747. _lettre_; here the singular form is used, but it is a matter of
indifference. Exactly the same variation occurs in Barbour's Bruce, ii.
80:--
'And, among othir, _lettres_ ar gayn
To the byschop off Androwis towne,
That tauld how slayn wes that baroun.
The _lettir_ tauld hym all the deid,' &c.
This circumstance, of exchanging the messenger's letters for forged ones,
is found in Matthew Paris's account of the Life of Offa the first; ed.
Wats, pp. 965-968.