In nearly every respect, thus, the Englishman of to-day is formed, and receives his chief features, under the Angevin princes Edward III. and Richard II.: practical, adventurous, a lover of freedom, a great traveller, a wealthy merchant, an excellent sailor. We have had a glimpse of what he is; let us now listen to what he says.
FOOTNOTES:
[384] "De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ," book iii. treatise ii. chap. xv. (Rolls, vol. ii. p. 385.) No fine if the defunct is English: "Pro Anglico vero et de quo constari possit quod Anglicus sit, non dabitur murdrum."
[385] "Statutes of the Realm," 14 Ed. III. chap. 4.
[386] "Si rex fuerit litteratus, talis est.... Forma juramenti si Rex non fuerit litteratus: Sire, voilez vous graunter et garder ... les leys et les custumes ... &c." "Statutes of the Realm," sub anno 1311, vol. i. p. 168.
[387] "Rotuli Parliamentorum," vol. iii. p. 422; see below, p. 421.
[388] Ralph Higden, "Polychronicon" (Rolls), vol. ii. p. 158. "Hæc quidem nativæ linguæ corruptio provenit hodie multum ex duobus quod videlicet pueri in scolis contra morem cæterarum nationum, a primo Normannorum adventu derelicto proprio vulgari, construere gallice compelluntur; item quod filii nobilium ab ipsis cunabulorum crepundiis ad gallicum idioma informantur. Quibus profecto rurales homines assimilari volentes ut per hoc spectabiliores videantur, francigenare satagunt omni nisu."
[389] "A volume of Vocabularies, from the Xth to the XVth Century," ed. Thomas Wright, London, 1857, 4to, pp. 143 ff. See also P. Meyer, "Romania," vol. xiii. p. 502.
Vus avet la levere et le levere
E la livere et le livere.
La levere si enclost les dens;
Le levre en boys se tent dedens,
La livere sert en marchaundye,
Le livere sert en seynt eglise.