Laudator Temporis Acti

From Eric Thomson:

Vercelli Book, Homily XV, f.85r:

And the holy Peter goes with [them] and bears the keys of hell in his hand. Oh, my brothers, what great sorrow and great lamentation and great sighing and weeping can be heard there, and furthermore, gnashing of teeth, and the loudest mournful cry, and the most sorrowful voice, and the most sorrowful lamentation and groaning! And then the devils drive the sinful and miserable souls into the torments of hell, and they themselves go in with them. And then Saint Peter turns away from the door of hell, and he locks the door of hell afterward. The wretched souls will then be in eternal hell and in everlasting torment, and the devils with them. And then Saint Peter turns away from the door of hell. And then he throws the key full of care over his back into hell. This he does because he cannot look upon the great pain, and upon the great lamentation, and the great weeping that the wretched souls suffer with the devils in the torments of hell. Alas, my brothers, how great and how loud will be the clang when that key falls into hell.

⁊ ꞅe halga petrus gæð mid ⁊ bereð hellecægan on handa: eala broðor mine hwæt ðær mæg gehyran micel sorh ⁊ mycel wanung ⁊ mycel ſworetung ⁊ mycel wóp ⁊ to ða gristbitung ⁊ þone hludestan sarigcerm ⁊ þone sarigestan stefn. ⁊ þone sarigestan wanunge. ⁊ granunge. ⁊ þonne drifað ða deofla þa ꞅynfullan ꞅawla ⁊ þa dreorigan in helle witu ⁊ hie sylfe gað mid in on þa helle. ⁊ þōn wendeð sc̄s petrus þanon fram þære helle dura ⁊ he be luceð þa helle duru syðþan. þa earman sawla bioð in ða ecan helle ⁊ in ða écan cwylmnesse. ⁊ ða deofla mid him. ⁊ þonne wendeð him sc̄s petrus þanon fram þære helle dura. ⁊ he ðonne weorpeð ða cearfullan cæge ofer bæc in on þa helle. ðis he deð forðam þe he ne mæg locian on ðæt mycle sár ⁊ onðam myclan wanunge ⁊ on ðam myclan wope. þe þa earman ꞅawla dreogað mid ðam deoflum in helle tintrego. Eala broðor mine, hu mycel ⁊ hu hlud bið se cnyll þonne seo cæge fealleð in ða helle.

Curiously enough, "how great and how loud will be the clang/ hu mycel ⁊ hu hlud bið se cnyll (> Mod. Eng. ‘knell’)" is accompanied in the vellum folio by what reminds me of nothing so much as a perforated eardrum.