t they might remainwithout intermission:or rain falling uponX defiance, nor wereworn away. At the;m their situation by:e in which the event> before the altar ofhter of a priest andter sleeping for theafterwards. Ubert,hind him, which istion and additionalus's, and the girl is1, who having taken: continued dancing,ancers, they buriedMany princes andtacle, till the bishopsother devout priests,mce of the culprits;Lediately, some slept*ee years, and others; whole of their lives.s it is with wood-cutsmuth, the master ofit the representationsy correct, no doubt,warranty cannot bejottfried's Chronicle,cities, Boistuau andhe Nuremberg Chro-lis subject of somesinging on a bridgeit. The bridge gaved of it 200 personsidle, the other endand his host to pass

* Manuel de Pe'che,

The Dance of Death. 7

usually ascribed to Bishop Grosthead, the pious author,after much declamation against the vices of the times, hasthis passage :—

Karoles ne lutes ne deit nul fere,

En seint eglise ki me voil crere ;

Kas en cimetere karoler,

Utrage est grant u lutter. 12

He then relates the story in the Nuremberg Chronicle, forwhich he quotes the book of Saint Clement. Grosthead'swork was translated about the year 1300 into English verseby Robert Mannyng, commonly called Robert de Brunne,a Gilbertine canon. His translation often differs from hisoriginal, with much amplification and occasional illustrationsby himself. As the account of the Nuremberg story variesso materially, and as the scene is laid in England, it hasbeen thought worth inserting.

Karolles wrastelynges or somour games,

Whosoever haunteth any swyche shames,

Yn cherche other yn cherche yerd,

Of sacrilage he may be aferd ;

Or entyrludes or syngynge,

Or tabure bete or other pypynge;

All swyche thyng forboden es,

Whyle the prest stondeth at messe ;

But for to leve in cherche for to daunce,

Y shall you telle a full grete chaunce,

And y trow the most that fel,

Ys sothe as y you telle.

And fyl thys chaunce yn thys londe,

Yn Ingland as y undyrstonde,

Yn a kynges tyme that hyght Edward,

Fyl this chaunce that was so hard.

Hyt was upon crystemesse nyzt

That twelve folys a karolle dyzt,

Yn Wodehed, as hyt were yn cuntek, 13

They come to a toune men calle Cowek : 14

The cherche of the toune that they to come,

Ys of Seynt Magne that suffred martyrdome,

Of Seynt Bukcestre hyt ys also,

Seynt Magnes suster, that they come to ;

Here names of all thus fonde y wryte,

And as y wote now shal ye wyte

Here lodesman 15 that made hem glew, 16

u Bibl. Reg. 20 B. xiv. and Harl. MS. 4657.14 Q. Cowick in Yorkshire ? is Leader.

13 Contest.16 G-ee.