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In the latter half of 1490,
English printer William Caxton prepared a folio for
Prince Arthur, son of King Henry VII, containing a translation from French of Le
Liure des Eneydes
(1483), itself a translation from Latin of Virgil's Ćneids.
It was preceeded by the following prose.
After dyuerse werkes made translated
and achieued, hauing noo werke in hande,
I, sittying in my studye
where as laye many dyuerse pauntflettis and bookys, happened
that to my hande came a lytyl
booke in frenshe, whiche booke is named Eneydos made in latyn by
that noble poete and grete clerke Vyrgyle.
And whan I had aduysed me in this sayd boke, I delybered
and concluded to translate it in-to englysshe, And forthwyth toke a penne and ynke, and wrote a leefe or twyne whyche I ouersawe agayn to corecte it. And whan I sawe the fayr and straunge termes therin, I doubted that it sholde
not please some gentylmen whiche
late blamed me, syeing that in my translacyons
I had ouer curyous termes whiche coude
not be vnderstande of comyn
people and desired me to vse olde
and homely termes in my translacyons.
And fayn wolde I satysfye euery man; and so to doo, toke an olde
boke and redde therin and certaynly the englysshe was so rude and brood that I coude
not wele understand it … And certaynly
our langage now vsed varyeth ferre from whiche was vsed and spoken when I
was borne … And that comyn englysshe
that is spoken in one shyre varyeth
from another. In so moche that in my dayes happened that certayn marchauntes were in a shippe in Tamyse, for to haue sayled ouer the see into Selande, and for lacke of wynde thei taryed
atte Forlond, and wente to lande for to refreshe them; And one of theym
named Sheffelde, a mercer, cam in-to an hows and axed for mete; and specyally
he axyed after eggys; and
the goode wyf answerde, that she coude speke no frenshe, And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude
speke no frenshe, but wolde haue hadde
‘egges’ and she vunderstode
hym not. And theene
at laste another sayd that
he wolde haue ‘eyren’ then the good wyf sayd that she vnderstod hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte,
‘egges’ or ‘eyren’?
Cetainly it is harde
to palyse euery man by
cause of dyuersite and chaunge
of langage. And som honest
and great clerkes haue ben wyth me, and desired me to wryte the moste curyous termes that I coude fynde. And thus between playn, rude and curyous, I stande abasshed, but in my judgemente the comyn termes that be dayli vsed, ben lyghter
to be vnderstonde than the old and auncyent englysshe. And for as moche as this present Booke is
not for a rude vplondyssh man to laboure
therein ne rede it, but onely for a clerke and a noble gentylman that feleth and vnderstondeth in faytes of armes, in loue, and in noble chyualrye, therefor in a meane bytwene bothe
I haue reduced and translated this sayd booke in to our englysshe, not ouer rude ne curyous, but in suche termes as shall be vnderstanden, by goddys grace, accordynge to my copye.
—
William Caxton, 1490
Source: http://web.nickshanks.com/languages/english/eneydos.html