[Layamon's Brut; or, Chronicle of Britain (MS. Cott. Calig. A. Ix., v. 1222-61), by Sir Frederic Madden, 1847, i., 52-4.]

A.D. 1200 (?)

THE FINDING OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE.

Ne wisste ge nohht tatt me birrp
Min faderr wille forbenn?
Ne batt me birrb beon hoghefull

Abutenn hise bingess?

& tegg he mihtenn nohht tatt word
get ta wel nnderrstanndenn;
& he pa gede forb wipp hemm
& dide hem here wille

& comm wibb hemm till Nazaræþ,
Swa summ þe Goddspell kibepp,
& till hemm babe he lutte & bæh

þurrh sopfasst herrsummnesse & was wipp hem till þatt he wass Off brittig winnterr elde.'

not wist ye not that me becomes

my father's will [to] do?

nor that me becomes [to] be careful about his things?

and they might not that word

yet then well understand; and he then went forth with them and did them their will,

and came with them to Nazareth, so as the Gospel saith,

and to them both he obeyed and bowed

through soothfast obedience, and was with them till that he was of thirty winters' age.'

[The Ormulum, edited from the original MS. in the Bodleian, by R. M. White, and R. Holt, 1878, 11. 8925-8964. The Modern version is from Marsh's Origin and History of the English Language, 1862, 183-5.]

KING ARTHUR AND THE ROUND TABLE.

By ROBERT OF BRUNNE. [See p. 26.]

He toke so mykille of curtasie Withouten techyng of any him bic, bat non myght con more,

Nober borgh kynde, ne creste of
lore.

In alle ansuere he was fulle wys,
Of alle manhede he bare pe pris;
Of non bat tyme was suilke speche
Pat tille his nobleie mot reche,—
Not of be emperour of Rome,-
Pat he ouer him bare be blome;
In alle manncre þat kyng suld do,
None oper had grace perto,
He herd neuer speke of knyght
pat losed was of dedes wyght,
þat he ne gerned him to se,
And for to haf of him mercy;
If he for medë serue him wold,
He ne left for siluer ne for gold.

For his barons þat were so bold,
Pat alle be world pris of told,-

For no man wist who was best
Ne in armes douhtiest,-
Did he ordeyn be rounde table
Pat men telle of many fable.
At þer burde and tyme of mete,
Alle bo douhty knyghtes suld etc,
Non sat within, non sat withoute,
Bot alle euer round aboute;
Non sat first, non sat last,
But pere by perë euer kast;

Non sat hie, non sat lawe,

But alle cuenly for to knawe;
Non was set at be ende,

But alle o round, and alle were hende ;

Non wist who of ban most was,

For bei sat alle in compas;

Alle at ons, doun þei siten,

At ons ros, whin bei had eten;
All were serued of a seruys,
Eucnli alle of on assise.'

[Quoted in Appendix V. to Preface to the Handlyng Synne, edited by F. J. Furnivall for the Roxburghe Club, 1862, xxxviii.—xxxix.]

T

EXTRACT IX.

A.D. 1346.

THE BATTLE OF NEVILLE'S CROSS,

By LAURENCE MINOT.

['The ninth song,—perhaps the most spirited of them all,-commemorates the battle of Nevile's Cross, and the defeat and capture of king David Bruce ... It was by the counsel of Philippe of Valois that the Scots invaded England, we are told, and they were so confident in the belief that all the fighting men had been carried out of England to the French wars, that king David talked of descending from his horse at the palace of Westminster.' Wright, Introduction, xxiv. The following is part only of the ballad. See p. 27.]

For Cuthbert of Dorem

Haved thai no dout [fear];

Tharfore at Nevel Cros

Law gan thai lout [bend].

Thare louted thai law [low],

And leved allane.

Thus was David the Bruse
Into the toure tane.'

[Political Poems and Songs relating to English History, 13271485. Edited by Thomas Wright, 1859, i., 83-7, Rolls Collection. Minot's poems have been separately edited for the Clar. Press, 1887, by Jos. Hall.]

EXTRACT X.

A.D. 1356.

THE LADY OF THE LAND.

By SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE.

[Under the title of The Daughter of Hippocrates, but with a less tragic termination, the following legend has been retold in the Indicator, by Leigh Hunt, who says in a note that it is founded on a tradition still preserved in the island of Cos.' It is also one of the tales in The Earthly Paradise of our latter-day ChaucerWilliam Morris. See p. 40.]

'And thanne passen Men thorghe the Isles of Colos & of Lango [Cos]; of the whiche Iles Ypocras [Hippocrates] was Lord offe. And some Men seyn, that in the Isle of Lango is zit the Doughtre of Ypocras, in forme & lykenesse of a gret Dragoun that is an hundred Fadme of lengthe, as Men seyn: For I have not seen hire. And thei of the Iles callen hire, Lady of the Lond. And sche lyethe in an olde Castelle, in a Cave, and schewethe twyes or thryes in the Zeer. And sche dothe non harm to no Man, but zif Men don hire harm. And sche was thus chaunged and transformed, from a fair Damysele, in to lyknesse of a Dragoun, be a Goddesse, that was clept Deane [Diana]. And Men seyn, that sche schalle so endure in that forme of a Dragoun, unto the tyme that a Knyghte come, that is so hardy, that dar come to hire & kisse hire on the Mouthe: And then schalle sche turne azen to hire owne Kynde, & ben a woman azen: But aftre that sche schalle not liven longe. . . . . And . . . a zonge Man, that wiste not of the Dragoun, wente out of a Schipp, & went thorghe the Ile, till that he come to the Castelle, and cam in to the Cave; & wente so longe, til that he found a Chambre, and there he saughe a Damysele, that kembed hire Hede, and lokede in a Myrour; & sche.hadde meche Tresoure abouten hire. And

he abode, tille the Damysele saughe the Sohadewe of him in the Myrour. And sche turned hire toward him, & asked hym, what he wolde. And he seyde, he wolde ben hire Limman or Paramour. And sche asked him, zif that he were a Knyghte. And he seyde, nay. And than sche seyde, that he myghte not ben hire Lemman: But sche bad him gon azen unto his Felowes, & make him Knyghte, & come agen upon the Morwe, & sche scholde come out of the Cave before him; and thanne come & kysse hire on the Mowthe, & have no Drede; for I schalle do the no maner harm, alle be it that thou see me in Lyknesse of a Dragoun. For thoughe thou see me hidouse & horrible to loken onne, I do the tô wytene, that it is made be Enchauntement. For withouten doute, I am non other than thou seest now, a Woman; and therfore drede the noughte. And zif thou kysse me, thou schalt have alle this Tresoure, & be my Lord, and Lord also of alle

that Ile. And he departed fro hire & wente to his Felowes to Schippe, and leet make him Knyghte, & cam azen upon the Morwe, for to kysse this Damysele. And when he saughe hire comen out of the Cave, in forme of a dragoun, so hidouse & so horrible, he hadde so grete drede, that he fleyghe azen to the Schippe; & sche folewed him. And when sche saughe, that he turned not azen, she began to crye, as a thing that had meche Sorwe; and thanne sche turned azen, in to hire Cave; and anon the Knyghte dyede.'*

[The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundeville, Kt., Halliwell's Reprint, 1883, pp. 23-25.]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SLOTH. BY WILLIAM LANGLAND. [Accidia, or Sloth, is a 'priest and parson.' He goes to sleep over his prayers, and is awaked by Repentance. See p. 30, and p. 49.] ""What! awake, renke! [man]" quod repentance

to shrifte."

"and rape be [make haste]

"If I shulde deye bi bis day me list nougte to loke;

I can [know] nougte perfitly my pater noster as be prest it syngeth,
But I can [know] rymes of Robyn hood and Randolf erle of Chestre,
Ac neither of owre lorde ne of owre lady⚫ be leste bat euere was made.

I haue made vowes fourty and for-gete hem on be morne;

I parfourned neure penaunce as be prest me higte,

Ne rygte sori for my synnes get was I neuere.

And gif I bidde any bedes but if it be in wrath,

pat I telle with my tonge⚫ is two myle fro myne herte.

I am occupied eche day haliday and other,

With ydel tales atte ale⚫ and otherwhile in cherches;

Goddes peyne and his passioun ful selde bynke I pere-on.

I visited neuere fieble men ne fettered folke in puttes [dungeons],

And as it came on towards him, with its teeth

The body of a slain goat did it tear,

The blood whereof in its hot jaws did seethe,
And on its tongue he saw the smoking hair;
Then his heart sank, and standing trembling there,
Throughout his mind wild thoughts and fearful ran,
"Some fiend she was," he said, "the bane of man."
• Yet he abode her still, although his blood
Curdled within him: the thing dropped the goat,
And creeping on, came close to where he stood,
And raised its head to him, and wrinkled throat,
Then he cried out and wildly at her smote,
Shutting his eyes, and turned and from the place
Ran swiftly, with a white and ghastly face.

*

*

'Meanwhile the dragon, secing him clean gone,
Followed him not, but crying horribly,

Caught up within her jaws a block of stone
And ground it into powder, then turned she,
With cries that folk could hear far out at sea,
And reached the treasure set apart of old,

To brood above the hidden heaps of gold.'

Morris, The Earthly Paradise, The Lady of the Land, pp. 524-5.