Purity, a Middle English poem, ed. with introduction, notes, and glossary by Robert J. Menner.

III. GOD'S VENGEANCE ON LUCIFER AND ON ADAM

Bot I have herkned and herde of mony hyȝe clerkez, And als in resounez of ryȝt red hit myselven, Þat þat ilk proper Prynce þat paradys weldez Is displesed at uch a poynt þat plyes to scaþe. Line 196 Bot never ȝet in no boke breved I herde Þat ever he wrek so wyþerly on werk þat he made, Ne venged for no vilte of vice ne synne, Ne so hastyfly watz hot for hatel of his wylle, Line 200 Ne never so sodenly soȝt unsoundely to weng[e], [MS., M. weng.] As for fylþe of þe flesch þat foles han used. For, as I fynde, þer he forȝet alle his fre þewez, [MS. þeweȝ; M. þewes.] And wex wod to þe wrache for wrath at his hert. Line 204

For þe fyrste felonye þe falce fende wroȝt, Whyl he watz hyȝe in þe heven hoven upon lofte, Of alle þyse aþel aungelez attled þe fayrest; And he unkyndely as a karle kydde a reward. [MS., M. areward; NED. a reward.] Line 208 He seȝ noȝt bot hymself how semly he were, Bot his Soverayn he forsoke, and sade þyse wordez: 'I schal telde up my trone in þe tramountayne, [MS., M. ¹ tramountayne, M. ² tra mountayne.] And by lyke to þat Lorde þat þe lyft made.' Line 212 With þis worde þat he warp, þe wrake on hym lyȝt, Dryȝtyn wyth his dere dom hym drof to þe abyme, In þe mesure of his mode, his metz never þe lasse; [MS., M., G. metȝ; B. meth (see note).] Bot þer he tynt þe tyþe dool of his tour ryche. Line 216 Þaȝ þe feloun were so fers for his fayre wedez [folio 64a] And his glorious glem þat glent so bryȝt, As sone as Dryȝtynez dome drof to hymselven,

Þikke þowsandez þro þrwen þeroute, [M. ¹ Thikke; M. ² [þi]kke, but the þ and i are both distin|guishable, the i very plainly in the offset; many of the words beginning the lines of this fol. are hardly decipherable, and some are partly 'offset' on the opposite page (see Introd., p. viii).] Line 220 Fellen fro þe fyrmament fendez ful blake, [S]weved at þe fyrst swap as þe snaw þikke, [MS. (?), M. weued; M. note wened (?); Fi. (p. 46) sweyed; G. reads sweued, saying that the first letter, though blurred, can still be read. I cannot see this s.] Hurled into helle-hole as þe hyve swarmez. Fy[lt]er fenden folk forty dayez lencþe, [MS. fy. .er; M. ¹ fylter; M. ² fyltyr, but -er fairly plain and confirmed by offset, lt very indistinct; E. fylter[ed].] Line 224 Er þat styngande storme stynt ne myȝt; [er, r blurred, but clear in offset.] Bot as smylt mele under smal sive smokez forþikke, [bot blurred, but confirmed by offset: MS. smokeȝ; M. smokes.] So fro heven to helle þat hatel schor laste, On uche syde of þe worlde aywhere ilyche. [MS., M. worlde; Sch. erþe for allit. (but see note).] Line 228 Þis hit watz a brem brest and a byge wrache; [MS., M. þis, upper part of þ indistinct in MS.; M. note ȝis(?) adopted by Fi.] And ȝet wrathed not þe Wyȝ, ne þe wrech saȝtled, [G. suggests wroth.] Ne never wolde for wyl[fulnes] his worþy God knawe, [MS., M. wylnesful; Gollancz (Athen. 1894. 2. 646), Fi. wilfulnes.] Ne pray hym for no pite, so proud watz his wylle. Line 232 Forþy þaȝ þe rape were rank, þe rawþe watz lyttel; [MS. lyttlel ] Þaȝ he be kest into kare, he kepes no better.

Bot þat oþer wrake þat wex, on wyȝez hit lyȝt Þurȝ þe faut of a freke þat fayled in trawþe, Line 236 Adam inobedyent, ordaynt to blysse, [MS. M. in obedyent; M. note obedience(?), accepted by Fi.; but M. in notes in-obedyent(?), so Sk.] Þer pryvely in paradys his place watz devised, To lyve þer in lykyng þe lenþe of a terme, And þenne enherite þat home þat aungelez forgart; Line 240

Line 240 Bot þurȝ þe eggyng of Eve he ete of an apple Þat enpoysened alle peplez þat parted fro hem boþe, For a defence þat watz dyȝt of Dryȝtyn selven, And a payne þeron put and pertly halden. Line 244 Þe defence watz þe fryt þat þe freke towched, [MS. towched retraced like the rest of the last words in ll. 245-52 by second hand (see Introd., pp. viii-ix).] And þe dom is þe deþe þat drepez uus alle. Al in mesure and meþe watz mad þe veng[a]unce, [MS. (second hand), M. vengiaunce; the crowding of the second stroke of u before c, and the extension of the line over u (abbrev. for n) seem to show that the corrector has made iau out of the scribe's original au, cf. scribe's spelling in other instances, 744, 1013; Pat. 284.] And efte amended wyth a mayden þat make had never. [MS. (second hand), M ¹. had; M ². hade.] Line 248