“ But better than tales of love is the story of the Virgin who is man’s best lover, therefore in her honour he will write this book, founded on the steadfast ground of the Holy Trinity. He writes in English for the love of English people of merry England, so that those who know no French may understand. ”

“ The history is treated under seven ages. The first four include the period from the creation of the world to the successors of Solomon, the fifth deals with Mary and the birth and childhood of Jesus, the sixth with the lives of Christ and the chief apostles, and with the finding of the holy cross, and the seventh with Doomsday. Four short poems follow, more in some MSS. The bulk of the poem is written in rhyming couplets of short lines of four accents, and maintains a fair level throughout. The narrative is enlivened by many legends and much entertaining matter drawn from various sources ”

“ CURSOR MUNDI, an English poem in the Northern dialect dating from the 13th century. It is a religious epic of 24,000 lines “over-running” the history of the world as related in the Old and New Testaments. “Cursur o werld man aght it call, For almast it over-rennes all.” The author explains in his prologue his reasons for undertaking the work. Men desire to read old romances of Alexander, Julius Caesar, Greece, Troy, Brut, Arthur, of Tristram, Sweet Ysoude and others. ”