"There was a priest in the land, who was named Layamon; he was son of
Leovenath--may the Lord be gracious to him!--he dwelt at Ernley, at a
noble church upon Severn's bank,--good it there seemed to him--near
Radestone, where he books read. It came to him in mind, and in his
chief thought, that he would tell the noble deeds of the English; what
they were named, and whence they came, who first possessed the English
land, after the flood that came from the Lord.... Layamon began to
journey wide over this land, and procured the noble books which he
took for pattern. He took the English book that Saint Bede made;
another he took in Latin, that Saint Albin made, and the fair Austin,
who brought baptism in hither; the third book he took, and laid there
in the midst, that a French clerk made, who was named Wace, who well
could write; and he gave it to the noble Eleanor, who was the high
King Henry's queen. Layamon laid before him these books, and turned
over the leaves; lovingly he beheld them--may the Lord be merciful to
him!--pen he took with fingers, and wrote on book-skin, and the true
words set together, and the three books compressed into one. Now
prayeth Layamon, for love of the Almighty God, each good man that
shall read this book and learn this counsel, that he say together
these soothfast words, for his father's soul, who brought him forth,
and for his mother's soul, who bore him to be man, and for his own
soul, that it be the better.
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