Of John Lydgate’s Historie of Troye, which was finished about the year 1420, this is the beginning: [edit. 1555.]
“O myghty Mars, that with thy sterne lyght
“In armys hast the power and the myght,
“And named arte from easte tyl occident
“The myghty lorde, the god armipotent,
“That with the shininge of thy stremes rede
“By influence dost the brydell lede
“Of chivalrie, as soveraygne and patron–.”
The Hystorie of King Boccus and Sydracke, &c. printed in 1510, and written by Hugh Campeden in the reign of Henry VI. i.e. some time between the year 1423 and 1461, begins thus:
“Men may finde in olde bookes,
“Who soo yat in them lookes,
“That men may mooche here,
“And yerefore yff yat yee wolle lere–.”
Of Thomas Chestre’s poems, entitled Sir Launfale, written about the same time, these are the first lines:
“Le douzty Artours dawes
“That held Engelond in good lawe,
“Ther fell a wondyr cas
“Of a ley that was ysette–.”
The first lines that I have met with of Hardynge’s Chronicle of England unto the reign of king Edward the Fourth, in verse, [composed about the year 1470, and printed in 1543, 4to] are as follows:
