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 April 18, 1918 
 
 THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 ROBERT J«IAX GARRETI 
 
 Aisiatant Profeisor ol EnClish 
 
 SEATTLE. WASHINGTON 
 PUBLISHBD BY THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 1918 
 
<;NlVERSlTy OF WASHINGTON PUBLICATIONS 
 IN 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 [. ]'.len)(nts of ,tl>t History of idle English' liangttjkgie, 
 by Uno.Iiipdelofi translated by Bbbert Max Gai*- 
 reitt[ University ,of IVashingtcwi Press, 1911. ^.7r>. 
 
 (1. Tlif Political and Ecclesiai^^cal Allegory of the 
 First Book of tlie Faerie Qtiecne, Frederick Mor- 
 gan Padelford. Giiin and 'Gom|)a»y.. 1911.' $<75. 
 
 III. The Medieval Popular Ballad, by J. C. H. K. 
 Sttenstrap, translated by Edward Godfrey Cox. 
 Ginzj and Cwnpan 
 

THE PEARL 
 
 AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT MAX GARRETT, Ph D. (Munich) 
 
 Assistant Professor of English 
 
 University of WashinEton 
 
 Seattle 
 
D. of D. 
 MAY II 1918 
 
Quis ftdelium habere clubium possit. in illo 
 Jesu Christi mysterio angrelorum chorus adesse, 
 sum ma imis sociari, terram coelestibus jungi. 
 Alcuin. p. 14. 
 
TO 
 PROFESSOR FREDERICK MORGAN PADELFORD 
 
 THIS LITTLE BOOK IS AFFFCTIONATELV ISSCRIBED 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Pages 
 
 Introduction 9-10 
 
 EucHARisTic Doctrine in the Fourteenth Century 10-13 
 
 The Communion of Saints 14-15 
 
 The Adoration of the Lamb 15-16 
 
 The Pearl of the New Testament 16-17 
 
 The Pearl as Symbolic of the Eucharist 
 
 The Host as Pearl — Candida Rotunda sit Hostia Christi . . . 17-19 
 
 The Eucharist a Pearl 19-21 
 
 Christ AS the Pearl OF Great Price 21-23 
 
 The Smaller Pearls in Their Relation to the Great Pearl . . . 23-25 
 
 The Poem of the Pearl 25-35 
 
 Conclusion 35-37 
 
 APPENDIX A. Note on the "Hyj Seysoun" 38-39 
 
 APPENDIX B. St. Hilary of Poictiers, His Daughter and the Pearl 39-42 
 
 Bibliography 43-45 
 
The Pearl : An Interpretation 
 
 Introduction 
 
 When we study the poetry of the Middle Ages, especially the religious verse, 
 without taking into account the vital teachings of the Eucharist, we are doing violence 
 to the age — we are taking both color and fragrance from the flower. Men based 
 their hopes of heaven upon the Eucharist ; they found therein the full and perfect 
 revelation of Deity ; they looked to it as the key of heaven ; they found therein 
 union with their own loved ones who were dead ; they experienced therethrough day 
 by day a personal relationship with the Incarnate God ; they built their churches 
 as a setting for the great drama of love enacted within ; they developed their art 
 to do honor to that great Mystery which was the sacred heart of the Middle Ages. 
 At once we think of the great tributes to the Eucharist: the sublime Mass of Corpus 
 C'hristi prepared by St. Thomas Aquinas, with its marvelous hymns; the Opus Majus 
 of Roger Bacon which is brought to a climax by an argument for "the sacrament 
 of the altar" as containing in itself the liighest good — (1) that is, the union of 
 God with man; the Legend of the Holy Grail; (2) and the Ghent Altar — the adora- 
 tion of the Lamb, by the brothers Van Eyck. 
 
 To this goodly fellowship I am convinced that we should add the fourteenth- 
 century poem of The Pearl. 
 
 The student of the symbolism of Tlie Pearl has two scholars above others to 
 thank for collecting materials which are indispensable to the task of interpretation. 
 I mean Dr. Charles G. Osgood in the Introduction and Notes to his edition of 
 The Pearl, and Prof. W. H. Schofield in his paper called "Symbolism, Allegory and 
 Autobiography in The Pearl," in the Publications of the Modern Language Associ- 
 ation of America, 1909. To this mass of material I have been able to add only a 
 little. I have long felt, however, that the poem was more subtly symbolic than 
 Prof. Schofield allows, and that it possesses a more essential simplicity than is 
 ascribed to it by Dr. Osgood. I think Prof. Schofield well expresses the attitude 
 of one who loves this po^m and who strives to hear it tell its own secret, when he 
 says: "My desire has not been to read new possible meanings into the poem, 
 in sympathy witli our modern individualism, but simply to bring the light of 
 mediaeval conceptions to bear upon and elucidate the thought of a poem which 
 
 (1) Schaft, History of the Christian Church, V, 69S. 
 
 (2) "In a word, it is a parable of the Mass. It is the central rite of the Church, the 
 Holy Communion, interpreted in the symbols of a story. Repentance, absolution, the long 
 struggle of self-mastery, the sustaining grace of the great sacrament, the reward of 
 heavenly vision, are expressed in terms of knighthood, are brought home in the romance of 
 a quest. What the 'Pilgrim's Progress" centuries afterward did for Protestanism, the 
 "Holy Grail' did for medieval Catholicism. It put religion into a story of aspiration, struggle 
 and attainment. As all romance is ideal, so this romance is most ideal of all; and as the 
 idealism of romance is its most vital quality, so this highest ideal of romance has lived 
 through all the centuries and won all Christian people." Baldwin, English Medieval 
 Literature, p. 84. 
 
 Page Nine 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 is distinctly a product of its time. ... A learned man of the fourteenth 
 century was so used to interpretations of the pearl that the word could hardly be 
 mentioned without a great many rising to his memory instantly. And anyone then 
 who wrote or read a poem entitled The Pearl would expect the treatment to be 
 allegorical. He would not, however, expect the author of a poem to include a 
 list of all previous or possible interpretations of the word, but only such as the poet 
 chose to emphasize at that particular time for a particular purpose. Onh' a dull 
 writer would need or desire to accompany his poem with a 'key' to its meaning," p. 639. 
 ing," p. 639. 
 
 It was this desire to go to the age in which the poem was conceived for a key 
 to its meaning that led me to the conclusion that this poem has as its central 
 idea the fundamental teachings of the Eucharist. 
 
 EucHARiSTic Doctrine in the Fourteexth Century 
 
 The latter part of the fourteenth century was a time of furious controversy 
 over the Eucharist. The great exponent of the radical view was Wyclif, who 
 seems to have been vacillating in his theories of the Eucharist, being accused by 
 his opponents of a view practically Zwinglian and himself announcing a view of 
 Consubstantiation which was scarcely less heretical. Nevertheless the seeds of 
 dissent were sown by him, and the more conservative saw in the fact that he was 
 stricken by paralysis while assisting at mass in his own parish church a judgment 
 of God. Against Wyclif were ranged the friars of Oxford whom he denounced 
 as heretics as far as the Eucharist was concerned — apparently an argumentum 
 ad absurdum intended to make the logic of the friars ludicrous. Popular sentiment 
 then as now was overwhelmingly on the side of the insurgent, and the friars have 
 received scant justice for their really excellent championship of the doctrine of Tran- 
 substantiation, which was vital to the life of the historic Church. Even Shirley (3) 
 is scornful of the misquotations of the Franciscan Tyssyngton while he passes over 
 similar lapses on the part of Wyclif with indulgence. 
 
 According to a view now current the doctrine of Transubstantiation is held 
 to have been a crude, barbarous and revolting superstition which overthrew the 
 nature of a sacrament and which impeded the onward march of the spirit. This 
 view arises from slight and partisan reading in the literature of the subject. That 
 there were people who failed to grasp the deep spirituality of the doctrine cannot 
 be denied ; also it cannot be denied that sometimes attention to the sacramentals 
 superseded or obscured the constant and proper use of the sacraments. However, 
 it is not with the abuses of the doctrine that we are concerned, but rather with the 
 spiritual aspect of the doctrine itself. 
 
 The fundamental fact in the doctrine of the Sacrament of the Altar is the 
 unity of the Body, that the consecrated Host is Christ's own Body, not in the sense 
 of confining Him to the tiny plot of the wafer, but of uniting the particle and the 
 one who receives worthily to the great mystical body of all faithful people, and 
 
 (3) Fasciculi Zizaniorum. pp.133, 250, 491. 
 Page Ten 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 to the head of that body, Christ Himself. As the Augustinian Friar Thomas Wyn- 
 tirton, an opponent of Wyclif, says: 
 
 "It is observed that the bread which we break is the medium by which the 
 Body of Christ is partaken of by us, or that we partake of the Body of Christ; 
 because by receiving the sacrament of the altar which is broken by us and is the 
 spiritual bread of the soul, we receive the true Body of Christ which was assumed 
 from the Virgin." 
 
 "... denotatur quod panis quern frangimus est medium quo corpus 
 Christi participatur a nobis, vel nos participamus de corpore Christi : quia recipi- 
 endo sacramentum altaris quod frangitur a nobis, et est panis animae spiritualis, 
 recipimus verum corpus Christi, quod fuit assumptum de Virgine," Fasciculi Zizani- 
 orum, p. 203. 
 
 Again, quoting St. Augustine, he says : " 'When we eat Christ we do not make 
 parts of Him ; in fact it is thus in the Sacrament, everyone receives his part' — 
 that is, of the sacrament; hence Christ eaten in parts should be understood Christ 
 eaten in parts of the Sacrament; because by receiving each a part of the Sacrament 
 the whole of Christ is received." 
 
 " 'Quando manducamus Christum partes de illo non facimus. Et quidem in 
 Sacramento sic fit : iinusquisque accipit partem suam,' scilicet sacramenti. Ergo 
 illud, per partes manducatur Christus, debet intelligi, per partes sacramenti man- 
 ducatur Christus : quia recipiendo quameunque partem sacramenti, recipitur totus 
 Christus," ibid., p. 201. 
 
 Likewise the Franciscan Friar John Tyssyngton, another notable opponent of 
 Wyclif, says: "Moreover, the Body and Blood of Christ, while they are bread 
 and wine according to the species, are the sacrament of the Church, or of ecclesi- 
 astical unity; and thus is it properly a Eucharist, a thanksgiving; yet they are 
 bread and wine according to the species wheresoever they are. And yet there is 
 only one bread upon all altars; for just as if the Word as substance were to be 
 made manifest in various men, it would be only one man, on account of the unity 
 of the Word; (4) thus however much the Body is united sacramentally with diverse 
 species in diverse altars, nevertheless on account of the unity of the Body there is 
 only one Bread. And concerning the body and the one bread according to number, 
 the Apostle says: 'For we being manj' are one bread and one body.' For we are 
 all this one bread and this one body; not, of course, in essence, but in signification, 
 or comparison. Just as Matthew says that John is Elias, not naturally, but figura- 
 tively, because as John did in respect to the first Advent, so will Elias do in respect 
 to the second Advent. So through a like comparison we are that bread and that 
 body; for as bread is made of many grains, and a body is made of many members 
 which have not the same activity, so also the Church of Jesus Christ." "Caro autem 
 
 (4) I find this a passage of peculiar difficulty. Prof. E. K. Rand very kindly refers to 
 the use of "suppositum" in "Boethius Contra Eutychen et Nestorium at the end (Peiper 
 pp.197, 95) and elsewhere; i.e., referring to the manifestation of the Word (verbi surely 
 refers to the Logos here) in particular specimens of naturae humanae. With Boethius in 
 mind (103 ff.) I should translate 'If the Word as substance' etc., or 'the substantiatized 
 Word' — an ugly word, but given in the Oxford Concise Dictionary." 
 
 Page Eleven 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 et sanguis Christi, duni sunt panis et vinum secundum specigm, sunt sacramentum 
 ecclf site, seu ecclesiasticae uiiitatis ; et sic sunt proprie eucharistia ; dum, scilicet, 
 sunt panis et vinuui secundum speciem, et ubi sic sunt. Et sic nonest nisi unus 
 panis in omnibus altaribus; quia, sicut si suppositum verbi assumeret diversas 
 naturas humanas, tamen non foret nisi unus homo, propter unitatem suppositi ita 
 quamvis corpus uniatur sacramentaliter diversis speciebus, in diversis altaribus, 
 tamen propter unitatem corporis non est nisi unus panis. Et de isto corpore et pane 
 uno secundum numerum, dicit apostolus, Unus panis et utiuvi corpus multi suvius. 
 Omnes enini nos sumus ille unus panis, et illud unum corjjus ; non quidem per essen- 
 tiam, sed per significationem, seu assimilationem. Quomodo dicit Matthaeus quod 
 Johannes ipse est Elias, non in natura. sed in figura ; quia quemadmodum Johannes 
 se habuit respectu primi adventus, ita Elias se habebit respectu secundi adventus. 
 Per similem quoque assimilationem nos sumus ille panis, et illud corpus ; quia sicut 
 panis ex multis granis congeritur, et illud corpus ex multis membris. quas non eundem 
 actum habent, conficitur; ita quoque ecclesia Jesu Christi," Fasciculi Zizani- 
 orum, p. 176. 
 
 St. Thomas Aquinas saj's likewise: "The Eucharist is the sacrament of the 
 Church's unity. But a sacrament bears the likeness of the reality whereof it is 
 the sacrament. Therefore the Eucharist is one sacrament," Summa, p. 235. "The 
 faithful intercommunicate," p. 289. "With regard to the present it has another mean- 
 ing, namely, that of Ecclesiastical unity, in which men are aggregated through this 
 Sacrament ; and in this respect it is called Communion or Hvva^fi. Eor Damascene 
 saj's that it is called Communion because we conmiunicate with Christ through it, both 
 because we partake of His Flesh and Godhead, and because we communicate and are 
 united to one another through it. With regard to the future it has a third meaning, 
 inasmuch as this sacrament foreshadows the Divine fruition which shall come to pass 
 in heaven, and according to this it is called V^iaticuni, because it supplies the way of 
 winning thither. And in this respect it is called Eucharist, that is good grace, because 
 full of grace," p. 239. 
 
 The same trend of thought is ascribed to the great "Lincolniensis" in the 
 following passage: "Grosseteste writes: 'Every other sacrament receives its 
 power of uniting us in communion with God from this Sacrament which is primarily 
 and principally unitive. For in this .Sacrament is the true Flesh of our Savior 
 which He took from the Virgin, and in which He suffered to redeem us ; not separated 
 from His Soul nor from His Divinity, but inseparably united. And so in this Sacra- 
 ment is the Son of God, perfect God and perfect Man, \Mio in taking our humanity 
 united us to Himself, and made us communicate in one nature with Himself; and 
 then giving back to us His Flesh thus pre-eminently dignified to eat. He gathers 
 us together and unites us with His own Person, that we may be all one in Christ, 
 perfect in His perfection," Waldensis, De Euch. II, 557, quoted from Fr. Bridgett, 
 pp. 313-314. 
 
 This is beautifully expressed in the Hymn of St. Thomas Aquinas, "Lauda 
 Sion," the Sequence for the Mass for Corpus Christi Day: 
 
 Page Twelve 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 "Sub diversis speciebus, 
 Signis tantum et non rebus, 
 
 Latent res eximiae. 
 Caro cibus, sanguis polus: 
 Manet tainen Christus totus, 
 
 Sub utraque specie. 
 
 A sumente non concisus, 
 Non confractus, non divisus, 
 
 Integer accipitur. 
 Sunlit unus, sumunt raille; 
 Quantum iste, tantum ille. 
 
 Nee sumptus consumitur." 
 
 A very good and representative version of this doctrine is found in the following 
 passage from "A Sawley Monk's Version of Grostete's 'Castle of Love'," 
 (E.E.T.S. O.S. 98. 428-9): 
 
 "God of all his meruailes made vs a gode mynd 
 When he wold in forme of brede dwell with mankind. 
 Thurgh the vertue of cristis wordes of the sacrament 
 That the prest reherces at his messe with gode entent, 
 Brede into cristis flesch, & wyne in to his blode, 
 Sudanly is turned, for mannes gastly fode ; 
 t Nother brede ne wyne is after sacryng in the messe, 
 
 Bot verray goddes flesch & blode, in their liknes. 
 Ther is of brede & wyne sauour. colour & figure, 
 Lastand thurgh goddes wil agayn cours of nature ; 
 But vnder this liknes is non other substance 
 But goddes bodv & his blode with thair purtenance. 
 In crist god & man, soul & body, flesch & blode 
 Are so fast knyt to-geder with kynde & loue gode 
 That whar that is any party of cristis awen body 
 Ther will god be & thei all verraily. 
 Ther-for vndir liknes both of wyn & brede 
 Is verray both god & man that for vs was dede. 
 This is goddes dede, & passes mannes wit — 
 He has mekel mede that trewly trowes hit. . . . 
 If thou receyue his flesch & blode worthily, 
 Thou sal be as (a) quik lyni of his body; 
 And if thou kepe the so out of dedly synne. 
 As a cosyn of his thou sal heven wynne. . . . 
 If man wil with al his niyjt loue this sacrament 
 & vse it out of dedly synne ay with gode entente, 
 Nother tunge may wel telle ne hert may wel think 
 The noble and gastly profit of this mete & drink." 
 
 Page Thirteep 
 
the pearl; an interpretation 
 
 The Communion of Saints 
 
 This doctrine of the Eucharist as the unitive force in the spiritual realm is 
 closely akin to the great doctrine of the Communion of Saints. So closely was 
 the Eucharist associated with the Communion of Saints in the teaching of the age 
 that sometimes in the expositions of the Creed that have come down to us, the article 
 "Sanctorum communionem" is explained by this Sacrament. For instance, in John 
 Myrc's Instructions for Parish Priests (E.E.T.S. O.S. 31) he paraphrases this 
 portion of the Creed as follows: 
 
 "In ]>e holy gost I leue welle; 
 In holy chyrche and hyre spelle, 
 In goddes body I be-leue nowe, 
 A-monge hys seyntes to jeue me rowe." w. 444-7. 
 
 Also, though not so well expressed, in the Sawley Monk's Version of Grostete's 
 Castle of Love we find: 
 
 "We trow in haly kirk, & haly mannes dedes. 
 That god ay with his grace thaim strenghtes wel & spedes 
 In trouth & sacramentz & dedes of charite, 
 Thurgh which to the repentant forgifnes of synne sal be." p. 432. 
 
 This belief that at the Mass the whole company of heaven was present is 
 registered in the Canon itself: "Remember, O Lord, Thy servants, both men and 
 women NN., and all those present and all faithful Christians whose faith and 
 devotion are known to Thee ; for whom we offer unto Thee this sacrifice of praise, 
 for themselves and all theirs, for the redemption of their souls, for the hope of 
 their safety and security, and thev now pay their vows to Thee, the eternal, living 
 and true God. Communicating with and venerating the memory ... of the 
 ever-virgin Mary . . . and all Thy Saints. . . . We therefore beseech Thee, 
 O Lord, that Thou wouldst be pleased to accept this oblation of our servitude, as 
 also of Thy whole family. ..." "Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque 
 tuarum N. et omnium circumslantium atque omnium fidelium Christianorum quorum 
 tibi fides cognita est et nota devotio ; pro quibus tibi offerimus vel qui tibi offerunt 
 hoc sacrificium laudis, pro se suisque omnibus pro redemptione animarum suarum, 
 pro spe salutis et incolumitatis suae, tibique reddunt, vota, sua aeterno Deo, vivo 
 et vero. Communicantes et memoriam venerantes . . . gloriosae et semper virginis 
 Marias . . . et omnium sanctorum tuorum. . . . Hanc igitur oblationem servi- 
 tutis nostrae, sed et cunctee familise fuse, queesumus, Domine, ut placatus accipias. ..." 
 Missale ad Usum Sarum, pp. 614-5. See also the York Use, Lay Folk's Mass 
 Book, pp. 104-6. 
 
 The following witnesses testify to the same: Alcuin says: "Who of the 
 faithful could doubt that in this mystery of Jesus Christ the chorus of angels is 
 present, the highest consorts with the lowest, the earth is joined with the heavens." 
 "Quis fidelium habere dubium possit, in illo Jesu Christi mysterio angelorum chorus 
 adesse, summa imis sociari, terram coelestibus jungi," Migne P. L. CI. 1087. St. 
 
 Page Fourtopn 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 Anselm says: "Do not doubt that in this hour of the sacrifice of the Body and 
 Blood of Thy Redeemer, angels are present with their Creator." "Xec dubites in 
 ilia hora sacrificii corporis et sanguinis tui Redemptoris angelos adesse suo creatori," 
 Migne P. L. CLVIII. 918. Innocent III says: "The angels are always present 
 in this sacrifice." "Angeli semper in sacrificio praesentes exsistunt," Migne P. L. 
 CCXVII. 891. Odo de Soliaco, Bishop of Paris, says: "The whole company of 
 heaven is present with our Saviour as often as the mass is celebrated." "Tota curia 
 coelestis cum Salvatore nostro praesens adest quoties missa celebratus," Migne 
 P. L. CCXII. 60. 
 
 The course mapped out by the Church to be observed b}^ one who had lost a 
 dear one by death, was to cease mourning and seek aid for himself and for his 
 dear one in the holy Sacrifice of the Eucharist as the one sure meeting place (5). 
 If the soul of the departed were imperfect the Eucharist was the greatest offering 
 that might be made for reparation and cleansing; if the soul were pure enough to 
 enter heaven, the Eucharist was the most intimate meeting place where the lonely 
 mourner might flee for communion with his loved one. Yet this contact must lose 
 its earthly selfishness and seclusion and must be sought through the mediation of 
 and in the presence of Christ, in His Sacrament. 
 
 The Adoration of the Lamb 
 
 The great danger in an exposition of the place which the Eucharist held in the 
 spiritual life of the fourteenth century is not exaggeration, but understatement. 
 Nowadays when amongst many people that Sacrament is regarded purely as a 
 memorial — sweetly pious, it is true, and to be approached with reverence; or as a 
 social prerogative distinguishing the church member from the non-member or the 
 confirmed person from the unconfirmed ; or as an exhausted symbol which has lost 
 whatever vague meaning it once may have possessed for the unenlightened ; now- 
 adays it is difficult to appreciate the awe, the delight, the ecstasv with which men 
 approached it. There the contact with Christ was as real and more vital than was 
 that of the Magi at Bethlehem. There they brought in the same worshipful awe 
 all the gifts that hearts burning with love could lay at His feet. There they were 
 lifted out of time and space and rapt into union with the eternal spring of energy. 
 For a time individuality was merged into oneness with all perfection. It is this 
 actual oneness of the whole Church at the ^lass — the Church Militant, the Church 
 Expectant and the Church Triumphant — which is expressed in the frontispiece of 
 this book (6), which also Meucci has attempted to express in his painting of the 
 Elevation, and greatest of all, the brothers Van Eyck, in the marvelous Adoration 
 
 (5) As St. Ambrose says to Faustinus on his sister's deatli: "Tlierefore I think she 
 is not so much to be deplored as to be followed by prayers, nor do I judge that she should 
 be mourned with your tears but rather that her soul should be commended to God by 
 oblations." "Itaque non tarn deplorandam, quam prosequendam orationibus reor; nee 
 moestificandum lacrymis tuis. sed magis oblationibus animam ejus Domino commendan- 
 dam arbitror," (Epist.39, No. 4 [P.L.,XVI.1099] ). Quoted from Rock II, 260. 
 
 (6) Permission to use this cut was granted by the publishers, the Society of Saints 
 Peter and Paul. 
 
 Page Fifteen 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 of the Lamb, known more commonly as the Ghent Altar. To the man whose path 
 has not led him into the more intimate spiritual life of the Middle Ages, this altar 
 piece would present only a well-massed, well-executed design from the Apocalypse 
 together with scenes commemorative of the history of the Redemption. To the one 
 who reads in close sympathy with the beliefs of the Middle Ages, it is clear at 
 once that the painters were attempting the exposition of the Eucharist. As one who 
 is peculiarly well fitted to judge the spiritual things of the Middle Ages, Mr. Ralph 
 Adams Cram, says : 
 
 "The work is one vast, comprehensive and sacramental manifestation of the 
 central Catholic sacrament of the mass, searching and final in its symbolism, con- 
 summate in its mastery of all the elements that enter into the makeup of a great 
 work of pictorial and decorative art. unapproached and unapproachable in its splen- 
 dor of living and radiant colour. In its philosophical grasp, its technical perfection, 
 its unearthlv beauty, its communication of the very essence of a fundamental 
 myster}', and in its evocative power it staggers tlie imagination and takes its place 
 amongst the few great works of man, in any category, which are so far beyond 
 what seems possible of achievement that they rank as definitely superhuman. So 
 far as its spiritual content is concerned, it can no more be estimated than can the 
 mass itself, or the Venus of Melos. If the Van Eycks are responsible for this, they 
 rank with St. Tliomas Aquinas and Shakespeare and Leonardo da Vinci as the 
 greatest creative forces amongst men. Of course they were not, nor the others, 
 named. Somehow each was used by something greater than he: the concentrated 
 consciousness of his fellows, the underlying and informing time-spirit of an era — 
 or why not God Himself.'' — as a channel tlirough which and by which absolute 
 truth was communicated to man, who, of his own motion, can do imuli. but not so 
 much as this," Heart of Europe, p. 228. (7) 
 
 The Pearl of the New Test.^ment 
 
 The pearl is par excellence the precious stone of the New Testament. In tlie 
 Old Testament we have lists of precious stones in various places testifying to the 
 remnant of belief in the virtue of precious stones both natural and engraved (see 
 the author's "Precious Stones in Old English Literature," Miinchener Beitrage 
 XLVII. pp. 3-5). With the exception of the list in the Apocalypse of the twelve 
 
 (7) The possibility of connecting the Ghent Altar with the poem of The Pearl for 
 purposes of comparison and elucidation has already occurred to two scholars, at least: 
 Dr. Osgood, in a footnote at the close of his introduction, while spealting of tlie economy 
 of the poem, compares it in passing to "Van Eyck's Adoration of tlie Lamb, or Memling's 
 vision of the emerald rainbow in the right wing of his triptych. The Marriage of St. 
 Catherine. The study of either picture might be an effective means of entering into the 
 spirit of The Pearl." Introduction, p.lviii. 
 
 Jusserand, in his Literary History of the English People, in commenting on The Pearl, 
 says: "It seems as if the poet were describing beforehand, figure by figure. Van Eyclt's 
 painting at St. Bavon of Ghent." p. 352. 
 
 As an example of the treatment of this dogma in the high' Renaissance, it is "well to 
 study the description of the great custodia (tabernacle) of Seville Cathedral as described 
 by its autlior, Juan de Arte. See The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, by Leonard Williams. 
 3 vols. Vol. III. App.C. 
 
 Page Sixteen 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 foundations of the Iieavenly Jerusalem, which is a fairly close copy of the selection 
 in the High Priest's breastplate, the pearl is the only precious stone mentioned in 
 the New Testament. In the Old Testament the pearl does not occur at all. The 
 passages in the New Testament are: "Give not that which is holy unto dogs, 
 neither cast ye your pearls before swine," St. Matthew 7,6; "Again, the kingdom 
 of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls : Who, when he had 
 found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it," St. 
 Matthew. 13, 45.46; "And the twelve gates (of the heavenly city) were twelve 
 pearls: every several gate was of one pearl," Rev. 21, 21. These are the important 
 references to the pearl, the one in I Timothy 2, 9 being of no special value. But 
 these three citations, two from the lips of Christ Himself, would be enough to 
 invest the jiearl with a rich symbolism — a paradise for the interpreter and com- 
 mentator. Those interpretations are likely to be most favored which seek in the 
 pearl something allied closely to Christ Himself. 
 
 To the man of the fourteenth century who was loyal to the Church and its 
 teachings, Christ was more truly with His people in His covenanted meeting place 
 upon the altar than elsewhere. Witness the lovely song to our Lord present in the 
 Sacrament : 
 
 "For loue myn herte wole toberste 
 Whanne y jJat fair loue biholde." 
 
 — The Love of Jesus. E.E.T.S. O.S. 24, p. 30. 
 
 So it will be profitable to see if there are any cases of identification of the ])earl 
 with the Eucharist. 
 
 The Pe.\rl as Symbolic of the Eucharist 
 
 The Host as Pearl — Candida. . . . Rotunda sit Hostia Christi. 
 
 Great care was taken in the preparation of altar-breads that no impurity or 
 imperfection should be in them. They were made in a fitting place, by "ministers 
 of the church ' properly vested. Synodical enactments show how important it was 
 to safeguard them from profane hands. In the Constit. Willielmi de Bleys, A. D. 
 1229, for the diocese of Lincoln we read: "Let the ministers of the Church, clad 
 in surplices, sit in a proper jilace, when they make the liosts. The irons in which 
 the hosts are to be baked should be lined with wax, not oil, or other grease; the 
 hosts having a proper whiteness and a decent roundness should be offered upon 
 the mensa of the altar." "Ministri ecclesiae induti superpelliciis in loco honesto 
 sedeant, quando oblatas faciunt. Instrumentum, in quo oblatae coquendte sunt, cera 
 tantum liniatur, non oleo, vel alio saginiento; oblatae honestum candorem et decentem 
 rotunditatem (8) hebentes, supra mensam altaris offerantur." Quoted from Rock, 
 I, p. 124. Note. 
 
 (S) St. Jerome sings the mystkal praises of roundness which lie links with high 
 spiritual attainment, the Eucliarist and the Festival of the Immaculate Lamb: "Through a 
 circular room and by a circular staircase we ascend to the upper chamber of the Temple, 
 which figure is held by the philosophers of this world to be the most beautiful amongst 
 all schemata; for the heaven and the sun, and the moon and the other stars, and the 
 
 Page Seventeen 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 The order of the Synod held at Exeter in 1287 under Peter Quivil is as 
 follows : 
 
 (cap. iv) : "The breads must be flawless, white and round." "Sint et oblatae 
 integrae candidae et rotundae." (Woolley, The Bread of the Eucharist, p. 31.) 
 Again, in the Constitutiones Synodales Sodorensis (1350) it is ordered (cap ii) : 
 "The Host shall be of wheat, round and flawless and without spot, because the 
 Lamb was without spot and no bone of it was broken. Hence the verse: 
 
 'White, wheaten, then, not large, round. 
 Unleavened, unadulterated be the host of Christ, 
 Stamped, not boiled, but baked with fire.' 
 
 "Hostia de frumento sit, rotunda et integra et sine macula, quia agnus extitit sine 
 macula et os non fuit comminutum ex eo. Unde versus: 
 
 'Candida tritieca. tenuis, non magna, rotunda, 
 Expers fcrmenti, non mista sit hostia Christi, 
 Inscribatur, aqua non cocta sed igne sit assa.' Woolley p. 31. 
 
 Wyclif mentions these two qualities: "As to ]>e first (heresy of the friars) 
 we seyn, siker of oure feyth, J^at po whytc )?ing and rounde l^at ]>e prest sacris, 
 like to l^o unsacrid oostis, and is broken and eeten is verrely Godes body in po 
 fourine of bred," (De Blasphemia contra Fratres. Arnold III. p. 403). The 
 Augustinian friar Thomas Wyntirton mentions "ipsa alba hostia et rotunda con- 
 secrate. . .quae est ipsum corpus." (Fasciculi Zizaniorum p. 198.) 
 
 point of the earth; in the human body the eyes (like other stars) and the shape of the 
 head which is the receptacle of all the senses, and the well-turned fingers, and the thighs 
 and the arms reveal this roundness. Moreover, the upper room of the Temple to which 
 we ascend from the lower regions to the higher, this I take to be that which in the Book 
 of Kings. Elias occupied, and Elisha, and in the Acts of the Apostles, Tabitha (i.e., BopKai 
 and in Latin (damula) possessed, to the top of which she ascended through good works. 
 Then, too, Peter the .\postle, upon whom the Lord builded tlie foundations of the Church, 
 went above the upper room and came to the roof, which more significantly is called S(u|iu> 
 in Greek, i.e., the solar chamber of the roof, and first acknowledged before the world the 
 hitlierto upknown sacraments of the Church. The Savior of the human race also made 
 His Pasch in an upper room, an upper room great and broad, cleansed from all fllth and 
 made ready for the spiritual feast where He gave into the keeping of His disciples the 
 mystery of the Body and Blood, and left to us the eternal Festival of the Immaculate 
 Larmb." "Per rotundum autem & per cochleam ascendiraus Templi coanaculum, quae 
 figura inter omnia ayr^fxaTa a Philosophis quoque hujus saeculi pulchrior approbatur: 
 dum & caelum, & sol, & luna, & astra caetera, & punctum terrae; in corporibus quoque 
 humanis, oculi, quasi altera sidera, & figura capitis, quod omnium sensuura receptaculum 
 est. teretesque digiti, & femina, & brachia banc praeterunt rotunditatem. Porro coena- 
 culura Templi. ad quod de angustioribus ad altiora conscendimus, illud puto esse, quod in 
 Regum volumine Elias habuit, & Elisaeus, & in Apostolorum actibus, Tabitlia, id est, goo/cas 
 & damula nostra possedit, quae bonis operibus ad summa conscenderat. Apostolus autem 
 Petrus, super quern Dominus Ecclesiae tundamenta solidavit, transcendit coenaculum. & 
 venit ad tectum, significantius Graece hiau-a dicitur, id est, tecti solarium: et incognita 
 prius saccule Ecclesiae sacramenta cognovit. Salvator quoque generis humani Pascha 
 fecit in coenaculo, et magno latoque coenaculo. atque omni sorde purgato stratoque, & ad 
 spirituale convivium praeparato, ubi mysterium Corporis & Sanguinis suis tradidit dis- 
 cipulis, & aeternam nobis agni immaculati reliquit festivitatem." Hieronymus (ed. Vallar- 
 sius) Commentarium in Ezechielem, Liber XII, Caput XLI, col. 498. 
 
 Page Eighte«Q 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 These qualities are given a symbolic significance in the poem on the Feast of 
 Corpus Christi: 
 
 "Beo pe makyng of pe oblee 
 Wei and skilfoliche me may se 
 Of wjyche we make Godus flesch, 
 pis is \>e saumple whose wol esch. 
 Hit is made be seuen skiles 
 Ajeyn J^e seuene dedly synnes: 
 Ajeyn Lecherie hit is whit . . . 
 Hit is round and liht to JJrowe, 
 Ajeyn Sleulpe, J^at make)? men slowe." EETS.OS.98.p.l78.v.217. S. 
 
 White, round, flawless, compared to the Lamb without spot, the host is pos- 
 sessed of such outward characteristics as might well bring to the mind of a poet 
 beholding it. the Pearl of great price. 
 
 Indeed, the conception of the consecrated Host as a pearl is not unknown. It 
 exists in very widely scattered places: In the Byzantine Liturgy before the eighth 
 century a variant use for ji-epU, a particle of the consecrated Bread, is 'pearl' 
 (Brightman, Eastern Liturgies, Appendix 0, p. 530), and in the Liturgy of the 
 Coptic Jacobites in the rubric "he shall lay the elements from his hand on the 
 paten," the Arabic reads janhar, pearls (ibid. p. 185). 
 
 Less remote than these is the reference from Venantius Fortunatus in his 
 verses to Bishop Felix Bourges, written on his tabernacle made to contain the Re- 
 served Host: 
 
 "How well constructed ought those golden gifts to be 
 
 Which contain the great Pearl of the Sacred Body of the Lamb !" 
 "Quam bene juncta decent, sacrati ut corporis agni 
 Margaritum ingens aurea dona ferant," Venantii Fortunati Operum Pars I. 
 Misc.^Lib. III. Caput XXV. Ad Felicem episcopum Biturigensem. 
 scriptum in turrem ejus. 
 
 The Eucharist a Pearl 
 
 Closely knit with this thought is that of the Holy Mysteries of the Eucharist 
 as the Pearl of great price. St. John Chrysostom, in commenting on the passage, 
 St. Matthew, 7.6., 'neither cast ye your pearls before swine," says: "For on this 
 account we celebrate the mysteries behind closed doors, and dismiss those not initiated, 
 not because we discover any defect in them, but because many of them are too im- 
 perfect to be allowed to be present," Migne P.G. 57.311. Rabanus Maurus says: 
 "By pearls is meant spiritual sacraments, as in the Gospel: 'neither cast ye your 
 pearls before swine,' that is, do not intrust the inner mysteries to the impure." 
 "Per margaritas spiritualia sacramenta, ut in Evangelio: 'ne mittatis margaritas 
 vestras ante porcos,' id est, interna mysteria non commitatis immundis," Migne P. L. 
 112, p. 996. Quoted from Schofield, p. 635. 
 
 Page Nineteen 
 
THR PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 St. Jerome, in commenting on the merchant and the goodly pearls, says: "The 
 good pearls which the peddler sought are the Law and the prophets. Hear. Mar- 
 cion; hear, Manichaeans ; the good pearls are the Law and the prophets and famil- 
 iarity with the Old Testament. However, the one most precious pearl is the 
 knowledge of the Savior (9). the Sacrament of His Passion, and the Mystery of 
 His Resurrection. Which, wlien the merchant found, like Paul the Apostle, all 
 the mysteries of the Law and the prophets and the former observances, in which 
 he had lived blamelessly, he despised as filtli and rubbish, that he might gain Christ. 
 Not that tiie finding of the goodly pearl is the condemnation of tiie old pearls, but 
 that in comparison with it, every other gem is of less worth." "Bonae margaritae, 
 quas quaerit institor. Lex et prophetae sunt. Audi, Marcion ; audi, ]Manichaee: 
 bonae margaritae sunt Lex et prophetae, et notitia veteris Instrumenti. Ununi autem 
 est pretiosissimum margaritum, scientia Salvatoris, et sacramentum passionis illius, 
 et resurrectionis arcanum. Quod cum invenerit homo negotiator, similis Pauli apos- 
 toli, omnia legis prophetarumque ni3'steria. et observationes pristinas, in quibus 
 inculpate vixerat, quasi purgamenta contemnit et quisquilias, ut Christum lucrifaciat 
 (Pliilip. IH). Non quo inventio novae margaritae condemnatio sit veterum mar- 
 garitarum: sed quo com))aratione ejus omuls .-ilia gemma vilior sit." In Evangeliuiii 
 Matthaei. Migne P. L. 181..917. 
 
 Add to this the fine ajjostrophe addressed to our Lord in the Sacrament by 
 Ogerius in his sermon on the Lord's .Su))i)er: "O great honor, inestimable exuber- 
 ance of love, implanted goodness, incomprehensible pity! By His Will, we un- 
 worthy ones who are slaves, iiavi' come — and yet he has deigned to receive us and 
 call us friends. Bestower of sweetness, lover of love — yes, even dear love itself, 
 and blessed delight, and deliglitfid trancpiility, and sure security, and hapjjv eternity, 
 and ctrrn.-i) happiness. Lord .Itsu, wholly desirable, wholly loxable. incomparable 
 treasure. Pearl beyond ])riee. life of the living. ho|)e of the dying, and the eternal 
 happiness of those who for His love are unhap])y in this world. ' "O magna dignatio. 
 inaestimabilis charitatis exuberatio. inolita bonitas, ininterpretabilis pietas ! Ab ejus 
 conditione qui servi sunnis. inveiiinuir. indigni. et tamen nos dignatur habere et vocare 
 amicos. Largitor dulcedinis, amator charitatis, imo charitas chara, et beat.a ju- 
 cunditas, et jucunda tran(iuillitats, et secura securitas, et felix aeternitas, et aeterna 
 felicitas, Dominus Jesus totus desiderabilis, totus amabilis, thesaurus incompara- 
 
 (9) Tlii.s seems to be nearly the idea of Gower. in lii.s Mirour rle romme, wliere the 
 Peai'l is Heavenly Contemplation conceived in the shell Devotion: 
 
 "Devocioun q'ensi s'acllne 
 
 .\ dieu, Isidre la difline 
 
 Semblable au mouscle en son degrf. 
 
 La quelle au ryve (fest marine 
 
 Sescales oveie a la pectrine. 
 
 Si en recoit de douls ros§. 
 
 Que chiet du ciel tout en cel^e, 
 
 Dont puis deinz soi ad engendr^ 
 , La margarite blanche et fine; 
 
 Ensi Devocioun en d^e 
 
 Conceipt, s'elle est continue. 
 
 La Contemplacioun divine." 
 
 VV.10S13-10824. 
 
 Page Twenty 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 bilis, margarita inaestimabilis, vita viventium, spes morientium, aeterna eorum 
 felicitas, qui pro illius ainore se in hoc saeculo infelices fecere," Ogeri Sermo in 
 Coena Domini. Migne P. L. 184.947. 
 
 Here, too, seems to belong the passage noticed by Prof. A. S. Cook, from St. 
 Ephrem the Syrian, 'The Pearl; or Seven Rhythms on the Faith': "On a certain 
 day a pearl did I take up, my brethren. I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the 
 Kingdom; semblances and types of the Majesty; it became a fountain, and I drunk 
 out of it mysteries of the Son. I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand, 
 that I might examine it ; I went to look at it on one side, and it proved faces on 
 all sides," Mod. Lang. Notes, Vol. XX, p. 118. 
 
 Christ as the Pearl of Great Price 
 
 Very closely linked with the foregoing passages are those which see in the. 
 pearl of great price, Christ. These are very numerous : 
 
 Origen says: "This is the precious pearl, namely Christ, the Word of God," 
 Migne P. G. 13.847. 
 
 In the Carmina Orientio Tributa, De Epithetis Salvatoris Nostri, He is called 
 "Pearl, Day, Lamb. Pearl, for what is found more precious? Whence Day? because 
 He shines more brightly than the light; then because He is holy and innocent, He 
 is called a Lamb Who alone can take away the sins of the world." 
 
 "margarita: quid hoc pretiosius inueniatur? 
 
 unde dies ? quod luce magis resplendeat. 
 
 tunc quia sit sanctus innoxius agnus habetus 
 
 qui potuit solus peccatum tollere mundi." Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum 
 
 Latinorum ed. consilio et impensis Academiae Litterarum Caesareae Vin- 
 
 dobonensis; Vol. XVI p. 288. 
 
 Bade, in his Exposition of the Gospel of St. Matthew, says: "Again the king- 
 dom of heaven is like unto a merchant seeking goodly pearls, etc. Having found a 
 precious pearl he sold all that he had; because in comparison with the celestial life, 
 all things become cheap. If you wish indeed to search for holy men, you will find 
 one Jesus Christ, in Whom all guile is lacking, to be better than all." "Iterum simile 
 est regnum coelorum homini negotiatori, quaerenti bonas niargaritas, etc. Invcnta 
 una margarita pretiosa, omnia quae habuit vendidit; quia in comparatione coelestis 
 vitae omnia habita vilescunt. Si vero sanctos homines serutare vis, unum Jesum 
 Christum, qui absque culpa est, omnibus meliorem invenies," Migne P. L. 69. 
 
 St. Ambrose calls Christ the Pearl (Migne P. L. 17.715); St. Paulinus of Nola 
 calls Him "The Pearl of the Gospel" (Migne P. L. 61.276,298). Likewise in the 
 Clavis S. Melitonis is: "Margarita, Dominus Jesus Christus. In Evangelic In- 
 venta una pretiosa margarita," Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi ed. J. B. Card. 
 Pitra. Tom. II. p. 32. St. Augustine says: " 'The kingdom of heaven is like a 
 merchant seeking goodly pearls. Having found one pearl of great price he went 
 and sold all that he had and bought it.' The question is, wliy does it change 
 from the plural number to the singular, as when the man sought goodly pearls, he 
 
 Page Twenty-oni? 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 found one of great price, which, selling all that he had, he bought. Or, let us 
 say, this man seeking good men, when he lives usefull_v with them, finds one greater 
 than all, without sin, mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (I 
 Tim. ii.5) ; or seeking precepts under whose protection he may have converse with 
 men, he finds at length a selection in which alone, the apostle says, all are con- 
 tained; as, 'Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not 
 steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, and if there be any other commandment,' 
 like separate pearls, they 'are comprehended in this saying. Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself.' (Rom. xiii.8.9.) But it is to be understood that the man 
 sought goodly pearls and found the One in Which all are contained, in the beginning 
 the Word, and the Word with God, and the Word being God (Joan.i.l), shining with 
 the whiteness of truth, and firm with the solidity of eternity, and alike on all sides 
 with the beauty of divinity, by which is understood God, having penetrated the 
 shell of flesh. For he had found a pearl in truth, which lay hidden for a time in 
 the wrappings of mortality as in the hardness of a shell, at the bottom of this life 
 and among the hard rocks of the .lews; he moreover has found the Pearl in truth 
 who said: 'And though we liave known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth 
 we know Him no more' (II Cor.v.15). Nor can anyone be at all worthy the name 
 of Pearl unless he become one by having destroyed all carnal wrappings by which 
 he has been covered (by human means or by vain fancies) that he may be perceived 
 by certain reckoning to be pure, solid, and at no jjoint at variance with himself (10). 
 Moreover, all those true and firm and perfect ones are comprehended within that 
 One by Whom all were made, which is the Word of God (Joan.i.l). However, 
 which of the three it be (if there be any difference among them) that is signified by 
 the name of the One Precious Pearl, its price is ourselves; who are not free to gain 
 possession of it, unless for our freedom we despise all the things of this world which 
 we possess. I'or wluii all our goods arc sold, we cannot accept a greater price than 
 ourselves; because embarrassed with such things, we have not been our own. So 
 again we may give ourselves for tliis Pearl, not because we are worth much, but 
 because we can give no more." " 'Simile est regnum coelorum homini negotiatori 
 quserenti bonas margaritas. Inventa autem una pretiosa margarita, abiit et vendidit 
 
 (10) Here belongs the passage from Cleanness (E.E.T.S. O.S. 1.69): 
 "pou may schyne hur) sehryfte. fa) ^ou haf sehome serued. 
 & pure he with penaunoe til ^ou a perle \vor>ie. 
 Perle praysed Is prys. \>er peiie is schewed; 
 paj hym not derrest be demed to dele for penies. 
 Quat may t-e cause be called, but for liir clene hwes, 
 pat Wynnes worschyp, abof alle whyte stones? 
 For ho schynes so schyr ]fa.t is of scbap rounde, 
 Wythouten faut ot>er tyH>e jif ho fyn were: 
 & wax euer in fe worlde in weryng so olde, 
 5et (>e perle payres not whyle ho in pyese lasttes 
 & if it cheue fe chaunce vncheryst ho worpe. 
 pat ho blyndes of ble in bour fer ho ligges. 
 No-but wa'sch hir wyth wourchyp in wyn as ho askes. 
 Ho by kynde schal become clerer fen are: 
 pat he be sulped in sawle, seche to sehryfte 
 & he may polyce hym at fe prest, by penaunce taken. 
 Wei bryjter fen fe beryl ofer browden perles." v.lll.') ff. 
 
 Page Twenty-two 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 omnia quae habuit, et emit earn.' Questio est cur a numero plurali ad singularem 
 transierit, ut cum quaerat homo bonas margaritas, unam inveniat pretiosam, quam 
 venditis omnibus quae habet, emat. Aut ergo iste bonos homines quaerens, cum 
 quibus utiliter vivat, invenit unum prae omnibus sine peccato, mediatorem Dei et 
 hominum, hominem Christum Jesum (I Tim.ii.5) : aut praecepta quaerens, quibus 
 servatis cum hominibus recte conversetur, invenit dilectionem proximi, in quo uno 
 dicit Apostolus omnia contineri; ut, Non occides, non furaberis, nan falsum testi- 
 monium dices, et si quod est aliud mandatum, singulae margaritae sint, quae in hoc 
 sermane recapiiulantur, Diliges proximum tuum tanquam teipsum (Rom.xiii.8.9). 
 Aut bonos intellectus homo quaerit, et invenit unum illud quo cuncti continentur, in 
 principio Verbum, et Verbum apud Deum, et Verbum Deum (Joan.i.l), lucidum 
 candore veritatis, et solidum firmitate eternitatis, et undique sui simile pulchritudine 
 divinitatis, qui Deus, penetrata carnis testudine, intelligiendus. Ille enira ad mar- 
 garitam ipsam jam pervenerat, quae in tegumentis mortalitatis, quasi concharum 
 obstaculo, in profundo hujus saeculi, atque inter duritias saxeas Judsorum aliquando 
 latuerat: ille ergo ad ipsam margaritam jam pervenerat, qui ait, Et si noveramus 
 Christum secundum carnem, sed riuyic jam rwn notiimum (II Cor.v.l6). Nee ullus 
 omnino intellectus margaritae nomine dignus est, nisi ad quem discussis omnibus 
 carnalibis tegminibus pervenitur, quibus sive per verba humana, sive per similitu- 
 dines circumpositas operitur, ut purus et solidus et nusquam a se dissonans, certa 
 ratione cernatur. Quos tamen omnes veros et firmos et perfectos intellectus unus 
 ille continet, per quem facta sunt omnia, quod est Verbum Dei (Joan. i. 3). Quodlibet 
 autem horum trium sit, vel si aliquid aliud occurrere potuerit, quod margaritae unius 
 et pretiosae nomine bene significetur, pretium ejus est nos ipsi: qui ad earn possi- 
 dendam non sumus liberi, nisi omnibus pro nostra liberatione contemptis, quae tem- 
 poraliter possidentur. Venditis enim rebus nostris, nullum earum majus accipimus 
 pretium, quam nos ipsos ; quia talibus implicati, nostri non eramus ; ut rursus nos 
 ipsos pro ilia margarita demus, non quia tanti valeamus, sed quia plus dare non 
 possumus," Quaestionum Septemdeeim in Matthasum Liber Unus. Migne P.L.35.1371. 
 
 The Smaller Pearls in Their Relation to the Great Pearl 
 
 St. Augustine, in the passage quoted above, has shown that the smaller pearls, 
 which we may each become, are merged into the larger — the Pearl of Great Price. 
 Compare with this passage the mystical interpretation of the pearly gates of the 
 heavenly Jerusalem as given by Rupert of Deutz: " 'Et duodecim portae, etc' The 
 apostles, as has already been said, are called both the foundations and the gates, in 
 a wonderful wise — are called in the foundations by the names of precious stones, 
 and in the gates by the glorious likeness of precious pearls ; for Christ is the 
 precious stone and the precious pearl, which, when the merchant had found 
 (Matth.xiii). he bought, giving for it all that he had. He Himself making them 
 in His own likeness, granted this to them, that in the foundations and in the gates 
 they should be of the beauty of pearls. For the beauty, or grace, and tlie glory of 
 these gates, through which, coming from the four quarters of the earth, we shall 
 enter into that City, might not be expressed more beautifully nor more aptly than 
 
 Page Twenty-three 
 
THE PEARL: AX INTERPRETATION' 
 
 by the name and nature of pearls. Truly, like as a noble woman adorned with 
 precious pearls for the eyes of her husband is magnificent to the eyes of men ; so 
 this city which is the Church, is made magnificent bj' such princes, such fathers, 
 such apostles, thus adorned like a bride for her husband Christ." "Sequitur adhuc: 
 'Et duodecim portae (etc.).' Apostoli, sicut jam dictum est, et fundamenta dicuntur 
 et portae, miroque modo et in fundamentis pretiosorum nominibus lapidum, et in 
 portis pretiosarum gloriosi praedicantur similitudine margaritarum: Christus enini 
 pretiosus lapis et pretiosa margarita, quam inventaui negotiator sapiens emit 
 (Matth.xiii), datis omnibus suis, ipse conformes illos faciens sibi. hoc dedit illis. ut 
 in fundamentis et in portis margarits sint decoris. Decor namque sive pulchritudo, 
 et gloria portarum, per quas ad illam civitatem a quatuor mundi partibus venientes 
 introivimus, pulchrius aut convenientius quam nomine vel specie margaritarum sig- 
 nificari non potuit. Xiiiiirum, sicut femina nobilis pretiosis pra?culta margaritis, 
 solet ad oculos hominuni gloriari, viro suo subornata ; sic civitas ilia quae est Ecclesia, 
 talibus principibus, tantis patribus, tam gloriosis apostolis gloriari potest, sponso suo 
 Christo sic ornata ut sponsa." Comment, in Apocalypsim, Migne P.L.I 69. 1202. 
 
 This brings to mind the great figure of the Church as the mystical body of 
 Christ of which all the faithful are limbs or members, which figure, from the time 
 of St. Paul, has been a Eucharistic figure: "For we being manj' are one bread 
 and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread" I Cor.x.17. 
 
 Bede saj's in commenting on tlie gates of the heavenly city: "The whole glory 
 of the head is reflected in the body. And just as th^ true Light tchich licjliteth every 
 man (Joan.i). granted His saints to be the light of the world, so He Who is the One 
 Pearl Which the wise merchant sold all that he had and bouglit ( Mattli.xiii), com- 
 pares His own to the splendor of pearls." "Omnis gloria capitis refertur ad corpus. 
 Et sicut lui vera quae illumiiuit omiiem hominem (Joan.i), Sanctis donavit lumen 
 esse nmndi. sic et ipse, cum sit marg.-irita singularis, (juam negotiator sa])iens ven- 
 ditis omnibus emat (Matth.xiii), sues nihilominus margaritarum fulgori comparat," 
 Explan.atio Apocalypsis Lib.III.Cap.xxi Migne P.L.9.'5.293. 
 
 Quite apart from literary origins, as we are likely to see in the beautifully 
 rounded limbs of children the likeness to pearls, in sheen and in color (II), in purity 
 and in perfectness of form, so we understand the beauty of .St. Andrew's address 
 to the Cross: "Hail Cross dedicated to the body of Christ, and ornamented by His 
 limbs as with pearls!" "Salve crux quae in corpora Christi dedicata es: et ex mem- 
 bris ejus tanquam margaritis ornata" (In Lectio vi, in secundo Nocturno, as Anti- 
 phon there and Ad ]\Latutinas. In Xatali Sancti Andreae, in the Sarum Breviary). 
 .\nd the interpretation of the pearl of great price by Wyclif brings with it a fuller 
 confirmation of the mystical symbol: "pe secounde parable of Crist is said in j^es 
 wordis ; Eft soone pe reume of hevene is liche to a man mareliaund pat soujte good 
 margaritees, and whanne he hadde foundun oon presciouse margarite, lie tcente out 
 
 (11) cf. Dante. Paiadiso Hi. 15: 
 
 "debili si che peria in bianco fronte 
 
 non vien men tosto alle nostre pupille." 
 "So faint tiiat a pearl on a wliite brow 
 Comes no less quickly to our pupils." 
 
 Page Twenty-four 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 and selde al pat he hadde, and bou)te ]>is marffarite. pe rewiiie of lievtne is clepid 
 here pe Chirche, waundringe after Crist; for Crist, heed of al pe Chirche. bigan J'e 
 newe Testament; and fadirs of fis lawe, wi)? vertues of Crist, mai be clepid here 
 pe kyngdom of hevene. pis man J'at chaffare)' here is clepid ech man pai comi)' to 
 Cioddis lawe and lyve}' J'erafter. pes margaritees ben treuj'is foundun in Goddis 
 law: pis o margarite is Goddis word, treu)?e of alle treuf'is, oure Lord Jesus Crist, 
 and J'e same tresour J'at was bifore foundun. Clerkis seien f'at niargarites ben 
 prescious stones foundun in pe see wij^inne shellefishe; and )'ei ben on two maneres: 
 sum hoolid and sum hool. And marg'aritis ben a cordial medecine, and ['ei maken 
 faire mennis atire, and confortcn mennis hertis. pis oo margarite is oure Lord 
 Jesus Crist, foundun in tribulacioun of see of J^is world; and of'er margarites ben 
 lymes of Crist, foundun in shellis of smale se fishes, pe manheed of Crist is a 
 margarite {Jat worshipif' his Chirche and confortif' mennis hertis. pe shelle of J^is 
 fishe is bodi of Crist, J^at was stable and stef in all his temptaciouns. And he wij? 
 his martiris wern hoolid margarites. And so Crist, bi his two kyndis. is o margarite. 
 holid and unholid; for Cristis Godheed mijte not be hoolid; but his manheed was 
 hoolid, as shewen his fyve woundis. And to bigge [^is margarite many seintis han 
 traveiled in pe state of grace and bicamen ful herty ; for )7is medecine of margarites 
 ha)7 confortid alle martiris. and made hem herty for to die for pe love of treuj^e. 
 Confessouris and virgynes ben maad faire bi J'is margarite, and ech state of men 
 JJat shal be saaf in hevene. Alle J?es men sellen her goodis, as we have seid bifore, 
 and bien }>is margarite wif'outen any chaunging. For, as Ysay sei)?, sich men bien, 
 wifiouten silver and wij'outen chaunging, bof" wyn and mylk. For men [Jat chaft'aren 
 wij? God and bien hem hevene lesen not }'at JJei Jyven, but hav alle )7ingis betere {Jat 
 t'ei hadden bifore, and bi a stabler titel." Sermon LXXXIV, Arnold, Select English 
 Works of John Wyclif, 1,286-287. 
 
 To summarize: The Host is round, white, flawless, like unto the Lamb without 
 spot. The consecrated Host is the great Pearl of the sacred body of the Lamb. 
 The holy mystery of the Eucharist is the precious Pearl which the merchant sought. 
 for Christ is there present. Who is the Pearl of Great Price. We may become 
 pearls by destroying carnal desires and giving ourselves in exchange therefore. 
 Thus we may become a living member of the great Pearl Who is Christ. 
 
 The Poem of the Pearl 
 
 In order to compare more closely this interpretation of the Mystical Pearl 
 with the idea as set forth in The Pearl, it will be well to review the contents 
 of the poem: (12) 
 
 I 
 
 A pearl fit for a prince, peerless, perfect — alas! I lost her in an arbor; it fell 
 through the grass to the ground. 
 
 Oftentimes I go there where it sprang from me, to mourn. But a sweet song 
 of comfort came to me while I was there. 
 
 (12) I have made the synopsis to conform to the stanza division. 
 
 Page Twenty -live 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 Good must die for good to be born, as wheat must die before you can have 
 grain. What riches must spring from the death of the pearl ! 
 
 On a certain high festival in August, I went to that spot which was over- 
 shadowed by flowers which gave forth a fair perfume. 
 
 I gave myself up to despair even though reason forbade; I bemoaned my pearl 
 even though the nature of Christ made known to me comfort. At last I fell asleep. 
 
 II 
 
 My body was left there — my soul went to an unknown place of beauty. The 
 hills and trees were beautiful, the gravel was precious pearl that outshone the sun. 
 
 The beauty made me forget my grief, the odors satisfied me as food, the birds 
 sang more sweetly than gitern or sytol. 
 
 The farther I went in the woodland the more inexhaustible were its charms. 
 At length I reached a river. 
 
 The hanks were berj-1, the sound of its ripple was sweet, the stones on the 
 bottom were ])recious. all gleaming. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The beauty of it all filled me with joy and abated my sorrow. The farther 
 I followed the stream the happier I was, just as when fortune entices a man for 
 joy or for sorrow, he is eager to push after her. 
 
 1 was happier than mortal heart can tell. I thouglil the land on the other 
 side was Paradise, but the water was too deep to cross. 
 
 My longing became stronger to cross to the other side. I was looking in vain 
 for a ford when a new adventure befell me. 
 
 I saw a crystal cliiT, and at the foot of it, a maiden dressed in white whom I 
 had seen before. 
 
 The longer I scanned her, the gladder I was. I wanted to call iier. but diffi- 
 dence held me back. She raised her head and my heart was stung by the sight. 
 
 IV 
 
 I was frightened and stood still. I feared she would vanish before I spoke 
 to her. Before I could speak she rose up — a precious maid clad in pearls. 
 
 There might one see a royal array of ])earls when she as fresh as a fleur de lis 
 came down the bank, all glistening white, her garments heavily trimmed with pearls. 
 
 She wore a crown of pearls. Her face was white as ivory. Her hair was 
 like shorn gold. 
 
 Her garments were heavily embroidered with pearls, but on her breast there 
 hung a single pearl so precious and spotless that no man might set a price on it. 
 
 She came toward me — she was nearer than aunt or niece — she took off her 
 crown and graciously saluted me. 
 
 V 
 
 "O Pearl," I cried, "clad in pearls, are j'ou my pearl that I have mourned.' 
 I have been wasted by grief, and you have been in a pleasant place in Paradise. 
 
 Page Twent.r-sii 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 What Wyrd has snatched away my jewel and put me in such grief? Since we were 
 parted I have been but a joyless jeweler." 
 
 That jewel then resumed her crown and said soberly: "Sir, you have erred 
 in saying that your pearl is lost when it is enclosed in so comely a coffer as this 
 garden. Here were a treasure-chest indeed for you if you were a gentle jeweler. 
 
 "But if j'ou lose your joy for a gem that was dear to you, you are mad, and 
 busy yourself with a trifle. What you have lost was a perishable flower, which 
 through the nature of the chest in which it was enclosed has become a precious pearl. 
 You call your W^yrd a thief that made you something out of nothing — you blame 
 the cure of your ills." 
 
 A jewel she was then to me and her words were jewels. "Surely, my dear, I 
 beg pardon. I thought my pearl lost. Now I have found it I shall keep it and 
 thank God Who has brought me this joy. If I were on the other side of the river 
 I should be happj'." • 
 
 "Jeweler," said this gem, "why do you jest.^ You have spoken three foolish 
 things at once. You say you think I am in this land because you see me with 
 your eyes ; you say you shall live here with me ; you say you will pass this water. 
 No joyful jeweler may do this. 
 
 VI 
 
 "That jeweler is little to praise who loves what he sees with his eyes. He 
 is much to blame and discourteous who believes that our Lord would lie Whom 
 promised to raise you alive though your flesh die. If you believe only what you 
 see, you set His words awry. That is the sin of Pride that each good man shuns, 
 to believe that alone is true which his own judgment deems so. 
 
 "You say you shall come across here. You should first ask leave, and it might 
 not be granted you. First you must leave your corpse in the earth, for it was 
 forfeit in Paradise. Each one must die before coming here." 
 
 Then I said: "If you condemn me again to grief, I shall pine away. I care 
 for nothing if I cannot have my pearl. 
 
 VII 
 
 "You bring me nothing but grief." Then she said, "Because of grieving for 
 a lesser loss, many a man loses something greater. You ought to manage better 
 and love God and weal and woe. No matter how you rage you must abide His 
 judgment. 
 
 "Cease your proud mourning and pray for His pity. He can make your grief 
 less,' for all lies in His power alone." 
 
 Then I said unto her, "May the Lord not become angry because I in my 
 grief have said wild things — I throw myself on His mercy. Do not rebuke me, 
 for you first brought me sorrow. 
 
 "We were so close to each other, God forbid that we should now quarrel. 
 Though you speak so courteously, I am only a botcher. My bliss is founded on 
 Christ's mercy, and Mary and John. 
 
 "Now since I am with you, tell me how you lead your life, for I am happy 
 to see you raised to such eminence." 
 
 * Page Tii-enty-seTen 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 "Now you are better fitted to be in this place," she said, "for Pride is hated 
 here. Those who come into the presence of my Lord the Lamb must be devout 
 in utter meekness. 
 
 "I was young when I came here, yet the Lamb wedded mc and gave me part 
 in all His heritage. I am wholly His." 
 
 VIII 
 
 "Sweetheart," I said, "are you truly queen of heaven? What then about Mar}-?" 
 
 "Courteous Queen," she said and knelt, "although many come here, she, the 
 Empress, being Queen of Courtesy, will refuse none welcome. 
 
 "The Court of the Kingdom of tlie Living God has such property that each 
 one who comes tliere may be queen or king without depriving any other. All are 
 glad of each new arrival. Mary is Empress of all, at which all are delighted. 
 
 "As St. Paul says, 'We are all members of the body of Jesus Christ,' so there 
 can be no quarrel amongst us." 
 
 "I believe that there is great courtesy and charity amongst you, but let me 
 ask — since you wlio were so young get such a high place, what would lie who lived 
 in penance all liis life get that was better? 
 
 IX 
 
 "You lived not two years — knew neither Pater nor Credo — and yet made queen 
 on tile first day I I do not believe that God would be so unjust. Countess in 
 heaven were good enough, but queen " 
 
 "The mercy of God is not limited," she said; "witness tlie parable of the 
 vineyard. 
 
 X 
 
 "I have more joy and bliss of His free gift than any man might gain by 
 demanding his right. I labored only from evening time. Others sweat all day 
 and liave received nothing — may not for a long time." 
 
 Then I said, "That sounds unreasonable. In the Psalter it says: 'Tliou 
 payest each his due.' This does not look like it." 
 
 XI 
 
 "In heaven," she said, "there is no question of more or less, for He gives His 
 grace so lavishly. 
 
 "But you blame me for getting more than I earned, Wlio upon earth has 
 been so holy that he has not at some time forfeited his heavenly reward ? And 
 the older he gets the oftener it happens. Then God's mercy and grace must 
 steer him. 
 
 "But children as soon as they are born and baptized come into tlie vine3'ard. 
 They have enough grace of their innocence. Why should they then not be rewarded 
 accordingly ? 
 
 Page Twenty-eight 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 It is well known how we were created for bliss, but through Adam's fall we 
 forfeited it. But there came a cure for it: rich blood and winsome water from 
 a rood gave us the grace of God. 
 
 "From that well came blood to buy us from hell and water of baptism to wash 
 away our sins. Now bliss is brought close to us. (13) 
 
 XII 
 
 "The man who sins may buy grace witli sorrow and remorse, but it is only 
 justice that the innocent be saved. 
 
 "Two shall be saved — the righteous and the innocent. 
 
 "The righteous attain to the kingdom by great carefulness, but the innocent 
 are safe. 
 
 "When you come to the court where all cases are tried, may you plead the 
 passion of our Lord as your right. 
 
 "Remember how Jesus called the little ones to Him and said that of such was 
 the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 XIII 
 
 "Jesus said that none might enter heaven unless he came as a little child — 
 then it shall be opened unto him. This is the bliss that the jeweler sold all to 
 buy — the priceless pearl. 
 
 "This pearl is like the Kingdom of Heaven. It is in the midst of my breast 
 where vay Lord the Lamb placed it in token of peace. I advise j'ou to purchase 
 your precious pearl." 
 
 "O precious pearl, who gave you your peerless figure, your lovely garments, 
 your color? What sort of meaning has the pearl without price?" 
 
 "!My Lamb without spot chose me as His bride ; gave me might and beauty, 
 and decked me in pearls." 
 
 "Who may that Lamb be who overlooked so many beautiful ladies and chose 
 you alone as bride?" 
 
 (13) "Now i.s t'er nojt in ^e worlde rounde 
 
 Bytwene vus & blysse both J'at he wythdroj, 
 & fat is restored in sely stounde." vv. 657-9. 
 Di". Osgood renders thi.s: "Now is there no obstacle between us and bliss that he has not 
 withdrawn, and no means of approach that he has not restored." The Pearl . . . rendered 
 into prose. Princeton. N.J.. 1907, p.7S. 
 
 Miss Jewett reads it substantial^' the same: 
 
 "Now is there nothing in eartli's great round. 
 To bar from the bliss wherewith God did endow 
 
 Mankind, — restored to us safe and sound." The Pearl... -V Modern Ver- 
 sion. By Sophie Jewett, N. Y. Thos. Y. Crowell & Co., 190S. 
 
 Neilson & Webster translate it: "Now is there naught in the round world between us 
 and bliss that he has not withdrawn: and in happy hour is bliss restored. NOTE: The 
 MS.. I'at, subject of "is restored," is obscure. The Chief British Poets of the 14th and 15th 
 Centuries. Houghton Mifnin. 
 
 Literally, of course, it reads: "Now is there nought in the round world between us 
 and bliss but that He withdrew, and that is restored in a blessed moment." If I am right 
 in my interpretation, this refers to the sacring of the Mass, wherein He revisits His people 
 
 Page Twenty-inn<> 
 
THE PEARL: AX INTERPRETATION 
 
 XIV 
 
 "I am without spot, it is true, but not peerless, for there are 144,000 of us 
 as you may read in the Apocalypse, of the Heavenly Jerusalem. 
 
 "In Jerusalem Isaiah prophesied of my Lamb. 
 
 "In Jerusalem He died for us. 
 
 "St. John baptized Him in Jordan as a Lamb Who taketh away the sins 
 of the world. 
 
 "Thrice was my Love called Lamb in Jerusalem — the third time in the 
 Apocalypse. 
 
 XV 
 
 "This Jerusalem Lamb is spotless and it befits Him to have only a spotless 
 bride. Numbers of them come each day — the more the merrier. 
 
 "None who bear this pearl could ever bring s.orrow to us. Our hope is in 
 the One Death although we are conscious of our bodies being clay. The Lamb 
 gladdens us at each Mass. 
 
 "If you don't believe me, read the Apocalypse. 
 
 "Only those of His following can sing the song of the Lamb — those who 
 are like Him in face and hue. That spotless meiny may never move from their 
 spotless master." 
 
 "I am but muck, yet I should like to ask you a question. 
 
 XVI 
 
 "You speak of Jerusalem. Is it not in Judca ? Surely you should live in a 
 lovelier place ! 
 
 "Those beautiful hosts must fill a great city, but I see no dwelling hereabout. 
 Pray direct me to that merry castle." 
 
 "By that castle you mean Judea." tliat rare spice said to me. "But to the 
 New Jerusalem of which the Apostle si)okf in the Apocalypse the spotless Lamb 
 has taken His flock. 
 
 "Both are called Jerusalem, i.e.. City of God, or Site of Peace. The one 
 was the scene of the Lamb's Passion, the other is full of peace. This is the city 
 that we press forward to after death, where to tlie pure, bliss and glory ever 
 increase." 
 
 Then said I, "Bring me to that dwelling." "God will not allow that but I 
 have permission from the Lamb that you may have a glimpse of it. yet you cannot 
 come within until you are spotless. 
 
 in the flesh. "Now is there nothing that separates us from bliss but that He withdrew 
 Himself, and in a blissful moment He restores Himself to us." 
 
 An examination of the whole stanza will strengthen this interpretation: the sym- 
 bolism of the blood and water is explained — the blood redeemed us and the water is 
 baptism. But when Baptism is mentioned as explaining the Water from the Wounded 
 Side, the mind used to sacramental language at once expects the usual interpretation of 
 the Blood as the Eucharist; in such cases the linking of the two sacraments "generally 
 necessary to salvation" being not only natural but almost inevitable. 
 
 Page Thirty 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 XVII 
 
 "If you want to see, come up to this hill on your side of the river and I will 
 foUow on my side." Then I climbed the hill and saw a beautiful sight as St. 
 John saw it in the Apocalypse: 
 
 A city of precious gems with twelve foundations: Jasper, Sapphire, Chalce- 
 dony, Emerald, Sardonyx, Ruby, Chrysolite, Beryl, Topaz, Jacynth, Amethyst, 
 walls of Jasper, streets of gold, twelve furlongs long, high and broad. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 Twelve gates, each a pearl, with names of the twelve tribes. They needed 
 sun nor moon. 
 
 For the Lamb was their lantern, through Him the city was bright. The Throne 
 I saw, and the bright river underneath. 
 
 No church, chapel nor temple was there. The Almighty- was the minister 
 to reproduce the sacrifice of the Lamb. Therein come none who are not guiltless. 
 
 Moon, stars, and even sun are too poor to use there. Trees bear the twelve 
 fruits of life twelve times in the year. 
 
 I was as a dazed quail with the beauty of it all. It was more than flesh 
 might bear. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Suddenly there came a great procession of maidens, as my blissful, dressed 
 in pearls, and on each breast was the blissful pearl. 
 
 The Lamb preceded them — His garments were like pearls. They went 
 toward the Throne. 
 
 Saints and angels fell at His feet in worship of that Jewel. 
 
 He was white and fair, but in His side was a wide wound from which blood 
 flowed. Alas! who did that deed? 
 
 The Lamb showed no pain nor did His following show any concern. I looked 
 among them and saw my little queen, who I had thought stood by my side. For 
 lore of her I started to wade across. 
 
 XX 
 
 I started to cast myself into the stream but I had to change my purpose, for 
 it was not to my Prince's pleasure. 
 
 As I started, I awoke in the arbor. I was frightened and said to myself, 
 sighing, "Now all be to that Prince's pleasure. " 
 
 I did not like to be shut out from that vision, but I said, "O Pearl, if it be 
 true that you are so honored, then I am content in this dungeon of sorrow, since 
 you have pleased the Prince." 
 
 If I had always directed myself to that Prince's pleasure and been content 
 with what He revealed to me, I had been drawn to more of His mysteries. Lord, 
 they are mad who strive against Thee or proffer Thee anything contrary to 
 Thy pleasure. 
 
 Page 'nilrtj-one 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 To please that Prince is very easy for the good Christian. (11) This I learned 
 on this mound, lying for grief of my Pearl, that in the form of bread and wine 
 which the priest shows us every day, He granted us to be His own servants and 
 precious pearls unto His pleasure. (15) 
 
 (14) "To pay fe Prince o^er sete hym sajte 
 
 Hit is ful et'e to ^e god Krystyin; 
 For I liaf founden hym, bojie day & najte. 
 A God, a Lorde, a Frende ful fyin. etc." vv. 1201-4. 
 A curiously parallel passage is found in tlie poem called "Willi God of Love and Pes. 
 5e Trete." printed in "Twenty-six Political and Otlier Poems," E.E.T.S. O.S. 124.34: 
 "Now sumwhat y haue )OW sayd 
 
 What is salue to joure sore, (i.e., Confession) 
 To saujten wij> god, holde jow payed. 
 
 And arraye jow wel t'erfore 
 To resceyue god, joure soules store. 
 
 His body in forme of bred o wliete. 
 And kepe liym: so je nede no more 
 
 Eft of pes will hym to trete." vv. 177-184. 
 
 (15) "Ouer I'is hyiil fis lote I lazte. 
 
 For pyt.v of my perle enclyin, 
 & syt-en to God I hit bytajte. 
 In Krystej dere blessyng & myn. 
 pat. in fe forme of bred & wyn. 
 pe preste vus schewe) vch a daye, 
 He gef vus to be his homly hyne, 
 
 Ande precious perle; vnto liis pay. Amen. .Vmen," 
 
 vv.1202-1212. 
 Dr. Osgood reads: "Such as I have now told was tlie fortune that befell me at this 
 mound, bowed in grief for my Pearl; and straight way I gave her up unto God in Christ's 
 dear blessing and mine own — lie whom in tlie form of bread and wine the priest slioweth 
 unto us eacli day. And now may Christ our Prince grant that we become servants of his 
 own household, and precious pearls to delight him ever. Amen." 
 Miss Jewett: "Upon this mound my soul liath sight 
 
 Where I for piteous sorrow pine; 
 My Pearl to God I pledge and pliglit. 
 
 With Christ's dear blessing and with mine, — 
 His, Who, in form of bread and wine. 
 The priest doth daily show us still. 
 His servants may we be, or shine. 
 Pure pearls, according to his will." 
 N'eilson and Webster: "On this mound this fortune I experienced, bowed down with 
 pity for my pearl; and afterwards I betook it to God, in the dear joy and memory of 
 Christ, whom, in the form of bread and wine, the priest shows us every day. May he 
 grant us to be his lowly servants, and precious pearls unto his pleasure." 
 
 In the preceding stanza the poet tells us that if he had done his duty as a Christian 
 he should have found out long ago and without the agency of the Pearl more of God's 
 secrets which He tells those who seek His Presence: 
 
 "To fat Prynce) paye hade I ay bente, , 
 
 & jerned no more Yen wat) me geuen, 
 & halden me t'er in trwe entent, 
 As pe perle me prayed ^at watj so J'ryuen, 
 As helder drawen to Goddc) present, 
 
 To mo of his raysterys I hade ben dryuen," vv. 1189-1194. 
 The last stanza is an explanation of this statement. Rearranging the punctuation of the 
 passage as given in Prof. Osgood's edition, by substituting a comma for the period at the 
 close of v. 1210, the meaning would be something like this: "Upon this mound this lot I 
 got, bowed down with grief for my Pearl, and then I entrusted it (Us lote) to God in 
 Clirist's dear blessing and memory, that in the form of bread and wine which the priest 
 shows us every day. He gave us the way to become servants of His household and precious 
 pearls unto His pleasure." This is the mystery to which the Pearl drove him. 
 
 Page Thirty-two 
 
^ THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 Reduced to simpler terms, the argument is: A man has lost by death a little 
 child who was the most precious part of his life. He is desperate with grief. On 
 a high feast day he goes mourning to the place where his Pearl is buried: 
 
 "To JJat spot )Jat I in speche expoun 
 
 I entred, in ]?at erber grene, 
 
 In Augoste in a hyj seysoun, 
 
 Quen corne is coruen wyth croke3 kene." vv. 37-40, 
 and there he receives a message of comfort from her. She is well and happy and 
 chides him for doubting it: 
 
 " 'Sir, je haf your tale mysetente, 
 
 To say your perle is al aways, 
 
 pat is in cofer so comly clente, 
 
 As in j?is gardyn gracios gaye, 
 
 Hereinne to lenge for euer & play? 
 
 per mys nee mornyng com neuer nere ; 
 
 Her were a forser for jJe in faye, 
 
 If )?ou were a gentyl jueler 
 
 'But, jueler gente, if j7ou schal lose 
 
 py ioy for a gemme f'at pe wat; lef, 
 
 Me J'ynk pe put in a mad purpose, 
 
 & busye3 ]>e aboute a raysoun bref ; 
 
 For {'at J^ou lestej watj bot a rose 
 
 pat flowred & fayled as kynde hyt gef; 
 
 Now J'urj kynde of ]>e kyste ['at liyt con close 
 
 To a perle of prys hit is put in pref. 
 
 & )?ou hatj called j'y wyrde a j^ef , 
 
 pat ojt of nojt hatj mad pe cler, 
 
 pou blamej pe bote of ]>y meschef, 
 
 pou art no kynde jueler.' " vv.257-276. 
 She warns him against excessive grief: 
 
 " 'Thow deme3 nojt bot doel-dystresse,' 
 
 penne sayde pat wyjt ; 'why dotj pou so? 
 
 For dyne of doel of lurej lesse 
 
 Ofte mony mon forgos pe mo.' " vv. 337-340. 
 She has her place in the mystical body of Christ: 
 
 " 'Al am we membrej of Jesu Kryst ; 
 
 As heued & arme & legg & naule 
 
 Temen to hys body ful trwe & tyste, 
 
 Rj'Jt so is vch a Krysten sawle 
 
 A longande lym to pe -Mayster of myste." vv.458-462. 
 the token whereof is a precious pearl upon her breast: 
 
 "Bot a wonder perle wythouten wemme 
 
 In myddej hyr breste watj sette so sure." vv.221-222. 
 
 Page Thirty-three 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 He may also have a place there and wear his pearl as the sign of the perfect 
 fellowship and communion of saints, 
 
 "For hit is wemlej, clene, & clere, 
 
 & endelej rotinde, & bl.yj'e of mode, 
 
 & commune to alle Ipat ryjtwys were." vv.737-739. 
 "I rede 'jpe forsake ]>e worlde wode, 
 
 & porchase ]>y perle maskelles." vv.74S-4. 
 but only if he conducts himself humbly 
 
 "For meke arn alle pat wonej hym nere, 
 
 & when in hys place J^ou schal apere. 
 
 Be dep deuote in hoi mekenesse." vv.404-406. 
 and takes advantage of the means at his hand 
 
 "Now is per nojt in pe worlde rounde 
 
 Bytwene vus & blysse bot pat he wythdro3, 
 
 & JJat is restored in sely stounde." vv.657-9. 
 She gains for him the privilege of beholding for a moment the supreme act of worship 
 in heaven 
 
 "pou may not enter wythinne hys tor, 
 
 Bot of pe Lombe I haue pe aquylde 
 
 For a syjt J^erof J'ur3 gret fauor." w.966-8. 
 so that he knows of a surety that she is there present where Christ is present (16) 
 "I loked among his meyny schene. 
 
 How jJay wyth lyf wern laste & lade ; 
 
 pen sa3 I )?er my lyttel quene, 
 
 pat I wende had standen by me in sclade. 
 
 Lorde, much of mirj'e watj J^at ho made, 
 
 Among her fere} )?al watj so quyt!" vv.l 145-1 150. 
 He wakes and laments the fact that he has not been more attentive to seeking 
 God's presence so that he might learn more of His mysteries: 
 "To )7at Pryncej pave hade I ay bente, 
 
 & 3erned no more )?en wat3 me geuen, 
 
 & halden me J^er in trwe entent, 
 
 As pe perle me prayed j^at wat3 so J'ryuen, 
 
 As helder drawen to Godde3 present, 
 
 To mo of his mj'sterys I hade ben dryuen." vv.l 189-1 194. 
 At last he decides that it is very simple for a good Christian to gain his part in 
 the great Pearl, through the Sacrament of the Altar. 
 
 Stripped to the quick, the poem offers the teaching which has been given 
 above (pp. 10-11) regarding the Communion of Saints: that the mourner should 
 cast away his grief in the joy of regaining his beloved in the mystical body of 
 
 (16) Yet the Pearl speaks to him from earth as well as from heaven: 
 " 'Sir. fele here porchase) & fonges pray. 
 
 Bot supplantore) none wythinne ^ys place.' " vv.439-440. 
 where "here" is without doubt this earth, and "bys place " is heaven — speaks to him of 
 course from the meeting place of the two realms — the Altar. 
 
 Page Tliirty-four 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 Christ, participation in which body is to be gained in the Sacrament of the 
 Eucharist. (17) 
 
 The Eucharistic language and teaching of the poem is given peculiar point and 
 beauty by the mechanical framework of the poem — each stanza is bound to its 
 neighbor by refrain and word link, and each canto to the next in like manner; then 
 when this flawlessness and polish is achieved, the last verse of the poem is knit to 
 the first, shaping the whole into the form of a huge pearl. Within a large pearl, then 
 the whole action of the poem takes place. (18") 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 A very significant aspect of the poem is its concentration on the three persons — 
 the Lamb, the Pearl, and the bereaved father. This simplicity is the more 
 remarkable if there is a close relationship, as Prof. Schofield has pointed out, between 
 The Pearl and the fourteenth Eclogue of Boccaccio. Boccaccio lies on the ground 
 sleepless and sad, mourning for his little daughter Olympia, who is dead. While 
 he is so employed, Olympia appears to him, gloriously transformed. She tells him 
 that she owes her transformation to the Virgin, with whom she has gone to dwell. 
 She sings a song in Iionor of the Saviour and of the Virgin, and tells of the joys 
 of heaven. 
 
 Since the parallel is so close, one would naturally expect to hear in The Pearl 
 a great deal about the Virgin as the merciful mother who would take care of the 
 little maiden, and of the saints and angels, especially St. Michael, the conductor 
 of the spirits of the dead; but aside from two passages, the Virgin is not mentioned, 
 and the only saints are St. John Baptist who called Jesus the Lamb of God 
 (v.818), and St. John the Divine as the author of the Apocalypse; once the poet 
 mentions St. John in company with Christ and Mary as being the three whose 
 mercy he looked unto to save him (v. 383), but this most likely was a memory of 
 the great Calvary group which hung in the church. That this great silence in 
 a realm which was such a favorite theme for the poets did not arise from any 
 "Lollard" dislike of "Mariolatry and saint worship" is made very clear by the 
 actions of the maiden when the name of the Mother of Christ is mentioned: 
 
 (17) As I write this, a poem comes to my notice wliicli expresses the same tliouglit: 
 
 "Lord, where Thou art our happy dead must be; 
 Unpierced as yet the Sacramental Mist, 
 But we are nearest them wiien nearest Thee 
 
 In solemn Eucharist." (Memoir of Arthur Stanton, p.275.) 
 
 (18) A very curious parallel to this artistic device, conceived more than a century 
 later, is Raphael's Disputa, in the Camera della Segnatura in the Vatican. Here we get a 
 g-llmpe into a perfect sphere, the central point of which is the Blessed Sacrament exposed 
 in a monstrance. Below, on earth, men are vigorously championing the dogma, great tomes 
 of commentary lying at their feet. Some of the greatest champions ot the Church are 
 there gathered, SS. Jerome, Augustine, Gregory, Ambrose, Thomas Aquinas, Savonarola, 
 and the poet Dante, the painter Fra Angelico, and Bramante, the architect of tlie basilica 
 of St. Peter, the unfinished walls of which can be seen in the background. But above 
 all this turmoil, surrounded by saints, the Trinity sheds down its reflection and full glory 
 upon the Blessed Sacrament. 
 
 Page Thirty-liTe 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 " 'Cortayse Quen,' )?enne sayde )7at gaye, 
 Knelande to grounde, folde vp hyr face, 
 'Makelej Moder & myryest May, 
 Blessed Bj-gynner of vch a grace !' " vv. 433-6. 
 
 The true reason is that such attentions would roh the poem of its fine simplicity 
 and directness and would obscure its teaching — not that the Company of Heaven 
 is considered de trap, for it is present worshipping the Lamb (vv. 11 18-1 124). 
 
 The structure of the poem conforms roughly to that of the Mass— not, it is 
 true, academically, but faintly and interrupted by dialogue to clear up knotty 
 problems as they occur (19). We have the Pro-Anaphora, penitential and sor- 
 rowful in character; the Canon of the Mass; the threefold Agnus Dei, and the 
 Adoration. 
 
 I have an idea that the whole poem arose from gazing at the Elevated Host 
 in the hands of the Priest (see frontispiece) — "round, white, like a pearl, the 
 meeting place of heaven and earth — a pearl, Margaret" — sonietliing like this 
 would, I think, be the train of thought which would bring tin- germ ol the poem to 
 him. I believe that the poet conceives the poem as taking place witliin the church 
 where the Pearl might be buried, quite regardless of the convention of the arbor 
 and the grass (20). He goes to mourn her where he has lost her in the ground. 
 He hears a song: 
 
 "oet JJojt me neuer so swete a sange 
 .\s stylle stounde let to me stele." vv, 19-'20. 
 Might this not be the chanting of the choir on this "hyj seysoun".' He smells odors 
 and comments: 
 
 "pat spot of spyce3 mot nede) sprede, ' 
 
 per such rychej to rot is runne." vv.25-6. 
 Cannot this be the incense ? The enumeration of the flowers may be only the touch 
 added as a quasi-pastoral device. As we have noticed before, the only two saints 
 he mentions are SS. Mary and John. He had only to raise his eyes to the rood- 
 beam and he would see them standing at the foot of the cross. Be this as it may, 
 
 (19) Such as the long passage containing the Parable of the Vineyard in which she 
 vindicates her right to be a queen of heaven. Since she was only two years old and had 
 consequently never received the Holy Communion, which was necessary to salvation, how 
 could she occupy this place? St. Thomas Aquinas answers this: ".\s .Augustine says in 
 his Epistle to Boniface: No one should entertain the slightest doubt, that then every one 
 of the faithful becomes a partaker of the body and blood of Christ, when in Baptism he 
 is made a member of Christ's body; nor is he deprived of his share in that body and 
 chalice even though he depart from this world in tlie unity of Christ's body before he eats 
 that bread and drinks of that chalice." Summa, p. 238. 
 
 (20) This convention is not uniformly consistent in the poem. It was a pearl that 
 rolled away from him through the grass into the ground (v.lO); again it was no pearl at 
 all but a rose that bloomed and faded naturally (vv. 269-70); it was a lovely flower (v.962); 
 a special spice (vv.23o,938) ; a seemly seed (v. 34). .-Vlso the names given to this spot are 
 not uniform: huyle, v.41), flajt (v.57), and balke (v. 62); whether "balke" means mound," 
 or as is possible from the large percentage of Scandinavian words in the poem, a division 
 of some kind, as a wall or a floor, the figure is at once broken and it is used consciously 
 of a grave. .An interesting question then arises as to whether a man of the undoubted 
 evidence of culture and refinement which the poet possesses "would conceive of his daughter 
 being buried in the churchyard oi- in the cliurch itself. 
 
 Page TJiirtj-six 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 the intrusion of pastoral elements into the poem need be no more fundamental than 
 the intrusion of the Pagan elements in Boccaccio's Eclogue. 
 
 To recapitulate : Within the frame of a great pearl, the poet sees his lost 
 Pearl in the presence of the Lamb of God. a very member incorporate in the mystical 
 body of Christ: and she teaches him that through the grace of God as granted in 
 the Eucharist it is given him to become a member of this body, thus to be forever 
 united with his Pearl as parts of the great pearl, the mystical body of Christ. 
 
 Page Thirty-seven 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 Appendix A 
 
 Note on the "Hy) Seysoun" 
 "In Augoste in a hy) seysoun." v. 39. 
 
 " 'Hy3 seysoun' is a high feast, and the highest feast in August and the one 
 most likely thus to be designated, is that of the Assumption of the Virgin, on the 
 fifteenth. The appropriateness of the date of this feast to the theme of the 
 poem is obvious," Osgood, Introd. xvi. 
 
 "... doubtless, about the day of the Assumption of the Virgin," Schofield, 
 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc, 1909, p.648. 
 
 It seems to me impossible that this should be the feast meant. I have noted 
 above (p. 35) that the Virgin gets very little mention in the poem, which fact would 
 make the idea frankly incredible that the vision took place in "Lady Day in 
 Harvest." The author of the Cursor Mundi devotes 837 verses to the Feast of 
 the Assumption. Not even the remotest reference to it is found in The Pearl. 
 
 It seems that conforming with the content of the poem, the most appropriate 
 feast in August would be the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, on August 7. There 
 is in this festival the concentration on the merits of Christ wliich is so remarkable 
 in the poem. All in all, it answers very well, if it were not for the fact that this 
 feast was not commonly observed until quite a century later. It would be interesting 
 if it were found that this feast had its origin in England. We read that "Ro. 
 Hallum, Bishop of Salisbury, offered an indulgence for singing Mass of the Melli- 
 fluous Name of Jesus, from His Castle at Sherborne, as early as 7th .\ugust, 
 l^ll," (Wordsworth and Littlehales, p.l78,Note), also that "the festival of the 
 Most Sweet Name of Jesus, which was already in use in England, was specially 
 sanctioned and endowed with privileges by Alexander VI (1 l'98-1503).Note. 
 Thereupon was added to the first and second lessons of Mattins an account of this 
 transaction. See Sar. Brev. of 1531 (Cambridge reprint. III. 621). This change 
 was not yet made in the Breviary of 1510." (Procter and Frere, p. 32.) This 
 seems to have been a favorite festival amongst the Franciscans, two of whom stand 
 out for unusually great devotion to the Holy Name — St. Bernardine (who wrote 
 the Office and the Mass for the day), and John Capistran. "In 1530 the feast 
 was granted to the Franciscans for February 25. Later the Franciscans, Carmelites 
 and Augustinians observed it on the 14th of January, the Dominicans on the 15th 
 of January. In the British Isles it was continued on the 7th of August, at Liege 
 on the 31st of January, at Compostella and Cambrai on the 8th of January. About 
 1643 the Carthusians obtained it for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, 
 ■which usage gradually spread, until in 1721 it was extended to the whole of the 
 Roman Church with the exception of the Franciscans, who still observe the day 
 on the 14th of January." (Catholic Encyclopedia.) 
 
 This looks very much as if the feast had its origin in England, since it is 
 heard of there more than a century earlier than on the Continent. Did it originate 
 among the English Franciscans, and may it have been observed by them some time 
 
 Page Thirty-eight 
 
THE PEARL: AX I N T E R P R E T A T I O N 
 
 before it was indulgenctd by the Bisho]) of Salisbury? The answer to these 
 questions might conceivably throw some light on the authorship of The Pearl. It 
 may be that eventually the British Society of Franciscan Studies may publish 
 material which will solve these problems. 
 
 The same holds true of the Feast of the Transfiguration, on the sixth of 
 August, which might hold our attention by its claims of being the "hy3 seysoun" ; 
 Procter and Frere saj- concerning this festival: "... the two new general 
 festivals of the Visitation and the Transfiguration were adopted in England in IISO, 
 shortly after their promulgation by Rome. Xote: This (the Transfiguration) was 
 in some places a much older festival especially among the Benedictines." (p.3'29) (21) 
 Yet the Transfiguration is not as fitting a holiday as a setting for the poem of 
 The Pearl as is Holy Name Day. 
 
 We will probably do best if we look at the poem itself for a clue to the day in 
 the author's mind : 
 
 "To {^at spot f'at I in speche expoun 
 
 I entred, in )Jat erber grene, 
 
 In Augoste in a hyj seysoun, 
 
 Quen corne is coruen wyth crokej kene." vv.37-tO. 
 This may be a reference to the Feast of the First-fruits — Lammas, or Loaf Mass, 
 the Feast of St. Peter's Chains. This was an ancient English feast, the connection 
 with St. Peter being frequently lost sight of in the other aspects of it. There 
 surely is a mystical symbolism in the offering of the loaf of the first fruits, and the 
 popular name of the feast as it was known for centuries, Lammas, meant, quite 
 unetymologically, it is true, the Feast of the Lamb (as it is given in Promptorium 
 Parvulorum: "lammasse, festum agnorum, uel Festum ad uincula S. Petri"). All 
 this with the fact that the day was also called the "Gule of August" where 
 Gule=yule, feast (Plummer & Earle ii.l28), shows that this feast was of sufficient 
 importance to warrant its being called "a hy3 seysoun in Augoste." 
 
 Appendix B 
 
 St. Hilary ot Poictiers, His Daughter and the Pearl 
 
 The following letter which is printed in The Cowley Evangelist, edited bv the 
 Society of St. John the Evangelist, Oxford, March, 1895, is worth notice. Here 
 the situation is quite reversed : the father out of love for the little daughter who is 
 alive, tries to obtain for her the pearl. I quote the article entire: 
 
 The following letter of Saint Hilary of Poictiers to his daughter Abra was 
 written about the end of A.D. 358, his daughter being about twelve years old. He 
 
 (21) A careful investigation of local calendars and national variations would be a very 
 acceptable work. Wliy is tbere so great a variation in the dates assigned the Feast of 
 the Holy Name? Wliy did the Sarum Calendar in tlie 14tli century not commemorate tlie 
 Conversion of St. Paul on January 25? 
 
 Page Thirty-uino 
 
THE PEARL: AX I N T E R P M E T A T I O N 
 
 was married, probably, before his conversion; and he was now in exile for the faith. 
 The Benedictine editor says there is nothing in the letter unworthy of a pious 
 (i.e., paternal, I suppose) and prudent JFather, who calls away one who is at once a 
 dearest daughter and a very little girl (puellam tenerrimam) from the vain pomps 
 and delights of the world by words suited to her apprehension: — 
 
 Hilary to liis dearest daughter Abra sends health in the Lord. 
 
 1. I received your letter in which you say you miss me; and I am sure you do. 
 For I feel how much we must wish for the presence of those we love. And because 
 I know my absence is hard for you, I am anxious you should not think me unkind 
 to you in being so long away; and so I want to explain to you why I went, and 
 why I put off coming back, so that you may understand that it is not in unkindness 
 but for your good that I make you do without me. For you, my daughter, are the 
 only one I have, and my heart is all one with yours; and so I wish you to be, all 
 your life, the prettiest girl and the happiest in every way (sanissimam). 
 
 Well, then, the news came to me that there is a certain Prince (juvenis), Who 
 possesses a pearl and a robe of priceless value; and that whoever can obtain them 
 from Him will become rieii and strong beyond human riches ami stnngtli. When 
 I heard this, I set off to go to Him; and after many long and painful journeys 1 
 found Him; and as soon as I saw Him I fell at His feet. For that young Prince 
 is of sueli fair presence (adest tani |>ulelur .luvenis). that none may dare to stand 
 up before His face. .And when He saw me thus fallen before Him. He bade some 
 ask what I desired, and what was my jietition; and I answered that 1 had heard 
 of His jiearl ,ind robe . . . .nul that if He sliould deign to grant me sueh ,i gift. 
 I liad a little daughter whom I tenderly loved, and that it was for her I would 
 beg that robe and pearl. And saying .'ill this still lying before His face, 1 wept 
 a great deal, and begged Him night and day with gro.ins tli.it lie would deign to 
 hear my prayer. And after that, because that Prince is good, so that there is none 
 beside better than He, He said to me: "Do you know this Robe and Pearl which 
 you ask me with tears to give to your daughter?" And I answered, "My Lord, I 
 have learned by report of them, and by faith I have believed; and I know tliey 
 are the best of all, and it is true health and joy to wear them. ' And with that, He 
 gave orders to His servants to show me them ; and so presently it was done. And 
 first I saw the robe: I saw — Oh, my daughter! I cannot say what 1 saw. No 
 silk but would seem coarse sailcloth by its side, so fine it was. Snow would be 
 black beside its whiteness, and gold (|uite dull against its splendour. For it was of 
 many different colours, and nothing in .ill the world could in any wav be compared 
 to it. .Ind then I saw the pearl: and at the sight of it I fell down straight. For 
 mine eyes could not bear its lovely colour, and the fairness of sky and light and 
 sea and land e.innot be compared to the beauty of it. And as I lay on my face, one 
 of those who stood by said to me: "I see you are an affectionate, kind father, and 
 that vou want this robe and pearl for your little girl ; but that you may want it 
 still more, let me show you their wonderful qualities. The robe is never hurt by 
 moths, nor worn bv use. nor soiled, nor torn, nor lost; but it always stays just as 
 
 ra;?o Fort.v 
 
THE PEARL: AX INTERPRETATION 
 
 it is. And tliis is the virtue of the pearl, that whoever wears it is never ill. never 
 gets old or dies. In fact, no harm whatever can come to the wearer." And when 
 I heard tliis, dear child, I began to faint with longing for these gifts, and I cried 
 again, and begged the Prince still harder to give them to me,, saying "Holy Lord, 
 have pity on my praj'er, my care, my life. If Thou dost not give me what I beg, 
 I shall be miserable, and I shall lose my daughter while she is still alive. I will 
 go on pilgrimage for this robe and pearl. Thou knowest that I speak the truth." 
 
 And then He told me to rise, and said: "Your prayers and tears have moved 
 me. and you have done well in believing. And because you have offered to spend 
 your life for them. I cannot refuse the gifts: but you must know My will. The 
 robe I give is such that no one can have it who wishes to wear other robes of silk 
 and fair colours and gold ; but I give it only to those who are content with plain 
 stuff clothes. And m_v pearl is such that it must be worn alone; other pearls are 
 from the earth or sea; mine, as you see, is heavenly, and it is not fit that it should 
 be where any others are. For my good things do not sort well with those of men, 
 for he who wears my pearl is well forever, no fever, wounds or age or death may 
 touch him. But I will give you my robe and pearl, and you shall take them to 
 your little girl. But first you ought to know what is her will. If she will make 
 herself fit for my robe and pearl, that is by not caring for silken golden-broidered 
 dresses, and if she hates all other pearls, then I will give you what you ask." 
 
 And so I got ujj, full of joy; and now I have learned this secret, have written 
 this letter to you, praying you to do what the Prince bids. Therefore when they 
 bring you any dress of silk, or rarely trimmed, and guarded with gold, you must 
 say to him who offers it: "I am waiting for another robe, for which my father is 
 making a long pilgrimage, and if I accept this I cannot have that one. The wool 
 of mj- sheep is enough for me, and the colour which nature gave, and a plain 
 uncostly texture. But I wish for that robe which is said never to be lost or 
 worn or torn," 
 
 And if thev offer you pearls for your neck or hands, say: "Do not let me be 
 cumbered with these useless common pearls (sordidse) ; I am waiting for that one 
 which is most precious, loveliest, and best to wear (utilissima). I believe my 
 father's word, because he believes that One who promised this pearl, and he told 
 me he would die to get that pearl I wait for and covet, which will give me health 
 and everlasting joy." 
 
 Be sure, tlicn, to help me in my care for you, and always read this letter, and 
 keep yourself for this robe and pearl ; and without asking anyone about it, write 
 back to me in the first letter you can make by yourself, and tell me whether you 
 ivill keep yourself for this robe and pearl, so that I may know what answer I may 
 make to the Prince. And if that is your desire, then I shall be able to think with 
 joy of coming back to you. And when you have written to me, I will tell you 
 who the Prince is, and what His dignity, and what His will is, and His promise, 
 and His power. Meanwhile I send you a hymn for morning and evening, to 
 remember me by. And if, because you are only a little girl, you do not quite under- 
 stand the letter and the hymn, ask mother to explain, who wishes by her good 
 
 Page Forty-one 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 nurture to make you a true ehild of God (qua; optat ut te moribus suis geinierit Deo). 
 For God is already your Father, and my jjrayer is, dearest daughter, that He may 
 keep you both in this life and forever. Migne. Patrol. Latin. X.SIO ft. 
 
 The translator says modestly "The translation is only rough, and leaves out 
 many beautiful details." As a matter of fact, the translation is peculiarly adequate, 
 and the parts omitted are fragmentary phrases whieli have no special bearing on th? 
 allegory. The hymn referred to is "Lucis largitor splendide." 
 
 Page Forty-twti 
 
THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
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THE PEARL: AN INTERPRETATION 
 
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