Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 6791

DIMEV 6791

IMEV 4223

NIMEV 4223

Worlds bliss ne last no throwe

On the Vanity of this World — seven l0-line stanzas

Subjects: vanity, against worldly; songs

Versification: — ten-line — ababcccdcd

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Digby 86 (SC 1687), f. 163v-164

First Lines:

Uuorldes blisse ne last non þrowe
Hit wint and went awei anon…

Last Lines:

And to heuene blisse þe lede
Þat euer last and ne faileþ none
Amen . Amen . Amen . Amen . Amen .

Attributed Title: Chauncun del secle (f. 163v)

Facsimiles:

Tschann, Judith A., and Malcolm B. Parkes. “Introduction.” Facsimile of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 86 EETS s.s. 16 (1996).

Editions:

“Chansun del secle (A Song of the World).” Classical Museu 6 (1849): 466-70; by "P. R.": 466-70.

Wright, Thomas. Anecdota Literaria. London: John Russell Smith, 1844: 90.

Dobson, Eric John, and F. L. Harrison. Medieval English Songs. New York: Cambridge UP, 1979: 136, 244 (crit. text).

2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Rawlinson G.18 (SC 14751), f. 105v

First Lines:

Worldes blis ne last no þrowe
hit wit ant wend a wey a non…

Last Lines:

…And to heuene blisse lede
Þat euere lest and failes nout Amen

Note: With music.

Editions:

Brown, Carleton Fairchild, ed. English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1932: 78-82.

Napier, Arthur Sampson. “Eine weitere Fassung des mittelenglisch Gedichts Worldes blis ne last no throwe.” Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 87 (1891): 262-5: 262.

Stainer, Sir John, John Stainer, C. Stainer, and Edward Williams Byron Nicholson. Early Bodleian music; sacred & secular songs, together with other MS. compositions in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, ranging from about A.D. 1185 to about A.D. 1505. London, 1901; repr. Farnborough, Hants, England: Gregg, 1967: 2.7.

Luria, Maxwell Sidney, and Richard L. Hoffman, eds. Middle English Lyrics. New York: Norton, 1974: 1-3.

Dobson, Eric John, and F. L. Harrison. Medieval English Songs. New York: Cambridge UP, 1979: 136 (crit. text).

3.Source: London, British Library Arundel 248, f. 154r3

First Lines:

Worldes blis ne last no throwe
it went and wit away anon…

Last Lines:

…An to heuene blisse lede
þat eure last and faillet nout

Note: Written as prose below music.

Editions:

Brown, Carleton Fairchild, ed. English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1932: 78-82.

Jacoby, M. Vier mittelenglische geistliche Gedichte des XIII Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Mayer, 1890: 39.

Trend, J. B. “The First English Songs.” Music & Letters 9 (1928): 111-28: 112.

Dobson, Eric John, and F. L. Harrison. Medieval English Songs. New York: Cambridge UP, 1979: 136 (crit. text).