made a brydill to his hors, to ber him in bataylle, and thorgh vertue there of he overcam his enemyes, and wan all the lond of Asye the lesse, that is to seye Turkye, Ermonye the lasse and the more, and from Surrye to Jerusalem, from Arabye to Persie, from Mesopotayme to the kingdom of Halappee, i from Egypte the highe and the lowe, and all the othere kyngdomes unto the depe of Ethiope, and in to Ynde the lesse that thanne was cristerne. And there was in that tyme many gode holy men and holy Heremytes of whom the book of Fadres lyfes speketh and thei ben now in paynemes and Sarazines honds. And in mydds of that chirche is a compas, in the whiche Joseph of Aramathie leyde the body of our Lord whan he had taken him down of the croys, and wer he wassched the wounds of our Lord. And that compas, sey men is the mydds of the world. And in the chirche of the Sepulchre on the north syde is the place wher oure Lord was put in preson. For he was in preson in many places. And ther is a partye of the cheyne that he was bounden with. And ther he appered first to Marie Magdaleyne, whan he was rysen, and sche wendej that he had ben a gardener. In the chirche of Seynt Sepulcr was wont to be chanons of the ordr of Seynt Augustyn, and hadden a Priour, but the Patriark was her sovereyn. And with oute the dores of the chirche, on the right syde as men gon upward xviij. greces, seyd our Lord to his moder, Mulier, ecce filius tuus,' that is to seye, 'Woman, lo thi sone.' And after that he seyde to John his disciple, Ecce Mater tua,' that is to seyne Lo behold thi moder.' 6 And theise words he seyde on the cros. And on theise greces went our Lord whan he bar the cros on his schulder. under this grees is a chapell and in that chapell syngen prestes, yndyenes, that is to seye prests of Ynde, noght after oure law, but after her, and all wey thei maken her sacrement of the awtier, seyenge Pater noster and

k

i Aleppo. * Steps.

VOL. II.

1

And

othere prayeres there with. With the whiche preyeres thei seye the words that the sacrement is made of. For thei ne knowe not the addicions that many Popes han made, but thei synge with gode devocion. And there ner is the place where that oure Lord rested him whan he was wery for berynge of the cros. And zee schull understonde that before the chirche of the Sepulcre is the cytee more feble than in ony other partie, for the grete playn that is betwene the chirche and the citee. And toward the est syde, with oute the walles of the cytee, is the Vale of Josaphath, that toucheth to the walles as though it wer a large dych. And above that Vale of Josaphath out of the cytee is the chirche of Seynt Stevene wher he was stoned to deth. And there beside is the gildenem zate that may not be opened, be the which zate our Lord entred on Palmesonday upon an asse, and the zate opened azenst him whan he wolde go unto the Temple. And zit apperen the steppes of the asses fect in iij. places of the degrees that ben of full harde ston. And before the chirche of Seynt Sepulcr toward the south, a cc. paas is the gret Hospital of Seynt John, of the whiche the Hospitleres hadd here foundacon. And with inne the Palays of the seke men of that Hospitall be sixe score and iiij. pileres of ston. And in the walles of the hows, with oute the nombre aboveseyd, there be liiij. pileres that beren up the hows. And fro that Hospitall to go toward the est is a full fayr chirche that is clept Notre Dame la graund. And than is there another chirche right nygh that is clept Notre Dame de Latyne. And there were Marie Cleophes and Marie Magdaleyne and teren here heer," whan our Lord was peyned in the cros.

The following is the account of Mahomet in the fourteenth chapter.

And zee schull vnderstonde that Machamete was born in Arabye, that was first a pore knaue that kept Cameles

m Gilded.

n Tore their hair.

b

that wenten with Marchantes for marchandise, and so befell that he wente with the marchandes in to Egipt, and thei were thanne cristene in tho a partyes. And at the desartes of Arabye he wente in to a chapell wher a Eremyte duelte. And whan he entred in to the chapell, that was but a lytill and a low thing, and had but a lityl dor' and a low, than the entree began to wexe so gret and so large, and so high, as though it had be of a gret mynstr, or the zate of a paleys. And this was the first myracle the Sarazins seyn that Machomete dide in his zouthe. After began he for to wexe wyse and riche ; and he was a gret Astronomer; and, after, he was gouernour and prince of the lond of Corrodane, and he gouerned it full wisely, in such manere, that whan the Prince was ded, he toke the lady to wyfe that highte Gadrige. And Machomete fell often in the grete sikeness that men calle the fallynge euyll. Wherfore the lady was full sory that euere sche toke him to husbonde. But Machomete made hire to beleeue that all tymes when he fell so, Gabriel the angel cam for to speke with him, and for the grete light and brightnesse of the angell, he myghte not susteyne him fro fallynge. And therefore the Sarazines seyn that Gabriel cam often to speke with him. This Machomete regned in Arabye, the zeer of our lord Jhesu Crist sixe hundred and ten, and was of the generacion of Ysmael, that was Abrahames sone that he gat upon Agar his chamberer; and therefore ther be Sarazines that be clept Ismaelytenes; and sume Agarzenes, of Agar, and the othere propurly be clept Sarrazines of Sarra; and summe be clept Moabytes, and summe Amonytes, for the two sones of Loth, Moab and Amon, that he begatt on his daughtres, that were aftirward grete erthely princes. And also Machomete loued wel a gode heremyte that duelled in the desertes, a myle from Mount Synay in the weye that men gon fro Arabye toward Caldee, and toward Ynde,

с

a Those.

b Was called.

• Chambermaid.

od day iorney fro the See wher the Marchaunts of Venyse comen often for marchandize. And so often wente Machomete to this heremyte that all his men were wrothe, for he wolde gladly here this heremyte preche, and make his men wake all nyght; and therefore his men thoughten to putte the heremyte to deth; and so befell vpon a nyght that Machomete was dronken of god wyn and he fell on slepe, and his men toke Machomete's swerd out of his schethe, whils he slepte, and there with thei slowgh this heremyte and putte his swerd al blody in his schethe azen. And at morwe whan he fond the heremeyte ded, he was fully sory and wroth, and wolde haue don his men to deth, but thei all with on accord [said] that he him self had slayn him whan he was dronken and schewed him his swerd all blody, and he trowed that thei hadden seyd soth. e And than he cursed the wyn, and all tho that drynken it. And therefore Sarrazines that be deuout drynken neuer no wyn, but sum drynkon it priuyly, for zif thei dronken it openly thei scholde ben reproued. But thei drynken gode beuerage, and swete and noryfshynge, that is made of Galamell, and that is that men maken sugr' of that is of right gode sauor, and it is gode for the breest. Also it befalleth sumtyme that cristene men become Sarazines outher for pouertee or for sympleness, or elles for her owne wykkedness. And therefore the Archiflamyn or the Flamyn, os f our Echebisshopp or Bisshop, whan he resceyueth hem seyth thus: La ellec olla syla Machomet rores alla, that is to seye, "There is no God but on and Machomete his messager."

We have already had occasion to quote a short passage from John de Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon, in speaking of the new mode of teaching Latin in schools, through the medium of English instead of French, which Trevisa tells us had been

f As.

d One.

• Sooth, true.

introduced shortly before the time at which he was then writing, which was the year 1385. His translation of Higden, which was undertaken at the request of Thomas Lord Berkeley, to whom he was chaplain, is stated at the end to have been finished in 1387. It was printed by Caxton in 1482, with a continuation bringing down the narrative from 1357, at which it had been terminated by Higden, to 1460; but, besides that Trevisa's text is extensively altered in this edition both by insertions and omissions, his language is modernized throughout. "I, William Caxton, a simple person," says the worthy printer, in his Preface, "have endeavoured me to writ first over all the said book of Polychronicon, and somewhat have changed the rude and old English, that is to wit, certain words which in these days be neither used ne understood." Yet not quite a century had elapsed since the translation had been executed by Trevisa, no doubt in the current English of his day; a curious evidence of the rapid growth of the language in the earlier half of the fifteenth century. Besides the 'Polychronicon,' Trevisa rendered several other works from the Latin into his mother tongue; and some of his other translations are still preserved in manuscript. Of a version of the whole of both the Old and New Testament, however, which he is said to have executed, nothing is now known.

The oldest English translation we have of the Bible is that of Wiclif. John de Wiclif, or Wycliffe, died at about the age of sixty in 1384, and his translation of the Scriptures from the Vulgate appears to have been finished two or three years before. The whole work still exists in manuscript; but only the New Testament