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The Death of Archbishop Scrope
(WHO WAS BEHEADED, 8 JUNE, 1405).[From MS. R. 4. 20, Trin. Coll. Cambridge, on a blank leaf at the end of Ludgate's Siege of Thebes.]
Hay, hay, hay, hay, thynke on Whitsonmonday!
The bysshop Scrope that was so wyse,
Nowe is he dede, and lowe he lyse;
To hevyns blys yhit may he ryse,
Thurghe helpe of Marie, that mylde may, hay!
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When he was broght vnto the hylle,
He held hym both mylde and stylle;
He toke his deth with fulle gode wylle,
As I haue herde fulle trewe men say; hay!
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He that shulde his dethe be,
He kneled downe vppon his kne:
"Lord, your deth, forgyffe it me,
Fulle hertly here to yowe I pray;" hay!
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"Here I wylle the commende:
thou gyff me fyve strokys with thy hende,
And then my wayes thou latt me wende,
To hevyns blys that lastys ay;" hay! [[Comp. Hall's Chronicle, Hen. IV. fol. xxv (ed. 1550). W. A. W.]]
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