2 OCTOBER 1915, Page 10

Worthies and the heroes of romance. The present edition (Humphrey

Milford, 2s. 0d. net) has been based by Professor

I. Gollancz upon two manuscripts in the British Museum. Nothing is certain as to the date or authorship of the poem, though Professor Gollancz is inclined to assign it to the author of Winnere and Wastouire, which can be dated pot much later than 1350. The poem opens with an elaborate account of a deer-stalking, from which we take the followink lines, with a few alterations of spelling:—

" I waittod wisely the wyndo by waggynge of leaves,

Stalked° full stilly no stikkes to break, And erepite to a erabtree and covered me ther-undere s.

Then I must stand ale I stode, and stirre no fete farther, For had I my.ntid [attempted to move] or moved° or made any signs. All my sport had been hosts that I had longs waittede. But gnattes greately me grieved° and gnewen [gnawed] myn eyen-...

Then I hauled to the hook [pulled the trigger of the crossbow) and the hart smote,

And happenyd that I hitt hym behind the lefts shoulder, That the blood beast out upon bothe the vbs....

bode ale a dore-nayle dorm was he fallen.'

The rest of the poem hardly equals the earlier part in its vivacity.