Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/300

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
The New English.
271

betake to hem : and gheete in the dewe of thi blessynge that thei plese evermore to the in trouthe. Bi crist oure lord. So be it.’

. . . . . .

Holy Matrimony.
(From a Manual of 1408.)

‘Lo breyren and sustren her we beon comyn to gedre in ye worsschip of god and his holy seintes in ye face of holy chirche to joynen to gedre yuse tweyne bodies yat heynforward yei be on body in ye beleve and in ye lawe of god for te deserven everlastynge lyf wat so yei han don here byfore. Wherfore i charge you on holy chirche byhalf all yat here bes yat gif eni mon or womman knowen eny obstacle prevei or apert why yat yey lawefully mowe nogt come to gedre in ye sacra­ment of holy churche sey ye now or never more.’[1]

. . . . . .

(From another Manual, rather older, of the Fourteenth Century.)

‘Also I charge you both, and eyther be your selfe, as ye wyll answer before God at the day of dome, that yf there be any thynge done pryvely or openly, betwene your selfe : or that ye knowe any lawfall lettyng why that ye may not be wedded togyther at thys time : say it nowe, or we do any more to this mater.’

. . . . . .

N. — Wylt thou have this man to thy husbande, and to be buxum to him, serve him and kepe him in

  1. Here we see the Southern sustren, the Midland beon, and the Northern bes.