[Footnote P12: “The Scottish pronunciation of _-ing_ was already, as it still is, _-een_; and the writer, knowing that the correct spelling of _dwellin_, for example, was _dwelling_, fancied also that _fallen_, _halden_ (Sc. _fallyn_, _haldyn_) were _fallyng_, _haldyng_. Lyndesay and Gawain Douglas often do the same. Compare _gardinge_ (l. 50), _laiting_ (l. 327).” --J. A. H. Murray.] It may safely be concluded, however, that the frequent occurrence of non-Scottish infinitives must not be attributed to the copyist, since they are probably due rather to the author; for in such a line as “Of his desir to viting the sentens” (l. 410), the termination _-ing_ is required to complete the rhythm of the line. In the same way we must account for the presence of the prefix _i-_, as in the line “Quharwith that al the gardinge was I-clede” (l. 50). This prefix never occurs in vernacular Scottish; but we may readily suppose that this and other numerous Southern forms of words are due (as in Gawain Douglas and Lyndesay) to the author’s familiarity with Chaucer’s poems, as evinced by the similarity of the rhythm to Chaucer’s, and by the close resemblance of several passages. Compare, for instance, the first seventy lines of the Prologue with the opening passages of “The Flower and the Leaf,” and “The Complaint of the Black Knight;” and see notes to ll. 432, 1608. Indeed, this seems to be the only satisfactory way of accounting for the various peculiarities with which the poem abounds.