hand{20},
As Walys was, and als Irland,
That he put till sic threllage{21},
That thai, that ware off hey parage{22},
Suld ryn on fwte, as rybalddale{23},
Quhen ony folk he wald assale.
Durst nane of Walis in batale ryd,
Na yhit, fra evyn fell{24}, abyde
Castell or wallyd towne within,
Than{25} he suld lyff and lymmys tyne{26}.
Into swylk thryllage{27} thame held he
That he owre-come with his powst{e'}{28}.

{Footnotes:
14: _bethought_
15: _especially_
16: _taken heed_
17: _without delay_
18: _laboured_
19: _sovereignty_
20: _bordering_
21: _such subjection_
22: _high rank_
23: _rabble_
24: _after evening fell_
25: _but_
26: _lose_
27: _thraldom_
28: _power_ }

In this extract, as in that from the _Metrical Psalter_ above, there
is a striking preponderance of monosyllables, and, as in that case
also, the final _-e_ is invariably silent in such words as _oure_,
_stere_, _lede_, _yhere_, _thare_, _were_, etc., just as in modern
English. The grammar is, for the most part, extremely simple, as at
the present day. The chief difficulty lies in the vocabulary, which
contains some words that are either obsolete or provincial. Many of
the obsolete words are found in other dialects; thus _stere_, to
control, _perfay_, _fonden_ (for _fanden_), _chesen_, to choose,
_feloun_, adj. meaning "angry," _take kepe_, _soiourne_, to tarry,
_travaile_, to labour, _parage_, rank, all occur in Chaucer;
_barnage_, _reaut{'e}_, in _William of Palerne_ (in the Midland dialect,
possibly Shropshire); _oughte_, owned, possessed, _tyne_, to lose, in
_Piers the Plowman_; _umbethinken_, in the _Ormulum_; _enkerly_ (for
_inkkyrly_), in the alliterative _Morte Arthure_; _march_, to border
upon, in _Mandeville_; _seignorie_, in _Robert of Gloucester_. Barbour
is rather fond of introducing French words; _rybalddale_ occurs in no
other author. _Threllage_ or _thryllage_ may have been coined from
_threll_ (English _thrall_), by adding a French suffix. As to the
difficult word _nyt_, see _Nite_ in the _N.E.D._

In addition to the poems, etc., already mentioned, further material
may be found in the prose works of Richard Rolle of Hampole,
especially his translation and exposition of the Psalter, edited by
the Rev. H.R. Bramley (Oxford, 1884), and the Prose Treatises edited
by the Rev. G.G. Perry for the Early English Text Society. Dr Murray
further calls atten