a picture of John Lydgate with the initials of the website
The Testament of John Lydgate:
British Library Harley 218 Verses

HomeAbout the ArchiveAbout John LydgateWorksManuscriptsAbout this ManuscriptEditorial ApparatusContactVisualization

f.54 verso
Folio 52 VersoFolio 53 RectoFolio 53 VersoFolio 54 RectoFolio 54 VersoFolio 55 RectoFolio 55 VersoFolio 56 RectoFolio 56 VersoFolio 57 RectoFolio 57 VersoFolio 58 RectoFolio 58 VersoFolio 59 RectoFolio 59 VersoFolio 60 RectoFolio 60 VersoFolio 61 RectoFolio 61 VersoFolio 62 RectoFolio 62 VersoFolio 63 RectoFolio 63 VersoFolio 64 RectoFolio 64 VersoFolio 65 RectoFolio 65 VersoFolio 66 RectoFolio 66 VersoFolio 67 RectoFolio 67 VersoFolio 68 RectoFolio 68 VersoFolio 69 RectoFolio 69 VersoFolio 70 RectoFolio 70 VersoFolio 71 RectoFolio 71 VersoFolio 72 Recto

Decoration
Download XML
Data Dictionary
Folio 54 Verso
Compare Witnesses: •
With maria called Maudeleyne1 •
Erly eche morowe / whil that my lyf may dure •
Ffro slouthe and slombre / I shal my self restreyne •
To seke Ihesu at his sepulture •
Whom for to fynde / if þat I may recure •
To haue possessioun / of hym at liberte •
There were in erthe / no ry cchere creature •
To whom ech wyght / bowe shall hys kne •
In mercyfułł Ihesu / to putte averay preef •
Of his mercy / that no man disespeyre •
Vpon the cros / gaf graunt onto the theef •
To paradys / with hym to repayre •
Toke out of helle soules many a peyre •
Maugre Cerberus and ałł his cruelle2 •
O gracious Ihesu3 •
Haue mercy on alle / that bowe to the her kne •
The name of Ihesu4 swettest of names alle •
Geyn gostly venymes / holsomest tryaacle •
Ffor who so euer / to this name calle •
Of cankered surfetes / fynt reles be myracle •
To ony blynde light lanterne and spectacle •
And bryghtest merour / of alle felicite •
Support and sheld / defence and chief obstacle •
To alle that knele / to Ihesu5 •
Notes
  1. The EETS follows its general practice of capitalizing all proper nouns. However, based on the initial glyphs of each line the manuscript renders the initial glyph for "maria" in miniscule and the initial glyph of "Maudeleyne" in majescule. ↩
  2. The EETS edition renders this as "cruelte." ↩
  3. This is bracketed on each side. ↩
  4. This is bracketed on each side. ↩
  5. This is bracketed on the right. ↩

Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.