TEST I.--PROPORTION OF ENGLISH TO FRENCH.--As regards these fragments, one thing strikes us at once, viz. the much greater _diffuseness_ of the translation in fragment B, as may be seen from the following table:-- A.--English, 1705 lines; French, 1678; as 101.6 to 100. B.--English, 4105 lines; French, 3491; as 117.5 to 100. C.--English, 1888 lines; French, 1849; as 102.1 to 100. Thus, in A and C, the translation runs nearly line for line; but in B, the translator employs, on an average, 11 lines and three-quarters for every 10 of the original. § 7. TEST II.--DIALECT.--But the striking characteristic of Fragment B is the use in it of a Northern dialect. That this is due to the author, and not merely to the scribe, is obvious from the employment of Northern forms in rimes, where any change would destroy the rime altogether. This may be called the Dialect-test. Examples abound, and I only mention some of the most striking. 1. Use of the Northern pres. part. in _-and_. In l. 2263, we have _wel sittand_ (for _wel sitting_), riming with _hand_. In l. 2708, we have _wel doand_ (for _wel doing_), riming with _fand_. Even _fand_ is a Northern form. Chaucer uses _fond_, riming with _hond_ (Cant. Ta. A 4116, 4221, &c.), _lond_ (A 702, &c.); cf. the subj. form _fond-e_, riming with _hond-e_, _lond-e_, _bond-e_ (B 3521). 2. In l. 1853, we have the rimes _thar_, _mar_ (though miswritten _thore_, _more_ in MS. G.), where the Chaucerian forms _there_, _more_, would not rime at all. These are well-known Northern forms, as in Barbour's Bruce. So again, in l. 2215, we find _mar_, _ar_ (though _mar_ is written as _more_ in MS. G.). In l. 2397, we find _stat_, _hat_; where _hat_ is the Northern form of Chaucer's _hoot_, adj., 'hot.' So also, in 5399, we have North. _wat_ instead of Ch. _wot_ or _woot_, riming with _estat_. In l. 5542, we find the Northern _certis_ (in place of Chaucer's _certes_), riming with _is_. 3. Chaucer (or his scribes) admit the use of the Northern _til_, in place of the Southern _to_, very sparingly; it occurs, e.g. in Cant. Ta. A 1478, before a vowel. But it never occurs after its case, nor at the end of a line. Yet, in fragment B, we twice find _him til_ used finally, 4594, 4852. 4. The use of _ado_ (for _at do_), in the sense of 'to do,' is also Northern; see the New E. Dict. It occurs in l. 5080, riming with _go_.