174

THE MUSIC OF HEAVEN-THE HELL OF THE MONKS.

Ffor hi schulleth yhere the aungeles song,
And with hem hi schulleth1 synge ever among,
With delitable voys and swythe clere
And also with that hi schullen have ire2
All other maner of ech a melodye,
Off well lykyng noyse and menstralsye,
And of al maner tenes3 of musike,
The whuche to mannes bcorte migte like,
Withoute eni maner of travayle,

The whuche schal never cesse ne fayle :

4

And so schil schal that noyse bi, and so swete
And so delitable to smale and to grete,

That al the melodye of this worlde heer
That ever was yhuryd ferre or neer
Were therto5 bote as sorwe and care
To the blisse that is in hevene well zare".

Of the contrarie of that blisse.

Wel grete sorwe schal the synfolke bytydes
Ffor he schullen yhere in ech a syde9,
Well gret noyse that the feondes110 willen make,
As thei all the worlde scholde alto schake;
And alle the men lyvynge that migte hit yhure,
Scholde here wit" loose, and no lengere alyve12 dure.
Thanne hi' schulleth for sorwe here hondes wringe,
And ever weilaway hi schullethe be cryinge, &c.
The gode men schullethe have worschipes grete,
And eche of them schal be yset in a riche sete,
And ther as kynges be ycrownid fayre,

And digte with riche perrie' and so ysetun' in a chayre,
And with stones of vertu and preciouse of choyse,

As David thy said to god with a mylde voyce,

Posuisti, domine, super caput eorum, &c.

'Lorde, he seyth, on his heved thou settest wel arigt
'A coronne of a pretious ston richeliche ydigt.'
And so fayre a coronne nas never non ysene,
In this worlde on kynges hevede, ne on quene :
Ffor this coronne is the coronne of blisse,

And the ston is joye whereof hi schilleth never misse, &c.
The synfolke schulleth, as I have afore ytold,

Ffele outrageous hete, and afterwards to muche colde;
Ffor nowe he schullethe freose, and now brenne17,
And so be ypyned that non schal other kenne18,
And also be ybyte with dragonnes felle and kene,
The whuche schulleth hem destrye outrigte and clene,

And with other vermyn and bestes felle,

The whiche beothe nougt but fendes of helle, &c.

We have then this description of the New Jerusalem.

This citie is yset on an hei hille.

Ther no synful man may therto tille1:
The whuche ich likne to beril clene,
And so fayr berel may non be ysene.
Thulke hyl is nougt elles to understondynge
Bote holi thugt, and desyr brennynge,

The whuche holi men hadde heer to that place,
Whiles hi hadde on eorthe here lyves space;
And i likne, as ymay ymagene in my thougt,
The walles of hevene, to walles that were ywrougt
Of all maner preciouse stones yset yfere2,
And ysemented with gold brigt and clere;
Bot so brigt gold, ne non so clene,
Was in this worlde never ysene, &c.
The wardes of the cite of hevene brigt
I likne to wardes that wel were ydygt,
And clenly ywrougt and sotely enteyled,
And on silver and gold clenly avamayled3, &c,
The torettes of hevene grete and smale

I likne to the torrettes of clene cristale, &c.

I am not, in the mean time, quite convinced that any MSS. of the PRICKE OF CONSCIENCE in English belongs to Hampole. That this piece is a translation from the Latin appears from these verses. Therefore this boke is in Englis drawe

Of fele matters that bene unknawe
To lewed men that are unkonande
That con no latyn undirstonde'.

The Latin original in prose, entitled STIMULUS CONSCIENTIÆ3, was

6 ignorant. 7 MSS. Digb. ut sup. 87. ad princip.

5 Many.

In the Cambridge MSS. of Hampole's PARAPHRASE ON THE LORDS PRAYER, above-mentioned, containing a prolix description of human virtues and vices, at the end, this remark appears. Explicit quidam tractatus super Pater noster secundum Ric. Hampole qui obiit D. MCCCLXXXIV.' [But the true date of his death is in another place, viz. 1348.] MSS. More, 215. Princ.

'Almighty God in trinite In whom is only personnes thre.' The PARAPHRASE ON THE BOOK OF JOB, mentioned also before, seems to have existed first in Latin prose under the title of PARVUM JOB. The English begins thus:

'Lieff Lord my soul thou spare.'

In Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Laud, F. 77. 5, &c. &c. It is a paraphrase of some Excerpta from the book of Job. The SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS begin thus:

'To goddis worschippe that dere us bougt.'

MSS. Bodl. Digb. 18. Hampole's EXPOSITIO IN PSALTERIUM is not uncommon in English. It has a preface in English rhymes in some copies, in praise of the author and his work. Pr. This blessyd boke that hire. MSS. Laud. F. 14, &c. Hampole was a very popular writer. Most of his many theological pieces seem to have been translated into English soon after they appeared: and those pieces abound among our manuscripts. Two of his tracts were translated by Richard Misyn, prior of the Carmelites at Lincoln, about the year 1435. The INCENDIUM

176 VISION OF PIERCE PLOWMAN, BY BOBERT LONGDALE.

most probably written by Hampole: and it is not very likely that he should translate his own work. The author and translator were easily confounded. As to the copy of the English poem given to bishop Grosthead, he could not be the translator, to say nothing more, if Hampole wrote the Latin original. On the whole, whoever was the author of the two translations, at least we may pronounce with some certainty, that they belong to the reign of Edward III'.

THE next poet in succession is one who deserves more attention on various accounts. This is Robert Longlande, author of the poem called the VISION OF PIERCE PLOWMAN, a secular priest, and a fellow of Oriel college, in Oxford. He flourished about the year 1350. This poem contains a series of distinct visions, which the author imagines himself to have seen, while he was sleeping, after a long ramble on Malverne-hills in Worcestershire. It is a satire on the vices of almost every profession : but particularly on the corruptions of the clergy, and the absurdities of superstition. These are ridiculed with much humour and spirit, couched under a strong vein of allegorical invention. But instead of availing himself of the rising and rapid improvements of the English language, Longland prefers and adopts the style of the Anglo-Saxon poets. Nor did he make these writers the models of his language only: he likewise imitates their alliterative versification, which consisted in using an aggregate of words beginning with the same letter. He has therefore rejected rhyme, in the place of which he thinks it sufficient to substitute a perpetual alliteration. But this imposed constraint of seeking identical initials, and the affectation of obsolete English, by demanding a con

AMORIS, at the request of Margaret Hellingdon a recluse, Princ. To the askynge of thi desire.' And DE EMENDATIONE VITÆ. Tarry thou not to oure.' They are in the translator's own hand-writing in the library of C. C. C. Oxon. MSS. 237. I find other ancient translations of both these pieces. Particularly, The PRICKE OF LOVE after Richard Hampol treting of the three degrees of love. MSS. Bodl. Arch. B. 65. f. 109. As a proof of the confusions and uncertainties attending the works of our author, I must add, that we have a translation of his tract DE EMENDATIONE under this title. The form of perfyt living, which holy Richard the hermit wrote to a recluse named Margarete. MSS. Vernon. But Magarete is evidently the recluse, at whose request Richard Misyn, many years after Hampole's death, translated the INCENDIUM AMORIS. These observations, to which others might be added, are sufficient to confirm the suspicions insinuated in the text. Many of Hampole's Latin theological tracts were printed very early at Paris and Cologne.

Much about the same period, Lawrence Minot, not mentioned by Tanner, wrote a collection of poems on the principal events of the reign of king Edward III, preserved in the British

Museum. MSS. Cotton. GALB. E. ix.

1 I have here followed a date commonly received. But it may be observed, that there is in this poem an allusion to the fall of Edward II. The siege of Calais is also mentioned as a recent fact; and Bribery accuses Conscience of obstructing the conquest of France. See more in Observations on the Fairy Queen, ii. §. xi. p. 281.

Sft and necessary departure from the natural and obvious forms of expression, while it circumscribed the powers of our author's genius, contributed also to render his manner extremely perplexed, and to disgust the reader with obscurities. The satire is conducted by the agency of several allegorical personages, such as Avarice, Bribery, Theology, Conscience, &c. There is much imagination in the following picture, which is intended to represent human life, and its various occupations.

Then gan I to meten a mervelouse sweven,

That I was in wildernes, I wyst never where:
As I beheld into theast, on highe to the sunne
I saw a tower on a loft, rychlych ymaked,

A depe dale beneth, a dungeon therein,

With depe diches and darcke, and dreadfull of syght:
A fayre felde ful of folke found I ther betwene,
Of all maner men, the meane and the riche,
Working and wandring, as the world asketh ;
Some put hem to the ploughe, pleiden full selde,
In setting and sowing swonken full harde :
And some put hem to pryd1, &c.

The following extracts are not only striking specimens of our author's allegorical satire, but contain much sense and observation of life, with some strokes of poetry2.

Thus robed in russet, I romed aboute
All a somer season, for to seke3 DOWEL
And freyned full oft, of folke that I mette

If any wight wist, wher DOWEL was at inne,
And what man he might be, of many man I asked,
Was never wight as I went, that me wysh could
Where this ladde lenged', lesse or more

Tyll it befell on a Fryday, two fryers I mette
Maisters of the minours, men of greate wytte

I halsed hem hendelye, as I had learned

And prayed hem for charitie, or they passed furthur
If they knewe any courte or countrye as they went
Where that DOWELL dwelleth, do me to wyttel0

For they be men on this mould, that most wide walke
And knowe contries and courts, and many kinnes11 places
Both princes palaces, and pore menes cotes

And DOWEL and DOEVIL, where they dwell both,

Amongest us quoth the minours, that man is dwellinge
And ever hath as I hope, and ever shall hereafter,
Contra quod I, as a clarke, and cumsed to disputen

1 Fol. i. a. edit. 1550. By Roberte Crowley. 4to. He printed three editions in this one year. Another was printed [with Pierce Plowman's CREDE annexed] by Owen Rogers, 1561. 4to. See Strype, Ann. Reformat. i. 135. And Ames, Hist. Print. p. 270.

1 F. 39. seq. Pass. viii. seq. edit. 1550.

3 Do-well. 7 Lived

4 Enquired. 5 Lived. 6 Inform me.
8 The friers minors. 9 Saluted them civilly.

178

DOWELL-CHARITIE, THE CHAPION-DOEVIL.

And sayde hym sothelye, Septies in die cadit justus,
Seven1 sythes sayeth the boke, synneth the rightfull,
And who so synneth I say, doth evel as me thinketh,
And DOWEL and DOEVYL may not dwel togither,
Ergo he is not alway among you fryers

He is other whyle els where, to wyshen the people.
I shal say the my sonne, sayde the frier than
How seven sithes the sadde man on a day synneth,
By a forvisne3 quod the fryer, I shal the faire shewe
Let bryng a man in abote, amyd the brode water
The winde and the water, and the bote waggyng
Make a man many time, to fall and to stande
For stand he never so stiffe, he stumbleth if he move
And yet is he safe and sounde, and so hym behoveth,
For if he ne arise the rather, and raght to the stere,
The wind would with the water the boote overthrow.
And than were his life lost through latches of himself.
And thus it falleth quod the frier, bi folk here on erth
The water is likned to the world, that waneth and wexeth
The goods of this world ar likened to the gret waves
That as winds and wethers, walken a bout.

The boote is likende to our body, that brytil is of kynd
That through the fleshe, and the frayle worlde

Synneth the sadde man, a day seven tymes

And deadly synne doeth he not, for DOWEL him kepeth

And that is CHARITIE, the chapion, chiefe helpe agayne sinne,
For he strengtheth man to stand, and stirreth mans soule

And thoughe thy bodi bowe, as bote doth in water,

Aye is thy soule safe, but if thou wylt thy self
Do a deadlye sinne, and drenche so thy soule
God wyll suffer wel thy slouth, if thy selfe lyketh
For he gafe the two yeresgifts, to teme wel thy selfe
And that is witte and frewil, to every wight a portion
To flyinge fowles, to fishes, and to beastes

And man hath moste thereof, and most is to blame

But if he worch wel therwith, as DoWEL hym teacheth

I have no kind knowyng quoth I, to coccive all your wordes

And if I may live and loke, I shal go learne better

I bikenne the Christ, that on the crosse dyed

And I said the same, save you from mischaunce

And give you grace on this ground good me to worth.
And thus I went wide wher, walking mine one
By a wyde weldernes, and by a woddes syde,
Blisse of the birdes, brought me on slepe,
And under a lynde" on a land, lened I a stounde
To lyth the layes', tho lovely fowles made,
Myrthe of her mouthes made me there to slepe
The marvelousest metelles, mettes me than
That ever dremed wyght, in world as I wente.

1 Times.
5 Lime tree.

2 Sober, Good.

3 Similitude. 7 Listen.

6 A while.

4 Laziness. 8 Dreamed.