Make we Mery bothe More and Lasse

Make we Mery bothe More and Lasse

Original Text
Balliol College Oxford MS. 354, fol. 223v. Rossell Hope Robbins, ed., Secular Lyrics of the XIVth and XVth Centuries (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952): no. 2, p. 3. Carleton Brown and Rossell Hope Robbins, The Index of Middle English Verse (New York, 1943): no. 1866. Z 2012 B86 General Reference Robarts Library.
2For now is the tyme of Crystmas.
3Lett no man cum into this hall,
4Grome, page, nor yet marshall,
5But that sum sport he bryng with-all,
6  For now ys the tyme of Crystmas.
7Yff that he say he can not syng,
10  For now ys the tyme of Cristmas.
11Yff he say he can nowght do,
12Then for my loue aske hym no mo,
14  For now ys the tyme of Crystmas.

Notes

1] more and lasse: rich and poor, people of all estates. Back to Line
8] sport: disport, entertainment. Back to Line
9] festyng: feasting. Back to Line
13] stokkes: stocks, where the secular court chained the guilty in public view. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1903
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2002