Black Paternoster

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John"
"Four corners to my bed" by Isobel Lilian Gloag (1868–1917)
Nursery rhyme
Written	Unknown
Published	1656

"Matthew, Mark, Luke and John", also known as the "Black Paternoster", is an English language prayer and nursery rhyme traditionally said by children as they go to bed. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1704. It may have origins in ancient Babylonian prayers and was being used in a Christian version in late Medieval Germany. The earliest extant version in English can be traced to the mid-sixteenth century. It was mentioned by English Protestant writers as a "popish" or magical charm. It is related to other prayers, including a "Green" and "White Paternoster", which can be traced to late Medieval England and with which it is often confused. It has been the inspiration for a number of literary works by figures including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and musical works by figures such as Gustav Holst. It has been the subject of alternative versions and satires.

The most common modern version of the verse is as follows:

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on.
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.

The Roud Folk Song Index, which catalogues folk songs and their variations by number, classifies the song as 1704.

The version I learned as a child comes from A Child's Book of Prayers, copyright 1941 by Artists and Writers Guild, Inc, distributed by Random House, New York. It is as follows:

Here I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take

There are four corners on my bed There are four angels at my head Mathew, Mark, Luke and John Bless the bed that I lie on

The verse may be one of few English nursery rhymes to have ancient origins. The Babylonian prayer "Shamash before me, behind me Sin, Nergal at my right, Ninib at my left", is echoed by the medieval Jewish prayer: "In the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, may Michael be at my right hand; Gabriel at my left; Uriel before me; Raphael behind me and the Shekhinah of God be above my head" which is used as a prayer before sleep. A Christian version has been found for Germany at the end of the Medieval period. However, the first known record of the lyrics in English is from Thomas Ady's witchcraft treatise A Candle in the Dark, or, a treatise concerning the nature of witches and witchcraft (1656), which tells of a woman in Essex who claimed to have lived in the reign of Mary I (r. 1553-8) and who was alive in his time and blessed herself every night with the "popish charm":