from his own works, and leave to use his redaction of Quia Amore Langueo; to Messrs. Macmillan for confirming permission for the extracts from FitzGerald, Christina Rossetti, and T. E. Brown, and particularly for allowing me to insert the latest emendations in Lord Tennyson's non-copyright poems; to the proprietors of Mr. and Mrs. Browning's copyrights and to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. for a similar favour, also for a copyright poem by Mrs. Browning; to Mr. George Allen for extracts from Ruskin and the author of Ionica; to Messrs. G. Bell & Sons for poems by Thomas Ashe; to Messrs. Chatto & Windus for poems by Arthur O'Shaughnessy and Dr. George MacDonald, and for confirming Mr. Bret Harte's permission; to Mr. Elkin Mathews for a poem by Mr. Bliss Carman; to Mr. John Lane for two poems by William Brighty Rands; to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge for two extracts from Christina Rossetti's Verses; and to Mr. Bertram Dobell, who allows me not only to select from James Thomson but to use a poem of Traherne's, a seventeenth-century singer rediscovered by him. I must beg the forgiveness of any one whose rights I have overlooked. To mention all who in other ways have furthered me is not possible in this short Preface; which, however, must not conclude without a word of special thanks to Professor F. York Powell, whose help and wise counsel have been as generously given as they were eagerly sought, adding me to the number of those many who have found his learning to be his friends' good fortune.

A. T. Q. C.

Cuccu, cuccu, well singes thu, cuccu:

Ne swike thu naver nu;

Sing cuccu, nu, sing cuccu,
Sing cuccu, sing cuccu, nu!

C. 1250

Thude] loud. swike] cease.

awe] ewe. Ihouth] loweth.

sterteth] leaps.

BYTUENE Mershe ant Averil

When spray biginneth to spring,

The lutel foul hath hire wyl

On hyre lud to synge:
Ich libbe in love-longinge
For semlokest of alle thynge,

He may me blisse bringe,
Icham in hire bandoun.
An hendy hap ichabbe y-hent,
Ichot from hevene it is me sent,

From alle wymmen my love is lent
Ant lyht on Alisoun.

On heu hire her is fayr ynoh,

Hire browe broune, hire eye blake;
With lossom chere he on me loh;

With middel smal ant wel y-make;

Bote he me wolle to hire take
For to buen hire owen make,

Long to lyven ichulle forsake
Ant feye fallen adoun.

An hendy hap, etc.

Nihtes when I wende and wake,

For-thi myn wonges waxeth won;

C. 1300

Levedi, al for thine sake
Longinge is y-lent me on.

In world his non so wyter mon
That al hire bountè telle con ;

Hire swyre is whittore than the swon,
Ant feyrest may in toune.

An hendy hap, etc.

Icham for wowyng al for-wake,
Wery so water in wore ;
Lest any reve me my make
Ichabbe y-yerned yore.
Betere is tholien whyle sore
Then mournen evermore.
Geynest under gore,
Herkne to my roun-

An hendy hap, etc.

3.

Spring-tide

LENTEN ys come with love to toune,

With blosmen ant with briddes roune,
That al this blisse bryngeth;

Dayes-eyes in this dales,

Notes suete of nyhtegales,
Vch foul song singeth;

2. levedi] lady.

wise a man.

with vigils.

y-lent me on] arrived to me.

swyre] neck. may] maid.

c. 1300

so wyter mon] so for-wake] worn out

so water in wore] as water in a weir. reve] rob. y-yerned yore] long been distressed. tholien] to endure. geynest under gore] comeliest under woman's apparel. roun] tale, lay. 3. to toune] in its turn.

The threstlecoc him threteth oo,

Away is huere wynter wo,

When woderove springeth;
This foules singeth ferly fele,
Ant wlyteth on huere winter wele,
That al the wode ryngeth

The rose rayleth hire rode,
The leves on the lyhte wode
Waxen al with wille;
The mone mandeth hire bleo,
The lilie is lossom to seo,
The fenyl ant the fille;
Wowes this wilde drakes,
Miles murgeth huere makes;

Ase strem that striketh stille,
Mody meneth; so doth mo
(Ichot ycham on of tho)

For loue that likes ille.

The mone mandeth hire lyht,
So doth the semly sonne bryht,
When briddes singeth breme;
Deawes donketh the dounes,
Deores with huere derne rounes
Domes forte deme;

him threteth oo] is aye chiding them.

huere] their.

woderove]

woodruff. ferly fele] marvellous many. wlyteth] whistle, or

look. rayleth hire rode] clothes herself in red.

thyme. wowes] woo. miles] males.

striketh] flows, trickles.

murgeth] make merry.

mandeth hire

bleo] sends forth her light.

lossom to seo] lovesome to see.

fille]

makes] mates.

mody meneth] the

moody man makes moan.

so doth mo], so do many.

on of tho]

dank.

one of them.

deores] dears, lovers.

breme] lustily.

deawes] dews.

donketh] make

huere derne rounes] their secret

tales.

domes forte deme] for to give (decide) their decisions.