The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse, by Various

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Title: Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse

Author: Various

Commentator: Alfred W. Pollard

Release Date: January 4, 2010 [EBook #30851]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CENTRE
for
REFORMATION
and
RENAISSANCE
STUDIES

VICTORIA
UNIVERSITY

TORONTO

FIFTEENTH CENTURY
PROSE AND VERSE

_AN ENGLISH GARNER_

FIFTEENTH CENTURY
PROSE AND VERSE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
ALFRED W. POLLARD

WESTMINSTER
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO., LTD.
1903

Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE.

PREFACE

Of the contents of the present volume about a half now appears in the
ENGLISH GARNER for the first time. Professor Arber (whose ready
acquiescence in my meddlings I wish cordially to acknowledge) had
gathered his good corn wherever he could find it without concerning
himself with the claims of the different centuries; and his specimens of
Lydgate and Hoccleve, Robin Hood Ballads, and trials for Lollardy,
needed as much more added to them to make up a homogeneous volume in the
arrangement now adopted. My additions consist of some Christmas Carols,
a Miracle Play, a Morality, and a number of the interesting prologues
and epilogues of William Caxton; also two extracts on the art of
translation and the need for its exercise, and some depositions in a
theatrical lawsuit. The extracts are of the end of the fourteenth
century, but are germane to our period as heralding the numerous
translations by which it was distinguished; the lawsuit is of the
sixteenth century, but throws light on the transition from municipal to
private enterprise in theatrical matters which had then been for some
time in progress. As these pieces are included for their matter, not for
their style, I hope they will