Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 6629

DIMEV 6629

IMEV 4143

NIMEV 4143

Whoso speaketh of thing that is unrest

A single stanza ascribed to ‘Hendyng’ but not occurring in the Proverbs of Hendyng (see 2800 and 3383), a six-line tag in the Fasciculus Morum.

Author(s): Hendyng (attrib.)

Subjects: sermons, verse in; tongue, advice concerning use of

Versification: — six-line — ababab

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 410 (SC 2305), f. 2v

2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Laud misc. 111 (SC 1550), f. 52

Transcription:

Wo so speket ofte of þynk þat is vnwrest
þou hit seme soft
wen he speketh most
he sachal hyt heryn on loft
wen he wenth lest

Note: Written as prose; followed immediately by English prose saying of Hending: ‘Et so let thy tunge rest And ye ne schal nouth rew quod hyndyng’.

3.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Laud misc. 213 (SC 1045), f. 3v

Transcription:

Who so spekith offte
of thyng þat ys vn wrest
thow hyt seme sofft
when he spekyth meste
he schall hyt heryn a loffte
When he wenet leste

Note: Written as prose; followed by prose saying, ‘let þi tonge reste & ye ne schall rwe quod hendyng’ (f. 3v).

4.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Rawlinson C.670 (SC 12514), f. 10

Transcription:

Who so spekyth [oft]
Of þyng þat is vn wrest
Þouh hit seme soft
When he spekyth mest
He schal hit heren on [loft]
When he wenyth lest

Editions:

Wenzel, Siegfried. Verses in Sermons: ‘Fasciculus morum’ and Its Middle English Poems. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1978: 138.

5.Source: Oxford, Lincoln College Lat. 52, f. 3rb

Transcription:

Who so spekis oft
of thyng þat is nouȝt
Wost þerof it seme soft
When he it spekis most
He sall it here on loft
When he wenys lest

Note: Immediately preceded by 6052.

6.Source: Cambridge UK, Gonville & Caius College 71/38, f. 14v

7.Source: Cambridge UK, Gonville & Caius College 364/619, f. 3va

8.Source: Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Library 82, f. 7v

Transcription:

Who so spekys ofte
of thyng that now is reste
Thaw it seme softe
when he spekes meste
he schal hit here on lofte
when he wenes leste
latt thy tonge rest and the not rewe

Note: Written two lines of text per line of MS; after ends, ‘quod hendyng’ (f. 7v).

9.Source: Lincoln, Lincoln Cathedral Library 44 (A.2.13), f. 157va

Transcription:

Who so spekyt oft
of þyng þat is vn wreste
þau hit semeþ soft
wan he spehet most
he schall hyt hure on lest
Wene he weneþ lest

Note: Written as prose.

Editions:

Brown, Carleton Fairchild. A Register of Middle English Religious & Didactic Verse. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press for the Bibliographical Society: 1916-20: 1.451.

10.Source: Worcester, Worcester Cathedral Library F.19, f. 16rb

11.Source: Rome, Vatican Ottoboni 626, f. 2v