“And downward on a hill under a bent, There stood the tempul of Marȝ armypotent, Wrought al of burned steel, of which thentre Was long and streyt, and gastly for to see,” which may still be compared with the first lines of the «Prologue of Queen Anelida and False Arcite»:— “Thou ferse God of armes, Mars the rede, That in thy frosty contre called Trace, Within thy grisly temples ful of drede, Honoured art as patroun of that place.”[81] Now the «Prologue of the Canterbury Tales» and the «Knight’s Tale», being written in couplets, or lines arranged in pairs, were certainly composed after 1385,[82] or rather after 1389.[83] From the treatment of [p-xlvii] the final «e»’s, which, contrary to Chaucer’s usage, seem to have been silent in a great number of cases in the poet’s speech, we may further conclude that the «Sowdan» must be somewhat later than the «Canterbury Tales». Therefore the poet of the «Sowdan» cannot have been merely a later contemporary of Chaucer; I rather think it to be more probable that he must have lived some time after him. This would bring us to the beginning of the fifteenth century as the date of the romance. As to the name and profession of the poet nothing is known, and we have no clue whatever from the poem. MS. OF THE SOWDAN. The present edition of the «Sowdan» is printed from the unique MS. of the late Sir Thomas Phillips, at Middle Hill, Worcestershire, which is now in the possession of the Rev. John E. A. Fenwick, Thurlestane House, Cheltenham. Sir Thomas Phillips purchased the MS. at Mr. Heber’s sale.[84] The oldest possessor’s name which we find noted, is on the reverse of the last leaf of the Manuscript, where is written, “This is John Eteyes (or Ebeye’s) boke, witnes by John Staff”—in a hand «circa temp.» Eliz. or Jac. I. By some notes made by former possessors on the first fly-leaf of the MS., and by the autograph names which we find there, we learn that Geo. Steevens bought the MS. “at Dr. Farmer’s Sale, Friday June 15, 1798, for 1: 10. 0.” On May 20th, 1800, it was “bought at the Sale of Geo. Stevens, for 3. 4. 6.” by “O. Grah^m Gilchrist.” A transcript of the MS. made by Geo. Stevens had been presented by him to Mr. Douce. This copy was re-transcribed by Geo. Ellis, who, in 1811, published some extracts with an analysis of the romance in the «Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances».[85] The same copy has been followed by Halliwell, who in his «Dictionary of Arch. and Prov. W.», has several quotations[86] from the present romance, which he styles as “«MS. Douce», 175.” [p-xlviii]