Note 4 — ENGLISH VERSE
Reading edition
It is interesting to compare with these irregular lines another stanza of similar form, of about the same date, from an Elegy on Edward I., in Böddeker's Collection, p. 140, and Wright's Political Songs, p. 246.
Alle þat beoþ of huerte trewe, a stounde herkneþ to my song of duel, þat deþ haþ diht vs newe (þat makeþ me syke ant sorewe among!) of a knyht, þat wes so strong, of wham god haþ don ys wille; me þuncheþ þat deþ haþ don vs wrong, þat he so sone shal ligge stille.
The comparatively great regularity of the measures in this second stanza is due to the fact that it was under the syllable-counting influence of the French, being in fact a translation of a French original.