• Robert Henryson, Shorter Poems: Weaker Attributions

indeed since you ask They; Death, truly Calling; their biers Whenever; please, place; where none so strong; brisk; yet young; old; poor Wherever; go; whether; early Must; themselves wholly; rule Since; thus; work must die In; youth alas; stubborn Could

• Robert Henryson, Shorter Poems: Weaker Attributions

indeed since you ask They; Death, truly Calling; their biers Whenever; please, place; where none so strong; brisk; yet young; old; poor Wherever; go; whether; early Must; themselves wholly; rule Since; thus; work must die In; youth alas; stubborn Could

• Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesley

a true wedded wyfe, And pleased hym with that she had, Whome she loved as her lyfe. There lay an old wyfe in that place, A lytle besyde the fyre, Whych Wyllyam had found, of cherytye, More then seven yere.

• The N-Town Plays: Play 9, Presentation of Mary in the Temple

nearer to his servants than we think Play 9, PRESENTATION OF MARY IN THE TEMPLE: EXPLANATORY NOTES Abbreviations: MED: Middle English Dictionary; MP: Mary Play, ed. Mere­dith (1987); S: N-Town Play, ed. Spector (1991); s.d.: stage direction; Whiting: Whiting, Proverbs,

• William Paris, Life of St. Christina

supposed to worship it pleased her greatest delight every one blocks of wood death from non-Christians before (see note) certainly old age; youth Paul's; (see note) (see note) incense; hid secretly did intended; (t-note) idolatry bid (command) before that occurred

• The Bird with Four Feathers

in David's mouth: "Miserere mei, Deus" ("God, have mercy on me"). The psalm was frequently paraphrased from Latin to Middle English; see, for example, Brown, Rel. Lyr. XV, pp. 222-30, and Susanna Greer Fein, "Haue Mercy of Me (Psalm 51):

• The Quare of Jelusy

and every glade delyte Hath of this world full nere ybrocht adoun. For in the tyme was of oure elderis old, Quhen Jelousy abhominable was hold, Quhareofe eschamith every noble wy, Than was thir ladies ever in honour hold, Thair

• 21. Gregory

Confessio Amantis; CT = Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; G = Pierpont Morgan Library MS G.66; MED = Middle English Dictionary; OED = Oxford English Dictionary; S = Scrope, Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Schofield (1936). These explanatory notes cannot

• 18. Onese

Confessio Amantis; CT = Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; G = Pierpont Morgan Library MS G.66; MED = Middle English Dictionary; OED = Oxford English Dictionary; S = Scrope, Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Schofield (1936). These explanatory notes cannot

• 4. Zalquaquine

Confessio Amantis; CT = Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; G = Pierpont Morgan Library MS G.66; MED = Middle English Dictionary; OED = Oxford English Dictionary; S = Scrope, Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, ed. Schofield (1936). These explanatory notes cannot

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 23a, The Feast in Simon’s House

Meditations on the Life of Christ, trans. Ragusa and Green; MED: Middle English Dictionary; OED: Oxford English Dictionary; RB: Richard Beadle, ed., York Plays; REED: Records of Early English Drama; YA: Davidson and O’Connor, York Art; York Breviary: Breviarium ad

• The York Corpus Christi Plays: Play 44a, The Funeral of the Virgin (“Fergus”)

Meditations on the Life of Christ, trans. Ragusa and Green; MED: Middle English Dictionary; OED: Oxford English Dictionary; RB: Richard Beadle, ed., York Plays; REED: Records of Early English Drama; YA: Davidson and O’Connor, York Art; York Breviary: Breviarium ad

• Robin Hood and Queen Catherin

thou must post to Notingham As fast as thou canst dree. "And when thou comst to Notingham Search all that English wood; Enquire of each good yeoman thou meetst To finde out Robin Hood. "And whan thou comst Robin Hood

• Why I Can't Be a Nun

more Wycliffite vein of prescribing her own personal rules for living. 176 MS: thow3t; Furnivall: thou3t. 193 So MS; Furnivall: old. 197 So MS; Furnivall: dyscord. 215 and se inserted above the line in the MS. 258 Envy. MS: enevy.

• Shorter Poems: Introduction

30-40. Moore, Arthur K. "Robene and Makyne." Modern Language Review 43 (1948), 400-03. Mudge, E. L. "The Fifteenth-Century Critic." College English 5 (1943), 154-55. Peek, George S. "Robert Henryson's View of Original Sin in 'The Bludy Serk.' " Studies in

• Prophecy

wenches' suitors; Then shall the realm of Albion Come to great confusion . . . This prophesy Merlin shall make, for I live before his time. (3.2.81-95) For similar versions attributed to Merlin, see Dean, ed., Medieval English Political Writings.

• Mankind: Introduction

Not only do they mock Mercy with Latinate English, translate obscenities into Latin and mingle Latin with English in a kind of macaronic carnival; they also make up pseudo-Latin words from English roots, utter mock prayers and blessings, . .

• Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle

might easily include the relation of a nephew. 55 Dyskonus. K reads dyskoniis. Libeaus Desconus (Old French "Li Biaus Descouneus," French "Le Bel Inconnu," English "The Fair Unknown") is Gawain's son Gyngalyne. Ragnelle makes the heroine of that poem his

• A Complaynte of a Lovers Lyfe

(1.517-18). Chaucer also uses the phrase "old dance" frequently: in TC, "Pandarus . . . wel koude ech a deel / Th' olde daunce, and every point therinne" (3.694-95), in Romaunt Jealousy is an old hag who "knew all the

• The Morall Fabillis: Introduction

Denton. "Henryson and Caxton." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 67 (1968), 586-93. . "Henryson's Fables." English Literary History 39 (1962), 337-56. Friedman, John Block. "Henryson, the Friars, and the Confessio Reynardi." Journal of English and Germanic Philology 66 (1976),