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

HomeAbout the ArchiveAbout John LydgateWorksManuscriptsAbout this ManuscriptEditorial ApparatusContactVisualization

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

Decoration
Download XML
Data Dictionary
Folio 143 Verso
Compare Witnesses: •
fforce prudence1 and rightwysnesse2 •
off thos thre / he toke his roote •
to putt fortune vnder fott •
and sith this ladye / in vertu stronge •
soustayneth trouth and doth it wronge •
late hur now to more and lasse •
be welcome to yow this cristmasse •
And this edone cometh in the forthe lady cleped •
dame feyre and wyse attempraunce •
This fayre lady that ye sene here •
humble debonare / and sadd of chere •
I called is attemperaunce •
to sett all thinge in gouernaunce •
and for hir susters to provyd •
vyces all shall circumsyde •
and setten them in stabulnesse •
with hir cousin soburnesse3 •
she shall from vyces them restreyne •
and in vertue hold hur reyne •
and ther in gyue them liberte •
eschuynge all dishoneste •
and them in furmen by prudence •
ffor to haue pacyence •
lownesse and humylite •
and pryd specially to flee •
contynence from glotenye •
eschue dishonest companye •
fflen the dyte and the tauerne •
and in soburnesse them gouerne •
with hart all4 euer they can •
In vertu louen euery man •
sey the best ay of entent •
who that seyth well doth not repente •
detraction and gloteny •
voyde them from thy company •
and all rancoure sett asyde •
be not to hasty / but euer abyde •
specially to done vengaunce •
in abode it no repentaunce •
and in vertu / who is thus sett •
than be thos susters well Imett •
and sothly yf it be discerned •
who by thos foure / is thus gouerned •
thus I meane that by prudence •
he haue the myrrour of prouydence •
Notes
  1. Bracketed on the right ↩
  2. Bracketed on the right. ↩
  3. Bracketed on the right. ↩
  4. It appears that the final glyph has been stuck out, but this may simply be a smudge. Both "al" and "all" appear in this work, and so I've decided to err on the side of assuming it is a mistake. ↩

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.