Macedoyne, supposed by the poet to be a city, is thus described in page 135:
The kyng sygh, of that cité,
That they no myghte duyré:
They dasscheth heom in at the gate,
And doth hit schutte in hast.
The tayl they kyt of hundrodis fyve,
To wedde heo lette heore lyve.
Theo othre into the wallis stygh,
And the kynges men with gonnes sleygh.[1]
As to French words, bonny is seen for the first time in page 161, where bonie londis are promised. The word defyghe, riming with spie (page 288), shows that the guttural was not sounded in Southern Mercia in 1300; dereworth is now making way for precious, when jewels are mentioned. In the line at page 316, ‘theo wayte gan a pipe blawe;’ the French substantive shows how the watchman was to become a musician.
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The above specimens will give some idea of the sources whence mainly comes our Standard English. A line drawn between Chelmsford and York will traverse the shires, where the new form of England's speech was for the most part compounded by the old Angles and the later Norse comers. Almost half-way between these two towns lived the man, whose writings are of such first-rate importance that they are worthy of having a Chapter to themselves.[2] After his
- ↑ Contrast these obsolete-looking lines with those given at page 163 of my work; the latter are the product of the Danelagh.
- ↑ The Mercian Danelagh has claims upon architects as well as upon philologers. A great treat awaits the traveller who shall go from Northampton to Peterborough and Stamford, and so to Hull, turning now and then to the right and left. Most of the noble churches he will see, in his journey of 120 miles, date from the time between 1250 and 1350.
