So þat he drynke save [ȝyf he drynk antioche or saue S., So þat þei drynke saue or antioche Sl., So . . save or anteocke P.] or anteoche,
Him dar not drede of þat outrage: [Hem . . of non outrage Sl., & Drede of hys wondes thar hym non haue S.]
Be þat on and twenti days be goon, [Be on & twenti dayes gone S., Be . . be comyn and goon P., Be þat .21. daies be come & gon Sl.]
He schal be hol, both [both om. S., boþe Sl.] flesch and bon,
Line 24
To ride and go in ylk[o]n [ilka S., eche Sl.] place,
Thorw þe verteu [myht S., myȝht Sl.] of goddys grace;
Thus seyth Ypocras, þe good surgien,
And socrates and Galyen,
Line 28
Þat weren [wore Sl.] philisophres alle thre,
Þat tyme þe best [Þe best þat were S., þe best Sl.] in any countree:
In þis we[r]ld were non her pere,
As fer as any man coude [Als wyde as men myht here S., As fer . . myght Sl.] here.
Line 32
Þei [And Sl.] practised medicynus, wit [be Sl.] godus grace,
To saue men lyues [mannes lyf Sl.] in many a [in dyuers Sl.] place.
Crist þat made bothe est and west,
Grant her soules in heuen, [Leue here soules haue Sl.] good rest,
Line 36
Euermore in ioy to be
In heuen with god in trinite. [In . . . trinite Sl., om. P.]
Amen! [Amen P., om. Sl.] Amen! for charite.
Line 39
(The verses in the Payne MS. are written in double columns, and the order of the first eight verses is a little confused; so I have corrected it.)
The above agrees very nearly with a poem printed by the Rev. G. Henslow, in his Medical Works of the 14th Century, p. 125 (1899), from Sloane MS. 2584; with variants from Sloane MS. 1314.
