NOTES.
Reading edition
Page 1. MS. Harl. 2253. These four lines were apparently regarded by Wanley, together with the preceding French strophe, as forming part of the poem on the Death of Simon de Montfort, and are not noted by him in the British Museum Catalogue. Böddeker also omitted them from his Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253 (Berlin 1878). They were, however, already noted by Pinkerton in 1786, see Ancient Scottish Poems never before in print . . . from the MS. Collections of Sir Richard Maitland, ii, Note on p. 466: ‘In the same (i.e. Harleian) library, No. 2253, is another of the same kind, beginning,
Erthe toc of erthe erthe wyth wote.
It is only one stanza; and another piece of one stanza preceding it, both are put by Mr. Wanley, in the Catalogue, as part of a French song on Sir Simon de Montfort, which they follow: but such mistakes frequently arise from the crowded manner of old MSS.’ The facsimile opposite the title-page shows the lines as they occur in the MS.
Page 5. William Billyng’s MS. The ‘finely written and illuminated parchment roll’ described by William Bateman in his preface to Billyng’s Five Wounds of Christ, of which forty copies were privately printed by him at Manchester in 1814, contained the following poems:—
1. The Five Wounds of Christ (fifteen stanzas in rime royal).
2. At hygh none whan the belle dothe tylle (eighteen lines).
3. Erth owte of Erth (six stanzas).
4. Pes maketh plente (five lines).
The whole is signed Willm̃ Billyng. It has been frequently suggested that Billyng was the author of these poems, but it is evident that he was not the author of Erthe upon Erthe, though his may be one of the earliest transcripts of the B version, and the lines Pes maketh plente also occur elsewhere, cf. MS. Digby 230 (fifteenth century). He may have been the author of The Five Wounds of Christ, but it is more probable, considering the usual origin of other fifteenth-century collections of the kind, that he was merely the collector and transcriber of the texts. Cf. F. J. Furnivall, Notes and Queries, IV. iii. 103. It is possible that this may be the William Billyng who, in 1474, became rector of Toft Monks in Norfolk on the presentation of the Provost and Scholars of King’s College, Cambridge, and who appears to have held the benefice until 1506 (see Notes and Queries, III. iv. 173; Blomefield, Norfolk, viii. 63).1 The parchment roll was formerly preserved in Bateman’s collection of antiquities at Lomberdale House, Derbyshire. This collection was broken up and sold after Bateman’s death, the archaeological remains being purchased by the Sheffield Museum, and the books and MSS. sold at Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge’s rooms in 1893, but all attempts to trace Billyng’s MS. after the breaking up of the collection have been unsuccessful. A copy of the printed text is in the British Museum.
Montgomery’s reprint of the poem in 1827 was taken from Bateman’s version, and differs from it only in some very slight corrections in spelling. It has been suggested that this reprint was the source of the Earth upon Earth Epitaphs which occur, but these were current from the sixteenth century on, and, as has been already pointed out (see Introduction, pp. xxxvi ff.), the usual form of the Epitaph, even in the latest versions, differed from that of the actual poem.
Page 7. MS. Selden Supra 53. This text omits verse 5, and inverts the normal order of verses 4 and 6 (see Table on p. xvii of Introduction). The text is written in a neat hand in the left-hand column on the back of a spare leaf (fol. 159) at the end of the MS., after Lydgate’s Dance of Macabre. The right-hand column contains Latin scribblings, perhaps by the scribe who re-wrote small portions of Erthe upon Erthe (see p. 7, footnotes). A few lines are scribbled in another hand upon the front side of the leaf, which is otherwise blank. The back of the leaf was evidently unprotected, and is much rubbed and worn. The space below Lydgate’s last verse and colophon on fol. 158 vo contains two odd stanzas in English in the same metre as Lydgate’s poem, beginning ‘Let se your hand my ladi, dam emperys’, in a hand of the late fifteenth century, and a French stanza of four lines (‘Qui met son cuer tout en Deu, Il a son cuer et si a Deu’, &c.) in a French hand, perhaps as late as 1500. Both of these were quite possibly inserted in the MS. later than Erthe upon Erthe, the exact date of which is indeterminate, but it was probably copied in between 1450 and 1500.
Page 8. MS. Egerton 1995. This MS. was evidently a Commonplace book. Its contents are described by Gairdner, Collections of a London Citizen (Camden Society, 1876). The MS. is written throughout in fifteenth-century hand, and appears to be the work of one scribe. Gairdner thinks the whole collection may be ascribed to William Gregory of the Skinners’ Company, who was Mayor of London in 1451, and who seems to have been the author of part, at least, of the Chronicle of London at the end of the MS.
Page 10. MS. Brighton. Fiedler’s account of this MS. is as follows:— ‘Noch eine andre Fassung des Gedichtes habe ich mir vor einigen Jahren aus einer Handschrift abgeschrieben, die damals im Besitze eines Antiquars in Brighton war, über deren weiteren Verbleib ich aber nichts ermitteln könnte. Es war eine Pergamenthandschrift, folio, von 90 Blättern. Sie enthielt eine lateinische Abhandlung über die sieben Sacramente “Oculi Sacerdotis”, und auf der ursprünglich frei gebliebenen Rückseite des letzten Blattes war von einer Hand des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts das englische Gedicht eingetragen.’ (Mod. Lang. Review, III. iii. 219.)
Page 11. Stratford-on-Avon Inscription. A full account of this inscription has been given in the Introduction, p. xii. The lines ‘Whosoo hym be thowghte’, there mentioned as being inscribed beneath Erthe upon Erthe, are given by Fisher as follows:—
Whosoo hym be thowght Inwardly and ofte How hard hyt ys to flett From bede to peyt From peyt to peyne that neuer Schall seys Certen He wold not doo no syn all þis world to wynne.
The same lines are found on other monumental inscriptions. Weever (Ancient Funeral Monuments, p. 425) mentions them as occurring in sixteenth-century inscriptions in Churches at Saffron Walden and Faversham respectively, and Rogers (Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland, ii. 210) quotes them from a tombstone in the parish of Dun. The following version is from Bodl. MS. Tanner 407, fol. 36, vo (sixteenth century):—
He that hath thoughte ful in-wardly and ofte how hard it is to flyt fro bedde on to pyt fro pytte on to pyne whiche neuyr schal haue fyne for alle thys world to wynne wold not do a synne.
Page 16. MS. Laud Misc. 23. This is the only text which is not written in metrical lines. The MS. being small, it was not as a rule possible to fit one line of the poem into a single line of the page, and the run-on lines involved waste of space. The scribe wrote verse 1 in metrical lines, verses 2 and 3 as if in two long lines, and the remainder of the poem in paragraphs, each paragraph coinciding with a verse. Each new line or paragraph is indicated by a red capital, and the metrical lines are distinguished by pause-marks (√̣, ·, √, |), and by touching up the first letter of the line in red. In vv. 6, 7, and 8, the scribe appears to have lost count of the lines, as the three verses are written in two paragraphs, and letters in the middle of a line are often marked in red. At the top of the first leaf a later hand has scribbled the words haue made me. A few other such scribbles occur elsewhere in the MS.
l. 26 (p. 17). Thi body that was rank and louyd of alle men, is hatyd. The reading is inferior to MS. Lambeth, l. 27:
þan þi bodi þat was rank & undeuout of alle men is bihatid—
and the change led to the placing of the pause (indicated in the MS.) after men.
l. 27. Out of the erthe cam to this erthe his wantyng garnement. This line seems to be a compromise between the readings of MSS. Lamb. and Rawl. P.
(MS. Lamb. 28)
Out of þis erþe cam to þis erþe þis wrecchid garnement.
(MS. Rawl. P. 37)
Oute of the erthe cam the erthe wantynge his garnament.
But the rest of the verse follows Lamb, rather than Rawl. P., cf. ruly, raggid and rent, hidous turment, beside Rawl. P. disgesily ragged and to-rent, ful grete turment.
l. 34 has the correct reading stinke, as in MSS. Harl. 4486 and Rawl. P.; Lamb. repeats swynk.
l. 39 (p. 18). Wolde therfore this erthe on this erthe on this hertly thinke, is superior to the exaggeratedly long line in Lamb. 40, but both are inferior to MS. Rawl. P., ll. 53, 54, where the correct rime is preserved:
thinkynge : risynge : rekenynge : kynge.
l. 47. Lord God that erthe madist & for the erthe suffredist peynys ille. It is difficult to determine what was the original form of this line. The readings of the other texts which have the verse are as follows:—
(Harl. 4486, 33)
Now Lorde that madyst for erthe & sufferdyst paynes ille.
(Lamb. 48)
O þou Lord that madist þis erþe for þis erþe & suffridist heere peynes ille.
(Rawl. P. 125-6).
Lord God that erthe tokist in erthe And suffredist paynes ful stille.
Possibly MS. Laud has transposed the and, and the correct reading should be that erthe madist for the erthe & suffredist paynes ille, in which case Harl. 4486 has merely omitted the first erthe, while the other two texts have modified the older version.
Page 24. MS. Porkington 10. Erthe upon Erthe is preceded by the two following stanzas:—
Lo wordly folkes thouȝ þis procese of dethe Be not swete, ne synke not in your mynde. When age commyþ & schorteth is her brethe, And dethe commyþ, he is not far behynde; Then her dyscression schal wel knov & fynde That to have mynd of deþ it is ful nesseserry, Ffor deth wyl come; dovtles he wyl not long tarry. Of what estate ȝe be, ȝovng or wold, That redyth vppon þis dredful storrye, As in a myrrovr her ȝe may be-holde The ferful ende of al your joy & glorie; Therfor þis mater redvs vs to yovr memory:— Ȝe þat syttyþ nowe hye vppon þe whele, Thynke vppon yovr end, & alle schal be we[le].
The MS. is in Lord Harlech’s library at Brogyntyn (formerly Porkington) near Oswestry, Salop.
Page 28. MS. Balliol 354. l. 48. Go to seynt Poulis, & see þer the portratowre. Cf. Stow, Survey of London, 1598: ‘There was also one great cloister on the north side of this church (St. Paul’s), environing a plot of ground, of old time called Pardon churchyard . . . About this cloister was artificially and richly painted the Dance of Machabray, or Dance of Death, commonly called the Dance of Paul’s; the like whereof was painted about St. Innocent’s cloister at Paris, in France. The metres or poesy of this dance were translated out of French into English by John Lidgate, monk of Bury, and with the picture of death leading all estates, painted about the cloister, at the special request and in the dispence of Jenken Carpenter, in the reign of Henry V.’
Ibid. ‘John Carpenter, townclerk of London, in the reign of Henry V, caused with great expense to be curiously painted upon board, about the north cloister of Paule’s, a monument of Death leading all estates, with the speeches of Death, and answer of every state. This cloister was pulled down 1549.’
Cf. Sir T. More, Works (ed. 1557, folio), p. 77: ‘We wer never so gretly moved by the beholding of the Daunce of Deth pictured in Paule’s.’
Page 30. Maitland MS. Omitted by Pinkerton from his printed text of the Maitland MS. as ‘a silly jingling piece, shewing the vanity of man, who is but earth, building upon earth: priding himself in gold which is but earth’, &c. Pinkerton also knew of ‘several pieces of the same kind in MSS. of Old English poetry’, see Note on MS. Harl. 2253, p. 36. He had strong views against the indiscriminate printing of old MSS., and was unwilling to sacrifice ‘the character of a man of taste to that of an antiquary; as of all characters he should the least chuse that of an hoarder of ancient dirt’.
Page 32. MS. Cambridge (Univ. Libr. I. 1. iv. 9). l. 17. The reading slogh is supported by Professor Skeat. It is difficult to see what meaning could be attached to flogh, as in Heuser’s text.
Page 33. l. 48. As wroth as the wynde was a favourite mediaeval proverb. Cf. Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, l. 319: he wex as wroth as wynde; Piers Plowman, C. iv. 486: As wroth as the wynd wex Mede ther-after; Richard the Redeles, iii. 153: thei woll be wroth as the wynde.
ANALOGUES.
It may be of interest to note here some other instances of the use of the theme Earth upon Earth, not immediately connected with the poem under discussion.
An early instance of the phrase occurs in a Poem on the Death of Edward IV, written by Skelton probably soon after the event (9th April, 1483), beginning Miseremini mei ye that ben my ffryndys. Verse 2 runs as follows:—
I slepe now in molde, as it is naturall That erth vnto erth hath his reuerture: What ordeyned God to be terestyall, Without recours to the erth of nature? Who to lyue euer may himselfe assure? What is it to trust on mutabilyte, Sith that in this world nothing may indure? For now am I gone, that late was in prosperyte: To presume thervppon, it is but a vanyte, Not certayne, but as a chery fayre full of wo: Reygned not I of late in greate felycite? Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio!
(Poetical Works of Skelton, ed. Dyce, I. i; London, 1843).
The poem was inserted amongst the imprinted works of Lydgate, who could not have been alive in 1483, cf. MS. Harl. 4011, fol. 169, vo, where it occurs among Lydgate’s works.
In John Taylor’s Trauels of Twelve-Pence, 1630 folio (Spenser Soc. reprint, p. 82), this verse occurs:—
Far2 though from Earth man hath originall, And to the Earth, from whence he came doth fall, Though he be Earth, & can claime nought but earth, (As the fraile portion due vnto his birth) Yet many thousands that the earth doth breed, Haue no place (certain) where to lodge or feed.
The following lines occur in a small volume called The Compleat Bell-Man, being a Pattern for all sorts of People to take notice of the most remarkable Times and Dayes in the Year, by H. Crouch (seventeenth century). The book contains thirty-nine verses, for Saint-Days and Anniversaries chiefly, a few being on more general subjects. The last verse, No. 39, Upon the day of Doom, runs as follows:—
When Earth of Earth shall turn to Earth That was but Earth even from its Birth, Then Earth from Earth shall rise again To endlesse joy, or endlesse pain, Let Earth then serve and please his Maker That Earth of Heaven may be pertaker.
The following is an Epitaph on Roger Earth of Dinton, Wilts, died 1634 (see E. R. Suffling, Epitaphia, p. 81):—
From Earth wee came, to Earth wee must returne, Witness this EARTH that Lyes within this VRNE. Begott by EARTH: Borne also of Earth’s WOMBE, 74 yeares lived EARTH, now Earth’s his TOMBE. In Earth EARTH’S Body Lyes Vnder this STONE, But from this Earth to Heauen EARTH’S soule is gone.
Another later epitaph is quoted by Suffling, p. 339, from Loughter, Glamorganshire, without name or date:—
O Earth! O Earth observe this well, That Earth to Earth must go to dwell, That Earth to Earth must close remain Till Earth for Earth shall come again.
APPENDIX I.
The three following Erthe poems, in Latin, French, and English respectively, were discovered too late for inclusion in the text. They represent renderings of the same poem in the three languages, and are preserved on the back of a Roll1 in the Public Record Office, containing a copy of the Ordinances of the fifth year of Edward II (of which other copies exist in the British Museum, the Record Office, and the Treasury at Canterbury). The poems in question are written on the back of the Roll, towards the end, the Latin and French in parallel columns, and the English below, five verses under the Latin, and four under the French. They are preceded by a number of Latin recipes in another hand, and a few in French follow. The handwriting of the poems is smaller and neater than that of the Ordinances, or the Latin recipes, but was ascribed by Hunter2 to the time of Edward II, and may perhaps be assigned to the fourteenth century. The French is fourteenth-century Anglo-French, and the texts probably belong to that century, though this copy of them may not have been made until after 1400.
A nineteenth-century transcript of the poems exists in the British Museum, Addit. MS. 25478 (fol. 1-3), described in the Catalogue as containing ‘Transcripts of miscellaneous English poetry, with a few Latin pieces, chiefly derived from MS. sources: xivth to xixth century’. The binding is marked ‘Collectanea Hunteriana’, and the MS. was acquired with various others of the Hunter collection in 1863. The handwriting varies, and these three poems are not in Hunter’s own hand. The transcript is headed ‘Copy of a Poem in Latin, French, and English, which is written in a hand of the reign of Edward II, on the dorse of a Roll which contains a copy of the ordinances of the fifth year of Edward II, which are printed in the Statutes of the Realm I. 157-168’. The text given below has been collated with this transcript, and variant readings in the latter given in the footnotes under the name Hunter (H.).
The British Museum transcript was discovered by Miss Helen Sandison of Bryn Mawr, U.S.A., who kindly acquainted me with her discovery, and was of great assistance in the search for the original Roll, which was eventually found in a bundle awaiting rearrangement at the Record Office. A large stain on the original text has rendered a considerable portion of the Latin and a few words in the French almost illegible, and Hunter’s transcript has left blanks at these points. Mr. S. C. Ratcliff, of the Record Office, has given me much kind and courteous assistance in deciphering the missing words, thanks to which I have been able to fill up all the gaps, except that in verse 8, l. 3 of the Latin. Hunter’s text at this point runs as follows:—
4. l. 4. Sic t’ra 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 . . . . . dere
8. Adu’sus t’rigenas . . . . terra stabit Et t’ra int’roga . . . . . . . . abit Terra finem cap . . . . . . . gabit Quod terra promiserat t’ra . . . urgabit.
and in the French:—
9. l. 2. Sayt cydaunt a la tere qe tere soit sauve . . . . . . . eyne de tere ou tere est benure.
Record Office Roll (Exr. K. R. Parl. Proc., Bdle. 1).
The following text was printed on two pairs of facing pages:
pg. 42 Latin Text stz. 1-5 French Text stz. 1-5 pg. 43
English Text stz. 1-3.2 English Text stz. 3.3-5
pg. 44 Latin Text stz. 6-11 French Text stz. 6-10 pg. 45
English Text stz. 6-7 English Text stz. 8-9
For 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 cum terra sit fraude perquisita, Terra terre vermibus sic putressit trita, Terra terram deseret, erit et finita, 4 Terra tunc a terren[i]s3 mox erit oblita. 1 [MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 1, ro] Quant terre auera en9 terre 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.
2 Terra per superbiam terram cum ascendit, Terra tunc cupidine terram comprehendit, Terra morti proximans terram dat et vendit, 8 Ad terram viuencium terra manus tendit. 2 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.
3 Terra terram speculans non iustificari, Et ad terre terminum terram inclinari. Terra terre seruiens vult4 refrigerari, 12 Et terra terribilis in terra locari. 3 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.
4 In terra quid possidet terra nisi penas Quando terra respicit terram lite plenas, Et terram deficere tanquam terre tenas, 16 Sic terra putredinis intrat5 terre venas? 4 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]
5 Terra non considerat terram firma mente, Atque terra labitur in terram repente, Terram suo sanguine terra redimente, 20 Terram potens eruit de terra dolente. 5 O tu cheytiue tere de tere, remembrez Vous estes pris de tere & tere deuendrez, Pensez12 coment en tere & par tere pecchez, 20 & tere fiust en tere tant fortment13 rechatez.
6 Terra quando respicit terram terminare, Terra terram debuit sese castigare, Terra terram valeat vt humiliare, 24 Terra terram faciat flere ieiunare19. 6 Quant tere veyt que tere se treit a la mort, & tere nad en tere forque poure confort, Quant tere moert25 en tere ni ad nul resort, 24 Merueille est que tere de tere nad retort.
7 De terra resurgere terra debet vere19, Et quod terra meruit terra19 possidere19, Hic dum terra vixerit terra19 valet19 flere19, 28 Ut in terra valeat terra19 post19 gaudere19. 7 Quant tere26 deit 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]
8 Aduersus terrigenas quando19 terra stabit, Et terram interrogans terra19 tunc19 culpabit19, Terra finem cap[ia]t terram19 . . . gabit20, 32 Quod terra promiserat terra tunc19 negabit21. 8 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 Que28 soffri en tere pur tere dolour amer.
9 In terra qui mortuus & in terra natus Ffuit22, terram protegat sic & terre23 gratus, Vt in terra quilibet de terra formatus, 36 Terre ponat terminum terre comendatus. 9 Jesu, que pur la tere en tere fiust ne, Soyt eydaunt29 a la tere que tere soit sauue, & nos meyne30 de tere ou tere est benure, 36 Kar si sumes en tere par tere turmente31.
10 In terra cum Angeli terram suscitabunt, In terra terribiles tube resonabunt, De terra terrigene corpora leuabunt, 40 Et ad terre judicem terre tunc clamabunt. 10 Dolour est en tere par tere & par mer, Ffaus est tere en tere & tere desir auer, Pluis ne voil en tere ore32 de tere chaunter. 40 Dieu deynt tere en tere de viuauns habiter. Amen.
11 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.
English Text (in left column, below Latin) (in right column, below French)
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 3, ro]
1 Whanne eorthe hath eorthe wiþ wrong igete, And eorthe in eorthe biginneþ to alete, And eorthe in eorthe wiþ wormes is afrete, 4 Thanne eorthe is on eorthe sone forȝete. 6 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 him seluen iknawe.
[MS. Addit. 25478, fol. 3, vo]
2 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 7 Wan eorthe ssal of eorthe netfulliche aryse, & eorthe on eorthe ihere þilke assise Þer eorthe ne may eorthe noþer24 lere ne wise, 28 Þanne eorthe sal on eorthe grimliche agrise.
3 Whan eorthe juynt eorthe so luþer7 to awelden, & eorthe on þat eorthe allewey8 bi helden, & eorthe on eorthe sone bigynneþ for to elden, 12 Hou may þat14 eorthe on eorthe wo14 belden? 8 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.
4 What haueþ eorthe on eorthe bote pouȝt15 and15 wo, Whan eorthe iseoþ16 eorthe his dedliche fo, & eorthe into eorthe so sone gynneþ guo, 16 & eorthe iworthe to eorthe alle we sullen so? 9 Houre Louerd þat on eorthe for eorthe was iboren, On eorthe of eorthe wiþ wounden to-toren, Wyte eorthe from eorthe þat ne be furloren, 36 & bringe eorthe to þat eorthe þer beþ his icoren.
5 Alas why naþ eorthe17 in 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 foelle18 to 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 word erthe of 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 the Erthe upon Erthe poems 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 the Song on the Times:
When erthe hath erthe i-gette.
Otherwise no verbal connexion can be traced with any of the texts of Erthe upon Erthe, though the phrase eorthe on eorthe recurs 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 the A and the B Version 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 the Song on the Times in 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.
APPENDIX II.
B Version 19. MS. Trinity College Cambridge R. 3. 21.
[fol. 33, vo.] (This text represents the normal seven-stanza type of the B version, but without precise verbal agreement with any text printed above.) 1 rthe vppon erthe so wondyrly wrought, E Erthe opon erthe hath gete a dignite of nought, Erthe opon erthe hath set all hys thought 4 How erthe opon erthe may on hyght be brought. 2 Erthe opon erthe wold be a kyng; But how that erthe goth to erthe thynketh he nothyng. When erthe byddyth erthe hys rent home bryng, 8 Than erthe from erthe hath full hard partyng. 3 Erthe opon erthe wynneth castelles and towres; Than seyth erthe to erthe: ‘Thys ys all owres’. When erthe opon erthe hath bylde halles and bowres, 12 Then shall erthe fro erthe suffre sharpe showres. 4 Erthe goth opon erthe as molde opon molde, Erthe goth opon erthe and glytereth as golde, Lyke as erthe to erthe neuer go sholde. 16 And yet shall erthe to erthe rather then he wolde. 5 Why erthe loueth erthe wondyr I may thynke, Or why erthe for erthe wyll other swete or s[w]ynke, Ffor when erthe in-to erthe ys brought withyn the brynke, 20 Than shall erthe of erthe haue a foule stynke. 6 Lo erthe opon erthe considere well thow may How erthe commeth to erthe nakyd alway. Why shuld erthe than opon erthe go stout and gay 24 Seth erthe in-to erthe shall passe in a pore aray? 7 I counsell erthe opon erthe that wykkyd hath wrought, Whyle erthe ys opon erthe to torne vp hys thought, And pray God opon erthe that all erthe hath wrought, 28 That erthe out of erthe to blysse may be brought. Amen. Memorare nouissima. B Version 20. MS. Trinity College Cambridge B. 15. 39. [fol. 170.] This text (in MS. not written in metrical lines) preserves 9 stanzas of the 12-stanza version in MSS. Lambeth and Laud, and appears to represent a distinct and perhaps older copy of the original of these two. The mistake in v. 8 precludes its being the original. De terra plasmasti me, etc. 1 1Erþe out of erþe is wondirli wrouȝt, Erþe of erþe haþ gete a dignite of nouȝt, Erþe vpon erþe haþ sett al his þouȝt, 4 Howe þat erþe vpon erþe may be hiȝ brouȝt. 2 Erþe vpon erþe wolde ben a king; But how erþe schal to erþe þenkiþ he no þing; Whanne þan erþe biddiþ erþe hise rentis hoom bring, 8 Þanne schal erþe out of erþe haue a piteuous partinge. 3 Erþe vpon erþe wynneþ castels and tours, Þanne seiþ erþe to erþe: ‘þis is all ouris.’ Whanne erþe vpon2 erþe [haþ biggid]3 up his bouris, 12 Þan schal erþe for erþe for4 suffre scharpe schouris. 4 Erþe gooþ upon erþe as molde upon moolde, So gooþ erþe upon erþe al glitiringe in golde, Lijk as erþe vnto erþe neuere go scholde, 16 And ȝit schal erþe vnto erþe raþir þan he wolde. 5 O þou [fol. 170, vo] wrecchid erþe þat in þe erþe trauellist niȝt & day, To florische þe erþe, to peinte þe erþe wiþ wantowne aray, Ȝit schalt þou erþe for al þi erþe, make þou it neuere so queinte or gay, 20 Out of þis erþe in-to þe erþe, þere to klinge as a clot of clay. 6 O wrecchid man whi art þou proud þat art of erþe makid? Hidir brouȝtist þou no schroud, but pore come þou and nakid. Whanne þi soule is went out & þi bodi in5 erþe rakid, 24 Þan bi [bodi]6 þat was rank & bilouid of al men is bihatid. 7 Out of þis erþe cam to þis erþe þis wantinge grarnement7; To hide þis erþe, to happe þis erþe, to him was cloþing lent; But now8 gooþ erþe upon erþe, ruli raggid & rent, 28 Þerfore schal erþe vndir þe erþe haue hidous turment. 8 Þerfore þou erþe vpon erþe þat wikkidli hast wrouȝt, While þat erþe is upon erþe turne aȝen þi þouȝt, & pray to God vpon erthe þat [al þe erþe haþ]9 wrouȝt, 32 Þat erþe vpon erþe to blis may be brouȝt. 9 Now Lord þat erþe madist for erþe & suffridist peines ille, Lete neuere þis erþe for þis erþe mischeue ne spille, But þat þis erþe in þis erþe be euere worchinge þi wille, 36 So that erþe fro þis erþe stie vp to þin hiȝ hille. Amen. Memento homo quod cinis es. et in cinerem reuerteris. Ffac bene dum viuis. post mortem viuere si vis.
A man þat wilneþ for to profite in þe wey of perfeccioun & souvereinli to plese God. he muste studie bisili for to haue þese maters in his herte þat folewiþ here aftir.
First biþenke þee [etc.]