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A Mumming at Hertford:
British Library Additional 29729 Verses

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f.137 verso
Folio 136 VersoFolio 137 RectoFolio 137 VersoFolio 138 RectoFolio 138 VersoFolio 139 RectoFolio 139 VersoFolio 140 Recto

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Folio 137 Verso
Compare Witnesses: •
hath for the collyk pouped in the bolle •
ɲ
And for fede ache / with peper and ginger •
drinke dolled alle / to make his throt cler •
And kometh he hom / whan hit draweth to eve •
and than robyn1 / the cely poure reve •
ffynd none amendes of harme ne damage •
but bene2 growell and soupeth cold potage •
and of his wyffe hath non other cher •
but cokkutwortes vnto his supper •
this is hys seruyce sittynge at the borde •
and cely robyn yf he speake aword •
ɲ
beautryce of him / doth so lyttell rekke •
that with hir distaffe / she hitteth hym in þe nekk •
ffor a medecyne to chaffe with his blud •
with such a medcyne3 / she hath shape him a hud •
ɲ
and colyn cobeller / folowinge his felowe •
hath had his parte of the sam lawe •
ffor by þe fayth þat the prest him gaffe •
his wyffe hath taugħt hym to play at the stafe •
hir quarter stroke / were so large and round •
that on his rygge the towche was allweyes found •
demonstrando •
pictaciarium •
ɲ
cely sourechere / his owen precyous spouse •
kowde hym rehete whan he cam to house •
yf he ought spake whan he fellte payne •
agayne one word allwaye he had twayne •
she quyte hym euer / ther was nothynge to seche •
six for one / of wordes and strokes eche •
ther was no men / betwen them for to gone •
what euer he wan cloutyng ould shone •
the werke daye playnly this is no tale •
she would on sundaye drynke it at þe ale4 •
his part was none, he sayd not once naye •
it is no game but on herenest playe •
ffor lacke of wit a man his wyffe to greue •
thos husbandmen / who so would them leue •
kould yf they dyrst tell In audyence •
what foloweth [ther] of wyues to done offence •
is non so ould ne ryuell on hur face •
with tonge or staffe but þat she doth5 manasse •
mabylle god hur saue and blesse •
Notes
  1. Bracketed on right. ↩
  2. Trinity R.3.20 (and thus the EETS volume) has "leene" here. Either reading makes sense in context, and the 'l' glyph, at limes, can look like 'b.' See, for example, the initital 'l' in 'lyttell' in line one of the next section. In those cases, however, the bow is left slightly open (see "colyn cobeller" in the next section, for example) but generally when preceding a round letter the 'l' does not follow that bowed pattern (see 'folowing' in the same line). ↩
  3. Trinity R.3.20 has "metyerde" here. ↩
  4. Trinity R.3.20 has "nale" here instead. "Ale" makes better sense in terms of the narrative of the mumming. ↩
  5. Trinity R.3.20 has "dare" here. ↩

The work on this manuscript witness was generously supported 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.