Part 7

22 And God ros ovght of the est[11] this erth for to spede, And went into hell as was gret nede, 80 And toke erth from sorowe þ{us}[12] erth for to spede, The ryght wey to heuen blys Iesus Cryst vs lede! fine.

(_The rest of the page is occupied by a coloured picture of a knight and a skeleton with Latin mottoes, v. Introduction, p. xiv._)

[Footnote 1: or _towr{es}_, _owr{es}_, &c.]

[Footnote 2: MS. _hove_ for _howe_.]

[Footnote 3: ? error for _togh_.]

[Footnote 4: Heuser _flogh_, but MS. appears to be _slogh_ as in l. 40.]

[Footnote 5: MS. _was neuer non_ crossed out, _has neu{er} I nowe_ written above.]

[Footnote 6: MS. _bu_, the last letter of the word has been erased.]

[Footnote 7: These two lines form the missing half of v. 3, and are perhaps inserted here with the idea of forming a six-lined stanza.]

[Footnote 8: better _has_.]

[Footnote 9: or _flowr{is}_.]

[Footnote 10: _wounde_.]

[Footnote 11: MS. clearly _est_, perh. error for _erth_.]

[Footnote 12: MS. _y^9_ = _þus_, perh. for _þis_.]

NOTES.

#Page 1.# #MS. Harl. 2253.# These four lines were apparently regarded by Wanley, together with the preceding French strophe, as forming part of the poem on the Death of Simon de Montfort, and are not noted by him in the British Museum Catalogue. Böddeker also omitted them from his _Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253_ (Berlin 1878). They were, however, already noted by Pinkerton in 1786, see _Ancient Scottish Poems never before in print . . . from the MS. Collections of Sir Richard Maitland_, ii, Note on p. 466: 'In the same (i.e. Harleian) library, No. 2253, is another of the same kind, beginning,

Erthe toc of erthe erthe wyth wote.

It is only one stanza; and another piece of one stanza preceding it, both are put by Mr. Wanley, in the Catalogue, as part of a French song on Sir Simon de Montfort, which they follow: but such mistakes frequently arise from the crowded manner of old MSS.' The facsimile opposite the title-page shows the lines as they occur in the MS.

#Page 5.# #William Billyng's MS.# The 'finely written and illuminated parchment roll' described by William Bateman in his preface to Billyng's _Five Wounds of Christ_, of which forty copies were privately printed by him at Manchester in 1814, contained the following poems:--

1. The Five Wounds of Christ (fifteen stanzas in rime royal).

2. At hygh none whan the belle dothe tylle (eighteen lines).

3. Erth owte of Erth (six stanzas).

4. Pes maketh plente (five lines).

The whole is signed #Will[~m] Billyng#. It has been frequently suggested that Billyng was the author of these poems, but it is evident that he was not the author of _Erthe upon Erthe_, though his may be one of the earliest transcripts of the B version, and the lines _Pes maketh plente_ also occur elsewhere, cf. MS. Digby 230 (fifteenth century). He may have been the author of _The Five Wounds of Christ_, but it is more probable, considering the usual origin of other fifteenth-century collections of the kind, that he was merely the collector and transcriber of the texts. Cf. F. J. Furnivall, _Notes and Queries_, IV. iii. 103. It is possible that this may be the William Billyng who, in 1474, became rector of Toft Monks in Norfolk on the presentation of the Provost and Scholars of King's College, Cambridge, and who appears to have held the benefice until 1506 (see _Notes and Queries_, III. iv. 173; Blomefield, _Norfolk_, viii. 63).[1] The parchment roll was formerly preserved in Bateman's collection of antiquities at Lomberdale House, Derbyshire. This collection was broken up and sold after Bateman's death, the archaeological remains being purchased by the Sheffield Museum, and the books and MSS. sold at Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge's rooms in 1893, but all attempts to trace Billyng's MS. after the breaking up of the collection have been unsuccessful. A copy of the printed text is in the British Museum.

Montgomery's reprint of the poem in 1827 was taken from Bateman's version, and differs from it only in some very slight corrections in spelling. It has been suggested that this reprint was the source of the _Earth upon Earth_ Epitaphs which occur, but these were current from the sixteenth century on, and, as has been already pointed out (see Introduction, pp. xxxvi ff.), the usual form of the Epitaph, even in the latest versions, differed from that of the actual poem.

#Page 7.# #MS. Selden Supra 53.# This text omits verse 5, and inverts the normal order of verses 4 and 6 (see Table on p. xvii of Introduction). The text is written in a neat hand in the left-hand column on the back of a spare leaf (fol. 159) at the end of the MS., after Lydgate's _Dance of Macabre_. The right-hand column contains Latin scribblings, perhaps by the scribe who re-wrote small portions of _Erthe upon Erthe_ (see p. 7, footnotes). A few lines are scribbled in another hand upon the front side of the leaf, which is otherwise blank. The back of the leaf was evidently unprotected, and is much rubbed and worn. The space below Lydgate's last verse and colophon on fol. 158 v^o contains two odd stanzas in English in the same metre as Lydgate's poem, beginning 'Let se your hand my ladi, dam emperys', in a hand of the late fifteenth century, and a French stanza of four lines ('Qui met son cuer tout en Deu, Il a son cuer et si a Deu', &c.) in a French hand, perhaps as late as 1500. Both of these were quite possibly inserted in the MS. later than _Erthe upon Erthe_, the exact date of which is indeterminate, but it was probably copied in between 1450 and 1500.

#Page 8.# #MS. Egerton 1995.# This MS. was evidently a Commonplace book. Its contents are described by Gairdner, _Collections of a London Citizen_ (Camden Society, 1876). The MS. is written throughout in fifteenth-century hand, and appears to be the work of one scribe. Gairdner thinks the whole collection may be ascribed to William Gregory of the Skinners' Company, who was Mayor of London in 1451, and who seems to have been the author of part, at least, of the Chronicle of London at the end of the MS.

#Page 10.# #MS. Brighton.# Fiedler's account of this MS. is as follows:-- 'Noch eine andre Fassung des Gedichtes habe ich mir vor einigen Jahren aus einer Handschrift abgeschrieben, die damals im Besitze eines Antiquars in Brighton war, über deren weiteren Verbleib ich aber nichts ermitteln könnte. Es war eine Pergamenthandschrift, folio, von 90 Blättern. Sie enthielt eine lateinische Abhandlung über die sieben Sacramente "Oculi Sacerdotis", und auf der ursprünglich frei gebliebenen Rückseite des letzten Blattes war von einer Hand des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts das englische Gedicht eingetragen.' (_Mod. Lang. Review_, III. iii. 219.)

#Page 11.# #Stratford-on-Avon Inscription.# A full account of this inscription has been given in the Introduction, p. xii. The lines 'Whosoo hym be thowghte', there mentioned as being inscribed beneath _Erthe upon Erthe_, are given by Fisher as follows:--

Whosoo hym be thowght Inwardly and ofte How hard hyt ys to flett From bede to peyt From peyt to peyne that neu{er} Schall seys Certen He wold not doo no syn all þ{is} world to wynne.

The same lines are found on other monumental inscriptions. Weever (_Ancient Funeral Monuments_, p. 425) mentions them as occurring in sixteenth-century inscriptions in Churches at Saffron Walden and Faversham respectively, and Rogers (_Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland_, ii. 210) quotes them from a tombstone in the parish of Dun. The following version is from Bodl. MS. Tanner 407, fol. 36, v^o (sixteenth century):--

He that hath thoughte ful in-wardly and ofte how hard it is to flyt fro bedde on to pyt fro pytte on to pyne whiche neuyr schal haue fyne for alle thys world to wynne wold not do a synne.

#Page 16.# #MS. Laud Misc. 23.# This is the only text which is not written in metrical lines. The MS. being small, it was not as a rule possible to fit one line of the poem into a single line of the page, and the run-on lines involved waste of space. The scribe wrote verse 1 in metrical lines, verses 2 and 3 as if in two long lines, and the remainder of the poem in paragraphs, each paragraph coinciding with a verse. Each new line or paragraph is indicated by a red capital, and the metrical lines are distinguished by pause-marks ([V.], ·, [V], |), and by touching up the first letter of the line in red. In vv. 6, 7, and 8, the scribe appears to have lost count of the lines, as the three verses are written in two paragraphs, and letters in the middle of a line are often marked in red. At the top of the first leaf a later hand has scribbled the words _haue made me_. A few other such scribbles occur elsewhere in the MS.

[[The first and third "pause-marks" are root sign with and without under-dot.]]

l. 26 (p. 17). _Thi body that was rank and louyd of alle men, is hatyd._ The reading is inferior to MS. Lambeth, l. 27:

þan þi bodi þat was rank & undeuout of alle men is bihatid--

and the change led to the placing of the pause (indicated in the MS.) after men.

l. 27. _Out of the erthe cam to this erthe his wantyng garnement._ This line seems to be a compromise between the readings of MSS. Lamb. and Rawl. P.

(_MS. Lamb. 28_)

Out of þis erþe cam to þis erþe þis wrecchid garnement.

(_MS. Rawl. P. 37_)

Oute of the erthe cam the erthe wantynge his garnament.

But the rest of the verse follows Lamb, rather than Rawl. P., cf. _ruly, raggid and rent_, _hidous turment_, beside Rawl. P. _disgesily ragged and to-rent_, _ful grete turment_.

l. 34 has the correct reading _stinke_, as in MSS. Harl. 4486 and Rawl. P.; Lamb. repeats _swynk_.

l. 39 (p. 18). _Wolde therfore this erthe on this erthe on this hertly thinke_, is superior to the exaggeratedly long line in Lamb. 40, but both are inferior to MS. Rawl. P., ll. 53, 54, where the correct rime is preserved:

thinkynge : risynge : rekenynge : kynge.

l. 47. _Lord God that erthe madist & for the erthe suffredist peynys ille._ It is difficult to determine what was the original form of this line. The readings of the other texts which have the verse are as follows:--

(_Harl. 4486, 33_)

Now Lorde that madyst for erthe & sufferdyst paynes ille.

(_Lamb. 48_)

O þou Lord that madist þis erþe for þis erþe & suffridist heere peynes ille.

(_Rawl. P. 125-6_).

Lord God that erthe tokist in erthe And suffredist paynes ful stille.

Possibly MS. Laud has transposed the _and_, and the correct reading should be _that erthe madist for the erthe & suffredist paynes ille_, in which case Harl. 4486 has merely omitted the first _erthe_, while the other two texts have modified the older version.

#Page 24.# #MS. Porkington 10.# _Erthe upon Erthe_ is preceded by the two following stanzas:--

Lo wordly folk{es} thou[gh] þ{is} p{ro}cese of dethe Be not swete, ne synke not i{n} your mynde. Whe{n} age co{m}myþ & schorteth is her brethe, And dethe co{m}myþ, he is not far behynde; The{n} her dyscressio{n} schal wel knov & fynde That to have mynd of deþ it is ful nesseserry, Ffor deth wyl co{m}e; dovtl{es} he wyl not long tarry.

Of what estate [gh]e be, [gh]ovng or wold, That redyth vppon þ{is} dredful storrye, As in a myrrovr her [gh]e may be-holde The ferful ende of al your joy & glorie; Therfor þ{is} mat{er} redvs vs to yovr memory:-- [Gh]e þ{at} syttyþ nowe hye vppon þe whele, Thynke vppo{n} yovr end, & alle schal be we[le].

The MS. is in Lord Harlech's library at Brogyntyn (formerly Porkington) near Oswestry, Salop.

#Page 28.# #MS. Balliol 354.# l. 48. _Go to seynt Poulis, & see þer the portratowre._ Cf. Stow, _Survey of London_, 1598: 'There was also one great cloister on the north side of this church (St. Paul's), environing a plot of ground, of old time called Pardon churchyard . . . About this cloister was artificially and richly painted the Dance of Machabray, or Dance of Death, commonly called the Dance of Paul's; the like whereof was painted about St. Innocent's cloister at Paris, in France. The metres or poesy of this dance were translated out of French into English by John Lidgate, monk of Bury, and with the picture of death leading all estates, painted about the cloister, at the special request and in the dispence of Jenken Carpenter, in the reign of Henry V.'

_Ibid._ 'John Carpenter, townclerk of London, in the reign of Henry V, caused with great expense to be curiously painted upon board, about the north cloister of Paule's, a monument of Death leading all estates, with the speeches of Death, and answer of every state. This cloister was pulled down 1549.'

Cf. Sir T. More, _Works_ (ed. 1557, folio), p. 77: 'We wer never so gretly moved by the beholding of the Daunce of Deth pictured in Paule's.'

#Page 30.# #Maitland MS.# Omitted by Pinkerton from his printed text of the Maitland MS. as 'a silly jingling piece, shewing the vanity of man, who is but earth, building upon earth: priding himself in gold which is but earth', &c. Pinkerton also knew of 'several pieces of the same kind in MSS. of Old English poetry', see Note on MS. Harl. 2253, p. 36. He had strong views against the indiscriminate printing of old MSS., and was unwilling to sacrifice 'the character of a man of taste to that of an antiquary; as of all characters he should the least chuse that of an hoarder of ancient dirt'.

#Page 32.# #MS. Cambridge# (Univ. Libr. I. 1. iv. 9). l. 17. The reading _slogh_ is supported by Professor Skeat. It is difficult to see what meaning could be attached to _flogh_, as in Heuser's text.

#Page 33.# l. 48. _As wroth as the wynde_ was a favourite mediaeval proverb. Cf. _Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight_, l. 319: he wex as wroth as wynde; _Piers Plowman_, C. iv. 486: As wroth as the wynd wex Mede ther-after; _Richard the Redeles_, iii. 153: thei woll be wroth as the wynde.

ANALOGUES.

It may be of interest to note here some other instances of the use of the theme _Earth upon Earth_, not immediately connected with the poem under discussion.

An early instance of the phrase occurs in a Poem on the Death of Edward IV, written by Skelton probably soon after the event (9th April, 1483), beginning _Miseremini mei ye that ben my ffryndys_. Verse 2 runs as follows:--

I slepe now in molde, as it is naturall That erth vnto erth hath his reuerture: What ordeyned God to be terestyall, Without recours to the erth of nature? Who to lyue euer may himselfe assure? What is it to trust on mutabilyte, Sith that in this world nothing may indure? For now am I gone, that late was in prosperyte: To presume thervppon, it is but a vanyte, Not certayne, but as a chery fayre full of wo: Reygned not I of late in greate felycite? _Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio!_

(_Poetical Works of Skelton_, ed. Dyce, I. i; London, 1843).

The poem was inserted amongst the imprinted works of Lydgate, who could not have been alive in 1483, cf. MS. Harl. 4011, fol. 169, v^o, where it occurs among Lydgate's works.

In John Taylor's _Trauels of Twelve-Pence_, 1630 folio (Spenser Soc. reprint, p. 82), this verse occurs:--

Far[2] though from _Earth_ man hath originall, And to the _Earth_, from whence he came doth fall, Though he be Earth, & can claime nought but earth, (As the fraile portion due vnto his birth) Yet many thousands that the earth doth breed, Haue no place (certain) where to lodge or feed.

The following lines occur in a small volume called _The Compleat Bell-Man, being a Pattern for all sorts of People to take notice of the most remarkable Times and Dayes in the Year_, by H. Crouch (seventeenth century). The book contains thirty-nine verses, for Saint-Days and Anniversaries chiefly, a few being on more general subjects. The last verse, No. 39, _Upon the day of Doom_, runs as follows:--

When Earth of Earth shall turn to Earth That was but Earth even from its Birth, Then Earth from Earth shall rise again To endlesse joy, or endlesse pain, Let Earth then serve and please his Maker That Earth of Heaven may be pertaker.

The following is an Epitaph on Roger Earth of Dinton, Wilts, died 1634 (see E. R. Suffling, _Epitaphia_, p. 81):--

From Earth wee came, to Earth wee must returne, Witness this EARTH that Lyes within this VRNE. Begott by EARTH: Borne also of Earth's WOMBE, 74 yeares lived EARTH, now Earth's his TOMBE. In Earth EARTH'S Body Lyes Vnder this STONE, But from this Earth to Heauen EARTH'S soule is gone.

Another later epitaph is quoted by Suffling, p. 339, from Loughter, Glamorganshire, without name or date:--

O Earth! O Earth observe this well, That Earth to Earth must go to dwell, That Earth to Earth must close remain Till Earth for Earth shall come again.

[Footnote 1: But this is not in agreement with Bateman's opinion as to the age of the original parchment roll (1400-1430), see Introduction, p. xi.]

[Footnote 2: ? for.]

APPENDIX I.

The three following _Erthe_ poems, in Latin, French, and English respectively, were discovered too late for inclusion in the text. They represent renderings of the same poem in the three languages, and are preserved on the back of a Roll[1] in the Public Record Office, containing a copy of the Ordinances of the fifth year of Edward II (of which other copies exist in the British Museum, the Record Office, and the Treasury at Canterbury). The poems in question are written on the back of the Roll, towards the end, the Latin and French in parallel columns, and the English below, five verses under the Latin, and four under the French. They are preceded by a number of Latin recipes in another hand, and a few in French follow. The handwriting of the poems is smaller and neater than that of the Ordinances, or the Latin recipes, but was ascribed by Hunter[2] to the time of Edward II, and may perhaps be assigned to the fourteenth century. The French is fourteenth-century Anglo-French, and the texts probably belong to that century, though this copy of them may not have been made until after 1400.

A nineteenth-century transcript of the poems exists in the British Museum, Addit. MS. 25478 (fol. 1-3), described in the Catalogue as containing 'Transcripts of miscellaneous English poetry, with a few Latin pieces, chiefly derived from MS. sources: xivth to xixth century'. The binding is marked 'Collectanea Hunteriana', and the MS. was acquired with various others of the Hunter collection in 1863. The handwriting varies, and these three poems are not in Hunter's own hand. The transcript is headed 'Copy of a Poem in Latin, French, and English, which is written in a hand of the reign of Edward II, on the dorse of a Roll which contains a copy of the ordinances of the fifth year of Edward II, which are printed in the Statutes of the Realm I. 157-168'. The text given below has been collated with this transcript, and variant readings in the latter given in the footnotes under the name Hunter (H.).

The British Museum transcript was discovered by Miss Helen Sandison of Bryn Mawr, U.S.A., who kindly acquainted me with her discovery, and was of great assistance in the search for the original Roll, which was eventually found in a bundle awaiting rearrangement at the Record Office. A large stain on the original text has rendered a considerable portion of the Latin and a few words in the French almost illegible, and Hunter's transcript has left blanks at these points. Mr. S. C. Ratcliff, of the Record Office, has given me much kind and courteous assistance in deciphering the missing words, thanks to which I have been able to fill up all the gaps, except that in verse 8, l. 3 of the Latin. Hunter's text at this point runs as follows:--

4. l. 4. Sic t'ra put^{e}dinis . . . t're venas.

6. l. 4. Terra t'rã faciat flere ieu . . . . .

7. De t'ra resurg'e t'ra deb . . . . . . . . Et quod t'ra meruit . . . . . . . . Hic dum terra vix'it . . . . . . . Ut in t'ra valeat . . . . . dere

8. Adu'sus t'rigenas . . . . terra stabit Et t'ra int'roga . . . . . . . . abit Terra finem cap . . . . . . . gabit Quod terra promiserat t'ra . . . urgabit.

and in the French:--

9. l. 2. Sayt cydaunt a la tere qe tere soit sauve . . . . . . . eyne de tere ou tere est benure.

RECORD OFFICE ROLL (Ex^r. K. R. Parl. Proc., Bdle. 1).

[Transcriber's Note: The following text was printed on two pairs of facing pages:

pg. 42 Latin Text | French Text pg. 43 stz. 1-5 | stz. 1-5 ------------|------------ English Text| English Text stz. 1-3.2 | stz. 3.3-5

pg. 44 Latin Text | French Text pg. 45 stz. 6-11 | stz. 6-10 ------------|------------ English Text| English Text stz. 6-7 | stz. 8-9

For this e-text, the three versions have been combined into complete Latin, French and English poems. Parenthetical notations such as (in left column) are in the original. Footnote numbering reflects the original layout.]

LATIN TEXT (in left column).

[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, r^o] 1 In terra cu{m} terra sit fraude p{er}quisita, Terra t{er}re v{er}mib{us} sic put{r}essit trita, Terra t{er}ra{m} deseret, erit et finita, Terra tu{n}c a terren[i]s[3] mox erit oblita. 4

2 Terra p{er} sup{er}bia{m} terram cum ascendit, Terra tu{n}c cupidine t{er}ram comp{re}hendit, Terra morti p{ro}ximans t{er}ra{m} dat et vendit, Ad t{er}ra{m} viuenciu{m} t{er}ra manus tendit. 8

3 Terra t{er}ra{m} speculans no{n} iustificari, Et ad t{er}re t{er}minu{m} t{er}ra{m} inclinari. Terra t{er}re s{er}uiens vult[4] refrigerari, Et t{er}ra t{er}ribilis in terra locari. 12

4 In t{er}ra q{u}id possidet t{er}ra nisi penas Q{u}ando t{er}ra respicit t{er}ra{m} lite plenas, Et t{er}ra{m} defic{er}e tanq{uam} t{er}re tenas, Sic t{er}ra put{r}edinis intrat[5] terre venas? 16

5 Terra no{n} co{n}siderat t{er}ra{m} firma mente, Atq{ue} t{er}ra labit{ur} in t{er}ra{m} repente, Terra{m} suo sang{u}ine t{er}ra redimente, Terra{m} potens eruit de t{er}ra dolente. 20

6 Terra q{u}ando respicit t{e}rra{m} t{er}minare, Terra t{er}ra{m} debuit sese castigare, Terra t{er}ra{m} valeat vt humiliare, Terra t{er}ra{m} faciat flere ieiunare[19]. 24

7 De t{er}ra resurg{er}e t{er}ra debet vere[19], Et quod t{er}ra meruit t{er}ra[19] possidere[19], Hic du{m} t{er}ra vix{er}it t{er}ra[19] valet[19] flere[19], Ut in t{er}ra valeat t{er}ra[19] post[19] gaudere[19]. 28

[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, v^o] 8 Adu{er}sus t{er}rigenas q{u}ando[19] terra stabit, Et t{er}ra{m} int{er}rogans t{er}ra[19] tu{n}c[19] culpabit[19], Terra fine{m} cap[ia]t t{er}ra{m}[19] . . . gabit[20], Quod t{er}ra p{ro}mis{er}at t{er}ra tu{n}c[19] negabit[21]. 32

9 In t{er}ra q{u}i mortuus & in t{er}ra natus Ffuit[22], t{er}ram p{ro}tegat sic & t{er}re[23] gratus, Vt in t{er}ra quilibet de t{er}ra formatus, Terre ponat t{er}minu{m} t{er}re comendatus. 36

10 In t{er}ra cu{m} Ang{e}li t{er}ra{m} suscitabunt, In t{er}ra terribiles tube resonabunt, De t{er}ra t{er}rigene corpora leuabunt, Et ad t{er}re judice{m} terre tunc clamabunt. 40

11 O tu terre do{mi}ne! t{er}re miserere, Et t{er}ra respiciens terenos tuere, In t{er}ra deficim{us}, terra sumus vere, Nos in t{er}ra gl{or}ie t{er}ram fac videre. 44

FRENCH TEXT (in right column).