cion_, celestial _seylesteall_, and so on.
These spellings are as demonstrably wrong as those of _consepeet_
(concipiet) and _Gloria in exselsis_, with which the scribe favours us.
It is ungracious to find fault with Professor Manly after appropriating
some of his stage directions and his identifications of some French
words, but I cannot think an editor is right in reprinting a text of
which he is obliged to confess 'in general, the sound will be a better
guide to the meaning than the spelling.' In any case I am sure that this
is not the way to win new readers for our earlier literature.

As a matter of literary honesty, as well as for my own comfort, I may be
permitted to state that this is the only volume of the new edition of
the _Garner_ for which I am responsible or can take credit. I have eaten
at least one dinner intended for my friend Mr. A.F. Pollard; my
wastepaper basket has received applications for subscriptions which
prove his reputation for generosity; I have even received a cheque,
which the fact that it is reckoned forgery under some circumstances for
a man to sign his own name forbade my cashing; and I have recently been
more congratulated as the author of his _Henry VIII._ than I have ever
been on any book of my own. So far from being identical, I regret to say
that we are not even related; but as we seem to be as much mistaken as
the two Dromios, I hope that our appearance side by side in this new
edition of the _Garner_ may help to distinguish rather than further
confound us.

ALFRED W. POLLARD.

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE, iii

INTRODUCTION, vii

John Lydgate (?). The Siege of Harfleur and the Battle of Agincourt, 1

Thomas Occleve. The Letter of Cupid, 14

A Little Geste of Robin Hood and his Meiny and of the proud Sheriff
of Nottingham, 35

English Carols. From a Manuscript at Balliol College, Oxford, 83

The Examination of Master William Thorpe, priest, of heresy, before
Thomas Arundell, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1407, 90

The Examination of Sir John Oldcastle, 175

On Translating the Bible. Chapter XV. of the Prologue to