"Almyghty God in Trinité,

Fader and Sone and Holy Goste!
Helpe and spede and consell me,

As thou art God of myghtus moste."

(Chronicon Vilodunense, Lond. 1830, fol.)

Stanza LXVII." In hye."-Harl. an hie.

Stanza LXVIII, line 3.-Harl. reads, me for to shende.

Stanza LXIX.-Harl. adds both, after "shall" in the first line; in the fourth, it reads wolde for "wyll; and the fifth line stands thus-Yff I trespas I woll not hide.

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Stanza LXXI.-" Gylty of synnes sevene."-The Harl. MS. inserts the, making the sense clearer, at the expense of the measure. The poet evidently alludes to "the seven deadly sins," which are thus recited in the elements of religious instruction of the Catholics, intitled "Institutio Christiana,” commonly prefixed to their manuals of devotion. Septem peccata capitalia, quæ communiter mortalia appellantur. Superbia, Avaritia, Luxuria, Invidia, Gula, Ira, et Acedia." They formed the principal topics of the pulpit before the Reformation; and are largely discoursed of in the Persones Tale to illustrate which, the following short poem is here offered to the reader, from an elegant little Wicliffite MS. of the fourteenth century, in the Harleian collection. (No. 2339, ff. 116 b,-117 b.)

THESE BE THE VII. DEEDLY SYNNES THAT SUEN.

Pride is heed of alkyns synne,

That makith mannys soule fro God to twyn:

To wickide highnes he wole ay;

And loveth to myche his owne noblay.

Him silf he preisith in his thought.

And othere men he settith at nought.

Envye folowith pride comounly:
Whanne men faren weel, he is sory;
Whanne men faren yvel, he joieth withynne;
He laugheth nevere, but at synne.

Wraththe unto these two is knytt:
To take venjaunce is al his witt;
To sle, to smyte, to procure woo,
To warie folk, to sclaundre also.

The coveitous man knowith no skille,

For al this world mai him not fille:
The worldis weelthe he willith ay,

With right or wrong, gete whether he may.

Glotenye hath greet appetite;

To ete eerli and late is his delite:

He loveth no mesure of etinge,

And ay he wole be drinkynge.

The sixte synne is leccherie :
To manye a soule it worchith noie:
But men it leve, and hem amende,
In fier of helle thei wole be brende.

Slownes is a cursid thing:
For it is evere weri of weel doyng.
Good werk he lothith to bigynne ;
And lightli therof he wole blynne.

These ben the synnes sevene,

That reven men the blis of hevene.

Ibid. 1. 5.—Harl. Sethe thou wylt not thi selff enchawnce. The word "Of" is omitted by Harl. in the last line.

Stanza LXII. 1. 5.-For "as" Harl. reads that; and all for "ellys" in line 7.

Stanza LXXIII.-The reading of "Nunc" for Tunc has been occasioned, probably, by the mistake of the rubrisher; who

painted the blue capital N without looking at a copy. Such mistakes are frequent in embellished MSS., but seldom affect the sense: perhaps the old story of Mumpsimus, for Sumpsimus, may be accounted for in this way.

Stanza LXXIV.-The omission of a letter in the Latin text is supplied by the editor, as also at stanzas LXXXVI. and XCVIII. The only variation of the Harleian copy is, the omission of "my" in the second line.

Stanza LXXV. -Harl. reads oft be, for "be often," in line 2; and on for "of," in line 4; adds thou before "bowe," in line 6; and omits me in line 7.

Stanza LXXVI..-Harl. reads in for " to," in line 1; ofte do in line 2; and in the thus, for "in thé this," in line 7.

wrong,

Stanza LXXVII.-Harl. reads chaunge, for " line 4; and may, for "schal," in line 6.

clynge," in

Stanza LXXVIII.-Harl. reads the second line thus, As thay that lie agaynst the sonne; transposes the words in line 4, thus, For drie to gedur my hert is ronne; and inserts it between me is," in line 5.

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Stanza LXXIX.— -Mistaking "me" for ne, in line 3, Harl. reads nor hedur nor thedur; it also reads On for "And," in line 7.

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Stanza LXXX.-The first line seems to require adyght, or ydyght, for the simple participle dyght." The author rarely uses any old prefix; but igone in st. XCIII., and ipast in st. XCVIII., are proofs that he was not averse to the use of it, and intended to say idyght, to fill up his measure.

Ibid. 1. 7.-For " oftyn," Harl. reads oft as; and omits "At" in line 8.

Stanza LXXXI." Sparwe that is alone."-Sparowe that sitteth alone, Harl. The same MS. omits “awey” in line 5.

Stanza LXXXII.-Harl. in line 1, reads me ofte, for" often me;" omits "me" in line 2; and reads holden resoun in line 7, for " now noght gesoun."

Stanza LXXXIII.- "I wote noght whanne myn ende schal be."-Harl. I wote not whenne my deth shall be. This thought is beautifully expressed in the first stanza of one of Hoccleve's poems, a Balade translated by command of Master Robert Chichele :

"As that I walkid in the monthe of May
Besyde a grove, in an hevy musynge
Flowers diverse I sy right fresh and gay,
And briddes herde I eek lustyly synge;
That to myn herte yaf a confortynge:
But evere o thoght me stang unto the herte,
That dye I sholde, and hadde no knowynge

Whanne, ne whidir, I sholde hennes sterte."

Mr. Mason, the editor of some of Hoccleve's poems, describes this as the seventeenth of those contained in his MS. (Preface, p. 17, 1796, 4to.) But what has become of that MS., or why Hoccleve's poem De Regimine Principum, and other productions, have not been published, the present editor can give no account whatever.

Stanza LXXXIV.-" Schal lyin in thysse."-Harl. in the is.

Stanza LXXXV.- "As schadewe waxe."-Harl. ben shadowed and waxen.

Stanza LXXXVI.-" Noght hyde."-Harl. me hide.

Stanza LXXXVII.—After “Syon," Harl. inserts the preposition on; and reads "the ordre of a knyght" in line 2. The sentiment of this stanza, and of the next, is more akin to the religion of Mohammed than to Christianity: but such was chivalry, an attempt to serve God and mammon upon a grand scale. An allusion to it occurs in Chaucer's Persones Tale, in these words. "What say we than of hem that pille and don extortions to holy chiche? Certes, the swerd, that men yeven first to a knight, whan he is newe dubbed, signifieth that he shuld defend holy chirche, and not robbe it ne pille it; and who so doth, is traitour to Crist." (Canterbury Tales, ii. 352.)

Stanza LXXXVIII.-" Schulde be so fre."-Transposed in Harl. so fre shuld be.

Stanza LXXXIX. 1. 1.—For “schal," Harl. reads shuld; as also for "schul" in line 2.

Stanza xc.-"Syon a merour is."-The poet strangely resorts to this explanation of the name Sion, after his chivalric allegory of a tower composed of stones: he might have found something consistent with his former idea, in the same authority from which he gained the notion of a mirror namely, a watch-tower. The following passages are extracted from the "Interpretationes Nominum Hebraicorum," commonly subjoined to MS. and early printed Latin Bibles. "Sion. specula, vel semen ejus.—Sion, mandatum, vel numen, sive speculum aut speculatio." (Biblia, Venetiis, 1497, 4to.) In that old glossary, a poet or spiritualizer might meet with almost any explanation that might suit his fancy; the interpretations being often as widely different as the poles are far asunder,

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