Ice hafe don swa summ thu bad
    Annd forthedd te thin wille
    Ice hafe wennd uintill Ennglissh
    Goddspelless hallghe lare
    Affterr thatt little witt tatt me
    Min Drihhten hafethth lenedd

    I have done so as thou bade,
    And performed thee thine will;
    I have turned into English
    Gospel’s holy lore,
    After that little wit that me
    My lord hath lent.

The poem is written in Alexandrine verses, which may be divided into octosyllabic lines, alternating with those of six syllables, as in the extract given above.  He is critical with regard to his orthography, as is evinced in the following instructions which he gives to his future readers and transcriber: 

    And whase willen shall this booke
    Eft other sithe writen,
    Him bidde ice that he’t write right
    Swa sum this booke him teacheth

    And whoso shall wish this book
    After other time to write,
    Him bid I that he it write right,
    So as this book him teacheth.

The critics have observed that, whereas the language of Layamon shows that it was written in the southwest of England, that of Orm manifests an eastern or northeastern origin.  To the historical student, Orm discloses the religious condition and needs of the people, and the teachings of the Church.  His poem is also manifestly a landmark in the history of the English language.

ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER.—­Among the rhyming chroniclers of this period, Robert, a monk of Gloucester Abbey, is noted for his reproduction of the history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, already presented by Wace in French, and by Layamon in Saxon-English.  But he is chiefly valuable in that he carries the chronicle forward to the end of the reign of Henry III.  Written in West-country English, it not only contains a strong infusion of French, but distinctly states the prevailing influence of that language in his own day: 

    Vor bote a man couthe French, me tolth of him well lute
    Ac lowe men holdeth to Englyss, and to her kunde speche zute.

    For unless a man know French, one talketh of him little;
    But low men hold to English, and to their natural speech yet.

The chronicle of Robert is written in Alexandrines, and, except for the French words incongruously interspersed, is almost as “barbarous” Saxon as the Brut of Layamon.

LANGLAND—­PIERS PLOWMAN.—­The greatest of the immediate heralds of Chaucer, whether we regard it as a work of literary art, or as an historic reflector of the age, is “The Vision of Piers Plowman,” by Robert Langland, which appeared between 1360 and 1370.  It stands between the Semi-Saxon and the old English, in point of language, retaining the alliterative feature of the former; and, as a teacher of history, it displays very clearly the newly awakened spirit of religious inquiry, and the desire for religious reform among the English people:  it certainly was among the means which aided in establishing a freedom of religious thought in England, while as yet the continent was bound in the fetters of a rigorous and oppressive authority.