Once moe the skie was blacke, the thounder rolde; Faste reyneynge oer the plaine a prieste was seen; Ne dighte full proude, ne buttoned up in golde; His cope and jape[46] were graie, and eke were clene; A Limitoure he was of order seene; 75 And from the pathwaie side then turned hee, Where the pore almer laie binethe the holmen tree. An almes, sir priest! the droppynge pilgrim sayde, For sweete Seyncte Marie and your order sake. The Limitoure then loosen'd his pouche threade, 80 And did thereoute a groate of silver take; The mister pilgrim dyd for halline[47] shake. Here take this silver, it maie eathe[48] thie care; We are Goddes stewards all, nete[49] of oure owne we bare. But ah! unhailie[50] pilgrim, lerne of me, 85 Scathe anie give a rentrolle to their Lorde. Here take my semecope[51], thou arte bare I see; Tis thyne; the Seynctes will give me mie rewarde. He left the pilgrim, and his waie aborde. Virgynne and hallie Seyncte, who sitte yn gloure[52], 90 Or give the mittee[53] will, or give the gode man power. [Footnote 1: Thomas Rowley, the author, was born at Norton Mal-reward in Somersetshire, educated at the Convent of St. Kenna at Keynesham, and died at Westbury in Gloucestershire.] [Footnote 2: meads.] [Footnote 3: reddened, ripened.] [Footnote 4: soft.] [Footnote 5: pied goldfinch.] [Footnote 6: drest, arrayed.] [Footnote 7: neat, ornamental.] [Footnote 8: a loose robe or mantle.] [Footnote 9: the sky, the atmosphere.] [Footnote 10: Arose.] [Footnote 11: hiding, shrouding.] [Footnote 12: at once.] [Footnote 13: beauteous.] [Footnote 14: It would have been _charitable_, if the author had not pointed at personal characters in this Ballad of Charity. The Abbot of St. Godwin's at the time of the writing of this was Ralph de Bellomont, a great stickler for the Lancastrian family. Rowley was a Yorkist.] [Footnote 15: beggarly.] [Footnote 16: filled with.] [Footnote 17: beggar.] [Footnote 18: clouded, dejected. A person of some note in the literary world is of opinion, that _glum_ and _glom_ are modern cant words; and from this circumstance doubts the authenticity of Rowley's Manuscripts. Glum-mong in the Saxon signifies twilight, a dark or dubious light; and the modern word _gloomy_ is derived from the Saxon _glum_.] [Footnote 19: dry, sapless.] [Footnote 20: The grave.] [Footnote 21: accursed, unfortunate.] [Footnote 22: coffin.] [Footnote 23: a sleeping room.] [Footnote 24: sun-burnt.] [Footnote 25: smoke.] [Footnote 26: drink.] [Footnote 27: _pall_, a contraction from _appall_, to fright.] [Footnote 28: fly.] [Footnote 29: lightning.] [Footnote 30: steam, or vapours.] [Footnote 31: flames.] [Footnote 32: noisy.] [Footnote 33: moves.] [Footnote 34: swelled, strengthened.] [Footnote 35: Frighted.] [Footnote 36: burst.]