It may be of interest to note here some other instances of the use of
the theme _Earth upon Earth_, not immediately connected with the poem
under discussion.
An early instance of the phrase occurs in a Poem on the Death of Edward
IV, written by Skelton probably soon after the event (9th April, 1483),
beginning _Miseremini mei ye that ben my ffryndys_. Verse 2 runs as
follows:--
I slepe now in molde, as it is naturall
That erth vnto erth hath his reuerture:
What ordeyned God to be terestyall,
Without recours to the erth of nature?
Who to lyue euer may himselfe assure?
What is it to trust on mutabilyte,
Sith that in this world nothing may indure?
For now am I gone, that late was in prosperyte:
To presume thervppon, it is but a vanyte,
Not certayne, but as a chery fayre full of wo:
Reygned not I of late in greate felycite?
_Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio!_
(_Poetical Works of Skelton_, ed. Dyce, I. i; London, 1843).
The poem was inserted amongst the imprinted works of Lydgate, who could
not have been alive in 1483, cf. MS. Harl. 4011, fol. 169, v^o, where it
occurs among Lydgate's works.
In John Taylor's _Trauels of Twelve-Pence_, 1630 folio (Spenser Soc.
reprint, p. 82), this verse occurs:--
Far[2] though from _Earth_ man hath originall,
And to the _Earth_, from whence he came doth fall,
Though he be Earth, & can claime nought but earth,
(As the fraile portion due vnto his birth)
Yet many thousands that the earth doth breed,
Haue no place (certain) where to lodge or feed.
The following lines occur in a small volume called _The Compleat
Bell-Man, being a Pattern for all sorts of People to take notice of the
most remarkable Times and Dayes in the Year_, by H. Crouch (seventeenth
century). The book contains thirty-nine verses, for Saint-Days and
Anniversaries chiefly, a few being on more general subjects. The last
verse, No. 39, _Upon the day of Doom_, runs as follows:--
When Earth of Earth shall turn to Earth
That was but Earth even from its Birth,
Then Earth from Earth shall rise again
To endlesse joy, or endlesse pain,
Let Earth then serve and please his Maker
That Earth of Heaven may be pertaker.
The following is an Epitaph on Roger Earth of Dinton, Wilts, died 1634
(see E. R. Suffling, _Epitaphia_, p. 81):--
From Earth wee came, to Earth wee must returne,
Witness this EARTH that Lyes within this VRNE.
Begott by EARTH: Borne also of Earth's WOMBE,
74 yeares lived EARTH, now Earth's his TOMBE.
In Earth EARTH'S Body Lyes Vnder this STONE,
But from this Earth to Heauen EARTH'S soule is gone.
Another later epitaph is quoted by Suffling, p. 339, from Loughter,
Glamorganshire, without name or date:--
O Earth! O Earth observe this well,
That Earth to Earth must go to dwell,
That Earth to Earth must close remain
Till Earth for Earth shall come again.
[Footnote 1: But this is not in agreement with Bateman's opinion
as to the age of the original parchment roll (1400-1430), see
Introduction, p. xi.]
[Footnote 2: ? for.]