Note 70 — 273
Reading edition
Printed in Hartshorne’s Ancient Metrical Tales, p. 35. Professor Kittredge has called my attention to a stanza of Occleve’s which shows that the belief that Edward III went about in disguise among his subjects prevailed not long after the king’s death.
O worthy kyng benigne, Edwarde the laste, Thow hadest ofte in thyne hart a drede impressede Whiche that thyne humble goste fulle sore agaste, And to knowe yf thow cursed were or blessede, Amonge the peple ofte hast thow the dressede Into the contrey, in symple aray alone, To heere what men seide of thy persone.
Occleve, De Regimine Principum, ed. Wright (Roxb. Club), p. 92.