where the editions have _word_. He also cites the expression _ord and ende_ from Cædmon; see Thorpe's edition, p. 225, l. 30. We also find _from orde [=o]ð ende_ = from beginning to end, in the poem of Elene (Vercelli MS.), ed. Grein, l. 590. _Orde and ende_ occurs also at a later period, in the Ormulum, l. 6775; and still later, in Floriz and Blancheflur, l. 47, ed. Lumby, in the phrase, '_Ord and ende_ he haþ him told Hu blauncheflur was þarinne isold.' Tyrwhitt argues that the true spelling of the phrase had already become [246] corrupted in Chaucer's time, and such seems to have been the fact, as all the MSS. have _word_. See Zupitza's note to Guy of Warwick, l. 7927, where more examples are given; and cf. my note to Troil. ii. 1495. _Ord and ende_ explains our modern _odds and ends_; see Garnett's Essays, p. 37. Moreover, it is not uncommon to find a _w_ prefixed to a word where it is not required etymologically, especially before the vowel _o_. The examples _wocks_, oaks, _won_, one, _wodur_, other, _wostus_, oast-house, _woth_, oath, _wots_, oats, _wolde_, old, are all given in Halliwell's Prov. Dictionary. CROESUS. 3917. _Cresus_; king of Lydia, B.C. 560-546, defeated by Cyrus at Sardis. Cyrus spared his life, and Croesus actually survived his benefactor. Chaucer, however, brings him to an untimely end. The story of Croesus is in Boccaccio, De Casibus Virorum, lib. iii. cap. 20. See also Herodotus, lib. 1; Plutarch's life of Solon, &c. But Boccaccio represents Croesus as surviving his disgraces. Tyrwhitt says that the story seems to have been taken from the Roman de la Rose, ll. 6312-6571 (ed. Méon); where the English Romaunt of the Rose is defective. In Chaucer's translation of Boethius, bk. ii. pr. 2, see vol. ii. p. 28, we find this sentence: 'Wistest thou not how Cresus, the king of Lydiens, of whiche king Cyrus was ful sore agast a litel biforn, that this rewliche [_pitiable_] Cresus was caught of [_by_] Cyrus, and lad to the fyr to ben brent; but that a rayn descendede doun fro hevene, that rescowede him?' In the House of Fame, bk. i. ll. 104-6, we have an allusion to the 'avision' [_vision_, dream] of 'Cresus, that was king of Lyde, That high upon a gebet dyde.' See also Nonne Pr. Ta. l. 318 (B. 4328). The tragic version of the fate of Croesus is given by Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, iii. 17; and I give an extract, as it seems to be the account which is followed in the Roman de la Rose. It must be premised that Vincent makes Croesus to have been taken prisoner by Cyrus _three times_.