Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 6330

DIMEV 6330

IMEV 3960.5

NIMEV TM 1870

When I lend I am a friend

Two couplets on the incommodities of lending

Note: See modernized editions by Wright and Halliwell-Phillipps (1845)

XThomas Wright, and James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps. Reliquiae Antiquae. 2 vols. London: Smith, 1845

XHazlitt, William Carew. English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, collected from the most authentic sources alphabetically arranged and annotated. London: Reeves and Turner, 1882

, 476; Northall (1892)

XNorthall, G. F. English Folk-rhymes: A Collection of Traditional Verses Relating to Places and Persons, Customs, Superstitions, etc. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1892

, 553; cf. also 2165, 2333, 2757

Subjects: money

Versification: — two-line — aa

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Library Ll.5.10, f. 57v

Transcription:

Quhen I len I am ane freind
and quhen I craif I am vnkynd
Thus of my frend I mak ane fo
Schrewe me & I mair do so

Note: 2 x 2; immediately follows 6554 as if part of same work.

2.Source: Cambridge UK, Magdalene College Pepys 2553, p. 294

Transcription:

quhone I len I am ane freynd
and quhone I craif I am vnkynd
Thus of my freind I mak ane fo
Schrew me and I mair do so

Note: Written two lines of verse per line of MS; immediately follows 6554 without a break.

Editions:

Craigie, William Alexander. The Maitland Folio Manuscript, Containing Poems by Sir Richard Maitland, Dunbar, Douglas, Henryson, and others. 2 vols. Scottish Text Society n.s. 7 (1919), 20 (1927); Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1919, 1927: 1.344.

3.Source: Cambridge UK, St John’s College B.6 (28), back flyleaf, verso

Transcription:

Whan I Lend I am a frend
Butt whan I ask I am vnkyd
So of my frend I make my foo
ffor soth I wyll no more do so

Note: Added in red ink to originally blank flyleaf, with other notes.

4.Source: Cambridge UK, St John’s College B.6 (28), back flyleaf, verso

Transcription:

Whan I Lend I Ham A ffrend
Butt Whan I Aske I Am vnkynd
So off my ffrynd I make my ffo
In god ffe…

Note: Second occurrence, immediately below first and written in same red ink, imperfect at end.

5.Source: Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Advocates’ 1.1.6 [Bannatyne MS], f. 122

Transcription:

Quhen I len I am a freind
And quhen I craif I am vnkynd
Thus of my freind I mak my fo
I schrew me and I moir do so

Note: Immediately follows 6554.

Facsimiles:

Fox, Denton, and William A. Ringler. The Bannatyne Manuscript: National Library of Scotland Advocates’ MS. 1.1.6 London: Scolar Press, in Association with The National Library of Scotland, 1980.

Editions:

Ritchie, W. Tod, ed. The Bannatyne Manuscript. 4 parts in 4 vols. Scottish Text Society 3rd ser. 5 (1928); n.s. 22 (1928); n.s. 23 (1930); n.s. 26 (1934) Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1928-34; ed. by Ritchie et al: 2.324.

Ramsay, Allan, ed. The Ever Green. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1724; repr. Ramsay and Early Scottish Poets, London, n.d.: 107.

6.Source: Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Advocates’ 1.1.6 [Bannatyne MS], f. 147

Transcription:

Quhen I len I am a freynd
And quhen I craif I am vnkynd
Thus of my freynd I mak a fo
I schrew me and I moir do so

Note: Immediately following 6554 and preceding 2994.

Facsimiles:

Fox, Denton, and William A. Ringler. The Bannatyne Manuscript: National Library of Scotland Advocates’ MS. 1.1.6 London: Scolar Press, in Association with The National Library of Scotland, 1980.

Editions:

Ramsay, Allan, ed. The Ever Green. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1724; repr. Ramsay and Early Scottish Poets, London, n.d.: 107.

7.Source: San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library HM 131 [olim Buccleuch, Quaritch Cats. 303, 304], f. 30

Transcription:

When I leant I was a frend
When I easke vnkynd
wher of my frend I mad my fo
therfor I wh…

Note: Added to lower margin by a hand of the sixteenth century.