I


PROLOGUE

BY WAY OF DEDICATION

Those to whom God has given the gift of comely speech, should not hide
their light beneath a bushel, but should willingly show it abroad. If
a great truth is proclaimed in the ears of men, it brings forth fruit
a hundred-fold; but when the sweetness of the telling is praised of
many, flowers mingle with the fruit upon the branch.

According to the witness of Priscian, it was the custom of ancient
writers to express obscurely some portions of their books, so that
those who came after might study with greater diligence to find the
thought within their words. The philosophers knew this well, and were
the more unwearied in labour, the more subtle in distinctions, so that
the truth might make them free. They were persuaded that he who would
keep himself unspotted from the world should search for knowledge,
that he might understand. To set evil from me, and to put away my
grief, I purposed to commence a book. I considered within myself
what fair story in the Latin or Romance I could turn into the common
tongue. But I found that all the stories had been written, and
scarcely it seemed the worth my doing, what so many had already done.
Then I called to mind those Lays I had so often heard. I doubted
nothing--for well I know--that our fathers fashioned them, that men