XVI

Now Lady Helen is gane hame,
Made him a winding sheet,
And at the back o’ merry Lincoln
The dead corpse did her meet.

XVII

And a’ the bells o’ merry Lincoln
Without men’s hands were rung;
And a’ the books o’ merry Lincoln
Were read without man’s tongue;
And never was such a burial
Sin’ Adam’s day begun.

FOOTNOTES:

[497] ba’ = ball, football.

[498] doen = betaken.

[499] play-feres = playfellows.

[500] row’d = wrapped.

[501] downa = cannot, have not the force to.