(_d_) =Laurence Minot=, who probably flourished about 1350, appears as the author of eleven political songs, which were first published in 1795. The pieces, which sing of the exploits of Edward III, are violently patriotic in temper, and have a rudely poetical vigor. Their meters are often highly developed. =2. Religious and Didactic Poetry.= Like most of the other poetry of the period, this kind was strongly imitative, piously credulous, and enormous in length. (_a_) The _Ormulum_, by a certain =Orm=, or =Ormin=, is usually dated at 1200. As it survives it is an enormous fragment, twenty thousand lines in length, and composed in the East Midland dialect. It consists of a large number of religious homilies addressed to a person called Walter. Of poetical merit the poem is destitute; but it is unique in the immense care shown over a curious and complicated system of spelling, into which we have not the space to enter. Its metrical form is noteworthy: a rigidly iambic measure, rhymeless, arranged in alternate lines of eight and seven syllables respectively. This regularity of meter is another unique feature of the poem, which we illustrate by an extract: An Romanisshe Kaserrking A Roman Kaiser-king Wass Augusstuss [gh]ehatenn Was called Augustus And he wass wurrthenn Kaserrking And he became Kaiser-king Off all mannkinn onn eorthe, Of all mankind on earth, And he gann thenkenn off himmsellf And he gan think of himself And off hiss micle riche. And of his muckle kingdom, And he bigann to thenkenn tha, And he began to think Swa summ the goddspell kithethth Just as the gospel tells Off thatt he wollde witenn wel Of what he would well know Hu mikell fehh himm come, How much money [fee] would come to him [GH]iff himm off all hiss kinedom. If to him of all his kingdom Illc mann an penning [gh]æfe. Each man a penny gave. (_b_) _The Owl and the Nightingale_, the date of which is commonly given as 1250, is attributed to =Nicholas of Guildford=. The poem consists of a long argument between the nightingale, representing the lighter joys of life, and the owl, which stands for wisdom and sobriety. The poem is among the most lively of its kind, and the argument tends to become heated. In meter it is rhyming octosyllabic couplets, much more regular than was common at the time.