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A Mumming at Hertford:
British Library Additional 29729 Verses

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

Decoration
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Folio 139 Recto
Compare Witnesses: •
ɲ
touchynge the substaunce of this hygh discord •
we six wyues / bene full of on accorde •
yff word and chydinge / may vs not avaylle •
we woll dr yte1 it in Champoleos by batayll •
Imparte / oure righte / laate or elles rathe •
and for oure partye / the worthy wyffe of bathe •
cane showe statutes / mo than six or seuen •
how wyues / make ther husbandis wynne heuen •
maugre the fende and all his vyolence •
ffor ther vertu / of parfyte pacyence •
parteyneth to wyues now adayes •
saufe on ther husbandes for to make assays •
ther pacyence was buryed longe ago •
gresyldes story recoreth pleynly so •
ɲ
it longeth to vs / to clappen as a myll •
no counsayll kepe / but þe truth out tell •
we be not borne / by heuenly Influence •
of our nature to kepe vs in sylence •
for this is no doute / euery prudent wyffe •
hath redy aunswere / in all suche maner stryfe •
though thos dotardes2 / with ther dokked berdes •
whycħ straweth oute / as they were made of herdes •
haue agayne vs / agrett quarell now sette •
I trowe the bakoun / was neuer of h[e]m3 fette •
A waye at dounmiawe / in the pryorye •
they wene of vs to haue ay the mastrye •
elles thos foles / let them aunswere here to •
who can them washe / who can them wringe also •
wrynge them the4 wrynge / so als god vs sped5 •
till that some tyme / we make ther nosis bled •
and sowe ther clothes when they be to rente •
and cloute ther bacckes till som of vs be shent •
lo yet thos foles god gyue them sorowe chaunce •
wolle sett ther wyues / vnder gouernaunce •
make vs to them / for to lowte lowe •
we know to well the bent of Iackes bowe •
all that we clayme / we clayme it but of ryte •
yf they say nay let preue it out by fyght •
we woll v s6 ground not vppon womanhede •
ffye on them cowardes / when it cometh to nede •
we clayme mastry / by prescryption •
be longe tytell of successyon •
ffrom wyffe to wyffe which we will not lesse •
Notes
  1. The third glyph is inclear. It is obvious that the scribe wrote a "y" but whether this is the corrected glyph or whatever is written over the top(either two "i"'s, with tittle, or a "u") is meant to be the correction is not easily discernable. Trinity R.3.20 has "darrein" here, so it seems as though this was interpreted as a different word here. ↩
  2. It is interesting that the wives use the word "dotardes" here as the word was written as "dastardes" when the narrator was referring to the husbands in the previous section. Trinity R.3.20, unsurprisingly, has "dotardes" here. ↩
  3. The scribe has written an "e" above the space between "h" and "m" in this line. ↩
  4. Trinity R.3.20 has "ye", as does the EETS edition based on it. It seems likely that the scribe has misread their exemplar, assuming that a y is a thorn. ↩
  5. This appears at first glance to be "seed," which makes no sense in context. However, comparing the "horns" to the left of the bow in "pryorye" at line eleven above with those of the second glyph here reveals that this is a "p" with an incredibly small descender. ↩
  6. The second glyph appears to have been overwritten more than once. There is the curved ascender of an "s" visible and either an "f" or the long "s," but it's unclear what is meant by those glyphs. ↩

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.