a picture of John Lydgate with the initials of the
                        website
A Mumming for the Goldsmiths of London:
British Library Additional 29729 Verses

HomeAbout the ArchiveAbout John LydgateWorksManuscriptsAbout this ManuscriptEditorial ApparatusContactVisualization

f.134 verso
Folio 134 RectoFolio 134 VersoFolio 135 RectoFolio 135 Verso

Folio 134 Verso
Compare Witnesses:
This noble dauid most mygħty1 and most good
Is now descended in his estate royall
with all the troybus of Iacobus blood
ffor to presenten in especiall
gyfftes that be both heuenly and mortall
appertayninge vnto good gounernaunce
vnto the mayre for to do plesaunce
ffrome his citye of Iherusalem
he is com doun of humbell wyll and thought
the duke2 of god bright at the sonne bemes
into this toune / he hath goodly brought
whiche disigneth / if hit be well sought
grace and good ende / and longe prosperyte
perpetually to abyde in thys citie
O ye leuites / whych bere this lordes arke
dothe youre deuoure / with heuenly armony
the great mysterye deuoutly for to marke
with laud and prayse the lord to magnyfye
of on accord / sheweth your melodye
syngeth for Ioye that the arke it sente
now to the mayre with hoole and true entente
whylome this arke / abydinge in the house
of ebdamadon / brought in full great Ioyes
ffor in effecte / it was more gracyous
than euer was paladyone / of troye3
hit did gret gladnes / and it dyd accoye
thinges contrary / and all aduersyte
the effecte ther of whan dauid did see
palladyene was arelyke and an ymage
sent by þe godes in to þe citie of troye þe
which kepte them in longe prosperite agaynes
all ther enemyes
And fully knew / how godd list for to blesse
thorowe4 his vertu / and his myghty5> grace
that of gladnes / ther myghte nothynge myse
wher it abod / any maner space
god of his myght hallowed so þe place
wher fore kynge dauyd by great deuocion
mad of this arke a fayre translacion
In to his hous / and hys palas royall
brought by the leuites with gret solempnitie
Notes
  1. The h here is barred but there is nothing that obviously suggests it is a suspension, especially since the "g" is written out.
  2. Based on the other witnesses this should be "arke," but it's clear that the second glyph is not "r" based on the other witnesses in the manuscript. Additionally, the initial glyph has a dark ascender that may be an attempt to correct "d" to "a" or "o." Without any indication that this is a delieberate strikethrough, however, it should be assumed that the initial glyph is "d" with a dark ascender. This can be seen elsewhere in the page, for example in "good" in the sixth line of this stanza. Additionally "arke" can be seen in line one of the second full stanza from the bottom, which further indicates that the word written here is not "arke."
  3. There is a mark over the "oye" in "troye" here, and I cannot see any obvious suspension. This suggests that the mark is otiose.
  4. There is a mark over the "owe" ending this word. In other witnesses--Harley 218, for example--this is "thorughe," so it may be that this is meant to be a suspension for "gh." Practice elsewhere in the manuscript is to bar "h" for "gh, which makes me speculate that this is an otiose mark unthinkingly copied from an exemplar where such a suspension existed. Rather than "gh," however, "w" occupies the position before the terminal "e" in the manuscript. It also suggests that the "gh" combinations alongside an otiose mark are similarly aping an example from the exemplar.
  5. The mark over te "ht" here appears to be otiose.