The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, Vol. XXXX: <list type="simple"> <item>San Marino, Huntington Library, MS 143 (X)</item> </list>

The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, Vol. XXXX: <list type="simple"> <item>San Marino, Huntington Library, MS 143 (X)</item> </list> William Langland Edited by Patricia R. Bart & Michael Calabrese Associate Editor: M. Gail Duggan Linguistic Description: Thorlac Turville-Petre Graduate Research Assistants Paula D. Briski (Hillsdale College) John Ivor Carlson Paul Gaffney Ashley Opp Timothy Stinson Keicy Tolbert Undergraduate Research Assistants Katie R. Sorensen (Hillsdale College) Jenna Suchyta (Hillsdale College) Camden Gray Turner (Hillsdale College) Computer Consultants and Programmers Paul Broyles (North Carolina State University) Benjamin Burnett (Hillsdale College Instructional Technology Service) Daniel Pitti (University of Virginia Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities) Joshua Withee (Hillsdale College Instructional Technology Service) SEENET Raleigh, NC ISBN: XXXX

Commercially available: XXXX

XXXX San Marino, Huntington Library, MS 143 (X)

Combined facsimile & documentary edition.

XXXX XXXX XXXX late 14th or early 15th century Source copy consulted: San Marino, Huntington Library, MS 143 (X)

SEENET A.XXXX

Attribute Values br brown ink ab anglicana bastarda it italic lc Lombard Cap o[number] ornamented capital, N lines high rb rubricated tr touched in red tx textura ul underlined ur underlined in red gr green ink bl blue ink

Latin French German 27 June 2025 Editor Patricia R. Bart Editor Michael A. Calabrese Final version under proofing and revision. X.P.0: The name "J: Sotheby" is written above the text in a modern hand. X.P.1: The capital is in gold leaf and decorated in blue ink. The decoration brackets the entire left hand side of the page, continuing along the top and bottom of the text. IN a somur sesoun whan softe was þe sonne Y shope me in-to shroudesshrobbisa shrowde / as y a shep were In abite as an heremite / vn-holy of werkes Wente forth in þe world / wondres to here · And say many selles / and selkouthe thynges Ac on a May mornyng / on maluerne hulles Me biful for to slepe / for werynesse of-walked And in alaundea launde as y lay / lened y and slepte And merueylousliche me mette / as y maymay ȝow telle Al þe welthe of the world / and þe wo bothe Wynkyng as hit were / witterliche y sigh hit Of treuthe and tricherye / tresounntresou[n] X.P.12: There is an otiose suspension mark above the <o>. and gyle Al y say slepynge / as y shalshal ȝow telle Estward y beheld / aftir þe sonne And say a tour as trowed[y] trowed / treuthe was there-ynne Westward y waytede / in a X.P.16: It is not our intention to gloss each and every correction, since the mark-up itself usually expresses the local textual situation well. We do, however, compose such notes where the reader needs more information about what is happening in the text. Here in the Prologue, for example, we want to alert readers right away to the work of the corrector(s), which will continue through the entire manuscript, and we want readers to know what is at stake in the potential attribution of changes to any particular hand. The addition of the article here repairs an obvious omission and aligns the text with all other C manuscripts. RK say that Hand 1 added this letter; HS wonder if it is in "different ink (?)." We agree with RK that it is Hand 1, because the letter form matches his usual lower-case <a>. Readers will see this type of autocorrection throughout the manuscript. In other instances, readers will see similar repairs by Hand 2, the author of the marginalia, who in some cases appears to be checking the text against an exemplar. In other cases, readers will see Hand 2 fail to correct error, or create error himself. Therefore, because correction in this manuscript will not be consistent in any hand, we want readers to pay close attention to the precision (or lack thereof) of the various acts of correction. while aftir And seigh a depe dale / deth as y leue Woned in tho wones / and wikkede spiritus A fair feld ful of folk / fond y þer bytwene Of alle maneremanere of men / þe mene and þe poreriche Worchyng and wondryng / as þis world ascuth Somme potte hem to þe plogh / playde ful selde In settynge and in sowynge swonken ful harde And wonne þat þis wastors with glotony destrueth And summe putte hem to pruyde / and parayled hem þer-aftir In continance & clothyng / in many kyne gyse In preiers and penaunces / potten hem mony Al for loue of oure lord / lyueden swythe harde In hope to haue a good ende / and heuenriche blisse As Ankeres and Eremites / þat holdeth hem in here selles Coueyten noȝt in contreys / to cayren aboute For no likerous liflode / here lycame to plese And summe chesen chaffare / þei cheueth þe bettre As it semeþ to oure sighte / that suche men y-thryueth And summe murthes to make / as mynstrels conneth Wolleth neyther swynke ne swete / bote sweren grete othes Fyndeth out foule fantasyes / and foles hem maketh AndAnd han hath X.P.38: Hand 2's ink and letter forms are evident (cp. his marginalia on this page), and his addition of hath, a form of the verb haven, aligns X with all the other C manuscripts, which read han, haven or hav. Two lines later he makes another correction, adding the verb is, that properly aligns the text with the majority reading. One might get the impression that Hand 2's corrections are efficient and precise, but we will find that they display a marked inconsistency. wytt at wille / to worche yf þei wolde ThayTha[t] Poule prechedeprecheþ of hem / preue hit y myhte ¶ Qui turpiloquium loquiturloquitur is is luciferes knaue Bidders and beggers / fast aboute ȝede Til here bagge and here bely / was bretful ycrammed Fayteden for here fode / and foughten at þe ale In glotonye þeþo gomus / goth þei to bedde And ryseþ with rybaudrye / ..þo robardus knaues Slep and also slewthe / sueth suche euer Pilgrymes and palmers / plighten hem to-gyderes To seke seynt Iame / and seyntes of Rome Wenten forth on here way / with many wyse tales And hadde leue to lye aftir / al here lyf-tyme // Hermytis wente to walsyngham Eremites on an hep / with hokede staues Wenten to walsyngham / and here wenches aftir Grete lobies and longe / þat loth were to swynke Clothed hem in copis / to be knowe fram othere And made hemself heremites / here ese to haue Frer X.P.56.m.1: The faint <F> abbreviation in the left margin, which we transcribe as Frer, does not appear in Grindley's transcription of the marginalia. For a full discussion of the marginalia, see the Introduction: Marginalia. I · X.P.56: After a line-initial first person pronoun I, Hand 1 has written a raised point. Throughout the manuscript, Hand 1 will often but not always use such a raised point regardless of how he spells the pronoun, I or y. Occasionally, Hand 1 will even insert such a raised point when the pronoun is medial in the line. We have recorded precisely what we see in all instances, whether there is or is not a raised point, so that readers can consider the meaning of such an early form of emphasis or punctuation. fonde þer-of Freris / alle þe foure ordres // hyer preched frerys Prechyng þe peple / for profyt of þe wombe And glosede þe gospel / as hem good likede For coueytise of copis / contraryed somme doctours · Mony of þise maistres / of mendenant freres Here moneye and merchandise / maken to-gyderes Ac sith charite hath be Chapman / and thief[c]hief X.P.62: RK read thief in the manuscript and emend to [c]hief. It is notoriously difficult to distinguish <c> and <t> in Middle English hands, but in this case it appears that the scribe has in fact written a <t>, which he makes with two strokes, a descender and a distinct cross-stroke, as opposed to a <c>, which he makes with one continuous stroke. We take this to be simply a mechanical error and not an intended unique reading. to shryue lordes Mony ferlyes han falle / in a fewe ȝeres And but holichicrcheholi chicrche and charite / choppe adoun suche shryuars The moste meschief on molde / mounteth vp faste ¶ Ther prechede a Pardoner / as he a prest were And brouth forth a bulle / with bischopis selys Sayde þat hymself myhte / assoylen hem alle Of falsnessesfalsnesse andof faystynges / of vowes ybrokene Lewed men leued hym wel / and lykede his wordes And comen and knelede / to kyssen his bulles A X.P.72: A, "he." The scribe frequently uses a for the masculine singular pronoun, and also uses it at times for the feminine singular pronoun or, more rarely, for the third-person plural. We will note throughout the manuscript the various uses of a and identify them by part of speech, since a can also sometimes be a preposition. bounchede hem with his bulles / and blered here yes And raughte with his Rageman / Rynges and Broches Thus ȝe gyue ȝoure gold / glotons to helpe And leneth hit lorelles / þat lecherye haunten ¶ Were þe bischop y-blessed / and worth bothe his eres His seel sholde nouȝt be ysent / in deseyte of þe peple Ac it is nouȝt by þe bischop y leue / þat þe boy precheþ For þe parsche prest and þe Pardoner / parten þe seluer That þe pepleþe pore peple in parsches / sholde haue yf þei ne were // Hyer parsones & parische prestes playned to þe bischop ¶ Parsones and parscheprestisparsche prestis / pleyned to þe bischop That here parsches were pore / sithe þisþe pestelence-tyme To haue alicencea licence and aleuea leueleue / in Londoun to dwelle And synge þer for symonye / while seluer is so swete Bischopes and bachelers / bothe maystres and doctours That han cure vnder crist / and crownyng in tokene Ben charged with holychircheholy chirche / charite to tylie That is lele loue and lyf / among lered and lewed ¶ Leyen in Londoun / in lenton and elles Summe seruen þe kynge / and his siluer tellen In þe Cheker and in þe Chancerye / chalenge.n his dettes Of wardus and of wardemotis / wayues and strayues And summe aren as Seneschalles / and seruen oþer lordes And ben in stede of Stewardus / and sitten and demen // Concyence acusede prelates X.P.95.m.1: To the right of this marginal gloss appears a rectangular figure of unknown origin and intention. ¶ Consience cam and cussedaccusid hem / and þe comune herdehitherde hit And seide ydolatrie ȝe soffren / in sondrye places manye And boxes ben y-set forth / ybounde with yren To vndertake þe tol / of vntrewe sacrefice In menynge of myracles / muche wex hangeth there Al þe world wot wel / hit myghte nouȝt be trewe And for it profiteþ ȝow into pursward / ȝe prelates soffren That lewed men in mysbileue / lyuen and dyen I leue by oure lord / for loue of ȝoure coueytise That al þe world bebe þe the wors / as holy writ telleth ¶ What cheste and meschaunce / to þe children of Irael ful On hem þat fre were / thorwe two fals prestis For Offines sonesynne / and fines his brother Thei were discomfited in batayle / and losten Archa domini And for here syre sey hem synne / and suffred hem do ille And chastisid hem noght þerof / and nolde noght rebuken hem Anon as it was tolde hym / that þe children of Irael Were disconfit in batayle / and Archa domini lorn And his sones slawe ther / anon he ful for sorwe Fro his chayere þer he sat / and brake his nekke atwene And al was for vengeance / he bet noght his children And for þei were prestis / and men of holychircheholy chirche God was wel þe wrother / and took þe raþer veengeance ¶ For-thy y sey ȝe prestes / and men of holychurcheholy churche That soffreth men do sacrefyce / and worschipe maumettes And ȝe shulde be here fadres / and techen hem betre God shal take vengeaunce / on alle suche prestis Wel hardere and grettere / on suche shrewed faderes Than euere he dede / on Offines and Fines his fader For ȝoure shrewed soffraunce / and ȝoure oune synne Ȝoure masse and ~~here~~ȝoure ȝoure matynes / and many of ~~here~~ȝoure ȝoure oures X.P.125: The corrections to ȝoure by Hand 2 align X with all other C manuscripts. Ar don vndeuouteliche / drede is at þe laste Lest crist in his constorie / a-corse of hem manye ¶ I · parsceyued of þe power / that Peter hadde to kepe To bynde and to vnbynde / as þe boke telleth Hou he it lefte with loue / as oure lord wolde Amonge foure vertues / most vertuous of vertues That Cardinales ben cald / and closyng ȝates thare X.P.132: XP2 divide the lines thus, while most C manuscripts divide at ȝates. Crist is in kynedom / to close with heuene Ac of þe Cardinales at Court / þat caught han such a name And power presumen in hemself / apopea pope to make To haue þe power þat Peter hadde / inpugne hem y nelle For in loue and lettrure / lith þe grete eleccounelecc[i]oun Contre-plede hit noght / X.P.138: This very faint virgule separates two words here. The line's proper virgule appears at the caesura. quod Consience / for ~~~~men~~ of~~ X.P.138: In addition to being lined through, the word men is also subpuncted. The phrase men of would have been a unique reading, so it is not at all clear how Hand 1 initially obtained it, but somehow he recognized it as error and expunged it. holichircheholi chirche sake ¶ Thenne cam thetherr X.P.139: Hand 2's correction aligns the text with all other C manuscripts. akynga kyng / KnyghchedeKnygh[t]hede hym laweladde X.P.139: X's unique reading is ambiguous but is perhaps a form of MED leven, v. 1, def. 3(a): "[t]o allow (sb. or sth.) to survive, spare; allow (sb. or sth.) to remain unharmed," which is closest in implication (though only remotely) to the majority reading ladde. Myght of tho men / made hym to regne And thenne cam kynde wytt / and knyghthed to-gedres // Þe comune & kynde wit ordayned a plow Caste þat þe comunescomune sholde / here comunes fynde Kynde wytt and þe comune / contreued alle craftes ¶ X.P.144: Here we see the first of many uncolored <//> signs in the margins, which we take to be divisions into what we might call verse paragraphs. On the composition and function of this formework and its potential relations to the more formal colored parasigns, see the Introduction: I.5 Punctuation. And for most profitable / aplogha plogh gonne þei make And with lele labour to lyue / while lif on londe lasteth Thenne kynde witt to þe kynge / and to þe comune saide Crist kepe þe kynge / and thy kyneriche And lene the lede so þy londe / þat lewte þe louye And for thy rightful ruylynge / be rewardid in heuene Consience to Clergie / and to þe kynge sayde ¶ X.P.151: The blue paraph extends down the page to the end of the Latin lines. Sum Rex sum Princeps / neutrum fortasse deinceps O qui iura regis / christi specialia regis Hoc vt agas melius / iustus es esto pius Nudum ius a te / vestirevestiri vult pietate Qualia vis metere / talia grana sere Si seritur pietas / de pietate metas ¶ Consience and þe kynge / in-to Court wente Where houed an hundrid / in houes of selke Seriantz it semede / that serueth at þe barre Plededen for penyes / and poundes þe lawe And nat for loue of oure lord / vnlose here lyppes ones Thow myghtest betre meten myst / on maluerne hulles // notate men of lawe Than gete a Mum of here mouth / ar moneye were hembe shewed ¶ Than ran þer aroutea route / of ratones / as hit were And smale muys with hem / mo then athousenda thousend Comen til a conseyl / for here comune profyt For a Cat of a Court / cam whan hym likede And ouerlep hem lightliche / and laghte hem alle at wille // Hyere made ratonys a parlement X.P.169.m.1: Beneath this marginal gloss radiate three drypoint scores of unknown origin and intention, extending into a smear. And playde with somme parilously / and potte hem þer hym lykede And yf we groche of his game / a X.P.170: A, "he." wol greue vs sore To his clees clawe vs / andand in in his cloches vs halde That vs lotheth þe lyf / ar he lette vs passe MyghteMyghte we we X.P.173: Hand 2's correction aligns X with other C manuscripts. with eny wyt / his wille wthsyttew[i]thsytte We myhte be lordes alofte / and lyue as vs luste A ratoun of renown / moste resonable of tounge Sayde y haue seyen grete syres / in Cytees and in townes Bere beyus of bryghte gold / al a-boute here nekkes And colers of crafty werk / bothe knyghteknyghtes and squieres Wer ther a belle on here beygh / by ihesu as me thynketh Men Myghte y-wete where þei wente / and here beyȝ wa.re bryghte syluer X.P.180: The scribe (or his exemplar) has omitted by eyeskip the b-verse of X.P.180 and the next line and a half. Other C witnesses read: Men Myghte ywete where þei wente and here way roume Ryȝt so quod þe raton reson me sheweth A belle to byggen of bras oþer of bryghte syluer (RK.P.183-RK.P.185). X had created nonsense by merging X.P.180 with the final words of RK.P.185. X.P.180 thus initially read Men Myghte y-wete where þei wente / and here way bryghte syluer. Hand 2 ingeniously adds the word beyȝ and converts way to ware obtaining, as we might translate, "as long as/if her bell were bright silver." This makes great sense of the otherwise garbled text. But the clever change makes us wonder whether Hand 2 had an exemplar, for if he did, why did he not simply supply the missing lines? Perhaps, therefore, these lines were missing from any and all exemplars used by Hands 1 and 2. And knytten hit on a coler / for oure comune profyt And hongen hit aboute þe cattes halse / thanne here we mowe Wher he rihtrit othere reste / or rometh to pleye And yf us lust for to layke / than loke we mowe And apere in his presence / þe while hym pleye lyketh And yf hym wratheth ben wewe mowe bebe war / and his way roume Alle thise route of ratones / to þis resoun þei assentideasentede Ac tho þe belle was y-broughte / and on þe beygh hangid Ther ne was ..non ofno raton in X.P.189: HS are silent on this addition; RK assert that non is by a different hand from the main text and that of is by yet a third hand. Such speculation underlines the problem of attribution of hands. We have to attribute this correction to Hand X because the letter forms and ink do not immediately reflect the style of Hand 2 and yet are not in the same ink as the main text. The reading obtained is unique and must have been written over what was a two-letter word, perhaps on or in, readings attested in some other C manuscripts. Since the required reading is the much longer no raton in, the corrector was trying to repair the sense and must not have had access to the majority reading in his exemplar, assuming that this correction was part of a global check against an exemplar—an assumption that ought not to be made lightly. Almost every site of correction reveals part of a dramatic, if not always discernibly clear, textual history. al þe route / for al þe reame of Fraunce That derste haue ybounde þe belle / aboute þe kattes nekke Ne haue hanged it aboute his hals / al yngelond to wynne And leten here labour ylost / and al here longe study // hyere spekyþ a mous of renoun ¶ AmousA mous þat moche good couthe / as me tho thoughte Strok forth sturnely / and stod byfore hem alle And to þe route of ratones / rehersede thise wordes Thow we hadde ykuld þe Cat / ȝut shulde ther come another To crache vs and alle oure kynde / thogh we crope vnder benches For-thy y conseile for oure comune profit / lat þe Cat y-worthe And be neuereneuere be we so bold / the belle hym sheweto shewe For y herde my syre sayn seuene ȝer y-passed Ther þe Cat ..is but a kytoun / þe Court is ful elynge Wyttenesse at holy wryt / who-so kan rede ¶ Ve terre vbi puer est Rex Y seye it for me quod þe mous / y se so muche aftur Shal neuer þe Cat ne kytoun / be my conseil be greued Ne carpen of here colers / þat costede me neuere And thow hit costed myme catel / byknowen y ne wolde But soffre and sey nouȝt / andand so that is þe beste Til þat meschief amende hem / þat many man chasteth For many mannys malt / we muys wolde distruye And þe route of ratones / of reste men a-wake Ne were þe Cat of þe Court / and ȝonge kitones toward For hadde ȝe ratones ȝoure ~~...d~~ryot X.P.213: Hand 2's unique reading, ryot (MED riot(e), likely def. 1(a): "Riotous living, dissipation, debauchery; extravagance, a course of extravagance") is, according to HS, written over the overwhelming majority reading of the C manuscripts, reed. We can confirm that the outline of a <d> is still visible, and the length of the erasure is four letters. If this is indeed the case, then Hand 2 has indeed erased an archetypal reading in favor of his own innovation. / ȝe couthe nat reule ȝow-suluen ¶ What þis meteles bymeneth / ȝe men þat ben merye Deuyne ȝe for y ne dar / by dere god almyhten ¶ Ȝut mette me more / of mene and of riche passus · 1us · de visione As Barones and Burgeys / and bonde-men of thorpes Al y say slepynge / as ȝe shal here her-aftur Bothe Bakeres and Breweres / Bochers and other Webbesteres and walkeres / and wynners with handes As taylers and tanners / and tulyers þe erthe As dykers and deluers / þat doth here dedis ylle And dryueth forth here days / with d~~...i~~ew X.P.223: A final minim is still visible in the four-character erasure, making it possible that the text once read dieu, the majority reading. But dew must be a form of MED deus, n. 1, so the reasons for the correction, converting to another form of the same word, are unknown, unless the initial reading was not in fact dieu, or unless with dew Hand 2 intended something we do not understand. vous saue dame Emme Cokes and here knaues / cryede hote pyes hote Goode gees and grys / gawe dyne gawe Tauerners til hem / tolde þe same Whit wyn of Oseye / and wyn of gascoyne Of þe reule and of þe rochele / the roostroost to to defye X.P.228: X lacks a line that appears in most other C manuscripts: Al þis y say slepynge and seuene sythes more (RK.P.235). Passus primus de visione ~~...?...~~ X.1.0.h.1: HS say that the exact name erased is Pers le ploghman, but all that remains visible are the descenders of the 's, as the erasure is quite thorough, and thus we can only conjecture the exact spelling of the name. We cannot determine whether the article was þe or le. Readers will also notice that portions of the red underline are damaged by the erasure. This suggests both that the act of deletion occurred after the rubrication and also that the deleter wanted, for uncertain reasons, to preserve the underlining as best he could. Possibly, but inconclusively, this could support the notion that the deletions were meant to be replaced with proper rubrication of the character's name. See Calabrese (2005), pp. 195-99 on this question and see also the Introduction: I.8 The Erasure of the Name of Piers Plowman. wWhat X.1.1: The initial is decorated in red ink, which extends nine lines above and the entire length of the page below. the montaigne by-meneth / and þe merke dale And þe feld ful of folk / y shal ȝou fair shewe A louely lady of ~~leer~~glorie X.1.3: Concerning this correction, Calabrese (2005) writes that here ". . . Hand 2 has altered the text in a way that scarcely fits into any definition of "correction," obtaining a reading that disregards or converts, and for the worse, the meaning of the passage and/or the poetic structure of the verse" (YLS 19, p. 180 and n. citing Grindley's discussion). Hand 2's motivation in replacing an archetypal reading with a unique and non-alliterating one remains puzzling. / in lynnene in clothedyclothed Cam doun fro þe castel / and calde me by name And sayde wille slepestou / seestow þis peple Hou bisy þei ben / aboute þe mase The moste party of this peple / þat passeth on þis erthe Hadde thei worschip in this world / thei wilneth no bettere Of othere heuene then here / thei haldeholden no tale Y was afeerd of of[of] here face / thow she fayre were And sayde mercy ma-dame / what may this be to mene The tour vppon þe ~~.....~~tofte quod she / treuthe is þer-ynne And wolde þat ȝe wroghtoun / as his word techeth For he is fader of fayth / and formor of alle To be fayful to hym / ȝafhe ȝaf ȝow fyue wittes For to worschipe hym þerwith / þe whiles ȝe lyuen here Wherfore he hette þe elementis / to helpe ȝow alle tymes And brynge forth ȝoure bi-lelyue / bothe lynnen and wollen And in mesure thow muche were / to make ȝow attese And comaundede of his cortesye / in comune thre thynges Aren non ni defolenidefole but tho thre / and nemne hem y thenke And rekene hem by rewe / reherse hem weher þe liketh The firste is fode / and vesture þe seconde passus X.1.24.f.1: The two words of the running header are separated by nearly the width of the page: the first left justified with the text, the second right justified. primus And drynke þat doth the good / and drynke nat out of tyme ¶ Loot in his lyue / thorw likerous drynke WykkedeWickedly wroghte / and wrathed god almyhty // lo how loot lay be his doȝtres In his droknkenesse aday / his doughteres he dighte And lay by hem bothe / as þe boke telleth In his glotonye bygat / gurles þat were cherles And al he witte þe wyn / his wikkede dede ¶ Inebriemus eum vino / dormiamusque cum eo vt seruare possimus de patre nostro semen / Genesis & cetera Thorw wyn and thorw woman / there was loot acombred For-thy drede delitable drynke / bothe day and nyghtes Mesure is medecyne / thogh þow muche ȝerne Al is nat good to þe gost / þat þe gott ascuth Ne liflode to þe lycame / þat lef is þe soule Leef nat thy lycame / for a lyare hym techeth Which is þe wrecchede world / wolde þe bigyle For the fend and thy flesch / folewen to-gederes And þat ~~....~~schenthseeth X.1.40: We cannot determine what was erased, but it could very well have been something akin to seeth, the reading of several manuscripts. Other manuscripts read seweth, but that would not fit into the erased space. The line caused some confusion among scribes. It is not clear what Hand 2 is intending with schenth: it could be a botched form of MED shenden, v., which can mean "(a) [t]o do harm to (sb.), injure; bring (sb.) to ruin, overcome; injure (sb., a part of the body, a faculty or capacity of the body), damage, afflict," in which case, þat in this line could refer to the devil, who harms the soul. All editors emend to seeth. Pearsall (2008) offers a helpful translation of this still confusing syntax: "And the soul sees that and tells you of it in your heart" (C-text, p. 58), with "that" referring to the devil's use of the flesh to provoke sin. If seeth is in fact the erased word, then we have another instance of Hand 2's corruption of the text. þe soule / and sayth hit the in herte And wysseth þe to ben y-war / what wolde þe desseyue ¶ A madame mercy / me lyketh wel ȝoure wordes Ac þe moneye of þis molde / þat men so faste kepen Telleth me to wham / þat tresour bylongeth ¶ Go to þe gospel quod she / and se what god sayde Whenne þe peple aposed hym / of a peny in þe temple And god askede at hem / hoes was þe koyne Sesares thei sayde / sothliche we knoweth ¶ Reddite cesari sayde god / þat cesar byfalleth Et que sunt dei deo / or ȝe don ylle For riȝtfulliche resoun / sholde reule ȝow alle And kynde witte be wardeyn / ȝoure wetlthe to kepe And tutor of ȝoure tresor / and take it ȝow at nede For hosbondrye and he / holdeth to-gederes ¶ Y fraynede her fayr tho / for hym þat here made The dep dale and þe derk / so vnsemely to se to What may hit by-mene / madame y by-seche ¶ That is þe Castel of care / who-so cometh þer-ynne de visione May banne þat he born was / in body and in soule Ther-ynne wonyeth a wyghte / þat wrong is his name Fader of falshede / fond hit firste of alle Adam and Eue / he eggede to ylle And conseylede Caym / to cullen his brother Iudas he byiapede / thorw iewene suluer And afterward anhengede hym / hey vppon anhellernean hellerne He is lettere of loue / and lyeth alle tymes That tristeth in tresor of erthe / he bytrayeth sonest To combre men with coueytise / þat is his kynde and his lore ¶ Thenne hadde y wonder in my wit / what woman he X.1.69: He, "she." In this manuscript, we often see he as the third-person singular feminine pronoun. We have not marked all instances, especially in long sequences where the pronoun is repeated frequently—where the context should make the meaning clear—but on occasion, for clarity, we have added notes to indicate this usage. were // Hyer askyd wille who was þat woman þat spak to hym That suche wyse wordes / of holy writ shewede And y hansledehalsede X.1.71: It is not at all clear what XAcPRcVc intended with hanslede. We take this form to be metathesis of halsnen, obtaining the same meaning as the majority readings from related halsen; see MED, s.v. hanslen, v.: "To beseech (sb. that he do sth.) by invocation of God's name, etc.; entreat, implore, adjure." The variants present here and those in the other surviving witnesses illustrate, in any case, a wide range of verbs that merged over time; see MED, s.vv. halsnen, halsen, heilsen, and hansellen. In this ambiguous situation, Hand 2 tries to repair the a-verse with the addition of the first-person singular pronoun. Our thanks to Thorlac Turville-Petre for his insights on this reading. here on the hey name / or she thennes wente What she were wytterly / þat wissede me so and tauhte ¶ Holy churche y am quod she / þou oughtest me to knowe Y vndirfenge þe formeste / and freman the made Thow broughtest me borewes / my biddyng to fulfille Leue on me and loue me / al thy lyf-tyme ¶ Thenne y knelede on my knees / and criede here of grace And preyede here pitously / to preye for me to amende And also kenne me kyndly / on crist to biliue Teche me to tresor / but telle me this ilke How y may saue my soule / þat saynt art yholde When alle tresores ben tried / treuthe is þe beste I · do it vppon deus caritas / to deme þe sothe Hit is a derworthe a druerie / as dere god hym-seluen For who is trewe of his tonge / and of his two handes And doth þe werkes þerwith / and wilneth nomanno man ylle He is agoda god by þe gospel / and graunte may hele And also lyk oure lord / by saynt lukes wordes Clerkes þat knowen hit is thus / sholde kenne it a-boute For cristene and vncristene / claymeth it echone ¶ Kynges and knyghtes / sholde kepen hit by resoun Rydon and rappe a-doun / in reumes aboute And take transgressores / and teyen hem faste Til treuthe hadde termyned / here trespas to þe ende passus primus And halden with hemhym and herewith here / þat han trewe action And for no lordene loue / leue þe trewe partie Treweliche to take / and treweliche to fyghte Is þe professioun / and puyr ordre X.1.98-X.1.101: X shares this line division with C manuscripts BmBoCotI. That apendeth to knyghtes / and ho-so passeth þat poynt Is appostata of knyghthed / for thei sholde nother faste Ne forbere the serk / But fyghte and fende treuthe And neuer sleue for loue / in hope to lacche syluer ¶ Dauid in his daies / dobbed knyghtes dede hem swere on here swerd / to serue treuthe euere And god whan he bigan heuene / in þat grete blisse Made knyghtes in his Couert / creatures tene Cherubyn and Ceraphyn / suche seuene / X.1.107: C manuscripts variously divide lines X.1.107-X.1.112, and only X divides line 107 at seuene, whereas most C manuscripts place the words And anoþer at the end of this line. (See the a-verse of X.1.108.) It is very strange that X.1.107 ends in a virgule, for Hand 1 very rarely ends the lines thus (e.g. X.9.145 and X.9.242), but perhaps in this instance he perceived some oddity and marked it with a virgule. And anoþer lucifer loue..lokest tho / ac litel while it duyred He was an archangel of heuene / on of goddes knyghtes He and oþer with hym / helden nat with treuthe Lepen out in lothly forme / for his fals wille That hadde ~~lost~~ bolust X.1.112: In this bizarre correction, it appears that Hand 1 has deleted lost and written bost and then another hand has converted that reading to lust (the majority reading) by converting the <o> to , and then the to <l>. Oddly, in another C manuscript (P2), the opposite has occurred, as lust has been converted to bost. to be lyk / his lord þat was almyghty ¶ Ponam pedem meum in Aquilone / & similis ero altissimo Lord why wold he tho / þat wykkede lucifer // lo fendis fille for pride Luppen alofte // X.1.115: At the caesura we see and have marked a rare double virgule of uncertain function. in þe north syde Thenne sitten in þe sonne syde / þere þe day roweth Nere hit for northerne men / anon y wolde ȝow telle Ac y wol lacky no lyf / quod þat lady sothly Hit is sikerore bi southe / þer þe sonne regneth Then in þe north by many notes / nomanno man leue other For theder as þe fende fly / his fote for to sette Ther he faylede and ful / and his felawes alle And helle is þer he is / andand he þere ybounde Euene þe contrarie sitteth Crist / Clerkes wyteth þe sothe ¶ dixit dominus domino meo / sede a dextris meis Ac of þis matere nomoreno more / n~~....~~emnenmeuennempne y n~~....~~elle Hewes in þe haliday / after hete wayten Ac thei caren nat thow hit be cold / knaues when þeþei worche ¶ Wonder-wyse holy wryt / telleth how þei fullen Summe in erthe summe in ayr / summe in helle depe devisione Ac lucifer lowest / lith of hem alle For pruyde ther hym pokede / his payne hath non ende And alle þat worchen þat wikked is / wenden thei sholle † Aftur here deth-day / and dwelle ther wrong is X.1.134-135: Either Hand 1 initially omitted these lines but noticed quickly and marked the spot on the fly for correction during initial copying of this folio, or the lines were mis-arranged in his exemplar, causing him to copy them out cleanly, only later noticing the problem by proofing against a different exemplar or from memory of the poem. In the markup, we describe these lines as having been added "in-line" because they are comfortably tucked into the ruled lines of the folio rather than written in any margin. An example of a marginal addition of multiple lines appears at X.21.85-X.21.88, where four lines have been copied into the right margin of folio 95v. And alle þat han wel y-wrouhte · wende þey sholle † war X.1.136.m.1: Hand 2 calls attention to the supplied lines with the word war. The lines were initially omitted by eyeskip on sholle and then bettere. See the similar instance at fol. 95v. in Passus 21. Grindley (2001), "Reading Piers Plowman," pp. 128, 135, designates two instances of war (here and at 95v) as "LR RP" (Literary Responses Reader Participation). Though coincidently war may bring attention to the immediate context in the poem—here in Passus 1 the Fall of Lucifer and fear of the Last Judgement—it constitutes not a literary response, but rather a practical aid, helping readers to navigate the existing formework of Hand 1 by being "aware" of the misplaced lines. The gloss is thus to be carefully distinguished from full imperative sentences using the word war at (58v and 72v, q.v.), which offer imperatives about what we should be "aware" of in the matter of the poem itself. See fol. 95v and codicological note for X.21.85. Estward til heuene / euere to abyde / loke be-neþe for iij vers ben mys-set X.1.136.m.2: Hand 2 supplements his own left-marginal war by alerting us to look below for the lines omitted and supplied by Hand 1. The folio thus displays the great care that occasionally went into preparing the text. There treuthe is þe tour / that trinite ynne sitteth ¶ Lere hit thus lewed men / for lettred hit knoweth That treuthe and treweloue / is no tresor bettre † I · haue no kynde knowyng quod y / ȝut mot ȝe kenne me bettere X.1.140: Hand 1 initially omitted this line but marked the spot for correction with a cross after bettere, and wrote the line at the bottom of the page. + X.1.140.f.2: At the bottom of folio 6r, where this line was copied, the scribe has placed a cross in the near right margin, indicating that the line is out of sequence. † By what wey it wexeth / and wheder out of my menynges Thow dotede daffe quod she / dulle aren thy wittes To lyte lernedest y leue / latyn in thy ȝowthe ¶ Heu michi quod sterlilemster[i]lem duxi vitam iuuenilem Hit is a kynde knowynge / that kenet in thynhertethyn herte For to louye thy lord / leuest of alle Dey rather þen do / eny dedly synne ¶ Melius est mori / quam male viuere And this y trowe be treuth / · ho-so kan tecche þe bettre Lok þow soffre hym to seye / and so thow myht lerne // notate þat loue is plante of pes For treuthe telleth þat loue / ys triacle to abate synne And most souerayne salue / for soule and for body Loue is plonte of pees / most precious of vertues For heuene holde hit ne myghte / so heuy hit furst X.1.154: RK cite this addition, noting that the same change was made in Dc as well as X. semede Til hit hadde of erthe yȝoten hit-silue Was neuer lef vppon lynde / lyhtere theraftur As when hit hadde of þe folde / flesch and blode taken Tho was hit portatif / and persaunt as is þe poynt of aneldea nelde May non Armure hit lette / ne none heye walles For-thi is loue ledare / ~~...?...~~of oure lordes folk of heuene And a mene as þe Mayre is / bitwene þe kyng and þe comune Ryht so is loue ledare / and þe lawe shapeth Vp man for his mysdedes / the mercement and hehe taxeth And for to knowe hit kyndly / hit comeseth by myhte And in þe herte þer is þe hed / and þe heye walle For of kynde knowynge of herte X.1.166: HS aver that the entire phrase "kynde . . . herte" is over an erasure, a claim repeated by RK. While some rubbing is evident and some descenders are still visible, we cannot confirm the exact length of the erasure nor establish any reasons for it in relation to variant manuscript readings. / ther comseth amyhtea myhte passus · 1us · And þat falleth to þe fader / þat formede vs alle Lokede on vs with loue / let his sone deye Mekeliche for oure mysdedes / to amende vs alle And ȝut wolde hem no wo / þat wrouhte hym al þat tene Bote mekeliche with mouth / mercy he by-soughte To haue pitee on þat peple / þat paynede hym to dethe Here myhtow se ensaumples / in hym-self one That he was myhtfull and meke / and mercy gan graunte Tho X.1.175: The mark above the <o> appears to be a false start on the <h> that begins the next word. hem þat hengen hym hye / and his herte thorlede For-thy y rede ȝow riche / haueth reuthe vppon þe pore Thow ȝe be myhty to mote / beth meke in ȝoure werkes For þe same mesure þat ȝe meteth / amis other elles Ȝe shal be weye þer-with / whenne ȝe wende hennes ¶ Eadem mensura qua mensi / fueritis Remetietur vobis // notate ȝe ryche For thow ȝe ben trewe of ȝoure tonges / and treweliche wynne And ben as chast as a child / þat chyht noþer ne fyhteth But yf ȝe louye leeliche / and lene þe pore Of such good as god ȝow sent / goodliche parte Ȝe na haueth na more meryte / in masse ne in oures Then malkyn of here maydenheed / when nomanno man here couaytethdesireþ For Iames þe gentele / iugeth in his bokes That fayth with-outen þe feet / is feblore then nautht And as ded asas a dore nayl / but yf þe dedes folowe ¶ Fides sine operibus mortua est Chastite with-outen charite / worth cleynedc[h]eyned in helle Hit is as lewed thyng as a laumpe / þat no liht is ynne Mony chapeleynes aren chaste / ac charite hem fayleth // notate hic vnkynde prestes Aren none hardore ne hungriore / then men of holychircheholy chirche Auerous and euel willed / when þei ben a-vaunsed Vnkynde to here kyn / and to alle cristene ShewenChewen here charite / and chiden aftur more And ben a-combred with coueytise / thei can nouȝt clrepe out So harde haþ auaryce / y-hapsed hem to-gederes And þat is no treuthe of þe trinite / but triccheryetriccherye and synne And aluthera luther ensaunple leef me / as for þe lewed peple For this aren wordes y-wryten / in þe ewangelie de visione X.1.203: Just to the left of this line are two long ticks in text ink, which we take to have been indicators for the paraph. Hence, we do not transcribe them because the paraph was applied in blue. ¶ Date & dabitur vobis X.1.203-204: X and many other C manuscripts divide these lines thus, with the Latin phrase on its own line, not perceiving that it is actually part of a macaronic line, alliterating on /d/, which ends with the current a-verse of X.1.204. For y dele ȝow alle / and þat is þe lok of loue & vnloseth grace That conforteth alle carefole / acombred with synne So loue is lecche of lyf / and lysse of alle payne And þe graffe of grace / and grayestgra[þ]est way to heuene For-thi y may seye as y saide eer / by shits[ih]t X.1.208: We take shit here, and below at X.18.31 and X.18.35 to be a simple transposition error, shared by XHc. of this texcestestextes X.1.208: Although MED, s.v. texte lists texcestes as a variant form in the plural, we consider it to be a substantive because of the extra syllable, which changes the rhythm of the b-verse. Whenne alle tresores ben tried / treuthe is þe beste Loue hit quod þat lady / lette may y no lengore To lere the what loue is / and leue at me she lauhte Passus secundus de visione vbi prius corrigitur X.2.1.f.1: Here we see the first of several correction marks in the manuscript, in this case marking the end of the first passus. ANdX.2.1: The capital is decorated in red, extending the full length of the page. thenne y kneled vppon my knees / and cried to here of grace And sayde mercy ma-dame : for mary loue of heuene That bar þat blessid barnnbarn X.2.3: RK transcribe barun as the reading of X. This might render a form of barn (though unattested in the MED, s.v. barn), since the vowel is in the unstressed syllable, but the tilde over the <n> could be otiose, so we have simply transcribed barn. / þat bouhtebouhte vs vs on þe rode // heyre prayde will he moste fals knawe Kenne me by sum craft / to knowe þe false Loke vppon thy left half / and loo where he standeth Fals and fauel / and fikel tonge lyare And mony mo of here maners / of men and of wymmen Y lokede vppon my luft half / as þe lady me tauhte ☜ rayede X.2.9.m.1: Pointing hands are rare in this manuscript. This one appears to be glossing the word yclothed, to which it directly points, with the synonym rayede ("arrayed"). But why gloss a common enough word such as yclothed? Hand 2's motivation remains unclear. And a womman as hit were / wonderly yclothed She was purfiled in pelure / non puyrere on erthe And crouned with a croune / þe kyng haþ non bettre On alle here fyue fyngeres / ful richeliche yrynged And thereon rede rubies and othere riche stones Here robynge was rychere / þen y rede couthe For to telle of here atyer / no tyme haue y nouthe Here aray with here rychesse / raueschede my herte HeosH[oe]s X.2.17: We have provided a correction to obtain the form hoes, which is attested in MED, s.v. whos, as a form of the genitive pronoun required here—PDE "whose." wyf a X.2.17: A, "she." were / and what was here name Leue lady quod y tho / layn nouhht X.2.18: What appears to be an otiose curl over the <g> here is actually a false start on the next letter, <h>. yf ȝe knowen ¶ That is mede þe mayde ~~þe ma~~ / hath niyed me ful ofte And y-low on my lemman þat leute is hoten And lakketh hym to lordes / þat lawes han to kepe In kyngescourtkynges court in comune court / contraiethcontra[r]ieth my techynge In þe popes palays / he X.2.23: He, "she." is pryue X.2.23: The <e> here has been touched up, as has the <e> of he two words earlier. as my-sulue Ac sothnesse wolde nat so / for she is a bastard Oon fauel was heherere X.2.25: Hand 2's correction brings X into agreement with all other manuscripts. fader / þat hath a fykel tonge And selde soth sayth / bote yf he souche gyle passus 2us And mede is manered aftur hym / as men of kynde carpeth ¶ Talis pater talis filia & cetera For shal neuer breere bere / berye as a vine Ne on acrokeda croked kene thorn / kynde fyge wexe ¶ Bona arbor bonum fructum facit HolichercheHoli cherche Y ouhte ben herrore then he / y com of abetterea bettere The fader þat me forth brouhte / filius dei he hoteth That neuere lyede ne lauhede / in al his lyf-tyme And y am his dere doughter / ducchesse of heuene That what man me louyeth / and my wille foleweth Shal haue grace to good ynow / and a good ende And what man X.2.38: RK cite P2 for the same addition. mede loueth  X.2.38: We attribute the addition of the word man and the addition of the punctus elevatus to Hand 2, because we detect a pattern where Hand 2 adds a punctus elevatus while performing another local correction. Hand 1, by contrast, uses only a virgule or a raised point at the caesura. my lyf y dar wedde He shal lese for here loue / and X.2.39: Since we cannot confidently attribute the erasure (which is only partially accomplished) to the main scribe, we take the uncorrected reading, and, to be manuscript X's reading, and we attribute the correction, which aligns X with most other C manuscripts, to Hand X. lippe of trewe charite That helpeth man moste to heuene X.2.40: HS state that <heue> of heuene are written over an erasure, but we cannot confirm that from inspection of the manuscript. If it is a change, it is in any case by Hand 1, and there are no variants. The corrigitur in the left margin of the next line may simply mark a stint of work completed at this spot. For as we will see throughout the manuscript, such marks come almost randomly, as if generated by breaks in the work, and thus they do not necessarily correspond to specific sites of correction, nor do they come at the ends of quires, passus, or even folios. mede most letteth corrigitur Y do hit vppon dauyd / the doumbe wil noȝt lyen ¶ domine quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo & cetera And dauyd vndoth hymself / as þe doumbe sheweth ¶ Et super Innocentem munera non accepit To-morwe worth mede y-maried / to amanseda mansed wrecche To oon fals faythlesse / of þe fendes kynne Fauel thorw his flaterynge speche / hath mede foule enchaunted And al is lyares ledynge / this lady is thus y-wedded Soffre and thow shalt see suche as ben apayed That mede is thus y-maried / to-morwe þou shalt aspye Knowe hem wel yf þou kanst / and kepe the fro hem alle That loueth here lordschipe / lasse other more Lacke hem nat but lat hem worthe / til leutee be Iustice And haue power to pynschenpunyssche hem / thenne pot forth thy resoun For y bykenne the crist quod she / and his clene moder And acombre thow neuere thy Consience / for coueityse of mede ¶ Thus lestele[f]te me that lady / lyggynge as a-slepe And y say how mede was maried / metyng as it were X.2.58: The illegible character(s) in the right margin perhaps reflect a false start (the letter ?) at the gloss that follows below. // be-hold þe houshold of mede Al þe riche retenaunce / þat rothethro[t]eth X.2.59: Schmidt (2011) and Pearsall (1978) accept and print rotheth as a form of MED roten, v. 3, def. 1(a), "[t]o take root," here used reflexively, "to root themselves in false living." Pearsall later (2008) emends silently to roteth, and RK reads ro[t]eth. hem o fals lyuynge Were beden to þe Bridale / abothea bothe half þe contre Of many manere men / þat of mede kynne were Of knyghtes of clerkes / of other comune peple de visione As sysores sompnores / shyryues and here clerkes Bydels and bailifs / and brokeres of chaffares Vorgoers and vitalers / and voketes of the Arches Y kan nouȝt rykene þe route / þat ran aboute mede Ac simonye and syuile / and sysores of contrees Were most pryue with mede / of eny menmen me me thoghte Ac Fauel was þe furste / þat fette here out of chambre And abrokora brokor brouhte here forth / to be ioyned to þe false When simonye and syuile / y-seythsaugh þer bothe wille Thei assentede hit were so / at sylueres prayere Thenne lup lyare forth / and saide loo here a Chartre That Gyle hath gyue to falsnesse / and grauntid also mede And preyeth Syuile to se hit / and SymionyeSy[m]onye X.2.75: Hand 1 has simply written too many minims here, an error he will commit with some frequency, passim. to rede hit Thenne Simonye and Syuyle / Standeth forth bothe And vnfoldeth the feffament / þat fals hath y-maked Thenne saide sy~~uyl~~monye / þat syuyle it herde Andl lþat loueth and byleueth / vp lykyng of mede Leueth hit leulyle[l]ly X.2.80: Rather than a variant reading—some form of MED, adj., lefli, 1, 2 or 3?—the scribe's leuly appears to us to be simply an error, a partial dittography of the first word in the line. / this worth here laste moede That foleweth falsnesse / Fauel and lyare Mede and suche men / þat aftur mede wayten ¶ Sciant presentes & futuri & cetera // the feffement a-tuxe X.2.84.m.1: We take a tuxe to be a form of MED twix, prep. mede & falsnesse Wyten and witnessen / þat wonyen on erthe That mede is maried / more for here richesse Then for holynesse oþer hendenesse / oþer for hey kynde Falsnesse is fayn of here / for he wot here ryche And fauel þat hath a fals speche / Feffeth hem by þis lettre To ben prunysepr[yn]se X.2.89: See prinses at X.21.315, though the scribe's usual spelling is prince. The scribe's erroneous was probably caused by anticipation of pruyde. We disagree with RK's assertion that the nasalization tilde has been added. in pruyde / and pouert to dispice To bacbite and to boste / and bere fals witnesse To skorne and to lskolde / and sklaundre to make Vnbuxum and bold / to breke þe ten hestes The Erldom of enuye / and yre he hem graunteth WithWith þe the chastel of cheste / and chaterynge out of resoun Ther countethcoun[te] X.2.95: The error here may have a paleographical motivation in an exemplar that read countey, the <y> of which was mistaken by Hand 1 or by an earlier scribe for a <þ>, subsequently transcribed as <th>. of coueytise / and consenteth to hem bothe With vsurye and Auaryce / and other fals sleythus In bargaynes and Brocages / with the borw of cheste With al the lordschip of leccherye / in lenghe and in Brede passus · 2us · As in werkes and in wordes / and in waytyngeswaytynge of yes In woldes and in weschynges / and with ydel thouhtes There þat wille wolde / and neom. X.2.101: RK say that ne is in "another hand," but it is in the ink of Hand 1. Manuscripts BmBoCot put ne into the a-verse before wolde. wermanschipwer[k]manschip faileth Glotonye a X.2.102: A, "he." gyueth hem / and grete othes to-gederes Alday to drynke / at diuerse tauernes And there to iangele and to iape / and iuge here Emcristene And fastyngdayes to frete / byfore noone and drynke With spiserye speke ydelnesse / in vayne spekespeche and spene And sue forth suche felawschipe / til they ben falle in Slewthe And a-wake with wanhope / and no wille to amende For a X.2.109: A, "he." leueth be lost / when he his lyf leteth This lyf to folowe falsnesse / and folk þat on hym leueth After here deth ..þay dwellen day / with-outen ende In lordschip with lucifer / as this lettre sheweth With alle þe appurtinauncesportenaunceappurtinaunce of purgatorye / and þe peyne of helle // Witnessis of þe feffement a fayre hep X.2.114.m.1: Grindley (2001), p. 128, transcribes the last two words of the gloss as afayre heþ. The letters and <þ> can look very similar, and we transcribe, rather, a fayre hep, which would make sense in the current context, as the gloss seeks to draw our attention to the great hoard in attendance at the proposed wedding; translate: "a fair heap," i.e., "a sizable crowd of guests." ¶ In wittenesse otf þis X.2.114: RK attribute this supralinear correction to a different hand, but Hand 1 more characteristically uses a sigmoid <s> at word endings. thyng / wrong was the furste And Peres þe Pardoner / of paulinesquestepaulines queste Butte þe Bedel of Bannebury sokene Raynald þe reue / and redyngkynges manye Munde þe mullere / and monye mo othere In þe date of the deuel / this dede is aseled By syhte of sire Simonye / and syuyles leue // Hyer teologi chidde ciuile & symonye ¶ Thenne tened hym teologie / when he this tales herde And sayde to Symonye / now sorwe mot thow haue Suche a weddyng to wurche / þat wrathe myhte treuthe And ar this weddyng be wrouhte / wo to al ȝoure consayle For mede is moilere / amendes was here dame Al-thow fals were here fader / and fikeltongefikel tonge her belsyre Amendes was here moder / by trewe menne lokynge And with-outen here moder amendes / mede maymay nat be wedded For treuthe plyhte here treuthe / to wedde on of here douhteres And god graunte hit were so / so no gyle were And thow haste gyue here / as gyle tauhte now god ȝeue þe sorwe For syuyle and thi-sylue / selde fulfulleth That god wolde were y-do / with-oute som deseyte ¶ Y TheogieTheo[lo]gie þe tixt knowe / yf trewe doom wittenesseth That laurence the leuyte corrigitur X.2.134.f.2: Here we see the corrector's mark at the end of a quire, though as we have seen and will see elsewhere, the ends of quires are not so consistently marked, and the work of correction must have proceeded piecemeal. de visione That laurence the leuyte / that lay on þe gredeyre Lokede vp to oure lord / and alowed sayde God of thy grace · / heuene gates opene For y man of thy mercy / mede haue diserued And sechese[t]he man may an heye / mede of god diserue Hit semeth sothly riȝt so on erthe / That mede may be wedded / to nomanno man bot treuthe And thow hast feffed here with fals / fy on suche lawe For by lesynges ȝe lacchen / largeliche mede That ȝe nymeth theand notaries / to nauhte gynneth brynge ¶ Holy churche and charite / ȝe cheweth and deuoureth Ȝe shal abyggen hitabigge bothe / but ȝe amende þe sonner For wel ȝe wyte wernardus / as holy writ telleth That fals is faythles / the fende is his syre And as abastarda bastard ybore / byȝete was he neuere And mede is moylore / anda mayden of gode AmyhteA myhte X.2.151: A, "she." kusse the kyng / as for his kynekynnes womman For-thy worcheth by wisdom / and by witt also And ledeth here to londone / there lawe may declare Where matrymonye may be / of mede and of falshede And thow Iustices enioynen hem / thorw Ieroures X.2.155: RK's emendation to Iuroures is not necessary. See the range of forms in MED, s.v. jurour. othes ¶ Ȝut beth y-war of þe weddynge / for witty is treuthe And Consience is of his consayl / and knoweth ȝow alle And yf he fynde ȝow in defaute / and with the fals holde Hit schal sitte ȝoure soules / ful sore at þe laste ¶ Here-to assenteth syuyle / Ac symonye ne wolde Til he hadde seluer for the seel / and signes of notaries Tho fette fauel forth / floreynes y-nowe And bade gyle to gyue / gold al aboute And manlichenameliche theto the notaries / þat noon of hem fayle And feffe fals witnesse / with floreynes y-nowe For he may mede amaystrye / with his merye speche ¶ Tho this gold was y-gyue / grete was the thonkynge That fauel and fals hadde / for here fayre ȝeftes And comen ful courteysly / to conforte the false And sayde softly / sese shal we neuere 2 X.2.170.f.1: Three quire signatures appear on this folio. One, in modern pencil, we do not transcribe. The other two are contemporary with the original copying, the first in plummet, the second in red ink, both in the bottom center margin. · 2 · passus 2us Til mede be thy wedded wyf / wolle we nat stunte For we haue mede amaystred thorw oure mery tonge That he graunteþ to go / with a goode wille To londone and to& loke / yf lawe wille iugge To be maried for mone / med hath assented Thenne was fauel fayn / and falsnesse blythe And leten somne alle his seggusseggus · / in vche syde aboute And bade hem alle be bowen / beggares and othere To wende with hym to westminstre / his weddyng to honoure Ac hakeneys hadde thei none / bote hakeneys to huyre Thenne gan gyle to borwen hors / at many gret maystres And shop þat ashereuea shereue / sholde bere mede // Red hyer a blissed companye per contrarium X.2.183.m.1: In this instance we see a rare bit of playful irony in the marginal annotation, mocking the "blessed company," which is, as per contrarium indicates, anything but. ¶ Softliche in schaunbresambure ~ saumbury X.2.183: It is not clear what the scribe intended with schaunbre. The manuscripts accordingly show some variation and confusion, with chaumbre the most common (and recognizable) reading, found in EcGcIMcNcP2Yc. RK's emendation s[am]b[u]re comes from DcQ, though the MED is unsure of its meaning; wondering if it is "?[a] saddle of some kind." See MED, s.v. samburi, n., citing only this line in Piers Plowman as evidence. However, since he has shown confusion of the graphemes <ch> and <sh> elsewhere to represent either /tʃ/ or /ʃ/ indeterminately (e.g. X.2.183, X.14.222, X.15.47, X.15.164, and X.20.294), the scribe may have been trying to write a form of MED chaumbre, n. 1., "[a] room or apartment for personal use; a private room or suite; chamber, bedroom," 5(a), "[a] room for the transaction of official business; consultation or counsel room, as of the King, Parliament, a guild, etc.," or 8(a), "[a] bridal chamber; marriage bed." In this unique formulation, X would be describing Meed's accommodations as part of the sheriff's hospitality on Meed's tour of the law courts. / fram sysesyse to to syse And fals and fauel fecche forth sysores And ryde on hem and on reuereuess / righte faste by mede ¶ Symonye and syuyle / seyden and sworen That prestis and prouisores / sholden prelates serue And y my-sulue syuyle / and symonye my felawe Wol Ryde vppon Rectores / and ryche men deuoutours X.2.189: Deuoutours, "adulterers." A nonce word. The MED (s.v. devoutour, n.) cites only this instance. And notaries on parsones / þat permuten ofte And on pore prouisores / and on appeles in þe Arches Sommnours and sodonessod[e]nessodenes þat / supersedias taketh On hem þat loueth leccherye / lyppeth vp and rydeth On secatours and such men / cometh softly aftur And lat cope þe commissarie / oure cart shal he drawe And fecchen oure vitailes / andof fornicatores And maketh of lyare alangcarta lang cart / to lede al this othere As fobbes X.2.198: Fobbes, a nonce word. The MED (s.v. fob, n. 2) cites only this instance, defining it as "[a] cheat, trickster, deceiver." On this word in relation to the Piers Plowman corpus, see Eric Weiskott (2024). and faytours / þat on here feet rennen ¶ Thenne fals and fauel / ryde forth to-gederes And mede in þe myddes / and al this men aftur Y haue no tome to telle / the tayl þat hem folewede Of many maner men / for mede sake sende aftur Ac gyle was forgoere / to gyen al thisthe peple For to wisse hem þe way / and with mede abyde Sothnesse seyh hem alle / and sayde but lytel And prykede forth on pacience / and passed hem alle de visione And kam to þe kynges Court / and Consience tolde And Consience to þe kyng / carpede hit aftur Now by crist quod þe kyng / and y cacche myhte Fals or fauel / or here felawe lyare Y wolde be awreke inon tho wreches / and on here werkes alle And do hem hange by þe halse / and alle þat hem maynteyneth Shal neuere man on þis molde / maynpryse þe leste But riht as þe lawe loketh / lat falle on hem alle And comaundede a Constable / that cam at þe furste Go a-tache tho tyrauntes / for eny tresor y hote Lat fetere falsnesse faste / for eny skynes ȝeftes And gurdeth of gyles heed / lat hym goo no wyddore And bryngeth mede to me / maugrey hem alle And yf ȝe lacchen lyare / lat hym nat a-skape Ar he be put on þe pylorye / for eny preyere ich hote drede stod at þe dore / andal þat dene herde What was þe kynges wille / and wyghtliche wente And bad falsnesse to fle / and his feres alle // for drede falsnesse fleyȝ to þe freris ¶ Falsnesse for fere tho / fleyh to þe freres And gyle doth hym to gone / agaste fortofor to deye AndAc marchauntes mette with hym / and made hym abyde And by-schytten hym in here shoppeshoppes / to shewen here ware And paraylede hym lyke here prentys / the peple to serue Lyhtliche lyare / lep awey thenne Lorkyng thorw lanes / to-logged of moneye He was nawher welcome / for his many tales Oueral y-honted / and y-hote trusse ¶ Tyl Pardoners hadde spyecepytes X.2.234: Calabrese (2005) has commented on this particular correction: "Both the altered and the original readings in X are unique. It is not difficult to discern how 'pyte,' at some stage of copying or in Hand 1's immediate effort, gave rise to 'spyce': the forms share a 'py,' and scribes often confuse the letters t and c, so that 'pyte' preceded by a blot or erasure could easily be misread as 'spyce' by a scribe copying for shape rather than sense. Hand 2's intervention creating 'spyes' from this indicates that he does not seem to have had any source of textual authority available and has tried, therefore, to invent a 'pye' reading that accords with his sense of the Pardoners as agents of surveillance. The alteration lacks the sense of fellowship in treachery that 'pity' ironically expresses, but in contrast to 'spyece' it is nonetheless provocative and thematically rich. And it suggests that Hand 2 made no use of any witness here" (p. 176). on hym / and polleden hym in-to house Thei woschen hym and wypeden hym / and wonden hym in cloutes And senten hym on sonendayes / with seeles to churche And gaf pardon for pans / pound-mele a-boute Thenne lourede leches / and lettrelettres thei sente That lyare sholde wonye with hem / watres to loke Spysours speken to hym / to aspye heherere ware For a X.2.241: A, "he." can on here craft / and knoweth manye gommes Ac mynstrals and mesagers / mette with lyare ones passus · 2us And of-heldenwiþhuld hym half ȝere / and eleue dayes ¶ Ac Freres thorw fayre speche / fetten hym thennes // Ȝit freris fette hom lyere wyt hem to dwelle And for knowyng of countreyscomeres / they copeden hym as a frere Ac he hath leue to lep out / as ofte as hym liketh And is welcome when he cometh / and woneth with hem ofte Symonye and syuile / senten to Rome And putte hem thorw appeles / in þe popes grace Ac Consience to þe kyng / accused hem bothe And sayde syre kyng / by crist but clerkes amende ~~.......~~Thy kynedom thorw here Coueytise / woloutwol out of kynde wende And holy churche thorw hem / worth harmed for euere Alle fledde for fere / and flowen in-to hernes Saue mede þe mayde / nomano ma durste abyde Ac treuliche to telle / atrembledea tremblede X.2.256: A, "she." for fere And bothe wepte and wrang / when she was attached Passus tercius de visione vt prius Now X.3.1: The ornamented capital <N> is in blue in a box of red with red flourishes around a smiling, rather self-contented, feminine face that is likely to be that of this passus's main player, Lady Meed. Two other abstract faces emerge from the top of the ornamented capital in the left margin, four to five lines above the beginning of this passus. is mede þe mayde / and namo of hem alle Thorw Bedeles and Baylifs / y-brouhte byfor þe kyng The kyng callede a clerke · y can nat his name To take mede þe mayde / and maken here at ese Y shal asaye atasaye here my-sulue / and sothliche appose What man of this world / þat here leuest haddehaueto haue And yf she worche wysely / and by wys men consayl Y wol forgyue here alle gultes / so me god helpe // Hyer was mede conforted ¶ Cortesliche þe Clerk thenne / as þe kyng hyhte Took mede by þe myddel / and myldeliche here brouhte In-to Boure with blisse / and by here gan sitte Ac there was myrthe and mynstracie / mede to plese That wendeth to westmynstre · worschipede here monye Genteliche with ioye / the Iustices somme Boskede hem to þe bour / ther this buyrde dwelte And confortede here as they couthe / by the clerkes leue And sayden mourne nat mede / ne make thow no sorwe For we welwol wisse the kyng / and thy way shape For to wedde at thy wille / where the leef licketh For al Consiences cast / and craft as y trowe de visione ¶ Myldeliche mede thenne mercyede / X.3.21: In a rare error, the scribe has misplaced the virgule, locating it not at the caesura after thenne, but rather between the lifts of the b-verse. hem alle Of here grete goodnesse / and gaf hem vchone Coupes of clene gold / coppes of syluer Rynges with rubees / and othere riche ȝeftes The leste man of here mayne / a motoun of gold ThenneWhenne they hadde lauhte here leue / at this lady mede // notate ȝe lewed auanced ¶ Thenne come clerkes / to conforte here the same And beden here be blythe / for we beth thyn owene For to worche thy wille / the while þou myhte dure .. X.3.30: There are rough vertical patches indicative of erasure in the margins to the left of this line, corresponding to the shape of a paraph. And Mede hendeliche / behyhte hem þe same To louye hem leeliche / and lordes to make And purchace ȝow prouendres / while ȝoure panes lasteth And bygge ȝow benefices / pluralite to haue And in þe constorie at court / do calle ȝoure names Shal no lewedenesse lette / þe clerk þat y louye That he ne worth furste vaunsed / for y am byknowe There connynge clerkes shal clokke byhynde X.3.38.m.1: These vertical slash marks extend down the full length of the marginalia. // a comfessourco[n]fessour X.3.38.m.1: The scribe has written comfessour instead of confessor, perhaps an error made through anticipation of upcoming comforted. as a frere comforted mede & sayde as ȝe may rede ¶ Thenne come þer a confessour / y-coped as afrerea frere To mede þe mayde / myldeliche he sayde Thow lewed men and lered men haued layn by the bothe FalshedeAnd falshede yfonde the / al this fourty wyntur Y shal assoyle the my-slulue / for a seem whete And ȝut be thy bedman / and brynge adoun Consience Amonge kynges and knyhtes / and clerkes and the lyke ¶ Thenne mede for here mysdedes / to this man knelede Shrefe here of here synne / shameles y leue Tolde hym atalea tale / and toke hym anoblea noble For to ben here bedman / and to bere wel here ernde Among knyhtes and clerkes / consience to turne And he assoilede here sone / and sethen a X.3.50: A, "he." sayde ¶ We han a wyndowe a-wurchynge wol stande vs fulheyeful heye Wolde ȝe glase þat gable / and graue ther ȝoure name In masse and in mataynes · for mede we shal synge Solempneliche and softlyche / as for a suster of oure ordre Loueliche þat lady / laghynge sayde Y shal be ȝoure frende frere / and fayle ȝow neuere passus 3us The whiles ȝe louyen this lordes that lecherye haunteth And lacketh nat this ladyes / þat louyeth þe same Hit is but frelete of fleysche / ȝe fyndeth wel by bokes And coursa cours of kynde · wher-of we comen alle Ho may a-skape þe sclaundre þe kskathe myhte sone be mended Hit is synne as of seuene noon soannour relesed Haueth mercy quod mede / on men þat hit haunteth And y shal cuuere ȝoure kyrke / and ȝoure cloustreclo[i]stre X.3.64: We might indicate cloustre as a variant of majority cloistre that is shared with Yc, but the form is unattested in the MED and probably witnesses another instance of the scribe having added an extra minim. make Bothe wyndowes and wowes / y wol amende and glase And peynten and purtrayen / ho payede for þe makyng That euery seg shal se / y am a sustre of ȝoure ordre Ac god to alle good folk · suche grauynge defendeth To writen on wyndowes / of eny wel dedes .. An Auntur pruyde be paynted there / and pomp of the world For god knoweth thi consience / and ho þe catel ouhte X.3.71: Likely because of eyeskip from consience to covetousness that occurred sometime earlier in the transmission, X and several other C manuscripts lack two half-lines that would have been the b-verse of X.3.71 and the a-verse of X.3.72, here given in RK's rendering: and þy kinde wille / Thi cost and here couetyse. The error must have been impossible to detect without comparison to other manuscripts, because both poetically and syntactically, the single line created by the omission is perfectly fine; however, omission notwithstanding, the b-verse of X.3.71 may seem oblique and Pearsall's gloss is useful to recall: god knoweth "to whom the money that was spent on the benefaction properly belongs" (C-text, p. 83). For-thy loeue lordes · leueth suche writynges God in þe gospel / suche grauynge nouȝt alloueth ¶ Nesciat dextra quid faciat sinistra Lat nat thy lyft hand / oure lord techeth Y wyte what thow delest / with thi ryhte syde // Hyer prayde mede for veteyleres & oþere mo to þe mair ¶ Ȝut mede the Mayr / myldeliche he X.3.77: He, "she." by-souhte Bothe schyreues and seriauntes / and suche as kepeth lawes To punischen vppon pilories / and vppon on pynyng stoles As Bakeres acand Breweres / Bocheres and cokes For thyse men don most harm / to þe mene peple Rychen thorw regraterye / and rentes hem beggeth With that þe pore peple / sholde potte in here wombe For tok thei ionon trewely / they tymbred nat so heye Ne bouhte none burgages / be ȝe ful certayn Ne thei han no pite on the peple / þat parselmele mot begge And thow thei take hem vntidy thyng / no tresoun þei ne halden hit And ȝhowthow X.3.88: We surmise that Hand 1 erased his own <ȝ>, and so intended the reading how. thei fillen nat ful / þat for lawe is seled A X.3.89: A, "they." grypeth þerfore a gretas gret / as for þe grayeth treuthe Many sondry sorwes / in Citees falleth ofte Bothe thorw fuyr and thorw flood / aland al thorw fals peple That bygyleth goode men / and greueth hem wrongly de visione The whiche þat crien on here knees / þat crist hem auenge Here on this erthe / or elles in helle That so bigileth hem / of here goed / þat god on hem sende Feuer or fouler euel / other fuyr on here houses Morreyne or other meschaunces / and mony tymes hit falleth That Innocence is herde / in heuene amonge seyntes That louten for hem to oure lord / and to oure lady bothe Graunte gylours on erthe grace to amende And haue here penaunce on puyre erthe / and nat þe peyne of helle And thenne falleth ther fuyr / on fals men houses And goode mennes for here gultes / gloweth on fuyr aftur Al this haue we seyn · þat som-tyme thorw abrewarea breware Many burgages ybrent / and bodies þer-ynne And thorw X.3.106: There is a hole in the manuscript which the scribe accommodated when writing thorw. What may appear in images to be underlining is actually text from folio 13r showing through this hole. a candle clemynge / in curseda cursed place Ful a-doun and forbrent / forth alle þe rewe ¶ For-thy mayres þat maketh fre men / me thynketh þat ȝe ouhten · Nota · For to spyre and to aspye / for eny speche of suluer What maner muster / oþer marchandise he vsed Ar he were vnderfonge fre / and felawe in ȝoure rolles Hit is nat seemely for-sothe / in Citee orne in borw toun That vsurers oþer regraters / for eny skynes ȝeftes Be y-franchised for a fre man / and haue afalsa fals name ¶ Ac Mede þe mayde þe mayre / a X.3.115: A, "she." bisowte Of alle suche sullers seluer to take Or presentes without pans / and oþer priue ȝeftes Haue reuthe on this regraters / þat han riche handes ¶ In quorum manibus iniquitates sunt Loue hem for my loue · quod this lady mede And soffre hem som-tyme / to selle aȝeyne þe lawe Salamon þe sage / a sarmon he made In amendement of mayres / and oþer stywardes And wittenesseth what worth of hem / þat wolleth take mede ¶ Ignis deuorabit tabernacula eorum / qui libenter accipiunt munera Amonge thise lettred lordes / this latyn is to mene That fuyr shal falle and forbrenne / al to blew aysches The houses and þe homes / of hem þat taketh ȝeftes corrigitur passus · 3us · ¶ The kyng fram conseyl come / calde aftur mede And sente to se here / y myhte nat se þat ladde here Fol corteisliche þe kynge / as his kynde wolde Lacked here a litel whith / for þat she louede gyle And wilned to be wedded / with-outen his leue And til treuthe hadde y-tolde here / atokenea tokene fram hym-sulue And saide vnwittiliche womman / wrostwro[uh]t hastow ofte And monye a gulte y haue the forgyue / & my grace graunted Bothe to the and to thyne / in hope thow shost amende And ay the lengur y late the go / the lasse treuthe is with the For wors wrouhtestou neuere / then now tho thow fals toke Ȝut y for-gyue the þis gult / godesforbedegodes forbede eny more Thow tene me and treuthe / and thow mowe be atake In the Castel of Corf / y shal do close the as an anere X.3.142: It is likely that X intended the majority ancre and accidently wrote <e> instead of <c>; it is not likely, though it is not impossible, that he intended anere, as a adjectival noun, MED, s.v. aner, adj., "[s]olitary, lonely." Concerning this passage at large, note that, although X's rendering of lines X.3.142-X.3.145 is not unique, RK's and Pearsall's editions (lines 141-145 in both) construct the lines differently from X. Schmidt, by contrast, rejects this reconstruction and follows X. (See his lines 140-144.) Or in a wel wors woenwo[ne] X.3.143: We take woen to be a metathesis for the noun wone, meaning a dwelling place. / be seynte mary my lady That alle wantowen women / shal be warbe war by be þe one And bitterliche banne the / and alle þat bereth thy name And teche the to louye treuthe / and take consail of resoun Y haue a knyght Consience / cam late fro be-ȝende Yf he wilneth the to wyue / wolt thow hym haue Ȝe lord quod that lady / lord hit me forbede But y be holly at thyn heste / lat hange me elles // Hyer was concience cald to haue weddid mede ¶ Thenne was Consience y-kald / to come and apere Byfore þe kyng and his consayl / as clerkes and oþere Knelyng consience to þe kyng loutede What his wille were and what he do sholde Woltow wedde this mede / yf y wol assente For she is fayn of thy felawschipe / and for to be thy make · ¶ Quod Consience to the kyng / Crist hit me forbede Ar y wedde suche awyfa wyf / wo me by-tyde For sheshe is is X.3.159: Here Hand 2's addition of is aligns X with all other C manuscripts. frele of here fayth · and fikel of here speche And maketh men mys-do / manye score tymes In trist of here tresor / he X.3.161: He, "she." teneth fol monye Wyues and wedewes / wantounesse he techeth And lereth hem to lecherye / þat louyeth here ȝeftes Ȝoure fader she afeldefelde / fals and she to-gederes de visione He hath apoisend popes / he appeyreth holy churche Is nat abetterea bettere baude by hym / þat me made X.3.166: Hand 2 has added a separation mark, resembling a modern colon, between the <e> he added to obtain baude and the next word, by. In what seems like an unrelated phenomenon and a coincidence, the virgule, which is the work of Hand 1, occurs after hym in this line, when it should have come at the actual caesura after baude. There are no signs of its having been erased or moved. Bytwene heuene and helle / and erthe thogh men soughte For she is tikel of here tayl / tale-wys of tonge As comyn as þe cartway / to knaues and to alle To Monekes to alle men / ȝe musels in heggehegges Lyggeth by here when hem lust / lered and lewed Sysores and somnours / suche men hehere X.3.172: He, "she." preiseth Shyreues of shyres · were shent yf he nere For he doth men lesen here lond / and here lyf bothe He lat passe prisones / paieth for hem ofte And gyueth the gaylers gold / and grotes to-gederes To vnfetere the fals / and fle wher hym liketh And taketh treuthe by the top · / and ~~...h~~teieth hym fa~~...~~ste X.3.178: HS saw (and we can still see) traces of the original reading: techeth hym folte (trans: "teaches him falsely") which is the sense also of IP2UcYc, and which has a distinctly different meaning from what Hand 2 has obtained through correction (trans: "tie him up fast"), the sense of the majority of manuscripts. And hangeth hym for hadtrede X.3.179: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with most other manuscripts. / þat harmede nere To be cursed in þein constorie / a X.3.180: A, "she." counteth nat aruschea rusche For a X.3.181: A, "she." copeth þe commissarie / and coteth his clerkes He is assoiled thus sone / as here-sulue lyketh He may ny as muche do / in amonthea monthe ones As ȝoure secrete seel / in sixe score dayes He is priue with þe pope / prouysours it knoweth For symonye and here-sulue / seleth here bulles He blesseth this bischopes / thow thei ben ny lewede He prouendreth parsones / and prestes he maynteneth To holde lemmanes and lotebyes / al here lyf-dayes And bringeth forth barmesbar[n]es X.3.190: An otiose minim renders the intended <n> an <m>. Compare the situation to that of barn (X.2.3). / aȝenes forbodene lawes // notate prestes gurles ¶ Sunt infelices / quia matres sunt meretrices Ther she is wel with eny kyng / wo is þatþe rewme For she is fauerable to þe fals / the whiche defouleth treuthe By ihesu with here ieweles / the Iustices she shendeth He lyth aȝeyn þe lawe / and leithletteth hym þe gate That fayth may nat haue his forth / here floreynes goth so thykke And leetledeth þe lawe as here luste / and louedayes maketh Thorw which loueday is loste / þat leute myhte wynne ¶ The mase for amenea mene man / thow he mote euere Lawe is so lordliche / and loth to make enymakenmake an ende passus · 3us · With-oute presentes oþer pans / he pleseth ful fewe Trewe Burgeys and bonde / he bryngeth to nauhte ofte And al þe comune in care / and in coueytise ¶ Religioun he al to-reueth / and oute of reule to lybbe Ther ne is Cite vnder sonne ne noon so ryche reume Ther he is alowed and ylet by þat laste shal eny while With-outen werre oþer wo / oþer wickede lawe And custumes of coueytise / þe comune to destruye Vnsittyng soffraunce / here suster and here-sulue Han al-mest mad / but marye the helpe That no lond ne loueth the / and ȝut leeste thyn owene ¶ For clerkes and coueitise / mede hath X.3.212-213: The word hath in this line and the first three letters of woxe in the next line have been touched up in a different ink by an unknown hand that resembles Hand 2 in ink and letter forms. There appears to be no actual alteration to the text. knet to-gederes That al þe witt of the world / is woxe in-to Gyle Thus lereth this lady thi lond / now lord ȝeue here sorwe For pore men dar nat pleyne / ne no pleynt shewe Such amaistera maister is mede / among men of gode // Hyer muornede mede for concience acusede here ¶ Thenne mournede mede / and menede here to þe kyng To haue space to speke / spede yf amyhtea myhte X.3.218: A, "she." The kyng grauntede here grace / with agoodea goode wille Excuce the yf thow kanst / y can nomore segge For Consience acuseth the / to congeye the for euere ¶ Nay lord quod þat lady / leueth hym þe worse When ȝeȝe wyten wyteþ witterly / in whom þe wrong liggeth Ther þat meschief is greet / mede may helpe And þat knowestouknoweþ Consience / y cam nat to chyde Ne to depraue thy persone / with a proed herte Wel thow wost weye / but yf thow wille gabbe Thow hast hanged on my half / enleuene tymes And also grypgrypen my gold and gyue hit where þe liked Why thow wrathest þe now / wonder me thynketh Ȝut y may as y myhte / menske þe with ȝeftes And maynteyne thi manhede / more then thow knowest Ac thow hast famed me foule / byfore þe kyng here For kulde y neuere no kyng / ne conseilede so to done Ac y haue saued my-selue / sixty thousend lyues Bothe here and elles-where / in alle kyne londes de visione Ac thow thy-sulue sothly / hoho so hit segge durste Hast arwed many hardy man / þat hadde wille to fyhte To berne and to bruttene / to bete adoun strenghtes In contrees there the kyng cam / consience hym lette That he ne felde nat his foes / tho fortune hit wolde And as his wyrdus were ordeyned / at þe wille of oure lorde Caytifliche thow Consience / conseiledest þe kyng to X.3.243: Here Hand 2's addition converts X's majority reading into a minority reading, to leten, shared by ISc. leten In his enemyes handes / his heritage of Fraunce Vnconnynge is þat Consience / a kyndom to sulle For þat conquerethis conquered thorw a comune helpe a kyndom or ducherie Hit may nat be sold sothliche / so many part asketh Of folk þat fauht þerfore / and folwede þe kynges wille The leste ladde þat longeth with hym / be þe londe ywonne Loketh aftur lordschipe / or oþer large mede Wherby he may as amana man / for eueremore lyue aftur And þat is þe kynde of a kyng / þat conquereth on his enemys To helpe heyliche alle his ofte / or elles graunte Al þat his men may wynne / do ther-with here beste For-thy y consayl no kynge / eny conseyl aske Act X.3.256: An unknown hand has altered the <c> in dark ink to obtain the majority reading At. AcFcP2 read ac, the original reading of X. Concience þat coueiteth / to conquere areumea reume For sholde neuere Consience / be my constable were y akynga kyng quod mede Ne be Marschal ouer my men / there y moste fyhte Ac hadde y mede ben his marchel / ouer his men in Fraunce Y durste haue y-leyd my lyf / and no lasse wedde He sholde hauehaue ben be X.3.261: All but one of the C witnesses has some form of ben here, so though Hand 2's spelling be is unique, his correction attempts to align X with the majority reading. lord of þat lond / a-lenghe and a-brede And also kyng of þat kuth / his kyn for to helpe The leeste brolle of his blod / a Barones pere Vnconnyngliche Consienceþow Conscience / conseiledest hym thenne To lete so his lordschipe / for a litel mone Hit bycometh for akynga kyng þat shal kepe a reume To ȝeue men mede / þat meekliche hym serueth To aliens and to alle men / to honoure hem with ȝeftes Mede maketh hym be by-loued / and for amana man y-holde Emperours and Erles / and alle manere lordes Thorw ȝeftes haen ȝemen / to ȝerne and to ryde The pope and alle prelates / presentes vnderfongen passus · 3us · And ȝeuen mede to men / to meyntene here lawes Seruantes for here seruyse mede they asken And taken mede of here maistres / as þei mowen acorde Bothe Begeres and bedemen / crauen mede for here preyeres Munstrals for here minstracie / amedea mede thei asken Maistres þat kenneth clerkes / craueth therfore mede Prestes þat prechen / and þe peple techen Asken mede and maspansmas pans / and here mete bothe Alle kyn crafty men / crauen mede for here prentises Marchaundise and mede / mot nede to-gederesgo to-gederes Is no lede þat leueth / þat he ne loueth mede And glad for to grype here / gret lord oþer pore // Hyere holdeth þe kyng wyt mede ¶ Quod þe kyng to Consience / by crist as me thynketh Mede is worthy me thynketh / þe maistrye to haue Nay quod Consience to þe kyng / clerkes witeth þe sothe That medemede is is euermore / amayntenour a mayntenour of Gyle As þe sauhter sayth by such þat ȝeueth mede ThaThatt vnlaufulliche lyuen / hauen large handes To ȝeue men mede / more oþer lasse Ac ther is mede and mercede / and bothe men demen A desert for som doynge ~~more oþer lasse~~ derne oþer elles Mede many tymes / men ȝeueth bifore þe doynge And þat is nother resoun ne ryhte / mne X.3.295: The markup is inadequate here. A single minim of an original <m> has been overwritten to form the needed <e> of ne. in no rewme lawe That eny man Mede toke / but he hihtehi[t] myhte deserue And for to vndertake / þeto trauaile for another And wot neuere witterly / where he lyue so longe Ne haue hap to his hele / mede to deserue Y halde hym ouer hardy / or elles nat trewe ¶ That pre manibus is paied / or his pay asketh Harlotes and hoores / and also fals leches They asken here huyre / ar thei hit haue deserued And Gylours gyuen byfore / and goode men at þe ende When þe dede is y-do / and þe day endit And þat is no mede / but amercedea mercede amanerea manere dewe dette And but hit prestly be y-payed / þe payere is to blame As by the book þat byt / no-body with-holde de visione The huyre of his hewe / ouer eue til amorwea morwe ¶ Non morabitmorabit[ur] opus mersenarii & cetera And ther is resoun as a reue / rewardynge treuthe That bothe the lord and the laborer / be leely yserued The mede þat many prest taken / for masses þat thei syngen notate presbiteri ¶ Amen Amen Matheu seyth / Mercedem suam recipiunt In Marchandise is no mede / y may hit wel a-vowe Hit is asis apermutacouna permutacouna permutac[i]oun X.3.316: Both Pearsall (2008) and RK adopt X's spelling, a form which, however, is not attested in the MED. apertly / on peneworth for another And thow the kyng of his cortesye / Cayser or pope Ȝeue lond or lordschipe / oþeror large ȝeftes To herehere lele and toom.and lege / loue loue isthe cause And yf tho lele and lege / be luyther men aftur Bothe kyng and Cayser / and þe crouned pope May desa.lowe X.3.322: The majority reading, which all editors print, is a form of PDE "disavow," which is justly required by the sense. It appears that X once read, accordingly, desauowe, but that some hand, in darker ink—we cannot say for sure it is Hand 2—has altered to a form on PDE "disallow," a reading shared with FcQSc. that thei dede / and do þerwith another And by-nyme hit hem anone / and neuere-more aftur Noyther eny ofthei ne here ayres / hardy to claymen That kyng oþer kayser hem gaf / Catel oþer rente For god gaf salomon / grace vpon erthe Richesse and resoun / the while he ryhte lyuede And as sone as god seyh / a X.3.328: A, "he." sewed nat his wille ArefteA refte X.3.329: A, "he." hym of his richesse / and of his ryhte mynde AndAnd soffrede hym lyued X.3.330: Since X's unique opening lacks the verb soffrede—required to make sense with the infinitive lyue—Hand 2 has tried (imperfectly) to repair the meaning by altering to lyued. The sense of the majority reading is "he (God) allowed him (Solomon) to live in misbelief." in mysbileue / y leue he be in helle / X.3.331.m.1: In the margin to the left of this line we see a virgule. This mark is not likely to be an uncolored paraph indicator, which would normally appear as two slashes. Rather it may be a corrector's mark, to refer himself to the need for correction in that line. And in this line we do see a correction by Hand 1 of goose to glose. So god gyueth no-thyng / þat si ne X.3.331: The underlining is in an ink closely resembling that of the marginal glosses and the running header—that of Hand 2. He has underlined both the Latin si and the English ne, perhaps at a glance thinking that they formed one Latin word. The same ink appears in a second underline at X.3.335. X.3.331: C witnesses vary greatly here. Most manuscripts read synne ne, while IUcYc read si ne; X's reading is ambiguously spaced, so it actually may be either one or two words. That majority reading synne ne might mean something like "[God gives nothing for which] sin is not the gloss," which is oblique. But the two-word reading si ne (which all editors actually adopt) constitutes Latin si, "if," plus the English negative particle ne. Pearsall (2008) thus translates the line: "So God gives nothing without an if in the margin," and he takes this as a reference to God's promise to Soloman "after the dedication of the temple, where si marks a series of stern conditions (2 Chr. 7:13, 17, 19)" (C-text, p. 93). is the golose And ryhte so sothly may kyng and pope Bothe gyue and graunte / there his grace lyketh And efte haue hit aȝeyne / of hem þat don ylle Thus is mede and X.3.335: What may appear here in the image to be an erasure is merely a blemish in the vellum that the scribe has written over. mercede / as two maner relacions X.3.335: The underlining is in an ink closely resembling that of the marginal glosses and the running header—that of Hand 2. The same ink appears in the underlining at X.3.331. Rect and indirect / reninde bothe On a sad and a siker / semblable to hem-suluen Ac adiectif and sustantif / vnite asken And acordaunce in kynde / in case and in nombre And ayther is otheres helpe / of hem cometh retribucioun And thatthat is þe gyft þat god gyueth / to alle lele lyuynge Grace of good ende / and ..gret ioye aftur ¶ Retribuere dignare domine deus & cetera Quod the kyng to Consience / knowen y wolde passus 3us What is relacion rect / and indirect aftur Thenne adiectyf an X.3.346: An, "and." sustantyf / for englisch was it neuere Relacioun rect quod Consience / is arecorda record of treuthe ¶ Quia ante-late rei recordatiuum est Folowynge and fyndynge / out þe fundement of a strenghe And styfliche stande forth / to strenghe þe fundement In kynde and in case / and in þe courscours of nombre As aleela leel laborer byleueth þat his maister In his pay and in his pite / and in his puyr treuthe To pay hym yf he parforme / and haue pite yf he faileth And take hym for his trauaile / al þat treuthe wolde So of holy herte cometh hope / and hardy relacoun Seketh and seweth / his sustantif sauacioun That is god the ground of al / agraciousea graciouse antecedent And man is relatif rect · / yf he be rihte trewe ¶ He a-cordeth with crist in kynde / ~~verb~~ X.3.360-X.3.361: XI alone divide the lines thus; Y writes them as one line, and all other manuscripts present them as two lines, divided at factum est; that is, they place what is the a-verse of X.3.361 as the b-verse of the previous line. That X has written and struck out the beginning of the word verbum indicates some confusion perhaps about how to render these lines. XI seem not to have understood that the line is macaronic, alliterating on <c>. Verbum caro factum est / in case Credere in ecclesia / in holy kyrke to bileue In nombre Rotye and aryse / and remissioun to haue Of oure sory synnes / to be assoiled and y-clansed And lyue as oure crede vs kenneth / with crist withoutenendewithouten ende This is relacion rect / ryhtryht as adiectyf and sustantyf Acordeth in alle kyndes / with his antecedent Indirect thyng is / as ho-so coueytede Alle kyn kynde to knowe and to folowe And with-oute cause to cache / and come to bothe nombres In whiche ben gode and nat gode / and graunte here nauhtenoythernoþers X.3.371: What may appear here in the image to be an erasure is merely a blemish in the vellum that the scribe has written over. will And þat is nat resonable ne rect / to refuse my syre name Sethe y am his sone and his seruant / sewe for his ryhte For ho-so wolde to wyue haue / my worliche douhter I · wolde feffe hym with alle here fayre / andand with here foule taylende So indirect ins in-lyche to coueyte To a-corde in alle kynde / and in alle kyn nombre With-outen coest and care / and alle kyn trauayle As X.3.379: RK transcribe As, while Pearsall transcribes Ac. The second character of the first word is ill-formed. relacoun rect is / a ryhtful custume As a kyng to clayme / the comune at his wille de visione To folowe and to fynde hym / and seche at hem his consayl That here loue to his lawe Thorw al þe lond a-corde So comune claymeth of a kyng / thre kyne thynges Lawe l.oue and lewete / and hym lord antecedent Bothe heued and here kyng / haldyng with no parteyȝe Bote standynge as a stake þat stikede in a mere Bytwene two lordes / for a trewe marke Ac þe moste partie of peple / now puyr indirect semeth For they wilnen and wolden / as beste were for hem-sulue Thow the kyng and þe comune / al the coest hadde Such inparfit peple / repreueth alle resoun And halt hem vnstedefast for hem lakketh case As relacoynesrelac[yo]nes indirect / rerchethre[c]cheth thei neuere Of the cours of case / so thei cache suluer Be the peccunie y-paied / thow parties chyde He þat mede may lacche / maketh lytel tale Nyme he anoumbrea noumbre / of nobles or of shillynges How þat cliauntes a-corde / a-counteth mede litel Ac adiectyf and sustantyf / is as y herer tolde That is vnite a-cordaundea-cordaunce / in case in gendre and in noumbre And is to nempne in oure mouth / more none mynne X.3.401: The tail of the y has been touched up in a dark ink. But þat alle maner men / wymmen and childrene Sholde confourme hem to o kynde / on holy kyrke to bileue And coueyte þe case / when thei couthe vnderstande To syke for here synnes / and soffre harde penauncespenaunce For þat lordes loue / that for oure loue deyede And coueytede oure kynde / and be kald in oure name ¶ deus homo and nyme hym in-to oure noumbre now and euere-more Qui in caritate manet / in deo manet .et deus in eo Thus is man and mankynde / in maner of sustantyf As hic ~~...~~& hec homo / askyng an X.3.411: It looks as if the scribe had started to write an erroneous <d>, but never finished the letter, so we do not transcribe it. The article an is obviously required here. P2 has the erroneous and. adiectyf Of thre trewe termisonus / trinitas vnus deus ¶ Nomintatiuo pater & filius & spiritus sanctus X.3.413: The first word in this line suffers from some scribal repair, for the scribe had initially written Noit and had to write over it to correct himself. RK state that they see an <m> written over the letter <t> in the main hand, but one can decode the scribe's repair work differently, according to a variety of suspensions of similar (though not exact) forms listed in Cappelli (p. 238). We transcribe Nominativo, with the tilde supplying the nasals and thus interpreting the <a> as the letter that has been written over the offending <t>. But if the <a> we see is actually an <n> with a superscript <a>, then we could transcribe Nominativo. The playfully ingenious literary context likely threw the scribe off, as the poem here intends a phrase meaning "in the nominative [case]" where one would expect nomine (in the name [of the Father and Son, etc.]). See Pearsall's note for an explanation of the grammatical conceit that informs this episode (C-Text, p. 97, n. to l. 405). No matter how one transcribes it, the scribe has labored, evidently, to get this clever pun correct, which may indicate his keen comprehension of this notoriously arcane sequence in the text. If X had gotten it wrong, in fact, he would have been the only one to have done so, as the surviving witnesses show no variants here. Ac ho-so rat of regum / rede me may of mede How he absoloun / to hangynge brouhte And sechese[t]he for / sauel / saued akynga kyng for mede passus 3us Regum Agaynes godes comandement / god tok such a vengeaunce That saul for þat synne / and his sone deyede And ȝaf the kyndom / to his knaue / þat kept shep and lambren As me ret in regum / aftur Ruth of kynges How god sente to sauel / be samuel þe prophete That a-gag of Amalek / and alle his leege peple Sholde deye derslyder[f]lydelefully / for dedes of here eldres Sauel quod samuel / god hym-sulue hoteth To be buxum at my byddyng / his loue to fulfille Haste the with al thyn oste / to þe lond of Amalek And alle þat leueth on þat lond / oureoure lord lord wol þat thow sle hit Man & womman and wyf / childe wedewe and bestes That dwelleth in amalek / mebles and vn-mebles X.3.429-X.3.430: The textual situation is complex, for most editors reject the phrase That dwelleth in amalek, which is found in XDcIP2UcYc. The other witnesses, and subsequently the modern editors, omit this half line, starting the two lines with mebles and bern, respectively. Man and allealle thynges bern hit bere hit nat a-wey be hit neuer so riche For eny mede of money / al that thow myhte Spille hit spare hit nat / and thow shalt spede ththee bettere X.3.432: The added <e> is followed by a mark resembling a modern colon to separate the words the and better. And for a X.3.433: A, "he." coueytede here catel / and the kyng sparede For bar hym and his beste bestes / as þe byble wittenesseth Other-wyse then god wolde / and warnede hym by þe prophete God sayde to Samuel / þat Sauel sholde deye And al is for þat synne / shentfolyche ende Thus was kyng sauel ouercome / thorw coueytise of mede That god for euere and allealle his eyres aftur The culorum of this kaes / kepe y nat to shewe An Auntur hit nuyede me / noen ende wol y make For so is the world went / with hem þat han þe power // He þat sayth trewþe schal be schent That he þat sayth men sothest / is sonnest yblamed InI Consience knowe this / for kynde wit me tauhte That resoun shal regne / and reumes gouerne And riht as agag hadde / happe shal somme Samuel shal sle hym / and sauel shal be y-blamed And dauid shal be ydyademed / and a-dauntedaunten alle oure enemyes And o cristene kyng / kepe vs echone Shal no mede be maister / neuere-more aftur Ac loue and lownesse and lewete to-gyderes Tho shal be maistres on molde / trewe men to helpe corrigitur X.3.452.f.1: Though a corrigitur can come at any point in this manuscript, here it does coincide with the end of the second quire. And ho-so taketh aȝeyn treuthe de visione And ho-so taketh aȝeyn treuthe / or transuerseth aȝeyns resoun Lewete shal do hym lawe / and no lyf elles Shal no seruauntseriaunt forfor þat seruicieseruice · / werie no a selk houe Ne no pelure in his paueloun X.3.456: RK and Pearsall read panelon, which Pearsall glosses as "cap (coif)." Schmidt prints, as we do, paueloun, which he glosses as "a lawyer's cape," per MED paviloun, n. 2. / for pledyng at þe barre MuchelMuchel euel is thorw mede / mony tymes y-soffred And letteth the lawe / thorw here large ȝeftes AsAc kynde loue shal come ȝut / and Consience to-gyderes And maky of lawe laborera laborer / suche loue shal aryse And such pees among þe peple / and aparfita parfit trewthe // lo how iewe sc.hull conuerte for ioye That iewes shal wene in heherere wit / & wexen so glade That here kyng be ycome / fro þe Court of heuene The which moises or messie / þat men ben so trewe For alle þat bereth baslard / briht swerd oþer launce Ax oþer hachet / or eny kyne wypne Shal be demed to þe deth / but yf he do hit smythye In-to sykel or in-to sythe / to shar oþer to coltur ¶ Conflabunt gladios suos in vomeres & lanciaslancias suas in falces Vche man to pley with aplogha plogh / apikoisa pikois oþer a spade Spynne oþer speke of god / and spille no tyme Prestes and parsones placebo / and dirige Here sauter and here seuene phalmesp[s]almes for alle synful preyen Haukyng or huntyng / yf eny of hem hit vse Shal lese þerfore his lyflode / and his lyf par-auntur Shal nother kyng ne knyght / Constable ne Mayre Ouerkarke þe comune / ne to þe Court sompne Ne potte men in panele / ne do men plihte here treuthe But aftur þe dede þat is y-do / the doom shal recorde Mercy or no mercy / as most trewe acorden Kynges Court and comune Court / constorie and shapriechapitre X.3.481: The form shaprie is unattested in the MED. Hence, we do not suggest a correction, because we cannot say for certain that the scribe intended the expected form of majority chapitre. Al shal be but a couert / and o · ~~buyrne~~ barn X.3.482: In this interesting situation, Hand 2 has crossed out the overwhelming majority reading buryne meaning "man" and substituted barn meaning "child," perhaps thinking of Christ. (Gc also reads barn and by correction as well.) This is more evidence that Hand 2 was not employing, or not choosing to follow, Hand 1's exemplar in his corrections. be Iustice And þat worth trewe tonge / atydya tydy man þat tened me neuere Batailes sholle neuere eft be / ne man bere eg-toel And yf eny smyth smethen hit / be smyte þer-with to dethe ¶ X.3.486.m.1: This marginal gloss is one of three references to prophecy in the margins; see our dicsussion of their origin and meaning in the Introduction: I.4 Script and Hands. In this instance, profecia petri is preceded by a symbol that we encounter elsewhere in the manuscript, whose function we also discuss in the introduction. Ralph Hanna has examined the figure for us and sees it as a variation of the scribe's usual pre-colored paraph marker, <cc>, but here it must function as a sort of marker to frame the annotation. prophecia petri ¶ Non leuabit gens contra gentem gladium nec excercebunturex[er]cebuntur X.3.486: X, RK, Skeat, and Galloway's volume in the Penn Commentary on <title level="m">Piers Plowman all have excercebuntur, but Schmidt and Pearsall correct to exercebuntur, which is the Vulgate reading (Isaiah 2:4); Alford (1992) prints both the reading of X and of the Vulgate (p. 41). We take excercebuntur to be a simple lapsus calami rather than a substantive variant. vltra ad prelium Ac ar this fortune falle / fynde me shal the worste Be sixe sgonnessonnes X.3.488: Calabrese (2005) was unsure if <s> was converted to <g>, or whether Hand 1 had simply written <g> ( p. 178, n. 21). Here, however, we indicate the conversion, in agreement with RK. This change indicates that Hand 1 is capable of creating unique error. in a ship / and half a shef of Arwes 3 X.3.488.f.1: Three different quire signatures appear on this folio. Two are contemporary with the original copying, one in red, the other just to the left of it in plummet. The third is a modern one in the lower left margin, which we do not transcribe. 3 passus 4us And thethe middel lyȝt X.3.489: Calabrese (2005) has discussed this "correction" as follows: "Hand 2 again creates a unique reading when compelled by an omission to improvise. Conscience confronts Lady Meed with an apocalyptic prophecy of reform, signaled by the 'middle of the moon' (the full moon) at the time of the crucifixion. X omits the needed word 'middle' . . . . Hand 2 was perhaps baffled by the oddity of the passage and so has supplied the unique, un-alliterating 'lyȝt,' a reading that comes from no surviving exemplar and is probably an impromptu invention" (p. 178). of þea mone shal make þe iewes turne And saresines for þat syhte / shal syng Credo in spiritum sanctum For Machameth and mede / and mishap þat tyme ¶ Quia melius est bonum nomen / quam diuicie multe As wroth as wynd / wax mede þer-aftur Loo what salamon sayth quod she / in sapiense in þe bible That ȝeueth ȝeftes taketh ȝeme / the victorie a X.3.495: A, "he." wynneth And muche worschipe ther-with / as holy writ telleth ¶ Honorem adquiret / qui dat munera I · leue the lady quod Consience / for þat latyn is trewe Thow art lyk aladya lady þat alessouna lessoun radde Was omnia probate / þat plesede here herte That lef was no lengur / and at þe leues ende Ac hadde she loked in þe luft half / and þe lef turned A X.3.503: A, "she." sholde haue yfonde folwynge fele wordes aftur ¶ Quod bonum est tenete / atixsta tixst of treuthe m akyngemakynge X.3.504: RK read in a kynge. However, the scribe's spacing is sufficiently uneven that it seems reasonable to think he intended makynge, the reading of all other C manuscripts. So ho-so techeth sapience / fynde he shal foloweththat foloweth A ful teneful tyxst / to hem þat taketh mede The whiche þat hatte as y haue rad / an oþer þat can rede Animam aufert Accipiencium Worschipe a X.3.509: A, "he." wynneth þat wol ȝeue mede Ac he þat resceyueth here oror recheth here is rescetour of Gyle Passus quartus de visione vt prius Sethe X.4.1: A smiling face, perhaps that of Lady Meed, emerges in the left margin from the top of the ornamented capital. saide þe kynge y soffre ȝow no lengore Ȝe shal sauhtene for sothe / and serue me bothe Kusse here quod the kyng · Consience yhote Nay by Crist quod Consience / congeie me arerather But resoun rede me þer-tyl · / rather wolde y dey And y comaunde quod the kyng / to Consience thenne Rape the to ryde · and resoun þat thow seche Comaunde hym þat he come / my consayle to here For he shal reulen my rewme / and rede me the beste Of mede and of mo othere / and what man shal here wedde And acounte with the Consience / so me Crist helpe How thow ledest my peple / lered and lewed Y am fayn of that foroward / in fayth tho quod Consience de visione And rood forth to resoun / and rouned in his ere And sayde hym as þe kyng sayde / and sennes he took his leue Y shal aray me to ryde / quod resoun reste the whilea while And kalde Catoun his knaue / Corteys of speche And also thennethomme trewe tonge / telle me no tales Ne lesynges to lauhe of / for y louede hit neuere // Hyer rayson bad sadele his hors þat hyȝte suffre And sette my sadel vpon soffre / tyl y se my tyme And lat warrokyewarrokye hym hym wilwel / with auysethauyse þe byfore For hit is þe wone of wil / to wynse and to kyke For-thy lat peytrele wil / and pole hym with peynted wittes Thenne Consience on his capel / comesed to pryke And resoun with hym ryȝt / rounynge to-gederes Whiche a maister mede was / amonges pore and ryche ¶ Ooen wareyn wisman / and wily man his felawe Fayn were to folowe hem / and faste ryden aftur To take reed of resoun þat recorde sholde Byfore þe kyng an Consience / yf þe comune playne Oon wily man and witty man / and wareyne wryng lawe Ac Consience knewe hem wel / and carped to resoun Here cometh quod Consience / þat Coueytise seruen Ryde forth syre resoun / and rech nat of here tales For there is wrath and wranglynge / there wol they abyde Ac there is loue and leutee / hit lyketh nat here hertes ¶ Contricio & infelicitas in viis eorum / et vinam pacis non cognouerunt / non est timor dei ante oculos eorum They gyue nat of good fayth / woed godgod wot the sothe For þey wolde do for a dyner / oþer a deseyned[o]seyne of capones More then for oure lordes loue / oþer oure lady goddes moder Thenne resoun rood forth / Ac took reward of no man Bute dede as Consience hym kennede / til he þe kyng mette Corteyslyche þe kyng thenne / cam and grette resoun And bytwene hym-sulue / and his sone sette tho sire resoun And speke wyse wordes / alongea longe while to-gederes And thenne cam p~~...~~ees in-to X.4.46: Just before the of in there is what looks like a common suspension mark, but none is needed here. Perhaps it is an attempt to dot or otherwise reinforce the , which was blurred by the erasure of the previous word. We read it thus, as an offset reinforcement of the , especially since <in> looks to have been re-stroked as well, and therefore we do not transcribe it as an independent graph. parlement / and putte vp abillea bille How wrong wilfully / hadde his wyf for-leyn And how he raueschede Rose / the ryche wydewe by nyhte passus · 4us · And margarete of here mayden-hod / as he mette here late Bothe my gees and my grys / and my g.ras he taketh Y dar nat for his felawschipe / in fayth pees sayde Bere sikerlyche eny seluer / .to seynt Gyles doune And a waytethHe awaytteth X.4.53: A, "he." ful wel when y seluer take What wey y wende / wel ȝerne he aspyeth To robbe me or to ruyfle me / yf y ryde softe Ȝut is he bold for to borw / Ac baddelyche he payeth For he borwed of me bayard / aand X.4.57: A, "he." brouhte hym hom neuere NeNe no ferthyng therfore / for nouhte y couthe plede A X.4.59: A, "he." meynteyneth his men / to morthere myn hewes And forstalleth my fayres / and fyhteth in my chepynges And breketh vp my bernys dores / and brereth X.4.61: Another hand has added a mark, resembling a modern hyphen, over the erasure to link the to the rest of the word. a-wey my whete And taketh me but a tayle / for ten quarteres otes And ȝut he maneascth~~eth~~et X.4.63: RK see the original reading as manestheth, altered to manaschet by another hand. We see it thus: the original reading is manescheth. Another hand has overwritten the first <e> with <a>, and re-inked <et> after erasing a still visible final <h>. That same hand has also stroked the original <c> into a <t> (the opposite of what RK assert), resulting in manasthet, perhaps a preterite tense form. The word comes from MED manacen, v., and means simply "to threaten." All editors print the majority form ending in -eth. We cannot confidently attribute these corrections to Hand 2, though they are surely not in the ink of the main hand. me and myne / and a X.4.63: A, "he." lythlyth be my mayde Y am nat hardy for hym / vnnethe to loke X.4.64: For unclear reasons, X uniquely omits the following line: The kyng knew he sayde soth for Conscience hym tolde (RK.4.64). How wrong was a wykked man / and muche wo wrouhte Tho was wrong afered / and wisdom a X.4.66: A, "he." souhtesouȝthe bysouhte On men of lawe wrong lokede / and largelyche hem profered And for to haue here helpe / handy-dandy payde Hadde y loue of the lord / lytel wolde y reche Of pees and his power / thow he pleyne euere Thorw wrong and his werkes / there was mede y-knowe For wysdom and wyt tho / wenton to-gyderes And token mede with hem / mercy to wynne Ȝut pees put forth his heued / and his panne blody With-outen gult god wot / was gyue me this schathe Consience knoweth hit wel / and al þe Comune trewe Ac wyles and wyt / were aboute faste To ouercome þe kyng / thorw catel yy[f] they myhte The kyng .swor by Crist / and by his croune bothe That wrong for his werkes / sholde wewooo tholye And comaundede a Constable / to caste wronge in yrones Ther he sholde nat in seuene ȝer / see his feet ne handes God woot quod a wys oen þat were nat the beste Yf he amendes may do / lat maynprise hym haue corrigitur de visione And be borw for his bale / and buggen hym bote And amende þat is mysdo / and euere-more þe betere Witt acordede therwith / and witnessede þe same Betere is þat bote / bale adoun brynge Then bale be y-bete / and bote neuer þe betere Then gan mede to m.eken here / and mercy she bisouhtebisouȝt And profrede pees apresenta present / al of puyre golde Haue this man of me quod she / to amende thy sh scathe For y wol wage for wrong / he wol do so no mare Pitousliche pees tho / preyede the kyng To haue mercy on þat man / that many tymes hym greuede For hehe hath waged me wel / as wysdom hym tauhte And mede hath made my mendes · / ymayy may no more asken So alle my claymes ben quyt / by so þe kyng assente Nay by crist quod þe kyng / for Consiences sake Wrong goth nat so away / ar y wete more Lope he so lihtliche / lawen he wolde And efte the baldore to bebe þe boldereþe boldere be to bete myn hewes Bute resoun haue reuth on hym / he shal reste in my stokkes As longe as y lyue / for his luther werkes Summe men radden resoun tho / to haue reuthe vppon þat shrewe And for to consayle þe kynge / on Consience thei lokede That mede myhte be maynpernour · Mede thei by-souhte ¶ Rede me nat quod resoun / no reuthe to haue // lo what resoun sayde Til lordes and ladies / louen alle treuthe And hatien alle harlotrie / to heren hit oþer to mouthen hit And tyl purnele porfiel · be putte in here whicche And chersyngchyldren chersyng · / be chasted with ȝerdes And harlotes holynesse / be an heye ferie [trefoil] X.4.114-119: In the right margin is a drypoint figure of a three-petalled flower or trefoil. Til Clerkene Coueytise / be cloth for þe pore And here pelure and here palfrayes / pore menne lyflode And religious out-ryderes / be reclused in here Cloistres And be as Benet hem bad / dominik and fraunceys Til þat lerede men lyue / as thei lere and teche And til þe kynges consayl / be alle comune profit And til byschopes ben bakeres / Breweres and taylours [circled cross] X.4.120: In the right margin is a circled cross in drypoint. Since there is some trace of a stem-like line extending from its right, it may have been intended to be another flower. passus 4us For alle manere men þat me fynt neodefole And til saynt Iames be souhte / there pore sykke lyggen In prisones and in pore cotes / be pilgrimages to Rome So þat noon go to galys but yf he go for euere And alle Rome rennares / for ruyflaresrobbers X.4.125: The characters <ru> are touched up in a different ink. in Fraunce to bere no seluer ouer see / þat sygne of kyng sheweth Nother y-graue ne vngraue / of gold oþer of suluer Vp forfeture of þat fee / ho fyndeth hem ouerward But he be marchaunt or his man / or messager ofwith lettres Prouisour or preest / oþer penaunt for his synnes And quod resoun by þe rode / y shal no reuthe haue Whiles mede hath the maistrie / þer motyng is at Barresbarre Ac y may seyen ensaumples / as y see othere Y sey it nat for my-sulf / quod resoun and it so were That y were kyng with crrounec[r]oune / to kepe my reume Shulde neuere wrong in this worlde / þat y wyte myhte Be vnpunsched in my power / for perel of soulemy soule Ne gete my grace thorw eny gyfte / ne glosynge spekespeche Ne thorw mede mercy / by marie of heuene ¶ For nullum malum / man mette with inpunitum And bad nullum bonum / be irremuneratum Lat thy Confessour syre kyng / construe this in englische And yf ȝe worthewor[c]he it in werke / y wedde bothe myn handes That lawe shal ben alaborera laborer / and lede afelde donge And loue shal lede thi land / as the leef lyketh Clerkes couipledeco[u]plede hem to-gederes / to construe this clause X.4.146: By converting to clause, Hand 2 has aligned X with the vast majority of C manuscripts. Kyndeliche what it meneth X.4.146-X.4.147: X and several other manuscripts omit from line 146 almost an entire a-verse, þat were confessours; these manuscripts divide the lines differently in response, and in X's case a half-line is remaindered as X.4.147. // lo mede bad men of lawe stoppe resoun ¶ Mede in the mot-halle tho / on men of lawe gan wynke In signe þat thei sholde / with som sotil speche Reherce thethor X.4.150: The original reading the, though attested, makes no sense. Hand 2, obviously active on this folio, changed it to an adverb there, which does make sense and is also attested. The original scribe may have mistaken the archetypal tho for the and Hand 2, perhaps with no exemplar to witness tho, fixed it as best he could. anon ryhte / þat myhte resoun stoppe Ac al ryhtful recordede / þat resoun treuthe sayde And kyndekynde wit and Consience / corteysliche thonkede Resoun for his ryhtful speche / ryche and pore hym louede And sayden we seyn wel / syre resoun be thi wordes That mekenesse worth mayster / ouer mede at þe laste Loue lyette X.4.156: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with most other manuscripts. of mede thoom. lyhte / and leutee ȝut lasse de visione And cryede to Consience / the kyng myhte hit here Ho-so wilneth here to wynnewyue quod he / for welthe of here goodes But he be knowe for a cokewold / kut of my nose // Hyere murned mede for sche was clepid hore Mede mornede tho / and made an heuy chere For þe comune calde here / queynte comune hore A sysour and a somnour / tho softliche forth ȝede With mede þe mayde tho out of þe moet-halle A shyreues Clerk cryede / a capias mede ¶ et saluo custodias / set non cum carcertiscarcer[a]tis The kyng to consayl tho toek · Consience and resoun And modiliche vppon mede / many tymestyme lokede And lourede vppon men of lawe and lyhtlych sayde Thorw ȝoure lawe as y leue / y lese many chetes Mede and men of ȝoure craft / muche treuthe letteth Ac resoun shal rykene with ȝow / yf y regne eny while And deme ȝow by this day / as ȝe haen deserued Mede shal nat maynprisemaynprise ȝou / by marye of heuene Y wol haue leutee for my lawe / and late be al ȝoure iangle And by lele and lyf-holy / my lawe shal be demed Quod Consience to þe kyng / with-oute þe comune helpe Hit is ful hard by myn heued · / herto to bryngen hit And alle ȝoure lege lordesledes / to lede thus euene By hym þat rauhte vpon þe rode quod resoun to the kyng But ȝe reule thus alle reumes / reuethtreueth X.4.180: We do not know what Hand 1 intended by converting <h> to <t>. The word he obtains may still be a form of MED reven, v. 5, "[w]ith double object: (a) to deprive (sb.) of (sth.), take (sth.) from (sb.)." It seems unlikely but not impossible that the scribe intended a form of MED riveten, v. 1., "[t]o fasten with rivets; also, clinch (a nail)." me my syhte And brynge alle men to bowe / with-outen bittere wounde With-outen mercement or manslauht / amende alle reumes Y wolde hit were quod the kynge · wel alabouteal aboute For-thy resoun redyly / thow shalt nat ryden hennes But be my cheef Chaunceller / in Cheker and in parlement And Consience in alle my Courtes / be a kynges Iustice Y assente sayde resoun / by so ȝow-sulue y-here ¶ Audiatis alteram partem / amonges aldremen and comerneres And þat vnsittynge suffraunce / ne sele ȝoure priue lettres Ne no supersedias sende / but y assente quod resoun And y dar lege my lyf / þat loue wol lene þe seluer To wage thyn and helpe wynne / þat thow wilnest aftur X.4.192: A series of dark and light pen trials appear to the lower right of this line. passus 5us More then alle thy marchauntes / or thy mytrede Bysshopes Or Lumbardus of lukes / þat leuen by lone as iewes The kyng comaundede Consience tho / to congeye alle his offeceres And receyue tho that resoun louede / and riht with þat y wakede Passus quintus de visione vbi prius Thus y awakede woet god / whan y wonede in Cornehull LKytte X.5.2: Hand X's correction aligns the text with the universal reading of the C manuscripts. and y in a cote / y-clothed as a lollare And lytel y let by / leueth me for sothe Amonges lollares of londone / and lewede Ermytes For y made of tho men / as resoun me tauhte For as y cam by Consience / with resoun y mette // Hyer concience & raysoun a-ratyd // wille for his lol-lynge X.5.7.m.1: The marginal gloss contains two sets of virgules, but constitutes only one continuous comment. In an hot heruest / whenne y hadde myn hele And lymes to labory with / and louede wel fare And no dede to do / but tobut drynke and to slepe In hele and in inwitt / oen me apposede Romynge in remembraunce / thus resoun me aratede Can thow seruen he sayde / or syngen in a churche Or koke for my cokeres / or to þe Cart piche Mowen or mywen / or make bond to sheues Repe or been a rypereue / and aryse erly Or haue an horn and be hayward / and lygge þer-oute nyhtesanyhtes And kepe my corn in my croft / fro pykares and theues Or shap shon or cloth / or shep and kyne kepe Heggen or harwen / or swyn or gees dryue Or eny other kynes craft / þat to þe comune nedeth Theyat yþou beterde the by / þat byleue  X.5.21: We see here again, as we did above at X.2.38, that Hand 2, in the course of a larger repair, has added a punctus elevatus at a caesura newly made by his addition. Hand 1's own virgule is visible as well, between by and that. For a fuller account of the textual situation, see the note at the end of this line. & þe the fayrer the fynden X.5.21: Line 21 is quite a famous mess, as reflected in the range of editorial responses and renderings. (See C.5.21 in all editions.) The line illustrates paradigmatically the complexities of correction in this manuscript. In the a-verse, X originally read They y-betered, which Hand 2 converted to read That þu betere, also re-stroking the final <e> which must have been partially erased when he deleted <d>. The same hand has inserted the phrase and þe the fayrer in the b-verse after byleve, obtaining for the whole line something like "so that you would better yourself by means of that livelihood and find yourself to be (not only better) but fairer also." Pearsall, in his 1978 edition, adopts Hand 2's a-verse revision but not the b-verse insertion, while also adding an <r> to turn the be into therby, thus obtaining: That þou betere therby þat byleue the fynden, which Pearsall translates "By which you may improve the lot of those who provided you with food." In 2008, employing an entirely different version of the a-verse that RK also adopted (that is, the C-text majority reading), Pearsall revised completely to Hem that bedreden be byleue to fynden, which must simply mean "find food for those that are bedridden." Schmidt's reading, however, is economical while staying close to X's unrevised reading—though he, like Pearsall, takes the by as error for therby: They [ybetered be] therby, þat byleue the fynden. Though he employs brackets as if emending, he is really partially restoring X as it read before Hand 2 attempted to fix the text. Schmidt (2011) does add the word be which he presumed lost in X by eye skip; see his discussion (p. 339), where he offers this translation of his version: "(So that) those who provide you with your living have some advantage from what you do." Sertes y sayde / and so me god helpe Y am to wayke to wurcche / with sykel or with sythe And to long lef me / lowe to stoupe To wurche as a werkeman / eny while to duyren Thenne hastow londes to lyue by / quod resoun or lynage ryche That fyndefyndeth the thy fode / for an ydel man þow semest A spendour þat spene mot / or a spille-tyme Or beggest thy by-lyue / aboute at men hacches Or faytest vppon frydayes / or feste-dayfeste-dayes in churches The whiche is lollarne lyf / þat lytel is preysed de visione There ryhtfulnesse rewardeth ryht as men deserueth ¶ Reddet vnicuique iuxta opera sua Or thow art broke so may be / in body or in membre Or y-maymed thorw som myshap / where-by thow myhte be excused // Hyer wille answered to rayson When y ȝong ȝongȝong X.5.36: The fact that a word is repeated and not deleted in three manuscripts indicates that it might have been in a common exemplar of XIYc. was / many ȝer hennes My fader and my frendes / foende me to scole Tyl y wyste witterly / what holy writ menede And what is beste for the body / as the boek telleth And sykerost for þe soule / by so y wol contenue And foende y nerey nere in fayth / seth my frendes deyede Lyf þat me klykede / but in this longe clothes And yf y be labour sholde lyuen / and lyflode deseruen That laboure þat y lerned beste / þerwith lyuen y sholde ¶ In eadem vocacione / quiaqua vocati estis sanctusom. X.5.45: X's unique sanctus makes no sense gramatically as a masculine singular. It may have been motivated by an exemplar argeeing with DcUc sitis, which itself may have been a variation on estis from Ephesians 4:1, where Paul echoes his injunction at 1 Corinthians 7:20. Alternately, sanctus may be a marginal gloss that made its way into this line. And so y leue in london / and ope-london londen bothe The lomes þat y labore with / and lyflode deserue Is pater noster and my primer / placebo and dirige And my sauter som-tyme / and my seuene phalmesp[s]almes Thisþus y segge for here soules / of suche as me helpeth And tho þat X.5.51: We believe that the scribe has restroked only the ascender of a faint <t> after re-inking his pen. fynden me my fode / fouchen-saf y trowe To be welcome when y come / oþerwhile in amonthea monthe Now with hym now with here / on this wyse y begge With-oute bagge or botel / but my wombe one And also more-ouer / me thynketh syre resoun Me sholde constrayne no Clerec X.5.56: In this instance, our markup expresses that an <e> has been converted to a <c>, which is how we interpret Hand2's addition of a line across the <e>. The correction here is not the most skillful or elegant, but it is an attempt to express <c> and thus obtain a form of the majority reading clerk. / to no knaues werkes For by þe lawe of leuyticy þat oure lord ordeynede Clerkes y-crouned of kynde vnderstondynge Sholde nother swynke ne swete / ne swerien at enquestes Ne fyhte in no faume-warde / ne his foe greue ¶ Non reddas malum pro malo For hit ben eyres of heuene / þalle þat be ycrouned And in quoer and in kyrkes / Cristes mynistres ¶ Dominus pars hereditatis mee & cetera Et alibi clemencia non constringit Hit bycometh for clerkes / Crist for to serue And knaueknaues vncrounede / to carte and to worche For sholde no clerke be crouned / but yf he come were passus 5us Of frankeleynes and fremen / and of folke y-wedded Bonde-men and bastardus / and beggares children Thyse bylongeth to labory / and lordes kyn to serue God and good men as here degre asketh Somme to synge masses / or sitten and wryten Redon and resceyuen / þat resoun ouhte to spene ¶ Ac sythe bonde-men barnes / haen be mad bisshopes And barnes bastardus / haen be Erchedekenes And soutaressopares and here sones / for suluer han be knyhtes And lordes sones here laboreres / and leyde here rentes to wedde For the ryhte of this reume / ryden aȝeyn oure enemyes In confort of the comune / and the kynges worschipe And monkes and moniales / þat mendenantmendenantes sholde fynde I·-made X.5.81: The markup here is inadequate. As in several other instances, the scribe has put a raised point after : I ·, the first instance being at X.P.56. In this case, however, the is not the pronoun but rather the marker for the participle. Another instance of the use of a raised point with a participal occurs at X.7.251. In order to record the participle as a single word while also recording the raised point, we have had to forego the usual isolation of medieval punctuation with white space. here kyn knyhtes / and knyhtes fees y-purchased Popes and patrones / pore gentel blood refused And taken Symondes sones / seyntwarie to kepe Lyf holynesse and loue / hath be longe hennes And wol til hit be wered out / oþer-wyseor oþer-wyse ychaunged For-thy rebuke me ryhte nauhte / resoun y ȝow praye For in my Consience y knowe / what Crist weldew[o]lde y-wrouhte Prereyeres of aparfita parfit man / and penaunce desiredediscrete Is the leuest labour / þat oure lord pleseth ¶ X.5.90: The blue paraph here extends down the margin to the left of the entire Latin quotation, serving as both paraph and highlighting bracket. Non de solo y sayde / for sothe viuit homo Nec in pane / & in pabulo / the pater noster wittenesseth X.5.91: The red underline under the virgule and first two words of the b-verse has been partially erased, but is still visible. These English words—we take paternoster to be part of an English phrase in this setting—must have been accidentally underlined when the rubricator was marking all of the Latin half-lines in this sequence. It may be that the rubricator himself quickly saw the error and made the correction. Fiat voluntas dei / þat fynt vs alle thynges Quod Consience by Crist y can nat se this lyeth Ac it semeth no sad parfitnesse · in Citees to bygge X.5.94: It is not clear whether XUcYc's bygge, as intended, has the sense of the majority begge, of which bygge can be a form, or if it means "to dwell" or (less likely) "to buy." See MED, s.vv. beggen, biggen, and bien. But he be obediencer / to X.5.95: The stroke over the word to is perhaps a remnant from an earlier erasure or just a stray mark. prior or to mynistre That is soth y saide / and so y beknowe That y haue y-tynt tyme / and tyme myspened Ac ȝut y hope as he / þat ofte hath y-chaffared And ay loste an loste / and at þe laste hym happed AbouteHe bouhteA boute X.5.100: The word aboute is written as one word, appearing to be the preposition, but the majority reading is the 3rd sg. masc. pron. + verb (MED, s.v. bien, v. 1(a), "[t]o purchase (sth.) acquire by purchase . . ." Since a frequently represents the 3 sg. masc. pron. "he" in this manuscript, it is possible that the scribe has run these separate words—a boute—together, or that they were already run together in his exemplar. such abargayna bargayn / he was þe bet euere And sette al his los at aleefa leef / at the laste ende Suche a wynnyng hym warth / thorw wordes of grace Simile est regnum celorum thesauro abscondito in agro de visione Mulier quiqu[e] inuenit dragmam So hope y to haue of hym þat is almyghty A gobet of his grace / and bigynne atymea tyme That alle tymes of my tyme / to profit shal turne Y rede the quod resoun tho / rape the to bigynne The leiyif X.5.109: HS and RK both assert that <ee> of leef was erased and replaced with <yi>; we wonder (cautiously) if, rather, an <ei> was erased and replaced with <yi>, obtaining a reading that X shares with manuscript J: lyif. Schmidt prints XI's lyif, which he takes as a form of lyf, the spelling that both RK and Pearsall adopt. If we are correct about the letters deleted, then the scribe erased two letters in sequence, even though the alone would have served. The dot over the remains, still visible despite the erasure. The corrector then rewrote both letters, converting <ei> to <yi>. MED records leif as a form of lif, so the reasons for the change remain unclear, unless Hand 2 was using an exemplar with the I reading, lyif. þat is louable and leele to thy soule Ȝe and contynue quod Consience / and to þe kyrke y wente // Hyer wente wille to churche & ful a-ȝen a-sclepe And to þe kyrke y gan go / god to honoure Byfore þe crosse / X.5.112: The virgule falls here at the middle of the a-verse rather than at the caesura. on my knees knokked y my brest Shyȝing X.5.113: It is not at all clear what Hand 1 intended with shying, but it may be an error for a form of MED sighen, v.; Hand 2 also appears to be trying to obtain a form of that word with his correction to shyȝing. Sighen is a synonym for the majority C-text reading (MED, s.v. siken, v. 2), for both words mean "[t]o sigh, moan." for my synnes / seggyng my pater noster Wepyng and waylyng til y was a-slepe And thenne mette me muche more / then y byfore tolde Of þe matere þat me mette furste / on Maluerne hulles Y saw þe felde ful of folk / fram ende til oþer And resoun y-reuestede / ryht as apopea pope And Consience his crocer / byfore þe kyng stande Resoun reuerentliche / to-fore al þe reume // Hyer raysoun prechede Prechede and preuede / þat this pestelences was for puyre synne And the south-weste wynde / on a saturday at euene Was partliche for pruyde / and for no poynt elles PeretreesPiries and plumtrees / were possedpoffed to þe erthe In ensaunple seggesto syggen ous þat we sholde do þe bettere Beches and brode okes / were blowe to þe grounde And turned vpward here tayl / in tokenynge of drede That dedly synne ar domes-day shal fordon hem alle Of this mater y myhte mamele longeful longe Ac y shal sey as y sayh / slepyhnge as hit were How resoun radde al the reume to heuene He bad wastoures togo wurche / and wynne here sustinaunce Thorw som trewe trauail / and no tyme spille He preraeyde X.5.134: We agree with RK that "ra [appear] over re in another ink." Hand 2 attempted, it appears, to replace one suspension with another to achieve prayde, but neglected to erase the next <e> and so instead created the unique praeyde. priirnel X.5.134: HS see that "r [is] added to superior i." RK note similarly that "prinele [is] altered to pirnele [in] another ink." In adding an <r> to convert Hand 1's superscript (<ri>), Hand 2 produces <ir>. Hand 2 here thus corrects to a form of the majority reading; see MED, s.v. Pernel(e), n., from sense (b), "[a] woman's name." We acknowledge as well that the markup here, in trying to express this conversion, is inadequate to show fully how the scribe, by adding an <r>, actually "deletes" only part of a suspension. / here purfyel to leue And kepe hit in here cofre / for catel at here nede Tomme stoue he tauhte / to take to staues And fette felyce hoem · fram wyuene pyne He warnede watte / his wyf was to blame For here hed was worth half marc / and his hoed nat a grote passus · 5us · He bad buttebette to kutte / a bouwhe X.5.140: Hand 2 appears to have erased a form of the majority reading bouhe and replaced it with bowhe. See MED, s.v. bough, n., for several instances of the spelling bowh in the attestations. or twene And bete Betene þerwith / but yf a X.5.141: A, "she." wolde worche He chargede Chapmen / to chasten here children Late no wynnynge for-wanyen hem / the while thei ben ȝonge For ho-so spareth the spryg / spilleth herehis children And so wrot the wyse to wyssen vs alle ¶ Qui parcit virge odit filium And sethe he apreidea preide X.5.147: A, "he." X.5.147: The scribe sometimes writes the pronoun a ("he") directly adjacent to the verb for which it is the subject. For instance, see X.4.53, awayteth. The text should read a preide, and Hand 2's addition of he reflects his failure here to recognize a as "he," thus creating this unique and erroneous reading he a. prelates / and prestes to-gyderes That ȝe prechen to þe peple / priue hit ȝow-sylue Lyue ȝe as ȝe lereth vs / we shall leue ȝow þe bettere And sethe he radde religioun / here reule to holde Laste þe kyng and his consayl / ȝoure comunes apayre And be stewardus of ȝoure stedes / til ȝe be stewed bettere notate Religiosi ¶ Gregory þe grete Clerk / gart wryte in bokes The reule of alle religious / rihtful and obedient Ryht as fysches in þe floed / whan hem fayleth water Dyen for drouthe / whenne they drye lygge Ryht so religioun roteth and sterueth That out of couent and of Cloystre / coueyteth to dwelle For yf heuene be on this erthe / or eny ese to þe soule Hit is in C.loystre or in scole / by many skilles y fynde For in C.loystre cometh no man / to chyde ne to fyhte In scole is loue and louhnesse / and lykyng to lerne Ac mony day men telleth · bothe monkes and chanons Haen ryde out of aray · here reule euele yholde Ledares of lawedays / and londes y-purchaced And pryked aboute on palfrayes / fram places and to maneres AndA[n] hep of houndes at here ers / as he alorda lord were And but if his knaue knele · þat shal his coppe holde He loketh al lourynge / and lordeyne hym calleth Lytel hadde lordes ado / to ȝeue lond frofro here heyres To religious þat haen no reuthe / thow it ryne on here auters prophecia · petri In many places ther thei parsones ben / be hem-sulue at ese Of þe pore haueth thei no pite / and þat is here puyre chartre [crown] X.5.173-X.5.175: As visible in the digital image, in the margin to the left of the last lines of this folio is a drawing of a crown by an unknown hand. Ac ȝe leten ȝow alle as lordes / ȝoure lond lyth so blrode Ac þer shal come akynga kyng / and confesse ȝow alle de visione And bete ȝow as þe bible telleth / for brekynge of ȝoure reule And amende ȝow monkes / bothe moniales and chanons And potte ȝow to ȝoure penaunce / ad pristinum statum ire And Barones and here barnes / blame ȝow and repreue ¶ Hij in curribus & inhij in equis / ipsi obligati sunt & ceciderunt Freres in here fraytour / shal fynde þat tyme Bred with-outen beggynge / to lyue by euere aftur And constantyn shal be here cook / and couerour of here churches For þe abbot of engelonde / and the abbesse his nese Shal haue a knok vppon here crounes / and incurable þe wounde ¶ Contriuit dominus baculum impiorum virgavirga[m] dnanciumd[omi]nancium plaga insanabili Ac ar þat kyng come / as cronicles me tolde Clerkes and holychurcheholy churche / shal be clothed newe And sethe a confailedecon[s]ailede þe kyng / his comine to louie For þe comune is the kynges tresor / Consience woet wel And also quod resoun / y rede ȝow ryche And comuners acordeto acorde / in alle kyn treuthe Lat no kyne consayl / ne couetyse ȝow parte That o wit and o wil / al ȝoure wardes kepe Lo in heuene an heyh / was an holy comune Til lucifer þe lyare / leued þat hym-sulue Were wittiore and worthiore / then he þat was his maister Holde ȝow in vnite / and he þat oþer wolde Is cause of alle combrauncescombraunce / to confounde a reume And sethe apreyedea preyede þe pope haue pite on holy chirche And no grace ne graunte / til good loue were Amonges alle kyne kynges / ouer cristene peple Comaunde þat alle confessours / þat eny kyng shryueth Enioyne hem pees for here penaunce / and parpetuel forȝenesseforȝe[ue]nesse Of alle maner actions / and eche man loue other And ȝe þat seketh seynt Iames / and seyntes of Rome Seketh seynt treuthe / in sauaciounssauacioun of ȝoure soules Qui cum patre & filio / þat fayre hem byfalle That sueth my sarmon Thus endedeendeth resoun & ceteraresoun ~~yht~~ X.6.0.h.1: It appears that the scribe began writing line 1 of Passus 6, but then realized that he had omitted the passus heading, and so erased the <yht> of Ryht. Passus sextus de visione & cetera corrigitur X.6.1: The capital is decorated in red, extending above sixteen lines and below into the bottom margin. A face is drawn in one of the red decorative loops adorning the initial. Ryht withWith þat ran repentaunce / and rehersede his teme passus · 6us · And made will to wepe / water with his eyes PrineleP[ur]nele X.6.3: See X.5.134 and the textual note there describing how Hand 2 has made a correction similar to our editorial correction here. proude herte / platte here to þe erthe And long was ar he X.6.4: He, "she." lokede vp / and lord mercy cryede And bihyhte to hym þat vs alle made A sholde vnsowen here serk / and sette þeronþer an hayre To affayten here flesshe / þat fers was to synne Shal neuere heyh herte me hente / but holde me lowe And soffre to be mysseyde / and so dyde y neuere But now wol y meke me / and mercy byseche Of alle þat y haue hated / in myn herte Repente þe quod repentaunce / as resoun þe tauhte And shryue the sha.rpeliche / and shak of alle pruyde // pride scryueþ hym hyere ¶ InI pr~~uyde~~eueite X.6.14: HS correctly saw that pruyde has been altered to preueite; RK also cite "another hand," and we attribute this change to Hand 2, who has in this instance "corrected" the archetypal and majority reading into something unique and idiosyncratic. See Calabrese's discussion of the issue ("Corrections, Interventions, and Erasures," pp.187-88). pacientlyche / penaunce aske For y formost and furste / to my fader and to myandand to moder Haue be vnbuxum / y byseche god of mercy And vnbuxum y be X.6.17: As RK note (RK.6.17), there is an irresolvable ambiguity here between pronomial y be and participial ybe. As there is sufficient space between <y> and , we transcribe as two words here. / nat a-baschet to agulte God and goode men / so gret was myn herte Inobedient to holychurcheholy churche / and to hem þat þer serueth Demed for here vuel vices / and exitede oþere Thorw my word and my witt / here euel werkes to shewe And scornede hem and oþere / yf y askila skil founde Lauhyng al aloude / for lewede men sholde Wene y were witty / and wiser then another Scornare and vnskilful / to hem þat skil shewede In allealle manere maneres / my name to be knowe Semyng asouerayna souerayn oen / where-so me byfull To telle eny tale / y trowed me wysor To carpe and to consayle then eny Clerk or lewed Proud of aparayle / inportin port amonges þe peple Other-wyse then y haue / with-ynne or with-outen Me wilnynge þat men wente / y were as in auer Ryche and resonable / and hryhtful X.6.33: There is a stroke over the <r> here, but it is only a partial form—probably an anticipation of the following <h>. of lyuynge Bostyng and braggynge / with many bolde othes Vantyng vp my vaynglorie / for eny vnder-nymynge And ȝut so synguler be my-sulue / as to syhte of peple Was non such as hymmy-sulue / ne non so popholy de visione Summe-tyme in o sekte / summe-tyme in another In alle kyne couent / contreuede how y myhte Be holden for holy / and honoured by þat enchesoun Wilnynge þat men wente / myne werkes weren þe beste And þe connyngest of my craft Clerkysh oþer other And strengest vppon stede / and styuest vnder gyrdel And louelokest to loke vppon / alykyngestaand lykyngest abedde And likynge of such a lyf / þat no lawe preiseth Prout of my fayre fetures / and for y song shille And what y gaf for godes loue / to gossipes y tolde They to wene þat y were / wel holy and wel almesfullalmesful And non so bolde a beggare / to bidde and to craue Tales to telle in tauernes / and in stretes Thyng þat neuere ne wasneuere was thouhte / and ȝut aswora swory swor X.6.51: A, "he." aseyha seyhy seyh X.6.51: A, "he." hit And lyed o my lycame / and on my lyf bothe Of werkes þat y wel dede / witnesses take And sygge to suche / þat sytte me byside Lo yf ȝe leue me nat / or þat y lye wenen Ascuth at hym or at here / and he ȝow cantellecan telle What y soffrede and seyh / and some-tymes hadde And what y couthe and knewe / and of what kyn y cam of Of al ay X.6.59: A, "he." wolde þat men wiste / when it to pruyde souneth As to be preised amonges þe peple / thow he X.6.60: The manuscripts are divided between he (XDcIUcYc) and y, to which RK emend. pore seme ¶ Si hominibus placerem / christi seruus non essem / nemo potest duobus dominis seruire // Hyer goþ Enuye to scryfte Now god for his goodnesse / gyue the grace to amende ¶ Quod repentaunce riht with þat / and thenne aroos enuye Enuye with heuy herte / asked aftur shrifte And cryede mea culpa / corsynge alle his enemyes His clothes were of corse mencorsement / and of kene wordes A X.6.67: A, "he." wroth his furstef[u]ste X.6.67: Here and at X.19.147, the scribe adds an erroneous <r> to what should be fuste. At X.19.114 and X.19.136, he makes the same mistake, but corrects himself. vppon wrath / hadde he X.6.67: X and several other manuscripts omit a ("he") found in most C witnesses and here supplied by Hand 2. wesches at wille Sholde no lyf lyue / þat on his lond pissede Chidynge and chalengynge þat was his cheef lyflode And blame men byhynde herebakhere bak / and bidde hem meschaunce And þat a wiste by wille / to watekeyn he tolde hit And al þat he wiste by watte / tolde hit wille aftur And made of frendes foes / thorw fikel and fals tonge passus · 6us · Or thorw myhte of mouthe / or thorw mannes sleythes Venged me vele tymes / other vrete myself with-ynne Lyke a scthupestares sharre / and shrewed myn euencristene Aȝeyn þe consayl of Crist / as clerkes fyndeth in bokes ¶ Cuius maledictione os plenum est & amaritudine / sub lingua eius labor & dolor Filij hominum dentes eorum / Arma & sagitte & lingua eorum gladius acutus And when y may nat haue þe maystrie / suche malecolie y take X.6.80: Although RK emend to [with] malecolie ytake, the reading as we see it (in agreement with Pearsall and Schmidt) is actually pronoun + verb: suche malecolie y take. That y cache þe crompe the cardiacle sume-tyme Or an ague in suche angre / and som-tyme afeuerea feuere That taketh me alal a twelmonthe / til þat y despise Leche-craft of oure lord / and leue on a wycche And segge þat no clerk ne can / ne Crist as y leue To the soutere of southewerk / suche is his grace For god ne goddes word / ne gras helpe me neuere But thorw acharmea charme hadde y chaunce / and my chef hele Y myhte nat ete many ȝer / as amana man ouhte For enuye and euyl wil / is euel to defye May no sugre ne swete thyng / a-swage my swellynge Ne derworth drynke / dryue hit fro myn herte Ne noþer shame ne shryfte / but ho-so shrapede my mawe Repentance ¶ Ȝus redily quod repentaunce / and thow be ryht sory For thy synnes souereynly · and biseke god of mercy I · am euere sory sayde enuye / y am selde othur And þat maketh me so megre / for y ne may me venge Ȝut am y brokour of bakbytynge / and to blame menne weare X.6.98: Here Hand 2 has corrected the impossible reading were to the majority reading, ware, which likely means here "diligent, at pains" (MED, s.v. ware adj., 2(b) [b]). Amonges X.6.99: Here in amonges and in a few words toward the bottom of the folio the ink gets quite light and the main hand appears to have touched up a few faint letters. marchauntes many tymes / and nameliche in londone When he solde and y nat thenne was y aredy To lye and to loure / and to lakke myn neyhebores Here werkes and here wordes / where þat y seete Now hit a-thynketh me in my thouhte / þat euere y so wrouhte X.6.104-X.6.105: Lines X.6.104-X.6.105 are written over erased lines by Hand 1. RK say that RK.6.104 is written over an unspecified erased line and that RK.6.105 is written over RK.6.106. We agree that the lines are erased but cannot determine what was initially miscopied under the current text. ~~...?...?...~~Lord ar y lyf lete / for loue of thy-sulue ~~...?...?...~~¶ Graunte me gode lord / grace of amendement // Wrathe goth to schryfte Thenne a-wakede wrathe / with two wyhte eyes And with a niuilyngesnyuyling nose / nippynge his lippes I am wrothewrathe quod þat weye / wol gladliche smyte Bothe with stoon and with staf / and stele vppon myn enemye To sle hym sleylyche de visione To sle hym sleyliche / sleythes y by-thenke Thow y sitte this seuene ȝer / y sholde nat wel telle The harm þat y haue do / with hand and with tonge Inpacient in alle penaunces / and pleyned as hit were On god when me greued auht / and grochede of his sonde As som-tyme in somur / and also in heruest But y hadde weder at my wille · y witte god þe cause In alle manere angres / þat y hadde or felede Amonges alle manere men / my dwellyng is som-tyme With lewed and lered / þat leef ben to here Harm of eny man / byhynde or bifore // freris ben wrothe Freres folewen my flore X.6.121: Calabrese , in prior work (2005), offers one possible view of the situation. He detects here Hand 2 at work in changing an archetypal reading: "Hand 2 did not understand the verse's alliteration or the word 'fore' [MED, s.v. fore, n. 2(b) folwen fore, 'to follow in the footsteps (of something); fig. to imitate (someone)']. In consequence, he altered it to 'lore,' a more familiar word simply meaning 'doctrine,' creating a unique reading" (p. 180). However, because we cannot with confidence attribute the change to any particular hand, we are compelled to designate the change as having been made by Hand X. fele tyme and ofte And preuen inparfit / prelates of holychurcheholy churche And prelates pleyneth on hem / for they here parschiens shryuen With-oute licence and leue / and her-by lyueth wrathe Thus thei speke and dispute / þat vch on dispiseth oþer Thus Beggares and Barones / at debat aren ofte Til y wrathe wexe an hey / and walke with hem bothe Or til they bothe be beggares / and by spirituale libbe Or alle riche and ryde · / reste shal y nat wrathe That y ne mot folowe this folk / my fortune is non oþer ¶ Y haue an Aunte to nonne / and an abbesse Here were leuer swowe or swelte / then soffre eny payne Y haue be coek in here kychene / and the couent serued Mony montkhes with hem / and with monkes bothe I · was the Prioresse potager / and oþer pore ladies And made hem ioutes of iangelynge / dame Ione was abastarda bastard And dame clarice a knyhtes douhter / a cokewolde was here syre And dame purnele aprestisa prestis fyle / Prioresse worth he X.6.138: He, "she." neuere For he X.6.139: He, "she." hadde childe in the chapun cokeco[t]e / he X.6.139: He, "she." worth chalenged at þe eleccioun Thus sytte they sustres / sumtyme and disputen Til thow lixt and thow lixt / be lady ouer hem alle And thenne awake y wrathe / and wolde be a-venged And thenne y crye and crache / with my kene nayles Byte and bete / and brynge forth suche theuwes That alle ladyes me lotethlot[h]eth / þat louyetloueþ eny worschipe passus 6us ¶ Amonges wyues and wydewes þan wonedame y woned y X.6.146: There is considerable variation among the manuscripts here, but the most common reading is ame y woned, and Hand 2's addition of the pronoun y must be an attempt to approximate the expected sense of the passage. to sitte Y-parrokededY-parrok[ed] in pues / the parsone hit knoweth nota wyues How lytel y louye / letyse at þe style // Hyer was letise at stile y-schent for sche tok hali bred to rathe For she had halybredhaly bred ar y / my herte gan change Aftur mete aftuwardaftu[r]ward / she and she chydde And y wrath was war / and wartheworthewroth on hem bothe Tyl ayþer clepede oþer hore / and onof with the clothes Til bothe here hedes were bar / and blody here chekes Amonges monkes y myhte be / Ac mony tyme y spare For there aren many felle frekes / myn a-feres to aspye That is Priour and supriour / and oure pater Abbas And yf y telle eny tales / they taken hem to-gyderes And doen me faste fridayes / to bred and to water Ȝut am y chalenged / in oure chapitre-hous as y a childe were And balayshed on þe bare ers / and no brech bytwene Y haue no luste lef me / to longe amonges monkes For y ete more fysch then flesche there and feble ale drynke Ac other-while when wyn cometh / and when y drynke late at euen Y haue afluxa flux of a foul mouth / wel fyue daies aftur And al þat y wiste wykked / by eny of oure couent Y couȝthecowedeshewed hit vp in oure Cloystre / þat al þe couent woet hit Repentance ¶ Now repente quod repentaunce / and reherce neuere Consayl þat thow knowest / by continaunce ne by speche And drynke nat ouerdelycatly / none to depe neyther That thy wil ne thy wit / to wrechewrathe myhte turne ¶ Esto sobrius he saide / and assoiled hym aftur And bad hym bid to god / be his helpe to amende // Heyr cam lecherye to schrefteward ¶ Thenne seyde lecherye alas / and to oure lady cryede Lady to lthy leue sone / loute for me nouthe That he haue pite on me pitouurpito[ur] of his puyr mercy With þat y shal quod þat shrewe saturdayes for thy moder loue drynke but with þe doke / and dyne but ones Y gulty in gost to god y me shryue As in likynge of lecherye / my lycames gultes In word and in wedes / in waytynge of eyes For eche mayde þat y mette / y nmade X.6.181: The markup is not perfectly adequate to show what happened here. The scribe wrote two minims of the initial <m> and then started to write the following <a>, which he immediately corrected by making the first strokes of the <a> serve as the final minim. here a signe de visione Semyng to synneward / and summe y gan taste Aboute þe mouthe and by-nethe · by-gan y to grope Til bothe oure wil was oen / and to þe werk we ȝeden As wel fastyng dayes / and frydayes and heye festesfeste euenes As leef in lente as out of lente / alle tymes y-lyche Such werkes with vs were neuere / out of sesoun Til we myhte no more / thenne hadde we mery tales Of putourputrie and of paramours / and proueden thorw speche And handlyng and halsyng / and also thorw kyssyng Exited either oþer / til oure olde synne Sotiled songes / and sente out olde baudes To wynne to my wille / wymmen with gyle By sorserie sum-tyme / and sum-tyme by maistrie Y lay by þe louelokest / and louede here neuere aftur When y was olde and hoor and hadde ylore þat kynde [leftward-looking face] X.6.196-X.6.200: A face appears in the right margin, peering leftwards into the ruled text area just above the physical description of couetyse, which runs from X.6.199-X.6.208, just before his confession. The drawing reflects his bitelbrowed and baburlippid visage, perhaps also attempting to reflect how as a bonde-mannes bacoun / his berd was y-shaue. Y hadde likyng to lythe of lecherye tales // Hyere cam couetyse to schrefteward Now lord for thy lewete / on lechours haue mercy ¶ Thenne cam couetyse / y can hym nat descreue So hungrily and holow / sire heruy hym lokede He was bitelbrowed and baburlippid with two blered eyes And as a letherne pors / lollede his chekes Wel syddore then his chyn / y-cheueled for elde And as a bonde-mannes bacoun / his berd was y-shaue With his hood on his heued / and his hat bothe In a tore tabard / of twelue wynter age But yf alousa lous couthe lepe / y leueleue it as & X.6.207: In this instance, Hand 1 wrote the compressed and inadequate y leue y trowe. Hand 2 sensed something wrong and provided the quick fix of careting in an ampersand to obtain at least proper syntax and parallelism. Only one other manuscript, Dc, also reads and. Hand 2 may not have known how right he was, but he is actually restoring a reading now adopted (in and form) by all modern editors. Most manuscripts read the prolix, rejected y leue it as y trowe. Either Hand 2 here employs an exemplar superior to Hand 1's, or Hand 1's exemplar had the archetypal reading and he miscopied it, or Hand 2 simply intuited the best possible version of the line and thus repaired it as economically as he could. y trowe He ne X.6.208: Hand 2 saw that negation was necessary, and so in this instance again we see that hand making a correction that aligns X to the majority reading. sholde wandre vpponon þat walch / so was hit thred-bare ¶ Y haue be couetous quod this kaytif / y biknowe hit here For som-tyme y serued / symme at þe style And was his prentis y-plyht / his profit to wayte Furste y lerned to lye / a leef oþer tweye Wykkedliche to waye / was my furste lessounnlessou[n] X.6.213: The tilde over the <n> here is otiose. To wy and to wynchestre / y wente to þe fayre With many manere merchandise / as my maister hyhte Ne hadde þe grace of Gyle / go among my ware X.6.217: There is an unexplained horizontal stroke before this line. Hit hadde be vnsold / this seuene ȝer / so me godhelpegod helpe passus 6us Thenne drow y me amonge drapers / my donet to lere To drawe the lyst along / the lengur hit semede Amonges the ryche rayes / y rendrede alessouna lessoun To brochen hem with abatneldea batnelde / and bande hem to-gyderes Potte hem in pressoures / and pynne hem þerynne Til ten ȝerde other twelue / tolde out threttene My wyf was a webbe / and wollone cloth made .Sche X.6.225: Hand 2, we posit, has converted the now lost original X reading into the pronoun sche, the reading of five C manuscripts. Hand 1 may have written A as the singular feminine pronoun, which sometimes confused Hand 2 (as in line X.6.228 below), and so he converted it to a fuller form of the pronoun. RK adopt the IUc reading And, but that could not have fit in the space under Sche, which is cramped and extends a bit toward the left margin. Pearsall and Schmidt print Sche, accepting the correction. Most manuscripts read hue (meaning "he"). Compare changes at X.6.228, X.6.229, and X.6.236 below. spak to þe spynnesteres / to spynnenspynnen hit oute The pound thothat he payede hem by / peysed aquartera quarter More then myn auncer / when y wayed treuthe Y bouhte here barly / and X.6.228: The original scribe's reading, a, "she," is correct, though it must have confused Hand 2—thus his conversion to the unique reading and is a mistake. Hand 2's misunderstanding of the pronoun a and his failed attempt to "fix" what he thought was an error for and points to a larger problem of how we, as editors, apprehend the various scribal authorities in the text. As Grindley points out (in unpublished work shared with us) RK appear to "emend" to the reading a, but in doing so are actually simply restoring the original X reading. brew hit to sulle Peny ale and poddyngale / she X.6.229: Hand 2 converted he, "she," to she by inserting the initial <s>. Other manuscripts are almost equally split between the reading he and she. poured to-gederes For laboreres and forand louh folk / þat lay by hym-sulue Ac þe beste ale lay in m~~ercy~~y X.6.231: Hand 2 has corrected to the majority reading. bour / and in my bed chaunbre And ho-so boumode ther-of / abouhtea bouhte X.6.232: We read X's abouhte as pronoun a ("he") run together, as we often see, with the verb, a bouhte, which is the unanimous C-text reading. Therefore, there is nothing extraordinary about X's reading or spacing. However, RK also—unique among the editors—print bouhte, without any pronoun, rejecting the majority reading. Of course the very form abouhte can simply be from MED abien and the <a> thus not a pronoun at all. But we have interpreted it here as pronoun and verb run together. hit þeraftur A galon for a grote / and ȝut no grayth mesure When hit cam in coppe-mele / this crafte my wyf vsede Rose þe regrater / was here ryhte name Rose þe regrater .Sche X.6.236: As in X.6.225 above, Hand 2 has converted what was likely an original feminine pronoun A into Sche. hadde holde hokkerye / this eleuene wynter ¶ Repentedest neuere quod repentaunce / ne restitucioun madest Ȝus ones y was helrberwed quod he / with an heep of chapmen Y roes and ryflede here males / when thethey areste were That was a rufol restitucioun / quod repentaunce for sothe Thow wolt be hanged heye þerfore / here oþer in helle ¶ Vsedest euere vsurye / in al thy lyf-tyme Nay sothly he saide / saue in my ȝouthe Y lernede among lumbardus / a lessoun and of iewes To weye pans with a peyse / and parede þe heuegeste And lente for loue of þe wed / the whych y lette bettere And more worth then the moneye / or men þat y lenede Y lene folk þat lese wole / a lyppe of vch a noble And with lumbardus lettres / lene gold to Rome So what buyrn of me borewede / a bouhte X.6.250: It is not clear whether the scribe intended two words, the pronoun a plus the verb bouhte, from MED bien, v., as we have transcribed it, or one word abouhte, from MED abien, v., as RK transcribe, thus obtaining, technically, a unique reading for X, though with the same meaning. Most manuscripts read he bouȝt, and since X uses a for "he," it seems sensible to transcribe as we have. Notice that at X.6.232, just above on this folio, the scribe has run the two words even more closely together, which we mark up for separation. In that instance RK, in establishing their edited reading, reject the two-word form witnessed by all manuscripts and print only bouhte. the tyme ¶ Lenedest euere eny lord / for loue of his mayntenaunce Y haue lent lordes and ladyes / þat louede me neuere aftur And haue y-mad many a knyht / bothe mercer and draper de visione Payed neuere for his prentished / nat apayrea payre gloues That chaffared with my cheuesaunces / cheued selde aftur Now redily quod repentaunce / and by þe rode y leue // notate diuites Shal neuere seketoure wel by-sette / the syluer þat thow hem lenest Ne thyn heyres as y hope / haue ioye of þat thow wonne For þe pope with alle his pentauncers / power hem fayleth To assoyle the of thisþi synne / sine restituciounrestitucione ¶ Numquam dimittitur peccatum & cetera With false wordes and whites / haue y y-wonne my godes And with Gyle and glosynge / y-gadered þat y haue Meddeled my merchaundyse / and made a good mostre The worste lay with-ynne / a greet wit y lat hit And yf my neyhebore / hadde an hyne / or eny beste elles More profitable then myn / y made many wentes How y myhte haue hit / al my wit y caste And but y hit hadde by other wey / at the laste y stale hit [trefoil] X.6.270.m.1: The right margin has a trefoil figure in drypoint. Hm 128 has similar unexplained and extraneous shapes; see The Piers Plowman Electronic Archive edition of San Marino, Huntington Library Hm 128 (Hm and Hm2), Introduction I.9.6-7. Or priueliche his pors shoke / and vnpiked his lokes And yf y ȝede to þe plough / y pynched on his half aker That a foet lond or aforwa forw / fecchen y wolde Of my neyhebore nexst / nymen of his erthe AndAnd yf y raap ouer-reche / or ȝaf hem red þat repe To sese to me with here sikel / þat y ne sewe neuere In halydayes at holy churche / when y herde masse Ne hadde y neuere will witterly / to by-seche mercy For my mysdedes / þat y ne mourned aftur For looslostlos of good leef me / then for lycames gultes As thow y deddly synne dede / y draddedradde hit nat so sore As whenne y lenede and leuede hit lost / or longe or hit were payed And yf y sente ouer-see / my seruauntes to Bruges Or ininto pruys-lond my prenties / my profit to awayte To X.6.284: HS note that the <T> of To is over an erasure, and we concur. Notice that I reads so, and it is possible that Hand 1 had a similar exemplar and began with, but quickly corrected, an initial <s>. This is only conjecture, however, since nothing is visible. merchaunde with my moneye / and maken here eschaunges Myhte neuere me comforte in the mene-tyme Nother matynes ne masse / ne no maner syhtes Ne neuere penaunce parformede / ne pater noster sayde That my muynde ne was / more in my godes in a doute legitur X.6.289.f.1: In the right margin after the final line on this folio is the word legitur ("It is read"). Grindley (2001) expands differently, transcribing leger and calling this an NRA-T, "Narrative Reading Aid," related to "Topic" (p. 130). Rather, we see it as a corrector's mark, formwork akin to several instances of corrigitur that we have seen throughout the text, simply indicating that the page has been "read" for corrections. Further, it looks as if another <l> is lightly inked or erased just to the left of legitur, perhaps a false start. Then in the grace of god / and in his grete myhte passus · 6us · ¶ Vbi tezaurus tuus / ibi cor tuum Now redily quod repentaunce / y haue reuthe of thy lyuynge Were y afrerea frere in good fayth / for al þe gold on erthe Y ne wolde cope me with thy catel / ne oure kyrke mende Ne take amelesa meles mete of thyn / and myn herte hit wiste Ȝif X.6.295: Hand 2's addition creates a unique reading; XDcIUcYc all read Thou against þat þow in the other C manuscripts. Thow were such as thow sayst y sholde rather seruesterue ¶ Melius est mori / quam male viuere Y rede no faythful frere / at thy feste to sytte Ȝut were me leuer by oure lord / lyue al by welle-cresses Then haue my fode / and my fyndynge of fals menne wynnynges ¶ X.6.300-X.6.303: The red paraph extends down a total of four lines and covers the marker for a paraph on X.6.302. SeruusSeruus es alterius cum fercula pinguapingu[i]a queris Pane tuo pocius / vescere liber eris ¶ Thow art an vnkynde creature / y can the nat assoile Til thow haue y-mad by thy myhte / to alle men restitucioun For alle that hauen of thy good / haue god my treuthe Ys haldyng at the heye dome / to helpe the restitue Ȝe þe prest þat thy tythe toek / trowe y non other Shal parte with the in purgatorye / and helpe paye thy dette Yf he wiste thow were such / when he resseyued thyn offrynge And what lede leueth þat y lye / look in þe sauter glosed on X.6.309: X must not have recognized that the following Latin line was actually a line of macaronic alliterative poetry and thus needs to contain an English word; thus he uniquely divides this line after on, while the other manuscripts divide it after glosed, correctly placing On as the first word of the next alliterative line. ¶ Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti And there shal he wite witturly / what vsure is to mene And penaunce the prest shal haue / þat prooudp[ro]ud is of his tithes For an hore of here ers wynnynge / may hardiloker tythe Then an errant vsurer haue god my treuthe And arste shal come to heuene / walskhe-man Thenne was there a walschman / was wonderly sory Hyhte ȝeuan ȝelde aȝeyn / yf y so moche haue Al þat y wikkedly wan / sithen y witte hadde And thow memy lyflode lakke / leten y nelle That eche man ne shalshal haue his / ar y hennes wende For me is leuere in this lyue / as alorela lorel begge Then in lysse to lyue / and lese lyf and soule // Robert ryfflere Robert the ruyflare / on reddite lokede And for þer was nat wher-with / a X.6.324: A, "he." wep swythe sore Ac ȝut þat synful shrewe / saide to the heuene de visione Crist þat on Caluarie / on þe cresse X.6.326: RK transcribe the word as crosse, but the tail of the <e> is clearly visible. For cresse as a variant spelling, see MED, s.v. crois, n. deyedest Tho dysmas my brother / bisouhte ȝowofȝow of grace And haddest mercy vppon þat man / for memento his sake So rewe on Robert / þat reddere ne haue Ne neuere wene to wynne / with craft þat y knowe For thy mochel mercy mitigacioun y biseche dampne me nat at domesday / for þat y dede so ylle What byful of this feloun / y can nat fayre shewe Wel y woet a X.6.334: A, "he." wepte faste / water with his yes And knolechede to Crist / his coupe ȝut eft-sones That repentaunce is pyk-staff / a wolde polesche newe for he hadde layȝe by latro / luciferes aunte Be þe rode quod repentaunce / thow romest toward heuene By so hit be in thyn herte / as y here thy tonge CTrist X.6.340: This is a complex situation that must be explained. Some hand has correctly converted the initial <C> to <T>, to obtain the archetypal reading. The error may have arisen from some exemplar where lower case <c> and <t> were confused, or it may simply have arisen from the association of Christ with a phrase like in his mechel mercy. So the fact that KcUcYc also read Christ (UcYc being grouped with X frequently as part of a larger grouping; see RK, pp. 41-47) may not mean much. Because he is active on this folio and because the ink is different (as RK also assert), we have attributed this correction to Hand 2, though with only one dark stroke at issue, it could just as well be Hand 1 with a fuller pen, perhaps making this correction while adding underline on the page. In any case, this is an instance of a "good" correction. in his mechel mercy / and ȝut þou myhte be saued For al the wrecchednesse of this world / and wikkede dedes Fareth as flo~~nke~~wm X.6.342: Calabrese (2005) has written about this correction: "Hand 1 had written that human evil 'Fareth as flonke of fuyr þat ful amydde Temese / And deyede with a drop water.' Hand 2 rejected flonke (MED, s.v. flaunk, a spark, attested here and once in Cleanness) and altered to the unique flowm (MED, s.v. flum, 1(a) a river, a stream of water; RK 6.335: 'Fareth as flo[nke] . . . '). The image is still meaningful (oceans can absorb rivers) but it loses the sublimity of the lone spark dying in the vast sea; the B text (KD 5.283) offers the more familiar term 'glede' instead of 'flonke.' The majority C-text reading is actually 'fonk' (MED, s.v. fonke, (a) a spark of fire; also fig.; (b) something worthless or contemptible). Therefore if Hand 2 was in possession of (and strictly employing) Hand 1's exemplar or any other, he has overridden its authority. It seems much more likely that he had no exemplar, but rather was working as an active reader who was not afraid to assert his own authority as to the final form of the poem" (pp. 180-182). of fuyr / þat ful amydde Temese And deyede with a drop water / so doth alle synnes Of alle manere men þat with goode wille confessen hem X.6.344-X.6.345: X shares this line division with C manuscripts DcIP2UcYc. And cryen hym mercy / shal neuere come in helle omnis iniquitas / quoad misericordiam dei est quasi sintilla in medio maris Repente þe anon quod repentaunce X.6.347: The underlining on the line above is shaped like a modern curly bracket, with the center pointing directly at the <t> of repentaunce, which is written in darker ink, perhaps touched up by the agent of the underlining. ryhte to the vsurer And haue his mercy in thy mynde / and merchaundise leue hit For thow hast no good by good fayth / to gete the with a wastel For the good that thow hast gete · / bygan al with falshede And as longe as thow lyuest ther-with / þou ȝeldest nat bote borwest And ȝif thow wyte neuere to whom / ne where to restitue Bere hit to thy bischop / and bide hym of his grace To by-setten hit hym-sulue / as beste be for thy soule For he shal onswerie for the / at the hey dome For the and for many mo / þat man shal ȝeue a rykenynge What alereda lered X.6.357: A, "he." ȝow to lyue with / and to lette ȝow fram thefte // Glotonyȝe goþ to schryfte ¶ Now bygynneth glotoun / for to go to shryfte And kayres hym to kyrkeward / his couptecoup[e] to shewe Fastyng on afridaya friday / forth gan he wende by betene hous the brewestere / þat bad hym good morwen passus · 6us · And whodeward he wolde / the breuh-wyf hym askede To holy churche quod he / for to here masse And sennes sitte and be shryue / and synege nomore ¶ Y haue good ale gossip / Glotoun woltow assaye Hastow quod he eny hote spyces Y haue pepur and pyonie / and a pound of garlek A ferthyngworth fenkelof fenkel sedessede / for fastyng dayes y bouhte hit ¶ Thenne goth glotoun in / and grete othes aftur Sesse þe souhteres / saet on þe benche Watte þe wernare and his wyf dronke Tymme þe Tynekare / and tweyne of his knaues Hicke þe hackenayman / and hewe þe nedlare Claryce of cockes lane / and the clerc of þe churche Syre ~~peres~~ X.6.375: Here the zeal to erase the name of the title character of the poem has extended to an innocent fellow by the same name. On this widespread but not comprehensive defacement of Piers and Plowman, see the Introduction: I.8 The Erasure of the Name of Piers Plowman. of prydie and purnele of Flaundres An hayward an heremyte / the hangeman of tybourne Dawe þe dikere / with a dosoyne harlotes Of portours and of pike-porses / and of pilede toth-draweres A rybibour and aa ratoner / a rakeare and his knaue A ropere and aa redyngkynge / and Rose þe disshere Godefray þe garlekmonger / and Gryffyth þe walshe And of vphalderes an heep / herly X.6.382: Herly, probably written with the intrusive <h> under the influence of the alliteration, is not attested in the MED, but it does appear as a form in the OED, s.v. early, adv. by þe morwe Gueuen X.6.383: Hand 1 has written <e> over a false start on the next letter, . glotoun with glad chere / good ale to hansull ¶ Clement þe Coblere / cast of his cloke And to þe newe fayre / nempenede forthhit forth to sull Hicke þe hackenayman hit his hod aftur And bade butebette þe bochere / ben on his syde There were chapmen y-chose / this chaffare to preyse That ho-so hadde the hood / sholde nat haue þe cloke And that the bettere thyng be arbitreres / bote sholde þe worse Tho rysen vp rape / and rounned to-gyderes And preisede thisthe penworthis / apart by hem-sulue And there were othes an heep / for on sholde haue þe worse They couthe nat ~~...?...~~by here Consience acorden for treuthe Til Robyn þe Ropere / aryse they bisouhte And nempned hym / for anoumpera noumper / þat no debat were Hicke þe hostiler / hadde þe cloke de visione In couenaunt þat clement sholde / the coppe fulle And haue hickes hood þe hostiler / and holde hym yserued And ho-so repentede hym rathest / sholde aryse aftur And grete syre glotoun / with a galoun of ale There was leyhing and louryng / and lat go the coppe Bargaynes and Beuereges bygan tho to awake And seten so til euensoneuenson[g] / and songen vm-by-while Til glotoun hadde y-globbed / a galoun and a gylle His gottes gan to gothly / as to grydy X.6.406: XP2Yc read gydy, which must be from MED gidi, adj., 1(a), "[i]nsane, crazy; possessed by a devil; (b) foolish, stupid, senseless; (c) of an animal: mad, possessed; ?senseless, ?rabid." We have to attribute this correction to Hand X because the added <r> and the caret are sharp and faint and neither distinctly in the dark ink of Hand 2 nor clearly in the ink of the main hand. In any case, this correction aligns the text with the majority reading. sowes Apissed A pissed X.6.407: A, "he." a potel / in a pater noster whyle A blew his rownd ruet / at his ryngebonesrygbones ende That alle þat herde þe horun / helde here nose aftur And wesched hit haddehadde be wasche with a weps of breres He myhte noþer steppe ne stande / til he a staf hadde And thenne gan he go lyke a glemans byche Sum-tyme a-syde / and sum-tyme arere As ho-so layth lynes / for to lacche foules And when he drow to the dore / thenne dymmede his yes And thromblede at the thresfold / and threw to þe erthe And Clement þe coblere / cauhte hym by þe myddel And for to lyfte hym aloft / leyde hym on his knees Ac gloton was a greet cherl / and greuedgroned in þe luftynge // Glotoun cowede a caudel in clementis lappe ¶ And cowed vp a caudel / in Clementis lappe Ys nonne so hungry hound / in hertford-shyre durste lape of þat lyuynge / so vn-louely hit smauhte With alle þe wo of this world / his wyf and his wenche Beren hym to his bed / and brouhten hym þer-ynne And aftur al this exces / he hadde an accidie afturaccidie A sleep saturday and sonenday / til þe sonne ȝede to reste Then gan he wake wel wanne / and wolde haue y-dronke The furstefurste word þat he spake was towho halt þe bolle His wyf and his inwit / Edwitede / hym of his synne A wax a-shamed þat shrewe / and shrofe hym aalsoas swythe To repentaunce ryht thus / haue reuthe on me he saide Thow lordlord þat that X.6.432: In this instance, and then again just below at X.6.435, notice that Hand 2 has made a good correction, aligning the text to the reading of all other C manuscripts. a-loft art / and alle lyues shope To the god y glotoun / gulty / y me ȝelde passus · 7us · Of þat y haue trespased with tonge / y can nat telle how ofte Sworn godes soule and his sides / and so helpehelpe me me X.6.435: In this instance, and just above at X.6.432, notice that Hand 2 has made a good correction, aligning the text to reading of all other C manuscripts. god almyhty There no nede ne was / many sythe falsly And ouersopped at my soper / and som-tyme at nones More then my kynde / myhte deffye And as an hound þat eet gras / so gan y to brake And spilde þat y a-spele myhte / y kan nat speke for shame The vilony of my foule mouthe / and of my foule mawe And fastyndgdayes X.6.442: The scribe began the <d> of dayes, but quickly converted it to the needed <g>. bifore noen / fedde me with ale Out of resoun among rybaudes / here rybaudrye to here Her-of gode god graunte me forȝeuenesse Of al my luyther lyf / in al my lyf-tyme For y vowe to verray god / for eny hungur or furste Shal neuere fysch inon þe fryday / defyen in my wombe Til abstinence myn Aunte / haue ȝeue me leue And ȝut haue y chastedhated here / al my lyf-tyme ¶ X.7.0.h.1: The headers for Passus 7 (29v) and 19 (82v) and the trailer at the end of Passus 9 (44r) are the only such headings/trailers that begin, for unknown reasons, with a red paraph. Passus septimus de visione // SchoutheSc[l]outhe cam to schryfte Thenne cam sleuthe al by-slobered with two slimed yes Y moste sitte to be shryue / or elles sholde y nappe Y may nat wel stande ne stoupe / ne with-outen a stoel knele Were y brouhte in my bed / but yf my taylende hit made Sholde no ryngyng do me to ryseryse / til y were rype to dyne A bigan benedicite with abolka bolk / and his breste knokkede RoxledeRascled and romederemede X.7.7: The X reading is adopted by Schmidt (2011) as the "harder and so probably original form" (Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.1, p. 355). He reads these words as coming from MED roxlen, v., "?[t]o become feeble, weaken" and MED romien, v. 1(a), "[t]o roar; — used of lions; also of bears and boars; (b) to cry out, lament; rage (as though mad)." Pearsall and RK however print Raxlede and remede, taking the latter to be MED remen, v. 1(a), "[t]o stretch, distend; stretch (a chain around the neck); (b) to stretch oneself, yawn; ~ and raxlen, raxlen and ~." / and rotte at þe laste What a-wake renke quod repentaunce / and raperape þe to shryfte Yf y sholde deye be þis day / y drede me sore Y can nat parfitly my pater noster / as þe prest hit syngeth Y can rymes of robyn hode / and of randolf Erle of Chestre Ac of oure lord ne of oure lady / þe leste þat euere was maked Y haue vouedavowed voues fourty / and forȝeten hem amorwen Y parfourmede neuere penauncespenaunce / þat þe prest me hihte Ne ryht sory for my synnes / y seyh neuere þe tyme And yf y bidde eny bedes / but yf hit be in wrath That y telle with my tonge / is ten myle fro myn herte Y am occuepied vch aday / haliday and oþere With ydele tales / at þe ale / and oþerwhile in chirches corrigitur de visione Goddes payne and his passioun / is puyre selde in my thouhte Y visitede neuere feble man / ne fetered man in prisone Y hadde leuere here an harlotrye / or a lesyng to lauhen of Or to lacke men / or to likenelikene hem in vnlikyng manere Thowan X.7.24: Hand 2's correction to the comparative than aligns X with all other manuscripts, though they spell the word then. al þat euere Mark made / Matheu Iohn or lucas Vigilies and fastyngdayes / y can forȝeten hem alle And ligge abedde in lente / and my lemman in myn armes Til matynes X.7.27: The final minim of <m> appears to be blotted in the ink of the main hand, but we do not see any correction or variant here. and masse be y-do / thenne haue y a memorie at þe freres Y am nat shryue somtyme / but yf seknesse hit make Nat twies in ten ȝer / and thenne tlelle y nat þe haluendele notate lewede prestes ¶ I · haue be prest and parsoun / passynge thritty wyntur Ȝut kan y nother solfe ne synge / ne a seyntes lyf rede Ac y can fynden in a feld / and in a forlong an hare And holden a knyhtes Court / and acounte with þe reue Ac y can nat construe catoun / ne clergialiche reden Yf y begge X.7.35: We take begge to be a form of MED bien, v., 1(a), "[t]o purchase (sth.). . ." Compare the situation at X.5.94. and borwe hit / but ȝyf hit be y-tayled Y forȝete hit as ȝerne / and yf eny man hit aske Sixe sithe oþer seuene / y forsake hit with othes And thus haue y tened trewe men / ten hundrit tymes And my seruauntes som-tyme / here salerie is bihynde reuthe is to here rekenynge / when we shal rede acountes so with wikkede will / my werkemen y paye Yf eny man dodoþ me a been feet / or helpeth me at nede Y am vnkynde aȝen his cortesie / y can nat vnderstande hit For y haue and haue y-had / sumdel haukes maners Y am nat luyred with loue / but þer lygge ouht vnder þe tumbe The kyndenesse þat myn emcristen / kud me ferne-ȝer Sixty sythes y sleuthe / haue forȝeten hit sethe In speche and in sparyng of speche / y spilde many a tyme Bothe flesch and fysch / and vitailes kepte so longe Til eche lyf hit lothed / to loke þeron or smylle hit Bothe Bred and ale / Botere mylke and chese For-sleuthed in my seruice / and y set ~~....~~hows X.7.52: It is impossible to determine the original X reading and thus to know why Hand 2 has made this correction, which applies a variant spelling of the majority reading hous. a-fuyre And ȝede aboute in my ȝouthe / and ȝaf me to no thedom And sethe a beggare haue y be / for my foule sleuthe ¶ Heu michi quod sterlilemster[i]lem duxi vitam / iuuenilem passus · 7us · Repentest the nat quod repentaunce / and ryht with þat he swowened Til vigilate the veile / fette water / at his eyus And flatte hit on his face / and faste on hym cryede And sayde war the for wanhope / þat wolde the bytraye Y am sory for my synnes / sey to god X.7.60: Calabrese (2005) had argued that the insertion of god should be attributed to Hand 2 as potentially part of a thoughtful pattern of doctrinal adjustment to the text (pp. 188-190). The editors now see this particular addition to be in the hand of the main scribe, something Calabrese had himself pondered in a note to his discussion, where he says, "I raise and acknowledge the possibility that this may be an auto-correction by Hand 1 as well" (p. 190, n. 32). thy-suluen And bete thy-sulue vppon þe breste / and bidde hym of grace For is no gult so greet / þat his goodnesse is more ¶ Thenne sat sleuthe vp / and seynede hym ofte And made vowea vowe or avowe to-fore god / for his foule sleuthe Shal no sonday be this seuene ȝere / but yf seknesse hit make That y ne shal do me ar day / to þe dere chirche And here mateynes and masse as y amonkea monke were Shal non ale aftur mete / holde me thennes Til y haue euensong y-herd / y bihote to þe rode ¶ Ac wheche been þe braunches / þat bryngeth men to sleuthe Is when men mourneth / not for his mysdedes The penaunsespenaunse þat þe prest enioyneth / parformeth euele doth non Almesdede / drat hym nat of synne Lyueth aȝen þe bileue / and no lawe kepeth And hath no likynge / to lerne ne of oure lord to here But to harlotrie and toand hore-dom / or elles of som wynnynge When me carpeth of Crist / or of clannesse of soule A wexeth wroth and wol not here / but wordes of murthe Penaunse and pore men / and the passioun of seyntes He hateth to here there-of / and alle þat þer-of carpeth This beth þe branches beth y-war / þat bryngeth a man to wanhope Ȝe lordes and ladies / and legates / of holy churche That feden foel sages / flateres and lyares And han lykyng to lythen hem / in hope to do ȝow lawehe ¶ Ve vobis qui .ridetis & cetera And ȝeueth such mede & mete / and pore men refuse In ȝoure deth-deynge / y drede me sore Laste tho manere men / to muche sorwe ȝow brynge Consencientes & agentes / pari pena punientur Patriarkes and prophetes / precheours of goddes wordes Sauen thorw here sarmon / mannes soule fram helle de visione Ryht so flateres and fooles aren þe fendes procuratours To entise men thorw here tales / to synne and to harlotrie Clerkes þat knoweth this / sholde kenne lordes Wh..at X.7.95: We agree with HS, who identify the main hand as writing at over an erasure; RK are not sure and cite "?another hand." dauid sayth of such men / as þe sauter telleth Non habitabit in medio domues mee qui facit supbiamsup[er]biam X.7.96: We take the scribe to have intended to write superbiam. Either he accidently omitted the expansion or the underline has obscured it; compare per mariam at X.7.266, where the underline is broken to allow the suspension mark to be visible. qui loquitur iniqua & cetera Sholde non harlote haue audiense / in halle ne in chaumbre There þat wyse men were / wittnesseth goddes wordes Ne no mysproud man / amonges lordes be y-louedealowed Clerkes and knyhtes welcometh kynges munstrals And for loue of here lord / lyueth at hem at festes Muche more me thynketh / riche men ouhte Haue beggares byfore hem / þe whiche ben goddes mustralsmu[n]strals As he sayth hym-sulf / seynt Ion bereth witnesse Qui vos spernit / me spernit For-thy y rede ȝow ryche reueles / when ȝe maketh For to solace ȝoure soules / suche munstrals to haue The pore for afoula foulfol sage / sittynge at thy table With alereda lered man to lere the / what oure lord suffrede For to saue thy soule / fram satan thyn enemye And fithele the with-oute flaterynge / of godfriday þe feste And ablynda blynd man for abordora bordor / or abedredenea bedredene womman To crye alargessea largesse to-fore oure lord / ȝoure good loos to shewe Thise thre manere munstrals / maketh amana man to lauhe And in his deth-deynge / they don hym greet confort That by his lyue lened hem / and louede hem to here Thise solaseth þe soule / til hym-sulue be y-falle In awela wel-hope for awrouhtea wrouhte X.7.118: A, "he." so / amonges worthy seyntes There flaterers and foles / with here foule wordes Leden tho that lythed hem / to luciferes feste With turpiloquio a lay of sorwe / and luciferes fythele To perpetuel payne / or purgatorie a wikkeas wikke For a X.7.123: A, "he." lythed and louede / þat godes lawe despiseth ¶ dare histrionibus & cetera Tho was repentaunce aredy / and redde hem alle to knele Y shal byseke for alle synnefole / oure sauiour of grace To Amende vs / of oure mysdedes / do mercy to vs alle passus · 7us · God þat of thi goodnesse / gonne þe world make And madest of nauhte auhte / and man liche thy-sulue And sethe soffredeste hym to synege / a sykenesse to vs alle And for oure beste as y beleue / what so þe boek telle ¶ O felix culpa &o mnecessarium peccattum Ade For thorw þat synne thy sone / ysent was til erthe And bicam man of amaydea mayde / mankynde to amende And madest thy-sulue with thy son / oure soule & oure bodybody ilych ¶ Ego in patre & pater in me / et qui me videt / videt patrem meum & cetera And sethe in oure secte / as hit semed deyedest On a friday in fourme of man feledest oure sorwe CaptiuuamCapti[u]am duxiduxit X.7.139: We could easily have marked up duxi as an error, to render duxit, obtaining the correct reading of Ephesians 4:8, quoting Vulgate Psalm 67:19. However, X's unique offering of the first person preterite may be an inventive adaptation of the biblical verses, maintaining the first person voice of Jesus established at X.7.136, beginning with Ego. captiuitatem ¶ The sonne for sorwe þerof / lees liht for a tyme A-boute mydday when most liht is / and mel-tyme of sayntes Feddest tho with thy flesch and blood / oure forfadres in helle Populus qui ambulabat in tenebris / vidit lucem magnam & cetera The lihte þat lup oute of the / lucifer hit blente And brouhte thyne y-blessed / fro thennes in-to þe blisse of heuene The thridde day þer-aftur / thow ȝedest in-toin oure sekte A synful marie þe sey / ar seynte marye þy dame And also to solace synfole / thow soffredest it so were Non veni vocare iustos set peccatores & cetera And al þat mark hath y-made / Matheu Ion and lucas Of thy douhtiokest dedes / was don in oure sekte ¶ verbum caro factum est And by so muche hit semeth / the sykerloker we mowe Bidde and biseche the / yf hit be thy wille That art furste oure fadur / and of flesch oure broþer And sethen oure sauyour / and seydest hit withwith thy tonge That what tyme we synnefole men / wolden be sory for dedes X.7.157-X.7.158: X shares this line division with C manuscripts DcIUcYc. That we han don ylle / dampned sholde we ben neuere Yf we knowlechede and cryde / Crist þerfore mercy Quandocumque ingemuerit peccator / omnes iniquitateiniquitate[s] eius non recordabor ampliuusampli[us] And forfor that muchel mercy / and marie loue thi moder Haue reuthe of alle these / rybaudes / þat repenten hem sore That euere they gulte / aȝeyn þe god / in gost or in dede de visione Thenne hente yhope an horn / of deus tu conuersus viuificabis nos And Blewe hit with beati quorum X.7.165: X's line division is unique, as most manuscripts divide the lines at peccata, the end of the Latin phrase. X must not have seen that the entire two lines are really one macaronic long line, alliterating on . Remisse sunt iniquitates / & quorum tecta sunt peccata That alle seyntes ~~songen~~ for synfol songen with dauid · ¶ Homines & iumenta saluabis quamadmodumq[ue]madmodum multiplicasti misericordiam meamtuam deus A thousend of men tho / throngen to-gyderes Criede vpward to Crist / and to his clene moder // Hyer askyd þe puple a palmere after treuþe To haue grace to go to treuthe / god leue þat they mote Ac þer ne was wye non so wys / þat the way thider couthe But blostrede forth as bestes / ouer baches and hulles Til late was and longe / þat thei a lede mette Y-parayledAparayled as a paynyem / in pilgrimes wyse He bar a bordoun / ybounde with abrooda brood liste In awethewynde-wysea wethewynde-wyse / ywrithe al aboute A bolle and a bagge / a X.7.178: A, "he." bar by his syde An hundret of Aunpolles / on his hat sette Signes of syse / and shelles of galys And many acroucha crouch on his cloke / kayes of Rome And þe vernicle bifore / for men sholde y-knowe And se by þe signes / wham a X.7.183: A, "he." souht hadde This folk frayned hym furste / fro whennes he come ¶ Fro synoye he sayde and fro þe sepulcre of oure lord In bedlem and in babiloyne / y haue be in bothe In Armonye in Alisaundre / y haue be in bothe Ȝe may se be þe signes / þat sitten on my cappe Y haue souht gode seyntes / for my soule helthe And y-walked ful wyde / in wete and in drye ¶ Knowest thow auht acorsenta corsent quod they / þat men calleth treuthe KouthestCouthes thou wissen vs to-day / whoder-out treuth woneth Nay so me god hehelpe[he]lpe / sayde þe gome thenne I · saw neuere palmere with pyk mne X.7.194: The markup is inadequate. Hand1 has self-corrected an initial <m> to an <n> by covering the final minim with the required <e> for ne. with scriptescrip[p]e Axen aftur hym / but now in þis place X.7.196: A mark like a virgule appears too far into the left margin to see fully, because of the tightness of the binding. Hence we note, but cannot interpret it. Possibly it marks a place for the erasure of Peres Plouhman. ¶ ~~Peter~~ quod a ~~plouhman~~ X.7.196: Again we see an incomplete attempt to erase the character's name, leaving Peter and plouhman still legible. In this case, however, Peter is an exclamation ([St.] Peter!), rather than the charcter's name. The deleter sometimes fails to make a distinction. / and potte forth his heued I · knowe hym as kyndely / as Clerk doth his bokes Consience and kynde wyt / kenned me to his place And maden me sykerenessesykeren sethen / to seruen hym for euere passus · 7us · Bothe to sowe and to sette / þe while y swynke myhte And to sowen his seed / suewen his bestes Withynne and with-outen / to wayten his profit Iich[I]ch haue y-be his foloware / al this fourty wynter And y serued treuthe sothly / som-del to paye In alle kyne craftes / þat he couthe deuise Profitable as for þe plouh apottea potte X.7.206: A, "he." me to lerne And thow y sey hit my-sulf / y serue hym to paye Y haue myn huyre of hym wel / and oþerwhiles more He is þe presteste payere / þat eny pore man knoweth He with-halt non hewe / his huyre ouer euen He is as louh as alombea lombe / and leel of his tonge And ho-so wilneth to wyte / where þat treuthe woneth ¶ Y wol wissen ȝow wel / ryht to his place Ȝe leue Peres quod thise pilgrimes / and profrede Peres mede Nay bi þe perel of my soule / Peres gan to swerie Y ne wolnolde fonge aferthyngea ferthynge / for seynt Thomas shryne Were hit i-tolde treuthe / þat y toke mede A X.7.218: A, "he." wolde luoue me þe lasse / a long tyme aftur Ac ho-so wole wende þer treuthe is / this is þe way theder Ȝe mote go thorw mekenesse / alle men and wommen Til ȝe come into Consience / y-knowe of god sulue That ȝe louye hym lord / leely aboue alle That is to sey sothly / ȝe sholde rather deye Thenne eny dedly synne do / for drede or for preeyere And thenne ȝoure neyhebores nexst in none wyse apayre Other-wyse then ȝe wolden / they wrouhte ȝow alle tymes And so goth forth by þe brok / a brugge as ~~h..~~it X.7.227: HS say hit was erased, which is quite possible, but only the <h> is clearly visible, as RK correctly notice. were For to ȝe fynde aforda ford / ȝoure fader honoureth Wadeth in atwel inin þat water / and wascheth ȝow wel there And ȝe shal lepe þe lihtloker / al ȝoure lyf-tyme ¶ Honora patrem & matrem & cetera And thenne shalt tw thow se swere nat / but if it be for nede And nameliche an ydel / þe name of god almyhty Thenne shalt thow come by a croft / X.7.234: As HS note, starting with the b-verse in this line, the ink changes to a light chocolate brown. They do not indicate where the ink changes again, if at all, but we believe that the use of brown ink begun here extends to the end of folio 37v. Ac come thow þer-ynnenat þer-ynne The croft hatte coueyte nat / menne catel ne here wyues Nne[N]e none of here seruauntes de visione Ne none of here seruauntes / þat nuye hem myhte · X.7.237.m.1: Just to the left of this line is a very clear dot of unknown purpose. Loke þou bere nat þere a-way / but yf hit be thyn owene ThoTwo stokkes þere stondeth / ac stynte thow nat þere Thei hatte stele nat and sle nat stryk forth by bothe And leueth hem inon þe luft hand / and loke þer-aftur And hold wel þeþin haliday / heye til euen Thenne shaltow blenche at a berw / bere no fals witnesse Is frithed in with floreynes / and othere fees monye Loke thow plokke no plonte þere / for perel of thy soule Thenne shaltow se say soth / so hit be to done In none manere elles nat / for no mannes preeyre And so shaltow come to a Court / as cleer as þe sonne The mote is of mercy / the manere in þe myddes And al þe wallyng is of wyt / for wil ne sholde hit wynne The carneles ben of cristendom / þat kynde to saue I·-botrased X.7.251: The markup here is inadequate. As in several other instances, the scribe has put a raised point after : I ·, the first instance being at X.P.56. In this case, however, the is not the pronoun but rather the marker for the participle, with botrased. Another example of the use of a raised point with a participial occurs at X.5.81. In order to record the participle as a single word while also recording the raised point, we have had to forego the usual isolation of medieval punctuation with white space. with bileue so / or twothou best not y-saued And alle þe hous / been yheled / halles and chaumbres With no leed but with loue / and with lele speche The barres aren of buxumnesse / as bretherne of o wombe The Brygge hatte bydebid wel / the bet may theyþow spede Vche a piler is of penauncespenaunce / and preyeres to seyntes The hokes aren Almesdedes / þat þe ȝates hange on Grace hatte þe gateward / a goed man for sothe His man hatte amende ȝow / many man hym knoweth Tel hym this ilke tokene / treuthe woet þe sothe Y am sory offor my synnes / and so y shal euere And parformed þe penaunce / þat þe prest me hihte Biddeth amende ȝow / to meke ȝow to his maister grace To opene and vndo / þe hye gate of heuene That Adam and Eue aȝenes vs alle shette ¶ Per Euam cuntiscun[c]tis clausa est / & per mariam verginem iterum patefacta est & cetera A ful leel lady vnlek hit of grace And he X.7.268: He, "she." hath þe keye and þe clycat / thow þe kyng slepe And may lede in þat he loueth / as here lef lyketh And yf grace graunte the / to go in this wyse Thow shalt se treuthe sitte / in thy-sulue herte passus · 7us · And solace thy soule / and saue the fram payne And charge charite / achurchea churche to make In thyne hole herte / to herborwe alle trewe And fynde alle manere folk / fode to here soules Ȝef loue and leute / and oure lawe trewe ¶ Quodcumque pecieritis / in nomine meo dabitur enim vobis Ac be war thenne of wrath natwrath / þat wikkede shrewe Wrathe naȝt For he hath enuye to hym / þat in thyn herte setteth And poketh forth pruyde / to preyse thy-suluen The boldenesse of thy been-fetes / maketh the blynd thenne So worth thow dryuen out as deuxdew X.7.282: We do not know what the scribe intended by deux, for it is not an attested form of MED deu, n. 1, "[d]ew, moisture; also, mist or light precipitation." If, however, it is French, it could be an ingenious reference to the famous pair who were thrown out of Eden. / and þe dore yclosed Y-keyed and y-clyketed / to close the with-outen Hapliche an hundred wynter / ar thow eft entre Thus myhte thow lesen his loue / to lete wel by thy-sulue And geten hit agayne thorw grace / Ac thorw no gifte elles Ac ther ben seuene susteres / þat seruen treuthe euere And aren porteres ouer þe posternes / þat to þat place bilongen That on hatte astinencea[b]stinence / and vmbletee an-noþer Charite and chastite / ben his chief maydenes Pacience and pees / muche peple þei helpe Largenesse þat lady / lat in ful monye Noen of hem alle / helpe may in betere For he payeth for prisones / in places and in peynes And ho is sib to þis seuene / so me god helpe Is wonderliche welcome / and fayre vnderfonge Ho is nat syb to this seuene / sothly to telle Hit is ful hard be myn heued eny of ȝow alle To geten ingang at eny ȝate / bote grace be þe more ¶ By Crist quod a cotte-pors / y haue no kyn there Ne y quod an hapeward / by auht þat y knowe Wyte god quod a wafrestere / wiste y this for sothe Wolde y neuere forthere no foet / for no frere prechynge Ȝus quod ~~Perus~~ þe ~~plouhman~~ X.7.304: Again we see that Perus and ploughman have been only partially scraped, leaving both easily legible. / and pokede hem alle to gode Mercy is amaydena mayden there / hath myhte ouer hem alle And she is sib to alle synfole / and here sone bothe And thorw þe helpeshelpe of hem two / hope þou non oþer de visioevisio[n]e X.7.308.f.2: The scribe has neglected the required tilde (or the required letter <n>) that would obtain, as in the other headers, visione. Thow myhte gete grace there / so thow go by-tymes ¶ Ȝe villam emi quod oen / and now y moste thedre To loke how me liketh hit / and toek his leue at Peres X.7.310: Note here an unerased instance of the name Peres. Anoþer anoen riht / nede he sayde he hadde To falewe with fiue ȝotesȝo[k]es / for-thy me bihoueth To goo with a good wil / and graytheliche hem dryue For-thy y pray ȝow ~~Peres~~ / parauntur ȝif ȝe motenmeten Treuth telleth hym thisto hym / þat y be excused Thenne was oen hihte actif / an hosbande he semede Y haue wedded a wyf / wel wantowen of maneres Were y seuen nyhte fro here syhte / shiensynnende X.7.318: Hand 2 has encountered a confusing reading and tried to make sense of it. We do not know what Hand 1 intended with shien, but it may be an error on his part for a form of schende, which is how Hand 2 must have interpreted it when he added the <de>. This seems to aim at obtaining MED shenden, v., though without the required form of the auxiliary "to be" that would express the sense of suffering (rather than rendering) harm that is required by the episode: see def. 1(e), "ben shent, to be lost, undone, ruined; ppl. shent, destroyed, confounded, brought to naught; (f) to be destroyed, be confounded." See also def. 2(a), which would also require "to be" to apply in the current context: "[t]o corrupt (sb. or sth.) morally." The majority reading is synnen, adopted by Pearsall and RK, where the sense is that the wife will sin if left without a husband, where X, as revised, indicates obliquely that she would suffer some harm. Schmidt rejects synnen and prints Uc's sighen, which he considers the "least unsatisfactory of the five available variants." He theorizes that chyden (found in no witness) would have been the best reading and wonders if X's shien(de) could be a "backspelling of a word intended for chyden but with the affricate represented, as often in X, by s(c)h" (Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.1, p. 361). Schmidt is right about X's variations on <ch>/<sh> and their variability in X as graphemes representing /tʃ/ and /ʃ/, but he incorrectly reports that in X the "last two letters are erased and written over" by the <de> (p. 361). Rather, the <de> is careted in and there is no erasure in this line. Finally Schmidt wonders if "*shien" comes from OED, s.v. shy, v. 1., meaning to "take fright," which would explain X's reading, but he offers this with great caution. he X.7.318: He, "she." wolde And loure on me and lihtly chyde / and sygge y louede another For-thy ~~Peres~~ the ~~plouhman~~ X.7.320: As we often see, Peres and plouhman have been only partially erased, leaving both easily legible. / y preye the telle hit treuthe I may nat come for a kitte / so a X.7.321: A, "she." cleueth on me ¶ Vxorem duxi / & ideo non possum venire X.7.323: Before X.7.323, X uniquely omits a line found in all other C manuscripts, here given in RK's rendering: Quod contemplacion by Crist thow y care soffre. Famyne and defaute / folwen y wol Peres X.7.323: Note here an unerased instance of the name Peres. Ac þe way is ful wikked / but ho-so hadde agydea gyde That myhte folowe vs vch afotea fote / for drede of mysturnynge Passus octauus vt prius qQvod ~~Per...~~ þe ~~......m..~~ X.8.1: Conjectured reading: Perkyn þe plouȝhman. In this sequence of the text for Passus 8-9, the character Piers the Plowman figures prominently in the narrative, and accordingly we witness frequent erasure of the character's name. be seynt petur of Rome Ich haue an halfakerhalf aker to erye / by þe heyeheye way Haued ich y-ered þis halfakerhalf aker / and y-sowed hit aftur Y wolwolde wende with ȝow / and þe way teche That were alonga long lettyng / quod þata lady in a slayre // Hyer bad ~~pyers~~ ladies & oþer wymmen worche What sholde we wommen worthewor[c]he þe whiles Y preye ȝow for ȝoure profit / quod Peres to þe ladyes That somme sowe þe sak / for shedynge of the whete And ȝe worthily wymmen / with ȝoure longe fyngres That ȝe on selk and onom. X.8.10: The erroneous final stroke on the <n> of on is likely an anticipation of the first stroke on the <s> of the next word. sendel / to sowe whan tyme is Chesibles for chapeleynes / churches to honoure WyueWyuess and wyddewes / wolle an flex spynneth Consience conseyleth ȝow / cloth for to make For profit of the pore / and plesaunce of ȝow-suluen For y shal lene hem lyflode / but þe lond faylle As longe as y leue / forfor oure the X.8.16: The majority reading is for oure, but Dc reads for þe, the reading actually adopted by Pearsall, RK, and Schmidt. If those editors are right, then Hand 2 has corrected to an archetypal reading to which he had access, though the correction may just be a simple, intuitive solution to the problem of a missing article. lordes loue of heuene And alle manere men / þat by þe molde is susteyned passus · 8us · Helpeth hym worche wittiliche / þat wynneth ȝoure fode By Crist quod a knyhte tho / akennetha kenneth X.8.19: Again we see the conflation of pronoun a with the verb. X.8.19: A, "he." vs þe beste Ac in tymeon þe teeme treuely / y-tauhte was y neuere Y wolde y couthe quod the knyhte / by Crist and his moder Y woldewolde assaye som-tyme / for solace as hit were ¶ Sikerliche sire knyhte / sayde ~~P..s~~ X.8.23: Conjectured reading: Pers or perhaps peris, as HS and RK read it. thenne Y shal swynke and swete / and sowe for vs bothe // Hyer ~~Py.rs~~ X.8.25.m.1: Conjectured reading: Pyers. ȝif knyȝtes leue to hunte & haueke & kepe hym & hise And labory for tho thow louest / al my lyf-tyme In couenant þat thow kepe / holykerkeholy kerke and my-sulue Fro wastores and fro wikked men / þat þis world struyen And go hunte hardelyche / to hares and to foxes To bores and to bokkes / þat breketh adoun myn hegges And afayte thy faucones / to culle þe wylde foules For þey cometh to my croft / my corn to diffoule Courteisliche the knyhte thenne / comesed thise wordes By my power ~~P....~~ X.8.33: Conjectured reading: Peres. / y plyhte the my treuthe To defende þe in fayth / fyhte thow y sholde And ȝut apoynta poynt quod ~~P....~~ X.8.35: Conjectured reading: Peres. / y praye ȝow of more Loke ȝe tene no tenaunt / but treuthe wol assente And when ȝe mersyen eny man / late mercy be taxour And Mekenesse thy mayster / maugre mede chekes And thogh pore men profre ȝow / presentes and ȝyftes Nym hit nat an auntur / thow mowe hit nauht deserue For thow shalt ȝelden hit so may be / or sumdel a-buggen hit Misbede nat thy bonde-man / the bette may the spede Thogh he be here thyn vnderlynge / in heuene par-auntur He worth rather reseyued / and reuerentloker sitte ¶ Amice ascende superius X.8.45: The rubricator has added in red the suspension on the . Compare X.7.96, where the scribe forgets the same suspension mark. We believe that the scribe intended to copy the Latin correctly, and we take this as a simple lapse, which was caught and repaired during rubrication. Hence, we see no point in marking supius as a variant. At churche in the Charnel / cherles aren euele to knowe Or aknyhtea knyhte or aknauea knaue / or a quene fram a queene Hit bicometh to the knyhte / to be corteys and hende Treuiwe of thy tonge / and tales loth to here Bute they be of bounte / of batayles or of treuthe Hoold nat with non harlotes / ne here nat here tales Ac nameliche at þe mete / suche men eschewe For hit beeþ þe deueles dysors / to drawe men to synne de visione Ne countreplede nat Consience / ne holy kyrke ryhtes Y assente by seynt Gyle / sayde the knyht thenne For to worche by thy wit / and my wyf bothe And y X.8.57: Here with the addition of <y>, Hand 2 has corrected the text to the majority reading. shaly shal parayleapparayle me quod Perkyn / in pilgrimes wyse And wende with alle tho þat wolden lyue in treuthe And caste on hym his clothes / of alle kyn craftes His cokeres and his coffes / as kynde wit hym tauhte And heng his hopur on his hales / in stede of a scryppe A buschel of breed corn / brouht was þerynne For y wol sowen hit my-sulf / and sethe wol y wende To pilgrimages as palmeres doen / pardon to wynne My plouh-pote shal be my pyk-staff / and pyche a-to þe rotes And helpe my Coltur to kerue / and clanse þe forwes And alle þat helpen me eryeto erye / or elles to wedy Shal haue leue by oure lord / to go & glene aftur me And maken hym merye þer-myde / maugrey ho bigruchen hit And alle kyne crafty men / þat conne lyue in treuthe Y shal fynde hem fode / þat fayfulleche libbeth Saue Iacke þe iogelour / and ionet of þe stuyues And danyel þe dees playere / and denote þe bautde And frere faytour / and folk of þat ordre That lollares and loseles / lele men holdeth And Robyn þe rybauder / for his rousty wordes Treuthe teldet[o]lde me ones / and bad me telle hit forthere ¶ DelianturDel[e]antur de libro viuencium Y sholde nat dele with hem for holy chirche is hotehoteþ of hem no tythe to aske Quia cum iustis non scribantur // loke hyer what ~~Pers~~ X.8.81.m.1: The outlines of and <s> are still faintly visible in the manuscript. The suspension and the <s> are evident in HS. wyf hyȝte & his sone & his doȝter They ben ascaped good aunter / now god hem amende Dame worch when tyme is / ~~p....~~ X.8.82: Conjectured reading: peres. wyf hehte His douhter hihte do rihte so / or thy dame shal þe bete His sone hihte soffre thy souereynes haue her wille deme hem nat yf thow doest / thow shalt hit dere abygge Consayle nat so þe comune / þe kyng to desplese Ne hem þat han lawes to loke / lacke hem nat y hote þehote Lat god y-worthe with al / as holy wryt techeth ¶ Super Cathedram moysi sedent & cetera passus · 8us · Maystres as þe mayres isben / and grete menne senatours What þei comaunde as by þe kyng / countreplede hit neuere Al þat they hoten y hote / heiliche thow soffre hem And aftur here warnynge and worchynge / worche þou þeraftur ¶ Omnia que dicunt facite & seruate Ac aftur here doynge ne do thow nat / my dere sone quod Peres For now y am olde and hoer / and haue of myn owene To penaunces and pilgrimesto pilgrimages / y wol passe with this oþere For-thy y wol ar y wende / do wryte my biqueste ¶ In dei nomine Amen / y make hit my-sulue // Hyer makyþ ~~Pers~~ his testa-ment He shal haue my soule / þat alle soules made And defenden hit as fro þe fende / and so is my beleue Til y come til his a-countes / as my crede telleth To haue a remissioun and a relees / on þat rental y leue The kyrke shal haue my caroyne / and kepe my bones For of my corn and my catel / he craued my tythe Y payede hit prestly / for perel of my soule He is holdyng y hope / to haue me in his masse And menege me in his memorie / amonges alle cristene My wyf shal haue of þat y wan / with treuthe and no more And delen hit amonges my douhteres / and my dere childres For thouh y dey to-day / my dette is y-quited I · bar hoem þat y borwed / ar y to bedde ȝede And with þe resudueres[i]due and þe remenant / by the rode of lukes Y wol worschipe þerwith / treuthe al my lyue And ben a pilgrym at þe plouh / for profit to pore and ryche Now is perkyn and þis pilgrimes to þe plouh faren To erien this halfakeshalfak[er]half ak[er] / holpen hym monye dikares and deluares / digged vp þe balkes Therwith was ~~Perkyn~~ a-payed / and payede wel hemwelhem wel here huyre Oþer werkemen þer were / þat wrouhten fol ȝerne Vch man in his manere / made hym-sulue to done And somme to plese Perkyn X.8.122: Despite the flurry of erasures of the character's name in this sequence of the text, this instance was completely missed. / afeelde pykede wedes At hey prime ~~Peres~~ / leet þe plouh stande And ouersey hem hym-sulue / ho-so beste wrouhte He sholde be huyred þeraftur / when heruost tyme come de visione And thenne seet somme and songen at the ale And holpe erye this halfaker / with hey trollilolly ¶ Quod ~~Peres~~ þe ~~plouhman~~ X.8.128: Calabrese (2005) offers this line as partial evidence that the defacement of this character's name is contemporary with the manuscript (pp. 196-98), because we see here the touching up of letters adjacent to, and accidently damaged by, the erasure. al in puyre tene But ȝe aryse þe rather / and rape ȝow to worche Shal no grayn þat here groweth gladyen ȝow at nede And thow ȝe deye for deul / þe deuel haue þat reche Tho were faytours aferd / and fayned hem blynde And leyde here legges alery / as suche lorelles conneth And maden here mone to ~~Peres /~~ how þei may nat worche And we praye for ȝow ~~Peres /~~ and for ȝoure plouh bothe That god for his garace / ȝoure grayn multiplye And ȝelde ȝow of ȝoure Almesse / þat ȝe ȝeuen vs here We may nother swynke ne swete / suche sekenes vs ayleth Ne none lymes to labory with / lord god we thonketh // Hyere prayde faytours For ~~...~~ X.8.140.m.1: Conjectured reading: Pers. Ȝoure prayeres quod ~~Peres /~~ and ȝe proarfyt weren Myhte helpe as y hope / Ac hey treuthe wolde That no faytrye were founde / in folk þat goth abeggeth Ȝe been wastours y woet wel / and waste and deuouren That lele landtilyngeland tilynge men leely by-swynken Ac treuthe shal teche ȝow / his teme to dryue Or ȝe shal ete barly breed / and of þe broke drynke but yf he be blynde or brokelegged / or bolted with yren Such poore quod ~~Peres /~~ shal parte with my godes bothe of my corn and of my cloth / to kepe hem fram defaute And Ankerus and Eremytes / þat eten but at nones And freres þat flateren nat / and pore folke syke What y and myn wolle fynde hem what hem nedeth Thenne gan wastor to wrath hym / and wolde haue y-fouhte And to ~~Peres~~ þe ~~plouhman~~ profrede to fyhte // Hyer wastour chydde ~~Pers~~ And bad hym go pisse / with his plogh / pyuische shrewe A bretener cam braggyng / abostede / ~~Peres~~ also Wolle thow nulle thow quod he / we wol haue oure wille And thy flour and thy flesch / feche whenne vs liketh And maken vs murye þer-myde / maugreye heo X.8.159: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with most other manuscripts. be-grucheth ~~Peres~~ the ~~plouhman~~ tho pleynede hym to þe knyhte // Hyer playned ~~Pers~~ to þe knyȝt To kepe hym and his catel / as couenant was bitwene hem ~~pus~~ passus · 8us · A-wreke me of this wastors / þat maketh this world dere They a-counteth nat of corsyngescursing / ne holy kyrke nat dredethdredeþ For ther worth no plente quod ~~Per.s~~ X.8.164: Conjectured reading: Peres. / and þe plouh lygge Courteisliche the cknyhte thenne / as his kynde wolde Warnede wastour / and wissede hym betere Or y shal bete the by the lawe / and brynge þe in stokkes · I · was nat woned to worche quod wastour / and now wol y naty will nouȝt now bygynne And leet lyhte of þe lawe / and lasse of the knyhte And sette ~~P...s~~ X.8.170: Conjectured reading: Peres. at amasea masea pes X.8.170: We do not know what X may have intended by this reading, since it may be related to MED mase, "[a] source of confusion or deception," or alternatively related to MED mace, n., 1(c), "some kind of agricultural implement" (mase being attested as a form of mace). / to playne hym whare he wolde Now by Crist quod ~~P.r.s~~ X.8.171: Conjectured reading: Peres. the ~~pl..hman~~ X.8.171: Conjectured reading: plouhman. y shal apayre ȝow alle And houped aftur hunger / þat herde hym at the furste Y preye the quod ~~Per.s~~ X.8.173: Conjectured reading: Peres. tho / pur charite sire hunger A-wrekeA-wreke me me of this wastors / for þe knyhte wil nat // Hyer hunger faȝt wyt þe wastour & wyt þe bretoner X.8.175: Below the blue paraph are two strokes in red shaped like a , which may well be a note by the rubricator indicating a missed paraph, which he later filled in with blue ink. ¶ Hunger in haste tho // X.8.175: At the caesura we see and have marked a rare double virgule of uncertain function. hente wastour by þe mawe And wronge hym so by þe wombe / þat al watrede his yes A X.8.177: A, "he." boffatede þe Bretoner / aboute the chekes Aþat alokedea lokede X.8.178: The third-person singular masculine pronoun, here rendered as a, has been conflated with the verb. X.8.178: A, "he." lyke alenternea lenterne / al his lyf aftur AndHe beet hem so bothe / he barste ner her gottes Ne hadde ~~....s~~ X.8.180: Conjectured reading: Peres. with apesea pese loof · preyede hym blyue Haue mercy on hem hunger quod ~~P.r..~~ X.8.181: Conjectured reading: Peres. and lat me ȝeue hem benes And þat was bake for bayard / hit may be here bote Tho were faytours afered / and flowen in-to ~~per.s~~ X.8.183: Conjectured reading: peres. bernes And flapton on with fualesflayles X.8.184: We take this reading as MED feuel, n., "[m]atter for burning, fuel," creating a strange image as opposed to the majority reading from MED fleil, n., 1(a), "[i]nstrument used for threshing grain, a flail" or 2(a), "[a] whip; a scourge." / fro morwen til euen That hunger was nat hardy / on hem for to loke For a potte ful of potage / þat ~~p.r.s~~ X.8.186: Conjectured reading: peres. wyf made An heep of Eremytes / henten hem spades SputedenSp[i]teden and spradden donge / in dispit of hunger They curuen here copes / and courtepies hem made And wenten as werkemen to wedynge and to mowynge Al for drede of here deth / such duntes ȝaf hunger Blynde and Brokelegged / he botened a thousend And lame men he lechede · with longes of bestes Prestes and oþer peple / towarde ~~Per..~~ X.8.194: Conjectured reading: Peres. they drowe And freres of alle þe fyue ordres / alle for fere of hunger For þat was bake for bayard / was bote for many hungry drosenes and dregges / drynke for many beggares de visione There was no ladde þat lyuede / þat ne lowede hym to Peres To be his holde hewe / thow he hadde no more But lyflode for his lalourla[b]our / and his loue at nones Tho was ~~Peris~~ proud / and potte hem alle a X.8.201: A, preposition. werke In X.8.202: What appears to be an otiose minim, actually an abandoned first stroke for the <d> of the following word, is attached to In. daubynge and in deluynge / in donge afeld berynge In threschynge in thekynge / in thwytinge of pynnes In alle kyne trewe craft / þat man couthe deuyse Was no beggare so bold / but yf ablynda blynd X.8.205: The third-person singular masculine pronoun, here rendered as a, has been conflated with the verb. X.8.205: A, "he." were Þat durste with-sitte þat ~~P...s~~ X.8.206: Conjectured reading: Peres. sayde / for fere of syre hunger And ~~P...s~~ X.8.207: Conjectured reading: Peres. was proud þerof / and potte hem alle to swynke And ȝaf hem mete and money / as þei myhte deserue Tho hadde ~~P....~~ X.8.209: Conjectured reading: Peres. pitee vppon alle pore peple // Hyer ~~Pers~~ bad hunger go aȝen And bade hunger in haste / hye hym out of contraye Hoem tointo his owene ȝerd / and halde hym þere euere Y am wel a-wroke / of wastours thorw thy myhte Ac y preye the quod ~~P...../~~ X.8.213: Conjectured reading: Peres /. / hunger ar thow wende Of beggares and biddares / what beste be to done For y woet wel be hunger went / worche þei wol ful ille Meschef hit maketh / they ben so meke nouthe And for defaute this folk folweth myn hestes Hit is nat for loue leue hit / thei labore thus faste But for fere of famyen / in fayth sayde ~~Peres~~ Ther is no filial X.8.220: The ink of the added <l> (added, we say, because the spacing is cramped) is not clearly Hand 1 or 2, so we designate it as Hand X. The manuscripts are divided here between various readings: fyal, fynal, finel, filial (which X obtains with the added <l>), feþful, and lel, indicating great confusion. RK emend to fial. We do not know what meaning they intend here, but Pearsall and Schmidt print X's filial. MED cites this line only s.v. filial (with no alternate spellings), and defines it as "becoming to, or expected of, a child in his dealings with a parent, or [as here] with a fellow Christian; faithful." loue / with this folk / for al here fayre speche And hit are my blody bretherne / for god bouhte vs alle Treuthe tauhte me ones / to louye hem vchone And to helpe hem of alle thyng · ay as hem nedeth Now wolde y wyte ar thow wendest what were þe beste How y myhte amayster hem / to louye and to labory For here lyflode · lere me / now sire hunger Now herkene quod hunger / · and holde hit for awysdoma wysdom Bolde beggares and bygge / þat mowe here breed by-swynke With houndes bred and hors breed hele hem when þei hungren And baueabaue hem with benes / for bollyng of here wombe And yf þe gromes X.8.231: The curl on this <g> is otiose. gruche / bide hem go and swynke And hoe X.8.232: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with all other manuscripts. shal soupe swetture / whenwhen he hit hath deserued corrigitur Ac yf thow fynde eny folke / þat fals men han apayred passus 8us Conforte hem with thy catel / for so comaundeth treuthe Loue hem and lene hem / and so lawe of kynde wolde ¶ Alter alterius onera portate And alle manere men þat thow myhte Aspye In meschief or in malese / and thow mowe hem helpe Loke by thy lyue / lat hem nat forfare Yf thow hast wonne auht wikkedliche / wiseliche despene hit ¶ Facite vobis Amicos de mammona iniquitatis Y wolde nat greuegreve god god quod Peres / for al þe good on erthe Myhte y synneles do as thow sayst sayde Peres þe plouhman X.8.243: Here is another instance of the character's name that was not erased. Ȝe ybihotey bihote the quod hunger / or elles þe bible lyeth Go to oure bygynnynge / tho god the world made ¶ As wyse men haen wryten / and as witnesseth Genesis Þat sayth with swynke and with swoet / and swetynge face By-tuyleBy-tu[ly]e and by-trauayle / trewely oure lyflode ¶ In suduresud[o]re and labore vultus tui vesceris pane tuo And salomon þe sage / with þe same acordeth The slowe Caytif for colde / a X.8.251: A, "he." wolde no corn tylye In somur for his sleuthe / he shal haue defaute And go abribeth and abeggeth / and no man beten his hungur ¶ Piger propter frigus noluit arrare mendicabitur in yeme & non dabitur ei Mathew maketh mencioun / of a man þat lente His suluer to thre maner men / and menyng they sholden Chaffare and cheue þerwith / in chele and in hete And þat best labored / best was alloued And ledares for here laboryng / ouer al þe lordes godes Ac he þat was a wreche and wolde nat trauaile The lord for his lachesse / and his luther sleuthe By-nomee hym al þat he hadde / and ȝaf hit to his felawe Þat leely hadde ylabored / and thenne the lord sayde He þat hath shal haue / and helpe þer hym liketh And he þat nauht hath / shal nauht haue and nomanno man ȝut helpe hym And þat he weneth wel to haue / y wol hit hym bireue And lo what þe sauter sayth to swynkares with handes Yblessed be al tho / that here by-lyue biswynketh Thorw eny lele labour / as thorw lymes and handes de visione X.8.270.f.2: We detect what might be a stray a mark that resembles a numeral <1>. Since it is not part of the formal heading, we do not transcribe it. ¶ Labores manuum tuarum quia manducabis & cetera This aren euidences quod hunger for hem þat wolle nat swynke That here lyflode be lene / and lyte worth here clothes By Crist quod ~~Peres~~ þe ~~plouhman~~ tho / this prouerbis y wolwol y shewe To beggares and to boys / þat loth ben to worche Ac ȝut y praye ȝow quod ~~Peres~~ / pur charite syre hungur Yf ȝe can or knowe / eny kyne thynges of fisyk For somme of my seruauntes / and my-sulf bothe Of al a woke worche nat / so oure wombe greueth X.8.278: The C manuscripts witness both greveth and (majority) groneth, but Hand 2 creates a unique reading with his addition of us. Additionally, he appears to have restroked the minims in the of greueth. vs Y wot wel quod hungur / what sekenesse ȝow ayleth Ȝe han manged ouer-moche / þat maketh ȝow to be syke Ac ete nat y hote / Ar hungur the take And sende the of his sauce / sto X.8.282: RK see this as correction by another hand, but HS do not specify; we see it as the main hand correcting an initial, erroneous <s>, the alliterating letter throughout this line. sauery with thy lyppes And kepe som til soper tyme / and site nat to longe At noon ne at no tyme / and nameliche at þe sopere Lat nat sire sorfeet / sittiensitt[e]n at thy borde And loke þou drynke no day / ar thow dyne sumwhat And thenk þat · ondiues · X.8.287: In this dynamic line, Hand 2 appears to have identified and perhaps marked for deletion with two raised points the word on, an error for the archetypal reading diues. But the correction was never carried out. We therfore have to interpret the uncorrected reading on as the X reading. And here we see again, as at X.2.38 and X.5.21 above, that Hand 2, in the course of local correction, has added a punctus elevatus, in this case supplementing Hand 1's virgule. for his delicat lyf / to þe deuel wente And lazar þe lene beggare / þat longede aftur crommes And ȝut hadde he ~~ese~~ hem X.8.289: We attribute this correction to Hand 2 because of the darker ink and the letter form of the <h>, but we do so only provisionally, because over an erasure, ink and letter forms can vary. Certainly, the correction does align the text with the majority reading. In accord with policy, we take the uncorrected reading ese to be the reading of X. nat / for y hungur culde hym And sethen y say hym sitte / as he a syre were In al manere ese / and inin Abrahammes lappe And ȝif thowthow be of pouer ~~...?...~~ X.8.292: The name Peres likely appeared under this erasure, but the erased space is larger than would normally contain the name alone. y þe rede Alle þat greatgr[a]tgreden in thy gate / for godeslouegodes loue aftur fode Part with hem of thy payne / of potage or of sowl Lene hem som of thy loef / thouh thow þe lasse chewe And thouh lyares and lechdraweres / and lollares knocke Lat hem abyde til the bord be drawe / Ac bere hem none crommes Til alle thyne nedy neyhbores / haue noen y-maked And yf thow dyete the thus / y dar legge myn eres That fysik shal his forred hodes / for his fode sulle And his cloke of callabre / for his comunecomunes legge And be fayn be my fayth / his fysik to leete And lerne to labory with lond / lest lyflode hemhym fayle Ther ar many luther leches / Ac lele leches fewe They don men deye thorw here drynkes / Ar destyne hit wolde passus · 8us · By seynte Poul quod Peres / thow poyntest .neyh X.8.306: The scribe appears to have written another letter, perhaps a <t> and then quickly turned it into the needed <n>. þe treuthe And leelyche sayst as y leue / lord hit þe forȝeld Wende nouthe when thow wold / and wel thow bebe thou euere For thow hast wel a-wroke me / and also wel ytauhte me Y behote the quod hunger / þat hennes ne wol y wende Ar y haue y-dyned be þis day / and y-dronke bothe Y haue no peny quod ~~P....~~ X.8.312: Conjectured reading: Peres. polettes for to begge Ne noþer goos ne gries / but two grene cheses And afewea fewe croddes and craym / and a cake of otes And bred for my barnes / of benes and of peses And ȝut y saydesaye be my soule / y haue no salte X.8.316: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with all other manuscripts, though Hand 1's sale also means "salt." bacoun Ne no cokeney be Crist / colloppes to make Ac y haue poret ployntespl[o]ntes / parsilie and skalones Chibolles and chiruulles / and cheries sam-rede And a cow with a calf / and a cart moare To drawe afeld my donge / þe while þe drouthe lasteth And by this lyflode we mote lyue / til lowe masselamasse tyme And by wthat X.8.323: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with most other manuscripts. y hope to haue / heruost in my croftes Thenne may y dyhte myþy dyner / as me dere lyketh Alle þe pore peple tho / pese-coddes fe~~dde~~tte X.8.325: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with most other manuscripts. Benes and bake aples / they brouhten in here lappe And profrede ~~P...s~~ X.8.327: Conjectured reading: Peres. this present / to plese with hongur Hunger eet al in haste / and askede aftur more Pore folk for fere tho / fedde honger ȝerne With craym and with croddes / with cresses and oþere erbes By that hit nyhed neyh heruost / and newe corn cam to chepyng And thenne were X.8.332: The subject-verb configuration indicating that the "people were happy" (folke fayn) is expressed variously in other C manuscripts, but Hand 2 has correctly seen that Hand 1's version lacked a form of the verb "to be," and so adds were to repair the line. folke fayn and fedde hunger / dentieslichedentie[f]liche And thenne gloton with gode ale / garte hunger slepe And tho wolde wastor nat worche / bote wandrenwandred a-boute Ne no beggare eten bred / þat benes ynne were bote of cler-matyn / and coket / and of clene whete Ne noon halpeny ale / in none wyse drynke Bote of the beste and of þe brouneste þat brewestares sullen Laborers þat han no lond to lyue on / but here handes Deynede noȝt X.8.340: The majority of C manuscripts omit negation, but several include a form of nought or no, so in this addition, Hand 2 may be employing a reading from an exemplar related to AcIP2, which themselves read noght. to dyne a day / of nyhte olde wortes May no peny ale X.8.341: RK say that <e> is added in another hand, but the letter is not an addition. hem pay / ne no pece of bacoun de visione but hit be fleschfresh flesch or fisch / y-fried or y-bake And þat chaut and pluchaut / for chillyng of his mawe And but yfBut he be heyliche y-huyred elles wol he chydde And þat he was werkeman ywrouhte warien þe tyme Aȝenes Catones consayle / comseth he to gruche ¶ Paupertatis onus pacienter ferre memento And thenne a X.8.348: A, "he." corseth þe kyng / and alle þe kynges Iustices Suche lawes to lerne / laboreres to greue Ac whiles hungur was here maister / ther wolde non chyde Ne stryue aȝeynes his statuyt / a X.8.351: A, "he." lokede so sturne Ac y warne ȝow werkmen / wynneth whiles ȝe mowe For hungur hiderwardes hasteth hym faste He shal a-wake thorw water / wastors to chaste And ar fewe ȝeres be fulfeld / famyne shal aryse And so sayth saturne / and sente vs to warne Thorw flodes and thorw foulefoule wederes / fruyttes shollen fayle pruyde and pestilences / shal moche peple feche prophecia Tehre shypes and a schaef / with an viiieyȝte folwynge Shal brynge bane and batayle / on bothe half þe mone And thenne shal deth with-drawe / and derthe be Iustice And dawe þe deluare / dey for defaute But yfyf god god of his goodnesse / graunte vs a trewe Passus nonus vt prius TReuthe herde telle here-of / and to ~~....s~~ X.9.1: Conjectured reading: Peres. Most of what can be seen in the digital image is bleed through from the verso. sente to taken his teme / and tilion þe erthe And purchasede hym apardouna pardoun / A pena & A culpa For hym andand for his ayres / for euere to ben assoiled And bad hym holden hym at hoem / and eryen his leyes And alle þat holpe hym to erye / to sette or to sowe Or eny manere mester / þat myhte ~~.....~~ X.9.7: Conjectured reading: peres. auayle Pardoun with ~~p...s~~ þe ~~pl..h.an~~ X.9.8: Conjectured reading: peres þe plouhman. perpetuelly he graunteth Kynges and knyhtes þat holykyrkeholy kyrke defenden And ryhtfulliche in reumes / ruylen þe comune Haen pardon thorw purgatorye / to passe ful lyhtly With patriarkes and prophetes / in paradis to sitton Bishopis y-blessed / yf they ben as they sholde passus · 9us · Lele and fol of loue / and no lord drede Merciable to meke / and mylde to þe gode And bitynge in badde men / but yf they wol amende drede nat for no deth / to distruye by here power Lechery amonges lordes / and here luyther custumes + X.9.19.f.1: The function of this cross is unclear, as it is written across from a line that neither has nor needs any correction. One can speculate that it has something to do with the erasure in the line below, which accidentally deletes the word peres, mistaking it for the character's name. And suche liue as þei lereth men / oure lord treuthe hem graunteth To be ~~peres~~ X.9.20: In this instance, the deleter failed to read the text, for the word he erased is not the name of the character but rather the plural of MED per (PDE "peer"). to þe apostles / alle peple to reule And deme with hem at domes-day / bothe quyke and dede Marchauntes in þe margine / hadde many ȝeres Ac no pena & a culpa / no treuthe wolde hem graunte For they holde nat here haliday / as holichirchholi chirch hem hoteth And for they sworeswere by here soule / andand so god mote hem helpe Aȝen clene Consience / for couetyse of wynnynge Ac vnder his secrete seal / treuthe sente hem a lettre That bad hem bugge boldly / what hem best likede And sethe sullen hit aȝeyn / and saue þe wynnynges Amende mesondewes þerwith / and myseyse men fynde And wyckede wayes / with here goed amende And brugges to-brokene / by the heye wayes Amende in som manere wyse / and mayndonesma[y]dones helpe Pore peple bedredene / and prisones in stokkes Fynde hem for godes loue / and fauntkynes to scole Releue Religion and renten hem bettere And y shal sende ȝow my-sulue / seynt Mihel myn Angel That no deuel shal ȝow dere / ne despeyre in ȝoure doynge And sethe sende ȝoure soules / þer y my-sulue dwelle And abyde þer in my blisse / body and soule for euere Tho were Merchauntes mury / many wopen for ioye And preyde for ~~Per.s~~ the ~~plouhman~~ X.9.42: Conjectured reading: Peres the plouhman. þat purchased hem þis bullesbulle Alle þe peple hadde pardon ynow / þat parfitliche lyuede Men of lawe hadde lest / þat loth were to plede But they pre manibus were payed for pledynge at þe barre Ac hehe that speneth his speche / and speketh for þe pore That innocent and nedy is / and no man halrm wolde That conforteth suche in eny caes / and coueyteth nat hehe[re] ȝiftes And for þe loue of oure lord lawe for hem declareth de visione shal haue grace of agooda good ende / and greet ioye aftur Beth ywar ȝe wismen / and witty of þe lawe For whenne ȝe drawe to þe deth / and indulgences wolde haue His pardoun is ful petyt / at his partyng hennes That mede of mene men / for here motynge taken For hit is symonye / to sulle þat sent is of grace And þat is wit and watur / and wynde and fuyre the ferthe Thise foure sholde be fre / to alle folk þat hit nedede Alle libbyng laborers / þat lyuen with here handes Lellyche and lauhfollyche / oure lord tereuthe hem graunteth pardoun perpetuel riht as ~~...es~~ the ~~p...h.an~~ X.9.60: Conjectured reading: Peres the plouhman. Beggares and Biddares beth nat / in þat bulle Bote the sugestioun be soth / þat shapeth hym to begge For he þat begeth or biddeth / but yyff they haue nede He is fals and faytour / and defraudeth the nedy And also gileth hym þat gyueth / and taketh agayne his wille For he þat gyueth for goddes loue · wolde nat gyue his thankes Bote ther he wiste were wel grete nede And moste merytorie / and toto men þat .he ȝeueth fore Catoun acordeth ther-with cui des videto Woet no man as y wene / who is worthy to haue Ac þat most neden / aren oure neyhebores X.9.71: XIYc all end line 71 at neyhebores, thus pushing the proper continuation of that line, And we nyme gode hede to the next line, setting off a domino effect of mismatched a- and b- verses that extends to X.9.79. Many manuscripts display problems with line division in this sequence; see RK's textual notes, p. 373. And we nyme gode hetede X.9.72: The original reading hete would have been a unique reading, and it is not clear if Hand 1 intended MED hete (PDE "heat"), or if it was simply a confusion of dentals. It is likely the latter, for he has erased the final <e> of hete, and converted to majority hede (PDE "to take heed"). The ink may appear darker because it is over an erasure, but the ascender of the <d>, which extends above the rubbed hide, clearly reveals his hand, so it is his auto-correction; and accordingly we do not record hete as a variant. / as prisones in puttes And pore folk in cotes / charged with childrene And chief lordes rente / þat they with spynnyng may spare Spenen hit on hous huyre / bothe in mylke and in mele To make with papelotes / to a-glotye with here gurles That greden aftur fode / and hem-sulue also Soffre muche hungur and wo / in wynter tymes And wakynge on nyhtes to rise to þe reule to rokke þe cradel Bothe to carde and to kembe / to cloute and to wasche Andom. to rybbe & to rele / rusches to pylie X.9.81: The changes in this line are clearly in the hand of the main scribe. RK say they are in another hand, but we see, rather, that the ink is that of Hand 1. His addition of to thus aligns the text with all C manuscripts. His addition of &, however, obtains a reading found in about half of the C manuscripts, while half omit it. His initial And, which he did not excise, remains a unique blunder, and thus what exact source(s) prompted the corrections in this line remains unclear. That reuthe is to rede / or in ryme shewe The wo of this wommen / þat wonyeth in cotes And of monye oþer men þat moche wo soffren Bothe a-fyngred and afurste / to turne þe fayre outward passus · 9us · And ben a-basched for to begge / and wollen nat be aknowe What hym nededenedeth at here neyhebores / at noon and at eue ThisThis y he X.9.88: All C manuscripts (Uc by addition) read the first person pronoun Y here, and it appears that Hand 2 is improvising without reference to an exemplar. Cp. X.9.127 below. woet witturly as þe world techeth What other byhoueth / þat hath many childrene And hath no catel but his craft / to clothe hym and to fede And fele to fonge þerto / and fewe panes taketh coterelis feste X.9.92.m.1: This uncommon marginal note refers to the kind of meal described here in the poem, a feast for a working man; coterelis is the genitive singlular of MED coterel, "A cotter, esp., a lesser cotter or a subtenant." There is payne and peny ale / as for a pytaunce y-take And colde flesche and fische / as venisoun were bake X.9.94-X.9.105: A large drypoint cross appears in the margin to the left of these lines. Fridays and fastyngdays / a ferthingworth of moskeles Were afestea feste with suche folk / or so fele cockes ¶ These are Almusse to helpe / þat han suche charges And to conforte suche coterelles / and crokede men and blynde Ac beggares with bagges þe whiche brewhous ben here churches But they be blynde or to-broke / or elles be syke Thouh he falle for defaute / þat fayteth for his lyflode reche ȝe neuere ȝe riche / Thouh suche lollareslorelles sterue For alle þat haen here hele / and here ye-syhte And lymes to labory with / and lollares lyf vsen Lyuen aȝen goddes lawe / and þe lore of holi churche AcAnd ȝut ar ther oþere beggares / in hele as hit semeth lunatyk lollares Ac hem wanteth wyt / men and women bothe The whiche aren lunatyk lollares / and lepares aboute And madden as þe mone sit / more other lasse Careth they for no colde / ne counteth of non hete And aren meuynge aftur þe mone moneyeles þey walke With a good wittwill witteles / mony wyde contreyes Riht as Peter dede and poul / saue þat þey preche nat Ne none muracles maken / Ac many tymes hem happeth To profecye of þe peple / pleinge as hit were And to oure syhte as hit semeth / seth god hath þe myhte To ȝeue vch a wyht wyt / welthe and his hele And suffreth suche go so / it semeth to myn inwyt Hit aren as his postles suche peple / or as his priue disciples For a X.9.119: A, "he." sent hem forth seluerles / in a somur garnement With-oute bagge and bred / as þe book telleth OrQuando misi vos / sine pane & pera & cetera Barfoot and bredles de visione Barfoot and bredles / beggeth they of no man And thauh a X.9.123: A, "he." mete with the mayre / ameddes þe strete A X.9.124: A, "he." reuerenseth hym ryht nauhte / no rather then another ¶ Nemini salutaueritsalutaueritis per viam Suche manere men matheu vs techeth We sholdesholde haue haue X.9.127: Here, Hand 2 corrects to the majority reading, seemingly displaying his use of an exemplar, but the addition could also be an intuitive one, based on the syntax and alliteration. Cp. X.9.88 above. hem to house / and helpe hem when they come ¶ Et egenos vagos induc in domum tuam For hit aren murye mouthed men / munstrals of heuene And godes boys bourdyors / as the book telleth ¶ SiquisSi quis videtur sapiens / fiet stultus vt sit sapiens And alle manere munstrals / me woet wel þe sothe X.9.132: The line number "128" appears in the right margin, evidently in a modern hand. To vnderfongen hem fayre / byfalleth for þe ryche For þe lordes loue or þe ladyes / þat they with longen Men suffreth al þat suche sayen / and in solace taketh And ȝut more to suche men / me doth ar they passe Me syueth[g]yueth hem giftes and gold / for grete lordes sake Ryht so ȝe ryche / ȝut rather ȝe sholde Welcomen and worschipen / and with ȝoure goed helpen Godes munstrals and his mesagers / and his mury bordiours The whichewhiche arnwhiche ben lunatyk loreles / and lepares aboute For vnder godes secret seal here synnes ben keuered For they bereth none bagges / ne boteles vnder clokes propure lollares X.9.144.m.1: One wonders what the glossator means by "proper lollers." Is the annotator contrasting these with the lunatyk lollares he commented upon at X.9.107 above? Considering the complexity of this term in social and religious history, it is interesting to see the annotator drawing attention to the two types of lollers, first the lunatics discussed by the poem and then another brand whom the annotator himself dubs "lollers proper." (That adjective is not in the text.) See MED, s.v. loller(e), def. 1. "A lazy vagabond, an idler, a fraudulent beggar," and def. 2. (a) "An English Lollard; (b) a Hussite." The whiche is lollarne lyf / X.9.144: The virgule has a odd curvature here, probably in anticipation of the following <a> rather than because it is meant to be other than a standard virgule. and lewede Ermytes Loken louhliche to lache men Almesse In hope to sitte at euen / by þe hote coles Vnlouke his legges abrood / or ligge at his ese Reste hym and rosteroste hym / and his rug turne drynke druie and depe / and drawe hym thenne to bedde And whenne hym lyketh and luste / his leue is to ryse And when he is rysen rometh out / and riȝt wel aspyeth Where he may rathest haue a repaest / or a ronde of bacoun Suluer or sode mete / and sum-tyme bothe Loef oþer half loef / other alompea lompe of chese And cayrethcarieth hit hoem to his cote / and cast hym to lyuene In idelnesse and in ese / and by otheres trauayle And what freke on this folde / fiscuth aboute passus · 9us · With a bagge at his bak / A X.9.158: A, preposition. begyneld wyse And can eny craft in caes / he wolde hit vse Thorw which craft a X.9.160: A, "he." couthe come / to bred and to ale And ouer-more to hanan afturhatur / hto X.9.161: What appears to be an otiose tilde over the <t> is another of Hand1's anticipations, this time of the initial <h> of the following word. The markup is inadequate to show how he simply stopped the mistaken <h> with its top stroke, carrying on directly with the correct <t>. hele with his bonis And lyueth lyke · X.9.162: After lyke we detect a punctus, which may be just a stray mark. alollarea lollare / goddes lawe hym dampneth For-thy lollares þat lyuen in sleuthe / and ouer-land strikares Buth nat in this bulle quod ~~Peres /~~ til they ben amended Ne no beggare þat beggeth / but yf they haue nede The boek banneth beggarie / and blameth hit in this manere ¶ Iunior fuie &-enim senui / ee[t] alibi infirmata est vertus mea paupertate Hit nedeth nat nouthe / anoon for to preche And lere this lewede men / what þis latyn meneth For hit blameth all beggarie / be ȝe ful certayn For they lyue in no loue / ne no lawe holden Ne weddeth none wymmen / þat they with deleth Bringeth forth bastardus / beggares of kynde // by-hold hyer of lollarne childre Or þe bak or som bon þey breke / of heherere children And goen and fayten with here fauntes for euere-more aftur Ther aren mo mysshape / amonges suche beggares Then of many oþere men / þat inon this molde walken And tho þat lyueth thus here lyf / leue ȝe non other ..Þai haue no part of pardoun / ne of preyeres ne of penaunces Ac olde and hore / þat helples ben and nedy And wymmen with childe / þat worche ne mowe Blynde and bedredne / and broken in here membres And alle pore pacient / apayed of goddes sonde As mesels and mendenantes / men y-falle in meschief As prisones and pilgrimes / and parauntur men y-robbed Or by-lowe thorw luther men / and lost here catel aftur Or thorw fuyr or thorw floed / y-falle in-to pouerte That taketh thise meschiefes / mekeliche and myldeliche at herte For loue of here lowe hertes / oure lord hath hem y-graunted Here penaunce and here purgatorie vppon this puyre erthe And pardon with the plouhman A pena & a culpa And alle holy Eremytes / haue shal þe same Ac Ermytes þat inhabiten / by the heye weye de visione And in borwes among brewesteres / and beggen in churches Al þat holy Ermytes / hatede and despisede As rychesses and reuerences / and ryche menne Almesse Thise lollareslache drawereslollares lache-draweres / lewede Ermytes Coueyten þe contraye / for as coterelles they libbeth For hit ben but boyes / bollares at þe ale Noyther of lynage ne of lettrure ne lyf-holy as Ermytes That wonede whilom in wodes / with beres and lyons Summe hadde lyflode of his lynage / and of no lyf elles And summe lyuede by here letterure / and labour of here handes And somme hadde foreynes to frendes / þat hem fode sente And briddes brouhte somme bred / þat they by lyuede Al they holy Ermytes / were of heye kynne forsoken lond and lordschipe / and alle lykynges of body // notate ȝe lewede ermytes Ac thise Ermytes þat edifien thus / by the heye weye Whilen were werkmen / webbes and taylours And carteres knaues / and Clerkes with-outen grace HoldenHelden ful hungry hous / and hadde muche defaute Long labour and litte wynnynge / and at the laste they aspyde That faytede in frere clothinge / hadde fatte chekes For-thy l.efte X.9.214: Here we simply cannot determine the hand of the correction, for such a short insertion over an erasure can be any agent's work. Nor can we determine the original X reading, making markup in relation to the readings of other manuscripts impossible. Nevertheless, it is tempting to offer one scenario: Hand 1 originally, like UcYc (manuscripts with which X can be partially grouped) read loste, and Hand 2 converted that to majority lefte, simply by changing the <o> to <e>, since the clusters <ft> and <st> can be indistinguishable except by context. The same hand may be active at X.9.218, just below in the Latin, again where a short erasure and conversion are of unknown provenance but correctly repair the text. RK claim "another ink" for the Latin correction at X.9.218 (RK.9.213α) but do not specify hand or ink for X.9.214 (RK.9.210). they here labour / thise lewede knaues And clothed hem in copes / clerkes as hit were Or oen of som ordre / or elles aprofetea profete Aȝen þe lawe he lyueth / yf latyn be trewe ¶ Non licet uobis legem voluntati / set voluntat.em coniungere legi Kyndeliche by Crist / ben suche y-cald lollares As by þe engelisch of oure eldres / of olde mennes techynge He þat lolleth is lame / or his leg out of ioynte Or y-maymed in som membre / for to meschief hit souneth Rihte so sothly / such manere Ermytes Lollen aȝen þe byleue / and þe lawe of holy churche For holy churche hoteth alle manere peple Vnder obedience to be / and buxum to þe lawe Furste Religious of religioun / a reule to holde And vnder obedience be / by dayes and by nyhtes Lewede men to labory / lordes to honte passus · 9us · In frithes and in forestes / for fox and other bestes That in wilde wodes been / or in waste places As wolues þat wuryeth men wymmen and childrene And vppon sonendayes to cese goddes seruice tohereto here Bothe matynes and masse / and aftir mete in churches To heren here euensong / euery man ouhte Thus hit by-longeth for lordeslorde / for lered and for lewed Vcche haly-day to here / holly þe seruise Vigilies and fastyngdays / forther-more to knowe And fulfille tho fastynges / but infirmite hit made pouerte or oþer penaunces as pilgrimages and trauayles Vnder this obedience / ar we vchone And ho-so breketh this be wel waer / but yf he repente Amenden X.9.243: RK wonder if the second <n> of amenden has been written in, but we see no such correction or addition here. hym and mercy aske / and mekeliche hym shryue Y drede me and he dey / hit worth for ofor dedly synne Acounted byfore godcrist / but Consience excuse hym Loke now where this lollares and lewede Ermites Yf they breke þis obedience / þat beth so fer fram chirche Where se we hem on sonendayes / the seruise to here As matynes by þe morwe / til masse by-gynne Or sonendayes at euensong / se we wel fewe Or labory for here lyflode / as þe lawe wolde // Hyere mette wille wyt lollare to þe meteward ¶ Ac aboute mydday at mele-tyme / y mette with hem ofte SommeComing in his cope / as he a Clerk were A bacheler .or abe.hwpe.rea be.hwpe.re X.9.254: In this line it appears that Hand 1, having started some incorrect letter where the <r> is needed in pere, quickly converted his own error. But the complete word obtained was still erroneous. Later, Hand 2 erased two letters after be and replaced them with <w>, obtaining an alternate spelling for the majority reading beau. X's original reading is thus lost, but it may have been the seemingly nonsensical abechpere. But see AND<hi rend="sup">2</hi>, s.vv. becher, v. 1, "to dig into, pierce," and bekier (with attested form bechier), "to peck," including in a figurative sense of backbiting. Additionally, see AND<hi rend="sup">2</hi> abecher, v., refl., means "to feed oneself." Hence, abechepere (a bechepere) could be a satirical portmanteau, playing on an expected beaupere, MED, s.v. beau, adj., 2., "honored father;—also as term for an ecclesiastical superior, a father confessor, a priest," in combination with the unexpected element of unbecoming personal habits of the clergy, resulting in something akin to "peckfather," "father digger," "father feeder," or "backbiting father." / beste hym by-semede And forthfo[r] þe cloth þat keuereth hym / ykald he is a frere Wascheth and wypeth / and with þe furste sitteth Ac while a X.9.257: A, "he." wrouhte in þe world / and wan his mete with treuthe He sat at þe syde benche / and at þe seconde table Cam no wyn in his wombe / thorw þe woke longe Ne no blanked on his bed / ne whyte bred byfore hym The cause of al this caytiftee / cometh of many bischopes That soffreth suche sottes / and oþere synnes regne Certes ho-so durste sygge hit / Simon quasi dormit Vigilare were fayrere / for thow haste a greet charge For many wakere wolues / ar wrokenbroke in-to thy foldes de visione Thy berkeres aren asal blynde / that bringeth forth thy lombren ¶ dispergentur oues / þe dogge dar nat berke notate episcopi The tarre is vntydy / þat to þe shep bylongeth Her salue is of supersedeas / in sumnoures boxes Thy shep ben ner al shabbede / the wolf shyt wolle ¶ Sub molli pastore & cetera How herde where is thyn hondhounde / and thyn hardy herte For to go wurye þe wolf that the wolle fourethfou[l]eth Y leue for thy lacchesse · thow lesest many wetheres And many a fayre flees / falsliche is y-wasche When thy lord loketh to haue / allouaunce of his bestes And of þe moneye thow haddest ther-with / his mebles to hauesaue And þe wolle worth weye / wo is the thenne ¶ Redde racionem villicacionis / or in arrerage fall Thyn huyre herde as y hope / hath nat to quyte thy dette Ther as mede ne mercy / may nat amytea myte a-vaille But haue this for þat / tho þat thow toke Mercy for mede / and my lawe breke Loke now for thy lacchesse / what lawe wol the graunte Purgatorie for thy paie / OreO[r] perpetuel helle For shal no pardon preye for ȝow there / ne no princes lettres // Hyer a prest askyd persis bull to rede ~~P...s~~ X.9.287: Conjectured reading: Peres. quod a prest tho / thy pardon moste y rede For y can construe vch a word / and kennen hit the an englische And ~~P.rs~~ X.9.289: Conjectured reading: Pers. at his preeyre / the pardon vnfoldeth And y by-hynde hem bothe / by-held alle þe bulle In two lynes as hit lay / and nat alettrea lettre more And was y-wryte ryhte thus / in witnesse of treuthe ¶ Et qui bona egerunt / ibunt in vitam eternam Qui vero mala / in ignem eternametern[u]m Peter quod the prest tho / y kan no pardoun fynde Bote dowel and haue wel / and shalgod shal haue thy soule And do yuele and haue euele / and hope thow non oþere Bote he þat euele lyueth / euele shal ende The prest thus and theand perkyn / of þe pardon iangelede And y thorw here wordes a-woke / and waytede aboute And seyh the sonne in the souhesou[t]he / sitte þat tyme passus · 9us · Meteles and moneyles / on Maluerne hulles Musyng on this meteles / A myle way y ȝede Mony tyme this meteles / hath maked me to studie Of that y seyh slepynge / if hit so be myhte And of ~~Peres~~ the ~~plouhman~~ fol pencyf in herte And which a pardoun ~~Peres~~ hadde / ththee peple to glade And how þe prest inpugnede hit / throw two propre wordes Ac men setteth nat by sowngewarie for me seth hit often fayle // a somple of sweuenys ¶ Caton counteth hit at nauht / and Canonistres at lasse Ac for þe boek bible / bereth witnesse How danyel deuynede / and vndede þe dremes of kynges Of Nabugodonasor / þat no pere hadde And sethen aftur his sones / and sayde hem what they thouhte And Ioseph mette merueilously / how þe mone and þe sonne And the eleuene serterress[t]erres · X.9.316: After serterres we see a dark punctus of unknown function. haylsede hym alle And thenne Iacob iuged / ~~Iop~~ Iosepes sweuene Beau fitz quod the fadur / for defaute we shal Y my-sulue and my sones / seche the for nede Hit biful as his fadur saide / in farao his tyme That Ioseph was Iustice / Egipte to saue His eleuene bretherne / hym for nede souhte And his faur Isaak / and also his dame Al this maketh me / on meteles to studie And how þe prest preuede / no pardon to do wel And demede þat dowel / indulgences passeth Bionales and trionales / and bisshopes lettres For ho-so doth wel here / at þe day of dome Worth fayre vnderfonge / byfore god þat tyme So dowel passeth pardoun / and pilgrimages to Rome Ȝut hat þe pope power / pardoun to graunte To peple with-outen penaunce / to passe in-to ioye As lettrede men vs lereth / and lawe of holichurcheholi churche ¶ Quodcumque ligaueris super terram erit ligatum & in celis And so y leue lely / lord forbede elles That pardoun and penauncespenaunce and preyerepreyeres don saue Soules þat haue syneged / seuene sythes dedly de visione Incipit Dowel Ac to triste vp this trionales / treuly me thynketh Hit is nat so syker for þe soule / certes as yis dowel For-thy y rede ȝow renkes / þat riche ben on this erthe // notate de indulgenncesindulge[n]ces X.9.341.m.1: The otiose tilde over the <e> of indulgences would needlessly double the nasal. & pardones & trionales Vp truste of ȝoure tresor / trionales to haue Be ȝe neuere þe baldere / tro breke þe ten hestes And manliche ȝe maistres / mayres and iuges That haen the welthe of this world / and wise men ben holde To purshace ȝow pardoun / and the popes bulles At þe dredful dome when dede shullen ryse And comen alle bifore Crist / acountes to ȝelde How we ladde oure lyf here / and his lawes kepte And how we dede day be day / the doem wol reherce A pouhe ful of pardon / there ne prouinciales lettres Thow we befoundenbe founden in the fraternite / of alle fyue ordres And haue indulgences doublefold / but dowel vs helpe Y sette nat by pardon a pese / ne nat a pye hele For-thy y consayle alle cristene / to crye god mercy And marie his moder / be oure mene to hym That god gyue vs grace here / ar we go hennes Suche werkes to worche / the while we ben here That aftur oure deth-day / dowel reherce At þe day of dome we dede as he tauhte Amen ¶ X.9.359.t.1: The headers for Passus 7 (29v) and 19 (82v) and the trailer at the end of Passus 9 (44r) are the only such headings/trailers that begin, for unknown reasons, with a red paraph. Explicit visio Willielmi · W · de Petro le plouhman Et hic incipit visio eiusdem de dowel X.10.0.h.1: Though the display divides the explicit of the previous passus from the incipit here, this header is really part of a single two-line rubric, marked by one paraph marker, that provides the transition from Passus 9 to Passus 10 and thus from the visio to the vita. Thus y-robed in russet / y romede a-boute X.10.1: The foliage in the capital terminates in the left margin, mid-folio, with the stylized face of, perhaps, a sleeping man. Alle a somur seson / for to seke dowel And fraynede ful ofte / of folke þat y mette Yf eny wiht wiste / where dowel was at ynne And what man amyhtea myhte X.10.5: We see here the conflation of pronoun a with an auxiliary. X.10.5: A, "he." be / of mony menman y askede // Hyer will soȝte dowel & mette wyt · ij · freris Was neuere wihte in þis world / þat me wisse couthe Where thisþat he longed lasse ne more Til hit biful inon a fryday / two freres y mette Maystres of þe menoremenores / men yof X.10.9: Hand 1 seems to have started a <y> and converted it to <o>. gret witte Y haylsede hem hendly / as y hadde ylered And preyde hem pur charite / ar they passede forthere Yf they knewe eny contre / oþer costes aboute corrigitur X.10.12.f.1: We have seen corrector's marks placed variously throughout the manuscript, not necessarily at the end of a passus or quire; this one may indicate the checking of Passus 9 in particular. passus 1us Wher þat dowel dwelleth dere frendes telleth me · X.10.13: The line ends in a bold punctus in dark ink, but the scribe does not normally use line-terminal punctus in this text, so it may be an accidental ink spot. For ȝe ar men of this molde / þat moste wyde walken And knowen contrees and Courtes / and many kynne plases Bothe princes paleis / and pore menne cotes // lo what a frere sayde of do-wel And dowel and doeuele / where þei dwellen bothe ¶ Sothly saide þe frere / a X.10.18: A, "he." soiourneth with vs freres And euere hath as y hope / and euere wol here-aftur Contra quod y as a Clerk / and comsed to despute And saide sothly sepcies in die capdit iustesiust[u]s Fallyng fro ioye ihesu woet þe sothe Seuene sithe sayth þe boek synegeth day by day the rihtfulluste reng / þat regneth invponon erthe And ho-so synegeth y sayde / certes he doth nat wel For ho-so synegeth sicurly doth euele And dowel and doeuele / may nat dwelle to-gyderes Ergo he is nat al-wey athomat hom amonges ȝow freres He is other-while elles-wher / to wisse the peple // nota how þe ryȝt-wise falleþ vij syþis in þe day & ȝit standith stifly ¶ Y shal sey þe my sone / sayde þe frere thenne How seuene sithes þe sad man / synegeth on þe day By aforbisenea forbisene quod ~~þ....e.e~~ X.10.32: Here we see an eight-character erasure, where traces of initial <þ> and two instances of <e> may indicate that the reading was þe frere, which was erased because repeated. The erasure has damaged the phrase in a boet in the line below. þe frere / y shal the fayre shewe Lat bryng amana man in a boet / amydde abrooda brood water The wynde and þe water / and wagyng of the bote Maketh þe man many tyme / to stomble yf he stande For stonde he neuere so stifliche / thorw steryng of þe bote Ai[A] X.10.37: A, "he." X.10.37: The scribe's error may have been caused by his anticipating An in next line; that is, he may have written A, plus the first minim of an <n>, and then never noticed or never corrected it. bendeth and boweth / the body is so vnstable And ȝut is he saef and sound / and so hit fareth by þe rihtfole Thow he falle he falleth nat / but ho-so ful in a boet That ay is saef and sound / þat sitte with-ynne þe borde ¶ So hit fareth quod þe frere / by þe ryhtful mannes fallynge Thow he thorw fondynges falle / he falleth nat out of charite So dedly synne doth he nat / for dowel hym helpeth The water is likned to þe wordworlde / þat wanyeth and waxeth The godes of this grounde / ar like þe grete wawes That as wyndes and wederes / waleweth aboute The boet is liknet to oure body / þat bretil is of kynde That thorw the fend and oure flesch / and this freel worlde de dowel Synegeth seue sithesiþes þe saddest man on erthe And lyfliostlyfholiest of lyf / þat lyueth vnder sonne Ac fre wil and fre wit / foleweth man euere To repenten and to arise / and rowe out of synne To contricion to confessioun / til he come til his ende For rather haue we no reste / til we restitue Oure lyf to oure lord god / for oure lycames gultes // hyere departid will & þe freres ¶ Y haue no kynde knowlechyng / to conseyue al this speche Ac yf y may lyue and loke / y shal go lerne bettere Y bykenne the Crist quod he / þat on þe cross deyede X.10.58: The letter <y> is always dotted in this manuscript, but the other dot above the first <e> of deyede is simply a stray drop of ink. And y sayde þe same / saue ȝow fro meschaunce And gyue me grace on þis grounde / with good ende to deye ¶ I · wente forth wyde-whare / walkynge myn one By a wilde wildernesse / and by a wode-syde Blisse of þe briddes / a-byde ..me made And vnder lynde vpon a launde / lened y a stounde To lythen here layes / and here louely notes Murthe of here mouthes / made me ther to slepe And merueilousliche me mette / amyddes al þat blisse A muche man as me thoghte / ylike to my-sulue Cam and calde me / be my kynde name // hyer wille wyt Þoȝt X.10.70.m.1: Translate: "here [we see] Will with Thought." The word wit in this gloss is a form of the preposition with. Readers might be confused because wit, a new allegorical figure in the story, appears soon and is the subject of the next marginal annotation on folio 46r. ¶ What art thow quod y · þat thow my name knowest That þouwost thouþou wost wille quod he / and no wyht bettere Woet y quod y who art thow / thouhte sayde he thenne Y haue sued the this seuen ȝer / saw thow me no rather Art thow thouht quod y tho / thow couthest me wisse Where þat dowel dwelleth / And do me to knowe dowel and dobet quod he / and dobest the thridde Aren thre fayre vertues / and ben nat fer to fynde Ho is trewe of his tonge / and of his two handes And thorw lele labour lyueth / and loueth his emcristene And ther-to trewe of his tayl / and of his two handesand halt wel hus handes And is nat dronklewe / ne dedeynousdeynous / dowel hemhym foleweth dobet doth al this / Ac ȝut he doth more He is logh as a lomb / and loueliche of speche And helpeth alle men / of þat he may spare passus · 1us · The bagges and þe bigerdeles / he hath to-broken hem alle Þat þe Erl Auerous / held and his ayres And of mammonaes mone / y-maked hym many frendes And is ronne in-to religioun / and hath rendred þe bible And precheth to þe peple seynt paules wordes ¶ Libenter suffertis incipientes & cetera Ȝe wordliche wyse / vnwyse þat ȝe soffre X.10.91: Double <f> is usually crossed, but the scribe has failed to do so here. Lene hem and loue hem / this latyn is to mene dobest bere sholde þe bisshopes corosec[r]ose And halie with þe hoked ende / alleille men to gode And with the pyk pulte a-doun / preuearicatores legis Lordes þat lyuen as hem lust / and no lawe acounten For here mok and here mebles / suche men thenketh Sholde no bisshop be / here biddynges to withsite Ac dobest sholde drede hem nat / but do as god hihte ¶ Nolite timere eos qui possunt occidere corpus & cetera Thus dowel and dobet / demede a dobest And crounede oen to be kyng / to kull with-oute synne That wolde nat do as dobest / deuinede X.10.103: The letters <ine> in this word are the product of re-stroking and/or erasure by Hand 1, and we can also see the remains of an ascender or supralinear suspension over what is now the second <n>. The original reading is not apparent. The textual situation for modern readers is confused somewhat by the fact that when Pearsall and RK choose to emend line 101's demede with a form of divined, they then accordingly switch their reading for this line to demede to avoid what would be repetition by the poet of the word divined. Schmidt keeps the X reading in both instances, and X's correction does not seem to be related to the causes for the emendation that Pearsall and RK think is required. and tauhte Thus dowel and dobet / and dobest the thridde Crounede oen to be a kyng / to kepen vs alle And toAnd reule alle reumes / by here thre wittes bute oþere-wise ne elles nat / but as they thre assentede Y thonkede thoght tho / þat he me so tauhte Ac ȝut sauereth nat me thy sawes / so me Crist spede AmoreA more kyndore knowynge / coueyte y to here Of dowel and dobet / and ho doth best of alle Bote yf wit wol the wisse / quod thouhte where tho thre dwelleth Elles knowe y noen þat can / in none kynne-ryche Thouht and y thus / thre dayes we ȝeden disputyng vppon dowel / day aftur other And ar we y-war were / with wit gan we mete He was long and lene / y-lyk to noon other Was no pruyde on his parail / ne pouerte noythere Sad of his semblant / and with a softe speche Y durste meue no matere / to maken hym to iangle de dowel Bote as y bad thouht tho / to bebe mene betwene And potte forth som purpos / to prouen his wittes What was dowel fro dobet / and dobest fro hem bothe // Hyere spekyþ wit ¶ Thenne thouht in þat tyme / sayde this wordes Whare dowel and dobet / And dobest ben in londe Here is oen wolde y-wyte / yf wit couthe teche And what lyues they lyue / and what lawe þei vsen And what þey drede and doute / dere sire telleth Sire dowel dwelleth quod wit / nat a day hennes In a C~~...~~astel þat kynde made / of foure kyne thynges Of erthe and ayer is hit maed / ymedled to-gyderes With wynd and with water / wittyly enioyned Kynde hath closed ~~the~~ X.10.133: As we see it, <the> was accidently written twice, so Hand 1 deletes it. ther-ynne / craftily with-alle AlemmanA lemman þat he louyeth / ylyke to hym-sulue Anima she hatte /to here hath enuye A proued prikeare of fraunce / princeps huius mundi And wolewolde wynne here awaye / with wyles and X.10.137: And, "if." he myhte And kynde knoweth this wel / and kepeth here þe betere And hath do here with sire dowel / duk of this marches dobet is here damysele sire doweles douhtur To serue þat lady leely / boteþe X.10.141: We cannot determine the original, erroneous reading in X, though HS see the word as bote. Hence, we transcribe <te> here under the erasure. It nonetheless appears that Hand 2 has made a proper correction. Hand 2 has also added two punctus, looking like a modern colon, to separate his addition from the next word in the line. late and rathe dobest is aboue bothe / a bishopis pere And by his leryng is lad / þat ilke lady Anima Ac þe constable of þat Castel / þat kepeth hem alle Is a wise knyhte with-alle / sire inwit he hatte And hath fyue fayre sones / by his furste wyue Sire se wel and sey wel / sire here wel þe ende Sire worch wel with thyn hand / a wyht man of strenghe And sire goed fayth go wel / grete lordes alle Thise fyue ben sette / for to saue Anima Til kynde come oþr sende / and kepe here hym-sulue What kynne thyng is kynde quod y / canst thow me telle Kynde is creatour quod wit / ofof alle two kyne thynges Fader and formour of al þat / forth groweth The which is god grettest / bygynnynge hadde he neuere Lord of lyf and of lyht / of lisse and of payne passus · 1us · Angeles and alle thyng /aren at his wille Man is hym most lyk / of membres and of face And semblable in soule to god / but if synne hit make And as thow seest the sonne / sumtyme for cloudes May nat shyne ne shewe / on schalkes on erthe So let lecherye and other luther synnes That god shewethseweth X.10.163: The scribe likely supplied the minority reading sheweth here because of shewe just two lines above. nat suche synnefole men / and soffreth hem mysfare And somme hangeth hem-sulue / and oþerwhile a-drencheth God wol nat of hem wyte / bute lat hem y-worthe As þe sauter sayth / by synnefole shrewes notate hic aliqui ¶ Et dimisi eos secundum desideria eorum Such lyther lyuyng men in lome been ryche Of gold and of oþer goed / at goddes grace hem fayleth For they louyeth and by-lyueth / al here lyf-tyme On catel more then on kynde / that alle kyne thynges wrouhte The which is loue and lyf / þat last with-outen ende Inwit and alle wittes / closed ben þer-ynne By loue and by leute / þerby lyueth anima And lyf lyueth by inwit / and leryng of kynde Inwit is in the heued / and anima in herte ¶ X.10.177: In the margin to the left of this line we see again a <cc>, a variety of paraph indicator. And moche wo worth hym / þat inwit myspeneth For þat is goddes oune goed / his grace and his tresour That many a lede leseth / thorw lykerous drynke As lote dede and Noe / and herodes þe daffe Ȝaf his douhter for adaunsyngea daunsynge / in a disch þe heued Of þat blessed baptist / bifore alle his gestes Euery man þat hath inwit / and his hele bothe Hath tresor ynow of treuthe / to fynden hym-sulue Ac fauntokynes and foles / þe which þat fauten inwit Frendes shal fynde hem / and fram folye kepe And holychurcheholy churche helpe to · so sholde nomanno man begge X.10.187: This line has no virgule but rather a medial punctus after to, and we cannot help but wonder if that reflects some confusion about the line's metrical patterns. Schmidt (2011) puzzles over this line, calling its scansion "uncertain" and producing various theories about words lost from the archetype: "as it stands" says Schmidt, the line can scan on "cognitive alliteration" on /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ (Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.1, p. 383). Schmidt is correct about the <ch>/<sh> variation throughout this manuscript, as we have noted. Ne spille speche ne tyme / ne myspende noyther Meble ne vnmeble / mete noþer drynke Ac thenne dede we alle wel / and wel bet ȝut to louye Oure enemyes enterely / and helpe hem at here nede And ȝut were best to ben aboute / and brynge hit to hepe de dowel That alle landes loueden / and in on lawe bileuede Bishopebisschopes sholde ben here aboute / and bryng this to hepe For to lese þerfore her lond / and her lyf aftur The catel that Crist hadde thre clothes hit were Ther-of X.10.197: The attribution to Hand 2 here is partially circumstantial because it is difficult to distinguish the <r> of the two hands, especially in a spot correction above the line like this, though this <r> very much resembles the letter form seen throughout the annotations. So, this may be a quick auto-correction by Hand 1 or, as we have marked it, part of Hand 2's comprehensive program of corrections, here fixing a basic omission. was he robbed / and ruyfled or he on rode deyede And seth alhe les his lyf / for lawe sholde loue wexe Prelates and prestes / and princes of holychurcheholy churche Sholde nat doute no deth / ne no dere ȝeres To wende as wyde / as þe worlde were To tulie þe erthe with tonge / and teche men to louye For ho-so loueth leueth hymhit wel / god wol nat laton hym sterue In meschief for defaute of mete / ne for myssyng of clothes ¶ Inquirentes autem dominum non minuentur omni bono Ho-so lyueth in lawe / and in loue doth wel As this wedded men / þat this world susteyneth For of here kynde þey come bothe confessours and martres prophetus and patriarkes / popes and maydenes For god saith hym-sulue / shal neuere goed appel Thorw no sotil sciense / a on sour stok growe And is no more to mene / but men þat ben bygeten Out of matrimonye nat moyloure / mowen nat haue þe grace That lele legityme · by þe lawe may claymen And þat my sawe is soth / þe sauter bereth witnesse ¶ Concepit in dolore & peperit iniquitatem Caym þe corsede creature / conseyued was in synne Aftur þat Adam and Eue / hadden y-syneged With-outen repentaunce of here rechelesnesse arybauda rybaud þei engendrede As an hewe þat erieth nat / ~~aunrethaun[t]reth~~ arweth X.10.220: In this interesting situation, we have marked up a nonsense reading with <sic>/<corr> elements: the scribe appears to have forgotten a <t> needed for auntreth (MED, s.v. auntren, v., "happen"), which is the majority reading. Hand 2 also noticed the error but must not have been sure of the required reading, for it is not at all clear what he was trying to achieve with this offering of arweth. He might have been thinking of MED areuen, "to feel regret or remorse" (PDE "rue"), but his spelling would be in error. Perhaps we have simply an instance where nonsense (arweth) replaces nonsense (aunreth). hym to sowe On a leye land aȝeynes his lordes wille So was Caym conseyued / and so ben corsed wreches Þat lycame haen aȝen þe lawe / þat oure lord ordeynede Alle þat come of Caym · CaytyueCaytyues were euere And for þe synne of Caymes seed / sayede god to Noe ¶ Penitet me fecisse hominem And bad go shapen ashipa ship / of shides and bordes thy-sulue and thy sones thre / / X.10.228: At the caesura we see and have marked a rare double virgule of uncertain function. and sethen ȝoure wyues passus · 1us · Boske ȝow to þat boet / and abideth þerynne Til fourtyfourty dayes be fulfild / and floed haue y-wasche Clene a-wey þe corsed bloed / þat of Caym spronge Bestes þat now beth shal banne þe tyme That euere þat corsed Caym / cam on þis erthe Alle sholle deye for his dedes / by dales and by hulles And þe foules þat fluethfleeth X.10.235: If this transcription, shared by RK, is correct, then the scribe may have intended flueth from MED, s.v. fluen, "to flow" (in accord with the flood that is being described). But if the is really plus an otiose minim, he may have intended flieth, from MED, s.v. flien, "to fly" (since the subject of the clause is birds). In fact, he may have been confused about whether he was writing, or supposed to write, a word that meant "flow," "fly," or "flee," the last of which is the reading in all other witnesses. / forth with oþer bestes Excepte onliche of vch akyndea kynde apayrea payre That in thi chingled ship / shal be with þe y-saued Here aboute þe barn / the belsires gultes And al for here forfadres / ferden þe worse The gospel is here-agayn / as gomes may rede Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris & cetera Holy writ witnesseth / þat for no wikkede dede That þe sire by hym-sulue doth þe sone sholde be þe worse Ac westmustre law y wo.det wel / worcheth þe contrayecontra[r]ye For thogh þe fader be afrankeleyna frankeleyn / and for afelona felon be hanged The eritage þat þe eyer sholde haue / is at þe kynges wille Ac þe gospel is a glose ther / and huydeth þe grayth treuthe For god seid ensaumple / of suche manere issue That kynde folweth kynde / and contrarieth neuere ¶ Numquam colligunt de spinis vuas Et Alibi X.10.250: X shares this line division with C manuscripts DcGcIPUc. BonusBon[a] Arbor bonum fructum facit Ac why þe world was a-dreynt / holy writ telleth Was for mariages makynge / þat men made þat tyme X.10.253: A vertical stroke of unknown function appears in red ink in the right margin at this line. Aftur þat Caym þatþe corsed / hadde ykuld abel Seyth X.10.255: HS wonder if the hand and ink are those of our Hand 2, but they are not sure. We agree that the brief nature of this correction makes identification of this hand impossible, so we register Hand X. The confusion and correction in this line arise because the ME conjunction sitthe can be spelled like the name Seth. All modern editors place the name in the a-verse and the conjunction in the b-verse (allowing the lower-case <s> to distinguish the two), but it appears that the corrector, faced with two words spelled <seth>, converted the name seth in the a-verse into the conjunction, leaving the b-verse seth to be taken as the name. Schmidt (2011) explains the b-verse seth as a pun on the character's name in the a-verse (p. 385). He and Pearsall thus print Seth and seth, while RK awkwardly emend corrected X back to un-corrected X, obtaining S[e]th, and emend b-verse seth to seth[en]. adames sone / seth was engendred And god sente to seth / so sone he was of age That for no kyne catel / ne no kyne byheste Soffre his seed seden ~~hit~~ with Caymes seed his brother And seth for he soffred hit / god sayde me forthynketh Þat y man made / or matrimonye soffrede For goode sholde wedde goode / thouh they no goode ne haddehadde For y am via & veritas / and may a-vauncen alle Ac fewe folke now folweth this / for thei ȝeue her childurne For coueytise of catel / and connynge chapmen de do-wel Of kyn ne of kynrede / counteth men bote litel And thogh he be louelich to loken on / and lossum abedde A mayde and wel y-mariedymanered / and of gode men y-spronge bote he haue oþer goed / haue wol here no ryche Ac lat hem be vnlouely / and vnlofsum abedde A bastard a bond oen abegeneldesa begeneldes douhter That no cortesye ne can / bute late here be knowe For riche or y-rented wel / thouh he be reueled for elde Ther ne is squier ne knyhte / in contreye a-boute That he ne wol bowe to þat bonde / to beden here an hosebonde And wedden here for here welthe / and weschen on þe morwe That his wyf were wexe / or a walet ful of nobles In ielosye ioyles / and iangelynge abedde Many a payre sethe this pestelensespestilenspestilence tyme / han plyhte treuthe to louye Ac they lyen leixlely X.10.279: X and several other manuscripts read leix against majority lely, but we do not know what word X intended with this otherwise unattested spelling. / here neyther lyketh other The fruyt þat they brynge forth / aren many foule wordes Haen þei no childerne bute cheste / and shoppes hem bitwene Thogh theythey do hem to donemowe / bote þe deuel hem helpe To folwe for þe flicche / feccheth they hit neuere Bote they bothe be for-swore / þat bacon þei tyne For-thy y conseyle alle cristene / coueyte neuere be wedded For no coueytise of catel / in none kyne wyse bote maydones and maydones marie ȝow to-gyderes And wedewe and wedewareswydewers and wydewes / weddeth ȝow ayþerayþer oþer And loke þat loue be more þe cause / then lond oþer nobles And euery maner seculer man / þat may nat contynue Wisely go wedde / and war þe fro þat synne That lecherye is a lykyng thynge / a lymȝerd of helle And whil þou art ȝong an ȝep / and thy wepene kene A-wrek the þerwith on wyfyng / for godes werk y holde hit ¶ dum sis vir fortis / ne des tua robora scortis versus X.10.296.m.1: The marginal note is one of only two in the Rubricator's ink. (See also 95v.) It says simply versus, the Latin plural indicating that in the text to the left we are to find some "verses," on the subject of prostitution. Grindley transcribes verso and catalogues that word as "Literary Responses-Allegory and Imagery" which does not seem on point. Lynn Thorndike (1955) has studied the role of verses in the context of medieval instructional prose manuscripts and explains that such texts, "might contain poetical quotations, not merely from classical or other named authors, but of anonymous yet apparently well-known lines, usually introduced by some such phrase as 'Unde versus'" (p. 164). Though Piers is not prose, of course, we take this instance in Hm 143 to be just such an effort to call attention to the Latin verses. Pearsall (2008) explains the verses themselves and their origins in Prov. 29:3 and 7:23 (C-Text, p. 199). Scribitur in portis / meretrix est ianua mortis And ȝe þat han wyues ben war / and worcheth nat out of tyme As Adam dede and Eue / as y whil er ȝow toldetolde For sholde no bed-bourde be / bote yf they bothe were Clene of lyf and in loue of soule / and in lele wedlok passus 1us For þat dede derne do no man sholde Bote wyues and wedded men / as holy writ techeth ¶ Bonum estest vt vnusquisque vxorem suam habeat propter fornicacionem X.10.303: RK transcribe uxerem and emend in this line. The tilde, however, can easily represent <or>. That oþer-gatus ben gete · for gadelynges ben holden And fals folk and fondlynges · faytors and lyares Vngracious to gete goed / or gete loue of peple A-wayten and wasten / alle þat they cacche mowe Aȝen dowel they do yuele / and þe deuel serue And after her deth-day / dwellen schollen in helle Bote god ȝeue hem grace / here doyngegoynge here to amende And thus is dowel my frende / to do as lawe techeth To louye and to loue the / and no lyf to greue Ac to louye and to louelene X.10.313: Confusion (modern and medieval) about how to understand a series of minims may be afoot here. The scribe may have intended loue, an error duplicating loue in the line above, or he may have intended lone which would be in accord with other manuscripts' lene. Or perhaps he intended loue as a form of MED louen v.1, def. 4(a), "[t]o make (sb., one's soul) humble." / leef me þat is dobet Ac to ȝeue and to ȝeme / bothe ȝonge and olde Helen and helpen is dobest of alle For þe more amana man may do / by so þat a X.10.316: A, "he." do hit The more he is worthy · and worth of wyse and ofand goed ypresed Passus primus de visione de dowel // wittes wyf chidde wit for he sche-wed so muche vn-stodied Thenne hadde wit a wyf / was hote dame studie That ful lene lokede / and lyf-holy semede She was wonderly wroth / þat wit me so tauhte Al staryng dame studie sterneliche sayde Wel artow wyse quod she to wyt / suche wysdomes to shewe To eny foel or to flaterere / or to frentike peple And sayde nolite mittere ~~in viam~~ X.11.7: DcIP2UcYc also read in viam, which X alone deletes, perceiving correctly that it is not part of the Latin text of Matt 7:6, "do not cast [pearls before swine]." / ȝe men Margerie perles Among hogges þatt hanhaweshan hawes X.11.8: HS correctly note that the scribe had originally omitted haan, writing þat hawes. Realizing his error, he erased the final <t> and replaced it with superscripted <t>, using the space remaining to insert haan. HS's explanation makes more sense than RK's suggestion that haan is "by correction from haen." The scribe's preference for both fully written out han (27x:1x) and þat (1255x:0x) supports the HS account. at wille They do bote dreuele þer-on / draf were hem leuere Then al þe preciouse perye / þat eny prince weldeth Y syg hit by suche quod wit / þat sheweth by here werkes Þat louyen lond and lordschipe / and lykynge of body More then holynesse / or hendenesse or al þat seyntes techeth Wysdom and wit now / is nat worth a carse Bote hit be cardet with coueytise / as clotheres kemben here wolle Ho can caste and contreue / to disseyue þe rihgtfoleri[gh]tfole And lette with a loueday treuthe and bigile That coueite can and caste thus / Ar cleped in-to þe consayleconsayle Qui sapiunt nugas de do-wel ¶ Qui sapiunt nugas & crimnamcrim[ina] lege vocantur Qui recte sapiunt / lex iubet ire foras He is reuerensed and y-robed / þat can robbe þe peple Thorw fallas and fals questes / and thorw fikel speche Iob þe gentele in his gistes witnesseth X.11.23: All editors emend gistes to gestes (stories, tales), but MED, s.v. gest(e), n.1, lists giste as a spelling variant. The scribe, however, does write gestes at X.15.215. What shal worthen of suche when þei lyf leten ducunt in bonis dies suos / & in findfin[e] descendunt ad infernum The sauter saith þe same / of alle suche ryche ¶ Ibunt in progenie patrum suorum / & vsque in eternum non videbunt lumen Et alibi ~~...?...~~ecce ipiip[s]i peccatores habundantes X.11.28: We take the raised point that follows the <h> of habundantes to be the indicator for the lengthy suspension, so we do not transcribe it separately. & cetera Lo saith holy letrure / whiche lordes beth this schrewes Tho þat god most goed ȝeueth / greueth most riht and treuthe ¶ Que perfecisti destruxerunt & cetera // harlottes are sonnest holpe Harlotes for here harlotrye aren holpe ar nedy pore And þat is no riht ne resoun / for rather me sholde Helpe hym þat hath nauhte / then tho that haen no nede Ac he þat hath holy writ / ay / in his mouth And can telle of treuthe / and of þe twelue aposteles Or of þe passioun of Crist / or of purgatorie þe peynes Litel is he loued or leet herfore / among lordes at festes Nowe is þe manere at þe mete / when munstrals ben stille The lewed aȝen þe lered / þe holy lore to dispitedispute And tellen of þe trinite / how thotwo slowe þe thridde And brynge forth ballede resones / taken bernard to witnesse And putten forth presumpcioun / to preue þe sothe Thus they dreuele asat the deyes / the deite to knowe And gnawen god with gorge / when here gottes fallenfullen X.11.45: The scribe's unique phrase here, obtaining "until their guts fell" as opposed to the expected reading, "until their guts were full," may be meaningful, as it may be based on medical language referring to hernias or other ruptures; see Cyrurgie of Guy de Chauliac, ed Margaret S. Odgden, EETS 265 (Oxford, 1971), vol. 1, p. 501, 24-26 and 502, 31-34, for medical descriptions of such ruptures in which the gut has fallen; the text avers that the immediate cause of such burstynges includes strong forsynge of or unmeasurable hauntunge of wommen (502, 4-6). Such activity is often associated with the clergy, particularly friars in medieval literature, but does not seem immediately applicable to the over-fed lords here described at this point in Piers. See also the military use of the term, referring to the bowels protruding out from a wound, as in The English Charlemagne Romances I: Sir Ferumbras, ed. S. J. Herrtage, EETS ES 34 (1879, reprint 1966), l. 749: His guttes þer-with gunne out falle. Ac þe carfole may crye / and quake at þe ȝate Bothe afyngred and a-furst / and for defaute spille Is non so hende to haue hym / but hote hym go þer god is Thenne semeth hit to my sihte / to suche þat so biddeth God is nat in þat hoem / ne his helpe nother Lytel loueth he þat lord / þat lente hym al þat blisse That so parteth with þe pore / aparsela parsel when hym nedeth Ne were mercy in m.ene men / more then in riht riche Mony tymestyme mendenauntes / myhte goen a-fyngred corrigitur passus · 1us · And so saith þe sauter / y say hit inin (English) memento X.11.55: In most other manuscripts, in is presented unrubricated as an English word, but the scribes of XRc have taken it to be Latin, making it fully a part of the phrase in memento. Originally, the word hit, which precedes the phrase, was also part of the underlining in X, but an unknown hand has erased its red underlining, the traces of which are still visible. ¶ Ecce audiuimus eam id est caritatem X.11.56: RK, in editing this line, reject the majority id est caritatem, witnessed by X and most manuscripts. Pearsall and Schmidt, however, adopt the id est cartitatem reading in their editions. in Effrata & ceterainuenimus eam in campis silue Clerkes and knyhtes carpen of god ofte // hyer he tellith of prechinge at // paulis And haen muche in here mouth / Ac mene in herte Freres and and[and] faytours / haen founde vp suche questions To plese with proude men / senes this pestelences And prechyng at seynt poules / and puyr enuye of clerkes That folk is nat ferme in þe faith / ne fre of here godes Ne sory for here synnes / soso is pruyde enhanced In religion and in al þe reume / amonges riche and pore That preyeres haen no power / this pestilences to lette For god is deef now-adayes / and deyneth vs natvsnat vs to here X.11.66: Since the majority reading, rejected rightly by RK, has no negation, the scribes of those texts must have read the word deyneth as a form of MED deinen, v. 2, "[t]o be haughty; scorn (sth.), reject (food), disdain (to do sth.); ~ with, be scornful of (sb.)" instead of MED deinen, v. 1, def. 1.(a) "[t]o consider (sth.) suited to one's worth or dignity, condescend (to do sth.); condescend to speak. . . usu. with neg," which cites this very line of Piers as an example. The majority reading would thus translate to "God refuses to hear us," as opposed to X's minority reading (adopted by all editors), "God deigns not to hear us." And gode men for oure gultes / he al to-grynt to deth And ȝut this wreches of this world / is noen y-war by oþer Ne for drede of eny deth / with-draweth hym fro pruyde Ne parteth with þe pore / as puyr charite wolde Bote in gaynesse and in glotonyeglotonye / for-glotten here godes And breketh nat here bred to þe pore as þe boke hoteth ¶ Frange esurienti panem tuum Ac þe more a X.11.74: A, "he." wynneth and hath / þe world at his wille And lordeth in ledes / the lasse goed he deleth Tobie X.11.76: There is a mark to the left of the <T> in Tobie, which may be an attempt to indicate the gloss about Tobit in the left margin, though we have not seen such a device before in this manuscript. It may simply be a stray mark. techeth nat so / taketh hede ȝe ryche How he tolde in atymea tyme / and tauhte his sone dele // tobi toȝte his sone dele ¶ Si tibi sit copia / habundantur tribue X.11.78-X.11.79: X shares this line division with C manuscripts DcINcPP2Uc. Si Autem exiguum illud impertire libenter stude And is to mene no more / bote who muche goed weldeth be large þer-of whil hit lasteth / to ledes þat ben nedy And yf thow haue litel leue sone / loke by þy lyue Get þe loue þer-with thogh thow worse fare Ac lust no lord now ne lettred man / of suche lore to here Bote lythen how þey myhte lerne / leest god spene And þat loueth lordes now / and leten hit a dowel For is no wit worth now / but ifbut hit of wynnynge soune For-thy wit quod she be waer / holy write to shewe Amonges hem þat haen hawes at wille The which is a lykyng and aand luste / þe loue of þe world de do-wel And when wit was y-war / what studie menede I myhte gete no grayn of wittes grete wittes studie But al lauhynge he louted / and loked vppon studeie X.11.93: Hand 2's correction aligns the text with the spelling of most other C manuscripts. Hand 1's spelling variant, stude (attested in MED, s.v. stude) may have arisen because he had just written Latin stude above, at X.11.79, though he did write the English word as studie, at X.11.91, just two lines above. Semyng þat y sholde / bysechen here of grace And when y was war of his wille to þat womman gan y louten And saide mercy ma-dame / ȝoure man shal y worthen As longe as y lyue / bothe late and rathe And for to worche ȝoure wille / þe while my lyf duyreth With þat ȝe kenne me kyndeliche / to knowe what is dowel For thy mekenesse quod she / and for thy mylde speche Y shal kenne þe to clergie / my cosyn þat knoweth Alle kynne kunnynges and comsynges of dowel Of dobet of dobest for doctour he is knowe scrypture And ouer skripture þe skilfole / and screueynes were trewe For he X.11.105: He, "she." is sib to þe seuene ars / and also my suster And clergicesclergies X.11.106: The scribe may have been thinking of MED clergise, "[l]earning, knowledge, scholarship" or this may simply be an error. wedded wyf / as wyse as hym-sulue Of lore and of lettrure / of lawe and of resoun So with þat clergie can / and consail of scripture Thow shalt kunne and knowe / kyndeliche dowel Thenne was y as fayn / as foul of faire morwen Gladdere then gleman / þat gold hath to ȝefte // where clergie dwellith And askede of here þe hey way whare þat clergie dwelte And telle me som tokene quod y / for tyme is þat y wende Aske þe hey wey hennes to soffre bothe wele and wo X.11.114: XINP2 (and DcUc also, which do not break the lines thus) lack a form of quod he between wey and hennes in the a-verse. (The he would have provided alliteration on /h/.) This confused the scribe as to where this line and the following ones should begin and end. The result is that X.11.114 lacks alliteration; the a-verse of X.11.115 contains the /w/ in wilt that ought to complete another line beginning with wele and woe; and in X.11.115, ryde and rychess ought to be the two staves of an a-verse, but are here separated by the caesura, with rest now an otiose alliterating forth stave. It is a minor mess that, however, can still make sense, so the scribes of X did not correct. Secure alliterative patterning resumes at X.11.116. Yf þou wilt lerne and ryde forth / by rychesse reste nat þerynne For yf thow coueytest to be ryche / to clergie comest thow neuere Bothe wymmen and wyn / wrothewrathe X.11.117: Hand 1 has uniquely written the adjective wroth (angry) instead of the needed noun wrath (anger), to be parallel with ire and slewthe. ire and slewthe Yf thow hit vse oþer haunte / haue god my treuthe To clergie shaltow neuere come / ne knowe what is dowel // lettyggeletty[n]gge to come to clergie AsAc if þow happe quod he / þat þou hitte on clergie And hast vnderstandyng / what a X.11.121: A, "he." wolde mene Sey hym thy-sulue / ouer-se many bokes And sey y grette wel his wyf / for y wrot here abiblea bible And sette here to sapience / and to þe sauter y-glosed Logyk y lerned here / and al þe lawe aftur And alle þe musons in musyk / y made here for to knowe passus · 1us · Plato þe poete / y putte hym furste to boke sapience Aristotel and oþere / to Arguen X.11.128: X capitalizes the <A> of Arguen here, as RK helpfully retain, but Pearsall and Schmidt do not; perhaps the scribe took it to be an allegorical name. y tauhte Gramer for gurles / y gart furste write And bedbe[t] hem with a baleyse X.11.130: We have marked X's unique bed as an error for bet, but one wonders whether the scribe may have intended the 3rd sing. preterite of bidden, which would translate, with litotes, "entreat them with a stick." / bute yf þei wolde lerne Of alle kyne craftes · y contreuede here toles Of carpentrie of keruers / and contreuede þe compas And caste ouetout X.11.133: For this potentially confusing line about how Study teaches carpenters their work, editors either replace ouet with the variant mette, obtaining "cast measurements" (Pearsall and RK), or they change the verb to the unattested leide to obtain "laid out by square," which also renders more common alliteration. (See Schmidt (2011), calling his own emendation "radical," Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.1, p. 390.) The Z and B texts read, very comfortably, an alliterating phrase meaning "learned (i.e., taught) them the (use of) the level," and this l-patterning motivated Schmidt to emend to leide. He sees casten as a scribe's attempt to obtain a more familiar construction—"cast out" in the sense of "calculate" or "construct." (See MED, s.v. casten [20(a), 25(a)].) by squire / bothe lyne and leuele Thus thorw my lore ben men y-lered / thogh y loke demme Ac teologie hath tened me / ten score tymes Þe more y muse þer-on / the mystiloker hit semeth And þe deppore y deuine / the derkore me thynketh hit Hit is no science sothly / bote a sothfaste bileue Ac for hit lereth men to louie / y beleue þeron þere bettere For loue is alykynga lykyng thyng / and loth for to greue Lerne for to louie / yf þe lik dowel For of dobet and dobest / here doctour is dere loue ¶ Tho wente y my way with-outen more lettynge And to clergie y cam / as clerkes me saide Y grette hym goodly and graythly y hym tolde How þat wit and his wyf / wissede me to hym To kenne and to knowe kyndeliche dowel By Crist quod Clergie yf thow coueyte dowel Kepe þe ten comaundementis / and kepe þe fro synne And byleef lely / how goddes sone alyhte On þe maide Marie / for mankynde sake And bycam amana manman of þat maide / with-oute mankynde And al þat holichurcheholi churche / herof can þe lere Leue hit lelly / and loke / þou do þeraftur austyn Austyn þe þolde / her-of made bokes Ho was his Autor / And hym of god tauhte Patriarkes and prophetes / apostles and angelis And þe trewe trinite / to Austyn apperede And he vs saide as he sey / and so y bileue That he seyh þe fader / and þe sone / and þe seynt spirit to-gederes And alle thre bote o god / and her-of he made bokes X.11.161: The line breaks in X.11.161-X.11.162 are unique to XDcP2Uc, likely related to the absence in these manuscripts of a form of the word "busily" to begin X.11.162. Cf. RK's rendering: And alle thre bote o god, and herof he made / [Bisily] bokes; ho beth his witnesses. In the case of X, the scribe encountered the problem at the end of a folio and tucked in the first line of the non-metrical Latin to complete his line X.11.162, which may, cleverly, alliterate on /p/ and /b/ and also certainly keeps a tidy mise-en-page. In boxing the Latin, the rubricator, with his own job to do, has written over the caesura. Ironically here, we see a corrector's mark in the margin left. Likely the corrector was not comparing the text to a superior manuscript that had the lines rendered correctly. corrigitur Ho beth his witnesses / Ego in patre & pater in me est de dowel ¶ Et qui me vidit patrem meum vidit qui in celis est & cetera Alle þe Clerkes vnder Crist / ne couthe this assoile Bote thus hit bilongeth to bileue / alle þat liketh to dowel For hadde neuere frek fyn with X.11.166: With, spelling variant of MED wit, n. / the faith to dispute Ne man mouhte haue meryhteme[r]yt X.11.167: X's unique readings in lines X.11.166-X.11.167 turn this attempted paraphrase of the Latin that follows into nonsense. Strangely, the third minim of <m> is over-stroked and thus possibly cancelled by Hand 1, obtaining, perhaps, neryhte, equivalent to ne ryhte. But in such confusion we have simply transcribed meryhte, which we have taken as error for majority meryte. / mouhte hit be y-preued ¶ Fides non habet meritum vbi · humana racio & cetera Thus in bileuebileue and lel · / and loue is the thridde That maketh men to dowel / and dobet and dobest Thenne scripture scorned me / and mony skiles shewed And continaunce made on clergie / to congeie me hit semede And lakkede alatyna latyn X.11.173: A, preposition. X.11.173: The scribe may have intentionally merged a and latin as one word, or he may simply have randomly run them together; in either case, we take the widely witnessed phrase to mean "in Latin," though X, like many C-text manuscripts, lacks the direct object pronoun me, which all editors take to be archetypal. / and lyhte by me sette And saide multi multa sciunt / & seipsos nessiunt Tho wepte y for wo / and wrathe of here wordes // Hyere fortune raueschid will & schewed hym a myr-our þat hyȝte myddylȝerd And in a wynkynge y warth / and wonderliche me mette For y was rauysched rihte there for fortune me fette And in-to þe lond of longyng / aand loue X.11.178: The scribe's a loue may be an error for the majority's and loue, or he may have intended a lone, since his <n> and his are indistinguishable. she me brouhte And in a myrrour þat hihte myddel-erd / she made me to loke And senes he saide to me / here myhte thow se wondres And knowe þat þou coueytest / and come þer-to parauntur Thenne hadde fortune folwyng here two fayre maydenes ¶ Concupiscencia carnis / men calde þe eldre maide And coueytise of yes / y-calde was þat oþer And pruyde of parfit lyuynge / pursuede me faste And bade me for my continence / counte clerkes techyng lihte ¶ Concupiscencia Carnis / confortede me ofon this manere And saide þou art ȝong and ȝep / and hast ȝeres y-nowe For to lyue longe / and ladyes to louye And in þis myrrour / thow myhte se murthes fol monye That lede þe wol to lykynge / Al thy lyf-tyme The seconde saide þe same / yy shal sewe thy wille Til thow be alorda lord / and haue lond / leten y the nelle X.11.193: This line contains two virgules, likely reflecting the scribe's confusion as to where the caesura falls in this line; he was right the second time, after lond, the second lift of the a-verse. That y ne shal folowe thy felowschipe / yf fortune lyke A X.11.195: A, "he." shal fynde me his frende / quod fortune þeraftur The man þat me liketh to helpe / myhte nat myshappe Thenne waswas there oen þat hihte Elde / þat heuy was of chere Man quod Elde yf y mette with the / by marie of heuene passus 1us Thow shalt fynde fortune þe fayle / At thy moste nede And Concupiscencia Carnis / clene the forsake Bitterliche shaltow banne thenne / bothe dayes and nyhtes Couetyse of yes / þat euere thow here knewe And pruyde of parfit lyuynge / to moche perel the brynge Ȝe reche þe neuere quod rechelesnesse stod forth in ragged clothes X.11.204: This line contains no virgule, which should come after rechelessnesse. Perhaps lines with such structure, parenthetically identifying the speaker—something we would set off with commas—confuse scribes about where to place the caesura, though the line is perfectly metrical. Folowe forth þat fortune wole / þou hast ful fer to elde AmanA man may stoupe tyme ynowe / when he shal tyne þe croune Sir wanhope was sib to hym / as som men me tolde For rechelesnesse in his rybauderibawdrie / riht thus he saide Go y to helle or to heuene / y shal nat go myn one Were hit al soth þat ȝe seyn / thow scripture and thow clergie Y leue neuere þat lord ne lady / þat lyueth her inon erthe Sholde sitte in goddis sihte / ne se god in his blisse ¶ Ita possibile est diuiti intrare / in regnoregn[um] celorum sicut camelus & cetera For clergie saith þat he seyh / in þe seynt euaungelie That y man y-maed was / and my name y-entred In þe legende of lyf longe / ar y were predestinaet thei prechen / prechours þat this sheweth Or percyetprecheþ X.11.218: It is not clear what word the scribe intends, nor if he is writing Latin, English, or anglicized Latin. Uc reads prescient; Dc has prescite; and IYc have precyet. The majority reading, however, is precheth, which is likely scribal, arising from the local context and the frequency of forms of the verb "preaching" in this section. Modern editors emend. Schmidt (2011) prints what he calls "half Latin" prescite, from Dc, obtaining "foreknown [sc. to be damned]," (Parallel Text Edition, vol II.1, pp. 393-4). Pearsall (2008) takes the reading to be Latin prescit, obtaining "foreknown to be (imperfect)" which likely balances predestined [to be saved] in the previous line. RK also print, as emended, p[resci]t though they do not italicize it as Latin, perhaps obtaining the same meaning as Pearsall understands, though like Schmidt, conceiving it to be anglicized Latin. inparfit / pult out of grace Vn-writen for som wikkednesse / as holy writ sheweth ¶ Nemo ascendit ad celum / nisi qui de celo descendit And y leue hit wel by oure lord / and on no lettrure bettere For salomon þe sage / þat sapience made God gaf hym grace of wit / and of goed aftur Neuere to man so moche / þat man can of telle To reule alle reumes / and ryche to make And demede wel and wysly / wymmen bereth wittenesse ¶ Nec michi nec tibi / set diuidatur Aristotel and he / ho tauhte men bettere Maistres þat men techen of goddis mercy and techenom. X.11.229: With techen repeated in this line in XUcYc, all modern editors emend the b-verse to prechen. Wittenesseth þat here wordes / and here werkes bothe Were wonder goed and wisest in here tyme And holichurcheholi churche as y here / haldeth bothe in helle And yf we sholde wurche aftur here werkes / to wynnienwyn[n]en vs heuene That for here werkes and wyt / wonyeth now in payne de dowel Thenne wrouhte y vnwysly / for alle ȝoure wyse techynge Ac y countre-segge the nat clergie / ne thy connyng scripture That ho-so doth by ȝoure doctrine / doth wel y leue AsAc me were leuere by oure lord / a lyppe of goddes grace Thenne al þe kynde wyt / þat ȝe can bothe and kunnyng of ȝoure bokes X.11.239: In this cumbersome line, the scribe marks the caesura incorrectly before the second stave of the a-verse (can), though it is not clear exactly where, after can, the caesura actually falls. For of fele witty in faith / litel ferly y haue Thogh here gost be vngracious / god for to plese For mony men in this molde / more sette here herte In goed then in god / for-thy hem grace faileth At hehe[re] moste meschef / mercy were þe beste And mercy of mercy · nedes moet aryse As holy writ witnesseth / goddes word in þe gospel ¶ EdAdem mensura & cetera Wel y-witted men and wel y-lettred clerkes Seldom ar they seyen / so lyue as they lere Wittnesseth godes word / þat was neuere vntrewe ¶ Super cathedra Moysi & cetera // Hyer hard sentence for techeres ȝif þay leue noȝt wel Ac y wene hit worth of monye / as was in noes tyme Tho he shoop þe ship / of shides and bordes Was neuere wrihte þat þer-on wrouhte / ne werkman ysaued Bote briddes and bestis / and þe blessed Noe And his wyf with his sones / and his sones wyues Of wryhtes þat hit wrouhte / was noen of hem y-saued God lene hit fare nat so / by folk þat þe faith techen Of holy kirke þat sholde kepe / alle cristene soules For Archa Noe nymeth hede / ys no more to mene Bote holychurcheholy churche herborw / to alle þat ben yblessed Culorum The culorum of this clause / curatores is to mene ThatThat ben carpentares vnder Crist / holy kirke to make For lewed folk goddes foles / and his fre bestes ¶ Homines & iumenta saluabis & cetera At domes-day adeluuyea deluuye worth / of deth and fuyr at ones Worcheth ȝe wrihtes of holy churche as holy writ techeth Laste ȝe be loste as þe laboreres were / þat laberedlab[o]red vnder Noe A gode friday y fynde afelouna feloun was y-saued That vnlawefulliche hadde y-lyued / al his lyf-tyme passus · 1us · And for he biknewe on þe croes / and to crist shrof hym He was sunnere y-saued then seynt Iohn þe baptiste And ar Adam oþer ysaye / oþer eny of the profetes That hadde y-ley with lucifer / mony longe ȝeres A robbare was y-raunsomed rather then thei alle With-oute penaunce oþer passioun / oþer eny other peyne passetHe passede forth paciently / to perpetuel blisse Then marie maudelene / who myhte do worse As in lykyng of lecherye / no lyf denyede Or dauid þe douhty / þat denyeddeuyned how vrye Mouhte sleylokeste be slawe / and sente hym to worre Lelly as by his lokes / with alearea learea lettre of gyle Poul þe apostel no pite ne haddehadde X.11.283: RK cite X's reading inaccurately as he hadde. X.11.283: All modern editors divide this line in two, between hadde and cristene, adopting the reading of Uc against all other manuscripts which, like X, render a single long line. cristene peple to culle to dethe And now beth this seyntes · by that men saith and souereynes X.11.284: XIP2Yc alone break the line at souereynes; all other manuscripts divide the line after heuene. In heuene tho that worste wrouhten / þe while þat thei here were By that þat salamon saith / hit semeth þat no wyht woet Ho is worthy for wele or for wykkede Wheþer he is worthy to wele or to wykkede pyne ¶ Sunt iusti atque sapientes / & opera eorum in manu dei sunt & cetera Thus y rechelesnesse haue y-rad registres and bokes And fonde y neuere in faith / for to telle treuthe That clergie of cristes mouthe comaunded was euere For Crist saide to sayntes / and to suche as he louede ¶ Dum steteritis ante Reges vel presides & cetera Thogh ȝe come bifore kynges / and clerkes of þe laweslawe Beth nat aferd of þat folk / for y shal ȝeue ȝow tonge And connyng and clergie / to conclude suche alle dauid maketh mensioun / he spake among kynges And myhte no kyng ouercome hym / as in connynge of speche Sothly saide rechelesnesse / ȝe se by many euydences That wit ne witnesse wan neuere þe maistre With-oute þe gifte of god · whichwith grace of fortune For he þat most seith and saide / of the sothfaste trinite Was Austyn þe oelde / þat euere man wiste Saide thus in his sarmon / for ensaunple of grete clerkes ¶ Ecce ipseips[i] idiote rapiunt celum vbi nos sapientes in inferno mergimur de do-wel And is to mene no more to men þat beth lewed Aren noen rather y-raueschid / fro þe rihte bileue Comuneliche then clerkes / most knowyng in konnyng Ne none sanere y-sauued / ne nonene saddere in bileue Then ploughmen an X.11.311: An, "and." pastours / and pore comune peple Lewed lele laboreres / and land tulyng peple Persen with a pater noster / paradys oþer heuene And passen thorgh purgatorie / penaunceles X.11.314: X alone divides the line at penaunceles; all other C manuscripts include for here parfit bileue as part of this verse. As it has done before at X.11.161-X.11.162, just above in this passus, X has created a unique macaronic line at X.11.315 (potentially alliterating on /p/) by joining for here parfit bileue to the otherwise non-metrical, free-standing Latin that follows. For here parfit bileue / breuis oratio penetrat celum Selde falleth þe seruant / so depe in arrerage As doth the reue or Conturrollor / þat rykene moet and acounten Of al þat they haen had / of hym þat is here maister Ac lewede laborers / of litel vnderstondyng Selde falleth so foule / and so depe in synne As clerkes of holychircheholy chirche  þat sholdekepe(n) scholde socoure X.11.321: The hand and ink of this addition seem to us to be that of Hand 2 (RK also say "another hand"). Hand 2 saw something was missing and tried to repair. The majority reading kepen would have completed the alliteration nicely, but instead (with no exemplar handy?) he improvised by adding another /s/ word to an already full b-verse. And we see again, as at X.2.38, X.5.21, and X.8.287 that, in the course of making a local repair, Hand 2 has added a punctus elevatus at the casesura, which in this case lacked a virgule. and saue Lewede men in good bileue / and lene hem at here nede Homo preponitp[ro]ponit quod apoetea poete tho / and plato he hihte ¶ Et deus disponit quod he / ladla[t] god do his wille All · þat treuth atta chethattacheth / and testifieth for gode Thow thei folwe þat fortune wole / inno X.11.326: X is the only manuscript that reads in, which changes the meaning of the line completely from the reading of all other manuscripts, no, which is how all editors render it. One wonders who is speaking in this part of the poem, but it seems to be Plato as a poet, and therefore the voice of philosophy. X's reading would assert that it is foolish to follow Fortune, whereas the reading of all other manuscripts would approve of those who follow Fortune. So we invite our readers to contemplate the possible meaning of X's reading, which cautions against—rather than sanctions—following Fortune, obviously an incredibly dramatic issue at this point in Will's pursuit of physical pleasure. Pearsall (2008) notes that the "argument, that to follow the way of the world is reconcilable with adherence to Truth, is specious," (p. 215). Perhaps Hand 1, with his unique in folye (if an intentional reading) would agree. The line does not appear in this form in B. folye ich it holde Ne Concupiscencia carnis / ne shal nat greue the grettly Ne bigyle the / but yf thow wolle // hyer ȝougthe sette at naȝt al þis Ȝe fare wel fyppe quod fauntelete / and forth gan me drawe Til Concupiscencia Carnis / a-corded til al my werkes Of dowel ne of dobet / no deynte me ne thouhte Ne clergie ne his conseile / y counted hit ful litel Passus secundus de dowel Allas eye quod elde / and holynesse bothe That wit shal turne to wrechednesse / for wil ahath al his wille Couetyse of yes conforted me aftur And saide rechelesnesse / reche the neuere By so thow riche were Confesse the to som frere / he shal asoileasoile the the thus sone X.12.5-X.12.6: XDcKNP2UcYc omit a long half line found in most manuscripts (and printed by all modern editors), which should be the a-verse of X.12.5, here given in RK's version: Haue no consience how þou come to good. The loss of this half line therefore produces in X two faulty verses: X.12.5 may accidentally alliterate on <s>, but X.12.6 is a truncated verse with no apparent alliteration. How so euere / thow wynne hit For while fortune is thy frende / freres wol the louye And festene the in ther flaternitef[r]aternite X.12.8: The scribe's error results in a brilliant comic malapropism or portmanteau, flaternite, instead of fraternite, a stinging rebuke of the flattering friars. Cf. Conscience's final quest to seek Piers Plowman in the hope that freres hadde a fyndynge þat for nede flateren (that is, a proper provision for their needs to prevent their abusively flattering begging. See Pearsall (2008), C-text, p. 377. The association of friars with flattery is commonplace. / and for the by-seche To here priour prouincial / his pardon to haue And preeyep[re]ye for the pol by pol / yf thow be peccunioisus ¶ Pena peccuniaria non sufficit & cetera By wissyng of this wenche y dede / here wordes were so swete Til y forȝet ȝouthe / and ȝorn in-to elde And thenne was fortune my foo / for al her fayre biheste And pouerte pursuede me / and potte me to be lowe And flittyng fond y the frere / þat me confessede And saide he myhte nat meme nat assoile / but y suluer hadde To restitute resonably / for al vnrihtfole wynnynge notate hic freris ¶ Ouh quod y tho / and myn heued waggede X.12.19: The scribe's self-correction after the <gg> of waggede has created blotting, and there are traces of the top of an erroneous <d> (or an inappropriate suspension) over the blotting. No variants are at play, and waggede is the majority reading, so this might simply have been a slip of the pen, quickly corrected, by Hand 1. By my faith frere quod y / ȝe fare lyke þe woware That wilneth nat þe wedewe · bote for to welde here godes Riht so by þe rode quod y / rouhte ȝe neuere Wher my body were y-bered / by so ȝe hadde my godes And thenne louhe leaute / for y loured þon X.12.24: The markup is inadequate. What looks like a <v> at the beginning of this word, which would read vn, is actually an <o>, produced by the scribe catching himself writing the initial <þ> of the next word, then rounding it off without the descender. þe frere ¶ Why lourestlourest thou quod leaute / leue sire y saide For this frere flaterede me / þe whilewhile he fond me ryche And now y am pore and penyles / at litel pris he sette me Y wolde it were no synne y saide / to seien þat were treuthe The sauter sayth hit is no synne / for suche men þat ben trewe To segge as they seen / and saue only prestis ¶ Existimasti inique / quod ero tibitui similis X.12.31: XIKP2 alone present the Latin in two lines. Arguam te & statuam contra faciem tuam Thei wolle allegge also / and by þe gospel preuen hit ¶ Nolite iudicare quemquam And wher-of serueth lawe quod leaute / and no lyf vnder-toke Falsnesse ne fayterye / for sumwhat þe apostel saide X.12.36: The word saide is heavily blotted but has not been altered or corrected. ¶ ~~...?...?...~~Non oderis fratrem secrete in corde & cetera X.12.37: This entire Latin line is written over an erasure. HS aver that line X.12.26 from above on this folio was initially written. The letter forms still visible in the right margin after the Latin—such as the outlines of the word ryche—do support this theory. In that case, eye-skip after the word saide (X.12.25 and X.12.36) likely caused the error. Thyng þat al þe world woet / wherfore sholdest thow spare To rehercen hit al by retoryk / to arate dedly synne Ac be neuere-more þe furste / the defaute to blame Thouh thowe se say nat sum-tyme þat is treuthe Thyng þat wolde be pryue / publische thow hit neuere Nother for loue labbe it out / ne lacke hit nathit for enuye ¶ Patrum lauda vitiperavit[u]pera parcius A saith soth quod scripture tho / and skpypte X.12.45: As HS correctly observe, there is an unexplained circular mark in another ink over the <te> of the word skypte. an heyh and prechede de do-wel Ac þe matere þat she meuede / if lewede men hit knewe The lasse as y leue louyon þey wolde The bileue of oure lord / þat lettred men techeth Of here teme and here tales / y took ful good hede He X.12.50: He, "she." saide in here sarmon / selcouthe wordes Multi to amangeryea mangerye / and to þe mete were sompned And whan þe peple was plenere ycome þe porter vnpynnede þe gate And plihte in pauci priueiliche and lette þe remenaunt go rome Al for tene of here tyxst tremblede myn herte And in a wer gan y wex / and with my-sulue to despute Where y were chosechose or nat chose / on holy churche y thouhte That vnderfeng me at þe fonte / for on of godes chosene For crist clepede vs alle / come yf we wolde Sarrasynes and sismatikes / and so a X.12.59: A, "he." ded þe iewes And bad hem souke for synne / saue at his breste And drynke bote for bale / brouke hit ho-so myhte ¶ O vos omnes sicientes venite ad aquas Thenne may alle cristene come / and clayme þerto entre By þat bloed he bouhte vs with / and baptemie X.12.64: We agree with RK that the final <e> has been written over the start of another minim. as he tauhte Qui crediderit & baptizatus fuerit & cetera For thogh acristenea cristene man coueitede / his cristendom to renoye Rihtfolliche to renoye no resoun hit wolde For may no cherl chartre make / ne his chatel sulle With-outen leue of þe lord / no lawe wol hit graunte Ac he may renne in arrerage / and rome fro home As arechelesa recheles Caytyf / other reneyed as hit semeth AsA[c] reson shal rekene with X.12.72: The word with is badly blotted, but there are no corrections. hym / and rebuken hym at þe laste And consience a-counte with hym / and casten hym in arrerages And potten hym aftur in prisoun / in purgatorie to brenne And for his rechelesnes rewarde hym þere / riht to þe day of dome Bote yf contricioun and confessioun / crye by his lyue Mercy for his mysdedes · with mouthe and with herte That is soth saide scripture X.12.78: The finale <e> here appears to have been overwritten with an <o>, but as there are several cases on this folio of excessive inking, we have deemed this simply to have been an over-inked <e>. · may no synne lette Mercy þat he X.12.79: He, "she." ne may al amende / and mekenesse her folowe They bothe as oure bokes X.12.80: What may appear in the images to be a complicated set of pen strokes is actually text from 55r showing through a small hole adjacent to this word. telleth / are boþeaboue godes werkes Misericordia eius super omnia operaopera eius // hyere cam at trogian & sayde baw for bokesX.12.82.m.1: The erasure of the <t> of an original at only partially expunges the <a>, so we consider it to have been left standing deliberately, obtaining a trogian. This might represent some confusion on the part of the commentator, who might not have recognized the text's reference to troianes, a proper noun referring to the Roman emperor. Schmidt (2011) identifies troianes, the majority reading, as "a well-recognized form of Trajan's name" (Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.2, p. 604, referencing Siegfried Wenzel, "L's Trioanus," YLS 10, 1996, pp. 181-5). Ȝe bawe for bokes quod oen · was broken out of helle I troianes a trewe knyht y take witnesse of a pope How y was ded and dampned / to dwellen in hell For an vn-cristene creature · seynt Gregori woet þe sothe That al þe cristendoem vndevnderr Crist / ne myhte me crache fro thenne Bote onlyche loue and leaute / as in my lawes demynge Gregori wiste this wel / and wilned to my soule Sauacion for þe soethnesse / a X.12.89: A, "he." sey in my werkes And for a X.12.90: A, "he." wilnede wepynge · þat y were ysaued God of his goodnesse · y-sey his grete will And with-outen mo bedes biddyng · his bone was vnderfonge And y-saued as ȝe may se · without syngynge of mo masses Loue with-oute lele bileue / asand my lawe riht..ful Saued me sarrasyn soule and body bothe Lo lordes what leute dede / and leele dome y vsed Wel ouhte ȝe lordes þat lawes kepeth / this lesson to haue in mynde And on Troianes treuthe to thenke / alle tymetymes in ȝoure lyue And louye for oure lordes loue / and do leute euermore For lawe with-outen leutee · ley þer abenea bene Or eny science vnder sonne · the seuene ars and alle Bote loue and leute hem lede · y-lost is al þe tyme Of hym þat trauaileth herontheron · bote treuthe be his lyuynge So loue and leute · hit benben oure lordes bokes And cristis oune clergie · he cam fro heuene to teche hit And seynt Ion sethen saide hit of his techyng // notate hyer how ȝe schull make festes X.12.107-109: To the left of lines X.11.107-X.11.109, a triangle is cut out of the parchment, nine characters wide and three lines high; this damage must have occurred before the manuscript was written, as the scribe blithely writes around it. Qui non diligit · manet in morte And nameliche pore peple / here preeyerres may vs helpe For god as þe gospel saith · goth ay as þe pore And as þe euaungelie witnesseth / when we maken festes We sholde nat clepie knyhtes þerto / ne none kyne ryche ¶ Cum facitis conuiuia / nolite vocare amicos & cetera Ac calleth the carefole þerto / the crokede and the pore For vch aeche frende fedeth other / and fondeth hou beste to quite Meles and manschipes vch a riche man oþer Ac for þe pore may nat paye · / y wol pay my-sulue That louieth and leneth hem largeliche shal y quyte AcAt Caluarie of cristis bloed / cristendoem gan sprynge And bleody bretherne / we by-come there / of o body y-wonne As quasi modo geniti · gentel men vchone No beggare ne boy among vs / butbut yf hit synne make ¶ Qui facit peccatum seruus est peccati In þe olde lawe as þe lettre telleth mennes sones me calde vs Of Adames issue and Eue ay til god and man deyede X.12.124: Though almost no other manuscripts read and, Hand 2's insertion has brought X into agreement with H2KN. And aftur his resurectounresurect[i]oun X.12.125: We see no suspension here. Although we have marked this as a scribal error, MED does cite a form without : a1456(a1402) *Trev. Nicod. (Add 16165) 113b: In witnesse of þe resurexcoun of oure lord Ihesus cryst. Cf. X.17.336, resurectoem. / redemptor was his name And we his blody bretherne / as wel beggares as lodrdes For-thy loue we as leue childerne · lene hem þat nedeth And euery man helpe other / for hennes shal we alle To haue as we haen serued / as holychircheholy chirche witnesseth ¶ Et qui bona egerunt ibunt & cetera For-thy lerne we toom. lawe of loue / as oure lord tauhte And pore peple fayle we nat / while eny peny vs lasteth For in here likenesse oure lord · lome hath be y-knowe Witnesse in þe paske woke when he ȝede to Emaux Cleophas ne knewe hym nat · þat he Crist were For his pore parail and pilgrimes clothes Til þat he blessed here bred / and brake hit hem bitwene So by thishis werkes thei wisten / þat he was ihesu Ac by clothyng they knewe hym nat so caytifliche he ȝede And al was ensample sothly / to vs synfole here That we sholde be low and louelich / and lele vch man til oþer And pacient as pilgrimes / for pilgrimes are we alle In þe parail of a pilgrime / and in pore likenesse Holy seyntes hym sey / Ac neuere in secte of riche And seynt marie his moder / as Mathew bereth witnesse Was a puyre pore mayde / and to aporea pore man y-wedded Marthe on marie madudelene · an huge pleynte she made And to oure sauyour / sulue saide þis wordes ¶ Domine non est tibi cura quod Soror & cetera And here aytheres wille · riht wel alowede X.12.150-151: Because of eye skip to a repeated word (wille), XIKP2 lack what would have been the b-verse of X.12.150 and the a-verse of X.12.151, here given in RK's version: hasteliche god assoilede / And aytheres werkes and wille (RK.12.139a and RK.12.140b). That the line thus obtained in X coincidentally alliterates on /w/ likely helped to mask the error in transmission. Ac pouerte god potte byfore · and preuede for þe betere Maria optimam partem elegit que non & cetera X.12.153: At some time in its history, the folio has had a large triangle cut off of its right lower margin with no loss of text. And alle þe wyse þat euere were · by auhte y can aspye Preisede pouerte for beste / if pacience hit folowe And bothe bettere and blessedere · by many fold then richesse Al-thouh he be sour to soffre · þer cometh a swete aftur As on a walnote with-oute · is a bittere barke And aftur þat bittere barke · be þe scale a-weye Is a cornel of confort · kynde to restore So aftur penaunce and pouerte · pacientliche y-take Maketh man to haue mynde in god and his mercy to craue The which is þe cornel of confort / for alle cristene soules And wel sikorere he slepeth þe segg þat is pore And lasse drat by day or in derke to ben yrobbed Then he þat is rihte ryche reson bereth witnesse ¶ Pauper ego ludo / dum tu diues mditarism[e]ditaris Holy churche witnesseth ho-so forsaketh His fader or his frendes · fren.-de oþer sybbe Or eny welthe in this world / his wyf or his childrene For þe loue of oure lord / lothethloweth hym to be pore He shal haue an hundred-fold of heuene-ryche blisse And lyf lastyng for euere / byfore oure lord in heuene ¶ Quicumque relinquit patrem & matrem & cetera Crist acordeth efte her-with · clerkes wyteth þe sothe What god saide hym-sulue to a segg þat he louede Yf thow likest to lyue quod god þe lyf þat is parfit Al þat thow haste here hastly go and sulle hit Ȝef pore peple þe panes · þerof pors þou none Ac ȝef hem forth to pore folk · þat for my loue hit aske For-saek al and sue me / and so is thi beste ¶ Si vis perfectus esse vade & vende & cetera Ȝut conseileth Crist · in commen vs all Ho-so coueiteth to come to my kyneriche He moet forsaken hym-sulue · his suster and his broþer And al þat þe world wolde / and my will folowe ¶ Nisi renunciaueritis / omnia que posidetispos[s]idetis & cetera Mo prouerbes y myhte haue / of mony holy seyntes To testifie for treuthe · þe tale þat y shewe And poetes to preuen hit · Porfirie and plato de do-wel X.12.190: It is apparent that the scribe is at times not making a clear effort to mark the caesura, and on this folio in particular it is difficult to distinguish a faint slash from a faint point from a stray mark; we have tried to record whatever is visible. Aristotel Ennedy enleuene hundred Tulius tolomeus · y can nat tell here names Preueth pacient pouerte prince of alle vertues And by þe grayn þat groweth god vs all techeth MesciefesMesc[h]iefes on molde · mekeliche to soffren ¶ Nisi granum frumenti cadens in terram mortuum fuerit & cetera Bote if þe seed þat sowen is in the sloo sterue Shal neuere spir sprynge vp / ne spiek on straw kerue Sholde neuere whete wexe · but whete furste deyede OnAnd oþer sedes also / in þe same wyse That ben layd in louhe erthe · ylore as hit were And thorw þe grace of god and grayn dede on erthe At the laste launceth vp where-by we lyuen all AsAc sedes þat ben sowen / and mowen soffre wyntres Aren tidiore and touore · to mannes by-hofte Then sedes þat sowe ben · and mowen nat with forstes Ne wynde ne wederes / as in wynter tymes As lynsed leksed · and lentesedes alle Aren not so worthy as whete ne so wel mowe In þe feld with þe forst · and hit frese longe Riht so sothly þat soffry may penaunces Worth allowed of oure lord · at here laste ende And for here pacience ben y-presed / as for puyr martir Or for a confessour y-kud · þat counteth nat a ruche Fere ne famyne · ne fals mennes tonges But as an hosebonde hopeth aftur · an hard wynter Yf god gyueth hym þe lyf · to haue a goed heruost So preueth this profetes · þat pacientliche soffren Mescheues and myshappes · and many tribulaciones Bitokeneth treuly · in tyme comyng aftur Murthe for his mornyng / and þat muche plentee For crist saide to seyntes · þat for his sake tholeden pouerte and penaunce · and persecucioun of body Then angelis in here anger · on this wyse hem grette ¶ Tristicia vestra vertetur in gaudium Ȝoure sorwe in-to solace / shal turne at þe laste And out of wo in-to wele · ȝoure wirdes shal chaunge Ac ho-so rat of thth[e] ryche · the reuers may fynde How god as þe gospelle telleth / gyueth foel to name And þat his gost shal go · andand his goed bileue And askethasketh hym after ho shal hit haue · þe catel · þat he kepeth so X.12.230: Since XIKP2 lack the words hym after, found in most C witnesses in the a-verse after asketh, these manuscripts uniquely break the lines at so instead of haue, thus moving the b-verse of RK.12.214 onto its own line as a broken verse (X.12.231). In coffres and in bernis And art so loth to leue / that lete shal thow nedes ¶ O stulte ista nocte anima tua egrediatur tezaurisat & ignorat & cetera An vnredy reue thy residue shal spene That many mothe was maister · ynne · in Amynte-whyleA mynte-whyle X.12.235: This phrase, a mynte-whyle (MED, s.v. mint-while), is attested only in Piers Plowman and means "[a] minute, an instant; also, a rather short time." The scribe also runs the words together at X.13.205, though without capitalization of <a>. At X.19.201, however, he renders the phrase correctly as two words. We do not know why he has capitalized <A> here at X.12.235. Vpholderes on þe hulle · shal haue hit to sulle Lo · lordes lo · X.12.237: Very rarely we witness in this (and other) Piers manuscripts what can only be interpreted as a nascent system of punctuation, as here the raised points function in soimething like the way modern commas do, separating the interjections and creating a cadence distinct from, but complementary to, the alliterative structure. and ladyes taketh hede Hit lasteth nat longe þat is lycour swete As pesecoddes · pere ionettes · plommes and cheries That lihtlich launseth vp · litel while dureth And þat rathest rypeth · rotieth most sonnest On fat lond ful of donge / foulest wedes groweth Riht so sothly suche þat ben bischopes Erles and Erchedekenes / and oþere riche clerkes That chaffaren as chapmen · and chide bote they wynne And haen þe world at hehe[re] wille · oþerwyse to leuene Riht as wedes waxeth · / in wose and in donge So · X.12.248: Again we see a raised point functioning as a pause after the initial so. of rychesse ope rychesse · ariste alle vices Lo lond ouerleyd · with · X.12.249: The line contains two clear punctus. Although the first marks the caesura, unlike in other instances, such as in the line above, any grammatical function after with is not clear. marl and with donge Whete þat þer-on · wexeth · worth lygge ar hit rype Riht so sothly for to segge treuthe Ouer-plente pruyde norischeth · þer pouerte hit distrueth For how hit euere be y-wonne · but hithit be wel despenethdispendid Worldly wele ys wykked thyng to hem þat hit kepeth For if he be fer þer-fro / fol ofte hath he drede That fals folk fecche aweye · felonliche his godes And ȝut more hit maketh men / mony tymes & ofte To synege and to souche sotiltees of Gyle For coueytyse of þat catel / to culle hym þat hit kepeth And so is many man / y-morthred for his moneye and his godes And tho that dede þe dede · y-dampned þerfore aftur And he for his hard holdyng And he for his hard holdyng / in helle parauntur So coueytise of catel · was combraunce to hem alle Lo how pans purchaseth / fayre places and deededrede That rote is of robbares · the rychessesrychesse with-ynne Passus tercius de dowel AC wel worth pouerte · / X.13.1: The inconsistent and varied marking of the caesura continues on this folio where we sometimes even see a raised point and a virgule together. for he may walke vnrobbed Among Pilours X.13.2: It is not at all clear why the scribe has capitalized Pilours, which simply means "robbers." in pees · yf pacience hym folowe Oure prince ihesu pouerte chees / and his apostles alle And ay þe lengere they lyuede / the lasse goed they hadde ¶ Tanquam nichil habentes & cetera Ȝut ret me þat abraham and Iob · / weren wonder ryche And out of nombre tho men / many mebles hadden Abraham for his · hadde moche tene For in greet pouerte he was put / a prince as hit were Bynoem his hosewyf / and Abraham not hardy ones to letten hym Ne for brihtnesse of here beaute · here spouse to be by-knowe And for he soffrede and saide nauht · oure lord sente tookene † That the kyndekynde kyng criede hym mercy / and delyuerede the weye his wyf X.13.13-X.13.14: The breaks for lines X.13.13-X.13.14 are shared by XKYc, but the rubricator has intervened to repair what he must have seen as error. He thus aligns the text with his own sense of the correct line breaks, or in accord with his own corrector's exemplar. Accordingly he has added a rubricated punctus elevatus, midline before and delyuerede to indicate, correctly, a line break. He has also placed an obelus in the right margin, perhaps indicating that this newly differentiated line actually continues on the next line, where we find its b-verse, with moche welthe aftur. If this is true, then we witness here an insightful bit of editing and wonder why the other exotic, non-alliterating line breaks throughout the poem have not also been so repaired. Because we have seen Hand 2 similarly add punctus elevati during his local repairs to the text (X.2.38, X.5.21, X.8.287, and X.11.321), this line lends credence to the argument that Hand 2 and the rubricator are the same. With moche welthe aftur ¶ Iob þe gentele / what ioye hadde he on erthe And how bittere he hit abouhte / as þe book telleth And for a song in his sorwe / si bona accepimus a domino & cetera derworthe and dere god / do we so mala Alle his sorwe to solace / thorw that song turnede And Iob bykam as a iolyf man / and al his ioye newe Lo how pacience and pouerte / thise patriarkes releuede And brouhte hem all aboue / þat in bale rotede As grayn þat lith in greut / and thorw grace at the laste Spryngeth and spredeth / so spedde þe fader Abraham And þe gentel Iob · here ioye hath non ende Ac leueth nat lewede men · þat y lacke rychesse Thogh y preyse pouerte thus / and preue hit by ensaunples Worthiore as by holy writ · and wyse fylosofres Bothe to ben gode · be ȝe ful certeyn And lyues þat oure lord loueth · and large weyes to heuene AsAc þe pore pacient þe purgatoryepurgatorye passeth Rather then þe ryche / thogh they renne at ones For yf a marchant andand a mesager · metten to-gyderes And sholden wende o wey · where bothe mosten reste And rikene byfore resoun / aresonablea resonable acounte What oen hath · what a-noþeroþer hath · and what they hadde bothe The merchaunt mote nede be y-let / lenger then the messager For þe parcel of his pauper / and oþer pryue dettes Wol lette hym as y leue · the lenghe of amylea myle Ther þe messager doth no more · but with his mouth telleth his erende X.13.40-X.13.41: XIKNP2UcYc divide the lines at erende, whereas most manuscripts divide it after telleth. And his lettre sheweth · and is anoon delyuered And thogh they wente by the wey / tho two to-gederes Thogh the messager make his way / amydde the fayre whete Wol no wys man be wroth / ne his wed take ¶ Necessitas non habet legem Ne non haiward is hote · his wed for to taken Ac if þe marchaunt make his way ouer menne corne And þe hayward happe with hym for to mete Oþer his hatt or his hoed / or elles his gloues The marchaunt mote for-go / or moneye of his porse And ȝut be y-lette as y leue / for the lawe asketh Marchauntz for here marchaundyse / in many place to tolle And ȝut thow they wende o way / as to wynchestre fayre The marchaunt with his marchauntdyse / may nat go so swythe As þe messager may / ne with so moche ese For þat on bereth but a box · / a breuet þerynne Ther þe marchaunt latte a male · / with many kyne thynges And dredeth to be ded þerfore / and he in derke mette With robbares and reuares / þat ryche men despoilen Ther þe messager is ay merye · and his mouth ful of songes And leueth for his lettres · þat no wyht wole hym greue Ac ȝut myhte þe merchaunt / thorw his moneye and other ȝeftes Haue hors and hardy men / thogh he mette theues Wolde noon suche assailen hym · / for such as hym foloweth And as safly as þe messager · and asonea[s] sone at his hostiele come Ȝe wyte ȝe wyse men · / what this is to mene The marchaunt is no more to mene / but men þat ben ryche Aren alle acountable to crist · / and to þe kyng of heuene That holde mote þe hey way / euene the ten hestes Bothe louye and lene / lenele[l]eþe lele and vilnlele X.13.70: The markup is inadequate. Having written a single minim for the <n> of vnlele and moved on directly to the anticipated <l>, the scribe corrected himself by adding the needed second minim over the lower part of the <l>. As a result, the upper stroke of the initially written <l> appears to be an otiose curl, similar to an <er> suspension. And haue reuthe and releue · / with his rychesse by his power Alle maner menmen in meschief y-falle Fynde beggares bred / bakkes for þe colde Tythen here goed treuthlichetreuliche · a tol as hit semeth That oure lord loketh aftur · of vch a lyf þat wynneth With-oute wyles or wronges · or wymmen at þe stuyues And ȝut more to maken pees · / and quyten menne dettes And spele and spare / to spene vppon þe nedfole As Crist hym-sulf comaundeth alle cristene peple ¶ Alter alterius onera portate The messager aren this mendenantz þat lyuen by menne Almesse + Beth nat y-lbounde as beth ȝe ryche to X.13.82: Here we have an odd situation, a five-character blank space with no evidence of erasure or correction (noted as well by HS), though the corrector or some other hand has written a cross in the right margin to alert readers (or possibly to alert himself or another corrector) to the problem. There is considerable variety among the manuscripts as to what should fill that blank space, with witnesses about evenly divided between bothe two and bothe two the, which must refer to the laws that do not bind the "messenger" in Recklessness's allegory (i.e., the mendicants who beg). But the notion of "both" laws, however widely attested, is a bit confused by the list of three laws in the next line, not two. Based on this or on some sort of confusion, our scribe has omitted any phrase with bothe in it. The final effect in X makes sense with perfect syntax—as the messengers are not bound to the laws delineated in X.13.83—but loses the crucial b-verse alliteration that a word such as both or even Nc's eccentric bow would provide. This scribal hesitation and odd spacing may indicate confusion based on having multiple exemplars, especially since the cross in the margin indicates that something was wrong and perhaps more work was to be done. þe lawes To lene ne to lerne / ne lentones to faste And other pryue penaunces · þe which þe prest woet wel That þe lawe ȝeueth leue / such low folk to be excused As none tythes to tythe / ne to clothe the nakede Ne in none enquestes to come / ne contiumaxcont[u]max thogh he worche Halyday or holy euene · / his mete to discerue For if he loueth and byleueth · as the lawe techeth ¶ Qui crediderit & baptizatus fuerit & cetera Telleth þe lord atalea tale / as a trewe messager And sheweth be seel / and seth by lettre with what lord he dwelleth ~~...?...?...~~And om. knowelecheth hym cristene / and of holykirkeholy kirke byleue X.13.93: HS aver that the entirety of X.13.93 is written over the erasure of what was the mistakenly repeated b-verse from the previous line and the a-verse of this line (with what lord he dwelleth / And knowelecheth hym cristene), but nothing is now clearly visible under the erasure. This is clearly a case of Hand 1 catching an error and quickly making it right. Ther X.13.94: The vellum is damaged under the <T> of the word Ther, but the scribe has made no change to the text. is no alawe as y leue · wol lette hym þe gate Ther god is gateward hym-sulf / and vch a gome knoweth So þe pore of puyr reuthe / may parforme þe lawe In þat a X.13.97: A, "he." wilneth and wolde / vch a wyht as hym-sulue For þe wil is as moche worthe · of a wrecche beggare As al þat þe ryche may rayme / and rihtfuly dele And as moche mede / for amytea myte þer he offreth As þe ryche man for al his mone / and more as by þe gospell ¶ Amen dico vobis / quia hec vidua paupercula & cetera So pore and pacient · parfitest lyf is of alle // where-of seruen tithles X.13.104.m.1: A scribe, perhaps Hand 2 himself, has converted tithes to titles in accord with the topic being discussed by Rechelessness. See X.13.108 and X.13.118 for the references to priests' titles. þat prestes han Vch a parfistparfi[t] X.13.104: The scribe may have anticipated the <st> in prest, hence miswriting parfit as parfist. prest / to pouerte sholde drawe For spera in deo · speketh of prestis þat han no spendynge suluer That yf thatheyy trauaile treulyche / and trist in god almyhty Hem sholde neuere lacke lyflode / noþer lynnen ne wollene The tytle ȝe take ȝoure ordresbyordres by · telleth ȝe ben a-vaunsed And nedeth nat to nyme siluer · for masses þat ȝe synge For he that toek ȝow a title / sholde take ȝow wages Or þe bischop þat blessed ȝow / and enbaumed ȝoure fyngreres For made neuere kyng no kynyhte / but he hadde catel to spene As byful for aknyhta knyht / or fond hym for his strenthe For hit is a carfol knyhte / and of a Caytif kynges makynge That hath noþer lond ne lynage ryche / ne good los of his handes The same y segge for sothe · by suche þat beth prestes ThatThat hath noþer connyng ne kyn / bote a croune one And a title a tale of nauht / to his lyflode as hit were Euele beth thei y-soffred suche þatþat shenden syngeth X.13.119: Hand 1 omitted the verb. Hand 2's supplied reading is unique as well. On this addition by Hand 2 see Calabrese (2005), pp. 192-94. þe masse Thorw here luyther lyuynge / and lewede vnderstondynge A Chartre is chaleniable / byfore a chief Iustice Yf fals latyn be in þat lettre / þe lawe hit enpugneth Or peynted parentrelynarie / parseles ouerskipped The gome þat gloseth so Chartres / for a goky is halden So hit is a goky by god / þat in þe gospel fayleth Or in masse or in matynes / maketh eny defaute ¶ Qui offendit in vno · / in omibusom[n]ibus est reus For ouerskipperes also / in þe sauter sayth dauid ¶ Psallite deo ..nostro / ps~~...~~allite / quoniam Rex deusterre deus psallite sapienter beth war bischoppes The bishop shal be blamed · before god as y leue That crouneth suche for goddes knyhtes / that conne sapienter X.13.131: The C manuscripts are about evenly divided between sapienter and nat sapienter, with no actual difference in meaning since the next line supplies the needed negation and ME is flexible with double negatives. Further, XIP2 break lines X.13.132-X.13.134 differently from most C manuscripts, stemming from the lack in these manuscripts of what is the b-verse of RK.13.126, ne say a mass of the daye. The result, as is often the case, is newly-made lines with faulty or no alliteration: X.13.132 alliterates, notwithstanding, on /n/, but X.13.133 does not, and the severely truncated X.13.134 itself may nonetheless alliterate on the vowels. It is not apparent that the corrector inspected such junctures for alliterative failure, nor that he had the ability and resources (such as another exemplar) to identify and correct them if he had, though as we have seen, his practice is not consistent. See X.13.13-X.13.14 above. Nother syng ne rede / Ac neuer noþer is blameles The bischop ne þe chapeleyn / for ignorancia non excusat As ych haue herd in bokes Thus rechelesnesse / in a rage / X.13.135: The effect of the two virgules is to set off the phrase, as if in apposition. aresenede clergie And scripture scornede · þat many skilles shewede Til þat kynde cam clergie to helpe And in þe myrour of mydel erthe / made hym efte to loke To knowe by vch a creature / kynde to louye And y bowed my body / bihelte al aboute And seyhe þe sonne / and þe see / X.13.141: Here we see again a double virgule, this time setting off elements in a list. and þe sond aftur Raysoun And where þat briddes and bestis / by here make þei ȝeden Wilde wormes in wodes / and wondur-fol foules With flekede fetheres / and of fele colours Man and his make / y myhte se bothe pouerte and plente / bothe pees and werre blisse and bale / bothe y sey atonesat ones And how þatþat men mede toke / and mercy refusede Resoun y sey sothly / sewe alle bestes In etynge and drynkyng / in engendrure of kynde Aftur cors of concepcion / noon toek kepe of oþer As when þei hadde roteyed Anon they reste after Males drow hem to males / anda mor-wenynge by hem-sulue And femeles to femeles / ferddede and drowe Ther nene was cow ne cow-kynde / þat conseyued hadde That wolde bere aftur bole · ne boer aftur sowe Ther ne was no kyne kynde / þat conseyued hadde That ne lees the lykynge of lost / of flesch as hit were Saue man and his make · and þerof me wondrede For out of resoun they ryde · / and rechelesliche token on As in derne dedes / bothe drynkyng and elles Briddes y beheld / in bosches made nestes Hadde neuere weye wyt / to worche þe leste Y hadde wonder at whanwhom / and where þe pye Lernede to beggelegge stikkes · þat ley on here neste Ther is no wriht as y wene · sholde worch here neste to paye Yf eny mason made amoldea molde / þerto / · moche wonder me thynketh And ȝut me merueylede more / mony of þe briddes Hudden and helede / here egges dernely For no foul sholde hit fynde / but his fere and hym-sulue And som treden y toke kepe / and on trees bredde · Raysoun And brouhte forth here briddes / al aboue þe grounde In mareys and in mores · in myres and in watres dompynges dyuede dere god y sayde Where hadde thise wilde suche wit / and at what scole And how þe pocok caukede / þer-of toke y kepe How vncorteylichevncortey[s]liche þat cok / his kynde forforth strenede And ferlyede of his fayrenesse / and of his foul lenede And sethe y lokede on þe see / and so forth on sterres Mony selcouthes y seyh / aren nat to segge nouthe Ne what on floures on felde / and of here fayre coloures And how out of greeut and of gras growe so many hewes And some soure and some swete selcouthe me thouhte Of here kynde and of here colour / to carpe hit were to longe Ac þat most meuede me · and my moed chaungede Was þat y seyh resoun sewen alle bestes Saue man and mankynde / mony tymes me thouhte Resoun releuedereulede hem nat · noþer ryche ne pore QuestionX.13.189.m.1: We take Question to be an English word because it would be defective were it Latin. The scribe might originally have intended Latin Questio, given the gloss Responcio below at X.13.200.m.1. Alternatively, the gloss there might be read as an English plural, Responcis. We are grateful to Wendy Scase for favoring the Latin interpretation (Responcio) for that gloss, since the final letter corresponds more clearly to an <o> than to the typical word-final <s> of the glossator's hand. Such marginal notes as these highlighting the question-response disputational form are of interest because of their rarity. Thenne y resonede resoun / and ryht til hym y sayde Y haue wonder in my wit / so wys as thow art holden Wherefore and why · as wyde as thow regneste That thow ne reuledestreulest rather renkes then other bestes Y se non so ofte forfeten / sothly so mankynde In mete out of mesure / and mony tymes in drynke In wommen in wedes / and in wordes bothe They ouerdoen hit day and nyhte / and so doth nat oþer bestes They reule h.em al by resoun / Ac renkes ful fewe And þerfore merueileth me / for man is moste y-liche the X.13.198: In most other manuscripts the phrase Of wit and of werkes (the a-verse of X.13.199) comes at the end of X.13.198, so that the next line in most manuscripts begins with Why. X shares this line division with IKN. Interestingly, editors are divided on how to treat the situation: RK see the phrase Of wit and of werkes as spurious and omit it completely; Pearsall and Schmidt print it where most manuscripts have it, at the end of X.13.198. Accepting the words as part of X.13.198 creates quite a long line, while moving it to the next line creates alliteration on /w/, but makes that line quite long in turn. In either case, the seemingly extraneous half line here quite understandably has caused both scribal and editorial confusion. Of wit and of werkes / why he ne loueth thy lore and leueth as þou techest ResponcioX.13.200.m.1: We are grateful to Wendy Scase for her suggestion that we transcribe this gloss as the Latin singular Responcio rather than as the English plural Responcis, despite the English gloss Question above (X.13.300.m.1), mixing languages in the expected question-response or quaestio-responsio pair. The deciding factor is the form of the final letter, where the glossator uniformly uses a fully sigmoid <s> in word-terminal position, showing that the final letter here is an <o>. And resoun aresonnede me / and sayde reche þe neuere Why · y soffre or nat soffre certes he sayde Vch a segge for hym-sulue · salamon vs techeth ¶ de re que te non molestat / noli tenoli, nolite certare Ho suffreth more then god quod he no gome as y leue He myhte amende in amyntea mynte-while / al þat amys standeth Ac he soffreth in ensaumple þat we sholde soffren alle Is no vertue so fair / ne of valewe ne profit So is soffrance souereynliche / so hit be for godes loue And so witnesseth wyse · and wisseth þe frenche ¶ Bele vertue est suffrance mal dire est petit vengeance Ben dire & ben suffrer / fait lui suffrable a bien venir X.13.212: The central bifolium of the quire was reversed in binding, transposing folios 60 and 61. Our text reverses the transposition and follows the proper sequence of lines in the poem, though we retain the folio numbers as they appear in the manuscript, so our sequence is as follows: 59, 61, 60, 62, 63. For-thy quod Resoun / y rede thow reule thy tonge euere And ar thow lacke eny lyf · loke ho is to preyse For is no creature vnder Crist · þat can hym-sule make And if creatures cristene / couth make hem-sulue AVch a lede wolde be lacles · leef thow non other Man was made of such matere · he may nat wel a-sterte That some-tyme hym bitit / to folewen his kynde Caton acordeth ther-with nemo sine crimine viuit // Hyer cawȝte will colour Tho cauhte y colour anoen / and comesede to ben a-schamed And awakede þer-with / wo was me thenne That y ne hadde met more / so murye as y slepte And saide anoen to my-sulue / slepynge hadde y grace To wyte what dowel is / Ac wakynge neuere ymaginatyf And thenne was ther a wyhte / what he was y neste What is dowel quod þat wyhte / y-wis sire y saide To se moche and soffre al / certes is dowel Haddestow soffred he sayde / slepyng tho thow were Thow sholdest haue y-knowe / þat clergie caca[n] & conseyued more þen resoun For resoun wolde haue rehersed / þe riht as clergie seide Ac for thyn entermetynge / her artow forsake ¶ Philosophus esses / si tacuisses & alibi Locutum me aliquando penituit tacuisse nunquam Adam þe whiles he spak nat · / hadde paradys at wille Ac when he mamelede aboute mete / and musede for to knowe The wisdom and the wit of god / he was pot out of blisse Rihtoe so ferde Resoun by the / for thy rude speche And for thow woldest wyte / why resones preuedepreuete Pruyde or presumpcioun / of thy parfit lyuynge Resoun refusede the / and wolde nat reste with the Ne clergie of his connynge / kepeth hethe nat shewe For shal neuere ar shame come / a shrewe wel chaste For lat adronkenea dronkene daffe / in a dykke falle Lat hym lygge lok nat on hym / til hym luste to ryse For thogh resoun rebuke hym thenne recheth heneuerehe neuere Ne of clergie ne of kynde wyt counteth he nat a rusche To blame hym or to bete hym / thenne y halde hit but synne Ac when nede nymeth hym vp / Anoen he is a-schamed And thenne woet he wherfore · and why he is to blame Ȝe seggeth soth be my soule quod · y / I · X.13.250: We have not composed notes for each instance of the use of a raised point by Hand 1, but we draw the reader's attention here to the unusual combination of a raised point after quod, followed by a virgule after the first-person singular pronoun spelled y, and then rounded off by another raised point after the same pronoun, spelled I. This looks like an attempt either to distinguish the narration from the dialogue or to distinguish the unusual but correct collocation of two instances of the first-person singular pronoun. haue sey hit ofte Ther smyt no-thyng so smerte / ne smelleth so foule As shame ther he sheweth hym / vch man shoneth his companye Why ȝe worden to me thus / was for y aresonede Besoun[R]eason Ȝe certes quod he þat is soth / and shop hym to walke And aroes vp riht with þat / and reuerensed hym fayre And yf his wille were / A X.13.256: A, "he." wolde his name telle Passus quartus de dowel vbi prius I Am ymagenatyf X.14.1: An otiose curl, in a form seen occasionally in this manuscript as a suspension for <-es> ~ <-is>, appears at the end of this word. quod he · / ydel was y neuere Thogh y sete by my-sulue / suche ~~...?...~~is my grace X.14.2: The last three words of this line appear to be written over an erasure; there is no change of hand and no variant reading obtained, so likely this was simply Hand 1 fixing a false start. Y haue folewed the in fayth / mo then fourty wynter And wissed the fol ofte / what dowel was to mene And conseyled the for cristes sake / no creature to bygile Noþer to lye ne to lacke / ne lere þat is defended Ne to spille no speche / As for to speke an ydel Ne no tyme to tyne / ne trewe thyng tene Lowe the and leuelyue forth / in þe lawe of holychircheholy chirche And thenne dost thow wel withoute drede / ho can ndobet X.14.10: The markup is inadequate. The scribe anticipated the <n> of the following word no, but immediately covered the single minim with the correct <d>. no force Clerkes þat conne al / y hope they can do no betterebettere Ac hit soffiseth to be saued / and be such as y tauhte Ac for to louye and to lene · and lyue wel and byleue Is y-calde Caritas / kynde loue An engelysche And þat is dobet yf eny suche be / ablesseda blessed man þat helpeth That pees be and pacience / and pore with-oute defaute ¶ Beacius est dare / quam petere Ac catel and kynde wit / acombreth fol monye X.14.18: RK think <y> is over a possible <e> as its left stroke is blotted in the shape that could have been an <e> that the scribe quickly corrected. Wo is hym þat hem weldeth / but he hem wel despene ¶ Scienti & non facienti / varijs flagellis vapulabitur Ac comunlyche connynge / and vnkynde rycherychesse As loreles to be lordes / and lewede men techares And holychircheholy chirche horen helpe / AueroursAuerou[s] and coueytous druyueth vp dowel / and distruyeth dobest Ac grace is a graes þerfore / to don hem efteX.14.25: The letter <f> appears blotted, but there is no correction or change to the text. growe Ac grace ne groweth nat / til gode wil gyue reyne X.14.27: The central bifolium of the quire was reversed in binding, transposing folios 60 and 61. Our text reverses the transposition and follows the proper sequence of lines in the poem, though we retain the folio numbers as they appear in the manuscript, so our sequence is as follows: 59, 61, 60, 62, 63. And waky thorw gode werkes / wikkede hertes Ac Ar such a wil wexe / worcheth gode sulue And sent forth the seynt espirit / to do loue sprynge ¶ Spiritus vbi vult spirat // Grace wyt-oute grace is noȝt So grace with-outen grace of god / and also gode werkes May nat be þanþow syker / thogh we bidde euere Ac clergie cometh bote of syhte / and kynde wit of sterres As to be bore or by-gete / in such a constillacioun That wit wexeth ther-of / and oþer wordes bothe ¶ Vultus huius seculi sunt subiecti vultibus X.14.36: RK indicate that XKP2 all read vltibus, but we read it as a suspended form of majority vultibus and have so transcribed it. See Cappelli, p. 393, for vlt expanding to vult. It is nevertheless possible that the form is an error, created by or passed on to X, especially since the Latin quotation (still unidentified) does not appear to come from Scripture or another common source. celestibus So grace is a gifte of god / and kynde wit a chaunce And clergie a connynge / of kynde wittes techyng And ȝut is clergie to comende / for cristes loue more Then eny connyng of kynde wit / but clergi hit reule For moyses witnesseth þat god wroet / long ar crist were X.14.41: The line is unique in X, in that it is constructed from RK.14.37a and RK.14.38b. This situation arises because X omits the b-verse and following a-verse that are found, variously constructed, in all other C manuscripts: in stoen with his fynger / Lawe of loue oure lord wrouht (RK.14.37b, RK.14.38a). The unique line obtained in X makes perfect sense but does not alliterate. And crist cam and confermede / and holy kyrke made And in soend a signe wroet / and saide to þe iewes That seth hym-sulue synnelees / sese nat y hote To strike with stoen or with staf / this strompet to dethe ¶ Quis vestrum sine peccato est For-thy y conseile vch a creature clergie to honoure For as amana man myay nat se / þat misseth his yes No more can no clerk / but if hit come of bokes God was here mayster and þe seynt spirit þe saumplarie X.14.50-X.14.51: X shares this line division with C manuscripts DcIKP2Uc. And said what men sholde wryte And riht as syht serueth a man / to se hye þeþe hye ~~......~~sterrestrete X.14.52: Hand 2's correction to sterre aligns X with KP2. The overwhelming majority reading is strete. The XKP2 confusion must relate to these manuscripts reading hye þe against þe hye in most C manuscripts. X of course reads sterre not from the initial scribe's exemplar but from correction, which raises the possibility that the text originally read strete (though nothing is visible now) and that we have another potential instance of Hand 2 enacting a repair, using a different exemplar from that of Hand 1. Riht so lereth lettrure / lewed men to resoun And as a blynde mani ~~man~~ in bataile bereth wepene to fyhte And hath non hap with his ax / his enemye to hutte No more can a kynde witted man but clerkes hym teche Come for al his kynde wit / thorw cristendoem to be saued The whiche þeis X.14.58: As RK and HS aver, the is appears to be written over þe. RK attribute to "another hand," and we agree with HS in attributing this correction, which aligns X with most C manuscripts, to Hand 2. coffre of cristis tresor · and clerkes kepe.th þe keyes To vloukenv[n]louken hit at here lykynge / the lewed and lered to helpe To ȝeue mercy for mysdesmys[de]des ȝif men hit wol aske Buxumliche and benyngnelyche / and bidden hit of grace ¶ Arca dei in þe olde lawe leuytes hit kepte corrigitur Hadde neuere lewedelewede man leue / to legge hand on þat cheste Bote hit were prestis or prestis sone / patriarke or pphetep[ro]phete Saul for he sacreficede / sorwe hym by-tydde And his sones for his synnes / sorwe hem bytydde And all lewede þat leide hand þer-on / loren lyf aftir For-thy y conseyle all creatures / no clerk to despice Ne sette shorte by here science / what so þei doen hem-sulue Take we here wordes at worthe / for here wittenesses ben trewe And medle we nat moche with hem / to meuen meny wrathe Laste cheste chaufen vs ~~alle~~ X.14.72: The deletion of alle corrects what would have been a unique reading and thus aligns X with other C manuscripts, an instance of the corrector, or the main hand, alert to error. The ink looks to be that of Hand 1, but it is impossible to determine who added these deletion marks. Despite the deletion, editions vary, for Pearsall prints alle, while Schmidt and RK do not. to / and schoppe vch man oþer And do we as dauid techeth / for doute of godes veniance ¶ Nolite tangere christos meos & cetera For clergy is cristes vycary / to conforte and to cure bothe lewede and lerede / were lost yf clergie ne were astronomyȝe Kynde wittede men / han a clergie by hem-sulue Of cloudes and of costumes / they contreuede mony thynges And markede hit in here manere / and mused þer-on to knowe And of the selcouthes þat þei syeseiȝen X.14.80: X's reading here of sye, from MED sen, v. 1, "[t]o see," is unique against seiȝen (from MED seien, v. 1, "[t]o say"). The various similar forms of the word must have created this distinction, and all editors preserve X's unique reading as correct. / here sones þer-of þei tauhten For they helden hit for an hey science here sotiltees to knowe Ac thorw here science sothly / was neuere soule y-saued Ne brouhte by here bokes / to blisse ne to ioye For al here kynde knowyng / cam bote of diuerse syhtes Of briddes and of bestes / of blisse and of sorwe Patriarkes and prophetus / repreuede here science And saide here wordes ne here wysdomes / was but a folye As to þe clergie of crist / thei counted hit but atryflea tryfle ¶ Sapiencia huius mundi stulsticia X.14.89: It appears to us that Hand 1 has caused quite a mess in an attempt to blot out an unintended long <s>, converting an original stulsticia to the correct stulticia. est apud deum For the hey holigostholi gost / heuene shal to-cleue And loue shal lepe out aftur / in-to þis lowe erthe And clennesse shal cach hit / and clerkes shollen hit fynde ¶ Pastores loquebantur adinuicemad inuicem & cetera Hit speketh þer of ryche men riht nouht ne of ryche lordes Bote of clennesse of clerkes / and kepares of bestes ¶ Ibunt magi ab Oriente & cetera Frer Yf eny frere wewere founde þere y ȝeue the fyue shillynges Ne in no cote ne Caytfys hous X.14.98: Following the a-verse of X.14.98, XDcIKP2UcYc lack a b-verse and a following a-verse found in most C manuscripts, here given in RK's rendering: crist was ybore / Bote in a burgeisis hous (RK.14.90b, RK.14.91a). The resulting line, X.14.98, consists of two phrases that lack the all-important verb telling us what happened there, that Christ was born. / the beste of þe toune To pastours and to poetes / Appered þe Angel And bad hem go to Bedlem / goddes berthe to honoure And song a song of solace / Gloria in excelcis deo Ryche men rotte tho / and in here reste were Tho hit shoen to þe shepherdes a sheware of blisse Clerkes knoweknewe hereþe comet and comen with here presentes And deden here homage honerably / to hym þat was almyhty Why y haue toldetolde the al þis / y toek ful gode hede How þou contraidestcontra[r]idest clergie / with crabbed wordes That is how lewede men and luythere lyhtloker were y-saued TheThe[n] connynge clerkes of kynde vnderstondynge And thow saidest sothe of somme / Ac y-se in what manere Take two stronge men / and in temese cast hem And bothe naked as a mnedle X.14.112: The markup is inadequate. The scribe initially wrote an <m>, which he then changed to the correct <n> by overwriting its third minim with an <e>. here noen heuegore then othere That oen hath connyng and can swymmen and dyuen That oþer is lewed as of þat labour / and lerned neuere to swymme Which trowest of tho two / in temese in moste drede He þat can nat swymmen / y sayde hit semeth to alle wittes Riht so quod þat renk X.14.117: The <k> of renk has a decorative flourish that cannot here be a suspension. We have seen it as an occasional feature at the end of the a-verse, as here, though it is not confined to such loci. resoun hit sheweth Þat he þat knoweth clergie / conne sonnore aryse Out of synne and be saef / thogh he synege ofte Yf hym liketh and luste / then eny lewede sothly For yf þe clerke be connynge / and knoweth what is synne And how contricion with-oute confessioun / conforteth þe soule As we seen in þe sauter / in psalmes oen or tweyne How contricioun is comended / for hit cacheth awey synne ¶ Beati quorum remisse sunt iniquitates & cetera And þat conforteth vch aclerka clerk / and keuereth fro wanhope In whiche floed þe fende / fondeth man hardest There þe lewede lyth stille / and loketh aftur lente And hath no contricion / ar he come to shrifte And thenne can he lytel telle / but as his loresman hym lereth Byleueth and troweth / and þat is aftur his parson Other his parsche preest and parauntur bothe lewede To lere lewede men / As luk X.14.133: As he will at X.17.246 and X.21.455, the scribe adds a decorative flourish to the Evangelist's name. It is not a suspension. bereth witnesse ¶ Dum secus ducit secum & cetera Fol muchelFor mich wo was hym marked þat wade shal with þe lewede Wel may þe barne blesse / þat hym to boek sette That lyuynge Aftur lettrure / saued hyhy[m] lyf and soule ¶ Dominus pars hereditatis / is AmeryeA merye verset X.14.138: Some hand has erased the red underlining, which ought to have been confined to the Latin but had accidently extended to the first minim of <m> in Amery. notate theuis Hit hath take fro tybourne twenty stronge theues There lewede theues ben lolled vp / loke how þei ben saued The thef þat hadde grace of god · a X.14.141: A, preposition. gode fryday As thow toldest Was for A X.14.142: A, "he." ȝeld hym creaunt to crist / and his grace askede And god is ay gracious / to alle þat gredeth to hym And wol no wikkede man lostbe lost / bote if he wol hym-sulue ¶ Nolo mortem peccatoris & cetera Ac thogh the theef hadde heuene / he hadde noen hey blisse AcAs seynt IohonIoh[a]n and oþer seyntes / þat haen serued bettere Riht As sum man ȝeueth me mete / and sette me Amydde þe flore Ich haue mete more then y-now / Ac nat with muche worschitpe As tho þat sitten at þe syde table / or with þe souereyns in halle Bote as a beggare bordles be my-sulue on þe grounde So hit ferde by þe feloun / þat a X.14.152: A, preposition. goed fryday was saued A X.14.153: A, "he." sit nooþer X.14.153: After writing a single minim, the scribe began the following letter, <o>, but stopped half way, commandeering the leftward stroke of the <o> to be the second minim of his <n>, by way of self correction. with seynte Iohan / ne with simond .ne X.14.153: We can no longer see the erased letter, but it had an ascender, since the erasure has affected the tail of the <y> in the line above. It might have been an , anticipating te following word, Iude. HS attribute the correction to the main scribe, which might be true because there is no change of ink. Iude Ne with maydenes ne with martires / ne with mylde weddewes Bote as a soleyn by hym-sulue / y-serued vppon þe grounde For he þat is ones a thef / is euere-more in daunger And as þe lawe lyketh / to lyue oþer to dye ¶ de peccato propiciato noli esse sine metu And for to seruen a seynt and suche a thef to-gyderes Hit were no resoun ne riht / to rewarde bothe y-lyche And riht as troianes þe trewe knyhte ~~.....~~dweldetelde X.14.161: HS note the change of ink here, and this correction might be by Hand 2, who is clearly active elsewhere on this page, including the two superscript additions on the very next line. Yet the letter forms are quite akin to those of the main scribe, so we register the correction as Hand X. Note the variants for this line. Strangely this deletion may have erased the correct, majority reading, telde, replacing it with the pedestrian dwelde, but there is no way to know for sure. Certainly, the insertion is cramped over what was a shorter original, and telde would certainly have fit. MED telden, v., meaning "(a) [t]o pitch (a tent), set up (a pavilion, tabernacle)," is well rendered by Pearsall's gloss "bivouacked," and can also simply mean "(f) to live, dwell," which motivated the conversion to the more familiar term. napt depe in helle That oureoure lord lord ne hauede hym lihtliche out / so leue y þat thef in heuene X.14.162: IDcKP2Yc all omit hym. As HS note, Hand 2 has inserted these corrections to the line. In both additions these changes move the text to the majority reading and are broadly adopted by editors. For he is in þe loweste of heuene / yf oure byleue be trewe And wel lofliche he lolleth / þere as by þe lawe of holychurcheholy churche ¶ Et reddet vnicuiequevnicu[i]que iuxta opera sua Ac why þat ..on X.14.166: The C manuscripts are divided in including and omitting the demonstrative on here, but X must originally have read something that had to be erased in favor of on. The hand is undermined, and so we cannot establish the relationship between this and the other interventions on this folio, though since the rubrication has been damaged, the correction must have come very late in the production process. theef vppon þe cros / cryant hym ȝelde Rather then þat oþer thogh thow woldest apose Alle þe Clerkes vnder Crist / ne couthe hitthis assoille ¶ Quare placuit / quiqui[a] voluit / & cetera And so y sey by þe / þat sekest aftur þe whyes corrigitur How creatures han kynde wit / and how clerkes come to bokes And how þe floures in þe fryth / cometh to fayre hewes Was neuere creature vnder crist / þat knewe wel þe bygynnyng Bote kynde þat contreuede hit furst / of his corteyse wille He tauhte þe tortle to tretetrede X.14.175: The XI reading trete most likely means "to conduct oneself, behave in a certain way, act" (MED, s.v. treten, v., def. 3[a]) and is thus a much more general term than the majority trede, which is, of course, required by the sense of the passage. See MED, s.v. treden, v., def. 6(a), "[o]f a male bird: to copulate; copulate with (a female), cover." / the pocok to cauke And Adam and Eue / and alle othere bestes A cantel of kynde wyt / here kynde to saue Of goed and of wykke / kynde was þe furste Sey hit and soffred hit / And saide hit be sholde ¶ dixit & facta sunt ymagenynge Ac why a X.14.181: A, "he." wolde þat wykke were / y wene and y leue Was neuere man vppon molde / þat myhte hit aspie Ac longe lybbynge men / lykened men lyuynge To briddes and to bestes / As here bokes telleth Þat þe fayrest foul / foulest engendreth And feblest foul of flyhtisflyht is X.14.186: It is difficult to determine if the XRc reading flyhtis is a genitive singular, a plural, or simply error for the majority reading flyht is. In all cases the phrase means "in relation to their ability to fly." / þat fleeth oþer swymnethswym[m]eth That is þe pocok and þe popeiay / with here proude fetheres Bytokenen riht ryche men / þat reygne here on erthe For pursue a pocok / or a pohen to cacche X.14.189: We again see here the common decorative swirl on a word at the end of an a-verse. And haue hemhem in an X.14.190: The original reading hen haste is unique, but a contemporary hand has careted in the article an, creating another unique reading. The ink may be that of Hand 1 or 2, so we simply say Hand X, who perceived a problem with the original reading and tried to solve it with an article, whereas almost all other manuscripts read the preposition in. I, however, reads in an, and though that is not a pure agreement, we have already seen on this folio that XI share other readings. (See line X.14.175 above and see RK, p. 44 for a list of XI agreements). haste / at þyn owen wille For þey may nat fle fer / ne ful hey neyther For here fetheres þat fayre beth to fle fer hem letteth His letheneledene X.14.193: The majority reading ledene means "speech," and it is not clear what the scribe intends with lethene. It likely relates to MED letheren, adj., 1(a), "[o]f leather, leathern; (b) composed of skin or membrane of a living creature." Whether the peacock skin is, in fact, unlovely is a matter of conjecture. is vnloueliche / and lothliche his careyne Ac for his peynted pennes / þe pecok is honoured More þan for his fayre flesch / or for his merye note Riht so men reuerencedreuerenseth more / þe ryche for herehis mebles Then for eny kyn he come of / or for his kynde wittes Thus þe poete praiseth / þe pecok X.14.198: The word pecok ends again with a decorative flourish. hfor his fetheres And þe ryche man for his rentes / or for his rychesserychesse in his shoppesshoppe The larke þat is alassea lasse foul is louelokest of ledene And swettore of sauour / and swyftore of wengeswenge To lowe lyuynge men þe larke is resembled And to lele and lyf-holy / þat louyeth alle treuthe Thus porfirie and plato / and poetes monye Likneth in here logik / þe leste foul outen And wher he be saef or nat saef / þe sothe woet no clergie Ne of sortes ne of salamon / neno scripture can telle Wher þat þey ben in hell or in heuene / or Aristotel þe wyse Ac god is so gode y hope / þat seth he gaf hem wittes To wissen vs weyes þerwith / þat wenen to be saued And þe bettere for here bokes / to bidden we ben yholde That god for his grace gyue here soules reste For letrede men were as lewede men ȝut / ne were þe lore of tho clerkes Alle thise clerkes quod y tho / þat inon crist leuen Segen with-outein here sarmons / þat noþer saresynes ne iewes With-oute bapteme As by here bokes / beth nat y-saued ~~y..g...tyf~~ymagytyfymagy[na]tyf X.14.217.m.1: HS correctly see that for some unknown reason Hand 2 has erased a previous version of the marginalia and replaced it, clearly shortening the original reading, which was most likely the character's full name, ymaginatyf, since the <y>, the <g>, and the <tyf> are still visible (under and after) the current word. We find the effort strange, since the resulting spelling is listed in MED only as an error, recorded once in an unrelated context in the Tale of Beryn (MED, s.v. imaginatif, def. 2). Contra quod ymagynatif tho and comesed to loure And saide vix saluabitur iustus in die iudicij ¶ Ergo saluabitur quod he and saide no more latyn Troianes was atrewea trewe knyhte / and toek neuere cristendoem And he is saef saith the boek / and his soule in heuene Ac þer is follyng of fondte X.14.222: In the word fonte, between <t> and <e>, RK detect an "unfinished letter." We agree, and it looks as if the scribe had made a false start on a <d>. and follyng in bloed chedyng X.14.222: Here we see some orthographic confusion arising from <ch>/<sh> variation, where it is not clear whether the scribe is using these graphemes interchangeably—to represent either /tʃ/ or /ʃ/—or has simply written <ch> unintentionally. On a paleographic level, lower case anglicana <c> can resemble the rounded form of lower case <s>. This ambiguity might have been present in Hand 1's exemplar, though in this and other examples at X.2.183, X.15.47, X.15.164, and X.20.294, the forms are distinct. The instance at X.2.183, in which <sch> is the grapheme for /ʃ/ (schaunbre), might show the influence of Anglo-Norman. And thorw fuyr is fullyng / and al is ferme bileue ¶ AuenitAduenit X.14.224: The omission of <d> here maybe have been a simple lapsus calami, but it may also have been influenced by a familiarity with spoken Latin resulting in rapid or careless pronunciation which, over time, has resulted in modern Italian avvenire, <Lat. advenire. Hence, our hesitation to correct the form. ignis diuinus non comburens / set illuminans & cetera Ac truth þat trespassed neuere / ne trauersede aȝens his lawe Bote lyuede as his lawe tauhte / and leueth þer be no bettere And yf þer were awoldea wolde X.14.227: A, "he." / and in suche awillea wille deyeth Ne wolde neuere trewe god / bote trewe treuthe were alloued And wher hit worth or worth nat / the bileue is gret of treuthe And hope hangeth ay þeron / to haue þat treuthe deserueth ¶ Quia super pauca fuisti fidelis & cetera And þat is loue and large huyre / yf þe lord be trewe And acortesyea cortesye more þen couenant was / what so clerkes carpe For al worth as god wol / and þerwith he vanschede Passus quintus de visione vt supra ANd y awakede þerwith witteles ner-hande And as a freke þeat X.15.2: Hand 2's correction has brought X into agreement with all other manuscripts. fayre were / forth can y walken // Hyer ȝe may se schortly re-hersed þe visi-onis X.15.3.m.1: We take visionis to be an Anglicized plural, rather than as a grammatically erroneous Latin genitive singular. to-fore sayd In manere of mendenaunta mendenaunt mony ȝer aftur And many tymes of this meteles / moche thouhte y hadde Furste how fortune me faylede At my moste nede And how elde manced me / so myhte happe That y lyuede longe / leue me byhynde And Vansche alle my vertues / and my fayre lotes And how þat freres folewede folk X.15.9: The word folk ends with a flourish, sometimes found on the letter <k>, though this is not the end of the a-verse, a locus that sometimes gets such a flourish on various letters. Further, the entire word appears darker because it is written over a rough patch of vellum, where bleed through is evident. We see no correction here by any hand. þat was ryche And peple þat was pore at litel pris setten Ne no cors of pore comine / in here kyrke-ȝerde most lygge Bote quyke he by-quath hem auht / or wolde helpe quyte here dettes And how þis comueytyse ouercome / al kyne sectes As wel lered as lewede / and lorde as þe lboende X.15.14: RK report that I (their J) as well obtains its reading by correction; the initial reading of loende in XI, obtaining the error, was perhaps provoked by the l-alliteration and the general context of property ownership and inheritance that may have made the scribe think of "land" as another possession. In any case, some correcting hand has converted the <l> to a and obtained the necessary, overwhelmingly majority reading meaning "the bondman," i.e., a tenant, servant, or vassal. (See MED bond(e), n. 1, and bond(e), n. 2 & adj.). And how þat lewede men ben lad / but oure lord hem helpe Thorw vnkunnynge curatours / to incurable peynes And how þat ymaginatyf X.15.17: The <f> of ymaginatyf has a flourish commonly seen in this position, just before the caesura. / in dremeles me tolde Of kynde andand of his connynge / and what connynge he ȝaf bestes And how louyng he is to vch alyfa lyf / alondea londe X.15.19: A, preposition. and o watere For alle a X.15.20: A, "he." wisseth and ȝeueth wit / þat walketh oþer crepeth And y merueyle in herte / how ymaginatyf saide That iustus bifore ihesu / in die iudicij ¶ Non saluabitur / bote if vix / helpe And when he hadde / y-saide so how sodeynliche he vanschede X.15.24: The placement of the virgule makes us wonder how the line scans; perhaps the alliteration falls on /h/ in hadde and how with sod receiving the final stress. Perhaps the line scans rather on /s/, with the caesura coming after so, but that is not where this scribe puts the virgule; clearly this dynamic line confused him. And so y musede vppon þis matere þat me lust to slepe And thenne cam concyence / and clergie aftur And beden me ryse vpryse and rome / and with resoun sholde y dyne And y aroos and romede forth / and with resoun we mette We reuerensede resoun / and romede forth softly notate fratres And metten with amaystera mayster X.15.30: The <t> of mayster has a flourish commonly seen in this position, just before the caesura, but here it is indeed a suspension of the graphs <er>. / amana man lyk afrerea frere Concience knewe hym / welcomede hym fayre They woschen and wypeden / and wenten to þe dyner And there cam pacience as aporea pore thyng / and preeyedep[re]yede mete pur charite I-lyk ~~Peres~~ the ~~Ploghman~~ as he a palmere were Crauede and cryede / for cristes loue of heuene AmelesA meles mete for a pore man / or moneye yf they hadde Concience knewe hem wel / and welcomede hem all Woschen and wipeden / and wenten to sytten The maister was maed sitte furste / As for þe moste worthy Resoun stoed and styhlede X.15.40: Hand 2's ink and letter form are apparent in the addition of <t> to obtain the majority reading styhlede from MED stightelen, v., 1(a), "[t]o govern, rule, give orders," "manage (a kingdom, property); guide (people), direct; control (sth.)." I alone of the other C-text manuscripts witnesses X's initial nonsense reading syhlede. · as for styward of halle Pacience and y · was pot to be mettes And seten by oure-sulue / at a syde table Clergie cald aftur mete / and thenne cam scripture And serued hem thus sone / of sondry metes monye Of Austyn of Ambrose / of alle þe foure euaungelies ¶ Edentes & bibentes / que apud eos sunt & cetera Ac of this mete þat mayster / myhte nat wel shewechewe X.15.47: Here we see some orthographic confusion arising from <ch>/<sh> variation, where it is not clear whether the scribe is using these graphemes interchangeably, to represent either /tʃ/ or /ʃ/, or is intending another word: shewe versus majority chewe. On a paleographic level, lower case anglicana <c> can resemble the rounded form of lower case <s>. This ambiguity might have been present in Hand 1's exemplar, though in this and other examples at X.2.183, X.14.222, X.15.164, and X.20.294, the forms are distinct. The instance at X.2.183, in which <sch> is the grapheme for /ʃ/ (schaunbre), might show the influence of Anglo-Norman. For-thy eet he mete of more cost / mortrewes and potages Of þat men myswonne / they made hem wel at ese Ac here sauce was ouersour / and vnsauerly ygrounde In a morter post mortem / of many bittere peynes Bote yf they synge for tho soules / and wepe salte teres ¶ Vos qui peccata hominum comeditis / nisi pro eis lacrimas & orationes effuderitis ea que in deliciiscomeditisdeliciis comeditis in tormentis euoeuo[metis] & cetera Thenne as resoun radde · anoon right aftur That Consience comaunde sholde / to do come scripture And bringe breed for pacience / bytyng apartye And to me þat was his mette tho and oþer mete bothe He sette a sour loef and saide Agite penitenciam And sethe he drow vs drynke diapseueransdia pseueransdia p[er]seuerans X.15.59: We take it that the scribe was confused but intended some version of the two-word phrase diu perseverans, resulting in this botched one word truncation. Across the B and C manuscripts, this line alternately reads diu perseverans (which Pearsall glosses as "long suffering" as in Matt.10:22) or dia perseverans which, according to Schmidt, puns on the former and can be translated as "a medical draught of perseverance" based on Latin dia, a drug. See Schmidt's explanation, A New Translation of the B-text, p. xlii. As longe quod he as lyf X.15.60: The <f> of lyf has a flourish commonly seen in this position, just before the caesura. and lycame may duyre This is a semely seruyce / saide pacience Thenne cam contricion þat hadd coked for hem all And brouhte forth a pytaunce was pro hochac orabit omnis sanctus in tempore oportuno Thenne Consience confortede vs / bothe clergie and scripture And saide cor contritum & humiliatum / deus non despicies pacience was wel apayed / of this propre seruice And made mery with this mete / Ac y mournede euere For a doctour þat atat þe hey deys / dranke wyn faste ¶ Ve vobis qui patentespotentes estis ad bibendum vinum And ete manye sondry metes / mortrewes and poddynges Brawen and bloed of gees / bacon and colhoppes Thenne saide y to my-sulue / so pacience hit herde Hit is nat thre daies doen / this doctour þat he prechede At poules by-fore þe peple / what penaunce they soffrede Alle þat coueyte to come / to eny kyne ioye And how þat poul þe apostel / what penaunce he tholede For oure lordes loue as holy lettre telleth ¶ In fame andet in frygore & cetera Ac me wondreth in my wit / why þat they ne preche Acs X.15.80: Various lines on this folio begin with Ac or At, and it appears that Hand 1 initially wrote Ac or At instead of the majority reading As, but then converted <c> or <t> to <s> in order to obtain the required As. poul þe apostle X.15.80: Hand 1 first wrote apotle and wrote in an <s> to fix it in a quick auto correction. prechede to þe peple ofte Periculum est in falsis fratribus Periculum est in falsis fratribus X.15.81: Here and elsewhere we see Latin underlined in black and not red. Theoretically, any of the hands in the manuscript could have added this black underline. Holy writ byt bmen be waer / and wysly hem kepe frer That no fals frere thorw flaterynge hem bygyle Ac me thynketh loth thogh y latyn knowe X.15.84-X.15.85: XIKNP2 all break these lines at knowe, thus moving To lacken eny secte to the a-verse of the next line. It is not difficult to see why the scribes would be confused: X.15.84 looks to alliterate on /l/ and to have completed its a- and b-verses at knowe. The alliteration of X.15.85 is not clear, however, as it must fall on /b/, including the low-ranking word be of its b-verse. If XIKNP2 were trying to solve problems of length and alliteration by adjusting the line break, they just postponed them to the next long line. To lacken eny secte for alle be we brethrene / thogh we be diuerse y-clothed Ac y wiste neuere freke / þat frere is y-cald X.15.86-X.15.88: For these lines, too, a similar thing has happened as with X.15.84-X.15.85, as XIKP2 all break the line at ycald, while other manuscripts break at mendynantz (which comes at end of the next a-verse in X). Other manuscripts thus start their next line with þat and end with glose. The scribe must have thought that X.15.86 was complete with its freke and frere alliteration, and the result, again is the transfer of the problem to the next two, now faulty, lines (X.15.87-X.15.88). Of þe fyue mendynantz / þat toek this for his teme And tolde hit with-oute glose They preche þat penaunce is · / profitable to þe soule And what meschief and male-ese / crist for man tholede AsAc this doctour and dyuynour quod y / and decretistre of Canoen And also a gnedy glotoun / with two grete chekes Hath no pyte on vs pore · he parformeth euele That aprechetha precheth X.15.94: A, "he." and preueth nat compacience ich tolde And wisched witterly / with will ful egre Þat in þatþe mawe of þat mayster / alle þo metes were bothe disches and dobelares / with alle þe deyntees aftur Y schal iangle to þis iurdan / with his iuyste wombe And apose hym what penaunce is / and purgatorie on erthe ¶ And why a X.15.100: A, "he." lyueth nat as aleretha lereth X.15.100: We see here again the conflation of pronoun a with a verb. X.15.100: A, "he." lat be quod pacience and saide Thow shalt se thus sone / when he may no more He shal haue apenauncea penaunce in his foule paunche and poffe at vch a worde And thenne shal gothelen his gottes and gynnen to galpe Now he hath dronke so depe / a X.15.104: A, "he." wol deuyne sone And prouen hit by here pocalips / and þe passioun of seynt Aueroy That noþer bacon ne brawn ne blaun-manger ne mortrewes Is noþer fische ne flesche / but fode for penantes And take wittenesse at atrinitea trinite X.15.108: We see here the conflation of the indefinite article a with its noun. / and take his felowe noto witnesse What afonda fond X.15.108: We see here the conflation of the pronoun a with the verb. In the previous line and just following in this one, the scribe also conflates the indefinite article with its noun. X.15.109: A, "he." in aforela forel / of a frere lyuynge frer And bote þe furste leef be lesynges leue me neuere aftur And thenne is tyme to take / and to appose this doctour Of dowel and of dobet / and yf dobet do eny penaunce Y saedsae[t] stille as pacience wolde / and thus sone this doctour As rody as a rose / rodded his chekes Cowhede and capede / and consience hym herde And tolde hym of a trinite / and toward me he lokede ¶ What is dowel sire doctour quod y · is dobest eny penaunce ¶ Dowel quod this doctour / and he dronke aftur do thy neyhebore non harm / ne thy-sulue nother And thenne dost thow wel and wysly / y dar hit wel a-vowe ¶ Sertes sire thenne saide y / hit semeth nouhte here In þat ȝe parteth nat with vs pore / þat ȝe passeth dowel Ne louyethliueþ nat as ȝe lereth / as oure lord wolde ¶ Et visitauit & fecit redempcionem & cetera And ȝe fare thus with ȝoure syke freres / ferly me thynketh That dowel wol endite ȝow in die iudicij Thenne consience ful corteyslyche / a continaunce he made And preynte vppon pacience to preie me be stille And saide hym-sulue sire doctour / be so hit be ȝoure wille What is dowel and dobet ȝe deuynours knoweth Y haue y-seide quod þat segg / y can sey no bettre Bote do as doctours techeth / for dowel y hit holde That trauayleth to teche oþere / y halde hit for a dobet And he þat doth as he techeth / y halde hit for þe beste ¶ Qui facit & docuerit magnus vocabitur Now þou Clergie quod Consience carpe what is dowel Haue me excused quod Clergie / be crist but in scole Shal no such motyef be meued for me bote oþere For Peres loue þe palmare ȝent þat inpugnede ones Alle kyne connynges / and alle kyne craftes Saue loue and leute / and lowenesse of herte And no tixst ne taketh / to preue this for trerwe Bote dilige deum & patremproximum & domine quis habitabit And preueth by puyre skile / inparfyt alle thynges Nemo bonus bote lele loue and treuthe That loth is to be founde / quod Peres the plgoghman X.15.146: The deleter missed this instance of the character's name, as happens frequently in the manuscript, and nearby within this very passus—e.g. on this line, at X.15.139, at X.15.158, and at X.15.161. ¶ Pacientes vinciuntvinc[u]nt X.15.147: X's unique reading here, vinciunt instead of the majority vincunt, may be the result of an accidently added minim after <c>, but it does create a properly inflected Latin verb that fits the syntax, a form of vincio, meaning "to tie or bind." But the scribe has no problem getting the word correct on the next folio at X.15.156, so his reading at X.15.148 is likely just an error for vincunt. X.15.147: Looking at the major division of line breaks in this sequence, as witnessed in the various manuscript groups, our readers will likely have difficulty correlating the line divisions of X.15.144-X.15.147 with those of modern editions. All modern editors (Pearsall, RK, Schmidt) render the lineation as follows, here given in RK's version (RK.15.135-RK.15.137): And preueth by puyre skile inparfyt alle thyngesNemo bonusBote lele loue and treuthe that loth is to be foundeQuod Peres the ploughman Pacientes vinc[u]nt. Byfore perpetuel pees / y shal proue þat y saide And a-vowe byfore god / and forsaken hit neuere That disce doce dilige deum / and thyn enemy helpe X.15.150: XIKP2Uc share this line division. They also appear to lack a few words that are found in the following a-verse after X.15.150 in most C manuscripts, Hertely þou hym (RK.15.141a). Thus X, conveniently with no loss of sense, places the word helpe at the end of X.15.150. Perhaps the Latin confused some scribes who were not sure if it were metrical or a tag, though since it begins with English That, it is really a macaronic verse. Likely they wondered, as well, how it scanned; that is, with all those /d/ sounds in a row, where does the caesura fall? The difficulty of the situation is no doubt reflected in modern editing: compare the solutions by Pearsall and Schmidt, who take the Latin as an entire metrical line itself, to that of RK, who follow the Latin with and thyn enemy. The resulting lack, essentially of one a-verse needed at X.15.151, has a domino effect on the rest of the lines in this folio, as each half line is forced upward. The final result is that all the lines make perfect sense syntactically, but the final two lines on this folio are faulty in alliteration and thus in meter. Emforth thy myhte / caste hote coles on his heued Of alle kyn speche fond thorw wit / & word .his loue to wynne Ȝef hym eft and eft / euere at his nede Conforte hym with thy catel / and with thy kynde speche And ley on hym thus with loue / til he lauhe on þe And bote he bowe for this betynge / blynde mote he worthen And whan he hadde y-worded thus / wiste no man aftur Where Peres the plogman by-cam so priueyliche he wente And resoun ran aftur / and riht with hym ȝede Saue Concience and clergie / y couthe no mo aspye Saue pacience properliche spak / tho Peres was thus ypassed That loueth lely quod he / bote litel thyng coueyteth Y wolde and y will hadde / to wynnen all fraunce With-oute bruttenygebrutteny[n]ge of buyren / or eny bloed cshedynge X.15.164: Above at X.15.47 and at X.14.222, we have seen some orthographic confusion arise from <ch>/<sh> variation, where it is not clear whether the scribe is using the graphemes interchangeably, to represent either /tʃ/ or /ʃ/, or is intending another word: shewe versus chewe (X.15.47), for example. Here, Hand 1 appears to have written <ch> to obtain the same spelling for /tʃ/ or /ʃ/ as in X.14.222, here chedynge, but has in this instance quickly caught himself and daubed the <c> into a rounded <s>. We say that this was done by Hand 1 because the ink is the same. On a paleographic level, lower case anglicana <c> can resemble the rounded form of lower case <s>. This ambiguity might have been present in Hand 1's exemplar, though in this and other examples at X.2.183, X.14.222 and X.15.47, and X.20.294, the forms are distinct. The instance at X.2.183, in which <sch> is the grapheme for /ʃ/ (schaunbre), might show the influence of Anglo-Norman. Y take wittenesse quod he / of holy writ apartyea partye ¶ Pacientes vincunt & cetera For by hym þat me made / myhte neuere pouerte Meseyse ne meschief / ne man with his tonge Tene þe eny tyme / and þou take pacience And bere hit in thy bosom / aboute where þou wendest In þe corner of a carwhelcar[t]whel / with a crow croune Shal neuere buyren be abasched þat hath this abouten hym Ne neuere hete ne hayl / ne helle pouke hym greue Noþer fuyr ne floed / ne be aferd of enemye ¶ Caritas expellit omnenomne[m] timorem Ne þer isþer nis wyht in this world / þat wolde the lette To haue alle londes at thy likyng / and the here lord make And maister of alle here mebles / and of here moneye aftur The kyng and alle þe comune / and clergie to þe loute As for here lord and here ledare / and louelyuen as thow techest This is a dido quod this doctour / a dysores tale Al thisthe wit of this world / and wyhte menne strenghe Cannat parfourme a pees / of the pope and his enemyes profitable for bothe parties and potte þe boerd fro hym And toek Clergie and Consience to conseyle As hit were Ac Concience y toek kepe conieyodconiey[e]d sone this doctour And sethe a X.15.187: A, "he." saide to clergie / so þat y hit herde By Crist quod Consience / clergie y wol nat lye Me were leuere by oure lord / and y leue sholde Haue pacience parfitlyche then half thy pak of bokes Lettrure and longe studie / letteth fol monye // Hyer wente consience & pacience That they knoweth nat quod Concience what is kynde pacience For-thy quod Concience crist y the byteche With pacience wol y passe / parfitnesse to fynde And wenten forth in herehere way / with grete wille y folowede Thenne hadde pacience as pilgrimes haen / in here poke vitayles Sobrete orand symple speche / and sothfaste bileue To conforte hym and Consience / yf they come in place There vnkyndenesse and coueytisecoueytise is / hungry contreys bothe And as they wente by the way / of dowel can they carpe They mette with a mynstral / as me tho thouhte pacience apposede hym / and preyede a X.15.202: A, "he." sholde telle What craft þat he couthe / and corteylichecortey[s]liche he saide // Actiua vita pers plowmanis prentys Ich am a mynstral quod this man / my name is actiua vita Peres prentys þe plouhman X.15.205: Here we see another instance where the deleter failed to erase the name of Piers Plowman, in this case both in the text and in the marginal gloss. By contrast, see the erasures in the marginal glosses at 34v, 35v, and 37r. / alle peple to conforte What manere munstracye · my dere frende quod Concience Hastow vsed or haunted / al thy lyf-tyme Munstracye can y nat moche / bote make men merye As a wafrrerwaf[e]rer with wafres / arand welcome godes gestes Of thymy labour thyyuthey X.15.210: HS note that the is written over a <y>, but in this strange instance, the scribe appears actually to have written <yy> and then caught himself to convert to the unique reading thu, which might be explainable. Because X, like IUc, reads thy instead of my for the first pronoun in this line, the scribe may have been confused about what should follow in sequence, even if his exemplar showed him the majority they, which, however correct, would have confused him after the minority thy. He may have been trying to write they, have miswritten it as thyy, wondered how to fix that to match thy, and corrected his error by creating the reading thu, thus matching the second person pronouns. lauhe / þe lasse and þe more The pore and the ryche / y plese and payn fynde And fewe robes y fonge / or forrede gounes Wolde y lye and do men lawhe / thenne lacchen y scholde Or mantel or mone amonges lordes munstrals Y can nat tabre ne trompy / ne telle fayre gestes Farten ne fythelen at festes ne harpe Iape ne iangeleiogele ne genteliche pipe Ne noþer sayle ne sautrien / ne syngen with þe geterne Y haue no gode giftes / of thise grete lordes For no breed þat y betrauaile furste to before lordes Nerhe hit þat þe parsche preyeth / for me on sonendayes Y am sory þat y sowe / or sette but for my-sulue Ac þe prest and oþere peple / preyeth for Peres þe Plouheman X.15.223: Here we see another instance of an unerased name of Piers. And for me Actyf his man / þat ydelnesse hatte Lordes and lorelles luther and gode Fro Mihel-masse to Mihel-masse / y fynde mete and drynke Y fynde payn for þe potepope X.15.227: It is not clear what X means by the unique reading pote, as one does not tend to put bread "in a pot," but that is the most likely meaning. See MED, s.v. pot(e), n. 1. / and preenpre[y]en hym ych wolde That pestilences to pees / and parfyt loue turnen For founde y þat his blessynge / and his bulle myhte Lette this luythere / and leche þe sike As þe boek bereth witnesse / þat he bere myhte In his mouthe mercy / and amende vs all ¶ Super egros manus ponebant & bene habebunt & cetera And thenne wolde y be bysy / and buxum to helpe Vch a kyne creature / þat on crist leueth For sethe he hath þe power þat peter hadde He hath þe pott with þe salue ¶ Argentum & Aurum / non est michi quod habeo tibi do & cetera Ac yf myhte of myracle hym fayle / hit is for men beth nat worthy To haue þe grace of god / and no gulte of þe pope For may no blessynge doen vs bote / but yf we wol amende Ne mannes prayere maky pees / amonges cristene peple Til pruyde be puyreliche for-do / and þat thorw payn defaute Habundancia panis & vini X.15.244: We interpret the curl after the word vini to be a dot on the final . / turpissimum peccatum aduenit Plente of payn the peple of sodoume And reste and ryche metes / rebaudes hem made Pees quod pacience / y preye ȝow sire actyf For þoȝ nere payn ne plouh / ne potage were pruyde wolde potte hym-sulf forth / thogh no plough erye Hit am y þat fynde alle folke / and fram hunger sa..ue Thorw X.15.251: Hand 2's correction here fixes an obvious error and aligns X with the reading of all other C manuscripts. the helpe of hym / þat me hyder sente And saide lo here lyflode y-now / yf oure beleue be trewe For lente neuere was herewas þer neuere lyf / but lyflode were shape Wherof or wherfore and wher-with to lyuene Þe worm and wonte vnder erthe and in water fisches The Cryket by kynde of þe fuyr / and corleu by þe wynde Bestes by gracegras and by grayn / and by grene rotes In menynge þat alle men myhte þe saume Leue thorw lele bileue As oure lord wittenesseth ¶ Quodcumque pecieritis in nomine meo / dodabitur enim vobis Et alibi corrigitur · ¶ Non in solo pane viuit homo & cetera Hastow quod Actyf / ay such mete with the X.15.262: The rubricator originally underlined this entire line in red, but the underlining was later erased. Erasure was done after the folio was completed beyond this line, because it has damaged the next line of text as well. Ȝe quod pacience And oute of his poke hente A pece of þe pater noster / and profred hit to vs all And y lystnede and lokede / what lyflode hit were And thenne was hit fiat voluntas tua þat sholde fynde vs alle Haue Actyf quod pacience and eet this when þe hungreth Or when thow claumsest focr X.15.268: The main scribe appears to have written <foc>, anticipating the <c> of the next word. He then quickly corrected that <c> to an <r> to obtain the needed for, after which he carried on. colde / or clingest for eny drouthe And shal neuere gyues the greue / ne grete lordes wrathe Prisoun ne oþer payne / for paciencepacien[tes] vincunt By so þat þou be sobre of syhte and of tonge In etynge andin handlynge in alle thy fyue wittes dar þe nat care for no corn / ne for cloth ne for drynke Ne diethdeth drede ne deuel / deye as god liketh Wheþer thorw hunger or hete / at his wille be hit For if thow lyuest aftur his lore the shortere lyf þe betere ¶ Si quis Amat christum mundum non diligit istum Thorw his breth bestes wexe and a-broed ȝeden ¶ dixit & facta fuerunt ergo X.15.279: Most C manuscripts divide these lines differently, placing the phrase ergo thorw his breth as the first part of the a-verse of the next line. thorw his breth bestes lyueth bothe men and fisches As witnesseth holy writ / when we seggeth oure graces Aperis tu manum tuam & cetera Hit is founde þat fourty wynter folke lyuede and tylde nat And oute of þe flynt spronge þe floed þat folk and bestes dronke And in Elies tyme / heuene was y-closed That no reyn ne roen / thus þratrede(þ)rat X.15.286: It is not altogether clear what happened here. Hand 1 wrote the initial error, þat, which cannot make any sense. Then he himself has added an <r> to repair the mistake; this obtains, perhaps, a third plural form of MED threten, v. 1, with sense 2(a), "[t]o rebuke. . . reprove, admonish," though this would make very awkward syntax: "as men caution in [their] books." However, perhaps he wanted ultimately—but failed—to delete the <þ>, which would have obtained rat. All editors, in fact, print rat, past tense of PDE "to read," which is a minority, but still widely attested, reading in C manuscripts. In the end X, one way or the other, now reads the ambiguous þrat. men onin bokes That manye wynter men lyuede and no mete ne tylede Seuene slepen as saith þe boek / more then syxty wynter Lyuede with-outen lyflode / and at the laste awakede And yf men lyuede as mesure wolde sholde neuere be defaute Amonges cristene creatures · yf cristes wordes be trewe ¶ dabo tibi secundum peticionem tuam What is parfit pacience quod Actiua vita Meeknesse and mylde speche And men of o will The whiche wil loue lat to oure lordes place And þat is charite chaumpion chief of all vertues And þat is pore pacient / alle perelles to soffre Where pouerte and pacience plese more god almyhty Then rihtfullyche rychesse / and resonablelyche to spene ¶ Ȝe quis est ille quod pacience quik laudamuslaudabimus eum Thogh men rede of rychesse / rihte to þe worldes ende Then when he drow to þe deth / that he ne dradd hym sarrore Then eny pore pacient / and þat preue y be resoun Hit are but fewe folk otf this ryche / that ne falleth in arrerage There þe pore dar plede / and preue by puyr resoun To haue allouaunce of his lord / by puyre lawe he claymeth Ioye þat neuere ioye hadde / of rihtfull iuge he asketh And saith loo briddes and bestes / þat no blisse ne knoweth And wilde wormes in wodes thorw wyntres thow hem greuest And makest hem wel neyh meke and mylde for defaute Ther-aftur thow sendest hem somer þat is here souereyne ioye And blisse to all þat been / bothe to wilde and to tametame Thenne may beggares as bestes / aftur a blisse aske That al here lyf haen lyued / in langour and defaute Bote god sentde hem som-tyme sum manere ioye Other here or ellis-wher / elles hit were reuthe For to wroþer-hele was he wrouht þat neuere was ioye yschape Angeles þat in helle now ben / hadden som-tyme ioye And dyues in his deyntees lyuede and in douce vie And now he buyth hit bittere / he is abeggarea beggare of helle Many man hath his ioye here for al here wel dedes And lordes and ladyes ben cald / for ledes þat they haue And slepeth as hit semeth / and somur euere hem folleweth Ac when deth awaketh hem of here werle X.15.324: It appears that Hand 1 wrote were (anticipating a word later in the line) and so had to convert <r> to <l> to obtain the needed wele. / þat were er so ryche Then aren hit puyre pore thynges in purgatorie or in hell dauid in þe sauter / of suche maketh mynde And sayth dormierunt / & nichil inuenerunt & cetera Et alibi velud sompnum X.15.328: X's reading, sompnum, is the Bx reading printed by Burrow and Turville-Petre and the reading that Schmidt prints in his editions of B and C. Pearsall and RK emend to sompn[i]um. Sompnum means "sleep"—though it can mean "dream" or even "vision" by extension (DMLBS, s.v. somnus, n., senses 1 and 4, with similar senses going back to classical Latin [Lewis & Short, s.v. somnus]). Sompnium, which is the Vulgate reading (PS 72:20), means primarily "dream" or "vision" (DMLBS, s.v. somnium, n., sense 1). Confusion between the two words may be based on similar meaning or on confusion over the transcription of minims. Since sompnum, according to Schmidt (2011), "is intended metonymically to signify 'dream'" (Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.1, p. 420), it serves the meaning of the line and is taken by Schmidt as "possibly original" in addition to being the Bx and Cx reading (p. 420). In classical Latin, the word is a first declension masculine noun (somnus), so perhaps the scribes and even the poet, under the influence of the neuter sompnium, saw the majority sompnum as a neuter noun, hence accepting it as a nominative. surgencium insurgencium & cetera Passus sextus de Dowel Allas þat rychesse shal reue and robbe mannes soule Fro þe loue of oure lord · at his laste ende Hewen þat haen þhere huyre byfore X.16.3-X.16.5: Only XP2 divide the lines thus, as all other C manuscripts place Aren euere-more pore as the b-verse of RK.16.3, dividing the next line at deserue hit. Again, with X having pushed an entire b-verse to its next line, we see a domino effect on the next two lines. The problem in XP2 or their exemplars again comes from confusion over alliteration: X must have thought the /h/ alliteration complete in X.16.3, which it may be. We say "may," because Hewen þat haen here huyre byfore, if its b-verse begins at here, does not abide strictly by Duggan's Rules for the b-verse, lacking an adequate dip before either b-verse lift. (For a general overview and bibliography on "Duggan's Rules," see Hoyt N. Duggan, "The End of the Line," in Medieval Alliterative Poetry: Essays in Honour of Thorlac Turville-Petre, ed. John A. Burrow and Hoyt N. Duggan, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006.) As an odd result of X's arrangement, because the next four half lines (RK.16.4-RK.16.5) are full of alliteration on /d/, X.16.5 still scans, while X.16.4 may scan, obliquely, on the vowels in euere and oute. Aren euere-more pore / and selde deyeth oute of dette To dyne ar he deserue hit / when his dyuer X.16.5: RK give the X reading as dyner, but we transcribe dyuer, as does Schmidt, taking the word to be the ME form of AN dever (modern French devoir), "duty." See MED, s.v. dever, -er, n. and AND<hi rend="sup">2</hi>, s.v. deveir. is doen and his dayes iourne Thenne may men wyte what he is worth and what he hath deserued AncAnd nat to fonge byfore for drededrede of dessallowynge So y sey by ȝow ryche hit semeth nat þat ȝe sholle // notate ȝe ry-che men Haue two heuenes / for ȝoure here beynge Muche murthe is in may / amonge wilde bestes And so forth whiles somur lastelasteth here solace duyreth And moche murthe among ryche men is / þat han meble ynow and hele Ac beggares aboute myssomur brecdles X.16.13: Hand 1 wrote brecles, which is perhaps a nonce error/variant for MED brechelees, adj., meaning "[n]ot wearing breeches," a likely enough state of the poor, however unrelated to the notion of supping. Clearly what is demanded, however, is "breadless," so as we see it, Hand 1 has converted <c> to <d> to correct his own error in order to obtain the required reading. The stroke over the <r> may simply be a stray mark, or it may be a false start on a <d>. There is always the chance that Hand X (or Hand 2) has made this correction, and in that case brecles would be a unique variant. they soupe And ȝut is wynter for hem worse for weet-shoed þey gone A-furste and a-fyngered / and foule rebuked Of this world ryche men þat reuthe is to here Now lord sende hem somur som-tyme to solace and to ioye That al here lyf leden in lownesse and in pouerte For al myhtest þou haue y-mad / men of grete welthe And yliche witty and wys / and lyue with-oute nede Ac for þe beste as y hope aren som pore and ryche + X.16.22.m.1: A lightly inked cross in the margin to the left of X.16.22 may have been intended to call attention to the line division here, for a discussion of which, see the textual note. Riht so haue reuthe on vs alle / and amende vs forof thy mercy X.16.22-23: Here we see X wreaking more havoc with line breaks, as XKP2UcYc divide the lines thus, while most C manuscripts divide the line earlier, at vs alle. The error arises because X (in fact like many other manuscripts) lacks words that would have filled out an alliterative b-verse stress for X.16.22: thy renkes (in RK's rendering). Yet several other manuscripts offer not simply alle but al þat on þe rode deiedest (a phrase adopted by Schmidt as authorial, though it is rejected by Pearsall and RK). Hence, the situation is complex, and X (or its ancestor) again displays the urge to repair, this time not by pushing a b-verse down (see X.16.3-X.16.5 above) but by pulling an a-verse up to compensate for words it lacks in comparison to other C manuscripts. The result has a similar domino effect, as X.16.23 now is over-packed with three half lines worth of alliteration, though it might still scan on /l/. And make vs alle meke lowe and lele and louynge and of herte pore And sende vs contricion / to clanse with oure soules And confessioun to kulle / alle kyne synnes And satisfaccioun þe whiche / folfilleth þe fader will of heuene And these ben dowel and dobet X.16.27: What may appear to be an erasure in the images is merely discoloration in the vellum. / and dobest of alle ¶ Cordis contricio / cometh of soruthe X.16.28: Although the exact form soruthe, which appears in XYc, is unattested as a form of the majority reading sorwe in MED (s.v. sorwe) and OED, (s.v. sorrow), both lexica attest forms such as sorþe and sorugh, placing soruthe well within the bounds of nonsubstantive, orthographic and phonetic variation. of herte And oris confessio / þat cometh of shrifte of mouthe And satisfaccion þat for soules paieth / and for alle synnes quyteth ¶ Cordis contricio / Oris confessio / Operis satisfaccio Thise thre with-oute doute / tholieth alle pouerte And lereth lewed and lered / hey and lowe to knowe Ho doth wel or bet / or beste aboue alle And holy churche and charite / her-of a chartre made And bote these thre þat y spak of / at domes-day vs defende Elles is al an ydel / al oure lyuynge here Oure preyeres and oure penances / And pilgrimages to Rome Bote oure spensis and oure spendyng sprynge of atrewea trewe welle Elles is alle oure labour loest / loo how men writehth X.16.40: Here the scribe has anticipated the last letter of the word, correcting himself as soon as he had written the upper stroke of the <h>. In fenestres at þe freres / yf fals be þe fondement For-thy cristene sholde be in comune ryche noon coueytous for hym-sulue For seuene synnes þat þer ben / þat assoilenassailen vs euere The fend folleweth hem alle / and fondeth hem to helpe Ac with rychesse tho rybaudes / rathest men bigileth For þatþer þat rychessesrychesse regneth / reuerences folleweth And þat is plesant to pruyde / in pore and in ryche And þe ryche is reuerenced by resoun of his rychesse There þe pore is potte by-hynde / and parauntur can more Of wit and of wisdoem þat ferway is bettere Then rychesse or ryalte / and rather y-herde in heuene For þe ryche hath moche to rykene / and riht softe walketh The hey way to heueneward / he halt hit nat fol euene There þe pore preseth byfore / with a pak at his rugge ¶ Opera eorum sequnturseq[u]untur illos Batauntliche as beggares doen / and baldeliche he craueth For his pouerte and his pacience / perpetuel ioye And pruyde in rychesse regneth rather then in pouerte Or in þe mayster or in þe man / som mansion he haueth Ac in pouerte þer pacience is / pruyde hath no myhte Ne none of þe seuene synnes / sitte ne may þer longe Ne haue power in pouerte / yf pacience hym folewe For þe pore is ay prest / to plese þe ryche And buxum at his biddyng / for his breed and his drynke And buxumnesse and beeoost X.16.65: RK assert that X reads beest and that the first <e> was corrected to <o> to obtain the majority reading boest, which is also the scribe's usual spelling. But HS assert that <ee> has been corrected to <oo>, that is, from beest to boost. We agree with HS that both letters have been altered to obtain boost (not Hand 1's usual spelling) by Hand X. aren / euermore at werre And ayther hateth oþer and may nat wone to-gyderes Yf wrathe wrastle with þe pore / he hath þe worse ende For yf they bothe pleyne / the pore is bote feble And yf he chyde or chattere / hym cheueth þe worse For louelyche he loketh / and lowe is his speche That mete or moneye of straunge men moet begge And yf glotonye greue pouerte / hohe gadereth þe lasse For his rentes wol nat reche / ryche metes to bugge And thogh his glotonye be of gode ale / he goth to acoldea colde beddynge And his heued vn-heled / vnesylyche X.16.75: The vellum beneath vn-heled / vnesylyche appears to be abraded, but we do not see an erasure. y-wrye corrigitur For when he streyneth hym to strecche / the strawe is his shetes So for his glotonye / and his grete synne He hath a greuous penaunce / þat is welowo When he awaketh and wepeth for colde So he is neuere merye / so meschief hym folleweth And thogh coueytyse wolde with þe pore warastle / they may nat come to-gyderes And by þe nekke namelyche / here noen may henten other ¶ For men knowen wel þat coueytise / is of a kene will And hath hondes and Armes / of a longe lenthe And pouerte is bote a pety thyng / appereth nat to his nauele And louely layk was hit neuere / bytwene alongea longe and a short oneshort And thogh Auaryce wolde Angry pouerte / he hath bote lytel myhte For pouerte hath bote pokes / to potten in his godes There Auaryce hath almaries / and yrebounden coffres And where be bettere to breke / lasse boest hit maketh To breke abeggaresa beggares bagge / then an yrebounden coffre ¶ And lecherye loueth no pore / for he hath bote litel siluer Ne doth men dyne delitcatlyche / ne drynke wyne ofte A straw for the stuyues hit stoed nat / hadde they noen haunt bote of pore And thow sleuthe sewe pouerte / and serue nat god to paye Myschief is ay amenea mene / and maketh hym to thenke That god is his gretteste helpe / and no gome elles And he is seruant alway he saith / and of his seutcte X.16.98: It appears that Hand 1 wrote the majority reading seute. See MED, s.v. sute, n., 2(a), "[a] band of followers; a retinue, company." Hand 2 then converted this to secte, which is synonymous and is also attested in the manuscripts. It is difficult to see a poetic preference for one over the other, as both scan and mean the same thing in context. Since secte is repeated two lines later, an argument can be made for either consistency or variety. The scribes' division on this matter is reflected by the poem's editors: RK and Schmidt print seute, while Pearsall prints secte. bothe And where he be or be nat / aberetha bereth X.16.99: A, "he." þe signe of pouerte And in þat secte oure saueour saued al mankynde For-thy alle pore þat pacient is / of puyr rihte may claymen Aftur here endynge here heueneryche blisse Moche hardyore may he aske / þat here myhte haue his wille In lond and in lordschipe in lykynge of body nota And for goddes loue leueth al / and lyueth as a beggare As a mayde for amannesa mannes loue / here moder forsoke Here fader and alle here frendes / and goth forth with here paramours notate bene Moche is suche amaydea mayde to louye / of amana man þat such oen taketh More then þat mayde is / þat is maried by brocage As by assente of sondry persones / and suluer to bote More for coueytise of catel / then kynde loue of þe mariage So hit fareth by vch apersona person þat possession forsaketh And potte hym to be pacient / and pouerte weddeth The whiche is syb to crist sulue / and semblable bothe Quod Actyf tho al Angryliche / and Arguinge As hit were What is pouerte pacience quod he / y preye þat thow telle hit X.16.117: The following Latin is presented as five separate lines, each underlined and all linked by the single large paraph. Three start with distinct upper case letters, but one has the less determinate <S>. The <d>, which is clearly dimorphic in Hand 1, is in the lower case form here despite being line-initial. It is not clear how much of X.16.117 is actually a line of poetry. It begins with a regular half-line alliterating on /p/, but it is not clear where that line itself would end. Pearsall and RK divide it at possessio, obtaining, we suppose, an AAXA line. Schmidt too takes this as a line of verse and, following the manuscripts, ends the line at bonum. All editors then render the rest of the Latin as extrametrical. The boundaries between presumed macaronic verse (X.16.117) and the rest of the (extrametrical) Latin definition of Poverty are not easy to determine. ¶ Paupertas quod pacience est odibile bonum Remocio curarum posessio sine calumpnia donum dei sanitatis mater / absque solitudine semita Sapiencie temporatrixtemp[e]ratrix / negocium sine dampno // Hyere ȝe may se it is god to be pouere Incerta fortuna absque solicitudine felicitas Y can nat construe al this quod Actiua vita Parfay quod pacience propreliche to telle hit Al this in engelysch hit is ful hard / Ac sumdel y shal telle the Pouerte is the furste poynte þat pruyde moest hateth Thenne is pouerte goed by goed skill thouh hit greue alitela litel Al þat may potte of pruyde / in eny place þer he regneth ¶ Remocio curarum selde syt pouerte þe soth to declare Or a iustice to iuge men / me enioyneth þerto no pore Ne to be amaira mair ouer men / ne mynistre vnder kynges Selde is eny pore y-pot / to penesche eny peple Ergo X.16.132: The markup here is inadequate. The suspension for Ergo is actually <Go>, even though the <G> must be said to represent in part an upper case <E>. pouerte and pore men parforme þe comandement ¶ Nolite iudicare quemquam / possessio sine calumpnia Selde is þe pore rihte ryche / but of his rihtfole eritage Wynneth he nat with whitteswihtes X.16.135: The XYc reading appears to be a form of MED wit, n., perhaps def. 5. "a strategy, course of action, etc., esp. one showing wisdom or ingenuity; also, a contrivance," whereas the majority reading, and the one adopted by the modern editors, is a form of MED weght, n. 1, def. 4(a), "[t]he process of weighing," which fits the immediate context of mercantile exploitation. false / ne with vnselede mesures Ne boreweth of his neyhebore / but þat he may wel ~~may wel~~ paye And me leneth lyhtly fewe men / and me wene hem pore The furthe hit is A fortune þat florischeth þe soule With sobrete fro alle synnes / and also ȝut more Hit defendeth þe flesche fram folies ful monye A collateral confort / crists oune sonde ¶ donum dei ȝut is hit moder of myhte / and of mannes helthe And frende in alle fondynges / and of foule eueles leche sanitatis mater The sixte hit is apatha path of pees / ȝe thorwe þe pase of Aultoun Pouerte myhte passe / with-oute perel of robbynge For þer as pouerte passeth / pes folleweth comunely And euere þe lasse þat on lede / þe lihtere his herte is there corrigitur As he þat woet neuere with wham / on nyhtes tyme to mete Seneca pauper est absque solicitudine semita The seuethe is a welle of wysdoem / and fewe wordes sheweth For lordes alloueth hym litel / or leggeth ere to his resoun A X.16.152: A, "he." tempreth þe tonge to treuthward / þat no tresor coueyteth The eyȝte hit is alela lel labour / and loeth to take more Then he may sothly deserue in somur or in wynter And thogh he chaffare he chargeth no loes / may he carite wynne ¶ Negocium sine dampno The nythe hit is swete to soules / ne nono sucre swettore For pacience is his paniter and pouerte payn here fyndeth And sobrete ȝeueth here swete drynke / and solaceth here in all angrys Thus lered me alereda lered man / for oure lordes loue seynt Austyn That puyre pouerte and pacience / was alouha louh lyuynge on erthe A blessed lyf withoute bisinesse / bote onelyche for þe soule ¶ Absque solicitudine felicitas Now god þat al gyueth / graunte his soule reste // What is liberum arbitrium That wroet thous to wisse men / what pouerte was to mene Thenne hadde Actyf aledarea ledare þat hihte liberum arbitrium X.16.166: In this instance the rubricator himself has added in the needed character <e> in red to form the correct liberum. Notice that the marginal gloss has the corrected spelling of liberum and thus was likely written after the rubricator made his change. At X.16.170 below, the scribe misspells his name again (leberum), this time uncorrected, but he spells it correctly at X.16.173. A X.16.167: A, "he." knewe Consience ful wel / and clergie bothe He þat hath lond and lordschipe quod he / at þe laste ende Shal be porest of power / at his partynge hennes Thenne hadde y wonder what he was þat leberuml[i]berum Arbitrium And preyde pacience þat y apose hym moste And he soffrede me and saide / assay his oþer name Leue liberum arbitrium quod y / of what lond ar ȝe And yf thow be cristes creature / for cristes loue telle me Y am cristes creature quod he / and cristene in mony aplacea place And in cristes court y-knowe wel / and of his kynne apartya party Is noþer Peter the porter ne poul with the fauchen That wol defende me heuene dore / dynge y neuere so late At mydnyhte at myday / my vois is so y-knowe That vch a creature þat loueth crist / welcometh me faire Whare-of serue ȝe y saide sir liberum arbitrium Of som tyme to fihte quod he / falsnesse to destruye And som tyme to soffre / bothe tene and sorwe Layk or leue / at my lykyng chese To do wel or wykke / a will with aresouna resoun And may nat be with-oute a body / to bere me where lyhym liketh Thenne is þat body bettere þen þou · X.16.187: After þou, there is a raised point, which is not part of the abbreviation and which sets off the quod y with the mid-line virgule on the other side. quod y / Nay quod he no bettere Bote as wode were a-fuyre / thenne worcheth bothe And ayther is otheres hete / and also of o will And so is man þat hath his mynde myd liberum Arbitrium And whiles y quyke þe cors / y-cald am y Anima And when y wilne and wolde Animus y hatte And þatfor þat y can and knowe / y-cald am y mens thouhtemannes þouȝt X.16.193: The transmission of this line is complicated, varying over editions and over the B and C traditions. The issue concerns whether mens is a form of the English possessive, "belonging to a man," or is simply the Latin third-declension noun meaning "mind." We take X's reading to be the Latin word, which is glossed or defined in English by the following word, thouhte. Schmidt follows such an interpretation, printing "Mens, 'Thouhte'" (16.183). RK and Pearsall print the Latin—mens and Mens, respectively—without the word thouhte, evidently interpreting thouhte as a scribal gloss that had made its way into the tradition. And when y make mone to god / Memoria y hatte And when y deme domes / and do as treuthe techeth Thenne ys racio my rihte name / reson an englische And when y fele þat folke telleth / my furste name is sensus And þat is wit and wysdoem the welle of alle craftes And when y chalenge nator chalange nat / chepe or refuse Thenne am y Concience y-cald / goddes Clerk and his notarie And when y wol do or do natdo / gode dedes or ille Thenne am y liberum Arbitrium / As leredlettred men telleth And when y louye lelly / oure lord and alle oþere Thenne is lele loue my name / and in latyn Amor And when y fle fro þe body / and feye leue þe caroyne Thenne am y spirit speche-lees / and spiritus then y hote Austyn and ysodorus either of hem bothe Nempned me thus to name / now þou myhte chese How þou coueytest to calle me / now þou knowest al my names X.16.209: To the right of X.16.206-X.16.213 are two holes in the manuscript that predate composition, since the scribe explicitly writes around them on the verso. X.16.210: The Latin is presented as six distinct lines, five of them beginning with a <d> in the form that is clearly lower case, all of them linked with a single large paraph, with each line underlined. Because these lines contain no English, editors correctly render them as extrametrical discourse. ¶ Anima pro diuersis occacionibusaccionibus / diuersa nomina sortitur dum sinificatsi[g]nificatviuificat corpus / Anima est / dum vult / animus est dum recolit memoria est / dum / iudicat racio est dum sentit sensus est / dum Amat / Amor est dum declinadeclina[t] de malo ad bonum / liberum Arbitrium est dum negat vel consentit / consiencia est / dum speratspirat spiritus est Ȝe beth as abischopa bischop quod y / al bourdynge þat tyme For bissphopes y-blessed / they bereth many names Presul and Pontifex / and metropolanusmetropol[it]anus And oþere names an heep / Episcopus and pastor corrigitur That is soth he sayde / now y se thy wille Thow woldest knowe and conne / þe cause of all here names And of myn yf thow myhteste me thynketh by thy speche Ȝe sire y sayde by so no man were y-greued Alle þe sciences vnder sonne / and alle þe sotil craftes Y wolde y knewe and couthe kyndeliche in yn herte Thenne artow infparfit quod he / and oen of pruydes knyhtes For such a lust and lykynge / lucifer ful fram heuene ¶ Ponam pedem meum in Aquilone & cetera Hit were aȝeyns kynde quod he / and alle kyne resoun That eny creature sholde conne al / excepte crist one Aȝenes alle suche salamon speketh / and despiseth here wittes And sayth sicut qui mel comedit multum / non est ei bonum ¶ SicSic qui scrutator est magestatis / opprimatur a gloria To engelische men this is to mene / þat mowen speke and here The man þat moche hony eet / his mawe hit engleymeth The wittorewitt[i]ore þat eny wihte is / but yf he worche þeraftur The bittorere he shal a-bugge / but yf he wel worche Beatus saith seynt Bernard / qui scripturas legit ¶ et verba vertit in opera / emforth his power Coueytyse to conne / and to knowe sciences Potte out of paradys / Adam and Eue Sciencie appetitus hominem in-mortalitatis gloriam spoliauit And riht as hony / is euel to defie Riht so sothly sciences / swelleth amannesa mannes soule And doth hym to be deynous / and deme þat beth nat lered ¶ Non plus sapere saide þe wyse / quam oportet sapere X.16.246: Pearsall (2008) tersely summarizes the problem here: "The split Latin quotation disturbs the alliteration and lineation in all C-MSS" (p. 275). X shares its line break with KP2Uc. RK rearrange the three half lines, while Schmidt and Pearsall render them as in X. Laste synne of pruyde wexe // lo how freris prechen fallas & cetera Freres fele tymes / to þe folk þer they prechen Mouen motyues mony tymes insolibles and falaes That bothe lewed and leredlered and lewed / of here beleue douten nota bene To teche þe ten comaundementz / tensytheten sythe were bettere And thorwhow that folk folliche / here fyue wittes myspenenenmyspene[n]myspendon As wel freres as oþere folk / foliliche spenden In housynge in helynge in holyheyh clergie schewynge More for pompe and pruyde / as þe peple woet wel That y lye nat / loo for lordes ȝe plese And reuerence þe ryche þe rather for here suluer Aȝen þe consayl of crist / as holy clergie witnesseth ¶ Ne sitis Acceptores / personarum // notate de wikkyde techeres Lo what holy writ wittnesseth / of wikkede techares As holinesse and honestee / out of holy churche Spryngeth and sspredeth X.16.262: In this peculiar conjunction of letters, the scribe would seem to have written a long <s> and then corrected it to the more usual form of word-initial <s>, on the fly, giving the impression of a doubled or upper case . and enspireth þe peple Thorw parfit preest-hoed and prelates of of[of] holychurcheholy churche RihtRiht so oute of holychurcheholy churche al euel spredeth There inparfit preest-hoed is / prechares and techares And sose hit by ensample / In somur-tyme on trees Þere som bowes bereth leues / and som bereth none Tho bowes þat bereth nat / and beth nat grene y-leued There is a meschief in þe more / of suche manere stokkes Riht so persones and prestes / and prechours of holy churche Is þe rote of rihte fayth / to reule þe peple notate omnes X.16.272.m.1: The second word in this gloss, after notate, is difficult fully to decipher. Grindley (2001), transcribes the whole phrase as nota image which he designates as LR-AI—Literary Response with "additional information" (p. 133). Drawing attention to literary techniques such as imagery is not at all characteristic of this marginal commentary, so instead of the English word image, weߞwith gratitude for consultation with Ralph Hannaߞtranscribe omnes, translating the whole phrase "pay attention, everyone." The urgent and broad alert inherent in this gloss fits a pattern of clerical and fraternal critique and exhortation running through the glosses. The immediate context concerns how clerical corruption functions like rotten roots that can never bear beautiful leaves or fruit—the powerful image that must have, understandably, misled Grindley in his provocative transcription. Ac þer þe rote is roton / resoun woet þe sothe Shal neuere flour ne fruyt wexe / ne fayre leue be grene For wolde ȝe lettered / leue þerþe lecheer.ye X.16.274: The scribe appears to have written a second <e> here, which he immediately canceled in favor of the correct <r>. He then appears to have made a false start on a letter that resembles an <er> suspension, but is not one. He canceled this false start with the necessary <y>. of clothyng And be corteys and kynde / of holy kyrke godes Parte with þe pore / and ȝoure pruyde leue And þerto trewe of ȝoure tonge / and of ȝoure tayl also And hatien harlotrie / and to vnderfonge þe tythes Of vsererus of hores / of alle euel wynnynges Loeth were lewed / bote they ȝoure lore folwedennfolwede[n] X.16.280: The scribe has put an extra nasal over the <en>. And amenden of here mysdedes more for ensaumplesȝoure ensaumples Then for to prechen and preue hit nat / ypocrisye hit semeth Ypocrisye is abraunchea braunche of pruyde / and most amonges clerkes And is y-likned in latyn / to alothlya lothly donghep That were al bysnewed[bysnewed] al with X.16.285: The majority reading is bysnewed al. Hand 1 wrote al bysnewed but then caught himself and added the al correctly after the participle, failing or neglecting to delete the initial al. snowe / and snakes with-ynne Or to a wal y-whitlymed / and were blak with-ynne Riht so many prestes / prechours and prelates That ben enblaunched / with bele paroles and with bele clothes And as lambes they loke / and ly.uen as wolues ¶ X.16.290: A single paraph serves to mark the first seven lines. Iohannes Crisostomus carpeth thus of clerkes X.16.290: A corrector has rightly noticed that the second half of this line is English, part of a macaronic line, and has thus erased the red underlining that had spanned it. Sicut de templo omne bonum progreditur / sic de templo omne malum procedit Si sacerdocium integrum fuerit / tota floret ecclesia Si Autem corupta fuerit / omnium fedesf[i]des marcida est Si sacerdocium fuerit in peccatis / totus populus conuertitur ad peccandum Sicut cum videritvideri[s] Arborem pallidam & marcidam / intelligis quod vicium habet in radice Ita cum videris populum indissiplinatum & irreligiosum sine dubio sacerdocium eius non est sanum // beth war of þis lered & lewed Allas lewed men moche lese ȝe þat fynde Vnkunnynge curatours / to be kepares of ȝoure soules Ac thyng þat wykkedliche is wonne / and with fals sleythes Wolde neuere oþerwyse god / but wikkede men hit hadde As inparfiteprestesinparfite prestes / and prechours afur suluer Seketours and sodenes X.16.302: Between the <o> and the <d> are two dots, above and below the line, perhaps marking this word for change(?). Some other readings are soutȝdenis, southdeknes, sodometes, sodomyes. But no further correction is evident. / somnours and here lemmanes And þat with gyle was gete vngraciousliche be y-spened Curatours of holychurcheholy churche / and clerkes þat ben Auerous Lihtliche þat they leue / loseles hit deuoureth Leueth hit wel lordes / both / lewed and lered That thus goth here godes / at þe laste ende That lyuen aȝen holy lore / and þe loue of charite Charyte ¶ Charite quod y tho þat is a thyng for-sothe That maistres commenden moche / where may hit be yfounde Ich haue yleued in londone / monye longe ȝeres And fonde y neuere in faith / as freres hit precheth Charite þat chargeth nauht / ne chyt thow me greue hym As poul in his pistul / of hym bereth wittenesse ¶ Non inflatur non est Ambiciosa I · knewe neuere by Crist / clerk noþer lewed That he ne askede aftur his / and oþere-whiles coueytede Thyng that nedede hym nauhte / and nyme hit yf amyhtea myhte X.16.318: A, "he." For thogh me souhte alle þe sektes / of susturne and of brethurne And fynde hym but fuguratyflyf[i]guratyfly / a ferly me thynketh ¶ Hic in enigmate / tunc facie ad faciem And so y trowe treuly / by þat me telleth of charite Charite is a childische thyng / as holy churche witnesseth ¶ Nisi efficiamini sicut & paruuli & cetera As proud of a peny / as of a pounde of golde And as glad of a goune And as glad of a goune / of a gray russet As of a cote of cannacaca[mm]aca / or of clene scarlet He is glad with alle glade / as gurles þat lawhen alle And sory when he seth men sory / as thow seest childerne Lawhe þer men lawheth / and loure þer oþere louren And when amana man swereth for soth / for sooth he hit troweth Weneth he þat no wyhte / wolde lye and swerie Ne þat eny gome wolde / gyle oþere ne greue For drede of god þat so goed is / And thus gates vs techeth ¶ Quodcumque vultis vt facicant X.16.335: What appears to be an upper case <A>, mid-word in faciant, is the result of the scribe changing the beginning of a <c>—or possibly an <e>, which would have produced facient—to an <a> by adding the upper chamber and rightward stroke. Hence, we take the large size of the letter to have been unintended. vobis homines facite eis Hath he no lykynge to lawhe / ne to likene men to scorne Alle seknesses and sorwes / for solacessolace he hit taketh And alle manere meschiefs / as munstracie of heuene Of deth ne of derthe drad he neuere Ne mysliked thogh he lore / or leued þat ilke That neuere payed peny aȝeyn in places þer he borwede HeHo fynt hym his fode quod y / or what frendes hath he X.16.342: X and K omit a line found in all other C manuscripts which, according to RK, is added in P2 in another hand: Rentes or other richesse to releue hym at his nede (RK.16.317). The omission clearly arises from the similarities of the a-verses of RK.16.317 and RK.16.318. Of rentes ne of oþerene of rychesse / ne reccheth he neuere A frende he hath þat fyndfyndeþ hym / þat faylede hym neuere Oen aperis tu manum / alle thynges hym fyndeth ¶ Fiat voluntas tua / festeth hym vch a daye And also a X.16.347: A, "he." can clergie credo in deum patrem And purtraye wel þe pater noster / and peynten hit with Auees And oþerwhile his wone is / to wyndewende X.16.349: The XYc reading, if intended to be a form of MED winden, v. 1, would likely be def. 1(b), "to go, advance, move forth; also, refl. betake oneself." This is almost synonymous with the majority reading, coming from MED wenden, v. in pilgrimages There pore men and prisones ben and paye for here fode Clotheth hem and conforteth hem / and of Crist precheth hem What sorwe he soffrede / in ensaumple of vs alle That pouerte and penaunce pacientlyche y-take Worth moche meryte to þat man / þat hit may X.16.354: There is a stray mark over the second minim of <m>, perhaps a false start, but there is no correction or change. soffre And when he hath visited thus fetured folk and oþer folke pore Thenne ȝerneth he in-to ȝouthe / and ȝeepliche he secheth pruyde with allealle þe purtinaunces / and pakketh hem to-gyderes And laueth hem in þe lauendrie / laboraui in gemitu meo X.16.358: RK interpret the Latin here as laboram, listing several manuscripts with that reading, but since it is impossible to distinguish the required <ui> from <m>, as each is simply three minims, we take the scribe to have intended the actual form of the verb from Psalms 6:7. Bouketh hem at his breste / and beteth hit ofte And with warm water of his yes / woketh hit til he white ¶ Lauabis me & super niuem dealbabor corrigitur passus · 6tus · And thenne syngeth he when he doth so / and som-tyme wypyngewepynge X.16.362: It is not clear what word the scribe has intended; nowhere else in the manuscript does he spell forms of MED wepen, v., with a <y>, but the MED does attest such forms. If, rather, he intends a form of MED wipen, v., it would probably be in the sense of def. 3(a), "[t]o wipe off (dirt, sweat, etc.); dry (tears)," or def. 4(a), "[t]o rub (one's eyes)," since these meanings relate to the notion of weeping required by the context. ¶ Cor contritum & humiliatum deus non despicies Were y with hym cby CriestCr[i]st quod y / y wolde neuere fro hym Thogh y my byliue sholde begge / a-boute at menne hacches Where clerkes knowe hym nat quod y / þat kepen holy churche Peres the plouhman quod he moste parfitlyche hym knoweth ¶ Et vidit deus cogitaciones eorum By clothyng ne by carpynge / knowe shaltow hym neuere Ac thorw werkes thow myhte wyte / wherforth he walketh ¶ Operibus credite He nis þe murieste of mouthe at mete þer he sitteth And compenable in companye aass Crist hym-sulue techeth ¶ Nolite tristes fieri sicut ypocrite X.16.375: The indicator visible beside this line likely corresponds to the blue paraph on the line above. Ych haue y-sey hym my-sulue som-tyme in russet Bothe in gray and in grys / and in gult harneys And also gladliche he hit gaf / to gomes þat hit nedede Edmond and Edward / ayþer were seyntes And cheef charite with hem / and chaste all here lyueelyu[e] X.16.379: We have corrected to the majority liue, but it is possible that the scribe intended the plural liues, attested by KNWa. ¶ Ich haue y-seye charite also / syngen and rede Ryden and rennen in raggede clothes Ac biddyng als a beggare / by-helde y hym neuere Ac in riche robes rathest he walketh Y-called and y-crimyled and his croune y-shaue And in a frere flokkefrokke X.16.385: It might be tempting to relate X's unique reading to MED flok, n. 2, def. 1(a), "[a] lock or tuft of wool; also, a tuft of cotton, etc.," but that word does not appear to function metonymically for clothing; rather X's reading is simply the familiar MED flok, n. 1, def. 2(a), "[a] group of people." he was founde ones // Charyte was wyth freres Ac hit is fer and fele ȝer in franceys tyme InIn þat sekte sethe / to selde hath he be founde Riche men a X.16.388: A, "he." recomendeth / and of robeshere robes taketh Of tho that lelelyche lyuen / and louen and by-leuen Beatus est diues sine macula ¶ In kynges Court a X.16.391: A, "he." cometh / yf his consaile be trewe Ac yf couetyse be of his consaile / a X.16.392: A, "he." wol nat come þer-ynne Amonges þe comune in Court / acometha cometh X.16.393: A, "he." bote selde For braulyng and bacbitynge / and berynge of fals witnesse ¶ In constorie bifore commissarie / a X.16.395: A, "he." cometh nat ful ofte For ouer-long is here lawe / but yf þay lacche suluer With bisshopes a X.16.397: A, "he." wolde be / for beggares sake de do-wel Ac auaris oþer-whiles / halt hym with-oute þe gate KyngelsKynge[s] and Cardynals / knewen hym sum-tyme Ac thorw Coueytyse and his consaile / y-congeyed is he ofte And ho-so coueyteth to knoweknowe hym / such a kynde hym foloweth As y tolde þe with tonge / alitela litel tyme y-passed For noþer he ne beggeth ne biddeth / ne borweth to ȝelde He halt hit for a vyce / and a foule shame To begge or to borwe / but of god one Panem nostrum cotidianum X.16.406: No word other than cotidianum can possibly be intended in this phrase from the Lord's Prayer, so we expand while noting the absence of the formal suspension. This is likely less an error than a form of shorthand and haste when making this familiar reference. Alternately, the stroke that appears after <co> might have been intended as a suspension mark. / & cetera Passus · vijus · de dowel & explicit X.17.0.h.1: The heading indicates that this will be the final passus concerning Dowel. There is no such y sayde / þat som-tyme ne borweth Or beggeth or biddeth / be he ryche or pore And ȝut oþer-while wroeth / with-outen eny synne Ho is wroeth and wolde be a-wreke / holy writ preueth quod he A X.17.5: A, "he." passeth cheef charite / yf holy churche be trewe ¶ Caritas omnia sofferts[u]ffert Holy writ witnesseth þer were suche eremytes Solitarie by hem-sulue / in here selles lyuede With-oute borwynge or beggynge / bote of god one Excepte þat Egide / a hynde oþer-while To his selle selde cam / and soffred be mylked Elles foules fedde hem / in frythes þer they wonede Bothe Antony and arseny / and oþer fol monye Paul primus heremita / hadde y-parrokede hym-sulue That no man myhte se hym / for moes and for leues Foules hym fedde / yf frere Austynes be trewe For he ordeyned þat ordre / or elles þey gabben Paul aftur his prechyng / paniars he made And wan with his handes / al þat hym nedede ¶ Peter fischede for his fode / And his fere ..Androwe Som they sode and som they solde / and so they lyuede bothe Marie Maudeleyne / by mores lyuede and dewes Loue and lele byleue / held lyf and soule to-gyderes Marie Egipciaca / eet in thritty wynter Bote thre litle loues / and loue was here soule Y can nat rykene hem riȝt now / ne reherse here names That lyueden thus for oure lordes loue monye longe ȝeres corrigitur passus · 7mus · With-oute borwynge or beggynge / or þe boek lyeth corrigitur And woneden in wildernesses amonges wilde bestes Ac durste no beste byte hem / by day ne by nyhte Bote myldelyche when þey metten / maden lowe therechere And faire byfore tho men / faunede with þe tayles Ac bestes brouhte hem no mete / bute onliche þe foules In tokenynge þat trewe man / alle tymes sholde Fynde honest men and holy men / and oþer rihtfole peple notate relegiosi For wolde neuere faythfull god / þat freres and monkes Toke lyflode of luyther wynnynges / in all here lyf-tyme As wittnesseth holy writ / what tobie saide to his wyf When he was blynde he herde a laimbela[m]be blete Wyf be y-war quod he / what haue we her-ynne Lord leue quod þat lede / no stole thynge be her-ynne Thobi ¶ Videte ne furtum sit & alibi meliuusmeli[us] est mori quam male viuere & cetera This is no more to mene / bote menofmen of holy churche Sholde reseue riht nauht / but þat riht wolde And refuse reuerences / and raueriersraueners X.17.45: X's reading may come from MED ravere, n., "[a] lunatic, madman" as opposed to the reading in all C manuscripts, which comes from MED ravinour, n., "[a] thief, robber, plunderer," a word rendered correctly just four lines later in X. offrynges Thenne wolde lordes and ladyes / be loth for to agulte And to take of here tenauntes / more then treuthe wolde And marchauntz merciable wolde be / and men of lawe bothe ¶ Wolde religious X.17.49: There appears to be some blotting over the <o> in this word, but there is no correction or alteration of text. refuse rauenours Almesses And thenne grace sholde growe ȝut and grene loue wexe And charite þat chield is now / sholde chaufen of hym-sulue And conforte alle cristene / wolde holy churche amende Iop þe parfite patriarke / this prouerbe wroet and tauhte To make men louye mesure / þatmonkesþat monkes ben and freres ¶ Nunquam dicit Iop rugiet onager cum habuerit herbam Iop contra relegiosi Aut mugiet bos · cum ante plenum presepe steterit Brutorum Animalium natura te condempnat Quia cum pabulum comune sufficiat Ex adipe prodiit iniquitas tua Yf lewede men knewe this latyn alitela litel they wolden auysen hem Ar they amorteysed eny more / for monkes or for Chanoun Allas lordes and ladyes / lewede consayle hoaue ȝe To feffe suche and fede / þat founded ben to þe fulle de do-wel With þat ȝoure bernes and ȝoure bbloed by goed lawe may clayme For god bad his blessed as þe boek techeth ¶ Honora patrem & matrem & cetera // takeþ kepe hyer of lewed peple & ek clerkes to whom ȝe schull First do X.17.67.m.1: The poem itself here warns that ignorant people are endowing an already wealthy clergy when they ought to be looking out for their own descendants. Pearsall (2008) points out that "honor thy father and mother" can mean providing for descendants (p. 285). In this context, this gloss might be broken down into three parts: 1) takeþ kepe hyer of lewed peple—that is, be aware here of what ignorant people do; 2) & ek clerkes—that is, also (take keep of) clerks by noting the corrupt role that clerks have in drawing money from families to priories and monasteries; and 3) to whom ȝe schull First do—that is, (notice here further) whom we should first "do" i.e, whom we should provide for, instead of the greedy clergy. The unexpected capital <F> of First might be happenstance, or might be for emphasis. We take do as MED don, v. 1, def. 7(a), "[t]o give (alms, charity), offer (sacrifice, an offering)." Consider also def. 9a(a), "[t]o act, behave, proceed; act or behave (in a certain manner)," which may apply as well. Given a greedy clergy, charity should begin at home; we should care for our own family, as a way of honoring both parentage and posterity. To helpe thy fader formost byfore freres or monkes Or ar prestes or pardoners / or eny peple elles Helpe thy kyn Crist bid X.17.69: The manuscript seems to be damaged, perhaps with a water stain, over kyn Crist bid and some letters in the line below, but we do not detect any erasures here. / for þer bigynneth charite And afturward a-wayte / ho hath moest nede And þer helpe yf thow hastehast / and þat halde y charite Lo laurence for his largenesse / as holy lore telleth That his mede and his manhede / for euere-more shal laste ¶ Iusticia eius manet ineternumin eternum He gaf goddes men goddes goodes / and nat grete lordes And fedde þat ~~afynredafyn[g]red~~ an-hungred X.17.76: Here Hand 1 has misspelled his intended reading, afyngred, so we have marked this up with a correction. Hand 2 has added two dots, which we interpret as indicating deletion of the original reading. He has supplied the replacement, an-hungred, above the line. The correction aligns X with a number of other manuscripts (IKNcZ), though others have various forms of the word hunger. The majority reading, however, is that of Hand 1 (as we imagine his intention to have been), that is, afyngred. So in this instance Hand 2 has likely altered an archetypal reading. were / and indefautein defaute lyuede Y dar nat carpe of clerkes now þat cristes tresor kepe That pore peple by puyre riht / here part myhte aske Of þat þat holychurcheholy churche / of þe olde lawe claymeth ¶ Prestes on aparayl / and on purnele now spene ¶ Me may now likene lettred men to a loscheborw oþer worse And to abaddea badde peny / with agodea gode printe Of moche noone[m]oone X.17.83: The required word here is moone, as the subject is "money," and we are not sure what X would have intended with noone which, if not nonsense, would be a form of "no one" or perhaps "none" (the canonical hour) which makes little sense here. þe metal is nauhte and ȝut is þe printe puyr trewe X.17.83: The following three line breaks are unique to XIKP2 (though UcYc share a break with X at trewe at X.17.84 as well). See RK's rendering, following most C manuscripts, which breaks the lines at nauhte, y-graue, and is trewe. Perhaps in X's case the noone of X.17.82 threw off the alliteration, but that would not explain the same break in other manuscripts necessarily, for they lack that unique <n>-for-<m> error. As it is, none of lines X.17.83-X.17.86 scan. And parfitliche y-graue / and so hit fareth by false cristene Here follynge / is trewe cristen-doem of holy kyrke The kynges marke of heuene ¶ Ac þe metal þat is mannes soule of this techares Is a-layed with leccherye and oþer lustes of synne That god coueyteth nat þe coyne þat crist hym-sulue printede And for þe synne of þe soule / forsaketh his oune coyne Thus ar ȝe luyþer y-likned / to lossheborwes sterlynges That fayre byfore folk prechen and techen And worcheth nat as ȝe fyndeth y-wryte and wisseth þe peple For what thorw werre and wrake / and wikkede hefdes May no preyere pees make / in no place hit semeth Lewed men han no byleue and lettred men erren Noþer see ne sends[o]nd / ne þe seed ȝeldeth As they y-woned were / in wham is defaute Nat in god þat he ne is goed / and þe grounde bothe passus · 7us · And þe se and the seed / þe sonne and þe mone Doen her deuer day and nyhte / dede we so alse Ther sholde be plente and pees perpetuel euere ¶ Wedur-wyse shipmen now / and oþer witty peple Haen no by-leue to þe lyft / ne to þe lode sterres Astronomiens alday in here arte faylen That whilum warnede men byfore / what sholde byfalle aftur Shipmen and sheep-herdes by þe seuene sterres Wisten wel and tolde / when hit sholde ryne tilyares þat tilede þe erthe / tolden here maystres By the seed þat they sewe / what þey sulle myhte And what lyue by and leue / the londe was so trewe ¶ Now failleth this folk / bothe follwares and shipmen Noþer they ne knowethknowith ne conneth a cours by anoþer Astronamyens also / aren at here wittes ende Of þat was kalculed of þe clymat / the contrarie þey fynde Gramer þe grounde of al / bigileth nouthe childrene For is noon ho-so nymeth hede þat can versifye vayre X.17.117: Line divisions vary here, as XDcIKNP2Uc render the phrase þat can versifye vayre in the b-verse here instead of in the a-verse of the next line. The problem in X (and perhaps in others, too) is the omission of another /n/ alliterating word, now, in the a-verse of X.17.117, which must have led X (or its ancestors), as we have often seen, to think the line incomplete and to import material from below, leading to the common domino effect on the next, newly made line. Related to this also is X's lack of the needed alliterative word can in X.17.118, that would have turned the phrase ne construe kyndelyche þat poetes made into a whole line, while here in X it is relegated in X to a b-verse. Or formallych endite / nene can construe kyndelyche þat poetes made ¶ Go we now to eny degre /and bote gyle be holde amaistera maister And flaterrere for his vscher / and ferly me thynketh doctours of decre / and of diuinite maistres That sholde þe seuene ars conne / and assoile a quodlibet BotheBote they fayle in philosophie / and philosoferes lyuede Lord lete þat this prestes / lelly seien here masse That they ouerhippe nat for hastite / as y hope they do nat Thogh hit suffice for oure sauacioun soeth-faste byleue As Clerkes in corpus cristi feste syngen and reden That sola fides sufficit / to saue with lewede peple ¶ Ac ȝif prestes doen here deuer wel / we shal do þe bettre For sarrasynes may be saued so / yf they so byleued In þe letynge of here lyf / to leue on holy churche What is holy churche chere frende quod y / Charite he saide Lief and loue and leutee / in o byleue alawea lawe A loue-knotte of leutee / and of lele byleue Alle kyne cristene / cleuynge X.17.135: The word appears blotted or water stained in the manuscript, but there is no correction here. on o will de do-wel With-oute gyle and gabbyng / gyue and sulle and lene Loue lawe with-oute leutee / allouable was hit neuere God lereth no lyf to louye / with-outen lele cause ¶ Iewes and gentel sarresines / iugen hem-sulue That lelyche they byleue / and ȝut here lawe diuerseth And o god þat al bygan · with gode herte they honoureth And ayther loueth and byleueth / in o · god almyhty Ac oure lord aloueth no loue / but lawe be þe cause For lechours louyen aȝen þe lawe / and at þe laste ben dampned And theues louyen and leute hatien / and at þelasteþe laste ben hanged And lele men lyue as lawe techeth / and loue þer-of aryseth The whiche is þe heued of charite / and hele of mannes soule ¶ dilige deum propter deum Id est propter veritatem & inimicum tuum propter mandatum Id est propter legem & Amicum propter Amorem id est propter caritatem Loue god for he is goed / and grounde of alle treuthe // notate bene de amore X.17.150.m.1: The Latin inflection that we have supplied was cropped out accidentally during trimming. Loue thyn enemye entierely / goddes heste to fulfille Loue thy frende þat folleweth thy wille that is thy fayre soule For when alle frendes faylen / and fleen a-way in deynge Thenne seweth the soule to sorwe or to ioye And ay hopeth eft to be / with here body at þe laste In murthe or in mournynge and neuere eft to departe And þat is charite leue chield / to be cher ouer thy soule ¶ Contrarie her nat as in Consience / yf thow woldwolt come to heuene Where sarresynes y saide / y-se nat what is charite Hit may be so þat sarresynes / haen such amanerea manere charite Louen as by lawe of kynde / oure lord god almyhty Hit is kyndly thyng creature / his creatour to honoure For þer is no man þat mynde hath / þat ne mekethmeketh hym and bysecheth To þat lord þat hym lyf lente / lyflode hym sende Ac many manere men þer ben / as sarresynes and iewes Louyeth nat þat lord aryht as by þe legende sanctorum And lyuen oute of lele byleue / for they loue on amenea mene AmanA man þat hihte Makameth for messie they hym holdeth And aftur his leryng they lyue and by lawe of kynde And when kynde hath his cours / and no contrarie fyndeth Thenne is lawe y-lefte and leute vnknowe passus · 7mus · ¶ Beaute sanz bounte / blessed waswas hit neuere Ne kynde sanz cortesie / in no contreye is preysed notate de Macometh Me fynde wel þat Macometh / was amana man y-cristened And a cardinal of Court a gret clerk with-alle And pursuede to haue be pope prince of holychircheholy chirche Ac for he was lyk a lossheborw / y leue oure lord hym lette For-thy souhtesouhte he in-to surie and sotiled how he myhte Be maister ouer alle tho men / and on this manere a X.17.178: A, "he." wrouhte ¶ He endaunted a douue / and day and nyhte here fedde In ayþer of his eres priueliche he / hadde CornCorn þat þe coluere eet when he come in places And in what place he prechede / and the peple tauhte Thenne sholde þe coluere come to þe clerkes ere Menyng as aftur mete / thus macumeth here enchauntede ¶ And when þe coluer can thiscam thus then knelede þe peple For Macometh to men swaer hist was amessagera messager of heuene And sothliche þat god sulue / in suche a coluere lyknesse Tolde hym and tauhtetauhte hym / how to teche þe peple Thus macumeth in misbileue / man & womman brouhte And on his lore thei lyuen ȝut / as wel lered as lewed ¶ And seth oure saueour / soffrede such a fals cristene disceue so the sarrasyns sothlyche me thynketh Holy men as y hope / thorw helpe of the holy ~~chi~~ goste Sholden conuerte hem to Crist / and cristendoem to take Allas þat men so longe / on Macometh bileueth // be-hold se lo what prelates scholde do So manye prelates to preche / as þe pope maketh Of nasareth of vyneue[n]yneue / of neptalym of damaske X.17.198-X.17.201: X.17.198-X.17.201 share this line division with DcIP2UcYc; compare the majority arrangement offered at RK17.190-RK.17.193, where the lines divide at byd, name, ihesus, and deye, with the Latin Bonus, etc., set off as an extrametrical tag (RK.17.193α). Here in X, that Latin tag looks like a b-verse of a macaronic line, though there is no telling how the scribe perceived it beyond placement. Again, as we have often seen, the problem comes from confusion about the length of a particular line, in this case X.17.198, which, though compact, must alliterate on the two /w/ sounds. X (or its ancestors) did not see it this way and imported the a-verse of the next line (Ite in vniuersum mundum) up into it, creating the oft-seen domino effect on the next lines. Notice how RK.17.191 (the b-verse of X.17.198 and a-verse of X.17.199) must alliterate on /u/ (vniuersum) and /w/ (wilne). None of this seems to have been apparent to the scribes who wrought the current line division. That they ne wente as holy writ byd Ite in vniuersum mundum Sethe ȝe wilne þe name to be prelates and preche The passioun of ihesus and as hym-sulue saide So to lyue and deye Bonus Pastor animam suam ponit pro ouibus suis & cetera ¶ Hit is reuthe to rede how riht holy men lyuede How they deffoulendeffouled here flesche / forsoke here owne wille Fer fro couthe and fro kyn / euele y-clothed ȝeden Baddeliche y-bedded / no boek but here Consience Ne no rychesse but þe rode to reioysen hem ynne de do-wel ¶ Absit nobis gloriari nisi in cruce domini nostri & cetera And tho was pees and plente amonges pore and ryche And now is reuthe to rede / how þe rede noble Is reuerenced byfore the rode / and resceyued for the worthiore To amende and to make / as with men of holy churche // þe croys is coueytyd Thenne cristes cros þat ouercome / deth and dedly synne ¶ And now is werre and wo / and who-so why asketh For couetyse aftur a cros / the corone stand in golde Bothe riche and religiouesreligious X.17.215: We transcribe religioues here, though the reading may well be religiones, as RK note. This might also be an error for religiouses with the <s> accidentally left out. / þat rode they honouren That in grotes is graue / and in golde nobles For couetyse of the croes / clerkes of holichurcheholi churche Sholle eouerturne as þe templers dede þe tyme approcheth faste Minne ȝeȝe nat lettred men · / how tho men honourede More tresor then treuthe / y dar nat telle þe sothe notate hic aliqui How tho corsede cristene / catel and richesse worschipede Resoun and rihtfol doem / tho religious dampnede ¶ riht so ȝe clerkes / ȝoure coueytise ar come auht longe Shal dampne dos ecclesie / and depose ȝow for ȝoure pruyde deposuit potentes de sede & cetera Ȝif knyhthoed and kynde wit / and þe comune and consience To-gederes louyen lelelyche / blouethleveth X.17.227: X's unique reading loueth, makes little sense. The reading of all other C manuscripts is leveth, and most C manuscripts read leveth wel—translate: "you had better believe it, bishops." The cause of the error is not clear, but it appears that Hand 1 wrote a , perhaps anticipating the last word in the line, and then quickly inserted an <o> to convert the into <l>, resulting in loueth, a error perhaps also influenced by the a-verse's louyen. hit bisshopes The lordschipe of londes lese ȝe shal for euer And lyuen as leuitici dede / and as oure lord ȝow techeth ¶ Per primicias X.17.230: RK record a suspension of alone here, with <r> fully present, but we take the curl after in primicias, commonly a supension of <re>, to have been used here to represent <ri>. & decimas & cetera Whan Constantyn of his cortesye / holy kirke dowede With londes and ledes / lordschipes and rentes An angel men herde / an X.17.233: An unfinished character follows an. hye at rome crye ¶ dos ecclesie this day / hath y-dronke venym And þat haen petres power / aren apousened alle A medecyne moste þerto / þat myhte amende þe prelates That sholde preye for þe pees / and possession hem letteth Taketh here londelondes ȝe lordes / and lat hem lyue by dymes Yf the kynges coueyte / in cristes pees to lyuene For if possession be poysen / and inparfit hem make The heuedes of holychurcheholy churche / and tho that ben vnder hem Hit were charite to deschargen hem / for holychurcheholy churche sake passus · 7mus · And purge hem of þe olde poysen / Ar more perel falle For were prest-hode more parfyte / that is þe pope formost that with moneye maynteyneth men doto werre vppon cristene Aȝen þe lore of oure lord / as seynt luk witnesseth ¶ Mihi vindictam & cetera his preyeres with his pacience to pees sholde brynge X.17.247: C manuscripts vary as to where to place the Latin: XIKP2Yc place it here, at the start of RK.17.236; other manuscripts place it at the end of the previous line, but most present it alone on a separate line (as RK do), after RK.17.235. Its metrical status must have confused certain scribes, but it certainly is not part of a macaronic line. Alle londes in-to loue / And þat in lytel tyme The pope with alle prestes pax vobis sholde make And take hede onhow Macometh / thorw amyldea mylde dowue Hadde al surie as hym-sulue wolde / and sarrasines in equitee Naught thorw manslaght / and mannes strenghe X.17.252-253: This line division is shared by XIK. Most C manuscripts present X.17.252-X.17.253 all as one line (cf. RK.17.241). Since the combined version of the line has four lifts on /m/, it is easy to understand why X divided the lines as it does, since they still appear to have alliterative patterning, though X.17.251 strains Duggan's Rules in the b-verse. For a general overview and bibliography on "Duggan's Rules," see Hoyt N. Duggan, "The End of the Line," in Medieval Alliterative Poetry: Essays in Honour of Thorlac Turville-Petre, ed. John A. Burrow and Hoyt N. Duggan, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006. Macometh hadde þe maistrie Bote thorw pacience and priue gyle he was prince ouer hem all In such manere me thynketh moste þe pope Prelates and prestis preeyep[re]ye and biseche deuouteliche day and nyhte / and with-drawe hem fro synne And crie to Crist a X.17.258: A, "he." wolde his coluer sende The whiche is þe hy holy gost / þat out of heuene descendetdescendyd X.17.259: It is difficult to tell if this word in X is Latin (as we have marked it so that it can be searchable as such), or English, or a combination or the two. If Latin, X's form could be the third singular future ("will descend") from descendere. If English, it is perhaps an unattested form of the preterite from MED descenden, v. Schmidt and Pearsall present X's reading simply as English: RK add <h> to obtain descendet[h], also English. To make a perpetuel pees / bitwene þe prince of heuene And alle maner men / þat on this molde libbeth Yf preste-hode were parfyt and preyede thus the peple sholde amende That contrayencontra[r]yen now cristes lawes / and cristendoem dispisen For sethe þat this sarrasines / scribz and this iewes // id est X.17.265.m.1: We do not transcribe the raised points here because we take them to be the suspension markers. Credo in deum patrem Haen alyppea lyppe of oure bileue / the lihtlokour me thynketh They sholde ho-so trauayle wolde / and of þe trinite teche hem For alle paynyme preyeth / and parfitliche bileueth In þe greethe X.17.268: HS and RK say that <the> in grethe is written over an erasure. We agree, and believe that X's obtained reading is a form of MED greith(e), n., meaning 1(a), "[r]eadiness, order, governance, control" or 1(b), "effective guidance, counsel; command." The overwhelming majority reading is the simple grete (with P2 reading grace of, influenced by the b-verse grace). I, however, a manuscript that shares several unique readings with X, reads grete of. Here is what might have happened. Like J, X also read grete of, which makes no sense (adjective + preposition). Then Hand 2, while correcting and composing his gloss directly at margin left, saw that something was wrong and erased the final <e> of grete, and perhaps the <t> as well, and then squeezed in <the> (with the <t> likely restroked), obtaining grethe of (noun + preposition). Neither hand noticed that the "error," as it were, or rather the variant we perceive by comparison, was the word of. So Hand 1 let it stand and Hand 2 changed archetypal grete, instead of deleting the offending of. We thank Dorothy Kim and Sarah Wood for assistance with this reading (direct consultation of the manuscript at the Huntington Library 7/29/13). MED greith(e) is rare, but appears in an interesting passage in Piers Ploughman's Creed that also concerns the topic of the Credo, as here in Piers 17 (and it also includes a version of the phrase grete god): PPl.Creed (Trin-C R.3.15) 34: Sire, for grete gods loue, þe graiþ þou me telle, Of what myddelerde man myȝte y best lerne My Crede? (MED, s.v. greithe, n., def. 1(b). of god / and his grace asken And maken here mone to Macometh / here message to shewe Thus in a fayth lyueth þat folk / and in afalsa fals mene And þat is reuthe for tho rihtfole men / þat in þat reume wonyeth And aperela perel for prelates / þat þe pope maketh That bereth name of Neptalym of Niniue of damaske For when þe hye kyng of heuene / sente his soule til erthe ¶ Mony myracles a X.17.275: A, "he." wrouhte men for to torne In ensaumple þat men sholde · se by sad resoen That men myhte nat be saued / but thorw mercy and grace And thorw penaunce and passioun / and parfyt bileue de do-wel And bicam man of a mayde / and metropolanusmetropol[it]anus And baptised and bisshemedebisshopid X.17.280: The XIYc reading might come from MED bishamen, v., meaning "[t]o slander (sb.)," which is among the most bizarre readings one can imagine, attributing the act of slander to Christ. More likely this is an error for the interesting though minority reading (adopted by Pearsall, RK, and Schmidt) from MED bishinen, v., perhaps def. 2, "(a) [o]f God, Scripture, theology: to shed spiritual light upon (sth.); illuminate, enlighten; (b) to enlighten (the mind, etc.); (c) to make illustrious." These editors thus reject the overwhelming majority reading of the C manuscripts, bisshopid, from MED bishopen, v., "[t]o confirm (a baptized Christian); bestow salvation upon (the faithful)," since, as Schmidt (2011) says, the sacrament of confirmation is incongruous in the immediate context (Parallel Text Edition, vol. II.1, p. 434). / with þe bloed of his herte Alle þat wilnede and wolde / with inwit bileue hit Mony seynte sethe soffrede deth also For to enferme þe fayth / ful wyde-whare deyede In ynde in alisandre / in Armonye in spayne And fro mysbileue mony men turnede In sauacioun of mannes soule / seynte Thomas of Canterbury Amonges vkyndev[n]kynde cristene in holy churche was slawe And alle holy kirke honoured / thorw that deyng He is a forbisene to alle bisshopis / and abrihta briht myrrour And souereynliche of suche þat of surie bereth þe name And nat in Ingelond to huppe aboute / and halewe men auters And crepe in amonges curatours / and confessen aȝeyn þe lawe ¶ Nolite mittere falcem in messem alienam & cetera Many man for cristes loue / was martired amonges Romaynes Or cristendoem were knowe þere / or eny croos honoured Euery bisshope bi þe lawe / sholde buxumliche walke And pacientliche thorw his prouynce / And to his peple hym shewe Feden hem and follen hem / and fere hemfrohem fro synne ¶ In baculi forma / sit presul hec tibi norma Fer trahe punge gregem seruando per omnia legem And enchaunten hem to charite / on holy churche to bileue For as þe kynde is of a knyhte / or for akyngea kynge to be take And amonges here enemyes / in mortel batayles To be culd and ouercome the comune to defende So is þe kynde of a curatour for cristecristes loue to preche And deye for his dere childrene / to defendedestruye dedly synne Bonus pastor & cetera X.17.307: As we have seen before, here the C manuscripts vary on the placement of the Latin tag. XIK place the Latin here, while other manuscripts place it after the English. / and nameliche þer þat lewede lyuen and no lawe ne knoweth ¶ Ac we cristene conneth þe lawe / and haen of oure tonge BischopeBischopes and bokes / the bileue to teche Iewes lyuen in þe lawe / þat oure lord tauhte Moises to be maister þer-of / til messie come And on þat lawe they leue / and leten hit for þe beste And ȝut knewe they crist þat cristendoem tauhte And for a parfit profete / that moche peple sauede passus 1us ¶ X.17.315-X.17.316: A blue figure extending from X.17.315-X.17.316, most likely a blue paraph, has been erased from the left margin. One has also been erased from the left margin beside X.17.318-X.17.320, but that one has been replaced with a red paraph. And of selcouthe sores / saued men fol ofte By þe myracles þat he made / messie he semede Tho he luft vp lasar / þat layde was in graue X.17.318-X.17.320: A blue paraph extending from X.17.318-X.17.320 has been erased from the left margin, having been replaced with a red paraph. One has also been erased from the left margin beside X.17.315-X.17.316. ¶¶ Quadriduanus coeld / quyk · dede hym walke Iewes sayde þat hit seye / with soercerye he wrouhte And studeden how to struye hym / and struyden hem-sulue And her power thorw his pacience / to puyr nauht brouhte And ȝut they seyen sothly / and so doen þe sarrasynes That ihesus was bote a iogelour / a iapare amonges þe comune And a sofistre of soercerie / and a seudo-propheta And that his lore was lesynges / and lakken khit alle And hopen þat he be to come / þat shal hem releue Moises oþer Macometh / here maystres deuyneth And haen a suspectioun to be saef / bothe sarresynes & iewes Thorw Moises and Macometh / and myhte of god þat made al And sethe þat this sarresynes / and also þe iewes Conne þe furste clause of oure bileue credo in deum patrem Prelates and prestes / sholde proue yf they myhte Lere hem littelum and littelum / and in ihesum christum filium Til they couthe speke and spele / et in spiritum sanctum Recorden hit and reden hit / with remissionem peccatorum Carnis resurectoemresurect[i]onem & vitam eternam amen Passus primus de dobet lLEue liberum Arbitrium quod y · / y leue as y hope // liberum arbitrium Thow couthest telle me and teche me to charite as y leue Thenne louh liberum Arbitrium / and ladde me forth with tales Til we cam in-to a contre cor hominis hit heihte Erber of alle pryuatees / and of holynesse Euene in þe myddes / an ympe as hit were That hihte ymago dei / graciousliche hit growede Thenne gan y aske what hit hihte / and he me sone tolde The tree hatte trewe loue quod he / the trinite hit sette Thorw louely lokynges hit lyueth / and launseth vp blosmes The whiche blosmes buirnes / benigne speche hit calleth And þer-of cometh a goed fruyt / þe wiche men calleth werkes Of holynesse of hendenesse / of helpe hym þat nedeth de do-bet The whiche is Caritas ykald Cristes oune fode And solaceth alle soules / sorwful in purgatory ¶ Now certes y sayde and siȝte for ioye y thonke ȝow a thousend sethe X.18.16: This and the following four line breaks are unique to XIKP2. These manuscripts move what should be the a-verse of X.18.17 (y thonke ȝow a thousend sethe) up into the b-verse of X.18.16. The result is that X.18.16 and X.18.20 are hypermetrical and X.18.17-X.18.18, all made from disjointed half lines, do not scan. So again we see the domino effect that such dislocations and confusions can cause. That ȝe me hider kende / and sethen þat ȝe fouchen saef To sey me as hit hoteth / and he thonkede me tho Bote thenne toek y hede / hit hadde schoriares to shuyuen hit vp Thre shides of o lenghe / and of o kyne colour & kynde as me thoghte Alle thre yliche long / and yliche large ¶ Moche merueyled me / on what more thei growede And askede ofteaskede efteefte askede of hym / of what wode they were ¶ Thise thre shorriares quod he / that bereth vp this plonte Bytokeneth trewely / the trinite of heuene Thre persones indepartable / perpetuel were euere Of o will of o wit / and heherr-with y kepe The fruyt of this fayre tre / fro thre wikkede wyndes X.18.28: X omits the following line attested by all C witnesses: And fro fallynge the stok hit fayle nat of his myhte (RK.18.30). The world is a wikkede wynd / to hem þat wolde treuthe Couetyse cometh of þat wynde / and Caritas hit abiteth And for-fret þat fruyt / thorw many fayre shitess[ih]tes X.18.31: We take shites here, below at X.18.35, and earlier at X.1.208 to be a simple transposition error, shared by XIYc. And with þe furste planke y palle hym down potencia dei patris ¶ Thenne is þe flesch afela fel wynde and in flouryng tyme Thorw lecherie and lustes so loude he gynneth blowe That hit norisheth nise shitess[ih]tes X.18.35: We take shit here, above at X.18.31, and earlier at X.1.208 to be a simple transposition error, shared by XIP2TYc. / and som-tyme wordes And many wikkede werkes / wormes of synne And al for-betforbit Caritas / rihte to þe bare stalke ¶ Thenne sette y þe seconde planke / sapiencia dei patris The which is þe passioun & þe penaunce & þe parfitnesse of ihesus And þerwith y warde hit oþerwhile / til hit waxe rype ¶ And thenne fondeth the fende / my fruyte to destruye And leyth a laddere þerto / of lesynges ben þe ronges And with alle þe wyles þat he can / waggeth þe rote Thorw bagbitares and braulesbraulers / and thorw bolde chidares And shaketh hit ne were X.18.45: What appears here to be possibly a suspension of <er> or <re> is in all probability simply a badly written anglicana <e>. hit vnder-shored hit sholde nat stande So this lordeynes lithereth þerto þat alle þe leues falleth And feccheth a-way þe fruyt som-tyme / byfore bothe myn yes And thenne palle y adoune the pouke / with the thridde shoriere / X.18.49.m.1: Here we see a single slash of unknown significance. Perhaps for a moment, the scribe contemplated putting a paraph marker at X.18.49, but since it is only a single slash, we do not transcribe a paraph. The whiche is spiritus sanctus / and sothfaste bileue corrigitur X.18.49.f.1: Below this corrector's mark, an unknown hand, at an unknown time, has scribbled an illegible series of graphs, and potentially the numeral <2>. passus · 1us · And that is grace of þe holygostholy gost / and thus gete y the maystrye I · toted vp-on þat tree tho / and thenne toek y hede Where þe fruyt were fayre / or foul tfor to loke on And þe fruyt was · fayre non fayrere be myhte X.18.53: Although this line lacks a virgule, which should come between the a-verse and the b-verse after fayre, it has a raised point of unknown function after was in the a-verse. AsAc in thre degrees hit grewe / grete ferly me thouhte And askede efte tho / where hit were all o kynde ¶ Ȝe sertes he sayde and sothliche leue hit Hit is al of o kynde / and þat X.18.57: In this line on the words and þat and in the following line on the first instance of somme, letters are darker, either from restroking or from a flooded pen. We see no evidence, however, of a correction here, nor are there surviving variants that would point to a motivation for correction. shal y preuen Ac somme ar swettore then somme / And somme wollen rotye Me may se on an appul tree mony tyme and ofte Of o kynde apples / aren nat iliche grete Ne suynge smale / ne of swettenesse swete Tho that sitten in þe sonne syde sannore aren rype Swettore and saueriore / and also more grettore Then tho that seld haen þe sonne / and sitten in þe North half And so hit fareth sothly / sone by oure kynde ¶ Adam was as tre / and we aren as his apples Somme of vs soethfaste / and somme variable Summe litel somme large / y-lik apples of kynde As weddede men and wedewes / and riht worthy maydones The whiche þe seynt spirit seweth / the sonne of al heuene And conforteth hem in here continence / þat lyuen in contemplacioun As monkes and monyals / men of holy churche These haen þe ȝyftehete of þe holigoestholi goest / as hath þecropþe crop of tre sonnethe sonne Wedewes and wedewares / þat here ownneeown[e] X.18.74: RK read the word as "ownee (e(1) over n another ink)." We see no evidence of a different ink. wil forsaken And chaste leden here lyf / is lyf of contemplacioun And more lykynde to oure lord / then lyue as kynde asketh And folewe þat the flesche wole / and fruyt forth brynge ¶ That Actiua lyf lettred men / in here langage hit calleth Ȝe sire y sayde and sethen þer aren but tweyne lyues That oure lord alloweth / as lered men vs techeth ¶ Actiua vita & contemplatiua vita Why groweth this fruyt in thre degres / a goed skil he saide Here beneth y may nyme / yf y nede hadde Matrimonye amoista moist fruyt / þat multiplieth þe peple And thenne aboue is bettere fruyt / as bothe two ben gode de dobet Wydewhode more worthiore then wedlok as in heuene Thenne is virginite more vertuous and fayrest as inheuenein heuene For þat is euene with angelis / and a.ngeles pere Hit was þe furste fruyte / þat þe fader of heuene blessed And bad hit be of abata bat of erthe amana man and a maide In menynge þat the fayrest thyng / the furste thynge shold honoure And þe clennest creature / furste creaturecreatour knowe In kynges Court and in knyhtes the clenneste men and fayreste Shollen serue for þe lord sulue / and so fareth god almyhty maydones and martres ministrede here on erthe And on hey heuene is priueoste and next hym by resoun And for þe fayrest fruyte / byfore hym as of erthe And swete with-oute swellynge / sour worth hit neuere ¶ This is a propre prelonte X.18.99: The <l> is written over what may be an aborted superscript, as if the scribe began by writing <þer> and realized the required letters were <pl>, hence quickly writing in an <l>, by way of correction. quod y · / and priueliche hit bloweth And bryngeth forth fruyt / folk of alle nacioun Bothe parfit and inparfit / puyr fayn y wolde Assay what sauour hit hadde and saide þat tyme Leue liberum Arbitrium / lat some lyf hit shake And anoon he hihte Elde / anhyan hy for to clymbe And shaken hit sharpeliche / the rype sholden falle And Elde clemp to þe clropward thenne comsed hit to crye A X.18.107: A, "he." waggede wedewhed / and hit wepte aftur A X.18.108: A, "he." meued matrimonye / hit made afoylea foyle noyse For euere as Elde hadde eny down / þe deluel X.18.109: RK correctly see that directly after the first <e> is an unfinished letter, which we read as <l>, overwritten by the first minim of , with the letter having been canceled by overwriting rather than by being erased. was wel redy And gadered hem alle to-gyderes / bothe grete & smale Adam and Abraham / and ysaye þe prophete Sampson and samuel / and seynt Iohan þe Baptiste And baer hem forth baldly no-body hym lette ¶ And made of holy men his hoerd in limbo inferni There is derkenesse and drede / and þe deuel maister Thenne moued hym moed in magestate dei ¶ That libera voluntas dei / lauhte þe myddel Shoriare X.18.117: With Shoriare, which we take to be capitalized, the scribe may have been turning the speaking prop into an actual character. On the confusing proliferation of characters in Piers Plowman, see Calabrese (2018), "Posthuman Piers?: Rediscovering Langland's Subjectivities." And hit aftur þe fende / happe how hit myhte ¶ Filius by þe fadres wille fley with spiritus sanctus To go ransake þat ragman / and reue hym of his apples That thorw fals biheste and fruyt / furste man disseyued passus · 1us · And thenne spak spiritus sanctus / in gabrieles mouthe To a mayde þat hihte marie amekea meke thyng with-alle That oen ihesus a Iustices sone / most iouken in here chaumbre Til plenitudo temporis / tyme y-come were That elde felde efte þe fruyt or full to be rype That ihesus sholde iouste þerfore / and by iugenment of Armes Who sholde fecche this fruyt / the fende or ihesus suluen The mayde myldeliche / the messager she grauntede And saide hendely to hym / lo me his hond-mayden For to worchen his wille / with-outen eny synne Maria Ecce Ancilla domini & cetera ¶ And in þe wombe of þat wenche / was he fourty wokes And bycam man of þat maide / mankynde to saue Byg and abydyng · and bold in his barn-hoed To haue y-fouthte with þe fende Ar fol tyme come Ac liberum Arbitrium leche-craeft hym tauhte Til pelenitudo temporis byhy tyme aprochede That suche a surgien sethen ysaye was þer neuere Ne noon so faythfol fisciscyen for all þat by-souhte hym A X.18.141: A, "he." lechede hem of here langour / bothe lasares and blynde ¶ Claudi Ambulant leprosi mundantiur X.18.142: The scribe appears to have written another minim after <t> and then overwritten that with the superscript suspension. And comen wommen conuertede / and clansed hem of synne And luft vp lazar þat lay in his tombe Quadriduanus coeld / quyk dede hym rome Ac ar he made þat miracle / mestus cepit esse And wepte watur with yeshis yes / the why weten fewe Ac tho that sey that selcouth sayde þat tyme That he was god or godes sone for þat grete wonder And some iewes saide / with sorserie he wrouhte And thorw the myhte of Mahond / and thorw misbileue ¶ demonium habes Ihesus Thenne is saton ȝoure saueour quod Ihesus & hath ysaued ȝow ofte Ac y saued ~~y saued~~ ȝow sondry tymes and also y fede ȝow With fyue fisches and loues / fyue thousendesþowsant at ones And y lefte basketes ful of Broke mete bere awey ho-so wolde Vnkynde and vnkunnynge quod Crist / and with aroepa roep smoet hem And ouerturnede in þe temple de do-bet And ouerturnede in þe temple here tables and here stalles And drof hem out alle þat þer bouhte and solde And saide this is an hous of orysones / and of holynesse And when þat my will is / y wol hit ouerthrowe And ar thre dayes aftur / edefye hit newe The iewes tolde þe iustice how þat ihesus saide Ac þe ouerturnynge of the temple / bitokened his resureccioun Enuye and euel wil / ern in þe iewes And pursuede hym priueliche / and for pans hym bouhte Ne forte tumultus fieret in populo corrigitur Iudas Of Ieudas þe iew ihesus oune disciple This biful on a fryday / alitela litel bifore Pasche ¶ That Iudas and iewes / ihesus thei mette Aue raby quod tho ribaudes / and riht til hym they ȝede And kuste ihesus to be knowe þerby / and cauht of þe iewes Thenne ihesus to Iudas / and to þe iewes sayde Falsnesse y fynde / in thy fayre speche And kene care in thy kissyng and combraunce to thy-sulue Thow shalt be myrrour to monye men to disceue Wo to tho þat thy wyles vysen to þe worldes ende ¶ Ve homini illi per quem sacandulumsacand[a]lum venit Sethe y be tresoun am take / and to ȝoure will iewes Soffreth my postles in pays / and in pees gange This iewes to þe iustices / ihesus they ladde ¶ With moche noyse þat nyhte nere frentyk y wakede In inwit and in alle wittes / aftur liber.um Arbitrium Y waytede witterly /  Ac whoder ~~...~~he wende y .ne wiste X.18.184: We cannot tell what was under the erasures in this line, and these particular words have no variants in other C manuscripts, many of which offer the line in a different syntax. HS wonder if the erased word(s) under he ended in <d>, as a faint <d> is still visible under erasure. The addition of the word he we attribute to Hand 2 because of its ink and letter forms, and because we see the addition of a punctus elevatus at the caesura, a practice we have identified as a characteristic feature of Hand 2's pattern of correction (X.2.38, X.5.21, X.8.287, X.11.321, and X.13.13). Abraham And thenne mette y with amana man / amyddelentonesa myddelentones sonenday As hoer as an hauthorn / and abraham he hihte Of whennes artow quod y · / and hendeliche hym grette ¶ I am with fayth quod þat freke / hit falleth nat me to lye An · heraud of Armes Ar eny lawe were What is his Immesauncescognisaunce X.18.190: We do not know what XIYc may have intended with the word Immesaunces, for which no attestation appears in the MED. quod y / in his cote Armure + X.18.191.m.1: The cross that appears in the right margin is of unknown function, as there are no corrections to the text at this point. Thre persones in o pensel quod he / departable fram oþere O speche and spirit / springeth out of alle i Of o wit and o · will were neuere a-twynne · 11 · passus ~~2us~~1us And sondry to se vpon / solus deus he hoteth SucheSiþenSuthe they ben suyrelepes quod y · / they haen sondry names That is soth saide he / thenne the syre hatte pater And þe seconde is a sone / of þe sire filius The thridde is þat halt al / a thyng by hym-sulue Holy goest is his name / and he is in all Of the trinite ¶ This is myrke thyng for me quod y / and for many anoþer How o lord myhte lyue o thre / y leue hit nat y sayde ¶ Muse nat to moche þer-on quod faith / til thow more knowe Ac leue hit lelly al thy lyf-tyme That thre bilongeth to a lord / þat leiaunce claymeth Miȝte and amenea mene / to se his owne myhte Of hym-sulue and his seruant / and what soffreth hem bothe GodGod that bigynnyng hadde neuere / bote tho hym goed thouhte Sente forth his sone / As for seruant þat tyme To ocupien hym here / til issue were spronge The whiche aren childrene of charite and holy church moder Patriarches and prophetes / and apostles were the childrene And Crist and cristendoem / and alle cristene holychurcheholy churche Bitokeneth þe trinite / and trewe bileue O god almyhty / þat man made and wrouhte Semblable to hym-sulue / Ar eny synne were A thre he is þer he is / and here-of bereth wittnesse The werkes þat hym-sulue wrouhte X.18.217: RK transcribe wreuhte here as the reading of X, and they list it as the only variant among C manuscripts. Pearsall and Schmidt print wrouhte without comment. Lower case <o> and <e> can often look the same, and we simply see <o> here. Compare the many instances of <eu> and <ou> nearby (or anywhere), such as bileue four lines above: in the usual <e> + sequence, the tail of the <e> touches the base of the left minim of the in a clear strong stroke. But in wrouhte we simply have a somewhat imperfectly finished <o>+ and thus no variant. / and this world bothe ¶ Celi enarrant gloriam dei & cetera That he is thre persones departable · y preue hit by mankynde And o god almyhty / yf alle men ben of Adam Eue of Adam was / and out of hym y-drawe And Abel of hem bothe / and alle thre o kynde And thise thre þat y Carp of Adam and Eue And abel here issue / aren bote oen in manhede Matrimonye with-oute moylere is nauht moche to preyse As þe bible bereth witnesse / A boek of þe olde lawe That acorsede alle couples / þat no kynde forth brouhte ¶ Maledictus sit homo / qui non reliquit semen in Israel And man with-oute amakea make / myhte nat wel of kynde de do-bet Multiplie ne more-ouer / with-oute amakea make louye Ne with-oute a soware be suche seed / this we seen alle Now go we to godhede in god fader of heuene + Was þe sone in hym-sulue / in asimilea simile as Eue X.18.233: Here is an interesting situation. To the right of this line is a corrector's cross, which is most likely an in-house alert to something in the text that needs to be fixed, yet no action has been taken. RK divide the line differently, following the lone manuscript Wa (their W) that places the word was after Eue instead of placing it as the first word of the next line. It is unlikely that the corrector would have been alert to that, for it is only RK who privilege Wa's reading, with Pearsall and Schmidt printing X as is. Yet we see another cross five lines below at a more apparent textual problem, q.v. These crosses are not modern but contemporary with the manuscript, so they may be clues to parts of a textual history now lost. Was when god wolde / oute of þe wey y-drawe And as abel of Adam / and of his wyf Eue Sprang forth and spak / a spyer of hem tweyne So oute of þe syre and of þe sone þe seynt spirit of hem bothe + is and ay were / And as thre persones palpable / as puylichpuy[r]lich bote o mankynde X.18.238: XIKP2Yc all present this long line thus, because they (and also DcUc, which do not, however, share the same line division) lack a b-verse, found in the other C manuscripts, that would complete is and ay were, here in RK's rendering: & worþ wiþouten ende (RK.18.232b). So X (or its ancestors) did not know what to do and crafted this three-part line with two virgules. The which is man and his make / and moilere here issue So is god godes sone / in thre persones the trinite In matrimone aren thre / and of o man cam alle thre And to godhede goth thre / And o god is all thre Lo treys encountre treys quod he / in godhede and in manhede Hastow y-sey this y seyde / alle thre and o god In a somur y hym seyh quod he / as y saet in my porche Where god cam gangynge / a thre riȝt be my gate ¶ Tres vidit & vnum adorauit Y roos vp and reuerensed god / and riȝt fayre hym grette Wosch heshere X.18.249: Hes is the reading of Yc also, and yet that form is nowhere to be found elsewhere in X; Hand 2 must have found that adding <s> was easier than also trying to erase the <e> to obtain the more usual form, his. The resulting singular possessive pronoun clashes with they later in the line, though the text does range between singular (X.18.247) and plural (X.18.248) in this passage about the unified but tri-partite appearance of God (as the Trinity) to Abraham. Perhaps the scribes momentarily lost track of number. feet and wypede hem / and afturward they eten And what y thouhte and my wyf he vs wel tolde He bihihte vs issue and ayr in oure olde age Fol trewe tokenes bitwene vs is / when tyme cometh þat y mete hym How he fondede me furste / my fayre sone ysaak To make sacrefice of hym / he heet me hym to honoure I · with-saet nat his heste / y hope and bileue ~~For hym-sulue saide~~Where y walke in this worlde / a X.18.256: We agree with HS who record that Where y walke in is written over an erasure; they specifically say that it is written over For hym-sulue saide, the opening of X.18.261, mistakenly written here, likely from eye-skip because both lines follow a line that ends in bileue. The faint traces of letters still visible, such as the <d> from saide, support their ingenious conclusion. X.18.256: A, "he." wol hit me allowe Y circumsised my sone / also for his sake My-sulue and my mayne / and alle þat male were Bledden bloed for þat lordes loue / y hope to blisse þat tyme Myen affiaunce and my faith / is ferme in his bileue For hym-sulue saide y sholdesholde haue / y and myn issue bothe Lond and lordschip ynow / and lyf with-outen ende To me and myn issue / more he me bihihte Mercy for oure mysdedes / as many tymes As we wilnede and wolde / with mouhte and herte aske ii passus 2us And sethe a X.18.266: A, "he." sente me to seyn / and saide that y sholde Worschipe hym with wyn / and with breed bothe At ones on an auter / in worschipe of the trinite And mademake sacrefice so / somwhat hit bitokneth I leue þat ilke lord thenketh / anewa newe lawe to make Fiet vnum ouile & vnus pastor ¶ Thus haue y ben his heraud here and in helle And conforted many acarfola carfol þere / þat aftur his comyng lokedeloken For-thy y seke hym he saide / for seynt Iohan þe Baptiste Saide þat a X.18.275: A, "he." seyh here / þat sholde saue vs alle Ecce Agnus dei Thenne hadde y wonder of his wordes / and of wydehis wyde clothes For in his bosome abaera baer X.18.277: A, "he." thyng / and þatþat a blessede ofte And y lokede in his lappe / a lazar lay þerynne With patriarkes and profetes / pleynge to-gyderes Fayth ¶ What waytest thow quod fayth / and what wost thewth[o]w haue ¶ I · wolde y-wyte quod y tho / what is in thy lappe Loo quod he and lette me see / lord mercy y saide This is apresenta present of moche pris / what prince shal hit haue ¶ Hit is a preciouse present quod he / Ac the pouke hit hath atached And me þerwith quod the weye / may no wed vs quyte Ne noen bern ben oure borw / ne bryngen vs out of þatoff daunger Fro þe poukes pondefold / no maynprise may vs feche Til he come þat y carpe of / Crist is his name That shal delyuere vs som day out of þe deueles power And bettere wed for vs wagen / then we ben alle worthy And þat is lyf for lyf / or ligge thus euere Lollyng in my lappe thus / til suche a lord vs feche ¶ Allas y saide þat synne so longe shal lette The myhte of goddes mercy / that myhte vs alle amende And wepte for his wordes / with þat saw y nonan other Rappliche renne þe riȝt way we wente And y fraynede hym furst / fro whennes he come What he hihte / and whoder he wolde / & whithliche he vs tolde X.18.298: This last line is perfectly in accord with other C manuscripts, but we notice that the scribe has used two virgules, the second correctly at the caesura, that function as modern commas do in creating pauses in a list. The first virgule may, more simply, reflect an initial error in marking the caesura, but the various flashes of what we would perceive as akin to modern punctuation are interesting to ponder. ¶ X.19.0.h.1: The headers for Passus 7 (29v) and 19 (82v) and the trailer at the end of Passus 9 (44r) are the only such headings/trailers that begin, for unknown reasons, with a red paraph. Passus secundus de dobet spes I am spes aspiea spie quod he / and spere aftur a knyȝte ~~...?...~~That toek me amaundementa maundement / vppon þe mont of synay de do-bet To reule alle reumes þerwith in riȝhte and in resoun Lo here the lettre quod he / alatyna latyn X.19.4: A, possibly a preposition, though see the textual note here: RK and Schmidt take it to be the article. and ebrewand an ebrew X.19.4: Despite the uniqueness of X's reading, Pearsall accepts and prints it, while RK and Schmidt emend to the majority and [an] ebrew (RK). That that y sey is soeth / se ho-so liketh ¶ Is hit asseled y saide / may men y-se thy lettres Nay he saide y seke hym / þat hath þe seel to kepe The which is Crist and cristendoem / and croes þer-an y-hangedþeron to hange Were hit þer-with aseled / y woet wel þe sothe That luciferes lordschipe / lowe sholde lygge ¶ Let se thy lettres quod y / we myhte þe lawe knowe A X.19.12: A, "he." pluhte forth a patente / a pece of an hard roche Mandata dei Where-on was writen two wordes / and on this wyse y-glosed ¶ dilige deum & pro.ximum This was the tyxt trewly / y toek ful good gome The glose was glorioulsly writen / with a gult penne ¶ In hijs duobus pependit · tota lex X.19.17: We do not transcribe the two raised points on either side of the <l> because we take them to be part of the suspension for lex. & cetera Is here al thy lordes lettres quod y · / ȝe leef me he saide And ho worcheth aftur this writ / y wol vndertaken Shal neuere deuel hym dere / ne deth in soule greue For thogh y sey hit my-sulue / y haue saued with this charme Of men and of wommen / meny score thousend fayth ¶ He seyth soth saide fayth / y haue y-founde hit trewe Lo here in my lappe quod fayth / þat leuede vpon þat lettre Bothe Iosue and Ieudith · and Iudas Macabeus And six thousand mo quod fayth · y nylcan nat seyn here names ¶ Ȝoure wordes aren wonderfol quod y tho / where eny of ȝowe betrewebe trewe And lele to bileue on / for body or for soule Abraham saith þat he seyh / holly þe trinitee Thre persones parselemele deparabledepar[t]able fram oþere And alle thre bote o god / thus abraham bereth witenesse And hath y-saued þat bileued so / and sory for here synnes He can no certeyn somme telle / and somme aren in his lappe What nedede hit thanne · anewea newe lawe to brynge Sethe the furste sufficede to bileue / and be saued ¶ And now cometh this speessp[e]s / that hath aspyed þe lawe That of no trinite ne telleth / ne taketh mo persones To godhede but o god / and on god almyhty corrigitur passus 2us The which alle men aren holde / ouer al thyng to honoure And seth to louye and to lene / for þat lordes sake Alle manere men as moche as oure-sulue And for to louye and bileue in o lord almyhty Hit is liht for lewed / and for lered bothe Ac for to bileue in o lord / þat lyueth in thre persones And lereth þat we louye sholde / as wel lyares as lele ¶ X.19.46: Hanna (in personal email correspondence) sees this particular instance of <cc> at Go thy gate as reflective of "a tendency [in manuscript culture] to mark changes of speakers in text with paraph." "Here," continues Hanna, the use is "kind of muddled—actually amid speech" but the <cc> paraph "is responding to the 'quod y' in midline as if it were marking a boundary." Since the <cc> is not the scribe's usual way of sectioning off text (as we say he normally uses //, whether colored or not), these instances of <cc> in the margins of the main text may constitute a separate iteration of correction and treatment of the text. (See the Introduction: I.5 Punctuation.) Go thy gate quod y · / to spes so me god helpe Tho þat lerneth thy lawe / wollen litel while hit vse And as we wenten in þe way / thus wordyng of this matere ¶ Samaritanus X.19.49.m.1: Here we see a <cc> symbol used to introduce the arrival of the Samaritan, and at once we see his name boxed as an annotation. These two scribal actions together signal that the Samaritan's dramatic arrival occasions some fanfare, to which readers should attend. Compare the instances and our notes at folio 91v (X.20.283); and cp. as well folio 17r (X.3.486), where in the right margin we see cc/ prophetia Petri. Thenne sey we a samaritaen / cam sittynge on .a muyle rydynge ful raply / þe rihte way we ȝeden Comynge fram a contraye / þat men callide Ierico To ioust in Ierusalem / he Iaced a-way ful faste Bothe abraham and speessp[e]s / and he mette at ones In a wilde wildernesse / where theues hadde y-bounde AmanA man as me tho thouhte / to moche care they brouhte For he ne myhte stepe ne stande / ne stere foet ne handes Ne helpe hym-sulue sothly / for semyuief he semede And as naked as an nedle / and noen helpe abouten Fayth furst of hym siht / Ac he fleyh a-syde And wolde nat neyhele hym / by nyne londes lenghe Hope cam huppynge aftur / þat hadde so y-bosted How he with Moyses maundement / hadde mony men y-holpe Ac when he hadde sihte of this syke / a-syde he gan hym drawe And dredfully with-drow hym tho / and durste go no nerre hym ¶ Ac so sone sotheso the samaritaen / hadde sihte of this carfole AlihteA lihte X.19.66: A, "he." X.19.66: The C witnesses are divided between those with he lihte and an almost equal number with he alihte. Here, we take <a> to be the pronoun he, a common form in this manuscript, not infrequently run together with the verb. anoen of lyard / and ladde hym in his handes And to this wey a X.19.67: A, "he." wente / his woundes to byholde And parseued by his poues / he was in perel to deye And bote if he hadde recouerer the raþer / þat ryse sholde he neuere And vnbokelede his boteles / and bothe he atamede With wyn and with oyle / his woundes he gan lihtelithe Enbaumed hym / and boend his heued / X.19.72: Again we see the use of two virgules functioning as modern commas do, here to dramatically set off the individual actions of the Samaritan. The second is dutifully on the caesura, but the scribe is hearing additional rhythms and responding to the syntax and pace of the verse. and on bayard hym sette And ladde hym forth l[forth] X.19.73: The scribe must have started lauacrum before catching himself, but he never deleted the stray <l>. to lauacrum / lex dei agrangeea grangeea grang[e] X.19.73: We determine that the scribe simply wrote an extra <e> because the form with doubled <e> is unattested among the forms in MED, s.v. graunge. We conclude, therefore that he intended to write a version of grange. Is syxe myle or seuene / bi-syde þe newe marcat de do-bet And lefte hym þere alechyng / to lyue yf he myhte And toek two pans the hostiler / to take kepe to hym And þat more goth for his medicyne / y make the good aȝeynward For y may nat lette quod that lede / and lyard he by-strideth And rapede hym to ryde / the rihte way to Ierusalem Bothe fayth and his felawe / spes folewede faste aftur Ac y sewede the samaritaen / and saide how they bothe Were afered and flowe / fram þe man y-wounded SamaritaSamarita[n] ¶ Haue hem excused quod hequod the X.19.83: Here Hand 2's addition attempts to align X with almost all other C manuscripts, but he never completed the correction by deleting the he. samaritaen here help may nat a-vaile Ne no medicyne vnder molde / the man to hele brynge Noþer faith ne fyn hope so festred aren his woundes With-oute þe bloed of abarna barn / he beth nat y-saued The which barn mote nedes be born of amaydea mayde And with þe bloed of þat barn / enbaumed and y-baptised And thouh he stande and steppe / riȝt stronge worth he neuere Til he haue eten al þat barn / and his bloed dronken And ȝut hebe plasterud with pacience / when fondynges hym priketh For wente neuere man this way / þat he ne was here y-ruyfled Saue my-sulue soethly and such as y louede And ȝut bote they louethay leue lelly vpon þat litel baby That his lycame shal lechen / at þe laste vs alle // A question to the samaritan ¶ A sire y saide shal nat we bileue As faith and his felawe / spes enfourmede me bothe In thre persones aparcelesa parceles X.19.98: A, preposition. Schmidt's glossary translates a parceles, s.v. a-parceles, to mean "as (distinct) parts." departable fram oþere And alle thre bote o god / thus abraham me tauhte And hope afturward of o god / more me toelde And lered me for his loue / to louye al mankynde And hym aboue alle / and hem as my-sulue Noþer lacke ne alose / ne leue þat þer were Eny wikkedere in þe worlde / then y were my-sulue And moest inparfyt aof alle persones / and pacientliche soffre Alle manere men / and thogh y myhte venge Y sholde tholye and thonken hem / þat me euel wolden ¶ A X.19.108: A, "he." saide soeth quod the samaritaen / and so y rede the also And as Abraham þe olde / of · o · god the tauhte Loke thow louye and bileue / al thy lyf-tyme i X.19.110.m.1: A single minim is visible. Probably, either iiij or iv was cropped. passus 2us Of þe trinite And yf kynde wit carpe here-aȝen / or eny kyne thouhtes Or eretikes with argumentis / thien hoend X.19.112: There is a clear subpunction here, in Hand 1's ink, beneath the <e> of hoend, but its function is unclear and it may not express deletion, since the reading hond that would be obtained is rare in the manuscript, found only at X.16.84 and X.18.129. The scribe's usual spelling is hand, though hoend also appears several times in the manuscript, such as at X.19.155. that thow hem shewe For god þat albyganal bygan in bigynnynge of the worlde Ferde furste as a furste X.19.114: The scribe erased an erroneous <r> and then attempted to close up the word with a horizontal stroke, in order to obtain fuste. He corrects himself in a similar mistake at X.19.136. At X.6.67 and X.19.147, he has made the mistake, but failed to correct it. / and ȝut is as y leue ¶ Mundum pugillo continens As with a fuste with-oute ao ~~fynd~~ fynger / yfolde to-gyderes Til hym likede and luste to / vnlose that fyndger X.19.117: An otiose superscript resembling an <er> suspension appears above the <g>. It is probably a false start on a <d>, akin to the mistake he made in the line above, where he wrote and then deleted the word fynd. A similar mark appears at X.19.125. And profered hit forth as with the paume / to what place hit sholde The paume is the pethe of the hand / and profereth the fyngeres To ministre and to make / þat myhte of hand knoweth And bitokeneth trewly / telle ho-so liketh The holy goest of heuene / he is as þe paume The fyngres þat fre ben / to folde and to cluche Bitokneth soethly the sone / þat sente was til erthe Touchede and tastede / at thechyng X.19.125: RK notice an "unfinished letter above e main hand," which we take as a false start on an <h>, having the appearance of an otiose superscript. A similar mark appears at X.19.117, q.v. of the paume Seynte marie amaydena mayden / and mankynde lauhte ¶ Natus est ex maria virgine The fader is thenne as þe fuste / with fynger and with paume To huyde and to holde / as holy writ telleth ¶ Omnia traham ad me ipsum And þat the fynger gropeth he grypeth / bote yf hit greue þe paume Thus are they alle bote oen / as hit an hand were A fuste with a fynger / and a fol paume And as þe fuste is a ful hand / y-folde to-gyderes ASo is þe fader a fol god / the furste of hem alle As my fu~~rste~~ste X.19.136: The scribe erased an erroneous <rste> and then added <ste>, in order to obtain fuste. He corrects himself in a similar confusion of furste for fuste at X.19.114. At X.6.67 and X.19.147, he has made the mistake, but failed to correct it. is furste / Ar y my fyngeres shewe And he fader and fornemeour X.19.137: The markup is not entirely adequate. RK correctly aver that the reading forneeour has been corrected. As we see it, Hand 1 wrote <ne> and then converted the <e> into a third minim to obtain <m>, producing the majority reading, formeour. / þe furste of alle thynges ¶ Tu fabricator omnium And al þe myhte with hym is / was and worth euere The fyngeres is a fol hand / for failed they or thombe Portrey ne peynte / parfitliche y leue Sholde neno writwriht X.19.142: X's writ is an attested form of MED wright(e), n. 1, meaning a workman—wholly appropriate to the context of manual labor. Alternately, perhaps, X's writ could mean, "something written; a document in writing, a written covenant" (MED, s.v. writ, n., def. 1[a]), providing a fascinating twist in meaning and self-reflective reference to the poet's—and the scribes'—own labors. worche / were they a-wey Riht so failed þe sone / the syre be ne myhte Ne holde ne helpe / ne hente þat he louede ¶ dextere dei tu digitus The paume is puyrliche the hand and hath power by hym-sulue de do-bet oþerwyse then þe writhen furstef[u]ste X.19.147: Here and at X.6.67, the scribe unintentionally adds an erroneous <r> to what should be fuste. At X.19.114 and X.19.136, he corrects himself in the same mistake. / or werkmanschupe of fyngres For þe paume hath power to pulte out þe ioyntes And to vnfolde þe fust / for hym hit bilongeth And receue þat the fyngeres recheth / and refuse yf hemhym liketh Andlle þat þe fyngeres and þe fust feleth and toucheth Bote he be greued with here grype / the holy goost lat falle And thus is the holy goste god / noyther grettore ne lassore Then is the syre or the sone / and of þe same myhte And alle thre is bote o god / as myn hoend and my fyngeres Vnfolden or folden / a X.19.156: A, preposition. fuste wyse or elles Al is hit bote oen hoend / how-so y turne hit Ac ho is herte in the hand / euene in þe myddes He may resceyue riht nauhte resoun hit sheweth For þe fyngeres þat folde sholde / and þe fust make For peyne of þe paume power hem fayleth To cluche or to clawe / to clippe or to holde Were þe myddel of myn hand / with-oute male-ese In many kyne manere / y myhte my-sulfe helpe Bothe meue and amende / thogh alle my fyngeres oke Bi this simile he saide / y se an euydence That ho-so synegeth in þe seynt spirit / assoiled worth he neuere Noþer here ne elles-where / as y herde telle ¶ Qui peccat in spiritu sancto & cetera For he priketh god as in his paume that peccat in spiritum sanctum X.19.170: This phrase, peccat in spiritum sanctum, is rendered in the previous line in the ablative. In classical Latin, the verb (pecco, peccare) could take either the accusative or the ablative when paired with the preposition in, and it is also observed "[w]ith dat of pers. (late Lat.): Domino, Vulg. Deut. 1, 41; ID. 2 Reg. 12, 13," (Lewis & Short, s.v. pecco, sense 1). DMLBS shows only dat. (sense 3[b]), and in+acc (sense 3[c]), a restriction contradicted by the readings of X. Neither line is a direct biblical quotation. Rather, they are paraphrases from the Gospels (Mt. 12:32, Mk 3:29, Lk 12:10), where the original phrasings in all have verbs other than pecco, peccare, which govern, rather, the accusative only. All modern editors print spiritum sanctum at X.19.169, even though the majority reading in that line is in fact spiritu sancto. For .soFor the fader is as þe fust / þe sone is as þe fynger The holy gost of heuene / he is as þe paume So ho-so synegeth aȝeyn þe seynt spirit / hit semeth þat he greueth God þer-withþer he gripeth / and wolde his grace quenche For to a torche or to a taper þe trinite is likned As wexe and a weke were twyned to-gyderes And thenne flaumynge fuyr / forth of hem bothe And as wex and weke / and warm fuyr to-gyderes Fostren forth a flaume / and a feyr lye That serueth this swynkares toto see by a-nyhtes So doth þe sire and þe sone / and seynt spirit to-gyderes Fostren forth amonges folke / fyn loue and bileue corrigitur passus · 2 · us · trinite That alle kyne cristen // clanseth of synne And as thow seest som-tyme sodeynliche of a torche The blase be y-blowen out / ȝut brenneth þe weke With-outen leye and lihte / lith fuyr in þe mache So is þe holigostholi gost god / and grace with-outen mercy To alle vnkynde creatures / þat coueyten to destruye Leel lycame and lyf / þat oure lord shupte And as glowyng gledes / gladeth nat this werkmen That worchen and waken in wynteres nyhtes AAss X.19.192: Hand 2's correction aligns X with all other C manuscripts. doth a kix ar a candle / þat cauht hath fuyr and blaseth ¶ No more doth sire ne þe sone ne seynt spirit to-gyderes Graunten eny grace X.19.194: We agree with RK and HS, who see that this addition is by Hand 1, who simply provides a word he had left out—the reading of all C manuscripts. ne for-geuenesse of synnes Til þat the holy goest / gynne to glowe and blase So þat the holy gost gloweth but as a glede Til þat loue and bileue / leliche to hym blowe And thenne flaumeth he as fuyr / on fader and on filius And melteth myhte in-to mercy / as we may se a X.19.199: A, preposition. wynter Isekeles in euesynges / thorwe hete of the sonne Melteth in a mynt-while / to myst and to water So grace of þe holigostholi gost / the grete myhte of þe trinite Melteth al to mercy / to merciable and to non oþere And as wex with-outen more / vpovpon a warm glede Wol brennen and blasen / be they to-gyderes And solacen þat mowen nat se sittynge in derkenessesderkenesse ¶ So wol þe fader forȝeue / folke of mylde hertes That reufulliche repenten / and restitucion make In as moche as they mowen / amenden and payen And yf hit sufficeth nat for a sech[as]e[t]h / þat in suche a will deyeth Mercy for his mekenesse / wol maky good þe remenaunt And as þe wyke and warm fuyr wol make a fayre flaume For to murthe men with / þat in merke sitten So wol Crist of his cortesye / and men crien hym mercy Bothe forȝeue and forȝete / and ȝut bidde for vs To þe fader of heuene forȝenesseforȝe[ue]nesse to haue Ac hewe fuyr at a flynt / foure hundret wynter Bote thow haue tasch to take hit with / tender and broches de dobet Al thy labor is loste / and al thy longe trauaile For may no fuyr flaume make · faile hit his kynde So is þe holy gost god and grace / with-outen mercy To alle vnkynde creatures / as Crist hym-sulue witnesseth ¶ Amen dico vobis nescio vos Be vnkynde to thy emcristene / and al þat thow canst bidde dele and do penaunce / day and nyht euere And purchase al the pardoun · of pampilon and of Rome And indulgences ynowe / and be ingratesingratingratus X.19.227: According to the OED, this cannot be the English word ingrates, meaning more than one ungrateful person, because its first attestation, s.v. ingrate n., is from 1672 (Duke of Buckingham, Rehearsal 1. 8). MED attests only the adjectival form, s.v. ingrat, "[u]ngrateful, thankless." But one has to wonder if the scribe imagined this word to be English or Latin, as it exists in the nebulous space between the two tongues. RK and Schmidt print the Latin adjective ingratus, attested by four manuscripts, while Pearsall prints what appears to be an English word, ingrate. Therefore, X's rendering might in fact be English, though the rubricator has underlined it as though it were Latin. to thy kynde The holy goest hereth the nat ne helpeth the be thow certeyne For vnkyndenesse quencheth hym / þat he can nat shine Ne brenne ne blase clere / for blowynge of vnkyndenesse Paul the apostel / preueth where y lye / si linguis hominum loquorloq[ua]r & cetera For-thy beth y-war ȝe wyse men / þat with the world deleth That riche ben and resoun knoweth / reule wel ȝoure soules ~~beth war~~ Beth nat vnkynde y conseyle ȝow / to ȝoure emcristene // notate X.19.235.m.1: Above the word notate, as HS identify, we see an erased phrase, beth war. This was likely written to exhort readers to heed the sage advice, Beth nat vnkynde, in the poem; there is no apparent reason for the erasure unless the scribe simply wanted to replace it with notate. We also note that a framing double virgule (<//>) to the left of notate has also been erased, again for unknown reasons. For mony of ȝow riche men / by my soule y lye nat Ȝe brenneth ac ȝe blaseth nat / and þat is ablyndea blynde bekne ¶ Non omnis qui dicit domine domine intrabit in regnum celorum · X.19.237: RK cite "reg with suspension," for XDcIUcYc. We take reg with its suspension mark and ce followed by a raised point as shorthand for the expected and common phrase regnum celorum. & cetera Minne ȝe nat riche men / to which a myschaunce That diues deyede / and dampned / for his vnkyndenesse Of his mete and his mone / to men þat hit nedede Ȝut wan he nat with wrong / ne with queynte sleythes Bute riȝtfulliche as men þat[r]at / al his richesse cam hym And on hym-sulue as sayth the boek / sotiled how he myhte Moste lordliche lyue / and ȝut his lycame werie Clothes of moest cost / as clerkes bereth witnesse ¶ Epulabatur splendide / & induebatur bisso & cetera And for he was a nygard / and a nythynge to the nedfol pore For godes tretor he is cald / for al his trewe catel And dampned a X.19.249: A, "he." dwelleth / with þe deuel in helle And sethe he with-oute wyles wan / and wel myhte atymye Lordliche for to lyue / and lynkyngliche be clothed And is in helle for al þat / how wol riche nohuthe Excuse hem þat ben vnkynde / and ȝut herehere catel y-wonne With wyles and with luyther whites / and ȝut wollen nat atymye passus · 2us · To go semeliche ne sitte / seth holy writ techeth X.19.255: The following line is omitted in X and a number of other manuscripts: That that wickedliche is wonne to wasten hit and make frendes (RK.19.250). Facite vobis amicos de mammona iniquitatis Vch a riche y rede / reward herof take And gyueth ȝoure goed to þat god þat grace of aryseth For þat ben vnkynde to hise hope ȝe noen oþer Bote they dwelle there diues is / dayes with-outen ende Thus is vnkyndenesse / and quencheth as hit were The grace of the holy goest / godes owene kynde For þat kynde doth / vnkynde for-doth / X.19.264: X.19.264-X.19.265 are rendered as almost all C manuscripts are, but all the editors adopt the line division of DcUc, which place As this corsede theues in the b-verse of the previous line. We detect a single virgule in the margin to the left of this line, of uncertain function. We are not sure that it is related to the question of line division here. As this corsede theues vnkynde cristene men / for coueytise and enuye Sleth amana man for his mebles / with mouthe or with handes For that the holy goest hath to kepe / tho harlotes distruyeth The which is lyf and loue / the leye of mannes body For euery manere goed man / may be likned to atorchea torche Or elles a taper to reuerense with the trinite ¶ And who-so morthereth a goed man / me thynketh bi myn inwit A X.19.271: A, "he." fordoth the lihte þat oure lord / loketh to haue worshipe of And ȝut in mo maneres / men affenden þe holygostholy gost Ac this is the worste wyse þat eny wiht myhte Snynegen aȝen þe seynte spirit / assente to destruye For coueytise of eny kyne thynge þat Crist dere bouhte How myhte he aske mercy / or eny mercy hym defende That wikkedliche and wilfulliche / wolde mercy anyente Innocence is next god / and nyht and day hit crieth Veniaunce veniaunce / forȝeue be hit neuere ~~venia...~~veniance X.19.280.m.1: Above the word veniance in the left margin we still can detect the remains of an erased word that might have been a smaller version of the same word; the possible outlines of <venia> are still faintly visible. That shent vs and shedde oure bloed / for-schupte vs as hit semede ¶ VindictaVindic[a] sanguinem iustorum Thus veniaunce veniaunce verray charite asketh And sethe Charite þat holy churche is chargeth this so sore Leue y neuere þat oure lord at þe laste ende Wol louye þat lyf / þat loue and Charite destruyeth nota X.19.286.m.1: The nota may function here to indicate a change of speaker, much like the <cc> notation that we have occasionally seen in the manuscript (which we transcribe as a paraph marker) and also like the <//> paraph marker itself. We may witness here an incomplete program of marking pauses and transitions in the text, accomplished through various scribal tools. So at X.19.290 just below at the very next change of speakers, we see the black <//>. Y pose y hadde syneged so quod y / and sholde nouthe deye And now am y sory þat y so · the seynte spirit agulte Confesse me and crye his grace / god þat al made And myldeliche his mercy aske / myhte y nat be saued ¶ Ȝus saide þe þe[þe] samaritaen / so thow myhtest repente de dobet That rihtwisnesse thorw repentaunce / to reuthe myhte turne Ac hit is bote selde y-seyen / there sothnesse bereth witnesse Eny creature be coupable / bifore a kynges iustice Be y-raunsomed for his repentaunce / þer alle resoun hym dampneth TheThe[r] þat partye pursueth / the apeel is so huge That may no kynge mercy graunte / til bothe men acorde That eyþer partye haue equitee / as holy writ witnesseth ¶ Nunquam dimittitur peccatum & cetera Thus hit fareth bi such folk / þat folewen here owene will That euele lyuen and leten nat / totil hem forsake Som drede of disparacion / thenne dryueth grace That mercy in here mynde / may nat thenne falle For goed hope that helpe thenne / scholde to wanhope þer turneth And nat of þe nown-power of god / þat he ne is ful of myhte To amende al þat amys is / and his mercy grettore Thenne oal X.19.306: The scribe, anticipating the beginning of the next word, wrote <o> but immediately corrected it to an <a> by supplying an upper chamber, making the letter oversized. Hence, we do not take it to have been intended as an upper case form. oure wikkede werkes / as holy writ telleth ¶ Misericordia eius super omnia opera eius notate hic bene Ac ar this rihtwisnesse to reuthe turne / restuticourest[it]u[ci]ou[n] hit maketh As sorwe of herte is satisfaccioun / for suche þat may nat paye Ac thre thynges ther ben / þat doth amana man to sterte Out of his oune house as holy writ sheweth That is a wikkede wyf / þat wol nat be chasted Here forefere fleeth here / for fere of here tonge And if his hous be vnheled / and reyne on his bedde A X.19.315: A, "he." seketh and seketh / til he slepe druye Ac when slmoke and smolder / smertheth his sihte X.19.316: By eye skip, X uniquely combines the first half line of RK19.307 with the b-verse of RK19.309, thus omitting the following lines found in all other C manuscripts: smyt in his sihte / Hit doth hym worse then his wyf or wete to slepe / For smoke & smolder (RK.19.307b-RK.19.309a). Til he be brlereyede or blynde / and þe borre in his throte Coueth and corseth / þat Crist ȝeue hym sorwe That sholde brynge in bettere wode / or blowen hit til hit brente Thise thre that y telle of / thus ben vnderstande The wyf is oure wikkede flesche / wol nat be chasted For kynde cleueth on hym euere / to contrarie þe soule And thogh he falle he fynte skiles / þat thatþat freelete hit made And þat is lihtliche forȝeue / and forȝete bothe To man þat mercy asketh / and amende thenketh ¶ The rayne þat rayneth / þere we reste sholde passus 3us Been seeknesses and oþere sorwes / þat we soffren ouhte As Paul þe apostel / in his episteles techeth Virtus in infirmitate perficitur And thogh that men make moche deul in here anger And be inpacient in here penaunces puyr resoun knoweth That they haen cause to contrarien bi kynde of here seknessesseknesse And lihtliche oure lord at here lyues ende Haeth mercy on suche men / þat euele may soffre Ac þe smoke and þe smolder / þat smyt in oure yes That is coueytise and vnkyndenesse / whiche quencheth godes mercy ¶ For vnkyndenesse is þe contrarie / of alle kyne resoun For þer ne is sike ne sory ne non so moche wrecche That he ne may louye and hym lyke / and lene of his herte Goed wil goed word / bothe wischen and wilnen Alle manere men mercy / and forȝeuenesse And louye hym yliche hym-sulue / that is lyue andhis lif X.19.342: The C manuscripts vary, but most read the possessive pronoun his, obtaining his lyf as the object of amend, the final word of this line. We do not understand the reasons for the insertion (or re-stroking) of the <n> in amende, the clear majority reading, as that repair does nothing to make sense of the muddled syntax wrought by his becoming the verb is. Note that RK emend to [and his lyf] amende as does Pearsall (both supplying an unattested and), while Schmidt prints that his lyf amende, keeping X's that, while rejecting its confusing minority reading, is. ame.nde Y may no lengore lette quod he / and lyard a X.19.343: A, "he." prikede And wente a-way as wynd / and þer-with y a-wakede Passus tercius de dobet X.20.1: In the decorative foliage above the initial <W> of Passus 20 is the illustration of the head of a man, perhaps the dreamer or perhaps Faith (Abraham) himself. .W.Ollewaerd X.20.1-X.20.3: For an unknown reason, an erasure has been made in a circular motion around the ornamented capital, leaving the present red ornamentation somewhat blurred. Whatever may have motivated this erasure is unclear, but it caused damage to graphs to the right—the <O> of WOllewaerd here, and the <A> of As in the following line, which we believe were therefore restroked. and watschoed / wente y forth aftur .As a recheles renk þat recheth nat of sorwe And ȝede forth y-like alorela lorel al my lyf-tyme Til y waxe wery of the world / and wilnede eefte to slepe And lened me to lenten / and long tyme y slepte Of gurles and of gloria laus / greetliche me dremede And how osanna by orgene oelde folke songe ¶ Oen semblable to þe samaritaen / and somdeel to Pers þe plouhman Barfoet on an asse bake boetles cam prikynge With-outen spores oþer spere / sprakeliche he lokede As is þe kynde of aknyhtea knyhte / þat cometh to be dobbet To geten here gult spores / and galoches y-couped fayth And thenne was faith in a fenestre / and criede a X.20.13: A, interjection. filij X.20.13: X's filij, is in the vocative plural, where the present context demands the singular vocative fili. Nevertheless, the reading is shared by several other manuscripts: IKPP2Yc. dauid As doth an heraud of Armes / when Auntres cometh to ioustes Olde iewes of Ierusalem / for ioye they songen ¶ Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini Thenne y afraynedefraynede at fayth / what al þat fare by-mente de dobet And ho sholde iouste in Ierusalem ihesus he saide And feche þat þe fende claymeth · pers fruyt þe plouhman X.20.19: This folio exemplifies the unevenness of the erasure of the character's name, which appears untouched three times, but is erased in two other instances. Is Peres in this place quod y / and he printe on me Liberum dei Arbitrium / for loue hath vndertake Ihesus That this ihesus of his gentrice / shal iouste in Pers Armes In his helm and in his haberion / humana natura That Crist be nat y-knowe / for consummtusconsumm[a]tus deus In ~~Pers~~ plates the ~~plouhma.~~ X.20.25: Conjectured reading: plouhman. this prikiare shal ryde For no dommtdo[nn]t X.20.26: The scribe's tendency to add otiose minims and the occasional unnecessary tilde resulted in the nonce form dommt. We believe that the scribe was attempting to write donnt, a form of MED dint, n., the majority reading among the manuscripts. IP2 read donte. shal hym dere / as in deitate patris ¶ Who shal iouste with ihesus quod y iewes or scribz corrigitur Nay quod faith bote the fende / and fals doem to deye deth saith a X.20.29: A, "he." wol for-do / and a-down brynge Alle þat lyueth or loketh / a X.20.30: A, preposition. londe or awatrea watre X.20.30: A, preposition. Lyf saith þat alyetha lyeth X.20.31: A, "he." / and hath leide his lyf to wedde That for al þat deth can do / with-ynne thre dayes to walke And feche fro þe fende ~~Peres~~ fruyt þe ~~plouhman~~ And legge hit þere hym liketh / and lucifer bynde X.20.34: Blynde has been partially erased as a casualty of the erasure of plouhman in the line above. And for-bete adown / and beyngebrynge X.20.35: It is not clear whether the scribe's beynge is a mechanical error for intended brynge, or if he has written a whole other word, a form of MED bien v.; other variants in C manuscripts include bugge, bygge and begge, all of which could be forms of bien, which means, among other things "[t]o purchase (sth.), acquire by purchase" (def. 1a[a]), obtaining uncertain meaning in this context. Note also that RK, likely on the model of X.20.29 above, override the manuscript evidence, including that in X, for line X.20.35 (RK.20.34) and reverse the words adown / and to obtain [and adown] b[r]ynge, ostensibly to make better sense. Pearsall and Schmidt emend to brynge but print X's word order. bale deth for euere ¶ O mors mors tua / ero morsus Thenne cam Pilatus with moche peple sedens protribunalipro tribunali pilatus To se how douthhtyliche deth sholde do / and demen þere beyre rihte The iewes and þe iustices / aȝeyns ihesus þey were And alle þe Court cryede crucifige loude ¶ Thenne potte hym forth a pelour / bifore pilatus and saide This ihesus of oure iewene temple / iaped and despised To for-doen hit on a day / and in thre dayes aftur Edefien hit eft newe / here he stant þat saide hit And ȝut maken hit as moche in alle manere poyntes Bothe as longe and as large / aloofte and o grounde And as wyde as hit euere was / this we witnesseth alle ¶ Crucifige quod a cachepol / he can of wycche-crafte Tolle tolle quod another / and toek of kene thornes And bigan of grene thorn / a garlond to make And sette hit sore on his heued / and sethe saide in Enuye Aue raby quod þat ribaud / and redes shotte vp to his yes And nayled hym with thre nayles / naked vpon a rode passus · 3us · And with a pole poysen potten vp to his lippes And beden hym drynke his deth to lette and his dayes lenghe And saiden yf he sotil be / hym-sulue now he wol helpe And yf thow be Crist and Crist godes sone X.20.57-X.20.59: Note that X and all C manuscripts divide lines X.20.57-X.20.59 thus, but all editors, perceiving faulty alliteration in X.20.58, rearrange the lines, first by bringing Come adoun of this rode into the b-verse of X.20.57 and then by rendering the next three half lines as one. Come adoun of this rode / and thenne shal we leue That lyf þe loueth / and wol nat late the deye ¶ Consummatum est quod Crist / and comsed for to swoene Pitousliche and pale / as prisoun þat deyeth The lord of lyf and of liht / tho leyde his eyes to-gederes The daye for drede þer-of with-drouh and derke bicam þe sonne The wal of the temple to-cleyef euene ala to peces The hard roch al to-roef / and riht derk nyht hit semede The erthe to-quaschetoquaschte and quoek as hit quyk were And dede men for þat dene / cam oute of de.pe graues And tolde why þe tempest so longe tyme durede For a bittur bataile þe ded body saide lyf & deth in this derkenesse X.20.69: XP2 alone divide the lines thus, while other C manuscripts place lyf & deth in this derkenesse in the next line, which they then divide after oþer. Here oen fordoth her oþer / Ac shal no wyht wyte witturlich ho shal haue þe maistry Ar a soneday aboute the sonne rysynge and sank with þat til erthe Somme saide he was godes sone þat so fayre deyede ¶ Vere filius dei erat iste And somme saide he can of soercerie / goed is þat we assaie Wher he be ded or nat ded / down or bhe be taken ThoTwo theues tho tholed deth þat tyme Vppon cros bi-syde Crist so was þe comune lawe A cachepol of tho theues · camQuikliche cam a cacchepol acrakeda craked X.20.78: A, "and." a-to heherer legges And here .armearmes aftur of euereche of tho theues Ac was no boie so bold · godes body to touche For he was knyht and kynges sone / kynde forȝaf þat tyme That hadde no boie hardynesse hym to touche in deynge Longynus Ac þer cam forth a blynde knyhte / with a kene spere y-grounde Hihte longies as þe lettre telleth / and longe hadde lore his sihte Bifore pilatus and oþere peple / in þe place he houed Maugre his mony teth / he was mad þat tyme Iouste with ihesus / this blynde iewe longies For alle were they vnhardy þat houed þer or stode To touchen hym or to turnentryne hym or to taken hym down & grauen hym bote this blynde de do-bet Bote this blynde bacheler / that bar hym thorw the herte The bloed sprang down by the spere / and vnspered the knyhteknyhtes yes Tho ful the knyhte vppon knees and criede ihesu mercy Aȝeyn my will hit was quod he / þat y ȝow wounde made And shyhed and saide sore hit me forthenketh Of þe dede þat y haue do / y do me in ȝoure grace Bothe my lond and my licame at ȝoure likynge taketh hit And haue mercy on me riȝtfol ihesu / and riht with þat a X.20.97: A, "he." wepte fayth reproued iewes Thenne gan faith fouely þe false iewes to dispice Calde hem Caytyues acorsed for euere For þis was a vyl vilanye / vengeaunce ȝow bifall That made þe blynde bete the dede / this was a boyes dede Corsede Caytifues knythoed was hit neuere To bete a body y-bounde / with eny briht wypene The gre ȝut hath he geten / for al his grete woundes For ȝoure chaumpioun Chiualer / chief knyht of ȝow alle Ȝelde hym creaunt remyng riht at ihesu wille For be this derkenesse y-do / deth worth y-venkused And ȝe lordeynelordeynes haen lost / for lyf shal haue maistrie And ȝoure franchise þat fre was / y-fallen is in-to thraldoem nota X.20.110.m.1: This folio and presumably the topic at hand has drawn much attention from the annotator, who here highlights with his nota the poem's remarks on the fate of the Jews; see also his fayth reproved iewes, above (X.20.98.m.1), and his gloss to the book of Daniel below (X.20.114.m.1). And alle ȝoure childerne cherles / cheue shal neuere Ne haue lordschipe in londe / ne no londe tulye And as bareyne be / and by vsure libbe The which is lif þat oure lord / in all lawes defendeth Daniel Now ben ȝoure gode dayes y-doen / as daniel of ȝow telleth When Crist thorw croos ouercam / ȝoure kyndoem sholde to-cleue ¶ Cum veniat sanctus sanctorum cessat & cetera What for fere of this ferly / and of þe false iewes Y with-drow in þat derkenesse to descendit ad inferna And there y seyh sothly secundum scripturas Out of þe west as hit were / a wenche as me thouhte Cam walkynge in þe way / to hell-ward she lokede Mercy Mercy hihte þat mayde / amyldea mylde thynge with-alle And a fol benyngne buydrde / and buxum of speche Here suster as hit semede / cam softly walkynge Euene oute of þe eest / and westward she thouhte 12 passus · 3us · truthe A comely creature and a clene Treuthe she hihte For þe vertue þat her folowede afered was she neuere When this maydones metten / Mercy and treuthe Ayþer asked oþer of this grete wonder Of the dene and the derkenesse / and how þe day roued And which a lihte and a leem / lay bifore helle Y haue ferly of this fare in faith seide Treuthe And am wendynge to wyte / what þis wonder meneth ¶ X.20.134: In the left margin we see here again a <//> to mark a paraph, which was never colored in, and which in this case marks a change of speaker. Haue no merueyle þer-of quod Mercy / merthe hit bitokneth Maria concipiet X.20.135.m.1: Grindley, transcribes the marginalia as Maria concepta, which we imagine would be translated as "Mary conceived [without sin]" (p. 134). According to Grindley's categories, this gloss is a "Narrative Reading Aid-Summation-Paraphrased Marginal Rubrics" akin to an earlier gloss at 28r: // Glotonyȝe goþ to schryfte. But the gloss at 89v actually reads Maria concipiet, "Mary will conceive," a reference to Isaiah 7:14: Propter hoc dabit Dominus ipse vobis signum. Ecce: virgo concipiet et pariet filium, et vocabitur nomen eius Emmanuhel. The gloss thus references the scriptural prophecy behind the poem's promise in these verses of the redemption that will come through Christ's birth. AmaydeA mayde þat hoteth Marie / amodera moder with-outen velynge Of eny kynde creature conceyued thorw speche And grace of the holy gost / wax grete with childe With-outen wommane wem / in-to this world brouhte hym And þat my tale is trewe / y take god to witnesse Sethe this barn was y-bore ben thritty wynter y-passed deyede and deth tholede / this day aboute mydday And þat is þe cause of this clips / þat ouercloseth now þe sonne In menynge þat man shal fro meerkenesse X.20.143: We attribute this important one-letter correction to Hand X. The uncorrected reading meekenesse agrees with variants in other manuscripts related to X (IGcUc), so this may have been the reading of Hand 1's exemplar. Whoever made the correction has aligned the text with the majority reading from MED mirk(e)nes(se), n., 1(a), meaning "[d]arkness," the obvious term required in this context. be y-drawe The while this lihte and this lowe shal lucifer ablende For patriarkes and prophetes haen preched her-of ofte That was tynt thorw tre / tre shal hit wynne And þat deth down brouhte / deth shal releue That thow tellest quod treuthe / is bote a tale of walterot For Adam and Eue And abraham with oþere Patriarkes aand prophetes / þat in peyne liggen Leue hit neuere þat ȝone liht / hem alofte brynge Ne haue hem out of helle / holde thy tonge mercy Hit is bote truyfle þat thow tellest / y treuthe woet þe sothe That thyng þat ones is in helle / out cometh hit neuere Iop Iop þe parfit patriarke / repreueth thy sawes ¶ Quia in inferno nulla est redempcio Thenne mercy fol myldely / mouthed this wordes Thorw experiense quod he / y hope they shal ben saued For venym for-doth venym / þer feche y euydence That Adam and Eue haue shullen bote For of alle fretynge venymes / the vilest is the scorpioun corrigitur de do-bet May no medecyne amende / the place there he styngeth Til he ded · y-do þerto / and thenne he destruyeth The verste venemouste / thorw vertu of hym-sulue And so shal this deth for-do / y dar my lyf legge All þat deth and þe deuel / dede formost to Eue And riht as the gylour thorw gyle bigiled man formost So shal grace þat bigan al · maken a goed ende And bigile þe gilour · and þat is a goed sleythe ¶ Ars vt Artem falleret / now soffre we saide / Treuthe X.20.170-X.20.171: The line division here is unique to X. Most other C manuscripts place the Latin on its own line and render now soffre we saide Treuthe y se as me thynketh as one line, though I runs the Latin and this whole line together as one. / Y se as me thynketh Out of þe nype of þe north / nat ful fer hennes Ryȝtwisnesse rihtwisnesse come rennynge / reste we the while For he woet more then we / he was ar we bothe That is soth saide mercy / and y se here bisouthe pes clothed in pacience X.20.176.m.1: The final <e> of pacience has been cropped. Where cometh pees pleiynge / in pacience y-clothed Loue hath coueyted here longe / leue y non oþere Bote loue haue y sente her som lettre / what this liht bymeneth That ouerhoueth helle thus / he vs shal telle Whenne pees in pacience y-clothed / aproched her ayþer oþer Rihtwisnesse reuerencced pees in here rich clothyng And preyede pees .to tellentellen here / to what place she sholde And here gay garnementes · wham she gladie thouhte My wil is to wende quod pees / and welcomen hem alle That many day myhte y nat se / for merkenesse of synne Adam and Eue and other mo in helle Moises and many moo / Mercy shal synge And y shal daunse þer-to / do thow so sustur For ihesus ioustede wel / ioy bigynneth dawe nota ¶ Ad vesperum demorabitur fletus & ad matitinummat[u]tinum leticia Loue þat is my lemman / such lettres he me sente That mercy my sustur and y mankynde shal saue And þat god hath forgyue / and graunted to alle mankynde Mercymercy my sustur and me to maynprisen hem alle And þat Corist hath conuerted / the kynde of rihtwisnesse In-to pees and pyte / of his puyr grace Loo here þe patente quod pees / In pace in idipsum ———— X.20.197.f.1: The rubricator indicated the leaf signature with two horizontal lines. passus · 3us · And that this dede shal duyre dormiam & requiescam Rauest thow quod rihtwisnesse / or thow art riht dronke Leuest thow þat ȝone lihte / vnlouke myhte helle And saue mannes soule suster wene hit neuere At the bigynnynge of the world god gaf the doem hym-sulue That Adam and Eue and al his issue Sholde deye down-riht / and downdwelle X.20.204: Down here might be a repetition of the same word from the a-verse, so this might be a commonplace error, though it does make strained sense, syntactically, as a directional reference to hell. in payne euere Yf that thei touchentouched þat tre / and of þe fruyt eten Adam afturward aȝenes his defense Freet of the fruyt / and forsoke as hit were The loue of oure lord and his lore bothe And folewede þat þe fend tauhte / and his flesch will Aȝeynes resoun y rihtwysnesse recorde hit with treuthe That her peyne is perpetuel no preyer may hem helpe For-thy hem cheue as they chose and chyde we nat sustres For hit is boteles bale the bite that they eten pees ¶ X.20.214: Here again we see a <//> paraph marker, added to the margins and never colored in, indicating, in this instance, a change of speaker. And y shal preye quod pees / here payne moet haue ende And þat heherr wo in-to wele / moet wende at .þe laste For hadde they wist of no wo · wele hadde thay nat knowen For no wiht woet what wele is þat neuere wo soffrede Ne what is hoet hunger þat hadde neuere defaute Ho couthe kyndeliche whit colour descreue Yf all þe world were whit or swan-whit all thynges Yf no nyht ne were / no man y leue Sholde y-wyte witterly / what day is to mene Ne hadde god y-soffred / of som oþer then hym-sulue He hadde nat wist witterly / where deth were sour or swete For sholde neuere riȝt riche man / þat lyueth in rest and inand hele Y-wyte what wo is / ne were þe deth of kynde So god þat bigan al / of his gode wille Bycam man of amaydea mayde mankynde to saue And soffred to be sold / to se þe sorwe of deynge The which vnkynytteth alle care / and comsyng is of reste For til moreyne mete with vs / y may hit wel a-vowe Ne woet no wyht as y were / what is y-now to mene For-thy god of his goednesse þe furste man Adam de do-bet Sette hym in solace furste / and in souereyne merthe And sethe he soffrede hym to synnede sorwe to fele To wyte what wele ~~wat~~wele was X.20.236: In this case a corrector's attempt to remedy the error of wel wat by deleting wat has failed to produce the reading of nearly all C manuscripts, wel was. The ink of the subpunction is darker than that of the main hand. ther-thorw kyndeliche to knowe And aftur god auntred hym-sulue / and toek Adames kynde To wyte what he hath soffred in thre sundry places Bothe in heuene and in erthe / and now to helle he thenketh To wyte what al wo is / þat woet of alle ioye ¶ Omnia probate quod bonum est tenete So hit shal fare bi this folk here folye and here synne Shal lere hem what loue is / and lisse with-outen ende For woet no wiht what werre is / þer-as pees regneth Ne what is witterliche wele / til welaway hym teche Thenne wasterwa[s] ther a wihte · with two brode yes Boek hihte þat beau pere / a bolde man of speche boek ¶ X.20.248: Here, a scribe marks a change of speaker with a type of paraph marker, the <cc> symbol we have seen used before. By godes body quod this boek / y wol herebere witnesse Tho þat this barn was y-bore þatþer blased as a sterre That alle þe wyse of the world / in o wit a-cordede That such a barn was y-bore / in Bethleem þe Citee That mannes soule sholde saue / and synne distruye And all þe elementis quod the boek / here-of bereth witnesse That he was god þat al wrouhte / the welkene furste shewede Tho þat weren in heuene / token stella comata And tenden hit as a torche / to reuerensen his burthe The lihte folewede þe lord in-to þe lowe erthe The water witnesseth þat he was god / for a X.20.258: A, "he." wendte on hym druye Peter þe Apostel / perseyued his gate And as he wente on þe watur · wel hym knewe and saide ¶ domine iube me venire ad te And hlo how þe sonne gan louke · here lihte in here-sulue When he sye hym soffre / þat sonne and se made Lo þe erthe for heuynesse / þat he wolde soffre quakid as a quyk thyng and also to-quasch þe roches Loo helle myhte nat holde / bote opened tho god tholede And lette out symondes sones / to sen hym honge on rode ¶ Non visurum se mortem & cetera And now shal lucife.r X.20.269: In this instance Hand 1 appears to have written an incorrect final letter in expected lucifer, perhaps an <l> (which matches the shape of the erasure) in anticipation of the first letter in the next word. We attribute this good correction to Hand X because we cannot with confidence attribute it to either Hand 1 or Hand 2, but we have not marked up the original reading with an <app> element, since the original scribe cannot have intended to misspell the word. If Hand X had not made this correction, in fact, we would have done so ourselves with <sic><corr> elements and no further markup. leue lihte / thogh hym loeth thynk —————— X.20.269.f.1: The rubricator marked the leaf signature with three horizontal lines. passus · 3us · For ihesus as a geaunt with a gyn cometh ȝende To breke and to bete adoun / all þat ben agaynes hym And to haue out alle of hem þat hym liketh And ȝut y boek wol be brente / bote he aryse to lyue And comforte alle his kyn / and out of care brynge And alle þe iewene ioye vnioynen and vnlouken And bote they reuerense this resurexioun / and þe rode honoure And bilewe on a newe lawe be ylost lyf and soule Soffre we sayde treuthe / y here and se bothe And spirit speketh to helle / and bit to vnsperevnspere þe ȝates corrigitur ¶ Attollite portas & cetera X.20.280: XIKP2 alone place this Latin at the beginning of this line. a vois loude in þat liht to lucifer saide PrincepesPrinc[i]pes of this place / prest vndo this gates For here acometha cometh X.20.282: A, "he." with croune / þe kynge of all glorie ¶ X.20.283.m.1: Here we see in the left margin a <cc> symbol used to mark the speech of Satan in the poem, and we see at once his name as an annotation. These two scribal actions together signal that Satan's dramatic arrival occasions some fanfare to which readers should attend. Compare the situation and our note at folio 83v (X.19.49); and compare as well folio 17r (X.3.486), where in the right margin we see cc/ prophetia Petri. Satan Thenne shyhed X.20.283: What looks like an otiose tilde over the <y> of syhe is the beginning of an anticipated <h>. satoun and saide to helle Such alyhta lyht aȝenes oure leue / lazar hit fette Care and combraunce is come to vs all oYf this kyneg come in / mankynde wol he fecche And lede hit þer lazar is / and lihtliche me bynde Patriarkes and prophetes / haen parled her-of longe That such a lord and alihtea lihte / shal lede hem alle hennes Ac arise vp Ragamoffyn / and a-reche me alle þe barres That Belial thy beel-syre / beet with thy dame AndAnd y y X.20.292: HS also identify this insertion as the work of Hand 2, who with this correction has aligned X with all other C manuscripts. shal lette this loerd / and his liht stoppe Ar we thorw brihtnesse be brenteblente · go bare we þe ȝates Cheke and cheyne we and vch a shinechine X.20.294: We have seen <ch>/<sh> variation before in the graphemic representation of /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ (X.2.183, X.14.222, X.15.47, and X.15.164), but it is not clear if X's shine is just such variation, with the intended word being a form of MED chine, n., the majority reading, meaning "[a] crack, gap, or chink (as in a wall or rock)" (def. 1[a]), or if the scribe has actually intended a form of MED shine, n. 2, meaning "[r]adiance, brilliance; a flash of light, gleam" (def. 1[a]), a term which, however incorrect, could have been suggested by the context of the imagery of brightness being darkened. stoppe That no liht lepe in / at louer ne at loupe Astarot hoet out / and haue out oure knaues Coltyng and al his kyn · / the car to saue Brumstoen boylaunt · brennyng out cast hit Al hoet on here hedes þat entrith ney þe walles Setteth bo.wes of brake and brasene gonnes And sheteth out shot ynow / his sheltrom to blende Set Mahond at þe mangrel / and mulle-stones throweth And crokes and kalketrappes / and cloye we hem vchone lucefer Lustneth quod lucifer / for y this lord knowe de dobet Bothe this lord and this lihte / ys longe y-go y knewe hym May no deth this lord dere / ne dono deueles quentyse And where he wol is his way / ac waer hym of þe perelles Yf he reue me of my rihte / A X.20.308: A, "he." robbeth me of his maistrie For bi riht and by resoun · þþ[e] renkes þat ben here Body and soule beth myne bothe gode and ille For hym-sulue said hit / þat sire is of heuene That Adam and Eue and all his issue ..Sholde deye with doel / and here dwelle euere Yf they touched atrea tre / or toek þer-of an appul Thus this lord of liht such alawea lawe made And sethe he is alelea lele lord / y leue þat he wol nat Reuen vs of oure riht / sethe resoun hem dampnede And sethen we haen ben sesed · seuene thousand wynter And neuere was þer-aȝeyne / and now wolde bigynne Thenne were he vnwrast of his word þat witnesse is of treuthe That is soeth saide satoun bote y me sore doute For thow gete hem with gyle · and his gardyn broke notate bene Aȝeyne his loue and his leue on his londe ȝedest Not in fourme of afendea fende / bote in fourme of anAddrean Addre And entisedest Eue to eten bi here one / ve soli And hby-hihtest here and hym / aftur to knowe As two godes with god bothe goed and ille This with treson and tricherie · thow troyledest hem bothe And dust hem breke here buxumnesse / thorw fals bihestes And so haddest hem out / and hiddere at þe laste Hit is nat graythly y-gete · ther gyle is þe rote And god wolnatwol nat be gyled / quod gobelyne none byiaped We haen no trewe title to hem for thy tresoun hit maketh For-thy y drede me quod þe deuel / laste treuthe wol hem fecche And as thowe bigyledest godes ymages / in goynge of an addre So hath god bigiled vs alle / in goynge of a weye For god hath go quod gobelyne / in gome liknesse This thritty wynter as y wene / and wente aboute and prechede Y haue assoayled X.20.339: Either Hand 2 or another hand (there is not enough of ink nor letter form to determine, so we say Hand X) has transformed the <o> into an <a> in order to obtain the majority reading, making this a successful instance of correction. hym with synne / and som-tyme ich askede Where he were god or godes sone / he gaf me short answere ———————— X.20.340.f.1: The rubricator marked the leaf signature with four horizontal lines. passus 3us Thus hathh X.20.341: After the final <h>, the scribe appears to have begun and then partially erased another <h>. he trolled forth lyke a tydy man this two & thritty wynter And when y seyh hit was so / y sotiled how y myhte Lette hem þat louede hym mnat / laste they wolde hym martre Y wolde haue lenghed his lyf / for y leued yf he deyede That if his soule hider cam hit sholde shende vs all For þe body whiles hit on bones ȝede / aboute was hit euere To lere men toto be lele / and vch man to louye oþer The which lyf and lawe / be hit longe y-vysed Hit shal vndo vs deueles / and down bryngen vs all And now y se where his soule cometh sylinge hidward With glorie and with lihtegrete lihte / god hit is ich woet wel Y rede we flee quod the fende / faste all hennes For vs were bettere nat to bebe / then abyde in his sihte For thy lesinges lucifer / we losten furst oure ioye And out of heuene hidore / thy pryde made vs falle For we leued on thy lesynges / þat thow lowe til Eue We haen ylost our oure lordschipe / alondea londe X.20.357: A, preposition. and in helle corrigitur ¶ Nunc princeps huius mundi Sethe þat satan myssaide thus foule Lucifer for his lesynges / leue y noen oþer Bote oure lord at þe laste / lyares here rebuke And wyte hem al þe wrechednesse þat wrouhte is here X.20.362: We follow RK who expand he to here (Schmidt likewise expands, but to her) because we see, as these editors must have, a bar for expansion over the <e>. The scribe of X sometimes expands he to hem, for example, in this way (e.g.: X.20.328 on the previous folio). But the <h> of he is so blotted here at X.20.362, as is the <h> of erthe at line's end, that the expansion is not readily apparent; in fact þat at mid line is blotted almost to illegibility, as is lihte at X.20.370 just below. But the frequent blotting on this line and folio has nothing to do with any correction or deletion. on erthe Beth y-waer ȝe wyse clerkes · and ȝe witty men of lawe That ȝe belyen nat this lewed men for at the laste dauid Witnesseth in his writynges · what is lyares mede ¶ Odisti omnes qui operantur iniquitatem Perdes omnes qui loqunturloq[u]untur mendacium A litel y ouerleep for lesynges sake That y ne sygge nat as y syhe suynde my teme For efte þat lihte bade vnlouke What lord artow quod lucifer / a voys aloude saide The lord of myhte and of mayne / þat made alle thynges Dukes of this demme place · anoen vndoth this ȝates That Crist may come in / the kynges sone of houene X.20.374: Houene, "heaven." Although this is not the scribe's usual spelling, forms with <o> are attested in the MED s.v. heven, n., so we do not take it to be a substantive variant. And with þat breth helle braek · with alle belialles barres For ~~eyy~~ eny wey or warde · wyde open þe ȝates de do-bet Patriarkes and profetes populus in tenebris corrigitur Songen with seynt Iohan / ecce agnus dei Lucifer loke ne myhte / so liht hym ablendeablente And tho that oure lord louede forth with þat liht flowen ¶ X.20.381: Here we see an uncolored <//> added in the margin, in this case to indicate a change of speaker. Lo me here quod oure lord lyf and soule bothe lord For alle synfole soules to saue oure bothe rihte Myne they were and of me · y may þe bet hem clayme Al-thouh resoun recordede / and rihte of my-sulue That if they ete þe appul alle sholde deye Y bihihte hem nat here / helle for euere For the dedly synne that they dede thi deseite hit made With gyle thow hem gete / a-gaynes all resoun For in my palays paradys / in persone of an addere Falsliche fettest there / þat me biful to loke Byglosedest hem and bigiledest hem / and my gardyne breke Aȝeyne my loue and my leue / þe olde lawe techeth That gylours bigiled / and herein here gyle falle And ho-so hit out amannesa mannes eye / or elles his foreteth Or eny manere membre / maymeth oþer herteth The same sore shal he haue / þat eny so sermyteth dentem pp[ro] dente / & oculum pro oculo So lyf shal lyf ledelete / ther lyf hath lyf anendedanyented So þat lyf quyte lyf þe olde lawe hit asketh ¶ Ergo soule shal soule quyte · and synne to synne wende And al þat men mysdede / y man to amenden hit And þat deth fordede my deth to releue And bothe quykie and quyte · that queynte was thorw synne And gylegyle be bigyled · thorw grace at þe laste ¶ Ars vt Artem falleret vt primus X.20.405: HS say that this addition, vt primus is in a different ink. We concur, and it can be in the hand of any of the correctors. It may be part of the program of annotations by Hand 2, though it appears to be written hastily and does not appear as clear as most of his annotations. Grindley does not include it in his transcription of the annotations. Vt primus must mean in this context something like "as we first saw," and must refer to the earlier instance of Ars vt Artem falleret above at X.20.170. So leue hit nat lucifer · aȝeyne þe lawe y feche Here eny synfole soule / souereynliche by maistrie Bothee thorw riht and thorw resoun raunsome here my lege Non veni soluere legem set andimplere So þat with gyle was gete / thorw grace is now y-wonne And as Adam and alle / thorwe a tre deyede nota Adam and alle thorw atrea tre shal turne to lyue ———————— X.20.412.f.1: The Rubricator has been marking the folios in this quire sequentially with red horizontal lines; this is the fifth folio in his sequence, but only four red lines are visible and are thus here transcribed. However, the vellum is visibly torn/scraped in this lower margin, perhaps in cropping or in binding, and this has likely obliterated a fifth line. passus · 3us · And now bygynneth thy gyle agayne on the to turne And my grace to growe / ay wyddore and wyddore The bitternesse þat thow hast browe now brouk hit thy-sulue That art doctour of deth / drynke þat thow madest For y þat am lord of lyf / loue is my drynke And for þat drynke to-day / y deyede as hit semede Ac y wol drynke of no dische / ne of deep clergyse Bote of comune coppes alle cristene soules Ac thy drynke worth deth · and depe helle thy bolle Y fauht so me fursteth ȝut for mannes soule sake Crist X.20.423.m.1: In the space below this marginalium there appears to be something erased, perhaps a first attempt to write the word Crist. ScicioS[i]cio X.20.423: RK emend to Sicio. We concur, but note that the DMLBS, s.v. sitire, has three attestations of the spelling with added <c>. May no pyement ne pomade ne preciouse drynkes Moiste me to þe fulle / ne my furste slokke Til þe ventage valle / in þe vale of Iosophat And drynke riht rype / m.ust X.20.426: HS record <o> under the , but we cannot detect the original reading. It was likely <o>, obtaining most, and creating an interesting situation. The overwhelming majority reading of C manuscripts is, in fact, most, which RK adopt, while Pearsall and Schmidt print X's must. The word must comes from MED must, n., def. 1(a), "[t]he juice of grapes, unfermented or undergoing the process of fermentation; new wine." Most is attested in the MED as an alternate spelling, and it is not clear if the original scribe intended that word or most as an adverb modifying rype. Nor is it clear what meaning RK intend. In any case, a corrector has sensed confusion and acted to obtain X's must which, we believe, provides the required meaning, "immature wine." resureccio mortuorum And thenne shal y come as kynge / with croune and with angeles And haue out of helle alle mennes soules ¶ X.20.429: The marker in the left margin that we here display as a black parasign looks most like the <//> we have been noticing, but it looks a bit like the <cc> mark we have also been charting, which we also transcribe as a parasign. We take the intentionality and function of both to be the same, and this version looks like a hasty hybrid; it does not here, however, mark a change of speakers, but it does have the effect of a pause, as Christ moves to a new topic, as if after the end of a verse paragraph. fendes and fendekynes byfore me shal stande And be at my biddynge at blisse or at payne Ac to be merciable to man / thenne my kynde asketh For we beth brethrene of obloedo bloed X.20.432: The <o> of bloed looks quite like an <e>, but we interpret it as a slight mechanical variation on the scribe's part, neither a true error nor a variant, so we print bloed, as do all other editors. Note the emphatic difference between the two letters in the same word in the very next line, as if he wanted no ambiguity the next time he wrote the word but did not feel compelled to return and re-stroke the previous instance. / Ac nat in baptisme alle Ac alle þat beth myn hole brethenebreth[r]ene / in bloed and in baptisme Shal neuere in helle eft come / be he ones oute ¶ Tibi soli peccaui · & malum coram te feci Hit is nat vsed on erthe / to hangen eny felones Oftur then ones thogh they were tretours And yf þe kynge of þe kyngdoem come in þe tyme Ther a thief tholie sholde / deth oþer iewyse Lawe wolde he ȝoue hym lyf / and X.20.440: And, "if." he loked on hym And y þat am kynge ouer kynges / shal come such a tyme Ther þat doem to þe deth dampneth alle wikkede And if lawe wol y loke on hem / hit lith in my grace Where they deye or dey nat dede they neuere so ille X.20.445: Enough of the erased graphs are visible under the erasure and overwriting to show that the scribe mistakenly copied and then deleted the Latin tag that he supplied at X.20.447, at the very bottom of the folio. He then copied here the proper English line over the erasure. ~~As nullum malum inpunitum & nullum bonum irremuneratum~~Be hit eny thyng abouhte the boldenesse of here synne OrY may do mercy of my rihtwysnesse / and alle myn wordes trewe For holy writ wol þat y be wreke of hem þat wrouhte ille ¶ As nullum malum inpunitum / & nullum bonum irremuneratum de dobet And so of alle wykkede / y wol here take veniaunce And ȝut my kynde andin my kene ire / shal constrayne my will ¶ Domine ne in furore tuo Arguas me & cetera To be merciable to monye / of my halue-bretherne For bloed may se bloed bothe afurst and a-cale Ac bloed may nat se bloed · / blede bote hym rewe ¶ Audiui arcana verba que non lucet homini loqui Ac my rihtwysnesse and rihte shal regnen in helle And mercy and mankynde bifore me in heuene ¶ X.20.458: Here, a hand has added the uncolored <//> in the margin; this instance does not mark a change of speakers but a transition in the current speech of Christ, as if marking off a verse paragraph. For y were an vnkynde kyng / bote y my kyn helpe nota hic bene And namliche at such a nede / þat nedes helpe asketh ¶ Non intres in iudicium cum seruo tuo Thus by lawe quod oure lord / lede y wol fro hennes Tho þat y louye / land leued in my comynge Ac for þe lesynge þat thow low lucifelr til eue Thow shal abyuye bittere quod god / and / boyndeb[o]nde X.20.464: RK report that X's boynde has been corrected, presumably to the majority reading bonde. We see some potential blotting of the <y>, but we cannot detect any actual correction or letter transformation. hym with chaynes Astarot and alle oþere · hidden hem in hernes They dorste nat loke on oure lord / the leste of hem alle Bote leten hym lede forth / which hym luste / X.20.467: We see here two virgules in one line, functioning like modern commas, setting off a non-restrictive relative clause, though the second one falls dutifully at the caesura. and leue which hym likede Many hundret of Angels harpeden tho and songen ¶ Culpat Caro purgat Caro regnat deus dei Caro Thenne piped pees / of poetes a note Clarior est solito & cetera post inimicicias / Clarior est & Amor Aftur sharpest shoures quod pees / most shene is þe sonne Is no wedore warmore / then aftur watri cloudes Ne no loue leuore / ne no leuore frendes Then aftur werre and wrake / when loue and pees ben maistres Was neuere werre in this world / ne wikkedere enuye That loue and X.20.477: And, "if." hym luste / to loulyngelauhynge X.20.477: We take XIYc's reading to be a form of MED lullen, likely def. 1(a), "[t]o induce sleep in (a baby) by rocking, crooning, etc.; also, sing a lullaby; ppl. lulling, soothing." This makes for an interesting if imaginative variant from the majority reading, which means rather, "to laugh, rejoice, express pleasure; be happy, revel" (MED, s.v. laughen, v., def. 1(c). brouhte And pees thorw pacience alle perelles stopede Trewes quod treuthe / thow tellest vs soeth by ihesus Cluppe we on couenaunt / and vch of vs kusse oþere And lat no peple quod pees / perseyue þat we chydde For inposible is no-thynge / to hym þat is almyhty Thowe saiste soeth saide rihtwisnesse / and reuerentlich here custe Pees and pees here per secula seculorum passus ~~p.us~~primus ~~..c~~ X.20.485.m.1: A single abbreviation, perhaps a nomen sacrum such as the Ihc seen further down on this folio, has been erased from the left margin. ¶ Misericordia & veritas obuiauerunt sibi Iusticia & pax osculate sunt Treuth trompede tho / and song te deum laudamus And thenne lutede loue in a loude note ¶ Ecce quam bonum & quam iocundum & cetera Til þe day dawed thes damoyseles caroled That men rang to þe resureccioun / and riht with þat y wakede And calde kitte my wyf / and Calote my douhter Arise and go reuerense godes resurecciomresureccio[n] And crepte to þe croes on knees / and kusse hit for a iewel And rihtfollokest ArelykA relyk / noon richore on erthe For godes blessed body / hit baer for oure bote And hit afereth thth[e] fende for such is þe myhte May no grisly goest glyde þer hit shaddeweth Explicit Dobet & incipit dobest Thus y wakede and wrot · what y hadde y-dremed And dihte me derely · and dede me to kyrke To here holly þe masse and toto [be] hoseled aftur // Hyer is a newe meteles how he say pers al blody In · myddes of þe masse · tho men ȝede to offrynge Y ful efte-sones a-slepe / and sodeynliche me mette That ~~.....~~ þe ~~...?...~~ X.21.6: Conjectured reading: Peres þe plouhman. was peynted al blody And cam in with a cros / bifore þe comune peple And riht lyke in alle lymes to oure lord ihesu And thenne calde y Consience to kenne me þe sothe is this ihesus the ioustare quod · y / X.21.10: There is a raised point between quod and y of uncertain function. The virgule falls at the caesura, as expected. þat iewes dede to dethe Or hit is ~~...?...~~ X.21.11: The conjectured reading is very difficult to determine, though it is likely to be one of the following: Peres þe Plouhman who, Peres Plouhman who, or Peres þe Plouhman. RK conjecture the first, though our measurement of the spacing, based on a comparison of the erasure above at X.21.6, would suggest either the second or the third. paynted hym soredeso rede X.21.11: We concur with all editors that the intended form here is so rede, though we note that MED records, s.v. sorede, adj., "Of a horse: reddish brown," with a completely different etymology, <OF soret. Quod Conciense and knelede tho / this aren Cristes Armes His colours and his cote armure / ac he þat cometh so blody Is Crist with his croes · conquerour of Cristene Whi calle ȝe hym Crist / sennes iewes callede hym ihesus Patriarkes & prophetes profecied bifore ToThat alle kyn creatures / sholde knelen and bowen A-noon as men nemned / þe name of god ihesu Ihesus Ergo is no name to þe name of ihesus Ne noen so niedfol to nemnie by nyhte ne by day For alle derke deueles / aren drad for to heren hit And synfole ben solaced / and saued by þat name de dobest And ȝe callen hym Crist for what cause telleth me Is Crist more of myhte / and more worthiore name Then ihesu or ihesus þat all oure ioye cam of Thow knowest wel quod Concience and þou kunne resoun That knyht kyng conquerour may be o persone To be cald a knyht is fayr / for men shal knele to hym To be cald a kyng is fairor / for he may knyhtes make Ac to be conquerour cald / þat cometh of special grace And of hardinesse of herte / and of hendenesse To make lordes of laddes / of lond þat he wynneth And fre men foule thralles / þat folleweth nat his lawes The iewes þat were gentel-men · ihesu thei dispisede Bothe his lore and his lawe now are they lowe cherles As wydeswyde as þe worlde is wonyeth þer none Bote vnder tribuyt and talage · / as tykes and cherles And tho þat bycome cristene / bi consail of þe baptist Aren frankeleynes and fre men Thorw follyng þat they toke And Ientel-men with ihesu / for ihesu was y-folled And vpon Caluarie / X.21.41: In this instance, the virgule does not fall at the caesura. on cros y-crouned kyng of iewes Hit bicometh for a kyng / to kepe and to defende And conquerour of his conqueste / his layes and his large And so dede ihesus þe iewes he iustified / and tauhte hem The lawe of lyf · that laste shal euere And fended hem fro foule eueles · feueres and fluxes And fro fendes þat in hem was / and false bileue X.21.48-X.21.51: XIP2Yc, with slight variation, all break the three lines differently from most C manuscripts, which divide the lines at profete, thornes, and noble, obtaining four lines. XIP2Yc lack the word cald in X.21.48, a shortfall that might account for the compression of these verses that causes, as we have seen before, a domino effect and creates in this case three long hypermetric lines. Tho was he iesu of iewes gentel profete and kyng of here kyngdoem And croune baer of thornes / and tho conquerede he on cros As conquerour noble myhte no deth hym for-do ne adown brynge That he ne aroos and regnede / and raueschede helle And tho was he conquerour cald · of quyke and of dede For he ȝaf Adam and Eue / and oþere mo blisse That longe hadden leye bifore / as luciferes cherles And toek lucifer the loethliche þat lord was of helle And bonde as he is bounde · with bondes of yre Ho was hardior then he / his herte bbloed he shewedeshedde To make alle folk fre / þat folweth his lawe passus primus And sethe he ȝeueth largeliche / all his lele lege Places in paradys / at here partyng hennes He may be wel called conquerour / and that is Crist to m.ene Ac the cause that he cometh thus / with his cros and his passioun Is to wissen vs þer-with / þat when we ben y-tempted Ther-with to fihte and fende vs fro fallyng in-to synne And se bi his sorwe / þat ho-so loueth ioye To penaunce and to pouerte / he mot putte hym-suluen And moche wo in this world wilnen and soffren Ac to carpe more of Crist / and how he cam to þat name faythly for to speke / his furste name was ihesus Tho he was bore in Bedlehem / as þe boek telleth And cam to take mankynde / kynges and angeles reuerensed hym riht fayre / with richesses of erthe AngeleAngeles out of heuene / come kneled and songe ¶ Gloria in excelsis deo Kynges a cam aftur knelede and offrede Mirre and moche gold / with-outen mercy askynge Or eny kyne catel / bote knoweleched hym souereyn Bothe of sand sonne and see / and sennes þei wente In-to here kyngenekuthkyngene kuth by consail of Angelis And þer was þat word fulfuld / þe which þou of speke ¶ Omnia celestia / terrestria / flectantur in hoc nomine ihesu For alle þe angelis of hemuene X.21.82: The scribe has converted an erroneous <m> to the needed by using the <e> to cancel the extra minim. / at his burthe knelede And al þe wit of the world was inin þo thre kynges Resoun and rihtfulnesse / and reuthe thei offrede · + · X.21.85.f.1: In the right margin, to the left of the four lines added there (X.21.85-X.21.88), Hand 1 has placed a cross, functioning as a signe de renvoie to indicate that these lines are to be added before X.21.89, which is prefaced by a corresponding cross. The rubricator later added touching in red to form an asterisk. Where-fore & why wyse men þat tyme Maistres & lettred men / Magi X.21.86: An unknown hand has careted in the <a> of Magi hem calde That a kyng cam with reson ykyuered vnder ensense The seconde kyng seth sothliche offrede war X.21.89.m.1: The original scribe had forgotten four lines and so has marked a cross to indicate that we are to read the inserted lines here. He then writes those lines vertically in the right margin. The rubricator, when he was working through the text, saw this and added four red dots around the cross at both the insertion point and at the lines themselves and then added the word war in the margin. War is from MED, s.v. waren, v. 1, def. 2: "Impv. ware, having the force of an interjection: (a) here, see, see here, look;—used to draw attention to oneself, the presence of someone or something, etc." On folio 6r, where we see war function similarly, the gloss draws attention to the insertion, making sure that we are "aware" of the need to go fetch these lines. The gloss is thus to be carefully distinguished from full imperative sentences using the word war (58v and 72v, q.v.), which offer imperatives about what we should be "aware" of in the matter of the poem itself. Thus, Grindley's categorization of war on 6r and 95v as "Literary Responses-Reader Participation"—a situation where the gloss enters "into dialogue with the text" (p. 135, p. 128)—can be misleading. Rather, these two instances where verses have been added are simply aids for reading the scribal apparatus. See the codicological note above for X.1.134-X.1.135. · + · X.21.89.f.1: In the left margin, after X.21.88, Hand 1 has placed a cross, functioning as a signe de renvoie to indicate four missing lines to be added. These lines are written in the right margin, prefaced by a corresponding cross. Both crosses have been touched in red by the rubricator, forming in each case an asterisk. Rihtwisnesse vnder reed · gold resones felawe Gold is klikened to lewetee · that laste shal euere And resoun to riche godlde / to riht and to treuthe The thridde kyng cam / and kneled to ihesu And presented hym with pyte / apperynge bi Mirre For Mirre is mercy to mene / and mylde speche of tonge Ertheliche honeste thynges · was offred thus at ones Thorw thre kyne kynges / knelyng to ihesu Ac for all this preciouse presentes / oure lord prince ihesu corrigitur de dobest Was noþer kyng ne conquerour til he comsed wexe In þe manere of amana man / and þat by moche sleythe As hit bicometh for a conquerour / to conne mony sleythes And many wyles and wyt / þat wol be aledarea ledare And so dede ihesu in his dayes / who-so durste tellen hit Som-tyme he soffrede and som-tyme he hudde hym And som-tyme he fauht faste / and fley oþer-while And som-tyme he gaf goed / and graunted hele bothe Lyf and lyme / as hym luste he wrouhte As kynde is of a conquerour so scomesede ihesu Til he hadde all hem / þat he fore bledde In his iu uenteeiuuentee this ihesus / at iewene feste Turned watur in-to wyn / as holy writ telleth And þer bigan god of his grace to dowel For wyn is likned to lawe / and lyf holinesse And lawe lakked tho for men / loued nat her enemyes And Crist consayleth vsþus / and comaundeth bothe Bothe to lered and to lewed / to louye oure enemyes So at þat feste furste / as y before tolde Bigan god of his grace / and goodnesse to dowel And tho was he cleped and calde not myonly Crist but ihesu A fauntekyn ful of wyt / filius Marie For bifore his moder Marie made he þat wonder That þeshe furste and theand formoste / sholde ferme bileue That he tho.rw grace was gete / and of no gome elles He wrouhte þat by no wyt / bote thorw word one Aftur þe kynde þat he cam of / þer comsede he dowel And when he was wexen more / in his moder absence He made lame to lepe / and ȝaf liht to blynde And fedde with two fisches / and with fyue loues Sore a-fyngered folk / mo then fyue thousend Thus he comfortede carefole / and cauhte a grettere name The which was dobet · where þat he wente For deue thorw his doynges / and dombe speke he& herde And all he heled and halp / þat hym of grace asked passus · lus · And tho was he cald / in contreye of þe comune peple For þe dedes þat he dede / fili dauid ihesus For dauid was the douhtiest / of dedes in his tyme The buyrdes tho songe X.21.136: This line division, separating X.21.136 from X.21.137, is unique to XYc, whose scribes must not have understood that the Latin of the next line is needed here to complete one full alliterating macaronic line of poetry. ¶ Saul interfecit mille / & dauid decem milia For-thy þe contre þer ihesu cam calde hym fili dauid And nempned hym of nazareth / and no man so worthy To be Cayser or kyng / of the kyngdoem of Iuda Ne ouer Iewes Iustice / as ihesus was hem thouhte Here-of hadde Cayphas enuye and oþer iewes And for to do hym to dethe / day and nyhte they casten And culden hym on cros / wyse / at Caluarie on a fryday And sethen burdenburied his body / and beden þat men sholde Kepen hit fro nyhte-comares / with knyhtes y-~~sh.~~armed X.21.146: HS correctly see that the scribe wrote <sh> (the first letters of the last word in the line above) plus possibly another letter to obtain sh.med. Either he quickly caught this and revised, or he let it stand until another hand made the repair. We have to attribute this to Hand X, but in any case the majority and correct reading has been obtained by this correction. For no frende sholde hit fecche for profetes hem tolde That þat blessed body / of buyrielles sholde ryse And goen in-to Galilee / and gladien his apostlis And mhis moder marie / thus men bifore deuyned The knyhtes þat kepten hit / biknewen hem-suluen That Angeles and Archangeles / ar the day spronge Comen knelng to þat Cors and songen ¶ Christus resurgens / and hit aroos aftur Veray man bifore allehem alle / and forth with hem ȝede The iewes preyed hem of pees / and preyede tho knyhtes Telle þe comune þat þer cam / a companie of his apostles And by-wichedby-wiched hem as they woke and away stelen hit · Ac Marie Maudeleyne mette hym by þe weye Goynge toward galilee / in godhede and in manhede And lyues and lokynge and aloude criede In vch a companye þer he cam christus resurgens Thus cam hit out · þat Crist ouercam rekeuerede and lyuede ¶ Sic christum pati & intrare & cetera For þat woman witeth / hit natmay nat be wel conseyl Peter perseyued al this and pursuede aftur Bothe Iames and Iohan / ihesu to seke Taddee and ten mo / with Thomas of ynde corrigitur And as atl thise wyse weyes de do-best And as al thise wyse weyes / weren two to-gyderesto-gyderes In an hous al bi-shut / and here dore y-barred Crist cam in and al closed / bothe dore and ȝates To peter and to his apostlis and saide pax vobis And toek Thomas by the hoende / and tauhte hym to grope And fele with his fyngeres / his flesheliche herte Thomas touched hit / and with his tonge saide ¶ dominus meus & deus meus Thow art my lord y bileue · god lord ihesu Deyedest and deth tholedest / and deme shalt vs all And now art lyuynge and lokynge / and laste shalt euere Crist Carpede thenne / and corteylichecortey[s]liche saide Thomas for thow trowest this / and treweliche bileuest hit Y-blessed mote thow be / and be shalt for euere And y-blessed mote they be in body and in soule ThaTha[t] X.21.184: In three instances, here and at X.21.296 and X.21.323, we markup up the reading tha/þa to correct to the scribe's usual form, that, but tha is attested in the MED as a form of that. neuere shal se me in sihte / as thowe seste nowthe And leelliche bileuen al this / y loue hem and blesse hem ¶ Beati qui non viderunt & crediderunt And when this dede was doen / dobest he thouhte And ȝaf ~~p...s~~ X.21.188: Conjectured reading: peres. power / and pardoun he graunted To alle manere men / mercy and forȝeuenesse HymAnd ȝaf hym myhte men to assaoyle / of alle manere synnes In couenaunt þat they come / and knoleched to pay To Peres pardoun þe plouhman Redde quod debes Thus hath Peres power / be his pardoun payed To bynde and to vnbynde bothe here and elles And assoile men of alle synnes / saue of dette one A-noon aftur an heyh / vp in-to heuene He wente and woneth there / and wol come at þe laste And rewarde hym riht wel / that reddet X.21.198: Hand 1 has added a <t> to convert the imperative verb into the future indicative. The question of verb forms appears to have confused scribes, since the manuscripts read, variously, reddet, reddit (present indicative), and also redde. The question is whether to treat the words in the phrase as an unconjugated tag or as grammatical terms that must match the local syntax, an interesting question that generated various scribal responses. Likewise, the final word in this line, debet (present indicative third singular) is sometimes rendered by scribes as debes even though the second person construction does not fit here. quod debet payeth parfitly / as puyr treuthe wolde And what persone payth hit nat / punischen he thenketh And demen hem at domesday / bothe quyke and dede The gode to godhede / and to grete ioye And wikked to wonye in wo with-outen ende Thus Consience of Crist / and of þe cros carpede X.21.204: Someone, perhaps a modern hand, has numbered the thirteenth quire in the inner left margin of the folio. passus · 1us · And conseyled me to knele þerto / and thenne cam me thouhte Oen spiritus paraclitu.s / to Peres and to his felawes In liknesse of a lihtnynge / alyhte on hem alle And made hem knonne & knowe / alle kyne langages Y wondred what þat was · and wagged Consience And was afered for the lihte / for in fuyres liknesse Spiritus paraclitus ouerspradde hem alle Quod Consience and knelede / this is Cristes messager And cometh fro the grete god / grace is his name Knele now quod Consience / and yf thow canst synge Welcome hym and worshipe hym / with veni creator spiritus And y sang þat song / and so dede many hundret And criden with Consience / helpe vs god of grace And thenne bigan grace / to go with ~~Per...?...pl..hm..~~ X.21.218: Conjectured reading: Peres the plouhman. And conseilede hym and Consience / the comune to sompne For y wol dele to-day / and deuyde grace To alle kyne creatures / þat can his fyue wittes Tresor to lyue by / to here lyues ende And wepne to fihte with þat wol neuere fayle Antecrist For Auntecrist and hise / al the world shal greue And a-combre þe Consience bote yf Crist the helpe And false profetes fele flateres and glosares Shal come and be curatours / ouer kynges and Erles And thenne shal pryde be pope and prince of holychurcheholy churche Coueytise and vnkyndenesse Cardynales hym lede For-thy quod grace or y go / y wol gyue ȝow tresor And wepne to fihte with / when Auntecrist ȝow assaileth And gaf vch man a grace / to gye with hym-suluen That ydelnesse encombre hem nat / ne enuye ne pryde diuisiones graciarum sunt Som men he ȝaf wyt / with wordes to schewe To wynne with treuthe þat the world asketh As prechours and prestes and prentises of lawe They leely to lyue · bi labour of tonge And bi wit to wissen oþere / as grace hem wolde teche And somme he kende hem craft and konnynge of syhte de dobest With sullyng and buggynge / here bileue to wynne And som he lered to laboure / alondea londe X.21.242: A, preposition. and a-watre And lyue by þat laboure / a leele lyf and a trewe And somme he tauhte to tulye / to teche and to coke As here wit wolde · when þe ty metyme come And somme to deuyne and to deuyde noumbres to kenne And compace and coloures to make / and somme to se and to saye X.21.247-X.21.248: The line division at X.21.247-X.21.248 is shared by XP2Yc, perhaps relating to the omission in X of a phrase (here given in RK's version) that several manuscripts witness: And somme to kerue (RK.21.241a). That half-line should be the start of X.21.247, though many manuscripts that also lack these words do not follow X's division. Hand 1 himself has done here what he often does when he perceives that a line is too short: he pushes up material from the next line, in this case, moving and somme to se and to saye from the next line, creating a domino effect and rendering X.21.247-X.21.249 hypermetrical, or otherwise faulty metrically. What sholde bifalle bothe of wele and of wo AndAs be y-waer bifore and astromnensastrom[i]ens thorw astronomye & philosopheres wyse And somme to ryde & somme to rekeuere that vnrihtfulliche was wonne He wissede men wynne hit aȝeyn / thorw whitnesse of handes And fechen hit fro false men with foleuiles lawes And somme he reredlered to lyue in longyng to be hennes In pouerte and in pacience · to preye for alle cristene And al he lered to be lele / and vch a craft loue oþere ne no boest ne debaet be among hem alle Thouh somme be clenner then somme / ȝe sen wel quod grace That all craft and connyng cam of my ȝefte Loke þat noen lacke oþere / bute loueth as bretherne AndAnd he he þat moest maistries can / be myldest of berynge And crouneth Consience kyng / and maketh craft ȝoure styward And aftur craftes consail clotheth ȝow and fedeth For y make ~~P..es.th..pl..h.an~~ X.21.263: Conjectured reading: Peres the plouhman. my procreatourprocuratour and my reue And Registrer to reseyuen Redde quod debes My prowour and my ~~plo.h.......es~~ X.21.265: Conjectured reading: plouhman Peres. shal ben on erthe // Hyer bygynnz ~~Peris plow~~ X.21.266.m.1: Evidently while searching for and erasing the character's name, the deleter has also excised the phrase Peris plow from the marginalium here, though the outline of all the letters is still visible. And for to tulye treuthe / atemea teme shal he haue Grace gaf ~~Peres~~ a teme / foure grete oxen ¶ X.21.268: Here at X.21.268 and again at X.21.274, a scribe has added the <//> uncolored paraph, in each case functioning to mark a sort of verse paragraph; notice the similarity in the phrases marked: That oen and Oen hihte. That oen was luc a large beste and a lou-chered And Marc and Mathewe the thridde myhty bestes bothe I Iohan And ioyned til hem / oen iohan most gentill of all The pris neet of ~~...?...~~ X.21.271: Conjectured reading: Peres plouh. passynge alle oþere And sethe grace of his goednesse / gaef ~~P....~~ X.21.272: Conjectured reading: Peres. foure stottes All þat his oxes erede / they two harwedto harwen aftur ¶ X.21.274: Here at X.21.274 and above at X.21.268, a scribe has added the <//> uncolored paraph sign, in each case functioning to mark a sort of verse paragraph; notice the similarity in the phrases marked: That oen and Oen hihte. Oen hihte Austyn / and Ambrose anoþer Gregory the grete Clerk / and Ieroem þe gode Thise foure the fayth to teche / folewefolewede ~~P...s~~ X.21.276: Conjectured reading: Peres. teme passus · 1us · And harwed in an hand-while / al holy scripture With two aythes þat they hadde an oelde and a newe ¶ Id est vetus testamentum & nouum And grace gaf Peres graynes / cardinales vertues And sewe hit in mannes soule / and sethe he toelde here names ¶ Spiritus prudencie / the furste seed hihte That ho-so ete / þat / ymageny he sholde X.21.283: The line likely alliterates on the vowels in ete and imageny, but perhaps the scribe was unsure of the caesura or was trying to highlight an alternate rhythm or syntax by using two virgules, as we again see some experimentation with nascent punctuation. Ar he dede eny dede / deuyse wel þe ende And lered men a ladel bugge with alongea longe stale That caste for to kele a crok / and saue þe fatte aboue The seconde sethesede hihte / Spiritus temperancie He þat eet of that seed / hadde such a kynde Sholde neuere mete ne meschief maken hym to swelle Ne sholde no s.cornare X.21.290: The scribe seems to have started and abandoned another letter, perhaps <h> or <k>, over the <c> of scornare. / out of skille hym brynge Ne neuere wynnynge ne welthe / orof wordliche richesse WastenWaste word of ydelnesse / ne wikede speche mene Sholde no curious cloth / comen on his rugge Ne no mete in his mouth / þat maister iohn X.21.294: At X.21.269 above, we expand this abbreviation as Iohan, which we find to be the common spelling in the manuscript referring to biblical instances of the name "John"; here, with Pearsall (2008), we take it to be "a contemptuous name for a fancy cook" (<hi rend="bold">C</hi>-text, p. 355), and so we expand as iohn. spyced The thridde seed that ~~.....~~ X.21.295: Conjectured reading: Peres. sewe / was spiritus fortitudinis And ho-so ete of þaþa[t] X.21.296: In three instances, here and at X.21.184 and X.21.323, we markup up the reading tha/þa to correct to the scribe's usual form, that, but tha is attested in the MED as a form of that. seed / hardy was euere To soffre al þat god sente seeknesse and andgeres X.21.297: It appears that the scribe started and abandoned a <d>, the upper stroke of which appears above the <g>. He then added the darker <er> suspension. Myhte no lyare with lesyngelesynges / ne losse of worldly catel Makyn hym for eny mornynge / þat he ne was murye in soule And bold and abidynge / busmares to soffre And plede al with pacience / and parce michi domine And keured hym vnder consayl / of Caton the wyse Esto forti Animo / cum sis dampnatus inique The ferthe seed that ~~P...s~~ X.21.304: Conjectured reading: Peres. sewe was spiritus Iusticie And he þat ete of þat seed / sholde be euene trewe With god and nat a-gast / bote of gyle one For gyle goth so priueyly / þat goed fayth oþer-while May nat be aspyed thorw spiritus Iusticie Spiritus iusticie spareth nat to speille X.21.310: X alone divides the line at kyng, whereas most C manuscripts divide at corecte. Hem þat ben gulty / and for to corecte the kyng And X.21.311: And, "if." the kyng falle in any a-gulte de dobest For counteth he no kynges · wreth when he in Court sitteth To demen as a domes-man / a-drad was he neuere Noþer of deuk ne of deth / þat he ne dede þe lawe For presente or for preyere / or eny prinses lettres He dede equite X.21.316: There appears to be faint, ambiguous underlining under the <ite> of equite, but it is most probably just smeared ink or offset. to alle / eueneforth his knowyng Thise foure sedes ~~.....~~ X.21.317: Conjectured reading: Peres. sewe / and sennes he dede hem harewe With olde lawe and newe / that loue myhte wexe Among thise foure vertues / and vices distruye For cominliche in Contrayes / cammokes and wedes Fouleth the fruyt in the feld / ther thei growe to-gyderes And so doth vices vertues / for-thy quod ~~.....~~ X.21.322: Conjectured reading: Peres. Harweth alle þaþa[t] X.21.323: In three instances, here and at X.21.184 and X.21.296, we markup up the reading tha/þa to correct to the scribe's usual form, that, but tha is attested in the MED as a form of that. conneth kynde / wit bi consail of doctoursthis doctours And tulieth aftur here techynge / the cardinal vertues Aȝeynes thy graynes quod grace / bigynneth for to rype Ordeyne the an hous quodom. ~~.....~~ X.21.326: Conjectured reading: Peres. in-to herborwe in thy cornes X.21.326: Hand X has obtained a unique reading with the addition of the word in, and one has to ponder his motivation, because the phrase he obtains is syntactically awkward: in to herborwe. Further, he has written his correction in over the erased vellum, indicating that his addition comes after the erasure of Peres. Calabrese (2005) has argued, based on the touch-ups that repair surrounding text near certain of the erasures of the character's name, that "the manuscript was acted upon after the erasures in ink and hand that look to be contemporary to the manuscript" (p. 198). ¶ By god grace quod ~~.....~~ X.21.327: Conjectured reading: Peres. / ȝe moet gyue tymber And ordeyne þathousþat hous / ar ȝe hennes wende And grace gaf hym þe cros / with crounethe croune of thornes That Crist vpon Caluary / for mankynde on peyned And of his bapteme / and bloed þat he bledde on rode He made a manere morter / and mercy hit hihte And þerwith grace bigan / to make agoodea goode fouidementfou[n]dement And wateled hit and walled hit / with his paynes and his passiouinpassio[u]n And of all holy writ / he made aroefa roef aftur And calde þat hous vnite / holy chirche an enlisch And when this dede was doen / grace deuysed A Cart hihte Cristendoem / to carie hoem Peres sheues And gaf hym caples to his Carte / Contrissioun & confessioun And made presthoed hayward / the while hym-sulue wente As wyde as the world is / with Peres to tulye treuthe And þe londe of bileue / the lawe of holichurcheholi churche ¶ Now is ~~P....~~ to the ~~p....~~ X.21.343: Conjectured reading: Peres to the plouh. / pryde hit aspiede And gadered hym a grete oeste greue he thenketh Consience and alle cristene / and cardinale vertues Blowe hem doun and BlekeB[r]eke hem / and betebyte a-to þe mores And sente forth surquidours / his seriauntes of Armes passus · 1us · And his spye spille loue / oen speke euele bihynde Thise two cam to Consience / and to cristene peple And toelde hem tydynges / þat tyne thei sholde þe sedes X.21.350: The C manuscripts disagree on where to divide these lines; XDcH2NP2TUcYc divide thus, while most others divide at sholde. That sire ~~P...s~~ X.21.351: Conjectured reading: Peres. Notice that for no apparent reason Peres in the very next line is left untouched. sewe þe cardinale vertues And Peres berne worth broke / and þei þat ben in vnite Shal come oute of Consience / and ȝoure two caples ¶ Confessioun and contricioun / and ȝoure Carte the bileue Shal be coloured so queyntly / and keuered vnder ȝoureoure sophistrie That consience shal nat knowe be contricioun ne bi confessioun X.21.356-X.21.357: XKP2Yc divide these lines at confessioun, while most C manuscripts divide at contricioun. Ho is cristene or hethene Ne no manere Marchaunt / þat with moneye deleth Where he wynne with riht / with wrong or with vsure With such colours and queyntises / cometh pruyde y-Armed With the lord þat lyueth aftur / the lust of his body To waston on welfare / and in wikked kepynge Alle the world in a while / thorw oure wit quod pruyde Quod Consience to alle cristene tho / my consayl is þat wewe wende Hastiliche to vnite / and holde we vs there preye we þat a pees were / in ~~.....~~ berne ~~þ...?...~~ X.21.366: Conjectured reading: Peres berne þe plouhman. For witterly y woet wel / we be nat of strenghe To goen agayn pruyde / bute grace were with vs And thenne cam kynde wit / Consience to teche And cryede and comaundede / alle cristene peple To deluen a dich · depe aboute vnite That holichurcheholi churche stoede in holinesse / as hit were apolea pole Consience comaundede totho alle cristene to delue And make a moche moet / þat myhte be astrenghea strenghe To helpe holichurcheholi churche and hem þat hit kepeth Thenne alle kyne cristene / saue commune wommen Repenteden and Refused · synne saue thei one And a sisour andand a sompnour þat weren for-sworen ofte Wytyng and wilfully / with the false thei helden And for suluer weren forswore / sothsothly thei wisten hit Ther ne was cristene creature / that kynde wit hadde That he ne halpe a quatitequa[n]tite / holinesse to wexe Somme thorw bedes biddynge / and bi pilgrimages de dobest Or oþer priue penaunses / and somme thorw pans delyng And thenne walled watur / for wikked werkes Egrelich ernynge / oute at menne yes Clannesse of þe comune / and clerkes clene lyuynge Made vnite holichurcheholi churche / in holinesse stande Y care nat now quod Consience / thow pryde come no.uthe X.21.389: The scribe appears to have begun and abandoned a letter or a suspension, but quickly replaced it with the needed . The lord of lust shal be y-lette / al this lente y hope Cometh quod Consience / ȝe cristene and dyneth That haen labored lelly / al this lenten tyme Here is bred y-blessed / and godes body þer-vnder Grace thorw godes word / gaf ~~P.rs.þ..P.....an~~ X.21.394: Conjectured reading: Pers þe plouhman. power Myhte to make hit / and menformen for to eten hit In helpe of here hele / ones in amonthea monthe Or as ofte as they hadden nede / tho þat hadden payed To ~~Peres~~ pardon þe ~~ploughman~~ Redde quod debetdebes X.21.398: The majority reading is Redde quod debes, which serves less as a sentence than as an entity describing what must be paid, or what is due of every Christian. However, X's own reading could be a dynamic variation on the poem's famous slogan, paraphrased thus: "Give back in return (each) as he ought." How quod alle þe comune / thow conseylest vs to ȝelde Al þat we owen eny wyhte / or þat we go to hosele That is my conseil quod Consience / and cardinale vertures Or vch man forȝeue oþer / and þat wol þe pater nostre X.21.402: RK transcribe this word as nostrer. ¶ Et dimitte nobis debita nostra & cetera And so to ben assoiled and sennes to be hoseled .Ȝe bawe quod abrewarea breware / y wol nat be y-ruled By ihesu for al ȝoure iangelyng / aftur spiritus Iusticie Ne aftur Consience bi Crist / y couthe sulle Bothe dregges and draf / and drawe at on hole Thikke ale or& thynne ale / and þat is my kynde And nat to hacky aftur holinesse / hold thy tonge consience Of spiritus Iusticie thow spekest moche an ydel Caytyf quod Consience corsede wreche Vnblessed art thow breware / but yf the gode helpe Bote thow lyue bi lore of spiritus Iusticie The cheef seed þat ~~.....~~ X.21.415: Conjectured reading: Peres. sewe / y-saued woestwo[r]st þou neuere Bote Consience thy comune fode / and cardinale vertues Leue hit we been lost / bothe lyf and soule Thenne is many man y-lost · quod aleweda lewed vicory Ich am a Curatour of holichurcheholi churche and cam neuer in my tyme passus ~~.us~~1us · X.21.420.f.2: The rubricator evidently wrote a prior version of the passus number, which he erased and replaced with the current 1us ·. We can still see the outline of the erased suspension mark. Man to me þat me couthe telle / of cardinales vertues Or þat acounted Consience / a cokkes fether or an hennes Y knewe neuere cardinale / þat he ne cam fro þe pope And we Clerkes when they come / for here comunes paieth For here pelure and palfrayes mete / and pelours þat hem folweth The comumecomu[n]e clamat cotidie / vch amana man to oþer The contreye is þe corsedore þat cardinals cometh ynne And þer they lygge and lenge moest / lecherye þer regneth For-thy quod this vicory / bi verray god y wolde That no cardinal come among þe comune peple Bote in here holinesse holden hem stille At Auenon among iewes cum sancto sanctus eris & cetera Or in Rome as here reule wolde / þe relikes to kepe And thow Consience in kynges Court / and sholdest neuer come thennes And grace that thow gredest so of / gyour of all Clerkes And ~~P....~~ with his newe ~~.....~~ X.21.435: Conjectured reading: Peres with his newe plouh. and also his olde Emperour of al þe world þat all men were cristene Inparfit is þat pope / þat all peple sholde helpe And soudeth hem þat sleeth suche as he sholde saue Ac wel worth Peres the plouhman þat pursueth god in doyngesdoynge ¶ Qui pluit super iustos / & iniustos at ones And sente þe soule to saue / acorseda corsed mannes tulthe As brihte as to þe beste man / or to þe beste womman Rihte so ~~Peres~~ the ~~plouhman~~ payneth hym to tulie As wel for a wastour / or for a wenche of the stuy.ves X.21.444: It appears that the scribe began some incorrect letter and has repaired it by conversion to <v>. As for hym-sulue and his seruauntes / saue he is furste y-serued So y-blessed be ~~Peres~~ the ~~plouhman~~ þat peyneth hym to tulie And trauaileth and tulieth / for a tretour also sore As for a trewe tydy man / alle tymes ylyke And worschiped be he þat wrouhte all / bothe gode and wikcke And soffreth þat synnefole / be til som-tyme þat þei repente And god amende þe pope / þat pileth holichurcheholi churche And claymeth bifore þe kynge / to be kepare ouer cristene And counteth nat thow cristene / be culde and y-robbed And fynde folke to fihte / and cristene bloed to spille Aȝen þe olde lawe and þe newe lawelawe boþe old and nyweold lawe & the newe / as Luk X.21.455: The <L> of Luk has been re-stroked and heightened in the same ink, to render an upper case letter, and there is a decorative flourish on the <k>. bereth witnesse de dobest ¶ Non occides Michi vindictam & cetera Hit semeth bi so / hym-sulue hadde his wille He rekketh riht nauht / of þe remenaunt And Crist of his cortesye þe cardinals saue And turne here with X.21.460: We take with here to be a form of the majority wit. See MED, s.v. wit, n., senses 1-3. to wisdoem / and to wele for þe soule And For the comune quod this curatour counteth ful litel The conseyl of Consience / or cardinals vertues Bote hit sowne as bi sihte som-what to wynnynge Of gyle ne of gabbynges · gyueth they neuer tale For spiritus prudencie / among þe peple is gyle And al tho fayre vertues / as vises thei semeth For vchIche man sotileth a sleythe synne to huyde And coloureth hit / for a connyng and a clene lyuynge Thenne lowh ther a lord / and bi this lihte saide Y halde hit riht and resoun / of my reue to take Al þat myn Auditour / or elles my styward Conseileth me bi here a-counte / and my clerkes writyng With spiritus intellectus / they cotetoke X.21.473: The XUcYc reading comes from MED coten, v. 2, "(a) [t]o annotate (a book); (b) to compute (years), reckon." þe reues rolles And with spiritus fortitudinis / fecche hit wollehewoll he nullhenull he And thenne cam þer akynga kyng / and bi hiscoronehis corone saide Y am kyng with croune / the comune to reule And holy kyrke and clerkge fro cursed men to defende And yf me lakketh to lyue by / þe lawe wol þat y take hit Ther y may hitmay hastilokest hit haue / for y am heed of lawe And ȝe ben bote membres / and y a-boue alle And sethe y am ȝoure alere heued / y am ȝoure alere hele And holy churche cheef helpe / and cheuenteyn of þe comumecomu[n]e And what y take of ȝow two / y take hit at þe techynge Of spiritus iusticie / for y iuge ȝow alle So y may boldely be hoseled / foryfor y borwe neuere Ne craue of my comune / bote as my kynde asketh In condicioun quod consience / þat þou comune defende And rewle thy rewme / in resoun riht wel and in treuthe That thow haue al thyn askyng / as thy lawe asketh ¶ Omnia sunt tua ad defendendum / sed non ad deprehendendum The vicory hadde fer hoem / and toekfayre toek his leue passus 2us · And y waknedawakyd þerwith / and wroet as metteme mette Passus secundus de dobest And as y wente by the way / when y was thus a-waked Heuy-chered y ȝede and helyngelyng X.22.2: The XYc reading is likely a form of majority elyng. See MED, s.v. elenge, adj., 1(a), meaning in this context ". . . wretched, miserable, unhappy, sad." A form with <h> is listed in the quotations. in herte For y ne wiste where to ete / ne at what place // Hyere he mette wyt nede And hit neyhed neyh þe noen / and with nede y mette That afrounted me foule / and faytour me calde Couthest thow nat excuse the · as dede the kyng and oþere That thow toke to lyue by / to clothes and to sustinaunce Was bi techyng and by tellyng / of spiritus temperancie And þat thow nome no more / then nede the tauhte And nede ne hath no lawe / ne neuere shal falle in dette For thre thynges þat he taketh / is lyf for to saue That is mete when men hym werneth for he no money weldehth Ne wyht þat nownoen wol be his borwe / ne no wed hath to legge And he cacche in þat caes / and come ther-to by sleuthe He synegeth nat sothlich / þat so wynneth his fode And thow he come so to a cloth / and can no bettere cheuesaunce Nede anoen riht nymeth hym vnder maynprise And yfyf hym lust for to lape the lawe / of kynde wolde That he dronke at vch a dysch ar he deye for furste So nede at greet nede / may nyme as for his owne With-outen consail of Consience / or cardinale vertues So þat he sewe and saue spiritus temperancie for is no vertu be ver to spiritus temperencie X.22.23: XWa omit this line, as likely because of eyeskip as because of a defective exemplar. For a full account of the repair by Hand 2, see the note on the marginal dagger that marks the insertion point. † X.22.24.f.1: In the left margin just above this line, Hand 2 has placed a dagger, functioning as an asterisk to indicate a line to be added. The line to be added is written in the right margin, prefaced by a corresponding dagger. X (uncorrected) and W omit this line likely because of eye-skip, since the previous line ends with the same Latin words. The "good" correction here is clearly by Hand 2. † X.22.24.f.2: For an account of the dagger adjacent to this line, see the note on its counterpart in the left margin at X.22.24.f.1. Noyther spiritus iusticie / ne spiritus fortitudinis For spiritus fortitudinis forfeteth wel ofte He shal do more þeþe[n] mesure / mony tymes and often And bete men ouer bitere / and som body to litel And greue men grettore / then goed faith hit weldewolde X.22.28: Welde may be a form of MED's welden, v., perhaps in sense 2(a), "to command." Possibly more likely, the scribe simply wrote <e> instead of <o>, which would have obtained the majority form, wolde. And spiritus iusticie shal iugen wol he nel he Aftur þe kynges conseyl and þe comune lyke And spiritus prudencie / in many a poynt shal faile Of þat he weneth wolde falle / yf his wit ne were Wenyng is no wisdoem ne wyse ymaginacioun ¶ Homo proponit deus disposuitdisponit X.22.34: The standard form of the final word in this common aphorism is disponit (present active third singular), meaning "disposes" or "orders things." X uniquely, however, offers the preterite form disposuit, which we take not to be an error, but rather potentially a creative spin on the usual phrasing. We would therefore translate, "Man proposes; God disposed" (i.e. God has already set things in order). God gouerneth all gode vertues · and nede is nexst hym X.22.35-X.22.37: XKYc divide X.22.35-X.22.37 thus, while most C manuscripts divide at vertues and meketh. We have seen this effect before where X, perhaps reacting to the apparent brevity of a line, moves a half line up, creating new divisions in the following lines, compromising the prosody. de do-best For anoen he meketh / and as louh as alamba lamb For lakkyng þat hym nedeth For nede maketh neede / fele nedes louh herted Philosopheres forsoke welthe / for they wolde be nedy And woneden · wel elyngly / and wolden nat be riche And god al his grete ioye · goestliche he lefte And cam and toek mankynde / and bicam nedy So he was nedy as saith the boek in mony sondry places That he saide in his sorwe / on þe sulue rode Bothe fox and foule may fle / to hole and crepe And þe fisch hath fyn to flete with to reste X.22.46: For an account of the codicology on this folio, see the note on X.22.50. + Ther nede hath ynome me / þat y moet nede abyde + And soffre sorwes ful soure / þat shal to ioye torne For-thy be nat abasched / to byde and to be nedy Sethe þathe þat wrouhte al þe worlde was willefolliche nedy X.22.50: Like X.22.46, X.22.50 has been added in the margins by a watchful Hand 1, who must have checked the text and thus remedied the omissions. It is not clear why X.22.46 was skipped, but X.22.50 was likely omitted by eye-skip from the word nedy. To indicate the place for the additions, the scribe has placed crosses in each margin at X.22.47 and, at X.22.51, an obelus in each margin. . † Ne neuere noen so nedy / ne porore deyede † Whenne nede hadde vndernomevndernome me thus anoen yfuly ful a-slepe And mette ful merueylouslely / þat in mannes fourme Auntecrist cam thenne / and al the crop of treuthe Turned hit tyd vp-so-down / and ouertulde þe rote And made fals sprynge and sprede / and spekespedemenne nedes In vch a Contrey ther he cam / kutte a-wey treuthe And garte gylegyle growe growe þere as he a god were ¶ Freres folewed þat fende for he ȝaf hem copes And religious reuerensed hym / and rongen here belles And al þe couent cam / to welcome atyraunta tyraunt And alle hise as wel as hym / saue onelich foles Were wel gladere to deye then to lyue lengere X.22.63: X and several other C manuscripts lack the phrase Which foles (in RK's spelling) at the beginning of X.22.62, leading to some confusion among the scribes about how to divide the line. XDcUc divide at lengere, while others divide at deye or lyue. / X.22.64: At the beginning of this line we see a single </> mark, not the fully articulated paraph marker <//> that we frequently encounter. Since the mark comes at a glitch in line division, it is possible that the scribe was marking a point where he sensed error. However, it is also possible that, since the line division has produced the word sethe at the start of a line, the scribe has perceived a transitional phrase and attempted to mark a verse paragraph with a virgule. Sethe leautee was so rebuked And a fals fende auntecrist ouerallouer all folke regnede And þat were mylde men and holy þat mno X.22.66: Here the scribe has covered the third minim of an <m>, likely anticipating meschief, with the <o> needed to finish no. meschief dradden defyede all falsnesse / and folke þat hit vsede And what kyng þat hem confortede · knowynge here gyle Thei corsede and here consail / were hit Clerk or lewed Auntecrist hadde thus sone hondredes at his baner And pryde hit baer baldly aboute With a lord þat lyueth aftur likyng of body That cam aȝen Consience / þat kepar was and gyour passus · 2us · Ouer kynde cristene / and cardinale vertues Y consail quod ConsiienceConsi[e]nce X.22.75: RK say X reads consince, with the second <n> written over an <e>. Based on the spacing of the letters, however, we see the original reading as Consiiece, over which the <n> was then written. This attempted correction, however, failed to obtain the obviously needed character's name. tho / cometh with me ȝe foles In-to vnite holichurcheholi churche / and halde we vs there And crye we to kynde / þat he come and defende vs foles fro this fendes lymes / for ~~Peres~~ loue the ~~plouhman~~ And crye we on al þe comune þat thei come to vnite And þere abyde and bikere aȝeyn / beliales childrene Kynde Consience tho herde and cam oute of the planetes And sente forth his forreours feueres and fluxes Cowhes and cardiacles crampes and toeth-aches Reumes and Radegoundes / and roynouse scabbes Byles and boches and brennynge aguwes Freneseyes and foule eueles / forageres of kynde Hadde y priked and preyede / polles of peple Largeliche alegiouna legioun / lees the lyf sone ¶ There was harow and helpe here cometh kynde With deth þat is dredful to vndoen vs alle The lord þat lyuede aftur lust / tho aloud cryede Aftur conforte a knyhte come and beer his baner Alarme alarme quod þat lord / vch lyf kepe his owene Thenne mette thise men / ar mumstralsmu[n]strals X.22.94: RK print muinstrals (without noting any variants), but Pearsall and Schmidt print munstrals. The scribe's usual form is munstrals, and he never spells the word with <muin>, so we take this to be yet another instance of his adding an otiose minim. myhte pype And ar heroudes of Armes / hadden descreued lordes Elde þe hore / he was in þe vaw-warde And baer þe baner bifore deth / bi riht he hit claymede Kynde cam aftur hym withmanywith many kyne sores As pokkes and pestilences · and moche peple shente So kynde thorw corupcions kulde fol mony deth cam dryuyng aftur / and al to duste paschte Kynges and knyhtes / Caysers and popes Lered ne lewed / he lefte no man stande That he hihtehitte euene · þat euere stured aftur Many a louly lady / and herle lemmanes knyhtes Swowened and sweldeswelte / for sorwe of dethus duntes Concience of his cortesye / tho kynde he bisouhte To sese and soffre / and se wher they wolde L.eue pruyde priueyliche / and be parfyt cristene de do-best And kynde sesede tho / to se þe peple amende Fortune gan flateren thenne tothaym few þat were alyue And bihihte hem long lyf and lecherye he sente Amonges alle manere men / wedded and vnwedded And gaderet a greet oest / alle agayn Consience This lecherye leyde oenon / with lauhyng chere And with priue speche / and paynted wordes And armed hym in ydelnesse / and in hey berynge He baer a bowe in his hoend / and many brode arwes Weren fythered with fare biheste / and many afalsa fals treuthe And withWith vntidy tales / he tened ful ofte Consience and his companye of holychurcheholy churche þe techares Thenne cam couetyse / and caste how he myhte Ouercome Consience / and cardinal vertues And Armed hym in A.uaric.e X.22.124: HS notice that these letters are written over erasures and speculate that they may be in another ink; the original reading (and the basis of the errors) remains unknown. / and hungriliche lyuede His wepne was al wyles / to wynnen and to hyden With glosynges and bie gabbynges X.22.126: HS record that the <e> in be is touched up, but we see that the initial reading was bi, a unique reading, a proposition showing instrumentality. Perhaps Hand X perceived some problem and attempted a correction or clarification, though be can be a form of bi, obtaining no change, and thus it is not clear what he intended by the alteration. / he gyled þe peple ¶ Symonye hym suede / to assaile Consience And presed on þe pope / and prelates thei made To holde with auntecrist / here temperaltee to saue And cam to þe kynges consail / as akenea kene Baroun And knokked Consience / in Court bifore hemallehem alle And gert goed faith fle / and fals to abyde And baldeliche baer adoun / with many abrihtea brihte noble Moche of þe wyt and wisdoem / of westmunstre halle He iogged til a iustice / and iustede in his ere And ouertulde al his treuthe / with taek this on amendement And in-to þe Arches in haste he ȝede anoen aftur And turnede syuyle in-to Symonye / and sethe he toek þe official And for ameneuera meneuer mandelman[t]el he made leele matrimonye departen ar dethe come / and a X.22.140: A, "he." deuors shupte ¶ X.22.141: Here again we see in the left margin a <cc> mark, uncolored, marking a change in speaker. Allas quod Consience tho / and cryede wolde crist of his grace That couetyse were cristene / þat is so kene to fihte And bolde and abydynge / þe while his bagge lasteth And thenne lowh lyf / and lette dagge his clothes And Armed hym in haste / in harlotes wordes corrigitur passus · 2us · And helde holinesse a iape / and hendenesse a wastour And leet leautee a cherl / and lyare afremana fre man Consience and conseil / he counted hit folye Thus relyed lyf for a litel folyefortune And priketh forth with pruyde preyseth he no vertue Ne careth nat how kynde slowh · and shal come at þe laste And culle all erthely creature / saue Consience one Lyf lepte a-syde / and lauhte hym a lemman Hele and y quod he / and heynesse of herte Shal do the nat drede / noþer deth ne elde And to forȝete ȝowthe / and ȝeue nat of synne This likede lyf / and his lemman fortune And geten in here glorie · agadlynga gadlyng at þe laste Oen þat moche wo wrouhte / sleuthe was his name Sleuthe wax wonder ȝerne / and sone was of age And wedded oen wanhope / awenchea wenche X.22.161: The <w> of wenche appears to be blotted, but we see no correction to the text. of þe stuyves Here syre was a sysour þat neuere swoe.r X.22.162: Hand 1 appears here to have restroked whatever his original graph was—probably a badly formed <r>—for the final reading swoer. treuthe Oen Tomme two to[two] tonge / a-teynt at vch enquestea queste This sleuthe was sley of werre / and a slynge made And thorwthrew X.22.165: The scribe may have intended the preposition here, or his thorw may simply be an error—present tense instead of past tense—for the verb required in this sentence, the preterite of MED throuen, v. 1. drede of dispayr / adoysaynea doysayne myle aboute For care Consience tho / cryede vppon elde And baed hym fonde to fihte / and a fereafere wanhope And elde hente gode hope / and hastiliche shroef hym And wayued a-way wanhope / and with lyf he fihteth And lyf fley for fere / to fisyk aftur helpe And bisouhte hym of socour / and of here salue hadde And gaef hym goelde goed woen / þat gladde here hertes And they gyuen hym agayne a glasene houe Lyf leuede þat lechecraft / lette sholde Elde ~~...?...?...~~And dryue a-wey deth / with dyaes and drogges X.22.175: HS say that this entire line is written over the erasure of X.22.177, which was incorrectly written in its place. Signs of erasure are still visible, but we cannot determine what was erased. And Elde auntered hym on lyf / and at þe laste he hitte A fisician with a forred hoed / that he ful in a palesye And þere deyede þat doctour ar thre dayes aftur Now y see saide lyf / that surgerie ne fysyke May nat a myte a-vayle / to medlen aȝen Elde And in hope of his hele / goed herte he hente de dobest And roed so to reuel · a ryche place and amuryea murye The compeny of comfort · men clepede hit som-tyme And Elde afur hym / and ouer myn heued ȝede And made me balled bifore / and baer on þe crowne So harde he ȝede ouer myn heued / hit wol be sene euere Syre euele ythouȝtetaught Elde quod y vnhende go with the Sennes whanne was þe way / ouer menne heuedes Haddest thow be hende quod y / thow wost haue asked leue Ȝe leue lordeyne quod he / and leide on me with age And hitte me vnder þe ere / vnnethe may ich here He boffedted X.22.192: What appears to be an otiose tilde over the <t> was produced by a false start on the following <d>. me aboute þe mouthe / and beet out my wayngteeth And gyued me in gowtes / y may nat go at large And of þe wo þat y was ynne / my wyf hadde reuthe And wesched wel witterly / þat y were in heuene For þe lyme þat she loued me fore / and leef was to fele Anyhtes nameliche / when we naked were Y ne myhte in none manere / maken hit at here wille So Elde and hee / hit hadde for-bete Asnd X.22.200: RK incorrectly say that the <A> of And is written over another letter. Rather, it is the second letter that is overwritten, sloppily. as y saet in this sorwe / y say how kynde passede And deth drow ney me / for drede gan y quaken And cryede to kynde / out of care me brynge Lo how Elde þe hore / hath me byseye A-wreke me ȝif ȝoure wille be / for y wolde be hennes Yf thow woldewolt be wreke / wende in-to vnite And halde the there euere / til y sende for the And loke thow conne som craft / ar thow come thennes Consaileth me kynde quod y / what craft be beste to lere Lerne to loue quod kynde / and leef all othere How shal y come to catel so / to clothe me and to fede And thow loue lelly lacke shal the neuere Wede ne worldly mete / while thy lif lasteth And y bicounselbi counsel of kynde comsed to Rome Thorw contricion and confessioun til y cam to vnite And there was Consience Constable cristene to saue And biseged soethly / with seuene grete geauntes That with auntecrist helden / harde aȝeyn Consience passus · 2· us · Sleuthe with his slynge / andan hard sawt he made Proute prestes cam with hym / passyng an hundred In paltokes and pikede shoes / and pissares longe knyues Comen aȝen Consience / with couetyse they helden By þe Marie quod amanseda mansed prest / was of þe march of Ireland Y counte no more Consience bi so y cache suluer Then y do to drynke a drauht of goed ale And so sayde syxty of þe same contreye And shoten aȝeynes hym shotte many a shef of othes And brode hokede Arwes / goddes herte and his nayles And hadden al-most vnite / and holynesse adowne Consience cryede helpe · Clergie or y falle ¶ Thorw inparfit prestes / and prelates of holychurcheholy churche Freres herde hym crye / and comen hym to helpe And for they couthe nat wel here crafte Consience forsoek hem Nede neyhede tho ner / and Consience he toelde That they cam for Couetyse / to haue cure of soules And for thei aren pore parauntur / for patrimonye hem faileth Thei wol flatere to fare wel / folk þat ben riche And sethen thei chosen chesle / and Cheytyftee pouertechaitif pouert Late hem chewe as thei chose / and charge hem with no cure For lomere he lyeth / þat lyflode moet begge Then he þat laboreth for lyflode / and leneth hit beggares And senne freres forsoke / the felicefelicite X.22.241: A noun is required here, parallel to the majority reading, felicite, but XIUcYc read felice, perhaps a French adjective, or perhaps a simple error of omission. of erthe Lat hem be as beggares / or lyue by angeles fode Consience of this consail tho · comesed for to lawhe And corteylichecortey[s]liche confortede hem / and calde hem in all freres And saide syres soethly welcome be ȝe alle To vnite and holichurcheholi churche / ac · o · X.22.246: The scribe has written two punctus, one before and one after o as if to set off that one-letter word. thyng y ȝow praye Holdeth ȝow in vnite / and haueth noen enuye To lered ne to lewed / but lyueth aftur ȝoure reule YAnd y wol be ȝoure borwh / ȝe shal haue breed and clothes And oþere necessaries ynowe / ȝow shal no-thyng lakke With þat ȝe loueleue logyk / and lerneth fortofor to louye For loue lefte they lordschipe / bothe lond and scole Frere fraunceys / and domynyk for loue to be holy And yf ȝe coueyteth cure de do-best And yf ȝe coueiteth cure / kynde wol ȝow telle That in mesure god made allealle manere thynges And sette hit at a serteyne / and at a syker nombre And nempned hem names / and nombred þe sterres Qui numerat multitudinem stellarum & cetera Kynges and knyhtes þat keptenkepen and defenden Haen officerys vnder hem / and vch of hem a certeyne And yf thei wage men to werre / thei writen hem in nombre Wol no tresorer taken hem wages / trauayle they neuere so sore Bote hy ben nempned in þe nombre / of hem þat been y-waged Alle oþere in bataile been y-holde brybours Pilours and pike-harneys / in vch a parsch a-corsed Monkes and monyales / and alle men of religioun Here ordre and here reule wol / to haue a certeyne nombre Of lewed and of lered / the lawe wol and asketh A certeyne for a certeyne / saue . X.22.269: We disagree with HS and RK who assert that an ampersand is erased after saue. Rather, it appears to be an <e>, or sigmatic <s>, erased as a false start. onenliche of freres For theyFor-th[y] quod Consience bi Crist / kynde wit me telleth Hit is wikked to wage ȝow / ȝe wexeth out of nombre For-thy y wolde witterly / þat ȝe were in registre And ȝoure nombre vndevnde[r] notarie sygne / and noþer mo ne lasse Enuye herde this / and heete freres go to scole And lerne logyk and lawe / and eke contemplacioun And preche men of plato / and preuen hit by seneca That alle thynges vnder heuene oute X.22.277: Oute is a variant of the majority form ouhte. See MED, s.v. ouen, v., def. 4(d), "[a]s modal verb expressing obligation, propriety, etc., in impers. constructions: it behooves (sb. to do sth.), it is proper, it befits;—with implied inf." to be in comune He lyeth as y leue / þat to þe lewed so precheth For god made to m enmen alawea lawe and Moyses hit tauhte Non concupisces rem proximi tui & cetera And euele is this yholde in parsches of yngelond For parsones and parsche prestes / þat sholde þe peple shryue And they ben curatours cald / to knowe and to hele Alle þat been here parschienes / penaunses enioynen And be aschamed in here shryft / ac shame makethmaketh hem wende And fle to þe freres / as fals folk to westmynstre That borweth and bereth hit theddere / and thenne biddeth frendes Ȝerne of forȝeuenesse / or lengore ȝeres leue X.22.288: A bit of red ink in the center of the bottom margin may represent all that is left uncropped of the rubricator's original quire signature. passus · 2us · Ac while he is in westmynstre he wol be bifore And maken hym murye · with oþere menne godes And so hit fareth with moche folke þat to freres shryuen As sisours and secutours / they shal ȝeue þe freres A parcel to preye for hem / and make hem merye with þe remenaunt That oþere men biswonke and soffren þe dede in dette to þe day of dome Enuye herfore hatede Consience And freres to filosophye / he foend hem to scole The while Couetyse and vnkyndenesse Consience assailede In vnite holichurchholi church · Consience heeld hym And made pees porter / to pynne þe ȝates Of all tale-tellares and titerares an ydel Ypocrisye and they / an hard sawt they ȝeuen Ypocrisye at þe ȝate harde gan fyhte And wounded wel wykkedly many a wys techare That with Consience acordede / and cardinal vertues Consien..ce calde a leche þat couthe wel shryue Go salue tho þat syke were / and thorw synne y-wounded Shrift schupte scharp salue / and made men do penaunsespenaunse For here mysdedes that thei wrouht hadde And þat Peres pardon were y-payd redde quod debes Somme liked nat this leche / and letteres they sente Yf eny surgien were in þe sege · that softur couthe plastre Sire lyf to lyue in lecherye · lay þer and groned For fastyng of a fryday · a X.22.313: A, "he." feerde as he wolde deye Ther is a su.rgien in the sege that softe can handele And more of fysyk biferbi fer / and fayror he plastereth Oen frere flaterrere / is fiscicien and surgien Quod contricion to Consience do hym come to vnite For here is many man hert / thorw ypocrisye We haen no nede quod Consience / y woet no bettere leche Then parson oþer parsche prest penytauncer or bischope Saue ~~Peres þe plouhman~~ þat haeth power ouer alle And indulgence may do / but yf dette lette hit Y may wel soffre sayde Consience sennes ȝe desiren That frere flaterare be fet / and fisyk ȝow seke de dobest The frere herof herde / and hyede faste To a lord for a lettre / leue to haue to ~~cri~~ curen As a curatour awerea were X.22.327: A, "he." / and kam with his lettre Baldly to þe bishope · and his breef hadde In contrys þer he cam / confessiones to here And cam þer Consience was / and knokked at þe ȝate Pees vnpynned hyt / was porter of vnite And in haste eschete / what his wille were In fayth quod this frere / for profyt and for helthe Karpe y wolde with Contricioun / and þerfore y cam heddere He is syke saide Pees / and so ar many other Ypocrysye haeth herdeherte hem / ful hard is yf thei keuere Y am a surgien saide the frere / and salues can make Consience knoweth me wel / and what y can bothe Y preye the quod Pees tho / ar thow passe forþere What hattest thow y praye the / hele nat thy name Certes saide his felawe / sire / penetrans domos // a general name for a frere Ȝe go thy gate quod pees / bigodbi god for al thi fisyk Bote thow conne eny craft thow comest nat here-ynne Y knewe such oen ones / nat eyhte wynter passed Kam ynne thus y-coped · at a Court þer y dwelte And was my lordes leche / and my ladyes bothe And at þe laste this lymytour tho my lord was oute He salued so oure wymmen til some were with childe Hende speche heet pees tho / opene the ȝates Lat in þe frere and his felawe / and make hem fayere chiere He may se and here here / so may bifalle That lyf thorw his lore shal leue Couetyse And be adrad of deth / and with-drawe hym fro pruyde And acorde with Consience / and kusse here ayther oþer Thus thorw hende speche entred the frere And cam to Consience and corteylihchcortey[s]lich X.22.356: What appears to be an otiose curl over the second <c> is the result of a false start on the final <h> of corteylich. hym grette Thow art welcome quod Consience / cancanst thow hele syke Here is contricioun quod Consience / my cosyn y-wounded Conforte hym quod consience / and taek kepe to his sores The plasteres of the parsoun / and poudres ben to sore passus· 2us · X.22.361.f.1: A drypoint cross of unknown function appears in the middle of the upper margin. dedobest And lat hem lygge ouer-longe and loeth is to chaungen Fro lente to lente hel X.22.362: What looks like an otiose curl on the <e> here was produced by a false start on the <l> at the beginning of the following word. lat his plastres byte That is ouer-longe quod this lymitour / y lueue yschaly schal amenden hit And goeth gropeth contricion / and hgaf hym aplastrea plastre Of a pryue payement · and y shal preye for ȝow And for hem þat ȝe aren heldeh[o]lde to al my lyf-tyme And make ȝow my ladye / in masse and in matynes Of freres of oure fraternite · for a litel suluer Thus he goeth and gedereth · and gloseth þer he shryueth Til Contricioun hadde clene forȝete / to crye and to wepe And wake for his wikkede werkes as he was woned bifore For confort of his confessour Contricioun he lefte That is the souereyne salue / for alle kyne synnes Sleyth(Anon) sleuthe X.22.374: The expected reading here is a form of MED sleuthe, n., a character featured prominently in this episode. X's reading could be an error, as no such form as sleyth is attested as a spelling variant of sleuthe. Alternately or by accident, X's reading could be a form of MED sleight, n., def. 2(a), "[s]lyness, cunning, craftiness; guile, trickery, deceit." However, that would mean the creation of an entirely new character at this point in the poem. It is therefore more likely that the scribe's spelling is simply an error for sleuthe. On the confusing proliferation of characters in Piers Plowman, see Calabrese (2018), "Posthuman Piers?: Rediscovering Langland's Subjectivities." seyh þat / and so dede pruyde And comen with a kene wil / Consience to assaile Consience cryede efte / clergie come helpe hym And baed contricioun to come / to helpe kepe þe ȝe ȝate He lyeth a-dreint saide pees · and so doth mony oþere The frere with his fisyk this folk hath enchaunted And doth men drynke dwale þat men drat no synne By Crist quod Consience tho / y wol bicome a pilgrime And wenden as wyde / as þe world regneth To seke ~~Peres the plouhman~~ þat pruyde myhte destruye And þat freres hadde a fyndynge / þat for nede flateren And countrepledeth me Consience / now kynde me a-venge And sedende me hap and hele til y haue ~~Peres Plouhman~~ And sethe he gradde aftur grace / tyl y gan a-wake