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A Mumming at London:
British Library Additional 29729 Verses

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f.140 verso
Folio 140 RectoFolio 140 VersoFolio 141 RectoFolio 141 VersoFolio 142 RectoFolio 142 VersoFolio 143 RectoFolio 143 VersoFolio 144 Recto

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Folio 140 Verso
Compare Witnesses: •
some singe on hye and som lowe •
and zepherus1 ther doth eke blow •
with his smoothe / attempre ayre •
he makethe the weder / cler and fayr •
And the sesoun full of grace •
but sodenly in lytell space •
vpon this place most royall •
ther cometh awawe and for dereth all •
ffirst the freshe floures glad •
on ther stalkes / he dothe fade •
to ther bewty / he doth wronge •
and than farewell the byrdes songe •
braunch and bougħe of euery tre •
she robbethe them of ther beutye •
leffe and blosomes doune they fall •
and in that place / she hath an hall •
departed / and wonder disgysee •
ffrom that on syde / ye maye see •
curyously2 wrough for the nones •
of gold and sylluer and of stones •
whos richesse / may not be tould •
but that other syde / of that hold •
Is obylte in ugly wyse •
and ruynous / for to deuyse •
daubed of claynes3 that doungeoun •
ay in poynt to fall adoun •
that on fayre / by apparence •
and that other in existence •
shaken with wyndes rayne and hayle •
and sodenly ther doth assayle •
a rage flud / that mancyon •
and ouer floweth it vp and doune •
her is no rescnes / ner obstacle •
of this ladyes habytacle •
and as hur hous is aye vnstabell •
ryght so hir sellfe is deseuabell4 •
In no poynte she is neuer alytche •
this daye she maketh aman all rytche •
and thorough his[r]5 mutabylite •
casteth hym to morowe / in pouerte •
the proudest / she can gyue afalle •
she made alexaunder wynnen all •
that no man him with stand dare •
and caste him doun / or he was ware •
Notes
  1. Bracketed on both sides. ↩
  2. Trinity R.3.20 has "Ceryously" here. ↩
  3. Trinity R.3.20 has "clay is" here. ↩
  4. Trinity R.3.20 has deceyuable ↩
  5. The scribe originally had "his" here, but realized their mistake and replaced it with "hir." ↩

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.