VII. MEMENTO MORIManuscript:As for no. vi. There are other copies in (C) MS. Cotton Caligula A ix., B.M., of the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and (B) MS.Laud471, Bodleian, of the end of the same century. In (A) MS.Arundel 57, B.M. there is a fourteenth-century version of nine lines. CJ form a group, B belongs to another branch.Editions:Of CJ; Morris,R.,OEM, pp. 156-9 under the inappropriate title, Long Life: of B; Zupitza, J., Anglia i. p. 410: of B, corrected by CJ; Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, p. 56; of C; Wright, T., Percy Society, vol. xi. p. 63. Of A; Morris, R., Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 129.Literature:Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 410; Varnhagen, H., Anglia ii. 71; ii. 67.Phonology:The position is the same as that of piece vi: words not in it are blench 4 (blencanvb.); falwy 6 (fealwian); luteþ 29 (lūtian); sterk 11 (stearc); steo 38 (stīgan, imitating in theinf.flēon, wrēon, Bülbring, Ablaut 88), sunne 10 (synn). MS. C does not differ materially from it: it has however drinche 8, deaþes 8, sterch 11, strench 14, tahte 23, fole 33, wormes 34, nowt 50. MS. B is South-Eastern bordering on Kent; it has rene 3 (rēn), senne 10, starc 11, sene 13, to yenes 16, Man let lust and senne stench 19, sede 23, stie 38 andstforhtin brigst 13. The text is often faulty as if written down from memory, and l. 26 is missing, but the rhymes are correct: the original was doubtless in the South-Eastern dialect.Accidence:longes. g. neut.1 (comp. longes 21/109); heyustadv.38; endiinf.39 (endian), last 2pr. s.(lǣdest) 36 are the only forms which require notice.Metre:The ten-line stanza of this poem is unique in ME. literature. It is an expansion of the common eight-line stanza: its rhyme formula is abab | baab | bb, two quatrains with contrasted rhymes and a two-line close in which the sentiment of the stanza culminates. In the last stanza the effect is spoiled by the absence of a break at the end of the eighth line.As a rule the line contains four measures, but four out of five times the ninth line of the stanza has only three, so, Món | er þu fál | lẹ of þi bénch | 9; Ac déþ | lúteþ | in his schó | 29; In déþ | schal þi lýf | endí | 39; wúrcheþ him | pýnẹ eu|er mó | 49. Further, in the original form of the verse, as preserved by MS. B, the tenth line has only two measures, þi sénnẹ | aquénch | 10; wel dó | wel þénch | 20; hím to | fordó | 30 (Zupitza’s correction of the MS. do him for do); on wóp | þi glé | 40; ne dó | þu só | 50. The rhythm is mostly trochaic, as Món may | lónge |lýues| wéne | 1, but sometimes iambic, as Nis nón | so stróng | ne stárk | ne ké|nè 11; her naú|ẹstu blís|se dáy|es þré | 35. Lines with three-syllable measures like 9 are 22, 26: with monosyllabic first foot are 19, 22, 31, 32.Introduction:The comparative smoothness and finish of the verse points to a date considerably later than that of the Proverbs: perhaps about 1210A.D.The piece seems to have been inspired by stanzas x and xxi of the earlier poem.1. A man may look forward to a long life, but the trick often deceives him; an oft-quoted proverb, as at 21/108, 222/274; ‘Mani man weneþ þat he wene ne þarf, longe to liven, and him lieþ þe wrench,’ Hending MS. O, Anglia iv. 200. The second line occurs in another connection in AR, ‘moni mon abit to schriuen him uort þe nede tippe. Auh ofte him lieð þe wrench,’ 338/18. For the case ofliuescomp. ‘Ðær sceolan þeofas . . . lifes ne wenan,’ Christ 1608; withwrench . . . blenchcomp. 157/125; ‘wrenceþ he ⁊ blenceþ · worn geþenceþ · hinder-hoca,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 315/18.3.turneþ: went, BA.4.makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder,neut.: turneþ he, B; i.e. reyne (OE.regn,m.). Comp. ‘Hope maketh fol manofte blenkes,’ Havelok 307; ‘þenne þe kyng of þe kyth a counsayl hymtakes, | Wyth þe best of his burnes, a blench for to make,’ Cleanness 1201, 2.6.falwy: falewi, BC: comp. 133/39, ‘faleweþ so doþ medewe gres,’ OEM 93/16.8.deþes drench: comp. ‘Þær Cristess mennisscnesse | Drannc dæþess drinnch o rodetreo,’ Orm 45/1373.9.benchimplies feasting: comp. ‘Ne schaltu neuer sytten · on bolstre ne on benche | Ne neuer in none halle · þar me wyn schenche,’ OEM 175/89; ‘Ye þat weryeþ þat riche schrud · and sytteþ on eure benche,’ id. 169/3; ‘Ac þu sete on þine benche, underleid mid þine bolstre,’ Worcester Frag. C, 26; L 9693.10. Withaquench, comp. ‘Her-of we owe þenche. | And vre sunnen aquenche. | Mid beden and myd almesse,’ OEM 79/217.12. B reads, þat may agein deaþes wiþer clench, that has power against death’s hostile grip:wiþer-clenchappears to be without parallel. In our text, Morris takesagoforagon, escape, but, as Zupitza points out, it is probably foragon= agein, which is also found as age, aȝe. Stratmann-Bradley translateswiþer-blench, attack, quoting this place only: more probably it means sly, treacherous attack.14.ryueþ, rakes: Icel. rifja, to rake hay into rows: ‘Ryvyn, or rakyn,’ Prompt. Parvul. ed. Mayhew, col. 386.on o streng: so B, but C in one strench, which would represent OE.strenc, a by-form ofstreng, recorded inFuniculus, modicum funus, rapuelstrenc, Wright, Vocabularies 245/6, just as drench, wrench representdrenc,wrenc. If that bethe case here, then C agrees with BJ, save in the prepositionin. For Death armed with a rake comp. ‘Hwen he com to arudden | of deaðes rake oðre, | hwi deide he him seoluen?’ SK 1137: Satan is often so represented, ‘Þer is sathanas þe qued · | redi wyþ his rake,’ OEM 181/213; SM 11/11; SK, MS. C 917. Death sweeps in his victims with his rope; ‘Ded has vs wit-sett vr strete, | · | All sal we rin into his rape,’ CM 23727; ‘Ded sal rug us til his rape,’ CM 21920; ‘Deþ shal take vs al in rape,’ id. MS. T. The conception then is that of Death sweeping in all sorts and conditions with the same rope. It is just possible that the reading of C, strench, is meant for strech, i.e. stretch, the word still used in Dorsetshire for ‘the space taken in at one stretch of the rake,’ EDD. v. 813. Streche is not common at this period, but comp. 42/231; ‘on his modes streche,’ OEH i. 111/25, in the sweep, or compass, of his mind.15.fox,adj.: comp. 187/351; ‘fox of fyl’ (readwil), Horst., S.A.L. 12/251; Orm 230/6646: forwrench, comp. ‘Alse þe fox þe mid his wrenches walt oðer deor;⁊ haueð his wille þerof,’ OEH ii. 195/7.16. B has, ne mai him nomanto yenes.17.þreting, menace, or possibly upbraiding: B has weping. The nounsþreting,bene,Mede, &c., are subjects of may, l. 16.18.Mede, bribery: B reads, ne listes ne leches drench.21. Possibly a reference to the advice given at 27/288.23. Do as He who bringeth thee to thy end taught thee and said. Comp. 27/282-286.25.mysdo, misfare. B leaves outþenneand the whole of the following line, which means, But thou hast good reason to live in fear and trembling. ‘A peyne joie avra un sul jur | Ke de sa fyn bien pensera,’ MS. Lambeth 522, Archiv lxiii. 76/23.27.such, such and such a man, indefinitely.29.luteþ, lurkeþ. Comp. ‘Ja n’ert tant prus ne tant vaillanz, | Ne tant de richesces en avra, | Ke tuit nel perde a un launz: | Kar mort tapit enmi sun gaunt, | Kant meyns quide | Chescun,’ Archiv lxiii. 76/33; ‘within the hollow crown | That rounds the mortal temples of a king | Keeps Death his court,’ Shakspere, K. Richard II, iii. ii. 160. The reading of B, ‘deþ him ledes on his sóó,’ apparently means, death on his shoes (OE.scōum) directs his footsteps.33.fule fulþe: comp. 134/94. ‘Cum faex, cum limus, cum res vilissima simus, | Unde superbimus? Ad terram terra redimus,’ Hauréau, Notices, vi. 124.37. Comp. ‘Quor deades strenge warp him dun,’ GE 21/714.38. Comp. 21/110; ‘Quen þu best wenis to haf all, | Fra al þansal þou titest fall,’ CM 21939; ‘þenne þu wenest ꝥ þu scalt libben alre best · þenne gest þu forð,’ OEH i. 7/23; ‘quant mielz quidet vivre | e estre a delivre, | la mort li cort sore,’ Reimpredigt 32/16.41. Comp. ‘Wela · weolla · wella;hu þu biswikest monine mon. | þenne he þe treoweðe alre best on;þenne biswikes tu heom,’ L 3411.45, 6. Evidently a popular saying, so ‘Mon let þi fol lust ouergo · and eft hit þe likeþ,’ Poema Morale MS. J. 15 an interpolated line; ‘auh let lust ouergon ⁊ hit te wule liken,’ AR 118/26; ‘Let lust ouergon ⁊ hit þe wule liken,’ id. 238/27; Hendyng 53. Forlikeþcomp. 30/11, and forouergo, pass by, 22/143.Manuscript:... (B) MS. Laud 471printed as shown: error for “Laud Misc.”?Editions:Of CJ; Morris, R., OEMR. OEMAs a rule ... Món may | lónge | lýues | wénelyúes4.makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder,neut.neut
Manuscript:As for no. vi. There are other copies in (C) MS. Cotton Caligula A ix., B.M., of the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and (B) MS.Laud471, Bodleian, of the end of the same century. In (A) MS.Arundel 57, B.M. there is a fourteenth-century version of nine lines. CJ form a group, B belongs to another branch.Editions:Of CJ; Morris,R.,OEM, pp. 156-9 under the inappropriate title, Long Life: of B; Zupitza, J., Anglia i. p. 410: of B, corrected by CJ; Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, p. 56; of C; Wright, T., Percy Society, vol. xi. p. 63. Of A; Morris, R., Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 129.Literature:Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 410; Varnhagen, H., Anglia ii. 71; ii. 67.Phonology:The position is the same as that of piece vi: words not in it are blench 4 (blencanvb.); falwy 6 (fealwian); luteþ 29 (lūtian); sterk 11 (stearc); steo 38 (stīgan, imitating in theinf.flēon, wrēon, Bülbring, Ablaut 88), sunne 10 (synn). MS. C does not differ materially from it: it has however drinche 8, deaþes 8, sterch 11, strench 14, tahte 23, fole 33, wormes 34, nowt 50. MS. B is South-Eastern bordering on Kent; it has rene 3 (rēn), senne 10, starc 11, sene 13, to yenes 16, Man let lust and senne stench 19, sede 23, stie 38 andstforhtin brigst 13. The text is often faulty as if written down from memory, and l. 26 is missing, but the rhymes are correct: the original was doubtless in the South-Eastern dialect.Accidence:longes. g. neut.1 (comp. longes 21/109); heyustadv.38; endiinf.39 (endian), last 2pr. s.(lǣdest) 36 are the only forms which require notice.Metre:The ten-line stanza of this poem is unique in ME. literature. It is an expansion of the common eight-line stanza: its rhyme formula is abab | baab | bb, two quatrains with contrasted rhymes and a two-line close in which the sentiment of the stanza culminates. In the last stanza the effect is spoiled by the absence of a break at the end of the eighth line.As a rule the line contains four measures, but four out of five times the ninth line of the stanza has only three, so, Món | er þu fál | lẹ of þi bénch | 9; Ac déþ | lúteþ | in his schó | 29; In déþ | schal þi lýf | endí | 39; wúrcheþ him | pýnẹ eu|er mó | 49. Further, in the original form of the verse, as preserved by MS. B, the tenth line has only two measures, þi sénnẹ | aquénch | 10; wel dó | wel þénch | 20; hím to | fordó | 30 (Zupitza’s correction of the MS. do him for do); on wóp | þi glé | 40; ne dó | þu só | 50. The rhythm is mostly trochaic, as Món may | lónge |lýues| wéne | 1, but sometimes iambic, as Nis nón | so stróng | ne stárk | ne ké|nè 11; her naú|ẹstu blís|se dáy|es þré | 35. Lines with three-syllable measures like 9 are 22, 26: with monosyllabic first foot are 19, 22, 31, 32.Introduction:The comparative smoothness and finish of the verse points to a date considerably later than that of the Proverbs: perhaps about 1210A.D.The piece seems to have been inspired by stanzas x and xxi of the earlier poem.
Manuscript:As for no. vi. There are other copies in (C) MS. Cotton Caligula A ix., B.M., of the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and (B) MS.Laud471, Bodleian, of the end of the same century. In (A) MS.Arundel 57, B.M. there is a fourteenth-century version of nine lines. CJ form a group, B belongs to another branch.
Editions:Of CJ; Morris,R.,OEM, pp. 156-9 under the inappropriate title, Long Life: of B; Zupitza, J., Anglia i. p. 410: of B, corrected by CJ; Kluge, F., ME. Lesebuch, p. 56; of C; Wright, T., Percy Society, vol. xi. p. 63. Of A; Morris, R., Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 129.
Literature:Zupitza, J., Anglia i. 410; Varnhagen, H., Anglia ii. 71; ii. 67.
Phonology:The position is the same as that of piece vi: words not in it are blench 4 (blencanvb.); falwy 6 (fealwian); luteþ 29 (lūtian); sterk 11 (stearc); steo 38 (stīgan, imitating in theinf.flēon, wrēon, Bülbring, Ablaut 88), sunne 10 (synn). MS. C does not differ materially from it: it has however drinche 8, deaþes 8, sterch 11, strench 14, tahte 23, fole 33, wormes 34, nowt 50. MS. B is South-Eastern bordering on Kent; it has rene 3 (rēn), senne 10, starc 11, sene 13, to yenes 16, Man let lust and senne stench 19, sede 23, stie 38 andstforhtin brigst 13. The text is often faulty as if written down from memory, and l. 26 is missing, but the rhymes are correct: the original was doubtless in the South-Eastern dialect.
Accidence:longes. g. neut.1 (comp. longes 21/109); heyustadv.38; endiinf.39 (endian), last 2pr. s.(lǣdest) 36 are the only forms which require notice.
Metre:The ten-line stanza of this poem is unique in ME. literature. It is an expansion of the common eight-line stanza: its rhyme formula is abab | baab | bb, two quatrains with contrasted rhymes and a two-line close in which the sentiment of the stanza culminates. In the last stanza the effect is spoiled by the absence of a break at the end of the eighth line.
As a rule the line contains four measures, but four out of five times the ninth line of the stanza has only three, so, Món | er þu fál | lẹ of þi bénch | 9; Ac déþ | lúteþ | in his schó | 29; In déþ | schal þi lýf | endí | 39; wúrcheþ him | pýnẹ eu|er mó | 49. Further, in the original form of the verse, as preserved by MS. B, the tenth line has only two measures, þi sénnẹ | aquénch | 10; wel dó | wel þénch | 20; hím to | fordó | 30 (Zupitza’s correction of the MS. do him for do); on wóp | þi glé | 40; ne dó | þu só | 50. The rhythm is mostly trochaic, as Món may | lónge |lýues| wéne | 1, but sometimes iambic, as Nis nón | so stróng | ne stárk | ne ké|nè 11; her naú|ẹstu blís|se dáy|es þré | 35. Lines with three-syllable measures like 9 are 22, 26: with monosyllabic first foot are 19, 22, 31, 32.
Introduction:The comparative smoothness and finish of the verse points to a date considerably later than that of the Proverbs: perhaps about 1210A.D.The piece seems to have been inspired by stanzas x and xxi of the earlier poem.
1. A man may look forward to a long life, but the trick often deceives him; an oft-quoted proverb, as at 21/108, 222/274; ‘Mani man weneþ þat he wene ne þarf, longe to liven, and him lieþ þe wrench,’ Hending MS. O, Anglia iv. 200. The second line occurs in another connection in AR, ‘moni mon abit to schriuen him uort þe nede tippe. Auh ofte him lieð þe wrench,’ 338/18. For the case ofliuescomp. ‘Ðær sceolan þeofas . . . lifes ne wenan,’ Christ 1608; withwrench . . . blenchcomp. 157/125; ‘wrenceþ he ⁊ blenceþ · worn geþenceþ · hinder-hoca,’ Exeter Book, ed. Thorpe, 315/18.
3.turneþ: went, BA.
4.makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder,neut.: turneþ he, B; i.e. reyne (OE.regn,m.). Comp. ‘Hope maketh fol manofte blenkes,’ Havelok 307; ‘þenne þe kyng of þe kyth a counsayl hymtakes, | Wyth þe best of his burnes, a blench for to make,’ Cleanness 1201, 2.
6.falwy: falewi, BC: comp. 133/39, ‘faleweþ so doþ medewe gres,’ OEM 93/16.
8.deþes drench: comp. ‘Þær Cristess mennisscnesse | Drannc dæþess drinnch o rodetreo,’ Orm 45/1373.
9.benchimplies feasting: comp. ‘Ne schaltu neuer sytten · on bolstre ne on benche | Ne neuer in none halle · þar me wyn schenche,’ OEM 175/89; ‘Ye þat weryeþ þat riche schrud · and sytteþ on eure benche,’ id. 169/3; ‘Ac þu sete on þine benche, underleid mid þine bolstre,’ Worcester Frag. C, 26; L 9693.
10. Withaquench, comp. ‘Her-of we owe þenche. | And vre sunnen aquenche. | Mid beden and myd almesse,’ OEM 79/217.
12. B reads, þat may agein deaþes wiþer clench, that has power against death’s hostile grip:wiþer-clenchappears to be without parallel. In our text, Morris takesagoforagon, escape, but, as Zupitza points out, it is probably foragon= agein, which is also found as age, aȝe. Stratmann-Bradley translateswiþer-blench, attack, quoting this place only: more probably it means sly, treacherous attack.
14.ryueþ, rakes: Icel. rifja, to rake hay into rows: ‘Ryvyn, or rakyn,’ Prompt. Parvul. ed. Mayhew, col. 386.on o streng: so B, but C in one strench, which would represent OE.strenc, a by-form ofstreng, recorded inFuniculus, modicum funus, rapuelstrenc, Wright, Vocabularies 245/6, just as drench, wrench representdrenc,wrenc. If that bethe case here, then C agrees with BJ, save in the prepositionin. For Death armed with a rake comp. ‘Hwen he com to arudden | of deaðes rake oðre, | hwi deide he him seoluen?’ SK 1137: Satan is often so represented, ‘Þer is sathanas þe qued · | redi wyþ his rake,’ OEM 181/213; SM 11/11; SK, MS. C 917. Death sweeps in his victims with his rope; ‘Ded has vs wit-sett vr strete, | · | All sal we rin into his rape,’ CM 23727; ‘Ded sal rug us til his rape,’ CM 21920; ‘Deþ shal take vs al in rape,’ id. MS. T. The conception then is that of Death sweeping in all sorts and conditions with the same rope. It is just possible that the reading of C, strench, is meant for strech, i.e. stretch, the word still used in Dorsetshire for ‘the space taken in at one stretch of the rake,’ EDD. v. 813. Streche is not common at this period, but comp. 42/231; ‘on his modes streche,’ OEH i. 111/25, in the sweep, or compass, of his mind.
15.fox,adj.: comp. 187/351; ‘fox of fyl’ (readwil), Horst., S.A.L. 12/251; Orm 230/6646: forwrench, comp. ‘Alse þe fox þe mid his wrenches walt oðer deor;⁊ haueð his wille þerof,’ OEH ii. 195/7.
16. B has, ne mai him nomanto yenes.
17.þreting, menace, or possibly upbraiding: B has weping. The nounsþreting,bene,Mede, &c., are subjects of may, l. 16.
18.Mede, bribery: B reads, ne listes ne leches drench.
21. Possibly a reference to the advice given at 27/288.
23. Do as He who bringeth thee to thy end taught thee and said. Comp. 27/282-286.
25.mysdo, misfare. B leaves outþenneand the whole of the following line, which means, But thou hast good reason to live in fear and trembling. ‘A peyne joie avra un sul jur | Ke de sa fyn bien pensera,’ MS. Lambeth 522, Archiv lxiii. 76/23.
27.such, such and such a man, indefinitely.
29.luteþ, lurkeþ. Comp. ‘Ja n’ert tant prus ne tant vaillanz, | Ne tant de richesces en avra, | Ke tuit nel perde a un launz: | Kar mort tapit enmi sun gaunt, | Kant meyns quide | Chescun,’ Archiv lxiii. 76/33; ‘within the hollow crown | That rounds the mortal temples of a king | Keeps Death his court,’ Shakspere, K. Richard II, iii. ii. 160. The reading of B, ‘deþ him ledes on his sóó,’ apparently means, death on his shoes (OE.scōum) directs his footsteps.
33.fule fulþe: comp. 134/94. ‘Cum faex, cum limus, cum res vilissima simus, | Unde superbimus? Ad terram terra redimus,’ Hauréau, Notices, vi. 124.
37. Comp. ‘Quor deades strenge warp him dun,’ GE 21/714.
38. Comp. 21/110; ‘Quen þu best wenis to haf all, | Fra al þansal þou titest fall,’ CM 21939; ‘þenne þu wenest ꝥ þu scalt libben alre best · þenne gest þu forð,’ OEH i. 7/23; ‘quant mielz quidet vivre | e estre a delivre, | la mort li cort sore,’ Reimpredigt 32/16.
41. Comp. ‘Wela · weolla · wella;hu þu biswikest monine mon. | þenne he þe treoweðe alre best on;þenne biswikes tu heom,’ L 3411.
45, 6. Evidently a popular saying, so ‘Mon let þi fol lust ouergo · and eft hit þe likeþ,’ Poema Morale MS. J. 15 an interpolated line; ‘auh let lust ouergon ⁊ hit te wule liken,’ AR 118/26; ‘Let lust ouergon ⁊ hit þe wule liken,’ id. 238/27; Hendyng 53. Forlikeþcomp. 30/11, and forouergo, pass by, 22/143.
Manuscript:... (B) MS. Laud 471printed as shown: error for “Laud Misc.”?Editions:Of CJ; Morris, R., OEMR. OEMAs a rule ... Món may | lónge | lýues | wénelyúes4.makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder,neut.neut
Manuscript:... (B) MS. Laud 471printed as shown: error for “Laud Misc.”?
Editions:Of CJ; Morris, R., OEMR. OEM
As a rule ... Món may | lónge | lýues | wénelyúes
4.makeþ: hit makeð, C; the subject is weder,neut.neut