Ici diverse la matyere,
Entre ceus qui solent cunter,
E de le cunte Tristran parler.”
“I will not say too much about it,
So diverse is the matter,
Among those who are in the habit of telling
And relating the story of Tristran.”
This is a specimen of the language which was in use among the nobility of England, in the ages immediately after the Norman conquest. The following is a specimen of the English that existed at the same time, among the common people. Robert de Brunne, speaking of his Latin and French authorities, says:
“Als thai haf wryten and sayd
Haf I alle in myn Inglis layd,