In thír seven er sere materes drawen,
Namly til lewed b men of England,
That can noght but Inglise undirstond;
Tharfor this trefice drawe I wald

In Inglise tung that may be cald
Prik of conscience als men fele,

For if a men it rede and undirstonde wele,
And the materes thar-in til hert wil take,
It may his conscience tendre make,

And til right way of rewel bryng it bilyfe,d
And his hert til drede and mekenes dryfe,

e

And til luf and yhernyng of heven blis, 9558. And to amende alle that he has done mys.

Pub. of Philological Society, p. 257, 1864.

27. Alliterative Poems of the Fourteenth Century.
The Sea Storm of Jonah.

From a poem entitled Patience. The following passage shows great poetic genius, and is 'equal to any similar passages in Douglas or Spenser.'s

Anon out of the north est the noys bigynes

Anon out of the north east the noise begins

When bothe brethesh con blowe vpon the watteres

When both breezes gan blow upon the waters

Rog rakkes thar ros with rudnyng an-vnder

Rough clouds there rose with thunder there under
The see souged ful sore, gret selly to here

The sea soughed ful sore, great marvel to hear

The wyndes on the wonne water so wrastel togeder,

The winds in the wan water so wrestle together,

That the wawes ful wode waltered so hige

That the waves full mad rolled so high

And efte busched to the abyme that breed fyssches
And again bent to the abyss that bred fishes;

Durst nowhere for rog arest at the bothem.
Durst it nowhere for roughness rest at the bottom.

When the breth and the brok and the bote metten
When the breeze and the brook and the boat met,

To or for.

b Ignorant.
• Rule.

Quickly.

• Yearning, desire.
f A-miss, wrong.
Madden.

h Eurus and Aquilon.

Hit watz a joyles gyn that Jonas watg inne

It was a joyless engine that Jonah was in

For hit reled on round vpon the roge ythes.
For it reeled round upon the rough waves.

The bur ber to hit baft that braste alle her gere,
The bore (wave) bear to it abaft that burst all her gear,
Then hurled on a hepe the helme and the sterne
Then hurled on a heap the helm and the stern

Furste to murte mony rop and the mast after
First to mar many a rop and the mast after.

The sayl sweyed on the see, thenne suppe bihoued
The sail swung on the sea, then sup behoved

The coge of the colde water, and thenne the cry ryses
The wave of the cold water, and then the cry rises;
Yet coruen thay the cordes and kest al ther-oute
Yet cut they the cordes and cast all there-out,

Mony ladde ther forth lep to laue and to kest
Many a lad there forth leapt, to lave and to cast

Scopen out the scathel water that fayn scape wolde,
To scoop out the scathful water that fain escape would,
For be monnes lode neuer so luther, the lyf is ay sweete.
For be man's lot never so bad, the life is very sweet.

The Writing on the Wall.

In the Mercian, or West-Midland dialect.

From a poem

called Cleanness, or Purity; a collection of Biblical stories enforcing holiness of life.

In the palays principale vpon the playn wowe,
In the palace principal upon the plain wall,

In contrary of the candlestik that clerest hit shyned,
Opposite the candlestick that clearest there shone,

Ther apered a paume, with poyntel in fyngres,
There appeared a palm with a pointel in its fingers,
That watz grysly and gret, and grymly he wrytes,
That was grisly and great; and grimly it writes,

None other forme bot a fust faylaynde the wryst,
None other form, but a fist, failing the wrist,

The use of the participial form faylaynde is an evidence of a northern origin, or rather of distance from strong Norman influence. This last tended to confound all such forms and pronounce

them ing. On the other hand, palays, principale, purtrayed, lettres, and other words, are all of Norman origin. Words purely Saxon are just as marked.

Pared on the parget, purtrayed lettres

Pared on the plaister, pourtrayed letters.

When that bolde Baltazar blusched to that neue
When that bold Belshazzar looked at that fist (nieve)
Such a dasande drede dusched to his herte,

Such a dazzling dread dashed to his heart,

That al falewed his face, and fayled the chere;
That all-paled his face, and failed the cheer;

The stronge strok of the stonde strayned his ioyntes,
The strong stroke of the blow strained his joints,

His cnes cachcheg to close and cluchches his hommes,
His knees catch to close and clutch his hams,

And he with plat-tyng his paumes displayes his lers,
And he unfolding his palms displays his features,

And romyes as a rad ryth that roreg for drede,
And howls as a frightened hound that roars for dread,
Ay biholdand the honde til hit hade al grauen
Ever beholding the hand till it had all graven;

And rasped on the rog woge runisch saueg.
And rasped on the rough wall mysterious saws (sayings).
Early English Alliterative Poems. Ed. by R. MORRIS, 1864.

A sea now occupies the place of the four cities.

It is a stinking pool,

The Dead Sea.

1015. Ther faure citees wern set, nov is a see called,

And is called the
Dead Sea;

Nothing may live in it.

Lead floats on it, and a feather sinks.

Land watered by

• Drubby, dirty.

b Blue, livid.

е

That ay is drouya and dym and ded in hit kynde,
Blob blubrande and blak, vnblythe to neged
As a stynkande stanc that stryed synne
That euer of synne and of smach, smart is to fele;
Forthy the derk dede see hit is demed ever more,
For hit dedeg of dethe duren there get.

For hit is brod and bothemleg and bitter as the galle,
And nogt may lenge in that lake that any lyf bereg,
And all the costeg of kynde hit combrez vchone (each
one)

For lay ther-on a lump of led and hit on loft fleteg.
And folde theron a lygt fyther and hit to founs synkkeg.
And ther water may walter to wete any erthe,

Shal neuer grene ther-on growe, gresse ne wod nawther

© Blubbering, foaming.

To nigh, to approach.

• Destroyed.

f Smell.

8 Cumbers, troubles, destroys.

it never bear grass or weed.

A man cannot be drowned in it. The clay clinging to it is accursed, as alum, alkatran, sulphur,

etc.

Which fret the flesh and fester the bones.

On the shores grow trees bearing fair fruits,

Which when broken or bitten taste like ashes.

All these are

tokens of wickedness and vengeance. God loves the pure in heart.

If any schalke to be schent b wer schowued ther-inne,
Thag he bode in that bothem brothely a month,
He most ay liue in that loged in losyng euer-more,
And neuer drygee no dethe, to dayes of ende,

And, as hit is corsed of kynde and hit coosteg als,
The clay that clenges ther-by arn corsyes strong,
As alum and alkatran that angré arn bothe,

f

Soufre sour, and saundyuer and other such mony;
And ther walteg of that water in waxlokes grete,
The spinnande aspaltoun that spysereg sellen;
And such is alle the soyle by that se halues i
That fel fretes the flesch and festred bones.
And ther are trees by that tarn of traytoures;
And thay borgounog) and beres blomez ful fayre,
The fayrest fryt that may on folde growe,
As orenge and other fryt and apple garnade;
Al so red and so ripe and richeley hwed,
As any dommygt device of dayntyeg oute;

Bot
quen
m hit is brused other broken other byten
in twynne
No worldeg goud hit wyth-inne, bot wydowande askes;
Alle thyse ar teches and tokenes to trow vpon get,
And wittnesse of that wykked werk and the wrake after,
That our fader forferde for fylthe of those ledes.P
Thenne vch wyge may wel wyt that he the wlonk ¶
louies,

And if he louyes clene layk that is oure lorde ryche,
And to be couthe in his courte thou coueytes thenne
To se that semly in sete and his swete face

Strive to be 1056. Clerer counseyl, counsayl con I non, bot that thou clenɛ

clean.

a Fellow.

worthe.

Early English Alliterative Poems. Cleanness, p. 69.

b Destroyed, shoved.

• Miserably.

d Loch, deep place.

• Suffer.

↑ Waves?

B Sticky.

↳ Spice-mongers.

1 Half, a shore.

J Buds forth.

* Hued, coloured.
I Judgment, mind.

" When.

Withering, dry.
Destroys.

P People.

9 Beautiful.

Play, amusement.

D

To chastigen hir1 children. ..

My sire seide so to me
And so dide my dame
That the levere m child
The moore loove bihoveth;
And Salomon seide the same,
That Sapience made,

Qui parcit virga, odit filium.
The Englissh of this Latin is
Who so wole it knowe
Who so spareth the spring
Spilleth P hise children.

The Vision of Piers Ploughman, Passus v.