[1] Speed's "History," 995.
[2] This forlorn volume of Anthony's "Stalls" is now a gem placed in
the caskets of black-letter. This poetic romance, by its excessive
rarity,--the British Museum is without a copy,--has obtained most
extraordinary prices among our collectors. A copy of the first
edition at the Roxburgh sale reached 84_l._, which was sold at Sir M.
M. Sykes' for half the price; later editions, for a fourth. A copy
was sold at Heber's sale for 25_l._ It may, however, relieve the
distress of some curious readers to be informed that it may now be
obtained at the most ordinary cost of books. Mr. SOUTHEY, with
excellent judgment, has preserved the romance in his valuable volume
of "Specimens of our Ancient Poets," from the time of Chaucer; it is
to be regretted, however, that the text is not correctly printed, and
that the poem has suffered mutilation--six thousand lines seem to
have exhausted the patience of the modern typographer. [A more
perfect and accurate edition, from that printed in 1555, was
published by the Percy Society in 1845, under the editorship of Mr.
Thos. Wright.]