[893] W. de Worde's edit. is in 1512. See Ames, p. 92. Mr. G.'s copy is "¶ Imprinted at London by me Wylliam Copland."
[894] He is said in the story-book to be the grandfather of Godfrey of Boulogne, through whom I suppose the duke made out his relation to him. This duke was beheaded May 17, 1521, 13 Hen. VIII.
[895] Jest, MS.
[896] Probably corrupted for—"Says but as he Saw."
[897] Yearded, i.e. buried, earthed, earded. It is common to pronounce "Earth," in some parts of England "Yearth," particularly in the north.—Pitscottie speaking of James III. slain at Bannockbourn, says, "Nae man wot whar they yearded him."
[898] "us." MS. In the 2d line above, the MS. has "bidding."
[899] And in that of Robert of Gloucester. See the next note.
[900] Consisting of four Anapests (˘ ˘ ¯) in which the accent rests upon every third syllable. This kind of verse, which I also call the burlesque Alexandrine (to distinguish it from the other Alexandrines of eleven and fourteen syllables, the parents of our lyric measure: see examples, pp. 151, 152, &c.), was early applied by Robert of Gloucester to serious subjects. That writer's metre, like this of Langland's, is formed on the Saxon models (each verse of his containing a Saxon distich), only instead of the internal alliterations adopted by Langland, he rather chose final rhymes, as the French poets have done since. Take a specimen:
"The Saxons tho in ther power, tho thii were so rive,
Seve kingdoms made in Engelonde, and suthe but vive:
The king of Northomberlond, and of Eastangle also,
Of Kent, and of Westsex, and of the March, therto."
Robert of Gloucester wrote in the western dialect, and his language differs exceedingly from that of other contemporary writers, who resided in the metropolis, or in the midland counties. Had the Heptarchy continued, our English language would probably have been as much distinguished for its different dialects as the Greek; or at least as that of the several independent states of Italy.