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The Testament of John Lydgate:
British Library Additional 34193 Verses

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f.227 recto
Folio 223 VersoFolio 224 RectoFolio 224 VersoFolio 225 RectoFolio 225 VersoFolio 226 RectoFolio 226 VersoFolio 227 RectoFolio 227 VersoFolio 228 RectoFolio 228 Verso

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Folio 227 Recto
Compare Witnesses: •
O Ihesu mercy Support of thy grace •
ffor thy meke passion remembraunce of my compleynt •
Durynge my lyf with many gret trespase •
Be my wrongs passith wer where I haue myswent •
I now purpose be the grace Influent •
To wright a tretise of Surfetis done to þe •
And całł it my last testament •
With Ihesu mercy knelynge on my knee •
The yers passied of my grene yougħ •
Of my fressħ age sered þe grenesse •
Lust appallitħ the experiens is couth •
The vnwyldy Ioyntes sterkyd with rudenesse •
The cloudy sigħt mysted with derkenesse •
With oute redresse recoure ore amendes •
To me of deth hathe brougħt in the kalendis •
Of my spent tyme A fole may wełł compleyne •
Thynge impossible a gayne for to recouer •
dayes lost in ydyłł no man may recouer1 •
Them to Refome be non aventure •
Eche mortałłe man is la callid þe lure •
Of dethe als vncłayne þe passage •
Whos chefe marno2 oo is callide crokid age •
On of this bediłł named febulnes •
Cam with his potent in stede of A m ace3 •
Sumpned me and aftyre cam sekenesse •
Malyncolik ertħly and pale of face •
Withe there waraunt these ii gan mance4 mance •
How dothe d on me his due dette Sought •
And to a bede of langoure þey me brougħ •
Notes
  1. The scribe appears to have accidentally repeated the last word of the final line of the prior line. ↩
  2. There is what appears to be a "oo" above the space between this word and "is", but as the word rendered here is significantly different than the EETS edition's "marynere" I have left it unclear in the following word. ↩
  3. The EETS edition has "mace," but the glyph is unclear. It may be "merce" with an "er" construction. ↩
  4. The scribe appears to have written the word "manace" with a suspension mark over the "ac" grouping, but then decided to write the word out instaead. For some reason, however, the a they use is the form typically seen elsewhere as capital "a" in the manuscript. This form seen in non-capital places elsewhere. ↩

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