England's Antiphon Part 42

[3] "Do not blame me, it is my nature."

[4] _Mon_ is used for _man_ or _woman_: human being. It is so used in Lancashire still: they say _mon_ to a woman.

[5] "They weep quietly and _becomingly_." I think there must be in this word something of the sense of _gently,-uncomplainingly_.

[6] "And are shrunken (_clung_ with fear) _like_ the clay." _So_ here is the same as _as_. For this interpretation I am indebted to Mr. Morris.

[7] "It is no wonder though it pleases me very ill."

[8] I think the poet, wisely anxious to keep his last line just what it is, was perplexed for a rhyme, and fell on the odd device of saying, for "both day and night," "both day and the other."

[9] "All as if it were not never, I wis."

[10] "So that many men say--True it is, all goeth but G.o.d's will."

[11] I conjecture "All that grain (me) groweth green."

[12] _Not_ is a contraction for _ne wat, know not_. "For I know not whither I must go, nor how long here I dwell." I think _y_ is omitted by mistake before _duelle_.

[13] This is very poor compared with the original.

[14] I owe almost all my information on the history of these plays to Mr.

Collier's well-known work on English Dramatic Poetry.

[15] _Able to suffer_, deserving, subject to, obnoxious to, liable to death and vengeance.

[16] The word _harry_ is still used in Scotland, but only in regard to a bird's nest.

[17] Do-well, Do-better, and Do-best.

[18] Complexion.

[19] Ruddiness--complexion.

[20] Twig.

[21] Life (?).--I think _she_ should be _he_.

[22] Field.

[23] "Carry you beyond this region."

[24] For the knowledge of this poem I am indebted to the Early English Text Society, now printing so many valuable ma.n.u.scripts.

[25] The _for_ here is only an intensive.

[26] _Pref_ is _proof_. _Put in pref_ seems to stand for something more than _being tested_. Might it not mean _proved to be a pearl of price?_

[27] A word acknowledged to be obscure. Mr. Morris suggests _on the left hand_, as unbelieved.

[28] "Except that which his sole wit may judge."

[29] "Be equal to thy possessions:" "fit thy desires to thy means."

[30] "Ambition has uncertainty." We use the word _ticklish_ still.

[31] "Is mingled everywhere."

[32] To relish, to like. "Desire no more than is fitting for thee."

[33] For.

[34] "Let thy spiritual and not thine animal nature guide thee."

[35] "And I dare not falsely judge the reverse."

[36] A poem so like this that it may have been written immediately after reading it, is attributed to Robert Henryson, the Scotch poet. It has the same refrain to every verse as Lydgate's.

[37] "Mourning for mishaps that I had caught made me almost mad."

[38] "Led me all one:" "brought me back to peace, unity, harmony." (?)

[39] "That I read on (it)."

[40] _Of_ in the original, as in the t.i.tle.

[41] Does this mean by contemplation on it?

[42] "I paid good attention to it."

[43] "Greeted thee"--_in the very affliction._

[44] "For Christ's love let us do the same."

[45] "Whatever grief or woe enslaves thee." But _thrall_ is a blunder, for the word ought to have rhymed with _make._

[46] "The precious leader that shall judge us."

[47] "When thou art in sorry plight, think of this."

[48] "And death, beyond renewal, lay hold upon their life."

[49] _Sending, message:_ "whatever varying decree G.o.d sends thee."

[50] "Receives his message;" "accepts his will."

[51] Recently published by the Early English Text Society. S.L. IV.