210
The Sources of Standard English.
Iche ne schewe nouʓt this for to have mede,
Bot for God almiʓtties drede.[1]
BEDFORDSHIRE (?).
(About A.D. 1340.)
Godys sone þat was so fre,
Into þis world he cam,
And let hym naylyn upon a tre,
Al for þe love of man;
His fayre blod þat was so fre,
Out of his body it ran,
A dwelful syʓte it was to se;
His body heng blak and wan,
Wiþ an O and an I.
. . . . . .
His coroune was mad of þorn
And prikkede into his panne,
Bothe by hinde and a-forn;
To a piler y-bowndyn
Jhesu was swiþe sore,
And suffrede many a wownde
Þat scharp and betere wore.
He hadde us evere in mynde,
In al his harde þrowe,
And we ben so unkynde,
We nelyn hym nat yknowe,
Wif an O and an I.[2]
- ↑ Warton, History of English Poetry, II. 2. This London dialect was to be somewhat altered before the time of Mandeville and Chaucer. The thilk (ille) held its ground in this city for 140 years longer. Compare this piece with the older London poem at page 134 of my work.
- ↑ Legends of the Holy Rood (Early English Text Society, p. 150). This piece seems to me to be the link between Manning's Handlyng Synne and Mandeville's Travels sixty years later. It has forms akin to both, and seems to have been compiled half-way between Rutland and Middlesex.
