[12] Printed in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol i. pp. 170-188. On the date of this poem, see the Biographia Britannica Literaria (by the editor of the present work), Anglo-Saxon period, pp. 395, 396.
[13] Printed in the Altdeutsche Blätter von Moriz Haupt und Heinrich Hoffmann, vol. ii. pp. 99-120, and in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i. pp. 208-227.
[14] Discovered in a MS. at Worcester by Sir Thomas Phillipps, who published a small edition of it, in folio.
[15] Edited by Sir Frederick Madden, for the Society of Antiquaries.
[16] Many instances of this will be found in my Specimens of Lyric Poetry, composed in England in the reign of Edward the First (Percy Society Publication).
[17] Such as William and the Werwolf, edited by Sir Frederick Madden; the Romance of Jerusalem; that of Alexander; &c.
[18] MS. Harl. 2253. In this manuscript, and in several others which I have seen the rhyming poems in short lines, whether in English, Latin, or French, are arranged in this manner; and I have met with instances in which part of a poem has been arranged in this way, and other parts of the same poem have been arranged in short lines, to suit the scribe's convenience. I have a strong impression of having met with an early English manuscript in which a fragment of alliterative verse was written in short couplets.
[19] Text I. is from the edition now offered to the public: Text II. from that edited by Dr. Whitaker.
[20] The title of the second impression is, "The Vision of Pierce Ploughman, nowe the seconde time imprinted by Roberte Crowley, dwellynge in Elye rentes in Holburne. Whereunto are added certayne notes and cotations in the mergyne gevynge light to the Reader, &c. Imprinted at London by Roberte Crowley, dwellyng in Elye rentes in Holburne. The yere of our Lord M.D.L. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum." 4to, 125 leaves.
[21] The title consists merely of the words "Pierce the Ploughman's Crede," upon a tablet in the midst of a wood-cut which had evidently been brought from the continent. A fac-simile of the most important part of the cut is given in Mr. Payne Collier's Bibliographical Catalogue of the Library of Lord Francis Egerton, p. 235. The colophon, on a separate leaf, is "Imprinted at London. By Reynold Wolfe. Anno Domini M.D.L.III." It consists of 16 leaves in 4to.