E lo cer vay denan, que l saup mot ben guizar,
De l’autra part de l’aygua l’a fayt ben aribar,
E dieus a fayt Flagot en son estat tornar.”
This bank which formerly was steep and inaccessible, but is now covered with water, is called cliff by our poet. In the Ashmolean poem the first miracle is not mentioned; cf. Syr Ferumbras, ll. 3943, et seq.
p. 81, l. [2811]. he blessed him in Godis name. The phrase occurs also in Syr Ferumbras, l. 3961, but is not to be found in the French text. Mr. John Shelley (in his paper printed in the Annual Report and Transactions of the Plymouth Institution, IV. i. 71) took this phrase as a proof that the original of the Sowdan could not have been the French poem. But it must be stated that as in the Sowdan, l. 2807, so in the French version Richard is said to have addressed a prayer to God:
“Escortrement commence Jhesu à reclamer:
Glorieus sire pere, qui te laissas pener
En la crois beneoite pour ton pule sauver,
Garisiés hui mon cors de mort et d’afoler,
Que je puisse Karlon mon message conter.”