But how can the resemblance of the leading features and the discrepancies in particulars be explained? I think the most probable conjecture is, that an old poem, now lost, existed, with which the authors of Sir Eglamour and of Sir Torrent were acquainted; but not having a MS. of it, or knowing it by heart, both of them made up their minds to rewrite the story in a well-known metre, changing, omitting, adding whatever they liked, even filling up the gaps in their memories by invention. Both of them recollected the first half of the story better than the second.

That this poem was an English one seems to be shown by a good many verbal coincidences in both poems; these I accordingly suppose to have belonged to the lost original. They are, indeed, too frequent to be counted simply amongst the large stock of conventional phrases which are to be met with in every poem of this kind. Here they are:—

[Eglamour.]Torrent.
The boke of Rome thus can telle. 408, 561, 886 As the boke of Rome tellys. 187, 924, 1450, 1924
Ther ys a jeaunt here besyde, 478 That sorowe doyth ferre and wyde. On us and odur moo. There ys a gyante here besyde, In ale thys covntre fare and wyde, No man on lyve levythe hee. 960
And alle prayed for that knyght. 573 For hym all̴ they pray. 108
Alle that in the cyté ware. 598 All̴ that in) the sytte were. 1047
Alle that cuntrey was fulle fayne, 640 That he homeward was comyn ageyne. Gentilmen were blith and ffayn), 1098 That he in helth was comyn) agayn).
Aftur sopur, as y yow telle, He wendyd to chaumber with Crystyabelle. 670, 671 After mete, as I you tell̴, To speke with mayden Desonell̴ To her chamber he went. 1358-60
That lady was not for to hyde, 673-75 She sett hym on hur beddys syde, And welcomyd home that knyght. The damysell̴ so moche of pride, Set hym on) her bed-syde, And said ‘welcom) verament.’ 1363
So gracyously he come hur tylle, 679 Of poyntes of armys he schewyd hur hys fylle, 680 That there they dwellyd alle nyȝt. Such gestenyng he a-right, That there he dwellid all̴ nyȝt With that lady gent. 1364-66
A golde rynge y schalle geve the, 715 Kepe yt wele my lady free, Yf Cryste sende the a chylde! 717 Thes gold rynges I shall̴ yeve the, Kepe them well̴, my lady ffre, Yf god a child vs send! 1396-1398
Doghtur, into the see schalt thou, 803 Yn a schypp alone, And that bastard that to the ys dere! There fore thou shalt in to the see And that bastard with-in the! 1793
Sche prayed hur gentylwomen so free, Grete wele my lord, whon ye hym see! 826, 827 She said ‘knyghtis and ladyes gent, Grete well̴ my lord sir Torrent, Yeff ye hym) euer sene! 1837-39
Hur yonge sone away he bare. 842 A way he bare her yong son). 1871
Thys chylde ys comyn of gentylle blode, Where that ever that he was tane. 863 This chylde is come of gentill̴ teme, Where euer this beest hym) ffond. 1923
Kepe we thys lady whyte as flowre, And speke we of syr Egyllamowre. 950 Leve we now that lady gent, And speke we of sir Torrent. 2080-81
The knyght swownyd in that tyde. 975 Swith on sownyng there he fell̴. 2093
Be the XV yerys were comyn and gone, The chylde that the grype hath tane, Waxe bothe bold and stronge. 1018-20 And be the VII yere were gone, The child that the liberd had tane, Found hym his fill̴ off ffyght. 2233-35
Yn yustyng ne in turnament 1021 Ther myght no man withsytt hys dynte, But to the erthe them thronge. 1023 With heve tymbyr and ovyrryde 40 Ther myght no man) hys dent abyde, But to the erthe he them strake. 42
Be thre wekys were comyn to ȝende, Yn the londe of Egypt can they lende. 1057 But ore thre wekes were com̅yn) to end, To Portynggall̴ gan he wend. 373
Gentilmen that herde of thys crye, Thedur come they redylye. 1195-96 Gret lordys that herith this crye, Theder come richely. 2431-32
Syr Egyllamour knelyd on his kne, ‘A Lorde God ȝylde hyt the! 1288-89 Torent knelid vppon) his knee 2575 And said ‘God yeld you, lordys ffree!
In swounynge than felle that lady free, ‘Welcome, syr Eglamour, to me! She said ‘welcom), my lord sir Torent! And so be ye, my lady gent! In sownyng than fell̴ she. 2505
Eglamour, Linc. MS. Note on 1267:
Grete lordis thane told scho sone. Gret lordys told she sone. 2539

Perhaps some more light will be thrown on this question when we get the much-wanted critical edition of Sir Eglamour; but I fear that the ‘secret history attached to the source of these romances’ will even then remain to be unravelled. What I have proposed has no title to a better name than a conjecture.

[§ 5.] THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE EDITION.

As to the only MS. in which this romance has come down to us, I have mentioned before that it is exceedingly corrupt; many conjectures, more or less sure, were necessary in order to restore metre, rhyme, and meaning; the greater part of them seemed worthy to be entered in the text, the rest being offered in the notes. No attempt has been made to introduce a uniform character of dialect, considering the quite unsettled state of orthography in early times. The only exceptions are where the sounds are fully determined by the rhyme. In general the orthography of the MS. has been reproduced as accurately as possible. The contractions used by the scribe are expanded and printed in italics. At the beginning of a new period, or a proper name within the line, capitals have been introduced. From l. 1200, where the numeration of my text no longer coincides with that of Halliwell’s edition, the line-numbers of the latter are added in brackets.

The fragments which I have added as an appendix to the text have been consulted in all cases of difficulty, and proved of no little service in correcting the blunders of the manuscript; they contain indeed a somewhat better text than the MS., though they are by no means free from clerical errors. A detailed comparison gives the following result:

In fifty-one lines the text of the fragments is evidently correcter than the MS.:

Fragments.Manuscript.
The kyng of Nazareth sent hym me, Torent, I wot-saue hym on the. 466 The kyng of Portynggall̴ seyd, ‘So mot I the! Torrent, I wet-saffe of the.
The kyng wolde fayne that he ded were, And he wyst nat on what manere. 472 The kyng wolde fayne that he wer ded, And hym wyst in what maner.
To Torent that was true as stele, 477 To Torrent trew ase styll̴,
In what londe that they brede. 487 In what lond they ne bred.
He bestrode a noble stede. 502 Tho he bestrod another stede.

Cf. 489, 498, 507-10, 512-15, 822, 825, 831, 833, 834, 837, 845, 848, 851, 929, 932, 933, 935, 947, 948, 951, 952, 958, 965, 968-70, 1807, 1808, 1810, 1827, 1828, 1831, 1834-36, 1844, 1854, 1866.