"Wherfor I ȝow biseke, help me þe lond to haue,
"& I with wille fulle meke ȝour seruise salle I saue.
William vnderstode, þat he said reson,
& was next of blode, & Dufnald did treson.
He dight an oste fulle stoute with Edgar forto leue,
Dufnald to dryue oute, or his hede him reue.
Eustace of Ferers þat oste suld guye,
Of Scotland þei him brouht, Dufdald forto spie,
& seised Edgar in alle, as right was þerto.
To William for þe regalle he did þat he suld do.
Edgar & his peres þe chaced day bi day,
Of Scotland þei him brouht for euer, & drof away.
Edgar was Malde's broþer, men kald þe gode quene,
ȝit sais on & oþer, so gode has here non bene.
WHAN William had his wille of Scotland & of Wales, [De Ingrati|tudine Wil|lelmi.]
To riche men was he grille, of pouer held no tales.
Clerkes of holy kirke he chargis greuosly,
þei were bisie & irke on þer rentes to lyue by.
Of alle his wikked werkes þese me þouht þe meste,
þat seuenten kirkes he mad tille his [This was the new Forest near Winchester, which was really made by his Father King Wil|liam the Conqueror, who de|stroyed many Churches for it, and his Son. William Rufus was only an Improver of it, by en|larging it, in which he com|mitted also much Sacrilege. But then others (and even Peter of Langtoft and Robert of Brunne themselves seem to have been of the same opinion) tell us, that this was not the New Fo|rest near Winchester, but the New Forest of Windsor, a|mong which is John Rastall, who writes thus: This kynge wyllyam as is sayd & wryt|ten of hym | had great plea|sure in huntynge | in so moche that he pulled downe & di|stroyed dyuers houses of re|ligyon to inlarge the newe forest of wyndesore for wylde dere: but a knyght of his named water Tyrell by the glaunsyng of his arowe vpon a braunche whan he shot at an harte in the sayd forest | smote the kyng & wounded hym to dethe wherof shortely he dyed. The fyrst day of August the yere of Chryst. M.C. without any yssue of his body. And he rayned. xii. yere. xi. monethes and. xii. dayes | and is buryed at westmyster. In which Passage this is also remarkable, that he makes William Rufus to be buried at Westminster, as does also the Chronicle I now pub|lish, whereas it is well known, from our other Historians, that he was buried at Winches|ter. And indeed it is Win|chester in the French Original of Peter Langtoft. Le cors a Wyncestre fet leuesque por|ter, et mettre le en toumbe, al monster seint Peer.] foreste,
