A Mumming at Hertford:
Trinity R.3.20 Verses
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Folio 22 Recto (Page 43)
Compare Witnesses: •
In Cristemasse
ɲ
In þe Castełł of
Hertford •Koude yif þey dourst / telle in Audyence •
What foloweþe þer of wyves to doone offence •
Is noon so olde ne ryveld on hir face •
Wit tong or staff but þat she dare manase •
Mabyle god hir sauve and blesse •
Koude yif hir list / bere here of witnesse •
Wordes strookes / vnhappe and harde grace •
witħ sharpe nayles kracching in þe face •
I mene þus whane þe distaff is brooke •
Witħ þeyre fistes wyves wol be wrooke •
ɲ
Nexst in ordre / þis Bochier
stoute and bolde •Þat killed haþe bulles and boores olde •
Þis Berthilmewe for al his
broode knyff •
Yit durst he neuer witħ his sturdy wyff •
In no mater holde chaumpartye •
And if he did / sheo wolde anoon defye •
His pompe his pryde witħ a sterne thougħt •
And sodeynly setten him as nougħt •
Þougħe his bely / was rounded lyche an ooke •
ffor proude pernelle lyche a Chaumpyoun •
Wolde leve hir puddinges / in a gret Cawdroun •
Suffre hem boylle / and taake of hem noon heede •
But witħ hir skumour reeche him on þe heued •
Shee wolde paye him and make no delaye •
Bid him goo pleye him a twenty deuel wey •
Hir fist ful offt made him cheekes bleed •
What querell euer / þat he agenst hir sette •
Notes
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MacCraken has an suspended "e" here, rendering it as "first[e]." I see no indication of such a suspension in the manuscript and so have rendered it as "first" ↩
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MacCraken renders this as "neode," which breaks the rhyme with "bleed" below but is what the manuscript renders. I'm not sure why he did not feel the need to correct the manuscript here when he did elsewhere. ↩
The work on this manuscript witness was generously sponsored by a ZKS-Lendrum Fellowship in the Scientific Study of Manuscripts and Inscriptions at the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University. The transcription of this work is owned by the editor and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The images are owned by the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge and are provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.