A Common-place book of the fifteenth century, containing a religious play and poetry, legal forms and local accounts. Printed from the original ms. at Brome Hall, Suffolk, by Lady Caroline Kerrison. Edited with notes by Lucy Toulmin Smith.

                                
                                  Eche maner of metell,
                                
                                  He sey yn þe pyttys wyll; [Wyll, i.e., well up, bubble.] 
                                
                                  Men and women he sawe tho,
                                  Line 375 
                                
                                  That yn the pyttys bodyn full mych wo.
                                
                                  Summe stod ther-yn vp to the chyn, [folio 34b] 
                                  Line 377 
                                
                                  Summe to the pappys and summe to þe schyn, [Cotton has a line following 377; "And ȝet hadde þey noȝt bete her synne"; while lines 379, 380 are contracted into the present one.] 
                                
                                  Summe stod þer yn vp to the kne,
                                  Line 381 
                                
                                  All owte they wolde fayn a be.
                                
                                  The fyndys hentyd a-non ryth,
                                
                                  And to þe pyttys þey keste þe knyth,
                                
                                  So sore a-ferd he was of that,
                                
                                  Tyll almost Jesu he had for-ȝette;
                                
                                  But sythyn wan goddys grace was,
                                
                                  Whan he felte þe hoote bras,
                                
                                  "Jesu," he seyd, with good yntent,
                                
                                  "Help me, lord, yn thys turment."
                                  Line 390 
                                
                                  As sone as he to Jesu calde
                                
                                  Ther was no metell myth hyme schalde,
                                
                                  But all be-syd was caste, [Cotton, "But anone he was out caste."] 
                                
                                  The fyndes fleddyne a-wey full faste.
                                
                                  "Jesu," he seyd, "I thanke the,
                                  Line 361 
                                
                                  Euer at nede þou helppyst me."
                                  Line 362 
                                
                                  As he stod and lokyd a-bowte,
                                  Line 395 
                                
                                  Off othyr fyndes þer camme a rowte,
                                
                                  "Knyth," they seyd, "wy sta[n]dyst þou here,
                                
                                  And all we byn felowys yn fere. [Cotton, "And wher ar all þy false feere."] 
                                
                                  All þey sedyn that her was hell,
                                
                                  But owther weyes we xall þe tell,
                                  Line 400 
                                
                                  Cume her forth yn to þe sowth,
                                
                                  We xall the brynge to hell mowth." [Ll. 403 and 404 are altered.]

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Title: A Common-place book of the fifteenth century, containing a religious play and poetry, legal forms and local accounts. Printed from the original ms. at Brome Hall, Suffolk, by Lady Caroline Kerrison. Edited with notes by Lucy Toulmin Smith.
Canvas: Page 97
Publication: London,: Trübner,; 1886.
Subject terms: Commonplace-books

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ajd3529.0001.001
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Full citation: "A Common-place book of the fifteenth century, containing a religious play and poetry, legal forms and local accounts. Printed from the original ms. at Brome Hall, Suffolk, by Lady Caroline Kerrison. Edited with notes by Lucy Toulmin Smith." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ajd3529.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 22, 2025.

A Common-place book of the fifteenth century, containing a religious play and poetry, legal forms and local accounts. Printed from the original ms. at Brome Hall, Suffolk, by Lady Caroline Kerrison. Edited with notes by Lucy Toulmin Smith.

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