O lorde Jhesu Cryste I commende my ♥
to thy love that ytt may enter into thy ♥
by love and spirituall delectacyon
and I beseche the good lorde to inflame
myn ♥ ardently with thy love and so
to kyndle myn ♥ with the blessyd
love of the good lorde that never
hereafter I fele inordynately
any ♥ly joye or carnall
delectacyon.
For each ♥ read “heart,” of course. From Robert Brygandyne’s prayer book, reign of Henry VIII. See Eamon Duffy, Marking the Hours: English People and their Prayers 1240-1570 Yale University Press, 2006), plate 105 and pages 161-162. This is a beautiful book, illustrated with and full of discussion of English prayer books, mostly late pre-Reformation ones.