The Dance of Death. Douce Francis
from his original, with much amplification and occasional illustrations by himself. As the account of the Nuremberg story varies so materially, and as the scene is laid in England, it has been thought worth inserting.
Karolles wrastelynges or somour games,
Whosoever haunteth any swyche shames,
Yn cherche other yn cherche yerd,
Of sacrilage he may be aferd;
Or entyrludes or syngynge,
Or tabure bete or other pypynge;
All swyche thyng forboden es,
Whyle the prest stondeth at messe;
But for to leve in cherche for to daunce,
Y shall you telle a full grete chaunce,
And y trow the most that fel,
Ys sothe as y you telle.
And fyl thys chaunce yn thys londe,
Yn Ingland as y undyrstonde,
Yn a kynges tyme that hyght Edward,
Fyl this chaunce that was so hard.
Hyt was upon crystemesse nyzt
That twelve folys a karolle dyzt,
Yn Wodehed, as hyt were yn cuntek,13
They come to a toune men calle Cowek:14
The cherche of the toune that they to come,
Ys of Seynt Magne that suffred martyrdome,
Of Seynt Bukcestre hyt ys also,
Seynt Magnes suster, that they come to;
Here names of all thus fonde y wryte,
And as y wote now shal ye wyte
Here lodesman15 that made hem glew,16
Thus ys wryte he hyzte17 Gerlew;
Twey maydens were yn here coveyne,
Mayden Merswynde18 and Wybessyne;
All these came thedyr for that enchesone,} doghtyr
Of the prestes of the toune.
The prest hyzt Robert as y can ame,
Azone hyzt hys sone by name,
Hys doghter that there men wulde have,
Thus ys wryte that she hyzt Ave.
Echone consented to o wyl,
Who shuld go Ave out to tyl,
They graunted echone out to sende,
Bothe Wybessyne and Merswynde:
These women zede and tolled19 her oute,
Wyth hem to karolle the cherche aboute,
Benne ordeyned here karollyng,
Gerlew endyted what they shuld syng.
Thys ys the karolle that they sunge,
As telleth the Latyn tunge,
Equitabat Bevo per sylvam frondosam,
Ducebat secum Merwyndam formosam,
Quid stamus cur non imus.
By the levede20 wode rode Bevolyne,
Wyth hym he ledde feyre Merwyne,
Why stonde we why go we noght:
Thys ys the karolle that Grysly wroght,
Thys songe sung they yn chercheyerd,
Of foly were they nothyng aferd.
The party continued dancing and carolling all the matins time, and till the mass began; when the priest, hearing the noise, came out to the church porch, and desired them to leave off dancing, and come into the church to hear the service; but they paid him no regard whatever, and continued their dance. The priest, now extremely incensed, prayed to God in favour of St. Magnes, the patron of the church:
That swych a venjeaunce were on hem sent,
Are they out of that stede21 were went,
That myzt ever ryzt so wende,
Unto that tyme twelvemonth ende.
Yn the Latyne that y fonde thore,
He seyth not twelvemonth but evermore.
The priest had no sooner finished his prayer, than the hands of the dancers were so locked together that none could separate them for a twelvemonth:
The preste yede22 yn whan thys was done,
And comaunded hys sone Azone,
That shuld go swythe after Ave,
Oute of that karolle algate to have;
But al to late that wurde was sayde,
For on hem alle was the venjeaunce leyd.
Azonde wende weyl for to spede
Unto the karolle asswythe he yede;
Hys syster by the arme he hente,
And the arme fro the body wente;
Men wundred alle that there wore,
And merveyle nowe ye here more;
For seythen he had the arme yn hand,
The body yode furth karoland,
And nother body ne the arme
Bled never blode colde ne warme;
But was as drye with al the haunche,
As of a stok were ryve a braunche.
Azone carries his sister’s arm to the priest his father, and tells him the consequences of his rash curse. The priest, after much lamentation, buries the arm. The next morning it rises out of the grave; he buries it again, and again it rises. He buries it a third time, when it is cast out of the grave with considerable violence. He then carries it into the church that all might behold it. In the meantime the party continued dancing and singing, without taking any food or sleeping, “only a lepy wynke;” nor were they in the least affected by the weather. Their hair and nails ceased to grow, and their garments were neither soiled nor discoloured; but
Sunge that songge that the wo wrozt,
“Why stond we, why go we nozt.”
To see this curious and woful sight, the emperor travels from Rome, and orders his carpenters and other artificers to inclose them in a building; but this could not be done, for what was set up one day fell down on the next, and no covering could be made to protect the sinners till the time of mercy that Christ had appointed arrived; when, at the expiration of the twelvemonth, and in the very same hour in which the priest had pronounced his curse upon them, they were separated, and “in the twynklyng of an eye” ran into the church and fell down in a swoon on the pavement, where they lay three days before they were restored. On their recovery they tell the priest that he will not long survive:
For to thy long home sone shalt thou wende,
All they ryse that yche tyde,
But Ave she lay dede besyde.
Her father dies soon afterwards. The emperor causes Ave’s arm to be put into a vessel and suspended in the church as an example to the spectators. The rest of the party, although separated, travelled about, but always dancing; and as they had been inseparable before, they were now not permitted to remain together. Four of them went hopping to Rome, their clothes undergoing no change, and their hair and nails
Contest.
Q. Cowick in Yorkshire?
Leader.
Glee.
Called.
A name borrowed from Merwyn, Abbess of Ramsey, temp. Reg. Edgari.
Took.
Leafy.
Place.
Went.