XXVIII “This Abbot, for he was a holy man,
          As all Monks are, or surely ought to be, [3]
          In supplication to the Child began
          Thus saying, ’O dear Child!  I summon thee
          In virtue of the holy Trinity 195
          Tell me the cause why thou dost sing this hymn,
          Since that thy throat is cut, as it doth seem.’

  XXIX “‘My throat is cut unto the bone, I trow,’
          Said this young Child, ’and by the law of kind
          I should have died, yea many hours ago; 200
          But Jesus Christ, as in the books ye find,
          Will that his glory last, and be in mind;
          And, for the worship of his Mother dear,
          Yet may I sing, O Alma! loud and clear.

  XXX “’This well of mercy, Jesu’s Mother sweet, 205
          After my knowledge I have loved alway;
          And in the hour when I my death did meet
          To me she came, and thus to me did say,
          “Thou in thy dying sing this holy lay,”
          As ye have heard; and soon as I had sung 210
          Methought she laid a grain upon my tongue.

  XXXI “’Wherefore I sing, nor can from song refrain,
          In honour of that blissful Maiden free,
          Till from my tongue off-taken is the grain;
          And after that thus said she unto me; 215
          “My little Child, then will I come for thee
          Soon as the grain from off thy tongue they take: 
          Be not dismayed, I will not thee forsake!"’

  XXXII “This holy Monk, this Abbot—­him mean I,
          Touched then his tongue, and took away the grain; 220
          And he gave up the ghost full peacefully;
          And, when the Abbot had this wonder seen,
          His salt tears trickled down like showers of rain;
          And on his face he dropped upon the ground,
          And still he lay as if he had been bound. 225

  XXXIII “Eke the whole Convent on the pavement lay,
          Weeping and praising Jesu’s Mother dear;
          And after that they rose, and took their way,
          And lifted up this Martyr from the bier,
          And in a tomb of precious marble clear 230
          Enclosed his uncorrupted body sweet.—­[F]
          Where’er he be, God grant us him to meet!

  XXXIV “Young Hew of Lincoln! in like sort laid low
          By cursed Jews—­thing well and widely known,
          For it was done a little while ago—­[4] 235
          Pray also thou for us, while here we tarry
          Weak sinful folk, that God, with pitying eye,
          In mercy would his mercy multiply
          On us, for reverence of his Mother Mary!”