THE PROLOGUE.

'Lordlinges that be now here,
If ye wille listen and lere,
All the story of England,
As Robert Mannyng written it fand,
And in English has it shewed,
Not for the leared but for the lewed;[1]
For those that on this land wonn
That the Latin ne Frankys conn,[2]
For to have solace and gamen
In fellowship when they sit samen,
And it is wisdom for to witten
The state of the land, and have it written,
"What manner of folk first it wan,
And of what kind it first began.
And good it is for many things,
For to hear the deeds of kings,
Whilk were fools, and whilk were wise,
And whilk of them couth[3] most quaintise;
And whilk did wrong, and whilk right,
And whilk maintained peace and fight.
Of their deedes shall be my saw,
In what time, and of what law,
I shall you from gre to gre,[4]
Since the time of Sir Noe:
From Noe unto Eneas,
And what betwixt them was,
And from Eneas till Brutus' time,