Od trestote s’autre desserte,’
are quite in accordance with the rules of French verse, but very few such lines will be found in the Mirour. Some there are, no doubt, as 3327:
‘D’envie entre la laie gent,’
or 3645:
‘Que nuls en poet estre garny.’
So also 2925, 3069, 4310 &c., but they are exceptional and attract our notice when they occur. An illustration of the difference between the usage of our author and that of the Continent is afforded by the manner in which he quotes from Hélinand’s Vers de la Mort. The text as given in the Hist. Litt. de la France, xviii. p. 88, is as follows (with correction of the false reading ‘cuevre’):
‘Tex me couve dessous ses dras,
Qui cuide estre tous fors et sains.’
Gower has it
‘Car tiel me couve soubz ses dras,