The verification of all these quotations would not repay the labour it
would involve; but in most cases where the experiment has been tried,
the result has been fairly creditable to the old author.

The biblical allusions may be taken as typical. There are references to
the "bible," "holy scripture," "Ecclesiastes," and "Canticles." There
also occur the names of Adam, Eve, Abel, Cain, Noah, Ham, Lot, David,
Abner, Joab, Abishai, Solomon, Isaiah, Evilmerodach, Belshazzar, Darius,
Cyrus, Tobias, John the Baptist, and Paul. The citations are not all
literally exact. Solomon had not a very good opinion of his fellow-men;
but the comprehensive estimate of the number of fools with which he is
credited on p. 3 is not to be found in the writings canonically
attributed to him. The quotation from the Canticles on p. 25 may be
compared with the translation in the Wicliffite verfion made by Nicholas
de Hereford, A. D. 1380. This passage is rendered: "His left hond is
vndur myn heed; and his ri3t hond shal biclippe me" ("Song of Solomon,"
ii. 6). Clip is still current in Lancashire, in the sense of embrace.

The extract from St. Paul, with which the prologue to the second edition
opens, is no doubt intended for the following passage: "All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim.
iii. 16).

In the reference to the Athenians (p. 16), we seem to hear an echo of
the words: "For all the Athenians and strangers that were there spent
their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing
" (Acts xvii. 21).

The most curious reference to a biblical personage is that relating to
Evilmerodach (p. 10). Cessoles seems to have been the first to associate
the name of the son of Nebuchadnezzar with the invention of the game of
chess. The biblical references to Evilmerodach are few; they throw no
light on the reason of his selection by the mediaeval scribe for a bad
pre-eminence of parricide. The epithet of _joli_ applied to the king has
an odd effect, followed as it is by the narrative of his most unfilial
conduct. Dr. Van der Linde shows how widely the legend spread. Lydgate
evidently hesitates between the divided authority of Guido--that is,
Colonna, the author of the Troy book--and Cessoles, whom he quotes
through Jacobus de Vitriaco.[23]

Amongst the authors not identified are "Crete" (p. 133), and Diomedes
(p. 10). T