The yeares of Nestor nothing were to his, 20170
Ne yet Mathusalem, though longest liv'd;
For he remembred both their infancis:
Ne wonder then if that he were depriv'd
Of native strength, now that he them surviv'd:
His chamber all was hangd about with rolls,
And old records from auncient times deriv'd,
Some made in books, some in long parchment scrolls,
That were all worm-eaten and full of canker holes. 1
Amidst them all he in a chaire was sett,
Tossing and turning them withouten end;
But for he was unhable them to fett,
A little boy did on him still attend
To reach, whenever he for ought did send;
And oft when things were lost or laid amis,
That boy them sought, and unto him did lend;
Therefore he Anamnestes cleped is,
And that old man Eumnestes, by their propertis.
The knightes there entring did him reverence dew,
And wondred at his endlesse exercise at apnini ha
Then as they gan his library to ve, road
And antique regesters for to aviser mailt boilla
There chaunced to the prince's hand to rize
så
An auncient booke hight Briton Moniments, femd
That of this land's first conquest did devize,
And old division into regiments, low pil aste of T
Till it reduced was to one man's governements.