ii. 181, 3, which preserves as a quotation one line of its Latin

original, see 4/19 note. Closely related to the last three versions is (10) the passage in the thirteenth-century poem printed in OEM p. 173, ll. 65-216. In (11) the Desputisoun bitwen þe Bodi and þe Soule, ed. Linow, based on the Latin Visio Philiberti, the matter is thrown into _debat_ form for the first time in English. The Vision of Fulbert is again adapted in (12) the fifteenth-century poem printed by Halliwell, Early English Miscellanies (Warton Club), p. 12. Shorter passages in ME. literature, as OEM 83/331-6, Böddeker, Altengl. Dicht., 235-43 are fairly numerous.

The position of the Worcester Fragment among this literature is not easy to define. It appears to form a group with 8 and 10, to which 9, though too scanty to permit of an assured judgment, may be admitted. They probably descend from a lost Latin original. Our author may indeed have been acquainted with the oldest English version (1) and have drawn thence the leading ideas for his poem. If so, he treated them with much originality, for there is a wide difference between the austere simplicity and concentrated energy of the older composition and his diffuse and picturesque style, which reflects the influence of the new literature imported from the Continent.

The _lacunae_ in the text were mostly filled up by Singer. It seemed unnecessary to assign to each editor his contributions to this complement, much of which is obvious. For [fei]ge 2/30 and foot-note, read [fei]ȝe.

The heading is from the Book of Job, xxv. 6.

1. #en earde# is probably the remnant of on middenearde; elsewhere the writer uses _eorþe_ for the uncompounded word.

2. And all the created things which pertain to it, i.e. to the earth. With #isceæftan# comp. ‘He iscop þurh þene sune alle isceafte,’ Frag. F 47, 34/84, 130/80, 139/17, 187/356. For the position of #to# comp. _on_, 2/4; _fore_ 4/21, 23; 96/53, 54, mostly with relative pronouns. #[s]cu[l]en#, the tops of long _s_ and _l_ are cut off, as also those of _h_ and _f_ in the next line. It is not an auxiliary verb with ellipsis of a verb of motion (H., B.); it has independent meaning as in ‘Þas wyrte sculon to (= are proper for) lungen sealfe,’ Leechdoms, iii. 16/6.

3. #[þe]ne#. Singer’s _þonne_, then, next, adopted by H., may be right.

4. Comp. ‘se us lif forgeaf | Leomu lic and gæst,’ Christ, 775, 6, for which Grau, Quellen . . . der älteren germ. Darstellungen des jüngsten Gerichtes, p. 39, gives as source the poem ascribed to S. Cyprian, De resurrectione mortuorum, ‘Qui sibi conplacitum hominem formavit in aevum, | Hanc manibus caram dilexit fingere formam | Decoramque suam voluit inesse figuram, | Spiritu vivificam adflavit vultibus auram,’ Opera, ed. Hartel, iii. App. 310/51, 57-9. #ileide on#, put into, a meaning apparently without a parallel; perhaps, entrusted to.

5. #Softliche#, painlessly. #isom[nede]#. H. completed Singer’s isom[ne]. #sor idol#, a painful parting; comp. l. 8.

6. #ꝥ# = þet; see 3/43. The child by crying at its birth predicts the sorrowful separation of soul and body at death; comp. 2/23-28; ‘Þæt cild, þe bið acænned, sona hit cyð mid wope | ⁊ þærrihte witegað þissere worulde geswinc | ⁊ þa toweardan costnunga,’ AS. Hom. ed. Assmann, 77/126-8; ‘Quotquot nascuntur, vox illis prima doloris: | Incipit a fletu vivere quisquis homo,’ S. Anselm, p. 199, col. 2 _b_; ‘Omnis homo cum dolore mundum ingreditur, cum dolore iterum egreditur. Mox natus plorat, quia laborem et dolorem sibi futurum pronunciat,’ Honorius Augustod. Migne, P. L. clxxii, col. 1083.

7. The line is too short, but Buchholz’s conjecture is too long for the gap. Perhaps the original had _hit woaneþ ⁊ weopeþ · ⁊ mænet þeo weowe_.

8. B. translates #siþ# here and at 2/16 by ‘weg’; rather lot, experience, as in ‘wa heom þæs siðes þe hi men wurdon,’ Wulfstan, 27/3; ‘minegede alle his wrecche siðes, þe he þolede on þis wrecche worelde,’ OEH ii. 169/8; ‘weop for hire wei-sið | wanede hire siðes[;] ꝥ heo wæs on liues,’ L 25846-8. For compounds with _siþ_ see 2/27. #sori#, not ‘schmerzlich,’ B, but mournful, sad.

9. Haufe’s completion is based on l. 28, where the verb is intransitive, but the construction is supported by, ‘for þat he deleð þe sowle[;] and þe lichame, þanne he wit of þisse woreld,’ OEH ii. 7/3. But the usual construction is seen in ‘gif he þurh ferliche deð[;] saule fro þe lichame deleð,’ id. 61/31, and it would be better to read _[fro li] came_ here, for the position of ⁊ is awkward. Another construction is shown in ‘wið þone lichaman seo sawle gedælan,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 164/17.

10. #weopinde ⁊ woniende#, so, ‘wop and woninge,’ VV 17/32; see 42/231 note.

11. Haufe’s completion is too short, Singer’s too long, for the gap. For #[swo]#, stressed form, comp. 3/4.

12. #he#, i.e. licame. #walkeþ ⁊ wendeþ#, tosses and turns in his bed. #[oftes]iþes# H. followed by B., who afterwards expressed his preference for [þe weas]iþes, based on ‘ȝet ic wulle þe ætwi[ten þ]e weasiþes,’ Frag. G 7. Singer read _[his si]þes_.

13. #wo me#, though written as one, are separate words; coalesced they become wumme; comp. 121/133; ‘wumme ꝥ ich libbe,’ SJ 72/5; ‘wumme ꝥ ich shal wunien on uncuðe erde,’ OEH ii. 149/10; ‘wel me,’ 210/441.

15. #greoning . . . woaning#: comp. 2/25; 196/662; ‘Heo woneþ ⁊ groneþ day and nyht,’ OEM 152/187.

16. biwunden. See 2/27, 79/13, 81/79, and for similar phrases comp. ‘swo faste bunden ⁊ swo biwunde þarinne,’ OEH ii. 11/9; ‘mid sorȝen ibunden,’ L 12635; ‘mid sorinesse bistonden,’ OEH ii. 147/26, 181/1.

17-21. Comp. ‘Hyse eres shullen dewen, | & his eyen shullen dymmen, | & his nese shal sharpen, | & his skyn shal starken,’ PRL 253/3-6, and the similar piece OEM 101/1. An adaptation of the last quoted line has been inserted at l. 19 to restore the alliteration. For him, comp. 80/47. #deaueþ#, become deaf, a rare meaning, but paralleled in the quotation above. OE. #ā-dēafian# has that meaning; see Deave, NED. So too #scerpeþ#, l. 18, grows sharp, usually means to make sharp.

19. #scorteþ#. Comp. ‘[þin] tunge is ascorted,’ Frag. G, l. 9. The phrase appears to be without parallel: the corresponding texts have, ‘And þi tunge voldeþ,’ OEM 101/4; ‘& his tonge shal stameren, oþer famelen,’ PRL 253/8.

20. #teoreþ#, flags, droops. Comp. ‘Ðin mægn is aterod · and þa mihte þu næfst,’ Ælfric, Lives, i. 86/611.

21. #[siden]#. S reads _heorte_, H _muþ_; something more extensive is wanted, and _sides_ is often used vaguely for body (see passages in Minot, i. 15 note). #liggeþ . . . stille# occurs again, Frag. E 11, otherwise one might be tempted to conjecture, _liggeþ he stan stille_, as in Minot, ii. 32, with improved alliteration.

23. #at#, as in ‘beræfed | At þene eorþliche weole,’ Frag. C 7, 8. So L, ‘biræiuie hine at liue,’ MS. C 9205: it is the usual construction in the older version (but simple _dat._ in ‘biræfued þan liue,’ 15283), while MS. O has regularly _of_. With the meaning _seize_ it takes the _acc._, ‘he biræuede mi{n}e æhte,’ MS. C 8801. #also#, an emphasized _so_, quite so, all the: comp. al = entirely, 2/29.

26, 27. #So . . . so#, even as, even so. #feorþsiþ#: comp. 135/117, 3/41, 24/189, 119/74: similar combinations are ‘balesið,’ L 567; ‘fæisið,’ L 3731; ‘houdsiþ,’ ON 1586; ‘sorhsiðes,’ L 11109; ‘vnsiþ,’ ON 1164; ‘wosið,’ OEH ii. 209/3; ‘wræc-sið,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 538/808.

29. This line is repeated with variations as a sort of refrain, Frag. C 15, 37; D 9, 16, 42; F 19.

30. #iflut#, transferred from the bed to ashes laid on the floor in the form of a cross. Comp. ‘Sori is the fore | Fram bedde to the flore,’ Rel. Ant. i. 160; ‘on flore licgende, bestreowod mid axum, on stiðre hǽran,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. ii. 516/30; ‘Postremo redimens elemosinis malefacta | Ipsaque confessus mortuus in cinere est,’ Epicedium Hathumodae, 557; ‘Cum viderint iam eius exitus horam imminere, cilicium expandunt, cinerem desuper aspergunt, et infirmum de lecto levatum in cilicium submittunt,’ Consuetudines Cluniacenses, Migne, P. L. cxlix, col. 772; ‘esto memor cineris in quo tandem morieris,’ Hauréau, Notices, ii. 183/9. See other texts in Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. pp. 299-301.

31. #eastward.# Burial with the feet to the east was formerly the usual practice (Rock, ii. p. 473), but the eastward placing of the dying man is a detail which I cannot illustrate.

32. #[col]deþ.# Zupitza’s conjecture fits the place, gives a good meaning, and accords with l. 36, but the usual phrase is seen in ‘þei clungin so þe cley,’ Archiv, xcvii, 309/17; ‘As a clot of clay þou were for-clonge,’ Hymns to the Virgin, 13/31; ‘ant clyngeþ so þe clay,’ Böddeker, AE. Dichtungen, 211/17; ‘The clot him clinge,’ M. L. Review, V. p. 105. #hit is him ikunde#. Comp. 154/85; ‘Nes hit þe nowiht icunde þet þu icore[n] hefdest | Nes hit icunde þe more þen þine cunne biuoren þe,’ Frag. D 19, 20; ‘unfæger, swa him gecynde wæs,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 176/208; ‘Ah nim þu þene kine-halm[;] he is þe icunde,’ L 18158, 22004, 23196; VV 57/28.

34, 35. Comp. ‘Now schaltow haue at al þi siþe | Bot seuen fet, vnneþe þat,’ Desputisoun, 91, 2.

36. Comp. ‘Nu lið þe clei-clot | al so þe ston,’ OEM 172/73, 4.

37. #þeo he#, those to whom he. With 37-40 comp. 4/15, 16, 37; 32/34; ‘& he þonne se deada byð úneaþe ælcon men on neaweste to hæbbenne,’ BH 59/14; ‘& se man næfre toðon leof ne bið his nehmagum & his worldfreondum, ne heora nan hine to þæs swiþe ne lufað ꝥ he sona syþþan ne sý onscungend, seoþþan se lichoma & se gast gedælde beoþ, & þincð his neawist laþlico & unfæger,’ id. 111/27-30; ‘Alle his frendes he shal beo loþ. | And helud shal ben wiþ a cloþ,’ PRL 253/1, 2. #freome dude#. Comp. ‘him to fremen and do frame,’ GE 173: and see 176/24, 186/323.

38. #riht wen[den]#, set straight.

41. The copyist has allowed his eye to wander to the very similar line 43 and has transferred the second half of it here, to the exclusion of something like _þe woneþ þe feorþsiþ_.

43. #[þon]ne#. The last half of _n_ and _e_ are in the MS. #riche# is probably a mistake for _wrecche_, as S. suggests.

44. For love turns miserably into an evil under the stroke of misfortune. To have loved and lost is an evil thing.

45. #besihþ . . . to#, contemplates; comp. 124/249 note. Zupitza quotes, ‘When þe gost it schuld go, | It biwent ⁊ wiþstode, | Biheld þe bodi þat it com fro,’ Desputisoun, 9-11. Comp. ‘cum educerent eam (i.e. animam) de corpore commonuerunt eam angeli tercio, dicentes: O misera anima, prospice carnem tuam unde existi,’ Visio Pauli, Texts and Studies, ii. 3. 18/7.

C

The heading is added from the Book of Job, vii. 11.

1. S., H., and B. fill the lacuna with _Hwui noldest biþenchen_ from 4/17, but this does not fit the lower half of the letters left in the MS. where _ligge_ as the end of the preceding line is fairly certain, followed by a word of three letters, the middle one being _o_ and another word of two or two and a half letters, of which the first is _w_. Perhaps _loþ we[re]_ should be read. A question is not suited to the context. The opening lines evidently correspond to OEH ii. 183/16-19, ‘longe habbe ich on þe wuned. swo wo is me þe hwile, for al þat me was leof[;] hit was þe loð · þu ware a sele gief ich was wroð. To gode þu ware slau and let · and to euele spac and hwat.’

2. This line is repeated at Frag. D 28.

4. #[mo]dinesse.# Comp. 77/52, ‘He hadde ben a modi kniȝt,’ Desputisoun, 5; ‘Me nimeð þe licome | ⁊ preoneð in a clut. | ꝥ wes so modi ⁊ so strong | ⁊ so swiþe prud,’ OEM 172/67-70; and for the passage at large, ‘Hwær beoþ þonne his welan & his wista? hwær beoð þonne his wlencea & his anmedlan?’ BH 111/33; ‘Hwar byð þonne heora wela, þe hi ahtan her on life? ⁊ hi dæghwamlice gesam nodon ma ⁊ ma togædere ⁊ nystan nænigne ende, hwænne hi ꝥ forlætan scoldan,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 165/35-7; ‘Whar ben þine markes ⁊ þine pou{n}des?’ Desputisoun, 33.

5. #þurh [pa]newes igædered#, scraped together, or, more probably, wrung from the poor, ‘Quare pecunias et alienas facultates et substantias pauperum tulisti et congregasti in domo tua?’ Batiouchkof’s text, p. 577. Comp. also 34/67, 46/296.

6. #itolde.# Comp. ‘and þa paneȝes weoren italde,’ L 29460. An early use of #bi# with unit of measurement.

7. #Guldene# is corrupt; with the help of ‘Hwer beoþ þine nappes | þat þe glyde to honde,’ OEM 175/107, 8, we may restore, _hwar beoþ [nu] þeo Goldfæten . þe glyden to þine honden_. Then _comen_ is a gloss on _glyden_; though it is found in this connexion elsewhere, ‘þe schal com an hors to hande,’ Richard, 5554.

8. #fornon#, also at 4/44 is not OE. #for-nēan# (H.), which means nearly, but #foran on#, in front, ahead, still to come. Comp. ‘foren an his hafde,’ L 23968, with local meaning, in front of his head (Germ. vorn an); ‘⁊ aȝȝ þeȝȝ tokenn efft forrnon | To serrfenn wukemalumm,’ Orm 16/553 (= in continuation of the series); OEM 149/92. L has also ‘aforen on, afornon,’ 10413. Similarly, ‘þe sorȝe is him biforen,’ OEH i. 63/164.

9. Comp. ‘Whare ben al þine worþliche wede,’ Desputisoun, 25.

10. #[sibbe]# is added to fill out the line. #ofer þe#, by the sick man’s bedside; #ofer#, opposite to; more commonly expressed by _over against_.

11. #bote#, cure or relief, an ambiguous word.

12. #þuþte#, for _þuhte_, like cniþt for cniht, L MS. O 346 a purely graphic variation. On the other hand, _hauef_ for _haueþ_, Frag. G 26, like _of[ ]þufte_ for _of[ ]þuhte_, 46/271, and _soþte_ for _softe_, KH MS. L 392, represent a difference in pronunciation. See W. Horn, Beiträge zur Geschichte der englischen Gutturallaute, pp. 91-4.

13. Comp. 22/129; ‘Þi fals air schal be ful fain | Þi fair fe to vnderfo,’ Desputisoun, 105, 6; ‘And his freondes striveð | to gripen his i-won,’ OEM 172/75, 6.

14. #[heo]#. B. reads [heo hit], which is too long for the gap, and translates ‘sie thun es ohne dich.’ But it means, they put you outside; which is varied in 15, 16. Comp. ‘Me wule for þin ahte | make striuinge, | And pute þe wið-uten | of alle þine þinge,’ OEM 176/133-6. See 22/130.

16. #of weolen . . . bedæled#. The OE. construction is seen in ‘mínra bóca bedæled,’ Ælfric, De vet. Test. 1/22, and it is the same generally in L, ‘liues bidæled,’ 17365; ‘windes bidelde,’ 28239; but ‘of folke bidæled,’ 12743.

17. Comp. ‘Wai hwi noldestu er | of þisse beon icnowe,’ OEM 178/167, 8.

18. #semdest#, didst load; see 84/73. The phrase seems to be without a parallel; perhaps the use of the verb was suggested by ‘forðon gie sémað menn mið seamum ðaðe gebeara ne magon,’ S. Luke xi. 46 (Lindisfarne MS.).

19. This _motiv_ is common to the versions. Comp. ‘heu me, heu me, quare unquam in corpore illud tenebrosum et pessimum ingredi merui,’ Batiouchkoff, p. 577; ‘Heu michi cur olidum · fueram tibi iuncta cadaver. Aweilewei þu fule hold ꝥ ich auere was to þe iteied,’ OEH ii. 183/14, 15; ‘Walawa ⁊ wa is me. ꝥ ic efre com to þe,’ Frag. F 4; Wulfstan, 140/20-23; ‘Ue mihi, habitacio tua mersit me in infernum,’ Revue Celtique, x. 469; ‘for hwon sceolde ic æfre ingangan on þisne fulestan ⁊ wyrrestan lichoman,’ Thorpe, ii. 398/9. ‘Heu me miseram, quod unquam creata fui ac nata, seu in hoc corpus maculatum posita,’ S. August. Opera, Migne, P. L. xl. col. 1357. For #buc#, comp. 186/330; ‘Awai þu wrecche fole bali,’ OEM 172/83.

20. #[lo]kien#, preserve, maintain, as 77/46; 78/85; ‘uorte loken riht bitweonen ou,’ AR 286/6; ‘beloken (= to look to) þe sicnesse of þe sowle,’ OEH ii. 77/32; or perhaps, look for, seek after, as in ‘Haueden al þa reuen[;] . . . iloked tweiene eorles,’ L 5273, 7. The phrase with _[ma]kien_, the conjecture of H., seems not to be earlier than the sixteenth century. #ilærede men#, ‘lerdemen,’ OEH ii. 31/9; ‘leredmen,’ 8/83; ‘bokilered,’ 18/2, 19/39. Comp. ‘alle þat weoren ihadded | & þreo biscopes wise[;] a boke wel ilæred,’ L 21856-8; and for the sense, ‘Noldest þu ær gode men for lufe g[od dæ]lan,’ Frag. D 4, and 89/33-44.

21. #fo[re]#. See 2/2 note, and comp. _fore_ after its noun in 4/23.

26. #þæne#. B. takes _þære_ of the MS. as _gen. sing._ referring to _messe_; H. as _gen. pl._ representing _ilærede men_, but _þurh_ with the genitive is very rare. It might be dative; but Zupitza’s correction is certain; #þæne# refers to _Christ_, as is required by _his_ and _he_ in the next line, and _were_ is 2 _sing. past indicative_ as at 4/32. Comp. ‘þam soðfæstan gode | þas lac geoffrian þe us alysde fram deaðe,’ Ælfric, Lives, i. 66/284; ‘Ac us is mycel neodþearf ꝥ we geþencan, hu drihten us mid his þrowunge alysde fram deofles anwealde, þa he a rode ahangen wæs ⁊ his ꝥ deorweorðe blod for us ageat,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 164/7-10; ‘Hwi noldestu gelyfan þinum drihtene, þe wæs ahangen for us and us alysde fram helle wite,’ id. 167/80, 1; ‘alesde us of helle grunde,’ OEH i. 19/8.

29. #fenge#, betook thyself, #þurh--lore#. Comp. ‘Þurh þæs deofles lore, þe þe licode wel,’ Frag. G 14, 43.

30. #Bi#, concerning, comp. ‘bi hwam ure Louerd seið,’ AR 158/9; ‘Nu mon mæi [seg]gen bi þe,’ Frag. C 9; 155/92.

31. Probably not a quotation, but an imperfect reminiscence of ‘Qui enim divitiarum servus est, divitias custodit ut servus,’ Bedae Opera (1612), v, col. 378.

33. #for drihtenes willæn#, for the Lord’s sake (Germ. _um Gottes willen_). Comp. ‘for willan þæs ælmihtigan,’ Ælfric, Lives, ii. 112/683, and contrast ‘[Nol]de he nefre þærof don his drihtenes wille,’ Frag. C 11.

35. #from# must be taken closely with _forloren_, not as B. translates, ‘bist du verloren, fern von allem, was du liebtest.’ Comp. ‘And fra folke forlese we þa,’ Surtees Psalter, Ps. 82, _v._ 5, translating ‘disperdamus eos de gente.’ But it is an uncommon combination.

37. Comp. ‘Mid clutes þu ert for [bu]nden and loþ alle freonden,’ Frag. F 17; and see note on 3/37. For #unwurþ# see 26/258.

38. Comp. 12/11.

39. #þær--scalt#, where thou must remain. H. quotes ‘Nu me þe bringæð þer ðu beon scealt,’ from the Oxford Frag. (The Grave) 5, and for 40 (which is repeated in Frag. E 8) ‘Dureleas is þet hus,’ id. 13.

41-3. B. explains, There worms dispose of all that was most prized by thee, birds friendly to Death, all that thou didst formerly delight with all kind (reading _kunde_) of sweetness, which thou didst dearly love. But to call worms birds friendly to Death, is a flight of imagination beyond our writer’s power, and the suggested arrangement of the two halves of 41, 42 is artificial, though not without parallel. A comparison of ‘Heo wulleþ freten þin fule hold,’ Frag. C 41; ‘Ac þu heo (i.e. the earth) afulest mid þine fule holde,’ Frag. E 5; ‘Aweilewei þu fule hold,’ OEH ii. 183/15, suggests here _fulest alre holde_, foulest of all bodies. The meaning is then easy and straightforward. His body was what the dead man had most prized and pleasured, ‘For þin wombe was þin god,’ Frag. D 36; ‘þine þermes, þeo þe deore weren,’ Frag. C 47.

43. #[þære]#. The staff of the first letter has survived in the MS.; it goes below the line.

44, 45 are repeated with small variation in Frag. D 40, 41. For #fornon# see 3/8 note. With the rhyme of 45, comp. ‘Beornen [þer e]fre · ende nis þer nefre,’ Frag. E 49.

_Cross-References_

3/8, 4/19 (notes) = I. C (Worcester Fragments) 42/231 (note) = VIII. (Poema Morale)

_Errata_

#Literature:# ... (3) ... *Batiouchkof, Th., Romania, xx. 236; [Th. Romania] [_the passage cited as xx. 236 is actually xx. 1 and 513_] Bruce, J. D., Modern Language Notes [Languages Notes] #ā# is normally ... #œ̄# is _eo_ in weoþinde 2/10. (OE. #wœ̄þan#). [_text has “weoþinde,” and “wœ̄þan”_] #ea# ... _å_-umlaut of #e# is _eo_ in freome, feole, weolen (Bülbring, § 234); _u_- and _å_-umlaut of #i# is _eo_ [_first “å-umlaut” misprinted as bold instead of italic; second misprinted as “a-umlaut”_] ... The prefix #ge# is represented by _i_. [_#ge# misprinted as italic instead of bold_] The consonants ... _k_ is written mostly before _e_ and _ie_ [_“k” misprinted as plain (non-italic)_] #Accidence.# ... Neuters as ban 2/21 are uninflected, _pl. g._ has -e, _d._, -en [-e, _d_, -en] ... The def. art. is _s. n._ þe- þeo- þat, _d. m._ þen, _a._ þene- þeo- þat, _pl. n._ þeo- þa -þa, þeo, þe. [_all hyphens printed as shown_] The terminations of the verb ... _part. pt._ -ed, d, t [_“-ed, d, t” misprinted as italic_]

[IB.] 30. ... ‘Postremo redimens elemosinis [_form “elemosinis” for expected “eleemosinis” is in the source text_] ... Hauréau, Notices, ii. 183/9. [Haureau] 32. ... M. L. Review, V. p. 105 [M.L.]

[IC.] 26. #þæne#. B. takes _þære_ of the MS. as _gen. sing._ [_pære_] 33. ... and contrast ‘[Nol]de he nefre þærof [[Nol] de] 35. ... as B. translates, ‘bist du verloren [_#b#ist with anomalous bold #b#_] 37. ... For #unwurþ# see 26/258. [#unwurp#]

II. SAINT GODRIC’S HYMNS

#Manuscript:# Royal 5 F vii, British Museum; described in Casley’s Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King’s Library, pp. 88, 89. The pieces, with musical notation, in the order B, A, C, occur in a Latin life of Godric by Geoffrey, a monk of Durham, on f. 85, apparently an inserted leaf. This leaf is in a different hand from that of the life, and belongs to the beginning of the thirteenth century; a hand of the fourteenth century has added a Latin version beneath the lines of the first stanza of A, and _onfong_ above _onfo_ in l. 3. The Royal MS. alone contains C, but the first stanza of A, together with B, are found in two MSS. of the life of Godric, written by his contemporary Reginald of Durham, Laud Misc. 413, Bodleian Library, and Harley 153, B.M., and the first stanza of A, also in another MS. of the same life, Harley 322 B.M., and in Mm. iv. 28, Cambridge University Library. Two MSS. of Roger of Wendover, Douce 207, Bodleian, and Otho B v, B.M., and three of Matthew Paris, C. C. C. Cambridge 26, Nero D v, and Harley 1620 B.M., have the whole of A. Most of these give Latin versions of the English words. The filiation of the English copies has been determined by Zupitza in the exhaustive article mentioned below: he gives a critical text based on the Royal MS.

#Facsimile:# Saintsbury, G., History of English Prosody, frontispiece to vol. i. London, 1906.

#Editions:# Ritson, J., Bibliographia Poetica, 1-4; Hazlitt’s Warton, iii. 154 (reprint of A only); *Zupitza, J., Englische Studien, xi. 401-32.

#Literature:# Zupitza, J., Archiv, lxxxvi. 408 (note on the pronunciation of druð).

#Phonology:# Godric’s Northern dialect has been well preserved, but he would have written scild 3, ric 4, and probably birth 13. #a# is _a_ in scamel (#sćeamol#) 9; #æ# is _a_ in þat, bare 10, at 13. #e# is _e_ in help 3, itredie 10. #i# is _i_ in schild 3, dilie 7, and _y_ (written for _i_ before _m_) in tymbre 12. #o# is _o_ in godes 4. #y# is _i_ in sinne 7, winne 8. #ā# is _a_ in swa 9, clenhad 6. #ǣ{1}# (WG. ai + i) is _e_ in clenhad 6, iledde 9; #ǣ{2}# (WG. ā) is _a_ in bare 13, þare 14. #ō# is _o_ in moder 2, onfo 3, mod 7, fote 10. #ū# is _u_ in bur 5, hus 12. #eo# before #r# + consonant is _e_ in erðe 10. #æ# + #g# is _ai_ in faire 12; #ēa# + #h#, _eȝ_ in heȝilich 4 (#hēa(h)līce#). Scone 12 is Norse, the OE. is #scīene# (Björkman, Scandinavian Loan-Words, p. 77), and burth 13 is probably so (id., p. 162). Sainte, uirgine, flur, druð, are French. The scribe uses þ initially, ð in other positions, and once th. So he has ƿ generally, but once w in _wel_. In selfd 8, _d_ is due to anticipation of the following word: in wid 10 _d_ is scribal error for ð.

#Grammar:# moderes is a new genitive (OE. #mōdor#, #mēder#); _e_ of the dative is lost in mod, scamel, burth. fote 10 is _pl. d._, sinne _acc. pl._ Of the possessives mine 10 is _pl. d._, the others are uninflected; min sinne 7 is noteworthy, because the _pl._ forms at this period are usually inflected. Iledde is a solitary _ind. pt. pl._, silde _subj. pt. sing._; the other verbs are imperatives: rix = rixe. A new present stem appears in onfang; it may be as old in the North as Godric’s time; elsewhere it appears about 1200 A.D.

#Dialect:# Specifically Northern are the representation of #ā#, the form silde and the early simplification of the inflection. The development of #æ#, #ǣ#, and #y# exclude the South.

#Metre:# Godric’s rhythms are all to be found in the Latin hymns which probably inspired his verses. These are S. Anselm’s Psalterium S. Virginis (Opera, ed. Gerberon, p. 303) and the Sequence for the Feast of S. Nicholas, to be found under Dec. 6 in the York Missal and elsewhere. The normal line in Anselm’s hymn contains four measures with trochaic movement, as Nón est | nóbis | récens | Déus, but there are others of five and six, with admixture of iambic rhythm. Godric uses all these and applies to them the licences of native prosody, elision, slurring, omission, and doubling of light syllables. So his 1 and 5, Saínte | marí|e uír|giné |, and Saínte | marí|e chríst|es búr |, are exactly Áve | Regí|na vír|ginúm, and 6, maíden|es clén|had mód|eres flúr only differs by the slurring of _e_ before r. Line 2, móder | ihésu | crístes | náza|réne |, has one trochee more than the normal line, one less than Cúius | laúdes | sónus | fíunt | épul|ántis, and l. 7 with _mine_ restored before _sinne_ is of the same pattern, dílie | míne | sínne | ríxẹ in | mín mod |. Line 8, bríng me to | wínne | wið þé | selfd Gód |, has the same mixture of trochees and iambs as Ómnis | remítt|itúr | iní|quitás |, or Áve | cúius | virgín|eó |, but with doubled light syllable in the first measure; similar is the rhythm of 4, ónfang | bríng he | ȝílich | wið þé | in gód|es ríc |. Line 3, ónfo | schíld | hélp þin | gódric, has the same movement as óbdor|míens | páti|éndo, but with omission of light syllable after stressed long syllable in the second measure.

The long lines 9, 10 are based on a combination of two Latin ones, Críst and | saínte | Marí|e swá || on scá|mel mé | ilédd|è, like Áve | cúius | in fíl|iúm || Proclám|at fíd|es már|tyrúm | but with omission of light syllable in the last foot; and þat íc | on þis ér|ðe né | sílde || wíd mine | báre | fótẹ i|trédie | imitates indú|ti stó|la gé|mína || Dúplex | dícunt | Álle|lúia, but with doubling of light syllables twice and elision.

In the last verse, Saínte | Nícho|láes | gódes | drúð | is Glóri|óse | Níco|láe | with added foot of one stressed syllable; týmbrẹ us | faíre | scóne | hús | is vóca|lí con|córdi|à; Àt þi búrth | àt þi bár|è resembles ùbi páx | et glóri|à, and Saínte | Nícho|láes | bríng vs wel | þáre is the normal Ád sal|útis | pórtum | tráhe | with added foot.

In Godric’s verse the strict syllabic principle, with its consequent abandonment of alliteration, save for ornament, and its consistent attempt at end-rhyme, has obtained already a complete mastery, whilst in most of the contemporary poetry it is still struggling with the traditional alliterative metric. His methods rank him with the writers of popular topical verse, while the more conscious artists still linger in the old ways.

#Introduction:# S. Godric, the hermit of Finchale, near Durham, died 1170 A.D. In his earlier days he had travelled much as merchant and pilgrim, and learnt to venerate S. Nicholas as the patron of those in peril of the sea. Reginald tells us that the Virgin Mary, accompanied by S. Mary Magdalene, appeared to S. Godric, in the chapel which he had dedicated to her at Finchale, and taught him both words and melody of the first piece (Vita, ed. Stevenson, Surtees Society, no. 20, pp. 117-19). The occasion of the second piece was as follows. His sister Burgwen having died, S. Godric earnestly desired to know what judgement had been passed upon her, and he was privileged to see the Virgin Mary followed by two angels, clothed in albs, bearing the soul of his sister, who, from the centre of the altar in the Oratory, sang the hymn which filled the saint with joy (Reginald, 143, 4). The third piece was unknown to Reginald, but Godric told him that on one occasion S. Nicholas appeared to him, with a company of angels, and bade him join them in their hymns (id. 202).

The literary value of Godric’s verses is small, but they are the first compositions we have in Northern English after the Conquest, and metrically interesting. There are, however, three earlier documents which have been printed by Liebermann in Archiv, cxi. 275-84; the first of these, Gospatric’s letter, is also in the Scottish Historical Review, i. 62, 105, 344, 353; ii. 340: it is possibly pre-Conquest.

1. #marie# has three syllables with the accent on the second; in OE. it is usually Maria with accent on the first (but ‘þæt is MARÍA · mædena felast,’ Be Domes Dæge, 18/293); in Orm naturalized as Marȝe and in ME. generally Marye. From his Latin models Godric takes his pronunciation and the associated uirgine, apparently its first occurrence in English.

2. #ihesu#, the general form for any oblique case, here genitive. #nazarene# is an invariable adj. like cristene, but Orm has, ‘Forr Nazarenuss tacneþþ sannt,’ 308/8865.

4. #heȝilich#, with honour; _gloriose_ in the MS. version. MS. Harley 322 has hegliche and translates _cito_; the Cambridge MS. hehtlic, wrongly rendered _eternaliter_ as though it represented #ēcelīce#; Zupitza explains it as the adverb of #higð#, ME. on hihðe, in haste; MS. Harley 153 reads hehliche, rendered _alte_.

5. #xpistes bur#: comp. ‘Maria, Dei thalamus,’ Anselm 303/5; ‘Ave, de cuius intimo | Christus processit thalamo, | in sole tabernaculum | fixit, qui regit saeculum,’ Mone, ii. 234/69-72, which shows that this use of the word came from Psalm xviii. 6 ‘In sole posuit tabernaculum suum et ipse tamquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo exultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam.’ For xp = Χρ, Chr, see Traube, Nomina Sacra, 156 ff.

6. The translation in some of the MSS. is ‘virginalis puritas, matris flos.’ Godric has in mind, ‘Ave mater per quam via | Immaculata patuit | Quia (Qui à in text) Deo flore | Virginitas effloruit,’ Anselm, 306/93-6; ‘Ave coeleste lilium | Per florem cuius unicum,’ &c., id. 305/153, 4. Christ then is the Virgin’s pure offspring, the mother’s flower to whom the next two lines are addressed, and _þe_ in l. 8 (which Zupitza rejects) presents no difficulty. The abandonment of the vocative for a new subject is artless. The first half of 7 corresponds to, ‘O Christe, proles Virginis | Patris compar altissimi | Per tuae mortis merita | Dele nostra peccamina,’ Anselm, 303/22-5, and the second to ‘Ave mater cuius partus | Deus in coelis habitat | In sanctorum dum mentibus | Dulcedine sua regnat,’ id. 306/111-4.

9. #scamel#, from L. Lat. _scamellum_, dim. of _scamnum_, step, stool; it often means the little stool for the hands of cripples, but it is also synonymous with _scabellum_, which in the phrase _scabellum pedum_ occurs nine times in the Vulgate, with the meaning footstool. In two of these, Psalms xcviii. 5, cix. 1, the Surtees Psalter translates by schamel, Eadwine’s Canterbury Psalter by scæmol, the Paris Psalter by sceamul, the earliest Eng. Prose Psalter by shamel, the Lambeth Homilies (OEH i. 91/11) by fot-sceomele. Comp. ‘Vor þi alle þe halewen makeden of al þe worlde ase ane stol (scheomel, C; schamel, T) to hore uet, uorto arechen þe heouene,’ Ancren Riwle, 166/15, 6. Psalm cix. 1 ‘Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos, scabellum pedum tuorum,’ is quoted five times in the New Testament, and there may be a reference to it here. Zupitza suggests that l. 10 is based on ‘Quoniam angelis suis mandavit de te, ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis. In manibus portabunt te, ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum,’ Psalm xc. 11, 12; but _on þis erðe itredie_ is a weak representation of _offendas ad lapidem_. Now we are told by Reginald that the angels who bore the spirit of Burgwen halted ‘supra Altaris crepidinem,’ and the Harleian MS. has, more definitely, ‘eam super Altaris crepidinem statuerunt.’ The _scamel_ is simply the footpace of the altar on which she has been set. Reginald’s version points in this direction, ‘Sancta Maria super scamni sedile me deduxit’; as also Geoffrey’s paraphrase, ‘Ne pede calcarem terre contagia nudo (_a. l._ mundo), | Sic mea me domina deduxit sancta Maria.’ The meaning then is, I have been conducted to this altarstep in such a way that I should not touch _this_ earth with my bare foot. I am divinely protected and lifted above the world. And Godric understood, ‘statim intellexit quod anima sororis suae super coelestibus Angelorum choreis esset associata’ (p. 145).

11. #Nicholaes# occurs in AS. Chron. E. 1067 as Nicolaes. It corresponds to Nicolaus, which in the Latin hymns is always four syllables, and so, I think, it must be here.

#godes druð#: comp. ‘dilectus Dei Nicholaus,’ Aberdeen Breviary; ‘amicus Dei,’ York Breviary, ii. col. 106; ‘et amico Dei magno | Nicolao condole,’ Anselm, 307/168, 9; ‘godes drut,’ Be Domes Dæge, 18/290.

12. #hus# does not rhyme and has no reference to anything in the legend of S. Nicholas. But he was invoked by sailors in peril (York Breviary,