Many of the texts are accompanied by a short prefatory or concluding verse in English or Latin. The English verse--
_When lyffe is most loued, and deth is moste hated, Then dethe draweth his drawght and makyth man full naked_
occurs as a preface in MSS. Harl. 4486 and 1671, Lambeth, Laud, Rawl.
P., and Egerton, and as a conclusion in Billyng"s text. The Latin _Memento h.o.m.o quod cinis es et in cinerem reverteris_ occurs, in full or in part, in MSS. Harl. 4486, Egerton, Rawl. C., Lambeth, and Billyng, and _De terra plasmasti me_ in MSS. Harl. 1671, Lambeth, and Rawl.
P. The two stanzas in rime royal on the _Procese of Dethe_ which immediately precede _Erthe upon Erthe_ in the Porkington MS. are transcribed as a separate poem, and if not separate, would rather belong to the preceding text, a translation of the Latin _Visio Philiberti_ in rime royal, than to _Erthe upon Erthe_. The latter poem often accompanies either a _Dance of Death_ or one of the numerous _Soul and Body_ dialogues, no doubt because of the similarity of the theme, but it is not necessary to regard these kindred poems as forming an essential part of each other. So in the Balliol MS., _Erthe upon Erthe_ is preceded by an eight-lined Latin stanza on the theme _vado mori_, which is probably part of a _Dance of Death_. Here again no basis for a grouping of the MSS. can be found.
The two late texts--MSS. Maitland and Reidpeth--represent a Lowland Scots version of the poem, and are obviously copies of the same original. Probably the Reidpeth text is a transcription of the Maitland, but it contains some obvious misreadings of it, as in verse 3, line 3, _bowris_ (Maitl.), _towris_ (Reidpeth) repeating the rime-word; 5, l. 20, _within_ (Maitl.), _with_ (Reidpeth). The Maitland MS., compiled c. 1555-1585, adds the colophon _quod Marsar_. The later Reidpeth MS., 1622-1623, concludes with the words _quod Dumbar_. Mersar, or Marsar, is mentioned in Dunbar"s _Lament for the Makaris_, and is usually identified with a William Mersar of the household of James IV, mentioned 1500 to 1503. In any case, if he were a contemporary of Dunbar, he could scarcely be a.s.signed to a sufficiently early date to account for the widespread popularity of _Erthe upon Erthe_ all over England in 1450, and the fact that the two MSS. a.s.sign the poem to different authors, of whom Dunbar is manifestly impossible, and Mersar at least improbable, may be explained as an instance of that readiness of posterity to attach a known name to a work of unknown origin, of which other examples are not wanting. It is, however, of interest to find that the poem had made its way to Scotland by 1550 or thereabouts.
As regards dialect, the majority of the MSS. of the B version show traces of Northern dialect, most of them preserving the Nth. plural in _-is_ in the rimes _touris_, _schowrys_, &c. In verse 3 also the majority of the texts have the Nth. _bigged_ or _biggid_, but six (MSS.
Billyng, Egerton, Rawl. P., Porkington, Balliol, and the Stratford text) use the Midl. or Sth. _bilded_ or _billed_. In verse 4 the rime requires the form _wold_ rather than the common Nth. _wald_, and even the Maitland MS. retains _wold_ for the sake of the rime, whereas MS.
Reidpeth subst.i.tutes _wald_, sacrificing the rime. MSS. Thornton and Rawl. C. show distinct Nth. features, such as the verb-endings _-is_ (pres. ind. 3 sg.), _-and_ (pres. part.), _-id_, _-it_, _-in_ (past part.), and MS. Rawl. C. has the Nth. _whate gates at u gase_ riming with _fase_ (_foes_). But few of the MSS. represent pure dialect-forms, and an investigation of the dialect of the texts is of little a.s.sistance towards determining that of the original poem. Such evidence as exists points, on the whole, to the North Midland district, and a widespread popularity in the North, which led to the later knowledge of the poem across the Border, but the popularity was evidently not confined to the North, and Southern as well as Northern forms may be traced in both early and late transcripts.
THE CAMBRIDGE TEXT.
The Cambridge MS., as has been already stated, combines portions of both the A and the B version with several independent stanzas. At first sight it might appear to represent a transitional stage in the development of the B from the A type, but closer examination shows that this is not the case, and that the text is merely a later compilation from the two. The writer must have had some knowledge both of the longer A version represented by MS. Harl. 913, and of the common seven-stanza B type, and seems to have tried to combine his recollections in one poem, halting between the four-lined and six-lined stanza, repeating himself here and there, and adding certain new verses of his own. There is no grouping into stanzas in the MS., but a division is easily made by the rimes, and these give mono-rimed stanzas of four lines chiefly, with one of six lines, and some fragmentary ones of two or three. In one case a stanza has been broken up and the two couplets inserted at different points (ll. 9-10, 27-28). As has been shown in the table of MSS. of the B version, six verses of the B type may be traced, while four verses show distinct correspondence with A, and eleven are independent of either.
A comparison of the similar lines follows:--
(_MS. Cambr._ Ii. 4. 9) ll. 1-4.
Erthe vpon erthe is waxin & wrought, Erthe takys on erthe a n.o.bylay of nought; Now erthe vpon erthe layes all his ought How erthe vpon erthe sattys all at noght.
(_MS. Harl._ 4486.) B Version.
1 Erthe owte of erthe is wonderly wrowghte, Erthe of the erthe hathe gete an abbey[12] of nawte, Erthe apon erthe hath sett{e} al his thowghte How erthe apon erthe may be hye browte.
ll. 9-10, 27-28.
Erthe vpon erth wolde be a kyng, But howe erth xal to erth thynkyth he no thyng.
When erthe says to erth: "My rent ou me bryng,"
Then has erth fro erthe a dolfull p{ar}tyng.
2 Erthe apon erthe be he a kyng{e}, b.u.t.t how erth schall{e} to erthe thynketh{e} he nothyng{e}.
When erthe byddeth erthe his rent home bryng{e}, Then schall{e} erth{e} owte of erthe haue a pyteous[13]
p{ar}tyng{e}.
ll. 5-8.
Erthe vpon erth has hallys & towr{is}; Erthe says to erth: "This is alle owr{is}."
But q{ua}n erth vpon erth has byg{g}yd his bowr{is} Than xal erth for the erth haue scharpe schowr{is}.
3 Erthe apon erthe wynneth castell{es} & towres.
Then seyth{e} erthe to erthe: "These byth{e} all{e} owres."
When erthe apon erthe hath bygged{e} vp his bowres Then schall{e} erthe for the erthe suffre scharpe schowres.
Cf. l. 66.
If erth haue mys don, he getyth scharpe sho{u}rs.
ll. 33-35.
Erthe wrotys in erth as molys don in molde, Erthe vpon erth glydys as golde, As erthe leve in erthe eu{e}r mor{e} schulde.
4 Erthe gothe apon erthe as molde apon molde.
So goeth erthe apon erthe all{e} gleteryng{e} in golde, Lyke as erthe into erthe neu{er} go scholde, And ?et schall{e} erthe into erthe rather then be wolde.
ll. 29-32.
How erthe louys erth wondyr me thynke, How erthe for erth wyll swete and swynke.
When erth is in {e}rthe broght w{i}t{h}-in the brynke What as herth than of erthe but a fowle sty{n}ke.
5 Why erthe loueth{e} erthe wonder me thynke, Or why that erthe for erthe swete wyll{e} or swynke, Ffor whan erthe apon erthe is browte w{i}t{h}yn e brynke, Then schall{e} erthe of the erthe haue a fowle stynke.
ll. 36-37.
Erthe vpon erth mynd eu{er} more ou make How erthe xal to erth when deth wyll hy{m} take.
6 Loo erthe apon erthe consyder{e} thow may How erthe co{m}myth to erthe naked all way.
ll. 19-22.
Erth vpon erthe gos in the weye, Prykys and prankys on a palfreye; When erth has gotyn erth alle that he maye, He schal haue but seven fote at his last daye.
(_MS. Harl._ 913) A Version.
v. 5, ll. 1, 2, 5, 6.
Er is a palfrei to king a{nd} to quene, Er is ar la{n}g wei, ouw we lutil wene.
Whan er ha er wi st{r}ein us geten, Alast he ha is lein miseislich i-meten.
ll. 41-46, 23-26.
Ffor erth gos in erth walkand in vede, And erthe rydys on erth on a fayr stede, When he was goty{n} in erth erth to his mede, Than is erth layde in erthe wormys to fede.
Whylke are the wormys the flesch brede?
G.o.d wote the wormys for to ryght rede.
Than xal not be lyky{n}g vnto hy{m} Bu[t] an olde sely cloth to wynde erthe in, When erthe is in erth for wormys wyn, The rof of his hows xal ly on his chyn.
v. 2.
Er ge on er wrikkend in weden, Er toward er wormes to feden; Er b{er}ri to er al is lif deden; When er is i{n} ere, heo muntid i meden.
When er is i{n} ere, e rof is on e chynne; an schullen an hu{n}dred wormes wroten on e skin.
ll. 63-64.
Erthe bygyth hallys & erth bygith towres, When erth is layd in erth, blayke is his bo{ur}s;
v. 6, ll. 5-6.
Er bilt castles, a{nd} ere bilt toures; Whan er is on ere, blak be e boures.