2°* S. X. July 21. »60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



51 



Ther-inre Godes oyen flesche, 

 That fode is to the stronge. 



Cryst kedde that he hys a prest 



Kygt in double manere ; 

 That on tho he sacreded hys body, 



Ther he set atte sopere ; 



Thet other 

 Tho he an roude offrede hys body ' 



For ous, my leve brother." — pp. 52, 63. 



The young maiden who cllose for herself the 

 convent or the ankress lifie, had this same doc- 

 trine of the redemption set before her, not merely 

 in all her daily religious exercises, but in a marked 

 and strong manner by the explanation of her 

 particular rule. Mr. J. G. Nichols is a well- 

 deserving member of a very useful literary asso- 

 ciation — the Camden Society ; and among the 

 several curious works of old English authorship 

 which it has snatched from forgetfulness and given 

 to the world, one of them, most valuable in many 

 regards, is the Ancren Riwle. Among the many 

 apposite passages in that beautiful ascetic work. I 

 v/ould call Ma. J. G. Nichols's attention to those 

 at pp. 27. 35. 113. 115. 189. &c., while I content 

 myself with bringing forwards here these two : — 



" This King is Jesus Christ, the son of God, who in this 

 manner wooed our soul, which the devils had besieged. 

 And he, as a noble wooer, after many messengers, and 

 many good deeds, came to prove his love, and shewed by 

 his knightly prowess that he was worthy of love, as 

 knights were sometimes wont to do. He engaged in a 

 tournament, and had, for his lady's love, hjs shield every 

 where pierced in battle, like a valorous knight. This 

 shield, which covered his godhead, was his dear body, 

 that was extended on the cross, broad as a shield above, 

 in his outstretched arms, and narrow beneath, because, 

 as men suppose, the one foot was placed upon the other 

 foot. — This shield defends us not only from all evils, but 

 doth yet more, it crowneth us in heaven. — Could he not 

 "have delivered us with less trouble? Yes, indeed, full 

 easily, but he would not. Wherefore ? To take awaj' 

 from us every excuse for not loving him who redeemed 

 us at so dear a price. Men buy for an easy price a thing 

 for which thej''care little. He bought us with his heart's 

 blood, a dearer price there never was, that he might draw 

 out of us our love towards him which cost him so dear. 

 There are three things in a shield; the wood, the leather, 

 and the painting. So was there in this shield ; the wood 

 of the cross, the leather of God's bodj', and the painting 

 of the red blood which stained it so fully. — After the 

 death of a valiant knight, men hang up his shield high 

 in the church, to his memorj'. So is this shield, that is 

 the crucifix, set up in the church, in such a place in 

 which it may be soonest seen, thereby to remind us of 

 Jesus Christ's knighthood, which he practised on the 

 cross. His spouse beholdeth thereon how he bought her 

 love, and let his shield be pierced, that is, let his side 

 be opened to shew her his heart, and to shew her openlj' 

 how deeply he loved her, and to draw her heart to him." 

 Pp.391. 393. 



" Four principal kinds of love are found in this world — 

 the third, between a woman and her child. — If a child 

 had a disease of such a nature, that a bath of blood were 

 required for him before he could be healed, that mother 

 must love him greatlj' who would make this bath for him 

 (with her own blood). Our Lord did this for us who 

 were so eicK with sin, and so defiled with it, that nothing 



could heal us or cleanse us but his blood only : for so he 

 would have it ; his love made us a bath thereof; blessed 

 may he be for ever. — ' Who loved us and'washed us in 

 his own blood ; ' that is, he loved us more than any 

 mother doth her child — and he then telleth the reason 

 why, ' In manibus meis descripsi te.' ' I have painted 

 thee,' saith he, ' in my hands.' He did so with red blood 

 upon the cross." — Pp. 393., &c. 



The Myrroure of our Lady, written for the es- 

 pecial reading and meditation of the nuns of 

 Syon House, Isleworth, of which a perfect copy 

 now lies before me, printed by R. Fawkes, a. i>. 

 1530, says in its explanation of the Friday's choir- 

 service : — 



" Amongste other thynges that the voyces of prophetea 

 tolde before of the sonne of God ; they tolde how harde 

 dethe he wolde suffer in his moste innocente body in thys 

 worlde; that menne togyther wyth hym, shulde have 

 everlastynge lyfe in heven. For the prophetes prophe- 

 sj'ed and wrote, how the same sonne of god, for the de- 

 lyverance of mankynd, shulde be bounde and skourged — 

 and how he shulde be ledde to the crosse, and howspyte- 

 fully he shulde be treted and crucyfyed." — Fols. cxxxvi. b. 

 &c. 



The third part of this Myrroure " that ys of 

 youre. Masses," has this explanation : — 



"And therfore at the begynnynge of the Benedictus ye 

 turne to the aulter and make the token of the crosse upon 

 you in mynde of oure lordes passion wiche is specially 

 represented in the masse. — Then folowyth Agnus dei, sayde 

 of the preste and songe of the quier, where our lorde iesu 

 criste is called the lambe of god the father. For lyke as 

 a lambe was offered of the iewes at Ester in token of 

 theyr delyveraunce aute of the thraldome of Egypte, so 

 was oure "lorde offered on the crosse for the delyvraunce 

 of all mankj'nde from the thraldome of the fende and 

 from synne. And therfore wesaye, Agnus dei, 8;c. Lambe 

 of god that doest away the synnes of the worlde, have 

 mercy on us, delyveryinge us from synne." — Fols. 

 clxxxviii. b. &c. 



How that careful teaching of the Atonement 

 wrought deeply and lastingly upon the hearts of 

 those cloistered ladies, may be seen in that sweet 

 little book from the pen of Mother Juliana Ankress 

 at Norwich, c. a.d. 1373, entitled. Sixteen Revela- 

 tions of Divine Love, and reprinted by Crossley, 

 Leicester, . in 1843: few Avorks are so crowded 

 with such hallowing thoughts arising from a medi- 

 tation on man's redemption through Christ ; and, 

 unless I much mistaken, the reading of but a few 

 pages of it will unburthen Mr. J. G. Nichols's 

 mind of all his " fear." 



Not only cleric, and nun, and ankress, who 

 were bound, but those among the laity — and 

 they were many — whose devotion led them to 

 daily say their breviary, were all taught to bring 

 to mind the different stages of our Saviour's 

 passion as they went through each of the canonical 

 hours ; for instance, William de Shoreham says of 

 " hora sexta" : — 



" On crouche y-naj-led was Jhesus. 

 Atte sixgte tyde, 

 Stronge theves hengen hy on 

 Eyther half hys sede. 



