Mes entre eus n'eurent enfant
Mes qe vne fille bele;
Argentille out non la pucele.
Rois Ekenbright fut enfermez,
Et de grant mal forment greuez;
Bien siet n'en poet garrir.
[Here _Argentille_ is _Goldborough_, and _Ekenbright_ answers to
_Athelwold_. This quotation, and others below, shewing the passages of
the French text which most nearly resemble the English poem, are from a
MS. in the Herald's College, marked E. D. N. No. 14. See the Preface.]
[118. _Wat shal me to rede_, lit. what shall be for a counsel to me. See
_Rede_ in the Glossary to _William of Palerne_.
130. _And don hem of þar hire were queme_, lit. and do them off where it
should be agreeable to her; i.e. and keep men at a distance as she
pleased. Such seems to me the meaning of this hitherto unexplained line.