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with, England, are works written in Latin by learned
ecclesiastics, the principal of whom were John of
Salisbury, Peter of Blois, Joseph of Exeter, and
GEOFFREY of MONMOUTH, the last being the author
of the History of England just alluded to, which is
supposed to have been written about the year 1138.
About 1154, according to Dr Johnson, "the Saxon
began to take a form in which the beginning of the
present English may plainly be discovered."
does not, as already hinted, contain many Norman
words, but its grammatical structure is considerably
altered. There is a metrical Saxon or English trans-
lation, by one LAYAMON, a priest of Ernely, on the
Severn, from the Brut d'Angleterre of Wace. Its date
is not ascertained; but if it be, as surmised by some
writers, a composition of the latter part of the twelfth
century, we must consider it as throwing a valuable
light on the history of our language at perhaps the
most important period of its existence. A specimen,
in which the passage already given from Wace is
translated, is presented in the sequel. With refe-
rence to a larger extract given by Mr Ellis, of which
the other is a portion, that gentleman remarks-" As
it does not contain any word which we are under the
necessity of referring to a French origin, we cannot
but consider it as simple and unmixed, though very
barbarous, Saxon. At the same time," he continues,
"the orthography of this manuscript, in which we see,
for the first time, the admission of the soft g, toge-
ther with the Saxong, as well as some other peculiari-
ties, seems to prove that the pronunciation of our lan-
guage had already undergone a considerable change.
Indeed, the whole style of this composition, which
is broken into a series of short unconnected sentences,
and in which the construction is as plain and artless
as possible, and perfectly free from inversions, ap-
pears to indicate that little more than the substitu-
tion of a few French for the present Saxon words
was now necessary to produce a resemblance to that
Anglo-Norman, or English, of which we possess a
few specimens, supposed to have been written in the
early part of the thirteenth century. Layamon's
versification is also no less remarkable than his lan-
guage. Sometimes he seems anxious to imitate the
rhymes, and to adopt the regular number of syllables,
which he had observed in his original; at other
times he disregards both, either because he did not
consider the laws of metre, or the consonance of
final sounds, as essential to the gratification of his
readers; or because he was unable to adapt them
throughout so long a work, from the want of models
in his native language on which to form his style.
The latter is perhaps the most probable supposition;
but, at all events, it is apparent that the recurrence
of his rhymes is much too frequent to be the result
of chance; so that, upon the whole, it seems reason-
able to infer, that Layamon's work was composed at,
or very near, the period when the Saxons and Nor-
mans in this country began to unite into one nation,
and to adopt a common language."

SPECIMENS OF ANGLO-SAXON AND ENGLISH
PREVIOUS To 1300.

We have already seen short specimens of the Anglo-Saxon prose and verse of the period prior to the Conquest. Perhaps the best means of making clear the transition of the language into its present form, is to present a continuation of these specimens, extending between the time of the Conquest and the reign of Edward I. It is not to be expected that these specimens will be of much use to the reader, on account of the ideas which they convey; but, considered merely as objects, or as pictures, they will not be without their effect in illustrating the history of our literature.

And ne

[Extract from the Saxon Chronicle, 1154.] On this yær wærd the King Stephen ded, and bebyried there his wif and his sune wæron bebyried æt Tauresfeld. That ministre hi makiden. Tha the durste nan man don other bute god for the micel eie king was ded, tha was the eorl beionde sæ. of him. Tha he to Engleland come, tha was he underfangen mid micel wortscipe; and to king bletcæd in Lundine, on the Sunnen dæi beforen mid-winter-dæi. Literally translated thus :-" A. D. 1154. In this year was the King Stephen dead, and buried where his wife and his son were buried, at Touresfield. That minister they made. When the king was dead, then other but good for the great awe of him. When he was the earl beyond sea. And not durst no man do to England came, then was he received with great worship; and to king consecrated in London, on the Sunday before mid-winter-day (Christmas day).”

[Extract from the account of the Proceedings at Arthur's
Coronation, given by Layamon, in his translation of
Wace, executed about 1180.]*

Tha the king+ igeten hafde
And al his mon-weorede,2
Tha bugan3 out of burhge
Theines swithen balde.
Alle tha kinges,

And heore here-thringes♣
Alle tha biscopes,
And alle tha clarckes,
Alle the eorles,

And alle tha beornes,
Alle tha theines,

Alle the sweines,
Feire iscrudde,5
Helde geond felde.
Summe heo gunnent æruen,8
Summe heo gunnen urnen,
Summe heo gunnen lepen,
Summe heo gunnen sceoten,10
Summe heo wrestleden
And wither-gome makeden,11
Summe heo on velde
Pleoureden under scelde,12
Summe heo driven balles
Wide geond the feldes.
Moni ane kunnes gomen
Ther heo gunnen drinen.13
And wha swa mihte iwenne
Wurthscipe of his gomene,14
Hine me15 ladde mide songe
At foren than leod kinge;
And the king, for his gomene,
Gaf him geren16 gode.

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Alle tha quenel

The icumen weoren there,
And alle tha lafdies,
Leoneden geond walles,
To bihalden tha duge then,
And that fole pleie.
This ilæste threo dæges,2
Suule gomes and swule plæghs,
Tha, at than veorthe dæie
The king gon to spekene3
And agaf his gode cnihten
All heore rihten ; 4

He gef seolver, he gæf gold,
He gef hors, he gef lond,
Castles, and clathes eke;
His monnen he iquende.5

[Extract from a Charter of Henry III., 4. D. 1258, in the common language of the time.]

Henry, thurg Godes fultome, King on Engleneloande, Lhoaverd on Yrloand, Duk on Norman, on Acquitain, Earl on Anjou, send I greting, to alle hise holde, ilærde and ilewede on Huntindonnschiere. Thæt witen ge wel alle, that we willen and unnen, that ure rædesmen alle other the moare del of heom, that beoth ichosen thurg us and thurg that loandes-folk on ure kineriche, habbith idon, and schullen don in the worthnes of God, and ure treowthe, for the freme of the loande, thurg the besigte of than toforen iseide rædesmen, &c.

Literal translation :-"Henry, through God's support, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, of Acquitain, Earl of Anjou, sends greeting to all his subjects, learned and unlearned, of Huntingdonshire. This know ye well all, that we will and grant, what our counsellors all, or the more part of them, that be chosen through us and through the land-folk of our kingdom, have done, and shall do, to the honour of God, and our allegiance, for the good of the land, through the determination of the beforesaid counsellors," &c.

THE RHYMING CHRONICLERS.

which he occasionally diversifies the thread of his story, are, in general, appropriate and dramatic, and not only prove his good sense, but exhibit no unfavourable specimens of his eloquence. In his description of the first crusade, he seems to change his usual character, and becomes not only entertaining, but even animated."*

Of the language of Robert's Chronicle, the following is a specimen, in its original spelling :

Engelond ys a wel god lond, ich wene of eche lond
best,

Y-set in the ende of the world, as al in the west.
The see goth hym al about, he stont as an yle.
Here fon heo durre the lasse doute, but hit be thorw
gyle

Of fole of the selve lond, as me hath y-seye wyle.
From south to north he ys long eighte hondred myle.
This is, of course, nearly unintelligible to all except
antiquarian readers, and it is therefore judged pro-
per, in other specimens, to adopt, as far as possible,
a modern orthography.

[The Muster for the First Crusade.]

A good pope was thilk time at Rome, that hecht1
Urban,

That preached of the creyserie, and creysed mony man.
Therefore he send preachers thorough all Christendom,
And himself a-this-side the mounts2 and to France

come;

And preached so fast, and with so great wisdom,
That about in each lond the cross fast me nome.3
In the year of grace a thousand and sixteen,
This great creyserie began, that long was i-seen.
Of so much folk nyme4 the cross, ne to the holy land go,
Me ne see no time before, ne suth nathemo.5
For self women ne beleved,6 that they ne wend thither
fast,

Ne young folk [that] feeble were, the while the voy-
age y-last.

So that Robert Curthose thitherward his heart cast,
And, among other good knights, ne thought not be
the last.

He wends here to Englond for the creyserie,
And laid William his brother to wed? Normandy,
And borrowed of him thereon an hundred thousand
mark,

To wend with to the holy lond, and that was some-
deal stark.

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The Earl Robert of Flanders mid him wend also,
And Eustace Earl of Boulogne, and mony good knight

thereto.

There wend the Duke Geoffrey, and the Earl Baldwin
there,

And the other Baldwin also, that noble men were,
And kings syth all three of the holy lond.

Layamon may be regarded as the first of a series of writers who, about the end of the thirteenth century, began to be conspicuous in our literary history, which usually recognises them under the general appellation of the RHYMING CHRONICLERS. The first, at a considerable interval after Layamon, was a monk of Gloucester Abbey, usually called from that circumstance ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, and who lived during the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. He wrote, in long rhymed lines (Alexandrines), a history of England from the imaginary Brutus to his own time, using chiefly as his authority the Latin history by Geoffrey of Monmouth, of which Wace and Layamon had already given Nor-The man French and Saxon versions.* The work is described by Mr Warton as destitute of art and imagination, and giving to the fabulous history, in many parts, a less poetical air than it bears in Geoffrey's prose. The language is full of Saxon peculiarities, which might partly be the result of his living in so remote a province as Gloucestershire. Another critic acknowledges that, though cold and prosaic, Robert is not deficient in the valuable talent of arresting the attention. "The orations with 1 "All the queens who were come to the festival, and all the ladies, leaned over the walls to behold the nobles there, and that folk play."

2 This lasted three days, such games and such plays.

3 Then, on the fourth day, the king went to council?

4 And gave his good knights all their rights or rewards. 5 He satisfied.

Robert's Chronicle, from its alluding to the canonisation, is supposed to have been written, at least in part, after 1297.

Earl Stephen de Blois wend eke, that great power had on hond,

And Robert's sister Curthose espoused had to wive.
There wend yet other knights, the best that were alive;
As the Earl of St Giles, the good Raymond,
And Niel the king's brother of France, and the Earl
Beaumond,

And Tancred his nephew, and the bishop also
Of Podys, and Sir Hugh the great earl thereto;
And folk also without tale,9 of all this west end
Of Englond and of France, thitherward gan wend,
Of Normandy, of Denmark, of Norway, of Britain,
Of Wales and of Ireland, of Gascony and of Spain,
Of Provence and of Saxony, and of Alemain,
Of Scotlond and of Greece, of Rome and Aquitain. * *

* Ellis.

1 Was called. 2 Passed the mountains-namely, the Alps.
3 Was quickly taken up. 4 Take. 5 Since never more.

6 Even women did not remain. 7 To wed, in pledge, in pawn.
8 With.
9 Beyond reckoning.

[The Siege of Antioch.]

Tho wend forth this company, with mony a noble

man,

And won Tars with strength, and syth Toxan.
And to yrene brig from thannen1 they wend,
And our lord at last to Antioch them send,
That in the beginning of the lond of Syrie is.
Anon, upon St Lucus' day, hither they come, i wiss,
And besieged the city, and assailed fast,
And they within again' them stalwartly cast.
So that after Christinas the Saracens rede nome,2
And the folk of Jerusalem and of Damas come,
Of Aleph, and of other londs, mid great power enow,
And to succoury Antioch fast hitherward drew.
So that the Earl of Flanders and Beaumond at last
Mid twenty thousand of men again them wend fast,
And smite an battle with them, and the shrewen3
overcome;

And the Christian wend again, mid the prey that they

nome.

In the month of Feverer the Saracens eftsoon
Yarked them a great host (as they were y-wont to
done),

And went toward Antioch, to help their kind blood,
The company of Christian men this well understood.
To besiege this castle their footmen they lete,
And the knights wend forth, the Saracens to meet ; * *
I-armed and a-horse well, and in sixty party,4
Ere they went too far, they dealt their company.
Of the first Robert Curthose they chose to chiefentain,
And of the other the noble Duke Humphrey of Al-
main ;

Of the thrid the good Raymond, the ferth the good man.
The Earl of Flanders they betook, and the fifth than
They betook the bishop of Pody, and the sixth, tho
The good Tancred and Beaumond, tho ner there namo.5
These twae had the maist host, that as standard was
there,

For to help their fellows, whan they were were.6
This Christian and this Saracens to-gather them
met,

And as stalwart men to-gather fast set,

Ac the Christians cried all on God, and good earnest

nome,

And, thorough the grace of Jesus Christ, the Paynims they overcome,

And slew to ground here and there, and the other flew

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So that at a narrow brig there adrent mony one. **
twelve princes there were dead,
That me cleped amirals, a fair case it was one
The Christians had of them of armour great won,
Of gold and of silver eke, and thereafter they nome
The headen of the hext masters, and to Antioch come,
And laid them in engines, and into the city them cast:
Tho they within i-see this, sore were they aghast ;
That their masters were aslaw, they 'gun dread sore,
And held it little worth the town to wardy more.
A master that was within, send to the Earl Beaumond,
To yielden up his ward, and ben whole and sound.
Ere his fellows were aware, he yeld him up there
The towers of the city that in his ward were.
Tho Beaumond therein was, his banner anon he let
rear;

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*

Tho the Saracens it i-see, they were some deal in fear,
And held them all overcome. The Christians anon

come,

And this town up this luther2 men as for nought nome,
And slew all that they found, but which so might flee,
And astored them of their treasure, as me might i-see.
Thus was the thrid day of June Antioch i-nome,
And, as all in thilk side, the Saracens overcome.

[Description of Robert Curthose.]

He was William's son bastard, as I have i-said ere
i-lome,3

And well i-wox4 ere his father to Englond come.
Thick man he was enow, but he nas well long,
Quarry5 he was and well i-made for to be strong.
Therefore his father in a time i-see his sturdy deed,6
The while he was young, and byhuld, and these words
said,

soonBy the uprising of God, Robelin, me shall i-see,
Curthose my young son stalward knight shall be.'
For he was some deal short, he cleped him Curthose,
And he ne might never eft afterward thilk name lose.
Other lack had he nought, but he was not well long;
He was quaint of counsel and of speech, and of body
strong.

And slew to ground here and there, ac the heathen side
Wax ever wersh7 and wersh of folk that come wide.
So that this Christianmen were all ground ney.
Tho Beaumond with his host this great sorrow y-sey,
He and Tancred and their men, that all wersh were,
Smite forth as noble inen into the battle there,
And stirred them so nobly, that joy it was to see;
So that their fellows that were in point to flee,
Nome to them good heart, and fought fast enow.
Robert first Curthose his good swerd adrew,
And smote ane up the helm, and such a stroke him gave,
That the skull, and teeth, and the neck, and the

shouldren he to-clave.

The Duke Godfrey all so good on the shouldren smote

one,

And forclave him all that body to the saddle anon.
The one half fell adown anon, the other beleved still
In the saddle, theigh it wonder were, as it was God's will;
This horse bear forth this half man among his fellows
each one,

And they, for the wonder case, in dread fell anon.
What for dread thereof, and for strength of their fon,8
More joy than there was, nas never i-see none.

In beginning of Lent this battle was y-do,
And yet soon thereafter another there come also.
For the Saracens in Paynim yarked folk enow,
And that folk, tho it gare was,9 to Antioch drew.
Tho the Christians it underget, again they wend fast,
So that they met them, and smit an battle at last.

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In the list of Rhyming Chroniclers, Robert of Gloucester is succeeded by ROBERT MANNING, a Gilbertine canon in the monastery of Brunne or Bourne, in Lincolnshire (therefore usually called Robert de Brunne), who flourished in the latter part of the reign of Edward I., and throughout that of Edward II. He translated, under the name of a Handling of Sins, a French book, entitled Manuel des Pêches, the composition of William de Wadington, in which the seven deadly sins are illustrated by legendary stories. He afterwards translated a French chronicle of England, which had been written by Peter de Langtoft, a contemporary of his own, and an Augustine canon of Bridlington in Yorkshire. Manning has been characterised as an industrious, and, for the time, an elegant writer, possessing, in particular, a great command of rhymes. The verse adopted in his chronicle is shorter than that of the Gloucester monk, making an approach to the octosyllabic stanza of modern times. The following is one of the most spirited passages, in reduced spelling:

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[The interview of Vortigern with Rowen, the beautiful Daughter of Hengist.]

Hengist that day did his might,
That all were glad, king and knight.
And as they were best in glading,
And well cup-shotten, knight and king,
Of chamber Rowenen so gent,
Before the king in hall she went.
A cup with wine she had in hand,
And her attire was well farand.2
Before the king on knee set,
And in her language she him gret3
'Laverd king, wassail!' said she.
The king asked, What should be.
On that language the king ne couth5
A knight her language lerid in youth,
Bregh hight that knight, born Breton,
That lerid the language of Saxon.
This Bregh was the latimer,6
What she said told Vortiger.
'Sir,' Bregh said, Rowen you grects,
And king calls and lord you leets.7
This is their custom and their gest,
When they are at the ale or feast,
Ilk man that loves where him think,
Shall say, Wassail! and to him drink.
He that bids shall say, Wassail !
The tother shall say again, Drinkhail !
That says Wassail drinks of the cup,
Kissing his fellow he gives it up.
Drinkhail he says, and drinks thereof,
Kissing him in bourd and skof.'

The king said, as the knight gan ken,?
'Drinkhail,' smiling on Rowenen.
Rowen drank as her list,9

And gave the king, syne him kissed.
There was the first wassail in dede,
And that first of fame gaed.10

Of that wassail men told great tale,
And wassail when they were at ale,
And drinkhail to them that drank,
Thus was wassail ta'en to thank.
Fell sithes that maidin ying
Wassailed and kissed the king.
Of body she was right avenant,
Of fair colour with sweet semblant.
Her attire full well it seemed,
Mervelik the king she queemed.12
Of our measure was he glad,

For of that maiden he wax all mad.
Drunkenness the fiend wrought,
Of that paen 13 was all his thought.
A mischance that time him led,
He asked that paen for to wed.
Hengist would not draw o lite,
Bot granted him all so tite.

And Hors his brother consented soon.
Her friends said, it were to done.
They asked the king to give her Kent,
In dowery to take of rent.

Upon that maidin his heart was cast;
That they asked the king made fast.
I ween the king took her that day,
And wedded her on paen's lay.14

He loved peace at his might;
Peaceable men he held to right.
His lond Britain he yodel throughout,
And ilk country beheld about,
Beheld the woods, water, and fen,
No passage was maked for men,
No high street through countrie
Ne to borough ne city.
Through muris, hills, and vallies,
He made brigs and causeways,
High street for common passage,
Brigs o'er waters did he stage.
The first he made he called it Fosse ;
Throughout the land it goes to Scoss.
It begins at Tottenness,

And ends unto Catheness.
Another street ordained he,

And goes to Wales to Saint Davy.
Two causeways o'er the lond o-bread,
That men o'er-thort in passage yede.
When they were made as he chese,
He commanded till all have peace;
All should have peace and freedame,
That in his streets yede or came.
And if were any of his
That fordid3 his franchise,
Forfeited should be all his thing,
His body taken to the king.

[Praise of Good Women.]
(From the Handling of Sins.)
Nothing is to man so dear
As woman's love in good manner.
A good woman is man's bliss,
Where her love right and stedfast is.
There is no solace under heaven,
Of all that a man may neven,4
That should a man so much glew,5
As a good woman that loveth true:
Ne dearer is none in God's hurd,6
Than a chaste woman with lovely wurd.

ENGLISH METRICAL ROMANCES.

THE rise of Romantic Fiction in Europe has been traced to the most opposite quarters; namely, to the Arabians and to the Scandinavians. It has also been disputed, whether a politer kind of poetical literature was first cultivated in Normandy or in Provence. Without entering into these perplexing questions, it may be enough to state, that romantic fiction appears to have been cultivated from the eleventh century downwards, both by the troubadours of Provence and by the Norman poets, of whom some account has already been given. As also already hinted, a class of persons had arisen, named Joculators, Jongleurs, or Minstrels, whose business it was to wander about from one mansion to another,

[Fabulous Account of the first Highways in England.] reciting either their own compositions, or those

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of other persons, with the accompaniment of the harp. The histories and chronicles, already spoken of, partook largely of the character of these romantic tales, and were hawked about in the same manner. Brutus, the supposed son of Æneas of Troy, and who is described in those histories as the founder of the English state, was as much a hero of romance 2 Breadthways. 3 Broke, destroyed. 5 Delight. 6 Family.

1 Went.

4 Know.

as of history. Even where a really historical person was adopted as a subject, such as Rollo of Normandy, or Charlemagne, his life was so amplified with romantic adventure, that it became properly a work of fiction. This, it must be remembered, was an age remarkable for a fantastic military spirit: it was the age of chivalry and of the crusades, when men saw such deeds of heroism and self-devotion daily performed before their eyes, that nothing which could be imagined of the past was too extravagant to appear destitute of the feasibility demanded in fiction. As might be expected from the ignorance of the age, no attempt was made to surround the heroes with the circumstances proper to their time or country. Alexander the Great, Arthur, and Roland, were all alike depicted as knights of the time of the poet himself. The basis of many of these metrical tales is supposed to have been certain collections of stories and histories compiled by the monks of the middle ages. "Materials for the superstructure were readily found in an age when anecdotes and apologues were thought very necessary even to discourses from the pulpit, and when all the fables that could be gleaned from ancient writings, or from the relations of travellers, were collected into story books, and preserved by the learned for that purpose."

It was not till the English language had risen into some consideration, that it became a vehicle for romantic metrical tales. One composition of the kind, entitled Sir Tristrem, published by Sir Walter Scott in 1804, was believed by him, upon what he thought tolerable evidence, to be the composition of Thomas of Ercildoun, identical with a person noted in Scottish tradition under the appellation of Thomas the Rhymer, who lived at Earlston in Berwickshire, and died shortly before 1299. If this had been the case, Sir Tristrem must have been considered a production of the middle or latter part of the thirteenth century. But the soundness of Sir Walter's theory is now generally denied. Another English romance, the Life of Alexander the Great, was attributed by Mr Warton to Adam Davie, marshall of Stratfordle-Bow, who lived about 1312; but this, also, has been controverted. One only, King Horn, can be assigned with certainty to the latter part of the thirteenth century. Mr Warton has placed some others under that period, but by conjecture alone; and in fact dates and the names of authors are alike wanting at the beginning of the history of this class of compositions. As far as probability goes, the reign of Edward II. (1307-27) may be set down as the era of the earlier English metrical romances, or rather of the earlier English versions of such works from the French, for they were, almost without exception, of that nature.

Sir Guy, the Squire of Low Degree, Sir Degore, King Robert of Sicily, the King of Tars, Impomedon, and La Mort Artur, are the names of some from which Mr Warton gives copious extracts. Others, probably of later date, or which at least were long after popular, are entitled Sir Thopas, Sir Isenbras, Gawan and Gologras, and Sir Bevis. In an Essay on the Ancient Metrical Romances, in the second volume of Dr Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, the names of many more, with an account of some of them, and a prose abstract of one entitled Sir Libius, are given. Mr Ellis has also, in his Metrical Romances, given prose abstracts of many, with some of the more agreeable passages. The metrical romances flourished till the close of the fifteenth century, and their spirit affected English literature till a still later period. Many of the ballads handed down amongst the common people are supposed to have been derived from them.

* Ellis.

[Extract from the King of Tars.]

describes his conduct on the return of the messengers with this

The

[The Soudan of Damascus, having asked the daughter of the
king of Tarsus in marriage, receives a refusal. The extract
intelligence, and some of the subsequent transactions.
language of this romance greatly resembles that of Robert of
ginning of the fourteenth century.]
Gloucester, and it may therefore be safely referred to the be-

The Soudan sat at his dess,1
Y-served of the first mess;

They comen into the hall
To-fore the prince proud in press,
Their tale they tolden withouten lees,
And on their knees 'gan fall;

And said, 'Sire, the king of Tars
Of wicked words is not scarce,

Heathen hound he doth thee call;
And ere his daughter he give thee till
Thine heart-blood he will spill,

And thy barons all !'
When the Soudan this y-heard,
As a wood man he fared,3

His robe he rent adown;

He tare the hair of head and beard,
And said he would her win with swerd,
By his lord St Mahoun.

The table adown right he smote,
Into the floor foot hot,4

He looked as a wild lion.
All that he hit he smote downright,
Both sergeant and knight,

Earl and eke baron.
So he fared forsooth aplight,
All a day and all a night,

That no man might him chast :5
A-morron, when it was daylight,
He sent his messengers full right,
After his barons in haste,

That they comen to his parliament,
For to hearen his judgment,

Both least and maist.6
When the parliament was playner,
Thus bespake the Soudan fier',7

And said to 'em in haste:
'Lordings,' he said, 'what to rede ?8
Me is done a great misdeed,

Of Tars the Christian king;
I bade him both lond and lede,
To have his doughter in worthy weed,
And spouse her with my ring.

And he said, withouten fail,
Erst9 he would me slay in batail,
And mony a great lording.
Ac certes10 he shall be forswore,
Or to wroth-hail that he was bore,11
But he it thereto bring.
Therefore, lordings, I have after you sent,
For to come to my parliament,

To wit of you counsail.'
And all answered with good intent,
They would be at his commandement
Withouten any fail.

And when they were all at his hest,12
The Soudan made a well-great feast,
For love of his batail.

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