From the PREFACE. THIS little book is a popular anthology. All the poems in it have been modernized, for the book has to be a first introduction to the riches of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, for readers who know no Old nor Middle English. The oldest poems have had to be translated. In doing this I have endeavoured to use chiefly such words as were in our language at the date at which the poem was written, and to use them only in the sense in which they were used in those days. Where a line is not an exact rendering of the original I have notified the fact. Where reconstruction of a line could be avoided by retention of one or two old words I have retained them, and put their meaning in a footnote. Where a final e was clearly meant to be sounded, I have kept it where the metre of the modernized version needed it, though I have unfortunately been unable to make the use of this e uniform; it is not uniform in the later originals. A sounded e I have written thus: é. My chief aim has been to keep the spirit and character of these poems, whilst making it possible for modem readers to understand them. Some of the lines in these poems do not scan, but I have generally thought it better to leave them as they were, so long as they were intelligible, than to paraphrase them or to insert adverbs and adjectives solely for the sake of the metre. I would remind readers that a plural of the verb in "th," and an infinitive in "en," are both permissible in Middle English. I have included no descriptions of Hell, no treatises on the seven deadly sins, nor directions for hearing Mass. As these are long poems they do not come within the scope of this book. Nor have been included, through lack of space, specimens of the cheerful drinking songs of the time, of the hunting songs, of the nonsense poems, of the elaborate satires on woman's talkativeness, and of poems on the subject "Earth to Earth". Notwithstanding these omissions, I believe this anthology to be really representative of the mediæval mind. The greater number of these poems are put into modern English for the first time, and I sincerely hope that this little collection may do something towards directing the attention of English men and women to the wealth of material left behind by their pre-Reformation and pre-Renaissance ancestors. Nearly all of these poems have been printed. They are to be found in the , publications of the Early English Text Society, and in the collections of the Percy Society, of Wright, Boeddeker, and Messrs. Sidgwick and Jackson. I have omitted references to these, for anyone conversant with Middle English writings would know them. To others they would be useless. My sincere thanks are due to The Very Rev. Father Cuthbert, O.S.E.C., for the use of his version of Thomas de Hales' "Luve Eon," and of his translation of "The Song of the Passion"; and to Miss Louise Imogen Guiney for kindly encouragement and timely hints.
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