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52. Reign of Henry III, 1272 to 1216.—Example from an old ballad entitled Richard of Almaigne; which Percy says was "made by one of the adherents of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, soon after the battle of Lewes, which was fought, May 14, 1264."—Percy's Reliques, Vol. ii.

"Sitteth alle stille, and herkneth to me;

The kyng of Almaigne, bi mi leaute,

Thritti thousent pound askede he

For te make the pees in the countre,

Ant so he dude more.

Richard, thah thou be ever trichard,

Trichten shalt thou never more."

53. In the following examples, I substitute Roman letters for the Saxon. At this period, we find the characters mixed. The style here is that which Johnson calls "a kind of intermediate diction, neither Saxon nor English." Of these historical rhymes, by Robert of Gloucester, the Doctor gives us more than two hundred lines; but he dates them no further than to say, that the author "is placed by the criticks in the thirteenth century."—Hist. of Eng. Lang., p. 24.

"Alfred thys noble man, as in the ger of grace he nom

Eygte hondred and syxty and tuelue the kyndom.

Arst he adde at Rome ybe, and, vor ys grete wysdom,

The pope Leo hym blessede, tho he thuder com,

And the kynges croune of hys lond, that in this lond gut ys:

And he led hym to be kyng, ar he kyng were y wys.

An he was kyng of Engelond, of alle that ther come,

That vorst thus ylad was of the pope of Rome,

An suththe other after hym of the erchebyssopes echon."

"Clere he was god ynou, and gut, as me telleth me,

He was more than ten ger old, ar he couthe ys abece.

Ac ys gode moder ofte smale gyftes hym tok,

Vor to byleue other pie, and loky on ys boke.

So that by por clergye ys rygt lawes he wonde,

That neuere er nere y mad to gouerny ys lond."

ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER: Johnson's Hist. of E. L., p. 25.

54. Reign of John, 1216 back to 1199.—Subject of Christ's Crucifixion.

"I syke when y singe for sorewe that y se

When y with wypinge bihold upon the tre,

Ant se Jhesu the suete ys hert blod for-lete

For the love of me;

Ys woundes waxen wete, thei wepen, still and mete,

Marie reweth me."

ANON.: Bucke's Gram., p. 142.