Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to Chaucer

Name: Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to Chaucer
Author: Baldwin, James

Baldwin, James

English poetry

Then to the Chepe I began me drawne,
     Where mutch people I saw for to stand;
     One ofred me velvet, sylke, and lawne,
     An other he taketh me by the hande,
     "Here is Parys thred, the fynest in the land";
     I never was used to such thyngs indede,
     And wanting mony, I might not spede.

     Then went I forth by London stone,
     Th[o]roughout all Canwyke streete;
     Drapers mutch cloth me offred anone;
     Then comes me one, cryed, "Hot shepes feete";
     One cryde "makerell," "ryshes grene," an other gan greete;
     One bad me by a hood to cover my head,
     But for want of mony I myght not be sped.

     Then I hyed me into Est-Chepe;
     One cryes rybbs of befe, and many a pye:
     Pewter pottes they clattered on a heape;
     There was harpe, pype, and mynstralsye.
     "Yea, by cock! nay, by cock!" some began crye;
     Some songe of Jenken and Julyan for there mede;
     But for lack of mony I myght not spede.

     Then into Corn-Hyll anon I yode,
     Where was mutch stolen gere amonge;
     I saw where honge myne owne hoode,
     That I had lost amonge the thronge;
     To by my own hood I thought it wronge,
     I knew it well as I dyd my crede,
     But for lack of mony I could not spede.

     The taverner tooke me by the sleve,
     "Sir," sayth he, "wyll you our wyne assay"?
     I answered, "That can not mutch me greve:
     A peny can do no more than it may";
     I drank a pynt, and for it did paye;
     Yet sone a-hungerd from thence I yede,
     And wantyng mony, I cold not spede.

     Then hyed I me to Belyngsgate;
     And one cryed, "Hoo! go we hence!"
     I prayd a barge-man, for God's sake,
     That he wold spare me my expence.
     "Thou scapst not here," quod he, "under two pence;
     I lyst not yet bestow my almes dede."
     Thus, lackyng mony, I could not spede.

     Then I convayd me into Kent;
     For of the law wold I meddle no more;
     Because no man to me tooke entent,
     I dyght me to do as I dyd before.
     Now Jesus, that in Bethlem was bore,
     Save London, and send trew lawyers there mede!
     For who so wantes mony with them shall not spede.

--_From "London Lickpenny."_


GLOSSARY.

     =anone=, at once.
     =assay=, try.
     =bede=, offer.
     =Chepe=, the market. Cheapside, still a famous street in London.
     =dyght=, disposed.
     =gere=, apparel.
     =greete=, cry out.
     =hyed=, hurried.
     =lyst=, wish.
     =mede=, reward, wages.
     =pescodes=, pease.
     =ryse=, bough or twig.
     =ryshes=, rushes.
     =spede=, proceed, do.
     =yede=, went.




THE GOLDEN AGE.


     Rightwisenes chastised al robbours,
     By egall balaunce of execucion,
     Fraud, falsë mede, put backward fro jurours,
     True promes holde, made no delacioun;
     Forswearing shamed durst enter in no toun,
     Nor lesingmongers, because Attemperaunce
     Had in that world wholy the governaunce.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to ChaucerBaldwin, James

General

Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to Chaucer

Baldwin, James

English poetry

Then to the Chepe I began me drawne,
     Where mutch people I saw for to stand;
     One ofred me velvet, sylke, and lawne,
     An other he taketh me by the hande,
     "Here is Parys thred, the fynest in the land";
     I never was used to such thyngs indede,
     And wanting mony, I might not spede.

     Then went I forth by London stone,
     Th[o]roughout all Canwyke streete;
     Drapers mutch cloth me offred anone;
     Then comes me one, cryed, "Hot shepes feete";
     One cryde "makerell," "ryshes grene," an other gan greete;
     One bad me by a hood to cover my head,
     But for want of mony I myght not be sped.

     Then I hyed me into Est-Chepe;
     One cryes rybbs of befe, and many a pye:
     Pewter pottes they clattered on a heape;
     There was harpe, pype, and mynstralsye.
     "Yea, by cock! nay, by cock!" some began crye;
     Some songe of Jenken and Julyan for there mede;
     But for lack of mony I myght not spede.

     Then into Corn-Hyll anon I yode,
     Where was mutch stolen gere amonge;
     I saw where honge myne owne hoode,
     That I had lost amonge the thronge;
     To by my own hood I thought it wronge,
     I knew it well as I dyd my crede,
     But for lack of mony I could not spede.

     The taverner tooke me by the sleve,
     "Sir," sayth he, "wyll you our wyne assay"?
     I answered, "That can not mutch me greve:
     A peny can do no more than it may";
     I drank a pynt, and for it did paye;
     Yet sone a-hungerd from thence I yede,
     And wantyng mony, I cold not spede.

     Then hyed I me to Belyngsgate;
     And one cryed, "Hoo! go we hence!"
     I prayd a barge-man, for God's sake,
     That he wold spare me my expence.
     "Thou scapst not here," quod he, "under two pence;
     I lyst not yet bestow my almes dede."
     Thus, lackyng mony, I could not spede.

     Then I convayd me into Kent;
     For of the law wold I meddle no more;
     Because no man to me tooke entent,
     I dyght me to do as I dyd before.
     Now Jesus, that in Bethlem was bore,
     Save London, and send trew lawyers there mede!
     For who so wantes mony with them shall not spede.

--_From "London Lickpenny."_


GLOSSARY.

     =anone=, at once.
     =assay=, try.
     =bede=, offer.
     =Chepe=, the market. Cheapside, still a famous street in London.
     =dyght=, disposed.
     =gere=, apparel.
     =greete=, cry out.
     =hyed=, hurried.
     =lyst=, wish.
     =mede=, reward, wages.
     =pescodes=, pease.
     =ryse=, bough or twig.
     =ryshes=, rushes.
     =spede=, proceed, do.
     =yede=, went.




THE GOLDEN AGE.


     Rightwisenes chastised al robbours,
     By egall balaunce of execucion,
     Fraud, falsë mede, put backward fro jurours,
     True promes holde, made no delacioun;
     Forswearing shamed durst enter in no toun,
     Nor lesingmongers, because Attemperaunce
     Had in that world wholy the governaunce.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to Chaucer

Six Centuries of English Poetry: Tennyson to Chaucer

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