The special form of refrain stanza appearing in the first of these foreign specimens (the Alleluia hymn form) is generally thought to have been the source of the "tail-rime stanza" illustrated in the other two specimens, and in the several pages which follow. The characteristic feature of this stanza is the presence of two short lines riming together and serving as "tails" to the first and second parts of the body of the stanza. The same name appears in all the languages: "versus caudati" in the mediæval Latin, "rime couée" in the French, and "Schweifreim" in modern German. It is easy to see, what the following specimens illustrate, how stanzas constructed on this fundamental principle might be varied greatly in particular forms, according to the number, length, and rime-arrangement of the longer lines. Men may merci have, traytour not to save, for luf ne for awe, Atteynt of traytorie, suld haf no mercie, wiþ no maner lawe. (ROBERT MANNING of Brunne: _Chronicle._ ab. 1330.) For Edward gode dede Þe Baliol did him mede a wikked bounte. Turne we ageyn to rede and on our geste to spede a Maddok þer left we. (_Ibid._) Manning's chronicle was a translation of the French chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft. Although the translator designed to avoid the various complicated measures used in the original, and kept pretty closely to alexandrines (see p. 254, below), in the passages here represented he followed the tail-rime of the original. In the first case the stanza form is not represented in the manuscript, though of course implicit in the rimes. The name of the stanza, "rime couée," appears very early in Manning's Prologue, in the famous passage in which he expressed his preference for metrical simplicity: Als þai haf wrytenn and sayd Haf I alle in myn Inglis layd, In symple speche as I couthe, That is lightest in mannes mouthe. I mad noght for no disours, Ne for no seggers no harpours, Bot for þe luf of symple menn That strange Inglis cann not kenn. For many it ere that strange Inglis In ryme wate never what it is, And bot þai wist what it mente Ellis me thoght it were alle shente. I made it not for to be praysed, Bot at þe lewed menn were aysed. If it were made in ryme couwee, Or in strangere or entrelace, Þat rede Inglis it ere inowe Þat couthe not haf coppled a kowe, Þat outhere in couwee or in baston Som suld haf ben fordon, So þat fele men þat it herde Suld not witte howe þat it ferde. ... And forsoth I couth noght So strange Inglis as þai wroght, And menn besoght me many a tyme To turne it bot in light ryme. þai sayd, if I in strange it turne, To here it manyon suld skurne. For it ere names fulle selcouthe, þat ere not used now in mouthe. And therfore for the comonalte, þat blythely wild listen to me, On light lange I it begann, For luf of the lewed mann.