| Dane Felyp was mayster þat tyme | ||
| Þat y began þys Englyssh ryme. | ||
| Þe yeres of grace fyl b þan to be | b fell | |
| A þousynd and þre hundrede and þre. | ||
| In þat tyme tumede y þys | ||
| On Englysshe tunge out of Frankys, | ||
| Of a boke as y fonde ynne; | ||
| Men clepyn þe boke ‘Handlyng Synne.’ |
NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE.
(A.D. 1338.)
Now of kyng Robin salle I ʓit speke more,
& his broþer Tomlyn, Thomas als it wore,
& of Sir Alisandere, þat me rewes sore,
Þat boþe com in skandere, for dedes þei did þore.
Of arte he had þe maistrie, he mad a corven kyng
In Cantebrige to þe clergie, or his broþer were kyng.
Siþen was never non of arte so þat sped,
Ne bifore bot on, þat in Cantebrigge red.
Robert mad his fest, for he was þore þat tyme,
& he sauh alle þe gest, þat wrote & mad þis ryme.
Sir Alisander was hie dene of Glascow,
& his broþer Thomas ʓed spiand ay bi throw,
Where our Inglis men ware not in clerke habite,
& non wild he spare, bot destroied also tite.
Þorgh þe kyng Robyn þei ʓede þe Inglis to spie,
Here now of þer fyn þam com for þat folie.[1]
- ↑ Hearne's Langtoft's Chronicle, ii. 336. The lines were written by Manning, some thirty years after his Handlyng Synne, at a time when he lived further to the North. The Northern dialect is most apparent. We here read of his getting a glimpse of the Bruce family at Cambridge, about the year 1300 or earlier.
