Þat he put to swylk thrillage,
That þai, þat war off hey parage,
Suld ryn on fute, as rebaldaill,
Quhen he wald our folk assaill.
Durst nane of Walis in bataill ride;
Na yhet, fra ewyn fell, abyd
Castell or wallyt toune with-in,
pat he ne suld lyff and lymmys tyne.
In-to swilk thrillage j>aim held he,
Þat he ourcome throw his powste.
Ȝe mycht se he suld occupy
Throw slycht, þat he ne mycht throw maistri.
Had ȝe tane kep quhat was thrillag,
And had consideryt his vsage,
Þat gryppyt ay, but gayne-gevyng,
Ȝe suld, for-owtyn his demyng,
Haiff chosyn ȝow a king þat mycht
Have haldyn veyle þe laud in rycht.
Walys ensample mycht have bene
To ȝow, had ȝe It forow sene.
Þat be oþir will him chasty,
And wyß men sayis he is happy.
For wnfayr thingis may fall perfay,
Alß weill to-morn as ȝhisterday.
Bot ȝe traistyt in lawte,
As sympile folk, but mawyte;
And wyst nocht quhat suld eftir tyd.
For in þis warld, þat is sa wyde,
Is nane determynat þat sall
Knaw thingis þat ar to fall;
But god þat is off maist poweste,
Reserwyt till his maieste,
For to knaw, in his prescience,
Off alkyn tyme the rnowenoe.
In the later transcription of Barbour we note the greater frequency of the orthographic peculiarities of the Scottish writers of the Middle period, ai, ay, and ei, ey, being used for the older a and e. Thus, deid, leid, weill, cheys, steyr, keip—travayll, bataill, thaim, thair, mayst, maid, traist, haiff, haid, faynd, represent the older, dede, lede, well, chese, stere, kepe—travail, batale, tham, thar, mast, mad, trast, have, had, fand. In the 16th c. all long a's and e's were represented by ai and ei, which in early times were used only for an original diphthong Anglo-Saxon or French. Observe also the change of the Ags. and Eng. past participle in d, assemlyd, travallyd, wallyd, consydryd, grypyd, trastyd, used by Wyntown, into the Middle Scotch form in t, assemblyt, travaylyt, wallyt, consideryt, gryppyt, traistyt.
