And pleynly / al the manere he hym tolde
As ye han herd / I kan telle it no bettre
And sheweth the kyng his seel and his lettre
Line 882
And seyde / lord / as ye comanded me
Vp peyne of deeth / so haue I doon certein
This Messager / tormented was til he
Moste biknowe / and tellen plat and pleyn
Line 886
ffro nyght to nyght / in what place he had leyn
And thus by wit / and sobtil enquerynge
Ymagined was / by whom this harm gan sprynge
Line 889
¶ The hand was knowe / that the lettre wroot
And all the venym / of this cursed dede
But in what wise / certeinly I noot
Theffect is this / þat Alla out of drede
Line 893
His mooder slow / that may men pleynly rede
ffor þat she traitoure was to hire ligeance
Thus endeth olde Donegild with meschance
Line 896
The sorwe that this Alla / nyght and day
Maketh for his wyf / and for his child also
Ther is no tonge / that it telle may
But now wol I / vn to Custance go
Line 900
That fleteth in the see / in peyne and wo
ffyue yeer and moore / as liked cristes sonde
Er that hir ship / approched vn to the londe
Line 903
¶ Vnder an hethen Castel / atte laste [folio 64a]
Of which the name / in my text noght I fynde
Custance / and eek hir child / the see vp caste
Almyghty god / that saued al mankynde
Line 907
Haue on Custance / and on hir child som mynde
That fallen is / in hethen hand eft soone
In point to spille / as I shal telle yow soone
Line 910
