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A Mumming at Hertford:
Trinity R.3.20 Verses

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f.23 recto
Folio 20 Verso (Page 40)Folio 21 Recto (Page 41)Folio 21 Verso (Page 42)Folio 22 Recto (Page 43)Folio 22 Verso (Page 44)Folio 23 Recto (Page 45)Folio 23 Verso (Page 46)Folio 24 Recto (Page 47)Folio 24 Verso (Page 48)

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Folio 23 Recto (Page 45)
Compare Witnesses: •
ɲ
At Cristemasse At Hertford •
Cleyming of Rigħt to haue þe hyegħer hande •
But if you list of youre Regallye •
þe olde testament for to modefye •
ɲ
And þat þee1 list / asselen þeyre Request •
þat þeos poure husbandes migħt lyf in Rest •
And þat þeyre wyves / in þeyre felle migħt •
Wol medle amonge mercy witħ þeyre rigħt •
ffor it came neuer of nature ne Raysoun •
A lyonesse toppresse / þe lyoun2 •
ɲ
Ner a wolfesse for al hir thraunye •
Ouer þe wolf to haven þe maystrye •
þer beonn nowe wolfesses / moo þane twoo or three •
þe Rookys recorde / wheeche þat yonder bee •
Sooþe to þis mater / of mercy and of grace •
And or þeos dotardes parte out of þis place •
Vponn þeyre compleynt to shape remedye •
Or þey beo likly to stande in Iupardye •
It is no game with wyves for to pleye •
But for foolis / þat gif no force to deye •
i.
distaves •
ɲ
Takeþe heed of þaunswer of þe wyves •
ɲ
Touching þe substance of þis hyegħe discorde •
We six wyves beon ful of oon acorde •
yif worde and chyding / may vs not avaylle •
We wol darrein it in Chaumpoloos3 by bataylle •
Iupart oure rigħt / laate or ellys Raathe •
And for oure partye / þe worthy wyff of Bathe •
Cane shewe statutes / moo þan six o r4 seven •
Howe wyves make hir housbandes wynne heven •
Maugre þe feonde and al his vyolence •
ffor þeyre vertu of parfyte pacyence •
parteneþe not to wyves nowe adayes •
Sauf on þeyre housbandes for to make assayes •
Notes
  1. MacCraken has rendered this as "yee" based on "you" and "youre" in line two of the previous grouping. The gylph, however, does not match the scribe's rendering of "y" elsewhere in the manuscript and lacks the tittle that the scribe intermittantly uses to render "y" throughout or the flourish used consistently to terminate "y." BL Add. 29729 has "the" here. ↩
  2. MacCraken has a comma terminating his line, which is his rendering of the line filler that I believe the otiose mark to be. ↩
  3. MacCraken has an "e" for the seventh glyph here, but it lacks the loop of the scribe's "e" and looks similar to "o" as rendered both in this word and throughout the manuscript. Furthermore, BL Add. 29729 renders the corresponding glyph as "o" as well. ↩
  4. The scribe appears to have written "r" over "f" or "s" here. ↩

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.