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A Mumming for the Mercers of London:
British Library Additional 29729 Verses

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f.133 recto
Folio 132 VersoFolio 133 RectoFolio 133 VersoFolio 134 Recto

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Folio 133 Recto
Compare Witnesses: •
Callid the welle of calyope •
moste auctorysyd amonges this cyryens1 •
of whiche the poetes that dwell in þat cuntre •
and othar famous Rethoryciens •
and they that caled be musycyens •
ar wont to drynke of that holsome welle •
which þat all othar / in vertu doth exsell •
þe nyne muses dwell bysyd elycon •
þe welle / whiche bene þe ix sustars •
of musyke and of eloquence / and caliope •
is one of them / •
where bacus dwellethe / besydes þe Ryver •
of ryche thagus / þe gravylles all of gold •
which gyvethe a lyght / agaynst þe sonne clere •
so freshe so shyne / þat it may not be tolde •
wher bellona hathe bylt a statly holde •
In all this world / I trowe ther is none lyche •
of hard magnetis and dyamandes ryche •
bacus is clyped god of wyne. thagus •
is a ryver of whiche þe gravelles and þe sands •
bene of of gold / •
And of that welle drank sometyme tulius •
and macrobye full famous of prudence •
ovide also / and eke virgilius •
and fraunceys petriark myrrour of elloquence •
Iohnn bocas also flowyng in sapyence •
thoroughe that sugred bawme, awreate •
they callyd weren poetes lawreat •
Tulius a poet and rethorysyan of Rome •
Macroby an olde philosofre / ovid and virgi •
lius wer old poets þat one of rome that •
othar of naplis . a fore þe ty me of christ •
fraunceys petrarke was a poet of fra2 •
so was bochas and daunt with in this hun3 •
ryd yere / and they were callyd lawryat •
for they wer crownyd with lawrelle in •
token that they exsellyd othar in poetri4 •
Owte of surreye by many strange strond •
this Iubiter / hathe his letters sent •
thoroughe owt erope wher he dyd land •
and frome þe heven / cam doune of entent •
to ravyshe shortly in sentencement •
fayre erope moste renommed of fame •
afftar whan yet all erope berethe þe name •
poetes feyne þat þe gret god Iubiter came •
downe frome heven for to ravishe a kyng5 •
dowghtar caled eropa of whom all þe cu6 •
cuntris of erope berythe the name •
And thorughe Egipte his pursivaunt is come •
downe defendyd by þe rede see •
and hathe also hys ryght wey nome •
thorowhe valeye of þe drye tree •
by flome Iordan coastynge the cuntryee •
where Iacobe passed whilom with his staffe •
takyng his shype to seylen at port Iaffe •
in bacnulo isto transiun i7 Iordanem istu8 •
Notes
  1. Bracketed on the right. ↩
  2. This manuscript renders "Florence," which is what Trinity R.3.20 has, as "fra" with a line over the a indicating suspension. ↩
  3. Some of the marginalia has been a victim of the manuscript trimming that eliminated an easy sense of catchwords or quire structure. There appears to be a "d" missing here. ↩
  4. Similarly, the final letter in the word here is likely cut off. It's not a "y," as there is now lower bow, so what can be read is an "i." ↩
  5. The word is cut off here due to trimming, but context suggests it was "kyngs." The lower bow of the "g" can be seen still. ↩
  6. The scribe appears to have started to write "cuntris" but realized they were likely out of room, striking out the letters they had written. This may provide a clue as to how much of the manuscript was trimmed, but that is speculative. ↩
  7. Trinity R.3.20 has "transiui" here, but there appears to be too many minims here for that to be the case in this manuscript. It's possible the scribe had an issue copying from their exemplar and struck the final glyph to make it clearer it was "transiui," however. ↩
  8. The terminal "m" was cut off through trimming. ↩

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 (c) British Library Board (British Library Additional MS 29729) and rights are reserved.