyft,
277
282
He uses a
spell to
make the
shepherds
sleep till
noon.
[Fol. 41, b.]
Outt' go youre een, fordo your syght,
Bot yit I must make better shyft,
And it' be right.
(33)
286
lord! what thay slepe hard! / that' may ye att here;
was I neuer a shepard / bot' now wył I lere.
If the flok be skard / yit shaft I nyp nere,
how! drawes hederward! / now mendys oure chere
ffrom sorow :
[MS. ffron.]
291
When he
finds by
their snoring
that they are
sleeping
hard he
"borrows"
a sheep &
carries it
home.
A fatt' shepe I dar say,
A good flese dar I lay,
Eft whyte when I may,
Bot this will I borow.
(34)
[Mak goes home.] 295
how, gy, art thou In? / gett vs som lyght.
He knocks,
& his wife
Vxor eius. Who makys sich dyn / this tyme of the Gyll asks
nyght?
"Who is it?"
Gyll says she I am sett' for to spyn / I hope not I myght
is spinning
& can't be
interrupted
for nothing.
When she
recognizes
Mak's voice
she let's him
in; "his
sheep-
stealing will
end in his
being
hanged."
Mak has
done it
before, but
"so long
goes the pot
to the water
that it is
broken at
last!"
Ryse a penny to wyn, / I shrew them on hight!
So farys
A huswyff that has bene
To be rasyd thus betwene:
here may no note be sene
ffor sich smal charys.
(35)
300
304
Mak. Good wyff, open the hek! /seys thou not what
I bryng?
Vaor. I may thole the dray the snek. / A, com in,
my swetyng!
Mak. yee, thou thar not rek / of my long standyng.
Vxor. By the nakyd nek / art thou lyke for to hyng.
Mak. Do way:
I am worthy my mete,
ffor in a strate can I gett
More then thay that swynke and swette
AH the long day,
(36)
Thus it fell to my lott / gyH, I had sich grace.
309
313
Vxor. It' were a fowl blott / to be hanged for the case.
Mak. I haue skapyd, Ielott / oft as hard a glase.
Væor. Bot' so long goys the pott / to the water, men says,
At last
318
Comys it' home broken.
Mak. wel knowe I the token,
Mak wants
a dinner off
Bot let' it' neuer be spoken;
Bot' com and help fast.
(37)
I wold he were slayn / I lyst well ete:
322
the sheep at This twelmothe was I not so fayn/of oone shepe mete.
once, but
they are
afraid the
shepherds
[Fol. 42, a.]
may follow
him.
Vicor. Com thay or he be slayn / and here the shepe blete!
Mak. Then myght I be tane, / that' were a cold swette !
Go spar
The gaytt doore.
Vxor.
Yis, Mak,
ffor and thay com at thy bak,
327
Mak. Then myght I by, for all the pak,
The dewill of the war.
331
(38)
vxor. A good bowrde haue I spied / syn thou can none. Gyll will put
here shall we hym hyde / to thay be gone;
In my credy abyde / lett me alone,
And I shall lyg besyde / in chylbed, and grone.
Mak. Thou red;
And I shall say thou was lyght
336
the sheep in
a cradle &
pretend it is
a new-born
child.
Of a knaue childe this nyght.
Vxor. Now well is me day bright,
That' euer was I bred.
340
(39)
This is a good gyse / and a far cast;
Yit' a woman avyse / helpys at the last.
I wote neuer who spyse, / agane go thou fast.
Mak. Bot' I com or thay ryse / els blawes a cold blast!
I wył go slepe.
yit slepys at this meneye,
And I shall go stalk preuely,
[Mak returns to the shepherds,
Mak must go
back to the
shepherds,
or there will
be an ill
wind.
and resumes his place.]
He finds
them still
As it had neuer bene I
That' caryed thare shepe.
(40)
349 sleeping.
primus pastor. Resurrex a mortruis! / haue hald my hand. The 1st
ludas carnas dominus! / I may not well stand:
My foytt slepys, by ihesus 1/ and I water fastand.
I thoght that we layd vs / ful nere yngland.
Secundus pastor. A ye!
lord! what I haue slept weyH;
As fresh as an eyH,
shepherd
wakes. He
had dreamed
he was near
England.
354 The 2nd
shepherd
has slept
well.
As lyght I me feył
As leyfe on a tre.
(41)
358
Tercius pastor. Benste be here in! / so my [hart?] qwakys, Daw wakes
My hart is outt of skyn / what' so it makys.
uneasily, &
asks where
Mak is.
Who makys at this dyn? / so my browes blakys,
To the dowore wył I wyn / harke felows, wakys!
363
We were fowre:
se ye awre of mak now?
primus pastor. we were vp or thou.
ijus pastor. Man, I gyf god a vowe,
yit yede he nawre.
1MS. ihc.
The 2nd
shepherd
says he has
gone
367 nowhere.
1 1
L
Daw had
dreamed
Mak had
trapped one
of the sheep,
but he is
(42)
iijus pastor. Me thoght he was lapt / in a wolfe skyn.
primus pastor. So are many hapt/ now namely within.
ijus pastor. When we had long napt / me thoght with
a gyn
[Fol. 42, b.] A fatt shepe he trapt / bot he mayde no dyn.
reassured by
the others.
They wake
Mak, who
pretends to
have a stiff
neck, and to
have been
frightened
by a dreain.
Tercius pastor. Be styH:
Thi dreme makys the woode:
It is bot fantom, by the roode.
primus pastor. Now god turne all to good,
If it be his wył.
(43)
372
376
ijus pastor. Ryse, mak, for shame! / thou lygys right
lang.
Mak. Now crystys holy name / be vs emang!
what is this? for sant Iame / I may not well gang !
I trow I be the same / A! my nek, has lygen) wrang
381
He dreamt
his wife had
Enoghe;
Mekit thank, syn yister euen,
Now, by sant strevyn,
I was flayd with a swevyn,
My hart out of sloghe.
(44)
I thoght gy began to crok / and traueй full sad,
another boy! Welner at the fyrst cok / of a yong lad,
Wo is him
that has
many bairns
and little
bread.
ffor to mend oure flok / then be I neuer glad.
I haue tow on my rok / more then euer I had.
A, my heede !
A house full of yong tharmes,
The dewill knok outt thare harnes!
wo is hym has many barnes,
And therto lytyH brede!
(45)
He must go I must go home, by youre lefe / to gyll as I thoght.
home to
Gyll, but
first bids
I pray you looke my slefe / that I stey noght:
them see he I am loth you to grefe / or from you take oght.
has stolen
nought.
385
390
394
iijus pastor. Go furth, yH myght thou chefe! / now
wold I we soght,
This morne,
That we had aH oure store.
primus pastor. Bot I wiH go before,
let vs mete.
jus pastor. whore?
iijus pastor. At the crokyd thorne.
(46)
399 The shep-
herds
403
separate to
count their
sheep.
Mak. Vndo this doore! who is here? / how long shat Mak comes
I stand?
Vxor eius. Who makys sich a bere? / now walk in the
Wenyand.
Muk. A, gyH, what chere / it is I, mak, youre husbande,
home & is
welcomed
by Gyll with
some
grumbling.
Vxor. Then may we be here / the dewiH in a bande,
408
Syr gyle;
lo, he commys with a lote
As he were holden in the throte.
I may not syt at my note,
A hand lang while.
(47)
412
Mak. wyH ye here what fare she makys / to gett hir a
glose,
And dos noght bot lakys / and clowse hir toose.
Vecor. why, who wanders, who wakys / who commys, It is the
who gose?
who brewys, who bakys?/ what makys me thus hose?
And than,
It is rewthe to beholde,
woman does
all the work,
& woful is
the house-
hold that
417
lacks one.
Now in hote, now in colde,
fful woful is the householde
That wantys a woman.
(48)
421
Bot what ende has thou mayde / with the hyrdys,
mak?
[Fol. 43, a.]
Mak. The last worde that' thay sayde / when I turnyd Mak tells
Gyll the
shepherds
are counting
my bak,
Thay wold looke that' thay hade / thare shepe at the pak. their sheep.
I hope thay wył nott be well payde / when thay thare
shepe lak,
Perde.
426
The shep-
herds are
sure to sus-
pect him.
Bot' how so the gam gose,
To me thay wył suppose,
And make a fowl noyse,
The sheep is
swaddled in
a cradle, &
Gyll lies
down.
Mak must
sing a
lullaby,
while she
groans.
And cry outt' apon me.
(49)
Bot thou must do as thou hyght/
Vxor.
430
I accorde me thertyH.
I shall swedyt hym) right / In my credyH;
If it were a gretter slyght/yit couthe I help tyH.
I wył lyg downe stright; / com hap me;
Mak.
Vxor. Behynde.
Com cott and his maroo,
Thay will nyp vs fuł naroo.
Mak. Bot' I may cry out' 'haroo,'
The shepe if thay fynde.
(50)
I wył.
435
439
Væor. harken ay when thay caH / thay wiH com onone.
Com and make redy ał / and syng by thyn oone;
Syng lullay thou shalt / for I must' grone,
And cry outt by the wał / on mary and Iohn,
ffor sore.
Syng lullay on fast'
when thou heris at' the last';
And bot' I play a fals cast,
444
Trust me no more.
(51)
448
The shep-
herds meet
again.
The 1st
shepherd
has lost a
fat wether, &
has searched
Tercius pastor. A, coł, goode morne / why slepys thou
nott?
primus pastor. Alas, that euer was I borne! / we haue
a fowl blott.
"all horbery A fat wedir haue we lorne. /
shrogys" in
vain.
Tercius pastor.
ijus pastor. who shuld do vs that' skorne?
mary, godys forbott!
that were a fowl spott.
primus pastor. Som shrewe.
453
I haue soght' with my dogys
Att horbery shrogys,
And of fefteyn¹ hogys
ffond I bot oone ewe.
457
1 MS. xv.
(52)
iijus pastor. Now trow me, if ye wiH/ by sant thomas Daw SUS-
of kent,
Ayther mak or gyH/ was at that' assent.
primus pastor. peasse, man, be stil! / I sagh when he
went;
Thou sklanders hym yH/ thou aght to repent,
pects either
Mak or Gyll.
Goode spede.
ijus pastor. Now as euer myght I the,
If I shuld cuyn here de,
I wold say it' were he,
That' dyd that same dede.
(53)
462
466
iijus pastor. Go we theder, I rede / and ryn on oure The shep-
feete.
Shah I neuer ete brede / the sothe to I wytt.
primus pastor. Nor drynk in my heedle / with hym tyH
I mete.
herds start
off for Mak's
house.
Secundus pastor. I wyH rest in no stede / tył that I (Fol. 43, b.)
hym grete,
My brothere.
Oone I will hight:
TyH I se hym in sight'
shat I neuer slepe one nyght
471
Ther I do anothere.
(54)
475
Tercius pastor. will ye here how thay hak / oure syre, They hear
lyst', croyne.
noises
within, and
Mak bids
primus pastor. hard I neuer none crak / so clere out of them speak
toyne;
Catt on hym.
ijus pastor. mak! / vndo youre doore soyne.
Mak. Who is that spak, / as it were noyne,
On loft'?
Who is that I say?
iijus pastor. Goode felowse, were it day.
Mak. As far as ye may,
480
softly.
Good, spekys soft',
484
Every foot-
step goes
through
Gyll's nose.
(55)
Ouer a seke woman's heede / that' is at may easse;
I had leuer be dede / or she had any dyseasse.
Vxor. Go to an othere stede / I may not wet qweasse.
Ich fote that' ye trede / goys
So hee !
thorow my nesc.
primus pastor. TeH vs, mak, if ye may,
how fare yc, I say?
Mak. Bot' ar ye in this towne to day?
Now how fare ye?
(56)
Mak bids the ye haue ryn in the myre / and ar weytt yit':
shepherds
sit down.
His dream
has come
true.
I shall make you a fyre / if ye wiH syt.
A nores wold I hyre / thynk ye on yit,
wełł qwytt is my hyre / my dreme this is itt,
A seson.
I haue barnes, if ye knew,
well mo then cnewe,
Bot' we must drynk as we brew,
And that' is bot' reson.
489
493
498
502
(57)
The shep-
herds de-
cline his
hospitality,
& hint that
he has stolen
their sheep.
Mak bids
them search
the house.
I wold ye dynyd or ye yode / me thynk that ye swette.
Secundus pastor. Nay, nawther mendys oure mode /
drynke nor mette.
Mak. why, sir, alys you oght bot goode? /
Tercius pastor. yee, oure shepe that we gett,
Ar stollyn as thay yode / oure los is grette.
Mak. Syrs, drynkys!
had I bene thore,
Som shuld haue boght it ful sore.
primus pastor. Mary, som men trowes that' ye wore,
And that vs forthynkys.
(58)
507
511
ijus pastor. Mak, som men trowys / that it shuld be ye.
iijus pastor. Ayther ye or youre spouse / so say we.
Mak. Now if ye haue suspowse / to giH or to me,
Com and rype oure howse / and then may ye se
who had hir,
If I any shepe fott,
516 As for Gyll,
she has not
left her bed.
Aythor cow or stott;
And gyH, my wyfe, rose nott
here
syn
she lade hir.
(59)
520
As I am true and lele / to god here I pray,
That this be the fyrst mcle / that I shall ete this day.
primus pastor. Mak, as haue I ceyH, / Avyse the, I say;
he lernyd tymely to steyH / that couth not say nay.
Vxor. I swelt !
Outt, thefys, fro my wonys!
ye com to rob vs for the nonys.
(Fol. 44, a
Sig. H. 2.]
525 Gyll cries
out on them
for thieves.
youre hartys shuld melt.
Mak. here ye not how she gronys?
(60)
529
Vxor. Outt, thefys, fro my barne! / neȝ hym not
thor.
Mak. wyst ye how she had farme/youre hartys wold Mak re-
be sore.
ye do wrang, I you warne / that thus commys before
To a woman that has farne / bot' I say no more.
Vxor. A, my medy}!
I pray to god so mylde,
If euer I you begyld,
proaches the
shepherds
for disturb.
ing her.
534 Gyll will ent
the child in
the cradle
if ever she
cheated
them.
That I ete this chylde
That lygys in this credyH.
(61)
538
Mak. peasse, woman, for godys payn / and cry not so:
Thou spyllys thy brane / and makys me full wo.
The shep-
herds can
find nothing
in the house
Secundus pastor. I trow oure shepe be slayn / what but two
finde ye two?
iijus pastor. AH wyrk we in vayn / as well may we go.
empty
platters.
Bot hatters,
I can fynde no flesh,
hard nor nesh,
Salt nor fresh,
Bot' two tome platers,
543
547
(62)
Whik catel bot' this / tame nor wylde,
None, as haue I blys / as lowde as he smylde.
Vxor. No, so god me blys / and gyf me Ioy of my chylde!
The 1st
shepherd
thinks they
have made
a mistake.
They talk of
primus pastor. We have merkyd amys / I hold vs begyld.
ijus pastor. Syr don,
Syr, oure lady hym saue!
Gyll's child. Is youre chyld a knaue }
552
Mak. Any lord myght hym haue
This chyld to his son.
(63)
556
Parkyn and when he wakyns he kyppys / that' ioy is to se.
Gybon
Waller and
gentle John
Horne are
his gossips.
iijus pastor. In good tyme to hys hyppys / and in cele.
Bot who was his gossyppys / so sone rede?
Mak. So fare fat thare lyppys! /
primus pastor.
Mak. So god thaym thank,
[Fol. 44, b.] Parkyn, and gybon waller, I say,
The shep-
herds take
a friendly
farewell.
Mak pre-
tends to
sulk.
Daw goes
back to give
the child a
sixpence.
And gentil Iohn horne, in good fay,
he made at the garray,
With the greatt' shank.
(64)
hark now, a le!
561
565
ijus pastor. Mak, freyndys will we be /ffor we ar al oone.
Mak. we! now I hald for me / for mendys gett I none.
ffare well all thre / aH glad were ye gone.
[The shepherds leave.]
iijus pastor. ffare wordys may ther be / bot luf is ther
none
this yere.
primus pastor. Gaf ye the chyld any thyng?
ijus pastor. I trow not' oone farthyng.
iijus pastor, ffast' agane will I flyng,
570
Abyde ye me there.
[Goes back to the house.]
(C5)
Mak tries to Mak, take it to no grefe / if I com to thi barne.
keep him
Away from
the cradle.
Mak. Nay, thou dos me greatt reprefe / and fowH has
thou farne.
iijus pastor. The child will it not grefe / that lytyH
day starne.
Mak, with youre leyfe / let me gyf youre barne,
1
Bot' sex pence.
Mak. Nay, do way he slepys.
579
iijus pastor. Me thynk he pepys.
Daw gets
near,
Mak. when he wakyns he wepys.
I pray you go hence. [The other shepherds come back.]
(66)
iijus pastor. Gyf me lefe hym to kys / and lyft vp the
clowtt.
lifts the
kiss the
coverlet to
[Seeing the sheep.]
what the dewitt is this? / he has a long snowte.
primus pastor. he is merkyd amys. / we wate it abowte.
jus pastor. It spon weft, Iwys/ay commys fou
owte.
Ay, so!
he is lyke to oure shepe!
iijus pastor. how, gyb! may I pepe?
primus pastor. I trow, kynde will crepe
where it may not go.
(67)
child, & ex-
claims at its
long snout.
think it may
The others
take after
Mak, but
soon dis-
588
cover the
fraud.
592
ijus pastor. This was a qwantt' gawde / and a far cast.
It was a hee frawde. /
iijus pastor.
yee, syrs, wast.
lett bren this bawde / and bynd hir fast.
The shep-
herds are
furious, but
can't help
seeing the
joke.
A fals skawde / hang at the last;
So shaH thou.
wył ye se how thay swedyH
his foure feytt in the medyH?
597
Sagh I neuer in a credyH
A hornyd lad or now.
(68)
Mak. Peasse byd I: what'!/ lett' be youre fare;
I am he that hym gatt / and yond woman hym bare.
601
(Fol. 45, a.
Sig. H. 3.]
Mak and
primus pastor. What dewi shat he hatt? / Mak, lo Gyll main
god makys ayre.
ijus pastor. lett be all that. / now god gyf hym care,
tain that the
sheep is
their child.
I sagh.
Vxor. A pratty child is he
As syttys on a waman's kne;
A dyllydowne, perde,
606
Το
gar a man laghe.
610
1 MS. vj.
A clerk had
told Mak the
child was
forspoken, &
Gyll saw an
elf change
him as the
clock struck
twelve.
(69)
iijus pastor. I know hym by the eere marke / that is
a good tokyn.
Mak. I tell you, syrs, hark! / hys noyse was brokyn.
Sythen told me a clerk / that he was forspokyn.
primus pastor. This is a fals wark / I wold fayn be
wrokyn :
Gett' wepyn.
Vxor. he was takyn with an elfe,
I saw it myself.
when the clok stroke twelf
615
was he forshapyn.
(70)
619
But Mak
pleads
guilty, and
the shep-
herds let
him off with
a good
blanketing.
ijus pastor. ye two ar weH feft/ sam in a stede.
iijus pastor. Syn thay manteyn thare theft / let do
thaym to dede.
Mak. If I trespas eft / gyrd of my heede.
with you will I be left. /
primus pastor.
syrs, do my reede.
ffor this trespas,
624
we will nawther ban ne flyte,
ffyght' nor chyte,
They toss
him till they
Bot' haue done as tyte,
And cast hym in canvas. [They toss Mak in a sheet.]
(71)
lord what I am sore / in poynt for to bryst.
are tired, & In fayth I may no more / therfor wył I ryst.
then lie
down to
rest.
An angel
bids them
rise,
ijus pastor. As a shepe of sevyn¹ skore / he weyd in
my fyst.
ffor to slepe ay whore / me thynk that I lyst.
iijus pastor. Now I pray you,
lyg downe on this grene.
primus pastor. On these thefys yit I mene.
iijus pastor. wherto shuld ye tene
So, as I say you?
Angelus cantat "gloria in exelsis:" postea dicat:
(72)
633
637
Angelus. Ryse, hyrd men heynd! / for now is he borne
That' shall take fro the feynd / that' adam had lorne :
1 MS. vij.
That' warloo to sheynd / this nyght' is he borne.
God is made youre freynd / now at this morne.
he behestys,
At bedlem go sc,
Ther lygys that fre
The Re-
deemer is
born, & they
must go to
642 Bethlehemn
to see Him.
In a cryb full poorely,
Betwyx two bestys.
(73)
646
primus pastor. This was a qwant stevyn / that euer yit (Fol. 45, b.)
I hard.¹
It is a meruel to neuyn / thus to be skard.
ijus pastor. Of godys son of heuyn / he spak vpward.
AH the wod on a leuyn / me thoght' that he gard
Appere.
iijus pastor. he spake of a barne
In bedlem, I you warne.
primus pastor. That betokyns yond starne.
let vs seke hym there,
(74)
651
655
The shep-
herds talk of
the angel's
message, &
see a guiding
star.
ijus pastor. Say, what was his song?/ hard ye not They discuss
how he crakyd it'?
Thre brefes to a long. /
iijus pastor.
yee, mary, he hakt it.
was no crochett' wrong/ nor no thyng that lakt it
primus pastor. ffor to syng vs emong / right as he
knakt it',
I can.
ijus pastor. let' se how ye croyne.2
Can ye bark at the mone?
iijus pastor. hold youre tonges, haue done!
primus pastor. hark after, than.
(75)
660
664
ijus pastor. To bedlem he bad / that we shuld gang :
I am full fard / that we tary to lang.
iijus pastor. Be mery and not sad/ of myrth is oure
sang,
Euer lastyng glad / to mede may we fang,
¹ 'That euer yit I hard' was originally "he spake vpward," from

  1. 649, but this has been crossed out with red ink.
    24 'Croyne' for 'crone '
    the angel's
    music, & try
    to imitate it.
    But they
    murt hasten
    to Bethle-
    hein.
    Though they
    be wet &
    weary, they
    must see
    that child &
    that lady.
    The 2nd
    shepherd
    recalls the
    Withoutt noyse.
    primus pastor. hy we theder for thy;
    If we be wete and wery,
    To that' chyld and that lady
    we haue it' not to lose.
    (76)
    669
    673
    ijus pastor. we fynde by the prophecy— / let' be youre
    dyn-
    of David and Of dauid and Isay / and mo then I
    prophecies
    Isaiah.
    myn,
    Thay prophecyed by clergy / that' in a vyrgyn
    shuld he lyght and ly / to slokyn oure syn
    And slake it,
    Oure kynde from wo;
    ffor Isay sayd so,
    [¹ This is of
    course for
    Ecre.']
    Citè¹ virgo
    Concipiet a chylde that is nakyd.
    (77)
    678
    682
    If Daw could
    once kneel
    before that
    child it
    would ever
    be well with
    him.
    iij pastor. fful glad may we be / and abyde that day
    That lufly to se / that all myghtys may.
    lord well were me / for ones and for ay,
    Myght I knele on my kne / som word for to say
    To that' chylde.
    Bot the angel sayd,
    687
    In a cryb wos he layde;
    he was poorly arayd
    Both mener and mylde.
    (78)
    691
    The 1st
    shepherd
    remembers
    that
    patriarchs
    & prophets
    to see this
    sight.
    [Fol. 46, a.
    Big. H. 4.]
    primus pastor. patryarkes that has bene/ and prophetys
    beforne,
    have desired Thay desyryd to haue sene / this chylde that' is borne.
    Thay ar gone fut clene / that haue thay lorne.
    'Twas pro-
    mised He
    should
    appear to
    the poor.
    We shall se hym, I weyn / or it be morne,
    To tokyn.
    When I se hym and fele,
    Then wote I full weyH
    It is true as steyH
    That' prophetys haue spokyn.
    (79)
    To so poore as we ar / that he wold appere,
    ffyrst fynd, and declare / by his messyngere,
    696
    700
    yus pastor. Go we now, let vs fare / the place is vs ncre. They pray
    iijus pastor. I am redy and yare / go we in fere
    To that bright.
    Lord, if thi wylles be,
    God they
    may have
    glee to
    705 comfort His
    wight.
    we ar lewde al thre,
    Thou grauntt vs somkyns gle
    To comforth thi wight.
    [They enter the stable.]
    (80)
    primus pastor. hay, comly and cleno! / hay, yong The 1st
    child!
    hayH, maker, as I meync, / of a madyn so mylde!
    Thou has waryd, I weyne / the warlo so wylde;
    The fals gyler of teyn / now goys he begylde.
    lo, he merys;
    lo, he laghys, my swetyng,
    A welfare metyng,
    714
    shepherd
    bids the
    young child
    hail, & offers
    Him a "bob
    of cherries."
    I haue holden my hetyng;
    haue a bob of cherys.
    (81)
    718
    jus pastor. hay, sufferan sauyoure! / ffor thou has vs The 2nd
    soght':
    hayH, frely foyde and floure / that at thyng has wroght!
    hayH, full of fauoure / that made all of noght!
    hay! I kney and I cowre. A byrd haue I broght'
    To my barne.
    hayH, lytyh tyné mop !
    of oure crede thou art crop :
    I wold drynk on thy cop,
    LytyH day starne,
    (82)
    iijus pastor. hay H, derlyng dere / full of godhede !
    I
    pray
    the be nere/when that I haue nede.
    hay! swete is thy chere! / my hart wold blede
    To se the sytt here / in so poore wede,
    With no pennys.
    hay! put furth thy dał !
    I bryng the bot' a batt:
    haue and play the with att,
    And go to the tenys,
    723
    727
    732
    736
    shepherd
    brings Him
    a bird.
    Daw's heart
    bleeds to see
    Hin so
    poorly clad.
    He offers
    Hun a ball.
    Mary pro-
    mises to
    (83)
    Maria. The fader of heuen / god omnypotent'.
    pray her Son That' sett aH on seuen, / his son has he sent.
    to keep thei
    from woe.
    My name couth he neuen / and lyght or he went.
    I conceyuyd hym futt euen/thrugh myght' as he ment,
    And now is he borne.
    he kepe you fro wo!
    741
    I shall pray hym so;
    TeH furth as ye go,
    And myn on this morne.
    (84)
    [Fol. 46, b.)
    The shep-
    herds go
    their way
    singing.
    primus pastor. ffareweH, lady / so fare to beholde,
    with thy childe on thi kne! /
    ijus pastor.
    bot' he lygys ful cold.
    lord, wel is me / now we go, thou behold.
    iijus pastor. ffor sothe all redy/it semys to be told
    full oft.
    primus pastor. what grace we haue fun.
    ijus pastor. Com furth, now ar we won.
    iijus pastor. To syng ar we bun) :
    let take on loft.
    Explicit pagina Pastorum.
    XIV.

XIV. The Offering of the Magi

Oblacio Magorum

Incipit oblacio magorum.
745
750
754
Herod calls
for silence.
Herodes.
Nuncius.
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus Rex, Jaspar.
Secundus Rex, Melchior.
Tercius Rex,
Balthesar.]
[One 12-line stanza (no. 100), ab ab ab abc ddc; 105 six-line stanzas,
aaab ab, except stanza 72, ab ab ab, and one 4-line stanza 22, aaah.
herodes.
(1)
Easse, I byd, both far and nere,
P
I warne you leyf youre sawes sere;
who that makys noyse whyls I am here,
I say, shall dy.
Of all this warld, sooth, far & nere,
The lord am I.
9
Lord am I of euery land,
(2)
Of towre and towne, of se and sand;
Agans me dar noman stand,
That' berys lyfe;
AH erthly thyng bowes to my hand,
Both man and wyfe.
(3)
Man and wyfe, that' warne I you,
That' in this warld is lyfand now,
To mahowne & me aH shaH bow,
Both old and ying;
On hym wył I ich man trow,
ffor any thyng.
10
12
16
18
(4)
ffor any thyng it shall be so;
lord ouer at where I go,
who so says agane, I shał hym slo,
where so he dweй;
22
The feynd, if he were my fo,
I shuld hym felt.
24
He is lord of
every land.
All shall
bow to
Mahound &
himself.
He would
slay the
fiend if he
opposed
him.
(5)
To fell those fatures I am bowne,
And dystroy those dogys in feyld and towne
[Fol. 47, a.)
He will lay
low all who
That' will not trow on sant' Mahowne,
won't
believe in
28
Mahound.
30
Oure god so swete;
Those fals faturs I shall fell downe
Vnder my feete.
(6)
Vnder my feete I shall thaym fare,
Those ladys that wiH [not] lere my lare,
ffor I am myghty man ay whare,
Of ilk a pak ;
Clenly shapen, hyde and hare,
withoutten lak.
(7)
The myght of me may no man mene,
ffor aH [that] dos me any teyn,
34
36
He is a
mighty man,
clean
shapen, hide
& hair.
He will ding I shał dyng thaym downe bydeyn,
down all
who give
him trouble.
So he will
Rend to sce
if there be
any traitors
And wyrk thaym wo;
And on assay it' shall be seyn,
Or I go.
(8)
And therfor wiH I send and se
In at this land, full hastely,
in the land. To looke if any dwelland be
In towre or towne,
That wy not hold holly on me,
And on mahowne.
(9)
If ther be fonden any of tho,
40
42
46
48
with bytter payn I shalt theym slo; [To the messenger.]
He bids his My messynger, swyth looke thou go¹
messenger
go
& spy if
there be any
who trow
not on
Mahound.
Thrugh ilk countre,
In all this land, both to and fro,
I commaunde the ;
(10)
And truly looke thou spyr and spy,—
In euery stede ther thou commys by,—
who trowes not ou malowne most myghty,
Oure god so fre ;
And looke thou bryng theym hastely
52
54
58
888
60
heder vnto me.
(11)
If there be,
And I shall fownd thaym for to flay,
he will flay
them.
Those laddys that' wiH not' lede oure lay;
Therfor, boy, now I the pray
That' thou go tytt.
Nuncius. It' shal be done, lord, if I may,
withoutten lett:
(12)
The messen And certys, if I may any fynde,
ger offers to
Lill them,
I shall not leyfe oone of them behynde.
but Herod
bids him
bring them
to him.
herodes. No, bot' boldly thou thaym bynde
And with the leyde:
Mahowne, that weldys water and wynde,
The wish and spede!
64
66
70
72
In the MS. this line reads "My messynger [lord] swyth looke
thou go."
(13)
Nuncius. AH peasse, lordyngys, and hold you styH,
To I haue sayde what I will;
Take goode hede Vnto my sky,
The messen-
ger cries
silence for
the king's
uiessage.
[Fol. 47, b.]
Both old and ying;
76
In message what is commen you tyH
ffrom herode, the kyng.
(14)
78
he commaundys you, euerilkon,
To hold no kyng bot' hym alon,
And othere god ye worship none
Bot mahowne so fre;
And if ye do, ye mon be slone;
Thus told he me.
Herod is the
only king, &
Mahound
the only gol
to be wor-
82 shipped.
84
Tunc venit' primus rex equitans; & respiciens stellam dicit,
(15)
primus rex. Lord, of whom this light is lent',
And vnto me this sight has sent',
I pray to the, with good intent',
The first
king pray's
God shield
him from
harm,
ffrom shame me shelde;
So that I no harmes hent
By way[e]s wylde.
88
90
(16)
Also I pray the specyally,
Thou graunt' me grace of
company,
That I may haue som beyldyng by,
94
96
In my trauaył:
Aud, certys, for to lyf or dy
I shall not fayН,
(17)
To that I in som land haue bene,
To wyt what this starne may mene,
That has me led, with bemys shene,
Now weynd I will, withoutten weyn,
ffro my cuntre;
The sothe to se.
(18)
Secundus rex. A! lord, that is withoutten ende !
whens euer this solcouth light dyscende,
100
102
& give him
grace of
company
till he has
found the
meaning of
this guiding
star.
1 2
M
Tourncley Plays. XIV. Offering of the Magi.
The 2nd king That thus kyndly has me kende
wonders
what the
light may
mean.
Oute of my land,
106
And shewyd to me ther I can leynd,
thus bright shyuand ?
108
He will
never rest
(19)
Certys, I saȝ neuer none so bright;
I shall neuer ryst by day nor nyght,
till he know To I wyt whens may com this lyght,
whence it
comes.
And from what place;
ho that it' send vnto my sight
leyne me that grace!
112
114
(20)
The kings
accost each
other. The
2nd king has
come from
Araby, and
is called
Melchior.
I haue folowed yond starne, veray,
primus rex. A, sir, wheder ar ye away?
Tell me, good sir, I you pray.
Secundus rex. Certys, I trow, the sothe to say,
None wote bot' I;
118
ffrom araby;
120
(21)
ffor I am kyng of that cuntre,
And melchor ther call men me.
The 1st is
primus rex. And kyng, sir, was I wont to be,
Jaspar, king
of Tars.
In tars, at hamne,
Both of towne and cyte;
Iaspar is my name;
124
126
(22)
[Fol. 48, a.)
They praise
God for the
star.
The light of yond starne sagh I thedyr.
Secundus rex. That lord be louyd that' send me helyr!
ffor it will grathly ken vs whedyr,
The 3rd king
comes on,
wondering
at the star's
brightness.
that' we shall weynd;
we owe to loue hym both togedyr,
That' it to vs wold send.
(23)
Tercius rex. A, lord! in land what' may this mene?
So selcouth sight' was neuer sene,
Sich a starne, shynand so shene,
Saȝ I neuer none;
It gyffys lyght' ouer a¤, bedenc,
By hym alone.
130
132
136
138
(24)
What' it may mene, that' know I noght';
Bot' yonder ar two, me thynk, in thoght,
I thank hym that thaym hoder has broght
Thus vnto me;
I shall assay if thay wote oght
142
144
what it may be.
(25)
lordyngys, that' ar leyf and dere,
I pray you tell me with good chere
He sees the
other kings
[Turns to the Magi.]
& asks them
the meaning
of the star.
wheder ye weynd, on this manere,
And where that ye haue bene;
And of this starne, that' shynys thus clere,
what it may mene.
(26)
primus rex. Syr, I say you certanly,
ffrom tars for yond starne soght haue I.
ijus rex. To seke yond light from araby,
sir, haue I went.
iijus rex. Now hertely I thank hym for-thy,
That it has sent.
(27)
primus rex. Good sir, what cuntre cam ye fra?
iijus rex. This light has led me fro saba;
And balthesar, my name to say,
148
150
They say
they have
come from
Tars and
Araby to
seek it.
154
156
The third
king is
named Bal
thasar and
comes from
Saba,
The sothe to tell.
160
jus rex. And kyngis, sir, are we twa,
Ther as we dwełł.
iijus rex. Now, syrs, syn we ar seniled here,
I rede we ryde togeder, in fere,
162
(28)
He proposes
that they
shall all ride
together.
vnto we wytt, on all manere,
ffor good or ył,
166
what it may mene, this sterne so clere
Shynand vs tyH.
168
(29)
primus rex. A, lordyngys! behold the lyght
Of yond starne, with bemys bright!
Jaspar is
amazed at
the star's
brightness.
ffor sothe I sagh neuer sich a sight
In no-kyns land;
A starne thus, aboute mydnyght,
so bright shynand.
172
174
(30)
It' gyfys more light it self alone
[Fol. 48, b.] Then any son that' euer shone,
The star is
brighter
than the sun
or moon.
Or mone, when he of son has ton
his light so cleyn;
Sich selcouth sight' haue I sene none,
what so euer it' meyn.
(31)
Secundus rex. Behold, lordyngys, vnto his pase,
Melchior
notes its
nearness to
the earth.
And se how nyȝ the erth hit gase;
178
180
It' is a tokyn that' it mase
Of nouelry;
A meruet it is, good tent who tase,
Now here in hy.
(32)
He marvels ffor sich a starne was neuer ere seyn,
what it may
mean.
As wyde in warld as we haue beyn,
ffor blasyng bemys, shynand fułł sheyn,
ffrom hit ar sent;
MerueH I haue what' it' may meyn
In myn intent.
(33)
Balthasar re- Tercius rex. Certys, syrs, the sothe to say,
members
that this has I shall dyscry now, if I may,
been fore-
told.
what it may meyn, yond starne veray,
Shynand tył vs ;
It has bene sayde syn many a day
It shuld be thus.
(34)
The star beyond starne betokyns, well wote I,
tokens the
birth of a
prince, un-
The byrth of a prynce, syrs, securly,
less the rules That shewys well the prophecy
of astronomy
deceive him.
That it so be;
Or els the rewlys of astronomy
Dyssauys me.
184
186
190
192
196
198
202
204
(35)
primus rex. Certan, balaam spekys of this thyng,
That' of Iacob a starne shall spryng
That' shał ouercom kasar and kyng,
Withoutten stryfe ;
AH folk shalbe to hym obeyng
That berys the lyfe.
(36)
Now wote I well this is the same,
In euery place he shall haue hame,
AH shall hym bowe that' berys name,
In ilk cuntre;
who trowys it' not, thay ar to blame,
Jasper re-
calls the pro-
phecy of
Balaam.
208
All folk shall
obey the star
210 of Jacob.
214
Doubtless
this in He,
and all shall
bow before
Him.
what' so thay be.
216
(37)
ijus rex. Certys, lordyngys, full well wote I,
ffulfyllyd is now the prophecy;
That' prynce that' shall ouer com in hy
kasar and kyng,
Of his beryng.
This starne berith witnes, wytterly,
(38)
iijus rex. Now is fulfyllyd here in this land
220
222
Melchior
recognizes
that the pro-
phecy is ful
ülled.
So also Ba).
thasar.
That balaam sayd, I vnderstand;
Now is he borne that' se and sand
Shall weyld at wył:
That' shewys this starne, so bright shynand,
vs thre vntyH.
(39)
primus rex. Lordyngys, I rede we weynd aH thre
ffor to wyrship that chyld so fre,
In tokyn that he kyng shalbe
Of alkyn thyng ;
This gold¹ now wył I bere with me,
To myn offeryng.
(40)
ijus rex. Go we fast', syrs, I you pray,
To worship hym if that we may ;
[Fol. 49, a.]
226
228
Jaspar pro-
poses that
they all
three go &
worship the
child. His
232 own offering
234
¹ The word "gold" is omitted, by mistake of the original copier,
probably.
shall be
gold.
1 2 *
Melchior is
bringing in-
cense in
token that
I bryng rekyls, the sothe to say,
here in myn hende,
the child is
In tokyn that he [is] god veray,
very God.
Withoutten ende.
(41)
Balthasar
is bringing
myrrh as a
token of the
child's
death
iijus rex. Syrs, as ye say right so I red;
hast' we tytt vnto that sted
To wirship hym, as for oure hed,
with oure offeryng ;
In tokyn that he shalbe ded,
This Myrr I bryng.
(42)
primus rex. where is that kyng of Iues land,
Jaspar asks
where the
king is to be
That' shalbe lord of se and sand,
found.
And folk shall bow vnto his hand
238
240
244
246
Both more and myn?
To wyrship hym with oure offerand
250
we wył not blyn.
252
(43)
ijus rex. we shall not rest, euen nor morne,
vnto we com ther he is borne.
Balthasar
counsels
following
iijus rex. ffolowe this light', els be we lorne,
ffor sothe, I trowe,
256
the star.
That' frely to we com beforne;
Syrs, go we now.
258
[The kings retire.
Herod and his messenger advance.]
(44)
Herod's mes- Nuncius. Mahowne, that' is of greatt' pausty,
senger is re-
proached for My lord, sir herode, the saue and se!
his long
absence.
herodes. where has pou bene so long fro me,
His tidings
are good &
in, mingled
together.
Vyle stynkand lad?
262
Nuncius. Lord, gone youre herand in this cuntre,
As
ye me bad.
264
(45)
Herod. Thou lyys, lurdan, the dewill the hang!
why has thou dwelt away so lang?
Nuncius. lord ye wyte me aH with wrang.
Herodes. what tythyngys say!
268
Nuncius. Som good, som yH, mengyd emang.
herod. how? I the pray.
270
(46)
Do tell me fast how thou has farne ;
Thy waryson shall thou not tharne.
Nuncius. As I cam walkand, I you warne,
Lord, by the way,
I met thre¹ kyngis sekeand a barne,
Thus can thay say.
(47)
Herodes. To seke a barne! for what thyng?
Told thay any new tythyng?
Nuncius. yey, lord! thay say he shuld be kyng
Of towne and towre;
ffor thy thay went, with thare offeryng,
[Fol. 49, b.)
274 He has met
three kings
seeking a
child,
276
who, they
said, should
280 be a king.
hym to honoure.
(48)
herod. Kyng! the dewill! bot' of what' empyre 1
Of what land shuld that lad be syre?
Nay, I shall with that' trature tyre;
Sore shall he rewe!
Nuncius. lord, by a starne as bright as fyre
This kyng thay knew ;
(49)
It led thaym outt of thare cuntre.
Herod. we, fy! fy! dewyls on thame a thre!
he shall neuer haue myght to me,
That' new borne lad;
when thare wytt' in a starne shuld be,
I hold thaym mad.
(50)
2
Those lurdans wote not' what' thay ² say;
Thay ryfe my hede, that' dar I lay;
282
Herod will
make the
child rue.
286
The ines-
senger tells
288 of the star.
Herod
thinks the
three kings
mad.
292
294
Nevertheless
he is greatly
troubled,
298
300
Ther dyd no tythyngis many a day,
Sich harme me to;
ffor wo my wytt' is ał away;
what shall I do?
1 MS. iij.
"Thay" is overlined, but the original word "I" remains
unaltered.
and would
fain find out
the truth
about this
new king.
(51)
why, what the dewy is in thare harnes ?
Is thare wytt' all in the starnes ?
These tythyngis mar my mode in crnes;
And of this thyng
To wytt the sothe, fuH sore me yarnes,
Of this new kyng.
(52)
Kyng? what the dewyH, other then I
304
306
Herod won-
ders, if the
child is to be
we, fy on dewyls! fy, fy!
who the
devil made
him knight.
king so soon,
Certys, that' boy shall dere aby!
his ded is dight!
310
Shall he be kyng thus hastely?
who the dewiłł made hym knyght?
312
(53)
He con-
tinues to
rage,
Alus, for shame! this is a skorne!
Thay fynde no reson thaym beforne;
Shuld that brodel, that' late is borne,
Be most of mayn?
316
Nay, if the dewył of he had sworne,
he shall agane.
318
(54)
[Fol. 50, a.] Alas, alas! for doy and care!
So mekyH sorow had I neuer are ;
resolves to
If it' be sothe, for euer mare
seek the
truth of
I am vndoyn;
322
clerks &
learned men,
At good clerkys and wyse of lare
I wył wyt soyn.
324
(55)
but first will Bot fyrst' yit' wiH I send and se
send for the
three kings
The answere of those lurdans thre.
[Calls to messenger.]
& question
them.
Messyngere, tytt hy thou the,
328
330
And make the yare ;
Go, byd those kyngys com speke with me,
That' told thou of are.
(56)
The messen Say I haue greatt herand thaym tyH.
ger is sent
off.
Nuncius. It' shalbe done, lord, at youre wył,
youre byddyng shall I soyn fulfyH
In ilk cuntre.
334
Herod. Mahowne the shelde from að kyns ył,
ffor his pauste.
336
[The messenger goes to where the kings stand.]
(57)
Nuncius. Mahowne you saue, sir kyngys thre,
I haue message to you preuè,
ffrom herode, kyng of this cuntre,
That' is oure chefe ;
And lo, syrs, if ye trow not me,
(58)
ye rede this brefe.
primus rex. welcom be thou, belamy!
what is his wyH? tel vs in hy.
Nuncius. Certys, sir, that' wote not I,
That'
Bot' thus he sayde to me,
ye shuld com full hastely
To hym all thre,
He hails the
kings in
Herod's
name,
340
and exhibits
his "brief."
342
The kings
are to come
346 to Herod at
348
once.
(59)
ffor nede herand, he sayd me so.
Secundus rex. Messynger, before thou go,
And tell thi lord we ar all thro
his wył to do;
352
Melchior
bids the
messenger
return &
announce
their
approach.
Both I and my felose two
Shall com hym to. [The messenger returns to Herod.]
(60)
Nuncius. Mahowne you looke, my lord so dere.
herod. welcom be thou, messyngere !
how has thou farne syn thou was here?
Herod wel-
comes the
messenger,
Thou tell me tytt.
358
Nuncius. lord, I haue traueld far and nere
withoutten lett,
360
(61)
And done youre herand, sir, sothely;
Thre kyngis with me broght haue I,
ffro saba, tars, and araby,
who an-
nounces his
success, &
is promised
a reward.
Then haue thay soght'.
herodes. Thi waryson shalt thou haue for thy,
By hym me boght';
364
366
(62)
And, certanly, that is good skyH,
And syrs, ye ar welcom me tył.
Balthasar
announces
the readiness
iijus rex. Lord, thi bydyng to fulfyH
[The three kings come to Herod.]
of the kings
to obey
Herod,
Are we full thro.
370
herodes. A, meky thank of youre good wył
That' ye wył so.
372
(63)
Herod ques-
[Fol. 50, b.] ffor, certys, I haue couett greattly
To speke with you, and here now why :
TeH me, I pray you specyally,
tions them
concerning
the token in
the sky.
ffor any thyng,
what' tokynyng saw ye on the sky
Of this new kyng?
(64)
376
378
Jaspar re-
counts the
primus rex. we saȝ his starne ryse in the eest,
rising of the That' shall be kyng of man and best',
star in the
East.
Melchior
says that by
the star they
knew of the
child's birth.
Herod
laments &
desires his
learned men
to search
ffor thy, lord, we haue not cest,
Syn that we wyst',
with oure gyftys, riche and honest,
To bere that' blyst.
(65)
ijus rex. lor, when that starne rose vs beforne,
Ther by we knew that' chyld was borne.
herodes. Out, alas, I am forlorne
ffor euer mare!
I wold be rent and al to-torne
ffor doy and care!
Alas, alas, I am fuł wo!
(66)
Syr kyngys, syt downe, & rest you so.
By scrypture, syrs, what' say ye two?
withoutten lytt;
what ye can say ther to
let se now tytt.
(67)
These kyngys do me to vnderstand,
their books That' borne is newly, in this land,
382
384
388
390
[To the doctors.]
394
396
1
A kyng that shall weld se and sand;
Thay tell me so;
And therfor, syrs, I you commaunde
youre bookys go to,
(68)
And looke grathly, for any thyng,
If ye fynd oght of sich a kyng.
400
402
primus consultus & doctor. It shall be done at youre
bydyng,
By hym me boght',
And soyn we shall you tythyngys bryng
If we fynd oght.
(69)
for a pro-
phecy of any
such king.
406 They pro-
mise a
speedy
answer,
408
jjus consultus & doctor. Soyn shall we wyt, lord, if I may,
If oght be wretyn in oure lay.
herod. Now, masters, therof I you pray
On all manere.
primus consultus. Com furth, let vs assay
Oure bookys both in fere.
(70)
ijus consultus. Certys, sir, lo, here fynd I
well wretyn in a prophecy,
how that profett' Isay,
That neuer begyld,
Tellys that' a madyn of hir body
Shall bere a chyld.
(71)
primus consultus. And also, sir, to you I tell
The meruellest thyng that euer felt,
412
& consult
their books
414 together.
The 2nd
doctor finds
a prophecy
in Isaiah of
a virgin
bearing a
418 son.
420
The 1st
doctor says
He shall be
called
Eminanuel.
Hyr madynhede with hir shall dwell,
As dyd beforne;
That child shał hight 'emanuel'
when he is borne.
(72)
jus consultus. lord, this is sothe, securely,
(Fol. 51, a.
Sig. I. i.]
424
426
wytnes the profett Isay.¹
hero. Outt, alas! for doy I dy,
Herod
laments.
long or my day!
430
Shall he haue more pauste then I?
A, waloway!
432
¹ The expected ryme aaa is turnd into aba.
He bids
them look
where the
Alas, alas, I am forlorne !
(73)
I wold be rent and aH to torne;
Bot' looke yit, as ye dyd beforne,
ffor luf of me ;
boy shall be And tell me where that boy is borne;
born.
Onone lett se.
(74)
primus consultus. AH redy, lord, with mayn & mode.
The doctors herod. haue done belyf, or I go wode;
must be
quick or
Herod will
go mad.
They say
that accord-
ing to the
prophet
Micah a
duke shall
come forth
from Beth-
lehem.
And, certys, that' gadlyng wer' as good
haue greuyd me noght';
I shall se that' brode bloode,
By hym that' me has boght!
(75)
jus consultus. Micheas the prophett, withoutten nay,
how that he tellys I shat you say;
In bedlem, land of Iuda,
As I say you,
Out of it a duke shał spra;
Thus fynd we now.
(76)
Therefore in primus consultus. Syr, thus we tynd in prophecy:
Therfor we say you, securely,
Bethlehem
is the king
born.
In bedlem, we say you truly,
Borne is that' kyng.
Herod curses herod. The dewitt hang you high to dry,
them for
their news.
ffor this tythyng!
(77)
And certys ye ly! it may not be !
jjus consultus. lord, we wytnes it truly;
436
438
442
444
448
450
454
456
They bid him
here the sothe
self
youre may se,
read for him-
self.
If ye can rede.
460
herod. A, waloway! full wo is me !
It is so
written
down.
The dewill you spede!
primus consultus. lord, it is sothe, all that we say,
We fynde it wretyn in oure lay.
462
(78)
herod. Go hens, harlottys, in twenty dewi way,
ffast' and belyfe!
Mighty mahowne, as he well may,
Herod curses
all the more
466
468
lett you neuer thryfe!
(79)
Alas, wherto were I a crowne ?
Or is cald of greatt renowne?
I am the fowlest borne downo
That euer was man;
And namely with a fowl swalchon,
That no good can.
(80)
Alas, that euer I shuld be knyght,
Or holdyn man of mekyH myght,
472 He laments
his fate.
474
[Fol. 51, b.]
Alas that a
lad should
reive his
right from
If a lad shuld reyfe me my right
AH thus me fro;
Myn dede ere shuld I dyght,
Or it were so.
(81)
ye nobyH kyngys, harkyns as heynd!
ye
shał haue saue condyth to weynd;
Bot' com agane with me to leynd,
Syrs, I you pray;
ye shall me fynd a faytþful freynd,
If
ye
do swa.
(82)
If it be sothe; this new tythyng,
Som worship wold I do that' kyng,
Therfor I pray you that ye bryng
Me tythyngys soyn.
him.
478
480
[Turns to the kings.]
primus rex. AH redy, lord, at youre bydyng
He gives the
kings a safe-
conduct, but
bids them
come to him
484 again.
486
If this news
be true he
would fain
do that king
some wor-
ship.
490
Jaspar pro-
mises to do
[The kings mount their horses.] his bidding.
It shalbe doyn.
(83)
jus rex. Alas, in warld how haue we sped!
where is the lyght that vs has led ?
Som clowde, for sothe, that' starne has cled
ffrom vs away;
In strong stowre now ar we sted;
what' may we say
?
1 MS. XX.
Melchior
notes that
the star has
496 disappeared.
498
Melchior
curses
Herod,
through
whose guile
they have
lost sight of
the star.
gests that
the lord
whose birth
the star be-
tokens, that
he show it to
(84)
iijus rex. wo worth herode, that cursyd wyght!
wo worth that tyrant' day and nyght!
ffor thrugh hym haue we lost that' sight,
And for his gyle,
That' shoyn to vs with bemys bright
within a whyle.
here lyghtys the kyngys of thare horses.
(85)
primus rex. lordyngys, I ret we pray at thre
To that' lord, whose natyuyte
502
504
Jaspar sug-
they pray to
The starne betokyned that we can se,
AH with his wył;
508
wold show it vs vntyH
510
here knele a thre kyngys downe.¹
(86)
them again. pray we specyally that' he
Melchior's
prayer.
jus rex. Thou chyld, whose myght' no tong may tel,
As thou art lord of heuen and hell,
Thy nobyl starne, emanuel,
Thou send vs yare ;
That' we may wytt by fyrtli and fel
how we shall fare.
(87)
Balthasar's jus rex. A, to that chyld be euer honoure,
prayer.
That in this tyd has stynt oure stoure,
And lent vs lyght to oure socoure,
On this manere ;
we loue the, lord of towne and towre,
514
516
520
holly in fere.
522
here ryse thay all vp.
(88)
we owe to loue hym ouer aH thyng,
[Fol. 52, a.
Big. L. ij.)
The star re-
appears, &
he expresses
his love &
hope.
That thus has send vs oure askyng;
Behold, yond starne has made stynyng,
Syrs, securly;
Of this chyld shall we haue knowyng,·
I hope, in hy.
526
528
1 "the" has been inserted in the MS, after “all” by a later hand,
but seems unnecessary.
Towneley Pays. XIV. Offering of the Magi.
157
(89)
jus rex. lordyngys dere, drede thar vs noght,
Oure greatt traueł tyll end is broght;
yond is the place that we haue soght
ffrom far cuntre;
yond is the chyld that' all has wroght,
Behold and se!
(90)
iijus rex. I red we make offeryng, all thre,
vnto this chyld of greatt pauste,
And worship hym with gyftys fre
That we haue broght;
Oure boytt of bay ay wył he bc,
well haue we soght.
Melchior re-
cognizes
that their
travel is at
an end & the
532
child near at
hand.
534
Balthasar
proposes to
make their
offerings at
once.
538
540
(91) [They enter the house.]
primus rex. hay be thou, maker of al kyn thyng!
That' boytt of all oure bayH may bryng!
In tokyn that thou art oure kyng,
And shalbe ay,
Resayf this gold to myn offeryng,
prynce, I the pray.
(92)
Jaspar offers
the child
gold in token
of his king-
ship.
544
546
ijus rex. hayH, ouercomer of kyng and of knyght!
That' fourmed fysh, and fowy in flyght'!
Melchior
offers in-
cense in
ffor thou art godis son most of myght',
And at weldand,
I bryng the rekyls, as is right,
Το myn offerand.
(93)
token of his
godhead.
550
552
iijus rex. hay, kyng in kyth, cowrand on kne!
hayH, oone-fold god in persons thre!
Balthasar
offers myrrh
in token of
his death.
In tokyu that thou dede shalbe,
By kyndly skyH,
To thy grauyng this myr of me
Resaue the tyH.
(94)
Maria. Syr kyngys, make comforth you betweyn,
And meruet not' what it
may mene;
556
558
Mary tolla
them of h
child's
might. She This chyld, that on me borne has bene,
Is his mother
& yet a clean
maid.
AH bayH may blyn;
I am his moder, and madyn clene
withoutten syn.
(95)
Therfor, lordyngys, where so ye fare,
Boldly looke ye tell ay whare
how I this blyst' of bcsom bare,
That' best shalbe ;
Mary bids
them pro-
claim this
wherever
they go.
And madyn cleyn, as I was are,
Thruȝ his pauste.
(96)
[Fol. 52, b.] And truly, syrs, looke that'
ye
trow
She blesses
the kings.
That' othere lord is none at-lowe;
Both man and beest' to hym shałł bowe,
In towne and feyld;
My blyssyng, syrs, be now with you
where so ye beyld.
(97)
primus rex. A, lordyngys dere! the sothe to say,
562
564
568
570
574
576
Jaspar says
they have
made a good
we haue made a good Iornay;
journey.
we loue this lord, that' shall last ay
with outten ende;
580
he is oure beyld, both nyght and day,
where so we weynd.
582
(98)
Melchior
says they
ijus rex. lordyngys, we haue traueld lang,
have rested
And restyd haue we lytył emang,
little, let
them take
a sleep be-
fore they go.
ffor-thi I red now, or we gang,
with all oure mayn
et vs fownde a slepe to fang;
Then were I fayn ;
586
588
(99)
Here is a
ffor in great stowres we haue ben sted.
litter ready
for them.
lo, here a lytter redy cled.
iijus rex. I loue my lord! we haue weł sped,
Balthasar
bids the
To rest with wyn;
592
others get to lordyngys, syn we shał go to bed,
bed first.
ye shall begyn. [They sleep: an angel appears above.]
(100)
Angelus. Syr curtes kyngys, to me take tent,
And turne by tyme or ye be tenyd;
ffrom god his self thus am I sent
An angel
warns the
kings of
Herod's evil
designs.
To warne you, as youre faythful freynd,
598
how herode kyng has malyce ment,
And shapys with shame you for to sheynd;
And so that' ye no harmes hent,
By othere ways god wył ye weynd
602
Into youre awne cuntre;
He bids
And if ye ask hym boyn,
them return
home by
another way.
ffor this dede that ye haue done,
youre beyld ay wył he be.
[Exit.]
606
(101)
primus rex. wakyns, wakyns, lordyngys dere!
Oure dwellyng is no longer here;
An angel spake tyH vs in fere;
Bad vs, as heynd,
That we ne shuld, on no manere,
home by herode weynd.
(102)
ijus rex. AH myghty god in trynyte,
with hart enterely thank I the,
That thyn angel send tyH vs thre,
And kend vs so,
Oure fals fo man for to fle,
That wold vs slo.
(103)
iijus rex. We aght to loue hym more and myn,
That' comly kyng of ał man-kyn;
I rew full sore that we shall twyn
On this manere ;
ffor commen we haue, with mekył wyn,
By wayes sere.
(104)
primus rex. Twyn must vs nedys, syrs, permafay,
And ilk on weynd by dyuers way;
Jaspar
wakes the
others &
tells them
the angel's
message.
610
612
Melchior
thanks the
Trinity for
this warn-
ing.
[Fol. 53, a.
616 Sig. 1. iij.]
618
Balthasar
is sorry they
622 must part.
624
Jaspar says
they must
take their
1 3
N
divers ways,
& bids the
others fare-
well.
Melchior
finds his
This wyH me lede, the sothe to say,
To¹ my cuntre ;
God with you be !
(105)
ffor-thy, lordyngys, now haue good day!
ijus rex. Certys, I must pas by se and sand;
road & com- This is the gate, I vnderstand,
mends the
other kings
That wył me lede vnto my land
to heaven.
Balthasar
The right way;
To god of heuen I you commaunde,
And hauc good day!
(106)
iijus rex. This is the way that I must' weynd;
also departs, Now god tiH vs his socoure send,
praying
God's help
against the
fiend.
And he, that is withoutten end
And ay shalbe,
Saue vs from fowndyng of the feyud,
ffor his pauste.
Explicit oblacio trium Magorum.
628
630
634
636
640
642
XV.

XV. The Flight into Egypt

Fugacio Josep Et Marie In Egiptum

Incipit fugacio Iosep & Marie in egiptum.
[13 stanzas of 13 lines, abab aab aab, cbc; 1 of 12 lines abab aat
aa cbc.]
[Dramatis Personae:
Angelus.
Josephus.
Maria.
Jesus.]
Angelus.
(1)
bids Joseph
An angel
awake, &
warns him
to flee from
danger.
[Fol. 53, b.]
wake, Ioseph, and take intent!
Thou ryse, and slepe nomare!
If thou Wyй saue thy self vnshent
ffownde the fast' to fare;
I am an angel to the sent',
ffor thou shall no harmes hent',
To cach the outt' of care.
If thou here longer lent,
ffor rewth thou mon repent,
1 MS. ty.
4
7
And rew it wonder sare.
Ioseph. A myghtful god,
what' euer this ment',
so swete of toyn¹?
(2)
Angelus. lo, Ioseph, it is I,
An angel send to the.
Ioseph. we! leyf, I pray the why?
what is thy wył with me?
Angelus. hens behufys the hy,
And take with the mary,
Also hir chyld so fre;
ffor herode dos to dy
AH knaue chyldren, securly,
10 Joseph won-
ders at this
sound so
sweet of
tune,
13
17
& why an
angel is sent
to him.
The angel
bids him
flee, with
Mary and
20 her child,
for Herod
will kill all
knave-chil-
dren under
two years.
23
with in two yere that be
Of eld.
Ioseph. Alas, fut wo is me!
where may we beyld?
(3)
Angelus. TyH egypp shalt thou fare
with all the myght thou may;
And, Ioseph, hold the thare,
tył I wyll the at' say.
Ioseph. This is a febył fare,
A seke man and a sare
To here of sich a fray;
My bonys ar bursyd and bare
ffor to do; I wold it' ware
Comen my last day
TyH ende;
I ne wote which is the way;
how shall we weynde?
(4)
Angelus. Ther of haue thou no drede;
weynd furth, & leyf thi dyn ;
The
way
he shal
you lede,
the kyng of all man-kyn.
26
330
He is to go
to Egypt and
stay there
till warned
to return.
Joseph
grumbles, he
is old and
knows not
33 the way.
36
39
The angel
says the
king of all
mankind
shall lead
him, but
43 Joseph still
1 Note the absence of ryme.
thinks on his Ioseph. That heynd til vs take hede,
age and
feebleness.
ffor I had lytył nede
Sich bargans to begyn;
No wonder if I wede,
46
I that may do no dede;
how shuld I theder wyn
49
ffor eld?
Joseph is
grieved for
Mary. He
I am full bare and thyn,
And at vnweld;
(5)
52
My fors me falys to fare, [Mary with her Babe advances.]
and sight' that I shuld se.
tells her they Mary, my darlyng dere,
must filee.
I am full wo for the !
56
Maria. A, leyf Ioseph, what chere ?
59
youre sorow on this manere
It' meki meruels me.
Ioseph. Oure noyes ar neghand nere
If we dwett longer here;
ffor-thi behofes vs fle,
And flytt.
Maria. Alas! how may this be?
what' euer menys it'?
62
65
(6)
(Fol. 54, a
Sig. I. 4.)
Ioseph. It menys of sorow enoghe.
Maria. A, dere Ioseph, how so?
An angel has Ioseph. As I lay in a swogh,
warned him
that Herod
would slay
her son.
ffull sad slepand and thro,
69
An angel to me drogh,
As blossom bright' on bogh,
And told betwix vs two,
72
That' herode wroght greatt' wogh,
And all knaue children slogh
In land that he myght' to,
That' feynd!
75
And he thy son wold slo
And shamely sheynd.
78
1 The ryme needs 'fere.'
(7)
Maria. My son ? alas, for care!
who may my doyllys dyH?
wo worth fals herode are!
my son why shuld he spytt?
82
Alas! I lurk and dare!
To slo this barne I barc,
what wight in warld had wyH?
85
his hart' shuld be full sare
Sichon for to fare,
Mary is
aghast at
Herod's
wickedness,
That neuer yit dyd ył,
Ne thoght.
Ioseph. Now leyfe mary, be styH!
This helpys noght;
It is no boytt to grete,
88
Joseph says
this helps
91 nought.
(8)
truly withoutten trayn;
Oure bay it may not boytt 1
bot welt more make oure payn.
Maria. Alas! how shuld I lete?
My son that' is so swete
Is soght for to be slayn ;
fful gryle may I grete,
My fomen and I mete;
Tell me, Ioseph, with mayn,
youre red.
Ioseph. Shortly swedy vs this swayn,
And fle hy's dede.
(9)
Maria. his ded wold I not se,
95
Mary asks
his counsel.
98
101
Joseph bids
her swaddle
the child
104 and flee.
ffor all this warld to wyn ;
Alas! full wo were me,
In two if we shuld twyn ;
108
My chyld so bright of ble,
To slo hym were pyte,
And a full hedus syn.
Dere Ioseph, what' red ye?
Joseph. TyH egyp weynd shaft we;
, 3 ་
1 The ryme needs 'bete' or 'beytt,' remedy.
111
They are to
go to Egypt.
There is
nothing to
say, but pack
ffor-thi let be thi dyn
And cry.
Maria. how shał we theder wyu?
Ioseph. ffulle well wote I;
(10)
The best wyse that we may
114
117
hast vs outt' of this here.
up quickly.
Ther is noght els to say
bot' tytt' pak vp oure gere;
121
[Ful. 54, b.] ffor ferd of this affray,
lett vs weynd hens away,
Mary calls to Maria. Greatt god, as he wett
God to pro-
tect them.
Or any do vs dere.
That' shope both nyght and day,
124
may,
ffrom wandreth he vs were,
127
And shame;
My chyld how shuld I bere
So far from hame?
130
(11)
She is full of Alas! I am ful wo!
woe.
was neuer wyght' so wyH!
Joseph says Ioseph. God wote I may say so,
he may well
be also.
Why will not
death slay
him?
I haue mater ther tyH;
134
ffor I may vnyth go
To lede of land sich two;
No wonder if I bз wył,
137
And sythen has many a fo.
A, why wył no ded me slo?
My lyfe I lyke yH
140
And sare;
he that all doyls may dyll,
he keyH my care!
143
(12)
So wył a wyght as I,
Young men
should be-
ware, for
wedding is
making him
all wan.
In warld was neuer man;
howsehold and husbandry
fful sore I may it ban;
147
That' bargan dere I by.
yong men, bewar, red I:
wedyng makys me a wan.
150
Take me thi brydył, mary;
Tent thou to that page grathly
with all the craft' thou can;
And may
he that this warld began,1
wysh vs the way!
153
156
(13)
Maria. Alas, fuł wo is me!
Is none so wył as I!
My hart wold breke in thre,
My son to se hym dy.
Ioseph. wel leyf mary, lett be,
And nothyng drede thou the,
Bot' hard hens lett vs hy;
Mary's heart
would break
160 in three to
see her son
die.
Joseph com-
163
forts her, but
they must
flee quickly.
To saue thi foode so fre,
ffast' furth now lett vs fle,
Dere leyf;
166
To mete with his enmy,
It' were a greatt' myschefe,
168
(14)
And that' wold I not wore,2
Away if we myght wyn;
My hart wold be full sore,3
In two to se you twyn.
TyH egypp lett' vs fare;
This pak, tył I com thare,
To berc I shall not blyn :
ffor-thi haue thou no care;
If I may help the mare,
Thou fyndys no fawte me in,
172
175
178
He will bear
the pack and
help her all
he can.
I say.
God blys you more and myn,
And haue now a good day!
Explicit fugacio Iosep & marie in egiptum.
I MS. beban.
[² ? wold...ware,]
181
[Fol. 55, a.]
[swold...sare.]
Herod's mes-
senger
begins a
ranting
speech to
the people.
They must
attend to
him or they
will take
harm.

XVI. Herod the Great

Magnus Herodes

(XVI.)
Incipit magnus Herodes.
[57 nine-lined stanzas, aaaab cccb, (no. 6, has aaaaa ccca) with
central rymes markt by bars.]
Nuncius.
Herodes.
Primus Miles.
Secundus Miles.
Nuncius.
[Dramatis Personae.
Tercius Miles.
Primus Consultus.
Secundus Consultus.
Prima Mulicr.
Secunda Mulier.
Tercia Mulier.]
(1)
oste myghty mahowne / meng you with myrth!
Both of burgh and of towne / by fellys and by
fyrth,
M
Both kyng with crowne / and barons of britħ,
That' radly wył rowne / many greatt' grith
Shall be happ.
Take tenderly intent
what' sondys ar sent',
Els harmes shall ye hent',
And lothes you to lap.
(2)
Herod sends Herode, the heynd kyng / by grace of mahowne,
Of Iury, Iourmontyng / sternly with crowne,
them greet-
ing and com-
mands them
to be obedi-
ent to him.
On lyfe that' ar lyfyng / in towre and in towne,
Gracyus you gretyng / commaundys you be bownę
At his bydyng;
luf hym with lewte,
drede hym, that' doughty!
5
9
14
he chargys you be redy
lowly at his lykyng.
(3)
Any treason What' man apon mold / menys hym agane,
shall be paid Tytt teyn shał be told, knyght', sqwyere, or swayn ;
thousand
fold. He is Be he neuer so bold / byes he that bargan,
now abashed Twelf thowsand fold / more then I sayn
18
May ye trast;
he is worthy wonderly,
Selcouthly sory;
23 about a new
born boy,
ffor a boy that is borne her by
Standys he abast'.
(4)
A kyng thay hym call/ and that we deny;
how shuld it so fał / greatt' merue} haue I;
Therfor ouer al / ShaH I make a cry,
That' ye busk not to brałt / nor lyke not to ly
This tyde;
Carpys of no kyng
Bot herode, that lordyng,
27
32
who is called
a king.
No king
must be
spoken of
but Herod
Or busk to youre beyldyng,
youre heedys for to hyde.
(5)
He is Kyng of Kyngys / Kyndly I Knowe,
Chefe lord of lordyngys / chefe leder of law,
Ther watys on his wyngys / that bold bost wył blaw,
Greatt' dukys downe dyngys / ffor his greatt aw,
And hym lowtys.
Tuskane and turky,
36
[Fol. 55, b.]
He recites
Herod's
kingdoms.
41
All Inde and Italy,
CecyH and surry,
Drede hym and dowtys.
(6)
45
ffrom paradyse to padwa / to mownt flascon ;
ffrom egyp to mantua / vnto kemp towne ;
ffrom sarceny to susa / to grece it abowne;
Both normondy and norwa/lowtys to his crowne ;
his renowne
Can no tong teł,
ffrom heuen vnto heH;
Of hym can none speł
Bot' his cosyn mahowne.
*(7)
he is the worthyest' of aH / barnes that are borne ;
ffree men ar his thral / full teynfully torne;
Begyn he to brał / many men cach skorne;
Obey must we att/ or els be ye lorne
50
54
Only his
cousin
Mahound
can avail
against him.
All men
must obey
him or be
lost.
He is now
coming and
Att onys.
Downe dyng of youre knees,
AH that hym seys,
Dysplesyd he beys,
And byrkyn many bonys.
(8)
here he commys now, I cry / that lord I of spake;
must be wel- ffast' afore wył I hy/radly on a rake,
comed wor-
shipfully.
He greets
Herod, and
says he has
called for
silence for
him.
The people
talk of a
king and
won't cease
chattering.
Herod says
he will tame
their talking.
And welcom hym worshipfully / laghyng with lake,
As he is most worthy / and knele for his sake
So low;
Downe dernly to fall,
as renk most' ryał:
hay, the worthyest' of all!
to the must' I bow!
59
63
68
[Herod advances.]
72
(9)
hay, luf lord! lo / thi letters haue I layde;
I haue done I couth do / and peasse haue I prayd;
MekyH more therto /opynly dysplayd;
Bot' romoure is rasyd so / that' boldly thay brade
Emangis thame;
Thay carp of a kyng,
thay seasse not sich chateryng.
herodes. Bot' I shall tame thare talkyng,
And let' thame go hang thame:
(10)
Stynt', brodels, youre dyn / yei, euerychon!
I red that ye harkyn / to I be gone,
77
81
(Fol. 56, a.]
ffor if I begyn / I breke ilka bone,
And put fro the skyn / the carcas anone,
86
He begins to
rant, and
bids them
hearken on
pain of
broken
bones and
skinning.
yei, perde!
Sesse all this wonder,
and make vs no blonder,
ffor I ryfe you in sonder,
Be ye so hardy.
(11)
They are not Peasse both yong and old / at my bydyng, I red,
to speak or
stir, till he
has said his
say.
ffor I haue alt in wold / in me standys lyfe and dede;
who that' is so bold / I brane hym thruȝ the hede;
Speke not or I haue told / what I will in this stede;
90
ye wote nott
AH that' I wiH mefe;
Styr not bot' ye haue lefe,
ffer if ye do, I clefe
95
you small as flesh to pott.
(12)
My myrthes ar turned to teyn / my mekenes into Ire,
And att for oone I weyn / with-in I fare as fyre.
May I se hym with eyn / I shall gyf hym his hyre;
Bot' I do as I meyn / I were a full lewde syre
In wonys;
had I that' lad in hand,
As I am kyng in land,
I shuld with this stey brand
Byrkyn all his bonys.
(13)
99
His mirth is
turned to
grief because
of a boy
whose bones
he would
break if he
could catch
104 him.
108
My name spryngys far and nere / the doughtyest, men me
cał,
That' cuer ran with spere / A lord and kyng ryałł;
what ioy is me to here / A lad to sesse my stał!
If I this crowne may bere / that boy shał by for all.
I anger;
I wote not' what' dewit me alys,
He is so
teased with
tales that
113
"by God's
dear nails"
he will bold
peace no
longer.
Thay teyn me so with talys,
That' by gottys dere nalys,
I wył peasse no langer.
(14)
117
what' dewiH! me thynk I brast / ffor anger and for teyn;
I trow thyse kyngys be past' / that here with me has beyn;
Thay promysed me full fast / or now here to be seyn,
ffor els I shuld haue cast / an othere sleght, I
I tell you,
A boy thay sayd thay soght',
with offeryng that' thay broght';
weyn;
122
He fears
kings are
going to
break their
promise of
returning.
that the
It' mefys my hart' right noght'
To breke his nek in two.
(15)
Bot be thay past' me by / by mahowne in heuen,
I shal, and that' in hy / set all on sex and seuen ;
126
If they have
passed by
him, he will
set all things
at sixes and
sevens.
Trow ye a kyng as I / will suffre thaym to neuen
Any to haue mastry / bot' my self fuH euen?
Nay, leyfe!
(Fol. 56, b.] The dewiłł me hang and draw,
If any one
hears tell of
If I that loset knaw,
Bot' I gyf hym a blaw,
That lyfe I shał hym reyfe.
(16)
ffor parels yit I wold / wyst' if thay were gone;
them, Herod And ye therof her told / I pray you say anone,
prays him to
report to
him.
ffor and thay be so bold / by god that syttys in trone,
The payn can not be told / that thay shaH haue ilkon,
ffor Ire;
Sich panys hard neuer man teH,
ffor vgly and for fell,
That' lucyfere in helt
Thare bonys shał a to-tyre.
(17)
131
135
140
144
The first
knight tells
him that the
kings have
passed by
primus Miles. Lord, thynk not' iH if I tell you how
thay ar past';
I kepe not layn, truly / Syn thay cam by you last',
another way. An othere way in hy / thay soght, & that' full fast.
Herodes. why, and ar thay past' me by / we! outt! for
Herod
blames his
knights for
not having
teyn I brast'!
we! fy!
ffy on the dewit! where may I byde?
Bot' fyght for teyn and al to-chyde¹!
spied them. Thefys, I say ye shuld haue spyde
They
grumble at
his threats.
And told when thay went by ;
(18)
149
153
ye ar knyghtys to trast! / nay, losels ye ar, and thefys;
I wote I yelde my gast / so sore my hart' it' grefys.
Secundus Miles. what nede you be abast? / ther ar no
greatt' myschefys
ffor these maters to gnast. /
Tercius Miles.
why put ye sich reprefys
1 MS. alto chyde.
withoutt cause?
Thus shuld ye not' thrett vs,
vngaynly to bete vs,
ye shuld not rehett vs,
158
withoutt othere sawes.
(19)
herod. ffy, losels and lyars!/lurdans ilkon!
162
Tratoures and well wars! / knafys, bot' knyghtys none !
had ye bene woth youre eres / thus had thay not gone;
Gett' I those land lepars / I breke ilka bone;
ffyrst vengeance
Shall I se on thare bonys;
If ye byde in these wonys
I shall dyng you with stonys,
yei, ditizance doutance.
(20)
I wote not where I may sytt / for anger & for teyu;
we haue not done all yit/ if it be as I weyn;
ffy! dewiłł! now how is it? / as long as I haue
I think not' for to flytt / bot kyng I will be seyn
ffor euer.
Bot' stand I to quart,
I tell you my hart,
I shall gar thaym start,
Or els trust' me neuer.
(21)
eyn
167
Herod still
abuses them.
If they con-
tinne like
this he will
ding them
with stones,
"ditizance
171 doutance."
176 He does not
mean to flit
180
himself, but
will make
men see that
he is king.
primus Miles. Syr, thay went sodanly / or any man wyst, [Fol. 57, a.]
Els had mett' we, yei, perdy / and may ye tryst.
Secundus Miles. So bold nor so hardy/agans oure lyst,
was none of that company / durst' mete me with fyst
185
The knights
boast what
they would
have done
had they met
the kings.
ffor ferd.
Tercius Miles. IH durst' thay abyde,
Bot' ran thame to hyde;
Might I thaym haue spyde,
I had made thaym a herd.
(22)
189
what couth we more do / to saue youre honoure?
What could
they do more
primus Miles. we were redy therto / and shal be ilk howre, to save
herod. Now syn it is so / ye shall haue fauoure;
Go where ye wył, go / by towne and by towre,
Herod's
hononr?
He forgives
them;
Goys hens!
I haue maters to meH
and calls his with my preuey counsel ;
privy
council.
Clerkys, ye bere the bell,
ye must' me encense.
[The Soldiers retire.]
194
[The Council advance.]
198
(23)
Oone spake in myne eere / A wonderful talkyng,
And sayde a madyn shulk bere / anothere to be kyng;
He bids his Syrs, I pray you inquere / in all wrytyng,
clerks en-
quire in
Virgil, in
Homer, and
everywhere
but in legend
-in Boece
In vyrgyH, in homere / And all other thyng
Bot' legende ;
Sekys poece tayllys;
and tales but lefe pystyls and grales;
not in ser-
vice-books-
as to this
talk of a
maiden and
her child.
[They look at their books.]
203
Mes, matyns, noght' avalys,
AH these I defende;
207
(24)
I pray you tell heyndly / now what' ye fynde.
primus consultus. Truly, sir, prophecy / It is not blynd;
we rede thus by Isay / he shalbe so kynde,
The first
councillor
quotes the
prophecy of
Isaiah as to
the birth of
Emmanuel.
The second
quotes the
That' a madyn, sothely / which neuer synde,
Shałt hym bere:
"virgo concipiet,
Natumque pariet';"
"Emanuett" is hete,
his name for to lere,
(25)
"God is with vs," that is forto say.
212
216
prophecy of Secundus consultus. And othere says thus / tryst me ye
the birth of
a king at
Bethlehem.
may:
"Of bedlem a gracyus / lord shał spray,
That' of Iury myghtyus / kyug shalbe ay,
lord myghty;
221
And hym shall honoure
Herod
rages
at them, and
both kyng and emperoure."
herodes. why, and shuld I to hym cowre?
Nay, ther thou lyys lyghtly!
(26)
ffy! the dewill the spede / and me, bot' I drynk onys!
225
This has thou done in dede / to anger me for the nonys:
And thou, knafe, thou thy mede / shall haue, by cokys [Fol. 57, b.]
dere bonys!
Thou can not half thi crede! / outt, thefys, fro my wonys!
ffy, knafys!
bids the
fly and throw
"dotty pols"
their books
into the
230
water.
ffy, dotty-pols, with youre bookys!
Go kast thaym in the brookys!
with sich wylys and crokys
My wytt' away rafys!
234
(27)
hard I neuer sich a trant / that' a knafe so sleght
Unless he
have ven-
Shuld com lyke a sant / and refe me my right;
geance on
this lad he
Nay, he shalt on slant / I shal ky hym downe stryght; can live no
war! I say, lett' me pant / now thynk I to fyght
longer.
ffor anger;
239
My guttys will outt thryng
Bot I this lad hyng;
withoutt' I haue a vengyng,
I may lyf no langer.
(28)
Shuld a cart in a kafe / bot' of oone yere age,
Thus make me to rafe? /
primus consultus.
243
Syr, peasse this outrage!
The council-
lors bid him
A-way let ye wafe / alt sich langage,
ał
youre worship to safe / is he oght bot' a page
Of a yere ?
we two shall hym teyn
with oure wyttys betweyn,
That', if ye do as I meyn,
put away all
such lan-
guage, and
248 they shall
find him a
remedy.
he shall dy on a spere.
(29)
252
Secundus consultus. ffor drede that he reyn / do as we red; Let him bid
Thrug outt bedlem1/ and ilk othere stede,
Make knyghtys ordeyn / and put vnto dede
AH knaue chyldren / of two yerys brede,
And with-in;
This chyld may ye spyH
his knights
slay all chil-
dren at Beth-
lehem and
elsewhere
under two
257 years old and
this child
must dic.
Thus at youre awne wiłł.
Herodes. Now thou says here tył
A right noby gyn!
1 Assonant to 'reyne,' 'chyldren.'
261
Herod
thinks this a
right noble
gin; if he
(30)
If I lyf in land / good lyfe, as I hope,
This dar I the warand / to make the Pope.¹
lives he will O, my hart is rysand / now in a glope!
make the
Councillor
Pope; niean-
while he
shall have
ffor this nobył tythand / thou shall haue a drope
Castles and Markys, rentys, and powndys,
lands.
Of my good grace;
266
Greatt' castels & groundys;
Thruȝ al sees and sandys
[The Council retires.]
270
(31)
Herod bids
his inessen-
I gyf the the chace.
Now wyH I procode / and take veniance;
ger call the AH the flowre of knyȝthede / call to legeance;
flower of his
knights.
[Fol. 58, a.]
2
Bewshere, I the byd / it may the avance.
Nuncius. lord, I shał nic spede / and bryng, perchaunce,
To thy syght. [Herod retires. Knights advance.]
hark, knyghtys, I you bryng
here new tythyng;
The messen
vnto herode kyng
ger bids the
knights
hasten to
Herod,
hast with all youre myght!
(32)
armed and in In at the hast that' ye may / in armowre fuł bright,
their best
array.
In youre best aray / looke that ye be dight.
primus Miles. why shuld we fray?/
Secundus Miles.
279
this is not all right.
Tercius Miles. Syrs, withoutten delay I drede that we
fight.
Nuncius.
I pray you,
284
As fast as ye may,
com to hym this day.
primus Miles. what, in oure best' aray?
Nuncius.
yei, syrs, I say you.
(33)
288
ijus Miles. Somwhat is in hand / what euer it meyn.
iij Miles. Tarry not for to stand / ther or we haue beyn.
[Herod advances.]
Nuncius. kyng herode at weldand / well be ye seyn !
youre knyghtys ar comand / in armoure full sheyn,
1 This word is erased in the MS.
2 The ryme needs 'bede.'
At youre wyH.
primus Miles. hayH, dughtyest of alt!
293
ffor to do what we shał,
we are comen at youre cał
(34)
youre lust to fullfy.
297
herod. welcom, lordyngys, Iwys / both greatt and smał !
The cause now is this that I send for you att:
A lad, a knafe, borne is / that' shuld be kyng ryat ;
Bot I ky hym and his / I wote I brast my gal ;
Therfor, Syrs,
302
The first
knight hails
Herod.
Herod tells
them of the
buy who
must bo
killed.
Veniance shall ye take,
AH for that lad sake,
And men I shal you make
where ye com ay where, syrs.
306
(35)
To bedlem loke ye go / And all the coste abonte,
The knights
are to go to
AH knaue chyldren ye slo / and lordys, ye shalbe stoute; Bethlehem
Of yeres if they be two / and within, of aH that' rowte
On lyfe lyefe none of tho / that lygys in swedy clowte,
I red you;
Spare no kyns bloode,
and there-
abouts and
slay all
knave-chil-
dren under
two years of
311
age.
lett att ryn on floode,
If women wax woode;
I warn you, syrs, to spede you;
(36)
hens! now go youre way that ye were thore.
315
promise
ijus Miles. I wote we make a fray / bot I wył go before. The knights
iijus Miles. A, thynk, syrs, I say / I mon whett lyke a bore. obedience.
primus Miles. Sett' me before ay / good enogh for a skore;
hay heyndly!
we shall for youre sake
make a dulful lake.
herodes. Now if ye me well wrake
ye shall fynd me freyndly.
(37)
320
[Exit Herod.]
324
ijus Miles. Go ye now tył oure noytt / and handyH
thaym weyH.
iijus Miles. I shall pay thaym on the cote / begyn I to
reyH.
[First Woman and Child advance.]
[Fol. 58, b.] primus Miles. hark, felose, ye dote / yonder commys
They see a
woman
coming. The
first knight
tells her not
vnceyH;
I hold here a grote / she lykys me not weył
Be we parte;
[To the Woman.]
329
Dame, thynk it' not' yH,
to take it ill
if he kill her
thy knafe if I kyH.
child.
prima Mulier. what, thefe! agans my wył?
333
lord, kepe hym in qwarte!
(38)
primus Miles. Abyde now, abyde / no farther thou gose.
The woman prima Mulier. Peasse, thefe! shall I chyde / and make
remon-
strates.
She attacks
the knight,
but her boy
is slain.
here a nose?
primus Miles. I shall reyfe the thy pryde / kył we
these boyse!
prima Mulier. Tyd may betyde / kepe wet thy nose,
ffals thefe!
haue on loft' on thy hode.
primus Miles. what', hoore, art' thou woode?
338
[Kills the Child.]
342
prima Mulier. Outt, alas, my chyldys bloode!
Outt, for reprefe!
(39)
She laments Alas for shame and syn / alas that I was borne !
over him and
calls for
vengeance,
Of
wepyng who may blyn / to se hir chylde forlorne ?
My comforth and my kyn / my son thus alto torne !
veniance for this syn / I cry, both euyn and morne.
Secundus Miles. well done!
347
[Second Woman and Child advance.]
Com hedyr, thou old stry!
that lad of thyne shał dy.
Secunda Mulier. Mercy, lord, I cry!
The same
It is myn awne dere son.
(40)
351
ijus Miles. No mercy thou mefe / it' mendys the not, mawd!
scene is gone Secunda Mulier. Then thi skalp shall I clefe!/ lyst
through be-
tween a
second
woman and
the second
knight.
thou be clawd?
lefe, lefe, now by lefe! /
Secundus Miles.
peasse, byd I, bawd!
Secunda Mulier. ffy, fy, for reprefe! fy, full of frawde !
356
No man!
haue at thy tabard,
harlot' and holard!
Thou shall not be sparde!
I cry and I ban!
[He kills the boy.]
360
(41)
Outt! morder! man, I say / strang tratoure & thefe!
Out! alas! and waloway! / my child that was me lefo!
My luf, my blood, my play / that neuer dyd man grefe !
Alas, alas, this day! / I wold my hart shuld clefe
In sonder !
veniance I cry and całł,
on herode and his knyghtys al!
veniance, lord, apon thaym fal,
365
She, also,
cries for
vengeance
for her mur
dered son.
And meky warldys wonder !
(42)
369
Tercius Miles. This is well wroght' gere / that euer The third
may be ;
knight kills
[Third woman and child advance.] the child of
Comys hederward here! / ye nede not to fle!
Tercia Mulier. wył ye do any dere / to my chyld and nie?
iijus Miles. he shalł dy, I the swere/ his hart blood shałł
thou se.
iija mulier. God for-bede!
374
a third
inother.
Thefe! thou shedys my chyldys blood! [He kills the boy.] She laments
Out', I cry! I go near wood!
Alas! my hart is all on flood,
To se my chyld thus blede!
(43)
378
By god, thou shalt aby this dede that thou has done.
Tercius Miles. I red the not' stry / by son and by moyn.
iija Mulier. haue at the, say I! / take the ther a foyn!
Out on the I cry / haue at thi groyn
An othere!
This kepe I in store.
Tercius Miles. Peasse now, no more!
Tercia Mulier. I cry and I rore,
[Fol. 59, a.
Big. K. 1.]
and attacks
383 him till he
cries "Pesce
now, no
more."
Out' on the, mans mordere !
(44)
387
Alas! my bab, myn Innocent / my fleshly get! for sorow She cries for
That' god me derly sent / of bales who may me borow?
vengeance.
The first
knight bids
the woinen
go off.
They are
frightened
now, says
the second
knight.
The third
knight pro-
poses to tell
their ex-
ploits to
Herod.
Thy body is all to-rent / I cry both euen and morow,
veniance for thi blod thus spent / out! I cry, and horow !
primus Miles. Go lightly!
Gett' out of thise wonys!
ye trattys, all at' onys,―
Or by cokys dere bonys
I make you go wyghtly!
(45)
392
[The mothers retire.]
397
Thay ar flayd now, I wote, thay will not abyde.
Secundus Miles. lett vs ryn fote hote / now wold I we hyde,
And tell of this lott / how we haue betyde.
Tercius Miles. Thou can do thi note / that haue I aspyde;
401
Go furth now,
Tell thou herode oure tay!
ffor all oure avayй,
I tell you, saunce fay H,
he wy vs alow.
(16)
405
The first
claims to
have done
the best.
primus Miles. I am best of you aH / and euer has bene;
The deuyH haue my sauH / bot' I be fyrst sene;
It fyttys me to cał / my lord, as I wene.
ijus Miles. what' nedys the to brał? / be not so kene
In this anger;
I shall say thou dyd best',
saue myself, as I gest.
primus Miles. we! that is most honest.
Tercius Miles. go, tary no langer!
410
414
(47) [They approach Herod.]
They boast primus Miles. hay herode, oure kyng / full glad may ye be !
to Herod of
having mur-
dered many
thousands,
they are
worthy a
reward.
Good tythyng we bryng / harkyn now to me;
we haue mayde rydyng / thrugh outt Iure:
wełł wyt ye oone thyng / that morderd haue we
Many thowsandys.
ijus Miles. I held thaym full hote,
I payd them on the cote;
Thare dammys, I wote,
Neuer bynde them in bandys.
(48)
419
423
iijus Miles. had ye sene how I fard / when I cam emang them!
Ther was none that I spard / bot lade on and dang them.
1
I am worthy a rewarde/ where I was emangys them.
I stud and I stard / no pyte to hang them
had I.
herodes. Now, by myghty mahowne,
That is good of renowne!
If I bere this crowne
ye shall haue a lady
(49)
Ilkon to nym layd, and wed at his wyH.
(Fol. 59, b.]
428
432
Herod pro-
mises them
primus Miles. So haue ye lang sayde / do somwhat' thertyH! each a lady
ijus Miles. And I was neuer flayde / for good ne for ył.
iijus Miles. ye might hold you weй payde/oure lust' to
fulfyH,
Thus thynk me,
with tresure vntold,
437
to wed at his
will.
If it lyke that' ye wold,
Both syluer and gold,
To gyf vs greatt' plente.
(50)
The third
knight sug-
gests a gift
of gold and
441 silver.
herodes. As I am kyng crownde / I thynk it' good right! Horod says a
Ther goys none on grownde / that has sich a wyght';
A hundreth thowsand pownde / is good wage for a knyght, good wage
Of ponnys good and rownde / now may ye go light'
with store;
And ye knyghtys of oures
Shall haue castels and towres,
Both to you and to youres,
ffor now and euer more.
(51)
hundred
thousand
pounds is
for a knight,
and pro-
mises castles
446 and towers
450
as well as
inoney.
primus Miles. was neuer none borne by downes ne by The knights
dalys,
Nor yit vs beforne / that had sich avalys.
ijus Miles. we haue castels and corne/ mych gold in
oure malys.
iijus Miles. It wyH neuer be worne / withoutt' any talys;
rejoice at
their wealth
hayl heyndly!
hay lord! hayt kyng!
we ar furth foundyng!
herod. Now mahowne he you bryng
where he is lord freyndly;
455
459
14
Herod
thanks
Mahound
that honay
stand in
peace.
Each of the
knights shall
have a thou-
sand marks
(52)
Now in peasse may I stand / I thank the, mahowne!
And gyf of my lande / that longys to my crowne;
Draw therfor nerehande / both of burgh and of towne ;
Markys ilkon a thowsande / when I am bowne,
ShaH ye haue.
-next time I shalbe fuł fayn
be comes.
Ile is not
troubled by
To gyf that I sayn!
wate when I com agayn,
And then may ye craue.
(53)
I sett by no good / now my hart is at casse,
the blood he That I shed so mekyH blode / pes at my ryches!
ffor to se this flode / from the fote to the nese
has shed,
Mefys nothing my mode / I laȝ that I whese;
A, mahowne!
So light is my sauł,
His gall now that all of Sugar is my gaH;
is all of
sugar.
And bere vp my crowne.
464
468
473
[Ful. 60, a.
Big. K. 2.)
He need not
despair now,
for the boy
must be
killed.
I may do what I shal,
477
(54)
I was castyn in care / so frightly afrayd,
Bot I thar not dyspare / for low is he layd
That I most dred are/so haue I hym flayd;
And els wonder ware / and so many strayd
482
In the strete,
That oone shuld be harmeles,
and skape away hafles,
where so many chyldes
Thare balys can not bete.
(55)
144,000 have A hundreth thowsand, I watt/ and fourty ar slayn,
been slain :
never was
there such a
murder.
And four thowsand; ther-at / me aght to be fayn ;
Sich a morder on a flat / shał neuer be agayn.
had I had bot oone bat' / at' that lurdan
So yong,
It' shuld haue bene spokyn
how I had me wrokyn,
were I dede and rotyu,
with many a tong.
486
491
495
(56)
Thus shall I tech knauys / ensampy to take,
In thare wyttys that rauys / sich mastre to make;
AH wantones wafys / no langage ye crak!
No sufferan you sauys/youre nekkys shał I shak
In sonder ;
No kyng ye on cał
500
Let knaves
take ex-
ample by it,
and call no
man king
but Herod.
Bot on herode the ryał,
Or els many oone shał
Apon youre bodys wonder.
(57)
ffor if I here it' spokyn / when I com agayn,
youre branys bese brokyn / therfor be ye bayn;
Nothyng bese vnlokyn / it shalbe so playn ;
Begyn I to rekyn / I thynk af lysdayn
ffor daunche.
Syrs, this is my counseH-
504
If he hear
them speak
of any other
he will
knock their
brains out.
But now he
"can no
509 more
French."
Bese not to crue},
Bot adew-to the deuyH!
I can nomore fraunch!
Explicit Magnus Herodes.
513

XVII. The Purification of Mary

Purificacio Marie

(XVII.)
Incipit Purificacio marie.
[10 eight-line stanzas aaab cccb; 10 six-line aab ccb; and one
Symeon.
Primus Angelus.
Symeon.
line.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Secundus Angelus.
Josephus.
(1)
|
Maria.
Jesus.]
[Fol. 60, b.]
Ightful god, thou vs glad!
Μ 4
That' heuen and erthe and at has mayde;
Bryng vs to blys that neuer shall fade,
As thou well may;
And thynk on me that is vnweld—
lo! so I hobył aH on held,
That' vnethes may I walk for eld-
Now help, lord, adonay!
4
8
Simeon
prays to God
to remember
him in his
old age.
182 Towneley Plays. XVII. The Purification of Mary.
He wonders
whether the
good men of
old be safe or
lost.
He thanks
God for
giving him
so long a
life.
(2)
Bot yit I meruel, both euyn and
of old elders that were beforne,
wheder thay be safe or lorne,
where thay may be;
Abel, noye, and abraham,
Dauid, daniel, and balaam,
And all othere mo by name,
Of sere degre.
(3)
morne,.
I thank the, lord, with good intent,
Of all thy sond thou has me sent,
12
16
1
That' thus long tyme my lyfe has lent,
Now many a yere ;
20
ffor all ar past' now oonly bot' I;
I thank the, lord god almyghty!
ffor so old know I none, sothly,
Now lyfyng here.
He knows no ffor I am old symeon :
man so old
as himself:
no wonder if
So old on lyfe know I none,
24
(4)
he be feeble. That is mayde on flesh and bone,
His own
time to go
away will
soon come.
[Fol. 61, a.
Sig. K. 3.]
In all medyH-erct.
No wonder if I go on held :
The feuyrs, the flyx, make me vnweld;
Myn armes, my lymmes, ar stark for eld,
And all gray is my berck.
(5)
Myn ees are woren both marke and blynd;
Myn and is short, I want wynd;
Thus has age dystroed my kynd,
And reft myghtis all;
Bot shortly mon I weynd away;
what tyme ne when, I can not say,
ffor it is gone fuł many a day
Syn dede began to cat.
(6)
Ther is no warke that I may wyrk,
Bot oneths cral I to the kyrk;
Be I com home I am so irk
28
32
36
40
|
I
I
That farther may I noght;
Bot settys me downe, and grankys, and gronys,
And lygys and restys my wery bonys,
And all nyght after grankys and goonys,
On slepe tył I be broght.
(7)
Bot neuer the les, the sothe to say,
If I may nather, by nyght ne day,
ffor age nather styr ne play,
Nor make no chere,
yit if I be neuer so old,
I myn full well that prophetys told,
That now ar dede and layde fut cold,
Sythen gone many a yere.
(8)
Thay sayde that god, full of myght,
Shuld send his son from heuen bright,
In a madyn for to light,
Commen of dauid kyn;
fflesh and bloode on hyr to take,
44 He can do
48
no work save
church-
going, and
when he
comes back
from that all
his bones
ache.
Yet feeble as
age has made
hiin, he re-
members the
words of the
dead pro-
52 phets,
56
who foretold
the birth of
God's Son for
man's re-
demption.
60
And becom man for oure sake,
Our redempcyon for to make,
That slayn were thrugh syn.
(9)
Bot, lord, that vs thy grace has hight,
Send me thy sond, both day and nyght,
And graunt me grace of lyfys light,
And let me neuer de,
To thou sich grace to me send,
That I may handyH hym in my hend,
That' shał cum oure mys to amend,
And se hym with myn ec.
(10)
primus angelus. Thou, symeon, drede the noght!
My lord, that thou has long besoght,
ffor thou has rightwys beyn,
Thyn askyng has he grauntyd the,
with outen dede on lyfe to be
To thou thy cryst' haue seyn.
64
He prays
God that he
may not die
till he has
held this
Child in his
68 hand.
72
An angel
announces
the granting
of his
75 prayer.
78
184 Towneley Plays. XVII. The Purification of Mary.
A second
angel tells
(11)
Secundus angelus. Than symeon, harkyn a space!
him he shall I bryng the tythyngys of solace;
find God's
Son in the
Temple.
ffor-thy, ryse vp and gang
To the temple; thou shall fynd thore
Godys son the before,
That thou has yernyd lang.
(12)
Symeon. Louyd bo my lord in wy and thoght,
81
84
Symeon
praises God
for His
That his seruant forgettys noght,
goodness
when that he seys tyme!
87
well is me that I shall dre
TyH I haue sene hym with myn ee,
And no longer hyne.
90
(13)
[Fol. 61, b.] Louyd be my lord in heuen,
That' thus has by his angel steuen
warnyd me of his commyng!
93
96
(14)
He will put Therfor wiH I with intent
on his vest-
ment in
honour of
that king,
putt' on me my vestment,
In worship of that kyng.
for welcome he shalbe welcom vnto me:
shall that
Lord be to
him, who
That lord shall make vs alle fre,
kyng of a man-kyn;
shall make
99
men free.
ffor with his blood he shall vs boroo
Both fro catyfdam & from soroo,
That was slayn thrugh syn.
102
Tunc pulsabunt.
(15)
The bells
ring so
A, dere god! what' may this be?
solemnly he Oure bellys ryng so solemply,
thinks it
must be for
the coming
ffor whom soeuer it is;
of the Lord. Now certys, I can not vnderstand,
105
Bot if my lord god at weldand
Be commen, that all shał wyse.
108
(16)
This noyse lyghtyns full well myn hart'!
Shatt I neuer rest, and I haue quart,
Or I com ther onone;
111
Now we were I and it so were,
ffor sich noyse hard I neuer ere;
Oure bellys ryng by thare oone!
114
The bells are
ringing of
themselves.
[Joseph, with two doves, and Mary, with her baby, advance.]
(17)
Ioseph. Mary, it begynnys to pas,
ffourty dayes syn that thou was
Delyuer of thy son;
Joseph bids
Mary draw
near the
Temple,
117
To the temple I red we draw,
To clens the, and fulfy the law,
As oure elders were won.
(18)
120
Therfor, mary, madyn heynd,
Take thi chyld and let vs weynd
The tempyH vnty} ;
And we shall with vs bryng
taking her
Child with
her, and they
will bring
123 two doves for
an offering.
The law we wiH fulfyH.
Thise turtyls two to oure offryng,
(19)
Maria. Ioseph, that wył I full well,
That' the law euery deył
Be fulfyllyd in me.
Lord, that' aй myghtys may,
Gyf vs grace to do this day
That' it be pleassyng to the!
126
Mary is well
pleased to
fulfil all the
Law.
129
132
Angeli cantant; simeon. [the rest is illegible].
....
(20)
primus angelus. Thou, symeon, rightwys and trew,
Thou has desyred both old and new,
To haue a sight of cryst ihesu
As prophecy has told!
Oft has thou prayd to haue a sight
Of hym that in a madyn light;
here is that chyld of mekył myght,
Now has thou that thou wold.
(21)
Secundus angelus. Thou has desyryd it most of aH.¹
136
140
The end of this Play, and the beginning of the next, are
The first
Angel an-
nounces to
Simeon that
this is the
Child whom
he longed to
see.
wanting, two leaves of the manuscript being lost.
186 Towneley Plays. XVIII. The Play of the Doctors.

XVIII. The Play of the Doctors

Pagina Doctorum

(XVIII.)
[17 eight-line stanzas ab ab ab ab; 33 four-line ab ab; 2 couplets;
and one line of Latin.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus Magister.
Secundus Magister.
Tercius Magister.
Jesus.
Maria.
Josephus.]
[Fol. 62, a.]
(1)
The Doctors [Secundus Magister.] That a madyn a barn shul bere;
talk of the
prophecy of
Emmanuel.
Habakkuk
had foretold
the rod that
should
spring from
the root of
Jesso.
And his name thus can thay teH,
ffro the tyme that he born were,
he shalbe callyd emanuel;
(2)
Counselloure, and god of strengthe,
And wonderful also
Shall he be callyd, of brede and lenghthe
As far as any man may go.
(3)
iijus magister. Masters, youre resons ar right good,
And wonderful to neuen,
yit fynde I more by abacuk;
Syrs, lysten a whyle vnto my steuen.
(4)
Oure bayH, he says, shaH turn to boytt,
her-afterward som day;
A wande shall spryng fro lesse roytt,—
The certan sothe thus can he say,-
(5)
And of that wande shall spryng a floure,
that' shall spryng vp fuł hight :
4
8
1
12
16
Ther of shall com ful swete odowre,
And therapon shall rest' and lyght
(6)
20
The holy gost, fuł mych of myght';
The goost' of wysdom and of wyt,
Shal beyld his nest, with mekył right,
And in it brede and sytt.
24
(7)
primus magister. Bot when trow ye this prophecy
Shalbe fulfyllyd in dede,
That here is told so openly,
As we in scrypture rede?
(8)
ijus magister. A greatt meruel for sothe it is,
To vs to here of sich mastry;
A madyn to bere a chyl, Iwys,
without mans seyde, that' were ferly.
(9)
iijus magister. The holy gost shall in hyr lyght,
And kepe hir madynhede fut clene;
whoso may byde to se that sight
Thay ther not drede, I wenc.
(10)
primus magister. Of all thise prophetys wyse of lore
That knew the prophecy, more and les,
was none that told the tyme before,
when he shuld com to by vs peasse.
(11)
Secundus magister. wheder he be commen or not
No knowlege haue we in certayn;
Bot he shall com, that dowt we not';
fful prophetys haue prechyd it ful playn.
(12)
iijus magister. Meky I thynk that thise prophetys
28
323
336
40
44
The first
Doctor won-
ders when
this shall be
fulfilled.
They discuss
the con-
ception by
the Holy
Ghost,
None of the
proplicts
were told
the time of
these things.
He may be
come or not,
but of His
coming they
have no
doubt.
Ar holden to god, that' is on hight,
That haue knowyng of his behetys,
And for to tell of his mekyH myght.
Tunc venit ihesus.1
(13)
Ihesus. Masters, luf be with you lent,
And mensk be vnto this meneze !
primus magister. Son, hens away I wold thou went,
ffor othere haft in hand haue we.
48
Jesus greets
them.
The first
doctor says
52 they are
busy.
MS. ihc: as it rymes with 'thus,' 'vs,' it is always expanded
as ihesus.
188 Towneley Plays. XVIII. The Play of the Doctors.
(14)
The second ijus magister. Son, whosoeuer the hyder sent,
Doctor say's
they have
other things
to do than
to play with
children.
Thay were not wyse, thus teH I the;
ffor we haue otherc tayllys to tent
Then now with barnes bowrdand to be.
(15)
56
[Fol. 62, b.] Tercius magister. Son, thou lyst oght lere / To lyf by
But the third
bids Jesus
listen to
their speech,
that He may
learn by it.
Jesus says
He has no
need to learn
of them.
The first
Doctor
thinks He is
moyses lay;
Com heder, and thou shall here / The sawes that we wył
say;
(16)
ffor in som mynde it' may the bryng
To here oure sawes red by rawes.
Ihesus. To lere of you nedys me no thyng,
58
ffor I knaw both youre dedys & sawes.
62
primus magister. hark, yonder barn with his bowrdyng!
he wenys he kens more then he knawys;
too young to Nay, certys, son, thou art' ouer ying
know their
laws "by
clergy."
They bid
Him sit to be
examined.
By clergy yit to know oure lawes.
(17)
66
Ihesus. I wote as well as ye / how that youre lawes was
wroght.
Secundus magister. Com sytt! soyn shat we se, / ffor
certys so semys it noght.
(18)
Tercius magister. It' were wonder if any wyght
68
Jesus says
the Holy
Ghost has
given Him
power to
teach.
vntil oure resons right shuld reche;
And thou says thou has in sight
Oure lawes truly to teH and teche.
72
Ihesus. The holy gost has on me lyght,
And anoynt' me lyke a leche,
And gyffen to me powere and myght
The kyngdom of heuen to preche.
(19)
Secundus magister. whens euer this barne may be
That shewys thise novels new?
Ihesus. Certan, syrs, I was or ye,
And shall be after you.
76
80
(20)
primus magister. Son, of thi sawes, as we haue ceyH,
And of thi wytt is wonder thyng;
Bot neuer the les fully I feyH
That it may fay in wyrkyng;
ffor dauid demys euer ilk dey,
And thus he says of chylder ying,
"Ex ore infancium & lactencium, perfecisti laudem."
Of thare mowthes, sayth dauid, wele,
Oure lord he has perfourmed louyng.
(21)
Neuer the les, son, yit shuld thou lett
her for to speke in large;
ffor where masters ar mett,
Chylder wordys ar not to charge.
(22)
ffor, certys, if thou wold neuer so fayn
Gyf all thi lyst to lere the law,
Thou art nawther of myght ne mayn
To know it, as a clerk may knaw.
Ihesus. Syrs, I say you in certan,
my saw;
That sothfast shall be al
And powere haue I plene and playu,
Το say and answere as me aw.
(23)
primus magister. Masters, what may this mene?
Meruel, methynk, haue I
where euer this barne has bene
The first
Doctor re-
members the
text, "Out of
the mouths
of babes and
84 sucklings
888
92
96
100
hast thou
perfected
praise,"
yet thinks
Jesus should
not speak
so boldly
before
masters,
for it is im-
possible for
Him to know
the Law like
a clerk.
Jesus says
He has
power to
answer as
He ought.
[Fol. 63, a.]
The Doctors
are astonish-
ed at His
words.
That carpys thus conandly.
(24)
Secundus magister. In warld as wyde as we haue went
104
ffand we neuer sich ferly farc;
Certys, I trow the barn be sent
Sufferanly to salfe our sare.
108
Thesus. Syrs, I shal! preue in youre present
The third
Doctor ask
AH the sawes that I sayde are.
Him which
is the first
Tercius magister. which callys thou the fyrst commaunde- command-
ment'
And the most, in moyses lare?
ment, and
the chief, in
Moses' Law.
112
190 Towneley Plays. XVIII. The Play of the Doctors.
(25)
Jesus bids Ihesus. Syrs, synthen ye syt on raw,
them read
from their
books.
The first
Doctor says
that the first
command-
ment is to
honour God.
And hafe youre bookys on brede,
let se, syrs, in youre saw
how right that ye can rede.
(26)
primus magister. I rede that this is the fyrst bydyng
That moyses tolk vs here vntyH;
honoure thi god ouer ilka thyng,
with a thi wyt and all thi wył;
And at thi hart in hym shaft hyng,
116
120
Erly and late, both lowde and styH.
Ihesus. ye nede none othere bookys to bryng,
Bot fownd this to fulfyH;
124
(27)
The seconde may men profe
Jesus says
that the
second is to
love your
neighbour.
And clergy knaw therby ;
youre neyghiburs shall ye lofe
Right as youre self truly.
128
(28)
1 Illegible.
[Thise]¹ commaunded moyses tył al men
In his commaundes clere ;
On these two
biddings
hang all the
law.
In thise two bydyngys, shaH ye ken,
hyngys all the law we aght to lere.
132
who so fulfylles thise two then
with mayn and mode and good manere,
he fulfyllys truly al ten
That' after thaym folows in fere.
136
(29)
Then shuld we god honowre
with all oure myght and mayn,
And luf wet ilk neghboure
Right as oure self ccrtayn.
(30)
140
The Doctor primus magister. Now, son, synthen thou has told vs two,
asks, What
are the other
eight?
2 MS. viii.
which ar the aght,² can thou oght say?
Ihesus. The thyrd bydys, "where so ye go,
That ye shall halow the holy day;
144
(31)
ffrom bodely wark ye take youre rest ;
youre household, looke the same thay do,
Both wyfe, chyld, seruande, and beest."
The fourt is then in weyt and wo
(32)
"Thi fader, thi moder, thou shał honowre,
Not only with thi reuerence,
Bot' in thare nede thou thaym socoure,
And kepe ay good obedyence."
(33)
The fyft bydys the "no man slo,
Ne harme hym neuer in word ne dede,
Ne suffre hym not' to be in wo
If thou may help hym in his nede."
(34)
The sext bydys the "thi wyfe to take,
Bot' none othere lawfully;
lust' of lechery thou fle and fast forsake,
And drede ay god where so thou be."
(35)
The seuen¹ bydys the "be no thefe feyr,
Ne nothyng wyn with trechery;
Oker, ne symony, thou com not nere,
Bot' conscyence clere ay kepe truly."
(36)
The aght2 byddys the "be true in dede,
And fals wytnes looke thou none bere ;
looke thou not ly for freynd ne syb,
lest to thi sau that it do dere."
3
(37)
The neyn byddys the "not' desyre
Thi neghburs wyfe ne his women,
Bot' as holy kyrk wold it were,
Right so thi purpose sett it' in.”
(38)
4
The ten byddys the "for nothyng
Thi neghburs goodys yerne wrongwysly;
his house, his rent, ne his hafyng',
And crysten fayth trow stedfastly."
[Fol. 63, b.]
Jesus an-
swers (3) to
keep the
holy day
148 hallowed,
152
156
160
164
168
172
(4) honour
and succour
father and
mother,
(5) kill nor
harm no
man,
(6) take thy
own wife,
but none
other,
1 MS. vii.
(7) to win
nothing by
theft, treach
ery, usury
or simony,
2 MS. viij.
(8) bear no
false wit-
ness,
3 MS. ix.
(9) desire no
inau's wife,
4 MS. X.
(10) covet no
man's goods.
176
: 5
P
192 Towneley Plays. XVIII. The Play of the Doctors.
These are
the ten
command-
ments.
1 overlined
later.
The second
Doctor won-
ders at the
knowledge
of Jesus.
(39)
Thus in tabyls, shall ye ken,
Oure lord to moyses wrate;
Thise ar the commaundmentys ten,
who so will lely layt.
(40)
Secundus magister. Behald how he lege oure lawes,
And leryd neuer on booke to rede!
The third
fears the
people will
praise Him
more than
themselves;
180
fful soteH sawes, me thynk, he says,
And also true, if we take hede.
ffor if he dwel, withoutten drede
184
Tercius magister. yei, lett hym furth on his wayes,
The pepyH will ful soyn hym prayse
wełł more then vs, for all oure dede.
188
(41)
sich spekyng wiłł we spare;
but is re-
buked by
the first.
primus magister. Nay, nay, then wyrk we wrang!
As he cam let hym gang,
And mefe vs, not no mare.
192
Tunc venient Ioseph et maria, & dicet Maria;
(42)
Mary is in
great
trouble:
they have
Maria. A, dere Ioseph! what is youre red?
sought Jesus My hart is heuy as any lede,
everywhere,
but cannot
find Him.
My semely son to I hym se.
Now haue we soght' in euery sted,
Of oure greatt bay no boytt may be ;
196
Both vp and downe, thise dayes thre;
And wheder he be whik or dede
yit' wote we not'; so wo is me!
200
(43)
Ioseph. Sorow had neuer man mare!
Bot mowr[n]yng, mary, may not amend ;
ffarther do I red we fare,
To god som socoure send.
204
(44)
[Fol. 64, a.] Abowtt the tempyH if he be oght',
Joseph
would fain
know if He
is about the
Temple.
That wold I that we wyst this nyght.
Maria. A, certys, I se that we have soght!
In warld was neuer so semely a sight;
208
lo, where he syttys! se ye hym noght
Amangys yond masters mekyH of myght?
Ioseph. Blyssyd be he vs heder broght!
In land now lyfys there none so light.
(45)
Maria. Now dero Ioseph, as haue ye seył,
Go furth and fetche youre son and myne ;
This day is goyn nere ilka deyн,
And we haue nede for to go hien.
Ioseph. with men of myght can I not met,
Then at my traueł mon I tyne ;
I can not with thaym, that wote ye well,
Thay are so gay in furrys fyne.
(46)
Maria. To thaym youre erand forto say,
Surely that thar ye drede no deyH!
Thay will take hede to you alway
Be cause of eld, this wote I weyH.
Ioseph. when I com ther what' shał I say?
ffor I wote not', as haue I ceyH;
Bot thou will haue me shamyd for ay,
ffor I can nawthere crowke ne knele.
(47)
Maria. Go we togeder, I hold it' best,
Vnto yond worthy wyghtys in wede;
And if I se, as haue I rest,
That' ye will not, then must' I nede.
Ioseph. Go thou and tell thi tayH fyrst,
Thi son to se wil take good hede;
weynd furth, mary, and do thi best',
I com behynd, as god me spede.
(48)
Maria. A, dere son, Ihesus! ¹
sythen we luf the alone,¹
whi dos thou ty vs thus,
And gars vs make this mone?
(49)
212
Joseph
blesses God
for enabling
them to find
Jesus.
Mary bids
Joseph fetch
Jesus, but
he is afraid
of meddling
with men of
216 might, gay
in fine furs.
220
224
228
232
236
240
Mary says
they will
respect his
age.
Joseph asks
what he is to
say.
Mary will go
with him
and speak,
if he won't.
Joseph
inakes her
go first.
Mary asks
Jesus why
He has done
thus to
them?
Thi fader and I betwix vs two,
Son, for thi luf has lykyd yH,
Written as one line with central ryme in MS., and so to end
of Play.
[Fol. 64, b.] we haue the soght both to and fro
His father
and she
wepeand sore, as wyghtis wyH.
have sought Thesus. wherto shuld ye, moder, seke me so?
Him weep-
ing.
Jesus says
He must,
fulfil His
Father's
works.
Oft tymes it has bene told ye tył
My fader warkys, for wele or wo,
Thus am I sent for to fulfyH.
(50)
[Mary will 1 Thise sawes, as haue I ceyH,
think well
on all these
S&WS.
I can wel vnderstonde,
I shall thynk on them weyH
To fownd what' is folowand.
(51)
Joseph bids Ioseph. Now sothly, son, the sight of the
has comforthed vs of all oure care;
Com furth, now, with thi moder and me!
Jesus come
home with
them,
He bids
farewell to
the Doctors,
who bless
Him,
At nazareth I wold we ware.
Ihesus. Be leyf then, ye lordyngys fre!
ffor with my freyndys now wył I fare.
primus magister. Son, where so thou shall abyde or be
God make the good man euer mare.
(52)
Secundus magister. No wonder if thou, wife,
predict
that He
shall
a good
swain,
prove
Of his fyndyng be fayn;
he shall, if he haue lyfe,
244
248
252
256
260
prefe to a full good swayn.
(53)
264
and welcome Tercius magister. Son, looke thou layn, for good or ył,
Him to live
with them.
Jesus says
He must
obey His
friends.
The noyttys that we haue nevened now;
And if thou lyke to abyde here styH,
And with vs won, welcom art' thou.
Thesus. Gramercy, syrs, of youre good wył!
268
No longer lyst I byde with you,
My freyndys thoght I shaH fulfyH,
And to thare bydyng baynly bow.
(54)
Maria. fful well is me this tyde,
Now may we make good chere.
Ioseph. No longer wył we byde;
ffar wel all folk in fere.
272
276
Explicit Pagina Doctorum.
¹ This stanza must be assigned to Mary, see Luke iii. 51.
Johannes.

XIX. John the Baptist

Iohannes Baptista

(XIX.)
Incipit Iohannes baptista.
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus Angelus. Secundus Angelus.
Jesus.]
[35 eight-line stanzas ab ab ab ab, and 1 four-line ab ab.]
Johannes.
G
(1)
od, that mayde both more and les,
Heuen and erth, at his awne wyH,
And merkyd man to his lyknes,
As thyng that wold his lyst ffulfyH,
Apon the erth he send lightnes,
Both son and moyne lymett thertyH,
He saue you all from synfulnes,
And kepe you clene, both lowd and styH.
(2)
Emang prophetys then am I oone
That' god has send to teche his law,
4
John prays
God to save
the specta-
tors from
sin.
(Fol. 65, a
Big. 1. 1.]
8
He is a pro-
phet, Bap-
tist John,
son of
And man to amend, that' wrang has gone,
Both with exampyH and with saw.
My name, for sothe, is baptyst Iohň,
My fader zacary ye knaw,
That was dombe and mayde great mone,
Before my byrth, and stode in awe.
Elezabeth my moder was,
(3)
Awntt vuto mary, madyn mylde;
And as the son shynys thorow the glas,
Certys, in hir wombe so dyd hir chyld.
Yit the Iues inqueryd me has
If I be cryst; thay ar begyld,
For ihesus shal amend mans trespas,
That' with freylte of fylthe is fylyd.
I am send bot messyngere
(4)
ffrom hym that alkyn mys may mend;
I go before, bodword to bere,
And as forgangere am I send,
1 MS. As.
Zachary and
Elizabeth.
12
16
20 The Jews
have asked
if he be
Christ.
24
28
888
He is only
the messen-
ger and fore-
ganger
5
to prepare
His ways.
his
These Jews
shall crucify
Christ as a
traitor or
thief, not
for His guilt
Lut our
good.
to wyse,
his lawes to lerc,
wayes
Both man and wyfe that has offende.
ffuH mekyH barett mon he berc,
Or tyme he haue broght aH tyH ende,
(5)
Thise Iues shall hyng hym on a roode,
Man's sauH to hym it is so leyfe,
And therapon shat shede his bloode,
As he were tratoure or a thefe,
Not' for his gylt bot for oure goode,
Because that we ar in myschefe;
Thus shat he dy, that frely foode,
And ryse agane tył oure relefe.
(6)
He baptises In water clere then baptyse I
with water,
but Christ
with the
The pepyH that' ar in this coste;
Holy Ghost. Bot he shall do more myghtely,
And baptyse in the holy goost;
22
32
36
40
44
And with the bloode of his body
wesh oure synnes both leste and moost,
Therfor, me thynk, both ye and I
48
He is un-
worthy to
loose
Christ's
shoestring.
He praises
God for His
bounty,
Agans the feynde ar well endoost.
(7)
I am not worthy for to lawse
The leste thwong that longys to his shoyne;
Bot god almyghty, that all knawes,
In erth thi will it must be done.
I thank the, lord, that' thi sede sawes
Emong mankynde to groyf so sone,
And euery day that on erth dawes
ffeydys vs with foode both euen and none.
(8)
and for send- we ar, lord, bondon vnto the,
ing His Son
to save
man's soul.
To luf the here both day and nyght,
ffor thou has send thi son so fre
To saue mans sauH that' dede was dight
Thrugh adam syn and eue foly,
That' synnyd thrugh the feyndis myght;
52
56
60
60
Bot', lord, on man thou has pyte,
And beyld thi barnes in heuen so bright.
64
(9)
primus angelus. harkyn to me, thou Iohn baptyst!
The ffader of heuen he grotys the weyH,
ffor he has fon the true and tryst,
And dos thi dever euery deyH;
wyt thou well his wiH thus ist,
Syn thou art stabyH as any steyH,
That thou shalt baptyse ihesu cryst
An angel
announces
to him that
he shall bap-
tise Christ
68
in Jordan.
In flume Iordan, mans care to bey H
72
(10)
Iohannes. A, dere god! what may this be?
I hard a steuen, bot' noȝt I saw.
To do this dede haue thou none aw.
primus angelus. Iohn, it' is I that' spake to the;
76
Iohannes. Shuld I abyde to he com to me?
That' that' shall neuer be, I traw;
I shall go meyt that lord so fre,
As far as I may se or knaw.
(11)
80
(Fol. 65, b.]
John says he
will go meet
Christ.
Secundus angelus. Nay, Iohn, that' is not well syttand;
his fader will thou must' nedys wyrk.
primus angelus. Iohn, be thou here abydand,
Bot' when he commys be then not' yrk.
Iohannes. By this I may weł vnderstand
That childer shuld be broght to kyrk,
ffor to be baptysyd in euery land;
To me this law yit is it' myrk.
(12)
Secundus angelus. Iohn, this place it is pleassyng,
And it is callyd flume Iordan;
here is no kyrk, ne no bygyng,
Bot' where the fader wyH ordan,
It is godys wył and his bydyng.
Iohannes. By this, for sothe, wel thynk me than
his warke to be at his lykyng,
And ilk folk pleasse hym that' thay can.
But he is
bidden to
await His
coming.
84
Hence he
understands
that children
should be
88
brought to
church to be
baptised.
The second
angel shows
him that
Jordan is to
be the place,
92 though there
96
is neither
church nor
building
there.
(13)
John yields Sen I must' nedys his lyst' fulfyH
himself to
Christ's will
wherever he
be.
he shall be welcom vnto me;
I yeld me holy to his will,
where so euer I abyde or be.
I am his seruande, lowd and styH,
And messyngere vnto that fre;
whethere that he wiH saue or spył
I shall not gruch in no degre.
(14)
100
104
Jesus comes Thesus. Iohñ, godys seruand and prophete,
to be bap-
tised in clear
water,
My fader, that is vnto the dere,
has send me to the, well thou wytt,
To be baptysyd in water clere;
ffor reprefe vnto mans rytt
108
The law I will fulfyH right here;
My fader ordynance thus is it,
And thus my wył is that it were.
112
(15)
I com to the, baptym to take,
To whome my fader has me sent,
with oil and with oyle and creme that thou shal make
cream there-
to.
vnto that worthi sacrament'.
And therfor, Iohñ, it not forsake,
Bot' com to me in this present,
ffor now will I no farther rake
Or I haue done his commaundement.
(16)
John is
ready to do
Christ's will,
Iohannes. A, lord! I loue the for thi commyng!
I am redy to do his wit,
but how may In word, in wark, in all kyn thyng,
a knight
baptise his
Lord King?
what' soeuer he sendys me ty¤;
This bewteose lord to bryng to me,
his awne seruaude, this is no sky,
A knyght to baptyse his lord kyng,
My pauste may it not fulfy.
116
120
124
128
And if I were worthy
(17)
ffor to fulfy this sacrament,
I haue no cornyng, securly,
To do it after thyn) intent';
And therfor, lord, I ask inercy;
hald me excusyd as I haue menť;
I dar not towche thi blyssyd body,
My hart wit neuer to it' assent'.
He asks
Christ to
hold him
excused, for
he dare not
132
touch His
blessed
body.
136
(18)
Ihesus. Of thi conuyng, John, drede the noght;
My fader his self he will the teche;
he that all this warlk has wroght',
he send the playnly forto preche;
(Fol. 66, a
Sig. 1. 2.]
Jesus says
God will
teach John,
140
he knawys mans hart, his dede, his thoght;
he wotys how far mans myght' may reche,
Therfor hedir haue I soght';
My fader lyst may none appeche.
144
(19)
Behold, he sendys his angels two,
In tokyn I am both god and man ;
Thou gyf me baptym or I go,
And dyp me in this flume Iordan.
Sen he wyH thus, I wold wytt who
Durst' hym agan stand? Iohn, com on than,
And baptyse me for freynde or fo,
And do it, Iohn, right as thou can.
sending two
angels in
token of His
own double
nature.
148
152
(20)
primus angelus. Ioliñ, be thou buxom and right bayn,
And be not gruchand in no thyng;
Me thynk thou aght to be ful fayn
ffor to fulfy my lordis bydyng
Erly and late, with moyde and mayn,
Therfor to the this word I bryng,
My lord has gyffen the powere playn,
And drede the noght of thi conyng.
The first
angel bids
John obey,
for God has
given him
156 power.
160
The second
angel bida
John baptise
God's dear
child here
(21)
Secundus angelus. he sendys the here his awne dere
chylde,
Thou welcom hym and make hym chere,
;
sent to him. Born of a madyn meke and mylde,
That' frely foode is made thi fere
with syn
his moder was neuer fylde,
Ther was neuer man neghyd hyr nere,
In word ne wark she was neuer wylde,
The first
shows that
Jesus has
Therfor hir son thou baptyse here.
(22)
Primus angelus. And, securly, I wiH thou knaw
whi that he commys thus vnto the;
164
168
come to ful-
Al the Law. he commys to fulfy the law,
John trem-
bles and
quakes and
will not
As pereles prynce most of pauste;
And therfor, Iohñ, do as thou awe,
And gruch thou neuer in this degre
To baptyse hym that thou here saw,
ffor wyt thou well this same is he.
(23)
Iohannes. I am not worthy to do this dede;
Neuer the les I will be godys seruande;
touch Jesus Bot' yit', dere lord, sen I must' nede,
with his
hand, but
will not lose
his meed.
I will do as thou has commaunde.
I tremy and I whake for drede !
I dar not towche the with my hande,
Bot, certys, I will not lose my mede;
Abyde, my lord, and by me stande.
(24)
He baptises I baptyse the, Ihesu, in hy,
Jesus in the
name of
Father, Son,
and Holy
Ghost, and
begs His
blessing.
In the name of thi fader fre,
In nomine patris & filii,
172
176
180
184
[He baptises Jesus.]
Sen he will that it so be,
188
Et spiritûs altissimi,
And of the holy goost on he;
I aske the, lord, of thi mercy,
here after that thou wold blys me.
192
(25)
He anoints
Him also
here I the anoynt also
with oyle and creme, in this intent,
That men may wit, where so thay go,
This is a worthy sacrament.
Ther ar sex
othere and no mo,
The which thi self to erthe has sent,
And in true tokyn, oone of tho,
The fyrst' on the now is it spent.?
(26)
Thou wysh me, lord, if I do wrang;
My will it were forto do weyt;
I am ful ferd yit ay emang,
196
200
with oil and
cream.
This is the
first of the
Seven Sacra-
ments.
He prays the
Lord pardon
him if he do
wrong.
If I dyd right I shuld done knele.
Thou blys me, lord, hence or thou gang,
So that I may thi frenship fele;
I hane desyryd this sight ful lang,
ffor to dy now rek I no dele.
(27)
Thesus. This beest, Iohn, thou bere with the,
It' is a beest' fuł blyst;
hic tradat ei agnum dei.
204
[Fol. 66, b.]
208
Christ de-
livers to him
His Lamb as
a token.
Iohn, it is the lamb of me,
Beest' none othere ist;
It may were the from aduersyte,
And so looke that thou tryst;
By this beest knowen shalt thou be,
That thou art Iohn baptyst.
(28)
Iohannes. ffor I haue sene the lamb of god
which weshys away syn of this warld,
And towchid hym, for euen or od,
My hart therto was ay ful hard.
ffor that it shuld be better trowed,
An angel had me nerehand mard,
Bot' he that' rewlys all with his rod
he blys me when I draw homward.
212
216
John prays
he may be
blest as he
draws
"home-
ward."
220
224
MS. vj originally, but the v has been erased.
Stanza 25 has been struck through, evidently after the Reform-
ation, because Seven Sacraments are named; and in the margin is
added, in a later hand, "corectyd & not playd."
Jesus pro-
mises bliss
to him, and
to all who
believe this
tale and saw
Him not yet
glorified.
(29)
Ihesus. I graunt the, Iohn, for thi trauale,
Ay lastand ioy in blys to byde;
And to all those that' trowys this tayH,
And saw me not yit' gloryfyde.
I shalbe boytt of aH thare bay},
And send them socoure on euery syde;
My fader and I may thaym auayн,
Mau or woman that' leyffys thare pryde.
(30)
He bids
John go
forth and
preach to
the people.
Bot', Iohn, weynd thou furþ and preche
Agans the folk that doth amys;
And to the pepy the trow the thou techo;
To rightwys way look thou tham avys,
And as far as thi wyt may reche
Byd thay be bowne to byde my blys;
ffor at the day of dome I shal thaym peche
That herys not the nor trowys not' this.
(31)
He Himself Byd thaym leyfe syn, for I it hate;
must die for
their sins,
ffor it I mon dy on a tre,
By prophecy fful weł I wate;
228
232
236
240
My moder certys that sight' mon se,
That' sorowful sight' shall make hir maytt,
244
and He now
bids John
ffor I was born of hir body.
farewell and ffarweł Iohn, I go my gaytt;
blesses Him.
I blys the with the trynyte!
248
(32)
God for His
grace.
I thank the, lord in mageste,
John thanks Iohannes. Almyghty god in persons thre,
AH in oone substance ay ingroost,
ffader and son and holy goost!
252
Thou send thi son from heuen so he,
To mary mylde, into this cooste,
And now thou sendys hym vnto me,
ffor to be baptysid in this oost.
256
(33)
ffarwell! the frelyst that euer was fed!
ffarweH! floure more fresh then floure de lyce!
ffarweH! stersman to theym that' ar sted
In stormes, or in desese lyse!
Thi moder was madyn and wed;
ffarweH! pereles, most of pryce!
ffarwell! the luflyst that euer was bred!
Thi moder is of het emprise.
(34)
ffarweH! blissid both bloode and bone!
ffarwell! the semelyst' that euer was seyn !
To the, ihesu, I make my mone;
ffarwell! comly, of cors so cleyn !
ffarwel! gracyouse gome! where so thou gone,
fful mekit grace is to the geyn;
Thou leyne vs lyffyng on thi lone,
Thou may vs mende more then we weyn.
(35)
I wył go preche both to more and les,
As I am chargyd sccurly;
Syrs, forsake youre wykydnes,
Pryde, envy, slowth, wrath, and lechery.
here gods seruice, more & lesse ;
Pleas god with prayng, thus red I;
Be war when deth comys with dystres,
So that ye dy not sodanly.
(36)
Deth sparis none that lyf has borne,
Therfor thynk on what I you say ;
Beseche youre god both euen and morne
you for to saue from syn that day.
Thynk how in baptym ye ar sworne
To be godis seruandis, withoutten nay;
let neuer his luf from you be lorne,
260
John apos-
trophizes
Jesus.
His mother
is Empress
264 of Hell.
268
272
He is the
seemliest
that ever
was seen.
(Fol. 67, a
Big. 1. 3.]
He preaches
to the people
to forsake
276 sin.
280
284
Death spares
none, so let
them not
lose God's
love.
God bryng you to his blys for ay. Amen.
285
Explicit Iohannes Baptista.
The words "God's service, more and lesse," are in a later
hand, the original words having been erased.
XX.

XX. The Conspiracy and the Capture

Conspiracio Et Capcio

Incipit Conspiracio.¹
[2 thirteen-line stanzas nos. 97, 100, ab ab ab abc, dddc; 1 twelve,
no. 16 ab abb cbcb, abc; 7 nine-line, nos. 1-5, aaaab cccb;
nos. 99, 102, ab abc dddc; 24 eight-line, most ab ab ab ab,
no. 6 aaaab aab, no. 107, ab abb cbc, no. 117 ab ab cb cb; 90
fours ab ab; 46 couplets.
Pilatus.
[Dramatis Personae.
Pilate calls
for silence.
Judas.
Cayphas.
S. Johannes.
Anna.
Petrus.
Primus Miles.
Paterfamilias.
Secundus Miles.
(1)
Pilatus.
P
Jesus.
Andreas.
Simeon.
Thadeus.
Trinitas.
Marcus Miles.]
eas, carles, I commaunde 2 / vnconand I call you;
I say stynt and stande / or foul myght befaH
you.
ffro this burnyshyd brande / now when I
behald you,
I red ye be shunand / or els the dwił skald you,
At onys.
I am kyd, as men knawes,
leyf leder of lawes;
Seniours, seke to my sawes,
5
ffor bryssyng of youre bonys.
(2)
9
He is the
grandsir of
Great
Mahound,
and is called
Pilate.
ye wote not wel, I weyn / what wat is commen to the towne,
So comly cled and cleyn / a rewler of great renowne;
In sight if I were seyn/ the granser of great mahowne,
My name pylate has beyn / was neuer kyng with crowne
More wor[thy];
14
My wysdom and my wytt,
In sete here as I sytt,
was neuer more lyke it',
My dedys thus to dyscry.
(3)
He can make ffor I am he that may / make or mar a man;
or mar a
man, like
men of court
now.
•
My self if I it say / as men of cowrte now can;
1 In the MS. Conspiracio is followed by the letter c.
18
The bars marking the central rymes are represented in the
MS. by dots:
Supporte a man to day / to-morñ agans hym than,
On both parties thus I play / And fenys me to ordan
The right;
Bot' at fals indytars,¹
Quest' mangers and Iurers,
And all thise fals out rydars,
Ar welcom to my sight.
(4)
23
False in-
dictors,
question.
gers, jurors,
and all
these false
27 outriders are
dear to him.
More nede had I neuer / of sich seruand now, I say you,
So can I well consider / the trowth I most displeas you,
And therfor com I hedyr / of peas therfor I pray you;
Ther is a lurdan ledyr / I wold not shuld dysmay you,
A bowtt;
A prophete is he prasyd,
[Fol. 67, b.]
He has
heard of a
32
lazy rascal
praised as a
prophet.
And great vnright has rasyd,
Bot', be my banys her blasid,
his deth is dight no dowtt.
(5)
he prechys the pcpyH here / that fature fals ihesus,
That' if he lyf a yere / dystroy oure law must vs;
And yit I stand in fere / so wyde he wyrkys vertus,
No fawt can on hym bere / no lyfand leyde tył us;
Bot' sleyghtys
Agans hym shall be soght,
that all this wo has wroght;
Bot on his bonys it shall be boght,
So shall I venge oure rightys.
(6)
36
41
45
If He live
year He will
destroy their
law, but yet
Pilate is in
fear of Him.
That fatoure says that thre / shuld euer dwell in oone This fellow
godhede,
That' euer was and shall be / Sothfast in man hede;
says that
three per-
sons shall
dwell in one
godhead,
he says of a madyn born was he/ that' neuer toke mans that He was
sede,
born of a
maiden, and
shall be
And that his self shał dy on tre / and mans saw out of crucified.
preson lede;
let hym alone,
If this be true in deyd,
his shech shall spryng and sprede,
50
And ouer com euer ylkone.
53
¹ MS. “indydytars.”
Cayphas
asks Pilate's
advice as to
hideous
harus
(7)
Cayphas. Syr pilate, prynce of mekyH price,
that preuyd is withoutten pere,
And lordyngys that oure laws in lyse,
on oure law now must vs lere,
57
And of oure warkys we must be wyse,
or els is at oure welthe in were,
Therfor say sadly youre auyse,
of hedus harmes that we haue here,
61
(8)
arising from Towchyng that tratoure strang,
that strong
traitor.
that' makys this boleyf,
ffor if he may thus furth gang,
It will ouer greatly grefe.
(9)
Anna sup
ports him.
Anna. Sir, oure folk ar so afrayd,
thruȝ lesyns he losys oure lay;
Som remedy must be rayd,
so that he weynd not thus away.
Pilate says pilatus. Now certan, syrs, this was weł sayd,
and I assent, right as ye say,
they must
And some
privy point
to mar
Christ's
might.
65
69
Som preuay poynt to be puruayd
To mar his myght if [that] we may ;
73
(10)
And therfor, sirs, in this present,
What poynt so were to praso,
let all be at assent',
let se what ilk man says.
(11)
Cayphas and Cayphas. Sir, I haue sayde you here beforne
Anna en-
large on the
danger from
Christ.
his soteltyes and grefys to sare;
77
he turnes oure folk both euen & morne,
and ay makys mastres mare & mare.
Anna. Sir, if he skape it were great skorne;
to spy hym tytt we will not spare,
81
ffor if oure lawes were thus-gatys lorne,
men wold say it were lake of lare.
85
(12)
pilatus. ffor certan, syrs, ye say right' weyH
ffor to wyrk witterly;
Bot yit som fawt must we feyH,
wherfor that he shuld dy ;
(13)
And therfor, sirs, let se youre saw,
ffor what thyng we shuld hym slo.
Cayphas. Sir, I can rekyn you on a raw
a thowsand wonders, and wet moo,
Of crokyd men, that we well knaw,
how graythly that he gars them go,
And euer he legys agans oure law,
tempys oure folk and turnys vs fro.
(14)
Anna. lord, dom and defe in oure present
delyuers he, by downe & day;
[Fol. 68, a.
Sig. 1. 4.]
Pilate says
they must
find some
89 fault for
which He is
to die.
Cayphas
say's Christ
93 straightens
the crooked,
and is
always
tempting the
people from
the law.
97
what hurtys or ha[r]mes thay hent,
ffu hastely he makys theym hayн.
101
And for sich warkys as he is went
of ilk welþ he may avayн,
And vnto vs he takys no tent,
bot' ilk man trowes vnto his tayH.
(15)
Pilatus. yei, dewit! and dos he thus
as ye well bere wytnes?
sich fawte fal to vs,
be oure dom, for to redres.
(16)
Cayphas. And also, sir, I haue hard say,
an other noy that neghys vs nere,
105
109
He takes no
heed unto
them.
Pilate says
he must re-
dress this.
Also, Cay-
phas says
Christ
breaks the
he will not kepe oure sabate day,
that holy shuld be haldyn here;
Sabbath.
113
Bot forbedys far and nere
to wyrk at oure bydyng.
Pilatus. Now, by mahowns bloode so dere,
he shall aby this bowrdyng!
117
16
Anna says
Christ calls
Himself
heaven's
King.
what dewi wil he be there?
this hold I great' hethyng.
Anna. Nay, nay, well more is ther;
he callys hym self heuens kyng,
And says that he is so myghty
121
(17)
all rightwytnes to rewH and red.
Pilate will
pilatus. By mahowns blood, that shall he aby
make Christ
with bytter baylls or I ett bred!
125
pay dearly
for this,
The knights primus Miles. lord, the loth lazare of betany
recall the
raising of
Lazarus.
that lay stynkand in a sted,
vp he rasyd bodely
the fourt' day after he was ded.
(18)
Secundus Miles. And for that he hym rasyd,
The people
think Jesus
God's Son.
that had lyne dede so long a space,
The people hym fuł mekył prasyd
ouer all in euery place.
(19)
Anna. Emangys the folke has he the name
129
133
that he is godys son, and none els,
And his self says the same
that his fader in heuen dwelles;
137
That he shall rewH both wyld and tame;
of all sich maters thus he mels.
Pilatus. This is the dwys payn!1
who trowys sich talys as he tels?
(20)
141
Cayphas. yis, lord, haue here my hand,
and ilk man beyldys hym as his brother;
Sich whaynt cantelys he can,
lord, ye knew neuer sich an othere.
145
(21)
Pilate com-
mands
knight and
knave to be
forward to
slay Him.
Pilatus. why, and wotys he not that I haue
bold men to be his bayn?
I commaunde both knyght and knaue
sesse not to that lad be slayn.
149
1
assonance with tame, &c.
(22)
primus Miles. Sir pylate, mefe you now no mare,¹
bot' mese youre hart and mend youre mode;
ffor bot if that lose lere oure lare 1
and leyf his gawdys, he were as goode;
ffor in oure tempył we will not spare
to take that lose, if he were woode.
The first
knight says
they will
take Jesus
in the
153 Temple.
[Ful. 68, b.]
Pilatus. In oure tempyH? the dwiłł! what dyd he thare?
that shall he by, by mahouns blode!
(23)
Secundus Miles. lord, we wist not youre wył;
with wrang ye vs wyte;
had ye so told vs tył,
we shuld haue takyn hym tyte.
(24)
157
Pilate is
His being
enraged at
there.
If the
knights had
known this
they would
have taken
161
Jesus before.
Pilatus. The dwit, he hang you high to dry!
whi, wold ye lese oure lay?
Go bryng hym heder hastely,
so that he weynd not thus away.
Cayphas. Sir pilate, be not to hasty,
bot' suffer ouer oure sabote day;
In the mene tyme to spyr and spy
mo of his meruels, if men may.
(25)
Anna. yei, sir, and when this feste is went,
then shall his craftys be kyd.
Pilatus. Certys, syrs, and I assent
ffor to abyde then, as ye byd.
165
Pilate orders
Ilis in-
media.o
arrest.
Cayphas
bids him
wait till
after the
next Sab-
169 bath, that
they may
spy on
Jesus.
Pilate
173 agrees.
Tunc venit Iudas.
(26)
Iulas. Masters, myrth be you emang,
and mensk be to this meneye!
Cayphas. Go! othere gatys thou has to gang
with sorow; who send after the?
177
Iudas. Syrs, if I haue done any wrang,
at youre awne bydyng wit I be.
Pilatus. Go hence, harlot, hy mot thou hang!
where in the dwi hand had we the?
1 MS. more, lore.
181
Judas greets
them, but is
badly re-
ceived.
Cayphas
says Judas
should ask
leave before
intruding.
(27)
Iudas. Goode sir, take it to no grefe ;
for my menyng it may avayH.
Anna. we, lad, thou shuld ask lefe
to com in sich counsayH.
(28)
Judas knows Iudas. Sir, all youre counsel wett¹ I ken;
they mean
to take his
"Master."
ye mene my master for to take.
Anna. A ha! here is oone of his men
185
that thus vnwynly gars vs wake.
189
Pilate bids
Pilatus. la hand on hym, and hurl hym then
them lay
hands on
emangys you, for his master sake;
him for his
"Master's" for we haue maters mo then ten,
sake.
that well more myster were to make.
193
(29)
Cayphas
orders him
to be
buffeted.
Cayphas. Set on hym buffettys sad,
Sen he sich mastrys mase,
And teche ye sich a lad
to profer hym in sich a place.
197
(30)
Iudas. Sir, my profer may both pleas and pay
to all the lordys in this present.
Pilatus. we go hens in twenty 2 dwiłł way !
201
we haue no tome the for to tent.
Judas offers Iudas. yis, the profete that has lost youre lay
to sell
Jesus.
by wonder warkys, as he is went,
If ye will sheynd hym as ye say,
Pilate is
ready to hear
him.
to sell hym you I wył assent.
(31)
Pilatus. A, sir, hark! what says thou?
let se, and shew thi sky.
Iudas. Sir, a bargan bede I you,
by it if ye wil.
(32)
Anna asks
who he is.
He is Judas
who has
dwelt long
with Jesus.
Anna. what is thi name? do tell in hy,
if we may wit if thou do wrang.
Iudas. Iudas scarioth, so hight I,
that with the profet has dwellyd lang.
1 MS. will.
205
209
213
2 MS. XX.
Pilatus. Sir, thou art welcom witterly!
say what thou wiłł vs here emang.
Iudas. Not els bot if ye with hym by ;
do say me sadly or I
gang.
(33)
Cayphas. yis, freynd, in fathe with we
noght els; bot hartely say
how that bargan may be,
and we shall make the pay.
(34)
Anna. Iudas, forto hold the hay,
And for to fell all fowl defame,
looke that thou may avow thi say};
then may thou be withoutten blame.
Iudas. Sir, of my teyn gyf ye neuer tay,
so that' ye haue hym here at hame;
his bowrlyng has me broght in baył,
and certys his self shał haue the same.
(35)
Cayphas. Sir pylate, tentys here tyH,
and lightly leyf it noght',
Then may ye do youre wył
of hym that ye haue boght.
(36)
Anna. yei, and then may we be bold
fro all the folk to hald hymn fre;
And hald hym hard with vs in hold,
right as oone of youre meneye.
pilatus. Now, Iudas, sen he shalbe sold,
how lowfes thou hym belyfe let se.
Iudas. ffor thretty pennys truly told,
1
or els may not that bargan be;
So mych gart he me lose,
malycyusly and yH;
(37)
Therfor ye shall haue chose,
to by or let be styl.
217
Judas re-
peats his
offer to sell
Jesus.
221
Cayphas and
Anna are
willing to
buy, but
Judas must
explain
more.
225
[Fol. 69, a.]
Judas says
Jesus has
brought him
trouble, and
shall have
trouble
229 Himself.
233
237
Cayphas and
Anna ex-
hort Pilate
to listen.
Pilate in-
quires the
price of
Jesus;
Judas asks
241 thirty pence,
245
so much had
Jesus made
him lose.
1 MS. xxx.
1 6 *
Auna asks
how Jesus
made him
lose it.
Judas tells
how in
Simon's
house
(38)
Anna. Gart he the lose? I pray the, why?
tel vs now pertly or thou pas.
Iudas. I shall you say, and that in hy,
euery word right as it' was.
In
symon house with hym sat I
with othero meneze that he has
A woman cam to company,
249
;
callyng hym "lord"; sayng, "alas!"
253
(39)
a woman
brought
precious
ffor synnes that she had wroght
she wepyd sore always;
ointinent,
And an oyntment she broght,
that precyus was to prayse.
(40)
She weshyd hym with hir terys weytt,
and sen dryed hym with hir hare;
and poured This fare oyntment, hir bale to beytt,
it upon
Jesus.
257
apon his hede she put it thare,
261
That' it ran at abowte his feytt ;
I thoght it was a ferly fare,
The house was full of odowre sweytt;
then to speke myght I not spare,
265
(41)
ffor, certys, I had not' seyn
Judas had
never seen
such fine
ointment.
none oyntment' half so fyne;
Ther-at my hart' had teyn,
sich tresoure for to tyne.
He said at
the time it
was worth
three hun-
dred pence,
which might
have been
(42)
I sayd it was worthy to sel
thre hundreth pens in oure present,
ffor to parte poore men emett;
bot' will ye se wherby I ment?
given to the The tent' parte, truly to też,
poor, out of
which he
would have
kept thirty
for himself.
to take to me was myne intent';
ffor of the tresure that to vs fell,
269
273
the tent' parte euer with me went;
277
(43)
And if thre hundreth be right told,
the tent parte is euen thryrty;
Right so he shalbe sold;
say if ye wit hym by.
(44)
Pilatus. Now for certan, sir, thou says right welo,
sen he wate the with sich a wrast,
281
ffor to shape hym som vncele,
and for his bost be not abast.
285
Anna. Sir, all thyn askyng euery dele
here shalt thou hafe, therof be trast;
Bot looke that we no falshede fele.
Iudas. sir, with a profe may ye frast;
(45)
AH that I haue here hight
289
Bo for these
thirty pence
he will sell
Jesus.
Pilate
praises him.
Anna pro-
mises what
he asks.
I shall fulfil in dede,
And we more at my myght,
In tyme when I se nede.
(46)
Pilatus. Iudas, this spekyng must be spar,
and neuen it' neuer, nyght ne day ;
let' no man wyt where that we war,
for ferdnes of a fowl enfray.
Cuyphas. Sir, therof let vs moyte no mare;
we hold vs payde, take ther thi pay.
Iulas. This gart he me lose lang are ;
now ar we euen for onys and ay.
(47)
Anna. This forwarde will not fay H,
therof we may be glad;
Now were the best counsayt,
in hast that we hym had.
(48)
293
297
[Giving him money.]
Pilatus. we shall hyn haue, and that in hy,
fful hastely here in this hat.
[Fol. 69, b.]
Judas pro-
mises to
make good
his offer.
Pilate en-
joins
secrecy.
Cayphas
pay's Judas,
who says he
is now even
301 with Jesus.
305
Sir knyghtys, that ar of dede dughty,
[To the knights.]
309
1 MS. iij.
stynt neuer in stede ne stał,
Anna asks
how they
may best
take Jesus,
Pilate bids
his knights
bring the
false
"fatur"
at once.
John asks
Jesus where
Bot looke ye bryng hym hastely,
that fatur fals, what' so befaH.
primus Miles. Sir, be not abast therby,
ffor as ye byd wyrk we shał.
313
[All retire: then Jesus & his disciples advance.]
Tunc dicet sanctus Iohannes.
(49)
Iohannes apostolus. Sir, where will ye youre pask ette?
He will eat Say vs, let vs dight youre mete.
His Pass-
over.
He bids
John and
Peter go to
the city,
there they
shall meet a
man bearing
water, who
will lend
a room for
Thesus. Go furth, Iohñ and peter, to yond cyte;
317
when ye com ther, ye shall then se
In the strete, as tyte, a man
beryng water in a can;
The house that he gose to grith,
ye shall folow and go hym with ;
321
them to eat
it in.
The lord of that house ye shall fynde,
A sympył man of cely kynde;
To hym ye shall speke, and say
That I com here by the way;
Say I pray hym, if his will be,
A lyty whyle to ese me,
That I and my dyscypyls al
325
myght rest a whyle in his hat,
329
That' we may ete oure paske thore.
petrus. lord, we shall hy vs before,
To that we com to that cyte ;
youre paske shał ordand be.
333
Tunc pergent Iohannes & petrus ad Ciuitatem, & obuiet
They meet
the "pater-
familias,"
who offers
eis homo, &c.
Sir, oure master the prophett
commys behynde in the strete;
them a room And of a chamber he you prays,
in which to
make their
44 mangery."
To ete and drynk ther-in with easse.
and so is at his company;
337
paterfamilias. Sirs, he is welcom vnto me,
with all my hart and aH my wiłł
is he welcom me vntyH.
341
lo, here a chambre fast by,
Ther-in to make youre mangery,
I shal warand fare strewed;
it shuld not els to you be shewed.
Tunc parent Iohannes & petrus mensam.
345
Iohannes. Sir, youre mett is redy bowne, [Jesus enters.] John tells
will ye wesh and syt downe?
Thesus. yei, gyf vs water tyH oure hande,
take we the grace that god has send;
Jesus the
meat is
ready.
349 He bids the
disciples eat
with Him.
Commys furth, both oone and othere;
If I be master I will be brothere.
Tunc comedent, & Iudas porrigit manum in discum
cum Ihesu.
Iudas, what' menys thou?
Iudas. No thyng, lord, bot' ett' with you.
Ihesus. Ett on, brether, hardely,
for oone of you shaft [me] betray.¹
Petrus. lord, who euer that be may,
lord, I shall neuer the betray;
Dere master, is it oght I?
353
[Fol. 70, a.]
One of them
shall betray
Him.
357 First Peter,
then seven
others ask,
"Is it I ?"
Thesus. Nay thou, peter, certanly.
Iohannes. Master, is oght I he then
Thesus. Nay, for trowth, Iohn, I the ken.
361
Andreas. Master, am oght [1] that shrew?
Thesus. Nay, for sothe, thou andrew.
Simon. Master, then is oght I?
Thesus. Nay, thou Simon, securly.
365
philippus. Is it oght I that shuld do that dede ?
Ihesus. Nay, philyp, withoutten drede.
Thadeus. was it oght I that hight thadee?
Iacobus. Or we two Iamys?
Thesus.
Nay none of you is he;
369
Bot' he that' ett with me in dysh,
It is he that
lie shall my body betray, Iwys.
Iudas. what then, wene ye that I it' am?
Ihesus. Thou says sothe, thou berys the blame;
Ichon of you shall this nyght
ffor sake me, and fayn he myght.
373
eats with
Jesus in the
dish. "Wene
ye, that I it
am?" asks
Judas, and is
told he says
sooth.
All
shall forsake
Jesus.
Iohannes. Nay certys, god forbeyd
that euer shuld we do that deyd!
¹ This betray is evidently meant to ryme with hardely.
377
Peter says
he will never
fice from
Jesus,
and is told
he shall for-
sake Him
petrus. If aH, master, forsake the,
shat I neuer fro the fle.
Ihesus. Peter, thou shaH thryse apon a thraw
fforsake
me, or the cok craw.
thrice ere
cockcrow.
Take
vp
this clothe and let vs go,
Jesus begins
to wash the
disciples'
feet.
ffor we haue othere thyngys at do.
hic lauet pedes discipulorum.
Sit all downe, and here and sees,
ffor I shall wesh youre feet on knees.
Et mittens aquam in peluim venit ad petrum.
Peter at first Petrus. lord, shuld thou wesh feytt myne?
thou art my lord, and I thy hyne.
objects,
381
385
Ihesus. why I do it thou wote not yit,
peter, herafter shalt thou wytt.
389
Petrus. Nay, master, I the heytt,
thou shalt neuer wesh my feytt.
Thesus. Bot Į the wesh, thou mon mys
parte with me in heuens blys.
393
but after-
wards asks
that head
and hands
may be
Petrus. Nay, lord, or I that forgo,
wesh heede, handys, and feytt also.
Thesus. ye ar clene, bot' not' aH;
washed also.
that shall be sene when tyme shał fał;
397
who shall be weshyn as I weyn,
he thar not wesh his feytt clene;
And for sothe clene ar ye,
bot' not' all as ye shuld be.
[Fol. 70, b.] I shaH you say take good hede
whi that I haue done the dede;
Jesus ex-
plains the
lesson of
humility.
Let each
wash the
other's feet.
401
ye call me master and lord, by name;
ye say full weH, for so I am;
Sen I, both lord and master, to you wold knele
to wesh youre fete, so must ye wele.
407
(50)
Now wote ye what I haue done;
EnsampyH haue I gyffen you to;
loke
do so eft' sone;
ye
Ichon of you wesh othere fete, lo!
411
(51)
ffor he that' seruand is,
for sothe, as I say you,
Not more then his lord he is,
to whome he seruyce owe.
(52)
Or that this nyght be gone,
Alone wil ye leyf me ;
ffor in this nyght' ilkon
ye shall fro me fle;
415
419
(53)
ffor when the hyrd is smeten,
the shepe shall fle away,
Be skaterd wyde and byten ;
the prophetys thus can say.
(54)
Petrus. lord, if that I shuld dy,
fforsake the shall I noght.
Thesus. ffor sothe, peter, I say to the,
In so great drede shaй thou be broght',
(55)
That' or the cok haue crowen twyse,
thou shalt deny me tymes thrc.
Petrus. That shall I neuer, lord, Iwys;
er shall I with the de.
(56)
Thesus. Now loke youre hartys be grefyd noght,
nawthere in drede ne in wo;
Bot' trow in god, that you has wroght,
and in me trow ye also;
For the
servant is
not inore
than the
lord.
Jesus re-
peats tit
they will
forsake Him.
423
When the
herdsman is
Switten the
sheep fee.
Peter says
he will not
forsake
Jesus, but is
told that ere
the cock
427 crow twice
he will deny
Him thrice.
431
435
Let them not
be grieved,
(57)
In my fader house, for sothe,
is many a wonnyng stede,
That' men shaH haue aftyr thare trowthe,
soyn after thay be dede.
(58)
And here may I no longer leynd,
bot' I shall go before,
And yit if I before you weynd,
in His
Father's
house are
many
woning
46
439 stedes.
He goes be
fore to or-
dain for
them there.
ffor you to ordan thore,
443
He will
come to
them again.
He is the
Way, the
Truth, and
the Life.
leave them
helpless,
I shall com to you agane,
and take you to me,
That' where so euer I am ¹,
ye shall be with me.
(59)
447
(60)
And I am way, and sothe-fastnes,
and lyfe that euer shalbe ;
And to my fader commys none, Iwys,
bot oonly thorow me.
(61)
He will not I will not leyf you a helples,
as men withoutten freynd,
As faderles and moderles,
thof all I fro you weynd;
451
The world
shall not see
Him, but
they shall.
In heaven
they shall
know that
He is in the
455
(62)
I shall com eft to you agayn:
this warld shat me not' se,
Bot ye shatt se me we certan,
and lyfand shall I be.
459
(63)
Then shall ye knaw, Iwys,
And ye shal lyf in heuen;
Father, and That I am in my fader euen,
the Father
in Him.
and
my
fader in me is.
(64)
He in them,
and they in
Him.
And I in
you,
and ye
in me,
Let them be
glad of His
going.
and ilka man therto,
My commaundenient that' kepys trule,
and after it will do.
(65)
Now haue ye hard what I haue sayde;
I and com agayn;
go,
[Fol. 71, a.] Therfor loke ye be payde,
463
467
and also glad and fayn;
471
1 assonance with agane.
誼
​S
ffor to my fader I weynd;
ffor more then I is he;
(66)
I let you wytt', as faythful freynd,
or hat' it done be,
6
(67)
That ye may trow when it is done;
ffor ceriys, I may noght now
Many thyngys so soyn
at this tyme speake with you;
(68)
ffor the prynce of this warld is commyn,
and no powere has he in me,
475
For He goes
to His
Father.
479
There are
many things
He may not
nay to thei
now;
for the
prince of
this world is
coming, that
all may see
Bot' as that all the warld within
may both here and se,
That I owe luf my fader to,
(69)
Sen he me hyder sent',
And all thyngys I do
483
after his commaundement.
Ryse ye vp, ilkon,
487
(70)
and weynd we on oure way,
As fast as we may gone,
to olyuete, to pray.
(71)
Peter, Iamys, and thou Iohn,
ryse vp and folow me!
My tyme it' commys anone;
Abyde styй here, ye thre.
491
495
(72)
Say youre prayers here by-neth,
that ye fall in no fowdyng;
His obedi-
ence to His
Father.
Let them go
to Olivet to
pray.
He bids
Peter,
James, and
John follow
Him
and pray.
His soul is
heavy
My saw is heuy agans the deth
against
death,
and the sore pynyng.
499
Tunc orabit, & dicet,
(73)
Jesus prays. ffader, let this great payn be sty¤,
disciples
sleeping,
and bids
them watch
against the
fiend.
And pas away fro me;
Bot not', fader, at my wył,
bot thyn fulfyllyd be.
& reuertet al discipulos.
Symon, I say, slepys thou?
awake, I red you a}!
(74)
503
He finds the
The feynd ful fast salys you,
In wan-hope to gar you faH;
(75)
507
He will pray Bot I shaH pray my fader so
for them.
My goost is prest therto,
that his myght shall not dere;
my flesh is seke for fere.
511
& iterum oravit.
(76)
He prays
again.
ffader, thi son I was,
of the I aske this boyn;
If¹ This payn may not pas,
fader, thi will be doyn!
515
& reuertet ad discipulos.
(77)
Again finds Ye slepe, brether, yit I see,
them sleep-
ing.
it is for sorow that ye do so;
Ye haue so long wepyd for me
that ye ar masyd and lappyd in wo.
& tercio orabiť:
519
(78)
He prays a
third time.
Dere fader, thou here my wył!
this passyon thou put fro me away;
And if I must nedys go ther-tyH,
523
I shall fulfil thi wył to-day;
Therfor this bytter passyon
if I may not put by,
I am here redy at thi dom;
(79)
thou comforte me that am drery!
1 "If" in margin.
527
(80)
Trinitas. My comforte, son, I shall the telt,
of thyngys that felt by reson;
As lucyfer, for syn that felt,
betray eue with his fals tresop,
Adam assent his wyfe vntyH;
the wekyd goost then askyd a bone
which has hurt mankynde futt yH;
this was the wordys he askyd soyn:
(81)
AH that euer of adam com
holly to hym to take,
with hym to dweH, withoutten dome,
In payn that neuer shaй slake,
(82)
To that a chyld myght be borne
of a madyn, and she wemles,
As cleyn as that she was beforne,
as puryd syluer or shynand glas; 1
(83)
To tyme that childe to deth were dight,
day,
and rasyd hym self apon the thry
And stenen to heuen thrugh his awno myght.
who may do that bot' god veray?
(84)
Sen thou art man, and nedys must deo,
and go to hell as othere done,
Bot' that were wrong, withoutten lee,
that godys son there shuld won
The Trinity
strengthens
Him.
531 Through
535
539
543
Adam's sin,
all that came
from Adam
were
doomed
[Fol. 71, b.]
till a child
might be
born of a
pure maiden.
be done to
death, rise
the third
day, and
ascend to
547 heaven, as
551
God.
As man
Jesus must
go to Hell,
but as God
He may not
stay there,
(85
In payn with his vnder-lowte;
wytt ye well withoutten weyn,
when oone is borod, aż shał owtt,
and borod be from teyn.
(86)
[Jesus returning to the
disciples.]
Ihesus. Slepe ye now and take youre rest!
my tyme is nere command;
Awake a whyle, for he is next
that' me shah gyf into synners hand.
559
[All retire: Pilate, etc. advance.]
1 ↑ assonance with wemles, or originally gles ?
and "when
one is bor-
rowed all
shall out."
Jesus bida
His dis-
ciples sleep
on.
Pilate calls
for silence.
(87)
Pilatus. Peas! I commaunde you, carles vnkynde,
to stand as styl as any stone!
In donyon depe he shalbe pynde,
that will not' sesse his tong anone;
He may
do
what he will.
563
(88)
ffor I am gouernowre of the law;
my name it is pilate!
I may lightly gar hang you or draw,
I stand in sich astate,
567
(89)
To do what' so I wiH.
and therfor peas I byd you aH!
And looke ye hold you still,
and with no brodels brał,
571
(90)
And will
break the
Tył we haue done oure dede;
neck of any
one who
interrupts.
who so makys nose or cry,
his nek I shall gar blede,
with this I bere in hy.
He calls on
Judas to
keep his
promise.
575
(91)
To this tratoure be take,
that' wold dystroy oure lawe,
Iudas, thou may it not forsake,
take hede vnto my sawe.
Thynk what thou has doyn,
that has thi master sold;
Performe thi bargan soyn;
579
(92)
thou has thi money takyn and told.
(93)
Judas asks
for the help
Iudas. Ordan ye knyghtys to weynd with me,
of the
knights.
Richly arayd in rewy and rowtt';
And at my couandys holden shall be,
So I haue felyship me abowtc.
(94)
They must
lay hands on
Him Whom
he shall
kiss.
Pilatus. wherby, Iudas, shuld we hym knaw,
If we shall wysely wyrk, Iwys?
583
587
ffor som of vs hym neuer saw.
Iudas. lay hand on hym that I shał kys.
591
(95)
Pilatus. haue done, sir knyghtys, and kythe youre strengthic, Pilate bids
And wap you wightly in youre wede;
Seke ouer all, both brede and lengthe!
Spare ye not, spende and spede!
(96)
We haue soght hym les and more,
And falyd ther we haue farn;
Malcus, thou shall weynd before,
And bere with the a light lantarne.
(97)
Malcus Miles. Sir, this Iornay I vndertake
with all my myght and mayn.
If I shuld, for mahowns sake,
here in this place be slayn,
595
the knights
seek out
Jesus.
(Fol. 72, a.)
Malchus is
to go before
[To Malchus] with a
599
lantern.
Malchus is
ready to
die for
Mahound's
sake, if he
603
may take
Christ.
Crist that prophett for to take,
we may be all fult fayn.
Oure weppyns redy loke ye make,
to bryng hym in meky grame¹
This nyght.
608
Go we now on oure way,
oure mastres for to may;
Oure lantarnes take with vs als way,
And loke that thay be light!
(98)
Secundus Miles, Sir pilate, prynce pereles in pał,
of all men most myghty merked on mold,
we ar euer more redy to com at' thi cat,
and bow to thi bydyng as bachlers shold.
(99)
Bot' that' prynce of the apostyls pupplyshed beforne,
Men call hym crist, comen of dauid kyn,
his lyfe full sone shalbe forlorne,
If we haue hap hym forto wyn.
haue done!
ffor, as euer ete I breede,
or I styr in this stede
I wold stryke of his hede;
lord, I aske that' boyne.
1 assonance with fayn, &c.
• MS. shuld.
612
616
621
625
The second
knight bids
Pilate fare-
well.
As sure as
he eats
bread, he
will strike
off Christ's
head.
17
R
The first
knight pro-
mises Pilate
speedy ven-
geance.
Three such
knights as
they are
would bind
the devil!
(100)
primus miles. That boyn, lord, thou vs bede,
and on hym wreke the sone we shałł;
ffro we haue lade on hym good spede;
he shall no more hym godys son cał.
we shall marke hym truly his mede
by mahowne most, god of all,
Siche thre knyghtys had lyty drede
To bynde the dwiH that we on cat,
629
Pilate
salutes them
as courteous
kaisers of
In nede;
ffor if thay were a thowsand mno,
that prophete and his apostels also
with thise two handys for to slo,
(101)
had I lyty drede.
pilatus. Now curtes kasers of kamys kyn,
most genty of Iure to me that I fynde,
Cain's kind, My comforth from care may ye sone wyn,
if ye happely may hent that vnheynde.
and bids
them bring
Jesus safe
and sound
to him.
Jesus bids
Peter arise,
for Judas is
coming.
(102)
Bot' go ye hens spedely and loke ye
not' spare;
634
638
642
My frenship, my fortherans, shall euer with you be;
And mahowne that is myghful he menske you euermare!
Bryng you safe and sownde with that brode to me!
In place
where so euer ye weynd,
ye knyghtys so heynde,
Sir lucyfer the feynde
he lede you the trace!
(103)
647
[All retire, Jesus & his
disciples advance.]
Thesus. Ryse vp, peter, and with
go
and folowe me withoutten stryfe;
Iudas wakys, and slepys not he;
me,
he commys to betray me here belyfe.
(104)
wo be to hym that bryngys vp slaunder!
he were better his dethe to take;
Bot' com furth, peter, and tary no langero:1
lo, where thay com that wiH me take!
655
659
1
assonance with slaunder.
(105)
Iudas. Rest wel, master, ihesus fre!
I pray the that thou wold kys me enys;
I am commen to socoure the;
thou art aspyed, what so it' menys.
(106)
Thesus. Iudas! whi makys thou sich a braydo?
trowys thou not I knowe thi wiH?
with kyssyng has thou me betrayd:
that' shalt thou rew som tyme ful ył.
(107)
whome seke ye, syrs, by name ?
663
[Fol. 72, b.]
Judas asks
Jesus to kiss
him.
Jesus saya
that He
knows
Judas'
intent.
667
[To the Knights.] He asks the
Secundus Miles, we seke ihesu of nazarene.
knights
whom they
scok.
Ihesus. I kepe not my name to layn ;¹
lo, I am here, the same ye mene;
Bot' whome seke ye with wepyns kene?
Primus Miles. To say the sothe, and not to ly,
we seke ihesu of nazarene.
Ihesus. I told you ere that it was I.
(108)
Mulcus. Dar no man on hym lay hand?
I shall cach hym, if I may;
A flateryng foy has thou bene lang,'
bot' now is commen thyn endyng day.
(109)
Petrus. I wold be dede within short space
or I shuld se this sight!
Go, pleyn the to sir cayphas,
and byd hym do the right!
(110)
671
"Jestin of
Nazarene."
675
679
Malchus
boasts that
ho will catch
Jestin.
Peter cuts
off his ear
[Cuts off Malchus' eur.] and bids him
Malcus. Alas, the tyme that I was borne,
or today com in this stede!
My right' ere I haue forlorne!
help, alas, I blede to dede!
(111)
Thesus. Thou man, that menys thi hurt so sare,
com heder, let me thi wounde se ;
Take me thi ere that he of share:
In nomine patris hole thou beꞌ
1 assonance with name.
complain to
Sir Čayplas
683
687
691
8
assonance with hand.
Malchus
laments.
Jesus re-
stores his
ear.
Malchus is
again eager
to take
Jesus.
Jesus ad-
monishes
Peter
(112)
Malcus. Now am I hole as I was ere,
My hurt is neuer the wars;
Therfor, felows, drawe me nere !
the dwil hym spede that hym spars!
(113)
Ihesus. Therfor, peter, I say the this,
my will it is that all men witten:
Put' vp thi swerde and do no mys,
695
for he that' smytys, he shalbe smyten.
(114)
699
and re-
proaches the
knights,
ye knyghtys that be commen now here,
thus assemblyd in a rowte,
As I were thofe, or thefys fere,
with wepyns com ye me abowte;
(115)
703
but aske
them to let
his "fel-
lows" go.
Me thynk, for sothe, ye do full yH
thus for to seke me in the nyght';
P
Bot what' penance ye put me tył,
ye let my felows go with gryth.
(116)
707
The knights Secundus Miles. Lede hym furth fast by the gate!
bring Jesus
to Pilate.
Pilate says
Jesus has
troubled
hangyd be he that sparis hym oght!
Primus Miles. how thynk the, sir pilate,
bi this brode that we haue broght?
(117)
Pilatus. Is he the same and the self, I say,
that has wroght' vs this care?
them by His It has bene told, sen many a day,
deeds,
sayngys of hym ful sare.
711
715
[Fol. 78, a.
It was tył vs greatt woghe,
Sig. M. 1.J
ffrom dede to lyfe thou rasyd lazare ;
Sen stalkyd stylly bi the see swoghe;
both domb and defe thou salfyd from sare.
719
(118)
in which He Thou passys cesar bi dede,
surpasses
Cesar and
Herod.
or sir herode ouro kyng.
Secundus Miles. let deme hym fast to dede,
and let' for no kyn thyng.
1
723
(119)
Primus Miles. Sen he has forfett agans oure lawe,
let vs deme hym in this stede.
Pilatus. I will not assent vnto youre saw;
I can ordan wel better red.
(120)
727
The knights
clamour for
His death.
Pilate knows
a better
rede.
Malchus is
furious.
Malcus. Better red? yei dwiłł! how so?
then were oure sorow lastand ay;
And he thus furþ shuld go,
he wold dystroy oure lay.
wold ye all assent to me,
(121)
this bargan shuld be strykyn anone;
By nyghtertay dede shuld he be,
and til oure awnter stand ilkon.
(122)
Pilatus. Peasse, harlottis, the dwiłł you spede!
wold ye thus preualy morder a man!
Mulcus. when euery man has red his red,
let' se who better say can.
(123)
Pilatus. To cayphas hat loke fast' ye wyrk,
And thider right ye shal hym lede;
he has the rewH of holy kyrk,
lett hym deme hym whyk or dede;
(124)
ffor he has wroght agans oure law,
731
735
739
Pilate is
unwilling to
murder
Jesus,
and will
Bend Him to
Cayphas,
who has the
rule of Holy
Church.
743
ffor-thi most' skyH can he ther on.
Secundus Miles. Sir, we assent vnto youre saw;
Com furth, bewshere, and lett vs gone.
(125)
Malcus. Step furth, in the wenyande!
wenys thou
ay
to stand styH?
Nay, luskand loseł, lawes of the land
Shall fayl bot we haue oure wiłł;
(126)
Out of my handis shaH thou not pas
ffor all the craft' thou can ;
TiH thou com to sir cayphas,
Saue the shalł no man.
747
[To Jesus.]
751
Explicit Capcio Ihesu. 755
Malchus
brings Jesus
to Cayphas
with much
abuse.
17+
[Fol. 78, b.] Primus Tortor.
Sccundus Tortor.
The first
Torturer
hurries
Jesus to
Anna and Sir
Cayphas,
with threats.
The second
reproaches
Him as a
deceiver of
the people.

XXI. The Buffeting

Coliphizacio

(XXI.)
Incipit Coliphizacio.
[Dramatis Personac.
Cayphas.
Anna.
Jesus.
Froward.]
[50 nine-line stanzas, aaaab cccb. The aaaa lines have central
rymes, marked by bars [.]
Primus tortor.
D
Thi
(1)
o Io furth, Io! / and trott' on a pase!
To anna wiłł we go / and sir cayphas;
witt thou well of thaym two / gettys thou no
grace,
Bot' euerlastyng wo / for trespas thou has
so mekiH.
mys
is more
then euer gettys thou grace fore;
Thou has beyn¹ ay-whore
fful fals and full fekyH.
(2)
5
9
Secundus tortor. It is wonder to dre / thus to be gangyng;
we haue had for the / mekit hart' stangyng ;
Bot' at last shall we be / out of hart' langyng,
Be thou haue had two 2 or three / hetys worth a hangyng;
No wonder !
14
Sich wyles can thou make,
gar the people farsake
Oure lawes, and thyne take;
thus art thou broght in blonder.
(3)
18
They join in Primus tortor. Thou can not say agaynt / If thou be trew;
reviling
Jesus.
He shall rue
Som men holdys the sant' / and that shalt thou rew;
being called ffare wordys can thou paynt' / and lege lawes new.
Secundus tortor. Now be ye ataynt / for we with persew
a saint.
Better had
he held His
clatter!
On this mater.
Many wordys has thou saide
Of which we ar not well payde;
As good that thou had
halden still thi clater.
23
27
1 "beyn" overlined later.
• MS. ij.
(4)
primus tortor. It is better syt' stiH/ther rise vp and fall; "Better sit
Thou has long had thi wiH / and made many bra};
At the last wold thou spił / and for-do vs aH,
still than
rise up and
fall."
If we dyd neuer yH. /
Secundus tortor.
I trow not, he shaй
Indure it';
They are
ready to
32
ffor if other men ruse hym,
accuse Hin
themselves.
we shall accuse hym;
his self shall not excuse hym;
To you I insure it',
36
(5)
with no legeance. /
primus tortor.
fayn wold he wynk,
Els falys his covntenance; / I say as I thyuk.
They owe
Jesus a
grudge for
the trouble
they have
had in walk-
Secundus tortor. he has done vs greuance/therfor sha ing with
he drynk;
haue he meki myschaunsce that has gart vs swynke
In walkyng,
That' vuneth may I more.
primus tortor. Peas, man, we ar thore!
Him.
(Fol. 74,
Big. M. 2.]
41
I shał walk in before,
And tell of his talkyng.
(6)
[They come to Cuyphas
and Anna.]
hail, syrs, as ye sytt / so worthi in wonys!
whi spyrd ye not yit / how we haue farne this onys?
They greet
Cayphas and
Anna, and
complain of
Secundus tortor. Sir, wo wold fayn witt / ał wery ar oure their jour-
bonys;
we haue had a fytt / right yH for the nonys,
So tarid.
Cauphas. Say, were ye oght adred?
were ye oght' wrang led?
Or in any strate sted?
Syrs, who was myscaryd?
(7)
Anna. Say, were ye oght in dowte/ for fawte of light
As
ye wached ther owte? /
Primus tortor.
sir, as I am true knyght,
Of my dame sen I sowked / had I neuer sich a nyght';
Myn een were not lowked/to-geder right
50
54
ney.
Their trouble
Sen morowe;
is well spent Bot' yit' I thynk it' wel sett,
since they
have brought Sen we with this tratoure met';
in this
traitor.
Sir, this is he that' forfett
And done so meki sorow.
(8)
59
63
new law.
He teaches a Cayphas. Can ye hym oght apeche ? / had he any ferys?
Secundus tortor. he has bene for to preche / fuH many
long yeris;
And the people he teche / a new law.
primus tortor.
syrs, heris !
68
As far as his witt' reche / many oone he lerys;
when we toke hym,
we faunde hym in a yerde;
Bot' when I drew out my swerde,
his dyscypyls wex ferde,
And soyn thay forsoke hym.
(9)
72
He said He Secundus tortor. Sir, I hard hym say he cowthe dystroew/
could de-
stroy the
temple and
build a new
one on the
third day.
He "lies for
the whet-
stone" and
must be
given the
prize.
oure tempy so gay,
and sithen beld a new / on the thrid day.
Cayphas, how myght that be trew? / it toke more aray;
The masons I knewe / that hewed it', I say,
80 wyse;
That hewed ilka stone.
primus tortor. A, good sir, lett hym oone;
he lyes for the quetstone,
I gyf hym the pryce.
(10)
77
81
Secundus tortor. The halt rynes, the blynd sees / thruȝ
his fals wyles;¹ 1
Thus he gettis many fees / of thym) he begyles.
[Fol. 74, b.] Primus tortor. he rases men that dees/thay seke hym
be myles;
And euer thrugh his soceres / oure sabate day defyles
MS. lyes.
Euermore, sir.
Secundus tortor. This is his vse and his custom,
To heytt the defe and the dom),
where so euer he com;
I tell you before, sir.
(11)
86
He works
miracles for
fees and does
them on the
Sabbath
90
Primus tortor. Men cal hym / a prophete and godis He is called
son of heuen;
he wold fayn downe bryng / oure lawes bi his steuen.
God's Son,
sets not a
fly-wing by
Casar, and
is the same
Secundus tortor. yit is ther anothere thyng / that I hard who excused
hym neuen,
he settys not a fle wyng / bi sir cesar fut eucn;
he says thus;
Sir, this same is he
95
the adnl-
teresa.
that excusyd with his sotelte
A woman in avowtre;
ffull well may ye trust vs.
(12)
99
Primus tortor. Sir lazare can he rase / that' men may persaue, He raised
when he had lyne fower¹ dayes / ded in his graue;
AH men hym prase / both master and knaue,
Lazarus, and
uses such
witchcraft,
all men
praise Him.
Such wychcraft he mase. /
Secundus tortor.
If he abowte waue
Any langere,
104
his warkys may we ban;
ffor he has turned many man
Sen the tyme he began,
And done vs great hangere.
108
(13)
Primus tortor. he will not leyfe yit / be culpabyH;
Men call hym a prophete / Fall.comhyH.
Sir cayphas, bi my wytt/ ne shuld be dampnabiH,
Bot' wold ye two, as ye sytt / make it ferme and stabyH
113
To geder;
ffor ye two, as I traw,
May defende at oure law;
That mayde vs to you draw,
And bryng this lose heder.
117
1 MS. iiij.
The first
Torturer
calls on
Cayphas
and Anna to
defend the
law.
If Jesus
reigu any
more their
laws are
ruined.
Cayphas
examines
Jesus.
(Fol. 75, a.
Sig. M. 3.]
(14)
Secundus tortor. Sir, I can tell you before / as myght I
be maryd,
If he reyne any more / oure lawes ar myscaryd.
Primus tortor. Sir, opposed if he wore he shuld be
fon waryd;
That is well seyn thore / where he has long tarid
And walkyd.
he is sowre lottyn:
Ther is somwhat' forgottyn;
I shall thryng out the rottyn,
Be we haue al talkyd.
(15)
122
126
Cayphas. Now fare myght you fall/ for youre talkyng!
ffor, certys, I my self shał / make examynyng. [To Jesus.]
harstow, harlott, of aH/ of care may thou syng!
How durst thou the call/ aythere emperoure or kyng?
I do fy the!
what the dwił doyst thou here?
Thi dedys will do the dere;
Com nar and rowne in myn eeyr,
131
Or I shall ascry the.
(16)
135
He is
furious that
Jesus does
not answer.
Illa-hayit was thou borne ! / harke! says he oght' agane?
Thou shal onys or to-morne / to speke be full fayne.
This is a great' skorne / and a fals trane;
Now wols-hede and out-horne / on the be tane!
Vile fature!
140
Oone worde myght thou speke ethe,
yit myght it do the som letht,
Et omnis qui tacet'
hic consentire videtur.
(17)
144
Speke on oone word / right in the dwyllys name!
where was thi syre at bord / when he met with thi dame ?
what, nawder bowted ne spurd / and a lord of name !
Speke on in a torde / the dwill gif the shame,
Sir sybre !
Perde, if thou were a kyng,
149 He abuses
Jeana An a
foundling,
yit myght thou be ridyng;
ffy on the, fundlyng!
Thou lyfys bot bi brybre.
(18)
Lad, I am a prelate / a lord in degre,
Syttys in myn astate / as thou may se,
knyghtys on me to wate/in dyuerso degre;
I myght thole the abate / and knele on thi kne
In my present;
As euer syng I mes,
whoso kepis the lawe, I gess,
he gettis more by purches
153
and reminds
Him of his
own power.
Who has the
law in his
keeping has
a "better
purchase
158 than rent"
(wins more
by his pro-
fession than
by his
lands).
162
Then bi his fre rout.
(19)
The dwi gif the shame / that euer I knew the!
Nather blynde ne lame / wiH none persew the;
Therfor I shall the name / that euer shat rew the,
kyng copyn in oure game/thus shał I indew the,
ffor a fatur.
Say, dar thou not speke for ferde?
I shrew hym the lerd,
weme! the dwillys durt in thi berd,
Jesus is
King Coppin
167 (King
Empty-
Skein).
vyle fals tratur!
(20)
171
Though thi lyppis be stokyn / yit myght thou say, mom; He will have
Great wordis has thou spokyn / then was thou not dom.
Be it hole worde or brokyn / com, owt with som,
Els on the I shall be wrokyn / or thi ded com
AH outt.
Aythere has thou no wytt,
Or els ar thyn) eres dytt';
vengeance
on Him for
Ilis silence.
176
(Fol. 75, b.]
why bot herd thou not yit?
So, I cry and I showte.
(21)
180
Anna. A, sir, be not yH payde / though he not answere;
he is inwardly flayde / not right in his gere.
Anna begs
Cayphas to
be less
violent.
Cayphas is
bursting to
give Jesus a
blow
Cayphas. No, bot the wordis he has saide/ doth my
hart' great derc.
Anna. Sir, yit may ye be dayde. /
Cayphias.
Anna.
Sir, amese you.
nay, whils I lif nere.
185
Capyhas. Now fowl myght hym befa¤!
Anna. Sir, yo ar vexed at att,
And perauentur he shal
here after pleas you ;
(22)
we may bi oure law / examyn hym fyrst.
Cayphas. Bot I gif hym a blaw / my hart will brist.
Anna. Abyde to
Anna. Abyde to ye his purpose knaw. /
Cayphas.
189
nay, bot I shał out thrist
Both his een on a raw. /
Anna.
Be so vengeabyH;
sir, ye will not, I tryst,
194
Bot' let me oppose hym.
Cayphas. I pray you, and sloes hym.
If he may
not strike off
Anna. Sir, we may not lose hym
Bot' we were dampnabil.
(23)
198
Cayphas. he has adyld his ded/ a kyng he hym calde;
His head, he war! let me gyrd of his hede! /
will not eat
till Jesus is
in the
stocks.
Anna.
I hope not' ye wold ;¹
1
Bot' sir do my red / youre worship to hald.
Cayphas. Shatt I neuer ete bred / to that he be stald
In the stokys.
Anna. Sir, speke soft and styH,
let vs do as the law will.
Cayphas. Nay, I myself shal hym kył,
203
Anna
reminds
Cayphas he
is a man of
holy church,
And murder with knokys.
(24)
207
Anna. Sir, thynk ye that year / a man of holy kyrk,
ye shuld be oure techer 2 / mekenes to wyrk.
Cuyphas. yei, bot' all is out of har / and that shall he yrk.
Anna. AH soft may men go far / oure lawes ar not' myrk,
1 The ryme needs wald.'
2 The ryme needs 'techar.
I weyn;
Youre wordys ar bustus,
212 and they
must pro-
ceed by law.
Et hoc nos volumus
Quod de Iure possumus:
ye wote what I meyn;
(25)
It' is best that' we trete hym / with farenos.
Cayphas.
216
We, nay!
Anna. And so myght' we gett hym / som word for to say. (Fol. 76, a
Cayphas. war! let me bett hym! /
Anna.
syr, do away!
ffor if ye thus thrett hym / he spekys not this day.
Bot' herys;
wold ye sesse and abyde,
I shuld take hym on syde
And inquere of his pryde,
how he oure folke lerys.
(26)
Cayphas. he has reuyd ouer lang / with his fals lyys,
And done mekył wrang / sir cesar he defyes;
Therfor shall I hym hang/ or I vp ryse.
Anna. Sir, the law will not he gang/ on nokyn wyse
Sig. M. 4.]
221 He will ex-
225
amine Jesus
himself.
The law will
not allow
Him to go
unjudged,
but His
guilt must
be estab
Vndemyd;
Bot' fyrst wold I here
what he wold answere;
Bot' he dyd any dere
230
lished.
why shuld he be flemyd?
(27)
And therfor examynyng / ffyrst with I make,
Sen that he callys hym a kyng. /
Cayphas.
234
bot he that forsake
I shał gyf hym a wryng/ that his nek shall crak.
Anna. Syr, ye may not hym dyng / no word yit he
spake,
That I wyst.
hark, felow, com nar!
wył thou neuer be war?
I haue meruel thou dar
Thus do thyn awne lyst.
239
[To Jesus.]
243
Cayphas
still
threatens.
Anna asks
Jesus if He
(28)
Bot' I shaH do as the law wył / if the people ruse the ;
is God's Son, Say, dyd thou oght this yH? / can thou oght excuse the?
and is
answered.
why standys thou so styH / when men thus accuse the?
ffor to hyng on a hyH / hark how thay ruse the
Cayphas
Bay's they
need no
more
witness.
To dam.
Say, art thou godys son of heuen,
As thou art wonte for to neuen?
Ihesus. So thou says by thy steuen,
And right so I am;
(29)
248
252
ffor after this shalt thou se / when that [I] do com downe
In brightnes on he / in clowdys from abone.
towne !
Cayphas. A, iH myght the feete be/ that broght' the to
Thou art worthy to de! / say, thefe, where is tni crowne?
Anna. Abyde, sir,
257
let vs lawfully redres.
Cayphas. we nede no wytnes,
hys self says expres;
whi shuld I not' chyde, sir?
261
(30)
Anna. was ther neuer man so wyk / bot' he myght' amende.
when it com to the pryk / right as youre self kend.
(Fol. 76, b.] Cayphas. Nay, sir, bot' I shall hym styk / euen with
Let him put
Jesus to
death at
once.
Anna says
they have no
power to
kill.
myn awne hend;
ffor if he reue and be whyk / we ar at' an end,
AH sam!
Therfor, whils I am in this brethe,
let me put hym to deþ.
Anna. Sed nobis non licet'
Interficere quemquam.
(31)
Sir, ye wote better then I / we shuld slo no man.
Cayphas. his dedys I defy / his warkys may we ban,
Therfor shat he by. /
Anna.
And do it lawfully. /
Cayphas.
Anna.
nay, on oder wyse than,
as how?
tel
you
I can.
266
270
Caiphas.
let sc.
Anna. Sir take tent to my sawes;
275 Men of tein-
poral laws
inust judge
auch a
Men of temporal lawes
Thay may deme sich cause,
And so may not we.
(32)
279
matter.
Cayphas. My hart is fuH cold / nerehand that I swelt;
ffor talys that ar told / I bolne at my belt,
Vnethes may it hold / my body, an ye it felt;
yit wold I gif of my gold/yond tratoure to pelt
ffor euer.
Anna. Good sir, do as ye hett' me.
Cuiphus. whi shat he ouer-sett' me?
Sir anna, if ye lett, me
ye do not youre deuer.
284
288
Cayphas
says if Anna
hinders him
he is not
doing his
duty.
(33)
Anna. Sir, ye ar a prelate. /
Cayphas.
so may I wel seme,
My self if I say it./
be not to breme;
Anna.
Sich men of astate / shuld no men deme,
bot send them to pilate / the temporal law to yeme
has he;
he may best threte hym,
And all to rehete hym;
It is shame you to bete hym
Therfor, sir, let' be.
(34)
293
297
Anna pro-
poses to
send Jesus
to Pilate.
Cayphas. ffy on hym and war! / I am oute of my gate; Cayphas
say why standys he so far. /
Anna.
sir, he cam bot' late.
Cayphas. No, bot I haue knyghtys that dar / rap hym
on the pate.
Anna. ye ar bot to skar / good sir abate,
wants to set
his knights
on Jesus;
Anna re-
monstrates.
And here;
what nedys you to chyte?
what nedys you to flyte?
If ye yond man smyte,
ye ar irregulere.
302
306
Cayphas
laments he
was ever
made a
clerk, that
(35)
Cayphas. he that' fyrst made me clerk and taght me
my lare,
On bookys for to barke / the dwiH gyf hym care!
[Fol. 77, a.) Anna. A, good sir, hark! / sich wordys myght ye spare.
he may not
beat Jesus
himself.
Cayphas. Els myght I haue inade vp wark
harlot and mare,
perde !
Bot certys, or he hens yode,
of yond
311
Anna con-
sents to the
knights
buffeting
Jeaus
It wold do me som good
To so knyghtys knok his hoode
with knokys two or thre.
(36)
ffor sen he has trespast / and broken oure law,
315
let' vs make hym agast / and set hym in awe.
Anna. sir, as ye haue hast / it' shalbe, I traw.
Com and make redy fast / ye knyghtys on a raw,
youre arament';
320
And that kyng to you take,
And with knokys make hym wake.
Cayphas. yei, syrs, aud for my sake
324
(37)
Gyf hym good payment.
ffor if I myght go with you / as I wold that I myght,
I shuld make myn avowe / that ons or mydnyght
I shuld make his heede sow / wher that I hyt right.
They assure Primus tortor. Sir, drede you not now / of this cursed
Cayphas
they will not
spare Him.
wight
To day,
ffor we shall so rok hym,
and with buffettys knok hym.
Cayphas. And I red that ye lok hym,
That he ryn not away,
(38)
ffor I red not we mete / if that' lad skap.
329
333
Secundus tortor. Sir, on vs be it / bot we clowt well his
kap.
Cayphas. wold ye do as ye heytt / it were a fayr hap.
primus tortor. Sir, see ye and sytt / how that we hym
knap,
Oone ffeste ;
Bot or we go to this thyng,
Sayn vs, lord, with thy ryng.
Cayphas. Now he shall haue my blyssyng
338 They ask
him to bless
them with
his ring.
Cayphas
promises
his blessing
to the one
That knokys hym the best.
(39)
342
who buffets
best.
Secundus tortor. Go we now to oure noyte / with this
fond foyH.
primus tortor. we shall teche hym, I wote / a new play The first
of yoyH,
And hold hym fuH hote / frawrord, a stoy
Go fetch vs!
And vnneth;
Torturer
sends Fro-
ward for a
stool. Fro-
ward and
the other
remonstrate,
froward.
We, dote! / now els were it doyH
347
ffor the wo that he shaH dre
let hym knele on his kne.
Secundus tortor. And so shaH he for me;
Go fetche vs a light buffit.
351
(40)
froward. why must he sytt soft with a meki mys- but are told
chaunce,
they can
buffet Jesus
more easily,
That has tenyd vs thus oft? /
primus tortor.
sir, we do it for a skawnce;
If he stode vp on loft / we must hop and dawnse
As cokys in a croft. /
froward'.
Now a veniance
Com on hym!
Good skit can ye shew,
As fell I the dew;
haue this, bore it', shrew!
ffor soyn shall we fon hym.
(41)
[Fol. 77, b.)
356
if He be
acated.
360
Secundus tortor. Com, sir, and syt downe / must ye They bid
be prayde!
lyke a lord of renowne / youre sete is arayde.
primus tortor. we shaH preue on his crowne / the wordys
Secundus tortor. Ther is none in this towne / I trow,
he has sayde.
iH paydo
be
Jesus sit
18
S
All His kin
may not
Of his sorow,
rescue Him. Bot the fader that hym gate.
primus tortor. Now, for oght that I wate,
AH his kyn commys to late
his body to borow.
(42)
365
369
They send
Secundus tortor. I wold we were onwarde. /
Froward for
a veil to
primus tortor.
blind Jesus
with.
bot his een must be hyd.
Secundus tortor. yei, bot' thay be well spard / we lost'
that we dyd;
Step furth thou, froward!/
froward.
primus tortor. Thou art euer away ward. /
frowurd.
Bot me?
I may syng ylla-hayH.
what is now betyd?
haue ye none to hyd
374
Secundus tortor. Thou must get vs a vayH.
Froward
quarrels
froward. ye ar euer in oone tayH.
primus tortor. Now iH myght thou the !
378
(43)
well had thou thi name / for thou was euer curst.
froward. Sir, I myght' say the same / to you if I durst';
with thein.
yit my hyer may I clame / no penny I purst';
I have had mekył shame / hunger and thurst,¹
In youre seruyce.
383
primus tortor. Not oone word so bold!
froward. why, it is trew that I told!
ffayn preue it I wold.
Secundus tortor. Thou shalbe cald to peruyce.
387
(44)
But brings froward. here a vayH haue I fon / I trow it wil last.
the veil.
primus tortor. Bryng it hyder, good son / that is it'
that I ast.
froward. how shuld it be bon ?/
Secundus tortor.
abowte his heade cast.
primus tortor. yei, and when it is well won / knyť a
knot fast
1 MS. thrust.
I red.
froward. Is it weyH1
Secundus tortor.
yei, knaue.
froward. what, weyn ye that I rafe 1
Cryst curs myght he haue
392 They blind-
fold Jesus.
That last bond his head!
(45)
396
primus tortor. Now sen he is blynfold/ I fall to begyn,
And thus was I counseld / the mastry to wyn.
The tor-
[Fol. 78, a.]
Secundus tortor. Nay, wrang has thou told / thus shuld turers vie
thou com in!
with each
other in
smiting
froward. I stode and beheld thou towchid not the Him,
skyn,
Bot fowH.
primus tortor. how wit thou I do?
Secundus tortor. On this manere, lo l
401
froward. yei, that was well gone to,
Thar start vp a cowH.
(46)
405
primus tortor. Thus shat we hym refe/ alt his fonde
talys.
Secundus tortor. Ther is noght in thi nefe / or els thi
hart' falys.
froward. I can my hand vphefe / and knop out the
skalys.
primus tortor. Godys forbot ye lefe / bot set in youre nalys
On raw.
Sit vp and prophecy.
froward. Bot make vs no ly.
Secundus tortor. who smote the last?
primus tortor.
froward. he wote not, I traw.
(47)
410
was it It
414
primus tortor. ffast to sir cayphas / go we togeder.1
and bid Him
prophecy
who smote
Him last.
Secundus tortor. Ryse vp with it grace so com thou They bring
hyder.
froward. It semys by his pase/he groches to go thyder.
primus tortor. we haue gyfen hym a glase / ye may
consyder,
The ryme needs fogyder
Him again
to Bir
Caiaphas.
The tor-
turers boast
that they
have almost
To kepe.
Secundus tortor. Sir, for his great' boost,
killed Jesus. with knokys he is indoost.
Caiaphas
bids them
take Jesus
to Pilate,
get fears lest
Pilate may
be bribed to
acquit Him.
froward. In fayth, sir, we had almost
knokyd¹ hym on slepe.
(48)
419
423
Cuyphas. Now sen he is well bett / weynd on youre gate,
And tell ye the forfett/ vnto sir pylate;
ffor he is a Iuge sett / emang men of state,
And looke that' ye not let. /
primus tortor.
Be lyfe !
we shał lede the a trott.
Com furth, old crate,
jus tortor. lyft thy feete may thou not.
froward. Then nedys me do nott'
Bot' com after and dryfe.
(49)
Cayphas. Alas, now take I hede! /
Anna.
428
why mowrne ye sol
Cayphas. ffor I am euer in drede / wandreth, and wo,
lest' pylate for mede / let' ihesus go;
Bot' had I slayn hym indede / with thise handys two,
At onys,
AH had bene qwytt than;
Bot' gyftys marres many man.
437
Bot' he deme the sothe than,
432
Pi
The dwill haue his bonys!
(50)
441
[Fol. 78, b.] Sir anna, ał I wyte you this blame / for had ye not beyn,
I had mayde hym fuł tame / yei, stykyd hym, I weyn,
To the hart' full wan2 / with this dagger so keyn.
After up-
braiding
Anna he
starts off to
follow them. Anna. Sir, you must shame / sich wordys for to meyn
Emang men.
Cayphas. I will not dwell in this stede,
Bot' spy how thay hym lede,
And persew on his dede.
446
ffare well! we gang, men.
450
Explicit Coliphizacio.
¹ MS. 'knokyp.'
2 Assonant to 'fame, shame.'
The
1
4
Pilatus.
Primus Tortor.
Secundus Tortor.
Tercius Tortor.

XXII. The Scourging

Flagellacio

(XXII.)
Incipit Fflagellacio.
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus Consultus.
Secondus Consultus.
Jesus.
Johannes Apostolus.
Maria.
Maria Magdalene.
Maria Jacobi.
Symon.]
[49 stanzas; 4 of 13 lines, ab ab ab ab c, ddde; 1 of 12 lines, aab
ccb, bb dd bb; 24 of 9 lines, aaaab cccb; 13 of 8 lines, aab sab
bb; 2 of 6 lines, aaaa bb ; 4 of 4 lines, aaaa ¹; 1 of 4 lines, an bb.]
Pilatus.
P
(1)
easse at my bydyng, ye wyghtys in wold!
Looke none be so hardy to speke a word bot' I,
Or by mahowne most myghty, maker on mold,
With this brande that I bere ye shalt bytterly
aby.
Say, wote ye not that I am pylate, perles to behold?
Most doughty in dedys of dukys of the Iury;
In bradyng of batels I am the most bold,
Therfor my name to you wiH I dyscry,
No mys.
I am full of sotelty,
ffalshed, gyll, and trechery;
Pilate rages,
boasting
himself full
and guile,
fore called
4 actoris."
of subtlety
9
and there-
"mali
Therfor am I namyd by clergy
As mali actoris.
(2)
13
ffor like as on both sydys the Iren the hamer makith playn, (Vol. 79, a.)
So do I, that the law has here in my kepyng;
The right side to socoure, certys, I am ful bayn,
If I may get therby a vantege or wynyng;
Then to the fals parte I turne me agayn,
ffor I se more VayH wiH to me be risyng;
Thus euery man to drede me shalbe fuH fayn,
And all faynt of thare fayth to me be obeyng,
1 All the aaaa lines have central rymes, markt here by bars.
In judging
he inclines
first to the
right, then
17 to the
wrong, for
the sake of
bribes.
18⭑
Truly.
AH fals endytars,
Quest gangars, and Iurars,
And thise out-rydars
Ar welcom to me.
(3)
22
26
He means to Bot' this prophete, that has prechyd and puplyshed so playn
pretend to
be Christ's
friend, but
finally to
crucify Him,
Cristen law, crist thay call hym in oure cuntre;
Bot' oure prynces fuł prowdly this nyght' haue hym tayn,
ffuH tytt to be dampned he shall be hurlyd byfore me;
I shaft fownde to be his freynd vtward, in certeyn,
And shew hym fare cowntenance and wordys of vanyte ;
Bot' or this day at nyght' on crosse shał he be slayn,
Thus agans hym in my hart I bere great' enmyte
fful sore.
35
ye men that' vse bak-bytyngys,
and rasars of slanderyngys,
ye ar my dere darlyngys,
And mahowns for euermore.
(4)
ffor no thyng in this warld dos me more grefe
more than to
Nothing
angers him
hear of
Christ and
His new law.
Then for to here of crist' and of his new lawes;
39
To trow that he is godys son my hart wold aH to-clefe,
Though he be neuer so trew both in dedys and in sawes
Therfor shall he suffre meki myschefe,
And at the dyscypyls that vnto hym drawes;
ffor ouer al solace to me it is most lefe,
The shedyng of cristen bloode, and that' aH Iury knawes,
I say you.
My knyghtys full swythe
Thare strengthes wiH thay kyth,
And bryng hym be-lyfe ;
lo, where thay com now!
(5)
48
52
The first tor- primus tortor. I haue ron that I swett / from sir herode
turer arrives
bringing
oure kyng
[Fol. 79, b.] With this man that will not lett / oure lawes to downe
Jesus, as
froin Herod.
bryng;
he has done so mych forfett / of care may he syng;
Thruȝ dom of sir pylate he gettys/an y endyng
And sore;
The great warkys he has wroght
Shah serue hym of noght',
And bot' thay be dere boght
lefe me no more.
(6)
57 The great
works Jesus
has done
shall serve
Him
nothing.
61
Bot' make rowme in this rese / I byd you, belyfe,
He bids the
people make
And of youre noys that ye sesso / both man and wyfe; room, and
To sir pylate on dese / this man will we dryfe,
hurries
Jesus on.
his dede for to dres / and refe hym his lyfe
This day;
Do draw hym forward!
whi stand ye so bakward?
Com on, sir, hyderward,
As fast as ye may !
(7)
66
70
Secundus tortor. Do put hym a-rase/whyls we be gangyng; The second
I shall spytt' in his face / though it be fare shynyng;
Of vs thre gettys thou no grace / thi dedys ar so noyng,
Bot' more sorow thou hase / oure myrth is incresyng,
No lak.
ffelows, al in hast,
75
torturer
threatens
Jesus, and
binds His
hands be-
hind Him.
with this band that will last
Let' vs bynde fast
Both his handys on his bak.
(8)
79
torturer
calls on
Pilate to
crucify
Jesus.
Tercius tortor. I shall lede the a dawnce/Vnto sir pilate hat; The third
Thou betyd an y chawnce / to com emnangys vs aH.
Sir pilate, with youre cheftance / to you we cry and cał
That' ye make som ordynance with this brodeй thraй,
By skyH;
This man that we led
84
On crosse ye put' to ded.
Pilatus. what! with outten
any
red?
(9)
That' is not my wył;
Bot' ye, wysest' of law / to me ye be tendand:
This man withoutten awe / which ye led in a band,
Nather in dede ne in saw / can I fynd with no wrang,
wherfor ye shuld hym draw/or bere falsly on hand
Pilate pre-
tends to take
88 Jesus' part,
and sum-
mons his
counsellors.
It will be a
shame if
Jesus be
killed,
Herod
[Fol. 80, a.]1
could find
no fault in
Him.
With it.
ye say he turnes oure pepyH,
ye call hym fals and fekyH;
warldys shame is on you mekył
This man if ye spyH.
(10)
Of all thise causes ilkon / which ye put on hym,
Herode, truly as stone / coud fynd with nokyns gyn
Nothyng herapon / that' pent' to any syn;
why shuld I then so soyn / to ded here deme hym?
Therfor
This is my counsel,
I will not with hym met;
Let Him go let hym go where he wył
ffor now and euermore.
(11)
93
97
102
106
The first
Counsellor
urges that
Jesus has
called Him-
self a king.
Pilate re-
minds Jesus
of His
power.
Jesus says
the power is
given him by
the Trinity.
Primus consultus. Sir, I say the oone thyng / without any
mys,
he callys his self a kyng/ther he none is;
Thus he wold downe bryng / oure lawes, I-wys,
with his fals lesyng / and his quantys,
This tyde.
Pilatus. herk, felow, com nere!
Thou knowes I haue powere
To excuse or to dampne here,
In bay to abyde.
(12)
111
115
Ihesus. Sich powere has thou noght / to wyrk thi wit
thus with me,
Bot' from my fader that is broght / oone-fold god in
persons thre.
Pilatus. Certys, it is fallen wel in my thoght / at this
tyme, as well wote ye,
A thefe that any felony has wroght / to lett hym skap
or go fre
¹ At the beginning of this page of the MS., is a large initial letter
D, which, however, has no connection with the ensuing text.
Away;
Therfor ye lett hym pas.
primus tortor. Nay, nay, bot barabas!
And ihesus in this case
To deth ye dam) this day.
(13)
120 Pilate offers
to release
Jesus be-
cause of the
Feast, but
the first tor-
turer asks
for Barab-
124 bas.
pilatus. Syrs, looke ye take good hede his cloysse ye Pilate bids
spoyH hym fro,
ye gar his body blede / and bett hym blak and bloo.
Secundus tortor. This man, as myght I spede / that has
wroght vs this wo,
how "Iudicare" comys in crede / shał we teche, or we
go,
them strip
Jesus and
Scourge
Him.
AH soyne.
haue bynd to this pyllar.
Tercius tortor. why standys thou so far?
primus tortor. To bett' his body bar
I haste, withoutten hoyne.
(14)
129
133
Secundus tortor. Now fat I the fyrst / to flap on hys hyde.
Tercius tortor. My hartt wold a to-bryst / bot I myght
tyl hym glyde.
primus tortor. A swap fayn, if I durst/wold I lene the
this tyde.
Secundus tortor. war! lett me rub on the rust / that
the bloode downe glyde
As swythe.
Tercius tortor. haue att!
primus tortor. Take thou that!
138
turers vie
The tor-
with each
other in
cruelty.
Secundus tortor. I shall lene the a flap,
My strengthe for to kythe.
(15)
142
Tercius tortor. Where on seruys thi prophecy / thou teH (Fol. 80, b.]
vs in this case,
And all thi warkys of greatt mastry / thou shewed in They scoff
dyuers place?
primus tortor. Thyn apostels full radly / ar run from the
a rase,
Thou art here in oure baly / withoutten any grace
at Him,
They would
Scourge
Jesus to
death, but
for Pilate.
Of skap.
Secundus tortor. Do, rug him.
Tercius tortor. Do, dyng hym.
147
primus tortor. Nay, I myself shuld ky hym
Bot' for sir pilate.
(16)
151
They call to Syrs, at the ffeste of architreclyn / this prophete he was;
mind His
miracles-
His turning
water into
wine and
walking on
the sea,
Ther turnyd he water into wyn / that day he had sich
grace,
his apostels to hym can enclyn / and other that ther was;
The see he past bot few yeres syn / it lete hym walk
theron apase
At wył;
The elementys att bydeyn,
156
And wyndes that ar so keyn,
The firmamente, as I weyn,
Ar hym obeyng tył.
(17)
160
His healing jus. tortor. A lepir cam full fast / to this man that'
a leper and
the Cen-
turion's son,
His giving
sight to a
blind man
on the way
from
Jericho.
here standys,
And prayed hym, in all hast / of bay to lowse his
bandys;
his trauel was not wast / thouȝ he cam from far landys ;
This prophete tył hym past / and helyd hym with his
handys,
fful blythe.
The son of Centuryon,
ffor whom his fader made greatt' mone,
Of the palsy he helyd anone,
Thay lowfyd hym oft' sythe.
(18)
165
169
iijus tortor. Sirs, as he cam from iherico / a blynde
man satt by the way;
To hym walkand with many mo/cryand to hym thus
can he say,
"Thou son of dauid, or thou go / of blyndnes hele thou
me this day."
Ther was he helyd of all his wo sich wonders can
he wyrk all way
At wyH;
he rasys men from deth to lyfe,
And castys out' devyls from thame oft sythe,
seke men cam to hym full ryfe,
He helys thaym of aH yH.
(19)
174 Jesus can
178
raise the
dead and
cast out
devils.
primus tortor. ffor all thise dedys of great louyng/fower1 But the first
thyngys I haue fond certanly,
torturer re-
members
that (1) He
ffor which he is worthy to hyng: /oone is oure kyng that claimed to
he wold be;
be king, (2)
healed the
sick on the
Oure sabbot day in his wyrkyng / ho lettys not to hele the Sabbath, (3)
said He
would de-
stroy the
seke truly;
he says oure temple he shall downe bryng / and in thre 2 temple and
daies byg it in hy
AH hole agane ;
Syr pilate, as ye sytt',
build it
again in
three days.
183 He calls on
Pilate to
crucify
Jesus.
looke wysely in youre wytt;
Dam ihesu or ye flytt
On crosse to suffre his payne.
(20)
187
Big. n. 1.)
pilatus. Thou man that suffurs at this yH / Why WyH [Fol. 81, .
thou Vs no mercy cry?
Slake thy hart and thi greatt' wył / whyls on the we Pilate bids
haue mastry;
Of thy greatt warkes shew vs som skyH; / men call the
kyng, thou tell vs why;
wherfor the Iues seke the to spyH/ the cause I
Jesus work
BOING
miracle.
wold knowe wytterly,
perdee;
Say what is thy name,
Thou lett for no shame,
Thay putt on the greatt blame,
192
Els myght [thou] skap for me.
(21)
He himself
would re-
196 lease Him.
Secundus Consultus. Syr pilate, prynce peerles / this is The first
my red,
That he skap not harmeles / bot do hym to ded:
he cals hym a kyng in euery place / thus wold he ouer led
Oure people in his trace / and oure lawes downe tred
¹ MS. iiij, apparently a mistake for iij.
2 MS. iij.
Counsellor
alleges
Jesus' clain
to be king.
The knights
and people
are crying
for His
crucifixion.
By skyH;
Syr, youre knyghtes of good lose,
and the pepy with oone voce,
To hyng hym hy on a crosse
Thay cry and call you vntyH.
(22)
201
205
Pilate asks pilatus. Now certys, this is a wonder thyng that ye
why they
will not
obey their
king?
The third
torturer
answers
that Caesar
is their king.
Pilate
washes his
hands,
and bids
them take
Jesus and
crucify Him.
The tor-
turers exult.
wold bryng to noght
hym that is youre lege lordyng / In faith this was far
soght';
Bot' say, why make ye none obeyng / to hym that ał has
wroght?
Tercius Tortor. Sir, he is oure chefe lordyng/sir Cesar
so worthyly wroght
On mold.
pylate, do after vs,
And dam to deth ihesus
Or to sir Cesar we trus,
And make thy frenship cold.
(23)
210
214
pilatus. Now that I am sakles of this bloode shal
ye see;
Both my handys in expres / weshen sal be;
This bloode bees dere boght I ges / that' ye spil so frele.
primus tortor. we pray it fall endles / on vs and oure
meneye,
with wrake.
pilatus. Now youre desyre fulfy I shaH;
Take hym emangs you all,
On crosse ye put that thraH,
his endyng ther to take.
(24)
219
223
primus tortor. Com on! tryp on thi tose / without any
fenyng;
Thou has made many glose / with thy fals talkyng.
Secundus tortor. we ar worthy greatte lose that thus
has broght a kyng
ffrom sir pilate and othere fose
thus into oure ryng,
withoutt any hoyne.
Sirs, a kyng he hym cals,
Therfor a crowne hym befals.
I shall it' ordan soyne.
(25)
Tercius tortor. I swere by a myn elder sauls,
228 As Jesus
232
calls Him-
self a king,
He must
have a
crown.
primus tortor. Lo! here a crowne of thorne/ to perch (Fol. 81, b.)
his brane within,
putt on his hede with skorne/ and gar thyr the skyn.
Secundus tortor. hay kyng! where was thou borne/ sich
worship for to wyn?
we knele at the beforne / and the to grefe will we not
blyn,
That' be thou bold;
Now by mahownes bloode!
Ther will no mete do me goode
237
They crown
thorns and
Him with
mock Him.
To he be hanged on a roode,
And his bones be cold.
(26)
241
primus tortor. Syrs, we may be fayn / ffor I haue fon They and a
a tree,
I tell you in certan / it is of greatt bewtee,
On the which he shall suffre payn / be feste with nales
tree for a
cross, and
begin to
make ready.
thre,
Ther shalt nothyng hym gayn / ther on to he dede be,
I insure it;
246
Do, bryng hym hence.
Secundus tortor. Take vp oure gere and defence.
Tercius tortor. I wold spende all my spence
To se hym ones skelpt.
250
(27)
primus tortor. This cros vp thou take / and make the The first tor-
redy bowne;
towne ;
turer bids
Jesus bear
the cross.
Withoutt gruchyng thou rake / and bere it thrugh the Mary will
Mary, thi moder, I wote wiH make / great mowrnyng and
mone,
But for thy fals dedys sake / shortly thou salbe slone,¹
This line is added by a later hand.
mourn for
Him.
The people
of Bethle-
hem and
Jerusalem
No nay;
The pepy of bedlem,
shall wonder and gentyls of Ierusalem,
at Jesus to
day.
AH the comoners of this reme,
255
John
laments for
Jesus.
shał wonder on the this day.
(28)
259
[John and the Holy Women appear on another part of the
stage.]
Iohannes apostolus. Alas! for my master moste of myght,
That yester euen with lanterne bright
before Caiphas was broght;
Both peter and I sagh that sight',
262
And sithen we fled away full wight,
when Iues so wonderly wroght;
265
He must tell
Mary and
the other
My moder and hir syster also,
women.
At morne thay toke to red, And fals witnes furth soght,¹
And demyd hym to be dede, That' to thaym trespaste
noght,¹
(29)
Alas! for his modere and othere moo,
Sat sam with syghyng sore;
267
270
[Ful. 82, a.
Thay Wote nothyng of all this wo,
Big. n. 2.]
Therfor to tel thaym will I go,
Sen I may mend no more.
273
If he shuld dy thus tyte And thay vnwarned wore,
I were Worthy to wyte; I will go fast therfor.
275
(30)
[Goes to the women.]
He greets
Mary and
shows he
has bad
news.
God saue you, systers aH in fere !
Dere lady, if thi will were,
I must tell tythyngys playn.
Maria. Welcom, Iohn, my cosyn dere!
how farys my son sen thou was here?
That' wold I wyt fuł fayn.
278
281
Iohannes. A, dere lady with youre leyff, The trouth shuld
no man layn,
Ne witli godys wiH thaym grefe.
Mary asks if Maria.
her son be
slain.
whi, Iohn, is my son slayn? 283
1 These two lines, and the corresponding ones in the next five
stanzas, are written as four in the MS.
(31)
Iohannes. Nay lady, I saide not so,
Bot' ye me myn he told vs two
And thaym that with vs wore,
how he with pyne shuld pas vs fro,
John re-
minds her of
the words of
Jesus as to
His death
286
and coming
again.
And efte shuld com vs to,
To amende oure syghyng sore;
269
It may not stand in stede To sheynd youre self therfore.
Muria magdalene. Alas! this day for drede! Good Iohin,
neven this no more!
(32)
Speke prenaly I the pray,
ffor I am ferde, if we hir flay,
291
Mary Mag-
dalen and
Mary the
mother of
That she will ryn and rafe.
Iohannes. The sothe behowys me nede to say,
he is damyd to dede this day,
Ther may no sorow hym safe.
294 James bid
him break
the news
first to them.
He tells
297
them Jesus
Maria Iacobi. Good Iohn, tel vnto vs two What thou of
hir will crafe,
And we will gladly go And help that thou it haue. 299
(33)
Iohannes. Systers, youre mowrnyng may not amende ;
And ye wiłł ever, or he take ende,
Speke with my master free,
Then must ye ryse and with me weynd,
And kepe hym as he shall be kend
Withoutt yond same cyte;
If ye will nyȝ me nere, Com fast and felowe me.
in con-
demned.
[Fol. 82, b.)
302 If they
would speak
to Him
again, they
must make
haste.
305
Maria. A, help me, systers dere! That I my son
may see.
(34)
Maria Magdalene. Lady, we wold weynd fuł fayn,
Hertely With all oure myght and mayn,
youre comforth to encrese.
Maria. Good Iohin, go before and frayn.
Iohannes. Lo, where he commes vs euen agayn
with all yond mekył prese!
307
310 Mary bids
John go be-
fore them.
313
AH youre mowrnyng in feyr / may not his sorow sese.
Maria. Alas, for my son dere, / that me to moder
chese!
[They meet Jesus.] 315
(35)
Mary would
bear her
Son's cross.
Alas, dere son for care / I se thi body blede;
My self I wiH for-fare / for the in this great drede,
This cros on thi shulder bare / to help the in this nede,
I will it bere with greatt hart sare / wheder thay will the
lede.
319
Jesus says it Ihesus. This cros is large in lengthe/ and also bustus
is too heavy
for her.
Mary bids
Him have
pity on Him-
self.
Jesus says
He must die
and rise
again to save
man.
The other
Maries
lament.
[Fol. 83, a.
Big. N. 3.]
with al;
If thou put to thi strengthe/ to the erthe thou mon downe
fal.
(36)
321
Maria. A dere son, thou let me / help the in this case!
et inclinabit crucem ad matrem suam.
Ihesus. lo, moder, I tell it the / to bere no myght thou
hase.
Maria. I pray the, dere son, it may so be / to man thou
gif thi grace,
On thi self thou haue pyte / and kepe the from thi
foyse. 1
(37)
325
Ihesus. ffor sothe, moder, this is no nay / on cros I must
dede dre,
And from deth ryse on the thryd day / thus prophecy
says by me;
Mans sau that I luffyd ay / I shatt redeme securly,
Into blis of heuen for ay / I shall it bryng to me. 329
(38)
Maria Magdalene. It is greatt sorow to any wyght/Ihesus,
to se with Iues keyn,
How he in dyuerse payns is dight / ffor sorow I water boþ
myn) eeyn.
331
Maria Iacobi. This lord that is of myght/ dyd neuer
ył truly,
Thise Iues thay do not right / if thay deme hym to dy.
(39)
Maria Magdalene. Alas! what shall we say! / ihesus
that is so leyfe,
334
To deth thise Iues this day / thay lede with paynes ful
grefe.
1 The ryme needs fayse,' foes.
Maria Iacobi. He was ful truc, I say though thay dam Their hearts
hym as thefe,
Mankynde he lufed a way for sorow my hart wiH
clefe.
(40)
337
will cleave
for sorrow.
Ihesus. ye doghters of Ierusalem /I byd you wepe nothyng Jesus bids
for me,
them lament
for them.
selves and
Bot' for youre self and youre barn-teme / behald I tcH their chil-
you securle,
Sore paynes ar ordand for this reme / in dayes herafter for
to be;
youre myrth to bay it shaH downe streme in ouery
place of this cyte.
(41)
341
Childer, certys, thay shal blys / women baren that neuer
child bare,
And pappes that neuer gaf sowke, Iwys thus shal
thare hartys for sorow be sare ;
The montayns hy and thise greatt hyllys / thay shaH byd
fall apon them thare,
ffor my bloode that sakles is to shede and spyH thay
will not spare.
345
dren.
Secundus tortor. walk ou, and lefe thi vayn carpyng / it' The second
shall not saue the fro thy dede,
torturer bids
Him ceaso
His vain
wheder thise women cry or syng / for any red that thay talking.
can red.
(42)
Tercius tortor. Say wherto abyde we here abowte,
Thise qwenes with scremyng and with showte?
May no man thare wordys stere?
347
The other
torturers
threaten the
women.
350
primus tortor. Go home, thou casbald, with that clowte!
Or, by that lord I leyfe and lowte,
Thou shalt by it' fut dere!
you holly in fere.
353
Maria Magdalene. This thyng shall venyance cał / on
Secundus tortor. Go, hy the hens with aH/or y hay
cam thou here!
iijus tortor. let all this bargan be/ syn all oure toyles ar The third
before;
This tratoure and this tre / I wold full fayn were thore.
torturer
hurries
Jesus on.
T
The third
torturer sees
that Jesus
cannot bear
the cross.
They bid
Simon ease
Him of it.
Simon says
he is on a
Journey.
great
Ijus tortor. It nedys not hym to harH/ this cros dos
hym greatt dere,
Bot yonder commys a carll/ shat help hym for to
[Enter Simon of Cyrene.]
bere.
(43)
ijus tortor. That' shall we soyn se on assay.
herk, good man, wheder art' thou on away }
Thou walkes as thou were wrath.
Symon. Syrs, I haue a greatt Iornay
That must be done this same day,
Or els it will me skathe.
362
365
[Fol. 83, b.] Tercius tortor. Thou may with lytyH payn / easse hym
and thi self both.¹
·
Simon'. Good syrs, that wold I fayn / bot' for to tary
were full loth.¹
(44)
367
The first tor- primus tortor. Nay, nay! thou shall ful soyn be speck;
turer presses
him for
pity's sake,
but Simon
alleges his
haste
lo here a lad that must be led
ffor his y dedys to dy,
And he is bressed and aH for bled,
That' makys vs here thus stratly sted;
we pray the, sir, for-thi,
That thou will take this tre / bere it' to caluary.
370
373
Symon'. Good sirs, that may not be / ffor full greatt
haste haue I,
375
(45)
The second
No longere may I hoyn.
torturer says
that Jesus
ijus tortor. In fayth thou shall not go so soyn
must be dead
by noon,
and Simon
must needs
help them.
ffor noght that thou can say
378
This dede must nedys be done,
And this carll be dede or noyn,
And now is nere myd day;
381
Simon still
excuses him-
self.
And therfor help vs at this nede / and make vs here no
more delay.
Symon'. I pray you do youre dede / and let me go my
way;
(46)
And I shał com fuł soyn agane,
To help this man with ał my mayn,
383
¹ The ryme needs 'bath, lath.'
At youre awne wył.
386
iijus tortor. what and wold thou trus with sich a trane?
Nay fatur, thou shall be full fayn,
This forward to fulfyH;
389
The tortur-
crs threaten1
Bunon.
Or, by the myght of mahowne! thou shalt lyke it
futt ył.
primus tortor. Tytt, let dyng this dastard downe / bot
he lay hand ther tyH.
(47)
Symon'. Certys, that were vnwyscly wroght,
To beytt me bot if I trespast oght
391
Aythere in worde or dede.
394
ijus tortor. Apon thi bak it shall be broght,
Thou berys it wheder thou will or noght!
397
He shall
bear the
Cross,
whether he
will or no.
DewyH! whom shuld we drede ?
And therfor take it here belyfe / And bere it furth, good
spede.
Symon'. It helpys not here to strife / bere it behoues me
nede;
(48)
And therfor, syrs, as ye haue sayde,
Sinon sees
he must bear
399
it,
and is well
content to
help Christ.
To help this man I am well payde,
As ye wold that' it were.
402
iijus tortor. A, ha! now ar we right arayde,
bot' loke oure gere be redy grade,
To wyrk when we com there.
405
primus tortor. I warand at redy / oure toyles both moore (Fol. 84, a.,
and les,
And sir symon truly / gose on before with cros.
(49)
Tercius tortor. Now by mahowne, oure heuen kyng,
I wold that we were in that stede
where we myght hym on cros bryng.
Step on before, and furth hym lede
A trace.
primus tortor. Com on thou!
Sig. N. 4.]
407
412
The tortur-
ers hurry to
their work.
ijus tortor. Put on thou!
iijus tortor. I com fast' after you,
And folowse on the chace.
416
Explicit Flagellacio.
Pilatus.
Primus Tortor.
Secundus Tortor.

XXIII. The Crucifixion

Processus Crucis

(XXIII.)
Sequitur Processus crucis.
[Dramatis Personae
Quartus Tortor.
Jesus.
Maria.
Johannes.
Longeus.
Josephus.
Nichodemus.]
Pilate calls
for silence,
with threats.
Those who
interrupt
him, he will
tame on the
gallows, or
beat them.
Tercius Tortor.
[1 thirteen-line stanza, abab cbcbd ccd; 9 eleven-line, no. 38 aab
ccb bd bbd, nos. 39, 40, 45, 70, 71, 72 aab aab bc bbc, nos. 53
and 54 aaab cccb dbd; 1 ten-line, no. 52, aaab cccb, cb; 1 nine-
line, no. 57, aaaab cccb; 5 eight-line, no. 1 abab abab, no. 51 abab
aaab, nos. 50, 56 and 65 aaab cccb; 1 seven-line, no. 3, aa bbc
bc; 71 six-line, nos. 62, 63, 66, 68, 69 aaaab b, the rest aab ccb;
3 five-line, nos. 59, 61, 67 aaab b; 6 four-line, no. 44 ab ba, 49,
55, 58, 60 and 64 aaaa; 1 three-line, no. 90, and 7 couplets.]
pilutus.
P
(1)
Easse I byd euereich Wight!
Stand as styl as stone in WaH,
Whyls ye ar present in my sight,
That none of you clatter' ne call;
ffor if ye do, youre dede is dights
I warne it you both greatt and smał,
With this brand burnyshyd so bright,
Therfor in peasse loke ye be all.
(2)
What! peasse in the dwillys name!
harlottys and dustardys aH bedene !
On galus ye be maide fuH tame,
Thefys and mychers keyn !
will ye not peasse when I bid you?
4
8
12
by mahownys bloode, if ye me teyn,
I shall ordan sone for you,
paynes that neuer ere was seyn,
And that anone !
Be ye so bold beggars, I warn you,
fful boldly shat I bett you,
To hell the dwiłł shał draw you,
Body, bak and bone.
17.
21
(3)
I am a lord that' mekiH is of myght,
prynce of aH Iury, sir pilate I hight,
Next' kyng herode grettyst of aH;
[Ful. 84, b.]
His name is
Pilate.
He is
Bowys to my byddyng both greatt and sinal,
Or els be ye shentt;
Therfor stere youre tonges, I warn you aH,
And vnto vs take tent.
(4)
primus tortor. AH peasse, aй peasse, emang you ał !
And herkyns now what shall befal
Of this fals chuffer here;
That with his fals quantyse,
hase lett hymself as god wysc,
Emangys vs many a yere.
(5)
he cals hym self a prophett,
And says that he can bales bete,
And make all thyngys amende;
Bot or oght lang wytt we shal
wheder he can beto his awne bale,
Or skapp out of oure hende.
(6)
Was not this a wonder thyng,
second only
to King
Herod.
26
28
The 1st
torturer bids
the people
listen to
31 what shall
befall Jesus,
"this false
chuffer,"
34
who says He
can mend all
evils.
Can He now
37 mend His
40
own?
That he durst call hym sclf a kyng
And make so greatt' a lee?
Bot, by mahowne! whils I may lyf,
Those prowde wordes shall I neuer forgyf,
TyH he be hanged on he.
(7)
Secundus tortor. hys pride, fy, we sett at' noght,
Bot ich man now kest in his thoght,
And looke that we noght wante;
ffor I shall fownde, if that I may,
By the order of knyȝtede, to day
To cause his hart pante.
(8)
Tercius tortor. And so shall I with all my myght,
Abate his pride this ylk nyght,
43
46
He called
Himself a
king, and
shall not bo
forgiven His
pride till He
be hanged
for it.
The 2nd
torturer
will make
Christ's
49 heart pant
52
this day.
The 3rd
torturer says
that Jesus
can do a foul
deed when
He will.
And rekyn hym a crede ;
Lo, he letys he cowde none yH,
Bot' he can ay, when he wył,
Do a full fowl dede.
(9)
The 4th bids Quartus tortor. yei felows, ye, as haue I rest'!
Emangys vs all I red we kest
To bryng this thefe to dede;
55
35
58
them see
that they
have all they
need to
61
fasten Jesus
with.
Loke that we haue that we shuld nate,
ffor to hald this shrew strate.
primus tortor. That was a nobył red!
64
(10)
[Ful. 85, a.] Lo, here I haue a bande,
They have
If nede be to bynd his hande;
bands,
This thowng, I trow, wiH last.
67
70
Secundus tortor. And here oone to the othere syde,
That shall abate his pride,
Be it be drawen fast.
(11)
hammer and iijus tortor. lo, here a hamere and nales also,
ffor to festen fast oure foo
nails.
To this tre, ful soyn.
iiijus tortor. ye ar wise, withoutten dredo,
That so can help youre self at nede,
Of thyng that shuld be done.
(12)
primus tortor. Now dar I say hardely,
73
73
76
All His
"mawnien-
try" shall
not serve
he shall with all his mawmentry
Him now.
No longere vs be tell.
79
ijus tortor. Syn pilate hase hym tyH vs geyn,
haue done, belyfe! let it be seyn
how we can with hym met.
82
(13)
They arrive
jus tortor. Now ar we at the monte of caluarye;
at Calvary,
and prepare
for their
"play."
haue done, folows, and let now se
how we can with hym lake.
85
iiijus tortor. yee, for as modec as he can loke,
he wold haue turnyd an othere croke
Myght he haue had the rake.
88
(14)
primus tortor. In fayth, syr, sen ye callyd you a kyng,
you must prufe a worthy thyng
That falles vnto the were;
ye must Iust in tornamente;
Bot' ye sytt fast els be ye shentt,
As Jesus
calls Him-
self a king,
He must
91 Joust in
94
tournament,
and sit fast
on His
Cross.
Els downe I shall you bere.
(15)
Secundus tortor. If thou be godys son, as thou tellys,
Thou can the kepe; how shuld thou ellys?
Els were it mervell greatt';
If He be
God's Son,
He can
guard Him.
97 self.
And bot if thou can, we will not trow
That thou hase saide, bot' make the mow
when thou syttys in yond sett'.
(16)
iijus tortor. If thou be kyng we shaH thank adyH,
ffor we shall sett the in thy sadyH,
ffor fallyng be thou bold.
I hete the well thou bydys a shaft';
Bot' if thou sytt well thou had better laft
The tales that thou has told.
(17)
iiijus tortor. Stand nere, felows, and let se
how we can hors oure kyng so fre,
By any craft;
Stand thou yonder on yond syde,
And we shall se how he can ryde,
100
They will
set Hin in
His saddle,
and He need
103 not fear a
106
fall.
horse their
Let them see
how they can
King!
109
(Fol. 85, b.]
112
And how to weld a shaft.
(18)
primus tortor. Sir, commys heder and haue done,
And wyn apon youre palfray sone,
ffor he [is] redy bowne.
If ye be bond til hym, be not wrothe,
ffor be ye secure we were ful lothe
On any wyse that ye fell downe.
(19)
His palfrey
is ready,
and He must
be bound to
115 it.
118
Secundus tortor. knyt thou a knott, with a thi strenght,
ffor to draw this arme on lengthe,
TyH it com to the bore.
They draw
out Christ's
arms,
121
Tercius tortor. Thou maddys, man, bi this light!
It' wantys, tył ich mans sight,
Othere half span and more.
(20)
Quartus tortor. yit drawe owt this arme and fest it fast',
124
bind them
with ropes,
with this rope that we will last,
And ilk man lay hand to.
127
primus tortor. yee, and bynd thou fast that band;
we shall go to that othere hand
And loke what we can do.
130
(21)
and nail
them;
ijus tortor. Do dryfe a naył ther thruȝ outt,
And then thar vs nothyng doutt,
ffor it will not brest'.
133
iijus tortor. That shall I do, as myght I thryfe!
ffor to clynke and for to dryfe,
136
Therto I am full prest';
(22)
So lett it styk, for it is wele.
iiijus tortor. Thou says sothe, as haue I cele!
Ther can no man it mende.
hold down
His knees,
draw down
the legs
hard,
139
primus tortor. hald downe his knees.
Secundus tortor.
that shall I do
142
his norysh yede neuer better to;
Lay on al your hende.
(23)
Tercius tortor. Draw out hys lymmes, let se, haue at!
iiijus tortor. That was well drawen that that;
ffare fall hym that so puld!
ffor to haue getten it to the marke,
I trow lewde man ne clerk
Nothyng better shuld.
(24)
pierce them, primus tortor. hald it now fast thor,
145
148
and nail
them.
And oone of you take the bore,
And then may it' not' fayH.
151
jus tortor. That shat I do withoutten drede,
As euer myght I wett spede,
hym to meky bay H.
154
(25)
Tercius tortor. So, that is well, it wiH not brest,
Bot let now se who dos the best
with any slegthe of hande.
iiijus tortor. Go we now vnto the othere ende;
ffelowse, fest' on fast youre hende,
And put well at this band.
(26)
primus tortor. I red, felowse, by this wedyr,
That' we draw all ons togedir,
And loke how it wył fare.
jus tortor. let now se and lefe youre dyn!
And draw we ilka syn from syn;
ffor nothyng let vs spare.
(27)
iijus tortor. Nay, felowse, this is no gam!
we will no longere draw ałł sam,
So meki haue I asspyed.
iiijus tortor. No, for as haue I blys !
Som can twyk, who so it is,
Sekys easse on som kyn syde.
(28)
primus tortor. It is better, as I hope,
On by his self to draw this rope,
And then may we se
(Fol. 86, a.)
They begin
to pull the
157 Cross into
place with
a rope.
160
At first
all pull to-
gether.
163
166
But the
3rd and 4th
torturers
think some
169 one is shain-
ming.
172
The 1st pro-
poses that
each man
pulls by him.
175 self.
who it is that' ere while
AH his felows can begyle,
Of this companye.
(29)
Secundus tortor. Sen thou will so haue, here for me!
how draw I, as myght thou the ?
Tercius tortor. Thou drew right wele.
quartus tortor. wema, man! I trow thou doyte!
haue here for me half a foyte!
Thou flyt it neuer a dele;
(30)
Bot haue for me here that I may !
primus tortor. Well drawen, son, bi this day!
178
They vie
with each
other in
181
pulling.
184
The tortur-
ers excite
each other
to pull the
Thou gose well to thi warke !
Secundus tortor. yit efte, whils thi hande is in,
Cross to the pull therat' with som kyn gyn.
mark.
187
iijus tortor. yee, & bryng it to the marke.
190
(31)
quartus tortor. puł, puł!
primus tortor.
haue now!
ijus tortor.
let se!
iijus tortor.
A ha!
iiijus tortor. yit a draght!
primus tortor.
Therto with all my maght.
ijus tortor.
A, ha! hold still thore !
193
the hole for
the Cross to
which of you can best dryfe,
stand in!
Hold still
there!
Now to bore
iijus tortor. S8 felowse! looke now belyfe,
And I shall take the bore.
(32)
[Fol. 86, b.] Quartus tortor. let me go therto, if I shal;
I hope that' I be the best mershal
ffor [to] clynke it right.
do rase hym vp now when we may,
ffor I hope he & his palfray
Shall not twyn this nyght'.
(33)
They call to primus tortor. Com hedir, felowse, & haue done!
one another
to lift the
Cross,
And help that this tre sone
To lyft with all youre sleght.
ijus tortor. yit let vs wyrke a whyle,
And noman now othere begyle
To it be broght' on heght'.
(34)
iijus tortor. ffelowse, fest on all youre hende,
ffor to rase this tre on ende,
And let se who is last.
and set it in iiijus tortor. I red we do as that he says;
Set we the tre in the mortase,
the mortice.
And ther will it stand fast'.
(35)
primus tortor. Vp with the tymbre.
Secundus tortor.
ffor hym that at this warld weldys
196
199
202
205
208
211
214
a, it heldys !
put fro the with thi hande!
iijus tortor. hald euen emangys vs að.
iiijus tortor. yee, and let it into the mortase faH,
ffor then will it best stande.
(36)
primus tortor. Go we to it and be we strong,
And rase it, be it neuer so long,
Sen that it is fast bon.
ijus tortor. Vp with the tymbre fast on ende!
iijus tortor. A felowse, fayr fall youre hende !
iiijus tortor. so sir, gape agans the son!
(37)
primus tortor. A felow, war thi crowne!
ijus tortor. Trowes thou this tymnbre wit oght downe t
iijus tortor. yit help that it were fast.
iiijus tortor. Shog hym well & let vs lyfte.
primus tortor. fful shorte shalbe his thryfte.
ijus tortor. A, it standys vp lyke a masť.
(38)
Thesus. I pray you pepy that passe me by,
That lede youre lyfe so lykandly,
heyfe vp youre hartys on hight!
Behold if euer ye sagh body
Buffet & bett thus blody,
Or yit thus dulfully dight';
In warld was neuer no wight
That suffred half so sare.
217 Let it drop
220
into the mor
tice:
it will stand
then.
They lift it
into place,
and mock
223 Jeana
226
229
It stands up
232 like a mast.
Jesus calls
to them that
pass by to
235 suffers.
see how He
238
My mayn, my mode, my myght,
Is noght bot sorow to sight,
And comforth none, bot' care.
(39)
My folk, what haue I done to the,
That thou all thus shall tormente me ?
Thy syn by I full sore.
what haue I greuyd the answere me,
That thou thus nalys me to a tre,
And all for thyn erroure;
243
(Fol. 87, 4.]
What have
I done to
246 thee, My
249
folk, that
thou tor-
inentest Me
thus?
How shalt
thou atone
where shalt thou seke socoure?
for this dis-
This
mys
how shalt thou amende?
251
honour thou
doest Me?
when that thou thy saveoure
Dryfes to this dyshonoure,
And nalys thruȝ feete and hende!
254
(40)
Beasts and
AH creatoures that kynde may kest,
birds have
their resting Becstys, byrdys, all haue thay rest,
places, but
God's Son
has only His
shoulder to
lay His head
when thay ar wo begon;
257
Bot' godys son, that shuld be best,
on.
hase not where apon his hede to rest,
Bot on his shuder bone.
260
To whome now may I make my mone?
when thay thus martyr me,
And sakles will me slone,
And beete me blode and bone,
That my
brethere shuld be!
(41)
I have made what kyndnes shuld I kythe theym to l
thee in My
likeness,
and thou re-
payest Me
thus.
haue I not done that I aght to do,
Maide the to my lyknes?
And thou thus refys me rest & ro,
265
268
By this
guiltless
suffering I
buy Adam's
blood.
And lettys thus lightly on me, lo!
(42)
Sich is thi catyfnes.
I haue the kyd kyndnes, / Vnkyndly thou me quytys;
271
Se thus thi wekydnes!/ loke how thou me dyspytys! 273
(43)
Gyltles thus am I put to pyne,
Not for [my] mys, man, bot for thyne,
Thus am I rent on rode;
ffor I that tresoure wold not tyne,
276
That I markyd & made for myne,
Thus by I adam blode,
279
(44)
That' sonkyn was in syn,
with none erthly good;
Bot' with my flesh and blode
That lothe was for to wyn.
283
(45)
My brethere that I com forto by,
has hanged me here thus hedusly,
And freyndys fynde I foyn;
Thus haue thay dight me drerely,
And at by-spytt me spytusly,
As helples man in won.
Bot, fader, that syttys in tronc,
fforgyf thou them this gylt,
I pray to the this boyn,
Thay wote not what thay doyn,
Nor whom thay haue thus spylt.
(46)
primus tortor. yis, what we do full well we knaw.
The brethren
I came to
SAVe have
hanged Mo
286 thus;
289 [Fol. 87, b.)
294
but, Father,
forgive them
this guilt,
they know
not what
they do.
The tortur-
ers say they
ijus tortor. yee, that shall he fynde within a thraw. 296 know well
(47)
iijus tortor. Now, with a myschaunce ty his cors,
wenys he that we gyf any force,
what dwiłł so euer he ayH?
iiijus tortor. ffor he wold tary vs a day,
Of his dede to make delay
I tell you, sansfay H.
(48)
primus tortor. lyft vs this tre emanges vs aH.
ijus tortor. yee, and let it into the mortase fall,
And that shall gar hym brest.
iijus tortor. yee, and aH to-ryfe hym lym from lym.
iiijus tortor. And it wiH breke ilk ionte in hym.
let se now who dos best.
(49)
299
302
enough what
they are
about.
They lift the
Cross, and
let it fall
again into
305 the mortice,
to make Hia
body burst
asunder.
308
[Mary advances.]
!
Mary la
Maria. Alas! the doyH I dre / I drowpe, I dare in drede
Whi hyngys thou, son, so hee?/ my bay begynnes to
brede.
Att blemyshyd is thi ble / I se thi body blede!
In warld, son, were neuer we/so wo as I in wedle.
312
ments for
her Son's
agony.
(50)
My foode that I haue fed,
In lyf longyng the led,
fful stratly art thou sted
Emanges thi foo-men fell;
316
No tongue
can tell her
grief at her
child's
suffering.
Sich sorow forto se,
My dere barn, on the,
Is more mowrnyng to me
Then any tong may tel.
How may
she look on
His face and
body thus
disfigured!
Alas! thi holy hede
hase not wheron to helde;
(51)
320
Thi face with blode is red,
Was fare as floure in feylde;
324
how shuld I stand in sted
His hands
To se my barne thus blede?
Bett as blo as lede,
And has no lym to weylde!
328
(52)
ffestynd both handys and feete
[Fol. 88, a.] With nalys fuł vnmete,
and feet are
nailed,
His skin
torn,
His sides
stream with
blood.
his woundes wrynyng wete,
Alas, my childe, for care 1
332
ffor all rent is thi hyde;
Teres of blode downe glide
I se on aythere syde
Ouer all thi body bare.
Alas! that euer I shuld byde
And se my feyr thus fare!
(53)
John shares
in her grief
for her Son,
who was a
Iohannes. Alas, for doyH, my lady dere!
AH for-changid is thi chere,
good Master To see this prynce withoutten pere
to him and
many more.
Thus lappyd all in wo;
he was thi fode, thi faryst foine,
336
338
[John advances.]
342
Thi luf, thi lake, thi lufsom son,
That high on tre thus hyngys alone
with body blak and blo;
346
Alas!
To me and many mo
A good master he was.
349
Towncley Plays. XXIII. The Crucifixion.
269
(54)
Bot, lady, sen it is his wit
The prophecy to fulfyH,
That mankynde in sy[n] not spil
ffor theym to thole this payn;
And with his dede raunson to make,
As prophetys beforn of hym spake,
ffor-thi I red thi sorowe thou slake,
Thi Wepyng may not gayn;
In sorowe
Oure boytt he byes ful bayn,¹
But Jesus
suffers this
Jain by His
own will,
therefore
353 he should
357
slake her
Borrow,
Vs aH from bale to borowe.¹
(55)
360
Maria. Alas! thyn cen as cristal clere / that shoyn as Mary la-
son in sight,
That luffy were in lyere / lost thay haue thare light,
And wax att faed in fere /aH dym then ar thay dight!
In payn has thou no pere / that is withoutten pight. 364
(56)
Swete son, say me thi thoght,
what wonders has thou wroght
To be in payn thus broght',
Thi blissed blode to blende?
A son, thynk on my wo!
368
inents
afreshi
She calls on
Jesus to tell
her why lie
endures
these things.
whi will thou fare me fro?
On mold is noman mo
That may my myrthos amende.
(57)
372
Iohannes. Comly lady, good and couth, / ffayn wold I (Fol. 89, b.]
comforth the;
Me mynuys my master with mowth, / told vnto his menyec
That he shuld thole full mckiH payn / and dy apon a tre,
And to the lyfe ryse vp agayn, /apon the thryd day shuld
it be
ffull right!
ffor-thi, my lady swete,
377
John re-
minds her of
the words of
Jesus as to
His death
rection.
and resur
Stynt a while of grete!
Oure bale then wit he bete
As he befor has hight.
381
1 These two lines are written as one in the MS.
(58)
with her
grief;
Mary is mad Maria. Mi sorow it is so sad / no solace may me safe;
Mowrnyng makys me mad / none hope of help I hafe;
I am redles and rad / ffor ferd that I mon rafe;
Noȝt may make me glad / to I be in my grafe.
she sees the To deth my dere is dryffen,
robe she
gave Jesus
all rent,
his robe is all to-ryffen,
That of me was hym gyffen,
(59) 1
385
for her come-
ly child,
And shapen with my sydys;
389
Thise Iues and he has stryffen / That at the bale he bydys.
(60)
She laments Alas, my lam so mylde / whi wiH thou fare me fro
Emang thise wulfès wylde / that wyrke on the this wo?
ffor shame who may the shelde/ffor freyndys has thou fo!
Alas, my comly childe / whi wiH thou fare me fro? 394
(61)1
and calls on Madyns, make youre mone!
maids and
wives to
weep with
her.
John says it
is His love
which makes
Jesus suffer
thus for us.
[Ful. 89, a.,
Big. O. 1.]
And wepe ye, wyfès, euerichon,
with me, most wrich, in wone,
The childe that borne was best!
My harte is styf as stone / That for no bay will brest. 399
(62)
Iohannes. A, lady, well wote I/ thi hart is full of care
when thou thus openly / secs thi childo thus fare;
luf gars hym rathly / hym-self will he not spare,
Vs all fro bail to by / of blis that ar fuH'bare
ffor syn.
403
My lefe lady, for-thy / Of mowrnyng loke thou blyn. 405
(63)
Maria. Alas! may cuer be my sang / Whyls I may lyf
in leyd;
Mary thinks Me thynk now that I lyf to lang / to se my barne thus blede;
Iuès wyrke with hym a wrang / wherfor do thay this
she has lived
too long.
dede ?
lo, so hy thay haue hym hang/ thay let for no drede: 409
Whi so
his fomen is he emang / No freynde he has, bot' fo. 411
1 These stanzas, as well as No. 67, are really six-line stanzas,
aaab ab.
(64)
My frely foode now farys me fro/what shall worth on me? What shall
Thou art warpyd al in wo / and spred here on a tre
fful hee /
become of
her when her
child is thus
414 tortured?
I mowrne, and so may mo / That' sees this payn on the.
(65)
Iohannes. Dere lady, we were me
John would
fain comfort
her.
If that I myght comforth the;
ffor the sorow that I see
Sherys myn harte in sondere;
when that I se my master hang
With bytter paynes and strang,
Was neuer wight' with wrang
Wroght so mekil wonder.
(66)
419
423
Maria. Alas, dede, thou dwellys to lang! / whi art thou Mary up-
hid fro me?
braids Death
for going to
her Son,
Who kend the to my childe to gang/ a blak thou and not slay-
makys his ble;
Now witterly thou wyrkys wrang / the more I will wyte the,
Bot if thou wilt my hartè stang / that I myght with
hym dee
And byde;
427
Sore syȝyng is my sang,/ ffor thyrlyd is his hyde! 429
(67)
A, dede, what has thou done?/ with the wit I moytt sone,
Sen I had childer none bot oone / best vnder son or moyn;
ffreyndys I had full foyn / that gars me grete and grone
433
fful sore.
Good lord, graunte me my boyn / and let me lyf no more!
(68)
Gabriel, that good / som tyme thou can me grete,
And then I vnderstud / thi wordys that were so swete;
Bot now thay meng my moode/ffor grace thou can me hete,
To bere all of my blode / a childe oure bait shuld bete
with right';
Now hyngys he here on rude / Where is that thou me hight↑
(69)
AH that thou of blys / hight me in that stede,
ffrom myrth is faren omys / and yit I trow thi red; 442
ing her also.
God grant
her to livo
no mor
O Gabriel,
how have
thy promises
to me been
fulfilled?
20
U
Mary cries
(Fol. 89, b.]
to Jesus for
mercy.
Jesus bids
her ceaso
from the
sorrow that
pains Him
more than
His own.
He suffers
Thi counce now of this / my lyfe how shał I lede
When fro me gone is / he that was my hede
In hy?
444
My dede now comen it is / My dere son, haue mercy ! 446
(70)
Ihesus. My moder mylde, thou chaunge thi chere!
Sease of thi sorow and sighyng sere,
It syttys vnto my hart ful sare ¹;
The sorow is sharp I suffre here,
449
to save man-
kind.
Bot doy thou drees, my moder dere,
Me marters meki marc.¹
452
Thus will my fader I fare,
To lowse mankyude of bandys;
his son Will he not' spare,
To lowse that bon was are
fful fast in feyndys handys.
457
(71)
The fyrst cause, moder, of my commyng
Was for mankynde myscarying,
To salf thare sore I soght';
460
Let her cease
Therfor, moder, make none mowrnyng,
ing, and let
from weep-
John and sle
be as son
and mother.
Sen mankynde thrugh my dyyng
May thus to blis be boght'.
463
Woman, wepe thou right noght!
Take ther Iohn vnto thi chylde !
Mankynde must nedys be boght,
And thou kest, cosyn, in thi thoght;
Iohn, lo ther thi moder mylde!
468
He calls on
mankind to
repay His
suffering
(72)
Blo and blody thus am I bett,
with stead-
fastness.
Swongen with swepys & all to-swett,
Mankynde, for thi mysdede!
471
ffor my luf lust when Wold thou lett,
And thi harte sadly sett,
Sen I thus for the haue blede ?
474
1 MS. sore, more.
Sich lyf, for sothe, I led,
That vnothes may I more;
This suffre I for thi nede,
To marke the, man, thi mede:
Now thryst I, wonder sore.
(73)
primus tortor. Noght bot hold thi peasse !
479
Thou shall haue drynke within a resse,
My self shalbe thy knaue;
haue here the draght that I the hete,
And I shall warand it is not swete,
On at the good I haue.
(74)
Secundus tortor. So syr, say now all youre wit!
ffor if ye couth haue holden you sty
ye had not had this brade.
Tercius tortor. Thou wold all gaytt be kyng of Iucs,
Bot by this I trow thou rues
AH that thou has sayde.
(75)
Jesus
thirsts.
The 1st
torturer
offers Him a
bitter drink.
482
485
The others
mock Hi
by recalling
His words:-
488
His clain of
kingship,
491
iiijus tortor. he has hym rused of great prophes,
That he shuld make vs tempyllès,
And gar it cleyn downe faH;
And yit he sayde he shuld it' rase
As well as it was, within thre dayes!
he lyes, that wote we ał;
(76)
And for his lyes, in great dispyte
we will departe his clothyng tyte,
Bot he can more of arte.
primus tortor. yee, as euer myght I thryfe,
Soyn will we this manty ryfe,
And ich man take his parte.
(77)
ijus tortor. how wold thou we share this clothe
ijus tortor. Nay forsothe, that were I lothe,
Then were it aH-gate spylt;
Bot assent thou to my saw,
494
Ilis boast
[Fol. 90, a.,
Sig. O. 2.]
of destroying
the temple,
and raising
it in three
497 days.
In despite
of His lies
they will
divide His
500 clothes be-
503
tween them.
There is one
garment too
good to be
cut:
506 for this they
will draw
lots.
lett vs all cutt draw,
And then is none begylt.
509
The 4th
torturer
wins the gar-
ment,
and the 1st
it of him.
(78)
iiijus tortor. how so befallys now wył I draw!
This is myn by comon law,
Say not ther agayn.
offers to buy primus tortor. Now sen it' may no better be,
Chevich the with it for me,
Me thynk thou art ful fayn.
(79)
512
515
They see an ijus tortor. how felowse, se ye not yond skraw?
inscription
newly writ
ten on the
Cross,
and guess it
It is writen yonder within a thraw,
Now sen that we drew cut.
518
is by Pilate.
iijus tortor. There is noman that is on lyfe
Bot it were pilate, as myght I thrife,
That durst it ther haue putt.
521
C
(80)
They go to
look at it.
iiijus tortor. Go we fast and let' vs loke
what is wretyn on yond boke,
And what it may bemeyn.
524
primus tortor. A the more I loke theron
A the more I thynke I fon;
AH is not worth a beyn.
527
I
(81)
It is in He
jus tortor. yis, for sothe, me thynk I se
brew, Latin,
and Greek,
and hard to
expound.
Theron writen langage thre,
Ebrew and latyn
530
And grew, me thynk, writen theron,
ffor it is hard for to expowne.
iijus tortor. Thou red, by appolyn !
533
(82)
The 3rd
torturer is
the best
"Latin
wright,"
iiijus tortor. yee, as I am a trew knyght,
I am the best latyn wright
and explains
it as
I will go withoutten delay
Of this company;
And tell you what it is to say;
Behald, syrs, witterly!
536
Com
539
(83)
Jesus of
Nazareth,
yonder is wretyn) "ihesu of nazareyn
[Fol. 90, b.]
King of the
Jews.
he is kyng of Iues," I weyn.
Bo
1
primus tortor. A! that is writen) wrang'.
Secundus tortor. he callys hym so, bot he is none.
iijus tortor. Go we to pilate and make oure mone;
542 The tortur-
545
(84) [They approach Pilate.]
ers think the
inscription
wrong, and
complain to
Pilate.
haue done, and dwelt not lang.
pilate, yonder is a fals tabyH,
Theron is wryten noght bot fabyH;
Of Iues he is not kyng!
he callys hym so, bot he not is:
It is falsly writen, Iwys,
This is a wrangwys thyng.
(85)
Pilutus. Boys, I say, what melt ye you?
As it is writen shał it be now,
I say certane;
Quod scriptum scripsi,
548
551
Pilate will
have none
of their
meddling.
554
That same wrote I,
What gadlyng gruches ther agane !
(86)
557
quartus tortor. Sen that he is man of law / he must nedys The tortur-
haue his wiH;
ers think
Pilato, as a
lawyer, must
I trow he had not writen that saw / without som propre know best.
skyH.
(87)
primus tortor. yee, let it hyng aboue his hede,
It shall not saue hym fro the dede,
Noght that he can write.
ijus tortor. Now yła hale was he borne.
iijus tortor. Ma-fay, I te his lyfe is lorne,
he shalbe slayn as tyte.
(88)
If thou be crist, as men the caй,
Com downe emangys vs ał,
And thole not thies myssaes.
iiijus tortor. yee, and help thi self that we may se,
And we shall aH trow in the,
what soeuer thou says.
(89)
primus tortor. he cals hym self good of myght,
Bot I wold se hym be so wight
At any rate
it won't save
562 Jesus from
565
death.
They bid
Him come
down from
the Cross,
568 and save
571
Himself
20 #
Jesus could
raise Laza-
rus, but
cannot help
Himself.
To do sich a dede
he rasyd lazare out of his delfe,
Bot he can not help hym self,
Now in his greatt nede.
(90)
Jesus cries
to God.
Ihesu. hely, hely, lamazabatany!
My god, my god, wherfor and why
has thou forsakyn me?
(91)
The tortur jus tortor. how! here ye not, as well as I,
how he can now on hely cry
574
577
580
ers mis-
understand
Him.
Apon his wyse ?
583
[Fol. 91, a.,
Sig. O. 3.]
Tercius tortor. yee, ther is none hely in this countre
Shall delyuer hym from this menezc,
On nokyns wyse.
586
(92)
Jesus com-
iiijus tortor. I warand you now at the last
iends His
soul to the
Father.
That he shall soyn yelde the gast,
ffor brestyn is his gað.
589
Ihesu. Now is my passyon broght tyH ende!
ffader of heuen, in to thyn hende
I betake my sau}!
592
(93)
The tortur-
pimus tortor. let one pryk hym with a spere,
ers inake
Longeus, a
And if that it do hym no dere
blind knight,
pierce His
Then is his lyfe nere past.
595
side with a
spear.
ijus tortor. This blynde knyght may best do that.
longeus. Gar me not do bot I wote what'.
iijus tortor. Not bot put vp fast.
598
(94)
Longeus
receives his
sight, and
craves for-
giveness for
wounding
the body of
Jesus.
longeus. Å, lord, what may this be?
Ere was I blynde, now may I se;
Godys son, here me, ihesu!
for this trespas on me thou rew.
ffor, lord, othere men me gart,
that I the stroke vnto the hart:
I se thou hyngys here on hy,
And dyse to fulfy the prophecy.
602
606
(95)
iiijus tortor. Go we hence and leyfe hym here,
ffor I shall be his borghe to-yere
he felys no more payn;
ffor hely ne for none othere man
AH the good tha euer he wan
Gettys not his lyfe agayn.
The 3rd
torturer says
they may
leave Jesus
609 now, for
612
none may
bring Him to
life again.
[Exeunt Tortores. Joseph of Arimathea and
Nicodemus advance.]
(96)
Ioseph. Alas, alas, and walaway!
That euer shuld I abyde this day,
To se my master dede;
Thus wykydly as he is shent,
with so bytter tornamente,
Thruȝ fals Iues red.
(97)
Nychodeme, I wold we yede
To sir pilate, if we myght spede,
his body for to craue;
I will fownde with att my myght,
ffor my seruyce to aske that knyght
his body for to graue.
(98)
Nichodemus. Ioseph, I will weynde with the
ffor that body to pray;
ffor to do that' is in me,
ffor oure good wiH and oure traualo
I hope that it mon vs avayH
here afterward som day.
(99)
Ioseph. Syr pylate, god the saue!
Graunte me that I craue,
Joseph of
Arimathea
laments the
death of
615 Jesus.
618
He proposes
to Nicode-
mus that
they beg
621 leave of Pi-
late to bury
the body.
624
Nicodemus
will go with
him.
627
630
If that it be thi will.
[They go to Pilate.] [Fol. 91, b.]
pilatus. Welcom, Ioseph, myght thou be!
what so thou askys I graunte it the,
So that it be skyH.
(100)
Ioseph. ffor my long seruyce I the pray
Joseph asks
a boon;
633 Pilate grants
636
it.
Graunte me the body-say me not nay—
Joseph's
boon is that
Of ihesu, dede on rud.
he may bury pilatus. I graunte well if he ded be,
Good leyfe shalt thou haue of me,
Jesus.
He thanks
Pilate for
granting it,
and himself
draws the
nails from
the Cross,
Do with hym what thou thynk gud.
(101)
Ioseph. Gramercy, syr, of youre good grace,
That' ye haue graunte me in this place;
639
642
[They return to Calvary.] 645
Go we oure way:
Nychodeme, com me furth with,
ffor I my self shall be the smyth
The nales out for to dray.
(102)
Nichodemus. Ioseph, I am redy here
To go with the with full good chere,
To help the at my myght;
while Nico pull furþ the nales on aythere syde,
demus up-
holds the
body of
Jesus,
648
651
And I shat hald hym vp this tyde;
A, lord, so thou is dight'!
654
(103)
They wrap
the body,
and bear it
to the tomb.
And lay hym on this bere;
Bere we hym furth vnto the kyrke,
To the tombe that I gard wyrk,
Ioseph. help now, felow, with att thi myght,
That he were wonden and well dight,
657
Sen full many a yere.
(104)
660
Nicodemus
prays that
died and rose
again, may
bless the
spectators.
Nichodemus. It shall be so with outten nay.
Christ, who he that dyed on gud fryday
And crownyd was with thorne,
663
Saue you all that now here be!
That lord that thus wold dee
And rose on pasche morne.
666
Explicit crucifixio Christi.¹
1 MS. xpi.
Pilatus.
Primus Tortor.

XXIV. The Talents (Dicing for Christ's Coat)

Processus Talentorum

(XXIV.)
Incipit Processus talentorum.
[Dramatis Personae.
Secundus Tortor,
(Spyll-payn)
Tercius Tortor.
Consultus.]
[2 ten-line stanzas, no. 5 aaaaab cccb, no. 54 ab aab cdbcb; 8 nine-
line, aaaab cccb; 18 eight-line, no. 6 abab cded, no. 47 abca bdbd,
no. 53 abc acd ed, the rest aaab cccb; 15 seven-line, no. 29 abacd
bd, no. 55 aaab cdb, the rest ababc be; 1 six-line, no. 46 aba cdc;
5 five-line, no. 17, 18 abbba, nos. 22-3, 32 ababc; 11 four-line,
no. 26 abba, nos. 27, 83, 44 abcb, no. 88 abca, nos. 51-2 abcd, the
rest abab.]
pilatus.
C
(1)
Ernite qui statis /1 quod mire sim probitatis,
Hec cognoscatis / vos cedam ni taceatis,
Cuncti discatis / quasi sistam vir deitatis
Et maiestatis/michi fando ne neceatis,
hoc modo mando;
Neue loquaces,
5
[Fol. 92, a.,
Sig. O. 4.]
Pilate calls
in Latin for
silence.
Siue dicaces,
poscite paces,
Dum fero fando.
9
(2)
Stynt, I say! gyf men place / quia sum dominus dominorum! In Latin
he that agans me says / rapietur lux oculorum;
Therfor gyf ye me space / ne tendam vim brachiorum,
And then get ye no grace / contestor Iura polorum,
Caueatis ;
14
and English
he bids the
people make
room,
Rewle I the Iure,
Maxime pure,
Towne quoque rure,
Me paueatis.
(3)
Stemate regali / kyng atus gate me of pila;
Tramite legali / Am I ordand to reyn apon Iuda,
Nomine wlgari / pownce pilate, that may ye we
Qui bene wlt fari / shuld call me fownder of a lay.
say,
18
The metrical bars (/) are not in the MS., but the lines are
divided by dots, thus: The rymes in this play are very irregular:
see st. 30, 46, 53, 54, etc.
2 44
"Kyng Atus gate me of Pila"; hence "Pilatus."
boasting of
his lineage
and power.
He is ruler
of the Jews.
Iudeorum
Iura guberno,
pleasse me and say so,
Omnia firmo
Sorte deorum.
(4)
Cæsar has
exalted him,
and all men
must be
obedient.
Myghty lord of all / me Cesar magnificauit;
Downe on knees ye fall/ greatt god me sanctificauit,
Me to obey ouer aH / regi reliquo quasi dauid,
hanged hy that he saH / hoc iussum qui reprobauit,
I swere now;
Bot ye youre hedis
Bare in thies stedis
23
27
32
Redy my swerde is
Of thaym to shere now.
(5)
36
[Fol. 92, b.] Atrox armipotens / I graunt men girth by my good grace,
Atrox armipotens / most myghty callyd in ylk place,
He is
armipotent,
quasi-cuncti vir quasi cunctipotens / I graunt men girth by my good
potent, and
his laws
must be
kept.
grace,
Tota refert huic gens that none is worthier in face,
Quin eciam bona mens / doith trowth and right bi my
trew lays,
Silete !
42
In generali,
Sic speciali,
yit' agane byd I
Iura tenete.
46
(6)
Leaving his
Latin, he
threatens to
loke that no boy be to bustus, blast here for to blaw,
Bot truly to my talkyng loke that ye be intendyng;
hang any boy If here be any boy that will not loutt til oure law,
50
who will not
bow to his
law.
By myghty mahowne, hyȝ shall he hyng;
South, north, eest, west,
In all this warld in lengthe and brede,
Is none so doughty as I, the best',
doughtely dyntand on mule and on stede.
54
Therfor I say,
(7)
loke that ye lowte to my lykance,
ffor dowte of dynt in greuaunce;
dilygently ply to my plesance,
As prynce most myghty me pay,
And talke not a worde;
(8)
ffor who so styrres or any dyn makys,
deply in my daunger he rakys,
That as soferan me not takys
59
9
Let thei
bow, then,
and obey,
and speak
not a word.
And as his awne lorde.
(9)
64
he has myster of nyghtys rest that nappys not in noynyng! He bids his
boy, lay me downe softly and hap me well from cold;
loke that no laddys noy me nawder with cryyng nor with no lads dis-
cronyng,
Nor in my sight ones greue me so bold.
If ther be any boyes that make any cry,
Or els that will not obey me,
boy lay him
down softly,
and see that
turb him.
68
he were better be hanged hy,
Then in my sight ones mefe me.
(10)
primus tortor. war, war! for now com I,
The most shrew in this cuntry;
I haue ron) fut fast in hy,
hedir to this towne;
To this towne now comen am I
ffrom the mownt of caluery;
Ther crist hang, and that full hy,
I swe[re] you, bi my crowne.
(11)
At caluery when he hanged was,
I spuyd and spyt right in his face,
when that it shoyn as any glas,
so semely to my sight;
Bot yit for all that fayr thyng,
I loghe hym vnto hethyng,
And rofe of his clethyng;
To me it was full light.
72
The 1st
torturer
comes in,
having run
from Cal-
vary.
76
[Fol. 93, a.]
80
84
888
He had spit
iu Christ's
face, though
it shone as
glass,
and had
stripped
Him of His
clothing.
When they
had stripped
Jesus, they
mocked and
crowned
Him as a
king.
He has
brought the
clothing now
for Pilate to
decide who
is to have it.
(12)
And when his clothes were of in fere,
lord, so we logħe and maide good chere,
And crownyd that carle with a brere,
As he had bene a kyng;
And yit I did full propurly,
I clappyd his cors by and by,
I thoght I did full curiously
In fayth hym for to hyng.
(13)
Bot to mahowne I make avowe,
Euen this same nyght;
92
96
hedir haue I broght his clethyng now,
To try the trowthe before you,
100
Of me and of my felowse two
with whom this garmente shall go;
bot sir pilate must go therto,
104
Whoever
gets these
clothes may
walk fear-
lessly, for
they guard
him from
loss.
I swere you by this light.
(14)
ffor whosoeuer may get thise close,
he ther neuer rek where he gose,
ffor he semys nothyng to lose,
If so be he theym were.
108
bot now, now, felose, stand on rowme,
ffor he commes, shrewes, vnto this towne,
And we will all togeder rowne,
so semely in oure gere.
112
(15)
The 2nd
torturer fol-
Secundus tortor. war, war! and make rowme,
lows the 1st
ffor I wiH with my felose rowne,
in hot haste.
And I shałt knap hym on the crowne
That standys in my gate;
I will lepe and I wiłł skyp
As I were now out of my wytt;
Almost my breke thay ar beshyt
ffor drede I cam to late.
(16)
[Ful. 98, b.] Bot', by mahowne! now am I here!
The most shrew, that dar I swere,
That ye shall fynde aw where,
116
120
Spy-payn in fayth I hight.
I was at caluery this same day,
where the kyng of Iues lay,
And ther I taght hym a newe play,
Truly, me thoght it right.
(17)
The play, in fayth, it was to rowne,
That he shuld lay his hede downe,
And sone I bobyd hymn on the crowne,
That gam me thoght was good.
when we had played with hym oure fy¤,
Then led we him vnto an hyll,
124 His name is
128
132
Spill-pain.
He has borne
his part in
torturing
Jesus.
And ther we wroght with hym oure wiH,
136
And hang hym on a rud.
(18)
Nomore now of this talkyng,
Bot the cause of my commyng;
Both on ernest and on hethyng
This cote I wold I had ;
ffor if I myght this cote gett,
Then wold I both skyp and lepe,
The cause o
his coming
is that he al-
so is anxious
to get the
coat.
140
And therto fast both drynke and ete,
In fayth, as I were mad.
144
(19)
I haue brysten both my balok stones,
Tercius tortor. war, war! within thise wones,
ffor I com rynyng all at ones!
So fast hyed I hedyr;
The 3rd
torturer
comes in as
hurriedly as
the others.
148
And ther is nothyng me so lefe
As murder a mycher and hang a thefe:
If here be any that doth me grefe
152
I shall them thresh togedir.
(20)
ffor I may swere with meki wyn
I am the most shrew in all myn kyn,
That is from this towne vnto lyn,
He is the
greatest
shrew from
this town to
Lynn.
He and his
fellows are
come to di-
vide the
coat.
lo, here my felowse two!
Now ar we thre commen) in
A new gam forto begyn,
This same cote forto twyn,
Or that we farther go.
(21)
He proposes Bot to sir pilate prynce I red that we go hy,
to go to
Pilate, but
they must
see that
Pilate does
not take the
gown him-
self.
The others
agree.
And present hym the playnt how that we ar stad;
Bot this gowne that is here, I say you for-thy,
By myghty mahowne I wold not he had.
(22)
156
160
164
[Fol. 94, a.] primus tortor. I assent to that saȝ, by myghty mahowne!
Let vs Weynde to sir pilate withoutten any fabyH;
Bot syrs, bi my lewte, he gettys not this gowne;
Vnto vs thre it were right prophetabyH;
SpiH-payn what says thou?
(23)
Secundus tortor. youre sawes craftely assent I vnto.
primus tortor. Then wit I streȝt furth in this place,
And speke with sir pilate wordys oone or two,
ffor I am right semely and fare in the face;
And now shał we se or we hence go.
(24)
They ask the Tercius tortor. Sir, I say the, by my lewtee,
Counsellor
for Pilate,
and are told
where is sir pilate of pryce?
he lies there Consultus. Sir, I say the, as myght I the,
in the devil's
service,
he lygys here in the dewy scruyce.
(25)
169
174
178
but shall be primus tortor. with that' prynce-fowH myght he fal-
waked,
Pilate bids
the Coun-
sellor call
Must we haue at do.
Consultus. I shall go to hym and cał,
And loke what ye wiH say hym to.
My lord, my lorde!
(26)
pilatus. what, boy, art thou nyse?
him no more. cat nomore, thou has callid twyse.
Consultus. my lord!
182
186
(27)
pilatus. what mytyng is that that mevys me in my mynde?
Consultus. I, lord, youre counselloure, pight in youre saw.
pilatus. Say ar ther any catyffys combred that ar vnkynde?
Consultus. Nay, lord, none that I knawe.
(28)
pilatus. Then noy vs nomore of this noyse;
you carles vnkynde, who bad you call me?
By youre mad maters I hald you bot boyes,
190
And that shall ye aby, els fowH myght befall me. 194
I shall not dy in youre dett!
Bewshere, I byd the vp thou take me,
And in my sete softly loke that thou se me sett.
197
Pilate asks
if there be
any disaffee-
told "no."
tion, and is
He is angry
at being dis-
turbed,
but takes his
seat in his
hall.
(29)
Now shall we wytt, and that in hy,
If that saghe be trew that thou dyd say ;
If I fynde the With lesyng, lad, thou shaй aby,
fforto me in the maters that pertenyth agans the lay.
(30)
Consultus. Nay, sir, not so, withoutten delay,
The cause of my callyng is of that boy bold,
ffor it is saide sothely now this same day,
That he shuld dulfully be dede,
Certayn;
Then may youre cares be fut cold
If he thus sakles bo slayn.
(31)
pilutus. ffare and softly, sir, and say not to far;
Sett the with sorow, then semys thou the les,
And of the law that thou leggys be wytty and war,
lest I greue the greatly with dyntys expres;
ffals fatur, in fayth I shatt slay the!
Thy reson vnrad I red the redres,
[Fol. 94, b.]
202 The Coun-
206
208
sellor tells
him that Je-
sus is dead.
Pilate bids
the Counsel.
lor not to
meddle in
these mat-
212
ters.
Or els of thise maters loke thou nomore met the.
215
(32)
The Counsel Consultus. Why shuld I not me of those maters that
lor upbraids
Pilate,
and exalts
the value of
his own ad-
vice.
Pilate laughs
at him for
not knowing
the way of
kings.
The 1st
torturer cer-
tifies that
Jesus, whom
Pilate con-
demned, is
now dead.
I haue you taght?
Thoug ye be prynce peerles withoutt any pere,
were not my wyse wysdom youre wyttys were in waght;
And that is seen expresse and playnly right here,
And done in dede.
(33)
pilatus. Why, boy, bot has thou sayde?
Consultus. yee, lordc.
220
pilatus. Therfor the devyH the spede, thou carle vnkynde
Sich felowse myght well be on rowme!
ye knaw not the comon cowrs that longys to a kyng.¹ 225
(34)
primus tortor. Mahowne most myghtful, he mensk you
with mayn,
Sir pilate pereles, prynce of this prese!
And saue you, sir, syttand semely suffrayn!
we haue soght to thy say no sayng to sesse,
Bot certyfie sone;
229
ye wote that ye demyd this day apon desse,
we dowte not his doyng, for now is he done.
232
(35)
Pilate is glad pilatus. ye ar welcom, Iwys, ye ar worthy ay war;
Be it fon so of that fatur, in fayth then am I fayne.
of it,
but bids
[Fol. 95, a.] Secundus tortor. we haue markyd that mytyng, nomore
them keep
it secret.
The 3rd
torturer asks
if Pilate
claims Jesus'
clothes.
shall he mar;
we prayed you, sir pilate, to put hym to payn,
And we thoght it well wroght.
236
pilatus. lefe syrs, let be youre laytt and loke that ye layn ;
ffor nothyng that may be nevyn ye it noght.
(36)
239
Tercius tortor. Make myrth of that mytyng full mekyH
we may,
And haue lykyng of oure lyfe for los of that lad;
Bot, syr pilate peerles, a poynt I the pray;
hope ye with hethyng that harnes he had
1 assonance to "vnkynde."
243
To hold that was hys?
Pilate at
once clains
Pilatus. That appentys vnto me, mafa! art thou nad them.
I ment that no mytyng shuld meł hym of this.
(37)
primus tortor. Mefe the not, master, more if he meй,
246
The 1st
torturer ob-
ffor thou shall parte from that pelfe, thar thou not pleyte. jects
pilatus. yit styrt not farer for noght that ye fell;
and Pilate
then asks
the gown
I aske this gowne of youre gyfte, it is not so greatt, 250 as a gift.
And yit may it agayn you.
Secundus tortor. how, all in fageyng in fayth I know of
youre featte,
ffor it fallys to vs four fyrst will I frayn you.
(38)
pilatus. And I myster to no maner of mans bot myn.
Tercius tortor. yce, lord, let shere it in shredys
233
The 3rd
torturer
proposes to
it
pilatus. Now that hald I good skyH! take thou this, & cut into
thou that,
& this shall be thyne,
(39)
And by lefe and by law this may leyfe styH.
primus tortor. O lordyng! I weyn it is wrang,
To tymely I toke it, to take it the vnty
The farest', and the fowllest thy felowse to fang.
(40)
257
The tortur-
ers are dis-
contented
with their
261 shares.
pilatus. And thou art payed of thi parte fuH truly I trowe.
primus tortor. It is shame forto sc, I am shapyn bot
a shrede.
Secundus tortor. The hole of this harnes is holdyn to you,
And I am leuerd a lap is lyke to no lede,
ffor-tatyrd and torne.
265
Tercius tortor. By myghty mahowne that mylde is of
mode,¹
If he skap with this cote it were a great skorne.
(41)
pilatus. Now sen ye teyn so at this, take it to you
268
(Fol. 95, b.]
Pilate gives
the gown to
with all the mawgre of myn and myght of mahowne!
primus tortor. Drede you not doutles, for so WiH we dow; them to di-
Grefe you not greatly ye gett not this gowne,
vide.
21
1 The ryme needs "mede."
X
The 2nd
torturer
asks for a
falchion.
He cannot
find a seam
along which
to cut it.
Pilate bids
them leave
it whole.
bot in fower¹ as it fallys.
273
Secundus tortor. had I a fawchon, then craftely to cutt it
were I bowne.2
Tercius tortor. lo it here that thou callys!
(42)
It is sharp with to shere, shere if thou may.
275
Secundus tortor. Euen in the mydward to marke were
mastre to me.
277
primus tortor. Most semely is in certan the seym to assay.
Secundus tortor. I haue soght at this syde and none
can I se,
of greatt nor of smał.
pilatus. Bewshers, abyd you, I byd you let be!
279
The 1st
torturer
objects,
and Pilate
threatens
hiin.
I commaunde not to cutt it, bot hold it hole aH.
(43)
282
primus tortor. Now ar we bon, for ye bad, withhald on
youre hud.
pilatus. we! harlottys I go hang you, for hole shall it be.
Tercius tortor. Grefe you not greatly, he saide it for gud.
pilatus. wyst I that he spake it in spytyng of me 286
Tytt shuld I spede forto spyH hym.
Secundus tortor. That were hym loth, lord, by my lewte,
ffor-thi grauntt hym youre grace.
pilatus.
No greuans I will hym.
290
(44)
They make primus tortor. Gramercy thi gudnes!
it up,
pilatus. yee, bot greuc me nomo 3;
fful dere beys it boght
In fayth, if ye do.
294
(45)
and agree to primus tortor. ShaH I then saue it?
draw lots.
pilatus. yee, so saide I, or to draw cutt is the lelyst,
and long cut, lo, this wede shaft wyn.
297
Tercius tortor. Sir, to youre sayng yit assent we vnto;
Bot oone assay, let se who shall begyn.
299
1 MS. iiij.
2 MS. there were I bowne craftely to cut it.
MS. nomore.
(46)
pilatus. we! me falles at the fyrst, and forther shaй ye.
Secundus tortor. Nay, drede you not doutles, for that
do ye not;
O, he sekys as he wold dyssaue vs now we so.
302
Tercius tortor. Bewshers, abyde you, heder haue I broght The third
thre dyse vs emang.
primus tortor. That is a gam at the best, bi hym that me
boght,
ffor at the dysyng he dos vs no wrang.
(47)
306
torturer has
brought
three dice.
pilutus. And I am glad of that gam; On assay, Who [Ful. 96, a.]
Pilate and
the first
torturer are
ready to de-
cide by
shał begyn?
primus tortor. ffyrst shaH
ye,
and sen after we aH.
them.
and lefe all youre dyn,
310
haue the dyse and haue done,
ffor who so has most this frog shat he fal,
And best of the bonys.
pilatus. I assent to youre sayng; assay now I shał,
As I wold at a wap wyn af at ones.
(48)
314
[Pilate throws.]
Secundus torlor. A, ha! how now! here ar a hepe.
pilatus. haue mynde then emang you how many ther ar. Pilate
Tercius tortor. thretteen' ar on thre, thar ye not threpe.
pilatus. Then shał I wyn or ał men be war.
primus tortor. Truly lord, right so ye shaH;
Bot grefe you not greatly, the next shall be nar
If I haue hap to my hand, haue here for aH!
(49)
throws thir-
teen, and
thinks he
318
will win. The
321
[He throws.]
first torturer
tries his
hand
pilatus. And I haue sene as greatt a freke of his forward and throws
falyd.
here ar bot Aght turnyd vp at ones.
primus tortor. Aght? a, his armes, that is yH! what so
me alyd,
I was falsly begylyd with thise byched bones;
326
Secundus tortor. Well I wote this wede bees won in thise
Ther cursyd thay be!
wones,
I wold be fayn of this frog myght it faH vnto me.
328
only eight,
at which he
curses the
dice.
1 MS. xiij.
• MS. viij.
The second
torturer
throws
seven,
The third
prepares to
cast
and throws
Afteen.
Pilate is
furious.
(50)
pilatus. It' bees in waght, in fayth, and thou wyn.
Secundus tortor. No, bot war you away! [He throws.]
Tercius tortor. here is baddyst' aboue, by mahownes bonys!
seuen¹ is bot the seconde, the sothe for to say.
(51)
Secundus tortor. we, fy! that is shortt.
332
Tercius tortor. Do shott at thi hud! now fallys me
the fyrst,
And I haue hap to this gowne, go now on gud;
The byched bones that ye be I byd you go bett;
(52)
ffelowse, in forward here haue I fefteen 2!
As ye wote I am worthi, won is this wede.
336
[He throws.]
pilatus. what, whisty ye in the wenyande! where haue
ye beyn?
Thou shalt abak, bewshere, that blast I forbede.
340
[Fol. 96, b.] Tercius tortor. here ar men vs emang,
lele in oure lay, wił ly for no leyd,
And I wytnes at thaym if I wroght' any wrang.
343
(53)
The first tor- primus tortor. Thou wroght no dyssaytt, for sothe, that
turer says
the third has
won the coat
fairly, but
Pilate is still
discon-
tented.
He asks for
the coat as a
favour, and
uses threats
when it is
refused.
we saw,
ffor-thi thou art worthi, and won is this weyd At thyn
awne wył.
pilatus. yec, bot me pays not that playng to puf nor to
blaw;
If he haue right I ne rek or reson thertyH,
I refe it hym uoght.
347
Tercius tortor. haue gud day, sir, and grefe you not y¤,
ffor if it were duble full dere is it' boght.
(54)
350
pilatus. Sir, sen thou has won this weyd. say wil thou
Vowche safe
of thi great gudnes this garment on me?
Tercius tortor. Sir, I say you certan this shall ye not haue.
pilatus. Thou shall forthynk it, in fayth ;3
ffy, what thou art fre!
1 MS. vij.
355
: MS. XV.
8
³ i assonance to 'have.'
vnbychid, vnbayn!
Tercius tortor. ffor ye thrett me so throle,
were it sich thre
here I gif you this gud.
pilutus. Now, gramercy agayn!
(55)
360
The third
torturor
gives up the
cont and is
thanked.
MekiH thank and myn and this shalbe ment.
The first
would not
primus tortor. Bot I had not left it so lightly, had play have given
me it lent.
it up so
lightly, but
Pilate pro-
pilatus. No, bot he is faythful and fre, and that shaH be mises to
ment;
And more if I may,
If he myster to me,
amend hym I mon.
nako
amends for
it.
364
Tercius tortor. I vowche safe it be so, the sothe forto say.
(56)
primus tortor. Now thise dyse that ar vndughty for los The first
of this good,
here I forswere hertely / by mahownes blood;
ffor was I neuer so happy / by mayn nor by mode,
To wyn with sich sotelty / to my lyfys fode,
As ye ken;
Thise dysars and thise hullars,
Thise cokkers and thise bollars,
And all purs-cuttars,
Bese well war of thise men.
(57)
372
376
torturer for
swears the
use of dice,
and bids all
men boware
of dicers.
Secundus tortor. ffy, fy, on thise dyse / the devil I theym The second
take!
vnwytty, vnwyse / With thaym that Wold lake;
As fortune assyse/men wył she make;
hir maners ar nyse/she can downe and vptake;
And rych
She turnes vp-so-downe,
commits the
dice to the
[Fol. 97, A.
Big. P. 1.]
devil. For-
tune delights
381 to set inen
up and cast
them down.
And vnder abone,
Most' chefe of renowne
She castys in the dyche.
(58)
By hir meanes she makys / dysers to sell,
As thay sytt and lakys / thare corne and thare catet;
385
She makes
dicers sell
corn and
cattle.
21 #
Then they
cry out and
want to
fight.
The third
torturer
traces loss
and oft-
times man-
slaughter to
dicing. Let
them leave
such vanity
and serve
God.
Then cry thay and crakkys / bowne vnto bateH,
his hyppys then bakys / no symneł
ffor hote.
Bot fare well, thryfte!
Is ther none other skyfte
Bot syfte, lady, syfte ?
Thise dysars thay dote.
(59)
390
394
Tercius tortor. what commys of dysyng / I pray you hark
after,
Bot los of good in lakyng / and oft tymes mens slaghter!
Thus sorow is at partyng / at metyng if thor be laghter;
I red leyf sich vayn thyng / and serue god hcrafter,
ffor heuens blys;
That lord is most myghty,
399
And gentyllyst of Iury,
we helde to hyn holy;
how thynk ye by this?
(60)
403
Pilate
praises the
torturers
and dis-
pilatus. well worth you at thre, most doughty in dede!
Of all the clerkys that I knaw, most conyng ye be,
misses them By soteltes of youre sawes, youre lawes forto lede;
with a
French
blessing.
I graunt you playn powere and frenship frele,
I say;
¹ Dew vows [garde], mon senyours!
Mahowne most myghty in castels and towres
he kepe you, lordyngys, and at youres,
And hauys all gud day.
Explicit processus talentorum.
¹i. c. Dieu vous [garde], monseigneurs !
408
412

XXV. The Deliverance of Souls (the Harrowing of Hell)

Extraccio Animarum

(XXV.)
Incipit extraccio animarum, &c.
[29 eight-line stanzas abababab; 1 six-line (no 18) aab aba; 40
four-line abab; 4 couplets.]
[Dramalis Personac.
Thesus.
Simeon.
Ribald
Adam.
Johannes Baptista.
Belzebub.
Sathanas,
Ysaias.]
Eva.
Moyses.
David.
Thesus.
(1)
y fader me from blys has send
Til erth for mankynde sake,
Adam mys forto amend,
M®
My deth nede must I take.
(2)
I dwellyd ther thryrty yeres and two,
And somdele more, the sothe to say;
In anger, pyne, and meky wo,
I dyde on cros this day.
(3)
Therfor til he now Will I go,
To chalange that is myne;
Adam, eue, and othere mo,
Thay shall no longer dwell in pyne.
(4)
The feynde theym wan With trayn,
Thruȝ fraude of earthly fode,
I haue theym boght agan
With shedyng of my blode.
8
12
16
Jesus re-
counts how
He han
been born,
ministered,
and died for
man's salva-
tion.
He must now
rescue His
own from
hell.
(5)
And now I will that stede restore,
which the feynde feH fro for syn;
Som tokyn wil I send before,
He will send
thither a
light as a
token of His
coining.
with myrth to gar thare gammes begyn.
20
(6)
A light I wiH thay haue
To know I will com sone;
My body shat abyde in graue
Til all this dede be done.
24
294 Towneley Plays. XXV. The Deliverance of Souls.
Adam calls
his brethren
to listen: he
sees tokens
of solace.
(7)
Adam. My brether, herkyn vnto me here!
More hope of helth neuer we had ;
Fower thowsand¹ and sex hundreth² yere
haue we bene here in darknes stad ;
Now se I tokyns of solace sere,
28
A gloryous glemo to make vs glad,
Wher thrugh I hope that help is nere,
That sone shał slake oure sorowes sad.
(8)
32
Eve, too,
takes the
light as a
good sign.
Isaiah re-
calls Adam's
Arst sin,
of
and his own
prophecy
the light
that should
Eua. Adam, my husband heynd,
This menys solace certan;
Sich light can on vs leynd
In paradyse full playn.
36
(9)
Isaias. Adam, thrugh thi syn
here were we put to dwch,
This wykyd place within;
The name of it is hell;
here paynes shał neuer blyn,
That wykyd ar and felt.
loue that lord with wyn,
his lyfe for vs wold set.
Et cantent omnes "saluator mundi,” primum versum.
Adam, thou wel vnderstand
40
44
(10)
I am Isaias, so crist me kende.
I saide a light shuld on theym lende;
48
This light is all from crist commande
come to them I spake of folke in darknes walkand,
that walked
in darkness.
[Fol. 98, a.
Big. P. 2.]
That ho til vs has hedir sende,
Thus is my poynt proved in hand,
as I before to fold it kende.
(11)
Simeon'. So may I tett of farlys feyH,
ffor in the tempyH his freyndys me fande,
Me thoght daynteth with hym to dey},
I halsid hym homely with my hand;
¹ MS. iiij M¹.
52
56
2 MS. vi C.
I saide, lord, let thi seruandys leyH
pas in peasse to lyf lastande;
Now that myn eeyn has sene thyn hele
no longer lyst I lyf in lande.
Simeon re-
members
Christ's pre-
sentation in
the Temple
and his own
60 Nune
dimittis.
64
He now sees
the light
which he
then fore-
told.
(12)
This light thou has purvayde
ffor theym that lyf in lede;
That' I before of the haue saide
I se it is fulfillyd in dede.
(13)
Iohannes baptista. As a voce cryand I kend
The wayes of crist, as I welt can;
I baptisid hym with both myn hende
in the water of flume Iordan;
The holy gost from heuen discende
As a white dowfe downe on me than;
The fader voyce, oure myrthes to amende,
Was made to me lyke as a man ;
(14)
"yond is my son," he saide,
"and which me pleasses full wel,"
his light is on vs layde,
and commys oure karys to kele.
(15)
Moyses. Now this same nyght lernyng haue I,
to me, moyses, he shewid his myght,
And also to anothere oone, hely,
where we stud on a hit on hyght;
As whyte as snaw was his body,
his face was like the son for bright,
Noman on mold was so myghty
grathly durst loke agans that light;
(16)
And that same light here se I now
shynyng on vs, certayn,
where thrugh truly I trow
that we shall sone pas fro this payn,
John the
Baptist re-
calla the
Baptism of
Christ and
the voice
68 from
72
Heaven.
76
Christ's
light comes
to assuage
their cares.
Moses re-
calls the
Transfigura-
tion and the
wondrous
light there
80 shown.
84
88
That same
light he sees
now.
Rybald is
full of fore-
boding that
the souls
will escape.
He bids
Beelzebub
bind them.
(17)
Rybald. Sen fyrst that he was mayde / And I was put
therin,
Sich sorow neuer ere I had / nor hard I sich a dyn;
My hart begynnys to brade / my wytt waxys thyn,
I drede we can not be glad / thise saules mon fro vs twyn.
(18)
how, belsabub! bynde thise boys,¹ / sich harow was neuer
hard in het.
Belzabub. Out, rybald thou rores, / what is betyd can
thou oght tel?
Rybald. whi, herys thou not this vgly noyse??
thise lurdans that in lymbo dweH2
Thay make menyng of many Ioyse,⁹
They are
crying on
Christ and
say He will
save them.
and Muster myrthes theym emeH.3
(19)
Belzabub. Myrth? nay, nay! that poynt is past,
more hope of helþ shal thay neuer haue.
Rybald. They cry on crist full fast,
And says he shall theym sauc.
(20)
[Fol. 98, b.] Beelzabub. yee, though he do not, I shał,
ffor they ar sparyd in specyał space;
Beelzebub
bids him
call up
Astaroth
and other
devils,
98
102
whils I am prynce and pryncypał
they shall neuer pas out of this place.
106
Cal vp astarot and anabal
To gyf vs counsel in this case;
Bel, berith, and bellyaH,
To mar theym that sich mastry mase.
110
(21)
Say to sir satan oure syre,
and byd hym bryng also
and tell
Satan, and
bid him
bring
Lucifer.
Jesus calls
for the gates
to be raised.
Sir lucyfer, lufly of lyre.
Rybald. AH redy lord I go.
114
Ihesus. Attollite portas, principes, vestras & eleuamini
porte eternales, & introibit rex glorie.
1 Originally oure bowys" (and probably "bende").
2 & 3 These and following lines are single lines with central
rymes.
(22)
Rybald. Out, harro, out! what devil is he
That callys hym kyng ouer vs att 1
hark belzabub, com ne,
ffor hedusly I hard hym cał.
Belzabub. Go, spor the yates, ył mot thou the !
And set the waches on the wall;
Ryball cries
to Beclze-
bub, who
bids him
lock the
gates and met
119 watches,
If that brodeł com ne
With vs ay won he shaH;
(23)
And if he more call or cry,
To make vs more debate,
lay on hym hardely,
And make hym go his gate.
(24)
Dauid. Nay, with hym may ye not fyght,
ffor he is king and conqueroure,
And of so mekiH myght,
And styf in euery stoure ;
123
127
and to fall
upon Jesus
If He calls
again.
David warns
him that
they may
not fight
with Jesus,
131
Who is King
and Con-
queror.
Of hym commy's at this light
that shynys in this bowre;
he is full fers in fight,
worthi to wyn honoure.
(25)
Belzabub, honowre! harsto, harlot, for what dede?
Alle erthly men to me ar thral;
That lad that thou callys lord in lede
he had neuer harbor, house, ne haH.
135
139
Beelzebub
claims all
earthly men
as his thralls.
(26)
how, sir sathanas! com nar
And hark this cursid rowte!
Sathanas. The devil you all to-har!
What ales the so to showte?
And me, if I com nar,
143
He calls
Satan, who
asks what is
the matter.
thy brayn bot I bryst owte!
Belzabub. Thou must com help to spar,
we ar beseged abowte.
Beelzebub
says they are
147 besieged.
Satan bids
them see
that Jesus
does not
escape.
(27)
Sathanas. Bosegyd aboute! whi, who durst be so bold
for drede to make on vs à fray?
Belzabube. It is the Iew that Iudas sold
ffor to be dede this othere day.
151
Sathanas. how! in tyme that tale was told,
that trature trauesses vs all-way;
he shalbe hero ful hard in hold,
Beelzebub
Bays Jesus
has far other
thoughts.
bot loke he pas not, I the pray.
(28)
Belzabub. Pas! nay, nay, he will not weynde
ffrom hens or it be war;
he shapys hym for to sheynd
AH hell or he go far.
(29)
Satan defies Sathanas. ffy, faturs! therof shat he fayt,
Jesus.
[Fol. 99, a.
Big. P. 3.]
He coun-
selled the
Jews to kill
Him,
ffor at his fare I hym defy;
I know his trantes fro top to tayH,
he lyffys by gawdys and glory.
Thorby he broght furth of oure bayH
The lath lazare of betany,
Bot to the Iues I gaf counsayH
155
159
163
That thay shuld cause hym dy;
167
(30)
and per
suaded
Judas to
carry out
the agree
ment.
I enter ther into Iudas,
that forward to fulfyH,
Therfor his hyere he has,
AH wayes to won here styH.
(31)
Rybald asks Rybald. Sir sathan, sen we here the say
Satan, as
this is his
doing, if he
thou and the Iues were at assent,
hopes to
defeat
Jesus?
171
And wote he wan the lazare away
that vnto vs was taken to tent,
175
hopys thou that thou mar hym may
to Muster the malyce that he has ment?
ffor and he refe vs now oure pray
we will ye witt or he is went.
179
(32)
Sathanas. I byd the noght abaste,
bot boldly make you bowne,
With toyles that ye intraste,
And dyng that dastard downo.
Ihesus. Attollite portas, principes, vestras, &c.
(33)
Rybald. Outt, harro! what harlot is he
that sayes his kyngdom shalbe cryde?
dauid. That may thou in sawter se,
for of this prynce thus ere I saide;
I saide that he shuld breke
(34)
youre barres and bandys by name,
183
Satan en-
courages
him.
Jesus calls
again.
David re-
calls his pro-
188 phecy of
Christ's
triumph.
And of youre warkys tako wreke;
now shalt thou se the same.
(35)
Thesus. ye prynces of hell open youre yate,
And let my folk furth gone;
A prynce of peasse shatt enter therat
wheder ye will or none.
192
Jesus sum-
mons them
to open the
gates.
196
(36)
Rybald. What art thou that spekys so?
Thesus. A kyng of blys that hight ihesus.
Rybald. yee, hens fast I rod thou go,
And met the not with vs.
200
(37)
Belzabub. Oure yates I trow will last,
thay ar so strong I weyn;
Bot if oure barres brast,
ffor the they shall not twyn.
204
Rybald and
Beelzebub
defy Him.
(38)
Ihesus. This stede shaH stand no longer stokyn;
open vp, and let my pepit pas.
Rybald. Out, harro! oure bay is brokyn,
Jesus bursta
the bars to
the dismay
of Rybald.
and brusten ar all oure bandys of bras!
208
Beelzebub
laments.
(39)
Belzabub. harro! oure yates begyn to crak!
In sonder, I trow, they go,
And heft, I trow, wiH aй to-shak ;
Alas, what I am wo!
(40)
Rybald. lymbo is lorne, alas!
sir sathanas com vp;
212
Batan re-
proaches the
devils for
not over-
throwing
Christ,
This wark is wars then it was.
Sathanas. yee, hangyd be thou on a cruke¹!
(41)
216
Thefys, I bad ye shuld be bowne,
If he maide mastres more,
To dyng that dastard downe,
sett hym both sad and sore.
(42)
[Fol. 99, b.] Belzabuh. To sett hym sore, that is sone saide!
com thou thi self and serue hym so;
220
we may not abyde his bytter brayde,
he wold vs mar and we were mo.
and calls for Sathanas. ffy, fature! wherfor were ye flayd?
haue ye no force to flyt hym fro?
his own
armiour.
He chal-
lenges Jesus,
loke in haste my gere be grayd,
my self shall to that gadlyng go.
how thou belamy, abyde,
(43)
with all thi boste and beyr!
And tell me in this tyde
what mastres thou makys here.
(44)
Who an-
nounces His
mission to
save the
prisoners.
Ihesus. I make no mastry bot for myne;
I will theym saue, that' shaH the sow;
Thou has no powere theym to pyne,
bot in my pryson for thare prow
here haue they soriornyd, noght as thyne,
bot in thi wayrd, thou wote as how.
Sathanas. why, where has thou bene ay syn,
that neuer wold neȝ theym nere or now?
1 assonance with 'up.'
224
228
232
236
240
(45)
Ihesus. Now is the tyme certan
My fader ordand her for,
The or lained
tine has
comc.
That thay shuld pas fro payn,
In blys to dwelt for cuermore.
(46)
Sathunas. Thy fader knew I wel by syght,
he was a wright, his meett to wyn;
Mary, me mynnys, thi moder hight,
the vtmast ende of aH thy kyn;
Say who made the so mokiH of myght?
Thesus. Thou wykyd feynde, lett be thi dy[n]!
my fader wonnes in heuen on hight,
In blys that neuer more shal blyn;
(47)
I am his oonly son, / his forward to fulfyH,
Togeder will we won, / In sonder when we wytt.
(48)
Sathan'. Goddys sou! nay, then myght thou be glad,
for no catel thurt the craue;
Bot thou has lyffyd ay lyke a lad,
In sorow, and as a sympiH knaue.
(49)
Ihesus. That was for the hartly luf I had
Vnto mans sauH, it forto saue,
And forto make the masyd and ma‹,
And for that reson rufully to rafe.
My godhede here I hyd
In mary,
moder myne,
where it shall neuer be kyd
to the ne none of thyne.
(50)
(51)
Sathan'. how now? this wold I were tolk in towne;
thou says god is thi syre;
I shall the prove by good reson
thou moyttys as man dos into myrc.
244
248
Stan asks
how the son
of Joseph
and Mary in
no mighty?
Jesus re-
veals that
He is God's
8on.
252
254
258
He has con.
cealed His
Godhead to
save men's
souls and
262
confound
the devil
266
270
302 Towneley Plays. XXV. The Deliverance of Souls.
Satan claims To breke thi byddyng they were futt bowne,
the souls as
God's
enemies.
[Fol. 100, a.
Big. P. 4.]
And soyn they wroght at my desyre;
ffrom paradise thou putt theym downo,
In het here to haue thare hyre ;
(52)
And thou thy self, by day and nyght,
taght euer al men emang,
Euer to do reson and right,
And here thou wyrkys ałł wrang.
(53)
Ihesus. I wyrk no wrang, that' shalt thou wytt,
Jesus re-
Ininds him
of the pro-
if I my men fro wo wił wyn;
phecies of
His coming. My prophetys playnly prechyd it',
AH the noytys that I begyn;
They saide that I shuld be that ilke¹
In het where I shuld intro in,
274
278
282
To save my seruandys fro that pytt
where dampnyd saullys shał syt for syn.
286
(54)
And ilke true prophete tayH
shalbe fulfillid in me;
I haue thaym boght fro bayH,
in blis now shall they be.
(55)
Satan quotes Suthanas. Now sen thou lyst to legge the lawes,
Solomon
and Job to
show that
once in hell
there is no
release.
thou shalbe tenyd or we twyn,
ffor those that thou to witnes drawes
fful cuen agans the shaft begyn ;
290
294
As salamon saide in his sawes,
who that ones commys hell within
he shall neuer owte, as clerkys knawes,
therfor, belamy, let be thy dyn.
298
(56)
Iob thi scruande also
In his tyme can tel
That nawder freynde nor fo
shall fynde relcse in het.
302
1 assonance with ‘it.'
(57)
Ihesus. he sayde ful soyth, that shaH thou sc,
In het shalbe no relese,
Bot of that place then ment he
where synful care shaй euer encresc.
In that bay ay shaй thou be,
where sorowes seyr shalt nouer sesse,
And my folke that were most fre
shal pas vuto the place of peasse ;
(58)
ffor they were here with my wiH,
Jesus an-
Kwers that
there is no
release from
the eternal
hell in which
306 the devil
310
shall be
kept, but
these souls
shall depart
to bliss.
And so thay shall furthi weynde;
Thou shall thiself fulfyH
euer wo withoutten ende.
(59)
Sathan'. Whi, and wiH thou take theym at me fro
then thynk me thou art vnkynde;
314
Satan pleads
that they
may be loft,
or that he,
too, inay go.
Nay, I pray the do not so;
Vmthynke the better in thy mynde;
Or els let me with the go,
I pray the leyffe me not bohynde!
Thesus. Nay, tratur, thou shall won in wo,
and til a stake I shaH the bynde.
(60)
Sathan'. Now here I how theu menys emang,
318
322
with incsure and malyce forto met;
Bot sen thou says it shalbe lang,
yit som let att-wayes with vs dwet.
326
Ihesus. Yis, wytt thou well, els were greatt wrang;
thou shall haue caym that slo abołł,
And at that hastys theym self to hang,
Jesus say's he
shall keep
some souls,
such as Cain
and Judas,
As dyd Iudas and architophet;
(61)
And daton and abaron / and all of thare assent,
330
Cursyd tyranttys euer ilkon / that me and myn tormente.
(62)
And all that will not lere my law,
That I haue left in land for new,
That makys my commyng knaw,
And all my sacramentys persew;
and all who
will not learn
His law.
336
2 2
Y
[Fol. 100, b.] My deth, my rysyng, red by raw,
He will
judge these
worse than
the Jews.
Satan is
pleased with
the bargain.
Who trow thaym not thay ar vntrewe;
vnto my dome I shall theym draw,
And Iuge theym wars then any Iew.
(63)
340
And thay that lyst to lere / my law, and lyf therby,
Shaft neuer haue harmes here, /bot welth as is worthy. 342
(64)
Suthanas. Now here my hand, I hold me payde,
thise poyntys ar playnly for my prow;
If this be trew that thou has saide,
we shall haue mo then we haue now;
Thies lawes that thou has late here laide,
I shalt theym lere not to alow;
If thay myn take thay ar betraide,
316
and I shall turne theym tytt I trow.
(65)
350
He will go
east and
west and
make men
sin. Jesus
tells hiin he
I shall walk eest, I shaH walk west,
and gar theym wyrk well war.
Ihesus. Nay feynde, thou shalbe feste,
shall be fast
bound.
that thou shall flyt no far.
354
(66)
Sathan'. ffeste fy! that were a wykyd treson!
belamy, thou shalbe smytt.
Ihesus. Devil, I commaunde the to go downe
into thi sete where thou shał syt.
358
Satan sinks Sathan'. Alas, for doy and care!
into hell,
Rybald re-
viling hin.
I synk into hett pyť!
Rybald. Sir sathanas, so saide I are,
Jesus sum-
nons forth
His chil-
dren.
now shalt thou haue a fytt.
(67)
Ihesus. Com now furth, my childer aH,
I forgyf you youre mys;
With me now go ye shal
to Ioy and endles blys.
(68)
Adain gives Adam. lord, thou art full mekyH of myght,
thanks.
that mekys thiself on this manere,
To help vs all as thou had vs hight,
when both forfett I and my fere;
362
366
370
Fower thousand¹ and sex hundreth yere ;
here haue we dwelt withoutten light
Now se we by this solempne sight'
how that thi mercy makys vs dere.
(69)
This sight
comes to
them after
4600 years of
darkness.
374 1 M8. iiij ML
• MS. vj.
Eua. lord, we were worthy / more tornamentys to tast;
Eve con-
fesses they
Thou help vs lord with thy mercy / as thou of myght is mast. deserved
(70)
Iohannes. lord, I loue the inwardly,
that me wold make thi messyngere,
Thi commyng in erth to cry,
and tech thi fayth to folk in fere;
Sythen before the forto dy,
to bryng theym bodword that be here,
how thay shuld haue thi help in hy,
(71)
380
more punish-
ment.
The Baptist
gives thanks
to Christ for
having made
him His
messenger.
now se I all those poyntys appere.
Moyses. Dauid, thi prophete trew,
oft tymes told vnto vs,
Of thi commyng he knew,
and saide it shuld be thus.
(72)
Dauid. As I saide ere yit say I so,
"ne derelinquas, domine,
Animam meam in inferno;"
"leyfe neuer my sauH, lord, after the,
In depe hell wheder dampned shał go;
suffre thou neuer thi sayntys to se
The sorow of thaym that won in wo,
ay full of fylth, and may not fle."
(73)
Moyses. Make myrth both more and les,
and loue oure lord we may,
That has broght vs fro bytternes
In blys to abyde for ay.
(74)
ysaias. Therfor now let vs syng
to loue oure lord ihesus;
Vnto his blys he will vs bryng,
Te deum laudamus.
Explicit extraccio animarum ab inferno.
384
388
392
396
Moses re-
calls the
prophecies
of David,
who repeats
his prayer
that his soul
be not left
in hell.
[Fol. 101, a.]
Moses and
Isaiah unite
in exhorta-
tion to love
400 God
404
306 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.

XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord

Resurreccio Domini

XXVI.
Resurreccio dʊmini.
[Dramatis Personae.
Secundus Miles.
Tercius Miles.
Ihesus.
Pilate calls
for silence
on pain of
hanging.
Pilatus.
Caiaphas.
Centurio
Anna.
Primus Miles.
Quartus Miles.
Angeli, Primus &
Sccundus.
Maria Magdalene.
Maria Jacobi.
Maria Salomee.
[1 cleven-line stanza, no. 11, aaab ab acb cb; 1 nine-line, no. 101 al
abbbc bc; 4 eight-line, no. 7 aaab cccb, nos. 95, 99, 100 aab aab
cc; 93 six-line stanzas, nos. 51-3 aaab cb, no. 73 ababcc, no.
96 aab aab, the rest aaab ab; 1 three-line, no. 97 aab; 1 couplet,
no. 24.]
pilatus.
P
(1)
Easse, I warne you, woldys in wytt!
And standys on syde or els go sytt',
ffor here ar men that go not yit',
And lordys of me[kit] myght;
We thynk to abyde, and not to flytt',
I tell you euery wyght.
(2)
Spare youre spech, ye brodels bold,
And sesse youre cry tiH I haue told
What that my worship wold,
here in thise wonys;
6
10
whoso that wyghtly nold
fful hy bese hanged his bonys.
12
(3)
who has
He is Pilate,
punished
wote ye not that I am pilate,
That' satt' apon the Iustyce late,
At caluarie where I was att
This day at morne ?
I am he, that' great' state,
That lad has a to-torne.
(4)
16
18
Let watch
be kept if
any follow
His words.
Now sen that lothly lose is thus ded,
I haue great' ioy in my manhede,
Therfor wold I in ilk sted
It were tayn hede,
If any felowse felow his red,
Or more his law wold lede.
22
24
(5)
ffor and I knew it, cruelly
his lyfe, bees lost, and that shortly,
that he were better hyng ful hy
On galow tre;
Therfor ye prelatys shuld aspy
If any sich be.
(6)
As I am man of myghitys most,
If ther be any that blow sich bost,
with tormentys keyn bese he indost
ffor euermore;
The devil to helt shall harry hys goost,
Bot I say nomore.
(7)
Caiphas. Sir, ye thar nothyng be dredand,
ffor centurio, I vnderstand,
youre kuyght is left abydand
Right ther behynde;
We left hym ther, for man most wyse,
If any rybaldys wold oght ryse,
To sesse theym to the next assyse,
And then forto make ende.
Tunc veniet centurio velut miles equitans.
(8)
Centurio. A, blyssyd lord adonay,¹
what may this meruch syguyfy
That here was shewyd so openly
vnto oure sight,
When the rightwys man can dy
that' ihesus bight'?
heuen it shoke abone,
(9)
Of shynyng blan boþ son and moyne,
And dedo men also rose vp sone,
Outt of thare grafe ;
And stones in wall anone
In sonder brast and clafe.
28
30
34
336
[Fol. 101, b.]
If they do
Pilate will
kill them,
and the
devil harry
their ghost
to hell.
Caiaphas
says the Cen-
turion has
been left
behind to
arrest
40 ribalds.
44
The Cen-
turion pon-
ders on the
signs that
accompanied
the death of
48 Jesus.
50
50
54
56
1 This stanza is written as three lines in the MS, with oentral
rhymes.
22
308 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
(10)
The princes Ther was seen many a fuł sodan sight,
Oure prynces, for sothe, dyd nothyng right,
And so I saide to theym on hight,
were wrong,
and Jesus
was indeed
the Son of
God.
As it is trew,
That he was most of myght,
The son of god, ihesu.
(11)
Birds in the ffowlys in, the ayer and fish in floodo,
air and fish
in the sea
knew that
their Lord
was being
put to death.
That day changid thare mode,
when that he was rent on rode,
That lord veray;
60
62
66
ffull well thay vnderstode
That he was slayn that day.
68
Therfor right as I meyn / to theym fast wil I ryde,
Of this enfray;
I will no longer abyde
71
73
To wyt withoutten weyn / what they will say this tyde
bot fast ride on my way.
(12)
[Fol. 102, a.] God saue you, syrs, on euery syde!
He ex-
changes
greetings
with Pilate,
Worship and welth in warld so wyde!
pilatus. Centurio, welcom this tyde,
Oure comly knyght'!
Centurio. God graunt you grace well forto gyde,
And rewH you right'.
(13)
who asks his pilatus. Centurio, welcom, draw nere hand!
TeH vs som tythyngys here emang,
news.
The Cen-
turion says
they have
sinned in
slaying a
righteous
man.
ffor ye have gone thrughoutt oure land,
ye know ilk dele.
Centurio. Sir, I drede me ye haue done wrang
And wonder ył.
(14)
Cayphas. wonder yH? I pray the why?
declare that to this company.
Centurio. So shalt I, sir, full securly,
with all my mayn;
The rightwys man, I meyn, bym by
that ye haue slayn.
23
77
79
8883
35
85
89
16
91
(15)
pilatus. Centurio, sese of sich saw;
ye ar a greatt man of oure law,
And if we shuld any wytnes draw,
To vs excuse,
To mayntene vs euermore ye aw,
And noght refuse.
(16)
Centurio. To mayntene trowth is well worthy;
I saide when I sagh hym dy,
35
95
35
97
Pilate re-
bukes him.
The Con-
turion main-
tains it was
God's Son
That it was godys son almyghty,
That hang thore;
So say I yit and abydys therby,
ffor euermore.
(17)
Anna. yee, sir, sich resons may ye row,
Thou shuld not neuen sich notes new,
Bot thou couth any tokyns trew,
vntil vs tett.
Centurio. Sich wonderful case neuer ere ye
As then befeH.
(18)
they cruci.
fled.
101
103
107
knew
109
Annas asks
for a proof.
Cayphas. we pray the tel vs, of what thyng?
Centurio. Of elymentys, both old and ying,
In thare manere maide greatt mowrnyng,
In ilka stede;
Thay knew by contenaunce that thare kyng
was done to dede.
(19)
The son for wo it waxed att wan,
The Cen-
turion re-
counts the
mourning of
the eleinents
as for their
113 king.
115
The moyn and starnes of shynyng blan,
And erth it tremlyd as a man
Began to speke;
119
The stone, that neuer was styrryd or than,
In sonder brast and breke;
121
(20)
And dede men rose vp bodely, both greatt and smał.
pilatus, Centurio, bewar with aH!
ye wote the clerkys the clyppys it cal
310 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
Pilate says
that clerks
call such a
sight an
eclipse.
Sich sodan sight;
That son and moyne a seson shal
lak of thare light.
(21)
[Fol. 102, b.) Cayphas. Sir, and if that dede men ryso vp bodely,
The dead
may arise
through
sorcery.
The Cen-
That may be done thrugh socery,
Therfor nothyng we sett therby,
that be thou bast.
Centurio. Sir, that I saw truly,
That shall I euermore trast.
(22)
Not for that ilk warke that ye dyd wyrke,
turion trusts Not oonly for the son wex myrke,
his eyes, and
asks an ex-
planation of
Bot how the vay rofe in the kyrke,
the rending
of the veil of
ffayn wyt I wold.
125
127
the Temple. pilatus. A, sich tayles fut sone wold make vs yrke,
if thay were told.
Pilate bids
(23)
harlot! wherto commys thou vs emang
him begone. with sich lesyngys vs to fang?
Weynd furth! by myght thou hang,
131
I
133
L
I
137
139
}
Vyle fatur!
E
143
Cayphas. Weynd furth in the Wenyande,
And hold styH thy clattur.
T
145
(24)
He takes his Centurio. Sirs, sen ye set not by my saw,/ haues now
leave.
good day!
T
God lene you grace to knaw/the sothe a way.
147
T
T
(25)
Anna. with draw the fast, sen thou the dredys,
T
ffor we shall well mayntene oure dedys.
pilatus. Sich wonderful resons as now redys
were neuer beforne,
151
153
A
Caiaphas
would hush
the matter
up.
Cayphas. To neuen this note nomore vs nedys,
nawder euen nor morne,
(26)
Bot forto be war of more were
That afterward myght do vs dere,
Therfor, sir, whils ye ar here
vs aй emang,
Avyse you of thise sawes scre
how thay will stand.
ffor ihesus saide full openly
(27)
Vnto the men that yode hym by,
A thyng that grevys at Iury,
157 They must
consult
together.
159
Jesus pro-
phesied that
He should
rise again
the third
day.
And right so may,
163
That he shuld ryse vp bodely
within the thryde day.
165
(28)
If it be so, as myght I spede,
They must
guard
The latter dede is more to drode
against this
Then was the fyrst, if we take hede
And tend therto;
Avyse you, sir, for it is nede,
169
the best to do.
171
(29)
Anna. Sir, neuer the les if he saido so,
he hase no myght to ryse and go,
Bot his dyscypyls stey his cors vs fro
And bere away;
That were titt vs, and others mo,
A fowl enfray.
(30)
Then wold the pepył say euerilkon
That he were rysen hym self alon,
[Ful. 109, a.]
Annas
thinks the
disciples
will steal the
175 body.
177
The tomb,
therefore,
should be
watched by
Therfor ordan to kepe that stone
knights.
with knyghtys heynd,
181
To thise thre¹ dayes be commen and gone
183
(31)
And broght till ende.
pilatus, Now, certys, sir, full well ye say,
And for this ilk poynt to puruay
I shall, if that I may;
he shall not ryse,
Nor none shall wyn hym thens away
of nokyns wyse.
MS. iij.
187 Pilate
189
agrees.
312 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
Pilate bids
his knights
guard the
body of
Jesus,
(32)
Sir knyghtys, that ar of dedys dughty,
And chosen for chefe of cheualry,
As I may me in you affy,
By day and nyght,
ye go and kepe ihesu body
with all youre myght;
that no
traitor steal
it.
(33)
And for thyng that be may,
kepe hym wel vnto the thryd day,
That no tratur steyt his cors you fray,
Out of that sted;
ffor if ther do, truly I say,
ye shall be dede.
(34)
They express primus Miles. yis, sir pilate, in certan,
their readi-
ness with
boasts,
we shall hym kepe with all oure mayn;
Ther shaH no tratur with no trayn
T
1
193
195
I
V
T
I
199
201
P
T
Steyl hym vs fro;
205
Sir knyȝtys, take gere that best may gayn,
And let vs go.
207
(35)
Secundus Miles. yis, certys, we are all redy bowne,
we shall hym kepe til youre renowne;
and take up On euery syde lett vs sytt downe,
their station
round the
we all in fere;
211
tomb, still
boasting.
And I shall fownde to crak his crowne
whoso commys here.
213
(36)
primus Miles. who shuld be where, fayn wold I wytt.
Secundus Miles. Euen on this syde wył I sytt.
Tercius Miles. And I shall fownde his feete to flytt.
iiijus miles. we ther shrew ther!
Now by mahowne, fayn wold I wytt
who durst com here
(37)
[Fol. 108, b.] This cors with treson forto take,
ffor if it were the burnand drake
Of me styfly he gatt a strake,
217
219
haue here my hand;
To thise thre¹ daycs be past',
223
They will
warrant the
[The souliers sleep:
Jesus rises.] 225
anfety of the
body for
these three
days.
This cors I dar warand.
Tunc cantabunt angeli "Christus
dicet ihesus.
(38)
resurgens," & postea
Thesus. Erthly man, that I haue wroght,
wightly wake, and slepe thou noght!
with bytter bayH I haue the boght,
To make the fre;
Into this dongeon depo I soght
And at for luf of the.
(39)
Behold how dere I wold the by!
My woundys ar weytt and aH blody;
The, synful man, full dero boght I
With tray and teyn;
Thou fyle the noght eft for-thy,
Now art thou cleyn.
(40)
Clene haue I mayde the, synful man,
With wo and wandreth I the wan,
ffrom harte and syde the blood out ran,
Sich was my pyne;
Thou must me luf that thus gaf than
My lyfe for thyne.
(41)
Thou synful man that by me gase,
Tytt vnto me thou turne thi face;
Behold my body, in ilka place
how it was dight';
AH to-rent and a to-shentt,
Man, for thy plight.
(42)
With cordes enewe and ropys toghe
The Iues felt my lymmes out-drogh,
ffor that I was not mete enoghe
vnto the bore;
Jesus calls
men to re-
member
what He has
done for
thein.
229
231
235 Let them not
defle them-
selves now
He has
237 cloansed
them.
241
243
Let them
look on His
torn aud
wounded
247 body.
249
253
with hard stowndys thise depe woundys
Tholyd I thefore.
1 MS. iij.
255
2 MS. xps.
314 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
His pains
and shame
were all
borne for
inan,
(43)
A crowne of thorne, that is so kene,
Thay set apon my hede for tene,
h
Two thefys hang thai me betwene,
AH for dyspyte;
259
{
This payn ilk dele thou shał wyt wele,
May I the wyte.
261
1
(44)
Behald my shankes and my knees,
Myu armes and my thees;
[Ful. 104, a.] Behold me wel, looke what thou sees,
Bot sorow and pyne ;
Thus was I spylt, man, for thi gylt,
And not for myne.
(45)
And yit more vnderstand thou shall;
In stede of drynk thay gaf me gał,
Asell thay menged it withal,
The Iues felt;
265
I
1
267
1
271
to save his
soul from
hell.
The payn I haue, tholyd I to saue
Mans sauH from hell.
f
273
(46)
Behold my body how Iues it dang
I
with knottys of whyppys and scorges strang;
As stremes of well the bloode out sprang
On euery syde;
277
knottes where thay hyt, woH may thou wytt,
Maide woundys wyde.
279
(47)
And therfor thou shaH vnderstand
E
In body, heed, feete, and hand,
ffour hundreth woundys and fyue¹ thowsand
here may thou se;
283
I
ffor luf of the.
285
And therto neyn 2 were delt fuH euen
(48)
Behold on me noght els is lefte,
And or that thou were fro me refte,
At thise paynes wold I thole efte
1 MS. v.
2 MS. ix.
And for the dy;
here may thou so that I luf the,
Man, faythfully.
(49)
Sen I for luf, man, boght the derc,
As thou thi self tho sotho sees here,
I pray the hartely, with good chere,
luf me agane;
That it lyked me that I for the
tholyd at this payn.
(50)
If thou thy lyfe in syn haue led,
Mercy to ask be not adred;
The leste drope I for the bled
Myght clens the soyn,
289 Man may sce
how great is
the love of
Jesus for
291 him.
Let him then
love Jesus
295 again,
297
and ask for
the inercy
which can
cleanse from
all sin.
301
AH the
syn
the warld with in
If thou had done.
303
(51)
I was well wrother with Iudas
ffor that he wold not ask me no grace,
Then I was for his trespas
Jesus was
rendy to
show mercy
even to
Judas,
That he me sold;
307
would he but
have asked
I was redy to show mercy,
it.
Aske none he wold.
309
(52)
lo how I hold myn armes on brede,
The to sae ay redy mayde;
That I great luf ay to the had,
weł may thou knaw!
313
Som luf agane I wold full fayn
Thou wold me shaw.¹
315
(53)
Bot luf noȝt els asko I of the,
And that thou fownde fast syn to fle;
pyne the to lyf in charyte
[Fol. 104, b.]
He only asks
for man's
love.
Both nyght and day;
319
Then in my blys that neuer shał mys
Thou shalt dwell ay.
¹ MS. shew.
321
316 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
Those who
will cease
from sin and
ask mercy
He will feed
on His own
body,
the bread
which by five
words be-
comes His
flesh.
(54)
ffor I am veray prynce of peasse,
And synnes seyr I may releasse,
And whoso wiłł of synnes seasse
And mercy cry,
I grauntt theym hero a measse
In brede, myn awne body.
(55)
¹ [That ilk veray brede of lyfo
Becommys my fleshe in wordys fyfe;
who so it resaues in syn or stryfe
Bese dede for euer;
And whoso it takys in rightwys lyfe
325
327
331
Dy shall he neuer.1]
(56)
[Jesus retires, and the three
Maries advance.]
Mary Mag-
dalen la-
ments the
death of
Jesus.
Maria Magdalene. Alas! to dy with doy am I dyght!
In warld was neuer a wofuller wight,
I drope, I dare, for seyng of sight
That I can se;
337
My lord, that meki was of myght,
Is ded fro me.
339
(57)
Alas! that I shuld se hys pyne,
Or that I shuld his lyfe tyne,
ffor to ich sore he was medecyne
And boytte of all;
help and hold to euer ilk hyne
To hym wold call.
(58)
Mary Jacobi
Maria Iacobi. Alas! how stand I on my feete
faints to
think of His
when I thyuk on his woundys wete!
wounds.
Ihesus, that was on luf so swete,
And neuer dyd ył,
Is dede and grafen vnder the grete,
withoutten skyH.
(59)
Maria solomee. withoutten sky thise Iues ilkon
That lufly lord thay haue hym slone,
And trespas dyd he neuer none,
1 Crossed out with red ink (after the Reformation ?).
343
345
349
351
In nokyn sted;
To whom shall we now make oure mone?
Oure lord is ded.
(60)
Maria Magdalene. Sen he is ded, my systers derc,
weynd we will with full good chere.
with oure anoyntmentys fare and clere
That we haue broght,
ffor to anoyntt his woundys sero,
That Iues hym wroght.
(61)
Maria Iacobi. Go we then, my systers fre,
ffor sore me longis his cors to see,
Bot I wote neuer how best may be ;
help haue we none,
And which shall of vs systers thro
remefe the stone?
(62)
355 Mary Salome
asks to
whom may
they make
357 their moan
now Jesus is
dend?
The Mag-
dalene pro-
poses that
they go and
anoint His
wounds.
361
363
[Fol. 105. a.
Big. Q. 1.]
The others
wonder how
they shall
heavy stone.
367 move the
369
Maria salomee. That do we not bot we were mo,
ffor it is hogh and heuy also.
Maria Magdalene. Systers, we thar no farther go
Ne make mowinyng;
I se two syt where we weynd to,
The Mag-
dalene sees
373 two sitting
by the tomb
in white
clothing.
In whyte clothyng.
375
(63)
Maria Iacobi. Certys, the sothe is not to hyde,
The graue stone is put besyde.
Maria salomee. Certys, for thyng that may betyde,
Now will we weynde
To late the luf, and with hym byde,
that was oure freynde.
(64)
primus angelus. ye mowrnyng women in youre thoght,
here in this place whome haue ye soght?
Maria Magdalene. Ihesu that vnto ded was broght,
379
381
The angels
tell the
women that
Jesus is not
there.
Oure lord so frc.
385
Secundus angelus. Certys, women, here is he noght;
Com nere and se.
387
318 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
Jesus is
risen,
(65)
primus angelus. he is not here, the sothe to say,
The place is voyde ther in he lay;
The sudary here so ye may
was on hym layde;
he is
rysen and gone his way,
(66)
As he you sayde.
and shall be Secundus angelus. Euen as he saide so done has he,
found in
Galilee.
The Mag-
dalene bids
the others
preach what
they have
heard.
he is rysen thruȝ his pauste;
he shalbe fon in galale,
In fleshe and felt;
To his dyscypyls now weynd ye,
And thus thaym tel.
(67)
Maria Magdalene. My systers fre, sen it is so,
That he is resyn the deth thus fro,
As saide til vs thise angels two,
As
Oure lord and lechic,
ye haue hard where that
391
393
397
399
403
ye go
Loke that ye preche.
405
(68)
Maria Iacobi. As we haue hard so shall we say;
Mare, oure syster, haue good day!
Maria Magdalene. Now veray god, as ho we may,
Man most of myght,
409
he wysh you, systers, wel in youre way,
And rewle you right.
411
(69)
[Fol. 105, b.]
Alas, what shall now worth on me?
She again
laments
Christ's suf-
ferings.
My catyf hart wył breke in thro
when that I thynk on that ilk bodye
how it was spylt;
415
Thruȝ feete and handys nalyd was he
Withoutten gylt.
417
(70)
withoutten gylt then was he tayn,
That lufly lord, thay haue hym slayn,
And tryspas dyd he neuer nano,
Ne yit no mys
It was my gylt he was fortayn,
And nothing his.
(71)
how myght I, bot I lufyd that swete
That for me suffred woundys wete,
Sythen to be grafen vnder the grete,
Sich kyndnes kythe;
Ther is nothyng tiH that we mete
may make me blythe.
(72)
421 It was for
her guilt He
suffered, for
none of His
423 own.
427
[The women retire, and the
soldiers then wake.]
primus Miles. Outt, alas! what shał I say?
where is the cors that here in lay?
The soldiers
discover the
disappear
ance of the
body, and
Secundus Miles. what alys the man? he is away
cry harrow!
That we shuld tent!
433
primus Miles. Ryse vp and se.
Secundus miles.
harrow! thefe! for ay
I cowute vs shent!
435
(73)
Tercius miles. what devyH alys you two
sich nose and cry thus forto may?
Secundus Miles. ffor he is gone.¹
Tercius Miles. Alas, wha?
Secundus Miles. he that here lay.
439
Tercius Miles. harrow! devil! how swa gat he away? 441
(74)
Quartus miles. what, is he thus-gatys from vs went,
The fals tratur that here was lentt,
That we truly to tent
had vndertane?
Certanly I tell vs shent
holly ilkane.
(75)
primus Miles. Alas, what shał I do this day
Sen this tratur is won away?
445 They fear
they will be
punished.
447
And safely, syrs, I dar well say
he rose alon.
451
Secundus Miles. wytt sir pilate of this enfray
we mon be slone.
453
1.46
"go" "is needed to ryme with "two."
23
320 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
The second
soldier hin-
self saw
Jesus go.
(76)
Quartus Miles. wote ye well he rose in dede?
Secundus Miles. I sagh myself when that he yede.
primus Miles. when that he styrryd out of the steed
Quartus Miles. Alas, hard hap was on my hede
None couth it ken.
emang at men.
(77)
Tercius Miles. ye, bot wyt sir pilate of this dede,
457
459
[Fol. 106, a.
Big. Q. 2.]
That we were slepand when he yede,
we mon forfett, withoutten drede,
AH that we haue.
463
They think
they must
Quartus Miles. we must make lees, for that is nede,
invent some
Oure self to saue.
465
lie
(78)
as that a
thousand
armed men
stole the
body.
primus Miles. That red I wel, so myght I go.
Secundus Miles. And I assent therto also.
Tercius Miles. A thowsand shał I assay, and
wełł armed ilkon,
Com and toke his cors vs fro,
had vs nere slone.
(79)
mo,
469
471
The fourth
soldier is
bold to tell
Pilate what
has really
happened.
Quartus miles. Nay, certys, I hold ther none so good
As say the sothe right as it stude,
how that he rose with mayn and mode,
And went his way;
To sir pilate, if he be wode,
Thus dar I say.
(80)
primus Miles. why, and dar thou to sir pilate go
with thise tythyngys, and tel hym so?
Secundus Miles. So red I that we do also,
we dy bot oones.
475
477
481
Tercius Miles & omnes. Now he that wroght vs all this wo
wo worth his bones!
(81)
Quartus Miles. Go we sam, sir knyghtys heynd,
Sen we shall to sir pilate weynd,
I trow that we shall parte no freynd,
483
[They come to Pilate.] 487
primus Miles. Now and I shall teй ilka word til ende,
Or that we pas.
right as it was.
(82)
Sir pilate, prynce withoutten peyr,
Sir Cayphas and Anna boþ in fere,
The first
489
soldier greets
Pilate and
the priests.
And all the lordys aboute you there,
To neuen by name;
Mahowne you saue on sydys sere
ffro syn and shame.
(83)
pilatus. ye ar welcom, oure knyghtys so keyn,
A mekit myrth now may we meyn,
Bot tell vs som talkyng vs betwene,
primus Miles. Oure walkyng, lord, withoutten wene,
How ye haue wroght.
Is worth to noght.
(84)
493
495
499
501
Pilate asks
for news.
Cayphas. To noght? alas, seasse of sich saw.
Secundus Miles. The prophete ihesu, that ye wel knaw,
Is rysen, and went fro vs on raw,
with mayn and myght.
pilatus. Therfor the devil the ał to-draw,
vyle recrayd kuyght!
They tell
him the
prophet is
risen.
505
He re-
proaches
507 thein.
(85)
what! combred cowardys I you call!
lett ye hym pas fro you aH?
Tercius Miles. Sir, ther was none that durst do bot smaH They plead
when that he yede.
fright
511
Quartus Miles. we were so ferde we can downe fall,
And qwoke for drede.
513
(86)
[Fol. 106, b.]
primus miles. we were so rad, euerilkon,
when that he put besyde the stone,
we quoke for ferd, and durst styr none,
And sore we were abast.
pilatus. whi, bot rose he bi hym self alone?
Secundus miles. ye, lord, that be ye trast,
517
Jesus rose
by Hinself
519
alone.
322 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
There was a
wondrous
(87)
we hard neuer on euyn ne morne,
melody when Nor yit oure faders vs beforne,
He rose.
Sich melody, myd-day ne morne,
As was maide thore.
523
vilatus. Alas, then ar oure lawes forlorne
ffor euer more!
525
(88)
Pilate asks
the advice
A, devil! what shał now worth of this?
of Caiaphas. This warld farys with quantys ;
I pray you, Cayphas, ye vs wys
Of this enfray.
529
Caiphas. Sir, and I couth oght by my clergys,
ffayn wold I say.
531
(89)
Anna. To say the best for sothe I shaH;
Annas
counsels
him to re-
It shalbe profett for vs alt,
soldiers, and yond knyghtys behovys thare wordys agane call,
ward the
make them
tell another
story.
how he is myst;
we wold not, for thyng that myght befał,
That no man wyst:
535
537
(90)
And therfor of youre curtessie
Gyf theym a rewarde for-thy.
pilatus. Of this counsel well paide am I,
It shalbe thus.
511
Pilate bids
them say
10,000 men
in good
array stole
the body
from thein.
Take tent til vs ;
(91)
herkyns now how ᎩᎾ shaH say,
Sir knyghtys, that ar of dedys doghty,
543
where so ye go by nyght or day;
Ten thowsand¹ men of good aray
Cam you vntil,
547
And thefyshly toke his cors you fray
Agans youre will.
549
(92)
loke ye say thus in euery land,
And therto on this couande
Ten thowsand pounds 2 haue in
youre
hande
¹ MS. XM¹.
• XM'li.
To youre rewarde;
And my frenship, I vnderstande,
Shał not be sparde;
(93)
Bot loke ye say as we haue kende.
primus miles. yis, sir, as mahowne me mende,
In ilk contree where so we lende
By nyght or day,
where so we go, where so we weynd,
Thus shall we say.
(94)
553
He gives
them $10,000
as their
rewari.
555
They pro-
mise.com-
pliance, and
are dis-
559 missed.
561
pilatus. The blyssyng of mahowne be with you nyght
and day!
[Pilate and the soldiers retire. Mary and Jesus advance.]
Maria maydalene. Say me, garthynere, I the pray,
If thou bare oght my lord away;
Tell me the sothe, say me not nay,
where that he lyys,
And I shall remeue hym if I may,
[Fol. 107, a
Big. Q.3.]
Mary Mag-
dalene asks
566 the Gardener
if He knows
where her
Lord's body
On any kyn wyse.
568
(95)
Ihesus. woman, why wepys thou? be styH!
whome sekys thou say me thy wył,
And nyk me not with nay.
571
Maria Magdalene. ffor my lord I lyke fuй yH;
The stede thou bare his body tyH
Tell me I the pray;
574
And I shall if I may / his body bere with me,
Vnto myn endyng day / the better shuld I be.
576
(96)
Thesus. woman, woman, turn thi thoght!
wyt thou well I hyd hym noght,
Then bare hym nawre with me;
Go seke, loke if thou fynde hym oght.
Maria Magdalene. In fayth I haue hym soght',
Bot nawre he will fond be.
(97)
579
She has
sought but
582 cannot find
Thesus. why, what was he to the / In sothfastnes to say?
Maria Magdalene. A! he was to me / no longer dwelt I may.
Thesus. Mary, thou sekys thy god, and that am I.
Him.
Jesus reveals
585 Himself.
23⭑
324 Towneley Plays. XXVI. The Resurrection of the Lord.
Mary wor-
ships Jesus.
(98)
Maria Magdalene. Rabony, my lord so dere!
Now am I hole that thou art here,
Suffer me to neȝ the nere,
And kys thi feete;
Myght I do so, so weł me were,
ffor thou art swete.
589
591
(99)
He bids her
Thesus. Nay, mary, neghe thou not me,
not to touch
Him, but to
ffor to my fader, tell I the,
bear His
commands
to His dis-
ciples.
yit stevynd I noght;
Tell my brethere I shall be
Before theym all in trynyte
whose will that I haue wroght.
594
597
To peasse now ar thay boght / that prysond were in pyne,
wherfor thou thank in thoght/god, thi lord and myne 599
(100)
Mary thou shał weynde me fro,
Myn erand shat thou grathly go,
In no fowndyng thou fall;
602
To my dyscypyls say thou so,
That wilsom ar and lappyd in wo,
That I thaym socoure shał.
605
By name peter thou caH / and say that I shall be
Before hym and theym al / my self in galyle.
607
Mary pro-
(101)
Maria Magdalene. lord, I shall make my vyage
inises obedi-
ence, and
to tell theym hastely;
rejoices at
having seen ffro thay here that message
the Lord.
thay will be all mery.
611
[Fol. 107, b.]
This lord was slayn, alas for-thy,
ffalsly spylt, noman wyst why,
whore he dyd mys;
Bot with hym spake I bodely,
ffor-thi commen is my blys.
(102)
Mi blys is commen, my care is gone,
That lufly haue I mett alone;
I am as blyth in bloode and bone
614
616
As euer was wight;
Now is he resyn that ere was slone,
Mi hart is light.
(103)
I am as light as leyfe on tre,
620 He is risen
622
that was
slain.
ffor ioyful sight that I can se,
ffor well I wote that it was he
My lord ihesu;
626
he that betrayde that fre
sore may he rew.
628
(104)
To galyle now will I fare,
And his dyscyples cach from care;
I wote that thay wiłł mowrne no mare,
Commyn is thare blys;
That worthi childe that mary bare
he amende youre mys.
Explicit resurreccio domini.
632
634

XXVII. The Pilgrims (the Walk to Emmaus)

Peregrini

XXVII.
Peregrini.'
[2 nine-line stanzas, no 4 aaaab cccb, no. 30 ababe ddde; 5 eight-
line, abababab; 6 seven-line, nos. 39, 59 abab cdc, the rest ababc
bc; 40 six-line, aaab ab; 6 four-line, abab; 1 couplet.]
[Dramatis Personae:
She will go
to Galilee
and release
the disciples
from care.
Cleophas
Cleophas.
Lricas
(1)
lmyghty god, ihesu ihesu
Α *
Jesus.]
Cleophas
lainents for
Jesus.
That borne was of a madyn fre,
Thou was a lord and prophete trew,
whyls thou had lyfe on lyfe to be
Emangys thise men ;
ył was thou ded, so wo is me
that I it ken!
4
7
1.66 'fysher pagent" is written underneath the title in a later
hand.
Why was
man so
blind as to
alay his
Lord!
[Fol. 108, a.
Big. Q. 4.]
Luke
laments the
death of
wan's
physician.
They recall
how Jesus
was tortured
(2)
I ken it well that thou was slayn
Oonly for me and all mankynde;
Therto thise Iues were full bayn.
Alas! why was thou, man, so blynde
Thi lord to slo?
On hym why wold thor haue no mynde,
bot bett hym blo?
(3)
11
14
Blo thou bett hym bare / his brest thou maide all blak,
his woundes att wete thay ware / Alas, withoutten lak! 16
(4)
Lucas. That lord, alas, that leche / that was so meke and
mylde,
So well that couth vs preche / with syn was neuer fylde ;
he was full bayn to preche / vs all from warkes wylde,
his ded it will me drech, / ffor thay hym so begylde
This day;
Alas, why dyd thay so
To tug hym to and fro?
ffrom hym wold thay not go
To his lyfe was away.
(5)
Cleophas. Thise cursyd Iues, euer worth thaym wo!
Oure lord, oure master, to ded gart go,
by the Jows. AH sakles thay gart hym slo
Apon the rode,
And forto bete his body blo
Thay thoght full good.
21
25
25
29
31
(6)
Lucas. Thou says full sothe, thay dyd hym payn,
And therto were thay euer fayn.
Thay wold no leyf or he was slayn
And done to ded;
35
ffor-thi we mowrne with mode and mayn,
with rufull red.
37
(7)
Cleophas. yee, rufully may we it rew,
ffor hymn that was so good and trew,
That thrugh the falshede of a Iew
41 Their own
sorrow is
ever fresh.
was thus betrayd;
Therfor oure sorow is euer new,
Oure ioy is layd.
(8)
43
Lucus, Certys, it was a wonder thyng
That thay wold for no tokynyng,
Ne yit for his techyng,
Trast in that trew;
Thay myght haue sene in his doyng
ffuH great vertu.
(9)
Cleophas. ffor all that thay to hym can say
he answard neuer with yee, ne nay,
Bot as a lam meke was he ay,
ffor all thare threte;
he spake ncuer, by nyght ne day,
No wordes greatte.
(10)
Lucas. AH if he wor withoutten plight,
Vnto the ded yit thay hym dight;
If he had neuer so meki myght
he suffred at ;
he stud as stiH, that bright,
As stone in wał.
(11)
Cleophas. Alas, for doy! what was thare sky
That precyous lord so forto spit ?
They marvel
at the un-
belief of the
Jews,
47
49
53
55
and the
meekness of
Jesus.
59 He stood
61
still as stone
in wall.
How could
the Jews
slay Him?
And he seruyd neuer none yH
In worde, ne dede;
Bot prayd for theym his fader till
To ded when that he yede.
65
67
(12)
passyon,
Lucas. When I thynk on his
And on his moder how she can swoyn,
To dy nere am I bowne,
ffor sorow I sagh hir make;
Vnder the crosse when she fell downe,
ffor hir son sake.
[Fol. 108, b.]
The remem-
brance of
His inother's
sorrow
71 makes thein
ready to die.
73
(13)
The blows of Cleophas. Me thynk my hart is full of wo
the Jews
made His
body blue.
When He
asked for
drink they
gave Him
when I saȝ hym to ded go;
Th[e] wekyd Iues thay were so thro
To wyrk hym woȝe,
his fare body thay maide fuł blo
with strokes enoghe.
(14)
Lucas. Me thynk my hart droppys all in bloodo
when I sagh hym hyng on the roode,
Vinegar and And askyd a drynk, with full mylde mode,
gall.
suffered half
Right than in hy;
Asel and gat, that was not good,
Thay broght hym then truly.
(15)
No man ever Cleophas. was neuer man in no-kyns steede
That suffred half so greatt mysdede
as much.
As he, to ded or that he yede,
Ne yit the care ;
ffor-thi full careful is my red
where soeuer I fare.
(16)
Lucas. where so I fare he is my mynde,
Bot when I thynk on hym so kynde,
how sore gyltles that he was pyynde
Jesus asks
why they
walk so sor-
rowfully?
Apon a tre,
Vnethes may I hold my mynde,
So sore myslykys me.
hic venit thesus in apparatu peregrini.
(17)
Thesus. Pylgrymes, whi make ye this mone,
And walk so rufully by the way?
haue ye youre gates vngrathly gone?
Or what you alys to me ye say.
(18)
what wordes ar you two emange,
That ye here so sadly gang?
To here theym eft ful sore I lang,
77
69
79
83
85
89
69
91
95
97
101
here of yow two ;
It semys ye ar in sorow strang,
here as ye go.
(19)
Cleophas. what way, for shame, man, has thou tayn
That thou wote not of this affray ?
105 He desires to
know what
107
Are they
talking of?
Thow art a man by the alane,
Thow may not pleasse me to my pay.
111
Cleophas
asks how it
ja lie has
not heard of
this affray?
(20)
Пhesus. I pray you, if it be youre will,
Those Wordys ye wold reherse me tył;
ye ar at heuy and lykys yH
here in this way;
If ye will now shew me youre [wyll]
I wold you pray.
(21)
Lucas. Art thou a pilgreme thi self alone,
[Fol. 109, a.)
Jesus asks
them to tell
115
Him.
117
walkand in contry bi thyn oone,
Luke cannot
believe He
has not
heard.
And wote not what is commen and gone
within few dayes ↑
121
Me thynk thou shuld make mone,
And wepe here in thi wayes.
Thesus. whi, what is done can ye me say
123
(22)
Jesus again
asks to be
In this land this ylk day?
Is ther fallen any affray
told.
In land awre whare?
If ye can, me tell I you pray,
Or that I farthere fare.
(23)
Cleophas. why, knowys thou not what thyng is done
here at Ierusalem thus sone,
Thruȝ wykyd Iues, withoutten hone,
And noght lang syn?
flor the trewe prophete make we this mone,
And for his pyne.
(24)
Lucas. yee for ihesu of nazarene,
That was a prophete true and clene,
In word, in wark, full meke, I wene,
127
129
They tell
Him they
are mourn-
ing the death
of a prophet,
Jesus of
133 Nazarene '
135
They found
Him ever
And that fonde we;
true.
And so has he fut long bene,
As mot I the,
139
141
(25)
To god and to the people baþ;
Therfor thise daies he has takyn skath,
Vnto the ded, withoutten hagh,
The Jews
Thise Iues hym dight;
145
put Him to
death,
ffor-thi for hym thus walk we wrath
By day and nyght.
147
(26)
crucifying
Him a mile
hence.
Cleophas Thise wykyd Iues trayed hym with gyle
To thare high preestys within a whyle,
And to thare prynces thay can hym fyle,
withoutten drede;
Apon a crosse, noght hens a myle,
To ded he yede.
(27)
They expect Lucas. we trowyd that it was he truly
151
153
Him to come
again to life,
his awne lyfe agane shuld by,
As it is told in prophecy
Of Cristys doyng;
157
And, certys, thay wiH neuer ly
ffor nokyns thyng.
159
(28)
ffro he was of the crosse tayn
he was layde fułł sone agane
or no.
but know
not whether
He be risen
In a graue, vnder a stane,
And that we saw ;
163
[Fol. 109, b.] Wheder he be rysen and gane
yit we ne knaw.
165
(29)
Jesus will
Ihesus. Pilgremes, in speche ye ar full awtħ,
expound the
prophets to
them.
That shall I wel declare you why,
ye haue it hart, and that is rawth,
ye can no better stand therby,
Thyng that ye here;
And prophetys told it openly
On good manere.
169
172
(30)
Thay saide a childe there shuld be borne
To by mankynde combryd in care;
Thus saide dauid here beforne
It was fore-
told that lle
should lie
three days in
earth and
rise by His
And othere prophetys wyse of lare,
power.
And daniel;
177
Som saide he ded shuld be,
And ly in erth by dayes thre,
And sithen, thrugh his pauste,
Ryse vp in flesh and felt.
(31)
Cleophas. Now, sir, for sothe, as god me saue,
women has flayed vs in oure thoght;
Thay saide that thay were at his graue,
And in that sted thay faunde hym noght,
Bot saide a light
Com downe with angels, and vp hym broght
Ther in thare sight.
(32)
we wold not trow theym for nothyng,
If thay were ther in the mornyng,
we saide thay knew not his rysyng
when it shuld be;
Bot som of vs, without dwellyng,
wentt' theder to se.
(33)
181
185
The disciples
tell of the
report of
the women,
188
of how they
distrusted it
192
194
Lucas. yee, som of vs, sir, haue beyn thare,
And faunde it as the women saide,¹
Out of that sted that cors was fare,
And also the graue stone put besyde,
198
we se with ee;
The teres outt of myn ees can glyde,
ffor doyHt I dre.
201
(34)
Thesus. ye foyles, ye ar not stabyH!
where is youre witt, I say?
wilsom of hart ye ar vnabyH
And outt of the right way,
assonance to "besyde,” “glyde'
205
but found it
was true
Jesus re-
proaches
them.
Jesus knew
that Judas
should be-
tray Him.
Did not the
prophets
foretell His
death and
resurrection?
ffor to trow it is no fabył
that at is fallen this same day.
he wyst, when he sat at his tabił,
that Iudas shuld hym sone betray.
(35)
Me thynk you all vntrist to trow,
both i. mode and mayn,
209
AH that the prophetys told to you
before, it is no trane.
213
[Fol. 110, & ]
Told not thay what' wyse and how
That cryst' shuld suffre payn?
And so to his paske bow
To entre til his ioy agane.
(36)
Take tent to moyses and othere mo,
that were prophetys trew and good;
Thay saide ihesus to deď shuld go,
And pynde be on roode;
Thrugh the Iues be maide fut blo,
his woundys rynyng on red blode;
Sithen shuld he ryse and furth go
before, right as he yode.
Christ must Crist' behovid to suffre this,
needs suffer
thus, and
then enter
into bliss.
fforsothe, right as I say,
(37)
And sithen enter into his blys
vnto his fader for ay,
Euer to won with hym and his,
where euer is gam and play;
Cleophas
Of that myrth shat he neuer mys
ffro he weynde hens away.
(38)
Cleophas. Now, sir, we thank it full oft sythes,
thanks Jesus
for His
words
the commyng of you heder;
To vs so kyndly kythes
the prophecy at to geder.
(39)
Ihesus. By leyff now, sirs, for I must weynde,
ffor I haue far of my iornay.
lucas. Now, sir, we pray you, as oure freynde,
217
221
225
229
233
237
241 Luke prays
Him to stay
with them
AH nyght to abyde for charite,
And take youre r[est];
At morne more prest then may ye be
to go full prest.
(40)
Cleophas. Sir, we you pray, for godys sake,
This nyght penance with vs to take,
With sich chere as we can make,
And that we pray;
we may no farthere walk ne wake,
Gone is the day.
(41)
Lucas. Dwell with vs, sir, if ye myght,
ffor now it waxes to the nyght,
The day is gone that was so bright,
No far thou shal;
Mete and drynk, sir, we you hight
ffor thi good tale.
(42)
Ihesus. I thank you both, for sothe, in fere,
At this tyme I ne may dwelt here,
I haue to walk in wayes sere,
where I haue hight;
I
may not be, withoutten were,
With you all nyght.
(43)
Cleophas. Now, as myght I lyf in qwarte,
this night,
244
248
250
254 proculsing
Him meat
and drink
for His good
256 tale.
260
262
At this tyme will we not parte,
Bot if that thou can more of arte
Or yit of lare;
266
Vnto this cyte, with good harte,
Now let vs fare.
268
(44)
Lucas. Thou art a pilgreme, as we ar,
This nyght shalt thou fare as we fare,
Jesus says
He may not
rest with
then.
They entreat
Him.
Be it les or be it' mare
Thou shall assay;
272
Then to-morne thou make the yare
[Fol. 110, b.]
To weynde thi Way.
274
1 MS. is.
Jesus con-
sents to
abide awhile.
They invite
Him to sit
down and
eat.
(45)
Thesus. ffreyndys, forto fulfil youre wit
I will abyde with you awhyle.
Cleophas. Sir, ye ar welcom, as is sky,
To sich as we haue, bi sant gyle.
(46)
Lucas. Now ar we here at this towne,
I red that we go sytt vs downe,
And forto sowpe we make vs bowne,
Now of oure fode;
we haue cnogħ, sir, bi my crowne,
Of godys goode.
Tunc parent mensum).
(47)
Cleophas. lo, here a borde and clothe laide,
And breed theron, all rely graide;
Sit we downe, we shalbe paide,
And make good chere;
It is bot penaunce, as we saide,
278
282
284
288
290
They are
amazed at
His sudden
disappear-
ance in
breaking
bread.
That we haue here.
Tunc recumbent & selebit ihesus in medio eorum, tunc
benedicet ihesus panem & franget in tribus partibus,
& postea euanebit ab oculis eorum; & dicet lucas,
(48)
Lucas. wemmow! where is this man becom,
Right hero that sat betwix vs two?
he brake the breed and laide vs som ;
how myght he hens now fro vs go
At his awne lyst?
It was oure lorde, I trow right so,
294
And we not wyst.
(49)
Cleophas. When went he hens, whedir, and how,
What I ne wote in warld so wyde,
ffor had I wyten, I make a vowe,
he shuld haue byden, what so betyde;
(50)
Bot it were ihesus that with vs was,
Selcowth me thynke, the sothe to say,
297
301
Thus preualy from vs to pas,
I wist neuer when he went away.
we were ful blynde, euer alas !
I tell vs now begylde for ay,
ffor spech and bewte that he has
They hold
theinselves
305 beguiled for
not having
recognised
Him.
Man myght hym knaw this day.
(51)
Lucas. A, dere god, what may this be?
Right now was he here by me;
Now is this greatt vanyte,
he is away;
We ar begylyd, by my lewte,
So may we say.
(52)
309
313
[Fol. 111, &.)
315
Cleophas. where was oure hart, where was oure thoght,
So far on gate as he vs broght,
knawlege of hym that we had noght
In all that tyme?
So was he lyke, bi hym me wroght,
TiH oon pylgryme.
(53)
Lucas. Dere god, why couth we hym not knawe?
so openly all on a raw
The tayles that he can tiH vs shaw,
By oone and oon);
And now from vs within a thraw
Thus sone is gone.
(54)
Cleophas. I had no knawlege it was he,
Bot for he brake this brede in thre,
319
He was so
like to a
321 pilgriın.
325
327
And delt it here to the and me
With his awne hande;
331
When he passyd hence we myght not se,
here syttande.
333
(55)
Lucas. Wee ar to blame, yee, veramente,
That we toke no better tente
whils we bi the way wente
They blame
themselves
for not
taking more
heed.
26
A a
With hym that stownd;
337
Syttyng on grownd.
(56)
339
They knew
Him as soon
as He took
the bread
knowlege of hym we myght haue hentt,
Cleophas. ffro he toke breede fułł wełł I wyst,
And brake it here with his awne fyste,
and brake it. And laide it vs at his awne lyst,
As we it hent;
I knew hym then, and sone it kyst
with good intente.
(57)
Lucas. That we hym knew wist he well enoȝ,
Therfor at sone he hym with-drogh,
343
345
ffro he saw that we hym knoȝ,
with in this sted;
I haue ferly what way and how
Away that he shuld glyde.¹
(58)
Cleophas. Alas, we war ful myrk in thoght,
bot we were both full will of red;
349
351
Man, for shame whi held thou noght
when he on borde brake vs this breede?
355
(59)
he soght the prophecy more and les
And told it vs right in this sted,
how that he hym self was
With wykid Iues broght to ded,
359
And more;
we will go seke that kyng
That suffred woundes sore.
362
(60)
They will go lucas. Ryse, go we hence fro this place,
to Jerusalem
and tell the
brethren.
To Ierusalem take we the pace,
And tell oure brethere all the case,
I red right thus ;
366
ffrom ded to lyfe when that he rase
he apperyd til vs.
368
1
assonance to "ted."
(61)
Cleophas. At Ierusalem I vnderstande,
Ther hope I that they be dwelland,
In that countre and in that land
We shall theym mete.
Weynd we furth, I dar warand,
Right in the strete.
(62)
lucus. let vs not tary les ne mare,
Bot on oure feete fast lett vs fare;
I hope we shall be cachid fro care
fful sone, Iwys;
That blyssid childe that marie bare
Grauntt you his blys.
372
374
378
380
Expliciunt peregrini.

XXVIII. Thomas of India

Thomas Indie

XXVIII.
Thomas Indie.¹
[Dramatis Personae.
Maria Magdalene.
Quartus Apostolus.
Paulus.
Quintus Apostolus.
Petrus.
Sextus Apostolus.
Tercius Apostolus.
Septimus Apostolus.
Octavus Apostolus.
Novenus Apostolus.
Decimus Apostolus.
Thomas Apostolus.
(Fol. 111, b.)
They will be
sure to meet
them there.
[10 six-line stanzas, aab aab; 72 four-line no. 5, abab, the rest (with
central rymes), aaaa; and 1 triplet, with central rymes, no. 14.]
Maria Magdalenc.
H
(1)
Ay brether! and god be here!
I bryng to amende youre chere,
Trist ye it' and knawe;
he is rysen, the soþ to say,
I met hym goyng bi the
he bad me te it you.
(2)
Mary Mag-
dalene
brings news
of Christ's
3 Resurrec
way,
6
petrus. Do way, woman, thou carpys wast!
It is som spirite, or els som gast;
Othere was it noght;
This Play was originally entitled "Resurreccio domini," the
title being written in large letters with red ink as usual; the alter-
ation to "Thomas Indie" is in small letters and black ink.
tion.
Peter can-
not believe a
dead man
has risen to
life.
we may trow on nokyns wyse
That ded man may to lyfe ryse;
This then is oure thoght.
(3)
Paul recalls paulus. It may be sothe for mans mede,
Jesus' suffer-
ings.
The Iues maide hym grymly blede
Thruȝ feete, handys, and syde;
12
15
With nayles on rode thay dyd hym hang,
Mary must
wherfor, woman, thou says wrang,
be wrong.
As myght I blys abide.
18
(4)
Mary bids
them put
away their
Maria Magdalene. Do way youre threpyng! ar ye wode?
I sagh hym that dyed on roode,
heresy. She
saw and
And with hym spake with mowth;
21
[Fol. 112, a.] Therfor you both, red I,
spake with
Jesus.
putt away your heresy,
Peter re-
proves her.
Paul tells
her 'there is
no trust in
woman's
saw.
Tryst it stedfast and cowth.
(5)
petrus. Do way, woman! let be thi fare,
ffor shame and also syn!
If we make neuer sich care
his lyfe may we not wyn.
(6)
paulus. And it is wretyn in oure law
"Ther is no trust in womans saw,
No trust faith to belefe;
24
28
28
31
ffor with thare quayntyse and thare gyle
Can thay laghe and wepe som while,
34
Women are
like apples
in hoard,
fair to look
on, rotten at
the core.
And yit nothyng theym grefe.'
(7)
In oure bookes thus fynde we wretyn,
AH manere of men wel it wyttyn,
Of women on this wyse ;
TiH an appyH she is lyke-
Withoutten fail ther is none slyke—
In horde ther it lyse,
(8)
Bot if a man assay it wittely,
It is full roten inwardly
At the colke within;
37
40
43
Wherfor in woman is no laȝe,
They are
irresponsible
creatures.
ffor she is withoutten aȝe,
As crist me lowse of syn.
46
(9)
Therfor trast we not trystely,
Bot if we sagh it witterly
Then wold we trastly trow;
In womans saw affy we noght,
ffor thay ar fekiH in word and thoght,
This make I myne avowe.
(10)
Maria magdalene. As be I lowsid of my care,
We will
believe when
we see, but
not on a
49 woman's
word.
52
Mary pro-
tests the
truth of her
story.
55
It is as trew as ye stand thare,
By hym that is my brothere.
petrus. I dar lay my heede to wed,
Or that we go vntil oure bed
That we shall here anothere.
58
(11)
paulus. If it be sothe that we here say,
Or this be the thrid day ¹
The sothe then mon we se.
61
Maria magdalene. Bot it be sothe to trow,
As ye mon here, els pray I you
64
ffor fals that ye hold me.
(12)
2
petrus. Waloway! my lefe deres / there I stand in this Peter begins
sted,
sich sorow my hart sheres / for rewth I can no red;
sen that mawdleyn witnes beres / that ihesus rose from ded,
Myn ees has letten salt teres / on erthe to se ym trede. 68
(13)
Bot alas! that euer I woke / that careful catyf nyght,
When I for care and cold qwoke / by a fyre burnyng ful
bright,
a lamenta-
tion for
Jesus.
Alas that he
denied Him.
When I my lord ihesu forsoke / ffor drede of womansmyght; (Fol. 112, b.]
A rightwys dome I wiH me loke / that I tyne not that
somely sight,
72
1 The words "be the "have been inserted in the MS. at a later date.
2 The bars at all the central rymes are not in the MS.
24
He had
Vowed faith-
fulness, and
yet denied
knowledige
of his
Master.
Alas that
they all for-
sook Him.
(14)
Bot euer alas! what was I wode! / myght noman be
abarstir;
I snide if he nede be-stode / to hym shuld none be trastir;
I saide I knew not that good / creature my master.
(15)
75
Alas! that' we fro the fled / that we ne had with the gane;
When thou with Iues was sted/ with the was dwelland
nane,¹
Bot forsoke the that vs fed / for we wold not be tayn;
we were as prysoners sore adred / with Iues forto be
slayn.
(16)
79
Paul prays paulus. Now ihesu, for thi lyfe swete / who hath thus
that they
may see
Him.
The third
and fourth
apostles give
thanks for
the appear.
ance of
Jesus.
mastryd the?
That in the breede that we eytt / thi self gyffen wold be;
And sythen thruȝ handys and feytt / be nalyd on a tre;
Grauntt vs grace that we may yit / thi light in manhede
se.
83
Tunc venit ihesus et cantat "pax vobis et non tardabit,
hec est dies quam fecit dominus.”
(17)
Tercius apostolus. This is the day that god maide / alt be
we glad and blythe,
The holy gost before vs glad / fful softly on his sithe;
Red clothyng apon he had / and blys to vs can kyþ ;
softly on the erthe he trade / ffulle myldly [he did]2
lythe.
(18)
87
Quartus apostolus. This dede thruȝ god is done / thus in
all oure sighte.
Mighty god, true kyng in trone / Whose son in marye
light,
91
send vs, lord, thi blissid bone / As thou art god of myght,
Sothly to se hym sone / and haue of hym a sight.
Iterum venit ihesus, & cantat, 66 pax vobis & non tardabit.”
¹ MS. gone, none.
"Originally "vs."
(19)
Quintus apostolus. Who so commys in goddis name / ay The fifth
blissid mot he be !
Mightful god shelde vs fro shame / In thi moder name
marie;
apostle
desires to
see Jesus in
the body in
which He
93 died.
Thise wykid Iues wit vs blame / Thou grauntt vs for to se
The self body and the same / the which that died on tre.
(20)
Thesus. peasse emangys you euer ichon! / it is I, drede Jesus ap-
you noght,
you boght.
That was wonte with you to gone / and dere with ded feel His flesh
97
pears, and
bids them
grope and
and bone.
Grope and fele flesh and bone / and fourme of man weł
wroght;
Sich thyng has goost none / loke wheder ye knawe me
oght'.
(21)
99
(Fol. 113, a.
Big. R. 1.]
Let them
My rysyng fro dede to lyfe / shał no man agane moytt;
Behold my woundes fyfe / thruȝ handys, syde, and foytt; behold His
To ded can luf me dryfe / and styrryd my hart roytt.
Of syn who will hym shryfe / thyes woundys shalbe his healed of
boytt.
(22)
103
for oon so swete a thyng / my self so lefe had wroght,
Man sawH, my dere derlyng / to batel was I broght;
ffor it thay can me dyng / to bryng out of my thoght,
On roode can thay me hyng/yit luf forgate I noght. 107
(23)
wounds, by
which men
shall be
sin.
He did
battle for
man's soul,
and forgat
not love.
luf makys me, as ye may se/strenkyllid with blood so Love caused
red;
luf gars me haue hart so fre/it opyns euery sted;
luf so fre so dampnyd me / it drofe me to the ded;
luf rasid me thrug his pauste / it is swetter then med. 111
(24)
wytterly, man, to the I cry / thou yeme my fader fere,
His death
and resur-
rection. It
is sweeter
than mead.
Let not men
slay their
Thyn awne saw kepe cleynly / whyls thou art wardan souls, which
here;
slo it not with thi body / synnyng in synnes sere,
He has
bought so
114 dearly.
On me and it thou haue mercy / for I haue boght it dere.
Jesus asks
the apostles
for some
meat.
The sixth
apostle gives
Him roasted
fish and
(25)
Mi dere freyndys, now may ye se / for soth that [it] is I
That dyed apon the roode tre / and sythen rose bodely;
That it all-gatys soþfast be / ye shał se hastely;
Of youre mett gif ye me sich as ye haue redy.
119
paratur mensa, & offerat vis apostolus fauum mellis &
piscem, dicendo.
(26)
sextus apostolus. lord, lo here a rostid fish and a comb
of hony
honeycomb. laide full fare in a dish / and fut honestly;
Jesus asks
His Father
to bless the
ment.
/
here is none othere mett bot this in all oure company,
Bot well is vs that we haue this / to thi lykyng only. 123
(27)
Thesus. Mi dere fader of heuen / that maide me borne to be
Of a madyn withoutten steven / and sithen to die on tre,
ffrom ded to lif at set stevyn / rasid me thruȝ thi
paustee,
with the wordys that I shall neven / this mette thou blis
thruȝ me.
(28)
127
He blesses it In the fader name and the son / and the holy gast,
[Fol. 118, b.] Thre persons to knaw and com/ in oone godhede stedfast;
in the name I gif this mett my benyson / thruȝ wordys of myȝtys
of the Trin-
ity,
and bids
the apostles
eat also.
He reminds
them how
He had fore-
told His own
death and
resurrection.
mast;
130
Now will I ette, as I was won / my manhede eft to tast
(29)
My dere freyndys lay hand til / eyttys for charite;
I ette at my fader wiłł / at my wiłł ette now ye.
That I ette is to fulfil / that writen is of me
In moyses law, for it is skyt/ ffulfillyd that it be.
(30)
135
Myn ye noȝt that I you told / in certan tyme and sted,
When I gaf myself to wold / to you in fourme of bred,
That my body shuld be sold / my bloode be spylt so red;
This [co]rs gravyn ded and cold / the thrid day ryse fro
ded f
139
(31)
youre hartes was fulfillyd with drede / whyls I haue fro Let them
you bene;
The rysyng of my manhede / vnethes wold ye weyn;
Of trouth now may ye spede / thorow stedfast wordys and
cleyn.
leyf freyndys, trow now the dede / that ye with ees haue
sene.
(32)
143
believe what
they have
seen with
their eyes.
ye haue forthynkyng and shame / for youre dysseferance, He forgives
I forgif you the blame / in me now haue affyance;
The folk that ar with syn lame/preche theym to repent-pentance to
ance,
fforgif syn in my name /enioyne theym to penance. 147
(33)
The grace of the holy gost to wyn / resaue here at me;
hic respirat in eos.
The which shall neuer blyn. / I gif you here pauste ;
them and
bids them
preach re-
sinners,
giving them
power to
whom in erth ye lowse of syn / in heuen lowsyd shall be, bind and
And whom in erthe ye bynd ther-in / In heuen bonden be
loose.
he.
hic discedet ab eis.
(34)
151
Septimus apostolus. Ihesu crist in trynyte / Ihesu to cry The seventh
and cal,
That borne was of a madyn fre / thou saue vs synfuH aH!
ffor vs hanged apon a tre / drank aset and gał,
Thi seruandys saue fro vanyte / In wanhope that we not
fall.
(35)
155
apostle
cries on
Jesus to
save them
from vanity
and despair.
Octauus apostolus. Brethere, be we stabyH of thoght / The eighth
wanhope put we away,
Of mysbelefe that we be noght / for we may safly say
he that mankynde on rood boght / fro dede rose the thryd
day;
we se the woundys in hym was wroght/ a blody yit
exhorts to
stability of
thought.
were thay.
159
The ninth
apostle re-
calls Christ's
prophecies
and their
fulfilment.
[Fol. 114, a.
Big. R. 2.]
The tenth,
exults in
Christ's
triumph
over death.
Only
Thomas has
not seen
Him.
Thomas
comes on
lamenting
the suffer-
ings and
death of
Christ.
(36)
Nouenus apostolus. he told vs fyrst he shuld be tayn /
And for mans syn shuld dy,
Be ded and beryd vnder a stayn / and after ryse vp bodely;
Now is he quyk fro grafe gan¹/he cam and stode vs by,
And lete vs se ilkan ¹/ the Woundys of his body. 163
(37)
Decimus apostolus. Deth that is so kene / ihesu ouer
comen has,
As he vs told, yit may we mene / fro ded how he shuld
pas;
Ihesu stode witnes betwene / that with hym dwelland
was,
AH his dyscyples has hym sene / safe oonly thomas. 167
(38)
Thomas. If that I prowde as pacok go,/ my hart is full of
care;
If any sorow myght a man slo / my hart in sonder it
share;
Mi life wyrkys me all this wo / of blys I am fuł bare,
yit wold I nawthere freynde ne fo / wyst how wo me
ware.
(39)
171
Ihesu, my lyfe so good / ther none myght better be,
None wysere man then better food / nor none kyndere
then he ;
The Iues haue nalyd his cors on rood/nalyd with nales
thre,
And with a spere thay spylt his blood / great sorow it
was to se.
(40)
175
To se the stremes of blood ryn / well more then doy it
was,
;
sich great payn for mans syn / sich doyHful ded he has
I haue lyfid withoutten wyn / sen he to ded cau pas,
ffor he was fare of cheke and chyn / for doy of ded alas!
hic pergit ad discipulos.
1 MS.
gon,
ilkon.
(41)
Myghty god for to dyscryfe / that neuer dye, ne shał,
wo and wandreth from you dryfe / that ye not therin fall.
petrus. he the saue with woundys fyfe / his son ihesu to
caH,
That' rose from deth to lyfe / and showyd hym til vs að.
(42)
182
Thomas
greets the
other dis-
tells him of
rection.
ciples. Peter
the Resur-
Thomas. whannow, peter! art thou mad? / on lyfe who Thomas
was hym lyke !
thinks Peter
mad, and
reminds him
sook Christ.
ffor his deþ I am not glad / for sorow my hart will breke, how he for-
That with the Iues he was so stad / to ded they can hym
wreke;
Thou hym forsoke, so was thou rad / when they to the
can speke.
(43)
187
paulus. let be, leyf brothere thomas / and turne thi thoght Paul tells of
belyfe,
ffor the thryd day ihesus rase / fleshly fro ded to lyfe;
TiH vs all he can a pase / and shewyd his woundys fyfe,
And lyfyng man, and etten hase/hony takyn of a hyfe.
(44)
Christ's
appearance
to them.
Thomas. Let be for shame! apartly / ffantom dyssauys (Fol. 114, b.)
the!
Thomas
thinks them
deceived.
194
ye sagh hym not bodely / his gost it myght well be,
fforto glad youre hartes sory / in youre aduersyte;
he luffyd vs well and faythfully / therfor sloes sorow me.
(45)
Tercius apostolus. Thou wote, thomas / and sothe it was, A third
and oft has thou hard say,
how a fysh swalod ionas / thre dayes therin he lay;
yit gaf god hym myght to pas / whyk man to wyn away;
Myght not god that sich myght has / rase his son apon
the thryd day?
(46)
199
Thomas. Man, if thou can vnderstand /cryst saide his self,
mynnys me,
That a lokyn was in his hande / al oone was god and
he!
apostle
recalls the
miracle of
Jonah,
The fourth, The son wax marke, aH men seand / when he died on the
tifth, and
sixth
apostles try
tre,
to convince Therfor am I fuH sore dredand that who myght his
Thomas of
the reality of
Christ's
appearance.
When He
had finished
the fight He
skipped out
of the body
which
clothed
Him,
rescued the
souls in
hell, and
rose again
boote be.
(47)
203
Quartus apostolus. The holy gost. in marye light / and in
hir madynhede
Goddis son she held and dight / and cled hym in manhede;
ffor luf he wentt as he had hight / to fight withoutten
drede;
when he had termynd that fight / he skypt outt of his
wede.
(48)
207
Thomas. If he skypt outt of his clethyng / yit thou
grauntys his cors was ded;
It was his cors that maide shewyng / vnto you in his sted ;
fforto trow in youre carpyng / my hart is hevy as led;
his dede me bryngys in great mowrneyng/ and I wiþ-
outten) red.
(49)
211
Quintus apostolus. The gost went to hell a pase / whils
the cors lay slayn,
in His body. And broght the sawles from sathanas/ for which he
suffred payn;
The thryd day right he gase / right vnto the cors agayn,
Mighty god and man he rase ¹ / and therfor ar we fayn. 215
(50)
Thomas. AH sam to me ye flyte | youre resons fast ye
shawe,
217
Bot tell me a sky perfyte / any of you on raw;
when cryst cam you to vysyte / as ye tell me with saw,
A whyk man from a spyryte / wherby couth ye hym knaw?
(51)
Sextus apostolus. Thomas, vnto the anone / herto answere
I will;
Man has both flesh and bone / hu, hyde, and hore thertiH;
sich thyng has goost none/thomas, lo, here thi sky};
Goddis son toke of mary flesh and bone / what nede were
els thertiH?
223
1 MS. rose.
(52)
Thomas. Thou has answerd me ffuH Wele / and full (F
skylfully,
Bot my hart is harde as stele / to trow in sich mastry;
Say, bad he any of you fele / the woundys of his body,
fflesh or bone or ilka dele / to assay his body?
(53)
227
115. a.
Big. R. 3.1
Thomas asks
if Christ
bade any of
the apostles
feel His
body.
septimus apostolus. yis, thomas, he bad vs se / and handiH They tell
hym with hande,
To loke wheder it were he / ihesu, man lyfand,
That dyed apon a tre / flesh and bone we fand,
230
his woundes had bene pyte / to towch that were bledand.
(54)
him yes.
Thomas. Waloway! ye can no good / youre resons ar He still
defaced,
ye ar as women rad for blood / and lightly oft solaced;
It was a goost before you stod / lyke hym in blood
betraced,
234
his cors that dyed on rood / for euer hath deþ embraced.
(55)
thinks a
ghost
appeared to
them.
Octauus apostolus. Certys, thomas, gretter care / myght no The eighth
synful wight haue
Then she had, that wepyd so sare/ the mawdleyn at his
graue;
ffor sorow and doy hir awne hare / of hir hede she rent
and rafe,
238
Ihesu shewid hym til hir thare/hir sorow of syn to safe.
(56)
apostle tells
him of
Christ's
appearance
to the Mag-
dalene.
scoffs.
Thomas. lo, sich foly with you is / wysemen that shuld be, Thomas still
That thus a womans witnes trowys / better than that ye se!
In all youre skylles more and les / for mysfowndyng fayll
ye;
242
Might I se ihesu gost and flesh / gropyng shuld not gab me.
(57)
Nouenus apostolus. lefe thomas, flyte no more / bot trow The tenth
and turne thi red,
Or els say vs when and whore / crist gabbyd in any sted;
ffor he saide vs when thou was thore / when he hym gaf
in bred,
246
That he shuld salfe at oure sore / quyk rysand fro ded.
apostle re-
minds hiin
how Christ
foretold His
rection.
own resur-
Thomas
owns
Christ's
truthfulness,
(58)
Thomas. he was full sothfast in his sawes that dar I
hertly say,
but will not And rightwys in ałł his lawes / whils that he lyfyd ay;
believe He
lives.
(Fol. 115, b.]
He appeared
to them in
pirit not in
the body.
Peter tells
him of
Christ's
appearance
Bot sen he shuld thole hard thrawes / on tre whils that
he lay,
250
Dede has determyd his dayes / his lyfe noght trow I may.
(59)
Decimus apostolus. Thyne hard hart thi sau wił dwyrd /
Thomas, bot if thou blyn;
he has ded conquerd / and weshen vs að fro syn.
May nawder knyfe ne swerde/ hym eft to ded wyn; 254
Goddys myght in hym apperd / that neuer more shalt blyn.
(60)
Thomas. That god I trow fuH Wele / goostly to you light,
Bot bodely neuer a dele / ihesu that woundid wyght.
My hart is harde as stele / to trow in sicħ a myght,
Bot if I that wounde myght fele / that hym gaf longeus
the knyght.
(61)
259
petrus. That wounde haue we sene, thomas / and so has
mo then we;
at Emmaus, With lucas and with cleophas / he welke a day Iurnee;
Thare hartes that for hym sory was / with prophecy com-
where He
brake bread
as though
He had cut
it with a
knife.
forted he,
262
To Emaus castell can thai pas / ther hostyld thai al thre.
(62)
Ihesu, goddis son of heuen/ at sopere satt betweyn;
Ther bred he brake as euen / as it cutt had beyn.
Thomas. Nothyng that ye may neuen / his rysyng gars
me weyn,
If ye me told sich seuen / the more ye myght me teyn.
(63)
266
paulus. Thomas, brothere, turne thi thoght/ and trust
that I say the ;
Ihesu so dere has boght / oure synnes apon a tree,
which rysyng hath broȝt / adam and his meneyee.
270
Thomas. lett be youre fayr! shew it noght / that he efte
quyk shuld be.
(64)
Tercius apostolus. That must thou nedelyngys trow / if Thomas still
thinks tho
other
astles
thou thi sauh wil saue,
ffor that we sa we dar avowe / ihesu rose quyk from graue. mistaken.
Thomas. I haue you saide, and yit dos now / thise wordes
to wast ye haue;
he shewid hym not to you / for mysfoundyng ye rafe. 275
(65)
Qaurtus apostolus. ffor we say that we haue sene / thou
holdys vs wars then woode;
Ihesu lyfyng stod vs betwene / oure lord that with vs
yode.
Thomas. I say ye wote neuer what ye mene a goost
278
before you stode;
ye wenyd that it had bene / the cors that died on roode.
(66)
Quintus apostolus. The cors that dyed on tre / was berid They tell
in a stone,¹
The thurgh beside fande we/ and in that graue cors was
none;
his sudary ther myght we se / and he thens whik was gone.
Thomas. Noght, bot stolne is he / with Iues that hym
haue slone.
(67)
283
hiin of the
einpty
grave.
Sextus apostolus. Certys, thomas, thou sais not right / The Jews
thay wold hym not stele,
would not
have stolen
the body, for
ffor thay gart kepe hym day and nyght / with knyghtys they guarded
that they held lele;
285
he rose has we haue sene in sight / fro at the Iues fele.
Thomas. I lefe not bot if I myght / myself with hym dele.
(68)
the tomb.
septimus apostolus. He told vs tythyngys, thomas/yit (Fol. 116, a
mynnys me,
That as Ionas thre dayes was / In a fysħ in the see,
so shuld he be, and bene has / in erth by dayes thre,
pas fro ded, ryse, and rase/ as he saide done has he. 291
1 The rymes of this stanza should be in ane: stane, nane, gane,
slane.
Sig. R. 4.]
Christ had
prophesied
His rising,
using Jonah
as a type.
(69)
Thomas asks Thomus. Certys, that worde I harde hym say and so
who could
raise Christ
from the
dead.
harde ye hym all,
Bot for nothyng trow I may / that it so shuld befał,
That he shuld ryse the thrid day / that dranke aseй and
gal :
sen he was god and ded lay / from ded who myght bym
catt?
(70)
295
The Father
that rent
Him raised
Him.
Octauus apostolus. The fader that hym sent/rasid hym
that was ded,
he comforth vs in mowrnyng lent / and counseld vs in red;
he bad vs trow with good intent / his rysyng in euery sted;
Thyne absens gars thi sauH be shent / and makys the heuy
as led.
299
(71)
But Thomas Thomas. Thou says soþ, harde and heuy / am I to traw
still dis-
believes a
bodily
rising.
Nothing
will con-
vince him
but to feel
Christ's
wounds.
that ye me say;
Mi hardues I trow skilfully / for he told vs thus ay,
That his fader was euer hym by / for all bot oon were thay;
That he rose bodely for nothyng trow I may.
(72)
303
Nouenus apostolus. May thou not trow withoutten mo/
for sothe, that it was he?
Thomas wherto shuld we say so?/ then wenys thou fals
we be.
Thomas. I wote youre hartes was ful wo and fownd
with vanyte;
306
If ye swere all and ye were mo / I trow it not or that I se.
(73)
Decimus apostolus. Thomas, of errowre thou blyn / and
til vs turne thi mode;
Trow his rysyng by dayes threyn / sen he died on the rode.
Thomas. Noght bot I myght my fynger wyn / in sted as
nayle stode,
And his syde my hande put in /ther he shed his hart
bloode.
311
(74)
Ihesus. Brethere alt, be with you peasse!/leaffe stryfe Jesus ap-
that now is here!
Thomas, of thyn errowrc seasse / of sothe Witnes thou bere;
putt thi hande in my syde, no fres/ther longeus put his
spere;
loke my rysyng be no les / let no wan-hope the dere. 315
(75)
pears and
bids Thomas
feel His side.
Thomas. Mercy, ihesu, rew on me / my hande is blody of Thomas
thi blode!
Mercy, ihesu, for I se/thi myght that I not vnderstode!
Mercy, ihesu, I pray the / that for a
roode !
synful died on
Mercy, ihesu, of mercy fre for thi goodnes that is so
goode !
(76)
319
kest away my staf wiH I / and with no wepyn gang;
Mercy will I caH and cry / ihesu that on roode hang;
Rew on me, kyng of mercy / let me not cry thus lang!
Mercy, for the velany / thou tholyd on Iues with wrang.
(77)
Mi hat will I kest away / my mantił sone onone,
vnto the poore help it may / for richere knawe I none.
Mercy will I abyde, and pray / to the ihesu, alone;
My synful dede I rew ay / to the make I my mone. 327
(78)
Mercy, ihesu, lorde swete / for thi fyfe woundys so sare,¹
Thou suffred thruȝ handys and feetc/thi semely side
a spere it share ;
Mercy, ihesu, lord, yit / for thi moder that the bare! 330
Mercy, for the teres thou grett/ when thou rasid lazare!
(79)
Mi gyrdi gay and purs of sylk / and cote away thou shal;
whils I am werere of swylke / the longere mercy may I caH.
Ihesu, that soke the madyns mylk / ware noght bot clothes
of pał,
Thi close so can thai fro the pyke / on roode thay left the
smal.
1 MS. sore.
cries for
mercy.
(Fol. 116, b.]
He flings
away his
staff,
hat, and
mantle,
gay girdle,
and cont,
sooner come
silk purse,
that he may
to Christ's
mercy.
335
Bb
25
Thomas
cries for
forgiveness.
Jesus fore-
tells the
general
resurrec-
tion,
when the
faithless
shall be
damned, and
the faithful
and alms-
givers have
heaven as
their reward.
Thoinas
(80)
Mercy, ihesu, honoure of man / mercy, ihesu, mans socoure !
Mercy, ihesu, rew thi leman / mans sauH, thou boght full
soure!
Mercy, ihesu, that may and can / forgif syn and be socoure!
Mercy, ihesu, as thou vs wan / forgif and gif thi man
honoure.
(81)
339
Ihesus. None myght bryng the in that wytt for oght
that thay myght say,
To trow that I myght flytt / fro ded to lyfe to wyn away ;
My sau and my cors haue knytt a knott that last
shal ay;
342
Thus shall I rase, wet thou wytt / ilk man on domesday.
(82)
Who so hath not trowid right / to hell I shall theym lede,
Ther euer more is dark as nyght and greatt paynes to
drede ;
Those that trow in my myght/ and luf wet almus dede,
Thai shat shyne as son bright/ and heuen haue to thare
mede.
(83)
He promises That blys, thomas, I the hete / that is in heuen cytee,
ffor I se the sore grete / of the I haue pytee;
repentance. Thomas, for thi teres wete / thi syn forgiffen be,
heaven for
his tears and
347
Thus shal synful thare synnes bete / that sore haue
grefyd me.
But blessed Thomas, for thou felys me
are they who
have not
believe.
(84)
and my woundes bare,
Mi risyng is trowed in the / and so was it not are;
351
seen and yet AH that it trowes and not se / and dos after my lare,
Euer blissid mot thay be / and heuen be theym yare! 355
Explicit Thomas Indie.
Toumeley Plays. XXIX. The Lord's Ascension. 353

XXIX. The Ascension of the Lord

Ascencio Domini

XXIX.
Ascencio Domini, et cetera.
[1 thirteen-line stanza, no. 57, ababb, cbed, eecd: 6 twelve-line, no.
1 abab cbcb dcdc, nos. 6-10 ababb, cbcb, ded; 1 nine-line, no. 58,
aaaab, cccb; 16 cight-line, nos. 17-20, aaab cccb, 45-48 aaab aaab,
no. 49, abab caca, nos. 50 and 64 abab, acac, nos. 61, 65-8 abab
abab; 1 seven-line, no. 16 aab cccb; 5 six-line, nos. 11-13, 15,
aa, bb, cc, no. 14, aaaa, bb; 37 four-line, no. 32 aa bb, the rest
ab ab.]
Thomas.
Iohannes Apostolus.
Symon.
[Dramatis Personac :
Ihesus.
Andrcas.
Jacobus.
Maria.
Matheus.
Angeli 1 & 2 etc.]
Petrus.
Philippus.
Thomas,
John, Simon
and Peter,
express their
faith and ex-
4
pectation.
Thomas.
B
(1)
Rethere aH, that now here bene,
fforgett my lorde yit may I noght;
I wote not what it may mene,
Bot more I Weyn ther will be wroght.
Iohannes apostolus. My lord ihesus wiłł wyrk
his will,
pleatt we neuer agans his thoght,
ffor vs ne wyrkes, as it is skyH,
his hand-warke that he has wroght.
symon. Apon his wordes wiH I ryst
that he his self saide vs vntiH,
As stedfastly on hym to tryst,
Mystrust we neuer for goode ne iH.
(2)
petrus. In heuen and erthe his myght may be,
his wytt and his will also;
The holy gost, brethere, ment he,
8
12
thus will he neuer fro vs go.
(3)
ffourty dayes now drawes nere
sen his resurreccyon complete ;
Afore that will he appere,
thus sodanly not lefe vs yett.
16
20
They will
abide in
Bethany to
await what
may befall.
(4)
In bethany here let vs abyde,
We knaw not yit what may befa}};
peraventur' it may betyde,
he shaй full well comforth vs aH.
(5)
[Fol. 117, b.] Thesus. peasse now, my dere freyndys!
Jesus ap-
pears and
gives them
peace.
He bids
them be of
good cheer.
He must go
from them,
but will send
the Holy
Spirit to
comfort
them.
peasse be with you euer and ay!
ffor it all wrangys amendys ;
peasse brethere, sam I say!
(6)
Brethere, in hartes be nothyng heuy
what tyme that I from you am gone,
I must go from you sone, in hy,
bot nouer the les make ye no mone;
ffor I shall send to you anone
the holy gost, to comforth you,
24
28
32
you to wysh in euery wone
I shall you tell what-wyse and how.
36
It shalbe for youre prow
that I thus-gatys shał do ;
It has been saide or now
My fader must I to.
40
(7)
with hym must I abide and dweł,
ffor so it is his will;
ffor youre comforth thus I you teł,
44
Let them
abide His re-
turn on this
hill.
be
ye stedfast for good or it.
Abide me here right on this hiłł
to that I com to you agane,
this forwarde must I nedys fulfiH,
I will no longer fro you lane;
And therfor loke that ye be bayn,
and also trew and stedfast,
ffor who soeuer you oght frayn
when that I am past.
48
52
hic recedit.
Toumeley Plays. XXIX. The Lord's Ascension.
355
(8)
petrus. fful heuy in hart now may we be
that we oure master sal forgo,
Bot neuer the les yit saide he
he wold not dwell full lang vs fro.
What wonder is if we be wo,
thus sodanly shall oure master mys,
And masters on lyfe haue we no mo
that in this warld shuld vs wys.
he will pas furth to blys,
and leyfe vs here behynde,
Peter,
Andrew, and
Thomas
think on the
words of
Jesus, but
56 cannot help
60
mourning
His de-
parture.
No meruel now it is
if we mowrne now in oure mynde.
(9)
Andreas. In oure mynde mowrne we may,
as men that masyd ar and mad,
And yit also, it is no nay,
we may be blythe and glad,
Because of tythyngys that we had,
that his self can vs say;
he bad be blythe and noght adrad,
ffor he wold not be long away.
Bot yit both nyght and day
oure hartes may be full sore,
64
68
72
As me thynk, by my fay,
ffor wordes he saide lang ore.
76
(10)
Thomas. lang ore he saide, full openly,
that he must nedys fro vs twyn,
And to his fader go in hy,
to Ioy of heuen that neuer shal blyn ;
80
Therfor we mowrne, both more and myn,
And mery also yit may we be;
he bad vs ał, boþ outt and in,
be glad and blythe in ich degre,
And saide that com shuld he
to comforth vs kyndly;
Bot yit heuy ar we
to we hym se truly.
84
88
25 #
(11)
[Fol. 118, a.) Iacobus. With ee wold we hym se oure saveoure crist,
James and
Philip
mourn also,
though they
remember
Jesus' pro-
mises.
Jesus ap-
pears and
comforts
them.
If they love
Him, they
will be glad
that He is
going to His
Father.
goddys son,
That dyed apon a tre / yit trewe I that we mon¹:
90
Now god grauntt vs that boyn / that with his bloode vs
boght,
To se hym in his throne / as he maide all of noght; 1
his will now has he wroght/ and gone from vs away,
As he noght of vs roght / and therfor mowrne we may. 94
(12)
philippus. We may mowrne, no meruełł why for we
oure inaster thus shaft mys,
That shall go fro vs sodanly and we ne wote what
cause is,¹
1
96
Neuer the les the sothe is this / he saide that he shuld
com agaue
To bryng vs al to blys / therof may we be fane.¹
That commyng wiH vs mych gane / and oure saules all saue,
And put vs fro that payn / that we were lyke to haue. 100
(13)
Thesus. herkyns to me now, euer ichon) / and here what I
will say,
ffor I must nedys fro you gone / for thus my fader wit
allway,¹
102
And therfor peasse be with you ay / where so ye dwełł in
wone,
And to saue you fro al fray / my peasse be with you blood
and bone.¹
I lefe it you bi oon and oone / noght as the warld here dos,
It shalbe true as any stone / to defende you fro youre foos.
(14)
let not youre hartes be heuy/drede not for any kyns thyng,
ye haue harde me say full playnly / I go, and to you am
I commyug.
108
If ye luf me, for-thi / ye shuld be glad of this doyng,
ffor I go full securly / to my fader, heuyns kyng;'
The which, without lesyng/is mekit more then I,
Therfor be ye thus trowyng / when all is endid fully. 112
¹ The end-ryme of this couplet is the centre-ryme of the next
couplet.
(15)
He re-
proaches
them for
ye haue bene of mysbilefe / hard of harte and also of wit;
To theym that' my rysyng can prefe / no credence wold ye their un-
gif theym til;'
.1
114 belief,
Mary mawdlayn saide you tiH/ that I was rysyn, bot ye
ne wold
hir trow for good or iH/ the trouth all if she told.¹
sich harmes in hartes ye hold / and vnstedfast year,
trowid no man of mold / witnes of my rysyng that bare;
ye
(16)
Therfor ye shall go tech/ in all this warld so wyde,
And to all the people preche / Who baptym wiłł abyde,
And trowe truly
Mi dethe and rysyng,
and also myn vpstevynyng,
And also myn agane-commyng,
thay shalbe saue suerly.
121
125
and bids
them
(Fol. 118, b.]
preach
throughout
the world.
Those that
believe shall
be saved,
(17)
And Who trowys not this
That now rehersy is,
he shalbe dampned, Iwys,
Tokyns, for sothe, shall bene
ffor veniance and for wreke.
Of those that trow, withoutten weyn;
Devyls shal thay kest out cleyn,
And with new tongys speke.
(18)
Serpentes shall thay put away,
And venymus drynk, bi nyght and day,
Shall not noy theym,
as I say;
And where thay lay on handys
and those
that believe
not, damned.
129 The faithful
133
137
shall cast out
devils, speak
with new
tongues,
be proof
against
serpents and
polson, and
heal the
sick.
Of seke men far and nere,
Thay shalbe hole, withoutten dere,
Of all sekenes and sorowes sere,
Euer in alkyn landys.
141
The end-ryme of this quartlet or couplet is the centre-ryme of
the next couplet.
Jesus bids
the Apostles
abide in
Jerusalem
for His
Father's
promise.
(19)
And therfor now I byd that ye
Go not from ierosolyme,
Bot abide the behest of my fader fre
In land ay whore,
That haue hard here of me;
ye
ffor Iohn baptist', dere in degre,
In water forsoth baptysid me
Now here before;
(20)
They are to
baptize men
in every
land, in the
And
ye certan in euery coste
shall baptise in the holy goost,
Holy Spirit. Thrug vertue of hym that is the moost
lord god of myght,
within few dayes now folowyng ;
And herof meruel ye nothyng,
ffor this shalbe his awne wyrkyng,
shewyd in youre sight.
145
149
153
157
& recedit ab eis.
(21)
Peter,
Andrew, and
James renew
their mourn-
petrus. ffarlee may we fownde and fare
for myssyng of oure master ihesus;
ing. They Oure hartys may syȝ and be full sare,
are in fear of
the Jews.
thise Iues with wreke thay waten vs.
161
(22)
Vs to tray and teyn
ar thay abowte bi nyght and day;
ffor ihesu that is so seldom sene,
as masid men mowrne we may.
(23)
[Fol. 119, a.] Andreas. Mowrnyng makys vs masid and mad,
as men that lyff in drede ;
ffull comforthles ar we stack
for
myssyng of hym that vs shuld lede.
(24)
Iacobus. Thise Iues that folow thare faytlles wiH,
and demed oure master to be ded,
With mayn and mode they wold hym spit,
if thay wist how, in towne or sted.
165
169
173
(25)
Johannes. let keep vs fro thare carpyng kene,
and com bot lyty in thare sight;
Oure master will com when we leest weyn,
he will vs rewle and red full right.
(26)
Thomas. Of this carpyng now no more,
It drawes nygh the tyme of day;
At oure mette I wold we wore,
he sende vs socowre that best may.
(27)
Maria. socowre sone he wit you sende,
If ye truly in hym will traw;
youre mone mckely wil he amende,
My brethere dere, this may ye knawe.
(28)
The hestys hyȝly that he me hight
he has fulfillid in worde and dede;
he gabbyd neuer bi day nor nyght,
ffor-thi, dere bretbere, haue no drede.
(29)
Matheus. Certys, lady, thou says full wele;
177
181
185
189
John has
faith in
Jesus'
coming.
Mary speaks
of the faith-
fulness of
her Son.
he wiH vs amende, for so he may;
we haue fon sothe euerilka dele
AH that euer we hard hym say.
(30)
Ihesus. peter, and ye my derlyngys dere,
As masid men me thynk ye ar;
holly to you I haue shewyd here
To bryng youre hartys from care;
In care youre hartys ar cast,
(31)
And in youre trowth not trew;
In hardnes youre hartys ar fast,
As men that no wytt knew.
(32)
sende was I for youre sake / fro my fader dere,
fflesh and blode to take / of a madyn so clere;
sythen to me ye soght / and holly felowid me,
193
197
201
Jesus ap-
pears and
exhorts
them again.
[Fol. 119, b.]
Of wonders that I haue wroght / som haue I letten you se.
He recalls
His mighty
works,
(33)
The dombe, the blynde as any stone,
I helyd ther I cam by,
The dede I rasid anone,
Thrugh my myght truly;
209
(34)
And othere warkys, that wonderful wore,
I wroght wisely befor you al;
My payn, my passion, I told before,
holly thrug outt as it shuld fall;
contrasts
Mary's faith
with their
doubts,
(35)
ᎷᎥ
rysyng on the thryd day,
As ye
bi tokyns many oone haue sene;
youre trouth truly had bene away
had not my blissid moder bene.
(36)
In hir it restyd at this tyde,
youre dedys ye ow greatly to shame;
here may ye se my woundys wyde,
213
217
how that I boght you out of blame.
221
(37)
John that
she is en-
and reminds Bot, Iohn, thynk when I hang on rud
That I betoke the mary mylde;
trusted to
his care.
kepe hir yit with stabu mode,
she is thi moder and thou hir childe.
(38)
225
loke thou hir luf, and be hir freynde,
and abide with hir in well and wo,
ffor to my fader now wiH I weynde,
thar none of you ask wheder I go.
(39)
Philip asks philippus. lord, if it be thi will,
to be shown
the Father.
Jesus
answers, He
who sees Me,
sees the
Father
shew vs thi fader we the pray ;
we have bene with the in good and iH,
and saȝ hym neuer nyght ne day.
(40)
Ihesus. philipp, that man that may se me
he seys my fader full of myght;
Trowys thou not he dwellys in me
and I in hym if thou trow right?
229
233
237
(41)
In his howse ar dyuerse place,
I
go to ordan for yoɔu now;
ye shaй aй be fulfillyd with grace,
the holy goost I shall sende you.
(42)
241
He pro-
mises them
the Holy
Spirit,
(Fol. 120, a.]
he shall you in youre hartys wyse
In worde and dede, as I you say;
With all my hart I you blys-
My moder, my brethere, haue a good day!
245
Tunc vadit ad ascendendum.
(43)
ffader of heuen, with good intent,
I pray the here me specyally;
ffrom heuen til erth thou me sent
Thi name to preche and claryfy.
(44)
thi with haue I done, aH and som,
In erthe wit I no longere be;
Opyn the clowdes, for now I com
In ioy and blys to dwell with the.
249
prays to the
Father,
and bids the
clouds open
253 to receive
Him.
& sic ascendit, cantantibus angelis "Ascendo ad patrem
meum."
(45)
primus angelus. ye men of galylee,
wherfor meruel ye?
hevyn behold and se
how ihesus vp can weynde
vnto his fader fre,
where he syttys in maieste,
With hym ay for to be
Angels pro-
claim His
ascension,
257
In blys withoutten ende.
And as ye sagh hym sty
Into heuen on by,
261
(46)
In flesh and fell in his body
ffrom erthe now here,
265
and foretell
His return to
judge the
world.
362 Towneley Plays. XXIX. The Lord's Ascension.
He is God
Alinighty,
Right so shat he, securly,
Com downe agane truly,
with his woundys blody,
To deme you at in fere.
(47)
secundus angelus, MerueH haue no wight',
No wonder of this sight,
ffor it is thrugh his myght,
That all thyng may.
269
273
What so he wit by day or nyght,
In hell, medyt-erth, and on hight,
Or yit in derknes or in light,
withoutten any nay;
ffor he is god at weldand,
277
(48)
heuen and heH, both se and sand,
wod and water, fowH, fysħ and land,
AH is at his will;
281
he haldys at thyng in his hand
that in this warld is lyfand,
Then nedys ye noȝt be meruelland.
primus angelus. And for this skył,
285
(49)
[Fol. 120, b.] Ryght as he from you dyd weynde
and shall
come again
in judgment.
so com agane he shall,
In the same manere at last ende,
To deme both greatt and smał.
289
secundus angelus. Who so his byddyng will obey,
And thare mys amende,
With hym shall haue blys on hy,
And won ther withoutten ende.
293
(50)
And who that wyrk amys,
And theym amende wiłł neuer,
shał neuer com in heuen blys,
Bot to hel banyshed for euer.
297
Maria. A selcouth sight yonder now is,
Behold now, I you pray!
A clowde has borne my chylde to blys,
301
Mary calls
on her as-
cended Son.
Mi blyssyng bere he euer and ay!
(51)
Bot, son, thyuk on thi moder dere,
That thou has laft emangys thi foes!
swete son, lett me not dwell here,
let me go with the where thou goes.
(52)
Bot, Iohn, on the is all my trast,
I pray the forsake me noght.
Johannes, lefe marye, be noght abast,
ffor thi will shall ay be wroght.
(53)
here may we se and full well knaw
That he is god most of myght;
In hym is good, we trawe,
holly to serue hym day and nyght.
(54)
petrus. A meruellous sight is yone,
305
309
313
She bids
John not to
forsake her.
He conforts
her.
The disciples
marvel at the
That he thus sone is taken vs fro;
fro his fomen is he gone
ascension of
Jesus.
with outten help of othere mo.
317
(55)
(Fol. 121, a
Big. 8. 1.j
Matheus. Where is ihesus, oure master dere,
that here with vs spake right now!
Iacobus. A wonderful sight, men may se here,
my brethere dere, how thynk you?
321
(56)
Thomas, we thynk it wonder aH,
that oure master shuld thus go;
After his help I red we calt,
That we may haue som tokyn hym fro.
325
(57)
Bartholomeus. A more meruel men neuer saw
then now is sene vs here emang;
ffrom erth tiH heuen a man be draw
With myrth of angel sang.
329
Alone and
suddenly
Jesus as-
cended from
them.
ffrom vs, me thynk, he is ful lang,¹
and yit longere I trow he wiH;
Alas! my hart it is so strang¹
that I ne may now wepe my fil
Anone.
A wonder sight it was to se
When he stevyd vp so sodanly
To his fader in maieste,
By his self alone.
(58)
334
338
Matheus. Alon, for sothe, vp he went into heuen til
his fader,
And noman wyst what he ment / nor how he dyd of no
manere,
so sodanly he was vp hent / in flesh and fell fro erth vp
here;
he saide his fader for hym sent / that maide vs all to be
in dwere
This nyght;
Neuer the les full well wote we
As that he will so must it be,
ffor all thyng is in his pauste,
And that is right.
(59)
Mary blesses Maria. AH myghty god, how may this be?
her Child.
343
347
a clowde has borne my childe to blys;
Now bot that I wote wheder is he,
my hart wold breke, well wote I this.
351
(60)
his stevynyng vp to blys in hy,
it is the sourc of all my Ioyes;
May He save Mi blyssyng, barne, light on thi body!
her from the
Jews.
let neuer thi moder be spylt with Iues.
355
(61)
Take me to the, my son so heynd,
For His sake
John must
help her.
and let me neuer with Iues be lorne;
help, for my son luf, Iohn, son kynde,
for ferde that I with Iues be torne.
¹ MS. long, strong.
359
Mi flesh it quakys as lefe on lynde,
to shontt the showres sharper then thorne ;
She is
trembling
like a leaf.
help me, Iohn, if thou be kynde,
363
my son myssyng makys me to mowrne.
(62)
Iohannes. youre seruande, lady, he me maide,
and bad me kepe you ay to qweme;
Blythe were I, lady, myght I the glad,
and with my myght I shaH the yeme.
(63)
Therfor be ferd for nokyn thyng
for oght that Iues wold do you to;
I shall be bayn at youre byddyng,
as my lorde bad, your seruande lo!
(64)
Maria. Glad am I, Iohn, Whils I haue the;
more comforth bot my son can I none craue;
so covers thou my care, and carpys vnto me,
whils I the se, euer am I safe.
Was none, safe my son, more trusty to me,
therfor his grace salt neuer fro the go;
he shall the qwyte, that died on a tre,
wełł mendys thou my mode, when I am in wo.
(65)
367
371
375
379
simon. let hy vs fro this hiH, and to the towne weynde,
for fere of the Iues, that spitus ar & prowde;
With oure dere lady, I red that we weynd,
and pray til hir dere son, here apon lowde.
To hir buxumly I red that we bende,
John com.
forts her.
He will be
at her bid-
ding.
[Fol. 121, b.]
Mary feels
safe with
him.
Her Son will
requite him.
Simon pro-
poses to go
to the town
for fear of
the Jews.
383 They must
show rever-
ence to Mary
as their
Master's
mother.
syn hir dere son fro vs is gone in a clowde,
And hertely in hast haylse we that heynde,
To oure master is she moder, semely in shrowde.
387
(66)
A, marie so mylde, the myssid we haue;
Was neuer madyn so menskful here apon molde
As thou art, and moder cleyne, bot this wold we craue,
If this were ihesu, thi son, that Iudas has sold,
391
He asks if
He who as-
cended was
her Son
Shew vs the sothe, vs aH may it saue;
we pray the, dere lady, layn that thou nol,
Jesus, whom Bot spełł vs oure spyryng, or els mon we rafe,
Judas sold.
Bot thou witterly vs wysh, so fayn wyt we wold.
395
(67)
Maria. peter, andrew, Iohn, and Iamys the gent,
Symon, Iude, and bartilmew the bold,
Mary pro-
claims that
He who was
born of her
bosom, was
God and
Man, and
bids them
Of my dere son, what I haue mentt,
That hens is bevyd to his awne hold;
And all my brethere derc, that ar on this bent,
Take tent to my tayH, tiH that I haue told
399
teach this.
he taght you the trouthe, or he to heuen went;
he was borne of my bosom as his self wold.
403
(68)
he is god and man that stevynd into heuen ;
preche thus to the pepyH that most ar in price.
Sekys to thare savyng, ye apostilles eleven,
To the Iues of Ierusalem as youre way lyse,
say to the cyte as I can here neuen,
407
tell the warkys of my son warly and wyse;
Byd theym be stedfast & lysten your steuen,
or els be thay dampned as men full of vyce.
411
Here is a gap of 12 leaves, in the MS., from Sig. 8. 1. to sig. t. 6.

XXX. The Judgment

Iudicium

XXX.
[Iudicium.]
[42 nine-line stanzas; aaaab, cccb; 23 eight-line, ab, ab, ab, ab
2 six-line, no. 63, ababab, no. 2 aab, ccb; 9 four-line, aaaa,
no. 65, ab ab; 5 couplets and 2 lines of Latin.]
[Incomplete.]
[Dramatis Personae.
Primus Demon.
Secundus Demon.
Tuliuillus.
Primus Malus.
Secundus Malus.
Tercius Malus.
Quartus Malus.
Jesus.
Primus Angelus.
(1)
[Secundus Mulus.]
Primus Bonus.
Secundus Bonus.
Tercius Bonus.
Quartus Bonus.]
[Fol. 122, a.)
fful darfe has bene oure deede / for thi commen is oure Secundus
care;
This day to take oure mede / for nothyng may we spare.
Alas, I harde that horne / that callys vs to the dome,
AH that euer were borne/thider behofys theym com.
May nathere lande ne se / vs fro this dome hide,
ffor ferde fayn wold I fle / bot I must nedys abide ;
Alas, I stande great aȝe / to loke on that Iustyce,
Ther may no man of laȝ / help with no quantyce.
vokettys ten or twelfe / may none help at this nede,
Bot ilk man for his self / shall answere for his dede.
4
Malus la-
ments. The
horn has
Bounded that
calls to
Judgment.
No lawyer
nor advocate
8
may save
men by
quibbles.
10
Each must
answer for
himself.
(2)
Alas, that I was borne !
I se now me beforne,
That lord with Woundys fyfe;
how may I on hym loke,
That falsly hym forsoke,
When I led synful lyfe?
(3)
13
16
Tercius malus. Alas, careful catyfys may we ryse,
sore may we wryng oure handys and wepe;
ffor cursid and sore covytyse
dampnyd be we in het full depe.
20
1 The aaaa lines have central rymes markt here by bars / not in
the MS.
26
CC
Tercius Ma- Roght we neuer of godys seruyce,
lus bemoans
his wicked
works.
his commaundementys wold we not kepe,
Bot oft tymes maide we sacrifice
to sathanas when othere can slepe.
(4)
Alas! now wakyns all oure were,
oure wykyd Warkys can we not hide,
Bot on oure bakys we must theym bere,
that wiH vs soroo on ilka syde.
Qure dedys this day wiH do vs dere,
Oure domysman here we must abide,
And feyndys, that wiH vs felly fere,
thare pray to haue vs for thare pride.
(5)
All that ear Brynly before vs be thai broght,
has heard
or heart
thought,
mouth
spoken or
eye seen, is
now brought
before them.
oure dedys that shał dam vs bidene;
That eyre has harde, or harte thoght,
that mowthe has spokyn), or ee sene,
That foote has gone, or hande wroght,
in any tyme that we may mene;
ffull dere this day now bees it boght.
alas! vnborne then had I bene!
(6)
24
28
32
36
40
Quartus Ma- Quartus malus. Alas, I am forlorne! / a spytus blast here
lus has heard
the horn.
Would he
were un-
born!
His wicked-
ness is
known, and
may not be
hid
blawes!
I harde well bi yonde horne / I wote wherto it drawes;
I wold I were vnborne / alas! that this day dawes!
Now mon be dampnyd this morne / my warkys, my dedys,
my sawes.
(7)
Now bees my curstnes kyd / alas! I may not layn
AH that euer I dyd / it bees put vp full playn.
44
That I wold fayn were hyd / my synful wordys and vayn,
fful new now mon be rekynyd / vp to me agayn.
(8)
[Fol. 122, b.] Alas! fayn wold I fle / for dedys that I haue done,
Bot that may now not be / I must abyde my boyn;
He would
fain flec.
48
I trowed neuer to have sene this dredful day thus soyn;
Alas! what shall I say When he sittys in his trone?
52
(9)
To se his Woundys bledande / this is a dulful case;
Alas! how shat I stand / or loke hym in the face?
So curtes I hym fand / that gaf me life so lang a space;
Mi care is all command / alas! whero was my grace? 56
(10)
Alas! catyffys vnkynde / where on was oure thoght?
Alas! where on was oure mynde / so wykyd warkys we
Wroght?
58
To se how he Was pynde / how dere oure luf he boght,
Alas! we were full blynde / now ar we wars then noght.
(11)
Alas! my couetyse / myn y wiH, and myn Ire!
Mi neghbur to dispise / most was my desyre;
I demyd euer at my deuyse / me thoght I had no peyre,
With my self sore may I grise / now am quyt my hyre.
(12)
62
Where I was wonte to go / and haue my Wordys at wiH,
Now am I set full thro / and fayn to hold me stil;
I went both to and fro / me thoght I did neuer i},
Mi neghburs for to slo / or hurt withoutten skiH.
(13)
Wo worth euer the fader / that gate me to be borne !
That euer he lete me stir / bot that I had bene forlorne;
Warid be my moder / and warid be the morne
That I was borne of hir / alas, for shame and skorne!
(14)
primus angelus, cum gladio.
stand not togeder, parte in two!
att sam shaH yc not be in blys;
Oure lorde of heuen wiH it be so,
for many of you has done amys;
On his right hand ye good shall go,
the way till heuen he shall you wys;
ye wykid saules ye weynd hym fro,
on his left hande as none of his.
(15)
Thesus. The tyme is commen, I wiH make ende,
my fader of heuen will it so be,
Therfor till erthe now with I weynde,
my self to sytt in maieste.
68
How shall
he look on
Christ's
face?
Alas for his
covetous-
ness, and all
his sins.
Cursed be
father and
mother, and
the day he
72 was born!
The first
angel parts
the good
from the
bad.
76
80
84
Jesus takes
His way to
carth.
He comes,
in His body,
to deal judg-
ment.
To dele my dome I will discende,
this body wit I bere with me,
how it was dight mans mys to amende
al mans kynde ther shall it se.
(16)
888
[Fol. 123, a.) primus demon'. Oute, haro, out, out! / harkyn to this
The first
demon has
heard the
horn:
at the sound
of it his
bonds broke
asunder.
horne,
I was neuer in dowte/ or now at this morne;
So sturdy a showte / sen that I was borne
hard I neuer here abowte/in ernyst ne in skorne,
A wonder!
I was bonde full fast
In yrens for to last,
Bot my bandys thai brast
And shoke at in sonder.
(17)
93
97
The second
demon shook
for dread;
but all his
grinning
helped no-
thing.
secundus demon. I shoterd and shoke / I herd sicħ a rerd,
When I harde it I qwote / for all that I lerd,
Bot to swere on a boke / I durst not aperd;
I durst not loke / for all meditt-erd,
ffutt payH;
Bot gyrned and gnast,
my force did I frast,
Bot I wroght ał wast,
102
It' myght not auay H.
(18)
106
They tell
each other
of their
fright.
primus demon'. It was like to a trumpe / it had sich a
sownde;
I felt on a lumpe / for ferd that I swonde.
secundus demon. There I stode on my stumpe / I stakerd
that stownde,
There chachid I the crumpe/yit held I my grounde
Their gear
must be got
ready, for
they are like
to have war.
Doomsday is
come, and
the souls
halfe nome.
primus demon. Make redy oure gere,
we ar like to haue were,
ffor
now dar I swere
That domysday is comme;
111
115
(19)
from hell.
ffor all oure saules ar wente / and none ar in het.
have fled
secundus demon. Bot we go we ar shente / let vs not
dwell,
It sittys you to tente / in this mater to meH,
As a pere in a parlamente / what case so befel;
It is nedefuH
That ye tente to youro awne,
What draght so be drawne,
If the courte be knawen
the Iuge is right dredfuH.
(20)
The second
demon tells
the first that
he must get
120 to the Court,
124
primus demon. ffor to stand thus tome / thou gars me grete.
secundus demon. let vs go to this dome / vp watlyn strete.
primus demon. I had leuer go to rome / yei thryse, on my
fete,
Then forto grefe yonde grome/ or with hym forto mete;
ffor wysely
he spekys on trete,
129
like a peer
to Parlia-
inent.
Up Watling
be the way,
would rather
Street will
but they
make three
pilgrimages
to Rome.
his paustee is grete,
bot begyn he to threte
he lokys full grisly.
133
(21)
Bot fast take oure rentals / hy, let vs go hence!
ffor as this fals/ the great sentence.
They must
take their
books with
secundus demon. Thai ar here in my dals / fast stand We [Fol. 123, b.)
to fence,
And Just.
Agans thise dampnyd sauls / Without repentence,
primus demon. how so the gam crokys,
Examyn oure bokys.
secundus demon. here is a bag ful, lokys,
of pride and of lust,
(22)
Of Wraggers and wrears / a bag full of brefes,
Of carpars and cryars / of mychers and thefes,
Of lurdans and lyars / that no man lefys,
Of flytars, of flyars / and renderars of reffys;
This can I,
Of alkyn astates
that go bi the gatys,
Of poore pride, that god hatys,
Twenty so many.
them, to give
evidence
against the
dainned
138 souls.
142
147
151
They have
bags full of
all kinds of
sinners.
26 -
The first
demon asks
if there is
anger in
(23)
primus demon'. peasse, I pray the, be stiH / I laȝe that!
kynke,
their bill; if Is oȝt Ire in thi biH / and then shalt thou drynke.
so, his fellow
shall have a
drink.
There is
anger and
treachery
too.
secundus demon. sir, so mekiH i wiH / that thai wold
synke
Thare foes in a fyere stiH/ bot not all that I thynke
dar I say,
Bot-before hym he prase hym,
156
behynde he mys-sase hym,
Is there
anything
recorded
against the
feminine
gender?
More rolls
full than he
can carry.
Thus dowbiłł he mase hym,
thus do thai today.
(24)
160
primus demon'. has thou oȝt Writen there of the
femynyn gendere?
secundus demon. yei, mo then I may bere / of rolles forto
render ;
Thai ar sharp as a spere / if thai seme bot slender;
Thai ar euer in were / if thai be tender,
yH fetyld;
she that is most meke,
When she semys full seke,
she can rase vp a reke
if she be well nettyld.
(25)
165
169
The second primus demon. Thou art the best hyne / that euer cam
demon is
praised as a
good ser-
vant, and
bids his
master
hurry.
Had Dooms-
day been de-
layed, they
must have
built hell
beside vs.
secundus demon. yei, bot go we, master myne/yit wold I
we hyde vs;
Thai haue blowen lang syne / thai wiłł not abide vs;
We may lightly tyne / and then will ye chide vs
Togeder.
primus demon. Make redy oure tolys.
ffor we dele with no folys.
secundus demon. sir, al clerkys of oure scolys
ar bowne furth theder;
(26)
Bot, sir, I tell you before / had domysday oght tarid
174
178
bigger. We must haue biggid helt more / the warld is so warid.
primus demon. Now gett we dowbił store of bodys The first
myscarid
To the soules where thai wore / both sam to be harrid.
secundus demon. Thise rolles
Ar of bakbytars,
And fals quest-dytars,
I had no help of writars
183
demon
thinks of the
bodies and
souls to be
harried.
[Fol. 124, a.]
bot thise two dalles.¹
(27)
187
ffaithe and trowth, maffay / has no fete to stande ;
The poore pepył must pay / if oght be in hande,
The drede of god is away / and lawe out of lande.
primus demon'. By that wist I that domysday / was nere
hande
In seson.
secundus demon'. Sir, it is saide in old sawes-
the longere that day dawes-
'Wars pepit wars lawes.'
192
Faith and
truth are
weak, and
the fear of
God per-
ished.
The proverb
tells us that
people and
laws ever
grow worse.
primus demon'. I laȝ at thi reson;
196
(28)
Alle this was token / domysday to drede;
ffull oft was it spokyn / full few take hede;
Bot now shall we be wrokyn / of thare falshede,
ffor now bese vnlokyn / many dern dede
In Ire;
AH thare syunes shall be knawen,2
Othere mens, then thare awne.
Secundus demon. Bot if this draght be well drawen
don is in the myre.
201
205
All this was
a sign of
judgment.
If their
draught be
not well.
drawn,
"Dun is in
the mire."
(29)
Tutivillus. Whi spir ye not, sir/no questyons?
I am oone of youre ordir / and oone of youre sons;
I stande at my tristur / when othere men shones.
primus demon'. Now thou art myn awne querestur / I wote
where thou wonnes;
¹ The ryme needs “dolles.”
? MS. knowen.
Tutivillus
accosts
them, and
is greeted as
the first
devil's own
officer.
Tutivillus
has been
tollsman and
registrar for
the devil,
and is now
master
lollard,
do teł me.
Tutiuillus. I was youre chefe tollare,
And sithen courte rollar,
Now am I master lollar,
210
He has
Sometimes
And of sich men I meH me.
(30)
I haue broght to youre hande / of saules, dar I say,
Mo than ten thowsand¹/in an howre of a day;
ten thousand som at ayH-howse I fande / and som of ferray,
brought in
incre than
souls in an
hour.
He has
hunted them
till he is
tired.
som cursid, som bande / som yei, som nay;
so many
Thus broght I on blure,
thus did I my cure.
primus demon'. Thou art the best sawgeoure
that euer had I any.
(31)
214
219
223
Tutiuillus. here a roH of ragman / of the rownde tabiH,
Of breffes in my bag, man / of synnes dampnabi};
vnethes may I wag, man / for wery in youre stabił
Whils I set my stag, man. /
secundus demon.
To take wage;
abide, ye ar abil
228
[Fol. 124, b.]
Thou can of cowrte thew,
The demons
compliment
him.
Bot lay downe the dewe
ffor thou wilt be a shrew,
be thou com at age.
(32)
232
He tells of
the fools who
Tutiuillus. here I be gesse / of many nyce hoket,
dress finely, Of care and of curstnes / hethyng and hoket,
and leave
their chil-
dren bread-
less.
Gay gere and witles / his hode set on koket,
As prowde as pennyles / his slefe has no poket,
ffutt redles;
237
With thare hemmyd shoyn,
AH this must be done,
Bot syre is out at hye noyn)
And his barnes bredeles.
241
(33)
A horne and a duch ax / his slefe must be flekyt,
A syde hede and a fare fax / his gowne must be spekytt,
■ MS. XMI.
Thus toke I youre tax / thus ar my bookys blekyt.
He tells the
demons his
primus demon. Thou art best on thi wax / that euer was name, Tuti-
clekyt,
or knawen;1
with wordes will thou fiH vs,
bot tell thi name til vs.
Tutiuillus. Mi name is tutiuillus,
villus, and
talks gibber-
ish in Latin.
246
my horne is blawen;
ffragmina verborum / tutiullus colligit horum,
Belzabub algorum / belial belium doliorum.
(34)
250
secundus demon. What, I se thou can of gramory and
som what of arte;
had I bot a penny / on the wold I warte.
Tutiuillus. Of femellys a quantite here fynde I parte.
He finds
plenty of
primus demon'. Tutiuillus, let se/goddys forbot thou sparte! women here.
T'utiuillus. so Ioly
Ilka las in a lande
like a lady nerehande,
So fresh and so plesande,
255
makys men to foly.
(35)
259
If she be neuer so fowH a dowde / with hir keHes and hir They can
pynnes,
The shrew hir self can shrowde / both hir chekys and hir
chynnes;
she can make it fuH prowde / with iapes and with gynnes,
hir hede as hy as a clowde / bot no shame of hir synnes
Thai fele ;
When she is thus paynt,
she makys it so quaynte,
She lookys like a saynt,
264
disguise
their ugli-
ness,
and make
themselves
up to look
like saints,
though
worse than
268 the devil.
And wars then the deyle.
(36)
she is hornyd like a kowe / .
fon syn,
The cuker hyngys so side now / furrid with a cat skyn,
AH thise ar for you / thai ar commen of youre kyn.
Secundus demon'. Now, the best body art thou / that euer [Fol. 125, a.
cam here in.
Sig. V. 1.1
1 MS. knowen.
It is fashion- Tutiuillus.
able for
them to
break their
wedlock.
An vsage,
swilk dar I vndertake,
makys theym breke thare wedlake,
And lif in syn for hir sake,
And breke thare awne spowsage.
(37)
More than a yit a poynt haue I fon / I tell you before,
thousand
false swear-
ers shall
come to hell,
raisers of
false taxes
and gather-
ers of green
wax.
273
277
That fals swerars shah hider com / mo then a thowsand¹
skore;
In sweryng thai grefe godys son / and pyne hym more
and more,
Therfor mon thai with vs won / in het for euer more.
I say thus,
That rasers of the fals tax,
And gederars of greyn wax,
Diabolus est mendax
282
Et pater eius.
(38)
286
He must not yit a poynte of the new gett / to tell wit I not blyn,
forget the
new fashion
of padding
the shoul-
ders with
moss and
flock.
Of prankyd gownes & shulders vp set / mos & flokkys
sewyd wyth in ;
To vse sich gise thai will not let / thai say it is no syn,
"Kirk-
chaterers"
and lovers of
simony he
drags to hell
out of the
churches.
Bot on sich pilus I nie set and clap thaym cheke and
chyn,
no nay.
dauid in his sawtere says thus,
That to hell shaft thai trus,
Cum suis adinuencionibus,
for onys and for ay.
(39)
yit of thise kyrkchaterars / here ar a menee,
Of barganars and okerars / and lufars of symonee,
Of runkers and rowners / god castys thaym out, trulee,
291
295
ffrom his temple alt sich mysdoers / I cach thaym then to me
fful soyn;
ffor writen I wote it is
In the gospel, withoutten mys,
Et eam fecistis
Speluncam latronum.
300
304
¹ MS. M'.
(40)
yit of the synnes seven¹/ som thyng special
now nately to neven / that renys ouer aH;
Thise laddys thai leven / as lordys riaH,
At ee to be even / picturde in pał
As kyngys;
May he dug hym a doket,
A kodpese like a pokett,
hym thynke it no hoket
309
Something
special must
be said too
of the seven
deadly sins.
his tayH when he Wryngys.
(41)
his luddokkys thai lowke / like walk-mylne cloggys,
his hede is like a stowke / hurlyd as hoggys,
A wołł blawen bowke / thise fryggys as froggys,
This Ielian Iowke / dryfys he no doggys
To felter;
Bot with youre yolow lokkys,
ffor all youre many mokkys,
ye shall clym on hell crokkys
313
318
With a halpeny heltere.
(42)
And nett With hir nyfyls / of crisp and of sylke,
Tent well youre twyfyls / youre nek abowte as mylke;
322
With youre bendys and youre bridyls / of sathan, the
whilke
sir sathanas Idyls / you for tha ilke
This gill knaue;
It is open behynde,
before is it pynde,
327
Bewar of the West wynde
(Fol. 125, b.)
youre smok lest it wafe.
(43)
Of Ire and of enuy / fynde I herto,
Of couetyse and glotony / and many other mo;
Thai call and thai cry / go we now, go!
I dy nere for dry / and ther syt thai so
1 MS. vij.
331
Anger, envy,
covetons
ness,
gluttony.
AH nyght;
With hawvel and Iawvel,
syngyng of lawvel,
Thise ar howndys of hel,
That is thare right.
(44)
336
340
Bloth that
makes the
sluggard
wish the
clerk hanged
when the
bells ring to
church.
In slew the then thai syn / goddys warkys thai not Wyrke;
To belke thai begyn / and spew that is irke;
his hede must be holdyn/ther in the myrke,
Then deffys hym with dyn / the bellys of the kyrke,
When thai clatter;
345
he wishys the clerke hanged¹
ffor that he rang it,
Bot thar hym not lang it,
What commys ther after.
(45)
349
Harlots,
whores, and
bawds,
And ye Ianettys of the stewys / and lychoures on lofte,
youre bait now brewys / avowtrees full ofte,
youre gam now grewys / I shall you set softe,
youre sorow enewes / com to my crofte
AH ye;
AH harlottys and horres,
And bawdys that procures,
To bryng thaym to lures,
Welcom to my see!
(46)
liars, scolds, ye lurdans and lyars/mychers and thefes,
extortioners,
usurers,
backbiters,
fflytars and flyars / that aH men reprefes,
are all wel Spolars, extorcyonars / Welcom, my lefes !
ffals Iurars and vsurars / to symony that clevys,
come to hell.
To tel;
hasardars and dysars,
ffals dedys forgars,
Slanderars, bak bytars,
AH vnto heH.
[Fol. 126, 8.
Big. V. 2.)
(47)
354
358
363
367
The increase primus demon. When I harde many swilke many
of the wicked
made the
first demon
think the
end was
nigh.
spytus and fel,
And few good of ilke / I had merue},
I trowd it drew nere the prik. /
¹ The ryme needs "hangit."
Secundus demon.
sir, a worde of counsel;
saules cam so thyk / now late vnto hel
As euer;
Of late souls
have so
crowded to
hell, that the
372 porter has
been hard
worked.
Oure porter at hell yate
Is haldyn so strate,
vp erly and downe late,
he rystys neuer.
(48)
376
primus demon. Thou art pereles of tho / that euer yit The two
knew I,
when I WiH may I go / if thou be by;
Go we now, We two. /
Secundus demon.
syr, I am redy.
primus demon. Take oure rolles also, ye knawe the
cause Why;
do com
And tent well this day.
Secundus demon. sir, as well as I may.
Primus Demon. Qui vero mala
In ignem eternum.
381
385
demons
make their
way to the
Judgment
Hall, with
their rolls
(49)
Thesus. Ilka creatoure take tente
What bod worde I shall you bryng,
This wykyd warld away is wente,
and I am commyn as crownyd kyng;
Mi fader of heuen has me downe sente,
to deme youre dedys and make endyng;
Commen is the day of Iugemente,
389
Jesus an-
nounces His
advent as
King come
to judg-
ment.
of sorrow may euery synful syng.
(50)
The day is commen of catyfnes,
393
all those to care that ar vncleyn,
The day of bate and bitternes,
fful long abiden has it beyn;
The day of drede to more and les,
397
of Ioy, of tremlyng, and of teyn,
Ilka wight that wikyd is
may say, alas this day is seyn!
401
Tunc expandit manus suas & ostendit eis Winera sua.
The day is
come, a day
of dread and
joy.
He shows
the wounds
by which He
bought bliss
for men.
He recalls
the scourg-
(51)
here may ye se my Woundys wide
that I suffred for youre mysdede,
Thruȝ harte, hede, fote, hande and syde,
not for my gilte bot for youre nede.
Behald both bak, body, and syde,
how dere I boght youre broder-hede,
Thise bitter paynes I wold abide,
to by you blys thus wold I blede.
(52)
Mi body was skowrgid withoutten skiH,
also ther full throly was I thrett;
ing, the
cross, the
crown of
thorns, the
spear that
pierced
Hiin,
On crosse thai hang me on a hill,
blo and blody thus was I bett;
With crowne of thorne thrastyn full iH,
A spere vnto my harte thai sett;
Mi harte blode sparid thai not to spill.
man, for thi luf wold I not lett.
405
409
413
417
(53)
the con-
tumely of
the Jews
The Iues spytt on me spitusly,
thai sparid me no more then a thefe;
and His own
patience.
When thai me smote I stuck stilly,
421
agans thaym did I nokyns grefe.
Beholde, mankynde, this ilk am I,
that for the suffred sich myschefe,
Thus was I dight' for thi foly,
man, loke thi luf was me full lefe.
425
(54)
(Fol. 126, b.] Thus was I dight thi sorow to slake ;
All this He
suffered for
man; what
has man
suffered for
Tim?
my will it was for luf of the.
Man, for sorow aght the to qwake,
man, thus behovid the borud to be ;
In all my wo toke I no wrake,
429
this dredful day this sight to se;
AH this suffred I for thi sake.
say, man, What suffred thou for me 1
433
Tunc vertens se ad bonos, dicit illis.
(55)
Mi blissid barnes on my right hande,
youre dome this day thar ye not drede,
ffor all youre ioy is now commande,
youre life in likyng shall ye lede.
Commes to the kyngdom ay lastand,
That you is dight for youre good dede,
fful blithe may ye be there ye stand,
ffor mekit in heuen bees youre mede.
(56)
When I was hungre yo me fed,
To slek my thrist ye war full fre ;
When I was clothles ye me cled,
ye Wold no sorowe on me se;
In hard prison When I was stek
On my penance ye had pyte;
ffu seke when I was broght in bed,
kyndly ye cam to comforth me.
437
441
The good
are sum-
moned to
bliss.
They have
fed Him
when He
was hungry
slaked His
445 clothed
thirst,
449
Hi, visited
Him in
prison.and
sickness,
(57)
When I was wit and weriest
ye harberd me full esely,
ffull glad then were ye of youre gest,
Ye plenyd my pouerte fut pitusly;
Belife ye broght me of the best,
And maide my bed there I shuld ly,
Therfor in heuen shaH be youre rest,
In ioy and blys to beld me by.
(58)
primus bonus. lord, When had thou so meki nede?
hungre or thrusty, how myght it be?
453
given Him
shelter and
sympathy;
therefore
they shall
rest with
Him in
457 heaven.
When did
they thus
succour
Him? tho
Secundus bonus. When was oure harte fre the to good ask.
feede?
In prison When myght We the se?
461
(Fol. 127, a
Sig. V. 3.]
Tercius bonus. When was thou seke, or wantyd wede?
To harbowre the when helpid we?
Quartus bonus. When had thou nede of oure fordede?
when did we aH this dede to the ?
465
Jesus tells
thein they
succoured
Him in help-
ing the
needy.
(59)
Ihesus. Mi blissid barnes, I shat you say
what tyme this dede was to me done ;
When any that nede had nyght or day,
Askyd you help and had it sone;
youre fre harte saide theym neuer nay,
469
Erly ne late, myd-day ne noyn,
As ofte-sithes as thai wold pray,
Thai thurte bot aske and haue thare boyn.
473
Tunc dicet malis.
(60)
He casts
forth the
ye cursid catyfs of kames kyn,
wicked to
dwell for
That neuer me comforthick in my care,
ever in dole. Now I and ye for euer shał twyn,
In doył to dwell for euer mare;
477
youre bitter bayles shat neuer blyn
That ye sha thole when ye com thare,
Thus haue ye seruyd for youre syn,
ffor derfe dedys ye haue doyn are.
481
(61)
They chased When I had myster of mete and drynke,
Him from
their gate
when He had
Catyfs, ye chaste me from youre yate;
need of food; when ye were set as syres on bynke
I stode ther oute wery and Wate,
yit none of you Wold on me thynke,
To haue pite on my poore astate;
485
Therfor to hell I shall you synke,
Well ar ye worthy to go that gate.
489
(62)
When I was seke and soryest
ye viset me noght, for I was poore;
would not
look how He
fared in
prison;
In prison fast when I was fest
wold none of you loke how I foore;
493
drove Him
with blows
When I wist neuer where to rest
from their
doors.
With dyntys ye drofe me from youre doore,
Bot euer to pride then were ye prest,
Mi flesh, my bloode, ye oft for-swore.
497
(63)
Clothles, When that I was cold,
That nerehande for you yode I nakyd,
Mi myschefe sagh ye many folde,
Was none of you my sorowe slakyd;
Bot euer forsoke me, yong and olde,
Therfor shall ye now be forsakyd.
(Fol. 127, b.)
As they for-
Book Him, so
shall they
now be for-
anken.
501
503
(64)
primus malus. lorde, when had thou, that all has,
hunger or thriste, sen thou god is ¹?
When was that thou in prison was ?
When was thou nakyd or harberles?
507
When, they
ask, have
they shown
Him this un-
kindness?
Secundus malus. When myght we se the seke, alas!
and kyd the aй this vnkyndnes?
iijus malus. When was we let the helples pas?
When dyd ye the this wikydnes?
511
(65)
iiijus malus. Alas, for doy this day!
alas, that euer I it abode !
Now am I dampned for ay,
this dome may I not avoyde.
(66)
Ihesus. Catyfs, alas, ofte as it betyde
that nedefutt oght askyd in my name,
ye harde thaym noght, youre eeres was hid,
youre help to thaym was not at hame;
To me was that vnkyndnes kyd,
therfor ye bere this bitter blame,
To the lest of myne when ye oȝt dyd,
to me ye dyd the self and same.
Tunc dicet bonis.
(67)
Mi chosyn childer, commes to me!
515
(One begins
his lament,
ere he hears
the answer.)
Jesus tells
them the
unkindness
they showed
to the needy
was shown
519 to Him.
523
He sumn-
ons the
good to
well with
Him in bliss.
With me to dwell now shall ye weynde,
Ther ioy and blys euer shall be,
youre life in lykyng for to leynde.
527
Tunc dicet malis.
¹ Originally 'es,' no doubt.
27
Dd
The wicked
are doomed
to hell.
The devils
begin to
drive them.
ye warid Wightys, from me ye fle,
In hel to dwell withoutten ende !
Ther shall ye noght bot sorow se,
And sit bi sathanas the feynde.
(68)
primus demon. Do now furthe go,¹ / trus, go we hyne!
vnto endles wo/ay-lastand pyne;
Nay, tary not so we get ado syne.
531
secundus demon. hyte hyder warde, ho/harry ruskyne!
War oute!
The meyn shall ye nebyl,
And I shall syng the trebiH,
A revant the devitt
Til all this hole rowte.
536
540
(69)
They may
curse the day
they were
[Fol. 128, a.
Big. V. 4.]
born.
Where now
are their
gold, their
retinue, and
Tutinillus. youre lyfes ar lorne / and commen is your
care;
ye may ban ye were borne / the bodes you bare,
And youre faders beforne / so cursid ye ar.
primus demon'. ye may wary the morne / and day that
ye ware
Of youre
moder
ffirst borne forto be,
ffor the wo ye mon dre.
Secundus demon'. Ilkone of you mon se
sorow of oder.
(70)
545
549
Where is the gold and the good / that ye gederd togedir?
The mery menee that yode / hider and thedir?
their finery Tutiuillus. Gay gyrdyls, iaggid hode / prankyd gownes,
whedir?
haue ye wit or ye wode / ye broght not hider
Bot sorowe,
And youre synnes in youre nekkys.
554
primus demon. I beshrew thaym that rekkys!
youre bodyes to borow.
558
he comes to late that bekkys
¹ MS. go furthe.
(71)
Secundus demon'. Sir, I Wold cut thaym a skawte
and make theym be knawne;
/
Thay were sturdy and hawte / great boste haue thai
blawne;
youre pride and youre pransawte / What will it gawne?
ye tolde ilk mans defawte / and forgate youre awne.
Tutiuillus.
563
They were
sturdy and
proud, find-
others and
forgetting
their own.
ing faults in
moreouer
Thare neghiburs thai demyd,
Thaym self as it semyd,
Bot now ar thai flemyd
ffrom sayntys to recouer.
(72)
567
primus demon'. Thar neghburs thai towchid / With They up-
wordys full it,
braided their
neighbours,
were
The warst ay thai sowchid / and had no skit.
secundus demon'.
The pennys thai powchid / and held gluttonous
pouchers of
pence,
thaym still;
and greedy.
The negons thai mowchid / and had no witt
ffor hart fare;
Bot riche and iH-dedy,
Gederand and gredy,
sore napand and nedy
youre godys forto spare.
(73)
572
576
Tutiuillus. ffor all that ye spard / and dyd extorcyon,
ffor
youre childer ye card/youre heyre and youre son,
Now is all in oureward youre yeres ar ron,
The wealth
they laid up
for their
children is
now in the
devil's keep-
It is commen in vowgard / youre dame malison,
ing.
To bynde it;
581
ye set bi no cursyng,
Ne no sich small thyng,
primus demon. No, bot prase at the partyng,
585
ffor now mon ye fynde it.
(74)
youre leyfys and youre females / ye brake youre wedlake; (Fol. 128, b.]
Tell me now what it vales / al that mery lake?
se so falsly it falys. /
secundus demon.
syr, I dar vndertake
Thai will tell no tales / bot se so thai quake
They broke
their wed-
lock. What
avails their
merriment
now?
Now they
are quaking
and dumb.
ffor moton;
he that to that gai gose,
Now namely on old tose.
Tutiuillus. Thou held vp the lose,
That had I forgotten.
(75)
590
594
They shall
dwell in
pitch and
tar, with no
respite.
primus demon. sir, I trow thai be dom / somtyme were
full melland;
Will ye se how thai glom. /
secundus demon.
thou art ay telland;
Now shall thai haue rom/ in pyk aud tar cuer dwelland,
Of thare sorow no some / bot ay to be yelland
In oure fostre.
Tutiuillus. By youre lefe may We mefe you ?
primus demon. showe furth, I shrew you!
Secundus demon. yit to-nyght shall I shew you
A mese of iH ostre.
599
603
(76)
The devils
carry them
off, with
threats.
Tutiuillus. Of thise cursid forsworne / and all that
here leyndys,
Blaw, wolfys-hede and oute-horne now namely my
freyndys.
primus demon. Illa hai were ye borne youre awne
shame you sheyndys,
That shall ye fynde or to morne. /
secundus demon.
To youre angre ;
youre dedys you dam ;
Com, go we now sam,
It is common youre gam,
Com, tary no langer.
com now with feyndys
608
612
(77)
primus bonus. We loue the, lorde, in alkyn thyng,
That for thyne awne has ordand thus,
That we may haue now oure dwellyng
In heuen blis giffen vnto vs.
616
Therfor full boldly may we syng
The right-
cous give
thanks to
God.
On oure way as we trus;
Make we al myrth and louyng
With te deum laudamus.
620
Explicit Iudicium.
XXXI.

XXXI. Lazarus

Lazarus

Incipit Lazarus.
[47 couplets; 4 ten-line stanzas, aaaa¹ bbbc be; 1 nine-line (no. (Fol. 120, a.)
11), aana bbc be; 7 eight-line, four ab ab ab ab, two abab
bcbc, one ab ab ba ba; 3 six-line, aaab ab; 1 five-line, aab
ab.]
[Dramatis Personac.
Jesus.
Pelrus.
Johannes.
Martha.
Lazarus.]
Thomas.
Maria.
(1)
Thesus. Commes now, brethere, and go With
me;
We Will pas furþ vntiH Iude,
To botany will we Weynde,?
To vyset lazare that is oure freynde.2
Gladly I wold we with hym speke,
I tell you sothely he is seke.
petrus. I red not that ye thider
go,
The Iues halden you for thare fo;
I red ye com not in that stede,
ffor if ye do then be ye dede.
Iohannes. Master, trist thou [not] on the Iue,
ffor many day sen thou thaym knewe,
And last tyme that we wore thore
We wenyd tit haue bene ded therfor.
Thomas. When we were last in that contre,
This othere day, both thou and we,
4
Jesus pro-
poses to go
to Bethany
to visit
Lazarus, who
is ill.
Peter, John,
and Thomas
8
dissuado
Him for fear
of the Jews.
12
16
1 The aaaa lines have central rymes markt here with bars (not in
the MS).
These lines are transposed in the MS., and the letters a and b are
placed opposite them in the margin to indicate their proper order.
27 *
Jesus tells
us is fallen
We wenyd that thou ther shuld haue bene slayn;
Will thou now go thider agane ?
Thesus. herkyn, breder, and takys kepe;
them Lazar- lazare oure freynde is fallyn on slepe;
till hym now will we take,
asleep; they
must go to
make that
knight
awake.
If he sleep
The way
To styr that knyght and gar hym wake.
petrus. Sir, me thynke it were the best
he will mend, To let hym slepe and take his rest ;
Peter
thinks.
And kepe that no man com hym hend,
ffor if he slepe then mon he mend.
Ihesus. I say to you, With outten fayH,
No kepyng may til hym avait,
[Fol. 129, b.] Ne slepe may stand hym in no stede,
I say you sekerly he is dede;
Jesus tells
them plainly
Lazarus is
dead.
Therfor I
say you now at last
leyfe this speche and go we fast.
Thomas says Thomas. Sir, What so euer ye bid vs do
the disciples
will share
We assent vs well ther to;
Jesus' peril
and go with I hope to god ye shall not fynde
Him.
None of vs shalt lefe behynde;
ffor any paret that may befal
Weynde we With oure master aH.
Martha tells Martha. help me, lordle, and gif me red!
Jesus Lazar-
us is dead.
lazare my broder now is dede,
That was to the both lefe and dere;
20
24
28
32
36
40
He shall rise
and live
again, Jesus
Says.
he had not dyed had thou bene here.
Ihesus. Martha, martha, thou may be fayn,
Thi brothere shall rise and lif agayn.
44
Martha. lorde, I wote that he shal ryse
And com before the good iustyce;
Yes, at
Doomsday,
Martha
answers.
ffor at the dredful day of dome
There mon ye kepe hym at his come,
48
To loke What dome ye WiH hym gif;
Then mon he rise, then mon he lyf.
Jesus says,
"I am the
Resurrection That I am rysyng, and I am life
and the
Life."
And Whoso truly trowys in me,
That I was euer and ay shall be,
Oone thyng I shatt hym gif,
Though he be dede yit shall he lif.
Thesus. I Warne you, both man and wyfe,
;
52
56
say thou, Woman, trowys thou this?
Martha. yee, for sothe, my lorde of blys,
Ellys. were I greatly to mysprase,
ffor all is sothe-fast that thou says.
Thesus. Go to thi sister mawdlayn
That I com, ye may be fayn.
Martha. Sister, lefe this sorowful bande,
Oure lorde commys here at hand,
And his apostyls with hym also.
Maria. A, for godys luf let me go!
Blissid be he that sende me grace,
That I may se the in this place.
lorde, mekit sorow may men se
Of my sister here and me;
We ar heuy as any lede,
ffor our broder that thus is dede.
Martha
believes,
60 and is
bidden to
fetch her
sister
[Martha goes to Mary.] Magdalene.
had thou bene here and on hym sene,
dede for sothe had he not bene.
Ihesus. hider to you commen we ar
To make you comforth of youre care,
Bot loke no fayntyse ne no slawþ
Bryng you oute of stedfast trawthe,
Then shat I hold you that I saide.
lo, where haue ye his body laide ?
Maria. lorde, if it be thi WiH,
I hope be this he sauers it,
[Fol. 180, a.)
64
68
72
Mary tells
Jesus of
their sorrow.
Jesus is
come to
76 comfort
them.
80 He asks
where the
body is laid.
ffor it is now the ferth¹ day gone
sen he Was laide vnder yonde stone.
Iesus. I told the right now ther thou stode
that thi trawth shult ay be goode,
84
And if thou may that fulfi
AH bees done right at thi wit.
88
Et lacrimatus est ihesus, dicens.
(2)
ffader, I pray the that thou rase
lazare that was thi hyne,
And bryng hym oute of his mysese
And oute of hell pyne.
92
1MS. iiij.
Jesus prays
to the Father
for Lazarus.
Let his days When I the pray thou says al wayse
be in-
creased.
He bids
Lazarus
Mi will is sich as thyne,
Therfor Will we now eke his dayse,
To me thou wilt inclyne.
(3)
Com furth, lazare, and stand vs by,
come forth, In erth shalt thou no langere ly;
and be
stripped of
his grave-
clothes.
Take and lawse hym foote and hande,
And from his throte take the bande,
And the sudary take hym fro,
And at that gere, and let hym go.
(4)
96
100
102
Lazarus
given
lazarus. lorde, that all thyng maide of noght,
thanks to
louyng be to thee,
Jesus, for
raising him
That sich Wonder here has Wroght,
from hell.
Gretter may none be.
106
When I was dede to heH I soght,
And thou, thrugli thi pauste,
Rasid me vp and thens me broght,
Behold and ye may se.
110
(5)
Not the
mightiest on
Ther is none so styf on stede,
can escape
carth, king
or knight,
death.
Ne noue so prowde in prese,
Ne none so dughty in his dede,
Ne none so dere on deese,
114
No kyng, no knyght, no Wight in wede,
ffrom dede haue maide hym seese,
Ne flesh he was wonte to fede,
It shall be Wormes mese.
118
(6)
youre dede is Wormes coke,
youre myrroure here ye loke,
And let me be youre boke,
youre sampit take by me;
ffro dede you cleke in cloke,
sich shall ye all be.
(7)
[Ful. 180, b.] Ilkon in sich aray / With dede thai shall be dight,
122
124
And closid colde in clay / Wheder he be kyng or knyght
ffor all his garmentes gay / that semely were in sight,
For all their
his flesh shall frete away / With many a woful wight. 128 their aesh
Then wofully sich wightys
Shall gnawe thise gay kuyghtys,
gay clothes,
shall be
eaten away.
Thare lunges and thare lightys,
Thare harte shall frete in souder ;
132
Thise masters most of myghtys
Thus shall thai be broȝt vnder.
134
(8)
Vnder the erthe ye shalt / thus carefully then cowche;
They shall
have such a
The royfe of youre hall / youre nakyd nose shał towche; hall that
Nawther great' ne smał / To you wiłł knele ne crowche;
their naked
nose shall
touch the
A shete shall be youre pat/sich todys shall be youre roof, for
nowche;
Todys shaй you dere,
ffeyndys will you fere,
138
covering a
sheet and
toads for
jewels.
youre flesh that fare was here
Thus rufully shall rote;
In stede of fare colore
sich bandys shall bynde youre throto.
(9)
youre rud that was so red / youre lyre the lylly lyke,
Then shall be wan as led / and stynke as dog in dyke;
Wormes shall in you brede / as bees dos in the byke,
144
They shall
stink like
dead dogs,
worms shall
breed in
them, toads
And ees out of youre hede / Thus-gate shal paddokys pick out
pyke;
To pike you ar preste
Many vncomly beest,
Thus thai shall make a feste
Of youre flesh and of youre blode.
ffor you then sorows leste
The moste has of youre goodc.
(10)
their eyes.
148
154
youre goodys ye shall forsake / If ye be neuer so lothe,
They may
take nothing
And nothing With you take / Bot sich a wyndyng clothe; with them
youre Wife sorow shałł slake / youre chylder also both,
vnnes youre mynnyng make / If ye be neuer so wrothe; 158
Thai myn you with nothyng
but their
winding
sheet.
That may be youre helpyng,
Wife and
children will
forget them
and pay for
no masses
for their
souls.
Nawther in mes syngyng,
Ne yit with almus dede;
Therfor in youre leuyng
Be wise and take good hede.
(11)
Take hede for you to dele / Whils ye ar on life,
164
Trust neuer freyndys frele ¹ / Nawthere of childe then wife;
[Fol. 181, a.] ffor sectures ar not lele / Then for youre good WiH stryfe;
To by youre saules hele / There may no man thaym
Trust not
friend, wife,
or child;
executors
are always
unfaithful
shrife.
To shrife no man thaym may,
168
After youre endyng day,
youre saut for to glad ;
youre sectures wiłł swere nay,
And say ye aȝt more then ye had.
(12)
173
Amende the, man, Whils thou may,
Let them
amend while
they may.
let neuer no myrthe fordo thi mynde;
Thynke thou on the dredeful day
When they
are dead it
will be too
late; no
wealth may
Bave them
then.
When god shall deme all mankynde.
177
Thynke thou farys as dothe the wynde;
This warlde is wast & wit away;
Man, haue this in thi mynde,
And amende the Whils that thou may.
181
(13)
Amende the, man, whils thou art here,
Agane thou go an othere gate;
When thou art dede and laide on bere,
Wyt thou well thou bees to late;
185
ffor if all the goode that euer thou gate
Were delt for the after thi day,
In heuen it wolde not mende thi state,
fforthi amende the Whils thou may.
189
The rich
man's
wealth be-
longs to
God,
(14)
If thou be right ryal in rente,
As is the stede standyng in stał,
In thi harte knowe and thynke 2
That thai ar goddys goodys aH.
193
¹ These words, "Trust neuer freyndys frele,” are hardly legible.
The assonance wants "thenke.
he myght haue maide the poore and smał
As he that beggys fro day to day;
Wit thou well acountys gif thou shall,
Therfore amende the whils thou may.
(15)
And if I myght with you dwel
To tell you all my tyme,
ffull meki cowthe I tel
That I have harde and sene,
Of many a great meruel,
sich as ye wolde not wene,
197
201
and must be
accounted
for.
Lazarus has
heard and
seen many a
marvel.
In the paynes of hel
There as I haue bene.
205
(16)
Bene I haue in wo,
Therfor kepe you ther fro;
Whilst yo lif do so
If ye will dwell with hym
That can gar you thus go,
And hele you lith and lym.
he is a lorde of grace,
Vmthynke you in this case,
(17)
And pray hymn, fuH of myght,
he kepe you in this place
And haue you in his sight.
211
216
Amen.
Explicit Lazarus.

XXXII. The Hanging of Judas

Suspencio Iude

(XXXII.)
Suspencio Iude.¹
[Incomplete; 16 six-line stanzas, aaab ab.]
(1)
[Judas.] Alas, alas, & walaway!
waryd & cursyd I have beyn ay;
This poem is added in a more modern hand than the others,
apparently about the commencement of the sixteenth century.
Let them be
warned by
his suffer-
ings,
and pray to
the gracious
Lord for
protection.
[Fol. 181, b.]
Judas
lainents.
394 Towneley Plays. XXXII. The Hanging of Judas.
His father's
Taine was
Reuben, his
mother's
Sibaria.
When he
was be-
gotten his
mother
dreamed
that there
I slew my father, & syn by-lay
My moder der;
And falsly, aftur, I can betray
Myn awn mayster.
(2)
My fathers name was ruben, right;
Sibaria my moder hight ;
Als he her knew apon a nyght
AH fleshle,
In her sleyp she se a sighte,
A great ferle.
(3)
her thoght ther lay her syd with-in
lay in her
side a lump
of sin which A lothly lumpe of fleshly syn,
should
destroy all
Jewry.
She told his
father her
dream,
and he re-
solved that
if a child
were born
he should be
destroyed.
Of the which distruccion schuld begyn
Of at Iury;
That Cursyd Clott of Camys kyn,
fforsoth, was I.
(4)
Dreyd of that sight mad her awake,
& all hir body did tremyH & qwake;
her thoght hir hert did all to-brake-
No wonder was—
the first[e] word my moder spake
was alas, alas!
Alas, alas ! sche cryed faste,
(5)
with that, on weping owt sche braste:
My father wakyd at the laste,
& her afranyd;
Sche told hym how she was agaste,
& nothyng laynyd.
(6)
my father bad, "let be thy woo!
my Cowncel is, if hit be soo,
A child be gettyn betwixt hus too,
Doghter or son,
lett hit neuer on erth[e] go,
Bot be fordon.
6
12
18
24
30
36
bettur hit is fordon) to be
(7)
then hit fordo both the & mo;
ffor in a while then schaH we se,
& full well knaw,
wheder that swevyns be vanite
or on to traw."
(8)
The tyme was comyn that I was borno,
os my moder sayd beforn;
Alas, that I had beyn forlorn
With-In hir syd!
for ther then spronge a schrewid thorn)
That spred full wyd.
(9)
for I was born with owtyn grace,
42
48
They would
soon know
if dreams
were vain or
true.
Judas was
born.
Thay me namyd & Callyd Iudas;
The father of the child ay hays
Great petyc;
He myght not thoyle afor his face
My deth to se.
(10)
My ded to se then myght he noght;
A lytyй lep he gart be wroght,
& ther I was in bed [i-]broght
& bondon faste ;
To the salt se then thay soght,
& In me Casto.
(11)
The wawes rosse, the wynd[e] blew ;
That I was Cursyd full well thai knew ;
The storme vnto the yle me threw,
That lytill botte;
And of that land my to-name drew,
Iudas skariott.
54
60
66
His father
would not
have him
killed in his
sight,
but had him
cast into the
sea.
The waves
and wind
rose, and
the storm
threw him
on the isle
whence he
was callel
Iscariot.
(12)
Thor os wrekke in sand I lay,
The qweyn Com passyug ther away,
With hir madyns to sport & play;
396 Towneley Plays. XXXII. The Hanging of Judas.
The queen
found him
And prevaly
there as she A child she fond in slyk aray,
caine to play
with her
maidens,
and passed
him off on
the king as
her own son.
& had ferly.
(13)
Neuer-the-lesse sche was well payd,
And on hir lap[pe] sche me layd;
Sche me kissid & with me playd,
ffor I was fayre ;
"A child god hays me send," sche sayd,
"to be myn ayre."
(14)
Sche mad me be to norice done,
And fosterd as her awn[e] sone,
And told the kyng that sche had gone
AH the yer with child;
And with fayr wordys, as wemen Con,
sche hym begild.
(15)
The king
n:ade a
feast.
Then the kyng gart mak a fest
Two years
afterwards
the queen
bore a fair
son.
To all the land [right] of the best,
ffor that he had getty) a gest,
A swetly thyng',
When he wer ded & broght to rest,
that myght be kyng'.
(16)
Sone aftur with in yer[e]s too,
In the land hit befelt soo,
The
qweyn hir selff with child Can goo;
A son sche bayr;
A fayrer child from tope to too
Man neuer se ayre.
*
FINIS HUIUS [in a later hand.]
72
78
84
90
96

Glossarial Index

Compiled by George England and Alfred W. Pollard for the 1897 edition.

Awth, 330/166. Can it he O.N. aub-r,
idle, empty.
Babyshed, 94/292, scoffed at.
Baill, 270/403; Bale, 51/52, destruc-
tion, inisfortune.
Balk, 118/49, ridge in a field.
Baly, 247/146, jurisdiction.
Ban, 11/59, curse.
Bane, 99/53, ready, obedient servant.
Bard, 32/328, barred, shut up.
Barett, 196/31, strife, debate, trouble.
Barme, 69/166, bosom.
Barnes, 32/308, children.
Barne-teme, 54/74, brood of children.
Bast, 310/131, baist, abashed (?)
Bayle, 23/26, hell-fire; Bayll, 32/311,
destruction, misfortune: see Baill.
Bayles, 20/405, bailiffs.
Bayn, 20/397, quickly; 32/308, ready,
obedient.
Be, 182/43, by the time that.
Bedeyn, 15/222, at once, at the same
time.
Beete, 57/23, amend, heal.
Behete, 36/430, promised.
Belamy, 84/188, fair friend.
Belife, 10/37; Belyf, 83/156, quickly.
Belke, 378/342, belch.
Bemys, 62/199, trumpets.
Benste, 118/55, benedicite.
Bent, 120/142, field.
Benyson, 49/6, blessing.
Bere, 66/79, bear, carry; 129/405, noise,
Besele, 30/240, busily, earnestly.
Beshers, 78/1, fair sirs; Bewshere,
174/273, fair sir.
Be-stode nede, 340/74, was in need,
danger.
Bet, 46/186, beaten.
Betaght, 15/211, given up to, assigned
to.
Betake, 21/440, assign, commit.
Bete, 259/36, mend, remedy.
Be-tell, 260/79, conquer, deceive (?)
Beyde, 66/78, command, proclaim.
Beyld, 158/576, seek protection; 158/
581, protection, shield, comfort.
Beyldyng, 143/93, comfort, encourage-
ment; 167/35, shelter, dwelling.
Beyll, 197/72, relieve, reinove:
Beyld.
Beyr, 300/230, noise: see Bere.
Beys, 168/62, is.
Beytter, 32/311, mender, healer.
Biggid, 372/80, built.
Bike, 49/4, nest, hive.
ace
Blan, 307/52, ceased: see Blyn.
Ble, 163/109, colour, complexion.
Blekyt, 375/244, blacked.
Blo, 35/413, blue-black, livid.
Blome, 60/130, bloom, flower.
Blowre, 74/307, blisters (?)
Blowys, 81/94, talk, proclaim, publish.
Blure, 374/220, destruction (?), damn-
ation.
Blyn, 18/324, stop, cease: see Blun.
Bob, 139/718, bunch.
Bodworde, 69/145, 195/27, message.
Bollars, 291/374, drunkards.
Bolne, 237/281, swell.
Bon, 240/390, bound.
Bondon, 59/102, disposition, dis-
crction.
Bone, 72/240, petition, boon:
Boyne.
see
Boote, 346/203, remedy, redress: see
Boyte.
Borghe, 277/608, pledge, surety: see
Borow.
Borod, 221/554, ransomed, saved.
Boroo, 184/100, ransom, save.
Borow, 29/204, pledge, security.
Borud, 380/427, ransomed, saved: see
Borod.
Bowke, 377/316, belly, paunch.
Bowne, 44/129, prepared.
Bownle, 115/482, jest.
Bowrdend, 188/56, jesting.
Boyne, 14/183, petition, prayer: see
Bone.
Boyte, 19/376; 108/247, remedy, re-
dress, use.
Brade, 25/91, swell; 23/21, monent of
time, jiffey; 168/76, bʊasted; 273/
488, trouble.
Bradyng, 243/7, onset.
Bragance, 117/34, bragging, boasting.
Brall, 167/31, brawl, cry out.
Brand, 78/5, sword.
Brast, 31/264, burst.
Brayde, 225/664, stratagem, deceit;
Brayde, of, 105/153, are like, re-
semble.
Brede, 2/20, breadth.
Brefe, 151/342, letter, official docu-
ment.
Breme, 237/290, fiorce, furious,
Bren, 14/180, burn.
Brend, 11/73, Brent; burnt.
Brere, 282/91; Brerys, 15/202, briars,
thorns.
Bressed, 256/371, bruised.
Brestyn, 276/589, burst, p.p.
Brith, 166/3, birth.
Brodell, 150/315, wretchi.
Browes, 21/417, broth, stew.
Browke, 14/186, use.
Brude, 124/237, offspring, children (?)
Bruet, 50/24, broth.
Brymly, 368/33, fiercely.
Bryssyng, 204/9, bruising, breaking:
see Bressed, Bursyd.
Bryst, 136/629, burst.
Bun, 4/66, bound.
Bursyd, 161/34, bruised.
Busk, 167/31, prepare; 167/35, set
out, depart.
Bustus, 235/213, rough, boisterous,
clumsy.
Buxom, 96/336, obedient.
By, 126/330, pay for: see Aby, Abite
Byched, 289/325, cursed.
Bydeyn, 22/157, at once: see Bedeyı.
Byg, 22/182, build.
Bygyng, 19/91, building.
Byke, 31/147, hive.
Byll-hagers, 102/57, men who hack
with bills.
Bynke, 30/484, bench.
Byr, 3/371, rush.
Byrdyng, 96/345, playing, jesting (see
95/302), supposed adultery; or is it
'little bird,' child (?)
Byrkyn, 168/63, break.
Can, 2/338, kuow.
Carls, 70/205, rustics,
Carpe, 4/115, talk.
Casbald, 255/351, a term of reproach.
Catyfdam, 184/101, caitifdoin, the
devil, hell.
Catyfnes, 266/271, wickedness.
Cautolys, 208/144, tricks.
Cele, 134/558, happiness: see Ceyll.
Cely, 214/323, good, innocent.
Certis, 46/191, certainly.
Ceyll, 133/523, bliss, happiness.
Charge, 8/404, load, prepare.
Charys, 126/304, pieces of work, jobs.
Chase, 59/85, chose.
Chefe, 123/398, succeed.
Cheftance, 245/82, chieftains.
Chepe, lyght, 16/236; 121/170, easy,
cheap bargain.
Cherc, 40/18, countenance.
Ches, 31/281; Chese, 27/129, rows (see
Chess in Dict.).
Chese, 253/315, chose.
Chevich, 274/514, bargain, deal.
Chuffer, 259/31 (?), boaster (Jesus).
Claryfy, 361/249, proclaim, make
famous: see Cleryfy.
Cleke, 390/123, seize (?)
Clekyt, 375/245, hatched (?)
Clerge, 112/389; Clerge[te], 107/240,
book-learning.
Cleryfy, 80/65, proclaim, preach, tell.
Cloke, 390/123, claw (?)
Cloute, 33/353, patch, mend.
Cloysse, 247/125, clothes.
Clyfe, 95/308, cliff (?)
Clynke, 262/135, clench.
Clyppys, 390/124, eclipse.
Cod, 101/22, bag, pillow.
Coke, 390/119, cook.
Cokkers, 291/374, fighters.
Cokys, 239/355, cocks.
Colke, 338/43, core.
Colknyfys, 102/57, cabbage-knives.
Combred, 285/189, 321/508, encum-
bered, entangled (?)
Conandly, 189/104, wisely, suitably.
Condyth, 155/482, conduct.
Copyn, Kyng, 233/166, King Empty-
skein (?)
Coth, 35/417, disease.
Couth, 269/373, known, familiar,
Couth, 66/68; Cowth, 37/473, could.
Cowche, 115/478, lie down.
Cowll, 241/405, swelling, weal.
Cowrs, 286/225, course, way.
Coyle, 21/425; Coyll, 34/389, pottago
(should be cayll); 5/136 coal.
Crate, 242/427, decrepit inan (?)
Craw, 18/311, crow.
Croft, 239/355, field.
Cronyng, 281/67, crooning, moaning.
Crop, 115/470, top, head.
Crumpe, 370/110, cramp.
Cryb, 107/208, put in a crib (?)
Cuker, 375/270, coker, kind of half-
boot or gaiter.
Cutt, 273/508, lot (draw lots).
Dall, 139/733, hand; Dalles, 373/187 ;
Dals, 371/136, hands.
Dain, 249/186; 236/248, condemn.
Dampnabill, 234/198, deserving of
condemnation.
Dang, 314/274, beat.
Dangere, 71/225, control, dominion.
Dare, 163/83, lie hid.
Darfe, 367/1, hard, heavy.
Dase, 32/314, am dazed, stupefied,
bewildered.
Daunche, 181/509, fastidious (?)
Daw, 30/247, (?) inelancholy, sluggard.
Dawes, 196/55; Dayes, 55/108,
dawns.
Dayde, 234/185, brought to trial (at an
appointed day) (?)
Daynteth, 294/55, dignity, importance.
Dede, 7/203, death.
Dedir, 32/314 (Yorkshire 'dither '),
shiver, tremble.
Deese, 390/114, daïs.
Des, 5/121; Desse, 286/231; Deese,
Dese, 245/64;
390/114;
throne.
Defend, 86/6, forbid.
Defly, 119/109, deafly.
Deill, 16/247, bit, morsel.
Dele, 13/137, share, divide.
Delf, 66/79, delve, dig.
Delfe, 276/575, grave.
Deme, 4/113, judge.
Dere, 32/317, harin, injury.
Derfe, 382/481, hard, cruel.
Derly, 117/389, grievously.
Couandy's (better Conandys), 222/586, Dern, 373/200, secret, hidden.
covenants, agreements.
daïs,
Dernly, 168/69, secretly, quietly.
28
Ee
Determyd, 348/251, ended.
Devere, 32/319, duty.
Dewe, 374/230, list (of fools).
Deyde, 66/80, deeds, work.
Dysseferance, 343/144, separation,
dissension.
Dytt, 233/178, stopt.
Deyle, 15/213; Deyll, 15/205, share, Edder, 86/25, serpent.
give: see Dele and Deill.
Deyle, 375/268, devil.
Distance, 24/57, disagreement, dis-
pute.
Dit, 17/280; Dytt, 233/178, shut,
stopped.
Ditizance doutance, 171/171.
Doket, 377/310, (?) rag, clout, or (?)
little tail.
Dold, 31/266, dulled, grown dull.
Dom, 207/109, doom, sentence.
Done, 92/228, place, put..
Donnyng, 10/32, dun mare (?), cp. 'Dun
is in the myre.'
Dos, 19/360, dost, puttest.
Dote, 31/265, foolish person, dotard.
Dotty-pols, 173/231, crazy-heads.
Dowde, 375/260, slut,
Eft, 30/241, afterwards, again.
Eld, 62/189, age.
Eme, 51/59, uncle.
Einell, 65/34, among.
Encense, v.t. 172/198, incense.
Encheson, 44/133, occasion, cause.
Endoost, 196/48, protected.
Endorde, 107/234, glazed, gilded.
Enfray, 308/71, affray.
Enys, 225/661, once.
Ernes, 150/303, earnest.
Eschele, 55/115, troop.
Ethe, 232/141, easily.
Everychon, 41/43, each
one.
or every
Examynyng, sb. 235/235, examination.
Excusyng, sb. 94/294.
Faed, 269/363, withered.
Doyll, 34/390, dole, portion; 74/302, Fageyng, 287/252, flattery.
Dowse, 124/246, harlot.
grief, mourning.
Doyn, 382/481, done.
Doyse, 4/110, dust.
Drake, 312/221, dragon.
Dray, 57/14, draw, withdraw.
Dre, 118/65, endure.
Dr.ch, 326/20, harass, afflict.
Drely, 108/245, long, deeply.
Dres, 30/238, direct one's course, go;
245/65, prepare, order, direct.
Drogh, 6/155, drew, betook himself.
Duch ax, 374/242, Dutch axe.
Dug, 377/310 cut (?)
Dughtyest, 175/294, doughtiest.
Dulfull, 7/203, dolefull.
Dustardys, 285/10, dastards, stupid
persons.
Dwere, 364/342, perplexity.
Dwill, 12/89, devil.
Dwillis, 11/63, devil's.
Dwyrd, 348/252, destroy (?)
Dyght, 39/543, prepared, disposed.
Dyke, 66/79, ditch.
Dyll, 163/80, render dull, assuage.
Dyllydowne, 135/609, pet, darling.
Dyng, 77/410, beat, strike.
Dyntand, 280/54, riding.
Dysars, 291/373, dicers.
Dyscry, 243/8; Dyscryfe, 345/180,
describe.
Fames, 92/213, makes known,
Fand, 69/164, found.
Fang, 30/245, take hold of, take.
Fare, 10/32, on, pull.
Farenes, 235/217, fairness, justice.
Farly, 56/3, wonderfully.
Farlys, 294/53, wonders.
Farne, 149/271, fared, got on : see
Fowre.
Farne, 133/533, laboured, borne a
child.
Fature, 71/226, traitor, deceiver,
impostor.
Faund, 47/219, found.
Fawchon, 288/274, falchion.
Fawte, 229/55, default, want,
Fax, 374/243, hair.
Fayn, 45/175, joyful.
Fayntyse, 389/77, cowardice, languor.
Fayre, 18/308, go, fare
Featte, 287/252, doings
Fee, 11/76, property, corn or cattle';
66/62, cattle.
Feere, 7/209, companion.
Feft, 136/620, endowed.
Feld, 13/122, field.
Fele, Felle, 65/43, many; 141/24,
knock down; 156/515, mountain ;
170/142, cruel, fierce.
Fell, 331/181, skin.
Felly, 368/31, terribly.
Felter, 377/318, join together (?)
Fend, 10/38, forbid.
Fenyng, 250/224, feigning.
Fenys, 205/22, feign.
Ferd, 13/145, afraid; 18/338, fear.
Fere (in), 20/383, in
together.
Fere, 368/31, terrify.
company,
Ferly, 14/156, wonder, marvel.
Ferray, 374/217, plundering.
Fersly, 77/405, fiercely (?)
Ferys, 230/64, companions: see Fere.
Fest, 109/280, settle fix.
Feste, 251/244, fastened.
Feyld, 372/165, made ready.
Feyll, 294/53, many.
Feyr, 191/161, companion: see Fere.
Fforlee, 358/158, wonderfully: see
Farly.
Ffelterd, 102/65, joined together,
interwoven.
Ffermes, 101/30, rents due to landlord.
Fill (half my fill), 21/427.
Flay, 34/380, put to flight, frighten.
Flekyt, 374/242, spotted.
Fleme, 84/188, banish, put to flight.
Flemyd, 235/234, bauislit, condemned:
see Fleme.
Flett, 29/223, flat, floor; 36/436,
floated.
Flone, 110/324, Jart: see Thoner-flone,
lightning.
Floo, 26/115, flow.
Flume, 197/72, river.
For-fare, 234/317, destroy.

Forfett, 230/62, transgressed; 242/
425, offence, penalty (?)
Forgangere, 195/28, foregoer.
Forgeyn, 49/285, forgiven.
For-rakyd, 124/256, overdone with
walking.
Fors, 65/32, might, power.
Forshapyn, 136/619, transformed.
Forspokyn, 136/613, enchanted.
Forth, 52/24, carry out, execute.
For-thi, 10/45, For-thy, 270/405, there-
fore.
Forthynk, 94/299; 24/354, repent, be
sorry.
Forthynkyng, 343/144, repentance.
Forwakyd, 124/253, exhausted with
watching.
Forward, 289/322, agreement, promise.
Foryeldys, 121/171, requites.
Fostre, 386/599, care, protection.
Fott, 20/392, fetch.
Found, 41/53; Fownde, 358/158,
prove, try, seek.
Fow[n]dyng, 219/497, temptation.
Fowre, 74/305, fared.
Foyde, 139/720, child, offspring: see
Foode.
Foyll, 225/678, fool; 5/137, foal.
Foyn, 177/381, thrust.
Foyne, 125/281, few: see Fone,
Foyte, 263/182, foot, 12 inches.
Frast, 28/183; 41/53, inquire of, try.
Fray, 175/317, attack, aların, fright;
312/198, from.
Flyt, 17/303; 29/223, flce, shift; 73/ Frayes, 65/42, affrays, rows.
284, flee from, avoid.
Flyte, 17/293, quarrel.
Flyx, 182/30, flux, diarrhoea.
Foche, 71/221, fetch.
Fode, 96/365; 268/343, offspring: see
Foode.
Foine, 268/343, product, treasure.
Fon, 274/526, am bewildered.
Fon, 47/218, found; 96/353, fool.
Fon, 239/360, seize, take.
Fone, 26/99, few.
Frayn, 91/185, question, ask.
Fre, sb. 32/310, free, noble, liberal
being, God.
Freke, 289/322, warrior, man.
Frele, 392/166, frail.
Frely,
noble.
49/277; 139/720; 196/39,
Fres, 351/314; Frese, 34/391, fear.
Fresh as fresh as an eel, 127/356:
Frog, 289/311, frock, Christ's gown.
Froskis, 73/284. frogs.
Foode, 91/178, offspring, child; 196/ Fry, 25/66, children, descendants.
39, young man.
Foore, 122/196, fared.
Forbot, 102/38, forbidding.
For, 19/354, because.
Force, 19/374, power, strength;
force,' no matter.
Fordo, 26/114, ruin, destroy.
Fryggys, 377/316, animals, beings (?)
Fun, 65/43, found
Fylyd, 90/159, defiled, copulated
with.
no Fynd, 94/272, put, clothe.
Fyrth, 156/515, forest.
Fytt, 59/104, song, stanza.
Ee2
28*
Gab, 347/243, deceive.
Gad, 13/149, go quickly to and fro.
Gadlyng, 80/84, fellow.
Gam, 3/84, pleasure, sport.
Ganstand, 44/128, withstand, oppose.
Garn, 32/298, yarn.
Garray, 76/377, armed force; 134/
564, commotion, row.
Gars, 10/44, causes.
Gart, 43/104, made.
Garthynere, 323/563, gardener.
Gate, 52/29, going, path.
Gawdis, 65/41, tricks, habits.
Gaytt-door, 126/328, street door.
Gedlyngis, 10/14, fellows: see Gad-
lyng.
Geld, 89/134, barren.
Gent, 366/396, gentle, well-born.
Gere, 30/245, gear, tools.
Ges, sb. 15/231, guess.
Gessen, 74/315, Goshen.
Get, 46/188, offspring, progeny.
Gett, 376/287, mode, fashion.
Geyn, 203/270, given.
Glase, 241/418, gloss, polishing.
Glase, 126/316, chance, risk.
Glom, 386/596, frown, are gloomy.
Glope, 174/264, surprise.
Glose, 129/413, falsehood.
Gnast, 170/157, gnash, be troubled.
Goderbayll! 107/226, good luck!
Gog, 10/44, God."
Gome, 203/269, man.
Goonys, 183/47, yawn.
Grade, 257/404; Graide, 234/286,
prepared.
Grafen, 316/350, buried.
Grewys, 378/352, turns to horror (?)
Grith, 166/4, peace, security:
Gyrth.
Grofen, 74/326, grown (?)

see
Groflyngis, 46/203, groveling, face
downwards.
Grome, 371/128, groom, boy.
Gropyng, 347/243, feeling, handling.
Groved, 15/199, grew.
Growne, 114/432, snout (?)
Groyf, 196/54, grow (?)
Gruch, 198/104, grudge, murmur.
Grufe, 37/463, grow (?)
Gryle, 163/99, shrilly, keenly.
Grymly, 338/14, cruelly, terribly.
Gryse, 48/254, feel horror, shudder.
Gryssed, 106/189, grassed, covered
with grass.
Gryth, 226/707, peace, security: see
Gyrth.
Gyll, 243/11, guile.
Gyn, 26/128, contrivance, engine.
Gyrd, 136/622, strike, cut.
Gyrth, 80/54, peace, security: see
Gryth.
Gyse, 127/341, plan (?)
Had I wyst, 119/93, had I known,
before I played the fool.
Hafles, 180/484, unhurt (?)
Haft, 187/52, affairs, business.
Hafyng,191/175, possessions, property.
Hagh, 330/144, consideration.
Hak, 131/476, go on, behave, make
uproar (?)
Halsid, 294/56, embraced, fondled.
Hamyd, 117/15, crippled, lamed.
Grales, 172/205, gradual, part of the Handband, 50/33, covenanted portion.
Mass.
Grame, 25/89, anger.
Gramercy, 98/20, many thanks.
Gramery, 108/242, graminar, learning.
Grankys, 183/45, groan.
Granser, 204/12, grandsire.
Grath, 37/482, (?) favour, readiness.
Grauyng, 157/557, burial.
Grayd, 300/227, prepared: see Grade.
Grayth, 55/103, prepare.
Graythly, 207/95, readily.
Grefyd, 217/432, grieved.
Greme, 54/73, anger, harin: see Grame.
Gresys, 8/238, herbs, plants.
Grete, 50/38, weeping, to weep; 316/
350, grit, stone.
Grew, 274/531, Greek.
Hap, 130/434, wrap up.
Har (to-har), 297/142, harry, drag.
Har, 234/210, hinge.
Harbar, 124/245; Harbor, 297/139,
lodging, dwelling.
Hardely, 19/463, boldly, certainly.
Harll, 256/358, drag.
Harlottis, 10/22, rascals.
Harnes, 128/392, brains.
Harnes, 43/118, equipment.
Haro! 17/275, help I
Harrer, 11/55, quicker.
Harsto, 297/136; Harstow, 20/386,
hearest thou.
Hast, 238/318, asked, ordered: see Ast.
Hat, 10/15, is called.
Hathennes, 79/26, heathendom.
1
Hatters, 133/543, confound it!
Hawvell, 378/337, noise, jabber (?).
Apparently mere gibberish, like the
rime-word lawvell.
Haylse, 365/386, salute.
Haytt, 123/227, hot.
He, 37/469, high.
Hek, 126/305, hatch, wicket-gate.
Hekis, 10/47, hay-racks (?)
Held, 181/6, eld, old age.
Helme, 35/420, rudder.
Hend, 388/25, near.
Hend, 9/262, hand.
Hent, 35/420, take, seize.
Ilere, 12/100, here is.
Heris, 7/198, hear thou.
Het, 46/190, promised; Hetis, 51/52,
promises; Hete, 352/348, promise.
Hething, 281/86, scorn, contempt.
Hevyd, 366/401, lifted.
Heyle, 87/45, healing, salvation.
Heynd, 62/174, gracious.
Heytt, 73/298, promised: see Het.
flien, 193/216, hence.
Hight, 3/71, (be) called; 24/46, pro-
inised.
Ho, 35/411, cry ho! stop.
Hogh, 317/371, high, (?) read 'hegh.'
Hoill, 9/7, hole.
Hoket, 374/233, 234; 377/312, ridi-
cule (?), or (?) difficulty, obstacle.
Holard, 177/358, debauchee.
Holgh, 18/310, empty, hollow.
Homely, 294/56, familiarly.
Hone, 13/133, delay.
Hore, 104/132, hair (?), sheep.
Hostyld, 348/263, lodged.
Hote, 53/46, promise, vow.
Houer, 75/363, tarry.
Hoylle, 34/388, whole, contented.
Hoyne, 32/80, delay: see Hone.
Hoyse, 21/436, hose.
Hu, 346/221, hue (?)
Hud, 288/283, hood.
Hufe, 37/461, delay.
Hullars, 291/373, lechers.
Hurlyd, 244/30, driven forcibly; 377/
316, covered with bristles.
Hy, 10/43, hasten; in hy, in haste.
Hyght, 81/107, promise.
Hyghtynd, 90/68, set high, lifted up,
exalted.
Hyne, 53/54, servant; 184/90, hence(?)
Hyrdis, 66/62, shepherds.
Hyte! 11/55, gee up! go on!
Ich, Icha, 4/106, each, every.
Ich, I, who be, 122/207.
Ichon, 26/112, each one.
Ilk, 62/183, same.
Ilka, 63/211, each, every.

Indoost, 242/421, flogged, loaded on
the back.
Indytars, 205/24, inditers, writers.
Infude, 100/89, pour into, endow.
Ingroost, 202/250, engrossed, included,
comprehended.
Innocent, sb. 177/388.
Incueryd, 195/21, inquired of, asked.
ntraste (in traste), 299/182, trust in.
Irk, 182/43, weary, disinclined for
exertion.
Irregulere, 237/306, out of rule,
unjust.
Ist, 201/212, is it.
Janglis, 9/6;
chatters; Jangyls,
13/134, chatterest.
Jape, 123/221, jest.

Jawvell, 378/337, wrangling javel,
chavel, jaw.
Jelian Jowke,
Clown (?)
377/317,
Gillian
Jourmontyng, 166/11, governor (?)
Jues, 65/35, Jews.
Keill, 32/300; Keyle, 26/118, cool,
allay.
Kelles, 375/260, cauls, nets.
Kend, 11/72, taught; 62/193, known.
Kepe, 253/304, await, mcet (?); 388/
19, heed.
Kest, 266/255, cast, reckon up.
Knafe, 20/382; Knave, 134/554, boy,
servant.
Knakt, 137/659, hit it off, sang.
Knap, 238/337, knock, strike.
Knop, 241/408, stud with knobs.
Knyt, 36/451, knit, closed.
Koket, 374/235, cock, aside.
Kon, 4/91, know.
Kun thank, 65/30, give thanks.
Kyd, 2/45; 266/272, made known,
shown.
Kynd, 50/42, kindred, family.
Kynke, 372/152, double up, tie myself
in a knot.
Kyppys, 134/557, seizes, snatches.
Kyth, 54/67, kith, kindred, nativo
country.
Kythe, 54/95; 266/266, show.
Laft, 261/105, have left, relinquished. | Lett, 189/89, inder, desist, stop;
Laghe, 339/44, law.
Lak, 68/118; Lake, 115/465; 385/
587, play, game.
Lakan, 124/242, plaything.
Lake, sb. 206/85, lack.
Lane, 334/48, hide; see Layr.
Langett, 29/224, strap, thong.
Langyd, 117/42, longed, wished.
Lap, 287/265, rag.
Lappyd, 116/4;
Lapt, 128/368,
wrapped up, involved.
Lare, 70/194, lore, learning.
Large, in, 189/90, at large, fully.
Late, 90/137, seek, inquire.
Lath, 298/165, hateful, hideous; see
Layth.
Law, 67/81, low.
Lawd, 61/143, lay, unlearned.
Lawdys, 121/180, praises, part of the
Matins Service.
Lawvell, 378/338, blasphemy (?)
Lay, Layse, 65/48, law, laws.
Layn, 45/169, hide, deny.
Layt, 192/180, seek, look for.
Layth, 87/63, hateful, hideous.
Laytt, 286/238, search (?)
Leasse, 6/158, falsehood."
Leche, 12/83, physician.
Lede, 287/265, man.
259/33, thought, estcenied.
Letys, 260/56, toinks.
Leuer, 47/217, rather: see Leyffer.
Leucrd, 287/265, delivered, given.
Leueryng, 107/217, dish of liver (?):
see Levyr.
Levyn, 33/346, lightning.
Levyr, 35/399, liver.
Lewde, 139/707, unlearned, lay.
Lewte, 41/50, loyalty.
Leyde, 24/48, people, nation; 4/82,
lead.
Leyf, 5/126, dear: see Leif.
Leyfe, 4/111, leave, abandon; 85/234,
pleased, willing.
Leyffer, were 1, 42/84, I had rather.
Leyfys, 385/586, darlings, loves.
Leyn, 12/112, lean.
Leyn, 12/115, lend.
Leynd, 68/140, remain, linger.
Leynyd, 53/37, leaned, inclined.
Lig, 18/326, lie.
Lightness, 195/5, light.
Ligis, 15/220, lies: see Lig.
List, 11/59, pleases.
Lith, 2/26, light; 393/211, joint.
Lofe, 3/75, praise.
Lofyng, 12/103, praising, praise: see
Lovyng.
Leder, 31/289; Ledyr, 121/147, evil, Loghe, 281/86, laughed.
bad.
Lefe, 11/65; Leif, 11/68, dear.
Lege, 192/181, alleges, quotes.
Leghe, 33/38, lie, falsehood.
Leif, 15/195, remain.
Leke, 5/129, leek.
Lele, 36/446, loyal.
Lely, 192/180, loyally.
Lelyst, 288/296, most loyal, fairest.
Lemman, 87/65, dear one (V. Mary).
Lemyd, 110/316, shone.
Lent, 96/352, remained.
Lenys, 13/118, lends.
Lep, 395/56, basket.
Lerd, 233/169, taught.
Lere, 45/159, teach.
Leryd, 72/239, learnt.
see Leasse.
Lone, 203/271, loan.
Long, 35/399, lungs.
Longys, 3/81, belongs.
Lonys, 107/230, loins.
Looke, 128/219, look favourably on,
save.
Loppys, 74/306, insects, fleas.
Lorne, 66/76, lost.
Lose, 250/202, praise, repute.
Losell, 72/242, scamp, worthless
man.
Lote, 129/409, noise.
Loth, 208/126, loathsome, hateful,
hideous: see Lath.
Lothes, 166/9, injuries.
Lottyn, 232/123, looking: see Sowrc-
loten.
Les, 5/120; Lese, 7/194, falsehood: Louf, 42/56, love: see Luf.
Lese, 209/163, lose.
Lesyns, 206/67, lyings, falsehoods.
Letherly, 121/171, badly (cheap and
nasty).
Letht, 232/142; lithe, mitigation.
Loutt, 280/49, bow the head: see
Lowt.
Lovyng, 3/62, praise.
Lowde, and styll, 190/122, in all con-
ditions.
Lowfes, 211/239, valuest,
Lovfyd, 248/169, praised.
Lowked, 229/58, locked, closed.
Lowt, 21/434, bow the head.
Luddokys, 377/314, buttocks.
Luf, 21/434, love.
Lufe, 37/462, hand, palm.
Luffy, 3/72, lovely.
Lullay, syng, 130/442.
Lurdan, 72/239, lowt, lazy person.
Luskand, 227/750, hiding, sneaking.
Lyere, 269/362; face, countenance:
see Lyro.
Lyght, 60/115, descend; 127/337,
delivered (in childbirth); chepe, 16/
236, 121/170, light, cheap bargain.
Lykance, 281/56, liking, pleasure.
Lykandly, 265/234, pleasantly.
Lykyng, 74/316, pleasure.
Lynage, 69/143, lineage.
Lynde, 97/368, lime-tree.
Lyre, 65/24, face, countenance:
Lyere.
Lyst, 65/24, pleasure, liking.
Mede, 17/294, reward.
Medill-erd, 26/100, earth, world.
Medys, 2/31, inidst.
Mekill, 16/237, much.
Mell, 24/44, speaks (of); 260/82,
meddle.
Melland, 386/595, speaking, talking.
Mene, 141/37, indicate, point out.
Menee, Menye, 23/22, household,
company.
Meng, 166/1, mingle; 271/437, disturb,
trouble.
Menged, 41/31, disturbed, troubled;
314/270, mixed.
Menske, 82/140, dignify, honour.
Menskfull, 365/389, honourable.
Ment, 40/15, aimed at, aspired to;
45/174, signified, intended.
Menys, 225/688, beinoans.
Merely, 77/419, merrily.
see Merkyd, 195/3, marked.
Mershall, 264/198, farrier.
Mes, 172/206, Mass.
Lyte, 85/225; Lytt, 152/394, flaw, Mese, 209/151, soothe.
error.
Lythe, 340/87, go, travel.
Lytter, 158/590, bed.
Ma-fay! 275/564, my faith!
Make, 7/187, mate, wife; 21/442,
match, equal.
Malison, 19/355, malediction, curse.
Malys, 179/453, bags, wallets.
Mangery, 214/343, feast.
Mangyng, 107/232, eating, meal.
Mar, 27/129, hinder.
Mare, 238/310, nightmare, goblin,
Marke, 182/33, dark, dim.
Maroo, 130/436, companion, mate.
Mase, 68/135, makes, does.
Masid, 358/165, 166; 359/195, mazed,
dazed.
Mastre, 3/81; 65/34; 223/610, lord-
ship, superiority.
Masyd, 220/510, dizzy, stupid.
Mawgre, 287/270, ill-will, displeasure.
Mawmentry, 260/78, idolatry.
May, 80/70, maiden; 223/610, make.
Mayll-easse, 132/485, discomfort, sick-
ness.
Mayn, 163/101; 265/241,
strength.
power,
Maytt, 202/245, dejected, sorrowful.
Measse, 34/389, mess, dish.
Med, 341/111, mead, honey-drink.
Mesel, 16/264, leprous.
Mett, 115/484, measured.
Mevid, 39/542, moved.
Meyne, 12/111, mean, middling.
Meyne, Mene 12/113, complain, moan.
Mo, 6/163; Moo, 8/237, more.
Mode, 180/472, mind, mood.
Modee, 260/86, prond, courageous.
Mold, 243/3, earth, ground.
Mom, 70/188, mutter.
Mompyns, 107/210, teeth: 'mone-
pynnes,' Lydgate.
Mon, 16/265, must.
Mop, 115/467; 139/724, bundle, baby.
Moren, 101/39, morning.
Mortase, 264/213; 267/304, mortice,
notch for the Cross to rest in.
Mos, 376/288, noss, for padding
folk's shoulders.
Mot, 16/254, must.
Mow, 261/99, grimace.
Mowchid, 385/571, preyed, pilfered (?)
Moyne, 195/6, moon.
Moyte, 213/298, discuss, moot.
Moytt, 271/430, plead.
Moyttys, 301/270, slippest, goest
astray.
Muf, 70/188, speak indistinctly.
Muster, 298/177, punish (?)
Mychers, 258/12, pilferers.
Mydyng, 34/376, dunghill.
Myld, sb. 94/281, gentle maiden, Mary. | Nyll, 106/198, will not.
Myn, 26/112, less; 39/551, remember.
Myn, 291/361, Mynnyng, 391/158,
memory, remembrance.
Myr, 157/557, myrrh.
Myrk, 197/88, dark.
Mys, 39/551, suffering; 195/26, evil.
Mysfoundyng, 347/242, mistaken en-
deavour, mistake.
Mysprase, 389/59, blame.
Myssaes, 275/569, (?) discomforts.
Myster, 107/231, need, require.
Mytyng, 115/477, little one.
Napand, 385/575, napping, catching,
griping.
Nar, 43/119; 124/246, nigh, nearer.
Nate, 260/62, use,
Nately, 121/158, quickly.
Nawder, 14/193, neither.
Nawre, 323/579, nowhere.
Nawther, 132/504, neither.
Ne, 297/118, nigh, near.
Neemly, 123/271, nimbly.
Nefe, 241/407, fist.
Negh, 7/201, go nigh, approach.
Negons, 385/571, misers.
Neld, 13/123, needle.
Nere-hand, 49/286, almost.
Nese, 132/488, nose (?)
Nesh, 133/545, soft, tender.
Neuen, 23/13, name, relate; 194/266,
speak of.
Newys, 14/189, renews.
Nokyns, 216/99, no kind of.
Nold, 360/11, would not.
Nome, 370/111, numb, benumbed.
None, 32/317, noon.

Nonys, the, 133/527 then onys, then
once, the nonce.
Nores, 132/496; Norice, 396/79;
Norysh, 262/141; nurse.
Nose, 9/11, noise.
Note, 31/264, occupation, business;
34/368, contention.
Novels, 38/508, news.
Nowche 391/138, brooch.
Noy, 39/532, Noah.
Noyes, 77/397, annoyances, hurts.
Noynyng, 281/65, noon-tide.
Noytis, 69/154; 110/306; 194/266,
notes, things: see Note.
Nyfyls, 377/323, trivialities.
Nyghtertayll, 227/734, night-time.
Nyk, 323/571, deny.
0, 1/1, omega.
Oker, 191/163, usury.
Okerars, 376/297, usurers.
Oneths, 182/42, scarcely: see Unethes.
Onone, 4/99, anon, immediately.
Ons, 238/326; Onys, 29/207, once.
Oone-fold, 157/554, one.
Oost, 202/256, host, company.
Oostre, 32/329, hostelry, inn.
Or, 196/32, before.
Ordand, 26/119, ordain, make.
Ore, 355/76, before, ago; see Are.
Ostre, 386/603, entertainment.
Other-gatis, 13/121, otherwise.
Querlaide, 32/306, covered, flooded.
Ouertwhart, 102/48, athwart, across.
Out-horne, 232/139, hue and cry.
Owe, 91/178, owns.
Oy, Oyes, 21/416, hear, listen, oh yes!
(call for silence).
Paddokys, 391/148, toads (or frogs).
Paide, 31/283; Payde, 80/61, satisfied
Pall, 223/613, royal robe.
Paramoure, 25/80, as a lover.
Parels, 170/136, perils (?)
Pask, 214/314, Passover.
Paustè, 41/32, power.
Pay, 76/373, satisfy, please; 175/326
beat.
Payde, 218/470, pleased.
Paynt, 117/28, painted, ornamented.
Peche, 202/239, impeach.
Pelt, 237/283, knock, thrust.
Pent, 246/100, belonged.
Perch, 251/233, pierce.
Perles, 243/5, peerless.
Perinafay, 80/67, by my faith.
Pertly, 212/247, quickly, boldly.
Peruyce, 240/387, church-porch.
Peyre, 369/63, equal.
Pight, 269/364, doubt (?)
Pight, 285/188, fixed (?)
Pik, 26/127, pitch.
Pike-harnes,
armour.
10/37, plunderer of
Pilus, 376/290, folk with padded
shoulders.
Playn, 292/408; Plene, 189/99, full.
Plenyd, 381/453, complained, be-
moaned.
Plete, 106/204; Pleyte, 287/248, plead.
Plight, 327/56; Plyght, 88/91, guilt.
Ply, 281/58, bend.
Po, 117/37, peacock.
Poece, 172/204, poet's (not Boece, as
in margin).
Pose, 113/423, catarrh, cold.
Powderd, 107/216, salted.
Poynt, 83/161, condition, danger.
Prankyd, 376/288, embroidered, be-
decked.
Pransawte, 385/561, prancing, showing
off.
Praty, 115/477, pretty.
Prayse, 212/257, appraise, value.
Prease, 65/19, crowd, throng: see
Prese.
Prefe, 72/255, prove.
Prese, 253/313, crowd, throng.
Prest, 220/510, ready, prompt.
Preualy, 258/292, privately.
Preue, 151/338, private.
Preuatè, 80/125, privity, secret.
Propyce, 54/100, propitious.
Prouand, 10/45, provender, food.
Prow, 14/163, profit.
Purs-cuttars, 291/375, purse-cutters.
Purst, 107/209, put away.
Purvaye, 39/553, provide.
Rad, 121/175; 270/384, afraid.
Radly, 77/401; 168/65, readily,
speedily.
Rafe, 21/423, raves; 270/384, rave.
Ragman (roll of), 374/224, document
with seals.
Rake, 168/65, course, path; 198/119,
wander, go,
Rake, 260/88, rack, torture.
Rap, 237/300, hit, knock.
Rase, 36/429, race, rush.
Rathly, 270/402, quickly, promptly.
Raunson, 269/354, ransom.
Raw, 119/109, row, line.
Rawth, 330/168, ruth, pity.
Rayd, 206/68, set in array, arranged.
Recrayd, 321/507, recreant.
Red, advice, plan.
Rede, 4/111, advice, counsel; 7/202,
command.
Redles, 270/384, without counsel.
Reepe, 16/235, sheaf.
Refe, 245/65, rob, deprive of.
Reffys, 371/146, thefts, spoil, plunder.
Refys, 266/269, robbest of.
Rehett, 171/161, rebuke.
Rek, 16/247, care thou, heed thou.
Purveance, 117/33, provision, equip- Reke, 372/168, smoke.
ment.
Pyk, 31/282, pitch.
Pynd, 33/332, pinned, confined.
Pynde, 47/220, pained, pnnished.
Pyne, 29/227, punishment.
Pystyil, 119/100, epistle.
Quantyse, 66/65, skill, wisdom.
Quarrell, 19/367, square bolt of a cross-
bow.
Quarte, 19/368, safety.
Quell, 66/65, kill.
Queme, 2/42, agreeable, pleasant.
Querestur, 373/209, chorister.
Quest-dytars, 373/185, inquest- or
inquiry-holders.
Quest-mangers, 205/25, inquest- or in-
quiry-holders.
Quetstone, 230/80, whetstone.
Queyd, 82/117, bad 'un.
Qwantt, 135/593, clever, quaint.
Qweasse, 132/487, wheeze, breathe.
Qwelp, 113/425, whelp.
Qweme, 365/365, please.
Qwenes, 255/349, women.
Qweyn, 83/164, woman.
Qwite, 11/52, requite.
Rekyls, 148/237, incense.
Rekys, 5/129, care: see Rek.
Reme, 252/258, realm, kingdom.
Ren, 57/25, run, live.
Renabyll, 231/110, reasonable.
Renderars, 371/146, restorers.
Renk, 168/70, man, warrior.
Rentals, 371/134, rents (?)
Rerd, 26/101, sound, noise.
Res, 48/255; Resse, 273/481, race,
rush.
Rese, 245/62, crowd.
Reue, 58/74, rob, plunder.
Rew, 63/224, rue, be merciful.
Rewyll, 222/585, order, line, row.
Reyde, 7/114, advise, counsel: see
Rede.
Reyf, 83/174, deprive of, rob from: see
Reue.
Reyll, 125/274. set about it,
Reynand, 26/111, running.
Ro, 30/237; 266/269, quiet, repose.
Roght, 78/11; 368/21, cared, recked.
Rok, 33/338, distaff.
Rok, 238/330, shake, agitate.
Rose, 12/95, praise, glorify.
Rost, cold, 21/421, cold roast meat.
Roton, 107/221, rotten.
Rowne, 82/118, whisper.
Route, 32/305, roaring noise.
Rowte, 175/309, company.
Royse, 4/111, praise.
Roytt, 341/102, root.
Rud, 391/145, redness of complexion.
Rude, 271/440, rood, cross.
Rug, 248/148, rock, agitate, shake.
Runk, 82/118, whisper, talk.
Ruse, 229/33, rose, praise.
Rused, 273/492, praised, celebrated.
Ryfe, 13/153, tear, split.
Ryfe, 103/96, widely.
Ryffen, 13/141, torn,
Ryke, 103/92, realm.
Rynes, 230/82, runs.
Rype, 132/515, examine.
Ryst, 65/47, rising, insurrection.
Rytt, 198/109, disobedience (?)
Sadly, 206/60, firmly, seriously.
Sagh, 56/16, saying: see Sawe.
Sakles, 250/215, innocent.
Salys, 220/506, assails.
Sam, 22/445, together.
Samyne, 112/398, saine.
Share, 351/329, cut, pierced.
Shech, 205/52, speech, doctrine (?)
Shene, 143/99, beautiful.
Shent, 8/221, disgraced, destroyed.
Sheynd, 76/376, destroy.
Shog, 265/230, shake up and down.
Shon, 46/200, avoid, escape.
Shontt, 365/361, avoid, escape.
Shope, 14/174, shaped, made.
Shoterd, 370/98, shuddered.
Shoyn, 13/153, shoes; 269/361, shone.
Shrew, 19/341, curse.
Shrogys, 120/455, shrubs, brushwood.
Shyld, 99/71;
99/71;
Outt-shyld,
shelled (? L. inanes).
Shyre, 18/317, clear.
Sithe, 340/85, journey:
Sithen, 12/103, afterwards, since.
Sitt, 5/147, pain.
Skar, 237/301, cross, angry (?)
Skard, 124/289, scared, timid.
Skarthis, 105/160, fragments.
Skathe, 53/51, injury, loss.
out-
Skaunce, 20/401; Skawnce, 239/353,
joke, make-believe.
Skawde, 135/596, scold.
Skawte, 385/559, blow, thrust.
Skayll, 108/249, bowl, drinking-vessel.
Skelp, 32/323, blow.
Sangre, 113/430, song.
Santis, 40/555, saints.
Saunce, 103/112, without.
Skete, 63/221, quickly.
saying, speech.
Skraw, 274/516, scroll.
Say, 323/563, tell.
Skryke, 30/232, screech.
Sayll, 286/229, hall.
Sawe, 112/68; Sayes, pl. 55/107, Skill, 6/260, reason.
Skyfte, 292/392, shift, trick.
Sayne, 43/107, bless; Saynyd, 55/106, Skyllys, 44/133, reasons: see Skill.
blessed.
Saynt, 123/209, show off (?)
Seasse, 6/182, seize, give possession,
install.
Sectures, 392/167, executors.
Securly, 34/372, surely.
Sekir, 17/295; Sekyr, 8/249, sure.
Selcowth, 67/103, strange, wonderful.
Seme, 4/107, 112; Semys, 4/100, 104,
suit, befit.
Sen, 212/259, since: see Sithen.
Seniors, 204/8.
Sere, 8/255, several, separate.
Sese, 4/114, cease.
Sew, 77/403, pursue.
Seyll, 32/301, happiness.
Seymland, 29/211, semblance, appear-
ance.
Seyr, 8/239, various, separate: see
Sere.
Slake, 249/189, loose, set free, humble.
Slape, 21/414, slippery, crafty.
Slefe, 117/28 sleeve.
Sleght, 169/121, scheme, trick: see
Slyght.
Slegthe, 263/157, sleight, contrivance.
Slo, 19/371, slay.
Sloghe (of-sloghe, ?) 128/385 (?)
Slokyn, 138/677, quench.
Slyght, 27/137, skill (?), 130/433, trick,
contrivance.
Slyk, 396/71, sleek, smooth.
Slyke, 30/233, such.
Slythys, 120/122, slides.
Smeke, 17/286, smoke.
Snek, 126/306, latch.
Snoke-horne, 80/80, sneaking fellow.
Soferand, 65/22, sovereign.
Sogh, 109/274, sow.
Sole, 34/391, hall.
Somdele, 293/6, somewhat.
Sond, 122/202, messenger.
Sone, 63/221, 8oon.
Soriornyd, 300/237, sojourned.
Sory, 31/264, miserable.
Sotell, 67/83, subtle, clever.
Sothen, 107/224, sodden, boiled.
Sothfast, truthful.
Sothle, 38/496, truly.
Stevyd, 364/336, ascended: see
Stenen (for Steuen).
Stevynd, 324/594, ascended.
Stokyn, 299/205, fastened, shut up.
Stold, 39/525, fixed.
Stone-styll, 123/232; 125/280.
Store, 114/456, stock.
Stott, 133/518, bullock.
Stoure, 297/131, tumult, battle.
Sow, 238/327, sound; 300/234, follow: Stowke, 377/315, stook, pile of sheaves.
see Sowys.
Sowde, 110/312, sounded.
Sowll, 105/152, sauce, relish.
Stownd, 336/337, moment, time.
Stowndys, 313/254, fits of pain.
Stowre, 155/497, trouble, vexation,
Sowre-loten, 119/102; -lottyn, 232/ Strayd, 180/481, strewed.
123, sour-looking.
Sowys, 73/283, follows.
Soyne, 118/50, soon.
Spar, 26/128, shut, keep; 27/130,
beam, spar; 213/294, spare, scanty.
Spart, 109/271, spare it (?)
Sparyd, 296/104, enclosed, shut up.
Spell, 113/412, speak.
Spence, 251/249, expense, casli.
Strenkyllid, 341/108, sprinkled.
Strete, 52/7, road, way.
Strewyd, 62/194, scattered, destroyed.
Strut, 57/15, swelling, contention (?)
Stry, 176/348, hag.
Sty, 19/365, path, way; 361/262,
ascend.
Stynt, 6/161, cease.
Stynyng, 156/525, rising, ascension.
Spill, 42/87, kill; 89/129, be de- Stythe, 54/96, strong.
stroyed.
Spir, 373/206, ask: see Spyr.
Spitus, 35/416, spiteful.
Spra, 154/449; Spray, 172/219, sprout,
spring, rise.
Spreyte, 6/168, spirit.
Sprote, 17/290, sprout.
Spyll, 89/129, be destroyed.
Spyr, 47/226, ask, enquire.
Stad, 294/28, placed.
Stakl, 234/202, installed, set.
Stall, 33/345, station.
Stangyng, 228/11, stinging.
Stanys, 10/47, stones.
Stard, 179/427, stared (?)
Stark, 31/268, stiff.
Starnes, 2/50, stars.
Sudary, 318/390, napkin.
Sufferan, 6/173; Suffrane, 80/81,
sovereign.
Swa, 155/486, so.
Swalchon, 155/473, scamp.
Swap, 247/136, stroke, cut.
Swayn, 60/124, countryman, labourer.
Swedyll, 130/432; 135/598, swaddle,
wrap up.
Swelt, 133/525, become faint.
Swepys, 272/470, whips, scourges,
Swevyn, 128/384, dream, vision.
Swogh, 162/68, swoon; 226/718,
soughing, sound.
Swongen, 272/470, beaten.
Swylke, 351/333, such.
Swyme, 10/27, dizziness,
Sted, 7/206, stand, stop; 29/199, Swynk, 29/195, labour, toil.
placed, situated.
Stede, 2/38, place.
Stegh, 53/37, ladder.
Stenen (or steuen, steven), 221/546,
ascend: see Stevyd.
Stere, 235/350, move; 259/27, govern,
control.
Stere-tre, 36/433, tiller.
Stersman, 293/259, pilot, guide.
Steven, 14/175, voice.
Swythe, 77/404, quickly.
Syb, 191/167, relative.
Sybre, 233/149, a term of abuse.¹
Symnell, 292/389, sort of fine bread.
Syne, 30/228, afterwards.
Synthen, 190/113, since.
Sythes, 332/234, times.
Tabard, 177/357, short sleeveless coat.
Talent, 83/157, service, disposal.
1 The surname Sybry, Sibree is common in Yorkshire. Perhaps some malefactor of
the name may have rendered it celebrated, so that it may have been half-jocularly put
in here.-H. B.
Tarid, 229/50, delayed (?)
Tase, 146/185, takes.
Tayll, 58/64, number.
Temporal (law), 237/292, secular.
Ten, 10/21, teeth.
Tend, 11/73, tenth, tithe.
Tendand, 245/89, attending.
Tent, 3/291; 371/221, attend; take
tent, 1/211; 146/185, give attention;
3/478, tenth.
Tenys, 139/736, tennis.
Tethee, 28/186, tetchy, touchy, testy.
Teyn, 29/210, be vexed, injured; 123/
218, vex, injure; 39/533, vexation,
injury.
Teynd, 5/144, tenth: see Tend.
Teynfully, 167/56, cruelly.
Thame, 21/420, them.
Thar, 17/293; 43/117, is necessary.
Tharmes, 128/391, bowels, bellies,
children.
Tharne, 149/272; Tharnys, 22/191,
lack.
Thaym, 20/412, them: see Thame.
The, 32/328, prosper.
Thee, 54/90, thigh.
Ther, 282/106, must: see Thar.
Thew, 14/185; 374/229, morals, man-
ners, service.
Tho, 30/228, them.
Thole, 126/306, bear, suffer.
Thoner-flone, 110/324, thunder-dart,
lightning.
Thoyle, 395/53, suffer: see Thole.
Thrafe, 15/197, bundle, sheaf.
Thrall, 22/464, slave.
Thrang, 101/47, throng, company.
Thraw, 10/30, short space of time.
Thrawes, 348/250, throes.
Threpe, 121/168, contradict, argue.
Thro, 162/69, strongly, deeply; 328
76, bold, eager.
Throle, 291/357, boldly, severely.
Throng, 112/416, pressed together.
Thrug, 341/111, through.
Thryng, 173/240, throng, press.
Thurgh, 349/281, coffin.
Thurt, 301/256, needed [=fallait]:
see Thar.
Thwang, 123/211, be flogged.
Thyrll, 251/234, pierce; Thyrlyd,
271/429, pierced.
Till, 61/151, to, unto.
To, 266/268, according to, in, after.
To, 60/152; 119/108; 270/385, till.
To-draw, 321/506, pull to pieces.
Tollare, 374/211, tax-gatherer.
Tome, 133/547, empty; 210/201,
leisure.
Ton, 146/177, taken.
To-name, 395/65, surname.
To-tyre, 170/144, tear in pieces.
Toute, 3/63, fundament; 11/63, 64, arse.
Toyles, 257/406, tools.
Trace, 249/200, track.
Trade, 340/87, trod.
Trane, 95/330; Trayn, 163/93, trick,
deceit, stratagem.
Trant, 173/235, trick.
Trast, 41/54, trusty.
Trattys, 178/394, trotts, old women.
Trauell, 13/152, labour.

believe
(see
Trauesses, 298/153, traverses, thwarts.
Traw, 12/115, trow,
Trow); 58/77, true
Tray, 39/533, affliction, grief; 358/162,
betray.
Trew as steele, 26/120.
Tristur, 373/208, tryst, station.
Trone, 1/9, throne.
Trow, 18/320, believe.
Trowage, 84/198, fealty, allegiance.
Trewth, 14/159, faith, belief.
Trus, 31/316, pack up; 61/152, go
away, be off.
Trussell, 14/170, bundle.
Tup, 104/117, ram.
Twyfyls, 377/324, twirls, curls (?)
Twyk, 263/171, twitch.
Twyn, 18/325, 159/625, divide, sepa-
rate.
Tyde, 22/470, time, season.
Tydely, 31/291, quickly.
Tyme, 10/26, befall, happen.
Tymely, adv. 133/524, early.
Tynde, 101/39, lost: see Tynt.
Tyne, 115/467, tiny.
Tyne, 36/441; 339/72, lose.
Tynt, 5/149, lost.
Tyre, 149/285, tear, fight: see To-tyre.
Tyte, 11/53; Tytt, 313/245, quickly.
Tythand, 55/113, 128, tidings.
Tythingis, 61/163; 320/479, tidings.
Tytter, 73/293, quicker, sooner: see
Tyte.
Umbithynke, 5/123, bethink, meditate
on.
Umshade, 89/128, shade around, over-
shadow.
T
1
Umthynke, 303/318, meditate: see
Umbithynke.
Unbayn, 291/356, unready, disobedient.
Unburnyd, 111/362.
Unbychid, 291/356, disorderly (?)
Unceyll, 100/3, unhappiness.
Unconand, 204/1, ignorant.
Undemyd, 235/230, unjudged.
Under-lowte, 221/552. inferiors, sub-
jects.
Undughty, 291/368, unprofitable.
Unethes, 181/7; Unothes, 273/476,
scarcely, hardly.
Unfylyd, 111/366, undefiled.
Ungayn (at), 20/379, inconveniently.
Ungrathly, 96/341, unsuitably.
Unheynde, 224/642, discourteous, rude
man (Jesus).
Unnes, 391/158, scarcely: see Unethies.
Unquart, 99/72, render unsafe, harass.
Unrad, 285/214, imprudent.
Unrid, 24/40; Unryde, 100/11, cruel,
enormous.
Unsoght, 26/97, unatoned for, irrecon-
ciled.
Untill, 21/426, unto.
Untrist, 332/210, untrusty.
Unweld, 182/5; Unwelde, 91/171, im-
potent.
Unwynly, 210/189, unpleasantly.
Unyth, 164/135, scarcely: see Unethes.
Upstevynyng, 357/123, ascension.
Utward, 244/31, outwardly.
Vales, 285/587, avails, is worth.
Vantege, 243/17, advantage.
Vanys, 4/111, vain, empty.
Vayll, 243/19, avail, gain.
Veray, 144/119, truly.
Veryose, 107/236, verjuice.
Vokettys, 367/9, advocates.
Vowgard, 385/580, (?) place of security.
Wafe, 21/430, wander (?)
Waght, 286/218; 290/329, a bad
way.
Walk-mylne, 377/314, fulling mill.
Walteryng, 124/236, rolling about.
Wan, 13/139, won, acquired; 21/444,
faint.
Wandreth, 24/40, misfortune.
Wane, 102/62, waggon.
Wanhope, 220/507, despair.
Wap, 223/593, wrap; 289/314, blow;
'at a wap,' in a moment.
War, 43/113, aware; 10/25, 29, an
exclamation, a hunter's cry.
Wardan, 341/113, keeper, guardian.
Wared, 50/14; Waris, 50/14, cursed,
curses: see Warrie.
Warkand, 52/8, aching.
Warldis, 13/150, world's, wordly.
Warloo, 137/640; Warlow, 71/232,
Borcerer, traitor, devil.
Warly, 366/409, warily (or wary) (?)
Warpyd, 271/413, cast.
Warrie, 6/156, curse.
Wars, 16/250, worse.
Warte, 375/252, spend it.
Wary, 29/208, curse: see Warrie.
Waryson, 79/44, treasure, reward.
Wast, 95/332, waste, void.
Wat, 10/14, man.
Wate, 382/485, wet.
Wate, 36/444, know; Wayte, 118/75,
knows: see Wote.
Wate, 213/283, tricked.
Waten, 358/161, watch.
Wathe, 37/486, hunting, prey.
Waue, 231/103, move to and fro.
Wawghes, 36/426, waves.
Wayrd, 300/238, ward, guardianship.
We! 11/53; 3/147, an exclama-

tion.
Wed, 339/56, pledge.
Wede, 139/731, garments; 162/47, be
mad, rage.
Weders, 36/451, storins.
Wedyng, 119/92, wedding, marrying
(the evils of).
Weft, 21/435, weft, woven stuff:
"Ill-spun weft ay comes foul out."
Weld, 44/126, wield, rule; Weldand,
38/494, wielding, ruling."
Welke, 348/261, walked.
Welland, 75/344, boiling, bubbling.
Welner, 128/387, well-near, almost.
Welthly, 6/185, happy, delightful.
Wem, 87/37, spot, stain.
Wemay! 13/148, an exclamation, Oh!
by God! see We!
Wemles 221/541, spotless.
Wemo! 15/198; Weinmow! 334/291,
Oh! by God! see We! Wemey!
Wend, 8/250, thought, supposed.
Wene, 83/165, believe, suppose: see
Weyn.
Wenyand, 15/226, waning of the
moon, unlucky time.
Wenys, 13/149, thinkest.

29
Were, 41/22, doubt; 69/151, defend, | Wrich, 270/397, wretched.
save.
Weyn, vb. 20/387, believe, suppose;
sb. 67/108; 221/553, doubt.
Weynd, 13/132, go.
Wha? 319/439, who?
Whake, 62/182, quake, tremble.
Whannow, 345/184, what now.
Whartfull, 52/29, safe and sound.
Whaynt, 208/144, quaint, clever.
Wheme, 58/62, please.
Whik, 134/548; Whyk,236/265, living.
Whyr, 104/117, be quiet.
Whystyll, wett hyr, 119/103, drunk
beer, &c.
Whyte, 125/294, requite, suffer for it.
Wight, 252/264, nimbly; see Wyghtly.
Wilsom, 324/604, bewildered.
Wish, 142/72, guide, direct.
Wist, 43/89, kuew.
Wit, 43/96, know.
Wite, vb. 18/322, blame.
Wittely, 338/41, wisely.
Wode, 19/350, ina: see Wood.
Wogh, 39/533, evil, harm.
Wold, 57/32, wielding, dominion,
power.
Wols-hede, 232/139, wolf's-head,
outlawry.
Wone, 4/93, dwell; 46/196, wont,
accustomed to do.
Won, 240/391, wound.
Wonden, 278/656, wrapped.
Wone, 13/116, custom, habit; in
wone,' habitually; 6/184, habita-
tion.
Wonnyng, a. 6/180, dwelling.
Wood, 14/173; Woode, 14/159, mad.
Worth, 292/404, become, be to; 'well
worth,' farewell!
Worthely, 6/184, worthy, stately.
Wote, 19/375, know.
Woth, 35/416, peril.
Wragers, 102/58; Wragger, 371/143,
wranglers.
Wrake, 27/138, injury, vengeance.
Wrast, 69/150, wrest, twist.
Wrears, 371/143, wrigglers, twisters:
see Wryers.
Wright, 301/246, carpenter.
Wrightry, 30/250, carpentry, work-
manship.
Wrokyn, 40/276, avenged.
Wrongwosly, 58/58, wrongfully.
Wryers, 102/58; 371/143, wrigglers,
twisters.
Wryng, sb. 235/237, twist.
Wrytt, 59/106, writing, scripture.
Wyghtly, 178/396; Wightly, 223/593;
nimbly, quickly.
Wyk, 236/262, wicked.
Wyle, 71/233, wile, delude with
sorcery.
Wyll of reede, 80/75, wild in counsel,
bewildered.
Wyn, 6/185, joy; 23/24, get, move.
Wyn, 283/153, labour, contention
(? pleasure).
Wynk, 15/227, sleep.
Wys, 58/49; Wyse, 82/122, teach,
show, point out, guide.
Wysh, 85/240, guide, direct: see Wys
and Wish.
Wyte, 95/332, impute; 252/278, be
blamed.
Wytterly, 58/59, surely, certainly.
Yai, 11/51, yea.
Yare, 44/121, ready; 156/514, quickly.
Yate, 53/40, gate.
Yede, 75/342, went: see Yode.
Yeld, 56/135, recompense.
Yelp, 32/321, boasting.
Yeme, 237/292, take care of, carry
out; 341/112, observe, regard.
Yerde, 230/69, garden.
Yerdys, 93/248, rods, wands.
Yere-tyme, 15/200, (?) ear-time, plow-
ing-time ; or the proper season, time
of year.
Yerne, 191/174, yearn for, covet.
Yhemie, 58/61, observe, keep holy.
Ylahayll! 72/258, bad luck to you!
Yode (MS. yede), 41/29, went.
Yowthede, 90/165, youth.
Yoyll, 239/344, Yule, Christmas.
Yrk, 197/84, unwilling, weary.
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
Ar
As
Ba
Ba
Ba
Ba
1
ÅÅÅ2
Ba
Be
Be
Be
Bo

Index of Names

This does not pretend to be complete. The name of an Actor is often given only at his or her first appearance. — F. J. F.

(This does not pretend to be complete. The name of an Actor is often
given only at his or her first appearance.-F. J. F.)
ABACUK, 87/49; 186/11, Habakkuk.
Abel, 11/57, &c.; 182/13
Abiram, 303/331
Abraham, 40/1: Play of, p. 40-49;
182/13
Adam, 7/198; 8/226, &c.; is gone to
hell, 41/41, for 5000 years and more,
86/12; 294/25; 304/367
Adonay, 307/45; God.
Andrew, St., 100/294; 215/362; 355/
65; 366/396
Angel, 1st bad, 4/108; 2nd 5/118
Angel, 1st good, 4/111; 2nd, 4/114
Angels, 48/257; 159/595; 161/14;
183/73, &c.; 197/75, 317/382,
386, &c.; 361/254; 369/73
Anna, wife of Caiaphas, 206/66, &c.
Anna, 229/55; 311/172, &c.
Annunciation, Play of the, p. 86-97
Apostles, the Twelve, p. 337-352
Araby, 144/120; 151/363
Architophell, 303/330
Architriclyn, the Feste of, 248/152
Ascension, Christ's, Play of, p. 353
-366
Atus, King, Pilate's father, 279/19
Bad men on Doomsday, p. 367-369,
383
Balaam, 147/205, 224; 182/14
Balthasar, the 3rd Mage, 144/133;
145/159
Baptist, John the, 195/13: see John
the B.
Bartholomew, St., 363/326; 366/396
Bedlem, 137/665, Bethlehem.
Belzabub, 296/99, &c.
Bethany, 354/21
Bethlehem, 110/302; Bedleme, 110/
330
Bonus, good man, 1-4; p. 381; 386/613
Boys, 9/1; 44/149; 70/202; 71/206;
106/179
Buffeting, Christ's, the Piay of, p. 2:8
-242
Burning bush, 111/360

Caiaphas, 206/54, &c.; 229/51, &c.
Cain, 10/25 (Cam, 16/245, 17/285,
&c.; Cayme, 17/287)
Calvary, 260/83, &c.; 281/78, 81
Came, Noah's 3rd son, 27/142; 39/528
Capyle, ouro hen, 118/67
Cayphas, 229/51, &c.; 308/86
Cecyll, 167/44, Sicily.
Centuryon, 248/166 ; 307/38, 45, &c.
Cesar Augustus, Play of, p. 78-85;
his Counsellors, 79/46; 80/64
Cesar, Sir, 235/227
Cherubyn, 3/61; 7/204
Children, the Three, 111/352
Christ, 223/618: see Jesus.
Cleophas, 325/1, &c.; 348/261
Coliphizacio, the Play of Christ's Buf-
feting, p. 228-242
Coll (the 1st Shepherd, 130/449), and
his inaroo (mate), 130/436
Commandments, the Ten, p. 58, 59, p.
190, 191
Conspiracy against Christ, Play of
the, p. 204-227
Copyn, King, 233/166, K. Empty-
skein (?)
Counsellers and Doctors, Herod's,
153/405, 415, &c.; 172/209, 218
Counsellors, Pilate's, 246/107; 249/
199; 284/179
Crooked Thorn, the, 129/403. Perhaps
the Shepherds' Thorn of Mapplewell,
S. Yorkshire, three miles N.W. of
Barnsley.
Crucifixion of Christ, the Play of the,
p. 258-278
Daniel, p. 63, 64; 87/49; 182/14
Dathan, 303/331
David, p. 59-61; 87/48, 58; 111/
338; 182/14; 297/128; 305/389
Daw, the 3rd Shepherd, 121/154: see
Pastor.
Deliverance of Souls from Hell by
Christ, the Play of the, p. 293-305
Demons, 1 and 2, 5/132, 150
Demons at the Judgment, p. 370-379
Doctors in the Temple, Play of the, p.
186-194
Doomsday, Play of, p. 367-387
Down, 10/29, Cain's horse,= Dun (?)
Ebrew, 274/530
Egypt, 161/27
Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother,
195/17
Elizabeth, Mary's
·
Play of, p. 97-100
Cosyn,' 89/134;
Emanuel, 153/425; 186/4
England, 127/353
Esau, 50/19; 55/125
Gudeboure at the Quarell Hede, 19/
367
Gyb, the 1st Shepherd, 102/83 (Gy,
105/169)
Gyll, Mak's wife, 131/149; 132/514
Harrer, 11/55, Cain's horse.
Harrowing Hell, Play of, p. 293-305
Hely, Moses's mate, 295/79, Elijah,
Elias.
Herod, 140/1
Herod the Great, Play of, p. 166-181
Heth, 50/42
Hob-over-the-wall, 17/297
Holy Ghost, 186/21
Horbery, 130/455, IIorbury, West
Riding, Yorkshire, 4 m. S.W. of
Wakefield.
Horne, John, 103/84, 134/563
Inde, 167/43, India.
India, St. Thomas of; the Play of, p.
337-352
Isaac, 43/92, &c.; Play of, p. 49–51;
49/278, &c.
Isaiah, 294/37; 305/401
Isay, 87/47, Isaiah; Isae, 111/335
Eve, 7/198; 8/231, &c.; 204/33; 305/ Israel, folk of, 56/1; 59/101; 70/196
375
Fanuell, 55/110, Peniel, Penuel.
Fisher's Pageant, the Pilgrims, p. 325
-337
Flagellacio, the Play of Christ's
Scourging, p. 243–257
Flascon, Mount, 167/46
Floods and storms, 120/127, 128
Froward, Caiaphas's man, 239/345 &c.
Gabriel, Angel, 87/53; 88/77, &c.
Galilee, 87/55
Garcio, a mery lad,' 9/1; 10/38; 20/
385, &c.
Gersen, 65/35; Gessen,
Goshen.
Glovers' pageant, p. 9-22
74/315;
God, 1/1; 6/162; 25/73; 19/342; 42/
60; 52/13; 67/109; 86/1
Gog, 14/172, God.
Good Friday, 278/662
Gotham, the fools of, 106/180
Grece, 167/48
Greenhorn and Gryme 10/25, Cain's
horses.
Grew, 274/531, Greek.
Italy, 167/43
Jack Cope, a horse-man, 101/17
Jacob, 52/13; 49/6; Play of, p. 52-
56; 147/206
Jak, boy, 105/169; 106/179
James, St., 215/369; 356/89, &c.;
366/396
Japhet, 27/142; 39/528
Jaspar, the 1st Mage, 143/85; 144/128
Jelian Jowke, 377/317, Gillian Clown.
Jeromy, 87/48, Jeremiah.
Jerusalein, 336/364; 337/369; 358/
143; 366/396
Jesse, 59/97; 111/349
Jesus in the Temple, 187/49; baptized,
200/85; before betrayal, 214/316
Jesus, 254/320, &c.; 265/233, &c.;
293/1, &c.; 296/115; 313/226;
323/569; 328/98; 340/84; 351/312;
356/101; 369/81, &c.; 379/386;
387/1
Jesus of Nazarene, 225/674
Jesus of Nazareyn, kyng of Iues, 274/
540, 541; 329/136
Jettyr, Bishop, 67/99-i. e. Jethro.
Jewry, 243/6; 279/15; 394/16
Job, 302/299
John Horne, the 2nd Shepherd, 103/
84
John, the Apostle, 214/314, &c.; 215/
376; 252/260, &c.; 268/339, &c.
John the Baptist, Play of, 195/203;
295/65; 305/377; 358/147
John, St., 365/364; 366/396; 387/11
Jonas, 349/289
Jordan, River, 197/72
Joseph and Mary; Play of their flight
into Egypt, p. 160-165
Joseph, Mary's husband, 87/59; 90/
155, &c.; 185/115; 192/201
Joseph of Arimathea, 277/613, &c.
Judah, 93/243
Judas, 127/351; 209/174, &c.; 215/
352; 222/584; 303/330; 315/304
Judas, poem of; his story, p. 393-
396
Jude, St., 366/396, 397
Judea, 279/20
Judicare, 247/128
Mak, who cheats the Shepherds, 122/
190, &c.
Mak's wife Gyll, 125/297,, &c.; 131/
459; 132/514
Malchus, 223/600; 225/684, &c.; 225/
676; 227/738, 748
Mall, 10/41, Cain's mare.
Malus, 1-4, at Doomsday, p. 367-
369, p. 383
Mantua, 167/47
Marcus, 100/294, St. Mark.
Martha, 388/39
Mary Magdalene, 253/308, &c.; 316/
333; 323/563; 337/1
Mary, Martha's sister, 389/66
Mary, mother of St. James, 253/298,
&c.; 316/346
Mary Salome, 316/352, &c.
Mary, Virgin, 87/60; 89/107, &c.; 97/
1; 115/485; 140/737; 162/57; 185/
127; 192/193; 252/279, &c.; 267/
309, &c.; 359/182; John and, 130/
443
Judicium, the Last Judgment; Play Matthew, St., 359/190

of the, p. 367-387
Jure, 224/640, Jewry, Jews.
Kamys kyn, 224/639, Cain's kin.
Kemp town, 167/47, ? not part of
Brighton, or in Devon, or Norfolk.
Kings or Magi, the Three, Jaspar,
Melchior, Balthasar; Play of, p.
140-160
Knights, Herod's, 170/145, 156, 158;
Pilate's, 208/126
Latyn, 274/530; 'the best Latyn wright,'
274/535
Lazarus of Bethany, 208/126
Lazarus, Play of, p. 387-383
Lazarus, rises, p. 390
Lemyng, 10/42, Cain's horse.
Lightfoot, lad, 81/97
Litsters' or Dyers' Play, p. 64-78
Longeus, the blind knight, who pricks
Jesus with a spear, p..276
Lucas, 348/261, St. Luke.
Lucifer, 3/77; &c.; 8/250; 23/16
Luke, St., 326/17, &c.
Magdalene, Mary, p. 212: see Mary M.
Magi, Offering of the; Play of, p. 140
-160
Mahowne, 82/127, &c.; 166/1; 204/12;
78/9; Mahouns, 244/39, gods.
Melchior, the 2nd Mage, 143/103;
144/122
Messengers, Herod's, 142/65; 148/259,
151/332; 166/1
Micheas the prophett, 154/445, Micali
Moll counting her sheep, 105/152-
160
Morell,10/42; 11/55, Cain's horse.
Moses, p. 56-59; 59/891; 67/89, &c. ;
87/47; 190/118, 129; 295/77; 305/
385
Nabugodhonosor, 111/351, Nebuchad-
nezzar.
Nazareth in Galilee, 87/55
Nicholas, St., 120/118
Nicodemus, 277/625. &c.
Noah, 23/1, &c.; 182/13
Noah's wife, 28/191, &c.; his 3 sons,
32/318-322, &c.; 39/523-525;
their wives, 33/354-361
Normandy, 167/49
Norway, 167/49
Nuncius, Augustus's, 81/106
Onazorus, 109/292,-Nazoræus (?)
Padua, 167/46
Paginae Pastorum, p. 100-140
Paradise, 167/46
Pasch (Easter) morn, 278/666
Pastor I, 100/1 (Gyb, 102/83); II,
(John Horne, 103/84), 101/46; III,
(Slow-pace, 104/125); 104/134;
116/1, &c.
Paterfamilias, 214/338
Paul, St., 338/29
Peter, St., 214/316; 215/356; 337/7;
353/13, &c.; 366/396; 387/7
Pharaoh, Play of, p. 64-78; his
Knights or Soldiers, 65/25; 66/53;
71/234
Philip, St., 215/366; 356/95; 360/230
Pila, Pilate's mother, 279/19
Pilate, 204/1, &c.; 222/560; 213/1,
&c.; 258/1, &c.; 275/552; 306/1,
&c.
Pilate's knights, p. 312, 319, &c.
Pilgrims (apostles to whom Christ
appears), Play of the, p. 325-337
Pope, the, 174/263
Pownce Pilate, 279/21; Pontius P.
Processus Crucis, the Play of the
Crucifixion, p. 258–278
Processus Talentorum, the Play of the
Talents (playing for Christ's coat),
p. 279-292
Prophets, Play of the, p. 56-64
| Shepherd's Plays I, p. 100—116; II,
p. 116-140
Sibaria, mother of Judas, 394/8
Sibilla propheta, p. 61-63; 87/50
Simeon, 181/1, &c.; 294/53
Simon, St., 215/364, &c.; 220/504;
257/392, &c.; 353/9; 365/380; 366/
396
Sirinus; Sir Syryn, 81/99; 82/127, 130,
Cyrenius, of St. Luke (?)
Slow-pace, the 3rd Shepherd, 104/125
Stott, 10/41, Cain's horse (?)
Strevyn, St., 128/383, for Stevyn,
Stephen (?)
Surry, 167/44, Syria.
Susa, 167/48
Suspensio Jude, p. 393–396
Sybyll sage, 87/50; p. 61–63
Talents, the Play of the, p. 279-252
(casting Dice for Christ's coat).
Tars, 151/363. Tarsus.
Thaddeus, 215/368
Thomas, St., 353/1, &c.: 387/15
Thomas, St., of India; Play of, p. 337
-352
Thomas of Kent, St., 131/458
Purification of Mary, Play of the, p. Torturers of Christ, the tivo, p. 228,
181-185
Rachel, 54/75
Rebecca, 50/41
Reuben, father of Judas, 394/7
Rome, 371/127
Rybald in Hell, 296/89, 95, &c.
Saba, 151/363
Sabbath day, 249/181
Sacraments, Seven, 201/196, 197
Sarceny, 167/48, Saracen-land.
Sathanas, 22/467; 297/142, &c.; 377/
326
Scourging, the Play of Christ's, p.
243-257
Shein, 27/142; 39/528
&c.; p. 243, 244, &c. ; p. 259, &c.;
p. 281; the third,245/8o, &c. ; p. 259,
&c.; wins Christ's coat, 290/337
Trinity, the, 221/528
Turky, 167/42
Tuskane, 167/42, Tuscany.
Tutivillus 373/206; 375/249; p. 384
-386
Wakefeld, 1
Watlyn strete, 371/126
White-horne, 10/42, Cain's ox (?)
Women, St. Paul on, p. 338, 389
Women, their children killed by
Herod's soldiers, 176/342, &c.
Zachary, Elizabeth's husband, 89/136,
and John the Baptist's father, 195/14

Additions and Corrections to the Glossary and Index

abowne: 167/48 (?)
AND INDEX
agane: adv. 80/84, 150/318 (go) back
to where he came from
all-to-har: 297/142 tear to pieces
and: sb. breath 182/34
bab: 177/388 babe, child
balok stones: 283/147 testicles
bat: 180/490 blow
befon: 38/503 (?) be found
bekkys: 384/557 (?) makes a signal
berd: 171/189 beard; ‘played them a
trick'
bere: 36/434 bear; 'the depth of
water we draw'
bete: 180/486 remedy
beyd: 77/409 offer
blowre, blure: 74/307, 374/220 blister,
swelling
bore: 313/253 hole bored (in the Cross)
boyte: add boytt 341/103
caton: 112/392, the Disticha Catonis,
a manual of instruction
catyf: 339/69 wretched
chace: 174/270 privilege of hunting
com with grete: 50/38 turn to mourn-
ing
crate: 242/427 read trate '(old) woman'
crisp: 377/323 fine linen
croyne: 131/476, sing, ‘croon' (in the
text read oure syre lyst croyne);
137/661.
cuker: 395/270, (?) read culer 'collar'
doyll 'portion' and doyll 'grief' are
distinct words
duch ax: 374/242 (?)
euer amang: 20/391 continually
fed: 53/63 bred
fele: 79/42 (?) read sele for cele 'con-
ceal'
ffor: 204/9, to guard against; 95/309
'as far as I am concerned'
ffy: 173/230, 231 fie! and correct
marginal note ad loc.
fo: 26/112; 'each one hostile to the
other', 'all at variance'
forbot: read 10/38, 14/184 (over)
godis, God's prohibition (used as
an oath)
fott: add 133/517
foyn(e): few, add 261/286, 271/433
freyndys: 194/258 relatives
garray: read 76/377
gawne: 385/561 help (ON. gagna)
greyn-horne: 10/15, applied to a mare
growne, groyn: 114/430, 177/382
'snout', face
hafles: 180/484 destitute
hak: 131/476, 137/657, ‘break' a note
in singing.
happ: 166/5 what happens
hart: 100/4 (?) read hurt
hatyng: 139/717 promise
hede: 374/243 (?) headdress
heyll: 100/4 good fortune
hose: 129/416 hoarse
idyls: 377/326 renders vain
lak: 68/118 fault, blame
land: 17/303 in —, on earth 27/145;
on, into the country, away
large: 189/90 in -, freely
Latyn wright: 274/535, expert in Latin
lede: 295/62 people
lendyng: 102/80 dwelling
leyf: delete see Leif
leyfys: 385/586 dear ones, wives
loke: 339/72 provide
lone: read 203/271
|
long of: 94/300 owing to
lote: 129/409 look
louyng: add 189/88
marke: add 346/202
marters: 272/452 torments
mayntene: 309/96, 98 uphold
mefe: 180/472, 209/150, 386/600
move, disturb
menske: read dignity
merkyd: 70/175, 195/3 stamped
merys: 139/914 is merry
mese: 386/603 dwelling
mete: 313/252 of fit measure
mordere: 177/387: for mordrere
('assassin')
muster: 298/177, show, exhibit
myssaes: read 568
nother: 9/11, neither
nyk with nay: 323/371 denv
oureward: in —, (?) past 385/579
pall: read 223/613
perde: 129/426, 238/311 by heaven
powchid: 385/570 pocketed
pransawte: 385/561 (?) showing-off
prays at the partyng: praise given at
the end 108/267, 385/584
preuate: read 89/125
prow: add 300/326
quantys: add 246/110 cunning
quarrell: 19/367 quarry
ragyd: 75/337 the, the Devil (cf.
ragman)
reyll: 125/274 run riot
reynand: 26/111 substitute prevailing❘
sathan: 377/325 satin
sawgeoure: 374/222 soldier
saynt: 123/209 pose as a saint
shrogys: read 130/455
side, syde: 374/243, 375/ 270 long
skar: 237/301 to -, (?) a mockery
skard: read 125/289
slant: 173/237 shall on —, shall have
a fall
sleght: 173/235 mean, low
sloes: 345/195 kills
somkyns: 139/708 of some kind
sowchid: 385/569 suspected
sowys sore: 73/283 afflicts
stafford blew: 29/200 clad in—, given
a beating
stere: substitute 255/350,
govern, control
259/27
steven: 342/125 (?) meeting, i.e. inter-
course
stevyn: 342/125 set-, appointed time
stott: 133/518 steer
strut: 57/15 stand on
proudly aloof
stry: 177/380 (?) strive
stynyng:
ascent
-, keep
read styhyng 156/525
take: 93/238, 291/377 give, commit
toyn(e): 131/477, 161/13 tune
trete: 371/130.on —, at length
vnthankys: 14/187 myne —, against
my will
vnweld: read 162/52
vowgard: 385/580 (?)
wan.an: 135/608 woman
we: read 13/147 for 3/147; add 15/218,
219, 223, 225
wemo: read Wemay for Wemey
wenyand: 15/226, 227/748, 290/339,
310/144 in the -> curse you!, and
be damned to you!
weytt: 121/156 wet
wheder: 93/265 neuer the
theless
wone: 13/116 in

never-
in abundance
wyll of reede: 80/75 at a loss

Colophon

Edition reproduced: The Towneley Plays, Re-edited from the Unique MS. by George England, with Side-Notes and Introduction by Alfred W. Pollard, Early English Text Society, Extra Series LXXI (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1897; Kraus Reprint, 1978). First published for the manuscript's owner, the Early English Text Society, under the general editorship of F. J. Furnivall. Public domain in the United States (published 1897).

Witness: HathiTrust per-page OCR of the Kraus Reprint (1978/1990) printing of the 1897 edition (OCLC 38850775; a photographic reprint adds no new text or claim to the public-domain original), sha256 42638fcecf1a4dadf087a0c11a0b1ac0f52a717fa3d998c3d8210ea0136dfb0c. 468 page-images of OCR text, reassembled in page order and rebuilt into this edition.

Play count and completeness: The edition's own table of contents lists thirty-two plays, numbered I through XXXII; all thirty-two are present in this witness and in this text, verified against the edition's own headings, "Explicit"/"Incipit" colophons, and stanza numbering at every transition. Several plays are themselves incomplete in the unique manuscript — leaves lost between the Creation and Abraham, between Abraham and Isaac, at the end of the Purification of Mary, at the beginning of the Play of the Doctors, between the Ascension and the Judgment, and elsewhere — exactly as recorded in Pollard's own notes at each point; these are gaps in the fifteenth-century manuscript itself, not gaps introduced by this transcription.

OCR remediation: Following the remediation law for HathiTrust per-page witnesses, thorn (þ) and yogh (ȝ) — both rendered by this witness's OCR as the single glyph "ħ"/"Ħ" (Latin h/H with stroke, a misreading of their looped ascenders) — have been restored by word-level pattern, not blind global substitution. Ninety-one distinct word-forms were restored with confidence, verified in context on the page scans and cross-checked against Middle English orthography (e.g. thrugħ → thruȝ, furtħ → furþ, nogħt → noȝt, botħ → boþ). A separate, unrelated OCR confusion rendered the printed "ll" ligature with the same barred-H glyph in word-final position (aĦ → all, shaĦ → shall, wyĦ → wyll); these eleven forms were restored to plain "ll" spellings. Eighteen further instances of the ħ glyph — mostly single attestations where the underlying letter could not be confirmed with confidence (sicħ, fysħ, frendsħip, lengħt, strengħt, britħ, and others) — were deliberately left unresolved rather than guessed; they remain in the text exactly as scanned.

Apparatus: Pollard's marginal side-notes and the edition's continuous line-numbering, which run in narrow columns beside the verse in print, are preserved in this text but appear inline — interspersed among the stanzas in the position the page-level OCR happened to capture them, not reconstructed into a separate marginal column. A short third-person phrase between stanzas (e.g. "Herod curses all the more") is Pollard's own gloss, not part of the medieval verse; a bare numeral within a verse passage is the edition's continuous line count. Manuscript folio references (e.g. "[Fol. 1, a.]"), the editors' footnotes, and George England's and Pollard's own metrical descriptions at the head of each play are preserved as printed. Running heads and bare page numbers, mechanical page furniture, have been silently removed.

Middle English orthography: preserved exactly as England transcribed it from the manuscript — spelling, contractions (yt, y-, apostrophes marking elision), thorn and yogh as restored above, and stanza and speech divisions. Nothing has been modernized.

Front and back matter: the dedication to William Morris, Pollard's Introduction, Kölbing's Appendix, and the edition's Glossarial Index, Index of Names, and Additions and Corrections are reproduced in full. The library-stamp and reprint-history pages found in the physical scan (Northwestern University Library accession stamps, Kraus Reprint Co. copyright page) are not reproduced here as they are artifacts of this particular copy rather than of the 1897 edition.

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