O wikke Fame!...
Eek, thogh I mighte duren ever,
354
That I have doon, rekever I never ...
And that I shal thus juged be—
"Lo, right as she hath doon, now she
359
Wol do eftsones, hardily."'
If the reader will now turn to p. [54], l. 45, and continue down to l. 81 on the next page, he will find the whole of this passage turned into prose, with numerous cunning alterations and a few insertions, yet including all such words as are printed above in italics! That is, he will find all except the proverb in ll. 290, 291; but this also is not far off; for it occurs over the leaf, on p. [56], at l. 115, and again at p. [22], ll. 44-45! Surely, this is nothing but book-making, and the art of it does not seem to be difficult.
[§ 13]. The author expressly acknowledges his admiration of Troilus (p. [140], l. 292); and it is easy to see his indebtedness to that poem. He copies Chaucer's curious mistake as to Styx being a pit (p. [3], l. 80, and the note). He adopts the words let-game (p. [18], l. 124) and wiver (p. [129], l. 27). He quotes a whole line from Troilus at p. [27], l. 78 (see note); and spoils another one at p. [34], ch. viii. l. 5, a third at p. [80], l. 116, and a fourth at p. [128], ch. vii. l. 2. We can see whence he took his allusion to 'playing raket,' and to the dock and nettle, at p. [13], ll. 166, 167; and the phrase to 'pype with an yvè-lefe' at p. [134], l. 50.