Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 5940

DIMEV 5940

IMEV 3730

NIMEV 3730

Thy joy be ilke a deal to serve thy god to pay

Richard Rolle, an exhortation to love Jesus — twelve monorhyming quatrains with medial rhyme.

Note: Incorporates 401

Author(s): Richard Rolle

Subjects: Jesus, love toward

Versification: — four-line — aaaa

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Library Dd.5.64, Part III, ff. 42-42v

First Lines:

[t]Hy ioy be ilk a dele to serue þi god to pay
ffor al þis worldes wele þu sees wytes a way
þow fande his lufe to fele þt last with þe will ay
And þi kare sal kele þi pyne turne þe to play…

Last Lines:

…Ioy in þi brest es bredde when þu ert hym lufand
þi sawle þand hase he fedde in swete lufe brennand
Al vanites forsake if þu hys lufe wil fele et ceteraut supra

Note: Follows the explict for R. Hampole, top of f. 42: ‘Expliciunt cantica diuini amoris secundum Ricardum Hampole’. This is then followed by the heading for 3730: ‘Item secundum eundem Ricardum’.

Editions:

Horstmann, Carl, ed. Yorkshire Writers. 2 vols. London, Sonnenschein; New York: Macmillan, 1895-96: 1.81-2.

Brown, Carleton Fairchild, ed. Religious Lyrics of the XIV Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924. 2nd ed., rev.: G. V. Smithers, Oxford, 1952: 107-9.

Allen, Hope Emily. English Writings of Richard Rolle. Oxford: Clarendon, 1931: 52.

Hanna, Ralph, ed. Richard Rolle: Uncollected Verse and Prose. EETS o.s. 329 (2007): 29-30.

2.Source: Lincoln, Lincoln Cathedral Library 91 [Robert Thornton MS], ff. 222-222v

First Lines:

Þi Joy be ilke a dele
to serue thi godd to paye
ffor all this worldes wele
þou sese it wytes a waye…

Last Lines:

Ioy in thi breste es bredde
When þu erte hym lufande
Thi saule þan hase he fedde
In swete lufe ay brennande

Note: Incomplete. 401 follows as if part of the same work.

Editions:

Horstmann, Carl, ed. Yorkshire Writers. 2 vols. London, Sonnenschein; New York: Macmillan, 1895-96: 1.370-2.

Perry, George G., ed. Religious Pieces in Prose and Verse from R. Thornton’s MS. EETS o.s. 26 (1867); repr. 1973: 107-13.

Comper, Frances M. M. The Life of Richard Rolle, Together with an Edition of his English Lyrics. London: J. M. Dent, 1928, 1933; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1929: 261-4.

3.Source: Longleat, Marquess of Bath MS 29, ff. 53-53v

First Lines:

Thy ioy be euerydele to serue þi god to paye
þou besy þe his loue to fele þat leste wil with þe aye…

Last Lines:

…Thi soul þat he hath fedde In swet loue brennynge
All vanytees forsake If þou his loue wil fele

Note: Written as verse. Followed without break by 401

Editions:

Ogilvie-Thomson, J. S., ed. Richard Rolle: Prose and Verse. EETS 293 o.s. 293 (1988): 46-8.