Sunday, March 22, 2009

to whinny-muir thou com'st at last

Here are links to the 20th-27th poems that T.E. Lawrence wrote out in Minorities, his pocket book of blank pages. They're all from his copy of the The Oxford Book of English Verse. Of this group, the 17th c. ballad has the most interest. 'A Lyke-Wake Dirge' is a popular song which appears in Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border and other sources. It is described as a "charm sung ... while watching a dead body, previous to interment. The tune is doleful and monotonous, and, joined to the mysterious import of the words, has a solemn effect. The word sleet, in the chorus, seems to be corrupted from sell, or salt; a quantity of which, in compliance with a popular superstition, is frequently placed on the breast of a corpse. ... The dirge is included by John Aubrey in his Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisms, 1686-7, ... prefaced thus: — 'The beliefe in Yorke-shire was amongst the vulgar (perhaps is in part still) that after the person's death the soule went over Whinny-moore, and till about 1616-1624 at the funerale a woman came (like a Praefica), and sang the following song.'

Here is the text:
This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
   — Every nighte and alle,
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
  And Christe receive thy saule.

When thou from hence away art past,
   — Every nighte and alle,
To Whinny-muir thou com'st at last;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

If ever thou gavest hosen and shoon,
   — Every nighte and alle,
Sit thee down and put them on;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane
   — Every nighte and alle,
The whinnes sall prick thee to the bare bane;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

From Whinny-muir when thou may'st pass,
   — Every nighte and alle,
To Brig o' Dread thou com'st at last;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

From Brig o' Dread when thou may'st pass,
   — Every nighte and alle,
To Purgatory fire thou com'st at last;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

If ever thou gavest meat or drink,
   — Every nighte and alle,
The fire sall never make thee shrink;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

If meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane,
   — Every nighte and alle,
The fire will burn thee to the bare bane;
  And Christe receive thy saule.

This ae nighte, this ae nighte,
   — Every nighte and alle,
Fire and fleet and candle-lighte,
  And Christe receive thy saule.



Some sources:

Minorities, by T E Lawrence; ed. by Jeremy Wilson (London, Cape, 1971).

The Oxford Book of English Verse HTML edition

Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, compiled by Walter Scott (W. Blackwood and sons, 1902)

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