In þe palays pryncipale vpon þe playn wowe _In the palace principal upon the plain wall,_ In contrary of þe candelstik þat clerest hit schyned _Opposite to the candlestick that clearest there shone._ Þer apered a paume, with poyntel in fyngres _There appeared a palm with a pointel in its fingers,_ Þat watȝ grysly & gret, & grymly he wrytes _That was grisly and great, and grimly it writes,_ None oþer forme bot a fust faylaynde þe wryst _None other form but a fist failing the wrist_ Pared on þe parget, purtrayed lettres _Pared on the plaister, pourtrayed letters._ When þat bolde Baltaȝar blusched to þat neue _When that bold Belshazzar looked to that fist,_ Such a dasande drede dusched to his hert _Such a dazzling dread dashed to his heart._ Þat al falewed his face & fayled þe chere _That all paled his face and failed the cheer;_ Þe stronge strok of þe stonde strayned his ioyntes _The strong stroke of the blow strained his joints,_ His cnes cachcheȝ to close & cluchches his hommes _His knees catch to close, and he clutches his hams,_ & he with plat-tyng his paumes displayes his lers[19] _And he with striking his palms displays his fears,_ & romyes as a rad ryth þat roreȝ for drede _And howls as a frightened hound that roars for dread,_ Ay biholdand þe honde til hit hade al grauen, _Ever beholding the hand till it had all graven,_ & rasped on þe roȝ woȝe runisch saueȝ _And rasped on the rough wall uncouth saws (words)._ (IX.) The story of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride and its punishment (pp. 84, 85), and the interpretation of the handwriting by Daniel (p. 86). (X.) The invasion of Babylon by the Medes (pp. 87, 88). Baltaȝar in his bed watȝ beten to deþe _Belshazzar in his bed was beaten to death,_ Þat boþe his blood & his brayn blende on þe cloþes _That both his blood and his brains blended on the clothes;_ Þe kyng in his cortyn watȝ kaȝt by þe heles _The king in his curtain was caught by the heels,_ Feryed out bi þe fete & fowle dispysed _Ferried out by the feet and foully despised;_ Þat watȝ so doȝty þat day & drank of þe vessayl _He that was so doughty that day and drank of the vessels,_ Now is a dogge also dere þat in a dych lygges _Now is as dear (valuable) as a dog that in a ditch lies._ --(p. 88.) [Footnote 16: See Glossary.] [Footnote 17: “4. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king’s garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. “5. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.”] [Footnote 18: Immediately.] [Footnote 19: ? feres.]