Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 12th century)
“Accept me, too, as your writer, so that, reclining in the shade of a tree which spreads so wide, and sheltered from envious and malicious enemies, I may be able in peaceful harmony to make music on the reed-pipe of a muse who really belongs to you.”
- Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The History of the Kings of Britain (the Dedication), completed in 1136 CE, translated from Latin into English by Lewis Thorpe (Penguin Classics, 1966).
