along with store of ordinary repetition and a refrain, to be placed where they belong, in an alternating chorus of youths and maidens, with distinctly communal background; but there were cases in early English where the classical influence is slight, and the song of a swaying mass is clearly to be heard:[[468]]—
Adam lay ibowndyn, bowndyn in a bond,
Fowre thousand wynter thowt he not to long;
And al was for an appil, an appil that he toke,
As clerkes fyndyn wreten in here book.
Ne hadde the appil take ben, the appil taken ben,
Ne hadde neuer our lady aben heauene qwen.
In fact, early literature is full of repetition which suggests a recent transfer from the dancing and singing throng. So even the mediæval clerk[[469]] had not only Latin jingling in his head, but also songs of the country folk buzzing in his ears; and it is no classical tone, despite the tongue, that sounds in his—
veni, veni, venias,
ne me mori facias,