The source was again a French work written by a contemporary Northerner—William of Wadington's _Manuel de Pechiez_. The popularity of such treatises on the Sins may be judged from the number of works modelled upon them: e.g. the _Ayenbyte of Inwyt_, Gower's _Confessio Amantis_, and Chaucer's _Parson's Tale_. Their purpose was, as Robert explains, to enable a reader to examine his conscience systematically and constantly, and so to guard himself against vice. Two complete MSS. of _Handlyng Synne_ are known: British Museum MS. Harley 1701 (about 1350-75), and MS. Bodley 415, of a slightly later date. An important fragment is in the library of Dulwich College. The whole text, with the French source, has been edited by Furnivall for the Roxburghe Club, and later for the Early English Text Society. It treats, with the usual wealth of classification, of the Commandments, the Sins, the Sacraments, the Requisites and Graces of Shrift. But such a bald summary gives no idea of the richness and variety of its content. For Mannyng, anticipating Gower, saw the opportunities that the illustrative stories offered to his special gifts, and spared no pains in their telling. A few examples are added from his own knowledge. More often he expands Wadington's outlines, as in the tale of the Dancers of Colbek. Here the French source is brief and colourless. But the English translator had found a fuller Latin version—clearly the same as that printed from Bodleian MS. Rawlinson C 938 in the preface to Furnivall's Roxburghe Club edition—and from it he produced the well-rounded and lively rendering given below. Robert knew that a work designed to turn 'lewde men' from the ale-house to the contemplation of their sins must grip their attention; and in the art of linking good teaching with entertainment he is a master. He has the gift of conveying to his audience his own enjoyment of a good story. His loose-knit conversational style would stand the test of reading aloud to simple folk, and he allows no literary affectations, no forced metres or verbiage, to darken his meaning: Haf I alle in myn Inglis layd In symple speche as I couthe, Þat is lightest in mannes mouthe. I mad noght for no disours, Ne for no seggers, no harpours, But for þe luf of symple men Þat strange Inglis can not ken; For many it ere þat strange Inglis In ryme wate neuer what it is, And bot þai wist what it mente, Ellis me thoght it were alle schente. (_Chronicle_, ll. 72 ff.) The simple form reflects the writer's frankness and directness. He points a moral fearlessly, but without harshness or self-righteousness. And the range of his sympathies and interests makes _Handlyng Synne_ the best picture of English life before Langland and Chaucer. THE DANCERS OF COLBEK MS. Harley 1701 (about A.D. 1375); ed. Furnivall, ll. 8987 ff.