196
The Sources of Standard English.
Charity, a well-known passage, which may be compared with our Version of the Bible put forth three hundred years after the Handlyng Synne. Next comes a peep into English life in Edwardian days; next, a tale of a Norfolk bondeman or farmer; last of all comes the bard's account of himself and the date of his rimes. Had the Handlyng Synne been a German work, marking an era in the national literature, it would long ago have been given to the world in a cheap form. But we live in England, not in Germany. I could not have gained a sight of the poem, of which a few copies have been printed for the Roxburgh Club, had I not happened to live within reach of the British Museum.[1]
Page 150.
| Y shall ʓow telle as y have herde | ||
| Of þe byssbope Seynt Roberde, | ||
| Hys toname a ys Grostest | a surname | |
| Of Lynkolne, so seyþ þe gest.b | b story | |
| He lovede moche to here þe harpe; | ||
| For mannys wyt hyt makyþ sharpe; | ||
| Next hys chaumbre, besyde hys stody, | ||
| Hys harpers chaumbre was fast þerby. | ||
| Many tymes be nyʓtys and dayys, | ||
| He had solace of notes and layys. | ||
| One askede hym onys,c resun why | c once | |
| He hadde delyte yn mynstralsy: |
- ↑ The Early English Text Society has printed a vast quantity of Fifteenth Century English, tales about Arthur, and what not; but they have not given us the Medytaciuns on the Soper of our Lorde, which is said to be another work of Robert of Brunne's. Its philological value must be very great; it may contain forms which as yet have not been found in any writer before Mandeville.
