Religious pieces in prose and verse. Edited from Robert Thornton's MS., Cir. 1440, in the Lincoln Cathedral Library. [3d ed.] Re-collated with the MS., enl. and rev. 1913

George Gresley Perry

Sujets

• English literature
• Middle English

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

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No. 26Series,Original
19141867, (for 1913).
Pn'ce 5s.. . p
OXFORD
HORACE HART: PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
rtgfnal
26ut
mth
THORNTON'S MS.EDITED FEOM ROBERT (Cm. 1440)
IN THE LINCOLN CATHEDRAL LIBRARY,
* GEORGE G. PERRY, M.A.,
J
AND RECTOR OFPREBENDARY OF LINCOLN WADDINGTON,^
EDITOR OF Mvrte Arthure.^^V
with the and revised[Re-collated MS., enlarged 1913.]
LONDON:
PUBLISHED FOR THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY,
BY &KEGAN TRUBNER LTD.,PAUL, TRENCH, CO.,
68-74 CARTER B.C.LANE,
AND BY HUMPHREY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESSMILFORD,
AMEN B.C.CORNER,
19141867,\\7_O
CONTENTS
PAGE
^
. vPREFACE . . . . . . . .
DAN JOHN SERMON .... 1I. GATTEYNGE'S
. . .16II. THE MIRROR OF ST. EDMUND . .
III. THE THE GHOST . . .51ABBEY OF HOLY .
IV. WM. OF NASSINGTON'S POEM ON THE &c. . 63TRINITY,
THANKS TO CHRIST . . .75V. . . .
VI. A PRAYER TO CHRIST . . , . .77
A 78VII. FOR MERCY
VIII. FIRST HYMN TO JESUS CHRIST 79
AND THE . . .83IX. HYMN TO JESUS CHRIST VIRGIN
X. A PRAYER TO CHRIST 87
POEM 88XI. MORAL
XII. A PRAYER TO JESUS 91
92XIII. A SECOND HYMN TO JESUS .....
XIV. OF SAYNTE IOHN EUANGELIST . . . .97
J?E
106XV. EARTH UPON EARTH
SERVE AND LOVE CHRIST 107XVI.
XVII. WHAT THUNDER SIGNIFIES 114
.XVIII. LAMENTATION OF A DYING SINNER . . .115
THE TOOTHACHE 119XIX. CHARM FOR
GLOSSARY . 121
INDEX OF NAMES . 131PEEFACE.
of Tracts and Poems which follows isTHE miscellany Religious
the Thornton which has contriedited from Manuscript, already
buted the Morte Arthure and the Short Treatises to theHampole
of the E. E. T. S. It is that it will serve somepublications hoped
what towards the of the fourteenthillustrating religious teaching
theand fifteenth as well as towardscenturies, exhibiting pecu
liarities of the Northern in which all the arepiecesEnglish,
written.
The first tract is a and of a mediaevalgood idiomatic specimen
in toand as we find that it was obedience theSermon, preached
( had allcommand of oure Fadire who directed those
]?e byschope/
fhim had of onewho under cure souls opynly, ynglysche, apone
to and teche have cure theoff,Sonondayes, preche faym ]?at j?ay
lawe and the care to knawe God it is also at the sameAlmyghty/
time an evidence of the amount of instruction for theprovided
in those Some hundred before this Sermon waspeople days. years
Grosseteste had similar directions to hiswritten, Bishop given very
the heads which are touched in thisclergy, mentioning very
and them discourse of them to theSermon, bidding people every
in idiomate communi. these and othersSunday Surely facts, many
like them which be far that thetomight produced, go prove
of the Middle was not such a 'dumb asparish priest Ages dog'vi
Preface.
some would have him to and that was not confinedbe, preaching
to the Friars. Dan Jon must have been a sensibleveryGaytrigg
instructor for his and and theto their creedflock, ;according lights
nervous and isin which hisrhythmical English teaching conveyed
ofwould be hard to in modern There is anotherequal days. copy
this Sermon in the of MSS.Trinity College, Cambridge,Library
B. 10. from which Prof. Skeat made an extract for12, kindly
me. It differs from the text here but has
very slightly printed,
indications of later Fora somewhat instance,being transcript.
f '
the old and not Thorntonwell-known word of theprobably tray
'MS. is in the into and an occatho}tchanged Cambridge copy ',
sional omission of a Northern form the fact that thebetrays copier
was not his own dialect. Mr. whose onwriting Skeat, opinion
this is of the utmost writes as follows withsubject weight, regard
'
to the of the I not a doubt that theSermon. havestyle
" "Sermon was in and it asto withoutverse,originally print prose,
would be a mistake. It is to be noted that theremark, Trinity
MS. is asat first written there are dots shewprose (but frequent
where the lines and soon it is written as anding end), verse,very
so continues down to the end. For look folat theinstance,
:lowing
sexte is . we sail trowepe poynt }>at
. after heday rase,jmt f>e fourtyde ]?at
of hemselfe . he vntilthurgh strengh steghed heuen,
whare oure is now . in hiskynde blyssed person,
. no til hiseuen metenoght anely aungels,
bot corounde . abouen allheghe kynge aungels.
It is clear that we have here the alliterativeregular verse, perfect
as as alliteration in theregards accent, regards ; fact,imperfect very
kind of metre into which the old Piers Plowman metre would
The third line the alliterationnaturally degenerate. preserves
and is a line/ even aaltogether, nearly perfect Perhaps stronger
than the one selected Prof. Skeat be found atpassage by might
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