Part 3

God walkyd in erth as longe as he wolde, He had not in this erth but hong{er} & colde, And in this erth also his body was solde, Her{e} in this erth, whan þ{a}t he was xxx^ti [gh]er{e} olde.

_MS. Rawl. C._ v. 8.

Now he þ{a}t erthe opon erthe ordande to go Graunt þ{a}t erthe vpon erthe may govern hym so, Þat when erthe vnto erthe shall{e} be taken to, Þat þe saule of þis erthe suffre no wo.

God lytyd in erth, blyssed be that stou{n}de! He sauyd hijs herth w{i}t{h} many a scharpe wounde, Ffor to sawe erth owght of hell grou{n}de, He deyd in erth vpon þe rode w{i}t{h} many a blody vou{n}de.

And God ros ovght of the est this erth for to spede, And went into hell as was gret nede, And toke erth from sorowe þ{i}s erth for to spede, The ryght wey to heuen blys I{esus} Cryst vs lede!

_MS. Rawl. P._ vv. 31, 32.

Lord God that erthe tokist in erthe, And suffredist paynes ful stille, Late neuer erthe for the erthe In dedly synne ne spille.

But that erthe in this erthe Be doynge euer thi wille, So that erthe for the erthe Stye up to thi holi hille.

(Cf. Harl. 4486, v. 8; Lamb. v. 12; Laud v. 12).

It is therefore evident that the Cambridge text shows knowledge of both the A and the B versions, but the text in its existing form must represent either a corrupt copy of the original with frequent dislocation of lines, or, what is perhaps more likely from the instances of repetition of the same words or ideas which occur, a clumsy compilation from the two made by some one who perhaps had B before him and remembered portions of A imperfectly. Such repetitions occur in verses 2 and 18, the latter repeating three of the rime-words of the former verse, as well as the phrase _scharpe schowris_; and again in verses 4 and 19, and in verses 6, 7, and 13. In any case the text must be regarded as later than the A and B versions, and not as forming a link between them. The dialect is Northern, but not uniformly so.

ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE POEM.

The question as to the source of the poem _Erthe upon Erthe_, and the relationship of the A and B versions to the original, and to each other, is a difficult one. The existence of a parallel Latin version in one of the oldest MSS. is clearly an important point to be taken into consideration in any attempt at an investigation of the origin of the poem, and it will be well before proceeding further to form some conclusion as to the relation in which the English and Latin stanzas in MS. Harl. 913 stand to each other. The correspondence of the two versions is not strictly verbal, but it is evident that either the English or the Latin stanzas represent a rather free rendering of the verses which accompany them. In favour of a Latin origin it may be pointed out that the metrical form of the Latin stanzas is one frequently employed in Latin poems of the time, that the subject is a favourite monastic theme, and that the manner of the poem is in keeping with contemporary Anglo-Latin compositions, such as the well-known _Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria_. The natural tendency would be to attribute a poem of the kind to Latin origin, especially if, as in this case, a Latin version were forthcoming.

On the other hand, it may be pointed out that the Latin text is not known to exist in any other MS., and appears indeed to have no separate existence from the English stanzas which accompany it, whereas English texts of the poem without trace of a Latin rendering or original are very common.[14] The text was one frequently used in epitaphs, but no Latin epitaph of the kind is known to have existed, although Latin was commonly used in epitaphs at the time when the poem was most widely popular.

Further, word-plays of the kind found here upon the word _erthe_ are certainly not common in Latin verse of the time, and the Latin text does not render the play as effectively as the English does, employing alternately the three terms _terra_, _vesta_, _humus_, in place of the English _erthe_, and failing to maintain these consistently. The play on the word _earth_, which is the most essential feature of the poem, could not have been given with the same effect as in English either in Latin or in any mediaeval language.[15]

Thirdly, in support of an English origin it may be urged that close verbal connexion can be traced between the English text of both versions, but more especially of the earlier (A), and other poems dating from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, particularly the various Dialogues of _The Soul and the Body_:--

_MS. Harl._ 913, l. 17 (A). When erþ is in erþe, þe rof is on þe chynne.

_MS. Cambr. Univ. Libr._ Ii. 4. 9, l. 25 (C) When erthe is in erth for wormys wyn, Þe rof of his hows xal ly on his chyn.

Cf. _Dialogues of Soul and Body_, (_Worcester fragment_) 12th cent. 'nu þu havest neowe hus inne beþrungen, lowe beoþ helewes. Þin rof liþ on þine breoste, ful . . . colde is þe ibedded.

(_Bodl. Fragm._) 12th cent. Þe rof bið ibyld þire broste ful neh.

(_MS. Auchinleck_) 13th cent. Wiþ wormes is now ytaken þin in, Þi bour is bilt wel cold in clay, Þe rof _shal take to_[16] þi chin.

(_MS. Harl._ 2253) 14th cent. When þe flor is at þy rug, Þe rof ys at þy neose.

Cf. _Death_ 152 (13th cent.) in Morris, _O. E. Misc._, p. 168 (_Jesus MS._). Þi bur is sone ibuld Þat þu schalt wunyen inne, Þe rof _& þe virste_[17] Schal ligge on þine chynne. Nu þe schulen wurmes Wunyen wiþinne.

_MS. Harl._ 913, l. 66 (A). Erþ bilt castles, & erþe bilt toures; Whan erþ is on erþe, blak beþ þe boures.

_MS. Harl._ 4486 (B); _so other_ B _texts_. Erthe apon erthe wynneth{e} castelles & towres. Then seythe erthe to erthe: 'These byth{e} alle owres'. When erthe apon erthe hath byggede vp his bowres, Then schalle erthe for the erthe suffre scharpe schowres.

_MS. Cambr._ 63 (C). Erthe bygyth hallys & erth bygith towres, When erþ is layd in erth, blayke is his bours;

_ibid._ 5-8 Erthe vpon erthe has hallys & towris _&c._

Cf. _Soul & Body Dialogues_ (_MSS. Auchinleck, Digby, Vernon, Laud_). Whare be þine castels & þine tours, Þine chaumbres & þine hei[gh]e halle, . . . . . Wrecche, ful derk it is þi bour To morn þou schalt þerin falle.

(_ibid._) Halles hei[gh]e & bours bri[gh]t Y hadde y bilt & mirþes mo.

(_MS. Harl._ 2253). thi castles & thy toures.

Cf. _Death_ 29. Ah seoþþen mony mon By-yet bures & halle, Forþi þe wrecche soule Schal into pyne falle.

_MS. Harl._ 913. 42 (A). Be þou þre ni[gh]t in a þrou[gh], þi frendschip is ilor.[18]

Cf. _Visio Philiberti_ (_MS. Porkington_). When þou art dede þi frenschype is aslepe.

Cf. _Soul & Body_ (_MS. Auchinleck_). that alle þine frend beon fro þe fledde.

Cf. _Death_ 97. Hwer beoð alle þine freond Þet fayre þe bi-hehte And fayre þe igretten Bi weyes and bi strete. Nu heo walleþ wrecche Alle þe forlete Nolde heo non herestonkes[19] Nu þe imete.

_MS. Cambr._ l. 21 (C). When erth has gotyn erthe alle that he maye He schal haue but seven fote at his laste daye.

Cf. _Soul & Body_ (_MSS. Auchinl._, _Digby_). Now schaltow haue at al þi siþe Bot seuen fet, vnneþe þat.

The play upon the word _earth_ recurs in other English poems. Cf. _A Song on the Times_ (MS. Harl. 913), early fourteenth century--

[20]Whan erthe hath erthe i-gette And of erthe so hath i-nou[gh], When he is therin i-stekke, Wo is him that was in wou[gh].

where the idea and the two rime-words are the same as in _MS. Harl._ 2253--

Erþe toe of erþe erþe wyþ woh, Erþe oþer erþe to þe erþe droh, Erþe leyde erþe in erþene þroh, Þo heuede erþe of erþe erþe ynoh.

It will be remembered that these two MSS. (Harl. 913 and 2253) are the two which preserve texts of the A version, and the opening lines of the _Song on the Times_ would appear to give further proof of a connexion between the two A texts.

Further, in _MS. Lansdowne_ 762 (v. _Reliquiae Antiquae_ I. 260), under the heading _Terram terra tegat_, occur these lines:--

First to the erthe I bequethe his parte, My wretched careyn is but fowle claye, Like than to like, erthe in erthe to laye; Sith it is, according by it I wolle abide, As for the first parte of my wille, that erthe erthe hide.

In this case the English words are evidently based upon the Latin phrase, but this does not disprove an English origin for the poem _Erthe upon Erthe_, since any verses of the kind must ultimately have been based on the idea that man is dust, and the idea itself must have been first presented and have become widely known through such Latin elegiac phrases as _Memento homo quod cinis es et in cinerem reverteris_, or _De terra plasmasti me_, both of which so frequently accompany _Erthe upon Erthe_, or as the above cited _Terram terra tegat_. The verse in _MS. Lansdowne_ might rather be considered as supplying further proof of the popular tendency to replace such phrases by English verses, expressing the same idea, but themselves English, not Latin in origin, and making the most of the possible word-play. Such word-plays were evidently popular between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. Cf. the well-known passage in _Piers Plowman_, c. xxi. 389.

So lyf shal lyf lete ther lyf hath lyf anyented, So that lyf quyte lyf, the olde lawe hit asketh. _Ergo_, soule shal soule quyte and synne to synne wende.

In view of this evidence, I am inclined to think that the Latin version in MS. Harl. 913 is the translation, and the English the original, and that the oldest form of _Erthe upon Erthe_ which has been preserved is that found in the four lines in MS. Harl. 2253:--

Erþe toc of erþe erþe wyþ woh &c.

Short riddling stanzas of the kind, based upon the Latin phrases mentioned above, may have been popular in the thirteenth century, and this particular one was evidently known and used by the author of the _Song on the Times_.[21] The writer of the version preserved in MS. Harl. 913 seems to have been a more learned man, acquainted with poems like the Dialogues between _the Soul and the Body_, who elaborated the four lines of MS. Harl. 2253, and perhaps other verses of the same kind, into a poem of seven six-lined stanzas, the additional couplet often introducing a new idea precisely as in the case of the similarly expanded verse-form in MS. Porkington. Either this man or a later transcriber appears to have added the Latin rendering which accompanies the poem, and to have further exercised himself in varying the word-play. Heuser[22] points out that the mistakes in the MS. would support the view that the English text is a copy of an original in another dialect, and it is possible that the Latin version belongs to this MS. alone, since a second poem in the same MS. is accompanied by an unfinished translation into Latin.

This theory as to the origin of the two texts of the A version receives further support from the fact that it also accounts most satisfactorily for the development and popularity of the B version. Apart from the play on the word _erthe_ and the similarity of the theme, there is only one point of close verbal connexion between the two versions. In MS. Harl. 913 (A) the sixth stanza runs as follows:--

Erþ gette on erþ gersom & gold, Erþ is þi moder, in erþ is þi mold. Erþ uppon erþ be þi soule hold; Er erþe go to erþe, bild þi long bold. Erþ bilt castles, and erþe bilt toures; Whan erþ is on erþe, blak beþ þe boures.

In the B version, the rimes _gold_ : _mold_, _toures_ : _boures_, regularly recur in the third and fourth stanzas, and line 5 of the A text is preserved in slightly modified form in the first line of verse 3:-- (MS. Harl. 4486, vv. 3 and 4)

Erthe apon erthe wynnethe castelles and towres. Then seythe erthe to erthe: 'These bythe alle owres.' When erthe apon erthe hath byggede vp his bowres, Then schalle erthe for the erthe suffre scharpe schowres.

Erthe gothe apon erthe as molde apon molde. So goethe erthe apon erthe alle gleterynge in golde, Lyke as erthe unto erthe neuer go scholde, And [gh]et schalle erthe into erthe rather then he wolde.

In the Cambridge text the rime-words _towres_ : _bours_ are introduced twice over, representing both the versions given above:--

(ll. 63, 64) Erthe bygyth hallys & erthe bygith towres, When erth is layd in erth, blayke is his bours;

as in the _A_ version;

(ll. 5, 7) Erthe vpon erth has hallys & towris . . . But quan erth vpon erth has bygyd his bowres,

as in the B version.

The two stanzas of the B version which contain these rime-words are the two which recur most frequently on tombstones and mural inscriptions, and it seems possible that they represent a second early form of the _Erthe_ poems. It is evident that the rime-words _gold_ : _mold_, _bowres_ : _towres_, depend upon an early tradition. Probably verses similar to the short stanza in MS. Harl. 2253, and containing these words, were in existence before the learned writer of the longer A text in MS. Harl. 913 introduced them in his poem, and, becoming widely known, formed the nucleus of the B version. Both the A and the B versions might therefore be held to depend upon popular stanzas of this kind, which gave rise about the end of the thirteenth century to the long poem of MS. Harl. 913, and during the fourteenth century to the original of the B version, a poem in seven four-lined stanzas. The earlier version is connected more particularly with the Southwest Midland district; the later seems to have originated rather in the North or North Midlands, but it soon became known all over England, and is found in the South of Scotland shortly after 1500. Only one fifteenth-century writer, the author of the Cambridge text, shows direct knowledge of the A text, but the B version was evidently widely known, and a favourite theme for additions and modifications. On tombstones and mural inscriptions it survived up to the nineteenth century.

LATER VERSIONS OF THE POEM.

As has been already pointed out, the Middle English texts of _Erthe upon Erthe_ occur for the most part in the Commonplace Books of the day, often on the spare leaves at the beginning or end of the MS., as if the collector or some later owner had been struck by the poem and anxious to preserve it. That this interest was not confined to the fifteenth century is shown by the occurrence of the text in the Maitland and Reidpeth MSS. A still later instance of it occurs in the Pillerton Hersey Registers, dating from 1559 onwards, where the following verse has been scribbled on the last leaf, probably by some seventeenth-century clerk (cf. C. C. Stopes, _Athenaeum_, Sept. 19, 1908):--

Earth upon earth bould house and bowrs, Earth upon earth sayes all is ours. Earth upon earth when all is wroght, Earth upon earth sayes all is for nought.

Here the first two lines represent a corrupt type of the same lines in verse 3 of the B version, while the rimes _wroght_ : _nought_ recall verse 1.

Another interesting trace of a late popular version is mentioned in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for March, 1824, where a certain Mr. J. Lawrence tells how he was invited, during a visit to Beaumont Hall, Essex, to see the following inscription, written and decorated by a cow-boy on an attic wall:--

Earth goes upon the earth, glittering like gold; Earth goes to the earth sooner than 'twould; Earth built upon the earth castles and towres; Earth said to the earth, 'All shall be ours.'

Here portions of verses 3 and 4 of the B version have been combined as in the epitaphs at Melrose and Clerkenwell cited below, pointing either to a corrupt popular version of the B text, or possibly to an earlier type[23] in which the rimes _gold_ : _mold_, &c. were immediately associated with the rimes _towres_ : _bowres_ as in A (MS. Harl. 913, v. 6). The former assumption is the more probable, since the verse appears to be directly based upon stanzas 3 and 4 of the usual B version.

The majority of the later instances of the text occur on tombstones or memorial tablets. The poem was peculiarly adapted for this purpose, based as it was on the very words of the Burial Service. Indeed, the short verses from which it is here assumed to have originated might well be supposed to have been written in the first place as epitaphs, if evidence of the use of English epitaphs in the thirteenth century[24] were forthcoming. As has been already stated, the seven verses of the normal B version occurred in full among the mural paintings in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity at Stratford-on-Avon, belonging to the Guild of the Holy Cross, where they appear to have been used as a monumental inscription already in the latter part of the fifteenth century.

A well-known late instance of the text is the inscription on a tombstone in the parish churchyard which surrounds Melrose Abbey, mentioned by Scott. The stone is headed as follows:--

Memento Mori. Here lyes James Ramsay, portioner of Melrose, who died July 15th, 1761.

On the back is the following verse:--

The Earth goeth on the Earth Glistring like gold, The Earth goeth to the Earth Sooner than it wold; The Earth builds on the Earth Castles & Towers, The Earth says to the Earth: 'All shall be ours.'

This was translated into German by Theodor Fontane (_Poems_, 4th edit., Berlin, 1892, p. 447). Cf. Fiedler, _Mod. Lang. Review_, April 1908.

Other inscriptions are as follows:--

On an old brass, quoted by W. Williams, _Notes and Queries_, I. vii. 577, and thought by him to belong to the Church of St. Helen's, London[25]:--

'Here lyeth y^e bodyes of James Pomley, y^e sonne of ould Dominick Pomley and Jane his wyfe: y^e said James deceased y^e 7th day of Januarie Anno Domini 1592 he beyng of y^e age of 88 years, & y^e sayd Jane deceased y^e -- day of -- D --

Earth goeth upõ Earth as moulde upõ moulde; Earth goeth upõ Earth all glittering as golde, As though earth to y^e earth never turne sholde; And yet shall earth to y^e earth sooner than he wolde.

On a tomb at Edmonton of unknown date (possibly sixteenth century), mentioned by Weever (_Ancient Funerall Monuments_) in 1631, and by Pettigrew (_Chronicles of the Tombs_, p. 67) in 1857:--

Erth goyth upon erth as mold upon mold, Erth goyth upon erth al glisteryng in gold, As though erth to erth ner turne shold, And yet must erth to erth soner than he wolde.

Formerly on a headstone in St. James's Churchyard, Clerkenwell, deciphered about 1812, but already lost in 1851, probably owing to the dismantling of the churchyard. (Cf. _Notes and Queries_, III. i. 389):--

Earth walks on Earth like glittering gold; Earth says to Earth 'We are but mold'. Earth builds on Earth castles & towers; Earth says to Earth, 'All shall be ours!'

Formerly on a tombstone at St. Martin's, Ludgate, to Florens Caldwell esq. of London & Ann Mary Wilde, his wife (Pettigrew, p. 67)[26]:--

Earth goes to Earth, as mold to mold; Earth treads on Earth, glittering in gold: Earth as to Earth returne ne'er shoulde; Earth shall to Earth goe e'er he wolde. Earth upon Earth consyder may; Earth goes to Earth naked away. Earth though on Earth be stowt & gay Earth shall from Earth passe poore away. Be mercifull & charitable, Relieve the poor as thou art able. A shrowd to the grave Is all thou shalt have.

This interesting monument has unfortunately disappeared. Doubtless there are many other traces of the poem to be found, but it appears to have been rarely used on tombstones after 1700,[27] and earlier monuments, unless specially preserved, are rarely decipherable at the present day.

LITERARY INTEREST.

_Erthe upon Erthe_ cannot be said to possess great literary value in itself. The interest of the poem lies chiefly in its evident popularity, and in the insight it gives into the kind of literature which became popular in the Middle Ages. It belongs essentially to the same class as the _Soul and Body_ Poems, and the _Dance of Death_. In the early days of its introduction into Western Europe, Christianity made great use in its appeal to the mass of the people of the fear of death and dread of the Judgement. The early monastic writers dwelt upon the idea of man's mortality and decay, and the transitoriness of human rank and pleasure. Hence the frequency with which such themes as the _Dance of Death_ were treated in literature and in art. Closely allied with this idea of the fleeting nature of earthly things, and to some extent a result of it, was the conception of the separation of man's bodily from his spiritual self which pervades all mediaeval post-Christian literature. In Old English times already, this sense of a sharp division between the two is embodied in No. xliv of the O.E. _Riddles_:--

[28]Ic wat indryhtne æþelum deorne [gh]iest in [gh]eardum, þæm se grimma ne mæg hunger sceððan ne se hata þurst, yldo ne adle [ne se enga deað], [gh]if him arlice esne þenað, se þe agan sceal [his [gh]eongorscipe] on þam siðfæte: hy gesunde æt ham findaþ witode him wiste [&] blisse, cnosles unrim, care, [gh]if se esne his blaforde hyreð yfle frean on fore, ne wile forht wesan broþer oþrum: him þæt bam sceðeð, þonne hy from bearme begen hweorfað anre magan ellorfuse moddor [&] sweostor.

This sets forth the same conception of the duality in man as is represented in the O.E. _Speech of the Soul to the Body_, and in the whole group of _Soul and Body_ poems, and the idea recurs constantly in other monastic texts, cf. Morris, _O. E. Miscellany_, iii (_Sinners Beware_), p. 83:--

326. þe feondes heom forþ ledeþ Boþe lychom and saule.

331-336. Þe saule seyþ to þe lychome, Accursed wurþe þi nome, Þin heaued and þin heorte. Þu vs hauest iwroht þes schome, And alle þene eche grome Vs schall euer smerte.

_MS. Harl._ 2253, fol. 106, v^o, l. 7: þe fleysh stont a[gh]eyn þe gost.

These two fundamental ideas of the transitoriness and hence worthlessness of man's earthly part, and the cleavage between it and his spiritual part, lie at the root of much of the mediaeval literature, and represent the two not incompatible extremes to which the monastic ideal of life, from its very one-sidedness, was capable of leading: on the one hand a certain morbid materialism, on the other an ascetic mysticism. Nor can it be denied that the mediaeval mind took a certain grim pleasure in dwelling upon the more grotesque aspect of these things. The O.E. poet found the same enjoyment in describing his '[Gh]ifer'--

[29]se wyrm, þe þa [gh]ea[gh]las beoð nædle scearpran: se genydeð to ærest eallra on þam eorðsciæfe,

as the painters of the _Dance of Death_ in the drawing of their skeletons and emblems of mortality, or the Gothic carver in his gargoyles. Perhaps, too, some satisfaction in dwelling upon the hollowness of earthly joys, and the bitter fate of those who took their fill of them, was not lacking to a few of those who had turned their backs upon them.