4-5 



Yet spake this child, whan spreint was the holy water 

 And sang, O .-f/»m rethmploris muter. 



" My thrute is cut unto my nekke-'oon 

 Saide this child, and as by way of kinde* 

 I shuld have deyd, ye longe time agon : 

 But Jesu Crist, as ye in bookes finde, 

 Wol that his glory last and be in minde, 

 And for the worship + of his moder dere, 

 Yet may I sing O Alma loude and clere. 



" Then he yave up the gost ful softely, 

 And whan the abbot had this wonder sein, 

 His sake teres trilled adoun as reyne: 

 And grofl't he fell all platte§ upon the ground, 

 And still he lay as he had ben ybound. 



" The covent lay eke upon the pavement 

 Weping aud herying Cristes moder dere. 

 And alter that they risen and forth ben went, II 

 And toke away this martir fro his here, 

 And in a tombe of marble stones clere 

 Enclosen they his litel body swete : 

 Ther he is now, God leneH us for to mete. 



The next witness is the ancient historian or chronicler 

 Matthew Paris, whose account of tins matter is given at second 

 hand by many writers, with or without additional and collateral 

 circumstances from other sources. This extract is taken from 

 Ins History of England, p. 912, under the reign of Henry III., 

 and is translated literally from the original Latin. 



Matthew Paris testifies as follows : — 



" Iu the same year (1255), about the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Jews 

 of Lincoln stole a certain boy, by name Hugo, eight years of age. And whilst they 

 were nourishing him in a very retired apartment, on milk aud other sustenance 

 suited to his age, they sent to almost all the states of England in which Jews were 

 living. Out of each separate state they convened a certain number of Jews, that 

 they might be present at their sacrifice in Lincoln, to the reproach and contempt of 

 Jesus Christ; for they had, as they affirmed, a certain boy concealed, for the pur- 

 pose of having him crucified. Many assembled at Lincoln; and they who came 

 together appointed a Jew of Lincoln judge, as it were, to represent Pilate. By his 



•Nature. + Honour. t Lying at length. § Flat 



II Are gone U Send or grant. 



