The Romance of Thomas of Erceldoune.
(Fytte I.)
See pp. [45]-7. In preparing the text, I have reduced in as simple a manner as possible the fifteenth-century spelling to modern forms. Dr. J.A.H. Murray's parallel texts (see note on p. [46]) have been consulted, but mainly I have followed the oldest of them—that of the Thornton MS. in Lincoln Cathedral Library. The footnotes explain all words save those that are or ought to be familiar to every reader.
[1] l. 1. endris, last.
[2] l. 6. meaned, moaned.
[3] l. 7. berèd, sounded. The woodwale is some kind of wood-bird.
[4] l. 14. wrable and ivry, ? wriggle and twist, i.e. in the attempt to describe her.
[6] Swilk, such.
[7] l. 21. roelle-bone; a commonplace in early poetry, as the material for saddles; meaning unknown.