James Ryman - A Forgotten Kentish Poet
Written By KAS
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JAMES RYMAN—A FORGOTTEN KENTISH POET.
BY A. G. LITTLE, D.LITT., LITT.D., E.B.A.
JAMES RYMAN is not mentioned in the D.N.B., nor in
Archmologia Cantiana, nor in the Cambridge History of
English Literature, and his connection with the Franciscans
of Canterbury was discovered too late for inclusion in
Dr. Cotton's Grey Friars of Canterbury.
He was a friar of the Franciscan house at Canterbury
when he was ordained acolyte (March 31st) and sub-deacon
(September 21st) in 1476 in Canterbury Cathedral (Bourchier's
Register). His poetical works are preserved in one
MS. in the Cambridge University Library, partly written in
his own hand, where they are described as " the book of
hymns and songs composed by friar James Ryman of the
Order of Minors to the praise of almighty God and of his
most holy mother Mary and of all Saints, A.D. 1492." They
are printed in Herrig's Archiv fur das Studium der neueren
Sprachen und Litteraturen, Vol. 89 (1892), pp. 167-338. The
poems number 166, of varying length. They are all in
English, often with Latin refrains ; they are almost all of a
religious character and have little originality either in form
or matter, though the author shows some ingenuity in his
rimes. The most moving seem to be a number of poems in
the form of dialogues between Christ and his mother (Nos.
62-67 and elsewhere)—a form of dramatic lyric popular in
the fifteenth century. There are several poems in honour of
St. Francis (Nos. 69, 109, 142, 143); in one he is described as
" witty and wise," unexpected epithets in this connection ;
in another, more naturally, as "Of goode manors the rale
i
2 JAMES RYMAN—A FORGOTTEN KENTISH POET.
moost right." Henry VI is praised (No. 96) as " full of
mercy without vengeance," which reminds one that the
ruthless atrocities of the Wars of the Roses must have been
among Friar Ryman's early recollections. Two poems are
in lighter vein : one (No. I l l ) is on the fox and geese, the
other (No. 70) is a Farewell to Advent, and shows a humorous
appreciation of the lay attitude to fasts ordained by the
Church. This follows :
Fare wele, advent: cristemas is cum.
Fare wele fro us both alle and sume.
1
With paciens thou hast us fedde
And made us go hungrie to bedde :
For lak of mete we were nyghe dedde.
Fare wele fro us both alle and sume.
While thou haste be within oure howse,
We ete no puddyngis ne no sowce,
But stynking fisshe not worth a lowce.
Fare wele [etc.].
There was no fresshe fisshe ferre ne nere,
Salt fisshe and samon was to dere,
And thus we have had hevy chere.
Fare wele [etc.].
Thou hast us fedde with plaices thynne,
Nothing on them but bone & skynne ;
Ther fore our love thou shalt not wynne.
Fare wele [etc.].
JAMES RYMAN—A FORGOTTEN KENTISH POET. 3
5
With muskilles gaping afture the mone
Thou hast us fedde at nyght and none
But ones a wyke and that to sone
Fare wele [etc.].
6
Oure brede was browne, oure ale was thynne ;
Oure brede was musty in the bynne,
Oure ale soure or we did begynne.
Fare wele [etc.].
7
Thou art of grete ingratitude
Good mete fro us for to exclude ;
Thou art not kyende, but verey rude.
Fare wele [etc.].
8
Thou dwellest with us ayenst oure wille,.
And yet thou gevest us not oure fille ;
For lak of mete thou woldest us spille.
Fare wele [etc.].
9
Above alle thinge thou are a meane
To make oure chekes both bare and leane ;
I wolde, thou were at Boughton Bleane.1
Fare wele [etc.].
10
Come thou nomore here nor in Kent;
For, yf thou doo, thou shallt be shent;
It is ynough to faste in lent.
Fare wele [etc.].
1 Boughton-under-Blean. I do not lmow why Ryman had a grudge
against the place.
4 JAMES RYMAN—A FORGOTTEN KENTISH POET.
11
Thou maist not dwelle with none eastate ;
Therfore with us thou playest chekmate :
Go hens, or we will breke thy pate.
Fare wele [etc.],
12
Thou maist not dwell with knyght nor squier ;
For them thon maiste lye in the myre ;
They love not thee nor lent thy sire.
Fare wele [etc.].
13
Thou maist not dwell with labouring man ;
For on thy fare no skille he can ;
For he must ete bothe now and then.
Fare wele [etc.].
14
Though thou shalt dwell with monke and frere,
Chanon and nonne ones every yere,
Yet thou shuldest make us better chere.
Fare wele [etc.].
15
This tyme of Cristis feest natall
We will be mery, grete and small,
And thou shalt goo oute of this halle.
Fare wele fro us both alle and sume.
16
Advent is gone, cristemas is cume ;
Be we mery now alle and sume.
He is not wise that wille be dume
In ortu regis omnium.