"DEAD AS A DOOR-NAIL"! 273
Pat J?e blode braste owte appon bothe the sydes:
And he balkede and brayed and bruschede thrugh f>e greues,
And alle had hurlede one ane hepe J>at in the holte longede;
And sone the sowre £at hym sewet resorte to his feris,
55 And ]?ay, for frayede of his fare, to J>e fellys }>ay hyen;
And I hyede to my hounde and hent hym vp sone,
And louset my lyame and let hym vmbycaste;
The breris and the brakans were blody by-ronnen;
And he assentis to )?at sewte and seches hym aftire,
60 There he was crepyde in-to a krage and crouschede to J>e erthe;
Dede as a dore-nayle doun was he fallen.
behind the left shoulder and the blood streamed out on both sides.
He stopped: brayed and then brushed through the thickets, as if
everything in the wood had crashed down at the same moment.
55 Soon the attending buck went off to his mates, but they were
terrified by his manner, and took to the fells. I went to my hound,
and quickly grasped him and untied his leash, and let him cast
about. The briars and the bracken were smeared with blood, and
the hound picked up the scent and pursued the hart to where he
60 was, for he had crept into a cave, and, crouched to the earth, had
fallen down—dead as a door-nail.
So from time to time throughout the year the peasant had a
few hours of pleasure making: the great ecclesiastical celebra-
tions at Easter, Whitsun and Corpus Christi, or the summer
festivals of May Day and Midsummer may serve to remind us of
such opportunities, and the records show how eagerly they were
seized. Robert Manning of Brunne, in his Handlyng Synne,
1303, declaims against the prevalence of these popular amuse-
ments which took people from Holy Church:
Karolles, wrastlynges, or somour games,
Who so ever haunte]? any swyche shames
Yn cherche, o]?er yn cherchejerde,
Of sacrylage he may be a ferde;
Or entyrludes, or syngynge,
Or tabure bete, or oj>er pypynge,
Alle swyche }>yng forboden es,
Whyle )>e prest stonde]? at messe.1
1 Op. cit. 11. 8989 ff. Cf. Owst, Literature and Pulpit, 362, quoting MS.
Harl. 45, fol. 58, where the common people are accused of enjoying "ydel
pleyes and japes, carolinges, makynge of fool contynaunces, to geve gifts to
iogelours.. .for to her ydel tales and japes, smytyng, snarlynge, fiyndyng
and usynge of novelryes.. .in wrastlynge, in other deedes of strength
doynge".
BL 18