Some of lore or other matter, not worth a myte.”
The next is from the prologue to Robert Copland’s “Seven Sorrows that Women have when theyr husbandes be deade,” which consists of a conversation between Copland and a customer, “Quidam”—
“Quidam. Hast thou a boke of the wydowe Edith,
That hath begyled so many with her wordes,
Or els suche a geest that is ful of bourdes?
Let me se, I wyll yet waste a peny
Upon suche thynges and if thou have eny.
Copland. How say ye by these, wyll ye bestowe a grote?
Quidam. Ye syr so muche? nay, that I shorowe my cote,
A peny I trow is ynough on bokes,