Note 153 — from the Origins To the Renaissance (continued 2)
Reading edition
Thus com lo Engelond · in to Normandies hond; And the Normans ne couthe speke tho · bot hor owe speche, And speke French as hii dude atom · and hor children dude also teche, So that heiemen of this lond · that of hor blod come Holdeth alle thulke speche · that hii of hom nome; Vor bote a man conne Frenss · me telth of him lute, Ac lowe men holdeth to engliss · and to hor owe speche yute. Ich wene ther ne beth in al the world · contreyes none That ne holdeth to hor owe speche · bote Engelonde one.
W. A. Wright, "Metrical Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester" (Rolls), 1887, vol. ii. p. 543. Concerning Robert, see below, p. 122.