THE GAST OF GY: FOOTNOTE

1 Lines 425-26: Therefore it is not at all fitting for them to say, / Unless they can swear to the truth [of it] in every instance

THE GAST OF GY: EXPLANATORY NOTES

Abbreviations: see Textual Notes.

1 Saint Michael. One of the three archangels (Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael), who were the special messengers of God. In Scripture he is the leader of the angels who will fight the dragon in the last days (Apocalypse 12:7), and, although not mentioned by name, he is traditionally considered the angel who stood guard at the gate of Eden to prevent Adam and Eve's return (Genesis 3:24). He is the guide in the tour of Hell in the Apocalypse of St. Paul, a late fourth-century non-canonical book which was influential in medieval vision literature.

2 Saint Austyn. St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo (354-430), is a Doctor of the Church - a learned teacher distinguished for interpretation of doctrine. He is also a Father of the Church along with St. Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome - the most influential early Doctors. A prolific writer whose works include Confessions, City of God, Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Charity, and much more, he shaped the thinking of the Church for centuries, and was especially influential in the fourteenth century, when he is frequently cited by vernacular writers (Chaucer, Langland, Trevisa, Usk, Gower) as well as theologians like Bradwardine and Wyclif.

5 clerkes. Although "clerk" usually refers specifically to clerics in minor orders, it here refers to all learned men in religious life.

11 Saint Paule. St. Paul, author of the Epistles that comprise the largest segment of Christian Scripture, influenced Christian thought throughout the Middle Ages. His Epistles are frequently cited by St. Augustine and other Doctors of the Church as sound doctrine and reliable commentary on the rest of Scripture.

13-14 A loose translation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 15:4. The idea that all writing, if properly interpreted, works for our spiritual instruction is a commonplace in the Middle Ages: see Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana 10, for example. Chaucer, at the conclusion of The Nun's Priest Tale, says:

For Seint Paul seith that al that writen is,
To oure doctrine it is ywrite, ywis. (CT VII[B2]3441-42)

Or, again, in the Retraction: "For oure book seith, 'Al that is writen is writen for oure doctrine,' and that is myn entente" (CT X[I]1083).

28 withowten fabill. Despite the proposition that all writing was, or could be, for our instruction, "fabill" is a particularly charged word. It was often used to identify fictions or illusory stories considered spiritually dangerous or misleading. Chaucer's Parson makes the distinction, explicitly referring to 1 Timothy 1:4, 4:7 and 2 Timothy 4:4:

Thou getest fable noon ytoold for me,
For Paul, that writeth unto Thymothee,
Repreveth hem that weyven soothfastnesse
And tellen fables and swich wrecchednesse. (CT X[I]31-34)

Although a fable can mean "a short fictitious narrative meant to carry a moral" (MED), it is much more often "a false statement intended to deceive; a fiction, untruth, falsehood, lie"; or "a fictitious or imaginative narrative or statement, especially one based on legend or myth" (MED).

31-42 These lines attempt to establish historicity by specific identification of time and place. In R, Gy dies on 20 November (XII kalendes, line 39) 1323. There are differences in other manuscripts, though all agree on the year except Q, which, erroneously, has 1333. In R, the Gast of Gy begins his haunting on the eighth day after his death (27 November). All MSS agree that his wife seeks out the Pryor three days after Christmas: 27 December, the feast of St. John the Evangelist.

37 Alexty. The name of the town, Alexty, is variable and confusing in the manuscripts. Alais (or Alés), in the Department of Gard, seems most likely.

38 Bayoune. I.e., Bayonne, though the city intended is almost certainly Avignon, which John XXII had made the seat of the Papacy in 1316. Avignon is, indeed, about thirty miles from Alais (Alexty).

48 The Gast of Gy's voice can be heard, but he is invisible. A pictorial representation of the scene found in MS Getty 31 shows the observers gathered around an empty space. Although some revenants appeared as spectral images, invisibility was more common, because of the incorporeality of the soul.

51 rugged and rent. It is unlikely that the body of Gy's wife is "distraught and torn," though she may have done herself some damage in her distress. More likely, rugged refers to her mental state, while rent suggests that she has torn her clothes ("rent her garments") in the classical manifestation of grief and perturbation.

54 Eghtene. The sense is "the eighth day in order," i.e., after a week.

56-57 The distinction between "good ghosts" and "fiends" was the object of much learned and popular speculation.

60-61 freres . . . prechours. I.e., Dominicans. Founded by St. Dominic in 1220, the Dominicans were one of the mendicant orders that propagated the doctrine of Purgatory most vigorously in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A notably intellectual order, the order of both Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, they particularly opposed Pope John XXII's dubious position that the soul would remain in Purgatory until the Last Judgment.

63 Pryor. A prior is the chief officer, spiritual and administrative, of a Dominican establishment called a convent.

65 Gy died on 20 November and the "haunting" began on the eighth day (i.e., seven days later). Three days after Christmas, 27 December, she sought out the Dominican prior for help. (Medieval counting of duration, like the classical, included the first day in the numeration.)

75 spyll. The sense is that the ghost returns to that former place of rest to give audience to his agitated message. The bed is now"spoiled," "made desolate," "subverted," "deprived of its intended use" (MED).

97 brether. Friars were referred to as "brothers," emphasizing the communal basis of the mendicant orders.

104 chapiter bell. The chapter bell summoned the friars to meet as a group, "in chapter."

114 After this line, other versions of the poem variously identify the disciplines of the two masters. See textual note.

134-36 It is essential that everyone involved, friars and mayor's men, receive the sacrament of Penance and receive the Eucharist before embarking on the mission, because the Pryor could not be sure whether they were about to encounter a benevolent spirit, as the Gast of Gy turns out to be, or a false or evil spirit, a fiend.

137 Requiem. I.e., Mass for the Dead. The name comes from the sentence Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (Eternal rest grant unto them, Lord.) This sentence also recurs throughout the Officium defunctorum (the Office of the Dead), which was part of the Breviarium romanum (the Roman Breviary), the compendium of prayers, mostly Psalms, required for daily recitation by members of mendicant orders and adapted to the liturgical season or a specific purpose, e.g., funerary. The use of the plural eis (them) in both the Requiem and the Office of the Dead is important in view of the later discussion in the poem about whether masses said for an individual also benefitted all the faithful departed.

141-42 Howsell . . . howsyld. The sacrament of the Eucharist (Holy Communion); the reception of the consecrated body and blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine.

146 bost. Any box or receptable; here applied to a pyx, a vessel for carrying a con-secrated Communion host, usually to the sick or dying.

155 The balanced construction in this line is a noteworthy feature of R. N usually provides a coordinating conjunction.

166 As the Pryor enters, he says Pax huic domui ("Peace be to this house"), the words that Jesus told the seventy-two disciples to say as they entered each house on their evangelical mission (Luke 10:5). The Latin is translated in the next two lines though allway is, strictly speaking, superfluous. The Pryor continues (lines 169-205) to say prayers appropriate to entering the house of one recently deceased.

171 Vidi aquam. The first words of the rite of sprinkling with holy water before Mass during Eastertide (from Easter Sunday to Pentecost). The prayer, a responsorial between priest and choir, is based on Ezechial 47:1, where Ezechial has a vision of waters pouring from under the Temple. Although the Vidi aquam, with its sprinkling of holy water, is an appropriate introductory prayer, it is out of season on December 27. The Pryor seems to be mounting a powerful introduction to the ceremonial prayers that follow.

172 Veni, Creator Spiritus. The first words of one of the most popular hymns of the Middle Ages. It is an invocation of the Holy Spirit sung at the beginning of the Mass of the Holy Spirit and on other special occasions. The emphasis on the Holy Spirit is especially significant in view of the later discussion between the Gast of Gy and the Pryor about the special efficacy of the Mass of the Holy Spirit for souls in Purgatory (lines 817-902). It was included in various places in the recitation of the Breviarium romanum at the canonical hours, and dates from the ninth century.

173-74 Colett . . . fidelium. A Collect, or Oratio, is a short prayer consisting of an invocation, a petition, and a glorification of Christ or God. This Collect, Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustracione docuisti (O God, who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit), was assigned to the Mass of the Holy Spirit and fits well after the recitation of Veni, Creator Spiritus. The Holy Spirit remains prominent in the sequence of prayers.

176 Asperges me. The first words of the rite of sprinkling the congregation with holy water, usually before Mass, outside of Eastertide (when the Vidi Aquam was used). Like the Vidi Aquam it is a responsorial between priest and choir. The prayer is based in the Vulgate on Psalm 50:9. By using both the Vidi Aquam and the Asperges, the Pryor seems to be attempting an especially powerful invocation.

193 Dominus vobiscum. "The Lord be with you." A frequent phrase in many liturgies. The usual response, not given here, is Et cum spiritu tuo (And with your spirit).

197 In principio. "In the beginning," the first words of the Gospel according to St. John. The whole verse is: In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.) Traditionally, John 1:1-14 was recited at the end of the "Post-Communion," the last part of the Mass. The lines are an affirmation of Christ's Incarnation, which, like the Mass of the Holy Spirit, becomes prominent later in the poem (lines 447-56). The use of John 1:1 is also appropriate because it is the Evangelist's feast day.

202-05 These lines indicate that the Pryor recites the Office of the Dead (Officium defunctorum) from the Roman Breviary (Breviarium romanum). This liturgy was composed primarily of psalms, antiphons (short interspersed prayers from Psalms or elsewhere in Scripture), Collects (see explanatory note to lines 173-74), and responses appropriate to the canonical hours of Vespers, Matins, and Lauds. The canonical hours were prescribed times throughout the day: Matins (during the night), Lauds (just before dawn), Prime (sunrise), Terce (mid-morning), Sext (noon), Nones (mid-afternoon), Vespers (sundown), and Compline (bedtime). They were required of all clergy and recited communally by religious orders of monks and friars. The prescribed prayers varied according to the liturgical season or some special purpose, such as prayers for the dead.
The Office of the Dead included the prayers and readings associated with Vespers (Placebo is the first word of the first antiphon for Vespers), Matins (Dirige is the first word in the prescribed Matins), and Lauds, followed by the seven Penitential Psalms (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142 in the Vulgate), a recitation of the Litany of the Saints, and concluding with the threefold invocation: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis ("Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us"). The first half of this line is based on John 1:29, which itself is based on Isaias 53:7. In the Requiem Mass and in the Office of the Dead the second half of the line could be dona eis requiem (grant them rest). Some other variations were allowable. Thus, the Pryor and his two brothers effectively recite the Office of the Dead when they enter Gy's house.

208 Als a child sayand: "Amen." N expands to als of so as to mean "as of a child saying 'Amen.'" But R: als is clear: "Like a child saying 'Amen.'"

215 was and es and sall be ay. A thanksgiving (doxological) response common in Christian liturgy (sicut erat in principio et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saecu-lorum) that follows the priest's Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto (compare line 214). Here it serves as a precautionary warning against evil spirits. The English phrase is sometimes used by writers to indicate duration (e.g., Chaucer's TC 1.236-37).

224 kynde. A complex word that refers most generally to "the aggregate of inherent qualities or properties of persons" (MED). It can also refer to the"natural dis-position or temperament of a person or animal," or even clan, parentage, or lineage (MED). Here, and in most places in the poem, it seems to indicate "intrinsic nature" or "natural capacity," that which is within the capacity of human nature.

235 ill gast or a gud. The poem returns to the familiar medieval distinction between good ghosts and demonic fiends or phantasms.

239-50 The Gast of Gy argues that, since Scripture says (Genesis 1:31) that all of God's creation is good, he is therefore a good ghost by nature (kynde, line 248) and only evil according to sinful deeds performed in life for which he is now making satisfaction.

297-98 For lawed folk . . . oft walkand. The Pryor refers to the sightings by lawed (i.e., "uneducated") folk of evil men walking the land after death. Popular speculation and theological controversy both considered the question of whether the damned (as well as purgatorial spirits) had the power to return to earth. The orthodox answer was that it could occur only with God's permission for the instruction and benefit of the living.

331-34 For ilk a man . . . or in Hell. The Gast of Gy explains that penance for sins must be done on earth, in Purgatory, or in the endless pains of Hell. This section of the poem expounds an especially Dominican view on a controversial subject.

351-52 Wa unto that man . . . whame sklaunder comes. To give scandal is to perform an action that leads another towards spiritual destruction (Matthew 18:6-7).

377-83 This ask I thee . . . sacramentes ilk ane. The Pryor asks the crucial purgatorial question: how is it possible for a person to receive the last sacraments and still be evil after death. The Gast explains that, although the spirit is not evil by nature, there is a residue of guilt for which satisfaction must be made, even after sins have been forgiven, through penitential acts on earth or temporary suffering in Purgatory. Theologians distinguished between culpa, the guilt that could be absolved in the Sacrament of Penance, and poena, the retribution or satisfaction that still had to be made.

409-10 And clerkes proves . . . reles us of a yher. Although it is stated somewhat confusingly, the idea is that a day of penance done on earth will release the sinner from a year of suffering in Purgatory. Arithmetical correspondences came late in the development of the doctrine of Purgatory and were never universally agreed upon.

447-52 Be Haly Wrytt . . . mayden myld of mode. The Gast of Gy refers to statements by the Hebrew prophets that were taken by Christians to foretell the Incarnation of Christ (e.g., Isaias 7:14-15 and 9:6-7). A good source for a systematic cataloguing of such passages would be The Bible of the Poor (Biblia Pauperum): A Facsimile and Edition of the British Library Blockbook C.9.d.2, trans. with commentary by Albert C. Labriola and John W. Smeltz (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1990). See the Latin transcription and English translation of the dozens of passages from the Hebrew Bible that are used as prefigurations of New Testament verses (pp. 55-139).

470-78 It es na lyknes . . . what thing suld fall. The Gast of Gy explains that prophets could speak of things they never saw because of a special gift of God to instruct the people. The question and answer are not compatible. The Pryor had asked whether the Gast knew who would be saved and who would be damned, and used the fore-knowledge of the prophets as a reason why souls in Purgatory should know. The Pryor's analogy is weak, but the Gast simply responds to the question of the knowledge possessed by the prophets. The Gast does profess ignorance about the fate of other souls. Just what souls in Purgatory knew was a matter of disputatious conjecture.

475 gyftes of the Haly Gaste. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are sapientia ("wisdom"), intellectus ("understanding"), consilium ("counsel"), fortitudo ("might"), scientia ("knowledge"), timor Domini ("fear of God"), and pietas ("piety"). See Isaias 11:2 for the first six, to which the Vulgate added piety. According to Frère Lorens, in his Somme le roi, the gifts of the Holy Spirit "doth away and destroieth the seven deadly sins" (see Jeffrey, p. 307).

498-504 Ryght in thi wordes . . . dampned had bene. The Pryor objects that fiends (devils) sometimes have had knowledge of who has been saved and who has been damned. The Gast responds that souls in Purgatory do not know such things unless God or an angel tells them (quite a common view). The Pryor has switched his attention from previous knowledge, as in the example of the prophets, to present knowledge of who is saved and who is damned.

536-38 Thare er Purgatoryes sere . . . aneother es. The distinction between "comon" Purgatory (see line 556) and departabill (line 538) Purgatory was not universally accepted. Gregory the Great in his Dialogues has an exemplum involving a soul doing his purgation on earth. One common view was that Purgatory was experienced in two places - a common location, usually beneath the earth, and the place where the sin was committed. In such views, the soul generally was in common Purgatory by day and departabill Purgatory by night - just the reverse of the Gast's situation.

556-58 comon Purgatori . . . In mydes of all the erth. The location of a "common" Purgatory in the middle of the earth was an ancient tradition, perhaps borrowing from classical antiquity. That is where Dante places it, though he adds the mountain, another frequent image of Purgatory, and he has no "departabill" Purgatory. In Sir Owain and the whole tradition of St. Patrick's Purgatory, it is below ground and can be entered at Saints' Island (later at Station Island), Lough Derg, County Donegal. The important matter is that Purgatory was a place, not just a "state."

595-97 Telle, if thou kan . . . when he es tane. The experience of the soul immediately after death was a source of much controversy. The Gast proceeds to summarize how the saved are protected, the evil are condemned, and the middling are assigned to Purgatory, while angels and fiends hover. The roles of the angels and fiends vary in vision literature. There is no indication of gradations of punishment, merely various lengths of time. Views on these issues differed widely.

662 clensyng fyre. The Gast here distinguishes between "cleansing fire," which purifies the soul of the residuum of guilt for sins properly forgiven in the sacrament of Penance, and the "retributive fire" of Hell, reserved for the unrepentant. The distinction between purification and retribution was not definitively established until the Second Council of Lyons (1274).

663 Cristes Passyon. Christ's Passion is His suffering and death, recounted by all four Evangelists. His Passion made salvation possible after the Fall of Man, and it is through the merits of His Passion that man is redeemed, empowered to cooperate with Divine Grace. (See Matthew 26-27; Mark 14-15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19.)

676 armoure gude. See Ephesians 6:11-13: "Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect."

713 Mayden and moder. A reference to the Virgin Birth, i.e., the idea that Mary conceived and bore Jesus without losing her virginity. The phrase is prominent in the hundreds of lyric poems on Mary. See, for example, Middle English Marian Lyrics, ed. Karen Saupe (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1998), Poem 3.49, 8.3, 9.2-3, 10.1, 11.2, 12.22, 13.17, 15.4, 16.19, 18.27, 29.26, 48.1, 50.50, 51.17, 55.2, 59.5, 61.1, 69.6, 70.1, 72.31, 73.5, 78.28, 87.1, 89.33-34, 90.1, 91.22. Compare Chaucer's ABC, line 49, and the prologue to The Prioress' Tale, CT VII(B2)467.

717 emperys of Hell. The idea of Mary as "empress of Hell," i.e., having dominion even over Hell, is probably derived from her traditional role as Regina Coeli ("Queen of Heaven"), the opening words of the Eastertide antiphon. In traditional iconography Mary was frequently portrayed trampling the serpent, probably based on a disputed reading in Jerome's Vulgate of Genesis 3:15. Medieval church authorities would have accepted Jerome's Marian interpretation of the verse.

728 bede. A word for prayer in that a true prayer makes a petition, i.e., asks for something (beden: MED). It is unlikely that this is a reference to a "bead," the means of counting prayers in the rosary, although there is a tradition that Mary gave the rosary to St. Dominic to combat the Albigensian heresy, thus providing a special connection between Dominicans and the rosary.

731 almusdede. Almsgiving for the help of the poor and infirm was a common penitential act assigned as a means for a penitent to remove some of the guilt that remained after absolution. The practice of almsgiving as an act of charity has its source in Judaic tradition, but in the Middle Ages it had special prominence as a form of expiation for sin.

761-66 On this wyse may gude prayere . . . unto clensyng fyre him bring. The prayers of the saved have intercessory power with God on behalf of the souls in Purgatory. Thus, there is a reciprocal relationship between the living and the dead: to pray for the dead speeds their way to heaven where they can act as intercessors for the living and the souls in Purgatory. This doctrine depends upon the notion of the Communion of Saints, strongly espoused by St. Thomas Aquinas, according to which saved souls, souls in Purgatory, and the living are joined in a mutually beneficial union.

793-800 For the grettest blys . . . war noght acordand thing. The greatest joy of Heaven is the Beatific Vision, seeing God without intermediary in His "Godhead," that is, His Divine Essence. God, as the Summum Bonum (Greatest Good), is the goal of human existence; thus to see Him "face to face," as it were, is the ultimate gift of His grace.

828a "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45). The line is translated in lines 829-30 of the poem. See textual note.

854a "Whatsoever the Lord pleased, He hath done." (Psalm 134:6 in the Vulgate). The line is translated in lines 855-56 of the poem; see textual note. The latter half of the verse reads: "in Heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps," which would include, presumably, Purgatory.

890-902 Of Saint Spiritt thou sang . . . thou has the wrang. That prayers for an individual are efficacious for all the departed is attested by the use of the plural dona eis requiem (grant them rest) in the Requiem Mass, the Mass of the Holy Spirit, and the Office of the Dead.

915-16 with Jewes voyce / Was anely offyrd on the Croyce. See Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46. The Gast's declaration of the details of the Mass declared "anely on a day" by priests (line 910) evokes St. Paul's observations that in the Eucharist the Passion is made present and plain in the eyes and hearts of all worshipers (see Galatians 3:1). That the doctrine lives in the heart of the Gast of Gy is eloquently evident as he tells how Christ died and gave His spirit unto the Father for the salvation of humankind (lines 914-20). The point seems to be that the spirit of God dwells in the Gast of Gy even in Purgatory, regardless of whether the Pryor asks the right questions or not. His faith keeps him whole despite his trials.

921-22 Ryght so the prest in ilk a Messe / Offers Criste. The Gast of Gy's knowledge of the Bible, given his layman's status, seems almost proto-Wyclifite in its several allusions to the Gospels and the Epistles. But it is clear here that he values the sacraments of a conscientious priesthood, albeit in a kind of primitive way. The Pryor may be more subtle and academic in his inquisition into questions of Purgatory and who gets saved, but the Gast is the one guided by faith and its fundamental sensibilities.

941 ryght resoune. Right reason does not mean simply "correct" reason. It is the use of the ratiocinative power, under the direction of the will, to choose higher goals rather than lower. This distinction is made by many Doctors of the Church, notably St. Thomas Aquinas (ST 1-2.qu.76-77; 81-85; 94).

943 Pater Noster. The Pater Noster ("Our Father") has special importance as the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:3-4) and is incorporated into the Mass (the liturgy of the Eucharist).

954-58 Haly Wryt witnes . . . dose here for thair mede. The "speciall prayers and speciall dede" (line 957) are "suffrages," which could include masses, almsgiving, and penitential acts of all kinds. The doctrine, though pervasive and supported by St. Thomas Aquinas, only received definitive formulation at the Second Council of Lyons (1274) and more precisely by the Council of Trent (1545, 1563). It is tenuously based in Scripture (2 Machabees 12:46 and 1 Corinthians 3:13). See explanatory note to lines 447-52.

978 sufferd foure yhere. The Gast's statement that he had been assigned four years in Purgatory has an arithmetical specificity that is usually avoided in writings on Purgatory. The important point (lines 981-90) is that his sentence will be lessened by the "suffrages" of his cousin, the friar.

991-92 I sall have penaunce in this place / No ferrer bot fra hethen to Passe. That the Gast should know when he will be released from Purgatory is unusual if not unorthodox, though the correctness of his statement within the poem is soon validated in lines 999-1001, where we are told that the Pryor returned at Easter and found no sign of the Gast. See the explanatory note on "Pasch" for line 1013.

1008-09 come never yhit in Heven. / Tharfor I may tell thee no mare. The Gast's empirical response ("I can't talk about that since I haven't been there yet") reflects current philosophical investigations in England during the fourteenth century, particularly at Oxford. That the poet juxtaposes the Gast's empiricism with his Augustinian notion of seeing through faith locates him in a very English way within the culture for which the poem is written.

1012 thus myne aungell to me tald. After this line there is an interpolation in R of about 384 lines from Cursor Mundi, a compendious "history" from Creation to Doomsday. It was probably composed c. 1300 by an anonymous parish priest. Extremely popular, it survived in many versions of varying lengths. See textual note to this line.

1013 To Pasch I suld in penance be. The Gast reiterates what he said in line 992, that he will be in Purgatory until Easter. The repetition may be the result of scribal confusion because of the insertion of the long section from Cursor Mundi after line 1012.

Pasch. "Pasch," sometimes "Passe," was used to refer both to Passover and Easter (MED). The use of the word for the two feasts derives from their proximity in the calendar and correspondences fashioned between the Old Law (Hebrew) and the New Law (Christian). The Gast here clearly means Easter.

1031 The Office of the Ded. See explanatory note to lines 202-05.

1046 The seven Psalmes with the Letany. The seven Penitential Psalms (Psalms 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142 in the Vulgate), followed by the Litany of the Saints, a Collect, and the Agnus Dei, conclude the Office of the Dead. See explanatory note to lines 202-05.

1050 Ave. The "Hail Mary," based on Elizabeth's words to Mary (Luke 1:42), achieved enormous importance with the increasing popularity of the cult of Mary in the fourteenth century.

1062-65 me think that thair prayere . . . And the Crede, that the apostels purvayde. To the Pater Noster and Ave, which have the authority of Scripture, the Pryor adds "The Apostles' Creed," which has limited Scriptural authority (Matthew 28:19) and is not found until St. Ambrose in the late fourth century. It is curious that the Psalms of David do not seem to have this kind of authority for the Pryor. It may be that their prescription as part of the Office of the Dead is already sufficient validation.

1092-95 Tell me, what it avayls . . . for the ded es dyght. When the Pryor questions the special efficacy of the Office of the Dead, the Gast gives an elaborate explanation of the value of each part of the Office with many numerological applications to other religious phenomena.

1094 Placebo includes five Psalms (114, 119, 120, 129, and 137 in the Vulgate); see line 1106. Dirige includes nine Psalms (5, 6, 7, 22, 24, 26, 39, 40, and 41 in the Vulgate), which correspond nicely with the nine orders of angels in the Gast's exposition.

1108 antems. An Anglicization of "antiphons," prayers said or sung between the Psalms.

1128 Neghen orders. Although throughout Scripture there are many references to angels (messengers of God), the idea of nine "choirs" of angels standing before the throne of God singing His praises is derived from Psalms 96:7, 102:20, 148:2, 5 in the Vulgate, and, especially, Daniel 7:9-10 and Matthew 18:10. The nine choirs, named by the Pseudo-Dionysius, are angels, archangels, virtues, powers, principalities, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. The orthodox view is also expressed in St. Gregory the Great's (c. 540-604) Dialogues and by St. Thomas Aquinas (ST 1.qu.108).

1155 Laudes. Lauds in the Office of the Dead includes four true "Psalms": 50, 64, 62, 150. Between Psalms 62 and 150 is the "Canticle of Ezechias" (Isaias 38:10-14, 17-20). Canticles are frequently included in place of a true psalm in the five items under one of the canonical hours. Thus, in a loose sense, Lauds contains five so-called psalms to correspond to the five wits in line 1156.

1181-84 Forwhi the saule dwelles als a stane . . . understandes als gud aungels. These lines are a brief exposition of where man fits in the hierarchy of creation. He has existence like a stone, life like plants, sentience like a beast, and understanding like angels. The first Christian expression of this "chain of being" is in St. Augustine, De libero arbitrio 2.3.7. See textual note.

1187 Benedictus. The "Canticle of Zachary" (Luke 1:68-79). The Benedictus always concludes Lauds, and in Lauds for the Office of the Dead it follows Psalm 150.

1188 Magnificat. In Vespers in the Office of the Dead, after Psalm 137, the "Magnificat" is said. It is not a psalm but Mary's statement to Elizabeth concerning bearing Jesus (Luke 1:46-55). The "Magnificat" was widely honored in the fourteenth century as a statement of how God would humble the mighty and exalt the humble. It was extended into secular romance, as a moral lesson, in poems like Robert of Cisyle.

1216-18 Mi tyme es nere neghand me . . . To suffer payne in other place. The Gast's need to return to common Purgatory at this point is not rationalized in the poem. Ordinarily, ghosts inhabited common Purgatory by day and "departabill" Purgatory by night, though in this poem the pattern seems reversed.

1226 fyve joyes. In Marian hymns, sometimes sung at the end of Compline, the five joys of Mary are the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Assumption. The hymn "Gaude, virgo, mater Christi" appears in Trinity College, Cambridge MS 323, where the Latin alternates with an English translation stanza by stanza. In the Thornton Manuscript (Lincoln Cathedral MS 91) the hymn is headed: "Another salutacioune till our lady of hir fyve Joyes." See Karen Saupe, Middle English Marian Lyrics, Poem 87.

1242 sacrament of Godes Body. The sacrament of God's Body, also called the Blessed Sacrament (line 1326), is the Eucharist, the reception of Christ's body and blood in the form of consecrated bread and wine, the central event of the Mass (the liturgy of the Eucharist).

1275-90 And gude aungels war noght biforne . . . the devels may dere him noght. The advice to priests in these lines echoes the subject of the 384 lines from Cursor Mundi intruded into this poem after line 1012.

1297 Summe Sacerdos. Here attributed to St. Augustine, this was more commonly identified as the "Prayer of St. Ambrose" (PL 17.751-64) and said before the beginning of Mass. In fact, it was more probably composed by John of Fecamp (d. 1076).

1382 Scho wate hirself, als wele als I. The Gast makes clear that he cannot confess for someone else, a point that the Pryor is slow to understand, perhaps because of his bias against women. But when, after the third attempt to get her to speak, the Pryor finally convinces her in the name of all that is holy (lines 1413-23), and, when the Gast explains further the circumstances, she finds her voice and asks of her husband whether there is hope for her salvation (lines 1467-71), whereupon he reassures her (lines 1473-75). She then voluntarily offers her prayers of gratitude to Jesus and Mary. Meanwhile, the Pryor suggests she give almsdeeds.

1426-29 ane unkyndely syn . . . Of whilk we bath war schryven sone. The Gast refers to a sin committed by him and his wife. The location of the commission of the sin is their bedroom, the appropriate place for a spirit to go when outside common Purgatory. The mutuality of the transgression suggests a sexual sin. The ascetic tradition that grew out of St. Paul, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome condemned sexuality even between husband and wife except when the primary intention was procreation. Compare Chaucer's Parson's Tale (CT X[I]858-59, 903-05), which is based in part on St. Jerome's Adversus Jovinianum, though the Parson grants the body its privileges and makes allowances for paying the debt and moderation. The Gast refers to the sin as unnatural, but that could include anything from infanticide to recreational sex.

1438-41 God will it noght . . . we bath war schryven. A sin confessed and forgiven in the sacrament of Penance need not be revealed to anyone else. The Gast's statement is an orthodox affirmation of absolute privacy with regard to absolved sins. Auricular confession, common in the early Church, revived in the twelfth century, and the obligation of secrecy was enjoined on the priest at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), although it certainly was practiced long before.

1475 Thou sall be saved. The Gast's assertion that his wife will be saved is not presump-tuous in that the sin in question has been forgiven. His mission merely relates to the penance necessary to satisfy for the guilt of the sin, preferably in this life, in order to avoid or minimize purgation.

1488 the Pryor than gan him frayne. The Pryor would have the Gast confide in the priest before speaking to his wife, since, he says, the priest is nearer to God than a woman is (lines 1493-94). But the Gast's answer that he loves his wife more, and that that is why he has gained permission from God to return to earth to warn his wife, is an authoritative response that gives precedence to personal relationships.

1541 vertuse. The plural of vertu, "a particular mental faculty or power of the soul necessary for thought, imagination" (MED).

1620-36 His aungell demed his saule to dwell . . . fra now unto to morne at pryme. The arithmetic of the passage is doubtful. The assignment of specific terms for purgatorial suffering was a matter of debate, and the two-hour delay, while prayers are offered to reduce the sentence, is idiosyncratic if not unique.

1623 efter his dede. "After his death" is the obvious sense, though the phrase might also mean "according to his deeds," which would be an applicable reading as well. Compare lines 1632-34 and 1638-39, where the Pauline notion of the efficacy of deeds is stressed.

1673 grayde. From greithen, "to arrange . . . salvation" (MED). Earthly time is seen as a preparation for the ultimate goal, salvation.

1675-78 I se in ilk state . . . nane sall be dispraysed for me. The Gast's assertion that no state of life is superior to any other fits the spiritual equality of all Christians, but is a peculiarly egalitarian point to make in view of ecclesiastical preference of virginity to marriage.

1710 God dose nathing ogayns kynde. The Pryor asserts that God does nothing against the law of Nature. In the subsequent lines the Gast explains that, as Creator, God has the power to suspend the laws of Nature as ordinarily observed, that is, to perform miracles. Thus, souls in Purgatory may experience the corporeal pain of fire as well as the spiritual pain of loss. The idea is traditional and expounded by St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa contra Gentiles 3.102).

1735-38 Yhe weryed gastes . . . to the devell and his aungels. Matthew 25:41: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels."

1742-54 Bi miracle ogayns kynde . . . Fra fyre and fra that kyndely dede. The story of the three young men in the fiery furnace is related in Daniel 3. Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, refusing to bow down to Nabuchodonosor's golden idol, were cast into a fire, but walked around within it, praising God, without being consumed. The example is to prove the point that it is possible to dwell with fire but not be incinerated. Compare Chaucer's Second Nun's Tale (CT VIII[G]514-22). The motif is common in saints' lives.

1794 trowed. Trow means "believe," but may include the more fundamental sense of "have trust, be trustful, place one's confidence" (MED).

1810-11 Wha trewly trowes . . . sall be broght. Mark 16:16: "He that believeth and is bap-tized shall be saved." These lines provide perhaps the clearest example of the scribe's tendency to be inconsistent in number and/or tense from clause to clause. He rarely is inconsistent within a clause and, in such instances, I have corrected the text.

1812-15 Who so trowes noght . . . have bale withouten blys. Probably John 3:36: "He that believeth in the Son hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." The paraphrase, however, might also refer to John 5:34 or 6:40. The idea is recurrent in John's presentation of the impor-tance of belief in Christ the Son.

1817-22 Sen the Sarzyns and the Jewes . . . Cristes Incarnacyoune. The Jews, in rejecting Christ, put themselves beyond the possibility of salvation from that point on, though some descriptions of the afterlife provide a place for the patriarchs of the Old Testament (the Limbo Patrum). Saracins can refer to Arabs, Turks, or Moslems, especially with regard to the Crusades (MED). Whoever is not encompassed by the above is incorporated into the most general term pagens (line 1818). Thus, the reference is to all those outside the Christian world who have rejected (or been unaware of) the divinity of Christ. It does not, of course, include Christian heretics who have denied the divinity of Christ, another category altogether.

1829-34 whi tham lyf es lent . . . encres thair mede. The Gast cannot see why God endures Jews, Muslims, and pagans except as an opportunity for Christians to win merit by fighting in the Crusades. Indulgences, remissions of time spent in Purgatory, were granted for participation in Crusades.

1840-58 Pryde . . . maynsweryng. The identification of the four most common sins and the three for which God will take vengeance quickly is odd in the way that it partially uses the seven deadly sins and partially diverges from them. Among the four most common sins are the deadly sins listed in line 1840 of pryde ("pride"), lychory ("lust"), and covatyse ("greed"), but usury (line 1841) is not one of the "deadly," or root, sins, but rather a form of covatyse. Among the three provoking vengeance, the first includes fornication and adultery (forms of lust); the second, the unspeakable sin, probably sodomy (a form of lust), may be a satirical jibe at clerics; the third is manslaughter with perjury (a form of anger combined with pride, since perjury involved pride). The more common way to generalize sin was according to the seven deadly sins as in Dante's Purgatorio and Chaucer's Parson's Tale (CT X[I]386-957). This poet clearly has special concerns, which his arrangement reflects.

1841 usury. Usury was the charging of any interest whatsoever on borrowed money. The doctrine was affirmed by the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) though it was civilly permitted to Jews since they were beyond the Christian community anyway.

1894 Anticrist. The Antichrist is the chief of God's enemies, referred to by this name in 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7. He has also been taken to be the inherent sin in the beasts of the Apocalypse. 2 John 7 specifically identifies the Antichrist with those who deny the Incarnation, a doctrine particularly important in this poem.

1898 Godes preveté. Those things that are known to God into which human beings should not inquire. There are some kinds of knowledge appropriate only to God, such as the underlying meaning of spiritual mysteries and Divine Providence, which it would be prideful for human beings to try to fathom.

1905-07 eres to thi hereyng . . . als thou has tald. The Pryor, in addressing the Gast's power to hear, is returning to an issue similar to the matter of the Gast's power to speak (lines 1519-22). It seems that the Pryor still wants to be sure that he is speaking to a true purgatorial spirit, not a demonic apparition.

1940 Yhole. I.e., Yule. Of Old English derivation, the word was used for Christmas as early as 900 (The Old English Martyrology) and 901 (The Life of Aelfred).

1941 Epiphany. The Feast of the Epiphany (January 6), sometimes called Little Christmas, was the day on which the three wise men honored the infant Jesus, signifying the incorporation of the Gentile world into the mission of the Messiah.

1949 orders. Religious orders were foundations of men or women who lived communally according to a rule, such as the Rule of St. Augustine or the Rule of St. Benedict. In general, orders were either monastic (monks) or mendicant (friars). Although communities of women (nuns) were formed, women could not be mendicants since this involved going out into the world to beg and preach.

1950 Austyns. Augustinian monks (or Canons Regular), who lived according to a rule attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo after his death.

Menours. Franciscan friars; i.e., the Order of Friars Minor.

1952 seculeres. Ordained priests in the service of the diocese, not members of any religious order.

1960 Requiescant in pace ("May they rest in peace") is repeated throughout the Office of the Dead.

2018 symony. Simony is the purchase of any religious office or privilege, strictly and repeatedly forbidden by Church Councils. The name comes from Simon Magus, who attempted to buy office (Acts 8:18-24).

2035-36 How many papes . . . tyll the Day of Dome. The Pryor wants to know how many popes there will be before Judgment Day. At least since Apocalypse, the most popular kind of prophecy had to do with when the end of the world would come; early Christianity tended towards chiliasm. In the Middle Ages, questions about the "end times" were frequently posed in terms of how many popes there would be. The most famous prophecy on the subject was by St. Malachy (b. c. 1094 in Armagh) during the reign of Innocent II (d. 1143). St. Malachy predicted 112 subsequent popes. John Paul II, by the way, is the 110th.

2058-59 Pape John . . . The twa and twenty. After the death of Clement V in 1314, the College of Cardinals could not agree on a successor. In 1316, John XXII was elected. He moved the seat of the Papacy to Avignon, thus beginning the so-called "Babylonian Captivity," which lasted until 1367 under the reign of Urban V. John XXII died in 1334. The communication of the experiences of the Pryor to John XXII would have been very important to the Dominican Jean Gobi. John XXII had expressed the opinion, though not in a formal papal declaration, that souls were not assigned to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory until the General Judgment at the end of the world. John's view was inimical to Dominicans and other mendicant orders, who preached that souls were assigned their place at the time of death or a few hours thereafter. Thus, according to their view, suffrages offered by the living could be immediately efficacious. This teaching may have been self-serving, since the mendicants derived income from suffrages. Nevertheless, even the monastic orders and diocesan authorities would have thought, by the early fourteenth century, that Pope John's opinions bordered on heresy.

THE GAST OF GY: TEXTUAL NOTES

I have based my text on the complete version in Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson Poet. 175 (R). Schleich's edition (S) uses R as a basis but is truly comparative and freely incorporates variations from Horstmann's edition (H) of British Library MS Cotton Tiberius E. vii (N). S also includes a Latin text (L) based on British Library MS Cotton Vespasian E. i (D) with variants from British Library MS Cotton Vespasian A. vi (C) and Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz MS Diez C (A). Except for a few illustrative examples, I have noted and incorporated only instances where S clearly improves R. I have noted Horstmann readings of N as H, N. There are also three prose versions, one in Bodleian Library MS Eng. poet. A. 1 (SC 3939), the Vernon Manuscript (V), printed in the H edition of N, one in Oxford, Queens College MS 383 (Q), edited by R. H. Bowers (The Gast of Gy. Leipzig: B. Tauchnitz, 1938), and one in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge MS 175 (fragmentary). One quatrain version exists, edited by Ed Eleazer (Ph.D Dissertation: Florida State University, 1984) (E). The most significant manuscript of the quatrain version is Magdalene College, Cambridge MS Pepys 2125 (P). I have expanded abbreviations and corrected obvious scribal errors without comment. In the notes as in the text, I have replaced Middle English graphemes with modern orthography unless the original grapheme is relevant to the explanation. Further manuscript and biblio-graphical information precedes the text of the poem. 17 lede our lives. R: Trewly trow; N: lede thair liues; S: lede our lives. I have accepted S because R rarely uses double formulas (Trewly trow, mare and les) in the same line and the sense of S fits line 18. S modification of N: thair to our fits the surrounding use of the first person.

22 Of ded and of the Day. S, following H, N: Als in dede and the day. Although I have not accepted this change, I mention it because R is much clumsier.

27-28 These lines are supplied by S, from H, N. Although perhaps not absolutely necessary, they gracefully complement the thought in lines 25-26 and 29-30, and may well have been a scribal omission in R.

29 And so in world He will us wys. So R. S, following H, N: And so he will us wisely wys. I have retained R, but note this variant to exemplify the kind of change S often makes based on H, N even though R is perfectly satisfactory.

30 After this line H, N has four additional lines, printed in S as a footnote:

Tharfore who so will lyke to lere
A soth ensampill sall ye here;
How it bifell byfor this day
And therefore beres it wel away.

S notes many such additional lines from H, N, but they are not necessary to R so I have not noted them subsequently.

38 Bayoune. So R. H correctly reads N as ba with the rest of the word obscured. V: Bayon; Q: Bayone; P: avynon; L: auiniona. Avynon is certainly correct. The introduction of variants of Bayonne may have resulted from an earlier Latin version that may attempt to place the story in Italy and confused identification of the city with Bologna.

46 suede. R: psuede, but there are two dots beneath the p to indicate deletion.
49 And. R: bot; S, following H, N: and. And makes more sense since it indicates a continuation rather than a movement away from the action. The R scribe may have been distracted by the bot that begins line 48.
his. So R. S, following H, N: hir makes sense by pluralizing the pronoun, but R: his highlights that the room is Gy's, perhaps a better emphasis at this point.
chaumber. R: chumber; N: chamber; S: chaumber. I have accepted S. The MED does not list chumber as a possible variant.

51 oft. So S, H, N. The ft are unclear in R, but oft is certainly correct in context.

73 For. R: ffor. R frequently doubles f at the beginning of a line.

106 thai. R: he; S, following H, N: thai. The plural pronoun is required by the grammar of the lines.

114 After this line S inserts two lines from H, N:

The tone maister of geomettri
And the tother of philisophie.

120 men. R: man, but the narrative needs the S, H, N plural: men. The mayor clearly does not send one man with the Pryor, and R does not characteristically use man as an unchanged plural.

122-23 These lines are supplied by S, from H, N. I have printed them because they fill out the sense without doing violence to the verse.

125-26 See textual note to lines 122-23.

129 armed. R: arme; S, H, N: armed. The grammar requires the past tense.

138 This line is difficult to read. I have accepted S.

149 He and his forsayd brether twa. R: and his forsayd brether twa; S, H, N: he and the men and the maisters twa. I have done less violence to R by simply inserting He at the beginning of the line.

150 Unto. R begins the line with and. I have followed S in removing and, because it is not clear what and is linking line 150 to.

166 Full lines of Latin that rhyme with adjacent English lines are numbered (see also lines 201-02, 1093-94, 1125-26). The Latin is translated in the immediately following lines.

178 wonder. R: wonder. The word is hard to read but undoubtedly correct in context.

191 Gy. So R. S, H, N: his. I have retained R because there are many examples in R of unchanged genitives: "God Son" (lines 857, 859, 863); "man saule" (line 754); "Son servyse" (line 741); "man syn" (line 920).

235-39 Here and at many subsequent places, the corresponding lines in N are unintelligible, thus reinforcing the selection of R as a base text.

236 myld. So R. S, H, N: eger. The mildness, patience, even compassion of the Gast's response suggests that myld is preferable to eger ("eager," but with a sense of sharpness and censure).

280 Whase man. So R. S, H, N: Whilkmans. I have retained R because the genitive in the relative adjective is grammatical.

285 Than. R: that; S, H, N: than. This change from R is necessary because the prior is indicating that his discourse follows on from what the Gast has just said.

303 Gy. Although the reference to "Gy" by the Gast of Gy himself seems odd, I have retained R and not substituted S, H, N: mi bodi.

321 he. So R. S, H, N: it. S apparently prefers to think of the body as impersonal, but the Gast's discussion of it seems to prefer the personal he.

328 Gy. So R. S, H, N: Gyes bodi. There is some merit in S, but I think the distinction between body and self is clear enough without the change.

375 the sauwes. R: the saules. S misreads R as thir saules, but the change to S, H, N: sauwes (sayings, truths) is necessary to the sense of the line.

428 thai. S, H, N: he is, strictly, correct, but I have retained R: thai, which is loosely correct. R is sometimes inconsistent in switching between singular and plural pronouns, but not to the point where they need to be "fixed."

446 That. R: than, but I have accepted S, H, N: that. The demonstrative makes more sense than the conjunction.

455 tald thai. R: tald he, but I have accepted S, H, N: tald thai, which is necessary to agree with "prophetes" (line 448).

461 thinketh me. R: think me; S, H, N: thinkes me is better, but I have preferred to change to the more common thinketh.

473 The. R: and; S, H, N: the is better because it makes clear that the Gast is proceeding to the prophetes as distinguished from the "sawles" (line 472). In addition, and makes an odd linkage with the preceding sentence.

497 The Pryor than said. So R. S, H, N: than said the prior. This phrase recurs and S almost always changes R to N, apparently for metrical reasons; I see no material advantage. The P in Pryor is capitalized in R in this line only.

567 If. R: of; but S, H, N: if provides the necessary conditional.

574 gastly. R: gastily, but I prefer S, H, N: gastly for consistency with line 575.

609 fayne. So R. S, H, N: frayne. Frayne makes sense: "to inquire about or ask something" (MED), but I have retained fayne: "desirous of, or eager for something" (MED).

653 synned. R: synnes; H, N: sinned; S: synned. I have accepted S because it provides the necessary past tense without otherwise changing R.

666 dartes. So R. S, H, N: desaytes. desaytes is possible: "deceit or treachery" (MED), but dartes seems more to the point in context: "an attack or assault, as of the Devil, of death, of hunger, etc." (MED).

674 abaysed. R: abaysted; H, N: abaist; S: abaysed. I have accepted S because it retains the meter while getting rid of the intrusive t in R, for which there is no precedent.

713 Mayden and moder both am I. R: both mayden and moder am I; H, N: moder and mayden both am I; S: mayden and moder both am I. The selective use of N by S (moving both) is a case in which the improvement is so marked as to be acceptable while retaining the R order of mayden and moder.

734 penaunce. R: penaune, but the c in S, following H, N: penaunce is clearly necessary.

735 es. R: er; but S, H, N: es is necessary to agree with penaunce.

740 at. So R. S, H, N: that is tempting, but the MED notes at as a variant for that and R uses the variant often.

750 flesch. So R. S changes to fless without explanation but apparently for rhyme. MED lists fless as a possible variant, but the imperfect rhyme at lines 801-02 inclines me to retain R.

758 his. R: This, but I prefer S, following H, N: his, because there is no previous refer-ence to a specific turment.

759 gastes. R: gast; but I prefer S, following H, N: gastes, because there are multiple fiends in the scene.

801-02 Not a perfect rhyme in R, but see explanatory note to line 750.

828a The line is clear in N. It is written in red ink in R and translated in lines 829-30. It appears in L, but not in V, P, Q, though all include a translation. The line is a quotation, with minor variations, of Vulgate Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45: Ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur.

837-38 S, following H, N omits these lines from R, but they are consistent with the Gast's explanation even if awkward in construction.

842 ofte. R, S: of; H, N: oft. I have changed to ofte, which makes sense of the sentence and fits the meter.

851 it. R: he, but I have preferred S, H, N: it because the neuter is required for sense.

854a Like line 828a, the Latin line is written in red ink; it is translated in lines 855-56. Its treatment in the other versions of the narrative is the same as line 828a. It is a quotation, with a minor variation, of Vulgate Psalm 134:6: Omnia quae voluit Dominus fecit. S is clearly right in placing the line after line 854 rather than two lines earlier as it is in R.

868 used in foule. S, H, N insertion of in is necessary to make sense with line 869.

876 To the Thre. S insertion of the before the mention of the Trinity is necessary even though it is present in neither R nor N.

887 sungen. R: syngyng, but I have accepted S, H, N: sungen, which corrects the grammar.

919 For. R: in is odd; I have accepted S, H, N: for.

922 Criste. R: God; S, H, N: Criste. I have accepted the change to Criste as more accurate to the liturgy.

1012 This line is from R, fol. 101va, line 40. As S noted, there follows in R an interpolation of approximately 384 lines from another poem. S transcribed, perfectly accurately, the first six lines:

How oft sythe and on what manere
This aw the prest to ken all clere
With this word wha tham may thou myn
What man it es at dose the syn
That es whether it kar man be
Woman or barn thrall or fre.

The 384 lines do not correspond to anything in N, L, V, Q, P. Max Kaluza (p. 34) identified them as corresponding to Cursor Mundi (ed. Richard Morris, EETS o.s. 101), lines 27162-67. Indeed, the whole interpolation, with some variations and a few omissions, is from the "Book of Penance" in Cursor Mundi, lines 27162-521 (directions to priests on how to hear confessions) and lines 28614-59 (a section on the importance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving by the penitent). I have not included the lines because they intrude on the narrative of the Gast, even though they deal with a closely related subject. Oddly, the lines are certainly written by the R scribe in "hand," with linguistic characteristics such as at or att for that and the system of abbreviations. Although there are occasional large red capitals and some paragraph indications (none of either particularly significant) in R, there is no indication whatsoever of the beginning of the interpolation. The narrative of the Gast resumes in R at fol. 103vb, 29 (line 1013 of this edition).

1021 be loved. R lacks the be, which S, following H, N, properly inserts.

1033 tham more than. R lacks the more, which S, following H, N, properly inserts.

1039 That. R: the; S, following H, N, supplies the necessary conjunction: that.

1084 us. R lacks the us, which S, following H, N, properly inserts.

1108-09 These lines are inserted by S from H, N. They help make arithmetical sense of the devotions.

1115-24 S does not include these lines from R, probably because they are repetitive. They are, however, a continued application of the five psalms from the Placebo. (See explanatory note to lines 202-05.)

1126 At the end of this line in R there is a space and Dirige, capitalized, is repeated.

1150 he. R lacks he, which S, following H, N, properly inserts.

1165 world. R, S: word; H, N: werld. I have changed to world. It is clear from the rest of the line that the beginning of the world is intended, so I have simply supplied the world that R lacks.

1183 tres. R: man; S: tres. The substitution of tres (trees) for man makes sense in the presentation of the scale of being (see St. Augustine, De Libero Arbitrio 2.3.7) presented in lines 1181-84. Man shares "existence" with a "stane" (line 1181), "sentience" with a "best" (line 1182), "life" (i.e., plant life) with "tres" (line 1183), and "understanding" with "aungels" (line 1184). The use of als tres cor-responds to the use of "cum arboribus" in L, which retains the more traditional hierarchical order of stone, tree, beast, angel. I have not tried to rearrange the lines in R to reflect this movement upward.

1227 help. R: hel is properly filled out to help by S, following H, N.

1261 For. S properly deletes the initial word in R: and.

1285 fendes. R: fende; S, H, N: fendes. The plural is necessary.

1329 thou. R: that; S, H, N: thou. The second person pronoun is necessary.

1334 In. Initial R: that is deleted by S, following H, N. It was probably miscopied by R from the beginning of line 1335.

1359 The. R: Thee.

1460 me. R: men, but S, following H, N: me must be correct because the Gast is explaining why God let him come to speak to the Pryor.

1526 Withouten. R: with; but S, following H, N: withouten, must be correct since the Gast is referring to the idea that a carpenter cannot work without his axe (his instru-ment of work).

1567 The. R: that; but S, following H, N: the, is better because the sentence does not call for a demonstrative.

1629 oyres. So R, S. H, N: owres. I have found no attestation elsewhere of oyres. The variants ouris and owrys appear in the OED and MED. Still, the meaning is clear, so I have let the oddity stand.

1858 That es. R: ffor (common doubling of initial f ); S: that es. I have accepted S, even though it is based on a problematic reading of an initial þ in N.

1925 proved. R: pued; H, N: proved. Following S, I have assumed that the abbreviation mark for ro is missing and have printed proved as it is in N.

1943-44 The lines do not rhyme perfectly, but the same is true of lines 749-50 and 801-02, so there seems no reason to "improve" R.

2008 we. R: thai; but S, following H, N: we, is necessary for consistency of person.

2026 Grevouse. The first four letters are rubbed out, but the reading, as S agrees, is correct.

2030 preche. R: prest; but S, following H, N: preche, is necessary for the sense of the line.

2045 for all saules. R: for all payns; but S, following H, N: saules, must be accepted or the line is nonsense.