Upon the sterres, what ther fhuld befalle,

Til he was in a marlepit yfalle.

3460

He faw not that. But yet by Seint Thomas

Me reweth fore of Hendy Nicholas:

He faal be rated of his studying,

If that I may, by Jefus, heven king.

may under pore

Get me a ftaf, that I
While that thou, Robin, hevest of the dore:
He fhal out of his ftudying as I geffe.
And to the chambre dore he gan him dreffe.
His knave was a firong carl for the nones,
And by the hafpe he haf it of at ones:
Into the flare the dore fell anon.

This Nicholas fat ay as ftille as fton,
And ever he gaped upward into the eire.
This carpenter wend he were in despeire,
And hent him by the fhulders mightily,
And fhoke him hard, and cried fpitoufly;
What, Nicholas? what, how man? loke adoun;
Awake, and thinke on Criftes paffioun.

I crouche thee from elves and from wightes.
Therwith the nightspel faid he anon rightes

3465

3470

3475

3480

3479. wightes] Witches; in the Teutonick wite-vrouwe ; but whether they were fo called from their wisdom or from their being fuppofed to be clothed in white is not clear. A widow, in that language, is called a wit-vrouwe, from the latter circumftance. Kilian in v. See Kcyfler's Differtation de Mulieribus Fatidicis, in which, with a great deal of learning and probability, he has traced the popular notions of witches and witchcraft in the northern parts of Europe from a very early period. The faculty of floting upon the water, fo as not to be

On foure halves of the hous aboute

And on the threfwold of the dore withoute:
Jefu Crift and Seint Benedight

Bliffe this hous from every wicked wight,

Fro the nightes mare, the wite Pater-nofter! 3485 Wher woneft thou Seint Peters fufter?

And at the last this Hendy Nicholas Gan for to fiken fore, and faid, Alas! Shal all the world be loft eftfones now?

This carpenter anfwered, What faieft thou?

3490

capable of being drowned, is afcribed by Pliny to a race of malewitches in Pontis. Nat. Hift. 1. vii. c. 2, " Non poffe mergi, ne "quidem veftibus dégravatos."

v. 3480. the nightspel] The charm which follows, ver. 3483-6, is fo lamely reprefented in all the mfl. that I have left it as I found it in the common editions. It might perhaps be a little improved by reading it thus ;

Jefu Crift and Seint Benedight

Blife this hous from every wight,
Fro the nightcs inare, Pater-nofter!
Wher wonelt thou Scint Peters fufter?

In ver. 2 wicked may be left out upon the authority of mf. Á. and others. It is certainly an unnecessary epithet.-Ver. 3, Pater nofter was often repeated in the middle as well as at the end of charms. Ver. 4, inftead of rvonest some copies read rendeft. I do not understand how the nightmare came to be allied to St. Peter.-To fay the truth I fufpect this charm to be an interpolation. We have a nightfpel of another form in Gervaf. Tilber. Otia Imper. 1. iii. c. 93. See alfo The Decameron, d. vii. n. 1';

Fantafima, Fantafima,

Che di notte vai,
A coda ritta ci venifti,

A coda ritta te n'andrai, &c.

Concerning the nightmare fee Keyfler, Antiq. Septent. p. 497.

Volume 11.

P

What? thinke on God, as we do, men that fwinke.
This Nicholas anfwered, Fetch me a drinke;
And after wol I fpeke in privetee

Of certain thing that toucheth thee and me:
I wol tell it non other man certain.

This carpenter goth doun and cometh again,

And brought of mighty ale a large quart;

3495

And whan that eche of hem had dronken his part, This Nicholas his dore fafte fhette,

And doun the carpenter by him he fette,

3500

And faide, John, min hofte lefe and dere,

Thou fhalt upon thy trouthe fwere me here
That to no wight thon fhalt my confeil wrey,
For it is Crifies confeil that I fay,

And if thou tell it man thou art forlore;
For this vengeance thou shalt have therfore,
That if thou wreye me thou fhalt be wood.
Nay, Crift forbede it for his holy blood,
Qued tho this fely man: I am no labbe,
Ne though I fay it I n'am not lefe to gabbe.
Say what thou wolt, I fhal it never telle
To child ne wif, by him that harwed helle.

3505

3510

v. 3509. no labbe] No blab ; labben, Holl. klappen, Belg. blaterare, Kilian.

. 3512. harved helle Harried, Sax. barraffed, fubdued. Our ancestors were very fond of a story of Chrift's exploits in his defcenfus ad inferos, which they called The Harrowing of Helle. They took it, with several others of the same stamp, from the gospel of Nicodemus. Fabr. Cod. Apoc. N. T. There is a poem upon this fubject in mf. Bod. 1687;

Hou Jefu Cria herowed belle

Of harde geiles ich wille telle.

Now, John, (quod Nicholas) I wol not lie,

I have yfounde in min astrologie,

As I have loked in the moone bright,

3515

That now on Monday next, at quarter night,
Shal fall a rain, and that fo wild and wood,
That half fo gret was never Noes flood:
This world (he said) in leffe than in an houre
Shal all be dreint, fo hidous is the shoure:
Thus fhal mankinde drenche and lefe hir lif.
This carpenter answerd, Alas my wif!
And fhal fhe drenche? alas min Alifoun!
For forwe of this he fell almost adoun,
And said, Is ther no remedy in this cas?

Why yes, for God, quod Hendy Nicholas;

3520

3525

If thou wolt werken after lore and rede,
Thou maift not werken after thin owen hede;
For thus faith Salomon, that was ful trewe,
Werke all by confeil, and thou shalt not rewe. 3530
And if thou werken wolt by good confeil

I undertake, withouten mast or seyl,
Yet fhal I faven hire, and thee and me.

Haft thou not herd how faved was Nae,

Whan that our Lord had warned him beforne, 3535 That al the world with water fhuld be lorne?

And in the Chefer Whitfun-Playes, mf. Harl. 2013, the company of cookes, which was to exhibit the 17th pageant, or the defcenfus ad inferna, is thus addrefled;

You cookes with your carriage fee that you doe well,

In pagente fett out the barrowinge of hill.

See alfo P. P. paff. xix. f. 101-3.

3526. for God] Pour Dicu, Fr.

Pij

Yes, (quod this carpenter) ful yore ago.
Haft thou not herd (quod Nicholas) alfo
The forwe of Noe with his felawship,
Or that he mighte get his wif to ship?
Him had be lever, I dare wel undertake,
At thilke time, than all his wethers blake,

3540

. 3539. The forwe of Noe] It will be in vain, I apprehend, to look for this anecdote in Genefis, even in Dr. Kennicot's edi tion. Nicholas probably quoted it from The Mysteries, with which the carpenter was better acquainted. The dispute be tween Noah and his wife upon this occafion makes a confiderabie part of the 3d pageant of The Cheiter Whitfun-Playes above-mentioned. Mf. Harl. 2013. The following lines will thew the grounds of her refufal to embark;

Noe. Wife, come in, why flandes thou there?
Thou art ever froward, that dare 1 Iwere.
Come in on Goddes halfe; tyme it were,
For fear left that wee drowne.

Wife. Yea, Sir, fet up your faile,
And rowe forth with evil haile,
For withouten anie faile

I wil not oute of this toune;
But I have my goffepes everich one;
One foote further I will not gone;
They fhal not drown by St.John,
And I may fave ther life.

They loved me full weil by Chrift:
But thou will let them into thie chift,

Ellis rowe forth, Noc, when thou lift,

And get thee a newe wife.

At laft Sem, with the affiftance of his brethren, fetches her on board by force, and upon Noah's welcoming her the gives him a box on the ear.Thefe Playes are faid (perhaps truly) to have been firft written in 1328, but the Harleian mf. reprefents them as they were to be exhibited in 1600. There is a better copy of the fame Playes in the Bodl. Lib. E. N. 115, tranfcribed by one William Bedford 1604; but even in that we fee but fmall remains of the original diction and orthography.