From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

"It is an established maxim of modern criticism, that the fictions of Arabian imagination were communicated to the western world by means of the Crusades. Undoubtedly those expeditions greatly contributed to propagate this mode of fabling in Europe. But it is evident […] that these fancies were introduced at a much earlier period. The Saracens, or Arabians, having been for some time seated on the northern coasts of Africa, entered Spain about the beginning of the eighth century. Of this country they soon effected a complete conquest : and imposing their religion, language, and customs, upon the inhabitants, erected a royal seat in the capital city of Cordova."--The History of English Poetry (1774-1781) by Thomas Warton

{{Template}} The History of English Poetry, from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century (1774-1781) by Thomas Warton was a pioneering and influential literary history. Only three full volumes were ever published, going as far as Queen Elizabeth's reign, but their account of English poetry in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance was unrivalled for many years, and played a part in steering British literary taste towards Romanticism. It is generally acknowledged to be the first narrative English literary history.

Contents 1 Critical reception and influence 2 Full text of volume I 3 AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 4 CONTENTS. 5 DISSERTATION I. 6 DISSERTATION II. 7 DISSERTATION III.

Critical reception and influence

Warton's History had all the advantages and disadvantages of a pioneering work. Being almost the first work to give general readers any information on Middle English poetry it had the attraction of novelty, leading to a generally favourable response to the first edition. The Gentleman's Magazine, reviewing the first volume, called it "this capital historical piece", and had no doubt that "every connoisseur will be curious to view the original, and impatient for the completion of it". Of the third volume the same magazine wrote that it "does equal credit to Mr. Warton's taste, judgment, and erudition, and makes us impatiently desirous of more". Edward Gibbon mentioned the History in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, saying it had been accomplished "with the taste of a poet and the minute diligence of an antiquarian". But the praise was not unanimous. Horace Walpole and William Mason both professed themselves annoyed by Warton's habit of throwing in illustrative material indiscriminately. A more dangerous attack came from Joseph Ritson, whose pamphlet Observations on the Three First Volumes of the History of English Poetry, bitterly tore into Warton for the many mistranscriptions, misinterpretations, and errors of fact that his book, as the very first attempt to map the Middle English world, inevitably contained. This led to a long and sometimes ill-tempered correspondence in the journals between Warton, Ritson, and their respective supporters. Ritson kept up the attack in successive books through the rest of his life, culminating in the viciously personal "Dissertation on Romance and Minstrelsy" in 1802.

By the time the dust had settled from this controversy everyone was aware that the History could not be implicitly trusted, but it continued to be loved by a new generation whose taste for the older English poetry Warton's book, along with Percy's Reliques, had formed. The influence of those two books on the growth of the Romantic spirit can be illustrated by Robert Southey, who wrote that they had confirmed in him a love of Middle English that had been formed by his discovery of Chaucer; and by Walter Scott's description of the History as "an immense commonplace book…from the perusal of which we rise, our fancy delighted with beautiful imagery and with the happy analysis of ancient tale and song".

In 1899 Sidney Lee wrote that

Even the mediæval expert of the present day, who finds that much of Warton's information is superannuated and that many of his generalisations have been disproved by later discoveries, realises that nowhere else has he at his command so well furnished an armoury of facts and dates about obscure writers.

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica confirmed that "his book is still indispensable to the student of English poetry". Though Warton's History no longer enjoys the same position as an authority on early poetry, it is still appreciated. Arthur Johnston wrote that

To the modern scholar reading Warton, it is not his errors in transcripts or dating which attract attention; it is rather the richness of his information, the wealth of documentation, the multitude of his discoveries, his constant alertness to the problems and awareness of the ramifications of his subject.

Full text of volume I

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

IN an age advanced to the highest degree of refine ment, that species of curiosity commences, which is busied in contemplating the progress of social life, in displaying the gradations of science, and in tracing the transitions from barbarism to civility. That these speculations should become the favourite pursuits, and the fashionable topics, of such a period, is extremely natural. We look back on the savage condition of our ancestors with the triumph of supe- . riority ; we are pleased to mark the steps by which we have been raised from rudeness to elegance : and our reflections on this subject are accompanied with a conscious pride, arising in great measure from a tacit comparison of the infinite disproportion between the feeble efforts of remote ages, and our present improve ments in knowledge. In the mean time, the manners, monuments, cus toms, practices, and opinions of antiquity, by forming so strong a contrast with those of our own times, and 1 a 2 ( 4 ) PREFACE. by exhibiting human nature and human inventions in new lights, in unexpected appearances, and in various forms, are objects which forcibly strike a feeling ima gination. Nor does this spectacle afford nothing more than a fruitless gratification to the fancy. It teaches us to set a just estimation on our own acquisitions ; and en courages us to cherish that cultivation, which is so closely connected with the existence and the exercise of every social virtue. On these principles, to develope the dawnings of genius, and to pursue the progress of our national poetry, from a rude origin and obscure beginnings, to its perfection in a polished age, must prove an inter esting and instructive investigation. But a history of poetry, for another reason , yet on the same princi ples, must be more especially productive of entertain ment and utility. I mean, as it is an art, whose ob ject is human society : as it has the peculiar merit, in its operations on that object, of faithfully recording the features of the times, and of preserving the most pic turesque and expressive representations of manners : and, because the first monuments of composition in every nation are those of the poet, as it possesses the additional advantage of transmitting to posterity ge nuine delineations of life in its simplest stages. Let me add, that anecdotes of the rudiments of a favourite art will always be particularly pleasing. The more early specimens of poetry must ever amuse, in pro 1 PREFACE. (5 ) portion to the pleasure which we receive from its finish ed productions. Much however depends on the execution of such a design®, and my readers are to decide in what degree I have done justice to so specious and promising a dis quisition. Yet a few more words will not be perhaps improper, in vindication, or rather in explanation, of the manner in which my work has been conducted . I am sure I do not mean , nor can I pretend, to apo logise for its defects. I have chose to exhibit the history of our poetry in a chronological series : not distributing my matter into detached articles, of periodical divisions, or of general heads. Yet I have not always adhered so scrupulously to the regularity of annals, but that I have often deviated into incidental digressions ; and have sometimes stopped in the course of my career, for the sake of recapitulation, for the purpose of collecting scattered notices into a single and uniform point of view, for the more exact inspection of a topic which required a separate consideration, or for a comparative survey of the poetry of other nations. A few years ago, Mr. Mason, with that liberality

• [Ritson has observed that “ The errare : since it may be considered History of English Poetry stands as one of the highest testimonies to high in public estimation ; that the the merits of Mr. Warton's elabo subject is equally curious, interest- rate and multifarious publication ,

ing and abstruse ; and that he should that Ritson himself, in his lynx-eyed have experienced satisfaction in find- scrutiny, has detected little more ing the work entirely free from error . " than what a liberal and candid mind Obs. p. 2. This was penned , alas ! would have communicated to the with a selfish disregard to that ur- historian as a mere table of erratu , bane moral maxim humanum est - Park .] (6) PREFACE. which ever accompanies true genius, gave me an au thentic copy of Mr. Pope's scheme of a History of English Poetry, in which our poets were classed under their supposed respective schools. The late lamented Mr. GRAY had also projected a work of this kind, and translated some Runic odes for its illustration, now published ; but soon relinquishing the prosecution of a design, which would have detained him from his own noble inventions, he most obligingly condescend ed to favour me with the substance of his plan, which I found to be that of Mr. Pope ”, considerably enlarged, extended, and improved . It is vanity in me to have mentioned these commu nications. But I am apprehensive my vanity will justly be thought much greater, when it shall appear, that in giving the history of English poetry, I have re jected the ideas of men who are its most distinguished ornaments. To confess the real truth, upon examina tion and experiment, I soon discovered their mode of treating my subject, plausible as it is , and brilliant in theory, to be attended with difficulties and inconve niencies, and productive of embarrassment both to the reader and the writer. Like other ingenious systems, 是• [See Pope's plan for a History mistakes in the classification of our of English Poetry, with another English poets by Pope; and Dr. formed upon it by Gray, together Warton made a new arrangement with a letter to Warton in the Gent. of them into four different classes Mag. for 1783. It has also been and degrees, because he thought we inserted by Mr. Mant and Mr. A. do notsufficiently attend to the dif Chalmers in their Lives of Warton . ference between a man ofwit, a man Mr. Malone, in vol. 3. of Dryden's of sense, and a true poet. Ded . to Pro Works, pointed out several Essay on Pope.- PARK .] PREFACE. ( 7 ) 1 it sacrificed much useful intelligence to the observance of arrangement; and in the place of that satisfaction which results from a clearness and a fulness of infor mation, seemed only to substitute the merit of dispo sition , and the praise of contrivance. The constraint imposed by a mechanical attention to this distribu tion , appeared to me to destroy that free exertion of re search with which such a history ought to be executed, and not easily reconcileable with that complication, variety, and extent of materials, which it ought to comprehend. The method I have pursued, on one account at least, seems preferable to all others. My performance, in its present form , exhibits without transposition the gradual improvements of our poetry, at the same time that it uniformly represents the progression of our language. Some perhaps will be of opinion, that these annals ought to have commenced with a view of the Saxon poetry. But besides that a legitimate illustration of that jejune and intricate subject would have almost doubled my labour, that the Saxon language is familiar only to a few learned antiquaries, that our Saxon poems are for the most part little more than religious rhapsodies, and that scarce any compositions remain marked with the native images of that people in their pagan state ', every reader that reflects but for a mo • [ This subject has since been very which the antiquarian reader is re ably and learnedly illustrated by the ferred . - PARK . pen of Mr. Sharon Tumer, in his • [ To evince the unhappy ten History of the Anglo- Saxons, to dency of Ritson's criticismson Mr. (8) PREFACE. ment on our political establishment must perceive, that the Saxon poetry has no connection with the nature and purpose of my present undertaking. Before the Norman accession, which succeeded to the Saxon go vernment, we were an unformed and an unsettled race . That mighty revolution obliterated almost all relation to the former inhabitants of this island ; and produced that signal change in our policy, constitution and public manners, the effects of which have reached modern times. The beginning of these annals seems therefore to be most properly dated from that era , when our national character began to dawn. It was recommended to me, by a person eminent in the republic of letters, totally to exclude from these volumes any mention of the English drama. I am very sensible that a just history of our Stage is alone sufficient to form an entire and extensive work ; and this argument, which is by no means precluded by the attempt here offered to the public, still remains separately to be discussed, at large, and in form . But as it was professedly my intention to comprise every Warton's History, the following what a " picture in little ” does it comment upon this passage may exhibit of morbid spleen !! Indeed, serve as a sufficient sample. “ It the critic seems totally to misap may seem ( says the critic ) a very prehend the drift of Mr. Warton's extraordinary idea in a Christian reasoning: who only infers that minister (and who is not only the when the Saxons were converted to historian of poets but a poet him- Christianity, they lost all the wild self) that these people could not imagery of their old superstitions; have a poetical genius, because they and composed religious rhapsodies were not pagans; and that religion in lieu of theirnative barbaric songs. and poetry areincompatible.” How -See Gent. Mag. Nov. 1782, p. 528. pitiable was the temper which dic- -PARK .] tated this forced " inference ; and PREFACE. ( 9) species of English Poetry, this, among the rest, of course claimed a place in these annals, and necessarily fell into my general design. At the same time, as in this situation it could only become a subordinate ob ject, it was impossible I should examine it with that critical precision and particularity, which so large, so curious, and so important an article of our poetical literature demands and deserves . To have considered it in its full extent, would have produced the unwieldy excrescence of a disproportionate episode ; not to have considered it at all, had been an omission , which must detract from the integrity of my intended plan . I flatter myself however, that from evidences hitherto unexplored, I have recovered hints which may facili tate the labours of those, who shall hereafter be in clined to investigate the antient state of dramatic ex hibition in this country, with due comprehension and accuracy . It will probably be remarked, that the citations in the first volume are numerous, and sometimes very prolix. But it should be remembered, that most of these are extracted from antient manuscript poems never before printed, and hitherto but little known. Nor was it easy to illustrate the darker and more di stant periods of our poetry , without producing ample specimens. In the mean time, I hope to merit the thanks of the antiquarian, for enriching the stock of our early literature by these new accessions : and I trust I shall gratify the reader of taste , in having so ( 10) PREFACE. frequently rescued from oblivion the rude inventions and irregular beauties of the heroic tale, or the romantic legend. The design of the Dissertations is to prepare the reader, by considering apart, in a connected and com prehensive detail, some material points of a general and preliminary nature, and which could not either with equal propriety or convenience be introduced, at least not so formally discussed, in the body of the book ; to establish certain fundamental principles to which frequent appeals might occasionally be made, and to clear the way for various observations arising in the course of my future inquiries. EDITOR'S PREFACE. THE “ History of English Poetry ” assumes the first place in the catalogue of Warton's prose writings, and, to use the language of his biographer, “ forms the most solid basis of his reputation.” Though not the only labour of his life, which embraces the study of early English poetry and antiquities, it is still the only one to which he devoted himself with the ardour inspired by a favourite occupation, or in which the nature of his subject allowed him a fair and appropriate field for the display of his genius, his erudition, and his taste. His other productions are either testimonials of what he felt due to his rank in his college, or the amusements in which an active mind indulges when relaxing from severer pursuits; and even much of his poetry contains but a varied disposition of the same imagery which enlivens the pages ofhis history. In this his most voluminous and most important work, he found a subject com manding all the resources of his richly stored and fertile mind ; a task which had excited the attention of two distinguished poets', as an undertaking not unworthy of their talents; where the duties were arduous, the path untrodden, and not a little of public prejudice to subdue against the worth and utility of The reader will find Pope's plan of reasons for differing from his predeces his projected history, enlarged by Gray, sorsare given by Warton in the preface in Dr. Mant's Life of Warton. The to his first volume, ( 12) EDITOR'S PREFACE. his object? But Warton was too much in love with his theme, and too confident in his own ability, to be dismayed by diffi culties which industry might overcome, or opinions having no better foundation than vulgar belief unsupported by knowledge; and the success attendant upon the publication of his first vo lume, which speedily reached a second edition ", encouraged him to persevere in his course. A second and a third volume appeared in due succession ; a small portion of the fourth had been committed to the press, when death arrested his hand, just as he was entering on the most interesting and bril liant period of our poetic annals — the reign of Queen Elizabeth . The comprehensive plan upon which Warton had com menced this work , so far exceeded his expectations of its possible extent, that though the original design was to have been completed in two volumes, there was still as much to do as had been accomplished, when his labours were thus abruptly terminated . Of this plan it had been a leading prin ciple, that the historian was not to confine himself to the strict letter of his subject, a chronological account of poets and their writings, with an estimate of their merits or defects. The range of inquiry was to be extended further, beyond its ob vious or perhaps its lawful limits ; and the History of English Poetry to be made a channel for conveying information on the state of manners and customs among our feudal ancestry , the literature and arts of England and occasionally of Europe at large. A life longer than Warton's might have been unequal to the execution of such an extensive project; and there will be as many opinions upon the necessity of thus enlarging the boundaries of his theme, as of the manner in which he has acquitted himself in the undertaking. For while the general reader will complain of the frequent calls upon his patience Pope's sneers against “ all such 3 This second edition is not a mere reading as was never read,” and “ the reprint of the title-page; it is marked classics of an age that heard of none, ' byseveral typographical errors which do were still fresh in public recollection . 2 not occur in the first. EDITOR'S PREFACE . ( 13 ) for these repeated digressions, the scholar will regret, that subjects so attractive and copious in themselves are only pass ingly or superficially treated of. Without attempting to justify or deny the force of these objections, it may be more to our present purpose to inquire , what may have been the au thor's views of his duty , and the manner in which this was to be accomplished. In common with every one else who has duly canvassed the subject, Warton indisputably felt that the poetry of a rude and earlier age, with very few exceptions, can only command a share of later attention in proportion as it has exercised an influence over the times producing it, or conveys a picture of the institutions, modes of thinking or general habits of the society for which it was written . To have given specimens of these productions in all their native naked ness , would have been to ensure for them neglect from the listless student, and misapprehension from the more zealous but uninformed inquirer. A commentary was indispensably necessary, not a mere gloss upon words, but things, a lumi nous exposition of whatever had changed its character, or grown obsolete in the lapse of time, and which, as it unfolded to the reader's view the forgotten customs of the day , assisted him to live and feel in the spirit of the poet's age . For such a purpose it was requisite to enter largely into the domestic and civil economy of our ancestors, their public and private sports , the entertainments of the baronial hall, the martial ex ercises of the tournament, the alternate solemnities and buf fooneries of misdirected devotion , and those coarser pastimes and amusements, which relieve the toil of industry , and give a zest to the labours of the humbler classes. The spirit and gallant enterprize of chivalry was to be recorded in conjunc tion with the juggler's dexterity and the necromancer's art

the avocations of the cloister , the wode -craft of the feudal lord , and the services of his retainer, were each to receive a share 2 arelief =ਸਮਲਿੰਸ਼ -ਲਾ ਨਾਲ ( 14) EDITOR'S PREFACE. of the general notice ; and though romance and minstrelsy might be the prominent characteristics of the age, the occult mysteries of alchemy were not to be overlooked. With these were to be ranged, the popular superstitions of a departed pa gan faith, and the legendary marvels of a new religion ; the rela tions of the citizen to the state, and ofthe ecclesiastic to the com munity; the effects produced by the important political events of five centuries, and their consequences on the progress ofciviliza tion and national literature. In addition to these varied topics, Warton considered it equally imperative upon him to account for the striking contrast existing between the poetry of the ancient and modern world ; and, in developing what he has termed the origin of romantic fiction, to discuss the causes which embellished or corrupted it, and to explain those ano malies which appear to separate it both from more recent com positions and the classic remains of antiquity. He also knew , that though poetry be not the child of learning, it is modified in every age by the current knowledge of the country, and that as an imitative art, it is always either borrowing from the imagery of existing models, or wrestling with the excel lencies which distinguish them . It was therefore not only ne cessary to investigate the degree of classic lore which still dif fused its light amid the gloom of the earlier ages ofbarbarism , but to show the disguises and corruptions under which a still greater portion had recommended itself to popular notice, and courted attention as the memorials of ancient and occasionally of national enterprize. But the middle age had also produced a learning of its own, and the scholar and the poet were so frequently united in the same personage, that in this ill -assorted match of science - wedded to immortal verse," the muse was often made the mere domestic drudge of her abstruse and eru dite consort. Of this once highly -valued knowledge, so little has descended to our own times, that the modern reader, with EDITOR'S ( 15 ) S PREFACE. out a guide to instruct him in his progress, feels like the tra veller before the walls of Persepolis, who gazes on the inscrip tions of a powerful but extinguished race , without a key to the character recording their deeds. Above all, it was of impor tance to notice the successive acquisitions, in the shape oftrans lation or imitation, from the more polished productions of Greece and Rome; and to mark the dawn of that æra , which , by directing the human mind to the study of classical anti quity, was to give a new impetus to science and literature, and by the changes it introduced to effect a total revolution in the laws which had previously governed them . This is clearly the outline of what Warton proposed to himself as his duty :-of the mode in which this design has been fulfilled it must be left to others to determine. But let it not be hastily inferred, that when he has been excursive upon some collateral topic, he has consequently given it an importance disproportionate to its real bearing on his subject ; or that the languor produced upon the reader's mind in certain periods of these annals, is exclu sively the author's fault. The results attendant upon literary , as well as moral or political changes, are not always distin guished by that manifest equality to their exciting cause, which strikes the sense on a first recital; and the poetry of so many centuries, like the temper of the times, or the constitution of the seasons, must necessarily exhibit the same fitful vicissi tudes of character, the same alternations of fertility and un productiveness. Of the materials transmitted to his hands, whether marked by excellence, or proverbial for insipidity, it is still the historian's duty to record their existence; and though many of these may contain no single ray of genius to redeem their numerous absurdities, they yet may throw considerable light on the state of public opinion, and the ruling tastes or customs of their age. The most popular poetry of its day is well known not always to be the most meritorious, however ( 16) EDITOR'S PREFAC E. safely we may trust to the equity of time for repairing this in justice. The only question therefore will be, as to the degree in which such compositions ought to be communicated . In the earlier periods, where any memorials are exceedingly scanty, and those generally varying in their prevailing cha racter, a greater latitude will be granted than in those where the invention of printing equally contributed to multiply the materials, and render the documents more generally accessi ble. Of Warton's consideration in this respect, it will be suf ficient to remark , that in the sixteenth century (when every man seems to have been visited with a call to court the muse , and had an opportunity of giving publicity to his conceptions ) he has frequently consigned a herd of spiritless versifiers to the narrow durance” of a note. There is another point upon which it may be more difficult to rescue his fame at the bar of outraged criticism : but as this seems to have been a crime of malice prepense, rather than inadvertency, his name must be left to sanctify the deed . The want of order in the arrangement of his subject is a charge which has been repeated both by friends and foes. A part ofthis Warton seems to have inten tionally adopted. In a letter to Gray, tracing the outline of his forthcoming history, he specifically states, “ I should have said before, that although I proceed chronologically, yet I often stand still to give some general view , as perhaps of a particu lar species of poetry, & c ., and even to anticipate sometimes for this purpose. These views often form one section ; yet are interwoven into the tenor of the work without interrupting my historical series*.” He possibly thought, that as it is of the essence of romantic poetry “ to delight in an intimate com mingling of extremes, in the blending and contrasting of the most opposing elements5, " it was equally so of its historian to 3 Schlegel on Dramatic Literature , vol. iji. p. 14 . See Chalmers's Biog. Dict. art. War ton. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 17 ) deviate from established rules, and may have been so smitten with his antient masters as to conceive some of their distin guishing characteristics not unworthy of occasional imitation . But when it is said that his materials are ill digested, that we are frequently called upon in a later century, to travel back to one preceding, that we are then treated with specimens which ought to have found a place in an earlier chapterſ, the zeal of criticism is made to exceed the limits either of justice or can dour. It is wholly overlooked , that Warton was the first adventurer in the extensive region through which hejourneyed . and into which the usual pioneers of literature had scarcely penetrated. Beyond his own persevering industry, he had little to assist his researches ; his materials lay widely scattered , and not always very accessible ; new matter was constantly arising, as chance or the spirit of inquiry evolved the contents of our public libraries ?, and he had the double duty to per form of discovering his subject, and writing its history. But these objections, whether founded in error, or justified by facts, have all been urged with temper, and are distinguished by that consideration for Warton's personal character, which every gentleman is entitled to, and every liberal scholar prides himself upon observing. In those now to be noticed, a widely different spirit was manifested ; and one so opposite to every principle of decent or manly feeling, that it might be safely left to the contempt which Warton in the proud conviction of his own honour and integrity bestowed upon it, were it not 6 See Monthly Review for 1793. Dr. is well known, that they were acciden Mant, who has refuted some of these tally discovered by Mr. Tyrwhitt, while charges, states them to have been copied engaged in searching for MSS. of (without acknowledgement) by Dr. Chaucer . A similar accident led to the Anderson, in his Life of Warton. May discovery of the alliterative romance on we not rather infer, that Dr. Anderson the adventures of Sir Gawain, quoted felt no obligation to acknowledge a vol. i. p. 186, by the writer of this note ; quotation from himself ? and which there is every reason to be ? The poems of Minot could only lieve, must have passed through the have been known to Warton by report, hands of Mr. Ritson. when he published his first volume, It VOL. 1 . b ( 18 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. "mance "Yada ace interwoven with matter requiring attention on other accounts, of which occasional notice has been taken in the body of the work, and which must again be the subject of discussion. The reader of early English poetry will be at no loss to per ceive, that the objections and conduct here spoken of, are those of the late Mr. Ritson . To be zealous in detecting error, 'exposing folly, or checking the presumptuous arrogance of any literary despot, is an obligation which the commonwealth of learning imposes upon all her sons. The tone of the re proof, and the character of the offence , are all that will be demanded of the ministrant in his office ; and so great is the latitude allowed, that he who will condescend “ to break a butterfly upon a wheel,” secundum artem , runs no greater risk, than a gentle censure for the eccentricity of his taste ; and even acrimony, where great provocation has been given, may pass for just and honest indignation. But Mr. Ritson , in the execution of his censorial duty, indulged in a vein of low scurrility and gross personalities, wholly without example since the days of Curll. He not only combated Warton's opinions, and corrected his errors, questioned his scholarship, and denied his ability ; but impugned his veracity, attacked his morality, and openly accused him of all those mean and de spicable arts, by which a needy scribbler attempts to rifle the public purse. There would have been little in this beyond the common operation of a nine days wonder, and the ferment of the hour which every deviation from established practice is sure to excite, had the charges been limited to a single pub lication. But for a period of twenty years, both while the ob ject of them was living, and after his decease, they were re peated in every variety of form , always from the same amiable motives, though occasionally in a subdued style of animosity. The result of this extraordinary course , was the establishment of Mr. Ritson as the critical lord paramount in the realms of Form ܝܠܐ རྗེ་ ཀུ ༔réལ EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 19) romance and minstrelsy ; his fiat became the ruling law , and no audacious hand was to raise the veil which covered the in firmities of the suzerain . For though he has magnified those venial errors, which, as the human mind is constituted , are almost inseparable from such an undertaking as Warton's, into offences which only meet their parallel in the criminal nomen clature of the country - into fraud, imposture and forgery yet his own labours in the same department of literature, his “ Ancient Songs,” and “ Metrical Romances, ” though scarcely equalling a tithe of the “ History of English Poetry , ” are marked by the same kinds of inaccuracy as those he has so coarsely branded. Indeed on such a subject it would have been as marvellous as unaccountable, if they had not : -- but this is foreign to our purpose. It will rather be asked, whether the historian of English poetry may not have provoked this treat ment by his own intemperance of rebuke, or want of charity towards others; and whether the vehemence of Mr. Ritson's indignation, and the virulence of his invective, may not have had a more commensurate motive, than the misquotation of a date, a name or a text, or the fallacy of a mere speculative opinion. With the exception of one misdemeanour hereafter to be mentioned, -a sin in itself of pardonable levity, if it must be so stigmatized--Warton's conduct towards his fellow labourers in the mine of antiquarian research, was distinguished by a tone of courtesy and complimentary address, which the sterner principles of the present day have rejected as border ing too closely upon adulation. Of this therefore as a general charge he must be acquitted, and equally so of any intention to wound the feelings or undermine the reputation of Mr. Ritson , as that gentleman's first publication connected with early English literature , was his “ Observations ” on Warton's 8 A Collection of Garlands ( which lication, not likely to extend beyond the cannot now be referred to ) may bear an limits of a country town. But this was a local pub- servations” produced a controversy in The “ Ob earlier date . b 2 ( 20) EDITOR'S PRE FACE. history. The causes of this extraordinary persecution must hence be sought for in other directions. Among these it is not difficult to detect the sullen rancour of a jealous and self appointed rival , the workings of an inferior mind, aiming at notoriety by an insolent triumph over talents, which it at once envies and despairs of equalling. The “ taste and elegance ” . with which Warton had embellished his narrative, became a source of chagrin to a man who sought distinction by a style an the Gentleman's Magazine for 1782–83. these had been_already corrected by The first letter on the subject, signed Warton in the Emendations appended Verax, was in all probability written by to the second volume, -a circumstance Warton . ( See his letter to Mr. Nichols which Mr. Ritson either knew, or ought of the same date, inclosing a commu- to have known, as he carefully pickedhis nication to that Miscellany, and re- way through this additional matter, for questing a concealment of the writer's the purpose ofsupplying twocorrections, name. ) Those signed A. S. were by one of which he afterwards recalled , the late Mr. Russell of Sydney College. and in furnishing the other committed The letter signed Vindex contains in- error equally great with that he ternal evidence of Mr. Ritson's hand, amended. A second comprises the who may also have drawnup the epitome very “ egregious blunder ” of calling a of his pamphlet ( 1783, p. 281 ) . But piece of political rhyme a “ ballad , who was Castigator ? ( 1782, p. 571 ) . when it is notwritten in “ Was it the same worthy personage of metre . In a third, Warton has chosen whom his friend records the following to make a direct inference, where the creditable transaction ? “ This venera- affair admits neither of absolute proof, bilissimus episcopus( the bishop of Dro- nor disproof. And a fourth offers an more ), upon a different occasion, gave opinion, but a mere and guarded opi Mister STEEVENS a transcript fromthe nion, as to the age of a poem , in which above [ folio ] MS., of the vulgar ballad there is every reason to believe he was of Old Simon the King, with a strict in- correct. ( See Mr. Park's note, vol. ii. junction not to show it to this editour p. 512. a. ) In seven examples, it may (Mr. Ritson ), which however he imme- be allowed that Mr. Ritson has con diately brought him ! " Yet these were victed the historian of “ ignorance ; " honourable men ! your ballad though two of these referto matters. 9 In this extraordinary pamphlet, that are rather probable than certain : Mr. Ritson made thirty -right remarks but infour of the remaining five, he upon the multifarious matter contained has offered objections or corrections on in Warton's first volume (extending to subjects, where the charges of error p. 304, vol. ii. of the present edition ). only rebound upon himself. The fif Nine of these consist of those persona- teenth refers to a subject where War lities already spoken of, or are mere ob- ton candidly acknowledges his inability jections to the conduct and order of the to gratify the reader's curiosity. Thus, work. Thirteen are devoted to glos. with the exception of the glossarial in sarial corrections, among which are the accuracies, of which more will be said candid specimen recorded vol. ii . p. 52, hereafter, Mr. Ritson can only be ad note ', and two literal interpretations, mitted to have corrected seven mis-, instead of two very appropriate para- takes, or more rigidly speaking five, in phrases. The remaining fifteen , or a 4to volume of 168 pages, and in the rather the subjects they refer to , it may execution of which he has himself be be worth while to analyse. One of come chargeable with four. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 21 ) of orthography, resembling any thing but the language of his native country ; and hence the sarcastic tone in which these graceful advantages are complimented, while they are care fully contrasted with the historian's “ habitual blunders . ” Warton's learning was also of no common order ; and his reading of that extensive kind which enabled him to illustrate his theme from the varied circle of ancient and modern litera ture ; and here again it became matter ofexultation to discover, that his knowledge of Italian had once been but limited, or to hint that his acquaintance with Hickes's Thesaurus had been assisted by a translation of “ Wotton's Conspectus.” But in the gaiety of his heart, Warton had smiled at the solemn dullness of Hearne, the idol of Mr. Ritson's affections; he had des canted on the laboured triflings of this diligent antiquary in a style of successful yet playful irony, and chose to entertain no very exalted opinion of the patient drudgery by which “ Thomas ” was to recommend himself to posterity. This was an unpardonable offence, and little short of a declaration of hostilities by anticipation. For though genius will approve the well -directed satire which exposes its own peculiar foibles, while pourtraying the follies of a contemporary, yet moody mediocrity never forgives the bolt which, aimed at another's eccentricities, inadvertently grazes its own inviolable person. In addition, the historian of English poetry was a Christian, a churchman , and a distinguished member of his college ; all and either of them sufficient to condemn him in the eyes of man whose creed was confined to a rigid abstinence from animal food ; with whom a clergyman was but another name for a “ lazy, stinking and ignorant monk ;" and who seems never to have been better pleased, than when retailing the coarse and pointless ribaldry of the fifteenth century, against the honours and dignities of an University. To this full mea sure of indiscretion, Warton had superadded a warm admira а ( 22) EDITOR'S PRE FA C E. tion of the powers and learning of Warburton ; and had even adopted, and considerably amplified, the fanciful theory of this eminent prelate on the origin of romantic fiction. This again was siding with the enemy. The bishop of Gloucester had conducted a merciless persecution against a sect of which Mr. Ritson made no scruple to acknowledge himself a fol lower, the “ Epicureorum factio, æquo semper errore a vero devia et illa existimans ridenda quæ nesciato,” and unhappily for his fame and the cause he advocated, in the possession of a giant's strength had too frequently exercised it with the cruelty of a giant. The tyranny of the master was therefore to be avenged on the head of his otherwise too guilty pupil ; and the double end to be gained, of inflicting an insidious wound upon a foe too powerful to be encountered in the open field ", and crushing an unresisting and applauded rival. But enough of this revolting subject, of which justice to the me mory of an amiable, unoffending and elegant scholar required that some notice should be taken, and which no language can be too strong to mark with deserved reprobation. It is now time to turn to those objections of Mr. Ritson, which embrace the literary defects of the History of English Poetry. There can be no intention of dragging the reader through the minute and tedious details, with which this branch of the controversy is burthened. Wherever the better information of 10 Macrobius Som . Scipionis, in init . and the Round Table." Ib. p. 46. “ The 11 It is ludicrous in the extreme to poets of Provence borrowed their art observe a man of Mr. Ritson's attain- from the French or Normans.” Ib. p. 50. ments, stating Warburton's " distin- “ There is but one single romance exist guishing characteristic " to be “ a want ing that can be attributed to a trouba of knowledge." The “ habitual men- dour, " p. 51. “ Before the first crusade, dacity of the same learned prelate or for more than half a century after it, finds its parallel, if mere errors of opi- there was not one single romance on nion must receive this bland distinction, the achievements of Arthur or his in such hasty assertions as the follow- knights." Ib. p. 52. To enumerate all ing : “ The real chanson de Roland was theunfounded assertions contained in unquestionably a metrical romance of the section immediately following great length.” Introd. to Met. Rom . “ the Saxon and English language p. 37. “ The Armoricans never possessed would be to write a small treatise. a single story on the subject of Arthur EDITO K’s PREFACE. ( 23 ) Mr. Ritson has been available, ( at least in all cases where his reasoning has produced conviction on the editor's mind,) his corrections will be found submitted in their appropriate places. But as the more important of these were directed against opi nions rather than facts, and consequently, whether correct or inadmissible, could not always be inserted or combated in the body of the work, without deranging Warton's text or causing too frequent repetitions, they have been reserved for consideration here, and may be classed under the general heads of: -- objections to the Dissertation on the Origin of Romantic Fiction, the credibility of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, the character of Warton's specimens, and his glos sarial illustrations of them . If the object of this examination were a mere defence of Warton's opinions, by exposing the false positions assumed by his adversary, it would be an easy task to show that Mr. Ritson's sweeping assertions with regard to the general rela tions between the Moors in Spain and their conquered sub jects, or even their Christian foes, are not borne out by the facts. The inferences he has drawn would consequently fall of themselves ; and it might be added , that the discoveries of our own times have sufficiently proved the possibility of this decried system being upheld, if the general principle it as sumes, and which has been applied by Mr. Ritson to the pro gress of Romance in England, Italy and Germany, were otherwise allowable. The romance of Antar might be offered as a sufficient type for all subsequent tales of chivalry; and the story of the Sid Batallah adduced as a proof, that the Spaniards could endow a national hero with a title borrowed from the favourite champion of their foes 2. But this would be creating a phantom for the purpose of foiling an over- zealous 18 Ofcourse this is only stated hypo. Moorwould have used the same address, thetically. The reason assigned in the Sid, Master, to his Spanish liege lord. Chronicle for the appellation, is indis- The Arabian romance is noticed by putably a fable ; since every tributary Warton , Diss. i . p. xiv. ; and Mr. von ( 24 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. adversary. The ends of truth will be better advanced by examining the causes which led to Warton's adoption of this dazzling theory, and an estimate of its application to the sub ject it was intended to develop. The light sketch given by Warburton of the origin of ro mance in Spain, traced the whole stream of chivalrous fiction to two sources , -the chronicle ofthe Pseudo - Turpin relative to Charlemagne and his peers, and the British history of Geoffrey of Monmouth . In this system there were many points totally irreconcileable with the state of the subject, both before and after the periods at which these productions obtained a cir culation ; and it was therefore necessary to account for what might be termed , the anticipations of their narratives, and even their omissions, by the discovery of a more prolific foun tain -head. A large portion of the marvellous imagery con tained in the early poetry of Europe, was found to have its counterpart in the creations of Oriental genius. To account for this, by a direct communication between the East and West, was the problem that Warton proposed to solve ; and as the æra of the first crusade was too recent to meet the difficulties already alluded to, and Warburton had been supposed to prove that the first romances were of Spanish origin, the subject seemed to connect itself in a very natural order with the Moorish conquest of that country. A more extensive acquaint ance with the general literature of the dark and middle ages has fully proved the fallacy of this assumption, which could only have been entertained in the infancy of the study. But that such an hypothesis should have been conceived in this stage of the subject, will be no impeachment of Warton's ge neral judgement, when it is recollected, that his contemporary Hammer has recently borne evidence to German romances on the story of the its great popularity among the Saracens. Saint Graal ( to be noticed hereafter) are The Moorish Sid died in the campaign derived from an Arabic source, through against Constantinople, anno 738. See the medium of the Provençal. Jahrbücher der Litteratur, No. 14. The EDITOR'S PREFACE. (25) Dr. Percy had adopted a system equally exclusive ; and that Dr. Leyden, at a later period, advocated a third upon the same contracted principles. The analogous conduct of such men, though not wholly exculpatory, is at least a proof that the causes for this procedure rested on no slight foundation . There is however one leading error in Warton's Dissertation, an error it only shares in common with the theories opposed to it, arising from too confined a view of the natural limits of his subject, and too general an application of the system in detail. The consequence has been an unavoidable confusion between the essence and the costume of romantic fiction , and the exclusive appropriation of the common property of man kind to a particular age and people. Indeed, the learned pro jectors of these several systems no sooner begin to disclose the details of their schemes, than we instantly recognise the ele ments of national fable in every country of whose literature we possess a knowledge; and notwithstanding the professed in tention of conducting an examination into the origin of ro mantic fiction, their disquisitions silently merge into the origin of fiction in general. To such an inquiry it is evident there can be no chronological limits. The fictions of one period , with some modification , are found to have had an existence in that immediately preceding ; and the further we pursue the investigation, the more we become convinced ofa regular trans mission through the succession of time, or that many seeming resemblances and imitations are sprung from common organic causes, till at length the question escapes us as a matter of his torical research, and resolves itself into one purely psycho logical. It is even difficult to conceive any period of human existence, where the disposition to indulge in these illusions of fancy has not been a leading characteristic of the mind. The infancy of society, as the first in the order of time, also affords some circumstances highly favourable to the development of this faculty. In such a state, the secret and invisible bands ( 26) EDITOR'S PREFACE. which connect the human race with the animal and vegetable creation, are either felt more forcibly than in an age of con ventional refinement, or are more frequently presented to the imagination . Man regards himself then but as the first link in the chain of animate and inanimate nature, as the associate and fellow of all that exists around him, rather than as a se parate being of a distinct and superior order. His attention is arrested by the lifeless or breathing objects of his daily inter course, not merely as they contribute to his numerous wants and pleasures, but as they exhibit any affinity or more remote analogy with the mysterious properties of his being. Subject to the same laws of life and death , of procreation and decay, or partially endowed with the same passions, sympathies and propensities, the speechless companion of his toil and amuse ment, the forest in which he resides, or the plant which flou rishes beneath his care, are to him but varied types of his intricate organization . In the exterior form of these, the faith ful record ofhis senses forbids any material change ; but the in ternal structure, which is wholly removed from the view, may be fashioned and constituted at pleasure. The qualities which this is to assume, need only be defined by the measure of the will, and hence we see that, not content with granting to each sepa rate class a mere generic vitality suitable to its kind, he bestows on all the same mingled frame of matter and mind, which gives the chief value to his own existence. Nor is this playful exer cise of the inventive faculties confined to the sentient objects of the creation ; it is extended over the whole material and im material world, and applied to every thing of which the mind has either a perfect or only a faint conception. The physical phænomena of nature, the tenets of a public creed, the specu lations of ancient wisdom 13, or the exposition of a moral duty, own 18 See the celebrated passage in the in the ancient world. Mr. F. Schlegel has Iliad viii. 17, relative to the golden given a parallel passage from the Bhaga chain of Jupiter, with Heyne's account vatgita , where Vishnu illustrates the ex of the interpretations bestowed upon it tent of his power by a similar image : EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 27 ) are alike subjected to the same fantastic impress, and made to assume those forms which, by an approximation to the ani mal contour, assist the understanding in seizing their peculiar qualities, and the memory in retaining them . It is this per sonification of the blind efforts of nature, which has given rise to those wild and distorted elements that abound in all pro fane cosmogonies; where, by a singular combination of the awful and sublime with the monstrous and revolting, an at tempt is made to render intelligible those infinite energies of matter which surpass the limits ofhuman comprehension. The same law is evident in the obscure embodiment of a moral axiom , or an abstract quality, as shadowed forth in the enigmalº; in all that condensed imagery which has found its way into the proverbial expressions of nations; and some of the most sur prising incidents in romantic narrative, have no better foun dation than the conversion of a name into an event 15 . But of this universal tendency to confer a spiritual existence upon the lifeless productions of nature, and to give a corporeal form and expression to the properties and conceptions of matter and mind, it would be superfluous to offer any laboured proof. The whole religious system of the ancient world, with one ex “ I am the cause ofexistence as well as de- with a lion. A still more remarkable struction to all ; than me nothing higher illustration of the same practice is to be is found , and nothing without me. O found in the German romance, Heinrich friend ! this ALL hangs united on me der Löwe, or Henry the Lion. See like the pearls that are strung on a fillet.' Görres Volks-bucher, p. 91. There can Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der be as little doubt, that we are indebt Indier, p . 303. See also Il . i . 422, with ed to the name of Cypselus (a chest) the ancient expositors. for the marvellous story related by He 14 Considerable collections on this sub- rodotus, 5. 92. See also the fable rela ject are to be foundin the preface to Re- tive to Priam ( from agréolai, Apollo senius's edition of the Edda. The whole dorus Biblioth .ii. 6. 4.) and Ajax (from argument is very elaborately discussed aistos, Schol, in Pind. Íst . s . 76.) To in Mr. Creuzer's learned work, Symbolik the same cause, perhaps, we may also und Mythologie der Alten Völker be- attribute the tale of Pelops and his ivory sonders der Griechen , vol. i . Leipzig shoulder. The concurrent practice of 1810 , the minstrel poets will show these recitals 15 The name of Coeur de Lion has not to have been mere fancies of the furnished king Richard's romance with grammarians. the well -known incident of his combat ( 28 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. ception, may be adduced as an exemplification of the fact; and even the sacred writings of the Old Testament contain oc casional indications of a similar practice 26. The operation of this principle, while it is sufficient to ac count for all the marvels of popular fiction, will also lead to the establishment of two conclusions: first, that wherever there may have been any resemblance in the objects calling it forth , the imagery produced will exhibit a corresponding similarity of character ; and secondly, that a large proportion of the symbols thus brought into circulation, like the primitive roots in language, will be found recurring in almost every country, as a common property inherited by descent. In illustration of these conclusions, we need only refer to those local traditions of distant countries which profess to record the history of some unusual appearance on the surface of the soil ", the peculiar character of a vegetable production, or the structure of a public monument. Whether in ancient Greece or modern Europe, every object of this kind that meets the traveller's eye is found to have a chronicle of its origin ; the causes assigned for its existence, or its natural and artificial attributes, wear a com mon mythic garb ; while in either country these narratives are so strikingly allied to the fictions of popular song, that it is sometimes difficult to decide whether the muse has supplied their substance, or been herself indebted to them for some of her most attractive incidents 18. A mound of earth becomes 16 See the fable of the trees, Judges line of stones called the Nine Maids. Bor ix. 8.; of the thistle and the cedar, lase Ant. of Corn. p. 159. The Glas 2 Chronicles xxv. 18. tonbury thorn , which budded on Christ 17 At the entrance of a cave near the mas day, was a dry hawthorn staff mi plain of Marathon , Pausanias saw a raculously planted by St. Joseph . Col number of loose stones , which at a di- linson's Somersetshire, ii. p. 265. This stance resembled goats . The country- is a common miracle in the history of people called them Pan's Flock. ( At- the Dionysic thyrsus. A myrtle at Tree tica, 26. ) A similar group on Marl- zene, whose leaves were full of holes, borough Down is still called the Gray was said to have been thus perforated by Wethers. A tuft of cypresses near Pso- Phædra in her moments of despair. phis, in Arcadia, was called the Virgins. ( Paus. i. 22. See also ii . 28 and 32.) . ( Arcad. c. 24. ) On the downs between 18 There can be little doubt that the Wadebridge and St. Columb, there is a story of the Phæacian ship ( Od. xiii. 163. ) EDITOR'S PRE FACE. ( 29) the sepulchre of a favourite hero "; a pile of enormous stones, the easy labour of some gigantic craftsmen20; a single one, the stupendous instrument of daily exercise to a fabulous kinga; the conformation of a rock , or a mark upon its surface, attests the anger or the presence of some divinity ” ; and the emblems and decorations of a monumental effigy must either be ex plained from the events of popular history ”, or perverted from was taken from some local tradition near Inverness. Grant's Essays, &c. well known at the period. In the time vol. ii . p. 158. of Procopius it had become localized at 20 The Cyclops were the contrivers of the modern Cassopé ; notwithstanding these works in ancienttimes, whose place an inscription explained the origin of the has been supplied by the Giants. See the votive structure to which it was attach- books relative to Stonehenge, Giant's ed. At the present day, a small island Causeway, &c. The Arabs have a tra near the harbour of Corfu, claims the dition , that Cleopatra's needle was once honour of being the original bark. In surrounded by seven others, which were the same way many incidents in the Ar- brought from mount. Berym to Alex. gonautica received a “ local habitation . " andria, by seven giants of the tribe of According to Timonax, Jason and Me- Aad. dea were married at Colchis, where the 21 The common people call a crom bridal bed was shown. Timæus denied leach, near Lligwy in Anglesea, Coeten this, and referred to the nuptial altars at Arthur, or Arthur's Quoit. Jones's Cercyra. ( Schol. in Apoll. Rhod. iv. Bardic Mus. p. 60 . The general cha 1217.) The earliest version of this fic - racter of the Homeric poems will justify tion may be supposed to have confirmed the conclusion, that a similar monument the Colchian tradition ; but as the limits supplied the incident in the Odyssey, ofthe sphere ofaction became extended, viii. ver. 194. The Locrians showed an the later narratives of necessity embraced enormous stone before the door of Eu other fables. Hence the Argonautic thymus, which he was said to have placed poems became for ancient geography and there by his own efforts. Ael. V. Hist. local tradition, what the syncretic statues viii . 18. of Cybele were for ancient symbols. 22 At mount Sipylus in Attica, there The passage in Apollonius, 1. i . v. 1305. was a rock, which at some distance re is evidently taken from a local fiction , as sembled a woman weeping ; the inha it refers to the rocking -stones comme- bitants called it Niobe. ( Paus. i . 21. ) morating the event. The footstep of Hercules was seen im 19 In localizing these traditions, little printed on a rock near the river Tyra in regard is paid to the contending claims Seythia, Herod. iv. 82. In Cicero's of other districts. Several mounds are time the marks of the horses' hoofs of shown in various parts of Denmark , as Castor and Pollux were still shown as the graves of Vidrich Verlandsen , and a proof of their presence at the battle of as many of the giant Langbein . (Müller Regillus. De Nat. Deor. iii. 5. 11. 2. Saga Bibliothek, vol. ii. p . 224.) The 23 The statue of Nemesis at Rhamnus residence of Habor and Signe, so cele- gave rise to a Grecian fable , that the brated in Danish song, has been appro- stone of which it was made had been priated in the same way; and has given brought to Marathon by the Persians, name to a variety ofplaces. ( Udvalgte for the purpose of erecting a victorious Danske Viser, vol. iii .p. 403.) Scottish trophy. ( Paus. i . 33. ) . That it was a tradition has transferred the burial place mere fable, every practice of their ene of Thomas the Rhymer, from Ercel- mies clearly proves. down to a tomhan which rises in a plain ( 30) EDITO R’s PRE FACE. 1 S 1their original character to give some passage in it a locality 24. It is thus too that the volcanic eruptions of Lydia, Sicily, Ci licia , and Bæotia, were respectively attributed to the agency of Typhon 25 ; that the purple tints upon certain flowers were said to have originated with the deaths of Ajax, Adonis and Hya cinthus ; that the story of the man in the moon has found a circulation throughout the world ; and that the clash of ele ments in the thunder -storm was ascribed in Hellas to the roll ing chariot-wheels of Jovem, and in Scandinavia to the pon derous waggon of the Norwegian Thor. The same general principle has likewise led to that community of ideas enter tained by all mankind of the glories and felicities of the past. Every age has been delighted to dwell with sentiments of ad miration upon the memory of the “ good old times;" they still continue to form a theme of fond and lavish applause ; and the philosophic Agis had to console his desponding countryman with a remark which every man's experience has made fami liar, “ that the fading virtues of later times were a cause of grief to his father Archidamus, who again had listened to the same regrets from his own venerable sire . ” In this, indeed, the feelings and conduct of nations in their collective capacity, only present us with a counterpart to individual opinion. The sinking energies of increasing age, like the dimness of enfee bled vision, have a constant tendency to deprive passing events of their natural sharpness of outline, and the broader features of their character; and we learn to charge them with an indi stinctness of form , and a sombre tameness of colouring, which only exists in the spectator's mind. The defects of our own impaired and waning organs become transferred to the change less objects around us ; and in proportion as the imagination recalls the impressions of earlier life, when the sense enjoyed 24 See the account of sir John Co- 25 Schol. in Lycoph. v. 177. nyers' tomb in Gough's Camden, iii . * Hesychius in v. saxeol@ porta . ?? Plutarch. Apophtheg. Lacon, 17. 2 . 1 p. 114. EDITOR'S PRETAC E. ( 31 ) the robust and healthy action of youth, the present is doomed to suffer by an unjust and degrading contrast. Thus also in the lengthened vista of popular tradition , every thing which is shrouded in the obscurity of a distant age, is made to partake of those physical and temporal advantages which the fancy has bestowed upon the reign of Saturn in Hesperia , or the joys of Asgard before the arrival of the gigantic visitants from Jotunheim ” . The qualities of the mind, and the properties of the body, are then supposed to share in the native vigour of a young creation ; and those cherished objects of man's early wishes, extreme longevity and great corporeal strength, are believed to be the enviable lot of all30. Hence the fictions of every country have agreed in regarding an unusual exten sion of the thread of life as a mark of divine favour 31 ; and

• See Diod. Sic. iii. 61. Compare for the extreme longevity of the early also Hesiod's account of the golden age. Egyptians ; of Hieronymus for that of Op. et Dies, v. 108, &c. The comic side the Phænicians; of Hesiod, Hecatæus,

of the picture is to be found in Athæn. & c. for the Grecians ; all of whom gave 1. vi. p. 267, &c. But the ancients always a thousand years to the life of man in had some distant country, where these the first periods of the world. Archæo fancied blessings were still enjoyed. In log. i. c. 3. $ 9. For the same advan the earlier periods, Æthiopia seems to tage enjoyed by the early Egyptian kings, have been the name ascribed to this land see Diod. Sic. i . 26 , and comparePliny's of promise ( Il. i. 423. Od. i. 22. ) ; and account of the Arcadians and Ætolians, hence perhaps the flattering, though some of whom lived three hundred years. somewhat sobered , picture of its inha: Hist. Nat. vii. 48. The long -lived bitants given by Herodotus iii. c . 17–24. Æthiopians of Herodotus, who, be it re Later traditions place the scene in the membered, were the tallest and most country of the Hyperboræans, a people beautiful of mankind, usually lived 120 changing their locality from the northern years. Herod. iii. c. 17. 23. extremity of Asia to that of Europe, or 31 At the siege of Troy the “ Pylian even the coast of Gaul ( compare Diod. sage” was living his third age. Il. i. 250 . Sic. 2. c. 47 with Pomponius Mela, 3. A Lycian tradition had assigned to Sar c. 5.) , and to whom Strabo, on the au . pedon a life of three ages, as the favou thority of Simonides and Pindar, has rite son of Jove. Apollod. Bibl. iii. 1 , 2 . given a life of a thousand years, lib. xv . Heyne, forgetful that we are here on p. 711. Another chain of fiction assigns mythic ground, wishes to follow Dio it to the isles of the West ( Od. iv. 563), dorus, who attempts to give the narrative and from hence havesprung thedescrip- an air of probability, by making two tions of Horace (Epod. xvi. 41 ), and Sarpedons, a grandsire and his grand Plutarch (in Vit. Sertor. ). For similar Tiresias was said to have lived accounts ofIndia see Ctesias ap .Wessel- seven ages, and Agatharchides more ing's Herod. p. 861. and Pliny vii. 2. than five. ( Meurs. in Lycophr. v. 682. ) 20 Edda of Snorro Dæmesaga, 12. Norna-Gest, as he lighted the candle Josephus, after noticing the age of on which his existence depended, said Nuah, cites the testimonies of Manetho he was three hundred years old. ( Norna son , 30 ( 32) EDITOR'S PREFACE. every national hero has been endowed with gigantic stature *, and made to possess all those virtues which the common consent of mankind unites in considering so , or the ruder ethics of an earlier period have substituted for such. With regard to those standing types of popular fiction, which have been compared to the roots of language, the his tory of their application in various periods of society displays the same frequent recurrence of certain primitive images, and the same series of ever-changing analysis and combination which mark the growth and progress of language itself. There will appear something fanciful perhaps in this comparison , yet the nearer we investigate it, the more we shall feel assured, that many of the laws which have governed the one are strictly analogous with those which have swayed the develop ment of the other ; and that, however much we may dispute as to the causes which have called forth these important phæno mena of the mind, their subsequent regulation is considerably less equivocal. The mass of primitives in every language, Gest Saga in Müller's Saga - Bib- Gowghther and Homer's account of liothek , vol. ii. p. 113.) Toke Tokesen Otus and Ephialtes, Od. 11. 308.) He was also fated to live two ages of man , was so tall, that when he walked through Ib. p. 117. and Hildebrand, the invin- a field of ripe rye, the point of his sword cible champion and Mentor of Theo- (which was seven spans long) might be doric, died aged 180 or 200 years. Ib. seen above the standing corn. (Muller, 278. p . 61. ) A hair of his horse's tail, which 32 The sandal of Perseus found at Gest shewed king Oluf, measured seven Chemnis was two cubits in length . ells. ( Ib. p. 111.) Theodoric of Berne Herod . 2. c . 91. The footstep of Her- was two ells broad between the shoul cules shown in Scythia, was of the same ders, tall as an Eten ( giant), and size. Ib. 4. c. 82. ; though the more stronger than any man would believe sober traditions make his whole stature who had not seen him . (Wilkina - Saga, only four cubits and a foot. (Herod. c. 14. ) The grave of Gawain was four Ponticus ad Lycophr. v. 663.) Lyco- teen feet long, the reputed stature of phron calls Achilles tòy luvéanzuv, Cass. Little John. ( Ritson. ) Of Arthur, Hig V. 860 . The body of Orestes when den has said : “ Also have mynde that found measured seven cubits. ( Herod. I. Arthures chyn-bone that was thenne c. 68. ) And for the large size of Ajax, (on the discovery of his body at Glas Pelops and Theseus, see Paus. i . 35. tonbury) shewed , was lenger by thre v. 13. and Plut. in Vit. c. 36. Aynches than the legge and the kneeof the Feroe song says of Sigurdr ( the Siegfrediengest man, that was thenne founde. of the Nibelungen Lied ), that he grew Also the face of his forhede, bytweene more in one month than others did in hys two eyen, was a spanne brode. twelve. ( Compare the romance of Sir Trevisa's transl. f. 290. rec. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 33) ( even in those whose decided character gives them the aspect of parent dialects) is well known to bear a very small propor tion to the wealth of its vocabulary; and at some stage of human existence, even these elementary terms must have been sufficient to express the wants , and effect an interchange of thought, between the several members of the community. As fresh necessities arose, and the bounds of knowledge became extended, the original types in their simple import would be unequal to the demands of every new occasion ; and hence the introduction of a long roll of meanings to the primitives, and all the intricacies of analysis and synthesis, which have given wealth, dignity, and expression to language. There is however no fact more certain, within our knowledge of the past and our experience of the present, than that words neither have been nor are now invented ; but that they always have been compounded from existing roots in the dialect requiring them , or borrowed from some collateral source ; and for this very obvious reason , that any other mode of proceeding would wholly defeat the only, end for which language was in tended, the communication ofour wishes, feelings and opinions. That the progress ofpopular fiction hasfollowed a nearly similar course, a slight consideration of the subject will tend to assure The extraordinary process already alluded to, which, by endowing inanimate objects with sense, feeling, and spirituality , robs man of his proudest distinction, is no new creation of ele mentary forms previously unknown, but a simple transference of peculiar properties, the characteristics ofa more perfect class of beings, to others less perfectly constituted. The prophetic ship, the grateful ant, the courteous trees, et hoc genus omne, are none of them subjected to any mutation in their physical qualities ; they merely receive an additional grant of certain us. 3 See Grimm's Kinder- und Haus- Märchen and Müller's Saga- Bibliothek , passim . VOL. I. ( 34) EDIT O R'sS PREFACE.

11ethical attributes, which , like secondary meanings in language, enlarge their power without varying their natural appearance. Even the personification of immaterial things, though ap proaching nearest to the plastic nature of a really creative power, is but an extension of the same principle. For though in these the external forms be wholly supplied by the fancy, the inherent qualities of the thing personified furnish the out line of all its moral endowments ; and the contrast between the abstract property in its original state, and the living image representing it, is not more striking than between the diffe rent objects which are expressed in language by one common symbol34. The wildest efforts of the imagination can only exhibit to us a fresh combination of well -known types drawn from the store- house of nature ; and it is the propriety of the new arrangement, the felicitous juxtaposition of the stranger elements in their novel relation to each other, which marks the genius of the artist, which fixes the distance between a Boc cacio and a Troveur, a Shakespeare and a Brookes. The same chaste economy which has regulated the development of language, is equally conspicuous in the history of popular fiction ; and, like the vocabulary of a nation once supplied with a stock of appropriate imagery, all its subsequent addi tions seem to have arisen in very slow progression. For this we must again refer to the prevailing state of society and the condition of those common agents by whom both subjects have been fostered . The more degraded the intellectual culture of a nation upon its first appearance in history, the poorer will be found its vocabulary, with reference to the innate re sources of the language; and the subsequentwealth of every dialect will be discovered to have been attendant upon the pro

• • The burning lava of Ætna was a cat, dog, horse, &c.

made the type of Typhæus's fury ; but 35 See Brooke's poemonthe subject of the contrast here is not greater, than Romeo and Juliet in Malone's Shake between those objects of domestic use which are namedafter animals, such as 4speare. BE EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 35) gress of civilization, and the acquisition of new ideas3. The patrons of popular fiction, as the very name implies, belong that class of the community which , amid all the changes and revolutions that are operating around it, always retains a considerable portion of its primitive characteristics. Among these may be reckoned the narrow circle of its necessities in the use of language and expression, and the modest demands of its intellectual tastes, so opposite to that later epicurism of the mind, a refined and learned taste, which is only to be ap peased by an unceasing round of novelties. Unacquainted with the feverish joys occasioned by the use of strong and fresh excitements, popular taste only asks for a repetition of its fa vourite themes ; and, blest with the pure and limited wants of infancy, it listens to the “ twice- told tale ” with the eagerness and simplicity of a child . It is on this principle that every country in Europe has invested its popular fictions with the same common marvels; that all acknowledge the agency of the lifeless productions of nature; the intervention of the same supernatural machinery ; the existence of elves, fairies, dwarfs, giants, witches and enchanters ; the use of spells, charms and amulets; and all those highly - gifted objects, of whatever form or name, whose attributes refute every principle of human ex perience, which are to conceal the possessor's person, anni hilate the bounds ofspace, or command agratification ofall our wishes. These are the constantly -recurring types which em bellish the popular tale, which hence have been transferred to the more laboured pages ofromance; and which , far from owing their first appearance in Europe to the Arabic conquest of Spain , or the migration of Odin to Scandinavia, are known to have been current on its eastern verge long anterior to the

• “ J'ai eu des idées nouvelles ; il a tions," says Montesquieu in the Adver bien fallu trouver des nouveaux mots, ou tisement to his Esprit des Loix.

donner aux anciens de nouvelles accep c2 ( 36) EDITOR'S PREFACE. æra of legitimate history . The Nereids of antiquity, the daughters of the “ sea-born seer, ” are evidently the same with the Mermaids of the British and Northern shores ; the habi tations of both are fixed in crystal caves, or coral palaces, be neath the waters of the ocean ; and they are alike distinguished for their partialities to the human race, and their prophetic powers in disclosing the events of futurity. The Naiads only differ in name from the Nixen38 of Germany and Scandinavia ( Nisser), or the Water-Elves of our countryman Ælfric ; and the Nornæ, who wove the web of life and sang the fortunes of the illustrious Helga, are but the same companions who at tended Ilithyia at the births of lamos and Hercules . Indeed so striking is the resemblance between these divinities and the Grecian Mæræ , that we not only find them officiating at the birth of a hero, conferring upon him an amulet which is to endow him with a charmed existence, or cutting short the thread of his being, but, like their prototype or parallel, varying in their number — from three to nine, -as they figure in their various avocations, of Nornæ or Valkyriar, as Parcæ or Muses. In the Highland Urisks ", the Russian Le 37 It will be felt, that this intricate and food, or dressing their hair in the meads copious subject could only be generally beside a running stream . Mone's con noticed here. More ample sources of tinuation of Creuzer's Symbolik, vol. i. information are to be found in the pre- p. 145. face and notes to the Kinder- und Haus- * 9 Compare Helga quitha hin fyrsta, Märchen of Messrs. Jacob and William in Sæmund's Edda, with Pindar Ol. vi. Grimm , Sir W. Scott's Essay on the 72. and Anton . Liberalis, c. 29. Faeries of Popular Superstition, ( Min- 40 A further illustration of this sub strelsy, vol. ii.) and some useful collec- ject must also be reserved for a future tions in Brand's Popular Antiquities, publication , vol. ii. A further consideration of the 41 The Urisk has a figure between a subject is reserved for another occasion ; goat and a man ; in short, precisely that when the authorities for some opinions, of a Grecian Satyr.-- Notes to the Lady which may appear either too bold or pan of the Lake, p. 356. There are few anti radoxical, and which could not be intro- quarian subjects requiringmore revision duced here, will be given at length. than the modern nomenclature of this * The Russian Rusalkis belong to sylvan family. This confusion of cha the same family. They are represented racter andname is no where more appa - as a race of beautiful virgins, with long rent than in the account of the ancient green hair, living in lakes and rivers, monuments in the British Museum. The andwho were generally seen swinging Grecian Satyr is perfectly human in the on the branches of trees, bathing inthe lower extremities of his person ; but the EDITOR'S PREF A C E. ( 37 ) schies , and the Pomeranian or Wendish Berstucs 3, we per ceive the same sylvan family, who, under the name of Panes and Panisci, presided over the fields and forests of Arcadia. The general meetings of the first were held on Ben -Venew , like the biennial assembly of the Fauns on mount Parnassus ; and the Sclavonian hunter invoked the assistance of his Zlebog , the Finn of his Wäinämöinen 45, and the Laplander of his Stor junkare +6,with the same solemnity as that with which the Greek Panes ( for the ancients acknowledged divided by some chroniclers into Pom more than one Pan, aswell as more than merania and Vandalia, an arrangement one Silenus) and Panisci preserved the which has caused theinhabitants of the legs and thighs of a goat. latter to be confounded with the Teu * These Russian divinities had a hu- tonic invaders of the Empire. The term man body, horns on the head, project- in the text has been borrowed from the ing pointed ears, and a bushy beard. German to avoid this inaccuracy ; but Below they were formed like a goat. Trevisa has shown that there was a name (Compare the well- known group of for it in England : “ Wyntlandia, that Pan and Olympus in the Villa Albani, ilonde is by -west Denmark, and is a bar and the representations of the same sub- ren londe; and men [go there) out of ject in the Pitture d'Ercolano.) They byleve, they selle wynde to the shypmen had the power of changing their stature that come to theyr portes and havenes, as as they pleased. When they walked it were closed under knottes of threde. through the grass , they were just seen Andas theknottes be unknytte the wynde above it ; in walking through forests, wexe at theyr wylle.” f.32. In all their their heads ranged above the highest attributes, the Berstucs appear to have Woods and groves were conse- been the same with the Russian Les crated to them , and no one dared offend chies. them , as they excited in the culprit's 44 The head of the Berstucs was Zle mind the most appalling terrors, or in a bog, usually explained The angry god. feigned voice seduced him through un- Frencel de Diis Soraborum et aliorum known ways to their caves, where they Slavorum ap. Hoffmann Script. Rer. tickled him to death . Mone, p . 143. Lusat. tom . ii. p. 234-6 . Care must be Among the Finnsthese practices were taken not to confound them with the attributed to a god Lekkio and a goddess Prussian dwarfs, called Barstuck ; and Ajataa. The first assumed the form of who perhaps have usurped a name which a man, dog, crow , or some other bird, designates theirform rather than their for the purpose of exciting terror; and occupation. In Durham and Newcastle, the latter led the traveller astray. Ib. 59. the English Puck is called Bar- quest. The reader will not fail to recognise in 45 Wäinämöinen was the inventor of this the Panic terrors of the Arcadian the kandele (a stringed instrument play god ; and to be reminded of the Olym- ed like the guitar ), and the author of pianinvocation, which called Pan Rhea's all inventions which have benefited the xúv « THYTodaróv. Pind. Frag. ap. Aristot. human race. He was implored by Rhetor. ii. 24 . The irritable tempera- the hunter, the fisherman andthe bird ment of these sylvan deities is also com- catcher, to play upon his kandele, that mon to their parallel. Theocritus, Id. i. the game might fall into their nets, v. 15 . Mone, 54. 43 The worship ofthese deities appears 46 This name has been borrowed from to have been common to all the Sclavo- the Norwegians. In Torneå Lapland nic tribes situated between the Vistula the same deity is called Seite. He is and the Elbe. This district has been supreme lord of the whole animal crew trees. ( 38 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. implored the aid of the “ shaggy god of Arcady.” Another fea ture in the national creed of the same mountainous district of Greece, is to be met with in the ballad of the Elfin -Gray47; and if the testimony of Ælfric, in his translation of Dryades by Wudu - Elfen, is to be received as any thing more than a learned exercise 48, the same notion must have prevailed in this country . But the collection from whence the ballad alluded to has been taken, the Danish Kiæmpe- Viser, contains more than this single example of such a belief ; and the reader will find below 49 a local tradition, preserved in Germany, which will remind him of the conversation between Peræbius and an 114ation (with the exception of the human on it ; for from thence they have no power race ), and patron of hunting, fishing, to remove us . ' To this the boor replied &c. He frequently appears to the fisher- with his wonted churlishness, Pooh ! men & c. of Luleå Lapmark , dressed pooh ! of what use can it be ? how can like a Norwegian nobleman in black, of the crosses help you ? I shall do no such a tall and commanding figure, with the thing to please you, indeed .' Upon this feet of a bird, and with a gun on his the wyfie flew upon him , and squeezed shoulder. His appearance never fails to him so forcibly that he became ill after produce a successful fishery or chase. it, notwithstanding he was a stout fel Mone, 36 . low. Such wyfies,and even mannikins, 47 See the Notes to the Lady of the are said to dwell upon that heath , under Lake. the ground, or in obscure parts of the 4 It may be questioned , whether this forest, and to have holes, in which they catalogue of Ælfric's (dun -elfen, berg- lie on green moss, as indeed they are elfen , munt-elfen, feld - elfen ,wudu- elfen , said to be clothed all over with moss. sæ - elfen, water - elfen ,) ever obtained a Prætorius says, he heard this story from circulation among the people. It is at an old dame, who knew the before . least rendered extremely suspicious by mentioned Hans Krepel, and adds, the its strict accordance with the import of time of day was a [ little ) after noon , an the Grecian names . hour not usually devoted to labour, be 19 " A peasant named Hans Krepel, cause at such a time “ this sort of dia being one day at work on a heath near blerie frequently occurs. Anthropo Salzburg, ' a little wild or moss-wyfie' demus Plutonicus, Magdeburg 1666. appeared to him, and begged that on vol. ii. p. 231. For this superstitious leaving his labour he would cut three attention to silence at noon , see Theo crosses on the last tree he hewed down, critus, Id . i . v. 15.; and for the persecu This requestthe manneglected to com- tion ofthe Nymphs by Pan, the romance ply with On the following day she ap- of Longus, p. 63. ed . Villoison, where pearedagain,saying, ' Ah !myman,why it is said of him , Taueta dè oudérors Aqu did you not cutthethree crosses yester- ασιν ενοχλών, και Επιμηλίσι Νύμφαις πράγ day ? It would have been of service both pata Tagéxw . The passage relative to to me and yourself. In the evening, and the Hamadryad, whothreatened Peræ especially at night, we are constantly bius with the consequences of neglecting hunted by the wild huntsmen , and are to prop the falling oak, in which she lived, obliged to allow them to worry us, unless is to be found inthe Schol. to Apollon . we can reach one ofthese trees with a cross Rhod . ii. v. 479. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 39) Hamadryad. How far the Duergar ofthe Edda were originally distinct from a similar class of dwarfish agents, who are to be met with in the popular creed of every European nation, can not now be precisely ascertained50. The earliest memorials of them in the fictions of Germany and Scandinavia, present us with the same metallurgic divinities who in the mythology of Hellas were known by the various names of Cabiri, He phæsti, Telchines, and Idæan Dactylisl. In the other countries of Europe, the traces of their existence as a separate class, 1 30 The Northern traditions relative to youthful Curetes, Corybantes and Dio . the Duergar, are among the most ob- scuri, a confusion arose in the nomen scure points of Eddaic lore, and are too clature of them which wholly baffied the important to be discussed in a note. attempts of Strabo to reduce into a sy Their residence in stones seems to be a stem . See the tenth book of this geogra portion of the same belief which gave pher, under the head of Theologoumena. rise to the aidos ir puxou of antiquity. The Dwarf of ancient mythology is per The author ofthe Orphic poem on stones haps best represented on the coinsof Cos mentions one in thepossession of He- syra, wherethe figure closelyaccords with lenus, which not only uttered oracular the description of themining dwarfgiven responses, but was perceived to breathe, by Prætorius, i. p. 243. Another repre ver. 339 et seq . Photius ( coll. 242. sentation, from the creed of Egypt, may p. 1062, from the life of Isidorus by Da- be seen among the terracottasof the mascius) mentions another in the pos- British Museum , No. 42. Mr. Coombe session of a certain Eusebius. This was calls “ this short naked human figure " a meteoric stone, which had fallen from Osiris; but there can be little doubt, heaven . On being asked to what deity . that it exhibits the dwarfish god of Mem it belonged , it replied , Gennæus--a phis, whose deformity excited the scorn god worshiped at the Syrian Heliopolis. and ridicule of Cambyses. This deity, Others were said to be subject to Saturn, whether we call him Phthas or He. Jupiter, the Sun, & c. ( For this notion phæstus, resembled in his person the ofthe dæmons being the subordinate Patæci or tutelary divinities of Phenicia , followers of some superior god,whose to whom Herodotus has assigned the name theybore, see Plutarch deDefectu figure of a pygmy man. ( Thalia,c . 37. ) Orac. 21. ) This will serve to illustrate The attributes on this and a similar mo the account given by Pausanias of the nument may be easily accounted for. thirty stones at Pharæ , each ofwhich The reader who is desirous of learning was inscribed with the name of some the esteem in which these divinities were god. ( vii. c. 22. ) Damascius thought held in the ancient world , may consult a the stone in question to be underdivine, treatise “ On theDeities of Samothrace " Isidorus only demoniacal, influence . by Mr.von Schelling, a gentleman chiefly Photius treats the whole story as a mere known in Europefor his philosophical piece ofjugglery . Plato, however,has works, but who is known to his friends said , that these lithic oracles were of the for his extensive erudition inevery branch same antiquity as that of the oak at Do- ofancientand modern learning,andwho, dona. Phædrus 276. among the numerous virtues thatadorn si Thespirit oflater times, with its cha- his private character, is particularly di racteristic tendency of studying beauty stinguished for his hospitality to the of form in all its imagery, having con- “ stranger, who sojourns in a foreign verted these ancient deities into the land ," ( 40) EDITOR'S PRE FACE. chiefly occupied in the labours of the forge, are not so clearly defined ; and if a few scattered traditions52 seem to favour a contrary opinion, it is equally certain that they have been more frequently confounded with a kindred race, the Brownies or Fairies. The former, as is well known, are the same dimi nutive beings with the Lares of Latium , an order of beneficent spirits, whom Cicero69 has taught us to consider as nearly identical with the Grecian Dæmon . In Germany they have received a long catalogue of appellations, all descriptive of their form , their disposition, or their dress ; but whether mark ed by the title of Gutichen , Brownie, Lar, or Dæmon, we ob serve in all the same points of general resemblance ; all have been alike regarded as the guardians of the domestic hearth, the awarders of prosperity, and the averters of evil; and the author of the Orphic Hymn endows the particular Dæmon of his invocation with the same attributes that are given by Hil debrand to the whole tribe of Gutichens or “ gude neigh bours 54.” The English Puck, the Scottish Bogle, the French Esprit Follet, or Goblin - the Gobelinus of monkish Latinity --and the German Kobold, are only varied names for the Grecian Kobalus 55; whose sole delight consisted in perplexing the human race, and calling up those harmless terrors that con 52 Essay on the Faeries of popular Su- of Robin Goodfellow . In Iceland, Puki perstition, p. 163. is regarded as an evil sprite ; and in the 53 “ Quanquam enim Dæmon latius language of that country “ at pukra ” patere quodam modo videatur, non du- means both to makea murmuring noise, bito tamen quin melius sit, Larem , quam and to steal clandestinely. The names Dæmonem vertere, ut sit species pro of these spirits seem to have originated genere.” De Universitate. in their boisterous temper . Spuken, " 54 Hymn 72. and Hildebrand vom Germ ., to make a noise ; “ spog,” Dan., Hexenwerke, p. 310 . obstreperous mirth ; " pukke,” Dan . 55 See the Scholiast to Aristoph. Plut. to boast, scold . The Germans use “ po v. 279. The English and Scottish terms chen ” in the same figurative sense, are the same as the German “ Spuk , and though literally itmeans to strike, beat, the Danish “ Spogelse," without the sibi- and is the same with our poke. In Dit lant aspiration. These words are gene- marsh, the brownie , or domestic fairy , ral names for anykind ofspirit, and cor- is called Nitsche- Puk . The French respond to the « Pouk ” of Piers Plouh- “ gobelin ” seems to spring either from a man . In Danish “ spog means a joke, diminutive - Koboldein ?or a feminine trick or prank ; and hence the character termination, Koboldinn ? EDITOR's PRE FACE. (41) stantly hover round the minds of the timid. To excite the wrath, indeed, of this mischievous spirit, was attended with fatal consequences to the luckless objects who rashly courted it; and Prætorius ( i. p. 140. ) has preserved a notice of his cruelty to some miners of St. Anneberg, to whom he ap peared under the guise of the Scottish Kelpie, with a horse's head, and whom he destroyed by his pestiferous breath. The midnight depredators mentioned by Gervase of Tilbury, who oppressed the sleeper, injured his person, despoiled his pro perty, and bore off his children, are either confounded by that worthy chronicler with the separate characters of the Ephi altes and Lamia ; or the local creed of some particular spot had concentrated in his day the propensities of both in one personage. The numerous tales gathered by Prætorius ob serve the classical distinctions of antiquity ; with them it is the Incubus or Alp, who causes those painful sensations du ring sleep , which the ancient physicians have so aptly termed the nocturnal epilepsy ; and it is the same race of mis - shapen old hags with the Lamiæ of Gervase58, who, like the ancient Lamia larvata, alternately terrify and carry away the infant from his cradle. Sir Walter Scott, from whose Essay “ on the Faeries of Popular Superstition ” the preceding notice of the Lamiæ 56 With this class must also be reckon- has said : “ Nam erunt Lamiæ spectra in ed the Gyre-Carline, or mother -witch formosarum mulierum figuram confor of Scotland, whose name is so expres- mata, quæ adolescentes formosos volup sive of her character (gyr-falcon, ger- tatibusdeliniebant,dum eos devorarent.” hound, Trevisa ). Etymolog. S. Lat. in Lamia. Compare Thair dwelt ane grit Gyre - Carling, in also Diodorus's account of the queen awld Betokisbour, of Libyssa, l. xx. p. 754. Vossius has That levit upoun Christiane menis likewise shown that the same notion was flesche, and rewheids unleipit. current in Judæa. There is one cir In this she becomes identified with the cumstance in the history of the Gyre Carline, which runs through all my “ Raw - head -and- bloody -bones ” of the English nursery In the fiction on thology : which the beautiful ballad of Glenfinlas Lang or Betok was born is founded, we have the poetic version Scho ( the G. Carline) bred of an acorne, of her character ; and of which Vossius ( 42) EDITOR'S PRE FAC E. 1recorded by Gervase has been taken , has also extracted from IO the Physica Curiosa of Schott, a Frisian account of the same destructive tribe, where a similar confusion appears to prevail, though with a different class of spirits. “In the time of the Emperor Lotharius, in 830, says Schott, many spectres infested Friesland, particularly the white nymphs of the ancients, which the moderns denominate witte wiven , who inhabited a subter raneous cavern, formed in a wonderful manner, without human art, on the top of a lofty mountain . These were accustomed to surprize benighted travellers, shepherdswatching their herds and flocks, and women newly delivered, with their children ; and convey them into their caverns, from which subterraneous murmurs, the cries of children , the groans and lamentations of men , and sometimes imperfect words and all kinds of mu sical sounds were heard to proceed. ” Divested of the colour ing which seems to identify these spectres “ with the fairies of popular opinion ,” a parallel fiction is related by Antonius Liberalis ( c. 8. ) in his account of Sybaris, to whom others gave the more appropriate title of Lamia ; and, with a change of sex in the agent, the same idea is found in the curious narratives of Pausanias and Ælian , relative to the “ dark dæmon ” or hero of Temessa 57. The earliest memorial of ht57 Vid . Ælian . Hist. viii. c. 18. Pau- rival of the dæmon, a struggle ensued , sanias, vi. 6. The people of Temessa from which the latter made his escape, having slain a oompanion of Ulysses, and for ever, by sinking into the sea. (who had violated the chastity of a vir- The ravages of Grendel appear to have gin ,) his spirit sought revenge, by car- been prompted by the deathof an uncle. rying slaughter and destruction into Hrothgar (in whose palace the spirit's every house and the whole country nightly incursions are made) and his round . The Pythian oracle recom- council vainly implore the powers of mended the erection of a temple, the hell ( it is a Christian who thus deno consecration ofa grove, and an annual minates the gods of the heathen king ) sacrifice ofthe fairest virgin in Temessa, for the means of commuting the deadly as the only means of appeasing the feud. The intelligence reaches Beo angry spirit. This was done. On one wulf, a champion whohad acquired an ofthese occasions, an Olympian victor extensive reputation by his victories named Euthymus, inspired by mingled over the nicors or nicers, a species of sea feelings of love and compassion for the monster of which many fables are cur beautiful victim , resolved on effecting rent at the present day in Iceland, and her rescue ; and having awaited the are who, in the true spirit of a berserkr, un EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 43) them in European fiction is preserved to us in the Anglo Saxon poem of Beowulf. In this curious repository ofgenuine Northern tradition, by far the most interesting portion of the work is devoted to an account of the hero's combats with a male and female spirit, whose nightly ravages in the hall of Hrothgar are marked by all the atrocities of the Grecian fable . Under the comprehensive name of Fairy, almost every member of the preceding catalogue has been indiscriminately mingled in the living recitals of the cotter's family circle, and the printed collections of our popular tales. A slight atten tion , however, to the distinctive marks established in the ancient world, will easily remedy the confusion ; and few readers will require to be told, that the fairies who attend the birth and foretell the fortunes of a hero or heroine, who connect the destinies of some favoured object with the ob servance of a command or the preservation of an amulet, are the venerable Parcæ of antiquity. The same rule will hold good of the rest ; and it therefore only remains to notice the Fairy of romance, and the Elf or Fairy of the mountain -heath . The former has been considered to have derived her origin from the same country which has supplied us with the name. For this hypothesis there is better reason than usually attaches itself to the solution of an antiquarian problem by the etymo. logist ; and Warton has already shown that the titles of the most distinguished in European romance are borrowed almost to the letter from the fables of the East. The Persian Mergian and Urganda have unquestionably furnished Italian poetry with its Morgana and Urganda ; and there is considerable plau dertakes the task of subduing Grendel Liberalis. It may be worthnoticing from a pure love of glory. The resultin that a picture preserved at_Temessa, both fables is the same. The dark dæmon representing the combat of Euthymus, is worsted and sinks into a lake, where he exhibited the dæmon clothed in awolf afterwards is found dead of his wounds. skin , and the name of the northern hero The female spirit is Grendel's mother's, is Beo -wulf, the wolf -tamer. who answers to the description of A. ( 44) EDITOR'S PREFACE. rainbow00100 w120WETE?1) . Pes at :TEM home CoreaA x LabsTA sibility in the assertion 58 ," that the Peri of the former country has been transmitted through the medium of the Arabic. But uniformity of name, even admitting an identity of character, is insufficient to prove that the idea attached to the new appel lative is of no older date in the country to which it has been transferred than the period when the stranger term was first introduced. The Pelasgain priesthood recommended the adop tion of Ægyptian titles for the unnamed divinities of Hellenic worship, on discovering that their secret had been divulged ; and the adorationofthe Bætyli precedes the annals ofauthentic history in Greece, while the name is of foreign extraction, and evidently borrowed at a very late period. If therefore the En glish ‘ fairy ,' or the French “ faërie,' have been imported from the East, the term itself must be of comparatively recent date ; though the popular notion respecting the nature and attributes of the beings who bore it is wholly lost in the twilight of an tiquity. There is no essential difference between the Persian Peri and the Grecian Nymph, however variedly the inventive genius of either country may have endowed them in points of minor consideration. They are both the common offspring of the same speculative opinion, which peopled the elements with a race of purer essences, as the connecting link between man and his Creator; and the modern Persian, in adopting those who hover in the balmy clouds 59, live in the colours of 2020.0 " ww 58 This guarded mode of expression of the earliest French tales of “ faerie ' must not be mistaken for a love of pa- acknowledgea Breton source; may not radox ; it has proceeded from doubts in the term itself be Celtic ? The “ Ionic the writer's mind, which at present he Pheres of Hesychius,” which has been wants leisure to satisfy. The French mentioned as an apparent synonym with term forour fairy or fay is fée ; and, like the Persian Peri, is buta different aspi the Italian fata , is said to be derived ration of the Attic Ińe (Germ . “ thier ” ) ; fromfatua. “ Faerie ” was a general and which , whether applied to centaurs name for an illusion ; a sense in which it or satyrs, could only have been given to is always used by Chaucer. As an ap- mark their affinity with the animal race . pellation for the elfin -race, in this coun- 59 These aërial nymphs were not fo try, it is certainly of late date ; and reign to the Grecian creed ; at least the perhaps a mere corruption, a name given celestial nymphs of Mnesimachus can tothe agent from his acts. It is cer- only be accounted for on this notion . tainly not of Northern origin. Some Schol. in Apollon. Rhod. iv , v. 1412. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 45) the rainbow , and exist on the odour of flowers, ” has only fixed his choice upon a different class from the ancient Greek. It will however be remembered, that in the particulars just enu merated, the Fairies of Italian romance bear no resemblance to the Peris of the East ; and that, in almost every thing else ex cept the name, they are, for the most part, only a reproduction of the Circe and Calypso of the Odyssey. The Fairies in the Lays of Lanval and Graelent, or in the romances of Melusina and Partenopex de Blois, have neither the gross propensities of the daughter of Helios, nor the power and exalted rank of the Ogygian enchantress. They approach nearer, both in character and fortunes, to the nymphs who sought the alliance or yielded to the importunities of Daphnis and Rhæcus, and, like their Grecian predecessors, were equally doomed to ex perience the hollow frailty of human engagements. The con ditions imposed upon the heroes of Hellenic fable were the same in substance, though somewhat differing in form from those enjoined the knights of French romance, and were alike transgressed from motives of self-gratification, or a weak com pliance with the solicitations of others. There is something more consolatory in the final catastrophe attached to the mo dern fictions; but this, as is well known, has been taken , in common with the general outline of the events, from the beautiful apologue of Apuleius. One of the earliest tales of faery in our own language, and perhaps the most important for the influence it seems to have had on later productions, is contained in the old romance of Orfeo and Heurodis . The leading incidents of this poem have been borrowed from the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and Mr. Ritson has truly pronounced its character in saying, This lay or tale is a 80 For Daphnis see Parthenius, c . 18; 61 It is to be regretted that Mr. Rit for Rhocus Schol. in Apoll. Rhod. ii. son chose to follow the Harleian MS. of See also the history of Cau- this romance, which is so palpably in nus in Conon, c . 2.; and of Philammon, ferior to the Auchinleck copy, Ib. c. 7 . V , 479. ( 46) EDITOR'S PREFACE. Gothic metamorphosis of the episode so beautifully related by Ovid. A later writer, from whose authority it is rarely safe to deviate, and to whose illustrations of popular fiction the present sketch is so much indebted, has rejected this opinion , and produced it as an example of “ Gothic mythology en grafted on the fables of Greece® ”. In support of this asser tion, even Sir W. Scott's extensive knowledge of the subject might find it difficult to offer any thing like satisfactory proof. The minor embellishments of the poem , the rank and qua lity of Orpheus, the picture of his court, the occupations of the Elfin king, and the fortunate issue of the harper's descent, are certainly foreign to the Grecian story, and have been either copied from the institutions of the minstrel's age, or are the ready suggestions of his own invention . But the whole machinery of the fable — the power of Pluto and his queen ( for such Chaucer has instructed us to call the king of Faery ), the brilliant description of Elfin land, its glorious abodes and de lightful scenery , and the joyous revelry of those who had secured a residence in the regions of bliss, and the miseries Of folke that were thidder ybrought, And thought dead and were nought, are of legitimate Grecian origin , and may be read with little variety of style, though with less minuteness of detail, in the visions of Thespesius and Timarchus, recorded by Plutarch . The po « Essay onthe Faeries & c. ut supra. arity of these regions mentioned in the 69 De Sera Num . Vind. c. 22. ( where Auchinleck MS. of Orfeo . the text reads Soleus the Thespesian ; pular view of the subject is discussed in but Wyttenbach has approved of Reiske's his usual manner by Lucian in his correction , which reverses the terms) several pieces, Ver. Hist. ii. Necyom . and De Genio Socrat. C. 22. Ifto Catapl. and Philops., and a compound these the reader will add Pindar's de- of esoteric and exoteric doctrines on the scription of the Elysian amusements same point is to be found in the Frogs ( cited in Plut. Consol. ad Apoll. c . 35. of Aristophanes. Sir W, Scott justly and with some additions in his tract De considers the ymp- tree, a tree conse Occulte Vivendo, c. vii .) and the nar- crated to some dæmon , rather than a rative of the Socratic Æschines ( Axio- grafted tree, as interpreted by Mr. Rit chus, $ 20.) on the same subject, he will This point of popular super on find a parallel for almost every peculi- seems to be referred to by Socrates in son . EDITOR'S PREFAC E. ( 47) The history of such descents, whether professing to be made in person, or by a separation of “ the intelligent soul ” from its grosser fellow , and the body 64, was a favourite topic in the ancient world ; and many visions of the infernal regions which are made to figure in modern hagiology, from the nar rative of Bede63 to the metrical legend of Owain Miles, have borrowed largely from these pagan sources. It is however obvious, that Chaucer's “ Pluto king of Fayrie ” and his “ Queen Proserpina” have been derived from this or a simi lar source ; and the confusion which has arisen between the Fairies ofromance and the Elves of rural tradition, may in all probability be ascribed “ to those poets who have adopted his phraseology.” By Dunbar, Pluto is styled “ an elricke in cubus in a clothe of grene,” the well-known elfin livery ; and Montgomery confers upon the sking of Pharie” the same ver dant garb, an elvish stature, and weds him to the Elf -queen . 6 All grathed into green , Some hobland on a hemp stalk, hovand to the hight, The king of Pharie and his court, with the Elf- queen, With many elfish incubus was ridand that night.” There is nothing in the “ Marchaunt's Tale” to justify this diminution of King Pluto's fair proportions, or to identify Queen Proserpina with the Elf-queen . But in another of Chaucer's tales, the practices ofthe latter and her followers the Phædrus, where, with his accus- p. 150.) The rock of entrance to the tomed style of irony, he ascribes a sud- fairy realm is the asvráda ríteny of the den fit of nympholepsy, to the vicinage Odyssey, xxiv . 11 .; and perhaps the of aplane-tree adorned with images, lapis manalis of Latium . and dedicated to the Nymphs. ( Phædr. 64 See Wyttenbach's note to thevision 276.) But this idea of dæmoniacal trees of Thespesius, concerning this division enters deeply into Northern and Orien- of the soul into yoũs and Vuxn, and the tal mythology. The lady Similt, while sources from whence Plutarch obtained seated beneath a lindentree, is carried it . off by king Laurin in the same clan- 66 Historia Ecclesiastica, lib . v. c. 13. destine mannerthat the king of Faerie Compare also the vision or trance of the conveys away Heurodis. ( See Weber's Pamphylian Er in Plato's Rep. lib . x. Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, in fine. (48) EDITOR'S PREFA C E. are called “ faeries ” or illusive visions ; and it will easily be felt, that the use of a common name to denote their respective actions, might eventually lead to the notion of a community of character. 3 In olde dayes of the king Artour All was this lond ful filled of faerie ; The elf- quene with her joly compaynie, Danced ful oft in many a grene mede. But now can no man see non elyes mo, For the grete charitee and prayeres Of limitoures, and other holy freres, That serchen euery land, and euery streme This maketh that ther ben no faeries. For ther as wont to walken as an elf Ther walketh now the limitour himself. WIFE OF Bath's TALE. However this may be, there can be little doubt that at one period the popular creed made the same distinctions between the queen of Faerie and the Elf- queen, that were ob served in Grecian mythology, between their undoubted paral lels, Artemis and Persephone. At present the traces of this division are only faintly discernible ; and in the Scottish ballad of Tamlane, (Minstrelsy, vol. ii. ) the hero, though wee man ,” declares himself a fairy both in " lyth and limb,” a communication which leaves us at no loss to divine the size of the fairy queen who had “borrowed him ." The beautiful ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, and even the burlesque 66 a wee < 66 The editor has already sinned too after contrasting the little we know of deeply against the fame of true Thomas, the real, with the fictitious history of (see vol. i. p . 181. ) to make the con- “ auld Rymer," he has arrived at that cealment of his opinion respecting this conviction, which is easier felt than ac mysterious personage a saving condition counted for, that the laird of Erceldoun on which he might build a hope of has usurped the honours and reputation forgiveness for his previousindiscretion. of some earlier seer, andgathered round He will therefore further state that, his name the local tradition of his birth EDITOR'S PREFACE . ( 49 ) I imitation of some forgotten romance by Chaucer in his Rhyme of Sir Thopas , ” make the Elf-queen either joint or sole sovereign of fairy - land, while the locality, scenery and inhabitants of the country prove it to be the same district de scribed in Sir Orfeo. In the former fiction she is represented, as only quitting the court of her grisly spouse , to chase the " wild fee " upon earth 67

her costume and attributes are of the

same sylvan cast with those which distinguished the huntress queen of antiquity ; and the fame of her beauty inspires the lovelorn Sir Thopas with the same rash resolves which from a similar cause were said to have fired the bosom of Pirithous . In the remaining details of Thomas the Rhymer, she is clearly identified with the daughter of Demeter

and the description

of the journey to Elf-land will remind the reader of a story in Ælian respecting the fabled Anostos, or that country whose expressive name has been so aptly paraphrased , The bourne from whence no traveller returns . In the Grecian fiction , “ the blude that's shed on earth ” seems rather to have impregnated the atmosphere , than dyed “ the springs of that countrie :" but the rivers that flowed around it, place. The strong power of local as- lady's lap , is the same cross -way in sociation has been sufficiently manifested which Minos, Rhadamanthus, and in the character acquired by a recent Æacus, held their tribunal ; one of resident at Erceldoune. See preface to whose roads led to the isles of the blest, Sir Tristram . and the other to Tartarus. Plat . Gorg . 67 A very veracious gentleman in one p . 524. The forbidden fruit, whose of Lucian's dialogues, has borne testi- taste cut off all hope of return , is an mony to the hunting propensities of the other version of the pomegranate-apple Queen of Hell, whom he calls Hecate, which figures so mysteriously in the his ( Philops, c. 17.) The account of the tory of Proserpine. elf -queen and her followers while en- 89 See Ælian , Var. Hist. iii . 18. In gaged in the chase may be compared Lucian's Ver. Hist. ii . 3. (and which with Od. vii. 101. and Virgil's imitation contains only exaggerated statements of of the samepassage, Æn.i. 498. popular opinion ), one of the rivers 68 Three days they travel through encompassing his region of torment darkness, up to their knees in water, and flows with blood. The bloody Ache only hear the “ swowyng of the flode.' rousian rock in Aristophanes ( Frogs, In this we have the ocean stream and . 474. ) appears to be connected with a Cimmerian darkness , Od . xi . 13 . The similar notion . spot where Thomas laid his head in the VOL . I. d ( 50 ) EDITOR'S PREF A C E. > the waters of joy and grief, each produced a tree , whose fruits were as marvellous in their effects as the apple bestowed on “ true Thomas. ” Nor is the prophetic power acquired by the Rhymer in consequence of his visit to this unearthly re gion , a novel feature in the history of such fictions. In one of Plutarch's tracts , a certain Cleombrotus entertains the company with an account of an eastern traveller , whose cha racter and fortunes are still more remarkable than those of the Scottish seer . Of this man we are told , that he only ap peared among his fellow mortals once a year. The rest of his time was spent in the society of the nymphs and demons, who had granted him an unusual share of personal beauty, had rendered him proof against disease, and supplied him with a fruit, which was to satisfy his hunger, and of which he partook only once a month. He was moreover endowed with a miraculous gift of tongues, his conversation reseinbled a spontaneous flow of verse, his knowledge was universal, and an annual visitation of prophetic fervor enabled him to unfold the hidden secrets of futurity . The Elves and Fairies of rural tradition who 6 dance their ringlets to the whistling wind ,” and the traces of whose mid night revels are still detected on the sward , seem originally to have beendistinguished from the Fairies of romance , by their diminutive stature and the use of a common livery. In the former circumstance popular fiction has only been faithful to the earliest creed of nations, respecting the size and form of their domestic and inferior deities; and of which examples are to be found in the household gods of Laban , the Patæci of Phenicia, the Cabiri of Egypt and Samothrace, the Idæan Dactyli of Crete, the Anaces of Athens , the Dioscuri of Lace dæmon , the earth -god Tages of Etruria , and the Lares of La 70 De Defectu Oraculorum , c . 21. Hist. ii . and Philops. For the use made Lucianplays upon the supposed know- of it by modern poets see Heyne's four ledge of future events gained by a vi- teenth Excursus to the sixth book of the sit to the infernal regions, in his Ver. Æneid. EDITOR'S PRE FACE. ( 51 ) tium. It would be out of place to enter here upon the probable causes which have led to this community of opinions as to the stature of these subordinate divinities; and it will be sufficient to remark, that the practice of romance in elevating them to the standard of human mortals "), ” has only followed an an cient precedent already noticed in speaking of the dwarfs. There is even reason to believe, that the occasional adoption of a larger form , was not wholly inconsistent with the popular belief on the subject ; since the fairy of Alice Pearson once appeared to her in “ the guise of a lustie man, ” and the ballad of Tamlane admits a change of shape to be a leading characteristic of the whole fairy race : Our shape and size we can convert To either large or small; An old nutshell's the same to us As is the lofty hall. But the stature of the Elves and Fairies who presided over the mountain -heath, will find a parallel in a kindred race, the rural Lars of Italy ; while their attributes, their habita tions, their length of life, and even their name, will establish their affinity with the Grecian Nymphs. “ Their drinking cup or horn , ” which was “ to prove a cornucopia of good fortune to him who had the courage to seize it 3,” is the sacred chalice of the Nymphs, whose inexhaustible resources 7 A distinction used by Titania in Little wasking Laurin , but from many the Midsummer Night's Dream , Act ii . a precious gem Sc. 2. His wondrous strength and power and his bold courage came; 72 The minor details of this ballad wear too modern an aspect to make it Tall at times his stature grew, with spells of grammary, of authority, unless supported by other Thento the noblest princes fellow might testimony. The story however is in he be. disputably ancient. The same power has been already noticed in the Russian 73 See the Essay on the Fairies, &c. Leschies, and is also ascribed to king where mention is made of the goblet Laurin in the Little Garden of Roses, preserved in Eden -hall in Cumberland, p. 153. on which the prosperity of the Musgrave d 2 ( 52 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE . are so frequently noticed in Grecian fable, and to which we shall again have occasion to refer . The places of their abode , the interior of green hills , or the islands of a mountain - lake, with all the gorgeous decorations of their dwellings, -are but a repetition of the Dionysic and Nymphæic caves described by Plutarch and Diodorus 74

and their term of life, like the existence of the daughters of Ocean, though extending to an immeasurable length 5 when compared with that ofthe human race, had still its prescribed and settled limits. To this it

may be added , that the different appellations assigned them in Hellas and Northern Europe, appear to have arisen from a common idea of their nature

and that in the respective lan guages of these countries the words elf and nymph* convey a similar meaning.

After this brief review of a most important subdivision of the elements of popular fiction , it will not be too much to affirm , that if their introduction into Europe, and their appli cation to the embellishment of romantic poetry , had been de pendent upon foreign agency, the national creed of Greece has the fairest claim to be considered as the parent source . But in this, as in so many other points of public faith com ? family depended . Prætorius informs us, thousand seven hundred and twenty that a member of the house of Alvesch- years ), Plutarch De Defectu Oraculor. leben received a ring from a Nixe, c . xi . Pindar gives the Dryads a much to which the future fortunes of his de- shorter term , or a life equivalent to that scendants were said to be attached . of the trees they inhabit. Ib . Anthropodemus Plutonicus, i . p. 113. 76 In the Northern languages elf Another German family , the Ranzaus , means a stream of running water, and held their prosperity by the tenure of a hence the name of the river Elbe. fairy spindle. Ib . p . 115. The Scholiast The Grecian vouon has the same import to Lucian's Rhet. Præcept. says, that with the Latin lympha, an idea which every prosperous person was supposed is also preserved in the Roman name to have Amalthæa's horn in his pose for the disease called Nympholepsy. session . “ Vulgo autem memoriæ proditumest , 74 See Plutarch de Sera Num . Vind ., quicumque speciem quandam e fonte , and Diod . Sic . lib . Üï . C. 68 . id est, effigiem nymphæ viderint , fu 75 For the lives of the fairies, see Mr. rendi non fecisse finem , quos Græci Reed's note to the Midsummer Night's youpoanttous, Latini lymphatos appel Dream , in the variorum edition of lant.” Festus, ap . Salm . Exercit. Plin . Shakspeare

for that of the Nymphs 765

. ( which Hesiod makes equal to nine ?0( EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 53 ) mon to the Greek and the Barbarian, it is impossible not to perceive the fragments of a belief brought from some earlier seat ofempire, and which neither could have been imported into Hellas and Western Europe by a new dynasty of kings, nor communicated by a band of roving minstrels. In the illustra tions they have received during the long course of their pre servation , and under circumstances so varying as all the public and private events that fill the histories of these countries, there will of course be many particulars exhibiting little affinity with each other, and which taken separately may seem to deny this community of their origin. But even these, when carefully examined, will be mostly found to resolve themselves into distinctions arising from a difference of national character, or corruptions produced by some later change in national in stitutions; and the most discordant will hardly afford a stronger contrast in their lineaments, than the physical differences dis played in the conformation of the human frame, upon the shores of the Ægean Sea and the banks of the Frozen Ocean. In Greece, like every thing else which has been exposed to the refining taste of that extraordinary people, they will all be found submitted to the same plastic norm which fitted the bard's “ thick - coming fancies” for the studies of the sculptor : and in modern Europe, a new religion, in attempting to curtail their influence or obliterate the remembrance of them , has more or less corrupted the memorials of their attributes. It is to the latter that we must more particularly look for an explanation of those anomalies, which not only appear to con tradict our recollections of antiquity, but occasionally to ex hibit the popular faith as being at variance with itself. It will scarcely need remark, that the introduction of Christi anity among the nations of the West, must speedily have effected a change in general opinion , as to the right, and the degree, in which these imaginary divinities were commissioned ) ( 54) EDITOR'S PREFACE. to exert a power over the destinies of man . But so gradual were the successes ofthe triumphant faith over this particular branch of the ancient creed, that although the memory of “ Thunaer, Wodan , and Saxnote " , ” (?) is scarcely distinguish able among the documents of several centuries, a continued belief in the agency of their subordinate associates still main tains its sway over every sequestered district of Northern Europe. Perhaps the sweeping clause which was to embrace the whole of this fraternity, and who were far too numerous to 77 Such are the names of the three accou for the differen of ortho divinities mentioned in the Francic pro- graphy. That they occupied the same fession of faith published by Eccard. rank in the respective mythologies of Francia Orientalis, vol. i. p. 440. Ek the two great Teutonic stocks, is con forsacho. ... Thunaer ende Woden, firmed by the days named after them . ende Saxnote, end allem them unhol. In England we have had successively dum the hira genotas sint. I renounce Wodnes-dag and Wednesday (prout ( forsake) Thunaer and Wodan and Wensday ). In Denmark it has been Saxnote, and all those impious ( spi. Odins-dagr and Oens-dag. It was from rits) that are their associates. The this circumstance, in all probability , name of Saxnote has been a stumbling- coupled with the notion of Wodan's or block to the critics, and appears likely Odin's psychopompic duties, that the to remain so. In its present condition Romans were induced to consider him the word has certainly no intelligible as the same deity with their own Mer meaning, and, if correct, refers to a deity cury. In an Etruscan patera published of whom no other trace exists. The by Winkelmann and afterwards by usual interpretation, Saxon Odin, is a Lanzi, this god is seen weighing the mere conjecture, and certainly not a souls of Memnon and Achilles; which happy one. The same may be said of would afford another reason for the Mr. A. W. Schlegel's emendation ( In- supposed affinity. But the worship of dische Bibliothek , p. 256.) of Saxmote Odin as supreme God, like that of Dio or assembly of the Saxons, at which nysus in his mysteries, and perhaps of they celebrated heathen festivals, and Osiris ( see Zoega De Usu Obeliscorum ), which is as objectionable on the score appears to have been a comparatively of grammar as the decried Saxnote. recent feature in the Northern creed . One remarkable circumstance in the Thunaer, Thor, was the Thunderer, and present text is, that Thunaer and Wodan held the same precedence in Norway, are not inflected , whilethe conjunction the last refuge of his worship, that he has gained the very addition in which does in the Francic renunciation . The they are defective. It is to be regretted day consecrated by his name was also that no one has consulted the original the Northern sabbath . There is so document since the publication of the much affinity between some parts of first transcript. It is difficult to under. the history of Odin, Dionysus, and stand why this formulary should be made Osiris, that the name of either might be the foundation of a theory, that Wodan substituted in the respective accounts of and Odin are distinct personages. The Snorro, and the several writers on well-known practice of the Scandinavian Greek and Ægyptian mythology, with dialects, which suppresses the aspirate out violating the general truth of the in all those words that in the cognate recital. tongues begin with a wi will sufficiently EDITOR'S PREFAC E. ( 55) be specifically named, either admitted of an accommodating latitude in the interpretation , or was taken with considerable mental reservation . However this may be, we shall have no difficulty in believing that the expounders of the new religion were rarely free from those impressions which , imbibed in early infancy, the reason vainly struggles to eradicate in after life, and of which it may be said, that however little they generally appear to govern our external conduct, they always maintain their ground in the recesses of the mind. Few could have been bold enough to assert that the memorials of the past, and the alleged experience of the present, had no better foundation than the terrors and caprice of an over - heated imagination , or those illusions of the sense which owe their existence to disease or defective organization. Many must have retained a lurking conviction of the truth of their former belief; and even where this was not the which had been so success fully wielded in crushing the rule of Wodan , could only be exerted with diminished effect; since the same day which heard the proofs of his identity with the Evil One, also wit nessed the suppression of that ceremonial which alone ensured the permanency of the public faith . On the other hand, the superstitions ofthe forest, the mountain, or the domestic hearth , were attended with but few rites, and those of such a nature as to be easily concealed from the general eye. The divinities addressed were mostly local, either attached to particular places, persons, or things, and only petitioned ordeprecated in matters of private interest. And however forcibly it might be urged that their interference in human affairs was only prompted by the machinations of Satan ; yet as this was nothing better than a change of name in the cause, without denying the effect, and no equivalent agency was made to supply its place, these arguments only tended to corrupt without extir pating the obnoxious opinions. The consequence of such a case, the weapon ( 56) EDITOR'S PREFACE. temporizing system ,—but which, with reference to the state of society that it was called upon to influence, contains more practical wisdom than it has usually received credit for, -was a gradual amalgamation of the ancient and established faith . In those documents approaching nearest to the æra ofa nation's conversion, such as the oldest Icelandic Sagas, we find the mention of these domestic deities attended with no diminution of their power, or derogation from their former rank. In later periods they are chiefly noticed to mark the malignancy of their disposition, or to ridicule their impotent pretensions, and occasionally they are brought forward to bear their reluc tant testimony to the superiority of the dominant faith . From this source have emanated those recitals which exhibit to us either dwarfs or fairies expressing a desire of procuring the baptismal rite for their infant offspring ; and those cor ruptions of a still later age, which represent their condition as only seemingly felicitous, and the joys and marvels of their subterranean abodes, as the mere varnished exterior of misery and filth 78. It is true, where the stream of tradition has con tinued pure, we still find them spoken of as the beneficent friends and protectors of mankind ; as still in the enjoyment of their attributes and pleasures, their gardens of ever-bloom ing verdure, their adamantine palaces, their feasts, their re velry, their super-earthly and entrancing music. The Gael indeed has condemned his Daoine Shi’ to the hollow mockery of these delights; but the Cymry, more faithful to the tenets of his ancestors, believes his Tylwyth Têg to be in the continu ance of their former rights and happiness, which the folly 79 Perhaps to these ought to be added of the Northumbriandwarf, who hoped " thepaying the kane to hell;" but if, for an ultimate though remote salvation . as it is believed, the whole fairy system See notes to the Lady of the Lake. he but another name for the ancient The better portion of theancient demons demonology, the fine may be explained were souls in a progressive advancement upon other principles. The same argu- towards perfection, and on their return ment will then apply to the declaration to their celestial birth- place. EDITOR'S PRE FACE. ( 57) e of ore vas th. t's the on ter of alone of the human race has deprived the present generation from sharing ina. There will be no necessity for entering minutely into those embellishments of popular fiction, which owe their existence to a general belief in the powers of magic, sortilege, and divi nation . The conformity of practice between the ancient and modern world in their application of these several arts has been generally acknowledged, and no exclusive theory has obtained to account for the mode of their transmission. Warton indeed has observed , that “the Runic ( Northern ) magic is more like that of Canidia in Horace, the Romantic resembles that of Armida in Tasso :" but this is an artificial distinction , which had no existence in the popular creed , however much it may seem to be authorized by the documents to which he has referred . The magic of the North ( like the poetry in which it is found) may in a great degree be considered as only a genial reflex of the practices of daily life ; since many of the records preserving it were written at a period when the ns, UC th bit ang or as elr ry on nt nt e el y f 79 See Grahame's Sketches, &c. quoted the cattle -spayer of Finland publicly in the notes to the Lady of the Lake, chaunts the Runic rhyme, at the present and Davies's Celtic Mythology, p . 156. day, with the same assurance of its 80. It may be right to caution the efficacy with which the epode was sung by reader against a very common error, in the priests of Pergamus and Epidaurus. which the motives that gave rise to the Comp. Pind. Pyth. iii. 91. These arts, practice of magic and divination have like their names, bore once a sacred been confounded with the criminal character ; and however much they abuses that sprang from their use in may have been made to minister to the later times. Poor human nature has follies and vices of the multitude, in frailties enough to answer for, without their decried and degraded state, they ascribing to its “ malignity ” the inven- are clearly referable in their origin to tion of magic rites and ceremonies. one of the most exalted principles ofour Nothing can be more clear in this im- nature, or (to use the language of Pro portant chapter of the history of the metheus) were first resorted to doipoorn human mind, than that the invocation agos ndovs, (Æsch. P. V. v. 494.). Their and the charm haveregularly descended history may tend to confirm the axiom, from the exploded liturgies of the tem . that the religious usages of one age ple ; and that the discarded mantle of often become the superstition of a suc infant science has “ rested on ” the ceeding one : but it will also teach the wizard and the crone. The beldame more consolatory doctrine, that the im who mutters the spell over the bruise or pulses of the human heart may be the wound, only practises the same ho- founded in error, without necessarily nourable « craft” which proved the involving either malignity or crime. divine descent of the Asclepiades ; and ( 58 ) EDITOR'S PRE FACE. charms to produce the surprising effects noticed by Warton might more or less be procured at every wizard's cell. The magic of romance with “the sublime solemnity of its necro mantic machinery ” was obviously a matter of only traditional belief. A few vain pretenders to superior intelligence in the art, could alone have professed to accomplish its marvels , or some equally silly boasters to have witnessed them ; and having sprung from the busy workings of the fancy in decorating the tamer elements of the popular faith , could have no other ex istence than in its own fictitious memorials. On this account it is of necessity wanting in all those poems which , like the early Icelandic songs, make the slightest pretensions to histori cal worth ; and can only abound in such productions as either treat of subjects professedly mythological, or are the manifest creation of the writer's invention. An injudicious comparison of these very opposite kinds of composition, has clearly led to the erroneous opinion offered by Warton ; and it will be suf ficient to remark, that the legitimate spell of “ grammarye is to be found in the Odyssey, the Edda, and the popular tales, as well as in those romances which suggested the use of it to Tasso . If more frequently resorted to in later com positions than in the earlier fictions, we must rather attribute this circumstance to the spirit of the times in which they were written , than to any want of faith in the auditors of a ruder age : the extravagant events of Beowulf's life might make 81 Among these may be reckoned the dated August 20, 1507. The venerable mysterious personage, who in the six- Abbot, after noticing several of his idle teenth century availed himself of a boasts, proceeds: În ultima quoque widely circulated tradition to excite the hujus anni quadragesima venit Stauro public attention , and to invest himself nesum ( Creutznach ), et simili stultitia with the title Faustus junior : Sic enim gloriosus de se pollicebatur ingentia, titulum sibi convenientem formavit dicens se in Alchemia omnium qui magister Georgius Sabellicus Faustus fuerint unquam esse perfectisimum , et junior, fons necromanticorum , astrolo- scire atque posse quicquid homines opta gus, magus secundus, chiromanticus, verint. Sec Görres Volks-bücher, p. 242. agromanticus, pyromanticus, et in hydra 82 See the Odyss. xiii. 190 . Thor's arte secundus. Mr. Görres bas given adventures at Utgarda, Dæmesaga, 41 . this passage from a letter of Trithemius, and Chaucer's Frankelein's Tale. EDITOR'S PRE FACE. ( 59) 1 2 1 many a bold romancer blush for the poverty of his imagi nation . In referring to those various objects of inanimate nature whose marvellous attributes are usually classed among the chief attractions of romance, it will be equally unnecessary to enter largely into the question of their origin, as the recent labours of abler antiquaries have clearly proved that we are not indebted to the middle age for their first appearance in popular poetry. For every purpose of the present inquiry, it will be sufficient to enumerate a few of the most important points of coincidence between the fictions of the ancient and modern world ; and, in noticing some of the disguises under which a common idea has been made to pass from one nar rative to another, to evince the fondness of popular taste for a constant recurrence of its favourite types. MM. Grimm have already shown that the fatal garment of Dejanira ,-- and which by Euripides has been connected with a later fable , -still lives in the German tale of Faithful John ; and that no image is more common , or assumes a greater variety of forms, in the current fictions of their native country, than the insidious present sent by Vulcan to his mother Juno$ 4. Another favourite symbol, and entering deeply into the decorations of romance, is the talisman of virtue, by which the frailties of either sex were exposed to public detection ; and which Mr. Dunlop, with his accustomed accuracy , has referred to the trial at the Stygian fountain , and traced through the Greek romances of the Empire to the romances of chivalry and the pages of Ariosto. In the prose romance of Tristram , whence the poet of Ferrara most probably borrowed it, the ordeal consists in quaffing the beverage of a drinking-horn, 1 83 See the preface and notes to the Review, No. xxxvii. Kinder- und Haus- Märchen of MM. 84 Kinder- und Haus-Märchen , vol. iji . Griinm ; and a valuable essay on the p. 19 and 149. same subject contained in the Quarterly ( 60) EDITOR'S PREFACE. NO< which no sooner approaches the culprit's lips, than the contents are wasted over his person . In Perceforest and in Amadis, a garland and rose, which “ bloom on the head of her who is faithful, and fade upon the brow of the inconstant, ” are the proofs of the appellant's purity : and in the ballad published by Dr. Percy, of the Boy and the Mantle, where the same test is introduced, the minstrel poet has adhered to the traditions of Wales, which attribute a similar power to the mantle, the knife, and the goblet of Tegau Euroron, the chaste and lovely bride of Caradoc with the strong arm85. From hence it may have been transferred to the girdle of Florimel, in the Fairy Queen ; while Albertus Magnus, in affirming that “ a magnet placed beneath the pillow of an incontinent woman will infallibly eject her from her bed, ” has preserved to us the vulgar, and perhaps the earliest, belief on the subject . The glass of Agrippa, which, till our own times, played a distinguished part in the history of the gallant Surry, has been recently made familiar to the reader's acquaintance by the German story of Snow drop. But this, in all probability, has only descended to us from a mirror preserved near the temple of Ceres at Patras ; or one less artificially constructed, though more miraculously gifted , a well near the oracle of Apollo Thurxis, in Lycia. The zone of Hippolyte , which gave a supernatural vigour to T285 Jones's Bardic Museum , p. 60 ; from supply , would greatly increase our ob whence all the subsequent notices of ligation to them . British marvel have been taken . 88 See Pausanias, vii. 21. The former 86 This power is given to the magnet, only exhibited the person and condition in the Orphic poem on Stones, v . 314 , of health of the party inquired after ; &c. the latter displayed whatever was de 87 See the German Tales from the sired . Kinder- und Haus-Märchen of MM. 89 Είχε δε Ιππολύτη τον Αρεος ζωστήρα , Grimm , p. 133. It is to be hoped that cúp bohov ToŨ TWTEÚ åretáv. Apollod. the ingenious translators of this collec- Bibl. ii. 5. 9. In Parsee lore the girdle tion will continue their labours. The was a symbol of power over Ahriman . nature of their plan seems to have ex- In the Little Rose -garden , the helt of cluded many of the tales most interest- Thor has descended to king Laurin . ing to an antiquary ; but a supplemen. Weber, p . 159 . The ring given bythe tary volume, containing some of these, lady Similt to her brother Dietlieb, accompanied with that illustration which also ensured victory to him who wore it. the translators appear so well able to Ib. p. 164. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 61 ) . 1 the “ thews and limbs” of the wearer, is notto be distinguished from the girdle of the Norwegian Thor; and there can be little doubt, that the brisingamen of Freyia, which graced the person of the same pugnacious deity on his visit to Thrym heim9, is the cestus of Venus under another name and form . Without possessing either the ægis -hialmr of the Edda, or the ægis of Minerva, it might be dangerous to assert that these petrifying objects are verbally identical; since nothing short of their terrific power would be a sufficient protection against the host of Hellenic philologers, whom such a decla ration would infallibly call to arms". In obedience, therefore, to the dictates of “ the better part of valour,” it will be most prudent to remark, that they strikingly agree in their appall ing attributes, and that the thunderer of Norway was as effi ciently armed for combat as his brother of Olympus. This ægis-hialmr is affirmed to have been the crafty workmanship of the dwarfs, the reputed authors of every “ cunning instru ment " in Northern fiction ; and who manufactured for An the Bow -swinger and Orvar Odd those highly -tempered arrows which, like the fabled dart of Procris, never missed their ob ject ; and having inflicted a mortal wound, returned to the bowstring which had emitted them% . Another specimen of 91 20 See Sæmund's Edda, Thryms- pidly, to be violently agitated ; and hence Quida. aivis, the tempestuous wind,and čiž, the Aigis may have meant a breastplate appellation given to the stormy Capella, or helmet made of goat-skin, just as orthe star whose rising was productive xuvén meant a skull-cap or helmet made of hurricanes. The ægis-bearing Jupiter of dog -skin ; but the fable on which the of Virgil is the cloud-compeller - nim Greek grammarians have accounted for bosque cieret, Æn. viii. 354. For the the application of the term to the armour same reason , and not from his goatish of Jupiter and his daughter, is an idle form , we may be assured the god of fabrication . The qualities of this wea- Arcadia , the author of thePanic terror, pon undoubtedly had some connexion was called Ægipan. In Icelandic with its name : “ ægir ” means the stormy sea ; and in dejepi dag öposons Báder' aiyida ovocayó Anglo - Saxon we have a eggian excite, “ eg - stream a torrent, ege ' durny, my NEPI MEN NANTH $ OBOZ fear, and egesian " to scare . ΕΣΤΕΦΑΝΩΤΟ. CompareMuller's Saga - Bibliothek, Il . v. 738. p. 532-41, with Hyginus, ed. Staveren, The verb kirow , from whence this term p. 189. takes its derivation, meanttomove ra to 22 Soray 92 ( 62) EDITOR'S PREFACE. their ingenuity is the ship of Freyr, called Skidbladnir, which though sufficiently spacious to contain the whole tribe of the Asæ , with their arms and equipments, was yet so artfully contrived, that it might be folded like a handkerchief and car ried about in the pocket” . The sails of this extraordinary vessel were no sooner hoisted than a favourable wind sprang up ; an attribute which has descended to another ornament of Icelandic fable, the bark Ellide : but this, like the first, and oftenest sung, of ancient ships, was also gifted with the power of understanding human speech . Homer, however, has told us, that the fleets of Alcinous combined the advantage of the favouring gale with an intelligence which enabled them to divine the wishes of those they bore, and that they also had the power of reaching their destined port without the assistance of a helmsman or a guide. So shalt thou instant reach the realm assign'd, In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind : No helm secures their course, no pilot guides, Like men intelligent, they plough the tides ; Conscious of every coast and every bay That lies beneath the sun's alluring ray. In other fictions common to the ancient and modern world , this idea has been improved on , and applied to a vast variety of objects for conveying the person from place to place. He rodotus, with his characteristic love of the marvellous, (tem pered as this passion was by an unrivalled perception of the truth ,) found it impossible to pass unnoticed the fable of Abaris and his dart95. He has, however, only mentioned the common tradition of his day, that it transported the Hyper borean philosopher wherever he wished, and left to Jambli chus the further particulars of its history. From the Pythago 98 Edda of Snorro , Dæmesaga 37. 94 Muller's Saga - Bibliothek, vol. ii . p. 459 and 592. 95 Melpom . c. 36. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 63) rean romance of this writer we learn, that Abaris had procured it in the temple of the Hyperborean Apollo; and that in addi tion to the services it had rendered him in his several journeys “ by flood and field, ” it had assisted him in performing lustra tions, expelling pestilences, and allaying the fury ofthewinds % . The place of its deposit clearly shows it to have been the same miraculous weapon employed by the Delian god in de stroying the Cyclops ; for another authority informs us , he buried this fatal dart in an Hyperborean mountain, and that when banished from Olympus, it was daily borne to him on the winds, laden with all the fruits of the season . In this latter attribute it becomes identified with the horn of Amalthæa, and serves to explain the mystery overlooked by Jamblichus, how Abaris, like another Epimenides, might devote his time to the service of the gods, and yet never be seen to eat or drink. In the traditions of Wales, this dart has been accommodated to the more stately fashions of later times ; and one of the thir teen marvellous productions of Britain is the car of Morgan , which carried the possessor to whatever district he desired . But here again we have only another form for the talaria of the Nymphs, with which Perseus winged his way to the resi dence of Medusa ; or the ring in the German tale, The King of the Golden Mountain , —while in the popular story of Fortu natus it assumes the humbler guise of a wishing -cap, and in the relations of the Kurds, and the history of Tom Thumb, it has descended to the lowly shape of a pair of seven-leagued boots. Another object enumerated among the thirteen mar vellous productions of Britain , is the veil or mask of Arthur, which had the power of rendering the wearer's person invi sible, without interrupting his view of the things around him. In other fables of the same country, this property is also given to the ring of Elunedº, the Lunet of the old English romance 9798 Jamblichus, Vit. Pythag. c. 19. 28. Hyginus, Astron . c. 15. 98 Mr. Jones calls Eluned the lover of Owain ; which if correct, would justify ( 64) EDITOR'S PREFACE. of Ywaine and Gawaine: and in several German tales the hero is made to conceal himself from the “ ken " of his companions by the assistance of an enchanted cloak. The romance of king Laurin , and the far- famed Nibelungen - lied , follow the general traditions of the North , which confine this mysterious attribute to a nebel- kappe, or fog -cap. But however varied the objects to which this quality has been assigned, we cannot fail to recognise the same common property which distinguish ed the helm of Pluto, worn by Perseus in his combat with Medusa, or the equally notorious ring of Gyges, whose history has been recorded by Plato . Without detaining the reader to trace the lyre of Hellenic fable through the hands of its se veral possessors, from Mercury to Amphion Dictus et Amphion, Thebanæ conditor arcis Saxa movere sono testudinis, et prece blanda Ducere quo vellet Hor. Ar. Poet. v. 393. we may proceed to remark, that the earliest notice of its occurrence in Northern fiction is to be found in the mytho logy of Finland . Waïnämöinen, the supreme god of the Finnish Olympus, was the inventor of a stringed instrument called the kandele, which , resembling a kit in its construction, is still played as a guitar. “ When this beneficent deity pre sented the result of his labours to mankind, no mortal hand possessed the skill to awake its harmonies, till the god himself P. 49. aconclusion, that the Welsh and En- the Parmenides. Eucrates, in Lucian's glish romances follow a different tradi- Philopseudes, unblushingly affirms that tion. In the Heldenbuch this ring is he had one of these rings in his posses given to Otnit by his mother. Weber, sion , and had used it on a very trying occasion . The ancients explained the 99 De Repub. iii. p . 359. Plato has helm of Pluto to be an impervious most vexatiously dismissed apart of the cloud surrounding the person ofthe history of this ring with a raà.... άλλα wearer (such nodoubt as is described din d uudonogovor, little thinking that in the Little Garden of Roses): but the the modern antiquary would have been passage in which this illustration is more beholden to him for information given , cannot be more specifically re on this head , than for all the subtleties ferred than by citing the Scholia to of the Cratylus, or the speculations of Pluto published by Rühnken. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 65 ) i touching the strings, and accompanying its notes with his voice, caused the birds in the air, the beasts of the field, and the fishes of the sea to listen attentively to the strain , and even Wäinämöinen was moved to tears, which fell like pearls adown his robe200. ” This account, which is literally copied from Finnish tradition, will lose nothing by a comparison with the Grecian fable of Orpheus, and will recall to the reader's me mory the celebrated gem representing Pan, the Grecian Wäi nämöinen, playing upon his pipe in the centre of the ecliptic. The fictions of our own country, or more correctly speaking those of Scotland and Wales, have substituted the harp, as a more decidedly national instrument, for the lyre and kandele, and bestowed it upon two native musicians, Glaskyrion and Glenkindie, if indeed we are justified in separating these per The former is the hero of a well- known ballad in Dr. Percy's Reliques, ( vol. iii . p. 84, ) and is placed by Chaucer in the same rank of eminence with the son of Calliope : sons 101. There herde I play on a harpe, That sowned both well and sharpe, Hym Orpheus full craftily ; And on this side fast by, 100 Mone's continuation of Creutzer, i. the same personage ; but who this cele p. 54. But this tradition appears to have brated harper may have been, whether a found its way into Scotland. In a sin- native of Wales, Scotland, or any other gular composition, published by Sir country, is not so clear. The same ra Walter Scott, “ An Interlude on the tionale will also apply to the name. It is laying of a Gaist, ” we find the follow- to be regretted that a gentleman so emi ing allusion to it : nently qualified as Mr.Jamieson to illu And sune mareit the gaist the fle, strate the popular antiquities ofhis native And cround hiin king of Kandelie ; country , should have abandoned a career And they gat thembetwene, in which he has already attained so much Orpheus king and Elpha quene. distinction, and might have acquired Minstrelsy, vol. i. p. 164. still greater. His name must ever be heldin estimation by the friends of 101 Mr. Jamieson secms to consider Warton's fame, for the spirited manner Glenkindie a corruption of some local in which he shook off the trammels of name, which has been substituted for the Ritsonian school, inhis first publi Glakyrion. There can be no doubt but cation, and vindicated the tasteful la the ballad published by him, as well as bours of Warton and Dr. Percy. that in Dr. Percy's collection, refers to VOL . I. e ( 66) EDITOR'S PREFACE. w Sate the harper Orion ( Amphion ?) And Eacides, Chirion , And other harpers many one, And the Briton Glaskyrion . House of Fame. The powers of Glenkindie's harp exceed all that has been said of its rival instruments : 2 He'd harpit a fish out o saut water, Or water out o' a stane, Or milk out o ' a maiden's breast, That bairn had never nane102. From hence the transition to the horn of Oberon , “which if softly sounded would make every one dance who was not of an irreproachable character ; " or the harp of Sigurd 103, which caused inanimate objects to caper in the wildest con fusion, was but an easy step. In popular story the same qua lities have been conferred upon the fiddle of the German tale The Jew in the Bush, and the pipe of Jack in The mery Geste of the Frere and the Boye, and have thus developed the opposite and contrasting elements contained in this as in every other fable, and without which no mythos seemsto be complete. A still more favourite ornament of popular fiction is the highly -gifted object, of whatever form or name, which is to supply the fortunate owner with the gratification of some par ticular wish , or to furnish him with the golden means of satisfy ing every want. In British fable this property has been given to the dish or napkin of Rhydderch the Scholar, which like the table, or table - cloth, introduced into a variety of German tales, no sooner received its master's commands, than it became p. 93. 102 Jamieson’s Scottish Ballads, vol. i. have had much the same effect upon their respective flocks. See pp. 25. 111 . 108 Herraud of Bosa's Saga, p. 49-51 . 112. (ed. Villoison .) The pipe of Pan, The pipes of Dorco and Daphnis, in the in thesame romance, equals any thing Pastoral romance of Longus, seem to recorded of its modern parallels. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 67 ) + covered with a sumptuous banquet. The counterpart of Rhyd derch's dish is to be found in another British marvel, the horn of Bran, which spontaneously produced whatever liquor was called for : and a repetition of the same idea occurs in the goblet given by Oberon to Huon of Bourdeaux, which in the hands of a good man became filled with the most costly wine. In Fortunatus, and those tales which are either imitations of his adventures or copied from a common original, an inex haustible purse is made to meet the demands of every occasion ; while in others a bird, a tree, and even the human person, are made to generate in the same miraculous manner a daily pro vision of gold104. A modification of the same idea is also found in the basket of Gwyddno, which no sooner received a deposit offood for one, than the gift became multiplied into a supply for a hundred; or in those stories where the charity bestowed upon the houseless wanderer, is rewarded by an endless stock of some requisite article of subsistence105. In Hellenic fable, we have already seen the dart of Apollo enabling Abaris to live without appearing to partake of sustenance ; and the narrative of Cleombrotus, also noticed before, seems to imply some similar resource on the part of his Eastern traveller. Another mysterious personage of early Grecian fable, and whose goetic practices, like those of Abaris, have secured for him a dubious fame, is Epimenides the Cretan. Of him we are also told that he was never known to eat, but that he allayed his hunger by occasionally tasting a precious edible bestowed upon him by the Nymphs; and which he carefully kept preserved in an 104 Mr. Görres has observed , in speak- 105 See Der Arme und der Reiche, in ing of Fortunatus, that the story of the MM. Grimm's collection. The note goose which laid a golden egg is only a on this story contains references to the variation of this prolific subject; and same idea in the fictions of Greece, that the history of the world contains China, and India. It seems to have little more than a kind of Argonautic escaped these learned German antiqua expedition after the same golden fleece . ries, that a much earlier notice of the For the other particulars referred to in same miraculous agency is to be found the text, see Kinder-und Haus -Mär- in the " widow's cruse " of the Old Tes chen , No. 60. 122. 130 . tament, 2 Kings, chap. iv. e 2 ( 68) EDITOR'S PREFACE. ox's hoof 106. The popular creed of Attica, which seems to have delighted in investing the Theban Hercules with much the same absurdities that Northern fable has gathered round the person of Thor, had recourse to a similar invention as the only appropriate means of appeasing this divinity's ravenous appetites. It has accordingly conferred upon him the horn of Amalthæa, the fruit of his victory over the river -god Ache lous ; and of which the earliest tradition on record has given the popular view of its powers, that it never failed to pro duce a constant store of food 107. As such, it becomes identified with the Æthiopian table of the sun, mentioned by Hero dotus 108 ; but in later fictions this idea has been refined into a horn , containing every possible delicacy of the vegetable kingdom , overflowing with all earthly good, and conferring wealth and prosperity upon every one who might chance to possess it 100. 106 See Dio nes Laertius, ed. Menage, of gold. For this wand of wealth and vol. i. p . 73. luck, see theHomeric Hymn to Mercury, 107 See Eustath . ad Dionys. Perieg. v . 529; and compare Epict. ap. Arrian . v . 433. and Pherecydes in Apollod. Diss. iii . 20. p. 435. ed. Schweigh., Bibl. ii. 7. 5. where it is said to convert every thing 108 See Herod. ii. 18. Mela, c. 10. it touched into gold. This idea of its (quæ passim apposita sunt, affirmant power found an early circulation in the innasci subinde divinitus) : and Solinus, North ; for one oftheGlossaries publish c. 30 . ed by Professor Nyerup, in his Symbol. 109 See the Scholiast to Lucian's Rhet. Teut., and certainly not of a later date Præcept., and Eustathius, as before. than the tenth century, translates cadu The“ Navigium ” ofthe same writer con- ceuma, uunshiligarta. The Vilkina Saga tains some curious allusions to different mentions a ring which is to excite affec points of popular belief, and which may tion in the wearer towards the donor, be compared with the subjects treated ( Müller, p . 233. ) and the love- stone of of in the text. One of the parties wishes Helen is well-known. Servius (ad Æniji. for a set of rings to endow him with the 279. ) notices an ointment, prepared by following qualities and advantages : a Venus, which had similar powers. The never-failing store of health ; a person Horny Siegfried becomes invulnerable invulnerable, invisible, of irresistible by bathing in the blood of a slaughtered charms, and having the concentrated dragon ; and Medea gave Jason an oint . strength of 10,000 men ; a power of ment producing the sameeffect for the Aying through the air, of entering every space of four-and-twenty hours. ( Apol dwelling - house strongly secured, and lod. Bibl. i . 9. 23. ) Orvar Odd had a of casting a deep sleep upon whom he kirtel which was to preserve him against chose. Another person in the same piece death by fire or water, hunger or the asks the wand of Mercury, which is sword, so long as he never turned his to ensure him an inexhaustible supply back upon a foe. Müller, 533. 1 EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 69 ) to ich nd the This necessarily brings us to the history of the holy Graalvo, or a sacred cup, which in the house of king Pecheur “ ap peared daily at the hour of repast, in the hands of a lady, who carried it three times round the table, which was immediately replenished with all the delicacies the guests could desire .” . The origin of this miraculous vessel, and the manner of its transmission to Europe, are thus related by Robert Borron " . OUS l of ש he ven ro fied 70 into ible 2 to and 9 ) ur, ian. ghes ing f its the 110 The connexion between these sym- dius superpositus, quia indicet vitam bols, a horn and a cup, will be appa- mortalibus frugum largitate præberi. rent, on recollecting that the former Rufinus Hist. Eccles. ii. 23. ) For was the most ancient species of drink- further illustration of this copious sub ing -vessel both among Greeks and Bar- ject, see Mr. Creuzer's Dionysus, sive barians. See Athen. xi. c. 51. Xeno- Commentationes Academicæ de Rerum phon also notices the application of horns Bacchicarum Orphicarumque Origini to the same purposeamong the Thra- buset Causis; Heidelbergæ 1808 . cians. Anab . vii. 2. 23 : and it will be in Mr. Ritson has declared Robert needless to offer any examples from the Borron to be “ a man of straw .” But as well-known customs of Western Europe. he has offered no authority for such an It will also be evident why both these assertion, the mere żuTÒS ? pe of this critic utensils should be chosen as the types is not likely to have much weight beyond offecundity, abundance, and vivification, his school. The Vatican manuscript, when we remember that both were the No. 1687, commences with these words, receptacles of that element, which was “ Mesir Robert de Boron, qui cheste either the symbol of life, ( Sæns sò üggöy estore translata de Latin en Romance, oúp borov, Proclus in Timæum, p. 318, ) par le commandement de sainte eglise : or the principal cooperating power in and no one can for a moment doubt the generation (ouvegyer yùe ysvéos ....Tò influence of the Romish priesthood , in dove. Porphyrius de Antro Nymph. the peculiar colouring given to the nar c. 17.) Hence the cornucopia was be- rative. Mr. Ritson has also been a stre stowed upon all those deities who pre- nuous opponent of all such declarations sided over fertility or human prosperity ; as claima Latin, Greek , or Arabic ori upon Achelous and the Nile, Bonus ginal for the subject-matter recorded. Eventus and Annona, from their share There may be occasional grounds for in fostering the fruits of the earth ; upon scepticism on this point; but the sweep Tyche or Fortuna, the Agatho -dæmon, ing incredulity which rejects every as the tutelary Genii of towns or persons, sertion of thekind, is equally prejudicial ( such as the Roman emperors,) the to a right knowledge of the subject, with Lares, &c. from their beneficial aid in the easy faith it affects to despise. We the direction of human affairs. A cor- know the mutations inflicted upon the nucopia of good fortune has already been “ Seven Wise Masters " prior to its re noticed in the possession of the Northern ceiving an English dress; a variety of Elves or Fays; and one of the Nymphs Italian tales and French fabliaux are of in the celebrated relievo of Callimachus Arabic or Oriental origin ; Greek fable leads the way with this identical symbol. must have been the immediate source On the same principle, we meet with a of Alexander's story ; the expedition Demeter Poteriophorus, and a Rhea of Attila, and Amis and Amillion still Craterophorus, the Bonæ Deæ and exist in Latin verse ; and “ Walther Magnæ Matres of the ancient world ; [of Aquitain's] and Hildegund's fight and the modius of Serapis, the giver from Attila, was sung in Latin hexa and the receiver, is clearly refe able to meters, on the model of Virgil and Lu the same source . ( Serapidis capiti mo- can, by Eckhart, a priest of St. Galle bol. Hate du apis EL 201 of UL ed at 3 $ $ ( 70) EDITOR'S PRE FACE. “ The day on which the Saviour of the world suffered, death was destroyed, and our life restored : on that day there were few who believed on him ; but there was a knight named Jo seph of Arimathæa, ( a fine city in the land of Aromat ). In this city Joseph was born, but had come to Jerusalem seven years before our Lord was crucified, and had embraced the Christian faith ; but did not dare to profess it for fear of the wicked Jews. He was full of wisdom , free from envy and pride, and chari table to the poor. This Joseph was at Jerusalem with his wife and son , who was also named Joseph. His father's family crossed the sea to that place which is now called England, but was then called Great Britain ; and crossed it sans avi ron au pan de sa chemise 12.' Joseph had been in the house where Jesus Christ took his last supper with his apostles; he there found the plate off which the Son of God had eaten ; he possessed himself of it, carried it home, and made use of it to collect the blood which flowed from his side, and his other wounds; and this plate is called the Saint Graal.” This, how ever, is only the Breton or British account of the Saint Graal. The German romancers have followed a different version of its history, and derive their knowledge of the subject, though (An.973).” The Anglo- Saxon fragment monks in Greek, may be induced tofix of Judith was not taken directly from their election on that language. The im the Apocryphal narrative. The varia. mediate source from whence the Scop de tions indeed fro : n this document are, rived his narrative, is of course beyond generally speaking, of such a kind as our inquiry ; hut such a fact will teach us any translator might be supposed to in- circumspection in forming any general dulge in, withoutour having recourse to theory as to the transmission of roman another original. But in one passage tic fictions. Apollonius of Tyre, an we meet with a very distinct mention of other Greek romance, also exists in a musquito -net ; an article of furniture Anglo - Saxon prose. not specified in the Book of Judith, 113 This account has been extracted which could not have been inuse in these from aversion of Borron's prologue, in Northern realms, and of which the ac- the British Bibliographer , vol. i . The count musthave travelled from the coun- translator has there rendered « sans tries situated on the Mediterranean Sea . aviron , -without oars . The original The original legend or romance must has been given in the text from Roque hence have been composed in a Southern fort's Glossary : it contains no verbal dialect : and those who remember the al- obscurity, but the allusion is not intelli leged proficiency of the Anglo - Saxon gible to the writer of this note . EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 71 ) indirectly , from an Oriental source. The Titurel and Parcifal of Wolfram von Eschenbachu are respectively devoted to the discovery and the quest of this miraculous vessel : and in both we find a similar account of its powers to that given in the nar rative of Robert Borron . The circumstances, however, and the agents which have been connected with it, are wholly different from those contained in the rival version . The name ofArthur is more sparingly introduced than in the Western fiction ; and the theatre of its most important events is laid in either Asia or Africa. The immediate source of Eschenbach's poem was a Provençal romance written by one Kyot or Guiot. Of this writer nothing further appears to be known, than the memo rial of his labours preserved in the Parcifal of his German translator, and a notice of his strictures upon Chretien de Troyes 14, who, like most of the Norman troveurs, seems to have drawn his materials from an Armorican source. From Wolfram's poem we gather, that Master Kyot obtained his first knowledge of the Graal from a manuscript he discovered at Toledo. This volume was written in a heathen character, ofwhich the troubadour was compelled to make himselfmaster ; and the baptismal rite enabled him to accomplish this arduous task without the aid of necromancy . The author of this myste rious record was a certain heathen astronomer, Flegetanis by name, who on the mother's side traced up his genealogy to king Solomon ; but having a Saracen father, he had adhered to his paternal faith , and worshiped a calf. Flegetanis was deeply versed in all the motions of the heavenly bodies ; and 113 These notices of Eschenbach's Ob von Troys meister Christian , poems have been collected from Mr. Diesem Maere hat Unrecht getan , Gorres' preface to Lohengrin , an old Daz (des ) mach wohl zurnen Kyot, German romance , foundedon the same Der unz die rechten Maere enbot. fiction as the Chevelere Assigne. (See is e. Since Master Christian of Troyes vol. ii. 151.) has done this tale an injustice, Kyot 114 The language of Eschenbach is thus given by Mr. Görres from the may well be angry, who has presented printed edition of the Parcifal : us with the right narrative. ( 72) EDITOR'S PREFACE. in the hallowed volume deposited at Toledo, he had carefully inscribed the result of his nocturnal studies. But the book contained nothing more than the astronomer had really read most mysteriously depicted in the skies 15. Even the name of the Graal was there emblazoned, together with the important fact, that a band of spirits had left it behind them upon earth, as they winged their way to their celestial abodes. The acquisition of this knowledge stimulated Kyot to further inquiries ; and he proceeded to search in Latin books for the name of that people which had been considered worthy of guarding the Graal. He perused the chronicles of Brittany, France and Ireland, without much success ; but in the annals of Anjou he found the whole story recounted : he there read a complete history of Mazadan and his race , how Titurel brought the Graal to Amfortas, whose sister Herzelunde became the wife of Gamuret and the mother of Parcifal. This is clearly borrowed from the proeme of Kyot. Divested of its extra ordinary colouring, we may receive it as amounting to this : that Kyot was indebted to an Arabic original for some of his details, and that the rest were collected from European records of the same fiction. The truth of this is supported by the in ternal evidence. The scene for the most part is not only laid in the East, but a large proportion of the names are of de cidedly Oriental origin . The Saracens are always spoken of with consideration; Christian knights unhesitatingly enroll themselves under the banner of the Caliph ; no trace of reli gious animosities is to be found between the followers of the Crescent and the Cross; and the Arabic appellations of the seven planets are thus distinctly enumerated : Zwal ( Zuhael), 115 In the work already referred to, what is said of the aspis Eccidæmon Mr. Görres has endeavoured to prove and the fish Galeotes. The latter is įn that Flegetanis must have had a Greek timately connected with the Northern original before him. Of this, or at fiction relative to the Nicors, so fre least of the adoption of Greek traditions, quently mentioned in Beowulf. there is the most convincing proof in EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 73) Saturn ; Musteri, Jupiter; Muret (Meryt), Mars ; Samsi ( Shems), the Sun ; Alligasir (the brilliant), Venus ; Kitr ( Kedr, the obscure), Mercury; Kamer ( Kæmer ), the Moon. Whether the name of Parcifal be taken from the Arabic Parsé or Parseh Fal, the pure or the poor dummling, as conjectured by Mr. Görres, must be left to the decision of the Oriental scholar : but the narrative already given affords a strong corroboration of his opinion, that Flegetanis is a corruption of Felek -daneh , an astronomer . The Breton and Provençal fictions, as we have seen , unite in bringing this mysterious vessel from the East, a quarter of the globe whose earliest records present us with a marvellous cup, as extraordinary in its powers as any thing attributed to the Graal. Such a cup is well known to have occupied a con spicuous place among the traditions of the Jews, and from the Patriarch Joseph u , the chaste and provident minister of Pha raoh, to have descended to the great object of Hebrew vene ration and glory, the illustrious king Solomon 17. It will, there fore, be no matter of surprise to those who remember the ta 116 Is not this it in which my lord lon discoveredthe cup, and having ex drinketh ? And whereby indeed hedi- tracted the volume, an angel revealed vineth ? Gen. xliv. 5. In Norden's time the key to its mysterious writing to one the custom of divining bya cup was still Troes a Greek : and hence the stream continued . “ Je sais," dit Baram Cashef of occult science, which has so benefi- de Derri au Juif, qui servoit d'entre- cially unfolded the destinies of the West. metteur aux voyageurs Européens, A parallel fable is found in Messenian " quelles gens vous etes ; j'ai consulté ma story. When the Lacedæmonians storm coupe, et j'y ai trouvé, que vous etiez ed the fortress on mount Ira, Aristo ceux, dont un de nos prophêtes a dit, menes, warned by the Delphic oracle, qu'il viendroit des Francs travestis, qui secreted in the earth some unknown ar feraient enfin venir un grand nombre ticle, which was to be a future talisman d'autres Francs, qui feroient la conquête of security to his unfortunate country du pays, et examineroient tout.” Voyage men. After the battle of Leuctra , the d'Egypte et de Nubie, iii. 68. The le- Argive commander Epiteles was direct canomanty of the Greeks is well known. ed in a dream to exhume this mysterious 112 The Clavicula Salomonis contains deposit. It was then discovered to be a a singular variation of this fiction. The brazen ewer, containing a roll of finely supernatural knowledge of Solomon was beaten tin , on which were inscribed the recorded in a volume,which Rehoboam "mysteries of the great divinities (5ãy jes inclosed in an ivory ewer,and deposited záawy Isão.... a test“. Paus. iv. c. 20. in father's tomb. On repairing the 26. ) royal sepulchre, some wise men of Baby ( 74 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. lismanic effect of a name in the general history of fiction , that a descendant of this distinguished sovereign should be found to write its history ; or that another Joseph should be made the instrument of conveying it to the kingdoms of Western Europe. In Persian fable, the same miraculous vessel has been bestowed upon the great Jemshid us, the pattern of per fect kings, in whose reign the golden age was realized in Iran, and under whose mild and beneficent sway it became a land of undisturbed felicity. On digging the foundations of Esta kar ( Persepolis), this favourite of Ormuzd, and his legitimate representative upon earth, discovered the goblet of the Sun ; and hence the cause of all those blessings which attended his prosperous reign, and his unbounded knowledge of both ter restrial and celestial affairs. From the founder of the Persian monarchy it passed into the hands of Alexander the Great19, the hero of all later Oriental fiction ; and Ferdusi introduces the Macedonian conqueror addressing this sacred cup as “ the ruling prince of the heavenly bodies, and as the auspi cious emblem of his victorious career.” By other Eastern poets it has been referred to as a symbol of the world, and the fecundating powers of Nature ; while others again have consi dered it as the source of all true divination and 重1 augury , of the 118 “ Giam en Perse signifie un coupe ont pu fournir aux Orientaux le sujet de ou verre à boire et un miroir. Les Ori. cette fiction . Un poete Turc dit, Lors entaux, qui fabriquent cette espèce de que j'aurai été éclairé des lumières du vases ou ustensiles de toutes sortes des ciel, mon ame deviendra le miroir du metaux aussi bien que de verre oude monde, dans lequel jedecouvrai les se . crystal, et en plusieurs figures diffe- crets les plus cachés. ” Herbelot Bib rentes, mais qui approchent toutes de lioth. Orient. s . v. Giam . spherique, donnent aussi ce nom à un 119 “ Quum Alexander pervenisset in globeceleste. Ils disent, que l'ancien palatium suum , gyrantesexierunt Græci roi Giansehid , qui est le Salomon des locis suis, et læti non viderunt noctem Perses, et Alexandre le Grand, avoient regis, ( viderunt autem ) quatuor pocula. de ces coupes, globes, ou miroirs, par le Gyrantibus ita locutus est (Alexander): moyen desquels ils connoissoient toutes Salvi estote , lætamini hoc fausto omine les choses naturels,et quelquefois même nostro, hic enim scyphus in pugna est les surnaturelles. La coupe qui servoit à salus nostra, princeps siderum est in po Joseph le Patriarche pour deviner, et celle testate nostra.” Shahnameh, as quoted de Nestor dans Homère, où toute la na- in Wilkins's Persian Chrestomathia, ture étoit répresentée symboliquement, p. 171 , and Creuzer's Dionysus, p. 62. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 75) mysterious arts of chemistry, and the genuine philosopher's stone120. A goblet of the Sun also forms a favourite object in Grecian fable . On approaching the shores of the Western Ocean , this divinity was supposed to abandon his chariot, and, placing himself in a cup , to be borne through the centre of the earth . Having visited ( according to Stesichorus) his mother, wife and children, he then proceeded to the opposite point of the hemisphere, where another car awaited his arrival, with which he resumed his diurnal course. The Theban Hercules, the original type of all erratic champions, once ventured to attack the son of Hyperion ; but on being reproved for his temerity he withheld his hand, and received as a reward for his obedience the golden chalice of the god. This he now . ascended ; and during a furious storm , excited for the purpose of putting his courage to the test, he traversed the ocean in it till he reached the western island of Erythæa12. The Pla the cup . 120 In the article already referred to , ceptacles for the dead. Thevase or urn Herbelot says, The Persian poetsmake of the former , the larnax of Egypt, the of this cup , “ tantot le symbole de la na- ship or boat of Western Europe, and the ture et du monde, tantot celui du vin, canoe of the American savage, are all quelquefois celui de la divination et des connected with thesame primitive idea augures, et enfin de la chymie, et de la expressed in the Welsh apophthegm : pierre philosophale." “ Pawb a ddaw i'r Ddavar Long - Every 191 See the fragments of this mythos, onewillcome into the ship of the earth . as variously related in Athenæus, lib . By whatever steps the Greek proceeded xi. p. 469-70 . Mimnermus calls it the from his simple bowl or boat, to all the couch of the Sun, in allusion, as Athe- luxury of form displayed in his cinereal næus observes, to the concave form of urns, the larnax, ship , or coffin , of other This seems to have been a nations was by no means a needful ac common metonymy; for in the passage commodation to the doctrine, which already cited from Pausanias, the brazen forbade the incremation of the dead. ewer depositedby Aristomenes, is term- Theashes of Balldur ( Dæmesaga, c. 43.) ed a brazen bed by the old man who ap- were deposited in the ship Hringhorne, peared to Epiteles in his dream . the body of Scyld ( Beowulf, c. 1. ) in a 122 From the Grecian terminology of bark laden with arms and raiment, and their drinking- vessels, it is clear that a committed tothe guidance of theocean. and a ship were originally correlative The varying language ofthe Iliad seems and the catalogue of Athenæus to countenance a similar distinction be ( lib. xi.) recites several words indiscri- tween Greek and Phrygian rites . The minately implying either the one or the ashes of Patroclus are consigned to a other, The twofold import of these golden cup ( is xquoíny práanv, xxiii. 253); terms will tend to explain an apparent those of Hectorto a golden ark orcof deviation on the part of the Greeks and fer (xquosin is rágvaxa,xxiv. 795. Com Romans, from the general type adopted pare Thucydides ii. 1 ) ; for it is by no by other nations in the formof their re- mcans clear, that the latter term ever cup ideas ; ( 76 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. tonists have dwelt at large upon Hercules thus completing his labours in the West; and connecting this circumstance with the fancied position of the islands of the blest, have implied that it was here he overcame the vain illusions of a terrestrial life , and that henceforth he resided in the realms of truth and eter nal light. With them , as in the school from whence their leading dogmas were derived — the mysteries of Paganism — a cup is the constant symbol of “ vivific power;" and this goblet of the Sun becomes the same type of regeneration and a return to a better life, with the Graal of romantic fiction . Another version of the contest between Hercules and the Sun, or Apollo, transfers the scene of action to Delphi, and makes the object of strife between these heaven-born kinsmen the cele brated tripod of the oracle. But in the symbolical language of Greece, a tripod and a goblet ( crater) were synonymous terms123 : and the grammarians have informed us, that from this combat between the brothers, and their subsequent recon ciliation, arose the prophetic powers of Hercules. " It will however be remembered, that the translators of the Septua gint, in their version of the Hebrew text, have rendered the divining cup of Joseph by the Greek term “ Condy. ” Ofthis vessel Athenæus has preserved the following account from Ni comachus. The name of this cup is Persian. It originally meant the celestial lantern of Hermes, which in form resem implied an urn, however much such an Greek was taught in the mysteries, that interpretation might be justified by ana- the Dionysic vase would be a passport logy. We are not, however, to infer, to the Elysian fields ; and the religion that either of these utensils was the em- of Egypt enjoined, that every worshipper blem of death or annihilation, or that of Osiris should appear before his sub this application to funereal purposes was terranean judge in the same kind of re in anyway at variancewiththe Platonic ceptacle as thatwhichhad inclosed the doctrine of the text. For as the cup or mortal frame of this divinity. It only vase was the symbol of vivific power, of remains to observe , that a boat of glass generation, or an earthly existence, so was the symbol of initiation into the also it was the type of regeneration, or a Druidical mysteries. Davies's Celtic continued life in a happier and more Mythology, p. 211 . exalted state . The savage is buried in 123 Και το νικητήριονεν Διονύσου,τρίτους his canoe, that he may be conveyed to δεί δε νοείν τρίποδα του Διονύσου, τον the residence of departed souls; the sparñqu. Athenæus ii . 143. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 77) bled the world, and was at once the source of the divine mar vels, and all the fruits that abound upon earth . On this ac count it is used in libations 124.” The reader of Plato will have no difficulty in connecting this mundane cup with the first crater, in which the Demiurgus of the universe mixed the ma terials of his future creation ; in which the soul of the world was tempered to its due consistency, and from whence the souls that animate corporeal substances were dispersed among the stars 125. The mention of this primary bowl gave rise among the Platonists to a second or distributive cup of souls, which they bestowed upon Dionysus, as lord of the sensitive uni verse ; and hence the Nymphs, as ministrants and followers of this divinity, as the authorized inspectors of generation, were said to be supplied with the same symbol. According to some authorities, these goblets are placed at opposite points of the firmament, and are respectively the types of generation, or the soul's descent into this realm of sensual pleasure, and of palingenesy, or the soul's return to those celestial regions from whence it sprang 26. The former stands between the signs of Cancer and Leo, immediately before the human por tal; and a draught of the oblivious beverage it contains occa sions forgetfulness of those pure delights in which the soul had previously lived , and excites a turbulent propensity towards a material and earthly existence 127. The latter is placed at one 124 Athenæus xi. 478. The present scattered notices of Proclus and Ploti version is founded on the correction of nus on the subject. Compare also Por Mr. Creuzer, who has at length render- phyry's interesting tract De Antro Nym ed this passage intelligible by reading pharum , and Macrobius's Somnium Sci ' Equo Prvos, where both Casaubon and pionis. Schweighauser have " EquiThos. The lat- 127 See Macrobius S. Scip. i. c. 12. ter critic has acknowledged the advan- The cauldron of Ceridwen , if found tage of this emendation. See Dionysus, ed on a genuine record, appears to oc & c. p . 26 et seq . Nicomachus has used cupy the same place in Celtic mytho the term applied byPlato (Leg. i. 644.) logy. (See the Hanes Taliessin in Mr. to the whole animal creation ,tūv Isão Davies's Celtic Mythology .) Ceridwen , τα θαύματα. we are told , was " the goddess of vari . 125 Timæus, 41 , 42. ous seeds, ” from whose cauldron was 126 See Mr. Creuzer's Symbolik , &c. derived every thing sacred, pure and vol . iii. 410, &c. who has collected the primitive. Gwyon the Little sits watch ( 78 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. extremity of the table of the gods ( the milky way ). It is held by Ganymede or Aquarius, the guardian of the southern fishes ( king Pecheur? ); and it is only by a favourable lot from this urn of destiny, that the soul is enabled to find a passage through the portal of the gods (Capricorn ) to the circle of eternal felicity. The sacred vessel of modern fiction is no less distinguished for its attributes. The seat reserved for it at the Round Table, was called “the siege perilous, " of which a hermit had declared : “ There shall never none sit in that siege but one, but if he be destroyed,” [and that one] “ shall win the Sancgreall 28 On the day this seat was to receive its ap 1ing the cauldron of inspiration , till three terram desinat, tam ima quam summa drops of the precious compound alight postremitas : igitur sphæra Martis ignis on his finger. On tasting these, every habeatur, aer Jovis, Saturni aqua , terra event of futurity becomes unfolded to vero Aplanes, in qua Elysios campos esse his view . This appears to be the “ no- puris animis deputatos antiquitas nobis vum potum materialis alluvionis, " the intelligendum reliquit. de his campis intoxicating draught which inspires the anima, cum in corpus emittitur, per tres soul with an irresistible propensity to a elementorum ordines, trina morte, ad corporeal existence. “ Hæc est autem corpus usque descendit.” ( Ib. ) Thepur hyle, quæ omne corpus mundi quod suit of Ceridwen would then be a per ubicumque cernimus ideis impressafor- sonification of that necessity , by which mavit.” (Macrob. i . 12.) It is this which souls are compelled to descend, in order protrudes the soul into Leo,andfurnishes that the economy of the universe may be it with a prescience of its future career, sustained. « For the sensitive life suf (“ cum vero ad Leonem labendo perve- fers from the external bodies of fire and nerint, illic conditionis futuræ auspican- air, earth and water falling upon it ; and tur exordium ." Ib.) Gwyon is now considering all the passions as mighty pursued by Ceridwen, and transforms through the vileness of its life, isthe himself successively into a hare, a fish , cause of tumult to the soul. ” Procl. in and a bird, while the goddess becomes Tim . as cited by Mr. Taylor, ii. p. 513. a greyhound-bitch, an otter, and a spar- Another favourite figure of the same row -hawk. Despairing of escape he school is, that the soul is hurled like seed assumes the form of a grain of wheat, into the realms of generation. Ib. 510 . and is swallowed by Ceridwen in the The remainder of the tale is a piece of shape of a black high -crested hen. Ce- common mythology. Mr. Davies ad ridwen becomes pregnant, and at theex- mits that the bardic lore was a compound piration of nine months brings forth Ta- of Pagan and Christian dogmas; and it liessin, whom she exposes in a boat or therefore becomes a question, whether coracle. In this we appear to have the this Paganism was purely Druidical, or soul's progression through the various that syncretic system adopted by Pelagius elements which supply it with the vehicles from the Platonizing fathers of the necessary for incorporation. “ Tertius Eastern church . The theological tenets vero elementorum ordo, ita ad nos con- of the triads (Williams's Poems, vol. ii . ) versus, habeatur, ut terram ultimam fa- are obviously derived from this source . ciat, et cæteris in medium redactis in 128 Morte Arthur, P. iii. c. l . EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 79) pointed tenant, two inscriptions were found miraculously traced upon it : “Four hundred winters and four and fifty accom plished after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ ought the siege to be fulfilled :” and, “ This is the siege of Sir Galahad the good knight.” The healing virtues ofthe Graal are exempli fied on the wounded persons of Sir Bors and Sir Percival , two of the knights destined to accomplish the Quest. A cripple of ten years suffering is restored to health by touching the table on which it is borne ; and a nameless knight of per fect and unspotted life is admitted to kiss it, and finds an in stantaneous cure for his maladies. But the courage, prowess and chivalric accomplishments of Sir Launcelot are rendered unavailing in the Quest, by his guilty commerce with Queen Guenever. He is permitted to see its marvellous effects upon the knight already mentioned , and who, less worthy than himself in earthly endowments, is yet uncontaminated by mortal sin ; and once indeed he is suffered to approach the chamber containing it. But a voice forbids his penetrating to the in terior of the sanctuary : yet, having rashly disregarded the admonition, he falls a victim to his fatal curiosity, and con 199 On this occasion Sir Percival resigned themselves to Desire, were “ had a glimmering of thatvessel, and of doomed to spend their time in fruitless the maiden that bore it; for he was per- attempts to fill a bottomless or broken fect and clene. ” ( M. Arth. c. 14.) And vase, or a perforated sieve ; and to be again : “ I wot wele what it is. It is an come the standing types of the uniniti holy vessel that is borne by a maiden, ated, or souls wallowing in the mire of and thereon is a part of the holy blood material existence. ( The story of the of our blessed Saviour.." Ib. There is murder was unknown to Homer and no clue in the romance to the gene- Apollodorus, and was doubtlessly a alogy ofthis damsel. But Mr. Creuzer later fiction .) The Greeks also placed has shown that “ a perfect and clean a vase upon the graves of the unmarried maiden ” who bore a holy vessel, was a persons, as a symbol of celibacy ; a well known character in Grecian story. practice that seems to illustrate the lan Amymone, the blameless daughter of guage of Joseph of Arimathy, to Sir Danaus, was exempt from the punish- Percival : “ And wotest thou where ment inflicted upon her father's chil- fore (our Lord ] hath sent me more than dren, because she had resisted the soli- other for thou hast resembled me in citations of a Satyr ( sensual love). two things ; one is , that thou hast seen Hence she was permitted to draw the the Sancgreall, and the other is that cooling revivingdraught of consolation thou hast been a clene maiden as I am .” and bliss in a perfect vase . Her sisters who had yielded to temptation , who had c. 103. ( 80) EDITOR'S PREFACE. HAJOtinues in an almost lifeless condition for four -and -thirty days. A similar punishment is inflicted upon king Evelake, who having “ nighed so nigh” to the holy vessel “ that our Lord was displeased with him, ” he became “ blasted with excess of light,” and remained “ almost blind ” the rest of his life 130 . The most solemn instance of its agency in the presence of a profane assembly, occurs on the day of Sir Galahad's assum ing the siege perillous : “ Then anon they heard cracking and crying of thunder, that hem thought the place should all to rive. In the midst of the blast, entered a sunbeam , more clear by seven times than ever they saw day ; and all they were alighted of the grace of the holy ghost **. Then there entered 166 130 The punishment here inflicted the god Ammon, we are told this di upon Sir Lancelot and king Evelakė, vinity assumed a ram's vizor, a fiction is founded upon an idea, which seems which seems to be connected with the to have pervaded the mythologyof most same common opinion. ( Herod. ii. 42. ) nations, that the person of the Deity is The numerous veiled statues seen by too effulgent for mortal sight, and that Pausanias in his tour through Greece, any attempt at a direct inspection , is the veiled goblet carried in the Dionysic sure to be punished with aloss of vision procession at Alexandria ( Athen . lib. v. or the senses. Hence the stories of 268. ), and the general introduction of Tiresias and Actæon, of Herse and the Graal (wherein was a part of the Aglauros, ( Paus. i. 18. ) of Eurypylus holy blood of our blessed Saviour ” ) ( Ib. vii. 19.) and Maneros, ( Plut. de covered with samyte, may be considered İsid. et Osirid. c. 17.) and the explana- as further illustrations. tion given to the disease called nym 131 In the ancient world a cup or pholepsy is clearly referable to the goblet was not only considered as the same opinion : “ Vulgo autem memoriæ most suitablekind of vessel for libations, proditum est, quicumque speciem quan.. but it was also regarded as an appro dam e fonte, id est, effigiem nymphæ priate type of the Deity. This no viderint, furendi non fecisse finem , quos doubt arose from the widely extended Græci voupoanttous, Latini lymphatos dogma, that the Demiurgus of the uni appellant.” Festus. Hence also the eyes verse framed the world in his own image. were averted on meeting a hero or The illustrations of this opinion, as ex heroical demon ; and an Heroon was emplified in votive offerings, in the passed in silence . Schol. in Aristoph. form of an egg , a globe, sphere, hemi Aves, 1490-3. The same opinion ap- sphere, cup, dish , & c. would fill a pears to have been current among the volume; and happily Mr. Creuzer by Germanic tribes who worshiped the his “ Dionysus ” has rendered further goddess Hertha. Her annual circuit proof on the subject unnecessary . In was made in a veiled car ; but the ser- Ægyptian processions a vase led the vants who washed the body of the god- way as an image of Osiris (Plut.496 ); dess on her return, and who conse. a small urn was the effigy of Isis quently must have gazed upon her per- ( Apuleius Metamorph. xi. p. 693 ) ; son, were reported to have been “ swal- à bowl or goblet was borne ona chariot, lowed up quick " by the earth . When as the emblem of Dionysus, in the fes Hercules demanded an epiphany of tival described by Calixenus (Athe EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 81 ) into the hall, the holy Grale covered with white samite ; but there was none that might see it, nor who bare it ; and then was all the hall full filled with good odours ; and every knight had such meat and drink as he best loved in this world ; and when the holy Grale had been borne through the hall, then the holy vessel departed suddenly, that they wist not where it be came.” ( c. 35. ) But these are the mere secular benefits in the power ofthe sacred cup to bestow . To those allowed to share in its spiritual advantages, who by a life of purity and blameless conduct had capacitated themselves for a more intimate com munion with it, it became a cup of eternal life and salvation . On its first epiphany to Sir Galahad and his fellows, the great mystery of the Romish church is visibly demonstrated næus, v. 268) ; and hence the long canxã, sį xégee peox Tewüròx. ( Dion. catalogue of craters, tripods, & c. so Hal. i. 67.) With the true or fictitious common in the furniture of ancient history of Æneas we are not concerned ; temples. That the same symbol was it is sufficient to know the form of those acknowledged in other countries pre- symbols which were acknowledged in viously to any general intercourse with Italy as suitable representations of the the Roman powers, is more than Penates. For an explanation of the probable. Herodotus has stated of the caduceal figures wemayrefer to Servius: Issedones, that they decorated the skulls “ Nullus enim locus sine Genio est, of the departed with gold, reserving qui per anguem plerumque ostenditur.” them as images (see Salmas, in Solin . The Trojan bowl and Issedonian skull p. 192.) of their ancestors, when they will illustrate each other. Livy has performed those annual rites which the also said : “ Galli Boii caput ducis (Pos Greeks called yavéord . From this we tumii) præcisum ovantes templomin may infer that the Issedones entertain- tulere: purgato inde capite, ut mos iis ed the same notions of the dead, that est, calvum auro cælavere : idque sacrum we find prevailing in almost every an- vas iis erat, quo solennibus libarent : cient and modern nation in a Pagan poculumque idem sacerdoti esse ac tem state ; and that they enrolled their de- pli antistitibus. ” It will be remembered ceased relatives among those domestic that according to the Edda the skull deities, who by a general system of eu- of Ymir was converted into the canopy phemy have been called Tsoà xenoto, ofheaven ( Dæmesaga) . Something is Dii Manes, Gütichen and Guid Neigh- said on this subject at page xxxiv. bours. As the guardians of the family below , which, though written without the hearth, and the household gods of their passages above cited being in the Edi descendants, the same class of spirits tor's recollection, he by nomeans wishes was also termed by the Greeks and to retract, so far as the moderns are con Romans Jeol xatosxidoo., Lares, Fargos cerned. Through inadvertency the au Jsoi, and Dii Penates. ( See Salmasius thorities for that note have been omitted , Exercit. Plin . p. 46. ) Now the images viz. Bartholin for the facts, and the shown at Lavinium , as the identical s . Transactions of the Scandinavian So statues of the Penates brought to Italy ciety,” page 323. 1813, for the correc by Æneas, consisted of angúsice didngã še tion. VOL. I. f ( 82) EDITOR'S PREFACE. before them. The transubstantiation of the sacred wafer is effected in their presence, palpably and sensibly ; the hal lowed “ bread become flesh ” is deposited in the cup; and the Redeemer of the world emerges from it to administer to his “ knights servants and true children , which ( were] come out of deadly life into spiritual life, the high meat which [ they ] had so much desired .” Still they did not see that which they most desired to see, so openly as they were to behold it in the city of Sarras in the spiritual place.” Here Sir Galahad's vision of the transcendent attributes of the Graal is perfected ; his participation in its hallowed contents is consummated to the full extent of his wishes ; he has now obtained the only meed for which this life is worth enduring - a certainty of passing to a better: his earthly travails close, “ his soul departs unto Christ, and a great multitude of angels ” is seen to “ bear it up to heaven . Also his two fellows saw come from heaven a hand, but they saw not the body; and then it came right to the vessel and took it ...... and so bare it up to heaven . Sithence was there never no man so hardy for to say that he had seen the Sangreall.” In the Arabic version the holy vessel is delivered by an angel to Titurel, at whose birth another minister of heaven attended , and foretold the infant hero's future glory, by de claring that he was destined to wear the crown of Paradise. By him a temple is built for its preservation upon Montsal vaez , “ a sacred mountain, which stands in Salvatierra 132, a district of Arragon, and lying adjacent to the valley of Ron cevalles and upon the high road from France to Compostella . ” The materials for this structure are of the most costly and im perishable description : they are all produced in their appro 1I1113 This Montsalvaez in Salvatierra This would account for the castle of is in all probability the Salisberi of the Luces Sieur de Gast being “ pres de Norman Romancers ; the Mons salutis Salisberi,” or adjoining the sanctuary ( Sawles-byrig ?) of the Christian world . in which the Graal was preserved EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 83 ) priate forms and connection by the miraculous power of the Graal; and the outline of the building is unexpectedly dis covered upon a rock of onyx, which the day before had been cleansed of the weeds and herbage that encumbered it. The access to the sanctuary is rendered invisible to all, except the chosen few , by an impervious forest of cedar, cypress and ebony surrounding it. By the daily contemplation of the Graal, Titurel's life is prolonged to more than five hundred years ." just as the glorious career of Jemshid was extended to nearly seven centuries from a similar cause ; and he only sinks to the sleep of death, from omitting to visit it during the space of ten days. In Lohengrin, Montsalvaez assumes the place of the isle of Avalon in British romance13, and forms the fabled place of retreat of Arthur and his followers. It is here that the British monarch awaits the hour of his re-appearance upon earth 134; but far from remaining insensible to those chivalric 18 The retreat of Arthur to the isle into the highest heaven , and the last of Avalon forms an exact parallel to stage offelicity. (Mone,ubi supra, 62.) what Hesiod has sung of the heroes who Something of this kind is absolutely fell in the Trojan war, &c. ( Op. et necessary to make many parts of the Dies, 140.) The skolion of Calli- Morte Arthur intelligible ; for that in stratus relative to Harmodius and Ari- this we have to do with the mythological stogeiton shows how late this beautiful Arthur , would be clear even to those fiction continued to be a favourite with whohad no knowledge of an historical the Athenians. In the Islands of the British prince. Not thatthe compilers Blest we hear of Semele being married of these fictionswere at all aware of the to Rhadamanthus, and Helen to ground they were treading, any more Achilles. The offspring of this latter than Homer whenhe described the union wasa winged boy, Euphorion , contest between Vulcan and the who was destroyed by Jupiter in the Scamander, believed himself “ to be island of Melos. ( Ptolem . Hephæst. philosophizing Orphically, " to speak C. 4. ) Mr. Owen has said of “ Arthur with Philostratus. ( Heroic. p . 100. ed . the son of Uthyr Bendragon , that he Boissonnade.) The writers of romance, was a mythological and probably alle- like the great Mæonian ( si licet com gorical personage, and the Arcturus or ponere, &c. ), appear to have poured Great Bear ” of the celestial sphere. forth in song the sacred lore of an It is to be regretted that the Welsh earlier period,but which having already antiquaries have told us so little ofthis received a secular or historical cast, mythic Arthur. The Fins, one of the was uttered as such by them with the oldest European tribes, and whose de- most unsuspecting good faith. stinies have been even more evil -starred 14 The doctrine of the metempsycho than those of the Celts, retain the fol- sis, which formed so conspicuous an lowing article of their ancient faith : article of the Celtic creed , would be When the soul is permitted to ascend sufficient to account for the Breton the shoulders of Ursa Major, it passes tradition relative to Arthur's re- appear f2 1 1 (84 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. duties which rendered his court an asylum for injured beauty and distressed sovereigns, he still holds a communication with the world , and occasionally dispatches a faithful champion to grant assistance in cases of momentous need185. Here also the Graal maintains the sanctity of its character; and becomes at once the register of human grievances and necessities, and the interpreter of the will of Heaven as to the best mode of redressing them 18. But even here its transcendent purity requires a similar degree of unblemished worth in those who consult its dictates: the attendant knights in Arthur's train are too corrupt and sensual to approach the hallowed fane ; and the infant children of Perceval and Lancelot, and the daughter of the courteous Gawaine are alone considered fit to ance upon earth . A similar belief was the soul ofits impurities, re-dispatches it entertained respecting Ogier le Danois, to the upper sun, where it becomes di whose identity with Helgi, a hero of stinguished for itswisdom or its power, Sæmund's Edda, has been already and in after-time is ranked among the noticed. At the close of the song heroes of public veneration.” See Plato's “ Helgi and Svava ” it is stated : that Meno 81. and Hermann's disposition these persons were born again ; and at of this fragment in the 3rd volume of the endof the second song concerning Heyne's Pindar. In Germany this Helgi Hundings-bane, we have : It tradition respecting the Graal became was believed in the olden time that localized : Four miles from Dann, St. men might be born again . Helgi and Barbara's hill is seen to rise conically Sigrunr are said to have been re- from the centre of a plain . By many generated. He was then called Helgi infatuated Germans this hill is called Haddingia -skate ; but she, Kara Half- the Graal, who also believe that it con dens daughter." The compiler of this tains numerous living persons, whose collection does not fail to add, that in lives will be prolonged till the day of his time this opinion was regarded as judgement, and who pass their time an old -wives' tale. The French Ro. there in a round of continued revelry mances however have perpetuated the and pleasure. Theodoric a Niem . lib . ii. tradition . de Schismat. c . 20. as cited by Præto 18 The author of Lohengrin makes rius, i. 395 . Eschenbach assert, that his information 186 The distress of Elsam von Bra . respecting Arthur's “ residence in the bant is made knownto Arthur by her mountain, the manner in which the ringing a bell, a subject upon which British monarch and his hundred fol. there is no space to dilate . But the lowers were provided with food, raiment, reader will not fail to remember that a horses and armour, and the names of brazen vessel ( or bell) is sounded when the champions whom he had dispatched Simætha invokes Hecate ( Theocritus, to aid the Christian world, ” was ob- ii. 36.), and that a similar rite was ob tained from St. Brandan. Lohengrin served at Athens when the Hierophant or the “ Chevelere Assigne” was one of invoked the same Goddess as Coré or these heroes. In this Arthur assumes Proserpine. See Apollodorus, as cited the duty allotted to Proserpine, who by the Scholiast to Theocritus, and according to Pindar, “ having cleansed compare the preceding note . EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 85) step within the sacred shrine. Perhaps this would be the place to connect these scattered fragments of general tradition, and to offer a few remarks upon the import of a symbol which has thus found its way into the popular creed of so many di stant nations. But a history of romantic fiction forms no part of the present attempt, nor an exposition of those esoteric doctrines which, taught in the heathen temple and perpetuated in the early stages of the Romish church, have descended to the multitude in a less impressive but more attractive guise. There is, however, one point upon which it may be neces sary to make a more explicit avowal, lest the general tendency of the preceding remarks should be construed into an acqui escence with opinions wholly disclaimed . Though the mar vels of popular fiction, both in the ancient and modern world , have thus been referred to the same common origin , it is by no means intended to affirm , that the elements of fictitious narrative in Greek and Roman literature are no where to be found embodied in the productions of the middle age 137 Such an assertion would be at variance with the most limited expe rience of the subject, and might be refuted by a simple refe rence to the German tales of MM. Grimm . In the story of the “ Serpent-leaf,” the principal incident accords with the ac count of Glaucus and Polyidus, as related by Apollodorus138 ; 137 Mr. Ritson has said, “ Nothing Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib . xxv. c . 5. ), it seems more probable than that the com- formed a piece of Lydian history. A posers of romance were well acquainted recent number of the Quarterly Review with the ancient Greek and Latin poets. ' No.58.) has cited the following illustra (Met. Rom . iii. p. 324.) But here his tion of it from Roger Bacon's Opus own favourite figure in dialectic might Majus: “ At Paris there was lately a sage, certainly have been retorted upon him : who sought outthe serpent's nest, and Is it so nominated in the bond ? selecting one of the reptiles, he cut it 13 Compare Grimm's Kinder- und into small pieces , leaving only as much Haus-Märchen, No. 16, with Apollod. undissected membrane, as was sufficient Biblioth . iii. 3. 1 . There is perhapsno to prevent the fragments from falling fable that has obtained a more extensive asunder. The dying serpent crawled as circulation than this . Another version well as it could until it found a leaf, of the story attributes the cure of Glau- whose touch immediately united the cus to Æsculapius (Hyg. Astron. 14. ) : severed body ; and the sage, thus guided and accordingto Xanthus, as cited by by the creature whom hehad mangled, ( 86) EDITOR'S PREFACE. 0 T 11the cranes of Ibycus figure under another form in the tale of the “ Jew and the Skinker139 ; and the slipper of Cinderella finds a parallel, though somewhat sobered, in the history of the celebrated Rhodope140. In another story of the same collection we meet with the fabled punishment of Regulus, inflicted on the persons of two culprits 141 ; Ovid's Baucis and Philemon may be said to have furnished the basis of the Poor and the Rich Man142: the Gaudief and his Master contains the history of the Thessalian Erisichthon 143 ; the Baotian Sphinx exerts her agency in a variety of forms ; and the descent of Rham psinitus, and his diceing with Demeter, is shadowed forth in a series of narratives145. Another of Ovid's fables, the history of Picus and Circe, is in strict analogy with a considerable portion of the “ Two Brothers ;" other incidents may be said I211was taught to gather a plant of inesti- the Swedish popular ballads published mable virtue.” While this sheet was by Geyer and Afzelius, i. No. 3 : the passing through the press, a similar story Danish Kiempe Viser, No. 165 : in Per was related to the Editor, ofan old crone rault's Fairy Tale “ Les Fées, " and the practising leech -craft in Glamorganshire Pentamerone iii. 10. (Grimm .) at the present day. The ancient name 143 Grimm , No. 87." . Ovid. Met. viii. of this valuable herb was balis or ballis. 679, where the presence of a divinity is (Comp. Pliny with the Etymol. Mag- manifested by amiracle running through num. ) In the Lai d'Eliduc, two wea- the fictions of every country : sels are substituted for the serpents of Intereà, quoties haustum cratera, repleri the ancient fiction . 190 Grimm , No. 115. Sponte suâ, per seque vident succrescere Cic. Tusc . 4 . vina, c . 43 . Attoniti, & c . 140 Grimm , No. 21. Ælian . Var. Hist. lib . xjü, c . 32. Compare note 105. p. (67) above. 141 Grimm , No. 13. Appian in Li- 143 Grimm , No. 68. Ovid . Met. viii. bycis. In the note to the “ Three Man- 738. and Ælian. Var. Hist. i. 28 . nikins in the Wood ,” it is stated from 144 The popular view of this subject in the Great Chronicle of Holland, that the ancient world is given by Pausanias, this punishment was inflicted on Ger. ix. c . 26. who represents the Sphinx as hard van Velzen , for the murder of a natural daughter of Laius, intrusted Count Florence V. of Holland( 1296 ). with a secret delivered to Cadmus by After being rolledin the cask for three the oracle at Delphi. The rightfulheir days, he was asked how he felt, when to the throne was in possession of the he intrepidly replied : solution to this mystery ; the illegitimate Ich ben noch dezelve man , pretenders were detected by their igno Die Graaf Floris zyn leven nam . rance of it, and suffered the penalty due to their deceit. I am still the self- same man, who took 145 Grimm , No. 82, and the note con away the life of Count Florence! The taining the several variations of the tale. same punishment is also mentioned in Herodotus ii . 122. EDITOR'S PREF A C E. ( 87 ) to have been borrowed from the account of the same enchan tress in the Odyssey : the annual sacrifice of a virgin to the destructive dragon, forms a pendant to the story in Pausanias concerning the dark demon of Temessa ; and the test of the hero's success, the production of the dragon's tongue, which also occurs in the romances of Wolf-dietrich and Tristram , is to be met with in the local history of Megara146. The myste rious cave of “ Gaffer Death " receives its chief importance from its resemblance to a similar scene in the vision of Timar chus147; and the most interesting tale in the whole collection whether wespeak with reference to its contents, or the admi rable style of the narrative — the Machandel Boom148 — is but 148 Grimm , No. 60. Ovid. Met. xiv. made to address his mysterious guide 327. Od. x. 230-335. Comp. Ovid . xiv. thus : “ But I see nothing except a 270. Pausanias vi. c. 6. ( See note 57. number of stars shooting about the p. ( 42) above.) Weber's Northern An- chasm , some of which are plunging into tiquities, p. 123. Sir Tristram , fytte 2. it , and others shining brilliantly and st. 87. The scholiast toApollonius Rho- rising out of it.” These are said to be dius relates, on the authority of theMe- the intellectual portions of the soul garica, that Alcathous the son ofPelops, ( Nous), ordemoniacal intelligences, and having slain Chrysippus, fled from the ascending stars souls upon their re Megara, and settled insome other town. turn from earth ; the others, souls de The Megaræan territory beingafterwards scending into life. c. 22. In this we ravagedby a lion, persons were dispatch- receive the key to the attribute bestowed ed to destroy it ; but Alcathous meeting upon the ancient divinities who presided the monster, slew it, and cut out the over generationand childbirth, such as tongue, with which he returned to Me- Lucina, Artemis - Phosphorus, &c. and gara. The party sent to perform the hence also the analogy between the exploit also returned , averring the suc- stories of Meleager and Norna - Gest cess oftheir enterprise ; when Alcathous may be explained from a common point advanced, and produced the lion's of popular faith . tongue, to the confusion of his adversa- 148 This extraordinary tale will be ries . Schol. in Apoll. Rhod . lib . i. v.517. found in the second volume of the Ger 147 Grimm , No. 44. “ Gaffer Death ... man Stories, now on the eve of publica now led the physician into a subter- tion . To this the reader is referred, ranean cavern, containing an endless who will feel grateful that no garbled number of many thousand thousand abstract of it is here attempted . The lighted candles. Some were long, others points of coincidence may bethus briefly half-burnt, and others again almost out. stated. In the Cretan fable, the de Every instantsome of these candles be- struction of Zagreus is attributed to the came extinguished , and others lighted jealousy of his step -mother Juno ; and anew ; and the fame was seen to move the Titans ( thosetelluric powers who from one part of the cave to another. were created to avenge their mother's Look here ! ( said Death to his com- connubial wrongs) are the instruments panion ,) these are the vital sparks of of her cruelty. The infant god is al human existence.” In Plutarch's tract lured to an inner chamber, by a present “ De Genio Socratis,” Timarchus is of ys and fruit (among these an apple ), ( 88 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. a popular view of the same mythos upon which the Platonists have expended so much commentary — the history of the Cre tan Bacchus or Zagreus. In Sweden, the story of Hero and Leander has become localized , and forms the subject ofan in teresting national ballad ; the fate of Midas is to be found in corporated as an undoubted point of Irish history 149 ; and the treasury of Rhampsinitus has passed from Egypt to Greece, and from Mycenæ to Venice 250. The youthful history of The seus bears a strong resemblance to manyparts of Sir Degoré; the white and black sails, the emblems of his success or failure , are attached to the history of Tristram and fair Ysoude; the ball of silk given him by Ariadne, has passed into the hands of the Russian witch Jaga- Baba ; and the heroic feat which was to establish the proof of his descent, has been inserted in the lives of Arthur, and the Northern Sigurdr25. The talis and is forthwith murdered. The dis- 17 ) ; and another, the Persea, was the membered body is now placed in a ket- sacred plant of Isis, so conspicuous on tle, for the repast of his destroyers; but Egyptian monuments. ( For this inter the vapour ascending to heaven , the pretation of the Persea, see S. de Sacy's deed is detected , and the perpetrators Abd -allatif Relation de l’Egypte, p. 47 struck dead by the lightning of Jove. 72, and the Christian and Mahommedan Apollo collects the bones of his deceas- fictions there cited . ) This story of dress edbrother, and buries them at Delphi, ing and eating a child is historically re where the palingenesy of Bacchus was lated of Atreus, Tantalus, Procne, Har. celebrated periodically by the Hosii and palice ( Hyginus ed. Staveren, 206 ), and Thyades. ( Compare Clemens Alex. Astyages (Herod. i. 119 ) ; and is obvi Protrept. p . 15. ed. Potter ; Nonnus ouslya piece of traditional scandal bor Dionys. vi. 174, & c . and Plutarch de rowed from ancient mythology. The Isid. et Osirid . c. 35. et De Esu Car- Platonistic exposition of it will be found nium, i . c. vii. ) But this again is only in Mr. Taylor's tract upon the Bacchic another version of the Egyptian mythos Mysteries, (Pamphleteer, No. 15.) relative to Osiris, whichwill supply us Keating's's Hist. of Ireland, as cited with the chest, the tree , the sisterly af- by MM. Grimm , iii . 391 . fection , and perhaps the bird (though the 150 Compare Herod . ii. c. 121. Schol. last maybe explained on other grounds ). in Aristoph. Nub . 508. and the notes ( Plut. de Isid. &c. c. 13. et seqq.) Mr. to Childe Harold , canto iv . Grimm wishes to consider the “ Ma- 151 Compare Plutarch's Life of The chandel- Boom the juniper -tree ; and seus with Sir Degoré, as published in not the “ Mandel,” or almond-tree. It the “ Select Pieces of Early Popular will be remembered , that the latter was Poetry ; ” Scott's Sir Tristram , p. 199 ; believed by the ancient world to possess Prince Wladimir and his Round Table , very important properties. The fruit a collection of early Russian Heroic of one species, the Amygdala, impreg. Songs, Leipzig 1819 , 8vo. as cited by nated the daughter of the river Sanga- Mone 130 ; theMorte Arthur, P.I.c.4; rius with the Phrygian Attys ( Paus. vii , and the Volsunga Saga, Müller, p. 31 . 149 EDITOR'S PREFACE. (89 ) man of Meleager_ " Althæa’s firebrand ” -has been conferred upon the aged Norna -Gest, a follower of king Olaf 159 , the ar tifice of Jack the Giant- killer, in throwing a stone among his enemies, occurs in the histories of Cadmus and Jason 153 ; and the perilous labour of Alcmene is circumstantially related in the Scottish ballad of Willie's Lady254. Among the marvellous tales with which the traveller Pytheas chose to enliven the narrative of his voyage, at the risk of sacrificing his character for discernment and veracity, the following has been preserved by the Scholiast to Apollonius Rhodius. 66 Vulcan appears to have taken up his abode in the islands of Lipara and Stron gyle .....and it was formerly said, that whoever chose to carry there a piece of unwrought iron, and at the same time deposit ed the value of the labour, might on the following morning come and have a sword, or whatever else he wished, for it 155. ” This fiction has a double claim upon our attention, both from the manner in which it became localized at a very early period in England, and from the interest it has recently excited, by its reception into one of those unrivalled produc 15º Apollod. Biblioth . i . c. 8. 1. “ At to have held a similar opinion relative length Gest told them the reason of his to Galinthias, whom they considered being called Norna -Gest. Three Völar a ministrant of Hecate, and to whom the cast his nativity ; the two first spaëed first sacrifice was performed during the every thing that was good, but the last festival of Hercules. ( Anton. Lib. c. 29.) became displeased, and said the child 'They were hence reputed to worship a should not live longer than the candle weasel ( Ælian. Hist. Nat. xii. v. ) , an lasted which was then burning Upon animal of an exceedingly ominous cha this the two Völar seized the light, and racter in the ancient world . ( Theophra bade his mother preserve it, saying, it stus Charact. 17. ) In the reputed house was not to be lighted till the day of his of Amphitryon , Pausanias ( ix. 11. ) saw death . ” Norna-Gest's Saga, Müller 113. a relievo representing the Sorceresses Gest was more fortunate in his family ( Pharmacides) sent by Juno to obstruct connexions than the Grecian hero ; for Alcmene'slabour. According to him on the day king Olaf recommended him (and he gathered the account at Thebes), to try the experiment of lighting the they were defeated by Historis, a daugh candle , he was 300 years old . Ib. ter of Tiresias; which again confirms 153 Schol. in Apoll. Rhod . iii. 1178. the analogy between the ancient and 154 Minstrelsy of the Border ,vol. ii . Sir modern fiction , for Tiresias and his Walter Scott hasobserved,that the billie- family move in Theban story with all blind, who detects the mother's charm in the importance of tutelary divinities. this ballad, was a species of doinestic spi- 155 Schol. in Apoll. Rhod. iv. 761 . rit or Brownie. The Thebans appear (90) EDITOR'S PREFACE. tions, which have given a new character to the literature of the day. In a letter written by Francis Wise to Dr. Mead, “ concerning some antiquities in Berkshire, particularly the White Horse, " an account is given of a remarkable pile of stones, to which the following notice is attached : “ All the ac count which the country people are able to give of it is : At this place lived formerly an invisible smith ; and if a traveller's horse had left a shoe upon the road , he had no more to do than to bring the horse to this place with a piece of money, and leaving both there for some little time, he might come again , and find the money gone , but the horse new shoed. The stones standing upon the Rudgeway, as it is called , I suppose gave occasion to the whole being called Wayland - Smith ; which is the name it was always known by, to the country -peo ple.” The reader will have no difficulty in detecting here the previous recital of Pytheas, or in recognising in this simple tradition the of a more recent fiction, as it has been unfolded in the novel of Kenilworth. But he may not be equally aware, that the personage whose abilities it has so unostentatiously transmitted , is a very important character in early Northern poetry ; and that the fame of “ Wayland Smith,” though less widely extended than it now promises to become, was once the theme of general admiration, from the banks of the Bosphorus 156 to the Atlantic and Frozen oceans. The first historical song in the Edda of Sæmund - if it be law ful to give this name to a composition containing such a strong admixture of mythological matter - is devoted to the fortunes of a celebrated smith called Völundr. The Vilkina -Saga, a production of the fourteenth century, enters more fully into his germ 156 In the Vilkina - Saga he is called the Northern portion of this body - guard Velent : but the authoradds, hebore the amounted to 300, according to the Flatoe name of Völundr among the Varingar. Codex, c. 507-8 , which makes a distinc These Bapáryou weremercenaries in the tion between them and the French and service of the Greek emperors. See Flemings in the Imperial service. Mül Anna Comn. , Codrin ., &c. and Ducangeler 149. Vi Barangii. In the eleventh century , EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 91 ) history; and he is spoken of by various writers between the ninth and fourteenth centuries267 as the fabricator of every curious weapon, or unusual piece of art. In the outline of his story there is a very strong analogy with the events that shine so marvellously in the life of Dædalus. The flight of Völundr from his native country, like that of the Athenian artist, is at tributed to an act of violence upon the persons of two rival craftsmen. His first reception at the court of Nidung is at tended by every demonstration of kindness and attention ; but an accidental offence occasions the seizure and mutilation of his person , and he is compelled to labour incessantly in the duties of the forge for his tyrannical host. The double cruel ties inflicted on him, in the loss ofliberty and his bodily injuries, inspire him with sentiments of revenge: the infant sons of his persecutor fall the victims of his artifice; their sister is seduced and publicly disgraced ; and the triumphant artist, having at tached wings to his person , takes his way through the air to seek a more friendly employer158 It is not a little remarkable, that the only term in the Icelandic language to designate a labyrinth is Völundar- hus - a Weland's house159. 66 257 Some of these have been already was living in 1159, ) p . 252. See also noticed. (See Alfred's Boethius, and the romance ofHorn -child and Maiden the poem of Beowulf, and note Y p. liv. Riminild , in Ritson's Met. Rom. vol. iii . below .) The following may be added p. 295. from Müller's Saga- Bibliothek : • Et 158 These circumstances are taken from nisi duratis Vuelandia fabrica giris ob- the recital given in the Vilkina- Saga. staret .... from a Latin poem of the (Müller 154.) The Eddaic song makes ninth century, entitled “ De prima Ex- no mention of Völundr's fight to the peditione Attilæ regis Hunnorum in court of Nithuthur (Nidung ), nor of Gallia, ac de rebus gestis Waltharii his killing his instructors the Dwarfs : Aquitanorum principis .” Lipsiæ 1780 . a deed ofmere self-defence according to In Labbe's Bibliotheca MSS. Nova, the Vilkina - Saga, since, his rapid im tom . ii., the following notice occurs : provement having excited their envy , “ Gillermus Sector Ferri hoc nomen sor- they were devising a plan for destroying titus est, quia cum Normannisconfligens him . venire solito conflictu deluctans, ense 159 The name of Völundr becamea ge corto vel scortodurissimo, quem Va- neral namein the North for any distin landus faber condiderat, per medium cor- guished artist, whether working in stone pus loricatumsecavit una percussione. " or iron . The same may be said of Dæda Historia Pontificum et Comitum Engo- lus in Greece (dasdánası, daídana), whose lismensium incerto auctore, (but who labours are found to run through a ( 92) EDITOR'S PREFACE. The resemblances here detailed are obviously too intimate to have been the result of accident, or a common development of circumstances possessing some general affinity. The ma jority , on investigation, will be found to have been derived , however indirectly, from sources of classical antiquity ; and their existence in this dismembered state forcibly illustrates a remark of Mr. Campbell's, which is equally distinguished for its truth and beauty : “ that fiction travels on still lighter wings ( than science, and scatters the seeds of her wild flowers imperceptibly over the world, till they surprise us by spring ing up with similarity, in regions the most remotely divided 160.” But while these resemblances tend to establish the fact, that popular fiction is in its nature traditive , they necessarily direct our attention to another important question -- the degree of antiquity to be ascribed to the great national fables relative to Arthur, Theoderic, and Charlemagne. It will be almost needless to remark, that the admixture of genuine occurrences in all these romances, is so disproportionate to the fictitious materials by which it is surrounded, that without the influence of particular names, and the locality given to the action, we should never connect the events detailed with personages of authentic history. The deeds ascribed to Charlemagne, by a mere change of scene, become as “ germane ” to the life of the most illustrious of the Gothic kings as any of the circumstances advanced in his own veracious Vilkina - Saga. A similar succession of ages ; and who, in addi. fully substantiated :iv part) púbw rad rò tion to his numerous inventions, con- Adidánou pūros. Suidas, i . p. 752. structed such enormousworks in Egypt, 160 Essay on English Poetry, p. 30 . Sicily and Crete. In the foriner coun- To this may be added the doctrine of try he received divine honours ( Diod. an ancient aphorism cited by Demo Sic. i . p. 109.) ; the mythologic cha- sthenes ( De falsa legatione) : racter of Völundr [ πολλοί is clear from the Edda ; and Prætoriusspeaks of Spirits sceoi ompeliğwas. Jiós vú cís iori xai avrń. Φήμη δ' ούτις πάμπαν απόλλυται , ήντινα Volands and Water - Nixen as synony mous terms. If we allow the daughter 16). Suppose we on thingstraditive divide, of Nidung to take the place of Pasi- And both appeal toScripture to de phäe, the Athenian proverb will be cide. -DRYDEN. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 93) transference might be effected, in the “ most antient and famous history of Prince Arthur,” without violating the pro bability or disturbing the accuracy of the account : and the same process might be applied, with equal success, to almost every other romance laying claim to an historical character. But though all parties may be agreed, that the sub - structure of these recitals is essentially fabulous, the great point to be investigated , is the æra when each fable first obtained a circu lation . Are the fictitious memorials thus united to the names of these several European kings, the sole invention of an age posterior to their respective reigns ? or the accumulated tra ditions of a long succession of centuries, both antecedent and subsequent to the period in which the events are placed ? It cannot be expected that such an extensive subject will receive the discussion it merits, on the present occasion ; but as some of the preceding remarks are founded on an assumption that the latter position is demonstrable, the general question may be illustrated by one example out of many, of the mode in which this amalgamation has been effected in Northern Ro mance . The life of Theoderic of Berne, the mirror of German chivalry, has been connected in later romance with the ad ventures of Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen Lied. The authentic history of this latter prince is wholly beyond the hope of recovery ; but under the more decidedly Northern name of Sigurdr, he has been allowed the same distinction in Icelandic fiction, that attends him in the fables of Germany. In Sæmund's Edda his achievements are recorded in a series of simple narrative songs ; and the Volsunga - Saga is wholly devoted to the fortunes of his family. The ground -work of Siegfried's story is indisputably the fatal treasure, origi nally the property of Andvar the dwarf; but which extorted from him by violence, as a ransom for three captive deities, ( 94) EDITOR'S PREFACE. GN12ATPillto bi14receives a doom from the injured Duergr, which involves every after -possessor in the same inevitable ruin as the neck lace of Eriphyle in Grecian story. In the Nibelungen Lied the previous history of the “ hoard ” is wholly overlooked ; and its acquisition by Siegfried, notwithstanding the important part assigned it in the subsequent stages of the recital, forms only a subsidiary argument. The Edda dwells with a spirit of eager yet mournful pleasure, upon the successive acts of iniquity, by which the threat of Andvar is substantiated ; and the iron mask of destiny obtrudes itself at every step, with the same appalling rigour as in the tragic theatre of Greece. But in either narrative the hero of the tale, whether Sigurdr or Siegfried, is spoken of as the son of Sigmund; and to him are attributed the destruction of the dragon, and the consequent spoliation of the treasure . A document nearer home, but which has evidently wandered to these shores from the North, the Anglo- Saxon poem of Beowulf, gives a different version of the story. In this interesting record of early Danish fable, the discomfiture of Grendel gives occasion for the introduc tion of a Scop, or bard, who, like Demodocus in the Odyssey, entertains the warriors at Hrothgar's table with an account of deeds of earlier adventure. In compliment to Beowulf, he selects the most distinguished event in Northern history; and the subject of his song is the slaughter of the dragon, and the seizure ofthe treasure by Sigmund the Wælsing ? We are not to consider this as an accidental variation , either intentionally or ignorantly supplied by the Christian translator or renovator of the poem ; the celebrity of Sigmund is supported by the 1412TE162 The present text as printed by Mr. Grundtvig, a Danish poet, has the Thorkelin reads, merit of first making known the connec Thæt he framsige tion between this song and the Edda, Munde secgan &c. p. 68, by a communication inserted in the The manuscript, Kjöbenhavns Skilderi.” (Müller, p. 381. ) It was detected in the first Thet he fram Sigeunde sheets sent to this country as a specimen Secgan hyrde. of the forthcoming publication . EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 95) mention of his name in other Northern documents. In the Hyndlu - Lioth he is connected with Hermod16 as a favourite of the Gods, upon whom Odin had bestowed a sword as a mark of his approval. And in the celebrated Drapr upon the death of Eric Blodoxe, who was slain in a descent upon the English coast during the tenth century, and which is perhaps the oldest Icelandic poem having reference to a contemporary historical event, Sigmund is summoned by Odin , as the most distinguished member of Valhalla, to advance and receive the Norwegian king. But independently of this collateral testi mony, the song of the Anglo- Saxon scop contains internal evidence of its fidelity to the genuine tradition . The Edda and the Volsunga - Saga make Sigmund the son of a king Vol šungr, whom they place at the head of the genealogic line ; and consider as the founder of the Volsunga dynasty. It is however certain , that this Volsungr is a mere fictitious per sonage; since, on every principle of analogy, the Volsunga race must have derived their family appellative from an an cestor of the name of Vols, just as the Skioldings obtained theirs from Skiold, the Skilfings from Skilf, and the Hildings from Hildr. Now this is the genealogy observed by the Anglo - Saxon scop ; who first speaks generally of theWælsing race, and then specifically of Sigmund the offspring ofWæls185 163 Gaf han Hermothi 165 Wælsinges gewin - Wælses eafe Hialm ac bryniu , ra , ed. Thorkelin, p. 68, 69. Ofthe Ice En Sigmundi landic Völundr, the Anglo - Saxonsmade Sverth at thiggia . Weland, as they have madeWæls ofVöls. Dedit Hermodo -Any objection that might be raised Galeam et loricam , to the antiquity of the Edda from this At Sigmundo circumstance would only apply to the Ensem accipere ( ferre, habere ). Introduction to the song, which is con fessedly of a more recent date. It will This is clearly the Sigmund of the hence be clear, that at the time when Anglo - Saxon scop, who immediately these poems were collected , the fiction passes to the history of Hermod. The was of such antiquity that it had become same may be said of the Sigmund men- corrupted at the source. The authen tioned in King Eric's drapr, where he ticity of the Edda certainly does not is conjoined with his son Sinfiotli. stand in need of the additional support ( Compare Sinfiotla - lok in Sæmund's here given ; but it mustbe gratifying to Edda.) those who have favoured the integrity of ( 96) EDITOR'S PRÉ FAC E. 1 29From this it will be clear that Sigurdr or Siegfried in the great event of his history has been made to assume the place of his father Sigmund, upon the same arbitrary principle that the Theban Hercules has gathered round his name the achievements of so many earlier heroes. Nor is this perhaps the only mutation to which the Northern fiction has been subjected. The catastrophe of the fable, as we have already seen, is wholly dependent upon the treasure of Andvar; and the founder of the Wælsing dynasty bears a name, which in the Icelandic and Anglo- Saxon language is nearly synony mous with wealth or riches 166. The great length to which the precedingre marks have been carried, will make it necessary to be less excursive in considering the second of Mr. Ritson's objections; and fortunately the previous labours of Mr. Ellis 267 have rendered these Songs, to find their opinions con- of Kent, and not to a purely fabulous firmed by such conclusive and unim- personage of the same name, will be peachable testimony. Mr. Müller, in rendered probable, on recollecting that the interesting volume so repeatedly re- the events recorded contain no admix ferred to in various parts of this preface, ture of marvellous matter. has satisfactorily accounted for the si- ductions are clearly of the same histo lence of Saxo Grammaticus upon this rical class, and written in the same sober branch of fabulous Northern history. spirit, with the fragment of Brythnoth ; Inhis day the fiction had become lo- for the Eotena-cyn of Beowulf, over calized on the Rhine, and was received whom Fin is said to reign, is a general by himas a portion ofauthentic German term in Northern poetry for anyhostile story. ( Saga- Bibliothek , ii. p. 401.) nation not of the Teutonic stock . From 166 Upon a future occasion the Editor hence it is desired to make two deduc will offer his reasons for believing that tions: First, that the events alluded to the present song has been transposed are antertor to the close of the fifth from its proper place, to makeway for century ; and Secondly, that the intro an episode upon the exploits of Hengest, duction of this episode into the present inserted at p. 82, ed . Thorkelin . The poem was not likely to be made after subject of this latter document is evi- the year 723, whenEgbert expelled the dently taken from a larger poem , of last monarch of Kentand dissolved the which a fragment has beenpublished by heptarchy. For this last deduction more Hickes ;and is known under the nameof explicit reasons will be given as before the Battle of Finsburh . In Beowulf the stated on another occasion . It only actors are Fin , Hnæf, Hengest, Guth- remains to observe, that the Hengest laf and Oslaf; in the fragment the mentioned in Beowulf was a native of same names occur, with the substitu- Friesland, and to ask whether Fin was tion of Ordlaf for Oslaf. The scene in a Celt ? and can the Gaelic antiquaries either piece is Finnes -ham , or Finnes- connect him with any Erse sovereign burh, the residence of the before -men- bearing this name ? tioned Fin . That in these we have an 167 See Metrical Romances, vol. i . In allusion to the founder of the kingdom troduction. Both pro EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 97 ) any discussion of the subject almost superfluous. The fidelity of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the execution of his labours- at least his scrupulous exactness in preparing the reader's mind for any important deviations from , or suppression of, his ori ginal - has been so satisfactorily established, that we might cite his example as an instance of good faith that would have done honour to a more critical age, and shining conspi cuously amid the general laxity of his own168 The licences he has allowed himself, in the shape of amplification, are to all appearance nothing more than a common rhetorical exercise, inherited by the middle ages from the best days of antiquity : and the letters and speeches introduced, admitting them to be of his own composition, are the necessary appendage of the school in which he was disciplined. To charge him with “ imposture and forgery" for pursuing such a course , is as just as it would be to doubt the general probity of Livy, for a similar practice in the Roman History: and to question his veracity, because the subject of his translation is a record of incredible events, is a degree of hypercriticism which could only have been resorted to by a mind eager to escape con 168 Mr. Sharon Turner (in a recent Warton's History: but an absence from work ) has persevered in his objections his native country at the period of its to Geoffrey's fidelity : “ Several of Jef- publication, and for some years after fery's interspersed observations imply, wards, caused him to beunacquainted that he has rather made a book ofhis with its contents. It will be needless own, than merely translated an author. to add, how much he might have been If he merely translated, why should he benefited personally by an earlier know decline to handle particular points of ledge of its existence, and the trouble thehistory, because Gildas had already he might havebeen spared in travelling told them , or told them better ? He over much of the same ground Mr. assumes here a right of shaping his work Turner has now so agreeably shortenedto as he pleased, as he does alsowben he every future inquirer. While thus read declares his intention of relating else- ing his confession, the editor will also where the Armorican emigration ." Hist. express his regret at beingunacquainted ofEngland, vol. i. p. 448. It is diffi- (from thesame cause) with amost valu cult to understand why Geoffrey was able Essayon the PopularMythology more or less a " mere translator for of the Middle Ages contained in the these omissions, or how such a practice Quarterly Review for January 1820, could make him an original writer. and to which his attention was directed The editor has to apologize for not have by a general reference in a foreign pub ing referred to this interesting work of lication, Grimm's Kinder-Märchen. Mr. Turner's in the early portion of VOL. I. g ( 98) EDITOR'S PREFACE. viction. But in this, as in almost every thing else which was exposed to the reprobation of Mr. Ritson, there was a secon dary design in the back - ground, of more importance than the original proposition ; and an unqualified denial of Geoffrey's Armorican original was an indispensable step towards ad vancing a favourite theory of his own. The substance of this theory may be given in the language of its author : 6 That the English acquired the art of romance-writing from the French seems clear and certain , as most of the specimens of that art in the former language are palpable and manifest translations of those in the other : and this too may serve to account for the origin of romance in Italy, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia. But the French romances are too ancient to be indebted for their existence to more barbarous nations19. With the truth or fallacy of this hypothesis we are not at pre sent concerned. But it will be obvious that its success must at any time have depended upon the degree of credit assigned to the repeated declarations of Geoffrey, and the claims pos sessed by Armorica to an original property in the British Chronicle17 . A sweeping contradiction therefore, without the 1169 Metrical Romances, i. pi c . It the Norman minstrels could thus de. may be as well to subjoin the succeed- scend to poach upon Armorican ground, ing paragraph in Mr. Ritson's disserta- they might also havegleanedtheir in tion , for the benefit of those who can telligence relative to Bevis of Hampton reconcile the contradiction it contains, andGuy of Warwick on an English to the doctrine avowed in the passage soil. But this again would destroythe cited above: “ It is,therefor, a vain and sneer against the “ historian of English futile endeavour to seek for theorigin Poetry," who has called these redoubt of romance : in all agees and countrys, ed champions “ English heroes . ” . where literature has been cultivateed, " Wis ” is a genuine Saxon name oc and genius and taste have inspire'd, curring in the Chronicle, and Beo -wis whether in India, Persia, Greece,Italy mightbe formed on the analogy of or France, the earlyest product of that Beo -wulf. That the Norman minstrels, cultivation, and that genius and taste, like their brothers of Germany and has been poetry and romance, with re- Scandinavia, should have sought in every ciprocal obligations, perhaps, between direction for subjects of romantic ad one country and another. The Ara- venture, will be considered no dispa bians, the Persians, the Turks, and, in ragementto their genius, except by that short, almost every nationin the globe gentle band of critics who believe that aboundin romancees of their own inven- the dramatist who borrows his plot is tion ." Ib. ci. inferior to the play -wright who invents 170 There are those who will say, If one. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 99)

shadow of proof — as if proof in such a case would have been an insult to the reader's understanding — was to destroy every belief in the former ; while a constant call for proof, a most vehement " iteration ” for the original documents, and an un meaning speculation upon the physical inabilities of the whole Armorican nation , from the ruggedness of their language, to cultivate poetry, was to silence every pretension of the latter. A more candid spirit of criticism has at length conceded, that a general charge of imposture unsupported by testimony, or even a showing of some adequate motive for the concealment of the truth , is not to overrule the repeated affirmations of a writer no ways interested in maintaining a false plea ; and that, however much the tortuous propensities of one man's mind mightincline him to prefer the crooked policy of fraud to the more simple path of plain -dealing, the contagion of such a disease was not likely to extend itself to a long list of autho rities, all of whom must have been injured rather than benefited by the confession , who could have had no common motives with the first propounder of the deceit, and who were divided both by time and situation from any connexion with him , and generally speaking from any intercourse with each other. The concurrent testimony of the French romancers is now admitted to have proved the existence of a large body of fiction relative to Arthur in the province of Brittany: and while they confirm the assertions of Geoffrey in this single particular, it is equally clear they have neither echoed his language, nor borrowed his materials. Every further investigation of the subject only tends to support the opinion pronounced by Mr. Douce ; that “ the tales of Arthur and his knights which have appeared in so many forms, and under the various titles of the St. Graal, Tristan de Leonnois, Lancelot du Lac, &c. were not immediately borrowed from the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth , but from his Armoric originals 17.” 19 See below , p. xvi. g 2 ( 100) EDITOR'S PREFACE. i11The great evil with which this long -contested question ap pears to be threatened at the present day, is an extreme equally dangerous with the incredulity of Mr. Ritson — a disposition to receive as authentic history, under a slightly fabulous colouring, every incident recorded in the British Chronicle. An allegorical interpretation is now inflicted upon all the marvellous circumstances; a forced construction imposed upon the less glaring deviations from probability; and the usual sub terfuge ofbaffled research, -erroneous readings, and etymolo gical sophistry, —is made to reduce every stubborn and intrac table text to something like the consistency required. It might have been expected that the notorious failures of Dionysius and Plutarch in Roman history would have prevented the re petition of an error, which neither learning nor ingenuity can render palatable ; and that the havoc and deadly ruin effected by these ancient writers ( in other respects so valuable) in one of the most beautiful and interesting monuments of traditional story, would have acted as a sufficient corrective on all future aspirants. The favourers of this system might at least have been instructed by the philosophic example of Livy,—if it be lawfulto ascribe to philosophy a line of conduct which per haps was prompted by a powerful sense of poetic beauty, —that traditional record can only gain in the hands of the future historian , by one attractive aid, the grandeur and lofty graces of that incomparable style in which the first Decade is written ; and that the best duty towards antiquity, and the most agree able one towards posterity, is to transmit the narrative received as an unsophisticated tradition, in all the plenitude of its mar vels, and the awful dignity of its supernatural agency. For however largely we may concede that real events have sup plied the substance of any traditive story, yet the amount of absolute facts, and the manner of those facts, the period of their occurrence, the names of the agents, and the locality given to the scene-are all combined upon principles so wholly $ . EDITOR'S PREF A CE. ( 101) beyond our knowledge, that it becomes impossible to fix with certainty upon any single point better authenticated than its fellow . Probability in such decisions will often prove the most fallacious guide we can follow ; for, independently of the acknowledged historical axiom , that “ le vrai n'est pas toujours le vraisemblable, ” innumerable instances might be adduced , where tradition has had recourse to this very probability, to confer a plausible sanction upon her most fictitious and ro mantic incidents 172. It will be a much more useful labour, wherever it can be effected , to trace the progress of this tra ditional story in the country where it has become located, by a reference to those natural or artificial monuments which are the unvarying sources of fictitious events173 ; and, by a strict 172 The story of the doves at Dodo- own country. (Vid . Paus.ix.c. 36.) This na and the origin of the oracle there, is strong predilection for Egyptian marvels too well known to require a repetition. did not escape the notice of Heliodorus. There is a connexion and proprietyin Αιγύπτιον γαρ άκουσμα και διήγημα παν, the solution given by Herodotus, which 'Examuxñs exons étaróratov. Lib. ii. on a first perusal carries conviction to p. 92. ed. Coray. A desire of tracing the reader's mind. Yet nothing can be every thing to an Egyptian origin is as more questionable than the whole re- conspicuous in the whole body of Gre cital. The honours of the sacred oak cian story, as the propensity of the mid were shared in common with Jupiter, dle ages to trace their institutions and by Dione, whose symbol, a golden dove, genealogic stock to king Priam . Ac like the golden swallows on the brazen cordingto Sir Stamford Raffles, the roof of Apollo at Delphi, ( Pind. Frag, Malays universally attempt to vol. iii. p. 54.) was seen suspended from their descent from Alexander and his the branches of the venerable tree . (Phi- followers. Pamphleteer, vol. 8. lostrat. Icon , ii . 34. 858-9 .) Hence Higden will inform us how busily the tradition . The explanation of the tradition works in this way : “ There is a Egyptian priesthood is rendered intel- nother sygne and token before ye Popes ligible by a passage in the Horapollo palays, an horse of bras, and a man (i. 92.), where it is stated that a black syttyng theron , and holdeth his right dove was the sacred symbol, under hondeasthough he spake to the peple, which these people expressed a woman and holdeth his brydell in his lyfte maintaining her widowhood till death. honde, and hath a cucko bytwen his That this obvious source of the Dodo- hors heres. And a seke dwerf under næan fable should have yielded to the his feet. Pylgryms callen that man improbable dictum of the Theban priest- Theodericus. And the comyns call hood, will not appear remarkable, when him Constantinus ; but clerkes of the we remember that the same class of men courte calle hym Marcus and Quintus had told Solon, “ You Greeks are al- Curtius. . ... They that calle hym Mar ways children ” ( Plato Tim . p .22.) : and cus, telle this reson and skyll. There that the Greeks, who believed every tale was a dwerf of the kynred of Messenis, these artful foreigners chose to impose his craft was Nygromancye. Whanhe upon them , were proverbial for their had subdewed kynges that dwelled admiration of the wondrous out of their nyghe hym, and made hein subgette to trace 173 ( 102) EDITOR'S PREFACE. comparison of its details with the analogous memorials of other nations, to separate those elements which are obviously of native growth, from the occurrences bearing the impress of a foreign origin 174. We shall gain little perhaps by such a course for the history of human events ; but it will be an im portant accession to our stock of knowledge on the history of the human mind. It will infallibly display, as in the analysis of every similar record, the operation of that refining prin ciple which is ever obliterating the monotonous deeds of violence that fill the chronicle of a nation's early career ; and exhibit the brightest attribute in the catalogue of man's in tellectual endowments — a glowing and vigorous imagination, -bestowing upon all the impulses of the mind a splendour and virtuous dignity, which, however fallacious historically considered, are never without a powerfully redeeming good, the ethical tendency of all their lessons. The character of the specimens interspersed throughout hym , thenne he wente to Rome, to warre braunce of this dede.” Then follows with the Romayns. And with his craft the account of those who called it Q. he benam the Romayns power and Curtius. Trevisa's Translation , p. 24. might for to smyte, and beseged hem 174 The manner in which national longe tyme iclosed within the cyte. fable swelled its mass of incident in the This dwerf went every day tofore the ancient world, by having recourse to sonne rysyngin to the felde for to do this practice, has been already noticed at his crafte. Whan the Romayns had page ( 29) . With the Greeks and Ro espyed that maner doynge of the dwerf, mans, every hero whom they found they spake to Marcus, a noble knyght, celebrated in a foreign soil for bis and behyght hym lordshyp of the cyte, prowess against wild beasts, robbers or and a memoryall in mynde for ever- tyrants, was their own divinity Her more, yf he wolde defende hem and cules ; and every traveller who had save the cyte. Thenne Marcus made touched on a distant coast, Ulysses. an hole thrugh the walle, longe er it This system of appropriating the native were daye, for to abyde his crafte to traditions of their neighbours was not cache this dwerf. And whan it was confined to the ancients. The followers tyme, the cucko sange, and warned hym of King Sigurd Iorlafar, who visited of the daye. Thenne Marcus reysed Constantinople in the year 1111, on to, and bycause he myght not hytte the their return from the holy land, brought dwerf with wepen , he caught hym with an account to Norway, that they had his honde, and bare hym into the cyte. seen the images of their early kings And for drede leste he sholde helpe the Asæ, the Volsungæ, and the Giu hymselfe with his craft yfhemyght speke, kings erected in the Hippodrome of the he threwe hym undir the hors feet,and Imperial city. Heimskringla, vol. iii . the horse al to - trade hym. And ther- p. 245. for that ymage was made in remem EDITOR'S PRE FACE. ( 103) ! Warton's History, is a subject of more immediate moment, as it is intimately connected with a question which must be previously adjusted, before we can hope to see any advances towards a history of the English language. The most zealous friend of his fame will readily admit, that his extracts from our early poetry have not been made with that attention to the orthography of his manuscripts, which the example and authority of Mr. Ritson have since established as an indispen sable law. There are occasional instances also, where inad vertency has produced some confusion of the sense, by erro neous readings of his text; and a few errors involving the same results, from indistinctness in the manuscript, or the difficulty of decyphering correctly some unusual or obsolete term . For the last of these deficiencies no further justifica tion will be offered, than that they are of a kind which every publisher of early poetry must be more or less exposed to ; that they are neither so important nor so numerous as they are usually considered ; and that some allowance is due to the lax opinions entertained upon the subject when Warton's History made its appearance. The former will require a more minute investigation, both from the obloquy cast upon his reputation for omitting to observe it, and the importance it has been made to assume in the labours of every subsequent antiquary. The golden rule of Mr. Ritson, enforced by the precept and ex ample of twenty years, and scrupulously adhered to by his disciples, is “ integrity to the original text . ” The genius of the language, the qualifications of the transcriber, and the power of oral delivery upon the original writer, have been considered so subsidiary to this primary and elemental point, that they are scarcely noticed, or wholly omitted, in the discus sion of the question. Every thing written has had conferred upon it the authority of an explicit statute, and fidelity to the tter of a manuscript is only to be infringed under certain ob ( 104 ) EDITOR'S PREFAC E. vious limitations. There might have been something to colour the rigid course thus prescribed , if it had been either proved or found that there was a general consistency observed in any single manuscript with itself, or that the various modes of writing the same word in one document were countenanced by a systematic mode of deviation in another. But so far is this from being the case, that a' single line often exhibits a change in the component letters of the same word ( and which may have been written in the previous pageswith every variety it is capable of); and no diligence or ingenuity can establish a rule, which will reconcile the orthography of one manuscript to that of its fellow , upon any principle of order or grammatical analogy. There is, however, nothing singular in this state of our early English texts, or of a nature not to admit of a com paratively easy solution . By far the greater number of these discrepancies may be fairly ascribed to the inattention of tran scribers, a class of men whose heedless blunders have cast a proverbial stigma upon their labours, and who, to pass over the charges left against them by the ancient world, have been successively exposed to the anathemas of Orm and the cen sures of Chaucer. For the rest, we must refer to the circum stances under which the original documents were written , or the autographs as they were dismissed from the hands of their respective authors. At whatever age we assume the subject, subsequent to the Norman conquest, and previous to the invention of printing, the very absence of this most important of human arts might of itself assure us , that the forms of orthography would be more or less fluctuating, from the total want of any consider able number of copies following one general principle in the composition of their words. There never could have been , as at the present day, any multiplied exemplars of the same work, the literal fac -similes of each other, -- and consequently 1! 2 EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 105) i the reciprocal guarantees of their respective integrity and fidelity to the original text ; nor any acknowledged standard of appeal which was to direct the mind in cases of dubious issue. Hence every writer would of course adopt the gene ral style acquired during his school instruction ; and where this chanced to be defective, he would naturally fly to analogy as the best arbitrator of his doubts. Now , though nothing is more certain than that the existing laws of our language are the consequences of some antecedent ones, and that all are governed by an analogy systematic in its constitution ; yet nothing also is more clear, than that unless we pursue this analogy according to its governing principle, it will lead us to the most erroneous and indefensible conclusions. Let any one for example assume some particular letters, as the unvary ing representatives of any determinate sound ; and having applied them in conjunction with the remaining symbols mak ing up the different words in which this sound recurs, com pare his novel mode of association, with that generally received : The result will give him a language strongly resembling the written compositions of all our early manuscripts, with one grand distinction , —that though this kind of analogy has been chiefly followed, it was never systematically adhered to ; and that the exceptions to the rule have been hardly less numerous, than the cases in which it has been applied. This we may readily conceive to have arisen from the influence of the style acquired enforcing one kind of analogy, and the unbiassed judgement of the writer,-unbiassed except by the natural power of oral delivery, -giving direction to another. The latter indeed must have been the universal guide in all cases of uncertainty; and, for the reason before given , both a varying and unsatisfactory one. In addition to these difficulties, there was another co -operating cause , which will of itself explain a large body of minor variations. The study of the English ( 106) EDITOR's PR E F A CE. language, in common with that of every vernacular dialect in Europe, was the offspring of comparatively recent ages ; and of the component parts which fill the measure of this study, orthography was nearly the last to occupy public attention. That it would have followed in the order of time, without the invention of printing, is clear from the attention bestowed upon it by the ancient world 175. But it never could have demanded any share of serious notice, until the literature of the country had been to a certain degree matured ; until grammar as a science had become sedulously pursued ; and the labours of grammarians had established certain rules of orthoëpy, which every writer would have willingly followed. From a combi nation of these causes, therefore, the unsettled state of early orthography is easily deducible. The confusion it has originated will be evident on the perusal of a single page in Mr. Ritson's Romances : but the corollary which has been drawn from it, that the manuscripts exhibit a text whose integrity ought invariably to be preserved , -can only be admitted under a presumption that the enunciation of those who wrote them was as fluctuating as their graphic forms. The latter pro position is an inevitable consequence of the previous inference ; and is a position in itself so unwarrantable and incredible, that it needs only to be considered with reference to its practica bility, to receive the condemnation it merits. It is true, a great deal of traditionary opinion might be cited in favour of such an hypothesis, and several distinguished writers of our own day have been found to lend it the coun tenance of their names. Mr. Mitford has declared , that the Brut of Layamon displays “ all the appearance of a language thrown into confusion by the circumstances of those who spoke it176 ; ” and Mr. Sharon Turner has observed of our lan 1T0175 The state of our Anglo - Saxon ma- 176 See Mr. Mitford's Harmony of nuscripts and the laboursof Ælfric alone Language The expressions in the mightbecited in proof of these positions. text have been taken from Mr. Camp EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 107) guage, in a still earlier stage : “the Saxon anomalies ofgram mar seem to have been so capricious, and so confused, that their meaning must have been often rather conjectured, than understood ; and hence it is, that their poetry, especially in Beowulf, is often so unintelligible to us. There is no settled grammar to guarantee the meaning ; we cannot guess so well nor so rapidly as they, who, talking every day in the same phrases, were familiar with their own absurdities. Or perhaps when the harper recited , they often caught his meaning from his gesticulation, felt it when they did not understand it, and thought obscurity to be the result of superior ability . It will be no disparagement to the talents of these distinguished historians, that a subject unconnected with the general tenor of their studies, and only incidentally brought before them , should have eluded their penetration ; or that a plausible theory, rather extensively accredited , should have surprised them into an acquiescence in its doctrines. But when it is asserted, under the authority of a name so deservedly nuance. bell's citation , in his Essay on English who conceive the human race to have Poetry , p. 33 : where the reader will grown out of the earth like so many also find an able refutation of Mr. Ellis's cabbages. Bring forward your proof opinions upon theprogress of the En- that this phenomenon had areal exist glish language. - It isimpossible that ence, and your reasons for its disconti Mr. Campbell should not at all times Both propositions are equally be awake to the spirit of genuine poetry , defensible, and entitled to the same however disguised by the rust of anti- degree of credence. It is a common quity. And if some of the criticisms in piece of address with the favourers of this genial Essay prove rather startling this theory, to refer us to the language to the zealous admirer of our early of some savage Indian tribe, of whom literature, he will rather attribute them we know as much as the traveller has to the same cause which during an age been pleased to inform us. of romantic poetry makes the effusions sonal qualifications of the latter to of Mr. Campbell's muse appear an echo speak upon the question we have no of the chaste simplicity and measured means of deciding . In a parallel case, energy of Attic song. Dr. Johnson justly charged Montes 177 History of England, vol. i. p. 564. quieu with wantoffairness, for dedu All opinions of this kind are evidently cing a general principle from some ob founded upon the belief, that language servance obtaining in Mexico or Japan, is the product of man's invention ; and it might be, for which he could adduce that the succession of time alone has no better authority than the vagueac perfected thefirst crude conceptions of count of some traveller whom accident, his mind. To such a belief we may had taken there . apply the argument opposed to those, The per ( 108 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. 11esteemed as Mr. Mitford's, that political disturbances have produced a corresponding confusion in the structure of a na tion's language, and that a disjointed time has been found to subvert the whole economy of a dialect, we are in justice bound to inquire, by what law of our nature these singular results ensue, and in what degree the example given will warrant such a conclusion. We may readily grant the learned advo cate of this hypothesis any state of civil confusion he chooses to assume, in the ages immediately following upon the Norman conquest ; and still, with every advantage of this concession, the position he has adopted must preserve all the native naked ness of its character. For, until it shall be shown that political commotions have a decided tendency to derange the intellectual and physical powers, in the same degree that they disorganize civil society ; and that, under the influence of troubled times, men are prone to forget the natural means of communicating their ideas, to falter in their speech, and re cur to the babble of their infancy,—we certainly have not ad vanced beyond the threshold of the argument. That such effects have ever occurred from the cause alleged, in any pre vious age, remains yet to be demonstrated ; that they do not occur in the existing state of society, —that they are not there fore the necessary results of any acknowledged law of our nature, —the experience of the last thirty years of European warfare and political change may at least serve as a testi mony. An influx of foreigners, or a constant intercourse with and dependence upon them , may corrupt the idiom of a dialect to a limited extent, or charge it with a large accumulation of exotic terms; but this change in the external relation of the people speaking the dialect, will neither confound the original elements of which it is composed, nor destroy the previous character of its grammar. The lingua franca as it is called , of 3 EDITOR'S PREFAC E. ( 109) the shores washed by the Mediterranean sea, contains an ad mixture of words requiring all the powers of an erudite lin guist to trace the several ingredients to their parent sources ; yet with all the corruptions and innovations to which this oddly assorted dialect has been subjected, it invariably ac knowledges the laws of Italian grammar. A similar inunda tion of foreign terms is to be found in the German writers of the seventeenth century, where the mass of Latin , Greek and French expressions almost exceeds the number of vernacular words: yet here again the stranger matter has been made to accommodate itself to the same inflections and modal changes as those which govern the native stock . In considering the language of Layamon , however, there is no necessity for having recourse to this line of argument. In the specimen published by Mr. Ellis, not a Gallicism is to be found, nor even a Norman term : and so far from exhibiting any “ ap pearance of a language thrown into confusion by the circum stances of those who spoke it,” nearly every important form of Anglo- Saxon grammar is rigidly adhered to ; and so little was the language altered at this advanced period of Norman influence, that a few slight vuriations might convert it into genuine Anglo - Saxon . That some change had taken place in the style ofcomposition and general structure ofthe language, since the days of Alfred, is a matter beyond dispute ; but that these mutations were a consequence of the Norman invasion , or were even accelerated by that event, is wholly incapable of proof; and nothing is supported upon a firmer principle of rational induction , than that the same effects would have ensued if William and his followers had remained in their native soil . The substance of the change is admitted on all hands to con sist in the suppression of those grammatical intricacies, occa sioned by the inflection of nouns, the seemingly arbitrary di stinctions of gender, the government of prepositions, &c. ( 110) EDITOR'S PREFACE. How far this may be considered as the result of an innate law of the language, or some general law in the organization of those who spoke it, we may leave for the present undecided : but that it was no way dependent upon external circumstances, upon foreign influence or political disturbances, is established by this undeniable fact thatevery branch ofthe Low German stock , from whence the Anglo- Saxon sprang, displays the same simplification of its grammar. In all these languages, there has been a constant tendency to relieve themselves ofthat precision which chooses a fresh symbol for every shade of meaning, to lessen the amount of nice distinctions, and detect as it were a royal road to the interchange of opinion. Yet in thus dimi nishing their grammatical forms and simplifying their rules, in this common effort to evince a striking contrast to the usual effects of civilization, all confusion has been prevented by the very manner in which the operation has been conducted : for the revolution produced has been so gradual in its progress, that it is only to be discovered on a comparison of the respective languages at periods of a considerable interval. The opinions of Mr. Turner178 upon the character of the 179 It would take a much greater is false in its grammatical construction space, to offer a detailed refutation of and defective in alliteration : Mr. Turner's opinions, than is occu Gif thu Grendles dearst pied in the original recital of them. But Night longne in a future publication, when examining Fyrstne anbidan. Mr. Tyrwhitt's Essayon the Language andVersification of Chaucer, the editor Mr. Turner's translation ; pledges himself to substantiate by the If thou darest the Grendel mostirrefragable proofs all that he has The space of a long night advanced . In the present state of the Awaits thee. question, he can only appeal to the Restore the grammar, and we obtain common sense and daily experience of the alliteration, without changing a the reader, coupled with an assurance letter of the text. that the counsel and practice of Junius Gif thu Grendles dearst and Hickes are directly opposed to this novel theory. It may be as well Night-longne fyrst Nean bidan . perhaps to offer one instance out of a thousand, in proof of the assistance to If thou darest Grendles ( encounter, be gained by a knowledgeof the Anglo- gething, of the context) Saxon grammar; The following pas ( A) night long space sage, as it stands in our present text, Near abide. EDITOR'S PREFAC E. ( 111 ) Anglo - Saxon language might be safely left to the decision of the practical inquirer, who, without allowing himself to be dazzled by the brilliancy of an abstract speculation , or to be swayed by the influence of a long -established prejudice, con siders every theory with reference to man in society. To him we might appeal for the solution of our doubts, as to the pos sibility of conducting the commonest concerns of life, with these imperfect means of communicating our wants; or how the Babel- like confusion attendant upon a people, who had “no settled grammar to guarantee their meaning, who were compelled to guess the import of their mutual absurdities, ” was not to involve a second dissolution of the social compact, and another separation of the families of the earth so visited . But fortunately ,Mr. Turner, in the same spirit of candour that attends all his investigations, has supplied us with the proofs upon which his conclusions are gounded ; and in so doing has afforded us the most satisfactory means of produ cing a refutation of his opinions. It may appear surprising, but it is nevertheless true, that of the numerous specimens adduced in support of the “ capricious anomalies ” to be found in Saxon grammar, not a single instance occurs which is not rigidly in unison with the laws of that grammar : and so strikingly consistent is the obedience they display to the rules there enforced , that any future historian of the language might select the same examples in proof of a contrary posi tion . He would only have to apprise the reader of some peculiarities in those laws, which Mr. Turner seems to have misunderstood, or not to have been acquainted with ; and to inform him that the simple rule observed in our own times respecting the genders of nouns, was not acknowledged in Saxon grammar ; and consequently, that in this department there was a greater degree of complexity ; that the inflection of nouns was governed by no single norm, but varied as in ( 112) EDITOR'S PRE FACE. 1111111the languages of the ancient world ; that every class embraced in this same part of speech, was not alike perfectly inflected ; that some exhibit a change of termination in almost every case , while others approach the simplicity of our present forms, having only a change in the genitive; that a difference in the sense produced a change in the government of the preposi tions 179; and lastly, that the adjective was differently inflected , as it was used in conjunction with the definite or indefinite article . With these observances, a reader unacquainted with a single line of Anglo -Saxon , and only assisted by the paradigm of declensions contained in any grammar, might reduce Mr. Turner's anomalies to their original order ; and collect from the regularity with which they conform to the standards given, the general spirit of uniformity that obtained through out the language. Indeed there is nothing more striking, or more interesting to the ardent philologer, than the order and regularity preserved in Anglo- Saxon composition, the variety of expression , the innate richness, and plastic power with which the language is endowed ; and there are few things more keenly felt by the student of Northern literature, or a mind strongly alive to the same qualities as they are retained in the language of Germany, than that all these excellencies should have disappeared in our own. But it will be better to remain silent on a subject of such vain regret, and to avail ourselves of the only advantage to be derived from the know ledge of it. It is capable of demonstration, that in the golden days of Anglo - Saxon literature, the æra of Alfred, the lan guage of written composition was stable in its character, and to all appearance continued so till the cultivation of it among the learned became no longer an object of emulation . The mutations that ensued, it has been already asserted , were not 179 Mr. Turner has noticed this pecu- was systematically observed ; which is liarity, but then he has denied that it the point at issue. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 113) the result of any capricious feeling, acknowledging no general principle of action ; but a revolution effected upon certain and determinate laws, which, however undefined in their origin , are sufficiently evident in their consequences. The general result has been, a language whose grammatical rules have been long ascertained, at least in every particular bearing upon the present subject; and we are thus supplied with two unvarying standards of appeal at the extremes of the inquiry. Now , in such a state of the question, it will be obvious that every word which has retained to our own times the orthography bestowed upon it by the Anglo - Saxons, must during the intervening periods have preserved in the enunciation a general similarity of sound ; and that however differently it may be written, or whatever additional letters or variations of them may have been conferred upon it by transcribers, there could have been only one legitimate form of its orthography. The changes introduced could only have been caused by an attempt to re concile the orthography with the sounds emitted in delivery ; and ought not to be considered as in any degree indicative of a fluctuation in the mode of pronouncing them . In another numerous class of words, it is equally clear that a change of orthography from the Anglo- Saxon forms has arisen solely from the abolition of the accentual marks which distinguished the long and short syllables. As a substitute for the former, the Norman scribes, or at least the disciples of the Norman school of writing, had recourse to the analogy which governed the French language; and to avoid the confusion which would have sprung from observing the same form in writing a certain number of letters differently enounced and bearing a dif ferent meaning, they elongated the word, or attached as it were an accent instead of superscribing it. From hence has emanated an extensive list of terms, having final e's and du plicate consonants ; and which were no more the representa VOL. I. h ( 114) EDITOR'S PREFAC E. 119tives of additional syllables, than the acute or grave accent in the Greek language is a mark of metrical quantity 180. Of those variations which arose from elision, a change in the enunciation, or from the adoption of a new combination of letters for the same sound, it is impossible to speak briefly ; and a diligent comparison of our early texts, and a clear understanding of the analogies which have prevailed in the constitution of words, can alone enable us to speak decisively. But with this knowledge before us of the real state of the question, it is high time to relieve ourselves of the arbitrary restrictions imposed by a critic wholly ignorant of the first principles by which language is regulated ; whose acquaintance with the fountain head of “ English undefiled ” induced him to call it " a meagre and barren jargon which was incapable of discharging its functions,” ( though possessing all the natural copiousness and plastic power of the Greek) ; and whose love for the lore itself seems rather to have arisen from a blind admiration of those barbaric innovations which make it re pulsive to the scholar and the man of taste, than from any feeling of the excellencies that adorn it 18. The trammels of the Ritsonian school can only perpetuate error, by justifying the preconceived notions of “ confusion and anomalies, ” from the very documents that ought to contain a refutation of such opinions; and we can never hope to obtain a legitimate series of specimens, duly illustrating the rise and progress of the language, till we recur to the same principles in establishing 1 I .1180 The converse of this can only be deceive'd and impose'd upon ; the plea maintained , under an assumption that sure they receive is derive'dfrom the idea the Anglo - Saxon words of one syllable of antiquity , which in fact is perfect multiplied their numbers after the con- illusion !” There is no parrying an ob quest, and in some succeeding century jection of this kind, which , forcible as subsided into their primitive simplicity. it may be, is not quite original. It is 181 Mr. Ritson has thus spoken of the language of that worthy gentleman Dr. Percy's corrections of the Reliques M. la Rancune in the Roman Comi of English Poetry : “ The purchaseërs que, troisieme partie, c. 9. and perusoërs of such a collection are EDITOR'S PREFA C E. ( 115) our texts that have been observed by every editor of a Greek or Roman classic. With such a system for our guide, we may expect to see the natural order which prevailed in the enunci ation of the language, restored to the pages recording it ; and an effectual check imposed upon the “ multiplying spawn” of reprints, which, in addition to all the errors preserved in the first impression from the manuscript, uniformly present us with the further mistakes of the typographer. Whether such a principle was felt by Warton, in the substitution he has made of more recent forms in his text, for the unsettled ortho graphy of his manuscripts, must now be a fruitless inquiry ; but we shall have no difficulty in convincing ourselves, that his specimens would have been more intelligible to the age in which they were written , if enounced by a modern, than the transcripts of Mr. Ritson with all their scrupulous fidelity. The glossarial notes of Warton form so small a portion of his labours, that they would not have required a distinct enu meration, had they not been made the subject of Mr. Ritson's animadversion . That they constituted no essential part of his undertaking, that his general views of our early poetry, and his opinions upon the respective merits of our poets, would have been as accurate and perspicuous without subjoin ing a single glossarial illustration, or failing to thrice the ex tent in which he has committed himself, will be felt by any liberal critic who will take the trouble of examining how few of Warton's positions are affected by these deficiencies. The amount of obsolete terms in any early writer, bears so small a proportion to the general mass of his matter, that his genius might be appretiated , and his excellencies pourtrayed, by a person unable to refer to a single gloss on the text. The assistance thus acquired may develop particular beauties, or give a firmer comprehension of their effect; but the poetry which depends for its merit upon the felicity of single phrases, h 2 ( 116) EDITOR'S PREFAC E. whose import is only to be gathered from isolated terms, can scarcely suffer by our want of ability to detect its disjointed meaning. For every purpose of an historian, Warton's skill in glossography was certainly sufficient ; and, if not co -extensive with the vaunted acquirements 12 of his opponent, it will hardly rank him lower in the scale of such attainments than the place allotted his adversary. There are few men at the present day who have given their attention to this subject, that will think otherwise than lightly of the “ utmost care observed in the glossary ” to the Metrical Romances ; and no one who has advanced to any proficiency in the study, who will not readily acknowledge the easy nature of such labours, how little of success is to be considered as the result of mental energy , the effort of genius rather than passive industry. It now only remains to give an account of the plan upon which the present edition has been conducted. The text of Warton has been scrupulously preserved with the exception of a few unimportant corrections, of which notice is given by the interpolations being printed within brackets. The speci mens of early poetry have been either collated with MSS. in the British Museum , or copied from editions of acknow ledged fidelity s4 ; and the glossarial notes corrected wherever 182 Whenever Mr. Ritson felt dis- knight no compliment in the question posed to read a lecture on glossography, he asks : “ Is he aught,” says he, “ but Mr. Ellis was usually summoned be- a wretch ' (or begerly rascal ?) What fore the magisterial chair. The fol- does anyone care for him ?" Nowsimple lowing amusing specimen may be cited as this passage may be, Mr. Ritson has by way of example : contrived to “ misconceive ” it in two Than seyde the boy, Nys he but a places: first by affixing a note of in wrecche ? terrogation to wrecche ; and secondly What thar any man of hym recche ? by overlooking the verb “ thar ” (need ). This obsolete term occurs frequently Mister Ellis hath strangely miscon- in Mr. Ritson's volumes, but finds no ceived this simple passage; supposeing place in his glossary , awreche as it is there printed ( i. e. 188 Mr. Park's collations of the Ox in Ways Fabliaux) to be oneword and ford MSS. will be found at the end of the meaning “ He is not without his the respective volumes containing War revenge (i. e . compensation ) whatever ton's transcripts. any man may think of him. " . The boy 184 The section on the Rowleian con however manifestly intends our seedy troversy forms an exception. It was EDITOR'S PRE E A CE. ( 117) the editor's ability was equal to the task . " But less attention has been directed to this latter subject than would otherwise have been bestowed upon it, from an intention long entertained of giving a general glossary to the whole work, which should embrace Warton's numerous omissions. The additional notes are such as appeared necessary, either for illustration or emendation of the subjects noticed : but the editor was early taught that the former would comprise a small part of his duties, since, however lavish Warton may appear in the com munication of his matter, it will be obvious to any one who will trace him through his authorities, that he has been par simonious rather than prodigal in the use of his resources. With such a hint, it was therefore considered incumbent to give no additional illustration which could by possibility have been within his knowledge. To the First Dissertation such notes have been added as could be conveniently introduced without interfering with Warton's theory ; the second is so complete in itself, that the editor has been unable to detect in the more recent labours of Eichhorn , Heeren , Turner and Berrington, anyomission which may not be considered as in tentional. The third relates to a subject of which Warton has rather uncovered the surface than explored the depths, and which , notwithstanding the subsequent and important labours of Mr. Douce, still awaits afurther investigation. In this edition, however, it has been made to follow those originally prefixed by Warton to his first volume, from a conviction that it will be found equally useful in preparing the reader's mind for the topics discussed in the succeeding pages. But though thus compelled to speak of his own labours as originally intended to throw this chapter they were gathered at the time from into an appendix ; but a new division periodical publications), that the reader of the volumes brought it to the close of interested in the subject might form an the second. It has been faithfully re- estimate of the state of the question printed from Warton's text with all the when Warton pronounced his deci inaccuracies of the first transcripts (as sion. ( 118 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. first in the order of time, and with reference to the disposition of the work, the editor has the pleasing task of communicating that the most important contributions to these volumes have flowed from other sources. Nearly the whole of Warton's first and second volume had been sent to the press when the publisher acquired by purchase the papers of Mr. Park, a gentleman whose general acquaintance with early English literature is too well known to need remark, and whose atten tion for many years has been directed to an improved edition of the History of English Poetry. Among the accessions thus obtained were found some valuable remarks by Mr. Ritson, Mr. Douce, and an extract of every thing worthy of notice in the copious notes of Dr. Ashby 185, and an extensive body of illustrations either collected or written by Mr. Park, of which it would be presumption in a person so little qualified as their present editor to offer an opinion. To have incorporated this newly acquired matter in the respective pages to which it refers was found impossible, without cancelling nearly the whole im pression , and it has therefore been subjoined in the shape of additional notes at the close ofeach volume. Fortunately, how ever, the greater share of Mr. Park's commentary was directed to the contents of Warton's Third Volume, and was conse quently obtained in time to be inserted beneath the original text. For this portion of the edition, indeed, Mr. Park may be con sidered responsible, as the editor's notes were withdrawn wherever they touched upon a common subject, and those remaining are too few to need any specific mention . It would have been more agreeable if such an opportunity had presented itself in an earlier stage of the work ; buthowever much might have been gained by having the same information communi cated in a more pleasing form , this was not thought sufficient 185 The papers of Dr. Ashby were found to contain anything of conse also purchased at the same time ( at quence which had not been previously no small expense) ; but they were not used by Mr. Park. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 119) n re Es e a h On S 1, CE of to countervail the objection that might have been brought against the work for its extensive repetitions. Wherever therefore Mr. Park's remarks on the previous volumes referred to a common subject without supplying any further illustration of it, they have been suppressed : but this, with the exception of a few animadversions of a sectarian tendency, and one or two notes copied from other writers, and obviously inaccurate, forms the whole that has been withdrawn from the public eye. In the progress of his duties, a variety of subjects presented themselves to the editor's mind, as requiring some further illustration than could be lawfully comprised within the limits of a note ; and under this impression he more than once ventured to promise a further discussion of the points at issue, in some subsequent part of the work . But the mate rials connected with these topics have so grown under his hands, that he has been compelled to relinquish the intention, and to reserve for a separate and future undertaking the in quiries to which they relate. The promised account of the distinctions of dialect in the Anglo - Saxon language, and the state of their poetry186, has been in part withheld for the same reasons ; and partly from a knowledge subsequently obtained that the subject was in much better hands. A volume con taining numerous specimens of Anglo - Saxon and Anglo Norman poetry, with translations and illustrations, by the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, is on the eve of publication. h CU IS TS 1 of d i 2 Note omitted at p. ( 96.) 1. 13. For the same reason (want ofspace) it has been found necessary 186 The Anglo- Saxon ode given at read “ werig and wiges sæd, " weary, and p. lxxxvii. will be considered a substi- sad of (on account of, the) war, the tute perhaps for this omission . One of present difficulty vanishes, and the ex the obscurities inthat poem may be re- pression may be justified bythe “ hilde moved by a slight emendation of the sædne ” of Beowulf, ed . Thorkelin , text. If for “ werig wiges sæd,” we p. 202. ( 120 ) EDITOR'S PREFACE. DOTEhyVET to omit any examination of the general style of the romantic tale, and the tone and colouring of its events, as compared with similar productions of the ancient world . The latter indeed are only preserved to us in the meagre notices of the gramma rians; but even these inadequate memorials contain the traces ofall those lineaments which have been supposed to confer an original character upon the poetry of modern Europe. The same love of adventure, of heroic enterprise, and gallant daring; the same fondness for extraordinary incident and marvellous agency obtrudes itself at every step : and to take one example out of many, the Life of Perseus might be made to pass for the outline of an old romance or the story of a genuine chevalier preux . Let the reader only remember the illegitimate but royal descent of this hero, his exposure to almost certain death in infancy, his providential escape, the hospitality of Dictys, the criminal artifices of Polydectes, the gallant vow by which the unsuspecting stranger hopes to lessen his obligation to the royal house of Seriphus, the consequences of that vow , the aid he receives from a god and goddess, the stratagem by which he gains a power over the monstrous daughter of Phorcys -- who alone can instruct him in the road which leads to the dwelling of the Nymphs— the gifts conferred upon him by the latter, the magic scrip (which is to conceal the Gorgon's head without undergoing petrifaction ), the winged sandals (which are to transport him through the air ), the helmet of Pluto (which is to render him invisible ), the sword of Mercury, or according to other traditions of Vulcan, and the assistance given him by Minerva in his encounter with the terrific object of his pursuit, -let. the reader only re call these circumstances to his memory, and he will instantly recognise the common details of early European romance. Again : his punishment of the inhospitable and wily Atlas, the rescue of Andromeda, and the slaughter of the monster CE1 EDITOR's P R E FACE. ( 121 ) up the suc about to devour her ; the rivalry and defeat of Phineus, the delivery of Danaë from the lust of Polydectes, and the ulti mate succession of Perseus to the throne of Argos, which he forgoes that he may become the founder of another kingdom , -only complete the train of events, which make cessful course of a modern hero's adventures. A mere change of names and places, with the substitution of a dwarf for Mercury, and a fairy for Minerva, of a giantess for the Phor cydes, of a mild enchantress for the Nymphs, a magician for Atlas, and the terrific flash of the hero's eyes for the petrifying power of Medusa's head - an Icelandic romance would say “at hafa ægishialmr i augom ,” - with a due admixture of all the pageantry of feudal manners, would give us a romance which, for variety of incident and the prolific use of supernatural agency, might vie with any popular production of the middle age. The extraordinary properties of the sandals and helmet have already been shown to occupy a conspicuous rank among the wonders of modern romance ; the sword of Mercury was called Harpé, as that of Arthur was named Excalibor; while to prove the affinity of this singular story with the genuine elements of popular fiction , all its incidents are to be found in the life of the Northern Sigurdr, or the Neapolitan tale of Lo Dragone. ( Pentamerone Giorn . iv . Nov. 35.) There is another point connected with the present subject, upon which a similar silence has been observed , and found exclusively in modern romance , -- the tone of chivalric devotion to the commands and wishes of the softer sex , and the general spirit of gallantry, which without the influence of passion acknowledged their rights and privileges. On a future occa sion it will be shown, that in considering this question, the expressions of Tacitus in his Germany have been too literally interpreted. There is little in this valuable tract, relative to the female sex , which does not find a parallel in the institu ( 122) EDITOR'S PREF A C E. tions of other nations of the ancient world, wherever we find a notice of them , under a similar degree of civilization . The respect paid to female inspiration ought not to receive a more enlarged acceptation than is given to the remark of Pytha goras: “ He farther observed , that the inventor of names.... perceiving the genus of women is most adapted to piety, gave to each of their ages the appellation of some Deity. In con formity to which also, the oracles in Dodona and at Delphi are unfolded into light by a woman . ” ( Iamb. Life of Pytha goras, c. xi. Taylor's Transl.) Indeed the customs of the Doric States have been wholly overlooked in settling this ques tion , and the Attic or Ionic system of seclusion taken for the general practice of all Greece. Is there any thing in Tacitus more decidedly in favour of female rights, than the apo phthegm of Gorgo preserved by Plutarch ( and quoted from memory )? “ Of all your sex in Greece,” said a stranger, “ you Lacedæmonian women alone govern the men . ” “ True," replied Gorgo; “ but then we alone are the mothers of men .” The elder Cato met a similar charge by observing: “ Omnes homines mulieribus imperant, nos omnibus hominibus, nobis mulieres. ” But here again it was insufficient to check those results so mournfully pourtrayed by Tacitus in his Annals and his History. If, however, this feeling were of Northern or Germanic origin , we might naturally expect that it would be most apparent among those nations who were last converted to Christianity, and who are known to have pre served so many of their ancient opinions. Now Mr. Müller, who has just risen from the perusal of all the Northern Sagas, assures us, that there is no trace of romantic gallantry in any of these productions: and it is clear from his analysis of many, that the Scandinavian women in early times were cuffed and buffeted with as little compunction as Amroo and Morfri castigate Ibla. ( See Antar. i . 334. ii . 71. ) We might with equal EDITOR'S PREFACE. ( 123 ) d e as ie propriety attempt to trace to the forests of Germany all the subtleties of the scholastic philosophy (and which arose in the sameage the courts of Love), as to claim for their inhabitants that reverence and adoration of the female sex which has descended to our own times. This deference to female rights and the establishment of an equality between the sexes have in their origin been wholly independent of love as a passion, ( whose language in all ages and among all nations has been the same,) and are manifestly the offspring of that dispensa tion, which has purified religion of every sensual rite, and which, by spiritualizing all our hopes and wishes of a future existence, has shed the same refining influence on our present institutions : “ L'amour de Dieu et des dames was not a mere form . le So le IS 7 u 1 11

3

CONTENTS.

VOL. I. ! Author's Preface ... EDITOR'S Preface , Page. ( 3 ) ( 11 ) DISSERTATION I. Of the Origin of Romantic Fiction in Europe i Note by the Editor on the Lais of Marie de France Ixxiv Note by the Editor on the Saxon Ode on the Victory of Athelstan ... lxxxyii DISSERTATION II. On the Introduction of Learning into England.... ciii DISSERTATION III . On the Gesta Romanorum ... clxxvii THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY. SECTION I. State of Language. Prevalence of the French language before and after the Norman conquest. Specimens of Norman - Saxon poems. Legends in verse . Earliest love - song. Alexandrine Satirical pieces. First English metrical romance .. verses . 1 SECTION II . Satirical ballad in the thirteenth century. The king's poet. Ro bert of Gloucester. Antient political ballads. Robert of Brunne. The Brut of England. Le Roman le Rou. Gests CONTENTS. Page. and jestours. Erceldoune and Kendale . Bishop Grosthead. Monks write for the Minstrels. Monastic libraries full of ro mances. Minstrels admitted into the monasteries. Regnorum Chronica and Mirabilia Mundi . Early European travellers into the East. Elegy on Edward the First 47 SECTION III . Effects of the increase of tales of chivalry. Rise of chivalry. Crusades. Rise and improvements of Romance . View of the rise of metrical romances. Their currency about the end of the thirteenth century. French minstrels in England. Pro- . vencial poets. Popular romances. Dares Phrygius. Guido de Colonna. Fabulous histories of Alexander. Pilpay's Fables. Roman d'Alexandre , Alexandrines. Communications between the French and English minstrels. Use of the Provencial writers . Two sorts of troubadours 111 Section IV. Examination and specimens of the metrical romance of Richard the First. Greek fire . Military machines used in the cru sades. Musical instruments of the Saracen armies. Ignorance of geography in the dark ages .. 162 Note by the Editor on the Romance of Sir Tristram . ( see p. 78 .] .... .. 181 THREE DISSERTATIONS : 1 . OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. 2. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. 3. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. 1 OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE.

DISSERTATION I.

THAT peculiar and arbitrary species of Fiction which we commonly call Romantic, was entirely unknown to the writers of Greece and Rome *. It appears to have been imported into Europe by a people, whose modes of thinking, and habits of invention, are not natural to that country. It is generally sup posed to have been borrowed from the Arabianst. But this

1. * [“ It cannot be true, ” says Ritson, of learning in the middle ages ( says Gib .

" that romance was entirely unknown to bon, Decline and Fall,) are illustrated by the writers of Greece and Rome ; since, Mr. Thomas Warton with the taste of a without considering the Iliad, Odyssey, poet, and the minute diligence of an an Æneid, &c. in that point of view , we tiquarian. I have derived much instruc havemany ancient compositions, which tion from the two learned dissertations clearly fall within that denomination : prefixed to the first volume ofhis History as the pastoral of Daphnis and Chloe by of English Poetry.” — Park .] Longus; the Æthiopicksof Heliodorus; [ This is amere cavil of Mr. Ritson's, Xenophon's Ephesian History ,” &c. &c. who could not believe a scholar of War (MS. note in Dr. Raine's copy of War- ton's attainments to have been unac ton's History, purchased from Ritson's quainted with these erotic novels. Se library .) To these recollections, Mr. veral of them are mentioned in vol. ii. Douce has added the romance of Apu- p. 183. In the dissertation on Romance leius ; the loves of Clitophon and Leu- and Minstrelsy ,Warton is even reproach cippe, by Achilles Tatius; and the very ed for describing another — the loves of curious Adventures of Rhodanes and Clitophon and Leucippe as a “ poeti Sinonis, or the Babylonic Romance, of cal novel of Greece. ” In fact, it is ma which anepitome is preserved by Photius nifest from this expression, thatWarton in his Bibliotheca, Cod. xciv . “ This , ” chose to exclude this and similar pro says Mr. D. , “ is perhaps the oldest ductions from the title of romantic fic work of the kind, being composed by tions. - Enir. ] one Iamblicus, who lived under Marcus + [ See Huet Traité de l'Origine des Aurelius. Romans, who has discussed this opinion “ The progress ofromanceand the state at large.-Douce. ] VOL. 1 . a ii DISSERTATION I. 1origin has not been hitherto perhaps examined or ascertained with a sufficient degree of accuracy. It is my present design, by a more distinct and extended inquiry than has yet been ap plied to the subject, to trace the manner and the period of its introduction into the popular belief, the oral poetry, and the literature, of the Europeans.

It is an established maxim of modern criticism, that the fictions of Arabian imagination were communicated to the western world by means of the Crusades. Undoubtedly those expeditions greatly contributed to propagate this mode of fabling in Europe. But it is evident, (although a circumstance which certainly makes no material difference as to the principles here established,) that these fancies were introduced at a much earlier period. The Saracens, or Arabians, having been for some time seated on the northern coasts of Africa, entered Spain about the beginning of the eighth centurya. Of this country they soon effected a complete conquest : and imposing their religion, language, and customs, upon the inhabitants, erected a royal seat in the capital city of Cordova. That by means of this establishment they first revived the sciences of Greece in Europe, will be proved at large in an other placeb : and it is obvious to conclude, that at the same time they disseminated those extravagant inventions which were so peculiar to their romantic and creative genius. ' A manu script cited by Du Cange acquaints us, that the Spaniards, soon after the irruption of the Saracens, entirely neglected the study of the Latin language ; and, captivated with the novelty of the oriental books imported by these strangers, suddenly adopted an unusual pomp of style, and an affected elevation of

• F는

a See ALMAKIN , edit. Erpenius, p. 72. J. C. Murphy.) “ But there is evidence,

• [ The conquest of Spain by the Ara- though not the most satisfactory, ” says bians becomes one of the most curious Mr. Douce, “ that the fabulous stories of and importantevents recorded inhistory, Arthur and his Knights existed either when it is considered as having in a great among the French or English Britons,

degree contributed to the progress ofci- before theconquest of Spain by the Ara vilization in Europe, and to the diffusion bians." - PARK .] of science and art. ( See this illustrated o See the second Dissertation , in the Arabian Antiquities of Spain , by OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . iii I, To s ne i ch re lle . 20 diction . The ideal tales of these Eastern invaders, recom mended by a brilliancy of description , a variety of imagery, and an exuberance of invention, hitherto unknown and unfamiliar to the cold and barren conceptions of a western climate, were eagerly caught up, and universally diffused . From Spain , by the communications of a constant commercial intercourse through the ports of Toulon and Marseilles, they soon passed into France and Italy *. In France, no province, or district, seems to have given these fictions of the Arabians a more welcome or a more early reception, than the inhabitants of Armoricat or Basse - Bre tagne, now Britany £; for no part of France can boast so great a number of antient romances . Many poems of high anti quity, composed by the Armorican bards, still remaind, and " Arabico eloquio sublimati,” &c. p. 332. In his Dissertation on Romance Du Cang. Gloss. Med. Inf. Latinitat. and Minstrelsy ( p, xxiv . ) Ritson ' adds tom . i. Præf. p. xxvii. $ . 31 . two other Armoric poems to the predic * ( Ritson avers, that there is not one tions of Gwinglaff, viz. the life of Gwe single French romance now extant, and nolé, abbot of Landevenec, one of their butone mentioned by any ancient writer, fabulous saints; and a little dramatic which existed before the first Crusade, piece on the taking of Jerusalem . Thus, under Godfrey earl of Bologne, after. our doughty critic, from being too po ward king of Jerusalem , in 1097.- sitive and too peremptory, had cause to Park ] correct his own hallucinations as well as + [ From Ar y -mór ucha', i. e. on the those of others. -Park. ] upper sea . See Jones's Relicks of the • The reason on whichthis conclusion Welsh Bards. Park . ] is founded, will appearhereafter. [“ It is # [" The lays of this country,” says Rit- difficult ,” says Mr. Douce, “ to conceive, son , “ were anciently very celebrated, al- that the people of Britany could have though not one, nor even the smallest been influenced by the Arabians at any vestige of one, in its vernacular language period .” - Park. ] (a dialect of the Britanno-Celtic) is d In the British Museum is a set of known to exist. The Bretons havebut old French tales of chivalry in verse , one single poem, of any consequence, in written , as it seems, by the bards of Bre their native idiom , ancient or modern : tagne. MSS. Harl. 978. 107. the predictions of a pretended prophet, ( These tales were not written by the named Gwinglaff, the MS. whereof is bards of Bretagne, but by a poetess of dated 1450.” Notes to Metric. Rom. iii. the name of Marie de France , of whom 329. Ritson afterwards expresses his nothing is known. In one of these lais belief, that by Bretagne and Bretons she names herself, and says that most of were meant the islandand inhabitants of her tales are borrowed from the old Bri Great Britain . At the same time, it tish lais. The scenes of several of these does not (he thinks) appear, that any stories are laid in Bretagne, whichappears such lays are preserved in Wales any sometimes to mean Brittany in France, more than in Basse- Bretagne, if, in fact, and sometimesGreat Britain ' .-- Douce.] they ever existed in either country. Ibid. [ Marie is not mentioned in Le Grand's 1. me re See Note B. at the end of this Dissertation . a 2 iv DISSERTATION 1 . are frequently cited by Father Lobineau in his learned history of Basse-Bretagne. This territory was, as it were, newly peopled in the fourth century by a colony or army of the Welsh, who migrated thither under the conduct of Maximus, a Roman 1verses . catalogue, though he has modernised Under LAUNVAL, f. 154. b . and published her Fables in French, from En Bretun l’apelent Lanval. king Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of Under GUIGEMAR, f. 141 . Æsop. That she had written lays seems not to have been known to him. M. de La caumbre ert paiņte tut entur ; la Rue has given a list of her lays in Venus le dieuesse d'amur, Archæol. xiii. 42. They are twelve in Fu tres bien mis en la peinture , number, and one of them contains 1184 Les traiz mustrez è la nature, She also wrote a history or tale Cument hum deit amur tenir , in French verse, of St. Patrick's Pur.. E léalment è bien servir. gatory, two copies of which are in the Le livre Ovide ù il ensegne, &c. British Museum. This was early trans This description of a chamber painted lated into English under the title of with Venus and the three mysteries of Owayne Miles(Sir Owen). Mr. Ellis, nature, and the allusion to Ovid, prove in his Specimens of early English me- the tales before us to be of no very high trical Romances, has introduced an abs- antiquity. But they are undoubtedly tract or analysis of the lays of Marie, taken from others much older, of the which he informs us that Ritson either samecountry. neglected to read , or was unable to un derstand; since he denied their Armo- totally misunderstood these lines, in [ Mr. Douce observes that Warton has rican origin . See his observations, vol.i. which there isnothing about the myste p . 137. Mr. Way published an elegant ries of nature ; and they mean no more version of the first of these lays (Guige- than that the chamber exhibited the de mar ) in his Fabliaux ; and Mr. Ellis scription and mannerhow aman should printed an early translation of the third fall in love, & c. Mustrez is put for mon ( Lai le Fresne) from the Auchinleck MS. tre .-Park. ] in his Romance Specimens. - PARK. ] At the end of Eliduc's tale we have «« Tristram a WALES” is mentioned, these lines. f. 181 . f. 171. b. Del aventure de ces treis, Tristram ki bien saveit HARPEIR. Li auncien BRETUN curteis In the adventure of the knight Eli- Firent le lai pour remembrer DUC , f. 172. b . Que hum nel’ deust pas oublier. En Bretaine ot un chevalier (EQUITAN ?] Pruz, è curteis, hardi, è fier. And under the tale of FRESNE, f. 148 , Again , under the samechampion, f. 173. Li BRETUN en firent un lai. Il tient sun chemin tut avant. At the conclusion of most of the tales it A la mer vient, si est passez, is said that these Lars were made by the En Toteneis est arrivez ; poets of Bretaigne. Another of the tales Plusurs réis ot en la tere , is thus closed, f. 146. Entr'eus eurent estrif èguere, De cest conte k'oï avez Vers Excestre en cel pais.com Fu Gugemer le LÀI trovez TOTENEIS is Totness in Devonshire. Qui hum dist en harpe è en rote Bone en est a oïr la note. Under the knight Milun, f. 166. € HISTOIRE DE BRETAGNE, ii. tom . fol. Milun fu de Suthwales nez . [ Mr. Ritson says he repeatedly, but un He is celebratedfor his exploits in Ire- successfully, examinedLobineaufor these land, Norway, Gothland, Lotharingia, citations, and thatMr. Doucehad equally Albany, &c. failed in discovering them . Edit.] OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. V general in Britain ', and Conau lord of Meiriadoc or Denbigh lands. The Armoric language now spoken in Britany is a dialect of the Welsh : and so strong a resemblance still sub sists between the two languages, that in our late conquest of Belleisle ( 1756), such of our soldiers as were natives of Wales were understood by the peasantry *. Milton, whose imagina tion was much struck with the old British story, more than once alludes to the Welsh colony planted in Armorica by Maximus, and the prince of Meiriadoc. Et tandem ARMoRicos Britonum sub lege colonos h. And in the PARADISE Lost he mentions indiscriminately the knights of Wales and Armorica, as the customary retinue of king Arthur. What resounds In fable or romance, of Uther's son Begirt with BRITISH and Armoric knights. This migration of the Welsh into Britany or Armorica, which during the distractions of the empire, (in consequence of the numerous armies of barbarians with which Rome was surrounded on every side,) had thrown off its dependence on the Romans, seems to have occasioned a close connexion be tween the two countries for many centuriesk. Nor will it prove f Maximus appears to have set up a Compare Borlase, Antiq. Cornwall, separate interest in Britain , and to have b. i . ch. 10. p. 40. engaged an army of the provincial Bri- * [ Mr. Ellisfurther observes, that the tons on his side against the Romans. Sclavonian sailors, employed on' board Not succeeding in his designs, he was of Venetian ships in the Russian trade, obliged to retire with his Britishtroops never fail to recognise a kindred dialect to the continent, as in the text. He had on their arrival at St. Petersburg. Hi a considerable interest in Wales, having storical Sketch of the Rise and Progress married Ellena daughter of Eudda, å of the English Poetry and Language, powerful chieftain of North Wales. She i. 8. Park.] was born at Caernarvon, where her cha h Mansus. pel is still shown. Mon. Antiq. p. 166. i Parad . L. i. 579. Compare Pellou tier, Mem. sur la Langue Celt. fol. See Hist. de Bretagne, par d’Ar- tom . i. 19. gentre, p. 2. Powel's WALES, p. 1 , 2. * This secession of the Welsh , at so seq. and p. 6. edit. 1584. Lhuyd's Ety- critical a period, was extremely natural, mol. p.32. col. 3. And Galfrid. Mon. into a neighbouring maritime country, Hist. Brit . lib . v. c. 12. vii. 3. ix. 2. with which they had constantly traffick . seg . vi DISSERTATION I. less necessary to our purpose. to observe, that the Cornish Britons, whose language was another dialect of the antient British , from the fourth or fifth century downwards, main tained a no less intimate correspondence with the natives of Armorica : intermarrying with them, and perpétually resorting thither for the education of their children , for advice, for pro curing troops against the Saxons, for the purposes of traffick , and various other occasions. This connexion was so strongly kept up, that an ingenious French antiquary supposes, that the communications of the Armoricans with the Cornish had chiefly contributed to give a roughness or rather hardness to the romance or French language in some of the provinces, to wards the eleventh century, which was not before discernible ?. And this intercourse will appear more natural, if we consider, that not only Armorica *, a maritime province of Gaul, never much frequented by the Romans, and now totally deserted by them , was still in some measure a Celtic nation ; but that also the inhabitants of Cornwall, together with those of Devonshire and of the adjoining parts of Somersetshire, intermixing in a ed , and which, like themselves, had dis . Jesus College, Oxford; but these trans claimed the Roman yoke. lations being moredistinguished by their ( That the British soldiers, enrolledby elegance than fidelity, the learned Mr. Maximus, wandered into Armorica after Owen produced a literal version of the his death, and new named it, seems to Heroic Elegies, and other pieces ofthis be unfounded. I cannot avoid agreeing prince of the Cambrian Britons, which with Du Bos, that quant aux tems ou la was published with the original text in peuplade des Britonsinsulaires s'est éta- 1792. It comprises the poem mention blie dans les Gaules, it was not before the ed by Mr. Warton, which is marked by year 513. Hist. Crit. ii . 470. – TURNER.] many poetic and pathetic passages. Lly It is not related in any Greek or Ro- warc flourished from about A.D. 520 to man historian . But their silence is by 630 , at the period of Arthur and Cad no means a sufficient warrant for us to wallon . See Owen's Cambrian Bio reject the numerous testimonies of the graphy. - Park.] old British writersconcerning this event. M. l'Abbé Lebeuf. RECHERCHES, It is mentioned , in particular, by Lly- & c . Mem . de Litt. tom. xvii. p. 718. warc hen, a famous bard, who lived only edit. 4to. “ Je pense que cela dura one hundred and fifty years afterwards. jusqu'à ce que le commercede ces pro Many of his poems are still extant, in vinces avec les peuples du Nord, et de which he celebrates his twenty- four sons l'Allemagne, et sur TOUT celui des HA who wore gold chains, and were all kill- BITANS DE L'ARMORIQUEAVEC L'ANGLOIS, ed in battles against the Saxons. vers l'onzieme siecle," & c . [ Eight of the Elegies of Llywarc- Hen ,' * [ Armorica was the north -west cor or Llywarc the Aged, were selected and ner of Gaul, included between the Loire, translated by Richard Thomas, A.B. of the Seine, and the Atlantic.PARK.) 14 OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. vii very slight degree with the Romans, and having suffered fewer important alterations in their original constitution and customs from the imperial laws and police than any other province of this island, long preserved their genuine manners and British character: and forming a sort of separate principality under the government of a succession of powerful chieftains, usually denominated princes or dukes of Cornwall, remained partly in a state of independence during the Saxon heptarchy, and were not entirely reduced till the Norman conquest. Cornwall, in particular, retained its old Celtic dialect till the reign of Eli zabeth m. And here I digress a moment to remark , that in the circum stance just mentioned about Wales, of its connexion with Ar morica, we perceive the solution of a difficulty, which at first sight appears extremely problematical: I mean, not only that Wales should have been so constantly made the theatre of the old British chivalry, but that so many of the favourite fictions which occur in the early French romances, should also be lite rally found in the tales and chronicles of the elder Welsh bards ". It was owing to the perpetual communication kept up between the Welsh and the people of Armorica, who abounded in these fictions, and who naturally took occasion to interweave them into the history of their friends and allies. Nor are we now at a loss to give the reason why Cornwall, in the same French romances, is made the scene and the subject of so many romantic adventures '. In the mean time we may observe, See Camd. Brit. i. 44. edit. 1723. And from the same authority I am in . Lhuyd's Arch. p. 253. [ It did not en- formed , that the fiction of the giant's tirely cease to be spoken till of late years, coat composed of the beards of thekings as may be gathered from an account of whom hehad conquered, is related in the the death of an oldCornish woman , in legends of the bards of both countries. the Gentleman's Magazine for 1785.- See Obs. Spens. ut supr. p. 24. seq. Park.] But instances are innumerable,

• The story of LE COURT MANTEL, or ° Hence in the Armorican tales just

the Boy and The Mantle, told by an quoted, mention is made of Totness and old French troubadour cited by M. de Exeter, anciently included in Cornwall. Sainte Palaye, is recorded in many ma- In Chaucer's ROMAỰNT OF THE ROSE we nuscriptWelsh chronicles, as I learn from have “ Hornpipis of Cornewaile," among original letters of Lhuyd in the Ashmo- a great variety of musical instruments. lean Museum . See Mem . Anc. Chev. i . v. 4250. This is literally from the French 119. Aud Obs. Spenser, i. $. ii. p. 54.55. original, v. 3991. ( The Cornwall men viii DISSERTATION 1 . 1(what indeed has been already) implied, that a strict intercourse was upheld between Cornwall and Wales. Their languages, customs, and alliances, as I have hinted, were the same ; and they were separated only by a strait of inconsiderable breadth . Cornwall is frequently styled West- Wales by the British writers. At the invasion of the Saxons, both countries became indiscriminately the receptacle of the fugitive Britons * . We find the Welsh and Cornish, as one people, often uniting them selves as in a national cause against the Saxons. They were frequently subject to the same princep, who sometimes resided in Wales, and sometimes in Cornwall; and the kings or dukes of Cornwall were perpetually sung by the Welsh bards. Llygad Gwr, a Welsh bard, in his sublime and spirited ode to Llwel lyn, son of Grunfludd, the last prince of Wales of the British line, has a wish , “ May the prints of the hoofs of my prince's steed be seen as far as CORNWALL ?. " Traditions about king Arthur, to mention no more instances, are as popular in Corn wall as in Wales: and most of the romantic castles, rocks, rivers, and caves, of both nations, are alike at this day distin guished by some noble atchievement, at least by the name, of that celebrated champion. But to return . About the year 1100, Gualter, archdeacon of Oxford, a learned man, and a diligent collector of histories, travelling through France, procured in Armorica an antient chronicle written in the British or Armorican language, entitled , BRUT - Y BRENHINED, or The HistorY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN '. tioned in the Romance of the Rose was ARMORICA. Borlase, ubi supr. p. 403. more probably the “ Pays de Cornuaille” See also p. 375. 377. 393. And Concil. in France, a name formerly given to a Spelman . tom . i. 9. 112. edit. 1639. fol. part of Bretagne. - Douce.) Stillingfleet's Orig. Brit.ch. 5. p. 344 .

• ( The chronicle of the Abbey of seq. edit. 1688. fol. From CORNUWALLIA ,

Mont St. Michael, gives the year 513 used by the Latin monkish historians, as the period of the flight into Bretagne : came the present name Cornwall. Bor Anno 513 venerunttransmarini Britanni lase, ibid . p. 325. Evans, p. 43. in Armoricam , id est minorem Bri- * In the curious library of the family tanniam . The ancient Saxon poet of Davies at Llanerk in Denbighshire, (apud Duchesne Hist. Franc. Script. there is a copy of this chronicle in the 2. p. 148. ) also peoples Bretagne after handwriting of Guttyn Owen, a cele the Saxon conquest. --TURNER. ] brated Welsh bard and antiquarian about D Who was sometimes chosen from the year 1470, who ascribes itto Tyssilio Walesand Cornwall, and sometimes from a bishop, the son Brockmael 9 OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. ix ise nd th th This book he brought into England, and communicated it to Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh Benedictine monk, an elegant writer of Latin , and admirably skilled in the British tongue. Geoffrey, at the request and recommenda tion of Gualter the archdeacon, translated this British chro nicle into Latins, executing the translation with a tolerable degree of purity and great fidelity, yet not without some me Ve ere Bed kes ad le ish e's ung DIN cks tin z of Yscythroc prince of Powis. Tyssilio barde's BRUTUS JULIUS. Peramb. Kent, indeed wrote a HISTORY OF BRITAIN ; p. 12. See also in the British bards. but that work, as we are assured by And hence Milton's objection is re Lhuyd in the ARCHÆOLOGIA, was en- moved . Hist. Engl. p. 12. There are tirely ecclesiastical, and has been long no FlAMINES or ArchFLAMINES in the since lost. British book . See Usher's Primord . [ The Brut of Tyssilio was published p. 57. Dubl. edit. There are very few in the second volume of the Welsh speeches in the original, and those very Archæology. A translation by the Rev. short. Geoffrey's FULGENIUS is in the P. Roberts has since appeared under , British copy Sulien, which by analogy the title of : A Chronicle of the British in Latin would be JULIANUS. See Mil kings. The first book of Guttyn Owain's ton's Hist. Eng. p. 100. There is no copy being much more ample in its de- Leic in the British ; that king's name tails than the other MSS., was incorpo- was Lleon. Geoffrey's CAERLISLE is in rated by Mr. Roberts in his volume. the British CAERLLEON, or West- Chester. The remaining books appear to contain In the British, LLAW AP CYNFARCH, no material variations. - Edit.] should have been translated Leo, which is . See Galfr. Mon. L. i. c. 1. xii. l . now rendered Loth. This has brought 20. ix. 2. Bale, ii. 65. Thompson's much confusion into the old Scotch Pref. to Geoffrey's Hist. Transl. edit. history. I find no Belinusin the British Lond . 1718. p. xxx. xvi. copy ; the name is Beli, which should Geoffrey confesses, that he took have been in Latin Belius, or Belgius. some part ofhis account ofking Arthur's Geoffrey's Brennus in the original is atchievements from the mouth of his BRAN, a common name among the Bri friend Gualter, the archdeacon ; who tons ; as BranAP DYFNWAL, & c. See probably related to the translator some Suidas's Bgáx. It appears by the original, of the traditions on this subject which that the British name of CARAUSIUS was he had heard in Armorica, or which at CARAWN ; hence TREGARAUN, i . e. TRE that time mighthave been popular in GARON, and the river CARAUN, which Wales. Hist.Brit. Galfr. Mon. lib. xi. gives name to ABERCORN. In the Bri c . i. He also owns that Merlin's pro- tish there is no division into books and phecies were not in the Armorican ori- chapters, a mark of antiquity. Those ginal. Ib. vii. 2. Compare Thompson's whom the translator calls Consuls of Pref. ut supr. p. xxv. xxvii. The Rome, when Brennus took it, are in the speeches and letters were forged by original Twysogion, i. e . princes or Geoffrey ; and in the description of bat- generals. The Gwalenses, Gwalo, or tles, our translator has not scrupled fre- GWALAS, are added by Geoffrey, B. xii. quent variations and additions. ling icle (-1 Ni FOX c. 19.” To what is here observed about I am obliged to aningeniousantiqua- Silius, I will add,that abbot Whetham rian in British literature, Mr. Morris of sted, in his MS. GRANARIUM, mentions Penbryn, for the following curious re- Siloius the father of Brutus. “ Quomodo marks concerning Geoffrey's original Brutus Silou filius adlitora Angliæ and his translation. “ Geoffrey's Syl- venit ,” &c. GRANAR. Part. i. Lit. A. vius, in the British original, is Silius, MSS. Cotton . Nero, C. vi. Brit. Mus. which in Latin would make Julius. This gentleman has in his possession a This illustrates and confirms Lam- very antient manuscript of the original, fol 44 如 山 似 州 山 四 四 正 , 侶 加 眼 的 小 X DISSERTATION : 1 . interpolations. It was probably finished after the year 1138u [ 1128 *]. It is difficult to ascertain exactly the period at which our translator's original romance may probably be supposed to have been compiled. Yet this is a curious speculation, and will illus trate our argument. I am inclined to think that the work con sists of fables thrown out by different rhapsodists at different times, which afterwards were collected and digested into an entire history, and perhaps with new decorations of fancy added by the compiler, who most probably was one of the professed bards, or rather a poetical historian, of Armorica or Basse Bretagne. In this state, and under this form , I suppose it to have fallen into the hands of Geoffrey of Monmouth . If the hypothesis hereafter advanced concerning the particular species of fiction on which this narrative is founded , should be granted , and has been many years preparing ma- that he took some of the materials of his terials for giving an accurate and faithful supplement from the HISTORIA Brito translation of it into English . The ma- NUM , lately translated out of British into nuscript in Jesus college library at Ox- Latin . This was manifestly Geoffrey's ford, which Wynne pretends to be the book. Alfred of Beverly, whoevidently same which Geoffrey himself made use wrote his ANNALES, published by of, is evidently not older than the six- Hearne, between the years 1148 and teenth century. Mr. Price, the Bodleian 1150 [in the year 1129. – TURNER. ), librarian, to whose friendship this work borrowed his account of the British is much indebted, has two copies lately kings from Geoffrey's HISTORIA, whose given him by Mr. Banks, much more words he sometimes literally transcribes. antient and perfect. But there is reason For instance, Alfred , in speaking of to suspect, that most of the British ma- Arthur's keeping Whitsuntide at Caer nuscripts of this history are translations leon, says, that the Historia BRITONUM from Geoffrey's Latin : for Britannia enumerated all the kings who came theyhave BRYTTAEN, which in the ori- thither on Arthur's invitation : and then ginal wouldhave been PRYNAIN. Geof- adds, “ Præter hos non remansit prin. frey's translation, and for obvious rea- ceps alicujus pretii citra Hispaniam qui sons, is a very common manuscript. ad istud edictum non venerit.” Alured. Compare Lhuyd's Arch. p. 265. Bev.Annal. p. 63. edit. Hearne. These u Thompson says, 1128. ubi supr. are Geoffrey's own words ; and so much p. XXX. Geoffrey's age is ascertained his own, that they are one of his addi beyond a doubt, even if other proofs were tions to the British original. But the wanting, from the cotemporaries whom curious reader, who desires a complete he mentions. Such as Robert earl of and critical discussion of this point, may Glocester, natural son of Henry the consult an originalletterofbishop Lloyd, First, and Alexander bishop of Lincoln, preserved among Tanner's manuscripts his patrons; he mentions also William at Oxford, num . 94. of Malmesbury, and Henry of Hunting- ( This letter was printed in Gutch's don ... Wharton places Geoffrey's death “ Collectanea Curiosa ,” and in Owen's in the year 1154. Episc. Assav, p. 306. British Remains, and affords little infor Robert de Monte, who continued Sige- mation worthy of notice . - Douce.) bert's chronicle down to the year 1183, * ( See Mr. Turner's History of En in the preface to that work expressly says, gland, i . p. 457. - Edit .] 1 OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xi it cannot, from what I have already proved, be more antient than the eighth century : and we may reasonably conclude, that it was composed much later, as some considerable length of time must have been necessary for the propagation and esta blishment of that species of fiction. The simple subject of this chronicle, divested of its romantic embellishments, is a deduc tion of the Welsh princes from the Trojan Brutus to Cadwal lader, who reigned in the seventh century. It must be ac knowledged, that many European nations were antiently fond of tracing their descent from Troy. Hunnibaldus Francus, in his Latin history of France, written in the sixth century, be ginning with the Trojan war, and ending with Clovis the First, ascribes the origin of the French nation to Francio a son of Priamw. So universal was this humour, and carried to such an absurd excess of extravagance, that under the reign of Jus tinian , even the Greeks were ambitious of being thought to be descended from the Trojans, their antient and notorious enemies. Unless we adopt the idea of those antiquaries, who contend that Europe was peopled from Phrygia, it will be hard to dis cover at what period, or from what source, so strange and im probable a notion could take its rise, especially among nations unacquainted with history, and overwhelmed in ignorance. The most rational mode of accounting for it, is to suppose, that the revival of Virgil's Eneid about the sixth or seventh century , which represented the Trojans as the founders of Rome, the capital of the supreme pontiff, and a city on various other ac counts in the early ages of christianity highly reverenced and distinguished, occasioned an emulation in many other European nations of claiming an alliance to the same respectable original. This notion of their extraction from arrival in Britain . The archbishop very the Trojans had so infatuated the Welsh; seriously advises them to boast nomore that even so late as the year 1284, arch of their relation to the conquered and bishop Peckham , in his injunctions to fugitive Trojans, but to gloryinthe vic the dioceseof St. Asaph, orders thepeo- torious cross ofChrist. Concil. Wilkins, ple to abstain from giving credit toidle tom . ii. p. 106. edit. 1737. fol. dreams and visions, a superstition which " It is among the SCRIPTORES Rer. they had contracted from their belief in GERMAN. Sim . Schard. tom . i. p. 301. the dream of their founder Brutus, in edit. Basil. 1574. fol. It consists of the temple of Diana, concerning his eighteen books. xii DISSERTATION 1 . The monks and other ecclesiastics, the only readers and writers of the age, were likely to broach, and were interested in pro pagating, such an opinion. As the more barbarous countries of Europe began to be tinctured with literature, there was hardly one of them but fell into the fashion of deducing its original from some of the nations most celebrated in the antient books. Those who did not aspire so high as king Priam, or who found that claim preoccupied, boasted to be descended from some of the generals of Alexander the Great, from Prusias king of Bithynia, from the Greeks or the Egyptians. It is not in the mean time quite improbable, that as most of the Euro pean nations were provincial to the Romans, those who fancied themselves to be of Trojan extraction might have imbibed this notion, at least have acquired a general knowledge of the Trojan story, from their conquerors : more especially the Bri tons, who continued so long under the yoke of Romex. But as to the story of Brutus in particular, Geoffrey's hero, it may be presumed that his legend was not contrived, nor the history of his successors invented, till after the ninth century : for Nennius, who lived about the middle of that century , not only speaks of Brutus with great obscurity and inconsistency, but seems totally uninformed as to every circumstance of the Bri tish affairs which preceded Cesar's invasion. There are other proofs that this piece could not have existed before the ninth century. Alfred's Saxon translation of the Mercian law is mentionedy. Charlemagne's Twelve Peers, and by an ana chronism not uncommon in romance , are said to be present at king Arthur's magnificent coronation in the city of Caerleon 2 . It were easy to produce instances, that this chronicle was un doubtedly framed after the legend of saint Ursula , the acts of saint Lucius, and the historical writings of the venerable Bede, had undergone some degree of circulation in the world. At the same time it contains many passages which incline us to deter mine, that some parts of it at least were written after or about the eleventh century. I will not insist on that passage, in

• See infr. Sect. iii. p . 131 , 132. L. ii. c. 13. 2 L. ix . c. 12.

OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. Xiji which the title of legate of the apostolic see is attributed to Dubricius in the character of primate of Britain ; as it appears for obvious reasons to have been an artful interpolation of the translator, who was an ecclesiastic. But I will select other ar guments. Canute's forest, or Cannock - wood in Staffordshire occurs ; and Canute died in the year 10362. At the ideal co ronation of king Arthur, just mentioned, a tournament is de scribed as exhibited in its highest splendor. “ Many knights,” says our Armoric fabler, “ famous for feats of chivalry, were pre sent, with apparel and arms of the same colour and fashion, They formed a species of diversion, in imitation of a fight on horseback, and the ladies being placed on the walls of the castles, darted amorous glances on the combatants. None of these ladies esteemed any knight worthy of her love, but such as had given proof of his gallantry in three several encounters. Thus the valour of the men encouraged chastity in the women, and the attention of the women proved an incentive to the sol dier's bravery .” Here is the practice of chivalry,ủnder the combined ideasof love and military prowessas they seem to have subsisted after the feudal constitution had acquired greater degrees not only of stability but of splendor and refinement. And although a species of tournament was exhibited in France at the reconciliation of the sons of Lewis the Feeble, in the close of the ninth century, and at the beginning of the tenth, the co ronation of the emperor Henry was solemnized with martial entertainments, in which many parties were introduced fight ing on horseback ; yet it was long afterwards that these games were accompanied with the peculiar formalities, and ceremo nious usages, here described . In the mean time, we cannot Z L. vii . c. 4. Lib. i . See Pitts, p. 122. Bale, x . 21. a L. ix. c. 12. Usser. Primord. p. 17. This subject Pitts mentions an anonymous writer could not have been treated by so early under the name of EREMITA BRITANNUS, a writer. [ “ Why so ,” says Mr. Ashby, who studied history and astronomy, and " if Arthur reigned in 506.?"-PARK ] flourished about the year 720. He wrote, See infr. Sect. iii. p. 111. xii. besides, a book in an unknown language, p. 182, 183. I will here produce, from entitled, Sanctum Graal, De Rege Ar- that learned orientalist M. D'Herbelot, thuro et rebus gestis ejus. Lib. i. De some curious traits of Arabian knight Mensa rotunda et STRENUIS EQUITIBUS, errantry , which the reader may apply tu xiv DISSERTATION I, WO24fac+2 111 answer for the innovations of a translator in such a description . The burial of Hengist, the Saxon chief, who is said to have been interred not after the pagan fashion, as Geoffrey renders the words of the original, but after the manner of the SOLDANS, is partly ' an argument that our romance was composed about the time of the crusades. It was not till those memorable cam paigns of mistaken devotion had infatuated the western world, that the soldans or sultans of Babylon, of Egypt, of Iconium , and other eastern kingdoms, became familiar in Europe. Not that the notion of this piece being written so late as the cru sades in the least invalidates the doctrine delivered in this dis course. Not even if we suppose that Geoffrey of Monmouth was its original composer. That notion rather tends to con firm and establish my system . On the whole we may venture to affirm , that this chronicle, supposed to contain the ideas of the Welsh bards, entirely consists of Arabian inventions. And in this view , no difference is made whether it was compiled about the tenth century, at which time, if not before, the Ara bians from their settlement in Spain must have communicated their romantic fables to other parts of Europe, especially to the French ; or whether it first appeared in the eleventh century, after the crusades had multiplied these fables to an excessive degree, and made them universally popular. And although the general cast of the inventions contained in this romance is alone sufficient to point out the source from whence they were derived, yet I chuse to prove to a demonstration what is here advanced, by producing and examining some particular pas sages. The books of the Arabians and Persians abound with ex travagant traditions about the giants Gog and Magog . These the principles of this Dissertation as he lous feats of armsare reported : that his pleases. life was written in a large volume, “ mais “ BATTHALL._Une homme hardi et qu'elle est toute remplie d'exaggerations vaillant, qui cherche des avantures tels et de menteries. ” Bibi. Oriental. p . 193. qu'etoientles chevaliers errans de_nos a . b. In the royal library at Paris, there anciens Romans." He adds, that Batt- is an Arabian book entitled , “ Scirat al hall, an Arabian, who lived about the Mogiah-edir,” i. e. “ The Lives of the year of Christ, 740, was a warrior of this most valiant Champions." Num . 1079. class, concerning whom many marvel a&S*2Q2 a हैa OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. they call Jagiouge and Magiouge; and the Caucasian wall, said to be built by Alexander the Great from the Caspian to the Black Sea , in order to cover the frontiers of his dominion, and to prevent the incursions of the Scythians , is called by the orientals the WALL of Gog and MAGOG. One of the d Compare M. Petit de la Croix, Hist. once in every week mounted on horse Genghizcan, 1. iv . c. 9. back with ten others on horseback , comes e Herbelot. Bibl. Oriental. p. 157. to this gate, and striking it three times 291. 318. 438. 470. 528. 795. 796. 811, with a hammer weighing five pounds, &c. They call Tartary the land of Ja- and then listening, hears a murmuring giouge and Magiouge. This wall, some noise from within . This noise is sup few fragments of which still remain , they posed to proceed from the Jagiouge and pretendto have been built with all sorts Magiouge confined there. Salam was of metals. See Abulfaraj Hist. Dynast. told that they often appeared on the bat edit. Pococke, p. 62. A. D. 1673. It tlements of the bulwark. He returned wasan old tradition among theTartars, after passing twenty -eight months in this thatthe people ofJagiougeand Magiouge extraordinary expedition. See Mod. were perpetually endeavouring to make Univ . Hist. vol. iv. B. i . § 2. pag. 15, a passage through this fortress ; but that 16, 17. And Ane. vol. xx. pag. 23. they would not succeed in their attempt [ It is by no means improbable that the till the day of judgment. See Hist. mention of Gog and Magog in the Apo Geneal. des Tartars , d'Abulgazi Baha- calypse gave rise to their general notoriety dut Khân, p. 43. About the year 808, both in the East and West. This pro the caliph Al Amin having heard won- phecy must have been applied to the derful reports concerning this wall or Huns under Attila at a very early pe barrier , sent his interpreter Salam , with riod ; for in the Anonymous Chronicle a guard of fifty men, to view it. After of Hungary, published by Schwandtner a dangerousjourney of near two months, ( Scriptor. Rer. Hungar. Tom. I. ) we Salam and his party arrived in a deso- find it making a part of the national his lated country, where they beheld the tory. Attila is there said to be a de ruins of many cities destroyed by the scendant of Magog, theson of Japhet, people of Jagiouge and Magiouge. In (Genesis ch. x. ver. 2.) from whom the six days more they reached the castles Hungarians are also called Moger. This near the mountain Kokaiya or Caucasus. is evidently not the production of the This mountain is inaccessibly steep, per- writer's own imagination, but the simple petually covered with snows and thick record of a tradition, which had obtained clouds, and encompasses the country of a currencyamong his countrymen, and Jagiouge and Magiouge, which is full of which , combined with the subsequenthis cultivated fields and cities. At an open- tory of Almus and Arpad, wears the ар. ing of this mountain the fortress ap- pearance ofbeingextracted from somepo pears : -and travelling forwards, at thedi- etic narrativeof theevents. -EDIT.] Pliny, stance of two stages, they found another speaking of the PortÆ CAUCASIÆ, men mountain , with a ditch cut through it tions, " ingens naturæ opus, montibus one hundred and fifty cubits wide :and interruptisrepente, ubi foresobditæ fer within the aperture an iron gate fifty ratis trabibus,” & c. Nat. Hist, lib . vi. cubits high, supported by vast buttresses, Czar Peter the First, in his expe having an iron bulwark crowned with dition into Persia, had the curiosity to iron turrets, reaching to the summit of survey the ruins of this wall : and some the mountain itself, which is too high to leagues within the mountain he found a be seen . The valves, lintels, threshold, skirt of it which seemed entire, and was þolts, lock and key, are all represented about fifteen feet high. In some other of proportionable magnitude. The go- parts it is still six or seven feet in height. vernor of the castle, above mentioned, It eems at first sightto be built of stone: c. 2. xvi DISSERTATION I. most formidable giants, according to our Armorican romance, which opposed the landing of Brutus in Britain , was Goema got. He was twelve cubits high, and would unroot an oak as easily as an hazel wand : but after a most obstinate encoun ter with Corineus, he was tumbled into the sea from the sum mit of a steep cliff on the rocky shores of Cornwall, and dashed in pieces against the huge crags of the declivity. The place where he fell, adds our historian, taking its name from the giant's fall, is called Lam-GOEMAGOT, or GOEMAGOT's LEAP, to this day. A no less monstrous giant, whom king Arthur slew on Saint Michael's Mount in Cornwall * , is said by this fabler to have come from Spain. Here the origin of these stories is evidently betrayed &. The Arabians, or Saracens, as I have hinted above, had conquered Spain, and were settled there. Arthur having killed this redoubled giant, declares, that he had combated with none of equal strength and prowess, since he overcame the mighty giant Ritho, on the mountain c. 9. 405 . but it consists of petrified earth, sand, tury , reads Goermagog, Mr. Roberts and shells , which compose a substance of has “ little doubt but that the original great solidity. It has been chiefly de . was Cawr- Madog, i. e. the gia or great stroyed by the neighbouring inhabitants, warrior." Beliagog is the name of a for the sake of its materials : and most giant in Sir Tristram . - Edır.) of the adjacent towns and villages are * [ But there is a Saint Michael's built outof its ruins. Bentinck's Notes Mount in Normandy, which is called on Abulgazi, p. 722. Engl. edit. See Tombelaine, and Geoffrey of Monmouth Chardin's Travels,p. 176. And Struys's says the place was called Tumba He Voyage, B. iii . c. 20. p. 226. Olearius's lenæ, to which the combat is said to Travels of the Holstein Ambassad. B. have related.---Douce.] vii . p. 403. Geograph. Nubiens. vi. & L. X. c. 3. And Act. Petropolit. vol. i. p. ( It is very certain that the tales of By the way, this work probably Arthur and his Knights, which have ap preceded the timeof Alexander : it does peared in so many forms, and under the not appear, from the urse of his vic- various titles of the St. Graal, Tristam tories, that he ever came near the Cas- de Leonnois, Lancelot du Lac, &c. , pian gates. The first and fabulous his- were not immediately borrowed from the tory of the eastern nations, will perhaps work of Geoffrey of Monmouth, but be found to begin with the exploits of from his Armoric originals. The St: this Grecian hero. Graal is a work of great antiquity, pro f Lib. i. c. 16. bably of the eighth century. There are [ Mr. Roberts in his extremezeal for Welsh MSS. of it still existing, which, stripping the British History of all its though not very old , were probably co fictions , and every romantic allusion, pied from earlier ones, and are , it is to conceives this name afabrication from be presumed, more genuine copies of the the mint of Geoffrey. The Welsh copies ancient romance, than any other extant, read Gogmagog ; yet as Ponticus Vi- -Douce. ) uni wholived in the fifteenth cen . OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . xvii Arabius, who had made himself a robe of the beards of the kings whom he had killed . This tale is in Spenser's Faerie Queene. A magician brought from Spain is called to the as sistance of Edwin, a prince of Northumberland ", educated under Solomon king of the Armoricans '. In the prophecy of Merlin, delivered to Vortigern after the battle of the dragons, forged perhaps by the translator Geoffrey, yet apparently in the spirit and manner of the rest, we have the Arabians named , and their situations in Spain and Africa . “ From Conau shall come forth a wild boar, whose tusks shall destroy the oaks of the forests of France. The ARABIANS and AFRICANS shall dread him ; and he shall continue his rapid course into the most distant parts of Spaink.” This is king Arthur. Arthur. In the same prophecy, mention is made of the “ Woods of Africa . " In another place Gormund king of the Africans occurs !. In a battle which Arthur fights against the Romans, some of the principal leaders in the Roman army are, Alifantinam king of Spain, Pandrasus king of Egypt, Boccus king of the Medes, Evander king of Syria, Micipsa king of Babylon , and a duke of Phrygiam. It is obvious to suppose how these countries be came so familiar to the bard of our chronicle. The old fictions about Stonehenge were derived from the same inexhaustible source of extravagant imagination. We are told in this ro mance, that the giants conveyed the stones which compose this miraculous monument from the farthest coasts of Africa. Every one of these stones is supposed to be mystical, and to contain a medicinal virtue : an idea drawn from the medical skill of the Arabians ", and more particularly from the Arabian doctrine of attributing healing qualities, and other occult properties, to stonesº. Merlin's transformation of Uther into Gorlois, and 5 The Cumbrian and Northumbrian authentic history was a king ofthe Danes Britons, as powerful opponents of the who infested Englandin the ninth cen Saxons, were stronglyallied to the Welsh tury, and was defeated and baptized by and Cornish . Alfred ." Dissertation on Romance, & c. Lib . xii. c. 1. 4, 5 , 6 . p. 23. - Park.] E Lib . vii . c. 3. m Lib. X. c. 5. 8. 10 : · Lib , xii. 2. xi. 8. 10 . * See infr. p . 11. And vol. ii. p . 214. [“ Gormund," says Mr. Ritson , " in This chronicle was evidently com VOL. I. 0 xviii DISSERTATION I. of Ulfin into Bricel, by the power of some medical prepara tion, is a species of Arabian magic, which professed to work the most wonderful deceptions of this kind, and is mentioned at large hereafter, in tracing the inventions of Chaucer's poetry., The attribution of prophetical language to birds was common among the orientals : and an eagle is supposed to speak at building the walls of the city of Paladur, now Shaftesbury P. The Arabians cultivated the study of philosophy, particularly astronomy, with amazing ardour. Hence arose the tradition , reported by our historian, that in king Arthur's reign, there subsisted at Caer - leon in Glamorganshire a college of two hun dred philosophers, who studied astronomy and other sciences; and who were particularly employed in watching the courses of the stars, and predicting events to the king from their ob-. servations ". Edwin's Spanish magician above mentioned , by his knowledge of the flight of birds, and the courses ofthe stars, is said to foretell future disasters. In the same strain Merlin prognosticates Uther's success in battle by the appearance of a. comets. The same enchanter's wonderfull skill in mechanical powers, by which he removes the giant's Dance, or Stonehenge, from Ireland into England, and the notion that this stupendous structure was raised by a PROFOUND PHILOSOPHICAL KNOW LEDGE OF THE MECHANICAL ARTS, are founded on the Arabic literature . To which we may add king Bladud's magical operations '. Dragons are a sure mark of orientalism * . One of these in our romance is a “ terrible dragon flying from the piled to do honour to the Britons and were common , engaged their attention their affairs, and especially in opposition or interested them so much, as this to the Saxons. Now the importance with NATIONAL memorial appears to have which these romancers seem to speak of done. Stonehenge,and the many beautiful fic- P Lib. ii. c. 9. See vol. ii. p. 247 . tions with which they havë been so stir- 4 See Diss. ii. And vol. ii . p. 237. dious to embellish its origin , and to ag ' Lib . viii. c. 15. grandise its history, appear to mestrongly Lib . ix . c . 12 . to favour the hypothesis, that Stonehenge i Lib . viii. c. 10. See vol. ii. SECT. XV. is a British monument; and indeed to passim . prove, that it was really erected in me 3 1 $ 1u Lib. ii. c. 10 . mory of thethree hundred British nobles , * ( The stability of Mr. Warton's as massacred by the Saxon Hengist. See* sertion has been shaken by Sir Walter Sect. ii. infr. p . 57. No DRUIDICAL Scott, who states that the idea of this fa monument, of which so many remains bulous animal was familiar to the Celtic 1 11 OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xix west, breathing fire, and illuminating all the country with the brightness of his eyes '. ” In another place we have a giant mounted on a winged dragon: the dragon erects his scaly tail, and wafts his rider to the clouds with great rapidity W. Arthur and Charlemagne are the first and original heroes of romance. And as Geoffrey's history is the grand repository of the acts of Arthur, so a fabulous history ascribed to Turpin is the ground - work of all the chimerical legends which have been related concerning the conquests of Charlemagne and his twelve peers *. Its subject is the expulsion of the Saracens from Spain : and it is filled with fictions evidently congenial with those which characterise Geoffrey's history * . Some suppose, as I have hinted above, this romance to have been written by Turpin , a monk of the eighth century ; who, for his knowledge of the Latin language, his sanctity, and gal tribes at an early period, and was borne den “ hoard” by day, and wandered on the banner of Pendragon, who from through the air by night. But as the that circumstance derived his name. A heroes of Northern adventure are usually dragon was also the standard of the re- engaged in extirpating this imaginary nowned Arthur. A description of this race , it is not improbable that some of banner, the magical work of Merlin, oc- these narratives may have been founded curs in the romance of Arthur and on the conflicts between the Finnish and Merlin in the Auchinleck MS. Scandinavian priesthoods.Edit.] V Lib. x. c. 2. w Lib . vii . c. 4. Merlin bar her gonfanoun ; * [“ But this,” saysRitson , “ requires it Upon the top stode a dragoun, to have been written before the year 1066, Swithe griseliche a litel croune, when the adventures and exploits of Fast him biheld al tho in the toune, For the mouth he had grinninge Charlemagne, Rowland and Oliverwere chaunted at the battle of Hastings ; And the tong out flatlinge whereas there is strong internal proof That out kest sparkes of fer, Into the skies that flowen cler ; & c . that this romance was written longafter the time of Charlemagne.' Dissert, on In the Welsh triads ( adds the same Rom . and Minst. p. 47.- PARK.) authority ) I find the dragon repeatedly * I will mention only one amongmany mentioned : and in a battle fought at others. The christians under Charle Bedford, about 752, betwixt Ethelbald magne are said to have found in Spain a king of Mercia and Cuthred king of golden idol, or image of Mahomet, as Wessex, a golden dragon, the banner of high as a bird can Ay. It was framed the latter, wasborne inthefront of the by Mahomethimself of the purest metal, combat by Edelheim or Edelhun , a chief who by his knowledge in necromancy of the West Saxons. Notes on Sir Tris. had sealed up within it alegion of dia . tram , p. 290.- PARK . ] bolical spirits. Itheld in its handa pro [ Amongthe Celtic tribes, as amongthe digious club ; and the Saracens had a Finns and Sclavonians, the serpent ap- prophetic tradition, that this clubshould pears to have been held in sacred esti- fall from the hand of the image in that mation ; and the early traditions ofthe year when a certain king should be born North abound in fables relative to dra « in France, &c. J. Turpini Hist. de Vit. gons who lay slumbering upon the gol-, Carol. Magn. et Rolandi. cap. iv. f . 2. as b 2 XX DISSERTATION 1 . . lant exploits against the Spanish Saracens, was preferred to the archbishoprick of Rheims by Charlemagne. Others be lieve it to have been forged under archbishop Turpin's name* about that time. Others very soon afterwards, in the reign of Charles the Bald . That is, about the year 8704. Voltaire, a writer of much deeper research than is imagined, and the first who has displayed the literature and customs of the dark ages with any degree of penetration and comprehen sion, speaking of the fictitious tales concerning Charlemagne, has remarked , “ Ces fables qu'un moine ecrivit au onzieme siécle, sous le nom de l'archeveque Turpin ?.” And it might easily be shewn thatjust beforethe commencement of the thir teenth century, romantic stories about Charlemagne were more fashionable than ever among the French minstrels. That is, on the recent publication of this fabulous history of Charle magne. Historical evidence concurs with numerous internal arguments to prove, that it must have been compiled after the crusades. In the twentieth chapter, a pretended pilgrimage of Charlemagne to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem is recorded : a forgery seemingly contrived with a design to give an import ance to those wild expeditions, and which would easily be be lieved when thus authenticated by an archbishopa. There is another strong internal proof that this romance was written long after the time of Charlemagne. Our historian is speaking of the numerous chiefs and kings who came with their armies to assist his hero: among the rest he mentions earl Oell, and adds, “ Of this man there is a song commonly sung among the minstrels even to this dayb. ” Nor will I believe, that • ( “ Whose true name, " says Ritson, * See Hist. Acad. des Inscript. & c . “was Tilpin, and who died before Char. vii. 293. edit. 4to. lemagne ; though Robert Gaguin , in his y See Catel, Mem . de l'Hist. du Lan licentious translation of the work, 1527, guedoc, pag. 545. makes him relate his own death . An. % Hist. Gen. ch . viii. Oeuvr. tom . i. other pretended version of this Pseudo- p . 84. edit . Genev . 1756 . Turpin , said to have been made by one a See infr. p. 127. Mickius or Michael le Harnes, who lived D “ De hoc canitur in Cantilena usque in 1206, haslittle or nothing in common ad hodiernum diem ." cap. xi. f. 4. b. with its false original." Diss. on Rom . edit. Schard . Francof. 1566. fol. Chro and Minst. p. 46.Pars.] nograph. Quạt OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxi the European art of war, in the eighth century, could bring into the field such a prodigious parade of battering rams and wooden castles, as those with which Charlemagne is said to have besieged the city Agennum " : the crusades seem to have made these huge military machines common in the European armies. However, we may suspect it appeared before, yet not long before, Geoffrey's romance ; who mentions Charlemagne's Twelve PEERS, so lavishly celebrated in Turpin's book, as present at king Arthur's imaginary coronation at Caer- leon. Although the twelve peers of France occur in chronicles of the tenth centuryd; and they might besides have been suggested to Geoffrey's original author from popular traditions and songs of minstrels. We are sure it was extant before the year 1122 ; for Calixtus the Second in that year, by papal authority, pro nounced this history to be genuine Monsieur Allard affirms that it was written, and in the eleventh century, at Vienne by a monk of Saint Andrew'sf. This monk was probably nothing more than some Latin translator : but a learned French anti [ In the best MSS. of Turpin , the dum ," & c . See also cap . x. ibid. Com above passage refers to Oger king of pare Sect. iv. infr. p . 170. In one of Denmark, whose name is omitted in that Charlemagne's battles, the Saracens ada followed by the editorof Turpin's history vance with horrible visors beardedand here cited . There is no work that is horned, and with drums or cymbals. knowu to relate to Vel. The romance “ Tenentesque singuli TYMPANA, quæ of Ogier Danois, originally written in manibus fortiter percutiebant.' The rhyme, is here probably referred to.- unusual spectacle and sound terrified the Doucr. ]— [ The language of Turpin horses of the christian army, and threw seems rather to imply a ballad or song them into confusion. In a second en on the achievements of this hero, such gagement, Charlemagne commanded the as is still to be found in the Danish eyes of the horses to be covered , and their Kjempe Viser. The name, however ears to be stopped . Turpin . cap . xviii. written ,-Oger, Ogier, Odiger, Holger, f. 7. b. The latter expedient is copied -clearly refersto Helgi, a hero of the in the Romance of RICHARD THE FIRST, Edda and the Volsunga - Saga. In the written about the eleventh century. See earlier traditions the theatre of his ac- Sect. iv. infr. p. 172. See also what is tions is confined to Denmark and the said of the Saracen drums, ibid . p. 177. neighbouring countries ; but the later fic- d Flodoard of Rheims first mentions Lions embellish hiscareer with all the mar- them , whosę chronicle comes down to vels of romance ; and after leading him 966 . as a conqueror over the greater part of Magn. Chron . Belgic. pag. 150, Europe and Asia, transport him to the sub ann . Compare J. Long. Bibl. Hist, isle of Avalon , where he still resides with Gall. num. 6671. And Lambec. ii. p. Morgan la faye. - Edit.] 333. Ibid . cap . ix . f. 3. b. The writer | Bibl. de Dauphiné, p. 224 . adds, Cæterisque artificiis ad capicns 15 xxii DISSERTATION 1 , quary is of opinion, that it was originally composed in Latin ; and moreover, that the most antient romances, even those of the Round Table, were originally written in that language 5 . Oienhart, and with the greatest probability, supposes it to be the work of a Spaniard. He quotes an authentic manuscript to prove, that it was brought out of Spain into France before the close of the twelfth centuryh; and that the miraculous ex ploits performed in Spain by Charlemagne and earl Roland, recorded in this romantic history, were unknown among the French before that period : except only that some few of them were obscurely and imperfectly sketched in the metrical tales of those who sung heroic adventures !. Oienhart's supposition that this history was compiled in Spain, the centre of oriental fabling in Europe, at once accounts for the nature and extra vagance of its fictions, and immediately points to their Arabian origink. As to the French manuscript of this history, it is a translation from Turpin's Latin, made by Michael le Harnes in the year 1207 ' . And, by the way, from the translator's de & See vol. ii. p . 299. Roderigo, having less credulity but more See infr. p. 139. courage and curiosity than his ancestors , i Arnoldi Oienharti Notit. utriusque commanded this formidable recess to be Vasconiæ , edit. Paris. 1638. 4to . page opened. Atentering, he began to sus 997. lib . iii. c. 3. Such was Roland's pect the traditions of the people to be song, sung at the battleof Hastings. But true : a terrible tempest arose, and all see this romance, cap. xx. f. 8. b. Where the elements seemed united to embarrass Turpin seems to refer to some other fa- him . Nevertheless, he ventured for bulous materials or history concerning wards into the cave, where he discerned Charlemagne. Particularly about Gala- by the light of his torches certain figures far and Braiamant, which make such a or statues of men, whose habiliments and figure in Boyardo and Ariosto. arms were strange and uncouth . One of

• Innumerable romantic stories, of them had a sword of shining brass, on Arabian growth, are to this day current which it was written in Arabic charac among the common people of Spain , ters, that the time approached when the which they call CUJENTOSDE VIEJAS. I Spanish nation should be destroyed , and will relate one from that lively picture of that it would not be long before thewar the Spaniards, RELATION DU VOYAGE riors, whose images were placed there,

D'ESPAGNE, by Mademoiselle Dunois. should arrive in Spain . The writer adds, Within the antient castle of Toledo, they “ Je n'ai jamais eté en aucun endroit, say, there was a vast cavern whose en- où l'on fasse PLUS DE CAS des CONTES FA trance was strongly barricadoed. It was BULEUX qu'en Espagne.' Edit. a la universally believed, that if any person Haye, 1691. tom. iji. p. 158, 159. 12mo. entered this cavern , the most fatal dis. ' See infr . Sect. iii. p. 114. And the asters would happen to the Spaniards. Life of CERVANTES, by Don Gregorio Thus it remained closely shut and un .. Mayans. § . 27. § . 47, ſ. 48, S. 49. entered for many ages. At length king See Du Chesne, tom. v. p. 60. And OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxiii 1 claration , that there was a great impropriety in translating Latin prose into verse , we may conclude, that at the commence ment of the thirteenth centurythe French generally made their translations into verse . In these two fabulous chronicles the foundations of romance -seem to be laid . The principal characters, the leading sub jects, and the fundamental fictions, which have supplied such ample matter to this singular species of composition, are here first displayed. And although the long continuance of the crusades imported innumerable inventions of a similar com plexion , and substituted the atchievements of new champions and the wonders of other countries, yet thetales of Arthur and of Charlemagne, diversified indeed, or enlarged with addition al embellishments, still continued to prevail, and to be the fa vourite topics : and this, partly from their early popularity, partly from the quantity and the beauty of the fictions with which they were at first supported, and especially because the design of the crusades had made those subjects so fashionable in which christians fought with infidels. In a word, these vo lumes are the first specimens extant in this mode of writing. No European history before these' has mentioned giants, en chanters, dragons, and the like monstrous and arbitrary fic tions. And the reason is obvious: they were written at a time when a new and unnatural mode of thinking took place in Eu rope, introduced by our communication with the easti Hitherto I have considered the Saracens either at their im migration into Spain about the ninth century, or at the time of the crusades, as the first authors of romantic fabling among the Europeans. But a late ingenious critic has advanced an hypothesis, which assigns a new source, and a much earlier Mem . Lit. xvii. 737. seq . It is in the In the king's library at Paris, there is royal library at Paris, Num . 8190. Pro- a translation of Dares Phrygius into bably the French Turpin in the British French rhymes by Godfrey of Water Museum is the same, Cod. MSS. Harl. ford an Irish Jacobin , a writer not men 273. 23. f . 86. See infr. p. 139. See tioned by Tanner, in the thirteenth cen instances of the English translatingprose tury. Mem . Litt. tom . xvii. p. 736. Latin books into English, and some- Compare Sect. iii. infr. p. 128. In the times French, verse. Sect . ii . infr . pas- Notes. sim . XXIV DISSERTATION I. . date, to these fictions. I will cite his opinion of this matter in his own words. “ Our old romances of chivalry may be de rived in a LINEAL DESCENT from the antient historical songs of the Gothic bards and scalds. - Many of those songs are still preserved in the north, which exhibit all the seeds of chivalry before it became a solemn institution, - Even the common ar bitrary fictions of romance were most of them familiar to the antient scalds of the north , long before the time of the crusades. They believed the existence ofgiants and dwarfs, they had some notion of fairies, they were strongly possessed with the belief of spells and inchantment, and were fond of inventing com bats with dragons and monstersm . ” Monsieur Mallet, a very able and elegant inquirer into the genius and antiquities of the northern nations, maintains the same doctrine. He seems to think, that many of the opinions and practices of the Goths, · however obsolete, still obscurely subsist. He adds, “ May we not rank among these, for example, that love and admiration for the profession of arms which prevailed among our ances tors even to fanaticism , mad as it were through system , and brave from a point of honour ?-Can we not explain from the Gothic religion, how judiciary combats, and proofs by the or deal, to the astonishment of posterity, were admitted by the le gislature of all Europe " : and how , even to the present age, the people are still infatuated with a belief of the power of ma gicians, witches, spirits, and genii, concealed under the earth Percy, on ANTIENT METR. Rom . i. said to have been the first who com P. 3 , 4 edit. 1767. m manded ail controversies to be decided " For the judiciary combats, as also for by the sword. Worm . p. 68. In favour common athletic exercises, they formed of this barbarousinstitution it ought to an amphitheatrical circus of rude stones. be remembered, that the practice of thus “Quædam ( saxa] circos claudebant, in marking out theplace of battle must have quibus gigantes et pugiles DUELLO strenue prevented much bloodsked, and saved decertabant.” Worm . p. 62. And again, many innocent lives : for if either com . : Nec mora, CIRCUATUR campus, milite batant was by any accident forced out of CIRCUS stipatur, concurrunt pugiles.' the circus, he was to lose his cause , or p . 65. It is remarkable, that circs ofthe to pay three marks of pure silver as a re same sort are still to be seen in Corn- demption for his life. Worm . p. 68 , 69, wall, so famous at this day for the ath. In the year 987, the ordeal was substi letic art : in which also they sometimes tuted in Denmark instead of the duel; a exhibited their scriptural interludes. mode of decision, at least in a political vol. ii. p. 70 Frotho the Great, sense, less absurd , as it promoted mili , pf Dentaark, in the first century, is tary skill. OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . XXY or in the waters ? -- Do we not discover in these religious opi nions, that source of the marvellous with which our ancestors filled their romances; in which we see dwarfs and giants, fairies and demons? ” & c. ' And in another place . “ The fortresses of the Goths were only rude castles situated on the summits of rocks, and rendered inaccessible by thick misshapen walls. As these walls ran winding round the castles, they often called them by a name which signified SERPENTS or DRAGONS ; and in these they usually secured the women and young virgins of distinction , who were seldom safe at a time when so many en terprising heroes were rambling up and down in search of ad ventures. It was this custom which gave occasion to antient romancers, who knew not how to describe any thing simply, to invent so many fables concerning princesses of great beauty guarded by dragons, and afterwards delivered by invincible championsp.” I do not mean entirely to reject this hypothesis; but I will endeavour to shew how far I think it is true, and in what man ner or degree it may be reconciled with the system delivered above. A few years before the birth of Christ, soon after Mithridates had been overthrown by Pompey, a nation of Asiatic Goths, who possessed that region of Asia which is now called Georgia, and is connected on the south with Persia, alarmed at the pro gressive encroachments of the Roman armies, retired in vast multitudes under the conduct of their leader Odin , or Woden, into the northern parts of Europe, not subject to the Roman government, and settled in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and other districts of the Scandinavian territory . As they brought • Mallet, Introduction a l'Histoire de eam tamen non primam . Verum circa Dannemarc, &c. tom . ii . p. 9. annum tandem vicesimum quartum ante P Ib. ch. ix . p. 243. tom . ii . natum Christum , Romanis exercitibus [ This and other similar passages in auspiciis Pompeii Magni in Asiæ parte, Mallet's lively history would form an ex. Phrygia Minore, grassantibus. Illa enim cellent supplement tothe Homeric alle epocha ad hanc rem chronologi nostri gories of Heraclides Ponticus. - Edit.] utuntur. In cujus (Gylvi SUECIÆ regis) 9 “ Unicam gentium Asiaticarum Im- tempora incidit Odinus, Asiaticæ immi migrationem , in orbem Arctoum factam , grationis, factæ anno 24 ante natum mostra antiquitates commemorant. Sed Christum , antesignanus.' Crymogæa, xxvi DISSERTATION I. with them many useful arts, particularly the knowledge of let ters, which Odin is said to have invented ", they were hospi tably received by the natives, and by degrees acquired a safe and peaceable establishment in the new country, which seems to have adopted their language, laws, and religion. Odin is said to have been stiled a god by the Scandinavians ; an appel lation which the superiour address and specious abilities of this Asiatic chief easily extorted from a more savage and uncivilised people. This migration is confirmed by the concurrent testimonies of various historians : but there is no better evidence of it, than that conspicuous similarity subsisting at this day between se veral customs of the Georgians, as described by Chardin , and those of certain cantons of Norway and Sweden, which have preserved their antient manners in the purest degrees. Not that other striking implicit and internal proofs, which often carry more conviction than direct historical assertions, are want ing to point out this migration. The antient inhabitants of Denmark and Norway inscribed the exploits of their kings and heroes on rocks, in characters called Runic ; and of this prac Arngrim . Jon. lib. i. cap. 4. p . 30 , 31. colligi potest linguam, ut gentem , Hel edit. Hamburg. 1609. See also Bar- LENICAM, a septentrione et SCYTHIA ori tholin. Antiquitat. Dan. Lib . ii. cap . 8. ginem traxisse, non a meridie. Inde Ll p. 407. iii. c. 2. p . 652. edit. 1689. La- TERÆ GRÆCORUM, inde MusÆ PIERIDES, zius, de Gent. Migrat. L. x. fol. 573. inde sacrorum initia.” Salmas. de Hel 30. edit. fol. 1600. Compare Ol. Rud- lenist. p. 400. As a further proof I shall beck. cap . v . sect. 2. p. 95. xiv. sect. 2. observe, that the antient poet Thamyris p. 67. There is a memoir on this sub- was so much esteemed by the Scythians, ject lately published inthe Petersburgh on account of his poetry, ribagwdía , that Transactions, but I chuse to refer to theychose him their king . Conon . Nar original authorities. See tom . v. p. 297. rat. Poet. cap . vii. edit. Gal. But Tha edit. 1738. 4to . myris was a Thracian : and a late inge r Odino etiam et aliis, qui ex Asia nious antiquarian endeavours to prove, huc devenere, tribuunt multi antiquita- that the Goths were descended from the tum Islandicarum periti; unde et Odinus Thracians, and that the Greeks and RUNHOFDI seu Runarum (i. e. Litera- Thracians were only different clans of rum ) auctor vocatur.” Oì. Worm . Li- the same people. Clarke's Connexion, ter. Runic. cap . 20. edit. Hafn . 1651. & c. ch. ii. p . 65. Some writers refer the origin of the Gre- [ See also Mr. Pinkerton's Disserta cian language, sciences, and religion to tion on the Goths, and Dr. Jamieson's * the Scythians, whowereconnected to- Hermes Scythicus. - Edit.] wards the south with Odin's Goths. I * See Pontoppidan. Nat. Hist. Nor cannot bring a greater authority than way, tom . ii . c. 10. § . 1 , 2, 3. that of Salmasius, “ Satis certum ex his OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxvii tice many marks are said still to remain in those countries '. This art or custom of writing on rocks is Asiaticu. Modern travellers report, that there are Runic inscriptions now exist ing in the deserts of Tartary . The WRITTEN MOUNTAINS of the Jews are an instance that this fashion was oriental. An tiently, when one of these northern chiefs fell honourably in battle, his weapons, his war-horse, and his wife, were consumed with himself on the same funeral pile y . I need not remind my readers how religiously this horrible ceremony of sacrificing the wife to the dead husband is at present observed in the east. There is a very remarkable correspondence, in numberless im portant and fundamental points, between the Druidical and the Persian superstitions: and notwithstanding the evidence of Cesar, who speaks only from popular report, and without pre cision , on a subject which he cared little about, it is the opi nion of the learned Banier, that the Druids were formed on the model of the Magiz. In this hypothesis he is seconded by a modern antiquary; who further supposes, that Odin's followers imported this establishment into Scandinavia, from the confines of Persia a The Scandinavians attributed divine virtue to the misletoe ; it is mentioned in their EDDA, or system of religious doctrines, where it is said to grow on the west side of Val-hall, or Odin's elysium . That Druidical rites existed among the Scandinavians we are informed from many antient Erse poems, z See Saxo Grammat. Præf, ad Hist. y See Keysler, p . 147. Two funeral Dan . And Hist. lib . vii. See also Ol. ceremonies , one of BURNING , the other Worm . Monum. Dan . lib . iii. of BURYING their dead, at different times " Paulus Jovius, a writer indeed not prevailed in the north ; and have distin of thebest credit, says, that Annibal en- guished two eras in the old northern graved characters on the Alpine rocks, history . The first was called the Age of as a testimony of his passageover them , FIRE, the secondthe Age or Hills. and that they were remaining there two Mytholog. Expliq. ii . p. 628. 4to . centuries ago. Hist. lib . xv. p. 163. a M. Mallet. Hist. Dannem . i. p . 56 .

• See Voyagepar Strahlemberg, & c. See also Keysler, p. 152,

A Description of the Northern and East- Epp. Isl. fab .xxviii. Compare Key ern Parts of Europe and Asia . Schroder sler, Antiquit. Sel. Sept. p . 304. seq. says, from Olaus Rudbeckius,thatRUNES, The Germans, a Teutonic tribe, call it orletters, were invented by Magog the to this day " the Branch of Spectres.” Scythian , and communicated to Tuisco But see Dr. Percy's ingenious note on the celebrated German chieftain , in the this passage in the EDDA. NORTHERN year of the world 1799. Præf. ad Lexi- ANTIQUITIES, vol. ii . p. 143. con Latino - Scandic. xxviii DISSERTATION 1. which say that the British Druids, in the extremity of their affairs, solicited and obtained aid from Scandinavia . The Gothic hell exactly resembles that which we find in the reli gious systems of the Persians, the most abounding in super stition of all the eastern nations. One of the circumstances is, and an oriental idea , that it is full of scorpions and serpents d. The doctrines of Zeno, who borrowed most of his opinions from the Persian philosophers, are not uncommon in the EDDA. Lok, the evil deity of the Goths, is probably the Arimanius of the Persians. In some of the most antient Islandic chronicles, the Turks are mentioned as belonging to the jurisdiction ofthe Scandinavians. Mahomet, not so great an inventor as is ima gined, adopted into his religion many favourite notions and su perstitions from the bordering nations which were the offspring of the Scythians, and especially from the Turks. Accordingly, we find the Alcoran agreeing with the Runic theology in various instances. I will mention only one. It is one of the beatitudes of the Mahometan paradise, that blooming virgins shall admi nister the most luscious wines. Thus in Odin's Val-hall, or the Gothic elysium , the departed heroes received cups ofthe strong est mead and ale from the hands of the virgin -goddesses called Valkyres. Alfred, in his Saxon account of the northern seas, taken from the mouth of Ohther, a Norwegian, who had been sent by that monarch to discover a north - east passage into the Indies, constantly calls these nations the ORIENTALSf. And as these eastern tribes brought with them into the north a cer tain degree of refinement, of luxury and splendour, which ap c Ossian's Works. Catalin, ii. p.216. Spelm . Append. vi. [ Oht- here was not Not. edit. 1765. vol. ii. They add, that sent by Alfred . This voyage was under among the auxiliaries came many magi- taken for the gratification of hisown cu cians. riosity, and the furtherance of his com See Hyde, Relig. Vet. Pers. p. 399. mercial views. He was doubtlessly ig 404 . But compare what is said of the norant of the existence of Asia. The EDDA, towards the close of this Dis . Orientals, to use the language of the text, were those inhabitantsofthe Scan • Odin only, drank wine in Val-hall. dinavian peninsula, whose country lay Edd. Myth . xxxiv. See Keysler, p.152. upon his starboard quarter, while steer See Preface to Alfred's Şaxon Oro- ing due north from Halgoland in Nor sius, published by Spelman. ( And since way. Edit.] by Daines Barrington .] Vrr.ÆLPAZDI. course . OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxix ! 6 peared singular and prodigious among barbarians; one of their early historians describes a person better dressed than usual, by saying, " he was so well cloathed, that you might have taken him for one of the Asiatics 8. ” Wormius mentions a Runic in cantation, in which an Asiatic enchantress is invoked ". Va rious other instances might here be added , some of which will occasionally arise in the future course of our inquiries. It is notorious, that many traces of oriental usages are found amongst all the European nations during their pagan state ; and this phenomenon is rationally resolved, on the supposition that all Europe was originally peopled from the east. But as the resemblance which the pagan Scandinavians bore to the eastern nations in manners, monuments, opinions, and prac tices, is so very perceptible and apparent, an inference arises, that their migration from the east must have happened at a period by many ages more recent, and therefore most probably about the time specified by their historians. In the mean time we must remember, that a distinction is to be made between this expedition of Odin's Goths, who formed a settlement in Scandinavia, and those innumerable armies of barbarous ad venturers, who some centuries afterwards, distinguished by the same name, at different periods overwhelmed Europe, and at length extinguished the Roman Empire. $ 5 IS 85 S N & LANDNAMA- Saga. See Mallet. Hist. CHANTMENTS, xxiv. 1 , & c. Odin himself Dannem . c. ii . was not only a warrior, buta magician, Lit. Run, p . 209, edit. 1651. The and his Asiatics were called Incantatio Goths came from the neighbourhood of num auctores. Chron. Norweg. apud Colchis, the region of witchcraft, and Bartholin. L. iii. c. 2. p. 657. Cry the country of Medea, famous for her mog. Arngrim . L. i. cap. vii. p. 511. incantations. The eastern pagans from From this source, those who adopt the the very earliest ages have had their en. principles just mentioned in this dis chanters. Now the magicians of Egypt, course, may be inclined to think , that they also did in like manner with theiren- the notion of spells got into the ritual of chuntmenls. Exod. vii. 11. See also vii. chivalry. In all legal single combats, 18, 19. ix. 11, &c. When the people of each champion attested upon oath , that Israel had overrun the country of Balak, he did not carry about him any herb , heinvitesBalaam , a neighbouring prince, SPELL, or ENCHANTMENT. Dugdal. Orig . to curse them , or destroy them bymagic, Juridic. p. 82. See Hickes's account of which he seems to have professed. And the silver Dano - Saxon shield, dugup in the elders of Moab departed with the re- the Isle of Ely, having a magical Runic wards of DIVINATION in their hand . Num. inscription , supposed to render those xxii, 7 . Surely there is no who bore it in battle invulnerable . Apud LENT against Israel. xxiii. 23, And he Hickes. Thesaur. Dissertat. Epistol. went out, as at other times, to seek for In- p. 187. ENCHANT XXX DISSERTATION I. When we consider the rapid conquests of the nations which may be comprehended under the common name of Scythians, and not only those conducted by Odin, but by Attila , Theo doric, and Genseric, we cannot ascribe such successes to brutal courage only. To say that some of these irresistible conquerors made war on a luxurious, effeminate, and enervated people, is a plausible and easy mode of accounting for their conquests: but this reason will not operate with equal force in the histories of Genghizcan and Tamerlane, who destroyed mighty empires founded on arms and military discipline, and who baffled the efforts of the ablest leaders. Their science and genius in war, such as it then was, cannot therefore be doubted : that they were not deficient in the arts of peace, I have already hinted, and now proceed to produce more particular proofs. Innume rable and very fundamental errors have crept into our reason ings and systems about savage life, resulting merely from those strong and undistinguishing notions of barbarism , which our prejudices have hastily formed concerning the character of all rude nations i . Among other arts which Odin's Goths planted in Scandi navia, their skill in poetry, to which they were addicted in a peculiar manner, and which they cultivated with a wonderful enthusiasm , seems to be most worthy our regard, and espe cially in our present inquiry. As the principal heroes of their expedition into the north were honourably distinguished from the Europeans, or original Scandinavians, under the name of AsÆ , or Asiatics, so the verses or language, of this people, were denominated ASAMAL, or Asiatic speech k. Their poetry contained not only the praises of their heroes, but their popular traditions and their religious : rites; and was filled with those fictions which the most exag gerated pagan superstition would naturally implant in the wild imaginations of an Asiatic people. And from this principle i See this argument pursued in the RUM SERMONEM ; quod eum ex Asia second DISSERTATION . Odinus secum in Daniam , Norwegiam ,

• “ Linguam Danicam antiquam , cu- Sueciam , aliasque regiones septentrio

jus in rythmis usus fuit, veteres appella- nales, invexerit . ” Steph. Stephan. Præ runt Asamal, id est Asiaticam , vel Asa- fat. ad Saxon . Grammat. Hist. OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxxi 1 alone, I mean of their Asiatic origin, some critics would at once account for a certain capricious spirit of extravagance, and those bold eccentric conceptions, which so strongly distin guish the old northern poetry '. Nor is this fantastic imagery the only mark of Asiaticism which appears in the Runic odes. They have a certain sublime and figurative cast of diction , which is indeed one of their predominant characteristics m. I am very sensible that all rude nations are naturally apt to cloathe their sentiments in this style. A propensity to this mode of expression is necessarily occasioned by the poverty of their lan guage, which obliges them frequently to substitute similitudes and circumlocutions: it arises in great measure from feelings undisguised and unrestrained by custom or art, and from the genuine efforts of nature working more at large in uncultivated minds. In the infancy of society, the passions and the imagi nation are alike uncontrouled . But another cause seems to have concurred in producing the effect here mentioned . When obvious terms and phrases evidently occurred, the Runic poets are fond of departing from the common and established diction . They appear to usecircumlocution and comparisons not as a matter of necessity, but of choice and skill: nor are these me taphorical colourings so much the result of want of words, as of warmth of fancy ”. 1 A most ingenious critic observes, of the gods. Poetry, the mead of Odin . that “ what we have been long accus- The earth, the vessel that floats on ages . tomed to call the ORIENTAL VEIN of A ship, the horse of the waves. Ice , the poetry, because some of the EARLIEST vast bridge. Herbs, thefleece of the earth . poetical productions have come to us A battle, a bath of blood, the hail of Odin , from the east, is probably nomore ORI- the shock of bucklers. Atongue, the sword ENTAL than occIDENTAL Blair's Crit. of words. Night, the veil ofcares. Rocks, Diss..on Ossian , vol. ii . p. 317. But all the bones of the earth. Arrows, the hail the LATER oriental writers through all stones of helmets, fic. dc. ages have been particularly distinguish- n In a strict geographical sense, the ed for this VEIN. Hence it is here cha- original country of these Asiatic Goths racteristical of a country, not of an age. might not be so situated as physically to I will allow , on this writer's very just have produced these effects. Yet it is to and penetrating principles, that an early , be observed, that intercourse and vici northern ode shall be as sublime as an nity are in this case sometimes equiva eastern one . Yet the sublimity of the lent to climate. The Persian traditions latter shall have a different character ; and superstitions were current even in it will be moreinflated and gigantic. the northern parts of Tartary. Georgia, m Thus, a rainbow is called, the bridge however, may be fairly considered as a xxxii DISSERTATION I. Their warmth of fancy, however, if supposed to have pro ceeded from the principles above suggested, in a few generations after this migration into Scandinavia , must have lost much of its natural heat and genuine force. Yet ideas and sentiments, especially of this sort, once imbibed, are long remembered and retained , in savage life. Their religion, among other causes, might have contributed to keep this spirit alive; and to pre serve their original stock of images, and native mode of ex pression, unchanged and unabated by climate or country. In the mean time we may suppose , that the new situation of these people in Scandinavia, might have added a darker shade and a more savage complexion to their former fictions and super stitions; and that the formidable objects of nature to which they became familiarised in those northern solitudes, the piny precipices, the frozen mountains, and the gloomy forests, acted on their imaginations, and gave a tincture of horror to their imagery. A skill in poetry seems in some measure to have been a national science among the Scandinavians, and to have been familiar to almost every order and degree. Their kings and warriors partook of this epidemic enthusiasm , and on frequent occasions are represented as breaking forth into spontaneous songs and verses But the exercise of the poetical talent was part of Persia. It is equal in fertility to composed sixteen songs of his expedition any of the eastern Turkish provinces in inw Africa. Asbiorn Pruda, a Danish Asia. It affords the richest wines, and champion , described his past life in nine other luxuries of life, in the greatest strophes, while his enemy Bruce, a giant, abundance. The most beautiful virgins was tearing out his bowels. “ i. Tell for the seraglio are fetched from this my mother Suanhita in Denmark, that she province. Inthe mean time, thus much will not this summer comb the hair of her at least may be said of a warm climate, I had promised her to return, but exclusive of its supposed immediatephy, now myside shall feel the edge ofthe sword. sical influence on the human mind and ii. It was far otherwise, when we sate at temperament. It exhibits all the pro- home in mirth, chearing ourselves with the ductions of nature in their highest per- drink of ale ; and coming from Hordeland fectionand beauty: while theexcessive passed the gulf in our ships ; when we heat of the sun , and the fewer incite. quaffed mead , and conversed of liberty. ments to labour and industry, dispose Now I alone amfallen into the narrow the inhabitants to indolence, and to live prisons of the giants. iii. It was far ing much abroad in scenes of nature. Otherwise,” &c. Every stanza is intro These circumstances are favourable to duced with the same choral burden . the operations of fancy. Bartholin . Antiquit, Danic. L. i. cap . Harold Hard de, king of Norway, 10. p. 58. edit. 1689 . ( Asbiorn son . O OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxxiii c. 8, properly confined to a stated profession : and with their poe try the Goths imported into Europe a species of poets or singers, whom they called SCALDS or POLISHERS of LANGUAGE. This order of men, as we shall see more distinctly below , was held in the highest honour and veneration : they received the most liberal rewards for their verses, attended the festivals of heroic chiefs, accompanied them in battle, and celebrated their victories P. These Scandinavian bards appear to have been esteemed and Pruda lived at the close of the tenth and by so great a conqueror , they could not the beginning of the eleventh century. help celebrating so honourable a death, But his Saga, which abounds in the most which was the wish of all bravemen , in marvellous adventures, and this cele- their own ACCUSTOMED SONGs.” Lib . vii. brated death -song, were fabricated in the I am obliged to doctor Percy for fourteenth century. See Suhm's History `pointing out this passage. From the of Denmark, vol. iii. p. 294. - Edit.] correspondence of manners and princi The noble epicedium of Regner Lod- ples it holds forth between the Scandi brog is more commonly known. The navians and the Sogdians, it contains a champion Orvar -Odd, after his expedi- striking proof of Odin's migration from tions into various countries, sung, on his the east to the north : first, in the spon death -bed, the most memorable events taneous exercise of the poetical talent; ofhis life in metre. (Orvar- Odd's Saga, and secondly, in the opinion,that a glo from which Torfæus (Hist. Norv. P. i. rious or warlike death , which admitted p. 263–284) has extracted the more them to the company of their friends sober parts of the narrative, is a roman- and parents in another world , was to be tic composition of the fourteenth or embraced with the most eager alacrity, fifteenth century . It is even very un- and the highest sensations of pleasure. certain whether such a person ever ex This is the doctrine of the Edda. In isted . - Edit.] Hallmund, being mor- the same spirit, RIDENS MORIAR is the tally wounded, commanded his daughter triumphant close of Regner Lodbrog's to listen to a poem which he was about dying ode . [ See Keysler, ubi infr. to deliver, containing histories of his p. 154.] I cannot help adding here victories, and to engrave it on tablets of another stroke from this ode, which wood . Bartholin . ibid. p. 162. Saxo seems also to be founded on eastern man Grammaticus gives us a regular ode, ners. He speaks with great rapture of uttered bythe son of a king of Norway, drinking, " ex concaviscrateribus cra who by mistake had been buried alive, niorum .' The inhabitants of the island and was discovered and awakened by of Ceylon to this day carouse at their a party of soldiers digging for treasure. feasts, fromcups or bowls made of the Sax. Grammat. L. 5. p. 50. There are sculls of their deceased ancestors. Ives's instances recorded of their speaking in VOYAGE TO INDIA, ch. 5. p. 62. Lond. metre on the most common occurrences. 1773. 4to . This practice these islanders p The Sogdians were a people who undoubtedly receivedfrom the neigh lived eastward of the Caspian sea, not bouring continent. Compare Keysler, far from the country of Odin's Goths. Antiquitat. Sel. Septentr. p . 362. seq. Quintus Curtius relates, that when some [ Siſius Italicus charges the Celts with of that people were condemned to death indulging in a similarpractice : by Alexander onaccount of a revolt, At Celtæ vacui capitis circundare gau they rejoiced greatly, and testified their dent joy bySINGING Verses and dancing, Ossa (nefas) auro et mensis ea pocula When the king enquired the reason of their joy, they answered , “ that being soon to be RESTORED TO THEIR ANCESTORS And the Longobardic and Bavarian his servant. VOL. 1 . с xxxiv DISSERTATION I. entertained in other countries besides their own , and by that , means to have probably communicated their fictions to various parts of Europe. I will give my reasons for this supposition. In the early ages of Europe, before many regular govern ments took place, revolutions, emigrations, and invasions, were frequent and almost universal. Nations were alternately de stroyed or formed ; and the want of political security exposed the inhabitants of every country to a state of eternal fluctuation . That Britain was originally peopled from Gaul, a nation of the Celts, is allowed : but that many colonies from the northern parts of Europe were afterwards successively planted in Britain and the neighbouring islands, is an hypothesis equally rational, and not altogether destitute of historical evidence. Nor was any nation more likely than the Scandinavian Goths, I mean in their early periods, to make descents on Britain . They pos sessed the spirit of adventure in an eminent degree. They were habituated to dangerous enterprises. They were ac quainted with distant coasts, exercised in navigation, and fond of making expeditions, in hopes of conquest, and in search of new acquisitions. As to Scotland and Ireland, there is the highest probability, that the Scutes, who conquered both those countries, and possessed them under the names of Albin Scutes and Irin Scutes, were a people of Norway. The Caledonians are expressly called by many judicious antiquaries a Scandina vian colony. The names of places and persons, over all that part of Scotland which the Picts inhabited, are of Scandinavian extraction. A simple catalogue of them only, would immedi ately convince us, that they are not of Celtic, or British origin . Flaherty reports it as a received opinion, and a general doc trine, that the Picts migrated into Britain and Ireland from tories record single examples of its oc- Dresckom bíor at bragdi currence for the gratification of per- Ur biug -vidom hausa . sonal revenge. But except the passage Instantly we shall drink ale quoted by Warton, there is no authority From the skull's winding trees . for the existence of such a custom in the North as a national habit; and in this Or in the sober phrase of common par a violent and far - fetched metaphor has lance : “ Weshall drink ourbeer out of been erroneously translated, to be made horns.” The Celtic antiquaries mayper the basis of an imputation equally re- haps be able to offer a similar vindicą volting and absurd . The original Islan- tion of their uncivilized ancestors. dic text stands thus : Edit .] OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. XXXV Scandinavia ". I forbear to accumulate a pedantic parade of authorities on this occasion : nor can it be expected that I should enter into a formal and exact examination of this ob scure and complicated subject in its full extent, which is here only introduced incidentally. I will only add, that Scotland and Ireland, as being situated more to the north, and probably less difficult of access than Britain, might have been objects on which our northern adventurers were invited to try some of their earliest excursions: and that the Orkney -islands remained long under the jurisdiction of the Norwegian potentates. In these expeditions, the northern emigrants, as we shall prove more particularly below , were undoubtedly attended by their scalds or poets. Yet even in times of peace, and without the supposition of conquest or invasion, the Scandinavian scalds might have been well known in the British islands. Pos sessed of a specious and pleasing talent, they frequented the courts of the British, Scottish, and Irish chieftains. They were itinerants by their institution, and made voyages, out of curiosity, or in quest of rewards, to those islands or coasts which lay within the circle of their maritime knowledge. By these means, they established an interest, rendered their profes sion popular, propagated their art, and circulated their fictions, in other countries, and at a distance from home. Torfæus asserts, positively, that various Islandic odes now remain , which were sung by the Scandinavian bards before the kings of En gland and Ireland, and for which they received liberal gratui ties ". They were more especially caressed and rewarded at 9 It is conjectured by Wormius, that cedes the period of legitimate history. Ireland is derived from the Runic Yr, a Their migration to Scotland has been bow , for the use of which the Irish were referred with great probability to the once famous. Lit. Run. C. xvii. p. 92. earlier part of thefourth century. But The Asiatics near the lake Mæotis, from the origin of the Picts, their language, which Odin led his colony in Europe, the etymology “ of the names of places were celebrated archers. Hence Hercules and persons over that part of Scotland in Theocritus, Idyll. xiii. 56. which they inhabited ," is a subject which -Μαιωτισι λαβων ευκαπμεα τοξα . divides the opinions of Scottish anti . quaries. SeeMr. Chalmers's Caledonia, Compare Salmas, de Hellen. p. 369. and Dr. Jamieson's Etymological Scot And Flahert.Ogyg. Part. iii. cap. xviii. tish Dictionary ( Introduction ).- Edit.] p. 188. edit. 1685. Stillingfleet's Orig. * Torf. Hist. Orcąd. in Præfat. ( See Brit. Præf. p. xxxviii. the Sagas of Egill, and Gunnlaug [ The Celtic population of Ireland pre- Ormstunga.- Edit .] C 2 Xxxvi DISSERTATION I. the courts of those princes, who were distinguished for their warlike character, and their passion for military glory. Olaus Wormius informs us, that great numbers ofthe north ern scalds constantly resided in the courts of the kings of Sweden, Denmark, and Englands. Hence the tradition in an antient Islandic Saga, or poetical history, may be explained ; which says, that Odin's language was originally used, not only in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but even in England '. In deed it may be naturally concluded from these suggestions, that the Scandinavian tongue became familiar in the British islands by the songs of the scalds : unless it be rather presumed, that a previous knowledge of that tongue in Britain was the means of facilitating the admission of those poets, and prepar ing the way for their reception . And here it will be much to our present argument to ob serve, that some of the old Gothic and Scandinavian supersti tions are to this day retained in the English language. MARA, from whence our Night-mare is derived, was in the Runic theo logy a spirit or spectre of the night, which seized men in their sleep, and suddenly deprived them of speech and motion “ . NICKA was the Gothic demon who inhabited the element of water, and who strangled persons that were drowning ". Boh was one of the most fierce and formidable of the Gothic gene rals, and the son of Odin : the mention of whose name was sufficient to spread an immediate panic among his enemies y . • Lit. Dan. p. 195. ed . 4to . language of the antient Angles, who + Bartholin . iii. 2. p. 651. It was a settled in themore northern parts of En constant old British tradition, that king gland. And in this dialect, which in Arthur conquered Ireland, Gothland, deed prevailed in some degree almost Denmark, and Norway. See Galfrid. over all England, many other poems are Monum . ix. 11. Rob. of Glouc . ed. composed , mentioned likewise in Wan Hearne, p. 180. 182. What is said in ley's Catalogue. ( See the Preface to the text must have greatly facilitated the this edition._Edir .] It is the constant Saxon and Danish conquests in England. doctrine of the Danish historians, that The works of the genuine Cædmon are the Danes and Angles, whose successors written in the language of the antient gave the name to this island, had the same Angles, who were nearly connected with origin. theJutes. Hence that language resem- See Keysler, Antiquitat. Sel. Sep bled the antient Danish , asappears from tentrional. p. 497. edit. 1720. passages of Cædmon cited by Wanley. See Keysler, ut supr. p. 261. And Hencealso it happened, that the later in ADDEND. ibid. p. 588. Dano - Saxonic dialect, in which Junius's * See Keysler, ibid . p. 105. p. 130. POETICAL PARAPHRASE OF GENESIS was y See Temple's Essays, part 4. pag. written, is likewise so very similar to the W OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xxxvii The fictions of Odin and of his Scandinavians, must have taken still deeper root in the British islands, at least in En gland, from the Saxon and Danish invasions. That the tales of the Scandinavian scalds flourished among or 346 . Seealso instances of conformity numents are found in Persia nearTauris. between English and Gothic supersti- [ See the “ Voyages de Chardin ,” p. 377. tions in Bartholinus, L. ii. cap. 2. p. 262. ed . 1686. 12mo. It is astonishing, that 266. It may be urged, that these super- after the most evident proofs ofthese stitions might be introduced by the stone monuments being the production Danes ; of whom I shall speak below. of our northern ancestors, writers will But this brings us to just the same point. persist without any authority whatever The learned Hickes was of opinion, from in calling them Druidical. - Douce .] [ It a multitude of instances, that ourtrial is also “ astonishing,” that with such by a jury of Twelve, was an early Scan- “ evident proofs " of their existence in dinavian institution, and that it was almost every part of Europe and Asia, brought from thence into England. they should be exclusively assigned Yet he supposes, at a period later than either to “ our northern ancestors , is necessary, the Norman invasion.See their Celtic antagonists. The occur Wootton's Conspectus of Hickes's The- rence of such monuments in Cornwall, saur. pag. 46. Lond. 1708. And Hickes. where the Saxons only obtained a footing Thesaur. Dissertat. Epistol. vol. i. at a very late period , and in those parts p. 38. seq . The number TWELVE was of Ireland which were frequented by sacred among the Septentrional tribes. neither Saxons nor Scandinavians, clearly Odin's Judges are Twelve, and have forbids theassumption of their Teutonic TWELVE seats in Gladheim . Edd. Isl. origin ; while their name ( Thing - stadar ), fab . vii. The God of the Edda has and the purpose to which they were ap TWELVE names, ibid . fab . i. An Aristo- plied in the North of Europe, may re cracy of TWELVE is a well known antient ceive an illustration from the page of establishment in the North. In the Dia . Homer : logue between Hervor and Angantyr, the latter promises to give Hervor TWELVE Κήρυκες δ' άρα λαόν έρήτυον· οι δε γέροντες Eίασ ' επί ξεστοϊσι λίθοις , ιερώ ένα κύκλω. MEN'S DEATHS. (He gives her that which Il. xviii. 503. is to be the death of twelve menthe sword Tirfing.-- Edit. ] Hervarar - Saga, These “ sacred circles " in the North apud Ol. Verel. cap. vii. p . 91. The were not only used as places of public Druidical circular monuments of sepa- assembly, but were the scenes of all ju rate stones erect, are more frequently of dicial proceedings. From a passage in the number TWELVE, than of any other the 67th chapter of Egills- Saga, there number . See Borlase, Antiquit. Cornw . is reason to believe, that they were also B. iii. ch. vii. edit. 1769. fol. And made the theatres of the “ trial by battle." Toland, Hist. Druid. p. 89. 158. 160. The Irish antiquaries consider them to See also Martin's Hebrid. p. 9. In have been places of public worship. Zealand and Sweden , many antient cir- “ Magh -Adhair, a plain of adoration , cular monuments, consisting each of where an open temple consisting of a twelve rude stones, still remain, which circle of tall straightstone pillarswith a were the places ofjudicature. My late very large flat stone called Crom -leac, very learned, ingenious, and respected serving for an altar, constructed by the friend, doctor Borlase, pointed out to Druids and similar to that in Exodus memonuments of the same sort in Corn . xxiv. “ And Moses ...... builded an altar wall. Compare Keysler, p . 93. And under the hill, and twelve pillars, ac it will illustrate remarks already made, cording to the twelve tribes of Israel.” and the principles insinuated in this O'Brian in voc. - Edır.] Geoffrey Dissertation, to observe , that these mo- of Monmouth affords instances in his xxxviii DISSERTATION I. This ap the Saxons, who succeeded to the Britons, and became pos sessors of England in the sixth century, may be justly pre sumed 2. The Saxons were originally seated in the Cimbric Chersonese, or those territories which have been since called Jutland, Angelen, and Holstein ; and were fond of tracing the descent of their princes from Odina. They were therefore a part of the Scandinavian tribes. They imported with them into England the old Runic language and letters. This pears from inscriptions on coins , stones , and other monu ments ; and from some of their manuscriptsd. It is well known that Runic inscriptions have been discovered in Cumberland and Scotland : and that there is even extant a coin of king Offa, with a Runic legendº. But the conversion of the Saxons to christianity, which happened before the seventh century, entirely banished the common use of those characters , which were esteemed unhallowed and necromantic ; and with their antient superstitions, which yet prevailed for some time in the popular British History. The knights sent into Anglo - Suecico -Latin . Præf. pag. 21. Wales by Fitzhammon, in 1091 , were See Hickes's Thesaur. BAPTISTE TWELVE. Powel, p. 124. sub anno . See RIUM BRIDEKIRKENSE . Par. iii. p . 4 . also an instance in Du Carell, Anglo- Tab.ii. Saxum REVELLENSE apud Scotos. Norman AntiQ. p. 9. It is probable that Ibid. Tab . iv. pag. 5. - Crux LAPIDEA Charlemagne formed his TWELVE Peers apud Beaucastle. Wanley Catal. MSS. on this principle. From whom Spenser Anglo - Sax. pag. 248. ad calc. Hickes. evidently took his TWELVE KNIGHTS. Thesaur. ANNULUS AUREUS. Drake's [ In the poem of Beowulf twolf York , Append. p. 102. Tab . N. 26. wintra tid ,' the time of twelve winters, AndGordon's Itin. Septentr. p . 168. is evidently a mere epic form of expres- a See Hickes's Thesaur. Par. i . page sion to denote an indefinite period . It 135. 136. 148. Par. iii. Tab. 1. 2. 3. 4. is likethe forty days of the Hebrews, 5. 6. It may be conjectured, that these the ivnucep of theIliad, theeleven of Piers characters were introduced by the Danes. Plowman. This number therefore ought It is certain that they never grew into not to be interpreted too literally, un- common use. They were at least incon less supported by the context. - EDIT.] venient, as consisting of capitals. We z « Ex vetustioribus poetis Cimbro- have no remains of Saxon writing so old rum, nempe Scaldis et Theotiscæ gentis as the sixth century. Nor are there any versificatoribus, planemulta , ut par est ofthe seventh , except a very few charters. credere, sumpsere.” Hickes. Thesaur. i. ( Bibl. Bodl. NE. D. 11. 19. seq .) See p . 101. See p. 117. Hickes's Thesaur. Par. i. page 169. See a Şee Gibson's Chron. Saxon . p. 12. also CHARTA ODILREDI AD MONASTE seq. Historians mention Woden's RIUM DE BERKING . Tab. i. Casley's Cat. BEORTH , i . e. Woden's hill, in Wilt- Bibl. Reg. In the British Museum . shire, See Milton, Hist. Engl. An . 588 . e See ABCHÆOL. vol. č . p . 131. A.D. b See Sir A. Fountaine's Pref. Saxon 1773. 4to . Money. Offa. Rex. Sc. Botren Mo- f.But see Hickes, ubi supr. i. p . 140 . NETARIUS, & c . See also Serenii Diction . OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . xxxix belief, abolished in some measure their native and original vein of poetic fabling 8. They suddenly became a mild and polished people, addicted to the arts of peace, and the exercise of devo tion ; and the poems they have left us are chiefly moral rhap sodies, scriptural histories or religious invocationsh. Yet even in these pieces they have frequent allusions to the old scaldic fables and heroes. Thus, in an Anglo - Saxon poem on Judith, Holofernes is called BALDER, or leader and prince ofwarriors. And in a poetical paraphrase on Genesis, Abimelech has the same appellation '. This Balder was a famous chieftain of the Asiatic Goths, the son of Odin, and supposed to inhabit a mag nificent ball in the future place of rewards. The same Anglo Saxon paraphrast, in his prosopopæia of Satan addressing his companions plunged in the infernal abyss, adopts many images and expressions used in the very sublime description of the Eddic hell k : Henry of Huntingdon' complains of certain ex traneous words and uncommonfigures of speech, in a Saxon ode on a victory of king Athelstan. These were all scaldic ex pressions or allusions. But I will give a literal English trans lation of this poem , which cannot be well understood without premising its occasion . In the year 938, Anlaff * , a pagan & It has been suggested to meby an lated below . See Sect. I. p. 2. See also ingenious friend, thatGuy and Sir Bevis, the description of the city of Durham . the first of which lived in the reign of Hickes, p. 179. It has nothing of the Athelstan, and the latter, as some sup- wild strain of poetry. The saints and pose, in that of Edgar, both christian relics of Durham church seem to have champions against the pagan Danes,were struckthe poet most, in describing that originally subjects of thegenuine Saxon city. I cannot discern thesupposed sub bards. But I rather think , they began limity of those mysterious dithyrambics, to be celebrated in or after the crusades; which close the Saxon MENOLOGE, or the nature of which expeditions dictated poetic calendar, written about the tenth to the romance-writers, and brought into century , printed by Hickes, Gramm . .vogue, stories of christians fighting with Anglo - Sax. p. 207. They seem to be infidel heroes. The cause was the same, prophecies and proverbs ; or rather, and the circumstances partly parallel ; splendid fragmentsfrom differentpoems, and this being once the fashion , they thrown together without connection. consulted their own histories for heroes, i See Hickes. Thesaur. i. p. 10. Who and combats were feigned with Danish adds many more instances. giants, as well as withthe Saracen. See Fab . xlix . See Hickes, ubi supr. infr. Sect. iii. p. 145. 146. 147. There p . 116. is the story of Bevis in British, YSTORI 1 Who has greatly misrepresented the . Boun o HAMTUN. Lhuyd's Arch . Brit. sense by a bad Latin translation . Hist. lib . v. p. 203. Exccpt an ode on Athelstan, trans- [ See Mr. Turner's History of the p . 264. h xl DISSERTATION 1 . king of the Hybernians and the adjacent isles, invited by Con stantine king of the Scots, entered the river Abi or Humber with a strong fleet. Our Saxon king Athelstan, and his brother Eadmund Clito [ætheling ], met them with a numerous army, near a place called Brunenburgh; and after a most obstinate and bloody resistance, drove them back to their ships. The battle lasted from day -break till the evening. On the side of Anlaff were slain five petty kings, and seven chiefs or generals. “ King Adelstan, the glory of leaders, the giver of gold chains to his nobles, and his brother Eadmund, both shining with the bright ness of a long train of ancestors, struck ( the adversary ) in war ; at Brunenburgh, with the edge of the sword, they clove the wall of shields. The high banners fell. The earls of the de parted Edward fell ; for it was born within them , even from the loins of their kindred, to defend the treasures and the houses of their country, and their gifts, against the hatred of strangers. Che nation of the Scots, and the fatal inhabitants of ships, fell. The hills resounded , and the armed men were covered with sweat. From the time the sun, the king of stars, the torch of the eternal one, rose chearful above the hills, till he returned to his habitation. There lay many ofthe northern men , pierced with lances ; they lay wounded, with their shields pierced through : and also the Scots, the hateful harvest of battle. The chosen bands of the West- Saxons, going out to battle, pressed on the steps of the detested nations, and slew their flying rear with sharp and bloody swords. The soft effeminate men yield ed up their spears. The Mercians did not fear or fly the rough game of the hand. There was no safety to them , who sought the land with Anlaff in the bosom of the ship, to die in fight. Five youthful kings fell in the place of fight, slain with swords; and seven captains of Anlaff, with the innumerable army of Scottish mariners : there the lord of the Normans [ Northern men] was chased : and their army, now made small, was driven -Anglo Saxons, vol. i. p. 343. Anlaf, bishop of York, who united with Anlaf whom Athelstan had expelled from the in his second attempt to recover his in kingdom of North -humbria, was in all heritance , would hardly have fought probability a Christian . Wulstan arch . under a Pagan banner.-Evit. ] OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xli to the prow of the ship. The ship sounded with the waves ; and the king, marching into the yellow sea, escaped alive. And so it was, the wise northern king Constantine, a veteran chief, returning by flight to his own army, bowed down in the camp, left his own son worn out with wounds in the place of slaugh ter ; in vain did he lament his earls, in vain his lost friends. Nor less did Anlaff, the yellow -haired leader, the battle-ax of slaughter, a youth in war, but an old man in understanding, boast himself a conqueror in fight, when the darts flew against Edward's earls, and their banners met. Then those northern soldiers, covered with shame, the sad refuse of darts in the re sounding whirlpool of Humber, departed in their ships with rudders, to seek through the deep the Irish city and their own land . While both the brothers, the king and Clito, lamenting even their own victory, together returned home; leaving be hind them the flesh - devouring raven , the dark -blue toad greedy of slaughter, the black crow with horny bill, and the hoarse toad, the eagle a companion of battles, with the devouring kite, and that brindled savage beast the wolf of the wood, to be glut ted with the white food of the slain . Never was so great a slaughter in this island , since the Angles and Saxons, the fierce beginners of war, coming hither from the east, and seeking * Britain through the wide sea, overcame the Britons excelling in honour, and gained possession of their landm. ” This piece, and many other Saxon odes and songs now re maining, are written in a metre much resembling that of the aldic dialogue at the tomb of Angantyr *, which has been beautifully translated into English, in the true spirit of the ori ginal, and in a genuine strain of poetry, by Gray. The extem poraneous effusions of the glowing bard seem naturally to have The original was first printed by Latin of Gibson, and of course shares Wheloc in the Saxon Chronicle, p. 555. the faults of its original. - Edit.] Cant. 1644. See Hickes. Thes. Præfat. ( The invocation of Hervor at the p. xiv. And ibid . Gramm . Anglo - Sax. tomb of her father Angantyr was trans

lated in prose by Dr. Hickes. It was [ At the close of this Dissertation the republished with emendations by Dr. reader will find the original ode and a Percy in 1763, andhas sincebeenclosely nearly literal version of it . The trans- and paraphrastically versified by Mr. lation in the text was made fromthe Mathias and Miss Seward . - Park.] p . 181. DISSERTATION I. fallen into this measure, and it was probably more easi.y suited to the voice or harp. Their versification for the most part seems to have been that of the Runic poetry. As literature, the certain attendant, as it is the parent, of true religion and civility, gained ground among the Saxons, poetry no longer remained a separate science, and the profes sion of bard seems gradually to have declined among them : I mean the bard under those appropriated characteristics, and that peculiar appointment, which he sustained among the Scan dinavian pagans. Yet their national love ofverse and music still so strongly predominated, that in the place of their old scalders a new rank of poets arose, called GLEEMEN Or Harpers ". These probably gave rise to the order of English Minstrels, who flourished till the sixteenth century. And here I stop to point out one of the principal reasons, why the Scandinavian bards have transmitted to modern times so much more of their native poetry, than the rest of their southern neighbours. It is true, that the inhabitants of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, —whether or no from their Asiatic ori gin, from their poverty which compelled them to seek their for tunes at foreign courts by the exercise of a popular art, from * the success of their bards, the nature of their republican go vernment, or their habits ofunsettled life, ---were more given to verse than any other Gothic, or even Celtic, tribe. But this is not all: they remained pagans, and retained their original manners, much longer than any oftheir Gothic kindred. They were not completely converted to christianity till the tenth cen tury ". Hence, under the concurrence however of some of the

• GLEEMAN answers to the Latin Jo- year 680, that female harpers were not CULATOR . Fabyan speaking of Blage- then uncommon . It is decreed that no

bride, an antient British king, famous bishop, or any ecclesiastic, shall keep or for his skill in poetry and music, calls have CITHARÆDAS, and it is added QUÆ him “ a conynge musicyan, called of the CUMQUE SYMPHONIACA ; nor permit plays Britons god of GLEEMEN . Chron. f. or sports, LUDOS VEL Jocos, undoubtedly xxxii. ed. 1533. This, Fabyan trans- mimical and gesticulatory entertain lated from Geoffrey of Monmouth's ac- ments, to be exhibitedinhis presence. count of the same British king, “ ut DEUS Malmesb. Gest. Pontif. lib , üi. p. 263. JOCULATORUM videretur. ” Hist. Brit. edit. vet. And Concil. Spelman. tom.l. lib . i. cap . 22. It cars from theinjunc- p. 159. edit. 1639. fol. tions given to the British church in the • See bishop Lloyd's Hist. Account of OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xlüi 1 t 1 $ S 1 ad 1 causes just mentioned, their scaldic profession acquired greater degrees of strength and of maturity; and from an uninterrupted possession through many ages of the most romantic religious superstitions, and the preservation of those rough manners which are so favourable to the poetical spirit, was enabled to produce, not only more genuine, but more numerous, compo sitions. True religion would have checked the impetuosity of their passions, suppressed their wild exertions of fancy, and ba nished that striking train of imagery, which their poetry de rived from a barbarous theology. This circumstance alsosug gests to our consideration, those superior advantages and op portunities arising from leisure and length of time, which they enjoyed above others, of circulating their poetry far and wide, of giving a general currency to their mode of fabling, of ren dering their skill in versification more universally and fami liarly known, and a more conspicuous and popular object of admiration or imitation to the neighbouring countries. Hence too it has happened, that modern times have not only attained much fuller information concerning their historical transac tions, but are so intimately acquainted with the peculiarities of their character. It is probable, that the Danish invasions produced a con siderable alteration in the manners of our Anglo- Saxon ances tors. Although their connections with England were transient and interrupted, and on the whole scarcely lasted two hun dred years, yet many of the Danish customs began to prevail among the inhabitants, which seem to have given a new turn to their temper and genius. The Danish fashion of excessive drinking, for instance, a vice almost natural to the northern nations, became só general among the Anglo- Saxons, that it was found necessary to restrain so pernicious and contagious a practice by a particular statute. Hence it seems likely, that so popular an entertainment as their poetry gained ground; es 1 ? De 20 13 3 Church Government Great Britain , p. 104. ♡ See Lambarde's Ar & c. chap. i. $. 11. 4to. Lond. 1684. chaionom . And Bartholin . ii. c. xii. And Crymog. Arngrim . L. i. cap . 10. p. 542. xliv DISSERTATION I. 11pecially if we consider, that in their expeditions against Eng lạnd they were of course attended by many northern scalds, who constantly made a part of their military retinue, and whose lan guage was understood by the Saxons. Rogwald, lord of the Or cades, who was also himself a poet, going on an expedition into Palestine, carried with him two Islandic bards . The noble ode, called in the northern chronicles the Elogium or Hacon ', king of Norway, was composed, on a battle in which that prince with eight of his brothers fell, by the scald Eyvynd ; who for his su perior skill in poetry was called the Cross of Poets, [ Eyvindr Odin . ” 9 01. Worm . Lit. Run. p. 195. edit. besprinkled and running down with 1636 . blood. At the sight of Odin , he cries " In this ode are these very sublime out, Ah ! how severe and terrible does imageries and prosopopeias. this god appear to me ! ” “ The goddesses who preside over bat- “ The hero Brago replies, Come, thou tles come, sent forth by Odin. Theygo that wast the terror of the bravest war to choose among the princes of the illu- riors : Come hither, and rejoin thine strious race of Yngvon a man who is to eight brothers : the heroes who reside perish, and to go to dwell in the palace here shall live with thee in peace : Go, of the gods." drink Ale in the circle of heroes.” “ Gondula leaned on the end of her “ But this valiant king exclaims, I will lance, and thus bespoke her companions. still keep my arms: a warrior ought The assembly of the gods is going tobe carefullyto preserve his mail and helmet: increased : the gods invite Hacon, with it is dangerous to be a moment without his numerous host, to enter the palace of the spear in one's hand . ” . “ The wolf Fenris shall burst his “ Thus spake these glorious nymphs chains and dartwith rage upon his ene of war : who were seated on theirhorses, mies, before so brave a king shall again who were covered with their shields and appear upon earth ,” & c . helmets, and appeared full of some great Snorron. Hist. Reg. Sept. i. p. 163. thought. ” This ode was written so early as the “ Hacon heard their discourse. Why, year 960. There is a great variety and said he, why hast thou thus disposed of boldness in the transitions. An action the battle ? Were we not worthy to have is carried on by a set of the most aweful obtained of the gods a more perfect vic- ideal personages, finely imagined. The tory ? It is we, she replied , who have goddesses of battle, Odin, his sons Her given it thee. It is we who have put mode and Brago, and the spectre of the thine enemies to fight.' deceased king, are all introduced, speak “ Now, added she, let us push forward ing and acting as in adrama. The pa our steeds across those green worlds, negyric is nobly conducted , and arises which are the residence of the gods. outof the sublimity of the fiction. Let us go tell Odinthat the king iscom- [ A somewhat different version of the ing to visit him in his palace,' aboveode is printed in Percy's Five Runic When Odinheard this news, he said , pieces. By the wolf Fenris, be observes , Hermode and Brago, my sons, go to the northern nations understood a kind of meet the king : a king, admired by all demon, or evil principle, at enmity with men for his valour, approaches to our the gods, who though atpresent chained hall. ” up from doing mischief, was hereafter to " At length king Hacon approaches; break loose and destroy the world . See and arriving from the battle is still all Edda. -Park .] OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xlv Skálldaspillir * ,] and fought in the battle which he celebrated . Hacon earl of Norway was accompanied by five celebrated bards in the battle of Jomsburgh : and we are told, that each of them sung an ode to animate the soldiers before the engage ment began s . They appear to have been regularly brought into action. Olave, a king of Norway, when his army was pre pared for the onset, placed three scalds about him, and ex claimed aloud, “ You shall not only record in your verses what you have heard, but what you have seen.” They each deli vered an ode on the spot . These northern chiefs appear to have so frequently hazarded their lives with such amazing in trepidity, merely in expectation of meriting a panegyric from their poets, the judges, and the spectators of their gallant be haviour. That scalds were common in the Danish armies when they invaded England, appears from a stratagem of Alfred ; who, availing himself of his skill in oral poetry and playing on the harp, entered the Danish camp habited in that character, and procured a hospitable reception . This was in the year 8784. Anlafft, a Danish king, used the same disguise for recon noitring the camp of our Saxon monarch Athelstan : taking his station near Athelstan's pavilion, he entertained the king and his chiefs with his verses and music, and was dismissed with an honourable reward w. As Anlaff's dialect must have discovered him to have been a Dane; here is a proof, of what I shall bring more, that the Saxons, even in the midst ofmu tual hostilities, treated the Danish scalds with favour and re spect. That the Islandic bards were common in England u [ Skalldaspillir, poetarum alpha, cui he spoke the dialect of his province, or omnes invident poetæ .] what Hickes calls the Dano- Saxon .

• Bartholin . p. 172. Edit. ]

Olaf. Sag. apud Verel. ad Herv. W Malmesb . ii. 6. I am aware, that Sag . p. 178. Bartholin . p. 172. the truth ofboth these anecdotes respect Ingulph. Hist. p. 869. Malmesb . ii . ing Alfred and Anlaff has been contro c. 4. p. 43. verted. But no sufficient argument has + ( This is the same Anlaf mentioned yet been offered for pronouncing them above, p. xxxix. Though of Danish de- spurious, or even suspicious. See an in scent, yet as his family had possessed the genious Dissertation in the ARCHÆO throne of North -humbria for more than LOGIA, vol. ii . p. 100. seq. A. D. 1773, one generation, it is most probable that 4to. xlvi DISSERTATION I. during the Danish invasions, there are numerous proofs. Egill, a celebrated Islandic poet, having murthered the son and many of the friends of Eric Blodoxe, king of Denmark or Norway, then residing in Northumberland, and which he had just con quered, procured a pardon by singing before the king, at the command of his queen Gunhilde, an extemporaneous ode * . Egill compliments the king, who probably was his patron , with the appellation of the English chief. “ I offer my freight to the king. I owe a poem for my ransom . I present to the ENGLISH CHIEF the mead of Odiny." Afterwards he calls this Danish conqueror the commander of the Scottish fleet. “The commander of the Scottish fleet fattened the ravenous birds. The sister of Nera ( Death ] trampled on the foe : she trampled on the evening food of the eagle.” The Scots usuallyjoined the Danish or Norwegian invaders in their attempts on the northern parts of Britain 2 : and from this circumstance a new argument arises, to show the close communication and alliance which must have subsisted between Scotland and Scandinavia . Egill, although of the enemy's party * , was a singular favourite of king Athelstan. Athelstan once asked Egill how he escaped due punishment from Eric Blodoxe, the king of Northumber land, for the very capital and enormous crime which I have just mentioned. On which Egill immediately related the whole of that transaction to the Saxon king, in a sublime ode still extanta. On another occasion Athelstan presented Egill with two rings, and two large cabinets filled with silver ; promising at the same time, to grant him any gift or favour which he should choose to request. Egill, struck with gratitude, imme diately composed a panegyrical poem in the Norwegian lan

• SeeCrymogr. Angrim . Jon. lib . ii. * [ Egill fought on Athelstan's side,

pape see oel. Worm . Lit. Run. p. 227. Brunanburh.- Edır.) and did signal service in the battle at 195. All the chiefs of Eric were also a Torfæus Hist. Orcad. Præfat. “ Rei present at the recital of this ode, which statim ordinem metronunc satis obscuro is in a noble strain . exposuit. " Torfæus adds, which is much ? See the Saxon epinicion in praise of to our purpose, “ nequaquam ita narra king Athelstan, supr. citat. Hen. Hun- turus NON INTELLIGENTI. ting. 1. v. p. 203. 204. OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. xlyä guage, then common to both nations, on the virtues of Athel stan, which the latter as generously requited with two marcs of pure goldb. Here is likewise another argument, that the Saxons had no small esteem for the scaldic poetry. It is highly reasonable to conjecture, that our Danish king Canute, a po tentate of most extensive jurisdiction , and not only king of England, but of Denmark, Sweden , and Norway, was not without the customary retinue of the northern courts, in which the scalds held so distinguished and important a station . Human nature, in a savage state, aspires to some species of merit, and in every stage of society is alike susceptible of flattery, when addressed to the reigning passion. The sole object of these northern princes was military glory. It is certain that Canute delighted in this mode of entertainment, which he patronized and liberally rewarded. It is related in KNYTLINGA - SAGA, or Canute's History, that he commanded the scald Loftunga to be put to death, for daring to comprehend his atchievements in too concise a poem. “ Nemo," said he, “ ante te, ausus est de me BREVES CANTILENAS componere. ” A curious picture of the tyrant, the patron, and the barbarian, united ! But the bard extorted a speedy pardon, and with much address, by producing the next day before the king at dinner an ode of more than thirty strophes, for which Canute gave him fifty marcs of pu rified silverc. In the mean time, the Danish language began to grow perfectly familiar in England. It was eagerly learned by the Saxon clergy and nobility, from a principle of ingra tiating themselves with Canute: and there are many manuscripts now remaining, by which it will appear, that the Danish runes were much studied among our Saxon ancestors under the reign of that monarchd. The songs of the Irish bards are by some conceived to be b Crymog. Arn . Jon. p. 129. ut supr. you not ashamed to do what none but · Bartholin. Antiquit. Danic. lib. i. yourself has dared, to write a short poem cap. 10. p. 169, 170 . See KNYTLINGA- upon me ? Unless by to -morrow's din SAGA, in Catal. Codd . MSS. Bibl. ner you produce above thirty strophes on Holm. Hickes. Thesaur. ii , 312. the same subject, your head shall be the [ Canute's threat - for hedid not“ com- penalty .” Hist. of Anglo - Saxons, vol.i. mand the scald to be put to death ” -is p. 437. The result was as Warton states. thus translated by Mr. Turner : “ Are -EDIT.] d Hickes, ubi supr. i . 134 , 136. xlviii DISSERTATION 1. strongly marked with the traces of scaldic imagination ; and these traces, which will be reconsidered, are believed still to survive among a species of poetical historians, whom they call TalE - TELLERS, supposed to be the descendants of the original Irish bards . A writer of equal elegance and veracity relates, 6 that a gentleman of the north of Ireland has told me of his own experience, that in his wolf -huntings there, when he used to be abroad in the mountains three or four days together, and laid very ill a -nights, so as he could not well sleep, they would bring him one of these TALE - TELLERS, that when he lay down would begin a story of a King , or a gyant, a DWARF, and a DAMOSELF." These are topics in which the Runic poetry is said to have been greatly conversant. e We are informed by the Irish histo- countries, in the lowest station . “ Fugi rians, that saint Patrick , when he con- tivos, BARDOS, otio addictos, scurras et verted Ireland to the Christian faith , de- hujusmodi hominum genus, loris et fla stroyed three hundred volumes of the gris cædunto .” Apud Hector. Boeth. songs of the Irish bards. Such was their Lib. x. p. 201. edit. 1574. But Salma dignity in this country, that they were sius very justly observes, that for BARDOS permitted to wear a robe of the sameco- we should read Vargos, or Vergos, i . e . lour with that of the royal family. They Vagabonds. were constantly summoned to a triennial [ Such, said the late ingenious Mr. festival; and the most approved songs Walker, was the celebrity of the Irish delivered at this assembly were ordered music, that the Welsh bards condescend to be preserved in the custody of the ed to receive instructions in their mu king's historianor antiquary. Many of sicalart from thoseof Ireland . Gryffydd these compositions are referredto by ap Conan, king of North Wales, about Keating, as the foundation of his History the time that Stephen was king of Eng of Ireland. Ample estates were appro- land, determined to reform the Welsh priated to them, that they might live in bards, and brought over many Irish à condition of independence and ease. bardsfor that purpose. This Gryffydd, . The profession washereditary; but when according to the intelligent Mr. Owen, a bard died , his estate devolved not to was a distinguished patron of the poets his eldest son , but such of his family and musicians of his native country ,and as discovered the most distinguished ta- called several congresses, wherein laws lents for poetry and music. Every prin- were established for the better regulation cipal bard retained thirty of inferior of poetry and music, as well as of such note, as his attendants ; and a bard of as cultivated those sciences. These con the secondary class was followed by a re- gresses were open to the people ofWales, tinue of fifteen . They seem to have been as well as of Ireland and Scandinavia, at their height in the year 558. See and professors from each country at Keating's History of Ireland, p. 127. tended : whence whatwasfound peculiar 132. 370. 380. And Pref. p. 23. None to one people, and worthy of adoption , of their poems have been translated. was received and established in the rest. There is an article in the Laws of Ke Hist. Mem. of Irish Bards, p. 103. 'neth king of Scotland, promulged in the Cambrian Biogr. p . 145. – Park .] year 850, which places the bards of Scot- f Sir W. Temple's Essays, part iv. land, who certainly were held in equal p. 349. esteem with those of the neighbouring OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . xlix nd to na! his sed uld W2 da aid thao Jeth . 104 ܘܳܐܶ Nor is it improbable that the Welsh bards& might have been acquainted with the Scandinavian scalds. I mean before their communications with Armorica, mentioned at large above. The prosody of the Welsh bards depended much on allitera tion h. Hence they seem to have paid an attention to the scaldic versification . The Islandic poets are said to have carried alli teration to the highest pitch of exactness in their earliest pe riods: whereas the Welsh bards of the sixth century used it but sparingly, and in a very imperfect degree. In this circum stance a proof of imitation, at least of emulation, is implied i . There are moreover, strong instances of conformity between & The bards of Britain were originally Cumbrian, or the Strathcluyd Britons. a constitutional appendage of the druidi- Among other British institutions grown cal hierarchy. In the parish of Llani- obsolete among them , they seemto have dan in the isle of Anglesey, there are still lost the use of hards ; at least there are to be seen the ruins of an arch - druid's no memorials of any they had, nor any mansion, which they call Trer Drew , of their songs remaining : nor do the that is the DRUID'S MANSION . Near it Welsh or Cumbrian poets ever touch are marks of the habitations of the sepa- upon any t.ansactions that passed in rate conventual societies, which were those countries, after they were relin under his immediate orders and inspec- quished by the Romans. tion . Among these is TRER BEIRD, or, And here we see the reason why the as they call it to this day, the HAMLET Welsh bards flourished so muchand so OF THE BARDS. Rowland's Mona, p. 83. long. But moreover the Welsh, kept in Butso strong was the attachment awe as they were by the Romans, ha of the Celtic nations, among which we rassed by the Saxons, and eternally jea reckon Britain, to poetry, that, amidst lous of the attacks, the encroachments, all the changes ofgovernment andman- and the neighbourhood of aliens, were ners , even long after the order of Druids on this account attached to their Celtic was extinct, and the national religion manners : this situation, and these cir altered, the bards, acquiring a sort of cumstances, inspired them with a pride civil capacity, and a new establishment, and an obstinacy for maintaining a na still continued to flourish . And with tional distinction, and for preserving regard to Britain , the bardsflourished their antient usages, among which the most in those parts ofit, which most bardic professionis so eminent. strongly retained their native Celtic cha- h See vol. ii. p. 148. The Britons living in those i I am however informed by a very in countries that were between the Trentor telligent antiquary in British literature, Humber and the Thames, by far the that there aremanifest marks of allitera greatest portion of this island, in the tion in some druidical fragments still re midst of the Romangarrisons and colo- maining, undoubtedly composed before nies, had been so long inured to the the Britons could have possibly mixed in customs of the Romans, that they pre- the smallest degree with any Gothic na served very little of the British ; and tion . Rhyme is likewise found in the fron this long and habitual intercourse, British poetryat the earliest period, in before the fifth century , they seem to those druidical triplets called ENGLYN have lost their original language. We Milwr, or the WARRIOR's Song, in cannot discover the slightest trace, in the which every verse is closed with a con poems of the bards, the Lives of the sonant syllable. See a metrical Druid British saints, or any other antient mo- oracle in Borlase's Antiquit. Cornwall. nument, that they held any correspon . B. iii. ch . 5. p. 185. edit. 1769. dence with the Welsh , the Cornish, the VOL. I. d 88. ME nst end Syd Tout ne. adh DED racter .

2 t 1!

1 DISSERTATION 1 . Sh50altreWlatWfrbeththe manners of the two nations ; which, however, may be ac counted for on general principles arising from our comparative observations on rude life. Yet it is remarkable that mead, the northern nectar, or favourite liquor of the Goths ", who seem to have stamped it with the character of a poetical drink, was no less celebrated among the Welsh . The songs of both na tions abound with its praises: and it seems in both to have been alike the delight of the warrior and the bard. Taliessin , as Lhuyd informs us, wrote a panegyrical ode on this inspiring beverage of the bee; or, as he translates it, De Mulso seu HYDROMELIK. In Hoel Dha's Welsh laws, translated by Wotton, we have, “ In omni convivio in quo MULSUM bibitur !. ” From which passage, it seems to have been served up only at high festivals. By the same constitutions, at every feast in the king's castle - hall, the prefect or marshal of the hall is to receive from the queen, by the hands of the steward, a HORN OF MEAD. It is also ordered, among the privileges annexed to the office of prefect of the royal-hall, that the king's bard shall sing to him as often as he pleases . One of the stated officers of the king's houshold is CONFECTOR Mulsi : and this officer, together with the master of the horse ", the master of the hawks, the V C2STteGLEish And of the antient Franks. Gre- TOM BARE. In the Saxon canons given gory of Tours mentions a Frank drink- by king Edgar, about theyenr 960, it is ing thisliquor; andadds, that he ac- ordered, that no priest shall be a poet, or quired this habit from the BARBAROUs or exercise the MIMICAL or histrionical art in Frankish nations. Hist. Franc. lib. viii. , any degree, either in public or private. c . 33. p . 404. ed . 1699. Paris. fol. Can. 58. Concil. Spelman, tom. i . p . 455. i See vol. ii . p. 264. edit. 1639. fol. In Edgar's Oration to k Tanner Bibl. p. 706 . Dunstan , the MIMI, Minstrels, are said · LEG. Wall. L. i . cap. xxiv. p. 45. both to sing and dance. Ibid. p. 477. m Ibid. L. i . cap. xii, p. 17. Much the same injunction occurs in the * When the king makes a present of Saxon Laws of the NorthUMBRIAN a horse, this officer is to receive a fee ; PRIESTS, given in 988. Cap. xli. ibid. ' but not when the present is ' made to a p. 498. MIMUS seems sometimes to have bishop, the master of the hawks, or to signified The Fool. As in Gregoryof the Mimus. The latter is exempt, on Tours, speaking of the Mimus of Miro account of the entertainment he afforded a king of Gallicia : “ Erat enim MIMUS the court at being presented with a horse REGIS, qui ei per VERBA JOCULARIA LÆ by the king : the horse is to be led out TITIAM erat solitus EXCITARE. Sed non of the hallwithcapistrum testiculis alli- cum adjuvit aliquis cachinnus, neque gatum . Ibid . L. i. cap. xvii. p. 31. præstigiis artis suæ, ” &c. Gregor. Tu MIMUS seems here to be a MIMIC, or a ronens. MIRACUL. S. Martin . lib. iv . gesticulator. Carpentier mentions a cap. vii. p. 1119. Opp. Paris. 1699. fol. “ JOCULATOR qui sciebat TOMBARE, to edit . Ruinart. tumble.” Cang. Lat. Gloss. Suppl. V. 9 OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. li 2 P ) S 1 S 1 >> t be re D. he to de smith of the palace ', the royal bardP, the first musician ", with some others, have a right to be seated in the hall. We have already seen , that the Scandinavian scalds were well known in Ireland : and there is sufficient evidence to prove, that the Welsh bards were early connected with the Irish. Even so late as the eleventh century, the practice continued among the Welsh bards, of receiving instructions in the bardic profession from Ireland . The Welsh bards were reformed and regulated by Gryffyth ap Conan, king of Wales, in the year 1078. At the same time he brought over with him from Ireland many Irish bards, for the information and improvement ofthe Welsh . • Heis to work free : except for mak- cap. xix. p. 35. Mention is made of ing the king's cauldron, the iron bands, the bard who gains the Chair in the and other furniture for his castle - gate, hall. Ibid. Artic . 5. After a contest and the iron-work for his mills. Leg. of bards in the hall, the bard who gains Wall. L. i. cap. xliv . p. 67. the chair, is to give the JUDGE OF THE p By these constitutions, given about #ALL, another officer , a horn, ( cornu the year 940, the bard of the Welsh bubalinum ) a ring, and the cushion of kings is a domestic officer. Theking is to his chair. Ibid . L. i. cap . xvi. p . 26 . allow him a horse and a woollen robe ; When the king rides out of his castle, and the queen a linen garment. The five bards are to accompany him. Ibid. prefect of the palace, or governor of the L. i. cap . viii. p. 11 . The Cornu Bu castle, is privileged to sit next him in balinum may be explained from a pas thehall, on the three principal feast days, sage in a poem , composed about the and to put the harp into his hand. On year 1160, by Owain Cyveiliog prince the three feast days he is to have the of Powis, which he entitled HỊRLAS, steward's robe for a fee. He is to at- from a large drinking -horn so called, tend, if the queen desires a song in her used at feasts in his castle-hall. “ Pour chamber. An ox or cow is to be given out, o cup -bearer, sweet and pleasant out of the booty or prey ( chiefly consist- mead ( the spear is red in the time of ing of cattle) taken from the English by need) from the horns of wild oxen, the king'sdomestics : and while the prey coveredwith gold, to the souls of those is dividing, he is to sing the praises of departed heroes." Evans, p. 12. the British Kings or KINGDOM. If, By these laws the king's harp is to be when the king's domestics goout to make worth one hundred and twenty pence : depredations , he sings or plays before but thatof a gentleman , or one not a them , he is to receive the best bullock. vassal, sixty pence. The King's chess, When the king's army is in array , he is board is valued at the same price : to sing the Song of the British Kings. and the instrument for fixing or tuning When invested with his office, the king the strings of the king's harp, at twenty is to give him a harp, ( other constitutions four pence. His drinking -horn, at one say a chess-board ,) and the queen a ring pound. Ibid. L. iii. cap. vii. p . 265. of gold : nor is he to give away the harp 9 There are two musicians : the Mu on any account. When he goes out of sicus PRIMARIUS, who probably was a the palace to sing with other bards, he teacher, and certainly a superintendant, is to receive a doubleportion of thelar- over the rest ; and the HALL-MUSICIAN. gesse or gratuity. If he ask a gift or LEG. ut supr . L. i. cap. xlv. p. 68. favour of the king, he is to be fined by r « Jus cathedræ . ” Ibid. L. i. cap. x. singing ode or poem : if of a noble . p. 13. man or chief , three ; if of a vassal, he is s See Selden, Drayt. POLYOLB. S. ix . to sing him to sleep. LEG. Wall . L. i. pag. 156. S. iv. pag. 67. edit. 1613. fol. er de en NS 1 ED . 20 e d 2 lii DISSERTATION I. Powell acquaints us, that this prince “ brought over with him from Ireland divers cunning musicians into Wales, who devised in a manner all the instrumental music that is now there used : as appeareth , as well by the bookes written of the same, as also by the names of the tunes and measures used among them to this daiet. ” In Ireland, to kill a bard was highly criminal : and to seize his estate, even for the public service and in time of national distress, was deemed an act of sacrilege '. Thus in the old Welsh laws, whoever even slightly injured a bard, was to be fined six cows and one hundred and twenty pence. The murtherer of a bard was to be fined one hundred and twenty six cows " . Nor must I pass over, what reflects much light on this reasoning, that the establishment of the houshold of the old Irish chiefs, exactly resembles that of the Welsh kings. For, besides the bard, the musician, and the smith , they have both a physician , a huntsman, and other corresponding officers *. We must also remember, that an intercourse was necessarily produced between the Welsh and Scandinavians from the pi ratical irruptions of the latter : their scalds, as I have already remarked , were respected and patronised in the courts of those princes, whose territories were the principal objects of the Danish invasions. Torfæus expressly affirms this of the Anglo u

• Hist. of Cambr. p. 191. edit. so hardi to speak to him except it be

1584 . MUSICIANS to solace the emperor. " chap . Keating's Hist. Ireland, pag. 132. lxvii. p . 100. Here is another proof of W LEG. WALL. ut supr. L. i. cap. xix. the correspondence between theeastern pag . 35. seq. See also cap . xlv . p . 68. and northern customs: and this instance We find the same respect paid to the might be broughtas an argument of the bard in other constitutions. “ Qui Har- bardic institution being fetched from the PATOREM , &c. Whoever shall strike a east. Leo Afer mentions the Poeta HARPER who can harp in a public assem- curiæ of the Caliph's court at Bagdad, bly, shall compound with him bya com- about the year 990. De Med. et Philos. position of four times more, thanfor any Arab. cap. iv. Those poets were in other man ofthe same condition . " Legg. mostrepute among the Arabians, who Ripuariorumet Wesinorum . Linden- couldspeak extemporaneous verses to broch . Cod. LL. Antiq. Wisigoth. etc. the Caliph. Euseb . Renaudot. apud , A.D. 613. Tit. 5. § ult. Fabric. Bibl. Gr. xiii. p. 249. Thomson , The caliphs, andother eastern poten- in the CASTLE of INDOLENCE, mentions tates, had their hards: whom they treated the BARD IN WAITING being introduced with equal respect. Sir John Maun- to lull the Caliph asleep. And Maun deville,who travelled in1340 , says, that deville mentions MINSTRELLES as esta when the emperor of Cathay, or great blished officers in the court of the em Cham of Tartary, is seated at dinner in peror of Cathay. high pomp with his lords, “ no man is * See Temple, ubi supr. p. 346. OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. liii Saxon and Irish kings; and it is at least probable, that they were entertained with equal regard by the Welsh princes, who so frequently concurred with the Danes in distressing the En glish, It may be added, that the Welsh, although living in a separate and detached situation , and so strongly prejudiced in favour of their own usages, yet from neighbourhood, and un avoidable communications of various kinds, might have imbibed the ideas ofthe Scandinavian bards from the Saxons and Danes, after those nations had occupied and overspread all the other parts of our island. Many pieces of the Scottish bards are still remaining in the highlands of Scotland. Of these a curious specimen , and which considered in a more extensive and general respect, is a valuable monument of the poetry of a rude period, has lately been given to the world , under the title of the WORKS OF Ossian. It is indeed very remarkable, that in these poems, the terrible graces, which so naturally characterise, and so ge nerally constitute, the early poetry of a barbarous people, should so frequently give place to a gentler set of manners, to the social sensibilities of polished life, and a more civilised and elegant species of imagination, Nor is this circumstance, which disarranges all our established ideas concerning the savage stages of society, easily to be accounted for, unless we suppose, that the Celtic tribes, who were so strongly addicted to poetical composition, and who made it so much their study from the earliest times, might by degrees have attained a higher vein of poetical refinement, than could at first sight or on common principles be expected among nations, whom we are accustomed to call barbarous; that some few instances of an elevated strain of friendship, of love, and other sentimental feelings, existing in such nations, might lay the foundation for introducing a set of manners among the bards, more refined and exalted than the real manners of the country : and that panegyrics on those virtues, transmitted with improvements from bard to bard , must at length have formed characters of ideal excellence, which might propagate among the people real manners bordering on liv DISSERTATION I. the poetical. These poems, however, notwithstanding the dif ference between the Gothic and the Celtic rituals, contain many visible vestiges of Scandinavian superstition . The allusions in the songs of Ossian to spirits, who preside over the different parts and direct the various operations of nature, who send storms over the deep , and rejoice in the shrieks of the ship wrecked mariner, who call down lightning to blast the forest or cleave the rock, and diffuse irresistible pestilence among the people, beautifully conducted indeed, and heightened, under the skilful hand of a master bard, entirely correspond with the Runic system , and breathe the spirit of its poetry. One fiction in particular, the most EXTRAVAGANT in all Ossian's poems, is founded on an essential article of the Runic belief. It is where Fingal fights with the spirit of Loda. Nothing could aggran dise Fingal's heroism more highly than this marvellous encoun ter. It was esteemed among the antient Danes the most dar ing act of courage to engage with a ghosty. Had Ossian found it convenient to have introduced religion into his compositions , p. 260, y Bartholin . De Contemptu Mortis treasure, where it had been laid up from apud Dan. L.ii . c. 2. p. 258. And ibid. old times, “ being the workmanship of There are many other marks GALAN, the most excellent of all sword of Gothic customs and superstitions in smiths. ” Hoved . f. 444. ii . Sect. 50. Ossian. The fashion of marking the The mere mechanic, who is only men. sepulchres of their chiefs with circles of tioned as a skilful artist in history, be stones, corresponds with what Olaus comes a magician or a preternatural Wormius relates of the Danes. Monum. being in romance. Danic . Hafn . 1634. p. 38. See also [The sword - smith here recorded , is Ol. Magn. Hist. xvi. 2. In the HER- the hero of the Volundar-quitha in VARAR SAGA, the sword of Suarfulama Sæmund's Edda. He is called Weland is forged by the dwarfs, and called Tirf- in the poem of Beowulf; Welond by ing. Hickes, vol. i. p. 193. So Fingal's king Alfred in his translation of Boe sword was made by an enchanter, and thius; and Guielandus by Geoffrey of was called the son of Luno. And, Monmouth. Mr. Ellis affirms that he what is more, this Luno was the Vulcan is also spoken of in the Minstrelsy of of the north, lived in Juteland , and the Scottish Border. This has escaped made complete suits of armour for many me ; but it is to this circumstance, per of the Scandinavian heroes. See Temora, haps, that we are indebted for the intro B. vii. p. 159. Ossian, vol. ii . edit. duction of his name in the novel of Ke 1765. Hence the bards of both coun . nilworth . - Edit. ] tries made him a celebrated enchanter. * This perplexing and extraordinary By the way , the names of sword -smiths circumstance, I mean the absence of all were thought worthy to be recorded in religious ideas from thepoemsofOssian , history . Hoveden says, that when Geof- is accounted for by Mr. Macpherson frey of Plantagenet was knighted, they with much address, See DISSERTATION brought him a sword from the royal prefixed, vol. 1. p . viii . ix. edit. 1765, OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. lv not only a new source had been opened to the sublime, in de scribing the rites of sacrifice, the horrors of incantation, the solemn evocations of infernal beings, and the like dreadful su perstitions, but probably many stronger and more characteris tical evidences would have appeared, of his knowledge of the imagery of the Scandinavian poets. Nor must we forget, that the Scandinavians had conquered many countries bordering upon France in the fourth centurya. Hence the Franks must have been in some measure used to their language, well acquainted with their manners, and con versant in their poetry. Charlemagne is said to have delighted in repeating the most antient and barbarous odes, which cele brated the battles of antient kings6. But we are not informed whether these were Scandinavian, Celtic, or Teutonic poems. That is, pro b See also the elegant CRITICAL Disserta- queror of Varus, “ is yet sung among TION of the very judicious Dr. Blair, the barbarous nations. " vol. ii. p. 379 . bably among the original Germans. a Hickes. Thes . i. part ii. p . 4 . Annal. ii . And Mor. Germ . ii. 3. Eginhart. cap. viii. n. 34. Bartholin. Joannes Aventinus, a Bavarian, who i. c. 1o . p. 154. Diodorus Siculus says, wrote about the year 1520 , has a curious that the Gauls, who were Celts, deliver- passage, “ A great number of verses in ed the spoils won in battle , yet reeking praise of the virtues of Attila, are still with blood, to their attendants : these extant among us, patrio sermone more were carried in triumph, while an epini- majorum perscripta .” Annal. Boior. cial song was chanted, rulavíSoutes sį L. ii. p. 130. edit. 1627. He imme ädoymes Üpevov Štovíxsov. Lib. 5. p. 352. diately adds, “ Nam et adhuc vulgo See also p. 308. “ The Celts, says Ælian , CANITUR, et est popularibus nostris, et I hear, are the most enterprising of si LITERARUM RUDIBUS, notissimus. men : they make those warriors who die Again, speaking of Alexander the Great, bravely in fight the subject of songs, Tūv hesays, “ Boios eidem bellum indixisse Aspátw . ” Var. Hist. Lib. xxii. c. 23. ANTIQUIS CANITUR CARMINIBUS. " ibid . Posidonius gives us a specimen of the Lib. i . p. 25. Concerning king Bren manner of a Celtic bard . He reports, nus, says the same historian, “ Carmina that Luernius, a Celtic chief, was ac- vernaculo sermone facta legi in biblio customed , out.of a desire of popularity, thecis.” ibid. Lib. i. p. 16. and p. 26. to gather crouds of his peopletogether, And again, of Ingeram , Adalogerion, and to throw them goldand silver from and others of their ancient heroes, “ In his chariot. Oncehe was attended at a gerami et Adalogerionis nomina fre sumptuous banquet by oneoftheir bards, quentissime in fastis referuntur ; ipsos, whoreceived in reward for his song a more majorum, antiquis proavi celebra purse of gold. On this the bard re- runt carminibus, quæ in bibliothecis ex newed hissong, adding, to express his tant. Subsequuntur, quos patrio sermone patron's excessive generosity, this hyper- adhuc canimus,Laertes atque Ulysses.' bolical panegyric, “ The earth over ibid. Lib. i . p. 15. The same historian which his chariot-wheels pass, instantly also relates, that his countrymen had a brings forth gold and precious gifts to poetical history called the Book of He enrich mankind .” Athen. ROES, containing the atchievements of Tacitus says, that Arminius, the con- the German warriors. ibid. Lib. i . p. 18. lvi DISSERTATION I. roes , About the beginning of the tenth century, France was in vaded by the Normans, or NORTHERN -MEN, an army of ad See also ibid . Lib . vii. p. 432. Lib . i. See Bona , Rer . Liturg. ii. c . 4. Vos p . 9 . And many other passages to this sius, Theolog. Gentil. i. c. 2. 3. Matth . purpose. [ The reader who is desirousof Brouerius de Niedek, De Populor, vet . further information on this copious sub- et recent. Adorationibus, p. 31. And, ject, may consult Mr. von der Hagen's amongthe antient Norvegians, Erlingus republication of the “ Helden -buch," or Scacchius, before he attacked earl Si his « Grundriss zur Geschichte der gund, commanded his army to pronounce Deutschen Poesie." - EDIT.] Suffridus this formulary aloud, aud to strike their Petrus cites some old Frisian rhymes, shields. See Dolmerusad HIRD -SKRAAN , DeOrig. Frisior. l. iii. c. 2. Compare sive Jus Aulicum antiq .Norvegic. p. 51. Robertson's Hist. Charles V. vol. i. p . 413. edit. Hafn. 1673. Engelhusius, p . 235. edit. 1772. From Trithemius a in describing a battle with the Huns in German abbot and historian , who wrote the year 934, relates, that the christians about 1490 , we learn, that among the at the onset cried Kyrie eleison, but on antient Franks and Germans, it was an the other side, diabolica vox hiu , hiu, hiu , exercise in the education of youth, for auditur. Chronic. p. 1073. in tom . ii. them to learn to repeat and to sing Scriptor. Bruns. Leibnit. Compare verses of the atchievements of their he- Bed . Hist. Eccles. Anglican. lib . ii. Compend. Annal. L. i . p. ll . c. 20. And Schilterus, ubi supr. p. 17. edit. Francof. 1601. Probably these And Sarbiev . Od. 1. 24. The Greek were the poems which Charlemagne is church appears to have had a set ofmi said to have committed to memory. litary hymns, probably for the use of the Themostantient Theotisc or Teutonic soldiers, either inbattle or in the camp. ode I know, is an Epinicion published In a Catalogue of the manuscripts of the by Schilter, in the second volume of his library of Berne, there is “ Sylloge Tac THESAURUS ANTIQUITATUM TEUTONI- ticorum Leonis Imperatoris cui operi CARUM , written in the year 883. He en- finem imponunt HYMNI MILITARES qui titles it ΕΠΙΝΙΚΙΟΝ rhythmo Teutonico bus iste titulus, Ακολοθία ψαλλομένα επί Ludovico regi acclamatum cum North- κατευωδώσει και συμμαχία στράτε, ” & c. mannos annoDccccxxxi vicisset. It is in Catal. Cod. & c. p .600. SeeMeursius's rhyme, and in the four-lined stanza. It edit. of Leo's Tactics, c . xi. p. 155. was transcribed by Mabillon from a Lugd. Bat. 1612. 4to. But to return manuscript in the monastery of Saint to the main subject of this tedious note. Amand in Holland. I will give a spe- Wagenseil, in a letter to Cuperus, men cimen from Schilter's Latin interpreta- tions a treatise written by one Ernest tion , but not on account of the merit of Casimir Wassenback, I suppose a Ger the poetry. “ The king seized his shield man , with this title, “ De Bardis ac Bar and lance, galloping hastily. He truly ditu, sive antiquis Carminibus ac Canti wished to revengehimself on his adver- lenis veterum Germanorum Dissertatio, saries. Nor was there alongdelay : he cui junctusest de S. Annone Coloniensi found the Normans. He said , thanks archiepiscopo vetustissimus omnium be to God, at seeing what he desired. Germanorum rhythmus et monumen The king rushed on boldly, he first be- tum .” See Polen . Supplem . Thesaur. gun the customary song (rather, the holy Gronov. et Græv. tom . iv. p. 24. I do song, lioth frono ) Kyrie eleison , in which not think it wasever published. See they all joined . The song was sung, the Joach. Swabius, de Semnotheis veterum battle begun. The blood appeared in Germanorum philosophis. p. 8. And the cheeks of the impatient Franks. Sect. i. infr. p. 8. Pelloutier, sur la Every soldier took his revenge, but none Lang. Celt. part. i . tom . i. ch. xii. p.20. like Louis. Impetuous, bold ,” &c. As · [Mr. Warton in this note refers to Vos to the military chorus Kyrie eleison , it sius; but that author does not speak ofthe appears to have been used by the chris- Kyrie eleison as a war- cry, but merely tian emperors before an engagement. common invocation to the Deity as a OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. lvii venturers from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. And although the conquerors, especially when their success does not solely depend on superiority of numbers, usually assume the manners of the conquered , yet these strangers must have still further familiarised in France many of their northern fictions. From this general circulation in these and other countries, and from that popularity which it is natural to suppose they must have acquired, the scaldic inventions might have taken deep root in Europeº. At least they seem to have prepared the way for the more easy admission of the Arabian fabling about the ninth century, by which they were, however, in great measure, superseded. The Arabian fictions were of a more splendid nature, and better adapted to the increasing civility of the times. Less horrible and gross, they had a novelty, a variety, and a magnificence, which carried with them the charm of fascination . Yet it is probable, that many of the scaldic imaginations might have been blended with the Arabian. In the mean time, there is great reason to believe, that the Gothic scalds enriched their vein of fabling from this new and fruitful source of fiction , opened by the Arabians in Spain, and after wards propagated by the crusades. It was in many respects cogenial with their ownd : and the northern bards, who visited among the christians. - DOUCE. ]—[ But tween the poetry of the Scandinavians, Warton is perfectly correct as to thefact, the Teutonics, andthe Celts. As most though hemay have misquoted his au- of the Celtic and Teutonic nations were thority : Kyrie eleison cantantes more early converted to christianity, it is hard fidelium militum properantiuin ad bel- to find any of their native songs. But lum , saliendo ingressi sunt Rhenum ." I must except the poems of Ossian , Mirac. S. Verenæ, tom. i . Sept. p . 170 . which are noble and genuine remains of col. 2. Carpentier in voce . - Bede re- the Celtic poetry . cords a similar practice. “ Tunc subito © Of the long continuance ofthe Celtic Germanos signifer universos admonet et superstitions in the popular belief, see prædicat, utvoci suæ uno clamore re- what is said in the most elegant and ju spondeant securisque hostibus qui se in- dicious piece of criticism which the pre speratos adesse confiderent ALLELUIA ter- sent age has produced, Mrs. Montague's tio repetitum Sacerdotes exclamabant. Essay on SHAKESPEARE. p. 145. edit. Sequitur una vox omnium et elatum cla- 1772. morem repercusso aere montium conclu- a Besides the general wildness of the samultiplicant” &c. Beda, Lib. i. Eccl. imagery in both , among other particular Hist, Anglic. cap. XX. But see Schil. circumstances of coincidence which ter's notes tothis Epinicion, v..94; where might be mentioned here, the practice of other authorities are cited . --Edit. ] giving names to swords, which we find We must be careful to distinguish be- in the scaldic poems, occurs also among lviii DISSERTATION I. the countries where these new fancies were spreading, muist have been naturally struck with such wonders, and were cer tainly fond of picking up fresh embellishments, and new strokes of the marvellous, for augmenting and improving their stock of poetry. The earliest scald now on record is not before the year 750. From which time the scalds flourished in the north ern countries, till below the year 1157 €. The celebrated ode of Regner Lodbrog was composed about the end of the ninth century . And that this hypothesis is partly true, may be concluded from the subjects of some of the old Scandic romances, manu scripts of which now remain in the royal library at Stockholm . The titles of a few shall serve for a specimen ; which I will make no apology for giving at large. “ SAGAN AF HIALMTER oc Olwer. The History of Hialmter king of Sweden, son of a Syrian princess, and of Olver Jarl. Containing their expe ditions into Hunland, and Arabia, with their numerous en counters with the Vikings and the giants. Also their leagues the Arabians. In the HERVARAR SAGA, add, that from one, or both , of these the sword of Suarfulama is called Tirr- sources, king Arthur's sword is named Hickes. Thes. i. p. 193 . The in Geoffrey of Monmouth, Lib. ix. cap . names of swords of many of the old 11. Ron is also the name of his lance. northern chiefs are given us by Olaus ibid. cap. 4. And Turpin calls Charle. Wormius, Lit. Run . cap. xix. p. 110. magne's sword Gaudiosa. See Obs. 4to ed. Thus, Herbelot recites a long Spens. i. § . vi. p. 214. By the way, catalogue of the names of the swords of from these correspondencies, an argu the most famous Arabian and Persic ment might be drawn, to prove the ori warriors. V. Sair. p . 736. b. Mahometental origin of the Goths. And some had nine swords, all which are named. perhaps may think them proofs of the As were alsohis bows, quivers, cuirasses, doctrine just now suggested in the text, helmets, and lances. His swords were that the scalds borrowed from the Ara called The Piercing, Ruin , Death , &c. bians. Mod. Univ. Hist. i . p. 253. This is [ See a very curious description of common in the romance -writers and Gaileon's sword Duransard in the ro Ariosto . Mahomet's horses had also mance of « La plaisante et delectable pompous or heroic appellations. Such Histoire de Gerileon d'Angleterre,” as The Swift, The Thunderer, Shaking the Paris 1572. p. 47. A sword of a most earth with his hoof, The Red , & c . As like- enormous size is related by Froissart to wise his mules, asses, and camels. Horses have been used by Archibald Douglas. were named in this manner among the See Lib . ii. c . 10 .-- Douce .) Runic heroes. See Ol. Worm . ut supr. [ See also Taylor's Glory of Regality, p . 110. Odin's horse was callelSLEIPNER. p . 71.- Edit. ] See Edda Island. fab. xxi. I could give e Ol. Worm . Lit. Run. p. 241 , other proofs. But we have already wan- f Id. Ibid . p . 396. Vid. infr. p. 61 , dered too far, in what Spenser calls, this note º. delightfull londe of Faerie. Yet I must ING. OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . lix with Alsola, daughter of Ringer king of Arabia , afterwards married to Hervor king of Hunland, & c . — SAGAN AF Siod. The History of Siod, son of Ridgare king of England ; who first was made king of England, afterwards of Babylon and Niniveh . Comprehending various occurrences in Saxland, Ba bylon, Greece, Africa , and especially in Eiricel the region of the giants. — SAGAN AF ALEFLECK. The History of Alefleck, a king of England, and of his expeditions into India and Tar tary. — SAGAN AF ERIK WIDFORLA. The History of Eric the traveller, who, with his companion Eric, a Danish prince, un dertook a wonderful journey to Odin's Hall, or Oden's Aker, near the river Pison in India h.” Here we see the circle of the Islandic poetry enlarged ; and the names of countries and cities belonging to another quarter of the globe, Arabia, India, Tar tary, Syria, Greece, Babylon, and Niniveh, intermixed with those of Hunland , Sweden, and England, and adopted into the northern romantic narratives. Even Charlemagne and Arthur, whose histories, as we have already seen , had been so lavishly decorated by the Arabian fablers, did not escape the Scandinavian scaldsi. Accordingly we find these subjects among their Sagas. “ SAGAN AF ERIK EINGLANDS KAPPE. The History of Eric , son of king Hiac, ' king Arthur's chief wrestler.-- HISTORICAL RHYMES of king Arthur, containing his league with Charlemagne. - SAGAN AF Ivent. The History of Ivent, king Arthur's principal champion, contain ing his battles with the giants k. Sagan AF KARLAMAGNUSE 8 In the Latin EIRICÆA REGIONE . f . mans are said to have some very antient Erse or Irish land . narrative songs on our old British he Wanley, apud Hickes, iii. p. 314. roes , Tristram , Gawain , and the rest of seq : the knights Von der Tafel-ronde. See It is amazing how early and how uni- Goldast. Not. Vit. Carol. Magn. p. 207. versally this fable was spread. G. de la edit. 171 ) . Flamma says, that in the year 1339, an * They have also , “ BRETOMANNA antient tomb of a king of the Lombards SAGA,. The History of the Britons, from was broke up in Italy . On his sword was Eneas the Trojan to the emperor Con written , “ C'el est l'espée de Meser Tris- stantius. Wanl. ibid . There are many tant, un quioceist l’Amoroyt d’Yrlant." others, perhaps of later date, relating to i . e. “ This is the sword of sir Tris- English history, particularly the history tram , who killed Amoroyt of Ireland." of William the Bastard and other chris SCRIPT. ITAL. tom. xii . 1028. The Ger- tians, in their expedition into the holy lx DISSERTATION I. OF HOPPUM HANS. The History of Charlemagne, ofhis cham pions, and captains. Containing all his actions in several parts. 1. Of his birth and coronation : and the combat of Carvetus king of Babylon, with Oddegir the Dane '. 2. Of Aglandus king of Africa, and of his son Jatmund, and their wars in Spain with Charlemagne. 3. Of Roland , and his combat with Vil laline king of Spain. 4. Of Ottuel's conversion to christianity, and his marriage with Charlemagne's daughter. 5. OfHugh king of Constantinople, and the memorable exploits ofhis cham pions. 6. Ofthe wars of Ferracute king of Spain . 7. OfChar. lemagne's atchievements in Rouncevalles, and of his deathm .” In another of the Sagas, Jarl, a magician of Saxland, exhibits his feats of necromancy before Charlemagne. We learn from Olaus Magnus, that Roland's magical horn, of which archbi shop Turpin relates such wonders, and among others that it might be heard at the distance of twenty miles, was frequently celebrated in the songs of the Islandic bards " . It is not likely that these pieces, to say no more, were not composed till the Scandinavian tribes had been converted to christianity ; that is, as I have before observed, about the close of the tenth century. These barbarians had an infinite and a national contempt for the christians, whose religion inculcated a spirit of peace, gen tleness, and civility ; qualities so dissimilar to those of their land . The history of the destruction of bus gemellos enixis ; et id genus alia. the monasteries in England, by William -pag. 87. Artic. v. Drama sgwrikov Rufus. Wanl. ibid. fol. in membran. Res continet ama [ It will perhaps be superfluous to re- torias, olim , ad jocum concitandum Is. mark, that all the Sagas mentioned in landica lingua scriptum.ibid. Artic. the text, are the production ofan age vii. The history of Duke Julianus, son long subsequent to the reign of William of S. Giles. Containing many things of Rufus. - Edır.] Earl William and Rosamund. In the In the history of the library at Upsal, antient Islandic. See OBSERVATIONS ON I find the following articles , which are THE FAIRY QUEEN, i. p . 203. 204. S. vi. left to the conjectures of the curious 1 Mabillon thinks, that Turpin first enquirer. Historia Biblioth. Upsalions. called this hero a Dane. But this notion per Celsium . Ups. 1745. 8vo. pag. 88. is refuted by Bartholinus, Antiq. Danic. Artic. vii. Variæ Britannorumfabulæ , ii. 13. p. 578. His old Gothic sword , quas in carmine conversas olim , atque SPATHA, and iron shield, are still pre in conviviis ad citharam decantari solitas served and shewn in a monastery of the fuisse, perhibent. Suntautem relationes north .Bartholin. ibid. p . 579. de GUIAMARO equite Britanniæ meri. Wanley, ut supr. p. 314. dionalis Æskeliod Britannis veteribus ^ See infr. Sect. iii. p. 136 . dictæ . De Nobilium duorum conjugi m OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. Ixi own ferocious and warlike disposition , and which they naturally interpreted to be the marks of cowardice and pusillanimityº. It has, however, been urged , that as the irruption of the Nor mans into France, under their leader Rollo, did not take place till towards the beginning of the tenth century, at which pe riod the scaldic art was arrived to the highest perfection in Rollo's native country, we can easily trace the descent of the French and English romances of chivalry from the Northern Sagas. It is supposed, that Rollo carried with him inany scalds from the north , who transmitted their skill to their chil dren and successors : and that these, adopting the religion, opinions, and language, of the new country, substituted the heroes of christendom , instead of those of their pagan ances tors, and began to celebrate the feats of Charlemagne, Roland, and Oliver, whose true history they set off and embellished with the scaldic figments of dwarfs, giants, dragons, and in chantments P. There is, however, some reason to believe, that these fictions were current among the French long before; and, if the principles advanced in the former part of this disserta tion be true, the fables adhering to Charlemagne's real history must be referred to another source . Let me add, that the inchantments of the Runic poetry are very different from those in our romances of chivalry. The former chiefly deal in spells and charms, such as would pre serve from poison, blunt the weapons of an enemy, procure victory, allay a tempest, cure bodily diseases, or call the dead from their tombs: in uttering a form of mysterious words, or inscribing Runic characters. The magicians of romance are o Regner Lodbrog , in his Dying ODE, the request of Aslaug, Lodbrog'swidow . speaking of a battle fought against the But Mr. Erichsen, the learned and ju. christians, says, in ridicule of the eucha- dicious editor of the Royal Mirror and rist, “ There we celebrated a Mass Gunlaug Ormstunga Saga, selected this [ Missu , Island.] of weapons. very expression (odda messu ) as a proof [ As the narrative of thisodeis couched of its later origin, and of the author in the first person, itwas for a long time beinga Christian. It is now usuallyas considered to be Regner's own produc- signed to the closeof the eleventh orbe tion . Amore sober spirit of criticism ginning ofthe twelfth century. Edit. ] afterwards referred it to Bragi hinn ga- Percy's Ess. Metr. Roin . p. viii. mall, who was said to have written it at Ixii DISSERTATION I. chiefly employed in forming and conducting a train of decep tions. There is an air of barbaric horror in the incantations of the scaldic fablers : the magicians of romance often present visions of pleasure and delight; and, although not without their alarming terrors, sometimes lead us through flowery forests, and raise up palaces glittering with gold and precious stones. The Runic magic is more like that of Canidia in Horace, the romantic resembles that of Armida in Tasso . The operations of the one are frequently but mere tricks, in comparison of that sublime solemnity of necromantic machinery which the other so awefully displays. It is also remarkable, that in the earlier scaldic odes, we find but few dragons, giants, and fairies *. These were introduced afterwards, and are the progeny of Arabian fancy. Nor indeed do these imaginary beings often occur in any of the composi tions which preceded the introduction of that species of fabling. On this reasoning, the Irish tale - teller mentioned above, could not be a lineal descendant of the elder Irish bards. The absence of giants and dragons, and let me add, of many other traces of that fantastic and brilliant imagery which composes the system of Arabian imagination, from the poems of Ossian, are a striking proof of their antiquity. It has already been sug gested , at what period, and from what origin, those fancies got footing in the Welsh poetry: we do not find them in the odes of Taliessin or Aneurinº. This reasoning explains an

• ( Withthe exception of the“ fairies," only excepted, among which was the bard this is strikingly incorrect. The Edda Aneurin himself, were slain . Iwill give and Beowulf , the earliest remains of a specimen. “ The men whose drink was

Northern poetry, make frequent men- mead, comely in shape, hastened to Catt tion of giants ( Jotva-kyn, Eotena-cyn, raeth . These impetuous warriors in the Etens-kin ) and dragons. The latter ranks, armed with red spears, long and speaks of both land and sea dragons, bending, began thebattle. Might I speak ( eord -draca, sæ -draca , earth -drake , sea- my revenge against the people of the drake . ) Deiri, I would overwhelm them , like a 4 Who flourished about the year 570. deluge, in one slaughter : for unheeding He has left a long spirited poem called I have lost a friend, who was brave in GODODIN, often alluded to by the later resisting his enemies. I drank of the Welsh bards, which celebrates a battle wine and metheglin of Mordai, whose. fought against the Saxons near Catt- spear was of huge size. In theshockof raeth, under the conduct of Mynnydawe the battle, he prepared food for the ea Eiddin , in which all the Britons, three When Cydwal hastened forward, a shout OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. Ixiii observation of an ingenious critic in this species of literature, and who has studied the works of the Welsh bards with much attention. 6. There are not such extravagant FLIGHTS in any poetic compositions, except it be in the EASTERN ; to which, as far as I can judge by the few translated specimens I have seen, they bear a near resemblance !. ” I will venture to say he does not meet with these flights in the elder Welsh bards. The beautiful romantic fiction, that king Arthur, after being wounded in the fatal battle of Camlan, was conveyed by an Elfin princess into the land of Faery, or spirits, to be healed of his wounds, that he reigns there still as a mighty potentate in all his pristine splendour, and will one day return to resume his throne in Britain , and restore the solemnities of his champions, often occurs in the antient Welsh bards s . But not in the most an arose : before the yellow morning, when with blood . Their hands glutted the he gave the signal, he broke the shield throats of the dark-brown eagles, and into small splinters. The men hastened skilfully prepared food for the ravenous to Cattraeth, noble in birth : their drink birds. Ofall thechiefs whowent to Catt was wine and mead out of golden cups. raeth with golden chains,” &c. This There were three hundred and sixty- poem is extremely difficult to be under three adorned with chains of gold ; but stood, being written,if not in the Pictish of those who, filled with wine, rushed language, at least in a dialect of the on to the fight, only three escaped, who Britons very different from the modern hewed their way with the sword , the Welsh . See the learned and ingenious warrior of Acron, Conan Dacarawd, Mr. Evans's, DISSERTATIO PE BARDIS, and I the bard Aneurin, red with blood , p. 68–75. otherwise I should not have survived to * Evans, ubi supr. Pref. p. iv. compose this song. When Caradoc s The Arabians call the Fairies Ginn, hastened to the war, he was the son of a and the Persians Peri. The former call wild hoar, in hewing down the Saxons; Fairy- land, Ginnistian, many beautiful a bull in the conflict of fight, he twisted cities of which they have described in the wood ( spear] from their hands. Gul- their fabulous histories. Sec Herbelot. rien saw not his father after he had lifted Bibl. Orient. Gian. p. 306. a . Genn. the glisteningmead in his hand. I praise p. 375. a. Peri. p . 701. b. all the warriors who thus met in the tend that the fairies built the city of battle, and attacked the foe with one Esthekar, or Persepolis. Id. in V. p. mind. Their life was short, but they 327. a. One of the most eminent of the have left a long regret to their friends. Oriental fairies was Mergian Peri, or Yet of the Saxons they slew more than Mergian the Fairy. Herbel. ut supr. V. There was many a mo- Peri, p. 702. a. THAHAMURATH, p. 1017. ther shedding tears. The song is due to a . This was a good fairy, and imprison thee who hast attained thehighest glory : ed for ages in a cavern by the giant thou who was like fire, thunder and Demrusch, from which she was deliver storm : 0 Rudd Fedell, warlike cham- ed by Thahamurath , whom she after pion, excellent in might, you still think wards assisted in conquering another of the war . The noble chiefs deserve to giant, his enemy. Id. ibid . And this is be celebrated in verse, who after the fight the fairy or elfin queen , called inthe made the rivers to overflow their banks French romances MoRGAIN LE Far, They pre seven . Ixiv DISSERTATION I. tient. It is found in the compositions of the Welsh bards only, who flourished after the native vein of British fabling had been tinctured by these FAIRY TALES, which the Ara bians had propagated in Armorica, and which the Welsh had received from their connexion with that province of Gaul. Such a fiction as this is entirely different from the cast and complexion of the ideas of the original Welsh poets. It is easy to collect from the Welsh odes, written after the tenth century, many signatures of this Exotic imagery. Such as, 6 Their assault was like strong lions. He is valourous as a lion, who can resist his lance ? The dragon of Mona's sons were so brave in fight, that there was horrible consterna tion, and upon Tal Moelvre a thousand banners. Our lion has brought to Trallwng three armies. A dragon he was from the beginning, unterrified in battle. A dragon of Ovain. Thou art a prince firm in battle, like an elephant. Their assault was as of strong lions. The lion of Cemais fierce in the onset, when the army rusheth to be covered with red. He saw Llew ellyn like a burning dragon in the strife of Arson. He is furious in fight like an outrageous dragon. Like the roaring of a furious lion, in the search of prey, is thy thirst of praise.” Instead of producing more proofs from the multitude that might be mentioned , for the sake of illustration of our argument, I will contrast these with some of their natural unadulterated thoughts. “ Fetch the drinking -horn , whose gloss is like the wave of the sea . Tudor is like a wolf rushing on his prey. They were all covered with blood when they returned, and the high hills and the dales enjoyed the sun equally . Othou virgin, that shinest like the snow on the brows of Aranu : like the fine spiders webs on the grass on a summer's day. The army at Offa's dike panted for glory, the soldiers of Venedotia, and the men of London , were as the alternate motion of the waves on Morgain the fairy, who preserved king tainous a country as Wales. This cir Arthur. See Obs. on Spenser's Fairy cumstance of time added to the merit of Queen , i. 63. 65. S. ii. the action .

• A beautiful periphrasis for noon- " The high mountains in Merioneth day, and extremely natural in so moun- shire .

OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. lxv was the sea - shore, where the sea -mew screams. The hovering crows were numberless : the ravens croaked, they were ready to suck the prostrate carcases. His enemies are scattered as leaves on the side of hills driven by hurricanes. He is a warrior like a surge on the beach that covers the wild salmons. Her eye piercing like that of the hawk w : her face shone like the pearly dew on Eryrix. Llewellyn is a hero who setteth castles on fire. I have watched all night on the beach, where the sea gulls, whose plumes glitter, sport on the bed of billows; and where the herbage, growing in a solitary place, is of a deep greeny.” These images are all drawn from their own country, from their situation and circumstances ; and, although highly poetical, are in general of a more sober and temperate colour ing. In a word, not only that elevation of allusion, which many suppose to be peculiar to the poetry of Wales, but that fertility of fiction, and those marvellous fables recorded in Geoffrey of Monmouth, which the generality of readers, who do not sufficiently attend to the origin of that historian's ro mantic materials, believe to be the genuine offspring of the Welsh poets, are of foreign growth. And, to return to the ground of this argument, there is the strongest reason to suspect, that even the Gothic Edda, or system of poetic my thology of the northern nations, is enriched with those higher strokes of oriental imagination, which the Arabians had com municated to the Europeans. Into this extravagant tissue of unmeaning allegory, false philosophy, and false theology, it was easy to incorporate their most wild and romantic conceptions 2 . See infr. Sect. xiii. vol. ii. p. 216. and traditions in the old Runic poems,

• Mountains of snow, from Eiry, by Sæmund Sigfusson, surnamed the Learned , [ Sage] aboutthe year 1057. He y See Evans, ubi supr. p. 8. 10, 11 . seems to have made it his business to se

15, 16. 21 , 22, 23. 26. 28. 34. 37. 39, lect or digest into onebody such of these 40, 41 , 42. And his Diss. de Bard. pieces as were best calculated to furnish Compare Aneurin's ode, cited a collection of poetic phrases andfigures. He studied in Germany, and chiefly at z Huet is of opinion, that the Edda is Cologne. This first Edda being not entirely the production of Snorro's fancy. only prolix , but perplexed and obscure, But this is saying too much. See Orig. a second, which is that now extant, was Roman . p. 116. The first Edda was compiled by Snorro Sturleson , born in compiled, undoubtedly with many ad- the year 1179. ditions and interpolations, from fictions [ This has been copied from Mallet, w snow. p . 84. above . VOL. 1 . е Ixvi DISSERTATION I. It must be confessed , that the ideas of chivalry, the appen dage and the subject of romance, subsisted among the Goths. But this must be understood under certain limitations. There is no peculiarity which more strongly discriminates the man ners of the Greeks and Romans from those of modern times, than that small degree of attention and respect with which those nations treated the fair sex, and that inconsiderable share which they were permitted to take in conversation, and the general commerce of life. For the truth of this observation, we need only appeal to the classic writers : in which their women appear to have been devoted to a state of seclusion and ob scurity. One is surprised that barbarians should be greater masters of complaisance than the most polished people that ever existed . No sooner was the Roman empire overthrown, and the Goths had overpowered Europe, than we find the female character assuming an unusual importance and authority, and distinguished with new privileges, in all the European govern ments established by the northern conquerors. Even amidst the confusions of savage war, and among the almost incredible enormities committed by the Goths at their invasion of the empire, they forbore to offer any violence to the women . This perhaps is one of the most striking features in the new state of manners, which took place about the seventh century : and it who seems only to have seen the Edda successfully vindicated Snorro from the of Snorro as published by Resenius. charge of palming upon the world his The Edda of Sæmund has since been own inventions as the religious code of published at Copenhagen by the Arnæ- the North . Itshould however be remark Magnæan Commission. Thelabours of ed , that tradition alone or veryrecentma Sæmund were confined to collecting the nuscripts attribute the formation of the mythological and historical songs of his first collection to Sæmund . This does country , which he probably prefaced and not rest on certain testimony. - Edır.] interspersed with a few remarks in prose ; It is certain , and very observable, that --those of Snorro,to reducing thesame in the Edda we find much more of or a similar collection into a more intel- giants, dragons, and other imaginary ligible and connected prose narrative. beings, undoubtedly belonging to Ara The object of Sæmund appears to have bian romance , than in the earlier Scaldic been , the formation of apoetic Antho, odes. By the way, there are many logy, rather than a regular series ofmythic strokes in both the Eddas taken from and historic documents ;-- that of Snorro, the REVELATIONS of Saint John, which to offer a general outline of the Northern must come from the compilers who were mythology. The Rev. P. Erasmus Mül. Christians. ler, in his tract “ Ueber die Asalehre,” has OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. lxvii is to this period, and to this people, that we must refer the origin of gallantry in Europe. The Romans never introduced these sentiments into their European provinces. The Goths believed some divine and prophetic quality to be inherent in their women ; they admitted them into their coun cils, and consulted them on the public business of the state. They were suffered to conduct the great events which they pre dicted . Ganna, a prophetic virgin of the Marcomanni, a Ger man or Gaulish tribe, was sent by her nation to Rome, and admitted into the presence of Domitian, to treat concerning terms of peacey. Tacitus relates that Velleda, another Ger man prophetess, held frequent conferences with the Roman generals; and that on some occasions, on account of the sa credness of her person , she was placed at a great distance on a high tower, from whence, like an oracular divinity, she con veyed her answers by some chosen messenger 2. She appears to have preserved the supreme rule over her own people and the neighbouring tribes a. And there are other instances, that the government among the antient Germans was sometimes vested in the women . This practice also prevailed among the Sitones or Norwegians . The Cimbri, a Scandinavian tribe, were accompanied at their assemblies by venerable and hoary headed prophetesses, apparelled in long linen vestments of a splendid whited. Their matrons and daughters acquired a re verence from their skill in studying simples, and their knowledge of healing wounds, arts reputed mysterious. The wives fre quently attended their husbands in the most perilous expedi tions, and fought with great intrepidity in the most bloody en a y Dio. lib . lxvii. p. 761 . d Strab. Geograph. lib . viii. p.205. 2 Hist. lib . iv. p . 953. edit. D'Or- edit. Is. Cas. 1587. fol. Compare Keys lean . fol. ler, Antiquit. Sel. Septentrional. p. 371. He says just before, “ ea virgo late viz. DISSERTATIO de Mulieribus Fatidi imperitabat .” Ibid . p. 951. He saw her cis veterum Celtarum gentiumque Sep in the reign of Vespasian. DeMorib. tentrionalium . See also Cluverius'sGER German . p. 972. Where he likewise MANIA ANTIQUA, lib . i. cap. xxiv. pag.165. mentions Aurinia. edit. fol. Lugd. Bat. 1631. It were easy " See Tacit. Hist. lib. v. p. 969. ut to trace the WEIRD sisters, and our mo supr . dern witches, to this source . Ĉ De Morib . German , p. 983. ut supi . e 2 lxviii DISSERTATION I. gagements . These nations dreaded captivity, more on the account of their women , than on their own : and the Romans, availing themselves of this apprehension, often demanded their noblest virgins for hostages. From these circumstances, the women even claimed a sort of precedence, at least an equality subsisted between the sexes, in the Gothic constitutions. But the deference paid to the fair sex, which produced the spirit of gallantry, is chiefly to be sought for in those strong and exaggerated ideas of female chastity which prevailed among the northern nations. Hence the lover's devotion to his mis tress was encreased, his attentions to her service multiplied, his affection heightened, and his sollicitude aggravated, in pro portion as the difficulty of obtaining her was enhanced : and the passion of love acquired a degree of delicacy, when con trolled by the principles of honour and purity. The highest excellence of character then known was a superiority in arms ; and that rival was most likely to gain his lady's regard, who was the bravest champion. Here we see valour inspired by loye. In the mean time, the same heroic spirit which was the surest claim to the favour of the ladies, was often exerted in their protection : a protection much wanted in an age of ra pine, of plunder, and piracy ; when the weakness of the softer sex was exposed to continual dangers and unexpected attacks 8. It is easy to suppose the officious emulation and ardour of many a gallant young warrior, pressing forward to be fore p. 90 . events. ut supr. e See Sect. vii . infr. vol. ii. p. 88. among other rich presents, an inestima Diodorus Siculus says, that among the ble horn , on which were inlaid in gold Scythians the women are trained to war the images of Odin, Thor, and Freya :) as well as the men, to whom they are not and to the other, named Hramur, the inferior in strength and courage. L. ii. lady herself, and a drum, embossed with golden imagery, which foretold future f Tacit. de Morib. Germ . pag. 972. This piece, which is in Runic capital characters, was written before 8 See instances of this sort of violence the year 1000. Many stories of this in the antient HISTORY of HIALMAR, a kindmight be produced from the north Runic romance, p . 135, 136. 140. Diss. ern chronicles. Epist. ad calc. Hickes. Thesaur. vol. i. [ This “ History of Hialmar ” is a Where also is a challenge between two modern forgery. See the Rev. P. Mül champions for king Hialmar's daughter. ler's preface to Haldorsen's Islandic But the king composes the quarrel by Dictionary, where other “ figments ” of giving to one of them , named Ulfo, a similar kind are catalogued . --Edit. ] OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE . lxix most in this honourable service, which flattered the most agree able of all passions, and which gratified every enthusiasm of the times, especially the fashionable fondness for a wander ing and military life. In the mean time, we may conceive the lady thus won, or thus defended, conscious of her own im portance, affecting an air of stateliness : it was her pride to have preserved her chastity inviolate, she could perceive no merit but that of invincible bravery, and could only be ap proached in terms of respect and submission . Among the Scandinavians, a people so fond of cloathing ad ventures in verse, these gallantries must naturally become the subject of poetry, with its fictitious embellishments. Accord ingly, we find their chivalry displayed in their odes ; pieces, which at the same time greatly confirm these observations. The famous ode of Regner Lodbrog affords a striking instance ; in which , being imprisoned in a loathsome dungeon, and con demned to be destroyed by venomous serpents, he solaces his desperate situation by recollecting and reciting the glorious exploits of his past life. One of these, and the first which he commemorates, was an atchievement of chivalry. It was the delivery of a beautiful Swedish princess from an impregnable fortress, in which she was forcibly detained by one of her fa ther's captains. Her father issued a proclamation, promising that whoever would rescue the lady should have her in mar riage. Regner succeeded in the attempt, and married the fair captive. This was about the year 860h. There are other strokes in Regner's ode, which, although not belonging to this particular story, deserve to be pointed out here, as illus trative of our argument. Such as, “ It was [not *] like being placed near a beautiful virgin on a couch. -It was (not *] like kissing a young widow in the first seat at a feast. I made to h See Torf. Histor. Norw . tom . i , LODBROG's Saga. C. 5. apud Biorneri lib . 10. Saxo Grammat. p. 152. And Histor. Reg. Her. et Pugil. Res præ Ol. Worm . Lit. Run. p . 221. edit. 46. clar. gest. Stockholm . 1737. I suspect that the romantic amour be- * The original in bothpassages reads : tween Regner and Aslauga is the forgery Verat sem-It was not like. Edır. ) of a much later age. See REGNARA lxx DISSERTATION I. struggle in the twilight * that golden -haired chief, who passed his mornings among the young maidens, and loved to converse with widows. He who aspires to the love of young virgins, ought always to be foremost in the din of armsi. ” It is worthy of remark, that these sentiments occur to Regner'while he is in the midst of his tortures, and at the point of death . Thus many of the heroes in Froissart, in the greatest extre mities of danger, recollect their amours, and die thinking of their mistresses. And by the way, in the same strain, Boh, a Danish champion, having lost his chin , and one of his cheeks, by a single stroke from Thurstain Midlang, only reflected how he should be received, when thus maimed and disfigured, by the Danish girls. He instantly exclaimed in a tone of savage gallantry, “ The Danish virgins will not now willingly or easily give me kisses, if I should perhaps return homek.” But there is an ode, in the KNYTLINGA- SAGA, written by Ha rald the Valiant, which is professedly a song of chivalry; and which, exclusive of its wild spirit of adventure, and its images of savage life, has the romantic air of a set of stanzas composed by a Provencial troubadour. Harald appears to have been one of the most eminent adventurers of his age. He had killed the king of Drontheim in a bloody engagement. He had traversed all the seas, and visited all the coasts, of the north; and bad carried his piratical enterprises even as far as the Mediterranean, and the shores of Africa. He was at length taken prisoner, and detained for some time at Constan tinople. He complains in this ode, that the reputation he had acquired by so many hazardous exploits, by his skill in single

• [ Dr. Percy has it, “ in the twilight I saw retire the fair haired of death , ” which adds greatly to the sub- Maids- lad at morning,

limity of the passage. See the second of And soft -speaker of ( the) widow . Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, printed in 1763. The “ Chief ” was Harold Har- The person alluded to was Aurn, a fax, king of Norway.-- Park. ] prince of the Hebrides. Mr. Park pro ( Unhappily the Íslandic text makes bably means Harald Harfager, who was no mention of the “ twilight.” not born at the time. - Edit .] Hár -fagran sá ek hraukva, i St. 13. 14. 19. 23. Meyar-dreng at morgni, k Chron, Norveg. p. 136. Oc mál-vin eckio, OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. lxxi combat, riding, swimming, gliding along the ice, darting, row ing, and guiding a ship through the rocks, had not been able to make any impression on Elissiff, or Elisabeth, the beautiful daughter of Jarilas, king of Russia '. Here, however, chivalry subsisted but in its rudiments. Under the feudal establishments, which were soon afterwards erected in Europe, it received new vigour, and was invested with the formalities of a regular institution . The nature and circumstances of that peculiar model of government, were highly favourable to this strange spirit of fantastic heroism ; which, however unmeaning and ridiculous it may seem , had the most serious and salutary consequences in assisting the ge neral growth of refinement, and the progression of civilisation , in forming the manners of Europe, in inculcating the princi ples of honour, and in teaching modes of decorum . The ge nius of the feudal policy was perfectly martial. A numerous nobility, formed into separate principalities, affecting indepen dence, and mutually jealous of their privileges and honours, necessarily lived in a state of hostility. This situation rendered personal strength and courage the most requisite and essential accomplishments. And hence, even in time of peace, they had no conception of any diversions or public ceremonies, but such as were of the military kind. Yet, as the courts of these petty princes were thronged with ladies of the most eminent distinction and quality, the ruling passion for war was tempered with courtesy. The prize of contending champions was ad judged by the ladies ; who did not think it inconsistent to be present or to preside at the bloody spectacles of the times ; and who, themselves, seem to have contracted an unnatural and unbecoming ferocity, while they softened the manners of those valorous knights who fought for their approbation. The high notions of a noble descent, which arose from the condi tion of the feudal constitution, and the ambition of forming an alliance with powerful and opulent families, cherished this ro mantic system . It was hard to obtain the fair feudatary, who | Bartholin . p. 54. lxxii DISSERTATION I. 11 was the object of universal adoration. Not only the splendour of birth, but the magnificent castle surrounded with embattelled walls, guarded with massy towers, and crowned with lofty pinnacles, served to inflame the imagination, and to create an attachment to some illustrious heiress, whose point of honour it was to be chaste and inaccessible. And the difficulty -of success on these occasions, seems in great measure to have given rise to that sentimental love of romance, which acqui esced in a distant respectful admiration, and did not aspire to possession . The want of an uniform administration of justice , the general disorder, and state of universal anarchy, which naturally sprung from the principles of the feudal policy, pre sented perpetual opportunities of checking the oppressions of arbitrary lords, of delivering captives injuriously detained in the baronial castles, of punishing robbers, of succouring the distressed, and of avenging the impotent and the unarmed , who were every moment exposed to the most licentious insults and injuries. The violence and injustice of the times gave birth to valour and humanity. These acts conferred a lustre and an importance on the character of men professing arms, who made force the substitute of law. In the mean time, the crusades, so pregnant with enterprize, heightened the habits of this war like fanaticism . And when these foreign expeditions were ended, in which the hermits and pilgrims of Palestine had been defended, nothing remained to employ the activity of adven turers but the protection of innocence at home. Chivalry by degrees was consecrated by religion, whose authority tinctured every passion, and was engrafted into every institution, of the superstitious ages ; and at length composed that singular pic ture of manners, in which the love of a god and of the ladies were reconciled, the saint and the hero were blended, and charity and revenge, zeal and gallantry, devotion and valour, were united. Those who think that chivalry started late, from the nature of the feudal constitution , confound an improved effect with a simple cause. Not having distinctly considered all the parti OF THE ORIGIN OF ROMANTIC FICTION IN EUROPE. lxxiii cularities belonging to the genius, manners, and usages of the Gothic tribes, and accustomed to contemplate nations under the general idea of barbarians, they cannot look for the seeds of elegance amongst men distinguished only for their igno rance and their inhumanity. The rude origin of this heroic gallantry was quickly overwhelmed and extinguished by the superior pomp which it necessarily adopted from the gradual diffusion of opulence and civility, and that blaze of splendour with which it was surrounded, amid the magnificence of the feudal solemnities. But above all, it was lost and forgotten in that higher degree of embellishment which at length it began to receive from the representations of romance . From the foregoing observations taken together, the follow ing general and comprehensive conclusion seems to result : Amid the gloom of superstition, in an age of the grossest ignorance and credulity, a taste for the wonders of oriental fiction was introduced by the Arabians into Europe, many countries of which were already seasoned to a reception of its extravagancies by means of the poetry of the Gothic scalds, who perhaps originally derived their ideas from the same fruit ful region of intention. These fictions, coinciding with the reigning manners, and perpetually kept up and improved in the tales of troubadours and minstrels, seem to have centered about the eleventh century in the ideal histories of Turpin and Geoffrey of Monmouth , which record the supposititious at chievements of Charlemagne and king Arthur, where they formed the groundwork of that species of fabulous narrative called romance . And from these beginnings or causes, after wards enlarged and enriched by kindred fancies fetched from the crusades, that singular and capricious mode of imagination arose , which at length composed the marvellous machineries of the more sublime Italian poets, and of their disciple Spenser. NOTE B. ON THE LAIS OF MARIE DE FRANCE. [ See DISSERTATION I. page iii.] THE opinion advanced in this note [ d ], that the “ Lays of Brittany ” were written in French by bards of that province, was withdrawn in a subsequent volume. ( See vol. ii. p. 430, note A.) Since then , the poems of Marie have been published under the following title : “ Poésies de Marie de France, ou Recueil de Lais, Fables et autres Productions de cette Femme célèbre, par B. de Roquefort : Paris 1820. 2 vols. 8vo." In addition to the twelve Lays contained in the Harl. MS. ( cited above ), M. Roquefort has inserted the Lai de Graelent, given in Barbazan ( tom . iv. p. 157), and the Lai de l'Epine, analysed by Le Grand ( tom . iii . p. 244). We are not informed upon what authority these pieces are assigned to Marie, and it is pro bable that internal evidence alone has governed the editor in his decision. This is sufficiently striking to arrest the atten tion of a foreigner little acquainted with the niceties of the dia lect in which they are written : but the fact, if such, ought to have been stated . On the authority of a line which does not oc cur in M. Roquefort's copy, M. de la Rue is disposed to ascribe the Lai de l'Epine to Guillaume- le - Normand. Such an omis sion would not be extraordinary in different manuscripts of the same work , whether the result of accident or design : but M. Roquefort mentions the circumstance as if he and his learned friend had both consulted the same document. If this be the case , it may be observed in corroboration of the objection raised by the latter to the claim of Guillaume, that the introduction to the Lay shows it to have formed one of a series, and that it was not an occasional or unconnected production. Les aventures trespassées, Que diversement ai contées, Nès'ai pas dites sans garant ; Les estores en traï avant ; ON THE LAIS OF MARIE DE FRANCE. Ixxv Ki encore sont à Carlion, Ens le monstier Saint Aaron , Et en Bretaigne sont séues *. The late Mr. Ritson chose to deny the Armorican origin of these Lays; and to infer, in a long and specious note appended to the romance of Emare, that by the terms “ Bretagne and Bretons, " so repeatedly mentioned in them , were intended the country and people of Great Britain . ” To a part of this pro position Mr. Douce also seems to assent. The evident design of Mr. Ritson in this singular declaration, was to counteract a belief that there ever existed a mass of popular poetry in Brittany, recording either native traditions, or romantic history connected with the country from whence a portion of its inha bitants had migrated. It was of importance to disprove this fact, as it so powerfully militated against a favourite principle laid down in the “ Dissertation on Romance,” that Geoffrey of Monmouth was the inventor ofthe Chronicle bearing his name, --that the labours of this “ impostour” became the storehouse of every after fabler on the Brittish story, -- and that previous to its appearance the minstrels of France were as unacquainted with the exploits of Arthur and his followers, as their Kalmuck brethren are at the present day. By investing Marie with the character of an original writer, the question of Geoffrey's vera city, as to the means by which he obtained possession of his original, and his fidelity in executing a translation, became materially circumscribed ; and the wild assertion of the editor of Pelloutier's Dictionary, that “ the Armorican Britons have not cultivated poetry, and the language such as they speak it, does able to ply to the measure, or to the sweetness and to the harmony of verse, " might then be said to stand unconfront ed by opposing testimony. It will be needless to enter here upon either of these positions, which affect a subject to be dis cussed hereafter ; and it will be sufficient to offer a general protest against the collateral evidence adduced by Mr. Ritson, as to the meaning of the word “ Breton ” in several old French There is but one passage out of many thus unne not appear romances. Hey, S. lxxvi NOTE ON THE LAIS cessarily pressed into the service, which contains any thing more than a general reference to “ Breton lays: " Bons Lais de harpe vus apris, Lais Bretuns de nostre pais. This is given from a fragment in Mr. Douce's possession, and is cited in the language of Tristan to Ysolt. But Mr. Ritson has omitted to mention that it was uttered by Tristan in the presence of king Mark, when he had assumed the cha racter of a madman, and was just arrived from a foreign coun try, of which the name is not specified. In all probability this country was Brittany, as the adventure seems the counterpart to his assumption of the beggar's garb in our English romance . But admitting there was a slight discrepancy between the language of various romances, as to the position of Bretagne, the question of Marie's claim to the invention of these lays, can neither be invalidated nor supported by it. Every one is aware that there is no topic upon which the general language of ro mance is more unsettled and contradictory, than its geogra phical details. The same liberties allowed in forming a genea - logic line for the hero, were extended to the fictitious scene of his actions; and countries the most remote were as readily transferred to a close and intimate proximity, as their customs and languages were rendered identical. It would be of the essence of hypercriticism to censure this practice, which might be justified by the very charter-rolls of romance, as indeed it would be the height of absurdity to bring such details to the test of chorographic truth . The only object for consideration in applying the information thus conveyed, must be the ap parent intentions of the communicant, the probable extent of his personal knowledge, or the accuracy of his avowed autho rities, and how far, in the exercise of these resources, he is likely to have been swayed by the suggestions of his fancy , or misdirected by his ignorance. It will be worse than useless to heap together, as Mr. Ritson has done, the whole mass of evi dence to be gathered from every source, without regard to the varied character of the proofs thus collected, and by drawing a OF MARIE DE FRANCE. lxxvii ing HON, M. general inference, to assign the same authority to that which is confessedly fabulous, as to that which may have been uttered in good faith . Every writer ought to be weighed in his own scale ; and the only hope we can have of eliciting an author's inten tions, must be, by resorting to his own declarations in illustra tion of his own peculiar meaning. Now with respect to Marie, M. de la Rue * has already shown, from the prologue to the poems, that she only aspired to the character of a translator. Her first intention was to have given a version in Romance, of some Latin writer ; but finding the ground preoccupied, she abandoned this design, and resolved on versifying the Breton tales which she had heard recited or found recorded . tan ha un part nce. the gne , can Ware fro gre nes: ne di adil stoms f the night Des Lais pensai k'oï aveie Ne dutai pas, bien le saveie, Ke pur remanbrance les firent Des aventures k'il oïrent Plusurs en ai oï conter, Ne voil laisser nes' oblier ; Rimez en ai, è fait ditié Soventes fiez en ai veillié. This is frequently referred to in various parts of her poems: some of which were translated from written documents ; others versified from recollection, or oral communication ; while the majority either acknowledge a Breton original, or contain de cided proofs of a connection with that country. Of this the evidence shall now be submitted . The first poem in M. Roquefort's collection is the Lai de Gugemer, which opens with the following exordium : Les cuntes ke jo sai verais Dunt li Bretun untfait lor Lais, Vus cunterai assez briefment El cief de cest coumencement. Sulunc la lettre è l'escriture Vus musterai une aventure o the ation

2 apo t of utho he is ess to Ofer to the

IOT Archæologia, vol . xiii ,

1 Ixxvüi NOTE ON THE LAIS Ki en Bretaigne la menur, Avint al tens anciénur *. The Lai d'Equitan who was “ Sire de Nauns, ” ( and of whose atchievements “ Li Bretun firent un Lai” ) also commences with a direct testimony to the practice of recording deeds of chivalry and heroic adventure in that country: Mut unt esté noble Barun, Cil de Bretaine li Bretun ; Jadis suleient par pruesce, Par curteisie, è par noblesce, Des aventures qu'ils oieent, Ki à plusur gent aveneient Fère les Lais pur remenbrance Qu'en ne les meist en ubliance. N’ent firent ceo oï cunter Ki n'est fet mie à ublier. The Lai de Bisclaveret is not specifically acknowledged as a Breton lay ; but the scene is laid in “ Bretaine, ” and the Breton term from which the story derives its name, is cited in contradistinction to that current in the adjoining duchy of Nor mandy : Bisclaveret ad nun en Bretan , Garwall l'apelent li Norman . From the Lai de Laustict we obtain a similar testimony, with the additional declaration of its being a Breton lay: Une aventure vus dirai Dunt li Bretun firent un Lai ; Laustic ad nun ceo m'est avis, Si l'apelent en lur païs; v. 21 . note in the Museum copy of the cata + MM. de la Rue and Roquefort logue of the Cotton MSS. TheEnglish speak of an English version of this lay, poem is a mystic rhapsody on holy liv and refer to the Cotton MS. Cal. A. II. ing ; in which the Nightingale and her These gentlemen were either misled by plaintive song are declaredto be typical a similarity in the title of the poem in of the doctrines and sufferings of Jesus question, ( Nightingale,) or a manuscript Christ. O É MARIE DE FRANCE. lxxix Céo est Reisun en Franceis, E Nihtegale en dreit Engleis. The scene is at St. Maloes. Of the Lai des deux Amans and of the Lai de Graelent it is said , “ Un Lai en firent li Bre tun ; " of the Lai de l'Epine, “ Li Breton en firent un Lai;” and of the Lai d’Eliduc, De un mut ancien Lai Bretun Le cunte é tute la reisun, Vus dirai si cum jeo entent La vérité mun escient. Of these four, the scene of the first is laid in Normandy, of the rest in “ Bretaine.” Of the remaining six, the Lai du Frêne places the action in “Bretaine,” without giving a more positive locality to the scene. It was a tale which Marie had heard recounted, but which she does not expressly claim as a “ Breton lay. ” The Lai de Chevrefeuille was translated from a written original : Plusurs le m’unt cunté è dit, Ejeo l'ai trové en escrit. It contains no reference to “ Bretaine" or the “ Bretons :" and, if we could forget Mr. Ritson's arbitrary dogmas relative to the poverty of native genius both before and after the Con quest, might be supposed to owe its existence to some English poem now no more : Tristam ki bien saveit harper, En aveit feit un nuvel Lai Asez brèvement le numerai. Gotelef l'apelent en Engleis, Chevrefoil li nument en Franceis ; Dit vus en ai la vérité Del Lai que j'ai ici cunté. There is reason to believe the Lai de Milun is not of Breton lxxx NOTE ON THE LAIS origin , as Marie deviates from her usual phraseology in an nouncing her authority. De lur amur è de lur bien Firent un Lai li Auncien ; E jeo qui l'ai mis en escrit Al recunter mut me délit. The hero was born in South Wales : Milun fu de Suht-wales nez : a country also called Gales : Jeo quid k'il est de Gales nez, E si est Milun apelez. Mention is likewise made of Northumberland ; but Milun's journey from England to Brittany is so circumstantially nar rated, that every doubt as to the geographical position of the latter must be removed : A Suht-hamptune vait passer, Cum il ainz pot se mist en mer, A Barbefluet ( Barfleur. R.) est arrivez, Dreit en Brutaine est alez. With reference to the same journey it is afterward said : En Normendie est passez, Puis est desque Bretaine alez, We also gather from the same lay the names by which the inhabitants of this and several adjoining countries were desig nated. Al munt Seint-Michel s'asemblèrent, Normein, è Bretun i alèrent; E li Flamenc, è li Franceis, Mès ni ot guère de Engleis. In these specimens there is not the slightest evidence to prove, às asserted by Mr. Ritson, that by “ Bretaine and OF MARIE DE FRANCE. Ixxxi >> Breton were intended the country and people of Great Brit tain . ” On the contrary, whenever Marie enters into detail, we constantly find that by “ Bretaine ” she understood Brittany, and by “ Breton ” either the inhabitants or language of that province. No specific mention is made of England as a coun try ; but the people and their dialect are alike called Engleis; and the unequivocal appellation given to Wales precludes all possibility of supposing it was implied under the name of 6 Bretaine.” We now come to those Lays which Mr. Ritson has selected as containing the strongest confirmation of his opinion : “She must however [ by Bretaine] mean Great Britain in the Lay of Lanval, where she mentions Kardoel, and that of Ywenec where she speaks of Carwent ( i. e. Venta Silurum , now Chep stow ), which she places upon the Duglas instead of the Wye.” Unhappily for the accuracy of this conclusion, the name of Bretaine never occurs throughout the Lai de Lanval. Marie certainly cites the Bretons as her authority for the narrative: Od li s'en vait en Avalon, Ce nus racuntent li Breton and calls Lanval a Breton name: L'aventure d'un autre Lai Cum il avint vus cunterai; Feit fu d'un mult riche vassal, En Bretun l'apelent Lanval. But we have already seen that these terms can have no re ference to Great Britain . The Lai d’Ywenec certainly favours Mr. Ritson's opinion. It speaks of Caerwent (which, though the Roman Venta Silurum , is not Chepstow ,) and places it in Bretaigne: En Bretaigne aveit jadis Uns riches Huns vielz et ancis ; De Caerwent fut avoez , Et du païs Sire clamez : cité si est sor Duglas VOL. I. f lxxxii NOTE ON THE LAIS A similar combination occurs in the Lai de l'Epine : Les estores en traï avant ; Ki encore sont à Carlion, Ens le monstier Saint- Aaron , Et en Bretaigne sont séues It would seem as if M. Roquefort had suspected that Marie in this passage was not alluding to Caerleon in Wales; for he observes in a note : “ Il existoit en France une île Saint- Aaron . Elle a été renfermée dans la ville de Saint-Malo, au moyen d'une chaussée.” That there either was a Caerleon in Armo rica, or, what is far more probable, that Marie by her own powerful dictum transferred this town from the opposite side of the Channel, is evident from a passage in the Lai de Chaitivel. The events of this poem are stated to have transpired 6 en Bretaine a Nantes : " but in the course of the narrative, without the slightest indication of a change of scene, we find the fol lowing date produced as the period when some of the transac tions occurred : A la feste Saint-Aaron , K'um célébroit a Carlion. In this we have the clearest acknowledgement, that in the esti mation of the writer, Nantz and Caerleon were towns of the same province; and the previous testimony, with one exception , has declared that province to have been Bretaine in France. If, however, we accept Marie's representation of herself, and consider her as the translator of these poems, even this excep tion loses its force. For what could be more natural to sup pose on her part, than that the scene of those adventures which formed the theme of Armorican song should be laid in Armo rica ? or that even where her original made mention of Brit tain (Wales) as the theatre of the events it registered, she should through ignorance or design interpret the expression as referring to Brittany ? How much more probable is it, that either of these causes may have operated in producing the seem OF MÁRIE DE FRANCE. Ixxxiii ing contradiction between the Lai d'Ywenec and every other poem in the collection, than that Marie should have stultified herself by confounding two countries under one common name, for both of which on other occasions she had a distinctive ap pellation ! Of the interpretation given to her language or that of her contemporaries in this country, we have the most satisfactory evidence in Chaucer : Thise old gentil Bretons in hir dayes, Of diverse aventures maden layes, Rimeyed in hir firste Breton tonge ; And on of hem have I in remembrance, In Armorike, that called is Bretaigne, &c. This may be contrasted with the conclusion of the Lai d’Eli duc. Del Aventure de ces treis, Li auncien Bretun curteis Firent le Lai pur remembrer, Que hum nel deust pas oblier. Even Mr. Ritson has admitted, that the author of Sir Orpheo may “ perhaps allude to the Armorican Britons," when he says: In Brytaýn this layes arne ywrytt, Furst y founde and forthe ygete, Of aventures that fillen by dayes Wherof Brytons made her layes. This is but a similar declaration to the language of Marie al ready cited from the Lai d'Equitan . Of the popularity of “ Orpheo's " story in Armorica, we have a sufficient testimony in the Lai d'Epine : Le Lais escoutent d'Aielis, Que uns Yrois doucement note Mout le sonne ens sa rote. f2 lxxxiv NOTE ON THE LAIS Apriès celi d'autre commenche, Nus d'iaus ni noise ne ni tenche; Le Lai lor sone d'Orphéy There is one peculiarity in the language of Marie relative to this subject which remains to be noticed . In the Lai de Graelent she speaks of “ Bretaigne le menur," an expression which occurs once again in the Lai d'Eliduc. But this refine ment is not preserved throughout either of the poems: for in the first we have “ En Bretaigne est venue al port;" and in the second, “ En Britaine ot un Chevalier,” — both with reference to the same country. OfOf a “ Bretaine le grand” there is no trace in the whole collection : and if it be allowable to speculate upon a question so perfectly beyond the grasp of certainty, the utmost we can venture to infer will be, that though Marie may have found this distinctive nomenclature in her original text, she evidently neglected to observe it. We know from other sources, that in her time one of these countries was bet ter known by its subdivision into the realms of Engleterre and Gales. The second volume of M. Roquefort's edition of Marie's Poems contains her Fables. It is not intended to exhaust the reader's patience by entering into a discussion of the source from whence these fables were derived ; but as MM. de la Rue and Roquefort have attempted to claim her English ori ginal as the production of Henry the First, the subject cannot be wholly passed over in silence. These gentlemen do not seem to have known that a copy of the fables preserved at Oxford unites with the Harleian MS. 78. in attributing the English version to king Alfred. I e reiz Alurez que mut l'ama Le translata puis en Engleis *. This, supported as it is by the several disguises of the Pas quier and King's MSS. which read Auvert and Affrus, and

• MSS. JAMES. vüi. p. 23. Bibl Bodl. cited below , vol. ii. p. 253.

OF MARI E DE FRANCE. Ixxxv the declaration of the Latin version ( King's MS. 15. A. vii. ), that the same fables 6 were rendered into English by the orders of king Alfred, ” is more than sufficient to outweigh the testimony of the Harleian MS. 4333, which ascribes Marie's original to a king Henry. It also seems to have escaped the same diligent antiquaries, that the English language of Henry the First could not have differed materially from the Anglo Saxon of Alfred ; that any person, whether native or foreigner, who could master the one, would find no difficulty in com prehending the other ; and consequently, that the argument raised on the imagined obscurities of the earlier copy is per fectly groundless. As to “ the uncouth language of Robert of Gloucester, ” which is supposed to have cost Marie so much labour in acquiring, we must remember, that however horrific this dialect may appear to modern Frenchmen , - printed as it is with a chevaux -de- frise of Saxon consonants,-its rude orthography only slightly varied from the language of ge neral conversation in the Chronicler's age. There could be no greater difficulty in learning to read or speak it, than is felt by a foreigner in modern English. In addition, there is reason to believe, that in Marie's time, some popular Anglo -Saxon subjects were rendered accessible to the modern reader, by the same process which fitted the early poetry of Italy for general circulation at the present day. We know , from certain testi mony, that at a subsequent period the Brut of Layamon was made intelligible by a more recent version ; and probability seems to favour the belief, that such was the case with the Sayings of Alfred ,” formerly in the Cotton Library. If these “ Sayings” were registered by one of Alfred's contemporaries, or in the Anglo- Saxon language, they were doubtlessly written in the same metre as the translation appended to the edition of his Boethius, and would only have received the dress in which they are exhibited by Wanley, about the time of Richard I., or John . Mr. Sharon Turner has produced this collection of apophthegms, as the first specimen of English prose; but they are evidently written in the same mixed style of rhyme and alli lxxxvi ON THE LAIS OF MARIE DE FRANCE. terative metre, which we find in Layamon . It is this circum stance which has suggested the possibility of their being re corded at an earlier date than the language in which they are written seems to indicate : but of course neither this, nor the claim of Alfred to the English version of Æsop, is insisted upon as demonstrable. The only object of these remarks is to im pugn the evidence which MM. de la Rue and Roquefort con sider as conclusive in favour of Henry I. In closing this excursive note it may not be amiss to ob serve, that the Harl. MS. calls Marie's collection of fables L’Ysopet or the little Æsop, of which a Dutch translation is said to have been made in the 13th century. ( See Van Wyn, Historische Avondstonden , p. 263. ) This title appears to have been given it by way of distinction from another col lection of fables, probably made at an earlier period, and de rived from a purer source. The latter is mentioned in the pro logue to Merlant's Spiegel Historiael . In Cyrus tiden was Esopus De Favelare, wi lessent dus, Die de favele conde maken Hoe beesten en vogle spraken, Hierute es gemaect Aviaen En andere boeken, sonder waen, Die man Esopus heet, bi namen . Waren oecdie si bequamen Die hevet Calfstaf eñ Noydekyn Ghedicht, en rime scone eñ fyn . i. e. We read that Esop, the fabler, who made fables how the birds and beasts converse, lived in the time of Cyrus. No doubt Aviaen ( Avienus ? ) drew from it, and other books which people call Esopus. Calfstaf and Noydekyn put into fair rhymes those which they took pleasure in . NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN . [ See DISSERTATION I. page xl.] THE text of this poem has been formed from a collation of the Cotton MSS. Tiberius A. vi. B. i. B. iv. In the translation an attempt has been made, to preserve the original idiom as nearly as possible without producing obscurity ; and in every deviation from this rule, the literal meaning has been inserted within brackets. The words in parentheses are supplied for the pur pose of making the narrative more connected, and have thus been separated from the context, that one of the leading features in the style of Anglo- Saxon poetry might be more apparent to the English reader. For the benefit of the Anglo - Saxon stu dent, a close attention has been paid in rendering the gram matical inflections of the text, a practice almost wholly disused since the days of Hickes ; but which cannot be too strongly recommended to every future translator from this language, whether of prose or verse . The extracts from Mr. Turner's and Mr. Ingram's versions cited in the notes, have been taken from the History of the Anglo- Saxons, vol. ii. and the recent edition of the Sexon Chronicle. But those variations alone have been noticed which differed in common from the present translation , Æthelstán cyning, eorla drihten , beorna beáh -gyfa, and his brother eac, Eadmund ætheling ', Æthelstan ( the) king, lord of earls, bracelet -giver of barons, and his brother eke, Eadmund ( the) prince , The reader must be cautioned against in Anglo -Saxon poetry ; and though receiving this literal interpretation of generally applied to persons of eminent the text, in the same literal spirit. The rank or exalted courage, we have no terms eorl and beorn - man and bairn- proofof their appropriation as hereditary are used with great latitude of meaning titles of distinction at the early period lxxxviii NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE ealdor langne-tir , geslogon æt secce, very illustrious chieftain , combated in [ at] battle, 6 your vessel when this ode was composed. The word pound adjectives “ tir -meahtig " ( exceed • Ætheling ” -strictly speaking The son ing mighty ), “ tir -fæst " ( exceeding fast of the æthel or noble - appears to have or firm ) " tir-eadig " (exceeding blessed ), gained an import in England, nearly evidently point to the first of these. corresponding to our modern prince. There can be little doubt but the follow In the Saxon Chronicle it is almost al- ing passage of Beowulfpreserves another ways, if not exclusively, confined to per- compound of “ tir :" sonages of the blood royal. Perhaps Swylce ic maga-thegnas, there is neither of these terms whose mine hate , modern representative differs so essen- with feonda gehwone, tially from its original as “ ealdor. ” flotan eowerne, At the present day no idea of rank is niw tyr-wydne, attached to the word “ elder,” and none nacan on sand , of authority except among some reli arum healdan , gious sects, and a few incorporated so cieties. In Anglo - Saxon poetry it rarely, And I will also if ever, occurs as marking seniority in order my fellow -thanes, point of age. Even the infant Edward against every foe, is called an “ elder of earls . ” deep (and) exceeding wide, And feng his bearn boat on the sand, syth - than to cyne -rice ; carefully to hold. cyld unweaxen , eorla ealdor, • Niwe”is here equivalent toniwel; tham wes Eadweard nama . as in the expression , “ niwe be næsse low by the nose or promontory. “ Tyr And his bairn took wydne nacan " is clearly synonymous after that to the kingdom ; with “ sid - fæthmed scip , " the wide- bo child unwaxen , somed ship , occurring shortly afterwards. elder of earls, The learned editor'sversion, pice obduc to whom was Edward name. tam, is founded on an expression still 2 Elder ! a lasting glory, T. Elder, of preserved in his native language (Ice ancient race, I. But « tir ” is not used landic) , and of which Ihre has re substantively in the present instance. corded the following example: “ Let han “ Ealdor langne-tir ,” or “ Langne - tir leggia eld i tyrwid oc göra bala scipino ; " ealdor " -exhibits the same inverted con- Jussit ignem tædæ subjiciendum , py , struction as “ flota fami-heals," ship ramque in nave struendam . “ Arum ,” foamy -necked ; “ ætheling_ær- god, which the Latin version renders “ re noble exceeding - good, &c. The present mis, ” is used adverbially, like hwilum , translation of * tir ” is founded upon an gyddum , & c. The vessel lay upon the etymology pointed out in the glossary to beach, and was afterwards moored : Sæmund's Edda, where it is declared to there could therefore be no use for her be synonymous with the Danish “ zyr, ” oars. The presentversion of “ arum ” is and the German “ zier .” In the Low founded on the following passage,where German dialects, the z of the upper cir- Waltheow says she has no doubt but cles (which is compounded of t, s, like Hrothulf will prove a kind protector to the Greek S of d, s) is almost always her children : represented by t, and splendour, bright- Thet he tha geogothe wile, ness, glory, & c. are certainly among the arum healdan, most prevalent ideas attached to " tir " when used as a substantive . If this in That he the youths will, terpretation be correct,-power, domi carefully protect (hold). p. 90 . nion, or victory, must be considered as Arum (lit. with cares, attentions,) is in only secondary meanings ; and the com- the dative case plural. See note 34. ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. lxxxix sweorda ecgum , ymbe Brupanburh. Bord -weal clufon, heowon heatho -linda ", hamora lafumº, with edges of swords, near Brunanburh. (They) clove the board -wall, hewed the high lindens , with relics of hammers ( i.e. swords), p. 175 . 3 They hewed the noble banners, T. It may, however, be contended , that And hewed their banners, I. In this though “ lind ” in all these passages interpretation of "lind ” all our voca- evidently means a shield ; yet “ heatho bularies agree . The translation of the lind,” whose qualifying adjective seems text has been founded upon the follow- rather an inappropriate epithet for a ing authorities. When Beowulf re- buckler , may have a different import. solves to encounter the “ fire-drake The following examples of a similar who had laid waste his territory, he combination will remove even this ob orders a “ wig -bord , ” war-board ” ( as jection ; it is called ) of iron to be made ; for we Ne hyrde ic cymlicor, are told that, ceol gegyrwan , Wisse he gearwe, hilde.wæpnum , thet him holt -wudu, and heatho -wædum , helpan ne meohte, billum and byrnum , lind with lige. Nor heard I of a comelier, He knew readily, keel (ship) prepared, that him forest-wood, (with ) war weapons, might not help, and high -weeds, (garments) linden against fire. with bills and burnies. And when Wiglaf prepares to join his Nemne him heatho-byrne, lord in the combat, it is said of him : helpe gefremede. Hond -rond gefeng, Unless him ( his ) high -burnie, Geolwe linde, with help had assisted . Hand -round he seized , Mr. Grimm found this expression in the yellow linden . the Low - Saxon fragment of Hildebrand In the fragmentofJudith, “ lind ” and and Hathubrand, where misled bythe " bord are used in the same connexion p. 194. common interpretation of “ lind-wig as in the present text: gende,” vexilliferi - he has expended much ingenuity and learning in making Stopon heatho -rincas, a very simple narrative unnecessarily obo beornas to beadowe, bordum bedeahte, hwealfum lindum . hewun harmlicco, huitte scilti, ( The) lofty warriors stepped , unti im iro lintun, bairns to ( the) battle, luttilo wurtun . bedeckt ( with ) boards, (with ) concave lindens. ( they) hewed harm - like, ( their) white shields, The following extract from the fragment until to them their lindens, of Brithnoth shows both terms to have became little. been synonymous : Mr. Grimm translates “ lintun," ge Leofsunu gemælde, bende - bands or girdles. and his lind ahof, 4 The survivors ofthe family, T. With bord to gebeorge. the wrecks of their hammers, I. The Leofsunu spoke, onlyauthority for the former interpreta and hove up his linden , tion is a meaning assigned to “ hamora " board for protection. in Lye's vocabulary. It will be suffi scure . XC NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE eáforan Eadweardes. ( the) children of Edward. Swa him geætheles wæs Such ( so] was to them ( their native) no from cneo -mægum , from ( their ) ancestors , [ bility, thet híe et campe oft® that they in [ at] battle oft, with lathra gehwane, against every foe [loathed one ), land ealgodon , ( the) land preserved, hord and hámas, hoard and homes, hettend crungon ?. ( the) enemy crushed. [ cringed , actively .) cient to remark , that if there were any thæt ic wæs on Myrcon, thing like probability to justify such a miccles cynnes. translation , we ought at least to read I will my nobility , “ With the survivors of the family ; " manifest to all, as “ lafum " stands in the ablative case that I among Mercians was , plural. A similarexpression occurs once of a mickle kin. in Beowulf, where weknowfromthe Mr. Ingram's translation of eneo -me context that neither of the versions cited above would suit thesense. The sword gum - kindred zeal, is perfectly indefen sible. of Wiglafhas recently severed the dra 6 That they in the field often, T. That gon's body in two : with reference to they atcampoften, I. Yet “ camp-stede” which it is said , is translated battle- place by Mr. Turner, Ac him irenna, and field of battle by Mr. Ingram . ecga fornamon , “ Æt campe " would have been equally hearde heatho -scearde, descriptive of a sea - fight. It has no homera lafe, connexion with our modern camp, Fr. thet se wid -foga, wundum stille , Pursuing they destroyed the Scottish hreas on hrusan, people, T. Pursuing fell the Scottish hord -ærne neah . clans, I. In these translations “ hettend But him of iron , crungon ” is separated from its context ; edges seized , and though it is a common practice of the hard high -shearer, Anglo- Saxon poetry to unite, by the alliteration , lines wholly unconnected by ( the ) relic of hammers, that the wide- fier , the sense , yet in the present instance both are terminated by the same period. still ( quiet ) with wounds, fell on the earth , It may be questioned whether “ hettan , hoard -hall near. p. 210. persequi, has any existence beyond the pages of Lye, where it is inserted as the In this poem “ gomel -laf, eald -laf, yrfe- root of “ hettend ." There is reason to laf,” are common expressions for a believe, that it was obsolete at a very sword ; and there can be little doubt but early period, and that its participle pre the languageof the text is a metapho- sent alone was retained ina substantive rical description of sucha weapon . A signification to denote an enemy or pur similar phrase in Icelandic poetry would suing , one. When the verb was re occasion no difficulty. quired, it would seem to have been used 5 As to them it was natural from their without the aspirate : ancestors, T. So were they taught by Ehtende wæs, kindred zeal, I. Ge-æthele is an ataſ deorc death scua , deyousyoy. The version of the text is dugothe and geogothe. founded on the following declaration of Ælfwine a follower of Brithnoth : Pursuing was ( the) dark death shadow , Ic will mine athelo, old ( ad lit. valentes) and young. eallum gecythan, Beowulf, p. 14. campus, Lat. 1 ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. xci Scotta leode, and scip -flotan , fæge feollon Feld dennade * (The) Scottish people, and the mariners, fated fell. The field or 66 99 At all events, the examples recorded by lates the second example “for deadly Lye only exhibit thesubstantive hettend, fight ; " making “ fæge' an adjective to which the following may be added : agreeing with “ feohte," and conse Gif ic thet gefricge, quently like its substantive governed by ofer floda -begang, the preposition “ to.” But indepen thæt thec ymbsittende, dently of the impossibility to produce an example, where any Anglo- Saxon egesan thywath, preposition exhibits this twofold power, swa théc hettende, -a retroactive and prospective regimen , hwylum dydon. -the dative singular and plural of If I that hear, “ fæge ” would be either “ fægum over the floods-gang, ' fægan,” accordingly as it was used that thee, the round-sitting ones, withthe definite or indefinite article . oppress with terror, In the languages of the North , “ fæge,” so (as) thee enemies, however written , means fated todie ; or , ( ere) while did . Beowulf, p. 138. to use the interpretationof the Glossary to Sæmund's Edda, mortijam destinatus, Syth -than hie gefricgeath , brevi moriturus. This is the only version frean userne, equally suited to both examples in the ealdor- lease ; present text ; and it might be supported thone the ær geheold, by numerous instances from Cædmon with hettendum , and Beowulf. A confirmation of its hord and rice . general import may also be drawn from After that they hear the use of “ unfægne " in the latter our sovereign (to be) poem . life - less ; Wyrd oft nereth , he who ere held , unfægne eorl, against ( our) foes, thonne his ellen deah . hoard and kingdom . Ib. p. 222. Fate oft preserveth , Mr. Ingram's translation is obviously a man not fated to die, incorrect. The whole context proves the when his courage is goodfor aught. Scots to have been the yielding party , Beowulf, p. 45 . and consequently they were the pur * The Cotton MS. Tiberius B. iv. sued , not those pursuing ; and if, with reads “ dennode;" Tiberius A. vi, and Mr. Turner, we apply pursuing ” to B. i . read “ dennade,” which is sup the victors, Athelstan and Edward, the ported by the CambridgeMS. For this participle ( as it then would be) ought to unusualexpression no satisfactory mean stand in the nominative case plural ing has been found ; and it is left to the hettendemand not in the accusative sin- ingenuity and better fortune of some gular. future translator. Mr. Turner and Mr. They fell dead , T. In numbers Ingram , who render this line--the field fell, i. This expression occurs again resounded, mid the din of the field have below , fæge tofeohte ,” where Mr. followed areading recorded by Gibson, Ingram expounds it, the hardy fight. It “ dynode,” — andwhich, notwithstand seems almost superfluous to add, that ingthe collective authority offour ex one of these interpretations must be cellent manuscripts in favour of the pre erroneous ; and it will be shown im- sent text, is possibly correct. In this mediately that neither is correct. Mr. case, however, “ dynode " must not be Turner with more consistency trans- interpreted in a literal sense , but con 8 66 xcii NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE ruere . secga swate ', with warriors' blood, sith -than sunne úp, since the sun up, on morgen -tid , on morrow - tide, mære tuncgol, mighty planet, glad ofer grundas 10, glided over grounds, Godes candel beorht, bright candle of God , éces Drihtnes ; of the eternal Lord ; oth-thet sio ethele gesceaft, till the noble creature, sáh tó setle !!. sank to (her) seat (settle ]. Thær læg secg monig, There lay many a warrior, gárum ageted, strewed by darts , guman northerne, northern man , ofer scyld scoten. shot over ( the ) shield . sidered assynonymouswith the Icelandic Wolf Wonreding, “ dundi," from “ dynia ,” resonare, ir- wæpne geræhte, “ Blodid dundi (dynode] og tarin thæt him for swenge, tidt, ” Creberrima erat stillatio tum san swát ædrum sprang. guinis, tum lacrymarum . “ Hrídin dynr Wolf the son of Wonred , yfir,” — procella cum strepitu irruit. reached ( him) with weapon , 9 The warriors swate, T. The war that to him for the swinge (blow ) rior swate, I. To justify these trans- blood from the veins sprang . lations we ought to read either , “ secgas switon secg swat. The latter, which offers leastviolence to the text, is The German “ schweiss " ( sweat) still means the blood of a wild boar. clearly impossible, since no line of An glo -Saxonpoetrycanhaveless than four the past tenseofglidan, to glide ;and 10 Glad, T. and I. But “ glád ” is Syllables. There is however no necessity formed like rád from ridan bád , from for changing a single letter of the text, as “ swate is the dat. case sing. of" swát," bidan, & c . in all of which the accen blood , and “ secga ” the gen . plural of tuated a was pronounced like o in rode. “ secg.". It may be safely asserted that It is the glode of “ Le Bone Florence of Rome. “ swát ” sweat in Angloin-itsSaxon modern poetry never accepta- Thorow the foreste the lady rode, tion . All glemed there sche glode, Till sche came in a felde. v. 1710 . Thá thet sweord ongan , In Sir Launfal, Mr. Ritson leaves it un æfter heatho- swate, explained. hilde gicelum , Another cours together they ród, wig - bil wanian. That syr Launfalhelm of-glód. v . 574 . Then that sword began , Unless we admit this interpretation of after the mighty blood, P. 220 . or >> 66 means “ glád,” the first part of the proposition with battle-droppings, will be a mere string of predicates with war -bill (to) wane. Beowulf, p. 121 . out a verb. The antithesis to “ glád ofer grundas” is “ sah to setle. ” Swa thæet blod gesprang, 1 Hastened to her setting, T. Sat in hatest heatho -swát. the western main , I. Sah is the past tense of sigan, to incline, sink down ; So that blood sprang, and follows the same norm , as stah , from hottest nighty gore . p. 126 . stigan ; hnah, from hnigan, & c. ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. xciii Swylc Scyttisc eac, So Scottish eke, werig wiges sæd 12 weary of war - West- Seaxe forth , The West - Saxons forth , ondlangne dæg, the continuous day, eorod - cystum 13 , in battalions, on last lægdon , laid on the foot-steps, lathum theodum . to the loathed race. Heowon here - flyman , (They) hewed ( the) fugitives, hindan thearle 14, hindwards exceedingly, mecum mylen - scearpum 15 . with swords mill - sharp . Myrce ne wyrndon , The Mercians refused not, heardes hand -plegan, of the hard hand -play , heletha nanum, to none of the men, thára the mid Anlafe, of those who with Anlaf, ofer ear -geblond, over the ocean, on lides bosme, in [on ] the ship's bosom , land gesohton , sought ( our) land, fæge to feohte. fated to the fight. Fife lægon, Five lay, 12 Weary with ruddy battle, T. The gar -berendra, mighty seed of Mars, I. In the first of guth - fremmendra, these versions the reading of the Cotton tyn hund geteled . MS. Tiberius B. iv. has been followed : “ werig wiges ræd .” This manuscript, Had each cista , however, exhibits great marksof negli of approved troops, gence on the part ofthe transcriber, and, of spear -bearing, if correct in its orthography on the pre of warar - enacting (ones) sent occasion, is equally obscure with the ten hundred taled (numbered ). language of the other copies. “ Ræd Cædmon, 67. 25 . cannot be the adjective red, as this would 14 The behind ones fiercely, T. Scat give us a false concord. If “ sæd ” be the genuine reading, it would be tered the rear, I. But “ hindan ” pos sesses the same adverbial power as difficult to point out a better authenti cated version than Mr. Ingram's, pro eastan ” occurring below. vided the word is to be taken substan . 15 This reading has been retained on tively. But even this has been rejected, the riusauthority A. vi. B.ofi.the TheCotton reasons MSSfor. such Tibe from a feeling that the context requires a verb , and a doubt whether such a me an epithet are not so clear, however taphorbe in unison with the general spi- obviousthis would be if applied to mo rit of Anglo - Saxon poetry . >> dern times. But with our present limited 13 With a chosen band, T. With knowledge of the Anglo- Saxon lan chosen troops, I. The Anglo-Saxon guage, and of the arts, customs and cysta,” , though clearly derived from modes of thinking of our ancestors, it to choose, appears to have ob- would be highly absurd to reject an ex tained a specificmeaning somewhat si- pression, merely because its propriety milar to our regiment orbattalion . is not felt. The more intelligible read Hæfde cista gehwilc, ing “ mycel scearpum wears all the cuthes werodes, appearance of a gloss. ceosan xciv NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE on thám campstede, on the battle -stead , cyningas geonge, young kings, sweordum aswefede. soothed [slumbered, act .] with swords . Swylc seofen éac, So seven eke, eorlas Anlafes ; earls of Anlaf's ; unrím heriges 16 , numberless of the army, 16 And innumerable of the army of tion or intelligence to the present nar the fleet- and the Scots. There was rative. A similar example occurs in chased away, the lord of the Northmen, Beowulf : by necessity driven to the voice of the Flota wæs on ythum , ship . With a small host, with the crew bát under beorge, of his ship, the king of the fleet departed beornas gearwe on the yellow flood , T. And of the ship's on stefn stigon . crew unnumbered crowds. There was Ship was on the waters , dispersed the little band of hardy Scots, boat under rock, the dread of the Northern hordes urged ( the) bairns readily to the noisy deep by unrelenting fate. ascended the prow. The king of the fleet with his slender craft escaped with his life on the felon In German, “ steven ” still means the flood . I. The present translation differs stem of a ship ; and in Danish this part of a vessel is called the For-stævn, by occasionally from both these versions. Whereit agrees with either, no vindica- way of distinction from the Bag -stævn, It will also be found in the tion will be necessary ; but some of its or stern . variations are too important not to re second part of the Edda : quire an account of the authorities from Brim -runar scaltu rista , whence they are derived . — The Anglo- ef thu vilt borgit hafa, Saxon " flota ( the floater ) equally a sundi segl-maurom ; meant a ship and a sailor. a stafni thær scal rista , Flota wæs on ythum , oc a storinar -blathe, bát under beorge. oc leggia eld i ár. Sea - runes shalt thou carve, Ship was on the waters, boat under rock. Beowulf, p. 18. if thou wilt have protected , sail -horses (ships ) in the sea ; Of its secondary meaning, a sailor ,- in the prow shalt ( thou ) carve an example has already occurred in the and inthe stern -blade, (rudder) compound, “ scip -flota ;" and the frag- and lay fire in the oar. ment of Brithnoth has preserved the But “ stefn " must not be confounded simple substantive, as in the present text : with “ stefna,” a ship, frequently occur Se flod ut-gewat, ring in Beowulf, and which the Latin thá lotan stodon gearowe, translation ys ( I believe) renders wicinga fela, “ prora.” wiges georne. Gewát tha ofer weg - holm, The flood departed out, winde gefysed, the sailors stood prepared , flota fami-heals, of the vikings many, fugle gelicost. desirous of battle. Oth-thet umb án tid , “ Stefn ” like “ flota ” had also a twofold otheres dogores, wunden stefna, meaning. Lye has only recorded one of these thehuman voice, and upon gewaden hæfde, this both the interpretations cited above that tha lithende, are evidently founded land gesawon. . But it likewise implied, the prow of a ship ; and this is Departed then over ( the ) billowy the only sense which will give connec- hastened by the wind , {main, ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. XCV flotan and Sceotta . of sailors and Scots. Thær geflymed wearth , There was chased away , Northmanna bregu, the leader of the Northmen, ( i . e. Anlaf.) nyde gebæded, compelled by need, to lides stefne, to the ship's prow , litle werede. with a little band. Cread cnear on - flot, ( The) ship drove [ crowded ) afloat, cyning ut- gewat, ( the) king departed out, on fealone flod , on the fallow flood, feorh generede. preserved (his) life . Swylc thær éac se froda 7, So there also the sapient one, mid fleame cóm, by flight came, on his cyththe north, on his country north , Constantinus, Constantine, har hylderinc 8. hoary warrior. the foamy-necked ship, 18 The hoarse din of Hilda, T. The likest to à fowl. hoary Hildrinc, I. It is quite an as Till that about six o'clock , sumption of modern writers, that this of the other ( next) day, goddess of war was acknowledged by the curved bark , the Anglo - Saxons ; and no ingenuity had ( so ) waded , can reconcile Mr. Turner's translation that the voyagers, with the Anglo -Saxon text. Mr. In saw land. gram most unnecessarily makes “ hyl. derinc For an illustration of " cread ” the a proper name, which, if cor reader is referred to the Appendix to rect on the present occasion, would be vol. ii. p. 492,where this lineistrans- equally , so in the following passage, lated. Andin furthersupportof the whereBeowulf plunges intothe mere”? version there given to seek the residence of Grendel's mo , the following extract from the fragment of Brithnoth may be quoted. Brim -wylm onfeng, hilderince : We willath mid tham sceattum , Sea -wave received, us to scype gangan , on - flot feran , ( the) warrior : and eow frithes healdan . or in the preamble to Brithnoth's dying address : We will with the scot ( treasures ), us to ship gang , Tha gyt that word gecwæth, afloat proceed hár hilderinc. , and hold peace with you . Then yet the word quoth, 17 The routed one, T. the valiant ( the) hoary warrior. chief, I. By which of these epithets With these examples before us, there are we to translate the title bestowed can be little doubt but that we ought upon Sæmund, for his extraordinary to insert rinc ” in the following ex learning ?-Sæmundrhinn frodi. The tract relating to the funeral obsequies age of Constantine procured for him of Beowulf : this distinction , which in Beowulf is so Tha wæs wunden gold, frequently applied to the veteran Hroth- on wæn hladen , gar. æghwæs unrím , p . 19. ther : хсуі NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE Hreman ne thórfte , He needed not to boast, meca gemanan 18. of the commerce of swords. Her wæs his maga - sceard , Here was his kindred troop, freonda gefylled, of friends destroyed ( felled ), on folc - stede, on the folk -stead, beslægen at secce ; slain in [ at] battle ; and his sunu ( he) forlet, and his son he left, on wal- stowe, on the slaughter - place, wundum - forgrunden , mangled with wounds, geongne æt guthe. young in [ at] the fight. Gylpan ne thórfte, He needed not to boast, beorn blanden - feax 20, bairn blended -haired, bill -geslehtes, of the bill -clashing, eald inwitta ? ! ; old deceiver ; æthelinge boren, thæt him his wine-magas, hár hilde (rinc] georne hyrdon to Hrones - næsse. oth thet seo geogoth geweOI Then was the twisted gold, -mago-driht micel. on wain laden , Then was to Hrothgar, numberless of each , army-success given, with the atheling borne, honour of war ; hoary warrior, that him his friendly -relatives, to Hron's -ness. willingly heard (obeyed ) 18 Mr. Ingram , who reads “ mæcan till the youth waxed ( in years ) gemanan,” translates it u mickle kindred band. kindred . ” But “ mæca, ” if it exist at 20 The lad with flaxen hair , T. The all as a nominative case , can never mean fair -haired youth , I. Mr. Turner ap 6 a relative. " 19 Hewas the fragment of his rela- pears to refer these expressions to Con stantine's son ; tions,of hisfriendsfelled in the folk- does. There would belittle propriety Mr. Ingram certainly place, T. Here was his remnant of re lations and friends slain with the sword boast, or the unfitness of such a proceed in declaring a dead man's inability to in thecrowded fight, I. It is difficultto ing even ifthere were any thing to colour conceive upon whatprinciple thesoldiers such an interpretation. But blonden ofConstantine, who fell in the battle, feax is a phrase which in Anglo- Saxon could be called either the fragment or poetry is only applied to those advanced remnant of his followers. Asimilar ex in life ; and is used to denote that mix pression - here- laf — is afterwards appli- ture of colour, which the hair assumes ed with evident propriety to the survivors of the conflict. The present translation The German “blond,” at the present ' on approaching or increasing senility. has been hazarded, fromabeliefthat day, marksacolour neither white nor “ sceard ” is synonymouswith “ sceare brown, but mingled with tints of each . ( the German schaar, a band or troop ) ; 21 The old in wit, T. Nor old ID and maga -sceard , ” like mago- wood, I. The orthography of the pre driht,” descriptive of the personal or sent text is supported by the Cotton household troops of Constantine. MSS. Tiberius A. vi. & B. i . Mr. Tha wæs Hrothgare, Ingram reads “ inwidda," of which he here -sped gyfen , has made “ Inwood ; " though the learn wiges weorth -mynd ; ed translator has omitted to inform us p . 23 . among his p. 7 . 66 66 ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. xcvii 22 25 mere 26> on, ne Anláf thy má, nor Anlaf any more, mid heora here -lafum , with the relics of their armies, hlihan ne thorfton , needed not to laugh, thet hí beadu -weorca that they of warlike works, beteran wurdon , better (men) were, on camp-stede, on the battle -stead, cumbol-gehnastes, at [of] the conflict of banners, gár mittinge 23 , the meeting of spears, gumena gemotes, the assembly of men , wæpen - gewrixles, the interchange of weapons, thæs the híe on wæl- felda, of that which they on the slaughter- field , with Eadweardes, with Edward's, eáforan plegodon. children played . Gewiton hym tha Northmen , The Northnien departed , nægledon cnearrum, ( in their ) nailed ships, dreorig daretha láf 24, gory relic of the darts, on dinges who this venerable personage might be. version may be justified by the follow It is rather singular that he should appear ing extracts from Beowulf: again, with noslight ubiquity of person , Thonne wæs theos medo- heal, in the fragment of Judith : driht- sele dreor -fah , thonne dæglixte, Swa se inwidda , eal benc- thelu , ofer ealne dæg, blode bestymed. driht-guman sine, drencte mid wine. Then was this mead-hall, troop-hall gore stained , So the deceiver, when day lighted ( dawned ), over the whole day, all ( the) table, his followers , sprinkled with blood . drenched with wine. Thonne blode -fah , husa selest, 23 That they for works of battle were, beoro -dreorig stod . T. That they on the field of stern com mand better workmen were, I. But Then stained with blood, 66 beado -weorca " is the genitive case the best of houses, stood sword - gory. plural of “ beadu-weorc, " and to justify these translations ought to have been Wæter under wolcnum , “ beadu - weorcum ( T.) or beadu wæl-dreore fah . wyrhtan ” ( I ) . 23 Mr. Ingram reads “ mittingés," Water under clouds, which can only owe its existence to the stained with slaughter -gore. p . 123. negligence of a transcriber. The ge- 25 This reading has been retained in nitive case of“ mitting " is " mittinge.' preference to the “ dinnes " of Gibson,

1. Dreary relics of the darts , T. on the authority of Tiberius B. i . The Dreary remnant, I. This expression other Cotton MSS. read “ dynges seems rather to refer to the wounded A. vi. “ dynges " B. iv.

condition of the fugitives. The present 96 On the stormy sea, T. On the VOL. I. 8 p. 39. p. 72. ) xcviii NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE ofer deop water, Dyflin secan , eft Yraland 27, æwisc -mode. Swylce thá gebrother, begen æt samne , cyning and ætheling, cyththe sohton , West - Seaxna land, wiges hremige 28 Leton him behindan , over deep water, Dublin to seek, Ireland again, with a shamed mind. So too the brothers , both together, king and prince, sought ( their) country, land of the West Saxons, of ( the) war exulting. ( They ) left behind them , waves . roaring sea, I. There is every proba- this is left to the victors. This expres bility that these translations give the sion occurs repeatedly in Beowulf, senseof this passage, though some doubts where it is always applied to the suc may be entertained as to the integrity of cessful party : the present text. If “ dynges-mere " be Thanon eft gewát, the genuine reading, it must be consi huthe hremig, dered as a parallel phrase with “ wiges to ham faran , heard, hordes-heard ,” & c. where two mid thære wæl- fylle, substantives are united in one word, the wica neosan . former of which stands in the genitive case with an adjective power . Of this Thence (Grendel) again departed, practice the examples are too numerous with prey exulting, and too notoriousto require further il to home( to) go, lustration . “ Dinges-mere” would then with the slaughtered -slain , be a “ kenningar nafn ” given to the to approach (his ) dwelling. p . 12. ocean from thecontinual clashing of its For it will be remembered that Guth - rinc gold -wlanc, the literal import of “ mere " is a mere græs-moldan træd, or lake, and this could not be applied to since hremig. the Irish channel, without some qualify Warrior ( Beowulf) bright in gold , ing expression . It is clearly impossible grass-mould trode, that “ dinges,” if correct, can stand with wealth exulting. alone, as never governs a genitive On “ thone mere," on " thæne Nu her thára banena, mere. See Lye in voce. « p. 141 on case , . byre nat hwylces,

• Mr. Ingram retains “ heora land” frætwum hremig,

in the text, and translates the variation on flet gæth ; Yraland. All the Cotton MSS. unite morthres gylpeth, in reading “eft" ; and we learn from and thone maththum ' byreth , other sources that this statement is his thone the thu mid rihte , torically correct. rædan sceoldest. 28 The screamers of war, I. In fight triumphant, I. It has already been said Now of those banes (murderers ), of the fugitive Constantine that he had ( the ) son ( 1) know not of which, no cause to exult - hreman ne thórfte ; with ornaments exulting, Matbthum must not be confounded with mathmum , the dative case plural of mathm . ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. xcix hrá brittian , ( the) corse to enjoy, salowig padan , ( the) sallowy thone sweartan hræfn , ( the) swarth raven , hyrned -nebban ; the horned nibbed one ; and thone hasean padan 30, and the dusky - earn æftan hwit , eagle white behind ( after ], æses brucan, of the corse to enjoy, grædigne guth -hafoc ; greedy war- hawk ; and thæt græge deor, and that gray beast [ deer ), wulf on wealde. ( the) wolf on the wold. Ne wearth wæl máre, Nor was (there) a greater slaughter, on thys igland, on this island , ever yet, folces gefylled, æfre gyta, of folk felled, beforan thissum , before this, p . 154. in ( the) hall goeth ; raven over high flood. boasteth of the murder, Noah reckoned ( told ) and thejewel (i. e. a sword ) beareth , that he from need him that thou by right, seek would ; shouldest command (or wield ). but the fiend, sallowy of feathers, 20 The dismal kite, T. The sallow wouldnot seek (him ). 39. 5. kite, I. Whatever idea may have been It will be remembered that the Anglo attached to “padan” , it is manifestly not Saxon “ blac” was equivalent to our a species but a genus. It occurs again black and yellow . immediately as characteristic ofthe eagle. 50 And the hoarse toad , T. And the There is, however, reason to believe that hoarse vulture, I. The latter version is these lines have been transposed , and totally without authority. The former that we ought to read is justified in part by our vocabularies, Thone sweartan hræfn , though evidently at variance with the context. The Cotton MS. Tiberius salowig pádan. A. vi. reads haso ( the nom . case), which Cædmon unites with the present text shows this word to have had a twofold in calling the raven both “ swarth and termination : haso and haswe - like salo sallow . ' and salwe, fealo and fealwe. The no Let tha ymb worn daga inenclature of Anglo- Saxon colours sweartne fleogan , must necessarily be very obscure ; but hræfn ofer heah flod . as we find the public road called “ fealwe Noe tealde, stræte” ( Beowulf ); and the passage made that he on neode hine for the Israelites over the Red Sea “ haswe secan wolde ; stræda ” ( Cædmon), the version of the ac se feond, present text cannot be materially out. salwig fethera, 81 The eagle afterwards to feast on the secan nolde. white flesh , T. And the eagle swift to consume his prey, I. The very sim Then after some days (he) let plicity of the Anglo - Saxon text ap swarth fly, pearsto have excited distrust in the only g 2 с NOTE ON THE SAXON ODE sweordes ecgum , thæs the us secgath béc, ealde uthwitan , sith -than eastan hider, Engle and Seaxe, úp becomon , ofer brade brimu 32 Brytene sohton, wlance wig -smithas, Wealas 93 ofer -comon , by ( the) sword's edges, of that that say to us (in ) books, old historians , since eastward hither, Angles and Saxons, up came, over ( the) broad seas, Britain sought, splendid war- smiths, overcame (the) Welsh, p. 27 . translation these words are susceptible and the wan raven , of. The ornithologist will perceive in slaughter -desiring fowl, it a description of the Haliætus albicilla , westward both , or white -tailed sea - eagle. The phrase is that to them the people, not without a parallel in Beowulf, where thougbt to prepare, the bard is describing the ashen lances a falling among the fated . with their steel - clad points : But on their footsteps flew , Garás stodon, eagle of food desirous, sæmanna searo , dewy (? ) of feathers, samod æt gædere, sallowy æsc holt ufan græg. sang the war song, horned nibbed one. The spears stood, weapons of the seamen , * Mr. Ingramreads “ brimumbrade," collected together, which is a false concord . All the Cot ash -wood gray above, ton MSS. agree in the reading of the present text. There is so close a resemblance be * As this name is foreign to the Celtic tweenthe present text and a passage in dialects, it probably was conferred upon the fragment of Judith , that it will not the inhabitantsby their Teutonic neigh be too much to assume that they have bours. In old German poetry every been drawn from some common source, thing translated from a foreign language or that the one has had its influence in was said to be taken from the Wälsche producing the other : ( Welsh ), and the Pays de Vaud is still Thæs se hlanca gefeah, called the Walliser- land. The follow wulf in walde, ing singular passage is taken from Hart and se wanna hrefn, mann von Awe's romance of Iwain (and wæl-gifre fugel, Gawain ,) where Welsch indisputably westan begen, means English . thet him tha theod - guman, Er was Hartman genant, thohton tilian, and was ain Awere, fylle on fægum . der bracht dise mere, Ac him fleah on laste , zü Tisch als ich han vernommen , earn ætes georn , do er usz Engellandt was commen , urig fethera, da er vil zit was gewessen , salowig, pada, hat ers an den Welschen buchen sang hilde leoth , gelesen . hyrned nebba, He was named Hartman , Of this rejoiced the lank , and was an Auwer, wolf in the wold ; who brought this tale, ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. ci eorlas árhwáte 34, eard begeaton. earls exceeding bold [keen ), obtained (the) earth . into German as I have heard, to Abrahame; after he came out of England, him wæs ara thearf. where he had been a long time, Then spoke the war-king, (and where) he had read it in the Welsh books. prince of Sodom, whose warriors were felled, 34 The earls excelling in honour, T. to Abraham ; most valiant earls, I. In Anglo - Saxon to him was need of kindnesses. “ hwate ” and “ cene " are synonymous, Cædmon 46 , 2. meaning both keen and bold . It is It is impossible to translate “ secgum usual to consider “ arhwate ” and many afylled ” literally, without causing ob other similar expressions as compounded scurity. of “ are," honour; an error which has arisen from not sufficiently attending to Æla frea beorhte , the distinction between the substantive , folces scyppend, and the preposition “ ar.” In such com gemilse thin mod, binations as “ ar -wurthe,” “ ar- fæst," me to gode, “ ar- hwate," " ær-god,” the preposition sile thyne are, is prefixed in the sense ofexcess, as in the thyne earminge. comparative degree ofadjectives it is sub- O bright Lord joined . “ Ar-wurthe,” venerable, is from creator of ( the) folk « ar-wurthian ,” to esteem greatly : and soften thy mind, thefollowingpassage fromBeowulf ex- me to good, hibits one of the combinations above grant thy favour, cited , in a sense which cannot be mis- thy commiseration . taken . Cotton Prayers, Jul. A. 2. Swylc scoldeeorl, Fægre acende wesan ær-god, beornum to frofre, swylc Æschere wæs. eallum to are, So should earl ylda bearnum . be exceeding good, Fair brought forth so as Æscher was, for bairns consolation for the benefit of all The most simple and perhaps origi sons of men . Jul. A. 2 . nal idea attachedto this preposition (of suchextensive use in all the dialectsof Here too the dative cases plural cannot the North) waspriority, from whence by be translated. This term is of frequent an easy transition it came to mean pri- occurrence in old Englishpoetry, where ority in point of magnitude, and thence the context having supplied the mean in point of excellence ( honour.) The ing, the glossographers had only to con analogousexpressions prime good, prime tend about theetymon. strong, prime ripe, & c., may beheard in Lybeaus thurstede sore every province. " The compounds “ ar- And sayde Maugys thyn ore. full," propitious, " ar-leas," impious, are Lyb. Dis. v . 1337.: formed from the substantive “ ár,” a word ofvery extensive signification, and The maister feladoun on kne, and criede which may be rendered goodness, kind mercy and ore. R. of Gloucester p. 9 . ness, benefit, care, favour, &c. Thá spræc guth -cyning, Y aske mercy for Goddys ore . Erl of Tholous. v. 583. Sodoma aldor, secgum gefylled , The meaning of " ore " when contrast p . 101 . cii ON THE SAXON ODE ON THE VICTORY OF ATHELSTAN. ed with the preceding extracts, will be too hote ( hot,) bote (boat,) woe, one, bone, obvious to require any comment. The stone, some of which have been retained. substitution of o for á was evidently the The same principle of elongation was ex work of the Normans. The Anglo- tended to all the Anglo - Saxon vowels Saxon á was pronounced like the Da- that were accentuated ; such as réc, reke nish an , the Swedish å, or our moderno ( reek, ) líf, life, gód , gode (good ), scúr, ip more, fore, & c. The strong intona- shure (shower) ; and hence the majority tion given to the words in which it oc of those e's mute upon which Mr. Tyr curred, would strike a Norman ear as whitt has expendedso much unfounded indicating the same orthography that speculation . This subject will be re marked the long syllables of his native sumed in a supplerientary volume, in tongue, and he would accordingly write an examination of that ingenious critic's them with an e final. It is from this cause “ Essay upon the Language and Versi that we find hár, sár, hát, bát, wá, án , fxcation of Chaucer." bán, stán & c . written hore (hoar,) sore, In the former part of this Note p . xc, in the translation of the extract from Beowulf, line 21 of note, col. 1st, for But him of iron , But him iron, edges seized , read edges seized, the hard high-shearer, the hard high -sherd. And in the passage from the Edda, p . xciv, line 22 note, col. 2d, for storirar-blatha, read starnar-blatha. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND.

DISSERTATION II.

THE irruption of the northern nations into the western em pire, about the beginning of the fourth century, forms one of the most interesting and important periods of modern history, Europe, on this great event, suffered the most memorable re volutions in its government and manners ; and, from the most flourishing state of peace and civility, became on a sudden, and for the space of two centuries, the theatre of the most deplo rable devastation and disorder. But among the disasters in troduced by these irresistible barbarians, the most calamitous seems to have been the destruction of those arts which the Romans still continued so successfully to cultivate in their ca pital, and which they had universally communicated to their conquered provinces. Towards the close of the fifth century, very few traces of the Roman policy, jurisprudence, sciences, and literature, remained. Some faint sparks of knowledge were kept alive in the monasteries; and letters and the liberal arts were happily preserved from a total extinction during the confusions of the Gothic invaders, by that slender degree of culture and protection which they received from the prelates of the church , and the religious communities. But notwithstanding the famous academy of Romea with

• Theodosius the younger, in the year nople, which he furnished with able pro 425, founded an academy at Constanti- fessors of every science, intending it as

civ DISSERTATION 11 . other literary seminaries had been destroyed by Alaric in the fourth century ; yet Theodoric the second, king of the Ostro goths, a pious and humane prince, restored in some degree the study of letters in that city, and encouraged the pursuits of those scholars who survived this great and general desola tion of learningb. He adopted into his service Boethius, the most learned and almost only Latin philosopher of that period. Cassiodorus, another eminent Roman scholar, was Theodoric's grand secretary : who retiring into a monastery in Calabria, passed his old age in collecting books, and practising mecha nical experiments . He was the author of many valuable pieces which still remaind. He wrote with little elegance, but he was the first that ever digested a series of royal charts or instruments ; a monument of singular utility to the historian, and which has served to throw the most authentic illustration on the public transactions and legal constitutions ofthose times. Theodoric's patronage of learning is applauded by Claudian , and Sidonius Apollinaris. Many other Gothic kings were equally attached to the works of peace ; and are not less con spicuous for their justice, prudence, and temperance, than for their fortitude and magnanimity. Some of them were diligent in collecting the scattered remains of the Roman institutes, and constructing a regular code of jurisprudence. It is highly probable, that those Goths who became masters of Rome, a rival institution to that at Rome. Gia- Goths ; and for many centuries after non . Hist. Napl. ii . ch. vi. sect. 1 . Awards. The Turks destroyed one hun noble library had been established at dred and twenty thousa volumes, I Constantinople by Constantius andVa- suppose in the imperial library, when lens before the year 380, the custody of they sacked Constantinople in the year which was committed to four Greek and 1454. Hod. DE GRÆC. ILLUSTR. ii. 1 . three Latin antiquaries or curators. It p . 192. contained sixty thousand volumes. Zo- b He died A.D. 526. See Cassiodor. natas relates, that among other treasures Epist. lib . i . 39. See also Func. de in this library, there wasa roll one hun- inerti et decrep. Latin. Linguæ Senec dred feet long, made of a dragon's gut tut. cap . ii. p. 81. or intestine, on which Homer'sİliad and Func ut supr. xiii. p. 471. xi. p. Odysseywere written in golden letters. 595 . See Bibl. Histor. Literar. Select. & c . a Cave, Sæcul. Eutych . Hist. Lit. Ienæ, 1754. p. 164. seq. Literature p. 391 . flourished in the eastern empire, while e Gianon. Hist. Nap. iii. c . 1 . the western was depopulated by the ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. CV 1 sooner acquired ideas of civility, from the opportunity which that city above all others afforded them of seeing the felicities of polished life, of observing the conveniencies arising from political economy, of mixing with characters respectable for, prudence and learning, and of employing in their counsels men of superior wisdom , whose instruction and advice they found it their interest to follow . But perhaps these northern adventurers, at least their princes and leaders, were not, even at their first migrations into the south , so totally savage and uncivilised as we are commonly apt to suppose. Their ene mies have been their historians, who naturally painted these violent disturbers of the general repose in the warmest colours. It is not easy to conceive, that the success of their amazing enterprizes was merely the effect of numbers and tumultuary depredation ; nor can I be persuaded, that the lasting and flourishing governments which they established in various parts of Europe, could have been framed by brutal force alone, and the blind efforts of unreflecting savages. Superior strength and courage must have contributed in a considerable degree to their rapid and extensive conquests ; but at the same time, such mighty atchievements could not have been planned and executed without some extraordinary vigour of mind, uniform principles of conduct, and no common talents of political sa gacity. Although these commotions must have been particularly un favourable to the more elegant literature, yet Latin poetry, from a concurrence of causes, had for some time begun to re lapse into barbarism . From the growing increase of chris tianity, it was deprived of its old fabulous embellishments, and chiefly employed in composing ecclesiastical hymns. Amid these impediments however, and the necessary degeneration of taste and style, a few poets supported the character of the Roman muse with tolerable dignity, during the decline of the Roman empire. These were Ausonius, Paulinus, Sidonius, Sedulius, Arator, Juvencus, Prosper, and Fortunatus. With the last, who flourished at the beginning of the sixth century, cvi DISSERTATION II. and was bishop of Poitiers, the Roman poetry is supposed to have expired. In the sixth century Europe began to recover some degree of tranquillity. Many barbarous countries during this period, particularly the inhabitants of Germany, of Friesland, and other northern nations, were converted to the christian faith f. The religious controversies which at this time divided the Greek and Latin churches, roused the minds of men to literary en quiries. These disputes in some measure called forth abilities which otherwise would have been unknown and unemployed ; and, together with the subtleties of argumentation, insensibly taught the graces of style, and the habits of composition. Many of the popes were persons of distinguished talents, and promoted useful knowledge no less by example than autho rity. Political union was by degrees established : and regular systems of government, which alone can ensure personal se curity, arose in the various provinces of Europe occupied by the Gothic tribes. The Saxons had taken possession of Bri tain , the Franks became masters of Gaul, the Huns of Pan nonia, the Goths of Spain , and the Lombards of Italy. Hence leisure and repose diffused a mildness of manners, and intro duced the arts of peace ; and, awakening the human mind to a consciousness of its powers, directed its faculties to their proper objects. In the mean time, no small obstruction to the propagation or rather revival of letters was the paucity of valuable books. The libraries, particularly those of Italy , which abounded in numerous and inestimable treasures of literature, were every where destroyed by the precipitate rage and undistinguishing violence of the northern armies. Towards the close of the seventh century , even in the papal library at Rome, the num= ber of books was so inconsiderable, that pope Saint Martin requested Sanctamand bishop of Maestricht, if possible, to supply this defect from the remotest parts of Germany . In f Cave. Sæcul. Monoth . p. 440. & Concil. Tom . xv. pag. 285. edit. Paris, 1641 . ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cvii the year 855, Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres in France, sent two of his monks to pope Benedict the third, to beg a copy of CICERO DE ORATORE, and QUINTILIAN'S INSTITUTES ", and some other books : “ for, says the abbot, although we have part of these books, yet there is no whole or complete copy of them in all Francei.” Albert abbot of Gemblours, who with incredible labour and immense expense had collected an hun dred volumes on theological and fifty on profane subjects, ima gined he had formed a splendid libraryk. About the year 790 , Charlemagne granted an unlimited right * of hunting to the h There are very early manuscripts authors, were recovered from oblivion, of Quintilian's Institutes, as we shall and brought into general notice by being see below ; and he appears to have been printedinthe fifteenth century. Fr. Ba a favourite author with some writers of barus Venetus, Collaudat. ad Pogg. dat. the middle ages. He is quoted by John Venet. 1417. 7 Jul. See also Giornale of Salisbury , a writer of the eleventh de Letterati d'Italia , tom . ix. p . 178. X. century. Polycrat. vii. 14. iij . 7. X. 1 . p. 417. And Leonard. Aretin. Epist. & e. And by Vincent of Beauvais, a lib . iv . p . 160. Chancer mentions the writer of the thirteenth. Specul. Hist. Argonautics of Valerius Flaccus, as X. 11. ix. 125. His declamations are I have observed Sect. iii. p. 129. infr . said to have been abridged by our coun- Colomesius affirms that Silius Italicus tryman Adelardus Bathoniensis, and is one of the classics discovered by Pog dedicated to the bishop of Bayeux, about gius in the tower of the monastery of the year 1130. See Catal. Bibl. Leidens. Saint Gaul. Ad Gyrald . de Poet . p . 381. A.D. 1716. Poggius Floren- Dial. iv. p . 240. But Philippo Rosso, iinus, an eminent restorer of classical in his Rittrato di Roma antica,mentions literature, says, that in the year 1446 a very antient manuscript of this poet he found a much more correct copy of brought from Spain into the Vatican, Quintilian's Institutes than had been having a picture of Hannibal, il quale yet seen in Italy, almost perishing, at hoggi si ritrova nella preditta libraria , the bottom of a dark neglected tower of p. 83. the monastery of Saint Gall, in France, [ From the following passage in one together with the three first books and of Poggius's letters to Niccolo Niccoli, half the fourth of Valerius Flaccus's it appears that he had also travelled into Argonautics, and Asconius Pedianus's England forthe same purpose : « Mittas comment on eight orations of Tully. ad me oro Bucolicam Calphurnii et por See Poggii Opp . p. 309. Amst. 1720. tiunculam Petronii quasmisitibi ex Bri 8vo . The very copy of Quintilian , tanniâ ." See Ambr. Traversari Lat. found by Poggius, is said to have been Epist. & c . i. Præf. p . 49. It is probable, in lord Sunderland's noble library now that upon this occasion he met with the at Blenheim . Poggius, in his dia- copy of Quintilian above mentioned. logue De Infelicitate Principum , says Douce. ] ofhimself, that he travelled all over Ger- i Murator. Antiq . Ital. iii. p. 835. many in search of books. It is certain And Lup. Ep. ad Baron . ad an . 856 . that by his means Quintilian, Tertullian , n. 8 , 9, 10 . Asconius Pedianus, Lucretius, Sallust, * Fleury, Hist. Eccl. L. lviii. c. 52. Silius Italicus, Columella, Manilius, * [ This permission was not granted Tully's Orations, Ammianus Marcelli. untilafter much entreaty on thepart of nus, Valerius Flaccus, and some of the the monks, and an assurance that the Latin grammarians, and other ancient fesh of the deer would be the means of cviii DISSERTATION II. abbot and monks of Sithiu , for making their gloves and girdles of the skins of the deer they killed , and covers for their books '. We may imagine that these religious were more fond of hunt ing than reading *. It is certain that they were obliged to hunt before they could read : and at least it is probable, that under these circumstances, and of such materials, they did not manufacture many volumes. At the beginning of the tenth century books were so scarce in Spain, that one and the same copy of the bible, Saint Jerom's Epistles, and some volumes of ecclesiastical offices and martyrologies, often served several different monasteries m. Among the constitutions given to the monks of England by archbishop Lanfranc, in the year 1072, the following injunction occurs. At the beginning of Lent, the librarian is ordered to deliver a book to each of the religious : a whole year was allowed for the perusal of this book : and at the returning Lent, those monks who had neglected to read the books they had respectively received , are commanded to prostrate themselves before the abbot, and to supplicate his in dulgence ". This regulation was partly occasioned by the low state of literature which Lanfranc found in the English mona na re - establishing the health of their sick [ The Latin version which is here fol brethren , as well as for the other reasons lowed, is as usual inaccurate. The ori above mentioned. That monksweread- ginal text forbids a less disgraceful in dicted to the pleasures of the chase, ap- dulgence than “ compotation , ” and con pears from Chaucer's description of the tains aludicrous play of words, hardly monk in his Canterbury Tales - Douce.] admissible in our present legal enact 1 Mabillon , De Re Dipl. p. 611 . ments : ne tæflere, ac plegge on his bo (Hunting appears to have been ex . cum swa his hade gebirath : i. e. nor pressly forbidden the religious of all de- tabler( player at tables), but let him play nominations, as a profane amus in his books as becomeshis order (hood ). altogether incompatible with their pro- -Edit.] fession. They obtained , however, this Fleury, ubi supr. 1. liv. c . 54. See indulgence under certain restrictions, other instances in Hist. Lit. Fr. par particularly set forth in their charters. Rel. Benedict. vii. 3. It was a privilege allowed even to nuns. n “ Unusquisque reddat librum qui ad Seemore on this subject in M. le Grand's legendum sibi alio anno fuerat commen Vie privée des Français, tom . i . p. 323. datus : et qui cognoverat se non legisse By the laws of Eadgar, priests were pro- librum , quem recepit, prostratus culpam hibited fromhunting, hawking, and dicat, et indulgentiam petat. Iterum li drinking : “ Docemusetiam ut sacerdos brorum custos unicuique fratrum alium non sit venator, neque accipitrarius, librum tribuat ad legendum .” Wilkins. neque potator. Sed incumbat libris suis Concil. i . 332. See also the order of the sicut ordinem ipsius decet." Wilkins's Provincial chapter, De occupatione mon Leges Anglo - Saxon. p. 86.-Douce. ] nachorum . Reyner, Append. p. 129. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cix steries. But at the same time it was a matter of necessity, and is in great measure to be referred to the scarcity of copies of useful and suitable authors. In an inventory of the goods of John de Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, contained in his capital palace of Wulvesey, all the books which appear are nothing more than “ Septendecem pecie librorum de diversis Scienciis ." This was in the year 1294. 1294. The same prelate, in the year 1299, borrows of his cathedral convent of St. Swithin at Winchester, BIBLIAM BENE GLOSSATAM , that is, the Bible, with marginal Annotations, in two large folio volumes : but gives a bond for due return of the loan, drawn up with great solemnity P. This Bible had been bequeathed to the convent the same year by Pontissara's predecessor, bishop Nicholas de Ely : and in consideration of so important a be quest, that is, “ pro bona Biblia dicti episcopi bene glosata , " and one hundred marks in money, the monks founded a daily mass for the soul of the donorą. When a single book was bequeathed to a friend or relation , it was seldom without many restrictions and stipulations ". If any person gave a book to a religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation me rited eternal salvation, and he offered it on the altar with great ceremony. The most formidable anathemas were perempto rily denounced against those who should dare to alienate a book Registr. Pontissar. f. 126. MS. juscunque judicis ecclesiastici et secula P “ Omnibus Christi fidelibus presen- ris quem predictus Prior et conventus tes literas visuris vel inspecturis, Johan- duxerit eligendum , quod possint eosdem nes dei gracia Wynton episcopus, salué executores peromnimodam districtionem tem in domino. Noveritis nos ex com- compellere, quousque dicta Biblia dictis modato recepisse a dilectis filiis nostris filiis et fratribus sit restituta. In cujus Priore et conventu ecclesie nostre Wyn- rei testimonium , sigillum , & c. Dat. ton , unam Bibliam , in duobus volumi- apud Wulveseye, vi. Kal. Maii, anno nibus bene glosatam , que aliquando fuit 1299.” Registr. Pontissar. ut supr. bone memorie domini Nicolai Wynton f. 193. episcopi predecessoris nostri, termino 4 Ibid . f. 19. perpetuo, seu quamdiu nobis placuerit, ? As thus : “ Do Henrico Morie sco inspiciendam , tenendam , et habendam . lari meo, si contingat eum presbyterari: Ad cujus Restitutionem eisdem fideliter aliter erit liber domini Johannis Sory , et sine dolo faciendam , obligamus nos sic quod non vendatur, sed transeat inter per presentes: quam si in vita nostra cognatos meos, si fuerint aliqui inventi : non restituerimus eisdem , obligamus sin autem , ab uno presbytero ad alium .” executores nostros, et omnia bona nostra Written at the end of Latin Homelies on mobilia et immobilia, ecclesia the Canticles, MSS. Reg. 5. C. iii . 24. mundana, cohercioni et districtioni cu- Brit. Mus. 0 et CX DISSERTATION II. presented to the cloister or library of a religious house . The prior and convent of Rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle's Physics, or even obliterate the title . Sometimes a book was given to a monastery on condition that the donor should have the use of it during his life : and sometimes to a private person, with the reservation that he who receives it should pray for the soul of his benefactor * . The gift of a book to Lincoln cathedral, by bishop Repingdon, in the year 1422, occurs in this form and under these curious circumstances. The me morial is written in Latin, with the bishop's own hand , which I will give in English , at the beginning of Peter's BREYIARY OF THE BIBLE. “ I Philip of Repyndon, late bishop of Lin coln , give this book called Peter de Aureolis to the new library to be built within the church of Lincoln : reserving the use and possession of it to Richard Fryesby, clerk, canon and preben dary of Miltoun , in fee, and to the term of his life : and after wards to be given up and restored to the said library, or the keepers of the same, for the time being, faithfully and without delay. Written with my own hand, A.D. 1422.” When a book was bought, the affair was of so much importance, that it was customary to assemble persons of consequence and cha racter, and to make a formal record that they were present on this occasion. Among the royal manuscripts, in the book of the SENTENCES of Peter Lombard, an archdeacon of Lincoln has left this entry “. “ This book of the SENTENCES belongs to master Roger, archdeacon of Lincoln, which he bought of

• MSS. Reg . 12 G. ii. the seyde Kateryne to have hit and to * [ At the end ofa MS. of the Golden occupye to hir owne use and at hir owne Legend in Mr. Douce's possession is liberte durynge hur lyfe, and after hur the following bequest: “ Be hit remem- decesse to remayne to the prioresse and bryd that John Burton citizen and mer- the covent of Halywelle for ev more,

cer of London, past oute of this lyfe the they to pray for the saide John Burton xx day of Novemb" the yere of oure and Johne his wife and alle crystene Lorde Mill'. cccclx. and the yere of soyles. Andwho that lettithe the ex kynge Henrythe Sixte after the conquest ecucion of this bequest he the lawe xxxix . And the said John Burton be- standeth ." - Park. quethe to dame Kateryne Burton bis + MSS. Reg. 8 G. fol. iii. Brit. Mus. dougter, a boke callyd' Legenda scor .' u It is in Latin . ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ÈNGLAND. cxi Geoffrey the chaplain, brother of Henry vicar of Northelkington, in the presence of master Robert de Lee, master John of Lirl ing, Richard of Luda, clerk, Richard the almoner, the said Henry the vicar and his clerk , and others ; and the said arch deacon gave the said book to God and saint Oswald , and to Peter abbot of Barton, and the convent of Barden w . The disputed property of a book often occasioned the most violent altercations. Many claims appear to have been made to a manuscript of Matthew Paris, belonging to the last-mentioned library: in which John Russell, bishop of Lincoln, thus con ditionally defends or explains his right of possession. “ If this book can be proved to be or to have been the property of the exempt monastery of Saint Alban in the diocese of Lincoln, I declare this to be my mind, that, in that case, I use it at pre sent as a loan under favour of those monks who belong to the said monastery. Otherwise, according to the condition under which this book came into my possession , I will that it shall belong to the collegeof the blessed Winchester Mary at Ox ford , of the foundation of William Wykham . Written with my own hand at Bukdene, 1 Jun . A.D. 1488. Jo . LINCOLN . Whoever shall obliterate or destroy this writing, let him be anathemax. ” About the year 1225, Roger de Insula , dean of York, gave several Latin bibles to the university of Oxford, with a condition that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionary pledge '. The library of that university ,, 9 B. ix . 1 . ter Comestor's SCHOLASTICAL HISTORY,

• Written in Latin. Cod. MSS. Reg. “ Cautio Thomæ Wybaurn excepta in

14 C. vii. 2. fol. In this manuscript is Cista de Chichele, A.D. 1468, 20 die written by Matthew Paris in his own mensAugusti . . Et est liber M. Petri, hand, Hunc Librum dedit frater. Mat- & c. Et jacet pro xxvis. vii d. ” Mus. thaeus Parisiensis- Perhaps, deo et eccle . Brit. MŠS. Reg. 2 C. fol. i. In a siæ S. Albani, since erased. PSALTER cum glossa, “ A.D. 1326 , Iste y Wood, Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. ii. Liber impignoratur Mag. Jacobo de 48. col. 1 . It was common to lend Ispania canonico S. Pauli London, per money on the deposit of a book . There fratrem Willielmum de Rokesle de or. were public chests in the universities, dine et conventu Prædicatorum Londo andperhaps some other places, for re- nie, pro xx s. quem idem frater Williel ceiving the books so deposited ; many of mus recepit mutuo de predicto Jacobo whichstill remain , with an insertion in ad opus predicti conventus, solvendos the blank pages, containing the condi- in quindena S. Michaelis proxime ven tions of the pledge. I will throw toge- Condonatur quia pauper.” Ibid . ther a few instances in this note. In Pe 3 E. vii. fol. In Bernard's HOMELIES ira , схіі DISSERTATION II. before the year 1300, consisted only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests in the choir of St. Mary's church 2. In the year 1327, the scholars and citizens of Oxford assaulted and entirely pillaged the opulent Benedictine abbey of the neigh bouring town of Abingdon. Among the books they found there, were one hundred psalters, as many grayles, and forty missals, which undoubtedly belonged to the choir of the church : but besides these, there were only twenty -two CODICES, which I interpret books on common subjects. And although the invention of paper, at the close of the eleventh century, con tributed to multiply manuscripts, and consequently to facilitate knowledge, yet even so late as the reign of our Henry the Sixth, I have discovered the following remarkable instance of the inconveniencies and impediments to study, which must have been produced by a scarcity of books. It is in the sta ON THE CANTICLES, “ Cautio Thome was “ bonis refertissima libris .” Script. Myllyng imposita ciste de Rodbury, Brit. p. 247. See also Leland's account 10 die Decemb. A.D. 1491. Et jacet of St. Austin's library at Canterbury, pro xxs.” Ibid . 6 C. ix. These pledges, ibid. p . 299. Concerning which, com among other particulars, shew the prices pare Liber Thomæ Sprotti de libraria S. of books in the middle ages, a topic Augustini Cantuariæ , MSS. C. C. C. which I shall touch upon below . Oxon. 125. And Bibl. Cotton . Brit. ? Registr. Univ. Oxon. C. 64. a . Mus. JUL. C. vi. 4. And Leland, Wood, Hist. ut supr. i . 163. col. 1. Coll. iii. 10. 120. Leland, who was li Leland mentions this library, but it is brarian to Henrythe Eighth, removed just before the dissolution of the monas- a large quantity of valuable manuscripts tery. “ Cum excuterem pulverem et from St. Austin's Canterbury and from blattas Abbandunensis bibliothecæ : other monasteries at the dissolution, to Script. Brit. p. 238. See also J. Twyne, that king's library at Westminster. See Comm. de Reb. Albionic. lib . ii. p. 130. Script. Brit. ETHELSTANUS. And MSS. edit. Lond. 1590. I have mentioned the Reg. 1 A. xviii. For the sake of con libraries of many monasteries below . nection I will observe, that among our See also what is said of the libraries of cathedral libraries of secular canons, that the Mendicant Friars, Sect. ix. p. 128. of the church of Wells was most magni infr. That of Grey Friars in London ficent: it was builtabout the year 1420 , was filled with books at the cost of five and contained twenty - five windows on hundred and fifty -six pounds in the year either side. Leland , Coll. i. p. 109. in 1432. Leland, Coll. i. 109. In the year which state, I believe, it continues at 1482, the library of the abbey of Lei- present. Nor is it quite foreign to the cestercontained eight large stalls which subject of this note to add, that king were filled with books. Gul. Charyte, Henry the Sixth intended a library at Registr. Libror. et Jocal. omnium in Eton college, fifty -two feet long, and monast. S. Mar. de pratis prope Leces twenty -four broad : 'and another at triam . MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Laud. I. 75. King's college in Cambridge ofthe same fol. membr. See f. 139. There is an breadth, but one hundred and two feet account of the library of Dover priory, in length. Ex Testam . dat. xii. Mar. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Arch . B. 24. Leland 1447. says, that the library of Norwich priory a ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxiii a tutes of St. Mary's college at Oxford, founded as a seminary to Oseney abbey in the year 1446. 6 Let no scholar occupy book in the library above one hour, or two hours at most ; so that others shall be hindered from the use of the same b.” The famous library established in the university of Oxford, by that munificent patron of literature Humphrey duke of Glou cester, contained only six hundred volumes C. About the com mencement of the fourteenth century, there were only four classics in the royal library at Paris. These were one copy of Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, and Boethius. The rest were chiefly books of devotion , which included but few of the fathers : many treatises of astrology, geomancy, chiromancy, and medicine, originally written in Arabic, and translated into Latin or French : pandects, chronicles, and romances. This collection was principally made by Charles the Fifth, who began his reign in 1365. This monarch was passionately fond of reading, and it was the fashion to send him presents of books from every part of the kingdom of France. These he ordered to be ele gantly transcribed, and richly illuminated ; and he placed them in a tower of the Louvre, from thence called la toure de la libraire. The whole consisted of nine hundred volumes. They were deposited in three chambers ; which, on this occasion, were wainscotted with Irish oak, and cieled with cypress curi ously carved . The windows were of painted glass, fenced with iron bars and copper wire. The English became masters of Paris in the year 1425. On which event the duke of Bedford, regent of France, sent his whole library, then consisting of only eight hundred and fifty -three volumes, and valued at two thousand two hundred and twenty -three livres, into England ; where perhaps they became the ground -work of duke Hum phrey's library just mentionedd. Even so late as the year B “ Nullus occupet unum librum , vel was not opened till the year 1480. Ibid. occupari faciat, ultra unam horam et p. 50. col . i. duas ad majus : sic quod cæteri retra- d See M. Boivin, Mem . Lit. ii. p. 747. hantur a visu et studio ejusdem .” Sta . 4to . Who says, that the regent pre tut. Coll. S. Mariæ pro Oseney . De sented to his brother in law Humphrey LIBRARIA. f. 21. MSS. Rawlins. Bibl. duke of Gloucester a rich copy ofa trans Bodl. Oxon. lation of Livy into French , which had c Wood, ubi supr. ii . 49. col. ij. It been presented to the king of France. VOL. 1 . h cxiv DISSERTATION II . 1471 , when Louis the Eleventh of France borrowed the works of the Arabian physician Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited by way of pledge a quantity of valuable plate, but was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed , by which he bound himself to return it under a considerable forfeituref. The excessive prices of books in the middle ages, afford numerous and cu rious proofs. I will mention a few only. In the year 1174 , Walter prior of St. Swithin's at Winchester, afterwards elect ed abbot of Westminster, a writer in Latin of the lives of the bishops who were his patrons , purchased of the canons of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, Bede's Homilies, and Saint Austin's Psalter, for twelve measures of barley, and a pall on which was embroidered in silver the history of Saint Birinus convert ing a Saxon kingh. Among the royal manuscripts in the Bri tish Museum there is COMESTOR'S SCHOLASTIC HISTORY in French ; which, as it is recorded in a blank page at the be ginning, was taken from the king of France at the battle of Poitiers; and being purchased by William Montague earl of Salisbury for one hundred mars, was ordered to be sold by the last will of his countess Elizabeth for forty livres '. About the e See Bury's PHILOBIBLON , mention- Birinus was connected . He was buried ed at large below . De modo communi- in that of Dorchester, Whart. Angl. candi studentibus libros nostros. cap. xix, Sacr. i. 190 . And in Bever's manu f Robertson's Hist. Charles V. vol. i. script Chronicle, or his Continuator, p . 281. edit. 8vo. cited below , it is said, that a marble ce & William Giffard and Henry dc notaph of marvellous sculpture was con Blois, bishops of Winchester. structed over his grave in Dorchester h Registr. Priorat. S. Swithin. Win- church about the year 1320. I find no ton . ut supr. MS. quatern. : “ Pro mention of this monument in any other duodecim mens. (or mod .) ordei, et una writer. Bever. Chron, MSS. Coll. Trin . palla brusdata in argento cum historia Oxon. Num. x. f. 66. sancti Birini convertentis ad fidem Ky- i MSS. 19 D ï . LA BIBLE HYSTO negylsum regem Gewyseorum : necnon RIAUS, ou LES HISTORIES ESCOLASTRES . Oswaldi regis Northumbranorum susci. The transcript is of the fourteenth cen pientis de fonte Kynegylsum .' Gewy- tury . This is the entry, “ Cest livre seorum is the West Saxons. This his- fust pris oue le roy de France a la ba tory, with others of Saint Birinus, is re- taille de Peyters : et le bon counte de Sa presented on the antient font of Norinan resbirs William Montagu la achata pur workmanship in Winchester cathedral : cent mars, et le dona a sa compaigne onthe windows of the abbey -church of Elizabethla bone countesse, que dieux Dorchester near Oxford : and in the assoile.-- Lequele lyvre le dite countesse western ont and windows of Lincoln assigna a ses executours de le rendre pur cathedral. With all which churches xl, livres. " ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. CXV year 1400 , a copy of John of Meun's ROMAN DE LA Rose, was sold before the palace- gate at Paris for forty crowns or thirty -three pounds six and six -pencei. But in pursuit of these anecdotes, I am imperceptibly seduced into later periods, or rather am deviating from my subject. After the calamities which the state of literature sustained in consequence of the incursions of the northern nations, the first restorers of the antient philosophical sciences in Europe, the study of which , by opening the faculties and extending the views of mankind, gradually led the way to other parts of learning, were the Arabians. In the beginning of the eighth century, this wonderful people, equally famous for their con quests and their love of letters, in ravaging the Asiatic pro vinces found many Greek books, which they read with infi nite avidity : and such was the gratification they received from this fortunate acquisition , and so powerfully their curiosity was excited to make further discoveries in this new field of know ledge, that they requested their caliphs to procure from the emperor at Constantinople the best Greek writers. These they carefully translated into Arabick. But every part of the Gre cian literature did not equally gratify their taste. The Greek poetry they rejected, because it inculcated polytheism and ido i It belonged to the late Mr. Ames, stances . The curious reader who seeks author of the TYPOGRAPHICAL ANTIQUI- further information on this small yet not TIES. In a blank leaf was written , “ Cest unentertaining branch of literary his lyvir costa palas du Parys quarante co- tory , is referred to Gabr. Naud. Addit. rones d'or sans mentyr. I have ob- à ľ Hist. de Louys XI. par Comines. served in another place, that in the year edit. Fresn . tom. iv. 281 , & c. 1430 , Nicholas de Lyra was transcribed * See Abulfarag. per Pocock, Dynast. at the expence of one hundred marcs. p. 160. Greek was a familiar language SECT. ix. p. 127. infr. I add here the to the Arabians. The accompts of the valuation ofbooks bequeathed to Merton caliph's treasury were always written in college at Oxford , before the year 1300 . Greek till the year of Christ 715. They A Scholastical History, 20s. A Concor- were then ordered to be drawn in Arabic, dantia , 10s. The four greater Prophets, Manyproofs of this might be mention with glosses, 5s. Liber Anselmi cum ed. Greek was a familiar language in quæstionibus Thomæ de Malo , 12. Mahomet's houshold . Zaid , one of Quodlibetæ H. Gandavensis et S. Tho- Mahomet's secretaries, to whom he dic mæ Aquinatis, 10s. A Psalter with tated the Koran, was a perfect master glosses, 10s. Saint Austin on Genesis, of Greek . Sale's Prelim . Disc. p. 144, 10s. MS. Hist. of MERTON COLLEGE, 145. The Arabic gold coins were al by A. Wood. Bibl. Bodl. Cod . Raw- ways inscribed with Greek legends till lins. I could add a variety of other in about the year 700 . h 2 cxvi DISSERTATION II . latry, which were inconsistent with their religion. Or perhaps it was too cold and too correct for their extravagant and ro mantic conceptions ! .. Ofthe Greek history they made no use , because it recorded events which preceded their prophet Ma homet. Accustomed to a despotic empire, they neglected the political systems of the Greeks, which taught republican free dom . For the same reasons they despised the eloquence of the Athenian orators. The Greek ethics were superseded by their Alcoran, and on this account they did not study the works of Platom . Therefore no other Greek books engaged their attention but those which treated of mathematical, metaphysi cal, and physical knowledge. Mathematics coincided with their natural turn to astronomy and arithmetic. Metaphysics, or logic, suited their speculative genius, their love of tracing intricate and abstracted truths, and their ambition of being ad mired for difficult and remote researches. Physics, in which I include medicine, assisted the chemical experiments to which they were so much addicted " : and medicine, while it was con nected with chemistry and botany, was a practical art of im | Yet it appears from many of their Gregory the Great. Ubi supr. p . 260. fictions, that some of the Greek poets Leo Africanus mentions, among the were not unfamiliar among them , per- works of Averroes, ExPOSITIONES REI haps long before the period assigned PUBLICÆ Platonis. But he died so late in the text. Theophilus Edessenus, a as the year 1206 . De Med. et Philo Maronite, by professionan astronomer, soph. Arab. cap. xx . translated Homer into Syriac about the ' n The earliest Arab chemist, whose year 770. Theophan. Chronogr. p. 376. writings are now extant, was Jeber. He Abulfarag. ut supr. p. 217. Reinesius, is about the seventh century. His book , in his very curious account of the manu- called by Golius, his Latin translator, script collection of Greek chemists in the Lapis Philosophorum , was written first in library of Saxe -Gotha, relates that soon Greek, and afterwards translated by its after the year 750, the Arabians trans- author into Arabic. For Jeber wasori lated Homer and Pindar, amongst other ginally a Greek and a Christian, and af Greek books. Ernest. Salom . Cyprian. terwards went into Asia, and embraced Catal. Codd. MSS. Bibl. Gothan. p. 71. Mohammedism . See Leo African . lib. 87. Apud Fabric. Bibl. Gr. xii . p . 753. iii . c. 106 . The learned Boerhaave as It is however certain, that the Greek serts, that many of Jeber's experiments philosophers were their objects. Com- are verified by present practice, and that pare Euseb . Renaudot de Barb. Ari- several of them have been revived as mo stotel. Versionib. apud Fabric. Bibl. dern discoveries. Boerhaave adds, that, Gr. xii . p. 252. 258. except the fancies aboutthephilosopher's m Yet Reinesius says, that about the stone, the exactness of Jeber's operations year 750, they translated Plato into is surprising. Hist. Chemistr. p. 14, 15. Arabic : together with the works of S. Lond. 1727. Austin, Ambrose, Jerom , Leo, and ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxvii mediate utility °. Hence they studied Aristotle, Galen, and Hippocrates, with unremitted ardour and assiduity : they trans lated their writings into the Arabic tongue P , and by degrees illustrated them with voluminous commentaries 4. These Arabic translations of the Greek philosophers produced new • Their learning, but especially their lated into that language by his orders. medical knowledge, flourished most in He hired themost learned persons from Salerno, a city of Italy , where it formed all quarters of his vast dominions to make the famous Schola Salernitana . The these translations. Many celebrated little book of medical precepts in leonine astronomers flourished in his reign; and heroics, which bears the name of that he was himself famed for his skill in school, is well known. . This system astronoiny. This was about the year of was composed at the desire of Robert Christ 820. See Leo African , de Med. duke of Normandy, William the Con- et Phil. Arab. cap . i. Al- Makin , p. queror's son : who returning from Jeru- 139, 140. Eutych. p. 434, 435. salem in one of the crusades, and having A curious circumstance of the envy heard of the fame of those Salernitan with which the Greeks at Constantinople physicians, applied to them for the cure treated this growing philosophy of the of a wound made by a poisoned arrow . Arabians, is mentioned by Cedrenus. It was written not only in verse, but in Al-Manun, hearing of one Leo an ex rhyming verse, that the prince might cellentmathematician at Constantinople, more easily retain the rules in his me- wrote to the emperor, requesting that mory. It was published 1100. The au- Leo might be permitted to settlein his thor's name is Giovanni di Milano, a dominions, with a most ample salary, as celebrated Salernitan physician. The' a teacher in that science. The emperor, monks of Cassino, hereafter mentioned, by this means being made acquainted much improved this study. See Chron. with Leo's merit, established a school, Cassin . I. iii . c. 35. Medicine was at in which he appointed Leo a professor, first practised by the monks or the clergy, for the sake of a specious excuse. The whoadopted it with the rest of the Ara- caliph sent a second time to the empe bian learning. See P. Diac. De Vir. ror, entreating that Leo might reside illustr. cap . xiii. et ibid . Not. Mar with him for a short time only; offering See also Ab. De Nuce ad Chron. Cas- likewise a large sum of money, and sin . l . i. c. 9. And Leon . Ostiens. terms of lasting peace and alliance. On Chron. 1. ii. c. See Sect. xvii. vol. ii. which the emperor immediately created Leo bishop of Thessalonica. Cedren. P Compare Renaudot, ubi supr.p. 258. Hist. Comp. 548. seq. Herbelot also 9 Their caliph Al-manun was a sin- relates, that the same caliph, so universal gular encourager of these translations. was his search after Greek books, pro He was a greatmaster of the speculative cured a copy of Apollonius Pergæus sciences ; and for his better information the mathematician. But this copy con in them , invited learned men from all tained only seven books. In the mean parts of the world to Bagdat. He fa- time, finding by the Introduction that youred the learned of every religion : the whole consisted of eight books, and and in return they made him presents of that the eighth book was the foundation their works, collected from the choicest of the rest, and being informed that pieces of Eastern literature, whether of there was a complete copy in the empe Indians, Jews, Magians, or oriental ror's library at Constantinople, he ap Christians. He expended immense sums plied to him for a transcript. But the in purchasing valuable books written in Greeks, merely from a principleof jea Hebrew , Syriac, and Greek, that they lousy, would not suffer the application might be translated into Arabic. Many to reach the emperor, and it didnot take Greek treatises of medicine were trans. effect. Biblioth. Oriental. p. 978. col. a . p . 277. infr. ) cxviii DISSERTATION II . treatises of their own, particularly in medicine and metaphysics. They continued to extend their conquests, and their frequent incursions into Europe before and after the ninth century, and their absolute establishment in Spain, imported the rudiments of useful knowledge into nations involved in the grossest igno rance, and unpossessed of the means of instruction . They founded universities in many cities of Spain and Africa '. They brought with them their books, which Charlemagne, emperor of France and Germany, commanded to be translated from Arabic into Latins: and which, by the care and encourage ment of that liberal prinçe, being quickly disseminated over his extensive dominions, soon became familiar to the western world. Hence it is, that we find our early Latin authors of the dark ages chiefly employed in writing systems of the most abstruse sciences : and from these beginnings the Aristotelic philosophy acquired such establishment and authority, that from long prescription it remains to this day the sacred and uncontroverted doctrine of our schools . From this fountain the infatuations of astrology took possession of the middle ages, and were continued even to modern times. To the peculiar

• See Hotting. Hist. Eccl. Sæc. ix. partly known to the western scholars sect. ii. lit. G g. According to the best from the writings and translations of writers of oriental history, the Arabians Boethius, who flourished about the year had made great advances on the coasts 520. Alcuine, Charlemagne's master,

communicating with Spain, I meanin commends S. Austin's book De Prædi Africa , about the year of Christ 692. camentis, which he calls, DECEM NA And they became actually masters of TURÆ VERBA. Rog. Bacon, de Util. Spain itself in the year 712. See Mod. Scient. cap. xiv . See also Op. Maj. An Univ. Hist. vol. ii. p. 168. 179. edit. ingenious and learned writer, already 1759. It may be observed, that Sicily quoted, affirms, that in the age of Char became part of the dominionof the Sa- lemagne there were many Greek scho racens, within sixty years after Maho- lars who made translations of Aristotle , met's death, and in the seventh century, which were in use below the year 1100. together with almost all Asia and Africa. I will not believe that any Europeans, Only part of Greece and the lesser Asia properly so called, were competently then remained to the Grecian empire at skilled in Greek for this purpose in the Constantinople. Conring. DeScript time of Charlemagne ; nor, if they were, &c. Comment. p . 101.edit. Wratisl. is it likely that of themselves they should 1727. See also , Univ. Hist. ut supr. have turned their thoughts to Aristotle's Cuspinian. de Cæsarib. p . 419. philosophy. Unless by viri Græce docti * Yet it must not be forgot, that S. this writer means the learned Arabs of Austin had translated part of Aristotle's Spain , which does not appear from his logic from the original Greek into Latin context. See Euseb. Renaudot, ut supr. before the fifth century ; and that the p. 247. peripatetic philosophy must have been $ ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxix genius of this people it is owing, that chemistry became blended with so many extravagancies, obscured with unintelligible jar gon , and filled with fantastic notions, mysterious pretensions, and superstitious operations. And it is easy to conceive, that among these visionary philosophers, so fertile in speculation , logic and metaphysics contracted much of that refinement and perplexity, which for so many centuries exercised the ge nius of profound reasoners and captious disputants, and so long obstructed the progress of true knowledge. It may perhaps be regretted, in the mean time, that this predilection of the Arabian scholars for philosophic enquiries, prevented them from importing into Europe a literature of another kind. But rude and barbarous nations would not have been polished by the history, poetry, and oratory of the Greeks. Although ca pable ofcomprehending the solid truths ofmanyparts ofscience, they are unprepared to be impressed with ideas of elegance, and to relish works of taste. Men must be instructed before they can be refined ; and, in the gradations of knowledge, po lite literature does not take place till some progress has first been made in philosophy. Yet it is at the same time probable, that the Arabians, among their literary stores, brought into Spain and Italy many Greek authors not of the scientific species 4 : and that the migration of this people into the western " It must not beforgot, that they trans- Aristotle's Morals, translated by Ho lated Aristotle's POETICS. There is ex- nain , Bibl. Oriental. p . 963. 8 . See tant “ Averroys Summa in Aristotelis also p. 971. a. 973. p . 974. b. Com poetriam ex Arabico sermone in Lati- pare Mosheim . Hist. ch. i. p. 217. 288. num traducta ab Hermano Alemanno : Note C: p . 2. ch. 1. Averroys also pa Præmittitur determinatio Ibinrosdin in raphrased Aristotle's RHETORIC. There poetria Aristotelis. Venet. 1515." There are also translations into Arabic of Ari is a translation of the Poetics into Ara stotle's ANALYTICS, and his treatise of bic by Abou Muschar Metta, entitled, INTERPRETATION . The first they called A BOTICA. See Herbel. Bibl. Oriental. ANALUTHICA, and the second, BARI AR p. 18. col. a. p. 971. b. p. 40. col. 2. p. MENIAS. But Aristotle's logic, meta 337. col. 2. Farabi, who studied at Bag- physics, and physics pleased them most ; dad about the year 930 , one of the trans- particularly the eight books of his phy. lators of Aristotle's ANALYTICS, wrote sics, which exhibit a general view of that sixty books on that philosopher's Rhe- science. Some of our countrymen were toric ; declaring that he had read it over translators of these Arabic books into two hundred times, and yet was equally Latin. Athelard , a inonk of Bath, desirous of reading it again. Fabric. translated the Arabic Euclid into Latin, Bibl. Gr. xiii . 265. Herbelot mentions about 1000. Leland . Script. Brit. p . CXX DISSERTATION II. world , while it proved the fortunate instrument of introducing into Europe some of the Greek classics at a very early period, was moreover a means of preserving those genuine models of composition, and of transmitting them to the present genera tion '. It is certain , that about the close of the ninth century, polite letters, together with the sciences, began in some degree to be studied in Italy, France, and Germany. Charlemagne, whose munificence and activity in propagating the Arabian literature has already been mentioned, founded the universities of Bononia, Pavia, Paris, and Osnaburgh. Charles the Bald seconded the salutary endeavours of Charlemagne. Lothaire, the brother of the latter, erected schools in the eight principal cities of Italy " . The number of monasteries and collegiate churches in those countries was daily increasing * : in which the youth, as a preparation to the study of the sacred scrip 200 . There are some manuscripts of it See J. David . Koeler, Diss. De Bib in the Bodleian library, and elsewhere. liotheca Caroli Mag. Altorg. 1727. But the most beautiful and elegant copy And Act. Erudit. et Curios. Francon. I have seen is on vellum, in Trinity col- P. x. p. 716. seq. 60 . And Hist. Lit. lege library at Oxford . Cod . MSS. Franc. tom . iv. 4to . p. 223. Compare Num. 10 . Laun. c. iv. p. 30. Eginhart mentions See what I have said concerning the his private library. Vit. Car.Mag . p .41 . destruction of many Greek classics at a. edit. 1565. He even founded a library Constantinople, in the Preface to Theo- at Jerusalem , for the use of those west critus, Oxon. 1770. tom . i. Prefat. p. xiv. ern pilgrims who visited the holy sepul xv. To which I will add, that so early chre. Hist. Lit. ut supr. p. 373. His as the fourth century , the Christian priests successor also, Charles the Bald , erect did no small injury to antient literature, ed many libraries. Two of his librarians, by prohibiting and discouraging the study Holduin and Ebbo, occur under that of the old pagan philosophers. Hence title in subscriptions. Bibl. Hist. Liter. the story , that Jerom dreamed he was Struvii et Jugl. cap . ii. sect. xvii. p. 172. whipped by the devil for reading Cicero . This monarch, before his last expedition Compare what said of Livy below. into Italy about the year 870 , in case of w A.D. 823. See Murator. Scriptor. his decease, orders his large library to Rer. Italicar. i . p. 151 . be divided into three parts, and disposed * Cave mentions, “ Cænobia Italica, of accordingly. Hist. Lit. ut supr. Cassinense, Ferrariense : Germanica, tom . v. p. 514. Launoy justly remarks, Fuldense, Sangellense, Augiense, Lo- that many noble public institutions of biense : Gallica , Corbiense, Rhemense, Charles the Bald were referred , by suc Orbacense, Floriacense ,” & c. Hist.Lit. ceeding historians, to their more favour Sæc. Photian. p. 503.edit. 1688. Char- ite hero Charlemagne. Ubisupr. p. 53. lemagnealso founded two archbishop- edit. Fabric. Their immediate succes ricksand nine bishopricks in the most sors, at least of the German race, were considerable towns of Germany. Aub. not such conspicuous patrons of litera Miræi Op. Diplomat. i. p. 16. Char- ture. lemagne seems to have founded libraries. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxi tures, were exercised in reading profane authors, together with the antient doctors of the church, and habituated to a Latin style. The monks of Cassino in Italy were distinguished be fore the year 1000, not only for their knowledge of the sciences, but their attention to polite learning, and an acquaintance with the classics. Their learned abbot Desiderius collected the best of the Greek and Roman writers. This fraternity not only composed learned treatises in music, logic, astronomy, and the Vitruvian architecture, but likewise employed a portion of their time in transcribing Tacitus y, Jornandes, Josephus, Ovid's Fasti, Cicero, Seneca, Donatus the grammarian, Virgil, Theocritus, and Homer 2 . In the mean time England shared these improvements in knowledge: and literature, chiefly derived from the same y Lipsius says, that Leo the Tenth excepted, n. 2725. Many of the same gave five hundred pieces of gold for the and other classic authors occur in the five first books of Tacitus's Annals, to British Museum, written in the twelfth the monks of a convent in Saxony. This and thirteenth centuries. See n. 5443. Lipsius calls the resurrection of Tacitus 2656. 2475. 2624. 2591. 2668. 2533. to life. Ad Annal. Tacit. lib . ii. c. 9. 2770. 2492, 2709. 2655. 2654. 2664. At the end of the edition of Tacitus, 2728. 5534. 2609. 2724. 5412. 2643. published under Leo's patronage by Be- 5304. 2633. There are four copies of roaldus in 1515, this edict is printed , Statius, one of the twelfth century, “ Nomine Leonis X. proposita sunt præ- n. 2720 : and three others of the thir mia non mediocria his qui ad eum libros teenth , n. 2608. 2636. 2665. Plautus's veteres neque hactenus editos adtule- Comedies are among the royal manu rint.' scripts, written in the tenth, 15 C. xi . 4. 2 Chron . Cassin . Monast. lib. iii. And some parts of Tully in the same, C. 35. Poggius Florentinus found a ibid. 1. Suetonius, 15 C. iv . 1. Horace's STRATAGEMATA of Frontinus, about the Art of Poetry, Epistles, and Satires, year 1420 , in this monastery. Mabil. with Eutropius, in the same, 15 B. vii. lon, Mus. Ital. tom . i. p. 133. Manu- 1. 2. 3. xvi. 1, & c . Willibold, one of scripts of the following classics now in the learned Saxons whose literature will the Harleian collection, appear to bave be mentioned in its proper place, having been written between the eighth and visited Rome and Jerusalem , retired for tenth centuries inclusively . Two copies some time to this monastery, about the of Terence, Brit. Mus. MSS. Harl. year 730. Vit. Williboldi, Canis. Antiq. 2670. 2750. Cicero's Paradoxa Stoico . Lect. xv. 695. And Pantal. de Vir. rum , the first book De Natura Deorum , Illustr. par . ii . p. 263. And Birinus, Orations against Catiline, De Oratore, who came into England from Rome De Inventione Rhetorica, Ad Heren- about the year 630 , with a design of nium , n. 2622. 2716. 2623. And the converting the Saxons, brought with Epistles, with others of his works, n. him one Benedict, a monk of Cassino, 2682. A fragment of the Æneid, n. 2772. whom he placed overthe monks or Livy, n. 2672. Lucius Florus, n. 2620 . church of Winchester. Wharton , Angl. Ovid'sMetamorphosesand Fasti, n.2737. Sacr. i. 190 . Quintilian, n. 2664. Horace, the Odes cxxii DISSERTATION II. sources, was communicated to our Saxon ancestors about the beginning of the eighth century . The Anglo -Saxons were converted to Christianity about the year 570. In consequence of this event, they soon acquired civility and learning. Hence they necessarily established a communication with Rome, and acquired a familiarity with the Latin language. During this period, it was the prevailing practice among the Saxons, not only of the clergy but of the better sort of laity, to make a voyage to Romed. It is natural to imagine with what ardour the new converts visited the holy see, which at the same time was fortunately the capital of literature. While they gratified their devotion , undesignedly and imperceptibly they became acquainted with useful science. In return , Rome sent her emissaries into Britain . Theodore, a monk of Rome, originally a Greek priest, a native of Tar sus in Cilicia, was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury, and sent into England by pope Vitalian, in the year 688 €. He was skilled in the metrical art, astronomy, arithmetic, church music, and the Greek and Latin languages . The new pre late brought with him a large library, as it was called and esteemed , consisting of numerous Greek and Latin authors ; among which were Homer in a large volume, written on paper with most exquisite elegance, the homilies of saint Chrysostom on parchment, the Psalter, and Josephus's Hypomnesticon, all in Greek 8. Theodore was accompanied into England by Adrian, a Neapolitan monk, and a native of Africa, who was equally skilled in sacred and profane learning, and at the same с See Cave, Sæcul. Eutych. p. 382. Adrian mentioned below , “ Usque ho d « Hiis temporibus multi Anglorum die supersunt de eorum discipulis, qui gentis nobiles et ignobiles viri etfoemi- Latinam Græcamque linguam , æque ut næ, duces et privati, divini numinis in- propriam in qua nati sunt, norunt.' stinctu , Romam venire consueverant. also ibid . c. 1 . & c. Bede, De Temp. Apud Leland , & Parker, ut supr. p . 80. See also Script. Brit. CEOLFRIDUS. Lambarde's Peramb. Kent, p. 233. A Birchington, apud Wharton, Angl. transcript of the Josephus 500 years old Sacr. i. 2. Cave, Hist. Lit. p. 464. Par- was given to the public library at Cam ker, Antiquitat. Brit. p. 53 . bridge , bythe archbishop. See Fabric. I Bed. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent, Angl. Bibl. Gr. x. 109. iv. 2. Bede says of Theodore and of e ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxiii time appointed by the pope to the abbacy of Saint Austin's at Canterbury. Bede informs as, that Adrian requested Pope Vitalian to confer the archbishoprick on Theodore, and that the pope consented on condition that Adrian, “ who had been twice in France, and on that account was better acquainted with the nature and difficulties of so long a journey," would con duct Theodore into Britain ". They were both escorted to the city of Canterbury by Benedict Biscop, a native of Northum berland, and a monk, who had formerly been acquainted with them in a visit which he made to Romei. Benedict seems at this time to have been one of the most distinguished of the Saxon ecclesiastics : availing himselfof the arrival of these two learned strangers, under their direction and assistance he procured workmen from France, and built the monastery of Weremouth in Northumberland. The church he constructed of stone, after the manner of the Roman architecture ; and adorned its walls and roof with pictures, which he purchased at Rome, representing among other sacred subjects the Virgin Mary, the twelve apostles, the evangelical history, and the visions of the Apocalypse k. The windows were glazed by art ists brought from France. But I mention this foundation to introduce an anecdote much to our purpose. Benedict added to his monastery an ample library, which he stored with Greek and Latin volumes, imported by himself from Italy '. Bede has thought it a matter worthy to be recorded, that Ceolfrid , his successor in the government of Weremouth - abbey, aug h Bed. Hist. Eccl. iv . l . " Et ob id Bed . Hist. Eccl. iv. 18. He likewise majorem notitiam hujus itineris," & c . brought over from Rome two silken See Math . Westmon . sub an . 703. palls of exquisite workmanship , with Lel. Script. Brit. p. 109. which he afterwards purchased of king * See Bede, Hist. Abbat. Wiremuth. Aldfrid, successor of Elfrid, two pieces p. 295. 297. edit. Cantab . In one of of land for his monastery. Bed . Vit. his expeditions to Rome, he brought Abb. ut supr. p. 297. Bale censures over John, arch -chantor of St. Peter's Benedict for being the first who intro at Rome, who introduced the Roman duced into England painters, glasiers, method ofsinging mass. Bed . ibid. et id genus alios AD VOLUPTATEM artifices. He taught the monks of Be- Cent. i, 82. This is the languageof a nedict's abbey ; and all the singers of PURITAN in Life, as well as in Religion, the monasteries of that province came Lel. ubi supr. 110. from various parts to hear him sing, p. 295 . 1 cxxiv DISSERTATION 11. mented this collection with three volumes of pandects, and a book of cosmography wonderfully enriched with curious work manship, and bought at Romem. The example of the pious Benedict was immediately followed by Acca, bishop of Hexham in the same province: who having finished his cathedral church by the help of architects, masons, and glasiers hired in Italy, adorned it, according to Leland, with a valuable library of Greek and Latin authors. But Bede, Acca's cotemporary, relates, that this library was entirely composed of the histories of those apostles and martyrs to whose relics he had dedicated several altars in his church, and other ecclesiastical treatises, which he had collected with infinite labourº. Bede however calls it a most copious and noble library ”. Nor is it foreign to our purpose to add, that Acca invited from Kent into Northumberland, and retained in his service during the space of twelve years, a celebrated chantor named Maban : by the assistance of whose instructions and superintendance he not only regulated the church music of his diocese, but introduced the use of many Latin hymns hitherto unknown in the north ern churches of England . It appears that before the arrival of Theodore and Adrian, celebrated schools for educating youth in the sciences had been long established in Kent ' . Literature, however, seems at this period to have flourished m Bede, Hist. Abbat. Wiremuth . monk of this abbey, adds, that this be p. 299. Op. Bed . edit. Cantab . nefaction of Dunstan was inscribed in a n Lel. ibid. p. 105 . Latin distich , which he quotes, on the • Bed . Hist. v. 21. P Hist. v. c. 20 . organ pipes. Vit. Aldhelm . Whart. 9 Bed. Hist. Eccl. v. c. 21. Maban Ang. Sacr. ii. p. 33. See what is said had been taught to sing in Kent by the of Ďunstan below. And Osb . Vit, S. successors of the disciples of Saint Gre- Dunst. Wharton, Angl. Sacr. ii . 93 . gory. Compare Bed. iv. 2. If we may [Mr. Turner has quoted a passage believe William of Malmesbury, who from Aldhelm's poem “ De Laude Vir wrote about the year 1120 , they had ginum ,” which confirms this statement organs in the Saxon churches before the of Malmesbury : Conquest. He says that archbishop Dunstan, in king Édgar's reign, gave Maxima millenis auscultans organa fla an organ to the abbey - church of Malmes- bris bury ; which he describes to have been Mulceat auditum ventosis follibus iste , like those in use at present. “ Organa, Quamlibet auratis fulgescant cætera ubi per æreas fistulas musicis mensuris capsis. Vol. ii. p. 408. - Edit. ] elaboratas, dudum conceptas follis vomit * See Bed. Op. per Smith , p. 724. anxius auras. William , who was a seq . Append. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. CXXV with equal reputation at the other extremity of the island, and even in our most northern provinces. Ecbert bishop of York founded a library in his cathedral, which , like some of those already mentioned, is said to have been replenished with a variety of Latin and Greek books. Alcuine, whom Ecbert appointed his first librarian , hints at this library in a Latin epistle to Charlemagne. “ Send me from France some learned treatises, of equal excellence with those which I preserve here in England under my custody, collected by the industry of my master Ecbert : and I will send to you some of my youths, who shall carry with them the flowers of Britain into France. So that there shall not only be an inclosed garden at York , but also at Tours some sprouts of Paradise ,” &c. William of Malmesbury judged this library to be of sufficient import ancenot only to be mentioned in his History, but to be styled, “ Omnium liberalium artium armarium , nobilissimam biblio thecamų. ” This repository remained till the reign of King Stephen, when it was destroyed by fire, with great part of the city of York '. Its founder Ecbert died in the year 767 ". Before the end of the eighth century, the monasteries of West minster, Saint Alban's, Worcester, Malmesbury, Glastonbury, with some others, were founded , and opulently endowed . That of Saint Alban's was filled with one hundred monks by King Offax. Many new bishopricks were also established in En gland : all which institutions, by multiplying the number of ecclesiastics, turned the attention of many persons to letters. The best writers among the Saxons flourished about the eighth century . These were, Aldhelm bishop of Shirburn, Ceolfrid , Alcuine, and Bede ; with whom I must also join King Alfred . But in an enquiry of this nature, Alfred deserves par ticular notice, not only as a writer, but as the illustrious rival of Charlemagne, in protecting and assisting the restoration of literature. He is said to have founded the university of Ox

• Lel. p . 114. [ The only Greek classic Cave, Hist. Lit.

was Aristotle.— Ēdir.] * A. D. 793. See Dugd. Monast, i . Bale, ii . 15. De Reg. i . 1 . Pits, p. 154. W p. 486. u p. 177. V сххуі DISSERTATION II. ford ; and it is highly probable, that in imitation of Charle magne's similar institutions, he appointed learned persons to give public and gratuitous instructions in theology, but prin cipally in the fashionable sciences of logic, astronomy, arith metic, and geometry, at that place, which was then a consider able town , and conveniently situated in the neighbourhood of those royal seats at which Alfred chiefly resided. He suffered no priest that was illiterate to be advanced to any ecclesiastical dignity ". He invited his nobility to educate their sons in learn ing, and requested those lords of his court who had no chil dren , to send to school such of their younger servants as dis covered a promising capacity, and to breed them to the clerical professiona. Alfred , while a boy, had himself experienced the inconveniencies arising from a want of scholars, and even of common instructors, in his dominions; for he was twelve years of age, before he could procure in the western kingdom a master properly qualified to teach him the alphabet. But, while yet unable to read, he could repeat from memory a great variety of Saxon songs . He was fond of cultivating his na tive tongue : and with a view of inviting the people in general to a love of reading, and to a knowledge of books which they could not otherwise have understood , he translated many Latin authors into Saxon. These, among others, were Boethius OP THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY, a manuscript of which of Alfred's age still remains b, Orosius's HISTORY OF THE PAGANS, Y MS. Bever, MSS. Coll, Trin . Oxon . the hours went. But as in windy wea Codd. xlvii, f. 82. ther the candles were more wasted ; to 2 Bever, ibid . remedy this inconvenience he invented

• Flor. Vigorn. sub ann. 871. Bromp- lanthorns, there being then no glass to ton , Chron . in ALFR. p. 814. And MS. be met with in his dominions. Asser.

Bever, utsupr. It is curious to observe Menev. Vit. Alfr. p. 68. edit. Wise. In the simplicity of this age, in the method themean time, and during this very pe by which Alfred computed time. He riod, the Persians imported into Europe causedsix wax tapers to be made, each a machine, which presented the first til twelve inches long, and ofasmany ounces diments of a striking clock. It was in weight: on these tapers he ordered brought as a present to Charlemagne, the inches to be regularly marked ; and from Abdella king of Persia, by two having found that one of them burned monks of Jerusalem , in the year 800. just four hours, he committed the careof Among other presents, says Eginhart, them to the keepers of his chapel, who was an horologe of brass, wonderfully from time to time gave due notice how constructed bysome mechanical artifice, ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxvii Saint Gregory's PASTORAL CARE, the venerable Bede's ECCLE SIASTICAL HISTORY, and the SOLILOQUIES of Saint Austin . Probably Saint Austin was selected by Alfred , because he was the favorite author of Charlemagne . Alfred died in the year 900, and was buried at Hyde abbey, in the suburbs of Win chester, under a sumptuous monument of porphyryd. Aldhelm , kinsman of Ina king of the West Saxons, fre quently visited France and Italy. While a monk of Malmes bury in Wiltshire, he went from his monastery to Canterbury, in order to learn logic, rhetoric, and the Greek language, of archbishop Theodore, and of Albin abbot of Saint Austin's , the pupil of Adrianf. But he had before acquired some know ledge of Greek and Latin under Maidulf, an Hibernian or Scot, who had erected a small monastery or school at Malmes burys. Camden affirms, that Aldhelm was the first of the Saxons who wrote in Latin , and that he taught his country men the art of Latin versification " . But a very intelligent an tiquarian in this sort of literature, mentions an anonymous Latin poet, who wrote the life of Charlemagne in verse ; and adds, that he was the first of the Saxons that attempted to write Latin versei. It is however certain , that Aldhelm's Latin compositions, whether in verse or prose, as novelties were deemed extraordinary performances, and excited the attention in which the course of the twelve hours book DE CIVITATE Del. Eginhart, Vit. ad clepsydram vertebatur, with as many Car. Magn. p. 29. little brasen balls, which at the close of d Asser. Menev. p. 72. ed. Wise. each hour dropped down on a sort of e Bede says, that Theodore and Adrian bells underneath, and sounded the end taught Tobias bishop of Rochester the of the hour. There were also twelve fi- Greek and Latin tongues so perfectly, gures of horsemen, who, when the twelve that he could speak them as fluently as hours were completed, issued out at his native Saxon . Hist. Eccl. v. 23. twelve windows, which till then stood f Lel. p. 97. Thorn says, that Albin open , and returning again, shut the win- learned Greek of Adrian. Chron . Dec. dows after them . He adds, that there Script. p. 1771 . were many other curiosities in this in- 8 W. Malmsb . ubi infr. p. 3. strument, which it would be tedious to h Wiltsh . p. 116. But this, Aldhelm recount. Eginhart, Car. Magn. p. 108. affirmsofhimselfin his treatise on Metre . It is to be remembered, that Eginhart See W. Malmsb. apud Wharton, Angl, was an eye -witness of what is here. de Sacr. ii. 4. seq. scribed ; and that he was an abbot, a Conringius, Script. Comment. p. 108 . skilful architect, and very learned in the This poem was printed by Reineccius at sciences . Helmstadt many years ago, with a large • MSS . Cott. Oru. A. 6. 8vo. membr. commentary. Compare Voss. Hist. Lat. e He was particularly fond of Austin's iii . 4 . сxxviii DISSERTATION II. and admiration of scholars in other countries. A learned co temporary, who lived in a remote province of a Frankish ter ritory, in an epistle to Aldhelm has this remarkable expression, 66 VESTRÆ LATINITATIS PANEGYRICUS RUMOR has reached us even at this distance , ” &c. In reward of these uncommon merits he was made bishop of Shirburn in Dorsetshire in the year 705k. His writings are chiefly theological: but he has likewise left in Latin verse a book of ÆNIGMATA, copied from a work of the sametitle under the name of Symposius ', a poem De VIRGINITATE hereafter cited, and treatises on arithmetic, astrology, rhetoric, and metre . The last treatise is a proof that the ornaments of composition now began to be studied. Leland mentions his CANTIONES SAXONICÆ , one of which continued to be commonly sung in William of Malmesbury's time: and, as it was artfully interspersed with allusions to passages of Scripture, was often sung by Aldhelm himself to the populace in the streets, with a design of alluring the ig norant and idle, by so specious a mode of instruction, to a sense ofduty, and a knowledge of religious subjects'. Malmes bury observes, that Aldhelm might be justly deemed " mine Græcum , ex nitore Romanum, et ex pompa Anglum .” It is evident, that Malmesbury, while he here characterizes the Greeks by their acuteness, took his idea of them from their scientifical literature, which was then only known. After the revival of the Greek philosophy by the Saracens, Aristotle and Euclid were familiar in Europe long before Homer and Pindar. The character of Aldhelm is thus drawn by an antient chroni cler : “ He was an excellent harper, a most eloquent Saxon and Latin poet, a most expert chantor or singer, à DOCTOR EGREGIUS, and admirably versed in the scriptures and the li beral sciences ." many ex acu P Ubi supr. p. 4. į W. Malmsb . ut supr. p. 4. • Malmsb. ubi supr. p. 4.

• Cave, p. 466 .

I See Fabric. Bibl. Med. Lat. iv . p. 9 Chron. Anon. Leland . Collectan . ii. 693. And Bibl. Lat. i. p. 681 . And 278. To be skilled in singing is often W. Malm . ubi supr. p. 7. Among the mentioned as an accomplishment of the inanuscripts of Exetercathedral is a book antient Saxon ecclesiastics. Bede says , of ÆNIGMATA in Saxon, some of which that Edda a monk of Canterbury, and a are written in Runic characters, 11. fol. learned writer, was “ primus cantandi 98. magister.” Hist. lib . iv. cap. 2. Wolstan , ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxix Alcuine, bishop Ecbert's librarian at York, was a cotempo rary pupil with Aldhelm under Theodore and Adrian at Can p. 165. a learned monk of Winchester, of the Park .] This is undoubtedly the work same age, was a celebrated singer, and of themonks; but Wanley believed it even wrote a treatise de TONORUM HAR- to have been done in France. OTHO. B.9. Monia, cited by William of Malmesbury, Cod. membran. fol. At Trinity college De Reg. lib. ii. c. 39. Lel. Script. Brit. in Cambridge is a Psalter in Latin and Their skill in playing on the Saxon, admirably written , and illumi harp is also frequently mentioned. Of nated with letters in gold , silver, mini Saint Dunstan, archbishop of Canter- ated , &c. It is full of a variety of histo bury, about the year 988, it is said, that rical pictures. At the end is the figure among his sacred studies, he cultivated of the writer Eadwin , supposed to be a the arts of writing, harping, and paint- monk of Canterbury, holding a pen of ing. Vit. S. Dunstan. MSS. Cott. Brit. metal, undoubtedly used in such sort of Mus. Faustin . B. 13. Hickes has en- writing ; with an inscription importing graveda figure of our Saviour drawnby his naine, and excellence in the calligra Saint Dunstan , with a specimen of his phic art. It appears to be performed writing, both remaining in the Bodleian about the reign of King Stephen. Cod. library. Gram . Saxon. p. 104. cap. xxii. membr. fol. post Class. a dextr. Ser. The writing and many of the pictures Med. 5. [ among the Single Codices.] and illuminations in our Saxon manu- Eadwin was a famous and frequent scripts were executed by the priests. A writer of books for the library of Christ book of the gospel, preserved in the church at Canterbury, as appears by a Cotton library, isa fine specimen of the catalogue of their books taken A.D.1315. Saxon calligraphy and decorations. It In Bibl. Cott. Gall. E 4. The eight is written by Eadfrid bishop of Durham , historical pictures richly illuminated with in the most exquisite manner. Ethel- gold , of the Annunciation , the Meeting of wold his successor did the illuminations, Mary and Elizabeth , &c. in a manuscript the capital letters, the picture of the of the gospel, are also thought to be of cross, and the evangelists, with infinite the reign of King Stephen , yet perhaps labour and elegance: and Bilfrid the from the same kind of artists.The Saxon anachorete covered the book, thus writ. clergy were ingenious artificers in many ten and adorned, with gold and silver other respects. S. Dunstan above men plates and precious stones. All this is tioned made two of the bells ofAbing related by Aldred, the Saxon glossator, don abbey with his own hands. Monast. at the end of St. John's gospel. The Anglic. tom . i. p. 104. John of Glas work was finished about the year 720. tonbury, who wrote about the year 1400 , MSS. Cott. Brit. Mus. Nero. D. 4. relates, that there remained in the abbey Cod. membr. fol. quadrat. Ælfsin, a at Glastonbury, in his time, crosses, in monk, is the elegant scribe of many cense -vessels , and vestments, made by Saxon pieces chiefly historical and scrip- Dunstan while a monk there. cap. 161. tural in the same library, and perhaps He adds, that Dunstan also handled the painter of the figures, probably soon “ scalpellum ut sculperet.” It is said, after the year 978. Ibid . Titus. D. 26. that he could model anyimage in brass, Cod. membr. 8vo. The Saxon copy of iron, gold, or silver. Osb. Vit. S. Dun the four evangelists, which king Athel- stan . apud Whart. ii . 94. Ervene, one stan gave to Durham church , remains in of the teachers of Wolstan bishop of the same library. It has the painted Worcester, perhaps a monk of Bury , was images of S. Cuthbert, radiated and famous for calligraphy, and skill in co crowned, blessing king Athelstan, and lours. To invite his pupils to read, he of the four evangelists. (Since engraved made use of a Psalter and Sacramen in the third volume of Strutt's Manners tary , whose capital letters he had richly and Customs of the English : and in illuminated with gold. This was about vol. i. of the same work there is an en- the year 980. Will. Malmesb . Vit. graving of the figure of our Saviour by Wulst. Wharton, Angl. Sacr. p. 244. St. Dunstan mentioned in this note . - William of Malmesbury says, that Elfric, VOL. I. i CXXX DISSERTATION II. terbury ”. During the present period, there seems to have been a close correspondence and intercourse between the French and Anglo - Saxons in matters of literature. Alcuine was invited from England into France, to superintend the stu dies of Charlemagne, whom he instructed in logic, rhetoric, and astronomy . He was also the master of Rabanus Maurus, who became afterwards the governor and preceptor of the great abbey of Fulda in Germany, one of the most flourishing seminaries in Europe, founded by Charlemagne, and inhabited by two hundred and seventy monkss. Alcuine was likewise employed by Charlemagne to regulate the lectures and disci pline of the universities ', which that prudent and magnificent potentate had newly constituted . He is said to have joined to the Greek and Latin , an acquaintance with the Hebrew tongue, which perhaps in some degree was known sooner than we may suspect; for at Trinity college in Cambridge there is an Hebrew Psalter, with a Normanno -Gallic interlinear version of great antiquity W. Homilies, lives of saints, commentaries on a Saxon abbot of Malmesbury, was a the abbey. They therefore removed him, skilful architect, ædificandi gnarus. Vit. yet afterwards in vain attempted to re Aldhelm . Wharton , Angl. Sacr. ii.p. 33. call him. Serrar. Rer. Mogunt. lib . iv. Herman, one of the Norman bishops of p . 625. Salisbury,about 1080, condescended to t John Mailros, a Scot, one of Bede's write, bind, and illuminate books. Mo- scholars, is said to have been employed nast. Angl. tom . iii. p . 375. by Charlemagne in founding the uni In some of these instances I have versity ofPavia. Dempst. xii. 904 . wandered below the Saxon times. It is " See Op. Alcuin . Paris. 1617. fol. indeed evident from various proofs which Præfat, Andr. Quercetan . Mabillon says, I could give, that the religious practised that Alcuine pointed the homilies, and these arts long afterwards. But the ob- St. Austin's epistle, at the instance of ject of this note was the existence of Charlemagne. Cari. Magn. R. Diplo them among the Saxon clergy. mat. p. 52. a. Charlemagne was most 9 Dedicat. Hist. Eccl. Bed. fond of astronomy. He learned also Eginhart. Vit. Kar. Magn. p. 30. arithmetic. In his treasury he hadthree ed . 1565. 4to. tables of silver, and a fourth of gold, of * Rabanus instructed them not only great weight and size. One of these , in the Scriptures, but in profane litera- wbich was square, had a picture or re ture. A great number of other scholars presentation of Constantinople: another, frequented these lectures. He was the a round one, a map of Rome : third , first founder of a library in this monas- which was of the most exquisite work tery. Cave, Hist. Lit. p. 540. Sæc. manship , and greatest weight, con Phot. His leisure hours being entirely sisting of three orbs, contained a map taken up in reading ortranscribing, he of the world . Eginhart, ubi supr, p. 29. was accused by some of the idle monks 31. 41 . of attending so much to his studies, that W MSS. Cod. Coll. S. S. Trin . Cant. he neglected the public duties of his Class. a dextr. Ser. Med . 5. membran . station , and the care of the revenues of 4to. Bede says, that he compiled part 1 ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxxi the bible, with the usual systems of logic, astronomy, rhetoric, and grammar, compose the formidable catalogue of Alcuine's numerous writings. Yet in his books of the sciences, he some times ventured to break through the pedantic formalities of a systematical teacher : he has thrown one of his treatises in logic, and, I think, another in grammar, into a dialogue be tween the author and Charlemagne. He first advised Bede to write his ecclesiastical history of England ; and was greatly instrumental in furnishing materials for that early and authentic record of our antiquities * . In the mean time we must not form too magnificent ideas of these celebrated masters of science, who were thus invited into foreign countries to conduct the education of mighty monarchs, and to plan the rudiments of the most illustrious academies. Their merits are in great measure relative. Their circle of reading was contracted, their systems of philosophy jejune; and their lectures rather served to stop the growth of ignorance, than to produce any positive or important improvements in knowledge. They were unable to make excursions from their circumscribed paths of scientific instruction, into the spacious and fruitful regions of liberal and manly study. Those of their hearers, who had passed through the course of the sciences with applause, and aspired to higher acquisitions, were ex horted to read Cassiodorus and Boethius; whose writings they placed at the summit of profane literature, and which they be lieved to be the great boundaries of human erudition . I have already mentioned Ceolfrid's presents of books to Benedict's library at Weremouth abbey. He wrote an account of his travels into France and Italy. But his principal work, and I believe the only one preserved, is his dissertation con cerning the clerical tonsure, and the rites ofcelebrating Easter Y. of his CHRONICON, ExHEBRAICA VERI- He mentions on this occasion the Greek TATE , that is, from S. Jerom's Latin Septuagint translation of the Bible, but translation of the Bible ; for he adds, not as if he had ever seen or consulted it. “ nos qui per beati interpretis Hieronymi Bed. Chron.p. 34. edit. Cant. Op. Bed. industriam puro HEBRAICÆ VERITATIS * Dedicat. Hist. Eccl. Bed. To King fonte potamur," &c. And again, “ Ex Ceolwulphus, p . 37. 38. edit. Op. Cant. Hebraica veritate, quæ ad nos per memo y Bed. Hist. Eccl. v. 22. And Concil. ratum interpretem pure pervenisse,” &c. Gen. vi. p. 1423 . ¿ 2 сxxxii DISSERTATION II. This was written at the desire of Naiton, a Pictish king, who dispatched ambassadors to Ceolfrid for information concerning these important articles; requesting Ceolfrid at the same time to send him some skilful architects, who could build in his country a church of stone, after the fashion of the Romansa. Ceolfrid died on a journey to Rome, and was buried in a mo nastery of Navarre, in the year 7066. But Bede, whose name is so nearly and necessarily con nected with every part of the literature of this period, and which has therefore been often already mentioned, emphatically styled the Venerable by his cotemporaries, was by far the most learned of the Saxon writers. He was of the northern school, if it may be so called ; and was educated in the monastery of Saint Peter at Weremouth, under the care of the abbots Ceol frid and Biscopº. Bale affirms, that Bede learned physics and mathematics from the purest sources, the original Greek and Roman writers on these subjectsd. But this hasty assertion, in part at least, may justly be doubted. His knowledge, if we consider his age, was extensive and profound : and it is amaz ing, in so rude a period, and during a life of no considerable length, he should have made so successful a progress, and such rapid improvements, in scientifical and philological studies, and have composed so many elaborate treatises on different subjects . It is diverting to see the French critics censuring Bede for credulity : they might as well have accused him of superstitionf. There is much perspicuity and facility in his с a Bed. Hist. Eccl. ib. c. 21. iv, 18. full and exact list of Bede's works, the 6 Bed . Hist. Abb . p. 300 . curious reader is referred to Mabillon , Bed. Hist. Eccl. v. 24 . Sæc. iii. p. i . p. 539. Or Cave, Histe d ii . 94. Lit. ii. p. 242. € “ Libros septuaginta octo edidit, f It is true, that Bede has introduced quos adfinem Historiæ suæ Angli- many miracles and visions into his his CANÆedidit. (See Op. edit.Cant. p. 222. tory. Yet some of these are pleasing to 223. lib. v. c. 24.] Hic succumbit in- the imagination : they are tinctured with genium , deficit eloquium , sufficienter the gloom of the cloister, operating on admirari hominem a scholastico exercitio the extravagancies of oriental invention. tam procul amotum , tam sobrio sermone I will give an instance or two. A tanta elaborasse volumina.” &c. Chron . monk of Northumberland died , and was Præf. Bever. MSS. Coll. Trin . Oxon . brought again to life. In this interval ut supr. f. 65. [ Bever was a monk of of death, a young man in shining ap Westminster circ. A.D. 1400.] For a parel came and led him, without speak ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxxiii Latin style. But it is void of elegance, and often of purity ; it shews with what grace and propriety he would have written , had his mind been formed on better models. Whoever looks for digestion of materials, disposition of parts, and accuracy of narration, in this writer's historical works, expects what could not exist at that time. He has recorded but few civil transac tions : but besides that his History professedly considers eccle siastical affairs, we should remember, that the building of a church , the preferment ofan abbot, the canonisation ofa martyr, and the importation into England of the shin -bone of an apostle, were necessarily matters of much more importance in Bede's conceptions than victories or revolutions. He is fond of mi nute description ; but particularities are the fault and often the merit of early historians '. Bede wrote many pieces of Latin ing, to a valley of infinite depth, length, from this idea. Bed. Hist. Eccl. v. 13. and breadth : one side was formed by a Our historian in the next chapter relates, prodigious sheet of fire, and the opposite that two most beautiful youths came to side filled with hail and ice. Both sides a person lying sick on hisdeath - bed, and were swarming with souls of departed offered him abook to read, richly orna men ; who were for ever in search of mented, in which his good actions were rest, alternately shifting their situation recorded . Immediately after this, the to these extremes of heat and cold. The house was surrounded and filled with an monk supposing this place to be hell, army of spirits of most horrible aspect. was told by his guidethat he was mis- One of them , who by the gloom of his taken. The guide then led him , greatly darksome countenance appeared to be terrified with this spectacle, to a more their leader, produced a book, codicem distant place, where he says, “ I saw on horrendævisionis, et magnitudinis enormis a sudden a darkness come on, and every et ponderispæne importabilis, and ordered thing was obscured. When I entered some of his attendant demons to bring this place I could discern no object, on it to the sick man . In this were con account of the encreasing darkness, ex- tained all his sins, &c. ib. cap. 14. cept the countenance and glittering gar- * An ingenious author, who writes ments of my conductor. As we went under the name of M.de Vigneul Mar forward I beheld vast torrents of flame ville, observes, that Bede, “ when he spouting upwards from the ground, as speaks of the Magi who went to worship from a large well, and fallingdown into our Saviour, is very particular in the it again . As we came near it my guide account of their names, age, and respec suddenly vanished, and left me alone in tive offerings. He says, that Melchior the midst of darkness and this horrible was old , and had grey hair, with a long vision . Deformed and uncouth spirits beard ; and that it was he who offered arose from this blazing chasm , and at- gold to Christ, in acknowledgment of tempted to draw me in with fiery forks. ” his sovereignty. That Gaspar, the But his guide here returned , and they second of the magi, was young, and all retired at his appearance. Heaven had no beard, and that it was he who is then described with great strength of offered frankincense, in recognition of fancy. I have seen an old ballad, called our Lord's divinity : and that Balthasar, the Dead Man's Song, on this story. the third , was of a dark complexion, had And Milton's hell may perhaps be taken a large beard , and offered myrrh to our cxxxiv DISSERTATION II. poetry. The following verses from his MeditatiO DE DIE Judicii, a translation of which into Saxon verse is now pre served in the library of Bennet college at Cambridges, are at least well turned and harmonious. Intér florigeras foecundi cespitis herbas, Flamine ventorum resonantibus undique ramis. Some of Aldhelm's verses are exactly in this cast, written on the Dedication of the abbey -church at Malmesbury to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Hic celebranda rudis u florescit gloria templi, Limpida quæ sacri celebrat vexilla triumphi : Hic Petrus et Paulus, tenebrosi lumina mundi, Præcipui patres populi qui frena gubernant, Carminibus crebris alma celebrantur in aula . Claviger o cæli, portam qui pandis in æthra, Candida qui meritis recludis limina cæli, Exaudi clemens populorum vota tuorum , Marcida qui riguis humectant fletibus ora. W The strict and superabundant attention of these Latin poets to prosodic rules, on which it was become fashionable to write didactic systems, made them accurate to excess in the metrical conformation of their hexameters, and produced a faultless and flowing monotony. Bede died in the monastery of Weremouth, which he never had once quitted, in the year 735 * . I have already observed , and from good authorities, that many these Saxon scholars were skilled reek . Yet scarce any considerable monuments have descended to modern Saviour's humanity. ” He is likewise and popular representations of the Wise very circumstantialin the description of Men's Offering. their dresses. Melanges de l'Hist. et * Cod. MSS. lxxix. P. 161 . de Lit. Paris, 1725. 12mo. tom . iii . + Malmsb. apud Whart, ut supr. p. 8. p. 283. &c. What was more natural recent ; newly built. than this in such a writer and on such a w W. Malmsb. ut supr. Apud Whart. subject ? In the mean time it may be p. remarked, that this description of Bede, Cave, ubi supr. p . 473. Sæč. Eico taken perhaps from constant tradition , nocl. is now to be seen in the old pictures u 8. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND . CXXXV times, to prove their familiarity with that language. I will, however, mention such as have occurred to me. Archbishop Parker, or rather his learned scribe Jocelin , affirms, that the copy of Homer, and of some of the other books imported into England by archbishop Theodore, as I have above related , remained in his time . There is however no allusion to Homer, nor any mention made ofhis name, in the writings ofthe Saxons now existing 2. In the Bodleian library are some extracts from the books of the Prophets in Greek and Latin : the Latin is in Saxon, " and the Greek in Latino- greek capital characters. A Latino- greek alphabet is prefixed. In the same manuscript is a chapter of Deuteronomy, Greek and Latin, but both are in Saxon charactersa. In the curious and very valuable li brary of Bennet college in Cambridge, is a very antient copy of Aldhelm DE LAUDE VIRGINITATIS. In it is inserted a spe cimen of Saxon poetry full of Latin and Greek words, and at the end of the manuscript some Runic letters occurb. I sus pect that their Grecian literature was a matter of ostentation rather than use. William of Malmesbury, in his Life of Ald helm , censures an affectation in the writers of this that they were fond of introducing in their Latin compositions a difficult and abstruse word latinised from the Greek . There are many instances of this pedantry in the early charters of Dugdale's Monasticon . But it is no where more visible than in the Life of Saint Wilfrid, archbishop of Canterbury, written by Fridegode a monk of Canterbury, in Latin heroics, about the year 960d. Malmesbury observes of this author's style, “ Latinitatem perosus, Græcitatem amat, Græcula verba frequentatº.” Probably to be able to read Greek at this time was esteemed a knowledge of that language. Eginhart relates, that Charlemagne could speak Latin as fluently as his native age ; y Antiquitat. Brit. p . 80 . a NE. D. 19. MSS. membr. 8vo. 2 See Sect. iii. vol. ii . p. 128. Where fol. 24. 19. it is observed, that Homer is cited by b Cod. MSS. K 12. Geoffrey of Monmouth . But he is not < Ubi supr. p. 7. mentioned in Geoffrey's Armoric ori- Printed by Mabillon, Sæc. Bene ginal. [ Who has has seen the original dictin . iii. p. I. P. 169. -Douce.] e Gest. Pontific, i . f . 114 . CXxxvi DISSERTATION , 11. Frankish ; but slightly passes over his accomplishment in Greek , by artfully saying, that he understood it better than he could pronounce itf. Nor, by the way, was Charlemagne's boasted facility in the Latin so remarkable a prodigy. The Latin language was familiar to the Gauls when they were con quered by the Franks ; for they were a province of the Roman empire till the year 485. It was the language of their religious offices, their laws, and public transactions. The Franks who conquered the Gauls at the period just mentioned, still con tinued this usage, imagining there was a superior dignity in the language of imperial Rome: although this incorporation of the Franks with the Gauls greatly corrupted the latinity of the latter, and had given it a strong tincture of barbarity be fore the reign of Charlemagne. But while we are bringing proofs which tend to extenuate the notion that Greek was now much known or cultivated, it must not be dissembled, that John Erigena, a native of Aire in Scotland, and one of King Alfred's first lecturers at Oxford , translated into Latin from the Greek original four large treatises of Dionysius the Areo pagite, about the year 8605. This translation, which is de dicated to Charles the Bald, abounds with Greek phraseology, and is hardly intelligible to a mere Latin reader. He also translated into Latin the Scholia of Saint Maximus on the dif ficult passages of Gregory Nazianzen '. He frequently visited 1 Vit. Kar. Magn. p. 30 . into Latin ten of Dionysius's Epistles. 8 Wood Hist. Antiquit. Univ. Oxon. Hoveden and Matthew Paris have lite , i. 15. rally transcribed the words of Malmes * This translation , with dedications in bury just cited , and much more. Hov. verse and prose to Charles the Bald , oc- fol. 234. And M. Paris, p. 253. It is curs twice in the Bodleian library, viz. doubtful whether the Versio MORALIUM MSS. Mus. 148. And Hyper. Bodl. ARISTOTELIS is from the Greek : it 148. p. 4. seq. See also Laud . I. 59. might be from the Arabic . Or whether And in Saint John's college Oxford, our author's. See Præfat. Op. nonnull. " A. xi . 2. 3. William of Malmesbury Oxon. edit. per Gale, cum Not. 1681., says, that he wrote a book entitled, fol. PERIPHISMERISMUS, (that is, Iepi púoews i Printed at Oxford as above. Eri Migrouê) and adds, that in this piece gena died at Malmesbury, where he had Latinorum tramite deviavit, dum in opened a school in the year 883. Cave, Græcos acriter oculos intendit.” Vit. Hist. Lit. Sæc. Phot. p. 548, 549. Wile Aldhelm . p. 28. Wharton, Angl. Sacr.ii. liam of Malmesbury says, that Erigena It was printed at Oxford by Gale. was one of the wits of Charles the Bald's Erigena, in one of the dedications above table, and his constant companion. Ubi mentioned, says, that he had translated supr. p. 27. a ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxxvii his munificent patron Charles the Bald, and is said to have taken a long journey to Athens, and to have spent many years in studying not only the Greek but the Arabic and Chaldee languagesk. As ' to classic authors, it appears that not many of them were known or studied by our Saxon ancestors. Those with which they were most acquainted, either in prose or verse, seem to have been of the lower empire ; writers who, in the declension of taste, had superseded thepurer and antient Roman models, and had been therefore more recently and frequently transcribed . I have mentioned Alfred's translations of Boethius and Orosius. Prudentius was also perhaps one of their favorites. In the British Museum there is a manu script copy of that poet's PsycOMACHIA. It is illustrated with drawings of historical figures, each of which have an explana tory legend in Latin and Saxon letters ; the Latin in large red characters, and the Saxon in black, of great antiquity '. Pru dentius is likewise in Bennet college library at Cambridge, transcribed in the time of Charles the Bald, with several Saxon words written into the text” . Sedulius's hymns are in the same repository in Saxon characters, in a volume containing other Saxon manuscripts “. Bede says, that Aldhelm wrote his book DE VIRGINITATE, which is both prose and verse, in imitation of the manner of Sedulius ' . We learn from Gregory of Tours, what is not foreign to our purpose to remark, that King Chilperic, who began to reign in 562, wrote two books of Latin verses in imitation of Sedulius. But it was without any idea of the common quantities P. A manuscript of this poet in the British Museum is bound up with Nennius and Felix's MIRACLES OF Saint GUTHLAC, dedicated to Alfwold king of the East Angles, and written both in Latin and Saxon 9. But these classics were most of them read as books of religion more

• Spelm . Vit. Ælfred. Bale xiv. 32.

Pits. p. 168. I MSS. Cott. CLEOPATR. C.8. membr. Svo. m Miscellan . MSS. M. membran. » MSS. S. 11. Cod. membran . ° Eccl. Hist. 19. P Gregor. Turonens. 1. vi. c. 46. 4 MSS. Cotton. Vesp. D. xxi. Svo, CXxxviii DISSERTATION II. and morality. Yet Aldhelm , in his tract de METRORUM GE NERIBUS, quotes two verses from the third book of Virgil's Georgics?: and in the Bodleian library we find a manuscript of the first book of Ovid's Art of Love, in very antient Saxon characters, accompanied with a British gloss . And the ve nerable Bede, having first invoked the Trinity, thus begins a Latin panegyrical hymn on the miraculous virginity of Ethil dryde: “ Let Virgil sing of wars, I celebrate the gifts of peace. My verses are of chastity, not of the rape of the adulteress Helen. I will chant heavenly blessings, not the battles of miserable Troy .” These however are rare instances. It was the most abominable heresy to have any concern with the pagan fictions. The graces of composition were not their objects, and elegance found no place amidst their severer pursuits in philosophy and theology “, ' W. Malmesb. Vit. Aldhelm . Whar- another of Arabia , and of the use of ton , Angl. Sacr. ii . 4. oriental precious stones in the medical * NE. D. 19. membr. 8vo . fol. 37. art, evidently betray their origin . Apu + Bed . Eccl. Hist. iv . 20 . leius's HERBARIUM occurs in the British u Medicine was one of their favorite Museum in Latin and Saxon , “ quod sciences, being a part of the Arabian accepit ab Esculapio et a CHIRONE CEN learning We have now remaining TAURO MAGISTRO Achillis. ” Together Saxon manuscript translations of Apu- with the MEDICINA EX QUADRUPEDIBUS leius de VIRIBUS HERBARUM. They have above mentioned. MSS. Cot. VITEL. C. also left a large system of medicine in iii. Cod . membr. fol. iii. p . 19. iv. p. 75. Saxon, often cited by Somner in his It is remarkable that the Arabians attri Lexicon, under the title of LIBER ME- bute the invention of Simia, one of their DICINALIS. It appears by this tract, that magical sciences, to KIRUN or ČARUN, they were well acquainted with the Latin that is Chiron the centaur, the master of physicians and naturalists, Marcellus, Achilles. See Herbelot. Dict. Orient. Scribonius Largus, Pliny, Cælius Au- Artic. SIMIA . p. 1005. relianus, Theodore, Priscus, & c . MSS. The Greeks reputed Chiron the in Bibl. Reg. Brit. Mus. Cod. membr.... ventor of medicine. His medical books It is probable that this manuscript is of are mentioned by many antient writers, the ageof King Alfred. Among:Hatton's particularly by Apuleius Celsus, De books inthe Bodleian library,is a Saxon Herbis : and Kircher observes, that Chi manuscript which has been entitled by ron's treatise of MULOMEDICINA was fa Junius MEDICINA EX QUADRUPEDIBUS. miliar to the Arabians. Oedip. Egypt. It is pretended to be taken from Idpart, tom . iii. p. 68. Lambeccius describes a a fabulous king of Egypt. It is followed very curious and antient manuscript of by two epistles in Latin of Evax king Dioscorides : among the beautiful illu of the Arabians to Tiberius Cesar, con- minations with which it was enriched , cerning the names and virtues of oriental was asquare picture with a gold ground, precious stones used in medicine. Cod. on which were represented the seven Hatton . 100. membr. fol. It is believed antient physicians, Machaon , CHIRON , to be a many anuscript before theConquest. Niger, Herculides, Mantias, Xenocrates, Thes ideas of a king of Egypt, and and Pamphilus. P. Lambecc. de Bibl. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxxxix It is certain that literature was at its height among our Saxon ancestors about the eighth century. These happy be ginnings were almost entirely owing to the attention of King Alfred, who encouraged learning by his own example, by founding seminaries of instruction , and by rewarding the la bours of scholars. But the efforts of this pious monarch were soon blasted by the supineness of his successors, the incursions of the Danes, and the distraction of national affairs. Bede, from the establishment of learned bishops in every diocese, and the universal tranquillity which reigned over all the provinces of England, when he finished his ecclesiastical history, flatters his imagination in anticipating the most advantageous conse quences, and triumphantly closes his narrative with this pleas ing presentiment. The Picts, at this period, were at peace with the Saxons or English, and converted to Christianity. The Scots lived contented within their own boundary. The Britons or Welsh, from a natural enmity, and a dislike to the catholic institution of keeping Easter, sometimes attempted to disturb the national repose ;- but they were in some measure subservient to the Saxons. Among the Northumbrians, both the nobility and private persons rather chose their children should receive the monastic tonsure , than be trained to arms . But a long night of confusion and gross ignorance succeeded. The principal productions of the most eminent monasteries for three centuries, were incredible legends which discovered no marks of invention, unedifying homilies, and trite exposi tions of the Seriptures. Many bishops and abbots began to consider learning as pernicious to true piety, and confounded illiberal ignorance with Christian simplicity. Leland frequently laments the loss of libraries destroyed in the Danish invasions y. Vindob . lib . i. p. 525. seq . I have men- tise entitled, MEDICINA EX ANIMALIBUS, tioned above, MEDICINA EX QUADRUPE- under the name of Sextus Platonicus, DIBUS. A Greekpoem or fragment called and printed in Stephens’s MEDICA ARTIS MEDICINA EX PISCIBUS has been attri- PRINCIPES, p. 684. This was a favorite buted to Chiron. It was written by Mar- medical system of the dark ages. See cellus Sidetas of Pamphylia, a physician Fabric. ibid. xiii.395. xii. 618 . under Marcus Antoninus, and is printed * Bede, Eccl. Hist. v . 23. by Fabricius. Bibl. Gr. i. p.16. seq . y See Malmesb. apud Lel. Coll. i. And see xiii. p. 317. The MEDICINA p. 140. edit. nup. EX QUADRUPEDIBUS seems to be the trea cxl DISSERTATION II. Some slight attempts were made for restoring literary pursuits, but with little success. In the tenth century, Oswald arch bishop of York, finding the monasteries of his province ex tremely ignorant not only in the common elements of grammar, but even in the canonical rules of their respective orders, was obliged to send into France for competent masters, who might remedy these evils 2. In the mean time, from perpetual com motions, the manners of the people had degenerated from that mildness which a short interval of peace and letters had intro duced, and the national character had contracted an air of rudeness and ferocity. England at length, in the beginning of the eleventh century, received from the Normans the rudiments of that cultivation which it has preserved to the present times. The Normans were a people who had acquired ideas of splendour and refine ment from their residence in France ; and the gallantries of their feudal system introduced new magnificence and elegance among our rough unpolished ancestors. The Conqueror's army was composed of the flower of the Norman nobility ; who sharing allotments of land in different parts of the new territory, diffused a general knowledge of various improve ments entirely unknown in the most flourishing eras of the Saxongovernment, and gave a more liberal turn to the manners even of the provincial inhabitants. That they brought with them the arts, mayyet be seen by the castles and churches which they built on a more extensive and stately plan '. Literature, in particular, the chief object of our present research, which had long been reduced to the most abject condition, appeared with new lustre in consequence of this important revolution . Z Wharton, Angl. Sacr. ii . 201. Many MONASTERIES, and other MONUMENTS evidences of the ignorance which pre- OF ANTIQUITY IN VARIOUS PARTS OF EN vailed in other countries during the tenth GLAND. To which will be prefixed, THE century have been collected by Mura- HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND. tori, Antiquit. Ital. Med . Æv . iii. 831 . [ This production, which Mr. Price ii. 141. And Boulay, Hist. Acad . Pa- of the Bodleian library, affirms to have ris . i. 288. been written out fairlyfor the press, has This point will be further illustrated not been discovered among thepapers of in a work now preparing for the press , Mr. Warton, tho the prima stamina entitled , ORSERVATIONS CRITICAL AND were found in a crude state .-- PARK.] HISTORICAL, ON CASTLES, CHURCHES, a ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxli Towards the close of the tenth century , an event took place, which gave a newand very fortunate turn to the state of letters in France and Italy. A little before that time, there were no schools in Europe but those which belonged to the monasteries or episcopal churches ; and the monks were almost the only masters employed to educate the youth in the principles of sacred and profane erudition. But at the commencement of the eleventh century, many learned persons of the laity, as well as of the clergy, undertook in the most capital cities of France and Italy this important charge. The Latin versions of the Greek philosophers from the Arabic, had now become so frequent and common, as to fall into the hands of the people; and many of these new preceptors having travelled into Spain with a design of studying in the Arabic schoolsb, and comprehending in their course of instruction, more nume rous and useful branches of science than the monastic teachers were acquainted with, communicated their knowledge in a better method, and taught in a much more full, perspicuous, solid, and rational manner . These and other beneficial effects, arising from this practice of admitting others besides eccle siastics to the profession of letters, and the education ofyouth , were imported into England by means of the Norman con quest. The Conqueror himself patronised and loved letters. He filled the bishopricks and abbacies of England with the most learned of his countrymen, · who had been educated at the university of Paris, at that time the most flourishing school in Europe. He placed Lanfranc, abbot of the monastery of Saint Stephen at Caen, in the see of Canterbury : an eminent master of logic, the subtleties of which he employed with great dexterity in a famous controversy concerning the real presence. Anselm , an acute metaphysician and theologist, his immediate 6.This fashion continued for a long brought back with him into England time. Among many who might here several books ofthe Arabian philosophy. be mentioned was Daniel Merlac, an Wood Antiq. Univ. Oxon. i . p . 56. Englishman who in the year 1185 went col. i. to Toledo " to learn mathematics, and 1 cxlii DISSERTATION II . successor in the same see, was called from the government of the abbey of Bec in Normandy. Herman, a Norman bishop of Salisbury, founded a noble library in the antient cathedral of that see . Many of the Norman prelates preferred in En gland by the Conqueror, were polite scholars. Godfrey, prior of Saint Swithin's at Winchester, a native of Cambray, was an elegant Latin epigrammatist, and wrote with the smartness and ease of Martiald. A circumstance, which by the way shews that the literature of the monks at this period was of a more liberal cast than that which we commonly annex to their character and profession . Geoffrey, a learned Norman, was invited from the university of Paris to superintend the direction of the school of the priory of Dunstable, where he composed a play called the Play of Saint CATHARINE ", which was acted by his scholars. This was perhaps the first spectacle of the kind that was ever attempted, and the first trace of theatrical € “ Nobilem bibliothecam , comparatis Corrector juvenum , senibus documenta in hoc optimis juxta ac antiquissimis il- ministrans, lustrium autorum monumentis, Severiæ Exemplo vitæ pastor utrosque regis. posuit.” Leland . Script. Brit. p. 174. Pes fueras claudis, cæcis imitabile lu He died 1099. He was so fond of let men, ters, that he did not disdain to bind and Portans invalidos, qui cecidere levans. illuminate books. Mon. Angl. iii . p. 375. Divitiis dominus, facilis largitor earum , Vid . supr. The old church of Salisbury Dum reficis multos, deficis ipse tibi, stood within the area of that noble an- & c . tient military work, called Old - castle . Leland says, that he finished the church Among the Epigrams, the following is which his predecessor Herman had be- not cited by Camden . gun, and filled its chapter with eminent Pauca Titus pretiosa dabat, sed vilia scholars, d Camden has cited several of his epi plura : Ut meliora habeam , pauca det, pro , grams. Remains, p . 421. edit. 1674. I Titus. have read all his pieces now remaining. The chief of them are, « PROVERBIA, ET EPIGRAMMATA SATYRICA." _ " CARMI- These pieces are in theBodleian library , NA HISTORICA, DE Rege Canuto, Re- collection is certainly worthy of publica The whole MSS. Digb. 65. ut. 112 . GINA Emma,” & c . Among these last, tion . I do not mean merely as a curio none of which were ever printed, is an eulogy onWalkelin bishop of Winches- miliari illoet DULCI stylo editæ ,” Script. sity. Leland mentions hisepistles " fa ter, and a Norman , who built great part Brit. p. 159. Godfrey died 1107. He of his stately cathedral, asit now stands, and was bishop there during Godfrey's 1082. Wharton, Angl. Sacr. i. . 324. was made prior of Winchester A.D. priorate, viz . He was interred in the old chapter Consilium , virtutis amor, facunaia có house, whose area now makes part of mis, the dean's garden . WALCHELINE pater, fixa fuere tibi. e See infr, Sect. vi. vol. ii. p . 68. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND . cxliii representation which appeared in England. Matthew Paris *, who first records this anecdote, says, that Geoffrey borrowed copes from the sacrist of the neighbouring abbey of Saint Al ban's to dress his characters. He was afterwards elected ab bot of that opulent monastery ". The king himself gave no small countenance to the clergy, in sending his son Henry Beauclerc to the abbey of Abingdon, where he was initiated in the sciences under the care of the abbot Grymbald, and Farice a physician of Oxford. Robert d'Oilly, constable of Oxford castle, was ordered to pay for the board of the young prince in the convent, which the king himself frequently visited. Nor was William wanting in giv ing ample revenues to learning : he founded the magnificent abbeys of Battel and Selby, with other smaller convents. His nobles and their successors cooperated with this liberal spirit in erecting many monasteries. Herbert de Losinga, a monk of Normandy, bishop of Thetford in Norfolk , instituted and endowed with large possessions a Benedictine abbey at Nor wich, consisting of sixty monks. To mention no more in stances, such great institutions of persons dedicated to religious and literary leisure, while they diffused an air of civility, and softened the manners of the people in their respective circles, must have afforded powerful invitations to studious pursuits, and have consequently added no small degree of stability to the interests of learning. By these observations, and others which have occurred in the course of our enquiries, concerning the utility of mona steries, I certainly do not mean to defend the monastic system .

• [ Mr. Warton has heremost strangely gether with the copes and all his books misquoted Matthew Paris. This writer was burned . Nothing is mentioned about says, that Geoffrey was sent for by Ri- the priory of Dunstaple, which was not chard abbotof St. Alban's, to superintend founded before 1131, long after Abbot the school there: but arriving too late , Richard's death ; immediately upon the schoolwas given to another person ; which Geoffrey was elected abbot of St. that Geoffrey still expecting the office, Alban's. - DOUCE. )

established himself at Dunstaple, where f Vit. Abbat. ad calc. Hist. p. 56. he composed the miracle play of St. Ca- edit. 1639. See also Bul. Hist. Acad. tharine ; for the decoration of which he Paris. ii. 225. borrowed copes from St. Alban's : but 8 Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. i. 46. that on the following night his house to cxliv DISSERTATION II . We are apt to pass a general and undistinguishing censure on the monks, and to suppose their foundations to have been the retreats of illiterate indolence at every period of time. But it should be remembered, that our universities about the time of the Norman conquest, were in a low condition : while the monasteries contained ample endowments and accommodations, and were the only respectable seminaries of literature. A few centuries afterwards, as our universities began to flourish , in consequence of the distinctions and honours which they con ferred on scholars, the establishment of colleges, the introduc tion of new systems of science, the universal ardour which pre vailed of breeding almost -all persons to letters, and the abo lition of that exclusive right of teaching which the ecclesiastics had so long claimed ; the monasteries of course grew inatten tive to studies, which were more strongly encouraged, more commodiously pursued, and more successfully cultivated, in other places; they gradually became contemptible and unfa shionable as nurseries of learning, and their fraternities dege nerated into sloth and ignorance. The most eminent scholars which England produced, both in philosophy and humanity, before and even below the twelfth century, were educated in our religious houses. The encouragement given in the Eng lish monasteries for transcribing books, the scarcity of which in the middle ages we have before remarked, was very consi derable. In every great abbey there was an apartment called the SCRIPTORIUM ; wheremany writers were constantly busied in transcribing not only the service -books for the choir, but books for the libraryh. The Scriptorium of Saint Alban's abbey was built by abbot Paulin, a Norman, who ordered This was also a practicein the mo- windows of the library of Saint Alban's nasteries abroad ; in which the boys and abbey. Ibid. 183. At the foundation novices were chiefly employed. But the of Winchester college, one or more tran missals and bibles were ordered to be scribers were hired and employed by written by monksof mature age and the founder to make books for the library. discretion . Du Fresne, Gloss. Lat. They transcribed and took their com Med . V. SCRIPTORIUM . And Præfat. mons within the college, as appears by f. vi. edit. prim . See also Monast. computations of expenses on their ac , Anglic. ü. 726. And references in the count now remaining. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxlv many volumes to be written there, about the year 1080. Arch bishop Lanfranc furnished the copies '. Estates were often granted for the support of the Scriptorium. That at Saint Edmondsbury was endowed with two millsk. The tythes of a rectory were appropriated to the cathedral convent of Saint Swithin at Winchester, ad libros transcribendos, in the year 1171 ' . Many instances of this species of benefaction occur from the tenth century. Nigel, in the year 1160, gave the monks of Ely two churches, ad libros faciendos m. This em ployment appears to have been diligently practised at Croyland, for Ingulphus relates, that when the library of that convent was burnt in the year 1091 , seven hundred volumes were con sumed " . Fifty -eight volumes were transcribed at Glastonbury, during the government of one abbot, about the year 1300 ° . And in the library of this monastery, the richest in England, there were upwards of four hundred volumes in the year 1248P. More than eighty books were thus transcribed for Saint Alban's abbey, by abbot Wethamstede, who died about 14409. Some of these instances are rather below our period ; but they illu strate the subject, and are properly connected with those of more antient date. I find some of the classics written in the English monasteries very early. Henry, a Benedictine monk of Hyde -abbey, near Winchester, transcribed in the Terence, Boethius ", Suetoniuss, and Claudian. Of these he year 1178 0 i Mat. Paris, p. 1003 . See Leland, ^ Hist. Croyland. Dec. Script. p. 98. Script. Brit. p. 166. Tanner, Not. Mon. edit . 8vo. Pref.

• Registr. Nigr. S. Edmund. Abbat. P See Joann. Glaston , ut infr. And fol. 228 . Leland, Script. Brit. p. 131 .

| Registr. Joh. Pontissar. episcop. 9 Weaver, Fun. Mon. p. 566. Wint, f . 164. MS. * It is observable, that Boethius in his See Mon. Angl. i . 131 . Heming. metres constantly follows Seneca's tra Chartul. per Hearne, p. 265. Compare gedies. I believe there is not one form also Godwin, de Præsul. p. 121. edit. of verse in Boethius but what is taken 1616. from Seneca . m Wharton , Angl. Sacr. i . p. 619. See * Suetonius is frequently cited by the also , p. 634, and 278. Hearne has pub- writers of the middle ages, particularly lished a grant from R. De Paston to by Vincentius Bellovacensis. Specul. Bromholm abbey in Norfolk , of 12d. per Hist. lib. X. c. 67. And RabanusMau annum , a rent- charge on his lands, to rus, Art. Gram . Op. tom . i . p. 46. Lur keep their books in repair , ad emen- pus, abbot of Ferrieres, about the year dacionem librorum . Ad. Domerham , 838, a learned philosophical writer, edu . Num. üi. cated under Rabanus Maurus, desires VOL. I. k cxlvi DISSERTATION II. formed one book, illuminating the initials, and forining the brazen bosses of the covers with his own handsu . But this abbot had more devotion than taste : for he exchanged this manuscript a few years afterwards for four missals, the Legend of Saint Christopher, and Saint Gregory's PASTORAL CARE; with the prior of the neighbouring cathedral convent ". Be nedict, abbot of Peterborough, author of the Latin chronicle of king Henry the second, amongst a great variety of scho lastic and theological treatises, transcribed Seneca's epistles and tragedies , Terence, Martialy, and Claudian, to which I will add GESTA ALEXANDRI ? , about the year 1180a. catalogue of the books of the library of Glastonbury we find abbot Marquard to send him Suetonius, cus, Policrat. vi. 3. As do several wri Onthe Cæsars, “induos nec magnos ters of the middle ages. Martial is cited codices divisum ." Epistol. Lup. Fer- by Jerom of Padua, a Latin poet and rariens. xcix . Apud Andr. Du Chesne, physician, who flourished about the year Script. Rer. Franc. tom. ii . p. 726. Isi . 1300. See Christian . Daumii Not. ad dorus Hispalensis, a bishop of the se- Catonis Distich . p. 140 . One of the venth century, gives the originofpoetry two famous manuscripts of Terence in from Suetonius, Origin. viii. 7. Chau- the Vatican , is said to have been written cer's tale of Nero in the MONKE's Tale in the time, perhaps under the encou is taken from Suetonius, “ as tellith us ragement, of Charlemagne; and to have Suetonius. ” v. 491. p. 164. edit. Urr. been compared with the more antient Suis manibus apices literarum ar- copies by Calliopius Scholasticus. Fon tíficiose pinxit et illuminavit, necnon tanin . Vindic. Antiquit. Diplomat. p. 37. æreos umbones in tegminibusappinxit. Scholasticus means a master in the eccle MS. Registr. Priorat. S. Swithin, Win- siastical schools. Engelbert, abbot of ton . Quatern. In archiv . Wulves. Trevoux, a writer of the tenth century , Many of the monks were skilful illumi- mentions Terentius Poeta , but in such a u They were also taught to bind manner as shews he had but little or no books. In the year 1277, these consti- knowledge of him. He confounds this tutions were given to the Benedictine poet with Terentius the Roman senator, monasteries of the province of Canter- whom Scipio delivered from prison at bury : “ Abbates monachos suos clau- Carthage, and brought to Rome. Bibl . strales, loco operis manualis, secundum Patr. tom . xxv. edit. Lugd. p. 370 . suam habilitatem cæteris occupationibus ? See SECT. iii . infr. p. 132. deputent : in studendo, libros scribendo, a Swaffham , Hist. Cænob. Burg. ii . corrigendo, illuminando, ligando.” Ca- p. 97. per Jos. Sparke. “ Epistolæ Se pit. Gen. Ord. Benedictin. Provinc. necæ cum aliis Senecis in uno volumine, Cant. 1277. apud MSS. Br. Twyne, Martialis totus et Terentius in uno vo 8vo. p. 272. archiv. Oxon. lumine,” &c. Sub Tit. De Libris ejus.

• Nicholas Antonius says, that Ni- He died in 1193. In the library of Pe cholas Franeth , a Dominican, illustrated terborough abbey, at the Dissolution ,

Seneca's tragedies with a gloss, soon there were one thousand and seven hun after the year 1300. Bibl. Vet. Hispan. dred books in manuscript. Gunton's apud Fabric. Bibl. Lat. lib. ii. c. 9. Peterb . p . 173. He means Nicholas Trivet, an English b See Chron. Joh . Glaston . edit. Dominican, author of the ANNALS pub• Hearne, Oxon. 1726. viz. Numerus Li lished by Anthony Hall. brorum Glastoniensis ecclesiæ qui fuerunt y John of Salisbury calls Martial Co- de LIBRARIA anno graciæ M.cc. XL. VII. nators . w Ibid. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxlvii Livyb, Sallust “, Seneca, Tully DE SENECTUTE and AMICITIA , Virgil, Persius, and Claudian, in the year 1248. Among the royal manuscripts of the British Museum , is one of the twelve books of Statius's Thebaid, supposed to have been written in the tenth century, which once belonged to the cathedral con vent of Rochester. And another of Virgil's Eneid , written in the thirteenth , which came from the library of Saint Austin's at Canterburyf. Wallingford, abbot of Saint Alban's, gave or sold from the library of that monastery to Richard of Bury, bishop of Durham, author of the PhiloBIBLIon, and a great collector of books, Terence, Virgil, Quintilian, and Jerom against Rufinus, together with thirty - two other volumes valued at fifty pounds of silver 8. The scarcity of parchment undoubt p. 423. Leland, who visited all the mo- d Paulus Jovius says, that Poggius, nasteries just before their dissolution , about the year 1420, first brought Tully's seems to have been struck with the ve- books De Finibus and De Legibus into nerable air and amplitude of this room . Italy, transcribed by himself from other Script. Brit. p. 196. See what is said manuscripts. Voss. Hist. Lat. p . 550 . ofthe monastery libraries above. About the same time BRUTUS de Claris • It is pretended, that Gregory the Oratoribus, and some of the rhetorical Great, in the year 580, ordered all the pieces, with a complete copy of De Ora manuscripts of Livy to be burnt which tore, were discovered and circulated by could be found, as a writer who enforced Flavius Blondus, and his friends. Flav. the doctrine of prodigies. By theway, Blond. Ital. Illustrat. p. 346. Leland Livy himself often insinuates his disbe- says, that William Selling, a monk of lief of those superstitions. He studies Canterbury, about 1480, brought with to relate the most ridiculous portents ; him from Italy Cicero's book De Re . and he only meant, when it came in his publica, but that it was burnt with other way, to record the credulity of the peo- manuscripts. Script. Brit. CELLINGUS. ple, not to propagate a belief of such 15 C. x. 1 . f 15 B. vi. absurdities. It was the superstition of & Vit. Abbat. S. Albani. Brit. Mus. the people, not of the historian. Anto- MSS. Cotton . Claud. E. iv. In the nio Beccatelli is said to have purchased royal manuscripts in John of Salisbury's of Poggius a beautiful manuscript of ENTENTICUS, there is written , “ Hunc Livy, for which he gave the latter a large librum fecit dominus Symon abbas S. field , in the year 1755. Gallæs. De Bi- Albani : quem postea venditum domino bliothecis, p. 186. See Liron, Singu- RICARDO DEBURY, episcopoDunelmensi, larités Hist. et Litt. tom. i. p. 166. emit Michael abbas S. Albani ab ex © Fabricius mentions two manuscripts ecutoribusprædictiepiscopi, A.D. 1345. " of Sallust, one written in the year 1178, MSS. 13 D. iv. 3. Richard de Bury , and the other in the year 900 . Bibl. Otherwise called Richard Aungervylle, Lat. 1. i. c. 9. Sallust is ' cited by a By- is said to have alone possessed more zantine writer, Joannes Antiochenus, of books than all the bishops of England an early century. Excerpt. Peiresc . together. Besides the fixed libraries p. 393.Mr. Hume says, that Sallust's which he had formed in his several pa larger history is cited by Fitz- Stephens, laces, the floor of his common apart. in his description of London . Hist. ment was so covered with books, that Engl. ii. 440. 4to edit. those who entered could not with due k 2 cxlviii DISSERTATION II . edly prevented the transcription of many other books in these societies. About the year 1120, one master Hugh, being ap pointed by the convent of Saint Edmondsbury in Suffolk to write and illuminate a grand copy of the bible for their library, could procure no parchment for this purpose in England 5. " Quare 9 reverence approach his presence. Gul. to his office, he chose to receive those Chambre, Contin. Hist. Dunelm . apud perquisites in books. By the favour of Whart. Angi. Sacr . i . 765. He kept Edward the Third he gained access to binders, illuminators, and writers in his the libraries of the most capital monas palaces. “ Antiquariorum , scriptorum , teries ; where he shook off the dust from correctorum , colligatorum , illuminato- volumes preserved in chests and presses rum ,” &c. Philobibl. cap. viii. p . 34. which had not been opened for many edit. 1599. Petrarch says, that he had ages. Ibid. 29, 30. once a conversation with Aungervylle, [ To this note it may be added from concerning the island called by the an- Bp. Godwin, ( Cat. of Eng. Bishops, 1601. tients Thule, whom he calls Virun ar- p . 524-5 ) as has been suggested by Mr. dentis ingenii. Petrarch, Epist. i. 3. His Dibdin , ( Bibliom . 1811. p. 248.) that book entitled PHILOBIBLION, or De Amore De Bury was the son of Sir Richard librorum et institutione Bibliothecæ , sup- Angaruill, knt ; that he said of himself posed to be really written by Robert “ exstatico quodam librorum amore poten Holcott a Dominican friar, was finished ter se abreptum ” -- that he was mightily in his manor of Aulkland, A.D. 1343. carried away, and even beside himself, He founded a library at Oxford : and with immoderate love of books and de it is remarkable, that in the book above sire of reading. He had always in his mentioned , he apologises for admitting house many chaplains, all great scholars. the poets into his collection . His manner was at dinner and supper . non negleximus FABULAS POETARUM .” time to have some good book read to Cap. xii. p. 43. xviii. p. 57. xix . 58. But him, whereof he would discourse with he is more complaisant to the prejudices his chaplains a great part of the day fol of his age, where he says, that the laity lowing, if business interrupted not his are unworthy to be admitted to any com- course. He was very bountiful unto the merce with books. “ Laici omnium libro . poor: weekly he bestowed for their re rum communionesunt indigni. ” Cap. xvii. lief 8 quarters of wheat inade into bread , p. 55. He prefers books of the liberal beside theoffaland fragments of his ta arts to treatises in law . Cap. xi. p. 41. bles. Riding between Newcastle and He laments that good literature had en- Durham, he would give 81. in alms; tirely ceased in the university of Paris. and from Durbam to Stockton 5., & c. Cap. ix. p. 38. He admits Panfletos exi- He bequeathed a valuable library of guos into his library. Cap. viii. 30. He MSS. to Durham , now Trinity, college, employed Stationarios and Librarios, not Oxford : and upon the completion of only in England , but in France ,Italy, the room to receive them , theywere put and Germany. Cap. x . p. 34. He re- into pews or studies, and chained to them . grets the total ignorance of the Greek See Gutch's edit. of Wood's Hist. of the language; butadds, that he has provided Univ. of Oxf. ii. 911. - Park.] forthe students of his libraryboth Greek h Monast. Angl. i. p. 200 . In the and Hebrew grammars. Ibid. p . 40. He great revenue- roll of one year of John calls Paris the paradise of the world, and Gerveys, bishop of Winchester, I find says, that he purchased there a variety of expended “ in parcheamento empto ad invaluable volumes in all sciences, which rotulos, vs. ” This was a considerable yet were neglected and perishing: Cap. sum for such a commodity in the year viii. p . 31. While chancellor and trea- 1266. But as the quantity or number surer of England, instead of the usual of the rolls is not specified,no precise presents and new -year's gifts appendant conclusion can be drawn. Comp. MS. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cxlix In consequence of the taste for letters and liberal studies in troduced by the Normans, many of the monks became almost as good critics as catholics ; and not only in France but in England, a great variety of Latin writers, who studied the ele gancies of style, and the arts of classical composition, appeared soon after the Norman conquest. A view of the writers of this class who flourished in England for the two subsequent centuries, till the restless spirit of novelty brought on an atten tion to other studies, necessarily follows from what has been advanced , and naturally forms the conclusion of our present investigation. Soon after the accession of the Conqueror, John commonly called Joannes Grammaticus, having studied polite literature at Paris, which not only from the Norman connection, but from the credit of its professors, became the fashionable uni versity of our countrymen , was employed in educating the sons of the Norman and English nobility He wrote an explana tion of Ovid's Metamorphosesk, and a treatise on the art of metre or versification '. Among the manuscripts of the library of New College in Oxford, I have seen a book of Latin poetry, and many pieces in Greek , attributed to this writerm. He flourished about the year 1070. In the reign of Henry the First, Laurence, prior of the church of Durham , wrote nine books of Latin elegies. But Leland, who had read all his works, prefers his compositions in oratory ; and adds, that for membran . in archiv. Wulves. Winton. and theologist. Heflourished about A.D. Compare Anderson, Comm . i. 153. sub 1250. Alexander Necham wrote in Me ann , 1313. tamorphosin Ovidii. Tann. Bibl. p. 540. i See Bale, iv. 40 . 1 Another title of this piece is, Poetria Integumenta super Ovidii Metamor- magna Johannis Anglici, & c . Cantabr. phoses. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. sup. A 1. MSS. More, 121. It is both in prose Art. 86. Where it is given to Johannes and verse. Hebegins with this pane Guallensis, a Franciscan friar ofOxford, gyric on the university ofParis : « Pa. and afterwards a student at Paris. It is risiana jubar diffundit gloria clerus." also MSS. Digb. 104. fol. 323. The He likewise wrote Compendium Gram same piece is extant under the name of matices. this latter John, entitled, Expositiones m MSS. Bibl. Coll. Nov. Oxon. 236 , sive moralitates in Lib . 1. Metamorphoseos 237. But these are said to belong to sive Fabularum , & c. Printed at Paris Joannes Philoponus. See Phot. Bibl. 1599. But this Johannes Guallensis Cod. lxxv. Cave, p. 441. edit. l . seoms to have been chiefly a philosopher cl DISSERTATION II . an improvement in rhetoric and eloquence, he frequently ex ercised his talents in framing Latin defences on dubious cases which occurred among his friends. He likewise, amongst a variety of other elaborate pieces on saints, confessors, and holy virgins, in which he humoured the times and his profession, composed a critical treatise on the method of writing Epistles, which appears to have been a favourite subject ". He died in 1154º. About the same time Robert Dunstable, a monk of Saint Alban's, wrote an elegant Latin poem in elegiac verse, containing two books , on the life of Saint Albanº. The first book is opened thus : Albani celebrem coelo terrisque triumphum Ruminat inculto carmine Clio rudis. We are not to expect Leonine rhymes in these writers, which became fashionable some years afterwardsr. Their verses are n See what is said of John Hanvill Alme Deus, rector qui mundi regna gu below . bernas, ° Lel. Script. Brit. p. 204, 205. Nec sinis absque modo sedes fluitare su P It is a long poem , containing thir pernas. teen hundred and sixty lines. It is at the end of “ Achillis Mutii thea 9 In the British Museum , MSS. Cott. trum . Bergomi, typis Comini Venturac, JUL. D. iii. 2. CLAUD. E. 4. There are 1596." Pelloutier has given a very early more of his Latin poems on sacred sub jectsin the British Museum .Butmost specimen of Latin Rhymes, Mem . sur ofthemare of an inferior composition, Hequotesthe writer of the Life of S. la Lang. Celt. part i. vol. i. ch. xii. p . 20. and, as I suppose , of another hand, Leonine verses are said to have been Faron, who relates, that Clotarius the inventedand first used bya French monk inthebeginning of the seventh century, Second, having conquered the Saxons of Saint Victor at Marseilles, named commanded a Latin panegyrical song Leoninus, or Leonine, about the year to be composed on that occasion, which 1135. Pasquier, Recherch . de la France, was şung all over France. It is some vii. 2. p. 596. 3. p. 600 . It is however what in the measure of their vernacular certain, that rhymed Latin verses were in use much earlier. I havebeforeob- poetry, atthat time made to be sung to the harp, and begins with this stanza, served , that the Schola Salernitana was published 1100 . See Massieu , Hist. DeClotario est canere rege Francorum Fr. Poes. p, 77. Fauchet, Rec. p. 52. Qui ivit pugnare cum gente Saxonum 76. seq. And I have seen a Latinpoem Quam graviter provenisset missis Saxo of four hundred lines, “ Moysis Mutii Bergomatis de rebus Bergomensibus, Si non fuisset inclitus Faro de gente Justiniani hujus nominis secundi By. Burgundionum . zantiiImperatoris jussu conscriptum , Latin rhymes seem to have been first anno a salute nostra 707.” The author used in the church -hymns. But Leo wasthe emperor's scribe or secretary. nine verses are properly the Roman hex. It begins thus: ameters or pentameters rhymed. And num ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cli of a higher cast, and have a classical turn . The following line, which begins the second book , is remarkably flowing and har, monious, and much in the manner of Claudian . Pieridum studiis claustri laxare rigorem . Smoothness of versification was an excellence which, like their Saxon predecessors, they studied to a fault. Henry of Hun tingdon, commonly known and celebrated as an historian, was likewise a terse and polite Latin poet of this period . He was educated under Alcuine of Anjou, a canon of Lincoln cathe dral. His principal patrons were Aldwin and Reginald , both Normans, and abbots of Ramsey. His turn for poetry did not hinder his arriving to the dignity of an archdeacon. Le land mentions eight books of his epigrams, amatorial verses ', and poems on philosophical subjects. The proem to his book DE HERBIS, has this elegant invocation, Vatum magne parens, herbarum Phoebe repertor, Vosque, quibus resonant Tempe jocosa, deæ ! Si mihi serta prius hedera florente parastis, Ecce meos flores, serta parate, fero. it is not improbable that they took their rinus, a much older writer. Thehymns name from the monk above mentioned, which Bede quotes are extremely bar who was the most popular andalmost barous, consisting of a modulated struc only Latin poet of his time in France. ture, or a certain number of feet without He wrote many Latin pieces not in quantity, like the odes of the minstrels rhyme, and in a good style of Latin ver- or scalds of that age. “ Ut sunt,” he sification. Particularly a Latin heroic says, “ carmina VULGARIUM POETARUM . poem in twelve books, containing the In the mean time we must not forget, history of the bible fromthe creation of that the early French troubadours men the world to the story of Ruth. Also tion a sort of rhyme in their vernacular some elęgies, which have a tolerable poetry partly distinguished from the degree of classic purity Some suppose common species, which they call Leo that pope Leo the Second, about the nine or Leonime. Thus Gualtier Arba year 680, a great reformer of the chants lestrier de Belle- perche, in the beginning and hymns of the church , invented this of his romance of Judas Maccabeus, sort of verse. written before the year 1280 : It is remarkable that Bede, who lived in the eighth century, in his book DE Je ne di pas k' aucun biau dit ARTE METRICA, does not seem to have Ni mettepar faire la ryme known that rhyme was a common orna Ou consonante ou leonime. ment ofthe church -hymns of his time, But enough has been said on a subject many of which he quotes. See Opp. of so little importance . tom . i . 34. cap. penult. But this chapter, * See Wharton, Angl. Sacr. ii . 29. I think, is all taken from Marius Victo- t Lel. Script. Brit. p. 197. clii DISSERTATION 11. But Leland appears to have been most pleased with Henry's poetical epistle to Elfleda, the daughter of Alfredu. In the Bodleian library, is a manuscript Latin poem of this writer, on the death of king Stephen , and the arrival of Henry the Second in England, which is by no means contemptible w. He occurs as a witness to the charter of the monastery of Sautree in the year 1147 * . Geoffrey of Monmouth was bishop of Saint Asaph in the year 11524. He was indefatigable in his enqui ries after British antiquity ; and was patronised and assisted in this pursuit by Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, a diligent anti quarian, and Alexander, bishop of Lincoln ”. His credulity as an historian has been deservedly censured : but fabulous histories were then the fashion, and he well knew the recom mendation his work would receive from comprehending all the popular traditionsa. His latinity rises far above mediocrity, and his Latin poem on Merlin is much applauded by Lelandb. We must not judge of the general state of society by the more ingenious and dignified churchmen of this period ; who seem to have surpassed by the most disproportionate degrees in point of knowledge, all other members of the community. Thomas of Becket, who belongs to the twelfth century, and his friends, in their epistles, distinguish each other by the appellation of philosophers, in the course of their correspon dence . By the present diffusion of literature, even those who are illiterate are yet so intelligent as to stand more on a level with men of professed science and knowledge; but the learned ecclesiastics of those times, as is evident from many passages in their writings, appear, and not without reason , to have con sidered the rest of the world as totally immersed in ignorance and barbarity. A most distinguished ornament of this age 2 Leland, Script. Brit. p. 190 . W MSS. Digb. 65. fol. 27. His writ- * See Sect . iii. infr . p . 127 . ings are numerous, and of various kinds. • In the British Museum , MSS. Cott. In Trinity college library at Oxford Tit. A. xix. Vespas. Es iv. there is a fine copy of his book De ima- " See Quadrilog . Vit. T. Becket, gine Mundi. MSS. Cod. 64. pergamen. Bruxell. 1682. 4to . And Concil. Mag. Thisis a very common manuscript. Brit. et Hib. tom . i. p. 441 . Many of * Wharton, Angl. Sacr. ii . 872. these epistles are still in manuscript. y Wharton, Eccles. Assav. p. 306 . u Ut supr . ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cliii was John of Salisburyb. His style has a remarkable elegance and energy. His POLICRATICon is an extremely pleasant mis cellany ; replete with erudition, and a judgment of men and things, which properly belongs to a more sensible and reflect ing period. His familiar acquaintance with the classics ap pears not only from the happy facility of his language, but from the many citations of the purest Roman authors with which his works are perpetually interspersed. Montfaucon asserts, that some parts of the supplement to Petronius, pub lished as a genuine and valuable discovery a few years ago, but since supposed to be spurious, are - quoted in the POLICRA TICONC. He was an illustrious rival of Peter of Blois, and the friend of many learned foreigners . I have not seen any spe cimens of his Latin poetryº ; but an able judge has pronounced, that nothing can be more easy, finished , and flowing than his versesf. He was promoted to high stations in the church by Henry the Second, whose court was crouded with scholars, and almost equalled that of his cotemporary William king of Sicily, in the splendor which it derived from encouraging eru dition , and assembling the learned of various countries 8. Ead mer was a monk of Canterbury, and endeared by the brilliancy o "Studuit in Italia omnium bona- coadjutor ; and he tells us, that he rum artium facile post Græciam pa- taught William the rudiments “ versifi Leland, Script. Brit. p. 207. catoriæ artis et literatoriæ ,” Epist. Petr. But he likewise spent sometimeat Ox. Blesens. ad Gualt. Pitts mentions a ford . Policrat, viïi. 22. piece of Gualterus Delinguæ Latinæru “ Bibl. MSS. There is an allusion to dimentis, p. 141. There is a William of the Policraticon in the ROMAN DE LA Blois, cotemporary with Peter and his Rose, brother, whom I mention here, as he Et verras en POLICRATIQUE. appears to have written what were called v. 7056 . Comoediæ et Tragediæ , and to have been d Lel. ibid. preferred to an abbacy in Sicily. [ See Except the Fable of the belly and Sect.vi.inf.vol. ii.p.67.] Peter mentions members in long and short. Fabric. this William in his Epistles, “ Illud no Med. Æv. iv. p. 877. bile ingenium fratris mei magistri Guli f Lel. ut supr. p. 207. elmi, quandoque in scribendis Come 8 See Leland, Script. Brit. p. 210. diis et Tragædiis quadam occupatione Henry the Second sent Gualterus, styled servili degenerans," & c. Epist. lxxvi. Anglicus, his chaplain , into Sicily, to Aud again to the said William , instruct William king of Sicily in lite- men vestrum diuturniore memoria quam rente . e 6 No William was so pleased with quatuor abbatiæ commendabile reddent hismaster, that hemade him archbishop Tragoedia vestra de Flaura et Marco, of Palermo. Bale, xiii. 73. He died versus de PULICE ET MUSCA, Comedia in 1177 . Peter of Blois was Gualter's vestra de ALDA," &c. Epist. xciii . rature . cliv DISSERTATION 11 . of his genius, and the variety of his literature, to Anselm , arch bishop of that seeh. He was an elegant writer of history, but exceeded in the artifices of composition , and the choice of matter, by his cotemporary William of Malmesbury. The latter was a monk of Malmesbury, and it reflects no small honour on his fraternity that they elected him their librariani. His merits as an historian have been justly displayed and re commended by lord Lytteltonk. But his abilities were not confined to prose. He wrote many pieces of Latin poetry ; and it is remarkable, that almost all the professed writers in prose of this age made experiments in verse . His patron was Robert earl of Glocester ; who, amidst the violent civil com motions which disquieted the reign of King Stephen, found leisure and opportunity to protect and promote literary merit '. Till Malmesbury's works appeared, Bede had been the chief and principal writer of English history. But a general spirit of writing history, owing to that curiosity which more polished manners introduce to an acquaintance with the antient histo rians, and to the improved knowledge of a language in which facts could be recorded with grace and dignity, was now pre vailing. Besides those I have mentioned, Simeon of Durham , Roger Hoveden, and Benedict abbot of Peterborough, are historians whose narratives have a liberal cast, and whose de tails rise far above the dull uninteresting precision of patient annalists and regular chronologers. John Hanvill, a monk of Saint Alban's, about the year 1190, studied rhetoric at Paris, and was distinguished for his taste even among the numerous and polite scholars of that flourishing seminarym . His ARCHI TRENIUS is a learned, ingenious, and very entertaining per formance. It is a long Latin poem in nine books, dedicated to Walter bishop of Rouen. The design of the work may be h Leland, Script. Brit. p. 178. There patronised by Anselm . Script. Brit. is a poem DE LAUDIBUS ANSELMI, and p. 185. an epicedion on that prelate, commonly i Lel. p. 195. But see Wharton , Angl. ascribed to Eadmer. See Fabric. Bibl. Sacr. ii. Præf. p. xii. Med. Lat. ii. p . 210. seq. Leland doubts In his History of Henry the Second. whether these pieces belong to him or to 1 See Cave, Hist. Lit. p. 661 . William of Chester, a learned monk, m Lel. p. 259. 1 ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. cly partly conjectured from its affected Greek title : but it is, on the whole, a mixture of satire and panegyric on public vice and virtue, with some historical digressions. In the exordium is the following nervous and spirited address : Tu Cyrrhæ latices nostræ, deus, implue menti ; Eloquii rorem siccis infunde labellis : Distillaque favos, quos nondum pallidus auro Scit Tagus, aut sitiens admotis Tantalus undis : Dirige quæ timide suscepit dextera, dextram Audacem pavidamque juva : Tu mentis habenas Fervoremque rege, &c . In the fifth book the poet has the following allusions to the fables of Corineus, Brutus, king Arthur, and the population of Britain from Troy. He seems to have copied these tradi tions from Geoffrey of Monmouth " . Tamen Architrenius instat, Et genus et gentem quærit studiosius : illi Tros genus, et gentem tribuit Lodonesia, nutrix Præbuit irriguam morum Cornubia mammam , Post odium fati, Phrygiis inventa : Smaraudus Hanc domitor mundi Tyrinthius, alter Achilles, Atridæque timor Corinæus, serra gygantum , Clavaque monstrifera, sociæ delegit alumnam Omnigenam Trojæ , pluvioque fluviflua lacte Filius exilio fessæ dedit ubera matri. A quo dicta prius Corineia, dicitur aucto Tempore corrupte Cornubia nominis hæres. Ille gygantæos attritis ossibus artus Implicuit letho, Tyrrheni littoris hospes, Indomita virtute gygas; non corpore mole Ad medium pressa , nec membris densior æquo, Sarcina terrifica tumuit Titania mente . Ad Ligeris ripas Aquitanos fudit, et amnes Francorum potuit lacrymis, et cæde vadoque ^ See Hist. Galfrid . Mon. i . xi, xvi. xvii. &c. clvi DISSERTATION II. Sanguinis ense ruens, satiavit rura, togaque Punicea vestivit agros, populique verendi Grandiloquos fregit animosa cuspide fastus. Integra, nec dubio bellorum naufraga fluctu , Nec vice suspecta titubanti saucia fato , Indilata dedit subitam victoria laurum . Inde dato cursu , Bruto comitatus Achate, Gallorum spolio cumulatus, navibus æquor Exarat, et superis auraque faventibus utens, Litora felices intrat Tolonesia portus : Promissumque soli gremium monstrante Diana, Incolumi census loculum ferit Albion alno. Hæc eadem Bruto regnante Britannia nomen Traxit in hoc tempus : solis Titanibus illa , Sed paucis, habitata domus ; quibus uda ferarum Terga dabant vestes, cruor haustus pocula, trunci Antra lares, dumeta toros, cænacula rupes, Præda cibos, raptus venerem , spectacula cædes, Imperium vires, animum furor, impetus arma, Mortem pugna, sepulchra rubus : monstrisque gemebat Monticolis tellus : sed eorum plurima tractus Pars erat occidui terror ; majorque premebat Te furor extremum zephyri, Cornubia, limen . Hos avidum belli Corinæi robur Averno Præcipites misit ; cubitis ter quatuor altum Gogmagog Herculea suspendit in aere lucta, Anthæumque suum scopulo demisit in æquor : Potavitque dato Thetis ebria sanguine fluctus, Divisumque tulit mare corpus, Cerberus umbram . Nobilis a Phrygiæ tanto Cornubia gentem Sanguine derivat, successio cujus lulus In generis partem recipit complexa Pelasgam Anchisæque domum : ramos hinc Pandrasus, inde Sylvius extendit, socioque a sidere sidus Plenius effundit triplicatæ lampadis ignes. Hoc trifido sola Corinæi postera mundum ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clvii Præradiat pubes, quartique puerpera Phobi Pullulat Arthurum , facie dum falsus adulter Tintagel irrumpit, nec amoris Pendragon æstu Vincit, et omnificas Merlini consulit artes, Mentiturque ducis habitus, et rege latente Induit absentis præsentia Gorlois oraº. There is a false glare of expression, and no great justness of sentiment, in these verses ; but they are animated, and flow in a strain of poetry. They are pompous and sonorous ; but these faults have been reckoned beauties even in polished ages. In the same book our author thụs characterises the different merits of the satires of Horace and Persius : Persius in Flacci pelago decurrit, et audet Mendicasse stylum satyræ , serraque cruentus Rodit, et ignorat polientem pectora limam.P In the third book he describes the happy parsimony of the Cistercian monks : O sancta , o felix, albis galeata cucullis, Libera paupertas ! Nudo jejunia pastu Tracta diu solvens, nec corruptura palatum Mollitie mensæ. Bacchus convivia nullo Murmure conturbat, nec sacra cubilia mentis • Milton appears to have been much P Juvenal is also cited by John of Sa struck with this part of the antient Bri- lisbury, Peter of Blois, Vincentius Bel tish History, and to have designed it lovacensis, Geoffrey of Monmouth , and for the subject of an epic poem . Epi- other writers of the middle ages. They TAPH. DAMONIS, v. 162. often call him Ethicus. See particu larly Petr. Bles. Epist. lxxvii. Some Ipse ego Dardanias Rutupinaper æquora lines from Juvenal are cited by Hono puppes rius Augustodunus, a priest of Bur Dicam , et Pandrasidos regnum vetus gundy, who wrote about 1900 , in his Inogeniæ , Brennumque Arviragumque duces, pris. The tenth satire ofJuvenalisquoted by De Philosophia Mundi, Præfat. ad lib. iv. cumque Belinum , Chaucerin Troilus and CRESSEIDE, b.iv. Et tandem Armoricos Britunum sub lege colonos : v. 197. pag. 307. edit. Urr. There is an Tumgravidam Arturo, fatali fraude, in 1475, andpublished soon afterwards, old Italian metaphrase of Juvenal done Iogernen , Mendaces vultus, assumptaque Gorlois by. Georgio Summaripa, of Verona. Giornale de Letterati d'Italia, tom . viii . arma, Merlini dolus. p. 41. Juvenal was printed at Rome as early as 1474. See also Milton's MANSUS, v. 80 . clviii DISSERTATION II. Inquinat adventu. Stomacho languente ministrat Solennes epulas ventris gravis hospita Thetis, Et paleis armata Ceres. Si tertia mensæ Copia succedat, truncantur oluscula, quorum Offendit macies oculos, pacemque meretur, Deterretque famem pallenti sobria cultu. ' Among Digby's manuscripts in the Bodleian library, are Han vill's Latin epigrams, epistles, and smaller poems, many of which have considerable merit '. They are followed by a metrical tract, entitled DE EPISTOLARUM COMPOSITIONE. But this piece is written in rhyme, and seems to be posterior to the age, at least inferior to the genius, of Hanvill. He was buried in the abbey church of Saint Alban’s, soon after the year 1200s. Gyraldus Cambrensis deserves particular regard for the universality of his works, many of which are written with some degree of elegance. He abounds with quotations of the best Latin poets. He was an historian , an antiquary, a topographer, a divine, a philosopher, and a poet. His love of science was so great, that he refused two bishopricks, and from the midst of public business, with which his political talents gave him a considerable connection in the court of Richard the First, he retired to Lincoln for seven years, with a design of pursuingtheological studies . He recited his book on the topography of Ireland in public at Oxford, for three days successively. On the first day of this recital he enter tained all the poor of the city ; on the second, all the doctors in the several faculties, and scholars of better note ; and on the third, the whole body of students, with the citizens and soldiers of the garrison ". It is probable that this was a ceremony practised on the like occasion in the university of Paris ; 4 There are two manuscripts of this p. 286. This edition I have never seen , poem , from which I transcribe,in the and believe it to be an extremely scarce Bodleian library . MSS. Digb. 64. and book . One of these has a gloss, but not Cod. Digb. 64. ut supr. that of Hugo Legatus, inentioned by Bale, iii.49. Baillet, Jugem . Sav .iv. p. 257. edit. 4to. Wharton, Angl. Sacr. ii. 374. This poem is said to have been printed u Wood, Hist. Antig. Univ.Oxon. i . 56. at Paris 1517. 4to. Bibl. Thuan. tom . ii. W But Wood insinuates, that this 157. $ ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clix where Giraldus had studied for twenty years, and where he had been elected professor of canon law in the year 1189 *. His account of Wales was written in consequence of the ob servations he made on that country , theñ almost unknown to the English, during his attendance on an archiepiscopal visi tation . I cannot resist the pleasure of transcribing from this book his picture of the romantic situation of the abbey of Lantony in Monmouthshire. I will give it in English, as my meaning is merely to show how great a master the author was of that selection of circumstances which forms an agreeable description, and which could only flow from a cultivated mind. “ In the deep vale of Ewias, which is about a bowshot over, and enclosed on all sides with high mountains, stands the sumptuous entertainment was partly more than 3000 grossos Turonenses." given by Gyraldus, as an inceptor in the Vet. Stat. See Leland, Coll. P. ii. tom . i. arts. Ubi supr. p. 25. col . 1. Which prac- p. 296, 297. edit. 1770 . But the limi tice I have mentioned , Sect. ix. vol. ii . tation was a considerable sum . Each is p. 126. infr. And I will here add other somewhat less than an English groat. instances, especially as they are proofs Notwithstanding, Neville, afterwards of the estimation in which letters, at archbishop ofYork, on his admission to least literary honours, were held . In the degree of master of arts in 1452, theyear 1268, the inceptors in civil law feasted theacademics and manystrangers at Oxford were so numerous, and attend- for two successive days, at two entertain ed by such a number of guests, that the ments, consisting of nine hundred costly academical houses or hostels were not dishes. Wood, ibid . 219. col. 1. 2. Nor sufficient for their accommodation : and was this reverenceto learning, and at the company filled not only these, but tention to its institutions, confined to even the refectory, cloisters, and many the circle of our universities. Such was apartments of Oseney abbey, near the the pedantry of the times, that in the suburbs of Oxford. Atwhich timemany year 1503, archbishop Wareham , chan Italians studying at Oxford were ad cellor of Oxford, at his feast of inthro mitted in that faculty. Wood, ubi supr. nisation, ordered to be introduced in the p. 25. col. 1. It appears that the mayor first course a curious dish, in which were and citizens of Oxford were constantly exhibited the eight towers ofthe univer invited to these solemnities. In the sity. In every tower stood a bedell ; year 1400, two monks of the priory of and under the towers were figures of the Christ Church in Canterburywere se- king, to whom the chancellor Wareham , verally admitted to the degree of doctor encircled with many doctors properly in divinity and civil law at Oxford . The habited, presented four Latin verses, expences were paid by their monastery, which were answered by his majesty. and amounted to 1181. 3 s. 8d. Registr. The eight towers were those of Merton, Priorat. pergamen . MSS. Tanner, Magdalene, and New College, and of Oxon. Num . 165. fol. 212. a. Among the monasteries of Oseney, Rewley, the other articles there is , “ In solutione Dominican, Augustine, and Franciscan facta HISTRIONIBUS.” fol. 213. a . (See friars, which five last are now utterly Sect. ii. p . 95. infr.] At length these destroyed . Wood, ubi supr. lib. i. p. 239. scholastic banquets grew to such excess, col. i . Compare Robertson's Charles that it was ordered in the year 1434, V. i . 323. seq . that no inceptor in arts should expend * Wharton, ibid. clx DISSERTATION II. а . abbey church of Saint John, a structure covered with lead , and not unhandsomely built for so lonesome a situation : on the very spot, where formerly stood a small chapel dedicated to Saint David, which had no other ornaments than green moss and ivy. It is a situation fit for the exercise of religion ; and a religious edifice was first founded in this sequestered retreat to the honour of a solitary life, by two hermits, remote from the noise of the world, upon the banks of the river Hondy, which winds through the midst of the valley. Therains which moun tainous countries usually produce, are here very frequent, the winds exceedingly tempestuous, and the winters almost con tinually dark . Yet the air of the valley is so happily tempered , as scarcely to be the cause of any diseases. The monks sitting in the cloisters of the abbey, when they chuse for a momentary refreshment to cast their eyes abroad , have on every side pleasing prospect ofmountains ascending to an immense height, with numerous herds of wild deer feeding aloft on the highest extremity of this lofty horizon . The body of the sun is not visible above the hills till after the meridian hour, even when the air is most clear. ” Giraldus adds, that Roger bishop of Sa lisbury, prime minister to Henry the First, having visited this place, on his return to court told the king, that all the treasure of his majesty's kingdom would not suffice to build such another cloister. The bishop explained himself by saying, that he meant the circular ridge of mountains with which the vale of Ewias was enclosedy. Alexander Neckham was the friend, the associate, and the correspondent of Peter of Blois already mentioned. He received the first part of his education in the abbey of Saint Alban's, which he afterwards completed at Paris 2. His compositions are various, and croud the depart ment of manuscripts in our public libraries. He has left nu merous treatises of divinity, philosophy, and morality : but he was likewise a poet, a philologist, and a grammarian. He wrote a tract on the mythology of the antient poets, Esopian y Girald. Cambrens. Itin. CAMBR . Lib. i . c. 3. p. 89. seq . Lond. 1585. 12mo. ? Lel. Script. Brit. p. 240. seq. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxi fables, and a system of grammar and rhetoric. I have seen his elegiac poem on the monastic lifea, which contains some finished lines. But his capital piece of Latin poetry is on the Praise of DIVINE WISDOM, which consists of seven books. In the introduction he commemorates the innocent and unreturn ing pleasures of his early days, which he passed among the learned monks of Saint Alban's, in these perspicuous and un affected elegiacs. Claustrum Martyris Albani sit tibi tuta quies. Hic locus ætatis nostræ primordia novit, Annos felices, lætitiæque dies. Hic locus ingenuis pueriles imbuit annos Artibus, et nostræ laudis origo fuit. Hic locus insignes magnosque creavit alumnos, Felix eximio martyre, gente, situ . Militat hic Christo, noctuque dieque labori Indulget sancto religiosa cohors. b Neckham died abbot of Cirencester in the year 12179. He was much attached to the studious repose of the monastic pro fession , yet he frequently travelled into Italyd. Walter Mapes, archdeacon of Oxford, has been very happily styled the Ana creon of the eleventh century. He studied at Paris f. His vein was chiefly festive and satirical & ; and as his wit was fre quently levelled against the corruptionsof the clergy, his often appeared under fictitious names, or have been ascribed to others . The celebrated drinking odei of this genial arch deacon has the regular returns of the monkish rhyme: but they are here applied with a characteristical propriety, are so happily invented , and so humourously introduced , that they a Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Digb. 65. f. 18. n Cave, Hist. Lit. p . 706. Compare 6 Apud Lel. Script. Brit. p. 240. Tanner, Bibl. 351. 507. In return, c Willis, Mitr. Abb. i. 61 , 62 . many pieces went under the name ofour d Lel. ibid. author. As, for instance, De Thetide et e Lord Lyttelton's Hist. Hen, II. de Lyæo, which is a ridiculous piece of Not. B. ii. p. 133. 4to . scurrility. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Digb. 166. f See infr. Sect. ii. p. 67. f . 104, & Tanner, Bibl. p. 507. i See Camd. Rem . p. 436. RYTHMI. VOL. 1 . 1 poems clxii DISSERTATION II. not only suit the genius but heighten the spirit of the piecek. He boasts that good wine inspires him to sing verses equal to those of Ovid . In another Latin ode of the same kind, he attacks with great liveliness the new injunction of pope Inno cent, concerning the celibacy of the clergy; and hopes that every married priest with his bride, will say a pater noster for the soul of one who had thus hazarded his salvation in their defence. Ecce jam pro clericis multum allegavi, Necnon pro presbyteris plura comprobavi : Pater Noster nunc pro me, quoniam peccavi, Dicat quisque Presbyter, cum sua Suavi. ' But a miracle of this age in classical composition was Joseph of Exeter, commonly called Josephus Iscanus. He wrote two epic poems in Latin heroics. The first is on the Trojan War ; it is in six books, and dedicated to Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury " . The second is entitled ANTIOCHEIS, the War

• In Bibl. Bodl. a piece De Nugis of his poemsremain in MS. ( See Index Curialium is given to Mapes. MSS. to Harl. MSS. ) Some of them have Arch . B. 52. It was written A.D. beenprinted in Leyser, Hist. Poetarum 1182. As appears from Distinct. iv. medii ævi, in Flacius de corrupto ec cap. 1. It is in five books. Many Latin clesiæ statu. Basil 1557. and in Wolfii poems in this manuscript are given to Lectiones memorabiles. There is reason Mapes. One in particular, written in to suppose that a piece entitled variously a flowing style, in short lines, preserving as follows, was written by him : Visio no fixed metrical rule, which seems to lamentabilis cujusdam heremitæ super have been intendedfor singing. In an- disceptatione animæ contra corpus. other manuscript I find various pieces Disputatio inter corpus et animam ali of Latin poetry , by some attributed to cujus repbati et damnati : Conflictio Mapes, Bibl. Bodl. NE. F. iij. Some inter corpus et animam . See Harl. MSS.

of these are in a good taste. Camden 978. 2851. Cotton MSS. Titus, A. XX. has printed his Disputatio inter Cor et -Douce. ] ( There is however reason Oculum . Rem . p. 439. It is written in to believe that Mapes only gave a Latin a sort of Anacreontic verse , andhas ' version of a very popular theme. See some humour. It is in MSS. Bibl. the same idea exemplified in a Saxon Bodl. Digb. ut supr. 166. See also poem from the Exon Ms. given by Camd. ibid . p. 437. Mr. Conybeare in the Archæologia, [It appears from several of the MS. vol. 17. - Edit.] copies of Lancelot du Lac, Le Saint i Camd. Rem . ut supr. Graal, and other romances, that Walter m See lib . i. 32. It was first printed de Mapes translated them into French at Basil, but very corruptly, in the year prose, at the instance of Henry II. He 1541. 8vo . under the name of Cor also composed the Mort Artur at the nelius Nepos. The existence and name particular desire ofthat monarch . Many of this poem seem to have been utterly ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxiii of Antioch, or the Crusade; in which his patron the archbi shop was an actor " . The poem of the Trojan war is founded on Dares Phrygius, a favorite fabulous historian of that timeº. The diction of this poem is generally pure, the periods round, and the numbers harmonious: and on the whole, the structure of the versification approaches nearly to that of polished Latin poetry. The writer appears to have possessed no common command of poetical phraseology, and wanted nothing but a knowledge of the Virgilian chastity. His style is a mixture of Ovid , Statius, and Claudian, who seem then to have been the popular patterns . But a few specimens will best illustrate this criticism . He thus, in a strain of much spirit and dignity, unknown in England when Leland sages would have betrayed their first wrote. He first met with a manuscript editor's pretence of thispoem being writ copy ofit by mere accidentin Magdalen ten by Cornelius Nepos. As it is, he college libraryat Oxford. He never had was obligedin the address to Baldwin , even heard of it before. He afterwards to change Cantia, Kent, into Tantia ; found two more copies at Paris. But for which he substitutes Pontia in the these were all imperfect, and without margin, asan ingenious conjecture, the name of the author, except a margi- n Leland, p . 224, 225 . nal hint. At length he discovered a • The manuscript at Magdalen col complete copy of it in the library of lege, mentioned by Leland ,is entitled Thorney abbey in Cambridgeshire, Dares Phrygius de bello Trojano. Lel. which seems to have ascertained the au- p. 236. As also MSS. Digb. supr. thor's name, butnot his country. Script. citat. But see Sect. iii. p. 140. infr. Brit. p . 238. The neglect of this poem P Statius is cited in the epistles of ainong our ancestors, I mean in theages Stephen of Tournay, a writer of the which followed Iscanus, appears from twelfth century, « Divinam ejus re the few manuscripts of it nowremaining sponsionem , ut Thebais Æneida, longe in England. Leland , who searched all sequor, et vestigia semper adoro." He our libraries, could find only two. There died in 1200. EPISTOLÆ, Paris. 1611 . is atpresentoneinthechurch of West- 4to . Epist.V.p. 535. On account of minster. Another in Bibl. Bodl. Digb. the variety of his matter, andthe facility 157. That inMagdalencollege is MSS. of his manner, none ofthe antient poets Cod. 50. Thebest edition is at theend aremorefrequentlycitedin thewriters of “ Dictys Cretensis et Dares Phrygius, of the dark ages' than Ovid. His FASTI in us. Sereniss. Delph. cum Interpret. seems to have been their favorite : a A. Daceriæ , &c. Amstæl. 1702.” 4to. work thus admirably characterised by But all the printed copies have omitted an ingenious French writer. « «« Les Fas passages which I findinthe Digby ma- tes d'Ovide renferment plus d'erudition nuscript. Particularly they omit, in the qu'aucun autre ouvrage de l'antiquité. address toBaldwin, four lines after v. 32. C'est le chef d'ouvre de ce poete, et une lib . i . Thirteen lines, in which the poet espece de devotion paienne. " Vigneul alludes to his intended ANTIOCHES, are Marville, Misc. Hist. et Lit. tom . ii. omitted before v . 962. lib . vi. Nor have p. 306. A writer of the thirteenth cen they theverses in which he compliments tury,De MIRABILIBUS ROMÆ, published Henry the Second, said by Leland to be by Montfaucon , calls this work MARTY at the end of the fourth book , Script. ROLOGIUM Ovidii de Fastis.Montf. Diar. Brit. p. 238. The truth is, these pas- Italic. c. xx. p. 293. 12 clxiv DISSERTATION II. addresses king Henry the Second, who was going to the holy war !, the intended subject of his Antiocheis. -Tuque, oro, tuo da, maxime, vati Ire iter inceptum , Trojamque aperire jacentem : Te sacræ assument acies, divinaque bella, Tunc dignum majore tuba; tunc pectore toto Nitar, et immensum mecum spargere per orbem . " The tomb or mausoleum of Teuthras is feigned with a bril liancy of imagination and expression ; and our poet's classical ideas seem here to have been tinctured with the description of some magnificent oriental palace, which he had seen in the romances of his age. Regia conspicuis moles inscripta figuris Exceptura ducem, senis affulta columnis, Tollitur : electro vernat basis, arduus auro Ardet apex , radioque stylus candescit eburno. -Gemmæ quas littoris Indi Dives arena tegit, aurum quod parturit Hermus, In varias vivunt species, ditique decorum Materie contendit opus: quod nobile ductor Quod clarum gessit, ars explicat, ardua pandit Moles, et totum reserat sculptura tyrannum . He thus describes Penthesilea and Pyrrhus: Eminet, horrificas rapiens post terga secures, Virginei regina chori : non provida cultus Cura trahit, non forma juvat, frons aspera, vestis Discolor, insertumque armis irascitur aurum . Si visum , si verba notes, si lumina pendas, Nil leve, nil fractum : latet omni fæmina facto . Obvius ultrices accendit in arma cohortes, Myrmidonasque suos, curru prævectus anhelo , Pyrrhus, & c. 9.Voltaire has expressed his admira- age much earlier thanTasso celebrating tion of the happy choiceof subject which the same sort of expedition . Tasso made. We here see a poet of an i Lib . 1. 47 . * Lib. iv. 451 . ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxv -Meritosque offensus in hostes Arma patris, nunc ultor, habet : sed tanta recusant Pondera crescentes humeri, majoraque cassis Colla petit, breviorque manus vix colligit hastam . Afterwards a Grecian leader, whose character is invective, in sults Penthesilea, and her troop of heroines, with these re proaches, Tunc sic increpitans, Pudeat, Mars inclyte, dixit : En ! tua signa gerit, quin nostra effæminat arma Staminibus vix apta manus. Nunc stabitis hercle Perjuræ turres ; calathos et pensa puellæ Plena rotant, sparguntque colos. Hoc milite Troja, His fidit telis. At non patiemur Achivi : Etsi turpe viris timidas calcare puellas, Ibo tamen contra. Sic ille : At virgo loquacem Tarda sequi sexum , velox ad prælia, solo Respondet jaculo “, & c. I will add one of his comparisons. The poet is speaking of the reluctant advances of the Trojans under their new leader Memnon , after the fall of Hector : Qualiter Hyblæi mellita pericula reges, Si signis iniere datis, labente tyranno Alterutro, viduos dant agmina stridula questus ; Et, subitum vix nacta ducem, metuentia vibrant Spicula, et imbelli remeant in prælia rostro. V His ANTIOCHEIS was written in the same strain, and had equal merit. All that remains of it is the following fragment" , in which the poet celebrates the heroes of Britain, and particu larly king Arthur. t Lib . vi. p. 589. he found a piece of it in the library of u Lib . vi. 609 . v Lib . vi. 19. Abingdon abbey in Berkshire. “ Cum W Camd. Rem . p. 410. Poems. See excuterem pulverem et tineas Abban also Camd. Brit. Leland having learn- dunensis bibliothecæ .” Ut supr. p. 238. ed from the Bellum Trojanum that Jo- Here he discovered that Josephus wasa sephus had likewise written a poem on native of Exeter, which city was highly the Crusade, searched for it in many celebrated in that fragment. places, but without success. At length r clxvi DISSERTATION II . Inclyta fulsit Posteritas ducibus tantis, tot dives alumnis, Tot foecunda viris, premerent qui viribus orbem Et fama veteres. Hinc Constantinus adeptus Imperium , Romam tenuit, Byzantion auxit. Hinc, Senonum ductor, captiva Brennius urbeu Romuleas domuit flammis victricibus arces. Hinc et Scæva satus, pars non obscura tumultus Civilis, Magnum solus qui mole soluta Obsedit, meliorque stetit pro Cæsare murus. Hinc, celebri fato, felici floruit ortu , Flos regum Arthurus " , cujus tamen acta stupori Non micuere minus : totus quod in aure voluptas, Et populo plaudente favor * . Quæcunque priorum Inspice : Pellæum commendat fama tyrannum , Pagina Cæsareos loquitur Romana triumphos ; Alciden domitis attollit gloria monstris ; Sed nec pinetum coryli, nec sydera solem Æquant. Annales Graios Latiosque revolve, Prisca parem nescit, æqualem postera nullum Exhibitura dies. Reges supereminet omnes : Solus præteritis melior, majorque futuris. Camden asserts, that Joseph accompanied king Richard the First to the holy land ?, and was an eye- witness of that heroic monarch's 'exploits among the Saracens, which afterwards he celebrated in the AntiochEIS. Leland mentions his love verses and epigrams, which are long since perished “. Heb flourished in the year 1210 . " f. “ Captiva Brennus in ." graphers mention Panegyricum in Hen " From this circumstance, Pits ab- ricum . But the notion of this poem surdly recites the title of this poem thus, seems to have taken rise from the verses Antiocheis in Regem Arthurum . Jos. Isc. on Henry the Second, quoted by Le * The text seems to be corrupt in this land from the Bellum Trojanum . He sentence. Or perhaps somewhat is want is likewise said to have written in Latin ing. I have changed favus, which is in verse De Institutione Cyri. Camden, into favor. • Italy had at that time produced no Y f . quemcunque. writer comparable to Iscanus.

• Rem . ut supr. p. 407. © Bale, iij. 60. Compare Dresenius ad Leland, ut supr. p. 239. Our bio. Lcctorem . Prefixed to the DE BELLO 2

ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxvii There seems to have been a rival spirit of writing Latin heroic poems about this period. In France, Guillaume le Breton, or William of Bretagny, about the year 1230, wrote a Latin heroic poem on Philip Augustus king of France about the commencement of the thirteenth century, in twelve books, entitled PhilippiSd. Barthius gives a prodigious character of this poem ; and affirms that the author, a few gallicisms ex cepted, has expressed the facility of Ovid with singular hap piness. The versification much resembles that of Joseph Is canus. He appears to have drawn a great part of his materials from Roger Hoveden's annals. But I am of opinion , that the PHILIPPID is greatly exceeded by the ALEXANDREID of Philip Gualtier de Chatillon , who flourished likewise in France, and was provost of the canons of Tournay, about the year 1200 f. This poem celebrates the actions of Alexander the Great, is founded on Quintus Curtius, consists of ten books, and is dedicated to Guillerm archbishop of Rheims. To give the reader an oportunity of comparing Gualtier's style and manner with those of our countryman Josephus, I will transcribe a few specimens from a beautiful and antient manuscript of the ALEXANDREID in the Bodleian libraryh. This is the exordium : Gesta ducis Macedum totum digesta per orbem , Quam large dispersit opes, quo milite Porum Vicit aut Darium ; quo principe Græcia victrix Risit, et a Persis rediere tributa Corinthum , Musa, refer. i This poem TROJANO. Francof. 1620. 4to . Mr. Wise, Petri Carlotti sui, then not fifteen years the late Radcliffe librarian, told me that old . PHILIPP. lib . i . v. 10 . a manuscript of the ANTIOCHEIS was in was never printed , and is hardly known. the library of the duke of Chandois at e In Not. p . 7. See also Adversar. Canons. xliii. 7. Heprefers it to the ALEXAN . He wrote it at fifty - five years of age. DREIS mentioned below , in Not. p. 528. PHILIPP. lib . iii. v. 381. It was first See Mem. Lit. viii . 536. edit. 4to. printed in Pithou's “ Eleven Historians f It was first printed, Argent. 1513. of France," Francof. 1536. fol. Next in 8vo . And two or three times since. Du Chesne, SCRIPT. Franc.tom . v . p. 93. & See infr. Sect. iii. p. 143. And Barth . Paris . 1694. fol. But the best edition Advers. lii. 16 . is with Barthius's notes, Cygn. 1657. 4to. h MSS. Digb. 52. 4to. Brito says in the PHILIPPIS, that he wrote i fol. 1. a. a poem called KARLOTTIS, in praise of clxviii DISSERTATION II. A beautiful rural scene is thus described : -Patulis ubi frondea ramis Laurus odoriferas celabat crinibus herbas : Sæpe sub hac memorant carmen sylvestre canentes Nympharum vidisse choros, Satyrosque procaces. Fons cadit a læva, quem cespite gramen obumbrat Purpureo, verisque latens sub veste jocatur, Rivulus et lento rigat inferiora meatu , Garrulus, et strepitu facit obsurdescere montes. Hic mater Cybele Zephyrum tibi, Flora, maritans, Pullulat, et vallem fæcundat gratia fontis. Qualiter Alpinis spumoso vortice saxis Descendit Rhodanus, ubi Maximianus Eoos Extinxit cuneos, cum sanguinis unda meatum Fluminis adjuvit. He excells in similies. Alexander, when a stripling, is thus compared to a young lion : Qualiter Hyrcanis cum forte leunculis arvis Cornibus elatos videt ire ad pabula cervos, Cui nondum totos descendit robur in artus, Nec bene firmus adhuc, nec dentibus asper aduncis, Palpitat, et vacuum ferit improba lingua palatum ; Effunditque prius animis quam dente cruorem . The ALEXANDREID soon became so popular, that Henry of Gaunt, archdeacon of Tournay, about the year 1330, complains that this poem was commonly taught in the rhetorical schools, instead of Lucan ' and Virgilm. The learned Charpentier i fol. xiii. a . k k fol. xxi. a . the year 1310. The Italians have also Here, among many other proofs Lucano in volgare, by cardinal Monti which might be given, and which will chelli, at Milan 1492. It is in the octave occur hereafter, is a proof of the estima- rime, and in ten books. But the trans tion in which Lucan was held during the lator has so much departed from the middle ages. He is quoted byGeoffrey original, as to form a sort of romanceof of Monmouth and John of Salisbury, his own . He was translated into Spanish writers of the eleventh century . Hist. prose, Lucano poeta y historiador antiquo, Brit. iv. 9. and Policrat. p. 215. edit. by Martin Lasse de Orespe, at Antwerp, 1515. &c. &c. There is an anonymous 1585. Lucan was first printed in the Italian translation of Lucan , as early as year 1469. And before the year 1500 , 3 ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND . clxix cites, a passage from the manuscript statutes of the university of Tholouse, dated 1328, in which the professors of grammar are directed to read to their pupils “ De Historiis Alexandrin. ” Among which I include Gualtier's poemº. It is quoted as a familiar classic by Thomas Rodburn , a monkish chronicler, who wrote about the year 1420P. An anonymous Latin poet, seemingly of the thirteenth century, who has left a poem on the life and miracles of Saint Oswald , mentions Homer, Gual tier, and Lucan, as the three capital heroic poets. Homer, he says, has celebrated Hercules, Gualtier the son of Philip , and Lucan has sung the praises of Cesar. But, adds he, these heroes much less deserve to be immortalised in verse , than the deeds of the holy confessor Oswald. In nova fert animus antiquas vertere prosas Carmina, & c . Alciden hyperbolice commendat HOMERUS, GUALTERUS pingit torvo Philippida vultu, Cæsareas late laudes LUCANUS adauget : Tres illi famam meruerunt, tresque poetas Auctores habuere suos, multo magis autem Oswaldi regis debent insignia dici. 9 I do not cite this writer as a proof of the elegant versification which had now become fashionable, but to shew the popularity of the ALEXANDREID, at least among scholars. About the year 1206, Gunther a German, and a Cistercian monk of the there were six other editions of this Mævius in cælis ardens os ponere mu classic, whose declamatory manner ren- tum , dered him very popular. He was pub- Gesta Ducis MACEDUM, tenebrosi car lished at Paris in French in 1500. Labb . minis umbra, Bibl. p. 339. Dicere dum tentat. m See Hen . Gandav, Monasticon . * Suppl. Du Cang. Lat. Gloss. tom . ii. c . 20. and Fabric. Bibl. Gr, ii. 218. p . 1255. V. METRIFICATURA. By which Alanus de Insulis, who died in 1202, in barbarous word they signified the Art of his poem called ANTI-CLAUDIANUS, a Latin poem of nine books, much in the Latin verses. poetry, or rather the Art of writing manner of Claudian , and written in de See Sect. iii . p . 132. infr. fence of divine providence against a P Hist. Maj. Winton. apud Wharton, passage in that poet's Rufinus , thus Angl. Sacr. i. 242. attacks the rising reputation of the ! I will add some of the exordial lines ALEXANI'REID : almost immediately following, as they 0 elxx DISSERTATION II. diocese of Basil, wrote an heroic poem in Latin verse , entitled LIGURINUS, which is scarce inferior to the PHILIPPID of Guil laumele Breton , or the ALEXANDREID of Gualtier : but not so polished and classical as the TROJAN WAR of our Josephus Iscanus. It is in ten books, and the subject is the war of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa against the Milanese in Ligu ria. He had before written a Latin poem on the expedition of the emperor Conrade against the Saracens, and the reco very of the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bulloign, which he called SOLYMARIUM '. The subject is much like that of the ANTIOCHEIS ; but which of the two pieces was written first it is difficult to ascertain . While this spirit of classical Latin poetry was universally prevailing, our countryman Geoffrey de Vinesauf, an accom contain names, and other circumstances, Qui moritur ? Præsul. Cur ? pro Grege, which perhaps may lead to point out the &c. age if not the name of the author . Prol. pr. f. 23. They were never before printed. Tu quoque digneris, precor, aspirare Detineant alios Parnassi culmina Cyr rhæ labori, Flos cleri, MARTINE, meo ; qui talis es Plausus, Pieridum vox, Heliconis opes. inter De partu Virginis. f. 28. b. Abbates, qualis est patronus tuus inter Nectareum rorem terris, & c . Pontifices : hic est primas, tu primus S. Birinus, f. 42. Hic per Aidanum sua munificentia mu. Et pudet, et fateor, &c. The author of the life of Birinus says, Illi promeruit, & c. he was commanded to write by Peter, Tuque benigne Prior, primas, et prime probably Peter de Rupibus, bishop of Priorum , Winchester. Perbaps he is Michael Qui cleri, ROGERE, rosam geris, annue Blaunpayne. Alexander Esseby wrote vati, & c . eorum , & c . nus lives of saints in Latin verse . See MSS. Tuque Sacrista, sacris instans, qui jure Harl. 1819. 591. vocaris · First printed August. Vindel. 1507. Symon, id est humilis, quo nemo benig- fol. Andfrequently since. nior alter * He mentions it in his LIGURIUM, Abbatis præcepta sui velocius audit, lib. i. v. 13. seq. v . 648. seq. See also Tardius obloquitur : qui tot mea car- Voss. Poet. Lat. c. vi. p . 73. It was mina servas never printed. Gunther wrote a prose Scripta voluminibus, nec plura requirere history of the sack of Constantinople by Baldwin : The materials were taken Præteritos laudas, præsentes dilige ver- from the mouth of abbot Martin , who was present at the siege, in 1204. It The manuscript is Bibl. Bodl. A. 1. 2.B. was printed by Canisius, Antiqu. Lect. (Langb. 5. p. 6. ) This piece begins at tom . iv. P. ii. p. 358. Ingolstad. 1604. f. 57. Other pieces precede, in Latin 4to. Again , in a new edition of that poetry : as VITÆ SANCTORUM . T. Becket. compilation , Amst. 1725. fol. tom . iv. f. 3. See also Pagi, ad A.D. 1519, n. xiv. , cessas . sus, & c. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxxi plished scholar, and educated not only in the priory of Saint Frideswide, at Oxford, but in the universities of France, and Italy, published while at Rome a critical didactic poem en titled De Nova POETRIA . This book is dedicated to pope Innocent the Third : and its intention was to recommend and illustrate the new and legitimate mode of versification which had lately begun to flourish in Europe, in opposition to the Leonine or barbarous species. This he compendiously styles, and by way of distinction , The New Poetry . We must not be surprised to find Horace's Art of Poetry entitled HORATII Nova POETRIA, so late as the year 1389, in a catalogue of the library of a monastery at Dover '. Even a knowledge of the Greek language imported from France, but chiefly from Italy, was now beginning to be dif fused in England. I am inclined to think, that many Greek manuscripts found their way into Europe from Constantinople in the time of the Crusades : and we might observe that the Italians, who seem to have been the most polished and intelli gent people of Europe during the barbarous ages, carried on communications with the Greek empire as early as the reign of Charlemagne. Robert Grosthead , bishop of Lincoln , an universal scholar, and no less conversant in polite letters than the most abstruse sciences, cultivated and patronised the study of the Greek language. This illustrious prelate, who is said to have composed almost two hundred books, read lectures in the school of the Franciscan friars at Oxford about the year 1230w . He translated Dionysius the Areopagite and Damas cenus into Latin . He greatly facilitated the knowledge of • It has been often printed. I think p. 758. archiv . Oxon. Yet all Horace's it is called in some manuscripts, De writings were often transcribed,and not Arte dictandi, versificandi, et transferendi. unfamiliar,in the dark ages. His odes See Selden, Præfat. DEC. SCRIPTOR . are quoted by Fitz- Stephens in his DE p . xxxix. And Selden , Op. ii._168. SCRIPTION of LONDON. Rabanus Mau . He is himself no contemptible Latin rus above mentioned quotes two verses poet, andis celebrated by Chaucer. See from the Art of POETRY . Op. tom . ii, Urry's edit. p. 468. 560. He seems to p. 46. edit. Colon . 1627. fol. have lived about 1200 . w Kennet, Paroch . Antiq. p. 217, t Ex Matricula Monach . Monast. * Leland, Script. Brit. p. 283. Dover. apud MSS. Br. Twyne, notat. 8. clxxü DISSERTATION II . Greek by a translation of Suidas's Lexicon, a book in high repute among the lower Greeks, and at that time almost a re cent compilation . He promoted John of Basingstoke to the archdeaconry of Leicester ; chiefly because he was a Greek scholar, and possessed many Greek manuscripts, whichhe is said to have brought from Athens into Englands. He entertained, as a domestic in his palace, Nicholas chaplain of the abbot of Saint Alban’s, surnamed GRÆCUS, from his uncommon pro ficiency in Greek ; and by his assistance he translated from y Boston of Bury says, that he trans. These new versions were perhaps little lated the book called Suda. Catal. more than corrections from those of the Script. Eccles. ROBERT. LINCOLN . Bos- early Arabians, made under the inspec ton lived in the year 1410 . Such was tion of the learned Spanish Saracens. their ignorance at this time even of the To thewant of a true knowledge of the name of this lexicographer. original language of the antient Greek ? Lel. Script. Brit. p. 266. Matthew philosophers, Roger Bacon attributes Paris asserts , that he introduced into the slow and imperfect advances of real England a knowledge ofthe Greek nu- sience at this period. On this account meral letters. That historian adds, their improvements were very inconsi “ De quibus figuris hoc MAXIME ADMI- derable, notwithstanding the appearance RANDUM, quodunica figura quilibet nu- of erudition, and the fervour with which merus repræsentatur : quod non est in almost every branch of philosophy had Latino vel in Algorismo. " Hist. edit. been now studied in various countries Lond. 1684. p. 721. He translated for near halfa century. See Wood , Hist. from Greek into Latin a grammar which Antiq. Univ, Oxon. i. 120. seq . Demp he called DONATUS GRÆCORUM . See ster, xii. 940. Baconi Op. Maj. per Pegge's Life of Roger de Weseham , Jebb, i. 15. ii. 8. Tanner, Bibl. p. 526. p . 46 , 47. 51 . And infr. p. 281 . He And MSS. Cotton . C. 5. fol. 138. Brit. seems to have flourished about the year Mus. 1230. Bacon also wrote a Greek gram- A learned writer affirms, that Aristo mar, in which is the following curious tle’s books in the original Greek were passage : “ Episcopus consecrans eccle- brought out of the east into Europeabout siam , scribat AlpbabetumGræcum in the year 1200. He is also of opinion, pulvere cum cuspide baculi pastoralis : that during the crusades many Euro sed omnes episcopi qui GRÆCUM IGNO- peans, from their commerce with the RANT, scribant tres notas numerorum Syrian Palestines, got a knowledge of quæ non sunt literæ , " & c. Gr. Gram. Arabic: and that importing into Eu cap. ult. p. iii. MSS. Apud MSS. Br. rope Arabic versions of some parts of Twyne, 8vo. p . 649. archiv. Oxon. See Aristotle's works, which they found in what is said of the new translations of the east, they turned them into Latin. Aristotle, from the original Greek into These werechiefly his Ethics and Politics, Latin, aboutthe twelfth century. Sect.ix. And these NEW TRANSLATORS he further vol.ii.p.128.infr. Ibelieve the translators supposes were employed at their return understood very little Greek . Our coun- into Europe in revising the old transla tryman Michael Scotus was one of the tions of other parts ofAristotle, made first of them ; who was assisted by An- from Arabic into Latin . Euseb . Re drew a Jew. Michael was astrologer naudot, De Barbar. Aristot. Versionib. to Frederick emperor of Germany, and apud Fabric. Bibl. Gr. xii . p. 248. See appears to have executed his translations also Murator. Antiq. Ital. Med . Æv. iii. at Toledo in Spain, about the year 1220. 936. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxxiii Greek into Latin the testaments of the twelve patriarchsa. Grosthead had almost incurred the censure ofexcommunication for preferring a complaint to the pope, that most of the opu lent benefices in England were occupied by Italiansb. But this practice, although notoriously founded on the monopolis ing and arbitrary spirit of papal imposition, and a manifest act of injustice to the English clergy, probably contributed to in troduce many learned foreigners into England, and to propa gate philological literature. Bishop Grosthead is also said to have been profoundly skilled in the Hebrew language. William the Conqueror permitted great numbers of Jewsto come over from Rouen, and to settle in England about the year 10874. Their mul titude soon encreased, and they spread themselves in vast bodies throughout most of the cities and capital towns in En gland, where they built synagogues. There were fifteen hun dred at York about the year 1189 €. At Bury in Suffolk is a very complete remain of a Jewish synagogue of stone in the Norman style, large and magnificent. Hence it was that many of the learned English ecclesiastics of these times became ac quainted with their books and language. In the reign of Wil liam Rufus, at Oxford the Jews were remarkably numerous, and had acquired a considerable property ; and some of their rabbis were permitted to open a school in the university, where they instructed not only their own people, but many Christian students, in the Hebrew literature, about the year 1054f. Within two hundred years after their admission or establish ment by the Conqueror, they were banished the kingdom 8. This circumstance was highly favourable to the circulation of their learning in England. The suddenness of their dismission a See MSS. Reg. Brit. Mus. 4 D. vii. 4. & Hollinsh . ibid. sub ann . Wood , Hist. Antiq. Univ . Oxon. i. 82. p. 285. a . Matthew of Westminster says And M. Paris, sub anno 1242. that 16511 were banished. Flor. Hist. b Godwin , Episc. p. 348. edit. 1616. ad an. 1290. Great numbers of Hebrew · He is mentioned again, Sect. ii. rolls and charts, relating to their estates p. 63. 81. infr. in England, and escheated to the king, Hollinsh . Chron. sub ann . p. 15. a. are now remaining in the Tower among e Anders. Comm . i . 93. the royal records.

• Angl. Judaic. p. 8.

1289. clxxiv DISSERTATION II. obliged them for present subsistence, and other reasons, to sell their moveable goods of all kinds, among which were large quantities of rabbinical books. The monks in various parts availed themselves of the distribution of these treasures. At Huntingdon and Stamford there was a prodigious sale of their effects, containing immense stores of Hebrew manuscripts, which were immediately purchased by Gregory of Hunting don, prior of the abbey of Ramsey. Gregory speedily became an adept in the Hebrew, by means of these valuable acquisi tions, which he bequeathed to his monastery about the year 1250 h. Other members of the same convent, in consequence of these advantages, are said to have been equal proficients in the same language, soon after the death of prior Gregory : among which were Robert Dodford, librarian of Ramsey, and Laurence Holbech, who compiled a Hebrew Lexicon '. At Oxford, great multitudes of their books fell into the hands of Roger Bacon, or were bought by his brethren the Franciscan friars of that university k. But, to return to the leading point of our enquiry, this pro mising dawn of polite letters and rational knowledge was soon obscured. The temporary gleam of light did not arrive to perfect day. The minds of scholars were diverted from these liberal studies in the rapidity of their career; and the arts of composition and the ornaments of language were neglected, to make way for the barbarous and barren subtleties of scho lastic divinity. The first teachers of this art, originally founded on that spirit of intricate and metaphysical enquiry which the Arabians had communicated to philosophy, and which now became almost absolutely necessary for defending the doctrines of Rome, were Peter Lombard archbishop of Paris, and the celebrated Abelard : men whose consummate abilities were rather qualified to reform the church, and to restore useful p . 661. h Leland, Script. Brit. p. 321. And i Bale, iv. 41. ix. 9. Lel. ubi supr . MSS. Bibl. Lambeth. Wharton, L. p. 452. “ Libri Prioris Gregorii de * Wood, Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. Ramesey. Prima pars Bibliothecæ He- i . 77. 132. See also Secr. ix. vol. ii. braicæ ," &c. p. 126. infr. ON THE INTRODUCTION OF LEARNING INTO ENGLAND. clxxy science, than to corrupt both , by confounding the common sense of mankind with frivolous speculation '. These visionary theologists never explained or illustrated any scriptural topic : on thecontrary, they perverted the simplest expressions ofthe sacred text, and embarrassed the most evident truths of the Gospel by laboured distinctions and unintelligible solutions. From the universities of France, which were then filled with multitudes of English students, this admired species of sophis try was adopted in England, and encouraged by Lanfranc and Anselm , archbishops of Canterburym. And so successful was its progress at Oxford, that before the reign of Edward the Second, no foreign university could boast so conspicuous a ca talogue of subtle and invincible doctors. Nor was the profession of the civil and canonical laws a small impediment to the propagation of those letters which humanize the mind, and cultivate the manners. I do not mean to deny, that the accidental discovery of the imperial code in the twelfth century contributed in a considerable degree to civilise Eu rope, by introducing, among other beneficial consequences, more legitimate ideas concerning the nature of government and the administration of justice, by creating a necessity of trans ferring judicial decrees from an illiterate nobility to the cogni sance of scholars, by lessening the attachment to the military profession , and by giving honour and importance to civil em ployments : but to suggest, that the mode in which this invalu able system ofjurisprudence was studied, proved injurious to polite literature. It was no sooner revived, than it was re ceived as a scholastic science, and taught by regular professors, in most of the universities of Europe. To be skilled in the theology of the schools was the chief and general ambition of scholars : but at the same time a knowledge of both the laws was become an indispensable requisite, at least an essential re commendation, for obtaining the most opulent ecclesiastical 1 They both flourished about the year SENTENTIARUM Parisiis," & c. Rog. 1150 . Bacon, apud A. Wood, Hist. Antiq. « Baccalaureus qui legit textum Univ. Oxon, i . p. 53. Lombard was ( sc. S. Scripturæ) succumbit lectori the author of the Sentences. clxxvi DISSERTATION II . dignities. Hence it was cultivated with universal avidity. It became so considerable a branch of study in the plan of acade mical discipline, that twenty scholars out of seventy were de tined to the study of the civil and canon laws, in one of the most ample colleges at Oxford , founded in the year 1385. And it is easy to conceive the pedantry with which it was pur sued in these seminaries during the middle ages. It was treated with the same spirit of idle speculation which had been carried into philosophy and theology, it was overwhelmed with endless commentaries which disclaimed all elegance of lan guage, and served only to exercise genius, as it afforded ma terials for framing the flimsy labyrinths of casuistry. It was not indeed probable, that these attempts in elegant literature which I have mentioned should have any permanent effects. The change, like a sudden revolution in government, was too rapid for duration. It was moreover premature, and on that account not likely to be lasting. The habits of super stition and ignorance were as yet too powerful for a reformation of this kind to be effected by a few polite scholars. It was ne cessary that many circumstances and events, yet in the womb of time, should take place, before the minds of men could be so far enlightened as to receive these improvements. But perhaps inventive poetry lost nothing by this relapse. Had classical taste and judgement been now established, ima gination would have suffered, and too early a check would have been given to the beautiful extravagancies of romantic fabling. In a word, truth and reason would have chased be fore their time those spectres of illusive fancy, so pleasing to the imagination, which delight to hover in the gloom of igno rance and superstition, and which form so considerable a part of the poetry of the succeeding centuries. ON THE GESTA ROMANORU M.

DISSERTATION III.

manners. TALES are the learning of a rude age. In the progress of letters, speculation and enquiry commence with refinement of Literature becomes sentimental and discursive, in proportion as a people is polished : and men must be instruct ed by facts, either real or imaginary, before they can apprehend the subtleties of argument, and the force of reflection . Vincent of Beauvais, a learned Dominican of France, who flourished in the thirteenth century, observes in his MIRROR of HISTORY, that it was a practice of the preachers of his age, to rouse the indifference and relieve the languor of their hear ers, by quoting the fables of Esop: yet, at the same time, he recommends a sparing and prudent application of these pro fane fancies in the discussion of sacred subjects. Among the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum we find a very antient collection of two hundred and fifteen stories, romantic, allegorical, religious, and legendary, which were evidently com piled by a professed preacher, for the use of monastic societies. Some of these appear to have been committed to writing from the recitals of bards and minstrels : others to have been invent ed and written by troubadours and monks. In the year 1389, a grand system of divinity appeared at Paris, afterwards trans lated by Caxton under the title of the COURT OF SAPYENCE, which abounds with a multitude of historical examples, para bles, and apologues; and which the writer wisely supposes, to a SPECUL. Hist. lib . iv . c.viii. fol. 31.b. > b MSS. HARL. 463. membran . fol. edit. Ven . 1591 . VOL. I. m clxxviii DISSERTATION III . be much more likely to interest the attention and excite the devotion of the people, than the authority of science, and the parade of theology. In consequence of the expediency of this mode of instruction, the Legends of the Saints were received into the ritual, and rehearsed in the course of public worship. For religious romances were nearly allied to songs of chivalry ; and the same gross ignorance of the people, which in the early centuries of Christianity created a necessity of introducing the visible pomp of theatrical ceremonies into the churches, was taught the duties of devotion, by being amused with the achieve ments of spiritual knight- errantry, and impressed with the ex , amples of pious heroism. In more cultivated periods, the DE CAMERON of Boccace, and other books of that kind, ought to be considered as the remnant of a species of writing which was founded on the simplicity of mankind, and was adapted to the exigencies of the infancy of society. Many obsolete collections of this sort still remain , both printed and manuscript, containing narratives either fictitious or historical, Of king and heroes old, Such as the wise Demodocus once told In solemn songs at king Alcinous feast. But among the antient story -books of this character, a Latin compilation entitled GESTA ROMANORUM seems to have been the favourite. This piece has been before incidentally noticed : but as it operated powerfully on the general body of our old poetry, affording a variety of inventions not only to Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate, but to their distant successors, I have judged it of sufficient importance to be examined at large in a separate dissertation : which has been designedly reserved for this place *, for the purpose both of recapitulation and illustration , and of Milton. At A VACATION EXERCISE, the beginning ofhis Third Volume,which с was published seven years after the First:

• [ This Dissertation on the Gesta Ro- it has now beenthought best to let it fol manorum was placed by the author at low the other Dissertations.- EDIT.]

&c. ON THE GESTA ROMANOR U M. clxxix giving the reader a more commodious opportunity of survey ing at leisure, from this intermediate point of view , and under one comprehensive detail, a connected display of the materials and original subjects of many of our past and future poets. Indeed, in the times with which we are now about to be con cerned , it seems to have been growing more into esteem . At the commencement of typography, Wynkyn de Worde pub lished this book in English. This translation was reprinted, by one Robinson, in 1577. And afterwards, of the same trans lation there were six impressions before the year 16014. There is an edition in black letter so late as the year 1689. About the year 1596, an English version appeared of “ Epitomes des cent HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES, partie extraictes des ACTES DES Romains et autres,” & c. From the popularity, or rather fa miliarity, of this work in the reign of queen Elisabeth, the title of GESTA GRAYORUM was affixed to the history of the acts of the Christmas Prince at Grays- inn, in 1594 €. In Sir GILES GOOSECAP, an anonymous comedy, presented by the Children of the Chapel in the year 1606, we have, “ Then for your lordship's quips and quick jests, whý GESTA ROMANO RUM were nothing to them . ” And in George Chapman's MAY- DAY, a comedy, printed at London in 1611 , a man of the highest literary taste for the pieces in vogue is characte rised , “ One that has read Marcus Aurelius, GESTA ROMA NORUM, the Mirrour of Magistrates, & c.-- to be led by the nose like a blind beare that has read nothing8 !” The critics and collectors in black -letter, I believe, could produce many other proofs. The GESTA ROMANORUM were first printed without date, but as it is supposed before or about the year 1473, in folio, with this title, Incipiunt HISTORIE NOTABILES collecte ex GESTIS ROMANORUM et quibusdam aliis libris cum applicatio nibus eorundemh. This edition has one hundred and fifty -two d See vol. ii. p. 322. seq. & Act iii. pag . 39. e Printed, or reprinted , in 1688. 4to . h Much the same title occurs to a ma John Windet, nuscript of this work in the Vatican, “ Historiæ Notabiles collectæ ex Gestis f Lond . inted 1606. 4to. m 2 clxxx DISSERTATION III . chapters, or GESTS, and one hundred and seventeen leaves i . It is in the Gothic letter, and in two columns. The first chap ter is of king Pompey, and the last of prince, or king, Cleo nicus. The initials are written in red and blue ink . This edi tion , slightly mutilated, is among bishop Tanner's printed books in the Bodleian library. The reverend and learned doc tor Farmer, master of Emanuel college in Cambridge, has the second ( ? ) edition, as it seems, printed at Louvain , in quarto , the same or the subsequent year, by John de Westfalia, under the title, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM HISTORIE NOTABILES de viciis virtutibusque tractantes cum applicationibus moralisatis et mysticis. And with this colophon, GESTA ROMANORUM cum quibusdam aliis HISTORIIS eisdem annexis ad MORALITATES di lucide redacta hic finem habent. Qua , diligenter correctis ali orum viciis, impressit Joannes de Westfalia in alma Vniversitate Louvaniensi. It has one hundred and eighty -one chapters k. That is, twenty -nine more than are contained in the former edition : the first of the additional chapters being the story of Antiochus, or the substance of the romance of APOLLONIUS of Tyre. The initials are inserted in red inkl. Another fol lowed soon afterwards, in quarto, Et Gestis ROMANORUM Historie notabiles' moralizata , per Girardum Lieu, GOUDÆ, 1480. The next edition, with the use of which I have been politely favoured by George Mason, esquire, of Aldenham lodge, in Hertfordshire, was printed in folio, and in the year 1488 *, with this title, GESTA RHOMANORUM cum Applica tionibus moralisatis et misticis. The colophon is, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM cum pluribus applicatis Historiis de virtutibus et viciis mystice ad intellectum transsumptis Recollectorii finis. Anno nre salutis MCCCCLXXX viij kalendas vero februarii xvüj. A ge neral, and alphabetical, table are subjoined . The book, which Romanorum et quibusdam aliis libris fore. The last is entitled De ADULTERIO . cum explicationibus eorundem . ” Mont- 1 It has signatures to Kk. fauc. Bibl. MANUSCR. tom . i. pag. 17. * [Mr. Douce enumerates two edi Num . 172. tions between this and Lieu's ; namely, · Without initials, paging, signatures, one printed at Hasselt in 1481, and an or catch -words. ; other in 1482 without the name of the The first is of king Pompey, as be- place .-Edit. ] 1 1 ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. clxxxi is printed in two columns, and in the Gothic character, abound ing with abbreviations, contains ninety -three leaves. The initials are written or flourished in red and blue, and all the capitals in the body of the text are miniated with a pen . There were many other later editionsm . I must add, that the Gesta ROMANORUM were translated into Dutch, so early as theyear 1484. There is an old French version in the British Museum . This work is compiled from the obsolete Latin chronicles of the later Roman or rather German story, heightened by ro mantic inventions, from Legends of the Saints, oriental apo logues, and many of the shorter fictitious' narratives which came into Europe with the Arabian literature, and were familiar in the ages of ignorance and imagination. The classics are some times cited for authorities ; but these are of the lower order, such as Valerius Maximus, Macrobius, Aulus Gellius, Seneca , Pliny, and Boethius. To every tale a MORALISATION is sub joined, reducing it into a christian or moral lesson. Most of the oriental apologues are taken from the CLERI CALIS DISCIPLINA, or a Latin dialogue between an Arabian philosopher and Edric * his son, never printed ", written by Peter Alphonsus, a baptised Jew , at the beginning of the twelfth century, and collected from Arabian fables, apothegms, and examples P. Some are also borrowed from an old Latin translation of the CALILAH U DAMNAH , a celebrated set of eastern fables, to which Alphonsus was indebted . · On the whole, this is the collection in which a curious in quirer might expect to find the original of Chaucer's Cam buscan : 0 n m For which see vol. ï. p. 319: and phonsus. Mr. Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare , MSS. HARL. 3861. And in many vol. ii. p. 358. other libraries. It occurs in old French EDRIC was the name of EnOch verse , MSS. DIGB. 86. membran . “ Le among the Arabians, to whom they at. Romaunz de Peres Aunfour coment il tribute many fabulous compositions. aprist et chastia son fils belement. " [ See Herbelot, in V. Lydgate's CHORLE and vol. ii. p. 430. ] THE Biry, mentioned above, is taken P See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, vol. iv. from the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA of Al- p. 325. seq. clxxxii DISSERTATION III . Or, -if aught else great bards beside In sage and solemn tunes have sung, Of turneys and of trophies hung, Of forests and inchantments drear, Where more is meant than meets the ear.9 Our author frequently cites GESTA ROMANORUM, the title of his own work. By which I understand no particular book of that name, but the Roman history in general. Thus in the title of the Saint ALBANS CHRONICLE, printed by Caxton, Titus Livyus de Gestis ROMANORUM is recited. In the year 1544, Lucius Florus was printed at Paris under the same title ". In the British Museum we find 6 LES FAIS DE ROMAINS jusques a la fin de l'empire Domician, selon Orose, Justin , Lucan , & c. ” A plain historical deductions. The ROMULEON, an old manuscript history of Rome from the foundation of the city to Constantine the Great, is also called de GESTIS ROMANORUM. This manuscript occurs both in Latin and French : and a French copy, among the royal manuscripts, has the title, “ ROMULEON, ou des FAIS DE RỌMainst. ” Among the manuscript books written by Lapus de Castellione, a Flo rentine civilian , who flourished about the year 1350, there is one, De Origine URBIS ROMÆ et de GESTIS ROMANORUM " . Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, often introduces Roman stories with the Latin preamble, Hic secundum GESTA. Where he certainly means the Roman History, which by degrees had acquired simply the appellation of GESTA. Herman Korner, in his CHRONICA NOVELLA, written about the year 1438, re fers for his vouchers to Bede, Orosius, Valerius Maximus, Jo sephus, Eusebius, and the Chronicon et GESTA ROMANORUM. Most probably, to say no more, by the CHRONICON he means the later writers of the Roman affairs, such as Isidore and the monk ish compilers; and by GESTA the antient Roman history, as re lated by Livy and the more established Latin historians. 9 Milton's IL PENSEROSO . MS. 19 E. v. Apud Vascosan. 4to . u See vol. ii. p . 322. MSS. REG. 20. Ci. r S ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. clxxxiii Neither is it possible that this work could have been brought as a proof or authority, by any serious annalist, for the Roman story. For though it bears the title of Gesta ROMANORUM, yet this title by no means.properly corresponds with the contents of the collection : which , as has been already hinted , compre hends a multitude of narratives, either not historical ; or , in another respect, such as are either totally unconnected with the Roman people, or perhaps the most preposterous misre presentations of their history. To cover this deviation from the promised plan, which, by introducing a more ample variety of matter, has contributed to encrease the reader's entertain ment, ourcollector has taken care to preface almost every story with the name or reign of a Roman emperor; who, at the same time, is often a monarch that never existed, and who sel dom, whether real or suppositious, has any concern with the circumstances of the narrative. But I hasten to exhibit a compendious analysis of the chap ters which form this very singular compilation : intermixing occasional illustrations arising from the subject, and shortening or lengthening my abridgement of the stories, in proportion as I judge they are likely to interest the reader. Where, for that reason , I have been very concise, I have yet said enough to direct the critical antiquarian to this collection , in case he should find a similar tale occurring in any of our old poets. I have omitted the mention of a very few chapters, which were beneath notice. Sometimes, where common authors are quoted , I have only mentioned the author's name, without specifying the substance of the quotation. For it was necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with our collector's track of reading, and the books which he used. In the mean time, this review will serve as a full notification of the edition of 1488, which is more comprehensive and complete than some others of later publication, and to which all the rest, as to a general criterion , may be now comparatively referred . Chap. i . Of a danghter of king Pompey, whose chamber clxxxiv DISSERTATION 111 . was guarded by five armed knights and a dog. Being permitted to be present at a public show , she is seduced by a duke, who is afterwards killed by the champion of her father's court. She is reconciled to her father, and betrothed to a nobleman : on which occasion, she receives from her father an embroidered robe and a crown of gold, from the champion a gold ring, an other from the wise man who pacified the king's anger, another from the king's son, another from her cousin, and from her spouse a seal of gold. All these presents are inscribed with proverbial sentences, suitable to the circumstances of the princess. The latter part of this story is evidently oriental. The feudal manners, in a book which professes to record the achieve ments of the Roman people, are remarkable in the introduc tory circumstances. But of this mixture we shall see many striking instances. Chap. ii. Of a youth taken captive by pirates. The king's daughter falls in love with him ; and having procured his escape, accompanies him to his own country, where they are married . Chap. vi. An emperor is married to a beautiful young prin In case of death , they mutually agree not to survive one another. To try the truth of his wife, the emperor going into a distant country, orders a report of his death to be cir culated . In remembrance of her vow , and in imitation of the wives of India, she prepares to throw herself headlong from a high precipice. She is prevented by her father ; who interposes his paternal authority, as predominating over a rash and unlawful promise. Chap. vii. Under the reign of Dioclesian , à noble knight had two sons, the youngest of which marries a harlot. This story , but with a difference of circumstances, ends like the beautiful apologue of the Prodigal Son . CHAP. viii. The emperor Leo commands three female sta tues to be made. One has a gold ring on a finger pointing forward , another a beard of gold, and the third a golden cloak cess. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . clxxxv and purple tunic. Whoever steals any of these ornaments, is to be punished with an ignominious death . This story is copied by Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS : but he has altered some of the circumstances. He supposes a statue of Apollo. Of plate of golde a berde he hadde, The wiche his brest all ovir spradde : Of golde also, without fayle, His mantell was, of large entayle, Besette with perrey all aboute : Forth ryght he straught his fynger oute, Upon the whiche he had a rynge, To seen it was a ryche thynge, A fyne carbuncle for the nones Moste precious of all stones .w In the sequel, Gower follows the substance of our author. CHAP. X. Vespasian marries a wife in a distant country, who refuses to return home with him, and yet declares she will kill herself if he goes. The emperor ordered two rings to be made, of a wonderous efficacy ; one of which, in the stone, has the image of Oblivion, the other the image of Memory : the ring of Oblivion he gave to the empress, and returned home with the ring of Memory. CHAP. xi. The queen of the south sends her daughter to king Alexander, to be his concubine. She was exceedingly beautiful, but had been nourished with poison from her birth . Alexander's master, Aristotle, whose sagacity nothing could escape, knowing this, entreated, that before she was admitted to the king's bed, a malefactor condemned to death might be sent for, who should give her a kiss, in the presence of the king. The malefactor, on kissing her, instantly dropped down dead . Aristotle, having explained his reasons for what he had done, was loaded with honours by the king, and the princess was dismissed to her mother. W Lib. v. fol. 122. b. clxxxvi DISSERTATION III . This story is founded on the twenty- eighth chapter of Ari stotle's SECRETUM SECRETORUM : in which, a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies of her friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who having been fed with serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature ' . If I recollect right, in Pliny there are accounts of nations whose natural food was poison. Mithridates, king of Pontus, the land of venomous herbs, and the country of the sorceress Medea, was supposed to eat poison. Sir John Maundeville's Travels, I believe, will afford other instances. CHAP. xii. A profligate priest, in the reign of the emperor Otto, or Otho, walking in the fields, and neglecting to say mass, is reformed by a vision of a comely old man . CHAP. xiii. An empress having lost her husband, becomes so dotingly fond of her only son, then three years of age, as not to bear his absence for a moment. They sleep together every night, and when he was eighteen years of age, she proves with child by him. She murthers the infant, and her left hand is immediately marked with four circles of blood . Her repent ance is related , in consequence of a vision of the holy virgin . This story is in the SPECULUM HISTORIALE of Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 12502. CHAP. xiv. Under the reign of the emperor Dorotheus, a remarkable example of the filial piety of a young man , who redeems his father, a knight, from captivity. CHAP. xv . Eufemian, a nobleman in the court of the em peror of Rome, is attended by three thousand servants girt with golden belts, and clothed in silken vestments. His house [ See p. 136. ] This I now cite from scarce, he translated it into Latin . a Latin translation , without date, but This printed copy does not exactly evidently printed before 1500. It is correspond with MS. Bodl. 495. membr. dedicated to Guido Vere de Valencia, 4to . In the last, Alexander's mira bishop of Tripoly, by his most humble culous horn is mentioned at fol. 45. b. Clerk, Philippus: who says, that he In the former, in ch. Ixxii. The dedi found this treatise in Arabic at Antioch , cation is the same in both . quo carebant Latini, and that therefore, 2 Lib. vii. seq . f. 86. b. edit. and because the Arabic copies were Ven. cap. 93. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. clxxxvii was crouded with pilgrims, orphans, and widows, for whom three tables were kept every day. He has a son , Allexius ; who quits his father's palace, and lives unknown seventeen years in a monastery in Syria. He then returns, and lives seventeen years undiscovered as a pilgrim in his father's family, where he suffers many indignities from the servants . Allexius, or Alexis, was canonised. The story is taken from his Legenda. In the metrical Lives of the Saints, his life is told in a sort of measure different from that of the rest, and not very common in the earlier stages ofour poetry. It begins thus. Lesteneth alle and herkeneth me, Zonge and olde, bonde and fre, And ich zow telle sone, How a zought man , gent and fre, By gan this worldis wele to fle, Y born he was in Rome. In Rome was a dozty man That was y cleped Eufemian, Man of moche myzte ; Gold and seluer he hadde ynouz, Hall and boures, oxse and plouz, And swith wel it dyzte. When Alexius returns home in disguise, and asks his father about his son, the father's feelings are thus described. So sone so he spake of his sone, The guode man, as was his wone, Gan to sike sore ; His herte felc so colde so ston , The teres felle to his tona, On her berd hore. At his burial, many miracles are wrought on the sick. With mochel sizt, and mochel song, That holy cors, hem alle among, Bischoppis to cherche bere.

• See Caxton, Goln. Leg. f. ccclxiii . b. sigh. sighs.

1 c felt. d feet. C clxxxviii DISSERTATION 111. Amyddes rizt the heze stretes, So moche folke hym gone mete That they resten a stonde, All the sikes that to him come, I heled wer swithe sone Of fet and eke of honde : The blinde come to hare i sizt, The croked gonne sone rizt ", The lame for to go : That dombe wer fonge' speeche, Thez heredem God the sothe leche " , And that halwe also. The day zede and drouz to nyzt, No lenger dwellep they ne myzt, To cherche they moste wende ; The bellen they gonne to rynge, The clerkes heze to synge, Everich in his ender. Tho the corse to cherche com Glad they wer everichon That there ycure wer, The pope and the emperour By fore an auter of seynt Savour Ther sette they the bere. Aboute the bere was moche lizt With proude palle was bedizt, I beten al with goldes. The history of saint Alexius is told entirely in the same words in the Gesta ROMANORUM, and in the LEGENDA Au n 8 р 9 f high -street. they sighed. [All the sick . - Rit son .] straight. I found ( took, received ]. heried, blessed . u feet . i their the true physician. o hallow . tarry . high. at his seat in the choir. MSS. Coll. Trin . Oxon, Cod . 57. k r m supr. citat. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. clxxxix REA of Jacobus de Voragine", translated , through a French medium , by Caxton. This work of Jacobus does not consist solely of the legends of the saints, but is interspersed with multis aliis pulcherrimis et peregrinis histor¡is, with many other most beautiful and strange histories . CHAP. xvi. A Roman emperor in digging for the foundation of a new palace, finds a golden sarcophagus, or coffin, inscribed with mysterious words and sentences. Which being explain ed, prove to be so many moral lessons of instruction for the emperor's future conduct. CHAP. xvii. A poor man named Guido, engages to serve an emperor of Rome in six several capacities, or employments. One of these services is, to show the best way to the holy land . Acquitting himself in all with singular address and fidelity, he is made a knight, and loaded with riches. CHAP. xvii . A knight named Julian is hunting a stag, who turns and says, “ You will kill your father and mother.” On this he went into a distant country, where he married a rich lady of a castle . Julian's father and mother travelled into va rious lands to find their son, and at length accidentally came to this castle, in his absence; where telling their story to the lady, who had heard it from her husband, she discovered who they were, and gave them her own bed to sleep in . Early in the morning, while she was at mass in the chapel, her husband Julian unexpectedly returned ; and entering his wife's cham ber, perceived two persons in the bed, whom he immediately slew with his sword, hastily supposing them to be his wife and her adulterer. At leaving the chamber, he met his wife coming from the chapel; and with great astonishment asked her, who the persons were sleeping in her bed ? She answered , “ They are your parents, who have been seeking you so long, and whom I have honoured with a place in our own bed . ” After

• Hystor. lxxxix. f. clviii. edit. 1479. quotes GESTA ALLEXII. Specul. Hist.

fol. And in Vincent of Beauvais, who Lib. xviii. cap . 43. seq . f. 241. b. In the Colophon . V сxс DISSERTATION III . wards they founded a sumptuous hospital for the accommoda tion of travellers, on the banks of a dangerous river. This story is told in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDEų, and in the metrical Lives of the Saints w. Hence Julian , or Saint Julian, was called hospitator, or the gode herberjour ; and the Pater Noster became famous, which he used to say for the souls of his father and mother whom he had thus unfortunately killed . The peculiar excellencies of this prayer are displayed by Boccacey. Chaucer speaking of the hospitable disposition of his FRANKELEIN, says, Saint Julian he was in his own countrea . This history is, like the last, related by our compiler, in the words of Julian's Legend, as it stands in Jacobus de Voraginea. Bollandus has inserted Antoninus's account ofthis saint, which appears also to be literally the same. It is told , yet not ex actly in the same words, by Vincent of Beauvais c . I take this opportunity of observing, that the Legends of the Saints, so frequently referred to in the GESTA ROMANO RUM, often contain high strokes of fancy, both in the struc ture and decorations of the story. That they should abound in extravagant conceptions, may be partly accounted for, from the superstitious and visionary cast of the writer : but the truth is, they derive this complexion from the east. Some were ori ginally forged by monks of the Greek church, to whom the oriental fictions and mode of fabling were familiar. The more early of the Latin lives were carried over to Constantinople, where they were translated into Greek with new embellish ments of eastern imagination. These being returned into Eu rope, were translated into Latin, where they naturally super seded the old Latin archetypes. Others of the Latin lives con u Fol. 90. edit. 1493. W MSS. BodL. 1596. f. 4 . Y DECAM. D. ii. N. 2 . 2 PROL. V. 342. See vol. ii . SECT. xvii.

• Ibid .

a Hystok . Xxxü. f. lxii . a. b Act. SANCTOR. tom . ii. JANUAR. p. 974. Antv . 1643. C SPECUL. HIST. lib, ix. c. 115. f. 115. p. 273. Venet. 1591 . ON THE GESTA ROMANORU M. cxci tracted this tincture, from being written after the Arabian lite rature became common in Europe. The following ideas in the Life of Saint Pelagian evidently betray their original. “ As the bysshop sange masse in the cyte of Usanance, he saw thre dropes ryghte clere all of one gratenesse whiche were upon the aulter, and al thre ranne to gyder in to a precyous gemme: and whan they had set thys gemme in a crosse of golde, al the other precyous stones that were there, fyllend out, and thys gemme was clere to them that were clene out of synne, and it was obscure and dark to synners e,” &c. The peculiar cast of romantic invention was admirably suited to serve the purposes of superstition . Possevin , a learned Jesuit, who wrote about the close of the sixteenth century, complains, that for the last five hundred years the courts of all the princes in Europe had been infatu ated by reading romances : and that, in his time, it was a mark of inelegance, not to be familiarly acquainted with Lancelot du Lake, Perceforest, Tristan , Giron the Courteous, Amadis de Gaul, Primaleon, Boccace's Decameron, and Ariosto. He even goes so far as to say, that the devil instigated Luther to procure a translation of Amadis from Spanish into French , for the purpose of facilitating his grand scheme of overthrowing the catholic religion . The popularity of this book, he adds, warped the minds of the French nation from their ancient no tions and studies; introduced a neglect of the Scriptures, and propagated a love for astrology, and other fantastic arts f. But with the leave of this zealous catholic I would observe, that this sort of reading was likely to produce, if any, an effect quite contrary. The genius of romance and of popery was the same; and both were strengthened by the reciprocation of a similar spirit of credulity. The dragons and the castles of the one, were of a piece with the visions and pretended miracles of the other. The ridiculous theories of false and unsolid science, which, by the way, had been familiarised to the French by a fell out. f BIBLIOTH . SELECT. lib. i. cap. 25. e Caxton's Gold. Leg. f. ccclxxxxviii. p. 113. edit . 1593. cxcii DISSERTATION III . other romances, long before the translation of Amadis, were surely more likely to be advanced under the influence of a re ligion founded on deception, than in consequence of Luther's reformed system , which aimed at purity and truth , and which was to gain its end by the suppression of antient prejudices. Many of the absurdities of the catholic worship were per haps, as I have hinted, in some degree necessary in the early ages of the church, on account of the ignorance of the people ; at least, under such circumstances they were natural, and there fore excusable. But when the world became wiser, thosemum meries should have been abolished, for the same reason that the preachers left off quoting Esop's fables in their sermons, and the stage ceased to instruct the people in the scripture history by the representation of the MYSTERIES. The advo cates of the papal communion do not consider, that in a cul tivated age, abounding with every species of knowledge, they continue to retain those fooleries which were calculated only for Christians in a condition of barbarism , and of which the use now no longer subsists. CHAP. xix . When Julius Cesar was preparing to pass the Rubicon, a gigantic spectre appeared from the middle of the river, threatening to interrupt his passage, if he came not to establish the peace of Rome. Our author cites the GESTA ROMANORUM for this story. It was impossible that the Roman history could pass through the dark ages, without being infected with many romantic cor ruptions. Indeed, the Roman was almost the only antient history, which the readers of those ages knew : and what re lated even to pagan Rome, the parent of the more modern papal metropolis of Christianity, was regarded with a super stitious veneration, and often magnified with miraculous addi tions. CHAP. xx. The birth of the emperor Henry, son of earl Leopold, and his wonderful preservation from the stratagems of the emperor Conrade, till his accession to the imperial throne. ON THE GESTA ROMANOR U M. cxciii This story is told by Caxton in the GOLDEN LEGENDE, under the life of Pelagian the pope, entitled, Here foloweth the lyfofSaynt Pelagyen the pope, with many other hystoryes and gestys ofthe Lombardes, and of Machomete, with other crony cles . The Gesta LONGOBARDORUM are fertile in legendary matter, and furnished Jacobus de Voragine, Caxton's original, with many marvellous histories h . Caxton , from the gestes of the Lombardis, gives a wonderful account of a pestilence in Italy, under the reign of king Gilberti. There is a LEGENDA SANCTORUM , sive HISTORIA LOM BARDICA, printed in 1483. This very uncommon book is not mentioned by Maittaire. It has this colophon. “ Expli ciunt quorundam Sanctorum Legende adjuncte post Lombar dicam historiam . Impressa Argentine, M. CCCC .LXXXIII.k ” That is, the latter part of the book contains a few saints not in the history of the Lombards, which forms the first part. I have neither time nor inclination to examine whether this is Jacobus's LEGENDA : but I believe it to be the same. I think I have seen an older edition of the work , at Cologne 1470 ! I have observed that Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE is taken from Jacobus de Voragine. This perhaps is not precisely true. Caxton informs us in his first preface to the first edition of 1483 m, that he had in his possession a Legend in French, an other in Latin , and a third in English, which varied from the other two in many places: and that MANY HISTORIES were contained in the English collection, which did not occur in the French and Latin . Therefore, says he, “ I have wryton ONE OUTE of the sayd three bookes : which I have orderyd otherwyse than in the sayd Englysshe Legende, which was so to fore made. ” Caxton's English original might have been the old METRICAL LIVES OF THE Saints. CHAP. xxi. A story from Justin , concerning a conspiracy of the Spartans against their king. & Fol. ccclxxxxvii. b. quæ et LOMBARDICA dicitur.” Lugd. i Ubi supr. f. lxxvi. m Fol. at Westminster. This is one · Fol. See also " Legenda Sanctorum of the finest of Caxton's publications. " See his LEGEND. Aur. fol. cccxv.

• Fol.

1509. fol. VOL. I. n cxciv DISSERTATION III. 1 CHAP. xxii. How the Egyptians deified Isis and Osiris. From saint Austin . As is the following chapter. CHAP. xxiv: Of a magician and his delicious garden, which he shews only to fools and to his enemies. CHAP. xxv. Of a lady who keeps the staff and scrip of a stranger, who rescued her from the oppressions of a tyrant: but being afterwards courted by three kings, she destroysthose memorials of her greatest benefactor. CHAP. xxvi. An emperor, visiting the holy land, commits his daughter and his favorite dog, who is very fierce, to the custody of five knights, under the superintendance of his sene shall .' The seneshall neglects his charge: the knights are obliged to quit their post for want of necessaries ; and the dog, being fed with the provisions assigned to the knights, grows fiercer, breaks his three chains, and kills the lady who was permitted to wander at large in her father's hall. When the emperor returns, the seneshall is thrown into a burning furnace. CHAP. xxviii. The old woman and her little dog. CHAP. XXX . The three honours and three dishonours, de creed bya certain king to every conqueror returning from war. CHAP. xxxi. The speeches of the philosophers on seeing king Alexander's golden sepulchre. CHAP. xxxiii. A manhad three trees in his garden , on which his three wives successively hanged themselves. Another begs an offset from each of the trees, to be planted in the gardens of his married neighbours. From Valerius Maximus, who is cited. CHAP. xxxiv. Aristotle's seven rules to his pupil Alexander. This, I think, is from the SECRETA SECRETORUM . Aristotle, for two reasons, was a popular character in the dark ages . He was the father of their philosophy: and had been the pre ceptor of Alexander the Great, one of the principal heroes of Nor was Aristotle himself without his romantic history ; in which he falls in lovewith a queen of Greece , who quickly confutes his subtlest syllogisms. CHAP. Xxxv. The GESTA ROMANORUM cited , for the cus romance . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . CXCV tom among the antient Romans of killing a lamb for pacifying quarrels. CĦAP. xxxvi. Of a king who desires to know the nature of man. Solinus, de MIRABILIBUS MUNDI, is here quoted . CHAP. xxxvii. Pliny's account of the stone which the eagle places in her nest; to avoid the poison of a serpent. CHAP. xxxix . Julius Cesar's' mediation between two bro thers. From the GESTA ROMANORUM. We must not forget, that there was the Romance of JULIUS CESAR. And I believe Antony and Cleopatra were more known characters in the dark ages, than is commonly supposed. Shakespeare is thought to have formed his play on this story from North's translation of Amyot's unauthentic French Plu tareh, published at London in 1579. Montfaucon, among the manuscripts of Monsieur Lancelot; recites an old piece written about the year 1500, “ LA VIE ET PAIS DE MARC ANTOINE le triumivir et de sa mie CLEOPATRA, translatè de l'historien Plus tarque pour tres illustre haute et puissante dame Madame Françoise de Foueż Dame de Châteáubriand 6.” I know not whether this piece was ever printed. At least it shews, that the sstory wás familiar at a more early period than is imagined ; and leadsus to suspect, thatthere might have been other ma terials used by Shakespeare on this subject, than those hitherto pointed out by his commentators. That Amyot's French version of Plutarch should contain corruptions and innovations, will easily be conceived , when it is remembered that he probably translated from an old Italian version '. A new exhibition in English of the French carica ture of this most valuable biographer by North, must have still more widely extended the deviation from the original. CHAP. xl. The infidelity of a wife proved by feeling her. pulse in conversation. From Macrobius. n Bibl. MANUSCR. tom . ii. p. 1669. markable, that he was rewarded with an abbacy for translatingthe THEAGENES See Bibl. Fr. de la Croix, &c. and CHARICLEA of Heliodorus: for tom . i. p. 388. Amyot was a great writing which , the author was deprived translator of Greek books ; but I fear, of a bishoprick. He died about 1580. not always from the Greek. It is re col. 2 . n 2 cxcvi DISSERTATION III . Chap. xlii. Valerius Maximus is cited, concerning a column at Rome inscribed with four letters four times written . CHAP. xliv. Tiberius orders a maker of ductile glass; which could not be broken, to be beheaded, lest it should become more valuable than silver and gold. This piece of history, which appears also in Cornelius Agrippa DE VANITATE SCIENTIARUMP, is taken from Pliny, or rather from his transcriber Isidore Pliny, in relating this story, says, that the temperature of glass, so as to render it flexible, was discovered under the reign of Tiberius. In the same chapter Pliny observes, that glass is susceptible of all colours. “ Fit et album , et murrhinum , aut hyacinthos sapphirosque imitatum , et omnibus aliis coloribus. Nec est alia nunc materia sequacior, aut etiam PICTURÆ ACCOMMODA TIOR. Maximus tamen honor in candido "." But the Romans, as the last sentence partly proves, probably never used any coloured glass for windows. The first notice of windows of a church made of coloured glass occurs in chronicles quoted by Muratori. In the year 802, a pope built a church at Rome, and, “ fenestras ex vitro diversis coloribus conclusit atque de coravits. ” And in 856, he produces a fenestras vero vitreis coloribus , & c . This however was a sort ofmosaic in glass. To express figures in glass, or what we now call the art of painting in glass, was a very different work : and, I believe, I can shew it was brought from Constantinople to Rome before the tenth century, with other ornamental arts. Guicciardini, who wrote about 1560, in his Descrittione de tutti Paesi Bassi, ascribes the invention of baking colours in glass for church windows to the Netherlanders u : but he does not mention the P Orig. lib. xvi. cap. xv . p. 1224. pears by the rubric of the last section , Apud Auct. Ling. LAT. 1602. by Le Comte de Tankarville. Isidore's was a favorite REPERTORY 9 Sandford's English TRANSLAT. cap. of the middle age. He is cited for an 90. p. 159. a. edit . Lond. 1569. 4to . account of the nature and qualities of * Nat. Hist. lib. xxxvi. cap. xvi. the Falcon , in the Prologue to thesecond p. 725. edit. Lugd. 1615. or metrical part of the old Phebus de * Dissert. Antichit. Ital. tom . i . deduiz de la chasse des Bestes sauvages et c. xxiv. p. 287. des oyseaur de Proye, printed early at + Ibid. p. 281 . Paris without date , and written , as ap- u Antw. Plantin . 1580. fol. ON THE GESTA ' ROMANORUM. cxcvii period, and I think he must be mistaken . It is certain that this art owed much to the laborious and mechanical genius of the Germans ; and, in particular, their deep researches and experiments in chemistry, which they cultivated in the dark ages with the most indefatigable assiduity, must have greatly assisted its operations. I could give very early anecdotes of this art in England. But, with the careless haste of a lover, I am anticipating what I have to say of it in my HISTORY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND. Chap. xlv. A king leaves four sons by his wife, only one which is lawfully begotten. They have a contest for the throne. The dispute is referred to the deceased king's secretary, who orders the body to be taken from the tomb ; and decrees, that the son who can shoot an arrow deepest into it shall be king. The first wounds the king's right hand ; the second his mouth : the third his heart. The last wound is supposed to be the successful one. At length the fourth, approaching the body, cried out with a lamentable voice, 66 Far be it from me to wound my father's body ! ” In consequence of this speech, he is pronounced by the nobles and people present to be the true heir, and placed on the throne. Chap. xlviii . Dionysius is quoted for the story of Perillus's brasen bull. Gower in the CONFESSIO Amantis has this story ; which he prefaces by saying that he found it in a Cronike " . In Caxton's Golden Legende, Macrobius is called a chronicle. “ Macrobius sayth in a cronikex. ” Chronicles are naturally the first efforts of the literature of a barbarous age. The writers, if any, of those periods are seldom equal to any thing more than a bare narration of facts : and such sort of matter is suitable to the taste and capacity of their cotemporary readers. A further proof of the principles advanced in the beginning of this Dissertation . CHAP. xlix . The duchess Rosmilla falls in love with Conan, king of Hungary, whom she sees from the walls of the city of Lib. vii, f. 161. b. col. 1 . * Fol. lxii. b. cxcviii DISSERTATION III. Foro- Juli, which he is besieging. She has four sons and two daughters. She betrays the city to Conan, on condition that he will marry her the next day. Conan, a barbarian, exe cuted the contract; bụt on the third day exposed her to his whole army, saying, “ Such a wife deserves such a husband . " Paulus, that is, Paulus Diaconus, the historian of the Lon gobards, is quoted. He was chancellor of Desiderius, the last king of the Lombards; with whom he was taken captive by Charlemagne. The history here referred to is entitled GESTA LONGOBARDORUMY. CHAP. I. From Valerius Maximus. Chap. li. From Josephus. CHAP. lii. From Valerius Maximus. CHAP. liii. From the same. CHAP. liv. The emperor Frederick's marble portico near Capua. I wonder there are not more romances extant on the lives of the Roman emperors of Germany ; many of whom , to say no more, were famous in the crusades. There is romance in old German rhyme, called TEUERDANK, on Maximilian the First, written by Melchior Pfinzing his chaplain . Printed at Nuremberg in 15172. CHAP. lv. Of a king who has one son exceedingly beautiful, and four daughters, named Justice, Truth, Mercy, and Peace. CHAP. lvi. A nobleman invited a merchant to his castle, whom he met accordingly upon the road. At entering the castle, the merchant was astonished at the magnificence of the chambers, which were overlaid with gold. At supper, the nobleman placed the merchant next to his wife, who įmme diately shewed evident tokens of being much struck with her beauty. The table was covered with the richest dainties ; but whileall were served in golden dishes, a pittance of meat was y See lib . iv. cap. xxviii. Apud in Paulus's descriptionof this siege. Muratorii SCRIPTOR . ITAL. I. p . 465. 2 Fol. on vellum . It is not printed edit. Mediolan . 1723. Where she is with moveable types : but every page is called Romilda. The king is Cacan, or graved in wood or brass. With wooden Cacanus, a king of the Huns. " There cuts. It is a most beautiful book . are some fine circumstances of distress a ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cxcix placed before the lady in a dish made out of a human scull. The merchant was surprised and terrified at this strange spec tacle. At length he was conducted to bed in a fair chamber ; where, when left alone, he observed a glimmering lamp in a nook or corner of the room , by which he discovered two dead bodies hung up by the arms. He was now filled with the most horrible apprehensions, and could not sleep all the night. When he rose in the morning, he was asked by the nobleman how he liked his entertainment ? He answered, “ There is plenty of every thing ; but the scull prevented me from eating at supper, and the two dead bodies which I saw in my chamber from sleeping. With your leave therefore I will depart. The nobleman answered , “ My friend, you observed the beauty of my wife. The scull which you saw placed before her at supper, was the head of a duke, whom I detected in her em braces, and which I cut off with my own sword . As a memo rial of her crime, and to teach her modest behaviour, her adulterer's scull is made to serve for her dish . The bodies of the two young men hanging in the chamber are my two kins men , who were murthered by the son of the duke. To keep up my sense of revenge for their blood , I visit their dead bodies every day. Go in peace, and remember to judge nothing without knowing the truth. ” Caxton has the history of Albione, a king of the Lombards, who having conquered another king, “ lade awaye wyth hym Rosamounde his wyf in captyvyte, but after he took hyr to hys wyf, and he dyde do make a cuppe of the skulle of that kynge and closed in fyne golde and sylver, and dranke out of ita. " This, by the way, is the story of the old Italian tragedy of Messer Giovanni Rucellai planned on the model of theantients, and acted in the Rucellai gardens at Florence, before Leo the a GOLDEN LEG. f. ccclxxxxvii. a , edit. p . 297. edit. 1580. The English reader 1493. The compilers of the SANCTILOGE may find it in Heylin's CosMOGRAPHIE, probably took this story from Paulus B. i. col. i. p. 57. And in Machiavel's Diaconus, GEST. LONGOBARD. ut supr. HISTORY OF FLORENCE, in English, Lib . i. cap . xxvii . p. 435. seq . It has Lond. 1680. B. i. p . 5. seq. See also beenadopted, as a romantic tale, into Lydgate's Bochas, B. ix. ch. xxvii. the HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES of Belleforest, CC DISSERTATION III . Tenth and his court, in the year 15166. Davenant has also a tragedy on the same subject, called ALBOVINE king ofthe Lom bards his Tragedy. A most sanguinary scene in Shakespeare's Titus ADRONI cus, an incident in Dryden's, or Boccace's, TANCRED and SIGISMONDA, and the catastrophe of the beautiful metrical romance of the Lady of FAGUEL, are founded on the same horrid ideas of inhuman retaliation and savage revenge: but in the two last pieces, the circumstances are so ingeniously imagined , as to lose a considerable degree of their atrocity, and to be productive of the most pathetic and interesting situations. CHAP. Ivii. The enchanter Virgil places a magical image in the middle of Rome', which communicates to the emperor Titus all the secret offences committed every day in the city ". This story is in the old black - lettered history of the necro mancer Virgil, in Mr. Garrick's collection. Vincent of Beauvais relates many wonderful things, mirabi liter actitata , done by the poet Virgil, whom he represents as a magician. Among others, he says, that Virgil fabricated those brazen statues at Rome, called Salvacio Romæ, which were the gods of the provinces conquered by the Romans. Every one of these statues held in its hand a bell framed by magic; and when any province was meditating a revolt, the statue, or idol, of that country struck his belle. This fiction is mentioned by the old anonymous author of the MIRABILIA ROMÆ , written in the thirteenth century, and printed by Mont fauconf. It occurs in Lydgate's Bochas. He is speaking of the Pantheon , Whyche was a temple of old foundacion, Ful of ydols, up set on hye stages; There throughe the worlde of every nacion 1 See vol. iii . p. 237. f Diar. Ital. cap. XX. p . 288. edit . < For the necromancer Virgil, see 1702. Many wonders are also related vol. iii . p. 62. of Rome, in an old metrical romance d In the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE. called The STACYONS OF Rome, in which Nov, vii. Romulus is said tobe born of the duches e Specul . Histor. lib . iv. cap. 61. of Troye. MSS. Cotton . CALIG . A. 2. f. 66. a. fol. 81. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cci } 1 Were of theyr goddes set up great ymages, To every kingdom direct were their visages, As poetes and Fulgens 8 by hys live In bokes olde plainly doth dyscrive. Every ymage had in his hande a bell, As apperteyneth to every nacion, Which, by craft some token should tell Whan any kingdom fil in rebellion, &c.h This fiction is not in Boccace, Lydgate's original. It is in the above - cited Gothic history of Virgil. Gower's Virgil, I think, belongs to the same romance . And eke Virgil of acqueintance I sigh, where he the maiden prayd, Which was the doughter, as men sayd, Ofthe emperour whilom of Rome. i CHAP. lviii. King Asmodeus pardons every malefactor con demned to death , who can tell three indisputable truths or maxims. CHAP. lix . The emperor Jovinian's history. On this there is an antient French MORALITE, entitled , L'Orgueil et presomption de l'Empereur Jovinian . This is also the story of ROBERT king of Sicily, an old English poem, or romance, from which I have given copious extracts !. Chap. lx. A king has a daughter named Rosimund, aged ten years ; exceedingly beautiful, and so swift of foot, that her father promises her in marriage to any man who can overcome her in running. But those who fail in the attempt are to lose their heads. After many trials, in which she was always vic torious, she loses the race with a poor man, who throws in her way a silken girdle, a garland of roses, and a silken purse in 8 Fulgentius. h Tragedies of Bochas, B. ix. ch . i. st. 4. Coinpare vol. ii. p . 379. i CONFESS. AMANT. L. viii . f.clxxxix . a . col. 2

• See vol. ii . p. 30 .

1 See vol. ii. p. 17. ccii DISSERTATION III. closing a golden ball, inscribed, “ Whoso plays with me will never be satiated with play.” She marries the poor man, who inherits her father's kingdom . This is evidently a Gothic innovation of the classical tale of Atalanta . But it is not impossible that an oriental apologue might have given rise to the Grecian fable. CHAP. lxi. The emperor Claudius marries his daughter to the philosopher Socrates. Chap. lxii. Florentina's picture. CHAP. Ixiii. Vespasian's daughter's garden . All her lovers are obliged to enter this garden before they can obtain her love, but none return alive. The garden is haunted by a lion ; and has only one entrance, which divides into so many windings, that it never can be found again . At length, she furnishes a knight with a ball or clue of thread, and teaches him how to foil the lion. Having achieved this adventure, he marries the lady. Here seems to be an allusion to Medea's history. CHAP. Ixiv . A virgin is married to a king , because she makes him a shirt of a piece of cloth three fingers long and broad . CHAP. Ixv. A cross with four inscriptions. CHAP. Ixvi. A knight offers to recover a lady's inheritance, which had been seized by a tyrant, on condition, that if he is slain , she shall always keep his bloody armour hanging in her chamber. He regains her property, although he dies in the attempt ; and as often as she was afterwards sued for in mar riage, before she gave an answer, she returned to her cham ber, and contemplating with tears her deliverer's bloody ar mour, resolutely rejected every solicitation. CHAP. Ixvii. The wise and foolish knight. CHAP. lxviii. A woman understands the language of birds. The three cocks. CHAP. lxix. A mother gives to a man who marries her daughter a shirt, which can never be torn , nor will ever need washing, while they continue faithful to each other. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. eciji CHAP. Ixx. The king's daughter who requires three impos sible things of her lovers. CHAP. lxxii. The king who resigns his crown to his son . Chap. lxxiv. The golden apple. CŅAp. lxxy. A king's three daughters marry three dukes, who all die the same year. CHAP. lxxyi. The two physicians. CHAP. lxxix. The fable ofthe familiar ass . Chap. lxxx. A devout hermit lived in a cave, near which a shepherd folded his flock. Many of the sheep being stolen, the shepherd was unjustly killed by his master as being con cerned in the theft. The hermit seeing an innocent man put to death, began to suspect the existence of a Divine Proyi dence ; and resolved no longer to perplex himself with the use less severities of religion, but to mix in the world . In travel ling from his retirement, he was met by an angel in the figure of a man ; who said, “ I am an angel, and am sent by God to be your companion on the road .” They entered a city ; and begged for lodging at the house of a knight, who entertained them at a splendid supper. In the night, the angel rose from his bed, and strangled the knight's only child who was asleep in the cradle. The hermit was astonished at this barbarous re turn for so much hospitality, but was afraid to make any remon strance to his companion, Next morning they went to another city. Here they were liberally received in the house of an opu lent citizen ; but in the night the angel rose, and stole a golden cup ofinestimable value. The hermit now concluded that his companion was a Bad Angel. In travelling forward the next morning, they passed over a bridge; about the middle of which they met a poor man, of whom the angel asked the way to the next city. Having received the desired information , the angel pushed the poor man into the water, where he was immedi. ately drowned. In the evening they arrived at the house ofa rich man ; and begging for a lodging, were ordered to sleep in a shed with the cattle. In the morning the angel gave the rich man the cup which he had stolen . The hermit, amazed cciv DISSERTATION III . 1 that the cup which was stolen from their friend and benefac tor should be given to one who refused them a lodging, began to be now convinced that his companion was the Devil; and begged to go on alone. But the angel said, “ Hear me, and depart. When you lived in your hermitage a shepherd was killed by his master. He was innocent of the supposed offence: but had he not been then killed , he would have committed crimes in which he would have died impenitent. His master endeavours to atone for the murther, by dedicating the re mainder of his days to alms and deeds of charity. I strangled the child of the knight. But know, that the father was so in tent on heaping up riches for this child, as to neglect those acts of public munificence for which he was before so distin guished, and to which he has now returned . I stole the golden cup of the hospitable citizen . But know , that from a life of the strictest temperance, he became, in consequence of pos sessing this cup, a perpetual drunkard ; and is now the most abstemious of men . I threw the poor man into the water. He was then honest and religious. But know , had he walked one half of a mile further, he would have murthered a man in a state of mortal sin . I gave the golden cup to the rich man who refused to take us within his roof. He has therefore re ceived his reward in this world ; and in the next, will suffer the pains of hell for his inhospitality. ” The hermit fell pro strate at the angels feet; and requesting forgiveness, returned to his hermitage, fully convinced of the wisdom and justice of God's government. This is the fable of Parnell's HERMit, which that elegant yet original writer has heightened with many masterly touches of poetical colouring, and a happier arrangement of circum stances. Among other proofs which might be mentioned of Parnell's genius and address in treating this subject, by re serving the discovery of the angel to a critical period at the close of the fable, he has found means to introduce a beautiful description , and an interesting surprise. In this poem , the last instance of the angel's seeming injustice, is that of pushing ON THE GESTA ROMANOR U M. CCV the guide from the bridge into the river. At this, the hermit is unable to suppress his indignation . Wild sparkling rage inflames the Father's eyes, He bursts the bonds of fear, and madly cries, “ Detested wretch ! ” - But scarce his speech began, When the strange partner seem'd no longer man : His youthful face grew more serenely sweet, His robe turn'd white, and flow'd upon his feet ; Fair rounds of radiant points invest his hair ; Celestial odours fill the purple air : And wings, whose colours glitter'd on the day, Wide at his back their gradual plumes display, The form ethereal bursts upon his sight, And moves in all the majesty of light. The same apologue occurs, with some slight additions and variations for the worse , in Howell's LETTERS ; who professes to have taken it from the speculative sir Philip Herbert's Con CEPTIONS to his Son, a book which I have never seenm. These Letters were published about the year 1650. It is also found in the Divine DIALOGUES of doctor Henry More ", who has illustrated its important moral with the following fine reflections. 6. The affairs of this world are like a curious, but intricately contrived Comedy; and we cannot judge of the tendency of what is past, or acting at present, before the entrance of the last Act, which shall bring in Righteousness in triumph : who, though she hath abided many a brunt, and has been very cruelly and despightfully used hitherto in the world, yet at last, according to our desires, we shall see the knight over come the giant. For what is the reason we are so much pleased with the reading romances and the fictions of the poets, but that here, as Aristotle says, things are set down as they m Vol. iv. Let. iv. p. 7. edit. 1655. collection of Latin Apologues, quoted 8vo . above, MSS. HARL. 463. fol. 8. a . The Parti. p. 321. DIAL. ii . edit. Lond. rubric is, De Angelo qui duxit Heremitam 1668. 12mo. I must not forget that it ad diversa Hospitia. occurs, as told in our Gesta, among a covi DISSERTATION III. should be ; but in the true history hitherto of the world ,things are recorded indeed as they are, but it is but a testimony, that they have not been as they should be ? Wherefore, in the upshot of all, when we shall see that come to pass, that'so mightily pleases us in the reading the most ingenious plays and heroic poems, that long afflicted vertue at last comes to the crown, the mouth of all unbelievers must be for ever stopped. And for my own part, I doubt not but that it will so come to pass in theclose of the world. But impatiently to call for vengeance upon every enormity before that time, is rudely to overturn the stage before the entrance into the fifth act, out of ignorance of the plot of the comedy; and to prevent the solemnity of the general judgement by more paltry and particular executions. " Parnell seems to have chiefly followed the story as it is told by this Platonic theologist, who had not less imagination than learning. Pope used to say, that it was originally written in Spanish . This I do not believe: but from the early connec tion between the Spaniards and Arabians, this assertion tends to confirm the suspicion, that it was an oriental tale. CHAP. Ixxxi. A king violates his sister. The child is ex posed in a chest in the sea ; is christened Gregory by an abbot who takes him up , and after various adventures he is promoted to the popedom . In their old age his father and mother go a pilgrimage to Rome, in order to confess to this pope, not knowing he was their son , and he being equally ignorant that they are his parents : when in the course of the confession, a discovery is made on both sides. CHAP. Ixxxix . The three rings. Thisstory is in the DECAMERON P, and in the Cento No VELLE ANTICHE % ; and perhaps in Swift's Tale Of A TUB. CHAP. xcv. The tyrant Maxentius. From the Gesta Ro MANORUM , which are cited . I think there is the romance of MAXENCE, Constantine's antagonist. CHAP. xcvi. King Alexander places a burning candle in his 9 Nov. lxxi. o Ibid. p. 335, Pi. 3 . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . ccvii hall; andmakesproclamation, that he will absolve all those who ewe him forfeitures of life and land, if they will appear before the candle is consumed . CHAP. xcvii. Prodigies beforethedeath ofJulius Cesar, who is placed in the twenty -second year of the city. From the CHRONICA, as they are called . CHAP. xcix. A knight saves a serpent who is fighting in a forest with a toad ', but is afterwards bit by the toad . The knight languishes many days: and when he is at the point of death, the same serpent, which he remembers, enters his cham ber, and sucks the poison from the wound . CHAP. ci. Of Ganterus, who for his prowess in war being elected a king of a certain country, is on the night of his coro nation conducted to a chamber, where at the head of the bed is a fierce lion , at the feet a dragon, and on either side a bear, toads, and serpents. He immediately quitted his new king dom ; and was quickly elected king of another country. Going to rest the first night, he was led into a chamber furnished with a bed richly embroidered, but stuck all over with sharp razors . This kingdom he also relinquishes. At length he meets a hermit, who gives him a staff, with which he is directed to knock at the gate of a magnificent palace seated on a lofty mountain. Here he gains admittance, and finds every sort of happiness unembittered with the least degree of pain . The king means every man advanced to riches and honour, and who thinks to enjoy these advantages without interruption and alloy. The hermit is religion, the staff penitence, and the palace heaven. In a more confined sense , the first part of this apologue may be separately interpreted to signify, that a king when he enters on his important charge, ought not to suppose himself to suc ceed to the privilege of an exemption from care, and to be put into immediate possession of the highest pleasures, conveni

• Thestories, perhaps fabulous, of the ing with and being killed bythe spider,

serpent fighting with his inveterate ene- originate from Pliny, Nar. Hist, X. 84. mythe weazel,who eats rue before the attack begins, and of the serpent fight xx . 13. ccviii DISSERTATION III. W encies, and felicities of life ; but to be sensible, that from that moment he begins to encounter the greatest dangers and dif ficulties. CHAP. cii. Of the lady of a knight who went to the holy land. She commits adultery with a clerk skilled in necromancy. Another magician discovers her intrigues to the absent knight by means of a polished mirror, and his image in wax . In Adam Davie's Gest or romance of ALEXANDER, Nec tabanus, a king and magician, discovers the machinations of his enemies by embattelling them in figures of wax . This is the most extensive necromantic operation of the kind that I remember, and must have formed a puppet- show equal to the most splendid pantomime. Barounes weore whilom wys and gode, That this ars s wel undurstode : Ac on ther was Neptanamous Wist in this ars and malicious : Whan kyng other eorlu cam on him to weorre Quyk he loked in the steorre * ; Of wax made him popetts y , And made heom fyzhte with battes : And so he learned , je vous dy, Ay to aquelle z hys enemye, With charms and with conjurisons: Thus he asaied the regiouns, That him cam for to asaile, In puyra manyr of bataile ; By cler candel in the nyzt, He mad uchon with othir to fyzt, Of alle manere nacyouns, That comen by schip or dromouns. At the laste, of mony londe Kynges therof haden gret onded,

• art, necromancy. t wise . • See Mr. Tyrwhitt's Chaucer's Cant.

T. ver. 1281 . puppets. conquer.. u or earl. war . z stars . C each one. very, real. d had great jealousy or anger. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ссіх Well thritty y gadred beoth, And by spekith ał his deth . Kyng Philipp 8 of grete thede Maister was of that fedeh : He was a mon of myzty hond, With hem brouzte, of divers lond, Nyne and twenty ryche kynges, To make on hym bataylynges : Neptanamous hyt understod ; Ychaunged was al his mod ; He was aferde sore of harme: Anon he deedei caste his charme; His ymage he madde anon ,, And of his barounes everychon , And afterward of his fonek ; He dude hem to gedere to gon ' In a basyn al by charme: He sazh on him fel theo harmem ; He seyz flyen of his barounes Of al his lond distinctiouns, He lokid, and kneow in the sterre, Of al this kynges theo grete werre ' , & c . P Afterwards he frames an image of the queen Olympias, or Olympia, while sleeping, whom he violates in the shape of a dragon. Theo lady lyzta on hire bedde, Yheoled ' wel with silken webbe, In a chaysel smok scheo lay, And yn a mantell of doway: near thirty were gathered, or confe- saw fly . derated . º thegreat war of allthese kings. f all resolved to destroy him . P MSS. (Bodl. Bibl.) Laup. I. 74.f.54. & Philip of Macedon . covered . felde, field, army: * In the romance of Aris et PORPHI i he did . k enemies. LION. Cod. Reg. Par. 7191 . i he made them fight. Un chemis de chaisil m he saw the harm fall on , or against, De fil, et d'avre moult soutil. himself. e 4 laid . r h VOL. 1 . CCX DISSERTATION III . Of theo bryztnes of hire face Al about schone the place ', Herbes he tok in an herber, And stamped them in a morter, And wrong* hit in a box : After he tok virgyn wox And made a popet after the quene, His ars -table y he can unwrene ; The quenes name in the wax he wrot, Whil hit was sumdel hot : In a bed he did dyzt Al aboute with candel lyzt, And spreynd a theron of the herbus : Thus charmed Neptanabus. The lady in hir bed lay Abouzt mydnyzt, ar the daya, Whiles he made conjuryng, Scheob sawe fle ', in her metyng , Hire thought, a dragoun lyzt, To hire chaumbre he made his flyzt, In he cam to her bour And crept undur hir covertour, Mony sithese he hire kustf And fast in his armes prust, And went away, so dragon wyld, And grete he left hire with child . : X i Perhaps in Syr LAUNFAL, the same situation is more elegantly touched. MSS. Cotton . Calig. A. 2. fol. 35. a. In the pavyloun he fond a bed of prys , I heled with purpur bys That semyle was of syghte ; Ther inne lay that lady gente, That after syr Launfal heddey sente, That lefsome beamed bryght : For hete her clothes dounsche dede, Almest to her gerdylstede; Than lay sche uncovert: Sche was as whyt as lylye Maye, Or snow that sneweth yn wynterys day ; He seygh never so pert, The rede rose whan sche is newe Ayens her rode nes naught of hewe, I dar well say yn sert Her here schon as gold wyre, & c . wrung. y This is described above, f. 55. Of gold he made atable Al ful of steorron ( stars ].. An astrolabe is intended. sprinkled . a before day. o she. z d dream . e times. f kissed her . 8 Fol. 57. The text is here given from cfly ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxi In this story Theocritus, Virgil, and Horace, have left instances of in cantations conducted by figures in wax . In the beginning ou the last century, many witches were executed for attempting the lives of persons, by fabricating representations of them in wax and clay. King James the First, in his DAEMONOLOGIE, speaks of this practice as very common ; the efficacy of which he peremptorily ascribes to the power of the devil h. His ma jesty's arguments, intended to prove how the magician's image operated on the person represented, are drawn from the depths of moral, theological, physical, and metaphysical knowledge. The Arabian magic abounded with these infatuations, which were partly founded on the doctrine of sympathy. But to return to the GESTA ROMANORUM . one of the magicians is styled Magister peritus, and sometimes simply Magister. That is, a cunning -man. The title Magister in our universities has its origin from the use of this word in the middle ages. With what propriety it is now continued I will not say. Mystery, antiently used for a particular art ', or skill in general, is a specious and easy corruption of Maistery or Mastery, the English of the Latin MAGISTERIUM, or Arti ficium ; in French Maistrise, Mestier, Mestrie, and in Italian Magisterio, with the same sensek. In the French romance of CLEOMEDES, a physician is called simply Maitre '. MSS. Bodl. ut supr. Compared with vais, “ Nectabanus se transformat in MSS. Hospit. LINCOLN. 150. See illum draconis seductiorem tractum , tri Gower's Confess. Amant. lib. vi. fol. cliniumque penetrat reptabundus,specie cxxxviii, a. col. 1. seq. spectabilis, tum majestate totius corpo ris, tum etiam sibilorum acumine adeo And through the crafte ofartemage, terribilis, ut parietes etiam ac funda Of waxe he forged an ymage, &c. menta domus quati viderentur," &c. Gower's dragon, in approaching the Hist. Specul. fol. 41. b. utsupr. See queen , is courteis and debonaire. Aul. Gell. Noct. Art. vii. 1 . h Edit. 1603. 4to . B. ii. ch . iv . p. 44. With al the chere that he maie, Towarde the bedde ther as she laie, seq . For instance, “ the Art and Mystery Till he came to hir the beddes side of Printing.” And she laie still, and nothyng cride ; k In a statute of Henry the Eighth, For he did all hys thynges faire, instead of the words in the last note, we And was curteis and debonaire. have “ The Science and Craft of Print Ibid . col. 2. I could not resist the temp- ing. ” Ann. Reg. 25. A.D. 1533. Fo . tation of transcribing this gallantry ofa many reasons, Mystery answering to the dragon . Gower's whole description of Latin Mysterium , never could have been this interview , as will appear on com- originally applied in these cases . parison, seems to be taken from Beau- i MSS. Cod. Reg. Paris, 7539. 02 ccxii DISSERTATION 111. Lie sont de chou qu'il n'y a Peril et que bien garira : Car il li MAISTRE ainsi dit leur ont. And the medical art is styled Mestrie. “Quant il (the sur geon ) aperçut que c'estoit maladie non mie curable par nature et par MESTRIE, et par medicine m , " &c. Maistrise is used for art or workmanship, in the CHRONICON of Saint Denis, 6 Entre les autres presens, li envoia une horologe de laton, ouvrez par marveilleuse MAISTRISEN. " That the Latin MAGI STERIUM has precisely the same sense appears from an account of the contract for building the conventual church of Casino in Italy, in the year 1349. The architects agree to build the church in the form of the Lateran at Rome. 6 Et in casu si ali quis [ defectus] in eorum Magisterio appareret, promiserunt resarcire . " Chaucer, in the RoMAUNT OF THE Rose, uses MAISTRISE for artifice and workmanship. Was made a toure of grete maistrise , A fairer saugh no man with sight, Large, and wide, and of grete mightP, &c. And, in the same poem , in describing the shoes of MIRTH, And shode he was, with grete maistrie, With shone decopid and with lace. 9 MAYSTRYE occurs in the description of a lady's saddle, in Syr LAUNFAL's romance, Her sadell was semely sett, The sambus' wer grene felvet, m MIRAC. S. Ludov. edit. reg . p. 438. nor can I find this word in any glossary.

• Tom . V. Collect. Histor. Franc. But Sambue occurs, evidently underthe

pag. 254. Thus expressed inthe Latin very same signification, in the beautiful ANNALES FRANCIÆ, ibid . p. 56. “Ho- manuscript French romance of GARIN, rologium ex aurichalco arte mechanica written in the twelfth century . mirifice compositum .” • Hist. Casin. tom . ii . p. 545. col. ii . Li palefrois sur coi la dame sist Chart. ann. 1349. Estoit plus blanc que nule flor de lis ; P R. R. v. 4172. 9 Ibid . v. 842. Le loreins vaut mils sols parisis,

• I know not what ornament or imple Et la SAUBUE nul plus riche ne vist.

ment of the antient horse - furniture is “ The palfrey on which the lady sate, here intended , unless it is a saddle- cloth ; was whiter than any flower de lis : the ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxiii I paynted with ymagerye ; The bordure was of belles s Of ryche golde and nothyng elles That any man myghte aspye : In the arsouns before and behynde Were twey stones of Ynde Gay for the maystrye. The paytrelleu of her palfraye Was worth an erldom, &c. “ In the saddle -bow were two jewels of India, very beautiful to be seen, in consequence of the great art with which they were wrought * . ” Chaucer calls his Monke, bridle was worth a thousand Parisian : Of this fashion I have already given sols, and a richer Saubue neverwas seen .' many instances. The latest I remember The French word, however, is properly is in the year 1503, at the marriage of written Sambue, and is not uncommon the princess Margaret. • In specyall in old French wardrobe rolls, where it the Erle of Northumberlannd ware on appears to be a female saddle - cloth , or a goodly gowne of tynsill, fourred with housing. So in LE ROMAN DE LA Rose, hermynes. He was mounted upon a Comme royne fust vestue, fayre courser, hys harnays of gold Et chevauchast à grand SAMBUE. smyth worke, and thorough that sam was sawen small belles, thatmaid a mel. The Latin word, and in the same re- lodyous noyse.” Leland. Coll. ad calc. strained sense, is sometimes SAMBUA, tom . iii. p. 276 . but most commonly SAMBUCA. Orderi- In the NonnES PREESTES PROLOGUE, cus Vitalis, lib. viii. p. 694. edit. Par. Chaucer, from the circumstance of the 1619. “ Mannos et mulas cum SAMBU- Monke's bridle being decorated with cis muliebribus prospexit.” Vincent of bells, takes occasion toput an admirable Beauvais says, that the Tartarian women , stroke of humour and satire into the when they ride, have CAMBUCAS ofpaint- mouth of the Hoste, which at onceri ed leather, embroidered with gold, hang- dicules that inconsistent pieceof affec ing down on either side of the horse. tation , and censuresthe monk for the SPECUL. Hist. x. 85. But Vincent's dullness of his tale. Ver. 14796. CAMBUCASwas originallywritten çam- Swiche talking is not worth aboterflie, bucas, or Sambucas. To such an enor mity this article ofthetrappings of female Fortherinis ther no disportne game: horsemanship had arisen in the middle Therefore sire monke, dan Piers by your name, ages , that Frederick king of Sicily re I strained it by a sumptuary law ; which pray you hertely tell us somwhat elles, enjoined, that no woman, even of the Forsikerly, n'ere clinking of your belles highest rank, should presume to use a That on your bridel hange on every side, Sambuca, or saddle - cloth, in which were By heven king that for us alle dide, I shoulde or this have fallen down for gold , silver, or pearls, & c. CONSTITUT. slepe, cap. 92. Queen Olympias, in Davie's Gest of Alexander, has a Sambue of Although the slough had been never so silk , fol. 54. [ infr. vol. ii. p. 54.] depe. t saddle -bow . See infr. vol. i. p. 177. A mule also whyte so mylke, u breast-plate. With sadel of golde, sambue of sylke, &c. * MS. fol. 40. a. ccxiv DISSERTATION 111 . fayre for the Maistrie, An outrider, that lovid venery. Y Fayre for the Maistrie means, skilled in the Maistrie of the game, La Maistrise du Venerie, or the science of hunting, then so much a favorite , as simply and familiarly to be called the maistrie. From many other instances which I could produce, I will only add, that the search of the Philosopher's Stone is called in the Latin Geber, INVESTIGATIO MAGISTERII. CHAP. ciii. The merchant who sells three wise maxims to the wife of Domitian . CHAP. civ. A knight in hunting meets a lion, from whose foot he extracts a thorn . Afterwards he becomes an outlaw ; and being seized by the king, is condemned to be thrown into a deep pit to be devoured by a hungry lion . The lion fawns on the knight, whom he perceives to be the same that drew the thorn from his paw . Then said the king, “ I will learn forbearance from the beasts. As the lion has spared your life, when it was in his power to take it, I therefore grant you a free pardon . Depart, and be admonished hence to live virtuously. ” The learned reader must immediately recollect a similar story of one Androclus, who being exposed to fight with wild beasts in the Roman amphitheatre, is recognised and unattack ed by a most savage lion, whom he had formerly healed exactly in the same manner. But I believe the whole is nothing more than an oriental apologue on gratitude, written much earlier ; and that it here exists in its original state. Androclus's story is related by Aulus Gellius, on the authority of a Greek writer, one Appion, called Plistonices, who flourished under Tiberius. The character of Appion, with which Gellius prefaces this tale, in some measure invalidates his credit ; notwithstanding he pre tends to have been an eye witness of this extraordinary fact. “ Ejus libri,” says Gellius, “ non incelebres feruntur; quibus, omnium ferme quæ mirifica in Ægypto visuntur audiunturque, historia comprehenditur. Sed in his quæ audivisse et legisse sese Y PROL. v . 165. ON THE GESTA ROMANOR U M. CCXV dicit, fortasse a vitio studioque ostentationis fit loquacior ?, ” & c . Had our compiler of the GESTA taken this story from Gellius, it is probable he would have told it with some of the same cir cumstances : especially as Gellius is a writer whom he frequently follows, and even quotes; and to whom , on this occasion, he might have been obliged for a few more strokes of the marvel lous. But the two writers agree only in the general subject. Our compiler's narrative has much more simplicity than that of Gellius; and contains marks of eastern manners and life . Let me add, that the oriental fabulists are fond of illustrating and enforcing the duty of gratitude, by feigning instances of the gratitude of beasts towards men. And of this the present compilation , which is strongly tinctured with orientalism , af fords several other proofs. CHAP. cv. Theodosius the blind emperor ordained, that the cause of every injured person should be heard on ringing a bell placed in a public part of his palace. A serpent had a nest near the spot where the bell- rope fell. In the absence of the serpent, a toad took possession of her nest. The serpent twist ing herself round the rope, rang the bell for justice; and by the emperor's special command the toad was killed . A few days afterwards, as the king was reposing on his couch, the serpent entered the chamber, bearing a precious stone in her mouth. The serpent creeping up to the emperor's face, laid the precious stone on his eyes, and glided out ofthe apartment. Immediately the emperor was restored to his sight. This circumstance of the Bell of Justice occurs in the real history of some eastern monarch, whose name I have forgot. In the Arabian philosophy, serpents, either from the bright ness of their eyes, or because they inhabit the cavities of the earth, were considered as having a natural, or occult, con nexion with precious stones. In Alphonsus's CLERICALIS Dis CIPLINA, a snake is mentioned, whose eyes were real jacinths. In Alexander's romantic history, he is said to have found ser pents in the vale of Jordian, with collars of huge emeralds z Noct. Artic. lib . v. cap. xiv. See was an eye witness, ibid. 1. vii . cap. viii. another fabulous story, of which Appion It is of a boy beloved by a dolphin. ccxyi DISSERTATION III . growing on their necksa. The toad, under a vulgar indis criminating idea, is ranked with the reptile race : and Shake speare has a beautiful comparison on the traditionary notion , that the toad has a rich gem inclosed within its head . Milton gives his serpent eyes of carbuncle . Chap. cvi. The three fellow - travellers, who have only one loaf of bread . This apologue is in Alphonsus. CHAP. cvii. There was an image in the city of Rome, which stretched forth its right hand, on the middle finger of which was written STRIKE HERE. For a long time none could un derstand the meaning of this mysterious inscription. At length a certain subtle Clerk, who came to see this famous image, ob served, as the sun shone against it, the shadow of the inscribed finger on the ground at some distance. He immediately took a spade, and began to dig exactly on that spot. He came at length to a flight of steps which descended far under ground, and led him to a stately palace. Here he entered a hall, where he saw a king and queen sitting at table, with their nobles and a multitude of people, all clothed in rich garments. But no person spake a word. He looked towards one corner, where he saw a polished carbuncle, which illuminated the whole room, In the opposite corner he perceived the figure of a man standing, having a bended bow with an arrow in his hand, a Vincent Beauvais, Specul. Hist. Iflorysched with ryche amall > ; lib . iv. c. 58. fol. 42. a. Hyseyn wer carbonkeles bryght, PARAD. L. ix, 500 . As the mone * they schon anyght, See infr. vol. iii . p. 63. So in the That spreteth out ovyr all : romance, or LẠy, of syR LAUNPAL, Alysaundre the conquerour, MSS. Cotton . Calig. A. 2. fol. 35. a. Ne kyng Artour ynhys most honour Ne hadde noon scwych suell. And when they come in the forest an He fond yn the pavyloun , hygh, Apavyloun yteld he sygh: The kynges doughter of Olyroun, DameTriamourthat hyghte, The pavyloun was wrouth forsothe, Her fadyr was kyng of Fayrye. ywys, all of werk of Sarsynys ', And in the alliterative romance , called The pomelles & of crystall .. the SEGE OF JERUSALEM, MSS. Cott. CALIG . A. 2. fol. 122. b. On the top was a beast, Of bournede golde, ryche and good, Tytus tarrieddenoztes for that, but to the tempul rode. 1 Saracen -work . ? balls, pinnacles. 3 enamel, 1 moon. nought. ON THE GESTA ROMANORU M. ccxvi as prepared to shoot. On his forehead was written, “ I am , who am . Nothing can escape my stroke, not even yonder carbuncle which shines so bright.” The Clerk beheld all with amazement; and entering a chamber, saw the most beautiful ladies working at the loom in purpled. But all was silence. He then entered a stable full of the most excellent horses and asses : he touched some of them, and they were instantly turned into stone. He next surveyed all the apartments of the palace, which abounded with all that his wishes could desire. He again visited the hall, and now began to reflect how he should return ; “ but, ” says he, “ myreport of all these wonders will not be believed, unless I carry something back with me. ” He therefore took from the principal table a golden cup and a golden knife, and placed them in his bosom . When, the man who stood in the corner with the bow, immediately shot at the carbuncle, which he shattered into a thousand pieces. At that moment the hall became dark as night. In this dark That was rayled in the roofe with ru- The lady was elad yn purnure palle. byes ryche, With perles and with perytotes all the AntientlyPallium, as did Purpura , sig place sette, nified in general any rich cloth . Thus That glystered as coles in the fyre, on there were saddles, de pallio et ehore ; a the golde ryche ; bed, de pallio ; a cope, de pallio, &c. &c. The dores with dyamondes dryven were See Dufresne, Lat.Gloss. V. PALLIUM. thykke, And PELLUM, its corruption. In old And made also marveylously with mtar French , to cover a hall withtapestry was gery ' perles, called paller. So in Syr LAUNFAL, ut That ever lemede the lyzt, and as a supr. fol. 40. a . lampe shewed : Thyn halle agrayde, and hele (cover] The clerkes had none other lyzte. the walles . The original is, “ mulieres pulcher With clodes ( clothes ], and wyth ryche rimas in purpura et pallooperantes in palles, venit .” fol. L. a . col. 1. This may mean A yens ( against] my Lady Tryamour. either the sense in the text, or that the Which also illustrates the former mean ladies were cloathed in purpura et pallo, a phrase which I never saw before in ing. In A. Davie's GestofAlexander we have, barbarous latinity : but which tallies with the old English expression purple Her bed was madeforsothe and pall. This is sometimes written With pallis and with riche clothe, purple pall. As in Syr LAUNFAL, ut The chambre was hangid with clothe of supr. fol. 40, a . gold . fol. 57. 6 On the finger of Becket, when he was killed , was a jewel called Peretot. Monass. ANGL. i. 6. i margarites. ccxviii DISSERTATION III. ness not being able to find his way, he remained in the sub terraneous palace, and soon died a miserable death . In the MORALISATION of this story, the steps by which the Clerk descends into the earth are supposed to be the Passions. The palace, so richly stored , is the world with all its vanities and temptations. The figure with the bow bent is Death , and the carbuncle is Human Life . He suffers for his avarice in coveting and seizing what was not his own ; and no sooner has he taken the golden knife and cup, that is, enriched himself with the goods of this world, than he is delivered up to the gloom and horrors of the grave. Spenser in the FAERIE QUEENE, seems to have distantly re membered this fable, where a fiend expecting sir Guyon will be tempted to snatch some of the treasures of the subterraneous HOUSE OF RICHESSE, which are displayed in his view, is pre pared to fasten upon him. Thereat the fiend his gnashing teeth did grate, And griev'd so long to lack his greedie pray ; For well he weened that so glorious bayte Would tempt his guest to take thereof assay : Had he so doen, he had him snatcht away More light than culver in the faucon's fist. e This story was originally invented of pope Gerbert, or Syl vester the Second, who died in the year 1003. He was emi nently learned in the mathematical sciences, and on that ac count was styled a magician. William of Malmesbury is, I believe, the first writer now extant by whom it is recorded : and he produces it partly to shew, that Gerbert was not always successful in those attempts which he so frequently practised to discover treasures hid in the earth, by the application of the necromantic arts. I will translate Malmesbury's narration of this fable, as it varies in some of the circumstances, and has some heightenings of the fiction . 66 At Rome there was a e B. ii . C. vii. st. 34. ON THE GESTA ROMANOR U M. ccxix brazen statue, extending the forefinger of the right hand ; and on its forehead was written Strike here. Being suspected to conceal a treasure, it had received many bruises from the cre dulous and ignorant, in their endeavours to open it. At length Gerbert unriddled the mystery. At noon -day observing the reflection of the forefinger on the ground, he marked the spot. At night he came to the place, with a page carrying a lamp. There by a magical operation he opened a wide passage in the earth ; through which they both descended, and came to a vast palace. The walls, the beams, and the whole structure, were of gold : they saw golden images of knights playing at chess, with a king and queen of gold at a banquet, with numerous attendants in gold, and cups of immense size and value. In.a recess was a carbuncle, whose lustre illuminated the whole palace: opposite to which stood a figure with a bended bow. As they attempted to touch some of the rich furniture, all the golden images seemed to rush upon them. them. Gerbert was too wise to attempt this a second time: but the page was bold enough to snatch from the table a golden knife of exquisite workmanship. At thatmoment, all the golden images rose up with a dreadful noise ; the figure with the bow shot at the car buncle ; and a total darkness ensued. The page then replaced the knife, otherwise, they both would have suffered a cruel death. ” Malmesbury afterwards mentions a brazen bridge, framed by the enchantments of Gerbert, beyond which were golden horses of a gigantic size, with riders of gold richly illu minated by the most serene meridian sun . A large company attempt to pass the bridge,, with aa design de of stealing some pieces of the gold. Immediately the bridge rose from its foundations, and stood perpendicular on one end : a brazen man appeared from beneath it, who struck the water with a mace of brass, and the sky was overspread with the most horrible gloom . Gerbert, like some other learned necromancers of the Gothic ages, was supposed to have fabricated a brazen head under the influence of certain planets, which answered questions. But I forbear to suggest any more hints for a future collection of CCXX DISSERTATION III . * Arabian tales. I shall only add Malmesbury's account of the education of Gerbert, which is a curious illustration of what has been often inculcated in these volumes, concerning the in troduction ofromantic fiction into Europe f. “ Gerbert, a native of France, went into Spain for the purpose of learning astro logy, and other sciences of that cast, of the Saracens ; who, to this day, occupy the upper regions of Spain . They are seated in the metropolis of Seville ; where, according to the customary practice of their country, they study the arts of divination and enchantment. Here Gerbert soon exceeded Ptolemy in the astrolabe, Alchind in astronomy, and Julius Firmicus in fatality. Here he learned the meaning of the flight and language of birds, and was taught how to raise spectres from hell. Here he acquired whatever human curiosity has discovered for the destruction or convenience of mankind . I say nothing of his knowledge in arithmetic, music, and geometry; which he so fully understood as to think them beneath his genius, and which he yet with great industry introduced into France, where they had been long forgotten. He certainly was the first who brought the algorithm from the Saracens, and who illustrated it with such rules as the most studious in that science cannot explain. He lodged with a philosopher of that sect 8,” &c. I conclude this chapter with a quotation from the old me trical romance ofSyr LIBEAUX Diasconios, where the knight, in his attempt to disenchant the Lady of Sinadone, after enter ing the hall of the castle of the necromancers, is almost in similar circumstances with our subterraneous adventurers. The passage is rich in Gothic imageries; and the most striking part of the poem , which is mentioned by Chaucer as a popular romance . f See Diss. i. And vol. i. 235. Lib . vi. fol. 83. edit. 1580. Vincent of 6 De Gesr. Reg. Angl. lib. i. cap. 10. Beauvais has transcribed all that Wil p . 36.a. b. 37. a . b. edit. Savil. Lond. liam of Malmesburyhas here said about. 1596.fol. Afterwards Malmesbury men- Gerbert, Specul. Histor. Lib . xxiv . tions his horologe, which was not of the c. 98. seq. f. 344. a . Compare Platina , nature of the modern clock : but which Vit. Pontif. fol. 122. edit. 1485. See yet is recorded as a wonderful inven. also L'Histoire Literaire deFrance, by tion by bis cotemporary Ditmar, Chron. the Benedictines, tom . vi . ad. calc . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxxi Syr Lybeauus, knyght certeys ", Rod ynto the palys, And ate the halle alyghter: Trompes, shalmuses k, He seygh, be for the heygh deys ', Stonde in hys syghte. A mydde the halle flore, A ferę, stark and store " , Was lyght, and brende bryght ". Nere the dor he yedeº, And ladde yn hys stede That wont was helpe hym in fyght. Lybeauus innerº gan pace To se ech a place ', The haless in the halle, Of mayne mor ne lasse Ne sawe he body ne face ', But menstrales yclodeth yn palle, &c. u So much melodye Was never wythinne walle. Before ech menstrale stod A torche fayrew and good, Brennynge fayre and bryght. Inner more he yode, To wyte, wyth egre mode Ho scholde * wyth hym fyght: He yede ynto the corneres, And lokede on the pylers, That selcouth wer of syght, Ofjasper and of fyn crystall, &c. p led. to see , r 8 m h courteous. i alighted. k instruments of music . 1 he saw at the high table. a fire, large and strong : store is flour. lighted , and burned bright. yede, went into the door of the hall, with his horse. 9 farther in . to view , every place or thing. perhaps, holes, i . e . corners. t he saw no man . u clothed in rich attire. a torch fair and good . to know , in angry mood what knight would, &c. n W 0 X ccxxii DISSERTATION III . The dores wer of bras ; The wyndowes wer of glas Florysseth with imageryey: The halle ypaynted wasa, No rychere never ther nas That he hadde seye wyth eye a . He sette hym an that deys, The menstrales wer yn pesº, That were so gode and tryed . The torches that brende bryghte Quenchede anon ryght '; The menstrales wer aweyes : Dores, and wyndowes alle, Beten yn the halle As hyt wer voys of thunder, & c. As he sat thus dysmayde, And helde hymselfe betrayde, Stedes herde he naye, &c. " This castle is called, “ A paleys queynt of gynne, ” and, “ by negremancye ymaketh of fayryei.” CHAP. cviii . The mutual fidelity of two thieves. CHAP. cix. The chest and the three pasties. A like story is in Boccace's DECAMERON , in the Cento NOVELLE ANTICHE , and in Gower's CONFESSIO AMANTIS m . The story, however, as it stands in Gower, seems to be co pied from one which is told by the hermit Barlaam to king Avenamore, in the spiritual romance, written originally in Greek about the year 800, by Joannes Damascenus a Greek monk ”, and translated into Latin before the thirteenth century, painted glass. were instantly quenched, or extin 2 thewallswere painted with histories. guished. & vanished away. o he sate down in the principal seat. h MSS. Cotton . CALIG. A. 2. fol. 52. were suddenly silent. d tried, excellent. Chaucer, Rim . Sir i Ibid. f. 52. b. Thop. p. 146. Urr. v. 3261 . у f a had seen . c b. seq. k i Nov. Ixv. m Lib . v. fol. 96. a . n See Joan. Damasceni OPERA nonnul." With finger that is trie . Histor. ad calc. pag . 12. Basil. 1548. • burned so bright. fol. The chests are here called Arcella . x. 1 . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxxiit entitled , BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT '. But Gower's immediate author, if not Boccace, was perhaps Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 1290, and who has incorporated Damas cenus's history of Barlaam and JosaphatP, who were canonised , into his SPECULUM HISTORIALE . As Barlaam's fable is pro bably the remote but original source of Shakespeare's Cas KETTs in the MERCHANT OF VENICE, I will give the reader a translation of the passage in which it occurs, from the Greek original, never yet printed. “ The king commanded four chests to be made : two of which were covered with gold , and secured by golden locks, but filled with the rotten bones of human carcasses. The other two were overlaid with pitch, and bound with rough cords ; but replenished with pretious stones and the most exquisite gems, and with ointments of the richest odour. He called his nobles together ; and placing these chests before them, asked which they thought the most valuable. They pronounced those with the golden coverings to be the most pretious, supposing they were made to contain the crowns and girdles of the king ". The two chests covered with pitch they viewed with contempt. Then said the king, I presumed what would be your determination : for ye look with the eyes of sense. But to discern baseness or value, which are hid within, we must look with the eyes of the mind. He then ordered the golden chests to be opened, which ex haled an intolerable stench, and filled the beholders with horrors." In the METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINts, written about the year 1300 , these chests are called four fates, that is, four wats or vessels t . I make no apology for giving the reader a translation from • See infr. vol. ii. p. 321. And ibid . original, the king says, thatin one of vol. iii. p. 167. the Caskets was contained his crown , It is extant in Surius, and other sceptre and jewels,” & c. See Steevens's collections. SHAKESPEARE, vol. iii. p. 255. edit. 1779. 4 DE REGE AUEMUR, &c. Lib. xiv . S MSS. LAUD. C. 72. Bibl. Bodl. f. 196. Ven . 1591 . It contains sixty- Compare Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE, four chapters. fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. And Surius, Vir. In doctor Johnson's abridgement of SANCTOR. Novembr. 27. Ann. 383. pag . a tale like this from Boccace , which he 560. Colon. Agrippin . 1618. supposes to have been Shakespeare's t MSS. BODL. 779. f, 292. b. ссxxiy DISSERTATION III , son . the same Greek original, which is now before me, of the story of the Boy told in the DECAMERON. “ A king had an only As soon as he was born, the physicians declared , that if he was allowed to see the sun, or any fire, before he arrived at the age of twelve years, he would be blind. The king com manded an apartment to be hewed within a rock , intowhich no light could enter ; and here he shut up the boy, totally in the dark, yet with proper attendants, for twelve years. At the end of which time, he brought him abroad from his gloomy chamber, and placed in his view , men , women, gold , pretious stones, rich garments, chariots of exquisite workmanship drawn by horses with golden bridles, heaps of purple tapestry, armed knights on horseback, oxen and sheep. These were all di stinctly pointed out to the youth : but being most pleased with the women, he desired to know by what name they were called. An esquire of the king jocosely told him , that they were devils who catch men . Being brought to the king, he was asked which he liked best of all the fine things he had seen . He replied, the devils who catch men, ” &c. I need not enlarge on Boccace's improvements “ . This romantic legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, which is a history of considerable length , is undoubtedly the composition of one who had an intercourse with the East : and from the strong traces which it contains of the oriental mode of mo ralising, appears plainly to have been written, if not by the monk whose name it bears, at least by some devout and learned ascetic of the Greek church, and probably before the tenth century . Leland mentions DAMASCENUS DE GESTIS BARLAAM ET JOSAPHAT, as one of the manuscripts which he saw in Nettley abbey near Southampton W. CHAP. cx. The life of the knight Placidus, or Placidas * , afterwards called Eustacius. u This fable occurs in an old Collec- W COLLECTAN. tom . iii. p. 149. edit. tion of Apologues above cited, MSS. 1770 . HARL. 463. fol. 2. a. * Sir Placidas is the name of a knight in the FAERIE QUEENE. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. CCXXV It occurs in Caxton's Golden LEGENDE Y. Among the Cotton manuscripts there is a metrical legend or romance on this story ? Chap. cxi . The classical story of Argus and Mercury, with some romantic additions. Mercury comes to Argus in the character of a minstrel, and lulls him to sleep by telling him tales and singing, incepit more histrionicofabulas dicere, et ple rumque cantare. CHAP. cxii. The son of king Gorgonius is beloved by his step -mother. He is therefore sent to seek his fortune in a foreign country, where he studies physic ; and returning, heals his father of a dangerous disease, who recovers at the sight of him. The step -mother, hearing of his return , falls sick, and dies at seeing him . CHAP. cxij . The tournaments of the rich ' king Adonias. A party of knights arrive the first day, who lay their shields aside, in one place. The same number arrives the second day, each of whom chuses his antagonist by touching with his spear the shield of one of the first day's party, not knowing the owner. The most curious anecdote of chivalry, now on record, oc curs in the ecclesiastical history of Spain. Alphonsus the Ninth , about the year 1214, having expelled the Moors from Toledo, endeavoured to establish the Roman missal in the place of saint Isidore's. This alarming innovation was obstinately opposed by the people of Toledo ; and the king found that his project would be attended with almost insuperable difficulties. The contest at length between the two missals grew so serious, that it was mutually resolved to decide the controversy, not by a theological disputation , but by single combat ; in which the champion of the Toletan missal proved victorious a . Many entertaining passages relating to trials by single com bat may be seen in the old Imperial and Lombard laws. In Cax y Fol. cccxxiii. b. See vol. iii. p. 25. Reg . Paris. Cod. 3031. And METRIC. Lives S. MSS. Bodl. 779. a See the Mozarabes, or Missal of f . 164. a. Saint Isidore, printed atToledo, by the 2 CALIG. A. 2. fol. 135. b . This is command of Cardinal Ximenes, A. D. a translation from the French. MSS. 1500 , fol. VOL. I. р ccxxvi DISSERTATION III. ton's BOKE OF THE FAYTTES OF ARMES AND OF CHIVALRYE, printed at Westminster in the year 1489, and translated from the French of Christine of Pisa, many of the chapters towards the end are compiled from that singular monument of Gothic legislation. CHAP. cxv. An intractable elephant is lulled asleep in a forest by the songs and blandishments of two naked virgins. One of them cuts off his head, the other carries a bowl of his blood to the king. Rex vero gavisus est valde, et statim fecit fieri PURPURAM, et multa alia, de eodem sanguine. In this wild tale, there are circumstances enough of general analogy, if not of peculiar parallelism , to recall to my memory the following beautiful description, in the manuscript romance of Syr LAUNFAL, of two damsels, whom the knight unexpect edly meets in a desolate forest. As he sat in sorow and sore, He sawe come out of holtes hore Gentyll maydenes two ; Har kerteles wer of Inde sandelb I lased smalle, jolyf and wel ; Thar myghtd noon gayer go. Har manteles were of grene felwete Ybordured with gold ryghte well ysette , I pelured with gris and gros; Har heddysh wer dyght well withalle, Everych hadde on a jolyf coronall, With syxty gemmys and moi. Har faces war whyt as snowe on downe, Har rodek was red, har eyn were broune, I sawe never none swyche '. The oon bar of gold a basyn, That other a towayle whyt and fyn, Of selk that was good and ryche. 6 Indian silk, Cendal. Fr. See Du fresne, Lat. Gl. V. CENDALUM. laced . d there might. e velvet. 8 gris is fur, gris and gray is common in the metrical romances. h their heads. f furred, pelura, pellis. more . k ruddiness. I such . i ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxxvii Har kercheves were well schyrem Arayd with ryche gold wyre, &c. " Chap. cxvi. The queen of Pepin king of France died in childbed , leaving a son. He married a second wife, who bore a son within a year. These children were sent abroad to be nursed. The surviving queen, anxious to see her child, desired that both the boys might be brought home. They were so exceedingly alike, that the one could not be distinguished from the other, except by the king. The mother begged the king to point out her own son. This he refused to do, till they were both grown up ; lest she should spoil him by too fond a partiality. Thus they were both properly treated with uniform affection , and without excess of indulgence. A favorite old romance is founded on the indistinctible like ness of two of Charlemagne's knights, Amys and Amelion ; originally celebrated by Turpin, and placed by Vincent of Beauvais under the reign of Pepinº. - CHAP. cxvii. The law of the emperor Frederick, that who ever rescued a virgin from a rape might claim her for his wife. CHAP. cxviii. A knight being in Egypt, recovers a thousand talents which he had entrusted to a faithless friend, by the artifice of an old woman. This tale is in Alphonsus. And in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHEP. CHAP. cxix . A king had an oppressive Seneshall, who pass ing through a forest, fell into a deep pit, in which were alion, an ape, and a serpent. A poor man who gathered sticks in the forest hearing his cries, drew him up : together with the lion , the ape, and the serpent. The Seneshall returned home, promising to reward the poor man with great riches. Soon afterwards the poor man went to the palace to claim the pro mised reward ; but was ordered to be cruelly beaten by the Seneshall. In the mean time, the lion drove ten asses laden with gold to the poor man's cottage : the serpent brought him • Specul. Hist. xxii. c. 162. f. 329. b. n MSS. Cotton . Calig. A. 2. fol. 35, a. P Nov. Ixxiv. cut. P 2 ccxxviii DISSERTATION III . a pretious stone of three colours : and the ape, when he came to the forest on his daily business, laid him heaps of wood. The poor man , in consequence of the virtues of the serpent's pretious stone, which he sold , arrived to the dignity of knight hood , and acquired ample possessions. But afterwards he found the pretious stone in his chest , which he presented to the king. The king having heard the whole story, ordered the Seneshall to be put to death for his ingratitude, and pre ferred the poor man to his office. This story occurs in Symeon Seth's translation of the cele brated Arabian fable -book called CaliLAH U DUMNAH ?. It is recited by Matthew Paris, under the year 1195, as a para ble which king Richard the First, after his return from the east, was often accustomed to repeat, by way of reproving those un grateful princes who refused to engage in the crusade ". It is versified by Gower, who omits the lion, as Matthew Paris does the ape, in the fifth book of the ConfessIO AMANTIS " He thus describes the services of the ape and serpent to the poor man , who gained his livelihood by gathering sticks in a forest. He gan his ape anone behold, Which had gadred al aboute, Of stickes here and there a route, And leyde hem redy to his honde, Whereof he made his trusse and bond From daie to daie. Upon a time and as he drough Towarde the woodde, he sigh beside The great gastly serpent glide, Till that she came in his presence, And in hir kynde a reverence She hath hym do , and forthwith all A stone more bright than a christall 9 P. 444. This work was translated with wooden cuts . 4to. But Doni was into English under the title of “ Donies the Italian translator. MORALL PHILOSOPHIE, translated from * Hist. MAJ. p. 179. Edit. Wats, the Indian tongue, 1570." Black letter * fol, 110. b. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . ccxxix Out of hir mouth to fore his waye She lett down fall. In Gower also, as often as the poor man sells the pretious stone, on returning home, he finds it again among the money in his purse. The acquisition of riches, and the multiplication of treasure, by invisible agency, is a frequent and favorite fiction of the Arabian romance. Thus, among the presents given to Sir Laun fal by the Lady Triamore, daughter of the king of Faerie, I will the zeve ' an Alner " , I mad of sylver and gold cler, With fayre ymages thre : As ofte thou puttest thy honde therinne, A mark of gold thou schalt wynne W, In wat place that thou be.x CHAP. cxx. King Darius's legacy to his three sons. To the eldest he bequeathes all his paternal inheritance : to the second, all that he had acquired by conquest : and to the third, a ring and necklace, both of gold, and a rich cloth. All the three last gifts were endued with magical virtues. Whoever wore the ring on his finger, gained the love or favour of all whom he desired to please. Whoever hung the necklace over his breast, obtained all his heart could desire. Whoever sate down on the cloth, could be instantly transported to any part of the world which he chose. From this beautiful tale, of which the opening only is here given, Occleve, commonly called Chaucer's disciple, framed a poem in the octave stanza, which was printed in the year 1614, by William Browne, in his set of Eclogues called the SHEP HEARDS PIPE. Occleve has literally followed the book before us, and has even translated into English prose the MORALISA TioN annexedy. He has given no sort of embellishment to give thee. A. 2. fol. 35. b. u Perhaps Almer, or Almere, a cabinet y Viz. MSS. SELD. Sup. 53, Where or chest . ( purse. ] is a prologue of many stanzas not printed * SYR LAUNFAL. MSS. Čott. CALIG. by Browne. See also MSS. DIGB. 185. t W get, find . CCXXX DISSERTATION III. his original, and by no means deserves the praises which Browne in the following elegant pastoral lyrics has bestowed on his performance, and which more justly belong to the ge nuine Gothic, or rather Arabian , inventor. Well I wot, the man that first Sung this lay, did quenche his thirst Deeply as did ever one In the Muses Helicon. Many times he hath oeen seene With the faeries on the greene, And to them his pipe did sound As they danced in a round ; Mickle solace would they make him , And at midnight often wake him , And convey him from his roome To a fielde of yellow broome, Or into the medowes where Mints perfume the gentle aire, And where Flora spreads her treasure There they would beginn their measure. If it chanced night's sable shrowds Muffled Cynthia up in clowds, Safely home they then would see him, And from brakes and quagmires free him . There are few such swaines as he Now a dayes for harmonie . ? The history of Darius, who gave this legacy to his three sons, is incorporated with that of Alexander, which has been deco rated with innumerable fictions by the Arabian writers. There is also a separate romance on Darius. And on Philip of Ma cedona. MSS. Laud. K. 78. ( See infra, vol. ii . nor is it improbable that he might even 348.1 be the translator of it. The moralization [ Mr. Warton has not been ( strictly ] also is entirely different. --Douce. ] accurate in this statement. Occleve's z Egl.i. immediate model was our English Gesta ; a Bibl. Reg. Paris. MSS. Cod. 3031 . 1 ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ссxxxi CHAP. cxxiv. Of the knights who intercede for their friend with a king, by coming to his court, each half on horseback and half on foot. This is the last novel in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE. CHAP. cxxvi. Macrobius is cited for the address and hu mour of an ingenuous boy named Papirius. This is one of the most lively stories in Macrobiusa . CHAP. cxxviii. The forged testament of the wicked knight, under the reign of Maximian, CHAP. cxxix. A young prince is sent on his travels. His three friends. CHAP. cxxxii. The four physicians. CHAP. cxxxiii. The king and his two greyhounds. . CHAP. cxxxiv. A story from Seneca. CHAP. cxxxv. The story of Lucretia, from saint Austin's City of God. A more classical authority for this story, had it been at hand, would have been slighted for saint Austin's City of God, which was the favorite spiritual romance ; and which, as the transition from religion to gallantry was antiently very easy , gave rise to the famous old French romance called the City OF LADIES. CHAP. cxxxvii. The Roman emperor who is banished for his impartial distribution of justice. From the CRONICA of Eusebius. CHAP. cxxxviii. King Medro. CHAP. cxxxix. King Alexander, by means of a mirrour, kills a cockatrice, whose look had destroyed the greatest part of his army. Aelian, in his Various History, mentions a serpent which appearing from the mouth of a cavern , stopped the march of Alexander's army through a spacious desert. The wild beasts, serpents, and birds, which Alexander encountered in march ing through India, were most extravagantly imagined by the .

• SATURNAL. Lib. i . c . 6. pag. 147. Londin . 1694 .

ссxxxii DISSERTATION III . oriental fabulists, and form the chief wonders of that monarch's romanceb. CHAP. cxl. The emperor Eraclius reconciles two knights. This story is told by Seneca of Cneius Pisoc. It occurs in Chaucer's SoMPNOUR's Tale, as taken from Senec, or Se necad. CHAP. cxli. A knight who had dissipated all his substance in frequenting tournaments, under the reign of Fulgentius, is reduced to extreme poverty. A serpent haunted a chamber of his house; who being constantly fed with milk by the knight, in return made his benefactor rich. The knight's ingratitude and imprudence in killing the serpent, who was supposed to guard a treasure concealed in his chamber. Me.lea's dragon guarding the golden fleece is founded on the oriental idea of treasure being guarded by serpents. We are told in Vincent of Beauvais, that there are mountains of solid gold in India guarded by dragons and griffins . Chap. cxliii. A certain king ordained a law, that if any man was suddenly to be put to death , at sun - rising a trumpet should be sounded before his gate. The king made a great feast for all his nobles, at which the most skilful musicians were present'. But amidst the general festivity, the king was sad and silent. All the guests were surprised and perplexed at the king's melancholy ; but at length his brother ventured b In Vincent of Beauvais, there is a long fabulous History of Alexander, transcribed partly from Simeon Seth . Spec. Hist. lib . iv.c. i . f. 41. a. seq . edit. Ven . 1591. fol. © De Ira , lib . i . c. 8. d Ver. 7600. Tyrwh. e Specul. Hist. lib . i . c. 64. fol . 9. b. f In the days of chivalry, a concert of a variety of instruments of music con stantly made a part of the solemnity of a splendid feast. Of this many instances have been given. I will here add another, from the unprinted metrical romance of EMARE. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 71. a. Syre Kadore lette make a feste , That was fayr and honeste, Wyth hys lorde the kynge ; Ther was myche menstralse, Trompus, tabors, and sawtre, Bothe harpe, and fydyllyng : The lady was gentyll and small, In kurtull alone served yn hall Byfore that nobull kyng : The cloth upon her schone so bryghth, When she was theryn ydyghth , She semed non erdly thynge, &c. And in Chaucer, JAN. AND MAY, v.1234. Att everie cours came the loud min stralsie. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxxxiii 1 to ask him the cause . The king replied, “ Go home, and you shall hear my answer to - morrow . ” The king ordered his trum peters to sound early the next morning before his brother's gate, and to bring him with them to judgment. The brother, on hearing this unexpected dreadful summons, was seized with horror, and came before the king in a black robe. The king commanded a deep pit to be made, and a chair composed of the most frail materials, and supported by four slight legs, to be placed inclining over the edge of the pit. In this the bro ther, being stripped naked, was seated. Over his head a sharp sword was hung by a small thread of silk. Around him four men were stationed with swords exceedingly sharp, who were to wait for the king's word, and then to kill him . In the mean time, a table covered with the most costly dishes was spread before him, accompanied with all sorts of music. Then said the king, “ My brother, why are you so sad ? Can you be de jected, in the midst of this delicious music, and with all these choice dainties ?” He answered, “ How can I be glad, when I have this morning heard the trumpet of death at my doors, and while I am seated in this tottering chair ? If I make the smallest motion, it will break , and I shall fall into the pit, from which I shall never arise again. If I lift my head, the suspend ed sword will penetrate my brain ; while these four tormentors only wait your command to put me to death.” The king re plied, “ Now I will answer your question, why I was sad yesterday. I am exactly in your situation. I am seated, like you, in a frail and perishable chair, ready to tumble to pieces every moment, and to throw me into the infernal pit. Divine judgment, like this sharp sword, hangs over my head : and I am surronnded, like you, with four executioners. That be fore me is Death, whose coming I cannot tell ; that behind me, my Sins, which are prepared to accuse me before the tri bunal of God ; that on the right, the Devil, who is ever watch ing for his prey ; and that on the left, the Worm , who is now hungering after my flesh . Go in peace, my dearest brother : and never ask me again why I am sad at a feast.” ccxxxiv DISSERTATION III . Gower, in the ConfessIO AMANTIs, may perhaps have co pied the circumstance of the morning trumpet from this apo logue. His king is a king of Hungary. It so befell, that on a dawe There was ordeined by the lawe A trompe with a sterne breathe, Which was cleped the trompe of deathe : And in the court where the kyng was, A certaine man, this trompe of brasse Hath in kepyng, and therof serveth, That when a lorde his deathe deserveth, He shall this dredfull trompe blowe To fore his gate, to make it knowe, Howe that the jugement is yeve Of deathe, whiche shall not be foryeve. The kyng whan it was night anone, This man assent, and bad him gone, To trompen at his brothers gate ; And he, whiche mote done algate, Goth foorth, and doth the kyng's heste. This lorde whiche herde of this tempest That he tofore his gate blewe, Tho wist he by the lawe, and knewe That he was schurly deades, &c. But Gower has connected with this circumstance a different story, and of an inferior cast, both in point of moral and ima gination. The truth is, Gower seems to have altogether fol lowed this story as it appeared in the SPECULUM HistoRIALE of Vincent of Beauvais ", who took it from Damascenus's ro mance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHATI Part of it is thus told in Caxton's translation of that legend k . “ And the kynge hadde suche a custome, that whan one sholde be delyvered to & Lib . i . fol. xix . b. col, i . Ubi supr. p . ccxxii. i Opp. ut supr. pag . 12. ☆ See Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE, fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. See also METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS, MSS. Bodl. 779. f. 292. a. ON THE GESTA ROMANORU M. CCXXXV deth, the kynge sholde sende hys cryar wyth hys trompe that was ordeyned therto. And on thé euen he sente the cryar wyth the trompe tofore hys brother's gate, and made to soune the trompe. And whan the kynges brother herde this, he was in despayr of sauynge of his lyf, and coude not slepe of alle the nyght, and made his testament. And on the morne erly, he cladde hym in blacke: and came with wepyng with hys wyf and chyldren to the kynges paleys. And the kynge made hym to com tofore hym, and sayd to hym, A fooll that thou art, that thou hast herde the messager of thy brother, to whom thou knowest well thou hast not trespaced and doubtest so mooche, howe oughte not I then ne doubte the messageres of our lorde, agaynste whom I haue soo ofte synned, which signe fyed unto me more clerely the deth then the trompe? " Chap. cxlv. The philosopher Socrates shows the cause of the insalubrity of a passage between two mountains in Armenia, by means of a polished mirrour of steel . Albertus is cited ; an abbot of Stade, and the author of a Chronicle from Adam to 1256. CHAP. cxlvi. Saint Austin's CITY OF God is quoted for an answer of Diomedes the pirate to king Alexander. CHAP. cxlviii. Aulus Gellius is cited . Aulus Gellius is here quoted, for the story of Arion ', throw ing himself into the sea, and carried on the back of a dolphin to king Periander at Corinth m. Gellius relates this story from Herodotus, in whom it is now extant " . Chap. cliii. The history of Apollonius of Tyre. This story , the longest in the book before us, and the ground work of a favorite old romance, is known to have existed be fore the In the Prologue to the English romance on this subject, called KYNGE APOLYNE OF THYRE, and printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510, we are told. " My worshypfull mayster Wynkyn de Worde, havynge a lytell boke of an auncyent year 1190. " It is printed Amon. * Lib. viii . m Noct. Artic. lib . xvi. cap . xix. ccxxxvi DISSERTATION III . hystory of a kynge somtyme reygnyne in the countree of Thyre called Appolyn, concernynge his malfortunes and peryllous adventures right espouventables, bryefly compyled and pyte ous for to here; the which boke, I Robert Coplande º have me applyed for to translate out of the Frensshe language into our maternal Englysshe tongue, at the exhortacyon of my forsayd mayster, accordynge dyrectly to myn auctor : gladly followynge the trace of my mayster Caxton, begynnynge with small storyes and pamfletes and so to other . ” The English romance, or the French, which is the same thing, exactly cor responds in many passages with the text of the Gesta. I will instance in the following one only, in which the complication of the fable commences. King Appolyn dines in disguise in the hall of king Antiochus.— “ Came in the kynges daughter, accompanyed with many ladyes and damoyselles, whose splen dente beaute were too long to endyte, for her rosacyate co loure was medled with grete favour. She dranke unto hir fader, and to all the lordes, and to all them that had ben at the play of the Sheldep. And as she behelde here and there, she espyed kynge Appolyn, and then she sayd unto her fader, Syr, what is he that sytteth so hye as by you, it semeth by hym that he is angry cr sorrowfull? The kynge sayd, I never sawe so nimble and pleasaunt a player at the shelde, and therfore have I made hym to come and soupe with my knyghtes. And yf ye wyll knowe what he is, demaunde hym ; for peradventure he wyll tell you sooner than me. Methynke that he is depart ed from some good place, and I thinke in my mynde that some thynge is befallen hym for which he is sorry. This sayd, the noble dameysell wente unto Appolyn and said, “ Fayre Syr, graunt me a boone. And he graunted her with goodę herte . • The printer of that name. He also Syr LaunFaL, MSS. Cott. Calif. A. 2. translated from the French , at the desire fol. 37 . of Edward duke of Buckingham , the Hyma thoghte he brente bryghte romance of the KNYGUT OF THE SWANNE. Buthemyghte with Launfal pleye See his PROLOGUE. In the felde betwene ham tweye P The tournament. To tourney is To justy other to fyghte. often called simply to play. As thus in And in many other places. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxxxvii And she sayd unto hym, Albeyt that your vysage be tryst and hevy, your behavour sheweth noblesse and facundyte, and therefore I pray you to tell me of your affayre and estate. Appolyn answered, Yf ye demaunde of my rychesses, I have lost them in the sea . The damoysell sayd, I pray you that you tell me of your adventures 9.” But in the ' GESTA, the princess at entering the royal hall kisses all the knights and lords present, except the stranger ". Vossius says, that about the year 1520 , one Alamanus Rinucinus, a Florentine, trans lated into Latin this fabulous history ; and that the translation was corrected by Beroaldus. Vossius certainly cannot inean , that he translated it from the Greek original s . CHAP. cliv. A story from Gervase of Tilbury, an English man, who wrote about the year 1200, concerning a miraculous statue of Christ in the city of Edessa. CHAP. cly. The adventures of an English knight named Albert in a subterraneous passage, within the bishoprick of Ely. This story is said to have been told in the winter after sup per, in a castle, cum familia divitis ad focum , ut Potentibus moris est, RECENSENDIS ANTIQuis Gestis operam daret, when the family of a rich man , as is the custom with the Great, was sitting round the fire, and telling Antient Gests. Here is a traite of the private life of our ancestors, who wanted the di versions and engagements of modern times to relieve a tedious evening. Hence we learn , that when a company was assem bled, if a jugler or a minstrel were not present, it was their custom to entertain themselves by relating or hearing a series of adventures. Thus the general plan of the CANTERBURY Tales, which at first sight seems to be merely an ingenious invention of the poet to serve a particular occasion, is in great measure founded on a fashion of antient life : and Chaucer, in supposing each of the pilgrims to tell a tale as they are travel ling to Becket's shrine, only makes them adopt a mode of 9 Cap. xi. r Fol. lxxii. b . col. 2. • Hist. Lat. lib. iii. c. 8. pag. 552. edit. 1627. 4to. ccxxxviii DISSERTATION IIl . amusement which was common to the conversations of his age. I do not deny, that Chaucer has shown his address in the use and application of this practice. So habitual was amusement in the dark ages, that the graver sort thought it unsafe for ecclesiastics, if the subjects admitted any degree of levity. The following curious injunc tion was deemed necessary, in a code of statutes assigned to a college at Oxford in the year 1292. I give it in English. 6 CH. XX.—The fellows shall all live honestly, as becomes Clerks. — They shall not rehearse, sing, nor willingly hear, BALLADS or TALES of LOVERS, which tend to lasciviousness and idleness .” Yet the libraries of our monasteries, as I have before observed , were filled with romances . In that of Croy land -abbey we find even archbishop Turpin's romance, placed on the same shelf with Robert Tumbeley on the Canticles, Roger Dymock against Wickliffe, and Thomas Waleys on the Psalter. But their apology must be, that they thought this a true history: at least that an archbishop could write nothing but truth . Not to mention that the general subject of those books were the triumphs of christianity over paganismu. CHAP. clvi. Ovid, in his TROJAN WAR , is cited for the story of Achilles disguised in female apparel. Gower has this history more at large in the CONFESSIO Amantis : but he refers to a Cronike, which seems to be the BOKE OF TROIE, mentioned at the end of the chapter " . CHAP. clvii. The porter of a gate at Rome, who taxes all deformed persons entering the city. This tale is in Alphonsus. And in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHEX. Chap. clviii. The discovery of the gigantic body of Pallas, son of Evander, at Rome, which exceeded in height the walls of the city, was uncorrupted, and accompanied with a burning lamp, two thousand two hundred and forty years after the de w " Lib.v. fol. 99. b. col. 2. See fol. 101 . a. col. 1 , 2 . ' CANTILENAS VEL FABULAS DE AMA SIIS, &c. MS. Registr. Univ. Oxon. D. b. f. 76. See p. 96 . u Leland . Coll. iii . p. 30 .

• Nov. 50 .

+ ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxxxix e use the bjects junc glish Oma hear hare placed ticles struction of Troy. His wound was fresh , which was four feet and a half in length. It is curious to observe, the romantic exaggerations of the classical story. CHAP. clix . Josephus, in his book de Causis rerum natura lium , is quoted, for Noah's discovery of wine. I know not any book of Josephus on this subject. The first editor of the Latin Josephus was Ludovicus Cendrata of Ve rona, who was ignorant that he was publishing a modern trans lation. In the Dedication he complains, that the manuscript was brought to him from Bononia so ill- written , that it was often impossible even to guess at Josephus's words. another place he says, Josephus first wrote the ANTIQUITATES in Hebrew , and that he afterwards translated them from Hebrew into Greek, and from Greek into Latin " . The substance of this chapter is founded on a Rabbinical tradition, related by Fabricius 2. When Noah planted the vine, Satan attended, and sacrificed a sheep, a lion, an ape, and a sow . These animals were to symbolise the gradations ofebriety. When a man begins to drink , he is meek and ignorant as the lamb, then becomes bold as the lion, his courage is soon trans formed into the foolishness of the ape, and at last he wallows in the mire like the sow . Chaucer hence says in the Manci PLES PROLOGUE, as the passage is justly corrected by Mr. Tyr whitt, I trowe that ye have dronken wine ofape, And that is when men plaien at a strawe a . In the old KALENDRIER DES Bergers, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has remarked, Vin de singe, vin de mouton, vin de lyon, and vin de porceau , are mentioned, in their respective operations on the four temperaments of the human body. Chap. clxi. Of a hill in a forest of England, where if a Jo this rhing NSIO 52 1 y At Verona. 1480. By Peter Mauf- 2 Cod. PSEUDEPIGR. VET. TESTAM . fer a Frenchman . It is a most beauti- vol. i . p. 275. ful and costly book , printed on vellum a Ver. 16993. Tyrwh. in folio . } ccx] DISSERTATION 111 . hunter sate after the chace, he was refreshed by a miraculous person of a mild aspect, bearing a capacious horn , adorned with gems and gold, and filled with the most delicious liquor. This person instantly disappeared after administering the draught; which was of so wonderful a nature, as to dispel the most oppressive lassitude, and to make the body more vigorous than before. At length , a hunter having drank of this horn , ungratefully refused to return it to the friendly apparition ; and his master, the lord of the forest, lest he should appear to countenance so atrocious a theft, gave it to king Henry the elder This story, which seems imperfect, I suppose, is from Ger vase of Tilbury. CHAP. clxii. The same author is cited for an account of a hill in Castile, on which was a palace of demons. Whenever our compiler quotes Gervase of Tilbury, the re ference is to his Oria IMPERIALIA : which is addressed to the emperor Otho the Fourth , and contains his Commentarius de regnis Imperatorum Romanorum , his Mundi Descriptio, and his Tractatus de Mirabilibus Mundi. All these four have been improperly supposed to be separate works. Chap. clxiii. King Alexander's son Celestinus. CHAP. clxvii. The archer and the nightingale. This fable is told in the Greek legend of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT, written byJohannes Damascenus d. And in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE . It is also found in the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA of Alphonsus. CHAP. clxviii. Barlaam is cited for the story of a man , who, flying from a unicorn, and falling into a deep and noisom pit, hung on the boughs of a lofty tree which grew from the bottom . On looking downward, he saw a huge dragon twisted round the trunk, and gaping to devour him. He also observed two mice gnawing at the roots of the tree, which began to totter . « Such a one as is Opp. ut supr. p. 22. See also Surius, used at this day. ut supr. Novembr. 27. pag . 565. That is, Henry the First, king of Fol , ccclxxxxii, b. England. o The text says, с ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxli Four white vipers impregnated the air of the pit with their poisonous breath . Looking about him, he discovered a stream of honey distilling from one of the branches of the tree, which he began eagerly to devour, without regarding his dangerous situation . The tree soon fell : he found himself struggling in a loathsome quagmire, and was instantly swallowed by the dragon. This is another of Barlaam's apologues in Damascenus's romance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT : and which has been adopted into the Lives of the Saints by Surius and others f. A MORALISATION is subjoined, exactly agreeing with that in the GESTAS. CHAP. clxix . Trogus Pompeius is cited, for the wise legis lation of Ligurius, a noble knight. Our compiler here means Justin's abridgement of Trogus; which, to the irreparable injury of literature, soon destroyed its original. An early epitome of Livy would have been at tended with the same unhappy consequences. CHAP. clxx. The dice player and saint Bernard. This is from saint Bernard's legend h. CHAP. clxxi. The two knights of Egypt and Baldach. This is the story of Boccace's popular novel of Tito AND GISIPPO, and of Lydgate's Tale of two Marchants of Egypt and of Baldad, a manuscript poem in the British Museum, and lately in the library of doctor Askewi Peter Alphonsus is quoted for this story ; and it makes the second Fable of his CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA. I take the liberty of introducing a small digression here, which refers to two pieces of the poet last -mentioned, never enumerated among his works. In the year 1483, Caxton printed at Westminster, “ The PYLGREMAGE OF THE SOWLE translated oute of Frensshe into Englisshe. Full of devout maters touching the sowle, and many questyons assoyled to cause a man f See Caxton's Golden LEGEND. fol. cccclxxxxiii. a. 8 See Damascenus, ut supr. pag. 31. And METRICAL LIVES OF SAINTS, MSS. VOL. I. Bodz. 779. f. 293. b. h See Caxton's Gold. LEG. f. cxxix. b , i R. Edwards has a play on this story, 1582. 9 ccxlii DISSERTATION III. to lyve the better, &c. Emprinted at Westminster by William Caxton the first yere of kynge Edward V. 1483." The French book, which is a vision, and has some degree of imagination , is probably the PELERIN DE L’AME, of Guillaume prior of Chaulisi. This translation was made from the French, with additions, in the year 1413. For in the colophon are these words. 66 Here endeth the dreme of the PYLGREMAGE OF THE Sowle translated out of Frensche into Englisshe, with somwhat of Addicions, the yere of our lorde M.cccc. and thyrteen , and endethe in the vigyle of Seint Bartholomew .” The translator of this book, at least the author of the Addicions, which alto gether consist of poetry in seven - lined stanzas, I believe to be Lydgate. Not to insist on the correspondence of time and style, I observe, that the thirty - fourth chapter of Lydgate's metrical LIFE OF THE VIRgin Mary is literally repeated in the thirty fourth chapter of this Translation . This chapter is a digres sion of five or six stanzas in praise of Chaucer ; in which the writer feelingly laments the recent death of his maister Chaucer, poete of Britaine, who used to amende and correcte the wronge traces ofmy rude penne. No writer besides, in Lydgate's own life -time, can be supposed, with any sort of grace or propriety, to have mentioned those personal assistances of Chaucer, in Lydgate's own words. And if we suppose that the Transla tion, or its Addicions, were written by Lydgate before he wrote his LIFE OF THE VIRGIN, the proof will be the samek. Another piece probably written by Lydgate, yet never sup posed or acknowledged to be of his composition, is a poem in the octave stanza , containing thirty - seven leaves in folio, and entitled LABEROUS AND MARVEYLOUS WORKE OF SAPIENCE . After a long debate between Mercy and Truth, and JUSTICE and PEACE, all the products of nature and of human know ledge are described, as they stand arranged in the palace and dominions of Wisdom. It is generally allowed to have been printed by Caxton : it has not the name ofthe printer, nor any See vol. ii. p. 426. maundement of the earle of Salisburie, Stowe mentions Lydgate's “ Pil- 1426.” But thismustbe a differentwork. GRIMAGE OF THE WORLDby the com- Ad calc. Opp. Chauc. fol. 376. col . 1 . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxliii date. Had it been written by Caxton, as I once hastily sus pected, or by any of his cotemporaries, the name of Lydgate would have appeared in conjunction with those of Gower and Chaucer, who are highly celebrated in the Prologue as erthely gods expert in poesie : for these three writers were constantly joined in panegyric, at least for a century, by their successors, as the distinguished triumvirate of English poetry. In the same Prologue, the author says he was commanded to write this poem by the king. No poet cotemporary with Caxton was of consequence enough to receive such a command : and we know that Lydgate compiled many of his works by the direction, or under the patronage, of king Henry the Fifth . Lydgate was born in Suffolk : and our author from the cir cumstance of having lived in a part of England not of a very polished dialect, apologises for the rudeness of his language, so that he cannot delycately endyte. It is much in the style and manner of Lydgate: and I believe it to have been one of his early performances '. CHAP. clxxii. A king of England has two knights, named Guido and Tirius. Guido having achieved many splendid exploits for the love of a beautiful lady, at length married her. Three days after his marriage he saw a vision, which summoned him to engage in the holy war. At parting she gave him a ring ; saying, “ as often as you look on this ring, remember me. ” Soon after his departure she had a son. After various adventures, in which his friend Tirius has a share, at the end of seven years he returned to England in the habit of a pilgrim . Coming to his castle, he saw at the gate his lady sitting, and distributing alms to a croud of poor people ; ordering them all to pray for the return of her lord Guido from the holy land. She was on that day accompanied by her son a little boy, very beautiful, and richly apparelled ; and who hearing his mother, as she was distributing her alms, perpetually recommending " See vol. iii. p. 30. Note " . I know in heaven for redemption of mankind." not if this is the poem recited by Stowe, Ubi supr. col . i . and called “ The Courte of Sapience 92 ccxliv DISSERTATION III. 1 Guido to their prayers, asked, if that was his father ? Among others, shegave alms to her husband Guido, not knowing him in the pilgrim's disguise. Guido, seeing the little boy, took him in his arms, and kissed him : saying, “ O my sweet son , may God give you grace to please him ! ” For this boldness he was reproved by the attendants. But the lady, finding him destitute and a stranger, assigned him a cottage in a neighbour ing forest. Soon afterwards falling sick, he said to his servant, “ Carry this ring to your lady, and tell her, if she desires ever to see me again, to come hither without delay.” The servant conveyed the ring ; but before she arrived, he was dead. She threw herself on his body, and exclaimed with tears, “ Where are now my alms which I daily gave for my lord ? I saw you receive those alms, but I knew you not. — You beheld , em braced, and kissed your own son, but did not discover yourself to him nor to me. What have I done, that I shall see you no more ? ” She then interred him magnificently. The reader perceives this is the story of Guido, or Guy, earl of Warwick ; and probably this is the early outline of the life and death of that renowned champion. Many romances were at first little more than legends ofde votion, containing the pilgrimage of an old warrior. At length , as chivalry came more into vogue, and the stores of invention were increased , the youthful and active part of the pilgrim's life was also written , and a long series of imaginary martial adventures was added, in which his religious was eclipsed by his heroic character, and the penitent was lost in the knight That which was the principal subject of the short and simple legend, became only the remote catastrophe of the voluminous romance . And hence by degrees it was almost an established rule of every romance, for the knight to end his days in a hermitage. Cervantes has ridiculed this circumstance with great pleasantry, where Don Quixote holds a grave de bate with Sancho, whether he shall turn saint or archbishop. So reciprocal, or rather so convertible, was the pious and the military character, that even some of the apostles had their errant. . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccxlv romance . In the ninth century, the chivalrous and fabling spirit of the Spaniards transformed saint James into a knight. They pretended that he appeared and fought with irresistible fury, completely armed, and mounted on a stately white horse, in most of their engagements with the Moors ; and because, by his superior prowess in these bloody conflicts, he was sup posed to have freed the Spaniards from paying the annual tri bute of a hundred christian virgins to their infidel enemies, they represented him as a professed and powerful champion of distressed damsels. This apotheosis of chivalry in the person of their own apostle, must have ever afterwards contributed to exaggerate the characteristical romantic heroism of the Spaniards, by which it was occasioned ; and to propagate through succeeding ages, a stronger veneration for that species of military enthusiasm , to which they were naturally devoted. It is certain, that in consequence of these illustrious achieve ments in the Moorish wars, saint James was constituted patron of Spain ; and became the founder of one of the most magni ficent shrines, and of the most opulent order of knighthood, now existing in christendom . The Legend of this invincible apostle is inserted in the Mosarabic liturgy, CHAP. clxxiii. A king goes to a fair, carrying in his train, a master with one of his scholars, who expose six bundles, con taining a system of ethics, to sale s. Among the revenues accruing to the crown of England from the Fair of saint Botolph at Boston in Lincolnshire, within the HONOUR of RICHMOND, mention is made of the royal pavi lion , or booth , which stood in the fair, about the year 1280. This fair was regularly frequented by merchants from the most capital trading towns of Normandy, Germany, Flanders, and other countries. “ Ibidem [ in feria] sunt quædam domus quæ dicuntur BOTHÆ REGIÆ, quæ valent per annum xxviii, 1. xiii, s. iiii, d. Ibidem sunt quædam domus quas MERCATORES DE YPRE tenent, quæ valent per annum , xx , l. Et quædam

• Compare Matth. Paris. edit. Watts. p. 927. 40.- And p. 751. 10.

ccxlvi DISSERTATION III . domus quas MERCATORES DE CADOMO ' ETOSTOGANIO “ tenent, xi, l. Et quædam domus quas MERCATORES DE Anaco v te nent, xiii, 1. vi, s. viii, d. Et quædam domus quas MERCATO RES DE COLonia tenent, xxv, l. x , s. ” w The high rent of these lodges, is a proof that they were considerable edifices in point of size and accommodation. CHAP. clxxiv. The fable of a serpent cherished in a man's bosom. About the year 1470 , a collection of Latin fables, in six books, distinguished by the name of Esop, was published in Germany. The three first books consist of the sixty anony mous elegiac fables, printed in Nevelet's collection, under the title of Anonymi Fabula Æsopicæ, and translated in 1503, by Wynkyn de Worde, with a few variations : under each is a fable in prose on the same subject from ROMULUS, or the old prose Latin Esop, which was probably fabricated in the twelfth century. The fourth book has the remaining fables of Romu lus in prose only. The fifth , containing one or two fables only which were never called Esop's, is taken from Alphonsus, the GESTA ROMANORUM, the CALILA U DAMNAH, and other ob scure sources. The sixth and last book has seventeen fables ex translatione Rinucii, that is Rinucius, who translated Pla nudes's life of Esop, and sixty -nine of his fables, from Greek into Latin, in the fifteenth century . This collection soon af terwards was circulated in a French version, which Caxton translated into English. In an antient general Chronicle, printed at Lubec in 1475, and entitled RUDIMENTUM NOVITIORUM ', a short life of Esop is introduced, together with twenty -nine of his fables. The u V t Caen in Normandy. * This fable is in Alphonsus's CLERI Perhaps, Ostend. CALIS DISCIPLINA. Perhaps Le Pais d'Aunis, between y In this work the following question the Provinces of Poictou and Santone, is discussed, originally, I believe, started where is Rochelle, a famous port and by saint Austin , and perhapsdetermined mart. by Thomas Aquinas, An Angeli possint Registr. HONORIS DE RICHMOND. coire cum Mulieribus, et generare Gi Lond, 1722. fol. Num . viii. APPEND. gantes ? w P: 39. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . ccxlvii writer says, 66 Esopus adelphus claruit tempore Cyri regis Per sarum . - Vir ingeniosus et prudens, qui confinxit fabulas ele gantes. Quas Romulus postmodum de greco transtulit in la tinum , et filio suo Tibertino direxit ?, " &c. The whole of this passage about Esop is transcribed from Vincent of Beauvaisa. Chap. clxxvii. The feast of king Ahasuerus and Esther. I have mentioned a metrical romance on this subject6. And I have before observed, that Thomas of Elmham , a chronicler, calls the coronation - feast of king Henry the sixth , a second feast of Ahasuerus . Hence also Chaucer's allusion at the mar riage of January and May, while they are at the solemnity of the wedding -dinner, which is very splendid . Quene Esther loked ner with soch an eye On Assuere, so meke a loke hath shed. Froissart, an historian, who shares the merit with Philip de Comines of describing every thing, gives this idea of the so lemnity of a dinner on Christmas-day, at which he was present, in the hall of the castle of Gaston earl of Foiz at Ortez in Be vern , under the year 1388. At the upper or first table, he says, sate four bishops, then the earl, three viscounts, and an English knight belonging to the duke of Lancaster. At another table, five abbots, and two knights of Arragon. At another, many barons and knights of Gascony and Bigorre. At another, a great number of knights of Bevern . Four knights were the chief stewards of the hall, and the two bastard brothers of the earl served at the high table. “ The erles two sonnes, sir Yvan of Leschell was sewer , and sir Gracyen bare his cuppe. And z Fol. 237. a . Emare, whom he had long In The a SPECUL. Hist. 1. iii. c. ii. passage also points out the dates of this 0 Vol. iii. p. 14. · Vol. ii . p. 345. office . MSS. Cott. CALLS [ 69. • March. TALE, v. 1260. Urr . Emare says to the young prins de son , e In the old romance, or Lay, of EMARE, abeautiful use is made ofthe In a kurtyllofryche palk , To -morowe thou shall serve a balle Lady Emare'sson serving as cup-bearer to theking of Galicia : bywhich means, Loke, sone?, so cunzas sobe, Byfore thys nobull kyns ; the king discovers the boy to be his son, and in consequence finds out his queen That no mon fynde chalenge to the In no manere tynge a tunic of rich cloth . may accuse thee of runt of courtest 2 3 son , ccxlviii DISSERTATION 111 . there were many mynstrelles, as well of his owne as of straun gers, and eche of them dyde their devoyre in their faculties. The same day the erle of Foiz gave to harauldes and myn strelles, the somme of fyve hundred frankes : and gave to the duke of Touraynes mynstrelles, gownes ofclothe ofgolde furred with ermyns, valued at two hundred frankes. This dinner en dured four houres n . ” Froissart, who was entertained in this castle for twelve weeks, thus describes the earl's ordinary mode of supping. “ In this estate the erle of Foiz lyved. And at mydnyght whan he came out of his chambre into the halle to supper, he had ever before hym twelve torches brennyngº, When the kynge is served of spycerye, Then the lordes that wer grete Knele thou downe hastylye, Whesshen ayeyn " , aftyr mete, And take hys hond yn thyn ; And then com spycerye " . And when thou hast so done, The chyld, that was of chere swete, Take the kuppe of golde sone, On hys kne downe he sete 15, And serve hym of the wyne. And served hym curteyslye. And what that he speketh to the The kynge called the burgeys hym tyll, Cum anon and tell me, And sayde, Syr, yf hyt bethy wyll, On goddes blessyng and myne. Yyf me this lytyll body18 ; The chylde' wente ynto the hall I shall hym make lorde of town and Amonge the lordes grete and small towr, That lufsume wer unther lyne® : Ofhye halles, and of bowre, Then the lordes, that wer grete, I love hym specyally, &c. Wysh , and wente to her mete ; Menstrelles browght yn the kours ', ► Cron. vol. ii. fol. xxxvi. a. Transl. The chylde hem served so curteysly, Bern . 1523. All hym loved that hym syö, ° It appears that candles were borne And spake hym grete honowres. by domestics, and not placed on the ta Then sayde all that loked hym upon , ble, at a very early period in France . So curteys a chyld sawe they never non, Gregory of Tours mentions a pieceof In halle, ny yn bowres : savage merriment practised by a feudal The kynge sayde to hym yn game, lordat supper, on one of his valets de Swete sone, what ys thy name ? chandelle, inconsequence of this custoin . Lord,he sayd , y hyghth Segramowres. Greg. Turon. Hist. Lib . v. c . iii. fol. 34. Then that nobull kyng b. edit. 1522. It is probable that our Toke up a grete sykynge', proverbial scoff, You are not fit to hold a For hys sone8 hyght so : candle to him , took its rise from this Certys, withouten lesynge, fashion. See Ray's Prov. C. p. 4. edit. The teres out of hys yenº gan wryng, 1670. And Shakesp. ROMEO AND JU In herte he was full woo : LIET, i. 4. Neverthelese, he lette be, And loked on the chylde so freo, I'll be a Candle -holder, and look on. And mykell ” he loved hem thoo ! .. 4 course . 5 saw . 9 " the boy. 3 washed . richly apparelled . 6 I am called . sighing. 8 his son . eyen , eyes. beautiful. greatly. 12 then . 13 washed again . wine. 15 bowed his knee. give me this boy. 10 the boy so 1 spicery, spiced 11 16 ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . ccxlix borne by twelve varlettes ( valets] standyng before his table all supper : they gave a grete light, and the hall ever full of knightes and squyers; and many other tables dressed to suppe who wolde. Ther was none shulde speke to hym at his table, but if he were called . His meate was lightlye wylde foule. He had great plesure in armony of instrumentes, he could do it right well hymselfe: he wolde have songes songe before hym . He wolde gladlye se conseytes ( conceits] and fantasies at his table. And when he had sene it, then he wolde send it to the other tables.There was sene in his hall, chambre, and court, knyghtes and squyers of honour goyng up and downe, and talkyng of armes and of amours P , ” &c. After supper, Frois sart was admitted to an audience with this magnificent earl ; and used to read to him a book of sonnets, rondeaus, and virelays, written by a gentyll duke of Luxemburgh 4. In this age of curiosity, distinguished for its love of histo rical anecdotes and the investigation of antient manners, it is extraordinary that a new translation should not be made of Froissart from a collated and corrected original of the French . Froissart is commonly ranked with romances : but it ought to be remembered, that he is the historian of a romantic age, when those manners which form the fantastic books of chivalry were actually practised. As he received his multifarious in telligence from such a variety of vouchers, and of different na tions, and almost always collected his knowledge of events from report, rather than from written or recorded evidence, his notices of persons and places are frequently confused and unexact. Many of these petty incorrectnesses are not, how ever, to be imputed to Froissart: and it may seem surprising, that there are not more inaccuracies of this kind in a volumi nous chronicle, treating of the affairs of England, and abound ing in English appellations, composed by a Frenchman, and printed in France. Whoever will take - the pains to compare this author with the coeval records in Rymer, will find nume rous instances of his truth and integrity, in relating the more p Ibid. fol. XXX. a. col. 2. 9 Ibid. col. 1 . ccl DISSERTATION III. 1 public and important transactions of his own times. Why he should not have been honoured with a modern edition at the Louvre, it is easy to conceive: the French have a national prejudice against a writer, who has been so much more com plaisant to England, than to their own country. Upon the whole, if Froissart should be neglected by the historical reader for his want of precision and authenticity, he will at least be valued by the philosopher for his striking pictures of life, drawn without reserve or affectation from real nature with a faithful and free pencil, and by one who had the best opportunities of observation, who was welcome alike to the feudal castle or the royal palace, and who mingled in the bustle and business of the world, at that very curious period of society, when man ners are very far refined, and yet retain a considerable tincture of barbarism . But I cannot better express my sentiments on this subject, than in the words of Montaigne. “ J'ayme les Historiens ou fort simples ou excellens. Les simples qui n'ont point de quoy y mesler quelque chose du leur, et qui n'y ap portent que le soin et la diligence de ramasser tout ce qui vient a leur notice, et d'enregistrer a la bonne foy toutes chosessans chois et sans triage, nous laissent le jugement entier pour la conoissance de la verité. Tel est entre autres pour example le bon Froissard, qui a marche en son enterprise d'une si franche naïfueté, qu'ayant fait une faute il ne craint aucunement de la reconnoistre et corriger en l'endroit, ou il en a esté adverty : et qui nous represente la diversité mesme des bruits qui cou roient, et les differens rapports qu'on luy faisot. C'est la ma tiere de l'Histoire nuï et informe; chacun en peut faire son proffit autant qu'il a d'entendementr.” CHAP. clxxviii. A king is desirous to know how to rule him self and his kingdom . One of his wise men presents an allego rical picture on the wall ; from which , after much study, he ac quires the desired instruction . In the original eastern apologue, perhaps this was a piece of tapestry. From the cultivation of the textorial arts among the Essais. Libr. ii. ch. x, p. 109. edit. 1598. 8vo. r ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. ccli orientals, came Darius's wonderful cloth above mentioned ; and the idea of the robe richly embroidered and embossed with stories of romance and other imageries, in the unprinted ro mance of EMARE, which forms one of the finest descriptions of the kind that I have seen in Gothic poetry, and which I shall therefore not scruple to give at large. Sone aftur yn a whyle, The ryche kynge of Cesylef To the Emperour gan wendes ; A ryche present wyth hym he browght, A clothe that was wordylyeh wroght, He welecomed hym as the hendei. Syr Tergaunte, that nobyll knyght hyghte, He presented the emperour ryght, And sette hym on hys knek, Wyth that cloth rychyly dyght; Full of stones thar hyt was pyght, As thykke as hyt myght be : Off topaze and rubyes, And other stones of myche prys, That semely wer to se ; Of crapowtes and nakette, As thykke ar they sette, For sothe as y say the '. The cloth was dysplayed sone : The emperour lokede therupone And myght hytm not se ; For glysteryng of the ryche ston, Redy syght had he non , And sayde, how may this be ? The emperour sayde on hygh, Sertes ", thys is a fayryº, e CHAP. XX. f Sicily. 8 went to . h worthily. i courteously, but, I believe there is a slight corruption. khe presented it kneeling. 1 I tell thee. m could not see it. certainly an illusion, a piece of enchantment. n 0 cclii DISSERTATION III. 1 Or ellys a vanyte. The kyng of Cysyle answered than , So ryche a jwell P ys ther non In all Crystyante. The amerayles dowghter of hethennes ? Made this cloth, withouten lees ", And wrowghte hit all with pride ; And purtreyed hyt with gret honour, Wyth ryche golde and asour , And stones on ylke ' a syde. And as the story telles yn honde, The stones that yn this cloth stonde Sowght they wer full wyde : Seven wynter hyt was yn makynge, Or hyt was browght to endynge, In hert ys not to hyde. In that on korner made was IDOYNE and AMADAS W. Wyth love that was so trewe ; For they loveden hem* wyt honour, Portreyed they wer wyth trewe - love flour Of stones bryght of hewe. Wyth carbunkull, and safere ' , Kassydonys, and onyx so clere, Sette in golde newe ; Deamondes and rubyes, And other stones of mychyll pryse , P JEWEL was antiently any pretious that our naval Amiral, i. e, Admiral, thing. came from the crusades, where the 9 The daughter of the Amerayle of Christians heard it used by the Saracens the Saracens . AMIRAL in the eastern ( in consequence of its general significa languages was the governor, or prince, tion ) for the title of the leader of their of a province, from the Arabic Emir , fleets : and that from the Mediterranean Lord . In this sense, AMRAYL is used states it was propagated over Europe. by Robert of Gloucester. Hence, by * lying. every . sought. corruption the word ADMIRAL, and in a w On one corner , or side, was em restricted sense, for the commander of broidered the history of Idonia and a fleet : which Milton , who knew the Amadas. For their Romance, see vol. ii . original, in that sense writes AMMIRAL. p. 327. PARAD. L. i . 294. Dufresne thinks, * loved each other . sapphire. 8 azure . t u y ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cclii с And menstrellys wyth her glez. In that othyr korner was dyght Trystram and Isowde so bryght “, That semely wer to se ; And for they loved hem ryght, As full of stones ar they dyght, As thykke as they may be. In the thryddeb korner wyth grete honour Was FLORYS and dam BLAUNCHEFLOUR As love was hem betwene, For they loved wyth honour, Purtrayed they wer with trewe- love- flour, With stones bryght and shene.— In the fourthe korner was oon Of Babylone the sowdan sonne, The amerayles dowghtyr hym by: For hys sake the cloth was wrowght, She loved hym in hert and thowght, As testymoyneth thys storye. The fayr mayden her byforn , Was portrayed an unikorn, With hys horn so hye ; Flowres and bryddes on ylke a syde, Wyth stones that wer sowght wyde, Stuffed wyth ymagerye. When the cloth to ende was wrowght, To the Sowdan soned hyt was browght, That semely was of syghte ; Z figures of minstrels, with their mu- adventures of Florio and BIANCOFLORE , sic, ormusical instruments. in his PHILOCOPO. Floris and BLAN a Sir Tristram and Bel Isolde, famous CAFLOR are mentioned as illustrious in king Arthur's Romance. lovers by Matfres Eymegau de Bezers, a D third . bard of Languedoc, in his BREVIARI • See what I have said of their ro- D'Amor, dated in the year 1288. MSS. mance, vol. i. p . 186. A manu- REG . 19 C. i. fol. 199. See Tyrwhitt's script copy of it in French metre was CHAUCER, vol. iv. p . 169. destroyedin the fire which happened in a Soldan's son. [ It was soon brought the Cotton Library. Boccace has the to the Soldan . - Ritson .] ccliv DISSERTATION III. 8 My fadyr was a nobyll man , Of the Sowdan he hyt wan Wyth maystrye and wyth myghte e. Chaucer says in the RoMAUNT OF THE ROSE, that RICHESSE wore a robe of purple, which Ful wele With orfraies laid was everie dele, And purtraied in the ribaninges Of DUKIS STORIES and of KINGES.F And, in the original, Portraictes y furent d'orfroys Hystoryes d'empereurs et roys. CHAP. clxxix . Cesarius, saint Basil, the Gospel, Boethius, and Ovid, are quoted to shew the detestable guilt of gluttony and ebriety. Cesarius, I suppose, is a Cistercian monk of the thirteenth century ; who, beside voluminous Lives, Chronicles, and Ho milies, wrote twelve Books on the Miracles, Visions, and Ex amples, of his own age. But there is another and an older monkish writer of the same name. In the British Museum , there is a narrative taken from Cesarius, in old northern En glish, of a lady deceived by the fiends, or the devil, through the pride of rich clothing h. CHAP. clxxx . Paul, the historian ofthe Longobards, is cited, for the fidelity of the knight Onulphus. CHAP. clxxxi. The sagacity of a lion. This is the last chapter in the edition of 1488. Manuscript copies of the GESTA ROMANORUM are very numerous ' . A proof of the popularity of the work. There are two in the British Museum ; which, I think, contain, each one hundred and two chapters k . But although the printed e MSS. Cott. (ut supr. ) Calig. A. 2 . h MSS. HARL. 1022. 4. fol. 69. ver . 80. seq. i See vol. ij. p. 322. f Ver. 1076. & Ver. 1068 . k MSS. HARL. 2270. And 5259. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . ccly copies have one hundred and eighty -one stories or chapters, there are many in the manuscripts which do not appear in the editions. The story of the CASKETTS, one of the principal incidents in Shakespeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE, is in one of the manuscripts of the Museum! This story, however, is in an old English translation printed by Wynkyn de Worde, without date ; from which, or more probably from another edition printed in 1577, and entitled A RECORD OF ANCIENT HYSTORYES in Latin GESTA ROMANORUM, corrected and bettered, Shakespeare borrowed it. The story of the Bond in the same play, which Shakespeare perhaps took from a trans lation of the PECORONE of Ser Florentino Giovanni " , makes the forty- eighth chapter of the last-mentioned manuscript ". Giovanni flourished about the year 1378 ° . The tale ofGower's FLORENTP, which resembles Chaucer's WIFE OF BATH, occurs in some of the manuscripts of this work. The same may be said of a tale by Occleve, never printed ; concerning the chaste consort of the emperor Gerelaus, who is abused by his steward, in his absence. This is the first stanza . A larger specimen shall appear in its place. In Roman Actis writen is thus, Somtime an emperour in the citee Of Rome regned, clept Gerelaus, Wich his noble astate and his dignite 1 Viz. Chap. xcix. fol. 78. b. MSS. sions the conversion of the latter. Hist. HARL. 2270. In the CLERICALIS Dis- SPECUL. fol. 181. a . edit. ut supr. Jews, CIPLINA of Alphonsus, there is a narra- yet under heavy restrictions, were origi tive of aking whokept a FABULATOR, or nally tolerated in the Christian kingdoms story -teller, to lull him to sleep every of the dark ages, for the purpose of bor night. Theking on some occasion being rowing money, with which they supplied seized with an unusual disquietude of the exigencies of the state, and of mer mind, ordered his FABULATORto tell him chants, or others, on the most lucrative longer stories, for that otherwise he could usurious contracts. not fall asleep. The FABULATOR begins * Fol. 43. a. In this story MAGISTER a longer story, but in the midst falls VIRGILIUS, or Virgil the cunning man , asleep himself, &c. I think I have is consulted . seen this tale in some manuscript of the ° See Johnson's and Steevens's SHAKE GESTA ROMANORUM . SPEARE, iii. p. 247. edit. ult. And Tyr m Giorn. iv. Nov. 5. In Vincent of whitt's CHAUCER, iv. p. 332. 334. Beauvais, there is a story of a bond be- P CONFESS. Amant. Li . i. f. xv. b, tween a Christian and a Jew ; in which See vol. ii . p. 333. the former uses a deception which occa cclvi DISSERTATION III. q Governed wisely, and weddid had he The douztir of the kyng of Vngrye, A faire lady to every mannes ye. At the end is the MORALISATION in prose. I could point out other stories, beside those I have men tioned, for which Gower, Lydgate, Occleve, and the author of the DECAMERON, and of the Cento NOVELLE Antiche, have been indebted to this admired repository ”. Chaucer, as I have before remarked, has taken one of his Canterbury tales from this collection ; and it has been supposed that he alludes to it in the following couplet, And ROMAIN GESTIS makin remembrance Ofmany a veray trewe wife also s. The plot also of the knight against Constance, who having killed Hermegild, puts the bloody knife into the hand of Con stance while asleep , and her adventure with the steward , in the Man of Lawes Tale, are also taken from that manuscript chapter of this work , which I have just mentioned to have been versified by Occleve. The former of these incidents is thus treated by Occleve. She with this zonge childe in the chambre lay Every nizt where lay the earle and the countesse ', Bitween whose beddis brente a lampe alway.

• • • * ** * **

4 MSS. Seld. Sup. 53. Bibl. Bodl. DECAMERON, from an older Collection De quadam bona et nobili Imperatrice. of Novels . “ In uno libro de Novelle, It is introduced with “ A Tale the which et di Parlare Gentile, ANTERIORE al I in the Roman dedis,” &c. Viz. MSS. Boccacio," &c. In Venetia, 1606. 4to. LAUD. ibid . K. 78. See also MSS . pag. 580. seq. I believe, however, that Digs. 185. Where, in the first line of many of the tales are of Boccace's own the poem , we have, “ In the Roman invention. He tells us himself, in the jestys written is this .” It is in other GENEALOGIA DEORUM, that when he manuscripts of Occleve. This story is was a little boy, he was fond of making in the GESTA ROMANORUM, MSS. HARL. FICTIUNCULÆ . Lib. xv. cap . x. p. 579. 2270. chap . 101. fol. 80. a . Where edit. Basil. 1532. fol. Gerelaus is Menelaus. * MARCHANT'S TALE, ver. 10158 .

• Bonifacio Vannozzi, in Delle LET- edit. Tyrw . This may still be doubted,

TERE MISCELLANEE alle Academia Ve- as from what has been said above, the neta ,says,that Boccace borrowed ( Nov.i. Roman Gests were the Roman history D. iii. ) the Novel of Maseto da Lampo- in general. recchio , with many other parts of the iHere we see the antient practice, ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . cclvii And he espied, by the lampes lizt, The bedde where that lay this emprice With erlis douztur ' , and as blyve rizt, This feendly man his purpose and malice Thouzte for to fulfille and accomplice; And so he dide, a 'longe knife out he drouze ", And ther with alle the maiden childe he slouze * . Hir throte with the knyfe on two he kutte And as this emprice lay sleeping ; Into her honde this bloody knyfe he putte, Ffor men shoulde have noon othir deemyng ' But she had gilty ben of this murdring : And whanne that he had wrouzte this cursidnesse, Anoone oute of the chambre he gan hem dresse ?. The countess after hir slepe awakid And to the emperesse bedde gan caste hir look And a the bloody knyfe in hir hande nakid , And, for the feare she tremblid and quook. sya

米 * 非 * She awakens the earl, who awakens the empress. And hir awook, and thus to hir he cried, “ Woman, what is that, that in thin hand I see ? What hast thou doon, woman , for him that diede, What wickid spirit hath travaylid the ?” And as sone as that adawed was she, The knyfe fel oute of hir hand in the bedde, And she bihilde the cloothis al forbledde, And the childe dead, “ Allas, she cried , allas, How may this be, god woot alle I note howe, I am not privy to hir hevy caas, The gilte is not myne, I the childe not sloweb.” even in great families, of one and the mance of Syr TRYAMORE. And Gower, same bed -chamber serving for many Conr. Am. ij . f. 39. a. persons. Much of the humour in * carl's daughter. thought Chaucer's TROMPINGTON Miller arises u y opinion. from this circumstance, See the Roo ? he hastened, &c . VOL. I. w drew . * slew . saw, 5 slew . cclvii DISSERTATION TII. d To which spake the countesse, “ What saist thou ? Excuse the not, thou maist not saie nay, The knyfe all bloody in thin hand I say ." This story , but with some variation of circumstances, is told in the HISTORICAL MIRROUR of Vincent of Beauvaise. But I hasten to point out the writer of the Gesta ROMANO RUM, who has hitherto remained unknown to the most diligent inquirers in Gothic literature. He is Petrus Berchorius, or Pierre Bercheur, a native of Poitou, and who died Prior of the Benedictine convent of Saint Eloi at Paris, in the year 1362. For the knowledge of this very curious circumstance, I am obliged to Salomon Glassius, a celebrated theologist of Saxe Gotha, in his PhiloLOGIA SACRA ', written about the year 16238. In his chapter DE ALLEGORIIS FABULARUM, he cen sures those writers who affect to interpret allegorically, not only texts of scripture, but also poetical fables and profane histories, which they arbitrarily apply to the explication or confirmation of the mysteries of christianity. He adds, “ Hoc in studio excelluit quidam Petrus Berchorius, Pictaviensis, ordi nis divi Benedicti : qui, peculiari libro , GESTA ROMANORUM , necnon Legendas Patrum , aliasque aniles fabulas, allegorice ac mystice exposuith.” That is, “ In this art excelled one Peter Berchorius, a Benedictine; who, in a certain peculiar book , has expounded, mystically and allegorically, the Roman GESTS, legends of saints, and other idle talesi.” He then quotes for authorwasa German . See below , p.cclxiü . • Ut supr. viz. MS. Seld. sup. 45. Notek. - Edit.) 8 From the date of the Dedication . e SPECUL. HIstor. lib. vü . c. 90. For his other works, which are very nu fol. 86. a . merous, see the DIARIUM BIOGRAPHICUM PHILOLOGIÆ SACRÆ , qua totius sa- of H. Witte, sub ann . 1665. Gedani, crosanctæ veteris et novi testamenti 1688, 4to . scripturæ tum stylus et literatura, tum h Lib . ii. Part. i . TRACTAT. ii . Sect. iji. sensus et genuinæ interpretationis ratio Artic, viii. pag . 312. expenditur, Libri quinque, & c. edit. Salmeron, a profound school- divine, tert. Francof. et Hamb. 1653. who flourished about 1560 , censures the [ This opinion has been controverted unwarrantable liberty of the Gesta Ro hy Mr. Douce in his Illustrations of MANORUM , in accommodating histories Shakspeare, vol. ii . The most forcible and fables to Christ and the church. argument there adduced is founded upon Comm. in Evangel. Hist. i . pag . 356. a very just inference, that the original Prol. xix. Can. xxi.- Colon . Agrippin . c saw . Qu. iiii. 1602, fol. 1 ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM . cclix an example, the whole one hundred and seventieth chapter of the Gesta ROMANORUM, containing the story of Saint Bernard and the Dice-player, together with its moralisation . Berchorius was one of the most learned divines of his coun try, and a voluminous writer. His three grand printed works are, I. REDUCTORIUM MORALE super totam Bibliam , in twenty four books. II. REPERTORIUM (or Reductorium ] MORALE, in fourteen books *. III. DICTIONARIUM MORALE. Whoever shall have the patience or the curiosity to turn over a few pages of this immense treasure of multifarious erudition , will soon see this assertion of Glassius abundantly verified ; and will be convinced beyond a doubt, from a general coincidence of plan, manner, method, and execution , that the author of these volumes, and of the GESTA ROMANORUM, must be one and the same. The REDUCTORIUM SUPER BIBLIAM ' contains all the stories and incidents in the Bible, reduced into alle gories " . The REPERTORIUM MORALE is a dictionary of things, persons, and places; all which are supposed to be mystical, and which are therefore explained in their moral or practical The DICTIONARIUM MORALE is in two parts , and seems principally designed to be a moral repertory for students in theology. The moralisation, or moral explanation, which is added to every article, is commonly prefaced, as in the GESTA, with the introductory address of CARISSIMI. In the colophon, the GESTA is called Ex gestis Romanorum RECOLLECTORIUM : a word much of a piece with his other titles of REPERTORIUM sense. nono .

• I use a folio edition of all these industrium Joannem Zeiner de Reutlin

three works, in three volumes, printed gen Artis impressoriæ magistrum non at Venice in 1583. These pieces were penna sed scagneischaracteribus in oppido all printed very early. Ulmensi artificialiter effigiatus. Anno This was first printed, Argentorat. Incarnationis Dominimillesimo quadrin 1473. fol. There was a very curious gentessimo septuagessimo quarto Aprilis book in lord Oxford's library , I am not This book is not mentioned by sure whether the same, entitled MORALI- Maittaire. ZATIONES BIBLIÆ , Ulmæ 1474. fol. m To this work Alanus de Lynne, a With this colophon in the last page. Carmelite of Lynne in Norfolk , wrote Infinita dei clementia. Finitus est liber an Index or Tabula, about the year 1240. Moralizationum Bibliarum in ejusdem It is in MSS. Reg. 3 D. 3. 1. in Brit, laudem et gloriam compilatus. Ac per Mus. po 2 cclx DISSERTATION III. and REDUCTORIUM . Four of the stories occurring in the GESTA, The Discovery of the gigantic body of Pallas ", The subterraneous golden palace ", The adventures of the English knight in the bishoprick of Ely ", and The miraculous horn ', are related in the fourteenth book of the REPERTORIUM MORALE . For the two last of these he quotes Gervase of Tilbury, as in his GESTA '. As a further proof of his allegorising genius I must add, that he moralised all the stories in Ovid's Metamor phosis, in a work entitled, Commentarius MORALIS, sive ALLE GORIÆ in Libros quindecim Ovidii Metamorphoseons, and now remaining in manuscript in the library of the monastery of Saint Germains '. He seems to have been strongly impressed with whatever related to the Roman affairs, and to have thought their history more interesting than that of any other people. This appears from the following passage, which I translate from the article Roma, in his DICTIONARIUM MORALE, and which will also contribute to throw some other lights on this subject. “ How many remarkable facts might be here col lected concerning the virtues and vices of the Romans, did my design permit me to drop Moralities, and to enter upon an historical detail ! For that most excellent historian Livy, unequalled for the dignity, brevity, and difficulty of his style, ( whose eloquence is so highly extolled by Saint Jerome, and whom I, however unworthy, have translated from Latin into French with great labour ', at the request of John the most

• Cap. xlix . f . 643. He quotes Chno stories, with the introduction of CARIE NICA , and says, that this happened in the reign of the emperor Henry the • See what he says of the Fabulæ Poe Second . (See Gest. Rom. c. clviii.] tarum, REPERTOR . MORAL. lib . xiv,

Cap. lxxii. f . 689. col. 1. 2 . He cap. i . f. 601. col. 2. ad cale. quotes for this story (Gest. Rom . c.cvii.] i Oudin. COMMENT. SCRIPTOR . Ec William of Malmesbury, but tells it in CLES. iii. p. 1064. Lips. 1723. fol. I the words of Beauvais, ut supr. doubt whether this work was not trans P Fol. 610. col . 2. ( Gest. Rom. c. clv .] lated into French by Guillaume Nangis, Here also his author is Gervase of Til- at the beginning of the fourteenth cen bury : from whom , I thinkin the same tury. See Mem .Lit. xx. 751. 4to . chapter, he quotes part of king Arthur's I have mentioned this work below , Romance. See Oria IMPÉRIAL. Dec. ii . vol. ii . p . 420. It is remarkable, that a copy of this manuscript in the British ? Fol. 610. ut supr. ( Gest. Rom. Museum is entitled, “ Titus Livius Des c. lxi.] Fars des ROMAINS translate par Pierre " A MORALISATION is joined to these Berthcure." MSS. Reg. 15 D. vi . SIMI. c. 12. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cclxi famous king of France,) records so many wonderful things of the prudence, fortitude, fidelity, and friendship, of the Roman people ; as also of their quarrels, envy , pride, avarice, and other vices, which are indeed allied to virtues, and are such, to say the truth, as I never remember to have heard of in any nation besides. But because I do not mean to treat of historical af fairs in the present work, the matter of which is entirely moral, I refer the historical reader to Livy himself, to Trogus Pom peius, Justin, Florus, and Orosius, who have all written his tories of Rome; as also to Innocent, who in his book on the Miseries of human nature " , speaks largely of the vices of the Romans w .” In the mean time we must remember, that at this particular period the Roman history had become the grand object of the public taste in France. The king himself, as we have just seen , recommended a translation of Livy. French translations also of Sallust, Cesar, and Lucan , were now cir culated. A Latin historical compilation called ROMULEON was now just published by a gentleman of France, which was soon afterwards translated into French . A collection of the GESTA ROMANORUM was therefore a popular subject, at least it produced a popular title, and was dictated by the fashion of the times. I have here mentioned all Berchorius's works, except his Comment on a Prosody called Doctrinale metricum , which was used as a school -book in France, till Despauterius's manual on that subject appeared . Some biographers mention his Tro POLOGIA, his CoSMOGRAPHIA, and his BREVIARIUM. But the TROPOLOGIA Y is nothing more than his RedUCTORIUM on the Bible ; and probably the BREVIARIUM is the same . The COSMOGRAPHIA seems to be the fourteenth book of his RE บ W Pope Innocent the Third, about the edition with the title, “ Tropologiarum year 1200 , wrote three Books De Con- mysticarumque enarrationum , &c. temptu Mundi, sive De Miseria humanæ Without date. Conditionis, printed Colon . 1496. ? But see Bibl. Sangerm . Cod. MS. Diction. MORAL. P. ii. vol. ii. 687. And G. Serpilii Vit. SCRIPTOR . f. 274. col. 2. edit. 1583.-. See infra, Biblic. tom. vii . part. 2. pag. 44. Also vol. ii . p. 420 . Possevin . AppAkAT. Sacr. ii . p. 241 .

• Oudin , ubi supr. Colon. 1608.

Y I have seen a very old black-letter cclxii DISSERTATION III.

” 中 PERTORIUM MORALE ; which treats of the wonders of various countries, and is chiefly taken from Solinus and Gervase of Tilburya. He is said by the biographers to have written other smaller pieces, which they have not named or described . Among these perhaps is comprehended the GESTA : which we may conceive to have been thus undistinguished, either as having been neglected or proscribed by graver writers, or rather as having been probably disclaimed by its author, who saw it at length in the light of a juvenile performance, abounding in fantastic and unedifying narrations, which he judged unsuit able to his character, studies, and stations. Basilius Johannes Heroldus, however, mentions Berchorius as the author of a CHRONICON, a word which may imply, though not with exact propriety, his Gesta ROMANORUM. It is in the Epistle dedi catory of his edition of the Chronicles of Marianus Scotus, and Martinus Polonus, addressed to our queen Elisabeth ; in which he promises to publish many Latin CHRONICA, that is, those of Godfrey of Viterbo, Hugo Floriacensis, Conrade Engelhus, Hermannus Edituus, Lanfranc, Ivo, Robert of Saint Victor, PETER BERCHORIUS, and of many others, qui de TEMPORIBUS scripserunt, who have written of times. Paulus Langius, who wrote about the year 1400, in his enumeration of Berchorius's writings, says nothing of this compilation d. Had other authentic evidences been wanting, we are sure of the age in which Berchorius flourished , from the circumstance of his being employed to translate Livy by John king of France, who acceded to the throne in the year 1350, and died in the year 1364. That Berchorius died, and probably an old man , in the year 1362, we learn from his epitaph in the monastery of saint Eloy at Paris, which is recited by Sweertius, and on other accounts deserves a place here. a This is in some measure hinted by tus. De ILLUSTR. BENED. Lib . i. Oudin, ubi supr. “ Egressus autem a PROFANIS et grammaticis Berchorius, Dat. 1559. Edit. Basil. Oporin. animum SOLIDIORIBUS applicuit,” &c. No Date, fol. • Gesner adds, reciting his works, Chron. Ciriz. f. 841. Apud Pis that he wrote 66 alia multa . " EPITOM . torii ILLUSTR. Vit. SCRIPTOR . &c. Bibl. f. 147. b. Tig. 1555. fol. And Francof. 1583. fol. Compare the CHRON . Trithemius, “ parvos sed multos tracta- of Philippus Bergom . ad ann. 1355, c . 131 . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cclxiii HIC JACET VENERABILIS MAGNÆ PRO FUNDÆQUE SCIENTIÆ, ADMIRABILIS ET SUBTILIS ELOQUENTIÆ, F. PETRUS BERCOTH ', PRIOR HUJUS PRIORATUS. QUI FUIT ORIUNDUS DE VILLA S. PETRI DE ITINEREF IN EPISCOPATU MAILLIZANCENSIS IN PICTAVIA. QUI TEMPORE SUO FECIT OPERA SUA SOLEMNIA, SCILICET DICTIONARIUM , REDUCTORIUM , BREVIATORIUM, DESCRIPTIONEM MUNDI ", TRANSLATIONEM CUJUSDAM LIBRI VETUSTISSIMI I DE LATINO IN GALLICUM, AD PRÆCEPTUM EXCEL LENTISS. JOANNIS REGIS FRANCORUM. QUI OBIIT ANNO M.CCC.LXII . k Berchorius was constituted grammatical preceptor to the no vices of the Benedictine Congregation, or monastery, at Clugni, in the year 1340 ' . At which time he drew up his Notes on the Prosody, and his Commentary on Ovid, for the use of his i Of Livy. e Read BERCHEUR. Mr. Tyrwhit: supposes, that we may That is, of thevillage of saint Pierre reasonably conjecture one of our coun du Chemin . Three leagues from Poic- trymen to have been the compiler, be tiers. & Of Maillezais. cause three couplets of English verses The COSMOGRAPHIA abovementioned . and some English names appear in many of the manuscripts. But these are not Sweertii EPITAPHIA Joco - seria . edit. to be found in any of the editions ; and Colon. 1645. p. 158. It must not be there is no answering for the licentious dissembled, that in the MORALISATION innovations of transcribers. CANT. T. of the hundred and forty -fifth chapter, vol. iv . 331 . aproverb is explained, vulgariter, in the [ Mr. Tyrwhitt referred to a copy of German language. Fol. 69. a. col. 2: the English Gesta, a distinct work from And in the hundred and forty -third that which has been the subject of this chapter, a hunter has eight dogs who dissertation. Of this production Mr. have German names. Fol. 67. a. col. 1. Douce has given an elaborate account in seq. I suspect, nor is it improbable, his Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. that those German words were intro- p. 335. - Edit.] duced by a German editor or printer. · Oudin, ubi supr. p. 1063. cclxiv DISSERTATION III. scholars. About the same time, and with a view of rendering their exercises in Latinity more agreeable and easy by an en tertaining Latin story-book, yet resoluble into lessons of reli gion, he probably compiled the GESTA : perpetually address ing the application of every tale to his young audience, by the paternal and affectionate appellation of CARISSIMIM . There was therefore time enough for the GESTA to become a fashionable book of tales, before Boccace published his DECAMERON. The action of the DECAMERON being supposed in 1348, the year of the great pestilence, we may safely conjecture, that Boccace did not begin his work till after that period. An exact and ingenious critic has proved , that it was not finished till the year 1358 . I have just observed, that Berchorius probably compiled this work for the use of his grammatical pupils. Were there not many good reasons for that supposition, I should be in duced to think, that it might have been intended as a book of stories for the purpose of preachers. I have already given in stances, that it was antiently fashionable for preachers to en force the several moral duties by applying fables, or exemplary narratives : and , in the present case , the perpetual recurrence of the address of Carissimi might be brought in favour of this hypothesis. But I will here suggest an additional reason . Soon after the age of Berchorius, a similar collection of stories, of the same cast, was compiled, though not exactly in the same form , professedly designed for sermon -writers, and by one who was himself an eminent preacher : for, rather before the year 1480, a Latin volume was printed in Germany, written by John Herolt a Dominican friar of Basil, better known by the adopted and humble appellation of DISCIPULUS, and who flourished about the year 1418. It consists of three parts. The first is entitled “ Incipiunt Sermones pernotabiles DISCIPULI de Sanctis per anni circulum . ” That is, A set of sermons on the saints of the whole year. The second part, and with which m This, by habit, and otherwise with * See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, iv . 115 . no impropriety, he seems to have retain . seq . ed in his later and larger works. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cclxy I am now chiefly concerned , is a PROMPTUARY, or ample re pository, of examples for composing sermons ; and in the Pro logue to this part the author says, that saint Dominic always abundabat exemplis in his discourses, and that he constantly practised this popular mode of edification . This part contains a variety of little histories. Among others, are the following: Chaucer's Friar's tale. Aristotle falling in love with a queen , who compels him to permit her to ride upon his back . The boy who was kept in a dark cave till he was twelve years of age; and who being carried abroad, and presented with many striking objects, preferred a woman to all he had seen P. Aboy educated in a desert is brought into a city, where he sees a woman whom he is taught to call a fine bird, under the name of a goose : and on his return into the desert, desires his spi ritual father to kill him a goose for his dinner . These two last stories Boccace has worked into one. The old woman and her little dog ". This, as we have seen , is in the Gesta Ro MANORUMS. The son who will not shoot at his father's dead body'. I give these as specimens of the collection . The third part contains stories for sermon -writers, consisting only of sės lect miracles of the Virgin Mary. The first of these is the tale of the chaste Roman empress, occurring in the Harleian manuscripts of the GESTA, and versified by Occleve ; yet with some variation . This third part is closed with these words, which also end the volume. “ Explicit tabula Exemplorum in tractatulo de Exemplis gloriose Virginis Mariecontentorum . ” I quote from the first edition, which is a clumsy folio in a rude Gothic letter, in two volumes; and without pagings, signatures, or initials. The place and year are also wanting; but it was certainly printed before 1480 " , and probably at Nuremburgh. V • EXEMPL . Ixvii. sub litera M. “ De * CH. xxviii. regina quæ equitavit Aristotelem ." He + This is alao in the GESTA, CH. xlv . cites Jacobus de Vitriaco . ( See supr. -EXEMPL. viii, Lit. B. p . cxciv .] See supr. p. cclv. P EXEMPL . xxiv . sub Litera L. u For the second edition is at Nurem ? Ibid. EXEMPL . xxiii. ( See supr. burgh, 1482. fol. Others followed , bei. p. cexxiv.] fore 1500 . " EXEMPL. xii . sub lit. V. cclxvi DISSERTATION 111 . The same author also wrote a set of sermons called Sermones de tempore " . In these I find * Alphonsus's story, which in the Gesta ROMANORUM is the tale of the two knights of Egypt and Baldachy ; and, in Boccace's DECAMERON, the history of Tito and GESIPPO : Parnell's HERMIT ? : and the apologue of the king's brother who had heard the trumpet of Deatha: both which last are also in the GESTA". Such are the revolutions of taste, and so capricious the modes of composition, that a Latin homily-book of a German monk in the fifteenth century, should exhibit outlines of the tales of Boccace, Chaucer, and Parnell ! It may not be thought impertinent to close this discourse with a remark on the MORALISATIONS subjoined to the stories of the Gesta ROMANORUM. This was an age of vision and mystery : and every work was believed to contain a double, or secondary, meaning. Nothing escaped this eccentric spirit of refinement and abstraction : and, together with the bible, as we have seen , not only the general history of antient times was explained allegorically, but even the poetical fictions of the classics were made to signify the great truths of religion, with a degree of boldness, and a want of a discrimination, which in another age would have acquired the character of the most profane levity, if not of absolute impiety, and can only be de fended from the simplicity of the state of knowledge which then prevailed. Thus, God creating man of clay, animated with the vital principle of respiration, was the story of Prometheus, who formed a man of similar materials, to which he communicated w Theonly edition I have seen , with also early impressions of his SERMONES the addition of the SERMONES DE SANC- QUADRAGESIMALES, and of other pieces TIS, and the PROMPTUARIUM EXEMPLO- of the same sort. All his works were RUMabove mentioned , was printed by published together in three volumes, M. Flaccius, Argentin. 1499. fol. But Mogunt. 1612. 4to. The EXAMPLES there is an earlier edition . At the close appeared separately, Daventr. 1481 . of the last Sermon , he tells us why he Colon. 1485. Argentorat. 1489. 1490 . chose to be styled Discipulus. Be- Hagen. 1512. 1519. fol . cause , “ non subtilia per modum MA- * Serm . cxxi. col. ii. Signat. C. 5 . GISTRI, sed simplicia per modum Disci- V Ch. clxxi. 2 Serm . liii. PULI, conscripsi et collegi.” I have seen a Sern. cix , • Ch. Ixxx. cxlii . ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cclxvii life by fire stolen from heaven . Christ twice born, of his father God and of his mother Mary, was prefigured by Bacchus, who was first born of Semele, and afterwards of Jupiter. And as Minerva sprung from the brain of Jupiter, so Christ pro ceeded from God without a mother. Christ born of the Vir gin Mary was expressed in the fable of Danae shut within a tower, through the covering of which Jupiter descended in a shower of gold, and begot Perseus. Acteon, killed by his own hounds, was a type of the persecution and death of our Savi our. The poet Lycophron relates, that Hercules in returning from the adventure of the Golden Fleece was shipwrecked ; and that being devoured by a monstrous fish , he was disgorged alive on the shore after three days. Here was an obvious sym bol of Christ's resurrection . John Waleys, an English Fran ciscan of the thirteenth century, in his moral exposition of Ovid's Metamorphoses , affords many other instances equally ridiculous ; and who forgot that he was describing a more he terogeneous chaos, than that which makes so conspicuous a figure in his author's exordium , and which combines, amid the monstrous and indigested aggregate of its unnatural associa tions, Sine pondere habentia pondus d . At length, compositions professedly allegorical, with which that age abounded, were resolved into allegories for which they were never intended. In the famous RoMAUNT OF THE Rose, written about the year 1310, the poet couches the difficulties of an ardent lover in attaining the object of his passion, under the allegory of a Rose, which is gathered in a delicious but almost inaccessible garden . The theologists proved this rose to be the white rose of Jericho, the new Jerusalem, a state of grace, divine wisdom, the holy Virgin, or eternal beatitude, at none of which obstinate heretics can ever arrive. The chemists с I have before mentioned Bercho . rius's Ovid MORALISEN . а METAM. 1. і. 20 . cclxviii DISSERTATION III. pretended, that it was the philosopher's stone; the civilians, that it was the most consummate point of equitable decision ; and the physicians, that it was an infallible panacea . In a word , other professions, in the most elaborate commentaries, explained away the lover's rose into the mysteries of their own respective science. In conformity to this practice, Tasso alle gorised his own poem : and a flimsy structure ofmorality was raised on the chimerical conceptions of Ariosto's ORLANDO. In the year 1577, a translation of a part of Amadis de Gaule appeared in France; with a learned preface, developing the valuable stores of profound instruction, concealed under the naked letter of the old romances, which were discernible only to the intelligent, and totally unperceived by common readers ; who, instead of plucking the fruit, were obliged to rest con tented with le simple FLEUR de la Lecture litterale. Even Spenser, at a later period, could not indulge his native im pulse to descriptions of chivalry, without framing such a story, as conveyed, under the dark conceit of ideal champions, a set of historic transactions, and an exemplification of the nature of the twelve moral virtues. He presents his fantastic queen with a rich romantic mirrour, which showed the wondrous achievements of her magnificent ancestry. And thou, O fairest princess under sky, In this fayre mirrour maist behold thy face, · And thine own realmes in Lond of Faery, And in this antique image thy great ancestry ". It was not, however, solely from an unmeaning and a wan ton spirit of refinement, that the fashion of resolving every thing into allegory so universally prevailed. The same apo logy may be offered for the cabalistical interpreters, both of the classics and of the old romances. The former not willing that those books should be quite exploded which contained the antient mythology, laboured to reconcile the apparent ab • B. ii . INTROD. St. vi. ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM. cclxix i surdities of the pagan system to the christian mysteries, by de monstrating a figurative resemblance. The latter, as true learning began to dawn, with a view of supporting for a while the expiring credit of giants and magicians, were compelled to palliate those monstrous incredibilities, by a bold attempt to unravel the mystic web which had been wove by fairy hands, and by showing that truth was hid under the gorgeous veil of Gothic invention .

1 THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH PO E TR Y. SECTION I. a THE Saxon language spoken in England, is distinguished by three several epochs, and may therefore be divided into three dialects. The first of these is that which the Saxons used, from their entrance into this island till the irruption of the Danes, for the space of three hundred and thirty years a. This has been called the British Saxon : and no monument of it remains, except a small metrical fragment of the genuine Cædmon, inserted in Alfred's version of the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical Historyb. The second is the Danish Saxon, which The Saxons came into England Reinwald, an able and intelligentphilo A.D. 450 . loger, has very clearly shown, that its • Lib . iv. cap. 24. Some have impro- language is not Francic, but a Low perly referred to this dialect the HAR- German dialect. Mr. Reinwald con MONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, in the Cotton ceives the author to have been a native library ; the style of which approaches of the district afterwards called West in purity and antiquity to that of the Co- phalia (Münster, Paderborn , Berg ), DEX ARGENTEUS. It is Frankish . See and that he lived in the early part of the Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton . CALIG. A 7. ninth century. membran. octavo . This book is supposed [ The Bamberg Codex is now preserved to have belonged to king Canute. Eight in the Royal Library at Munich, and richly illuminated historical pictures are a transcript from it, collated with the bound up with it, evidently taken from Cotton MS. , has for several years occu another manuscript, but probably of the pied the leisure of Mr. Scherer, with a age of king Stephen . view to publication . Independently of ( The recent discovery of another copy the value this production as a rich of this “ Harmony," at Bamberg, has repository of philological lore, from the gained for it the attention of several extreme antiquity and purity of its lan German antiquaries ; and of these, Mr. guage ; it possesses a strong and pecu VOL. I. B . - 2 THE HISTORY OF prevailed from the Danish to the Norman invasion '; and of which many considerable specimens, both in versed and prose, are still preserved ; particularly two literal versions of the four gospels , and the spurious Cædmon's beautiful poetical para phrase of the Book of Genesis f, and the Prophet Daniel. The third may be properly styled the Norman Saxon ; which be gan about the time of the Norman accession , and continued beyond the reign of Henry the Seconds. The last of these three dialects, with which these Annals of English Poetry commence, formed a language extremely bar barous, irregular, and intractable ; and consequently promises no very striking specimens in any species of composition. Its substance was the Danish Saxon , adulterated with French. The Saxon indeed, a language subsisting on uniform princi ples, and polished by poets and theologists, however corrupted by the Danes, had much perspicuity, strength, and harmony : but the French imported by the Conqueror and his people, was a confused jargon of Teutonic, Gaulish , and vitiated Latin . liar interest for the student in English [ The poem of Beowulf has since been archæology, from the light it throws published by the Chevalier Thorkelin , upon the laws and structure of Anglo- under the title of “ De Danorum rebus Saxon metre.—The arbitrary classifica-, gestis secul. iii. et iv. Poema Danicum tion of the Anglo -Saxon language ante- dialecto Anglo - Saxonica : edidit versione rior to the Conquest, given in the text, Lat. et indicibus auxit Grim Johnson hasbeen adoptedfrom Hickes, an exami- Thorkelin Eques Ord. Danebrogici au nation of whose opinions on the subject ratus &c. Havniæ 1815." An analysis will be found in the Preface to this edi- of its contents will be found in the last tion .-Evit .] volume of Mr. Turner's “ History of the C A.D. 1066 . Anglo - Saxons," with occasional extracts & See Hickes. Thes. Ling. Vett. Sept. ' from the work itself; and an English P. i . cap. xxi. pag. 177. and Præfat. translation of the specimens. The frag fol. xiv . T'he curious reader is also rement of Brithnoth has been published ferred to a Danish Saxon poem , cele- by Hearne, but without a translation. brating the wars which Beowulf, a noble Edit.] Dane descended from the royal stem of e MSS. Bibl. Bodi. Oxon. Cod. mem Scyldinge, waged against the kings of bran. in Pyxid: 4to grand. quadrat. and Swedeland. MSS. Cotton . ut supr. MSS. Cotton. ut supr. Otho. Nor. D 4. VITELL. A 15. Cod. membran. ix. Both thesemanuscripts were written and fol. 130. Compare, written in the style of ornamented in the Saxon times, and are Cædmon, a fragment of an ode in praise of the highest,curiosity and antiquity. of the exploits of Brithnoth, Offa's eal- f Printed by Junius, Amst. 1655. dorman, or general, in a battle fought The greatest part of the Bodleian ma against the Danes. Ibid. OTH. A 12. nuscript of this book is believed to have Cod. membran. 4to . iii . Brithnoth the been written about A.D. 1000. - Cod . hero of this piece, a Northumbrian , died Jun. xi. membran. fol. in the year 991 . 8 He died 1189. i ENGLISH POETRY. 3 In this fluctuating state of our national speech , the French predominated *. Even before the Conquest the Saxon language began to fall into contempt, and the French , or Frankish, to be substituted in its stead : a circumstance which at once faci litated and foretold the Norman accession . In the year 652, it was the common practice of the Anglo - Saxons to send their youth to the monasteries of France for education h : and not only the language but the manners of the French were esteemed the most polite accomplishments '. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the resort of Normans to the English court was so frequent, that the affectation of imitating the Frankish customs became almost universal; and the nobility were ambi tious of catching the Frankish idiom . It was no difficult task for the Norman lords to banish that language, of which the natives began to be absurdly ashamed . The new invaders commanded the laws to be administered in French k . Many charters of monasteries were forged in Latin by the Saxon monks, for the present security of their possessions, in conse quence of that aversion which the Normans professed to the Saxon tongue ! Even children at school were forbidden to ( * This has been controverted by Mr. Par. i. pag. 106. See also Præfat. ibid . Luders in his Tracts, Bath 1810 , where p. xv. the subject is ably discussed . The de- I The Normans, who practised every scription of the French language given specious expedient to plunder the monks, above in the text conveys but an imper- demanded a sight of the written evi fect idea of its composition ; the Teu- dences of their lands. The monkswell tonic and Gaulish bearing a very small knew that it would have been useless proportion to the body ofthe language, or impolitic to have produced these evi which is decidedly of Romance or Latin dences, or charters, inthe original Saxon ; origin. The Francic, or Frankish as as the Normans not only did not un Warton calls it, and which he ought derstand, but would have received with not to have confounded with the French , contempt, instruments written in that existed in France as a perfectly distinct language. Therefore the monks were language among the descendants of the compelled to the pious fraud of forging Franksfrom their first settlement in them in Latin: and great numbers of Gaul till the eleventh century , and was these forged Latin charters, till lately wholly Teutonic: see Gley, “ Langue supposed original, are still extant. See et Literature des anciens Francs,” Paris, Spelman , in Not. ad Concil. Anglic. 1814. and the Preface to this edition.- p. 125. Stillingfl. Orig. Eccles. Britann. Edır.] p. 14. Marsham , Præfat. ad Dugd. Mo * Dugd. Mon. i. 89. nast. and Wharton , Angl. Sacr. vol. ii. Ingulph. Hist. p. 62. sub ann. 1043. Præfat. ii. iii. iv. Seealso Ingulph. But there is a precept in Saxon p. 512. Launoyand Mabillon have treat from William the First, to the sheriff ed this subject with great learning and of Somersetshire. Hickes. Thes. i . penetration. 3 p. B 2 4 THE HISTORY OF read in their native language, and instructed in a knowledge of the Norman only m. In the mean time we should have some regard to the general and political state of the nation . The natives were so universally reduced to the lowest condi tion of neglect and indigence, that the English name became a term of reproach : and several generations elapsed before one family of Saxon pedigree was raised to any distinguished honours, or could so much as attain the rank of baronage ". Among other instances of that absolute and voluntary submis sion with which our Saxon ancestors received a foreign yoke, it appears that they suffered their hand -writing to fall into dis credit and disuse ° ; which by degrees became so difficult and obsolete, that few beside the oldest men could understand the characters P. In the year 1095, Wolstan bishop of Worcester was deposed by the arbitrary Normans: it was objected against him , that he was “ a superannuated English idiot, who could not speak French q.” It is true, that in some of the monaste ries, particularly at Croyland and Tavistocke, founded by Saxon princes, there were regular preceptors in the Saxon language: but this institution was suffered to remain after the Conquest as a matter only of interest and necessity. The religious could not otherwise have understood their original charters. Wil liam's successor , Henry the First, gave an instrument of confir mation to William archbishop of Canterbury, which was writ ten in the Saxon language and letters ". Yet this is almost a single example. That monarch’s motive was perhaps political: and he seems to have practised this expedient with a view of obliging his queen, who was of Saxon lineage ; or with a de m 0 Ingulph. p. 71. sub ann. 1066 . p. 52. The French antiquaries are fond * See Brompt. Chron. p. 1026. Abb . of this notion . There are Saxon cha Rieval. p. 339. racters in Herbert Losinga's charter for Ingulph. p. 85. founding the church of Norwich, temp. Ibid. p. 98. sub ann. 1091. Will. Ruf. A.D. 1110. See Lambarde's 9 Matt. Paris, sub ann. Diction. v. Norwich. See also Hickes,

• H. Wharton, Auctar. Histor. Dog- Thesaur, i. Par. i. p. 149. See also mat. p. 388. The learned Mabillon is Præfat. p. xvi. An intermixture of the mistaken in asserting, that the Saxon Saxon character is common in English way of writing was entirely abolished in and Latin manuscripts, before the reign England at the time of the Norman con- of Edward the Third : but ofa few types quest. See Mabillon , De Re Diplomat. only.

ENGLISH POETRY. 5 sign of flattering his English subjects, and of securing his title already strengthened by a Saxon match , in consequence of so specious and popular an artifice. It was a common and in deed a very natural practice, for the transcribers of Saxon books to change the Saxon orthography for the Norman, and to substitute in the place of the original Saxon , Norman words and phrases. A remarkable instance ofthis liberty, which sometimes perplexes and misleads the critics in Anglo - Saxon literature, appears in a voluminous collection of Saxon homilies, preserved in the Bodleian library, and written about the time of Henry the Seconds. It was with the Saxon characters, as with the signature of the cross in public deeds ; which were changed into the Nor man mode ofseals and subscriptions '. The Saxon was probably spoken in the country, yet not without various adulterations from the French : the courtly language was French, yet per haps with some vestiges of the vernacular Saxon . But the nobles in the reign of Henry the Second constantly sent their children into France, lest they should contract habits of bar barism in their speech , which could not have been avoided in an English education , Robert Holcot, a learned Dominican friar, confesses, that in the beginning of the reign of Edward the Third there was no institution of children in the old En glish : he complains that they first learned the French , and from the French the Latin language. This he observes to have been a practice introduced by the Conqueror, and to have remained ever sincew. There is a curious passage relating to this subject in Trevisa's translation of Hygden's Polychroni con. “ Children in scole, agenst the usage and manir of all other nations, beeth compelled for to leve hire owne langage, and for to construe hir lessons and hire thynges in Frenche; and so they haveth sethe Normans came first into Engelond.

• MSS. Bodl. NE. F 4. 12. Cod . Lect. in Libr. Sapient, Lect. ii.

membran . fol. Paris. 1518. 4to . Yet some Norman charters have the * Lib. i. cap . 59. MSS. Coll. S. Johan . Cross . Cantabr. But I think it is printed by u Gervas. Tilbur. de Otiis Imperial. Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde. Robert MSS, Bibl . Bodl. lib . ii. See DuChesne, of Gloucester,who wrote about 1280 , says iii. p. 363. much the same, edit. Hearne, p. 364. 6 THE HISTORY OF Also gentilmen children beeth taught to speke Frensche from the tyme that they bith rokked in here cradell, and kunneth speke and play with a childes broche : and uplondissche ' men will likne himself to gentylmen, and fondeth 2 with greet be synesse for to speke Frensche to be told of. This maner was moche used to for [ the] first detha, and is sith some dele changed. For John Cornewaile a maister ofgrammer changed the lore in grammer scole, and construction of Frensche into Englische: and Richard Pencriche lernede the manere techynge of him as other men of Pencriche. So that now , the yere of oure Lorde a thousand thre hundred and four score andfive, and of the seconde Kyng Richard after the conquest nyne, and [ in ] alle the grammere scoles of Engelond children lereth Frensche and construeth, and lerneth an Englische, & c. " About the same time, or rather before, the students of our universities were ordered to converse in French or Latin . The latter was much affected by the Normans. All the Norman accompts were in Latin. The plan of the great royal revenue rolls, now called the pipe-rolls, was of their construction , and in that language. [ Among the Records of the Tower, a great reve nue-roll, on many sheets ofvellum , or MAGNUS ROTULUS, ofthe Duchy of Normandy, for the year 1083, is still preserved ; in dorsed, in a coæval hand, ANNO AB INCARNATIONE DNI M° LXXX° 111 ° APUD CADOMUM ( Caen ] WILLIELMO FILIO RADULFI SENESCALLO NORMANNIE. This most exactly and minutely Z « Ro у country. same injunction in the statutes Exeter delights, tries. College, Oxford, given about 1330 ; a time. ( The Harleian MS. 1900 where they are ordered to use ( as cited by Mr. Tyrwhitt) reads, “ to mano aut Gallico saltem sermone. fore the first moreyn ,” before the first Hearne's MSS. Collect. num . 132. plague; and upon this authority the ar- pag. 73. Bibl. Bodl. But in Merton ticle added in the text has been inserted. College statutes, mentionis made of the The passage as it thus stands is free from Latin only. In cap. x. They were given obscurity .- EDIT.] 1271. This was also common in the Inthe statutes of Oriel College in greater monasteries. In the register of Oxford, it is ordered, that the scholars, Wykeham bishop of Winchester, the or fellows, “ siqua inter se proferant, domicellus of the prior of S. Swythin's colloquio Latino, vel saltem Gallico, at Winchester is ordered to address perfruantur. "See Hearne’s Trokelowe, the bishop , on a certain , occasion, in pag. 298. These statutes were given French. A.D. 1398. Registr. Par. iü . 23 Maii, A.D. 1328. I find much the fol. 177, ENGLISH POETRY . 7 resembles the pipe-rolls of our exchequer belonging to the same age, in form , method, and character * . ] — But from the declen sion of the barons, and prevalence of the commons, most of whom were of English ancestry, the native language of Eng land gradually gained ground: till at length the interest of the commons so far succeeded with Edward the Third, that an act of parliament was passed, appointing all pleas and proceed ings of law to be carried on in English : although the same statute decrees, in the true Norman spirit, that all such pleas and proceedings should be enrolled in Latind. Yet this change did not restore either the Saxon alphabet or language. It abolished a token of subjection and disgrace ; and in some de gree contributed to prevent further French innovations in the language then used, which yet remained in a compound state, and retained a considerable mixture of foreign phraseology. In the mean time, it must be remembered that this corruption of the Saxon was not only owing to the admission of new words, occasioned by the new alliance, but to changes of its own forms and terminations, arising from reasons which we cannot inves tigate or explain Among the manuscripts of Digby in the Bodleian library at Oxford, we find a religious or moral Ode, consisting of one hundred and ninety -one stanzas, which the learned Hickes places just after the Conquestf : but as it ontains few Norman

• [ Ayloffe's Calendar of Ant. Chart. Ling. Vett. Thes. Part. i. p . 222,

Pref. p. xxiv. edit. Lond . 1774. 4to. There is another copy, not mentioned ADDITIONS. ] by Hickes, in Jesus College library at © But the French formularies and Oxford , MSS. 85. infr. citat. This is termsof law , and particularly the French entitled Tractatus quidam in Anglico, feudal phraseology, had taken too deep The Digby manuscript has no title. root to be thus hastily abolished. Hence, [ It may be proper to observe here, long after the reign of Edward the Third, that the dates assigned to the several 'many of our lawyers composed their compositions quoted in this Section are tracts in French. And reports and some extremely arbitrary anduncertain . Judg statutes weremade in that language. Seeing from internal evidence far more Fortescut. de Laud. Leg. Angl. c.xlviii. satisfactory criterion than Warton's com Pulton's Statut. 36 Edw . III. This puted age of his MSS . — there is not was A.D. 1363. Thefirst English instru- one which may not safely be referred to mentin Rymer is dated 1368. Fæd. vii. the thirteenth century, and by far the p. 526 . greaternumber to the close of that pe . e This subject will be further illus- riod. Edit.) trated in the next Section . 8 THE HISTORY OF terms, I am inclined to think it of rather higher antiquity. In deference, however, to so great an authority, I am obliged to mention it here; and especially as it exhibits a regular lyric strophe of four lines, the second and fourth of which rhyme together : although these four lines may be perhaps resolved into two Alexandrines; a measure concerning which more will be said hereafter, and of which it will be sufficient to re mark at present, that it appears to have been used very early. For I cannot recollect any strophes of this sort in the elder Runic or Saxon poetry ; nor in any of the old Frankish poems, particularly of Otfrid , a monk of Weissenburgh, who turned the evangelical history into Frankish verse about the ninth century, and has left several hymns in that lan guagef; of Stricker, who celebrated the achievements of Char lemagnes; and of the anonymous author of the metrical life of Anno archbishop of Cologn. The following stanza is a spe cimen h. See Petr. Lambec. Commentar. Ulmæ 1727-8, 3 vol. in fol. ” The The de Bibl. Cæsar. Vindebon . pag . 418. saurus of Schilter is a real mine of Fran 457. cic literature . The text is founded on 8 See Petr . Lambec. ubi supr. lib . ii. a careful collation of all the MSS. cap . 5. There is a circumstance belong- to which he could obtain access ; and ing to the antient Frankish versification , these, with one exception perhaps the which, as it greatly illustrates the sub- life of Saint Anno- are highly valuable ject of alliteration , deserves notice here. for their antiquity and correctness. In Otfrid's dedication of his evangelical the subsequent editions of this hap history to Lewis the First, king of the piest effort of the Francic Muse, by oriental France , consists of four - lined Hegewisch, Goldman, and Besseldt, stanzas in rhyming couplets : but the Schilter's oversight has been abundantly first and last line of every stanza begin remedied. Stricker's poem , or rather and end with the same letter: and the the Strickers (a name which some have letters of the title of the dedication re- interpreted the writer ), is written in the spectively, and the word of the last line Swabian dialect ; andwas composed to of every tetrastic. Flacius Illyricus wards the close of the thirteenth century. published this work of Otfrid at Basil, It is a feeble amplification of an earlier 1571. But I think it has been since more romance, which Warton probably in correctly printed by Johannes Schilte- tended to cite, when he used the Stric rus. It was written about the year 880. kers' name. Both poems will be found Otfrid was the disciple of Rhabanus in Schilter ; but the latter, though usu Maurus. ally styled a Francic production, ex [ Schilter's book was published under hibits a language rapidly merging into this title : “ SCHILTERI Thesaurus anti- the Swabian, if it be not in fact an early quitatum Teutonicarum , exhibens mo- specimen of that dialect in a rude un numenta veterum Francorum , Alaman- cultivated state.--Edit. ] norum vernacula et Latina, cum addi- h St. xiv. tamentis et notis Joan. Georg. Schertzii. ENGLISH POETRY. 9 i Sende god biforen him man The while he may to hevene, For betere is on elmesse bifore Thanne ben after seuene k. That is , “ Let a man send his good works before him to heaven while he can : for one alms-giving before death is of more value than seven afterwards.” The verses perhaps might have been thus written , as two Alexandrines. Send god biforen him man the while he may to hevene, For betere is on almesse biforen , than ben after sevene !. Yet alternate rhyming, applied without regularity, and as rhymes accidentally presented themselves, was not uncommon in our early poetry, as will appear from other examples. Hickes has printed a satire on the monastic profession ; which clearly exemplifies the Saxon adulterated by the Nor man , and was evidently written soon after the Conquest, at least before the reign of Henry the Second. The poet begins with describing the land of indolence or luxury. Fur in see, bi west Spaynge, Is a lond ihote Cokaygne : Ther nis lond under hevenriche a Of wel of godnis hit iliche. Thoy paradis bi mirio and brigt Cokaygn is of fairir sigt. What is ther in paradis Bot grass, and flure, and grene ris ? Thoy ther be joy, and gret duted, Ther nis met, bot frute. i Sendezod bifonenhim man , EMSS. Digb. A 4. membran . pe hpile he mai to heuene; | As I recollect, the whole poem For betere is on elmezsebiforen is thus exhibited in the Trinity manu Đanne ben after reuene . script. This is perhaps the true reading, from a heaven . Sax. the Trinity manuscript at Cambridge, “ Although Pa written about the reign of Henrythe radise is chearful and bright, Cokayne is Second, or Richard the First. Cod. much more beautiful place." membran. 8vo . Tractat. 1. See Abr. 101, Orig. Wheloc. Eccles. Hist. Bed . p . 25. 114. pleasure. h merry, cheerful. 3 C d 10 THE HISTORY OF Ther nis halle, bure , no bench ; But watir manis thurst to quench, &c. In the following lines there is a vein of satirical imagination and some talent at description . The luxury of the monks is represented under the idea of a monastery constructed of va rious kinds of delicious and costly viands. Ther is a wel fair abbei, Of white monkes and of grei, Ther beth boures and halles : All of pasteus beth the walles, Of fleis of fisse, and a rich met, The likefullist that man mai et. Fluren cakes beth the schingles alle, Of church , cloister, bours, and halle. The pinnes 8 beth fat podinges Rich met to princes and to kinges. Ther is a cloyster fair and ligt, Brod and lang of sembli sigt. The pilers of that cloister alle Beth iturned of cristale, With harlas and capital Of grene jaspe and red coral. In the praer is a tree Swithe likeful for to se, The rote is gingeur and galingale, The siouns beth al sed wale. Trie maces beth the flure, The rind canel of swete odure : The frute gilofre of gode smakke, Of cucubes ther nis no lakke . There beth iiüi willish in the abbei Oftracle and halwei, e buttery, [a chamber. ] f Shingles. « The tiles , or covering of the house, are of rich cakes." & the pinnacles. h fountains. ENGLISH POETRY. 11 Of baume and eke piement ', Ever ernend * to rigt rent' ; Of thai stremis al the molde, Stonis pretiusem and golde, Ther is saphir, and uniune, Carbuncle and astiune, Smaragde, lugre, and prassiune, Beril, onyx , toposiune, Amethiste and crisolite, Calcedun and epetite Ther beth birddes mani and fale Throstill, thruisse, and nigtingale, Chalandre, and wodwale, And othir briddes without tale, That stinteth never bi her migt Miri to sing dai and nigt. [ Nonnulla desunt.] Yite I do yow mo to witte, The gees irostid on the spitte, Fleey to that abbai, God hit wot, And gredith ', gees al hote al hote, &c. Our author then makes a pertinent transition to a convent of nuns ; which he supposes to be very commodiously situated at no great distance, and in the same fortunate region of indo lence, ease, and affluence. An other abbai is ther bi For soth a gret nunnerie ; Up a river of swet milk Whar is plente grete of silk . When the summeris dai is hote, The yung nunnes takith a bote, m i This word will be explained at large Our old poets are never so happy as hereafter. running. Sax. when they can get into a catalogue of 1 course. Sax . The Arabian phi- things or names. See Observat. on the losophy imported into Europe was full Fairy Queen, i . p . 140. of the doctrine of precious stones. • 'crieth. Gallo- Franc. ( Anglo- Sax .) 12 THE HISTORY OF And doth ham forth in that river Both with oris and with stere : Whan hi beth fur from the abbei Hi makith him nakid for to plei, And leith dune in to the brimme And doth him sleilich for to swimme : The yung monkes that hi seeth Hi doth ham up and forth hi fleeth , And comith to the nunnes anon , And euch monk him takith on , And snellich P berith forth har prei To the mochill grei abbei ”, And techith the nonnes an oreisun With jambleus up and duns. quick, quickly. Gallo - Franc. ( An- Squizeres in vchc syđe, glo - Saxon. ] In the wonesd so wyde: 9 " to the great abbey of Grey Hur schul we longeeabyde, Monks.” Auntresf to heare. ' lascivious motions, gambols. Fr. Thene swithe spekethe he, gambiller. Til a ladi so fre, $ Hickes. Thes. i. Par. i. P. 231seq. And biddeth that he welcum be, [ A French fabliau, bearing a near “ Sire Water my feereh.” resemblance to this poem , and possibly Ther was bordsi i clothed clene the production upon which the English With schirek clothes and schene, minstrel founded his song, has been pub- Seppel a wasschen “ , i wene, lished in the new edition of Barbazan's And wente to the sete : Fabliaux et Contes, Paris 1808, vol. iv . Riche metes was forth brouht, p. 175. - Edit.] To all men that gode thouht : [ The secular indulgences, particularly The cristen monwolde nouht the luxury, of a female convent, are in- Drynkę nor ete . tended to be represented in the following Ther was wyn ful clere passage of an antient poem , called Ă In mony a feir masere ", Disputation bytwene a Crystene mon and a And other drynkes that weore dere, Jew , written before the year 1300. MS. In coupesº ful gret : Vernon, fol. 301. Siththe was schewed him bi Till a Nonneri thei came, Murththe and munstralsy , But I knowe not the name ; Andpreyed hem do gladly, Ther was mony a derworthea dame With ryal rechet ? In dyapre dere : Bi the bordes up thei stode, & c. Addit.] с h · dear -worthy. diaper fine. squires, attendants. d rooms, apartments. e shall we long. f adventures, 8 swiftly, immediately. mycompanion, my love. He is called afterwards “ Sire ( Sir] Walter of Berwick .” i tables. * sheer, clean . Or sithe, i. e. often. ( afterwards :but per haps we should read seththe thei, “ afterwards they.” - Edit.] m washed . mazer, great cup. enips. P afterwards there was sport and minstrelsy. ? i . e. recept, reception . Butsee Chaucer's Rom . R. v. 6509: “ Him , woulde I comfort and rechete. " And Tr. Cress. iï . 350 . 0 ENGLISH POETRY. 13 This poem was designed to be sung at public festivalst: a practice, of which many instances occur in this work ; and concerning which it may be sufficient to remark at present, that a JocULATOR or Bard, was an officer belonging to the court of William the Conqueroru. Another Norman Saxon poem cited by the same industrious antiquary, is entitled THE LIFE OF Saint MARGARET. The structure of its versification considerably differs from that in the last-mentioned piece, and is like the French Alexandrines. But I am of opinion that a pause, or division, was intended in the middle of every verse : and in this respect its versification resembles also that of ALBION'S ENGLAND, or Drayton's Po LYOLBION, which was a species very common about the reign of queen Elisabeth Elisabeth ww.. The rhymes are also continued to every fourth line. It appears to have been written about the time of the Crusades. It begins thus: Olde ant * yonge I priet ' ou , oure folies for to lete , Thenket on god that yef ou wit, oure sunnes to bete. Here I mai tellen ou, wit wordes feire ant swete, The viez of one meiden was hoten a Maregrete. Hire fader was a patriac, as ic ou tellen may, In Auntioge wif echest i the false lay, Deve godes ant doumbe, he served nitt ant day, So deden mony othere that singet weilaway. Theodosius was is nome, on Crist ne levede he noutt, He levede on the false godes, that weren with honden wroutt. t as appears from this line : that of the heroic Alexandrine of the Lordingesgode and hende, &c. French poetry. See Mallet's Introd . It is in MSS. More, Cantabrig. 784. f. 1. Dannem . &c. ch. xiii. u His lands are cited in Doomsday * and. Fr. Book . “ GLOUCESTERSCIRE. Berdic, Jo- y I direct, Fr. “ I advise you , your, culator Regis, habet iii. villas et ibi v. & c.” [ The writer of this Life in the car. nil redd. See Anstis, Ord. Gart. Bodleian MS. , who is quite as likely to ii. 304 . have understood the author's meaning, w It is worthy of remark, that we find reads " I preye you ” : words bearing no in the collection of ancient Northern doubt the same signification then as they monuments, published by M. Biorner, a do at present.-- Edit.1 poem of some length, said by that au- 2 life. Fr. called . Saxon . thor to have been composed in the twelfth o chose a wife. Sax. or thirteenth century . This poem is pro- married in Antioch ." fessedly in rhyme, and the measurelike c « deaf gods, & c.” “ He was 14 THE HISTORY OF Tho that child sculde cristine ben it com well in thoutt, Ebedd wen it were ibore, to deth it were ibroutt, &c. In the sequel, Olibrius, lord of Antioch, who is called a Sa racen, falls in love with Margaret: but she being a Christian , and a candidate for canonization , rejects his solicitations and is thrown into prison. Meidan Maregrete one nitt in prisun lai Ho com biforn Olibrius on that other dai. Meidan Maregrete, lef up on my lay, Ant Ihu that thou levest on, thou do him al awey. Lef on me ant be my wife, ful wel the mai spede. Auntioge and Asie scaltou han to mede : Ciclatoune ant purpel pal scaltou have to wede : Wid all the metes of my lond ful wel I scal the fede. This piece was printed by Hickes from a manuscript in Trinity College library at Cambridge. It seems to belong to the manuscript metrical Lives OF THE SAINTS 8, which form a very considerable volume, and were probably translated or paraphrased from Latin or French prose into English rhyme before the year 1200h. We are sure that they were written din bed . That is, “ When the judge at dooms * Checklaton. See Obs. Fair. Q. i . day winnows his wheat, and drives the 194. dusty chaff into the heat of hell ; may f Hickes. i . 225. The legend of Seinte there be a corner in God's golden Eden Juliane in the Bodleian library is rather for him ( Rather: “ may he be a corn older, but ofmuch the sameversification. in God's golden Eden ”.- Edit.] who MSS. Bibl. Bodl. NE. 3. xi. membran. turned this book into [ from ] Latin,” &c. 8vo. iii . fol. 36. This manuscript I be- & The same that are mentioned by lieveto be of the age of Henry the Third Hearne, from amanuscript of Ralph or king John : the composition much Sheldon. See Hearne's Petr. Langt. earlier . It was translated from the La- p. 542. 607. 608. 609. 611. 628. 670. tin . These are the five last lines. Saint Winifred's Life is printed from the same collection by bishop Fleetwood, bpen grihtın o domes dei pindseð hir in his Life and Miracles of S. Winifred, hpeate, p. 125. ed. 1713. And perpeð þær durti chef to hel- h It is in fact a metrical history of the lene heate, festivals of the whole year. The life of De mote beon a coạn 1 307er zuldene the respective Saint is described under edene, every Saint's day, and the institutions of Đe turde dis of Latın to Englische some sundays, and feasts not taking their ledenne rise from saints, are explained, on the And he þæt her leayt onprat spa ar plan of the Legenda Aurea, written by he cuje. AMEN. Jacobus de Voragine, archbishop of Ge ENGLISH POETRY. 15 after the year 1169, as they contain the Life of Saint Thomas Becketi. In the Bodleian library are three manuscript co pies of these LIVES OF THE SAINTS ", in which the Life of Saint Margaret constantly occurs ; but it is not always exactly the same with this printed by Hickes. And on the whole, noa, about the year 1290 , from which seems to havebeen, to form a complete Caxton, through the medium ofa French body of legendary andscriptural history version entitled Legend Dorée, translated inverse, or rather to collect into one view his Golden Legend. The Festival or all the religious poetry he could find. Festiall, printed by Wynkin de Worde, Accordingly the Lives of the Saints, a is a bookof the same sort, yet with ho- distinct and large work of itself, pro milies intermixed . See MSS. Harl. perly constituted a part of his plan. 2247. fol. and 2371. 4to . and 2391. 4to . There is another copy of the Lives of and 2402 4to . and 2800 seq . Manu- the Saints in the British Museum , MSS. script lives of Saints, detached, and not Harl. 2277 ; and in Ashmole's Mu belonging to this collection , arefrequent seum , MSS. Ashm . ut supr. I think in libraries. The Vite Patrum were this manuscript is also in Bennet Col originally drawn from S. Jeromeand lege library. The Lives seem to be Johannes Cassianus. In Gresham Col- placed according to their respective fes lege library are metrical lives of ten tivals in the course of the year. The Saints chiefly from the Golden Legend, Bodleian copy (marked 779. ) is a thick by Osberne Bokenham , an Augustine folio, containing 310 leaves. The va canon in the abbey of Stoke-clare in riations in these manuscripts seem chiefly Suffolk, transcribed by Thomas Burgh owing to the transcribers. TheLife of at Cambridge 1477. The Life of S. Saint Margaret in MSS . Bodl. 779. Katharine appears to have been com- begins much like that of Trinity library posed in 1445. MSS. Coll. Gresh . 315. at Cambridge, The French translation of the Legenda Old ant yonge I preye you your folyis Aurea was made by Jehan de Vignay, a for to lete, & c . monk , soon after 1300 . i Ashmole cites this Life, Instit. Ord. I must add here, that in the Harleian Gart. p. 21. And he cites S. Brandon's library, a few Lives, from the samecol Life, p. 507. Ashmole's manuscript lection of Lives of the Saints, occur, MSS. was in the hands of Silas Taylor. It is 2250. 23. f. 72. b. seq. chart. fol. See now in his Museum at Oxford . MSS. also ib . 19. f. 48. These Lives are in Ashm . 50. [7001. ] French rhymes, ib. 2253. f. 1 .

• MSS. Bodl. 779.- Laud, L 70 . [ The LIVES OF THE Saints in verse, in And they make a considerable partof Bennet library, contain themartyrdom a prodigious folio volume, beautifully and translation of Becket, Num . clxv .

writtenon vellum , and elegantly illu. This manuscript is supposed to be of minated, where they have the following the fourteenth century. Archbishop title, which also comprehends other an- Parker, in a remark prefixed , has as tient English religious poems : “ Here signed the composition to the reign of begynnen the tytles of the book that is Henry the Second. But in that case, cald in Latyn tonge Salus ANIME, and Becket's translation , which did not hap in Englysh tonge SOWLEHELE. It was pen till the reign of king John , must given to the Bodleian library by Edward have been added. See a specimen in Vernon, esq. soon after the civil war. Mr. Nasmith's accurate and learned I shall cite it under the title of MS. Ver . CATALOGUE of the Bennet Manuscripts, Although pieces not absolutely pag. 217. Cantab . 1777. 4to. There is religious are sometimes introduced, the a manuscript of these Lives in Trinity scheme of the compiler or transcriber College library at Oxford , but it has not > non. 16 THE HISTORY OF the Bodleian Lives seem inferior in point of antiquity. I will here give some extracts never yet printed. he Life of Becket. MSS. Num. lvii. In scribe a few lines from the Life of Saint pergamen. fol. The writing is about CUTHBERT, f. 2. b. thefourteenth century. I will tran Seint Cuthberd was ybore here in Engelonde, God dude for him meraccle, as ze scholleth vnderstonde. And wel zong child he was, inhis eigtethe zere, Wit children hepleyde atte balle, that his felawes were : That com go a lite childe, it thozt thre zer old, A swete creature and a fayr, yt was myld and bold : To the zong Cuthberd he zede, sene brother he sede, Ne bench not such ydell game for it ne ozte nozt be thy dede : Seint Cuthberd ne tok no zeme to the childis rede And pleyde forth with his felawes, al so they him bede. Tho this zonge child y sez that he his red forsok, A doun he fel to grounde, and gret del to him to tok , It by ganto wepe sore, and his honden wrynge, This children hadde alle del of him, and bysened hare pleyinge. As that they couthe hy gladede him , sore he gan to siche, At even this zonge childmade del y siche, A welaway, qd seint Cuthbert, why wepes thou so sore Zif we the haveth ozt mysdo we ne scholleth na more. Thanne spake this zonge child, sore hy wothe beye, Cuthberd it falleth nozt to the with zonge children to pleye, For no suche idell games it ne cometh the to worche, Whanne god hath y proveyd the an heved of holy cherche. With this word, me nyste whidder, this zong child wente, An angel it was of heven that our lord thuder sent. Saxon letters are used in this manu- lines as they appear in that mode of script. I will exhibit the next twelve writing: together with the punctuation. to by gan seint Cuthberd. for to wepe sore He made his fader and frendis. sette him to lote So ţat he servede boje nygt and day . to plese god þe more And in his zoughede nygt and day. of servede godis ore po he in grettere elde was. as be bok us haþ y sed It by fel þat seint Ajdan. Þe bisschop was ded Cuthberd was a felde with schep. angeles of heven he sez pe bisschopis soule seint Aydan. to heven bere on hez 'Allas sede seint Cuthberd. fole ech am to longe I nell pis schep no longer kepe. a fonge hem who so a fonge* He wente to be abbeye of Germans. agrey monk he per by com Gret joye made alle fe covent. po he that abbýt nom , & c. The reader will observe the constant psalms in our choral service. In the return of the hemistichal point, which psalms of our liturgy, this pause is ex I have been careful to preserve, and to pressed by a colon : and often , in those represent with exactness; as I suspect of the Roman missal, by an asterisc . that it shows how these poems were sung The same mark occurs in every line of to the harp by the minstrels. Every this manuscript ; which is a folio volume line was perhaps uniformly recited to of considerable size, with upwards of the same inonotonous modulation, with fifty verses in every page. a pause in a midst: just as we chant the

• [ take them who will.' -Edit. ]

ENGLISH POETRY. 17 From the Life of Saint Swithin . 1 Seint Swythan the confessour was her of Engelonde, Bisyde Wynchestre he was ibore, as ich undirstonde: Bi the kynges dei Egbert this goode' was ibore, That tho was kyng of Engelonde, and somedele eke bifore ; The eihtethe he was that com aftur Kinewolfe the kynge, That seynt Berin dude to Cristendome in Engelonde furst brynge: Seynt Austen hedde bifore to Cristendom i brouht Athelbryt the goode kynge as al the londe nouht. Al setthem hyt was that seynt Berin her bi west wende, And tornede the kynge Kinewolfe as vr lord grace sende " : So that Egbert was kyng tho that Swythan was bores The eighth was Kinewolfe that so long was bifore, & c. Seynt Swythan his bushopricke to al goodnesse drough The towne also of Wynchestre.he amended inough, Ffor he lette the stronge bruge* withoute the toune arere And fond therto lym and ston and the workmen that ther were. From the LIFE of Saint Wolstan. Seynt Wolston bysscop of Wirceter was then in Ingelonde, Swithe holyman was all his lyf as ich onderstonde : The while he was a yonge childe good lyf hi ladde ynow , Whenne other children orne play toward cherche hi drow . Seint Edward was tho vr kyng, that now in hevene is, And the bisscoppe of Wircester Brytthege is hette I wis, & c . I Thus in MSS. Harl. fol. 78. the beginning ; but such of the Lives as Seint Swibbin de confessour was here MS. have been collated with Warton's it contained in common with the Vernon of Engelonde Biside Wynchestre hi was ibore as ic text , and the few material variations vnderstonde. will be found printed within brackets in the notes below .- EDIT .] ( The Harleian Ms. is imperfect at m ^ f. 93. MS. Vernon . since. $ [ gode man. ] 2 ( as our lorde him grace sende. ]

• ( Seint Egbert that was kyng tho Seint Swithin was ibore,

The eizeteothe he was after Kenewolfe that so long was bifore.]

• ( the este gate. ]

VOL. I. с 18 THE HISTORY OFO Bisscop hym made the holi man seynt Edward vre kynge And undirfonge his dignite, and tok hym cros and ringe. His bushopreke he wust wel, and eke his priorie, And forcede him to serve wel God and Seinte Marie. Ffour zer he hedde bisscop ibeo and not folliche fyve Tho seynt Edward the holi kyng went out of this lyve. To gret reuge to al Engelonde, so welaway the stounde, Ffor strong men that come sithen and broughte Engelonde to grounde. Harald was sithen kynge with tresun , allas ! The crowne he bare of England which while hit was . As William Bastard that was tho duyk of Normaundye Thouhte to winne Englonde thorusg strength and felonye: He lette hym greith foulke inouh and gret power with him nom, With gret strengthe in the see he him dude and to Engelonde com : He lette ordayne his ost wel and his baner up arerede, And destruyed all that he fond and that londe sore aferde. Harald hereof tell kynge of Engelonde He let garke fast his oste agen hym for to stonde : His baronage of Engelonde redi was ful sone The kyng to helpe and eke himself as riht was to done. The warre was then in Engelonde dolefull and stronge inouh And heore either of othures men al to grounde slouh : The Normans and this Englisch men deiy of batayle nom There as the abbeye is of the batayle a day togedre com , To grounde thei smiit and slowe also , as God yaf the cas, William Bastard was above and Harald bi neothe was. ° From the Life of Saint Christopher. p Seynt Cristofre was a Sarazin in the londe of Canaan , In no stud bi him daye mi fond non so strong a man : • MS. Vernon . fol. 76. b. In no stede bi his daye ne fond me so P MSS. Harl. ut supr. fol. 101. b. strong a man Seint Cristofre was Sarazin in de lond Four andtuenti fet he was long and of Canaan þiche and brod y-noug, &c ENGLISH POETRY. 19 Ffour and twenti feete he was longe, and thikk and brod inouh , Such a mon but he weore stronge methinketh hit weore wouh : A la cuntre where he was for him wolde fleo, Therfore hym ythoughte that no man ageynst him sculde beo. He seide he wolde with no man beo but with on that were Hext lord of all men and undir hym non othir were. Afterwards he is taken into the service of a king. -Cristofre hym served longe ; The kynge loved melodye much of fithele 9 and of songe ; So that his jogeler on a dai biforen him gon to pleye faste “, And in a tyme he nemped in his song the devil atte laste: Anon so the kynge that I herde he blesed him anon , &c. " From the Life of Saint Patrick . Seyn Pateryk com thoru Godes grace to preche in Irelonde To teche men ther ryt believe Jehu Cryste to understonde : So ful of wormes that londe he founde that no man ni myghte gon , In som stede for worms that he nas wenemyd anon ; Seynt Pateryk bade our lorde Cryst that the londe delyvered were, Of thilke foul wormis that none ne com theres. From the Life of Saint Thomas Becket. Ther was Gilbert Thomas fadir name the trewe man and gode He loved God and holi cherche setthe he witte ondirstode '. The cros to the holi cherche' in his zouthe he nom , ... 8 myd on Rychard that was his mon to Jerlem com , & fiddle . * MS. Vernon. fol. 119. And lovede God and holi church sibþe • Bode MSS. 779. fol. 41. b. he wit understod . € MSS. Harl. fol. 195. b. Gilbert was Thomas fader name pat true This Harleian manuscript is imperfect was and god in many parts. 6 5 [of harpe. ) [ ... on a dai to fore him pleide faste Ant anemmede in his ryme the devil atte laste Tho the kyng hurde that he blesed himanon . ' [holi lond. $ [ And mid. c 2 20 THE HISTORY OF Ther hy dede here pylgrimage in holi stedes faste So that among Sarazyns hy wer nom at laste, &c. This legend of Saint Thomas Becket is exactly in the style of all the others; and as Becket was martyred in the latter part of the reign of Henry the Second from historical evidence, and as, from various internal marks, the language of these legends cannot be older than the twelfth century, I think we may fairly pronounce the Lives of THE SAINTS to have been written about the reign of Richard the First * . These metricalnarratives of Christian faith and perseverance seem to have been chiefly composed for the pious amusement, and perhaps edification, of the monks in their cloisters. The sumptuous volume of religious poems which I have mentioned above y , was undoubtedly chained in the cloister, or church, of some capital monastery. It is not improbable that the novices were exercised in reciting portions from these pieces. In the British Museum 2 there is a set of legendary tales in rhyme, which appear to have been solemnly pronounced by the priest to the people on sundays and holidays. This sort of poetry a MSS. Bodl. 779. f. 41. b. a That legends of Saints were sung to * Who died 1199. In the Cotton li . the harp at feasts, appears from The Life brary I find the lives of Saint Josaphas of Saint Marine, MSS. Harl, 2253. fol and the Seven Sleepers: where the Nor , memb. f. 64. b. man seems to predominate, although Herketh hideward and beoth stille, Saxon letters are used. Brit. Mus. MSS. Cott. Calig. A ix. Cod. membran . 4to. Y praie ou zif hit be or wile, And ze shule here of one virgin ii. fol. 192. That was ycleped saint Maryne. Ici commence la vie de seint Iofaphaz. And from various other instances. Ki vout a nul bien æntendre Some ofthesereligious poemscontain Per essample poet mlt aprendre. the usual address ofthe minstrel to the üi. fol. 219. b. Ici commence la vie de company. As in a poem of our Sa Set Dormanz. viour's descent into hell, and his dis course there with Sathanas the porter , La vertu deu ke tut iur dure Adam , Eve, Abraham , & c. MSS. ibid . E tut iurz ert cereine e pure. f . 57. Many legends and religious pieces Alle herkeneth to me now , in Norman rhyme were written about A strif wolle y tellen ou : this time. See MSS. Harl. 2253. f. 1 . Of Jhesu andof Sathan , membr. fol. supr. citat. Tho Jhesu wes to hell y - gan . y viz. MS. Vernon . 2 MSS. Harl. 2891. 70. The dialect Other proofs will occur occasionally. is perfectly Northern . p. 15 . ENGLISH POETRY. 21 was also sung to the harp by the minstrels on sundays, instead of the romantic subjects usual at public entertainments 6. In that part of Vernon's manuscript entitled SOULEHELE, we have a translation of the Old and New Testament into verse ; which I believe to have been made before the year 1200. The reader will observe the fondness of our ancestors for the Alexandrine: at least, I find the lines arranged in that measure . Oure ladi and hire sustur stoden under the roode, And seint John and Marie Magdaleyn with wel sori moode: Vr ladi bi heold hire swete son i brouht in gret pyne, Ffor monnes gultes nouthen her and nothing for myne. Marie weop wel sore and bitter teres leet, The teres fullen 1 uppon the ston doun at hire feet. • As I collect from the following duced between the metrical translations poem , MS. Vernon, fol. 229. of them . From France, it is probable, The Visions of Seynt Poul won he was this rite found its way into England ; rapt into Paradys. and the following extract from the piece Lusteneth lordynges leof and dere, alluded to above will show the uni. Ze that wolen of the Sonday here ; formity of style adopted in the exor The Sonday a day hit is diums to such productions on both sides of the Channel. That angels and archangels joyn i wis, More in that ilke day Sezets, senhors, e aiats pas ; Then any odur, &c. So que direm ben escoutas ; Car la lisson es de vertat, [ It was enjoined by the ritual of the Non hy a mot de falsetat. Gallican church, that the Lives of the Saints should be read during mass, on “ Be seated, lordings, and hold your the days consecrated to their memory. peace ( et ayez pair) ; listen attentively On the introduction of the Roman li- to what weshall say ; for it is a lesson turgy , which forbade the admixture of of truth without a word of falsehood . ” . any extraneouismatter with the service. It has been recently maintained, that the of the mass, thispracticeappears to term“ lording ” ofsuchfrequent occur have been suspended, and the Lives of rence in the preludes to our old ro the Saints were read only at evening mances and legends, is a manifest proof prayer. But even in this, the invete- of their being " composed for thegrati racy of custom seems speedily to have fication of knights and nobles." There re-established its rights ; and there is are many valid objections to such a con reason to believe, that the Lives of such clusion ; but one periaps more cogent as are mentioned in the New Testam than the rest. The term is a diminutive, ment, were regularly delivered from the and could never have been applied to the chancel. Ofthis, a curious example, nobility as an order, however generalits the “ Planch de Sant Esteve, " has use as an expression of courtesy. By been published by M. Raynouard in way of illustration , let it also be remem his “ Choix des Poesies originales des bered, that the “ Disours ” of the pre Troubadours (Paris 1817]; " where the sent day, who ply upon the Mole at passages from the Acts ofthe Apostles Naples, address every ragged auditor by referring to Saint Stephen , are intro- the title of “ Eccellenza. -Edit. ] 22 THE HIS HISTORY OF “ Alas, my son , for serwe wel off seide heo Nabbe iche bote the one that hongust on the treo ; So ful icham of serwe, as any wommon may beo, That ischal my deore child in all this pyne iseo : How schal I sone deore, how hast i yougt liven withouten the, Nusti nevere of serwe nougt sone, what seyst you me ? " Then spake Jhesus wordus gode to his modur dere, Ther he heng uppon the roode “ here I the take a fere, That trewliche schal serve ye, thin own cosin Jon, The while that you alyve beo among all thi fon : Ich the hote Jon, he seide, you wite hire both day and niht That the Gywes hire fon ne don hire non un riht." Seint John in the stude vr ladi in to the temple nom God to serven he híre dude sone so he thider come, Hole and seeke heo duden good that he founden thore Heo hire serveden to hond and foot, the lass and eke the more. The pore folke feire heo fedde there, heo sege that hit was neode, Andthe seke heobrougte to bedde and met and drinke gon heom beode. Wy at heore mihte yong and olde hire loveden bothe syke and fer As hít was. riht for alle and summe to hire servise hedden mester . Jon hire was a trew feer, and nolde nougt from hire go, He lokid hire as his ladi deore and what heo wolde hit was i do. Now blowith this newe fruyt that lat bi gon to springe, That to his kuynd heritage monkunne schal bringe, This new fruyt of whom I speke is vre Cristendome, That late was on erthe isow and latir furth hit com , So hard and luthur was the lond of whom hit scholde springe That wel unnęthe eny rote men mougte theron bring, God hi was the gardener, ' & c . In the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth , among other Nor man Saxon homilies in prose, there is a homily or exhortation CMS. Vernon , fol. 8, ENGLISH POETRY. 23 on the Lord's prayer in verse : which , as it was evidently transcribed rather before the reign of Richard the First, we may place with some degree of certainty before the year 1185. Vre feder that in hevene is That is al sothfull I wis. Weo moten to theos weordes iseon That to live and to saule gode beon. That weo beon swa his sunes iborene That he beo feder and we him icorene That we don alle his ibeden And his wille for to reden, &c. Lauerde God we biddeth thus Mid edmode heorte gif hit us. That vre soule beo to the icore Noht for the flesce for lore. " Dole us to biwepen vre sunne That we ne sternen noht therunne And gif us, lauerd , that ilke gifte Thet we hes ibeten thurh holie scrifte. AMEN . In the valuable library of Corpus Christi College in Cam bridge, is a sort of poetical biblical history, extracted from the books of Genesis and Exodus. It was probably composed about the reign of Henry the Second or Richard the First. But I am chiefly induced to cite this piece, as it proves the excessive attachment of our earliest poets to rhyme: they were fond of multiplying the same final sound to the most tedious monotony ; and without producing any effect of elegance, strength, or harmony. It begins thus : Man og to luuen that rimes ren. The wissed wel the logede men. Hu manmay him wel loken Thog he ne be lered on no boken. > Quart. minor. 185. Cod . membran. vi. f. 21. b. , 24 THE HII 6TORY OF Luuen God and serven him ay For he it hem wel gelden may. And to al Cristenei men Boren pais and luue by twem . Than sal him almighti luuven. Here by nethen and thund abuuven, And given him blisse and soules reste. That him sal eavermor lesten . Ut of Latin this song is a dragen On Engleis speche on soche sagen, Cristene men ogen ben so fagen, So fueles arn quan he it sen dagen, Than man hem telled soche tale Wid londes speche and wordes smale Of blisses dune, of sorwes dale, Quhu Lucifer that devel dwale And held him sperred in helles male, Til God him frid in manliched Dede mankinde bote and red . And unswered al the fendes sped And halp thor he sag mikel ned Biddi hie singen non other led , Thog mad hic folgen idel hed . Fader gode of al thinge, Almightin louerd, hegest kinge, Thu give me seli timinge To thau men this werdes bigininge, The lauerd God to wurthinge Quether so hic rede or singe. We find this accumulation of identical rhymes in the Runic odes ; particularly in the ode of Egill cited above, entitled EGILL'S RANSOM. In the Cotton library a poem is preserved of the same age, on the subjects of death, judgment, and hell tor ments, where the rhymes are singular, and deserve our attention .

• MSS. R 11. Cod . membran . octavo. It seems to be in the Northern dialect.

ENGLISH POETRY. 25 Non mai longe lives wene Ac ofte him lieth the wrench . Feir weither turneth ofte into reine An wunderliche hit maketh his blench , Tharfore mon thu the bithench Al schal falewi thi grene. Weilawei ! nis kin ne quene That ne schal drinche of deathes drench , Mon er thu falle of thi bench Thine sunne thu aquench. f To the same period of our poetry I refer a version of Saint Jerom's French psalter, which occurs in the library of Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. The hundredth psalm is thus translated . Mirthes to God al erthe that es Serves to louerd in faines, In go yhe ai in his siht, In gladnes that is so briht. Whites that louerd God is he thus He us made and our self noht us, His folk and shep of his fode : In gos his yhates that are gode: In schrift his worches belive, In ympnes to him yhe schrive. Heryhes his name for louerde is hende, In all his merci do in strende and strande. In the Bodleian library there is a translation of the Psalms, which much resembles in style and measure this just mentioned. If not the same, it is of equal antiquity. The hand -writing is of the age of Edward the Second : certainly not later than his successor. It also contains the Nicene creed ", and some church hymns, versified : but it is mutilated and imperfect. The nineteenth psalm runs thus, Bibl . Cotton . MSS. Calig . A ix.com whom , to avoid prolix and obsolete speci. vi. f. 243. 8 0. 6. Cod. membr. 4to. mens already printed, I refer the reader. Hickes has printed a metrical ve Thesaur. Par. i . p . 233. I believe it to sion of the crecd of St. Athanasius ; to be of the age of Henry the Second. 26 THE HISTORY OF Hevens telles Goddis blisse, The walken schewes handes werkes hisse, Dai to dai worde riftes right, And wisedome schewes night to night, Noght ere speches ne saghes even Of whilk noght es herd thair steven . In al land outyhode thair rorde And in endes of werld of tham the worde. In sun he set his telde to stand And he als bridegrome of his bouer comand. He gladed as yhoten to renne his wai Fra heghest heuene his outcome ai, And his ogaine raas til hegh sete, Nes whilk that hides him fra his hete. Lagh of laverd unwemmed esse , Tornand saules into blisse : Witnes of laverd es ai trewe Wisedome lenand to littel newe : Rightwisenesses of laverd right hertes fainand, Gode of laverd light eghen lightand, Drede of laverd hali es it In werld of werld and ful of wit Domes of laverd soth er ai And rightwished in thar self er thai, Yornandlike over the golde And stane derworthi mikel holde : And wele swetter to mannes wambe Over honi and ye kambel. This is the beginning of the eighteenth psalm , I sal love the laverd in stalworth hede Laverd mi festnesse ai in nede And mi toflight that es swa And mi leser out of wa 1 [ The Cotton MS. of this version of been adopted. See Vesp. D. vü. ff. 11. the Psalms was found to contain a better and 9.-Edit. ] text than Warton's, and consequently has ENGLISH POETRY. 27 I will add another religious fragment on the crucifixion, in the shorter measure, evidently coeval, and intended to be sung to the harp. Vyen i o the rode se Jesu nayled to the tre, Jesu mi lefman , Ibunder bloe and blodi, An hys moder stant him bi, Wepand, and Johan : Hys bac wid scwrge iswungen, Hys side depe istungen, Ffor sinne and louve of man , Weil anti sinne lete An nek wit teres wete Thif i of love can ! In the library of Jesus College at Oxford, I have seen a Nor man Saxon poem of another cast, yet without much invention or poetry ". It is a contest between an owl and a nightingale about superiority in voice and singing ; the decision of which is left to the judgment of one John de Guldevord ". It is not P. 69. · MSS. Bibl. Bodl. B 3. 18. Th . Ici commence la Passyun Ihu Christ en f. 101. b. ( Langb. vi. 209.) engleys. m It is also in Bibl. Cotton . MSS. I hereth eu one lutele tale that ich eu CALIG . ix . A 5. fol. 230. wille telle So it is said in Catal. MSS. Angl. As we vyndeth hit iwrite in the god But by mistake. Our Johnde spelle, Guldevorde is indeed the author of the Nis hit nouht of Karlemeyne ne of poem which immediately precedes in the the Duzpere manuscript, as appears by the following As of Cristes thruwynge, & c.. entryat the endof it, in the hand-writ- It seems to be of equal antiquity with ingof the very learned Edward Lwyhd. that mentioned in the text. The whole “ On part of a broken leaf of this MS. manuscript, consisting ofmany detached I findthese verses written, whearby the pieces both in verse and prose, was per author may be guest at. haps written in the reign of Henry the Sixth . “ Mayster Johan eu greteth of Guld worde tho, [ In the Cotton MS. “ one Nichole Andsendetheu to seggen that synge he of Guldefordeis twicenamed; notin. deed as the poet, but as a sage person , On thisse wisehe will endy his songe, an accomplished singer,and afit judge God louerde of hevene, beo us alle of their controversy. He is mentioned to reside at Porteshom in Dorsetshire . amonge." Probably Nicholas was brother of John The piece is entitled and begins thus ; de Guldevord.” Ritson. ] nul he wo, 28 THE HISTORY OF later than Richard the First. The rhymes are multiplied, and remarkably interchanged . Ich was in one sunnie dale In one suwe dizele hale, 1 -herde ich hold grete tale, An huleº and one niztingale. That plait was stif & starc and strong, Sum wile softe and lud among. [ Either ) agen other sval And let that wole mod ut al. And either seide of otheres custe , That alere worste that hi wuste And hure and hure of othere songe Hi holde plaiding suthe strongep. The earliest love- song which I can discover in our language, is among the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum . I would place it before or about the year 1200. It is full of alliteration , and has a burthen or chorus. Blow northerne wynd, Sent thou me my suetynge ; Blow northerne wynd, Blou, blou, blou . Ich - ot a burde in boure bryht That fully semly is on syht, Menskful maiden of myht, Feir ant fre to fonde, In al this wurhliche won , A burde of blod and of bon, Never zete ' y nuste ' non Lussomore in Londe. Blow , & c. With lokkes lefliches and longe, With front ant face feir to fonde ; with murthes monie mote heo monge o owl. 9 P MSS. Coll, Jes. Oxon . 86. membr. yet ſzere, Ritson ): I knew not. lively [lovely) ENGLISH POETRY. 29 That brid so breme in boure ; With lossum eie grete and gode, Weth browen blysfol underhode, He that rest him on the rode That leflych lyf honoure. Blou ,' & c. Hire lure lumes liht, Ase a launterne a nyht, Hyre bleou blynkyeth so bryht. So feyr heo is ant fyn, A suetly suyre heo hath to holde, With armes , shuldre ase mon wolde, Ant fyngres feyre forte folde: God wolde hue were myn. Middel heo hath menskful smal, Hire loveliche chere as cristal; Theyes, legges, fet, and al, Ywraught wes of the beste ; A lussum ledy lasteles, That sweting is and ever wes ; A betere burde never nes Yheryed with the heste, Heo ys dere-worthe in day, Graciouse, stout, and gaye, Gentil, jolyf, so the jay, Worhliche when she waketh , Maiden murgest w of mouth Bi est, bi west, bi north, bi south, Ther nis ficle ne crouth , That such murthes maketh . Heo is corall of godnesse, Heo is rubie of ryht fulnesse, Heo is cristal of clairnesse, Ant baner of bealte, Heo is lilie of largesse, Heo is paruenke of prouesse, u blee, complexion. Sic . merrieste 30 THE HISTORY OF Heo is solsecle of suethesse, Ant ledy of lealte, To lou that leflich ys in londe Ytolde as hi as ych understonde, &c. * From the same collection I have extracted a part of another amatorial ditty, of equal antiquity ; which exhibits a stanza of no inelegant or unpleasing structure, and approaching to the octave rhyme. It is, like the last, formed on alliteration . In a fryhte as y con fare framede Y founde a wel feyr fenge to fere, Heo glystenede ase gold when hit glemede, Nes ner gome so gladly on gere, Y wolde wyte in world who hire kenede This burde bryht, zef hire wil were , Heo me bed go my gates, lest hire gremede, Ne kept heo non henyng here y . In the following lines a lover compliments his mistress named Alysoun . Bytuene Mersh and Averil When spray beginneth to springe, The lutel foul hath hire wyl On hyre lud to synge, Ich libbe in louelonginge For semlokest of alle thynge. He may me blysse bringe Icham in hire bandoun , An hendy hap ichabbe yhent Ichot from hevene it is me sent. From all wymmen mi love is lent And lyht on Alisoun ,

• MSS. Harl. 2253. fol. membran . [ Asthis manuscript contains an elegy

f. 72. b. upon the death of Edward the First, Mr. Y MSS. ibid. f. 66. The pieces which Ritson very properly infers, that it could I have cited from this manuscript ap- not have been written in the “ life -time" pear to beof the hand -writing of the of that monarch . He assigns it to the reign of Edward the First. reign of his son and successor." - Edır. ] 1 ENGLISH POETRY. 31 On heu hire her is fayre ynoh, Hire browe broune, hire eye blake, With lossum chere he on me loh With middel smal and wel ymake, Bote he me wolle to hire take, &c. ? The following song, containing a description of the spring, displays glimmerings of imagination, and exhibits some faint ideas of poetical expression. It is, like the three preceding, of the Norman Saxon school, and extracted from the same in exhaustible repository. I have transcribed the whole * Lenten ys come with love to toune, With blosmen ant with briddes roune, That al this blisse bryngeth ; Dayes ezes in this dales, Notes suete of nyhtegales, Uch foul song singeth. The threstlecoca him threteth oo , Away is huere wynter wo , When woderoue springeth ; This foules singeth ferly fele, Ant wlyteth on huere wynter wele, That al the wode ryngeth, The rose rayleth hir rode, The leves on the lyhte wode Waxen all with wille : The mone mandeth hire bleo The lilie is lossum to seo ; The fenyl and the fille. 2 MSS. ibid, f. 63. b . Al this wylde wyhtes wowes,

• ( The following stanza formed the So welich under- fynde.

opening of this song as printed by War. The properstanza, given above, was also It appears to have been inadver- cited, and introduced by the following tently copied from a poem in the parallel passage : “ The following hexastic on a column of the manuscript: similar subject is the product of the same rude period, although the context is ra In May hit murgeth when hit dawes , ther more intelligible: but it otherwise In dounes with this dueres plawes “, deserves a recital, as it presentsan early Ant lef is lyht on lynde; sketch of a favourite and fashionable Blosmes brideth on the bowes, stanza." vol. i . p . 30.-- Edır. ] throstle, thrush. bait is mery at dawn. " “ plays. ton . 32 THE HISTORY OF Wowes this wilde drakes, Miles murgeth huere makes. As streme that striketh stille Mody meneth so doh mo. Ichott ycham on of tho For love that likes ille . The mone mandeth hire lyht, [ So doth the semly sonne bryht,] When briddes syngeth breme, Deawes donketh the dounes Deores with huere derne rounes, Domes forte deme. Wormes woweth under cloude, Wymmen waxith wondir proude, So wel hyt wol hem seme : Yef me shall wonte wille of on This wunne weole y wole forgon Ant whyt in wode be femed. This specimen will not be improperly succeeded by the fol lowing elegant lines, which a cotemporary poet appears to have made in a morning walk from Peterborough , on the blessed Virgin ; but whose genius seems better adapted to descriptive than religious subjects. & MSS. ibid . ut supr. f. 71. b. ( In the Ne swik thou nouer nuto same style, as it is manifestly of thesame Sing cuccu nu , antiquity, the following little descriptive Sing cuccu . song, on the Approach of Summer, de- That is, “ Summer is coming : Loud serves notice. MSS. HARL. 978. f. 5 . sing, Cuckow ! Groweth seed , and Sumer is i - cumen in , bloweth mead , and springeth the wood now. Ewe bleateth after lamb, lowerb Lhude sing cuccu : Groweth sed , and bloweth med , cow after calf ; bullock starteth , buck And springeth the wde nu . verteth ': merry sing, Cuckow ! Well Sing cucci , cuccu . singest thou, Cuckow , Nor cease to sing This is the most antient En Awe bleteth after lomb, glish song that appears in our manu Lhouth after calve cu ; scripts, with the musical notes annexed . Brilluc sterteth, bucke verteth : The music is of that species of composi Murie sing, cuccu , tion which is called Canon in the Unison , Cuccu , cuccu : and is supposed to be of the fifteenth Wel singes thu cuccu ; century.ADDITIONS. ] now .” 1 goes to harbour among the fern .“ ENGLISH POETRY. 33 Now skruketh rose and lylie flour, That whilen ber that suete savour In somer , that suete tyde; Ne is no quene so stark ne stour, Ne no luedy so bryht in bour That ded ne shal by glyde: Whoso wol fleysh - lust for -gon and hevene-blisse abyde On Jhesu be is thoht anon , that therled was ys side f. To which we may add a song, probably written by the same author, on the five joys of the blessed Virgin . Ase y me rod this ender day, By grene wode, to seche play ; Midherte y thohte al on a May. Suetest of alle thinge : Lythe, and ich ou tell may Al of that suete thinges. In the same pastoral vein, a lover, perhaps of the reign of king John, thus addresses his mistress, whom he supposes to be the most beautiful girl, “ bituene Lyncolne and Lyndeseye, Northampton and Lounde h. ” When the nyhtegale singes the wodes waxen grene, Lef, and gras, and blosme, springes in Avril y wene. Ant love is to myn herte gon with one spere so kene Nyht and day my blod hit drynkes myn herte deth me tenei. Ich have loved al this yer that y may love na more, Ich have siked moni syk, lemon , for thin ore, Me nis love never the ner, and that me reweth sore ; Suete lemon, thench on me, ich have loved the zore , Suete lemon, y preye the, of love one speche, While y lyve in worlde so wyde other nulle y sechek. [ With thy love, my suete leof, mi blis thou mihtes eche A suete cos of thy mouth mihte be my leche.] fusion adverted to above, prevailed in the 8 Ibid. f. 81. b. disposition of this song. The present copy follows the manuscript. --Edır. ] 1 MSS. ibid. f. 80. b. ( The same con [ MSS. ibid. f . 80. h London. k Ibid. f . 80. b. VOL. I. D 34 THE HISTORY OF Nor are these verses unpleasing, in somewhat the same mea sure. My deth y love, my lyf ich hate for a levedy shene, Heo is brith so daies liht, that is on me wel sene. Al y falewe so doth the lef in somer when hit is grene, Zef mi thoht helpeth me noht to whom schal I me mene ? Another, in the following little poem, enigmatically com pares his mistress, whose name seems to be Joan, to various gems and flowers. The writer is happy in his alliteration, and his verses are tolerably harmonious. Ichot a burde in a bour, ase beryl so bryht, Ase saphyr in selver semly on syht, Ase jaspe ' the gentil that lemethm with lyht, Ase gernet " in golde and ruby wel ryht, Ase onycleº he ys on yholden on hyht ; Ase diamaund the dere in day when he is dyht: He is coral yend with Cayser and knyght, Ase emeraude a morewen this may haveth myht. The myht of the margarite haveth this mai mere, For charbocle iche hire chase bi chyn and bi chere, Hire rode ys as r'ose that red ys on rys , With lilye white leves lossum he ys, The primrose he passeth, the parevenke of prys, With alisaundre thareto ache and anys : Coynte as columbine such hire cande' ys, Glad under gore in gro and in grys He is blosme upon bleo brihtest under bis With celydone ant sange as thou thi self sys, &c. From Weye he is wisist into Wyrhale, Hire nome is in a note of the nyhtegale; In an note is hire nome nempneth hit non Who so ryht redeth ronne to Johon.s m 9 1 jasper. garnet. streams, shines. onyx . quaint. * white complexion . P branch. MSS. ibid. f. 63 . 3 ENGLISH POETRY. 35 t The curious Harleian volume, to which we are so largely indebted, has preserved a moral tale, a Comparison between age and youth, where the stanza is remarkably constructed. The various sorts of versification which we have already seen , evidently prove that much poetry had been written , and that the art had been greatly cultivated, before this period. Herkne to my ron, As ich ou tell con , Ofelde al hou yt ges. Of a mody mon, Soth withoute les. Hihte Maximion , Clerc he was ful god, Nou herkne hou it wes. So moni mon undirstod . For the same reason , a sort of elegy on our Saviour's cru cifixion should not be omitted . It begins thus : I syke when y singe for sorewe that y se When y with wypinge bihold upon the tre, Ant'se Jhesu the suete Is hert blod for -lete, For the love of me ; Ys woundes waxen wete, Thei wepen, still and mete, Marie reweth the, u Nor an alliterative ode on heaven , death , judgement, &c. Middel-erd for mon was mad, Un -mihti aren is meste mede, This hedy hath on honde yhad , That hevene hem is hest to hede. Thah he ben derne done. Icherde a blisse budel us bade, The dreri domesdai to drede, Of sinful sauhting sone be sad, That derne doth this derne dede, This wrakefall werkes under wede, In soule soteleth sone. W MSS. ibid. f. 82. u Ibid . f. 80 . w Ibid . f. 62, b . D 2 36 THE HISTORY OF Many of these measures were adopted from the French chansons . I will add one or two more specimens. On our Saviour's passion and death. Jesu for thi muchele miht Thou zef us of thi grace, That we mowe day and nyht Thenken o thi face. In myn herte hit doth me god, When y thenke on Jhesu blod, That ran doun bi ys syde ; From is herte doune to ys fot, For ous he spradde is herte blod His wondes were so wyde. Y On the same subject. Lutel wot hit any mon Hou love hym haveth y bounde, That for us o the rode ron, Ant bohte us with is wounde ; The love of him us haveth ymaked sounde, And y cast the grimly gost to ground : Ever and oo, nyht and day, he haveth us in is thohte, He nul nout leose that he so deore bohte . 2 The following are on love and gallantry. The poet, named Ri chard, professes himselfto have been a great writer oflove- songs. Weping haveth myn wonges * wet, For wilked worke ant wone of wyt, Unblithe y be til y ha bet, Bruches broken ase bok byt: Of levedis love that y ha let, That lemeth al with luefly lyt, Ofte in songe y have hem set, That is unsemly ther hit syt.

• See MSS. Harl. ut supr. f. 49. 76 . 2 Ibid . f. 128. These lines afterwards y Ibid. f. 79. Probably this song occur, burlesqued and parodied, by a

has been somewhat modernised by tran- writer of the same age. [ cheeks, A. S. pang, Ital. guancia. ] . , scribers, ENGLISH POETRY. 37 Hit syt and semeth noht, Ther hit ys seid in song That y have of them wroht, Y wis hit is all wrong, a It was customary with the early scribes, when stanzas con sisted of short lines, to throw them together like prose . As thus : “ A wayle whyt as whalles bon | a grein in golde that godly shon | a tortle that min herte is on | in tounes trewe | Hire gladship nes never gon | whil y may glewe.” b Sometimes they wrote three or four verses together as one line. With longyng y am lad | on molde y waxe mad | a maide marreth me, Y grede y grone un glad for selden y am sad / that semly for te se . Levedi thou rewe me | to routhe thou havest me rad | be bote of that y bad | my lyf is long on the. C Again , Most i ryden by rybbes dale / widle wymmen for te wale | ant welde wuch ich wolde : Founde were the feirest on | that ever was mad of blod ant bon | in boure best with bolde.d This mode of writing is not uncommon in antient manu scripts of French poetry. And some critics may be inclined to suspect, that the verses which we call Alexandrine, acci dentally assumed their form merely from the practice of ab surd transcribers, who frugally chose to fill their pages to the extremity, and violated the metrical structure for the sake of saving their vellum . It is certain, that the common stanza of four short lines may be reduced into two Alexandrines, and on a MSS, ibid. 56. b Ibid. f. 67. © Ibid. 63. b. d Ibid . f. 66. 38 THE HISTORY OF the contrary. I have before observed , that the Saxon poem cited by Hickes, consisting of one hundred and ninety-one stanzas, is written in stanzas in the Bodleian, and in Alexan drines in the Trinity manuscript at Cambridge. How it came originally from the poet I will not pretend to determine. Our early poetry often appears in satirical pieces on the esta blished and eminent professions. And the writers, as we have already seen , succeeded not amiss when they cloathed their satire in allegory. But nothing can be conceived more scur rilous and illiberal than their satires when they descend to mere invective. In the British Museum , among other examples which I could mention , we have a satirical ballad on the law yers , and another on the clergy, or rather some particular bishop. The latter begins thus : Hyrd -men hatieth ant vch mones hyne, For everuch a parossh heo polketh in pyne Ant clastreth wyf heore colle : Nou wol vch fol clerc that is fayly Wende to the bysshop ant bugge bayly, Nys no wyt in is nolle . The elder French poetry abounds in allegorical satire : and I doubt not that the author of the satire on the monastic prᏅ fession , cited above, copied some French satire on the subject. Satire was one species ofthe poetry ofthe Provencial troubadours. Anselm Fayditt a troubadour of the eleventh century, who will again be mentioned, wrote a sort of satirical drama called the HERESY of the FATHERS, HEREGIA DEL PREYRES, a ridicule on the council which condemned the Albigenses. The papal legates often fell under the lash of these poets; whose favour they were obliged to court, but in vain , by the promise of ample gratuities . Hugues de Bercy, a French monk, wrote in the twelfth century a very lively and severe satire; in which e MSS. ut supr. f. 70. b. his usual order of transcription. [ This stanza forms a part of the satire Edit. ] on the lawyers. Warton was led into Ibid. f. 71 . the mistake by the transcriber having & Fontenelle, Hist. Theatr. Fr. p. 18. deviated in the present instance from edit. 1742. ENGLISH POETRY. 39 no person, not even himself, was spared, and which he called the BIBLE, as containing nothing but truth ". In the Harleian manuscripts I find an antient French poem , yet respecting England, which is a humorous panegyric on a new religious order called LE ORDRE DE BEL EYSE. This is the exordium : Qui vodra a moi entendre Oyr purra e aprendre L'estoyre de un ORDRE Novel Qe mout est delitous [e] bel. The poet ingeniously feigns, that his new monastic order con sists of the most eminent nobility and gentry of both sexes, who inhabit the monasteries assigned to it promiscuously ; and that no person is excluded from this establishment who can support the rank of a gentleman . They are bound by their statutes to live in perpetual idleness and luxury : and the satirist refers them for a pattern or rule of practice in these important articles, to the monasteries of Sempringham in Lin colnshire, Beverley in Yorkshire, the Knights Hospitalers, and many other religious orders then flourishing in Englandi. When we consider the feudal manners, and the magnifi cence of our Norman ancestors, their love of military glory, the enthusiasm with which they engaged in the Crusades, and the wonders to which they must have been familiarised from those eastern enterprises, we naturally suppose, what will here after be more particularly proved, that their retinues abounded with minstrels and harpers, and that their chief entertainment was to listen to the recital of romantic and martial adventures. But I have been much disappointed in my searches after the metrical tales which must have prevailed in their times. Most of those old heroic songs are perished, together with the stately b See Fauchett, Rec. p. 151 . Seignor de Berze" is a more courtly ( The piece here alluded to was not composition , and forms a part of the written by De Bercy. It will be found same collection, p. 194. The earlier inthe second volume of Barbazan's Fa- French antiquaries have frequently con bliaux p. 307, and is called “ Bible founded these two productions. - EDIT.] Guiot de Provins. " La Bible au i MSS. ibid, f. 121. 40 THE HISTORY OF ! castles in whose halls they were sung. Yet they are not so totally lost as we may be apt to imagine. Many of them still partly exist in the old English metrical romances, which will be mentioned in their proper places; yet divested of their original form , polished in their style, adorned with new inci dents, successively modernised by repeated transcription and recitation, and retaining little more than the outlines of the original composition. This has not been the case of the legendary and other religious poems written soon after the Conquest, manuscripts of which abound in our libraries. From the nature of their subject they were less popular and com mon ; and being less frequently recited , became less liable to perpetual innovation or alteration . The most ancient English metrical romance which I can discover, is entitled the GESTE OF King HORN. It was evi dently written after the Crusades had begun, is mentioned by Chaucerk, and probably still remains in its original state. I will first give the substance of the story, and afterwards add some specimens of the composition. But I must premise, that this story occurs in very old French metre in the manuscripts of the British Museum ' , so that probably it is a translation : a circumstance which will throw light on an argument pur sued hereafter, proving that most of our metrical romances are translated from the French . Mury, king of the Saracens, lands in the kingdom of Sud dene, where he kills the king named Allof. Godylt, escapes ; but Mury seizes on her son Horne, a beau tiful youth aged fifteen years, and puts him into a galley, with two of his play-fellows, Athulph and Fykenyld : the vessel being driven on the coast of the kingdom of Westnesse, the young prince is found by Aylmer king of that country, brought to court, and delivered to Athelbrus his steward , to be edu cated in hawking, harping, tilting, and other courtly accom plishments. Here the princess Rymenild falls in love with The queen , Rim . Thop. 3402. Urr. I MSS. Harl. 527. b, f. 59. Cod. membr. ENGLISH POETRY. 41 him , declares her passion, and is betrothed. Horne, in con sequence of this engagement, leaves the princess for seven years; to demonstrate, according to the ritual of chivalry, that by seeking and accomplishing dangerous enterprises he deserved her affection . He proves a most valorous and in vincible knight: and at the end of seven years, having killed king Mury, recovered his father's kingdom , and atchieved many signal exploits, recovers the princess Rymenild from the hands of his treacherous knight and companion Fykenyld ; carries her in triumph to his own country, and there reigns with her in great splendor and prosperity. The poem itself begins and proceeds thus: Alle heo ben blythe, That to my songe ylythem : A song ychulle ou singe Of Allof the gode kynge, Kyng he wes by weste The whiles hit yleste; Ant Godylt his gode quene, No feyrore myhte bene, Ant huere sone hihte Horn, Feyrore childe ne myhte be born : For reyn ne myhte byryne Ne sonne myhte shyne Feyrore child then he was, Bryht so ever eny glas, So whit so eny lylye flour, So rose red wes his colour; He wes feyr ant eke bold, Ant of fyftene wynter old, Nis non his yliche In none kinges ryche. Tueye feren " he hadde, That he with him ladde, m listen . n companions. 42 THE HISTORY OF Alle richemenne sones, And alle suythe feyre gomes, Wyth him forté pleye Mest he lovede tueye, That on wes hoten Athulf chyld, And that other Fykenyld, Athulf wes the beste, And Fykenyld the werste. Hyt was upon a someres day Also ich ou telle may, Allof the gode kyng Rode upon his pleyyng, Bi the see side, Ther he was woned to ride ; With him ne ryde bote tuo, Al to fewe hue were tho : He fond by the stronde, Aryved on is londe, Shipes fyftene Of Sarazynes kene : He askede whet hue sohten Other on is lond brohten . But I hasten to that part of the story where prince Horne appears at the court of the king of Westnesse. The kyng com into halle, Among his knyhtes alle, Forth he clepeth Athelbrus, His stiward, and him seide thus : “ Stiward tac thou here My fundling for to lere, Of thine mestere Of wode and of ryvere ”, P So Robert de Brunne of king Ma rian . Hearne's Rob . Gloc, p. 622. -Marian faire in chere He couthe of wod and ryvere In alle maner of venrie, & c. ENGLISH POETRY. 43 Ant toggen o the harpe With is nayles sharpe , Ant tech him alle the listes That thou ever wystes, Byfore me to kerven, And of my coupe to serven ', Ant his feren devyse With ous other servise ; Horn child, thou understond , Tech him of harpe and song. ” ·Athelbrus gon leren Horn and hyse feren ; Horn mid herte lahte Al that mon him tahte, Withinne court and withoute, And overal aboute, Lovede men Horn child , And most him lovede Rymenyld The kinges oune dohter, For he wes in hire thohte, Hue lovede him in hire mod, For he wes feir and eke god , r 9 In another part of the poem he is table. See a curious account of the introduced playing on his harp. goods in the palace of the bishop of Nivernois in France, in the year 1287, Horn sette him abenche, in Montf. Cat. MSS. ii. p. 984. col. 2 . Is harpe he gan clenche, He made Rymenild a lay According to the rules of chivalry, Ant hue seide weylaway, &c. every knight before his creation passed through two offices. He was first a In the chamber of a bishop of Winches- page: and at fourteen years of age he ter at Merden castle, now ruined , we was formally admitted an esquire. The find mention made of benches only. esquires were divided into several de Comp. MS. J. Gerveys, Episcop . Win- partments ; that of the body, of the ton, 1266. “ Iidem red . comp. de ii . chamber, of the stable, and the carving mensis in aula ad magnum descum . esquire. The latter stood in the hall at Et de iii. mensis, ex una parte, et ii . dinner, where he carved the different mensis ex altera parte cum tressellis in dishes with proper skill and address, aula . Et de i . mensa cum tressellis in and directed the distribution of them camera dom . episcopi. Et v . formis in among the guests. The inferior offices eadem camera. Descus, in old English had also their respective esquires. Mem, dees, is properly a canopy over the high Anc. Cheval. i . 16. seq. 44 THE HISTORY OF And thah hue ne dorste at borde Mid him speke ner a worde, Ne in the halle, Among the knyhtes alle, Hyre sorewe ant hire pyne Nolde never fyne, Bi daye ne bi nyhte For hue spekę ne myhte, With Horn that wes so feir and fre Tho hue ne myhte with him be ; In herte hue had care and wo, And ther hue bithohte hire tho : Hue sende hyre sonde Athelbrus to honde, That he come hire to , And also shulde Horn do, In to hire boure, For hue bigon to loure, And the sondes sayde, That seek wes the mayde, And bed hym come suythe For hue nis nout blythe. The stiward was in huerte wo, For he nuste whet he shulde do, What Rymenyld bysohte Gret wonder him thohte; About Horn the yinge To boure forté bringe, He thohte on is mode Hit nes for none gode ; He tok with him another, Athulf Horne's brother, Athulf, ” quoth he, “ ryht anon Thou shalt with me to boure gon, 66 $ messenger. companion, friend , ENGLISH POETRY. 45 To speke with Rymenyld stille, To wyte hyre wille, Thou art Horne's yliche, Thou shalt hire bysuyke, Sore me adrede That hue wole Horn mysrede.” Athelbrus and Athulf bo To hire boure beth ygo, Upon Athulf childe Rymenild con waxe wilde, Hue wende Horn it were, That hue hade there ; Hue seten adoun stille, Ant seyden hure wille, In hire armes tueye Athulf she con leye. “ Horn ,” quoth heo, “ wellonge Y have loved thee stronge, Thou shalt thy treuth plyhte In myn hond with ryhte, Me to spouse welde And ich the loverd to helde.” So stille were, Athulf seyde in hire eere, “ Ne tel thou no more speche May y the byseche Thi tale gyn thou lynne, For Horn nis nout her ynne," &c. At length the princess finds she has been deceived, the steward is severely reprimanded, and prince Horne is brought to her chamber ; when , says the poet, Ofys fayre syhte Al that boure gan lyhte ". so hit U MSS. ibid . f. 83. Wherethe title There is a copy, much altered and mo is written, “ be geste of kynge Horne.” dernised, in the Advocates library at 46 THE HISTORY OF It is the force of the story in these pieces that chiefly en gages our attention. The minstrels had no idea of conducting and describing a delicate situation . The general manners were gross, and the arts of writing unknown. Yet this sim plicity sometimes pleases more than the most artificial touches. In the mean time, the pictures of antient manners presented by these early writers, strongly interest the imagination : espe cially as having the same uncommon merit with the pictures of manners in Homer, that of being founded in truth and reality, and actually painted from the life. To talk of the grossness and absurdity of such manners is little to the purpose; the poet is only concerned in the justness and faithfulness of the representation. Edinburgh, W.4. i . Numb. xxxiv. ( and evidence are too slight to be generally in Ritson's Romances, vol. 3. ) The title received, except in the rear of more ob Horn -childe and Maiden Rimnild . The vious authority. However, to those beginning, who with Mr. Ritson persist in believing Mi leve frende dere, the French fragment of this romance, to Herken and ye shall here. be an earlier composition than “ The [ The text of this romance has been ta- Geste of Kyng Horn,” the following ken from Mr. Ritson's edition ; whose ac- passage is submitted, for the purpose of curacy, by the way, though unimpeach- contrasting its highly wrought imagery able in the specimens quoted above, with the simple narrative, and natural is not equally conspicuous throughout allusion , observed throughout the En the poem. In fact , he seems neither to glish poem : have been master of the language nor Lors print la harpe a sei si commence a the subject. His glossary will afford temprer sufficient evidence of the former asser Deu ki dunc lesgardast, cum il la sot tion to which much might be added manier ! from his omissions and misprints — and Cum les cordes tuchot, cum les feseit his notes will amply bear out the latter. The bishop of Dromore considered A quantesfaire les chanz, a cuantes trembler, this production “ of genuine English organer , growth ;” and though his lordship may Del armonie del ciel lie pureit remembrer have been mistaken in ascribing it, in Sur tuzceuskeisunt fait cist à merveiller its present form , to so early an æra as Kuant celes notes ot fait prent sen “ within a century after the Conquest ;" yetthe editor has nohesitation in express- E partut autre tuns fait les cordes soner : ing his belief, that it owes its origin to a period long anterior to that event. The It remains to observe, that “ The noble reasons for such an opinion cannot be Hystory of Kynge Ponthus of Galyce” entered upon here. They are too de- printed by De Worde, and quoted by tailed to fall within the compass of a Mr. Ritson, is but a more enlarged ver note ; and though some of them will be sion of the same story , with some slight introduced elsewhere, yet many perhaps change of circumstance, and an almost are the result of convictions more easily total change of names, countries, & c. felt than expressed, and whose shades of Evit. ] amunter 1 ENGLISH POETRY. 47 SECTION II. HITHERTO we have been engaged in examining the state of our poetry from the Conquest to the year 1200, or rather afterwards. It will appear to have made no very rapid improve ment from that period. Yet as we proceed, we shall find the language losing much of its antient barbarism and obscurity, and approaching more nearly to the dialect of modern times. In the latter end of the reign of Henry the Third, a poem occurs, the date of which may be determined with some de gree of certainty. It is a satirical song, or ballad, written by one of the adherents of Simon de Montfort earl of Leicester, a powerful baron , soon after the battle of Lewes, which was fought in the year 1264, and proved very fatal to the interests of the king. In this decisive action, Richard king of the Ro mans, his brother Henry the Third, and prince Edward, with many others of the royal party, were taken prisoners. I. Sitteth alle stille, ant herkneth to me : The kyn of Alemaignea, bi mi leaute 5, Thritti thousent pound askede he Forte make the pees in the countre ", And so he dude more. Richard, thahe thou be ever trichard , Tricthen shall thou never more. II . Richard of Alemaigne, whil that he was kyng, He spende al is tresour opon swyvyng, & Theking of the Romans. o loyalty. & The barons made this offer of thirty thousand pounds to Richard. though. f treacherous. C peace. 48 THE HISTORY OF Haveth he nout of Walingford oferlynge, Let him habbe, ase he brew , bale to dryng ", Maugre Wyndesore '. Richard, thah thou , &c. III. The kyng of Alemaigne wende do ful welk, He saisede the mulne for a castel , With harem sharpe swerdes he grounde the stel, He wende that the sayles were mangonel To help Wyndesore. Richard, thah thou, &c. IV. The kyng of Alemaigne gederedeº ys host, Makede him a castel of a mulne post P, Wende with is prude9, ant is muchele bost, Brohte from Almayne mony sori gost " To store Wyndesore. Richard, thah thou, &c. defie , & c . m their. & Overlyng, i. e. superiour. But per- 548. Robert de Brunne, a poet of haps the word is osterlyng, for esterlyng, whom I shall speak at large in his pro a French piece ofmoney. Wallingford per place , translates the onsetof this was one of the honours conferred on battle with some spirit, edit. Hearne, Richard, at his marriage with Sanchia p. 217 : daughter of the count of Provence. Symon com to the felde, and put up his [ Perhaps oferlyng, “ one furlong. " ] banere, h “ Let him have, ashe brews, poison The king schewed forth his schelde, his [misery] to drink. ” dragon ful austere : i Windsor-castle was one of the king's The kyng saide on hie, Simon ieo vous chief fortresses.

• « Thought to do full well. "

1 Some old chronicles relate, that at the battle of Lewes Richard was taken battering-rams. [ Vid. infra p . 71 . in a windmill. Hearne MSS. Coll. note n .] gathered. vol. 106. p. 82. Robert of Gloucester n 0 P mill- post. pride. mentions the same circumstance, edit. * He brought with him many fo Hearne, p. 547. reigners, when he returned to England, The king of Alemaigne was in a wind- from taking possession of his dignity of mulle inome. king of the Romans. This gave great offence to the barons. It is here in Richard and prince Edward took shelter sinuated, that he intended to garrison in the Grey - friars at Lewes, but were Windsor - castle with these foreigners. afterwards imprisoned in thecastle of The barons obliged him to dismiss Wallingford. " See Hearne's Langtoft, most of them soon after he landed in En Gloss. p. 616 ; and Rob. Glouc. p. gland. 9 ENGLISH POETRY 49 V. By God that is aboven ous he dude muche synne, That lette passen over see the erl of Warynnes : He hath robbed Engelond, the mores, ant the fenne, The gold, ant the selver, and y -boren henne, For love of Wyndesore. Richard, thah thou, &c. VI. Sire Simond de Mountfort hath suore bi ys chyn , Hevede he nou here the erle of Waryn, Shuld he never more come to is yn “, Ne with sheld, ne with spere, ne with other gyn " , To help of Wyndesore: Richard , thah thou, &c. VII. Syre Simond de Montfort hath swore bi ys cop, Hevede he nou here Sire Hue de Bigot, Al he shulde grante here twelfemoneth scot * Shulde he never more with his fot pot, To helpe Wyndesore. Richard, thah thou, & c . VIII. [Be the luef, be the loht Sire Edward, Thou shalt ride sporeless o thy lyard, Al the ryhte way to Douere ward, Shalt thou never more breke foreward, And that reweth sore ; Edward, thou dudest ase a shreward, Forsoke thyn emes * lore. Richard, thah thou , &c.]

• The earl of Warren and Surry , and * year's tax . I had transcribedthis bale Hugh le Bigot the king's justiciary, lad from the British Museum ,and written mentioned in the seventh stanza, had these few cursory explanations, before I

fied into France. knew that it was printed in the second t had. edition of Doctor Percy's Ballads, ii. 1 . habitation, home. See MSS. Harl. ut supr. f. 58. b . engine, weapon. * (uncle's .] VOL. I. 50 THE HISTORY OF These popular rhymes had probably no small influence in encouraging Leicester's partisans, and diffusing his faction . There is some humour in imagining that Richard supposed the windmill to which he retreated , to be a fortification ; and that he believed the sails of it to be military engines. In the manuscript from which this specimen is transcribed , imme diately follows a song in French, seemingly written by the same poet, on the battle of Evesham fought the following year ; in which Leicester was killed , and his rebellious barons defeated y . Our poet looks upon his hero as a martyr ; and particularly laments the loss of Henry his son, and Hugh le Despenser justiciary of England. He concludes with an En glish stanza , much in the style and spirit of those just quoted. A learned and ingenious writer, in a work which places the study of the law in a new light, and proves it to be an enter taining history of manners, has observed, that this ballad on Richard of Alemaigne probably occasioned a statute against libels in the year 1275, under the title , “ Against slanderous reports, or tales to cause discord betwixt king and people z . ” That this spirit was growing to an extravagance which deserved to be checked, we shall have occasion to bring further proofs. I must not pass over the reign of Henry the Third, who died in the year 1272, without observing, that this monarch entertained in his court a poet with a certain salary, whose name was Henry de Avranchesa. And although this poet was a Frenchman, and most probably wrote in French , yet this first instance of an officer who was afterwards, yet with sufficient impropriety, denominated apoet laureate in the En glish court, deservedly claims particular notice in the course of these annals. He is called Master Henry the Versifierb: which Y f . 59. It begins, Henry of Huntingdon says, that Chaunter mestoit | mon ever le voit en Walo Versificator wrote a panegyric on un duré langage, Henry the First ; and that the same Tut en pluraunt | fust fet le chaunt | de Walo Versificator wrote a poem on the noitre duz Baronage, &c. b park which that king made at Wood 2 OBSERVATIONS UPON THE STATUTES, stock . Apud Leland's Collectan . vol. CHIEFLY THE MORE ANCIENT, & c. edit. ii. 303. i. 197. edit. 1770. Perhaps he 1766. p. 71 . was in the department of Henrymen * See Carew's Surv. Cornw . p. 8. tioned in the text. One Gualo, a Latin edit . 1602. poet, who flourished about this time, 1 ENGLISH POETRY. 51 appellation perhaps implies a different character from the royal Minstrel or Joculator. The king's treasurers are ordered to pay this Master Henry one hundred shillings, which I sup pose to have been a year's stipend, in the year 1251 º . 1251c. And again the same precept occurs under the year 1249d. Our master Henry, it seems, had in some of his verses reflected on the rusticity of the Cornish men. This insult was resented in a Latin satire now remaining, written by Michael Blaunpayne, a native of Cornwall, and recited by the author in the pre sence of Hugh abbot of Westminster, Hugh de Mortimer official of the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop elect of Winchester, and the bishop of Rochester While we are speaking of the Versifier of Henry the Third, it will not be foreign to add, that in the thirty -sixth year of the same king, forty shillings and one pipe of wine were given to Richard the king's harper, and one pipe of wine to Beatrice his wife f. CRATICON . is mentioned by Bale, iii . 5. and Pitts, Est tibi gamba capri, crus passeris, et p. 233. He is commended in the Poli- latus apri ; A copy of his Latin hexa- Os leporis, catuli nasus, dens et gena metrical satire on the monks is printed muli : by Mathias Flacius, among miscellane- Frons vetulæ , tauri caput, et color un ous Latin poems De corrupto Ecclesiæ dique mauri. statu , p. 489. Basil. 1557. oct. c “ Magistro Henrico Versificatori.” In a blank page of the Bodleian ma See Madox, Hist. Excheq. p . 268 . nuscript, from which these extracts are Ibid. p. 674. In MSS. Digb. Bibl. made, is written , “ Iste liber constat Bodl. I find , in John of Hoveden's Sa ffratri Johanni de Wallis monacho Ra.. lutationes quinquaginta Maria, “ Mag. meseye."., The name is elegantly en Henricus, VERSIFICATOR MAGNUS, de B. riched with a device. This manuscript Virgine,” &c. contains, among other things, Planctus e MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Arch. Bodl. 29. de Excidio Trojæ , by Hugo Prior de in pergam , 4to. viz. “ Versus magistri Montacnto, in rhyming hexameters and Michaelis Cornubiensis contra Mag. pentameters, viz. fol. 89. Camden cites Henricum Abricensem coram dom . other Latin verses of Michael Blaun Hugone abbate Westmon . et aliis.” fol. pain, whom he calls “ Merry Michael See 81. b . Princ. “ARCHiPoeta vide quod the Cornish poet.” Rem.sp. 10. non sit cura tibi de.” See also fol. 83. b . also p. 489. edit. 1674. He wrote Again, fol. 85. many other Latin pieces, both in prose Pendo poeta prius te diximus Archi- and verse. POETAM , [ Compare Tanner in JOANNES COR Quam pro postico nunc dicimus esse NUBIENSIS, who recites his other pieces. poetam , Bibl. p. 432. Notes f 6. - ADDITIONS. ) Imo poeticulum , &c. f Rot. Pip. an 36 Henr. iii. “ Et in Archipoeta meanshere the king's chief poet. RicardoCitharistæ regis, xl. sol. per uno dolio vini empto et dato magistro In another place our Cornish satirist Br. Reg. Et in uno dolio empto et thus attacks master Henry's person . dato Beatrici uxori ejusdem Ricardi." . E 2 52 THE HISTORY OF But why this gratuity of a pipe of wine should also be made to the wife, as well as to the husband, who from his profession was a genial character, appears problematical according to our present ideas*. The first poet whose name occurs in the reign of Edward the First, and indeed in these annals, is Robert of Glocester, a monk of the abbey of Glocester. He has left a poem of considerable length , which is a history of England in verse , from Brutus to the reign of Edward the First. It was evi dently written after the year 1278, as the poet mentions king Arthur's sumptuous tomb, erected in that year before the high altar of Glastenbury churchf : and he declares himself a living witness of the remarkably dismal weather which distinguished the day on which the battle of Evesham above mentioned was fought, in the year 1265 % . From these and other circum stances this piece appears to have been composed about the year 1280. It is exhibited in the manuscripts, is cited by many antiquaries, and printed by Hearne, in the Alexandrine measure ; but with equal probability might have been written in four- lined stanzas. This rhyming chronicle is totally de stitute of art or imagination. The author has cloathed the fables of Geoffrey of Monmouth in rhyme, which have often a more poetical air in Geoffrey's prose. The language is not much more easy or intelligible than that of many of the Nor man Saxon poems quoted in the preceding section : it is full of Saxonisms, which indeed abound, more or less, in every writer before Gower and Chaucer. But this obscurity is perhaps owing to the western dialect, in which our monk of

• ( Beatrice may possibly have been a persons on behalf of all the menestreur jugleress, whose pantomimic exhibitions jeugleurs et jougleresses of that city, we

were accompanied by her husband's find amongothers the names of Iehanot harp, or who filled up the intervals Langlois et Adeline, fame de Langlois between his performances. This union Jaucons, fils le moine et Marguerite, la of professional talents in husband and fame au moine. See Roquefort de la wife was not uncommon . In a copy of Poesie Françoise dans les xii. et xiii. the ordonnances for regulating the min Siècles. p. 288 .--- Edit.] strels, &c. residing at Paris , a docu . Pag. 224. edit. Hearne. Oxon. ment drawn up by themselves in the 1724. year 1321 , and signed by thirty -seren 8 Pag. 560. ENGLISH POETRY. 53 Glocester was educated . Provincial barbarisms are naturally, the growth of extreme counties, and of such as are situated at a distance from the metropolis ; and it is probable that the Saxon heptarchy, which consisted of a cluster of seven inde pendent states, contributed to produce as many different pro vincial dialects. In the mean time it is to be considered, that writers of all ages and languages have their affectations and singularities, which occasion in each a peculiar phraseology. Robert of Gloucester thus describes the sports and solemni ties which followed king Arthur's coronation . The kyng was to ys paleys, tho the servyse was y dos, Ylad wyth his menye, and the quene to hire also. Vor hii hulde the olde usages, that men wyth men were By them sulve, and wymmen by hem sulve also there ". Tho hii were echone ysett, as yt to her stat bycom , Kay, king of Aungeo, a thousand knytes nome Of noble men , yclothed in ermyne echone Of on sywete, and servede at thys noble fest anon . Bedwer the botyler, kyng of Normandye, Nom also in ys half a vayr companye Of one sywytei worto servy of the botelerye. Byvore the quene yt was also of al suche cortesye, Vorto telle al the noblye thet ther was ydo, They my tonge were of stel, me ssolde noght dure therto, Wymmen ne kepte of no kyngt as in drueryk, Bote he were in armys wel yproved, and atte leste thrye !. That made, lo, the wymmen the chastore lyf lede, And the kyngtes the stalwordorem , and the betere in her dede. Sone after thys noble mete ", as ryght was of such tyde, The kynghts atyled hem aboute in eche syde, 3 ) B " when the service in the church was finished . ' They kept the antient custom at festivals, ofplacing themenand women separate. Kay, king of Anjou, brought a thousand noble knights cloathed in er mine of one suit, or secta .” i “ brought also, on his part, a fair company cloathed uniformly. ' modesty, decorum (gallantry ). 1 thrice. mcre brave. B “ Soon after this noble feast, which was proper at such an occasion, the knights accoutred themselves. ” 54 THE HISTORY OF In feldys and in medys to prove her bachelerye ". Somme wyth lance, some wyth suerd, wythoute vylenye, Wyth pleyinge at tables, other atte chekere P, Wyth castynge, other wyth ssettinge ?, other in some ogyrt manere . And wuch so of eny game adde the maystrye, The kyng hem of ys gyfteth dyde large cortysye . Upe the alurs of the castles the laydes thanne stode, And byhulde thys noble game, and wyche kyngts were god. All the thre hexte dawes' ylaste thys nobleye In halles and in veldes, of mete and eke of pleye. Thys men com the verthes day byvore the kynge there, And he gef hem large gyftys, evere as hii werthe were. Bisshopryches and cherches clerkes he gef somme, And castles and townes kyngtes that were ycome. Many of these lines are literally translated from Geoffry of Monmouth. In king Arthur's battle with the giant at Barbes fleet, there are no marks of Gothic painting. But there is an effort at poetry in the description of the giant's fall. t Tho grislych yal the ssrewe tho, that grislych was his bere, He vel doung as a gret ok, that bynethe ycorve were, That it thogte that al hul myd the vallynge ssok . 4 That is, “ This cruel giant yelled so horribly, and so vehement was his fall, that he fell down like an oak cut through at the º chivalry, courage, or youth. In the mean time, it is probable that the P chess. It is remarkable, that among Saracens introduced it into Spain before the nine exercises, or accomplishments, the Crusades. It is mentioned by G. of mentioned by Kolson, an ancient north- Monmouth, and in the Alexiad of Anna ern chief, one is playing at chess. Bar- Comnena. See Mem. Acad. Lit. v. tholin. ii . c . 8. p. 420. This game was 232. familiarised to the Europeansafter the 9 Different ways of playing at chess, Crusades. The romances which followed « The ladies stood on the walks made those expeditions are full of it. Kolson, within the battlements of the castle .” above mentioned , had made a pilgrim- r “ All the three high or chief days. age into the Holy Land. But from the In halls and fields, of feasting, and tur principles advanced in the first INTRO- neying, & c." DUCTORY DISSERTATION, this game might fourth . ' Pag. 191. 192. have been known in the North before. Pag. 208. u ENGLISH POETRY. 55 bottom , and all the hill shook while he fell. ” But this stroke is copied from Geoffry of Monmouth ; who tells the same miraculous story, and in all the pomp with which it was perhaps dressed up by his favourite fablers. " Exclamavit vero invisus ille ; et velut quercus ventorum viribus eradi cata , cum maximo sonitu corruit. " It is difficult to deter mine which is most blameable, the poetical historian, or the prosaic poet. It was a tradition invented by the old fablers, that giants brought the stones of Stonehenge from the most sequestered deserts of Africa, and placed them in Ireland ; that every stone was washed with juices of herbs, and contained a medical power ; and that Merlin the magician, at the request of king Arthur, transported them from Ireland, and erected them in circles on the plain of Amesbury, as a sepulchral monument for the Britons treacherously slain by Hengist. This fable is thus delivered , without decoration, by Robert of Glocester. • Sire kyng,” quoth Merlin tho, “ suche thynges y wis Ne bethe for to schewe nogt, but wen gret nede ys, For gef iche seid in bismare, other bute it ned were, Sone from me he wold wende the gost, that doth me lere : " The kyng, tho non other nas, bod hym som quoyntise Bithinke about thilk cors that so noble were and wysex, “ Şire kyng," quoth Merlin tho, " gef thou wolt here caste In the honour of men, a worke that ever schal ylaste y, To the hul of Kylar 2 send in to Yrlond, Aftur the noble stones that ther habbet a lenge ystonde ; That was the treche of giandes , for a quoynte work ther ys Of stones al wyth art ymad, in the world such non ys, w If I should say any thing out of sake of the bodies of those noble and wantonness or vanity, the spirit, or de- wise Britons." mon, which teaches me, would imme. y “ if you would build, to their ho diately leave me. “ Nam si ea in deri- nour, a lasting monument. sionem , sive vanitatem , proferrem , tace- 2 - To the hill of Kildare. ” ret Spiritus qui me docet, et, cum opus superveniret, recederet. ” Galfrid . Mon. b « the dance of giants." The name of viii. 10 . this wonderful assembly of immense * “ bade him use his cunning, for the stones. a have . 1 56 THE HISTORY OF >> Ne ther nys nothing that me scholde myd strengthe adoune cast. Stode heo here, as heo doth there ever a wolde last ." The kyng somdele to lyghed, tho he herde this tale, “ How mygte,” he seyde, “ suche stones so grete and so fale , Be ybrogt of so fer lond ? And get mist of were, Me wolde wene, that in this londe no ston to wonke nere.” “ Syre kyng,” quoth Merlyn, “ ne make noght an ydel such lyghyng. For yt nys an ydel noght that ich tell this tythyng . For in the farreste stude of Affric giands while fette : Thike stones for medycyne and in Yrlond hem sette, While heo wonenden in Yrlond to make here bathes there, Ther undir forto bathi wen thei syk were. For heo wuld the stones wasch and ther enne bathe ywis. For ys no ston ther among that of gret vertu nys h.” The kyng and ys conseil raddei the stones forto fette, And with gret power of batail gef any more hem lette Uter the kynges brother, that Ambrose hett also, In another name ychose was therto, And fifteene thousant men this dede for to do And Merlyn for his quointise thider went also k. e C “ Grandes sunt lapides, nec est ali- testimony of the British bards be al quis cujus virtuti cedant. Quod si eo lowed on this occasion ? For they did modo, quo ibi positi sunt, circa plateam not invent facts, so much as fables. In locabuntur, stabunt in æternum .” Gal- the present case, Hengist’s massacre is frid . Mon. viii . x. 11 . an allowed event. Remove all the ap d somewhat laughed. parent fiction , and the bards only say, so great and so many. that an immense pile of stones was f tyding. raised on the plain of Ambresbury in 8 • Giants once brought them from the memory of that event. They lived too farthest part of Africa , & c.” near the time to forge this origin of h “ Lavabant namque lapides et infra Stonehenge. The whole story was re balnea diffundebant, unde ægroti ciira- cent, and, from the immensity of the bantur. Miscebant etiam cum herba- work itself, must have been still more rum confectionibus, unde vulnerati sa- notorious. Therefore their forgery would nabantur. Non est ibi lapis qui medica. have been too glaring. It may be ob mento careat." Galfrid . Mon. ibid. jected, that they were fond of referring i rode [advised or counselled ). every thing stupendous to their favourite

• Pag. 145. 146. 147. That Stone- hero Arthur. This I grant : but not henge is a British monument, erected in when known authenticated facts stood memory of Hengist’s massacre, rests, I in their way, and while the real cause believe, on the sole evidence of Geoffry was rememiscred. Even to this day, the of Monmouth , who had it from the Bri. massacre of Hengist, as I have partly

tish bards. But why should not the hinted, is an undisputed piece of history. ENGLISH POETRY. 57 If any thing engages our attention in this passage, it is the wildness of the fiction ; in which however the poet had no share. I will here add Uther's intrigue with Ygerne. At the fest of Estre tho kyng sende ys sonde , That heo comen alle to London the hey men of this londe, And the levedys al so god , to ys noble fest wyde, For he schulde crowne here, for the hye tyde. Alle the noble men of this lond to the noble fest come, And heore wyves and heore dogtren with hem mony nome, This fest was noble ynow , and nobliche y do ; For mony was the faire ledy, that y come was therto . Ygerne, Gorloys wyf, was fairest of echon , That was contasse of Cornewail, for so fair nas ther non. The kyng by huld hire faste y now , and ys herte on hire caste, And thogte, thay heo were wyf, to do folye atte last. He made hire semblant fair y now, to non other so gret. The erl nas not ther with y payed, tho he yt under get. Aftur mete he nom ys wyfe myd stordy med y now, And, with oute leve of the kyng, to ys contrei drow. The kyng sende to hym tho, to by leve al nygt, For he moste of gret consel habbe som insygt. That was for nogt. Wolde he nogt the kyng sende get ys sonde. That he by levede at ys parlemente, for nede of the londe. The kyng was, tho he nolde nogt, anguyssous and wroth . For despyte he wolde a wreke be he swor ys oth , Why should not the other part of the etymology of the word Stonehenge the story be equally true ? Besides the si- name of Hengist has been properly or lence of Nennius, I amaware that this sufficiently considered . hypothesis is still attended with many [ The etymology referred to by Mr. difficulties and improbabilities. And so Ritson is evidently the most plausible are all the systems and conjectures ever that has been suggested : Stan- henge yet framed about this amazing monu- hanging stone : Observations, & c. In It appears to me to be the work addition to this it is supported by an au of a rude people who had some ideas of thority of high antiquity: art : such as we may suppose the Ro Stanheng ont non en Anglois, mans left behind them among the Bri In the mean time I do not re Pierres pendues en François. Wace's Brut. - Edit.] member, that in the very controverted ment. tons. 58 THE HISTORY OF Bute he come to amendement. Ys power atte laste He garkede, and wende forth to Cornewail faste. Gorloys ys casteles a store al a boute. In a strong castel he dude ys wyf, for of hire was al ys doute. In another hym self he was, for he nolde nogt, Gef cas come, that heo were bothe to dethe y brogt. The castel, that the erl inne was, the kyng by segede faste , For he mygte ys gynnes for schame to the oter caste. Tho he was ther sene nygt, and he spedde nogt, Igerne the contesse so muche was in ys thogt, That he nuste nen other wyt, ne he ne mygte for schame Telle yt bute a pryve knygt, Ulfyn was ys name, That he truste mest to. And tho the knygt herde this, “ Syre,” he seide, “ y ne can wyte, wat red here of ys, For the castel ys so strong, that the lady ys inne, For ich wene al the lond ne schulde yt myd strengthe wynne. For the se geth al aboute, but entre on ther nys,, And that ys up on harde rockes, and so narw wei it ys, That ther that thre men with inne Mygte sle al the londe, er heo com - ther inne. And nogt for than, gef Merlyn at thi conseil were, Gef any mygte, he couthe the best red the lere." Merlyn was sone of send, pleid yt was hym sone, That he schulde the beste red segge, wat were to done. Merlyn was sory ynow for the kynge’s folye, And natheles, “ Sire kyng, ” he seide, “ there mot to maistrie, The erl hath twey men hym nert, Brygthoel and Jordan . Ich wol make thi self gef thou wolt, thoru art that y can, Habbe al tho fourme of the erl, as thou were rygt he, And Olfyn as Jordan, and as Brithoel me. " This art was al clene y do, that al changet he were, Heo thre in the otheres forme, the selve at yt were. Ageyn even he wende forth, nuste nomon that cas, To the castel heo come rygt as yt evene was. The porter y se ys lord come, and ys moste privey twei, With god herte he lette ys lord yn , and ys men bevë. may go bote on and on, ENGLISH POETRY. 59 honetke jame this the mi its with inz The contas was glad y now , tho hire lord to hire com And eyther other in here armes myd gret joye nom . Tho heo to bedde com, that so longe a two were, With hem was so gret delyt, that bitwene hem there Bi gete was the beste body, that ever was in this londe, Kyng Arthure the noble mon , that ever worthe understonde. Tho the kynge's men nuste amorwe, wer he was bi come, Heo ferde as wodemen, and wende he were ynome. Heo a saileden the castel, as yt schulde a doun anon , Heo that with inne were, garkede hem echon, And smyte out in a fole wille, and fogte myd here fon : So that the erl was y slave, and of ys men mony on , And the castel was y nome, and the folk to sprad there, Get, tho thei hadde al ydo, heo ne fonde not the kyng there. The tything to the contas sone was y come, That hire lord was y slawe, and the castel y nome. Ac tho the messinger hym sey the erl, as hym thogte, That he hadde so foule plow , ful sore hym of thogte, The contasse made som del deol, for no sothnesse heo nuste . The kyng, for to glade here, bi clupte hire and cust. “ Dame,” he seide, “ no sixt thou wel, that les yt ys al this : Ne wost thou wel ich am olyue. Ich wole the segge how it ys. Out of the castel stilleliche ych wende al in privete, That none of myne men yt nuste, for to speke with the. And tho heo miste me to day, and nuste wer ich was, Heo ferden rigt as gydie men , myd wam no red nas, And fogte with the folk with oute, and habbeth in this manere Y lore the castel and hem selue, ac wel thou wost y am here. Ac for my castel, that is ylore, sory ich am y now , And for myn men, that the kyng and ys power slog, Ac my power is now to lute, ther fore y drede sore, Leste the kyng us nyme here, and sorwe that we were more, Ther fore ich wole, how so yt be, wende agen the kynge, And make my pays with hym, ar he us to schame brynge,” Forth he wende, and het ys men that gef the kyng come, That hei schulde hym the castel gelde, ar he with strengthe done. ot to me Jordat at s can gt her ere, ere. cas, rertwein bevě it nome. 60 THE HISTORY OF So he come toward ys men, ys own forme he nom, And levede the erle's fourme, and the kyng Uter by com . Sore hym of thogte the erle's deth, ac in other half he fonde Joye in hys herte, for the contasse of spoushed was unbonde, Tho he hadde that he wolde, and paysed with ys son, To the contasse he wende agen, me let hym in a non. Wat halt it to talle longe: bute heo were seth at on, In gret loue longe y now, wan yt nolde other gon ; Andhaddeto gederethis noble sone, that in the world ys pere nas, The kyng Arture, and a dogter, Anne hire name was !. In the latter end of the reign of Edward the First, many of ficers of the French king, having extorted large sums of money from the citizens of Bruges in Flanders, were murthered : and, an engagement succeeding, the French army, commanded by the count du Saint Pol, was defeated ; upon which the king of France, who was Philip the Fair, sent a strong body of troops, under the conduct of the count de Artois, against the Flemings : he was killed , and the French were almost all cut to pieces. On this occasion the following ballad was made in the year 1301 ". Lustneth, lordinges, bothe zonge ant olde, Of the Freynsh men that were so proude ant bolde, How the Flemmyshe men bohten hem ant solde, Upon a Wednesday, Betere hem were at home in huere londe, Then forte seche Flemishe by the see stronde Whare rourh moni Frensh wyf wryngeth hire honde, Ant syngeth weylaway. The kyng of Fraunce made statuz newe, In the lond of Flaundres among false ant trewe, That the commun of Bruges ful sore can arewe, And seiden amonges hem , Gedere we us togedere hardilyche at ene, Take we the bailifs by twenty ant by tene, Clappe we of the hevedes an oven o the grene, Ant cast we ý the fen. 1 Chron . p. 156. m The last battle was fought that year, July 7. ENGLISH POETRY. 61 The webbes ant the fullaris assembleden hem alle, And makeden huere consail in huere commune halle, Token Peter Conyng huere kynge to calle Ant beo huere cheveteyne, & c. These verses shew the familiarity with which the affairs of France were known in England, and display the disposition of the English towards the French, at this period. It appears from this and previous instances, that political ballads, I mean such as were the vehicles of political satire, prevailed much among our early ancestors. About the present era, we meet with a ballad complaining of the exorbitant fees extorted, and the numerous taxes levied, by the king's officers ' . There is a libel remaining, written indeed in French Alexandrines, on the commission of trayl -baston P , or the justices so denominated by Edward the First, during his absence in the French and about the year 1306. The author names some of the justices or commissioners, now not easily discoverable : and says, that he served the king both in peace and war in Flanders, Gascony, and Scotlanda. There is likewise a bal lad against the Scots, traitors to Edward the First, and taken prisoners at the battles of Dunbar and Kykenclef, in 1305 and 1306r. The licentiousness of their rude manners was perpetually breaking out in these popular pasquins, although this species of petulance usually belongs to more polished times. Nor were they less dexterous than daring in publishing their satires to advantage, although they did not enjoy the many conveniencies which modern improvements have afforded for the circulation of public abuse. In the reign of Henry the Sixth , to pursue the topic a little lower, we find a ballad of this spe cies stuck on the gates of the royal palace, severely reflecting Scotch wars, MSS. Harl. 2253. f. 73. b. 9 MSS. Harl. ibid. f. 113. b. o Ibid. f. 64. There is a song half r Ibid. f. 59 Latin and half French , much on the same [ This and the ballad against the subject. Ibid. f. 137. b. French will be found in Ritson's An P See Spelman and Dufresne in v. and cient Songs.-Enır. ] Rob . Brunne's Chron.ed. Hearne, p. 328. 62 THE HISTORY OF on the king and his counsellors then sitting in parliament. This piece is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum , with the following Latin title prefixed. “ Copia scedulæ valvis domini regis existentis in parliamento suo tento apud Westmonasterium mense marcii anno regni Henrici sexti vicesimo octavo * . " But the antient ballad was often applied to better purposes : and it appears from a valuable collection of these little pieces, lately published by my ingenious friend and fellow - labourer Doctor Percy, in how much more ingenuous a strain they have trans mitted to posterity the praises of knightly heroism, the marvels of romantic fiction , and the complaints of love. At the close of the reign of Edward the First, and in the year 1303, a poet occurs named Robert Mannyng, but more commonly called Robert de Brunne. He was a Gilbertine canon in the monastery of Brunne, or Bourne, near Depyng in Lincolnshire : but he had been before professed in the priory of Sixhille, a house of the sameorder ,and in the same county t. He was merely a translator. He translated into English metre, or rather paraphrased, a French book, written by Grosthead bishop of Lincoln, entitled MANUEL PECHE, or MANUEL DE PECHE, that is, the MANUAL OF Sins. This translation was never printeds. It is a long work, and treats of the decalogue, and the seven deadly sins, which are illustrated with many le gendary stories. This is the title of the translator : “ Here

• ( This piece is not a ballad. See WISS. Bibl. Bodl. N. 415. membr.

Hearne's Hemingi Chartularium . Rır- fol. Cont. 80. pag. Pr. “ Fadyr and sone son .] and holy goste .” And MSS. Harl. 1701 . + De Brunne's account rather varies [ The Harleian manuscript has been from this statement. collated for the present text. Like the In the third Edward's time was I, Bodleian, if Warton followed the Bod When I wrote all this story ; leian manuscript, it professes to be a In the house of Sixille, I was a throwe, translation from the French of Grosteste. Dan Robert of Malton that ye know , But this may be a mere dictum of the Did it write for felaws sake. transcriber. All we gather from the work itself is an acknowledgement of a French “ By this passage he seemstomean that original called “ Manuel Peche, ” whose he was born at a place called Malton ; author was clearly unknown to De that he had resided some time in a house Brunne. Had it been written by a man in the neighbourhood called Sixhill ; of Grosteste's eminence, it would hardly and that there he, Robert de Brunne, have been published anonymously ; nor had composed at least a part of his poem we suppose this circumstance, if during the reign of Edward III.” Ellis.] really true, would have been passed over 8 can ENGLISH POETRY. 6$ bygynneth the boke that men clepyn in Frenshe MANŲEL PECHE, the which boke made yn Frenshe Robert Groosteste byshop of Lyncoln.” From the Prologue, among other cir cumstances, it appears that Robert de Brunne designed this performance to be sung to the harp at public entertainments, and that it was written or begun in the year 1303 ' . For lewede u men y undyrtoke, On Englysh tunge to make thys boke : For many ben of swyche manere That talys and rymys wyl blethly w here, Yn gamys and festys at the alex Love men to lestene trotevale y : &c. in silence by his translator. Be this as confirm this opinion or lead to a know it may , the French production upon ledge of the true source. which De Brunne unquestionably found ed his poem , is claimed by a writer call- Equitabat Bevoper silvam frondosam , ing himself 'William of Wadigten, and Ducebat secum Merswyndam formosam , Quid stamus ? cur non imus ? that in language too peculiar and self condemning to leave a doubt as to the By the leved wode rode Bevolyne, justice of his title. Wyth hym he ledde feyre Merswyne, Why stond we ? why go we noght ? De le françeis vile ne del rimer, Ne me deit nuls hom blamer, The Harleian MS. No. 273 of the Kar en Engletere fu ne, “ Manuel de Pechees,” calls the author E norri, e ordiné, e alevé. William de Windingdon ; but this part De une vile sui nomé, of the manuscript is written by a com Ou ne est burg ne cité, &c. paratively recent and careless hand.. De Deu seit beneit chescun hom, No. 4657, reads Wadigton, but perhaps Ke prie por Wilhelm de Wadigton. we should read Wadington.-- Edit.] Manuel de Peches, Harl. MSS. 4657. tfol. 1 , a. " laymen , illiterate. gladly. De Brunne, however, is not a mere * Šo in the Vision of P. Plowman, translator. He generally amplifies the fol. xxvi. b. edit. 1550 . moral precepts of his original; introduces occasional illustrations of his own, (as I am occupied every day, holy day and other, in the case of Groseteste cited in the With idle tales at the Ale , &c. text ;) and sometimes avails himself of Wadigton's Latin authorities, where Again, fol. 1. b. these are more copious or circumstan tial than their French copyist. Wadig -Foughten at the Ale ton's work, according to M. de la Rue, In glotony, godwote, &c. ( Archæologia, vol. xiv .) is a free trans- Chaucer mentions an Alestake, Prol. lation of a Latin poem called Floretus ; v. 669. Perhaps, a May -pole. And in by some ascribed to St. Bernard, and by the Plowman's Tale, p. 185. Urr. edit. others to Pope Clement. This I have v . 2110 . not been able to meet with ; but the fol And the chief chantours at the nale. lowing lines which De Brunne extracted from the “ Latin Boke," may either y truth and all. W 64 THE HISTORY OF To alle Crystýn men undir sunne, And to gode men of Brunne ; And speciali alle be name The felaushepe of Symprynghame?, Roberd of Brunne greteth yow , In alle godenesse that may to prowa. Of Brymwake yn Kesteveneb Syxe myle besyde Sympryngham evene, Y dwelled in the pryorye Fyftene yere yn cumpanye, In the tyme of gode Dane Jone Of Camelton that now ys gone ; In hys tyme was I ther ten yeres And knewe and herde of hys maneres ; Sythyn with Dan Jon of Clyntone Fyve wyntyr wyth hym gan I wone, Dan Felyp was maystyr in that tyme That y began thys Englyssh ryme, The yeres of grace fylº than to be A thousand and thre hundred and thre. In that tyme turned y thys On Englysh tunge out of Frankys. From the work itself I am chiefly induced to give the fol lowing specimen ; as it contains an anecdote relating to bishop Grosthead his author, who will again be mentioned , and on that account. Y shall you telle as y have herd Of the bysshope seynt Roberd, Hys tonamed ys Grostest Of Lynkolne, so seyth the gest. c fell. p. 311 . % the name of his order. a profit. Lyndesay is Lincolnshire, ibid . p . 248. 6 A part of Lincolnshire. Chron. Br. See a story of three monks of Lyndesay, ibid . p. 80 . See Rob. Br. Chron . At Lincoln the parlement was in Lyndesay and Kestevene. p . 168. “ Thei cald hithis toname,” & c . Fr. “ Est surnomez,” & c . d surname. ENGLISH POETRY. 65 He lovede moche to here the harpe, For mannys wytte hyt makyth sharpe. Next hys chaumber, besyde hys stody, Hys harper's chaumber was fast ther by. Many tymes, be nyztys and dayys, He hadd solace of notes and layys, One asked hym onys [ the] resun why He hadde delyte in mynstralsy ? He answered hym on thys manere Why he helde the harper so dere. 66 The virtu of the harpe, thurgh skyle and ryght; Wyll destroye the fendese myzt; And to the croys by gode skylle Ys the harpe lykened weyle. Tharefore, gode men , ye shul lere, Whan ye any glemenî here, To wurshep God at your power, As Davyd seyth yn the sautere 6. Yn harpe yn thabour and symphan gle Wurshepe God in troumpes and sautre : Yn cordys, an organes, and bellys ringyng, Yn all these wurshepe ye hevene kyng, & c . ” i But Robert de Brunne's largest work is a metrical chro nicle of Englandk. The former part, from Æneas to the death of Cadwallader, is translated from an old French poet called Maister Wace or GASSE, who manifestly copied Geof f & psalter. e fiend's ; the Devil's. Hearne at Oxford , which he calls PETER harpers; minstrels. LANGTOFT's CHRONICLE, 1725. Of the first part Hearne has given us the Pro h Chaucer R. Sir Thop. v. 3321. Urr. logue, Pref. p. 96. An extract, ibid . edit. p. 135. p . 188. And a few other passages in his Here wonnith the queene of Fairie, Glossary to Robert of Gloucester. But With harpe, and pipe, and Simphonie. the first part was never printed entire. Hearne says this Chronicle was not i fol. 30. b. There is an old Latin finished till the year 1338. Rob . Glou song in “ Burton's Melancholy,” which cest. Pref. p. 59. It appears that our I find in this MS. poem . Burton's Mel. author was educated and graduated at Part iii. § 2. Memb. iii. pag. 423. Cambridge, from Chron . p . 337. k The second part was printed by VOL. I. F 66 THE HISTORY OF fry of Monmouth ', in a poem commonly entitled ROMAN DE Rois D'ANGLETERRE. It is esteemed one of the oldest of the French romances ; and begun to be written [by Eustace, some times called Eustache, Wistace, or Huistace, who finished his part] under the title of BRUT D'ANGLETERRE, in the year 1155. Hence Robert de Brunne [ somewhat inaccurately ] calls it simply the BruTM This romance was soon afterwards con [ This erroneous account of Wace a romantic history of England, drawn and his writings, has been copied from from Geoffry of Monmouth, perhapsbe the statements of Fauchet and others, fore the year 1200. MSS. Harl. 1605. 1 . who have multiplied his person , and f. 1. Cod. membran. 4to. In the ma confounded his writings with the most nuscript library of Doctor N. Johnston unparalleled absurdity . Whether writ- of Pontefract, now perhapsdispersed, len Eustace, Eustache, Wistace, Huis- there was amanuscript on vellum , con tace, Vace, Gasse, or Gace, the name laining a history in old English verse through all its disguises is intended for from Brute to the eighteenth year of one and the same person, Wace ofJersey. Edward the Second. And in that of Mr. Tyrwhitt was the first to rescue this Basil lord Denbigh, a metrical history ingenious writer from the errors which in English , from the same period to had gathered round his name; and M. Henry the Third . Wanley supposed it de la Ruehas fullyestablished his rights, to have been ofthe hand-writing of the by supplying us with an authentic cata- time of Edward the Fourth . logue of his works, and exhibiting their m The BRUT OF ENGLAND, a prose importance both to the historian and an- Chronicle of England, sometimes con tiquary. De Brunne was induced to tinued as low as Henry the Sixth, is a follow the Brut d'Angleterre in the first common manuscript. It was at first part of his Chronicle, from the copious- translated from a French Chronicle ness of its details upon British history. [MSS. Harl. 200. 4to . ], written in the But the continuation noticed in the text beginning of thereign of Edward the was the production of Geoffri Gaimar, Third . I think it is printed by Caxton a poet rather anterior to Wace ; and is under the title of Fructus Temporum. supposed to have formed a part of a ( The Chronicles of England. ) The larger work on English and Norman French have a famous antient prose ro history. Le Romandu Rou , or the His- mance called Brut, which includes the tory of Rollofirst duke of Normandy, history ofthe Sangreal. I know not is another of Wace'sworks: and Les Vies whether it is exactly the same. In an old des Ducs de Normandie, which is brought metrical romance, The story of ROLLO, down to the sixth year of Henry I., a there is this passage. MS. Vernon , third. But the reader who is desirous Bibl. Bodl. f. 123. of further information on this subject, Lordus gif ye wil lesten to me, is referred to the 12, 13,and 14th volumes Of Croteye the nobile citee ofthe “ Archæologia ,” where he will find As wrytten i fynde inhis story a brief but able outline of the history Of Bruir the chronicle, &c. of Anglo -Norman poetry, by M. de la In the British Museum we have Le petit Rue. By omitting the passages inclosed Bruit, compiled by Meistre Raufe de within brackets, and substituting the Boun, and ending with the death of name of Geoffri Gaimar for Robert Edward the First. MSS. Harl. 902. Wace, and the year 1146 for 1160, f. 1. Cod. chart. fol. It is an abridge Warton's textwill be made to cancel its ment ofthe grand Brut. In the same errors.-EDIT . library I findLiber de Bruto et degestis In the British Museumthere is a frag- Anglorummetrificatus ; ( that is, turned ment ofa poem in very old French verse, into rude Latin hexameters). It is con ENGLISH POETRY. 67 o " tinued to William Rufus, by Geoffri Gaimar, [ Robert Wace or Vace, Gasse or Gace, a native of Jersey, educated at Caen, canon of Bayeux, and chaplain to Henry the Second, under the title of LE ROMAN LE ROU ET LES VIES des Ducs DE NOR MANDIE, yet sometimes preserving its original one, ] in the year 1146 [ 1160 "]. Thus both parts were blended, and be came one work. Among the royal manuscripts in the British Museum it is thus entitled : “ LE BRUT, kemaistre Wace trans lata de Latin en Franceis de tutt les Reis de Brittaigne '. That is, from the Latin prose history of Geoffry of Monmouth. And that master Wace aimed only at the merit of a translator, appears from his exordial verses. Maistre Gasse l'a translate Que en conte le veritè. Otherwise we might have suspected that the authors drew their materials from the old fabulous Armoric manuscript, which is said to have been Geoffry's original. [ Although this romance, in its antient and early manuscripts, tinued to the death of Richard the Se- Calig . A ix. and Otho. C 13. 4to . In cond . Many prose annotations are in- vellum . The translator is one Lazamon , termixed. MSS. ibid. 1808. 24. f. 31 . a priest, born at Ernly on Severn. He Cod. membran . 4to . In another copy says, that he had hisoriginal from the of this piece, one Peckward is said to be book of a French clergyman, named the versifier. MSS. ib. 2386. 23, f. 35. Wate ; which book Wate the author had In another manuscript the grand Brut presented to Eleanor, queenof Henry is saidto be translated fromthe French theSecond. So Lazamon in thepreface. by “ John Maundeuleparson of Brun- “ Bot he nom the thridde, leide ther ham Thorpe." MSS. ibid . 2279. 3. amidden : tha makede a frenchis clerc : See Lenglet, Biblioth. des Romans, Wate ( Wate) wes ihoten , & c. ” Now ii. p. 226. 227. And Lacombe, Dic- because Geoffry ofMonmouth in one of tion. de vieux Lang. Fr. pref. p . xviii. his prefaces, cap. i. b. 1. says that he Paris. 1767. 8vo. Andcompare Mont- received his original from the hands of fauc . Catal. Manuscr. ii. p . 1669. See Walter Mapes, archdeacon of Oxford ; also M. Galland , Mem . Lit. üi. p. 426. both Wanley and Nicholsonsuppose that 8vo. the Wate mentioned by Lazamon is ° 3 A xxi. 3. It occurs again , 4 Cxi. Walter Mapes Whereas Lazamon un “ Histoire d'Angleterre en vers, par doubtedly means Wace, perhaps written Maistre Wace." I cannot help correct- or called Wate, author of LE ROMAN LE ing a mistake into which both Wanley Rou above mentioned. Noris the Saxon and bishop Nicholson have fallen , with i (t ) perfectly distinguishable from c. regard to this Wace. In the Cotton li- SeeWanley'sČatal. Hickes's Thesaur.ii. brary, a Saxo -Normanmanuscript occurs p. 228. and Nicholson , Hist. Libr. i. 3. twice, which seems to be a translation And compare Leland's Coll. vol. i. P.ü. of Geoffry's History, or very like it. p. 509. edit. 1770. F 2 68 THE HISTORY OF has constantly passed under the name of its finisher, Wace; yet the accurate Fauchet cites it by the name of its first author, Eustace P. And at the same time it is extraordinary, that Robert de Brunne, in his Prologue, should not once men tion the name of Eustace, as having any concern in it : so soon was the name of the beginner superseded by that of the conti nuator. ] An ingenious French antiquary very justly supposes, that Wace took many of his descriptions from that invaluable and singular monument the Tapestry of the Norman conquest, preserved in the treasury of the cathedral of Bayeux ?, and lately engraved and explained in the learned Doctor Du Carell's Anglo - Norman ANTIQUITIES. Lord Lyttelton has quoted this romance, and shewn that important facts and curious illus trations of history may be drawn from such obsolete but au thentic resources " . The measure used by Robert de Brunne, in his translation of the former part of our French chronicle or romance, is ex actly like that of his original. Thus the Prologue. Lordynges that be now here, If ye wille listene and lere, All the story of Inglande, Als Robert Mannyng wryten it fand, And on Inglysch has it schewed , Not for the lered but for the lewed ; For tho that on this lond wonn That the Latin ne Frankys conn , For to half solace and gamen In felauschip when tha sitt samen P Rec. p . 82. edit. 1581. sequent to the death of its projector ; at 9 Mons. Lancelot, Mem . Lit. viii. whose demise it was left in an unfinished 602. 4to. Andsee Hist. Acad. Inscript. state. Wace probably never saw it. At xiii. 41. 4to . all events, could it be proved that he did, (M. de la Rue has advanced some he disdained to use it in his “ History very satisfactory reasons for supposing of the Irruption of the Normans into this tapestry to have been madeby, or England,” his only work where it could wrought under the direction of, the em- have assisted him ; since his narrative is press Matilda,who died in the year 1167. at variance with the representations this ( See Archæologia,vol. xviii.) It wasevi- monument contains. - Edit. ] dently sent to Bayeux at a period sub- * Hist. Hen. II. vol. iii. p. 180. ENGLISH POETRY. 69 And it is wisdom forto wytten The state of the land, and hef it wryten , What manere of folk first it wan , And of what kynde it first began. And gude it is for many thynges,, For to here the dedis of kynges, Whilk were foles, and whilk were wyse, And whilk of tham couth most quantyse ; And whylk did wrong, and whilk ryght, And whilk mayntened pes and fyght. Of thare dedes sall be mi sawe, In what tyme, and of what law , I sholl yow from gre to gre, Sen the tyme of Sir Noe ; From Noe unto Eneas, And what betwixt tham was, And fro Eneas till Brutus tyme, That kynde he tells in this ryme. For Brutus to Cadweladres, The last Briton that this lande lees. Alle that kynd and alle the frute That come of Brutus that is the Brute ; And the ryght Brute is told no more Than the Brytons tyme wore . After the Bretons the Inglis camen , The lordschip of this land thai namen ; South, and north, west, and east, That call men now the Inglis gest. When thai first among the Bretons, That now ere Inglis than were Saxons, Saxons Inglis hight all oliche. Thai aryved up at Sandwyche, In the kynges synce Vortogerne That the lande wolde tham not werne, &c. One mayster Wace the Frankes telles The Brute all that the Latin spelles, 70 THE HISTORY OF Fro Eneas to Cadwaladre, &c. And ryght as mayster Wace says, I telle myne Inglis the same ways, &c. • The second part of Robert de Brunne's CHRONICLE, be ginning from Cadwallader, ånd ending with Edward the First, is translated, in great measure , from the second part of a French metrical chronicle, written in five books, by Peter Langtoft, an Augustine canon of the monastery of Bridlington in York shire, who wrote not many years before his translator. This is mentioned in the Prologue preceding the second part. Frankis spech is cald romance , So sais clerkes and men of France. Pers of Langtoft, a chanon Schaven in the house of Bridlyngton On Frankis style this storie he wrote Of Inglis kinges, & c . u As Langtoft had written his French poem in Alexandrines ", the translator, Robert de Brunne, has followed him , the Pro logue excepted, in using the double distich for one line, after the manner of Robert of Gloucester. As in the first part he copied the metre of his author Wace. But I will exhibit a specimen from both parts. In the first, he gives us this dia logue between Merlin's mother and king Vortigern, from Master Wace. “ Dame, said the kyng, welcom be thow : Nedeli at the I mette witte how

• Hearne's edit. Pref. p. 98.

X This that I have said it is Pers sawe · The Latin tongue ceased to be Als he in Romance laid thereafter gan spoken in France about the ninth cen I drawe. tury ; and was succeeded by what was See Chauc. Rom . R. v. 2170. Also Ba called the ROMANCE tongue, a mixture lades, p. 554. v. 508. Urr. And Crescem of Frankish and bad Latin. Hencethe bin . Istor. della Volg. Poes. vol. i. L. V. first poems in that language are called p. 316. seq. Romans or ROMANTS. Essay on Pope, U Hearne's edit. Pref. 106 In the following passages of w Some are printed by Hollinsh. this Chronicle, where Robert de Brunne Hist. iii. 469. Others by Hearne, Chron. mentions ROMANCE, he sometimesmeans Langt. Pref. p. 58. and in the margin Langtoft's French book, from which he of the pages of the Chronicle. translated : viz. Chron. p. 205, * “ I must by all means know of you." p. 281 . جیسے ENGLISH POETRY. 71 Who than gate y thi sone Merlyn And on what maner was he thin ? ” His moder stode a throwe z and thought Are scho a to the kyng ansuerd ouht: When scho had standen a litelle wight, Scho said , by Jhesu in Mari light, That I ne saugh hym never ne knewe That this knaveº on me sewed. Ne I wist, ne I herd, What maner schap with me so ferde. But this thing am I wole ograunt ', That I was of elde avenaunt 8 : One com to my bed I wist, With force he me halsed h and kist : Als i a man I him felte, Als a man he me weltek ; Als a man he spake to me. Bot what he was, myght I not se !.” The following, extracted from the same part, is the speech of the Romans to the Britons, after the former had built a wall against the Picts, and were leaving Britain . We haf closed ther most nede was ; And yf ye defend wele that pas With archers m and with magnels ", And kepe wele the kyrnels ; у b c child. d e begot. 2 awhile. parte orientali cum Kernellis et Arche a e'er she. white, while. riis faciendis, xvi. s. vi. d .” In Archiv. begot. Wolves. apud Wint. Kernells mentioned lay [ fared . Ritson ]. fassured . here and in the next verse were much 8 " I was then young and beautiful.” the same thing : or perhaps Battlements, ( of a fit age. Ritson. ] as . In repairs of the great hall at Wolvesey o embraced . i * wielded , moved. palace, I find, “In kyrnillis emptis ad | Apud Hearne's Gl. Rob. Glouc. idem , xii. d .” Ibid. There is a patent granted to the monks of Abingdon, in m Not Bowmen , but apertures in the Berkshire, in the reign of Edward the wall for shooting arrows. Viz . In the Third, “ Pro kernellationemonasterii." repairs of Taunton castle, 1266. Comp. Pat. an . 4. par. 1 . J. Gerneys, Episc. Wint. “ TANTONIA. Cotgrave has interpreted this word , Expense domorum . In mercede Cemen- an old - fashioned sling. V. MANGONEAU. tarii pro muro erigendo juxta turrim ex Viz. Rot. Pip . An. 4 Hen. iii . ( A.D. p . 721. 72 THE HISTORY OF Ther may ye The pas bothe schote and cast Waxes bold and fend you fast. Thinkes your faders wan franchise, Be ye no more in other servise : Bot frely lyf to your lyves end ; We fro you for ever wendeº. 1219.) “ NORDHANT. Ęt in expensis [ The use of artillery, however, is regis in obsidione castri de Rockingham , provedby a curious passage in Petrarch 1001. per Br. Reg. Et custodibusinge- to be older than the period to which it niorum ( engines ) regis ad ea carianda has been commonly referred. usque Bisham , ad castrum illud obsi- sage is in Petrarch’s book de REMEDIIS dendum , 13s. 10d. per id. Br. Reg. Et UTRIUSQUE FORTUNÆ , undoubtedly writ pro duobus coriis, emptis apud North- ten before the year 1334. “ G. Habeo ampton ad fundas petrariarum et man- machinas et balistas. R. Mirum , nisi gonellorum regis faciendas, 5s. 6d . per et glandes æneas, quæ flammis injectis id . Br. Reg.” -Rot. Pip. 9 Hen. III. horrisono sonitu jaciuntur. - Erat hæc (A.D. 1225.) “ Surr. Comp. de Cnare- pestis nuper rara , ut cum ingenti mira burc. Et pro vii . cablis emptis ad pe- culo cerneretur: nunc, ut rerum pessi trarias et mangonellos in eodem castro, marum dociles sunt animi, ita communis 7s. 11d .” Rot. Pip. 5 Hen. III. ( A.D. est, ut quodlibet genus armorum .” Lib. i . 1220.). “ Devons. Et in custo posito in Dial. 99. See Muratori, ANTIQUITAT, 1. petraria et 11. mangonellis cariatis a Med , Æv. tom . ii. col. 514. Cannons Nottinghamusque Bisham, et in eisdem are supposed to have been first used by reductis a Bislam usque Notingham , the English at the battle of Cressy, in 71. 4s. " the year 1346. It is extraordinary that [ See infr. p. 76. MANGONEL also Froissart, who minutely describes that signified what wasthrown from the ma- battle , and is fond of decorating his chine so called. Thus Froissart : “ Et narrative with wonders, should have avoient les Brabançons de tres grans en- wholly omitted this circumstance. Mus ginsdevant la ville, qui gettoient pierres quets are recited as a weapon of the in defaix etmangoneauxjusques en la ville ." fantry so early as the year 1475. “ Qui Liv, iii. c. 118. And in the old French libet peditum habeat balistam vel bom Ovide cited by Borel, Tresor. in v. bardam . ” LIT. Casimiri III. an. 1475, Onques pour une tor abatre, LEG. Porox. tom. i . p . 228. These are Ne oit on Mangoniaux descendre generally assigned to the year 1520. Plus briement ne du ciel destendre ADDITIONS. ] Foudre pour abatre un clocher. I am ofopinion, that some ofthe great Additions. ] military battering engines, so frequently Chaucer mentions both Mangonels and writings of the darkages, were fetched mentioned in the histories and other Kyrnils, in a castle in the Romaunt of from the Crusades. See a species of the the Rose, v . 4195. 6279. Also archers, i . e. archeria, v, 4191. Soin the French catapult, used by the Syrian army in the siege of Mecca, about the year 680. Roman de la Rose, v. 3945. Mod. Univ. Hist. b. i . c. 2. tom . i . Vous puissiez bien les Mangonneaulx, p. 117. These expeditions into the East Veoir la par -dessus les Creneaulx. undoubtedly muchimproved the Euro Et aux archieres de la Tour pean art of war . Tasso's warlike ma Sont arbalestres tout entour. chines, which seem to be the poet's in Archieres occur often in this poem . vention, are formed on descriptions of Chaucer, in translating the above pas- such wonderful machines which he had sage, has introduced guns, which were read inthe Crusade historians, particu . not known when the original was writ- larly Wilhelmus Tyrensis. ten, v. 4191 , o Gloss. Rob. Glouc. p. 664. ENGLISH POETRY. 73 Vortigern, king of the Britons, is thus described meeting, the beautiful princess Rouwen, daughter of Hengist, the Ro samond of the Saxon ages, at a feast of wassaile. It is a cu rious picture of the gallantry of the times. Hengest that day did his might, That alle were glad, king and knight, And as thei were best in glading, And wele cop schotin P knight and king, Of chambir Rouewen so gent, Be fore the king in halle scho went. A coupe with wyne sche had in hand, And hir hatire 9 was wele farandr. Be fore the king on kne sett, And on hir langage scho him grett. “ Lauerid king, Wassaille," seid sche, The king asked, what suld be. On that langage the king ne couthe . A knight ther u langage lerid w in youthe. Breg hiht * that knight born Bretoun, That lerid the langage of Sessoun Y. This Breg was the latimer 2. What scho said told Vortager. לל r 8 lord. t u their. X P “ Sending about the cups apace. Ca. Un LATINIER vieil ferant et henu rousing briskly .” 9 attire. Molt sot de plet, et molt entresnie fu. very rich ( very becoming: -- Ellis ). And in the manuscript Roman de Rou, was not skilled . which will again be mentioned : w learned . was called . y Saxons. L'archevesque Franches a Jumeges ala, 2 For Latiner, or Latinier, an Inter- A Rou, et asa gent par LATINIER parla. preter. Thus, in the Romance of King We find it in Froissart, tom. iv. c. 87. RICHARD, hereafter cited at large, Sala din'sLatimer at the siege of Babylon Inthe old Norman poem on the subject And in other antient French writers. proclaimsa truce totheChristian army of kingDermod's expulsion from his from the walls of the city. Signat. M. i . The LATEMERE tho tourned his eye kingdom of Ireland, in the Lambeth library, it seems more properly to signify, To that other syde of the toune, in a limited sense, the king's domestic And cryed trues with gret soune. SECRETARY. In which sense the French word occurs Par son demeine LATINIER in the Roman de GARIN. MSS. Bibl. Que moi conta de luy l'histoire, & c . Reg. Paris. Num, 7542. See lord Lyttelton's Hist. Hen. II. LATIMER fu si sot parler Roman , vol. iv. App. p. 270. We might here Englois, Gallois, et Breton, et Norman. .render it literally his Latinist, an officer And again, retained by the king to draw up the 74 THE HISTORY OF “ Sir, Breg seid, Rowen yow gretis, And king callis and lord yow letis . This es ther custom and ther gest, Whan thei are atte the ale or fest. Ilk man that louis quare him think , Salle say Wosseille, and to him drink. He that bidis salle say, Wassaille, The tother salle say again, Drinkhaille. That sais Wosseille drinkis of the cop , Kissand his felaw he gives it up . Drinkheille, he sais, and drinke ther of, Kissand him in bourd and skofc.” The king said , as the knightgan kena, Drinkheille, smiland on Rouewen. Rouwen drank as hire list, And gave the king, sine him kist. There was the first wassaille in dede, And that first of fame gedef. Of that wassaille men told grete tale, And wassaille whan thei were at ale. And drinkheille to tham that drank, Thus was wassaille tane to thank . Fele sithesh that maidin ying ', Wassailed and kist the king. Of bodi sche was right avenant " , Of fair colour, with swete semblaunt '. Hir hatirem fulle wele it semed , Mervelikº the king sche quemidº. Oute of messure was he glad, For of that maidin he wer alle mad. e public instruments in Latin . As in DOMESDAI- BOOK. “ Godwinus accipitra rius, Hugo LATINARIUS, Milo porta rius." Ms. Excerpt. penes me. But in both the last instances the word may. bear its more general and extensive sig nification . Camden explains LATIMER by interpreter. Rem . p . 158. See also p . 151. edit. 1674. a esteems. 6 kissing: с sport, joke. d to signify. since, afterwards. f went. & takene h young handsome, gracefully shaped , & c. countenance (appearance, Ellis.) i many times. 1 marvellously. pleased. m attire. 0 ENGLISH POETRY. 75 Drunkenės the feend wroght, Of that paenP was al his thoght. A meschaunche that time him led . He asked that paen for to wed . Hengist wild not draw a lite ?, Bot graunted him alle so tite. And Hors his brother consentid sone. Her frendis said , it were to done. Thei asked the king to gife hir Kent, In douary to take of rent. Opon that maidin his hert so cast, That thei askid the king made fast. I wene the king toke her that day, And wedded hire on paiens lay ". Ofprest was ther no benisons No mes songen , no orison . ' In seisine he had her that night. Of Kent he gave Hengist the right. The erelle that time, that Kent alle held, Sir Goragon , that had the scheld, Of that gift no thingne wist Tou he was cast oute with » Hengist. In the second part, copied from Peter Langtoft, the attack of Richard the First, on a castle held by the Saracens, is thus described . t W The dikes were fulle wide that closed the castle about, And depe on ilka side, with bankis hie without. Was ther non entre that to the castelle gan ligge *, Bot a streiht kaucey ; at the end a drauht brigge. With grete duble cheynes drauhen over the gate, And fifti armed sueynes 2 porters at that yate. u till. V р pagan , heathen . 9 is would not fly off a bit." { " in pagans law ; according to the heathenish custom .

• benediction, blessing..

t knew not. by. ♡ Hearne's Gl. Rob . Glo . p. 695. lying. causey . swains, young men, soldiers. > y 2 76 THE HISTORY OF With slenges and magneles a thei kast 5 to kyng Rychard Our cristen by parcelles kasted ageynwardº. Ten sergeauns of the best his targe gan him bere That egre were and prest to covere hym and to wered. Himself as a geaunt the cheynes in tuo hew , The targe was his warantę, that non tille him threw . Right unto the gate with the targe thei yede Fightand on a gate, undir him the slouh his stede, Therfor ne wild he sessef, alone into the castele Thorgh tham all wild presse on fote faught he fulle wele. And whan he was withinne, and fauht as a wilde leon , He fondred the Sarazins otuynne , and fauht as a dragon. Without the Cristen gan crie, Allas ! Richard is taken, Tho Normans were sorie, of contenance gan blaken , To slo downe and to stroye never wild thei stint Thei left for dede no noye ", ne for no wound no dynt, That in went alle their pres, maugre the Sarazins alle, And fond Richard on des fightand, and wonne the halle. i From these passages it appears that Robert of Brunne has scarcely more poetry than Robert of Glocester. He has however taken care to acquaint his readers that he avoided high description, and that sort of phraseology which was then used by the minstrels and harpers; that he rather aimed to give information than pleasure, and that he was more studious of truth than ornament. As he intended his chronicle to be sung, at least by parts, at public festivals, he found it ex pedient to apologise for these deficiencies in the prologue ; as he had partly done before in his prologue to the MANUAL OF SINS. a e b cast. 99 mangonels. Vid. supr. p. 72. guard, defence. f is he could not cease . In Langtoft's French , 86 he formed the Saracens into two “ Dis seriauntz des plus feres e de melz parties. ” [Fondered' (explained forced vanez, in Hearne's Glossary ) is perhaps a mis take of the transcriber for sondered, i, e, Devaunt le cors le Reis sa targe ount sundered, separated . Ellis. ] portez. " annoyance . ward, defend. i Chron. p. 182, 183. > h d ENGLISH 77 POETRY. I mad noght for no disours k Ne for seggers no harpours, Bot for the luf of symple men , That strange Inglis cannot ken ' : For many it erem that strange Inglis In ryme wate ” never what it is. I made it not for to be praysed, Bot at the lewed men were aysedº. He next mentions several sorts of verse, or prosody; which were then fashionable among the minstrels, and have been long since unknown. If it were made in ryme couwée, Or in strangere or enterlace, & c . * k tale- tellers, Narratores, Lat. Con- enterlacée, each couplet rhyming in the teours, Fr. Seggers in the next line per- middle as well as the end . As thus, haps means the same thing, i. e . Sayers. MSS. HARL. 1002. The writers either ofmetrical or of prose Plausus Græcorum | lux cæcis et via romances . See Antholog. Fran . p. 17. 1765.8vo. OrDisours may signify Dis- Incola cælorum | virgo dignissima lau claudis course, i. e . adventureſ in prose . We dis. have the “ Devil's disours,” in P. Plow man , fol. xxxi. b. edit. 1550. Disour The rhyme Baston had its appellation precisely signifies a tale- teller at a feast from Robert Baston, a celebrated Latin in Gower. Conf. Amant. lib. vii . fol. rhymer about the year 1315. The rhyme 155. a . edit. Berthel. 1554. He is speak- strangere means uncommon . See Can ing of the coronation festival of a Ro- TERBURY Tales, vol. iv. p. 72. seq. ut man emperor. infr. The reader, curious on this sub ject, may receive further information When he was gladest at his mete, from a manuscript in the Bodleian li And every minstrell had plaide brary, in which are specimens of METRA And every DISSOUR had saide Leonina, cristata , cornuta, reciproca, & c . Which most was pleasaunt to his ere. MSS. Laud. K 3. 4to. In the same Du Cange says, that Diseurs were judges library there is a very antient manu of the turney. Diss. Joinv. p. 179. script copy of Aldhelm's Latin poem I know. De Virginitate et Laude Sanctorum , writ it ere,there are . ten about the year 700 , and given by n knew , Thomas Allen, with Saxon glosses, and o eased . the text almost in semi-saxon characters.

• [ The rhymes here called, by Robert These are the two first verses.

de Brunne, Couwée, and Enterlacée, were Metrica tyrones nunc promant carmina undoubtedly derived from the Latin casti, rhymers of that agé, who used versus Et laudem capiat quadrato carmine caudati et interlaqueati. Brunne here Virgo. professes to avoid these elegancies of composition, yet he has intermixed many Langbaine, in reciting this manuscript, passages in Rime Couwée. See his thus explains the quadratum carmen . CHRONICLE, p. 266. 273. &c. & c . And “ Scil. prima cujusque versus litera, per almost all the latter part of his work Acrostichidem , conficit versum illum from the Conquest is written in rhyme Metrica tyrones. Ultima cujusque versus m 78 THE HISTORY OF He adds, that the old stories of chivalry had been so disguised by foreign terms, by additions and alterations, that they were now become unintelligible to a common audience : and parti cularly, that the tale of SiR TRISTRAM *, the noblest of all, was much changed from the original composition of its first 'author THOMAS. I see in song in sedgeying talep Of Erceldoune, and Kendale, Non tham says as thai tham wroght ”, And in ther saying" it semes noght, That may thou here in Sir Tristrams; Over gestes it has the steemų, litera, ab ultimo carmine ordine retro- tion, but writers of adventures. House grado numerando, hunc versum facit. of Fame, v. 108 . “ Metrica tyronesnuncpromant carmina And JESTOURS that tellen tales casti. ' Both of wepyng and of game. ( Langb . MSS. v. p . 126.) MSS. DIGB. In the House of Fame he also places 146 . There is a very antient tract, by those who wrote “ olde Gestes." v. 425 . one Mico, I believe called also LEVITA, It is however obvious to observe from on Prosody, De Quantitate Syllabarum , whence the present term Jest arose . See with examples from the Latin poets, per- Fauchet, Rec. p. 73. In P. Plowman , haps the first work of the kind. Bibl. we have Job's Jestes. fol. xlv . Bodl. MSS. Bodl. A 7. 9. See J. L. Hocker's Catal. MSS. Bibl . Heidelb. Job the gentyl in his jestes,greatly wyt nesseth . p. 24. who recites a part of Mico's Pre face, in which he appears to have been That is, “ Job in the account ofhis Life. " a grammatical teacher of youth . See In the same page we have, also Dacheri SPICILEG. tom. ii. p. 300. b. edit. ult. - ADDITIONS.] And japers and judgelers, and jangelers

• [ See Note at the end of this vol.]

P« among the romances that are sung, That is, Minstrels, Reciters of tales. & c .” Other illustrations of this word will oc 4 “ none recite them as they were first cur in the course of the work . Chansons written . ' degestes were common in France in the

• " as they tell them .” thirteenth century among the trouba * " this you may see, & c.” dours. See Mem . concernant les princi • Hearne says that Gests were opposed paux monumens de l'Histoire de France,

to Romance. Chron. Langt. Pref. p. 37. Mem. Lit. xv. p. 582 ; by thevery But this is a mistake. Thus we have learned and ingenious M. de la Curne the Geste of kyng Horne, avery old me- de Sainte Palaye. I add the two first trical Romance. MSS. Harl. 2253. p. lines of a manuscript entitled , Art de Also in the Prologue of Rychard Kalender par Rauf, who lived 1256. Cuer de Lyon. Bibl. Bodi. J. b. 2. Th. ( Langb. MSS. King Richard is the best 5. 439. ) That is found in anyjeste. De geste ne voil pas chanter, Ne veilles estoires el canter. And the passage in the text is a proof against his assertion . Chaucer, in the , There is even Gesta Passionis et Resur following passage, by JESTOURS, does rectionis Christi, in many manuscript li not mean Jesters in modern significa- braries. ofjestes. 70 . u esteem . ENGLISH POETRY. 79 Over all that is or was, If men yt sayd as made Thomas. Thai sayd in so quaynte Inglis That manyoneW wate not what it is. And forsooth I couth nought So strange Inglis as thai wroght. On this account, he says, he was persuaded by his friends to write his Chronicle in a more popular and easy style, that would be better understood . And men besought me many a time To turn it bot in light ryme. Thai said if I in strange it turne To here it manyon would skurne *, For it are names fulle selcouthe y That ere not used now in mouth . In the hous of Sixille I was a throwe z Danz Robert of Meltonea, that ye knowe, Did it wryte for felawes sake, When thai wild solace make. b Erceldoune and Kendale are mentioned , in some of these lines of Brunne, as (writers of ] old romances or popular tales. Of the latter I can discover no traces in our antient literature, As to the former, Thomas Erceldoun, or Ashelington, is said to have written Prophecies, like those of Merlin . Leland, from the Scalæ Chronicon ", says that “ William Banastred, many a one. It begins, in the usual form , with the strange. a little while . creation of the world , passes on to Bru .

• “ Sir Robert of Malton .” It appears tus, and closes with Edward the Third .

from hence that he was born at Malton á One Gilbert Banestre was a poet in Lincolnshire. and musician . The Prophesies of Bao • Pref. Rob . Glouc. p. 57. 58 . nister of England are not uncommon “ An antient French history or Chro- among manuscripts. In the Scotch Pro nicle of England never printed, which phesies, printed at Edinburgh, 1680, Ba Leland says was translated out of French naster ismentioned as the author of some rhyme into French prose. Coll. vol. i. of them . “ As Berlington's books and P. ii. pag. 59. edit. 1770. It was pro- Banester tell us. " p . 2. Again , “ Beid bably written or reduced by Thomas hath brieved in his book and Banester Gray into prose. Londinens. Antiquitat. also." p. 18. He seems to be confounded Cant. lib . i. p . 38. Others affirm it to with William Banister, a writer of the have been the work of John Gray, an reign of EdwardtheThird. Berlington eminent churchman, about the year 1212. is probably John Bridlington, an Augus. w x scorn , у Z 80 THE HISTORY OF and Thomas Erceldoune, spoke words yn figure as were the prophecies of Merline.” In the library of Lincoln cathedral, there is a metrical romance entitled, THOMAS OF ERSELDOWN *, which begins with the usual address, Lordynges both great and small. In the Bodleian library, among the theological works of John Lawern , monk of Worcester, and student in theology at Ox ford about the year 1448, written with his own hand, a frag ment of an English poem occurs, which begins thus : Joly chepert ( sheperd ] of Askeldowne f. In the British Museum a manuscript English poem occurs, with this French title prefixed , “ La Countesse de Dunbar, demanda a Thomas Essedoune quant la guere d'Escoce pren dret fyng. ” This was probably our prophesier Thomas of Erceldown. One of his predictions is mentioned in an antient Scots poem entitled A New Year's Gift, written in the year 1562, by Alexander Scott ". One Thomas Leirmouth, or Rymer, was also a prophetic bard, and lived at Erslingtoun, sometimes perhaps pronounced Erseldoun. This is therefore probably the same person. One who personates him, says, In ERSLINGTOUN I dwell at hame, THOMAS RYMER men call me. two lines. 37 tine canon of Bridlington , who wrote f MSS. Bodl. 692. fol. three books of Carmina Vaticinalia , in [Mr. Ritson has said of this poem which he pretends to foretell manyacci- that " it was found impracticable (by dents that should happen to England. him ] to make out more than the first MSS. Digb. Bibl. Bodl. 89. and 186. There arealso Versus Vaticinales under his name, MSS. Bodl. NE. E. ï. 17. Joly chepte of Aschell downe Can more on love than al the town. " f. 21. He died, aged sixty, in 1379. He Edit .] was canonised. There are many other Prophetiæ, which seem to have been fa- 8 MSS. Harl. 2253. f. 127. It be shionable at this time, bound up with gins thus, Bridlington in MSS. Digb. 186 . e Ub . supr. p. 510. When man as mad a kingge of a cap

• [ Another copy is preserved at Cam ped man

bridge, a transcript from which has been When mon is lever other monnes thynge published by Mr. Jamieson in his Po then ys owen. pular Ballads and Songs. The various n Ancient Scots Poems, Edinb. 1770. readings of the Lincoln MS. are there 12mo. p. 194. See the ingenious edi given. -Edir. ] tor's notes, p. 312, ENGLISH POETRY. 81 He has left vaticinal rhymes, in which he predicted the union of Scotland with England, about the year 1279i. Fordun mentions several of his prophecies concerning the future state of Scotland k. Our author, Robert de Brunne, also translated into English rhymes the treatise of cardinal Bonaventura, his cotemporary ', De coena et passione domini et poenis S. Mariæ Virginis, with the following title : “ Medytaciuns of the Soper of our Lorde Jhesu, and also of hys Passyun , and eke of the Peynes of hys swete Modyr mayden Marye, the whyche made yn Latyn Bonaventure Cardynall m .” But I forbear to give further ex tracts from this writer, who appears to have possessed much more industry than genius, and cannot at present be read with much pleasure. Yet it should be remembered, that even such a writer as Robert de Brunne, uncouth and unpleasing as he naturally seems, and chiefly employed in turning the theology of his age into rhyme, contributed to form a style, to teach expression, and to polish his native tongue. In the infancy of language and composition, nothing is wanted but writers : at that period even the most artless have their use. Robert Grosthead bishop of Lincoln ”, who died in 1253, is said in some verses of Robert de Brunne, quoted above, to have been fond of the metre and music of the minstrels. He 1 i See Scotch Prophesies, ut supr. p. 19. line is, 11. 13. 18. 36. viz. The Prophesy of Thomas Rymer . , Pr. “ Stille on my Almighti god in trinite . wayes as I went. ” It was never printed .

• Lib. X. cap. 43. 44. I think he is n See Diss. ii . Theauthor and trans

also mentioned by Spotswood. See lator are often thus confounded in ma Dempst. xi. 810 . nuscripts. To an old English religious " He died 1272. Many of Bonaven- poem on the holy Virgin , we find the ture's tracts were at this time translated following title : Incipit quidam cantus into English. In the Harleian manu- quem composuit frater Thomas de Hales scripts we have, “ The Treatis that is de ordine fratrum minorum , &c. MSS. kallid Prickynge of Love, made bi a Coll. Jes . Oxon. 85. supr. citat . But Frere menour Bonaventure, that was this is the title of our friar's original, a Cardinall of the courte of Rome.” 2254. Latin hymn de B. MARIA VIRGIKE, 1. f. 1. This book belonged to Dame improperly adopted in the translation. Alys Braintwat “ the worchypfull prioras Thomas de Hales was a Franciscan friar, of Dartforde.” This is not an uncom- a doctor of the Sorbonne, and flourished mon manuscript. about the year 1340. We shall see other m MSS. Harl. 1701. f. 84. The first proofs of this. VOL. I. G 82 THE HISTORY OF was most attached to the French minstrels, in whose language he has left a poem , never printed, of some length . This was probably translated into English rhyme about the reign of Edward the First. Nor is it quite improbable, if the trans lation was made at this period, that the translator was Robert de Brunne ; especially as he translated another of Grosthead's pieces. It is called by Leland Chateau d'Amour " . But in one of the Bodleian manuscripts of this book we have the following title, Romance par Mestre Robert Grossetestep. In another it is called , Ce est la vie de D. Jhu de sa humanite fet a ordine de Saint Robert Grosseteste ke fut eveque de Nichole ?: And in this copy, a very curious apology to the clergy is pre fixed to the poem , for the language in which it is written ", “ Et quamvis lingua romana ( romance ] coram CLERICIS SAPO o Script. Brit. p. 285. the transcribers, cither from ignorance, P MSS. Bodl. NE, D. 69. or a desire ofgiving a fictitious value to [ It has been shown in a former note, their own labours , have inscribed his that Grosseteste's claim to the author- nameupon the copies. His “ Templum ship of the French " Manuel de Pechees ” Domini," a copious system of mystical -at least to the work at present known divinity, abounding in pious raptures by that name is extremely doubtful, and scholastic subtleties, may have af The following extract fromthe “ Chateau" forded the materials for the former poem ; d'Amour," ascribed to him by Leland and his treatise “ De sept. vitiis et reme and others, will render his title to the diis ” -- if weexceptthe Contes devots which composition of any poem in French still Wadigton may have gleaned from an more problematical: other source possibly supplied the doc Ici comence un escrit, trines of the latter. The title adopted by Leland and the English translator, Ke Seint Robert de Nichole fist. has been taken from the following pas Romanze de romanze est apelé, Tel num a dreit li est assigné; sage of the French work : Kar de ceo livre la materie, En un chastel bel e grant, Est estret de haut cleregie, Bien fourme et avenant, E pur ceo ke il pasco ( surpasse) altre Ceo est le chastel d'amour, E de solaz e de socour. Apelé est romanz de romanz . Harl. MS. no. 1121 . Les chapitres ben conuz serunt Par les titres ke siverunt With regard to Warton's conjecture, that Robert de Brunne was the author of the Les titles ne voil pas rimer Kar leur matiere ne volt suffrer. English version , it can only he said, that the internal evidence is most decidedly Primis sera le prologe mis E puz les titles tuz assis. against such an opinion. Edit. ] 9 F 16. Laud. fol. membran . The MSS. Reg. 20 B. xiv. word Nicole is perfectly French, for Lin The probability is , that boththe present coln . See likewise MSS. Bodl. E 4. 14. poem , and the Manuel de Pechees ” are * In the hand -writing of the poem it founded on similar works of Grosseteste self, which is very antient. written in the Latin language ; and that romanz بیست سخی محمد من . " ENGLISH POETRY. 83 REM SUAVITATIS non habeat, tamen pro laicis qui minus intel ligunt opusculum illud aptum ests. " This piece professes to treat of the creation , the redemption, the day of judgment, the joys of heaven, and the torments of hell : but the whole is a religious allegory, and under the ideas of chivalry the funda mental articles of Christian belief are represented. It has the air of a system of divinity written by a troubadour. The poet, in describing the advent of Christ, supposes that he entered into a magnificent castle, which is the body of the immaculate virgin . The structure of this castle is conceived with some imagination, and drawn with the pencil of romance. The poem begins with these lines. Ki pense ben, ben peut dire : Sanz penser ne poet suffise : De nul bon oure commencer Deu nos dont de li penser De ki par ki, en ki, sont Tos les biens ki font en el mond. But I hasten to the translation, which is more immediately connected with our present subject, and has this title : " Her bygenet a tretys that ys yclept CASTEL OF LOVE that biscop Grosteyzt made ywis for lewde mennes by hovet.” Then fol lows the prologue or introduction. That good thinketh good may do, And God wol help him thar to : Ffor nas never good work wrougt With oute biginninge of good thougt. Ne never was wrougt non vuel u thyng That vuel thougt nas the biginnyng. God ffuder, and sone and holigoste That alle thing on eorthe sixt w and wost, s f. 1. So also in MSS. C.C.C. Oxon. + Bibl. Bodl. MS. Vernon , f. 292. 232. In MSS. Harl. 1121. 5. “ [ Ici de- This translation was never printed : and moustre) Roberd Grosseteste evesque de is, I believe, a rare manuscript. Nicholeun tretis en Franceis, del com- u well, good [foul). mencement du monde, & c. ” f. 156. Cod. w F. hert, highest (seest). membran, G 2 84 THE HISTORY OF That one God art and thrillihod , And threo persones in one hody, Withouten end and bi ginninge, To whom we ougten over alle thinge, Worschepe him with trewe love, That kineworthe king art us above, In whom , of whom , thorw whom beoth , Alle the good schipes that we hire i seoth, He leve us thenche and worchen so , That he us schylde from vre fo, All we habbeth to help neode That we ne beth all of one theode, Ne i boren in one londe, Ne one speche undirstonde, Ne mowe we al Latin wite z Ne Ebreu ne Grua that beth i write, Ne Ffrench , ne this other spechen , That me mihte in worlde sechen . To herie God our derworthi drihte ", As vch mon ougte with all his mihte ; Loft song syngen to God zerne, With such speche as he con lerne: Ne monnes mouth ne be i dut Ne his ledened i hud , To serven his God that him wrougte, And maade al the worlde of nougte. Of Englische I shal nir resun schowen Ffor hem that can not i knowen , Nouther French ne Latyn On Englisch I chulle tullen him.

• trinity.

Y unity . ) ing of kyng Charles ( the Bald ), Johan Scott translated Denys bookes out of you * understand . into Latyn.' a Greek. In John Trevisas's dialogue b " to bless ( praise) God our beloved concerning the translation of the Poly- lord.” chronicon , MSS. Harl. 1900. b. f. 42. earnestly. “ Aristotile's bokes, &c. were translated language. out of grue into Latin . Also with pray d دست دوم که ENGLISH POETRY. 85 Wherefor the world was i wroht, Ther after how he was bi tauht, Adam vre ffader to ben his, With al the merthe of paradys To wonen and welden to such ende Til that he scholde to hevene wende, And hou sone he hit fu les And seththen hou for bouht wes , Thurw the heze kynges sone That here in eorthe wolde come, Ffor his sustren that were to boren , And ffor a prison thas was for loren And hou he made as ze schal heren That heo i cust and sauht weren And to wruche a castel he alihte, & c. But the following are the most poetical passages of this poem . God nolde a lihte in none manere, But in feir studee and in clere, In feir and clene siker hit wes, Ther God almihti his in ches f In a CASTEL well comeliche, Muches and ffeire, and loveliche, That is the castell of alle floure, Of solas and of socour, In the mere he stont bi twene two, Ne hath he forlak for no fo : For the tourh is so wel with outen , So depe i diched al abouten, That non kunnes asayling, Ne may him derven fer no thing; He stont on heiz rocke and sound , And is y planed to the ground, e place. ris chose bis habitation. " great. La tur est si bien en clos. Fr. Orig. 86 THE HISTORY OF That ther may won non vueli thing, Ne derve ne gynnes castyng ; And thaug he be so lovliche, He is so dredful and hatcliche, To all thulke thatben his fon , That heo len him everichọn ; Ffor smal toures that beth abouten, To witеn the heige toure withouten , Sethek beoth thre bayles withalle ', So feir i diht with strunge walle, As heo beth here after I write, Ne may no man the feirschipem i wite, Ne may no tongue ne may hit telle, Ne thougt thincke, nemouthe spelle : On trusti rocke heo stondeth fast, And with depe diches bethe bi cast, And the carnels " so stondeth upright, Wel I planed, and feir i dight: Seven barbicanes ther beth i wrouht With gret ginne al bi thouhtº, And evrichon hath gat and toure , Ther never fayleth ne socoure. Never schal fo him stonde with That thider wold flen to sechen grith P. This castel is siker fair abouten , And is al depeynted withouten, With threo heowes that wel beth sene " ; So is the foundement al grene, That to the rock fast lith . Wel is that ther murthe i sith , Ffor the greneschip lasteth evere, And his heuh ne leoseth nevere, • Pur bon engin fait. Fr. Orig. Tres bailes en tour. Fr. Orig. P counsel (grace ). 1 “ moreover there are three,” &c. La chastel esta bel bon beauty. De hors de peint a en virun * kernels. - Kerncaus bien poli. Fr. De treis culurs diversement. Fr. Orig . i vile. 9 n Orig. ENGLISH POETRY. 87 Sethen abouten that other heug So is ynde so ys blu5. That the midel heug we clepeth ariht And schyneth so faire and so briht. The thridde heug an ovemast Over wrigeth al and so ys i cast That withinnen and withouten, The castel lihteth al abouten , And is raddore than eny rose schal That shunneth as hit barnds were ' . Withinne the castel is whit schinynge Sou the snows that is snewynge, And casteth that liht so wyde, After long the tour and be syde, That never cometh ther wo ne woug, As swetnesse ther is ever i noug. Amyddew the heige toure is springynge A well that ever is eorninge With four stremes that striketh wel, And erneth upon the gravel, And fulleth the duches about the wal, Much blisse ther is over al, Ne dar he seeke non other leche That mai riht of this water eleche. In y thulke derworthi faire toure Ther stont a trone with much honour, Of whit yvori and feirore of liht Than the someres day when heis briht, With cumpas i throwen and with gin al i do Seven steppes ther beoth therto, &c. х S

• Si est ynde si est blu . Fr. Orig.

burned, on fire. Plus est vermail ke nest rose E piert un ardant chose . Fr. Orig. t Dunt issent quater ruissell. Ki bruinet par le gravel, &c. Fr. Orig. running y En cele bel tur a bone A de yvoire un trone Ke plusa eissi blanchor Ci en mi este la beau jur Par engin est compassez, &c . Fr. Orig. u as . W In mi la tur plushauteine Est surdant une funtayne 88 THE HISTORY OF 2 The ffoure smale toures abouten , That with the heige tour withouten , Ffour had thewes that about hire i seoth , Ffoure vertus cardinals beoth , & c . And a which beoth threo bayles get, That with the carnels ben so wel i set, And i cast with cumpas and walled abouten That wileth the heihe tour with outen : Bote the inmost bayle i wote Bitokeneth hire holi maydenhode, &cx The middle bayle that wite ge, Bitokeneth hire holi chastite And sethen the overmast bayle Bitokeneth hire holi sposaile, &c. The seven kernels abouten , That with greot gin beon y wrougt withouten , And witеth this castel so well, With arwe and with quarrela, That beoth the seven vertues with wunne To overcum the seven deadly sinne, & c . 6 It was undoubtedly a great impediment to the cultivation and progressive improvement of the English language at these early periods, that the best authors chose to write in French, Many of Robert Grosthead's pieces are indeed in Latin ; yet where the subject was popular, and not immediately addressed to learned readers, he adopted the Romance or French lan guage, in preference to his native English. Of this, as we have already seen , his MANUEL PECHE, and his CHATEAU D'AMOUR, are sufficient proofs, both in prose and verse : and his example and authority must have had considerable influence in encouraging this practice. Peter Langtoft, our Augustine z Les treis bailles du chastel Ki sunt overt au kernel Qui a compas sunt en virun E defendent le dungun. Fr. Orig. Les barbicanes seet Kis hors de bailles sunt fait, Ki bien gardent le chastel, E de seete e de quarrel. Fr. Orig. • Afterwards the fountain is explained to be God's grace : Charity is constable of the castle,&c. &c. ENGLISH POETRY. 89 canon of Bridlington , not only compiled the large chronicle of England, above recited, in French ; but even translated Herbert Boscam's Latin Life ofThomas Becket into French rhymes . John Hoveden, a native of London , doctor of divi nity, and chaplain to queen Eleanor mother of Edward the First, wrote in French rhymes a book entitled , Rosarium de Nativitate, Passione, Ascensione, Jhesu Christid. Various other proofs have before occurred . Lord Lyttelton quotes from the Lambeth library a manuscript poem in French or Norman verse on the subject of king Dermod's expulsion from Ireland, and the recovery of his kingdom . I could mention many others. Anonymous French piecesboth in prose and verse, and written about this time, are innumerable in our manuscript repositories f. Yet thisfashion proceeded rather from necessity len f · Pits. p , 890. Append. Who with se Hist. Hen. II. vol. iv. p . 270. Notes. great probability supposes him to have It was translated into prose by Sir George been an Englishman . Carew in Q. Elizabeth's time : this MSS. Bibl. C. C. C. Cant. G. 16. translation was printed by Harris in his where it is also called the Nightingale. HIBERNIA. It was probably written Pr. “ Alme fesse lit de peresse. ” about 1190 . See Ware, p. 56. And [In this manuscript the whole title compare Walpole's Anecd . Paint. i . 28. this: “ Le Rossignol, ou la pensee Notes. The Lambeth manuscript seems Jehan de Hovedene clerc la roine d'En- to be but a fragment. viz. MSS. Bibl. gleterre mere le roi Edward, de la nais- Lamb. Hib. A. See supr. p. 73. Note ?. sance et de la mort et du relievement et [ Among the learned Englishmen de lascension Jesu Crist et de lassump- who now wrote in French , the Editor of cion notre dame.” This manuscript was the CANTERBURY Tales mentions Helis written in the fourteenth century. de Guincestre, or WINCHESTER, a trans ADDITIONS. ] lator of Cato into French. ( See vpl. ii. Our author, John Hoveden, was also sect. xxvii.) And Hue de Roteland, skilledin sacred music, and a great writer author of the Romance, in Frenchverse, of Latin hymns. Hedied, and was bu- called Ipomedon, MSS. Cott. Vesp. ried , at Hoveden , 1275. Pits. p. 356. A vii. The latter is also supposed to Bale, v. 79. have written a French Dialogue in me There is an old French metrical life tre, MSS. Bodl. 3904. La pleinte par ofTobiah, which the author, most pro- entre mis Sire Henry de Lacy Counte de bably an Englishman , says he undertook Nichole ( Lincoln) et Sire Wauter de' By at the request of William , Prior of Ke- blesworth purla croiserie en la terre seinte. nilworth in Warwickshire. MSS. Jes. And a French romantic poem on a Coll. Oxon. 85. supr. citat. knight called CAPANEE, perhaps Sta Le prior Gwilleyme me prie tius's Capaneus. MSS. Cott. Vesp. A vii. De l'eglyse seynte Marie It begins, De Kenelworth an Ardenne, Qui bons countes viel entendre. Ki porte le plus haute peyne Decharite, ke nul eglyse [See “ The CANTERBURY TALES of Del reaume a devyse CHAUCER. To which are added An Ke jeo liz en romaunz le vie Essay upon his LANGUAGE and VERSI De kelui ki ont nun Tobie, &c, FICATION, an INTRODUCTORY DiscouASE, 25 Ca

 ::

ut supr. Dit doen 90 THE HISTORY OF and a principle of convenience, than from affectation . The vernacular English, as I have before remarked, was rough and impolished : and although these writers possessed but few ideas of taste and elegance, they embraced a foreign tongue, almost equally familiar, and in which they could convey their senti ments with greater ease , grace , and propriety. It should also be considered, that our most eminent scholars received a part of their education at the university of Paris. Another, and a very material circumstance, concurred to countenance this fashionable practice of composing in French . It procured them readers of rank and distinction. The English court, for more than two hundred years after the Conquest, was totally French: and our kings, either from birth, kindred, or marriage, and from a perpetual intercourse, seem to have been more closely connected with France than with England. It was however fortunate that these French pieces were written, as some of them met with their translators : who perhaps unable to aspire to the praise of original writers, at least by this means contri and Notes. Lond. 1775. 4 vol. 8vo.” to the holy virgin on our Saviour's pas This masterly performance, in which the sion. Ibid. f. 83. author has displayed great taste, judge- Mayden moder milde, oyez cel oreysoun, ment, sagacity, and the most familiar From shome thou meshilde, e de ly mal knowledge of those books which pecu- feloun : liarly belong to the province of a com- For love of thine childe me menez de mentator on Chaucer, did not appear till tresoun , more than half of my second volume Ich wes wod and wilde, ore su en pri was printed. --Additions.] I have before hinted that it was some times customary to intermix Latin with In the same manuscript I find a French French . As thus. MSS. Harl. 2253. poem probably written by an English f. 137. b. man, and in the year 1300, containing the adventures of Gilote and Johanne, Dieu roy de Mageste, twoladies of gallantry , in various parts Ob personas trinas, of England and Ireland ; particularly at Nostre roy esa meyne Winchester and Pontefract. f. 66. b . Në perire sinas, &c. The curious reader is also referred to a French poem , in which the poet supposes Again, ibid . f. 76 . Where a lover , an that a minstrel, jugleour, travelling from Englishman, addresses his mistress who London , cloathed in a rich tabard, met was of Paris. the king and his retinue. The king asks Dum ludisfloribus velut lacinia , him many questions ; particularly his Le dieu d'amour moi tient en tiel lord's name, and the price of his horse. Angustia, & c . The minstrel evades all the king's ques tions by impertinentanswers ; and at last Sometimes their poetry was half presumes to give his majesty advice. French and half English. As in a song Ibid, f. 107. b . soun , & c . ENGLISH POETRY. 91 buted to adorn their native tongue: and who very probably would not have written at all, had not original writers, I mean their cotemporaries who wrote in French , furnished them with models and materials. Hearne, to whose diligence even the poetical antiquarian is much obliged, but whose conjectures are generally wrong, imagines, 'that the old English metrical romance, called Ry CHARDÉ CUER DE LYON, was written by Robert de Brunne. It is at least probable, that the leisure of monastic life produced many rhymers. From proofs here given we may fairly con clude, that the monks often wrote for the minstrels : and although our Gilbertine brother of Brunne chose to relate true stories in plain language, yet it is reasonable to suppose, that many of our antient tales in verse containing fictitious adventures, were written , although not invented , in the religious houses. The romantic history of Guy earl of Warwick, is expressly said , on good authority, to have been written by Walter of Exeter, a Franciscan friar of Carocus in Cornwall, about the year 12925. The libraries of the monasteries were full of romances. Bevis ofSouthampton, in French, was in the library of the abbey of Leicesterh. In that of the abbey of Glastonbury, we find Liber de Excidio Troje, Gesta Ricardi Regis, and Gesta Alexandri & Carew's Surv. Cornw . p. 59. edit. Which wrote the dedis, with gretc di ut supr. I suppose Carew means the ligence, metrical Romance of Guy. But Bale Of them that were in Westsex crowned says that Walter wrote Vitam Guidonis, kynges, & c . which seems to imply a prose history. See Wharton , Angl. Sacr. i. p. 89. x. 78. Giraldus Cambrensis also wrote Guy's history. Hearne has printed an Some have thought that Girardus Cor Historia Guidonis de Warwik, Append. nubiensis and Giraldus Cambrensiswere ad Annal. Dunstaple, num. xi. It was the same persons. This passage of Lyd extracted from Girald. Cambrens. Hist. gate may perhaps shew the contrary. Reg. West- Sax. capit. xi. byGirardus We have also in the same Bodleian ma Cornubiensis. Lydgate's life ofGuy, nuscript, a poem onGuy andColbrand, never printed , is translated from this viz. MSS. Laud. D 31. f. 87. More Girardus; as Lydgate himself informs will be said on this subject. us at the end . MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Laud. h See Registrum Librorum omnium et D 31. f. 64. Tit. Here gynneth the liff Jocalium in monasterio S. Mariæ de Pra of Guy of Warwyk. prope Leycestriam . fol. 132. b. In MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Laud. I 75. This Out of the Latyn made by the Chro- catalogue was written by Will. Cha nycler rite, one of the monks, A.D. 1517. Called of old GIRARD CORNUBYENCE : fol. 139. tis 92 THE HISTORY OF Regis, in the year 12471: These were some of the most fa vourite subjects of romance, as I shall shew hereafter. catalogue of the library of the abbey of Peterborough are re cited, Amys and Amelion ", Sir Tristram , Guy de Burgoyne, and Gesta Osuelis ', all in French : together with Merlin's Pro phecies, Turpin's Charlemagne, and the Destruction of Troy . Among the books given to Winchester college by the founder William of Wykeham , a prelate of high rank, about the year 1387, we have Chronicon Troja ". In the library of Windsor college, in the reign of Henry the Eighth , were discovered in the midst of missals, psalters, and homilies, Duo libri Gallici de Romances, de quibus unus liber de Rose, et alius difficilis materiæ °. This is the language of the king's commissioners, who searched the archives of the college : the first of these two French romances is perhaps John de Meun's Roman de la Rose. A friar, in Pierce Plowman's Visions, is said to be much better acquainted with the Rimes of Robin Hood, and Randal [ Erle] of Chester, than with his Pater -nosterp. The monks, who very naturally sought all opportunities of amusement in their retired In a i Hearne's Joann . Glaston . Catal. Ki veut oir chaunçoun damur. Bibl. Glaston . p. 435. One of the books ADDITIONS. ] on Troy iscalled bonus etmagnus. There 1 There is a Romance called OTUÉL, is also “ Liber de Captione Antiochiæ , MSS. Bibl. Adv. Edinb. W 4. 1. xxvü . Gallice . legibilis. " ibid . I think he is mentionedin Charlemagne's The same Romance is in MSS. story. He is converted to Christianity, Harl. Brit. Mus. 2386. § 42. and marries Charlemagne's daughter. ( TheHarl. MS. is a bad copy of about [ Analysed by Mr. Ellis : vol. ii. p . 324.) onc half of the poem . This Romance mGunton's Peterb . p. 108. seq . - I was translated into German verse by will give some of the titles as they stand Conrad of Würzburg , who flourished in the catalogue. Dares Phrygius de about the year 1300 .. He chose to name Excidio Troja , bis. p. 180 . Prophetiæ the heroes Engelhard and Engeldrud. Merlini versifice. p . 182. Gesta Caroli WEBER. ] secundum Turpinum . p . 187. Gesta See Du Cang. Gloss. Lat. i. Ind. Æneæ post destructionem Trojæ . p . 198 . Auctor. p. 193. There is an old manu. Bellum contra Runcivallum . p . 202. script French Morality on this subject, There are also the two following articles, Comment Amille tue ses deux enfans pour viz . “ Certamen inter regemJohannem guerir Amis son compagnon , &c. Beau- et Barones, versifice . Per H. de Da champs, Rech. Theatr. Fr. p. 109. vench . " p. 188. This I have never seen, There is a French metrical romance nor know any thing oftheauthor. “ Ver Histoire d'Amys et Amilion , Brit. Mus. sus de ludo scaccorum . " p . 195. MSS. Reg. 12. C xii. 9. ^ Ex archivis Coll. Wint. ( And at Bennet college, Num . I. I. Dugd. Mon. iii. Eccles. Collegiat. It begins, P Fol. xxvi. b. edit. 1550 0 P. 80 , ENGLISH POETRY. 93 and confined situations, were fond of admitting the minstrels to their festivals ; and were hence familiarised to romantic sto ries. Seventy shillings were expended on minstrels, who ac companied their songs with the harp, at the feast of the instal lation of Ralph abbot of Saint Augustin's at Canterbury, in the year 1309. At this magnificent solemnity, six thousand guests were present in and about the hall of the abbey ?. It was not deemed an occurrence unworthy to be recorded, that when Adam de Orleton, bishop of Winchester, visited his cathedral priory of Saint Swithin in that city, a minstrel named Herbert was introduced , who sung the Song of Colbrond a Danish giant, and the tale of Queen Emma delivered from the plough - shares, in the hall ofthe prior Alexander de Herriard, in the year 1338. I will give this very curious article, as it appears in an antient register of the priory. “ Et cantabat Joculator quidam nomine Herebertus CANTICỤM Colbrondi, necnon Gestum Emme regine a judicio ignis liberate, in aula priorist. ” In an annual accompt roll of the Augustine priory of Bicester in Oxfordshire, for the year 1431, the following entries relating to this subject occur, which I chuse to exhibit in the words of the original. “ Dona PRIORIS. Et in datis cuidam citharizatori in die sancti Jero nimi, viii. d . - Et in datis alteri citharizatori in fresto Aposto lorum Simonis et Jude cognomine Hendy, xii d.Et in datis cuidam minstrallo domini le Talbot infra natale domini, xii. d. - Et in datis ministrallis domini le Straunge in die Epiphanie, xx . d.Et in datis duobus ministrallis domini Lovell in crastino S. Marci evangeliste, xvi. d .-- Et in datis ministrallis ducis Dec. Script. p. 2011 . walls of the north transept of the cathe Registr. Priorat. S. Swithini Win . dral till within my memory: Queen ton . Mss. pergamen. in Archiv. de Emma was a patroness of this church , Wolvesey Wint. These were local stories in which she underwent the tryal of Guy fought and conquered Colbrond a walking blindfold over nine red hot Danish champion, just without the nor- ploughshares. Colbrond is mentioned thern walls of the city of Winchester, in in the old romance of the Squyr of Lowe a meadow to this day called Danemarch : Degree. Signat. a. iii . and Colbrond's battle- axe was kept in the treasury of St. Swithin's priory till Or els so doughty of my honde the Dissolution . Th . Rudb . apud Whar As was the gyaunte syr Colbronde. ton , Angl. Sacr. i . 211. This history See what is said above of Guy earl of memained in rude painting against the Warwick, who will again be mentioned. r 94 THE HISTORY OF Glocestrie in ffesto nativitatis beate Marie, iii s. iv d .” must add, as it likewise paints the manners of the monks, “ Et in datis cuidam Ursario, iiii d.” In the prior's accounts of the Augustine canons of Maxtoke in Warwickshire, of various years in the reign of Henry the Sixth, one of the styles, or general heads, is DE JOCULATORIBUS ET Mimis. I will, with out apology, produce some of the particular articles ; not di stinguishing between Mimi, Joculatores, Jocatores, Lusores, and Citharista : who all seem alternately, and at different times, to have exercised the same arts of popular entertainment. “ Jocu latori in septimana S. Michaelis, iv d . - Cithariste tempore na talis domini et aliis jocatoribus, iv d . - Mimis de Solihull, vi d. -Mimis de Coventry, xx d . - Mimo domini Ferrers, vi d. Lusoribus de Eton , viii d .- Lusoribus de Coventry, viï d. Lusoribus de Daventry, xii d . - Mimis de Coventry, xii d. Mimis domini de Asteley, xii d . - Item iii. mimis domini de Warewyck, x d . - Mimo ceco , ii d .-- Sex mimis domini de Clyn ton . - Duobus Mimis de Rugeby, x d . - Cuidam cithariste, vi d. -Mimis domini de Asteley, xx d . - Cuidam cithariste, vi d.— . Cithariste de Coventry, vi d . - Duobus citharistis de Coventry, viii d . - Mimis de Rugeby, viïi d .-- Mimis domini de Buckeridge, xx d . - Mimis domini de Stafford, ii s.-- Lusoribus de Coleshille, viïi d . ” + Here we may observe, that the minstrels of the no bility, in whose families they were constantly retained , travelled about the county to the neighbouring monasteries ; and that they generally received better gratuities for these occasional performances than the others. Solihull, Rugby, Coleshill, Eton, or Nun - Eton, and Coventry, are all towns situated at no great distance from the priory “. Nor must I omit that two $ Ex. Orig. in Rotul. pergamen . Tit. shop Kennet has printed a Computus of “ Compotus dni Ricardi Parentyn Pri- thesamemonastery under the same reign, oris, et fratris Ric. Albon canonici, in which three or four entries of the bursarii ibidem , de omnibus bonis per samesort occur. Paroch . Antiq. p. 578. eosdem receptis et liberatis a crastino + Ex orig. penes me. Michaelis anno Henrici Sexti post Con- u In the antient annual rolls of ac . questum octavo usque in idem crastinum compt ofWinchester college, there are anno R. Henrici prædicti nono.” In many articles of this sort. The few fol Thesauriar. Coll. SS. Trin . Oxon. Bi- lowing, extracted from a great number, ENGLISH POETRY. 95 minstrels from Coventry made part of the festivity at the con : secration of John, prior of this convent, in the year 1432, viz. 66 Dat. duobus mimis de Coventry in die consecrationis prioris, xiid.w » Nor is it improbable, that some of our greater monaste ries kept minstrels of their own in regular pay. So early as the year 1180 , in the reign of Henry the Second, Jeffrey the harper received a corrody, or annuity , from the Benedictine abbey of Hide near Winchester " ; undoubtedly on condition that he should serve the monks in the profession of a harper on public may serve as a specimen. They are ministrallis ducis Glocestrie v. die julii, chiefly in the reign of Edward IV . viz , xx d . ” . The minstrels of the bishop, of In the year 1491. “ Et in sol. ministrallis lord Arundel, and the duke of Glouces dom . Regis venientibus ad collegium xv. ter, occur very frequently. In domo die Aprilis, cum 12d. solut. ministral is muniment. coll. prædict. in cista ex dom. Episcopi Wynton venientibus ad orientali latere. collegium primo die junii , ijïis. ijjid.- In rolls of the reign of Henry the Et in dat. ministralis dom . Arundell Sixth , the countess of Westmoreland, ven. ad Coll. cum viïid. dat. minis- sister of cardinal Beaufort, is mentioned trallis dom. de Lawarr, iis. iiii d. ” . as being entertained in the college; and In the year 1483. “ Sol. ministrallis in her retinue were the minstrel , of her dom. Regis ven. ad Coll. iiis. ïïïi d . ” . household, who received gratuities. Ex In the year 1472. “ Etin dat ministral- Rot. Comp. orig. lis dom. Regis cum viï d . dat. duobus In these rolls there is an entry, which Berewardis ducis Clarentie, xx d . - Et seems to prove that the Lusores were a in dat. Johanni Stulto quondam dom . sort of actors in dumb show or masque de Warewyco, cum iirid. dat. Thome rade. Rot. ann. 1467. “ Dat. lusoribus Nevyle taborario. - Et in datis duobus de civitate Winton, venientibus ad col ministrallis ducis Glocestrie, cum iiiid. legium in apparatu suo mens, julii, v s. dat. uni ministrallo ducis de Northum- viii d .” This is a large reward. I will berlond, viï d. -Etin datis duobus citha- add from the same rolls, ann . 1479. ratoribus ad vices venient. ad collegium “ In dat. Joh. Pontisbery and socio viiid . ” - In the year 1479. “ Et in ludentibus in aula in die circumcisio datis satrapis Wynton venientibus ad nis, iis." coll. festo Epiphanie, cum xii d . dat. mi- Ibid . It appears that the Coventry nistrallis dom. episcopi venient. ad coll. men were inhigh repute for their per infra octavas epiphanie, iii s.” In the formances of this sort. In the entertain year 1477. “ Et in dat. ministrallis dom. ment presented to queen Elizabeth at Principis venient. ad coll. festo Ascen- Killingworth castle, in the year 1575, sionis Domini, cum xx d . dat. ministral- the Coventry-men exhibited their old lis dom. Regis, vs. - In the year 1464. storiall sheaw. " Laneham's Narrative, « Et in dat. ministrallis comitis Kancie &c. p. 32. Minstrels were hired from venient. ad Coll. in mense julij , iiiis. Coventry to perform at Holy Crosse iiiid . ” In the year 1467. “ Et in feast at Abingdon ,Berks, 1422. Hearne's datis quatuor mimis dom. de Arundell Lib. Nig. Scacc. ii . p. 598. Sce an ac venient. ad Coll. xiii. die ffebr. ex curi- count of their play on Corpus Christi alitate dom . Custodis, iis. ”- - In the day, in Stevens's Monasticon , i . p. 138. year 1466. “ Et in dat. satrapis, [ut supr .] and Hearne's Fordun, p. 1450. sub cum iis. dat. iiii . interludentibus et J. an . 1492. Meke citharistæ eodem ffesto , ijis.” Madox, Hist. Exchequer, p . 251 . In the year 1484. “ Et in dat. uni Where he is styled, “ Galfridus citha ministrallo dom . principis, et in aliis rædus." х 96 THE HISTORY OF occasions. The abbies of Conway and Stratflur in Wales re spectively maintained a bardy : and the Welsh monasteries in general were the grand repositories of the poetry of the British bards 2 . In the statutes of New - college at Oxford, given about the year 1380, the founder bishop William of Wykeham orders his scholars, for their recreation on festival days in the hall after dinner and supper, to entertain themselves with songs, and other diversions consistent with decency : and to recite poems, chronicles of kingdoms, the wonders of the world, toge ther with the like compositions, not misbecoming the clerical character. I will transcribe his words. “ Quando ob dei re verentiam aut sue matris, vel alterius sancti cujuscunque, tem pore yemali, ignis in aula sociis ministratur; tunc scolaribus et sociis post tempus prandii aut cene, liceat gracia recreationis, in aula , in Cantilenis et aliis solaciis honestis, moram facere condecentem ; et Poemata, regnorum Chronicas, et mundi hujus Mirabilia, ac cetera que statum clericalem condecorant, seriosius pertractarea.” The latter part of this injunction seems to be an explication of theformer : and on the whole it appears, that the Cantilenæ which the scholars should sing on these oc casions, were a sort of Poemata, or poetical Chronicles, con taining general histories of kingdomsb. It is natural to con clude, that they preferred pieces of English history : and among Huarne's manuscripts I have discovered some fragments on y Powel's CAMBRIA. To the Reader. monastery. Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon . pag. 1. edit. 1581. i . 67. Under the year 1224 . Evans's Di de Bardis. Specimens a Rubric. xvii. The same thing is of Welsh Poetry. p. 92. Wood relates enjoined in the statutes of Winchester a story oftwo itinerant priests coming, college, Rubr. xv. I do not remember towards night, to a cell of Benedictines anysuch passage in the statutes of pre near Oxford, where, on a supposition ceding colleges in either university. But oftheir beingmimes or minstrels, they this injunction is afterwards adopted in gained admittance. But the cellarer, the statutes of Magdalene college ; and sacrist, and others ofthe brethren, hoping from thence, if I recollect right, was co to have been entertained with theirges- pied into those of Corpus Christi,Oxford. ticulatoriis ludicrisque artibus, and finding b Hearne thus understood the passage. them to be nothing more than two indi- « The wise founder of New college per gent ecclesiastics whocould only admi- mittied them (metrical chronicles) to be nister spiritual consolation , and being sung by the fellows and scholars upop consequently disappointed of their mirth, extraordinary days.” Heming. Cartul beat them and turned them out of the ii. APPEND. Numb. ix, § vi. p. 662. ENGLISH POETRY. 97 vellum ”, containing metrical chronicles of our kings; which, from the nature of the composition , seem to have been used for this purpose, and answer our idea of these general Chronica regnorum . Hearne supposed them to have been written about the time of Richard the Firstd : but I rather assign them to the reign of Edward the First, who died in the year 1307. But the reader shall judge. The following fragment begins abrupta ly with some rich presents which king Athelstan received from Charles the Third, king of France : a nail which pierced our Saviour's feet on the cross, a spear with which Charlemagne fought against the Saracens, and which some supposed to be the spear which pierced our Saviour's side, a part of the holy cross enclosed in crystal, three of the thorns from the crown on our Saviour's head, and a crown formed entirely of precious stones, which were endued with a mystical power of reconciling enemies. Ther in was closyd a nayle grete That went thorw oure lordis fete. Gyt e he presentyd hym the spere That Charles was wont to bere Agens the Sarasyns in batayle; Many swore and sayde saunfayle ', That with that spere smertes Our lorde was stungen to the herte. And a party of the holi crosse In crystal done in a cloos. And three of the thornes kene That was in Cristes hede sene, And a ryche crowne of golde Non rycher kyng wer y scholde, • Given to him by Mr. Murray. See the Saints, MSS. supr. citat. In the Life Heming. Chartul. ii. p. 654. And Rob. of S. Edmund. Glouc. ii. p. 731. Nunc MSS. Bibl. For Saint Edmund had a smerte Bodl. Oxon. Rawlins. Cod. 4to . ( E. zerde, & c . Pr. 87. ) i. e. yet, moreover , “ He had a strong rod in his I without doubt. Fr. hand , & c. " & sharp, strong. So in the Lives of part, piece. VOL. I. d ubi supr . e H 98 THE HISTORY OF Y made within and withowt With pretius stonys alle a bowte, Of eche manir vertu thry i The stonys hadde the maystry To make frendes that evere were fone, Such a crowne was never none, To none erthelyche mon y wrogth Syth God made the world of nogth. Kyng Athelstune was glad and blythe, And thankud the kynge of Ffraunce swythe, Of gyfts nobul and ryche In Crystiante was no hym leche. In his tyme, I understonde, Was Guy of Warwyk yn Inglonde, And ffor Englond dede batayle With a mygti gyande, without fayle; His name was hote Colbrond Gwy hym slough with his hond. Seven yere kyng Athelston Held this his kyngdome In Inglond that ys so mury, He dyedde and lythe at Malmesburyk. After hym regned his brother Edmond And was kyng of Ingelond, And he ne regned here, But unneth nine yere, Sith hyt be falle at a feste At Caunterbury' a cas unwrestm , i three . buried : and as strange that his translator * To which monastery he gave the Rob. de Brunne should supplythis de fragment of the holy crossgiven him by fect by mentioning a report that hisbody the king of France. Rob. Glouc. p. 276. was lately found at Hexham in North umberland. Chron . p. 32. King Athelston lovede much Mal 1 Roh . of Gloucester says that this He męsbury zef of they wis holy, cross som , that happened at Pucklechurch near Bristol. there zut ys. p. 277. But Rob . de Brunne at Can terbury, whither the king went to hold It is extraordinary that Peter Langtoft the feast of S. Austin. p . 33. should not know where Athelstan was a wicked mischance. m ENGLISH POETRY. 99 As the kyng at the mete sat He behelde and under that Of a theef that was desgyse Amonge hys knyghtes god and wise ; The kyng was hesty and sterte uppe And hent the thefe by the toppen And cast hym doune on a ston : The theefe brayde out a knyfe a non And the kyng to the hert threste, Or any of his knightes westeº : The baronys sterte up anone, And slough the theefe swythe sone, But arstº he wounded many one, Thrugh the fflesh and thrugh the bone : To Glastenbury they bare the kynge, And ther made his buryinge 9. After that Edmund was ded, Reyned his brother Edred ; Edred reyned here But unnethe thre yere, &c. After hym reyned seynt Edgare, A wyse kynge and a warre : Thilke nyghte that he was bore, Seynt Dunstan was glad ther fore ; Ffor herde that swete stevene Ofthe angels of hevene : In the songe thei songe bi ryme, “ Y blessed be that ylke tyme That Edgare y bore y was, Ffor in hys tyme schal be pas, Ever more in hys kyngdome.” The while he liveth and seynt Dunston , " r n head . • perceived. Parest, first. hence the town of Pucklechurch became ! At Gloucester, says Rob . de Brunne, part of the possessions of Glanstonbury p . 33. But Rob. of Gloucester says his abbey. p. 278. body was brought from Pucklechurch, * This song is in Rob. Gl. Chron . and interred at Glastonbury : and that p. 281. H 2 100 THE HISTORY OF Ther was so meche grete foyson ', Of all good in every tonne ; All wyle that last his lyve, Ne lored he never fyght ne stryve.

as The knyghtes of Wales, all and some Han to swery and othes holde, And trewe to be у told , To bring trynge hym trewage' yeare, CCC. wolves eche zere ; And so they dyde trewliche Three yere pleyneverlyche, The ferthe yere myght they fynde non So clene thay wer all a gon , And the kyng hyt hem forgat For he nolde hem greve, Edgare was an holi man That oure lorde, & c . Although we have taken our leave of Robert de Brunne, yet as the subject is remarkable, and affords a striking por traiture ofantientmanners, I am tempted to transcribe that chro nicler's description of the presents received by king Athelstane from the king of France; especially as it contains some new circumstances, and supplies the defects of our fragment. It is from his version of Peter Langtoft's chronicle above mentioned. At the feste of oure lady the Assumpcion, Went the king fro London to Abindon . Thider out of France, fro Charles kyng of fame, Com the of Boloyn , Adulphus was his name, And the duke of Burgoyn Edmonde sonne Reynere. The brouht kynge Althelston present withouten pere : Fro Charles kyng sanz faile thei brouht a gonfaynoun That saynt Morice in batayle before the legioun ; • provision. u

• ready.

u banner. ENGLISH POETRY. 101 on the And scharp lance that thrilled Jhesu side ; And a suerd of golde, in the hilte did men hide Tuo of tho nayles that war thorh Jhesu fete ; Tached w croys, the blode thei out lete ; And som of the thornes that don were on his heved, And a fair pece that of the croys leved *, That saynt Heleyn sonne at the batayle won Of the soudan of Askalone his name was Madan. Than blewe the trumpets full loud and full schille, The kyng com in to the halle that hardy was of wille : Than spak Reyner Edmunde sonne, for he was messengere, “ Athelstan, my lord the gretes, Charles that has no pere ; He sends the this present, and sais, he wille hym bynde To the thorh y Ilde thi sistere, and tille alle thi kynde." Befor the messengers was the maiden brouht, Of body so gentill was non in erthe wrouht; No non so faire of face, of spech so lusty, Scho granted befor tham all to Charles hir body : And so did the kyng, and alle the baronage, Mikelle was the richesse thei purveied in hir passage. Another of these fragments, evidently of the same composi tion , seems to have been an introduction to the whole. It be gins with the martyrdom of saint Alban , and passes on to the introduction of Wassail, and to the names and division of En gland. And now he ys alle so hole y fonde, As whan he was y leyde on grounde. And gyf ge wille not trowa me, Goth to Westmynstere, and ye mow se. In that tyme Seynt Albon, For Goddys love tholedo martirdome, tacked, fastened . * remained. Gest. Angl. ii. 6. The lance of Charle y “ thee through. magne is to this day shewn amongthe 2 Chron. p. 29. 30. Afterwards fol- relics of St. Dennis's in France. Car lows the combat of Guy with “ a hogge pentier, Suppl. Gloss. Lat. Du- cang. (huge) geant, hight Colibrant. As tom . ii. p. 994. edit. 766. our fragment, p . 31. See Will. Malms. a believe, o suffered . 102 THE HISTORY OF C And xl. yere with schame and schonde Was drowend oute of Englond. In that tyme weteth e welle, Cam ferst Wassayle and drynkehayl In to this lond, with owte wenef, Thurghe a mayde bryghs and schene h . Sche was cleputi mayde Ynge. For hur many dothe rede and synge Lordyngys gentk and free. This lond hath y hadde namys thre. Ferest hit was cleput Albyon, And syth for Brut Bretayne a non, And now Ynglond cleput hit ys, Aftir mayde Ynge y wysse. Thilke Ynge fro Saxone was come, And with here many a moder sonne, For gret hungure y understonde Ynge went oute of hure londe. And thorow leue of oure kyng In this land sche hadde restyng. As meche lande of the kyng sche badem , As with a hole hyde me mygth " sprede. The kyng graunt he bonne A strong castel sche made sone, And whan the castel was al made, The kyng to the mete sche badep. The kyng graunted here a none. He wyst not what thay wold done, 0

• *

And sayde to hamº in this manere, “ The kyng to morow schal ete here, He and alle hys men , Ever ' one of us and one of them , c confusion . d driven, drawn. 1 from , because of ( afterwards. ] f doubt. m requested, desired. ' men might bright. granted her request. i called . gentle. e know ye. 6 h fair. 0 P bid . S them . every. } r ENGLISH POETRY. 103 To geder schal sitte at the mete. And when thay have al most y ete , I wole say wassayle to the kyng, And sle hym with oute any leyng ": And loke that ye in this manere Eche of gow sle his feret." And so sche dede thenne, Slowe the kyng and alle hys men . And thus, thorowgh here queyntyse “ , This londe was wonne in this wyse. Syth w a non sone an swythe * Was Englond deled y on fyve, To fyve kynggys trewelyche, That were nobyl and swythe ryche. That one hadde alle the londe of Kente, That ys free and swythe gente. And in hys lond bysshopus tweye. Worthy men wherez theye. The archebysshop of Caunturbery, And of Rochestore that ys mery. The kyng of Essex of renon a He hadde to his portion Westschire, Barkschire, Soussex, Southamptshire. And ther to Dorsetshyre, All Cornewalle and Devenshire, All thys were of hys anpyreb. The king hadde on his hond Five bysshopes starke and strong, Of Salusbury was that on. As to the Mirabilia Mundi, mentioned in the statutes of New College at Oxford, in conjunction with these Poemata and Regnorum Chronica , the immigrations of the Arabians into Europe and the Crusades produced numberless accounts, lye. ion . gem. y divided. very [ quickly ] Dempire. t Z were . w after. x 2 renown , 104 THE HISTORY OF partly true and partly fabulous, of the wonders seen in the eastern countries; which falling into the hands of the monks, grew into various treatises, under the title of Mirabilia Mundi. There were also some professed travellers into the East in the dark ages, who surprised the western world with their marvel lous narratives, which could they have been contradicted would have been believed . At the court of the grand Khan, per sons of all nations and religions, if they discovered any distin guished degree of abilities, were kindly entertained and often preferred. In the Bodleian library we have a superb vellum manu script, decorated with antient descriptive paintings and illu minations, entitled , Histoire de Graunt Kaan et des MER VEILLES DU MONDEd. The same work is the royal manuscripts . A Latin epistle, said to be translated from the Greek by Cornelius Nepos, is an extremely common manuscript, entitled, De situ et Mirabilibus Indiæf. It is from Alexander the Great to his preceptor Aristotle : and the among

• The first European traveller who luyt cites a friar, named Oderick , who went far Eastward, is Benjamin a Jew travelled to Cambalu in Cathay, and of Tudela in Navarre. He penetrated whose description ofthat city corresponds from Constantinople through Alexan- exactly withPekin. Friar Baconabout dria inÆgypt and Persia to the fron- 1280, from these travels formed his geo tiers of Tzin, now China. His travels graphy of this part of the globe, as may end in 1173. He mentions the immense be collected from what he relates of the wealth of Constantinople ; and says that Tartars. See Purchas Pilgr. iü . 52.

its port swarmed with ships from all And Bac. Op. Maj. 228. 235. countries. He exaggerates in speaking MSS. Bodl. F. 10. fol. prægrand. of the prodigious number of Jewsin that ad calc. Cod. The hand - writing is about city. He is full of marvellous and ro- the reign of Edward the Third . I am mantic stories. William de Rubruquis, not sure whether it is not Mandeville's a monk, was sent into Persic Tartary, book. and by the command of S. Louis king e Brit Mus. MSS. Bibl. Reg. 19 D of France, about the year 1245. As i. 3. was also Carpini, by Pope Innocent the [ The royalmanuscript is a magnificent Fourth . Their books abound with im- copy of the French translation of Marco probabilities. Marco Polo a Venetian Polo's travels, which it affirms to have nobleman travelled eastward into Syria been made in the year 1298. - Edır. ) and Persia to the country constantly f It was first printed à Jacobo Catala called in the dark ages Cathay, which nensiwithout date or place. Afterwards proves to be the northern part of China . at Venice 1499. The epistleis inscribed : This was about the year 1260. His book Alexander Magnus Aristoteli præceptori is entitled De Regionibus Orientis. He suo salutem dicit. It was never extant mentions the immense and opulent city in Greck . of Cambalu, undoubtedly Pekin. Hak. ENGLISH POETRY. 105 Greek original was most probably drawn from some of the fabulous authors of Alexander's story. There is a manuscript, containing La Chartre que Prestre Jehan maunda a Fredewik l'Empereur DE MERVAILLES DE SA TERRES. This was Frederick Barbarossa, emperor of Ger many, or his successor ; both of whom were celebrated for their many successful enterprises in the Holy Land, before the year 1230. Prester John, a Christian, was emperor of India . I find another tract, DE MIRABILIBUS Terræ Sanctæh. A book of Sir John Mandeville, a famous traveller into the East about the year 1340, is under the title of Mirabilia Mundii. His Itinerary might indeed have the same titlek. An English title in the Cotton library is, “ The Voiage and Travailes of Sir John Maundevile knight, which treateth of the way to Hierusaleme and of the MARVEYLES of Inde with other ilands - and countryes. ” In the Cotton library there is a piece with the title, Sanctorum Loca, MIRABILIA MUNDI, &c. ! Afterwards the wonders of other countries were added : and when this sort of reading began to grow fashionable, Gyraldus Cam brensis composed his book De MIRABILIBUS Hiberniæ m. & Ibid . MSS. Reg. 20 A xii . 3. And vels, gave to the high altar of S. Alban's in Bibl. Bodl. MSS.Bodl. E 4.3. “ Li- abbey church a sort of Patera brought teræ Joannis Presbiteri ad Fredericum from Ægypt, now in the hands of an in Imperatorem , & c. ” genious antiquary in London. He was h MSS. Reg. 14. C xiii. 3. a native of the town of S. Alban's, and i MSS. C. Č. C. Cant. A iv. 69. We a physician. He says that he left many find De Mirabilibus Mundi Liber, MSS. MERVAYLES unwritten ; and refers the Reg. ut supr. 13. E ix. 5. And again , curious reader to his MAPPA MUNDI, De Mirabilibus Mundi et Viris illustribuschap. cviii. cix. A history of the Tar Tractatus 14. C vi . 3. tars became popular in Europe about His book is supposed to have been the year 1310, written or dictated by interpolated by the monks. Leland ob- Aiton a king of Armenia, who having serves, that Asia and Africa were parts traversed the most remarkable countries of the world at this time “ Anglis de sola of the East , turned monk at Cyprus, and fere nominis umbra cognitas.” Script. published his travels ; which , on account Br. p. 366. He wrote his Itineraryin of the rank of the author, and his amaz French, English , and Latin. It extends ing adventures, gained great esteem. to Cathay, or China, before mentioned. i Galb. A xxi. 3. Leland says, that he gave to Becket's m It is printed among the Scriptores " shrine in Canterbury cathedral a glass Hist. Angl. Francof. 1602. fol. 692. globe enclosing an apple, which he pro- Written about the year 1200. It was so bably brought from the East. Leland favourite a title that we have even DE saw this curiosity, in which the apple re- MIRABILIBUS Veteris et Novi Testamenti, mained fresh and undecayed. Ubi supr. MSS. Coll. Æn. Nas. Oxon. Cod. 12. Maundeville, on returning from his tra- f. 190. a , 106 THE HISTORY OF There is also another De MIRABILIBUS Angliæ ". At length the superstitious curiosity of the times was gratified with com pilations under the comprehensive title of MIRABILIA Hiber niæ , Anglia, et Orientalis '. But enough has been said of these infatuations. Yet the history of human credulity is a necessary speculation to those who trace the gradations of hu man knowledge. Let me add, that a spirit of rational enquiry into the topographical state of foreign countries, the parent of commerce and of a thousand improvements, took its rise from these visions. I close this section with an elegy on the death of king Ed ward the First, who died in the year 1307. 1. Alle that beoth of huert trewe A stounde herkneth to my song , Of duel that Deth hath diht us newe. That maketh me syke ant sorewe amonge : Of a knyht that wes so strong Of wham God hath done ys wille; Me thuncheth " that Deth has don us wrong That hes so sone shall ligge stille. II. Al Englond ahte forte knowe : Of wham that song ys that y synge, Of Edward kyng that lith so lowe, Zentu al this world is nome con springe : Trewest mon of al thinge, Ant in werre war and wys ; For him we ahte oure honden w wrynge, Of Cristendome he ber the pris. · Bibl. Bodl. MSS. C 6. some monk in the twelfth century , ac ° Asin MSS. Reg. 13 D. i. 11. I must cording to Voss. Hist. Latin. iii. p. 721. not forget that the Polyhistor of Julius Po be of true heart." Solinus appears in many manuscripts little while. " methinks. under the title of Solinus de Mirabilibus the king. oughtfor to Mundi. This was so favourite a book, u through. Sax. gent. Yeni. as to be translated into hexameters by 9 a 6 t w hands. ENGLISH POETRY. 107 III. Byfore that oure kyng wes ded He speke ase mon that wes in care 6 Clerkes, knyhtes, barouns, he sayde Y charge ou * by oure sware That ye to Engelonde be trewe, Y deze y ne may lyven na more ; Helpeth mi sone, ant crowneth him newe, For he is nest to buen ycore a. IV. Iche biquethe myn hirte aryht, That hit be write at mi devys, Over the sea that hue be diht, With fourscore knyghtes al of pris, In werre that buen war ant wys, Agein the hethene forte fyhte, To wynne the croiz that lowe lys, Myself ycholde zef that y myhte." V. Kyng of Fraunce ! thou hevedest sunne ", That thou the counsail woldest fonde, To latted the wille of kyng Edward, To wende to the holy londe : That oure kyng hede take on honde, All Engelond to zeme and wysse ', To wenden in to the holy londe To wynnen us heveriche blisse. VI. The messager to the pope com And seyde that our kyng was ded ", 1 Z youa Y oath . h He died in Scotland, July 7, 1307. deze. Deye, die. The chroniclers pretend, that the Pope 2 “ next, to be chosen . " knew of his death the next day by a vi one of his officers [it ]. sion or some miraculous information. So let, hinder. zeme, protect. Robert of Brunne, who recommends this govern [ instruct, teach ]. every. tragical event to those who “ Singe and b csin . f 6 108 THE HISTORY OF Ysi oune honde the lettre he nom , Ywis is herte wes ful gret : The pope himself the lettre redde, And spec a word of gret honour. " Alas !” he seide, “ is Edward ded ? Of Cristendome he ber the flour ! " VII. The pope to is chaumbre wende For del ne mihte he speke na more ; Ant after cardinales he sende That muche couthen of Cristes lore. Both the lassel ant eke the more Bed hem both rede ant synge : Gret deol mem.myhte se thore ", Many mon is honde wrynge. VIII. The pope of Peyters stod at is masse With ful gret solempnete, Ther me conº the soule blesse : “ Kyng Edward, honoured thou be: God leve thi sone come after the, Bringe to ende that thou hast bygonne, The holy crois ymad of tre So fain thou woldest hit hav ywonne. IX. “ Jerusalem , thou hast ilore The flour of al chivalerie, Nou kyng Edward liveth na more, Alas, that he yet shulde deye! say in romance and ryme. ” Chron. Was ded and lay on bere, Edward of p. 340. edit. ut supr. Ingeland. The Pope the tother day wist it in the He said with hevy chere, in spirit he it fond. court of Rome. The Pope on the morn bifor the clergi He adds, that the Pope granted five years of pardon to those whowould pray And tolde tham biforn , the floure of for his soul. i in his. I took Cristendam 1 less . began. cam m men, n there . 0 ENGLISH POETRY. 109 He wolde ha rered up ful heyge Our baners that bueth broht to grounde: Wel longe we mowe clepe P and crie, Er we such a kyng hav yfounde ! " X Now is Edward of Carnarvan ?, Kyng of Engelond al aplyht "; God lete him ner be worse man Then is fader ne lasse of myht, To holden is pore men to ryht Ant understonde good counsail, Al Engelond for to wisse ant diht Of gode knightes darh him nout fail. XI. Thah mi tonge were mad of stel Ant min herte yzote of bras The godness myht y never telle That with kyng Edward was. Kyng as thou are cleped conquerour In vch bataile thou hadest pris, God bringe thi soule to the honour That ever wes and ever ys, [ That lesteth ay withouten ende Bidde we God ant oure ledy To thilke blisse Jesus us sende. Amen. ] That the pope should here pronounce the funeral panegyric of Edward the First, is by no means surprising, if we consider P call. 1 3 death , the author unknown.” p. 4. Lond. 9 Edward the Second, born in Car . Pr. for T. Davies, 1738. octavo. But narvon castle. this piece, which has great merit, could completely. not have been writtentill some centuries thar, there. afterwards. From the classical allusions + MSS. Harl. 2253. f. 73. In a Mis- and general colour of the phraseology, cellany called the Muses Library, com- to say nothing more, it withgreater pro piled , as I have been informed , by an bability belongs to Henry the Eighth. ingenious lady of the name of Cooper, It escaped me till just before this work there is an elegy on the death of Henry went to press, that Dr. Percy had printed the First, " wrote immediately after his this elegy, Ball. ii. 9. 110 THE HISTORY OF the predominant ideas of the age. And in the true spirit of these ideas, the poet makes this illustrious monarch's atchieve ments in the Holy Land, his principal and leading topic. But there is a particular circumstance alluded to in these stanzas, relating to the crusading character of Edward *, together with its conséquences, which needs explanation. Edward, in the decline of life, had vowed a second expedition to Jerusalem ; but finding his end approach, in his last moments he devoted the prodigious sum of thirty thousand pounds to provide one hundred and forty knights “, who should carry his heart into Palestine. But this appointment of the dying king was never executed . Our elegist, and the chroniclers, impute the crime of withholding so pious a legacy to the advice of the king of France, whose daughter Isabel was married to the succeeding king. But it is more probable to suppose, that Edward the Second, and his profligate minion Piers Gaveston , dissipated the money in their luxurious and expensive pleasures.

• [ It appears that king Edward the Apud V HISTOR. ANGLIC. SCRIPTOR. vol.

First, about the year 1271, took his han- ii. Oxon . 1687. fol. - ADDITIONS.] PER with him to the Holy Land. This [ After the king himself had slain the officerwas a close and constant attend- assassin (his harper ] had the singular ant of his master : for when Edward was courage to brain a dead man with a tri wounded with a poisoned knife at Ptole- vet ortripod, for which act of heroism mais, the harper , cithareda suus, hearing he was justly reprimanded by Edward. the struggle, rushed into the royalapart- Ritson.] ment, and killed the assassin . Chron. u Thepoet says eighty . Walt. Hemingford, cap. xxxv . p. 591. ENGLISH POETRY. 111 SECTION III. We have seen, in the preceding section, that the character of our poetical composition began to be changed about the reign of the first Edward : that either fictitious adventures were substituted by the minstrels in the place of historical and traditionary facts, or reality disguised by the misrepresenta tions of invention ; and that a taste for ornamental and even exotic expression gradually prevailed over the rude simplicity of the native English phraseology. This change, which with our language affected our poetry, had been growing for some time; and among other causes was occasioned by the intro duction and increase of the tales of chivalry. The ideas of chivalry, in an imperfect degree, had been of old established among the Gothic tribes. The fashion of chal lenging to single combat, the pride of seeking dangerous ad ventures, and the spirit of avenging and protecting the fair sex , seem to have been peculiar to the Northern nations in the most uncultivated state of Europe. All these customs were after wards encouraged and confirmed by corresponding circum stances in the feudal constitution . At length the Crusades excited a new spirit of enterprise, and introduced into the courts and ceremonies of European princes a higher degree of splendor and parade, caught from the riches and magnificence of eastern cities a. These oriental expeditions established a taste for hyperbolical description , and propagated an infinity of marvellous tales, which men returning from distant coun

• I cannot help transcribing here a Jerusalem . Aussi la France commença

curious passage from old Fauchet. He de son temps a s'embellir de bastimens is speaking of Louis the young, king of plus magnifiques : prendre plaisir a pier France about the year 1150 . “ Le quel rieres, et autres delicatesses goustus en fut le premier roy de sa maison, qui Levant par luy, ou les seigneurs qui monstra dehors ses richesses allant en avoient ja fait ce voyage. De sorte qu'on 112 THE HISTORY OF tries easily imposed on credulous and ignorant minds. The unparalleled emulation with which the nations of Christendom universally embraced this holy cause, the pride with which emperors, kings, barons, earls, bishops, and knights, strove to excel each other on this interesting occasion, not only in prowess and heroism , but in sumptuous equipages, gorgeous banners, armorial cognisances, splendid pavilions, and other expensive articles of a similar nature, diffused a love of war, and a fondness for military pomp. Hence their very diver sions became warlike, and the martial enthusiasm of the times appeared in tilts and tournaments . These practices and opi nions co -operated with the kindred superstitions of dragons , dwarfs, fairies, giants, and enchanters, which the traditions of the Gothic scalders had already planted ; and produced that extraordinary species of composition which has been called ROMANCE. Before these expeditions into the East became fashionable, the principal and leading subjects of the old fablers were the atchievements of king Arthur with his knights of the round table, and of Charlemagne with his twelve peers. But in the romances written after the holy war, a new set of champions, of conquests and of countries, were introduced. Trebizonde took place of Rouncevalles, and Godfrey of Bulloigne, Soly man, Nouraddin, the caliphs, the souldans, and the cities of Ægypt and Syria, became the favourite topics *. The trou peut dire qu'il a este le premier tenant position ,” there are few of its positions Cour de grand Roy : estant si magni- which a more temperate spirit of criti fique, que sa femme dedaignant la sim- cism might not reconcile with the truth. plicité de ses predecesseurs, luy fit ele- The popularity of Arthur's story ante ver une sepulture d'argent, au lieu de rior to the first Crusade, is abundantly pierre.” Recueil de la Lang. et Poes. manifested by the language of William Fr. ch. viii. p. 76. edit. 1581. He adds, of Malmesbury and Alanus de Insulis; that a great number of French romances who refer to it as a fable of common no were composed about this period. toriety and general belief among the n See Kircher's Mund. Subterran . people. Had it arisen within their own viü . § 4 . Ile mentions a knight of days, we may be certain that Malmes Rhodes made grand master of the order bury, who rejected it as beneath the dig for killing a dragon, 1345. nity of history, would not have suffered * [ Though this passage has been the an objection so well founded, as the no subject of severe animadversion, and velty of its appearance, to have escaped characterized as containing nothing but his ; nor can the narrative of " random assertion , falsehood and im- Alanus be reconciled with the general su ENGLISH POETRY. 113 badours of Provence men , took , an idle and unsettled race of up arms, and followed their barons in prodigious multitudes to the conquest of Jerusalem . They made a considerable part of the houshold of the nobility of France. Louis the Seventh , king of France, not only entertained them at his court very liberally, but commanded a considerable company of them into his retinue, when he took ship for Palestine, that they might solace him with their songs during the dangers and inconveniencies of so long a voyage . The antient chronicles of France mention Legions de poetes as embarking in this wonderful enterprised. Here a new and more copious source of fabling was opened : in these expeditions they picked up numberless extravagant stories, and at their return enriched с war . progress of traditionary faith - a plant of language of the old romancers. -The tardy growth — if we limit its first pub- - Life of Godfrey of Boulogne was writ licity to the period thus prescribed ten in French verse by Gregory Be ( 1096-1142 ). With regard to Charle- chada, about the year 1130. It is usually magne and his peers, as their deeds were supposed to have perished ; unless, in chaunted by Talliefer at the battle of deed, it exist in a poem upon the same Hastings ( 1066 ), it would be needless to subject by Wolfram Von Eschenbach, offer further demonstrations oftheir early who generally founded his romances popularity; nor in factdoes the accuracy upon a French or Provençal original. ofthis part of Warton's statement ap- Edit.] pear to be called in question by the wri- Velley, Hist. Fr. sub an. 1178. ter alluded to . It would be more diffi- Massieu, Hist. Poes. Fr. p. 105.

cult to define the degreein whichthese Many of the troubadours, whose works romances were superseded by similar now exist, and whose names are record poems on the achievements of the Cru . ed, accompanied their lords to the holy saders ; or, to use the more cautious lan Some of the French nobility of guage of the text, to state how far “ Tre- the first rank were troubadours about the bizonde took place of Roncevalles.” But eleventh century : and the French critics it will be recollected that in consequence with much triumph observe, that it is the of the Crusades, the action of several ro- GLORY of the French poetry to number mances was transferred to the HolyLand, counts and dukes, that is sovereigns,among such as Sir Bevis, Sir Guy, Sir Isum- its professors, from its commencement. bras, the King of Tars, & c.: and thatmost What a glory! The worshipfull company of these were “ favorite topics” in high of Merchant-taylors in London, if I re esteem , is clear from the declarationof collect right, boast the names of many Chaucer, who cataloguedthem among dukes, earls, and princes, enrolled in the “romances of Pris.” In short, ifwe their community. This is indeed an omit the names of the caliphs, and con- honour to that otherwise respectable so fine ourselves to the Soldans — a generic ciety. But poets can derive no lustre name used by our early writers for every from counts, and dukes, or even princes, successive ruler of the East and the who have been enrolled in their lists ; cities of Egypt and Syria, this rhap- only in proportion as they have adorned sody, as it has been termed, will contain the art by the excellence of their com nothing which is not strictly demon- positions. strable by historical evidence, or the VOL. I. i 114 THE HISTORY OF romance with an infinite variety of Oriental seenes and fictions. Thus these later wonders, in some measure, supplanted the former : they had the recommendation of novelty, and gained still more attention , as they came from a greater distance In the mean time we should recollect, that the Saracens or Arabians, the same people which were the object of the Cru sades, had acquired an establishment in Spain about the ninth century : and that by means of this earlier intercourse, many of their fictions and fables, together with their literature, must have been known in Europe before the Christian armies in vaded Asia. It is for this reason the elder Spanish romances have professedly more Arabian allusions than any other. Cer vantes makes the imagined writer of Don Quixote's history an Arabian. Yet exclusive of their domestic and more immediate connection with this eastern people, the Spaniards from temper and constitution were extravagantly fond of chivalrous exer cises. Some critics have supposed, that Spain having learned the art or fashion of romance -writing, from their naturalised guests the Arabians, communicated it, at an early period, to the rest of Europe' . It has been imagined that the first romances were composed in metre, and sung to the harp by the poets of Provence at festival solemnities : but an ingenious Frenchman , who has made deep researches into this sort of literature , attempts to prove, that this mode of reciting romantic adventures was in e The old French historian Mezeray of the Provencial poets. What can we goes so far as to derive the origin of the think of a writer, who having touched French poetry and romances from the upon the gothic romances, at whose fic Crusades. Hist. p. 416, 417. tions and barbarisms he is much shocked, [ Geoffrey of Vinesauf says, that when talks of the consummate degree of art and king Richard the First arrived at the eleganceto which the Frenchare atpresent Christian camp before Ptolemais, he arrived in romances ? He adds, that the was received with populares Cantiones, superior refinement and politesse of the which recited Antiquorum Præclara French gallantry has happily given them Gesta. IT. HIEROSOL. cap . ii. p. 332. an advantage of shining in this species ibid.- Additions.] of composition. Hist. Rom . p. 138. But * Huet in some measure adopts this the sophistry and ignorance of Huet's opinion. But that learned man was a Treatise has been already detected and very incompetent judge of these matters. exposed by a critic of another cast in the Under the common term Romance, he SUPPLEMENT TO JARVIS'S PREFACE, pre confounds romances of chivalry, ro- fixed to the Translation of Don Quixote. mances of gallantry, and all the fables ENGLISH POETRY 115 high reputation among the natives of Normandy, above a cen tury before the troubadours of Provence, who are generally supposed to have led the way to the poets of Italy, Spain , and France, and that it commenced about the year 1162.8 If the critic means to insinuate, that the French troubadours acquired their art of versifying from these Norman bards, this reasoning will favour the system of those, who contend that metrical ro mances lineally took their rise from the historical odes of the Scandinavian scalds : for the Normans were a branch of the Scandinavian stock. But Fauchet, at the same time that he allows the Normans to have been fond of chanting the praises of their heroes in verse, expressly pronounces that they bor rowed this practice from the Franks or French h. It is not my business, nor is it of much consequence, to dis cuss this obscure point, which properly belongs to the French antiquaries. I therefore proceed to observe, that our Richard the First, who began his reign in the year 1189, a distinguished hero of the Crusades, a most magnificent patron of chivalry, and a Provencial poet ', invited to his court many minstrels or < VARRE. 8 Mons. L'Eveque de la Ravaliere, year 1193. A whole year elapsed before in his Revolutions de Langue Françoise, the English knew where their monarch à la suite des POESIES DU Roi de Na- was, imprisoned . Blondell de Nesle, Richard's favourite minstrel, resolved to h « Ce que les Normans avoyent pris find out his lord ; and after travelling des François .' Rec . liv. i. p. 70. edit. many days without success, at last came 1581 . to a castle where Richard was detained i See Observations on Spenser,i. ſi. in custody. Here he found that the p. 28. 29. And Mr. Walpole's Royal castle belonged to the Duke of Austria, and Noble Authors, i . 5. See also Ry- and that a king was there imprisoned. mer's Short View of Tragedy, ch. vii. Suspecting that the prisoner was his p. 73. edit. 1693. Savarie de Mauleon, master, hefound means to place himself an English gentleman who lived in the directly before a window ofthe chamber service of Saint Louis king of France, where the king was kept; and in this and one of the Provencial poets, said of situation began to sing a French chan Richard, son , which Richard and Blondellhad for Coblas a teira faire adroitement merly written together. When the king Pou voz oillez enten dompna gentiltz. whosung it; andwhen Blondell paused heard the song, he knew it was Blondell “ He could make stanzas on the eyes after the first half ofthe song, the king of gentle ladies. " Rymer, ibid . p. 74., began the other half and completed it. There is a curious story recorded by the On this, Blondell returned home to French chroniclers,concerning Richard's England, and acquainted Richard's ba skill in the minstrel art, whichI will here rons with the place of his imprisonment, relate. Richard, in his return from the from which he was soon afterwards re Crusade, was taken prisoner about the leased. See also Fauchet, Rec. p. 93. Ri I 2 116 THE HISTORY OF troubadours from France, whom he loaded with honours and rewards ). These poets imported into England a great multi tude of their tales and songs ; which before or about the reign of Edward the Second became familiar and popular among our ancestors, who were sufficiently acquainted with the French language. The most early notice of a professed book of chi valry in England, as it should seem, appears under the reign p . 149. chard lived long in Provence, where he temporary Gyraldus Cambrensis, he is acquired a taste for their poetry, The represented as a monster of injustice, only relic of his sonnets is a small frag- impiety, intemperance, and lust. Gy ment in old French accurately cited by raldus has left these anecdotes of his Mr. Walpole, and written during his character, which shew the scandalous captivity ; in which he remonstrates to grossness of the times. “ Sed taceo quod his men and barons of England, Nor- ruminare solet, nunc clamitat Anglia mandy, Poictiers, and Gascony, that tota , qualiter puella, matris industria they suffered himto remain so long a tam coma quam cultu puerum professa, prisoner. Catal. Roy. and Nob . Auth. simulansque virum verbis et vultu, ad i. 5. Nostradamus's account of Richard cubiculum belluæ istius est perducta. is full of false facts and anachronisms. Sed statim ut exosi illius sexus est in Poet. Provenc. artic. RICHARD. venta, quanquam in se pulcherrima, tha [ There is too much reason to believe lamique thorique deliciis valde idonea, this story of Blondell and his illustrious repudiata tamen est et abjecta. Unde et patron to be purely apocryphal. The in crastino, matri filia , tam flagitiosi fa poem published by Walpole is written cinoris conscia, cum Petitionis effectu, in the Provençal language, anda Nor- terrisque non modicis eandem jure hære.. man versionofit is givenbyM. Sismon- ditario contingentibus, virgo, ut venerat, di, in his “ Literature du Midi,” vol. i. est restituta . Tantæ nimirum intempe In which of these languages it rantiæ , et petulantiæ fuerat tam immo was originally composed remains a mat- deratæ , quod quotidie in prandio circa ter of dispute among the French anti- finem , pretiosis tam potionibus quam ci quaries. - Edit. ) bariis ventre distento , virga aliquantulum j " De regno Francorum cantores et longa in capite aculeum præferente pue joculatores muneribus allexerat. Rog ros nobiles ad mensam ministrantes, ei Hoved. Ric. i . p. 340. These gratuities que propter multimodam qua fungebatur were chiefly arms, cloaths, horses, and potestatem in omnibus ad nutum obse sometimes money. quentes, pungere vicissim consueverit: [ On a review of this passage inHove- ut eo indicio,quasi signo quodam secre den , it appears to have been William tiore, quem fortius, inter alios, atque bishop of Ely,chancellor to king Richard frequentius sic quasi ludicro pungebat, the First, who thus invited minstrels from &c. & c.” De Vit. Galfrid . Archiepi France, whom he loaded with favours scop. Ebor. Apud Whart. Angl. SACR. and presents to sing his praises in the vol. ii. p. 406. But Wharton endeavours streets . But it does not much alter the to prove, that the character of this great doctrine of the text, whether he or the prelate and statesman in many particu king was instrumental in importing the lars had been misrepresented through French minstrels into England. This prejudice and envy. Ibid. vol. i . p. 632. passage is in aletter of Hugh bishop of It seems the French minstrels, with Coventry, which see also in Hearne's whom the Song of Roland originated, Benedictus Abbas, vol. ii. p. 704. sub were famous about this period. Mura ann. 1191 . It appears from this letter, tori cites an old history of Bologna, un that he was totally ignorant of the En- der the year 1288, by which it appears glish language. ibid . p . 708. By his co . that they swarmed in the streets of Italy , >> ENGLISH POETRY . 117 1of Henry the Third

and is

a curious and evident proof of the reputation and esteem in which this sort of composition was held at that period . In the revenue roll of the twenty -first year of that king, there is an entry of the expence of silver clasps and studs for the king's great book of romances. This was in the year 1237. But I will give the article in its original dress. “ Et in firmaculis hapsis et clavis argenteis ad magnum librum Romancis regis k . ” That this superb volume was in French, may be partly collected from the title which they gave it : and it is highly probable, that it contained the Ro mance of Richard the First , on which I shall enlarge below . At least the victorious achievements of that monarch were so In the yea SO “ Ut CANTATORES FRANCIGENARUM in D. Apud Tom . vi . ut supr. plateis comunis ad cantandum morari 774 , when Charlemagne entered Italy non possent. On which words he ob- and found his passage impeded, he was serves , “ Colle quali parole sembra ve- met by a minstrel of Lombardy, whose rosimile, che sieno disegnati i cantatore song promised him success and victory. del favole romanze , che spezialmente della Contigit JocuLATOREM ex Longobar Franzia erano portate in Italia. ” Dis- dorum gente ad Carolum venire, et Can SERT. ANTICHIT. Ital. tom. ii . c. xxix. TIUNCULAM A SE COMPOSITAM , rotando in p. 16. In Napoli, 1752. He adds, that conspectu suorum , cantare. Tom. ü. the minstrels were numerous in P. 2. ut supr . Chron . Monast . Noval . France, as to become a pest to the com- lib . iii . cap . X. p . 717. D. munity ; and that an edict was issued To recur to the origin of this Note . about the year 1200 , to suppress them Rymer, in his Short VIEW OF TRAGEDY, in that kingdom . Muratori , in further on the notion that Hoveden is here proof of this point, quotes the above speaking of king Richard, has founded passage from Hoveden ; which, as I had a theory, which is consequently false, done, he misapplies to our king Richard and is otherwise butimaginary. See the First. But, in either sense, it equally p. 66. 67. 69. 74. He supposes, that suits his argument. In the year 1334, Richard, in consequence of his connec at a feast on Easter Sunday, celebrated tion with Raimond count of Tholouse, at Rimini , on occasion of some noble encouraged the heresy of the Albigen Italians receiving the honour of knight- ses ; and that therefore the historian hood, more than one thousand five hun- Hoveden , as an ecclesiastic, was inter dred INISTRIONES are said to have attend- ested in abusing Richard, and in insi . ed . “ Triumphus quidem maximus fuit nuating, that his reputation for poetry ibidem, & c.--Fuit etiam multitudo His- restedonly on the venal praises of the TRIONUM circa mille quingentos et ul- French minstrels. The words quoted tra . " Annal. CÆSENAT. tom . xiv. Rer. are, indeed, written by a churchman , Italic . SCRIPTOR . col . 1141. But their although not by Hoveden . But what countries are not specified . In the year ever invidious turn they bear, they be 1227 , at a feast in the palace of the arch- long , as we have seen , to quite another bishop of Genoa, a sumptuous banquet person ; to a bishop who justly deserved and vestments without number weregi- such an indirect stroke of satire, for his ven to the minstrels, or Joculatores, then criminal enormities, not for any vain present, who came from Lombardy, pretensions to the character of a Pro Provence, Tuscany, and other countries. vencial songster. --Additions .) Caflari ANNAL . GENUENS . lib . vi . p . 449 . k Rot. Pip. al , 21. Henr. III . 118 THE HISTORY OF 66 Et in camera famous in the reign of Henry the Third , as to be made the subject of a picture in the royal palace of Clarendon near Salisbury. A circumstance which likewise appears from the same ancient record, under the year 1246. regis subtus capellam regis apud Clarendon lambruscanda, et muro ex transverso illius cameræ amovendo et hystoria An tiochiæ in eadem depingenda cum DUELLO REGIS RICARDI '. " To these anecdotes we may add, that in the Royal library at Paris there is, “ Lancelot du Lac mis en Francois par Robert de Borron , du commandement d'Henri roi de Angleterre avec figuresm .” And the same manuscript occurs twice again in that library in three volumes, and in four volumes of the largest folio " . Which of our Henrys it was who thus com manded the romance of LANCELOT DU LAC to be translated into French, is indeed uncertain : but most probably it was Henry the Third just mentioned , as the translator Robert Borron * is placed soon after the year 1200 ° . But not only the pieces of the French minstrels, written in French , were circulated in England about this time ; but translations of these pieces were made into English, which containing much of the French idiom , together with a sort of poetical phraseology before unknown, produced various inno vations in our style. These translations, it is probable, were o 1 Rot. Pip. an. 36. Henr. III. Richard Among the infinite number of old the First performed great feats at the manuscript French romances on this siege of Antioch in the Crusade. The subject in the same noble repository, the Duellum was another of his exploits learned Montfaucon recites, “ Le Ro among the Saracens. Compare Wal- man de Tristan et Iseult traduit de La pole's Anecd. Paint. i. 10. Who men- tin en François par Lucas chevalier sieur tions a certain great book borrowed for du chastel duGast pres de Salisberi, the queen, written in French, containing Anglois, avec figures. ” Cod. 6776. fol. GESTA ANTIOCHIÆ et regum aliorum , &c. max. And again, “ Livres de Tristan This was in the year 1249. He adds, mis en François par Lucas chevalier that there was a chamber in the old pa- sieur de chateau du Gat.” Cod. 6956. lace of Westminster painted with this seq. fol. max. In another article, this history, in the reign of Henry the Third, translator, the chevalier Lucas, of whom and therefore called the Antioch Cham- I can give no account, is called Huc or BER : and another in the Tower. Hue. ( Luc?] Cod. 6976. seq. Nor do m Cod . 6783. fol . max . See Montfauc. I know of any castle, or place, of this Cat. MSS. p. 785 a . " See Montf. ibid. name near Salisbury. See also Cod. [ See Note A. at the end of the sec- 7174. tion. -Edit. ]

ENGLISH POETRY. 119 enlarged with additions, or improved with alterations of the story. Hence it was that Robert de Brunne, as we have al ready seen , complained of strange and quaint English, of the changes made in the story of Sir TRISTRAM, and of the liber ties assumed by his cotemporary minstrels in altering facts and coining new phrases. Yet these circumstances enriched our tongue, and extended the circle of our poetry. And for what reason these fables were so much admired and encouraged, in preference to the languid poetical chronicles of Robert of Gloucester and Robert of Brunne, it is obvious to conjecture. The gallantries of chivalry were exhibited with new splendour, and the times were growing more refined. The Norman fashions were adopted even in Wales. In the year 1176, a splendid carousal, after the manner of the Normans, was given by a Welsh prince. This was Rhees ap Gryffyth king of South Wales, who at Christmas made a great feast in the castle of Cardigan, then called Aberteivi, which he ordered to be proclaimed throughout all Britain ; and to “ which came many strangers, who were honourably received and worthily entertained, so that no man departed discontented . And among deeds of arms and other shewes, Rhees caused all the poets of WalesP to come thither : and provided chairs for them to be set in his hall, where they should dispute together In illustration of the argument pur- concerning which he adds, “ therof yit sued in the text we may observe, that men rime. In the wardrobe about this time the English minstrels roll of the same prince, under the year flourished with new honours and re- 1306 , we have this entry. « Will. Fox wards. At themagnificent marriage of et Cradoco socio suo CANTATORIBUS can.. the countess of Holland, daughter of tantibus coram Principe et aliis magna Edward the First, every king minstrel tibus in comitiva sua existente apud received xl. shillings. See Anstis Ord . London, &c. xxs. " Again, “ Willo Gart. ii. p. 303. And Dugd. Mon. Ffos et Cradoco socio suo cantantibu i. 355. In the same reign a multitude in præsentia principis et al. Magnatum of minstrels attended the ceremony of apud Londonde dono ejusdem dni per knighting prince Edward on the feast of manus Johis de Ringwode, &c. 8. die Pentecost. They entered the hall, while jan. xxs.” Afterwards, in the same roll the king was sitting at dinner surrounded four shillings are given, “ Ministrallo with the new knights. Nic. Trivet. An- comitissæ Mareschal. facienti menestral nal. p. 342. edit. Oxon. The whole num- ciain suam coram principe, &c. in comi ber knighted was two hundred and sixty- tiva sua existent. apud Penreth .” Comp. seven. Dugd. Bar. i . 80. b. Robert de Garderob . Edw. Princip. Wall. ann. 35. Brunne says, this was greatest royal Edw. I. This I chiefly cite shew the feast since king Arthur's at Carleon : greatness ofthe gratuity. Minstrels were p. 332. 120 THE HISTORY OF to try their cunning and gift in their several faculties, where great rewards and rich giftes were appointed for the over comers 9." Tilts and tournaments, after a long disuse, were revived with superiour lustre in the reign of Edward the First. Roger earl of Mortimer, a magnificent baron of that reign, erected in his stately castle of Kenelworth a Round Table, at which he restored the rites of king Arthur. He entertained in this castle the constant retinue of one hundred knights, and as many ladies; and invited thither adventurers in chivalry from every part of Christendom ". These fables were therefore an image of the manners, customs, mode of life, and favourite amusements, which now prevailed, not only in France but in England, accompanied with all the decorations which fancy could invent, and recommended by the graces of romantic fiction . They complimented the ruling passion of the times, and cherished in a high degree the fashionable sentiments of deal honour, and fantastic fortitude. Among Richard's French minstrels, the names only of three are recorded . I have already mentioned Blondell de Nesle. Fouquet of Marseilles, and Anselme Fayditt, many of whose compositions still remain, were also among the poets patronised and entertained in England by Richard. They are both cele part of the establishment of the houshold Who adds, that the bards of “ North of our nobility before the year 1307. wales won the prize, and amonge the Thomas earl of Lancaster allows at musicians Rees's owne houshold men Christmas, cloth , or vestis liberata , to his were counted best. " Rhees was one of houshold minstrels at a great expence, the Welsh princes who, the preceding in the year 1314. Stowe's Surv. Lond. year, attended the parliament at Ox p. 134. edit. 1618. See supr. p. 95. ford , and were magnificently entertained Soon afterwards the minstrels claimed in the castle of that city by Henry the such privileges that it was thought ne- Second. Lord Lyttelton's Hist. Hen. II. cessary to reform them by an edict, in edit. iii. p. 302. It may not be foreign 1315. See Hearne's Append. Leland. to ourpresent purpose to mention here, Collectan. vi. 36. Yet, as I have for- that Henry the Second, in the year merly remarked in OBSERVATIONS ON 1179, was entertained by Welsh bards Spenser's Falerie Queene, we find a at Pembroke castle in Wales in his pas person in the character of a minstrel en- sage into Ireland. Powell, ut supr. tering Westminster-hall on horseback p . 238. The subject of their songs was whileEdward the Second was solemniz- the history of king Arthur. See Selden ing the feast of Pentecost as above, and on POLYOLB. s. iii . p. 53. presenting a letter to the king. See Drayton's Heroic. Epist. Mort. Walsing. Hist. Angl. Franc. p . 109. ISABEL. V. 59. And Notes ibid. from r 9 Powell's Wales, 237. edit. 1584. Walsingham . 1 ENGLISH POETRY. 121 brated and sometimes imitated by Dante and Petrarch. Fay ditt, a native of Avignon , united the professions of music and verse ; and the Provencials used to call his poetry de bon mots e de bon son. Petrarch is supposed to have copied, in his TRIUMFO DI AMORE, many strokes of high imagination, from a poem written by Fayditt on a similar subject ; particularly in his description of the Palace of Love. But Petrarch has not left Fayditt without his due panegyric : he says that Fay ditt's tongue was shield, helmet, sword, and spears. He is likewise in Dante's Paradise. Fayditt was extremely profuse and voluptuous. On the death of king Richard, he travelled on foot for near twenty years, seeking his fortune ; and during this long pilgrimage he married a nun of Aix in Provence, who was young and lively, and could . accompany her husband's tales and sonnets with her voice. Fouquett de Marseilles had a beautiful person, a ready wit, and a talent for singing : these popular accomplishments recommended him to the courts of king Richard, Raymond count of Tholouse, and Beral de Baulx ; where, as the French would say, il fit les delices de He fell in love with Adelasia the wife of Beral, whom he celebrated in his songs. One of his poems is entitled, Las complanchas de Beral. On the death of all his lords, he re ceived absolution for his sin of poetry, turned monk, and at length was made archbishop of Tholouset. But among the Cour. Triunf. Am. c. iv. his disease and her kindness, had just See Beauchamps, Recherch . Theatr. time to say inarticulately, that having Fr. Paris, 1735. p. 7.9. It was Jeffrey, seen her he died satisfied . The countess Richard's brother, who patronised Jef- made him a most splendid funeral, and frey Rudell, a famous troubadour of erected to his memory a tomb of por. Provence , who is also celebrated by Pe- phyry, incribed with an epitaph in Ara trarch . This poet had heard, from the bian verse. She commanded his sonnets adventurers in the Crusades, the beauty to be richly copied and illuminated with of a countess of Tripoly highly extolled. letters of gold ; was seized with a pro . He became enamoured from imagina- found melancholy, and turned nun. I tion : embarked for Tripoly, fell sick in will endeavour to translate one of the the voyage through the fever of expec- sonnets which he made on his voyage. tation , and was brought on shore at Tri. Yrat et dolent m'en partray, & c. It has poly halfexpiring. Thecountess, having some pathos and sentiment, “ I should received the news of the arrival ofthis depart pensive , but for this love of mine gallant stranger, hastened to the shore so far away ; for I know not what diffi and took him by the hand. He opened culties I have to encounter, my native his eyes ; and at once overpowered by land being so far away. Thou who hast 122 THE HISTORY OF 1 many French minstrels invited into England by Richard, it is natural to suppose, that some of them made their magnificent and heroic patron a principal subject of their compositions“, And this subject, by means of the constant communication between both nations, probably became no less fashionable in France : especially if we take into the account the general popularity of Richard's character, his love of chivalry, his gallantry in the Crusades, and the favours which he so libe rally conferred on the minstrels of that country. We have a romance now remaining in English rhyme, which celebrates the achievements of this illustrious monarch. It is entitled RICHARD CUER DU LYON, and was probably translated from the French about the period above mentioned . That it was, at least, translated from the French, appears from the Prologue. In Fraunce these rymes were wroht, Every Englyshe ne knew it not. From which also we may gather the popularity of his story, in these lines. King Richard is the beste v That is found in any geste W. V u V made all things, and who formed this Fayditt is said to have written a love of mine so faraway, give me strength Chant funebre on his death . Beau of body, and then I may hopeto see this champs, ib. p. 10 . love of mine so far away. Surely my [ For specimens of the poetry of Fol. love must be founded on true merit, as quet de Marseille and Gaucelm Faidit, I love one so far away ! If I am easy the reader is referred to the third volume for a moment, yet I feel a thousand of M. Raynouard's excellent work al pains for her who is so far away. No ready noticed. The secondvolume con other love ever touched my heart than tains a prose translation of Faidit's Planh this for her so far away. A fairer than on thedeath of Richard I. -Edit. ) she never touched any heart, either near, This agrees with what Hoveden or far away. ' Every fourth line ends says, ubi supr. “ Dicebatur ubique quod with du luench. See Nostradamus, & c . non erat talis in orbe." ( The original poem, of which the Impr. for W. C. 4to. It contains above is only a fragment, will be found Sign. A 1. Q iii. There is another in the third volume of M. Raynouard's edition impr. W. de Worde, 4to. 1528. “ Choix des Poesies Originales des Trou. There is a manuscript copy of it in Caius badours.” The seeming inaccuracies of College at Cambridge, A 9. Warton's translation may have arisen [ Among Crynes's books in the Bod from the varied readings of his original leian library is a copy of king Richard's text. The fragment published by M.Sis- romance, printed by W. de Worde in mondi, differs essentially from thelarger 1509. Cr. 734. 8vo . This edition was poem given by M. Raynouard .--Edit. ] in the Harleian library .-- ADDITIONS.] w ENGLISH POETRY. 123 That this romance , either in French or English, existed be fore the year 1300, is evident from its being cited by Robert of Gloucester, in his relation of Richard's reign. In Romance of him imade me it may finde iwritex. This tale is also mentioned as a romance of some antiquity among other famous romances, in the prologue of a voluminous metrical translation of Guido de Colonna, attributed to Lid gater. It is likewise frequently quoted by Robert de Brunne, who wrote much about the same time with Robert ofGloucester. Whan Philip tille Acres cam litelle was his dede, The ROMANCE sais gret sham who so that pas ? wil rede. p. 68. Urr.

• Chron. p. 487. which is beautifully written , appears to y Many speken of men that romaunces be of the age of Henry the Sixth .

rede, &c. [ By the way, it appears from this quo . Of Bevys, Gy, and Gawayne, tation, that there was an old romance Of keng RYCHARD, and Owayne, called WADE. Wade's Bote is mentioned Of Tristram , and Percyvayle, in Chaucer's MARCHAUNTS TALE, V. 940. Of Rowland ris, and Aglavaule, Of Archeroun, and of Octavian , And eke these olde wivis, god it wote, Of Charles, and of Cassibedlan, They connin so much crafte in Wadis bote . OfK [ H ]eveloke, Horne,and of Wade, Again, Troil. Cress. iii. 615. In romances that of hem bi made That gestours dos of him gestes He songe, she plaide, he tolde a tale of Wade. At mangeres and at great festes, Here dedis ben in remembraunce, Where, says the glossarist, “ A roman In many fair romaunce . tick story, famous at that time, of one But of the worthiest wyght in wede, WADE, who performed many strange That ever bystrod any strede exploits, and met with many wonderful Spekes no man, ne in romaunce redes, adventures in his Boat Guigelot.” Speght Off his battayle ne of his dedes ; says, that Wade's history was long and Off that battayle spekes no man, fabulous. - ADDITIONS.] There all prowes of knyghtes began, [ The story of Wade is also alluded to Thet was forsothe of the batayle in the following passage taken from the Thet at Troye was saunfayle, Romance of Sir Bevis : Of swythe a fyght as ther was one, &c. Swiche bataile ded neuer non Ffor ther were in thet on side, Cristene man of flesch and bon Sixti kynges and dukes of pride . Of a dragoun thar beside, And there was the best bodi in dede That Beues slough ther in that tide, That ever yit wered wede, Saue Sire Launcelot de Lake, Sithen the world was made so ferre , He faught with a fur -drake, That was Ector in eche werre, &c. And Wade dede also, Laud. K 76. f. 1. fol. MSS. Bibl. Bodl . And neuer knightes boute thai to . Cod. membr. Whether this poem was The connection between Wade, and a written by Lidgate , I shall not enquire hero bearing a similar namein the Wil at present. I shall only say here, that kina Saga wil be noticed elsewhere . it is totally different from either of Lid- Edit. ) gate's two poems on the Theban and ? Passcs. Compare Percy's Ball. ii. TROJAN Wars; and that the manuscript, 66. 398. edit 1767. 124 THE HISTORY OF The ROMANCER it sais Richard did make a pelea. The ROMANCE of Richard sais he wan the tounb. He tellis in the ROMANCE sen Acres wonnen was How God gaf him fair chance at the bataile of Caifas , Sithen at Japhet was slayn fanuelle his stede The Romans tellis gret pas of his douhty deded.- Soudan so curteys never drank no wyne, The same the ROMANS sais that is of Richardynº. In prisoun was he bounden, as the ROMANCE sais, In cheynes and lede wonden that hevy was of peis '. I am not indeed quite certain, whether or no in some of these instances, Robert de Brunne may not mean his French ori ginal Peter Langtoft. But in the following lines he manifestly refers to our romance of RICHARD, between which and Lang toft's chronicle he expressly makes a distinction. And in the conclusion of the reign, I knowe no more to ryme of dedes of kyng Richard : Who so wille his dedes all the sothe se, The romance that men reden ther is propirte. This that I have said it is Pers sawe 8. Als he in romanceh lad ther after gan I drawe '. It is not improbable that both these rhyming chroniclers cite from the English translation : if so, we may fairly suppose that this romance was translated in the reign of Edward the First, or his predecessor Henry the Third . Perhaps earlier. This circumstance throws the French original to a still higher period. In the royal library at Paris, there is “ Histoire de Richard Roi d'Angleterre et de Maquemore d'Irlande en rimek." à Percy's Ball. ii. p. 157. p . 205. Du Cange recites an old b Ibid. i French manuscript prose romance, en ( Warton's conjecture is perfectly cor- titled Histoire de la Mort de Richard Roy rect in most of these instances. They d'Angleterre. Gloss. Lat. Ind. Auct. i. contain allusions to circumstances which p. cxci. There was one, perhaps the are unnoticed by Langtoft.- Edit. ] same, among the manuscripts of the late d Percy's Ball. ii . p . 175. Mr. Martinof Palgrave in Suffolk . e Ibid. p . 188. fp. 198. * Num . 7532. 6 - The words of my original Peter [ An account of this romance will be Langloft. b In French . found in Mr. Strutt's Regal Antiquities. p. 175 . ENGLISH POETRY. 125 Richard is the last of our monarchs whose achievements were adorned with fiction and fable. If not a superstitious belief of the times, it was an hyperbolical invention started by the min strels, which soon grew into a tradition , and is gravely recorded by the chroniclers, that Richard carried with him to the Cru sades king Arthur's celebrated sword CALIBURN, and that he presented it as a gift, or relic, of inestimable value to Tancred king of Sicily, in the year 1191. ' Robert of Brunne calls this sword a jewelm And Richard at that time gaf him a faire juelle, The gude swerd CALIBURNE which Arthur luffed so well.” Indeed the Arabian writer of the life of the sultan Saladin, mentions some exploits of Richard almost incredible. But, as Lord Lyttelton justly observes, this historian is highly valuable on account of the knowledge he had of the facts which he re lates. It is from this writer we learn, in the most authentic manner, the actions and negotiations of Richard in the course of the enterprise for the recovery of the Holy Land, and all the particulars of that memorable war. But before I produce a specimen of Richard's English ro mance, I stand still to give some more extracts from its Pro logues, which contain matter much to our present purpose : as they have very fortunately preserved the subjects of many romances, perhaps metrical, then fashionable both in France and England. And on these therefore, and their origin, I shall take this opportunity of offering some remarks. Fele romanses men make newe Ofgood knyghtes strong and trewe : It relates entirely to the Irish wars of and silver, horses, bales of silk , four Richard II. and the latter part of the great ships, and fifteen gallies, given by reign of that unfortunate monarch. Mr. Tancred . Benedict. Abb. p. 642. edit. Ritson has confounded Maquemore, with Hearne. Dermond Mac Morough, king of Lein- Jocale. In the general and true ster, in the reign of Henry II, though sense of the word. Robert de Brunne, he adds with great candour, “ but why in another place, calls a rich pavilion a king Richard ( cour de lion ) is intro- jowelle. p. 152. n Chron . p. 153. duced does not appear." - Edit.] ° See Hist.ofHen. II. vol. iv. p . 361 . 1 In return for several vessels of gold App. 126 THE HISTORY OF Of hey dedys men rede romance, Bothe in England and in Fraunce ; Of Rowelond and of Olyver, And of everie Doseperp, Of Alysander and Charlemain, Of kyng Arthor and of Gawayn ; How they wer knyghtes good and curteys, Of Turpyn and of Ocier Daneys. Of Troye men rede in ryme, What werre ther was in olde tyme; Of Ecior and of Achylles, What folk they slewe in that pres, & c. And again in a second Prologue, after a pause has been made by the minstrel in the course of singing the poem . Now herkenes to my tale sothe Though I swere yow an othe I wole reden romaunces non Of Paris ', ne of Ypomydone, Of Alisaundre, ne Charlemagne, Of Arthour, ne of sere Gawain , Nor of sere Launcelot the Lake, Of Beffs, ne Guy ne sere Sydrake, Ne of Ury, ne of Octavian , Ne of Hector the strong man , Ne of Jason, neither of Hercules, Ne of Eneas, neither Achillest, Charlemagne's Twelve peers. Douze ludes in a sort of prologue. See Sect. i. Pairs. Fr. p. 15. supr. [ The texthas been corrected by Mr.. Weber's edition of this romance, in his Wel auht we loug Cristendom that is so “ Metrical Romances of the 19th , 14th , With oure lorde's herte blode that the dere y bougt, and 15th Centuries.” Svols. 8vo. Edin . spere hath y sougt. 1810 .-- Edit.] [ The old printed copy reads Per Men wilnethe more yhere of batayle of tonape ,] perhaps Parthenope, or Parthe- And of knygtis hardy, that mochel is kyngis, nopeus. i Line 6657. To some of these ro . lesyngis . mances the author of themanuscript Of Roulond and of Olyvere, and Gy of LIVES OF THE SAINTs, written about the Warwyk , year 1200, andcited aboveat large, al- Of WawayenandTristram that ne found de here y like. 9 r ENGLISII POETRY. 127 Here, among others, some of the most capital and favourite stories of romance are mentioned , Arthur, Charlemagne, the Siege of Troy with its appendages, and Alexander the Great : and there are four authors of high esteem in the dark ages, Geoffry of Monmouth, Turpin, Guido of Colonna, and Cal listhenes, whose books were the grand repositories of these subjects, and contained most of the traditionary fictions, whether of Arabian or classical origin, which constantly sup plied materials to the writers of romance. I shall speak of these authors, with their subjects, distinctly. But I do not mean to repeat here what has been already observedu concerning the writings of Geoffry of Monmouth and Turpin. It will be sufficient to say at present, that these two fabulous historians recorded the achievements of Charle magne and of Arthur : and that Turpin's history was artfully forged under the name of that archbishop about the year 1110 , with a design ofgiving countenance to the Crusades from the ex ample of so high an authority as Charlemagne, whose pretended visit to the holy sepulchre is described in the twentieth chapter. Who so loveth to here tales of suche Of kyng Artour that wasso ryche, thinge, Was non in hys tyme so ilyche: Here he may y here thyng that nys no Ofwonders that among hisknyghts felle, lesynge, And auntyrs dedyn as men her telle, Of postoles and marteres that hardi As Gaweyn and othir full abylle knygttes were, Which that kept the round tabyll, And stedfast were in bataile and fedde How kyng Charles and Rowland fawght nogt for no fere, & c . With Sarazins, nold thei be cawght ; The anonymous author of an antient Of Trystram and Ysoude the swete, manuscript poem , called “ The boke of How thei with love first gan mete. Stories called Cursor Mundi, ” translated Of kyng John and of Isenbras from the French , seems to have been Of Ydoyne and Amadas. of the sameopinion. His work consists Stories of divers thynges of religious legends : but in the prologue Of princes, prelates, and kynges, he takes occasion to mention many tales Many songs of divers ryme of another kind, which were more agree As English , French, and Latyne, & c . able to the generality of readers. MSS. This ylke boke is translate Laud , K 53. f. 177. Bibl. Bodl. Into English tong to rede Men lykyn Jestis for to here For the love of English lede And romans rede in divers manere Ffor comyn folk of England, & c. Of Alexandre the conquerour, Syldyn yt ys for any chaunce Of Julius Cesar the emperour, English tong preched is in Fraunce, & c . Of Greace and Troy the strong stryf, See Montf. Par. MSS. 7540. andp . 123 . Ther many a man lost his lyf: supr. Of Brut that baron bold ofhand u See Diss. i. The first conquerour of Englond, 128 THE HISTORY OF As to the Siege of Troy, it appears that both Homer's poems were unknown, at least not understood in Europe, from the abolition of literature by the Goths in the fourth century, to the fourteenth. Geoffry of Monmouth indeed, who wrote about the year 1160, a man of learning for that age, produces Homer in attestation of a fact asserted in his history : but in such a manner, as shews that he knew little more than Homer's name, and was but imperfectly acquainted with Homer's sub ject. Geoffry says, that Brutus having ravaged the province of Acquitain with fire and sword, came to a place where the city of Tours now stands, as Homer testifies . But the Trojan story was still kept alive in two Latin pieces, which passed under the names of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis. Dares's history of the destruction of Troy, as it was called, pretended to have been translated from the Greek of Dares Phrygius into Latin prose by Cornelius Nepos, is a wretched performance, and forged under those specious names in the decline of Latin literature . Dictys Cretensis is a prose Latin history of the Trojan war, in six books, paraphrased about the reign of Dioclesian or Constantine by one Septimius, from some Grecian history on the same subject, said to be discovered under a sepulchre by means of an earthquake in the city of Cnossus, about the time of Nero, and to have been composed by Dictys, a Cretan , and a soldier in the Trojan war. The fraud of discovering copies of books in this extraordinary man ner, in order to infer from thence their high and indubitable antiquity, so frequently practised, betrays itself. But that the present Latin Dictys had a Greek original, now lost, appears

• L. i. ch. 14. but to Plato's opinion in his REPUBLIC.

yIn the Epistle prefixed, the pre. Dares, with Dictys Cretensis next men tended translator Nepos says, that he tioned in the text, was first printed at found this work at Athens, in the hand- Milan in 1477. Mabillon says, that a writing of Dares. He adds, speaking manuscript of the Pseudo- Dares occurs of the controverted authenticity of in the Laurentian library at Florence, Homer, De ea re Athenis JUDICIUM fuit , upwards of eight hundred years old. cumpro insano Homerus haberetur quod Mus. Ital. i. p. 169. Thiswork was deos cum hominibus belligerasse descripsit. abridged by Vincentius Bellovacensis, In which words he does not refer to any afriar ofBurgundy, about the year 1244. public decree of the Athenian judges, See his Specul. Histor. lib . iii. 63. ENGLISH POETRY. 129 from the numerous grecisms with which it abounds: and from the literal correspondence of many passages with the Greek fragments of one Dictys cited by antient authors. The Greek original was very probably forged under the name of Dictys, a traditionary writer on the subject, in the reign of Nero, who is said to have been fond of the Trojan story 2. On the whole, the work appears to have been an arbitrary metaphrase of Homer, with many fabulous interpolations. At length Guido de Colonna, a native of Messina in Sicily, a learned civilian , and no contemptible Italian poet, about the year 1260, engraft ing on Dares and Dictys many new romantic inventions, which the taste of his age dictated, and which the connection between Grecian and Gothic fiction easily admitted ; at the same time comprehending in his plan the Theban and Argonautic stories from Ovid, Statius, and Valerius Flaccusa, compiled a grand prose romance in Latin, containing fifteen books, and entitled in most manuscripts Historia de Bello Trojanob. It was writ ten at the request of Mattheo de Porta, archbishop of Salerno. Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis seem to have been in some measure superseded by this improved and comprehensive history of the Grecian heroes : and from this period Achilles, Jason, and Hercules, were adopted into romance, and cele brated in common with Lancelot, Rowland, Gawain , Oliver, and other Christian champions, whom they so nearly resembled z See Perizon . Dissertat. de Dict. b It was first printed Argentorat. 1486 . Cretens. sect. xxix . Constantinus Las- and ibid. 1489. fol. The work was caris, a learned monk of Constantinople, finished , as appears by a note at the end, one of the restorers of Grecian literature in 1287. It was translated into Italian in Europe near four hundred years ago, by Philip or Christopher Ceffio, a Flo says that Dictys Cretensis in Greek was rentine, and this translation was first lost. This writer is not once mentioned printed at Venice in 1481. 4to . It has by Eustathius, who lived about the also been translated into German. See year 1170, in his elaborate and extensive Lambec. ii , 948. The purity of our commentary on Homer. author's Italian style has been much The Argonautics of Valerius Mac- commended. For his Italian poetry, cus are cited in Chaucer's Hypsipile and see Mongitor, ubi supr. p . 167. Com Medea. “ Let him reade theboke Argo- pare also, Diar. Eruditor. Ital. xiii. nauticon . " v. 90. But Guido is after- 258. Montfaucon mentions, in the royal wards cited as a writer on that subject, library at Paris, Le Roman de Tiebes ibid. 97. Valerius Flaccus is a common qui futracine de Troye la grande. Catal. manuscript. See pag. 141. infr. MSS. ii . p. 923–198. VOL. I. K 130 THE HISTORY OF in the extravagance of their adventures . This work abounds with Oriental imagery, of which the subject was extremely sus ceptible. It has also some traites of Arabian literature . The 1 • Bale says , that Edward the First, us commenced with an account of Jason having met with our author in Sicily, in and the Argonautic expedition. This returning from Asia, invited him into was doubtlessly continued through the England, xiii. 36. This prince was in- whole cycle ofGrecian fabulous history, terested in the Trojan story, as we shall till the siege of Troy connected Brutus, see below . Our historians relate, that the founder of the British dynasty, with he wintered in Sicily in the year 1270. the heroes of the antient world . The Chron . Rob . Brun . p. 227. A writer voluminous work of Benoit de Saint quoted by Hearne, supposed to be John More (noticed by Warton below), is Stowe the chronicler, says, that “ Guido confessedly takenfrom Dares Phrygius de Columpna arriving in England at the and Dictys Cretensis; and is adorned commuundement of king Edward the with all those fictions of romance and Firste , made scholies and annotations chivalric , costume, which these writers upon Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phri- are supposed to have received from the gius. Besides these, he writ at large the interpolations of Guido. Among the Battayle of Troye.” Heming. Cartul. romances enumerated by Melis Stoke, ii . 649. Among his works is recited as the productions of earlier writers in Historia de Regibus Rebusque Angliæ . Holland, and still (1300 ) held in gene It is quoted by many writers under the ral esteem, we find “ The Conflict of title of Chronicum Britannorum . He Troy ” ( De Stryd van Troyen ) ; and we is said also to have written Chronicum know upon the authority of Jakobvan Magnum libris xxxvi. See Mongitor. Maerlant (1270 ), the translator of Vin Bibl. Sic. i . 265. cent de Beauvais' Speculum Historiale, [ Mr. Eichhorn has stated these “ Scho- that this was a version of Benoit's poem . lies ” of Guido to have been published It is not so certain whence Conrad of in the year 1216 ; a manifest mistake, - Wurzburg, a contemporary of Guido, since it leaves 71 years between this date, derived his German Ilias ; but he pro and the period at which he assigns the fesses to have taken it from a French first appearance of the Historia Trojana. original, and his poem , like Gaimar's, But whatever mayhave been Guido's commences with Jason and the Argo merit in thus affording a common text. nautic expedition. Upon the same prin book for subsequent writers, his work ciple that Conrad conceived it necessary could have contained little of novelty, to preface his Ilias with the story of the either in matter or manner, for his con- Golden Fleece, his countryman Henry temporaries ; and it may be reasonably von Veldeck embraced the whole of the doubted , whether his labours extended Trojan war, its origin andconsequences, beyond the humble task of reducing into in his version of the Æneis. This, how prose the metrical compilations of his ever, usually believed to be a transla predecessors. It is true, this circum- tion from the Enide ” of Chretien de stance will not admit of absolute proof, Troyes ; and, if the date ( ante 1186 ) as till the several poems upon the Trojan sumed for its appearance by Mr. von der story extant in our own and various con- Hagen be correct, would place the tinental libraries shall be given to the French original in an earlier period than world ; but the following notices of some is given it by the French antiquaries. of these productions, though scanty and In the year 1210, Albrecht von Hal imperfect, will perhaps justify the opi- berstadt published a metrical version of nion which has been expressed. The Ovid's Metamorphoses. See von der Ha history of the Anglo- Saxon kings by gen's Grundriss zur Geschichte der Geoffri Gaimar, a poet antecedent to Deutschen Poesie, Berlin 1812 ; and Wace ( 1155 ) , is but a fragment of a Henrik van Wyn's Historische Avond larger work, which the author assures stonden, Amsterdam 1800.-Edit . ] 1 等等; ENGLISH POETRY. 131 3 Trojan horse is a horse of brass ; and Hercules is taught astro nomy, and the seven liberal sciences. But I forbear to enter at present into a more particular examination of this history, as it must often occasionally be cited hereafter. I shall here only further observe in general, that this work is the chief source from which Chaucer derived his ideas about the Trojan story ; that it was professedly paraphrased by Lydgate, in the year 1420, into a prolix English poem, called the Boke of Troyed, at the command of king Henry the Fifth ; that it be came the ground -work of a new compilation in French , on the same subject, written by Raoul le Feure chaplain to the duke of Burgundy, in the year 1464, and partly translated into En glish prose in the year 1471 , by Caxton, under the title of the Recuyel of the histories of Troy, at the request of Margaret dutchess of Burgundy: and that from Caxton's book afterwards modernised, Shakespeare borrowed his drama of Troilus and Cressida . d Who mentions it in a French as called the field of Ida. Bartholin. ibid . well as Latin romance : edit. 1555. Sig . In the very sublime ode on the Dissolu nat. B. i . pag. 2 . tion of the World, cited by Bartholine, it is said , that after the twilight of the As in the latyn and the frenshe yt is. gods should be ended, and the new It occurs in French, MSS. Bibl. Reg. world appear, the Asæ shall meet in the Brit. Mus. 16 F. ix. This manuscript field of Ida, and tell of the destroyed habi was probably written not long after the tations. Barthol. L. ii . cap. 14. p. 597. Compare Arngrim. Jon. Crymog. 1. i. [ In Lincoln's- inn library there is a c. 4. p. 45, 46. See also Edda, fab. 5 . poem entitled BELLUM TROJANUM, In the proem to Resenius's Edda, it is Num . 150. Pr. said, “ Odin appointed twelve judges or Sic[ t ]hen god hade this worlde wroght. princes, at Sigtune in Scandinavia, as Additions. ] at Troy ; and established there all the laws of Troy, and the customs of the e The western nations, in early times, TROJANS.” See Hickes. Thesaur. i. have been fond of deducing their origin Dissertat. Epist. p. 39. See also Mal from Troy. This tradition seems to be lett's Hist. Dannem. ii. p. 34. Bartho couched under Odin's original emigra- linus thinks that the compiler of the tion from that part of Asiawhich is con- Eddic mythology, who lived A.D. 1070 , nected with Phrygia. Asgard , or Asia's finding that the Britons and Francs fortress, was the city from which Odin drew their descent from Troy, was am led his colony ; and by some it is bitious of assigning the same boasted called Troy. To this place also they origin to Odin. But this tradition ap supposed Odin to return after his death, pears to have been older than the Ed where he was to receive those who died da. And it is more probable, that the in battle, in a hall roofed with glittering Britons and Francs borrowed it from shields. See Bartholin . L. ii . cap. 8. the Scandinavian Goths, and adapted p . 402, 403. seq. This hall, says the it to themselves ; unless we suppose that Edda, is in the city of Asgard, which is these nations, I mean the former, were year 1900 . 1 . K 2 132 THE HISTORY OF Proofs have been given, in the two prologues just cited, of the general popularity of Alexander's story, another branch of Grecian history famous in the dark ages. To these we may add the evidence of Chaucer. Alisaundres storie is so commune, That everie wight that hath discrecioune Hath herde somewhat or al of his fortune f. And in the House of Fame, Alexander is placed with Hercules S. I have already remarked that he was celebrated in a Latin poem by Gualtier de Chatillon , in the year 1212h. Other proofs will occur in their proper places '. The truth is, Alex branches ofthe Gothic stem , which gave leged as an authentic and undeniable them a sort of inherent right to the claim . proof in a controversy of great national This reasoning may perhaps account for importance, by Edward the First and the early existence and extraordinary his nobility, without the least objection popularity of the Trojanstory among from the opposite party. It was in the nations ignorant and illiterate, who famous dispute concerning the subjection could only have received it by tradition. of the crown of England to that ofScot Geoffry of Monmouth took this descent land, about the year 1301. The allega of the Britons from Troy , from the tions are in a letter to pope Boniface, Welsh or Armoric bards, and they per- signed and sealed by the king, and his haps had it in common with the Scandi- lords. Ypodigm . Neustr. apud Camd. navian scalders. There is not a syllable Angl. Norman. p . 492. Here is a cu of it in the authentic historians of En- rious instance of the implicit faith with gland, who wrote before him ; particu- which this tradition continued to be be larly those antient ones, Bede, Gildas, lieved, even in a more enlightened age; andthe uninterpolated Nennius. Henry and an evidence that it was equally cre of Huntingdon began his history from dited in Scotland . Cesar ; and it was only on further in- f V. 656. p . 165. Urr, ed . 8 V. 323. formation that he added Brute. But A See Second Dissertation. this information was from a manuscript i In the reign of Henry the First, the found byhim in his way to Rome in the sheriff of Nottinghamshire is ordered to abbey of Bec in Normandy, probably procure the queen's chamber at Not Geoffry's original. H. Hunt. Epistol. tingham to be painted with the HISTORY ad Warin. Mss. Cantabr. Bibl. publ. of ALEXANDER. Madox, Hist. Exch. cod. 251. I have mentioned in another p. 249–259. “ Depingi facias visto place, that Witlaf, a king of the West RIAM ALEXANDRI undiquaque.” In the Saxons, grants in his charter, dated Romance of Richard, the minstrel says A.D. 833, among other things, to Croy- of an army assembled at a siege in the land-abbey, his robe of tissue, on which Holy Land, Sign. Q. iii. was embroidered Thedestruction of Troy . Covered is both mount and playne, Obs. on Spenser's Fairy Queen, i.sect.v. Kyng ALYSAUNDER and Charlemayne This proves the story to have He never had halfe the route been in high veneration even long before As is the city now aboute . that period : and it should at the same time be remembered , that the Saxons By the way , this is much like a pas came from Scandinavia . sage in Milton, Par. Reg. ii. 337. This fable of the descent of the Bri. Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, tons from the Trojans was solemnly al. When Agrican, &c. p . 176. E ENGLISH POETRY. 133 ander was the most eminent knight errant of Grecian antiquity. He could not therefore be long without his romance. Cal listhenes, an Olynthian, educated under Aristotle with Alexan der, wrote an authentic life of Alexanderk. This history, which is frequently referred to by antient writers, has been long since lost. But a Greek life of this hero, under the adopted name of Callisthenes, at present exists, and is no uncommon manu script in good libraries ' . It is entitled , Bios An = &av&pou tou Maxedovos xai IIpaters. That is, The Life and Actions of Alex ander the Macedonianm . This piece was written in Greek , being a translation from the Persic, by Simeon Seth, styled Magister, and protovestiary or wardrobe keeper of the palace of Antiochus at Constantinople ", about the year 1070, under the emperor Michael Ducas ' . It was most probably very soon n

• See Recherch . sur la Vie et les ries now in our libraries were formed Ouvrages deCallisthene. Par M. l'Abbe from this greater work.

Sevin. Mem. de Lit. viii. p. 126. 4to . IICWTobesiagos, Protovestiarius. See But many very antient Greek writers DuCange, Constantinop. Christ. lib. ii. had corrupted Alexander's history with $ 16. n . 5. Et ad Zonar. p. 46 . fabulous narratives, such as Orthagoras, ° Allat. de Simeonibus. p. 181. And Onesicritus, &c. Labb. Bibl. nov. MSS. p . 115. Simeon ( Julian Africanus, who lived in the Seth translated many Persic and Arabic third century, records the fable of Nec- books into Greek. Allat. ubi supr. tanabus, king of Egypt, the presump- p . 182. seq. Among them he translated tive father of Alexander, who figures so from Arabic into Greek, about the year conspicuously in the later romances. It 1100, for the use or at the request of the is also presumed, that similar fictions emperor Alexius Comuenus, the cele were introduced into the poems of brated Indian Fables now commonly Arrian , Hadrian, and Soterichus. See called the Fables of Pilpay. This work GörresVolksbücher, p . 58. a translation he entitled, Erspanions xai lxmaatns, of whose observations upon this subject and divided it into fifteen books. It was will be found in the Retrospective Re- printed at Berlin , by Seb . Godfr. Star view , No. vi. For an account of Ara- chius, A.D. 1697, 8vo. under the title, bic, Turkish , and Persian versions of Συμεών Μαγιερς και φιλοσοφο του Σηθ this story, see Herbelot, i . 144. and Κυλικε και Διμη. These are the names Weber's Metrical Romances, vol. i. XX. of two African or Asiatic animals, called -Edit.] in Latin Thoes, a sort of fox, ( jackall,] 1 Particularly Bibl. Bodl. Oxon. MSS. the principal interlocutors in the fables. Barocc. Cod. xvii . And Bibl. Reg. Sect. i. ii. This curious monument of Paris . Cod. 2064. See Montfauc. Catal. a species of instruction peculiar to the MSS. p. 733. See passages cited from Orientals, is upwards of two thousand this manuscript, in Steph . Byzant. Abr. years old. It has passed under a great Berckel. V. Bourspahula . Cæsar Bu- variety of names . Khosru a king of Per lenger de Circo , c . xiii. 30 , & c . and sia , in whose reign Mahomet was born, Fabric. Bibl. Gr. xiv. 148, 149, 150 . sent his physician named Burzvisch into It is adduced byDu Cange, Glossar. Gr. India, on purposeto obtain this book, ubi vid. Tom . fi. Catal. Scriptor. p. 24. which was carefully preserved among * Undoubtedly many smaller histo- the treasures of the kings of India : and 134 THE HISTORY OF afterwards translated from the Greek into Latin, and at length from thence into French , Italian , and German P. The Latin translation was printed Colon. Argentorat. A.D. 14894, Per haps before. For among Hearne's books in the Bodleian library, there is an edition in quarto, without date, supposed to have commanded it to be translated out of It has been also translated into Hebrew , the Indian language into the antient by Rabbi Joel : and into Latin, under Persic. Herbelot. Dict. Oriental. p. 456. the title Directorium Vitæ humana , by It was soon afterwards turned into Johannes of Capua. [ fol. sine ann.] Syriac, under the title Calaileg and Dam- From thence it got into Spanish, or nag. Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vi. p. 461 . Castilian : and from the Spanish was About the year of Christ 750 , one of made an Italian version , printed at Fer the caliphs ordered it to be translated rara, A.D. 1588. oct. viz. Lelo Damno from the antient Persic into Arabic, ( for Calilah Damnah] del Governo de under the name Kalila ve Damna. Her- regni, sotto morali, &c. A second edi bel. ubi supr. In the year 920 , the tion appeared at Ferrara in 1610. oct. Sultan Ahmed, of the dynasty of the viz. Philosophia morale del doni, & c. But Samanides, procured a translation into I have a notion there was an Italian more modern Persic : which was soon edition at Venice, under the last-men afterwards put into verse by a celebrated tioned title, with old rude cuts, 1552. Persian poet named Roudeki. Herbel. 4to . From the Latin version it was trans ibid . Fabric. ibid . p. 462. About the lated into German, by the command of year 1130, the Sultan Bahram , not sa- Eberhard first duke of Wirtenberg : and tisfied with this Persian version, ordered this translation was printed at Ulm, another to be executed by Nasrallah, 1583. fol. At Strasburgh, 1525. fol. the most eloquent man of his age, from Without name of place, 1548. 4to . At the Arabic text of Mocanna: and this Francfourt on the Mayne, 1565. Persian version is what is now extant A French translation by Gilb . Gaulmin under the title Kalila ve Damna . Herbel. from the Persic of Nasrallah above men ibid. See also Herbel. p. 118. But as tioned appeared at Paris, 1698. But this even this last-mentioned version had is rather a paraphrase, and was reprinted too many Arabic idioms and obsolete in Holland. See Starchius, ubi supr. phrases, in the reign of Sultan Hosein præf. § 19. 20. 22. Fabric. ubi supr. Mirza, it was thrown into amore modern p. 463. seq .' Another translation was and intelligible style, underthe name printed at Paris, viz. “ Contes et Fables of Anuar Soheli. Fraser's Hist. Nad . Indiennes de Bidpai et De Lokman Shaw . Catal. MSS. p. 19, 20 . Nor traduits d'Ali Tchelchi- Bengalek auteur must it be forgotten, that about the year Turc, par M. Galland, 1714.” ii vol. 1100, the Emir Sohail, general of the Again , Paris, 1724. ii vol. Fabricius armies of Hussain, Sultan of Khorassan says, that Mons. Galland had procured of the posterity of Timer, caused a new a Turkish copy of this book four times translation to be made by the doctor larger than the printed copies, being a Hussien Vaez, which exceeded all others version from the original Persic, and in elegance and perspicuity. It was entitled Humagoun Nameh, that is, The namedAnwair Sohaili, SPLENDOR Canopi, royal or imperial book, so called by the from the Emir who was called after the Orientals, who are ofopinion that it con name of that star. Herbel. p. 118. 245. tains the whole art of government. See It would be tedious to mention every Fabric. ubi supr. p. 465. Herbel. p. 456. new title and improvementwhich it has A Translation into English from the passed through amongthe eastern people. French ofthe four first books was printed It has been translated into the Turkish at London in 1747, under the title of language both in prose and verse : par- Pilpay's Fables. - As to the name of ticularly for the use of Bajazet the second the author of this book , Herbelot says and Solyman the second. Herbel. P 118. that Bidpai was an Indian philosopher, ct. ENGLISH POETRY. 135 been printed at Oxford by Frederick Corsellis, about the year 1468. It is said to have been made by one Esopus, or by Julius Valerius " : supposititious names, which seem to have been forged by the artifice, or introduced through the igno rance, of scribes and librarians. This Latin translation , how ever, is of high antiquity in the middle age of learning: for it is quoted by Gyraldus Cambrensis, who flourished about the year 1190 s . About the year 1236, the substance of it was and that his name signifies the merciful lation of this work from the Latin into physician. See Herbelot. p. 206. 456. Hebrew, by one who adopted the name and Bibl. Lugdun. Catal. p. 301. (Sir of Jos. Gorionides, called Pseudo- Go Wm. Jones, who derives this name from rionides. This Latin history was trans a Sanscrit word, interprets it, the beloved lated into German by John Hartlieb or favourite physician .-- Edır.] Others Moller, a German physician , at the relate, that it was composed by the Bra- command of Albert duke of Bavaria, mins of India, under the title Kurtuk and published August. Vindel. A.D. Dumnik. Fraser, ubi supr. p . 19. It 1478. fol. ( This edition was preceded is also said to have been written by by two others from the press of Bämler, Isamne fifth king of the Indians, and dated 1472 and 1473. These and the translated into Arabic from the Indian Strasburg edition of 1488 call the trans tongue three hundred years before Alex- lator Dr. Johın Hartlieb of Munich. ander the Macedonian. Abraham Ec- Edit. ] See Lambecc. lib. ii. de Bibl. chelens. Not. ad Catal. Ebed Jesu, Vindobon . p. 949. Labbe mentions a p. 87.-- The Indians reckon this book fabulous history of Alexander ; written , among the three things in which they as he says, in 1217, and transcribed in surpass all other nations. viz. “ Liber 1455. Undoubtedly this in the text. Culila et Dimna, ludus Shatangri, et Londinensis quotes “ pervetustum quen novem figuræ numerariæ .” Saphad. dam librum manuscriptum de actibus Comment. ad Carm . Tograi. apud Hyde, Alexandri. ” Hearne's T. Caius ut infr. prolegom. ad lib. de lud. Oriental. d. 3. p. 82. See also p. 86. 258. Hyde intended an edition of the Arabic 9 Lenglet mentions “ Historia fabu version. Præfat. ad lib. de lud. Oriental. losa incertiauthoris de Alexandri Magni vol. ii. 1767. edit. ad calc. I cannot præliis." fol. 1494. Headds, that it is forsake this subject without remarking, printed in the last edition of Cæsar's that the Persians have another book, Commentaries by Grævius in octavo, which they esteem older than any writ- Bibl. des Romans, ii. p. 228. 229. edit, ings of Zoroaster, entitled Javidan Chrad , Amst. Compare Vogt's Catalogus libro that is, æterna Sapientia. Hyde Præfat. rum rarior , pag. 24. edit. 1753. Mont Relig. Vet. Persarum . This has been faucon says this history of Callisthenes also one of the titles of Pilpay's Fables. occurs often in the royal library at Paris, [ See Wolfii Bibl. Hebr. i. 468. ii. both in Greek and Latin : but that he 931. iii, 350. iv. 934, -_ Additions. ] never saw either of them printed. Cat. [ The Indian origin of these fables is MSS . ii. pag. 733. - 2543. I think a now placed beyond the possibility of dis- life of Alexander is subjoined to an edi pute . Mr, Colebrooke has published a tion of Quintus Curtius in 1584, by Sanscrit version of them , under the title Joannes Monachus. of Hitopades, and they have been trans- * Du Cange Glossar. Gr. v . E65220vos. lated, from the same language, by Sir Jurat. ad Symmach. iv. 33. Barth . Ad Wm. Jones and Dr. Wilkins. - Edit.] versar. ii. 1o . v . 14 . P Casaub . Epist. ad Jos. Scaliger. * Hearne, T. Caii Vindic. Antiquit. 402. 413. Scalig. Epist. ad Casaubon. Acad. Oxon. tom . ii . Not. p. 802. 113, 115 ; who mentions also a trans- who thinks it a work of the monks, 5 136 THE HISTORY OF 1 thrown into a long Latin poem , written in elegiac verse ", by Aretinus Quilichinusų. This fabulous narrative of Alexander's life and achievements, is full of prodigies and extravagancies ". But we should remember its origin . The Arabian books abound with the most incredible fictions and traditions con cerning Alexander the Great, which they probably borrowed and improved from the Persians. They call him Escander. If I recollect right, one of the miracles of this romance is our hero's horn . It is said , that Alexander gave the signal to his whole army by a wonderful horn of immense magnitude, which might be heard at the distance of sixty miles, and that it was blown or sounded by sixty men at once . This is the horn which Orlando won from the giant Jatmund, and which, as Turpin and the Islandic bards report, was endued with magical power, and might be heard at the distance of twenty miles. Cervantes says, that it was bigger than a massy beamy. Bo yardo, Berni, and Ariosto have all such a horn : and the fiction “ Nec dubium quin monachus quispiam ginał has had both interpolations and Latine, ut potuit, scripserit. Eo modo, omissions. Pseudo -Gorionides above quo et alios id genus fætus parturiebant mentionedseems to hint at the ground scriptores aliquot monastici, e fabulis work of this history of Alexander in the quas vulgo admodum placere sciebant.” following passage. “ Cæteras autem res ibid . ab Alexandro gestas, et egregia ejus " A Greek poem on this subject will facinora ac quæcunque demum perpe be mentioned below, written in politic travit, ea inlibris Medorum et Persarum, verses , entitled Αλεξανδρους και Μακιδων . atque apud Nicolaum , Titum , et Stra " Labb . Bibl. Nov. MSS. p . 68. Ol . bonem

et in libris nativitatis Alexandri,

Borrich . Dissertat. de Poet. p . 89 . rerumque ab ipso gestarum , quos Magi The writer relates , that Alexander, ac Ægyptii eo anno quo Alexander de inclosed in a vessel of glass, dived to cessit, composuerunt, scripta reperies." the bottom of the oceanfor the sake of Lib . ii. c . 12. - 22. [Lat. Vers. ] p . 152 getting a knowledge of fishes and sea edit. Jo. Frid. Briethaupt. 1 He is also represented as

• It is also in

a manuscript entitled soaring in the air by the help of gryphons. Secretum Secretorun Aristotelis; Lib. 5 . At the end , the opinions of different MSS . Bodl . D. 1. 5. This treatise, philosophers are recited concerning the ascribed to Aristotle, was antiently in sepulchre of Alexander. Nectabanos, a high repute. It is pretended to have magician and astrologer, king of Ægypt, beentranslated out ofGreek into Arabic is a very significant character in this ro- or Chaldee by one John à Spaniard ; mance . He transforms himself into a from thence into Latin by Philip a dragon , & c. Compare Herbelot. Bibl . Frenchman

at length into English Oriental. p. 319. b. seq. In some of verse by Lidgate 

under whom more the manuscripts of this piece which I will be said of it . I think the Latin is have seen , there is an account of Alex- dedicated to Theophina, á queen of ander's visit to the trees of the sun and Spain.

moon

but

I do not recolleet this in the y See Observat. Fair. Qu. i . § v . printed copies. Undoubtedly the orip . 202 . monsters . အခု ENGLISH POETRY. 137 is here traced to its original source. But in speaking of the books which furnished the story of Alexander, I must not for get that Quintus Curtius was an admired historian of the rom mantic ages. He is quoted in the POLICRATICON of John of Salisbury, who died in the year 11812. Eneas Sylvius relates, that Alphonsus the Ninth , king of Spain , in the thirteenth cen tury, a great astronomer, endeavoured to relieve himself from a tedious malady by reading the Bible over fourteen times, with all the glosses ; but not meeting with the expected success, he was cured by the consolation he received from once reading Quintus Curtiusa. Peter Blesensis, archdeacon of London , a student at Paris about the year 1150, mentioning the books most common in the schools, declares that he profited much by frequently looking into this authorb. Vincentius Bellovacensis, cited above, a writer of the thirteenth century, often quotes Curtius in his Speculum Historiale . He was also early trans lated into French . Among the royal manuscripts in the British Museum , there is a fine copy of a French translation of this classic, adorned with elegant old paintings and illuminations, entitled , Quinte Curse Ruf, des faiz d'Alexandre, ix liv . trans late par Vasque de Lucene Portugalois. Escript par la main de Jehan du Chesne, a Lilled. It was made in 1468. But I believe the Latin translations of Simeon Seth's romance on this subject, were best known and most esteemed for some centuries. The French , to resume the main tenour of our argument, had written metrical romances on most of these subjects, be fore or about the year 1200. Some of these seem to have been formed from prose histories, enlarged and improved with new adventures and embellishments from earlier and more simple tales in verse on the same subject. Chrestien of Troys wroté Le Romans du Graal, or the adventures of the Sangrale, which included the deeds of king Arthur, Sir Tristram , Lancelot du a 2 viii. 18. hundred years old . See Barth. ad Clau Op. p. 476 . dian . p. 1165. Alexander Benedictus, • Epist. 101. Frequenter inspicere his- in his history of Venice, transcribes torias Q. Curtii, & c. whole pages from this storian . I could civ. 61, &c. Montfaucon, I think, give other proofs. mentions a manuscript of Q. Curtius in 17 F : i. Brit. Mus. And again , 20 the Colbertine library at Paris eight C. iii. and 15 D. iv. 138 THE HISTORY OF Lake, and the rest of the knights of the round table, before 1191. There is a passage in a coeval romance, relating to Chrestien, which proves what I have just advanced, that some of these histories previously existed in prose. Christians qui entent et paine A rimoyer le meillor conte, Par le commandement le Conte, Qu'il soit contez in cort royal Ce est li contes del Graal Dont li quens li bailla le livre.e Chrestien also wrote the romance of Sir Percival, which be longs to the same historyf. Godfrey de Leigni, a cotempo e f Apud Fauchet, Rec. p . 99. who antiquity. It is thus mentioned in Morte adds, “ Je croy bien que Romans que Arthur. “ And then the old man had an nous avons ajourdhuy imprimez, tels harpe, and he sung an olde songe how Jo que Lancelot du Lac, Tristan, et autres, sephof Arimathy cameinto this lande. " sont refondus sus les vielles proses et B. iii . c. 5. rymes et puis refraichis de language.” Fauchet, p . 103. This story was Rec. liv. ii . x. also written in very old rhyme by one ( The “ Roman du Saint Graal” is Menessier, not mentioned in Fauchet, ascribed to an anonymous “ Trouvere from whence it was reduced into prose by M. Roquefort, who denies that it 1530. fol. Paris. PERCAVAL LE GALOS, was written by Chretien de Troyes. le quel acheva les avantures du Saint On the authority of the Cat. de la Val- Graal, avec aucun faits du chevalier Ga liere, he also attributes the first part, of vain , translatée du rime de l'ancien auteur the prose version of this romance , to MESSENIER, &c. Luces du Gast, and the continuation [ This is not a distinct work from the only to Robert Borron . Of Borron's ronianceupon thesame subject by Chre work entitled “ Ensierrement de Mer- tien de Troyes. This writer at his death lin ou Roman de St. Graal,” there is a left the story unfinished . It was re metrical version MS. no. 1987 fonds de sumed by Gautier de Denet, and con l'abbaye St. Germain. SeePoesie Fran- cluded by Messenier. See Roquefort ut çaise dans les xii. et xiii. Siecles . sup. p . 194. - Edit.] Édit. ] In the royal library at Paris is Le The oldest manuscripts of romances ROMAN DE PERSEVAL le Galois, par Cre on these subjects which I have seen are STIEN DE TROYES. In verse . fol. Mons. the following. They are in the royal Galland thinks there is another romance manuscripts of the British Museum . Le under this title, Mem. de Lit. iii. p. 427. Romanz de Tristran , 20 D. ii. This was seq. 433. 8vo. The author of which he probably transcribed not long after the supposes may be Rauol de Biavais, men year 1200. - Histoire du Lancelot ou S. tioned by Fauchet, p. 142. Compare Graal, ibid . iii. Perhaps older than the Lenglet , Bibl. Rom . p. 250. The year 1200.-Again, Histoiredu S. Graal, author of this last-mentioned Percevall, ou Lancelot, 20 C. vi. 1. Transcribed in the exordium , says that he wrote, soon after 1200. This is imperfect at the amongothers, the romances of Eneas, beginning. The subject of Joseph of Roy Marc, and Uselt le Blonde: and Arimathea bringing a vessel of the San- that he translated into French, Ovid's guis realis, or Sangral, that is, our Sa- Art of Love, viour's blood, intoEngland, is of high ENGLISH FOETRY. 139 12 rary, finished a romance begun by Chrestien , entitled La Cha rette, containing the adventures of Launcelot. Fauchet affirms, that Chrestien abounds with beautiful inventions 8. But no story is so common among the earliest French poets as Char lemagne and his Twelve peers. In the British Museum we have an old French manuscript containing the history of Char lemagne, translated into prose from Turpin's Latin . The writer declares, that he preferred a sober prose translation of this authentic historian, as histories in rhyme, undoubtedly very numerous on this subject, looked so much like lies h. His title is extremely curious. “ Ci comence l’Estoire que Turpin le Ercevesque de Reins fit del bon roy Charlemayne, coment il conquist Espaigne, e delivera des Paens. Et pur ceo qe Estoire rimee semble mensunge, est ceste mis in prose, solun le Latin qe Turpin mesmes fist, tut ensi cume il le vist et vist.” i Oddegir the Dane makes a part of Charlemagne's history; and, I believe, is mentioned by archbishop Turpin. But his exploits have been recorded in verse by Adenez, an old French poet, not mentioned by Fauchet, author of the two metrical romances of Berlin ( Berthe ] and Cleomades, under the name of Ogier le Danois, in the year 1270. This author was master of the musicians, or, as others say, herald at arms, to the duke of Brabant. Among the royal manuscripts in the Museum, we have a poem, Le Livre de Ogeir de Dannemarchek. The 8 P. 105. ibid . f. 86. There is a very old metrical ro n There is a curious passage to this mance on this subject, ibid . MSS. Harl. purpose in an old French prose romance 527. 1. f . 1. Cod . membr. 4to . of Charlemagne, written before the year k 15 E. vi. 4 . 1200 . “ Baudouin Comte de Hainau [ The title of Adenez' poem is Les trouva a Sens en Bourgongne le vie de Enfances d'Ogier -le- Danois, a copy of Charlemagne: et mourant la donna a which is preserved amongthe Harl. MSS. sa sour Yolond Comtesse de S. Paul No. 4404. His other poem noticed in qui m'a prie que je la mette en Roman the text, is called Le Roman de Pepin et sans ryme. Parce que tel se delitera el de Berthe. See Cat. Valliere, No. 2734. Roman qui del Latin n’ent cure ; et The life of Ogier contained in the royal par le Roman sera mielx gardee. Main- manuscript, embraces the whole career tes gens en ont ouy conter et chanter, of this illustrious hero ; and is evidently mais n'est ce mensonge non ce qu'ils en a distinct work from that of Adenez. disent et chantent cil conteour ne cil Whether it be the same version alluded jugleor. NuZ CONTES RYMEZ N'EN EST to in the French romance of Alexander , VRAIS : TOT MENSONGE CE QU'ILS DIENT. where the author is distinguished from Liv. quatr . the “ conteurs batards” of his day, is i MSS. Harl. 273. 23. Cod. membr. left to more competent judges . - Edit.) 140 THE HISTORY OF 1 French have likewise illustrated this champion in Leonine rhyme. And I cannot help mentioning that they have in verse Visions of Oddegir the Dane in the kingdom of Fairy , 66 Visions d'Ogeir le Danois au Royaume de Faerie en vers Francois," printed at Paris in 1548 ' . On the Trojan story , the French have an antient poem , at least not posterior to the thirteenth century , entitled Roman de Troye, written by Benoit de Sainct More. As this author appears not to have been known to the accurate Fauchet, nor la Croix du Maine

I will cite the exordium , especially as it records his name

and implies that the piece

( was ] translated from the Latin , and that the subject was not then common in French . Cette estoire n'est pas usée , N'en gaires livres n'est trouvée

La retraite ne fut encore Mais Beneoit de sainte More , L'a translatè, et fait et dit, Et a sa main les mots ecrit. He mentions his own name again in the body of the work , and at the end. Je n'en fait plus ne plus en dit

Beneoit qui c'est Roman fit. m Du Cange enumerates a metrical manuscript romance on this subject by Jaques Millet, entitled De la Destruction de Troień. Montfaucon , whose extensive inquiries nothing could escape, mentions Dares Phrigius translated into French verse, at Milan, about the twelfth century '. We find also , among the royal manuscripts at Paris, Dictys Cretensis translated into French verse P. To this subject, although almost equally belonging to that of Charlemagne, we may also refer a French romance in verse , written by Philipes Mousques, canon and 1 1 8vo . There is also ' L'Histoire du More's poem , the reader is referred to preur Meurvin fils d'Ogier le DANOIS. the12th vol. of the Archäologia . - Edit.] Paris . 1359. 4to . and 1540. 8vo .

• Gloss

. Lat. Ind. Aut. p . cxcii. m See M. Galland ut supr. p . 425. [ For an account of Benoit de Saint P See Montf. Catal. MSS . ii. p . 1669 o Monum . Fr. i . 374 . ENGLISH POETRY. 141 mpeni sf Fame en per la cate ini qal ܕܝ.ܐ act them chancellor of the church of Tournay. It is, in fact, a chronicle of France : but the author, who does not chuse to begin quite so high as Adam and Eve, nor yet later than the Trojan war, opens his history with the rape of Helen, passes on to an ample description of the siege of Troy ; and, through an exact detail of all the great events which succeeded , conducts his reader to the year 1240. This work comprehends all the fictions of Turpin's Charlemagne, with a variety of other extravagant stories dispersed in many professed romances. But it preserves numberless curious particulars, which throw considerable, light on historical facts . Du Cange has collected from it all that concerns the French emperors of Constantinople, which he has printed at the end of his entertaining history of that city. It was indeed the fashion for the historians of these times, to form such a general plan as would admit all the absurdities of popular tradition . Connection of parts, and uniformity of subject, were as little studied as truth. Ages of ignorance and superstition are more affected by the marvellous than by plain facts; and believe what they find written, without discernment or examination . No man before the sixteenth century pre sumed to doubt that the Francs derived their origin from Fran cus, a son of Hector; that the Spaniards were descended from Japhet, the Britons from Brutus, and the Scotch from Fergus. Vincent de Beauvais, who lived under Louis the Ninth of France, and who, on account of his extraordinary erudition , was appointed preceptor to that king's sons, very gravely classes archbishop Turpin's Charlemagne among the real histories, and places it on a level with Suetonius and Cesar. He was himself an historian, and has left a large history of the world , fraught with a variety of reading, and of high repute in the middle ages ; but edifying and entertaining as this work might have been to his cotemporaries, at present it serves only to record their prejudices, and to characterise their credulity? Hercules and Jason, as I have before hinted , were involved in the Trojan story by Guido de Colonna, and hence became a Dar I.DE ve 4 He flourished about 1260 . 142 THE HISTORY OF familiar to the romance writers '. The Hercules, the Theseus, and the Amazons of Boccacio, hereafter more particularly mentioned , came m this source. I do not at present recol lect any old French metrical romances on these subjects, but presume that there are many. Jason seems to have vied with Arthur and Charlemagne; and so popular was his expedition to Colchos, or rather so firmly believed , that in honour of so respectable an adventure, a duke of Burgundy instituted the order of the Golden Fleece, in the year 1468. At the same time his chaplain Raoul le Feure illustrated the story which gave rise to this magnificent institution, in a prolix and elabo rate history, afterwards translated by Caxtons. But I must not forget, that among the royal manuscripts in the Museum , the French romance of Hercules occurs in two books, enriched with numerous antient paintings '. Pertonape and Ypomedon, in our Prologue, seem to be Parthenopeus and Hippomedon, be longing to the Theban story , and mentioned, I think, in Statius. An English romance in verse , called Childe Ippomedone, will be cited hereafter, most probably translated from the French. The conquests of Alexander the Great were celebrated by one Simon , in old Pictavian or Limosin, about the twelfth century. This piece thus begins: Chanson voil dis per ryme et per Leoin Del fil Filippe lo roy de Macedoinu. " The TroJOMANNA Saga, a Scandic the death of Ulysses by his son Tele manuscript at Stockholm , seems to be gonus. The mythological fables with posteriour to Guido's publication. It which the first part abounds, are taken begins with Jason and Hercules, and from Boccace's Genealogia Deorum ; their voyage to Colchos : proceeds to the and the third part, embracing the de rape of Helen, andends with the siege struction of Troy by the Greeks under and destruction of Troy. It celebrates Agamemnon , professes to be a transla all the Grecian and Asiatic heroes con- tion from “ Dictys of Greece and Dares cerned in that war. Wanl. Antiquit. of Troy.' The Pertonape of the text Septentr. p. 315. col. 1 . is evidently Partonepex de Blois, ( see See Observat. on Spenser's Fairy Le Grand Fabliaux, tom . iv. p. 261. Queen, i. $ v. p. 176. seq. Montfaucon and Notices des Manuscrits, tom . ix. ) mentions Medeæ et Jasonis Historia a and Ypomedon the hero whom Warton Guidone de Columna . Catal. MSS. Bibl. dignifies with the epithetof Childe Ippo Coislin . ii .p. 1109. – 818. medone. - Edit .] + 17 E. ii. [ This romance of Her- u Fauch. p. 77. cules commences with an account of [ This specimen is clearly against Uranus or Cælus, and terminates with Fauchet's opinion . The Pictavian or ENGLISH POETRY. 143 An Italian poem on Alexander, called Trionfo Magno, was presented to Leo the Tenth, by Dominicho Falugi Anciseno, in the year 1521. Crescimbeni says it was copied from a Pro vencial romance W. But one of the most valuable pieces of the old French poetry is on the subject of this victorious monarch, entitled, Roman d'Alexandre. It has been called the second poem now remaining in the French language, and was written about the year 1200. It was confessedly translated from the Latin ; but it bears a nearer resemblance to Simeon Seth's romance, than to Quintus Curtius. It was the confederated performance of four writers, who, as Fauchet expresses him self, were associez en leur JONGLERIEX. Lambert li Cors, a learned civilian, began the poem ; and it was continued and completed by Alexander de Paris, John le Nivelois [ Venelais ), and Peter [ Perot] de Saint Clost [ Cloot] y . The poem is closed with Alexander's will . This is no imagination of any of our three poets, although one of them was a civil lawyer. Alexander's will, in which he nominates successors to his pro W X Limosin was a dialect of Provençal, and have considered Alexander as the elder the couplet in the text is old French or writer ; apparently referring ( Alexandre Romance. --Edit.] nous dit) to Lambert li Cors . But the Istor. Volg. Poes. i. iv. p. 332. In last line in this extract clearly confirms the royal manuscripts there is a French M. le Grand's arrangement. The date poem entitled La Vengeauncedu graunt assigned by M. Roquefort for its publi Alexandre 19 D. i . 2. Brit. Mus. I am cation is 1184. Jehan li Venelais wrote not sure whether or no it is not a portion Le Testament d'Alexandre ; and Perot of the French Alexander , mentioned be- de Saint Cloot, La Vengeaunce d'Alex low, written by Jehan li Nivelois ( Ve- andre. Mr. Douce has enumerated eleven nelais ). French poets, who have written on the Fauchet, Rec. p. 83. subject of Alexander or his family : and [ The order in which Fauchet has Mr. Weber observes, that several others classed Lambert li Cors and Alexander might be added to the list. See Weber's of Paris, and which has also been adopted Metrical Romances (whonotices various by M. le Grand , is founded on the fol- European versions ), Notices des Manu lowing passage of the original poem : scrits du Roi t. v. Catalogue de la Val liere t. ii.-- Edit .] La verité d l'istoire si com li roys la fist Un clers de Chastiaudun Lambers li tions a French romance in verse, un y Fauchet, ibid. Mons. Galland men. Cors li mist known to Fauchet, and entitled Roman Qui du Latin la trait et en roman la d'Athys et de Prophylias, written by one fist ...... Alexandre nous dit qui de Bernay fu Alexander, whom he supposes to be this Alexander of Paris. Mem. Lit. iii . p. 429. Et de Paris refu se surnoms appelles edit. Amst. [ This conjecture is confirm Qui or a les siens vers o les Lambert Edir. ] Itisoften cited by Carpentier, ed by M.Roquefort ubi supr. p. 118. melles. Suppl. Cang. MM. de la Ravalliere and Roquefort nez 144 THE HISTORY OF vinces and kingdom, was a tradition commonly received, and is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcel linus 2. I know not whether this work was ever printed. It is voluminous; and in the Bodleian library at Oxford is a vast folio manuscript of it on vellum , which is of great antiquity, richly decorated, and in high preservation . The margins and initials exhibit not only fantastic ornaments and illumi nations exquisitely finished, but also pictures executed with singular elegance, expressing the incidents of the story, and displaying the fashion of buildings, armour, dress, musical instruments, and other particulars appropriated to the times. At the end we read this hexameter, which points out the name of the scribe. it may Nomen scriptoris est THOMAS PLENUS AMORIS. Then follows the date of the year in which the transcript was completed, viz. 1338. Afterwards there is the name and date of the illuminator, in the following colophon, written in golden letters. “ Che livre fu perfais de la enluminiere an xviiiº. jour davryl par Jehan de grise l'an de grace m.ccc.xliiii. ” c Hence be concluded , that the illuminations and paintings of this superb manuscript, which were most probably begun as soon as the scribe had finished his part, took up six years : no long time, if we consider the attention of an artist to ornaments so numerous, so various, so minute, and so laboriously touched . It has been supposed that before the appearance of this poem , the Romans, or those pieces which celebrated Gests, were constantly composed in short verses of six or eight syllables : and that in this Roman d'Alexandre verses of twelve syllables were first used. It has therefore been imagined, that the verses called ALEXANDRINES, the present French heroic measure, took their rise from this poem ; Alexander being the hero, and Alexander the chief of the four poets concerned in the work. z See Fabric . Bibl. Gr. c. iii. 1. viii. p. 205. a MSS. Bodl. B 264, fol. b The most frequent of these are or gans, bagpipes, lutes, and trumpets. · Thebishop of Gloucester has a beautiful French manuscript on vellum of Mort d'Arthur, ornamented in the same manner. It was a present from Vertue the engraver. ENGLISH POETRY. 145 Oriental -T2 SL That the name, some centuries afterwards, might take place in honour of this celebrated and early effort of French poetry, I think is very probable; but that verses of twelve syllables made their first appearance in this poem , is a doctrine which, to say no more, from examples already produced and examined, is at least ambiguousd. In this poem Gadifer, hereafter mentioned , of Arabian lineage, is a very conspicuous champion. Gadifer fu moult preus, d'un Arrabi lignage. A rubric or title of one of the chapters is, “ Comment Alex ander fuit mys en un vesal de vooire pour veoir le merveiles,” &c. This is a passage already quoted from Simeon Seth's romance, relating Alexander's expedition to the bottom of the ocean , in a vessel of glass, for the purpose of inspecting fishes and sea monsters. In another place, from the same romance, he turns astronomer, and soars to the moon by the help of four gryphons. The caliph is frequently mentioned in this piece; and Alexander, like Charlemagne, has his twelve peers. These were the four reigning stories of romance. On which perhaps English pieces, translated from the French, existed before or about the year 1300. But there are some other English romances mentioned in the prologue of RICHARD CUEUR DE Lyon, which we likewise probably received from the French in that period, and on which I shall here also enlarge. Beuves de Hanton , or Sir Beavis of Southampton , is a French romance of considerable antiquity, although the hero is not older than the Norman conquest. It is alluded to in our English romance on this story, which will again be cited, and at large. Forth thei yode so saith the bokeº. And again more expressly, Under the bridge wer sixty belles, Right as the Romans telles [..- & cs 07

. e f d See Pref. Le Roman de la Rose, par Mons. L'Abbè Lenglet, i . p. xxxvi. L Signat. P. ii. Signat. E. iv. VOL. I. 146 THE HISTORY OF The Romans is the French original. It is called the Romance of Beuves de Hanton, by Pere Labbel. The very ingenious Monsieur de la Curne de sainte Palaye mentions an antient French romance in prose, entitled Beufres de Hanton ". Chau cer mentions Bevis, with other famous romances, but whether in French or English is uncertain '. Beuves of Hantonne was, printed at Paris in 1502k. Ascapart was one of his gients, & character' in very old French romances. Bevis was a Saxon chieftain, who seems to have extended his dominion along the southern coasts of England, which he is said to have defended against the Norman invaders. He lived at Downton in Wilt shire. Near Southampton is an artificial hill called Bevis Mount, on which was probably a fortress m. It is pretended that he was earl of Southampton . His sword is shewn in Arundel castle. This piece was evidently written after the Crusades ; as Bevis is knighted by the king of Armenia, and is one of the generals at the siege of Damascus. Guy Earl of WARWICK is recited as a French romance by Labbe ". In the British Museum a metrical history in very old French appears, in which Felicia, or Felice, is called the daughter of an earl of Warwick , and Guido, or Guy of Warwick , is the son of Seguart the earl's steward. The ma nuscript is at present imperfectº. Montfaucon mentions among the royal manuscripts at Paris, Roman de Guy et Beuves de Hanton. The latter is the romance last mentioned. Again, Le Livre de Guy de Warwick et de Harold d'Ardennep. This Harold d'Arden is a distinguished warriour of Guy's history, and therefore his achievements sometimes form a separate ro 8 Nov. Bibl. p . 334. edit. 1652. [Among theBennet manuscripts there

1. Mem. Lit. XV. 582. 4to. is ŘOMANZDE GUI DE WARWYK. Num . Le i Rim . Thop. It begins,

$ 4to. Percy's Ball. iii. 217. 1 Selden's Drayton. Polyolb . s. iii. Puis cel tems ke deus fu nez . This book belonged to Saint Augustin's m It is now inclosed in the beautiful abbey at Canterbury. With regard to gardensofGeneralSir John Mordaunt, the preceding romance of Bevis,the and gives name to his seat. Italians had Brovo ďAntona, undoubt edly from the French, before 1348. And • MSS. Harl. 3775. 2 . Luhyd recites in Welsh, Ystori Bouno Catal. MSS. p. 792. Hamtun. ARCHÆOL. p . 264. ADDIT.) p . 37. n Ubi supr. ENGLISH POETRY. 147 mance : as in the royal manuscripts of the British Museum, where we find Le Romant de Herolt Dardenne ?. In the En glish romance of Guy, mentioned at large in its proper place, this champion is called Syr Heraude of Arderne '. At length this favourité subject formed a large prose romance, entitled Guy de Warwick Chevalier d'Angleterre et de la belle fille Felix samie, and printed at Paris in 1525s. Chaucer mentions Guy's story among the Romaunces of Prist: and it is alluded to in the Spanish romance of Tirante il Blanco, or Tirante the White, supposed to have been written not long after the year 1430u. This romance was composed, or perhaps en larged, after the Crusades; as we find that Guy's redoubted encounters with Colbrond the Danish giant, with the monster of Dunsmore- heath , and the dragon of Northumberland, are by no means equal to someof his achievements in the Holy Land, and the trophies which he won from the Soldan under the command of the emperor Frederick . The romance of SIDRAC, often entitled Le Livere Sydrac le philosophe le quel hom appele le livere de le funtane de totes Sciences, appears to have been very popular, from the present frequency of its manuscripts. But it is rather a románce of Arabian philosophy than of chivalry. It is a system of na tural knowledge, and particularly treats of the virtues of plants. Sidrac, the philosopher of this system , was astronomer to an eastern king. He lived eight hundred and forty -seven years after Noah, of whose book of astronomy he was possessed . He converts Bocchus, an idolatrous king of India, to the Christian faith , by whom he is invited to build a mighty tower against the invasions of a rival king of India. But the history, no less than the subject of this piece, displays the state, nature, and migrations of literature in the dark ages. After the death 9 15 E. vi. 8. fol. the merit of being exceedingly short; [ This romance might be called with and states, among other matter, thatHe more propriety an episode in the life of rolt was born at Walmforth in England, Raynbrun, Guy's son. It recounts the -EDIT.] Sign . L. ii. vers. manner in which he released Herolt * Fol. And again , ib . 1526. 4to . d'Ardenne from prison ; and the return Rim . Thop. of both to their native country. It has Percy's Ball. iii. 100 .. / r u L 2 148 THE HISTORY OF . of Bocchus, Sidrac's book fell into the hands of a Chaldean renowned for piety. It then successively becomes the pro perty of king Madian, Namaan the Assyrian, and Grypho archbishop of Samaria. The latter had a priest named De metrius, who brought it into Spain , and here it was translated from the Greek into Latin . This translation is said to be made at Toledo, by Roger de Palermo, a minorite friar, in the thirteenth century . A king of Spain then commanded it to be translated from Latin into Arabic, and sent it as a most valuable present to Emir Elmomenim , lord of Tunis. It was next given to Frederick the Second, emperor of Germany, famous in the Crusades. This work, which is of considerable length, was translated into English verse, and will be men tioned on that account again . Sidrac is recited as an eminent philosopher, with Seneca and king Solomon, in the Marchaunt's Second tale, ascribed to Chaucer w. It is natural to conclude, that most of these French romances were current in England, either in the French originals, which were well understood at least by the more polite readers, or else by translation or imitation , as I have before hinted, when the romance of Richard Cuer de Lyon, in whose prologue they are recited, was translated into English. That the latter was the case as to some of them , at least, we shall soon produce actual proofs. A writer, who has considered these matters with much penetration and judgment, observes, that probably from the reign of our Richard the First, we are to date that remarkable intercommunication and mutual exchange of com positions which we discover to have taken place at some early period between the French and English minstrels ; the same set of phrases, the same species of characters, incidents, and adventures, and often the identical stories, being found in the metrical romances of both nations , From close connection and constant intercourse, the traditions and the champions of one kingdom were equally known in the other : and although " Urr. p. 616. v. 1932. * Percy's Ess. on Anc. Eng. Minstr. old translation of Sidrac into Dutch , po 12 MSS. Marshall, Bibl. Bodl. 31. fol. There is an ENGLISH POETRY. 149 Bevis and Guy were English heroes, yet on these principles this circumstance by no means destroys the supposition , that their achievements, although perhaps already celebrated in rude English songs, might be first wrought into romance by the Frenchy. And it seems probable, that we continued for some time this practice of borrowing from our neighbours. Even the titles of our oldest romances, such as Sir Blanda moure, Sir Triamoure, Sir Eglamoure of Artoys ?, La Mort d'Arthur, with many more, betray their French extraction . It is likewise a presumptive argument in favour of this assertion , that we find no prose romances in our language, before Cax ton translated from the French the History of Troy, the Life of Charlemagne, the Histories of Jason, Paris and Vyenne , the Death of King Arthur, and other prose pieces of chivalry: Y Dugdale relates, that in the reign of translated into their language. It is re Henry the Fourth, about the year 1410, markable, that the Greeks at Constanti alord Beauchamp, travelling into the nople, inthe twelfth century , and since, East, was hospitably received at Jeru- called all the Europeans by the name of salem by the Soldan's lieutenant: “ Who Franks ; as the Turks do to this day. hearing that he was descended from the See Seld. Polyolb. § viii. p. 130 . famous Guy of Warwick, whose story they 2 In our EnglishSyr EGLAMOUR OF had in booksof their own language, invited Arroys, there is this reference to the him to his palace; and royally feasting French from which it was translated , him , presented him with three precious Sign. E. i. stones of great value, besides divers cloaths of silk and gold given to his ser His own mother there he wedde, In ROMAUNCE as we rede, Baron . i. p. 243. col. 1 . This story is delivered on the credit of John Again, fol. ult. Rouse, the traveller's cotemporary. Yet In RoMAUNCE this cronyole ys, it is not so very improbable that Guy's history should be abook among the Ša- The authors of these pieces often refer racens, if we consider, that Constanti- to their original. Just as Ariosto men nople was not only a central and con- tions Turpin for his voucher. necting point between the eastern and a But I must not omit here that Du western world, but that the French in Cange recites a metrical French romance the thirteenth century hadacquired an in manuscript, Le Roman de Girard de establishment there under Baldwin earl Vienne, written by Bertrand le Clerc. of Flanders: that the French language Gloss. Lat. i. Ind. Auct. p. cxciii. Mas much have been known in Sicily, Jeru- dox has printed the names of several salem , Cyprus, and Antioch , in conse- Frenchromances found in the reign of quenceof theconquests of RobertGuis- Edward the Third, among which one card, Hugo le Grand, and Godfrey Oi on this subject occurs. Formul. Anglic. Bulloigne: and that pilgrimages into the p. 12. Compare Observations on Spen Holy Land were excessively frequent. ser's Fairy Queen , vol. ii. $ viii. p. 43. It is hence easy to suppose, that the Among the royal manuscripts, in the French imported many of their stories British Museum , there is in verse His . or books of this sort into the East; which toire de Gyrart de Vianne et de ses freres. being thus understood there, andsuiting 20 D. xi. 2. This manuscript was per the genius of theOrientals ,were at length haps written before the year 1300. vants. 150 THE HISTORY OF ! by which , as the profession of minstrelsy decayed and gradually gave way to a change of manners and customs, romances in metre were at length imperceptibly superseded, or at least grew less in ' use as a mode of entertainment at public festivities. Various causes concurred , in the mean time, to multiply books of chivalry among the French , and to give them a superiority over the English, not only in the number but in the excellence of those compositions. Their barons lived in greater magnificence. Their feudal system flourished on a more sumptuous, extensive, and lasting establishment Schools were instituted in their castles for initiating the young nobility in the rules and practice of chivalry. Their tilts and tourna ments were celebrated with a higher degree of pomp; and their ideas of honour and gallantry were more exaggerated and refined . We may add , what indeed has been before incidentally remarked, that their troubadours were the first writers of me trical romances . But by what has been here advanced , I do not mean to insinuate without any restrictions, that the French entirely led the way in these compositions. Undoubtedly the Provencial bards contributed much to the progress of Italian literature. Raimond the fourth of Arragon, count of Pro vence , about the year 1220, a lover and a judge of letters, invited to his court the most celebrated of the songsters who professed to polish and adorn the Provencial language by various sorts of poetryb. Charles the First, his son- in-law ,, and the inheritor of his virtues and dignities, conquered Na ples, and carried into Italy a taste for the Provencial litera ture. At Florence especially this taste prevailed, where he . reigned many years with great splendour, and where his suc cessors resided . Soon afterwards the Roman court was re moved to Provence . Hitherto the Latin language had only o Giovan . Villani, Istor . I. vi . c . 92 . Tesoro in Provencial. He died in 1294. • Villani acquaints us, that Brunetti See Villan . ibid . 1. ix. c . 135., Latini, Dante'smaster , was the first who [ That Brunetti did not write his Te attempted to polish the Florentines by soro in Provençal we have his own au. improving their taste and style

which thority

, and the evidence of the work he did by writing his grand work the itself :-Et se aucuns demandoit pour ENGLISH POETRY. 151

• been in use . The Provencial writers established a common

dialect : and their examples convinced other nations, that the modern languages were no less adapted to composition than those of antiquityd. They introduced a love of reading, and diffused a general and popular taste for poetry, by writing in a language intelligible to the ladies and the people. Their verses being conveyed in a familiar tongue, became the chief amusement of princes and feudal lords, whose courts had now begun to assume an air of greater brilliancy: a circumstance which necessarily gave great encouragement to their profes sion, and by rendering these arts of ingenious entertainment universally fashionable, imperceptibly laid the foundation of polite literature. From these beginnings it were easy to trace the progress of poetry to its perfection, through John de Meun in France, Dante in Italy, and Chaucer in England. This praise must undoubtedly be granted to the Provencial poets. But in the mean time, to recur to our original argu ment, we should be cautious of asserting in general and indis criminating terms, that the Provencial poets were the first writers ofmetrical romance : at least we should ascertain , with rather more precision than has been commonly used on this subject, how far they may claim this merit. I am of opinion that there were two sorts of French troubadours, who have not hitherto been sufficiently distinguished. If we diligently examine their history, we shall find that the poetry of the first troubadours consisted in satires, moral fables, allegories, and sentimental sonnets. So early as the year 1180, a tribunal called the Court of Love, was instituted both in Provence and Picardy, at which questions in gallantry were decided. Thiş quoi chis livre est escrit en roumans ing that he could not so effectually in selon la raison de France, pour chou that language impress his satirical strokes que nous sommes Ytalien jediroie que and political maxims on the laity , or il ch'est pour chou que nous sommes en literate , he altered his mind, andpub France ; l'autre pour chou que la par . lished that piece in Italian . Had Pe leure en est plusdelitable et plus com- trarch written his Africa, his Eclogues, mune a toutes gens. Notices des Manu- and his prose compositions in Italian, scrits, t. v. p. 270. - Edit.] the literature of his country would much Dantedesigned atfirst that his In- sooner have arrived at perfection. ferno should appear in Latin. But find 152 THE HISTORY OF institution furnished eternal matter for the poets, who threw the claims and arguments of the different parties into verse, in a style that afterwards led the way to the spiritual conversations of Cyrus and Clelia. Fontenelle does not scruple to acknow ledge, that gallantry was the parent of French poetryf. But to sing romantic and chivalrous adventures was a very different task , and required very different talents. The troubadours therefore who composed metrical romancesform a different species, and ought always to be considered separately. And this latter class seems to have commenced at a later period, not till after the Crusades had effected a great change in the manners and ideas of the western world. In the mean time, I hazard a conjecture. Cinthio Giraldi supposes, that the art of the troubadours, commonly called the Gay Science, was first communicated from France to the Italians, and afterwards to the Spaniards. This perhaps may be true : but at the same time it is highly probable, as the Spaniards had their JUGLARES or convivial bards very early, as from long connection they were immediately and intimately acquainted with the fictions of the Arabians, and as they were naturally fond of chivalry, that the troubadours of Provence in great measure caught this turn of fabling from Spain . The communication, to mention no other obvious means of intercourse in an affair of this na ture, was easy through the ports of Toulon and Marseilles, by which the two nations carried on from early times a constant commerce. Even the French critics themselves universally allow , that the Spaniards, having learned rhyme from the Arabians, through this very channel conveyed it to Provence. Tasso preferred Amadis de Gaul, a romance originally written in Spain [ Portugal ], by Vasco Lobeyra, before the year 1300 h, to the most celebrated pieces of the Provencial poets '. But this is a subject which will perhaps receive illustration from a writer of great taste, talents, and industry, Monsieur de la Curne de • This part of their character will be 6 Apud Huet, Orig . Rom . p . 108. insisted upon more at large when wę h Nic. Antonius, Bibl. Hispan. Vet. come to speak of Chaucer, f Theatr. Fr. p. 13. i Disc. del Poem . Eroic. 1. ii. p. 45, 46 . tom . ï . l. viii. c. 7. num. 291. ENGLISH POETRY. 153 Sainte Palaye, who will soon oblige the world with an ample history of Provencial poetry ; and whose researches into a kindred subject, already published, have opened a new and extensive field of information concerning the manners, institu tions and literature of the feudal ages k. Note A. ( from the Emendations and Additions. *) In Bennet college library at Cambridge, there is an English poem on the SANGREAL, and its appendages, containing forty thousand verses. MSS. Lxxx . chart. The manuscript is im perfect both at the beginning and at the end. The title at the head of the first page is Acta ArthurI Regis, written probably by Joceline, chaplain and secretary to archbishop Parker . The narrative, which appears to be on one con tinued subject, is divided into books, or sections, of unequal length. It is a translation made from Robert Borron's French romance called LANCELOT, above mentioned, which includes the adventure of the SANGREAL, by Henry Lonelich Skynner, a name which I never remember to have seen among those of the English poets. The diction is of the age of king Henry the Sixth . Borel, in his TRESOR de Recherches et Antiquitex Gauloises et Francoises, says, “ Il ya un Roman ancien intitule LE CONQUESTE DE SANGREALL, & c." Edit. 1655. 4to . V.GRAAL. It is difficult to determine with any precision which is Robert Borron's French Romance now under consideration , as so many have been written on the subject. [ See p. 137.] The diligence and accuracy of Mr. Nasmith have furnished me

• See Memoires sur l'ancienne Cheva- is referred to M. Raynouard's Poesies lerie , &c. Paris, 1759. tom . ii. 12mo. des Troubadours, a work which has done
• This Note is referred to in p. 118, more towards forming a just understand.

and is placed at the end of this Section ing of the merits of Provençal poetry, onaccount of its length . and the extent and value of Provençal [ It was found impracticable to con- literature, than any publication whích dense within the limits of a note , the has hitherto appeared. The mass of matter necessary for the refutation of evidence there adduced in favour of the the singular doctrines hazarded in the early efforts of the Provençal muse, must Few of them are Warton's own ; effectually silence every theory attempt but the reader who is desirous of forming ing to confine song and romantic fiction more correct opinions upon the subject, to anyparticularage or country. Edır.) text 154 THE HISTORY OF with the following transcript from Lonelich Skynner's transla tion in Bennet College library. Thanne passeth forth this storye with al That is cleped of som men SEYNT GRAAL Also the Sank Ryal iclepid it is Of mochel peple with owten mys

• *** **

Now of al this storie have I mad an ende That is schwede ofCelidoygne and now forthere to wend And of anothir brawnche most we be gynne Of the storye that we clepen prophet Merlynne Wiche that Maister ROBERT OF BORROWN Owt of Latyn it transletted hol and soun Onlich into the langage of Frawnce This storie he drowgh be adventure and chaunce And doth Merlynne insten with Sank RYAL For the ton storie the tothir medlyth withal After the satting of the forseid ROBERT That somtym it transletted in Middilerd And I as an unkonneng man trewely Into Englisch have drawen this storye And thowgh that to zow not plesyng it be Zit that ful excused ze wolde haven me Of my neclegence and unkonnenge On me to taken swich a thingé Into owre modris tonge for to endite The swettere to sowne to more and lyte And more cler to zoure undirstondyng Thanne owthir Frensh other Latyn to my supposing And therfore atte the ende of this storye A pater noster ze wolden for me preye For me that HERRY LONELICH hyhte And greteth owre lady ful of myhte Hartelich with an ave that ze hir bede This processe the bettere I myhte procede ENGLISH POETRY . 155 . And bringen this book to a good ende Now thereto Jesu Crist And than an ende there offen myhte be Now good Lord graunt me for charite grace me sende

TI Thanne Merlyn to Blasye cam anon And there to hym he seide thus son Blasye thou schalt suffren gret peyne This storye to an ende to bringen certeyne And zit schall I suffren mochel more How so Merlyn quod Blasye there I schall be sowht quod Merlyne tho Owt from the west with messengeris mo And they that scholen comen to seken me They have maad sewrawnce I telle the Me forto slen for any thing This sewrawnce hav they mad to her kyng But whanne they me sen and with me speke No power they schol hav on me to ben a wreke For with hem hens moste I gon And thou into othir partyes schalt wel son To hem that hav the holy vessel Which that is icleped the SEYNT GRAAL And wete thow wel and ek forsothe That thow and ek this storye bothe Ful wel beherd now schall it be And also beloved in many contre And has that will knowen in sertaygne What kynges that weren in grete Bretaygne Sithan that Cristendom thedyn was browht They scholen hem fynde has so that it sawht In the storye of BRWTTES book There scholen ze it fynde and ze weten look Which that MARTYN DE BEWRE translated here From Latyn into Romaunce in his manere 156 THE HISTORY OF But leve me now of BRWTTES book And aftyr this storye now lete us look. After this latter extract, which is to be found nearly in the middle of the manuscript, the scene and personages of the poem are changed ; and king Enalach, king Mordrens, Sir Nesciens, Joseph of Arimathea, and the other heroes of the former part, give place to king Arthur, king Brangors, king Loth, and the monarchs and champions of the British line. In a paragraph, very similar to the second of these extracts, the following note is written in the hand of the text, Henry Lonelich Skynner, that translated this boke out ofFrenshe into Englyshe, at the instaunce of Harry Barton. The QUEST OF THE SANGREAL, as it is called, in which devo tion and necromancy are equally concerned, makes a consider able part of king Arthur's romantic history, and was one grand object of the knights of the Round Table. He who achieved this hazardous adventure was to be placed there in the siege perillous, or seat of danger. “ When Merlyn had ordayned the rounde table, he said , by them that be fellowes of the rounde table the truthe of the SANGREALL shall be well knowne, & c. - They which heard Merlyn say soe, said thus to Merlyn, Sithence there shall be such a knight, thou shouldest ordayne by thy craft a siege that no man should sitte therein, but he onlie which shall passe all other knights. — Then Merlyn made the siege perillous, ” &c. Caxton's Mort d’ARTHUR, B. xiv . cap. ii. Sir Lancelot, who is come but ofthe eighth degree from our lord Jesus Christ, is represented as the chief adventurer in this honourable expedition . Ibid. B. iii. c. 35. At a celebra tion of the feast of Pentecost at Camelot by king Arthur, the Sangreal suddenly enters the hall, “ but there was no man might see it nor who bare it,” and the knights, as by some in visible power, are instantly supplied with a feast of the choicest dishes. Ibid. c. 35. Originally LE BRUT, LANCELOT, TRISTAN, and the Saint GREAL were separate histories ; but they were ENGLISH POETRY. 157 so connected and confounded before the year 1200, that the same title became applicable to all . The book of the SAN GREAL, a separate work , is referred to in MORTE ARTHUR. « Now after that the quest of the SANCGREALL was fulfylled, and that all the knyghtes that were lefte alive were come agayne to the Rounde Table, as the BOOKE OF THE SANCGREALL makethe mencion, than was there grete joye in the courte. And especiallie king Arthur and quene Guenever made grete joye of the remnaunt that were come home. And passynge glad was the kinge and quene of syr Launcelot and syr Bors, for they had been passynge longe awaye in the quest of the Sanc GREALL. Then , as the Frenshe booke sayeth , syr Lancelot," & c . B. xviii. cap. 1. And again, in the same romance : “ Whan syr Bors had tolde him [ Arthur ] of the adventures of the SANCGREALL, such as had befallen hym and his felawes -- all this was made in grete bookes, and put in almeryes at Salis bury." B. xvii. cap . xxiii.s The former part of this passage is almost literally translated from one in the French romance of Tristan, Bibl. Reg. MSS. 20 D. ii. fol. antep. “ Quant Boort ot conte laventure del Saint Graal teles com eles estoient avenues, eles furent mises en escrit, gardees en lamere de Sali bieres, dont Mestre GALTIER MAP l'estrest a faist son livre du Saint Graal por lamor du roy Herri son sengor, quifist lestoire tralater del Latin en romanze." Whether Salisbury, or Sali bieres is, in the two passages, the right reading, I cannot ascer tain . [But see supra. Note ° . p. 118.] But in the royal library at Paris there is “ Le Roman de TRISTAN ET ISEULT, traduit de Latin en François, par Lucas chevalier du Gast pres de Sarisberi, Anglois, avec figures. ” Montfauc. CATAL. MSS. Cod. Reg. Paris. Cod. 6776. fol. max . And again Cod. 6956. fol. max . “ Liveres de Tristan mis en François par Lucas chevalier sieur de chateau du Gatu.” [ See supr. p. 118. The romance says, that king Arthur u There is printed, “ Le Roman du " made gretè clerkes com before him noble et vaillant Chevalier Tristan fils that they should cronicle the adventures du noble roy Meliadus de Leonnys, par of these goode knygtes." [ See infra Luce, chevalier, seigneur du chasteau 8 de Gast. Rouen, 1489. fol." See infra Sect. xxviii, not. P. Section xi. 158 THE HISTORY OF a Notes.] Almeryes in the English , and l’Amere, properly aumoire in the French , mean , I believe, Presses, Chests, or Archives. Ambry, in this sense, is not an uncommon old English word . From the second part of the first French quotation which I have distinguished by Italics, it appears, that Walter Mapes learned archdeacon in England, under the reign of king Henry the Second, wrote a French SANGREAL, which he trans lated from Latin, by the command of that monarch. Under the idea, that Walter Mapes was a writer on this subject, and in the fabulous way, some critics may be induced to think, that the WALTER, archdeacon of Oxford , from whom Geoffrey of Monmouth professes to have received the materials of his his tory, was this Walter Mapes, and not Walter Calenius, who was also an eminent scholar, and an archdeacon of Oxford. [ See supr. p . 69.] Geoffrey says in his Dedication to Robert earl of Gloucester, “ Finding nothing said in Bede or Gildas of king Arthur and his successour's, although their actions highly deserved to be recorded in writing, and are orally cele brated by the British bards, I was much surprised at so strange an omission. At length Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, aman of great eloquence, and learned in foreign histories, offered me an ancient book in the British or Armorican tongue; which , in one unbroken story, and an elegant diction, related the deeds of the British kings from Brutus to Cadwallader. At his re quest, although unused to rhetorical flourishes, and contented with the simplicity of myown plain language, I undertook the translation of that book into Latin , ” B. i. ch. i . See also B. xii.- Some writers suppose, that. Geoffrey pretended to : have received his materials from archdeacon Walter, by way of authenticating his romantic history. These notices seem to disprove that suspicion . In the year 1488, a French romance was published, in two magnificent folio volumes, entitled, Hisch . xx . [ From a passage in the French ro- chevalier le roi.” But so much confusion mance of Lancelot du Lac, M. Roque- prevails upon this subject, that it is al fort is of opinion that there were two most impossible to name the author of persons of this name. In that he is any prose romance. - Edit.] styled “ messire Gautier Map qui fut ENGLISH POETRY. 159 TOIRE de Roy ARTus et des CHEVALIERS de la TABLE RONDE. The first volume was printed at Rouen, the second at Paris. It contains in four detached parts, the Birth and Achievements of King Arthur, the Life of Sir Lancelot, the Adventure of the Sangreal, and the Death of Arthur, and his Knights. In the body of the work, this romance more than once is said to be written by Walter Map or Mapes, and by the command of his master king Henry. For instance, tom . ii. at theend of PARTIE DU SAINT GRAAL, Signat. ddi. “ Cy fine Maistre GUALTIER Map son traittie du Saint Graal.”. Again , tom . ii. LA DERNIERE PARTIE, ch. i. Signat. dd ii. “ Apres ce que Maistre GUAL TIER MAP eut tractię des avantures du Saint Graal, assez sou fisamment, sicomme il luy sembloit, il fut ad adviz au ROY HENRY SON SEIGNEUR, que ce quil avoit fait ne debuit soufrire sil ne racontoys la fin de ceulx dont il fait mention . Et commence Maistre Gualtier en telle manier ceste derniere partie." This derniere partie treats of the death of king Arthur and his knights. At the end of the second tome there is this colophon : “Cy fine le dernier volume de La Table Ronde, faisant men cion des fais et proesses de monseigneur Launcelot du Lac et dautres plusieurs nobles et vaillans hommes ses compagnons. Compile et extraict precisement et au juste des vrayes histoires faisantes de ce mencion par tresnotable et tresexpert historien Maistre GUALTIER MAP, et imprime a Paris par Jehan du Pre. Et lan du grace, mil. cccc. iiiixx. et viii. le xvi jour du Septembre.” The passage quoted above from the royal manuscript in the British Museum , where king Arthur orders the adventures of the Sangreal to be chronicled, is thus repre sented in this romance. “ Et quant Boort eut compte depuis le commencement jusques a la fin les avantures du Saint Graal telles comme ils les avoit veues, &c. Si fist le roy Artus re diger et mettre par escript aus dictz clers tout ci que Boort avoit compte, & c. Ibid. tom . ï. La Partie du Saint GRAAL, ch. ult. w At the end of the royal manuscript at Paris, ( Cod. w Just before it is said , “ Le roy tures aux chevalliers mettoient en Artus fist venir les CLERcs qui les aven- escript.” As in Mort D'ARTHUR. 160 THE HISTORY OF 6783.] entitled LANCELOT DU Lac mis en François par Robert de Borron par le commandement de Henri roi d'Angleterre, it is said, that Messire Robert de Borron translated into French, not only LANCELOT, but also the story of the Saint Graal li tout du Latin du GAUTIER MAPPE. But the French antiqua ries in this sort of literature are of opinion, that the word Latin, here signifies Italian ; and that by this Latin of Gualtier Mapes, we are to understand English versions of those ro mances made from the Italian language. The French History of the SANGREAL, printed at Paris in folio by Gallyot du Pré in 1516, is said , in the title, to be translated from Latin into French rhymes, and from thence into French prose by Robert Borron. This romance was reprinted in 1523. Caxton's MORTE ARTHUR, finished in the year 1469, pro fesses to treat of various separate histories. But the matter of the whole is so much of the same sort, and the heroes and ad ventures of one story are so mutually and perpetually blended with those of another, that no real unity or distinction is pre served. It consists of twenty -one books. The first seven books treat of king Arthur. The eighth , ninth, and tenth, of sir Try stram . The eleventh and twelfth , of sir Lancelot * . The thir teenth of the SAINGRAL, which is also called sir Lancelot's Book. The fourteenth of sir Percival. The fifteenth , again, of sir Launcelot. The sixteenth of sir Gawaine. The seven teenth, of sir Galahad . [ But all the four last-mentioned books are also called the historye ofthe holy Sancgreall.] The eigh teenth and nineteenth , of miscellaneous adventures. The two last, of king Arthur and all the knights. Lwhyd mentions a Welsh SANGREALL, which, he says, contains various fables of king Arthur and his knights, &c. ARCHÆOLOG . Brit. Tit. vii. p. 265. col. 2. MORTE ARTHUR is often literally translated from various and very antient detached histories of the he roes of the round table, which I have examined ; and on the

• But at the end, this twelfth book is hersall of the thyrd booke ( of Six Tris called the second booke of Syr TrystRAM. TRAD ." ]

And it is added, “ But here is no re ENGLISH POETRY. 161 whole, it nearly resembles Walter Map's romance above men tioned, printed at Rouen and Paris, both in matter and dispo sition. I take this opportunity of observing, that a very valuable vellum fragment of LE Brut, of which the writing is uncom monly beautiful and of high antiquity, containing part of the story of Merlin and king Vortigern, covers a manuscript of Chaucer's ASTROLABE, lately presented , together with several Oriental manuscripts, to the Bodleian library, by Thomas Hedges, esquire, of Alderton in Wiltshire ; a gentleman pos sessed of many curious manuscripts, and Greek and Roman coins, and most liberal in his communications. VOL. I. M 162 THE HISTORY OF 1 1 SECTION IV. 1 VARIOUS matters suggested by the Prologue of Richard CUEUR DE Lyon, cited in the last section, have betrayed us into a long digression, and interrupted the regularity of our annals. But I could not neglect so fair an opportunity of preparing the reader for those metrical tales, which , having acquired a new cast of fiction from the Crusades and a magnificence of man ners from the increase of chivalry, now began to be greatly multiplied, and as it were professedly to form a separate spe cies of poetry. I now therefore resume the series, and proceed to give some specimens of the English metrical romances which appeared before or about the reign of Edward the Second : and although most of these pieces continued to be sung by the minstrels in the halls of our magnificent ancestors for some centuries afterwards, yet as their first appearance may most probably be dated at this period, they properly coincide in this place with the tenour of our history. In the mean time, it is natural to suppose, that by frequent repetition and successive , changes of language during many generations, their original simplicity must have been in some degree corrupted. Yet some of the specimens are extracted from manuscripts written in the reign of Edward the Third. Others indeed from printed copies, where the editors took great liberties in accommodating the language to the times. However, in such as may be sup posed to have suffered most from depravations of this sort, the substance of the ancient style still remains, and at least the structure ofthe story. On the whole, we mean to give the reader an idea of those popular heroic tales in verse, professedly writ ten for the harp, which began to be multiplied among us about the beginning of the fourteenth century. We will begin with - the romance of Richard CUEUR DE Lyon, already mentioned. ENGLISH POETRY. 163 The poem opens with the marriage of Richard's father, Henry the Second, with the daughter of Carbarryne, a king of Antioch. But this is only a lady of romance. Henry mar ried Eleanor the divorced queen of Louis of France. The minstrels could not conceive any thing less than an Eastern princess to be the mother of this magnanimous hero. His barons hym seddel That he graunted a wyff to wedde. Hastely he sente hys sondes Into many dyuerse londes, The feyreste wyman that wore on liff Men wolde bringe hym to wyff. * The messengers or ambassadors, in their voyage, meet a ship adorned like Cleopatra's galley. Swylk on ne seygh they never non ; All it was whyt of huel-bon , And every nayl with gold begrave : Offpure gold was the stave , Her mast was [ of ] yvory ; Off samyte the sayl wytterly. Her ropes wer off tuely sylk, Al so whyt as ony mylk . 3

• [ The present text has been taken son with Richard's real history . Of the from the edition of this romance by Mr. story in its uncorrupted state, he consi Weber, who followed amanuscript ofno ders a fragment occurring in the Au very early date in Caius College library, chinlech MS. to be an English transla Cambridge. The variations between tion ; and as this document was “ tran this and the early printed editions, con- scribed in the minority of Edward III.”

sist principally in the use of a morean- the following declaration of Mr. Weber tiquated phraseology, with some trifling may not exceed the truth : - " There is changes of the sense. The most im- no doubt that our romance existed be portant of these are given in the notes fore the year 1300, as it is referred to in below . Mr. Ellis, who has analysed this the Chroniclesof Richard(Robert] of romance (vol. ii. p. 186) , conceives the Gloucester and Robert de Brunne; and fable in its present formto have origi- as these rhymesters wrote for mere En nated with the reign of Edward I. ; and glish readers, it is not to be supposed that that the extravagant fictions it contains they would refer them to a French ori were grafted by someNorman minstrel ginal.” - Edit.] upon an earlier narrative, more in uni ? [ redde, advised .] 2 [ sholde.] 3 [sklave, rudder : -clavus.] M 2 164 THE HISTORY OF 6 That noble schyp was al withoute, With clothys of golde sprede aboute ; And her loof * and her wyndas ", Off asure forsothe it was. In that schyp ther wes i -dyght, Knyghts and ladyys ofmekyll myght; And a lady therinne was, Bryght as the sunne thorugh the glas. Her men aborde gunne to stonde, And sesyd that other with her honde, And prayde hem for to dwelle And her counsayl for to telle : And they graunted with all skylle For to telle al at her wylle : “ Swo wyde landes we have went For kyng Henry us has sent, For to seke hym a qwene The fayreste that myghte fonde bene. ” Upros a kyng off a chayer With that word they spoke ther. The chayer was [ of ] charboncle ston, Swylk on ne sawgh they never non : And tuo dukes hym besyde, Noble men and mekyl off pryde, And welcomed the messangers ylkone. Into that schyp they gunne gone... They sette tresteles and layde a borde ; Cloth of sylk theron was sprad, And the kyng hymselve bad, That his doughter were forth fette, And in a chayer before hym sette . Trumpes begonne for to blowe; Sche was sette forth in a throweb b immediately. 4 [ loft, deck .] 5 [wyndlace. ] 6 [“ To dyverse londes do wewende. " ] ENGLISH POETRY. 165 With twenty knyghtes her aboute And moo off ladyes that wer stoute.... Whenne they had nygh i-eete, Adventures to speke they nought forgeete. The kyng ham tolde, in hys resoun It com hym thorugh a vysyoun , In his land that he cam froo, Into Yngelond for to goo ; And his doughtyr that was so dere For to wende bothe in fere ', “ In this manere we have us dyght Into that lande to wende ryght.” Thenne aunsweryd a messanger, Hys name was callyd Bernager, “ Forther wole we seke nought To my lord she schal be brought.” They soon arrive in England, and the lady is lodged in the Tower of London, one of the royal castles . The messangers the kyng have tolde Of that ladye fayr and bold, Ther he lay in the Tour Off that lady whyt so flour. Kyng Henry gan hym son dyght, With erls, barons, and manye a knyght, Agayn the lady for to wende : For he was curteys and hende. The damysele on lond was led, And clothes of gold before her spred, And her fadyr her beforn With a coron off gold icorn ; The messangers be ylk a syde And menstralles with mekyl pryde Kyng Henry lyght in hyyng And grette fayr that uncouth kyng.... To Westemenstre they wente in fere Lordyngs and ladys that ther were. company. 166 THE HISTORY OF Trumpes begonne for to blowe, To meted they wente in a throwe, & c. The first of our hero's achievements in chivalry is at a splendid tournament held at Salisbury. Clarendon near Sa lisbury was one of the king's palaces f. Kyng Rychard gan hym dysguyse, In a ful strange queyntyse . He cam out of a valaye For to se of theyr playe, As a knyght aventurous. Hys atyre was orgoloush: Al togyder cole black Was hys horse withoute lacke ; Upon hys crest a raven stode, That yanedi as he wer wode. He bare a schafte that was grete and strong, It was fourtene foot long ; And it was grete and stout, One and twenty ynches about. * d to dinner. e line 135. inceptis per eundem Nicolaum et non * In the pipe-rolls of this king's reign, perfectis ,5261. 16s. 5d. ob .per Br. Reg ." I find the following articles relating to Again, Rot. Pip. 39 Hen . III. “ SUD this ancient palace, which has been al- HAMT. Comp. Novæ foreste . Et in tri ready mentioned incidentally. Rot. Pip. ginta miliaribus scindularum ( shingles] 1 Ric. I. “ WILTES. Et incariagio vini faciend. in eadem foresta et cariand. eas Regis a Clarendon usque Woodestoke, dem usque Clarendon ad domum regis 34s. 4d . per Br. Reg. Etpro ducendis ibidem cooperiandam , 6l. et 1 marc. per 200 m . [marcis] a Saresburia usque Bris- Br. Reg. Et in 30 mill. scindularum tow , 78. 4d . per Br. Reg. Et pro du- faciend . in eadem , et cariand. usque cendis 2500 libris a Saresburia usque Clarendon, 11l. 10s.' And again , in Glocestriam , 26s. 10d. per Br. Reg. Et the same reign the canons of Ivy -church pro tonellis et clavis ad eosdem denarios. receive pensions for celebrating inthe Et in cariagio de 4000 marcis a Sarum royal chapel there. Rot. Pip . 7 Hen.III. usque Suthanton, et pro tonellis et aliis « Wilres. Et canonicis de monasterio necessariis, 8s. et id. per Br. Reg. ederoso ministrantibus in Capella de And again in the reign of Henry the Clarendon . 35lo 7d. ob.” Stukeley is Third. Rot. Pip. 30 Hen. III. “ WILTE- mistaken in saying this palace was built SCIRE. Et in una marcelsia ad opus by king Johin . regis et reginæ apud Clarendon cum 8 See Du Cange, Gl. Lat. COINTISE. duobus interclusoriis, et duabus cameris proud, pompous. yawned . privatis, hostio veteris aulæ amovendo in * [ It is “ One and twenti inches porticu, et de eademaula camera facienda aboute .” Șo doctor Farmer's manu cum camino et fenestris, et camera pri- script, purchased from Mr. Martin'sli vata, et quadam magna coquina quadrata, brary .See supr. p. 124. Notei. This et aliis operationibus, contentis in Brevi, is in English. -- ADDITIONS.] >> h ENGLISH POETRY. 167 The fyrst knyght that he there mette, Ful egyrly he hym grette, With a dente amyd the schelde; His hors he bar doun in the felde, &c.k A battle -ax which Richard carried with him from England into the Holy Land is thus described. King Richard, I understond, Or he went out of Englond, Let him make an axel for the nones, To breke therwith the Sarasynsm bones. The head was wrought right wele ; Therin was twenty pounde of stele ; And when he came into Cyprus lond, The ax he tok in his hond. All that he hit he all to -frapped ; The griffons away fast rapped ; Natheles many he cleaved, And their unthanks ther by lived ; And the prisoun when he cam to , With his ax he smot right tho, Dores, barres, and iron chains, & c. This formidable axe is again mentioned at the siege of Acon or Acre, the antient Ptolemais. Kyng Rychard aftyr, anon ryght, Toward Acres gan hym dyght; I line 267, i Richard's battle -ax » The Byzantine Greeks are often is also mentioned by Brunne, and on called Griffones by the historians of the this occasion , Chron . p . 159. middle ages. See Du Cange Gloss. m The Crusades imported the phrase Ville- Hard. p. 363 . See also Rob . Jeu Sarrazionois , for anysharp engage- Brun. Chron. p . 151. 157. 159. 160. ment, into the old French romances . 165. 171. 173. Wanley supposes that Thus in the Roman of ALEXANDER, the Griffin in heraldry was intended to MSS. Bibl. Bodl. ut supr. P. i. signifya Greek , or Saracen, whom they Tholomer" le regrette et le plaint en thus represented under the figure of an Grijois, imaginary eastern monster, which never Et dist que s'il cussent o culz telz vingt existed but as an armorial badge. et trois, line 2196. Il nous eussent fet un JEU SARRAZIONOIS. 168 THE HISTORY OF and more, And as he saylyd toward Surryep, He was warnyd, off a spye, How the folk off the hethene lawe, A gret cheyne hadden i -drawe, Over the havene of Acres fers, And was festnyd to two pelers, That noo schyp ne scholde in -wynne ", Ne they nought out that wer withynne. Therfore sevene yer Alle Crystene kynges leyen thore, And with gret hongyr suffryd payne, For lettyng off that ilke chayne. Kyng Richard herd that tydyng ; For joye hys herte beganne to sprynge, And swor and sayde, in his thought, That ylke chayne scholde helpe hem nought A swythe strong galeye he took , And " Trenchemer ", so says the book, Steryd the galey ryght ful evene, Ryght in the mýddes off the havene. Wer the maryners saughte or wrothe, He made hem sayle and rowe bothe; And kynge Rychard, that was so good, With hys axe in foreschyp stood . And whenne he com the cheyne too, With hys ax he smot it in two, That all the barouns, verrayment, Sayde it was a noble dent ;

• Rob . Brun . Chron . p . 170.

9 So Fabyan of Rosamond's bower, The kynge's owne galeie he cald it “ that no creature, man orwoman,myght Trencthemere. wynne to her . ” i. e. go in, by contraction , Thus R. de Brunne « he fon Win . Chron . vol. i. p . 320. col. i . edit. dred the Sarazynsotuynne. ” p . 574. He 1533. (pinnan A. S. to labour, strive at, forced the Saracens into two parties. and hence attain to by labour. - Edit.ſ ( Vid. supra, p. 76. Note 8. ] P Syria. $ says, ? [“ Trenchemere, so saith the boke... The galey yede as swift As ony fowle by the lyfte . " ] ENGLISH PO ET RY. 169 And for joye off this dede, The cuppes fast abouten yede ', With good wyn, pyement and clarré ; And saylyd toward Acres cyté. Kyng Richard , oute of hys galye, Caste wylde-fyr into the skeye, And fyr Gregeys into the see, And al on fyr wer thê. Trumpes yede in hys galeye, Men myghte it here into the skye, Taboures and hornes Sarezyneys , The see brent all off fyr Gregeys “. This fyr Gregeys, or Grecian fire, seems to be a composition belonging to the Arabian chemistry. It is frequently mentioned by the Byzantine historians, and was very much used in the wars of the middle ages, both by sea and land. It was a sort of wild - fire, said to be inextinguishable by water, and chiefly used for burning ships, against which it was thrown in pots or phials by the hand. In land engagements it seems to have been discharged by machines constructed on purpose. The oriental Greeks pretended that this artificial fire was invented by Cal linicus, an architect of Heliopolis, under Constantine; and that Constantine prohibited them from communicating the manner of making it to any foreign people. It was however in com mon use among the nations confederated with the Byzantines: and Anna Comnena has given an account of its ingredients W, which were bitumen , sulphur, and naphtha. It is called feu gregois in the French chronicles and romances. Our minstrel, I believe, is singular in saying that Richard scattered this fire on Saladin's ships : many monkish historians of the holy war, in describing the siege of Acon, relate that it was employed on that occasion, and many others, by the Saracens against the w See Du Cange, Not. ad Joinvil. p. 71. And Gl. Lat. V. IGNIS GRÆCUS. t went. u line 2593. & [ shalmys, shawm's. ] 170 THE HISTORY OF Christians * . Procopius, in his history of the Goths, calls it Medea's Oil, as if it had been a preparation used in the sorceries of that enchantress Y. The quantity of huge battering rams and other military engines, now unknown, which Richard is said to have trans ported into the Holy Land, was prodigious. The names of some of them are given in another part of this romance 2 . It is an historical fact, that Richard was killed by the French ' from the shot of an arcubalist, a machine which he often work ed skillfully with his own hands: and Guillaume le Briton, a Frenchman, in his Latin poem called Philippeis, introduces Atropos making a decree, that Richard should die by no other means than by a wound from this destructive instrument ; the use of which, after it had been interdicted by the Pope in the year 1139, he revived, and is supposed to have shewn the French in the Crusades a . Sunnes he hadde, on wondyr wyse ; Mangneleso off gret queintyseº; Z

• See more particularly Chron. Rob. Abb. p. 621. ed. Hearn . sub ann. 1190 .

Brun. p. 170. And Benedict. Abb. Robert de Brunne mentions thisengine p. 652. And Joiny. Hist. L. p. 39. 46. from our romance . Chron. p. 157. 52. 53. 62. 70 . The romancer it sais Richarde did make Y iv . 11. a pele, Twenty grete gynnes for the nones On kastelle wise allwais wrought of tre Kynge Richard sent for to cast ful wele. stones, & c . In schip he ded it lede, & c . Among thesewere the Mategriffon and His pele from that dai forward he cald it the Robynet. Sign. N. ii. The former Mate- griffon. of theseis thus described. Sign. E. üïi. Pele is a house (a castle, fortification ). I have a castell I understonde Archbishop Turpin mentions Charle Is made of tembre of Englonde le's wooden castles at the siege of a With syxe stages full of tourelles Well flouryshed with cornelles, &c. in France. cap . ix. city See Carpentier's Suppl. Du Cange, See Du Cange Not. Joinv. p. 68. MATE- Lat. Gl. tom . i. p . 434. And Du Cange GRYFFON is the Terror or plague of the ad Ann. Alex. p. 357. Greeks. Du Cange, in his Gallo- Byzan- • See supr. p. 71. Note ^ . It is observ tine history, mentions a castle of this able, that MANGANUM, Mangonell, was name in Peloponnesus. Benedict says, not known among the Roman military that Richard erected a strong castle, machines, but existed first in Byzantine which he called Mate-gryffon , on thebrow Greek Mayyavov, a circumstance which of a steep mountain without the walls of seems to point out its inventors, atleast the city of Messina in Sicily. Benedict. to shew that it belonged to the Oriental 8 [gynnes, engines. ] ENGLISH POETRY. 171 Arwblast bowe, and with gynne The Holy Lond for to wynne. Ovyr al othyr wyttyrly, A melled he hadde off gret maystry ; In myddys a schyp for to stand ; Swylke on sawgh nevyr man in land Four sayles wer theretoo, Yelew, and grene, red and bloo. With canevas layd wel al about, Ful schyr withinne and eke without; Al withinne ful off feer, Of torches maad with wex ful cleer ; Ovyrtwart and endelang, With strenges of wyr the stones hangº ; Stones that deden never note , Grounde they never whete, no grote, But rubbyd as they wer wood . Out of the eye ran red blood e. art of war . It occurs often in the By- CHRISTIANA mentions a vast area at Con zantine Tactics, although at the same stantinople in which the machines of time it was perhaps derived from the war were kept. p. 155. Latin Machina : yet the Romans do not See supr. p. 166. Note 8. appear to have used in their wars so for- e This device is thus related by Robert midable and complicated an engine, as of Brunne, Chron. p. 175. 176. this isdescribed to have beenin the Richard als suithe did raise his engyns writers of the dark ages. It was the capital machine of thewars ofthose ages. The Inglis wer than blythe, Normans and Petevyns: Du Cange in his CONSTANTINOPOLIS d mill. 9 ( made.] 10*[With spryngelles of fyre they dyde honde. ) - Espringalles, Fr. engines. See Du Cange, Gl. La SPINGARDA, QUADRELLUS. And Not. Joinv . p. 78. Perhaps he means pellets of tow dipped in the Grecian fire, which sometimes were thrown from a sort of mortar. Joinville says, that the Greek fire thrown from a mortar looked like a huge dragon flying through the air, and that at midnight the flashes of it illuminated the Christian camp, as if it had been broad day. When Louis's army was encamped on the banks of the Thanis in Ægypt, says the same curious historiar, about the year 1249, they erected two chats chateils, or covered galleries, to shelter their workmen , and at the end of them two befrois, or vast moveable wooden towers, full of crossbow men, who kept a continual discharge on the op posite shore. Besides eighteen other new -invented engines for throwing stones and bolts. But in one night, the deluge of Greek fireejected from the Saracen camp utterly destroyed these enormous machines. This was a common disaster ; but Joinville says, that his pious monarch sometimes averted the danger, by pro strating himself on the ground, and invoking our Saviour with the appellation of Beau Sire. p. 37. 39. 172 THE HISTORY OF Beffore the trowgh there stood on ; Al in blood he was begon ; And hornes grete upon his hede, Sarezynes theroff hadde gret dredef. The last circumstance recalls a fiend - like appearance drawn by Shakespeare ; in which, exclusive of the application, he has converted ideas of deformity into the true sublime, and rendered an image terrible, which in other hands would have probably been ridiculous. Methought his eyes Were two full moons, he had a thousand noses, Horns whelk'd and wav'd like the enridged sea. It was some fiend At the touch of this powerful magician, to speak in Milton's language, “ The griesly terror grows tenfold more dreadful and deform ." The moving castles described by our minstrel, which seem to be so many fabrics of romance, but are founded in real history, afforded suitable materials for poets who deal in the marvellous. Accordingly they could not escape the fabling genius of Tasso, who has made them instruments of enchant ment, and accommodated them , with great propriety, to the operations of infernal spirits. At the siege of Babylon, the soldan Saladin sends king Richard a horse. The messenger says, © Thou sayest thy God is ful ofmyght: Wylt thou graunt, with spere and scheeld, In bargeis and galeis he set mylnes to go, Rynes is the river Rhine, whose shores The sailes, as men sais, som were blak or bottom supplied the stones shot from and blo, their military engines. The Normans, Som were rede and grene, the wynde a barbarous people, appear to have used about them blewe. machines ofimmenseand very artificial The stones were of Rynes, the noyse construction at the siege of Paris in 885 dreadfull and grete See the last note. And Vit. Saladin . per It affraied the Sarazins, as leven the fyre Schultens, p. 135. 141. 167, &c. out schete. f line 2631. The noyse was unride, &c. King Lear, iv. vi. g ENGLISH POETRY. 173 Deraye the ryght in the feeld , With helm , hawberk and brondes bryght On strong stedes, good and lyght, Whether is off more power Jesu or Jubyter ? And he sente thé to say this, Yiff thou wilt have an hors [of] hys ? In alle the landes ther thou hast gon , Swylk on say thou nevyr non ! Favel off Cypre, ne Lyard off Prys", Are nought at nede as that he is ; And, yiff thou wylt, this selve day, It shall be brought the to asay." Quoth kyng Richard : “Thou sayest wel ; Swylke an hors, by Seynt Mychel, I wolde have to ryde upon. Bydde hym sende that hors to me ; I schal asaye, what that he be. Yiff he be trusty, withoute fayle, I kepe non othir in batayle." h horses belonging to Richard, “ Favel He sent to king Richard a stede for cur of Cyprus and Lyard of Paris .” Ro- teisie bert de Brunne mentions one of these On ofthebest reward that was in paemie. horses, which he calls PHANUEL. Chron. [ In the wardrobe- roll of prince Ed ward, afterwards king Edward the Se cond, under the year 1272, the masters Sithen at Japhet was slayn PHANUEL his of the horse render their accounts for stede, The Romans telles gret pas ther of his and prices with the greatest accuracy. horses purchased , specifying the colours douhty dede. One of them is called , “ Unus equus ra VELLUS cum stella in fronte, &c. Hearne's This is our romance , viz. Sign. Q. iii. Joann. DE TROKELOWE. Præf. p. xxvi. To hym gadered every chone Here favellus is interpreted by Hearne Andslewe FAVELL under hym, to be honeycomb. I suppose he under Tho was Richard wroth and grym . stands a dappled or roan horse. But FAVELLUS, evidently an adjective, is bar This was at the siegeof Jaffe, as it is barous Latin for FALVUS, or fulvus, a here called. Favell of Cyprus is again dun or light yellow, a word often used mentioned, Sign. O. ii. to expressthe colour of horsesand hawks. See Carpentier, SUPPL. Du Fresne Lat. FAVELL of Cyprus is forth fet Gloss. V. FAVELLUS. tom . ii. p. 370 . And in the sadell he hym sett. It is hence that king Richard's horse is Robert of Brunne says that Saladin's called FAVEL. From which word PHA brother sent king Richard a horse . NUEL, in Robert de Brunne, is a corrup Chron. p. 194 . ţion . --ADDITIONS. ] p. 175. 174 THE HISTORY OF The messanger thenne home wente, And tolde the Sawdon in presente, Hou kyng Richard wolde hym mete. The rych Sawdon, al so skete, A noble clerk he sente for thenne A maytyr negromacien , That conjuryd as [I] you telle, Thorwgh the feendes craft off helle , Twoo stronge feendes off the eyr, In lyknesse off twoo stedes feyr, Lyke, bothe of hewe and here ; As they sayde that wer there, Never was ther seen non slyke. That on was a mere lyke, That other a colt, a noble stede, Wher he wer, in ony nede, Was nevyr kyng ne knyghtk so bolde, That, whenne the dame neyghel wolde, Scholde hym holde agayn hys wylle, That he ne wolde renne her tylle " , And knele adoun, and souken hys dame: That whyle, the Sawdon with schame, Scholde kyng Richard soone aquelle. All thus an aungyl gan hym telle, That cam to hym aftyr mydnyght; And sayd “ Awake, thou Goddes knyght ! My lordº dos thè to undyrstande, The schal com an hors to hande ; Fayr he is off body pyght; Betraye thè yiff the Sawdon myght. On hym to ryde have thou no drede, He schal the help at thy nede. ” The angel then gives king Richard several directions about m go to her. n 1 necromancer .

• his rider.

i neigh, suck . o God. ENGLISH POETRY. 175 1

managing this infernal horse, and a general engagement ensu ing, between the Christian and Saracen armies , To lepe to hors thenne was he dyght; Into the sadyl or he leep, Off many thynge he took keep. Hys men him brought al that he badde. A quarry tree off fourty foote Before hys sadyl anon dyd hote Faste that men scholde it brace, &c. Hymself was rychely begoo, From the crest unto the too 4. He was armyd wondyr weel, And al with plates off good steel ; And ther aboven, an hawberk ; A schafft wrought off trusty werk ; On his schuldre a scheeld off steel, With three lupardes' wrought ful weel. An helme he hadde off ryche entayle ; Trusty and trewe hys ventayle ; On hys crest a douve whyte Sygnyfycacioun off the Holy Spryte : Upon a croys the douve stood Off golde wrought ryche and good. Gods hymself, Mary and Jhon , As he was naylyd the roode upon " , In sygne off hym for whom he faught, The spere-hed forgatt he naught: Upon hys spere he wolde it have, Goddes hygh name theron was grave. P In which the Saracen line extended 9 from head to foot. twelve miles in length , and * leopards. 8 Our Saviour. The grounde myght unnethe be sene For bryght armure and speres kene . t “ As he died upon the cross . So Again , in an old fragment cited by Hearne, Gloss. Rob. Br. p. 634. Lyke as snowe lyeth on the mountaynes So were fulfylled hylles and playnes Pyned under Ponce Pilat, With hauberkes bryght and harneys clere Don on the rod after that. Of trompettes, and tabourere. 176 THE HISTORY OF Now herkenes what oth they swore, Ar they to the batayle wore : Yiff it were soo , that Richard myght Sloo the Sawdon, in feeld with fyght, Hee, and alle hys scholde gon , At her wylle everilkon , Into the cytè off Babylone ; And the kyngdom of Massidoyne He scholde have undyr his hand : And yiff the Sawdon off that land, Myghte sloo Richard in that feeld, With swerd or spere undyr scheeld , That Cristene men scholde goo, Out off that land, for ever moo, And Sarezynes have her wylle in wolde. Quod kyng Richard : “ Thertoo I holde, Thertoo my glove, as I am knyght !” They ben armyd and wel i-dyght. Kyng Richard into the sadyl leep ; Who that wolde theroff took keep, To see, that syght was ful fayr. The stede ran ryght, with gret ayr“ , Al so harde as they myght dure, Aftyr her feet sprong the fure . Tabours beten, and trumpes blowe ; Ther myghte men see, in a throwe, How kyng Richard, the noble man , Encounteryd with the Sawdan, That cheef was told off Damas. W Hys trust upon hys mere was. Therfoore, as the booke telles * Hys crouper heeng al ful off belles y , been gallantly equipped on horseback, W I do not understand this. He seems unlessthe horse's bridle or some other to mean the Sultan of Damas, or Da- part of the furniture was stuck full of mascus. See Du Cange, Joinv. p . 87. Vincent of Beauvais, who * The French romance. wrote about 1264, censures this piece of y Antiently no person seems to have pride in the knights-templars. They u ire. small bells. ENGLISH POETRY. 177 mieties And his peytrel ? , and his arsouna; Three myle myghte men here the soun . The mere gan nygh, her belles to ryng, For grete pryde, withoute lesyng, A brod fawchoun to hym he bar, For he thought that he wolde thar Have slayn kyng Richard with tresoun , Whenne hys hors had knelyd doun, As a colt that scholde souke; And [ ac ? ] he was war off that pouke ". Hys eeres with wax wer stoppyd fast, Therfore was he nought agast. He strook the feend that undyr hym yede, And gaff the Sawdon a dynt off dede. In his blasoun , verrayment, Was i -paynted a serpent. With the spere, that Richard heeld, He beor him thorwgh and undyr the scheeld, None off hys armes myghte laste; Brydyl and peytrel al to -brast; Hys gerth, and hys steropes alsoo ; The mere to the grounde gan goo. have, he says, bridles embroidered, or That is, because his horse's bridle or gilded, or adorned with silver, “ Atque trappings were strung with bells. in pectoralibus CAMPANULAS INFIXAS The breast- plate, or breast -band of MAGNUM emittentes SONITUM ,ad gloriam a horse. Poitral, Fr. Pectorale, Lat. eorum et decorem . ” Hist. lib . xxx. cap . Thus Chaucer ofthe Chanones YEMAN'S 85. Wicliffe, in his TRIALOGE, inveighs horse. Chan. Yem. Prol. v. 575. Urr. against the priests for their " fair hors, and About the PAYTRELL stoode the fome ful jollyand gaysadeles, and bridles ringing hie. by the way, ” &c. Lewis's WICKLIFFE, And hence Chaucer may be a The saddle -bow . “ Arcenarium ex illustrated, who thus describes the state tencellatum cum argento," occurs in the of a monk on horseback . Prol. Cant. wardrobe rolls, ab an. 21 ad an. 23 v. 170. Edw. III. Membr. xi. This word is And when he rode, men might his bri- not in Du Cange orhis Supplement. dell here b F. bird . [broad .] GINGLING in a whistling wind as clere, Andekeas lowde, as doth the chapell bell. p . 121 . с ears . [" And he was ware of that shame. ] VOL. I. N 178 THE HISTORY OF 12 Mawgry him , he garte hym staupe Bakward ovyr hys meres croupe ; The feet toward the fyrmament. Behynd the Sawdon the spere out went. He leet hym lye upon the grene" ; He prekyd the feend with spores d kene ; In the name off the Holy Gost, He dryves into the hethene hoost, And al so soone as he was come, He brak asunder the scheltrome , For al that ever before hym stode Hors and man to erthe yode, Twenty foot on every syde, & c. Whenne they of Fraunce wyste, That the maystry hadde the Chryste, They wer bolde, her herte they tooke ; Stedes prekyd, schaufftes schooke.f Richard arming himself is a curious Gothic picture. It is certainly a genuine picture, and drawn with some spirit; as is the shock of the two necromantic steeds, and other parts of this description. The combat of Richard and the Soldan, on the event of which the christian army got possession of the city of Babylon, is probably the DUEL OF King RICHARD, painted on the walls of a chamber in the royal palace of Clarendons. The soldan * is represented as meeting Richard with a hawk on his fist, to shew indifference, or a contempt of his adversary ; and that he came rather prepared for the chace, than the com spurs. See Jamieson's Etymol. Scott. Dict. and e Schiltron . I believe, soldiers drawn Whitaker's Peirs Plouhman's Visions. up in a circle. Rob . de Brunne uses it – Edit. ] in describing the battle of Fowkirke, f Line 5642. 8 See supr. p. 118. Chron . p. 305. * [ This is founded on an erroneous Ther_SCHELTRON sone was shad with interpretation of the text, where War ton has mistaken “ A faucon brode, " Inglis that wer gode. (black letter edition ) or a broad fal Shad is separated. [ Scheltron, turma chion, for a falcon . — Edır.) clipeata, a troop armed with shields. [ " Maugre her heed, he made her seche The grounde, withoute more speche. ] [ 1° Ther he feli dede on the grene. ] d ENGLISH POETRY 179 bat. Indeed in the feudal times, and long afterwards, no gen tleman appeared on horseback, unless going to battle, without a hawk on his fist. In the Tapestry of the Norman conquest, Harold is exhibited on horseback, with a hawk on his fist, and his dogs running before him, going on an embassy from king Edward the Confessor to William duke of Normandy 5. Tabour, a drum , a common accompanyment of war, is men tioned as one of the instruments of martial music in this battle with characteristical propriety. It was imported into the Eu ropean armies from the Saracens in the holy war. The word is constantly written tabour, not tambour, in Joinville's HISTORY OF Saint Louis, and all the elder French romances. Joinville describes a superb bark or galley belonging to a Saracen chief, which he says was filled with cymbals , tabours, and Saracen hornsi. Jean d'Orronville, an old French chronicler of the life of Louis duke of Bourbon, relates, that the king of France, the king of Thrasimere, and the king of Bugie, landed in Africa, according to their custom , with cymbals, kettle drums, taboursk, and whistles '. Babylon, here said to be besieged by king Richard, and so frequently mentioned by the romance writers and the chroniclers ofthe crusades, is Cairo or Bagdat. Cairo

• The hawk on the fist was a mark among the most valuable articles of pro of great nobility. We frequently find perty .

it, upon antique seals and miniatures, i Histoir. de S. Loys, p. 30. The attributed to persons of both sexes. So original has “ Cors Sarazinois." See sacred was this bird esteemed, that it was also p . 52. 56, And Du Cange's Notes, forbidden in a code of Charlemagne's p. 61. laws, for any one to give his hawk or k I cannot find Glais, the word that his sword as part of his ransom . “ In follows, in the French dictionaries. But compositionem Wirigildi volumus ut ea perhapsit answers to our old English dentur quæ in lege continentur ercepto Glee. See Du Cange, Gl. Lat. v . accipitre et spatha.” Lindebrog. Cod. CLASSICUM . [Roquefort, who cites the Leg. Antiq. p . 895. In the year 1337, same passage, calls Glais, a musical in the bishop of Ely excommunicated cer- strument, without defining its peculiar tain persons for stealinga hawk sitting nature. -EDIT.] on her perch in the cloisters of the Cap. 76. Nacaires is here the word abbey of Bermondsey in Southwark. for kettle-drums. See Du Cange, ubi Thispiece ofsacrilege, indeed , was com- supr. p. 59. Who also from an old roll mitted during service -time in the choir : de la chambre des COMPTES de Paris re and the hawk was the property of the cites, among the houshold musicians of bishop. Registr. AdamiOrleton , Episc . a French nobleman , “ Menestrel du Cor Winton. fol. 56. b. In Archiv. Winton. Sarazinois,” ib . p. 60. This instrument In DOMESDEI- BOOK, a Hawk's Airy is not uncommon in the French ro Aira Accipitris, is sometimes returned 1 mances. N 2 180 THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY. and Bagdat, cities of recent foundation, were perpetually con founded with Babylon, which had been destroyed many centu ries before, and was situated at a considerable distance from either. Not the least enquiry was made in the dark ages con cerning the true situation of places, or the disposition of the country in Palestine, although the theatre of so important a war ; and to this neglect were owing, in a great measure, the signal defeats and calamitous distresses of the christian adven turers, whose numerous armies, destitute of information, and cut off from every resource, perished amidst unknown moun tains and impracticable wastes. Geography at this time had been but little cultivated. It had been studied only from the antients : as if the face of the earth , and the political state of nations, had not, since the time of those writers, undergone any changes or revolutions. So formidable a champion was king Richard against the in fidels, and so terrible the remembrance of his valour in the holy war, that the Saracens and Turks used to quiet their froward children only by repeating his name. Joinville is the only writer who records this anecdote. He adds another of the same sort. When the Saracens were riding, and their horses started at any unusual object, “ils disoient a leurs chevaulx en les picquant de l'esperon, et cuides tu que ce soit le Roy Ri CHART" ? ” It is extraordinary, that these circumstances should have escaped Malmesbury, Matthew Paris, Benedict, Langtoft, and the rest of our old historians, who have exaggerated the character of this redoubted hero, by relating many particulars more likely to be fabulous, and certainly less expressive of his prowess. m Hist. de S. Loyis, p. 16. 104. Who nicle of the holy war. See Du Cange's had it from a French manuscript chro- Notes, p. 45. NOTE ON THE ROMANCE OF SIR TRISTRAM. [ See page 78. ] THE romance of Sir Tristram , De Brunne's eulogium on which Warton has here cited, is usually supposed to be still extant. A poem purporting to be such was published some years ago by Sir Walter Scott, from a manuscript con tained in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh ; and accom panied by a large body of notes in illustration of the singularly beautiful story, with a prefatory dissertation on the age and character of the presumed author. In the latter, the distin guished editor has exercised the united powers of his ingenuity and erudition, to prove that the poem which he has thus ushered into the world is the same which is alluded to by De Brunne ; and that it was composed by the Scottish poet noticed by Warton, Thomas of Erceldoune, called the Rymer.' The premises upon which these opinions are founded have ever appeared to the writer of this note to be both fanciful and unsatisfactory ; and in entering into an examination of their validity, he is fortunate in having the example and arguments of Mr. Campbell to favour his attempt. The chain of evidence by which Sir Walter Scott has endeavoured to substantiate his theory, may be thus briefly stated . The æra of Thomas the Rymer ( as originally fixed ) lies between the years 1219-1296. At a subsequent period the earlier date was withdrawn, and his birth was referred to the close of the twelfth century. With this Thomas the Rymer it is urged we onght to identify the Thomas mentioned by De Brunne ; and to accept the poem preserved in the Auchinleck MS. either as the original romance ofthat writer, or as one whose " general texture and form closely resemble it.” In defence of the Rymer's claim to an “ ori ginal property ” in this story, a fragment of a French romance 182 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE is cited, containing a reference to one “ Thomas” as the most authentic writer on the subject; and a passage from Godfrey of Strasburg, the author of a German version, is also adduced to show that he likewise followed the narrative of one Thomas of Brittanie. The date of the former document is fixed by conjecture at 1257 ; the age of Godfrey, with more probability, in the early half of the 13th century. With regard to the Rymer's death, it is a fact of such uncertain date, that all we positively know is, -it may have occurred between the years 1286–1299. The testimony of Blind Harry, upon which the date of 1296 reposes, is more than suspicious. The same po litical spirit which produced the numerous vaticinal rymes in favour of the successful Edward's invasion of Scotland, would naturally be combated by similar weapons in the sister king dom . With these the Rymer may or may not have been connected ; but when we recollect the general practice of in troducing the seer's agency into every national epos, such a circumstance, however contrary to fact, will rather appear es sential than surprising, in the composition of a genuine de scendant of the ancient minstrel, bard, or rhapsodist. Unsup ported by other authority, it would be useless to assume such a declaration as the basis of an historical argument; and as the rejection of it rather assists than impugns the theory here op posed, it may be dismissed without further comment. The date of the Rymer's birth is purely hypothetical; it may be limited by probability ; but in the present state of the evidence, any thing like certainty is perfectly hopeless. The testimony of De Brunne to the existence of poetry by “ Erceldoune and Kendale, ” and the singular style in which it was written, is unequivocal. But it may be questioned, whether any one, unassisted by the Auchinleck MS. , “ the faint vestiges of whose text, as well as probability, dictated Erceldoune " in the following passage, would have known to which of these writers “ Sir Tristram ” ought to be assigned . I was at ( Erceldoune ), With Tomas spake I there. OF SIR TRISTR A M. 183 The language of De Brunne is so loose and confused , that it might be attributed to either. I see in song in sedgeyng tale, Of Erceldoun and of Kendale ; Non tham says as thai tham wroght, And in ther sayng it semes noght. That may thou here in Sir Tristrem , Over gestes it has the steem , Over all that is or was, If men it sayd as made Thomas ; Bot I here it no man say, That of some copple som is away ; So thare fayre saying here beforne, Is thare travayle nere forlorne : Thai sayd it for pride and nobleye, That non were suylk as thei. But, waving these considerations, the most important point for examination arises from the internal evidence to be found in the alleged romance of Sir Tristram ; and upon which De Brunne has been so explicitly circumstantial. Thai sayd it in so quainte Inglis, That manyone wate not what it is. Therfore heuyed wele the more In strange ryme to travayle sore. And my witte was oure thynne, So strange speche to travayle in ; And forsoth I couth noght So strange Inglis as thai wroght; And men besoght me many a tyme, To turne it bot in light ryme. It is true, the ingenious editor of Sir Tristram " considers all these peculiarities to exist in the Auchinleck poem . He

• In the Preface to Sir Tristram this “ they wrote for pride ( fame), and for

line is thusgiven : “ That were not suylk nobles, not such as these my ignorant as thei. ” This error has engendered a hearers. ” wrong interpretation of the passage : 184 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE 1 66 conceives the “ quaint Inglis ” to consist in a peculiar structure of style , which he designates “ the Gibbonism of romance ; ” the “ strange ryme” to be manifested by the intricate arrange ment of the stanza , with its repetition of the same assonances; and that even the inaccuracies of the “ seggers, ” mentioned in the preceding extract, are still to be traced in the omission of several couplets in various parts of the poem . But if there be meaning in language, or connexion in the narrative of De Brunne, his “ quaint Inglis,” his “ strange Inglis," and his “ strange speche, ” all resolve themselves into the employment of an unusual phraseology dependent upon his “ strange ryme, " and not into any peculiarity of style ;—into the use of terms above the comprehension of the vulgar, which time had rendered obsolete, or fashion had adopted from exotic sources. For he proceeds to observe : Thai sayd if I in strange it turne, To here it many on suld skurne ; For [in] it ere names fulle selcouthe, That ere not used now in mouthe. And therfore for the commonalté, That blythely wild listen to me, On light lange I it began, For luf of the lewed man. Of these “ selcouthe names” what traces do we find in the ro mance of Sir Tristram , which are not to be met with in equal abundance in the poems of DeBrunne ? If the former be a specimen of that“ quaint Inglis, ” which couldjustify De Brunne in saying it contained “ names not used now in mouthe," upon what principle can we allow this cloistered versifier to have avoided the same peculiarity in his own composition ? His own poems are equally quaint and equally prolific of that same ob solete phraseology, which limited the popularity of his admired predecessors; for whoever will be at the trouble of analysing the language of both writers, will find their archaisms nearly corresponding in amount, though frequently differing in verbal OF SI R TRISTRA M. 185 import. With this knowledge, we are either reduced to the necessity of concluding, that there is a strange contradiction between the intention and practice of De Brunne, or that the romance of Sir Tristram still extant is not the production to which he has alluded. There is, however, a passage in this early chronicler, which will relieve him of this apparent charge of inconsistency, if we accept the only interpretation of which his language seems capable. He has stated of the seggours, who recited this romance : Bot I here it no man so say That of some copple som is away. The editor of Sir Tristram renders this : “ he never heard it repeated, but what of some copple ( i. e. stanza) part was omit ted .” It does not appear upon what authority this explanation of " copple ” is founded ; and it would be difficult to point out any period in our language, when that expression implied more than the simple connexion of two distinct bodies. It is clearly equivalent to our modern " couplet; " and the examples brought from Sir Tristram ( which is written in stanzas) to illustrate the censure of De Brunne, exhibit the suppression of whole cop ples, and not the omission of a part. In Anglo - Saxon verse, and its genuine descendant, the alliterative metre of early En glish poetry, the “ copple ” was as indispensable in the structure of a poem , as we now consider it to be in regular Iambic rymes ; and it is among the commonest faults of every early transcriber, to commit the error noticed by De Brunne, and to give us a text, of which it may be truly said, “ that of some copple som is away. ” This negligence is frequent in Beowulf and other Anglo - Saxon poems, to the great confusion of the narrative ; and would indeed be a source of infinite perplexity, if the de fective alliteration it occasions did not as clearly mark the hiatus as would be the case with an unconsorted ryme. Of this practice the following example out of many may suffice. Them feower bearn, To him four bairns, forth gerimed, numbered (rimed ) forth, 186 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE in worold wocun , weoroda ræswa, Heorogar and Hrothgar, and Halga til. Hyrde ic thet Elan cwen, ° in world awoke, ( leader of armies), Heorogar and Hrothgar, and Halga good. [ woman ) I heard that Elan queen (or heatho Scylfinga, illustrious Scylfing, heals -gebedda. bedded consort. Here the seventh line stands without the second member of the copple, an omission involving the history of Elan in some ob scurity. Whether this inadvertency be equally chargeable against the transcribers of early English poetry in the same national metre, must be left to the decision of some more ex perienced antiquary. But that all who sought distinction in the composition of vernacular poetry, or were stimulated in their effusions by “ pride and nobleye,” adopted this species of metre, is abundantly proved by the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis. After speaking of Welsh poetry in general, the topographer of the principality proceeds to observe: “ Præ cunctis autem rhetoricis exornationibus annominatione magis utuntur, eaque precipue specie quæ primas dictionum literas vel syllabas convenientia jungit. Adeo igitur hoc verborum ornatu, duæ nationes Angli scil. et Cambri in omni sermone exquisito [ faire saying ] utuntur, ut nihil ab his eleganter dic tum , nullum nisi rude et agreste ( lewed ] censeatur eloquium si non schematis hujus lima plene fuerit expolitum sicut Brit tanice in hunc modum : Digawn duw da y unic Wrth bob crybwylh parawd ' Ed. Thorkelin , p. 7. From some subsequent details it appears that Elan was married to Ongenthiow , chief of the Scylfings; and we might perhaps restore the text by reading : Hyde ic thét lancwen Heard I that Elan queen (woman ) [ Ongenthiowes wæs) was Ongenthiow's heatho Scylfinga ( illustrious Scylfing ) heals-gebedda bedded consort (heals, collum ; gebedda, consors lecti ). OF SIR TRISTRAM. 187 Anglice vero : God is together Gammen and wisdome, 3 In this it may be assumed that we have the key to the strange ryme” of De Brunne : and if the reader should feel disposed to accept the preceding illustration of the dismembered copple, he will probably not refuse his assent to the belief, that the fol lowing extract from an old romance, more nearly resembles the other peculiarities noticed by our ancient writer, than the stanza of Sir Tristram . And quen this Bretayn was bigged, bi this burn rych , bolde bredden therinne, baret * that lofden ; in many turned tyme, tene that wroghten. Moferlyes + on thisfolde, hanfallen here oft, then in any other that i wot, syn that ilk tyme. Bot of alle that here bult, of Bretaygne kynges, ay was Arthur the hendestſ, as I haf herde telle . Forthi an aunter in erde, I attle to shawe, that a selli in sight, summe men hit holden ; and an outrage awenture, of Arthures wonderes, If ye wyl lysten this laye bot on litel quileWit tonge Girald. Cambria Descript. pp. 889–90. ap. Camd. Anglica, Hibernica, &c. Francf, 1601. * strife . + marvels. | most courteous. 188 NO TE ON THE ROMANCE I schal tel hit as tit as I in toun herde, as hit is stad and stoken in stori stif and stronge wit lel letteres loken in londe so has ben longe. * On analysing the language of this production, it will be found to form a striking contrast to the simple narrative ofDe Brunne, or the abrupt and costive style of Sir Tristram . It abounds in those “ selcouth names” which in the fourteenth century were rapidly growing into disuse, and which were only retained by the writers in alliterative metre . Every relic of this species of versification displays the same exuberance of obsolete terms, the same attention to set phraseology and antique idioms mani fested in the specimen given above; and the practice cannot be better illustrated , than by referring to the “ quaint Hellenisms ” which distinguish the Alexandrine school of heroic poetry. By De Brunne, who only felt such learned foppery to be a draw back upon the writer's popularity, it is merely condemned as an error in policy ; by Chaucer, who saw the necessary sacri fice it involved of matter to manner, of sense to sound, it is ri diculed for its childish absurdity : But trusteth wel I am a sotherne man, I cannot geste, rem, ram , rufby my letter, And God wote, rime hold I but litel better. Of the Rymer's claim to an “ original property ” in this story, as inferred from the language of the French fragments, Mr. Campbell has already remarked : “ The whole force of this argument evidently depends upon the supposition of Mr. Douce's fragments being the work of one and the same author, -whereas they are not to all appearance by the same author. A single perusal will enable us to observe how remarkably 4 This stanza has been arranged ac- it is the Editor's intention to give in a cording to the practice of Anglo- Saxon future publication, which will also con poetry . The reasons for this departure tain the whole romance from whence the from the usual disposition of the lines specimen given above has been taken . OF SIR TRISTR A M. 189 they differ in style. They have no appearance of being parts of the same story, one of them placing the court of king Mark at Tintagail, the other at London. Only one of the frag-, ments refers to the authority of a Thomas, and the style ofthat one bears very strong marks of being French of the twelfth century, a date which places it beyond the possibility of its re ferring to Thomas of Erceldoune. ” In addition it may be ob served, that the language of this fragment, so far from vesting Thomas with the character of an original writer, affirms di rectly the reverse : 5 Seignurs cest cunte est mult divers Oï en ai de plusur gent ; Aser sai què chescun en dit, Et co qu'il unt mis en ecrit. Mé selun ce que j'ai oï, Nél dient pas sulun Breri, Ki solt les gestes et les cuntes De tus les reis, de tus les cuntes, Ki orent ésté en Bretagne, E sur que tut de cest ouraigne: Plusurs de nos granter ne volent Ce que del naim dire se solent, Ki femme Kaherdin dut aimer &c. Pur cest plaie e pur cest mal, Enveiad Tristran Guvernal En Engleterre pur Ysolt. Thomas ico granter ne volt ; Et si volt par raisun mustrer, Qu'ico ne put pas esteer. 5 “ Lordings, this tale is very diffe- of us (minstrels) will not allow what rently told ; I have heard it from many : others tell of ( Tristram ) the dwarf, who I know well enough how each tellsit, issaidto have been in love with the wife and what they have putin writing. But of Kaherdin, &c. On account of the according to whatI have heard, they do wound and this disease, Tristram sent not tell it as Breri does, who knew the Gouvernail into England for Ysolt. gestes and the tales of all the kings, and Thomas however will not admit this ; all the earls, who had been in Brittany, and undertakes to prove, by 'argument, and about the whole of this story . Many that this could not be. He(Gonvernail) 190 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE Cist fust par tut la part coneus, E par tut le regne sius &c. Que hume issi coneus, N'i fut mult tost aperceus, Ne sai coment il se gardast & c. It is clear from this document, that in the writer's opinion the earliest and most authentic narrative of Tristram's story was to be found in the work of Breri. From his relation later minstrels had chosen to deviate ; but Thomas, who had also composed a romance upon the subject, not only accorded with Breri in the order of his events, but entered into a justification of himself and his predecessor, by proving the inconsistency and absurdity of these new -fangled variations. If therefore the romance of Thomas be in existence, it must contain this vindi cation ; the poem in the Auchinleck MS. is entirely silent on the subject. It is not a little remarkable, that another frag ment of French poetry should also mention a Thomas, the au thor of a translated romance on the subject of king Horn . Seignurs oï avez le vers del parchemin, Cum le Bers Aalúf est venuz a la fin ; Mestre Thomas & ne volt qu'il seit mis a declin , K'il ne die de Horn le vaillant orphelin ". And, as if the writer had not sufficiently declared himself in this passage, we find the following repetition of his name at the conclusion : Tomas n'en dirrat plus: tu autem chanterat, Tu autem , domine, miserere nostri. was known all over those parts, and Pliny ( lib . i . p. 5) records a paral throughout the kingdom , &c. Thata man lel piece of affectation observed by the so known there, should not have been im- Grecian artists, who used the imperfect mediately perceived, I do not know how tense in their inscriptions instead of the he could have prevented .” - SCOTT. first aorist. 6 From this prudish mode of an- ? “ Lordings, you have heard the nouncing an author's name, it is impos- poem as it stands in the parchment, how sible not to suspect, that the Tomas of Baron Aaluf came to his end. ( But) Mr. Douce's fragment is in fact the au- Master Thomas is unwilling the story thor of that poem . Alexandre de Bernay should be closed, till he has spoken of declares himself in a similar manner . the bold orphan Horn.” Alexandre nous dit qui de Bernay fu nez . OF SIR TRISTRAM. 191 That this Thomas was only a translator or copyist of some earlier authority, is clear from his language in the first of these extracts ; and is confirmed by two passages of similar import in a subsequent part of the poem . E Horn si a torné cum dit le parchemin. De Sutdene sui nez, si ma geste ne ment. Sir Walter Scott is disposed to interpret this mention of a Thomas, " though the opinion be only stated hypotheti cally,” — as another reference to the authority of Thomas of Er celdoune; and anticipates any objection that might arise from the apparent antiquity of the language, by instancing the dis parity between that of Douglas and Chaucer ; the former of which he asserts “ we should certainly esteem” ( the elder ], when in fact it is nearly two centuries later. WeWe may safely leave the discussion of this point, till it be proved that the case at issue is any way analogous to the example brought to re fute it ; till it be shown that the French romance of king Horn was written in some remote province of France, where the ver nacular dialect had either been entirely neglected, or contained elements essentially differing from the language of the capital. In fact, the whole argument with regard to antiquity of lan guage may be said to be perfectly beyond the grasp ofcontend ing parties on this side of the channel; such a subject can only be decided with any chance of accuracy by native authority. But the ingenious advocate of the Rhymer's fame has wholly forgotten to observe, that Mr. Ritson prudently abstained from touching on this point, and only spoke to the antiquity of the document in which the romance was found. This he affirmed “ is to all appearance of the twelfth century; " and here the opi nion of an English antiquary may be admitted as efficient tes timony. On a review of these facts we may therefore assert, that if any conclusion is to be drawn from this collateral men tion of a Thomas, it must be, that both fragments in all pro bability refer to the same personage. This man indisputably wrote in French ; and so far from having an original property . 192 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE in the fictions which he versified , we find him in both instances the follower of earlier authorities. The testimony of Godfrey of Strasburg will be found in close accordance with this opinion. Like the writer of the fragment in Mr. Douce's possession, Godfrey records the difficulty he had found in procuring an authentic narrative of Tristram's story, on account of the va rious modes in which it was related . At length having disco vered, from his perusal of severalforeign and Latin works, that Thomas of Brittany , who was well read in British books, had “ told the tale aright,” he resolved upon adhering to so com petent a guide. Als der von Tristande seit Di rihte und di warheit, Begonde ich sere suchen In beider hande buchen , Welschin und Latinen , Und begonde mich des pinen, Das ich in siner rihte, Rihte dies tihte . Sus treib ich manige suche, Unz ich an einem buche, Alle sine iehe gelas, Wie dirre aventure was. 9 · Of the language in which this “ foreign book ” was written, and which Godfrey believed to be the original text of Thomas, Mr. Weber has supplied us with the following conclusive evi dence : “ At v. 220 ( of Godfrey's version) we are told that 8 Before this name was interpreted -Brittany andEngland. “ Thomas of Brittain ,” (i. e. Great 9 « What he ( Thomas of Brittany) has Britain ) it ought to have been shown related of Tristram being the right and that the German romancers ever under- the truth , I diligently began to seek stood this country by the term “ Brit- both in French [foreign ) and Latin tanie.” Godfrey's contemporary, Hart- books; and began to take great pains to man von Awe, who collected materials for order this poem according to his [ its ] his romance of Iwain in England, calls true relation . In this manner I sought it " Engellandt. ” The writer of Mr. for a long time, until I read in a book Douce'sfragment also makes a distinc- all his relation, how these adventures tion between Bretagne and Engleterre happened ." - WEBER. OF SIR TRISTRAM. 193 Rivalin has been said to have been king of Lochnoys; but Thomas, who read it in adventure (romance ), says that he was of Parmenie, and that he had a separate land from a Briton, to whom the Schotte ( i. e . Scots) were subject, and who was named li duc Morgan. A great number of words, sometimes whole lines, occur throughout the poem in French, which are care fully translated into German . This renders it indisputable that the poet had a French original before him .” It is impossible for testimony to be more explicit than the declaration of this early German poet. With the romance of Thomas lying before him, he cites the very expressions of his original, and these are found to be Norman - French ! —The age of Godfrey can only be gleaned from the history of his contemporaries. Mr. Weber has remarked, “ This poet appears from various circumstances to have lived in the first half of the thirteenth century. In a digression respecting the troubadours of his age, he deplores the death of Henry von Veldec ( who composed a very romantic poem on the basis of Virgil's Æneid, in the year 1180, accord ing to his own account); and among his contemporaries he mentions Hartman von Auwe, author of Ywaine and other poems, which he composed towards the end of the twelfth cen tury ; and Walther von der Vogelweide, who wrote a great number of amorous lays between the years 1190 and 1230.” A copy of Godfrey's Tristram , including as much of the story as he lived to write, occurs in the royal library at Munich. Mr. Douce refers this MS. to the middle of the thirteenth century, and we are told that Ulrich von Turheim , who wrote one conclusion to Godfrey's unfinished poem , flourished not later than from 1240 to 1250. There is reason to believe this latter writer has been placed too low in the thirteenth century ; for Wolfram von Eschenbach, who wrote a second part to Ul rich's William of Orange, was in the zenith of his glory in the year 1207. Wolfram would hardly have taken up the narrative during the life of Ulrich . Sir Walter Scott has cited two early references to the story, one of which was written previous to the birth of the bard of VOL. I. 194 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE Erceldoune, and the other about the year 1226. To show the early popularity of the subject, and the general currency it had obtained in various parts of Europe, a few authorities are here collected, all of which were published before the period fixed upon for the composition of the Rymer's poem . The first is taken from Rambaud d'Orange, a troubadour whose death is placed about the year 1173. Car jeu begui de l'amor, Que ja us deia amar celada, Ab Tristan, quan la il det Yseus gen Sobre totz aurai gran valor, Saital camis a m'es dada, Cum Yseus det a l'amador, Que mais non era portata ; Tristan mout presetz gent presen Qu' Yseutz estet en gran paor, Puois fon breumens conseillada, Qu'ilh fetz a son marit crezen C'anc hom que nasques de maire Non toques en lieis mantenen" . This passage will be best understood by referring to the lan guage of Brengwain in the English romance : Greteth wele mi levedy That ai trewe hath ben ; Smockes had sche and Y , And hir was solwy to sen, By Marke tho hye schuld lye Y lent hir min al clen , As thare : Oyain hir, wele Y wen , No dede Y never mare . Deudes de Prades, another troubadour, who is conjectured to have written about the year 1213, thus alludes to the “ drink of force," the fatal cause of Tristram's criminal passion . 10 Raynouard, ii . 312. OF SIR TRISTRAM. 195 Beure m fai ab l'enaps Tristran Amors, et eisses los pimens “. The same circumstance is also referred to by Henry von Vel deck, a German Minne- singer, who died before the close of the 12th century. Tristan muste ohne seinen Dank Treue sein der Königinne, Weil ihn dazu ein Getrank zwang, Mehr noch als die Kraft der Minne. In the Provençal romance of Jaufre, probably written before the year 1196, and certainly not later than 1213, we find a singular allusion to the feigned madness of Tristram, of which a detailed account is given in the second of Mr. Douce's frag ments. Que far m' o fai forsa d'amor E que fes fol semblar Tristan Per Yseult cui amava tan , E de son oncle lo parti, E ella per s’ amor morib. In the year 1226 the whole story was translated into Norse (Norwegian or Islandic ), under the title of “ Saga af Tristrand og Isaldis.” The Arnæ - Magnæan MS. preserved at Copen hagen contains the following notice at the commencement: “ Var tha lided fra Hingadburde Christi 1226 Aar, er thesse Saga var a Norrænu skrifad, eptir Befalningu Virdulegs Herra Hakonar kongs 14. 11 “ Love makes me drink from the to feign madness on account of Ysolt, goblet and very spiceries of Tristran . " whom he loved so much , which caused 12 “ Tristran was faithful to the queen him to be at variance with his uncle and by no merit of his own ; for a pħilter made her ( Ysolt) die for his ( Tristran's) rather than the force of love compelled love. " him to it.” The German given above 14 “ 1226 years were passed from the is not from Veldeck's original text, but birth of Christ, when this Saga was that modernized by Tieck . written in Norse, by the command of 18 “ Since the force of love makes me ( our) honoured lord, king Hacon . " that ( passion ) which caused Tristran 99 ( ) 2 196 NOTE ON THE ROMANCE If the writer of this Note “ has been successful in his state ment, three points have been established : " Ist, That the pe culiarities of style and language in the romance of Sir Tristram are of such a character as to render it extremely doubtful that they are the same which are spoken ofby De Brunne. 2ndly, That the Thomas of the French fragment, and the Thomas of Brittany mentioned by Godfrey of Strasburg, wrote his poem in Norman French . 3rdly, That Tristram's story was universally known in Europe previous to the Rymer's age ; and conse quently that, so far from being an authority to others, he fol lowed in all probability some foreign predecessor. There are several minor arguments advanced in the preface to Sir Tris tram , bearing relatively or incidentally upon the generaltheory, which have been passed over in silence. Several of these are purely hypothetical ; such as the assumption that Mr. Douce's fragments were written by Raoul de Beauvais ; that Thomas's authority was acknowledged by the Norman rimeurs from his supposed acquaintance with British traditions ; that the names of Gouvernail, Blauncheflour, Triamour, and Florentine, were bestowed upon the inferior personages, because the originals being unknown to Thomas he used those peculiar to the Nor -English dialect in which he composed — a circumstance, by the way, savouring strongly of a French original. These, with several others of a similar nature, can only need examina tion when the previous arguments shall have been established. Above all, the strange appropriation of the Auchinleck poem as a Scottish production, when no single trace of the Scottish dialect is to be found throughout the whole romance which may not with equal truth be claimed as current in the north of England, while every marked peculiarity ofthe former is entire ly wanting, can hardly require serious investigation. From this opinion the ingenious editor himself must long ago have been reclaimed . The singular doctrines relative to the rise and progress of the English language in North and South Britain may also be dismissed as not immediately relevant. But when it is seriously affirmed , that the English language man OF SIR TRISTRAM .. 197 was once spoken with greater purity in the Lowlands of Scotland, than in this country, we “ Sothrons ” receive the com munication with the same smile of incredulity, that we bestow upon the poetic dogma of the honest Frieslander: Buwter, breat en greene tzies Is guth Inglisch en guth Fries15. This Note had been printed, when the writer received the first volume of Professor Müller's Saga - Bibliothek ; ( Kiö benhavn 1817, ) and Lohengrin, an old German romance edited by Mr. Görres ( Heidelberg 1813). He is happy in being able to add from these interesting works a further con firmation of some of the positions assumed in the preceding pages. — The former contains the following passage : “ The artifice here resorted to by the mistress of Dromund ( one of the heroes in Grettur's - Saga ), and which enables her to swear thus equivocally, is indisputably taken from the romance of Tristram so generally known in the middle ages. In the ro mance of Tristram by Thomas of Erceldoune, queen Ysoude avails herself of a similar manouvre. See Fytte the Second, Stanzas 104, 105. This circumstance is also recorded in the old French version, and forms the 58th chapter of the Islandic translation executed in the year 1226, at the command of king Hacon . The Icelandic Saga closely follows the order of the English poem .” ( page 261. ) We are not informed whether the Northern version was made from the French or German, or, what is more probable, from a German translation of some French romance . But as it exhibits the story in the same form as the English poem , the Rymer's claim to 6an original property in the fable ” inevitably falls to the ground. The preface to Lohengrin contains a general account of Wolfram v. Eschenbach's Titurel and Parcifal. In the former, Wolfram cites the authorities he had consulted in the compilation of his 15 Butter, bread , and green cheese, Is good English and good Friese. 198 NO TE ON SIR TRISTRAM. work ; and after mentioning the British history (which Mr. Görres with evident probability interprets the Brut of G. of Monmouth ) declares himself to have been further assisted in his researches by “ Thomas of Brittany's Chronicle of Corn wall.” This is clearly the same Thomas so repeatedly referred to in the preceding page, and whose celebrity may now be accounted for on better grounds than the belief that he was the author of a romance on Tristram's story. The Chronicler of Cornwall was a much more important personage than a mere minstrel composer of chivalric poems; and though the critics of the present day might refuse to acknowledge the distinction between Thomas and his ryming cotemporaries, the characteristics of romantic and authentic history were not so rigidly defined at the period we are concerned with . 1 ADDITIONAL NOTES TAKEN FROM MR. PARK'S COPY OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY. P. 4. note r.--Herbert observes that Dom . A. xi. See Archæologia, vol. xiii, the Saxon þ ( th ) is used to this dayin – Park. Fora note on Langton's drama, the letter y : as y that, ye the. MS. see vol. ii . p. 80.- EDIT. note in Mr. Dallaway's copy. - Park. P. 50. note y .-- A version of this song P. 15. end of note h . Caxton had was made by Sir Walter Scott, at the re printedthe Liber Festivalis in English quest of Ritson, and has been printedin before W. de Worde.-- HERBERT. ( Q '. the late republication ofhis English Lives of the Saints. ) Songs, vol. ii. Mr. Geo. Ellis madean P. 20. l. 3. - Guernes, an ecclesiastic other metrical translation , which perish of Pont St. Maxence in Picardy, wrote ed with many of Ritson's MS. treasures. a metrical life of Thomas a Becket, and, PARK. from his anxiety to procure the most P. 54. note q . It is certain that nei authentic information on the subject, ther of these terms relates to chess. came over to Canterbury in 1172, and DOUCE. finally perfected his work in 1177. It P. 64. note b.- The county of Lin is written in stanzas of five Alexandrines, coln is divided into the hundreds of all ending with the same rhymes ; a mode Lindsey and Kesteven.- Park. of composition supposed to have been P. 66. note m .-Herbert says he had adopted for the purpose of being easily found the Fructus Temporum printed chanted . A copy is preserved in MS. at St. Albans, also by Julian Notary Harl. 270. and another in MS. Cotton . and W. de Worde, but not by Caxton . Domit. A. xi. See Archæologia, vol. --MS. note . xüi. and Ellis's Hist. Sketch , & c . p. 57. P. 67. note 0.-It is not said by Geof -PARK. frey of Monmouth that he received his P. 20. note a . -The lives of St. Jo . original from Walter Mapes (who pro saphat and of the Seven Sleepers are at- bably was not born at the time), but tributed by the Abbé de la Rue to Char . from Walter archdeacon of Oxford, dry, an Anglo- Norman poet, who also i. e. Walter Calenius, who has more wrote Le petit plet, a dispute between an than once been confounded with Mapes, old and ayoung man on human life . who was also archdeacon of Oxford . Stephen Langton archbishop of Can- Mr. Warton has fallen into another mis terbury in 1207 wrote a canticle on the take, which he confers on Nicolson , who passion of Jesus Christ in 123 stanzas, only supposes Wate to be Walter, and with a theological drama, in the duke of notWalter Mapes. - Douce. Norfolk's library ; and Denis Pyramus, P. 90. l . 15. -It is very certain that who lived in the reign of Henry III. , many French poems were written during wrote in verse the life and martyrdom this period by Englishmen ; but it is of King St. Edmund, in 3286 lines, with probable that several were also com the miracles of the same saint in 600 posed by Normans. - DOUCE. lines : a manuscript in the Cott. Library, P. 92. notel. - The “ Roman de Oti 200 ADDITIONAL NOTES. nel,” in Montfaucon Bibl. Bibliothec . “ Choix des Poesies originales des Trou p . 32, is probably the same.-- Douce. badours,” a volumewhich had not reach P. 99. l . 20.-Mr. Philip Bliss, of ed me when the note , to which this is a St. John's college Oxon, ( towhosekind- supplement, was sent to thepress . An. ness I am indebted for the collation other poem by Richard I. will be found of this extract with the Bodley MS. ) in the Parnasse Occitanien , ” Toulouse observes, that a leaf appears to be want 1819, a publication from which the fol ingat this place, which contained pro- lowing remarkhas been thoughtworth bably the life of Edwyn ; six lines of extracting: “ Crescimbeni avait dit qu'il which only remain , and are here ap- existait des poesies du roi Richard dans pended : le manuscrit 3204 ; et la - dessus Ho His wife, for here faire hedde, race Walpole le taxe d'inexactitude. Of God he hadde lytell drede ; Cependant le sirvente se trouve au fol. 170, Ro. et 171 Ro . C'est donc l'An Thoght ( ? ) he was here owne cosyne, glois qui se trompeen disant there : is Ther fore he sewed ( ? ) the more pyne. He reyned xii yere : nowork of King Richard ." - EDIT.] P. 117. l . 8. --It by no means follows To Wynchester men hym bere. that the contents of this book were ro P.105.notek. — The“ Mappa Mundi” mances of chivalry. Any collection of was not by Mandevile, ashere suggest- French pieces,especially in verse, would ed , nor was Aiton or Haiton king of at this time be called Romances ; andthis Armenia, but only related to that sove- from the language, not the subject . reign. He was lord of Curchi. See his DOUCE. travels in “ Bergeron , Voyages faits P. 118. note n.-Mr. Warton has principalementen Asie,” & c. Mr.War- been apparently misled by Montfaucon . ton was probably misled by Chardin the Lancelot du Lac is ascribed in the work famous traveller .-- DOUCE. itself to Walter de Mapes. Robert de P. 109. note t . -It has been remark . Borron appears to have composed the ed byRitson, that the elegy printed by romance of the Saint Graal, which being Mrs. Cooper wasthe composition of Fa- in part introduced into that of Lancelot, byan the chronicler, who died in 1511 : may have occasioned the above mistake. : but then it is a translation from the ori. - Douce. ( But see p. 138. note e . ginal Latin , preserved by Knighton, of Edır.] the twelfth century.- PARK. P. 129. note 6. - This Roman - de P. 116. note i.- Two metrical reliques Thebes is in reality one of those works byRichardI.were first printed in La Tour on the story of the siege of Troy, en ténébreuse, & c. 1705. The first of these, grafted either on that of Columna, or in mixed Romance and Provençal, pro- on his materials. -DOUCE. fesses to be the veritable chanson of Blon- P. 134. l. 5.- Either from the ardour del; the other is a love-song in Norman of composition, or through the multi French. The sonnet cited by Mr. Wal- ^ plicity of books referred to by Mr. War-. pole was exhibited with an English ver- ton, some mistakehas arisen at this place. sion in Dr. Burney's History of Music, The late Mr. Librarian Price point but has since received a more graceful ed out to methe 4to volume which once illustration from the pen of Mr.George belonged to Hearne, and is now mark Ellis, in the last edition of Royal and ed B. N. Rawl. 99. It consists of se Noble Authors. It can hardly be called ven articles, the third of which is “ Gesta “ a fragment,” though the last stanza Alexandri Magni - metrice composita." looks imperfect. - PARK. [Mr. Park . This being very neatly written, in a hand has probably mistaken the Envoy, con . much resembling the type of our early sisting of three lines, for a part of the printed classics, seems tohave been con poeme founded ( as Ritson shrewdly surmised) with Suer Contessa vostre pretz sobeirain, “ Expositio Sancti Jeronimi,' Saldieus e gard la bellaqu'ieu am tan , graphy by F.Corsellis, in the library MCCCCLXVIII. a rare specimen of typo Ni per cui soi ja pres. of C.C.C. Oxon . - PARK. The whole has been published by M. P. 139. I. 1.- La Charette, or Du Raynouard, in the fourth volume of his Chevalier à la Charette : perhaps the , ADDITIONAL NOTES. 201 same, says Ritson, with Les romans de and renowned authors are almost buried Chevalier à l'épée, ou L'Histoire de Lan, among them as forgotten ; and at last celot du Lac. To the same romance- you shallsee nothing to be souldamongst writer are attributed, Du Chevalier à us, but Currantos, Beavis of Hampton, Lion , du prince Alexandre, d'Erec, with or such trumpery.' Scholler's Purga others, that are now lost. - Park. M. tory, no date . - Park. Roquefort's catalogue of Chretien's P. 149. note y .-- Busbec, in the third works still extant , contains : Perceval, letter of his Embassyinto Turkey, men le Chevalier au Lion, Lancelot du Lac, tions that the Georgians in their songs Cliget, Guillaume d'Angleterre, and make frequentmention of Roland,whose Erec et Enide. The latter probably gave name he supposes to have passed over rise to the opinion, that Chretien trans- with Godfrey of Bulloigne. -Douce. lated the Æneid, and which has been P. 149. note a.--Mr. Dibdin imparts, adopted from Mr. von der Hagen , at that the original ofthe Romance of Paris p. 130. note c . - Edır.] and the Fair Vienne is of Provençal P. 139. note i. - Ogier le Dannois duc growth, and was translated into French de Dannemarche was printed at Troyes by Pierre de la Sipparde, whose name, in 1610 ; and at the same place, in 1608, however, is not found in the Bibliotheque were printed, Histoire de Morgant le Françoise La Croix du Maine and geant, and Histoiredes nobles Provesses et Verdier. Caxton, in his version 1485, Vaillances de Galeon restaure . -PARK . is silent as to the name of the French P. 146. 1. 6. — The earliest printed translator. See Dibdin's edit. of Herbert, copy of this romance that I have met vol. i. p. 261. – Park. ( But this can with , is in Italian, and printed at Venice, only be the name of the translator into 1489. 4to . Other editions in the same French prose. Its early and extensive language are , Venice 1562. 1580. 12mo. popularity is manifested by the prologue Milan 1584. 4to . Piacenza, 1599. 12mo. to the Swedish version, made by order French editions, Paris folio, no date, ofQueen Euphemia , in the secondmonth by Verard. Ibid . 4to. no date, by Bon- of the year 1308. This refers to a Ger fórs. English editions are by Copland, man original, executed at the command 4to . no date, by Pinson, by East, by of the Emperor Otho ( 1197–1208 ); but G. W. for W. Lee, all without dates. thisagain was taken from a foreign I have been informed from respectable (Wälsche) source. - Edit.] authority, that this romance is to be P. 164. note h. -In an ancient Pro found in Provençal poetry, among the vençal poem , of which M.deSt. Palaye MSS. of Christina queen of Sweden, has given some account in his “ Mé. now in the Vatican library, and that it moires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie, ” tom . appears to have been written in 1380. ii . p. 160, a master gives the following See likewise Bibl . de Du Verdier, tom . instructions to his pupil, " Quvrez a iii. p. 265.— Douce. votre cheval par des coupes redoublés, P. 146. 1. 16 .- " Bevis " seems long to la route qu'il doit tenir, et que son por have retained its popularity, since Wither trail soit garni de beaux grelots ou son thus complained of the sale it had about nettes bien rangées ; car ces sonnettes the year 1627. “ The stationers have so reveillent merveilleusement le courage pesteredtheir printing housesand shopps de celui qui le monte, et repandent de with fruitlesse volumes,that the auncient vant lui la terreur. ” - Douce. / COLLATIONS OF THE OXFORD MSS. TAKEN FROM MR. PARK'S COPY. Page. Line. 17. 4 . Bi the kynges dai Egbert this goode mon was ibore. 17 . 9. Athelbriht the goode kyng ac al the lond nouht. 17 . 12 . So that Egbert was kyng, tho that seint Swyththan was bore . 17. 19-20. Seint Wolston bysschop of Wircestre was her of Ingelonde, Swithe holiman all his lyf as ich undurstonde. 17. 22 . Whan othur childre ronne to pleye touward chirche he drouh. 17 . 24 . And the bisschop of Wircestre Brihtege hette iwis 18. 7. To get reuthe to al Engelonde so weylawey the stounde 18 , 11. Ac William Bastard that was tho duyk of Normaundye 18. 17. Harald herde herof tell kynge of Engelonde 18. 19. The barenye of Engelonde redi was wel sone 18. 19 . In no stude by his daye me fond non so strong a man 19. 3. Al a cuntre where he were for him wolde fleo 19. 5. He seide he nolde with no man beo beste with on that wene 19 . 14. To teche men her rygte beleve Jehu Cryst to understonde 19 . 15 . So ful of wormes that lond he fonde that no man ne myghte gon 19. 16 . In some stede for wormes that he nas iwenemyd anon 19. 20 . There was Tomas fadir that trewe man was and gode The croyse to the holy londe in his youthe he nom , 19. 22-3 . He myd on Rychard, that was his mon, to Jerusalem com. 20 . 2 . So that among Sarazyns by wer nome atte laste 22. 1 . Allas my sone for serwe wel ofte seide heo 22. 5 . How schal I sone deone, hou hast i - thougt liven withouten the. 22. 7. Thenne spak Jhesue wordus goile tho to his modur dere 22 . 15 . Hole and seeke heo duden good that heo founden thore 19 . Wy al heore mihte yonge and olde hire loveden bothe syke and fer 22. 28 . Good him was the gardiner &c. 27. 5 . Faste nayled to the tre. 7. Ibunden bloc an blodi, 27. 14. An neb wit teres wete 84. 27. Of Englisch Ichul mi resan schowen 85. 7. And hou sone he hit for -les 85 . 12 . And for a prison that was forloren 85 . 18. In feir stude and clene siker it was 22 . 27. COLLATIONS OF THE OXFORD MSS. 203 87 . Page. Line. 86 . 22. 86 . 24 . 86 . 25. 87. 2 . 87. 9 . 87. 10 . 24. 88. 4 . 88. 8. 88. 19 . 98. 98. 20 . 98 . 26 . 99. 29 . 100 . 4 . 100 . 8. 100 . 11 . Ther never ne fayleth socour That thider wol flen to sechen grith This castel is siker and feir abouten So is inde and eke blew And is raddore then even any rose schal That thuncheth as hit barnde al That mai riht of this water cleche Foure vertues cardinals ther beoth That witеth the heighe tour withouten That beoth the seven vertues which winne In Crystiante was none hym leche Held this kyngdome Ac he ne reyned here That Edgare ybore was Ne loved he never fyght ne stryfe To bringe hym trewaye there üj yere pleynerlyche 12. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR , SHOE-LANE, LONDON.

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