Why should a man be proude or presume hye?
Sainct Bernard therof nobly doth trete,
Seyth a man is but[176] a sacke of stercorry,
And shall returne vnto wormis mete.
Why, what cam of Alexander the greate?
Or els of stronge Sampson, who can tell?
Were not[177] wormes ordeyned theyr flesh to frete?
And of Salomon, that was of wyt the well? 80
Absolon profferyd his heare for to sell,
Yet for al his bewte wormys ete him also;
And I but late in honour dyd excel,
Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio!
I haue played my pageyond, now am I past;
Ye wot well all I was of no great yeld:
This[178] al thing concluded shalbe at the last,
When death approchyth, then lost is the felde:
Then sythen this world me no longer vphelde,
Nor nought[179] would conserue me here in my place, 90
In manus tuas, Domine, my spirite vp I yelde,
Humbly[180] beseching thé, God, of thy[181] grace!
O ye curtes commyns, your hertis vnbrace
Benyngly now to pray for me also;
For ryght wel you know your kyng I was,
Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio!
[155] Of the death, &c.] From the ed. by Kynge and Marche of Certaine bokes compyled by Mayster Skelton, n. d.—collated with the same work, ed. Day, n. d., and ed. Lant, n. d.; with Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568; occasionally with the Mirrour for Magistrates, 1587 (in the earlier eds. of which the poem was incorporated), and with a contemporary MS. in the possession of Miss Richardson Currer, which last has furnished a stanza hitherto unprinted.
[156] This world, &c.] MS.:
“For the world hathe conformid me to fall.”
[157] may] MS. “myzt.”
[158] Now there, &c.] MS.:
“Now is ther no helpe but pray for my sovle.”
[159] twenty-two] So MS. and Mir. for Mag. Eds. “xxiii.;” see notes.
[160] it] So other eds. Ed. of Kynge and Marche, “hit.”
[161] That] So MS. Eds. “As.”
[162] the erth] MS. “dethe.”
[163] himselfe assure] So Mir. for Mag. Eds. and MS., “be sure.”
[164] What is it, &c.] MS.:
“What ys it to trust the mutabylyte
Of this world whan no thyng may endure.”
[165] cheryfayre] MS. “cheyfeyre.”
[166] I se wyll, &c.] This stanza only found in MS.
[167] This] See notes.
[168] lyst] MS. “lust”—against the rhyme.
[169] chest] MS. “chestys”—against the rhyme.
[170] euer to incroche] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “ouer to,” &c. MS. gives this line and the next thus:
“And more to encrese was myne entent
And not beynge ware who shuld it ocupye.”
[171] full] So Mir. for Mag. Not in eds. or MS.
[172] Wyndsore, Eltam, &c.] This line and the next given thus in MS.:
“Wynsore and eton and many oder mo
As Westmynster Eltham and sone went I from all.”
And so, with slight variation, in Nash’s Quaternio: see notes.
[173] my] So Mir. for Mag. Not in eds. or MS.
[174] wandred] Mir. for Mag. “wythered.”
[175] For I, &c.] MS.:
“Now are we departid [i.e. parted] onto domys day.”
[176] Seyth a man is but, &c.] Day’s ed. “Seeth a man is nothing but,” &c. Marshe’s ed. “Sythe a man is nothing but,” &c. Mir. for Mag. “Saying a man is but,” &c. MS. “Seinge a man ys a sak of sterqueryte.”
[177] Were not] So Lant’s ed. and Mir. for Mag. Ed. of Kynge and Marche, “Where no.” Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “Wher no.” MS. “Was not.”
[178] This] Mir. for Mag. “Thus;” but see note.