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INTRODUCTION.
xxxvii
some who will be amused by it, and therefore, as well as because it has been reproduced in a book ascribed to Dr. J. M. Neale,[1] I insert a copy of it here:—
The Cristene Men, that dwellen bezond the See, in Grece, seyn that the Tree of the Cros, that we callen cypresse, was of that Tree, that Adam ete the Appulle of: and that fynde thei writen. And thei seyn also, that here Scripture seythe, that Adam was seek, and seyde to his Sone Sethe, that he scholde go to the Aungelle, that kepte Paradys, that he wolde senden hym Oyle of Mercy, for to anoynte with his Membres, that he myghte have hele. And Sethe wente. But the Aungelle wolde not late him come in, but seyd to him, that he myghte not have of the Oyle of Mercy. But he toke him three Greynes of the same Tree, that his Fadre eet the Appelle offe; and bad him, als sone as his Fadre was ded, that he scholde putte theise three Greynes undre his Tonge, and grave him so: and he dide. And of theise three Greynes sprong a Tree as the Aungelle seyde, that it scholde, and bere a Fruyt, thorghe the whiche Fruyt Adam scholde be saved. And whan Sethe cam azen he fonde his Fadre nere ded. And whan he was ded, he did with the Greynes, as the Aungelle bad him; of the whiche sprongen three Trees, of the whiche the Cros was made, that bare gode Fruyt and
- ↑ Communications from the Unseen World. London, 1847. p. 26.
