a picture of John Lydgate with the initials of the website
A Mumming at Hertford:
British Library Additional 29729 Verses

HomeAbout the ArchiveAbout John LydgateWorksManuscriptsAbout this ManuscriptEditorial ApparatusContactVisualization

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

Decoration
Download XML
Data Dictionary
Folio 139 Verso
Compare Witnesses: •
Men maye well gruge / but they shall not chese •
custome is vs for nature and vsaunce •
to let oure husbandes / lyfe in great noysaunce1 •
humbely besechynge nowe at on worde •
vnto oure lege / and most souerain lorde •
vs to defend of his regallye •
and of his grace / sustenen our partye •
requirynge the statute of olde antiquyte •
that in your tyme / it maye confermed be •
ɲ
the complaynte of the lewd husbandis with the cruell •
aunswers of ther wyues / hard the kynge and gaue •
ther vponn sentence and Iudgemente •
ɲ
This noble prynce most royall of estate •
hauynge an eyghe / to this mortall debate •
ffirst aduertinge / of full hygħ prudence •
wyll vnavysed gyue here no sentence •
with oute counsaylle / of haste to precede •
by sodeyne dome / for he taketh heede •
to eyther partye / at Iuge in differente •
seinge the paryll / of hasty Iudgmente •
pourposith him / in this contynued stryffe •
to gyue no sentence ther of diffynytyue •
til ther be made examynacionh •
of other partye and Inquysiciounh •
he considereth / and maketh raysoun2 his guyd •
as egall Iudge enclyninge to no syde •
not with standynge he hath compassyony3 •
of the poure husbandes trybulacyon •
sso4 offt arrested / with ther wyues rokes •
which of there distaues / haue so many knokes •
paysinge also in his regallye •
the lawe þat wemen alegge for ther partye •
custome nature and eke prescriptiony5 •
statute vsed / by confirmacyouny6 •
processe and date of tyme out of mynd •
recorde of cronycles witnesse of ther kynd •
wherfore þe kynge / woll all this next yeare •
that wyues franchyse stand hole and entyre •
and that no man with stand it ne wyth drawe •
till man may fynde sume processe out by lawe •
Notes
  1. There is what appears to be a suspension over the "c" here, but it's unclear what is being suspended here. ↩
  2. Bracketed on both sides. ↩
  3. The ascender at the final glyph of "examynacionh" and "Inquysiciounh" at lines eleven and twelve above is absent here, and what is written is the "y" glyph. ↩
  4. S is doubled here, which could be an indication that doubled initial letters are intended to be capitalized. ↩
  5. The terminal glyph here appears to be in a similar position to the one at line fifteen above. ↩
  6. The terminal glyph here appears to be in a similar position to the previous line. ↩

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.