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 hisAltenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253(Berlin 1878). They were, however, already noted by Pinkerton in 1786, seeAncient 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’sFive 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 signedWillm̃ Billyng. It has been frequently suggested that Billyng was the author of these poems, but it is evident that he was not the author ofErthe upon Erthe, though his may be one of the earliest transcripts of theBversion, and the linesPes maketh plentealso occur elsewhere, cf. MS. Digby 230 (fifteenth century). He may have been the author ofThe 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 (seeNotes and Queries, III. iv. 173; Blomefield,Norfolk, viii. 63).1The 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 theEarth upon EarthEpitaphs 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’sDance of Macabre. The right-hand column contains Latin scribblings, perhaps by the scribe who re-wrote small portions ofErthe 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 vocontains 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 thanErthe 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 beneathErthe upon Erthe, are given by Fisher as follows:—Whosoo hym be thowght Inwardly and ofteHow hard hyt ys to flettFrom bede to peyt From peyt to peyne that neuerSchall seys CertenHe wold not doo no syn all þisworld 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, vo(sixteenth century):—He that hath thoughteful in-wardly and oftehow hard it is to flytfro bedde on to pytfro pytte on to pynewhiche neuyr schal haue fynefor alle thys world to wynnewold 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 (√̣, ·, √, |), 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 wordshaue made me. A few other such scribbles occur elsewhere in the MS.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 readingstinke, as in MSS. Harl. 4486 and Rawl. P.; Lamb. repeatsswynk.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 theand, and the correct reading should bethat erthe madist for the erthe & suffredist paynes ille, in which case Harl. 4486 has merely omitted the firsterthe, while the other two texts have modified the older version.Page 24.MS. Porkington 10.Erthe upon Ertheis preceded by the two following stanzas:—Lo wordly folkesthouȝ þisprocese of detheBe not swete, ne synke not inyour mynde.Whenage commyþ & schorteth is her brethe,And dethe commyþ, he is not far behynde;Thenher dyscressionschal wel knov & fyndeThat to have mynd of deþ it is ful nesseserry,Ffor deth wyl come; dovtleshe wyl not long tarry.Of what estate ȝe be, ȝovng or wold,That redyth vppon þisdredful storrye,As in a myrrovr her ȝe may be-holdeThe ferful ende of al your joy & glorie;Therfor þismaterredvs vs to yovr memory:—Ȝe þatsyttyþ nowe hye vppon þe whele,Thynke vpponyovr 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 readingsloghis supported by Professor Skeat. It is difficult to see what meaning could be attached toflogh, as in Heuser’s text.Page 33.l. 48.As wroth as the wyndewas 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 themeEarth 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), beginningMiseremini mei ye that ben my ffryndys. Verse 2 runs as follows:—I slepe now in molde, as it is naturallThat 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, vo, where it occurs among Lydgate’s works.In John Taylor’sTrauels of Twelve-Pence, 1630 folio (Spenser Soc. reprint, p. 82), this verse occurs:—Far2though fromEarthman hath originall,And to theEarth, 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 calledThe 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 EarthThat was but Earth even from its Birth,Then Earth from Earth shall rise againTo endlesse joy, or endlesse pain,Let Earth then serve and please his MakerThat 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 remainTill Earth for Earth shall come again.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.2.? for.APPENDIX I.The three followingErthepoems, 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 Roll1in 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 Hunter2to 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 putedinis . . . 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 . . . . . dere8.Adu’sus t’rigenas . . . . terra stabitEt t’ra int’roga . . . . . . . . abitTerra finem cap . . . . . . . gabitQuod 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(Exr. K. R. Parl. Proc., Bdle. 1).The following text was printed on two pairs of facing pages:pg. 42Latin Textstz. 1-5French Textstz. 1-5pg. 43English Textstz. 1-3.2English Textstz. 3.3-5pg. 44Latin Textstz. 6-11French Textstz. 6-10pg. 45English Textstz. 6-7English Textstz. 8-9For this e-text, it is shown in its original layout as described by the editor (above). Footnote numbering reflects the printed text.Latin Text(in left column).French Text(in right column).1[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, ro]In terra cumterra sit fraude perquisita,Terra terre vermibussic putressit trita,Terra terramdeseret, erit et finita,4Terra tunc a terren[i]s3mox erit oblita.1[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, ro]Quant terre auera en9terre large terre gayne,& terre serra en terre a la mort liuere,Puis ert tere en tere de vermyne mange,4Dounc vendra tere en tere & toust ert oblie.2Terra persuperbiamterram cum ascendit,Terra tunc cupidine terram comprehendit,Terra morti proximans terramdat et vendit,8Ad terramviuenciumterra manus tendit.2Quant tere sour terre de orgoyl descline,& tere ils10[vers] tere par coueitise encline,Dounc tere ils10[vers] tere se treit a Ruyne,8& tere a haute tere requeit medicine.3Terra terramspeculans noniustificari,Et ad terre terminumterraminclinari.Terra terre seruiens vult4refrigerari,12Et terra terribilis in terra locari.3Quant tere ne peot de terre la malueste sourueyndre,Par force deit tere de terre temptaciouns esteyndre,Encontre la fiele tere sa tere deit refreyndre,12Quant tere leue en tere face sa tere moyndre.4In terra quid possidet terra nisi penasQuando terra respicit terramlite plenas,Et terramdeficere tanquamterre tenas,16Sic terra putredinis intrat5terre venas?4Quey ad tere de tere forque dolour & peygneQuant tere veyt en terre soun enemi demeygne,& tere coust en tere a la mort certeyne11,16& tere pase en tere par frelete humeyne?[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, vo]5Terra nonconsiderat terramfirma mente,Atqueterra labiturin terramrepente,Terramsuo sanguine terra redimente,20Terrampotens eruit de terra dolente.5O tu cheytiue tere de tere, remembrezVousestes pris de tere & tere deuendrez,Pensez12coment en tere & par tere pecchez,20& tere fiust en tere tant fortment13rechatez.6Terra quando respicit terramterminare,Terra terramdebuit sese castigare,Terra terramvaleat vt humiliare,24Terra terramfaciat flere ieiunare19.6Quant tere veyt quetere se treit a la mort,& tere nad en tere forquepoure confort,Quant tere moert25en tere ni ad nul resort,24Merueille est quetere de tere nad retort.7De terra resurgere terra debet vere19,Et quod terra meruit terra19possidere19,Hic dumterra vixerit terra19valet19flere19,28Ut in terra valeat terra19post19gaudere19.7Quant tere26deit de tere leuer sodeynement,Tere vendra en tere pur oyer jugement,Dounc auera tere en tere dolour & turment,28Si tere neit fet en tere bon amendement.[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, vo]8Aduersus terrigenas quando19terra stabit,Et terraminterrogans terra19tunc19culpabit19,Terra finemcap[ia]t terram19. . . gabit20,32Quod terra promiserat terra tunc19negabit21.8Angeles vendrount en tere la tere resusciter,& dirrount a la tere de tere couent leuer,Deuant le Roy de tere en tere deuez aller27,32Que28soffri en tere pur tere dolour amer.9In terra qui mortuus & in terra natusFfuit22, terram protegat sic & terre23gratus,Vt in terra quilibet de terra formatus,36Terre ponat terminumterre comendatus.9Jesu, que pur la tere en tere fiust ne,Soyt eydaunt29a la tere que tere soit sauue,& nos meyne30de tere ou tere est benure,36Kar si sumes en tere par tere turmente31.10In terra cumAngeli terramsuscitabunt,In terra terribiles tube resonabunt,De terra terrigene corpora leuabunt,40Et ad terre judicemterre tunc clamabunt.10Dolour est en tere par tere & par mer,Ffaus est tere en tere & tere desir auer,Pluis ne voil en tere ore32de tere chaunter.40Dieu deynt tere en tere de viuauns habiter. Amen.11O tu terre domine! terre miserere,Et terra respiciens terenos tuere,In terra deficimus, terra sumus vere,44Nos in terra glorie terram fac videre.English Text(in left column, below Latin)(in right column, below French)[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 3, ro]1Whanne eorthe hath eorthe wiþ wrong igete,And eorthe in eorthe biginneþ to alete,And eorthe ineorthe wiþ wormes is afrete,4Thanne eorthe is on eorthe sone forȝete.6Whan eorthe iseoþ eorthe to endinge drawe,& eorthe on eorthe wiþ deþ is islawe,& eorthe on eorthe wiþ wormes in ignawe,24Þanne eorthe may eorthe himseluen iknawe.[MS. Addit. 25478,fol. 3, vo]2Wanne eorthe ouer eorthe þorw prude styeþ,And eorthe toward eorthe þorw coueytise wryeþ,& eorthe into eorthe toward þe deþ hyeþ,8Þanne eorthe aȝeyn eorthe toward heuene crieþ.67Wan eorthe ssal of eorthe netfulliche aryse,& eorthe on eorthe ihere þilke assiseÞer eorthe ne may eorthe noþer24lere ne wise,28Þanne eorthe sal on eorthe grimliche agrise.3Whan eorthe juynt eorthe so luþer7to awelden,& eorthe on þat eorthe allewey8bi helden,& eorthe on eorthe sone bigynneþ for to elden,12Hou may þat14eorthe on eorthe wo14belden?8Þanne eorthe sal to eorthe holden gret cheste,& eorthe asken eorthe were is hiere byhesteÞat eorthe byhet eorthe allewey to leste,32Wanne eorthe turneþ to eorthe toward Helle feste.4What haueþ eorthe on eorthe bote pouȝt15and15wo,Whan eorthe iseoþ16eorthe his dedliche fo,& eorthe into eorthe so sone gynneþ guo,16& eorthe iworthe to eorthe alle we sullen so?9Houre Louerd þat on eorthe for eorthe was iboren,On eorthe of eorthe wiþ wounden to-toren,Wyte eorthe fromeorthe þat ne be furloren,36& bringe eorthe to þat eorthe þer beþ his icoren.5Alas why naþ eorthe17in eorthe is þouȝt,Hou eorthe is on eorthe wiþ synnes of-souȝt,& eorthe was in eorthe so mychfulliche ibouȝt,20Þat eorthe þorw eorthe ne foelle18to nouȝt?Amen.It will be seen that the Latin and French versions do not correspond exactly with the English text, the French in particular being a mere paraphrase of it, but this was, no doubt, largely due to the exigencies of the rime. The French text has ten stanzas as against nine in the English poem, and the Latin has eleven, the additional stanzas being an expansion of the theme after the manner of Anglo-Latin poems of the kind. It is evident both from the variant attempts at expansion of the text in the Latin and French, and from the greater freshness and more skilful use of the play on the wordertheof the English text, that the latter is the original, and this supports the view already expressed (Introd. p. xxxiii) as to the relation of the English and Latin versions in MS. Harl. 913. It is improbable, at least, that theErthe upon Erthepoems should all be derived from two Latin poems, the differences between which are too great to admit of a common original, but which were both translated into English verse, and became, in course of time, modified and popularized. On the other hand, the fact that one fourteenth-century poem of the kind had been supplied with a Latin rendering might easily account for an attempt at Latin and French translations in the case of a second, and there seems to be reason for believing that the author of the latter text was acquainted with the poem in MS. Harl. 913. As has been already noted in the Introduction (p. xxxii), the first line of the English version corresponds in idea with that of the text in MS. Harl. 913:Whan erþ haþ erþ iwanne wiþ wow.and in actual wording with that of theSong on the Times:When erthe hath erthe i-gette.Otherwise no verbal connexion can be traced with any of the texts ofErthe upon Erthe, though the phraseeorthe on eortherecurs four times, and there is, of necessity, some similarity of treatment and idea. Thus the remainder of verse 1 contains a reference to the destruction by worms, mentioned in MS. Harl. 913, v. 2, and in the Cambridge text, vv. 7 and 13, as well as to the proverb that the dead are soon forgotten, cf. MS. Harl. 913, v. 4 (Introd. p. xxxi); verse 5 exhorts man to think of death, as does v. 6 of the B Version; and the poem ends with a prayer, as do MSS. Harl. 4486, Lambeth, Laud, Titus, and Rawl. P., as well as Rawl. C., and the Cambridge text. But the wording, and, in the two latter cases, the treatment, is different, and the general similarity is less than might he expected from the triteness of the theme. Both theAand theBVersion lay stress on the contrast between man’s present earthly glory and his future mingling with the dust, whereas the text in the Appendix dwells on the inevitableness of death, the pains of death, and the future judgement (only mentioned here and in MS. Harl. 913). The poem appears to represent an individual treatment of the subject, suggested perhaps by the text in MS. Harl. 913, with its Latin rendering, and possibly also influenced by theSong on the Timesin the same MS. It may be regarded as being ultimately based, like MS. Harl. 913, on the short stanzas current at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and as furnishing additional evidence of the early popularity of the theme, a popularity which gave rise at first to individual poems like this and MS. Harl. 913, and later to the repetition and expansion of one common type as in the B Version. But, unlike MS. Harl. 913, this text stands apart from the more popular types of the poem, and has no connexion with either the B Version or the Cambridge text. It must therefore have been written before the short normal type of the B Version became current, and probably before it took shape as a poem of several stanzas, that is before 1400. The want of close connexion between it and the more usual types of the poem given above, makes the omission of it from the text the less to be regretted, since it represents a side-issue rather than a link in the development of the poem as here treated.
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 hisAltenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253(Berlin 1878). They were, however, already noted by Pinkerton in 1786, seeAncient 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’sFive 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 signedWillm̃ Billyng. It has been frequently suggested that Billyng was the author of these poems, but it is evident that he was not the author ofErthe upon Erthe, though his may be one of the earliest transcripts of theBversion, and the linesPes maketh plentealso occur elsewhere, cf. MS. Digby 230 (fifteenth century). He may have been the author ofThe 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 (seeNotes and Queries, III. iv. 173; Blomefield,Norfolk, viii. 63).1The 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 theEarth upon EarthEpitaphs 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’sDance of Macabre. The right-hand column contains Latin scribblings, perhaps by the scribe who re-wrote small portions ofErthe 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 vocontains 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 thanErthe 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 beneathErthe upon Erthe, are given by Fisher as follows:—
Whosoo hym be thowght Inwardly and ofteHow hard hyt ys to flettFrom bede to peyt From peyt to peyne that neuerSchall seys CertenHe wold not doo no syn all þisworld to wynne.
Whosoo hym be thowght Inwardly and ofte
How hard hyt ys to flett
From bede to peyt From peyt to peyne that neuer
Schall seys Certen
He wold not doo no syn all þisworld 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, vo(sixteenth century):—
He that hath thoughteful in-wardly and oftehow hard it is to flytfro bedde on to pytfro pytte on to pynewhiche neuyr schal haue fynefor alle thys world to wynnewold not do a synne.
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 (√̣, ·, √, |), 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 wordshaue made me. A few other such scribbles occur elsewhere in the MS.
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 readingstinke, as in MSS. Harl. 4486 and Rawl. P.; Lamb. repeatsswynk.
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 theand, and the correct reading should bethat erthe madist for the erthe & suffredist paynes ille, in which case Harl. 4486 has merely omitted the firsterthe, while the other two texts have modified the older version.
Page 24.MS. Porkington 10.Erthe upon Ertheis preceded by the two following stanzas:—
Lo wordly folkesthouȝ þisprocese of detheBe not swete, ne synke not inyour mynde.Whenage commyþ & schorteth is her brethe,And dethe commyþ, he is not far behynde;Thenher dyscressionschal wel knov & fyndeThat to have mynd of deþ it is ful nesseserry,Ffor deth wyl come; dovtleshe wyl not long tarry.Of what estate ȝe be, ȝovng or wold,That redyth vppon þisdredful storrye,As in a myrrovr her ȝe may be-holdeThe ferful ende of al your joy & glorie;Therfor þismaterredvs vs to yovr memory:—Ȝe þatsyttyþ nowe hye vppon þe whele,Thynke vpponyovr end, & alle schal be we[le].
Lo wordly folkesthouȝ þisprocese of dethe
Be not swete, ne synke not inyour mynde.
Whenage commyþ & schorteth is her brethe,
And dethe commyþ, he is not far behynde;
Thenher dyscressionschal wel knov & fynde
That to have mynd of deþ it is ful nesseserry,
Ffor deth wyl come; dovtleshe wyl not long tarry.
Of what estate ȝe be, ȝovng or wold,
That redyth vppon þisdredful storrye,
As in a myrrovr her ȝe may be-holde
The ferful ende of al your joy & glorie;
Therfor þismaterredvs vs to yovr memory:—
Ȝe þatsyttyþ nowe hye vppon þe whele,
Thynke vpponyovr 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 readingsloghis supported by Professor Skeat. It is difficult to see what meaning could be attached toflogh, as in Heuser’s text.
Page 33.l. 48.As wroth as the wyndewas 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.
It may be of interest to note here some other instances of the use of the themeEarth 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), beginningMiseremini mei ye that ben my ffryndys. Verse 2 runs as follows:—
I slepe now in molde, as it is naturallThat 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!
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, vo, where it occurs among Lydgate’s works.
In John Taylor’sTrauels of Twelve-Pence, 1630 folio (Spenser Soc. reprint, p. 82), this verse occurs:—
Far2though fromEarthman hath originall,And to theEarth, 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.
Far2though fromEarthman hath originall,
And to theEarth, 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 calledThe 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 EarthThat was but Earth even from its Birth,Then Earth from Earth shall rise againTo endlesse joy, or endlesse pain,Let Earth then serve and please his MakerThat Earth of Heaven may be pertaker.
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.
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 remainTill Earth for Earth shall come again.
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.
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.2.? for.
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.
2.? for.
The three followingErthepoems, 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 Roll1in 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 Hunter2to 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:—
Sic t’ra putedinis . . . t’re venas.
Terra t’rã faciat flere ieu . . . . .
De t’ra resurg’e t’ra deb . . . . . . . .
Et quod t’ra meruit . . . . . . . .
Hic dum terra vix’it . . . . . . .
Ut in t’ra valeat . . . . . dere
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:—
Sayt cydaunt a la tere qe tere soit sauve
. . . . . . . eyne de tere ou tere est benure.
The following text was printed on two pairs of facing pages:pg. 42Latin Textstz. 1-5French Textstz. 1-5pg. 43English Textstz. 1-3.2English Textstz. 3.3-5pg. 44Latin Textstz. 6-11French Textstz. 6-10pg. 45English Textstz. 6-7English Textstz. 8-9For this e-text, it is shown in its original layout as described by the editor (above). Footnote numbering reflects the printed text.
The following text was printed on two pairs of facing pages:
For this e-text, it is shown in its original layout as described by the editor (above). Footnote numbering reflects the printed text.
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, ro]
In terra cumterra sit fraude perquisita,
Terra terre vermibussic putressit trita,
Terra terramdeseret, erit et finita,
4
Terra tunc a terren[i]s3mox erit oblita.
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, ro]
Quant terre auera en9terre large terre gayne,
& terre serra en terre a la mort liuere,
Puis ert tere en tere de vermyne mange,
4
Dounc vendra tere en tere & toust ert oblie.
Terra persuperbiamterram cum ascendit,
Terra tunc cupidine terram comprehendit,
Terra morti proximans terramdat et vendit,
8
Ad terramviuenciumterra manus tendit.
Quant tere sour terre de orgoyl descline,
& tere ils10[vers] tere par coueitise encline,
Dounc tere ils10[vers] tere se treit a Ruyne,
8
& tere a haute tere requeit medicine.
Terra terramspeculans noniustificari,
Et ad terre terminumterraminclinari.
Terra terre seruiens vult4refrigerari,
12
Et terra terribilis in terra locari.
Quant tere ne peot de terre la malueste sourueyndre,
Par force deit tere de terre temptaciouns esteyndre,
Encontre la fiele tere sa tere deit refreyndre,
12
Quant tere leue en tere face sa tere moyndre.
In terra quid possidet terra nisi penas
Quando terra respicit terramlite plenas,
Et terramdeficere tanquamterre tenas,
16
Sic terra putredinis intrat5terre venas?
Quey ad tere de tere forque dolour & peygne
Quant tere veyt en terre soun enemi demeygne,
& tere coust en tere a la mort certeyne11,
16
& tere pase en tere par frelete humeyne?
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, vo]
Terra nonconsiderat terramfirma mente,
Atqueterra labiturin terramrepente,
Terramsuo sanguine terra redimente,
20
Terrampotens eruit de terra dolente.
O tu cheytiue tere de tere, remembrez
Vousestes pris de tere & tere deuendrez,
Pensez12coment en tere & par tere pecchez,
20
& tere fiust en tere tant fortment13rechatez.
Terra quando respicit terramterminare,
Terra terramdebuit sese castigare,
Terra terramvaleat vt humiliare,
24
Terra terramfaciat flere ieiunare19.
Quant tere veyt quetere se treit a la mort,
& tere nad en tere forquepoure confort,
Quant tere moert25en tere ni ad nul resort,
24
Merueille est quetere de tere nad retort.
De terra resurgere terra debet vere19,
Et quod terra meruit terra19possidere19,
Hic dumterra vixerit terra19valet19flere19,
28
Ut in terra valeat terra19post19gaudere19.
Quant tere26deit de tere leuer sodeynement,
Tere vendra en tere pur oyer jugement,
Dounc auera tere en tere dolour & turment,
28
Si tere neit fet en tere bon amendement.
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 2, vo]
Aduersus terrigenas quando19terra stabit,
Et terraminterrogans terra19tunc19culpabit19,
Terra finemcap[ia]t terram19. . . gabit20,
32
Quod terra promiserat terra tunc19negabit21.
Angeles vendrount en tere la tere resusciter,
& dirrount a la tere de tere couent leuer,
Deuant le Roy de tere en tere deuez aller27,
32
Que28soffri en tere pur tere dolour amer.
In terra qui mortuus & in terra natus
Ffuit22, terram protegat sic & terre23gratus,
Vt in terra quilibet de terra formatus,
36
Terre ponat terminumterre comendatus.
Jesu, que pur la tere en tere fiust ne,
Soyt eydaunt29a la tere que tere soit sauue,
& nos meyne30de tere ou tere est benure,
36
Kar si sumes en tere par tere turmente31.
In terra cumAngeli terramsuscitabunt,
In terra terribiles tube resonabunt,
De terra terrigene corpora leuabunt,
40
Et ad terre judicemterre tunc clamabunt.
Dolour est en tere par tere & par mer,
Ffaus est tere en tere & tere desir auer,
Pluis ne voil en tere ore32de tere chaunter.
40
Dieu deynt tere en tere de viuauns habiter. Amen.
O tu terre domine! terre miserere,
Et terra respiciens terenos tuere,
In terra deficimus, terra sumus vere,
44
Nos in terra glorie terram fac videre.
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 3, ro]
Whanne eorthe hath eorthe wiþ wrong igete,
And eorthe in eorthe biginneþ to alete,
And eorthe ineorthe wiþ wormes is afrete,
4
Thanne eorthe is on eorthe sone forȝete.
Whan eorthe iseoþ eorthe to endinge drawe,
& eorthe on eorthe wiþ deþ is islawe,
& eorthe on eorthe wiþ wormes in ignawe,
24
Þanne eorthe may eorthe himseluen iknawe.
[MS. Addit. 25478,fol. 3, vo]
Wanne eorthe ouer eorthe þorw prude styeþ,
And eorthe toward eorthe þorw coueytise wryeþ,
& eorthe into eorthe toward þe deþ hyeþ,
8
Þanne eorthe aȝeyn eorthe toward heuene crieþ.6
Wan eorthe ssal of eorthe netfulliche aryse,
& eorthe on eorthe ihere þilke assise
Þer eorthe ne may eorthe noþer24lere ne wise,
28
Þanne eorthe sal on eorthe grimliche agrise.
Whan eorthe juynt eorthe so luþer7to awelden,
& eorthe on þat eorthe allewey8bi helden,
& eorthe on eorthe sone bigynneþ for to elden,
12
Hou may þat14eorthe on eorthe wo14belden?
Þanne eorthe sal to eorthe holden gret cheste,
& eorthe asken eorthe were is hiere byheste
Þat eorthe byhet eorthe allewey to leste,
32
Wanne eorthe turneþ to eorthe toward Helle feste.
What haueþ eorthe on eorthe bote pouȝt15and15wo,
Whan eorthe iseoþ16eorthe his dedliche fo,
& eorthe into eorthe so sone gynneþ guo,
16
& eorthe iworthe to eorthe alle we sullen so?
Houre Louerd þat on eorthe for eorthe was iboren,
On eorthe of eorthe wiþ wounden to-toren,
Wyte eorthe fromeorthe þat ne be furloren,
36
& bringe eorthe to þat eorthe þer beþ his icoren.
Alas why naþ eorthe17in eorthe is þouȝt,
Hou eorthe is on eorthe wiþ synnes of-souȝt,
& eorthe was in eorthe so mychfulliche ibouȝt,
20
Þat eorthe þorw eorthe ne foelle18to nouȝt?
Amen.
It will be seen that the Latin and French versions do not correspond exactly with the English text, the French in particular being a mere paraphrase of it, but this was, no doubt, largely due to the exigencies of the rime. The French text has ten stanzas as against nine in the English poem, and the Latin has eleven, the additional stanzas being an expansion of the theme after the manner of Anglo-Latin poems of the kind. It is evident both from the variant attempts at expansion of the text in the Latin and French, and from the greater freshness and more skilful use of the play on the wordertheof the English text, that the latter is the original, and this supports the view already expressed (Introd. p. xxxiii) as to the relation of the English and Latin versions in MS. Harl. 913. It is improbable, at least, that theErthe upon Erthepoems should all be derived from two Latin poems, the differences between which are too great to admit of a common original, but which were both translated into English verse, and became, in course of time, modified and popularized. On the other hand, the fact that one fourteenth-century poem of the kind had been supplied with a Latin rendering might easily account for an attempt at Latin and French translations in the case of a second, and there seems to be reason for believing that the author of the latter text was acquainted with the poem in MS. Harl. 913. As has been already noted in the Introduction (p. xxxii), the first line of the English version corresponds in idea with that of the text in MS. Harl. 913:
Whan erþ haþ erþ iwanne wiþ wow.
and in actual wording with that of theSong on the Times:
When erthe hath erthe i-gette.
Otherwise no verbal connexion can be traced with any of the texts ofErthe upon Erthe, though the phraseeorthe on eortherecurs four times, and there is, of necessity, some similarity of treatment and idea. Thus the remainder of verse 1 contains a reference to the destruction by worms, mentioned in MS. Harl. 913, v. 2, and in the Cambridge text, vv. 7 and 13, as well as to the proverb that the dead are soon forgotten, cf. MS. Harl. 913, v. 4 (Introd. p. xxxi); verse 5 exhorts man to think of death, as does v. 6 of the B Version; and the poem ends with a prayer, as do MSS. Harl. 4486, Lambeth, Laud, Titus, and Rawl. P., as well as Rawl. C., and the Cambridge text. But the wording, and, in the two latter cases, the treatment, is different, and the general similarity is less than might he expected from the triteness of the theme. Both theAand theBVersion lay stress on the contrast between man’s present earthly glory and his future mingling with the dust, whereas the text in the Appendix dwells on the inevitableness of death, the pains of death, and the future judgement (only mentioned here and in MS. Harl. 913). The poem appears to represent an individual treatment of the subject, suggested perhaps by the text in MS. Harl. 913, with its Latin rendering, and possibly also influenced by theSong on the Timesin the same MS. It may be regarded as being ultimately based, like MS. Harl. 913, on the short stanzas current at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and as furnishing additional evidence of the early popularity of the theme, a popularity which gave rise at first to individual poems like this and MS. Harl. 913, and later to the repetition and expansion of one common type as in the B Version. But, unlike MS. Harl. 913, this text stands apart from the more popular types of the poem, and has no connexion with either the B Version or the Cambridge text. It must therefore have been written before the short normal type of the B Version became current, and probably before it took shape as a poem of several stanzas, that is before 1400. The want of close connexion between it and the more usual types of the poem given above, makes the omission of it from the text the less to be regretted, since it represents a side-issue rather than a link in the development of the poem as here treated.