C Here after foloweth the gow[ld]en Paternoster of deuocion. HE father of heuen omnipotent, TH Of nought all this worlde dyd create ; In paradyse he made Adam a pure innocent, And for his comfort Eue to hym was assocyate. The serpent by fraude made them obstynate, 509 Wherby they loste their mansyon,1 ioye and blysse, Tyll by thy mercy they were regenerate— Pater noster qui es in celis. O blessed Lorde, of thy grete boutye and goodnesse, The oryginall synne of Adam to redresse Chryst Jesu our kynge and his mother dere Be in our nede our socour and comforte, Our soules from synne to preserue clere, That the flame of charyte in vs reporte; 1 Abiding-place. 2 i. e. proof. Entirely, wholly. 520 To whom that we may resorte With blisful armony both all and summe, Swete Jesus for vs exhorte That vnto us- -Adueniat regnum tuum. Infuse vs with grace, Lorde, in contynauce, In euery malady, pouerty and tribulaciō; Perfite pacience to kepe thy perseuerauce For any wrongfull trouble or vexacion, That we without grudge or exclamacion Say and pray-Fiat voluntas tua, Hygh and low thy myght[y] operacyon, So be it sicut in celo et in terra. Vpon shere thursdae1 thy dyscyples thou fedde Bade them thyne owne body accipite, Whan mortall sinne hath3 vs deuoured, And haue forgoten thy holy conuersacion, Yet let vs not vtterly be confounded, Whom thou [re]demyd by thy bytter passion, 530 540 1i. e. Shere-Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. It is also known as Maundy-Thursday. 2 This word seems here to signify although. 3 Old ed. has had. But wasshe vs with penaunce by full contricion, Yf any creature hath vs offended Dimittimus debitoribus nostris. 550 560 Another peticion wee ask of or father, Call for ayd, and obtain remission, And of our synnes clean to haue absolution, The father, the sonne, and the holy ghost, 570 Old ed. reads, unnecessarily, That of. N So conserue vs here in thy absence To vse well fyue, and obserue well ten, That deedly synne combre not our conscyence- Amen.1 Finis. Emprinted at London in Paules Churche= yearde at the Sygne of the Swane by John Kynge. 1 'I would willingly have excluded this wretched doggerel, if I could have done so without affecting the integrity of the poem, to which it is appended. A merry Feste of a Shrewde and curste Wyfe lapped in Morrelles skin. HERE begynneth a merry Ieste of a shrewde and curste Wyfe, lapped in Morrelles skin, for her good behauyour. Imprinted at London in Fleetestrete, beneath the Conduite, at the signe of Saint John Euangelist, by H. Jackson." n. d. 4to. 23 leaves. No other impression of this tract has been discovered, and as it is described by Laneham, in his letter from Kenilworth, as being already in print in 1575, it probably preceded, by at least twenty years, the old drama of "The Taming of a Shrew," 1594, 4to, with which, however, it has little in common except the subject. The same may be said of its relation to Shakespeare's play, first printed in the folio of 1623. In one important respect, the play of 1594 differs from the poem, and it is that while the latter relates to persons in a humble walk of life, the characters in the play are represented as occupying a high station. The present tale is valuable as a record and illustration of the manners of the lower classes in England, to which, as might be expected, satirists have not devoted so much attention as to more elevated society. Mr. Utterson included it in his Select Pieces of Early Popular Poetry, 1817, but did not print it at all correctly. It has also been edited for the Shakespeare Society. A ballad called "The Taming of a Shrew," is printed in Ritson's Ancient Songs and Ballads, 1829, ii. 242, from one of the Sloane MSS. It seems to be a production compiled from a variety of materials, and one of the salient features in it is bor |