The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2)Skelton, John
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The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2)
Skelton, John
English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
Deyr brother, noo other thyng y off thee desyre
Butt gyve me thyne hert fre to rewarde myn hyre:
Y wrouȝt thé, I bowgȝt thé frome eternal fyre;
Y pray thé aray thé tooward my hyȝt empyre, 50
Above[597] the oryent,
Wheroff y am regent,
Lord God omnypotent,
Wyth me too reyn yn endlys welthe;
Remember, man, thy sawlys helthe.
Woofully arayd,
My blode, man,
For thé rane,
Hytt may nott be nayd;
My body blow and wane, 60
Woyfully arayde.
Explicit qd. Skelton.
[588] _Woffully araid_] From the Fairfax MS. (which once belonged
to Ralph Thoresby, and now forms part of the Additional MSS., 5465,
in the British Museum), where it occurs twice,—(fol. 76 and, less
perfectly, fol. 86); collated with a copy written in a very old hand
on the fly-leaves of _Boetius de Discip. Schol. cum notabili commento,
Daventrie_, 1496, 4to. (in the collection of the late Mr. Heber), which
has supplied several stanzas not in the Fairfax MS. It was printed from
the latter, not very correctly, by Sir John Hawkins, _Hist. of Music_,
ii. 89. I have followed the metrical arrangement of the MS. in the
_Boetius_.
[589] _condempnyd_] So sec. copy in Fairfax MS., and MS. in the
_Boetius_. First copy in F. MS. “condemp.”
[590] _Whereas neuer man was so_] MS. in the _Boetius_, “Ah _was never
man soo_.”
[591] _rufull_] MS. in the _Boetius_, “rowfully.”
[592] _bobbid ... robbid_] MS. in the _Boetius_, “bowde ... rowyd.”
[593] _Onfaynyd_] MS. in the _Boetius_, “Unfraynyd.”
[594] _deynyd_] MS. in the _Boetius_, “drynyde.”
[595] _The_] MS. in the _Boetius_, “Thes.”
[596] _Woffully araide_] Here the Fairfax MS. concludes: what follows is
given from the MS. in the _Boetius_.
[597] _Above_] MS. “I love.”
Now synge we,[598] as we were wont,
_Vexilla regis prodeunt_.
The kinges baner on felde is [s]playd,
The crosses mistry can not be nayd,
To whom our Sauyour was betrayd,
And for our sake;
Thus sayth he,
I suffre for thé,
My deth I take.
Now synge we, &c.
Beholde my shankes, behold my knees, 10
Beholde my hed, armes, and thees,
Beholde of me nothyng thou sees
But sorowe and pyne;
Thus was I spylt,
Man, for thy gylte,
And not for myne.
Now synge we, &c.
Behold my body, how Jewes it donge
With knots of whipcord and scourges strong;
As stremes of a well the blode out sprong
On euery syde; 20
The knottes were knyt,
Ryght well made with wyt,
They made woundes wyde.
Now synge we, &c.
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