Long Will’s Apology: A Translation.

Translation into Modern English alliterative verse, with introduction, of C.5.1-104 from Huntington Library ms. HM 143. Autobiography in the passage is impossible to prove, but the character here accords well with evidence from elsewhere in the three texts. Will’s defense, following St. Paul in remaining in the vocation to which one has been called, is the same used by both Alice of Bath and Falstaff. Will shows himself aware of taking a chance with his salvation; his apology is at once specious and heartfelt.