John Lydgate (1370?-1449)
The Testament of John Lydgate
(excerpt)
754Beholde, o man! lyft up thyn eye and see
755 What mortall peyne I suffre for thi trespace.
756With pietous voys I crye and sey to the:
757 Beholde my woundes, behold my blody face,
758 Beholde the rebukes that do me so manace,
759Beholde my enemyes that do me so despice,
760 And how that I, to reforme the to grace,
761Was like a lambe offred in sacryfice.
...
850And geyn thi pryde behold my gret mekenesse;
851 Geyn thyn envie behold my charité;
852Geyn thi leccherye behold my chast clennesse;
853 Geyn thi covetyse behold my poverté.
854 Atweene too thevys nayl{.e}d to a tree,
855Rayled with reed blood, they lyst me so desguyse,
856 Behold, O man! all this I did for the,
857Meke as a lambe offred in sacryfice.
858Behold my love, and gyf me thyn ageyn;
859 Behold, I deyde thy raunsom for to paye.
860Se howe myn herte is open brode and pleyn,
861 Thy gostly enemyes onely to affraye.
862 An hardere batayle no man myght assaye,
863Of all tryumphes the grettest hye empryse.
864 Wher-for, O man! no lenger to dismaye,
865I gaf for the my blood in sacryfice.
866Turne home ageyn, thy synne do forsake.
867 Behold and se yf ought be left behynde,
868How I to mercy am redy the to take.
869 Gyf me thyn herte and be no more unkynde;
870 Thy love and myn, togedyr do hem bynde,
871And late hem never departe in any wyse.
872 Whan thou were lost, thy sowle ageyn to fynde,
873My blod I offred for the in sacryfice.
874Emprente thes thynges in thyn inward thought,
875 And grave hem depe in thy remembraunce;
876Thynke on hem, and forgete hem nowght.
877 Al this I suffred to do the allegeaunce,
878 And with my seyntes to yeve the suffisaunce,
879In the hevenly court for the I do devyse
880 A place eternall, a place of all plesaunce;
881For which my blood I gaf in sacryfice.
882And more my mercy to putte att a preef,
883 To every synnere that non ne shal it mysse,
884Remembre how I gaf mercy to the theef
885 Which hadde so longe trespaced and doon amys;
886 Went he not frely with me to paradise?
887Have this in mende, how it is my guyse
888 All repentaunt to bryng hem to my blysse,
889For whom my blood I gaf in sacryfice.
890Tarye no lenger toward thyn herytage;
891 Hast on thy weye and be of ryght good chere.
892Go eche day onward on thy pylgrymage;
893 Thynke howe short tyme thou hast abyden here.
894 Thy place is bygged above the sterres clere,--
895Noon erthly palys wrought in so statly wyse.
896 Kome on, my frend, my brother most entere!
897For the I offered my blood in sacryfice!
Explicit testamentum Johanis Lydgate.
Notes
754] A poem in 897 lines, and is extant in fourteen MSS. First printed by Richard Pynson (1515?). As the poet declares (lines 197-198) that he is old and enfeebled the date of composition has been conjectured to be about 1445, when he was about seventy-five years of age. The basis of the poem is a confession of the sins of Lydgate's youth, which he offers to Christ as a last will and testament. There are five divisions, of which the last, here given in part, is an appeal of the crucified Jesus to sinful man. It was suggested to Lydgate, by the sight of a crucifix painted on a wall with the inscription "Vide".
758] manace. Menace.
852] clennesse. Purity.
853] covetyse. Covetousness.
855] Rayled. Clothed.
860] brode and pleyn. Broadly and fully.
861] gostly. Spiritual.
863] empryse. Enterprise.
866] do forsake. "Do" is probably merely emphatic as in modern usage.
867-68] See whether anything has been omitted (to prove) that I am ready to admit thee to mercy.
870] See note on l.866.
871] late: let.
departe. Separate.
876] The omission of the unstressed syllable in the first foot and also at the caesura are characteristic of Lydgate's verse. Here, both occur in one line. Scan:
Thénk | on hém | ánd | forgét | hem nówght.
877] allegeaunce. Alleviation, relief.
884-86] See Luke, xxiii.39-41.
887] mende. Mind, memory.
894] bygged. Built.
897] Explicit is a shortened form of explicitum est. "The testament of John Lydgate is completed".
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: unspecified.
Publication date note: 15th century
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP.1.41; RPO 1996-2000.
Recent editing: 2:2002/1/30
Composition date:
1445
Rhyme: ababbcc
Other poems by John Lydgate
