and MS. Rawl. P. verse 11—
Or whi that erthe for the erthe
Unresonably swete wol or swynke.
The exact date of the text in MS. Titus is indeterminate, but, as stated above, it is evidently based on MS. Lambeth or its original, and might be ascribed to c. 1450 or later. The text in MS. Harl. 4486 has been added by some later owner of the MS. on the last leaves of a fifteenth-century transcript of Le Livre de Sydrac. The handwriting of Erthe upon Erthe is also fifteenth century, but the exact date again cannot be determined. The text, however, is far simpler and nearer to the original than that of the other four MSS., and evidently represents an earlier type than these, though the actual transcript may be later.
With the exception of these five MSS., it is not easy to group the eighteen texts of the B version on any system based upon the additional stanzas, since these fail to bear out any theory as to closer relationship between individual MSS., though the connexion of ideas is often close owing to the similarity of the theme. Thus the nine additional stanzas in MS. Balliol contain a digression upon the nine worthies with an interesting reference in verse 12 to the Dance of Powlis, i.e. the Dance of Death formerly depicted outside St. Paul’s Cathedral (v. Notes, p. 36). It is in the Cambridge text alone that the additional stanzas supply an interesting connexion with the A version, which places this text, unfortunately corrupt and difficult to decipher, in an important position as a link between A and B.
With regard to possible relationships dependent upon variations in the order or arrangement of the lines in the seven common stanzas, it may be pointed out that the first verse in MS. Egerton consists of three lines only, the usual second line being omitted, and that both MS. Harl. 1671 and MS. Porkington omit the same line, though each of these supplies a new and independent fourth line to fill the gap:—
(MS. Egerton 1995)
Erthe owte of þe erthe ys wounderly wrought,
Erthe vppon erthe hathe sette hys thought
How erthe a-pon erthe may be hy brought.